February 20th, 2016

C M Y K

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saturDaY • februarY 20 • 2016

DIMAPUR • Vol. XI • Issue 48 • 12 PAGes • 5

T H e

ESTD. 2005

P o W e R

o F

The important thing is this: to be able at any moment to sacrifice what we are for what we could become Nagaland prepares for second round of IPPI

JNU ROW: Opposition slams government PaGe 08

reflections

By Sandemo Ngullie

PaGe 02

PAGE 12

Sonia Gandhi expresses Truckers denied basic amenities solidarity to Naga people Dimapur | February 19

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PR lifted from Arunachal NEw DElhI, FEBRUARY 19 (IANS): President’s Rule has been lifted from Arunachal Pradesh, a Rashtrapati Bhavan official said on Friday. The step comes after the Supreme Court on Thursday cleared the decks for the revocation of central rule in the northeastern border state as it vacated its own order of status quo passed on Wednesday. The central government had on Wednesday recommended lifting President’s Rule from the state. The decision was however held back in the wake of the status quo order passed by the apex court.

Related news on page 3

Indefinite Road blockade at MarianiSonowal-Mkg route

C M Y K

DIMAPUR, FEBRUARY 19 (MExN): Mariani-based civil society has announced an indefinite road blockade at the Sonowal stretch of the Mariani-Mokokchung road beginning February 20. The blockade was jointly called by the All Assam Students’ Union (AASU), Jatiyatabadi Yuva Chatra Parishad (AJYCP) and All Assam Tea Tribes’ Students Association (AATTSA), informed a press release from the Border Peace Coordination Committee - Assam-Nagaland (BPCC – A-N). The release stated that the organisations have been demanding the Border Roads Organisation (BRO) to repair and improve the Mariani-Mokokchung sector for the past one year to no avail. “During last year too, the civil organisations have resorted to road blockades to impress the higher authority for a prompt action but except assurances, the BRO did nothing.”

With the BRO remaining unresponsive, the organisations on February 18 locked the BRO office at New Sonowal, which is located a few kms beyond Mariani town towards the Tsutepela Nagaland Police checkpost. The organisations subsequently announced an indefinite road closure at the said stretch of road beginning Saturday morning. In view of the situation, the BPCC – A-N informed travellers to avoid taking the road starting from Mariani Zero Point to New Sonowal till the blockade is lifted. School children, fire and medical services and press are exempt.

The Amguri Road leading to Sonari and Tuli will however remain open.

— Charles Du Bos

BCCI to file affidavit in SC on Lodha Report

Morung Express news

Are discussions and decisions in Nagaland influenced more by personal opinions and views than by facts and figures?

T R u T H

Congress President, Sonia Gandhi is seen along with the delegation of ‘Parliamentary Working Committee (PWC) of the Nagaland Joint Legislator’s Forum (JLF) on Naga Political Issue’ in this photo released by Chief Minister’s Office, Kohima.

The Forum had called on Congress President at her official residence to discuss Naga political issue on February 19.

DIMAPUR, FEBRUARY 19 (MExN): While ruling out a categorical support to ‘Naga Peace Accord,’ the Congress president, Sonia Gandhi today assured that it would support the same if the “the contents of the agreement were in the interest of the Nagas, Northeast and the Nation.”

According to a press communiqué from the Media Cell of the Chief Minister’s Office, Nagaland, the Congress President stated this when she met the delegation of Parliamentary Working Committee (PWC) of the Nagaland Joint Legislator’s Forum (JLF) on Naga Political Issue who called on her on February 19. Member of Parliament to Lok Sabha, Neiphiu Rio was also part of the delegation.

“We are not privy to the contents of the Naga peace

• Centrehaskeptthecountrydarkaboutthecontents, nature and status of the peace dialogues • Assures to support the ‘Naga Peace Accord’ if the contents of the agreement were in the interest of the Nagas, Northeast and the Nation’

accord and we cannot give a blank cheque of support as of now,” the Congress chief told the delegation.

According to the communiqué, Sonia Gandhi in the course of interaction admitted that the Government at the Centre has so far kept the country in the “dark about the contents, nature and status of the peace dialogues.”

She, however, expressed solidarity with the Naga people for the need to find an amicable, honourable and permanent peace in the State and the region.

The delegation also told the Congress chief that the

JLF comprising of leaders of all political parties in the State was formed last year to project a “common front and voice of the representatives of the people of Nagaland” on the urgency to solve the protracted Naga political problem.

The delegation also pointed out to her that it was her party’s Government at the Centre in 1992 which recognized the Naga problem as a national problem which requires a political solution, and not a military solution Further justifying the formation of “Oppositionless Government” in the

Rio calls for cohesive Naga family

Extends call for friendship and understanding to neighbors DIMAPUR, FEBRUARY 19 (MExN): The Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha Neiphiu Rio on February 16 underscored the need for “unity and oneness of the Naga family” to realize the people’s aspiration for permanent peace and political solution. He also extended the call of “friendship and understanding” to all other communities, especially the neighbors of the Naga community.

The former Chief Minister said this while attending the Oriah Festival of the Wancho Naga tribe as a Chief Guest at Kanubari, Arunachal Pradesh, on February 16.

According to a press communiqué from the office of the MP, Rio further urged all sections to come forward and support the peace process in the aftermath of the Framework Agreement. In this, he exuded confidence that the Government of India was sincere in its efforts to resolve the decades old Indo-Naga political issue.

Rio also called upon the people to celebrate the festival under an atmosphere of brotherhood and also reach out to other communities to foster friendship, unity and understanding.

Naga Hoho General Secretary Metsekhoyi Yobo, ENSF President Sasha, representatives of ENFO, NPF and BJP leaders, and representatives of civil societies and NGOs were also in attendance at the festival.

NSCN (K) cadre killed

DIMAPUR, FEBRUARY 19 (MExN): A cadre of the NSCN (K) was killed in an encounter with the Assam Rifles on February 18, stated the AR in a press release.

According to the AR, the cadre identified as ‘Lieutenant’ Inato Ayee, was killed near Chumukedima village after the 37 AR launched an operation “in the area of Paglapahar and Razephema” following receipt of information about “presence of NSCN (K) cadres attempting to re-establish extortion network in Dimapur, Chumukedima and along NH- 29.”

The cadre was killed in retaliatory fire after he shot at the AR troops, who were conducting search at the road leading from Rezephema towards Paglapahar Bridge, the AR stated, while adding that it occured around 9:00 pm. A cache of arms and ammunition, which included one 9mm pistol with ammunition, hand grenades and lathod rounds was recovered, the AR said, and informed that the body of the deceased was handed over to Medziphema Police Station.

According to the AR, the slain cadre was recently appointed as “Tax Collection In Charge of Zunheboto” and added that “he was probably dispatched to Chumukedima for re-establishment of extortion network in the area.” The AR further said that the deceased cadre had served as body guard of ‘Brigdier’ Akaho Sema, “who

is now the Finance Secretary of NSCN (K).”

State, the JLF explained to her that it was created to “give a more cohesive, more concerted voice and views on the Naga political problem.”

“The merger of the Congress party legislators with the NPF was solely for the purpose of finding an early solution to the Naga political problem and not because of any other exigency,” the delegation told the Congress Chief.

After giving a “patient hearing,” she reportedly assured her party’s support in the Parliament “as and when” the Bill comes up for discussion “if it was in the interest of the Nagas, the Northeast and the nation.”

The JLF delegation left Delhi this afternoon and will be meeting the All India Trinamool Congress leader at Kolkata tomorrow, informed the CMO.

Trucks drivers in Dimapur have been demanding the district administration to provide them with basic amenities such as designated parking lots, emergency medical facilities, and security for drivers.

Upon inquest by The Morung Express, it was learnt from the Dimapur District Truck Drivers’ Welfare Trade Union (DDTDWTU) that the current truck parking lot at Khermahal was born out of an MoU between the union and the land owners and that the district administration did not have any role in facilitating the present parking site. While other commercial vehicles such as autorickshaws and taxis have designated parking lots, there is no such space allotted for trucks in Dimapur.

With no option left, the union negotiated with petrol pump owners to allow their premises to be used as makeshift parking sites. “But how many trucks can be accommodated in the petrol pumps when we have more than 500 registered members which counts to the same number of trucks?” an office bearer of the union wondered.

With no space for parking, the trucks are sighted randomly parked along the National Highway and other roads thereby endangering the life of other commuters as well as the truck drivers. There have been several cases of road accidents reported involving roadside-parked trucks.

The union leaders also decried that they have been made to work at odd hours with the enforcement of No Entry Zone into town area for heavy vehicles from 9 am to 5 pm. However, on this point, they appear to have remained settled taking in consideration that traffic jams would become unmanageable subsequently affecting the larger population if heavy vehicles were allowed entry without a regulated time.

On four occasions, the DDTDWTU has written to the Deputy Commissioner Dimapur to look into their grievances but to no avail.

According to a copy of the representation dated 02/02/2016 and other previous representations, which this newspaper has obtained, the Union has appealed to the administration to provide basic human amenities at No Entry Zone, Chumukedima. The requirements include sanitation facilities such as toilet and

NE filmmakers for exchange of films to ‘foster unity’ in region

Padmashree Aribam Syam Sharma from Manipur and budding filmmakers from North East during a discussion at the Film, Northeast 2016 festival at itanagar on Friday. (Morung Photo)

Morung Express news Itanagar | February 19

Deceased was living as a normal Filmmakers from the North East Region on Friday viewed that exchange civilian: Civil society orgs Meanwhile, the Western Yimchungru Student’s Union (WYSU), Western Yimchungru GB’S Union, Old Showuba Village Council today accused the Assam Rifles of premeditating the killing. The organisations in a joint statement, said that “late Inato was arrested by IRB personnel when he was NSCN (K) on September 2013 at Kohima under Arm Act.” However, having served time, and after his release, Inato “was living as a normal civilian,” they stated.

Alleging that the killing was a “premeditated plan,” the organisations stated that Inato had left his home at Old Showuba on February 18 with nothing but the clothes he wore. His body was later found with six bullet marks “as if he was killed in a battle field,” it was added. “The cruel murder of late Inato Sumi was a premeditated plan... We request the concern investigation officer to oblige their duty with truthfulness and seriousness to bring the culprit to book at the earliest and let truth prevails,” the organisations stated.

The organizations informed that Inato was a permanent resident of Sukiur ‘B’ Village under Shamator Sub-Division and had been presently residing at old Showuba village.

bathroom with running water, restroom, information system and office, cafeteria and food facilities and detailing security for the safety of the drivers from unwanted elements.

The DDTDWTU which is registered under the Indian Trade Union Acts vide registration no. LBR/TECH-61/2013 dated 23/08/2013 has also appealed the district authority to provide proper parking facility for trucks considering the convenience of both the truckers and the public.

Another point of appeal includes allocation of fund earmarked annually for emergencies and accident related cases. It has also requested the administration to provide Recovery Van and Ambulance service.

However, the union in one of its meetings resolved to procure a Recovery Van and Ambulance Van on its own by collecting voluntary welfare fund within its members to meet the same. “The same noble objective was misinformed and misinterpreted by the law enforcing agencies maligning the good image of DDTDWTU,” stated the representation and cited instances when its members were taken into police custody.

Maintaining that the Union has been actively assisting the district administration as and when required, the union has appealed the authorities concerned to communicate with its office concerning truck drivers to avoid misunderstanding in the future.

The Union has recently procured a Recovery Van on its own and the effort to get an Ambulance Van has been delayed owing to lack of resources.

On its own initiative with the land owners, the DDTDWTU has also opened a transit camp at New Chumoukedima village facilitating Dimapur truckers as well as other districts and states with lodging, toilet, running water, first aid facilities etc.

With its subsequent appeals with ‘genuine reasons’ falling on deaf ears, the DDTDWTU leaders said they have at times considered strikes but fathoming the consequences that it would bear upon the public, neighbouring districts and Manipur, such decisions were kept in abeyance.

The union further reiterated its appeal to the district administration to look into the “grievances considering the uniqueness and urgency of the matter at the earliest.”

of films among the eight states for screening, with the initiative of respective state governments, could help foster unity among the people of the region and bring the concept of ‘North East’ to reality.

At the same time, it will also help popularise the films of the region which largely remain overshadowed by the commercial film industries such as Hollywood and Bollywood.

This idea was articulated during a dynamic discussion on the topic, ‘Is there a cinema of the north east or a cinema of eight states’ and underlying issues on regional cinema, and of the concept of North East in the role of film making at the ongoing Film, Northeast 2016 festival at Annexe Lawns, IG Park, Itanagar.

Film, Northeast 2016, a festival of cinema was conceptualised and organized by the Government of Arunachal Pradesh in partnership with Film Federation of Arunachal to promote an understanding and appreciation of the diversity of cinema in the North East Region.

Budding filmmakers assembled from the eight sister states also felt that for North East cinema to gain popularity, audience from the region should be the prior target.

Creating a market for films of North East among audience has been an impenetrable wall for filmmakers.

Despite having a history of artistic success of film directors like Jahnu Barua from Assam and Aribam Syam Sharma from Manipur, whose films are internationally acclaimed, the cinema from the region has not managed to make a breakthrough on the national scene.

“It is very important to help each other. We need to start exchanging films of each state so that we understand and learn the cultures and social issues of this diverse region and foster unity,” Pradip Kurbah, a filmmaker from Meghalaya shared.

He highlighted how Meghalaya government was trying to connect with the local audience to popularize locally produced films by screening them in community halls in the rural areas.

According to DK Thoungun, a filmmaker from Arunachal Pradesh, sharing of films among the north eastern states can help strengthen

the concept of ‘North East.’

“We did not create this concept of the ‘North East’...However since it already exists, we must strive to take advantage of this concept in uniting ourself,” Thoungun maintained.

Aribam Syam Sharma, one of the most accomplished filmmakers from India noted that the concept of ‘North East’ was created only on the basis of the mongoliod features of the people residing in the region. He also said stakeholders must convince the Government of India on the importance of films made in the North East.

Kivini Shohe, filmmaker from Nagaland said contemporary stories need to be told instead of stereotyped replay on North East. “People look at Nagaland and they think we are all the same head hunting tribes. It is far from true. And we are not gun toting people either. We are different. Go to the villages, there are stories of people struggling with spades and tools,” Shohe reflected.

Meena Longjam from Manipur noted that cinema has become a vital tool to portray art form - any kind of anguish, turmoil affecting the society and therefore have become an impact tool for youngsters.

“What is important is that we need to understand ourself as an identity, try to bridge the barrier of language and identity and create a kind of identity where all can call as North East,” was Thoungun’s suggestion.

Diversity of language has been regarded of as a barrier in the progress of filmmaking in many of the North Eastern states.

Thoungun however thought otherwise. “If we can understand Korean, why can’t we understand each other,” he quipped while illustrating the wave of Korean movies that have influenced the cinema culture of North East youth.

2

SaturDaY 20•02•2016

NAGALAND

Nagaland prepares for second round of IPPI

Kohima, February 19 (mexN): Nagaland, along with other states in India will held second round of Intensive Pulse Polio on Sunday, February 21. The Department of Health & Family Welfare is all geared up to administer Polio drops to over 2,30,804 eligible children from 0-5 years • 2,308 Polio Booths throughout the • 9,232 Vaccinators state in 2,308 • 462 Supervisors Polio Booths • Special focus on migrant to be manned by 9,232 vaccinators and 462 supervisors along with vaccines and other logistics.

Special focus will be given to migrant population with an aim to prevent importation of Polio cases.

Dr. Sukhato A Sema, Principal Director Directorate of Health & Family Welfare in a press release stated that the total number of children covered during the 1st Round IPPI which was held on January 17, 2016 was 2,21,456.

While thanking everyone for their past cooperation, the 'department appeals all sections of the people, Agencies (government and non government, including the security forces and police), organizations, churches and community leaders and especially parents of children below 5 years to come forward and ensure that all eligible children receive the “Two Drops of Life” (Polio Drops) on February 21.

For any further information, contact nearest Health Centre or the chief Medical Officer/District Programme Officer (RCH & UIP) of your district.

OBITUARY

This he spoke, signifying by what death he would glorify God. And when he had spoken this. He said to him, "Follow Me" St. John 21:19.

We the bereaved family members would like to thank each and every individuals, societies, unions, groups, well wishers etc who stood by us through prayers, physically, mentally and financially during the sudden demise of our beloved Mr. S. Akiuba (Tokiu) Yimchungrü 11th NAP (IR) Bn. Who breath his last on 08/02/16 on the line of duty.

THE MORUNG EXPRESS

Symbolic Feet and Hands Washing Ceremony held at DABA Dimapur, February 19 (Dipr): Members from the Church of Revelation organised a symbolic washing feet and hands ceremony for the Pastors and their wives cutting across all denominations at Dimapur Ao Baptist Church on February 19 marking the end of their more than a week ministry in Nagaland.

“We want to give you honour through the washing ceremony... As Jesus served the people 2000 years ago by washing the feet of His disciples we also want to serve and it is our honour to serve you," said Sherley one of the team member from the church

of Revelation.

The team members from the New York church prayed and washed the hands and feet of all the Pastors and their wives and other members present. They also displayed their generous gesture by extending gifts to all the members present during the washing ceremony.

Another member of the team John expressed that the humbleness displayed by the Nagas was amazing. He also remarked that many Nagas are committed to God. Also sharing her observation on the Naga people, Dennis termed the hospi-

tality of the Naga people as unbelievable and described the Nagas as friendly and warm people. Almost all the members of the team expressed their desire to visit Nagaland again.

Rev Moses, administrator Bethesda school observed that this was the first time in the history of Dimapur where all the denominations were brought under one umbrella through the ministry of the church of Revelation New York.

The team headed by Diana Adour will leave Nagaland tomorrow for Kolkata after which they will fly to Dubai for a prayer walk before heading home.

Team members from Church of Revelation, New York perform the washing ceremony at DABA on February 19. (DIPR Photo)

Shift DCs office to new One-day workshop on PMEGP in Dimapur Hq: Medziphema GBs Morung Express News

meDziphema, February 19 (mexN): The GB’s Union of Medziphema Sub-Division under Dimapur district, has appreciated the Government for its decision to set up the District Headquarters at Chumukedima which is centrally located for the villages of the district.

However, it appears that shifting is delaying unnecessarily, stated a press release issued by the Union President Izheho Jimo and General Secretary Rokovitso Kuotsu.

The GBs of Medziphema Sub-Division has urged upon the State Government to shift the DCs of-

fice to the new Headquarter at an early date. The GBs Union Medziphema opined that the State Government must “fearlessly proceed ahead with its earlier decision for the convenience of the people and not to be carried away or mislead by sheer emotions of certain section who are threatening to agitate.”

Since all the infrastructural development has been completed and ready to function, the Union strongly urged upon the Government to expedite shifting in the interest of the people of the District in particular and Nagas in general.

Dimapur | February 19

A one-day state level workshop on Prime Minister’s Employment Generation Programme (PMEGP) was held at Town Hall, Dimapur on Friday with Member of KVIC (NEZ) and exMP (Lok Sabha) Narayan Chandra Borkataky as the chief guest.

Encouraging the entrepreneurs, Borkataky urged them to take advantage of the different incentives provided by MSME ministry and utilize the benefits of PMEGP. Stating that most of the entrepreneurs were first generation entrepreneurs needing support from agencies, the chief guest appealed the agen-

Member of KVIC (NEZ) and ex-MP (Lok Sabha) Narayan Chandra Borkataky with the organizing members and entrepreneurs in Dimapur on Friday. (Morung Photo)

cies such as DIC and KVI Board in all districts to extend their cooperation and support the entrepreneurs.

At the state level, the scheme is implemented through the state KVIC directorates, state Khadi and Village Industries Boards

(KVIBs) and District Industries Centres (DICs) and banks. The government subsidy is being routed by the KVIC through the indentified banks for distribution to the beneficiaries/ entrepreneurs to the bank accounts.

Later in the afternoon,

during the technical session, a power point presentation was presented

by Nodal Officer (PMEGP), KVIC Dimapur, Y.K. Shohe.

The programme was attended by entrepreneurs and officials of various departments.

Bambusa opens in Kohima Longleng District Health

Society distributes LLIN

Morung Express News Kohima | February 19

09/09/1980 TO 08/0212016 We Convey Our Special Thanks To:-

1. Mr. & Mrs. H. Mukam, P/Leader Kohima 2. Mr. L. Chuba, Advocate 3. Mr. Kile, Advocate 4. Mr. & Mrs. K. Hothrong, Kilonser GPRN/NSCN 5. Mr. & Mrs. Showuba, SDAO Kohima 6. Mr. V. Swuro, EAC Shamator 7. Sir G.W. Kelly, Chumukedima 8. Commandant & All Ranks of 11th NAP (IR) 9. Asst. Comdt. Raiding Sap Coy Cmdr ‘D’ 11th NAP (IR) & All Ranks 10. Mr. Lakiumong M. Supervisor Shamator 11. Mr. & Mrs. Takoliba Ao, Chumukedima 12. Mr. & Mrs. K. Yimto, Chumukedima 13. Akum Abraham, ABSI (P.T.S.) 14. Arunba, ASI C.P Dimapur 15. Mr. & Mrs. Thrimkiumong, Chumukedima 16. Mr. Jain Pandey 17. Mr. Rothrongkyu Sangtam 18. Doctors & Staffs N.H.A. Kohima 19. Doctors & Staffs Central Hospital Chumukedima 20. PBC 11th NAP (IR) Bn. Chumukedima 21. Women Department 11th NAP (IR) Bn. Chumukedima 22. ‘D' Coy Fellowship 11th NAP (IR) Bn. 23. YBC Kohima 24. YBC Chumukedima 25. Y/Deptt. YBC Chumukedima 26. PBC Tuensang 27. Police Baptist Fellowship Shamator 28. PBF Women Deptt. Shamator 29. PBF Y/Deptt. Shamator 30. Shamator Town Baptist Church 31. 'B' Coy 3rd NAP Shamator 32. Limkhiung Khiungrü Club Chumukedima 33. Yimchunger Union Kohima 34. Yimchungrü Arihako Chumukedima 35. Y.A.A Chumukedima 36. YBBA Shamator 37. Public Forum Shamator Town.

38. Adhoc Town Council Shamator 39. Lümngü S.H.G Shamator 40. P.H.E.D Shamator 41. Leangkonger Baptist Church 42. Kiutsukiur Village Council 43. Kiutsukiur Baptist Church 44. Kiutsukiur Union Shamator 45. Kiutsukiur Akheru Arihako 46. Limkhiung Khiungru 'A' Group Kiutsukiur 47. Medical Colony Youth Fellowship Shamator 48. OC & Staffs PS – Shamator 49. Shahwuh 'A' & 'B' Shamator 50. Neighbours of Chumukedima & Shamator Town Though we could not be able to mention each and every individuals, groups etc. But your good deeds will always be in our hearts. The lens of God has captured your good deeds to reward His unseen blessing abundantly.

Loving Family Members near & Dear Ones

“Good stuff at reasonable prices” Bambusa has opened its family restaurant in Kohima at High School Junction area. A good news for foodies, Bambusa offers multicuisines in its menu that is Chinese, Sikkimese, Indian and local Naga food.

A fourth for the re-

nowned restaurant but the very first for Kohima since its formation in 2013, Bambusa is located at the second floor of the High School Junction building above Baskin Robbins.

Bambusa offers home delivery, catering services, theme parties and kids’ meal as a new attraction.

The bamboo interiors of the restaurant is designed by Vizo Putsure, a

Bamboo architect.

“Our main idea is to showcase the versatility of bamboo as an interior and exterior design material.” says Medo Putsure, proprietor of Bambusa while talking about the idea and formation of Bambusa, an initiative of NDBA formed in 2013. With one of its chief emphasis on the employment of local youth, Bambusa employs 45 Naga youth.

LoNgLeNg, February 19 (Dipr): The District Health Society, Longleng under National Vector Borne Disease Control Programme (NVBDCP) launched distribution of Long Lasting Insecticidal Nets (LLIN) at Medical ward on February 18.

The programme was formally launched by DC Longleng, Y. Denngan Avennoho Phom where he encouraged the beneficiaries to utilizethe insecticidal net given by the Government free of cost in order to protect themselves from preventing malaria.

He also thanked the Department for organising such kind of programme for the benefit of the community.

Chief Medical Officer, Longleng, Dr. Ritu Thurr in his speech dwelt on the importance of Long Lasting Insecticidal Nets (LLIN) and urged the beneficiaries to utilize it properly in

DC Longleng, Y. Denngan Avennoho Phom distributes Long Lasting Insecticidal Nets (LLIN) at Medical ward on February 18. (DIPR Photo)

order to prevent malaria.

The programme was attended by Deputy Commissioner, Y. Denngan Avennoho Phom, Chief

Medical Officer, Dr. Ritu Thurr, DPO (NVBDCP), Dr. Thungbemo, Ward Chairman and all the medical staff and the public.

BJP Wokha protest rally on Feb 20 WoKha, February 19 (mexN): The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Wokha District will be holding a protest rally on February 20 at 10:30 am, in regard to “anti India slogan” raised by some students in the campus of Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) Delhi. BJP Wokha District General Secretary (Admn) N. Nchumbemo Jami in a press release has directed all the frontals, mandals presidents and office bearers and all district senior party workers to assemble at District President residence place without failed. The District Party Workers have also invited all right thinking India citizens to attend the rally.

KCSU informs Kohima, February 19 (mexN): The Kohima Chakhesang Students’ Union (KCSU) will have the selection of the new executive council in the month of March 2016. Interested candidates have been requested to contact the selection committee members-Veshekhoyi Chuzho, Neitsho Wezah and Ngapunyi Krocha. Contact- 9612713250, 8119022344, 9612932591.

Medical camp held at Aghunato aghuNato, February 19 (Dipr): Free medical camp was conducted at Aghunato town on February 15. The programme was organised by 5 Assam Rifle wherein hundreds of sick people from Aghunato town and surrounding villages received medical checkup.

Medicines were also provided free of cost. Ad-hoc town committee Chairman, Hoito Achumi on behalf of Aghunato public expressed gratitude towards commandant, major, doctor and staffs 5 Assam rifle for rendering best service towards Aghunato public.

SaturDaY 20•02•2016

NORTH-EAST

THE MORUNG EXPRESS

After SC nod, President’s rule lifted in Arunachal

New Delhi, February 19 (pTi): With the Supreme Court paving the way for government formation, President's rule in Arunachal Pradesh was lifted on Friday that could usher in a new dispensation headed by dissident Congress leader Kalikho Pul. President Pranab Mukherjee has given his approval to the Union Cabinet's recommendation for revocation of President's rule in Arunachal Pradesh, a Home Ministry official said.

The President's nod came after the last ditch effort of Congress leader and deposed Chief Minister Nabam Tuki seeking an interim direction that his party be allowed to go for a

floor test in the Arunachal Pradesh Assembly to prove majority was rejected by the Supreme Court today.

The Union Cabinet had recommended the withdrawal of President's rule in Arunachal Pradesh on Wednesday after Pul, accompanied by 31 MLAs, including Congress rebels, BJP and independents met Governor J P Rajkhowa and stake claim to form a new government.

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

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

Congress, which had 47 MLAs in the 60-mem-

ber assembly, suffered a jolt when 21 of its lawmakers revolted against Tuki's leadership.

Eleven BJP MLAs and two independents backed the rebels in the bid to upstage the government. Later, 14 rebel Congress MLAs were disqualified by the Speaker.

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

After Centre's recommendation for withdrawal of President's rule, Congress moved to the Supreme Court and got an order for maintenance of

3

ZB, AZSU condemn illegal logging by NSCN (IM)

The two organisations patronizing and protecting Dimapur, Febru- leged involvement of NSCN ary 19 (mexN): The Ze- (IM) Hothrong Brigade in in a joint statement alleged the illegal activities being liangrong Baudi (Assam, the massive destruction of that heavily armed cadres carried out by persons with Manipur and Nagaland) forests by indulging in il- of NSCN (IM) have been “vested interest”.

The ZB (AMN) and and All Zeliangrong Stu- legal logging activities in randomly carrying out the status quo in the crisis-rid- dents’ Union (Assam, Ma- Kanem Kie/Chakha Range illegal logging operations AZSU (AMN) warned that it den state till it examined nipur and Nagaland) today of Zeliangrong area in Se- in the area and questioned will not remain silent specjudicial and assembly re- strongly condemned the al- napati District. why the NSCN (IM) was tators to the illegal activities. cords on disqualification of 14 rebel Congress MLAs by former Speaker Nabam Rebia.

However, yesterday, the apex court virtually paved Our Correspondent ZYF is agitated as the state gov- Okendro Singh and local MLA Thouthe way for government ernment has neglected the Rs 36.26 dam Debendra Singh yesterday to Imphal | February 19 formation in Arunachal crore construction of the district sec- press for their demand of converting Pradesh by vacating its or- Normal functioning of all government retariat building, the front said.

Jiri College into a full-fledged governder on maintenance of sta- offices and establishments in ManiStating that it will continue the ment institution. tus quo, after being satis- pur’s Tamenglong district was dis- ongoing democratic agitation of cloThe stirring student organizafied with the Gauhati High rupted on Friday due to a strike called sure of government establishments tions included All Manipur Students’ Court order staying the dis- by the Zeliangrong Youth Front (ZYF). from February 20, the front warned Union (AMSU), District Committee, qualification of the 14 rebel The front launched the 5-day long that this time it will also ban all ongo- Jiribam Kuki Students’ OrganisaCongress MLAs. stir since February 10 to express dis- ing national international projects in tion (KSO), Jiribam & Tamenglong Congress again moved pleasure against the Manipur gov- Zeliangrong areas of the district until Branch, Zeliangrong Students’ Union the Supreme Court today ernment over its alleged unkindly the Manipur government gives assur- (ZSU), All Manipur Bengali Students’ but the Supreme Court re- treatment towards the hill district. ances to fulfill the demands.

Organisation (AMBSO) and Muslim jected its plea for an interim Sources informed that all govMeanwhile, a large number of Students’ Organisation (MSO). direction that it be allowed ernment offices including that of the student bodies in Jiribam subdivision As part of the agitation, all governto go in for a floor test in the Deputy Commissioner in the districts under Imphal East burned effigies of ment offices have been forced to shut Arunachal Pradesh Assem- were forced to close down by strike Chief Minister Okram Ibobi Singh, down in the subdivision too since supporters. bly to prove majority.

Education Minister Moirangthem February 16.

ZYF protests Manipur govt’s ‘unkindly treatment’

NSUC condemns Feb 14 HSLC, HSSLC exams: SDSA gives 6 films from Nagaland competing in NE film fest ment. Tiakumzuk Aier’s film ‘The Wake Up assault on NSF executives advisory to students in Senapati Call’ is competing in the First Cut segment Morung Express News

ChaNDel, February 19 (mexN): The Naga Students’ Union Chamdil (Chandel) has vehemently condemned the assault on executive members of the Naga Students’ Federation by Manipur Police Commandos.

Manipur Police Commandos roughed up a team of NSF members on the morning of February 14, intimidating them, threatening them with physical assault and verbally abusing them for travelling through Imphal. The NSF delegates were on their way to attend the Lui-Ngai-Ni 2016 program in Ukhrul.

This misconduct by men in uniform is a testimony of their true colour and shows that the Manipur Police Commandos have become terror elements for the public in their day to day life, a press release from the NSUC maintained.

Demanding the Manipur government to reign upon those involved and ensure that justice is delivered, the union warned that it will take up democratic action if their demand goes unheeded.

Tahamzam, February 19 (mexN): Pursuant to last year’s success story in monitoring Board of Secondary Education, Manipur’s (BOSEM) HSLC and HSSLC exams in Senapati District, the Senapati District Students’ Association (SDSA) has, as a reminder to all the examinees who will appear in this year’s BOSEM Exam 2016, stated that the initiative to contain malpractices and use of unfair means in the said exam will be carried out this year too.

The association plans to make exam centres in the District “free zones of malpractices”, a press release from SDSA President Pungdi P. Celestine stated.

The SDSA also cautioned teachers against indulging in illegal means and

Naga Women Union condemns rape Tahamzam, February 19 (mexN): Denouncing crimes against women, the Naga Women Union (NWU) has strongly condemned the alleged rape of a six year old minor girl at Chinikol, Senapati District near Bishnupur by a youth named Meikingai of Chinikol on February 14. The victim is undergoing treatment and is stated to be in a serious condition.

Expressing its utmost resentment over the sexual

assault, the NWU in a press statement condemned the acts of gender insensitivities, atrocities and disrespect on women in the society.

Contending that women have no security everywhere “whether at home, in the markets, learning institutions, offices and so on,” the women body observed that the security and safety of women is being severely threatened in the society today.

“Women are continu-

ously targeted and crime committed against them is on the rise,” the NWU maintained. “All these unfortunate happenings are attacking the very fabric of our society,” it added.

The union appealed to every sensible person to denounce it and also called for cooperation in rooting out such social evils. It also urged law enforcing agencies to award befitting punishment to the culprits and deliver justice to the victim.

School girl, two others shot at in Mnp imphal, February 19 (iaNS): Suspected insurgents shot at and wounded three people, including a school girl, in Manipur on Friday, police sources said.

Yumnam Suraj, a school van driver, was at a restaurant at Wangkhei in Imphal east district when three youths stormed the place, asked the driver some questions and then shot him. The girl, hailing from Churachandpur district and studying in Imphal, was with him when she was shot at in the arm. On hearing the gunshots, Romila, the owner's wife rushed out to intervene. The suspected rebels shot her

three times in the chest from close range.

She is battling for life in a hospital.

The sources said the driver had brought the girl to the restaurant. The driver maintained that he and the girl did nothing objectionable, but the sources said that they were "dancing". The driver could not explain why he had brought the girl to the place.

The incident comes after some outlawed underground organisations issued a public warning not to indulge in immoral activities. Locals had burned down some restaurants, claiming they were being used as love nests.

warned that it would terminate their services in the case of government teachers.

In the case of private teachers indulging in illegal means, the concern exam centre shall be cancelled, the association warned.

SDSA also stated that it would carry out intensive frisking of examinees at the premises of the exam centres “to ensure that no stone is left unturned in maintaining the sanctity of exam”.

Further, authorization cards for the volunteers would be issued by DC Office, it informed.

SDSA has urged examinees, parents/ guardians, exam centre authorities and local bodies to contribute in this collective endeavour.

Itanagar | February 19

Six films from Nagaland are competing in different segments at the Film, Northeast 2016 at Itanagar. In the Chiaroscuro segment, which is officially nominated by the respective Information Public Relations (IPR) of each state, Nagaland IPR has nominated ‘Anishe-Flower Maiden’ which was directed by Kivine Shohe.

‘Oh My Soul,’ another film of Shohe is also competing under the Our Stories seg-

MODEL CHRISTIAN COLLEGE

(Affiliated to Nagaland University and recognized the Govt. of Nagaland) Lower A.G. Colony, Kohima: 797001, Nagaland

ADvERTISEMENT [Advt. No. 03/2016]

WALK – IN – INTERVIEW

NOTICE

Dated Peren the 19th Feb. 2016

NO.PRN/JUD-5/SC/PT-I2016/75 / Smti. Leigole has applied for issue of succession certificate in her name to draw pension of her Late Husband Zausamku of Peren District.

Public are hereby invited to file claims / objections within 30 (thirty) days w.e.f date of publication in local papers. If no objection is received from the public within the stipulated time, the succession certificate shall be issued in her name.

(PETER LICHAMO) Deputy Commissioner, Peren, Nagaland

for debut directors. In the Our Stories segment, a film titled ‘Handmade Arts and Crafts in the Misty Mountains’ directed by Razousituo Pusa is also in competition.

‘Can you’ a short film directed by Bokavi Swu and ‘Story of a House’ by Sophy Lasuh and Sesino Yhoshu are competing in the Clapperboard segment. Award giving ceremony on the competition will be held on February 20, coinciding with the Arunachal Pradesh Statehood day.

19th February 2016

For the Post of Principal

01. Interested candidates may forward the applications to the Managing Director of the College on plain papers with all Necessary documents attested by the candidate concern as well as two (2) recent and coloured passport photographs.

02. Required Qualifications: i) A Master’s Degree with at least 55% marks (or an equivalent grade in a point scale wherever grading system is followed) by a recognized University. ii) A Ph.D Degree in concerned / allied / relevant discipline(s) in the institution concerned with evidence of published work and research guidance. iii) Associate Professor/Professor with a total experience of fifteen (15) years of teaching / Research / Administration in Universities, Colleges and other institutions of higher education.

03. No TA/DA will be given for the candidates called for the interview.

For any query: 919436005925/9862072898 Email: moccollege@yahoo.in Sd- Managing Director, Model Christian College Lower A.G. Colony, Kohima: Nagaland

GOvERNMENT OF NAGALAND DIRECTORATE OF HEALTH & FAMILY WELFARE (FOOD SAFETY) NAGALAND : KOHIMA

NO. DHFW/ FSSA-21/11/2011-12/11677-79

Dated Kohima the 18th Feb/16

PRESS RELEASE

In pursuance of the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006 (Licensing and Registration of Food Business) Regulations, 2011 the undersigned do hereby directed all Food Business Operators in the state to obtain FSSAI License or Register or Renew their Business Establishment irrespective of rural and urban area (that is Food Manufactures/ Miller/ Grinder/ Whole seller/ Retailers/ Godowns/ Warehouse/ Gold storage/ Distributer/ Transporters/ Stockers/ Agencies/ Departmental suppliers/ Repackers or Relabellers/ Pharmacies dealing with food items, food supplements/ Hotels/ Restaurants/ Canteens, Caterers/ all petty food business operators etc), from the respective Office of the Chief Medical Officer (Designative Officer) of the districts for the period 2016-2018 (for two years). on or before 31-03-2016.

Any renewal application filed beyond the period mention above shall be accompanied by a late fee of Rs. 100/- per day, for each day of delay Licensing and Registration forms and other details can be obtained from the office of the Chief Medical Officer (DOs) on all working days.

Operating Food Business without a License or Registration will attract a penalty up to Rs. 5 lakh and imprisonment up to 6 months under Section 63 of the Food Safety & Standards Act, 2006.

Sd/- (DR. SUKHATO. A. SEMA) Principal Director & Addl. Food Safety Commissioner Directorate of Health & Family Welfare, Nagaland : Kohima

GOvERNMENT OF NAGALAND

DIRECTORATE OF TREASURIES & ACCOUNTS NAGALAND: KOHIMA

NO.DTA/ESTT-101/87

Dated Kohima, the 19thFebruary, 2016

NOTIFICATION

The Candidates who have qualified in the written test examination interview are directed to report in the Directorate of Treasuries & Accounts at 9:30 A.M. as per the Roll No. given against the date given below for oral interview.

Date 3rd March, 2016

0647 0699 1043 1310 1350 1409 1452 1927 2226 2236 2292 2581 2830 2879 2888 3918 4387 4970 5610 5620 6190 6208 6384 Date 4th March, 2016

6653 6931 7368 8011 8121 8252 8287 8288 8577 8761 8941 9046 9100 9213 9378 9536 9621 9742 9965 10037 10045 10302 10440 All candidates should come along with their original documents; 1. Educational Qualification Certificates and Admit Cards from Matric onwards.

2. Written Interview Admit Card.

3. Indigenous/Schedule Tribe Certificates.

4. Backward Tribe Certificate in case of backward Tribes.

5. Employment Registration Card.

The candidates should reach the exam hall 30 minutes before the commencement of the interview.

Time: 10:00 A.M. Venue: Directorate of Treasuries & Accounts, Kohima.

Sd/- (K. TIAYANGER TZUDIR), Principal Director.

4

saturDaY 20•02•2016

Business

THE MORUNG EXPRESS

bank credit profiles Bad run continues for ‘Freedom 251’ atState-run risk sans more capital: Fitch Website down again on second day New Delhi, February 19 (iaNS): A day after promising to restore its online pre-order services for the Indian masses to book the world’s cheapest “Make in India” smartphone, the “Freedom 251” website continued its poor run on Friday as people faced trouble in pre-ordering the Rs.251 (less that $4) device.

Already mired in controversy over its similarity to Apple iPhone design and appearance and now the Indian government keeping a close watch on its four-day booking offer that started from 6 a.m. on Thursday, the Noidabased startup Ringing Bells Pvt Ltd claimed to have received 30,000 confirmed orders and over six lakh hits per second on its website on the first day.

But hours later, the firm stopped taking orders after its servers crashed owing to a huge rush to book the device online on www.freedom251.com.

However, their were some lucky people who managed to pre-book the smartphone early in the morning when the website was up.

“I kept on trying for about an hour to book the smartphone. I had to refresh multiple times, fill in my details over and over again. Finally I got it booked but I am yet to make a payment,” said Kashi Nath Nandi who

In this February 17, 2016 photo, a Freedom 251 smartphone is shown during its release by an official of Ringing Bells in New Delhi.

works in a private firm in Noida.

After placing the order, the page returned with a message: “Thank you for placing the order. We will email you the link for payment within 48 hours to your registered unique email id to complete your purchase.” The acknowledgment also shows order number and mentions “One unit per user”.

Ringing Bells is also charging a shipping charge of Rs.40, taking the total price of the phone to Rs.291. The company promises to deliver the device after four month by

ter chaos at the company’s Noida-based head office besides reports of copyright infringements.

Amid the company’s claims that it has got 30,000 orders on the first day, the calls to the executives went unanswered on Friday as well.

The Indian Cellular Association has written to the telecom ministry, urging the government to get to the bottom of the issue as selling a smartphone this cheap is well-nigh impossible.

Earlier, the photos of the smartphone in newspaper advertisements re-

June 30.

Sanju, a parking attendant in Kirti Nagar in West Delhi also booked the ultra-cheap smartphone in the wee hours on Friday.

“I woke up at 4 a.m. to get one phone booked, finally,” he told IANS. Meanwhile, another Noida resident Pankaj said he was trying to book a phone but later decided to suspend his efforts owing to website issues.

T h e mu c h - hy p e d launch of the world’s cheapest smartphone “Freedom 251” was thrown into disarray on Thursday as there was ut-

leased by the firm showed that all the icons of the built-in app were almost a replica of Apple’s iOS icons.

According to the information available on Apple website, “You may not use the Apple Logo or any other Apple-owned graphic symbol, logo, or icon on or in connection with web sites, products, packaging, manuals, promotional/ advertising materials, or for any other purpose except pursuant to an express written trademark license from Apple, such as a reseller agreement”.

Several attempts to speak to senior Ringing Bell executives on this controversy also went in vain.

“Freedom 251” claims to have an Android 5.1 operating system, a 4-inch qHD IPS display, a 3.2-megapixel primary and a 0.3-megapixel front camera.

The device also claims to have 3G connectivity, 1.3GHz quad-core processor, 1GB RAM and 8GB internal memory and supports external memory cards of up to 32GB. To power “Freedom 251”, the company has put a 1,450mAh battery and claims to have a service network of 650 centres across India.

Pai, currently Chairman of venture capital firm Aarin Capital and Manipal Education, told PTI. “It’s the first time in five years that a finance minister will meet the numbers... they were all inflated budgets.”

He added: “First time, Jaitley has given us a good Budget (2015-16)... So, 2016-17 should be a good Budget.”

Underlining the need for fiscal consolidation, he said Finance Minister Arun Jaitley must keep his promise of checking fiscal deficit at 3.5 per cent, which would lead to interest rates and inflation coming down, besides adding to the credibility of

the government.

“The biggest enemy for India is inflation and not growth. It (the Budget) should bring down inflation. Interest rate will come down,” said Pai, who was a member of the government-appointed Kelkar Committee on reforming direct taxes.

To cut down waste-

leisure

LOST

tive director, Chakhesang Women Welfare Society signed the MoU on February 19.

Others present during the occasion were Bendangnungsang, GM (Cr), NSCB, AK Deb, GM (A&MIS), NSCB, Pichano Patton, Chief Manager, NACB Ltd Dimapur main Branch and VK Disong, Nodal Officer, FIC NSCB. “The Bank is taking up vigorous initiatives to cover all the un-banked blocks of the State as per RBI directives on financial inclusion,” said VK Disong, Nodal Officer (FIC) in a press release.

Contact: 8575788736/ 8132862356

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6. Special Coaching for CBSE/NBSE Course (Phy, Chem, Maths, Bio) 7. Computer Course: Basic, DCA, ADCA & PGDCA Winter offer for Students 8. Spoken English & Hindi, Soft Skill (Kohima) Stenography & Music Classes

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Dimapur, February 19 (mexN): With a view to cater to the credit need of farming community to improve the socio economic condition of the rural people through SGHs ad JLGs in the rural un-banked areas of Nagaland, a MoU was signed between Nagaland State Co-operative Bank, Nagaland Development Outreach and Chakhesang Women Welfare Society.

Imtilemba Longkumer, Managing Director, NSCB ltd, Rev Amok Noklang, Director, representing Nagaland Development Outreach and Vechulo, execu-

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INSTITUTE DIMAPUR

Admission going on for: 1. NPSC/UPSC: Prelim- 2016 (NEW BATCh) 2. NPSC (main): 2015-16 3. SSC, Banking, Railway etc 2016 4. Coaching for JEE, AIPmT, NSEE- 2016 5. Intensive Coaching for NERIST-I, II & III 2016

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Nagaland Co-operative Bank sign MoU with un-banked blocks

Nagaland State Co-operative Bank representative with members of Chakhesang Women Welfare Society during the signing of moU on February 19.

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mission Road, Near North Police Station Ph: 0370-2290672, 9863143388, 9436071373

Contact: 8974415225

CROSSWORD # 3508

SUDOKU

GALAXY DRIVING

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Pulsar 180cc (2010) Rs.55,000 (Negotiable)

ful expenditure, Pai suggested kerosene subsidy should be brought under direct benefit scheme similar to the one introduced for LPG and pushed for introducing reforms in the fertiliser sector, enhanced infrastructure spending and more allocation to health, education, irrigation and farmers’ welfare.

bank balance sheets by next year could help revive investor confidence in PSBs. “But the suddenness and speed of the provisioning in the second half of FY16 highlights how long it has taken to address poor balance-sheets,” it said. It also raises questions over the pace and implementation of bank recapitalisation and reforms, especially when central bank intervention is required in identification of bad assets,” it added. The trend of state-run banks declaring low profits or losses and the ever-ballooning provisioning for nonperforming assets (NPAs) has continued through the past year.

The banking index of Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) has taken a 67% hit. In the case of Punjab National Bank, for example, the stock is down 58%, while for State Bank, it is down 52%. Reacting to the bank stocks’ decline last week, RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan said: “The decline in bank share prices caused investors to panic. Bank share prices are being hit by the global markets turmoil. “We’re looking at banks having clean and fully provisioned balance sheets by March 2017. Banks are using tools devised to clean up their balance sheets.” “Change in attitude in the banking system takes time as banks try to unlock the value of their NPAs. But the end-game is in sight. We don’t envisage a further set of AQRs (asset quality review) and new loans that require to be dealt with,” he added.

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Budget likely to meet numbers for first time in 5 yrs hyDerabaD, February 19 (pTi): For the first time in five years, revised revenue and expenditure estimates for 2015-16 are expected to be higher than the budget ones, says Infosys’ former top executive T V Mohandas Pai. He, however, stressed on the need for holding fiscal deficit at 3.5 per cent in 2016-17.

“Figures that will come out on February 29 (when Finance Minister Arun Jaitley will present the 2016-17 budget in Parliament) for 2015-16... it will be the first time in five years that revised estimates will be higher than budget estimates both for revenue and expenditure,”

mumbai, February 19 (iaNS): With the profitability of Indian public sector banks (PSBs) severely dented as seen from recent third-quarter results, their credit profile will come under pressure unless they are adequately capitalised, Fitch Ratings said on Friday. “Fitch’s estimated capital need for the system of $140 billion may need to be reassessed, given some of the losses,” the US agency said in a research note. “The stand-alone credit profile of many Indian public sector banks should come under pressure unless there is meaningful action to restore capital adequacy,” it said.

Significant quarterly losses reported at several large public banks last week, including Bank of Baroda and Bank of India, underscored long-standing balance-sheet and capital risks stemming from legacy issues pertaining to poor asset quality and weak provisioning,” Fitch added.

The ratings firm said the sudden drop in profitability of PSBs for the third quarter of the current fiscal was triggered mainly by higher provisioning following a Reserve Bank of India (RBI) order on reclassification of distressed loans. The RBI, in line with its target for banks to clean up their balance-sheets by March 2017, has nudged both public and private banks to identify stressed accounts and significantly raise provisioning over two quarters through to the end of the current fiscal.

Fitch said that RBI’s intent to clean up

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dImAPUR Civil Hospital:

STd COdE: 03862 232224; Emergency- 229529, 229474

Metro Hospital: Faith Hospital:

227930, 231081 228846

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228254

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231864, 224117, 227337

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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

SaturdaY 20•02•2016

NAGALAND

Assam Rifles apprehend five; seize arms and ammunition DIMaPur, February 19 (Mexn): Assam Rifles apprehended one NSCN (R) cadre, two of his accomplices and two “OGWs” (Over Ground Workers) of NSCN (K) in two different operations in Dimapur on February 16. 95 rounds of assorted live ammunition, four mobiles and other “warlike stores” were also recovered, according to a press release from Assam Rifles.

The release said that the first operation was conducted on Sukhovi Road based on information regarding move of NSCN (R) cadres. As part of the opera-

tion, three suspected individuals were intercepted and spot search was carried out, during which, one illegal weapon with magazine was recovered. One of the apprehended persons identified himself as Maithi Sema (38), an active cadre of NSCN (R). He admitted he had brought the weapon for sale to a potential customer along with his accomplices, identified as Kiyeho (32) and Tokihe Sema (31), the release informed.

The second operation was launched jointly by 37 Assam Rifles and 32 Assam Rifles based on information regarding likely

presence of “Over Ground Workers” (OGWs) of NSCN (K) in a house at Rengma Colony, Walford. During the operation, the suspected house was cordoned and searched, which led to apprehension of two OGWs belonging to NSCN (K) along with recovery of one AK 47 Magazine, three 7.62mm SLR Magazines and 94 rounds of assorted live ammunition, Assam Rifles said.

Meanwhile, on the same day, a third operation was carried out by 37 Assam Rifles and 32 Assam Rifles in Thilixu village based on information from

multiple sources regarding presence of an armed Raja Peyu of NSCN (IM). One 9mm Pistol with magazine, one magazine of Point 22 Pistol and live ammunition were recovered from the house of the suspect.

Stating that the NSCN (IM) cadre was absconding from his house, Assam Rifles said his family confirmed that the recovered items belonged to Atovi Achumi (36). The weapon was seized and handed over to Police since the same was being kept at the residence in contravention to the Ceasefire Ground Rules, the release added.

PNTM condemns harassment of NSF team kohIMa, February 19 (Mexn): Poumai Naga Students’ Union (PNTM), the apex body of Poumai students, has condemned the Manipur Police Commandos for “pestering and communally abusing” the officials of the Naga Students’ Federation (NSF) on February 14 in Imphal.

The union in a press release stated that the “disdain

attitude” shown by the Manipur Police Commandos towards the NSF team despite decent introduction bespeaks the “communal slant towards the tribals in the Imphal valley.” The union said such act without any valid reason has provoked not only the NSF officials but the entire Naga community.

PNTM further appealed to the Government

of Manipur to take befitting action against the perpetrators of the act so that no such incident is repeated in the future. It also cautioned the Manipur Police Commandos to be careful of their misdemeanor.

Meanwhile, PNTM urged the Government of Manipur to take serious consideration on the demands of the NSF so as to ensure

that unfavorable predicament does not arise out of this unfortunate incident.

The press release issued by PNTM President, Theophilus Rangmathat also stated that the union extends its full support to the NSF and its stand for any course of action in the case of failure to meet its demand by the Manipur government.

Biometric Attendance System launched at Nagaland Secretariat kohIMa, February 19 (Mexn): Biometric Attendance System was formally launched at Nagaland Secretariat by the State Chief Secretary, Pankaj Kumar (IAS) during a meeting of Administrative Heads of Departments (AHoDs) and Heads of Departments (HoDs) at the Secretariat conference hall, Kohima on February 19.

During the meeting, the Chief Secretary informed that Aadhaar Enabled Biometric Attendance System (AEBAS) was introduced for the better working system and called upon all the officers and employees in the Secretariat to ‘Live by example,’ by following the system ‘scrupulously.’

“Sincere efforts of all the employees are required towards the improvement and betterment of the government system,” he added appealing to everyone to work efficiently and diligently.

Giving a detail presentation about the system, the Commissioner & Secretary of IT&C, K.D. Vizo

pointed out that IT&C Department is only for system application but enforcing and regulating are all part of the Home Department’s responsibility.

Incidentally, in a The Morung Express Weekly Poll result published on February 8, an overwhelming numbers of respondents (82%) called for introducing the system citing among other things, to check absenteeism, proxy appointment, to respond positively to the need of the common people.

While calling for introducing the same in all departments, many respondents also expressed skepticism that it will be a waste of resources as the system can be manipulated if the government is not resolute and firm in its implementation.

In an earlier notification, the department warned its employees in the Nagaland Civil Secretariat that their salaries will be withheld if they do not submit Aadhaar Card/

Survival Nagaland demands strong law on issuing certificates DIMaPur, February 19 (Mexn): Survival Nagaland (SN) today commended the effort initiated by the Nagaland State Government in bringing out a new format of Indigenous Inhabitant and Scheduled Tribe certificates.

Terming it a “positive approach”, SN in a press release issued by its Media Cell stated that the move

of the State government shows that it is listening to the genuine call of the people. Seeking that the faith and trust of the indigenous citizens be guaranteed, SN demanded that the new provision be adopted and implemented “in a strong manner”. It however warned that SN’s mass movement will continue till a strong law is enacted.

Reacting to the news report of Nagaland-issued birth certificates being submitted by Assam residents as testimonials for inclusion in the National Register of Citizens, SN expressed resentment while stating that it is a result of “inappropriate functioning of the State machinery.” “It is really a sorry state of affairs for Nagaland when the credential

of numerous unspecified birth certificates with origin in Nagaland was detected and questioned by the state government officials of Assam,” SN maintained.

According to SN, attesting and issuing of personal credentials without thorough verification is setting a dangerous precedent which will prove fatal in the future. In this regard, it stat-

ed that one of its main objectives has been to make the government, civil society, village/colony councils and headmen aware of its dangers.

Allowing the practice of issuing certificates at random to continue is only enabling “illegal immigrants” to get citizenship, it maintained. “Fresh document should be issued only af-

ter proper verification and cross checking is conducted with the applicant’s Domicile State.”

Urging the citizens to ponder how people claiming to be from Assam are availing legal documents from Nagaland, SN asserted that it will not remain mute anymore and will expose any malpractice when detected.

Horticulture officials tour Wokha district Relief material destroyed; Western Yimchungrü Hoho condemns

Horticulture department officials with villagers during the inauguration of the lemongrass distillation unit in Chukitong on February 11.

Wokha, February 19 (Mexn): Officials from the Department of Horticulture toured Wokha district from February 11 to 12.

A lemongrass distillation unit installed at Chukitong through HMNEH program was inaugurated by Watienla Jamir, Director of Horticulture. She highlighted that lemongrass is hugely economical due to low volume, but it has high value returns. She encouraged the villagers of Chukitong to utilize the distillation unit at maximum capacity, for which, more areas from other surrounding villages need to be brought in for cultivation.

CR Kikon, speaking on behalf of the beneficiaries, thanked the Department of Horticulture and Government of Nagaland for providing the much needed lemongrass distillation

unit and also shared the monetary benefit brought to the village so far through sale of lemon grass oil.

A warehouse constructed through the 13th Finance Commission was also inaugurated by the Director at New Wokha village in the presence of prominent citizens of the village and departmental officials. Expressing satisfaction at the workmanship of the warehouse, the Director also thanked KR Murry, contractor, for generously donating land for construction of the warehouse. Located at an ideal and central area, the warehouse would prove to be a boon for collection, grading, storage and sale of fruits, vegetables and even flowers, fetching premium prices to the farmers of Wokha district in the near future, she stated.

Emphasizing that the

facility belongs to the people, the Director sought the cooperation of the New Wokha village in preserving and protecting the warehouse. She also assured the farmers of the department’s assistance and cooperation according to various schemes available.

Besides the contractor, Dr. Chumben Murry, ExMinister, Agriculture, also present spoke on the occasion.

The department officials also visited the NEEPCO Doyang Hydroelectric Power Project. As part of Swacch Bharat, the Horticulture staff along with NEEPCO officials cleaned up the surroundings of the hydro project. Recognizing the potentials of the area, the Horticulture department also agreed to provide fruit trees to be planted in the Doyang Hydroelectric Power Project site.

kIPhIre, February 19 (Mexn): The Western Yimchungrü Hoho (WYH) today said that relief material comprising rice donated by MLA Torechu to the families affected by recent violence in Kiphire was destroyed to the maximum at Longmatra village on February 17. In a press statement, the Hoho condemned the act.

Expressing shock at disallowing the relief material to reach its destination Pungro to be distributed to hundred of homeless people, WYH in a press statement by its Secretary Lakui Kips stated all the right thinking citizens should condemn the act.

The organization said the “few” relief material which was not destroyed was escorted to Pungro Town with the initiative of Administration of Pungro Sub-Division and Longmatra.

The Hoho has urged the authority concerned to take stern action against those involved in destroying the relief material.

The WYH statement also informed that the truck which was carrying the essential relief material was halted at Ngoromi village in adherence to the first phase of agitation called by apex Sangtam organizations in all Sangtam jurisdictions.

Governor Acharya graces Octave Festival kohIMa, February 19 (Mexn): Few hundred artists representing the eight states of North East participated in the Octave Festival held recently at Vadodara/Baroda in Gurjarat from February 10 to 14. The artists displayed various tribal and folk dances, classical dances, handicrafts and dramas. Two bands, one each from Nagaland and Mizoram also put up a spectacular rock concert.

Governor of Nagaland and Assam PB Acharya graced the festival as chief guest on February 11. In his address, he gave an idea to the locals to invite the North East artists to their home and bond over a cup

of tea. He said such simple gestures help people interact with each other and may become avenues to strike life-long friendships, according to a press release issued through Raj Bhavan, Kohima.

This idea struck a chord with one of the nearby neighbourhoods in Baroda. The residents of the locality invited 40 artists to have a Saturday brunch with them. Since it was organised overnight all the artists could not be accommodated so representatives from each troupe were called, the release said.

The artists were given a traditional Gujarati welcome of tikka on the fore-

head and garland. After the exchange of pleasantries, the Guajarati local women clad in their traditional outfits danced to the tunes of Garba (the local dance).

Meanwhile, the Assamese contingent taught the local residents some Bihu moves, while the Mizo performers displayed and taught their dance to everyone present. The brunch which followed had the choicest delicacies from Gujarat.

“Such small exchanges have a huge potential to build a strong and a healthy country where all its citizens celebrate the diversity and vastness of the cultural heritage,” one of the hosts said.

Neiba Kronu releases CWA 25th anniversary souvenir Our Correspondent Kohima | February 19

Parliamentary Secretary for Planning & Coordination, Evaluation & Monitoring Cell & Taxes Neiba Kronu on Thursday released the 25th anniversary souvenir of the Chakhesang Wrestling Association (CWA) at Pfutsero in Phek district.

Ealier, in his address at the 25th anniversary wrestling meet of CWA on the same day, Kronu said DAN government under Chief Minister TR Zeliang and NPF President Dr. Shurhozelie Liezietsu has a lot of plan for all round development of the State.

Many developmental ac-

tivities on the pipeline, he added.

In this, he called upon the public to extend their fullest support and cooperation to the government and at the same time asserted that development is possible when there is unity, mutual understanding, and peaceful environment.

“Naga wrestling is definitely one of the most interesting and exciting amongst the Naga traditional sports. It demands both strength and skill,” penned Chief Minister TR Zeliang in souvenir. He felt that Naga wrestling has to be popularized and promoted, and more and more of our youth should be in-

have practiced it since time immemorial. However, organized form of inter or intra villages did not exist prior to the formation of the Chakhesang Wrestling Association. With the formation of the organization, wrestling has been popularized so much that we all love the game and it is a must see event. Organizing the 25th edition of this mega event is not a mean job and through this sport, you have cemented and forged our brotherhood,” penned Nagaland LegNeiba Kronu releases CWA 25th anniversary souvenir on islative Assembly (NLA) February 18 in Pfutsero. (Morung Photo) speaker Chotisuh Sazo.

“Naga wrestling, as it is troduced into the sport, so identities of the Nagas. that it remains popular as “Wrestling is as old as commonly called, is perone of the unique cultural history itself as our people haps the most identifiable

indigenous sports of the Nagas and it is the units of NWA like Chakhesang Wrestling Association that are bearing the torch in propagating its beauty and essence,” stated Parliamentary Secretary for Youth Resources & Sports, Music Task Force and State Lotteries Khriehu Liezietsu.

“Wrestling is one of the oldest traditional games being practiced by our forefathers since time immemorial. Wrestling help us to maintain physically and mentally fit and not only that it foster friendship and good behaviors from among the individuals,” wrote MLA Kuzholuzo (Azo) Nienu.

Acknowledgement Card to the P&AR/ Home department by February 15 and Biometric Enrollment camp was held from February 15 to 17.

NLA Budget session from March 15 Meanwhile, the Chief Secretary informed the AHoDs and HoDs to prepare and give materials to the Home Department for the Governor’s speech in the forthcoming Budget Session scheduled from March 15 and Finance Minister’s speech to the Budget Branch or Finance Commissioner in time.

Regarding the Annual Administrative Reports, the Chief Secretary said that it should also include a new innovation and strategy in the proposals. In this regard, OSD Planning Kevileno batted for including Gender Responsive Budgeting and Economics Survey in line with the Government of India. He also informed the officers to prepare starred ques-

tions and other normal set of activities for the Budget Session well in advance.

P&AR asked to identify post for discontinuation of interviews The meeting also discussed about the discontinuation of interviews for recruitment for Junior Level Posts (Group I, II, III and IV) as per stipulated by the Prime Minister of India through the Ministry of Personnel & Training.

Opinions and suggestions were made that category of posts requires interview in certain areas.

The Chief Secretary gave direction to P&AR to identify such posts and submit the proposal to the Assembly.

The meeting also discussed about the forthcoming Nagaland Youth Summit 2016 to be held February 26-27 in Kohima and guidelines/procedures on New Pension Scheme, Financial austerity measures 2016-17 etc, according to a DIPR report received here.

MEx FILE ZTYO convenes meeting Zunheboto, February 19 (DIPr): Zunheboto Town Youth Organisation (ZTYO) has convened a meeting on February 20, 10:00 am at its office complex, opposite HKY provisions. The Presidents of ZTGBA, STH (Z), ZCCI, Taxi Union, Green Club, Council Chairman of all Colonies, and Colonies Youth Forum have been requested to attend the meeting.

Ao Senden appeals for aid to fire victims Mokokchung, February 19 (Mexn): Ao Senden today extended sympathy to the families affected by fire in Longkhum village. A press release from Ao Senden Imolemba Jamir and General Secretary S Panger Ao informed that the Senden visited the village and met with the village council and affected families. The fire gutted five houses. The Ao Senden has urged all the Aos to be “cognizant of the humanitarian duties and responsibility that has been embedded in our socio-cultural roots for generations during such calamities and come forward with various aid and relief measures so as to strengthen the bond between ourselves.”

NPSC informs kohIMa, February 19 (DIPr): Secretary, Nagaland Public Service Commission NPSC, Sarah R. Ritse has informed all concerned that the Admission Certificate for NCS, NPS, NSS & Allied Services (Main) Examination, 2015 can be downloaded by submitting the Transaction ID of the online application form at www.ncsmains.npsc.co.in from February 19 onwards. Candidates requiring assistance can call up NPSC helpdesk number +919402988506 on working days from 10:00 am to 3:00 pm.

PTCSU laments erratic power supply in Phek Town Phek, February 19 (Mexn): Phek Town Chakhesang Students' Union (PTCSU) today expressed anguish and pain over the erratic power supply in Phek Town. A press release from PTCSU President, Thuputo Venuh and Editor, Seo Hoshi highlighted that with the onset of HSLC and HSSLC exams, Phek Town has been facing frequent load shedding. The student’ union has lodged many complaints with the authority concerned, but the problem has remained unaddressed so far, the release stated.

Maintaining that the students are not able to concentrate on their studies due to the power cuts, the union fervently appealed to the authority to take immediate action for the welfare of the students and public in general.

Textbooks under SDEO Dimapur to be issued from Feb 22 DIMaPur, February 19 (Mexn): Sub-Divisional Education Officer (SDEO), Dimapur has informed that free text books will be issued EBRC Block wise as mentioned below: EBRC Kushiabill – February 22; EBRC Urban – February 23; EBRC Medziphema – February 24; EBRC Dhansiripar – February 25. All the head of GPS/ GMS/ GHS have been directed to bring along their respective school seal and collect the free textbooks according to the above schedule.

NPCC appoints officials in Mkg kohIMa, February 19 (Mexn): General Secretary (Admn) of NPCC has informed that the following persons under Mokokchung district have been appointed as follows: N. Sena Ozukum - Adhoc President, 26A/C Aonglenden; Nganshi Pongener - Adhoc President, 27-A/C Mokokchung Town; N. Senka Ozukum - PCC Member, 24-A/C Angetyonpang; N. Lanutemjen Lemtur - PCC Member, 25-A/C Mongoya; I Tia Longkumer PCC Member, 26-A/C Aonglenden; C. Imna Longkumer - PCC Member, 27-A/C Mokokchung.

SPCA office inauguration on Feb 22 DIMaPur, February 19 (Mexn): The inauguration of SPCA Office of Dimapur district will be held on February 22, 10:00 am at the Chief Veterinary Officer’s office complex, Burma Camp, Dimapur. Geoffrey Yaden, Chief Editor, Nagaland Post, will be the chief guest at the occasion.

In this regard, Chief Veterinary Officer, Dimapur Dr. Temsu Ozukum has requested all officials, executive members and well wishers to attend the function on time.

saturDaY 20•02•2016

PeoPle, life, etc...

6

THE MORUNG EXPRESS

Introducing Painless and Bloodless Laser Dental Treatment for All Ages

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Dr. Aola Imcha

t’s a Snap! Introducing dental lasers, an exciting new form of dental technology is changing the way dentists and patients view dentistry. We are all aware that Lasers have revolutionized multiple industries, and laser dentistry is no exception. Its application in the dental industry has grown enormously because of its advantages in many dental treatments. It is absolutely safe and it works with the approach of NO PAIN, NO BLOOD and NO STICHES and NO INJECTION in following cases and many more. It is excellent for patients who have dental anxiety and more so for children and adults who fears injections. So, No stress in fear of going to the dentist, it is minimally invasive, less risk of cross contamination with fewer and shorter dental visits.

As dental Lasers can target the diseased areas precisely and accurately, it speeds up soft tissue healing and has anti microbial action, so no medication is required in most cases.

The possibility of postsurgery complications, including swelling, infection and pain, are significantly reduced.

There are ample benefits to using lasers. Following are just some of its applications; 1. Gum Surgery for gummy smile and gum bleeding – Bleeding and swollen gums are a sign of gum infections. Laser periodontal therapy removes infection below the gums and reshapes the gums.

This innovative treatment has significantly minimised the recovery period and the result is excellent.

2. Sensitivity of teeth – Lasers seals off the dentinal tubules and hence reduces the sensitivity of teeth.

3. Pocket elimination (Gaps between teeth) – When you have periodontal disease (loss of bone between teeth); the application of lasers is most useful. It offers you a regenerative treatment option that is more comfortable, more cosmetic, less invasive, and less expensive with results that

are comparable to guided bone regeneration or bone grafting. As the inflammation resolves, there will be some shrinkage of the soft tissues, and lasers keeps this change to a minimum because only the unhealthy tissue is removed.

4. Gingival Abscess in adults especially in children -- Dental lasers can be used to open and drain a dental abscess from an infected tooth and re-

moves the whole infection without the need of any injections.

5. Frenectomy – In cases of high Frenum / tongue-tied, Lasers can perform without any injections and no bleeding as compared to normal surgery with a scalpel knife.

6. Root Canal Treatment: (RCT) – It is used to disinfect the pulp during RCT and hence all infec-

tions are removed and no post infection complications after completion of RCT. 7. Cold sores /Ulcers - Dental lasers can also remove oral lesions or minimize the discomfort of cold sores and canker sores.

8. Effective Treatment of TMJ or Reduced Mouth opening – Locked Jaw can occur due to spasm of jaw muscles and also the habit

of chewing tobacco can lead to reduced mouth opening. Laser treatment aids in opening the mouth to its normal state.

9. Bleaching – With dental lasers teeth whitening the shades of the teeth become lighter even five to six shades more with no side effects.

10. Gingival / Skin pigmentation- Gum de-pigmentation is a procedure used in cosmetic dentistry to remove black spots or patches on the gums caused by excessive melanin or long use of certain medications. The normal colour of the gum is pink, but excess deposits of melanin can create what seem to be black spots or patches on the gums, creating an aesthetic problem.

11. Impactions of the teeth – In impacted molar cases where the gums get swollen and mouth opening is reduced. The gums can be cut off without using any injections and without any bleeding.

12. Crown lengthening and Smile design – It’s a SYSTEM of changing the size, shape, colour and

alignment of the teeth and altering the associated tissues in order to enhance one’s appearance. What that means is a potentially complete “make-over”, if you will, of your smile and appearance. It may not be necessary to alter all of these elements depending on your needs.

13. Leukoplakia treatment with laser - Leukoplakia, thickened, white patches form on your gums, the insides of your cheeks, the bottom of your mouth and, sometimes, your tongue. These patches can't be scraped off. Tobacco in smoked, dipped or chewed is one of to be the main culprit in its development.

14. Biopsy - Laser surgery has been used to remove small amounts of tissue to check for oral cancer, eliminating the need for knives or invasive surgical procedures.

15. Orofacial pain Especially in dentistry, where pain is one of the most feared expectations, pain reduction is a highly desired effect of lasers.

Trigeminal neuralgia (in-

flammation of the trigeminal nerve) and post herpetic neuralgia (a complication of shingles) are two indications suitable with lasers.

16. Photomodulation (PBM) - It is a light therapy using lasers to improve tissue repair, reduce pain and inflammation wherever the beam is applied.

Apart from the mentioned above and many more it is also used to remove moles, warts over the skin. The advantages of Lasers is that one can have a painless and bloodless treatment without worrying about bleeding, post operative infections or injections and the uses of medications are significantly reduced.

The cost of using Dental Laser is the same as the conventional dental treatments but the advantage is that Lasers is safer and it can treat the patients without the fear of pain, blood and injections and with no further fear of cross -contamination or complications during and after the treatment.

Dr. Aola Imcha (Perfect Smile Dental care) K.C Complex, below United Bank of India, City Tower, Dimapur

Bone Tomahawk: the most shocking western in years The unbelievable psychology of conspiracy theories Tim Robey

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one Tomahawk is about 80 per c e n t s t ra i g h t western, written and played with a tender, earthy sincerity that’s pretty much a knockout. The other 20 per cent, however, is savage, shocking and intensely upsetting, something to gird your loins for. This genre hybrid is one of the most intrepid in recent memory; but what elevates the film is its commitment to character, thanks to a quartet of star performances that veer close to personal bests in each and every case.

Life seems quite enough in the small Old West town of Bright Hope: the local doctor, Arthur O’Dwyer (Patrick Wilson) is laid up with a broken leg, while Kurt Russell’s doughty sheriff and his old-timer deputy (Richard Jenkins) shoot the breeze and keep an easy eye on things. No one’s expecting the swift, devastating incursion by cave-dwelling cannibals, who whisk away O’Dwyer’s wife and a back-up deputy, leav-

ing this bewildered trio to think fast.

Joining forces with a vain, mercenary gunslinger called Brooder (Matthew Fox), they ride out on a harrowing rescue mission that will test mettles and leech resolves. In O’Dwyer’s case, the physical agony of managing the journey in bad shape is matched by a primal terror of the grief that may await him at the other end.

Wilson, who hasn’t been this good since Mike Nichols’s Angels in America, connects wonderfully

with the role: he makes uxoriousness heartbreaking. The other three eye Arthur with a mix of sympathy and the knowledge that they may have to cut him loose, sooner or later – he’s brought morphine on the sly to keep a lid on the pain, but it’s slow going when they can least afford it.

Director S Craig Zahler, a novelist, musician and former cinematographer making one of the most resoundingly confident debuts of recent years, knows that the crucial move is to make us care. He’s got the

astonishingly reliable Jenkins on hand as a lovable, loyal comrade with fading memories and some stories to tell; and even Fox, whose memorable impressions on film have been few and far between, digs quite deep as the least outwardly sympathetic of the four. Brooder’s the guy with least compunction about slaughter, and practically has to teach the others to set theirs aside, when they espy the exact breed of enemy – deathly pale, super-sized, and low on chit-chat – that they’re

up against.

Zahler’s certainly engaging with the racist overtones of a genre obsessed by white-woman-abduction stories; whether he succeeds in rerouting these by introducing this new species of foe, or just paints a fig leaf over them, may be a matter of opinion. But the last half-hour of his film is a prolonged, Grand Guignol face-off like nothing you’ve ever witnessed in this genre, ruthlessly twanging the nerves. The Tarantinos of this world have cooked up nothing as painful-looking as one demise this film is holding in store: seriously, brace yourselves.

It’s here in the clinch that Russell’s guarded slow-burn really pays off, a reminder that few actors are this convincing at quivering, make-or-break heroics at the extreme end of the scale. You’ll be watching – at least, I was – with your hand clamped over a mouth in various states of aghast-ness. But the film’s bloodiest moments, in a real turn-up for the books, are also its saddest.

Now household pets are delivering blows to my self-esteem

Nury Vittachi | IANS

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dog has learned to read. Fernie, a two-yearold labrador from the UK, can read four words and is working on another 20, says his owner, a teacher.

I was impressed, as I well remember the difficulty I once had trying to teach a two-year-old human not to throw herself off a balcony.

All parents know that children get furiously angry if we stop them doing things like climbing into lion enclosures, drinking poison, eating mystery brown objects off the forest floor and the like. The basic toddler philosophy

is: "I wonder what (insert lethal activity here) feels like? Let's find out."

(I suspect there's also a subconscious undercurrent of "Time for a quick round of Make Dad Panic.")

Parenting books say "they grow out of it". They don't say that they grow right back into it as teenagers, who have the exact same philosophy, but with more expensive dangers. ("I wonder what would happen if we mixed every chemical in the school lab?")

The obvious solution is to teach children the way we teach dogs. "Sit." (Child sits.) "Who's a good boy?"

(Adult pats head and presents tiny morsel of food.)

"Study! Pass exams! (Child

studies and passes exams.) "Who's a good boy?"

(Adult pats head and presents another tiny morsel of food.) and so on and so forth.

What if your child can't talk yet? You can still teach it, thanks to scientists in Taiwan who have just invented an Infant Cries Translator app. You download the app and stick your phone near your baby's mouth. Wah wah waahhhhh is translated on the screen into clear, adultreadable terms such as: "I wish to have an additional beverage, carer."

This reminded me of my first daughter, who had advanced verbal skills and actually spoke like that from about 18 months old: "Convey me to the potty

immediately, carer, or you and your so-called Persian rug will live to regret it."

Happy memories. But I was brought back on topic by a colleague from the US who says TV shows in her home country feature a dog called Willow who can read. Clearly this is the trend.

I'm sorry, but I'm not convinced that teaching animals to read is a good thing. Life is grim enough without coming home to be greeted by my dog saying things like: "What do you think of Schopenhauer's second volume of essays? Good grief, you haven't read it, have you?"

The fact is reading gives humans an evolutionary advantage that we should not share with less-

evolved creatures such as dogs, cats, amoeba, Donald Trump fans and the like.

But I must admit I was curious. So I handed my newspaper to my dog. She stared at the front page picture (a politician of course) and then tilted her head to one side, apparently having the same gyroscopic thing in her brain that smartphones have.

Then she took a step forwards and peed on it. That was probably a rather insightful thing to do. I wish I'd thought of it.

If dogs do learn to read, let's limit them to books about their kind: White Fang, 101 Dalmatians, and Marley and Me are probably the three most famous.

Do NOT give them Cujo.

Vikas Datta

Title: Suspicious Minds Why We Believe Conspiracy Theories; Author: Rob Brotherton; Publisher: Bloomsbury Sigma; Pages: 304; Price: Rs.499

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here are people who believe the world or their country is run by by a secret society, John F. Kennedy's assassination was a bigger conspiracy, the moon landings were faked, Princess Diana was murdered, 9/11 was not an Al Qaeda plot, UFOs exist and global warming is a myth.

In the Indian context, many believe Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose didn't die in the air crash in 1945 and there is a conspiracy to hide the truth about his fate, there was much more than has been revealed about the assassinations of Indira Gandhi or Rajiv Gandhi, and more recently, that some particular institutions are anti-national hubs, and so on.

Conspiracy theories can be found anywhere.

And we may not have to go far.

Many of us may suspect them in our own life and work, when we have an unsuccessful relationship or opportunities or promotions at work bypass us. We do enjoy them as a form of leisure - remember Dan Brown's "The Da Vinci Code"?

But what actually is a conspiracy theory, why do people believe in them, and does the internet era of instant communication and boundless information play any role?

These, and many other related questions are what academic psychologist and writer Rob Brotherton, who "likes to walk on the weird side of psychology", seeks to deal with in this book.

First taking on the perception that conspiracy theorists are "just a few (male) kooks lurking on the paranoid fringes of society with bizarre ideas about shape-shifting reptilian aliens running society in secret", the former lecturer of psychology at London's Goldsmiths College stresses that they are no fringe affairs, women can be as conspiracyminded as men, and age, education and intellect level don't make a difference.

"There are more conspiracy theorists out there than you might expect.

Chances are you know some. Chances are you are one," he notes.

But the difference between conspiracies and conspiracy theory must be appreciated, with the latter being greater the sum of its parts, in not simply being a theory about conspiracy but a bigger psychological phenomenon with many similar motifs even when they are uniquely different theories, he says.

And they are not an modern phenomenon, fuelled by mass media and the internet, with with one of the oldest and most famous stretching back to the first century AD when Nero fiddled as Rome burnt.

But Brotherton, who mentions several of the most notorious conspiracy theories, says his intention is not to provide a list of them and prove or disprove them, as his book is more about "conspiracy thinking" or "what psychology can reveal about how we decide what is reasonable and what is ridiculous, and why some people believe things that, to other people, seem completely unbelievable".

And in the course of an wittily entertaining but most illuminating romp through history and psy-

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.

chology, he seeks to throw light on why "many of us are drawn to implausible, unproven and unproveable theories", believe in them more when others try to prove them false - and what this tells us about ourselves.

Brotherton however does admits "there is a hidden side to reality, a secret realm buzzing with clandestine activity and covert operations", an "invisible network" which screens and manipulates information, "steers what we think and believe", "even shapes the decision we make" and molds our perception to its own agenda.

Is it the Illuminati? The Priory of Sion? The New World Order? A powerful bureaucracy, business corporation or media? All of them? No, it something more powerful - and inescapable.

It is our own brain and its strange processes and cognitive biases, our "deepest desires, fears, and assumptions about the world", and with an built-in inclination for order and recognisable patterns which can allow some to use incomplete, contradictory, and coincidental information to see connections and conspiracies even where they are none.

Will you believe this, or think this is a conspiracy too?

SaturDaY 20•02•2016

Morung Youth Express

THE MORUNG EXPRESS

Hindutva’s battle for India’s classrooms is out in the open Mitali Saran

H

Quartz

ere’s a rough theory about the Left and the Right.

The basic temperamental difference between the Left-inclined and Right-inclined electorate seems to boil down to their relationship with otherness and authority.

The Left tends to be inclusive of otherness. It thrives on diversity and churn; its ideal social structure is relatively flat and fluid. It understands the merits of intellectual critique and challenge to authority, because it understands the value of social, educational, artistic, and political innovation. Its vision of the future is of an increasingly equal society with increasing personal freedoms.

The Right tends to draw its sense of well-being from a firmer, more vertical social structure, in which there is a clear chain of command and in which everyone knows their place, and stays there.

It tends to view otherness with suspicion and/or fear. It defers to established hierarchies of power, wealth, religion, gender, caste, class, and age.

And since the law is Leftinclined and designed to safeguard the individual, the Right is more inclined to ignore it and dispense street justice.

Just bear that theory in mind.

JNU IS oNLy The NeweST BATTLegRoUND The mess that is the current row over Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) is not really about Kanhaiya Kumar’s alleged sedition. It is merely one episode in a colossal tussle between the Left and Right over a prize catch: education, the shaping of the future citizen.

And there is apparently no place too low to go in pursuit of that quest.

The Indian state has criminally neglected education for decades. Despite plenty of primary schools, a Right to Education Act, and all the right policy noises, our education system is abysmal.

Schools are often just empty

rooms; teachers are absent or barely more literate than their students; a lack of infrastructure—from toilets to educational materials—hinders both enrolment and learning outcomes. Kids suffer the same social discrimination inside classrooms as they do outside.

Higher education has gotten more attention, and islands of excellence such as the Indian Institutes of Technology and JNU regularly produce people who do India proud. But in general, the absolutely crucial role of education in nation-building has suffered from an inexplicable lack of political backing.

Today’s central government, for all its dull-witted devotion to Vedic flying machines and cow urine, is sharply cognizant of the power of the classroom. And it will do all it can to capture it and cast it in its image. The Sangh Parivar is very clear about what kind of Indians it wants in India, and much more driven and organised in the pursuit of that aim.

Want a Hindutva nation that purges itself of “westernised”, “socialist” thinking?

Catch ’em young and mould them.

Campuses are rich sources of leadership. You just have to take the campus as a place where people are exposed to new ideas and learn to think for themselves, and recast it as a boot camp. And if you can’t corral them into your way of thinking, intimidate them with the threat of violence.

Social media may amplify negative experience for disadvantaged

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ar from offering an escape, the negative social interactions that the disadvantaged youth experience in the neighbourhood may get reproduced and even amplified in the social media, new research suggests.

"Teens and young adults who are at the margins of society may have experiences in dealing with social media that others don't. Unfortunately, what we found was that not only do they have to deal with negative social interactions in their neighborhoods, those interactions also seep into their online lives, sometimes in a larger, more problematic, way," said lead researcher Robin Stevens from the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing.

The team conducted interviews with thirty females and thirty males, ranging in age from 18-24 years old, about their social worlds and neighbourhoods, both online and offline.

The study's findings reveal a dynamic and somewhat concerning interplay between a physical neighbourhood and a digital neighbourhood, where negative interactions are reproduced and amplified online.

The participants told interviewers of the drama that takes place on social media, which is a byproduct of living in a disadvantaged neighbourhood.

Researchers not only discovered that the physical negativity that these young people experience in their neighbourhoods spills over to their lives on social media, but that the opposite is also true.

"Participants told us that drama that starts out on social media can also manifest itself in serious, physical altercations on the streets," Stevens said.

"Social media is an amplified reflection of the real and digital neighbourhoods in which they live," Stevens noted.

A unique advantage of social media is that it can be used to bring people together and allow users to experience things they may not get a chance to.

Adversely, the study found that social media can make tensions between people even worse, or at least seem even worse.

(Source: IANS)

The PATRIoTISM Bogey That project of re-educating India along Hindutva lines has been underway for much longer than two years.

The RSS shakha is a potent classroom, and there are Hindu groups that enthusiastically train armies of children in the use of weapons and rhetoric to “fight ISIS” (read Muslims). This project has only picked up momentum since May 2014.

Narendra Modi’s rightleaning Hindutva government is deeply anti-intellectual, obscurantist, and regressive. Its ministers are comically incompetent, its public relations tone-deaf, and its instincts stone age.

Smriti Irani, India’s human resources development minister, wasn’t chosen for her progressive educational views. From the cultural chaperoning of Indian cinema-goers by the censor board chief Pahlaj Nihalani to the ruckus at the Film and Television Institute of India over the appointment of Gajendra Chauhan to the mess at JNU, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is going for the jugular of Indian education.

When, crying sedition, the home ministry waded into what should have been an internal university matter at JNU. But however stupid and embarrassing this government may be, it is very good at replicating its thinking by stoking rage and hatred.

The BJP specialises in encouraging its Right-leaning

supporters to use language badly—to kill nuance by balling words up into crude emotive landmines and tossing them into the middle of restive crowds.

Think of all the words that have become radioactive in the last couple of years: jihad, beef, liberal, secular, socialist, terrorist, culture, sedition, anti-national.

Patriotism seems to be a site of particular anxiety for Hindutva. Perhaps their marginality during the freedom struggle leads the Sangh Parivar and its supporters to now thump their chests so loudly today; maybe they feel they have a point to prove.

The BJP government’s response to the JNU agitation is typically wrong-headed: it has declared that it is henceforth mandatory for every central university to fly a giant flag on its campus.

A rational, lawful version of patriotism includes pointing out the rot in India, with a view to fixing it; it includes the space to not feel patriotic at all; includes the space, in fact, to be peacefully antinational.

The right-leaning version of patriotism that is now being consolidated is more about closing ranks around the rot, and shooting the messenger. It is about blurring the difference between poor taste and illegality, and conflating conformity with acceptability. It is plain vigilantism.

What is new, though, is the growing openness and

centrality of this attitude.

This week we saw lawyers and an MLA beat up students and journalists on the premises of a courtroom, while the police stood by and informed people that they could not be responsible for their safety. This happened in Delhi, whose police is under the direct control of the allegedly strong BJP government.

The footage, broadcast hundreds of times, was a beautiful distillation of the rot in the judiciary, the executive, and the police, of how unprofessional and brazenly contemptuous of the law we have become.

This is a right-wing speciality, but the Left must be credited with enabling that attitude. Despite making creditable progress of all kinds over the decades, the Left also allowed India and its institutions to become corrupted, rotten, and hollowed out. It said nothing, or too little, in the defence of its own ideals.

Now, when the fist of mob sentiment strikes against those institutions— courts, police, or executive— those sworn to uphold the rights of the individual and of dissent, often cave in and fall apart.

The fIghTBACk We’re in a war, make no mistake. The battlefield is not the border of India, but its schoolrooms and college campuses. The prize is not the integrity of India, but the integrity of Indians. It will be protracted, messy, and will probably see many more ugly skirmishes.

But here’s the lovely thing about this country: it’s not going anywhere. It’s nice that universities across India and across the world are reaching out to JNU in solidarity, pushing back against the assault on free thought.

It’s nice that lots of articles and editorials are being written in defence of the students being hounded on the flimsiest grounds.

But the best, most inspired response to this staggering mess has come from within JNU itself. At the university, every evening for a week, teachers are holding teach-ins on the subject of nationalism.

Silence, Please! The children have something to say Zinnia Ray Chaudhuri

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Scroll.in

ifteen-year-old Ritik Bamnera noticed he had started asking too many questions at school after he joined Tasawwur – a collective of artists and educators working to empower teenagers – last year. That isn’t a bad thing, he said, mindless argument is.

Asking questions to understand the “other” seems to be the philosophy of Tasawwur, a collective that works with students from diverse backgrounds in Delhi. It encourages them to discuss issues they deal with every day, and helps them use song and choreography to take their stories to the world. Topics that came up during their discussions were issues related to caste, violence, disability, inclusion and dating problems.

Tasawwur, an Urdu word meaning imagination, was started by youth development professional Aditi Rao two years ago. “Our social groups tend to be very homogenous,” said Rao. “How much do we know about or interact with people from other groups? At Tasawwur, we try to bring together children from across demographics to talk to each other and understand where the other person is coming from.”

The collective’s latest production Silence, Please! highlights issues related to caste and disability with the help of stories taken from the lives of the students, who have conceptualised and written the 35-minute-long play. Last year, it staged The Walk, a play that dealt with the theme of violence – gender, domestic and street – unfortunately a lived experience for some children in the group.

Three children spoke to Scroll ‘I have started questioning evabout the ways the group has erything’ – Ritik Bamnera, 15 It was a teacher who encourchanged their lives. aged this Sarvodaya Vidyalaya student to join Tasawwur last “I have stopped teasing year. The teacher felt the experigirls” – Shrikant Patel, 16 He was dubbed “the boy ence would help him look at the with the swagger” when he first world differently. When Bamshowed up at a Tasawwur ses- nera did, he realised he started sion last year. However, he soon asking a lot of questions in class. revealed himself to be a sensi- "My teachers thought I was artive, intelligent boy under the guing with them,” he said. “But “swag”, and is now a part of the I wasn't. I was just asking quesleadership team that helps new tions." Those who confuse asking questions with mindless arentrants settle down.

A student at a municipal guments must watch Silence, school in Delhi, Patel was already Please! he said. a part of the theatre programme at Manzil, a non-profit organisa- ‘I found my voice’ – tion working to empower youth Tuba Sheikh, 15 An essay on why she thought from low-income backgrounds, when he heard about Tasawwur. education is important for girls It took him some effort to con- got Tuba Sheikh a spot in Tasawvince his father to let him join wur. "I had written it very well," the group, but he was success- said Sheikh, explaining that her ful, and has been with the group argument in the essay was that education allowed a woman to be nearly since its inception.

Patel said he soon realised financially independent, which the group was about more than was important. A student of a mujust theatre, it taught him to un- nicipal school in Nizamuddin in derstand how his actions could Delhi, Sheikh had to convince her affect others. “I have stopped parents and her aunt to permit eve-teasing,” he said. “I used her to join the group.

She said it helped her find her to bother girls at school and thought it was fun. But when I voice. “I have always found it difficame here and heard girls talk cult to talk to strangers, but I don't about what they go through ev- get so nervous anymore,” she said. ery time a boy teases them, I de- “We are encouraged to talk here. cided to stop right away. I even Nobody judges us or makes fun of stop others boys in my class from us. There is acceptance."

Sheikh said school seems behaving this way. We get into different now. Her friends tease fights sometimes.”

Before he joined Tasawwur, each other about everything, Patel would also tease classmates and get bored if she talks to who belonged to the scheduled them about more serious issues. castes and scheduled tribes. He However, she is excited that her said that he now realised how friends and parents will watch much his teasing must have hurt her perform in Silence, Please! In them. In Silence, Please! he plays the play, she raps about growing a character from the scheduled up in a world full of rules about how "good girls" should behave. castes.

7

The Naga Blog is a forum on facebook where Nagas from Nagaland and around the world network, share ideas and discuss a wide range of topics from politics and philosophy to music and current events in Nagaland and beyond. The blog is not owned by any individual, nor is it affiliated to or associated with any political party or religion. The only movement it hopes to stir is the one raised by the voices of the Nagas every step of the way, amassing perhaps to mass consciousness one day. www.facebook.com/groups/thenagablog

Just another Open Letter to NMA & NBCC Atsung Imchen: The year is 2016 and surprisingly we are still limping towards the future where the road has been paved with nothing but our will and guts.

By now, you must have become so used to all the complaints and shouting around you, so used to it that you’ve become blinded as though it’s a blessing from above. And even though you see this and read it word by word you will ignore it like you’re not part of it that you’re on a Mission set by God himself.

I am stressing once again on the very same topic which you take so much pride on, so much pride that your eyes do not see what is the reality, so blinded that the wrongs around you is turned into an ever growing righteous path. Yes, I am talking about your PROHIBITION ACT where both of you are equally responsible.

Let me cite you an example of how you’re the reason for so many wrongs around us, let me show you how your hands, those same hands that hold the Bible, those hands that feed your children is covered in blood of those many souls that have been lost because of your pride.

In a well Known restaurant in Kohima, let me not mention the name but I am sure they will know in case they happen to read this, it’s a restaurant where I am sure many of your members will have visited.

Once you enter the restaurant they give you the menu of the food and secondly the menu for Drinks, drinks that are prohibited. Now let me take the closest relation to the Bible and state regarding wine, a wine called “ZINZI” with the maximum retail price of Rs.300 is sold at the rate of Rs.1200 and just some 2-3 kms away in a liquor shop it costs Rs.700. A simple affordable wine cost a fortune just because of your pride.

Now, since you’ve adamantly implemented the prohibition act there is absolutely no checking for adulterated liquors available abundantly in front of your house and colony wards, the public cannot raise their voice because your pride of calling Nagaland a Dry State has become so sickening that even if the heavens descend you will not let go of that pride. Many lives have been lost due to consumption of adulterated liquors; there are end numbers of stories end number of families without their fathers and mothers who felt victim to adulterated liquors, are you that blind?

Answer this if your conscious allows it:1. Are you saying there are no liquors shops in Nagaland?

2. Are you saying Nagaland Prohibition Act is a righteous path?

3. Are you saying you’ve implemented this act with outmost strictness that not a single drop of liquor sips into our state?

4. Are you saying that once this act is removed we will all be drunkards?

5. Are you saying in every nook and corner of Nagaland, Nagaland for Christ there is no smell of liquor no sign of liquor?

If your answer contradicts to your beliefs of this prohibition act, how can you stand on the podium every Sunday in the Church preaching the word of God, preaching the way of a just life when you’re killing the very living soul and damming them? Are you that blind? Does your conscious not speak that it’s wrong for you to have your hand on something that is harming more than it’s doing good? You can speak in tongues yet you cannot understand the simple plight of the people.

How can you mothers, the model of love and patience preach at home about your family welfare, about the wellbeing of your family when you’re destroying somebody else’s family? When the father or the mother of another family is dying due to those adulterated alcohols available abundantly.

All of these boils down to this: either implement the prohibition act with strict measures or stay away from this topic, stay away from this act. The next time you stand up there to preach the word of God, know that your hands are dirty, the next time you speak about family welfare as a mother know that you are destroying somebody else family.

We have members from both this organization in this group and you're part of this. Until this is fixed, till the time you’re able to see the reality you will hear complaints and complaints till your dying breath.

Menji Jamir: It's a relevant issue for us. We have been dragging our feet on it for long. The Dry State promulgation has failed miserably.

But blaming NBCC Nagaland or NMA is misplaced because they fought for liquor prohibition and once the State Assembly enacted it, it is the duty of the government to implement it, both in spirit and letter of the law. But the government cheated and went back after signing the Act. Bringing Mizoram as an example to lift it may be premature because there are conflicting reviews of the lifting of liquor prohibition in Mizoram are coming out.

Appealing to individual freedom of choice as a rationale to lift liquor prohibition is too one sided because when we are individuals we are meant both sociologically and theologically to be in a community with mutual responsibility.

No doubt there is an urgent need to have an informed discussion/ debate on this issue, but simply counting financial loss for family or government is an inadequate reason. If someone drinks in spite of this Act it is easy to see but if someone abstained/abstains from drinking because of it is not easy to see.

The bottom line is better awareness about demerits/ill effects of alcohol on a person and society. Don't sell it just to push up financial status of family or government because only few families will end up becoming millionaire. On the other hand, simply passing a law will not solve it. In other states, alcohol is free, available 24x7 over the counter, cheap but users know the limit. Whoever doesn't know the limit face its consequences.

Whoever wishes to drink let them drink as much as they like but the moment they disturb me, a non drinker, I will also have my way.

Lentina Temjen Constance: Something that has been on my mind forever now. Thank you Atsung for bringing it up. Why don't they (be it the NMA/NBCC/state & law) see that people who want alcohol will still be able to purchase it or make it, albeit at a higher cost? Also why don't they realise that alcohol made without government regulations and inspections pose a possibly serious health and safety risk to consumers. The consequences of drinking illegal alcohol sold here could not be more serious.

They fail to realise that they're only creating another crime called "bootlegging" by trying to do away with alcohol.

High time they realise something that you are forbidden from having is the most enjoyable while it is forbidden.

Basically, we want what we can't or shouldn't have. Nudge someone to drink less, and he/she pours herself another drink.

Disclaimer: The opinions expressed here are the views of the individual and do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of The Naga Blog.

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

SaturdaY 20•02•2016

INDIA

THE MORUNG EXPRESS

JNU row: opposition slams government

New delHI, FebruAry 19 (IANS): The opposition mounted fresh attacks on the government on Friday over the arrest of JNU student leader Kanhaiya Kumar, whose bail plea in a sedition case is likely to come up on Monday.

The issue continued to generate passions, with hundreds of Left student activists blocking trains in Bihar demanding Kanhaiya Kumar's release and hundreds of lawyers taking out a noisy march in Delhi denouncing him.

Kanhaiya Kumar, arrested a week ago on charges of shouting antiIndia slogans, moved the Delhi High Court after the Supreme Court refused to entertain his bail plea. The high court is likely to hear the case on Monday.

On Wednesday, a lower court sent Kanhaiya Kumar, who is from the CPI-affiliated AISF, to judicial custody till March 2 amid violence blamed on a section of lawyers. Kanhaiya Kumar came under attack that day.

On Friday, a Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital report revealed that the student leader suffered multiple injuries, contradicting Delhi Police Commissioner B.S. Bassi's claims that Kanhaiya Kumar was not

SC refuses to intervene in JNU student leader's arrest

Activists and students from various organisations at a dharna at Jantar Mantar after their march from Mandi House to Jantar Mantar in solidarity with the JNUSU President Kanhaiya Kumar, in New Delhi. (PTI Photo)

assaulted.

The Congress accused the BJP and RSS of "treating youth as experimental guinea pigs in the laboratory of divisiveness" and said raising nationalism "as a bogey to repress students and gag campuses" was wrong. Congress spokesman Abhishek Manu Singhvi said the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and its related outfits were trying to fit their Hindutva ideology on the nation.

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar - Kanhaiya Kumar is from Begusarai in the state - accused the central government of creating an emotional issue to "hide its failure" on the economic front. "If they have any evidence that justifies Kanhaiya Kumar's arrest on sedition charge, why don't they make it public?" he asked.

In Begusarai, Kanhaiya Kumar's father, Jaishankar Singh, said his son was innocent and demanded a

CBI inquiry in the case. He accused the BJP and RSS of "fixing" his son.

The student's mother Meena Devi, an aanganwadi worker, added: "My son is being tortured under the very nose of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. My son has done no wrong."

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal rubbed it in, saying opposing the BJP and RSS had now become the biggest crime in the country.

Mocking at what he said was a new "IPC" (Indian Penal Code), the AAP leader tweeted: "It's not a crime to murder, rape or beat anyone if u r from BJP. Being opposed to BJP n RSS is biggest crime now. Centre's new IPC - rape, murder or beat anyone. When questioned, just say that victim was shouting anti-India slogans, you u will be let off."

Six Left parties meanwhile sought Kanhaiya Kumar's immediate release

New delHI, FebruAry 19 (reuTerS): The Supreme Court on Friday refused to consider a bail plea from a left-wing student leader whose arrest for sedition triggered demonstrations in universities across the country against Prime Minister Narendra Modi's ruling nationalist group.

The top court suggested Kumar, 28, approach the lower Delhi High Court for bail, saying it didn't have to intervene in the case and that lower courts were qualified to handle a bail application.

Kumar had sought the Supreme Court's intervention after a previous hearing in a lower court descended into chaos as lawyers chanting nationalist slogans barged into the compound and threw stones at reporters in a case that has become politically charged.

"It was a life-threatening situation," one of Kumar's lawyer Vrinda Grover said, adding it was not safe for the deand punishment to those who they said doctored "evidence" to charge him with sedition.

Kanhaiya Kumar has denied the charges against him. The Left said his arrest was "part of efforts to sharpen communal polarization". "The truth has now come out that most of the evidence produced by the government was fabricated," a joint statement by the parties said.

In Bihar, hundreds of

fence team to go anywhere except the top court to seek bail.

A lawyer for Delhi police, which has framed the case against Kumar, said police are duty-bound to provide security at the Delhi High Court when the bail application comes up.

The case against Kumar is under the colonial-era sedition law and has fuelled fears that Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party is creating a climate of fear in the country and is promoting a fiercely nationalist agenda aimed at the minority groups.

But the government said the right to speech wasn't unfettered and Home Minister Rajnath Singh put out a Twitter post that those who shouted "anti-India" slogans and challenge the integrity of the country will not be spared.

Kumar and his colleagues were marking the anniversary of the hanging of Afzal Guru, who was convicted of an attack on Indian parliament in 2001.

slogan-shouting Left-leaning students seeking the release of Kanhaiya Kumar stopped half a dozen trains.

The affected trains included Sampark Kranti Express, Janki Express and Jainagar Samastipur passenger.

In Delhi, hundreds of equally vocal lawyers marched from the Patiala House Court complex to India Gate demanding action against "anti-national" JNU students. They were led by, among others, Vi-

kram Chauhan, who has been accused of attacking journalists and JNU students at the Patiala House court on Monday and causing more disturbances there on Wednesday.

In Goa, the Congressaffiliated National Students Union of India (NSUI) said it will collaborate with Leftist student unions countrywide to combat "a concerted effort by the ABVP and BJP to take control of campuses".

India seeks 'whole of world' approach to counter terrorism 1,000 paramilitary personnel rushed to Haryana New delHI, FebruAry 19 (IANS): India on Friday called for a “whole of the world" approach to counter the global scourge of terrorism.

“India has displayed early initiative in building a global resolve and new strategies for combating terrorism by tabling a Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism at the United Nations almost two decades ago,” Anil Wadhwa, secretary (east) in the ministry of external affairs, said while addressing the academic session at the eighth edition of the Delhi Dialogue here.

“The initiative has now gathered greater traction at a time when the spectre of global terrorism appears more threatening. We encourage a ‘whole of the world’ approach in countering terrorism,” he said.

The Delhi Dialogue is a premier annual track 1.5 diplomatic event discussing the politico-security, economic and socio-cultural engagement between India and the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean).

Wadhwa said the security issues of terrorism, moderation, cyber crime and South China Sea were addressed throughout the year culminating in the 10th East Asia Summit (EAS) held in November 2015 in Kuala Lumpur.

“Counter-terrorism and South China Sea issue dominated the proceedings in the wake of rise of ISIS (as the Islamic State terrorist outfit is also known), Paris attacks and activities carried out in some of the

islands of South China Sea,” he said.

“EAS participating countries, including Malaysia and Indonesia, rejected the brand of Islam being propagated by ISIS, and advocated undertaking effective countermeasures against ISIS, including promoting moderation and awareness about the true nature of Islam.”

Wadhwa said India has taken several initiatives to promote greater cooperation with Asean on terrorism and security-related issues in 2015.

“We sent a multi-agency delegation to visit Asean law enforcement institutes in June 2015. We jointly hosted, with Cambodia, an EAS Workshop and Dialogue on Regional Security Architecture at Phnom Penh in July 2015. We have also organised an Asean-India Cyber Security Conference in January 2015 in New Delhi. We aim to host the first G-2-G Asean-India Cyber Dialogue in New Delhi in early 2016,” he said.

The secretary (east) also stressed on maritime cooperation between India and the Asean member states and promotion of blue economy in the region.

“There is a need to ensure longterm sustainability of the coastal and marine ecosystems and the economy by moving from an ocean economy, to a blue economy the sustainable development of which requires careful balancing of human needs and ecosystem protection,” he said.

“Developing a blue economy in our region would mean integrating

its goals into our social, economic and environmental development.”

Stating that there was also the requirement of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, Wadhwa said the new Sustainable Development Goal 2014 referred to the need to conserve and sustainably use marine resources.

“We can develop a common regional vision for a blue economy through public private partnerships.

Leveraging of technology, such as marine spatial planning, to harvest marine resources in a sustainable manner, is a priority,” he said.

He also called upon the private sector to act more responsibly in its use of marine resources while participating in nine key marine resource based industries: fisheries and aquaculture; ports, shipping and marine transport; tourism, resorts and coastal development; oil and gas; coastal manufacturing; seabed mining; renewable energy; marine biotechnology; and marine technology and environmental services.

Wadhwa said sustained historical ties, culture and knowledge have continued to underpin India’s interactions with southeast Asia over two millenia.

He suggested holding a yearlong India-Asean commemoration, with a wide range of activities such as retracing journeys undertaken

by Buddhist pilgrims, travellers and scholars of ancient times; re-enactment of historical events; and staging of performing arts which bring to life the shared cultural heritage of the two sides.

Paper sensor to track alcoholrelated health issues: Scientists KolKATA, FebruAry 19 (IANS): Indian scientists have designed a paper sensor that has the potential to track health adversities associated with alcoholism, which they say is a step forward in the realm of lowpriced point-of-care (POC) diagnostics in the country. The electro-optical sensor crafted from filter paper detects the presence of an enzyme called alpha-amylase in blood, which is responsible for breaking down starch into simple sugars such as glucose, maltose and dextrin.

The important biomarker is produced by pancreas and salivary glands in the human body. An abnormal amount of amylase can be a sign of pancreatic disorder. A spike in its level signifies diseases such as acute pancreatitis, pancreatic cancer, gastroenteritis, etc., while a decrease suggests pancreatic damage, kidney disease, among others.

"The sensor can detect amylase levels through a simple lock and key biochemical reaction," Dipankar Bandyopadhyay, associate professor, Department of Chemical Engineering, IIT-Guwahati, told IANS over phone. Elaborating on the link between drinking and pancreas damage, Bandyopadhyay said excessive drinking together with smoking can irreversibly damage pancreas to cause acute or chronic pancreatic diseases.

"Molecules in alcohol react adversely with the cells of the pancreas, which becomes unduly severe with smoking habits. The chemicals imbibed during smoking explosively enhance the damaging effects from al-

cohol intake. In such situations, the activity of the pancreas and subsequently the amylase secretion goes haywire. Arguably, around half of people with chronic pancreatitis develop diabetes in the later part of their life."

To design the sensor, the researchers coated a filter paper with starch and iodine which turned the filter paper blue. When amylase was added, the colour faded. "By integrating this paper with an LED and photoresistor, we could detect the level by a change in light intensity and electrical resistance which is correlated with the amylase levels in the blood," explained Bandyopadhyay, also associated with the Centre for Excellence in Research and Development of Nanoelectronic Theranostic Devices, sponsored by DeitY, at the Centre for Nanotechnology, IIT-Guwahati.

The development of the prototype is financially supported by Ministry of Communication and Information Technology and DeitY (Department of Electronics and Information Technology). The prototype has been developed by a team of scientists consisting of Bandyopadhyay as well as Satarupa Dutta and Nilanjan Mandal. They are applying for a patent and aim to commercialise the technology.

"If the device can be integrated with a chip that is compatible with the mobile phone, it can serve as a portable detector. The purpose is to generate awareness through POCs so that people will know the situation with regards to their alcohol intake and accordingly go for curbing the habit," he added.

New delHI, FebruAry 19 (PTI): As the Jat agitation turned violent, the Centre today rushed 1,000 paramilitary personnel to Haryana even as Home Minister Rajnath Singh assured the state government of all assistance to control the volatile situation.

The paramilitary personnel have been sent to as-

sist the state government in maintaining law and order as there been several incidents of violence in Haryana following the Jat agitation demanding quota, a Home Ministry official said.

Concerned over the volatile situation, Home Minister Rajnath Singh called up Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar, who

briefed him about the prevailing situation in the state.

The Home Minister also assured the Chief Minister all possible help to the state government in controlling the situation, the official said.

Curfew was imposed tonight in Rohtak and Bhiwani city limit areas and army was being rushed there in view of worsening situation with Jats

agitating over reservation issue going on rampage there.

Army was deployed in eight districts of Haryana after one person was killed and 21 were injured in police action as Jat stir turned violent and the rampaging mobs set ablaze the house of state's Finance Minister besides several government and private properties.

‘India needs to resume talks with Pakistan’ ISlAmAbAd, FebruAry 19 (IANS): Indian officials really ought to be directing their energies to achieving an immediate resumption of the bilateral dialogue with Pakistan, an influential Pakistani daily said Friday, adding that New Delhi should not be annoyed over the sale by the US of F-16 fighters to this country.

An editorial "Indian objections to F-16 sale" in the Dawn on Friday said that the sale of F-16 aircraft has appeared to annoy India more than it helps Pakistan's overall counter-insurgency efforts. It should not.

"But the very fact that it does - that New Delhi appears to feel it necessary to protest the American sale of F-16 aircraft to Pakistan - demonstrates the extent to which the Pakistan-India relationship needs to be protected from reactionaries in India," it said.

The daily said it may be true that the use of F-16s is not central or fundamental to the Pakistani counter-insurgency effort in Fata. "But neither are the addi-

tional aircraft vital for Pakistan's overall deterrence efforts against India."

"What is troubling though is that Indian authorities appear to insist that the Pakistan-US relationship has some automatic implications for the Pakistan-India context. It does not.

"Eight new aircraft does not change the strategic - or operational balance - anymore than a similar addition of similar aircraft by India would."

It noted that much as Pakistan - and possibly India - is trying to restart dialogue between the two countries, it appears that the old approach continues to dominate.

"The Pakistani state's deterrence against armed conflict with India has neither been shaped nor determined

by US arms transfers.

"Much as Pakistan achieved deterrence capability against India while US sanctions were in effect against Pakistan, the same logic applies today: US transfers to Pakistan will not change the latter's fundamental ability to pro-

tect itself against Indian hegemony."

The daily went on to say that perhaps what Indian authorities ought to consider is another reality: can Pakistan really ever defeat terror - the kinds that threaten the Pakistani state and also regional powers - if it does not have all the necessary tools at its disposal?

"India wants to not only dictate to Pakistan what the latter's national security interests ought to be, but also the manner in which they ought to be fought - and the resources with which they should be fought.

"Pakistan has every right to the F16s and doubly so when it comes to the possibility of using them to combat perhaps the foremost threat to regional stability."

It added: "What Indian officials really ought to be directing their energies to is achieving an immediate resumption of the bilateral dialogue. Pakistan and India deserve better than the old approach of endless complaints and no forward movement."

Weather-weary Indian farmers resort to new cash crop: blood JHANSI, FebruAry 18 (THomSoN reuTerS FouNdATIoN): Karna, a farmer from Badgaon village in northern India, has few options but to sell his blood for money, after persistent drought left him unable to live off his land.

The farmer, now 60, began commuting an hour and a half from his village to Jhansi town in Uttar Pradesh state for a job that paid little money.

"I was working as a labourer in Jhansi for survival," said Karna, who goes by one name. "When my son fell ill, I had no other option but to sell my blood for his treatment."

The hospital took almost two bottles of his blood and gave him 1,200 rupees ($17.50).

For many farmers in this part of Bundelkhand, blood is the new cash crop - a source of guaranteed income as they exhaust other ways of making ends meet. In India, blood donors are not usually paid.

But some hospitals buy blood, even though it is against the law.

Bundelkhand, a hilly region divided between the states of Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh, has struggled with extreme weather in

the past few years. Drought, hailstorms, unseasonal rainfall and most recently an unusually warm winter have played havoc with crop yields, making farming unviable for many. Unemployment has soared, and locals are leaving the rural belt to work as unskilled labour in nearby urban areas.

Farmer Lakhan Ahirwar, 61, relies on intermittent labouring jobs to get through dry spells. But when work is scarce, selling his blood is the most reliable source of income. "I could not find any work for almost five days," he said.

"What should I do? I had to feed my children."

Rajendra Singh, a prominent water conservationist and winner of the Stockholm Water Prize, said it was "a matter of grave concern that farmers from many areas in Bundelkhand (have) sold their blood due to successive droughts".

HIDDEN PLIGHT Ahirwar, who once earned enough by selling tomatoes, potatoes and chillies grown on his 7 acres (3 hectares), is no longer in a position to provide two meals a day for his family.

His only son migrated to New Delhi with his pregnant wife. "Even during the eighth month of her pregnancy she had to work as a labourer in Delhi, as they had no other source of income for survival," said the farmer.

Tourists from all over the world who flock to Bundelkhand to visit Khajuraho, a world heritage site famous for its temples adorned with erotic carvings, are largely unaware of the plight of local farmers.

The region has received belowaverage rains since 2007, and is now facing its third successive year of drought.

TWO SUICIDES PER DAY The negative effects have pushed some farmers to commit suicide, even as state governments scramble to ease the agrarian crisis. More than 3,200 farmers in Bundelkhand alone have killed themselves in the last five years, according to official records. Crop losses and worries over debt are the main reasons. Local leader Shivnarain Singh Parihar of the Bharatiya Kisan Sangh (Indian Farmers' Union) said around two farmers per day, on average,

are committing suicide in Bundelkhand.

Many farmers are forced to borrow money at exorbitant interest rates from private money lenders to buy seeds and fertiliser. "They are in debt but can't repay (it) and face harassment by lenders. So they are taking the extreme step of ending their lives," said Parihar, who fights for local farmers' rights. He himself has given money to the families of farmers who committed suicide, because they had nothing left to prepare for a funeral.

BEGGING ON THE STREET Parihar said Bundelkhand farmers were facing a hunger crisis, and state governments had failed to provide relief. For the elderly who cannot find work in the cities, selling blood and begging are perhaps the only choices left.

Around 100 farmers from his village of Badgaon, home to 4,000 people, have resorted to begging amid the repeated droughts.

"Farming is a curse in Bundelkhand," Moolchand said tearfully. "No one cares for us - we will die one day in the absence of any help from the government."

SaturdaY 20•02 •2016

WORLD

THE MORUNG EXPRESS

9

Pope: Trump ‘not Christian’ in a sign of global concern NEWBERRY, FEBRuaRY 19 (REutERs): Pope Francis forcefully injected himself into the U.S. presidential campaign on Thursday, assailing Republican candidate Donald Trump’s views on U.S. immigration as “not Christian” in a sign of growing international concern at the billionaire businessman’s election prospects.

Trump struck back. No stranger to controversy, the longtime party frontrunner in national opinion polls dismissed the leader of the world’s Roman Catholics as “disgraceful” for questioning his faith. He said he was a proud Christian.

Francis told reporters during a free-wheeling conversation on his flight home from a visit to Mexico: “A person who thinks only about building walls, wherever they may be, and not building bridges, is not Christian.”

Trump has accused Mexico of sending rapists and drug-runners across the United States’ southern border and has vowed if elected president to build a wall to keep out immigrants who enter illegally.

It was not the first time U.S. allies have voiced concern over comments by Trump.

More than half a million Britons signed a petition to bar him from entering Britain, where he has business

Pope Francis gestures during a meeting with the media onboard the papal plane while en route to Rome, Italy on February 17. (REUTERS Photo)

interests, in response to his call to temporarily ban Muslims from entering the United States. British lawmakers decided against a ban as a violation of free speech.

Asked if American Catholics should vote for someone with Trump’s views, Francis said: “I am not going to get involved in that. I say only that this man is not Christian if he has said things like that. We must see if he said things in

that way and in this I give the benefit of the doubt.”

It remained to be seen if the pope’s comments would strengthen Trump in the run-up to the Nov. 8 election to succeed Democratic President Barack Obama. Trump’s swipes at rival candidates and heated exchanges with others have bolstered his standing in nominating contests and opinion polls.

One of Trump’s Republican rivals, former Florida

Governor Jeb Bush, speaking in Columbia, South Carolina, said he would not question anyone’s relationship with God. But Bush, a Catholic, said: “It only enables bad behavior when someone from outside our country talks about Donald Trump.”

ISLAMIC STATE Trump, a real estate developer and former reality TV show host, said: “If and when the Vatican

is attacked by ISIS, which as everyone knows is ISIS’ ultimate trophy, I can promise you that the pope would have only wished and prayed that Donald Trump would have been president.” ISIS is one of the acronyms used for Islamic State.

Trump was in South Carolina, which on Saturday will hold a Republican nominating contest.

At a later town hall meeting televised on CNN,

Trump said he had “a lot of respect” for Francis but that the pope had been influenced by hearing only Mexico’s side of the border issue. The pope’s statement also had been exaggerated by the media, he said.

“I think he said something much softer than it was originally reported by the media. I think that he heard one side of the story, which is probably by the Mexican government,” he said. “He didn’t see the tremendous strain that the border is causing us with respect to illegal immigration, with the drugs pouring across the border.”

Thomas Groome, director of the Boston College Center on the Church in the 21st Century, said Francis’ comments were entirely in keeping with his focus on mercy.

“The pope is commissioned to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ. That’s his job,” Groome said. “So when he was asked a direct question, he gave Trump the benefit of the doubt, he said we have to be sure he said this, but if he said this, it is not Christian.”

Groome called Trump’s suggestion that Islamic State militants would target the Vatican egregious.

“Now it becomes a challenge to ISIS,” he said.

Patrick Hornbeck, chairman of the department of theology at Ford-

ham University in New York, said Francis’ words were not surprising given the poverty he had just seen in Mexico.

“There is very little common ground between Pope Francis and Donald Trump,” Hornbeck said. He predicted the pope’s words on electoral politics would have little effect on any U.S. Catholics who liked Trump as a candidate.

‘A POLITICAL PERSON’ Trump has said he would deport millions of illegal immigrants if he wins the White House. Last week, responding to the pope’s plan to visit the U.S.Mexican border, he said Pope Francis did not understand the issues.

“The pope is a very political person ... I don’t think he understands the danger of the open border that we have with Mexico,” Trump told the Fox Business Network.

Asked about being called a “political person,” Francis said on Thursday: “Thank God he said I was a politician because Aristotle defined the human person as ‘animal politicus.’ So at least I am a human person.”

Republican Catholics appear to support Trump more than other Republicans do, according to a Reuters/Ipsos opinion poll that showed 43 percent of likely Republican Catholic

voters supported Trump, compared with 38 percent of Republican voters generally.

The Pew Research Center has said 71 percent of the U.S. population identifies as Christian. That includes the 21 percent of the U.S. population that identifies as Catholic.

The pope was winning the social media battle on Thursday, with overall sentiment negative for Trump and positive for Francis, according to social media analytic firm Zoomph. Author Dan Dicker @Dan_Dicker tweeted: “Let’s see @realDonaldTrump insult his way out of this.”

Trump’s social media director, Dan Scavino @DanScavino tweeted: “Amazing comments from the Pope - considering Vatican City is 100 percent surrounded by massive walls.”

Evangelical Christian leader Jerry Falwell Jr., who has endorsed Trump, described him as generous to his employees and family, adding: “I’m convinced he’s a Christian. I believe he has faith in Jesus Christ.”

Trump was not always at odds with the pope. In 2013, the year Francis began his papacy, Trump compared himself to the pope favorably. “The new Pope is a humble man, very much like me, which probably explains why I like him so much!” Trump tweeted on Christmas Day 2013.

‘Late pregnancy ups North Korea satellite tumbling in orbit again Fighting at UN compound WasHINGtON, FEB- ballistic missile. in South Sudan kills 18 stroke, heart attack risk’ RuaRY The U.S. Government 19 (REutERs): NEW YORk, FEBRuaRY 19 (IaNs): Are you 40 and planning to go the family way? Get proper medical attention first as, according to researchers, women who delay their pregnancy until age 40 or older face a greater risk of stroke and heart attack than women who become pregnant at a younger age.

The finding is crucial at a time when more and more urban women across the world are delaying pregnancy owing to career choices.

“We already knew that older women were more likely than younger women to experience health problems during their pregnancy,” said lead researcher Adnan I Qureshi, director of the Zeenat Qureshi Stroke Institute in St Cloud, Minnesota.

“Now, we know that the consequences of that later pregnancy stretch years into the future,” Qureshi added. To reach this conclusion, the team reviewed data from 72,221 women aged 50 to 79 enrolled in the US Women’s Health Initiative Study.

Of those, 3,306 women reported pregnancies at an advanced age and compared their rate of stroke, heart attack and cardiovascular death over the next 12 years. Researchers found an increased risk of ischemic stroke (clot caused), Hemorrhagic stroke (brain bleed), heart attack and death from all forms of cardiovascular disease in women who got pregnant at age 40 and older.

“Women with a late pregnancy need to be aware of their increased risk and take steps to improve their cardiovascular health,” Dureshi cautioned. Doctors need to remain vigilant years later in monitoring these women’s risk factors through physical examination and perhaps more tests and earlier interventions to prevent stroke and other cardiovascular events, Qureshi added. The research was presented at the American Stroke Association’s “International Stroke Conference 2016” in Los Angeles this week.

North Korea’s recently launched satellite is once again tumbling in orbit, after stabilizing briefly, according to a U.S. official and other sources.

The satellite update came as a key congressional watchdog agency said the U.S. military had not demonstrated its ability to protect the United States against a possible North Korea missile attack.

Earlier this month North Korea launched what it said was an earth observation satellite but what the country’s neighbours and the United States called a missile test.

It was earlier believed to have achieved stable orbit but not to have transmitted data back to Earth.

The U.S. official, and two other sources with knowledge of the issue, said they are less concerned about the function of the satellite than with the technology involved in launching it. They added that the launch was clearly intended to demonstrate North Korea’s ability to launch an intercontinental

Accountability Office, the research arm of Congress, highlighted concerns about missile attacks from North Korea in a report released on Wednesday.

“GMD flight testing, to date, was insufficient to demonstrate that an operationally useful defence capability exists,” the GAO said. GMD is an acronym for a ground-based missile defence system.

The report said that the missile defence system, or the Ground-based Midcourse Defense, had only demonstrated “a partial capability against small numbers of simple ballistic missile threats.”

Ken Todorov, former deputy director of the Missile Defense Agency, said the organisation faced a difficult balancing act in meeting the needs of the U.S. military and operating with limited resources for testing.

Last month the Missile Defense Agency conducted a successful test of the ground-based U.S. missile defence system managed by Boeing Co aimed at demonstrating the ef-

A North Korean long-range rocket is launched into the air at the Sohae rocket launch site, North Korea, in this photo released by Kyodo February 7, 2016. REUTER

fectiveness of a redesigned “kill vehicle” built by Raytheon Co. The test purposely did not include an intercept by a ground-based interceptor but was designed to demonstrate the ability of new “divert thrusters” that were developed by Raytheon to manoeuvre the warhead.

The report said that

while there were benefits in the way the agency was acquiring the kill vehicle, challenges remained.

It added that the Pentagon’s goal to reach 44 ground-based missile defence systems by the end of 2017 was based on a “highly optimistic, aggressive schedule” leading to “highrisk acquisition practices.”

Beijing’s air quality improving, says official BEIJING, FEBRuaRY 19 (REutERs): Air quality in China’s capital, Beijing, has improved over the last two years, a senior environment official said on Friday, despite a dramatic three-week episode of hazardous smog that drew worldwide attention last year.

The thick smog that shrouded the city for 22 days over November and December had distorted the picture of Beijing’s environmental record since 2014, city official Yu Jianhua told reporters.

“Many people feel things got worse, because the impression of the pollution in December remains very deep,” said Yu, referring to an episode that sparked Beijing’s first pollution red alerts.

The impression would have been different if the same number of heavy smog days had been scattered over several months, Yu, a director at the Beijing Municipal Environmental Protection Bureau, told a news briefing.

Concentrations of sulphur dioxide, a gas that can cause breathing difficulties, fell 49 percent in Beijing from 2013 to 2015, while particulate matter smaller than 2.5 micrometres, a dangerous airborne component of smog, fell 10 percent, Yu added.

JuBa, FEBRuaRY 19 (REutERs): Fighting at a United Nations compound sheltering people fleeing conflict in South Sudan has killed 18 people, including two Medicins Sans Frontieres workers, the international medical aid group said.

South Sudan descended into civil war in December 2013 when a row between President Salva Kiir and his sacked deputy Riek Machar ended with fighting that often occurred along ethnic fault lines.

People have been taking refuge in U.N.-administered “protection of civilian” sites, or POCs, since then. Thousands have been killed and more than 2 million people displaced from their homes since late 2013.

The U.N. peacekeeping mission, UNMISS, had said on Thursday fighting the night before between youths sheltering in the U.N. compound in Malakal had killed five and wounded 30 after violence erupted between two ethnic groups.

The U.N. secretary-general’s spokesman said later at least seven people had been killed.

“At least 18 people were killed in armed conflict that erupted ... in the Protection of Civilians site in Malakal ... including two South Sudanese staff members of ... Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) who were attacked in their homes,” the medical charity said in a statement.

MSF, also known as Doctors Without Borders, said it had also treated 36 people wounded in the fighting, including at least 25 with gunshot wounds.

“This attack on civilians is outrageous and we demand that armed groups stop these actions,” Marcus Bachmann, coordinator of MSF projects in South Sudan, said in the statement.

UNMISS said youths from the Shilluk and Dinka ethnic groups - both staying in its protection site - began the fighting on Wednesday night using small arms, machetes and other weapons.

UNMISS says the Malakal site shelters 47,791 people out of a total 198,440 that live in six of its bases throughout South Sudan.

Kiir and Machar signed an accord last August to end fighting that has killed thousands of people.

The warring parties agreed in January to share ministerial positions in a transitional government of national unity, and earlier this month Kiir re-appointed Machar to his old post as vice president.

New human H7N9 case Good sleep, exercise can cut stroke risk reported in China

A woman wearing a protective mask makes her way in a business district on a heavily polluted day in Beijing. (REUTERS File Photo)

Weather conditions, including unusually high humidity and low wind speeds, had worsened the smog last year, but authorities still needed to respond better to emergencies, Environment Minister Chen Jining told reporters on Thursday.

Yu was speaking at a briefing on efforts to integrate Beijing with neighbouring Hebei province and the port city of Tianjin, a priority set by President Xi Jinping in 2014

to ease regional economic and environmental pressures and cut congestion in the capital.

The efforts include a fiveyear plan for integrated development until 2020 that envisages a 1,000-km (621-mile) rail network, among other projects, as well as unified regional pollution standards.

Wang Haichen, an official of Beijing’s planning commission, said it aimed to shift manufac-

BEIJING, FEBRuaRY 19 (IaNs): A new human H7N9 avian flu case has been reported in China’s Shandong province, the first case in the region since autumn of 2015, a spokesman with the provincial health and family planning commission said on Friday.

A 57-year-old infected man is in critical condition at a hospital in Yantai city. He was diagnosed with the flu on Wednesday and has been in contact with poultry, Xinhua reported.

H7N9 was first reported to have infected humans in China in March 2013. It is most likely to strike in winter and spring.

From last September to February 1, at least 44 H7N9 human cases, including 10 deaths, have been reported in China, 70 fewer cases than the same period of the previous year, said the National Health and Family Planning Commission.

The decrease of reported cases has been attributed to tougher controls of live poultry markets. turing industries, research bodies and other organisations that have no critical reason to be in the capital to outlying cities.

Environmental concerns had prompted authorities to force a total of 718 firms to move out of Beijing in 2015, he added.

Hebei, which produces around a quarter of China’s steel, had seven of the country’s 10 smoggiest cities last year, despite efforts to clean up indus-

tries and cut coal consumption.

The reluctance of China’s provincial governments to pool resources with each other has fed industrial overcapacity and created huge income disparities.

Unable to lure investment in high-tech businesses, Hebei had long relied on low-end steel production to keep its economy afloat, worsening pollution and leaving it painfully exposed to China’s industrial slowdown.

NEW YORk, FEBRuaRY 19 (IaNs): Getting the right amount of sleep and exercising several times a week can significantly cut the risk of stroke, suggests a study.

The researchers from the New York University found that an average sleep of seven to eight hours and vigorous leisurely activity or exercise of 30 to 60 minutes three to six times per week, are healthy behaviours that can significantly decreased adults’ stroke risk.

But sleeping for a longer or shorter amount of time increased the risk people would suffer, they said.

The result showed that average sleepers -- those who slept seven to eight hours a night -- were 25 percent less likely to have experienced a stroke.

Meanwhile long sleepers -- those who got more than eight hours a night -- were 146 percent more likely to have suffered a stroke.

And short sleepers, who slept less than seven hours a night, were 22 percent more likely to report having had a stroke.

Average sleep and vigorous leisurely activity three to six times per week significantly decreased stroke risk, the researchers elucidated.

Researchers used a computerised analysis of health, lifestyle, demographic and other factors in 288,888 adults who were 77 percent white and nearly half 45 or older who participated in a survey from 2004 to 2013.

They examined how long, average and short sleep durations and physical activity, such as walking, swimming, bicycling, gardening and more, impact stroke risk.

The research was presented at the American Stroke Association’s International Stroke Conference 2016 held in US.

10

saturDaY 20•02•2016

SPORTS

THE MORUNG EXPRESS

manny doubles down on gay slurs

A defiant Manny Pacquiao (C) poses for photos with visitors at a Philippine sports complex after making gay slurs that have tarnished his reputation and cost him millions in endorsements. (AFP Photo)

ManIla, FebRUaRy 19 (aFP): Philippine boxing great Manny Pacquiao doubled down Friday over gay slurs that have tarnished his reputation and cost him millions in endorsements, insisting God was on his side.

The eight-division world champion smiled and joked through a training session in his hometown of General Santos, then told reporters he had no intention of bowing to his critics.

"What I am saying is right. I mean I am just stating the truth, what the Bible says," said Pacquiao, 37. Pacquiao, who converted from Catholicism to an evangelical Protestant faith late in his boxing career, ignited a global controversy this week when he described homosexuals as worse than animals.

"It's common sense. Do you see animals mating with the same sex? Animals are better because they can distinguish male from female," Pacquiao told Filipino television station TV5. "If men mate with men and women mate with women, they are worse than animals."

An even more incendiary quote from the Bible was posted on his Instagram account early Thursday. The quote read: "If a man has sexual relations with a man as one does with a woman, both of them have done what is detestable. They are to be put to death; their blood will be on their own heads".

The post was quickly deleted, but not before local media outlet ABS-CBN captured and published a screen shot.

Pacquiao issued an apology on social media on Tuesday,

shortly after the initial controversy broke. But Pacquiao, who intends to retire after his April fight against American Timothy Bradley to pursue a career in politics, signalled Friday his apology was qualified. "What I did wrong was just comparing the people to animals, but you know what I am telling is the truth," he told reporters.

"I mean I am just telling what the Bible says. We believe God and then we should honour the word of God." Pacquiao also said he was unfussed by the controversy, and that it had not affected his training or dampened his morale.

"I'm happy. I'm always happy because God is with me," he said. Nike, Pacquiao's major global sponsor, cancelled its endorsement deal with him this week, describing his com-

ments as "abhorrent". "Nike strongly opposes discrimination of any kind and has a long history of supporting and standing up for the rights of the LGBT community... we no longer have a relationship with Manny Pacquiao," the statement said. Pacquiao, one of the world's highest paid athletes for more than a decade, continued to wear his Nike apparel at Friday's training session.

Pacquiao's long-time rival, Floyd Mayweather -- who outclassed the Filipino in their money-spinning mega-fight last year -- also took aim at the remarks. "We should let people live their lives the way they want to live their lives. To each his own," Mayweather was quoted

by TMZ Sports as saying.

While homosexuality is not criminalised in the Philippines, gay marriage is outlawed due to strong opposition from the Catholic Church. Eighty percent of the Philippines' 100 million people are Catholics.

The controversy has dominated the local media, and gay rights campaigners have expressed outrage.

However Philippine companies that sponsor him or had previous endorsement deals were in no rush to follow Nike's lead, with none publicly expressing concern this week.

Pacquiao, a former street kid with little education, has used his fame and fortune to launch a promising political career.

Already a two-term congressman, Pacquiao is campaigning to win a Senate seat in May elections. Surveys published before the controversy indicated he will win.

FIFA faces day of reckoning as threats mount

ZURICH, FebRUaRy 19 (ReUteRs): The spotlight at next week's FIFA Congress will fall on the presidential election - but the real key to the future of soccer's beleaguered governing body is embedded in a document with the unglamorous title "Draft statutes - Congress 2016".

Drawn up over the last eight months, it suggests changes to stop the scandals that have left the organisation supposed to lead the world's most popular sport facing its greatest threat for decades. The most obvious challenge is criminal investigations in the United States and Switzerland that have already resulted in the indictment of several dozen soccer officials for corruption, many of them serving or former presidents of national or continental associations.

U.S. prosecutors have continued to call FIFA a victim of corrupt individuals. But if FIFA as an organisation were criminally charged, sponsors and other partners might be reluctant to do business with it.

But that is not the only concern. In the last month, talk has resurfaced among Europe's most powerful clubs of a break-

away European Super League, as well as complaints about the amount of time players spend with national teams.

OLD AND NEW CHALLENGES FIFA's response was to threaten national associations (FAs), clubs and players with suspension if they linked up with the proposed league, and UEFA quelled the threat by reorganising its competitions.

But FIFA now faces similar challenges, added to the menace of match-fixing organised by illegal betting syndicates, all while trying to shake off a series of scandals that have seen FIFA president Sepp Blatter banned for ethics violations and cast a shadow over the awarding of at least three World Cup finals.

Clearly, it cannot afford to get its reforms wrong.

"If there is not a strong FIFA, football will be grabbed by a lot of people who have no interest in the game and want to use the game for other reasons - political, business or even criminal," said Jerome Champagne, one of five candidates for president.

The reform proposal on the table includes term limits for top officials, to avoid another 18-year

presidency such as Blatter's, as well as disclosure of their salaries.

More radically, it would take responsibility for everyday business decisions away from the "political" representatives of national associations.

These would sit on a new-look 36-member FIFA Council, which would have at least six female members, and set a broad strategy for world soccer.

The proposals also place a greater onus on continental confederations and national associations to police themselves.

The 209 national associations, who ultimately hold the power in FIFA through the Congress, and vote for the president, are often seen as a significant part of the problem.

LACK OF TRANSPARENCY In November, the anti-corruption watchdog Transparency International said the vast majority of FAs were failing to make basic information public, creating a potential breeding ground for corruption.

"The (proposed) statutes do generally address the obligations of confederations to observe the FIFA statutes," Transparency researcher Gareth

Sweeney told Reuters, "but they do not adequately explain how FIFA can oversee the confederations' and the FAs' compliance."

"FIFA is effectively answerable to its Congress, but how transparent are its member FAs? It's clear that has been inadequate until today."

Sweeney also bemoaned the lack of independent participants on the FIFA Council, whose members will all be elected by the FAs. "While that opportunity has been lost, the draft statute reforms do cover a lot of required checks and balances that could limit the type of corruption we have seen in the past."

Other critics believe the only way to deal with FIFA is to start all over again.

"We believe they need to dissolve it, and by 'they' I mean the Swiss government, they have the power to do so," said Jaimie Fuller, a member of the New FIFA Now campaign group.

He said that FIFA's failure to organise a presidential debate with the five candidates standing on Feb. 26, three of them with current or former ties to FIFA, showed a lack of will to reform.

lebron leads cavaliers over bulls

los angeles, FebRUaRy 19 (aFP): LeBron James scored 25 points, grabbed nine rebounds and passed out nine assists to spark the Cleveland Cavaliers over Chicago 10695, handing the Bulls their fifth consecutive loss.

Kyrie Irving added 19 points, while Tristan Thompson contributed 16 points and 10 rebounds and Kevin Love produced 15 points and 15 rebounds for the host Cavaliers (39-14).

Chicago beat Cleveland in two prior meetings this season, the first in the season opener and the other last month, just one day after Tyronn Lue replaced Dave Blatt as coach.

Cleveland's win streak stretched to four games and their overall margin atop the Eastern Conference improved to 3 1/2 games over Toronto.

Four-time NBA Most Valuable Player James, who hit 11-of-19 shots from the floor, passed Moses Malone (9,435) for 19th on the all-time baskets list.

James jammed in a slam dunk off a lob pass from J.R. Smith for a 65-48 lead and celebrated by dancing with the crowd.

Derrick Rose led Chicago with 28 points while Spain's Pau Gasol added 14 points and nine rebounds.

Australian Matthew Dellavedova scored seven points in

LeBron James of the Cleveland Cavaliers shoots over Tony Snell of the Chicago Bulls during the second half at Quicken Loans Arena on February 18, 2016 in Cleveland, Ohio. (Getty Images)

16 minutes for the Cavaliers after missing the past five games with a hamstring injury.

James was lamenting the loss of Brazilian center Anderson Varejao, his teammate for eight seasons with the Cavaliers

who was traded to Portland on Thursday as part of a deal to obtain guard Channing Frye from Orlando.

"That's the worst part of the business right there, when you lose a brother, a teammate,"

James said.

In Los Angeles, San Antonio's six-game winning streak came to an abrupt end as the Clippers romped to a 105-86 win at the Staples Center.

Clippers point guard Chris Paul went on a second half points spree -- scoring 26 of his 28 points after the mid-game break while contributing 12 assists as the home side improved to 36-18. Jamal Crawford had 19 points and J.J.Redick 17 points for the Clippers, while Tony Parker led the scoring for the Spurs with 14 points. San Antonio's record slipped to 45-9 with the loss.

At Washington, Marcin Gortat had 22 points and 10 rebounds while John Wall added 17 points and 11 assists to power the host Wizards over Utah 103-89.

Brazil's Nene and guard Bradley Beal each contributed 16 points for the Wizards, who scored 27 points off 23 Jazz turnovers in improving to 2428. Gordon Hayward led Utah with 19 points while Rodney Hood added 18 for the Jazz, 2627, in a game postponed from last month because of a massive snowstorm that struck the US capital.

The Wizards are 2 1/2 games behind Charlotte for the final Eastern Conference playoff berth while the Jazz fell level with Houston for the last spot in the Western Conference.

public discourse

release him soon

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he largest democratic country today faces a plethora of challenges and issues that needs to be tackled in favour of the voice of the people. The debunking of all other opinions in the name of nationalism is not convincing enough for the 1.31 billion people to believe the dominant ruling party. The voices of the upcoming leaders of our land are being strangulated and bridled while the present leaders go about making insensitive and uncouth remarks, setting laws that are only inviting serious communal tensions. In such a trying venture, they are poking their nose into the campuses of universities and victimizing the students in the process. One really wonders why the head of the country stands unmoved at this critical juncture. The recent story of Rohith Vemula of Hyderabad Central University and currently the arrest of the JNU student Union leader, Kanhaiya Kumar revealed the true nature of democratic spirits in them who were ready to face the repercussions head-on.

I believe what the student leaders did in both Universities was an expression of true democracyfree to speak, feel, dress, travel and have no fear of being discriminated and side-lined anywhere in the country. But democracy, as portrayed by the present democrats seems to paint another picture of what it really is. It is in this that we realize that the ideals of our nation are being stabbed by our own law-makers and protectors of our land. It’s such a

pity that the government stooped so low to intrude into the serene atmosphere of the educational centres. It’s high time that the social democrats grow up and be more concerned about important matters rather than trying to find an anti-nationalist voice in the slogans of free expression. The university that stood for centuries and gave nations the leaders and patriots should not be dismantled and disturb by such a state of affairs.

It’s not time to play political games when the nation is facing an insurmountable task of poverty, lack of medication, illiteracy, environmental pollutions and other related issues. Please clean your courtyard before you sneak into your neighbour’s backyard! This will only add embarrassment to the government for being too narrowminded and short-sighted if they do not cleaned up the mess immediately. Yes, the charges of sedition, if proven true, must be dealt according to the law but at the moment, the ruling government are not able to make any effective stand. Hence, the suggestion given by BJP MP Shatrughan Sinha on this pertinent issue can only be the solution right now, “Hope wish and pray that he’s released soon, sooner the better…”

(Note: This short piece is purely an individualistic opinion and does not epitomise the view of the institution with which the writer associates.)

Vebu Khamo Kohima Bible College.

JoinT sTaTemenT

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e, the concerned Nagaland students and alumni of Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, hereby make some clarifications on the recent incident that unfolded in the campus and put forward our positions on the same: – What happened on campus: On 9th Feb 2016, a group of students organized a “cultural event” in which some slogans against India were allegedly raised. Following this, the Vice Chancellor authorized the Delhi police to raid the campus and arrest the JNUSU president, who is not a member of the said group, on sedition charges violating the autonomy of the university. The university has since then been branded as a space of anti-nationals, terrorists and Maoists and its normal functioning has been suspended. As a result of the above incident, JNU community has faced accusations and threat to our physical safety within and beyond the campus.

– What JNU stands for: In the words of Jawaharlal Nehru, “A University stands for humanism.

For tolerance, for reason, for the adventure of ideas and for the search of truth. It stands for the onward march of the human race towards ever higher objectives. If the Universities discharge their duties adequately, then it is well with the Nation and the People.”

JNU epitomizes unity in diversity; it is a space of inclusiveness where different ideas are discussed and debated and often questions received knowledge and ideas that may be uncomfortable.

– What is JNUSU? The Jawaharlal Nehru University Students’ Union is a democratically elected body and has a long history of struggle against oppressive regimes, victimization

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of minorities, casteism, demands for scholarship, patriarchal structures and injustice of various forms.

– What we stand for: We the undersigned stand for affirmative policies, for the upliftment of the weak and poor sections of society, minority rights, justice, democracy and freedom of expression under the provisions of the Constitution.

– Statement: While every individual, group or party has the fundamental right to freedom of expression, we question the wisdom of the members of the BJP, Nagaland unit, in holding a protest rally (and the proposed upcoming campaign) to tarnish JNU and its intellectual, progressive and democratic ethos that have been built over the decades. We also question the wisdom of office bearers of the Nagaland unit, when the State at the Centre endorses the Armed Forces Special Powers Act, curb the right to food habits, religious freedom, cuts on education funds, aims to establish a homogeneous idea of nation based on Hindutva ideology, the political and cultural appropriation of the Heraka movement, and the indoctrination of school children in some villages. We do not endorse the aforementioned slogans and we also condemn the propaganda of slander to defame JNU, the use of physical force, and the curbs on freedom of expression, the disregard for rule of law within and beyond the JNU campus.

– Appeal: We also appeal to the local media to ascertain facts before publication to avoid undue defamation of the institution and aggravating the situation. This also holds true for coverage and reporting on other issues.

Concerned Nagaland students and alumni of Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi

ouT oF Focus

ellow Nagas, are we missing the point?

We have two so-called 'towering' personalities representing us with questionable academic records: one claiming to be a graduate when he perhaps is not; the other claiming BA degree with 'Honours' that he did not acquire; No prize for guessing who they are.

Oxford Dictionary literally defines the word "affidavit" as a 'written statement confirmed under oath, for use as evidence in court'. False claim on oath is therefore liable for prosecution under Law. It necessarily means that a contesting candidate is expected to file a truthful affidavit for State or Lok Sabha Election maintaining utmost care to ensure that honesty and integrity is reflected, capable of withstanding any public scrutiny. It gains all the more significance for those aspiring for public office as it represents the ethical and moral standard of that individual in public life as a starter, as much as it also reflects the moral standard of the Nagas by virtue of us accepting them as our leaders despite them representing us on falsified credentials. When they can cheat on a simple matter of their educational qualification, God only knows what else are fictitiously recorded in their so-called affidavit especially in the sphere of their personal assets beyond their legitimately known source of income. In essence it is the moral values of the Nagas being put on trial as to whether or not to accept or tolerate flagrant falsehood in public life.

The important point being missed in this specific case is that no matter what certificate was issued by the Principal of Kohima College, it was still incumbent upon Mr. Neiphiu Rio refraining from using false certificate while filing his affidavit knowing well that he had not taken the Honours course... he was the student who undertook the course not Dr. Watijungshi. He should not quietly shift the onus of this responsibility to the Principal of the College. The least that Mr.NR can therefore do is to forthrightly own up to this falsehood and set the credibility record straight in the eyes of the people.

After all, on ground reality, it is not very much the academic qualification alone that makes an individual worthy or unworthy of leadership. There are hordes of other positive human qualities such as forthrightness, honesty, a good christianly conscience and compassion as part of human experiences and more that make up the package for good leadership even in the absence of a graduation certificate with or without honours degree. Having the courage to own up for negligent commission and saying sorry for it is also a laudable virtue even if one has to face the consequence for one's action in

the end. Today we are rightly questioning the professional credibility of the Dr. Watijungshi, Principal of Kohima College for issuing false degree certificate. Rendering a public apology after being caught in the act does not absolve him from wrongful action for which he must be held accountable. While not casting aspiration on the Principal Kohima College directly in this case, it is a common knowledge in general that issuing of false academic certificate is a commercial venture being practiced by many in line of authority. From the news hitting the local dailies it appears that Government of Nagaland has expanded its operational fashion of commercial certification even into 'birth certificates' for those living beyond our State boundary... soon 'death certificate' will also be in style for commerce. It is imperative that such despicable practice should be put to a halt once for all by taking exemplary action. Similarly, demanding the highest standard of honesty and integrity in public life should be insisted upon as the hallmark of the Naga society through strict accountability. Perhaps the Nagas need to think seriously and adopt some of the positive aspects of the ongoing public scrutiny that the respective Democrat and Republican US Presidential Candidates are going through in their separate election primaries. There is no better time to start this process of innovative thinking than now to set the stage before the next round of election in Nagaland and make collective effort to reduce the 'vote buying' and 'vote selling' mechanism from operating so fluently as is the case presently. Our Church leaders too need to wake up and take an honourable lead in this awareness campaign. Given the present scenario, our cats and dogs and rats can well win an election if they have the money. Merit must be given due honourable place both in governance and in our society if we hope to go forward. While the past proud head-hunting and now 'money-hunting' warriors of Nagaland may not believe, it is against the mechanical law of nature to attempt going forward engaged on a reverse gear. It is precisely what the Nagas have been trying to do all these years. We need a change of gear to go forward. We desperately need Lok Ayukta to be set up in Nagaland as recommended by the HPC headed by Rtd. Supreme Court Justice H.K. Sema. We need to issue Inner Line Pass (ILP) to Mr. Transparency and Mr. Accountability who are presently on vacation abroad so as to "Swachh Bharat" the political and bureaucratic kitchen in Nagaland... what say people of Nagaland? It's time we raise our voices sans tribalism!

Khekiye K. Sema IAS (Rtd), Kohima

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.

Saturday 20•02•2016

EntErtainmEnt

Not Your AverAge BeAutY QueeN Winning the prestigious title of “Miss Nagaland” at the age of 17, Imlibenla Wati has won hearts and impressed a lot of people. Yes, she does have a to-die for figure, perfect hair and an endearing smile but she is definitely more than just a pretty face.

Akangchila Longchar Morung Express Entertainment

t Imlibenla Wati

his beauty queens first pageant was a laugh.

Wearing heels for the first time at the Miss Mokokchung contest, the choreographer had to beg her to ‘walk like a girl’. She had come for rehearsals straight from a football match. Wanting to bring laurels for her School, she tottered on to win the first runners-up title at the Miss Mokokchung beauty pageant in 2012. A surprising achievement at that time for Imlibenla Wati, who is a self-confessed tomboy at heart.

Till date, her family and friends are surprised that she took up modeling. Her mother especially keeps reminiscing how Imlibenla refused to wear skirt on her

first day of school. Her mother had to go to the extent of asking the School Principal to allow her daughter to wear trousers for a month until she got used to the idea of wearing skirts.

Chatting with Imlibenla is a unique experience altogether. One has to keep reminding that she is the title holder of Miss Nagaland 2012, voted “Miss Congeniality” at the Ru Ba Ru Miss India Elite held at New Delhi, and where she won the “World Beauty Queen India” title. Recently, she also represented Nagaland-India at the Mr & Miss Pancontinental in Philippines and won the sub-title of “Miss Tourism & Humanity”.

Unlike other beauty queens, Imlibenla’s conversation topics range from football, drumming, bike

riding, kickboxing, bullying boys and eating tamul on a bus journey to fend off unwanted male attention.

She supplements a quote to explain this: “Old habits die hard, but some habits never die”.

Imlibenla says that she does not believe in “stereotype beauty queens”. She always tries to be spontaneous both onstage and offstage. Her idea of beauty she says is not just about the face but a person is worthy of being called beautiful only when it is both inside and outside.

But life is not easy for a beauty queen. Presently, she is gearing up to represent Nagaland-India at a much bigger platform this time. She is to contest for the “Miss World Beauty Queen” to be held at Seoul, South Korea. Training in-

tensely on diction, fitness, Q & A, etc she along with her managers are on a mission to raise sponsorship for the trip. From travel costs, to trousseau, and contest expenditures, she is left to raise funds on her own.

Feeling the stress and worried about the shortage of time, Imlibenla says, “It is important that you contribute to the society, but it is also important that society supports you in your endeavours, because it is what keeps one going. As cliché as it may sound, all the crowns I have won are not just for my own sake but for Nagaland. And I want to bring a bigger crown for Nagaland. That’s the least contribution I can give to my society”.

To young girls and boys aspiring to follow her footsteps she advises, “It’s not a

competition of wealth but talent. We should never pull ourselves back for reasons which are not meant.

So, if you think you can do it, go for it. Never hold back but chase your dreams.”

Currently pursuing BA in LLB, once she is done with beauty pageants, Imlibenla has plans to pursue a project which is close to her heart. She wants to create awareness on juvenile issues. “Suicidal cases among youths are increasing in Nagaland. I want to create awareness and spread the message of strength. Because I think, one shouldn’t give up on life so easily. I want to tell the youth to ‘battle your circumstances no matter what”, she says.

This beauty queen always had a giving heart and loves to share. Another

anecdote goes that when she was little, she used to raid her family kitchen and distribute potatoes and tomatoes to neighbors saying her mum sent it even though she hadn’t.

Imlibenla credits her success, so far, to her stubborn nature. She explains, “I’m really stubborn and determined. I told myself I’ll end my journey only after participating on a National platform. So when I contested at the Delhi pageant, I found all the other contestants to be very experienced and well groomed.

I had a tough time but I tried my best to adapt to the environment”. But she was often told that she won’t be able to compete on a National platform. “I received more discouragement and less encouragement. But this only fuelled me more to succeed. And now that I’m going to participate in an International platform, I take it as Gods plan because it certainly was not mine,” she says.

Imlibenla Wati is a woman on a mission. She is humble, and intelligent with bagful of fun anecdotes and smart answers.

Armed with all this, she is working hard to raise enough sponsorship so she could contest in the “Miss World Beauty Queen” at Seoul, South Korea. She is determined to bring home an international beauty crown!

“To prove that we Nagas can achieve anything in the world,” she says enthusiastically. For now, the ‘Sweetheart of Nagaland’ as she is popularly called, signs off saying she has to go learn how to ride a bike.

N Sync stars reunite in recording studio Preity Zinta to marry Gene Goodenough in April

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he Bye Bye Bye stars took to Twitter.com to post photos of each other back behind a microphone in a recording booth, with Kirkpatrick's caption reading, "Back in the studio with this guy. The studio looks a bit familiar as well." Fatone later shared a similar picture of his former bandmate, writing, "@IamCKirkpatrick turn now ...

And yes we are in the studio for a song ... Will fill u in when the time is right."

The pop stars did not reveal any fur- 'N Sync announced plans for an inther details on their mystery project. definite hiatus a year after releasing

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their last record, 2001's Celebrity, and all five members of the group have gone on to pursue their own projects in both music and acting. Justin Timberlake's successful solo career lead to a tribute at the 2013 MTV Video Music Awards, when he received the prestigious Video Vanguard award, and as part of his career-spanning set at the ceremony, he brought his bandmates together for the first time since splitting to perform a medley of their hits Girlfriend and Bye Bye Bye.

Arjun Kapoor fears losing out on love

Lady GaGa turned granny goth for the Marc Jacobs show

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rust Marc Jacobs to end New York Fashion Week with the most talked about show of the city - a beautiful granny goth collection featuring Lady Gaga.

Gaga and Jacobs had worked together earlier in the week on the singer’s Grammy’s tribute to

David Bowie. The New York designer had created three outfits for Gaga that, alongside the lightening flash and flame red hair, helped transform Gaga into a high fashion version of the Starman. So perhaps it was inevitable that Gaga would return the favour: lending her

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hile all kinds of rumours have been flying around about Preity Zinta's marriage to Gene Goodenough, here’s the truth. The two will be tying the knot in April an intimate ceremony in Los Angeles. Gene is a top financial consultant, a management graduate from Marshall School of Business and is currently a Senior Vice President of Finance with an US-based hydroelectric power company called NLine Energy. The actress’s brother Manish and his family are based Source: Contactmusic there and she had met Gene on one her trips there a few years ago.

A source close to Preity adds, “Preity and Gene are both extremely private people and will get married sometime in April this year. The church wedding will be a private affair, with Preity and Gene's close friends and family, flying down to

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star presence to the Marc Jacobs show.

Gaga’s Bowie-esque flame hair was gone - in it’s place a tight curled blonde Victorian style wig, gothed up with heavy eyeliner and black lips, as she modelled the designer’s standout AW16 pieces.

Source: Telegraph.Co.uk

ctor Arjun Kapoor says he is scared of losing out on his loved ones -- both on screen and off-screen -- and adds that it is one of the reasons he is hesitant to watch Sonam Kapoor's "Neerja".

Sonam, who is Arjun's cousin, plays the role of Neerja Bhanot, an air hostess who lost her life while saving passengers from terrorists on board hijacked Pan Am Flight 73 in September 1986. And perhaps, that's why Arjun can't make himself watch the biopic.

The "Gunday" star made the revelation in a video via Twitter on Thursday.

In the video, he said: "To tell you my fear, which I have avoided and not confessed and not put it out there is that I have a fear of losing out my loved ones.

And you remain somebody I love tremendously that half a part of me could not see your film because I know how things pan out."

Arjun is proud of his sister, and hopes that Sonam's talent gets noticed with the film. He added: "But I am very proud of you for choosing to be part of something like 'Neerja' and I really hope people get to see how wonderfully talented you are and may you get even better with every passing film. Love you lots and all the best for tomorrow."

Directed by Ram Madhvani, "Neerja", which features Sonam in the title role, is produced by Fox Star Studios and co-produced by Bling Unplugged.

LA for the ceremony. It will be a select group of people who will fly down for the LA wedding which will be tastefully done up keeping Preity's personal tastes in mind. It will be followed by a big fat Rajput wedding (consisting of a three-day affair and having wedding, sangeet and mehndi) in Mumbai with the who's who of the film industry in attendance."

The couples closest friends and family will be part of the ceremony in LA and this will be followed by a huge wedding celebration in Mumbai. Since Preity has many B-Town friends she will host a big celebration in Mumbai where we can expect some of the biggest names to attend. Apparently, the wedding, sangeet and mehndi outfits will be done by Manish Malhotra or Preity’s close friend Surily Goel.”

Source: DNA

Emraan announces title of

book on son’s fight with cancer

Hillstar NOW SHOWING

11:00 Am

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c t o r Em raa n Hashmi, who has penned his struggle and hardship around his son Ayan's cancer treatment in a book, has now added a superhero touch to it by titling it “The Kiss of Life: How A Superhero and My Son Defeated Cancer”.

The actor announced the title via Twitter, and thanked the publisher of the book, which is co-authored by Bilal Siddiqi.

“So happy to announce Source: IANS the title of my book... 'The

Kiss of Life: How A Superhero and My Son Defeated Cancer'. Thank you @husainzaidi @bilalms158@ gmail.com, @mileeashwarya, @PenguinIndia for supporting me through this entire journey,” Emraan tweeted.

The book will be published by Penguin Books India in three languages.

He added: “Book will release in English, Hindi and Marathi... Will update you all on the release dates soon”.

The actor, known for

films like “Murder” and “The Dirty Picture”, had last year shared that with his son battling cancer, “the last two years have been the most trying phase of my life. Through it I have found two of my greatest teachers.

Cancer and my son”.

Meanwhile, on the professional front, Emraan is busy with the shooting of "Azhar", a biopic on former Indian cricket captain Mohammad Azharuddin, and fourth instalment of "Raaz" franchise.

Source: IANS

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saturDaY 20•02•2016

SPORTS

THE MORUNG EXPRESS

Man United slump again in Europa, holders Sevilla win

UEFA Europa League soccer match between Manchester United and FC Midtjylland on 18 February at MHC Arena Herning, Denmark. FCM's Pione Sisto scores a goal. (REUTERS)

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LoNDoN, February 19 (reuTerS): Manchester United's hopes of salvaging their season in the Europa League suffered a stinging setback when they lost 2-1 at Danish side Midtjylland in the first leg of their last32 clash on Thursday.

With the triple European Cup winners already immersed in a pall of gloom after a hugely underwhelming campaign, their best hope of returning to the Champions League next season is now in peril. It should have been as straightforward an evening for United as it was for Borussia Dortmund and holders Sevilla who were among the high-profile clubs to secure comfortable wins as the Europa League's knockout stages got underway.

There was rare joy for former United stalwart Gary Neville when his Valencia side crushed Rapid Vienna 6-0.

Tottenham Hotspur drew 1-1 at Fiorentina while Liverpool were held 0-0 at Augsburg.

United conceded the winner in the 77th minute when substitute Paul Onuachu pinched the ball on the edge of the area and swivelled before firing home a low bouncing drive.

It was another cruel blow for United. Their poor season has left them fifth in the Premier League although the club's financial might dwarfs the meagre resources of Midtjylland.

According to their latest annual report, the value of the entire Midtjylland squad is 55.6 million Danish crowns ($8.27 million) -- United spent around 18 times that amount on close-

season transfers. One of the Old Trafford club's biggest close-season acquisitions Memphis Depay, bought from PSV Eindhoven for 20 million pounds, put them ahead in the 37th minute.

Midtjylland replied a minute before halftime when Pione Sisto pounced on a mistake from United captain Michael Carrick and scored with a low shot.

Sevilla's grip on the trophy showed no sign of loosening as their bid for a third straight triumph began with a 3-0 victory at home to Norway's Molde.

Fernando Llorente netted twice for the holders who, like United, were playing their first game in this season's competition having dropped into it after failing to reach the knockout rounds of the Champions League. Kevin Gameiro made it 3-0 with 18 minutes to go. Lukasz Piszczek and Marco Reus were on target for Dortmund who recorded a 2-0 win at home to Porto on a night when the fixture list had an alluring look.

Olympique Marseille, suffered disappointment as they were beaten 1-0 at home by Athletic Bilbao while Bayer Leverkusen notched an impressive 1-0 win at Portuguese giants Sporting.

Tottenham's Nacer Chadli scored a priceless away goal from the penalty spot before Fiorentina levelled through Federico Bernardeschi in one of the evening's more glamorous ties while Villarreal overcame Napoli 1-0 in Spain. St Etienne beat Basel 3-2, Anderlecht downed Olympiakos Piraeus 1-0, Galatasaray and Lazio drew 1-1 while Shakhtar Donetsk and Schalke 04 shared a goalless draw.

2nd Along Memorial Trophy from Feb 26

Nagaland Tennis team enters semis

Dimapur, February 19 (mexN): The 2nd Along Memorial Cricket Trophy (T20) will be held from February 26 at Nagaland Cricket Association (NCA) Ground in Sovima, Dimapur. The organizers, ISAH Group, in a press release informed that the winning team will receive Rs. 1,00,000 along with trophy and citation while the runners-up will receive Rs. 35,000 along with trophy and citation. Registration forms can be obtained at King Sports in Church Road, Dimapur.

Registration fee is Rs. 15,000 and the last date for submission of forms is February 22.

For further information, contact 9089602035, 8794388570 or 9856041069.

BCCI to file affidavit in SC on Lodha Report

mumbai, February 19 (pTi): The BCCI today unanimously decided to file an affidavit in the Supreme Court pointing out the "anomalies and difficulties" in implementing the Justice Lodha Committee recommendations on the restructuring of the cricket board. The Lodha Committee has recommended wide ranging sweeping reforms in the BCCI including having only one vote per state, age cap of its officials, no simultaneous posts in state and national body along with restrictions on advertisements in televised cricket matches. It has been learnt that some of the points that will be in the affidavit include: The 'One state One Vote' recommendation which means that traditional cricket powerhouses like Mumbai, Baroda lose voting rights. The 'Age Cap of 70 years and cooling off period of three years between two posts will also figure in the affidavit. And finally, the most important point is about 'having advertisement breaks only during lunch or tea in international matches' which will lead to BCCI losing approximately Rs 1500 crore of revenues.

Nagaland beat Orissa 2-1 on Friday to advance to the semi-finals of the ongoing National Inter-State Tennis Tournament being held at Chhattisgarh. Earlier, Kenei Whuorie had lost to Anshu Bhuyan 4-6, 1-6, but Vilasier Khate won his match 6-3, 6-2 to even the tie. In the deciding tie, Kenei and Vila defeated their opponents 6-4, 6-2. The State Team will next face Madhya Pradesh for a place in the finals.

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