February 22nd, 2016

C M Y K

www.morungexpress.com

monDAY • februArY 22 • 2016

DIMAPUR • Vol. XI • Issue 50 • 12 PAGes • 5

T H e

ESTD. 2005

P o W e R

o F

T R u T H

Politics is perhaps the only profession for which no preparation is thought necessary — Robert Louis Stevenson Finding new ways of doing social work

Pope calls for worldwide abolition of death penalty PAGe 09

reflections

By Sandemo Ngullie

PAGe 02

PAGE 12

Haryana gives in to Jats, to bring the problems faced bill on oBc quota in state Assembly by rMsA nagaland Morung Express news Kohima | February 21

“Forget birth certificate for the right amount. I can find some locals to adopt you, your kid, your wife, your parents, colleagues, neighbor, FB friends…”

The Morung Express Poll QuEsTion

Vote on www.morungexpress.com SMS your anSwer to 9862574165 Do you believe and have hope that Nagas can overcome tribalism and factionalism?

Yes

no

others

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

Yes

93%

no

03%

others

04%

Details on page 7

Attention Subscribers If your copy of The Morung Express newspaper is not being delivered to you on a regular basis by your delivery boy, please contact us at: 8416011888.

Furthermore, we are open to suggestions, constructive criticism and feedback about how The Morung Express can improve its reporting and raise socially conscious issues. This will increase the newspaper’s relevancy and responsiveness to our readers.

The Morung Express

Same question won’t change my answer: MS Dhoni on retirement

People ride their bicycles close to a damaged motorcycle set alight by protesters during a demonstration by members of Jat community in Rohtak, Haryana, February 21. (REUTERS)

New Delhi, February 21 (PTi): Buckling under pressure from agitating Jats, BJP today announced that a Bill for giving OBC status to Jats will be brought in the coming Haryana Assembly session and a highpowered committee will be set up to examine the quota demand for the community in central jobs.

BJP general secretary in-charge of Haryana Anil Jail also appealed to the Jats who have been protesting in Haryana to call off their agitation, which has badly hit life in the region, and return to their homes as their demands have been met.

“A bill will be brought in the coming session of

the Haryana Assembly for granting OBC status to the Jats in the state,” Jain said after a Jat delegation had an hour-long meeting with Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh.

Haryana is ruled by a BJP government headed

by M L Khattar.

Jain said a high-powered committee headed by a senior Union Minister will be set up today to look into the demand of reservation of jobs in central government for the Jats.

“The composition of the Committee will be announced by the BJP President (Amit Shah),” he said.

Those who attended the meeting with the Home Minister include Jat

leaders from Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Delhi besides Minister of State for Agriculture Sanjeev Kumar Balyan, Haryana Minister Abhimanyu, BJP MP and former Mumbai Police Commissioner Satyapal Singh, former Deputy Chief of Army Lt Gen (Retd) Raj Kandyan etc.

After the meeting with the Home Minister, Jat Sangharsh Samiti leader Jaipal Sing Sangwan said the discussion was very positive and he was confident that the community would accept the decisions.

“We appeal to everyone to call off the agitation,” he said.

However, another leader of the Jat Sangharsh

Samiti Rajesh Dahiya said a decision on calling off the agitation would be taken by the community later.

Haryana was on the edge today as fresh incidents of arson and violence shook the state with a ninth town being brought under curfew as the Jat agitation for quota under OBC entered the eighth day so far claiming 10 lives.

The Jat stir also hit Delhi with the Arvind Kejriwal government announcing closure of schools tomorrow as part of water rationing after supply from Haryana was disrupted.

The national capital also witnessed massive traffic jams in some parts.

Related story on page 8

Given tall claims of upgradation of schools in Nagaland State under the Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan (RMSA), a flagship program of the central government to boost education, The Morung Express visited some RMSA sponsored schools and found that many such “upgraded” schools are just on paper, with no buildings or even teachers to impart education in government-run schools.

A former secretary of a Village Education Committee explained that for a school to be “upgraded,” it has to apply for the upgradation through the District Planning and Development Board, which then sends it to the Directorate of School Education. After the latter’s approval, RMSA is responsible for construction and deployment of teachers. On the other hand, Headmasters of secondary schools are appointed by the Directorate of School Education.

However, in this case, “We are guided by the decision of the cabinet,” said Thejao Vihienuo, Nagaland State’s RMSA Mission Director.

Vihienuo mentioned that it was only in November 2015 that the Nagaland State Government “approved” the upgradation of only 112 of the 168 schools meant to be upgraded— once upgraded, the funds are released.

But the RMSA, being a flagship program, is tem-

porary and can be lifted any time. To ensure that the teachers employed under RMSA are inducted into the State Government, recruitments were delayed, explained Vihienuo. This led to the lack of teachers in RMSA schools as highlighted yesterday.

Another big hurdle to the recruitment and deployment of teachers, however, came in the form of a Central government requirement. All teachers needed a B.Ed degree. According to Vihienuo, the Centre’s requirements for Teachers included B.Ed qualifications which most aspirants/teachers (applying for the post of teachers) lacked.

“It was only on 26 November, 2015, that the cabinet gave us the decision to recruit teachers with preferences for B.Ed. But where B.Ed candidates are not available, teachers will be recruited under the condition that they complete B.Ed within five years,” said Vihienuo, adding that the study of B.Ed in the country is governed by the National Council of Teacher Education whose minimum prescribed percentage for admission to B.Ed is 50 percent and five per cent relaxation for STs and SCs. While it may take considerable time to follow procedure and put the teachers into the schools, funds also have posed a problem. The Mission Director clarified that once a school is “upgraded,” the money is not sanctioned fully at one time but in installments.

“They (RMSA at the centre) gave us the installments with which we have started 35 schools (2009-10) and 67 schools (2011-12),” noted Vihienuo, adding that the second installment fund was sanctioned last year but is yet to be released by the Nagaland State Finance Department.

It may however be noted that Phokhungri GHS and GHS Diki also comes under the 2011-2012 phase of upgradation—the Phokhungri GHS was even inaugurated to be upgraded by the then Director of School Education, Nagaland, but no new constructions have showed up till date.

Nonetheless, the RMSA Mission Director, Nagaland, is hopeful. Though it is taking time, and much money has already been pooled into the system, he remains optimistic about the appointments and posting orders that have already gone out and upgraded schools will finally receive some teachers.

Nagaland State has a Nagaland Education Mission Society (NEMS) which functions to monitor and implement SSA and RMSA. A suo moto disclosure of 2013-2014 mentions that the NEMS will comprise of the Governing Body headed by the Chief Minister, followed by the Executive committee headed by the Chief Secretary and finally the State mission office. The main duty of the NEMS, according to their statement, is to monitor and implement the National flagship programs of RMSA in the State.

For inclusive education 2 Naga filmmakers win at the ‘Film, Northeast 2016’ Festival • ‘Oh My Soul’ directed by through & with Language Nagaland Media Kivini Shohe wins Best reaffirms press freedom

C M Y K

The Nagaland Press Association (NPA) and Editors of some Nagaland Newspapers are deeply concerned with the developing situation in which an organization has taken an unexpected stand in publicly expressing their resentment against a section of the Nagaland media. This is limiting and curtailing its ability to freely uphold and exercise the freedom of the press.

While objective criticism of media is appreciated and healthy for democracy, the questioning of the media without providing an opportunity for dialogue is itself an unhealthy trend.

Therefore, while we are saddened with this quandary, we remain hopeful that all outstanding issues are resolved in a democratic, fair and constructive manner through dialogue and mutual respect.

It is also our sincere desire to see that the Government of Nagaland, Civil Society organizations, the public and the media contribute towards creating an open and safe environment where the right to the freedom of the press is respected and upheld with a sense of responsibility and accountability.

The Nagaland media welcomes any objective criticism and inclination to discuss any issue of importance so that media can serve society in its role.

- Nagaland Press Association

February 21 is International Mother Language Day Morung Express news Dimapur | February 21

On the occasion of the International Mother Language Day (IMLD) 2016, on February 21, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has stressed on the importance of mother languages for quality education and linguistic diversity, to take forward the new 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

The theme for this year is ‘Inclusive Education through and with Language – Language Matters’.

Mother languages, in a multilingual approach, are essential components of quality education, which is itself the foundation for empowering women and men and their societies, the UNESCO Director General Irina Bokova stated in her message for the day.

Multilingualism is essential to drive these objectives forward – it is vital for success across the 2030 Agenda, regarding growth, employment and health, as well as sustainable consumption and production, and climate change, the UNESCO said in a statement.

“This is especially important for girls and women, as well as minorities, indigenous peoples, and rural populations,” UNESCO also maintained.

For the UNESCO, it is highlighting the importance of mother and local languages as channels for safeguarding and sharing indigenous cultures and knowledge, which are vast reservoirs of wisdom.

We must recognise and nurture this power, in order to leave no one behind, to craft a more just and sustainable future for all, the UNESCO futher Urged.

The Atlas of the World’s Languages in Danger lists 197 languages in India that are on their way to becoming endangered. Around 25 Naga languages appear on the list under the category ‘vulnerable’ including Ao, Angami, Lotha, Konyak, Kiamungan, Phom, Pochury, Rengma, Sangtam, Tangkhul, Yimchungru and so on. Kachari is listed as “definitely endangered.”

February 21, IMLD holds great significance for the Naga people given the circumstances.

According to the UNESCO, languages are the most powerful instruments of preserving and developing our tangible and intangible heritage.

To “appropriate language education” is fundamental to enable learners to benefit from quality education, learn throughout life, and have access to information. And “if nothing is done,” half of the 6000 plus languages spoken today will disappear by the end of this century. Humanity would lose not only cultural wealth but also important ancestral knowledge embedded, in particular, in indigenous languages.

IMLD has been observed since 2000 after it was proclaimed by the General Conference of the UNESCO with the objective to promote linguistic and cultural diversity and multilingualism.

Recognising this, the UNESCO, since 1996, has been publishing an Atlas of the World’sLanguagesinDangerintendedto raise awareness about language endangerment and the need to safeguard the world’s linguistic diversity.

The last edition in 2010 listed about 2,500 languages (among which 230 languages are extinct since 1950), approaching the generally-accepted estimate of some 3,000 endangered languages worldwide.

Zeme common language dictionary released: Story on page 3

Documentary film • Sophy Lasuh & Sesino Yoshu’s ‘Story of a House’ wins the Best director award in short film category Morung Express news Itanagar | February 21

Despite lack of resources, infrastructure and encouragement for Nagaland’s filmmakers, there is no dearth of talented ones emerging from the State.

This manifested at the ‘Film, Northeast 2016’ Festival which was held at Itanagar with three filmmakers from Nagaland State honoured with two coveted awards in the competition segment.

Noted filmmaker Kivini Shohe’s film ‘Oh My Soul’ won the best documentary film of the Northeast under the segment Our Stories.

The film is directed by Shohe and produced by Film Division of India.

It explores the oppressive struggle of three men having sex with men (MSM) in Dimapur. It is the first ever documentation of a community haunted by taboo and denial.

An award of Rs two lakh and trophy for the film were given away at the colourful awards ceremony held at IG Park on February 20 evening, the last day of the film festival.

In the short film section of the competition- Clapperboard, the film ‘Story of a House’ which was produced and directed by Sophy Lasuh and Sesino Yoshu won the Best Director award. The film tells the story of the residents of a house who live in India during the day and sleep in Myanmar at night and reveals why. The film walked away with a trophy.

Other films from Nagaland State that competed in different sections of

Filmmaker Kivini Shohe with the Best Documentary film award at the concluding ceremony at IG Park, Itanagar on Saturday night. (Morung Photo)

the competition include ‘Anishe-Flower Maiden’ directed by Kivine Shohe, ‘The Wake Pp Call’ directed by Tiakumzuk Aier, ‘Handmade Arts and Crafts in the Misty Mountains’ directed by Razousituo Pusa and ‘Can you’ a short film directed by Bokavi Swu. Among the many categories of competition, ‘Ajeyo,’ a film from Assam and directed by Jahnu Barua won the Best feature film under the Chairoscuro segment with a cash award of Rs five lakh.

The film was produced by Shankar Lall Goenka.

Meghalaya’s Pradip Kurbah directed film ‘Ri-Homeland of uncertainty’ won the best director, best editor, best actor and best actor in negative role awards.

The award of best film (shorts) under the Clabberboard segment with a cash prize of Rs two lakh and trophy went to Tribenny Rai from Sikkim for her film ‘Memory of a heart.’ ‘Orong’ an Assamese film directed by Suraj Kumar Duwarah was awarded the best debut

feature film with cash prize of Rs two lakh and trophy in the First cut segment.

Film Northeast 2016 was organized by the Information and Public Relations Department of Arunachal Pradesh in partnership with the Film Federation of Arunachal with the theme ‘Saluting talent Nurturing passion.’

Around 84 films from the North East region were screened at the four day event. A number of workshops and discussion forums were also held during the festival.

Set to be a biennial event, the festival was conceptualized to create opportunity for filmmakers of the eight states in the North East of India to express their creativity, exchange ideas and indulge in artistic interaction, all the while working together to accelerate the growth of cinema in the region.

A four team member from Nagaland led by IPR assistant director Tialemba, filmmakers Kivini Shohe, Tiakumzuk and Anungla Longkumer participated in the 4-day film festival.

2

monDAY 22•02•2016

NAGALAND

THE MORUNG EXPRESS

Second round of IPPI launched across Nagaland

Dimapur, February 21 (mexN): The second round of Intensive Pulse Polio Immunization (IPPI) for 2016 was launched across all the districts of Nagaland today, February 21 with an aim to immunize children (0 to 5 years) with polio vaccine.

In Dimapur district, the programme was launched

by Dr. MA Wati, Chief Medical Officer, Dimapur by administering the first two drops of polio at the inaugural function held at District Hospital. During the programme, Dr. Lanuakum, District Programme Officer, RCH-UIP emphasized on the importance of immunization and urged the public to immunize their children and protect them from childhood illnesses. In the district, the targeted population is 53167 (0-5 years) children.

512 booths have been setup and 2048 staff and volunteers have been assigned to carry out the activity.

Health worker administers polio drops to a child in Peren House to house coverage will also be carried out in district on February 21.

the following week, according to a press release.

Kohima: The immunization programme was also held in Kohima district.

A press release received here informed that frontline workers will be visiting houses on February 22 and 23 to immunize those children who missed out on the booth day. Stating that IPPI

The two arrested persons with the seized opium.

Solar lamps given to remote villages in Mon water supply, health care etc.

“This little effort made by the Department was with a view to mitigating the sufferings of the people living in those remote corners where development does not reach from either India or Myanmar because of the remoteness of the place,” stated the release.

The solar lamps were distributed at Nynynu village in presence of Village Development Board members of Wetting, L/ Wasa and Longzang under Longshen Forest Range. In the second phase, the release said, it is intended to light up with solar lamps another 6-7 villages in other parts of Mon district. The Chief Angh of Ngnynu village on behalf of all the beneficiaries has expressed happiness and appreciation to the Forest Department and the NGO based in Mumbai for the cause.

Dimapur, February 21 (mexN): North East Institute of Social Science and Research (NEISSR) organised three-day workshop on project cycle management and need of social work in different settings of the society for its second year students. The workshop concluded on February 20.

A press release from NEISSR Desk informed that NEISSR is looking at various new avenues and settings of reaching out to heal and meet the needs of the deserving sections of society. It is finding new ways to do social work profession.

“We need to reach out to the youth and deserving individuals in the organized and unorganized settings like education and religion based institutions and communities to meet their urgent needs,” said Rev. Dr. CP Anto during the workshop.

Meanwhile, resource person Dr. Lukose P Jacob, Associate Professor, Don Bosco University, Guwahati, said that every school needs a social worker to identify students with development disorders and post traumatic issues to guide them with the help of their parents and other teachers. School is an area of work for social workers to identify children with behaviour disorders and learning difficulties to help them overcome their difficulties - physical, cognitive, social and emotional,

KNSK Tizit unit adopts resolutions

Rajuselie Lhousa, DPC, NSRLM Mon, and KNSK, Tizit unit leaders at the seminar-cum-general meeting held at Tizit Hq, Mon district.

es other than Konyak family without consultation of KNSK. The organization also reiterated the standing resolution on restriction of unhealthy food habits like drugs/opium and alcohol in its jurisdiction. The house also approved the reports tabled by different secretaries of the organization and reviewed activities and programs approved in the earlier meetings.

Earlier in the morning, Rajuselie Lhousa, District Program Coordinator, NSRLM Mon, resource person for the seminar session, spoke on the theme ‘Join hands for livelihood promotion’ and sensitized the participants on National Rural Livelihood Mission—vision, objective, purpose of SHG, the 5 car-

has been a regular activity with a goal to eradicate polio in the country with collective support from the citizen, the release requested all parents, community leaders, women representatives and ward chairmen to mobilize the children to avail polio vaccine. Mobile Polio teams will also visit transit points, especially

bus stations, taxi stands, market places and schools in the district for the next two days.

Peren: In Peren district, 7234 children were administered polio drops on the booth day of the second round of IPPI on February 21, while the target population is 13,293.

Officials from Directorate

of Health & Family Welfare, Kohima, Dr. John Kemp, State Surveillance Officer, IDSP along with his team came as observers for the programme. The whole operation was monitored by supervisors comprising Dy. Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Tiala Longkumer, District Program Officers, UIP/RCH, Dr. Khrielasa-

NEISSR organises workshop for students

Kohima, February 21 (mexN): Kohima Police personnel manning interstate check gate at Khuzama recovered 1 kg of “crude” opium from a taxi bearing registration number NL-07T-0010 on February 20. The opium was found concealed inside an electric rice cooker, informed a press release from PRO, Kohima Police. In this connection, two persons, identified as Ajay Shah (20) and Ankit Kumar (21), were taken into police custody and the illegal consignment seized. A regular case vide Khuzama P.S Case No. 007/16 U/S 18 (b) NDPS Act has been registered against the two accused for conducting further investigation.

moN, February 21 (mexN): The Tizit unit of Konyak Nyupuh Sheko Khong (KNSK), the apex organization of Konyak women, in its 21st general meeting-cum-seminar adopted resolutions for the welfare of Tizit area and towards promoting peace in the district. The meeting was held at Multi-purpose Hall, Local Ground, Tizit Headquarters on February 19.

A press release informed that the resolutions included forming strong institutions of the poor women Self Help Groups in line with NRLM for livelihood promotion; to promote traditional dress by introducing a uniform for its members; discourage keeping Konyak girls as domestic helpers in hous-

A child receives polio drops during the second round of Intensive Pulse Polio Immunization (IPPI) in Tuensang district on February 21.

Finding new ways of doing social work

Kohima Police seize opium

moN, February 21 (mexN): Through the initiatives of Mon Forest Division, solar lamps have been given to every household in four remote villages of Mon district located along Indo-Myanmar border.

A press release from Divisional Forest Officer, Mon informed that the solar lamps were distributed free of cost to every household of Nynynu, Wetting, L/Wasa and Longzang villages.

The solar lamps were donated by a Trust called Eco-Solutions, an NGO based in Mumbai. The release said that Yatendra Agarwal, the Indian Co-ordinator of the Trust, had agreed to donate 2,000 solar lamps free of cost when told about the miseries of the people living in the IndoMyanmar border areas, who are not only deprived of electricity, but does not have access to even basic amenities like road,

Lions and Leo Club of Dimapur helped administer polio drops to 160 children during the second phase of Intensive Pulse Polio Immunization in Dimapur.

nuo and Medical Officers in their respective block.

Altogether, there are 420 volunteers, 106 villages, 6 towns, 3 transit, and 11 migratory population sites with a total of 155 booths, a press release from District Media Officer, CMO office, Peren informed. With the motive to reach out to every household, teams were divided and sent out to every part of the district ensuring that no child is missed out, it added. The house to house visits will continue till February 23.

Tuensang: Tuensang District Health Society conducted the second round of IPPI in Tuensang district, where 1,250 vaccinators, 46 supervisors were mobilised in all the eight blocks of the district to cover over 27,552 estimated children below 5 years. It also organised 240 polio booths in the district. Dr Pangjung Sangtam, Chief Medical Officer, Tuensang and Dr. Temsu Longchar, DPO (UIP&RCH) launched the campaign in the district.

dinal principles, livelihood promotion etc.

Lhousa also touched on the importance of good relationship with neighbors to create cordial atmosphere and also on reward of labor. Expressing concern on the slow pace of progress in the Naga society, he also appealed to the women to come forward and take steps for eradication of corruption and social evils. He also quoted the words of APJ Abdul Kalam, “If a country is to be corrupt-free and become a nation of beautiful minds, I strongly feel there are three key societal members who can make a difference.

They are the father, mother and the teacher.”

Encouraging the women to contribute for a bet-

ter social world order, he quoted the words of Angela Merkel, German Chancellor, “We need women for peace, we need women for development”.

Appealing to the gathering, he said, “As is Tizit area the gateway to Mon district, so is the Tizit women who should lead the rest of the Konyak community on economic growth as well as in all other aspects.”

He further lauded the proactive steps and exemplary role, commitment and far-sightedness the KNSK leaders have in leading its community towards a newer horizon, the release added.

The seminar cum general meeting was attended by delegates from all the 32 constituent villages.

Students of NEISSR with resource person during the three-day workshop which concluded on February 20.

communication, he added.

Some of the childhood problems he highlighted were developmental disorders, childhood mental illness, behavioural and emotional disorders, developmental disorders like specific reading disorder/ developmental reading disorder, specific arithmetic disorder, developmental disorder of speech and language.

The external disorders, he mentioned, were attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, oppositional defiant disorder, conduct disorder. The internal disorders were depression, separation anxiety, sibling rivalry, adjustment disorder, obsessive com-

ANSTA general meeting on Feb 24

pulsive disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder.

He also trained the social work students on project cycle management (PCM), a term given to the process of planning and managing projects, programmes and organisation. It is used widely in the business sector and is increasingly being used by developmental organisations, the resource person pointed out.

PCM is based around a project cycle, which ensures that all aspects of projects are considered. A central value of the PCM method is that aspects of the projects are reconsidered throughout the project cycle

to ensure that any changes which have occurred are included in the project design. As a result, projects are more likely to be successful and sustainable, Jacob stated. PCM involves a set of planning tools which feed into the logical framework (commonly known as a log frame).

The Log frame is a table which gives a summary of the project plans.

Financial management and legal compliance were the other aspects covered. The resource person further dealt on how to monitor and evaluate projects with the participation of primary and secondary stakeholders.

‘Police personnel need to be updated with laws on child and women rights’

Kohima, February 21 (mexN): The All Nagaland School Teachers’ Association (ANSTA) has convened a general meeting on February 24, 10:00 am at CANSSEA Hall in Kohima to discuss pressing issues of the Association.

Therefore, a press release from the Association President, Ponchulo Wanth and General Secretary, Visato Koso has requested all the executives of Central ANSTA, District and Sub-Divisional Units’ officer bearers and advisors of the AssociPersonnel of Women Cell, Dimapur with DDLSA members. ation to attend the meeting Dimapur, February our society, most of which Other Panel Lawyers positively.

21 (mexN): The Dimapur remain silent. Stating that Glory Sema, Esther K. Aye, District Legal Services Au- child sexual offenders and Limasenla Longkumer thority (DDLSA) in collab- thrive on this silence, Tet- - spoke on various legislaoration with Women Cell, seo asserted that if anyone tion and Acts covering JJA, Dimapur, organized legal has an apprehension that The Immoral Traffic (preawareness programme on an offence is likely to be vention) Act, 1956, Motor committed or has knowl- Vehicle Act, 1988, imporKohima, February February 20 at Rhododenedge of child abuse of- tance of Human Rights, dudron Hall, Chumukedima.

21 (mexN): The NNC Speaking at the pro- fence, the individual is duty ties of law enforcing agenWorking Committee has gramme, Akum Lam, ACP bound to report such infor- cies not to misuse the power informed all its Regions of arrest and detention.

‘D’ division, Dimapur ex- mation to the police. in Naga inhabited areas to pressed the need for poSince Indian Penal During the interaction, elect five Central Execu- lice personnel to be up- Code, 1860 (IPC) did not queries were put up relattive Council Members and dated with the new laws specifically provide pro- ing to Special Juvenile Poone Regional President and amendment related vision for sexual offence lice Units (SJPU) and abfrom each Region. A press to child and women rights. against children, particu- sence of paid social worker release from the Working It is the duty of the law en- larly a male child, POCSO in police stations.

Committee Secretary, V forcing agency to imple- brought male child within The programme, atNagi and Convenor, Thu- ment laws like the Juvenile its ambit and strict laws tended by SJPU reprepushuyi S. Keyho further Justice (Care and Protection have been made to safe- sentatives from all police requested all the Regions of Children) Act, 2000 (JJA) guard the welfare of chil- stations, zonal traffic perto send a list of selected/ and Protection of Children dren, Tetseo stated. He sonnel and Dimapur womelected members to the from Sexual Offences Act, further maintained that en cell police personnel, NNC Working Commit- 2012 (POCSO), he stated. legislation by itself is not was chaired by NK Keny, tee “in order to elect and Panel Lawyer, DDLSA, enough, the law enforcing Para Legal Volunteer (PLV), strengthen the Naga Na- Zacharia Tetseo, spoke on agencies and service pro- DDLSA. Vote of thanks was tional Council Central Ex- POCSO Act and stressed viders require proper train- delivered by Bem Thomecutive for the interest of on the increasing number ing and experience to pre- song, Officer-in- Charge, the Naga people.”

Women Cell, Dimapur. of child sexual abuse in vent child sexual abuses.

NNC Working Committee informs

MonDAY 22•02•2016

NORTH-EAST

THE MORUNG EXPRESS

3

On International Mother ZYF to continue agitation against Language Day, Zeme common ‘anti dev’ policy of Manipur State language dictionary released Imphal, February 21 (mexN): The Zeliangrong Youth Front (ZYF) has come down strongly against Deputy Chief Minister of Manipur, Gaikhangam Gangmei. In a press statement issued by ZYF General Secretary, David Kamei, the organisation stated that the Dy. CM has “failed” to understand the meaning of “equal development.”

According to the ZYF, Gaikhangam’s statement that “bandh and blockade are not just hindering development but it is disrupting peace” shows “his own weaknesses to understand the reality.”

“It is the State Govt that compelled the people to resort to bandh and blockade only when

their share are deprived and ignored,” alleged the ZYF. It also informed that the Zeliangrong Youth Front has “shut down” government offices in Tamenglong district since February 17 till February 22 in protest against the State Government’s “anti development policies,” for which they held Gaikhangam “accountable.”

The ZYF has submitted a Memorandum to Chief Minister of Manipur on January 24, 2016, demanding for relocation of Office of the Deputy Commissioner and other district level Allied Offices at the District Secretariat within fifteen days time. They informed that the District Secretariat was already inaugurated on Novem-

State-run ONGC board approves Rs. 5050-crore investment in Tripura agartala, February 21 (ptI): The board of state-run ONGC has approved an investment of Rs 5,050 crore in Tripura for drilling of wells and creation of surface facilities to produce 5.1 million metric standard cubic metres per day (mmscmd) gas from the state's fields.

The Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas has announced to develop the northeast region as a dominant hydrocarbon hub as part of its Hydrocarbon Vision 2030, the statement said.

"In line with this vision, the ONGC management has put their first foot forward and approved the additional investment of Rs 3,104 crore for drilling of wells and creation of surface facilities to produce 5.1 mmscmd gas from Tripura fields," the press release issued by Tripura Asset of Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) said.

The board meeting held at New Delhi on February 11 had taken this decision.

"Earlier in 2008, ONGC board had approved the investment of Rs 1,946 crore for the same and total approved investment in Tripura will be Rs 5,050 crore," the release said.

As a result of geological mapping and exploratory efforts, so far 11 gas fields are discovered by ONGC in Tripura and of these seven fields are on production. ONGC Tripura Asset is carrying out its drilling activities with three owned rigs under operation and well-servicing operations through two work-over rigs.

An additional four to five hired rigs are expected to be under operation in this year which will step up the exploration activities, the statement said.

Rain to continue over AP, Assam KolKata, February 21 (ageNcIeS): For the past few days, parts of Northeast India have been receiving scattered rain.

Areas including Arunachal Pradesh and upper Assam have been recording good showers.

These rains can be attributed to the cyclonic circulation over Assam and adjoining Bangladesh region.

During the last 24 hours from 8:30 am on Saturday, Anni in Arunachal Pradesh recorded a good 19 mm of rainfall, followed

by Itanagar where 10.8 mm rain was received. Pasighat also observed 2.4 mm rain.

Many areas in Assam also received good rains.

For instance, Tinsukia recorded 15 mm rain, Tezpur 0.2 mm, and North Lakhimpur 14.6 mm.

More rain is in the offing for parts of Northeast India. Pre-Monsoon like activities are likely to continue over the region.

Rain is expected during the afternoon hours with squally winds gusting up to 40-70 kph in some pockets.

While plains of Arunachal Pradesh and Upper Assam will continue to receive rain, isolated light rainfall activity is also expected over Meghalaya and Mizoram during this period.

These rains are likely to continue over Northeast India for the next 2 to 3 days. Sky conditions will remain partly cloudy to cloudy during this time.

Thereafter, both the intensity and spread of rainfall will reduce significantly.

ber 3, 2011 by P.Chidambaram, the then Union Home Minister as Chief Guest, O. Ibobi Singh, the Chief Minister of Manipur as Guest of Honor with Gaikhangam also present with several Ministers, MLAs and bureaucrats.

The Central Government has sanctioned “hundreds and thousands of crores of rupees” for the development of people of Tamenglong district which people are “fully aware” of but the State Govt. “in collusion with few selected contractors has shared among themselves without any durable development assets being created at the district of which the Tamenglong District Secretariat is one glaring example.”

The ZYF further noted that

“robbing away” development funds sanctioned by the Central Govt. without fulfilling the intended objective and purposes cannot be called “development” but a “deprivation” of people’s rightful shares.

“The people of Tamenglong district have been suffering for the last many years due to State Government negligence and ill treatment towards the people of the district,” asserted the ZYF. The State Government’s popular slogan “equal development” is “suited only for valley districts.”

While extending their congratulations to all the representatives who are elected from the valley districts for “fulfilling and materializing” the interest of the

valley people they represent, the ZYF reiterated that the Dy. CM of Manipur should wake up from “slumber” and recognise this.

In protest against the State Government’s “anti development” policies for Tamenglong, the ZYF stated that it will continue banning of National and International Projects from executing works till a concrete assurance comes from the State Government for “relocation and make operational” of the Tamenglong District Secretariat.

It also informed that different modes of democratic agitation in addition to the ongoing agitation such as indefinite blockade of National Highway No. 37 will be follow soon.

New Arunachal govt 'highly illegal': Tuki ItaNagar, February 21 (IaNS): Ousted Arunachal Pradesh chief minister Nabam Tuki on Sunday described the Kalikho Pul-led government as "highly illegal" and "unconstitutional" and blamed the Modi-led government for destabilizing his democratically elected government.

"They (central government) pulled down my government and proclaimed President's Rule citing the breakdown of law and order. They will try to destabilize governments in non-BJP-ruled states by imposing Article 356 and then installing an 'unconstitutional' government like they did in Arunachal," Tuki told IANS. "Why don't they impose President's Rule in BJP-ruled states like Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Maharashtra where the governments have failed to tackle suicide of farmers, job scam and other issues?" the veteran Congress leader quipped.

Criticizing Governor J.P. Rajkhowa for administering Pul the oath as chief minister, Tuki said: "As per parliamentary convention, the governor should invite the single majority party to form the government. "But in this case, the governor administered the oath of office and secrecy to Pul who is not even the leader of the Congress Legislature Party besides knowing that the matter is pending in the court. Isn't the governor misusing his office? This does not augur well in our parliamentary democracy."

The former chief minister also de-

Nabam Tuki

manded the removal of Rajkhowa as the governor. "Instead of safeguarding the constitution, he murdered democracy and the constitution for his own political interests, knowing the simplicity of the indigenous people in Arunachal."

Pul, leading the pack of 19 rebel Congress camp, was sworn in as the eighth chief minister on Friday night.

The BJP, which has 11 members in the 60-member Arunachal assembly, has extended outside support to Pul. Two independent legislators are also supporting the 19 rebel Congress legislators. But sources close to the rebel Congress camp claimed that nine Tuki loyalists are set to shift their allegiance to Pul. Claiming that he still enjoys major-

ity in the house, Tuki, the first Christian to be the Arunachal chief minister, said: "With the disqualification of 16 legislators, the effective strength of the house is only 44. Of these, 26 MLAs are with me and my government and, therefore, I still enjoy the majority."

He also described the formation of the new government as "highly illegal" and "unconstitutional" since Pul had not been elected leader of the Congress Legislature Party. "The Congress cannot take the support of the BJP in forming a government. The Congress does not subscribe to the BJP ideology.

Therefore, the new government cannot be a Congress government. "We will not allow this unholy alliance to continue. We will continue to fight for justice in the court of law."

Meanwhile, Pasang Dorjee Sona, one of the 19 rebel Congress legislators, held Congress leader V. Narayanasamy responsible for the political mess in the state. "It was Narayanasamy, in-charge of party affairs in the state, who is responsible for the mess in the state. He never allowed us to meet and share our grievances with Congress president (Sonia Gandhi) and vice-president (Rahul Gandhi)," Pasang told IANS. "We have to work with the BJP in the interest of the people of the state. Governance has nothing to do with political ideology. Good governance and development of the state come first," Pasang said.

2016 ASSAm electionS: communities hold key to victory

New DelhI, February 21 (bS): During his recent visit to Assam, Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi made it a point to meet tea garden community leaders at Sivasagar in February. He also held a rally there, which, locals say, was well attended.

Propelled by good showing in areas dominated by the tea garden community, the Congress party scored a record third term in Assam in 2011. In fact, in the tea garden community-dominated upper Assam, the Congress won 44 of the total 56 seats with a vote share of nearly 46 per cent that year. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), with just two seats, was a distant third with a vote share of 13 per cent.

However, the situation changed dramatically in 2014 Lok Sabha elections. The BJP, with a vote share of 45 per cent, won five of the six Lok Sabha seats in the region. The Congress won only one seat and could manage a mere 34 per cent votes.

In fact, in Assam, the BJP had led in 69 of the 126 assembly segments, while the Congress led in 23 assembly segments in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections.

It is with a view to regain its control over upper Assam, the region with the maximum number of seats, that Rahul Gandhi and other Congress leaders are making efforts to win back the support of the tea garden community. The community accounts for nearly 30 voters in 35 of the total of 126 seats in the state.

"The community has always favoured us in all elections since 1952," said Paban Singh Ghatowar, former union minister and now Congress' campaign committee chief in the state. "We did not get the kind of support we were expecting in 2014.

Assembly elections, though, will be different and we expect a far better show, which will help us repeat the 2011 performance."

Assam accounts for nearly half of the country's total tea production.

There are 68,465 small and 825 large tea gardens in the state. The state had three consecutive years of good tea production in 2009, 2010 and 2011 -

Assam has six million plantation workers and they are demanding ST status, which the BJP had promised before Lok Sabha polls

perhaps the reason why the Congress did so well in the last Assembly elections.

The tea production, however, fell by five per cent in 2014 and six per cent in 2015. That may have been the reason behind the Congress' poor performance in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. However, the Congress retained its vote share in two other regions of the state - lower Assam and Barak Valley in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections.

"Lok Sabha and Assembly elections are fought on different sets of issues," said Sandhya Goswami, professor at Guwahati-based Gauhati University. "It is unlikely that the upcoming Assembly elections will follow the Lok Sabha pattern. But whatever it is, the tea garden community will play a big role in deciding the outcome of elections."

Assam has nearly six million plantation workers, most of whom were brought in by the British tea garden owners in the 19th century from Chhattisgarh, Odisha, Jharkhand and Bihar. They are demanding scheduled tribe status, which the BJP had promised before the Lok Sabha elections.

"Community members are a disenchanted lot now as the BJP has not fulfilled the promise so far," a former Delhi-based journalist now settled in Guwahati and pursuing his own business told this reporter. "It may help the Congress regain its position

among the community members."

The Congress government recently started giving land to landless workers, free bus service for students from the community and recommended higher minimum wages for the workers in the sector. The recent rise tea prices may also lead to a feelgood factor among members of the community.

Other than the tea garden community, votes of Muslims are going to be crucial. Muslims constitute nearly 34 per cent of the state population.

Nine of the 32 districts in the state are Muslim-majority.

Studies by the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies (CSDS) show that, in terms of political choice, the community is divided into two groups: Assamese-speaking Muslims, concentrated mainly in upper Assam, and Bangla-speaking Muslims, concentrated in lower Assam.

CSDS studies show that a majority of Assamese-speaking Muslims preferred the Congress in the 2011 Assembly elections and the trend continued even in 2014. Badruddin Ajmal's All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) has become the preferred choice for Bangla-speaking Muslims. The AIUDF won 18 seats in 2011 and led in 24 Assembly segments in 2014 Lok Sabha elections.

In lower Assam, the Congress won 16 of the total of 50 seats, whereas the AIUDF won 13 seats in 2011.

As for the BJP, experts say, repeating the 2014 performance is going to be a big challenge in the Assembly elections. "There is a perception that the party promised a lot to the state before the Lok Sabha elections and very little has been delivered," said Sandhya Goswami.

The BJP, though, has stitched up an alliance with the Bodo People's Progressive Front (BPPF), which has a strong presence in the Bodo Territorial Council area. The party was also expecting an alliance with the Asom Gana Parishad (AGP), but that has not come through. The BPPF won 12 seats and the AGP 10 seats in the 2011 Assembly elections. The party also nominated its chief ministerial candidate months ahead of elections.

Morung Express News Dimapur | February 21

In a break-though initiative, the Zeme Literature Committee North East India (ZLCNEI) has come out with a Zeme common language dictionary called ‘Zeme Let,’ to literally and emotionally bind the Zeme Naga community spread out in the three North eastern states of Nagaland, Manipur and Assam.

February 21 was International Mother Language Day—experts have long maintained how parting education in the Mother language/dialect can increase the potential of a child to absorb learning, as well as of the teacher to part with it. Developing the Mother tongue is an attempt at developing the cultural context of peoples and creating space for cultures to grow together.

The Zeme dictionary, likewise, is aimed at fostering unity among the Zeme Nagas scattered in three states and preserving the rich ancient dialect of the Zemes by incorporating the two distinct Zeme dialects – Northern and Southern dialects.

The search for a common dialect of the Zeme Nagas was initiated by the Zeme Council North East India (ZCNEI) under the leadership of ZCNEI president, Raitu Elu, in 2013 and the Zeme Literature Committee North East India (ZLCNEI) was constituted in 2013 at Ze-nnui village, the oldest Zeme ancestral village in Senapati district, Manipur.

At a press conference held at ‘Nagi Paying Guest’ on Sunday afternoon, ZCNEI president, Raitu Elu, and members of the ZLCNEI, briefed mediapersons on the objectives and genesis of the Zeme common lan-

guage dictionary.

Raitu Elu said taking into account the “dialect barrier” among the Zemes in different states, the ZCNEI decided to set up the ZLCNEI in order to foster unity and strengthen the common roots among the Zemes and subsequently nominated Rev. Bikau Pame, as chairman of the literature committee.

ZLCNEI chairman, Rev. Bikau Pame, said with an aim to integrate the two distinct dialects of the Zeme Naga- Northern and Southern dialects- the Zemes of Nagaland, Manipur and Assam held a first consultative meeting in Dimapur in 2013, followed by subsequent meetings in Assam and Manipur, and resolved to come out with a common language (dialect).

After much deliberations and reviews, the ZLCNEI came out with ‘Zeme Let,’ the first Zeme common language dictionary, which was formally released by Nagaland chief minister, TR Zeliang on February 13 this year at Gaili Namdi Village.

According to ZLCNEI members, the dictionary has the mandate of all 206 Zeme villages scattered in the states of Assam, Manipur and Nagaland, with an estimated 1.6 lakh population.

According to ZLCNEI members, its respective units would approach the Education departments of the three states to introduce the dictionary as a text book in the primary level by 2017.

ZLCNEI representatives and Zeme leaders including Ambrose Riame and Mikaulang Riame from NC Hills (Assam), Rangom Hau, Namfuilungbe and Heikoloing from Manipur and Hairongbe from Nagaland also addressed the press conference.

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Budget hopes: More exemptions, deductibles, transparent tax system Chennai, February 21 (ianS): Making the tax administration tax-payer friendly and transparent, tax holiday for a certain period for businesses generating jobs, increase in tax exemption and deductible limits are some of the Budget expectations of business and common man with regard to direct taxes .

“The government has repeatedly shown its willingness to make the tax administration transparent in its functioning. It should take this process further forward by accepting and expediting the implementation of the recommendations made by the Tax Administration Reforms Commission (TARC) headed by Dr. Parthasarathy Shome,” Rakesh Nangia, managing partner at the international tax advisory firm Nangia & Co, told IANS. According to him, the TARC report addresses several key problems faced by Indian tax-payers and implementation of the recommendations will

go a long way in making India an easy place to do business in.

According to Nangia, the recent draft report by Justice R.V. Easwar (retd.) provides detailed recommendations on the amendments required in law to cut down on litigation.

“The government is expected to accept a number of these recommendations by way of suitably amending the legislation in the Finance Bill,” he said.

Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley last month said the government is deliberating on the recommendations of the TARC. Interestingly, the Shome panel had said that its recommendations have to be implemented in full and cherry-picking will not bring in the expected results.

The panel said the post of revenue secretary does not merit presence in the modern tax administration and should be abolished.

The Justice Easwar Committee appointed to

examine simplification of income tax laws had recommended raising the threshold limits for deduction of tax at source (TDS) as also slashing the rate of withholding tax.

The panel said nearly 65 percent of the personal income tax collected in India was through TDS, whose provisions need to be made less “tedious”, as they have remained over the years, and more tax friendly.

The committee proposed raising the threshold for TDS to Rs.15,000 from Rs.2,500 annually and reducing the tax rate to five percent for interest on securities.

For other interest earnings, it recommended raising the limit to Rs.15,000 from the present Rs.10,000 for bank deposits, and Rs.5,000 for others.

On Jaitley’s last year’s Budget promise of reducing the corporate tax rate by five percent to 25 percent over next four years, Nangia said the government may not have much headroom this year due to tax revenue shortfall.

He said there may be a token reduction of 0.501 percent in the corporate tax rates while the Budget may lead to clarity on the manner in which exemptions are to be removed.

“However, given the tepid growth in corporate earnings and the continuing weakness in the global economy, the government may not be overly aggressive in paring the incentives at this point in time,” he added. “ The government could provide support to the industry by rationalising the levy of MAT (minimum alternate tax) on SEZs (special economic zones) and continuation of the incentives to SEZs and EOUs (export-oriented units) for some foreseeable future till the sector fully revives,” he said.

The salaried class hopes that Jaitley will increase the basic tax exemption limit from Rs.250,000 to Rs.500,000 and also raise the limits on tax deductible investments -- life insurance premium, Public Provident Fund (PPF), National

Maruti suspends operations at Gurgaon, Manesar plants

Savings Certificate (NSC), pension and others.

The common man also expects the government to allow higher deduction of interest on housing loan in respect of self-occupied property from the current Rs.200,000 without any other caps.

The common man would like the tax structure of the National Pension Scheme (NPS) to be reviewed so as to bring it in line with other retirement products.

“The current tax structure of National Pension Scheme is Exempt-Exempt-Tax (on maturity the amount is taxed), which is at a sharp disadvantage to the other major retirement products such as the Employees Provident Fund (EPF) and the PPF,” Nangia said.

According to Tarun Chugh, the managing director and CEO of PNB MetLife India Insurance Company, the government should provide a separate limit for longterm savings and pensions under Section 80C of the Income Tax Act.

Cars lined up at the maruti Suzuki India Ltd. Plant at manesar, gurgaon, haryana. (File Photo)

new Delhi, February 21 (agenCieS): The country’s largest car maker Maruti Suzuki on Saturday said it is temporarily suspending production at its two manufacturing facilities in Gurgaon and Manesar in Haryana as supplies of certain components has been hit by ongoing quota agitation of Jats.

“Owing to the agitation in Rohtak and nearby areas, supplies of certain components have been disrupted. As a consequence, the Company has had to temporarily suspend manufacture of cars at its

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Airtel rolls out 4G ‘Oil prices likely to remain low for 3-5 yrs’ new Delhi, February 21 (PTi): the only person to have interviewed Mukespeed of up to 135 Mbps Billionaire Mukesh Ambani, owner of sh Ambani twice. The elder Ambani sibling MuMbai, February 21 (bS): The country’s largest telecom operator Bharti Airtel clearly wants to stay ahead in the data game. The company announced on Sunday that it was the first operator in India to deploy LTE-Advanced (4G+) technology on its network, which would deliver broandband speeds of up to 135 Mbps and enhances spectrum efficiency. With this, the telecom operator has joined a select group of operators globally who have done this.

The technology will also allow carrier aggregation, which enables enhanced spectrum efficiency by combining capacities across multiple LTE carriers (within same or different spectrum bands), to deliver a superior user experience and ultra-fast mobile data speeds. In Kerala, Airtel claims to be delivering data speeds of up to 135 MBPS on commercially available mobile devices on its network.

The deployment is a part of Airtel’s ongoing network transformation programme, Project Leap, under which Airtel plans to invest Rs 60,000 crore over the next three years to meet the growing demand for voice and high speed data services in India and deliver the best network experience to its customers. Airtel currently has the largest 4G network in the country with LIVE services in over 350 towns.

According to Gopal Vittal, MD & CEO (India & South Asia), Bharti Airtel “This is a game changer for mobile broadband in India. Airtel has pioneered 4G deployment in India and we are delighted to raise the innovation benchmark to deliver a world-class experience to our customers. Our strong 4G footprint and a rapidly maturing device ecosystem, will now allow us to deliver the next level of high speed mobile data services on our network.”

the world’s largest refining complex, today said global oil prices are likely to remain low for 3-5 years, benefitting a net importing nation like India.

“Well, as we see the situation (oil prices), it s low for long. And this is really the first time in the world that oil prices have gone down on incremental supply,” he told CNN’s Fareed Zakaria in an interview.

Ambani, the richest Indian, said there have been spikes in oil prices in past.

“But never has it (fallen) because there has been more supply than demand. It’s also the first time that you now have, because of the innovation in the US, large quantities of oil,” he said.

The US, he said, has gone from less than a million barrels a day to nine million barrels a day of oil production.

“And with the oil supply, OPEC has lost the controlling factor. And with that, there is oversupply in the world,” he told Zakaria,

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has a net worth of almost USD 20 billion, while Reliance Industries has a market capitalisation of over USD 40 billion.

Asked how long the scenario will last, he said: “I think for at least three to five years, until we see a structural change, in my view. But I have always been wrong, so,” he said. Speaking about its consequences, Ambani said the situation is “very favorable” for India, which is one of the largest importers of oil.

“And it helps our foreign exchange bill. And in a certain sense, it helps the fiscal deficit of government because it can mop up incremental revenue. So for oil importing countries, it s very good.

“On an overall economic basis, it s deflationary and all of us understand the dangers of deflation,” he said. Asked if it meant central banks will have to keep interest rates low for much longer than they thought, he said, “Absolutely”.

‘Improved public spending driving India’s growth’ new Delhi, February 21 (ianS): The reason behind India’s high growth rate is the quality of public expenditure, which has improved significantly in the current financial year, the government has said.

“In the current fiscal, our capital expenditure, which goes into asset creation, has seen a significant growth as against revenue expenditure, which goes into salary payment and rent ... and is resulting in high growth,” Finance Secretary Ratan P. Watal said in an interview on the ministry’s YouTube channel, ahead of the Union Budget at the end of the month.

“This has happened after a gap of many years. This may also be a reason why we are recording a high growth,” he said. “Quality of expenditure has also improved this fiscal,” he added.

Noting that revenues being received are in tandem with expenditure the government is incurring, Watal said this meant that things were moving as planned.

According to official data Plan expenditure during from April to December was 74.4 percent of the Budget estimates, as compared to 61.3 percent during the same period a year ago.

The improvement was more significant with regard to plan expenses on capital account. It was 85.3 per cent of Budget Estimates at the end of December as again 57.9 per cent a year ago.

The government has targeted reducing the fiscal deficit to 3.9 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP) in the current financial year, from four percent last year, and reduce it further to 3.5 percent in 2016-17.

“Expenditure management has been on track in the current fiscal. The world is going through turbulent time. The growth rates are low globally. Among BRICS countries only India is standing out because our macroeconomic indicators are strong,” Watal said.

“We are trying to further strengthen it.”

The Indian economy grew 7.3 percent in the third quarter ended December 31, 2015, down from the 7.7 percent expansion in the previous quarter, but marginally up over 7.1 percent recorded in the like period of last fiscal, the official data showed last week.

The government’s mid-year economic review, released last December, lowered the economic growth forecast for the current fiscal to the 7-7.5 percent range, from the previously projected 8.1-8.5 percent, mainly because of lower agricultural output due to deficient rainfall.

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The combined output from Manesar and Gurgaon is currently about 5,000 vehicles per day. There is no clarity on resuming production, which depends on component supply.

The company said it was making efforts to arrange the components from other sources. “Once the supply of components is restored, normal operations will resume,” it added.

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MondAY 22•02•2016

NAGALAND

NPcc expresses concern over unrest and violence

DIMAPUR, FEBRUARY 21 (MExN): The NPCC today stated that it is seriously concerned over the unrest in the districts of Tuensang and Kiphire and condemned the double murder at Shamator and the ensuing violence that occurred in the region.

The issues are not new ones but are all age-old issues which have escalated during NPF rule, alleged the Nagaland Pradesh Congress Committee President K Therie in a press note received here.

The State Congress

chief further maintained that the elected Members who represent the people in these districts are “fully aware of the inner root cause” and thus there is no “reason why they cannot find solution” if they are “sincere to provide peace and a harmonious society.”

Therie also questioned the apparent political indecisiveness over the issue and said, “In our consideration on the complexity of the issue, it requires political decision and not merely judicial decision.”

“We gather information

that the Members of the day claim that it is a family problem. If so, they should have resolved without waiting for the situation to escalate to the present condition”, he further posed adding the Members have failed in their mission.

In this regard, it argued that the State Government should have the political will to decide and also to handle the situation with a firm hand.

It also urged the government to ban all private militia and if necessary call in the paramilitary forces to

control the situation.

The NPCC also appealed “each and every individual” to grow peace within their hearts “which is the way forward to achieving lasting peace” adding the Nagas are “politically, socially and economically interdependent and our lands will remain interlocked for generations to come as has been for generations before.”

It further assured to extend its support if the Government brings any positive steps that is good for all the parties.

Indefinite road closure lifted MokokchUNg, FEBRUARY 21 (MExN): The indefinite road closure on Mariani-New SonowalMokokchung route has been temporarily lifted effective from February 20.

This was arrived at after the Border Roads Organisation issued a written assurance to immediately expedite/ start repair/renovation of the said road through the Jorhat District Administration to the bandh organisers. This was informed by Er. Temsu Wathi Ao, Coordinator of the Border Peace Coordination Committee (Assam-Nagaland).

8131 children were given polio drops in 176 immunization booths in Mokokchung District during the second round of IPPI on February 21. There will be a Door to Door visit on February 22 and 23 to administer polio drops to those children who have missed the dose on February 21, a press note informed.

Eurokids students celebrate Children's Dental Health Month

Dental surgeons who conducted the dental screening camp with teachers of Eurokids International School, Dimapur.

DIMAPUR, FEBRUARY mapur celebrated the 21 (MExN): Eurokids In- Children's Dental Health ternational School, Di- Month by conducting a

free dental screening camp at the school on February 20, 2016 as part of its campaign to promote oral health awareness.

All the school children and some parents were screened during the camp, according to a press release from Sandeep K Jain, Principal, Eurokids International School, Dimapur.

The common dental problems faced by students pertained to caries, bleeding gums etc, the release said.

All the follow up cases for dental care were referred to the S D Jain Charitable dispensary at Jain Temple Road, Dimapur.

The school authority has thanked Dr. Deepika Jain (Dental Surgeon from Rajiv Gandhi Dental College, Bangalore) and Dr. Sweta Jain (Dental Surgeon from M R Ambedkar Dental College, Bangalore) and their team for their support and time to organise the dental screening camp.

Meanwhile, it was informed that a free dental screening camp will be organised for general public in association with the Leo Club in the month of March at the Lions Club at Midland, Dimapur as a part of the same campaign.

Nagaland Bhojpuri Samaj Nagaland State BJP unit celebrates Mother Tongue Day on "anti national slogans" DIMAPUR, FEBRUARY 21 (MExN): Nagaland Bhojpuri Samaj, Dimapur today celebrated International Mother Tongue Day at its office at Dimapur.

According to a press note received here, during the function Prof. K P Avikasit highlighted the rich cultural heritage of the Bhojpuri, Maithili and Angika languages and the rich heritage of its speakers.

NBS Vijay Thakur who also spoke on the occasion said Maithili and Bhojpuri are spoken not only in India but even

in far flung countries of the world, where the people have migrated in search of greener pastures.

Pramod Singh, Secretary, NBS, also shared his views with the members.

After the function, NBS also resolved to send a proposal to the Government of India to include Bhojpuri & Maithili in the 8th Schedule of the Constitution, the press note added.

The meeting ended with a vote of thanks by Dr. Sant K. Gupta, treasurer, NBS.

DIMAPUR, FEBRUARY 21 (MExN): The BJP Nagaland State Prabhari, Farooq Khan, State President Visasolie Lhoungu and office bearers have conveyed appreciation for the cooperation and support it received in condemning the February 9 JNU’s “Antinational Slogans.” A press note from General Secretary, BJP Nagaland Media Jaangsillung Gonmei also conveyed the Party’s stand that “while intellectual debates and discussion is a healthy ingredient” of an evolving concept of democracy, inappropriate ‘slogans’ can be misconstrued as a political statement and a “manipulative device and thus the consequent condemnation.” Intellectual liberty cannot be misused as a platform to destabilize the nation nor noncampus anti-national political elements be allowed to shame the intellectual integrity and reputation of institutes, it added.

I

The Future of The Good Life

n the wake of New Delhi’s Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) fiasco, where its student leader has been arrested and jailed over sedition charges, never has the nation’s need to defend an idea of the university been felt more acutely. It is sad. It is necessary and a timely socio-political audit. It is not improbable that intolerance in a diverse country like India, now actually demands handing out of nationalism certificates, by those who currently wield political power.

The idea of India, at the heart of the present crisis, is in contest with its own ethos and experience of collectivity and plurality.

Over the past few days we have seen the JNU drama circulated over both old and new social media.

There is fear in the campus. There is also hope and solidarity. A new civil literature is being rewritten. A fanatical social order is also inordinately exposed. We have seen divided reactions insomuch, as is also the huge support of towering consciences from the global community. Causes and effects of the public revolution from JNU, by the end of the day, will be forgiven (and forgotten), because classrooms are not parade grounds, students are not armed militants. In the end, only love will matter: the sanctity of learning as life-long is indisputable; the institutionalization of knowledge as progressive is moreover intrinsic to livelihood and economy concerns; the higher education of the university as secular is uncontestable, and, above all, the love for wisdom is always insatiable.

Tumultuous thoughts on social change or powerful alternative social world, we are once again brutally reminded, need not necessarily evolve from the university. Fear and divisive politics are capable of creating and shaping a new standard of social norm. And, these new social values need not necessarily be progressive. Afghanistan was one of the most progressive Muslim states decades back; today, it is but war-torn and a medieval society. The coming of RSS-backed BJP-government is not without a certain social tension, which includes attempt to capture every mundane tentacles of symbolic power and imaginative institutions. The most popular trait of such forces is its one-track-mind and anti-intellectualism. The unenthusiastic history of the boring but missionary-like life of the present Governor of Nagaland, one Mr. Acharya, is our nearest textbook manual on how religious fanaticism operates with masterly devotion and is politically valorized. The deplorable life of the law-keeper advocates who took naked pride and showed no remorse in physically abusing students and teachers appearing for the hearing of the JNU student leader at New Delhi’s Patiala High Court is no less different. Fanaticism and fascism are both sides of the same coin; and, sadly, the apologetics of Indian liberals nostalgically parroting what is becoming to the country now will have little consolation for

the violent intolerance that has become the new rule.

How the social vulnerably allows regimentation of political power to overpower the civil space is not a new event in history! Addressing the students at JNU campus, Rahul Gandhi reminded us once again about the subtle rise of Adolf Hitler. We do not know what is India’s future! What we know, historically, is that the Indian sub-continent has never been a socially embracing society! Contemporary urban middle-class’desire to feel good or assured inasmuch inform us of the present social panacea,i.e., the pathological lack-referentof India as the land of the iconic Mahatma Gandhi. The social stratification, culturally rooted in many major Indian societies, is both a public psyche and an individual burden—and, any attempt to either maintain or perpetuate or marginalize the divided social fabric is already portent with violent forms. The hurried attempt to harmonize conflicting socio-economic slippages in the Indian context, through a fundamentalist hegemony of Hindu nationalism and ABVP-RSS-BJP political power, will have little bearing of success—except to further polarize the diversity of the multiple.

Today, it is becoming more difficult and incomplete to circumspect the situations and changes taking place around us, however national or local, without evaluating the politics of the day! “The world we live in,” as Deborah Eisenberg scathingly observes, “has been and is being increasingly politicised so that our daily experience is more and more a matter of public policy.” The federal affairs of fiscally and symbolically running the country were severely diluted with the coming of the present BJP-government. Moreover, for an emergent democracy like India that is also extremely diverse, the social gestures in the art of governance are foremost to any community health and public temperament. The radicalization of hatred and fear in the country is structurally symmetrical both with the processes as well as resistance against the undemocratic appeasement policies.

The university stands as the last citadel, as an informed public culture and conscience! Without any prejudice, it is now amply clear that the ABVP-BJP has ambitiously decided to target and threaten individuals and institution(s) into its governance designs that otherwise stands to resist such coercion. To fight irrationality and communal politics, the public stands to reclaim it with social leadership. To lend a voice of conscience and rationality, the university stands to fulfill its steadfast commitments.

The history behind establishing JNU is concomitant to the ideals and place of India in the world. The competitive manner in which students are drawn from all parts of the country is also generic to the need for national participation, in creating an all-India team.

It is also prudent to mention here that the formation of and support for Naga Peoples Movement for Human

Untitled

You say you worry that the country is facing hurdles Worry more about the countless hurdles here: Of poor roads that thud on your expensive cars, Of rapes of our people, by our people, by other people.

Worry about pacts dwelled upon in secret Denying us of our basic democratic rights.

You think that photos of protest meetings On expressive students make you right minded?

Do you worry of those unemployed indulging in crime, And think a few backdoors will solve them?

Worry about our trying educational system Birthing apolitical youth, political only during elections.

You say you worry about unwelcome developments.

Worry more about promised developments overdue.

The nation will move forward economically and equally Just as soon as every election speech comes true.

Who are we to say what loyalty even is, When ‘Nagaland for Christ’ stands for something else.

By a Very (perhaps rightly) Cynical Naga

Kekhrie Yhome

For Public Information and particularly to NGOs in Nagaland

R

You say you worry about slogans in a premier institute Instead worry that we have not a good one.

Debate on the thousands in boxed classes Bottling up changing ideas for fear of speaking.

Worry not about others over-expressing But of our students never expressing.

TOP: A total of 569 animals were given veterinary assistance by 19 AR under the aegis of HQ 5 Sector Assam Rifles during a veterinary camp organised under Op Sadbhavna at Jotsoma Village, Kohima on February 18.

BOTTOm: As part of the AR Civic Action Project, ARTC&S donated educational material at Pimla village on February 13. The items were handed over by Commandant, ARTC & School to the GB of the village and children in the presence of villagers.

Rights (NPMHR), which first articulated the extra-judicial killings of Nagas through heavy militarization and draconian laws, took its roots in the late 1970s from the hostels of JNU, in the background of Indira Gandhi’s repressive emergency regime.

The task of the university is not a mere site for churning graduate degrees! The university is, and must remain, a temple of ideas. Facts are sacred but Ideas are divine! The university is, and it must uphold, the culture of conversation and dialogue. Opinions are free but Reason is always dear! The university is not a space, but a habitat of critical thinking for culture and arts, progress and scientific temper, research and argumentation. The university is mandated to think and formulate life skills—for the care and welfare for the weaker sections of society, for the fair dissemination of unbridled human conditions and its situations, for the nurturing of nationhood and good citizenship. The atrocious attempt to seize JNU is a fascist project for communal power. It is no longer an issue of sensibility war: about barbarians at the gates of civilization. It is out rightly an attempt to curtail our freedom of thinking and expression.

It is an affront to our imagination and the aspiration for the good life, which is beyond party-politics or national boundaries.

Imaginations are without boundaries. It is not about it should stay like that; it can only be it will always be like that. No power can stop the freedom of imagination. The technological industrialization of social memory in the past two centuries have shown that those societies that have nonbiasedly and freely imagined its past have exhibited the present strength of productivity, or future potentiality, in cooperation and knowledge—to survive progressively and democratically. This is not apocalyptic; it is apostolic! The core enemy of any fundamentalism (including religious or political) has always been the public intellectual.

An issue like JNU today is also a soft reminder to our local needs and situations—whether there is an urgent need for reason and debate for the advancement of our thoughts and conditions, or whether gun-toting culture of nationalism shall continue to enforce how and what our thoughts ought to be, or what must we say, or think? For a society that is young but vibrant, it is an equal challenge to cultivate critical ideas and thinking for a good society. Changing times call for changing personalities in different fields. Values, like virtues, or like shame, are not universally static; they do change, not only with time but also through the constructive tasks of how we question, or voice our opinions on social equity, human rights, democratic practices, or on public enemies. The university must be defended! The university is an embodiment of and for the good life!

I see you huddled together in warm halls Chewing on paan with blood red teeth.

Trying twenty seating postures ev. Dr. James Thoppil, Picking one that gives you importance. the Bishop of Kohima, Talking on half-aware points from scrap paan wrapBishop’s House Kohima pings Hinting that you know of it all. has received so far 29 letters by You say you worry about anti-nationalism.

Worry more about our hundreds dropping out, Joining forces hat hold guns and evoke fear, Breeding terror amongst our own people.

Worry about a state with guns signalling terrorism, Trying to stand for nationalism.

WYSU oppose bail to duo arrested on February 18 DIMAPUR, FEBRUARY 21 (MExN): The Western Yimchungru Students’ Union (WYSU) has urged the authorities in concern not to entertain any bail plea against the two individuals, who were arrested with “restricted ammunition” near Laskiur village, Tuensang on February 18. Opposing any bail move, the WYSU, in a press release, stated that the arrested duo identified as Thongthong and Amongba should not be released till the perpetrators of the February 6 killing has been ascertained.

It further called for ordering a statewide “notice (search)” to arrest a third individual, who gave police the flip on February 18. While maintaining that the violence in Kiphire and the displacement of people that followed was a result of the February 6 killing, the WYSU appealed the authorities to not get swayed by pressure and perform “one’s duty with truthfulness” to deliver justice to the bereaved family and the people displaced.

Public SPace

speed post (name mis-spelled as Rev. James Tophil DD) from different NGOs from Nagaland requesting for Recommendation letter for “Proposal for community Development for the under privileged community” to be addressed to Xavier Social Service Samiti, Bangalore. In some places it is written as St. Xavier Social Service Samiti.

Having received so many requests for recommendation, I, Fr. Thomas Toretkiu, the Secretary to the Bishop, would like to inform those NGO’s and the public in general the following on behalf of the bishop: 1. The Bishop does not give recommendation letters to any NGOs unless he knows personally and knows well the modality and operation of the NGO’s requesting for recommendation. The Recommendation letters imply that he knows well the particular NGO and vouches for its genuineness and rectitude of its activities.

2. The bishop is not sure about the authenticity and

credibility of the Xavier Social Service Samiti, Bangalore.

Upon some information that Archbishop of Bangalore is the Chairman of the Xavier Social Service Samiti, the bishop personally contacted the Archbishop about it and the Archbishop told him that he has no knowledge of Xavier Social Service Samiti, Bangalore.

3. From the Check list about the application each NGO is to pay a total of Rs. 75,000.00 two DD in favour of Xavier Social Service Samiti payable at Bangalore (35,000.00 for registration and 15,000.00 for legal fees), Rs. 15 for Country Co-ordinator for project writing; Rs. 10,000.00 for processing fees at the time of submitting the application.

Therefore, in all probability the whole enterprise is another way to dupe many innocent NGOs. Kindly do not expect neither any recommendation letter from the bishop nor the bishop has anything to do with so called Xavier Social Service Samiti, Bangalore trying to get Global Fund for Sustainable Development.

Fr. Thomas Toretkiu, Secretary to Bishop

The Morung Express “Public Space” is to provide space for the opinions of the people to be expressed and heard through this newspaper. Nonetheless, The Morung Express points out that the opinions expressed in the contents published in the “Public Space” do not reflect the views and position of the newspaper or the editor.

6

MonDAY 22•02•2016

IN FOCUS

THE MORUNG EXPRESS

The Power of Truth

The Morung Express volume Xi issue 50 By moa Jamir

‘Refugee’ in our own yard

T

he resultant cycle of violence that erupted aftermath the February 6 tragic killing of a couple near Shamator is both unfortunate and has ominous implication for the Naga Society if holistic course corrections are not implemented earnestly. It also vividly depicts our fraught societal fabric resulting out of insecurity and anxieties that often culminates into collective unrest and outburst.

Since then, cringing and unfortunate stories about the people caught in both side of the conflict are coming out in the media. Innocent school children uprooted from their homes, students too traumatise to sit for their exams, homes and other entities burned to ashes and terrified and distraught citizens internally displaced.

Most unfortunately, another generation a deeply prejudiced and distraught cohorts by such event are created perpetuating the situating infinitely.

In all this, we are witnessing strange phenomena, which hitherto were largely restricted to news media or a topic in our academic curricula. We have become “refugee” in our own State. We are witnessing the “Internally displaced persons (IDPs), which the United Nations Human Rights Commission considers as the world’s most vulnerable people.

For unlike refugees, who to some extend found sanctuary in some other places outside their country, IDPs have remained inside their home countries even though they might have fled for similar reasons - armed conflict, generalized violence, human rights violations - as refugees.

Other civilians rendered homeless by natural disasters are also considered as IDPs. “IDPs legally remain under the protection of their own government – even though that government might be the cause of their flight” according to UNHRC implying that it aggravates their vulnerability.

According to Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC), at the end of 2014 it was estimated there were 38 million IDPs worldwide, the highest level since 1989, the first year for which global statistics on IDPs are available and 19.3 Million by natural disaster. At least 616,140 of them were from India.

If the ongoing conflict continues unabated, soon the Nagas might also become a part of statistics we have so far seen only on TV or read of. Belligerent parties over-generalising and pointing allegations – proven or otherwise – have not helped the cause at all, but rather aggravates the situation. Allegation and counter allegation, ultimatum from contending parties are always a recurring theme in such situations.

Squeezed between contesting imperatives but limited by its apparent incompetency, the Government of Nagaland is but a mere bystander.

When conflicts break out in Nagaland, information is the first casualty stated a news report. ‘We are fuelled by rumours with unmanageable consequences. We need to device an open, calibrated and objective mechanism to share information at times of conflict’ a senior retired administrator was thus quoted in media.

“In most states, even in neighbouring Manipur, the State appoints a spokesperson to round up information for the day to be released to the media,” runs a news item in The Morung Express pointing to the visible reluctance and lack of government initiative to that end. Limited by resources, the State media mostly restrict themselves to “arm chair journalism” and “press releases” to augment news report.

Non-partisan ombudsman or mechanism to look into the affairs would offer the requisite policy inputs to deal with the situation comprehensively. Temporary measures in the form of special investigation team, judicial commission or such entities are not helpful, if the government does not act on it.

While for security concerns, some contents are withheld for general public scrutiny, it will not hurt the government if the gists of the findings are made available.

We as a society must also stop generalising every single incident as a collective action, whatever the case might be. A cohesive society lies not in one-upmanship but accommodating diverse sets of narratives.

The State may do well to act on it decisively bringing all the stakeholders into confidence. Else, we will be confronting with the situation for a long time and staring at long line of ‘refugees’ in our own yard.

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

lEfT WING |

Alex Whiting Thomson Reuters Foundation

Businesses to feel the heat from slavery scrutiny in 2016

B

usinesses are coming under increased public scrutiny over the use of slavery in their supply chains, making forced labour one of the greatest risks to their brands' reputation this year, a research firm said on February 16.

Legislation in countries like Britain and the United States requires businesses to report on their efforts to eradicate forced labour and trafficking from their supply chains. Britain's law came into force in 2015. This increased public reporting empowers consumers and rights groups to put pressure on companies to promote ethical business activities, said British firm Verisk Maplecroft which identifies emerging risk areas for companies with global supply chains.

"The trend toward mandatory reporting means that the public can now more easily scrutinise and compare the actions businesses take - or do not take - to respect workers," Alexandra Channer, principal human rights analyst at Verisk Maplecroft said. "Maplecroft expects public benchmarking of business practices to increase in 2016, as part of a wider shift from voluntary to mandatory reporting of human rights due diligence," the firm said in a statement. Although many businesses have developed ways to monitor working conditions in companies supplying them directly, they have less awareness of suppliers further down the supply chain, the firm said in a report. "Businesses are therefore largely unprepared to prevent the risk that public scrutiny of suppliers at source may uncover severe labour violations, such as modern slavery, affecting workers contributing to their end-product," the report said.

Increasing public scrutiny of workers' conditions in plantations, fishing vessels and factories, is also entrenching the assumption that brands are ultimately responsible for all workers who contribute to the commodities they use, it said.

Although the financial penalties for non-reporting are negligible, the potential reputation costs to major brands are "high", the firm said. Nearly 21 million people are victims of forced labour, which generates about $150 billion a year in illegal profits, according to the International Labour Organization.

Last month, a study by KnowTheChain found that just four of 20 companies surveyed were fully open about disclosure and the way they track and deal with forced labour in their supply chains. The study did not disclose individual performances of the 20 companies which included Gap Inc, Nike Inc, Nestle S.A., Unilever plc, Apple Inc, Hennes & Mauritz AB and Samsung Electronics Co Ltd. KnowTheChain, founded by San Franciscobased Humanity United, said it plans to publish benchmark reports this year comparing corporate policies and practices on keeping forced labour out of supply chains.

C O M M E N T A R Y

Kari Malkki CommonDreams

Why 2016 Will be the Best Year Yet for Climate Justice

A

lready in 2016, communities around the world have been forced to confront climate disasters of all sorts.

Latin American countries are working with a sense of urgency to prevent transmission of the Zika virus, which spreads increasingly quickly in rising temperatures. From Indonesia to Malawi, people are grappling with the effects of what NASA estimates may be the worst El Niño on record.

Severe flooding in some regions and dire water shortages in others have resulted in food crises, mass migration, and economic mayhem. And although the United States and much of Europe have also experienced unprecedented temperatures and rainfall as a result of El Niño, it has been poor southern nations who have suffered most deeply and most immediately.

Climate injustices like these are becoming obvious to citizens all over our rapidly warming world, and governments (both national and global) are simply not responding with the expected urgency.

Most recently, the United Nations climate negotiations in Paris gave rise to a climate deal that still destines our planet to a catastrophic 2.7 degree Celsius temperature increase, and provides few concrete mechanisms to protect vulnerable communities from the dangers of this warming.

However, at the same time that climate justice activists condemned the failure of governments in Paris and grieved over the grave conditions many communities face as a result of climate change, many also expressed a resounding sense of optimism about the future.

How can we know that our governments have been unresponsive to those who need them most, and still maintain hope for climate justice in the near future? To understand this apparent contradiction, I spoke with some of the people most vulnerable to, and perhaps most knowledgeable about, climate change impacts: women of color and women from the global south who are leading in climate activism.

At the end of these conversations, I, too, felt hopeful. Here’s why: Historically, the climate movement has been dominated by those at the forefront of climate science and policy, rather than those on the frontlines of climate change impacts.

Scientists and policy wonks may know a lot, but they are frequently far from the realities of the communities being ravaged by extreme climate impacts — detached from both the issues and the solutions that exist on the ground. However, in recent years, as climate impacts have grown in severity and frequency, the climate movement gave birth to a new movement — one that has the potential to become one of the world’s most diverse and intersectional social movements yet.

The climate justice movement has made itself into a space for communities around the world who have been systematically silenced and oppressed and are thus more vulnerable to climate change. The movement has made it possible for these communities to not only join together, but to take the megaphone and lead.

"There is definitely a call for colored people, especially those from vulnerable groups,” Kimberly Lopez Castellanos of [Earth] explained of the climate justice movement. “We want their voices to be heard, their stories to be told and their energy to be passed onto big groups of people.”

Ashley Franklin of the Labor Community Strategies Center, a labor rights, human rights, environmental justice organization based in Los Angeles, affirmed that her identity has been an integral and

D

isasters don’t recognise borders or calendar years. Nonetheless one would expect to learn something of value to disaster risk reduction from newly available data on disasters in 2015 which was the hottest year on record since pre-industrial times.

For instance, the year 2015 was a remarkable year for droughts. There were 32 major droughts recorded in the EMDAT database maintained by the Belgium-based Centre for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters.

This was more than double the 10year average of 15. And these droughts occurred in a year when greenhouse gas levels reached record highs and the world experienced a very strong El Niño weather phenomenon.

In many ways, 2015 is not over. The carry-over effect will be felt well into 2016 as some 24 million people struggle with drought and food insecurity in the Horn of Africa and across southern Africa.

Here there are families who cannot sit down to even one decent meal a day or send their kids to school because their crops are withering in the fields.

Agricultural drought is back with a vengeance. If the El Niño is followed by its flipside, La Nina, as frequently happens, then it could mean a downturn in food production in other parts of the world which typically export their surpluses at affordable prices to where there is demand.

2015 could have a long after-life but we have been warned by the data.

More efforts are required to take practical steps such as improving water storage facilities, to support droughtexposed households in the future and reduce their vulnerability.

Last year was also noticeable for extreme weather variability and other portents of an uncertain future of more intense and unpredictable events, as we continue to adapt to life under a warming blanket of greenhouse gases.

There were record bouts of rain in

beneficial part of her involvement in the climate justice movement.

“I think being a woman of color from a working class family, with a parent who’s an immigrant to the United States only gives me more ammunition to state that it’s my right to speak up here," she said.

Franklin explained that the inclusionary nature of the climate justice movement has allowed for intersectional struggles to be emphasized and acted upon. In the past, “the climate space has not been a black space, but we now understand that the climate struggle IS the black struggle," she said.

This makes the climate justice movement dramatically different from traditional environmental movements, and its strength lies in this difference.

Conventional environmental movements have garnered attention primarily from (or are perceived to be dominated by) the highly educated, white, middle class — limiting both their membership and their ability to affect positive change in vulnerable communities.

Climate justice, on the other hand, acts as a platform for the empowerment of perpetually marginalized populations, and in so doing, brings together “the 99 percent” and highlights both the needs and the solutions of the people.

For Magline Peter, a small-scale fisherwoman and member of the National Coastal Women’s Movement in India, becoming a climate justice activist was not so much a choice as it was a necessary step for survival. In her region — particularly for the many female fishworkers there.

"Life depends on the climate, it depends on the seashore," she said. So for Peter, the fight against big coal, mega-hydro and other inequitable energy industries, is not only a climate issue."It’s a job issue and it’s a livelihood issue," she said.

Unfortunately, as the climate crisis intensifies, more and more people internationally will experience climate change as “a livelihood issue.” But as this happens, we are also bound to see a surge in those fighting against climate change, organizing locally, and bringing community solutions to light.

Finally, when I asked Peter how she saw the future of the climate justice movement, she broke into a grin and took my hands.

“Very active, strong youngsters — especially young women! — are bringing me hope,” she asserted, ex-

plaining that the involvement of youth in the movement was unparalleled and extremely heartening.

Youth participation in the climate justice movement was impossible to miss at the Paris conference. Both inside the negotiations and in the civil society space, hundreds of young climate activists propagated the concepts of intergenerational equity and historical responsibility through dialogue at the negotiating tables and powerful, carefully planned and executed demonstrations.

And action did not end in Paris: youth organizing has continued in local communities, globally.

A large part of the climate justice movement’s recent success is a result of the previously unimaginable ease with which, people — especially youth — are able to communicate across oceans, languages, and cultural barriers. Social media networks and international digital communication have given the movement momentum, and this momentum is only likely to grow as we become more connected.

In numerous, tragic ways, 2016 will not be a break from the status quo and, at first glance, prospects of climate justice may seem bleak. Like the last two years, 2016 might bring yet another round of record high temperatures and extreme weather, which inevitably ravage underprivileged communities and the least developed countries first and worst.

Nonetheless, it is becoming increasingly clear that the power lies with the people, and that the people are more ready than ever to stand together for climate justice. Youth, women, indigenous communities, southern citizens, and people of color everywhere are being united around a common goal and building on each other’s strengths in order to lead a movement of the people, by the people, and for the people — despite the silencing of their voices at the negotiating table or in the halls of Congress.

Their power lies in their numbers, their solutions are rooted in science (not in corporate coercion), and the message they preach will only become more convincing as climate disasters become more severe.

As we move into this next year, there is not only room for hope — there is a need for it. It is only with hope that we are moved to act, and 2016 must be a year in which we act with unprecedented force, resilience, and unity. I believe it will be, because it must be.

Kari Malkki is a senior at Brown concentrating in Development Studies with a focus in Latin America and also works as a Sustainability Intern at Brown's Office of Energy and Environment.

Disaster lessons from the hottest year on record Robert Glasser

both Pakistan and India during the year and there were also 3,500 deaths from heatwaves. The first-ever cyclone made landfall on conflict-torn Yemen.

Hurricane Patricia, the strongest storm ever to make landfall in the western hemisphere fortunately hit a sparsely populated part of Mexico.

More than 600 people died in a landslide in Guatemala following heavy rains impacting on an unstable hillside.

This last disaster, along with the earthquake in Nepal which claimed 8,831 lives, underlines again how important it is to strengthen disaster risk governance to manage disaster risk. Good urban planning and compliance with building codes in potential disaster zones are essential to reducing disaster losses.

Thanks to pre-emptive action and political leadership in several countries including India, the Philippines, Malawi and Mexico, the death toll from these storms was kept to a record low of 923 for the year, compared to the 10year average of 9,525 deaths.

Flood deaths at 3,310 were also down on the 10-year average of 5,938.

All of which points to the good sense of continued investment in early warning systems such as the CREWS (Climate Risk Early Warning System) initiative launched last year to boost those countries that only have rudimentary warning and forecasting systems in place.

The initiative was first announced by the French government at last year’s Third U. N . Wo r l d Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction and will go a long way towards helping meet the targets outlined in the 15-year blueprint for reducing risk and disaster losses, the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction.

WRITE-WING

EARLY WARNING WORKS Understanding of disaster risk and investment in disaster preparedness and risk reduction have all played a key role in the encouraging news that there was a significant reduction in deaths from storms last year.

The El Niño meant a less active Atlantic hurricane season, but nonetheless there were 90 major storms worldwide compared to a 10-year average of 99. Over the last 21 years, storms have killed more than 242,000 people, making them the most deadly category of weather-related hazard.

MEASURING PROGRESS The data released this week by CRED and UNISDR coincided with an important phase of the work in agreeing indicators that will aid countries in measuring progress in the achievement of the targets set out in the Sendai Framework - notably for substantial reductions in mortality, numbers of people affected,

economic losses and damage to critical infrastructure such as schools, hospitals and public utilities.

Among the tasks at hand is to develop a common classification of types of hazards, ranging from meteorological events like storms to threats such as earthquakes, bio-hazards including disease outbreaks, as well as manmade disasters caused by industrial accidents.

Delegates attending the “OpenEnded Intergovernmental Expert Working Group on Indicators and Terminology Relating to Disaster Risk Reduction” this week have also been weighing up measures such as equations to measure economic losses in a range of sectors, and methods to ensure data is gathered consistently right down to the local level.

This work is vital. We know that 98.6 million people were affected in some way by major recorded disaster events last year and at least 22,773 people died. However, this is not the full picture and there are gaps in our knowledge particularly around small-scale recurring events.

For instance, economic loss data is skewed towards representing the impact on developed countries where the financial value of disaster losses is typically higher than in many least developed countries which might nonetheless lose an entire year’s GDP in one catastrophic event.

The compass guiding global efforts to manage disaster risk must be set according to accurate measures of disaster losses and their impact on the lives of the most vulnerable in our societies.

More countries must be encouraged to establish and maintain national disaster loss databases if we are to continue to make progress in eradicating disasters as a driver of poverty.

Robert Glasser is head of the U.N. Office for Disaster Risk Reduction and the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Disaster Risk Reduction.

Letters to the Editor should be sent to: The morung express, House No. 4, Duncan Bosti, Dimapur - 797112, Or –email: morung@gmail.com All letters (including those via email) should have the full name and Postal address of the sender.

Readers may please note that the contents of the articles, letters and opinions published do not reflect the outlook of this paper nor of the Editor in any form.

MonDAY 22•02•2016

PERSPECTIVE

THE MORUNG EXPRESS

darkness at high noon in Korea With governments on both sides of the DMZ extinguishing what little remained of the "sunshine era" of engagement, the peninsula is lurching toward a new period of darkness

A

s the world focuses on the war in Syria, the refugee crisis in Europe, and the primary slugfest in the United States, the two Koreas are heading toward a catastrophe in the Far East.

Although relations on the Korean peninsula have been deteriorating for the better part of eight years, the last six months have been particularly tense. North Korea recently conducted its fourth nuclear test and followed up with a satellite launch using a long-range rocket. The international community reacted in its customary fashion, with condemnations and the imposition of more sanctions. South Korea joined in the chorus of disapproval.

But this time, South Korea went a step further.

It severed its last important economic link with the North.

The Kaesong Industrial Complex was the only legacy remaining of the “sunshine policy,” the Nobel-Prize winning project of former South Korean president Kim Dae Jung. Established in 2004, the economic zone brought together South Korean businesses and North Korean labor in a business park located just north of the Demilitarized Zone in the ancient Korean capital of Kaesong.

Last week, South Korean President Park Geun-Hye pulled the plug on Kaesong. North Korea expelled the South Korean employees and froze the assets. The North also cut the communications hotlines that had connected the two countries. In this way, the two sides cooperated one last time to extinguish the final fading rays of sunshine.

The South Korean Ministry of Unification initially claimed that the proceeds from Kaesong helped the North fund its nuclear and missile programs. The minister subsequently walked back that claim, admitting that the government had no such evidence. That didn’t prevent President Park from repeating the same claim the next day.

The nosedive in relations on the Korean peninsula is already having a regional impact. North Korea has announced, in response to a new round of sanctions from Tokyo, that it’s suspending its investigations into the people it abducted from Japan in the 1970s and 1980s. Both China and Russia are concerned that South Korea will adopt a new missile defense system in the wake of North Korea’s actions. And the United States has sent four F-22 stealth fighters to fly over South Korea in addition to an aircraft carrier already on its way for upcoming exercises.

But it’s the suspension of Kaesong that remains most troubling. The project represented the only real example of Korean reunification avant la lettre: a model for how the two very different countries could gradually work together toward common goals. Kaesong had survived for more than a decade despite North Korea’s nuclear tests and South Korea’s shift to the right. It symbolized the triumph of pragmatism over propaganda.

Park Geun-Hye has abandoned all her earlier talk of a “trustpolitik” policy of engaging the North. “We now need to find a fundamental solution to effectively change North Korea, and it is our time to be brave,” she said this week. Those sound a lot like fighting words.

Optimists always say that it’s darkest before the dawn. But we’re well past dawn on the Korean peninsula. We’re heading toward a showdown at high noon.

And yet the sky seems to be getting darker and darker.

Can all the parties concerned somehow avert a total eclipse of the sun?

The Importance of Kaesong At its height last year, the Kaesong Industrial Complex employed over 50,000 North Korean workers and over 800 South Korean managers at 124 firms. As a result, 2015 was a very good year for the economic zone.

For the first time since it started over a decade ago, the

Barack Obama and South Korean President Park Geun-Hye. (Photo: White House)

complex generated more than $500 million in economic output. That’s a lot of shoes, overcoats, and electrical products, many of which are sold in South Korea.

North Korean workers, mostly women, earned $150-160 a month. The North Korean government took approximately 70-80 percent of that total, which led many outsiders to conclude that the place was a “sweatshop,” even a place of “slave labor.”

But $30-48 a month, given North Korea’s depressed economy, is a lot of money for a North Korean — not to mention the other benefits, such as lunches and snacks, that came with the job. The average worker at a state enterprise only makes about $1 a month. The working conditions at Kaesong, meanwhile, were a lot better than anything you’d find in other North Korean factories. Although North and South Korean workers ate separately and kept their interactions to a minimum, the complex nevertheless provided an unprecedented opportunity for each side to humanize the other.

As North Korean defector Je Son Lee recently wrote, “When I was still living in North Korea, people used to say, ‘If you have one person in the family who works for Kaesong Industrial Complex, it can feed the mouths of everyone in their family.’”

Unfortunately the international community largely treated Kaesong as the bastard child of inter-Korean relations. God forbid that any Kaesong products might have sneaked into other countries covered by free-trade agreements with South Korea. As I wrote back in September: Despite trade union concerns, the FTA — which went into effect in 2012 — has not extended any benefits to Kaesong. The United States — along with the EU and Turkey — relies on a panel to determine if any products from Kaesong are eligible under the FTA. So far, the panel has nixed every product.

Nor was North Korea able to attract significant foreign investment into the zone beyond that from the South Koreans.

And yet ironically, here was something that U.S. and South Korean conservatives should have been rushing to support. It was a clear capitalist encroachment into what many consider one of the last bastions of communism in the world (though I prefer to think of North Korea as an example of corporatist nationalism). It was a non-union zone, and conservatives love to talk about how much they hate unions (except, of course, in countries where they want workers to organize and effect regime change).

And the zone was smack dab in the middle of one of North Korea’s invasion routes into the south. As of last week, the North Korean military has taken control of the area. In what possible way could the closure of Kaesong represent a win for Seoul and Washington?

The North Korean Threat When pressed by Chuck Todd of MSNBC at one of the Democratic debates to pick the biggest threat to the United States — Russia, North Korea, or Iran — Bernie Sanders chose North Korea.

That in itself wasn’t such a strange answer. After all, the United States continues to cooperate with Russia

The Morung Express

on a number of issues and has recently concluded a nuclear agreement with Iran. No one in Pyongyang or DC was going to get angry at Bernie for that.

In fact, Sanders’s full response revealed not so much his ignorance of foreign policy — a favorite evaluation of media savants — but how thoroughly mainstream his approach is: Clearly North Korea is a very strange situation because it is such an isolated country run by a handful of dictators, or maybe just one, who seems to be somewhat paranoid. And, who had nuclear weapons.

And, our goal there, in my view, is to work and lean strongly on China to put as much pressure [as possible]. China is one of the few major countries in the world that has significant support for North Korea, and I think we got to do everything we can to put pressure on China. I worry very much about an isolated, paranoid country with atomic bombs.

Sanders supports increasing sanctions against North Korea and wants to pressure China into doing likewise. Again, this puts the Democratic presidential candidate in good company. The Senate passed the most recent sanctions legislations 96 to 0, and the House did the same by a margin of 408 to 2.

But here’s the problem with this position. First, if isolation is what makes North Korea so dangerous, why would more international sanctions make the country any less of a danger? Second, if China has resisted pressure for more than two decades to turn the screws on its neighbor, why would it change its position now?

I’m not happy that North Korea has a nuclear weapons program. And believe me, China isn’t happy either. But registering our opposition to the program will not magically eliminate the North’s nukes. Nor will additional sanctions convince the leadership in Pyongyang to change their minds, any more than the economic embargo against Cuba transformed the system there. North Korea is convinced that the outside world wants to destroy it — which is not mere paranoia — and a nuclear weapon is its only security blanket.

The cynical will say that the international community has tried both isolation and engagement, and neither has worked. But that’s not really true. The international community has put its body and soul behind isolation and has been, at best, half-hearted about engagement. If only to make the obligatory nod toward non-proliferation, politicians condemned North Korea for its nuclear tests and missile launches.

But at some point, again in the interests of non-proliferation, the key players have to get back to the table with North Korea and negotiate a freeze of its nuclear capabilities at their current rudimentary level. More importantly, we have to multiply the points of engagement, not shut them down.

The North Korean regime is noxious in many ways.

But one thing is for sure: Even though it’s outgunned, it won’t stand down in a showdown at high noon.

And unless we start using our words, East Asia will be plunged into a darkness far more profound than the one that so famously exists north of the DMZ at night.

John Feffer is the director of Foreign Policy In Focus.

pOLL RESuLTS

Are discussions And decisions in nAgAlAnd influenced more by personAl opinions And views thAn by fActs And figures? why?

Some of those who voted YES had this to say: • Yes, very much. In a sense that, many of us, our mentality seems to be very narrow. In many occasions, we really dont sleep on the points/ views expressed by fellow members nor do we try to understand/look at the facts and figures for quick and better solutions. Rather, we try to stick only with the personal views and opinions and never thought of deconstructing what has been constructed in our personal minds. In other words, some people really find difficulties to accept others opinions.

• We nagas we dont learn to listen but we have strong gene of speaking. And rumor still rules our society. use of social media have been mostly based on rumor and personal views then facts.

• Yes, unfortunately induced by inflated egos and whims with might, power, wealth and warrior syndrome at the center stage where facts and figures becomes fake and fictitious.

• Yes, this is a very dangerous trend in Nagaland.

We are swayed more by rumours than by actual facts and figures. This is causing more confusion.

• We Nagas like to gossip, but we are not able to draw the line between gossip and fact. So far our gossiping and going by opinions and views has caused many confusion, but one day it is really going to cause a problem that we may regret.

• Yes. REEKLESS SOCIETY • Yes, So many people were killed in the height of the underground movement because decisions were made based on personal opinions and views without cross checking the facts and figures. In many cases these were innocent people.

• Yes. Youngsters and elders, politicians and bu-

What does inequality really mean for the poor people?

I

John Feffer Foreign policy In Focus

reaucrats, NGOs and public had already started expressing their own views. Some people are expressing their opinion even without knowing the history or records (fact and figure) on some issues.

93%

04%

• Yes. Because personal opinions come up naturally and it involves less work while on the other hand, it involves a lot of research work in order to harness information, facts and figures which most people tend to away from.

• Yes. The environment and upbringing of one's worldview and perception dictates our opinions and discussion in all matters. Also, facts here is quite ambiguous. But if it concerns to today's issue in our state, then, of course, almost all comments seems to be purely subjective in view. The response and deliberation are almost shaped by personal preferences and not necessarily objective.

Some of those who voted NO had this to say: • Hahaha. No. When there is no facts and figures how can people discuss on facts and figures. For any intelligent conversation or discussion, there must be some authentic data collection and only on this can facts and figures be found. The government is also not serious at all on this issue.

This is why we are far behind.

Some of those who voted OTHERS had this to say: • Nagas are yet to reach that standard of thinking.

We have a long way to go.

• Since Naga tradition is focused more on oral stoYES NO OTHER rytelling, we become very dismissive when facts and figures are presented. Actually we don’t trust • Yes. The Naga love for bullshitting and talking such things too much. So we tend to go on opintoo much is being used against us. Many people ions and views. with vested interests have used this to manipulate • We cannot blame anyone for this. We are yet to mature as a society. the public.

03%

7

Adriano Campolina Thomson Reuters Foundation

n Maranhão, Brazil, landless women organise to challenge the power of landlords who are illegally denying them access to the forests on which their livelihoods depend. Women in the Ugandan village of Kapchorwa come together not only to plan their farms and businesses but to plan how they will confront female genital mutilation (FGM), ensure that women are not restricted to the home, how they will hold the local authorities accountable for ensuring schools, health care centres, roads, and drinking water. In Tanzania, children’s clubs organise to fight child marriage. In Bangladesh, women garment workers demand safer conditions and decent pay. These are the heroes in the front line challenge to inequality. Their struggles will determine whether we end up with a world fit for us all.

A lot has been said recently about shocking statistics on inequality that show how wealth and power continues to be concentrated in the hands of a few. Those statistics grab public attention because they are powerful and useful. But they only tell part of the story. The most important, most troubling but also most hopeful story is the human story. That’s where we start. In ActionAid’s work with over five thousand communities across forty-five countries, we see the increasingly extreme inequality from the grassroots: how does it deepen poverty, and what are the solutions to tackle inequality from the bottom up? We also see from our work with local communities how inequality of power holds back justice and dignity and that any long term solution has to be based on changing power from below. And we see the vital connections between the different types of inequality - and the fundamental importance of taking a feminist approach to challenging it.

The inequality debate is littered with jargon such as "capture of the state" by elites. But the experiences behind these words are very real for poor and excluded people.

When a community of landless people in my home country, Brazil, organises themselves to claim the right to land reform and access to land, next morning they usually find themselves opposed by the local judge, chief of police, mayor and others who are all deeply connected to the landlords. This means claiming their legal rights is much more tortuous and difficult than for those who are better off.

The same happens in countries across the world when the interests of one multinational company come together with the private or political interests of people in government, resulting in an explosion of land-grabs and evictions of poor farmers. ActionAid and many others have been challenging these by organising and mobilising from below. A small and isolated landless community is much more vulnerable to a land-grab, than a strong landless movement that can exert pressure and campaign for changes to land ownership laws and hold accountable those authorities that don’t fulfil their obligations. In our experience, solutions to poverty and inequality depend on organising with the powerless in campaigning to shift power to people. In ActionAid our work in organising landless people goes hand in hand with our #LandFor campaign where we connect communities with national and international policy making. Only a broad coalition can curb the power of companies to take land. At the same time we promote positive alternatives, encouraging reform programs that increase the access of the poor to land.

Another example of the "capture of the state" is how public credit for entrepreneurs tends to be concentrated in larger investments for industrial scale agriculture, excluding the smallholder famers, women entrepreneurs associations and cooperatives. Once again it can take years of campaigning to challenge the unfair credit policies and create exclusive credit lines for small entrepreneurs. In Uganda, for instance, a crucial part of ActionAid’s work has been mobilising smallholder women farmers so they can claim access to agricultural credit that otherwise would end in the bank accounts of large commercial farmers or companies. A number of innovative public policies have been created to counter the trend of public resources being captured by the rich, for example the Brazilian Family Farmers credit (PRONAF) and the Indian National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA). These are illustrations that show that rising inequality can be countered when powerless people are aware and organised. There have been amazing victories and they point us to the path for change, but these efforts are not yet enough to realise change on the scale that poor and excluded people need. In fact, with inequalities of wealth and power heading in the wrong direction, it is time to ask ourselves serious questions.

So what else is missing in the fight against inequality?

We should look beyond inequality of wealth to inequality of power, recognising that there are many other forces at work that create discrimination. Missing from the debate have been the power forces that underlie gender discrimination, such as the rising burden of women’s unpaid care work, the lack of women’s access to public services and the increasing tide of violence against women.

Again, to address this we need to connect local awareness-raising with campaigning at all levels - and this combination has proved effective in helping women to claim better public services and effective action by local authorities to reduce violence against women. Challenging inequality starts with bringing the powerless together, supporting their local action, organising women groups and supporting women’s movements - which is then reinforced by our Safe Cities for Women campaign.

Education is a crucial sector as it can be the most powerful equalising force in a society. We organise and mobilise parents, children, teachers and community leaders to develop school improvement plans and citizens’ reports on the state of education, leading to national campaigns for change in countries such as Nepal, Ghana, Mozambique and Malawi. But to secure more resources for long term investment in education requires coordinated action at national and international level to expand the tax base, for example challenging harmful tax incentives and aggressive tax avoidance by multinational companies. Our #taxpower campaign mobilises people to make the connections between fair taxation and progressive spending - both essential in helping reduce inequality.

Striking global statistics tell us a lot about inequality.

A huge task ahead is to ground this debate at a local level - and crucially to explore the most effective actions that can be taken by governments and by society at national and international level that can seriously redress power imbalances. There is a wealth of solid experiences that are successful and repeatable. It is time now for us to ground the debate in practical experiences and move from the diagnosis of the problem to concrete people-led solutions.

Civil society is beginning to come together in addressing the problem and build the movement needed to fight the drivers of inequality, so that we can realise the rights of the poor and marginalised on a larger scale. Recently, ActionAid has convened a new group, united under the banner #fightinequality that brings together human rights, faith, environmentalists, feminist groups and trade unions in a common cause. It is rooted in strengthening the power of the people to challenge the people in power. At the local level, people are not at all surprised by the shocking numbers on inequality - they are already working to fight it. Let us all get on their side.

Adriano Campolina is Chief Executive, ActionAid International.

Any views expressed in this article are those of the author and not of Thomson Reuters Foundation

Readers may please note that, the contents of the articles published on this page do not reflect the outlook of this paper nor of the Editor in any form.

8

MondAY 22•02•2016

INDIA

THE MORUNG EXPRESS

10 killed, 150 injured in Haryana violence: Police

Chandigarh, FebrUary 21 (ians): At least 10 people have been killed and 150 injured in violence linked to the proquota agitation by the Jat community in Haryana, the state's Director General of Police (DGP) Y.P. Singhal said on Sunday.

Singhal told media persons here that the violence in the worst-affected districts of Rohtak, Bhiwani and Jhajjar had been contained since Saturday night.

"As per reports, 10 people have been killed and nearly 150 are injured. No death has been reported since last (Saturday) night, either in police action or in rioting," he said.

Thousands of people continued to suffer as the violent agitation by Jat community protestors in Haryana continued for the eighth day on Sunday.

The agitation paralysed life in the entire state, cutting off all northern states from Delhi.

Trains and buses to and from Delhi and other places have been cancelled.

All major highways passing through Haryana have been blocked by protestors at several places.

Those opting for the flight path faced hiked up ticket rates in view of the increased demand. Flighttickets from Chandigarh

Nat'l capital faces heat as violence spreads new delhi, FebrUary 21 (ians): Delhi is facing "a very serious water crisis" because of Jat protests in Haryana and water is to be strictly rationed in the city, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said on Sunday. Only a handful of VIPs and essential services will be exempt.

"Barring (the) president, prime minister, Chief Justice of India, defence installations, hospitals (and) fire brigade, water (is) to be equally rationed amongst all," Kejriwal told the media.

He said he too would be covered by the water restrictions that he warned could last at least one or two days even if the water supply was to resume on Sunday.

The Munak Canal in Haryana, which supplies water to large parts of Delhi, has been shut down after it was vandalized by a section of Jats demanding job reservations.

Kejriwal said he had spoken to Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar and union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on the need to restore water supply to Delhi at the earliest.

"I requested them to please send the

A girl waits to fill water in her containers from a municipal tap in New Delhi on February 21. (REUTERS Photo)

to Delhi were being priced between Rs.25,000 and Rs.55,000 for the one-hour journey.

Singhal said the top priority of the security forces and the government was to restore water supply to Delhi.

He said paramilitary forces and irrigation department officials have reached the place where

the water supply to the national capital was disrupted by protestors on Saturday and efforts were being made to restore the supply to Delhi.

The DGP refuted reports that there was lack of coordination between the army deployed in the state and the state authorities.

"There is complete coordination between army

and Haryana Police. No truth in lack of coordination. The army is deployed to assist the civil administration," he said.

The DGP said the security forces have formulated an action plan for the affected districts and efforts were being made to restore traffic on NH-1 and other highways that have been blocked by protesters.

"We are trying to secure the cities. We have initiated night-dominance by security forces," he said.

Singhal said 69 columns of the army have reached Haryana and have been deployed in the affected districts, especially Rohtak and Jhajjar.

"The Centre has given 49 companies of paramilitary forces. Thirty-nine

companies have reached and 24 have been deployed. The rest are being airlifted for deployment," he said.

The DGP said 291 cases have been registered following the violence and 45 people have been rounded up.

Chaos reigned in Haryana on Saturday with escalated violence in several ar-

army (to Munak canal). They may be trying.

"But even if the water supply is restored now, it will take 24 hours to reach the water treatment plants in Delhi."

He urged residents of Delhi to "please save water", saying they might have to depend on the stored water for one or two days at least.

He added that water would be supplied through tankers to areas in Delhi hit by water scarcity.

Because of the water crisis, all schools in the national capital would be shut on Monday.

Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia added: "No water available now. Still no hope to get it."

Both Sisodia and Kejriwal said that if nothing was done immediately, "water supply in Delhi will face an unmanageable crisis".

Delhi's Water Minister Kapil Mishra had said earlier that seven water treatment plants had been shut in the city, and water supply would be hit, including in areas covered by the New Delhi Municipal Council.

eas as hooligans, who have joined the ranks of Jat protestors, ran amok setting on fire government and private property as well as vehicles.

Curfew was imposed in Hisar, Sonipat and Jind towns after the violence.

Protests were also reported in Kaithal, while Rohtak, Bhiwani and Jhajjar towns have remained under cur-

few since Friday evening.

National Highway No.1 (NH-1) -- connecting Delhi to Haryana, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir -- has been blocked by Jat protestors at various places in Sonipat and Panipat districts.

Thousands of vehicles and people were stranded at different places along the highway.

Death toll in Kashmir gunfight rises to 6 Conspiracies to destabilise govt, defame me: PM srinagar, FebrUary 21 (ians) : Another officer of the Indian army's elite Para Regiment was killed on Sunday evening in the ongoing gunfight between guerrillas and security forces in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama district while an injured soldier died in hospital, taking the toll to six, police said.

A senior police officer said Captain Tushar Mahajan was killed Sunday evening in the over 24-hour-long ongoing gunfight between holed-up guerrillas and security forces inside the Jammu and Kashmir Entrepreneurship Development Institute (JKEDI) complex in Pampore town on the Srinagar-Jammu national highway. Mahajan belonged to Udhampur district.

Earlier on Sunday, Captain Pawan Kumar of 10 Para Regiment was killed when he entered the JKEDI multi-storeyed building in which the guerrillas are holed up.

Captain Pawan Kumar belonged to Haryana's Jind and was the only son of his parents.

The toll in the gunfight now comprises three soldiers, two Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) troopers and a civilian identified as Abdul Gani Mir of Gundipora village of Pulwama district, who worked as a gardener at the JKEDI complex.

A total of 13 other security

bargarh (odisha), FebrUary 21 ic instance, he said he had taken some steps (hit Modi), he is seeking accounts from us," (Pti): Prime Minister Narendra Modi to- because of which "these people are facing he said and asserted that "the country needs to know where the money that comes in is day alleged that disgruntled NGOs and problems".

He made the remarks while talking being spent. It is in the law." black-marketeers were conspiring to deHe said since the government started stabilise the government and "defame" about the neem-coating of urea being done new delhi, FebrUary 21 (ians): At least 10 Indian him and asserted that he will not bow to any to avoid its pilferage and routing to chemi- asking for accounts, "they all (NGOs) got tosailors have been rescued from pirates in Ivory Coast, a week cal factories like in the past. gether and have been conspiring all the time machinations. after their ship was hijacked off the west African nation, but "Since we have done neem coating, will how to finish Modi, how to remove Modi He said "some people" were not able to dione more Indian and a Pakistani crew member remain cap- gest the fact that a "chai wala" (tea seller) has those chemical factories which were loot- government and how to defame Modi. tive, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj said on Sunday.

"But my dear brothers and sisters, you become the Prime Minister and hence were ing not be angry with Modi? If something "We have rescued 10 Indians with the help of (the) Nige- conspiring all the time to bring him down. is against Modi, will they not help it? Will have elected me to cure the country of this rian Navy," Sushma Swaraj tweeted.

"You would have seen in the recent they not shout against Modi," he asked the disease and I am doing this.

She said the Indian bulk carrier, Genco Maximus, was hi"Whatever they may say against me, I am past, there is attack on me all the time. gathering. jacked with 11 Indian crew members by pirates off the Ivory The Prime Minister said that NGOs re- not going to deviate from the path of the work Some people are continuously at it. They Coast on February 13. are not able to digest how Modi became ceive money from foreign countries and his you have entrusted me. I am not going to stop, "On our request the ship was followed by Ghana and Nige- the Prime Minister, how a 'chai wala' be- government was seeking the account. or get tired and there is no question of bowrian Navy," the minister said, adding efforts were on "to rescue "We said let it come but give account of ing to it." The Prime Minister said he knows came the Prime Minister, they cannot 11th Indian and a Pakistani crew member from the pirates." swallow it," a combative Modi said ad- the funds received. The moment we started what is "irritating" and "pinching" his deasking for accounts, they all got together tractors but "we will not allow the country dressing a farmers' rally here. and said 'Modi ko Maaro', 'Modi ko Maaro' to be looted or destroyed."

Without naming anybody or any specifmen have so far been injured the guerrillas inside the buildin the gunfight that started on ing whose top floor has alSaturday when guerrillas at- ready been destroyed in the fire tacked a CRPF bus on the Sri- caused by the use of explosives nagar-Jammu national high- to flush out the militants.A seway at Sempora in the district. nior police officer said the seAfter attacking the bus curity forces have entered the new delhi, FebrUary as "judicial killing", Kumar and Afzal Guru which outright tanta- distributed during the "sothat was part of the CRPF con- ground floor, while the guerril- 21 (Pti): The Supreme Court others have committed con- mount to criminal contempt as called" cultural event held at has agreed to hear tomorrow a tempt of the court which had the respondents are calling the JNU on February 9 that termed voy, the group of three to five las are in the upper floors. heavily-armed guerrillas, said Meanwhile, dozens of pro- plea seeking contempt action delivered the verdict. The plea, judges of the apex court as killers death sentence to Guru and to be of the Lashkar-e-Taiba testers resorted to heavy stone against jailed JNUSU president filed by lawyer Vineet Dhanda, who have been projected to have Maqbool Bhatt as "judicial kill(LeT), had entered the JKEDI pelting at the security forces in Kanhaiya Kumar, former DU refers to the apex court verdict, committed judicial killing of Afzal ing", the plea said.

The students, who organised complex where around 120 Pampore town and some other lecturer SAR Gilani and few oth- pronounced on August 4, 2005 Guru," the plea said.

"Afzal and Yakub Memon were the event, also used social mestaff members were inside the places close to the gunfight site. ers on the ground that they al- in the case, by which Guru was complex.

Two protesters sustained inju- legedly termed the execution of handed down death penalty for no martyrs as projected by the dia platforms and "tarnished" All the civilians were safely ries in tear smoke shelling and Afzal Guru as "judicial killing". being part of the conspiracy in group of students of JNU. The Su- the image of Supreme Court, it preme Court has already passed a alleged.Besides Kanhaiya and A bench of Chief Justice T the attack on Parliament. evacuated before the operation aerial firing by security forc"The so-called cultural event's detailed judgement in both cases Gilani, the plea has sought conwas started by the security forc- es to disperse the protesters. S Thakur and Justices R Banues against the holed up guerril- The Srinagar-Jammu national mathi and U U Lalit fixed the pamphlets spoke about the ju- after giving due consideration as tempt action against Umar Khalas.Security forces on Sunday highway remained closed for contempt plea for hearing on dicial killing of Afzal Guru. The per law after going through the lid, Lenin Kumar, Anirban Bhattacharya, Shehla Rashid Shora pressed drones into service to the second day Sunday due to Monday when the plea alleged main topic of the 'cultural event' evidence," it further said. pinpoint the exact location of the gunfight.

Pamphlets were allegedly and Ali Javed.. that by terming the execution organised was judicial killing of

10 Indian sailors hijacked off Ivory Coast rescued

SC to hear contempt plea against Kanhaiya, Gilani today

Indian peacekeepers take robust measures to protect South Sudan refugees Unitednations,FebrUary21 (ians): Indian peacekeepers are "taking robust measures to protect South Sudan refugees sheltered in a massive camp where 18 people have been killed and scores injured this week in fighting between ethnic groups -- which has come under attack from the South Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA), according to a source monitoring the situation from here.

The fighting started Wednesday between young people belonging to the Shilluk and Dinka tribes in the Malakal camp in South Sudan and SPLA members fired into the camp and also entered it attacking civilians, the Security Council said Friday in a press statement.

At that point, the source at the UN told IANS, "the Indian troops went in and even fired with their APCs (armored personnel carriers) and other things to get the situation under control." The SPLA, "although they would deny it, fired into the camp from the outside also" and the Indian peacekeepers "took robust measures externally to prevent any SPLA soldiers from harming these people and getting the situation under control," the source added.

The internal security of the camp is the responsibility of the UN police forces, while the external protection is of the troops. The troops back up the police inside in emergencies. The source said that SPLA members were able to get inside the camp as civilians "because they are Dinkas they can wear civvies." It was also possible for them to bring in weapons through the Dinkas who live inside the camp and can go in and out, the source added.

There were no casualties among the peacekeepers, the source said. Out of the 2,273 Indian peacekeepers in the UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) about 550 are stationed in Malakal.

Rwandan peacekeepers are also based there and operate alongside Indians.

Medecins Sans Frontiers, the Switzerland-headquartered international medical charity, said two of those killed were its staff members.

Amid rising tensions in South Sudan, Secretary-General Ban Kimoon is scheduled to visit it next week, his spokesman Stephane Dujarric announced Friday. He added that Ban condemned the latest round of violence and expressed concern over "the rising inter-communal ten-

A file photo of Indian peacekeepers on patrol in South Sudan. (IANS Photo)

sions between the Dinka and Shilluk which precipitated this incident."

Both Ban and the Council issued a stern warning that attacks on civilians and UN facilities and peacekeepers may constitute war crimes.

Ban's Deputy Special Representative in South Sudan, Moustapha Soumare, told the Council Friday that in response to the growing tension, UNMISS had adopted "a more agile posture" to protect civilians and was conducting long-duration patrols away from its bases and setting up temporary operating bases in areas

of heightened tension.

The refugee camp, known as a protection of civilian (POC) site, at Malakal in Upper Nile state is run by the UNMISS and houses over 47,000 people fleeing the civil war. People from rival tribes, whose members fight outside, are sheltered together in the camp and this sometimes leads to flareups. South Sudan got its independence from Sudan in 2011 and two years ago the civil war started between President Salva Kiir Mayardit and Vice President Riek Machar and their supporters.

Joblessness highest among Christians, Muslims next new delhi, FebrUary 21 (tnn): Joblessness is highest among Christians in comparison with other religious groups, reveals a government survey.

The unemployment rate in the community stood at 4.5% in villages and 5.9% in cities and towns in 201112. Muslims come next with an unemployment rate of 3.9% in rural and 2.6% in urban areas.

Joblessness increased in villages across all religious communities, with the unemployment rate increasing from 1.6% in 2004-05 to 1.7% in 201112, according to the National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO).

Many view the high unemployment rate among Christians as also a reflection of the higher education levels of community members who are in job market. Christians have the highest percentage of graduates.

Though the unemployment rate in urban areas came down across all religions from 4.5% in 2004-05 to 3.4% in 2011-12, it remained higher than in rural areas. Unemployment rates were lowest for Sikhs in villages (1.3%) and Hindus in urban areas (3.3%).

The survey has raised serious questions regarding the former UPA government's policies for inclusiveness, with some analysts arguing that the

measures failed to generate enough jobs in villages. Majority of workers in rural areas were self-employed.

The proportion of self-employment among males was the highest for Christians (56.6%); among females the share of self-employment was the highest among Sikhs (79%).

In rural areas, a significant proportion of workers (about 35%) — both males and females were engaged as casual labour. Among males, share of casual labour was the highest for Muslims (37.3%) and lowest among Christians (27.4%) while among females, share of casual labour was the highest among Hindus (36.6%) and lowest among Sikhs (14.8%).

Among rural males and females, proportion of regular wage or salaried employment was the highest for Christians (16.1% for males and 14% for females).

In urban India, the share of selfemployed and salaried employees were almost the same. In cities, highest selfemployment was among Muslims and Sikhs male (52.8%) and for females it was the highest for Muslims (61.3%).

The proportion of salaried employment was highest for Christians (49.4%for males and 64.7% for females).

MondaY 22•02 •2016

WORLD

THE MORUNG EXPRESS

9

After sealing EU deal, Cameron faces harder battle LONDON, February 21 (reuTerS): When Prime Minister David Cameron sealed a deal designed to keep Britain in the European Union after two days of talks in Brussels, his relief was short-lived.

Within hours of Friday’s agreement, one of Cameron’s closest allies, Justice Secretary Michael Gove, and five other ministers declared they would campaign against him in a June 23 referendum on whether Britain should stay in the bloc.

It was the first blow in what could be a new “civil war” in Cameron’s Conservative Party over Europe.

Divisions over Britain’s place in Europe contributed to the downfall of two of his predecessors, John Major and Margaret Thatcher.

It is a war Cameron tried hard to avoid when he came to power in 2010. The following year he ordered his party in the strictest terms to vote down a bill suggesting a referendum on membership of the EU, saying it was the “wrong answer for Britain”.

But within two years, he had changed his mind, paving the way to a membership referendum, by declaring: “I believe in confronting this issue - shaping it, leading the debate. Not simply hoping a difficult situation will go away.”

Cameron, 49, now finds himself fighting a referendum which will determine Britain’s future in world affairs and shape the future EU - Britain is the bloc’s second-largest economy and one of its two main military powers.

In a quirk of the British political system, the prime minister is in the unusual

British politicians (L-R) John Whittingdale, Theresa Villiers, Michael Gove, Chris Grayling, Iain Duncan Smith and Priti Patel pose for a photograph at the launch of the Vote Leave campaign, at the group’s headquarters in central London on February 20. (REUTERS Photo)

position of being more sure of the backing of the opposition Labour Party than of his own party.

“He didn’t want a referendum, he was bounced into doing it,” said Douglas Carswell, a Conservative Party member until he defected to the eurosceptic UK Independence Party (UKIP) in 2014. “He’s been the actor in this production, he is not writing the script, or directing it, or producing it.”

As a eurosceptic, Carswell has an axe to grind, but his view that Cameron has almost sleep walked into such a crucial referendum is shared by some of the prime minister’s allies and supporters as well

as other critics. “I think it’s pretty clear ... there was no plan,” said Jonathan Portes, principal research fellow at the National Institute of Economic and Social Research who specialises in immigration issues.

SUSPICION The deal reached on Friday followed weeks of negotiations across Europe in which Cameron tried to win better terms for Britain if it remains in the EU, hoping to win over sceptical voters including many in his own party.

He said he had won his country a “special status” from the agreement, which excludes Britain from the founding goal of “ever closer

union” and hands the government welfare curbs to try to tackle concerns over high levels of migration.

A spokesman for Cameron said the prime minister had always focused on winning “the best deal for the British people” and denied the negotiations had been about “party management”. But Cameron’s path to the referendum shows he is clearly sensitive to the opinions in his party.

He initially steered clear of discussing the EU with party eurosceptics after coming to power and avoided meetings with them and, to reduce their hold, portrayed them “as a crackpot minority banging on about Europe”, one Con-

servative lawmaker said.

Allies say Cameron knew he had to counter the threat of rebellion and took a calculated risk by calling a referendum he expects to win. But as the prime minister tried to ignore the issue, Britain’s largely eurosceptic press kept the issue alive.

Over decades Britain’s press has fuelled suspicion of a bloc praised by many Europeans for ensuring peace after World War Two, but derided in Britain for wanting to ban curved bananas and rename sausages.

A natural, if not passionate, europhile, Cameron increasingly seemed out of step with many in

his party as they opposed moves towards further integration in Europe and saw a referendum as the logical next step.

In 2011, when Cameron ordered Conservative members of parliament to vote down a bill suggesting a membership referendum, about 80 rebelled.

John Baron was one of them. Immediately afterwards, Baron said he and at least eight rallied more than 100 lawmakers to force Cameron to abandon his no-referendum policy and, after they wrote letters and lobbied fiercely, more than a year later he relented. He then made holding a referendum a central policy.

Baron told Reuters that Cameron was “ultimately confronted with logic but also a realisation that one, we weren’t going to go away, and two, we were much more sizeable than the spin operation portrayed”.

Baron is keen to take credit for his role in forcing the prime minister into holding the referendum.

But bullied into the vote, Cameron hastily had to come up with policy on the hoof, sources said.

Portes, who as a civil servant helped negotiate Britain’s opt-out from the Maastricht treaty which set up the euro currency, said Cameron’s decision to focus on winning concessions over “in-work benefits” - social payments for low-paid workers - had underlined the lack of strategy.

The focus on a specific, and otherwise littleknown, element of Britain’s welfare system maddened some EU officials, who saw it as a direct attack on the EU’s fundamental princi-

ples and discriminatory. It almost derailed the negotiations.

Pat McFadden, Labour’s former Europe minister, says this was down to Cameron’s poor understanding of the EU. “He doesn’t always do his homework on a European level,” McFadden told Reuters.

Cameron aides say the prime minister has plenty of experience of EU affairs, visiting 20 member states for talks on the bloc since he was re-elected last year.

Cameron was forced to focus on in-work benefits after concerns over immigration grew among voters over an influx of migrants from eastern European member states. His move was also partly meant to counter a growth in the popularity of UKIP. In 2014, he said he would “not take no for an answer and when it comes to free movement I will get what Britain needs”. But EU officials swiftly made clear they would not allow this, saying it would undermine one of the EU’s founding principles.

Struggling to find a way to include immigration in the renegotiation, Cameron’s eye fell on a report by the Open Europe think tank which suggested that curbing the benefits to EU workers would reduce migration and would avoid troublesome change to the bloc’s founding treaties.

“And they just lifted it, without testing it, without doing any serious analysis at all, either legal or economic,” said Portes.

Open Europe’s co-director, Stephen Booth, said that his study was quickly taken up by the government

and advisers did not ask legal questions. Cameron’s officials say the prime minister has formed policy in response to public concerns over high immigration.

Although agreement was reached on Friday, the decision to include gestures for Britain on welfare reform still rankles in EU capitals. One diplomat involved in the talks said Britain’s EU partners were “rather irritated ... that here we are dealing with some rather obscure issues... while we have ... major issues we should really be on instead of this”.

STUMBLES For eurosceptics, the curbs on in-work benefits and restrictions to payments to EU migrants with an annual income below a certain level for their children who remain abroad do not go far enough and accuse Cameron of buckling under pressure from the EU. “Britain banged the table and aggressively demanded the status quo,” Daniel Hannan, a Conservative member of the European Parliament, wrote on Twitter. “The EU, after some mandatory faux-agonising, agreed.”

“He’s tinkering because he knows he cannot question one of the founding principles of the EU which is freedom of movement,” said Baron. Baron said the result of the referendum would be close and “lance the boil” in the party for good.

But others disagree, seeing little chance of ‘the Europe issue’ ever going away - something that may come to hurt Cameron whichever way Britain votes.

Assad says he is ready for truce Cyclone Winston: Fiji super cyclone kills Pope calls for worldwide if “terrorists” do not exploit it atleast five, raises fears of health crisis abolition of death penalty

Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad speaks during a meeting with members of the Central Bar Association in Damascus, in this handout picture provided by SANA on February 15. (REUTERS Photo)

beIruT/MaDrID, February 21 (reuTerS): Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said on Saturday he was ready for a ceasefire, on condition “terrorists” did not use a lull in fighting to their advantage and that countries backing insurgents halted support for them.

His comments were made as the Syrian opposition said it had agreed to the “possibility” of a temporary truce, provided there were guarantees Damascus’s allies including Russia would cease fire, sieges were lifted and aid deliveries were allowed country-wide.

“We have said that we are ready to stop military operations, but the issue relates to more important factors ... such as preventing terrorists from using it to improve their positions,” Assad told Spanish newspaper El Pais in an interview.

He also said any truce must ensure that “other countries, especially Turkey, are prevented from sending more terrorists and weapons, or any kind of logistical support”.

Damascus refers to all insurgents fighting against the Syrian army and its allies as terrorists.

Turkey, other Sunni regional powers and Western countries have supported insurgents fighting against Assad, whose forces are bolstered by Iran, Russia and Lebanese Hezbollah.

Asked about the possibility of Turkey and Saudi Arabia sending ground forces into Syria, Assad said: “We’re going to deal with them like we deal with the terrorists.

We’re going to defend our country. This is aggression.”

Attempts to negotiate a truce in recent months have failed. The latest round of talks at the United Nations in Geneva is being jointly chaired by Russia and the United States.

World powers agreed in Munich on Feb. 12 to a cessation of hostilities that would let humanitarian aid be delivered in Syria.

The ceasefire was scheduled to start a week later, but did not take effect. Syrian army offensives continue unabated across the country, backed by Russian air strikes.

Assad said last week he would keep “fighting terrorism” while peace talks took place, vowing to retake the whole country.

He told El Pais his troops were now close to fully controlling the northern city of Aleppo and were advancing towards the Islamic State stronghold of Raqqa province.

Once he has control of the country, Assad also said in the interview, the next step would be to form a national unity government that would lay the groundwork for a new constitution and general elections.

SyDNey, February 21 (reuTerS): Downed power lines and flooding are hampering relief efforts in Fiji after one of the most powerful storms recorded in the southern hemisphere tore through the Pacific island nation, flattening remote villages and killing at least 5 people.

Harsh winds and torrential rains tore up homes and cut power, water and communications links across the nation of about 900,000 people, although Suva, the capital, escaped the brunt after the storm changed direction at the last minute. Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama confirmed the death toll and declared a 30-day state of emergency, with schools ordered to shut and a nationwide curfew extended until Monday morning.

“When we are able we will provide timelines for the return of water and power,” he said, adding that electricity supply to some areas had been deliberately cut to avert further damage. The archipelago of about 300 islands hit late on Saturday by tropical cyclone Winston, which

packed winds of 230 kph (143 mph) that gusted up to 325 kph (202 mph).

Businessman Jay Dayal, who lives near Rakiraki, on the north coast of Fiji’s main island where the cyclone hit land, said the storm damage was extensive. “I wouldn’t be surprised if people are now starting to go without food,” Dayal told Reuters. “It looks like a different country, it doesn’t look like Fiji.”

Humanitarian agencies warned Fiji may be facing a potential health crisis, mainly due to the lack of electricity. Low-lying river areas where hundreds of people live in tin sheds are also particularly vulnerable, aid workers said. “We need electricity to ensure pumps are working and for sterilization,” Raijeli Nicole, an official of aid agency Oxfam, told Reuters by telephone that flights have been scheduled on Sunday to assess damage in remote areas.

homes were reported to have been destroyed. “Some villages have reported that all homes have been destroyed,” Jone Tuiipelehaki of the United Nations Development Program tweeted late on Saturday.

People flocked to 758 evacuation centres on Saturday, while tourists hunkered down in hotel ballrooms and conference rooms in coastal areas. “The images that we’re starting to see roll in are terrifying,” Alice Clements, a UNICEF official based in Suva said by telephone, describing visuals of a car on a building roof and a small plane nose down in debris.

Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop, who offered to send a P-3 Orion aircraft to help in the relief effort, said about 1,200 Australians were registered as being in Fiji, although there could be many more.

Australians are frequent travellers to the archipelago, which gets around EXTENSIVE DAMAGE 340,000 tourists each year. Airlines An elderly man died on Koro Virgin and Jetstar on Saturday susIsland when a roof fell on him, au- pended flights to Fiji, and the nathorities said. In a nearby village, 50 tional carrier suspended all flights.

VaTICaN CITy, February 21 (reuTerS): Pope Francis on Sunday called for the worldwide abolition of the death penalty, saying the commandment “You shall not kill” was absolute and equally valid for the guilty as for the innocent. Using some of his strongest words ever against capital punishment, he also called on Catholic politicians worldwide to make “a courageous and exemplary gesture” by seeking a moratorium on executions during the Church’s current Holy Year, which ends in November.

“I appeal to the consciences of those who govern to reach an international consensus to abolish the death penalty,” he told tens of thousands of people in St. Peter’s Square. “The commandment “You shall not kill,” has absolute value and applies to both the innocent and the guilty,” he told the crowd. The 1.2 billion-mem-

ber Catholic Church allowed the death penalty in extreme cases for centuries, but the position began to change under the late Pope John Paul, who died in 2005.

The pope added that there was now “a growing opposition to the death penalty even for the legitimate defence of society” because modern means existed to “efficiently repress crime without definitively denying the person who committed it the possibility of rehabilitating themselves.” Francis made the comments to throw his weight behind an international conference against the death penalty starting Monday in Rome and organised by the Sant’Egidio Community, a worldwide Catholic peace and justice group. Francis, who has visited a number of jails since his election as pope nearly three years ago - the latest in Mexico last week - also called for better prison conditions.

Drinking coffee may undo liver damage from booze Lisa Rapaport Reuters Health

Drinking more coffee might help reduce the kind of liver damage that’s associated with overindulging in food and alcohol, a review of existing studies suggests.

Researchers analyzed data from nine previously published studies with a total of more than 430,000 participants and found that drinking two additional cups of coffee a day was linked to a 44% lower risk of developing liver cirrhosis.

“Cirrhosis is potentially fatal and there is no cure as such,” said lead study author Dr. Oliver Kennedy of Southampton University in the U.K. “Therefore, it is significant that the risk of developing cirrhosis may be reduced by consumption of coffee, a cheap, ubiquitous and well-tolerated beverage,” Kennedy added by email.

Cirrhosis kills more than one million people every year worldwide. It

can be caused by hepatitis infections, excessive alcohol consumption, immune disorders, and fatty liver disease, which is tied to obesity and diabetes.

Kennedy and colleagues did a pooled analysis of average coffee consumption across earlier studies to see how much adding two additional cups each day might influence the odds of liver disease.

Combined, the studies included 1,990 patients with cirrhosis.

In eight of the nine studies analyzed, increasing coffee consumption by two cups a day was associated with a significant reduction in the risk of cirrhosis.

In all but one study, the risk of cirrhosis continued to decline as daily cups of coffee climbed.

Compared to no coffee consumption, researchers estimated one cup a day was tied to a 22% lower risk of cirrhosis. With two cups, the risk dropped by 43%, while it declined 57% for

Cups of cappuccino sit on a table during the World Coffee Conference in Guatemala City. (REUTERS File Photo)

three cups and 65% with four cups.

But the results still leave some unresolved questions.

One study, for example, found a stronger link between coffee consumption and reduced cirrhosis risk with filtered coffee than

with boiled coffee.

And, while the studies accounted for alcohol consumption, not all them accounted for other cirrhosis risk factors like obesity and diabetes, the authors note in the journal Alimentary Pharmacology and Therapeutics, online January 25.

Patients also shouldn’t take the findings to mean loading up on frothy caramel lattes packed with sugar and topped with whipped cream is a good way to prevent liver disease, Kennedy cautioned.

It’s also not clear exactly how coffee might lead to a

healthier liver, or whether the type of beans or brewing method matter.

“Coffee is a complex mixture containing hundreds of chemical compounds, and it is unknown which of these is responsible for protecting the liver,” Kennedy said.

It’s also important to note that coffee isn’t powerful enough to counteract lifestyle choices that can severely damage the liver, said Samantha Heller, a senior clinical nutritionist at New York University Langone Medical Center in New York who wasn’t involved in the study.

“Unfortunately, although coffee contains compounds that have antioxidant effects and anti-inflammatory properties, drinking a few cups of coffee a day cannot undo the systematic damage that is the result of being overweight or obese, sedentary, excessive alcohol consumption or drastically mitigate an unhealthy diet,” Heller said by email.

10

monDAY 22•02•2016

SPORTS

THE MORUNG EXPRESS

Could return to Inter Milan: Mourinho MIlan, FebRUaRy 21 (IanS): Veteran football manager Jose Mourinho admitted that he could make a move to coach Italian club Inter Milan in future. The 53-year-old attended the Nerazzurri's Serie A clash with Sampdoria on Saturday. He spent two years incharge of Inter before leaving in 2010 after winning the treble in his final season at San Siro. "This is like coming back home to a family. It feels like it's been six days more than six years since I've been away. The greatest thing about football, more important than results or victories, is the human rapport and friendship that remains," Mourinho was quoted as saying by goal.com on Saturday. "Could I return to Inter one day? Why not. I returned to Chelsea, so why not back to Inter too? I just want everything to go well for the current president and Roberto Mancini at Inter." The Portuguese is currently out of work after being sacked by English club Chelsea in December and has been strongly been linked to Manchester United. But he said Inter is another possible destination.

Rafa Nadal dumped from Rio semi-finals by Uruguayan battler london, FebRUaRy 21(ReUTeRS): Rafa Nadal's below-par season has continued with the former world number one dumped from the Rio Open semi-finals with a 6-7(6) 7-6(3) 6-4 defeat by unseeded Uruguayan Pablo Cuevas on Saturday.

The top seed pipped Cuevas in a first set tie-break and denied his opponent two set points in the second but succumbed to his first defeat against the world number 45. "I lost an opportunity, that's it," Spaniard Nadal said after being denied his 100th ATP final by claycourt specialist Cuevas who fired 48 winners to clinch the contest. "I fought until the end. I have to accept it and keep working to try to change the dynamic. That's what's happening today and I have to work hard to change it," added the 14-times grand slam champion. "I didn't win a title, so it wasn't a positive two tournaments. I had my chances in both. I lost in the semi-finals of both tournaments and just have to look forward to Indian Wells." Cuevas will meet another unseeded player in Guido Pella in the claycourt final after the Argentine's 6-1 6-4 humbling of fifth seed Dominic Thiem, who beat Nadal in the semi-finals in Buenos Aires last week. World number five Nadal, who failed to win a grand slam title last year for the first time since 2004, entered the season positive after an injury-free off-season but was dumped out of the first round of the Australian Open and has struggled to return to his best form since.

Comebacks are much more difficult than debuts: Nehra

KolKaTa, FebRUaRy 21 (PTI): Back in the national cricket team after being ignored for almost five years, veteran India pacer Ashish Nehra on Sunday said it is tougher to make a comeback than making a debut. The 37-year-old last played for India in the semifinal of the victorious 2011 World Cup campaign against Pakistan. After missing the final due to a finger injury, he was overlooked for nearly five years before being recalled for the three-match T20 series against Australia last month. "It's very difficult to make a comeback. Comebacks are much more difficult than debuts. I've made a comeback after 36," said Nehra at the open media session before the Indian team's departure to Bangladesh for the Asia Cup. He said it was tough for the pacers to keep performing. "It's not easy for pacers to keep performing day in and day out.

There will be pressure. You have to keep working hard. I train to play international cricket, not aim to play only domestic cricket," said Nehra. Since his return to the T20 side, Nehra has picked seven wickets in six matches against Australia and Sri Lanka. "You don't play many T20Is. IPL is a great help for us when it comes to T20 cricket. You get used to it as a bowler. You just practice according. It's not a big deal for me. I'm somebody bowling up front or one or two overs in the death. The more you play, the better you become," he said. On his chemistry with young pacer Jasprit Bumrah, Nehra said, "It's a good experience. It is not that I always tell him the things. We are two completely different kind of bowlers...different actions. We're having a good partnership. Hopefully, we can do well in next couple of months.

Nehra feels that everyone has to contribute on the field whether he is a junior or a senior. "I don't believe in that but everybody has to contribute. On the field, I always try to talk to Hardik (Pandya) and I'm happy to do that job. Everybody has seen what Bumrah and Pandya have done recently.

T

burns, smith centuries put Australia in charge

CHRISTCHURCH, FebRUaRy 21 (ReUTeRS): Joe Burns and Steve Smith capitalised on perfect batting conditions to score centuries as Australia reduced New Zealand's lead to just seven runs at the end of day two of the second test on Sunday.

Neil Wagner dismissed both batsmen in identical fashion in the final halfhour to give his side some late reward for a day of toil under a cloudless Christchurch sky.

"Obviously the two wickets at the end helped us and were quite crucial," Wagner told reporters. "A bit of luck for us that we've been trying to get all day and obviously got us back into a bit of a better position at the end of the day. "Six wickets to get is still a long way, a lot of hard work to do and a bit of focus tomorrow on making that happen."

Burns, who had been dismissed early in his innings only to have the decision overturned on review, was well caught low down

by Martin Guptill at square

Steven Smith celebrates his hundred with Joe Burns, New Zealand v Australia, 2nd Test, Christchurch, 2nd day, February 21. (Getty Images)

leg for 170, his highest test score and third century.

Smith also fell to a short ball in Wagner's next over for 138, his 14th test cen-

tury, caught by the same fielder.

Adam Voges was on two with nightwatchman Nathan Lyon on four as

the visitors ended the day 363 for four, having all but mowed down New Zealand's first innings 370.

Having won the opener

in Wellington comprehensively, Australia need only draw in Christchurch to clinch the two-match series and take the number one ranking in test cricket.

New Zealand's only other success on a wicket offering little for the bowlers was when Usman Khawaja fell in the first hour for 24 off paceman Trent Boult.

Burns and Smith then combined in a 289-run third wicket partnership, a record for Australia against New Zealand.

Burns was given out caught behind on 35 but immediately asked for a review and television replays showed the Matt Henry delivery had brushed his forearm and not his gloves.

"I was confident I was not out. I didn't change anything the next ball I was facing ... it's very satisfying," Burns said of his century.

"I've done a lot of work with this tour coming up. It'll give me a lot of confidence going forward, you always want to be backing up individual performances."

Presidential rivals Champagne, Infantino clash over FIFA finances

ZURICH, FebRUaRy 21 (ReUTeRS): FIFA presidential candidate Jerome Champagne has criticised the plans of rival Gianni Infantino as financially "dangerous" for global soccer's beleaguered ruling body.

Infantino's campaign organisers said in response his proposals were feasible and could be achieved by savings in FIFA and possibly an increase in revenue.

In a letter to FIFA's 209 member national associations (FAs), who each hold one vote in the election, Champagne suggested on Saturday that Infantino's plans could add an extra $900 million to FIFA's expenditure over the next four years.

FIFA is engulfed by a graft scandal that has led to the indictment of several dozen leading soccer officials in the United States, and is under enormous pressure to reform.

Frenchman Champagne and the Swiss Infantino are among five candidates standing to replace outgoing FIFA president Sepp Blatter, himself banned for eight years for ethics violations, in Friday's election.

Infantino, the general secretary of European soccer's governing body UEFA since 2009, has promised to distribute 5 million dollars every four years to each FA for football development, plus $40 million to each of the six continental confederations over the same period.

In the published on Saturday

FIFA presidential candidate Jerome Champagne of France attends a news conference at the European Parliament in Brussels, Belgium, January 27, 2016. (REUTERS/Files)

letter, Champagne said that Infantino had made "tempting proposals on paper, which in reality are very dangerous".

He said FIFA's budget for the 2015-18 cycle, which was approved by the FIFA Congress in 2014, predicted an estimated income of 5 billion dollars over the four years.

He said that, although FIFA had initially projected a $100 million profit for the period, that could turn into a deficit of $600 million.

"FIFA is currently going through a difficult period with a deficit of about $100 million in 2015," he said.

Its problems included "many contracts with economic partners

that remain unsigned to date, a worst-case projected reduction in income of $600 million until 2018, and the possibility of a fine at the end of the ongoing investigations," Champagne said.

"It seems therefore ludicrous to promise nearly a billion dollars with political and electoral objectives, after having criticised FIFA and President Blatter for years on the alleged grounds that he received votes in exchange for development programs.

"The situation requires that we employ very careful management, and a significant reduction of administrative costs, until the smoke clears and we have a clear handle

on the financial future of FIFA." Infantino's campaign organisers, whose numbers differed slightly from Champagne's, said in reply that the Swiss had a long experience with financial matters.

"He's absolutely sure his proposals are feasible and ... will be easy to put in place considering that we're talking about reinvesting back into football development $1.2 billion out of $5.5 billion revenues," they said in a statement.

"That’s in fact what FIFA should be all about. Football development, not politics, political intrigues or personal attacks.

"Gianni Infantino knows how much it costs to organise a European championship or a World Cup. He know what the personnel and consultancy costs are in FIFA and in UEFA. The statement said that "very significant savings can easily be made in FIFA's costs so that the amount for reinvestment in football will actually be much higher than the 1.2 billion he (Infantino) is proposing."

Infantino's camp added that "a potential growth of revenues which can quite easily be achieved and his track record in UEFA shows what can be done on the revenue side". The other candidates are Asian Football Confederation (AFC) president Sheikh Salman Bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa, Prince Ali Bin Al Hussein of Jordan and South African businessman and politician Tokyo Sexwale.

public discourse

he Good Lord gave every living creature on planet earth a unique gift called brains. Above all His creation He further gave mankind the supreme ability and liberty to think positively or negatively; constructively or destructively. In order to help and guide mankind to maintain a decent equilibrium between good and bad He also blessed us with the Good Book called the Bible. As professed Christians, the burden of God's curse on Naga generations has comparatively multiplied because the leaders knowingly choose to act with greed, ego and selfperpetuation as their guiding principle clearly aware that this negative nature will lead the people down the bottomless abyss but do it anyway. The common man must share equal responsibility of this downfall along with our so-called leaders because we too irresponsibly elected/selected or allowed them to become our leaders by carelessly compromising our franchise for money. If we care to dispassionately review our journey for self-determination it would dawn on us that God has invariably been withdrawing His wisdom from our leaders at every critical juncture of history causing confusion and selfdestruction instead. The classical inability to condemn Shillong Accord of 1975 for instance, is one such glaring example that broke the political backbone of the Naga National Movement (NNM) with a disastrous result of a divided weakened house that fought against each other rather than their common enemy. While God cursed the Israelites for their iniquities by making them roam the wilderness for forty years before reaching their promised land, the Nagas have already done our wilderness for more than sixty years with no real end in sight still.

Do we honestly recognise our curse? Today we are at a threshold of yet another epic historical moment that will decide the fate of Naga destiny. Our leaders have a choice to exercise God given wisdom with humility sans personal self-perpetuating ego or do so with complete arrogance. It is our collective prayer that God will help them to choose the former and release us from His curse.

Now getting back to our ground reality... all our local dailies carried a news item of what Madam Sonia Gandhi, Congress President said to the Joint Legislative Forum (JLF) on February 20. 2016 at New Delhi: (quote) "We are not privy to the contents of the Naga peace accord and we cannot give a blank cheque of support as

WHeN Will We eVer leArN? Khekiye K. Sema IAS (Rtd), Kohima

of now" but that her party was prepared to support the Naga peace accord only "if the contents of agreement were in the interest of the Nagas, Northeast and the Nation" (unquote). Read that again very carefully...under the given circumstance this is a well disguised hollow assurance without assurance because she does not know the contents of the agreement. That insignificant looking little word "if" is a two edged sword. Yes we can believe that NSCN (IM) will surely have the interest of the Nagas at heart but what if the agreement contained issues that would negatively impact on the other North Eastern States and the Nation from their point of view? If so, it also necessarily means her party's support for the Naga accord would not be forthcoming.

On the surface, the effort of JLF to create political awareness about the Naga peace accord in the mainland is not necessarily a misplaced mission. However, the bottom-line question here is: "what awareness are they trying to create when they do not know anything about the contents of this agreement"? Simply asking the GoI to speed up the peace process is stupidity personified without knowing a thing about the ongoing process. The whole exercise in real terms can only ends up being a Shakespearean comedy of 'much ado about nothing'. Our present priority is to decidedly make an effort to know the contents of what is in that agreement so that we can exercise our wisdom either ways. No one in their right senses would blindly support something that one has no knowledge about. Madam Sonia Gandhi has made this amply clear. Is it still so difficult for the Nagas to comprehend these simple basics?

Let us now honestly assess other realities without bias. We are talking about a 'negotiated settlement' which would necessarily involve an element of give and take. It would normally imply that Nagas will not get everything we want. This is quite apparent. Given the non-transparent nature of the framework agreement the Nagas should be prepared to anticipate anything short of our original expectations to transpire from this. It is precisely because of this uncertain factor that all NPGs need to be brought on board so that whatever settlement is arrived at has a

collective endorsement of all the stakeholders. This will effectively eliminate the excuse for any NPG faction to want to continue the struggle and carry on exacting their backbreaking 'sovereignty tax' from the already overburdened masses. It is in the interest of the Nagas to have all NPG factions legitimately and officially brought on board at the negotiating table to avoid another bloodbath in the aftermath. Therefore JLF should instead be placing its prioritised focus to achieve this end first and only then carry out their mainland awareness campaign thereafter. Why do Nagas always choose to place the cart before the horse?

On the other hand, it is hardly the opportune moment in history for NSCN (IM) to be going on an arrogant ego picnic. It is a common knowledge that all NPGs including the NSCN (IM) have committed political, social and economic atrocities in equal measure against the people in course of this long journey for emancipation.

Self-righteously pointing fingers and damning others is downright hypocritical and server no one's interest. It is equally distasteful to be flying "Nagaland for Christ" flag when we deliberately harbour unforgiving and persecuting attitudes in our actions far removed from true Christian principles. The stubborn glory-hunting urge of NSCN (IM) wanting to go it alone can only usher in another disastrous consequence of a civil war amongst the Nagas. God is withdrawing His wisdom from our leaders once more. When will we ever learn?

Somewhere at the back of NSCN (IM)'s mind there seems to be a dangerous lingering calculation that if they succeed in taking the reins of Government after the negotiated settlement with GoI, they can officially declare all the other NPGs as anti-national elements and hunt them down one by one with the newly recruited NSCN (IM) cadre Army under a facade of legitimacy. Similarly the indifference of GoI towards other factions seems to stem from the comfort of their probable deduction that most of the other NPGs are their own creation in the first place and therefore has the leverage to compromise them with money even without officially acknowledging them at the negotiating table. All may not necessarily fall

within that category. Should some of them stand their ground and want to continue the struggle it can only lead to a compulsive 'wipe out' option. Nagas will be turning the hands of the clock back to head-hunting our own kind and this time it will not be the Indian Army doing the dirty job. We the civilians will helplessly be caught in the middle of this crossfire all over again. Such is the damning scenario awaiting the Nagas in the aftermath of NSCN (IM)'s solo negotiated settlement if it is short of full sovereignty.

In the backdrop of a rather dark overcast horizon of uncompromising arrogance of NSCN (IM) the only silver lining is the news of the formation of a Working Committee of NNC/FGN attempting to get their house in order and to try a reconciliation effort with the other factions.

Once the cancer of Shillong Accord is formally operated and removed by a United National Parliament other awkward jigsaw puzzles ought to conveniently fall in place.

On a personal note one has absolutely nothing but respect for Madam Adino representing the elder generation who have sacrificed so much for the Nagas. However, on the issue of the present political logjam within the NNM, the unbiased view being held is that Madam Adino has two possible action options: (a) Clear the Naga National Movement (NNM) roadblock by gracefully retiring herself and the NNC (Accordist) tsunami from the Naga National scene; or (b) officially and unambiguously condemn the Shillong Accord and reconstruct the NNC/ FGN House back to its former glory if she believes she is a true Nationalist. Even a child can see that an undivided NNC/FGN cannot happen as long as she remains President NNC (Accordist) faction. She unfortunately is the destabilising roadblock that must give way if the Nagas are to forge ahead together. This is the supreme sacrifice she is expected to undertake for the greater good of the Nagas. We must try to perceive and believe in ourselves that if all NPGs of Nagas of Nagaland are united under one banner...the GoI and NSCN (IM) will have less choice but to sit up and acknowledge the original historical base that began the NNM in the first place. Then Nagas of Nagaland can have their rightful say in the final settlement that is otherwise being denied to them as of now. The important thing to understand is the urgency of time factor which is in short supply against the fast developing tide. May The Good Lord grant our leaders the wisdom and the courage to do the right thing this time ... Amen.

Readers may please note that the contents of the articles, letters and opinions published do not reflect the outlook of this paper nor of the Editor in any form.

Monday 22•02•2016

EntErtainmEnt

Justin Bieber urged not Nawazuddin Siddiqui, the new to get another monkey favorite in the Brand world N

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rammy Awardwinning singer Justin Bieber has been told by the North American Primate Sanctuary Alliance (NAPSA) that he would be "irresponsible" to get another monkey as a pet.

The "Sorry" hitmaker previously had capuchin monkey OG Mally as his pet, but the animal was taken off him by officials when he travelled to Germany in March 2013 and put into quarantine.

Now, NAPSA has issued a statement urging Bieber, 21, to turn his attention to a different pet as he cannot provide the correct care a monkey needs to live, reports aceshowbiz.com.

"Please do not repeat this foolish endeavour. It is simply not possible to fulfil the unique needs of your monkey within a private home... It will prove dangerous to both you and your monkey, as well as irresponsible when it comes to your public following," read the statement.

Recalling what happened when OG Mally was

seized from him, Bieber said: "Everyone told me not to bring the monkey. Everybody told me not to bring the monkey. I was like, 'It's gonna be fine, guys!' It was the farthest thing from fine."

"In Germany, that monkey's endangered or

something ... but I had the papers. I even had it written out that he was a circus monkey and he could travel and all that s**t. I had all the right papers. Things get twisted," he added.

Bieber was given until May 7, 2013 to produce

the proper paperwork for his monkey, but after he failed to respond, German officials demanded $8,000 to cover the cost of relocating OG Mally to a zoo, and the creature now lives at the Serengeti Park in Copenhagen.

Source: IANS

awazuddin's journey to stardom in Bollywood has earned him tremendous respect amidst the fraternity and countless awards - most recent being his double whammy at the Zee Cine Awards for his performance in Bajrangi Bhaijaan and Badlapur.

And most importantly, he has also managed to become a youth icon : a figure of inspiration by virtue of his self made stature, his incredible talent and his relentless spirit to chase his dreams. It's no wonder that he has become such a coveted asset and favourite for brands targeted at the youth, especially in the apparel category.

From being someone who, to his own admission, owned repeated the same suit to award functions and events when he started out to now having apparel brands lining up to sign him as their brand ambassador, Nawaz has come a long way.

Recently Nawaz was signed as the brand ambassador for a Suitings brand endorsed by superstars in the past. Post that, the actor has

“Fuocoammare” (Fire at Sea) wins Golden Bear for best film in Berlin

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Kate Moss Suffers Leg Injury on Swiss Ski Slopes

K C M Y K

ate Moss has suffered a seriouslooking leg injury on holiday in Switzerland. The 42-year-old model was on vacation in a ski resort with her boyfriend, Count Nikolai von Bismarck, when the unfortunate incident occurred.

Kate was taken off the piste and to a nearby hospital, where she was fitted with a knee brace and handed a pair of crutches before she was spotted hobbling away. Prior to the injury, Kate had been seen enjoying her holiday in the Swiss ski resort of Verbier, which is a popular destination among Britain's royal family. Earlier in the week, she was spotted having lunch with her new boyfriend and her 13-year-old daughter Lila Grace.

The vacation comes shortly after Kate

and Nikolai went on holiday to Brazil, where they were seen walking hand-inhand through the streets of Rio de Janeiro.

And around the same time, Nikolai gave the British model a diamond ring he inherited from a great aunt. It has also been reported the duo are planning to produce a photo book together. A source previously said: "Nik has been obsessively taking photos since he was 13 and has been documenting much of his time with Kate. "She loves his work and thinks he's managed to capture a side to her not often seen. "They both like the idea of doing something special with his pictures of her, perhaps a coffee-table book. It's fun for them to collaborate creatively."

Source:Femalefirst

ianfranco Rosi's documentary film " Fuocoammare" (Fire at Sea), about the refugee crisis in the Mediterranean off the Italian island of Lampedusa, won the Golden Bear prize for Best Film at the Berlin International Film Festival on Saturday. It was a fitting end for a festival which went out of its way to make refugees welcome by giving them free tickets. Rosi paid tribute to those who risked their lives to escape war and poverty, and to the people of Lampedusa who welcomed them.

"Of course now at this moment my deeper thoughts go to all the people that never arrived to Lampudusa on these journeys of hope," Rosi said in his acceptance speech on stage at Berlin's cinema palace for the glittering awards ceremony.

Rosi, who won the top prize for another documentary in Venice in 2013, in this film shows daily life on the small island, mostly through the eyes of a young boy named Samuele who makes slingshots to shoot

at birds and cactuses.

In the sea nearby, the Italian navy searches for overloaded boats full of refugees dying of suffocation and asphyxiation by diesel fumes and brings survivors back to Lampedusa for treatment and for transport to refugee centres.

"I want to dedicate this award to the people of Lampedusa who were always extremely open to accept people arriving there," Rosi said. He noted that the flood of refugees that has made headlines recently began some 30 years ago for the island just off the coast of North Africa.

Rosi said he had asked Dr. Pietro Bartolo, a physician on Lampedusa who treats refugees and appears in the film, why the island welcomes the tens of thousands of people who land there.

"He told me Lampedusa is a place of fishermen, we are fishermen, and fishermen, they all accept always, anything that comes from the sea. So this may be a lesson that (we) should learn to accept anything that comes from the sea," Rosi said.

been flooded with endorsement deals from top apparel brands to have him sign up with them.

An insider source reveals, "He's been approached by three different clothing brands recently. A fashion apparel brand known for their rustic and earthy prints and style wants him to be their face. The brand is known

for stylish, young, edgy yet true to the Indian roots and for them Nawaz is the perfect fit courtesy his Indian heartland connect and aspirational youth appeal" It is believed that He's been also approached by a traditional wedding apparel brand and a formal menswear brand both of whom want to make their way in to the Indian mass

on inside me. But I've been working on it all my life so it gets better."

Meanwhile, the 'Zoolander 2' star - who has children Leo, five, and Luna, two, with husband Javier Bardem - recently admitted she finds social media "frightening and, whilst has her own Instagram account, she has never subscribed to Twitter or Facebook as it's "unnatural."

She said recently: "Internet has changed the world including professions like mine. I'm the sort

of person who misses writing cards instead of sending texts. I'll always be like that. I hold out the hope it changes one day and the two worlds can co-exist.

"I've resisted social media sites a lot. I haven't got a Twitter account or Facebook. I'm on Instagram but I use it for specific things.

It's a bit frightening really.

I'm not going to photograph the fried eggs I eat in the morning. It seems unnatural to me, like posting photos of my family."

Source: TNN

Parineeti Chopra on Gender Discrimination: Need to Eradicate It

A

ctress Parineeti Chopra said that her parents Pawan and Reena Chopra have always treated all her siblings equally and there was no discrimination of any kind.

Parineeti, who has brothers Shivang and Saraj, will be seen on TV show Mission Sapne, wherein she will help 13-year-old Bhavna Suthalya's character to secure a better future.

"I grew up with two brothers but my parents never subjected to any kind of discrimination and made sure that I get best education," Parineeti said in a statement.

"I believe that girls and boys should be treated as equals and we need to work towards eradicating all the discernment that still exists. The men of the house should stand up and take the responsibility of educating every single woman of their family thereby bringing about a major change in the society," she added.

Bhavna dreams of beSource: Reuters

coming a cop in order to bring stability in her family. Her parents Bhanu and Archana are visually challenged and sell books and stationary material in local trains. To help her financially, Parineeti will be seen selling books and stationary at a suburban mall to earn daily wages for Bhavna and her family.

Penelope Cruz Suffers From Anxiety Deepika Padukone excited to meet Nina Dobrev T he 41-year-old actress may be recognised for her incredible curvaceous frame, stunning looks and mesmerising acting ability but she has admitted she's quite often crippled with nerves about her appearance and talent.

She explained to Closer magazine: "I have so many fears. I have become an expert at hiding them but I am so full of them.

"Everyone thinks I'm so centred and relaxed but it's the opposite of what goes

markets and deem Nawaz as the ideal candidate to help them achieve their objective using his unique combination of being aspirational yet relatable.

Nawaz, who's currently busy shooting for Raees with Shah Rukh Khan, will take a call on his brand queries once he's back from his busy schedule.

Hosted by Sonali Bendre, Mission Sapne is about upbringing people who have struggled in their life but never left their spirit to achieve something. The show financially helps these people by inviting celebrities who do the same daily job which these people do.

Source: IANS

Hillstar NOW SHOWING

B

"I'm a beer drinker culturally," he told Wine Enthusiast magazine. "I'm from the North of England so I drank beer from age 16 on and younger. I didn't have a glass of wine until I was in my late twenties. "I was doing shows and the promoters would often give me a bottle of wine as a gift. Since I knew nothing about it and because I didn't drink wine, I'd give the bottles to my roadies."

Being honoured by the publication will entitle Sting to exhibit Sister Moon, which currently sells for $40 (£28) a bottle, at the OperaWine event, held in Verona, Italy in April (16).

ollywood star Deepika Padukone, who is busy shooting for her Hollywood debut project "xXx: The Return of Xander Cage" with action star Vin Diesel, says she is looking forward to meet her female co-star Nina Dobrev.

When Dobrev tweeted “Happy to be home.. Looking forward to starting XXX this week”, Deepika also responded to it by writing “Can't wait to see you Nina! @ninadobrev @ Deejaycar”. Deepika took off to Toronto, Canada, to shoot for the film Source:Agencies earlier this month, and has been keeping her fans updated about her Hollywood sojourn through photographs and videos.

In fact, her rumoured boyfriend, actor Ranveer Singh also met her during his short trip to Toronto.

In some of images shared by Diesel, the actor is seen shirtless, showing off his tattoo-covered abs, while Deepika is wearing a bold black leather outfit which not just shows her washboard abs but also some temporary tattoos for a powerpacked look. The new film will follow Diesel's Xander Cage who returns to the National Security Agency after an eight-year absence.

In "xXx: The Return of Xander Cage", Samuel L. Jackson is back as Augustus Gibbons, with Ruby Rose, Jet Li, Conor McGregor and Tony Jaa joining the cast. D.J. Caruso is taking the director's seat, and F. Scott Frazier has written the script. No official release date is set for the movie yet.

Source: Contactmusic

Source: IANS

11:00 Am

Sting rated as Top Wine Producer

V

eteran British rocker Sting has been named as one of Italy's best wine producers. The Police frontman, real name Gordon Sumner, owns a vineyard in Tuscany, Italy and has produced a brew considered worthy of U.S. industry bible Wine Spectator's list of the country's top tipples.

The Desert Rose singer's Sister Moon wine label, which is named after one of his songs, is one of four he produces on his Italian estate. Despite his newfound status as a wine mogul, the musician and activist came to wine late in life, openly admitting that he only consumed beer until he became a rock star.

02:00 Pm | 08:00 Pm

05:00 Pm

12

monDAY 22•02•2016

SPORTS

THE MORUNG EXPRESS

Sara errani wins Dubai Tennis Open final by a mile

C M Y K

Sara Errani (AP Photo)

DubAI, FebRuARy 21 (IANs): In the most onesided final in the 24-year history of the WTA Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships, Italy's Sara Errani came out victorious over Czech Barbora Strycova 6-0, 6-2 here.

Errani took the first set within half an hour. "Yes, I was surprised about winning the match so fast and so straight but Barbora also had

not her best day. It is amazing that I won," said the Italian on Saturday after winning the $465,480 prize money, reports Xinhua. World No.22 Errani played from the beginning at full speed and left her Czech opponent little chance to resist her fast shots from corner-to-corner and her swift swaps from the baseline to the net.

After one hour and six minutes amid 21 degrees

Celsius outdoor temperatures in the evening in the Gulf Arabian sheikhdom, the match was decided and Errani, who was overwhelmed by emotions and relief, ran to her coach Pablo Lozano and embraced him, shedding tears of happiness.

As both players are 1.64 metres tall, they focused also on tricking each other by playing surprise slice shots.

World No.41 Strycova, 29, appeared exhausted after her three-set semi-final win over France's Caroline Garcia on Friday. "This was truly not my day. All went wrong during this match but I am also happy about my performance during the tournament as a whole."

At 0-2 in the second set, a desperate Strycova started weeping which the several thousand spectators in the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Stadium replied with loud applause to motivate her.

Until that time nearly everything that could go wrong, went for the Plzenborn who lives in the United States. At 1-4, the Czech seemed to have lost her nerves, but managed to win one more game.

"The support of the spectators was indeed great. I am most thankful to all of them and I also heard many Czech fans in the audience, that lifted my mood," she said.

Errani agreed, saying that "the atmosphere in Dubai and the hard court are very good". "I have no specific objectives for the rest of 2016. You never know what will come and I do not think too much about it," said the 28-yearold Bologna-born, who will play the Qatar Open in Doha, which runs from February 21 to 27.

Suarez & Neymar Strike agaiN iN BarceloNa wiN

MADRID, FebRuARy 21 (ReuteRs): Goals from the prolific Luis Suarez and Neymar earned Barcelona a 2-1 victory at Las Palmas on Saturday that propelled them nine points clear at the top of La Liga. The league's leading marksman Suarez opened the scoring after six minutes, meeting Jordi Alba's cross at the far post to net his 12th goal in seven matches in all competitions and take his La Liga tally for the season to 25.

Las Palmas equalised four minutes later when striker Willian Jose beat the offside trap to latch on to Jonathan Viera's brilliant backheeled pass and steer the ball past Claudio Bravo.

Neymar restored Barca's lead in the 39th minute, and took his league tally to 18, when Lionel

Shivajians holds Lajong to draw at home

shILLONg, FebRuARy 21 (MexN): DSK Shivajians cancelled out Lajong’s early lead to make it 1-1 today at the Balewadi Stadium, Pune in the Hero I-League encounter.

Thangboi Singto made two changes to the starting line up as Boithang Haokip played midfield in place of Jacob, while youngster Samuel Lalmuanpuia came in for Fabio Henrique.

Lajong were quick to take the lead in the 3rd minute when Uilliams received the ball outside the box from Penn Orji and turned the defender to place the ball past the keeper low towards the side netting. It was a brilliant start for the visitors. Uilliams could have scored a hattrick as he was provided a couple of great opportunities in front of goal shortly after the first goal.

Trailing, Shivajians steadily found rhythm keeping possession of the ball while switching to a more offensive style.

Lajong defended well and were attacking on the counter with good pace from midfield to the forwards but could not manage to convert their chances. Shivajians threatened the Lajong defence on numerous occasions but the Lajong keeper Vishal Kaith bravely fended off the incursions in tandem with centre backs, Aibor and Sana.

Samuela, who made his I-League debut for Lajong today had a great chance to double the lead in the 35th minute from a corner taken by Uilliams but the youngster, who was not marked on the far post, could not stretch his foot further for a tap in.

At the start of second half Lajong replaced Samuel Lalmuanpuia with

midfielder Jacob. The second half had Shivajians showing more urgency as they applied pressure on the Lajong half and almost equalised in the 57th minute from a free-kick. The kick taken from the left was met by a header which rebounded off the crossbar to be eventually cleared.

Shivajians were finally rewarded in the 61st minute after Dipanda Dica connected with a header a cross from Ralte for the equaliser. The game picked up momentum as both teams went on the offensive but could not threaten the defence much.

With the draw, Lajong was placed in 5th position with 10 points from 8 matches, while Shivajians remain at the bottom of the table with 5 points.

Lajong will host Shivajians in the reverse fixture on February 26 in Shillong.

or requisitions. If you have the freedom, it's not right to ask all types of questions. It's very important to judge everything as to what needs to be done, why it needs to be done. Because somebody has the platform to ask questions, it does not mean that you keep on asking the same questions. It's a world today where everything is covered by media," an irritated Dhoni said on the oft-repeated query of his retirement.

He added, "Anything happens questions are raised in India. If we win the World T20 very comfortably, than questions will be asked whether we have peaked too early. If we lose the final, then we will be asked whether we will

be able to take the pressure of a final. "If we don't qualify then there will be questions whether we're good enough to handle pressure at home. I don't think I cannot really stop people from asking the questions. If better questions are raised, I will answer 100 per cent for sure," Dhoni said.

Having won the inaugural World T20 nine years back, the Indian skipper will once again look to reclaim the trophy and the build-up will begin in Bangladesh. Team India has already got into the groove with T20 series over Australia (3-0) and Sri Lanka (2-1) and Dhoni expressed satisfaction with the preparation and said they've the

session. They gradually took more control in the second half after an even first 45 minutes but had to work hard to thwart the home side's counter-attacks.

Substitute Sergio Araujo, a former Barcelona B player and Argentina junior international, squandered three chances for Las Palmas near the end.

"We were up against the best team in the world. They thrive on possession and I think we were competitive but up front they make the difference," said Las Palmas midfielder Roque Mesa.

Atletico Madrid can close the gap on the runaway leaders to six points when they entertain Villarreal on Sunday. Third-placed Real Madrid, who are 10 points off the pace, travel to Malaga the same

day. Espanyol coach Constantin Galca earned a stay of execution when his side ended a run of eight matches without victory by beating Deportivo La Coruna 1-0.

Young midfielder Marco Asensio, on loan from Real Madrid, scored the only goal in the 52nd minute when he controlled a ball on his chest and volleyed past goalkeeper German Lux. Espanyol, who edged four points clear of the relegation zone, deserved more goals and would have scored again but for a string of Lux saves.

Galca looked set to lose his job after last weekend's 2-1 defeat at Valencia, which marked Gary Neville's first La Liga win as coach, but the players rallied to the Romanian's support.

Paes-Chardy lose Delray Nagaland win bronze at Beach Open semis inter-state tennis tourney

DeLRAy beAch (us), FebRuARy 21 (IANs): the Indo-French tennis combine of Leander Paes and Jeremy Chardy lost their men's doubles semi-final on the outdoor hard courts of the $514,065 Delray Beach Open here. Defending champions Bob and Mike Bryan needed just 55 minutes to beat Paes, who reached last year's final here with South African Raven Klaasen, and Chardy 6-2, 6-3 at the Delray Beach Tennis Center on Saturday. The top seeds will take on Austrian-French pair of Oliver Marach and Fabrice Martin in the final.

The Americans dominated the match, starting with converting both their breakpoint chances to get ahead in the first set.

The unseeded pair of Paes and Chardy also did not help matters as they served three double faults. Their first service was correct only 52 percent, compared to 80 of the Bryan brothers. Paes and Chardy tried harder in the second set but did not find the winning touch on the five breakpoint chances they earned, wasting all. On the other hand, the top seeds converted one of the two opportunities they got which was enough to seal the set and match. Paes and Chardy's first service deteriorated to 45 percent in the second set, right ingredients to do well in which the pair double faulted four times. in the Asia Cup. "The good thing is we played three games in Australia, yes the conditions were very different in Australia, then we played in Sri Lanka. It gave us the time to settle into the format. You've to take the price tag away from the wicket. It's always easier to switch from T20 to Test format than from Test to T20. It's good for us that we are getting these number of games. We can try a few things. It's the same format.

Speaking about preparations, Dhoni further said, "Often you don't get too many games before the World T20 so it's good to have some games to get into the groove."

The Indian skipper said they would look to give everyone a chance in the Asia Cup so as to get their balance right. "We will try to give everybody a game. It's something that is as important as to play as a settled team. It's important to give everyone a game under their belt but we will look to win the games and that's our top priority.

Same question won't change my answer: MS Dhoni on retirement

KOLKAtA, FebRuARy 21 (PtI): Exasperated by the never-ending speculation around his retirement, India's limited overs captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni on Sunday said being questioned about it at every platform will not change his plan to continue playing for a "considerable period" of time.

"If I say something one month or 15 days back, the answer does not change.

It's irrespective of where I'm asking. The answer remains the same. It's as simple as what is your name and I will say MS Dhoni. It will remain the same for a considerable period of time unless you give me a new format," Dhoni told reporters here ahead of the team's departure for the Asia Cup T20 in Bangladesh.

Dhoni, on Friday, made it clear that he was not retiring from international cricket anytime soon.

The 34-year-old Dhoni had called time on his Test career in the middle of the away series against Australia in December 2014.

"There will be questions, you send me letters

Luis Suarez of barcelona tries an overhead kick. (Getty Images)

Messi's shot was parried by goalkeeper Javi Varas and the Brazilian netted the rebound.

"To win titles you have to suffer, (this was) a match away from home suffering ... these matches are the ones that give you the league," Suarez told Spanish television.

"What matters is for the team to keep winning. I am here to add goals and assists."

Suarez, after scoring his 41st goal of the season in all competitions, had a good chance to increase Barca's lead early in the second half but Varas made a superb stop. Las Palmas almost levelled on the hour when Bravo saved a shot from Viera and Willian Jose put the rebound into the side-netting.

Messi had a quiet game and Barca struggled to maintain pos-

The state lawn tennis team with the medals won at the tournament.

DIMAPuR, FebRuARy 21 (MexN): Nagaland won bronze at the 'All India Inter-State National Tennis Tournament' held at Bhilai, Chhattisgarh from February 16-20. According to a press release from the Nagaland Tennis Association (NTA), the state team

went down fighting in the semifinals to eventual winners – Maharashtra. Maharashtra snatched gold from the Services in the final.

With the bronze medal finish, Nagaland has been placed as the highest ranked team in the East Zone, NTA added.

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