C M Y K
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friDAY • JAnuArY 08 • 2016
DIMAPUR • Vol. XI • Issue 6 • 12 PAGes • 5
T H e
ESTD. 2005
P o W e R
o F
T R u T H
Everything that is done in the world is done by hope — Martin Luther S Korea seeks US strategic weapons PAGE 09
NTTC leading in Technology – Innovation – Development
Federer sails in Brisbane, Crawford crushes Petkovic
PAGE 02
PAGE 12
Villages must have say in coal mining
reflections
By Sandemo Ngullie
Study of coal mining areas in Nagaland and its impact on environment- Part 2 Our Correspondent Kohima | January 7
Enough entertainment.. How about some ‘governing’ every 2nd Saturday?
The Morung Express Poll QuEsTion
Vote on www.morungexpress.com SMS your anSwer to 9862574165 Will 2016 be the year of the great Change in Nagaland? Why? Yes
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Naga youth run over by train Morung Express news Dimapur | January 7
A Naga man was found run over by a train at Old Delhi Railway Station (ORDS) platform no-9 and recovered by railway police at around 2:20am Thursday morning. The victim has been identified as one Pangertemsu, aged 35 years, s/o Nebutoshi and hailing from Sungratsu village under Mokokchung district. All his belongings were found intact from the train platform, a Delhi police official said. The older brother of the victim, who resides in Midland, Dimapur was informed of the tragedy at around 3:30am. Family members said late Pangertemsu had recently quit a job in a private company in Mumbai and was there in Delhi for visa formalities, while adding that he was planning to go to Costa Rica for some other job prospects. It could not be ascertained whether the cause of the death was an accidental, homicide or suicide. Family members maintained that late Pangertemsu had no reason to commit suicide. His bodily remains will be arriving at Dimapur on Friday.
Special committee on NLTP to hold consultative meeting
C M Y K
KOHIMA, JANUARY 7 (MExN): The special committee constituted to study the issues relating to implementation of the NLTP Act is scheduled to hold a consultative meeting with various organizations on January 15 at 11:00am at the conference hall of the Chief Secretary, Nagaland. A press note from the Commissioner of Excise, V Maria Yanthan informed that the meeting will be held with the DGP Nagaland police, Principal Director Health and Family Welfare, Project Director NSCACS, Director Kripa Foundation, President Naga Mothers’ Association, General Secretary NBCC, and the President Naga Students’ Federation. All the concerned departments/NGOs have been requested to attend the meeting positively along with the statistics relating to liquor and alcohol abuse encountered by the departments/NGOs in the last three years.
Villagers smoke fish beside the fire in the village of Umladkhur, in Meghalaya. (REUTERS PHOTO)
J&K CM Mufti Sayeed passes away; daughter Mehbooba likely to take over
NEW DELHI, JANUARY 7 (PTI): New Delhi: Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, who crafted an impossible alliance with BJP helping it share power for the first time in the Muslim majority state, died here today after a brief illness. Sayeed, 79, breathed his last at AIIMS this morning after remaining on ventilator for the past few
days. A Congressman till 1987, Sayeed left the party and joined the ranks of V P Singh to become the only Muslim Home Minister when he was inducted into the cabinet of the National Front government in 1989. Sayeed, who was Chief Minister from 2002 to 2005 in coalition with Congress, played a leading part in PDP and BJP coming together to form the first ever coalition involving the saf-
fron party in the state. Sayeed’s daughter 56-year-old Mehbooba is expected to take over as the first woman Chief Minister of the state with PDP leaders throwing their weight behind her. But this will require the approval of BJP. The mortal remains of Sayeed were flown in a special Indian Air Force plane to Srinagar and are likely to be buried at his ancestral village in Bijbehara in
South Kashmir. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Rajnath Singh paid tributes to Sayeed at the Palam technical area before the body was flown to Srinagar. The Central Government announced that the national flag will be flown half-mast today across the country as a mark of respect to the departed leader, who has also been accorded a state funeral.
A Study of coal mining areas in Nagaland and its impact on environment, published recently by the Nagaland Pollution Control Board has observed that communities and villages must have a say in coal mining operations in the state. The study noted one of the unique features in Nagaland as the land holding system. Land in each and every part of Nagaland has an owner, be it in the form of an individual, family, clan, group or tribe which has the authority to do anything with its resources. “However in the absence of proper environmental guidelines and legislations such as the Nagaland Coal Policy, 2006 No11.1 & 11.2 which states that environmental management plan should be provided for controlling the environmental damage and restoration of mine areas; this poses a great problem in dealing with the people involved in coal mining business,” it said. “The land holding system in our state is peculiar and therefore, when a coal prospecting licence is sought for, an application may be supported with a ‘No Objection Certificate’ from the concerned village council in the form of a resolution in public meeting,” it proposed. Presently, the Chairman/Secretary gives a No Objection Certificate but since the environmental impact will affect the whole community/village as well, the villages must have a say, it added. It further observed that “majority of the coal mines were seasonal, practiced unscientifically in most cases by the individual landowners or in collaboration with contractors and businessmen outside the state.” The study on coal mining was carried out in four districts- Mokokchung, Mon,
Longleng and Wokha, which comprises of 48 mining sites. This includes 12 mining sites in Mon district, 2 in Longleng, 5 in Wokha and 29 in Mokokchung district. The objective of the study was to know the impacts on various components of environment due to coal mining and to analyze the water quality around the coal mining areas and also other water bodies like river, pond etc. A preliminary field work was carried out in four districts from April –June 2014, where coal mining was reportedly active to locate, identify, and collect samples. It concluded that a range of environmental issues, such as ground subsidence monitoring, waste management, land rehabilitation, hazard and risk assessment, and socio-economic impacts on communities, have to be addressed before, during and after the mining operations. Past experiences have shown that many of the major environmental, health and safety problems related to mining can be mitigated if certain measures are taken. The study proposed that firstly, there needs to be developed an overall mining plan for all operation which provides for; (a) reclamation of the area of following mining; (b) mining practices which prevent or reduced soil erosion; and (c) contouring of mining areas to reduce runoff during the raining reason. Secondly, the unmanaged and direct disposal of tailing into the areas streams represents problem with the mining and processing activities. As with the environmental impacts of mining; these environmental impacts can be mitigated by reduced or terminate dumping of tailing in the region waterways; and development of pond areas prior to entry of tailing into streams or at the base of discharge areas, in order to control the majority of tailings. Thirdly, there is a need to put in place a programme to define the scope and potential of possible rehabilitation and reclamation projects to ensure that the environmental impact of the mining and processing activities, in the long term, is minimized and that areas can have alternative uses.
Economic independence is Bankmen’s January 8 strike to hit banking operations of utmost importance: Sazo Our Correspondent Chozuba | January 7
Nagaland Legislative Assembly (NLA) Speaker, Chotisuh Sazo today stressed on the need to focus on economic independence, which he said is of utmost importance now. Sazo said this while addressing the 62nd general session of Chozubami Students Union here coinciding with the 69th general conference of Chakhesang Students Union (CSU). He said with the advancement of science and technology many new technologies have been brought to the state. Many of them have been adapted to local condition but we are yet to update ourselves with many technologies, he stated. “We have to improvise our traditional technologies and upgrade them into our benefit,” he said, adding that the main focus of every nation in today’s world is economic independence. Stating that the Chakhesang people have started to improve their economy through various means, he however lamented that they still lag behind people of other districts and thus continue to be under economically backward category. He also stressed on the need to change the attitude toward professional and commercialized farming to improve agriculture based economy. “From the approach
of getting merely general education we must move on to specialized education. Studies and trainings in various professional skills must be encouraged and supported beyond a certain level of education if we are to race with the rest of the world,” he said. A great task lies before you to take our community to a much higher level of economy, he told the students. He further cautioned that “our society is living in a potpourri of cultures which are of native, Indian and western origin. Some of such cultures are negative and even destructive.” Sazo lamented that Naga youth have inculcated negative aspects of outside cultures with the easy access to social media and internet. Stating that there a lot of positive trends in the non-indigenous forms of culture prevailing in Naga society, he said the youth must be encouraged to embrace them. Also stating that there are certain aspects of traditional culture which may not be in tune with the modern world, he however stated: “there is a lot that we can give to the world through the good side of our traditional culture, such as respect for the elderly, honesty, dignity of labour, sincerity etc.” “We must revive these virtues in our hearts and encourage the young to learn to appreciate them,” he encouraged.
CHENNAI, JANUARY 7 (IANS): Nearly 340,000 bank employees across the country will strike work on January 8 to protest the implementation of the new Career Progression Scheme (CPS), a leader of the All India Bank Employees’ Association (AIBEA) said here on Thursday. He said the strike will be in protest against the violation of the bilateral settlement by five associate banks of the State Bank of India (SBI), namely State Bank of Mysore, State Bank of Patiala, State
Bank of Hyderabad, State Bank of Bikaner and Jaipur and State Bank of Travancore. He said the five associate banks were bent on implementing the new Career Progression Scheme (CPS) for their employees in violation of a bilateral agreement with their respective unions. “It is the managements of the five banks that are on war path against the employees and not the other way round. At the last conciliation meeting, the chief labour commissioner (CLC) had
advised the bank managements to put on hold the implementation of the new service conditions,” AIBEA general secretary C.H. Venkatachalam told IANS. The strike will have a great impact on the banking public since January 9 will be a weekly holiday for banks. “The Indian Banks’ Association (IBA) is regrettably silent on the matter. We have been forced to go on strike. The branch offices will not be closed but normal operations might be affected due to employees going on strike,” Venkatachalam said.
According to Venkatachalam, the five banks also want to abolish permanent cadres like sweepers and outsource labour activity which, it contended, cannot be done unilaterally. The AIBEA perceives uniform service conditions between the SBI and its five associate banks as a step towards merger. Venkatachalam said there already was uniformity in technology, branding, work procedure and use of ATMs by account holders of the six banks.
Wreathed Hornbills at Khar; Wildlife Division confirms If no disturbance is given to the birds, the return of the hornbills permanently to the area could become a reality, says Dimapur wildlife warden
DIMAPUR, JANUARY 7 (MExN): Wildlife Division, Dimapur informed on Thursday that the hornbill birds sighted at Tenemtsuyong forest area at Khar village under Mokokchung district are Wreathed Hornbills. The species of the six hornbill sighted in the densely forested area of Khar village was identified after staff of Dimapur Wildlife Division were deputed to confirm the reported sighting. On January 3, Khar Village Council had reported that six hornbill, in three pairs were sighted in their forest area, after more than three decades. Accordingly, the village council had also served prohibitory orders banning shooting of the birds. A press statement received from Wildlife Warden, Dimapur Wildlife Division, K Caroline said its forest staff was deputed on duty to Mangkolemba on January 5 for ground observation to confirm
Representational image of male and female Wreathed Hornbill.
the presence of the hornbill birds reportedly sighted by the locals of the area. The team went to Tenemtzuyong forest area along the route to Khar village where the locals had earlier sighted the hornbills. However, the team did not see the birds that day. But reliable information and tail feathers found in the area confirmed their presence and the species of hornbill. According to Dimapur wildlife division, the whole length of the tail feather retrieved from the
area was fully white, which is a distinct identifying characteristic of Wreathed Hornbill from other hornbill species found in Northeast India. It also observed that the reason for the arrival of the hornbills in the area was most likely in search of food resource and nesting cavities as their breeding season was approaching near. The topography of the forest area where the hornbills were sighted is virgin forest with steep cliffs, which is known to be the fa-
vored haunt of the hornbill birds. Therefore, if proper safety and no disturbance is given to the birds, the return of the hornbills permanently to the area could become a reality,” the press statement said. Further, in line with the effort of the administration of Mangkolemba sub division to ban the locals from hunting, Wildlife Warden, Dimapur has also discouraged the locals from hunting the hornbills. It also reminded that hornbills fall under Schedule-I of Wildlife Protection Act, 1972 and persons hunting such animals and birds can be imprisoned up to 7 years with fine of up to Rs 25, 000. There have been reports that initially more hornbill birds were sighted from the forested area. One of the birds reportedly was shot down by hunters from an adjoining village on December 30, 2015, Khar Village Council Chairman when contacted said. It is learnt that the carcass of the hornbill was reportedly seized from the hunter and handed over to the Forest department. ADC Mangkolemba, Wapang Aier said the ban on hunting of hornbill birds has been imposed on the three ranges falling under Mangkolemba sub division namely-Changkikong, Japukong and Tzurangkong which comprises of around 40 villages.