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wednesdAY • JAnuArY 20 • 2016
DIMAPUR • Vol. XI • Issue 18 • 12 PAGes • 5
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ESTD. 2005
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A work of art is a world in itself reflecting senses and emotions of the artist’s world — Hans Hofmann ‘Illegal miners responsible for negative environmental and public health impacts’ PAGe 05
reflections
By Sandemo Ngullie
PAGe 02
Dimapur | January 19
NSF baffled by GoI proposal to promote Nagamese as official language
DIMAPUR, JANUARY 19 (MExN): The Naga Students’ Federation (NSF) today said it is “baffled” by the proposal of the Government of India to promote Nagamese as an official language. The intention of the centre to promote a language which has no originality is very much doubtful, said a press note from the NSF. The NSF asked the Government of India not to take any hasty decision “which could dilute the culture and the social fabrics of the Naga society.” “We need more time to develop and promote a language which can be called as our own ‘Naga Language’ and not a market language which is a mixture of Hindi, Assamese, Bengali, English and many other dialects. Trying to promote a language which has no origin and terming it as a Naga language will do more harm to the Naga people,” it stated. It advised “linguistic experts and activist who are enthusiastic in promoting the pidgin language as the official lingua franca of the Nagas should immediately stop from confusing the Nagas any further.” Any kind of recognition or promotion of language, tradition and customs of the Nagas without the concern of the Nagas will not be accepted and tolerated at all, the NSF cautioned.
PAGe 12
Roads and Railways should be Deprived and excluded first priority for Northeast: TR Waoshu village in Tuensang have been demanding Morung Express News
Memos? No sir. Lots of ‘or else’ letters.
Nagaland Chief Minister TR Zeliang stated on Tuesday that the first priority of infrastructural development in the North East region should be construction of highways and railways within the region, and connecting it with mainland India and the neighboring countries. By doing so, Zeliang said the geographical isolation of the region will become a thing of the past and its location would no longer be considered remote and isolated but central and strategic in terms of international trade and development. The Chief Minister said this while addressing the inaugural session of the two-day workshop on “India-Japan partnership towards meeting the challenge of infrastructure development in India’s Northeast” at Hotel Acacia, Dimapur on Tuesday. The workshop is organized in pursuance of the “Tokyo Declaration for JapanIndia Special Strategic and Global Partnership”, during the meeting of the Prime Ministers of the two countries in Tokyo in 2014 which placed special emphasis on Japan’s cooperation for enhanced connectivity and development in North East, and linking the region to other economic corridors in India and to South East Asia. In terms of connectivity, Zeliang felt that the most practicable and convenient road and rail connections between India and South East Asian countries should run through Nagaland to Moreh border town via Imphal in Manipur. The chief minister also underscored that the North East region was still not open to South Asian countries either by road or railways despite a number of vision documents along with the ‘Look East Policy’ and now the ‘Act East Policy’ being introduced by the Government of India.
Not fencing, construct roads to Myanmar
Also expounding on the development and security strategy for the Nagaland sector of the Indo-Myammar border, which he maintained would be equally relevant for the Manipur and Mizoram sectors as well, the chief minister said the logic behind Government of India fencing India’s land borders with Pakistan and Bangladesh does not apply in the case of India’s land border with Myanmar. Elucidating his point, Zeliang said in the Nagaland sector, the international boundary does not follow a river or other
convenient landmarks and instead follows the water-shed principle. Taking Longwa village where the International boundary runs right through the middle of the Angh’s (Village Chief) house as an instance, Zeliang said Nagas and their ancestral lands have been badly divided by the Indo-Myanmar border. And despite the free-movement regime with the open unguarded border, Zeliang said there have practically been no migrations of the native Nagas across the international border- basically because of the strong attachment the Nagas have for their ancestral land. “In fact, what we need is not barbed wire fencing, but construction of roads across the border to “un-lock the landlocked areas”, and promote trade and development. Meanwhile, welcoming Japan’s commitment for infrastructural development in the North East region, Zeliang hoped that with the successful implementation of the projects in this region, the name of Japan will no more be associated with war, but with peace and development in the minds of the new generation of this region.
Japan committed for NE infrastructure development: Akio Isomata
North East region is the centre of all concepts and notions of connectivity between India and rest of the Asian countries, stated Akio Isomata, Minister (Economic) in the Embassy of Japan, New Delhi here at Dimapur. “There are actually a lot of notions and concepts of connectivity. It’s about layers of concept- connectivity of North East with other parts of India as well as with other Asian countries,” Isomata stressed while giving a special remark at the inaugural of the workshop on “India-Japan partnership towards meeting the challenge of infrastructure development in India’s Northeast” on Tuesday. Maintaining that North East region remains at the centre for all these concepts, the Japanese minister however stressed on the need to go beyond concept and notions of connectivity to really bring the challenges of infrastructure development to implementation. He said one should always keep in mind that connectivity enhancement should serve the improvement of the quality of life in the North East region. The Japanese minister also raised concern on the issue of security once the projects of infrastructure development in the Northeast get underway.
up-gradation of their only primary school for 3 years Limasenla Jamir
Mokokchung | January 19
A young girl carries her younger brother on her back and watches an ongoing football match at the village ground while seven to eight young boys play with a pig’s bladder by the roadside with their face smeared with mucus and their winter cheeks red and cracked. Another girl, Donnen, the youngest among nine siblings, sits near the fire place and watches her father sing folk songs, while her sisters are out fetching water and running errands. Forty-two kilometers away from Tuensang town, Waoshu village, a Chang Naga village, sits on a hill top with about 115 households and a population of more than 500. A family here has an average of six children. With about twenty-three percent of the population belonging to the age group of 0-6 years, the village has one Government Primary school with six classroom and four teachers. A very uncommon phenomenon in Nagaland, the village faces the problem of absentee teachers and lack of teachers in the school. While talking about the problem of education in the village, the Village Council Chairman of Waoshu said that the school faces a lot of problems starting from absentee teachers to lack of teachers in the school. The chairman hinted that the teachers including the headmaster are mostly engaged in government duty, which mostly involves census collection, instead of doing their job of teaching.
A young girl running errands carrying her younger brother on her back at Waoshu Village, a Chang Naga village, Tuensang District. Photo: Toshi Kichu
Children constitute 20 percent to the village population, but the existence of just one primary school makes it difficult for the parents to send their children for further education. Some go and stay at their relatives’ places in Tuensang town; many are sent off to other districts as domestic workers and helpers, as a means of getting further education, while many others who cannot afford to send their children drop out at the primary school level due to the absence of middle and high school in the village. When the village inaugurated a new school building in 2012, a letter was forwarded for the up gradation of the primary school to middle school. But it has been three years without any response from the government. Parents in the village have now changed their perspective on education and understand the value of sending their children
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to school. There was a time when parents would barge into the classroom and leave their toddlers with their older children if they happen to be in class, while some of the students would come to the schools with their work baskets and run to the fields as soon as they could escape from the classroom, narrates Ayin, whose wife is an adhoc teacher in the village school for more than ten years now. Apart from the education, the village, like any other in the eastern part of Nagaland, is plagued by deplorable road conditions, sanitation problems, water scarcity and electricity problems to name a few. The Waoshu Village Council with its small funds for the development of the village maintains the road that connects them to the outside world. At a time when connectivity of people through technology and infrastructure is revolutionizing the
communication paradigm, the people of Washou village remain deprived and excluded. Newspapers are non-existent in the village. Owning a cell phone is a prized possession for them, though they have to climb hills or stand at certain points to get through the network. The villagers feel they are being ignored by the state government. The only time politicians visit their village is during elections, and once they are elected, they seldom see their face. When the DEO of Tuensang district inaugurated their school building, they hoped that the primary school would soon be upgraded to a middle school. But three years of inaction have evaporated that hope. It is pertinent to mention that the village is only 42 kilometers from an administrative town. This serves as an indication of the conditions that are faced by villages which are even more remote.
‘Enhance understanding to build better relations’ PM avoids statehood issue&
Home dept issues YAA Golden Jubilee urged to focus on retrospection and forgiveness Morung Express News notice to Chekiye Shamator | January 19 and Ikishe villages Nagaland Minister for PHE, DIMAPUR, JANUARY 19 (MExN): The Home Department of the Nagaland State Government has served a notice to Chekiye and Ikishe villages to submit their response on the report of a committee formed by the state state government within 30 days. “In pursuance to the common Judgment and Order passed by the Guwahati High Court, Kohima Bench in Civil Rule 68 (K) 90 and Civil Rule 54(K) 93 dated 26-03-2003, the State Government constituted a Committee vide Home Department Notification NG.GAB-8/26/2003 (PT-I) dated 23-06-2003 but in view of the appeal filed by the State against the direction contained in clause (a) Para 26 of the judgment dated 26-03-2003, the exercise to be undertaken by the Committee was kept in abeyance. Subsequent to the disposal of Writ Appeal No.23 (K) 2007 by an Order dated 07-05-2012, the Committee was reconstituted by Home Department vide Notification NO. GAB-13/ COURT-DMP/126/2013 dated 19-02-2014 and the Committee had submitted its report to the Government on 26-11-2014,” a notification from the Directorate of Information and Public Relations informed.
Nadal, Halep out on day of shocks at the Australian Open
Call to control wildlife crimes
Tokheho Yepthomi, today said jubilee is not only a time of celebration but also a time for retrospection, forgiveness and rectifying past shortcomings. “The significance of celebrating golden jubilee should be far reaching to enhance understanding and build better relations within the community and the rest of the Nagas,” the Minister said in his address as chief guest at the inaugural function of the Golden Jubilee celebration of the Yimchungrü Akherü Arihako (YAA) here at Shamator town public ground on Tuesday. Tokheho said celebration of golden jubilee would be meaningless without forgiveness and peaceful co-existence with other tribes and communities and added that “if Nagas cannot live together, then we will all perish together.” On the theme of the conference “Honoring our past, charting our future”, he said the theme should be the guiding light of YAA “because our yesterday defines our tomorrow.” “The best way to chart your future is to be a contributor to our society and not a liability to the society. At every given opportunity, do good works to others without expectations of praise and laurels”, the Minister exhorted the students. Reminding that good deeds are never easy to achieve but can be undone in no time, Tokheho
Minister for PHE, Tokheho Yepthomi and other public and government leaders being greeted with a special song on their arrival at the inaugural function of the golden jubilee celebration of Yimchungrü Akherü Arihako at Shamator town public ground, Tuesday.
said the younger generation has to decide whether to carry on the good works of the past and go from strength to strength or choose a course of action that would undo half a century of hard works built on the sweat and toils of past leaders. The Minister also said it is high time for the students to change the mindset of the people on the “backward tag”, especially in ENPO areas. “It is true we are all responsible for the present condition of inadequate development (in ENPO areas) but you are also directly responsible. Remember. No one will come and take us forward; it is ‘we’ who have to move forward with the changes of time and build our own future”, Tokheho said.
He also suggested that privileges of ‘backward’ quota in employment even among the ‘backward’ tribes should be given only to the needy and downtrodden section so as to help create a more equitable society. On the occasion, Tokheho also reminded of the close bond between the Sumis and Yimchungrüs and said such bondship should embrace Nagas as a whole. Tokheho also released the jubilee souvenir of YAA. Parliamentary Secretary for Horticulture and DBs & GBs, Kejong Chang, urged the students not to meddle in politics but to focus on their first priority –education- if the Eastern Nagas aspire to be at par with rest of the Nagas.
Parliamentary Secretary for Municipal Affairs, R Tohanba, who also represents 58 Shamator - Chessore assembly seat, expressed gratitude to the chief guest and other dignitaries for attending the “epoch-making” event. President, Yimchungrü Tribal Council, also greeted YAA on the occasion. Earlier, president, YAA, Akiuba TS delivered the welcome address. Among other dignitaries, Parliamentary Secretary for IPR, Khekaho Assumi; Commandant 15 Assam Rifles, Col. Chalal; Director, NEC Pvt Ltd. S Bhattacharya, and former Minister, K Zungkum, and central NPF leaders also graced the inaugural ceremony.
1000 crore package demand
KoKRAJhAR (AssAM), JANUARY 19 (IANs): Avoiding the statehood issue and the Rs.1,000 crore package demand for the Bodoland Territorial Areas Districts, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday said no stone would be left unturned to develop Assam’s Bodo-inhabited lands. The prime minister was addressing a public rally organised by the Bodoland Peoples’ Front (BPF) at Kokrajhar town in Assam. Stating that the Bodoland Territorial Areas Districts (BTAD) will be developed like any other part of the country, the prime minister said he has three-point programme for the development of the backward BTAD region -- “development, development and development”. He said while the Karbis of the plains will be granted the Scheduled Tribes (ST) status, the Bodo Kachari community of the hill areas like Karbi Anglong and Dima Hasao district will also be granted the ST status soon. Tuesday’s rally assumes significance ahead of Assam legislative assembly polls as it has indicated a pre-poll alliance between the Bharatiya Janata Party and the BPF, which is ruling at the Bodoland Territorial Council (BTC) that runs the administration in four district of the BTAD. The BPF was a partner of the ruling Congress in Assam since its inception in 2003 but it severed its ties with the Congress in 2014 over some differences.
The prime minister, however, on the occasion cautiously avoided the issue of statehood to Bodoland and the BPF’s demand for a Rs.1,000 crore package for development. He announced that the Central Institute of Technology (CIT), Kokrajhar, will be upgraded to a Deemed University within a year and more academic and administrative autonomy would be granted to the institute. “I was told that there is an airport here, which has not been in use for a long time. I assure you that as soon as the state government settles the issue of giving the land for the airport, the Rupsi airport will be opened for the Indian Air Force as well as for the common people,” Modi said while addressing the massive rally. He said the Central government is also working on extending the Kanchanjunga Express to Assam’s Barak Valley to boost connectivity of the region. While the BPF has been demanding a Rs.1,000 crore package for development of the BTAD, several Bodo organisations have also been demanding that the prime minister make the Centre’s stand clear on the issue of statehood to the Bodoland. The All Assam Koch Rajbongshi Students’ Union has also called a 48-hour Assam bandh from Monday morning to protest the Centre’s failure to grant the Scheduled Tribes status to six communities in Assam, including the Koch Rajbongshis. Related news on page 3
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wednesdAY 20•01•2016
NAGALAND
THE MORUNG EXPRESS
Call to control wildlife crimes
Inside the Kohima Traffic Police Booth: Seen here is an extremely unhygienic Kohima Traffic Police Booth with paan stains and littered with water bottles and papers. The booth situated right under the Foot over bridge near Old MLA Junction looks more like a dumpster. Morung Photo by Thiala Chang
Dimapur, January 19 (mExn): A two days training workshop for Forest and Police officers is jointly organised by the Wildlife Crime Control Bureau, Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change, Government of India, New Delhi and Department of Environment, Forests and Climate Change, Nagaland on January 19 and 20 at Dimapur. T. Amenba Yaden, Parliamentary Secretary, Department of Commerce and Industries, Government of Nagaland graced the occasion as chief guest. Expressing concern, he expressed, “Nagaland is no more the state of petty hunting by simple village folks but global transit hub of illegal wildlife products transported through Dimapur-Manipur-Myanmar.” He stated that head hunting was brought to halt with the advent of Christianity but unfortunately wildlife hunting continued. He emphasised on creating awareness for wildlife conservation and co-ordination among dif-
T. Amenba Yaden, Parliamentary Secretary, Department of Commerce and Industries speaking at the workshop held for Forest and Police officers. (Sitting from left) Satya Prakash Tripathi, Chief Wildlife Warden; Kamal Dutta, Joint Director, WCCB, MoEF & CC, GoI, New Delhi; Kesonyu Yhome DC Dimapur.
ferent enforcement agencies, both at state as well as central level to control wildlife crimes. Satya Prakash Tripathi, Chief Wildlife Warden, Nagaland and Chairman of the programme welcomed the participants. He highlighted the sincere efforts
of the Forest Department in motivating people of the State and inculcating the idea of wildlife conservation in the minds of people. Kamal Dutta, Joint Director, WCCB, MoEF & CC, GoI, New Delhi gave a brief back ground of the WCCB appreciated peoples par-
Aquaculture & fisheries training held at Ekokchu
GPPK general meeting on Jan 24
kohima, January 19 (mExn): The General body meeting of the Gorkha Public Panchayat, Kohima (GPPK) will be held at the GPPK Hall Chandmari, Kohima on January 24 at 12 noon. Matters concerning the society such as finalisation of the descendent list, construction of GPPK build-
ing including resource centre and other important issues relating to the community will be discussed. GPPK Press & Publicity Secretary Rajeev Rai in a press release has requested the general body members, executives of the Gorkha NGOs and GBs to attend the meeting.
Notification on parking for Kohima town
kohima, January 19 (Dipr): SubDivisional Officer (Sadar) Kohima, Kethosituo Sekhose has notified that in pursuance of the provisions given under sec 177 and sec 127 of the Motor Vehicle Act 1988 and sec 34 of the Indian Police Act 1881, the Regional Transport Authority (RTA) has notified the following parking, no parking and rules for vehicular movement in the following area in addition to earlier notified areas/locations:1. Exit road from Naga Bazar to Razhu point:- No right turn for exiting vehicles coming up from Naga Bazar area. All such vehicles to turn left and proceed for Round-about or U- turn from Old Tata parking only. 2. Mini Buses to shift to the designated parking opposite Kezieke Market. In addition, all Tata Mobiles to shift to their designated parking at Rokabozou.
3. Razhu Point to Super Market is designated as no Parking on the left hand side. 4. Naro Ki Building to Phool Bari Police Point shall be converted into a two lane road. Therefore, this area is designated as a No Parking zone on either side of the road. These rules are hereby brought into force with immediate effect and any vehicle found in violation of these rules shall be towed away by the traffic police and the cost thereof along with resulting penalties shall be borne by the owner of the concerned vehicle. Further, all concerned are informed that as and when checking is carried out, defaulters shall be penalized as per law and ignorance or non pre-information of the same shall not be considered as an excuse.
ticipation in success story of Amur Falcon which brought laurel to the state, nationally and Internationally. He also stated that the Union Forest Minister, Prakash Javadekar was very happy in seeing peoples participation wildlife conservation and in general
Dr Tinojungshi, ADC Kiphire gives the first polio drop at Kiphire Village on January 17. Directorate of Field Publicity Government of India Regional Office Kohima organized sensitization programme on mother & child health and Mission Indradhunash at two places in Kiphire with Dr Tinojungshi Chang ADC Kiphire as chief guest at Kiphire Village and Z.Tsangkhuchu CDPO & DWO in charge Kiphire as chief guest at Longthonger. (Morung Photo)
Wokha, January 19 (mExn): The Department Of Fisheries conducted five days training programme at Ekokchu village, Wokha from January 11 to 15 on ‘prospects of aquaculture & fisheries for grassroot levels’ funded under NFDB 2015-16. National Fisheries Development Board (DFDB) Hyderabad is a registered society under the Administrative Control of Animal Husbandry, Dairying & Fisheries Ministry of Agriculture, Government of India. During the inaugural function, the District Fishery Officer (DFO) Wokha Sentinaro said that having vast resources in the state, it is estimated that a bulk quantity of about 3850 MT is supplemented by importing fish from outside the state. She further added that the gap could be
Road Permits to be issued online
Dimapur, January 19 (mExn): With a view to further expand the e-Services under the Taxes Department for better public service delivery all Road Permits (RP) will be mandatorily issued online w.e.f January 26. The Commissioner of Taxes, Nagaland informed in a press release that the Road Permit shall be issued for the purpose or importing goods into the state for personal use/ consumption, use in setting up of an industrial unit, use as raw materials directly in the manufacture of goods in an industrial unit, use in the operation of an industrial unit, or others which has to be compulsorily specified by the applicant. Any person desiring to A typical Naga house at Old Tewathi Meluri subdivision under, Phek, where the primary construction materials used are timber for structural elements bamboo for walls and other structural elements; and thatch as the roofing avail the e-Road Permit can apply, in Form-1 trough the material. (Morung Photo by Lipichem)
Dimapur DPDB meeting on Jan 22
NPF CEC meeting on Jan 29
department's web portal www.nagalandtax.nic.in. On submission of the application, an Acknowledgement No wilt he generated by the system which will be used for future reference. On approval, Road Permit (Form-II) will be generated by the system bearing a 16 character unique No. which the applicant can print out in triplicate. The Acknowledgement No. and the Road Permit No. will be automatically communicated by SMS also to the applicant. Tax authorities may verify the Road Permit (RP) at any point while in transit. Any queries and issues can be addressed by sending an email to query.taxsofi@gmail.com or calling the departmental help desk no-03862-248132 during working hours.
bridged by adopting scientific management practices and proper utilization of existing ponds and water bodies. Four resource persons namely, Nchumbemo and Mhomo both fishery inspector (FI) and Tsatheo AFI and Tsutsamo FD educated the fish farmers through lectures and practical demonstrations on guideline for pond design and construction, proper pond management, species selection, stocking quantity, feeding, water quality monitoring & maintenance, marketing, aquatic weeds and disease control, and awareness on destructive methods of fishing etc. Altogether 20 farmers attended the training programme and will go a long way in helping the fish farmers boost the production in the state.
Government schools cautioned on charging exorbitant fee Dimapur, January 19 (mExn): On receiving ‘a good number of complaints’, all government schools in Dimapur falling under urban and highway areas have been cautioned on admission fees. Dimapur (DEO (officiating) R Amongla Jamir in a press release stated that the office has received complaints of some schools of charging admission fee at an exorbitant rate. Therefore, she informed that department officials will be deputed to visit the schools during admission. All heads of institution are directed to take serious note of this notification with respect to RTE Act and take corrective measure
KBCA Children Conference concludes
Dimapur, January 19 (mExn): The Dimapur District Planning & Development Board (DPDB) meeting Dimapur, January will be held on January 22. This is for the information of 19 (mExn): The Kuzhami all concerned. Baptist Churches Association held Children Conference under the theme ‘God's Children’ (John kohima, January 19 (mExn): The Kohima Press 1:12) at KBC ChumukedClub (KPC) will hold its 15th Foundation Day on January ima from January 15 to 17. 20 at 2:00pm in the conference hall, KPC new office. The A press release issued Kohima Press club has invited all its members, former by Kewechelo Mero, Chairexecutives and members, patrons and well wishers to at- man and Kewekhro Mero, tend the programme. Secretary Children Ministry stated that the Conference witnessed delegates from five Churches, Chilkohima, January 19 (mExn): In exercise of the dren Ministry consisting of powers conferred vide Article V Clause 3 read with Ar- more than 300 Children's ticle IV Clause 3 Sub-Clause (i) of the Constitution, Dr. under KBCA. Shurhozelie Liezietsu President NPF has convened the Highlight of the Connext Central Executive Council (CEC) meeting on Jan- ference were completion uary 29 at 11:00 am in the Central Office HQs Kohima. for solo, duet, bible quiz, Therefore all the CEC members are directed to attend the choreography, skit, art & meeting without fail. painting, group Bible book
KPC 15th foundation day on Jan 20
and Amur Falcon conservation in particular during his visit to Nagaland on December 15 and 16, 2015. He however stated that mentioned that Union Forest Minister Prakash Javadekar was extremely impressed upon his visit to Nagaland and shared the Amur Falcon conservation story from Nagaland with other colleagues in Ministry and Department. He suggested that we need to bring many more laurels to the state. He appealed all concerned for synergic action to combat wildlife crime. Kesonyu Yhome, Deputy Commissioner, Dimapur while appreciating efforts taken by Forest Department stated that awareness alone would not the sufficient; socioeconomic development and effective enforcement needs to be in place for wildlife conservation. He promised all the support from District Administration to curb wildlife crimes. The vote of thanks was proposed by Kamdi Hemant Bhasker, Wildlife Warden, Kiphire.
DC Mokokchung informs mokokchung, January 19 (Dipr): Deputy Commissioner Mokokchung, Sushil Kumar Patel, IAS has informed that Republic Day will be celebrated at Mokokchung on January 26 at Imkongmeren Sports Complex. In this connection, all Head of Departments are informed to attend the function along with their staff. Deputy Commissioner further stated that attendance of all Government Employees will be taken and absentee will be viewed seriously.
Mon DCC president appointed Dimapur, January 19 (mExn): On the recommendation of executive committee of Mon District Congress Committee, President NPCC K Therie has appointed Y Chingwang Wangsa Konyak to the post of President, District Congress. N Yona Konyak, General Secretary (Admn) NPCC in a press release stated that Committee Mon in place of Takyong relieved on request.
Uploading of AISHE data kohima, January 19 (Dipr): The Directorate of Higher Education Nagaland Kohima has requested Universities, Secular Colleges, Polytechnics, DIETs and Nursing Institute within Nagaland to upload the All India Survey on Higher Education (AISHE) data for 2015-16 which was launched by Zubini Irani, Minister of Human Resource Development on 21st December 2015. The uploading of the data in the prescribed data capture format by the institution is to be completed by 28th February 2016.
Mobile bio-metric registration for Kohima kohima, January 19 (Dipr): Deputy Commissioner Kohima, Rovilatuo Mor, IAS has informed that, the Mobile Bio-Metric Registration Bus for Kohima District has been detailed for spot registration of bio-metric of the left out population (5 years and above) at the following locations between 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. The dates and locations/movement details are as follows: January 19-Khuzama Village; January 20-Khonoma; January 21-Zhadima (3 PM bus will proceed to Gariphema & halt); January 22-Gariphema (3 PM bus will proceed to Sendenyu & halt); January 23-Sendenyu. The administrative officer concerned are to make wide publicity even to close neighbouring villages and co-ordinate the logistic arrangements including night-halts for the team (7-8 persons). Enumerators of respective locations are also requested to assist the team.
No change of book contents: DoSE
kohima, January 19 (mExn): The Directorate of School Education informed all the District Education Officers and Sub Divisional Education Officers that before the arrival of new text books the text books supplied last year can be used in order to start the regular classes in time, “as there will be no change of book contents for the current session too.” In this connection, school education direcChildren participate at the Kuzhami Baptist Churches Association Children Conference at KBC Chumukedima from tor Senthang informed all January 15 to 17. the concerned officers to names reading in Kuzhale, tist Church Pfutsero Town The main Speaker's Rev. Nikko Mero, Rev Dr K accordingly inform the theme song and camp emerged the group cham- during the Conference Kapfo, Rev Dr Kenny Kapfo schools under their rediscipline. Calvary Bap- pion of the Competition. were Rev. Prof K Lasuh, and Apele Daili. spective jurisdiction.
WednesdAY 20 •01•2016
NORTH-EAST
THE MORUNG EXPRESS
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Modi kicks off poll campaign in Assam Over 30 injured in clashes KoKrajhar/Guwahati, january 19 (ianS): Launching a scathing attack on the Congress government in Assam, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday kicked off the BJP's campaign for the assembly polls, saying the state did not develop much despite a prime minister getting elected from it for 10 years. Modi said Assam has not developed much despite the 10 years of Congress-led United Progressive Alliance rule and that the Congress has been in power in the state for about last 15 years. The state assembly elections are due in April this year. The prime minister first addressed a public rally organised by the Bodoland Peoples' Front (BPF) and then a Yuva Shakti Sanmilan at Khanapara area in Guwahati. He also addressed a large gathering of students from different education institutions of the northeast at the IIT Guwahati campus before leaving for New Delhi. Modi targeted the erst-
Prime Minister Narendra Modi being feliciated during Yuva Naha Shakti Samaroh in Guwahati on January 19. (IANS Photo)
while Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government at the Centre and the ruling Congress government in Assam. "I was under the impression there is no problem in Assam. Assam is the state from where the prime minister was elected for 10 years. The Congress has ruled the state for the last 15 years. But I am shocked to see the problems and issues here," he said. "So what has the prime
1 dead, 4 injured in Diphu blast Diphu, january 19 (ianS): A minor girl was killed and three other children were injured in a blast here in Assam's Karbi Anglong district on Tuesday afternoon, police said. The blast took place at Harilal Basti in Diphu town around 3 p.m. "Four children -- two boys and two girls -- were playing with some objects and something suddenly exploded injuring four of them," a police official said. The four were taken to a hospital immediately, but Tulima Begum (6) died during treatment, police said. The three injured were identified as Abdul Halim (8), Mukibur Rahman (6) and Halatjan Begum (12). Although police were yet to ascertain the exact cause of the explosion, they ruled out the possibilities of a bomb, grenade or improvised explosive device (IED).
minister, who was elected from the state for 10 years, done? They (the Congress) have not been able to do anything in last 15 years and they (the Congress) want me to do everything in 15 months time. You tell me if it is justified?" said Modi. "You have seen their 15 years of rule and the 15 months of BJP government in power. We have been working each minute of these 15 months for the betterment of the country,"
the prime minister said. Taking a dig at recent Congress campaigns against him, Modi said: "Delhi has started asking for accounts of each penny given to the states. I was told when the Centre releases Re.1 only 15 paise of it reaches the villages. So, where does the money go? The Centre has started asking for the accounts. Thus, many do not like me these days," he said. Modi also laid the foundation stone of IIIT at
the IIT Guwahati and addressed a large gathering of students. He said India has become one of the fastest growing economies in the world and that the 21st century belongs to India. "We have 65 percent of young people in India, those who are below 35 years of age group. With so much of young people, India has the talent and potential to change the existing situation," he said while encouraging the students to go for more innovative work in different fields so that the country can have a unique place in the entire world. "In Silicon Valley, the address is of the US but most of the faces there are of Indians. It is the young people from India who have occupied more than 50 percent of the Silicon Valley. With so much of IITs, IIITs, and other distinguished institutions in India, we must think of innovation, new researches and new technologies in different fields, so that we can make our place in the entire world," he said.
IIITs to be set up in Tripura, Assam & Manipur aGartala, january 19 (ianS): An Indian Institute of Information Technology (IIIT) would be set up in Tripura to encourage the youth to study job-oriented courses within their region, the state's Higher Education Minister Tapan Chakraborty said on Tuesday. The state government has provided 50 acres of land in Bodhjungnagar, one of northeastern region's biggest industrial zones, 25 km north of state capital Agartala. "To cope with the growing need of information technology in every sphere and to push youth to study job-oriented courses, the IIIT would be set up at a project cost of Rs.128 crore," Chakraborty told reporters here. He said: "State-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corporation,
Northeastern Electric Power Corporation and National Building Construction Company have expressed willingness to be partners of Tripura IIIT as part of their corporate social responsibility." The minister said that to set up the IIIT, an agreement was signed between the Human Resource Development (HRD) ministry and the Tripura government last week in New Delhi. An official of Tripura Higher Education Department said the HRD ministry had planned to establish 20 IIITs on a not-forprofit public-private partnership (N-PPP) basis. "It was earlier decided that the funding will be borne by the central government 50 percent, state government 35
percent and 15 percent by Public Sector Undertakings (PSU). Recently, the funding pattern was modified for the northeastern states increasing the central share close to 60 percent and the remaining portion will be funded by the PSUs," the official added. He said two more IIITs would be set up in Assam's Guwahati and Senapati district in northern Manipur. "In the northeastern states, industry participation for capital expenditure would be kept at 7.5 percent instead of 15 percent. "The central governmentparticipation for the northeastern states would be at 57.50 percent (instead of 50 percent) while state governments would pitch in with 35 percent," the official added.
Sikkim farmers get six-fold- 'Make in Manipur' high price for black cardamom initiative for jobs GanGtoK, january 19 (ianS): Sikkim's famed black cardamom has of late been giving its farmers a major economic boost. The price of the crop has soared more than six-fold in five years owing to intelligent intervention and grassroots efforts, according to officials. The tiny hill state, which grows 90 percent of India's black cardamom, commonly called 'badi elaichi', currently sells it at around Rs.1,600 a kg -- as against Rs.250 a kg in 2010 -- through auctions of the crop facilitated by the Spices Board every fortnight at the market hub of Singtam in east Sikkim. From November 2015, the Spices Board has been supplying the crop's growers information about the prevailing price in Sikkim, thus helping them avoid local middlemen who customarily pay them less. "To ensure fast spread of the price information among the farmers, we text them market price all weekdays over mobile phones which all of them have these days," said Spices Board chairman A. Jayathilak. "We have a da-
tabase of over 500 growers of black cardamom across Sikkim, where it is called 'thulo elaichi'," he says, referring to the Digital India spirit of the mission. "Even as that number is increasing swiftly, we also put up the changing prices on our website. That is in English, but the SMSes are in Nepalese language as well." The price rise has had a cascading effect to the benefit of large-cardamom growers in other states in the northeast, besides Uttarakhand, said Jayathilak, who was here to attend the digital launch of the 'Sikkim Organic' logo by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday. The board has also organised a buyer-seller meet (BSM) to facilitate selling of products by Sikkim's farmers directly to exporters. Over 40 spice farmers and 22 exporters and traders from across the country are taking part in the BSM which provides a platform for the spice growers of Sikkim to establish direct trade links with exporters and traders by avoiding middlemen. The major spices grown
in Sikkim have been tested for intrinsic qualities and pesticide residue in the board's laboratory in Mumbai. The results confirm that spices grown in Sikkim are rich in intrinsic parameters and has vast export potential as organic products, he said. The Spices Board-facilitated auctions at Singtam, 30 km south of Gangtok, have buyers converging from across Sikkim as well as cities outside the state such as Kolkata and Siliguri (West Bengal) and Guwahati (Assam) to even as far as Indore (Madhya Pradesh). The average quantity of black cardamom auctioned is 1.5 tonnes per auction which is conducted on a fortnightly basis. The auction generally results in sales of minimum 50 percent of the production in the state, said Chandra Shekhar Ghatani, assistant director for marketing at the Spices Board. The 1987-founded board, under the union commerce and industry ministry, next plans to facilitate e-auctions in Sikkim, says Jayathilak. "It should be on in six months or so."
imphal, january 19 (tnn): Manipur commerce and industries minister Govindas Konthoujam on Monday informed the National Board for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprise (MSME) that it has launched 'Make in Manipur' initiative for employment generation. The initiative was launched on November 26 last year, said the minister, while addressing the 13th meeting of MSME, held at Vigyan Bhawan in New Delhi, officials said. The state government has combined the efforts under Make in India, Skill India and Ease Of Doing Business, said Govindas at the meeting chaired by Union minister for MSME Kalraj Mishra. Expressing happiness over the sanction of nine Livelihood Business Incubators (LBIs) for the state by the Centre under ASPIRE scheme, the minister said the LBIs, one each in nine districts, would play a key role in the 'Make in Manipur' initiative, he said. One additional rapid incubation centre is being set up by National Small Industries Corporation Ltd
(NSIC) in Imphal. Under the Cluster Development Programme (CDP) for infrastructure development, the state government has got approval, he added. Highlighting the importance of khadi & village industries, Govindas said the state government submitted DPRs for 10 clusters with due recommendations of the regional office of KVIC in Guwahati. He urged the KVIC headquarters to consider the DPRs for approval in the current financial year. The minister urged the Centre to release the margin money under PMeGP scheme liberally as the state government had a huge backlog of cases. "We are making special efforts to link PMeGP beneficiaries with LBIs being set up in each district to provide necessary handholding for a minimum one cycle of income generation activity," said Govindas. Govindas also drew the attention of the Union minister for MSME to instruct the bankers through the RBI for early release of loans to all the selected beneficiaries under PMeGP.
Next two weeks, beef goes missing from Meghalaya plates ShillonG, january 19 (ianS): For the next two weeks, beef will go missing from plates in the eastern part of Meghalaya as butchers and cattle traders have called for a two-week long shutdown to protest the cattle smuggling into Bangladesh. Border Security Force (BSF) figures revealed that in 2015 alone, at least 2,079 cows worth nearly Rs.3 crore were seized. Also, 18 cow smugglers were arrested along the India-Bangladesh border in the state by the frontier guards. All the beef shops barring mutton, pork, chicken and fish stalls across the six districts in the eastern part
of Meghalaya remained closed since Monday afternoon. The strike, which will end on February 3, has been called by Khasi Jaintia Butchers Welfare Association (KJBWA) after the Meghalaya government failed to prevent smuggling of cattle into Bangladesh. "All beef shops will continue to remain closed and there will be no purchase of cows from the cattle market at Khanapara village along the Meghalaya-Assam border till February 3," KJBWA vice president Generous Warlarpih told IANS. Cow smuggling to Bangladesh has been going on for decades along the
border in Meghalaya with illegal cattle traders from Bangladesh and those from Assam and Meghalaya drawing huge profits. Meghalaya shares a 443km border with Bangladesh, part of which is porous, hilly and unfenced and prone to frequent infiltration. The BSF seizes cows and cattle and arrests smugglers from the international border with Bangladesh alomst daily. Meghalaya Police had seized 126 head of cow recently, thus proving that the informal trade in cattle is a flourishing business. "Our men have been tackling this new menace and almost everyday cows are being smuggled out to
Bangladesh through unfenced border and riverine routes," Border Security Force spokesman Sushil Kumar Singh told IANS. He said the BSF and Border Guard of Bangladesh have also adopted new steps to curb cow smuggling after union Home Minister Rajnath Singh had urged the Indian frontier guards to stop this menace. "The price of cows at Khanapara is skyrocketing due to high demand of cows in Bangladesh. The smuggling rate ranges from Rs.65,000 to Rs.70,000 for a pair of cattle, while healthy cattle would cost Rs.1 lakh," Warlarpih said. The butcher's associa-
tion said that even a person who herds the cows across to Bangladesh charges Rs.600 per cow, while a truck driver ferrying the cows from Khanapara market near the international border charges a transport fee ranging from Rs.8,000 to Rs.10,000 per head of cattle. "We are losing a profit of Rs.40,000 to Rs.50,000 a week. Due to such smuggling, some of the members of our association have now stopped selling beef, and have started selling pork," Warlarpih said. Indian Custom officials valued the smuggling of cows from India to Bangladesh at approximately over Rs.1,000 crore annually.
during Imphal general strike
imphal, january 19 (ianS): Over 30 people, most of them women, sustained minor injuries in clashes during a general strike called in the Manipur capital by a civil society group protesting the objectionable behaviour by women vendors against a BJP legislator after he stopped reconstruction of market complexes destroyed in the earthquake. In clashes between women from BJP legislator Khumukcham Joykishan's Thangmeiband constituency and women vendors during the 12-hour general strike, one woman fainted after being injured and was rushed to the Regional Institute of Medical Sciences in Imphal. Hospital sources told IANS that she was out of danger. The strike was called by a number of organisations under the aegis of the Thangmeiband Kendra Development Organisation (THAKDO) to protest the storming of the legislator's house by some women vendors on Saturday. Armed police and paramilitary personnel were deployed, and no untoward incident was reported till noon on Monday. Shops, banks, schools and other establishments were closed and there was no traffic in the Thangal market area. Police set up barricades at all major entrances, but small groups of women who were supporting the strike managed to sneak into the market area. The women vendors opposing the strike retaliated. A clash ensued, and many people sustained minor injuries. Policewomen, de-
ployed at the site, had a hard time in separating the brawling women. Some youths also sneaked into the market to stop the ongoing construction work. Sources said the youths pelted stones and women vendors retaliated. Police, however, managed to chase away both the groups. Security measures have been beefed up, as police fear more confrontation since the government is going ahead with the construction of the temporary market and the BJP legislator's supporters are out to block the same. The 12-hour strike was called from 5 a.m. on Monday in Thangmeiband constituency in which the market falls, in protest against the objectionable language some women vendors used against the BJP legislator and the damage they caused to his house. The civil society organisations have demanded an apology from the women vendors for their objectionable language and damage caused to the BJP leader's house. The legislator said no tender was floated for the construction and no work order was issued. Eight people were killed and over 100 others wounded in the January 4 quake that also razed to the ground hundreds of houses. The nearly 2,000 displaced women vendors are now selling their items by the roadside, much to the resentment of the street vendors. Sensing violent confrontation between the two groups, the government hurried with the temporary construction of the damaged markets. The women's market in Imphal is one of the largest such markets in the country.
NE film festival in Itanagar Dimapur, january 19 (mExn): The Arunachal Pradesh government, in partnership with the Film Federation of Arunachal (FFA) is organising its maiden Northeast Film Festival 2016 at Itanagar on February 17 to 20, a press release from the Dimapur Press Club informed. With its mandate of saluting talent and nurturing passion, the event seeks to create a space where filmmakers from the 8 states can meet and engage with each other their stories, films and art. Towards this end, a press conference is being called in Dimapur on
Thursday, January 21 at 10 a.m. in the Conference Hall of Hotel Lake Shilloi. It will be addressed by Sonam
Chombay, Secretary, IPR, Govt of Arunachal Pradesh, and the Director, IPR CM Longphong.
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NOTIFICATION As notified earlier in local paper the selected candidates for undergoing the 20th Batch of Soil Conservation Assistant’s Training at Sechü (Zubza) under Soil & Water Conservation Department are hereby informed that the Classes will commence from 27th January 2016. They are asked to report to the ASCO(R) Sechü (Zubza) positively. (T. IMKONGMAR AIER) Director of Soil & Water Conservation, Nagaland: Kohima
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‘India can still emulate China’s export miracle’ New Delhi, JaNuary 19 (reuters): India has every chance of becoming an export powerhouse, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s top economic adviser told Reuters, despite an ill wind blowing from China that has hurt the ability of Asia’s third-largest economy to compete. Arvind Panagariya, the Columbia University economics professor tapped to run the government’s policy think tank last year, said in an interview he had seen China’s slowdown coming as wage costs there grew. “It was only a matter of time,” said Panagariya, 63, describing “miracle” growth rates sustained by China for decades as without precedent. The natural slowdown in the Chinese economy offered an opportunity, he said, because rising wages and an ageing workforce will encourage manufacturers to move to places where labour costs are cheaper - like India. From parity in 1980, China’s
Arvind Panagariya, head of the government’s main economic advisory body, gestures during an interview with Reuters in New Delhi on January 18. (REUTERS Photo)
economy has outgrown India’s fivefold to $10 trillion. India’s best choice would be to emulate China, said Panagariya, disagreeing with naysayers who argue that advances in labour-saving technology make that impossible. “Many pessimists think that manufactur-
ing is now passe, that the robots are coming, 3D printing is coming,” said Panagariya. “None of those factors is going to be a barrier to India becoming a manufacturing hub right now.” COMPETITIVE PRESSURE
count in place, the Maruti Suzuki S-Cross’ price now starts at 7.79 lakh and goes all the way up to 11.69 lakh. The company claims to have established leadership in the crossover segment with average sales of 2,500 units per month. While that statement may hold true in terms of segment, the fact remains that the Hyundai Creta is considered the S-Cross’ primary rival, thanks to the price and the 1.6-litre engine option. Considering the sales numbers, it is quite evident that the market has taken to the 1.3-litre variant of the Maruti Suzuki S-Cross, while the 1.6-litre variant struggles to garner numbers. The officials, however, have deemed the 1.6-litre variant as the ‘aspirational’ variant, that has allowed the company to establish the car in the market.
MaRUTI SUzUkI S-CROSS PRICES Variant
Old Price
New Price
Difference
1.3 Sigma
8.34 lakh
7.79 lakh
55,000
1.3 Delta
9.15 lakh
8.49 lakh
66,000
1.3 Zeta
9.99 lakh
9.59 lakh
40,000
1.3 Alpha
10.75 lakh
9.94 lakh
46,000
1.6 Delta
11.99 lakh
10.29 lakh
2.05 lakh
1.6 Zeta
12.99 lakh
10.94 lakh
2.05 lakh
1.6 Alpha
13.74 lakh
11.69 lakh
2.05 lakh
New Delhi, JaNuary 19 (ageNcies): The Ministry of Finance on Monday announced the roadmap for a new set of accounting standardsthe Indian Accounting Standards (Ind AS)-for scheduled commercial banks, insurance companies and non-banking financial companies. The new standards, which bring India’s accounting norms in line with the International Financial Reporting Standards, will come into effect from April 1, 2018 onwards. “In pursuance to the Budget Announcement by the Union Finance Minister Shri Arun Jaitley, after consultations with Reserve Bank of India (RBI), Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority(IRDA) and Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA), the following roadmap for implementation of Indian Accounting Standards (Ind AS) converged with International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) for scheduled commer-
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than the U.S. dollar. He highlighted Modi’s decision to build out India’s coastal ports to improve access to the world market for goods as one key initiative to expand India’s 1.7 percent share of world exports. Modi has also promoted a “Make in India” drive that, after a slow start, has attracted U.S. auto makers and Chinese consumer electronics firms. LOOSER MONEY, TIGHT BUDGET India is the world’s fastest growing large economy - outpacing even China - with the government forecasting real GDP growth of 7.0-7.5 percent in the fiscal year to March 31. But a collapse in prices for oil and other commodities has meant that nominal economic growth is only half the level factored into Finance Minister Arun Jaitley’s plans. That has cut into revenues. Ahead of Jaitley’s budget next month, Panagari-
ya urged the Reserve Bank of India to cut interest rates and called for a less ambitious inflation target to underpin growth. At the same time, he advised against “tinkering” with borrowing targets, saying the government’s credibility was riding on its commitment to bring down the budget deficit to 3 percent of GDP over the medium term. While no comment was available from the RBI on Panagariya’s call for easier monetyar policy, private sector economists said Modi should instead focus on policy execution on the ground. That includes reviving stalled infrastructure projects and helping farmers recover after two years of drought. “We believe progress on implementation should get expedited,” said Shubhada Rao, chief economist at Yes Bank in Mumbai. “Interest rates alone are not holding the growth recovery to ransom.”
Govt announces roadmap for adoption of internationally-compliant account standards
Maruti S-Cross’ prices slashed New Delhi, JaNuary 19 (ageNcies): Maruti Suzuki SCross that was launched in August, 2015 at a starting price of 8.34 lakh, has now received a price cut of up to 2.05 lakh. Interestingly, Maruti Suzuki only recently announced a price hike across its models by up to 12,000 to offset the impact of rising costs and weakening of rupee against dollar. About 17,000 units of the Maruti Suzuki S-Cross have been sold since its launch in India, out of which 15,000 were the 1.3-litre DDiS 200 variants. At a recent event, the carmaker accepted that there was indeed a disconnect between the perception of the 2 variants of the crossover and that corrective measures (read: discounts) have been taken. With the aforementioned dis-
In the short run, though, China’s slowdown and weakness in its yuan currency are creating headwinds. India would be “very concerned” if China were to allow a major devaluation in the yuan currency, said Panagariya, who is also India’s negotiator for the Group of 20 summit being hosted by China this year. “In the end, that not only makes Indian goods less competitive in the Chinese market, but also India’s ability to compete with the Chinese in third markets is impacted,” he said. Figures this week showed that India’s merchandise exports fell in December for the 13th month - and were down by nearly 15 percent from a year earlier. That meant India was losing its share of the global trade pie, said Panagariya, attributing some of those losses to the appreciation of the rupee against currencies other
cial banks (excluding RRBs), insurers/insurance companies and Non-Banking Financial Companies (NBFCs) has been drawn up,” the Ministry said in a notification. All scheduled commercial banks, excluding urban cooperative banks and regional rural banks, and insurance companies will have to prepare Ind AS-compliant financial statements from April 1, 2018 onwards while also drawing up comparative statements for the preceding periods. The new accounting standards will be applicable to NBFCs in two phases. In the first phase, the new standards will have to be adopted by NBFCs with a net worth of Rs. 500 crore or more. This applies to any holding, subsidiary, joint venture or associate companies of such NBFCs. The second phase, applicable from April 1, 2019, will be for “NBFCs whose equity and/ or debt securities are listed or are in the process of listing on
RBI to buy government securities of Rs.10,000 cr MuMbai, JaNuary 19 (iaNs): In a bid to infuse liquidity into markets, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) will purchase government securities worth a total Rs.10,000 crore on Wednesday. “Based on the current assessment of prevailing and evolving liquidity conditions, the Reserve Bank has decided to conduct purchase of government securities under Open Market Operations (OMO) for an aggregate amount of Rs.100 billion on January 20, 2016, through multi-security auction using the multiple price method,” the RBI said in a release here. “There is an overall aggregate ceiling of Rs.100 billion for all the securities in the basket put together,” the statement said. The RBI will purchase government securities maturing in 2019 (interest rate of 7.28 percent), 2023 (8.83 percent), 2025 (7.72 percent) and 2030 (7.88 percent), it added. The central bank also said it may accept less than the aggregate amount of Rs.10,000 crore, or may purchase marginally higher than the aggregate amount owing to rounding off effects and other relevant factors.
Samsung begins mass producing world’s fastest 4GB HBM DRAM seoul, JaNuary 19 (iaNs): Samsung Electronics said on Tuesday that it has begun mass-producing the world’s fastest 4-gigabyte high bandwidth memory (HBM) dynamic random access memory (DRAM) chip, more than seven times faster than the previous fastest DRAM. The 4GB DRAM package is based on the secondgeneration HBM (HBM2) interface, which can transmit data at a speed more than seven times the current DRAM performance limit, Xinhua reported. The new DRAM solution will allow faster responsiveness for high performance computing, advanced graphics and network systems as well as enterprise servers, the company said in a statement. The 4GB HBM2 package uses the Through Silicon Via (TSV) technology, which vertically interconnects a buffer die at the bottom and four 8-gigabit (Gb) core dies on top through thousands of TSV holes. It offers an improvement in data transmission speed compared with the typical wire-bonding package technology. The new memory chip, which uses the 20-nanometre process technology, satisfies the need for high performance, energy efficiency and reliability, the company said. Samsung said that it plans to produce an 8GB HBM2 DRAM package within this year to specify it in graphics card, vowing to expand its line-up of HBM2 DRAM solutions.
any stock exchange in India or outside India and having net worth less than Rs. 500 crore.” NBFCs that are not covered in either of these provisions and that are unlisted with a net worth of between Rs. 250-500 crore will also have to change their accounting standards by April 1, 2019. “NBFCs having net worth below Rs. 250 crore and not covered under the above provisions shall continue to apply accounting standards specified in Annexure to Companies (Accounting Standards) Rules, Dear Vishal Chauhan 2006,” the statement said. “Scheduled commercial Since your birth, your banks (excluding RRBs)/NBFlife has brought you to Cs/insurance companies/insurers shall apply Indian Ac- year six may you grow counting Standards only if they more and we pray that meet the specified criteria, they you may have many more shall not be allowed to voluntarily adopt Indian Accounting birthdays in the years Standards (Ind AS),” the state- ahead of you and live ment added. them joyously too. The draft rules will be issued by the Ministry of Corporate AfLoving Dada & fairs, RBI and IRDA soon. family members
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DOWN
1. Outbuilding 2. Story 3. Baking appliance 4. Quick note 5. Enliven 6. Flavorless 7. Greek letter 8. Horn sound 9. Male rulers 10. Showman 11. Not fluid 12. Really bad 13. Border 21. Actress Lupino 25. Snake-like fish 26. Disgorge 27. Small slender gull 28. Police action 29. Do 30. Avoids
31. Despise 33. Metal money 34. Clock sound 35. Pang 36. Require 38. Allotting 41. C 42. Baffle 44. An unskilled actor 45. Breathing problem 46. Satisfies 47. Travelled by bus 48. Clods 50. Agitate 51. Ancient Peruvian 52. Sacred 53. Picnic insects 54. Roman emperor 55. Snare Ans to CrossWord 3477
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WednesdAY 20•01•2016
NAGALAND
‘Illegal miners responsible for negative environmental and public health impacts’ Our Correspondent Mokokchung | January 19
Random and destructive coal mining practices by illegal miners are responsible for negative environmental and public health impacts, observed the Parliamentary Secretary for Geology & Mining, Dr. Imtiwapang Aier today. “The maximum damage is done by illegal miners,” he reiterated. The Parliamentary Secretary, a geologist himself, is on a three-day itinerary visit to coal mines in Mokokchung and Mon districts that began today. Accompanied by officers of the department, Aier today visited coal mines of Lakhuni, Mangkolemba and Chungtiayimsen areas under Mokokchung district. While interacting with media persons during his stopover at Mangkolemba, Aier informed that the purpose of his visit to the coal mines was to check illegal mining, assess the environmental degradation caused by coal mining and to streamline the system so as to enhance revenue for the state government. He also informed that the department will be launching an awareness campaign on environment issues and that he would
(LEFt) Nagaland Parliamentary Secretary for Geology & Mining, Dr.Imtiwapang Aier during his visit to the coal mines of Lakhuni village, Mokokchung, January 19. (RIGht) Open cast coal mine at Lakhuni village, Mokokchung.
visit the mines again later this year in the month of May. As per the provisions of the Nagaland Coal Policy & Rules (First Amendment) 2014, the village councils are expected to extend “full cooperation to the department,” he noted but regretted that that they were are not obliging.
He stated that, as per the law, “The village councils are required to ensure that the miners carry out backfilling work of the mined out areas and that all mined out pits are reclaimed and revegetated by the miners or licensee before abandoning the mines.” The department officials accompanying the Parlia-
mentary Secretary also informed that there are more than forty “operators” or miners active in the Mangkolemba coal mine block alone out of which “only three are legal licensees.” It was also highlighted that village councils, as per the law, are only to issue recommendations but the reality is that the village
councils are issuing permits and allowing “illegal miners” to extract the mineral. The department officials further disclosed that they will after the tour write to the village councils to “identify the illegal miners for onward necessary action.” Meanwhile, the Parliamentary Secretary main-
tained that unless the village councils extend full cooperation to the department, “we cannot control illegal mining.” As per Rule 26(F) of the Nagaland Coal Policy & Rules, the village councils are entrusted to “strictly prohibit illegal coal mining within the village jurisdiction and extend full co-
HM Patton condoles KN Odyuo
Members of Kachari tribal Council Nagaland (KCtN) and other Kachari Frontal Organizations during their annual Picnic-cum- get together at Doyapur Village, Dimapur on January 16. KCtN General Secretary informed that about 100 delegates attended the event and shared of ideas and experiences signifying the age old unity and integration of all the Kacharis living in Nagaland.
DiMAPUR, JANUARY 18 (MExN): The Home Minister of Nagaland Y Patton has conveyed his extreme pain to learn about the untimely demise of KN Odyuo of Riphyim Village in Wokha today. He was a prominent public leader from Englan Range and rendered immense social services in various capacities.
Describing Late Odyuo as a close personal friend, Patton in a condolence message said “His good works done to me would continue to remain in my life.” It is a great loss to the people of Englan Range in particular and Lothas in general, and the void created by his death will be dif-
ficult to fill, Patton added. “I joined by my wife convey our heartfelt condolences to the family members of late KN Odyuo and pray to Almighty Lord to grant them strength at this hour of grief” he further condoled. “We also pray to Almighty Lord to grant peace to the Departed Soul.”
behind the delay, it wondered “Is the government hesitant to shift office of the Deputy Commissioner, Dimapur to Chumoukedima? In this context, the Union reminded the State Government that when Dimapur District was created and when Chumoukedima was proposed as the Headquarter, the people readily offered land and gave every possible support. “But even after a lapse of all these years since the completion of the complex with all infrastructures, the office is yet to be shifted to the prepared site,” it added accusing the government of taking “undue advantage” of their good nature and congeniality and playing with the emotions of the people. Consequently, G.B's Union asked the govern-
ment to take “immediate steps” to make the Dimapur DC Office to functional from its Headquarter and not at its temporary camp at A.D.C's Office complex October avoid any future complication. In a different note, the Chakhroma G.B's Union also expressed its appreciation to the the Ministry of External Affairs under the Government of India for opening the Passport Seva Kendra (PSK) in Nagaland at the New D.C's Office Complex, Chumoukedima. “The opening of the Kendra will certainly mitigate the plight of the Nagas, who till now, had to go all the way to Guwahati and other places to procure passports, spending much time and money,” it further mainitnaed.
AR Medical camp at Phomching Village Mon
cess fee” to the Forest Department which is deposited against a joint bank account of the DFO and the Village Council, the officials informed, the sum of which is to be utilized for the reclamation of mined out land before abandoning it. “I’ve never seen anybody utilizing that money for the said purpose,” declared O. Koratemjen Jamir, OSD to the Govt. of Nagaland (Geology & Mining). The Geology & Mining department generated revenue of Rs.1.10 crores realized as royalty from coal extraction in Mokokchung district during the fiscal 2014-15. It was learnt that the department levies a royalty of Rs.290 per tonne of coal extracted out of which “10% Naga Commission” is repaid to the landowners through the village councils. The Parliamentary Secretary was today accompanied by the OSD to the Govt. of Nagaland (Geology & Mining), Mining Engineer and district in-charge of Mokokchung, T.Semy and other department officials. The parliamentary secretary is to visit coal mines at Lower Tiru, Singphan and Upper Tiru tomorrow and Naginimora and Sheta the day after, both under Mon district.
MEx FILE CRPO calls off proposed bandh PHEK, JANUARY 19 (MExN): The Chizami Range Public Organization (CRPO) has decided to call off its proposed 12 hour total ban which was scheduled to be imposed on January 21. A press note from the CRPO informed that this decision was taken “in view of the prompt response by the Power Department in repairing and restoring the IMVA-33/11 KV Power Transformer.” It however appealed to the department for replacement with New Transformer at Pfutsero to be shifted and installed at Chizami sub-division at the earliest.
AVUD first general meeting
Our patience is running low: Chakhroma G.B's Union on shifting of DC Office DiMAPUR, JANUARY 19 (MExN): Stating that the Union is seriously viewing the reluctance and failure of the Nagaland government to make the D.C's Headquarter functional till now, the Chakhroma G.B's Union today told the State Government that its patience is running low and it is ready to agitate against the government if necessary steps are not taken. “The youth are ready to launch agitations against the government, but it is only with the intervention of the elders that the youth are being pacified and the situation kept under control till now,” the Chakhroma G.B's Union said in a press note issued by its President Thepfukedo Kuotsu and General Secretary Atso Gwizan. Questioning the motive
operation to the Geology and Mining department for prevention of illegal mines” and failure on the part of the village councils to comply would invite “suspension of all government developmental activities including withholding of VDB fund.” In an interesting revelation that can be rightly said to lay bare the fact that there lacks proper coordination between the allied departments, the visiting Geology & Mining officials accompanying the parliamentary secretary claimed that their department’s duty is to oversee the extraction of coal and generate revenue for the government out of it while arguing that fingers should not be pointed at the department for the reported issues of environmental degradation and pollution hazards. “The department issues license only after the applicant produces necessary documents issued by the Pollution Control Board and the Forest Department,” the Geology & Mining department officials claimed. Apart from the ‘clearance certificates’ issued by the said other two departments, license applicants are also required to deposit a security fee of Rs.30 thousand per hectare as “green
DiMAPUR, JANUARY 19 (MExN): The Aghunato Village Union Dimapur (AVUD) will hold the first general meeting on January 23, 10:00 AM onwards at the banker residence of Ghotoi Kiba, Johrpukhuri Purana Bazar. A press note from AVUD president, Kughavi Achumi requested all the office bearers, executive members, advisors and members attend the meeting without fail.
Hindi Samiti programme held
New team of Chakhesang Public Organization (CPO) for the tenure 2016-18 with CBCC executive secretary Rev. Dr. Vezopa tetseo, Phek deputy commissioner Murohu Chotso and CPO outgoing treasurer Veziihii Keyho. the new team of CPO includes; President- Kekhwengulo Lea, Ariyi Nienu- vice president, Mutsivoyi Kotso- general secretary, Dozhohii tunyi- joint secretary, Wekhrope Marhu- press secretary, Vezoto (Jack) Dozo- finance secretary, John Lohe- treasurer and Neilo Khape and Besupra Swuro as representative to Naga hoho. Morung Photo
DiMAPUR, JANUARY 19 (MExN): The Nagaland Prantiya Rashtrabhasa Prachar Samiti (NPRPS) organised a programme entitled, “The State of Hindi Language in Nagaland at the premises of Hindi Nagar, Padampukhuri, Dimapur on January 7. According to a press note, during the programme the Samiti Secretary Piyongtemen Jamir reported on its activities while the President, Pankaj Sinha motivated the participants. The president further informed the gathering that the Nagaland Hindi Pacharak Workshop will be held on January 23 at the main office of the Samiti.
BJP Dimapur discuss party matters with BJYM DiMAPUR, JANUARY 19 (MExN): Issues relating to the party’s developments and achievement in the district as well as in the state were the subject of discussion when Bharatiya Janata Party Dimapur District Unit interacted with Bharatiya Janata Party Yuva Morcha (BJYM) Na-
galand State Unit General Secretary (Organization) Mathew K. Janger at his resident recently. The team was lead by the unit president K Nikhevi Yeputho. According to a press note from the unit General Secretary, Biplab K Sangma during the interaction the BJYM General Secre-
tary requested all the party workers to adhere by the directives of the Central BJP leaders and said “BJP being national party we should not go against any form of central decisions.” Appointment of Visasolie Lhouhgnu as the new BJP President in the state was due to the the central
leaders has having a good faith on him for the Party's growth and development as well as Naga society in general, Janger further told the delegation. He also asserted party people to have a good relation with the Central Government else no development shall come the state.
In order to gain favour from the Centre, the BJYM State General Secretary also urged the delegation to unite and work in true spirit for the betterment of the State and to bring development in the region besides infrastructures and establish permanent peace.
NMC to adopt credit system for all doctors
DiMAPUR, JANUARY 19, (MExN): A total of 480 patients were treated and distributed free medicines at a Medical Camp organised by 33 Assam Rifles conducted at Phomching Village, under Mon District on January 12.
A press note from the AR informed that the camp was conducted under ‘Op Sadbhavna’ as a part of Military Civic Action. The common ailments prevalent in the area were backache, abdominal /
gastro cases, upper respiratory infections, common cold and fever, according to the press note. The local and civil administration appreciated the AR’s initiative in bringing the same at their doorstep, the AR added.
DiMAPUR, JANUARY 19 (MExN): The Nagaland Medical Council (NMC) has resolved to institute the Continuing Medical Education (CME) guidelines for all doctors practicing in Nagaland. A part of standard guidelines recommended by the MCI (Medical Council of India), these guidelines were adopted at its annual general body meeting held on January 15. According to the guidelines, every practicing doctor in the state needs to acquire 30 CME credit points in 5 years in order to have their legal registration re-
newed, the Council CME Committee Convener stated in a press note received here. It amounts to 6 credit points per year and each credit point is equal to 2 CME hours. “If a doctor does not have these CME credits at the end of 5 years, he or she will not be eligible for renewal of registration,” it added. The NMC further stated that the CMEs could be acquired from conferences within or outside the state and valid proof of the same needs to be produced to clock CME credits with the State Medical Council.
Continuing medical education is a must for doctors so that they are well equipped with the latest information and trends in medical knowledge, it maintained adding that such steps could do “justice to the trust that is placed on them by patients who come to them. “ It also informed that due processes are being designed in order to ensure that all doctors are given a fair chance to acquire these credits taking into consideration the difficulty of terrain and accessibility in Nagaland for doctors in far flung remote districts.
“The Nagaland Medical Council will make all efforts to ensure that this process is inclusive and no doctor is left out from benefiting from it” it noted. A leniency period of three months is being provided to doctors and their respective associations, it added, to develop the mechanisms to conduct CMEs according to the guidelines and plan for their yearly CME points. The NMC also expressed hope that with the introduction of these guidelines and regulations, doctors in Nagaland will advance professionally
and healthcare for the people in general will improve significantly. The guidelines are being e-mailed to all the doctors who have registered with the State Medical Council, the NMC also informed adding that copies of these guidelines are also available and clarifications/ suggestions can be made with the office of the Registrar of the Council at the Paramedical Training Institute, Kohima It will also be made available the official council’s website once its construction is done.
WednesdAY 20•01•2016
IN FOCUS
6
The Power of Truth
The Morung Express
THE MORUNG EXPRESS
C O M M E N T A R Y
John Feffer Foreign Policy
Between Rocks and a Flora, Fauna, Peoples Life and Coal Mining in Nagaland Hard Place in Africa Xi volume issue 18 X issue 185 Thursday 9volume July 2015
By dr. asangba Tzüdir
O
ur land is marked by natural beauty and serene topography. She is abundantly blessed with a rich biodiversity and more importantly the state’s biodiversity is also a part of the Indo-Burma global biodiversity hotspot. It has been estimated that over 81,000 species of fauna and 47,000 species of flora are found in Nagaland. Though, the rich diversity of flora and fauna in the state is yet to be fully documented. Now, the study done by the Nagaland Pollution Control Board (NSCB) on coal mining has clearly suggested that current methods of coal mining in the state poses a threat to the flora, fauna and also the people especially those living in the vicinity of the mines. With the amount of deforestation and its associated impacts caused due to mining, it is not simply a threat. The damage has set a dangerous precedent. On forest cover, according to NRSA (National Remote Sensing Agency) in 1980-82, the total forest cover in Nagaland was 49% of the total geographical area of which actual good quality forest was only 29.8 (Choudhury, 1986). It further added that, considering the rapid destruction of forest, the good quality forest may now be just 20%. Further, the govt. controlled reserved forest accounts only for only 7% of the total area of the state while the remaining areas belong to the people. In our state of the two widely used methods of coal mining, strip mining (also known as open cast, mountaintop or surface mining) is commonly practiced which also involves rathole mining. Strip mining has destroyed landscapes, forests and wildlife habitats due to clearing of the site of the mine resulting in removal of trees, plants, and topsoil from the mining area. This has lead to soil erosion and destruction of agricultural land. Again, a lot of contamination has also been caused to river waters involving chemical contamination of ground water. Since it thoroughly damages the soil, any attempt to re-seed the land destroyed by coal mining will be a difficult proposition. Coal mining which is the first step in the dirty lifecycle of coal thereby comes with a huge baggage of hazards both health and environmental. The most common health threats are Pneumoconiosis, aka black lung disease or CWP and others like cardiopulmonary disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, hypertension, lung disease, and kidney disease. Again, beginning with deforestation, coal mining releases huge amount of toxic minerals into the soil and water, the effect of which persists for years after the area is abandoned. Furthermore mining releases coal mine methane, a greenhouse gas which is said to be 20 times more powerful than carbon dioxide. Coal dust inhalation causes black lung disease among miners and those who live nearby, and mine accidents kill thousands every year. Coal mining displaces whole communities, forced off their land by expanding mines, coal fires, subsidence and contaminated water supplies. The economic activity associated with coal mining may be seen as a blessing especially for those engaged in the activity but the long term impacts are many affecting all forms of life including plants and animals. The urgent need is for long term perspectives and planning associated with coal mining so that the paramount issues related to coal mining can be addressed. Without hardly any scientific knowledge engaged in the process of coal mining it is going to create a whole lot of environmental hazards and various other problems in the long run. Besides the damage caused to flora and fauna, the environment and barren lands unsuitable for agriculture, it will be human habitation and settlement which will be badly affected. What follows then will see an increased rate of urbanization and economic dependency. (Dr. Asangba Tzüdir is an Editor with heritage publishing house. He writes a weekly guest editorial for the Morung Express. Views and comments can be mailed to asangtz@gmail.com)
lEfT WING |
Paul Buchheit CommonDreams
The Real Terrorists: The .01%
T
hey consist of 16,000 individuals, about the size of a crowd at a professional basketball game. The inequality horror they've fomented is reaching far beyond the half of America that is in or near poverty, for it now impacts those of us well above the median, those of us in the second highest of four wealth quartiles. 1. The .01% Have as Much Wealth as 80% of America The combined net worth of the 16,000 richest Americans is approximately the same as the total wealth of 256,000,000 people. Details for this statistic and other facts to follow are at You Deserve Facts. 2. Americans with up to a Quarter-Million Dollars are Part of the Nearly 80% of Americans with Less Wealth Than the .01% The 80% includes all Americans with a net worth up to about $277,000. 3. The .01% Own about as Much as 75% of the Entire World The world's poorest 75% own roughly 4 percent of total global wealth, approximately the same percentage of wealth owned by the .01% in the United States. Again, calculations are shown here. 4. The .01% - Who Are They? It starts with the billionaires, the Forbes 400 and 136 more, for a total of 536 individuals with a total net worth of $2.6 trillion at the end of 2015. It continues with more Ultra High Net Worth Individuals (UHNWIs). These loftily-named people, over 15,000 of them, are worth hundreds of millions of dollars apiece, bringing the total .01% wealth to about $6.2 trillion, based on 2013-14 data. But U.S. wealth has grown by about 30 percent in three years, and the Forbes 400 has grown by 38 percent, and thus the total wealth of the .01% has grown to over $9 trillion. In contrast, a recent Institute for Policy Studies report calculated that the bottom half of America has about $732 billion in total wealth, and further calculations on the same data show that the bottom 75% of America owned about $6.2 trillion in 2013. 5. The Unique Brand of .01% Terror: Making a Game of Tax Avoidance While 2,500,000 Children Experience Homelessness Wealth ownership is not contemptible if the owners of that wealth accept their responsibility to the society that makes their great fortunes possible. But instead of paying taxes, the wealthiest Americans have formed an "income defense industry" to shelter their riches, with, according to the New York Times, "a high-priced phalanx of lawyers, estate planners, lobbyists and anti-tax activists who exploit and defend a dizzying array of tax maneuvers, virtually none of them available to taxpayers of more modest means." On the corporate end, over half of U.S. corporate foreign profits are now being held in tax havens, double the share of just twenty years ago. Yet for some of our largest corporations, according to the Wall Street Journal, over 75 percent of the cash owned by their foreign subsidiaries remains in U.S. banks, "held in U.S. dollars or parked in U.S. government and corporate securities." Thus they get the benefit of our national security while they eagerly avoid taxes. The .01% go about their self-serving tax avoidance while 2.5 million children experience homelessness every year. The corporations of the .01% hoard hundreds of billions overseas while nearly two-thirds of American families don't have enough money to replace a broken furnace. This is real terror, facing life without shelter and warmth and sustenance, without a semblance of security for even one day in the future. It is terror caused in good part by the 16,000 people who don't feel it's necessary to pay for the benefits heaped upon them by a perversely unequal society.
A
large billboard on the side of the road urges residents of this dusty capital city to restrict their showers to under three minutes. Even now, during the rainy season, Gaborone is experiencing a severe water shortage. At the luxury casino resort hotel where I stayed on a recent trip, water flowed from the taps only a few hours each day. The current water shortage offers a stark reminder that Botswana — an arid, land-locked country just north of South Africa — has always been at the mercy of the elements. For its entire post-independence history, the most important element for Botswana has been carbon — the fanciest grade. The discovery of diamonds in the late 1960s propelled the country from a GDP per capita of $70 to its current upper-middle-income status of roughly $16,000, close to the highest in Africa. Botswana is one of a very few countries in the world to have largely avoided the so-called “resource curse,” a term economists use to describe the often debilitating economic and governance outcomes associated with large natural-resource endowments. Throughout Africa, in places like Sierra Leone and Equatorial Guinea, underground riches have fueled civil conflict and corruption. Botswana’s cut of diamond sales, by contrast, has translated over the years into modern infrastructure, high rates of literacy, and a stable democracy. But the country remains dangerously dependent on its mining sector. And the diamond market, like the weather in Botswana, is unpredictable. In 2015, consumer demand for the expensive gems slackened, and suppliers cut prices for rough and polished diamonds by 15 percent and 8 percent, respectively, in an effort to boost demand. Meanwhile, tighter banking regulations worldwide, aimed at reducing risk and preventing money laundering, have reduced the amount of credit flowing into the diamond sector. Even the slowdown of the Chinese economy and policy changes there have depressed the market: A recent push by the Chinese Communist Party to eliminate the appearance of corruption has cut into global diamond sales. “The giving of nice gifts has been cut back in China because of the perception of corruption,” said John Vardis, owner of the Diamond Analyst, a firm that advises on diamond acquisition and investment. The increased volatility of the diamond market comes at a particularly sensitive moment for Botswana. The country is still in the early stages of a partnership with De Beers, the world’s largest diamond corporation and by far the largest producer in Botswana, to keep more of the value from each diamond inside the country. The mining industry calls this process “beneficiation.” It’s an effort to build an additional market around the mining sector so that countries like Botswana can make money, not just from the sale of rough diamonds, but also from their cutting and polishing. It’s not a new idea — South Africa has implemented beneficiation in the diamond sector for years — but Botswana is making an unprecedented investment in it, gambling that the process can help kick its economy to a whole new level. It has several reasons to be optimistic. Among all the players in the global diamond market, Botswana is the grandmaster. The government nets nearly 80 percent of the profits that De Beers makes on the sale of the country’s rough diamonds (by comparison, Namibia only gets 50 percent of De Beers’s profits). To get such a generous slice of the take, Botswana has taken advantage of its market position — it’s the second-largest diamond producer in the world after Russia — as well as its canny bargaining tactics. Over the years, for instance, the government has acquired a 15 percent share in De Beers itself and retains the right to name two members to the company’s board, giving it a say in decision-making. But in the mid-2000s, when a 25-year lease came due on the country’s most profitable mine, the government made its biggest demand yet: a beneficiation plan to extend the life of the country’s diamond industry and help diversify the economy. The plan turned the global diamond industry upside down. In the past, buyers traveled to London to view the rough gems that De Beers had mined from operations in 28 countries. But for the past two years, as a part of the beneficiation process, these buyers have gone to the other side of the globe, visiting the capital of Botswana to buy an annual $6 billion worth of diamonds.
T
his past December marked 37 years since the end of the brutal reign of the Khmer Rouge, whose warped ideology and systematic violence brought death to a quarter of Cambodia’s eight million people. For years afterward, the US government and its allies, fighting Cold War battles in the wake of the Communist victory in neighbouring Vietnam, cynically backed the ousted Khmer Rouge at the United Nations. In part as a result, it took more than a quarter century to establish a court to try those most responsible for the horrific crimes. By then, many Khmer Rouge leaders, including Pol Pot, its founding leader, had died. Over the past ten years, the UNbacked Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC) has struggled to complete just three trials. Just before Christmas, two more investigations edged forward when suspects voluntarily appeared and were formally charged, virtually ensuring that judicial proceedings will continue into 2017. My organization, the Open Society Justice Initiative, has monitored developments at the ECCC throughout its tenure. The Court has held three senior figures responsible for atrocities in public trials that offered positive models of vigorous defense advocacy, reasoned judicial decisions, and access to victims. It has pioneered methods of case procedure and management new to Cambodia. Further, it has prompted public discussions about the past, and helped spark inclusion of a brief history of Khmer Rouge rule in
A diamond cutter checks the 2 carat diamond she is polishing at Belgium outfit's Eurostar diamond cutting and polishing centre in Gaborone. (AFP File PHOTO)
These so-called “sightholder visits,” 20 of which have taken place since the beneficiation process was launched in 2013, have turned Gaborone into a diamond destination, and locals have been scrambling to take advantage of the influx of wealthy merchants. New hotels and restaurants have opened in the capital, and De Beers has even created an enterprise development program to mentor local entrepreneurs in support services like IT and catering. But it’s not just that Gaborone has become a diamond-trading Mecca overnight; it has also started to build up its diamond-processing sector to ready the rough gemstones for sale. Whereas in the past nearly all of the diamonds were cut and polished abroad, now roughly 15 percent are handled by the 20 or so cutting and polishing operations that have sprouted up in the capital in recent years. These outfits are mostly run by expats, many from India, but they are training local workers to turn rough diamonds into the finished gemstones sold directly to Tiffany & Co. and other upmarket retailers, as well as to a handful of local jewelry manufacturers. In 2013, sales of cut and polished diamonds in Botswana reached nearly half a billion dollars. Given its sizable investment in the project, De Beers is anxious to present its experiment with beneficiation in Botswana as a success. The company recently partnered with Chatham House, a London-based think tank, to hold a conference in Gaborone on the so-called “Botswana model” and invited a group of visiting journalists, including me, to view their operations in the capital. Attendees toured De Beers’s highly secure Diamond Trading Company (DTC) complex, connected to the airport by a dedicated road, and watched as local employees sorted rough gems from around the world so they could be sold to 200 or so visiting sightholders. “The transition has been seamless,” said De Beers Executive Vice President Paul Rowley, adding that most customers are happy with the recent changes and not put off by the periodic water and electricity shortages in Gaborone. But beneficiation has not been an entirely smooth process — not in Botswana and not anywhere else it has been tried. Several of Botswana’s cutting and polishing operations have gone belly-up during the ongoing downturn in the global diamond market, and others have shed employees. An estimated 1,000 jobs have been lost in the sector in the last year, more than a third of the country’s total. Competing against lower-wage labor in India, which currently finishes about 80 percent of the world’s rough diamonds, has not been easy — especially since the buyers who come to Gaborone in search of rough gems are not obligated under the beneficiation agreement to cut and polish even a small percentage of their purchase in Botswana. “It’s as if people are expecting the DTC to take off without the direct involvement of government,” said Tshireletso Motlogelwa, publisher of Botswana’s Business Weekly and Review. “You need a more direct role so that you keep it going until it’s established. A lot of people say that’s the meddling of government in business. But the business is so strategic that the government might as well get involved.”
These challenges should not have come as a surprise. Nearby South Africa, which has a longer experience with De Beers and beneficiation, has weathered an even greater upheaval, with employment in the cutting and polishing sector dropping from 4,500 jobs in the 1990s to fewer than 600 today. Critics there point to a failure by the government to invest in the technology and training necessary to compete against not only India and China but also neighboring Botswana. So far, beneficiation in Botswana has added several thousand well-paying jobs to the economy. But it has done little to spread around the tremendous wealth generated by the diamond industry. The fifth-richest country in Africa by per capita income is still one of the continent’s most unequal, ranking near the top of global indices of economic inequality. The youth unemployment rate still hovers around 35 percent while 62 percent of households in the capital are “severely food insecure,” according to a 2014 article published in the journal Urban Forum. Several decades of economic growth based on diamond mining have improved roads, health care, schools, and governance, but it hasn’t put much money in the pockets of ordinary people or created a significant middle class. To achieve the elusive goal of equitable growth, beneficiation must do two seemingly contrary things: It must allow Botswana to pry more money from each diamond while also diversifying the economy so other industries are capable of growing the middle class and the diamond sector no longer commands a 70 percent share of exports. “If there was a growing economy like Kenya, where there’s a growing middle class and more people buying engagement rings, more money from diamonds would be left in the country,” said Vardis. In the past, the country has ventured into game-park tourism and beef exports to the European Union, and the country’s service sector is still growing, but a more ambitious development strategy is needed that goes beyond diamonds and beneficiation. According to Keith Jefferis, the former deputy governor of the Bank of Botswana, the country can thank “well-managed good luck” for its modest success to date. To make the next leap, he says, the country will need to invest in alternative sectors like “highvalue, low-bulk manufacturing” that can compete with South African exports. But even good management can no longer be taken for granted. The country’s performance on the Worldwide Governance Indicators has slipped in the last 10 years. And Botswana has fallen over 30 places in the World Bank’s Doing Business index, from 40th in 2006 to 72nd in the 2016 report. Several mysterious deaths, including that of an opposition politician just before the 2014 elections, have also reduced public confidence in the government. On top of that, economic growth is currently anemic in Botswana; the country faces its first budget deficit in four years; and the government is thinking of dipping into its sovereign wealth fund to prime the pump. Diamonds, as De Beers likes to say, are forever. But diamond wealth is fleeting. At the mercy of the elements and the diamond market, Botswana needs more than the current beneficiation plan to achieve equitable, broad-based growth.
Cambodian trials offer important lessons James a. Goldston
Cambodian schools. Still, the number of those charged is tiny compared to the number of perpetrators, and the Court has yet to demonstrate that it can successfully prosecute and try suspects in the face of government resistance. To be sure, the Court’s impact and legacy are of greatest importance to Cambodians. And yet, mass crime and corruption know no borders. From the Central African Republic to Central America, from Syria to Ukraine, the ECCC offers lessons about international justice and the option of using regional tribunals to complement the work of the International Criminal Court in The Hague. First, don’t delay. The long pause between the end of Khmer Rouge rule and the launch of formal investigations has meant less evidence, diminished memories and fewer senior leaders still alive to face trial. More than 65% of Cambodians were born after the regime’s fall. Many find it hard to believe such crimes really took place. There may well be reasons to sequence prosecutions to gain a political settlement, but the costs should be clear. Second, once trials get started, they take time and money. The initial budget
for the ECCC projected a three-year operation at a cost of about $50 million. Ten years later, the Court is still going, and about to exceed a quarter billion dollars in total spending. Funding crises have repeatedly threatened to shut down its work. The judicial process does not obey a political timetable. Witnesses must be identified, and, in instances of mass violence, many will need protection. Some victims will require psycho-social assistance. The process of amassing evidence, building legally sufficient cases, and defending against them takes months, if not years. Financial contributions must be planned and staggered accordingly, so that court officials don’t waste precious time beseeching donors for funds whose need is entirely predictable. Third, judicial action generates greater impact if it is rooted in a broader program of locally-owned reform in support of the rule of law. Sadly, the Khmer Rouge tribunal was not. Since its inception, political will to end widespread corruption in the judicial system has been waning. While a number of Cambodian court officials express satisfaction at having benefitted from international mentors, there has been insufficient building
WRITE-WING
of systemic capacity among justice officials. As a result, the ECCC’s examples of independent fact-finding and reasoned judging have not resonated more widely. Today, as in 2006 and 1996, few ordinary Cambodians have any illusion about where power in their society lies—or about a judge’s or prosecutor’s independent (in)ability to challenge it. Finally, though tempting, it is a mistake to compromise on the core principle of judicial independence. In many ways, the history of the Khmer Rouge tribunal has been a series of concessions to Hun Sen, currently in his fifth term as Cambodia's prime minister. In the 1990s, the US, France and Australia overruled the recommendation of UN experts that the tribunal should have an international judicial majority to guard against improper interference. More recently, no donor government has publicly challenged Phnom Penh’s baseless opposition to further trials beyond those already underway. Though each effort to appease Hun Sen seemed necessary at the time, together they have undermined the tribunal’s ability to provide justice that is, and appears to be, free of political influence. The Khmer Rouge tribunal has brought a measure of accountability for some of the most heinous crimes of the 20th century. But its potential to foster greater respect for the rule of law in Cambodia has been stunted by inconsistent funding, intransigence at home and inadequate political backing from abroad. As the world confronts mass violence in the future, Cambodia offers a warning worth heeding.
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.
wednesdAY 20•01•2016
PERSPECTIVE
THE MORUNG EXPRESS
The seeds of peace Robin Llewellyn
F
New Internationalist
ive days before armed and masked men would approach the little house where he is detained, Feliciano Valencia looked out over the plains of Cauca stretching away between the twin sierras of Colombia and said: ‘This is beauty!’ All the plains and the mountains were once the homeland of Valencia’s Nasa people, who, prior to the Spanish conquest inhabited an area stretching from beyond Cali in the north to beyond Popayan in the south. At the start of the 20th century the Nasa still farmed the plains below, but in 1915 the police forced them out at gunpoint, many chose a life in the high mountains while others remained to rent small lots paid for by free labour on the new sugar haciendas. The haciendas remain today, their fields still give off the sweet smell of the sugarcane and sometimes the ash of the cane stubs that are burned after the fields are cut rains down in the streets of Santander de Quilichao, the market town downhill from where Valencia is detained. Nowadays many are either rented or owned directly by InCauca, a foreign owned bio-fuels and sugar products company, but since the founding of the Regional Indigenous Council of Cauca in 1971 the Nasa have refused to provide free labour and have occupied many haciendas as they seek to restore the land to their reservations. Valencia is known to many Colombians as the human face of indigenous blockades of the Panamerican Highway visible in the land below, and of the occupations of sugar plantations throughout the department. In 2000 he and Cauca’s indigenous movement were awarded the national peace prize for peacefully campaigning for the restitution of ancestral land and for the recognition of indigenous rights. At the end of November demonstrators filled the streets of the capital Bogota to demand his release and urge the state to recognize indigenous jurisdiction over indigenous territory. Although the little house is a ‘centre for harmonization’ – the indigenous equivalent of a prison, and Valencia is beginning a 16 year sentence, his satisfaction was clear. On one knee he held the baby who he had been separated from for 54 days while held in a maximum security prison, ‘where they bring all the high-risk criminals… But here I’ve come to a world where I can encounter nature, my people, where I can recover after those 54 days of permanent torture that affects one physically and spiritually.’ He was transferred to indigenous territory to serve his term, and there, confined to the land around the centre for harmonization, he can mingle with his people. ‘They will bring me my horse, he will graze the field here. And they’ll bring me my dog, I’ve missed him so much.’ Valencia is serving a 16 year sentence for ‘co-authoring the kidnap’ of a soldier, Chaparal Santiago, who, dressed as a civilian, had entered a demonstration of 14,000 indigenous people during tensions with the conservative Uribe administration in 2008. The indigenous guards that protect native territories arrested the soldier and found a book with instructions for bomb-making in his bag, creating suspicions that he had been infiltrating the community to cause explosions that would taint the indigenous movement as having been infiltrated by FARC guerrillas. The soldier was tried by the council of the indigenous territory on which he’d been arrested, sentenced to lashes on his legs and released, but the army then launched a legal suit against leading indigenous figures that were first dismissed in court in 2010, before abruptly resurfacing in September. The prosecution of Valencia for a community’s actions was dismissed by UN Human Rights representative to Colombia Todd Howland as resembling ‘something out of Kafka’, for lacking a direct link to Valencia and for ignoring the Colombian constitution’s commitment to indigenous jurisdiction. Indigenous law can be administered when an alleged crime occurs on indigenous land, carried out by an indigenous person and impacting indigenous people. According to Valencia, ‘Chaparal Santiago wasn’t arrested on the Panamerican Highway, which is a public road, but he entered indigenous territory. … Secondly, he identified himself as an indigenous. He said ‘I am an indigenous and I belong to the indigenous council of Quintana, my family are there. If you want, phone the reservation’s governor who can verify that I’m indigenous.’ Thirdly, the affected community were the 14,000 indigenous people concentrated there … and fourthly Chaparal had things that put the community at risk including a notebook with instructions in how to manage explosions. Therefore the requisites established by the law were met, in
F
or my Father, the best place for a vacation is Shillong. But my mother cannot stand the cold, so also my wife, even though she is from the hills. For my children, the beaches are the best. And for me, any road trip will do, wherever it may take me or end at. We all have our favourites. Our favourites are not because they are the best, but because we like them the most. For income tax saving under Section 80C, I have a favourite, too. But like any other favourite, it is not the only instrument I rely on to save tax under Section 80C. But still, it is my favourite. And it is none other than a mutual fund product called the Equity Linked Saving Schemes (ELSS). When choosing an investment product, requirement of the investor comes first, then the eligibility of the product. Be advised, out of all the products for saving Income Tax under section 80C, ELSS scores highest in the scale of volatility and also in terms of return. How much to put in the ELSS is a matter of choice for each individual, depending on his risk-reward analysis and also the investor’s test. Keeping the entire amount of 1.5 lakhs, or not keeping a single dime are both bad ideas, both for a novice and for an expert. One of the biggest advantages of an ELSS fund is a shorter investment pe-
Feliciano Valencia with the baby who he had been separated from for 54 days while held in a maximum security prison.
terms in which we could establish justice.’ To many activists the detention of Valencia is much more than the isolation of a figure who, as a former presidential candidate, can unify indigenous and non-indigenous Colombians. It was also part of the criminalization of social protest and the erosion of indigenous jurisdiction as a means to erode the privileges that indigenous territories can exercise in terms of excluding activities such as mining from their territories. His sentencing was condemned by the Regional Indigenous Council of Cauca as a ‘coup by the state against our constitutional rights, [that] revokes the peace treaty that the constitution of 1991 represents in our history.’ Colombia is on the verge of another accord, as a peace deal between the state and the FARC is expected to be signed by 23 March 2016. Agreement has been reached over structures of transitional justice, limited land reform, and political participation. The 51 year insurrection of the guerrillas could finally be coming to a close, and much has been written on whether Colombia is at last leaving its violent history behind. The highlands of the two sierra in front of us have a beauty that captures even those accustomed to them, but are frequently used as refuges by the paramilitaries and guerrillas, who cross the plains that lie between them to transport drugs en route to the Pacific coast. The ‘blocs’ or ‘fronts’ that constitute the FARC are selffinancing and several have said they won’t respect any peace agreement, and the paramilitary drug trafficking groups such as the Urabeños, the Rastrojos, and the Black Eagles are, according to Colombia’s National Centre for Historic Memory, now the most responsible for human rights violations in the country. The Nasa have been continuing to occupy the sugar plantations and replant them with fruit trees and maize in a process they call ‘the liberation of Mother Earth’, and which has seen many killed through massacres and assassinations. These include the catholic priest Alvaro Ulcué Chocué, since immortalized in the Nasa anthem, who was assassinated in Santander de Quilichao in November 1984, the day after the army destroyed indigenous encampments on the sugar hacienda of Lopez Adentro, and two days after he presented the legal arguments of indigenous claims to ancestral land to army generals. In December 1991, only months after the constitution was ratified, paramilitaries killed 21 activists occupying the El Nilo hacienda. An investigation pointed to the active involvement of Santander de Quilichao’s police major but charges were dropped. Under international pressure the government committed to hand over 15,600 hectares of the plains to the Nasa, but has yet to fully deliver on their promise. In the nights of the 13 and 16 November 2015 the indigenous guards protecting the centre for harmonization surprised and deterred a group of armed and masked men approaching the little house where Valencia is detained. Their identities were never revealed and they have not returned, but Valencia is under an array of death threats that, prior to his detention, meant he was provided with an armoured car and offered armed escorts. Valencia accepted the car but had always traveled instead with the (unarmed) indigenous guards. But he faces other threats. The judiciary of Cauca is ‘impregnated with politics’, he says. ‘Why? Why, because before condemning me we were in the process of the liberation of Mother Earth in Corinto, in [the hacienda of ] La Emperatriz. We
had blocked the Panamerican Highway in La Agustina, and there was a strong debate in respect of the use of violence to empower private property, in this case the private property of the land of the sugarcane industry in northern Cauca… We were beginning to question many things that impacted on the Cauca oligarchy… precisely in this moment came my condemnation.’ In the following days thousands of indigenous activists descended on the centre for harmonization to greet Valencia before touring Cauca and then proceeding to the capital where they would hold meetings with civil society and seek (unsuccessfully) to meet government officials. Valencia outlined the message of the demonstrators: ‘One: respect indigenous rights. Two: make the Colombian state guarantee the functioning of indigenous jurisdiction as well as recognize it, and three: ensure that the actions taken by indigenous governments to defend land, territory, the respect for biodiversity and the environment, are guaranteed. These are… things that we have always fought for as indigenous peoples. But we emphasize the theme of indigenous jurisdiction because it has been warned that there will be prosecutions against many indigenous governors, indigenous territories, indigenous authorities, and many members of indigenous communities, who will all have the same luck as I have in this moment.’ The great Colombian writer Alfredo Molano argued that the valley of Cauca ‘must once have been a forest of enormous, wide-canopied saman trees, like those that still exist in bloody Santander de Quilichao. Today all of the valley is covered in sugar cane. Six companies dominate production. The land has been bought or rented, and fumigated with glyphosate to accelerate the maturation of the cane and make more money in less time. Nothing other than cane can be grown. There is not one centimeter of the great plain where that plant is not grown. There is no cotton or rice, as was once; no cassava or plantain. Needless to say the plains are deserted of those who once tended the land: thanks to the paramilitaries and their violence. Nor are there workers, the cane-cutting machines have replaced them. Six-trucked road trains carry the cane to be refined into sugar and bio-fuel.’ Molano describes how national legislation to benefit a handful of families in Bogota has filled the plain with the crop, to the extent that these families are now having to spread the industry to the llanos, the eastern plains neighbouring Venezuela. Molano writes: ‘All this criminal destruction in the name of progress and the pockets of four huge companies inflated and financed by the government… The panorama is identical to that described by John Steinbeck in The Grapes of Wrath: desolation, solitude, and dust in the west of California; the hunger and the fists of the disinherited next to the tractors and the expanses of land devoted to producing cornflakes.’ Death threats continue to be made against members of Nasa communities throughout the region, and in November activists occupying the land of the sugar hacienda of Arriba Garcia filmed the local landowner supported by an alleged member of the FARC as the two fired their pistols at the demonstrators. In late December the Colombian Congress finally passed a bill that has been circulating since the presidency of Alvaro Uribe, that lets agro-industry legally claim vast tracts of land which are judged to be ‘unproductive’. The measure has been condemned by the Colombian Commission of Jurists, Oxfam, human rights and displacement NGOs. During the weeks in which Valencia had been detained in San Isidro, indigenous guards had been holding vigil outside the gates of the prison, and had sung the anthem to where Valencia listened in his cell. ‘…the Nasa have been struggling from the conquest until today. Alvaro, all the people miss you for your brave work, for denouncing injustice, for denouncing the assassin and the oppressor. The seed that you planted will never die, a thousand Alvaros will be born, and the path of the struggle shall shine as they follow it.’ As the shadows began to gather in the plains below, Valencia concluded: ‘We will keep trying to enhance the understanding of peace, beyond that of which they’re speaking of in Havana… All that we have been doing as indigenous people in 44 years [since the establishment of the Regional Indigenous Council of Cauca] is what we understand to be the peace of the indigenous: rights, autonomy, recognition, guarantees… This is what peace means for us.’
Investing in ELSS
riod. Unlike bank Fix Deposits or National Saving Certificate (NSC), which are for five years or PPF, which is for 15 years, the ELSS’s lock-in duration is only three years. An investor can redeem his investment after three years, which is not possible in any other traditional or equity-exposed products, including Equity Linked Insurance Policy, popularly known as ULIP. This makes ELSS the best product in the equity category for saving taxes. No doubt, lakhs of young, salaried individuals’ first involvement in equity is usually through an ELSS. Also, for a fund manager to man-
age an ELSS fund is much easier than a normal open-ended equity fund. Although structurally, there is no difference between an open-ended equity mutual fund and an ELSS, but since in ELSS the investment is locked for three years, fund managers can take long-term investment calls with ease. Often it has been observed that many times ELSS beats a normal equity fund, much to the amusementand delight of investors. Another advantage of ELSS is that, all interests from it are tax-free, just like PPF. Suppose, after investing one lakh rupees, you gained Rs. 60,000 after
three years, no income tax will be levied on that amount. Same will not be true in bank FD or NSC. That’s because any investment in equity of more than one year attracts no tax under the current income tax rules of India. But sadly, a lot of people lose out on this great product for a number of reasons. Primary among them is that most of us, especially the people from North-East India, don’t think about investments until the month of March. Then comes the intense pressure from the sales team, both from your bank and also from your friendly family agent. And needless to say, investing in an equity product at one go is the worst investment decision one can make. The proper route to invest in an ELSS is through a systematic investment plan, contributing a regular amount from your bank each month. In case you have missed out, don’t worry, but also don’t hurry. Start a new SIP from this year and continue it up until next year, and year after year. With interest rates going south, I will encourage even senior citizens to put a portion of their investment in ELSS if they have tax liabilities. But again, be advised, a person of considerable age should not put more than 30 per cent of his investment in equity at any given time. Twitter:d_jakharia
7
The Newspaper with an Opinion The Morung Express
Imagine our lives today without technology and we will become almost disabled. Few hours of internet break down and we start panicking. This is what has become of us today! We are at an age in which every one of us uses some form of technology and it has in fact made our life so easy; and just about everything is more convenient and accessible at the click of a button. However, on the contrary we are so dependent on technology that we are becoming less self-reliant. Many of us keep ourselves so engrossed in our mobile phones, laptops, etc. that we sometimes tend to neglect our real life. It is a very rare sight today to see the children sitting down together with their parents and interacting. Technology is a boon and indeed we need it for our society to progress; but let us not become slaves of it. Kinitoli Aye, Asst Professor, Department of History
Digital Insanity Killing the Love
T
imes and people are changing. There are certain human universals that everybody shares like language, rationality, perceptions, and emotions etc. These universals of development feed the changes of our subsistence. We have driven our society to a whole new level of creative and intolerant morals. Why is it important to study the society? Because it construes our well being and that we are sweeping ourselves to an erroneous perception to live; of life as individuals with no moral obligations. There are many daily social problems that we deal with; and generally ignore without consideration of good and bad, being rational beings. We are not socially impaired or clinically unstable to differentiate right from wrong. There has been a lot of change in our community. Growing up as a kid things were different and simpler back then. There were less evil ailments in the society, until the breaking age of technology and the more hideous side of the minds of men. What I am referring to is the way social media has erupted creating a catastrophic effect specifically with regard to a problem that appears to be predominantly emerging in our land – ie. adultery. The number of broken families; husbands cheating and wives on a thread of infidelity has increased manifold. There is no room and time for people to communicate face to face. I believe that is where the problem begins! I do not mean to say that mobile phones and technology are the only reason for the degeneration in family values but it is one of the many reasons. So many are addicted to cell phones and the number of mobile phone users have rapidly increased. The count is spiraling and people these days spend more time on their cell phones rather than with their family and loved ones. Now, in an era where things are progressing rapidly, the simple entity of love is being shattered. Many people do not care for each other and this very phenomenon starts in the family. It was not common for a husband or wife to cheat on their partners; sadly these immoral feelings to cheat and betray have increased in our society with the freedom of internet through social media. Following such acts of immoral behavior was considered shambolic and disgusting. Marriage is holy as considered by us (Christians) and to maintain the sanctity and trust of marriage is our soul duty, taking vows to stand by each other in good and bad times. How many of those couples actually keep their promise as vowed on their wedding day and stay true to each other? This is where our society is reflected; to speak of the evil ailments that have set in our community as a virus that keeps reproducing without warning. Infidelity is a rising issue in our society. There are countless hidden secrets in our society which is suspended with the knowledge that ‘IT’ being a social evil. This is becoming very common and people just do not give a thought to it.As an example let me generalize a common issue; an individual who is respected and has status, advocates about being true to their partner and keeping themselves astray from wrongful conduct, in which case the irony is that his own family is torn apart by his selfish act of infidelity. Is that rational? Why preach something when you cannot practice what you preach? The introduction of cell phones and internet has definitely made our lives easier and durable but it has in a lot of ways also broken families and inflicted the society with social complications and unnatural conscious. It’s no wonder in the world filled with ‘I’Macs, ‘I’-Phones, ‘I’Pads, which has separated the ‘Us’ and the ‘We’. Technology has made us more selfish and separate than ever. While it claims to connect us, the connection has gotten no better. We are living in a generation of media overstimulation where we are all participants in the pageantry of vanity. We have stepped into an age of digital insanity. We are taking a step ahead into the future with every passing year. This advancement should be a source to connect us, bring us closer, share happiness and freedom; not distance ourselves from the world, from the people we care and love. The road for our future is taking a different turn separating us from the reality of life. Taking into consideration all of the destructive nature it has, it is indeed a sorry thought that we have the nerve to call this very destruction of our own, a progress. The ugly truth is “it can be denied but, it cannot be avoided.” “Degree of Thought is a weekly community column initiated by Tetso College in partnership with The Morung Express. Degree of Thought will delve into the social, cultural, political and educational issues around us. The views expressed here do not reflect the opinion of the institution. Tetso College is a NAAC Accredited UGC recognised Commerce and Arts College. For feedback or comments please email: admin@tetsocollege.org”.
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
WEdnEsdAY 20•01•2016
INDIA
THE MORUNG EXPRESS
letter threatening Modi, 'Pathankot can happen again, talking 'ISParrikar being probed' to Pakistan is an exercise in futility' New Delhi, JaNuary 19 (iaNS): Is there any point in talking to Pakistan? Can Pakistan change its policy of using terror as an instrument of coercion? Will Pakistani generals allow the civilian government to take any strategic foreign policy decision regarding India? Can India ever exercise counter-coercion options, options that hurt the Pakistani state structure? At a lively discussion Tuesday afternoon between a former policy formulator, an retired general and a strategic analyst at the India International Centre on "Lahore to Pathankot: Turbulent Trajectory", organized by the Society for Policy Studies (SPS) that saw a large gathering of diplomats and members of the strategic community, there was large consensus that segregating terror from the primary dialogue will not serve any purpose and there were “grave reservations” whether Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s hopes of “turning the course of history” in ties with Pakistan by ending terror would have any chance of success. Asserting that “Pakistani generals called the shots” as far as strategic foreign and security issues were concerned, Vivek Katju, former pointperson (joint secretary) in the Indian foreign ministry in charge of policy formulation towards the Af-Pak region and a former ambassador to Afghanistan, said the Pakistani Army had no real interest in cooperation with India and wondered if the “generals were on board” on the parlays between Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and Modi when the latter decided to
An Indian Air Force soldier takes up position outside Air force base on the perimeter of an airforce base in Pathankot on January 3. (HT File Photo)
make the surprise stopover at Lahore on his way back to New Delhi from Kabul on Christmas Day. He said use of “calibrated terror" would continue to be part of Pakistan’s security doctrine that was in the hands of its army and said little purpose would be served by segregating the terror talks, which were to be conducted by the two national security advisers, from the now renamed Comprehensive Bilateral Dialogue that is to be conducted between the two foreign secretaries. Lt. Gen. Syed Ata Hasnain (retd), former GOC of the Srinagar-based 15 Corps and a visiting fellow at the Vivekananda International Foundation, said: "Pathankot (type attack) will happen again – and very shortly” if India refused to learn proper les-
sons from it in radically altering and improving its civilian-military interface. He said the “Pakistani deep state (military) had no desire to pull back its assets (radical elements)”, adding the problem this time was “no one was sure who was controlling the operations”. He said India had no tradition of contingency planning, various units continued to work in silos and the “response mechanism needs to get its act together” if Pathankot or even Mumbai-style attacks are not to be repeated. Gen. Hasnain warned that if India did not have a proper command and control structure and did not operationalise its existing mechanisms when such events happened, “hell will break out” if Pakistan, which was currently too
preoccupied with its own internal security management, were to put Kashmir as a strategic priority once again. Zorawer Daulet Singh, an analyst with the King’s India Institute, an affiliate London's King’s College, said India should “stop try and change Pakistan” or try and “change patterns of the past” but concentrate on using “means to serve our ends”, including use of “counter-proxies” and “countercoercion instruments” to pay back Pakistan in the same coin and hurting them where it matters. He said, despite changes in government, India was still sticking to idealistic Nehruvian approaches to foreign policy, hoping the other side will change its behavior when it should be internalizing the political dynamics
of Pakistan and create pressure points that will compel Pakistan to relook its ways. Katju also agreed with Singh that old approaches will not work and “any amount of lighting peace candles at Wagah” will not change an iota in thinking of those elements in Pakistan who control the whiphands of the terror groups like the Jaish-e-Mohammed or the Lashker-e-Taiba, whose trained cadres have repeatedly attacked Indian. Katju said Pakistan was perhaps the only nuclear state that had turned nuclear restraint into license by using the nuclear threat to launch attacks “on the mainland” through its terror instruments while India restrained itself for fear that retaliation might lead an all-out nuclear war with catastrophic consequences. Commodore C Uday Bhaskar, Director, SPS, who chaired the session, noted that the Modi government needs to invest in acquiring tangible national security capacity so as to compel Pakistan to desist from supporting terror. He also cautioned that the Islamic religious fervor which has taken firm roots in Pakistan's civil society is now spreading in the military and this supra-national ideology which is similar to that of the al-Qaeda and the Islamic State bodes ill for regional stability. All the speakers agreed that India should not be too constrained by international opinion, particularly the West, and fashion its policy from its own security perspective as the West “would never abandon Pakistan” as it served its own security interests in the volatile Af-Pak region.
PaNaJi, JaNuary 19 (iaNS): Goa Police have begun investigating a letter, with IS scribbled on it, which has threatened Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar for allegedly pursuing antibeef policies. Goa's Inspector General of Police V. Renganathan confirmed the contents of the letter, which he said was written in English, and added the postcard containing the threats to the two political leaders was posted locally. "Since you are not allowing to eat beef, you will be taken care of," the postcard said while referring to Modi and Parrikar. The letter was signed with the letters IS. The letter, received at the state secretariat here on Thursday, was later handed over to the Anti-Terror Squad and the North Goa district police. Another senior police official, Sunil Garg told reporters at the police headquarters that another hoax terror call was received on January 17, threatening of a terror attack at the Mandrem beach, which is located in Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar's constituency. "We are taking no chances. We have beefed up security across Goa. A meeting of all agencies had also been called to discuss the security apparatus in Goa," Garg said. Police sources said Parrikar's security was reviewed in view of the threat letter. A spokesperson for the state unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party while responding to a question about the threat to Parrikar said on Tuesday that the police were capable of handling such issues.
German firm launches its quake warning system in India New Delhi, JaNuary 19 (PTi): A German company today launched an early earthquake warning and security system in India, claiming that the device which is to be fitted in buildings will help detect the first waves and provide people a few extra seconds to rescue themselves during a tremor. 'Early Earthquake Warning and Security System' needs to be fitted in buildings and can detect P (Primary) waves, which are in mild form and are followed by strong S (Secondary) waves during an earthquake, Secty Electronics Gmbh's Managing Director Juergen Przybylak said. "The technologies, presently available, are based on detecting P waves of an earthquake and it is a matter of seconds to act to save our lives and infrastructure. "GFZPotsdam has developed an algorithm and Secty Electronics has programmed it in its software to detect the P wave," Przybylak said, adding that the device alerts 70 seconds before the secondary waves hit the structure and, thus, giving more time for people to escape.
NIA, security agencies to be strengthened: Rajnath Dalit student suicide snowballs into a political row
New Delhi, JaNuary 19 (iaNS): Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Tuesday said security agencies like the National Investigation Agency (NIA) would be strengthened in view of the enormous challenges facing the country. "Organisations like the NIA are to be empowered. They have to be well organised in order to carry out their duties," the home minister said while addressing a gathering of NIA officials on the occasion of the agency's Raising Day here. "Modern equipment are needed. Work is on (in this direction) and ef-
ficiency of the NIA will increase further," Rajnath Singh said. He said the NIA has been "performing professionally" ever since it came into being in 2009, and the government will provide it with all modern equipment needed to increase its efficiency. The NIA, set up on January 19, in 2009, aims to match international standards in investigating counterterrorism and other national security-related cases at the national level. Terming terrorism as a curse and a global challenge, the minister said India was committed to fight it. "Terrorism is a global challenge.
India supports countries fighting against it," he added. The home minister also appreciated Jammu and Kashmir Governor N.N. Vohra's suggestion on the occasion for setting up National Security Administrative Services to deal with challenges like terrorism and other security issues. "I appreciate the suggestions made by the governor and will take them up at the appropriate forum," he said. Vohra, besides suggesting need for National Security Administrative Services, also said that there should be separate ministry to deal with terrorism and other security issues.
Ashok Vajpeyi returns his D Litt degree award hyDeraBaD, JaNuary 19 (ageNcieS): Hindi poet and literary critic Ashok Vajpeyi on Tuesday announced to return his D.Litt degree awarded to him by Hyderabad University in protest against circumstances that forced PhD scholar Rohith Vemula for suicide. Vajpeyi's announcement comes two days after, Vemula, a Ph.D student, committed suicide on Sunday alleging harassment by the university authorities. In October last year, Vajpeyi returned his Sahitya Akademi award over government's apathy in dealing with the murders of Kannada writer and Sahitya Akademi winner MM Kalburgi, rationalist Narendra Dabholkar and Govind Pansare.
Call for fresh polls if unwilling to be CM: Omar to Mehbooba SriNagar, JaNuary 19 (PTi): Former Chief Minister Omar Abdullah has asked PDP president Mehbooba Mufti to recommend dissolution of Jammu and Kashmir Assembly for conduct of fresh elections in the state if she is "unable or unwilling" to assume the responsibility as Chief Minister. In an open letter to Mehbooba Mufti, the National Conference leader said "to dilly-dally is the biggest disservice you can do" to people of the state as they should not be denied an elected government. "If you are unable or unwilling to assume the responsibilities that are being placed on your shoulders,
then you must do your duty to the people, recommend to His Excellency The Governor to dissolve the Assembly, and let the people make a fresh decision in an election," he said. Omar said Mehbooba's reluctance to step up and take charge meant that in less than a year, the state had to be placed under central rule again. "No state should be denied an elected government, but I took some consolation from the belief, alas mistaken, that central rule would be a short-lived affair and you would take over after the four days of mourning," he said. The working president of National Conference said
the people of the state had a number of expectations. "The flood victims expected to see a bigger flood relief package; industry expected to see the return of power projects; contractors expected to see more money for development; and unemployed youngsters expected to see more jobs. "Civil society was heartened to read that you were negotiating to ensure that divisive issues like the attack on our flag and threat to our special constitutional status would end," he said. Omar said the PDP president cannot blame the people for expecting to see all this happen. He said
Mehbooba's silence resulted in others from her party rushing in to fill the void. Commenting on the PDP core group meeting on Sunday, Omar said the people of the state were expecting some announcements but it appears it "will be business as usual when the business of governing resumes". Omar asked Mehbooba what she was waiting for when her party's alliance with the BJP stands and no fresh negotiations are taking place. "So why is the state under central rule? What are you waiting for, Mehbooba?" He said she should "either rise to the occasion or else step back.
Agitating students of at the University of Hyderabad.
hyDeraBaD/New Delhi, JaNuary 19 (PTi): The suicide by a dalit student of Hyderabad University today snowballed into a major issue with BJP's rivals wading into it and demanding the removal of Union Ministers Smriti Irani and Bandaru Dattatreya, accusing them of being responsible for the death. As Congress mounted the demand for the sacking of the HRD and Labour Ministers, Rahul Gandhi led the multi-party charge attacking them and the Vice Chancellor Appa Rao saying "The VC and the Union Ministers in Delhi have not acted fairly. This youngster was put in so much pain that he had no option but to kill himself." Though he did not name Irani,
Acid-attack survivor becomes face of fashion brand
MuMBai, JaNuary 19 (ThoMSoN reuTerS FouNDaTioN): An acidattack survivor in India has been made a model for a fashion brand, drawing attention to the crime in the country with one of the highest rates of acid violence in the world. Laxmi, who goes by one name, features in an advertising campaign for a new range of apparel from Viva N Diva in an initiative the company said is aimed at raising awareness of those who have lost their physical beauty to acid attacks. A video clip titled 'Face of Courage' shows Laxmi being made up and then striding down the catwalk while smiling at the cameras, her scarred face in focus. "We had seen some pictures of other acid-attack survivors, and we thought, if we can create an opportunity for even one of them, it would be worthwhile," said Manan Shah, managing director at Viva N Diva in Surat, in the western state of Gujarat. "We have received a very good response and we hope other companies will follow the example." Globally, there are as many as 1,500 reLaxmi, who goes by one name, features in an advertising campaign for a new range of apparel from Viva N Diva. corded acid attacks every year, with more
than 1,000 cases estimated to occur in India alone. However, many attacks go unreported because victims are too afraid of reprisals to come forward. Attackers frequently target the head and face to maim, disfigure and blind the victims. Despite the severity of the crime, acid remains easily available in India, where it is used in the manufacture and processing of cotton and rubber, even after a 2013 Supreme Court order to curb sales. Last year, the court ruled that victims should receive free medical treatment and a minimum compensation of 300,000 rupees ($4,500). Laxmi, who was 15 when she was attacked by a 32-year-old man whose advances she had spurned, has petitioned the court for a complete ban on the sale of acid. She received an International Women of Courage Award from U.S. First Lady Michelle Obama in 2014. "We want to bring acid-attack survivors into the mainstream world, and this campaign shows it is possible," said Alok Dixit with the Chhanv Foundation in New Delhi, which has led a campaign to stop acid attacks. "It shows even survivors can be seen as normal."
who had just over the week attacked Rahul in his constituency Amethi of failing youths there, the reference was obvious to her against the backdrop of ministry's action which is blamed for the suicide by Rohith Vemula, a dalit research scholar, on Sunday night. Protests escalated in Hyderabad and cities across the country including in Delhi, Mumbai, Pune and Chennai. Student organisations including the pro-Left AISA and AAPbacked CYSS and Congress' NSUI held protests in Jantar Mantar and the HRD ministry in the capital demanding the sacking of the ministers and strong action against the VC. Various political parties and leaders have blamed Labour Minister
Dattatreya's letter of Aug 17 last year to Irani seeking action against the "anti national activities" of a students union and the alleged assault of an ABVP leader and a series of five communications from the HRD Ministry between Sept 3 and Nov 19 demanding follow up action for the suicide. The HRD ministry, however, today rejected allegations that it had put any pressure on the University relating to either suspension of Rohith or keeping him out of the hostel. The communications, it maintained, was not aimed at putting pressure but was in compliance with the standard protocol adopted in accordance with the Central Secretariat Manual of Procedure whenever a "VIP Reference" is received.
Sunanda Pushkar death probe by Delhi police was 'shoddy New Delhi, JaNuary 19 (iaNS): The head of All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) forensic department, Dr Sudhir Gupta, on Tuesday said that Delhi Police investigation into Sunanda Pushkar death case was slipshod and that it had unnecessarily delayed sending of the viscera to the Federal Bureau of Investigation in the US. "It has been a shoddy investigation on the part of the police. There have been many errors in the investigation," Dr Gupta told IANS, adding that there had been unnecessary delays in the case. "The delay in sending the viscera samples of Sunanda Pushkar to the FBI led to its degradation," he said. On January 15, Dr Gupta told this correspondent that the FBI had found a few radioactive substances in the viscera, "but due to degraded viscera, they could not read its intensity". This was contrary to what the police had claimed that no radioactive substance had been found in the viscera. On the police claim over the uncertainty about the exact cause of death or lack of 'clarity' on the poisonous substance that caused Pushkar's death, Gupta told
IANS on Tuesday: "Delhi Police are lying if they are saying so." Gupta added: "There have been many attempts to dilute the investigation. The previous government and the AIIMS administration even tried to remove me from my post so that they could form a new medical board which would give a 'natural death' report. But they did not succeed. I did not compromise with the principles and ethics of my profession." Gupta had earlier alleged that he was asked by AIIMS director M.C. Mishra to prepare a post-mortem examination report of Pushkar, stating her death was 'natural'. The AIIMS director had filed an affidavit with the Delhi High Court last year to remove Gupta from his post. Pushkar, 52, wife of senior Congress leader Shashi Tharoor, was found dead in a south Delhi hotel room on January 17, 2014. Delhi Police Commissioner B.S. Bassi earlier said that they had received a report from AIIMS on the FBI's finding on the viscera samples of Pushkar. The FBI had endorsed the AIIMS report of poisoning as the cause of Pushkar's death.
WednesdaY 20•01•2016
WORLD
THE MORUNG EXPRESS
Jail to jihad: Indonesian prisons a breeding ground for militancy JAKARTA, JAnuARy 19 (ReuTeRs): Afif was an inmate in a high-security Indonesian jail when he transformed from aspiring radical Islamist to soldier for Islamic State, ready to sacrifice his life for a group based thousands of miles away in the Middle East. His journey ended with his death last week on a busy intersection in central Jakarta, after the gun and suicide bomb attack he launched with three other militants that brought Islamic State’s brand of violence to Southeast Asia for the first time. Afif’s graduation from jailbird to jihadi shines a light on a prison system where staff shortages, overcrowding and corruption have allowed extremists to mingle and emerge as determined killers in the name of Islam. Security officials say Afif, also known as Sunakim, was sentenced to seven years in prison for taking part in a militant training camp in the province of Aceh, where Islam is generally practised in a stricter form than other parts of Indonesia. Once behind bars, he refused to follow deradicalisation programmes, the officials added. Akbar Hadi, spokesman for the Ministry of Law and Human Rights, declined to comment on whether Afif’s activities were monitored after he was released last August. Police said he planned the Jakarta siege with the three other attackers, one of whom was also a former convict. Four civilians died
Radical Muslim cleric Aman Abdurrahman (C), also known as Oman Rochman, raises his hands in a holding cell as he waits with other militants for their trial in Jakarta. (REUTERS File Photo)
in the attack along with the militants. A report by the Institute for Policy Analysis of Conflict (IPAC) last year said that 26 prisons across Indonesia housed about 270 “convicted terrorists”, but Islamic State supporters accounted for only a small minority of them. National Police Chief Badrodin Haiti told Reuters that at least five jailed militants were believed to have been in communication with the plotters in the lead-up to the attack.
Cipinang prison, Afif was one of some 20 convicts heavily influenced by fellow convict and firebrand Islamist cleric Aman Abdurrahman, experts said. From behind bars, Abdurrahman heads an umbrella organisation formed last year through an alliance of splinter groups that support Islamic State. “They shared the same cells, they prayed together, they cooked together,” said Taufik Andrie, Jakartabased executive director of the Institute for International Peacebuilding. COURIERS, Abdurrahman reguCELL PHONES larly spread “takfiri” docWhile inside Jakarta’s trine, a belief among Sunni
militants who justify their violence by branding others as infidels, through his sermons and lectures. Abdurrahman was moved to a maximum security prison in Nusakambangan in Central Java in 2013, but continued to communicate with Afif and a growing group of around 200 followers using couriers and cell phones. A lawyer for Abu Bakar Ba’asyir, another high-profile radical inmate at Nusakambangan, told Reuters it is easy to convey messages to the outside world from inside prison. “Any kind of visitor is allowed and even if they
don’t exchange any cell phones, there is still an exchange of information and the visitor can interpret that,” said Achmad Michdan. SOCIAL MEDIA A KEY TOOL Experts say radical inmates like Abdurrahman still get away with disseminating sermons by email, Facebook, and hard copies. Despite being behind bars, Abdurrahman was able to make an online pledge of allegiance to Islamic State in 2014. “Those with more radical thinking can also hold religious sermons on a reg-
ular basis and it is very easy to convey radical ideas to others,” said Farihin, a former militant who participated in a government deradicalisation programme during his time in a prison in Palu on the island of Sulawesi. Indonesia’s counterterrorism chief, Saud Usman Nasution, told Reuters in November that prison officials were unable to halt this type of communication because of overcrowding. “We are aware that there is a problem with convicts being allowed to communicate using the Internet and cell phones. There is definitely room for improvement,” said Ministry of Law and Human Rights spokesman Hadi, adding that inmates cannot be forced to join deradicalisation programmes. Experts say access to social media and messaging apps like Telegram is a large part of the problem. Police believe the alleged mastermind of the Jakarta attack, an Indonesian fighting with Islamic State in Syria called Bahrun Naim, used social media to communicate his radical ideas to followers in Indonesia. He may also have transferred thousands of dollars to accounts here, police said. Since the attack, Indonesia has blocked websites and sent letters to social media networks Twitter, Facebook and Telegram, asking them to take down radical content.
Myanmar’s powerful army chief picks Regular exercise important lawmakers as transition moves forward for heart health & longevity yAnGOn, JAnuARy 19 (ReuTeRs): Myanmar army chief Min Aung Hlaing nominated military officers, who hold a quarter of seats in parliament, to their posts, state media said on Tuesday, another step by the army in what has so far surprised many as a remarkably peaceful transition. Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD) party swept the historic Nov. 8 election, but Myanmar’s military, which ruled the country for 49 years before giving way to semi-civilian government in 2011, remains a powerful political force. A statement carried in the Global New Light of Myanmar daily said that the election commission had confirmed the military lawmakers for both national and regional parliaments. Myanmar’s second-in-
command, deputy commander-in-chief Soe Win, reiterated on Monday the army’s willingness to keep its powerful position in politics during a meeting with U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Antony Blinken during their meeting in the capital of Naypyitaw. “Vice Senior General Soe Win explained ... the plan to cooperate with the next government and the leading role of the Tatmadaw in national politics,” the state-owned Myanmar language daily Kyemon reported on Tuesday. Tatmadaw is the Myanmar term for the military. The 25 percent of seats in the national parliament gives the military an effective veto over changes to the 2008 junta-drafted constitution that bans Suu Kyi from becoming the president because her late husband was British and her sons are not Myanmar citizens. Three key security minis-
Australian PM urges China to avoid great power conflict trap wAsHInGTOn, JAnuARy 19 (ReuTeRs): Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull called on China on Monday to avoid actions in pursuit of territorial claims in Asia that could make conflict with the United States more likely. Speaking in Washington ahead of a meeting with President Barack Obama on Tuesday, Turnbull said Chinese President Xi Jinping had spoken of his desire to avoid the so-called Thucydides Trap - an academic theory that sees a risk of rivalry between a rising and an established power turning to conflict. “If avoiding the Thucydides Trap is a core objective of China’s strategy, as President Xi insists it is, then we would hope that China’s actions will be carefully calculated to make conflict less likely not more,” Turnbull told the Centre for Strategic and International studies think tank. He said China should be seeking to reassure neighbours and build confidence about its intentions. “The legitimacy of claims to reefs and shoals should be a secondary consideration when that objective is focused on,” Turnbull said, referring to China’s territorial claims in the South China Sea, where Beijing has been building artificial islands to extend its reach. Turnbull said rival claims should be settled under international law and referred to a case the Philippines has brought in the arbitration court in The Hague over its competing claims with China. Turnbull, who has a tricky balancing act to maintain between China as Australia’s largest trading partner and the United States as Canberra’s main security ally, said a strong and enduring U.S. presence was needed in Asia to ensure the region’s unprecedented economic growth continued. In announcing Turnbull’s visit earlier this month, the White House said Obama and the Australian leader were expected to discuss the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal awaiting ratification and the fight against Islamic State militants in Iraq and Syria, in which both countries are engaged.
tries - defence, border affairs and home affairs - also remain under the control of the commander-in-chief. The newly appointed military lawmakers will attend their first session together with representatives chosen in the November election on Feb.1. In the national bicameral parliament, 166 military MPs will serve. Another 220 will serve in 14 state and regional assemblies. They hold positions ranging from captain to major general, according to the list published in the state media. Major General Tauk Tun is the most senior military lawmaker selected for the lower house and major general Than Soe for the upper house. The NLD-led government will take power in March following a presidential election carried out in the national parliament in February.
new yORK, JAnuARy 19 (IAns): Regular physical activity reduces a person’s risk of death from cardiovascular disease -- a disease of the heart or blood vessels, said a new study. Small amount of physical activities, including standing, are associated with a lower risk of cardiovascular disease, but more exercise leads to even greater reduction in risk of death from cardiovascular disease, the study revealed. “The greatest benefit is to simply exercise, regardless of the intensity, while the danger is two-fold -- to not exercise at all or to exercise intensely, without due preparation,” said Valentin Fuster, JACC Editor-in-Chief of American College of Cardiology in Washington, US. Increasing the amount of moderate intensity exercise, a person engages in results in increased reductions in cardiovascular disease mortality, the finding revealed. In this report, the researchers ex-
amined recent studies on the volume and intensity of aerobic exercise required for favourable cardiovascular health. With the rise in participation in endurance races over the past three decades, they also addressed the question of whether or not there is an amount of exercise that increases cardiovascular disease risk. “The available evidence should prompt clinicians to recommend strongly low and moderate exercise training for the majority of our patients,” said Michael Scott Emery, co-chair of the American College of Cardiology Sports and Exercise Cardiology Council. “Equally important are initiatives to promote population health at large through physical activity across the life span, as it modulates behaviour from childhood into adult life,” he added. The study was published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.
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US ‘stuck to its guns’ on Iran prisoner swap
Jason Rezaian (L) is pictured with his wife Yeganeh Salehi (2nd R), mother Mary Rezaian and brother Ali Rezaian (R) in this January 18, 2016 handout photo taken in Landstuhl, Germany. REUTERS
new yORK, JAnuARy 19 (ReuTeRs): Iranian authorities “continued to manipulate” Washington Post reporter Jason Rezaian until the moment he was released with four other Americans in a prisoner swap over the weekend, his brother said on Monday. A deal had been negotiated between Washington and Tehran for the swap but at the last minute, Iranian authorities tried to stop the Iranian-American journalist’s wife, Yeganeh Salehi, from leaving with him, Ali Rezaian told CNN. “The Iranians, as they have done all along, continued to manipulate them, continued to try and mess with them and prevented Yeggie for leaving for some period of time,” Ali Rezaian told CNN in an interview from outside a U.S. military hospital in Landstuhl, Germany. “The U.S. stuck to its guns, they had said Yeggie had to come along with Jason and they got her out,” Ali Rezaian said. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said on Sunday that a delay in the departure of the plane taking some of the detainees from Iran was partly due to a “temporary misunderstanding” about whether Rezaian’s mother, Mary, and his wife, who is also a journalist, were on the plane, as had been agreed. They were later confirmed as being on the plane. Rezaian and two other Iranian-Americans arrived on Sunday in Landstuhl where they were undergoing medical evaluations. The prisoner swap followed the lifting of most international sanctions against Iran under a deal to curb Tehran’s nuclear program. Ali Rezaian said his brother had recounted to him some aspects of the 545 days he was held in Iranian custody after being accused of espionage. He said Iranian authorities grilled him about fellow journalists who cover the country. “We talked about a couple of things – some folks here, Iranian folks – people that cover Iran. The only thing he said was, ‘I was interrogated about them,’” Ali Rezaian told CNN. Washington Post editors flew to Germany to meet with Rezaian, 39, who appeared in a photograph on the newspaper’s website wearing a grey hooded sweatshirt and jeans and said he was feeling fine. “I want people to know that physically I’m feeling good,” the Post quoted Rezaian as saying. “I know people are eager to hear from me but I want to process this for some time.” Rezaian spent 49 days in solitary confinement before he was assigned a roommate in a 15-foot (4-meter) by 20-foot (6-meter) cell, one of his editors, Doug Jehl, told CNN after the meeting in Germany. He occupied his time by walking around an 8-foot (2-meter) by 8 foot (2-meter) concrete courtyard, reading fiction and looked forward to periodic visits from his wife and his mother. “He wasn’t sure until the plane took off that it was the end of his ordeal,” Jehl told CNN. Other Americans freed with Rezaian included Amir Hekmati, a former U.S. Marine, who was detained while visiting family in Iran in August 2011, and who appeared smiling in a photograph taken in Germany on Monday. Also released was Saeed Abedini, 35, an IranianAmerican pastor from Idaho who was setting up an orphanage in Iran in 2012 when he was detained. The fourth American freed was Nosratollah KhosraviRoodsari, who did not travel on the plane that departed Tehran on Sunday. The fifth American, Matthew Trevithick, who went to Iran in September to study Farsi at a language centre affiliated with Tehran University, was seen in photographs in the Boston Globe returning to family in Massachusetts on Sunday.
North Korea nuke test paves way for rare party congress seOuL, JAnuARy 19 (ReuTeRs): North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s recent nuclear weapon test was designed to boost his domestic legitimacy ahead of a rare ruling party conference in May that could formalise market-based economic experiments in the isolated country, analysts say. The Workers’ Party Congress, once a regular event, was last held in 1980. Although violent, the years since Kim took power following his father’s death in late 2011 have moved the country towards increased stability and a return to a more “formal” way of running the country, said Michael Madden, an expert on the North Korean leadership. “What some observers and analysts identify as instability is really more a matter of Kim Jong Un trying to reset a very entrenched system”. “And that can take a few years, as we’ve seen,” Madden said. While analysts have for years been wrong in predicting major reforms - or collapse - in North Korea, the fact that the event is
taking place for just the seventh time after a decades-long hiatus is a further indication that Kim is transforming the North Korea his father Kim Jong Il ruled through back-channel dealings into a more “normal” state where formal process is ingrained. North Korea conducted its fourth nuclear test on Jan. 6, provoking condemnation from its neighbours and the United States, although experts doubt Pyongyang’s claim that it exploded a hydrogen bomb. At the congress, Pyongyang is likely to announce policies on matters ranging from economics and politics to defence and relations with rival South Korea. It may even announce measures lifting restrictions on the thriving informal economy, said Cheong Seong-chang, a senior analyst at the Sejong Institute. “It’s possible Kim Jong Un may free up the market economy at some point during the congress,” said Cheong. Under Kim Jong Un, the unofficial economy has grown against a tumul-
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un speaks during a ceremony to award party and state commendations to nuclear scientists, technicians, soldier-builders, workers and officials for their contribution to what North Korea said was a succesful hydrogen bomb test, at the meeting hall of the Central Committee of the Workers’ Party of Korea (WPK) in this undated photo released by North Korea’s Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on January 13. (REUTERS Photo)
tuous political backdrop of high-level purges, including that of Jang Song Thaek, the young leader’s uncle by marriage who was accused of factionalism and executed in December 2013. When the last party congress took place over four days in 1980 at Pyongyang’s February 8th House of Culture, a monolithic concrete pillar-fronted building since
renamed the April 25th House of Culture, it was open to foreign delegations from countries friendly to North Korea. It was then that Kim Jong Il was controversially anointed successor to his father, Kim Il Sung, creating the communist world’s first hereditary dynasty when its founder died in 1994. In signs the younger Kim is moving towards a
more traditionally bureaucratic state, he has moved several high-profile officials between the ruling party and military, creating more inter-dependence between two bodies which used to face off against each other, according to analysts. DISMANTLING ‘SOPRANO STATE’? A more formal North
Korean state might also eventually be more transparent. “Under Kim Jong Il, these guys would get their fiefdom then the leader gets to regulate it when he needs to,” said Madden. “It’s not unlike the mafia, or the Sopranos, where Tony has to make a ruling”, he said referring to a long-running television programme about a New Jersey mafia chief. Kim Jong Il was heavily reliant on North Korea’s military to ensure regime survival and pushed a “militaryfirst” policy which prioritised spending on North Korea’s bloated and poorlyequipped army and nuclear programme. But Kim Jong Un, believed to be 33, has been normalising the role of the Workers’ Party and is “restoring a party-centred system,” said Yang Moo-jin of the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul. Kim Jong Un’s regime has pushed a new policy, “byungjin”, which stresses the simultaneous development of nuclear weapons and improving the economy.
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wednesdAY 20•01•2016
sports
THE MORUNG EXPRESS
Victory with Sincerity: Shurhonieyi is Phek area champ 57th nASA wrestling Meet Keduovilie wins NASA Wrestling Meet
Kohima, January 19 (mExn): Under the theme, “Victory with Sincerity,” the 57th Wrestling Meet of the Northern Angami Sports Association (NASA) began on January 19 with Deo Nukhu, Parliamentary Secretary, Higher & Technical Education, as the Chief Guest in the inaugural function. 52 wrestlers will be participating in the 57th Wrestling Meet. “Wrestling was treated as the most prestigious Sport of our people,” said
Nukhu while speaking at the inaugural function of the meet held at Khuochiezie, Kohima Local Ground. Lauding NASA for producing some of the best wrestlers in the State, Nukhu reminded that greater achievements are expected from NASA. Naga Wrestling should be promoted but at the same time, we must also venture into national style wrestling including martial arts, mentioned Nukhu who also stressed on the importance of dis-
cipline in wrestling. Even if a sportsperson is strong and skilled but if he does not abide by the law and rules, Nukhu viewed that the sportsman lose respect. “Discipline is an example of good sportsmanship,” concluded Nukhu urging all the wrestlers to bring laurels for their people. The closing ceremony will be held on January 20 with FP Solo, Commissioner & Secretary, School Education & SCERT, as the Guest of Honour.
Kohima, January 19 (mExn): 30 year old Keduovilie Zumvü, son of Razouvolhoulie, emerged as the Champion of the NASA Wrestling Meet held on 19 January at Khuochiezie, Kohima Local ground. Standing 5.10 ft tall and weighing 93 kgs, Keduovilie, who hails from Tuophema village, downed Khriekethotuo Mepfüo from Kohima village in the final bout of the tournament. Kikruvilie Zumvü from Tuophema village and Menuosetuo Yiese from Kohima village bagged third and fourth positions respectively. The champion walked away with Rs. 70,000 while the runnerup took home Rs. 50,000. The third and fourth holders walked away with Rs. 30,000 and Rs. 20,000 respectively. Overall, Group A (Kohima village) scored the highest with 80 points followed by Group B with 58 & 1/2 points. Group C had 33 points while Group D finished with 32 points.
PAWA 24th wrestling meet Champion Shurhonieyi Soho with other winners and officials during 24th wrestling meet 2016 of PAWA at Phek town on January 19. Our Correspondent Phek | January 19
Shurhonieyi Soho today emerged as champion of the 24th wrestling meet of Phek Area Wrestling Association (PAWA) which took place here at Phek Town Local Ground. Son of Niekhuhu Soho from Phek village, this is the sixth time Shurhonieyi has won the PAWA championship. He walked away with
a cash prize of Rs. 70,000. Vekuzo Vezhu, son of Late Vecuta of Khomi, came second and pocketed Rs. 50,000. Kiiliiveto Venuh son of Late Velasu of Phek village stood 3rd and was awarded Rs. 35,000 while the 4th position winner Kewecholo Akami, son of Mukeye from Losami, received Rs. 20,000. Earlier, gracing the meet as the chief guest,
MLA Kuzholuzo (Azo) Nienu said that the fear of God Almighty, hard work, sincerity, strength and courage are pre-requisites to making a champion. He said, for Chakhesangs, wrestling has always been an event which brings our people together, creating unity and oneness and brotherhood. In this, he said Chakhesang people must stand united in all fields. Phek Deputy Com-
FIFA's Blatter is still being paid his salary despite ban from world soccer
miami, January 19 (rEutErs): FIFA's Sepp Blatter may have been banned for eight years from the game but he is still receiving his president's salary from world soccer's governing body, a spokesman for FIFA's Audit and Compliance Committee told Reuters on Monday. Blatter was suspended for 90 days by FIFA on Oct 8 and then banned from the game for eight years last month for ethics violations over a $2 million payment FIFA made to European soccer boss Michel Platini with Blatter's approval in 2011. But Blatter, a Swiss national who has been president of FIFA since 1998, will continue to be paid until a new president is elected on Feb 26, the spokesman Andreas Bantel said. That would mean Blatter would have been paid for nearly five months during which time
he was unable to carry out his duties, and a period in which FIFA has appointed an acting president, African soccer head Issa Hayatou. The compensation subcommittee of FIFA's Audit and Compliance Committee recently ruled that it could stop Blatter's bonuses but not, according to his contract, his salary. "Until the election of a new president on February 26, Mr Blatter is the elected president and therefore - according to his contract - is entitled to receive his remuneration," Bantel said. Blatter's U.S. lawyer and his Switzerland-based spokesman could not be immediately reached for comment. FIFA is facing the worst corruption crisis in it history as a total of 41 individuals and entities, including many former FIFA officials, have been
supervising the organization, including its general secretary. Only last week, FIFA announced that Jerome Valcke was fired from his position as general secretary. It gave no reason but an investigation had followed allegations of corruption related to World Cup ticket sales.
charged with corruption-related offences in the United States. The U.S. investigation is far from over and FIFA also
Corruption unit battling to stay ahead of the game
LonDon, January 19 (rEutErs): Professional tennis's anti-corruption unit, accused of failing to pursue allegations of match-fixing by leading past and current players, insists that it has both the ability and the determination to nail miscreants big and small. Yet its list of catches is very modest for a global sport that one study says is the third most vulnerable to betting fraud through match-fixing, because of the proliferation of low-level tournaments and the difficulty of proving that any player has lost deliberately. The London-based Tennis Integrity Unit (TIU) was set up in 2008 by all the sport's four governing bodies - the men's ATP, women's WTA, the International Tennis Federation (ITF) and the Grand Slam Board - to address concerns that the betting frauds besetting cricket and soccer were also targeting tennis. The ATP had convened an independent review after a match between Russian former world number three Nikolay Davydenko and Argentina's Martin Vassallo Arguello in 2007 in Poland raised suspicions. Although neither player was found to have committed an offence, the online bookmaker Betfair was forced to void all bets. Since then, the work of the TIU's five full-time investigators and one data analyst has led to 17 professionals and one official,
almost all from the lower rungs of the tennis ladder, being banned for corruption, some of them for life. But Sunday's revelations from secret files obtained by the BBC and online BuzzFeed News suggest match-fixing exists higher up the food chain, including at Wimbledon, and could involve players currently competing at the Australian Open in Melbourne. The report did not present any evidence of match-rigging. However, it said 16 players who had been ranked in the top 50 had been repeatedly flagged to the TIU over suspicions that they had thrown matches in the past decade, but that none had been suspended, let alone banned. A source within the TIU said the article was based on "innuendo", and ATP chief Chris Kermode, who sits on the TIU's board, told a news conference in Melbourne: "No player or official is immune from investigation, regardless of their status or position in the sport. Investigations follow where evidence leads."
VAST CHALLENGE The TIU source said the governing bodies had never turned down a request for extra funding to fight corruption, and Kermode rejected the idea that the TIU lacked teeth. He said it had the right to "interview any relevant person of interest and obtain their telephone, computer and bank records".
However, TIU head Nigel Willerton, a former senior detective in London's Metropolitan Police, said players could refuse to reveal phone records, albeit at a cost. "That's called noncooperation, and they can be reported and sanctioned for non-cooperation." Willerton declined to say whether any players on the pro tour were under investigation -- yet the TIU's task is vast. The team work with players and tournament directors in prevention, education and investigation, but can only scratch the surface of the 21,000 or so professional players covered by the TIU's mandatory code. Bookmakers offer odds not only on matches in the high-profile grand slams and ATP and WTA tournaments, but also in a host of lower-level tournaments in far-flung locations. This is what makes tennis the third most vulnerable international sport to betting-related fraud through match manipulation, according to a 2014 study by the International Centre for Sport Security and Sorbonne University in 2014. The challenge for the TIU will be to demonstrate that it has not turned a blind eye to the sport's most bankable stars while banning far lesser lights such as Greece's Alexandros Jakupovic, Poland's Piotr Gadomski and Arkadiusz Kocyla, and Slovakia's Ivo Klec in the past year.
COMPENSATION A SECRET "The duty of supervision is listed explicitly in the target agreements for the payment of bonuses. The compensation committee has therefore decided, at its last meeting, not to make any further bonus payments to Mr Blatter," said Bantel. The size of Blatter's compensation from FIFA has remained secret although reforms to be voted on at the faces a parallel Swiss probe. organization's February ConBlatter's bonuses have gress call for the disclosure of been stopped because he was individual compensation for not carrying out his duties of the president and top execu-
tives. It is also unclear what Hayatou is getting paid to be acting president. FIFA's finances may have taken a blow in the past year because of the costs and distractions of the corruption scandal. According to a report from the UK's Press Association late last year, the organization suffered its first loss last year since 2001. Bantel declined to discuss what proportion of Blatter's payments came from his bonuses. The FIFA Ethics Committee said the payment to Platini, made at a time when Blatter was seeking re-election, lacked transparency and presented conflicts of interest, though both men denied any wrongdoing. Platini has also been banned from soccer for eight years. Both Blatter and Platini have said they will appeal against their bans.
missioner Murohu Chotso graced the valedictory function as the guest of honour. Earlier, General Secretary Zote Theke administered oath to 44 Naga style wrestlers. Meanwhile, Zechete Mekrisuh and Veduchi Vese were among the others nominated as President and General Secretary respectively of the new team of PAWA.
PDVFA informs
PErEn, January 19 (mExn): The Peren District Veteran Football Association, Nagaland has informed all concerned members and players of the Association that there will be a final selection to participate in the 6th edition of the Nagaland Veteran Football Tournament in Wokha. The selection will be held at Jalukie Town Local Ground on January 21 at 12 noon. A press note issued by K Mark Guing, President has requested all office bearers/players/members of PDVFA to reach the venue on time.
nwA 25th anniversary
Kohima, January 19 (mExn): The Naga Wrestling Association is scheduled to celebrate its 25th anniversary on March 10 and 11 in Kohima. The NWA has constituted a souvenir committee which would bring out a magazine to commemorate the occasion. The magazine intends to publish all the champions along with second and third position holders. In this connection, the association has invited any organisation/family/individuals having documentary proof on the above mentioned position(s) to furnish the same to the NWA office on or before January 31. Contact – Convenor, Souvenir Committee, @ 09436000812 or President NWA @ 9436011194.
court recalls non-bailable warrant against Dhoni nEw DELhi, January 19 (ians): The Ananthpur court that had issued a non-bailable warrant against India's limited overs cricket captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni for posing as Lord Vishnu on the cover page of a magazine on Tuesday recalled the issued warrant. Dhoni was portrayed as Hindu god LOrd Vishnu with a sub-title “God of Big Deals” and holding products of sevOrganisers along with participants, officials and others during the inaugural day of the 6th SATball eral companies, including a shoe, in his Running Tournament 2016 at the GHSS Ground, United Colony, Dimapur on January 19. The tourna- hand. The matter is now listed for further proceedings on February 25. ment is being organized by Emporia Sporting Club, Dimapur.
Warriors' Curry humbles LeBron in Cavaliers NBA rout
Los angELEs, January 19 (aFP): Steph Curry scored 35 points as the Golden State Warriors dished out the heaviest home defeat of LeBron James' career with a 132-98 pummeling of the Cleveland Cavaliers on Monday. The eagerly anticipated rematch between the reigning NBA champion Warriors and last year's beaten finalists turned into a night to forget for James and the Cavaliers as Golden State ran riot. Curry was tormentor-in-chief as he returned to the stadium where he helped the Warriors clinch last year's NBA title. The silky-skilled 27-year-old point guard had reportedly angered certain Cavaliers players in the build-up by joking that he hoped the locker room "still smells a little bit like champagne." But any plans the Cavaliers had to make Curry regret his choice of words were torn up within a few minutes of the tip-off. The Warriors raced into an early lead and never looked back. By the fourth quarter, the Cavaliers trailed by a mammoth 43 points -- the largest deficit James has faced at any point in his 1,127game career. The 34-point loss was the heaviest margin of defeat James has suf-
Golden State Warriors' Stephen Curry knocks the ball loose from Cleveland Cavaliers' LeBron James in the first half of an NBA basketball game in Cleveland on Monday, January 18. (AP Photo)
fered in a home defeat, according to ESPN Statistics. The dominance of the Warriors proved too much for James at one point, with the superstar losing his composure in an off-the-ball tussle with Curry who ended up being grappled to the floor. James finished with 16 points but his personal tally was an irrelevance on a night which finished with dejected Cavaliers fans leaving
Cleveland's Quicken Loans Arena well before the end of the game. Curry received able backing from Andre Iguodala with 20 points while Draymond Green chipped in with 16 points, including 10 assists. A satisfied Curry said the win would remind the Warriors of their potential. "It's a good message that we sent to ourselves -- this is what
we're capable of," Curry told ESPN. "We bring the energy, we get the game to our pace, take care of the basketball, make shots and play well." The win saw the Warriors improve to 38-4 for the season while the Cavaliers went to 28-11. Elsewhere on Monday, Pau Gasol scored 31 points as Chicago overcame the disappointment of Joakim Noah's season-ending injury with a 111-101 win over the Detroit Pistons. The Spanish star also contributed 12 rebounds, while Derrick Rose added 20 points with Jimmy Butler contributing 16 points and nine assists. The game was Chicago's first since Noah suffered a dislocated left shoulder on Friday, an injury expected to leave him sidelined for four to six months, ruling him out of the rest of the regular season and possibly the playoffs. In Charlotte, Kemba Walker scored a career-high 52 points as the Charlotte Hornets downed the Utah Jazz 124-119 in double overtime. Walker's final haul was a franchise record for Charlotte and also marked the first time any Hornets player had topped 50 points in an NBA game.
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Spike Lee and Pinkett Smith to boycott the Oscars, Academy promises more diversity
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irector Spike Lee and actress Jada Pinkett Smith said on Monday they will boycott next month's Academy Awards ceremony because black actors were shut out of nominations, and the Academy acknowledged it needed to do more to promote diversity. The Oscar acting nominees announced on Thursday lacked black performers for a second straight year, leading to the revival of the Twitter feed #OscarsSoWhite that emerged in 2015. Lee, the director of "Do the Right Thing" and 2015's "Chi-Raq," said he had timed his announcement with the national holiday commemorating slain civil rights leader the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. "How Is It Possible For
The 2nd Consecutive Year All 20 Contenders Under The Actor Category Are White? And Let's Not Even Get Into The Other Branches," Lee wrote under the #OscarsSoWhite hashtag. "40 White Actors In 2 Years And No Flava At All. We Can't Act?!" said Lee, who was awarded an honorary Oscar in November. Academy of Motion
Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) president Cheryl Boone Isaacs said while the Academy, which awards the Oscars, had made changes in recent years to drive diversity, "the change is not coming as fast as we would like. We need to do more." Isaacs, who is African American, called for "big changes," saying she was
"heartbroken and frustrated about the lack of inclusion" in this year's crop of nominees. "In the coming days and weeks we will conduct a review of our membership recruitment in order to bring about much-needed diversity," Isaacs said. Lee said his decision to stay away from the ceremony was meant as no disrespect to Oscar emcee Chris Rock and producer Reginald Hudlin, both of whom are black, or to AMPAS officials. Pinkett Smith, who appeared in two "Matrix" movies, also said she would skip the Feb. 28 ceremony. "Maybe it's time we pull back our resources and we put them back into our communities, and we make programs for our-
selves that acknowledge us in ways that we see fit, that are just as good as the so-called mainstream," she said in a video on Facebook. Her husband Will Smith, who stars in the football injury drama "Concussion," and Idris Elba, who portrayed an African warlord in "Beasts of No Nation," were among black actors snubbed this year. The black cast and director of hip hop biopic "Straight Outta Compton" were also left out. The boycott statements came after comedy "Ride Along 2," starring black actors Ice Cube and Kevin Hart, pushed "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" from its position atop the weekend box office.
Eagles guitarist Glenn Frey dies at the age of 67
Pakistan lifts YouTube ban after 3 years
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akistan unblocked YouTube nearly three years after the popular video-sharing website was banned for carrying a blasphemous movie, following assurances by the company to insert country-specific filters to remove objectionable content. Bloody riots were held in several countries including Pakistan when
the website carried 'Innocence of Muslims' in 2012, which Muslims blasted as blasphemous and derogatory to their religion. The site was opened after company agreed to install Pakistan specific filters and arrangements to block objectionable material through a localized ram Mehran told media. version, Pakistan Tele"We have issued direccommunication Authority tives to all relevant people (PTA) spokesman Khur- to provide access to You-
Tube and it is accessible now," he said. Earlier, Ministry of Information Technology today asked PTA to restore YouTube service within 48 hours. Initially, the Supreme Court ordered to block it until measures are in place to stop blasphemous materials. In reply to a Supreme Court, PTA said that Google verified that this version of the website does
not contain any known copies of the offending material and Google has made it possible for the Pakistani government to ask for the removal of objectionable videos from the website. The site was banned on September 18, 2012, and unblocked briefly in early 2013 for a few hours after which the website was blocked again.
I might be bipolar: Charlie Sheen
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harlie Sheen admitted 'I might be bipolar' as he appeared on Dr Oz on Monday. Admitting to suffering from regular manic episodes, the actor explained that the diagnosis had been mentioned to him by medical professionals at various times over the years. 'I've been described or diagnosed by enough people that I guess at some point you have to take a look at it,' said Sheen. Despite his success as an actor, Sheen's career has also regularly seen him hit the headlines for his bad behaviour. He admitted that this typically occurred during 'manic' episodes, but told Dr Oz on Monday that these were sparked by his well publicized abuse of drugs and alcohol. 'Manic behaviour is usually in the throes of departing sub-
stance abuse and drinking,' explained Sheen. 'It doesn't really happen when I'm not doing that.' Sheen said that even if he accepted a diagnosis of bipolar disorder - formerly known as manic depression - he wasn't sure he would take medication to treat it. 'What else is it going to "fix"?' he asked, but he added: 'I would certainly consider [taking] it, sure.' And the former Two And A Half Men star said he did not really feel his manic episodes were anything unusual. 'They've always seemed normal to me,' said the 50-year-old star. 'That's as honest as I can be. I've just accepted it as part of my make-up.' Indeed back in 2011 Sheen was pictured wearing an 'I am not bipolar hat'. Yet talking to Dr Oz, Sheen admitted the diagnosis had been men-
tioned at various points throughout the years. But he said: 'I don't look at it as mania, I just look at it as the very... interesting universe.' Sheen - who went public about his HIV status last November - admitted last week on Dr Oz's show that he had been ‘risking his life’ in stopping taking his medication. He stopped his treatment plan in order to attempt alternative therapies, but returned to his medication after the viral count in his blood increased. A spokesman for the star confirmed that he was now back on his medication. On Monday's show Sheen also spoke to audience members who had been living with a positive diagnosis for upwards of 20 years, saying he liked the idea of being a spokesperson for the HIV positive community.
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MZ reported the cause of death was a combination of complications from rheumatoid arthritis, acute ulcerative colitis, and pneumonia. The Michigan native was a founding member and guitarist of the 1970s band the Eagles, which produced one of the biggest rock hits of all time: Hotel California. Frey had been battling intestinal issues for months and had surgery in November. TMZ added in the last few days his condition took a turn for the worse. His illness forced the Eagles to pull out of their Kennedy Center Honors appearance in December. At the time, the band said he needed major surgery that would require a lengthy recovery, added the site. The death was then confirmed on the website of his band in a joint statement from Don Henley and Joe Walsh as it began: 'It Is With The Heaviest of Hearts That We Announce... the passing of our comrade, Eagles founder, Glenn Frey, in New York City on Monday, January 18th, 2016. 'Glenn fought a courageous battle for the past several weeks but, sadly, succumbed to complications from Rheumatoid Arthritis, Acute Ulcerative Colitis and Pneumonia.'
The star was a major part of the Eagles, helping them land in the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame with several classics. He co-wrote and sang most of the Eagles hits, including Take It Easy, Tequila Sunrise, Lyin' Eyes, New Kid In Town and Heartache Tonight. He wrote many of those hits with co-founder and frontman Henley who also released an individual statement that said: 'He was like a brother to me; we were family, and like most families, there was some dysfunction. But the bond we forged 45 years ago was never broken. 'We built something that has lasted longer than anyone could have dreamed. But Glenn was the one who started it all. It will be very strange going forward in a world without him in it. But I will be grateful, every day, that he was in my life. Rest in peace, my brother. You did what you set out to do, and then some.' Several other stars took to social media to send their condolences including legendary comedian Steve Martin who tweeted: 'Shocker. My friend from the early days, and important member of Eagles, has died. We loved you, Glenn Frye.'
Team Airlift unveils Salman to host a reality show with girlfriend Lulia Vantur? alman Khan may have the basis of the physical real life stories in not talked about his hardship they can endure. Romanian girlfriend A source informed the Iulia Vantur but traces of daily that once Salman a video series their relationship have alcame to know about the ways found their way to the
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hen Raja Menon set out to make Airlift, which is based on the evacuation of Indians in Kuwait during the Iraq-Kuwait war, he had a stumbling block. They could find no documentation about this historical event and eventually realised that it was so because a lot of efforts were made to keep the story under wraps. A determined Raja, however, managed to get to some of the real people who were involved in the operation. Their personal accounts aided him greatly to understand what had really happened during the war. The Airlift team now wants to enlighten the audience about the history
before they visit the theatres to watch the film that releases this week. They have already released three videos featuring the real people who Raja had interviewed for his research — Moortuza Borsadi, who was 15 back then, Michael Mascarenhas, who played a key role in evacuating Indians and Joanita Figredo, a nurse at the Jara hospital. The videos show them recalling the shocking incident and how they suffered during the blood bath. The videos are a part of the team’s Proud to be Indian campaign and the film’s leading man Akshay Kumar has shared the videos on his official social media pages. Raja said, “These are the people who helped me
media. Be it Iulia’s presence at Salman’s 50th birthday party or a picture of her from Bigg Boss season 9 sets, these lovebirds are just inseparable and recently their love story has gone up a notch, here’s how! According to a report in a leading daily, Salman and Iulia will host a reality show called The Farm which is going to air by the end of this year. The show was cre-
in my research. It is through their version that I was able to bring out the correct facts. Now the world can know firsthand experiences of what had happened. Before this, there wasn’t any document or a video about the war and the evacuation.” Vikram Malhotra from Abundantia Entertainment, one of the producers of the film elaborated on the idea. He said, “Airlift has highlighted Independent India’s most heroic achievement to the forefront. Earlier if you Google on world’s biggest evacuctor Asin Thottumation, the search was not kal and Micromax even more than a page. co-founder Rahul But today we have lakhs of Sharma tied the knot in a pages and through these videos, the event has been private church ceremony in Delhi on Tuesday mornbrought out.”
ated by a Swedish producer and sold to over 40 countries, including the UK, US and China. The Farm brings together a group of
12 celebrity contestants who work as farmers, raising animals and ploughing the fields. The participants are judged and evicted on
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ing. The couple will have a Hindu ceremony in the evening at the same venue, Dusit Devrana. It was a private event with only 50 people, only family and
Hillstar NOW SHOWING
show’s format, he wanted it to be introduced in India. Iulia on the other hand is filming for the show’s Romanian version in the Mediterranean island of Cyprus. “At a press conference he imagined the participants milking cows and cleaning horse sheds. He is currently focused on his films so we will move ahead with the show towards the year-end,” said the source.
Asin marries Rahul Sharma in a Church Ceremony close friends, attending. The wedding was followed by a vegetarian lunch at the hotel’s Chinese restaurant. Bollywood star Akshay Kumar, who is in the Capital to promote his upcoming film Airlift, is expected to attend the events. Akshay was also the person who introduced Asin to Rahul. In an Instagram picture she posted earlier, Asin had mentioned that Akshay was to be the best man at her wedding. While Delhi functions are for close family and friends only, the couple will host a reception in Mumbai on January 23, which will
When the Eagles split up in 1980, the musician went off on his own and found success. His single The Heat Is On was a chart topper after it appeared in the 1984 film Beverly Hills Cop. He also came out with You Belong to the City, which was used often in commercials. Frey contributed the song Flip City to the Ghostbusters II soundtrack, and Part of Me, Part of You to the soundtrack for Thelma & Louise. During his solo career, Frey had 12 charting songs in the U.S. Top 100. Frey also appeared in several episodes of Miami Vice. In 1994 he reunited with the Eagles. They launched their Hell Freezes Over tour which was a massive success. In 2012, he released his first solo album in 20 years, After Hours, featuring covers of pop standards from the 1940s to the 1960s. As a member of Eagles, Frey won six Grammy Awards, and five American Music Awards. The Eagles have sold over 120 million albums worldwide and were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1998, the first year they were nominated. He is survived by his wife Cindy with whom he has three children.
be attended by Bollywood stars. While the whitethemed Christian wedding happened at the makeshift church created in the hotel premises itself, a mandap is being erected on a water body for the Hindu ceremony at night. A source further says: “Both the ceremonies are private. While around 50 guests were invited for the Christian wedding, the Hindu ceremony will be attended by 200 guests. In all likelihood, there will also be a private house party next day at Rahul’s farmhouse at Sonali Farms, West End Greens.”
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THE MORUNG EXPRESS
Nadal, Halep out on day of shocks at the Australian Open
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Melbourne, January 19 (aFP): Rafael Nadal and Simona Halep went crashing out of the Australian Open first round on Tuesday as a dramatic day of upsets grabbed attention away from a matchfixing controversy that has left tennis reeling. Nadal suffered one of the worst Grand Slam results of his career as he was stunned by fellow Spanish left-hander Fernando Verdasco in a five-set thriller which recalled their epic 2009 semi-final. Halep, the women's world number two, soon followed him out in an almighty upset by Chinese qualifier Zhang Shuai -who wept freely as she won her first Grand Slam match in 15 attempts. While Halep's defeat to Zhang, the world number 133, came out of the blue, it was Nadal's loss which created concern as the 14-time Grand Slam-winner increasingly looks a fading force. Nadal, 29, has only ever lost once before in a Grand Slam first round, at Wimbledon 2013, but he has not gone further than the quarter-finals at the majors since he won the 2014 French Open. "It's tough, but at the same time, I know I did everything that I can to be ready for it," said Nadal, after 45th-ranked Verdasco's 7-6 (8/6), 4-6, 3-6, 7-6 (7/4), 6-2 win in four hours, 41 minutes. "Was not my day. Let's keep going. That's the only thing. There is no more thing to do than keep practising hard, keep practising the same way that I was doing the last four, five months." The big upsets at least provided relief from matchfixing revelations which hit the start of the tournament after a report said top players had been under suspicion but never punished.
6-2. Williams, 35, was the oldest player in the women's draw but Konta said it would be "silly" to focus on the American's age. "I think it's irrelevant how old she is because she's such a champion with so much experience and so much knowledge about the game," said Konta. Former world number one Lleyton Hewitt extended his farewell tournament into at least another match when
he beat fellow Australian James Duckworth, setting up a clash with eighth seed David Ferrer. Milos Raonic, who is now working with Carlos Moya and beat Roger Federer in this month's Brisbane final, breezed past Lucas Pouille and into the second round. Two-time champion Victoria Azarenka enjoyed one of the most one-sided wins of her career when she
(LEFT) Spain's Rafael Nadal reacts during his first round match against Spain's Fernando Verdasco. (RIGHT) Romania's Simona Halep reacts after losing a point during her first round match against China's Zhang Shuai. (REUTERS)
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(LEFT) Belarus' Victoria Azarenka celebrates after winning her first round match against Belgium's Alison van Uytvanck. (RIGHT) Britain's Andy Murray celebrates after winning his first round match against Germany's Alexander Zverev. (REUTERS)
In the latest developments, two more players said they had been targeted by match-fixers and Australian media reported that police were keeping a close eye on the tournament's first round. Andy Murray, a fourtime finalist who is seeking his first title in Melbourne,
dispatched Germany's Alexander Zverev 6-1, 6-2, 6-3 in hot conditions to move into the second round. Rising star Garbine Muguruza beat Estonian debutante Anett Kontaveit 6-0, 6-4 in one hour exactly -- and immediately set her sights on dethroning Serena Williams in the final.
Bale out for three weeks with calf injury
Madrid, January 19 (aFP): Real Madrid's Welsh winger Gareth Bale has suffered a calf injury, the club confirmed on Tuesday, which could rule him out for three weeks. Bale limped off with what looked like the recurrence of the calf problem which has plagued him over the past two years, after scoring his 11th goal in eight games during Real's 5-1 rout of Sporting Gijon on Sunday. And tests carried out in Madrid's Sanitas La Moraleja hospital on Tuesday confirmed a muscle injury in the right leg, the club said in a brief medical statement. Since December 2013 the 26-year-old has had five injuries to the same calf muscle. Real Madrid added that Bale was "awaiting de-
velopments," but the Spanish press have reported he could be out for at least three weeks. The Welshman is likely to miss the games against Real Betis, Espanyol and Granada but could be fit for the league match with Athletic Bilbao on February 13 or against Roma in the Champions League on February 17.
"To win the Grand Slam here you are going to have to beat Serena (Williams). It will be great if I can play against her," said the confident Spanish world number three. Temperatures of 33 degrees Celsius (91.4 degrees Fahrenheit) took their toll and Diego Schwartzman
was stretchered off after retiring in the fourth set against John Millman with cramps. While Murray and Muguruza motored through, seven-time Grand Slam champion Venus Williams suffered an early exit when she lost to British number one Johanna Konta 6-4,
IAAF appoints Jean Gracia as interim general secretary MonaCo, January 19 (aP): Jean Gracia, a former French track federation official, has been appointed as the IAAF's interim chief executive officer. The IAAF says Gracia will also act as interim general secretary until a permanent appointment is made ''by the middle of the year.'' Gracia will be in charge of day-to-day operations at the IAAF's headquarters in Monaco. IAAF president Sebastian Coe said Gracia ''brings vast experience'' and will help him in his work involving the IAAF executive board and council. The new position has been created as part of reforms of the IAAF decided by Coe after he was elected president last year. The 60-yearold Gracia has held various positions at the French federation since 1992 and is also a European Athletics vice president.
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Dimapur | January 19
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All India Police Archery C’hip underway at NAPTC The 4th All India Police Archery Championship 2016 began on January 19 at the NAPTC Stadium, Chumukedima with competitors from 21 central and state police units participating. The Nagaland Police is hosting the championship, which has 206 men and 81 women in competition. The 5-day competition is being conducted as per the guidelines of the Archery Association of India. Chief Minister, TR Zeliang graced the opening ceremony as the chief guest. Among the oldest and the most primitive weapons, the bow and arrow have evolved and transformed over the ages to become a revered sports discipline today, stated Zeliang in his address. While stating that archers from India have been doing well in the international sports arena, Zeliang exuded confidence that more will emerge from the pool of participants competing in the championship. In this regard, he expressed hope that the All India Police Archery Championship will go a long way
"double-bagelled" Alisan Van Uytvanck 6-0, 6-0 in just 53 minutes. But it was a different story for Gilles Muller, who came through four tie-breaks to beat Fabio Fognini, but not before the Italian showed flashes of his famous temper. France's Jeremy Chardy had an even bigger struggle, winning the fifth-set 13-11 to finally overcome Ernests Gulbis after four hours and 43 minutes.
(TOP) Chief Minister TR Zeliang at the 4th All India Police Archery Championship at the NAPTC, Chumukedima on January 19. (BOTTOM) Archers line up for the 90m recurve event.
in arousing the interest of Remarking that womyoung men and women to- en have continuously outwards the sports, which de- shone men in the Indian mands utmost patience. archery circuit, including
Nagaland, Zeliang held that the men should take it as an encouragement to perform better.
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