February 16th, 2016

C M Y K

DIMAPUR • Vol. XI • Issue 44 • 12 PAGes • 5

www.morungexpress.com

tuesDAY • februArY 16 • 2016

T H e

ESTD. 2005

P o W e R

To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it Arunachal Governor wasn’t aggrieved party: SC PAGE 03

reflections

By Sandemo Ngullie

Long lasting insecticidal nets officially launched

o F

T R u T H

— G. K. Chesterton

Messi passes on penalty, serves up Suarez hat-trick

PAGE 02

PAGE 12

Kohima moves slow- ranks 60- on smart city drive from 73 cities in india; Mysuru cleanest, Dhanbad at the bottom Moa Jamir Dimapur | February 15

obviously our new boss is a honest, god fearing man!

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

Ao organizations postpone February 16 agitation; to meet CM MOKOKCHUNG, FEBRUARY 15 (MExN): Organizations of the Ao community today resolved to postpone the proposed February 16 agitation demanding redress for alleged anomalies in the recruitment of language teachers under the educational scheme, the Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan (RMSA), in Mokokchung district. The decision to go on agitation had been resolved on February 13, 2016 by the apex Ao organizations namely – Ao Senden, Ao Students’ Conference (AKM), Aor Tzükong trok Mungdang (Ao six ranges conference), and Aor Tzükong Trok Kaketshir Mungdang (Ao six ranges students’ conference). The organizations were also displeased at the ‘unsatisfactory response’ of from the RMSA, Nagaland.

However, on receipt of information from the ‘Ao legislators’ that the Nagaland Chief Minister had assured to hold a meeting with the Ao Senden, Ao legislators, AKM and concerned department, the proposed agitation was called off, informed a press note issued

by Ao Senden president, Imolemba Jamir and AKM president, L Jemti Longchar.

In this regard, the note stated that for seeking a better understanding in the society, the proposed February 16 agitation has been postponed. However, the press noted asserted that the deferment of the agitation does not mean that the RMSA issue has not be resolved; and said that all concerned – be it the government, individual or groups - should be aware of it.

UN asked to notify Kim Jong Un of probe for crimes against humanity

C M Y K

GENEVA, FEBRUARY 15 (REUTERs): U.N. North Korea human rights expert Darzuki Marusman has asked the United Nations officially to notify North Korean leader Kim Jong Un that he may be investigated for crimes against humanity. In a report seen

by Reuters on Monday, Darusman recommended that the U.N. Human Rights Council arrange an official communication “to advise him and other senior leaders that they may be investigated and, if found to be responsible, held accountable for crimes against humanity committed under their leadership”.

With an overall score of 893 out of 2000 points, and categorized as a “slow mover” ranking 60 out of 73 cities in India surveyed for cleanliness, Kohima’s dreams of becoming a Smart City may require a rejig from all stakeholders.

The ranking is part of the ‘Swachh Survekshan-2016’ survey, the results of which were announced by the Urban Development Minister M Venkaiah Naidu today at a media conference in New Delhi.

According to the Ministry, 53 cities with a population of above ten lakhs each and 22 capitals that do not have that much population were selected for the survey.

The survey deployed 25 teams of 3 trained surveyors each to visit 42 locations in each city covering major zones like railway stations, bus stations, religious places, major market places, planned and unplanned residential areas including slums and toilet complexes.

A total of 2000 points at the upper end comes from three sources: Service level status data (1,000), independent observation (500) and citizen feedback (500).

Regarding methodology used for Swachh Survekshan-2016, Naidu informed that out of a total of 2000 points,

rank, while Imphal at 15 showed the biggest improvement in the Overall Scores region. Arunachal Pradesh capital Itanagar scored the lowest in the NE at 71st position.

According to the scores, 15 cities that scored more than 70% of the total 2000 were categorized as Leaders, 20 cities with scores in the range of 60%-70% 893 60. Kohima as Aspiring Leaders, those with scores in the range of 50%-60% are cities that need to accelerate their efforts and cities that Citizen`s Feedback Kohima Section Rank 33 scored below 50% (in which Kohima figured) were named 19% 19% 15% 26% 12% 87% ‘Slow Movers’ that need to work harder to improve sanitation.

NO The top 10 cities in terms of YES sanitation and hygiene are: Mysuru, Chandigarh, TiruchiraIs the city Always able to Is there daily Are there toilets Is there Basic infra Have an individual palli (Tamil Nadu), New Delhi always clean? find dustbins? door to door within 500m? available at Public/ household toilet?

Municipal Council, Visakhapatcollection?

Community Toilet? nam (Andhra Pradesh), Surat, Rajkot, both in Gujarat, Gangtok (Sikkim), Pimpri Chindwad Service Level Status : Kohima Section Rank 67 and Greater Mumbai, both from 17/50 Planning : Strategy for Open Defecation Free town (ODF) and Integrated Solid Waste Management (SWM) Maharashtra.

30/50 30/50 Communication : Information, Education and Behaviour Change Communication (IEBC) activity The bottom 10 cities are: 95/400 Kalyan Dombivili (Maharsh95/400 Waste Management : Door to door Collection, Sweeping, Collection & Transportation tra), Varanasi, Jamshedpur 85/200 85/200 Waste Management : Processing and Disposal (Jharkhand), Ghaziabad (UP), 25/150 25/150 Sanitation : Public & Community Toilet Provision Raipur (Chattisgarh), Meerut 35/150 35/150 Sanitation : Individual Household Latrines (UP), Patna (Bihar), Itanagar https://gramener.com/swachhbharat (Arunachal Pradesh), Asansol 60% were assigned for solid documentary evidence of their Overall Ranking (West Bengal) and Dhanbad waste management related pa- efforts towards improving saniOverall, Mysuru in Karnata- (Jharkhand). rameters, 30% for construction of tation and for verification by sur- ka remained the cleanest city in toilets and 5% each for city level vey teams. Over one lakh citizens the country scoring 1749 points Kohima: A slow mover sanitation strategy and behavior responded with feedback on out of 2000, while Dhanbad in As per data provided on the change communication. cleanliness in respective cities Jharkhand came at the bottom website (https://gramener.

Naidu said that all the 73 cit- making the survey of 2016 “thor- with 464 points. com/swachhbharat), Kohima, ies were informed sufficiently in ough, professional, evidence The top performing city in with an overall scored of 893, advance so as to make available based and participatory.” the North-East is Gangtok, at 8th ranked 60 overall.

The ranking of Kohima seems to have suffered most on parameters of service level status. The city scored low in all variables such as Public & Community Toilet Provision, Processing and Disposal of Waste Management.

Out of 400 points allotted for waste management in the form of door to door collection, sweeping collection and transportation, it could score only 95 points, which raises grave concerns for the quality of life people lead in Nagaland State’s capital.

Most appallingly, for sanitation, it could manage only 60 points (out of 300) with provision for community and public toilets suffering the most.

In variables related to communication such as Information, Education and Behaviour Change Communication activities it performed relatively better scoring 30 out of 50.

However, on ranking by independent observers and citizen feedback, Kohima scores improved, bagging the 43 and 33 positions respectively.

Talking to media today, Naidu said the survey was made public in order to foster a “healthy competition among cities” as everything that gets measured gets done and competition makes one strive better.

The stakeholders in Nagaland State should take the words to heart and change their strategy.

Arunachal: Dissident Cong stakes claim nagaland senior citizens

ITANAGAR, FEBRUARY 15 (PTI): Dissident Congress leader Kalikho Pul accompanied by 31 MLAs today called on Arunachal Pradesh Governor Jyoti Prasad Rajkhowa to stake claim for forming the next government in the crisishit state which is under President’s Rule.

Pul submitted a memorandum to the governor staking claim to form the government in the state, a Raj Bhawan communique said.

He was accompanied by 19 Congress MLAs along with 11 BJP legislators and two independent members.

The 19 Congress MLAs included rebel Congress legislators and five Congress MLAs including Chowna Mein, CT Mein, Zingnu Namchoom, Wangki Lowang and Honchu Ngandam who claimed to be with the other group of the Congress party.

They also submitted a separate memorandum to

the governor reaffirming their support to Pul. “They reaffirmed their support to the leadership of Pul to be the head of the council of ministers that may be sworn in at the end of the President rule,” the communique said.

Eleven BJP legislators led

by Opposition Leader Tamiyo Taga also submitted a memorandum to the Governor stating their unconditional support to Pul. The two Independent also submitted

nudge state Govt to ‘act’

a memorandum extending their support to Pul by affirming their support to Pul as the new leader of the house, the • Anti-Extortion Cells communique informed.

Interacting with MLAs, (AEC) & Quick Reaction the Governor assured them of putting forward their Teams (QRTs) claims to the President, after • High Power Committee duly examining and consulton unabated taxation ing legal experts. It is for the • The Lokayukta Act President to decide whether to lift the Central Rule in the state or not and when, the DIMAPUR, FEBRUARY 15 (MExN): In a wake-up call, the NaGovernor said. galand Senior Citizens Association (NSCA) has nudged the Nagaland State Government to act on a number of public welfare and security related DIMAPUR, FEBRUARY 15 (USSC) and Akedah Sangtam nities and to minimize mis- belonging to sub-tribe: Chir, undertakings which remains pending.

In a press statement, the NSCA (MExN): With the expiry of Thsingmujanglaru (AST) in a understanding, the three or- Makury, Longfur, Phelungru the last date for fulfillment of joint press statement on Mon- ganisations resolved that till Shu under Pungro sub-division through its president, Dr S I Thushi the six-point ultimatum sub- day said the phase wise agita- the time the present imbro- and Tikhir of Shamator town Ao, and secretary, S. Ghunakha Swu mitted to the Nagaland State tion would be initiated till the glio is settled, the “movement by the “unprecedented action questioned as to what happened on Government in connection perpetrators are arrested and of Yimchunger within Sang- of the unruly mob created post the establishment of Anti-Extortion to the February 6 killing, three booked under law by the State tam jurisdiction will be re- the killing of the couple.”

Cells (AEC) & Quick Reaction Teams stricted” with immediate efThe Nagaland State gov- (QRTs) as directed by the Director apex organizations of the Government.

The resolve was made fect. However, sub-tribes are ernment will be held respon- General of Police (DGP), Nagaland Sangtam community has resolved to initiate a phase wise on February 15 in a general exempted from the preview of sible for any untoward inci- for enforcement. meeting following the failure the restriction, it added. dent that may occur in the agitation.

Taking cognizance of the fluid The organisations also re- course of the phase wise agi- condition of the rules prevailing in United Sangtam Likhum of the State Government to gretted and expressed sympa- tation, the joint press statePumji (USLP), United Sang- fulfill their set of demands. the state, it stated that the DGP had For safety of both commu- thy with the affected families ment also cautioned. tam Students’ Conference directed all respective districts, superintendent of police and district deputy commissioners to set up AEC & QRT on September 14, 2015.

This has been done in an apparent move to assuage the feelings and despairs of the people in general and DIMAPUR, FEBRUARY 15 or text message (SMS) saying that DIMAPUR, FEBRUARY 15 (MExN): The case of unfortunate victims in particular, the (MExN): The Nagaland Police ‘You have won’ a large sum of mon- the alleged fake certificate pertaining to Lok Sabha senior citizens association noted. today cautioned against dubious ey.” However, one cannot win a lot- MP Neiphiu Rio took a u-turn on Monday after the However, even after a lapse of six SMS, email or phone calls, which tery prize unless one bought a gen- Principal of Kohima College tendered a ‘Statement months, its implementation is yet informs the recipient of winning a uine lottery ticket, it informed. to see the light of the day, the NSCA of Apology’ for issuing wrong certificate to Rio. Normally, in genuine lotteries, lottery jackpot.

In the ‘Statement of Apology,’ Kohima College reported while apprehending that These messages are the handi- the organisers or the people be- principal, Dr Watijungshi maintained that Neiphiu there will be “more and more trouwork of con-artists, who through hind the draw will deduct statutory Rio graduated from Kohima College, Kohima in bles and sufferings if left unattended.” the lure of a big lottery prize will fool fees and taxes as well as bank and the year 1978 as per the records of the college.

In this connection, the NSCA, gullible people into parting with courier charges from the prize. The The college issued a Provisional Passed Cer- on behalf of the elders of Nagaland, cash as ‘advance deposit’ to claim a remaining amount is subsequently tificate on his request on December 4, 2012 with has ‘beseeched’ the concerned SPs non-existent prize. Informing this, handed over to the winner. serial no. 1480, bearing roll no. 436 in the year and DCs to ensure that the proposed Tungoe, while urging the public 1978 under NEHU. PRO of the Police Headquarters, SP AECs & QRTs are established forth(Crime), M. Tungoe in a press state- to not respond to messages claimHowever, the “said certificate was issued with in the interest of all citizens as ment through DIPR today said it is ing dubious lottery prizes further wrongly as BA Passed with Political Science enunciated and in compliance of investigating several instances of requested all concerned to share Honours instead of BA General Pass Course.” DGP’s directive. such ‘lottery scams.’ The police said and disseminate information in any Following this, the certificate was rectified and a The elders of Nagaland has also the main complication of such cas- platform possible in public interest. Provisional BA Pass Certificate was issued to him asked the State Government to put es was recovering the money paid For any assistance/information, e- on October 9, 2015, stated the principal. in public domain the recommendamail: NagalandPolice16@gmail. by the clients. tions of the High Power Committee In this regard, the college authority has exThe police described the scam com or crimebranchphqkma@ pressed regret for the error committed and apolo- headed by former Justice HK Sema as “a type of advance-fee fraud gmail.com. Facebook users can also gized to Neiphiu Rio for the inconvenience created. on unabated taxation and the actions which begins with an unexpect- visit the page – ‘Cid Nagaland’, which Full text of Apology, see advertisement on page 3 taken thereof. ed email notification, phone call is run by the Nagaland Police.

“In the event of non-implemen-

Sangtam organisations to go on phase wise agitation

Police caution citizens against Kohima College issued wrong SMS and online lottery scam certificate to Rio; seeks apology

tation, it is sincerely appealed to carry out with unfailing assiduity to up keep the dignity of promised policies and implement it in letter and in spirit,” the NSCA also asked.

While taking serious note of the rampant corruptions and serious scams and financial embezzlement involving huge amount which has been causing heavy losses to the State exchequer, NSCA has put a reminder for implementation of the Lokayukta Act, which it said was passed in the Parliament to check such kind of ‘plague.’

Condemns all acts of violence & crime

Meanwhile, the NSCA has expressed concern over the series of violent incidents and criminal acts that has occurred since January 2016 in Nagaland severely affecting the harmonious social life and peaceful coexistence as a consequence.

In the first, the senior citizens association said it was aghast hear about the brutal killing of a businessman in Dimapur on February 2and the ambush on a couple between Shamator and Kiphire on February 6.

The NSCA also decried the obnoxious rape of a differently-able girl by one police personnel on January 30 at Bayavü Colony, Kohima; assault on former Dimapur Naga Students’ Union member Senenlo Kath on February 3 by RPF Personnel at Dimapur Railway Station, the attempted extortion by 2 (two) Nagaland Police personnel in connivance with two Naga underground at Chumukedima on February 3 and the murder of a man at Jalukie town on February 7 by unknown assailant.

The NSCA has condemned these incidents which it said are all alien to “our land and against the Naga cultures and practices,” It also called for vigorous efforts to apprehend the culprits expeditiously by the concerned authorities and award befitting punishment to deter such recurrence in future.

Further, it also appealed to all concerned to remain calm and abjure violence while keeping in mind that “trouble will beget trouble only and nothing will benefit out of destructions.”

2

tuesDAY 16•02•2016

NAGALAND

THE MORUNG EXPRESS

Long lasting insecticidal BJP Nagaland State Unit consultative meeting held nets officially launched Dimapur, February 15 (mexN): The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Nagaland State Unit held a consultative meeting at Hotel Saramati on February 14 at Dimapur.

The meeting was convened by BJP National Secretary & in-charge of Nagaland Farooq Khan. He impressed upon the party workers to serve the people of Nagaland to the best of their abilities. He said the BJP led-NDA government at the centre under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has launched a number of scheme for the

Commissioner & Secretary, Health & Family Welfare, M. Patton gives away the first LLIN to a beneficiary during the official launching of long lasting insecticidal nets (LLINs) on February 15. (DIPR Photo) Morung Express News Dimapur | February 15

Long lasting insecticidal nets (LLIN) was officially launched at District Hospital Dimapur on Monday with Commissioner & Secretary, Health & Family Welfare, M Patton as the chief guest.

Patton stated that in the present context, malaria is not only a medical concern; it impacts on economy and affects all walks of life. He said malaria has

become a menace in India and with that in mind, Government of India has resolved to eradicate malaria in the country by 2030.

"This is a huge challenge and unless a concerted effort is given by one and all, the entire target will not be successful," he maintained.

The Commissioner & Secretary also informed that H&FW department has already done mapping of the malaria prone areas and LLIN will be distribut-

upliftment of underprivileged people as well as the development of long neglected state like Nagaland.

He stressed upon the party workers to first study all such schemes thoroughly and work whole heartedly to ensure that the benefits of these schemes reach the targeted groups especially in far flung undeveloped areas of Nagaland.

Making a mention of the present government in Nagaland, Khan said that the state is being ruled by NPF and BJP alliance and urged upon chief minister Nagaland to ensure that

government of Nagaland through its officially machinery take full advantage of all such schemes of central government which are specially designed for the development of northeastern states. He said that NPF working hand in hand with BJP can make Nagaland into a fully developed state in the shortest possible time.

Expressing his full faith in the leadership of newly elected state president Visasolie Lhoungu, he expressed hope that under his leadership BJP Nagaland would scale new

ed as per priority.

Joint Director & State Programme Officer, National Vector Borne Disease Control Programme (NVBDCP), Dr. Kevichusa Medikhru, in his keynote address said there has been a gradual decline in cases of malaria in Nagaland.

Dr. Medikhru said the main objective of distribution of LLIN is to reach out to pregnant mothers, children, hostellers and the vulnerable section of society. The distribution will be properly monitored and supervised by the state and district level officers/ consultants, he said. It was also informed that LLINs are to be distributed free of cost before the onset of monsoon in the eligible villages and high risk groups through ASHAs. Further, he said that of the total 9 lakh LLINs given to the state of Nagaland, 2.5 lakh will be distributed in Dimapur district alone.

On the occasion, M Patton officially distributed the first LLIN to one of the beneficiaries.

Chief Medical Officer, Dimapur, Dr. MA Wati, pro- Dr. Neiphrezo Keditsu and others during the inauguration of Hotel Ura Vie and Ura Vie butcher shop in Kohima on February 15. (Morung Photo) posed vote of thanks.

heights in popularity and public support.

BJP General Secretary organisation Nagaland Prashant Arora, called upon party workers to work united for the welfare of the people of the state.

H. K Khulu, retd Additional chief secretary Nagaland and senior party leader R. Supu Angami gave useful suggestions for making the party more dynamic and progressive in its approach.

BJP state president Visasolie Lhoungu, presided over the function and assured the party leaders as well as party workers that he shall

leave no stone unturned to work for the welfare of the party workers as well as the people of the Nagaland by involving all the party workers as a united team.

The programme was started with an invocation read by Rosy Yanthan, state Vice President. On the occasion a prominent businessman from Nagaland Virandra Singh baweja, joined the party and was welcomed by president and BJP General Secretary organisation Nagaland.

This was stated in a press release issued by BJP Nagaland Media cell.

Hotel Ura Vie, Ura Vie butcher shop inaugurated Our Correspondent

Kohima | February 15

MLA Dr. Neiphrezo Keditsu, chairman Nagaland State Mineral Development Corporation Ltd (NSMDC Ltd) today inaugurated Hotel Ura Vie and Ura Vie Butcher Shop along Nagaland’s Secretariat Road, adjacent State Bank of India.

Dr. Keditsu complimented the proprietor Neilakholie Zhale for coming up with such hygienic local beef and pork shop in the state capital. He ex-

pressed hoped that this butcher shop will deliver quality meat and good service to the customers and wishes the proprietor all success and progress.

Dr. Keditsu also expressed happiness over the young people who are coming up to take challenge in business sector for self-employment and self reliance.

Ura Vie butcher shop will serve beef and local pork while Hotel Ura Vie will serve local pork meat, dog meat, duck meat, pork and beef intestine among the others.

Special cleanliness drive Farmer scientist interaction held at Gidemi Village in government hospitals

kohima, February 15 (Dipr): As part of Swachh Bharat Mission the Department of Health & Family Welfare, Nagaland will launch a Special cleanliness drive to be implemented in Government Hospitals in the State from February 15 to 28. This includes the district Hospitals, Community Health Centre, Primary Health Centre, Mental Hospital, TB Hospital and Nursing Institute.

According to the Nodal Officer, Quality Assurance, Department of Health & Family Welfare, Dr. Thanghoi Lam, Public

Health Care facilities are a major mechanism of social protection to meet the health care needs of larger segments of the population. Cleanliness and hygiene in hospitals are critical to preventing infections and also provide patients with a positive experience related to clean environment. “To do no harm” is the first principle of health care facilities and to ensure adherence to infection control practices. The objective is to promote cleanliness, hygiene and Infection Control Practices in Public Health Care Facilities.

DC Phek informs arms license holders

phek, February 15 (Dipr): The exercise of National digitalization of Arms Licenses has been carrying out by the Deputy Commissioners in the State and the last date for this exercise has been fixed on March 31 by the Government of India Ministry of Home Affairs, Delhi. Therefore, all the Arms License holders under Phek District have been informed to bring their respective Arms Licenses for digitalization Children in traditional attires line up during the Luira Phanti, before 31st March 2016.

Further, DC Phek, Muroho Seed Sowing festival of the Tangkhul Naga at Dimapur on Chotso has informed the Arms February 15. Photo by Caisii Mao

Fisheries Dept inaugurates fish kiosks

Dimapur, February 15 (Dipr): The Department of Fisheries has successfully inaugurated 4 (four) units of Fish Kiosks funded under NABARD (RIDF-XX) at Chekiye Village and Diphupar Village (2 units each) respectively on February 13.

The Department had proposed to establish Modern fish kiosks in the 11 (eleven) districts under negotiated loan from NABARD with an aim to improve and modernize the fish kiosk/outlet. The main objective of this project is to create infrastructures such as fish kiosks to provide good quality table fishes fit for human consumption.

Such facilities would also prevent severe spoilage of the fish; avoid chemical contamination and prevent mishandling and poor packaging that leads to spoilage of fishes.

The Department Officials were led by B.P.Chetri, Commissioner & Secretary, Fisheries Department and Zenohol Angami, Director of Fisheries and accompanied by Neitho-o Kuotsu, Deputy Director, Vimezo Kire Angami, CEO (FFDA), Dimapur, Khuyivi Sema, Asst Engineer and Rongsenkumzuk, Asst. Director.

License holders that the Arms License which are not digitalized before March 31 shall be declared cancelled and the weapons against such cancelled Arms licenses shall be treated as "illegal weapons" and the possession of such illegal weapons shall be liable to punish as per the appropriate sections laid down under Arms act.

Therefore, the public of Phek District have been informed to comply with the notice in order to avoid complication and legal liability against them.

Participants with others during the farmer scientist interaction programme organised by KVK Phek and sponsored

by ATMA Phek at Gidemi Village on February 12.

Dimapur, February 15 (mexN): A farmer scientist interaction programme was organised by KVK Phek and sponsored by ATMA Phek at Gidemi Village on February 12. The programme started with a presentation on crop rotation by T Esther Longkumer, ACTO (Soil Science) where she elaborated on the importance of crop rotation and its role in diversifying farm

income, improving soil health, yields and reducing insect and disease risk.

Liza B.Bharali, SMS (Plant Protection) delivered lecture on Insect-Pest and disease management in fruit crop, where she showed the different insect-pest and diseases affecting the fruit crops and its control measure.

Dr. Debojyoti Borkotoky, SMS (Animal Science) presented lec-

ture on importance of scientific feeding management of poultry birds.

After the lecture and presentation session, there was a farmer scientist interaction where the farmers and farmwomen actively participated. The interaction was a two way process between the resource persons and the participants. A total of 50 farmers participated in the programme.

Glimpses of Litem Village under Noksen sub division of Tuensang district. A new village church building (1947- 2016) was dedicated by A. Jonathan, Executive Secretary Chang Baptist Lashong Thangyen on February 6. (Photo Courtesy: Thiala Chang & Beshang Lemba Chang)

New church building

One of the oldest man of Litem

Jonathan dedicates new church building

A man enjoys an afternoon with his grandchildren

Partial view of Liitem

Jhum field

An old lady bids farewell to her grand daughter

TuesDAY 16•02•2016

NORTH-EAST

THE MORUNG EXPRESS

Arunachal Governor wasn't aggrieved party: SC New Delhi, February 15 (pti): Arunachal Pradesh Governor was not the aggrieved party, the Supreme Court said today as it focussed on the decisions of Governor J P Rajkhowa to advance the assembly session and fix the agenda of the House.

"In the facts of the case, the aggrieved party is either the Congress party or the MLAs (who had been disqualified by Speaker Nabam Rebia), then how does the Governor comes into picture, he is not aggrieved by anything," a five-judge constitution bench headed by Justice J S Khehar said.

The bench did not agree with the submission that the Speaker was under clout and hence, Governor was justified in fixing the agenda that the House should first decide as to whether Rebia enjoyed majority support as the Speaker or not.

"If Speaker was under clout, then these persons (disqualified

MLAs) were also under clout. The Speaker had the complaints from the (Congress) Party and he acted on it," the bench, also comprising justices Dipak Misra, M B Lokur, P C Ghose and N V Ramana, said.

Senior advocate Ashok Desai, who represented 10 MLAs including the Leader of Opposition, said the Governor is not an aggrieved party but a "decision making authority" which has discretionary powers under the Constitution.

During the hearing, the court wondered as to which of the two incidents -- running a minority government or running the House by a Speaker who has lost majority support, was more harmful to the democracy.

"We have to see which of these two incidents are more harmful to democracy, whether it's running of the government which is in minority or the running of the House by the Speaker who has

lost its confidence," it said.

The observation came after Desai justified the actions of Rajkhowa, saying he was compelled to act after the allegation against the Speaker came that he was "hand in glove with the Chief Minister and Congress party".

"There was an apprehension that the Speaker may disqualify the revolting MLAs who have expressed no confidence in him," Desai said.

The bench, hearing a batch of pleas on constitutional powers of the Governors, also observed during the hearing that it is in "dilemma" at this juncture as to who is correct.

The bench said, "Here are 14 MLAs who are subject to disqualification, and on the other side is the Speaker who is also subject to disqualification. Action can be taken either way but at this juncture we don't know."

The court further said it is also

3rd Zeliangrong prayer day on February 28 Dimapur, February 15 (mexN): The Zeliangrong Baudi (Assam Manipur & Nagaland) today appealed all the churches, irrespective of denominations, TRC Kalumkai, Heraka, Pou-Pei Chapriak, Champa, Pei (Thoubei), youth club, women societies and other faiths of Zeliangrong people to observe the “Third Zeliangrong Prayer Day” in any possible manner on February 28. The First and Second Zeliangrong Prayer Day were held in the last week of February on Sundays in the year 2014 and 2015.

According to a press note from ZB (AMN) General Secretary, Dr. Gairiangmei Maringmei the prayer day was organised in accordance to a

resolution of the 5th Dimki/Assembly Session of ZB (AMN) on December 6, 2013 and a resolution of the Central Executive Meeting of ZB (AMN) held on February 8, 2014.

These resolutions stated that the last Sunday of February every year would be observed as the “Zeliangrong Prayer Day” to seek the blessing of the Almighty God to “forgive and forget the past misdeeds of Zeliangrong people” and for the solidarity of Zeliangrong consanguinity, peace and prosperity.”

The Zeliangrong people should also pray for all the leaders of the frontal organizations and leaders of different faiths, it added.

IB officer murder accused killed in M'laya ShilloNg, February 15 (iaNS): Meghalaya's Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) commandos have killed a leader of a militant outfit involved in the kidnapping and murder of an Intelligence Bureau officer and a cloth merchant, police said on Monday.

The commandos shot dead Sengbath D. Shira, a senior member of the A'chik Songna An'pachakgipa Kotok (ASAK) militant outfit, on Sunday in Kemdang village in South Garo Hills

Manipur HC judge strength increased Our Correspondent Imphal | February 15

Justice Rakhesh Ranjan Prasad was sworn in as a Judge of High Court of Manipur on Monday.

President of India, Pranab Mukherjee after consultation with the Chief Justice of India recently issued an order to transfer Justice Rakhesh Ranjan Prasad, Judge of the Jharkhand High Court, as a Judge of the Manipur High Court. With this, the judge strength of the Manipur High Court has now increased to four.

The oath of office and secrecy to Justice Ranjan was administered by Manipur Chief Justice Laxmi Kanta Mohapatra and assumed charge of office in the court with immediate effect.

district, bordering Bangladesh, Inspector General of Police (Operations) G.H.P. Raju told IANS. However, six or seven militants escaped after a brief exchange of fire. "The combing operation is still on in the area and other adjoining areas to track the escaped militants," Raju said.

Shira was wanted by Meghalaya Police for the kidnapping and killing of Intelligence Bureau officer Bikash Singh and cloth merchant Kamal Saha on September 24, 2015, besides for

his involvement in several extortion and abduction cases.

ASAK militants kidnapped Singh and Saha, when they were travelling in a public vehicle towards Baghmara from Rongara.

The two bodies were recovered a month later. In the recent past, Meghalaya Police have arrested 3 militants for their involvement in the the killing. "We are still tracking the movement of the other ASAK militants involved directly and indirectly in the killings," Raju said.

Christian institute of health sciences and Research (Referral hospital) dimapur, Nagaland

Cleft lip & Palate Surgery and Consultation for Children Dr. Bona Shitiri, Surgeon specialized in cleft lip and palate surgery in children will be available for consultation and performing surgery in CIHSR. For appointment, Kindly contact: 03862-242555.

NO.NPSC/ESTT-2/2013

NAGAlANd PUBliC seRViCe CoMMissioN KOhIMA

not very clear whether the Governor has the discreationary power to summon the House or not.

"We are not very clear, whether he (governor) has the power to summon the House or was there an exceptional situation like a constitutional breakdown. We don't know at this juncture as in that way he will be the legislative in-charge," the bench said.

Desai submitted that even if it is not mentioned in the Constitution, the discretionary powers of the Governor are recognised.

"This is a power with the Governor which is not exercised regularly but it is available with him.

Normal rule is that he acts on aid and advice of chief minister and council of ministers. Even if the power is not mentioned in the Constitution, it is recognised," Desai argued and concluded his argument.

To this, the bench observed, "the discretionary powers of the

Governor cannot be blatant or absolute."

On February 11, the apex court had critically examined a decision of Arunachal Pradesh Governor J P Rajkhowa ordering maintenance of the party-wise position of MLAs in the assembly and said he had "no role to play" in it, as the anti-defection aspect fell under the domain of the Speaker.

Observing that democracy was part of the basic structure of the Constitution, the bench had said, hence, any "undemocratic" decision would be open to judicial review.

Senior advocate T R Andhyarijuna, appearing for Rajkhowa, had defended the Governor's decisions saying when the Speaker was under clout and part of a conspiracy with the state government, the Governor exercised his discretionary power which is "undefined" in the Constitution.

MNP calls for fresh MCS exam notification Dimapur, February 15 (mexN): The Meitei Nationalist Party strongly today contended that the Manipur Public Service Commission had make “mockery of the people and unemployed youths of Manipur” by allowing almost 50% outside applicants to sit for MCS (Manipur Civil Services) 2015 Preliminary Examination.

In this regard, a MNP press note demanded that the MPSC declare the previous notification for the exam as “null and void” with immediate effect and issue a new one adding that the MCS 2015 examination under the new notification must be held within 2 months of the announcement of the new notification.

It also called including Manipuri as a compulsory paper to pass in MCS examination and a mandatory condition of domicile in Manipur as an essential condition to sit for MCS preliminary examination.

“MPSC should remain as Manipur Public Service Commission and not as Non-Manipur Public Service Commission” it argued adding that MPSC must restrict any outsider from appearing in any examination conducted by MPSC

now and in future.

The Founding President of MNP, B. Angousana Sharma further that warned “If MPSC does not include the two mandatory conditions - Domicile of Manipur in Preliminary examination in its online/ offline form application submission & (ii) Manipuri Language to pass in Main Examination” then MNP and its national students’ wing MNSUI (Meitei Nationalist Students’ Union of India) “will go ahead to close MPSC ofrever."

“The suffering after closing MPSC must be compensated by both Manipur state and Union of India Governments,” it added.

MNSUI will go for a protest march in New Delhi to demanding for the scrapping the examination, it informed and also submit a memorandum to the President, Prime Minister, MoS (Department of Personnel and Training), Governor of Manipur and Chief Minister of Manipur demanding the same.

MNP with its students’ wing MNSUI will ensure that MCS 2015 is not conducted by MPSC on February 28, 2016 under the existing notification, it added.

stAtEMENt Of APOLOGY This statement of apology is being tendered in relation to the Graduate Certificate issued to Shri. Neiphiu Rio. 1. That, Shri. Neiphiu Rio graduated from Kohima College, Kohima in the year 1978 as per the records of the college. The college issued a Provisional Passed Certificate on his request on 4th December, 2012 with Serial No. 1480, bearing Roll No. 436 in the year 1978 under NEHU. 2. The said certificate was issued wrongly as BA Passed with Political Science Honours instead of BA General Pass Course.

3. The certificate was rectified and a Provisional BA Pass Certificate was issued to him on 9th Oct. 2015.

In this regard, the college authority express its regret for the error committed and tender apology to Shri. Neiphiu Rio for the inconvenience created.

(DR. WATIJUNGSHI), PRINCIPAL, KOHIMA COLLEGE

Dated Kohima, the 15th February 2016

FELICITATION The Nagaland Public Service Commission extend its Heartiest Congratulation to Mr. Churatho Katiry, Superintendent, NPSC for receiving Governor's Commendation Certificate on Republic Day 2016.

All the Best for your future endeavour and may you achieve every success in your life.

Sd/-(SARAH R. RITSE) Secretary, Nagaland Public Service Commission Kohima

GoVeRNMeNt of NAGAlANd

MUNICIPAL AffAIRs DEPARtMENt NAGALAND : KOhIMA

NO. MA-68/2015 (Pt-I)

Dated : 15/02/2016

NOTIFICATION

In pursuance of this Department’s Advertisement, Vide No. MA68/2015 (Pt.-I), dated 27/01/2016, it is hereby informed to all the applicants that the interview for filling up of the various posts under the State Level Technical Cell (Housing for All Mission) will be held as per the tentative time slot and date given below against the respective post as under:SL. Name of the Post Date & Time No. 1. Housing Finance and Policy Special- 10:00 Am to 11:00 Am on 19/02/2016 ist & Municipal Finance Specialist 2. Capacity Development Specialist 11:00 Am to 12:00 Noon on 19/02/2016 3. MIS Specialist 12:00 Noon to 2:30 Pm on 19/02/2016 4. Environmental Specialist 2:30 Pm to 3:30 Pm on 19/02/2016 5. Social Development Specialist 10:00 Am onwards on 20/02/2016 Sd/- (Dr. Maongwati Aier), IAS Secretary to the Govt. of Nagaland

IMMANUEL COLLEGE DIMAPUR: NAGALAND.

(Permanently Affiliated to Nagaland University and Recognised under 2(f) & 12B of the UGC Act 1956)

CONGRATULATIONS We can do all things through Christ, who strengthens us.

We the Immanuel College family express our immense joy and appreciation to the students of B.Sc. 2nd 4th & 6th semesters for bagging first position in Quiz, Debate, Photography and Group Song Competitions out of the total 9 events during the ‘Eureka Science Festival’ held on 11th & 12th February 2016 at St. Joseph’s College Jakhama.

We also acknowledge and appreciate the immense contribution of the faculty members of Botany and Zoology departments in this achievement. May God continue to bless and guide you all to use your talents and bring honour and glory to Him. Principal

ChRIstIAN INstItUtE Of hEALth sCIENCEs ANd ReseARCh (RefeRRAl hosPitAl) DIMAPUR, NAGALAND

Training for Children with Learning difficulties and Special needs Special Education facility for children with the following difficulties is initiated for children below the age of 18 years.

1. Intellectual disability – Mental Retardation 2. Autism 3. Specific Learning Disability – SLD 4. Cerebral Palsy - CP 5. Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder - ADHD The facility is under the guidance of a dedicated team of qualified specialists that includes Special Teachers, Psychologist, Speech Therapist, Physiotherapist, Nurse and Pediatrician.

Only limited seats are available. Admission is on first come first served basis.

Interested parents may contact Dr. Y. Simpson, Developmental Paediatrics unit, Phone: 09443487900 or Ms. Orentsani, Phone: 7085687081

3

SDSA denounces Manipur Police commandos’ action SeNapati, February 15 (mexN): Senapati District Students’ Association (SDSA) has denounced the acts of Manipur Police commandos on February 14, where Naga Students’ Federation (NSF) officials on their way to Ukhrul from Kohima via Senapati to attend the Lui-Ngai-Ni festival were “roughed up and assaulted.”

“Lui-ngai-Ni is regarded as a great occasion for the Nagas and the disturbances caused to anyone partaking in the festival is highly regrettable, but is “doubly” hurting our sentiments in this particular incident because the Naga Students leaders who were officially invitees were harassed on their way to the festival,” stated a press note from SDSA General Secretary, Newman Polah. With growing of such instances, the students’ body said, Imphal city’s alleged cosmopolitanism is called to account.

Viewing the harassment meted out to the apex Naga student leaders as an injury to all the Nagas, SDSA questioned the intention of the Police in selectively stopping the NSF officials’ vehicle which had NL registration number plate. “Even after disclosing their identities and the purpose of their official trip for Lui-Ngai-Ni, the Manipur Police commandos had continued to detain, harass and creating fear psychosis to the Student leaders by calling in reinforcement on the spot,” the release alleged.

In light of the view that the incident may provoke unwanted situation, SDSA stated the Home Department should initiate necessary action upon all the police personnel involved in the “immoral ways of policing.”

“By initiating strict discipline instructions to the city police personnel, the Imphal city’s alleged cosmopolitanism can be accounted,” it said. “Failing to reign in police cadres for moral policing will create the impression that Imphal Valley of the day has failed to uphold the tolerance of differences.”

MORtGAGE NOtICE We the undersigned do hereby give Press Notice that we will Mortgaged 2 Excavators L.Q.T.P.C (300) at 70 km, DZULHAMI VILLAGE belong to MAYTAS GAYATRI Company for nonpayments of our salaries and other expenses which have amounted to Rs. 8,69,000/- (Rupees Eight Lakhs Sixty Nine Thousand) only if the said dues are not paid within one month from the date of publication of this notice.

Place: Dzulhami Village (Vekhozo Shijo) Watchman

(Sokhwulhu Vasa) Watchman

(Rajen Suba) Storekeeper

4

TuesDAY 16•02•2016

Business

THE MORUNG EXPRESS

India’s manufacturing is actually picking up: Govt MuMbai, February 15 (iaNS): The government on Monday said India’s manufacturing is picking up and that there is an erroneous impression of slack in the sector.

“Manufacturing is actually picking up. The last quarter figure showed that the country’s GDP growth will be over seven percent. It also revealed that manufacturing is growing over 9%,” Commerce Minister Nirmala Sitharaman told reporters here on the sidelines of the Make in India Week event. She said a “perception is going around in the circle” which has been made without looking at those figures.

Referring to the controversy over the new methodology introduced last year for calculating the country’s national income, the minister said the investment offers and agreements signed so far in the Make in India Week are an indicator that manufacturing is gaining traction.

“There can be a lot of discussions about the methodology, the process of getting the numbers and there is no harm in discussing. But, of course, ultimately if there is no doubt after the due discussions, we have to settle somewhere and start believing rather than keep the discussions going on,” she said.

“At the end of the day, you are not able to sit and work on numbers because you question everything,” Sitharaman added. The Central Statistics Office (CSO) has projected a growth rate of 7.6 percent for the

DoT to make local-language support in mobiles mandatory New Delhi, February 15 (PTi): The Department of Telecom (DoT) is likely to come out with regulations in 3-4 months that will make it mandatory for mobile phones to support Hindi and at least one regional language.

The move is aimed at making users communicate in local languages and access government services like e-payment through mobile phones.

“Three months down the line, there will be a regulation that will make every mobile phone sold in

Saksharta Abhiyan (DISHA)’ to impart IT training for digital literacy.

The scheme aims to make a person IT literate so that he or she can operate digital devices such as mobile phones, tablets and the like and send and receive emails and search the internet for information.

Besides IT literacy at a higher level, under the scheme, the citizens will be trained to effectively access various e-governance services being offered by the government and other agencies.

India mandatory to have English, Hindi and one regional language,” a senior DoT official said.

The official said that to make Digital India a success, “broadband cannot be limited to English-speaking middle and upper class Indians and it needs to go down to rural areas”.

Currently, there are many mobile phones available in the market which support regional languages.

The government is also running a programme called ‘Digital

Postal dept has overtaken SBI on digital connectivity

India’s annual wholesale rate of inflation declined marginally to (-)0.90 percent for January from (-)0.73 percent for the month before. (REUTERS Photo)

current financial year.

Meanwhile, data on the index of industrial production (IIP) last week showed India’s factory output declined again in December by 1.3 percent. There was a growth of 3.6 percent in December 2014.

Although the December output growth continued to be in the negative as compared to 3.6 percent growth in December 2014, it was somewhat better than the 3.42 percent decline registered in the month before.

December IIP was dragged lower by a 2.4 percent drop in manufacturing activity. Also, official data on Monday showed that India’s annual wholesale rate of inflation de-

clined marginally to (-)0.90 percent for January from (-)0.73 percent for the month before. It was the 15th straight month since November 2014 that deflationary pressure persisted and wholesale inflation has remained in the negative zone.

Commenting on the data, the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (Ficci) said the persistence of deflationary conditions reflected continued moderation in demand.

“This combined with two consecutive months of negative IIP growth point towards strain in industrial activity,” Ficci Secretary General A. Didar Singh said in a statement in Delhi.

New Delhi, February 15 (PTi): The postal department has surpassed the country’s largest lender, SBI, in terms of digital connectivity even before its payments bank launch, Union IT and Communications Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad today said.

“The core banking solution (CBS) or digital connectivity of the postal department has surpassed the State Bank of India’s digital connectivity,” Prasad said at a special session on the third day of the ongoing Make in India week here.

There are over 1.50 lakh post offices across the country, of which 1.25 lakh are in rural areas, and the department had embarked on CBS connec-

tivity a few years ago. The department is all set to launch a payments bank

by March 2017.

SBI Chairman Arundhati Bhattacharya had in the past expressed reservations about the entry of payments banks.

The postal department has got in-principle nod to start a payments bank, along with 10 other players, including corporate houses like the Mahindras, the Birlas, Reliance Industries and telecom firms with a deeper distribution network such as Bharti Airtel.

The successful applicants have been given 18 months to start operations.

They are required to present a final plan of operation to the Reserve Bank of In-

Govt expects $1 tn investment in power by 2030 EXCEL COACHING & COMPUTER CENTRE MuMbai, February 15 (iaNS): tract investment of around $1 billion. DeThe central government said on Monday it expects nearly $1 trillion investment in India’s power sector by the year 2030, including in coal and renewable energy. “The efforts of the government have ushered the power sector in a new level of growth altogether which provides for the sector a possible investment opportunity between 2015 and 2020 of about $250 billion,” union Power Minister Piyush Goyal said at the ongoing Make in India Week event.

“When I extrapolate that to a 15-year programme, until 2030, the coal, power and renewable sector alone provides $1 trillion opportunity. In fact the ADB has calculated a $2.3 trillion opportunity by 2035,” he added.

He said that in the short term till 2020 the renewable energy sector alone will at-

Canon unveils new DSLR camera at Rs 4,55,995 Tokyo, February 15 (ageNcieS): Japanese multinational corporation Canon has launched the EOS-1D X MARK II, priced at Rs 455,995. The camera will be available in India for sale from April this year. Some of the features of the camera include extremely precise shots at high speed, improved to EV-3, autofocusing, etc. The cost of the DSLR is expected to be around Rs 4,55,995.

Canon has given their 2012 DSLR model a major revamp, with the release of the EOS-1D X Mark II. This latest addition finally lets photographers shoot 60fps in 4K, while 120fps in 1080p delivers more slow-motion possibilities. An essential device for enthusiasts who like to capture the outdoors, the EOS-1D X Mark II adopts a 61-point autofocus system, with every AF dot supporting an f/8 max aperture.

This new generation also features a 20.2-megapixel full-frame CMOS sensor, Dual DIGIC 6+ processors, up to 51,200 native ISO, and a 14fps looped shooting mode.

Although the sleek gadget gets the touchscreen treatment, it is only limited to video use, which allows you tap on it to focus with the Dual Pixel CMOS AF, but that’s it – no browsing the menus or zooming in on photos with the touch of a finger. The EOS-1D X Mark II is set to launch in April , with a price tag of $6,300 USD for the full kit that includes a 64GB CFast card and reader.

Snapdeal raises $200 mn from various investors New Delhi, February 15 (iaNS): Online marketplace Snapdeal said on Monday it raised $200 million from investors led by Canada’s Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan and funds advised by Iron Pillar. “We see these investments as a continuing endorsement of Snapdeal’s strategy to build India’s most reliable and frictionless commerce ecosystem,” said a company statement, quoting Chief Financial Officer Anup Vikal.

The company said it continued to make targeted investments in building internal and external capabilities that would enable it to deliver optimal experience for the millions of buyers and sellers who transact daily on Snapdeal. Founded in 2010, Snapdeal has more than 275,000 sellers, 30 million plus products and a reach covering 6,000 plus towns and cities across India. In its journey so far, Snapdeal has partnered with several global investors and individuals such as SoftBank, BlackRock, Temasek, Foxconn, Alibaba, eBay Inc., Premji Invest, Intel Capital, Bessemer Venture Partners, and Ratan Tata.

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dImAPUR Civil Hospital:

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Metro Hospital: Faith Hospital:

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Shamrock Hospital

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Zion Hospital:

231864, 224117, 227337

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

228400

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242555/ 242533

Apollo Hospital Info Centre:

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Railway:

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kOhImA

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

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claring that the government believes it needs to focus energies on efficiency, the minister said: “We will have to address the severe problem of losses in surplus labour being used, losses in the transmission side, power thefts.

“Our focus on energy efficiency by increasing the use of LED will attract an investment of $5-7 billion. We have taken a huge step in replacing the street lights with LED bulbs. This initiative will help us save nearly 100 billion units of electricity and ensure nearly Rs.40,000 crore savings annually”. “We are confident that the initiatives like UDAY (Ujwal Discom Assurance Yojana), the tariff policy, efforts for bringing transparency in coal auction, the coal-swapping policy, the one nation one grid initiative will help us achieve this target,” he added.

medical electronics as the sub-sectors full with opportunities. Prasad sees the target of having 500 million Internet users advancing by one year to 2016-end instead of 2017.

In the same vein, the minister said he is sensitive to the demand on the skilling front and added that over 1,200 doctoral candidates in 80 select universities will be benefiting under a special scheme.

dia before final nod.

Speaking at the special session on IT and electronics, Prasad appealed all to invest more in the country, saying India will be a USD 1 trillion opportunity for digital companies in five years.

He elaborated that electronics will be a USD 350 billion industry while IT, IT-enabled services and e-commerce would bring in USD 350 billion and USD 250 billion for the communication sector.

The minister said electronics and IT manufacturing are also crucial for the success of flagship programmes such as Startup India and Digital India.

He listed consumer, defence, automobile and

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2226214

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2226216 2226263

Hotel Metsüpen (Tourist Lodge):

2226373/2229343

TAHAMzAM (formerly Senapati) STD CoDE: 03871 Police Station: Fire Brigade

CURRENCY NOTES

222246 222491

BUY(Rs)

SELL(Rs)

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

66.60 96.58 8.28 47.53 47.4 48.14 58.2

69.61 101.26 9.22 49.85 49.75 50.51 61.48

Euro

74.62

78.24

Thai Baht Korean Won UAE Dirham (AED) Chinese Yuan

1.8

2.01

0.0532

0.0592

17.55

19.54

9.89

11.01

TuesdAY 16•02•2016

NAGALAND

Rich tributes paid to educationist JN Aier CondolenCes offered

Late JN Aier

Mokokchung, February 15 (Mexn): Thousands of people from all walks of life paid respect to Late JN Aier during his funeral service held at his residence in Mokokchung’s Yajang ‘C’ village on February 13. Aier passed away at the age of 99 on February 12.

The funeral service saw many people fondly narrating the intellect and integrity of the departed soul, according to a press report from Aso Imsong. They also narrated immense contributions of Late JN Aier in

Mokokchung, February 15 (Mexn): Tiameren, former minister, Er. Limayanger, ex-MLA, and Er Saku Aier, former Parliamentary Secretary of 30th Alongtaki A/C have expressed surprise at the demise of JN Aier on February 12 at his native village Yajang 'C'.

“The vacuum left due to sudden demise of late. J.N Aier will be difficult to fill in this present world,” said the three in a condolence note. the socio-economic and religious fields, not only in the Japukong range but also whole of Nagaland.

Rich tributes were paid by representatives from Yajang ‘C’ Baptist Church, where Aier served as Pastor cum Church Secretary during 1987-91. The Church remembered the contributions and services of Aier towards the development of the church.

Representatives from Japukong Citizens’ Union (JSS) and Japukong Stu-

They described Aier as the pioneer educationist of Japukong under Mokokchung district.

Aier was a sensible teacher who taught thousands of students and put them in good status, he was a social worker in every field, a selfless person who worked for social well being, it was noted.

He was also a leader of farmers who taught other farmers about the latest modern farming tech-

dents’ Union (JKM) also recollected the contributions of Late JN Aier, who was instrumental in the formation of the two unions back in 1930’s and 1940’s respectively.

Representatives from the International Evangelical Fellowship (IEF) and Ao Baptist Church Council (ABAM) also paid rich tribute to the departed soul and also remembered his contributions towards the development of the church in the Japukong range and

niques, the note said.

“He had a vision of educating his people freely. He also turned down higher status job from government,” it added. “Late Aier had lot of desire in his life, including human resources, which were all accomplished.”

The three former MLAs further conveyed condolences to Parliamentary Secretary Dr. Benjongliba and his family.

also in different Ao areas.

Besides the relatives, representatives from Alongtaki Village Council, Lirmen village Council, Yajang Kiyong Pezu Yimten and Yajang ‘C’ Village council also spoke at the funeral service.

Retired Director of Soil & Water Conservation, Government of Nagaland, Imkongmar, who spoke on behalf of the Imsongunger Mungdang, paid rich tribute to Aier, who was the second president of the Mungdang in 1945. The retired

director pointed out the immense trouble Aier took during the formative years of the Imsongunger Mungdang. He said the contributions of Aier and his contemporaries have enabled the Mungdang to reach its present stage today.

A former student of Late JN Aier, Chubatemjen Ao, former Minister, also paid tribute to his late teacher and said that it was because of his dedication towards the development of education that many young

students could realize their dreams. Another former student, and former State Minister Tiameren Aier, praised his late teacher for his enthusiasm towards education and his deep concern for his students.

Condolence messages from Nagaland Chief Minister, TR Zeliang and Advisor to CM, Merentoshi R Jamir were read out by Dr Longri. ADC Mangkolemba, Imtiwapang Aier also read out the condolence message from the Governor of Odisha, Dr SC Jamir and Clark Memorial Hr Sec School, Impur.

Meanwhile, Parliamentary Secretary for Agriculture, Dr Benjongliba Aier (son), speaking on behalf of the family, expressed gratitude to all who stood by the family in their darkest hour.

Late JN Aier is survived by his wife, eight children (five sons and three daughters), and dozens of grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

Tangkhuls celebrate Luira in Dimapur DiMapur, February 15 (Mexn): Former minister of Roads & Bridges and MLA, Kuzholuzo (Azo) Neinu said Nagas tend to encroach on other’s interest while trying to protect one’s pride and this is one reason for division among the Naga community.

The division among us has hindered in achieving the long cherished dream, he said adding that if Nagas are united, no force on earth can prevent from achieving Nagas’ dream for self determination. He therefore appealed to the gathering to stand united and support the Peace Accord signed on August 3, 2015 between GoI and NSCN-IM. Azo was addressing

the Tangkhul community in Dimapur as chief guest during the Luira festival at Jotsoma community hall, Kuda village on Monday.

Also stating that Tangkhuls and Chakhesangs are immediate neighbours, he propounded on the Christian principle – ‘love your neighbor’ in order to live in peace and harmony by doing away the ‘ism’.

“Even we are not united there is a way to solve our problem and that’s our faith in the same God,” he stated.

“Are we really living a true Christian life?” he challenged and also guaranteed that Nagas’ dream to become one family will become a reality if the Christian principle is upheld.

Therefore, Azo appealed to the august gathering to live above tribalism and lead a true Christian life.

Mention may be made here that Luira (Seed sowing festival), which is celebrated on February 15 every year, is one of the most important festivals of the Tangkhuls. Earlier, the celebration continued for 10 days. During the festival, the village chief declares that every one can start sowing seeds.

The main highlights of the day were tug-of-war, fancy dress and folksong competitions among 5 colonies that is – Kuda village, Wungram, Darogajan, Diphupar and Patkai.

AR hands away equipment to Faith In Action

MEx FILE Governor summons assembly sessions kohiMa, February 15 (Mexn): Governor of Nagaland, PB Acharya, has summoned the eleventh session of the twelfth Nagaland Legislative Assembly on March 15, 9:30 am in the Assembly Hall, Kohima.

ACCC of 6th Tening A/C dissolved peren, February 15 (Mexn): As per the directive of the Nagaland Pradesh Congress Committee (NPCC), District Congress Committee (DCC), Peren has dissolved the ACCC of 6th Tening A/C with immediate effect. A press release from President, DCC Peren, Aluibe further informed that the meeting for reorganization of ACCC of the 6th Tening A/C will be held on February 19 at the residence of the President, DCC Peren, in Samziuram at 10:00 am. All DCC, ACCC and unit executives have been requested to attend the meeting.

ANDAMSA emergency meeting DiMapur, February 15 (Mexn): An emergency meeting of All Nagaland District Administration Ministerial Staff Association (ANDAMSA) has been convened on February 19, 10:30 am in the conference hall of Deputy Commissioner, Kohima to discuss various issues pertaining to the association. Hence, all the concerned central office bearers, superintendent, HAs of all districts and 2 (two) representatives have been requested to attend the meeting along with the employees’ list and membership fees for their respective district.

NNC/FGN forms NNC Working Committee DiMapur, February 15 (Mexn): The NNC/FGN has formed NNC Working Committee to oversee the NNC general session in its joint meeting held on February 15. The purpose of the NNC general session is to deliberate on the present political situation amongst the Nagas; to elect/ select new NNC Executive; and also to initiate talks with the other Naga Political Groups, stated a press release from Zhopra Vero, Kedallo, FGN. The members of the NNC Working Committee are: Thepushuyi S. Keyho – Convenor; V. Nagi – Secretary; Gen. (Retd.) TM Keyho – Member; Zhopra Vero – Member; Zapuvisie Lhousa – Member; Z. Royim – Member; P. Puthai Lam – Member; Yilow Humtsoe – Member; ChoNaga Traditional Cultural Committee (Mandalay) participated at the 69th Union Day sel – Member. celebration. As part of the celebration, the Naga Ethnic Group participated at 5th Ethnic Groups Sales Event, where they sold Naga traditional clothes and Naga traditional food at Shan Ethnic Social Welfare Society’s office from February 10 to 12.

PTSU requests for restraint to maintain peace pungro, February 15 (Mexn): Pungro Town Students’ Union (PTSU) today appealed to all the head of institutions and school authorities of Pungro Town to extend assistance to the displaced families through accommodation in their respective institutions and also to duly acknowledge by granting them admittance.

In a press release, the students’ union also expressed dismay at the killing of a couple in Shamator

on February 6 by unidentified person(s). At the same time, it expressed regret that the situation escalated when the public took law into their hands.

“Had the public repose their faith in State law mechanism, the series of ugly incidents could have been thwarted,” stated the press release from PTSU President, Solomon.

The union has requested all concerned for utmost restraint to maintain peace

and tranquility in order to enable the students appear their exam in a conducive atmosphere.

Meanwhile, it expressed gratitude to Pungro XI for organizing free coaching class for students appearing HSLC examination in Pungro. The union also lauded the noble initiative of the Chairman, NBSE for arranging temporary HSSLC Examination Centre in Pungro for displaced students.

Untrained teachers under SDEO Mkg informed Mokokchung, February 15 (Mexn): All the untrained Graduate and Primary Teachers, both regular and adhoc, who were appointed with below 45% marks under the establishment of the Sub-Divisional Education Officer (SDEO), Mokokchung have been informed to submit their appointment order along with relevant mark sheets latest by February 29, 2016 at the office of the SDEO, Mokokchung during office hour.

excise personnel seize ganja in Kohima

CAPF condemns ‘animosity act’ on social media Commander, 6 Sector Assam Rifles during distribution of martial arts equipment to Faith In Action Foundation.

DiMapur, February 15 (Mexn): Faith In Action Foundation was presented with taekwondo equipment by the 37 Assam Rifles under the aegis of headquarter 6 sector, Assam Rifles. The training equipments worth Rs. 2 lakhs was handed over

to the Faith In Action team on February 15 at the 32 Assam Rifles camp in Dimapur.

Stating it was part of the AR’s civic action programme, the equipments were handed away by Brig.

Brijesh Dhiman, Commander, 6 Sector, Assam

Rifles in the presence of members of the Assam Rifles Wives Welfare Association led by its president, Vidhika Dhiman. Faith in Action Foundation meanwhile extended appreciation to the AR for the charitable gesture.

Tuensang, February 15 (Mexn): Chessore Area Public Forum (CAPF) has condemned “the animosity act, which is summarized through a nark image and harsh comments, and is circulating on social media, signifying prejudice to Yimchunger community.”

In a press statement,

BJYM protests “anti-India slogan” at JnU

BJYM and BJP workers of Nagaland rally against “anti national activities” in JNU, New Delhi in Dimapur on February 15.

DiMapur, February 15 (Mexn): Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM), Nagaland unit today organized a protest rally here against what it termed “anti-India slogan” raised in Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) campus, New Delhi.

Speaking at the rally, President BJP Nagaland, Visasolie Lhoungu, condemned the “anti-India slogan” raised in the JNU cam-

pus, stated a press release issued by Media Cell, BJYM Nagaland unit. “We will not tolerate anti national activities,” Lhoungu asserted and called upon the people to stand united and protect the country for the common benefit of the people.

Meanwhile, General Secretary, BJYM Nagaland, Arvind Damani, criticized Rahul Gandhi for “trying to malign the image of Narendra Modi led NDA govern-

ment at centre.” He urged every responsible citizen to stop sympathizing with terrorism and promote nationalism in the larger interest of the nation’s people, the release said.

Others who spoke at the rally were ST Morcha National Vice President, Johnny Rengma, Vice President, BJYM Nagaland, Vikuho Dominic, Vice President, BJYM Nagaland, Mukibur Rehman. All the speakers

condemned the incident that happened in JNU on February 9 and demanded to take strong action against the “anti-national elements.”

The BJYM workers along with BJP leaders marched to the office of the DCP Dimapur and submitted a representation addressed to the Home Minister, Government of India, through Deputy Commissioner, Dimapur.

CAPF stated, “In the midst of bewildered imbroglio between the Naga brothers and sisters, such act creates a sense of hostility between the peaceful environments of other Naga family and disrupts Naga society.”

Therefore, CAPF urged the educated young people to give constructive ideas at this juncture instead of de-

structive suggestion.

The statement issued

by CAPF President, Akhum and General Secretary, K. Keyoungkhum further suggested to the general public to give utmost cooperation to the investigation team to catch the perpetrators of the February 6 killing of a husband-couple Narola and Alemba Sangtam.

DPDB Wokha monthly meeting held Wokha, February 15 (Dipr): The District Planning & Development Board (DPDB) of Wokha today discussed the delay in commissioning of radio transmission station in Wokha and requested the District Public Relations Officer (DPRO) to submit the status report for further deliberation.

The discussion was made during the monthly DPDB meeting held at DC conference hall, which was chaired by Vice Chairman, DPDB & DC Wokha, A. Robin Lotha.

Meanwhile, the board deferred the proposal put

up by Lotha Hoho for nonfunctioning of State government schools under Wokha district till the next meeting.

With regard to maintenance and non-functioning of high mast light, the board requested the Project Director, DRDA to initiate enquiry and submit the same in the next meeting. Officer concerned of the Wokha Town Council was also directed to submit detail report about their activities.

During the meeting, PowerPoint presentation was presented by District Education Officer about the department’s activities.

Excise personnel with the accused Moayanger Jamir.

kohiMa, February 15 (Mexn): Excise personnel manning Khuzama excise check gate in Kohima district today seized 49.5 kg of ganja from one Moayanger Jamir (35).

According to excise department, around 7:30 am, the Kohima Excise personnel manning the Khuzama interstate check gate detected the ganja from a private car (Hyundai Getz registration number NL 08 1036).

Jamir had sped away when he was signaled to stop at the check gate.

The excise personnel, namely Zaselatuo, Vekuto and Nganvang, pursued the suspected car and stopped it at Khuzama village area.

The ganja was found hidden in the vehicle.

Moayanger Jamir was immediately arrested observing all the formalities and

brought to the office of the Superintendent of Excise Kohima. The seizure was made under the command of AIE Vipral.

According to excise department, Moayanger Jamir claimed ownership of the contraband. He disclosed that the consignment was bought at Rs 700 per kg from Senapati, Manipur.

Hence, Prima Facie case has been registered against Moayanger Jamir for violation of NDPS Act 1985 and charged U/S 20(b)(ii)C, and 60 of the NDPS Act 1985.

The seized vehicle (NL08- 1036) has been forwarded to the court along with the accused. Meanwhile, the seized ganja is kept in the office Malkhana for record and future reference. The case is now under investigation, according to excise department.

one arrested with opium, two with ganja

DiMapur, February 15 (Mexn): Dimapur Police under Zone-II arrested one person identified as Tsatongse Sangtam from GS Road, Dimapur for possession of around two kg of Opium on February 11.

Informing this in a press release, PRO, Dimapur Police said that a case under the NDPS Act has been registered against the accused and is under investigation.

Meanwhile, on February 8, Women Cell arrested two persons with ganja at Railway Station. The accused Manu Kumar and Shyamrati Chaudari, both from Bihar, were found in possession of 27 kg of contraband ganja, which were found neatly wrapped as gifts in 10 packets. In this connection, a case has been registered under the NDPS Act and is under investigation.

Five arrested regarding bike theft The press release further informed that four persons have been arrested in connection with recovery of a motorcycle found plying with fake registration plates and also possession of fake smart cards. On February 6, personnel under East Police Station Dimapur seized one Bajaj Discover from the possession of one Khetoka

Yepthomi. Investigation into the case led to the arrest of other co-accused identified as Vinoto Sumi, Botoi Awomi, and Nito Kiba.

In another incident, personnel of East Police Station recovered one Bajaj Pulsar motorcycle bearing Registration NL-07 M 5797, which was reported stolen on 30.09.2015. In this connection, one person identified as Gifto Kiho was arrested.

6

tuesDAY 16•02•2016

IN FOCUS

THE MORUNG EXPRESS

The Power of Truth

The Morung Express volume Xi issue 44

A Peace Lens for the Media

T

he power of the media cannot be denied. It was the activist Malcolm X who put this power into perspective when he so eloquently observed: “The media's the most powerful entity on earth. They have the power to make the innocent guilty and to make the guilty innocent, and that's power. Because they control the minds of the masses.”

It is, therefore, ironic to point out that in human history the media's impact on the escalation of conflict is more widely recognized than the media's impact on peace-building. History is replete with glaring cases where the media has been used to incite people toward violence. For instance: Rwanda's radio Radio-Television Libre des Mille Collines (RTLMC) urged listeners to pick up machetes and take to the streets to kill what they called 'the cockroaches.' Broadcasters in the Balkans polarized local communities to the point where violence became an acceptable tool for addressing grievances.

Adolf Hitler used the media to create an entire worldview of hatred for Jews and other minority groups. Among the defendants during the Nuremburg trials after the Second World War was one Julius Streicher who although never held any official position within the Nazi party, was considered to be among the top individuals who bore the greatest responsibility for the holocaust. For close to twenty five years, Streicher as an Editor had “educated” the German people through propaganda which was primarily done through the medium of his newspaper.

Nonetheless, it is not uncommon for people to say that media's impact on peace-building needs to be significant given its influence on conflict. There is no doubt that the influence of the media in the global arena has increasingly been recognized, more so its power to either escalate or contain potential conflicts. Yet, the role of the media in the conflict, as well as its ability to facilitate peace has not been adequately tackled. Its role is compounded by government censorship and domination by interests of owners, companies and corporate entities.

It is not wrong to say that the media plays contradictory but important roles at every stage of their trajectory. Hence, if it can be said that the media contributes in breeding violence and supporting forces that leads to violent conflict, it can also be said that the media has the power to stop violence and influence activities that promote peace in the society. It is a question that needs to be determined by each media house.

And, therefore, the important question, what values does each media house stand for?

The challenge of the media in the context of peacebuilding is many. For instance, the media faces an uphill task to exercise the right to freedom of the press in situations of fragile democracies, where politics, poverty, corruption, tribalism, factionalism and identity-based conflicts are prevalent. In such conditions it is imperative that the media itself does not become a victim of psychological warfare (rumors, confusion and division). Most importantly, the need for media houses to overcome a paradigm driven and motivated by economic gains remains one of the primary challenges in its pursuit to be a value based media. This raises the fundamental question on whether conflict-driven media sell more than peace-centered media. It is a question the readers themselves will have to determine.

Notwithstanding the challenges, it has become far more important for the media in today’s troubling context to take a conscious and prudent stand on issues of war and peace. For this, the media needs to evolve out from the traditional understanding of reporting and to become more engaged with people and issues that affect their lives.

A good place to begin this transition is for the media to become more proactive in systematically monitoring the performance of the State and its institutions and reporting activities of the government to establish accountability and transparency on issues of democracy, justice, freedom, structural violence and violations of human rights. The media needs to deliberately enhance and empower public participation to determine themselves on issues of value based self-governance and democracy while consciously educating the public on the natural link between justice, peace, human rights and human security.

In instances of specific conflicts of interest the media can educate the parties about each other's interests, needs, and core values. The media may itself assist in reframing the issues in ways that make the conflict more tractable and in formulating various options to resolving it. Towards this end, the media can help educate the conflicting parties and the public about existing peacebuilding resources and share learning lessons and reflections of other people’s experiences. In creating awareness, critical solidarity and public participation the media can create conditions that will help in achieving balance of power between the parties so that democratic dialogue is possible.

At its heart, a peace lens for the media involves partnering with peoples and communities towards building trust, accountability and by creating safe and public spaces for sharing experiences and truth telling. In doing so, the media can play a role in deflating rumors and propaganda and in particular psychological warfare being used by the different stakeholders.

Essentially it is about cultivating critical consciousness and nurturing values of a shared humanity to enable a bottom-up approach to a justpeace and creatively enabling a paradigm shift for a new imagination where people are no longer the objects, but makers of their own history.

It is for each media organization and media house to make a conscious, free and informed value-based decision on questions of justice, peace and human security. Question is, whether it has the moral courage and political will to take this path.

lEfT wiNg |

Source: IANS

Human labour may be obsolete by 2045

W

ithin 30 years, machines will be capable of doing almost any job that a human can, making human labour obsolete, a US scientist has said.

"We are approaching a time when machines will be able to outperform humans at almost any task," said Moshe Vardi, a computer scientist at US-based Rice University. "I believe that society needs to confront this question before it is upon us: If machines are capable of doing almost any work humans can do, what will humans do?" phys.org quoted Vardi as saying on Saturday.

Vardi will be addressing the issue "Smart Robots and Their Impact on Society," at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in Washington -- one of the world's largest and most prestigious scientific meetings -- on Sunday.

"The question I want to put forward is, 'Does the technology we are developing ultimately benefit mankind?'" Vardi said.

At the event he would be presenting evidences about pace of advancement in the field of artificial intelligence (AI) is increasing. "A typical answer is that if machines will do all our work, we will be free to pursue leisure activities," Vardi noted, adding "I do not find this a promising future, as I do not find the prospect of leisure-only life appealing. I believe that work is essential to human well-being."

The scientist asked the humans to rise to the occasion and meet this challenge before human labour becomes obsolete.

C O M M E N T A R Y

Conn Hallinan Foreign Policy in Focus

Can the New Left Govern Europe?

After a year of earthshaking victories and devastating setbacks, Europe's new progressive parties are slowly learning how to balance governance with activism

O

ver the past year, left and center-left parties have taken control of two European countries and hold the balance of power in a third. Elections in Greece, Portugal, and Spain saw right-wing parties take a beating and tens of millions of voters reject the economic austerity policies of the European Union.

But what can these left parties accomplish? Can they really roll back regressive taxes and restore funding for education, health care, and social services? Can they bypass austerity programs to jumpstart economies weighted down by staggering jobless numbers? Or are they trapped in a game with loaded dice and marked cards?

And, for that matter, who is the left?

terity policies, only to have to swallow more of them. In Portugal the Left Bloc and the Communist-Green Alliance are unhappy with the Socialist Party’s commitment to re-pay Portugal’s quite unpayable debt. Spain’s Podemos proposed a united front with the Socialist Party, only to find there are some in that organization who would rather bed Center vs. Left Socialist and social democratic par- down with Spain’s right-wing Popular ties in France and Germany haven’t Party than break bread with Podemos. lifted a finger to support left-led antiausterity campaigns in Greece, Spain, Big vs. Small Lessons learned? It is still too earIreland, or Portugal, and many of them helped institute — or went along with ly to draw any firm conclusions about — neoliberal policies they now say they what the 2015 earthquake accomoppose. Established socialist parties all plished — and Ireland’s election has over Europe tend to campaign from the yet to happen — but there are some obvious lessons. left, but govern from the center.

First, austerity is unpopular. As Italy’s Last year’s electoral earthquakes were triggered not by the traditional prime minister, Matteo Renzi, put it afsocialist parties — those parties did ter the Spanish election: “Governments poorly in Greece, Spain, and Portugal which apply rigid austerity measures are — but by activist left parties, like Syriza destined to lose their majorities.”

Second, if you’re a small economy, in Greece, Podemos in Spain, and the taking the power of capital head on is Left Bloc in Portugal.

With the exception of Ireland’s Sinn likely to get you trampled. The troika Fein, all of these parties were either didn’t just force Syriza to institute more birthed by, or became prominent dur- austerity: It made the austerity more ing, the financial meltdown of 2008 that onerous — a not very subtle message plunged Europe into economic crisis. to voters in Portugal and Spain. But Podemos came directly out of the mas- people in both countries didn’t buy it, sive plaza demonstrations by the In- in large part because after four years dignados — the “Indignant Ones” — in of misery, their economies are still not back to where they were in 2008.

Spain’s major cities in 2011.

The troika can crush Greece — PorSyriza and the Left Bloc predated the 2011 uprising, but they were politi- tugal as well — but Spain is another cally marginal until the EU instituted matter. It’s the 14th largest economy a draconian austerity program that in the world and the fifth largest in the generated massive unemployment, EU. And now Italy — the fourth largest homelessness, poverty, and economic economy in the union — is growing increasingly restive with the tight budget inequality.

Resistance to the austerity policies policies of the EU that have kept the of the “troika” — the European Com- jobless rate high.

But can these anti-austerity coalimission, the European Central Bank, and the International Monetary Fund tions force the troika to back off?

A major part of the problem is the — vaulted these left parties from the periphery to the center. Syriza became EU itself, and in particular the Eurothe largest party in Greece and as- zone — the 19 countries that use the sumed power in 2015. Podemos was euro as a common currency. The euro the only left party that gained votes is controlled by the European Central in the recent Spanish election, and it Bank, which in practice means Germaholds the balance of power in the for- ny. In an economic crisis, most counmation of a new government. And Por- tries manipulate their currencies — tugal’s Left Bloc, along with the Com- the United States, the United Kingdom, munist-Green Alliance, has formed a and China come to mind — as part of a coalition government with the coun- strategy to pay down debt and re-start their economies. The members of the try’s Socialist Workers Party.

But with success has come headaches. eurozone don’t have that power.

Germany pursues policies that faSyriza won the Greek elections on a platform of resisting the troika’s aus- vor its industrial, export-driven econ-

omy, but that model is nothing like the economies of Greece, Portugal, Spain, or even Italy. Nor are any of those countries likely to reproduce the German model, because they don’t have the resources (or history) to do so.

Inside vs. Outside Complicating matters are political divisions among the troika’s left opponents.

For instance, Syriza is under attack from its left flank for not exiting the eurozone. Former Syriza chief economic advisor Jannis Milios charges that Syriza has abandoned its activist roots and become just another political party more interested in power than principles. There are similar tensions in Spain and Portugal.

But what to do next isn’t so obvious.

Withdrawing from the eurozone can be perilous. In Greece’s case, the European Central Bank threatened to shut off the country’s money supply, making it almost impossible for Athens to pay for food, medical, and energy imports, or finance its own exports. In short, they threatened Greece with economic collapse and possible social chaos.

But following the policies of the troika sentences countries to permanent debt, rising poverty rates, and a growing wealth gap. Portugal has one of the highest inequality rates in Europe, and Spain’s national unemployment rate is 21 percent — and double that among the young. Greece’s figures are far higher.

The left coalitions are far from powerless, however. Portugal’s coalition government just introduced a budget that will lift the minimum wage, reverse public sector wage cuts, roll back many tax increases, halt privatization of education and transportation, and put more money into schools and medical care.

Which doesn’t mean everything is smooth sailing. The coalition has already fallen out over a bank bailout, and it disagrees on the debt. But so far the parties are still working together.

Jeremy Corbyn, the newly elected left leader of the British Labor Party, hails the Portugal alliance as the beginning of an “anti-austerity coalition” across the continent.

Bridging the Divides Interesting developments in Spain address the tensions between street activism and political parties. Emily Achtenberg, a long-time housing expert

from Boston and an analyst for NACLA, has studied Barcelona’s “Platform of People Affected by Mortgages,” or PAH. PAH came out of Spain’s catastrophic housing crisis brought on by the financial meltdown of 2008. Some 650,000 homes are in foreclosure, and 400,000 families have been evicted.

Worse still, Spanish homeowners are responsible for debts even after declaring bankruptcy — debts that can block them from renting an apartment, buying a home, or purchasing a car.

At the same time, according to the 2013 census, 34 million homes and apartments — 14 percent of the country’s housing stock — are vacant, most of them owned by banks. And since Barcelona has become one of Europe’s tourist magnets, “tens of thousands of once-affordable apartments are marketed to tourists through on-line platforms like Airbnb,” says Achtenberg, exacerbating the situation.

With the help of Podemos, progressive activists linked to CAH and other groups won control of the big cities of Madrid, Barcelona, Cadiz, and Zaragoza last year. Ada Colau, the mayor of Barcelona, is a founder of PAH. She and her allies on the city council have slowed down the evictions, cracked down on unlicensed Airbnb owners, and leaned on the banks to free up vacant homes and apartments.

PAH now has some 200 chapters all over the country and is planning to press the national parliament to end Spain’s “debt for life” law, which traps bankrupt people with crushing debt from their homes. While allied with Podemos, PAH has maintained its political independence, working both sides of the street: sit-ins and protests, and running for office.

“A perennial question,” says Achtenberg, “is whether the impetus for progressive change comes from inside the institution, or from the streets.

In Barcelona today, it seems that both strategies are needed, and are working.” As Colau says, for progressive movements, “both are indispensible. For real democracy to exist, there should always be an organized citizenry keeping an eye on government — no matter who is in charge.”

Between Change and Co-optation Putting people in apartments and raising minimum wages doesn’t overthrow capitalism, but many activists argue that such victories are essential for convincing people that change is possible and that the troika isn’t all-powerful.

They also play to the left’s strong suit: building a humanistic society.

Finding that fine line between change and co-optation isn’t easy, and one formula doesn’t fit all circumstances. Spain has more breathing room than Portugal and Greece simply because it’s bigger. Yet the Portuguese may find their path a bit easier simply because they have allies in the eurozone. As Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras says, “I think it is not so easy to change Europe when you are alone.”

In the end the path may be like that old peace song: “If two and two and 50 make a million, we’ll see that day come ‘round.”

Breaking the system designed to keep tea workers poor sabita Banerji New Internationalist

Sabita Banerji reports on the challenge of securing labour rights for plantation workers in India

L

ast September, the BBC revealed appalling conditions on Assamese tea plantations (which supply, among others, London’s Fortnum and Mason) – overflowing cesspits, leaking roofs, child labour, pesticide poisoning and severely malnourished children.

But this was not exactly news.

There have been numerous similar reports over the past decades. In 2014, the Guardian reported on ‘Assam’s modern slaves’, claiming poverty wages were the cause of plantation workers’ children being trafficked into sexual or domestic slavery.

A report entitled ‘The more things change… Enduring abuses on India’s tea plantations’ found that, despite being part of a World Bank-funded scheme to move Assamese plantations partly into worker ownership, they failed to meet the standards of the World Bank, of certification bodies or of Indian law.

One of the root causes, it concluded, was that the ‘compensation scheme originally developed for the colonial plantations and their migrant workers – low cash wages, supplemented with housing and social benefits – has remained unchanged. As in the colonial period, the plantations function as a parallel governance structure, with little active involvement by the state, whether in setting wages or in moni-

toring working and living conditions.’

Certification bodies introduced hope that change was possible, but a 2013 report by Oxfam and the Ethical Tea Partnership, found that workers on fair trade-certified plantations received no higher wages than on noncertified ones; although it provides other benefits, fair-trade certification only requires payment of the legal minimum wage. The minimum wages for tea workers in Assam are ‘just above the World Bank poverty line…’ and only 40 per cent of the Indian average.

Where benefits are provided at all, they are often of appalling quality.

Though trade unions have in the past won important benefits for workers, including equal pay for women, they seem to struggle to win better outcomes for workers in the tripartite negotiations ostensibly between government, employers and workers’ representatives. Protesting plantation workers in Munnar, Kerala, alleged that their trade unions had been bought out by management and were closely allied to political parties and therefore did not represent them at all.

Because local populations were unwilling to take up the back-breaking, low-paid work being offered in the new tea plantations of the 19th century, today’s workers are mostly descendants of impoverished, tribal or low-caste people from other areas. In Kerala and Sri Lanka, they were Tamil indentured or bonded labourers. Sri Lankan companies considered shipping in African slaves but were deterred by transport costs. Chinese labour was discounted

as being too ‘demanding’.

West Bengal plantations relied on forced labour from Nepal, where slavery was common. In Assam, conditions were even closer to slavery. ‘The picture was not a pretty one,’ says Alan Macfarlane in Green Gold. ‘Men and women, newly arrived in a strange country after an appalling journey, crowded on a boat without sanitation from which dead bodies were heaved overboard at the rate of 20 a week, now driven like cattle towards a miserable journey’s end.’

Thus these huge, remote plantations were staffed by a captive labour force kept powerless by poverty, illiteracy, debt and isolation. The lucky ones had benign, patriarchal managers.

The less fortunate were driven hard, prevented with violence from leaving, paid a pittance and given the barest minimum of benefits.

Most plantation workers have lost contact with their homelands and language, yet have not been integrated into the culture of their new home. They’re often subject to disenfranchisement, violence and discrimination by the local population. They know no other skills than those associated with tea cultivation and have few employment alternatives. So when plantations go bankrupt – as has happened frequently recently in West Bengal – they often stay put, even if it means starvation.

In Kerala, the result of a growing tourism market, offering better paid jobs, is a shrinking labour supply at a time when global tea demand and prices are falling or stagnant. In September last year, falling profits led to the

wRiTE-wiNg

annual bonus being halved, triggering a strike by thousands of women that lasted almost a month, stifling the tourism trade and spreading to other plantations – including coffee and rubber – across Kerala. The women – who called themselves Pembilla Orumai (Unity of Women) – were also protesting against low wages, poor living conditions and unhealthy working conditions.

The government has been forced to open its eyes; Kerala’s Chief Minister, Oommen Chandy, observed that ‘successive governments failed to catch the lapses of the management [in observing laws on the humane treatment of workers]’.

So can this group of women workers do what international financial institutions, NGOs, trade unions, company corporate social responsibility programmes, certification bodies and governments have so far failed to do?

To break the system that keeps tea plantation workers poor, freeing them to enjoy the same rights as other agricultural workers?

As author and anthropologist Margaret Mead once said: ‘Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.’

Let’s hope that she will be proved right in this case, and that another century won’t pass with the same atrocities being sustained.

Sabita Banerji is an economic justice campaigner based in London, but originally from India. After many years of working in international development and fair trade volunteering, she now works for the Ethical Trading Initiative (ETI). The views in this blog are her personal views and do not necessarily reflect those of ETI.

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.

tuesDAY 16•02•2016

PERSPECTIVE

THE MORUNG EXPRESS

7

BREAKING FREE: A women's movement in Indian universities Raksha Kumar

Female students in Delhi are protesting against their hostels resembling prisons - arguing that restricting women’s freedom is not a way to ensure safety: it is society that must be made safe for women

O

n a warm day in June 2015, close to a hundred girls of Indraprastha College, Delhi University entered their university-provided accommodation in north Delhi, to find that bathrooms in their hostels did not have latches.

Uncertain and fearful of demanding this basic right, some of the girls sent an anonymous letter to the warden requesting latches to be fit in their bathrooms. The following day the principal directed all the girls to assemble in the lawns of the college. According to a student who was present there, the principal is said to have asked the students to honour the privilege of being accommodated in the hostel while thousands still seek it. The principal also reportedly asked the students to not send letters to her, and that she will do the needful when she deems fit.

Weeks later some of the latches appeared in the bathrooms.

“This points to how oppressed the girls in university hostels feel,” says Subhashini Shriya, M A student in Delhi University.

“They can’t speak up for their basic rights, while you hear stories of boys beating up their wardens because their bread was not baked well enough!”

While Indraprastha College might be a stray case, most girls hostels in Delhi University do not have latches in the rooms. “So that the wardens can barge in anytime they wish to,” says Devangana Kalita, a gender studies student at Jawaharlal Nehru University in Delhi. The difference is that in boys’ hostels, absence of latches, if any, is not deliberate.

Both Shriya and Kalita have been actively involved in Pinjra Tod (Break The Prison), a collective of more than 50 girls studying in various universities in India.

The Collective started, in August 2015, by protesting curfews in women’s hostels on college campuses in Delhi University. One of the first things the Collective did was to petition the Delhi Commission for Women to investigate women’s freedom in hostels, take action against moral policing and most importantly set up functional sexual harassment redressal bodies in colleges. Today, in less than six months, more than six universities are connected online under Pinjra Tod and fight gender issues together.

Such calls for gender equality, small and big, are not new in the 94-year-old Delhi University. In 2002, a group of girls from Miranda College had protested curfew tim-

ings in girls hostels pointing out that girls are forced to be back in their hostels before 8 PM, while the university library was open till midnight. In 2007, another group had protested the fact that girls’ hostels were locked up from the outside at night, making them prison-like. None of these norms hold for men’s hostels.

The problem seems to lie in the very perception of a hostel. In most cases, hostels are seen as extensions of homes. “This is your home away from home” were my warden’s first words back in 2004, in Lady Shri Ram College’s hostel. “Do not expect your duties and responsibilities to be any different,” she had added for good measure.

This approach ensures that the patriarchal structures at home are reflected in these lodges. The anxiety that is expressed at home when a woman doesn't return by dusk is the same in a hostel. A girl who ventures out post curfew time needs to get signatures from the warden and guardians, and report her destination to them in advance.

For most women, this exemplifies the contradiction between what they learn in colleges and what they see in practice.

“When we are taught about women’s autonomy and freedoms, why aren't we told it is not seen in practice and is restricted to books?” asks Kalita. Rules of entry and exit are institutionalised in hostels, with heavy penalties for breaking them.

Shambhavi Vikram, a member of the Collective and a student of English Literature, believes that restricting freedoms is not a way to ensure safety. “They should work towards making our societies safe, not

restricting our freedoms,” she says. “Those who believe that restricting freedoms would ensure safety are also those who believe that women are responsible for rape as they were skimpily clad,” she says.

Due to the curfew timings, says Kalita, there aren’t many girls who get elected to student unions, since elected members of the union are required to work several hours post dusk. St Stephen’s College, that prides on having produced one-third of India’s parliamentarians at one point, has had only two girls as student union presidents in three decades.

But, there is flip side, say the administrators of hostels. If there are no restrictions on girls’ movement post dusk, parents think twice before sending their children to universities. “We have many parents telling us that they want us to be as strict with their girls as they themselves are,” says a warden requesting anonymity as she is not authorised to speak to the media. They would rather not send their girls to the university than have them roam the streets at night, she says. “They do not say the same about boys,” she says.

The name of the Collective, Break The Prison, is not merely indicative, says 24-year-old Vikram. The hostels actually are like prisons for many girls.

“Ironically enough, the language and terminology of hostels belie, or perhaps unconsciously underscore this, and are homologous with prisons! Typically, ‘wardens’ manage women’s hostels; students and women living in it are frequently referred to as ‘inmates’; the rules and conditions, espe-

cially regarding timings, visitors and ‘nights out’ are restrictive and unreasonable. All of these remind one only of jails.” says G Arunima, Associate Professor, Centre for Women’s Studies in Jawaharlal Nehru University.

A drive around Delhi University at night looks something like this: largely deserted roads with the exception of men mobbing food carts that sell sought-after midnight snacks. Some boys walking back from the libraries at midnight, hugging the books.

A bunch of boys huddled around a bench, talking politics. I even heard a loud recitation of Romeo and Juliet by a seemingly drunk male student on the pavement close to the highway.

“See that?” asks Kalita. “That is the problem. At night, public spaces are not for women. Unless we reclaim these spaces, we will never be truly safe,” she says. In December, a dozen girls from the Collective, started loitering the streets at night. They boarded buses and began singing songs, in an attempt to raise awareness about women’s freedoms. They plan to do so again in the near future.

As their movement gains momentum, the Collective is taking up several other issues - forced marriages, menstruation and equality in education. They are also involved in protesting against casteism on campus after a student recently committed suicide in the southern city of Hyderabad unable to bear caste discrimination.

Higher education in India used be the bastion of the upper castes and economically privileged sections. Through the years, large-scale presence of state uni-

versities, reservation of seats and rising income levels have ensured the entry of lower castes and classes into universities in greater numbers. This can only mean that status quo will never be accepted unquestioningly. “Students should learn to fight injustice early,” our then principal, Dr Meenakshi Gopinath, had once mentioned, encouraging our active involvement in gender issues.

As a student of Delhi University in mid2000s, the idea of the ‘personal being the political’ was engrained in me. We dove into protests that opposed violence against tribal populations, we campaigned for LGBT rights and petitioned for greater transparency in government functioning. However, the present fight seems to be more daunting in the face of a callous crackdowns by the police.

Vikram, Kalita and Shriya have all been detained and taken to a police station more than once when they attempted to demonstrate in larger numbers. “They just keep us there till around 7 PM and let us go,” says Kalita. According to older faculty members of the university, such barbarism is unprecedented.

While the girls of the Collective are happy with the support they got from the media, they can surely do with more of it.

In one of their reflective moments, Kalita says, “I think we got great media coverage because most of the journalists who covered us were women.” One of the only two male journalists who interviewed them, asked them if they weren't asking for too much by stressing on gender equality.

Start Up India—making hay with public money

O

Garga Chatterjee

n 16th January, with much fanfare, the Union government announced its “Start-up India” scheme. In attendance were big people, big enough not to deserve any income tax break in their next seven lives. But this is precisely what the Government of India (GOI) has offered – an income tax exemption for first 3 years of a “start-up”. There will also be tax exemption on capital gains. After all its fake environment-love recently in Paris, this GOI scheme has also offered a 3-year exemption on environment law compliance!

Entities will only need to self-certify! In the name of “start-up”, exactly what anti-environment, anti-labour racket are we starting up here? This will also be true for labour-law and working condition compliance (including payment of wages and benefits to staff).

Shamelessly, this whole scheme is being sold to the people as an employment generation scheme. What kind of pro-employment scheme waives off inspection of labour conditions? What kind of pro-employment scheme benefits from a waiver of external public scrutiny of employee rights violations? A scheme that promotes and employee-rights violation for 3 years and then makes shirking responsibility of ruin easy by special quick-exit insolvency and bankruptcy laws (helping “start up” to “close down” in 90 days) is being termed as transformative. We live in sad, rudderless, cruel times.

By this scheme, a “start-up” will get certain other benefits from the government. A 10 thousand crore Taka corpus fund will be set up using public money that will lend/invest in high-failure rate schemes of the “start up” type. Given the amount of public money that Indian Union's richest folks gobble up in the form of “loans”, one can only imagine that the public must be very, very rich to afford this latest scheme of transferring money of the poor to the rich. This is aimed at firing “start-up” culture, making the Indian Union some kind of a hub for innovation.

How shall you qualify to be a “start-up” and get a piece of this 10 thousand crore action and tax benefits? You have to be a private company/LLP/partnership set up in

the last 5 years engaged in developing innovative commercial products that adds value.

Now, here is the catch. Who decides what is innovation? Folks at GOI's Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) will decide that! The present infotech-fetish ideology will no doubt cast a long shadow on what qualifies as “innovation”.

Apart from that, I am the kind of crooked person who smells rat wherever there is the provision of handing out financial favours by discretion – especially because Government of India's money is people's money and my poor neighbourhood in Kolkata could do with some money for roads, sanitation and health. Under any constitution that accords equal citizenship, subsidies and tax exemptions are discriminatory since everyone doesn’t get it. Hence, if discrimination has to be made, the only case for such subsidies/breaks can be made out for the poor and the traditionally discriminated. I know, you know and even those eyeing the 10000 crores and income tax breaks know who will make hay with this public money. The PR blitz that accompanies such loots manufacture consent from just enough people so that things don’t look too naked.

Such is the promise and potentiality of “start ups” that public money had to be put up – something that wouldn’t be needed if private capital also saw the opportunity that GOI apparently sees. Such is the high employment generation power of “start ups” that the GOI will never tie the immense tax breaks to the number of jobs actually created. Let me predict on record here that this will be yet another scheme that will provide loans mostly to people belonging to higher castes. A stupendous majority of the money will go to people who form a thin minority of the population in terms of caste. The politico-ideological mindset from which such schemes spring forth also create the conditions for the suicide of Rohith Vemula, a Dalit PhD scholar at Hyderabad Central University, who died one day after this scheme was unveiled.

Let me also predict that a majority of the public money, acquired from all states, will end up in 3-4 cities, so that people in Nagaland can feel happy that New Delhi is doing well. And after this latest round of money-

siphoning from the bottom to the top is over, some future demagogue will promise a new transformation via some new high-octane eye-wash, for as long as the public exists, there will be lootable public money.

Never before have a relatively tiny set of coat-tie-power-point types been able to command such an influence on policymaking for hundreds of millions. This is a real scandal. In this subcontinent, lathemachine entreprenerus in every urban neighbourhood have toiled away, generating employment, without any financial benefits. This is where the numbers are.

When the culture of a place makes nonresident folks as aspirational ideals, their pathways to success also become formula for mass imitation, with active connivance from sectors of media, business and most importantly, the government, as a cover-up for real betterment of people's lives right here, right now. The inordinately high influence of software-technology driven cure-all dreams has an unhealthy influence on the economic policy making of nation-state entities that have hundreds of millions of poor and marginalized people but act as if it were some middle-class white-collar utopia on the threshold of launching off into stratosphere.

No amount of self-delusion or sophistry or PR glitz can take away from the fact that if there were no gap between wage of majority of the people and the minimum amount of money needed for dignified living, that is, people had a decent minimum wage, the amount of innovation that would happen, without the need of app-masters and angelspeculators, would be something actually transformative.

But we are unable to dream beyond our white collar confines, or for that matter to accord any amount of dignity to those beyond our white collar types. Close your eyes and think of all the entities that come to your mind when the word “start-up” is mentioned. These will mostly be things that ease the life of metropolitan yuppies. Is this what it is then – making money not out of real production, but certain tinkerings to service a certain class? Where are the start-ups for the non-dieting hungry, the non-backpacking homeless and the unfashionably naked?

“Arena of Mind” portrays a space for idea germination, a field where ideas from multi-disciplinary viewpoints fertilize the world of intelligence. The writers aspire to envision a new future by exploring the mind, discovering new seeds of insights and unleashing them to enlightenment.

The less travelled road Two roads diverged in a wood, and I I took the one less travelled by, And that has made all the difference.

W

By Robert Frost

e know a simple fact that all of us have only one life to live. This has made us ambitious in the pursuit of gaining as much as we can to make this one life pleasing and comfortable. To achieve this, we do not mind the means that we take, as long as we get what we want. But this “I, Me and My World” attitude has blinded us from something more worthwhile and lasting, that is TRUE LOVE. Teaching profession is a special vocation, a call to take the less travelled road and to make all the difference in every child in the class. It has always been ‘TRUE LOVE’ that has been less travelled.

A teacher has to take this road in order to become effective. The epitome of such love is the lives of those who have made History. We have for example Mother Teresa of Kolkata. In the face of overwhelming needs of the poor, abandoned in Kolkata’s streets and slums, where all would seem to mock the existence of God and His love, Mother Teresa was a beacon of light to those groping in darkness of utter poverty.

Nelson Mandela spent over twenty years in prison for his opposition for apartheid regime. Being the recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993, for his work in helping to end the racial segregation in South Africa, Nelson Mandela stands out as a Hero of Equality.

Today all remember Mahatma Gandhi as the ‘Father of the Nation’, because he travelled a road that is less travelled by all and this definitely made a difference. His non-violent movement and peaceful disobedience made the difference.

The big question as teachers we have to ask is ‘Where goest thou?’. It is we who make history. A teacher taking the road that is less travelled by all will definitely make a difference. As a saying goes – some are born teachers while others are made or trained teachers but ultimately a true teacher is the one who takes the road less travelled that is the road to ‘TRUE LOVE’. Amdist all the glamour of this world it is only as teachers that we can make a difference to each child and ultimately there will be a better world around us.

Each of us is called to be a teacher to let others grow even though some are teachers by profession. Lets then as teachers, take the road less travelled… the road of ‘TRUE LOVE’. I am sure in the eve of our lives we will say with joy in our hearts, ‘That – has made all the DIFFERENCE!’.

Sr. Nancy, Department of Botany, St. Joseph’s College, Jakhama

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

TuesdAY 16•02•2016

INDIA

THE MORUNG EXPRESS

Nation-wide students protest as govt cracks down on dissent

New Delhi, February 15 (reuterS): India's biggest nationwide student protests in a quarter of a century spread across campuses on Monday after the arrest of a student accused of sedition, in the latest battle with Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government over freedom of expression.

Outrage over the arrest of the left-wing student leader, who had organised a rally to mark the anniversary of the execution of a Kashmiri separatist, has led to demonstrations in at least 18 universities.

In the largest protest, thousands of students and academics at New Delhi's prestigious Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) boycotted classes and erected barricades for a fourth day in an escalating conflict with the authorities.

"The government does not want students to have a say," said Rahila Parween, vice-president of the Delhi unit of the All India Students' Federation, a leftwing student union. "It wants to dictate what students think, understand and say."

The incident marks another flare-up in an ideological confrontation between Modi's nationalist government and left-wing and liberal groups that is prompting critics to compare it with Indira Gandhi's imposition of a state of emergency in the 1970s to crush dissent.

BJP, Cong spar over JNU issue; journalists beaten in Delhi court

Students of Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) attend a protest inside the university campus in New Delhi on February 15.

(REUTERS Photo)

Members of Modi's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) accused the student leader, Kanhaiya Kumar, of "anti-India" sentiment.

One BJP lawmaker said the university, which has a tradition of left-wing politics, should be shut down.

"I can assure you that every action we take is to protect our country. Any anti-India activity will not be tolerated," BJP President Amit Shah, one of Modi's closest allies, said at party headquarters.

Protests spread when Kumar was arrested last week for sedition, after giving a speech questioning the hanging in 2013 of Mohammad Afzal Guru over his role in the 2001 attack on parliament.

Activists have long questioned Guru's conviction, and the Supreme Court has described the evidence against him as circumstantial. Scuffles erupted outside a New Delhi courthouse between lawyers and students where Kumar, 28,

was to appear before a judge on Monday.

A leader of the student group that is aligned with the BJP said freedom of expression should not be misused to justify acts that could harm the country.

"You cannot be an Indian if you celebrate the death anniversary of a terrorist," said Saurabh Sharma, joint secretary of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (All India Student Council).

Home Minister Rajnath

Singh has, meanwhile, faced ridicule for citing a fake tweet to say that the JNU demonstration had been backed

by Hafiz Saeed, a Pakistani militant accused by India of being behind the 2008 attack on Mumbai in which 166 people died.

Delhi police circulated the fake tweet at the weekend in a warning to students "not to get carried away by such seditious and anti-national rhetoric". A spokesman did not answer calls to his mobile phone on Mon-

New Delhi, February 15 (iaNS): The BJP and the Congress on Monday attacked each other on the Jawaharlal Nehru University incidents even as a few journalists were beaten up by certain lawyers in Patiala House court complex here.

In a blog, Bharatiya Janata Party president Amit Shah attacked Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi, accusing him of "supporting forces inimical to India's interests". The Congress hit back by invoking Mahatma Gandhi and his assassin Nathuram Godse.

Shah wondered if the Congress leader had "lent his voice to the separatists". Congress leader Randeep Singh Surjewala said his party did not need lessons in patriotism from those "who are inheritors of the thought process of Nathuram Godse".

Communist Party of India-Marxist leader Prakash Karat visited the JNU campus on Monday and said the party did not accept the central government's definition of nationalism.

Meanwhile, at least four of a group of journalists gathered at the Patiala House court on Monday afternoon to cover Kanday seeking comment.

"The crackdown signals an utter lack of judgment in the government, where ministers manage to manufacture a national crisis out of what were always, at best, minor affectations in student politics," Pratap Bhanu Mehta, a leading political commentator, wrote in the Indian Express newspaper.

Since Modi rose to power in May 2014, people in India have been attacked by Hindus enraged at reports of cows - sacred

haiya Kumar's court production were assaulted by a section of lawyers, witnesses said. IANS reporter Amiya Kumar Kushwaha was slapped inside a courtroom while some other journalists were attacked on the court premises by lawyers shouting 'Bharat Mata ki Jai' slogans.

Indian Express reporter Alok Singh told IANS that he and a group of journalists were standing outside the courtroom when some lawyers began thrashing JNU students and media persons present there, including Amit Pandey of IBN7 and Manu Shankar of Kairali TV. Journalists also saw O.P. Sharma, one of the three BJP legislators in the Delhi assembly, allegedly chasing and hitting a JNU student outside the court.

Earlier, scuffles broke out as lawyers shouting 'Bharat Mata ki Jai' ordered JNU students and journalists out of the courtroom as well as the court premises. Some JNU students said that lawyers shouting 'Long Live India, Down with JNU' physically forced them out of the court premises.The violence took place despite a big police presence in the court complex.

in their religion - being slaughtered, smuggled or consumed.

There has been a series of attacks on churches, while writers have returned awards in protest over the government's silence over a series of murders of secular scholars.

At least 18 university campuses witnessed protests on Monday. Students in Kolkata burnt an effigy of Modi and left-wing groups in Odisha planned statewide demonstrations.

Analysts said the student protests were the most widespread in India since the self-immolation of a young Indian in 1990 after the government ruled in favour of providing affirmative action to the lower castes in higher education.

"We are witnessing liberal India, particularly young people who are usually more idealistic, fighting back," said Satish Misra, a political analyst at the Observer Research Foundation.

Woman saves three lives by Worms, fungus in medicine at govt hospital in Bhopal President Pranab sacks VisvaThe complainant, O.P. Sharma, told reportFebruary 15 (iaNS): The donating organs after death bhopal, Bharati V-C Sushanta Dattagupta health department on Monday ordered an en- ers that he took his ill son on Sunday for treat-

New Delhi, February 15 (iaNS): A 45-year-old woman, who was declared brain dead after suffering from brain haemorrhage, saved the lives of three people by donating her organs, hospital authorities said on Monday.

According to the AIIMS authorities, Babita was declared brain dead hours after being admitted to the Gurgaon-based Paras Hospital following headache and fatigue which led to brain haemorrhage.

Following her death on February 12, doctors spoke to her family members and took consent for retrieving her organs, which could be transplanted to someone needy.

"Immediately, the authorities of Paras Hospital contacted the Organ Retrieval Banking Organisation (ORBO) at AIIMS and the message was circulated to other hospitals to find out if there was anyone who immediately needed the organs," said All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) director M.C Misra.

Accordingly, a team of doctors from various departments was constituted and the liver and both the kidneys of the patient were retrieved from her body.

The liver was transplanted into a 53-year-old male patient at the Army Hospital Research and Referral, while the kidneys were transplanted into a 54-year-old and a 51-year-old patient, undergoing treatment at AIIMS. "Over 300 medicos and para-medicos were involved in the whole process. There were several challenges involved in getting the task done such as continuous counselling and follow-up of the patient's family members," said Misra.

quiry into a complaint that a cough medicine dispensed by a government hospital here had worms and fungus in it.

Chief Medical Officer U.N. Khan said there will be an enquiry into the complaint received against state-run J.P. Hospital here.

ment to the J.P. Hospital where he received a cough medicine on a doctor's prescription.

While taking the medicine, his son noticed worms in the dose, said Sharma who also saw fungus in the phial. He said he then made a complaint to the medical officer.

'Congress never an alternative, only Left' thiruvaNaNthapuram, February 15 (iaNS): Lashing out at both the BJP and the Congress, CPIM general secretary Sitaram Yechury said on Monday the only alternative for India was a Left and secular democratic front and it has to begin from Kerala.

Yechury said this at a mammoth party gathering at the conclusion of the monthlong state-wide yatra of politburo member Pinarayi Vijayan at the Shangumugham beach.

Kerala goes to the polls soon to elect a new assembly.

"The Congress can never be an alternative to the BJP. In fact, the Congress has facilitated the arrival of the BJP and they are helping each other. It's only we, the Left, who can be a credible alternative to revive the coun-

try and bring it back to the forefront of economic development," said Yechury.

Hitting out at the BJP, he said the country under Prime Minister Narendra Modi has failed in all sectors of economic development, and the rich were getting richer and the poor getting poorer.

"In order to wriggle out of this bad economic situation, today, they (BJP) are engaged in communal polarisation and this is leading to unrest in the country. Yesterday (Sunday), even I was threatened and so was our office in Delhi.

"Today (Monday), we saw RSS activists arriving in a court in Delhi wearing lawyer's robes and attacking students.

"They (BJP) see the Left as the biggest impediment and hence they are attacking us and also the JNU campus. But we are

not going to be cowed down by these, as we know how to defend not only ourselves but also our country," he said.

Hitting out at the Oommen Chandy government, Yechury said the Congress-led UDF government in the state was competing with the erstwhile UPA government of Manmohan Singh on how to be corrupt.

"Every day, there are new scams breaking out under the Chandy government. So now the challenge before us and the people of Kerala is to see that like what they did in 1957, a new path has to be laid for the revival of the country," said Yechury.

For that, he said Kerala should elect the Left Democratic Front to power in the upcoming assembly elections, which can show the path to the rest of the country.

New Delhi, February 15 (ie): President Pranab Mukherjee has dismissed Visva-Bharati vice chancellor Sushanta Dattagupta making this the firstever sacking of central university head in the country’s history.

The President’s Office finally yielded on Monday and approved the HRD Ministry’s proposal to remove Dattagupta on grounds of gross misconduct and dereliction of duty. The decision was communicated to the government on Monday morning. His sacking orders will be issued soon.

Dattagupta, who was appointed to the post in September 2011 by the UPA government, had 7 months left in his term.

As first reported by The Indian Express on September 22, 2015, the HRD Ministry had recommended the V-C’s removal after a fact-finding committee found him guilty on four counts, including making 25 illegal appointments, drawing pension from JNU along with his salary from Visva-Bharati without getting it deducted from his pay, and getting his liquor bills reimbursed.

The HRD Ministry’ recommendation was accepted after a long-drawn tussle between its minister Smriti Irani and the Rashtrapati Bhawan, which had informally conveyed its unwillingness to sack the university head in November, 2015.

Sources said the President’s office wanted the government to withdraw its file recommending removal of Dattagupta and accept his resignation which he had emailed on September 30, 2015.

According to sources, Irani did not

relent as the proposal to remove the Visva-Bharati head had been vetted by the Law Ministry and Attorney General of India and accepting his resignation would be a tacit acknowledgement by the government that the V-C had done nothing wrong. The HRD Ministry sent back its proposal to the President with a second legal opinion from the Attorney General last week stating that all “due processes were followed” by the government in its probe against Dattagupta. The President’s approval came on Monday morning.

The HRD Ministry had set up a probe against the V-C after Congress Rajya Sabha MP from Bengal P Bhattacharya raised the issue of alleged irregularities during the Winter session of Parliament in 2014. The inquiry found Dattagupta guilty. He, however, challenged the legality of the fact-finding committee in June 2015, but the move was shot down by the Calcutta High Court.

He eventually e-mailed his resignation to Rashtrapati Bhavan on September 30, 2015.

1 In 7 Indian drugs revealed as sub-standard Charu Bahri

S

IANS

ubstandard medicines could be three times more prevalent than the government says, two new studies show.

These data have serious implications on health in a country where 58.2 percent of the total health expenditure is an out-of-pocket cost burden on people, according to the World Health Organization, and where medicines alone account for between 70 percent and 77 percent of health spending.

Substandard drugs work less effectively, causing disease to run a longer course, and can even require a new prescription during treatment. Substandard drugs also contribute to antibacterial resistance, a threat that has doubled in the last five years in India, IndiaSpend reported earlier.

About 4.5 percent of the drugs in the Indian market are substandard, according to surveys by the Central Drug Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO), the official regula-

tory authority.

Reputed brands too fail to meet quality standards Experts believe that more lucrative routinely prescribed drugs are at higher risk of failing quality standards, as this new study, published in the December 2015 Journal of Applied Pharmaceutical Science, concluded, after testing 32 samples of diclofenac sodium, a popular pain killer. A second study, published in 2016 in the International Journal of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, evaluated 46 samples of amoxicillin trihydrate, a fast-moving antibiotic.

"We found a substandard medicine incidence of 15.62% for diclofenac sodium and 13.04% for amoxicillin trihydrate," said Ahmed Nawaz Khan, study co-author and assistant professor, Department of Pharmacy, Jaypee University of Information Technology, Solan.

Even some higher-priced medicines from reputed sellers failed to measure up. "This is sad because many consumers shell out more for reputed brands, believing those products are better," said Khan.

To make the grade, a tablet must contain between 90 percent and 110 percent of the active ingredient named on the label, according to the Indian Pharmacopoeia Commission, an autonomous Indian health ministry institution. However, the CDSCO offers a five percent grace margin on that lower limit, a leeway Khan called 'needless'.

If the more stringent Indian Pharmacopoeia specification was made the yardstick for quality, twice the number of samples of Khan's study would fall short. The implications of this finding: "Borderline quality suggests a lack of quality control," said Khan.

If you can't measure drug quality, you can't manage it Government surveys reveal a falling incidence of substandard and spurious drugs in the Indian market-from about nine percent in the mid-1990s, as a 2015 International Journal of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences study cited, to 4.5 percent in recent years.

Spurious medicines alone, distinguishable from substandard products for being imi-

tations of (usually) popular branded drugs, with ingredients that may or may not match their label, make up a negligible part of the Indian drug market as per the CDSCO-0.046 percent according to its 2009 Report on Countrywide Survey for Spurious Drugs and 0.11 percent, according to last year's regular sampling.

What happens to drugs that fail quality standards?

Manufacturers of drug samples that fail CDSCO tests for ingredients, dissolution, sterility, toxicity, among others, are served notice.

Of six such manufacturers this reporter spoke to, only one private manufacturing unit, Akpash Pharmaceuticals in Madhya Pradesh, hauled up in December 2015 for a batch of metronidazole tablets that failed a dissolution test, consented to speak on the record: "We withdrew the entire batch from the market, investigated the cause, found a quality issue with the intermediate used as the binding agent for the tablet, and have since taken corrective action," said director

Girdharilal Jadwani.

Seven testing laboratories cater to all of India's drug-testing needs No more than seven national-testing laboratories capable of processing about 15,000 samples per year cater to the entire country.

"State drug regulatory authorities have given out licenses left, right and centre. But the rise in the number of manufacturing units and products hasn't been matched by expanded testing capacity," said Khan.

With cases becoming longdrawn affairs, penalties rarely enter the picture.

How to put testing in the hands of the consumer Consumers need technology that allows them to verify the quality of a strip of medicines.

That is possible with solutions from a host of companies, such as Sproxil, PharmaSecure and mPedigree.

For instance, PharmaSecure, a global provider of verification technology for pharmaceutical companies, generates a unique alphanumeric code for a strip of medicines, printed on

the package directly or applied via scratch-off labels or holographic labels, pasted on the packaging line. Consumers buying the medicine can inquirevia SMS, mobile app or onlinewhether the code, and therefore the medicine, is genuine or not.

"Typically, we process one inquiry for one code," said Samit Yadav, vice president - operations, PharmaSecure. "A second inquiry for the same code could indicate that the strip had been passed on to an alternative user, who also wants to check its veracity, but a third and more inquiries for one code would definitely raise questions."

On the day this report was written, PharmaSecure was tracking a situation with the makings of a scam. "We have been receiving 15 inquiries a day, for the last couple of weeks, to verify one single code, and these inquiries have poured in from across India," said Yadav.

After analysing those interactions, PharmaSecure was passing on the data to brand owners for further investigation.

"At worst, the situation would mean that an unscrupulous

manufacturer has produced an imitation product bearing the labelling-code included-of one genuine packet of the medicine in question," said Yadav.

Few companies in India voluntarily use medicine-verification technology, although it is affordable and locally available.

The government's stand is that verification technology is expensive for small firms.

Another technology that would help root out substandard drugs is near-infrared spectroscopy, a technique can filter hundreds of samples in a few minutes, much faster than conventional, expensive highperformance chromatography technique, said Khan.

The bottom line: India's substandard-drug problem can be solved.

(In arrangement with IndiaSpend.org, a data-driven, non-profit, public interest journalism platform. Charu Bahri is a freelance writer and editor based in Mount Abu, Rajasthan. The views expressed are personal. The author can be contacted at respond@indiaspend.org)

TuesdaY 16•02 •2016

WORLD

THE MORUNG EXPRESS

Ex-general who led Myanmar from dictatorship leaves a mixed legacy BANGKOK/YANGON, FeBruArY 15 (reuters): When U.S. President Barack Obama hosts a meeting of Southeast Asian leaders in California this week, his Myanmar counterpart Thein Sein will be notably absent.

Myanmar’s outgoing president abruptly pulled out of the summit as secretive talks continued between his country’s powerful military and the incoming government of Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi. For his admirers, a smooth transition of power would seal Thein Sein’s legacy as the former general who led Myanmar’s dramatic emergence from nearly half a century of military dictatorship.

He freed political prisoners, scrapped censorship, oversaw a historic election and repaired relations with the West, turning Myanmar from a global pariah into a buzzing destination for tourists, investors and world leaders.

On March 31, he will pass the unfinished task of transforming Myanmar to a National League for Democracy (NLD) government led by Suu Kyi, his wildly popular political rival, who in November won the country’s first credible general election in 25 years.

Despite fears of fraud, the election ran smoothly and Thein Sein’s Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP), dominated

Myanmar’s President Thein Sein waves his hand as he arrives to give a speech at Union Parliament in Naypyitaw January 28, 2016. REUTERS

by former military officers, accepted a crushing defeat.

But critics say Thein Sein, who gave no reason for cancelling his attendance at the California summit on Monday and Tuesday, did little to tackle his country’s profound poverty or the religious tensions that regularly erupted into deadly violence.

Nor did he challenge the military, whose abiding influence over every aspect of Myanmar - politics, bureaucracy, business - poses a major challenge to Suu Kyi’s fledgling administration.

“Thein Sein will be remembered as the president who really turned Myanmar around,” said Richard Horsey, a Yangon-based

analyst and former United Nations official in Myanmar. “His administration has been far from perfect, but his legacy will be an enduring one.”

Former junta leader Than Shwe appointed him prime minister in 2007, the same year the military government brutally suppressed pro-democracy protests led by Buddhist monks. Four years later, after winning a general election marred by vote-rigging allegations and boycotted

by Suu Kyi’s NLD, Thein Sein became president of a nominally civilian government packed with former soldiers.

presidency with his abrupt suspension in September 2011 of a $3.6-billion, China-backed dam at Myitsone, in northern Myanmar, source of the mighty Ayeyarwady River.

The dam had drawn protests on both environmental and patriotic grounds, and suspending it boosted Thein Sein’s popularity among his 51 million people.

It also signalled that the preferential treatment China had received during the years of junta rule was over.

A bookish-looking 70-year-old, Thein Sein’s leadership style is “lowkey, people-centred, even humble”, said analyst HorsLOOKING WEST ey.

He set the tone for his Suu Kyi was less im-

pressed. She first met Thein Sein in the capital, Naypyitaw, in August 2011, eight months after she was freed from house arrest. For an ex-general struggling for global credibility, it was a pivotal encounter.

Suu Kyi pronounced Thein Sein “sincere” about reforming Myanmar. That endorsement paved the way for a visit by Hillary Clinton, then U.S. Secretary of State, in November and an end to most Western sanctions the following year.

Thein Sein held many more closed-door meetings with Suu Kyi, but their relationship would sour.

When asked by Reuters in April 2014 whether she still thought Thein Sein was sincere, Suu Kyi replied: “No. Because if he had been sincere about reform then we would be much further ahead than we are.”

Presidential spokesman Ye Htut described Thein Sein as an intensely private man whose chief concern was Myanmar’s stability.

This meant putting issues such as corruption on the backburner so as “not to rock the boat”, said Ye Htut.

Critics say it also meant preserving the military’s powers - and ignoring its well-documented human rights abuses - in the name of national reconciliation.

The military, which holds a quarter of parliamentary seats and key

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Beijing’s official in Hong Kong calls rioters “radical separatists”

ministerial posts, remained outside civilian control under Thein Sein.

RELIGIOUS STRIFE Thein Sein was also widely criticised for failing to halt religious violence that killed hundreds of people, mostly Muslims, and caused lasting damage to relations with majority Buddhists.

He was condemned for Myanmar’s treatment of the Rohingya, a Muslim minority forced to live in squalid camps in western Myanmar, and for the passage of four so-called “race and religion protection” laws championed by radical Buddhist monks.

The laws, which rights groups said discriminated against Muslims and women, made Thein Sein a “hero” to Buddhist extremists, said Wai Wai Nu, a Rohingya activist and former political prisoner.

“A democratic president should not be biased towards one religion,” she told Reuters.

Suu Kyi was also criticised for failing to speak up for the Rohingya.

Thein Sein’s most ambitious plan was to bring peace to a nation fractured by decades of fighting between the military and dozen of ethnic rebel armies.

But only eight of 15 armed groups signed a nation ceasefire in October, with many of the most powerful staying away. The fighting continues.

Bricks are seen behind riot police after a clash with protesters at Mongkok district in Hong Kong on February 9.

(REUTERS Photo)

HONG KONG, FeBruArY 15 (reuters): Beijing’s top representative in Hong Kong has blamed radical separatists for riots that erupted in the Chinese-ruled city almost a week ago, the worst violence since pro-democracy protests paralysed parts of the Asian financial centre in 2014.

More than sixty people have been arrested in connection with the violence, during which protesters hurled bricks at police and set fire to rubbish bins in Mong Kok, a tough, working-class neighbourhood just across the harbour from the city’s financial district. Thirty-seven people were charged on Thursday.

The riots erupted when authorities tried to remove illegal street stalls set up for Lunar New Year celebrations.

The actions of the “radical separatists” were “leaning towards terrorism”, the South China Morning Post daily quoted Zhang Xiaoming, the head of Beijing’s Liaison Office in Hong Kong, as saying.

“We will not [allow] this very small number of radical separatists to destroy the most precious rule of law in Hong Kong,” he told a spring festival in Hong Kong. Police fired two warning shots into the air during the violence, almost unheard of in the former British colony that reverted to Chinese rule in 1997 and is considered one of Asia’s safest cities. More than 130 people were wounded in the clashes.

At least one of those charged in connection with the trouble belongs to a group called Hong Kong Indigenous, one of a cluster of outspoken groups calling for greater Hong Kong autonomy and even independence from China, the group said. Hong Kong leader Leung Chun-ying, who attended the same reception as Zhang, echoed the Beijing official’s comments, saying the rioters only represented a small minority in the city, the South China Morning Post reported. China’s Foreign Ministry has said the riot was “plotted by a local radical separatist organisation”.

Lawyer: suspect was tortured into Scientists identify antigens that Israel ex-PM Ehud Olmert confessing role in Bangkok bomb maybe triggering type 1 diabetes begins jail term in corruption

A suspect of the August 17 Bangkok blast, who has been referred to as Bilal Mohammed, also known as Adem Karadag, is escorted by soldiers and prison officers as he arrives at the military court in Bangkok on November 24, 2015. (REUTERS File Photo)

BANGKOK, FeBruArY 15 (reuters): A Chinese ethnic Uighur man arrested in Thailand over a bombing that killed 20 people in Bangkok last year denied on Monday charges of murder or involvement in the attack, retracting an earlier confession his lawyer said he was tortured into making.

Adem Karadag, also known as Bilal Mohammed, is due to appear at a military court on Tuesday, along with a second suspect, Yusufu Mieraili, to formally hear the charges. Police said both men had confessed to having a role in the Aug. 17 explosion.

A lawyer for Karadag, said his client was coerced into confessing that he took part in the attack. Most of the victims were foreign tourists, raising concerns that the country’s lucrative tourist industry could suffer.

“At the time he was tortured and under pressure. That is why he confessed to the charges against him,” lawyer Schoochart Kanpai told Reuters after visiting Karadag in detention.

“He still maintains he has no involvement in this. The only charge he accepts is illegal entry.”

Winthai Suvaree, a spokesman for the junta, doubted whether the two suspects had been tortured while in military custody.

“I am fairly certain nothing happened to the suspects while they were in military custody,” he said.

No group claimed responsibility for the attack, which Thai authorities have said was in retaliation for a crackdown on human smuggling gangs and not a terrorist attack.

But some security experts say the bomb was in retaliation for Thailand’s forced repatriation of more than 100 Uighurs to China in July rather than in response to a crackdown on human smuggling gangs.

China has long faced criticism for the perceived harsh restrictions it places on religion and culture in Xingjiang, where the majority of Uighurs live.

The two suspects had first been charged by a military court in November, but neither had accepted or denied the charges because of interpretation issues at that hearing, Schoochart said. They were indicted on 10 charges, including murder and illegal possession of explosives, but not terrorism.

The lawyer did not say whether the second suspect, Mieraili, would also deny the charges against him on Tuesday. Police have been issued warrants for 17 people in connection with the attack, he said. Fifteen of those wanted are still at large.

New YOrK, FeBruArY 15 (IANs): A new class of antigens has been identified that may be a contributing factor to type 1 diabetes. Type-1 diabetes is the auto-immune form of diabetes, in which insulin-producing beta cells in the pancreas are destroyed by body’s own immune cells, a study finds.

“Our lab studies the type of T cell known as a CD4 T cell,” said Kathryn Haskins from the University of Colorado School of Medicine in the US. “We have focused on autoreactive CD4 T cells using a mouse model of autoimmune diabetes. We have been especially interested in identifying the antigens that activate these T cells,” Haskins added in the paper published in journal Science.

Normally, a CD4 T cell is

supposed to respond to “foreign” antigens. But in autoimmune disease the T cells respond to antigens that are generated in the body. Such proteins and peptides are called autoantigens.

When an autoreactive T cell sees its antigen, it becomes activated and can initiate disease. By identifying those antigens, scientists may be able to use that information to detect autoreactive T cells early in disease, or better yet, in at-risk individuals.

If they are able to use the antigens to turn off destructive T cells, they may be able to prevent the disease, the study finds.

Researchers conducted experiments to analyze the fractions of beta cells that contain antigen for autoreactive CD4 T cells in order to identify autoan-

tigens in type 1 diabetes.

They discovered a new class of antigens that consist of insulin fragments fused to peptides of other proteins present in beta cells. That fusion leads to generation of hybrid insulin peptides that are not encoded in an individual’s genome.

If peptides in the body are modified from their original form, they essentially become “foreign” to the immune system and this may explain why they become targets for the autoreactive T cells.

The discovery of hybrid peptides as targets of the immune system provides a plausible explanation of how the immune system is tricked into destroying the body’s own beta cells. The discovery may also lead to a better understanding of other autoimmune diseases.

JerusAlem, FeBruArY 15 (PtI): Disgraced former prime minister Ehud Olmert today became Israel’s first ex-premier to be jailed as he began serving a 19-month sentence in the biggest corruption scandal in the Jewish nation’s history. 70-yearold Olmert entered Ma’asiyahu Prison in Ramle this morning, nearly two months after the apex court upheld his bribery conviction.

Earlier in the morning, hours ahead of his incarceration, he insisted that while he accepted the sentence, he was innocent of taking bribes, the Times of Israel reported.

“As prime minister I was entrusted with Israel’s security, and now I am the one who is about to sit behind bars. You may well imagine how this transformation is painful and strange to me,” Olmert said in a short video released shortly before he departed for the prison.

“At this time I want to say that I deny outright the charges relating to bribery attributed to me,” he said. “It is also important for me to note that

all the charges do not touch on the time of my tenure as prime minister.

It is with a very heavy heart that I accept the sentence no one is above the law,” he concluded.

A Jerusalem court last week added another month behind bars to his jail term after he pleaded guilty to obstruction of justice in various cases against him. The plea deal was the first admission of wrongdoing by the former premier and Jerusalem mayor, who has consistently maintained his innocence throughout eight years of legal proceedings in various graft cases.

Olmert admitted to trying to persuade his former secretary not to testify against him in the Holyland scandal and of trying to buy her silence, and a second affair involving cash infusions from US businessman Morris Talansky. In December, the Supreme Court reduced Olmert’s sentence from 6 years to 18 months in prison, and acquitted him on one of the charges, bringing an end to what was dubbed the largest bribery scandal in Israel’s history.

In poor, violent enclave of ‘Saint Death’, Pope slams Mexico’s rich eCAtePeC, FeBruArY 15 (reuters): Celebrating Mass for more than 300,000 people in one of Mexico´s poorest and most dangerous cities, Pope Francis on Sunday took a swipe at the country’s rich and corrupt elite .

Decrying “a society of the few and for the few”, he denounced deep inequality and the vanity and pride of those who consider themselves a cut above the rest.

“That wealth which tastes of pain, bitterness and suffering. This is the bread that a corrupt family or society gives its own children,” the pope said at the Mass in the city of Ecatepec.

Francis urged his listeners to struggle to make Mexico “a land of opportunities where there will be no need to emigrate in order to dream” and where drug traffickers, whom he called “dealers of death”, would not ensnare their children.

Mexico is home to one of the world´s richest men, billionaire Carlos Slim, and a wealthy political class stained by corruption even as much of the country is steeped in poverty and violence. A gritty expanse of cinder block homes north

of Mexico City, Ecatepec has seen a surge in crime in recent years as it became infested with warring drug cartels.

Fueled by a weak economy and youth unemployment, gang violence has driven the city’s murder rate to one of Mexico’s highest. It is notorious for the unsolved murders of scores of women, the bodies of many found abandoned in garbage dumps or tossed in a canal only miles from where Francis spoke on Sunday.

‘NO DIALOGUE WITH THE DEVIL’ The pope warned Mexicans not to succumb to evil: “You cannot dialogue with the devil because he will always win,” he told them.

Ecatepec is home to a giant statue of “Santa Muerte”, or Saint Death, a cult figure followed by millions across the Americas.

The saint is often depicted as a skeletal “grim reaper” draped in white satin robes, beaded necklaces and carrying a scythe, and is believed to grant requests without judging people.

Although he did not address Santa Muerte in his Mass, the Roman Catholic

Church has been dismayed by the cult’s rise at a time it is battling competition from other religions.

“The Mexican Church already was very concerned by expanding Protestantism and now it must contend with a folk saint venerated mostly by Mexicans who still consider themselves Catholic,” said Andrew Chesnut, the author of a book about the cult.

A sea of Catholic faithful greeted the pope as he flew into Ecatepec aboard a white helicopter, many wearing Tshirts emblazoned with his image, chanting, cheering and waving flags. Tens of thousands of others lined the streets.

“We are living through a period of great violence ... May (the pope) give us strength to continue to bear this, to keep struggling against it,” said Maria Dolores Angeles Martinez, a 26-year-old housewife from Ecatepec. Across the country, more than 100,000 people have been killed in drug violence over the last decade and some 26,000 are missing.

President Enrique Pena Nieto has failed to significantly curb the bloodshed,

Pope Francis celebrates a Mass before a crowd of hundreds of thousands in Ecatepec, Mexico on February 14. (REUTERS Photo)

with murders rising last year after falling early in his term.

Before becoming president, Pena Nieto was governor of the State of Mexico that is the home to Ecatepec. In the second half of his 2005-2011 term as governor, the murders of women doubled.

Corruption and incompetence are rampant in under-funded police forces across Mexico. The vast majority of murders are never solved and family members complain authorities show little interest

in the cases of the missing.

Francis condemned corruption in a hard-hitting speech at the presidential palace on Saturday. Unlike his predecessor Pope Benedict, who visited Mexico’s conservative heartland in 2012, Francis is stopping in some of the country’s most troubled corners on his first trip as pontiff.

He will travel on Monday to Mexico’s poorest state Chiapas, where he will say Mass with indigenous communities. Evangelical Christian groups have made

huge advances in Chiapas, weakening the Catholic Church’s influence.

The pope will also meet with young people in Morelia, the capital of Michoacan state where drug gangs and armed vigilante groups have waged a bloody conflict. He then concludes his trip in the notorious northern border city of Ciudad Juarez, where he will address the tide of illegal immigration into the United States, meet relatives of victims of violence, and visit a prison.

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tuesDAY 16•02•2016

SPORTS/Public diScOuRSe

THE MORUNG EXPRESS

I would be lying if I say I have Should the church accept govt moved on from CSK: MS Dhoni funding in tackling HIV/AIDS?

I

n the recently concluded Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the Nagaland Legislators’ Forum on AIDS (LFA), the Chief Minister has proposed campaign funding for churches in Nagaland to fight against HIV/AIDS in order to achieve zero target by 2020 (Nagaland Post and The Morung Express, Feb 9). The spirit of partnership is well and good and I wish for it to continue. Here’s why. Beknowest to all, HIV/AIDS is a community pandemic. According to statistics, 9% of those infected are not only innocent patients but members of the community. And so also are the rest of the patients and their families.

This reality beckons the community, including the Government and Church, to ensure that all measures are in place in order to treat and prevent the occurrence of the disease. Hence, all organs of the community need to participate in giving the patients and potential patients every help required to deal with the issue.

Having said that, the task of the church and the government are stupendously distinct and a careful attention is required to uphold the integrity of both, particularly of the church, even while working together for a common mission.

That is why direct funding by the Government towards the Church’s ministry against HIV/ AIDS is inappropriate. The underlined theological reasons will highlight the conflicting dimensions between the Church and State in relation to dealing with HIV/AIDS. 1) Clash of Authorities: Being a body founded

by God, redeemed by Jesus and sustained by the Holy Spirit, the Church rightly belongs to the Triune God. It exists in obedience to the command of God, duly exemplified in the life and message of Christ. It is right and fitting for the churches in Nagaland to respond to the issue of HIV/AIDS. Jesus would’ve no qualms in attending to such patients, had it been prevalent during his time. But his message is clear. He willed to heal and continues to say, “Be healed!” (cf.,Matthew 8:3) The church must continue the emotional-socio-cultural healing ministry of Jesus through active involvement in the life of the patients. But is it right for the church to receive direct funding for such a ministry? No. In the early church, the first Christians did many “social services” but they did so with the generous offerings of the believers (cf., Acts 2: 43ff).

This was not only a symbol of their unity but a clear manifestation of their joyous service to God and people and a testimony of their corporate love for God and each other. Likewise, any program of the church, aimed at catering to the needs of its members or otherwise, must be done out of believers’ cheerful giving to-

wards the project. To simply engage in a social program funded by the state not only leads to a hypocritical ministry of the church but also defames the name of God, in whose name and to whose glory the church ought to do all things (Cf., Colossians 3: 17). Would the church not end up giving glory to the State if her program is funded by it? Would the church not end up bowing to the authority of that hand that directly feeds her?

2) Clash of Messages: I make this statement as a member of a church that adheres to evangelical traditions. The potential clash-factor between the state and the church would be the content and message of the campaign. When the church’s campaign is funded by the State, the church would be obligated to carry the secularized message in relation to HIV/AIDS. The government responds to the statistical evidence of contracting the disease primarily through the sexual route (89%) and also through intravenous drug use (2%) by captions that read: “Use condoms,” “Avoid multiple sex partners,” “Do not share needles”. These slogans conflict with the evangelical teachings that would read: “Abstain from pre-marital sex,” “Do not commit adultery,” “Avoid fornication,” “Your body is a temple of God – Don’t abuse drugs”. The obvious conflict in the campaign messages of the two community organs should discourage the Church from accepting funding from the State.

The church needs to proclaim medically accurate information in order to rehabilitate the patients into the life of the church and society but must not conform to any slogans that comprise her task to proclaim God’s forgiveness and sustaining power to a life of holiness (“…Neither do I condemn you. Go and sin no more.” John 8:11). The Church has the prerogative to uphold her moral teaching, drawn for Christ himself, so that all her members maybe kept holy and blameless (Ephesians 1:4).

3) Clash of Objectives: The interest of the state is to prevent the spread of the disease and to see a virtual end to it within a specific time span.

The church’s mission moves beyond prevention to spiritual nourishment for responsible citizenship now and onto eternity. The success of the State’s target of reaching zero in the next few years is not predictable. And even if it were successful, the State will continue to face the challenge of being able to provide holistic care to the patients and their families. But long after the state has washed its hands off the concern, the church will have to continue its mission towards the patients and its family as part of her calling. Although some NGOs surpass

the church in this aspect, contrary to the State the Church engages with the task not merely to achieve a humanistic goal or to exhibit the excellence in the art of governance. The spiritual perspective in catering to the diverse needs of the people living with HIV/AIDS allows the church to answer the age old question, “What is the end purpose of my life?” The spiritual values of the church could positively affect patients’ spirituality and their ability to cope with the challenges posed by disease with hopeful expectations. Since spirituality is at the centre of Christian existence, the Church’s intervention is essential to inculcating hope not just for the moment and not just for the physical wellbeing but for the overall health and one that carries eternal implications. Accepting the one-time grant proposed by the state has the potential to diminish the Church’s essence of being reliant on God’s providence for its continual ministries. Most of all, to start, continue and end Church’s ministry depending on State’s funding will limit the scope of the Church’s mission in the world to the whims of the State politics.

The mission of the Church towards the diseased, the poor, the downtrodden and the spiritually weak is from the beginning of time and will have to continue in faith and love till the end of time (Cf., Matthew25: 31ff;Ephesians 1: 10), without the monetary support of the State.

The bottom-line argument is that churches should not accept direct government fund for addressing the issue at hand (unless the State is willing to slip in an anonymous amount into the offering bag without the need to demand receipt!). The government has its own machineries to deal with HIV/AIDS. The State has Nagaland State AIDS Control Society (NSACS) to most effectively carry out its mission of fighting the disease. The concerned office, and other non-church organizations, should be facilitated in every way and with all required means to do Government’s bidding. The church and the state can surely work together in many ways, one of them being providing professional support, but the limits that are set by biblical and theological boundaries need to be guarded by the church lest she loses sight of her identity and purpose of existence for a sum (the amount is irrelevant) of Government money.

The church ought to carry on her mission towards HIV/AIDS patients built on her own spiritual foundations and on the monetary strength generated by the believers out of love for God and fellow human beings. That will have meaning and purpose for the Church and for those whom she renders service in the name of God. Dr Eyingbeni Humtsoe-Nienu Faculty at Clark Theological College

The Farcical Nagamese: Singing A Piercing Falsetto First Language or Mother Tongue: “As languages disappear, cultures die. The world becomes inherently a less interesting place, but we also sacrifice raw knowledge and the intellectual achievements of millennia” - Ken Hale, Massachusetts Institute of Technology Linguists, Etymologists, Social Scientists and Psychologists all agree that language bonds people to one’s culture which molds an individual and maintains the connection with ancestors and tradition. The food-habits, clothing, festivals, religion and language are all part of a person’s cultural heritage. Every community or ethnic group has its own values, beliefs and ways of living. Human beings are social beings with the need to belong to a group of people with whom to identify; expressed by one’s ethnicity, language, religion and cultural heritage.

The depth of community-based knowledge of nature, about medicinal plants, nutrients from local shrubs and trees, and the habitat and habits of endangered wildlife are all trapped in the language. Language is intrinsic to one’s cultural identity as the unique ecosystem where one exists are expressed in one’s own language.

According to Ganesh N. Devy, Chairperson of Peoples Linguistic Survey of India (PLSI) under the auspices of an NGO called the Bhasha Research and Publication Centre, in India; “Currently as many as 780 different languages are spoken and 86 different scripts are used in the country. While it surely is a fact to celebrate the diversity of the country, the sad part is we have lost nearly 250 languages in the last 50 years or so.” Further, speaking about West Bengal, Devy said, 38 different languages are spoken in the State and is the richest in the country in terms of number of scripts used, as many as 9 (nine) different scripts and efforts are on to develop several other scripts.

According to UNESCO there are roughly 6,800 spoken languages in the world today. However, about 2,000 of those languages have fewer than 1,000 speakers. The most extensive catalogue of the world’s languages, generally taken to be as authoritative as any, is that of Ethnologue (published by Summer Institute of Linguistics International), whose detailed classified list as of 2009 included 6,909 distinct languages. But half the planet speaks the big 11 as per the 2010 edition of the Nationalencyklopedin: Mandarin Chinese, Spanish, English, Hindi, Arabic, Portuguese, Bengali, Russian, Japanese, Punjabi and German.

There are 955,000,000 people in the world who speaks the Mandarin Chinese language.

According to S.R. Tohring (2010), Nagas are divided into 65 tribes within India and Myanmar while the Naga National Council (NNC), holds that there are 77 tribes. So it implies that the Nagas have 65 to 77 dialects/mother tongue or first languages but the actual number may vary and climb up counting some dialects previously unrecorded. However, are the Naga’s doing enough to preserve the first languages,

our cultural heritage and identity? Proficiency in first language skills need to be maintained for self-enrichment and cultural identity. The Hornbill festival is indeed an attempt towards the preservation of our cultural heritage by practicing and making them part of our lives and language is one aspect of culture. Department of Arts & Culture and Information & Public Relations in consonance with the Tribal Hoho’s as guardian of Naga culture must initiate to bolster the preservation of every single first language. For instance, projects can be explored to produce documentary films or short films in each respective Naga dialects /first languages to be screened during the Hornbill Festival.

To walk the talk, it augurs well to mandate the NSF and ENSF for the mission to conduct a linguistic survey to map each first language spoken by the Nagas and the languages digitized and documented. In addition, the NSF and ENSF may also be endorsed to develop the Naga script.

The exercise can be undertaken by collaborating with NGOs, Universities and Institutes within the country and abroad. Language Division of Office of the Registrar General & Census Commissioner of India and also the charitable Trusts established by various corporate houses may be approached for funding the project.

Second Language or Common Language: “Understanding others makes possible a better knowledge of oneself: any form of identity is complex, for individuals are defined in relation to other people – both individually and collectively – and the various groups to which they owe allegiance, in a constantly shifting pattern.” - UNESCO, Learning: The Treasure Within, 1996.

For the major part, there are 2 principal roots for languages in India: Aryan, also known as Indo-European, which is common for the languages in the north (Hindi, Marathi, Gujarati, Punjabi, Bengali, etc.) and Dravidian, with predominant presence in the South (Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada, Tamil, etc.). There are also other languages with Sino-Tibetan and Austro-Asiatic roots. However, in the Indian Constitution, English and Hindi are recognized as official languages in the national level, while 22 official languages are recognized as a part of eight schedule and each state sets its own, plus their dialects.

Australia is also known to be one of the most culturally and linguistically diverse nation in the world. Over 200 (two hundred) languages are embedded in the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander societies other than the Standard Australian English spoken in Australia.

Besides the Standard Australian English, Aboriginal English developed as a means of communication between the Aboriginal people of different language groups and non-Aboriginal people. Further, Torres Strait Creole is used as a common language among speakers of different Torres Strait languages. Both Aboriginal English and Torres Strait Creole are spoken as

a first or second language by many indigenous Australians.

Much had been deliberated over the newsprints, for and against Nagamese as an official language. Besides the first languages spoken by each Naga tribes /community as well as other diverse Indian community first languages, English and Hindi are formally forced to settle in education for children across India. However, imposition of English and Hindi languages doesn’t make one any less a Naga or a Bengali or a Malayali. Many dreads that recognizing Nagamese as official language will be at odds against the Naga roots and origin amounting to neglecting the traditional culture. The fear of the farcical Nagamese emerges to be hypothetical.

Nagamese is truly an ever budding, hitherto lingua franca for Nagas but will remain a fourth language for some and third or second language for others and for insignificant few as first language.

Practically, every first languages in India or so in Nagaland cannot be made official languages. At the National level English and Hindi are official and common language likewise undeniably Nagamese is the unofficial common language for the Nagas. Nagas, need to be realistic and therefore work out strategies to develop the farcical Nagamese into a standard official common language. It may possibly entail a new script or a borrowed script similar to English which surprisingly doesn’t have its own script but uses Latin script. Manage it to depend on the understanding of the Naga languages, the adaptation of its elements as its strengths for social integration, as well for educational, economic and political advancement. Thus, the Naga society must brace up to swim towards refinement and not strive against the evolving trend.

“There is nothing permanent except change” – Heraclitus Cultures and languages are not static but develop and change as the belief systems and the progressively evolving ways of life. The cultural identity adapts, becomes more complex and fluid over time under other cultural influences in the course of interactions with surrounding community and the broader society. People develop allegiances to different tastes through exposures and the influential mass media viz., TV /Movies (Bollywood /Hollywood etc.) as well as the popular culture of the existing era. To sum up with an analogy, the writer sees in the NNC as the first Naga languages and the NSCN as the budding language Nagamese. The Naga heritage is the NNC with the Naga Shawl (cloak) to preserve the cultural heritage passed on to the NSCN for continuity. However, two contradicting Naga DNAs are found in Genesis 11:9, the DNA (A) = one speech and the DNA (B) = confused tongues. The Naga society at large including the NNC and NSCN need to ponder and decide which DNA to opt for: One Speech with Modesty or Confused Languages with Egotism?

V.T. Chakhesang (vt.chakhesang@gmail.com) Nagaland, Kohima.

Industrialist and owner of the Indian Premier League's Rising Pune Supergiants cricket team Sanjiv Goenka (L) and team captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni unveil the team jersey at an event in New Delhi on February 15. (AFP PHOTO)

New Delhi, February 15 (PTi): Mahendra Singh Dhoni feels ‘different’ about captaining a new team in the Indian Premier League for the first time in eight years and says he has not moved on from his days at the now suspended Chennai Super Kings.

“I would be lying if I say I have moved on. That is the special part of being a human being. There is got to be an emotional connect after eight years (with CSK),” said Dhoni at the jersey launch of his new team, the Rising Pune Supergiants.

Usually calm and composed on the field, Dhoni got a tad emotional when asked about the team he led since the inception of the IPL. “If you want me to be politically correct, that is not how I am. After eight years of IPL, it feels very different to play for any other team. All of a sudden if you want me to say that I am very excited to play for a new team, don’t give credit to CSK and the fans for the love and affection they have given us, it will be wrong.

“But as a professional, I would like to thank the Pune team for taking me. Of course there will be added responsibility as captain but as a professional we are supposed to do the job with more than 100 hundred percent commitment. And that is what we will try to do,” said the India limited-overs captain, a day after leading the team to a T20 series win over Sri Lanka.

Dhoni said he will miss playing alongside the likes of Suresh Raina, Ravindra Jadeja and Brendon McCullum before exuding confidence in the players picked for the new team.

“There are a lot of players we will miss.

We were together for eight years, our core group was the same. We were so consistent and our strength was that we played as a team. We have taken some former CSK players but then at the auction, the two new teams were expected to do most of the buying. If you look at the six other franchisees, they have a settled lot. Therefore, the pressure will be on the new franchise,” he felt.

On playing against long-time India and CSK teammate Raina, who will captain the other new team Gujarat Lions, Dhoni said: “We all know how destructive Raina is. At the same time, he will just not be playing me and us, he will be playing against the other teams too. He will be trying his best to do well. We have to make sure that we do

the job that is expected from us.”

The maverick Kevin Pietersen is also part of the Pune unit. Asked about his plans to deal with former England batsman, Dhoni said “we will wait and watch”.

“Every player will have a role in the team. There is a basic way every cricketer plays. KP is fantastic, somebody who is aggressive and expressive on the field.

Not only has that, he like other seniors, had an added responsibility to groom the youngsters. We will have to wait and watch (about KP’s behaviour) but I don’t think it will be an issue,” added Dhoni.

Besides Dhoni, the other big players in the Pune team are Ravichandran Ashwin, Ajinkya Rahane, Australia captain Steven Smith and South African batsmen Faf du Plessis. Dhoni is also pleased about CSK coach Stephen Fleming joining him at Pune.

“The life becomes slightly easy with him around. We know each other for long time. He is a fantastic coach. His management skills are very good. What I really like is that he is calm like me. It is good to have him and hopefully it will work for us.”

On Rahane, he said: “He is someone who is very consistent. He may not be part of the playing 11 regularly in the T20 Internationals but that is because your openers Rohit (Sharma) and Shikhar (Dhawan) are doing really well. But if you look at his performances in the IPL, Rahane is among top-two, top three batsmen”.

Kanitkar named assistant coach Former India cricketer Hrishikesh Kanitkar has been named assistant coach of the new Indian Premier League franchise — Rising Pune Supergiants — for the upcoming season to be held from April 9 to May 29.

Kanitkar, who played two Tests in 1999-2000 and 34 ODIs, is remembered for his heroics in the final match of the Independence Cup against Pakistan in 1998.

The gutsy left hander hit a boundary off Saqlain Mushtaq, when India required three runs to win from two balls, in fading light to enable them post a memorable victory over the arch-rivals in Dhaka, chasing a 300-plus target. With 8,059 runs in 105 matches, Kanitkar is in the top five highest run-getters in Ranji Trophy.

In July 2015, Kanitkar announced his retirement from international cricket.

The Rising Pune Supergiants have already named Stephen Fleming as the head coach.

Are our Representatives going to the people?

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he killing of a couple on February 6 last in Shamator Sub-Division by unidentified gunmen when they were returning from Shamator to Kiphire should be condemned by one and all. Such heinous crime has no place in the civilized world. Such barbarism should not happen anymore.

There have been reports of inter-tribal rivalries over the last one year or so. Yet, such issues had been settled through talks and reconciliations, because we cannot afford allowing such differences destroy our aged old relationships living as one family.

What one wonders are the incidents that occurred in the aftermath of the unfortunate killing of the couple? There had been vandalisms in the heart of the Kiphire town targeting houses of a particular community including the one belonging to local MLA, Torechu.

Under any circumstances, the kind of incident perpetrated on the couple could never be justified. But at the same time indulging in lawless acts in the aftermath of the unfortunate killing of the couple should not have happened. Such mindless vandalisms could not bring justice to the wrongs committed to the couple either.

The sad part was spreading similar lawless destructions and vandalisms in neighboring Pungro areas and finally in Shamator areas.

What we have been showing to the world? Are we showing that we still live in 100 years back? The most shocking was our State elected Representatives’ stoic silence and indifference. When the talks on the ongoing Naga issue seriously surfaced, many of our Representatives had mentioned their views and opinions that they

should go back to their people and convey the messages of the status of the ongoing Naga peace process to them.

The members, who were part of the Parliamentary Working Committee meeting Prime Minister, Home Minister and Interlocutor, briefed the Assembly. They informed the House of what Prime Minister Narendra Modi showed formula for settling outstanding Naga issue. Interestingly, they had passed resolution that they should go to the people and meet them but most of our leaders were not serious to go to their people till today.

The recent incident of the unfortunate killing and subsequent lawless vandalisms in Khipire, Pungro and Shamator had clearly shown that our Representatives had utterly failed to play their parts. Many measures could have been initiated by our elected Representatives and it would not have been tough exercise.

In such situation, our Representatives should rush to the spots and try to pacify the agitating villagers. What thinking one can have when our own Representatives could not share the status of the ongoing peace process? It is necessary to win over the hearts of the people and for which, they have to go to the people. But their complacency is making them lethargic losing values as Representatives.

The Central leaders should also stop playing a divide-and-rule policy as it damages the social fabric of the Naga societies beyond repair. They used to give assurances to the ENPO that they would give a separate “Frontier Nagaland.” One wonders on what is the mind of the Central leaders, only God knows.

T Methna Konyak Mon, Nagaland

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.

Tuesday 16•02•2016

EntErtainmEnt

'DeaDpool' makes box-office history

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A team performs during the concert held as part of the four-day long Choral music and Christian leadership seminar at Dimapur Ao Baptist Arogo (DABA) on February 15. A team of 35 members led by Rev Diana Adour from the Church of the Revelation, New York, USA as resource person will be conducting Choral music, Leadership Seminar and Sunday School Teachers’ Seminar. The seminar is being organized by a team of interdenominational Church leaders in Nagaland headed by Rev Moses Murry as the Convenor. Photo by Caisii Mao

yan Reynolds' superhero movie Deadpool is all set to break the Box Office record after earning $135 million on the four-day opening weekend.

According to a source, Tim Miller's directorial earned $47.5 million on February 12 from 3,558 locations and $12.7 million from February 11's night previews alone, US magazine reports.

The movie that also stars Morena

Baccarin, Ed Skrein and Gina Carano revolves around the Marvel Comics' foul-mouthed superhero, played by Reynolds, who tries to find the man who almost ruined his life.

The action-comedy, which is the eighth installment in the X-Men film series, was released in US on February 12, 2016.

Earlier, Fifty Shades of Grey set the record by earning $93 million at Box Office.

Source: ANI

Daniel Craig 'quitting as James Bond

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he Independent has learnt that a decision on whether Craig will return as Bond has not been reached, but if he does appear in Purity it does not necessarily mean he will not be back to play Bond.

Before the release of Spectre, the actor infa-

mously said he would rather ‘slash his wrists’ than play the spy again, yet since then he has looked more fondly on the role. As reported in The Sun, it seems like he may not be returning to the role.

Producers at Sony have, on several occasions, said

Grammy winner, Padmashree and Global Brand Ambassador Handshake Concert donated his 33 year old Mohan Veena to Rattle and Hum Music Society, Nagaland on February 14 at Jaipur. The Mohan Veena presented was the guitar used in his Grammy winning album "Meeting by The River" and had traveled with the maestro to 70+ countries.

they are hoping to woo Craig back to play Bond once more, yet there has been no confirmation he will be back.

Numerous actors are tipped to play the iconic role once Craig finishes, including Tom Hardy, Damian Lewis, Henry Cavil and

In this image released to the media, Nise Meruno is seen here with Pastor Winit. Nise had performed at the Immanuel Baptist Church in Bangkok on Sunday.

One of the local bands performing during ‘Valentine’s Day-Special Night’ organized by Mega Entertainment, Wokha at Hammock Resort on February 14 at Hammock Resort, new Wokha Village. Various popular Lotha artists that had performed during the show were CEM Kyong, Mites, Eramoren Nchu, Albert Patton, Lumka & Co, Shanchobeni Kikon & Lobeno Tungoe.

'The Revenant' bags top honours at BAFTA Awards 2016

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irector Alejandro Gonz's "The Revenant" dominated this year's 69th annual British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) Awards by winning four honours, while British filmmaker of Indian origin Asif Kapadia's "Amy" was named the Best Documentary at the gala here on Sunday.

Leonardo DiCaprio won the Best Actor trophy for "The Revenant", which was also lauded with the Best Film Award, Best Director Award, Best Cinematography and Best Sound.

The awards gala, held here at the Royal Opera House, was hosted by Stephen Fry, and saw the presence of the who's who of the international movie industry.

Kapadia's "Amy", a documentary on the life of singer Amy Winehouse who died in 2011 at a young age of 27, won an honour, and the director said that through his film, he had wanted to show "how intelligent and how witty she was before it all went out of control".

The event saw Brie Larson being honoured with the Best Leading Actress award for her role in the Canadian-Irish drama "Room", while "Mad Max: Fury Road" took four awards, including Best Make-up and Hair, Best Editing, Best Costumes and Best Production Design.

"Titanic" star Kate Winslet was presented the Best Supporting Actress Award

by Eddie Redmayne. Win-

slet said that it had been "an extraordinary year for women".

Among the men, Mark Rylance won the Best Supporting Actor for his role as British-born Soviet agent in India's Reliance Entertainment-backed "Bridge of Spies", which had nine nominations.

Historical period drama "Brooklyn", based on Colm's eponymous novel, won the outstanding British film.

"Star Wars" actor John Boyega won the Rising Star Award, which was voted for by the public.

In the Best Animated Feature Film category, "Inside Out" pipped "Minions" and "Shaun The Sheep Movie".

Source: IANS

udition for ‘Everyday Salt Presents’ “North East Dancing Best Moms” Season 2 got underway on February 14 at Hotel Silhouettee, Dimapur. 19 contestants were selected for the final round.

Anjali Roy Chowdhury was the host of the event

Biggest fear is not living up to my father's name: Sonam Kapoor

B

eing a star kid comes with its own advantages but actress Sonam Kapoor says it is a constant struggle to make her own mark while living up to the legacy of her father Anil Kapoor. Sonam stars in an upcoming biopic "Neerja", the story of a young flight attendant, who was shot dead by terrorists while trying to save the lives of passengers on a hijacked flight.

The movie aims to inspire youth to be fearless and when asked what's her biggest fear, Sonam said, "I have a lot of fears but the biggest is not to live up to my father's name. Everybody reminds me of this every day. I face this fear every day. People say, 'Oh she is Anil Kapoor's daughter. Is she?'

"It is heartbreaking but at the same time it gives me strength because I love being my father's daughter and I don't want anyone to make me feel like it is a burden. He has worked very hard to give me everything that I want. My father has always worked for the family. That's my fear," she said.

Sonam, 30, also recalled a conversation with actor Dhanush, her co-star in "Raanjhanaa", about the same and that affected her deeply.

"One day I sat down with Dhanush, who is a very close friend of mine. I heard something and it stayed with me for a very long time. The saying was that 'not much grows under a banyan tree,' he said. "'Raanjhanaa' is a turning point in my life and after that, I try to shine bright to make my father proud and so that a shadow can grow under a banyan tree."

"Neerja", also starring Shabana Azmi, is directed by Ram Madhavani. It will release this Friday, February 19.

Source: PTI

war is currently ongoing for the series, with Showtime, FX and Netflix all interested. However, there is no mention of Craig stepping away from Bond, and The Sun may have taken an unguided leap in claiming he will no longer play the spy.

Source: The Independent

19 contestants to compete for ‘North East Dancing Best Moms’

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Idris Elba.

Purity, meanwhile, is based on the novel by Jonathan Franzen, and tells the tale of a young woman raised in unusual circumstances in Northern Carolina. Variety has also reported that Craig will star in the show, adding that a bidding

while the judges were social activities Neeta Agarwal, Nagamese Actress Rose Longcher and finalist of Vivel Northeast Diva 2015 Gihutoli Khulu.

The organizer of North East Dancing Best Moms, Munna Yadav (Actor) said that the show was conceptualized with the idea to pro-

mote the talents of Moms.

Parliamentary secretary of Art & Culture Eshak Konyak and Basu Damani General Secretary, Finance NPF will grace the programmed as the chief guest and guest of honour for the Grand Finale which will be held on March 20 at Dimapur Club.

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tuesDAY 16•02•2016

SPORTS

THE MORUNG EXPRESS

Boxers, shooters' golden sweep keeps India on top at SAG

Messi passes on penalty, serves up Suarez hat-trick

Manoj Kumar (left) throws a punch at Bhutan's Tshering Wangchuk during their 64kg Light Welter category bout in South Asian Games(SAG) in Shillong.

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GuWaHati, February 15 (pti): The boxers hardly broke a sweat to scoop all the seven gold medals up for grabs, while shooters ended their campaign with an outstanding tally of 25 gold medals to ensure that India's reign at the top remained unhindered in the 12th South Asian Games on Monday.

On the penultimate day of competitions, the Indian contingent continued to be perched at the top with 289 medals (173 golds, 86 silvers and 30 bronzes).

Sri Lanka were second on the table with 174 medals (25 gold, 59 silver and 90 bronze, followed by Pakistan (90 medals = 11 gold, 33 silver and 47 bronze).

Besides, the boxers and shooters' good show, the Indian women's football team also won the gold medal, defeating Nepal 4-0 in the summit clash.

The boxers were the stars of the show in Shillong with all the 7 men in the final notching up mostly comprehensive victories.

Commonwealth Games silver-medallist L Devendro Singh (49kg) began India's gold rush when he thrashed Pakistan's Mohib Ulla at the SAI campus in North Eastern Hill University on the outskirts of the city.

The London Olympics quarterfinalist was adjudged the winner on a split decision of 2-1.

Next man in was 35-year-old former national champion Madan Lal (52kg) and he too prevailed over another Pakistani opponent in Mohammad Syed Asif to be adjudged 3-0 winner.

World No.2 and World Championships bronzemedallist Shiva Thapa (56kg) was the fan favourite of the day and he im-

pressed the boisterous crowd to prevail over Sri Lankan W Ruwan Thilina.

Against the aggressive Lankan who was aiming for head butts, Thapa had a defensive strategy to avoid his initial blows.

World No.6 Vikas Krishan (775kg) put up a brave front, fighting through flu to down Pakistan's Tanveer Ahmed.

The Olympic medal prospect prevailed over his opponent with some feisty uppercuts and was adjudged 3-0 winner unanimously.

Another from the Indian boxing hub of Haryana, 20-year- old Dheeraj Rangi, who had secured a silver medal at the World Military Games in South Korea last year, defeated Pakistan's Ahmed Ali in the 60kg gold medal bout.

Experienced boxer Manoj Kumar, the 2010 Commonwealth Games gold medallist, was also adjudged winner in a unanimous decision of 3-0 against Dinidu Saparamadu of Sri Lanka in the 64kg category. Commonwealth Games medallist in Mandeep Jangra (69kg) survived a closely-fought contest against Afghanistan's Rahemi Alla Dad to win 3-0. At the shooting range in Guwahati, Indian shooters made yet another clean sweep on the final day to sign off with a staggering 25 out of 26 gold medals on offer.

Rio Olympics bound Gurpreet Singh shot gold in men's individual 25m rapid fire pistol with a total of 28 hits on target, while Sweta Singh grabbed another yellow metal in women's individual 10m air pistol event with a total score of 194.4 even though she was shooting with her spare gun at the Kahilipara

Shooting Range here.

Another Olympics quota holder Heena Sidhu had to be content with the silver in the women's 10m air pistol event with a total score of 192.5, while 18-year-old Chandigarh shooter Yashaswini Singh Deswal took the bronze.

India also took a gold each in both the team events to sweep aside any competition from other countries in the discipline.

India gave away just one gold -- to Bangladesh -- in the discipline. The home shooters ended the competition with 25 golds, 10 silvers and 10 bronzes.

Bangladesh are at a distant second with one gold, three silver and three bronze.

Gurpreet made up for his disappointing sixthplace finish in the 10m air pistol event on Saturday by winning the gold in 25m rapid fire pistol event.

Bashir Ghulam Mustafa of Pakistan took the silver with 24 hits on target while another Indian Vijay Kumar, who had won a silver in this event in 2012 London Olympics, bagged the bronze. In the women's 10m air pistol finals, there was tough competition among the three Indians, exchanging leads among three of them.

But towards the end, Sweta had established good lead over her two Indian rivals after young Deswal had a horrendous series of two shots of 8.3 and 7,7 which cost her dear.

Sidhu was not at her best in the finals and she had just five shots of 10 plus scores out of 20 attempts, besides having poor shots of 8.8 each.

For Sweta, this was the worst ever performance despite winning the gold as she had to shoot with a spare gun.

Barcelona's Lionel Messi takes a penalty to assist Luis Suarez to score a goal against Celta Vigo. (REUTERS)

barCeLONa, February 15 (reuters): Lionel Messi passed up the chance to net his 300th La Liga goal and instead put a hat-trick on a plate for team mate Luis Suarez with an outrageous penalty routine that evoked memories of Barcelona great Johan Cruyff on Sunday.

With Barcelona leading Celta Vigo 3-1 at a buzzing Nou Camp, Messi stepped forward in the 81st minute to take the spot kick but stunned the crowd by tapping the ball to the side for Suarez, who raced into the

box and fired past bewildered goalkeeper Sergio Alvarez.

Messi and Suarez wheeled away in glee and were quickly mobbed by their team mates, who looked as surprised as anyone.

The goal took Suarez onto 23 in the league this season, two ahead of Real Madrid's Cristiano Ronaldo. Barcelona finished the match 6-1 winners.

Coach Luis Enrique rejected suggestions the penalty was intended to embarrass the opposition and said he had seen his attack-

ing trio of Messi, Suarez and Neymar produce moments of magic in training.

"There will be those who like it and those who don’t," he told reporters.

"As well as winning titles, here we try to entertain people and win in a spectacular and sporting manner.

“You can take a penalty like that, it’s legal and there’s a Cruyff penalty we all know,” Dutch great Cruyff pulled off a similar trick while playing for Ajax against Helmond Sport in 1982, squaring the ball for

team mate Jesper Olsen, who then passed it back to him to score.

Cruyff played for Barcelona from 1973 to 1978.

Frenchmen Robert Pires and Thierry Henry tried a similar trick for Arsenal against Manchester City in 2005 but got into a muddle and failed to score.

Luis Enrique said it was not something he would try. "I wouldn’t dare take it like that because I’d fall over when I put my foot on the ball," he said.

The coach added there was nothing arrogant

about Messi's penalty and said there was a tendency in Spain to look down on moments of skill.

“In this country, a kick (at an opponent) is more readily accepted than anything fancy," he added. "We don’t care about that.

"What we have to do is enjoy our football, respect our opponents, try to show we’re better through football.

“I’m sorry but I don’t think anything special happened. I’m used to seeing them train and there they are even better,” he added.

India underline credentials Ali will run FIFA with dignity, transparency: Maradona February 15 (iaNs): Argen- was quoted as saying by sport 360.com. "Our as World T20 favourites Dubai, tine football legend Diego Maradona on aim is to retain that passion and make peomumbai, February 15 (reuters): Twenty20 series wins over Australia and Sri Lanka have given topranked India plenty of cause for optimism as they launch their bid for a second world crown in the sport's shortest format on home soil next month. Champions in the inaugural edition of the World Twenty20 in 2007, India blanked hosts Australia 3-0 at the start of the year before returning home to rally for a 2-1 win over Sri Lanka.

The three-match series started with a surprise defeat on a seamer-friendly surface in Pune but India were spared the usual outpouring of discontent that follows any cricketing loss with convincing wins in the remaining two matches. A green-tinged pitch like the one witnessed in Pune is unlikely to seen during the March 8-April 3 event and captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni has already identified his preferred 11 a month before the hosts open their campaign against New Zealand. "We are always a top contender when it comes to shorter formats," Dhoni said after India beat Sri Lanka by nine wickets in Visakhapatnam on Sunday. "Also, with the World Cup to be held in India, we know the spinners will come into the equation. It gives us the added benefit.

"Added to that is the exposure of having played the IPL (T20 tournament) over here. Out of the eight seasons, we have played seven seasons in India. "We have got a lot of players, especially ones who are part of the team, who have got very good experience of playing in India."

The return of batting mainstay Virat Kohli, rested for the Sri Lanka series, for Ajinkya Rahane is likely to be the only change to India's starting side for the upcoming Asia Cup T20 event in Bangladesh and the subsequent World Twenty20. The strong form of India's top order has left the middle to lower batsmen with limited opportunities to impress, however, and while Dhoni would like to see that deficiency addressed, he realises it could be difficult to fulfil.

Monday said he believes Jordanian Prince Ali would run world football governing body FIFA "with dignity and transparency" as he lent his support to the presidential candidate. Ali will battle against five others including Asian Football Confederation (AFC) chief Salman Bin Ibrahim Al-Khalifa, South African Tokyo Sexwale, Europe's governing body UEFA's general secretary Gianni Infantino and former FIFA executive Jerome Champagne.

"We want football to be clean, fun and entertaining. The scandals and bribes that happened in FIFA have ruined the image of football and took the heart of it," Maradona

ple fall in love with football again. Numerous footballing figures have nominated me to run for the FIFA presidency but I refused because I know Prince Ali would be a much better candidate and I am sure he will manage this federation with dignity and transparency," he added. The 1986 World Cup winner said they would look to take the positives from the previous governance in order to improve the image of the world governing body. "We will not do an extreme makeover to FIFA as there are some positives that we can take from the previous governance, but we aim to change what is negative in the association and help in improving its image."

The Nagaland Tennis team will be representing Nagaland state at the 'All India Inter State National Tennis Tournament' at Bhilai, Chhattisgarh from February 16-20. (From left) Keneisezotuo Whuorie, Zhaputso Khate, Vilasier Khate and Vikhozolie Khate (team coach and captain) are seen in the picture.

SON participate in National Winter Games Dimapur, February 15 (mexN): The National Winter Games 2016, Floorball was organised by Special Olympics Bharat- Himachal Pradesh from February 2 to 7 at Bilaspur Indoor Stadium. Special Olympics Nagaland (SON) also competed in the Games.

According to a press release, 13 special athletes from Prodigal Homes, Development Association of Nagaland and Silver Lines Academy Special School represented SON in the Games which witnessed participation from 20 state teams. Amongla and Achila Tzudir led the girls’ team while Temsuba Amri and Imliwapang Jamir led the boys’ team as coaches in floorball.

The release stated that the girls’ team finished 4th and the boys’ finished 5th.

The athletes were also provided free general health and dental check up besides being provided with sportswear. The next selection camp will be held in Manila, it was informed.

SON team at the National Winter Games.

Published, Printed and Edited by Dr. Aküm Longchari from House No. 4, Duncan Bosti, Dimapur at Themba Printers and Morung Publications , Padum Pukhuri Village, Dimapur, Nagaland.

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