July 22nd, 2015 by The Morung Express

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The Morung Express

Dimapur VOL. X ISSUE 198

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Wednesday, July 22, 2015 12 Pages Rs. 4

The wise person often shuns society for fear of being bored —Jean de la Bruyere

reflections

By Sandemo Ngullie

NLA Budget Session begins

nagaland Governor urges Goi, NSCN (K) to ‘rebuild ceasefire’ Morung Express News Kohima | July 21

They think they’ve discovered a new dwarf planet.

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NSF Protest Rally against AFSPA & extension of DAA in Kohima on July 23, 11:00am. All students have been urged to participate in the rally

Two drown in Dzii River

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KOHIMA, JULY 21 (MExN): In a tragic incident, two persons were reportedly drowned when they were swept away by the swirling currents of Dzii River near Resort Village, Rusoma on Monday evening. The two missing persons reportedly drowned have been identified as Tarkal Bahadur and Bendang Yimchunger, both in the mid-twenties. According to police, four persons including the two missing persons were bathing under the Dzii Bridge when all of a sudden, a flashflood triggered by torrential downpour came gushing and swept away the two persons.

Vigilance registers 45 new corruption cases Our Correspondent Kohima | July 21

The Nagaland Vigilance Commission registered 45 new corruption cases during the last one year. The Commission has secured conviction in 19 cases and there are also 75 cases of ongoing investigation. This was revealed by the Nagaland Governor during his speech at the NLA today in Kohima.

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One NSCN (K) cadre killed in Kohima KOHIMA, JULY 21 (MExN): The Assam Rifles killed one NSCN (K) cadre in the jungles of Polubadze Mountain in Kohima on July 21. A press note from the PRO, informed that the security forces also recovered a large quantity of weapons, ammunition and explosives. The PRO informed that security forces were on patrol in the jungles of Polubadze Mountain near Kohima town, when they were “fired upon by a group of NSCN (K) militants who had established a temporary camp in the area.” The Security Forces responded with shots and during the exchange one NSCN (K) cadre was killed. Search of the area yielded one 9mm Sub-MachineCarbine, One .32mm Pistol, four assorted gun & pistol magazines, 81 rounds of assorted ammunition, three Chinese grenades, two Improvised Explosive Devices and two Military Grade Anti-Tank Mines. The AR did not release the name of the slain cadre but other sources identified him as ‘2nd lieutenant Tokihe Yeptho, who hailed from Sukhalu village in Zunheboto district.

Nagaland Governor, PB Acharya today appealed to both the NSCN (K) and Government of India to “keep the security and welfare of the people paramount, and try to re-build the ceasefire in right earnest.” He said this while speaking at the opening day of the ninth session of the 12th Nagaland Legislative Assembly. He also expressed confidence that the Parliamentary Working Committee of the forum would help push the Naga peace process through “renewed thrust and importance it deserves.” Achraya assured that his government would continue efforts to facilitate an early solution to the Naga political issue. The Governor acknowledged that Nagaland has an “inclusive Government” that enjoys the trust and confidence of all 60 members of the House, which presently has no opposition bench. “This is the first time in the history of Nagaland Assembly, and perhaps also in the country that the government has been joined by all members of the House on a common agenda of peace and development.” The Governor exuded hope that through “this unique arrangement,” all members would contribute towards peace and development. On the law and order front, the Governor ex-

pressed concern at the dispute over ownership of ‘Dzukou and Kezoltsa’ between the Southern Angami and Mao people. He however lauded the Church and apex tribe organizations for initiating reconciliation efforts. “Let good sense prevail, so that the situation can be resolved through peaceful dialogue as per the Naga customary practices,” he added. He also informed that the State Government recently appointed a 3 member team of mediators to work out an amicable solution of the land dispute between Chendang (Chang tribe) and Yakor (Yimchungru tribe) villages. Meanwhile, terming the March 5 Dimapur incident as unfortunate, he informed that the State Government had appointed a two-member judicial enquiry to probe into the incident. Acharya also informed that the CBI has been requested to take over investigation of the registered criminal cases connected with the incident. Further, Acharya told the House that the HPC headed by a retired SC judge constituted to look into the “existing multiple taxations” had submitted its report on June this year. “The State Government is examining the report through a committee of senior officers, and appropriate action will be taken after due examination of the report,” he said.

Nagaland GDP estimated at Rs. 20,099 Crore Our Correspondent Kohima | July 21

Governor P.B. Acharya today informed that as per the advanced estimates for 201415, the Gross State Domestic Product of Nagaland state is estimated at Rs. 20,099 crore at current prices. “The state is estimated to have registered an annual growth rate of 6.8 per cent in 2014-15,” he said. The Governor said that despite the state government’s best efforts, industrial activity has not been successful in the state for various reasons. The Industries Department, he informed, has taken up proposal for setting up of Apparel & Garment Manufacturing Centre at 6th Mile, Dimapur, and the preparation of Diagnostic Study Report. He said pro-

posal for revival of Nagaland Pulp & Paper Corporation Ltd, Tuli and development of trade and commerce between India and Myanmar are also being actively pursued. He added that the Geology & Mining Department is undertaking studies on manufacture of coal briquettes for domestic use, techno-economic studies on the manufacture of coke-breeze from Konya coals, desulphurization of Nagaland coals for thermal power plant, technology for extraction of special iron alloy ‘Ni-hard’ from Pokphur magnetic ore, manufacture of soil conditions from coal wastes of Nagaland for reclamation of degraded soil etc. The Governor also revealed that three oil zones have been awarded to two oil

companies for undertaking oil exploration and development under rules & regulations framed and approved by state assembly under Article 371-A of the Constitution. “Other oil bearing zones will also be considered for allotment shortly,” Acharya said. Meanwhile, the state’s agriculture achieved 4.16% growth rate during 2013-14 to 2014-15. Acharya added that organic agriculture farming is also being actively promoted so as to increase the market value of farm products. During the current year, the Department of Veterinary & Animal Husbandry plans to undertake research on Pig Genome Study, using Genomic Technology so that pig breeding for table purpose becomes more remunerative, the Governor said.

BJP MlAs stage walkout

The four BJP legislators abstained from the exercise of electing a new deputy Speaker and staged a walk out from the House when assembly Speaker, Chotisuh Sazo, announced the name of Congress legislator Imtikumzuk as the lone candidate. Reacting to the Speaker’s announcement, Transport minister, P Paiwang, of the BJP, stood up and said that on principle, the BJP, which is a partner in the present DAN Government, cannot support the Congress candidate and that the BJP high command is also “not agreeable to this decision by our coalition partner. Paiwang protested that a member of the present Assembly belonging to the Congress Party has been projected as the lone candidate to the post of deputy speaker of the Nagaland Legislative Assembly though the member in question is presently under suspension by the party for joining the DAN government.

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No question hour expected at ‘opposition-less’ NLA Morung Express News Kohima | July 21

In a marked departure from parliamentary tradition, the first day of the ongoing NLA session today witnessed legislators from different political parties rubbing shoulders in the treasury bench as they listened to the Governor’s address. Home Minister, Y Patton of NPF sat alongside PHE minister, Tokheho Yepthomi of the Congress; Advisor DUDA and senior

Congress member, SI Jamir, had Roads & Bridges minister, Vikheho Swu of NPF, as his immediate neighbor while Parliamentary Secretary IPR, Khekaho Assumi of the Congress rubbed shoulders with Parliamentary Secretary Labour & Employment and Border Affairs, Mhonlumo Kikon, of BJP. As loyalists of TR Zeliang including first time legislators from BJP, INC, JD (U) and NCP took the front rows, senior NPF members and former ministers op-

posed to Zeliang during the NPF internal crisis were relegated to the back seats. With no opposition bench in the current assembly, no question hour is expected throughout the ninth session though the AICC has issued a party whip directing the eight Congress legislators to point out corruption and failures of the NPF-led DAN Government. “The ninth session will have less charm without question hours,” commented a senior

journalist. “Vocal Congress legislators have now to keep mum after being rewarded with portfolios,” added another. Interestingly, the programmes and achievements of vital departments including Tourism, Forest, Forest, Horticulture, Excise, Border Affairs and IPR did not figure in the Governor’s address. Speaker NLA, Chotisuh Sazo, announced that on July 23, the House would discuss extensively on the Naga political issue. Related news on Page 5

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NSF & NPMHR fact-finding Pressurise NSCN (K) to join peace process: AR GPRN/NSCN clarifies report questions Ar claim on July 20 assault

DIMAPUR, JULY 21 (MExN): A fact finding team comprising of the Naga Students’ Federation (NSF) and the Naga Peoples’ Movement for Human Rights (NPMHR) today released a report on their findings with regard to the July 16 Meluri shootings. The report while narrating the sequence of events on July 16 revealed that Major Surinder Singh, 46 AR C Coy, the commanding officer of the troops involved in the incident, had expressed his inability to hand over the body of one of the cadres to the villagers. However, he agreed to the villager’s request that the bodies be transported in a coffin. “The conversation lasted for about two minutes when they started hearing gunshots from the direction of the AR truck near the Community hall which was followed by indiscriminate firing from the vehicle of the Major and the last vehicle behind the Major’s vehicle,” it informed. According to the villagers the shots fired by the Jawans “were not blank firing but aimed directly at the civilians. The firing lasted for about 20 minutes...” said the report. The fact-finding team

also provided pictures of bullet marks sustained by houses in the village. “The Assam Rifles has claimed that the NSCN (K) had shot from the hilltops but the bullet marks and eye witness evidences indicate that the Assam Rifles shot directly at the civilians and the houses,” it said. The team also met with Major Surinder Singh, 46 AR C Coy at his camp at Akhegwo Post, wherein he reportedly “admitted that he was not sure who shot the students in the village” and “requested the team to contact the IGAR (N).” “This is particularly interesting because it ascertained that there was no presence of the cadres of the NSCN (K) in the vicinity. If the Major himself who was present at the incident of July 16 is not sure, then how can the IGAR (N) be so sure in their press statements that the two students were killed by the NSCN (K)?” the report questioned. The Major further confirmed that “the assault team comprised of personnel from the Para Commando personnel of the Indian Army along with the jawans from the Assam Rifles under his command.” Full Report on Page 10

DIMAPUR, JULY 21 (MExN): The Assam Rifles (AR) today stressed on the need for people and civil society to pressurise the NSCN (K) leadership to join the peace process, as the majority of the Naga groups have done. A press note from the PRO, Assam Rifles said that the process for settlement with the centre will stop the “tirade of killing, forceful recruitment and extortion…” The majority of Naga people, it acknowledged, have shunned violence and are looking for a peace. It stated that in the post ceasefire agreements with NSCN (IM) and NSCN (K), Nagaland had hope for a lasting solution. However, it lamented that the NSCN (K) abrogated the ceasefire agreement just prior to its renewal on 26 March 2015 “by killing personnel of 19 Assam Rifles and further leaving a trail of blood.” It informed that SS Khaplang, Chairman of NSCN (K) formed the United National Liberation Front of West South East Asia (UNLFWSEA) “with remnants of ULFA (I), NDFB (S) and KLA (Jibon).” NSCN (K) has been

reiterating time and again their demand for Nagalim as their right, which other than areas within Indian Territory would include parts of Sagaing Province of Myanmar. Will the Myanmar Government ever agree for this?, it questioned. The AR further said that the NSCN (IM) “having realised the will of Nagas is in progressive settlement process with the GoI. Many leaders from NSCN (K) not eager to witness a resurgence of violence have defected to join, with their supporters, the settlement process.” The AR cited reports that NSCN (K) was planning to carryout “violent incident against the public, civil servants, kidnapping and forceful recruitment,” and threats to kidnap security forces personnel who proceed to their homes on leave in Nagaland.” “Is NSCK (K) not creating a divide between the Nagas, who are yearning for peace?” the AR questioned. Regarding the July 16 Meluri killings, the AR said security forces, on reports of forced recruitment of children by NSCN (K) in Avagankhu and Polhun-

gri village, “neutralised 2 NSCN (K) cadres.” Security forces, it said, carried the bodies from “inaccessible area for 5-7 kilometres to the road.” The AR claimed that bodies of the two NSCN (K) cadres were carried to be handed over to Police “to ensure a decent burial by their families and avoid any subsequent allegations against security forces about the killings of NSCN (K) insurgents.” It alleged that villagers of Wuzu and Phor “under duress and threat from NSCN (K) stopped the convoy carrying the bodies, in the meanwhile, Officer-in-Charge was trying to reason out with the villagers to let them go, the party was fired upon by the NSCN (K) militants hiding nearby.” “How else do we explain the injuries to the officer and one soldier of 46 Assam Rifles?” the AR questioned. The AR also expressed regret and sadness at the death of the two minors “in the ensuing melee… because of the action by insurgents who has obviously used local people as human shield, whilst firing at the Assam Rifles officer and jawan.”

nagaland corruption: four convicted

NEW DELHI, JULY 21 (IANS): PK Thungon, former Minister of state for urban development and employment in the P.V. Narasimha Rao government, along with three other accused have been convicted in a corruption case for misappropriating money meant for an irrigation project in Nagaland. The conviction was delivered by Special Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) Judge Ajay Kumar Jain on Monday. The other accused who were also convicted are Tali A.O., C. Sangit and Mahesh Maheshwari. According to the CBI, Thungon connived with officials of Nagaland’s irrigation and flood control department in placing a bogus order for sausage wire for a project during 1993-94. Investigations revealed that no wire was supplied to the depart-

ment but payments were made against bogus delivery. According to CBI, in pursuance to the proposal of the state government, the then Planning Commission sanctioned an Rs.2 crore for the renovation and upgradation of minor irrigation projects for Nagaland and the money was to be released in two instalments of Rs.1 crore each. The agency said that pursuant to the sanction of the first instalment, the money was kept in civil deposit by the Nagaland government and on the request of joint director, irrigation and flood control, orders were placed for purchase of “sausage wire”.The CBI said that Tali submitted a bill of Rs.29,99,295 and he had requested that a demand draft of Rs.10 lakh should be prepared in favour of Thanu Thungan and another demand draft of Rs.15 lakh in favour

of K. Konngon Konyak. The agency further said that Mezakrol, who was the then joint director, irrigation and flood control, got these demand drafts issued. It said that demand draft of Rs.9,98,500 issued in favour of Thanu Thungan was deposited on April 25, 1994 at Daryaganj branch of Vijaya Bank here in an account which was opened by Maheshwari. It was alleged that Thungon, in conspiracy with Maheshwari on April 25, 1994, dishonestly and fraudulently, got opened an account in the name of Thanu Thungan who was a non-existent person and this money was withdrawn by Maheshwari. Tali, in connivance with Konyak and Mezakrol, had got issued a supply order for sausage wire issued in his name whereas this was actually not supplied and he also signed the re-

ceipts for receiving the amount and submitted a bill for Rs.29,99,295. A case was registered against them on 1998. CBI has charged 10 accused in the case including Thungon in 2003. Later one of the accused was discharged in the case while the court framed charges against four accused including Thungon. At the time of framing of charges on November 2007, a court here observed that sanction of prosecution could not be obtained against Konyak, Mezakrol, Neilakuo Suokhrie, Khrieuguozo Angami and Badang Wapang who were also chargesheeted in the case. Special Judge Jain on Monday also issued summons to the five accused -- Konyak, Mezakrol, Suokhrie, Angami and Wapang -to face trial in the case and asked them to appear on November 4.

DIMAPUR, JULY 21 (MExN): The GPRN/ NSCN today clarified that Kahoto Zhimomi, who was assaulted at Khehoi Designated Camp on July 20, had “withheld certain facts during questioning which were clearly known to the GPRN/NSCN and only after experiencing physical pain did he admit his mistake.” A press note from the GPRN/NSCN alleged that Kahoto “confessed that he had given the mobile number of GPRN top official” to Harjeet Singh, owner of New Orchid’s Shop, “which enabled the Assam Rifles to indulge in harassment and intimidation of GPRN/NSCN officials.” It claimed that Harjeet Singh had “connived with Assam Rifles who snatched a pistol from GPRN/NSCN official on assignment.” The GPRN/NSCN demanded that the owner of New Orchid’s Shop explain “why he should not contribute to the Naga political cause.” It stated that the GPRN officials were “forced to shut down” the shop as Kahoto had “told the workers to do whatever they want but he was not going to pay more then what he feels like giving. It was not a negotiation but a challenge.” It informed that “very soon one Assam Rifles officer in the rank of a major called up a Naga Army Brig. to immediately open the shop or else they will arrest him and everyone.” “It was not for the money but for the proximity and the conspiracy in which Kahoto Zhimomi played a major part” that he was taken to Khehoi Designated camp for questioning, the GPRN/NSCN claimed. While expressing regret at the “physical pain inflicted to the victim,” the GPRN/NSCN informed local entrepreneurs to be aware that “there are

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Shops to shutdown in protest on July 22 DIMAPUR, JULY 21 (MExN): Following the assault of a business employee in Dimapur on July 21, frontal business organisations of Dimapur have called for a voluntary shutdown of all business establishments from Dimapur town to Chumukedima on July 22 from 12:00 noon to 6:00pm. Public and vehicular movement, educational institutions and offices do not come under the preview of the shutdown. The organisations, including the DCCI, BAN, EDBA and CCCTA, also appealed to the state government to arrest culprits and demanded that the ‘bond agreements’ be nullified. It also called for the termination of Captain Hutoshe from national service. Failing to do so, the organisations cautioned that they would initiate further closures. thousands of Indian businessmen in Nagaland who are evading regular annual GPRN/NSCN tax by employing local youth as bouncers and business partners.” The same tactics is being applied by non locals in evading income tax of the GOI by employing “local thugs” as business partners, it said. Referring to the statement by ACAUT Nagaland, the GPRN/NSCN said that “it bears no significance since it was banned by the GPRN/NSCN in 2014” and alleged that ACAUT members are “the real Indian agents and some of them dream of controlling the markets of Dimapur by crushing the political aspirations of the Naga people.”

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Dimapur

Wednesday

LocaL

22 July 2015

RMSA candidates call off agitation

Members of Nagaland RMSA Written Exam 2014 Qualified Candidates Forum agitate at the Nagaland’s Civil Secretariat gate on July 21.

Minister for school education assures to fulfill demand Our Correspondent Kohima | July 21

The Nagaland RMSA Written Exam 2014 Qualified Candidates Forum today staged ‘democratic agitation’ at the Nagaland’s Civil Secretariat gate here and

later called off after getting written assurance from minister for school education Yitachu to fulfill the forum demand. The agitation started at 8:00 AM and called off at round 2:00 PM. They were demanding conduct of oral exam as per the advertisement and start the oral exam from July 25, 2014. According to source, the school education minister gave written assurance in the presence of the

agitators and department officials that viva-voice will be conducted on August 5. Meanwhile, the RMSA Written Exam 2014 Qualified Candidates Forum thanked school education minister Yitachu for taking the matter seriously and fulfilling “our demands and thereby given us in written that our viva-voce will be conducted from the 5th of August 2015 onwards.” It may be recalled that the Forum in its earlier rep-

resentation submitted to the concerned authority on June 15, requesting them to notify the date of viva-voice for all the qualified candidates of the written exam as well as the sports instructor candidates by June 30, 2015 and complete the whole process of the exam by July 31. As per Advertisement No RMSA/EXAM/2013-14 Dt. December 14, 2013, it clearly invited for an open competition of all the eligible candidates having Bach-

elor’s Degree, the Forum claimed. However, after the conduct of the written exam on May 24, 2014 and declaration of result on June 29, 2014, the Government decided to recently call only the candidates having B.Ed degree after delaying vivavoice for more than a year, the Forum stated and added that this decision has totally discriminated the non B.Ed candidates of their right to sit for the viva-voice after qualifying the written exam.

The Morung Express C

YouthNet Impact 5000 by CNSA undertakes 18 launches ‘DialNagaland’ touring programme

kohiMa, July 21 (MExN): In order to promote and empower local skilled workers, YouthNet, YouthNet's Impact 5000 by 18 - a five-year program on entrepreneurship, skill development and employment in partnership with the Department of Labour and Employment, launched “DialNagaland”, a classified directory of local skilled workers which the public can access by calling a number (7085050006) and requesting for the services of skilled workers such as plumbers, carpenters, electricians, masons, painters etc. The operator then connects the potential customers/clients to the available skilled workers by giving them the contact information of the available skilled workers. The customers can then get in touch directly with the skilled workers for negotiations and avail their services. Dial Nagaland was con-

ceptualized and created to address the issue of inaccessibility of local skilled workers including the innumerable skilled people from ITIs across the state, and to help the local skilled workers in their marketing by creating linkages and publicity. Dial Nagaland also aims to improve the level of professionalism of the skilled workers by imparting training as and when necessary, and to organize the local skilled labour industry in the state. The services will first be piloted in Kohima and Dimapur before going to other districts. Dial Nagaland currently has close to 80 skilled workers registered across different sectors and more are welcome to register for free at the YouthNet offices in Kohima and Dimapur. Dial Nagaland is being undertaken through YouthNet's Impact 5000 by 18 - a five-year program on entrepreneurship, skill development and employment

Bible Class impacts students at Agape School Phek organisations take stock of teacher shortage

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Students of Agape School, Kiphire present song during the Bible Class 2015 held from July 15 to 17, which was held with the theme “Jesus, the real hero.” (Morung Photo) Morung Express News Kiphire | July 21

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Around 480 students of Agape School, Kiphire attended the three days Bible Class 2015 where they learnt about the gospel in align with other core values of life. Based on the theme, ‘Jesus, The Real Hero’ the students and the teachers were challenged for reaching a higher height by way of examining through the teaching and discussion of several Bible stories.

Anungla Jamir, one of the resource persons, during the opening devotion on July 15 told the students that even in darkness there is a God who still look over us and encouraged them to be confident that, “We are all a little different, in many different ways, no matter where we come from, God loves us the same.” She explained that with a sinless and pure heart, we are all able to harness the connection to remain faithful children of God.

The children were divided into two groups according to classes, which helped to ensure that they were receiving the right lessons. The three-day class was designed to educate through various activities. The students were engaged in ways of performing short plays and dramas based on Bible stories. On the second day, the children learnt to make baskets and vase with newspaper materials. The craftwork was taught to impart the les-

Children’s camp at Thenyizumi held

PhEk, July 21 (MExN): A children’s camp was conducted at St. Andrew Parish, Thenyizumi from July 17-19 with the theme “Let the Little Children Come to Me” - Luke 18:19. The camp concluded with solemn Eucharistic Celebration officiated by Rev. Fr. Thomas Toretkiu, vocation promoter of the Diocese of Kohima. Fr. Thomas in his homily urged parents to be compassionate with their children in their vital and important aspect of their lives. Meanwhile, he asked the children to obey Jesus and follow his example. 40 children received the sacrament of

the First Holy communion. 140 children from 7 centers namely, Chetheba, K-Basa, Chozuba, Yoruba, Therutusumi, Ruzazho, and Sekrezu participated the camp. Rev. Fr. Thomas Toretkiu, Sylvester Metha, Paul Magh, Albert Athisii, Denis Peseyie, Carol Dziivichii and Ruth were the resource personnel who dealt on 7 Sacraments and ‘Vocation’. In the Bible quiz and singing competition, Thunyizumi and Yoruba bagged first and Therutusumi and Thunyizumi won the runners up title. Choreography, songs, Bible skit, solo, folk tune were the special items presented.

ANDMSA elect office bearers for Dimapur Unit

DiMaPuR, July 21 (MExN): All Nagaland District Ministerial Service Association (ANDMSA) Central Office bearers and District Ministerial Service Association (ANDMSA) Dimapur Unit had a joint meeting on July 17 at Town Hall Dimapur to discuss issues and problems pertaining Ministerial services. After thorough deliberation on the issues, the house appoints the office bearers for the tenure 2015 – 18 for Dimapur Unit with the following members: L Tangthsenju Sangtam- President; M Hachibemo Pat-

ton - V/P; M Zachamo Ezung- general secretary; Yevishe- Finance secretary; Kuholi Assumi – Treasurer; Akaito Jimo -Info & Publicity secretary. Further, The House also assigned all Sr. HA/DHA/other Head of Dist Ministerial Staff as Departmental Representative of the Unit. A press note further informed that there would be an office bearers meeting on July 25 at Thilixu Village, Lane 5, below Army Camp at 11: 00 am. For further information, Office bearers are requested to contact President @ 09612026939.

State BJP inform on verification of online members

kohiMa, July 21 (MExN): All BJP members of Nagaland are informed that the last date for verification of online members and filling up of form by verified and confirmed members is July 31. The district conveners of Maha Sampark Abhiyan and the district BJP Presidents are directed to complete the process of verification and submit the report to the State office on or before the last date. Members who have enrolled online by missed call in phones e-mail can per-

sonally verify their membership by giving missed call to 1800 103 4444. All online members are to fill up the membership form without which the enrollment will be invalid. The format can be obtained from the district office or respective Mandals. The dully filled membership form should be submitted to the district Convener MSA or the district President. This was informed in a press release issued by Dr. K. Hoshi State Convener, MSA BJP, Nagaland.

Press members invited for 101-hour social filmmaking

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DiMaPuR, July 21 (DiPR): Yes Bank held an interactive session with members of the Dimapur Press Club and invited them to be a part of 101-hour social film making movement. Officials from the Yes Bank also organized a quiz competition on the day where Kewongkhum from DPRO office Dimapur bagged the 1st prize while CEO of Dispur Hospital Sakia walked away with the 2nd prize. The winners were given attractive prizes. Movies focusing on social

aspect and for furthering a change in the society were screened for the members present. The film making competition will be held for three categories (a) corporate (b) adult/youth (c) open challenge. Winner will receive a total of 45 lakhs film making grants and a chance to attend an exclusive mentoring session with stalwarts of the film industry. The 101-hour social film making movement is for the press members across the country.

son of recycling waste materials and trying to ignite interest in the children to help create a more sustainable environment for everyone in the district. “Craft making was my favorite part of the Bible Class,” said one of the students. The last day was “Care and Share Day” where the students brought packed lunch from their homes. During lunch break, all the teachers and students shared the food together. “This is history in Agape School where we are having so much fun and at the same time learning many new things,” said one of the class teachers. This was followed by talent presentation. Each class presented various items like song, choreography, Bible recitation etc. Another significant experience for the School was the ‘Dignity of Labour day,’ where the students were taught to enjoy doing manual works and respect all kinds of job. On the concluding day, the students along with their teachers visited District Hospital Kiphire and donated some amount of money from the earning of the students.

kohiMa, July 21 (MExN): The Phek Town Public Welfare Forum (PTPWF) on July 20 held a joint consultative meeting with several organisations to take stock of the ongoing teacher shortage problem faced by the Government Higher Secondary School, Phek Town at GB's conference hall. The joint meeting was attended by representatives from GB's Union, Phek Town Youth Society, Phek Town Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Phek Town Senior citizen's Forum, Phek Area Public Organisation, Phek Area Mother's Association, Phek Town Chakhesang Stu-

dents' Union including all colony chairman's of Phek town under the initiative of Phek Town Public Welfare Forum. The house resolved to appoint all vacant teachers post at the earliest, to revere back all transferred teachers whose post has been lying vacant and to create additional teacher post to fill the void caused due to student-teacher ratio. PTPWF President Vehuta Rhakho, in a joint representation to Minister School Education stated that the joint meeting discussed at length the problems faced by the students

owing to the absence of adequate number of teachers, which has prevented the school from starting the current academic session even as over two months have lapsed. The meeting highlighted the problem of infrastructure shortage, which has been met through the contribution of the public of the area and nearby villages. Following the delinking of class XI and XII in all government colleges, students in Phek area have faced the admission problem every year as there is only one higher secondary school.

Meeting discusses project revival of NPPC Ltd

Tuli, July 21 (DiPR): A joint meeting was held at NPPC guesthouse Tzudikong on July 21 to discuss the project revival of NPPC Ltd and for procurement of Bamboo. District Administration of Tuli SubDivision, NPPC Ltd management, village council chairmen of adjoining villages, chairman Tuli ward union, five chairmen of Adhoc town committee

Tzudikong, GBs and Watsu unit Tuli and Tzudikong attended the meeting. In the meeting CEO of NPPC highlighted the ongoing works and said that out of 15 packages, 7 package have been already started to repair of which some are near completion. He also mentioned that the local people would be given priority for employment. ADC Tuli also request-

ed all the council chairmen and the people of Tuli area to co-operate with the management for successful revival of NPPC at Tuli. The village & Town council chairmen and all the public assured to provide Bamboo whenever the management needed and also appealed to the management to fix the rate of Bamboo in consultation with the public so as to benefit both the parties.

Wokha, July 21 (MExN): The Central Nagaland Students’ Association (CNSA) has commenced its tour with meeting with the apex organizations of the Lotha community at the Lotha Tribal Council Hall, Wokha on July 20. Leaders of the apex civil organizations of the Lotha community attended the first day of the CNSA three-day ‘official tour’, hosted by the Lotha Students’ Union. Officials from All Sumi Students’ Union (SKK), Ao Students’ Conference (AKM) and senior leaders accompanied the CNSA team. According to a press note received here, during the interactive meeting, CNSA officials highlighted about the aims and objectives of the Association. They enlightened the Lotha community leaders about the importance of the tour programme to stress on the aspirations of the CNSA and to share and interact with the different sections of the society. C N S A p re s i d e n t , Charles Lotha, while eliciting response from the community leaders on different issues, particularly pointed out the recent promulgation of the Disturbed Area Act (DAA) in Nagaland. The CNSA officials univocally condemned the promulgation of the DAA in the entire Naga areas and shared the concern about the sweeping rights given to the security forces through the Armed Forces Special Powers Act 1958 (AFSPA). Lotha Hoho unanimously supported the concern for revocation of Disturbed Area Act by CNSA. The “Lotha Hoho also, with no reservation, endorsed the Central Nagaland Students’ Association (CNSA) its full cooperation,” stated the press note. While appreciation the CNSA, Lotha Hoho leaders, encouraged the student leaders, “to have a sense of oneness and show fairness to the Naga people through this Association.” After the meeting, the CNSA delegation headed to Zunheboto, where a meeting with the apex organizations of the Sumi community is scheduled to share thoughts and ideas for the betterment of the society.

Peace Channel of Alder Baptist College celebrates fresher’s social College organises seminar

kohiMa, July 21 (MExN): Peace Channel of Alder College (PCAC) organised a seminar cum orientation programme on July 20 at its college auditorium under the theme “At peace beyond belief.” Speaking as the resource person, Victor Yhome, Convener, People’s Forum for Peace (PFP) said that there is no universal definition of peace as it varies from people to people and situation to situations but a commonly used understanding of peace is that, Peace is a comfort state of mind in the midst of discord or distress. He argued that many people want to transform the face of society but despite investing and rendering all possible resources and efforts, it all goes in vain because we have for-

gotten that individual change is the key to societal change and there is no short cut to it. One biggest threat, which is threatening social peace in the present generation is the “evil of Tribalism”, Yhome said while adding every one of us is directly or indirectly responsible for igniting the evil feeling. He also said that we should discouraged the formation of tribal students and youth associations at all levels with tribal hohos as an exception because tribal identity and history cannot be undermined or ignored fully. He is positive that if the youth can come together in such manner irrespective of all the differences between them, Peace is possible and peace is near. He concluded by quoting that, ‘this world is bad not

because of bad people, but this world is bad because of the many good people who observes what is wrong but does nothing’. Peace Channel desk, Kohima in a press release stated that on the occasion, about 300 students pledged to promote peace to everyone and everywhere as a peace activist and teach others through their own examples of non-violence. Earlier in the programme, the college chaplain pronounced the welcome address and acknowledged the students for their volunteerism for peace. Visieseno Iralu, member PCAC chaired the programme while Keni, Lecturer incharge lead the peace pledge. Temsurenla, member PCAC, shared a note on “What Peace means to me”.

M Y K

C M Y K

Temjen Toy addressing the fresher social-cum-felicitation programme of Baptist College held on July 17.

kohiMa, July 21 (MExN): The Baptist College has conducted its freshers social-cum-felicitation programme on July 17 last at Ura Academy Hall, Kohima. Principal secretary and finance commissioner Temjen Toy graced the occasion as the chief guest. He handed over the certificate to the university toppers. Rukewe Kenye &

Lilu Z. Zhimomi were declared as Mr. & Miss Fresher’s 2015 respectively. Earlier, welcome address was delivered by Sebu Meru, vice principal, Sechü Campus while Pastor Kedo concluded the programme with a special prayer for all the freshers. Students counsellor Victor Pucho pronounced invocation prayer.

DPC organises Hepatitis-B Vaccination camp

DiMaPuR, July 21 (DiPR): As part of the club’s yearly activities for the welfare of the press fraternity of Dimapur district, Dimapur press club (DPC) in collaboration with Dispur hospitals, Assam organized Hepatitis-B vaccination camp on July 21, for its member at press point super market. Media fraternity from various media houses including DPRO Dimapur staffs availed the opportunity during the free camp. The second dose of vaccination will be administrated on August 21. Before the start of the

DPC members, DPRO and staff along with the medical camp from Dispur Hospital Guwahati during the vaccination camp held at Dimapur on July 21. (DIPR Photo)

vaccination camp, editor and publisher Tir Yimyim, Temjen expressed gratitude to the medical team from

Guwahati for their kind gesture towards the fourth estate whom he described as the most important seg-

ment of the society. “To carry out our assignments health factor is of utmost importance and only when

we maintain our health we can deliver our services in a better manner,” Temjen maintained and congratulated DPC for organizing such noble programme for the welfare of its members. Guwahati Press Club President, Nava Thakuria while stating that journalist were most vulnerable lot due to improper timing of sleep and eating because of their nature of job, felt that press members ought to get benefits of all health facilities. It may be mentioned that World Hepatitis B day would be observed on July 28 and it was a befitting programme organized by DPC.

C M Y K

REgional

The Morung Express

Surgical operations on along Indo-Myanmar border: Parrikar new Delhi, July 21 (ianS): The intelligence grid has been revitalised along the Indo-Myanmar border and intelligencebased surgical operations are being conducted to neutralise terrorists, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar said on Tuesday. In a written reply in the Rajya Sabha, the defence minister said the rugged terrain along the IndoMyanamar border and free movement regime were exploited by terrorists operating in the area. "The Indo-Myanmar border is rugged and densely forested. The rugged terrain and prevailing trans-border free movement regime are exploit-

ed by the terrorists due to which monitoring of their cross-border movement and activities is extremely challenging," Parrikar said. He said the army was "fully alive" to the prevailing complex challenges and accordingly "surgical intelligence-based counter-terrorism operations are being conducted to neutralise the terrorists". "The intelligence grid has been revitalised. Efforts have been made for seamless interface amongst all intelligence agencies and units conducting counter-terrorism operations so as to collate, analyse and disseminate intelligence in a timely

Northeast Briefs

Assam flood situation remains serious

Guwahati, July 21 (Pti): The flood situation in Assam remained serious today with nearly 32,000 people in 35 villages hit by it. Assam State Disaster Management Authority (ASDMA) in its flood report said that more than 31,700 people are affected in Dhemaji and Karimganj districts. The highest number of 31,500 people have been affected in Karimganj district, followed by 150 in Dhemaji, it said adding around 110 hectares of crop areas are under the water now. The toll in this year's flood in Assam has remained at five -- two in Lakhimpur and one each in Bongaigaon, Baksa and Sonitpur. At present, Katakhal river is flowing above the danger mark at Matizuri in Hailakandi district, the ASDMA report said.

NDFB (S) militant killed in encounter Guwahati, July 21 (Pti): An NDFB (S) militant, suspected to have been involved in the massacre of adivasis in December last year, was killed in an encounter with security forces at Amteka in Chirang district of Assam today. “An encounter took place at about 3:30 AM between NDFB (S) militants and a joint team of Assam Police and CRPF’s Cobra battalion,” Assam Inspector General of Police (BTAD) L R Bishnoi said. The encounter lasted some time and a militant of NDFB(S) was killed, he said. “From the slain militant, we recovered one 9 mm Browning pistol, one 36 HE (high explosive) grenades, one magazine, five live rounds and four fired rounds,” Bishnoi said. The militant was identified as Rinsar Narzary alias Gaitha (24) and he was a self-styled Section Commander of the banned organisation. “He was a Bhutan trained insurgent and in-charge of supplying ration to NDFB (S) cadres,” the IGP said. Bishnoi also said the militant was involved in the killing of adivasis in Kokrajhar district in December 2014.

Two poachers killed in encounter in Kaziranga KaziranGa, July 21 (Pti): Two poachers were killed today in an encounter with security forces in the Kaziranga National Park. Acting on a tip-off about the presence of a four-member gang inside the Park, a team of forest staff and police along with the CRPF, launched a joint operation in and around the Park's Burapahar range. An encounter followed at Kukurakata Hills near Rangalu Forest camp in which the two poachers were killed, a senior Park official said. The police and CRPF personnel cordoned off NH-37 to prevent the poachers from escaping and a massive search operation has been launched to nab the two poachers who managed to escape. Two .303 rifles, sixteen rounds of ammunition and two mobile phones were recovered from the encounter site. Altogether, 26 poachers have been killed so far this year while more than 20 arrested from different districts in and around the Park. The poachers have killed eleven rhinos so far this year.

manner," said the defence minister. An army convoy was ambushed by heavilyarmed militants in Parlon in Chandel district of Manipur on June 4, killing 18 soldiers and injuring 15 others. Two militants were killed in retaliatory fire and one AK-47 Rifle seized. In another reply, the defence minister said soldiers martyred in the ambush would be given Rs.10 lakh as ex-gratia relief, Rs.25 lakh as army group insurance, Rs.30,000 from Army Central Welfare Fund, Rs.15,000 from Army Wives Welfare Association and other benefits along with family pension.

Sanskrit scholar and educationist Krishna Kanta Handique, organised by the K.K. Handique State Open University. "I met the chief minister today (Tuesday) and put forward some proposals. He agreed to the proposal of setting up a fund to help trafficked children and also assured an amount of Rs.1 crore," Satyarthi said. "The fund will initially be used in Assam and can be replicated to other states of the northeastern region later," he said. The fund will be used for generating awareness on trafficking, and help the victims in their rehabilitation, he said. Satyarthi asked Gogoi to create an action plan to deal with trafficking. "Assam and the northeastern states have become a hub for child trafficking. There should be

22 July 2015

Dimapur

Naga student asked to show ‘proof’ of Indian nationality

Pune, July 21 (the inDian exPreSS): A 23-year-old student from Nagaland, working as an intern with an NGO in Pune, was asked to show proof of his Indian nationality to enter the well-known Raja Dinkar Kelkar Museum in the city on Sunday even after he showed his driving licence issued by government of Nagaland as his identity proof. Finally, he was asked to pay the entry fees meant for foreigners after which he dropped his plan to visit the museum. The incident took place on Sunday morning when P David Ndang, a resident of Peren in Nagaland who has been pursuing an in-

ternship with city-based NGO Watershed Organisation Trust, went to the Kelkar Museum for a visit. He was accompanied by Prithviraj Gaikwad, an employee with the NGO who had agreed to show him around the city. David is pursuing his post-graduation in social work from North East Institute of Social Sciences and Research in Dimapur. Speaking to The Indian Express, David said, “When we went to the entry gate of the museum, the staff asked me for an identity proof. Prithviraj asked them why it was needed at all, to which they said they needed to see it. As I could not speak in

Marathi, Prithviraj started talking on my behalf and was translating it for me. “ Prithviraj said, “David showed his driving licence issued by the Nagaland government, which also said he was permitted to drive anywhere in India. It has the emblem of Republic of India and also says he is a resident of Nagaland and mentions the permanent address as Peren in Nagaland. But the staff said anyone could forge such a licence and asked if he had any proof of his nationality. I asked David if he was carrying any other identity proof. He said he was not.” David said, “It was alright for them to ask me for

an ID proof as there are different entry fees for Indians and foreigners. But even after seeing my driving licence which showed my permanent address from Nagaland, they kept asking me to prove my nationality. At one point of time, I had to tell them that Nagaland was part of India. But finally they asked me buy a ticket meant for foreigners at Rs 200 as against one for an Indian at Rs 50. I felt offended due to the discrimination which was obviously because of my facial features. We just walked away without buying the ticket.” Sudhanva Ranade, the director of the Kelkar Museum said, “The incident did

take place, but we have the right to ask a guest whether he or she is an Indian or a foreigner. So, I feel the incident was an isolated case of misunderstanding. We always make sure that every guest is treated with utmost respect. Also, the person in question has not bought the ticket. We would be happy to welcome them again and clear the misunderstanding, if any.” Pune has witnessed several cases of violence and discrimination against the residents of NorthEastern states. In 2012, such incidents had led to mass exodus of residents of North-Eastern states from Pune.

ILPS movement: Judiciary 13 die of Japanese Encephalitis in Assam to probe student's death

imPhal, July 21 (Pti): A judicial inquiry would be conducted to probe the death of a student during the agitation in Greater Imphal area for implementation of Inner Line Permit System, Manipur Deputy Chief Minister Gaikhangam said today. The decision was taken at a meeting of Congress Legislative Party meeting last evening, Gaikhangam, who also holds the Home portfolio, told PTI here. Sapam Robinhood, a standard eleven student, was killed during the agita-

Jorhat, July 21 (Pti): Altogether 13 persons have died and 22 have tested positive for Japanese Encephalitis (JE) in Assam's Jorhat district during the last 10 days, Joint Director of Health and Family Welfare Dr Mobibur Rahman said here today. While seven persons died in Jorhat Medical College and Hospital (JMCH), six others passed away at Jorhat Christian

appealed to Joint Committee on Inner Line Permit System, which is spearheading the movement for the introduction of ILPS in the northeastern state to 'safeguard the interests of the indigenous people', civil society organisations and Joint Action Committee (JAC) to co-operate in the drafting of the new bill. He also urged the people of the state to maintain peace and harmony in the state as the government had already assured to implement their demand for new Delhi, July 21 effective implementation (ianS): DoNER Minister of ILPS in Manipur. Jitendra Singh on Tuesday urged resident commissioners of the northeastern states to play a proactive role in coordinating, liasoning and expediting various development projHospital, police said. Meanwhile, Assam Tea Tribe Student ects in their states. Pointing Association (ATTSA) district president out that there was delay in Krishna Kamal Tanti said, "We vehement- submission of reports on ly condemn the barbaric incident and de- many schemes by the resimand booking of all culprits to give them dent commissioners, Singh said such situations were exemplary punishment." responsible for the rise in Allegedly instigated by a couple who budget of the projects. act as priests in the area, the villagers beat Singh was addressing a up 60-year-old Moni Orang and beheaded joint meeting of senior offiher yesterday. cers of the ministry for DeVimajuli is about 110 km from Tezpur velopment of North Eastand is a remote area bordering Arunachal ern Region and resident Pradesh in Sonitpur district with most of commissioners from all the the people being Adivasis and Karbi tribes. northeastern states. "Most

tion on July 8 leading to the clamping of ongoing indefinite curfew in the area. Gaikhangam said the CLP meeting also endorsed the decision of an all political party meeting to present a new bill on ILPS in Manipur assembly within one month. The all party meeting, held on July 16 and chaired by Chief Minister O Ibobi Singh, had recommended the setting up of a draft committee to introduce a new ILP bill in Manipur assembly within one month. The deputy minister

tezPur, July 21 (Pti): Sixteen persons have been arrested in connection with the beheading of a woman by branding her a witch at a village in Sonitpur district. Biswanath Chariali police district SP Manabendra Dev Ray said seven persons were arrested on Monday and another nine today from Vimajuli village where the incident took place yesterday. Villagers of Vimajuli, however, protested against the police action and justified the killing saying she was practising witchcraft on them. The body of the woman was today sent to her village for cremation after post mortem at Biswanath Chariali Civil

Medical Centre (JCMC), Rahman said. Among those who have tested positive, 18 are admitted in JMCH, two at JCMC while two others are undergoing treatment at two private nursing homes here, officials here said. Of these 22, four were minors and five women and all are residents from the district's rural areas. The Joint Director said they have so far distribut-

ed 33,000 medicated mosquito nets in the affected areas and in JE prone areas and organised 205 health awareness camps. The situation was being closely monitored and blood samples collected to ascertain whether there were more cases of JE in the district. Spraying of DDT and fogging have been initiated in over 45 villages in and around the Jorhat district.

Be proactive, NE resident commissioners told

16 held in beheading case

of the resident commissioners are senior officers with a long administrative experience and, therefore, they can play a valuable supplementary role in bridging several missing links between the

states and the Centre," he said. He said the offices of resident commissioner can help in getting file work expedited through intervention both at the state as well as the central level.

ELITE ACADEMY Tripura medics say no to compliance Near New NST Bus Station, Kohima aGartala, July 21 (tnn): Doctors in Tripura have threatened to stop private practice from August 1 unless the state government withdraws its decision to make doctors file affidavit for private practice. The state health department had earlier asked government doctors to submit an affidavit indicating compliance with the directions of the high court with regard to private practice. A division bench of the Tripura high court, comprising Chief Justice Deepak Gupta and Justice Subhashis Talapatra, hearing a PIL has asked government doctors not to run

private chambers for more than three hours on working days and six hours on holidays. The HC has directed the state government to issue a complete ban on service and engagement of government doctors at private nursing homes, health clinics and diagnostic centres. The court has also asked the government to list out the names of doctors who were willing to do private practice at their residence or rented places following norms and rules. Health minister Badal Choudhur y said the court has observed that some doctors are spend-

Satyarthi to set up fund for trafficked children Guwahati, July 21 (ianS): The Kailash Satyarthi Children's Foundation will set up a rehabilitation and welfare fund in Assam for children who are trafficked and engaged as bonded labourers. Initially the fund will be set up with an amount of Rs.2 crore, Nobel laureate Kailash Satyarthi said here on Tuesday. "Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi has assured me to give the foundation an amount of Rs.1 crore to set up the fund. The Kailash Satyarthi Children's Foundation will collect another Rs.1 crore from corporates and other sources to set up the fund," Satyarthi told the media. The Nobel laureate on Monday delivered a lecture on the occasion of the 117th birth anniversary of Assam's renowned

Wednesday

an action plan to solve this problem," he said. Poverty and illiteracy, the main reasons for trafficking, were very much present in the northeast, he said. "Assam has all the factors that leads to child trafficking... poverty, illiteracy, violence, natural calamities like floods... and that is why the problem is serious for Assam," he said. Satyarthi also asked the chief minister to appoint a state government officer at Assam Bhavan in Delhi to handle issues of child trafficking. "Trafficking is a serious problem in Assam and there should be a senior official in New Delhi, particularly in Assam Bhavan, to coordinate with the parents of missing children from the national capital," he said.

Most of the children trafficked from Assam are found in places like Delhi, Haryana, Rajasthan etc., he said.

ing more time at private chambers instead of providing quality service at government hospitals. If any government doctor is allowed to practise privately, the authorities should notify the doctors' fee in the chamber and the doctor has to maintain a list of the patients. The doctor cannot claim any fee from a patient at his or her private cham-

ber if the patient has already consulted the doctor at a government hospital. But in case of Tripura, this rule is being flouted openly, Choudhury maintained. The court has also asked the health department to ensure that no government doctors should charge more than Rs 200 from a first-time patient and Rs 100 from the patient's third visit, at theirprivate chambers.

ApprECIATION

The Konyak Nyupuh Sheko Khong expresses sincere appreciation to all the Konyak doctors for opening Nursing Home in Mon. We mothers pray that the Almighty God grant you all good health while serving the needy people of Mon. B Lomei President

Yeihlem General Secretary

FElICITATION

The Konyak Nyupuh Sheko Khong would like to extend out heartiest congratulations to all the Toppers and other successful candidates of various universities’ examinations in 2015. We wish you all the very best in your future endeavours. B Lomei President

Yeihlem General Secretary

WORDS OF GRATITUDE We the RMSA Written Exam 2014 Qualified Candidates Forum would like to express our heartfelt gratitude to our Honorable Education Minister Shri. Yitachu for taking the matter seriously and fulfilling our demands and thereby given us in written that our viva-voce will be conducted from the 5th of August 2015 onwards. We would also like to thank the following individuals and organization for helping us in the smooth conduct of our democratic agitation: 1. SDO Civil, Kohima 2. EAC Kohima Hq 3. Sr SP Kohima 4. SDPO Kohima 5. Dy. SP Kohima 6. OC Kohima 7. Press Media 8. Angami Public Organisation RMSA Written Exam 2014 Qualified Candidates Forum

Admission going for the following coaching programes 1) NPSC Prelims (New Batch) 2) Class 10 and 12 repeaters (Arts, Science & Commerce) 3) Computer courses (4) Stenography (5) Spoken English 6) Tuition for Class 12 (Science) B. Sc (Che), BA (Eco, His, Pol.Sc, Eng)

IMMANUEL COLLEGE LENGRIJAN DIMAPUR.

ANNOUNCES CLASS OF 2015

Graduation day

On Friday, July 24th at 9:00am.Inthe College Campus. All the students of 2015 batch who have graduated from Immanuel College are cordially invited to participate in the Graduation Day Programme.

CHANGTONGYA STUDENTS’ UNION DIMAPUR "TSUNGREMMONG FESTIVAL" OPEN PENALTY SHOOTOUT TOURNAMENT CUM FETE DAY VENUE: DIMAPUR DISTRICT SPORTS COMPLEX (DDSC) TIME: 9:00 AM DAY: 1st AUGUST 2015 ENTRY FEE – Rs. 1,000 /– Rs. 10,000 /1ST PRIZE – Rs. 5,000/2ND PRIZE BEST KEEPER MANY EXCITING

GAMES, FOOD STALLS, TAMBOLA, ETC…..

FORMS AVAILABLE AT FOODTIONERY (Near Rangapahar SBI Duncan Bosti), Lunch Room (Opp. West Police Station), KIRAN SPORTS $ UNITED SPORTS. THE CHANGTONGYA STUDENTS’ UNION DIMAPUR CORDIALLY INVITE ALL THE CHANGTONGYA SENSOSANGER AND ANUKAPANG TO CELEBRATE THIS EVENT. Last date for submission of form: 30th July 2015 FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT : AKUM #9774531611 | SENTI #9615768633

Dimapur

businEss

Wednesday 22 July 2015

The Morung Express

Toshiba CEO steps down over accounting scandal

TOKYO, JulY 21 (ReuTeRs): Toshiba Corp’s chief executive stepped down on Tuesday after an independent investigation found he had been aware the company had inflated its profits, in the country’s biggest corporate scandal in years. CEO and President Hisao Tanaka said he will be temporarily replaced by Chairman Masashi Muromachi, adding that the company was considering appointing outside directors to over half of its board seats. “I see this as the most damaging event for our brand in the company’s 140-year history,” Tanaka told a news conference after making a ritual deep bow of contrition to a flurry of camera shutters and flashes. “I don’t think these problems can be overcome overnight.” Muromachi is considered a safe pair of hands to lead Toshiba through its current turmoil before handing the reins to a successor. The company plans

reality is that such an observation has been made,” Tanaka said. “The new executives and management must take preventative measures accordingly.” The findings are expected to lead to the restatement of earnings, a board overhaul and potentially hefty fines in Japan’s worst boardroom scandal since Olympus Corp was found to have covered up $1.7 billion in losses in late 2011.

Toshiba Corp President and Chief Executive Officer Hisao Tanaka (R) and Chairman of the Board Masashi Muromachi attend a news conference at the company headquarters in Tokyo on July 21. (REUTERS Photo)

to announce next month the delayed business results for the financial year ended in March. Tanaka’s predecessors as CEO of the laptops-tonuclear conglomerate, Vice Chairman Norio Sasaki and adviser Atsutoshi Nishida, will also step down after the third-party report showed they played

a part in the overstatement of profits going back to the 2008 financial year. Monday’s report by an outside panel of accountants and lawyers said Toshiba had overstated its operating profit by 151.8 billion yen ($1.22 billion) over several years, roughly triple Toshiba’s initial estimate.

Tanaka and Sasaki pressured business divisions to meet difficult targets knew they were overstating profits and delaying the reporting of losses amid a culture of not going against the wishes of superiors, the report said. “It’s not my understanding that I gave orders for improper accounting, but the

RISKS TO INVESTOR CONFIDENCE Japanese Finance Minister Taro Aso said earlier on Tuesday that the accounting irregularities at Toshiba were “very regrettable”, coming at a time when Japan is trying to regain global investors’ confidence with better corporate governance. “If (Japan) fails to implement appropriate corporate governance, it could lose the market’s trust,” Aso told a news conference on Tuesday. “It’s very regrettable.” Aso declined to comment when asked if Toshi-

ba would face any kind of financial penalty. Sources have said regulators were beginning their own review of Toshiba’s book-keeping, based on Monday’s report. The investigation came just as Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has implemented new guidelines to improve the country’s corporate governance. Shares in Toshiba rose 6 percent on Tuesday on relief the report had few nasty surprises. But they are still down around 23 percent since Toshiba first disclosed cases of accounting irregularities in early April. Rating Agency Standard & Poor’s said on Tuesday that the required restatement of Toshiba’s profit could lead to its credit rating being downgraded. “Institutional investors and other long-term funds have already unloaded Toshiba shares, so currently the stock price is being driven by short-term investors,” said Takatoshi Itoshima, chief portfolio manager at Commons Asset Management.

Food prices world over fall to a 5-yr low MuMbai, JulY 21 (DNa MONeY): Dropping to a five-year low, international food prices decreased by 14% between the period of August 2014 and May 2015, according to Food Price Watch, an agency of the World Bank. The decline in food prices is welcome, because more poor people can potentially afford to buy food for their families,” said Jose Cuesta, Senior Economist, Poverty Global Practice at the World Bank Group. “However, unexpected domestic food price fluctuations remain a possibility so it is crucial that countries are prepared to address dangerous food price hikes when and if they unfold.” The report said, “The agriculture and food sector continue to benefit from less expensive chemical fertilizer, fuel and transportation costs brought on by the previous year’s oil price declines, with food prices holding steady despite recent oil price hikes.” The report said Wheat prices fell by 18% between August 2014 and May 2015 whereas rice and maize prices dropped by 14% and 6% respectively. Warning about the ill-effects of El Nino, the report said, “ However, the arrival of El Nino, the appreciation of the US dollar and the recent increase in oil prices could drive up food prices in the coming months.” Moreover, demand for maize by the biofuel industry and developments in rice support policies among major producers could also push up food prices. Even though domestic grain prices remained stable due to abundant supply, prices increased in countries hit by conflict, floods or drought, like Nigeria, Malawi and Zimbabwe. Ebola-hit countries were also affected by increase in food prices. The World Bank said that is trying to help countries suffering from high food prices. Launched in 2008, Global Food Price Crisis Response Program (GFRP) has helped 70 million people in 49 countries through $1.6 billion in emergency funds.

APEC membership pitched as India’s Hyundai launches Creta SUV in India gateway to international trade pacts New YORK, JulY 21 (iaNs): Business and policy leaders Monday pitched membership in the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) group as India’s gateway to participation in international trade agreements and for taking greater advantage of the benefits of globalisation. Speaking at the launch of a task force here on charting India’s path to APEC membership, former Australian prime minister Kevin Rudd said India joining the 21-member group would be essential for Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ambitious “Make in India” initiative and to achieve his target of increasing Indian exports to $900 billion and adding 100 million jobs by 2020. APEC membership would help India develop “the culture of trade liberalisation,” he added. The task force was set up by the Asia Society Policy Institute, which Rudd now heads. He is the panel’s cochair along with MasterCard CEO Ajay Banga, who chairs the US-India Business Council, and former foreign secretary Shyam Saran. Banga said that joining APEC would be a gamechanger for India and could pave the way for its eventual entry into international

trade pacts like the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) Agreement. Among the benefits for India from APEC, Banga said, would be that it would adopt norms in areas like taxation, foreign investment and intellectual property that would lay the groundwork for free trade agreements and multilateral pacts. That would level the playing field in trade for India, he added. Speaking through a video link from Delhi, Saran said that India was committed at the highest levels to pursuing membership in the APEC and noted that President Barack Obama expressed support for it during his Republic Day visit to India. Membership in the APEC would promote equal participation by government and private institutions and help deal with the disconnect between policy and business, he said. Founded in 1989 at Australia’s initiative, APEC’s members include the US, Russia, China, Australia and Japan. It represents 2.8 billion people and accounts for 57% of the world’s gross domestic product and 47% of global trade. The host of last year’s APEC summit, Beijing, invited India

LEISURE

Simple Rules - There is just one simple rule: “Fill in the grid so that every row, every column, and every 3x3 box contains the digits 1 through 9.”

SUDOKU Game Number # 3293

MAth WORD subtraction addition mean mode fractions radius perimeter squares numbers metric meter factor rectangles proportions rates remainder polygons exponents volume variables weight surveys sequences shapes scales rounding simplify angle sum obtuse average

A N F K O A D D I T I O N D I

N A R E T E M I R E P A V S H

Hyundai’s new Sports Utility Vehicle “CRETA” is displayed during its global launch in New Delhi on Tuesday, July 21. (AP Photo)

Rs 13.6 lakh. The 1.6 litre diesel automatic trim is priced at Rs 13.57 lakh. Creta is being launched globally for the first time in India. The roll-out of the 5-seater SUV in the country would be followed by launches in other international markets. “We are confident that Creta will strengthen Hyundai’s position in India. It will define SUV segment in the country,” Hyundai Motor India Ltd (HMIL) Managing

DAILY CROSS WORD

CROSSWORD # 3304

Answer Number # 3292

G E A S S X R E S U T B O N S

to participate in it as an observer, but New Delhi did not attend it. Alyssa Ayres, the former US deputy assistant secretary of state for South Asia, said that it was in US strategic interests for India to deepen links to Asia. The US Pivot to Asia and Modi’s Act East policy converged, she added, speaking from Washington. India has been left behind in major global trade agreements, said Fred Bergsten, a Senior Fellow of the Peterson Institute for International Economics. Because of this, he said, India suffered tens of billions in trade diversion losses. To achieve the growth rates of 8 to 10% for lifting millions out of poverty, India would have to participate in the global trade system, he added. Chandrajit Banerjee, the Director General of the Confederation of Indian Industry, said that APEC membership would help leverage investment to India. While larger Indian companies have been players in the world trade system, small and medium sectors in India have not been to the same degree and APEC would promote their participation in the global supply chain.

New Delhi, JulY 21 (FeONliNe): Hyundai on Tuesday launched its sports utility vehicle (SUV), Creta, at a starting price of Rs 8.59 lakh. Hyundai Creta will compete with Ford Ecosport, Renault Duster, Nissan Terrano and Mahindra Scorpio, Mahindra XUV500 and Tata Safari Storme, which are in the price range of Rs 6.75 lakh to Rs 15.99 lakh. With Creta’s launch the company is aiming for a dominant position in the mass-market sports utility vehicle (SUV) segment in India. The 1.6 litre petrol variants of the SUV are priced between Rs 8.59 lakh and Rs 11.19 lakh, while the diesel versions will come in the range Rs 9.46 lakh to Rs 13.6 lakh. The vehicle would be offered with two diesel engine options — 1.4 litre trim costing between Rs 9.46 lakh and Rs 11.45 lakh, while the 1.6 litre diesel engine variants priced between Rs 11.59 lakh and

L M C C E P A G E L S W W O E

E V T A L O T S L E U U N I R

R O I L G N E E B F B C R T A

A L O E N E S C A A T I O R U

D U N S A N A N I C R R U O Q

I M S I T T V E R T A T N P S

U E K M C S E U A O C E D O U

S H A P E S R Q V R T M I R R

Z I T L R V A E J A I R N P V

M U S F G R E M A I N D E R Y

P O L Y G O N S N U M B E R S

DIMAPUR Civil Hospital:

to customise it for the Indian conditions. With Creta, Hyundai is entering the fullfledged volume segment of SUVs. As of now, Hyundai is present in the SUV segment in the premium category with Santa Fe and with sports-styled i20 Active. The SUV segment has been growing in India since 2013 at an annual rate of 25% but it declined in the JanuaryMay period by about 6%. The brand Creta would be used for all the global markets.

STD CODE: 03862 232224; Emergency229529, 229474

Metro Hospital: Faith Hospital:

227930, 231081 228846

Shamrock Hospital

228254

Zion Hospital:

231864, 224117, 227337

Police Control Room

228400

Police Traffic Control

232106

East Police Station West Police Station

227607 232181

CIHSR (Referral Hospital)

242555/ 242533

Dimapur hospital

224041, 248011

Apollo Hospital Info Centre:

230695/ 9402435652

Railway:

131/228404

Indian Airlines

229366

ACROSS

1. Steam bath 6. Slothful 10. Office fill-in 14. A cook might wear one 15. Pearly-shelled mussel 16. Operatic solo 17. A belligerent mongrel dog 18. A religious figure 19. Certain card games or liquors 20. Magnificence 22. Air force heroes 23. Many millennia 24. Slowly, in music 26. Surpassingly good 30. Highly favored 32. Unlocks 33. Dampener 37. A girl’s toy 38. Valleys 39. Easy gait 40. Anti-malware software 42. Slips 43. Thresholds 44. World 45. Deadly 47. Caviar 48. Strong and sure 49. Inadvertent

DOWN

1. Not in danger 2. Pinnacle 3. Relating to urine 4. Schnozzola 5. Deciduous horns 6. Unit of luminous flux 7. Nameless 8. Brass component 9. Unburdened 10. A lively whirling dance 11. Spew 12. Mimeograph 13. Overtake 21. Toss 25. Eastern Standard Time 26. Fizzy drink 27. Atop 28. Fur 29. Tour of duty 30. A large pill

31. Untruths 33. A crumbling earthy deposit 34. Person, place or thing 35. Type of sword 36. A musical pause 38. Hamlets 41. By means of 42. Roomette 44. Detachable container 45. A boneless steak 46. A kind of macaw 47. Angered 48. Lipids 50. Concern 51. Ice cream holder 52. Agreeable 53. Story 54. A Freudian stage 55. Plenty Ans to CrossWord 3303

KOHIMA: 0370 2222952/ 101 (O) 9402003086 (OC) DIMAPUR: 03862 232201/ 101 (O) 9436017479 (OC)

CHUMUKEDIMA: 03862 282777/101 (O) 9856158740 (OC) WOKHA: 03860 242215/101 (O) 9862039399 (OC)

MOKOKCHUNG: 0369 2226225/ 101 (O) 9436012949 (OC)

Nagaland Multispe- 248302, cialty Health & 09856006026 Research Centre

PHEK: 8414853765 (O) 9862130954(OC)

KOHIMA

ZUNHEBOTO: 03867 280304/ 101 (O) 9856156876 (OC)

STD CODE: 0370 100/2244279 2222222 2222111 2222952 2222916 2243339 2224202 08974997923

TUENSANG: 8414853766 (O) 8414853519 MON: 03869 251222/ 101 (O) 9436208480 (OC)

CHILD WELFARE COMMITTEE 56. Wings 57. Jail (British) 58. A keyboard instrument 59. Small slender gull 60. Sea eagle 61. Panache 62. Immediately 63. Sow 64. Bobbins

FIRE STATIONS

Chumukedima Fire 282777 Brigade Nikos Hospital and 232032, 231031 Research Centre

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

T H G I E W G S E D O M G Z E

Director and CEO, B S Seo said. The SUV comes with various features including navigation system, smart key with push button start and leather seats. HMIL has received over 15,000 pre-bookings in the last 20 days for the SUV, Seo said. The company has invested Rs 1,000 crore on the development of Creta, which has been designed and developed in Korea. The company’s engineers in Hyderabad and Chennai helped

Toll free No. 1098 childline

KipHire: 8414853767 (O) 8974304572 (OC)

WE4WOMEN HELPLINE 08822911011

MOKOKCHUNG:

STD CODE: 0369

Police Station 1:

2226241

Police Station 2 :

2226214

Civil Hospital: Woodland Nursing Home:

2226216 2226263

Hotel Metsüpen (Tourist Lodge):

2226373/2229343

TAHAMZAM (formerly Senapati) STD CODE: 03871 Police Station: Fire Brigade

CURRENCY NOTES

222246 222491

BUY(Rs)

SELL(Rs)

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

62.25 96.75 7.77 45.73 45.31 47.81 49.79

65.07 101.44 8.66 47.98 47.55 50.16 52.60

Euro

67.32

70.59

Thai Baht Korean Won New Zealand Dollar Chinese Yuan

1.75

1.95

0.0519

0.0579

40.93

42.94

9.69

10.80

Wednesday

The Morung Express

22 July 2015

NLA SESSION

Imtikumzuk elected deputy speaker

NLA speaker Chotisuh Sazo (left) with newly elected deputy speaker Imtikumzuk in Kohima on July 21. (Morung Photo)

Kohima, July 21 (DiPR): Congress MLA Imtikumzuk was unanimously elected as the Deputy Speaker of the 12th NLA on July 21 during the ninth session of the Assembly. Imtikumzuk was the lone nominee to the seat of Deputy Speaker. He was nominated by Deo Nukhu and seconded by Dr. Imtiwapang. The Chief Minister of Nagaland TR Zeliang congratulated the newly elected Deputy Speaker and expressed expectations that he would play a neutral role and work for the smooth conduct of the house. Meanwhile, Imtikumzuk thanked the house for electing him and sought the cooperation and support from the members of the house so he can discharge his duties.

The BJP MLAs led by Minister for Transport & Civil Aviation, IT&C, Paiwang Konyak abstained from voting by walking out of the house before the nomination to the chair of Deputy Speaker was read out by the Speaker. Earlier, the house observed a two-minute silence to pay respect to former MP Rano Shaiza, former MLA Bangdi Iheilung, former MLA Dr. VC Kanito and former MLA K Yeshito. The Chief Minister in his obituary reference to Rano Shaiza said that the State has lost its pioneer political woman. He noted that Rano Shaiza was the first and only Naga woman to be elected and represent the state as a Member of Parliament.

Kohima | July 21

Nagaland governor today informed that collection of biometric for the purpose of National Population Register (NPR) has been underway in the state since mid 2011. He said the biometrics captured for the NPR will later be utilized for generating Aadhaar number by the Unique Identity Authority of India (UIDAI). Till May 2015, biometrics of about 57.08 % of the eligible population in Nagaland had been captured, out of which 8.5 lakh Aadhaar numbers generated by the UIDAI. He said till date, around 6 lakh Aadhaar cards have been dispatched to the districts. Governor PB Acharya further mentioned that the Nagaland state transport department was awarded the Union Transport Minister’s Trophy for lowest accident record under hill category for the year 201314. To effectively address road safety issue, he said, Nagaland Road Safety Au-

Naga Hoho meets Rijiju and RN Ravi Kohima, July 21 (mExN): Naga Hoho representatives met Union Minister of State for Home Kiren Rijiju and Interlocutor for Naga political talks RN Ravi in New Delhi today and urged the centre to seriously review and withdraw the Disturbed Area Act (DAA) from Nagaland. The Naga Hoho team comprising President P Chuba Ozukum and Vice president HK Zhimomi had an elaborate discussion on the extension of DAA and the recent killing of two students on July 16, Naga Hoho Publicity Cell said in a release. Expressing apprehension over the extension of the DAA in entire Nagaland, the Naga Hoho made it clear that such a move would create more tension and problem in the state and would hamper the ongoing Naga political dialogue, the release added. The team also shared anguish over the recent killing of the two students in Wuzu village, which can be taken as a reflection of the recently extended DAA. The Hoho will submit a memorandum on the above issues to the Prime Minister.

‘Poor roads due to lack of maintenance funds’ Govt working on making women self reliant Our Correspondent Kohima | July 21

Nagaland Governor PB Acharya, while speaking at the NLA today, said the state government is aware that “our roads are generally in poor condition due to non-availability of road maintenance funds with the government.” He said a number of centrally sponsored schemes are being implemented in the state and under NEC, there are about five ongoing works covering a total length of 296 kms. Under NLCPR there are 19 ongoing works covering a total length of 413 kms. The Ministry of Road

Transport and Highway is also funding 12 roads across the state under the ISC, CRF and E&I schemes, he said, adding an important part of connectivity is rural roads and the department is also implementing the PMGSY/Bharat Nirman scheme. Out of 56 roads sanctioned under this scheme, 25 are complete, and the remaining 31 are in good progress. As part of National Highways development, the department has projected for widening of the existing intermediate lane to 2 lane on NH-61 for a length of 49.4 kms, improvement of NH-36, NH155 and newly declared National Highways.

Power dept actively pursuing projects In the power sector, he said the department is actively pursuing the implementation of the 180 MW Dikhu Hydro Electric project on PPP mode, and presently, negotiation with the land owners is going on. The Comprehensive Transmission and Sub Transmission Scheme to be funded by the Government of India and the World Bank have been approved as a central sector scheme, to be implemented by Power Grid Corporation of India, which will be handed over to the State Power department after completion, he said. Referring to the mission

of Pradha Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana, the Governor said “My government is also actively involved in implementing this mission and is working to extend banking coverage in their interior rural areas.” A total of 3,52,299 households have been covered so far, he informed. He added that the Public Health Engineering department has given water connection to 84 habitations during the last financial year and proposes to cover 90 more habitations during the current year. The Governor further revealed that the department along with the urban development departments are implementing the Swachh Bharat mission.

Industrial activity has not been successful Our Correspondent Kohima | July 21

Nagaland governor PB Acharya today said that despite the State government’s best efforts, industrial activity has not been successful in the state for various reasons. “In order to reverse this situation, the industries department had taken up various activities, such as proposal for setting up of Apparel & Garment Manufacturing Centre at 6th Mile, Dimapur, and the preparation of Diagnostic Study Report.” He said the proposal for revival of Nagaland Pulp & Paper Corporation Ltd, Tuli and development of trade and commerce between India and Myanmar are also thority had been constitut- being actively pursued. ed and the state action plan on road safety had been adopted for implementation. For the sixth consecutive year, the motor vehiOur Correspondent cles department under the Kohima | July 21 transport commissioner exceeded the revenue tar- Nagaland governor PB get set by the finance de- Acharya today said that partment, he added. under the centrally sponMeanwhile, Acharya sored scheme of post matsaid that in line with the ric scholarships to ST stuGovernment of India’s dents, the higher education scheme for setting up of 100 department will be awardsmart cities in the country, ing scholarships to around the State government is 4000 ST students, involving also sending a proposal to a sum of Rs. 27.00 crore apthe Ministry of Urban Af- proximately. fairs to establish one smart In his address at the ascity in Nagaland, either in sembly session here, goverDimapur or Kohima. nor said the department has He said while the ur- selected 7,140 meritorious ban development depart- students for award of state ment will focus on almost merit scholarships and77 all spheres of development research scholars for state activities like urban infra- research scholarships for structure, preparation of the academic year 2014-15. master plans, alleviation The department is also of urban poverty etc., the implanting a centrally spongovernment has set up a sored scheme – Rashtriya separate Municipal Affairs Uchchatar Shiksha Abhiyan Department with its own (RUSA) in all the 15 governadministrative head in or- ment colleges of the State. der to give boost to the ac- RUSA is a performance tivities of the 19 municipal based funding which aims to provide greater autonoand town councils.

6 lakh Aadhaar cards dispatched Our Correspondent

Dimapur

He said the geology & mining department is undertaking economic feasible studies on manufacture of coal briquettes for domestic use, techno-economic studies on the manufacture of coke-breeze from Konya coals, desulphurization of Nagaland coals for thermal power plant, technology for extraction of special iron alloy ‘Ni-hard’ from Pokphur magnetic ore, manufacture of soil conditions from coal wastes of Nagaland for reclamation of degraded soil etc. He said three oil zones have been awarded to two oil companies for undertaking oil exploration and development under rules & regulations framed and approved by state assembly

under Article 371-A of the Constitution. “Other oil bearing zones will also be considered for allotment shortly,” Acharya said and expected that the economic conditions of the people and the resources of the state government will receive a great boost once the oil and gas developmental activities in the state go in full stream. He said that shifting cultivation accounts for about 73% of the net cropped area, while irrigated area accounts for about 27% only in the State. The state agriculture achieved 4.16% growth rate during 2013-14 to 2014-15. He said the state has been awarded with the prestigious Krishi Karman Commendation Award

2013-14 for highest growth in food grain production amongst the smaller state category in the country. “Keeping in mind the Vision 2015 for achieving ‘Food for All,” the department provides quality seeds, bringing more area under cultivation, and encourage adoption of new farm technology,” Acharya said, adding organic farming is also being actively promoted to increase the market value of farm products. During the current year, the department of veterinary & animal husbandry plans to undertake research on Pig Genome Study, using Genomic Technology so that pig breeding for table purpose becomes more remunerative, governor said.

Our Correspondent Kohima | July 21

Nagaland governor today said that the women resource department has established women resource centres in Mokokchung, Chozuba, Peren, Wokha and Zunheboto, where women can carry out various economic activities to make them selfreliant. Further, an appropriate Rural Technology Park within the Directorate premises at Meriema is coming up. “This project aims at developing low cost, women friendly and easy-to-duplicate livelihood activities,” he said. He added that livelihood enhancement through development of natural resources programme and training-cum-production centre, promotion of women in innovative enterprises programme etc. are being actively implemented. Meanwhile, he informed that during the last one year, the fire & emergency services department had responded to more than 100 emergency calls and saved properties worth about Rs. 18.00 crore. Two new fire stations at Peren and Longleng districts headquarters will become operational soon, he said, adding that three new sub-fire stations at Kohima, Mokokchung and Chiephobozou are under construction. One new fire station at Tuli Paper Mill has been sanctioned

by the Government. “Man powers for these new fire stations have been sanctioned and will become operational soon.” He said the fishery department aims to attain self-sufficiency in fish production through efficient utilization of available resources by laying emphasis on human resource development, diversifying fishery activities, and by applying more technological inputs. In the housing department, the state government hopes to complete the state guest house at RK Puram, New Delhi and staff quarters at Dwarka within the current financial year. Acharya said the irrigation & flood control department, through the Accelerated Irrigation Benefit Programme (AIBP), has developed irrigation potential of 8,835 hectares during 2014-15. 151 minor irrigation projects shall be completed during 2015-16. Under rural development, he said, a landmark MoU was signed on July 7 this year between the Government of Nagaland and the Tata Trust for implementing sustainable livelihood projects that would benefit 10,000 households in the selected 8 blocks in the districts of Phek, Kiphire and Tuensang with an outlay of Rs. 130 crore. The project, if successful, will be taken up in other areas of the state in future, governor said.

HE dept to award scholarship to 4000 ST students Digitisation of beneficiaries my to colleges, with focus at No.2 in the country in e- more schools are planned under NFSA almost complete on infrastructure develop- transactions under the State to be covered to improve ment and improvement in the quality of teaching and learning. Acharya said the department of technical education has completed implementation of the first phase of Community College scheme at Khelhoshe Polytechnic Atoizu, Government Polytechnic, Kohima and at the Institute of Communication and Information Technology, Mokokchung. Under this scheme, school dropouts are being trained in various trades like basic computer fundamentals, beautician course, electrical house wiring etc. He said the information technology & communications department is planning to set up Software Technology Park of India (STPI) at Kohima and Dimapur with support from the Ministry of Communications & IT. “Our state is currently

Portal & State Services Delivery Gateway,” he said, adding that 21 Common Service Centres (CSCs) are enabled with financial inclusion and 41 more CSCs shall be enabled with financial inclusion very shortly. More than 2000 citizens have already opened bank accounts through this facility. To meet the shortfall of teachers in primary schools, the governor informed, 200 new primary teachers are being appointed in the districts of Mon, Tuensang and Kiphire. Acharya also said that non-availability of local candidates in Maths and Science subjects is being taken care by appointing general candidates from outside. Despite fund constraints, free textbooks are being fully provided, he said. Under SSA, Activity and Competency learning were implemented in 437 primary schools, and 690

quality of learning. Uniforms are being provided to all elementary students in government schools, he said adding Mid Day meal, pre-matric scholarship, Saakshar Bharat and Rashtria Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan Progarmmes are also being implemented for the improvement of education in the state. Governor said the State Council of Education Research & Training is engaged in review and development of the textbooks compatible with the RTE Act, and new text books for Class VII covering 7 subject areas have been developed. He added it is being planned to set up District Institute of Education & Training (DIET) at Peren, Longleng and Kiphire, including eight new Block Institute of Teacher Education (CITE) spread over 8 districts during 2015-16.

Our Correspondent Kohima | July 21

The state government had decided to implement the National Food Security Act (NFSA), 2013 under certain conditions, and towards this end, the digitisation of identified beneficiaries is near completion. Governor PB Acharya said this in his address at the assembly session here this morning. He said the food & civil supplies department currently operates 77 Public Distribution Centres, and 287 Fair Price Shops in Nagaland. Besides, 1405 rural villages had been declared as fair price shops for distribution of food grains to the targeted beneficiaries under the APL, BPL, AAY and Annapurna schemes. Governor added, the ICDS, which is being implemented by the social

welfare department covers 3.66 lakhs children aged 0-6 years, and 58,000 pregnant and lactating mothers through 3455 Angawadi Centres. He said Indira Gandhi Matriva Sahyog Yojana being implemented by the department aims at improving the health and nutritional status of pregnant, lactating women and infant. Governor said the health & family welfare department is committed to its vision of “Health for All.” The National Rural Health Mission has filled in the critical gaps in health units all over the state, contributing 732 manpower of various trades. He also said the Nagaland Health Project aims at empowering communities to oversee and improve the health and nutrition services and their utilization.

Lotha Hoho Wokha reiterates on oil issue Terminated employees demand

WoKha, July 21 (mExN): Lotha Hoho, Wokha has reiterated that no single village or area can sign a deal regarding oil on behalf of Wokha zone/ district. Any village/ individual doing so shall be answerable to the other oil bearing areas as well as Lotha community in general and all consequences arising out of it shall be borne by that village or individual, Lotha

Hoho warned in a release. It also stated that the permit issued to MOGPL by Nagaland government without any file number and signed by Addl. Chief Secretary & Development Commissioner, Nagaland, in the capacity of Chairman, Nagaland Petroleum & Natural Gas Board is against the State government’s standing Rule no. 4, First Schedule of the Rules of Executive Busi-

NSCN (K) pays tribute to slain comrade DimaPuR, July 21 (mExN): Military Supervisor (West) Lt. Gen. Niki Sumi and all ranks of the People's Army of Nagaland, NSCN (K) have paid tribute to the slain comrade Lt. Tokihe Yepthomi “who sacrificed his life to enable his compatriots to make tactical retreat against the hugely outnumbered and outgunned enemy forces that launched pre-dawn attack on Naga Army column at Mount Puliebadze.” A release from PRO, Nagaland - NSCN (K) added, “The undying patriotism and exemplary bravery of late Lt. Tokihe shall always remain an inspiration for others to emulate.”

ness 1980 P&AR Department Notification No. AR. 11/4/77 of 28/07/1980 which states that all such cases have to be issued by the department concerned (by the Secretary, Geology & Mining Department) through a notification in consultation with the Finance Department. Similarly, Expression of Interest on which the permit was based was also notified without any file

NEISSR informs MSW applicants DimaPuR, July 21 (mExN): North East Institute of Social Sciences and Research (NEISSR) has requested all the Master of Social Work (MSW) course applicants 2015-2017 to submit their application form to the institute’s office on July 22 and appear for the Entrance Test, Group Discussion and Interview at 9:00 am on July 23. Contact details of the institute are: Phone03862233435/ 9436260435/ 9856232604, Website- www.neissr. com, email- neissr@gmail.com.

number and that too by the P&NG Board and not by the department concerned, it said. If the State government goes ahead with the plan of any fresh agreement on oil issue with any particular oil bearing village/ villages, the Hoho said it will be treated not only null and void, but considered an insult to Naga customary ownership of land and its resources.

card and SBI ATM card belonging to Shasinle Kent, D/O- Jwenbu Kent, has been found and kept at Kohima South Police Station. Therefore, Officer In-Charge, South Police Station has informed the rightful owner to collect it from the Police Station during office hours.

New Commissioner of excise address

Kohima, July 21 (DiPR): V Maria Yanthan has taken over charge of the Office of Commissioner of Excise, Nagaland, on July 13.Therefore, all confidential and DO letters meant for the Office may henceforth be addressed to: Brown purse V Maria Yanthan, Commissioner of Excise & Director of Prohibifound in Kohima tion, Government of Nagaland, Kohima, July 21 (mExN): A Dimapur-797112, Tele Fax-03862brown purse containing various 248778, Email: nagalandexcise@ important cards, including PAN email.com

response from medical department WoKha, July 21 (mExN): Highlighting the “irregularities, mismanagement and discrimination” within the medical department, particularly in Wokha district, the aggrieved terminated employees of the department in Wokha have lamented that 63 regular employees under the establishment of Chief Medical Officer’s office, Wokha have been “illegally and arbitrarily” terminated from service on April 29, 2015 with effect from April 30, 2012. The distressed employees recounted that that their appointments were made by the competent appointing authority on the basis of existing vacancies from 2002 to 2008 on regular basis. Accordingly, their Service Book were opened and maintained, GIS was contributed to the Govt. of Nagaland and GPF account also maintained and deducted from salaries and yearly increment also accrued. Further, yearly increment was also affected and the IPS (Initial Pay Slip) of 6th ROP of all the aggrieved employees was already enrolled in the department registry. The entire process as per the policy formulated by the government of a regular employee was completed, the aggrieved employees said in a release.

It said the issue started on a flash message by the Office of the Principal Director dated 31-10-2008, whereby the CMO, Wokha was directed to submit the list of employees along with their appointment order appointed w.e.f January, 2008 to September, 2008. Surprisingly, the release said, the CMO, Wokha had submitted the list of the employees who were appointed prior to January, 2008 and after September, 2008. As per information received through RTI, there are 53 employees under CMO, Wokha who were also appointed by the same appointing authority with same nature and period of appointment, yet they were not served Show Cause notice nor their appointment were questioned, the release said. The terminated employees further stated that if their appointments were made without sanctioned post and terminated on that basis, then the concerned department has to clarify what law or rules have been applied to those 53 employees whose appointment were not scrutinized although they are placed on same category with the aggrieved employees. It further questioned

whether the department concerned has any valid and legal ground to justify as to how 10 employees who were served show cause notice along with the aggrieved employees are drawing their salaries and enjoying 6th ROP, 2010. The release maintained that there are thousand employees in medical department who are appointed on similar nature by the same appointing authorities but they were neither served show cause notice nor their appointment scrutinized. “The illegalities and discriminative attitude of the concern departmental authority can be clearly seen from the fact that, thousands of employees under the Medical department in the entire State who were appointed during the same period and placed under similarly situated were not affected but unfortunately, the department has resorted to pick and choose policy and illegally discriminated.” The employees further called upon the medical department to openly respond specifically to the above stated points in order to consider the said termination order legally and factually acceptable.

IN-FOCUS

The Power of Truth

The Morung Express WEDnEsDAy July 2015 volumE IssuE 198 THursDAy 922 July 2015 volumE XX IssuE 185 By Dr. Asangba Tzüdir

A Life That Can Be ‘Killed’ Sovereign Power, Exceptions and Expelling Humanity

he current political impasse, ‘militarization’ and subsequent violence ushered through a ‘state of lawlessness’ thereby promulgating again the entire Nagaland state as ‘disturbed’ through a contradictory ‘state of necessity’ has triggered a dangerous precedent resulting in expelling humanity. Besides the questions concerning human rights, it highlights the vulnerability of life under sovereign machinery of the State that licenses a life as one that can be killed or shut down. Foucault while expressing about “power over life” and “right of death” in The History of Sexuality draws us back to ancient “Patria Potestas” that granted the father of the Roman family the right to dispose off the life of his children and his slaves just as he had given them life. In a similar strain, the sovereign power privileges itself a ‘right’ to decide life and death. Today, the ‘sovereign’ has become more pronounced and it can be said to be the new juridical being that decides whether an area is disturbed or not; whether a person is worthy or worthless. It can act on an unwarranted power that seizes life and ‘authorizes’ killing. One’s death is in the hands of the ‘law giver’ who has the final authority to decide whether a person should live or die thereby enacting a “right of death” in the ‘body.’ The fact is, sovereign power comes to dwell in the body of every living being. One can relocate the experiences of the Nazi ruled concentration camps as a praxis of the ‘state of necessity’ that becomes an exceptional space wherein the camp inmates are stripped of all rights, humanity and their names replaced by a mere numbering waiting their death within their dying hope to die as humans. In the modern day, the camp can be taken to be any ‘spatial perimeter’ where killing is legitimated through ‘exceptional laws.’ It not only proves the paradigm of biopolitics but also the way in which the very ‘rule of law’ operates. What distinguishes the idea of modern democracy from the ancient “polis” goes beyond integration of the biological life into the sphere of the political giving a distinct identity. Contrary, the modern State brings a nexus between sovereign power and the human life wherein the body can be either transformed into a subject of the political or a condemned body of biopolitics. The sovereign determines a threshold beyond which life ceases to have any value and can therefore be eliminated. The impunity of AFSPA is a living testimony that is legitimated through an act of the ‘sovereign.’ Expounding such exceptional laws, a reflection can be drawn from the obscure paradoxical figure in Archaic Roman law – Homo Sacer or the ‘sacred man’ which contrary to normal understanding, has no sacrificial value and is permitted to kill and the one who kills him will not be condemned for homicide rendering his killing unpunishable. In the same way, killing within AFSPA has no legal implication or bearing. Today, human rights practice has become so axiomatic that it is undoubtedly a rhetorically inflated claim regarding its presence considering the gross human rights violations the world over. It only depressingly attests the vulnerability of a life that can be killed. While the States are supposed to promote constitutional and democratic values, the reality presents a stark contrast between theory and practice in a constitutional democracy where the sovereign power of the State can claim constitutional sanction to perpetrate, indefinitely, a regime that violates human rights. Such envisioning mode of state action seriously undermines constitutional values, human dignity, fraternity, nation’s unity and integrity. It also presses upon an underlying ‘exception’ which accounts for the existence of a realm of human life that is not subjected to law and thereby becomes a mechanism to ‘capture’ life within the sovereign control. The tragedy involving the inhuman tortures, terrorizing and killings for over fifty years and the recent killings of two innocent school students is not a mere theoretical postulate but a reality of gross human rights violation through inhuman ‘laws’ like AFSPA which has been enforced for over fifty years by a democratic country like India. (Dr. Asangba Tzüdir is an Editor with Heritage Publishing House. He contributes a weekly guest editorial to Morung Express. Feedback and comments can be mailed to asangtz@gmail.com)

lEfT WING |

Donald Kaul Otherwords

Smashing the Austerity Idols

’d like to apologize to the people of Greece. I’ve been pretty hard on them over the years. I’ve made fun of their freewheeling spendthrift habits, their unwillingness to pay their taxes, and their early retirement ethos. When they were given membership in the Euro zone, I made fun of that too, or at least of the rest of Europe’s willingness to cast its lot with the Greeks. “That’s like going mountain climbing with your safety rope tied to the town drunk,” I said. Nor did I let up when the Greek economy went blooey and was forced to go, worry beads in hand, to Europe’s banks and ask for a bailout. “You might as well contribute to Bernie Madoff’s Defense Fund,” I said. Shame on me. Not that what I said was factually wrong, but it was insensitive to the people who invented democracy and whom we’ve treated shabbily. Because, while the Greeks got their bailout five years ago, it was attached to draconian conditions that made it virtually impossible for the country to pay off its debts — ever. Europe, led by Germany, demanded that Greece cut its pensions. It did. Then it ordered the Greek government to raise taxes. It did. It told Greece to brutally cut government employment as a way of returning to prosperity. The Greek government did all of that for four grinding years and prosperity never came calling. It had lost Greece’s telephone number. Unemployment spiked to 25 percent and youth unemployment was twice that. Finally the Greek people got fed up. They threw out the conservative government that was meekly acceding to austerity demands in favor of leftist leaders who refused to let other European powers — particularly Germany — push them around anymore. We’re mad as hell and we’re not going to take it anymore, Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras said, in effect. We want our loans restructured. We want freedom to breathe. No dice, replied the other Europeans. We have rules — you have to abide by them. The Greeks said no, the rest of Europe said yes. The Greeks said no, the rest of Europe said yes. It went on that way for weeks with the Greece situation becoming more desperate by the day. Finally, the parties reached a preliminary agreement that promises to be even more debilitating to Greece than the original plan. We should have seen it coming decades ago. Greece and Germany don’t belong on the same continent, let alone in the same currency union. These people don’t understand each other and never will. European powers like Germany are ticked off at Greece for its irresponsibility. But the Greeks have been trying lately. They’ve donned the hair shirt of austerity and what has it got them? Economic collapse. Nor does it look as though it’s going to improve any time soon, certainly not under the proposed agreement. What European leaders don’t understand — and neither does our Republican Party for that matter — is that in hard times, you can’t cut your way to prosperity. Cut fat and waste, certainly. Reform the tax structure by all means. But when times are hard you need government to provide economic stimulus to grow your way to prosperity. And what would be wrong in requiring the banks that made bad loans to share in the pain of repaying them? Not the capitalist way, I guess.

THE EDIT PAGE

C O M M E N T A R Y

Zoe Holman

Enduring civilisation, enduring empire?

t is vaguely incongruous to be encountering these Australian spearheads –“the most beautiful spearheads made by any natives in the world!” according to one effusive missionary of 1936 - for the first time in London, many thousands of miles from both our native continent. But their presence here, like mine, is the product of a history of power, prejudice and denial – a continuing legacy which is now reflected back behind glass casements at the British Museum. The artefacts are among the some 6,000 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander objects in the institution’s collection, a fraction of which have been on display since April as part of the BP-sponsored, “Indigenous Australia: Enduring Civilisation” exhibition. Encompassing a vast geography, myriad cultures and 60 millennia, the show has been hailed as the most important of its kind in Britain, with the potential to both enlighten and to challenge. Through 170 pieces, it documents the relationship between Australia’s first people and their environment, as well as more recent indigenous responses to “changing historical circumstances” in the form of devastating European colonialism. This is, as the Museum notes, a complex story that is still unfolding. Nor does “Enduring Civilisation” shy aware from this complexity. But the contested nature of its showcase is an equal reminder of the iniquities which have endured alongside this prized civilisation. “This has to be called theft as these items were collected during a colonial era when indigenous people had no power,” says Gary Murray, an activist and elder of the Dja Dja Wurrung people of SouthEastern Australia. “The whole question of sovereignty has been undermined by British colonialism and so we are saying to people: don’t pay to go there and see stolen objects.” Murray is among a number of indigenous Australians involved in long-standing, but so far fruitless, efforts to reclaim artefacts currently in the Museum’s possession, who are calling for a boycott. As Gary Foley, a fellow activist and Professor of History at Victoria University observed on the Museum’s Facebook page with the exhibition opening, “bet they won’t be prepared to seriously discuss issues of repatriation of cultural materials obtained through nefarious means ... because of their retention of the so-called ‘Elgin marbles’.” Indeed, Britain appears to be as tenacious in its hold on indigenous artefacts as on the notorious Grecian booty – a grip which will provoke all the more ire and insult when the collection tours the National Museum of Australia in November. Among the objects visiting Canberra will be a number of sacred ceremonial barks claimed by Murray’s clan, but now shielded from seizure by Australia’s 2013 Protection of Cultural Objects on Loan Act. This legislation covers objects on loan from all countries, but was drafted specifically to prevent the repatriation of Australian Indigenous artefacts, and reflects the alarm induced in museums worldwide by previous efforts to reclaim barks and other items from London under Aboriginal Cultural Heritage legislation during a 2004 visit. Such legislative barriers have been disparaged as anachronistic by indigenous campaigners, sceptical of the British Museum’s claims to benevolent enlightenment and universality. “Who authorised this notion of ‘a world museum’?” says Murray. “It is all part of a basic ‘it’s my cookie and not your cookie’ sense of appropriation - an attitude of extreme elitism which refuses to engage in a discussion about what is culturally significant.” In turn, Australians like Murray have canvassed allying with indigenous groups and other claimants abroad who might themselves mobilise international law against these perceived injustices. As Murray explains, “there are two schools of thought – let [the British Museum] run its race, keep its things and

The "Indigenous Australia: enduring civilisation" exhibition at the British Museum leads to the overarching question of who is authorised and best equipped to tell the story of the artefacts displayed, and on whose terms bring them out to torment us with. And then there’s those who say, no, let’s take them on with the Greeks, Ethiopians and Native Americans. This is a global ethical issue and it is time we started boycotting, otherwise the British Museum will be seen to be just a bunch of red-necks.” Reflecting this allegiance, further attacks were levelled at the Museum by Foley in March at a joint seminar convened by Melbourne’s Greek Orthodox Community. As he observed, “the British Museum grew out of the era of colonialism. The rest of the world grew out of those ideas 100 years ago. Their position has no credibility in the modern world.” Despite parallels with the Museum’s muchvaunted Parthenon marbles, indigenous claims are in many ways distinct from the often nationalistic wrangling over artefacts and historical narratives between state bodies. Rather, they entail issues of culture – its ownership, elimination and expropriation - which transcend, and in this case, pre-date national boundaries. As Jason Farago notes in response to the question of who owns such forms of indigenous culture: “we can confidently assert the truth of one response: not the nation state… Here the petitioners for restitution are not the government, but rather contemporary indigenous communities whose understanding of culture, time and kinship comes into direct conflict with the imperative of the Western museum.” This unresolved tension around the role of the museum as conserver of so-called ‘artefacts’ in the face of living claims of cultural entitlement has not been wholly airbrushed in London. The current exhibition itself notes that “for many indigenous Australians, museums are places that house objects without their consent.” It quotes a number of indigenous Australian detractors of its collection, alongside the words of the Gooniyandi/Kidji advocate of repatriation, Neil Carter that: “it is a responsibility of museums to tell the truth about the people and the history and the culture if they are to keep the objects.” ‘Enduring Civilisation’ makes for the most part a laudable effort at telling such truths. This is achieved powerfully through the objects themselves - for example, a wooden shield collected by crew of Captain Cook’s HMB Endeavour during a violent encounter with tribesman following their first 1770 landings at Botany Bay. The exhibition notes also detail the violence, prejudice and subjugation that flowed from colonisation, with its arbitrary imposition of British laws and culture across a continent of several hundred indigenous ‘nations’. Likewise, the collection documents through artworks and archival materials continuing efforts to dispute, subvert and make reparation for this imposition. Notable among these is a recent photographic work by Michael Cook, entitled “Undiscovered”, which recreates the first landing scene with the indigenous artist himself posing

on the shoreline clad in the Captain’s attire. It is the illumination of these alternate narratives, and attendant “fraught and challenging issues”, which highlight the value of the British Museum’s collection and has formed the central justification for its display in London. The exhibition includes objects obtained through a range of means – not merely theft and plunder – with many on loan or donated by indigenous Australians eager for their stories to reach a wider audience, in a “museum of the world, where people can see them” as one elder explained. Other indigenous representatives have endorsed the role of the museum in preserving cultural artefacts, many of which were collected well before such facilities existed in Australia. In this vein, their presence in Britain has doubtless proved educative for local and international audiences who, as the exhibition curator Gaye Sculthorpe notes, are often unaware of the complexities of Australia’s past. “I am struck by how intently people are reading the labels and looking at the objects,” says Sculthorpe, who curates the museum’s Oceania and Australia section. “It seems that this history and many of these objects, in particular some of the recent paintings, are unknown to people – even those who have been to Australia. I think the international public hear a lot of news items about indigenous issues in Australia and this exhibition, the talks, lectures and seminars, gives some context to this. It is quite a revelation.” The expertise behind its curatorship – Sculthorpe is of indigenous Tasmanian background and has herself been involved in previous land title claims in Australia – is therefore key to the nuanced story crafted in the exhibition. As she explains, “this is not a simple history. You have to make choices to tell a story, as every object has its own story, so it is a question of getting the balance right with a narrative that makes it flow.” Such acknowledgements lead back to the overarching question of who is authorised and best equipped to tell the story of these objects, and on whose terms. Many indigenous detractors have refuted Britain’s capacity to appropriately handle such a collection, claiming that items have in the past been misused, misunderstood and misrepresented. Likewise, the Museum’s defensive retention of its extensive collection has for many undermined claims about its primary intent to exhibit and inform. As Murray notes while endorsing Sculthorpe’s role at the Museum, “who gives Britain the right to display these objects and why does conservation not include the victims and displaced owners? Our barks have been there since 1850 and have come out twice – what does that tell you about their educational function if they are just sitting in a drawer?” Perhaps aptly, many of the items in the collection are dated only with approximations – ‘before’, ‘about’ or ‘collected in’ – as if somehow expressing Britain’s inability to calibrate or conceive of a vast civilisation which predates and eludes its own temporal empire. Alongside indigenous claims, such features point to the chief shortcoming of ‘Enduring Civilisation.’ Although the exhibition does not seek to censor colonial atrocities in Australia or their ongoing implications, there is a dissonance from the absence in this narrative of Britain’s own, enduring part in this circumstance. The Museum notes explain delicately that “Australia is still seeking to reconcile conflicting world views into a more cohesive future”. By contrast, it seems that in many important respects, Britain, ever eager to distance itself from the domestic legacies of its empire in now distant nation-states, has yet to embark on similar efforts toward reconciliation, coherence or evolution. Zoe Holman is an Anglo-Australian journalist, writer and history PhD researching inter alia international politics and British colonialism, in particular in the Middle East. Her reporting, analysis and production have appears in outlets including The Guardian, The Economist, The Sydney Morning Herald, VICE News and Al Jazeera. Zoe's PhD thesis examines Britain's foreign policy in the Arab Middle East, and she can normally be found somewhere between the two.

Child work, schooling and mobility Jo Boyden and Gina Crivello

riting about children and ‘the politics of culture’ at the end of the twentieth century, Sharon Stephens characterises the modern world in terms of “transnational flows of commodities and people; by vast numbers of refugees, migrants, and stateless groups; by state projects to redefine the threatened boundaries of national cultures [...]”. Children are typically cast as unwitting and passive subjects of these shifting global forces, rather than active participants who experience, challenge and reshape the world around them. Boys and girls who migrate alone attract particular attention internationally as victims whose rights have been violated, thus triggering an array of protective policy and programmatic responses. Yet, the extreme economic, social and political inequalities that commonly underpin this trend remain largely ignored. Prevailing ideas about independent child migration reflect recent efforts globally to re-set the boundaries of what it means to be a child; these efforts increasingly define and govern children’s use of time and space. Growing attention is given to children’s vulnerability, their learning needs and dependence on adults, with emotional attachments formed in the context of stable nuclear family structures being regarded as central to their development and wellbeing. In this expanding paradigm of childhood, the young are portrayed as

learners rather than earners. Global initiatives such as the Education for All campaign and the associated expansion of formal schooling have played their part, as boys and girls everywhere are expected to attend school full-time until well into their teens. Relatedly, child migration for work is taken as a threat to schooling and a sign of family breakdown or mistreatment and is often confused with trafficking. As a result, the everyday experiences of migrant boys and girls are overshadowed by a focus on street and trafficked children, child sex workers, or child refugees, with no consideration of the absence of viable options for young people locally. But then ideas about appropriate childhood are peppered with contradiction. Children growing up in rapidly changing societies find themselves balancing multiple, often inconsistent expectations regarding how and where they should spend their time. So, even though work-related child migration is widely condemned internationally, leaving home to earn an income is what makes schooling possible for some children, enabling them to save for school utensils, uniforms and the like. Despite the intense gaze on work-related migration, boys and girls relocating to access better or higher status schools has thus far escaped critical scrutiny; it is even applauded

in some quarters. The recent rise in school-related child migration responds to a dramatic escalation in educational aspirations across the globe. Among social elites it facilitates access to selective education whereas among populations in poverty it is driven by local service shortfalls. Increasingly, schooling is seen as a means of becoming somebody of wealth and social significance, a way out of rural poverty and the drudgery of occupations like farming, and of releasing the young from the hardships endured by the parental generation. Even though there is no guarantee of an economic return, many families make major financial sacrifices to cover the direct, indirect and opportunity costs of schoolrelated migration, for example by selling their land or animals. Thus, independent child migration can be developmental rather than detrimental, and children migrate under differing social and material circumstances and with varied outcomes for themselves and for their families. In weighing up the costs and benefits of children migrating we must consider young people’s own motivations and accounts. Young people often explain how much they appreciate the opportunities migration has brought them, enabling them to see the wider world, make new friends and access resourc-

WRITE-WING

es like libraries and the internet. Further, many of the children who migrate without their parents are in practice not alone but accompanied by trusted relatives or peers. Among populations in poverty, children commonly grow up as co-contributors to the household economy and decisions regarding their work, schooling and migration respond to both collective and individual considerations. Child relocation from poorly-resourced to better-off households can mitigate family hardship and, in return for helping out in the host household, enables boys and girls to access learning and care opportunities not available in the natal home. In this way, children’s migration for work may strengthen bonds within extended family groups rather than create a social deficit through their physical absence. This is not to suggest that children’s independent migration for work or schooling is without risk. Being young and separated from family networks may increase vulnerability in many contexts. Ann Whitehead and Iman Hashim maintain that: “Many of its positive and negative effects do not arise from the fact of migration itself, but depend on what triggers movement, what kinds of circumstances migrants move to and, of course, the distance moved and the length of stay away”. This points to the importance of assessing the situations from which children leave and their positions within structures of inequality, as well as the circumstances they enter into through migration.

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.

PERSPECTIVE

WEdnEsday

THE MORUNG EXPRESS

22 JUly 2015

NEWS ANALYSIS, FEATURE AND DISCOURSE

Cuba: through her eyes I Cyd Bernstein n the weeks before Obama was pictured grinning with a Cuban cigar in hand, Havana was abuzz with talk of transformation. Besides the indelible lyrics of Enrique Iglesias and Descemer Bueno’s “Bailando”, the most common refrain heard on the streets of Havana is that life is changing. A small island with a large sense of history, the Cuban people are used to shifting currents. But how life is changing and for whom seems less certain. I spoke to women in Havana in the weeks before December 17th. I was in Cuba with a cultural exchange group, my fifth trip to the island. I wanted to hear from Cuban women how they conceptualise change and progress in their lives and in the life of their nation. I meet up with Yusumi, a 40-year old filmmaker, at the ice cream parlour Coppelia. We chat about her life, her goals and her view of feminism in Cuba. Last time I saw her was 4 years ago in the eastern city of Holguín. She is sporting a new hairstyle and new sense of confidence. When in 2011 President Raúl Castro changed the laws controlling private enterprise, Yusumi leapt at the opportunity to move to Havana. She has returned to film school to finish the degree she left 19 years ago, age 21. She care-takes a small apartment for friends and supports herself by doing freelance translating and guiding work. She is living a life that was unthinkable three years ago. Yusumi turned 18 at the beginning of the Special Period. She felt her life was put on hold and watched as many of her contemporaries and older artist role models left the country. “It was a time of mass exodus. Those of us who stayed felt as if we had no one to look up to, no model to follow. We were hanging from the paintbrush - the ladder was pulled out from under us.” She withdrew from art school, married and put her artistic ambitions on hold. Last year she separated from her husband of 15 years. He was not ready to embrace the opportunities that she was excited to pursue. She felt they were growing apart, she looking forward, he content to do just enough to get by. “Things are changing; there are many more opportunities now. Cubans have gotten so used to living with restrictions that sometimes they do not see these new chances that are in front of them.” “I am inspired by the younger generation,” she continues. “They do not want to leave Cuba. The future they are dreaming about is here. ‘Why would I want to go,’ they say, ‘when I can be happy and make a living here in my own culture?’” “Do these economic reforms have a particular impact on women?” I ask. “What you have to understand,” replies Yusumi, “is that feminism looks different in Cuba. From the beginning of the revolution, certain rights, to equal pay and education, to health care and maternity support, were institutionalised. The platform created by The Federation of Cuban Women has given women social mobility and this has liberated us from the need for extreme feminism, which to me is the woman trying to take on the role of a man.” “With the changes to the economy, a woman can stay at home and perform a ‘feminine role,’ making artisan crafts, cooking, running a private guesthouse, and make much more money than her husband who is an engineer. This gives women a new sense of confidence.” “Another thing that is changing,” she adds thoughtfully, “is the recognition and acceptance of homosexuals.” It is not

lost on either of us that Coppelia, the backdrop to our conversation, was the scene of 1990’s film Fresas y Chocolate, a film which exposed the repressive treatment of homosexuals and did much to galvanise the gay rights movement in Cuba. Yusumi sees the barriers to gender equality more in terms of culture than economics. “We still live in a patriarchy, upheld by cultural ideas of ‘machismo,’ ideas that limit possibilities for both men and women.” I catch up with Anna on the top floor of the Hotel Riviera, built in the 1950s by American mob financier Meyer Lansky, a looming brute of a building, meant to intimate as much as attract, a reminder of the last era of American involvement in Cuba. We stand looking out upon the city, the neighbourhoods of Vedado and Centro Havana to our right, the Malecón and the open sea to our left, Havana Vieja away in the distance. Anna is 28 and already a visual artist of repute. She has been sponsored to travel and exhibit several times in the US and Europe. Her art has given her the opportunity to see the world beyond Cuba, as few Cubans have been able to do. “What I see in Cuba is a growing inequality between people. Those who have access to money and opportunities and those that do not. And this new class of wealthy people, they have no taste, they have made their money in small time scams and now are buying up property.” “I am afraid,” she tells me, “of my country becoming like other places I have visited. I went to Columbia last year and there is such a large difference between rich and poor. Up until now Cuba has not had that problem.” We move on to chat about the apartment she bought in Nuevo Vedado. With the money she saved she was able to buy the rundown apartment at a pittance and renovate it. She is now thinking about selling it and buying another derelict property in Havana Vieja, the old city centre. The emergence of a property market is a very new phenomenon in Cuba, birthed in 2011 by legislation introduced by Raúl Castro. For the first time since 1959, Cubans are able to buy and sell their own homes. Until now houses have passed through families or exchanged hands via trade or the black market. Homelessness is practically nonexistent, although overcrowding can be an issue. There is very little economic segregation in housing. A colonial mansion in the city centre is as likely to be inhabited by a pensioner as a doctor, government official or Miami returnee. Anna worries that in five years time

the social mix of Havana will have changed, that Cubans will no longer be able to live in Havana Vieja, priced out by Europeans and Cuban expats returning from Miami. When I ask her about the future of the country, she says, “Cuba will not be as we see it now. There will be a rise in materialism. Cuban people do not consume because they do not have the opportunity. Given the opportunity, they will consume more than anyone because of this scarcity mentality.” I meet up with Tanya, a theatre actress born and raised in Havana, in a small park in Havana’s Vedado district. In a country where theatre is affordable and culturally accessible for everyone, her face is well known. Her career in theatre began when she was 15 and saw a production by the Havana based company Palpito. Enthralled, she committed herself to theatre. Twenty years later she is still passionate about her work. She attended the Escuela Superior de Artes, a premier art academy which offers free training to some of Cuba’s most influential artists. She remembers her university experience during the mid-nineties when Cubans were living through the Special Period. “Many people feel traumatised by this time. Myself, I wish we had not lived it, but I do not look back with a sense of tragedy. It was something we had to survive. I remember walking for blocks during the many blackouts to read books for my theatre courses under the one working street light. But I did not think of leaving. I was passionate about what I was doing.” I have just been to see her current play, a two woman show which she co-wrote with two of her close friends from acting school. The play, called “Escape,” is based on the film Thelma and Louise and is not set in Cuba. “I am not interested in political plays,” she says, “I want my plays to inspire people to change, not point a finger at them and force them. Cubans have enough material difficulty in their lives. For me theatre should be enjoyable - not superficial - but a diversion from the everyday.” I ask her about the economic reforms in Cuba. “The changes that the government have made [in allowing more private enterprise] are superficial, and people, now that they see a little bit of change are jumping on the opportunity to claim more for themselves. The government could take away the ability to have a license tomorrow. And there would be no recourse. People are not in the habit of asking why.” I heard this concern voiced elsewhere, that capitalist growth will not necessarily lead to more happiness

or social harmony. I wonder what she imagines happening in Cuba’s future. “Some people would like Cuba to look like Miami. That idea terrifies me... Honestly I don’t know what is going to happen. I don’t want to leave Cuba. I am a Cuban who loves Cuba. Some of my best friends have left the country and now live abroad. If I can change anything I would like to do it from here, from where I am in my work, in my own city. The question is how. There is a belief among Cuban people that there can only be one leader. I want the kind of change that comes from the bottom, from the grassroots, profound change. I want to see individual people believe that they can be leaders. I am interested in changes that bring more liberty, not the liberty to throw a rock through your window, of course, but the liberty to throw a rock up in the air and catch it, if that’s what I feel like doing.” When I ask Tanya how she sees her own future, she tells me she would like life to get more and more simple. More than anything she would love to have a little piece of land to grow vegetables. “To plants seeds and watch them grow, to cultivate tranquillity, that is what is most important to me moving forward.” East of the city a few miles is the farm cooperative Vivero Alamar. A derelict piece of land, it was taken over by a group of four visionary people who cleaned it up and began growing food during the Special Period. Now it is a thriving farm, employing over 100 people. Base pay is between 350 and 700 pesos a month - a standard salary in Havana is 400 - with the potential to earn more based on productivity and seniority. Workers receive two meals a day, and work seven hours in the winter and six in the summer. Women with children are given the option of coming in an hour later. Everyone works five days a week and has a paid day off once a fortnight to deal with personal business. They have free, onsite manicure and barber services. Cooperative business are the fastest growing sector of the Cuban economy, providing an attractive alternative or complement to state and privately-owned business. Walking around with Eva, the daughter of one of the founding four, we see compost bins, rows and rows of emerald green lettuce, sunflowers planted to attract pollinators, corn to distract pests. Over a thousand people a week purchase their produce at the Vivero Alamar produce stand. “I had no intention of becoming a farmer. But now, I am proud to go everywhere in my rubber boots. I will be proud to have a career as an agronomist”, she says. Eva has an interesting answer to the question of Cuba’s future. “It is no longer a fight between capitalism and socialism. We are in a transition to tierralismo.” Tierralismo translates as ‘landism’ or in a recent documentary of the same name, as ‘cultivating change.’ It strikes me as an important metaphor for the country as it searches for its way among the choppy seas of development. Change does not just happen; it is a process of cultivation and refinement. Certain seeds must be planted, tended, and nurtured if they are to survive into the future. As feminists, as activists, as those standing in solidarity with the Cuban people, our role is to listen and follow these leaders emerging from the Cuban soil. This article was first published on 12 January 2015, and is republished here as the US and Cuba re-establish diplomatic relations and re-open embassies. Cyd Bernstein is a yoga teacher and farmer living in Northern California. She studied Latin American Development at UC Berkeley and currently leads health and cultural exchange trips to Cuba.

The Newspaper with an Opinion The Morung Express

Global warming is one of the most urgent challenges that our planet is facing today. It represents the fundamental threat to all living things on earth. Our actions, many times unconsciously, cause us to contribute towards speeding up global warming. We have to realize that we all share the same earth and its resources with other species that keep the ecosystem balanced; and if this balance is gone, then the life of every single species is threatened. Today’s writer reminds us that we too must play a part in addressing the problem of global warming to help restore the balance of nature.

Balancing Act with Nature Heninle Magh, assistant Professor, department of Commerce

lobal warming refers to the increase in the global mean temperature which is due to increase in concentration of ‘greenhouse gases’ in the atmosphere, such as carbon dioxide emissions from burning fossil fuels or from deforestation. Over 100 years the Earth’s temperature is rising between 0.4 and 0.8 °C, and it can be agreed that the planet is in fact warming up. Many climate scientists are carrying out Global warming research and studying the changes resulting from Global warming that are creating severe environmental problems. Global warming is a burning issue and its effects could be severe if it is not dealt with at the right time. Though Nagaland is not one of the most polluted areas in India but still we can see the effects in the form of widespread landslides and heavy rainfall. According to observations made over the Eastern Himalayas in 1996, there is an increase in rainfall during the monsoon season. Nagaland, being in this part of the Himalayan range is also experiencing the increase in rainfall. Another reason for the increase in temperature in Nagaland is also due to Jhum cultivation. A total of 70% of people still depend on agriculture, and burning down of crops destroys animals and species of that habitat. Some steps can be taken to avoid deforestation and start afforestation; practice the new technique of farming and strict norms must be followed. We also witness a deep and wide landslide at the KMC dumping area in NH-39 just before reaching Kohima town. The once sinking zone has now become a valley now. This is just one example but still, there are many roads connecting different areas in Nagaland which are still under risk. Most roads in Nagaland are cut across the mountain ranges, without culverts and proper drainages, making the roads carry the entire water flow from above, to accumulate or flow to a concentrated outlet stream, causing flush floods. Over the years, there is unprecedented and unhealthy rise in the growth of the automobiles, with the expansion and the rapid rise of population especially in towns like Dimapur and Kohima. It has resulted in the mismanagement and food wastages contributing to the already mounting Pollution and Global Warming. The Logging and unorganized felling of trees in and around the town area is also one of the major contributors to the ever rising increase in the Mercury and the rapid increase in the temperature and eventually leading it to Global Warming on a Large Scale. Here are top ten facts which can help stop global warming in the state: 1. Replace the regular incandescent light bulb with a compact fluorescent light bulb (cfl) Reason : CFLs use 60% less energy than a regular bulb. 2. Clean or replace filters on your furnace and air conditioner Reason: Cleaning a dirty air filter can save 350 pounds of carbon dioxide a year. 3. Do not leave appliances on standby Reason: Use the “on/off” function on the machine itself. A TV set that’s switched on for 3 hours a day (the average time Europeans spend watching TV) and in standby mode during the remaining 21 hours uses about 40% of its energy in standby mode.

Is it time we say goodbye to paper-pencil examination!

4. Move your fridge and freezer Reason: Placing them next to the cooker or boiler consumes much more energy than if they were standing on their own

number of online examinations in India is the lack of confidence the test authorities have in private players. Though outsourcing entrance exams to private players is a common phenomenon around the world, most Indian authorities are still averse to this idea. Interestingly, these authorities prefer to trust contractual workers who are involved at various stages of the examination, rather than involving professional organizations with a proven track record. Another relatively ignored downside of pen paper mode of examinations is the usage of huge quantities of paper. Two of the most premier examinations in the country, the Civil Services Examination and the Staff Selection Commission examination are given by over 10 lakh candidates each year. There are a number of other examinations which attract lakhs of aspirants each year. All the talks of paperless initiatives come to a full stop here. Crores spent for transporting papers throughout the country significantly inflate the cost of examinations, apart from increasing the chances of a security breach. Saving out on huge amount of money and manpower are the other aspects which give an edge to the computer based examinations. Computer-based examinations will help us go green also! Online pattern of examinations bring with themselves an element of transparency, absence of which, forms the basis of scams such as Vyapam. With no chance of tampering with the candidates’ answers, online examinations present a major case for their induction. Minimal logistical requirements and instant results make online examinations a great option. Whether it is the budget allocation or efforts to revamp the old structures, education has long been ignored by the Governments. All the big talks of privatization and increasing the efficiency of the system remains confined to political subjects such as Railways, Infrastructure and Defence. The time is ripe to have a closer look at the examination patterns in the country and provide our youth with a fair and just chance of realizing their true potential.

5. Cover your pots while cooking Reason: Doing so can save a lot of the energy needed for preparing the dish. Even better are pressure cookers and steamers. They can save around 70%

he sensational Vyapam scam has taken the whole country by storm. This admission and recruitment scam in Madhya Pradesh has assumed colossal proportions with close to 50 witnesses and accused dying so far. High level link ups and alleged role of well known politicians has ensured that media takes much interest in the unfolding of the Vyapam scam. Unfortunately, Vyapam scam wasn’t the only recent news regarding discrepancies in the recruitment and entrance examinations. Last month, the honourable Supreme Court declared the All India Pre Medical Test (AIPMT) void after reports of paper leak surfaced soon after the exam was conducted. Resultantly, lakhs of medical aspirants across the country have to prepare yet again for the most stressful exam of their careers. And the buck does not stop here. In March this year, Uttar Pradesh Civil Services exam was cancelled after it was reported that the paper was leaked on ‘Whatsapp’ 15 minutes prior to the examination. In 2013, the Staff Selection Commission examination suffered a similar fate. The list of such ‘leaked’ examinations is endless. For someone who is reading such news in the morning newspapers, it is a routine affair. But for the students who prepare for such examinations for months and years, it can come as a huge setback in more ways than one. Nationwide examinations are an extremely tedious process for both, the students and the organizers. Considering that majority of the examinations in India still follow the pen and paper mode, huge resource mobilization is involved in such examinations. Add to that the extremely high vigilance required at all the levels and the amount of paper needed for such examinations, and you would understand why such mode of examinations is a bad idea. Yet, only a handful of examinations have taken to ‘online’ mode. But those which have taken this plunge rarely face such issues anymore. In comparison, most of the International tests such as GMAT, TOEFL and GRE follow a ‘computer based test’ pattern, with no reports of any glitches in the recent memory. In 2009, the US based Promet-

Musings froM ChiCago dr. Munish Kumar Raizada ric was hired to conduct online CAT examination. With the IIMs taking the first step, other institutions were expected to follow suit. However, such transition is taking painfully long. Although the first edition of online CAT had a few hiccups, the process has largely been smooth and hassle free ever since. Last year,Prometric’s five year contract for CAT examination ended and a new contract for CAT examination was awarded to TCS. With an Indian firm taking charge of one of the most significant examinations in the country, this should encourage the other authorities to follow the same pattern. For the past couple of years, CBSE has been giving an option to choose from online and offline mode of examination to the students appearing for IIT JEE examination. From the 13.03 lakh students who appeared for IIT (Main) exam this year, 1.86 lakh chose the online mode. Although this fraction is just above 14%, experts are of the view that it is expected to rise in the coming years. There are multiple things that go in favour of online examinations. For one, it can be conducted in batches spread over multiple weeks. As a result, in case of any discrepancy, only a single batch would need to be reexamined and not all the candidates. This also saves the candidates from travelling hundreds of miles and facing exhaustion before reaching their examination centre. In 2011, the apex body for recruiting officers and clerks in Public Sector Banks, IBPS introduced online mode of examination. Though close to 20 lakh aspirants appear for the IBPS exams each year, there have never been any reports of discrepancies in these examinations in the past 4 years, which is a testament to the process’ competence. One of the key roadblocks towards an increased

The author is a Chicago-based columnist. Email ID: pedia333@gmail.com Twitter @drMunishRaizada

6. Take a shower instead of a bath Reason: A shower takes up to four times less energy than a bath. To maximize the energy saving, avoid power showers and use low-flow showerheads, which are cheap and provide the same comfort. 7. Plant a tree Reason: A single tree will absorb one ton of carbon dioxide over its lifetime. Shade provided by trees can also reduce your air conditioning bill by 10 to 15%. 8. Eat less meat Reason: Methane is the second most significant greenhouse gas and cows are one of the greatest methane emitters 9. Drive carefully and do not waste fuel Reason: You can reduce CO2 emissions by readjusting your driving style. Choose proper gears, do not abuse the gas pedal, use the engine brake instead of the pedal brake when possible and turn off your engine when your vehicle is motionless for more than one minute. By readjusting your driving style you can save money on both fuel and car maintenance. 10. Protect and conserve forest worldwide Reason: Forests play a critical role in global warming; they store carbon. When forests are burned or cut down, their stored carbon is release into the atmosphere-deforestation now accounts for about 20% of carbon dioxide emissions each year. Therefore, our efforts and devoted contribution to reducing Global Warming is very urgent. We have one world and one environment and thus, let us do all we can to protect it so that our future generations can live in this beautiful planet. “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”.

Dimapur

NATIONAL

Wednesday 22 July 2015

The Morung Express

Lalit Modi issue reverbates in Rajya Sabha

New Delhi, July 21 (iANS): A united Opposition on Tuesday stalled the Rajya Sabha, demanding the resignation of External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and others in the wake of the Lalit Modi controversy and the Vyapam scam. As the opposition parties demanded a discussion on the controversy surrounding the former Indian Premier League chief, the government agreed and the chair permitted a motion for suspending the business of the house to take up the debate. However, vociferous demands for the resignations of the external affairs minister as well as Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and his Rajasthan counterpart Vasundhara Raje led to disruption of the Rajya Sabha. The Narendra Modi government, however, made it clear that there would be no resignations. Congress leaders Anand Sharma and Pramod Tiwari, and Samajwadi Party's Naresh Agarwal had given the notice for suspending the business of the house to take up the debate. " The government promised transparency in its functioning. This promise has been broken. There are 14 FIRs by the Enforcement Directorate against him (Lalit Modi). Governments change, laws don't change," Sharma said. The Congress leader alleged that travel documents granted to the former Indian Premier League chief in the United Kingdom to

'Remove Sushma, Raje; probe at highest level'

Indian policewomen try to stop a Congress party supporter as she tries to climb a barricade during a protest against Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi on Tuesday, July 21. Indian opposition parties on Tuesday held protests on first day of the Monsoon session of the Parliament to demand resignation of two key ruling party leaders, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and the top elected leader of Rajasthan state Vasundhararaje Scindia, for allegedly helping a London-based former Indian cricket official Lalit Modi facing investigation for financial irregularities, among other issues of corruption. (AP Photo)

travel to Portugal to attend to his cancer-stricken wife were "used by him (Lalit Modi) for tourism". "Within two and a half months of coming to power, this (Modi) government asked the UK to give travel documents to Lalit Modi...," Sharma said. In response, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley asked the Opposition to begin a debate on the issue right away. "Start the discussion, Sushma Swaraj will reply," Jaitley said.

However, the opposition members created a ruckus, demanding the resignations of the minister and two BJP chief ministers. Congress leader V. Hanumantha Rao was seen holding a placard, demanding that Sushma Swaraj be sacked. Amid the ruckus, the house was adjourned till noon. When the Rajya Sabha re-assembled, the scene was similar, forcing another adjournment till 12.30 p.m. and then till 2 p.m. Later, Rajya Sabha Dep-

uty Chairperson P.J. Kurien allowed some other members to speak ahead of deciding whether to admit the motion for suspension of the house business, even as Jaitley insisted that the debate should be started straightaway. As opposition members sought the chair's permission to speak ahead of the debate, Jaitley took a dig at the opposition by saying: "Are we going for a discussion or are we going to give a televised opportunity to Mr Yechury?"

Communist Party of India-Marxist leader Sitaram Yechury then said a probe should be ordered in the Lalit Modi case as well as Vyapam scam and all tainted ministers should demit office till the probes concludes. "For impartiality of a probe, the person should not be in office...," he said, adding that the yardstick was the same when corruption charges were levelled against ministers of the then United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government.

New Delhi, July 21 (iANS): The CPI-M on Tuesday demanded the removal of External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje over their alleged links with former IPL chief Lalit Modi as well as a "probe at the highest level" into the matter. "The charges against Sushma Swaraj and Raje are very serious and need to be thoroughly investigated at the highest level, which can be a Supreme Courtmonitored probe or a Joint Parliamentary Committee probe like in the 2G scam," Communist Party of India-Marxist general secretary Sitaram Yechury said at a press conference here. "Till the probe is completed, the external affairs minister and the Rajasthan chief minister should not remain in office. Either they should be removed or they should demit office on their own," he said. Yechury said his party's stand was the same as far as the Vyapam scam was concerned. "It is a deadly cocktail of crime and corruption. It is a huge Pandora's box," he quipped. There should also be a probe into this (Vyapam) scam and before that Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Samajwadi Party leader Naresh Agarwal recalled the wash-out of parliament's winnter session in 2010 over the demand for a joint parliamentary committee to look into the 2G spectrum allocation scam. "The prime minister has said there are no allegations of corruption; what is this," Agarwal questioned, eliciting an equally aggressive response from the ruling benches who protested the remark. Congress leader Pramod Tiwari said: "Lalit

Chouhan should also be removed, the CPI-M leader said. He said the removal of these dignitaries was essential to ensure an unbiased probe. On the NDA government's offer of a discussion on the Lalit Modi issue, Yechury said a discussion cannot substitute for a probe. Yechury said the government should apply its own yardstick (while in opposition) as during the 2G scam the then opposition BJP also held parliament hostage till its demand for a joint parliamentary panel probe was met. Asserting that the onus of running the House was on the government, the CPIM leader said: "Remove the ministers, conduct an investigation. After this, we are ready for a discussion." While the Lok Sabha was on Tuesday adjourned after obituary references, the Rajya Sabha was disrupted by the Opposition led by the Congress over the Lalit Modi issue. Yechury also dismissed as "speculation" reports of a division in the Opposition ranks. He also questioned the prime minister's silence on the issue, saying, "The prime minister has become Maunendra Modi."

Modi is travelling to all the countries that are havens for black money...the minister admitted she helped him (Lalit Modi) with the travel document...why does she not resign now?" He also referred to the Vyapam scam as "the biggest scam ever". Soon after the opposition members concluded speaking, Congress members trooped near the chairperson's podium while Kurien allowed the motion and kept calling the names of Sharma, Ti-

wari and Agarwal - who had submitted the motion - to move it. Amid the ruckus, as none of the leaders responded, the upper house was adjourned till 3 p.m. The disruptions continued when the house re-assembled at 3 p.m. As opposition pressed for the resignations, Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said: "There will be no resignations. If you want to debate the issue, we can do that".

Delhi serial rapist confesses to killing over 30 children Mumbai blasts' convict Yakub to hang New Delhi, July 21 (iANS): In revelations that have shocked even the police, serial killer Ravinder Kumar has admitted to raping and murdering more than 30 children in and around Delhi, an officer said on Tuesday. In a confession that has left Deputy Commissioner of Police Vikramjit Singh "deeply shaken", Kumar confessed to snuffing out the lives of the children -- all under 14 years -- in and around Delhi since 2008. "I am deeply shaken from inside," Singh told IANS. "I cannot express in words what all I am going through." Singh said that on Monday Kumar -- who hails from Kasganj in Uttar Pradesh but lives in Delhi -- was taken to Narela, Bawana and Alipur, the places in outer Delhi identified by him during interrogation. "This helped us to establish the fact (about the number raped and killed)," the officer said. "I am myself monitoring the case. The investigations till now suggest that the toll might reach 40," he added. Until now, police had thought the number of Kumar's victims would be around 15. Police have mounted a massive operation to know if the cases of missing children filed in the past five years in Vijay Nagar, Bawana, Narela, Alipur, Begumpur, Kanjhawala, Samaypur Badli and other areas are related to this case, Singh said.

The 24-year-old Kumar -- who apparently shows no guilt feeling -- began his crime spree sometime in 2008. He would lure children with candies and kill them if they resisted. Worse, he would have sex with their bodies, making him suffer from necrophilia, said Singh. Kumar on Tuesday admitted to having committed his first crime when he was barely 17 years old. A labourer's girl child from a Delhi Metro construction site here was his first victim. He took her to an isolated spot, had sex with her and then dumped the body after killing her. Police, however, could not find a record of the crime as it was not reported. Getting scot free after the first crime emboldened Kumar, he told police. In 2009, Kumar kidnapped a labourer's son from Vijay Vihar here, sodomised and strangled him. This time a case was registered against him but he managed to evade law due to lack of witnesses and other evidence. Kumar claimed that he had killed 11 of his victims after they resisted his attempts to sexually assault them or threatened to expose him. Revealing his modus operandi, Kumar told police that he usually committed the crimes in the afternoon or in the early hours. Singh told IANS: "He would go around colonies looking for children playing outside their house or near

toilets and lure them with money and sweets. If they refused, he would simply gag and pick them up. "In exceptional cases, if the victim agreed not to reveal the matter to anyone, Kumar would let him or her go." According to police, Kumar also admitted to having committed two crimes in Kanjhawala and Mundka in outer Delhi in 2011. He even targeted two 14-yearolds known to a relative while visiting his aunt during a marriage ceremony in Aligarh in 2012. However, they were let off after they promised to keep quite about the incident. Kumar accepted that he committed two crimes in Noida in 2013 when he was a cleaner with the contractor of a transport company. Last year, Kumar was arrested for assaulting a boy in Begumpur in south Delhi. He abducted the boy near his house and fled after slitting his throat. He assumed the boy was dead. But the victim survived as police found him bleeding in a septic tank of an under-construction building. Kumar got bail then in that case -- because at that time police did not know about the enormity of his saga. He was again arrested on July 16 for raping and murdering a six-yearold girl in Begumpur. The girl had gone missing on July 14. And the interrogation that followed this arrest exposed Kumar's shocking crime saga.

New Delhi, July 21 (iANS): The Supreme Court on Tuesday dismissed a curative petition by 1993 Mumbai serial bomb blasts convict Yakub Abdul Razak Memon, who will hang on July 30. Memon had challenged the earlier verdict of the apex court to uphold his death sentence. Rejecting the curative petition, a bench of Chief Justice H.L. Dattu, Justice T.S.Thakur and Justice Anil R. Dave said that "none of the grounds stated in the curative petition would fall within the parameters" involving the violation of the principle of natural justice and apprehension of bias. The curative petition was taken up in the chambers. Official sources earlier said Memon, 53, will be hanged on July 30. He is likely to be be hanged in the Nagpur Central Jail, where he is currently lodged, following the rejection of his mercy plea in April this year by the president. He was sentenced to death by a special TADA Court in Mumbai on July 27, 2007, for his role in the blasts, including arranging finances for carrying out the 13 serial explosions which left 257 dead and over 700 injured across the city on

March 12, 1993. Subsequently, Memon - brother of one of the main absconding accused, Ibrahim alias Tiger Memon - appealed against the sentence in the Bombay High Court, the Supreme Court and later filed a mercy petition with the President, followed by a review petition, and then a second review petition. The apex court April 9 had dismissed Memon's review petition seeking the recall of its March 21, 2013 verdict upholding his death sentence. Dismissing his review petition on April 9, the court had said: "We find that all the arguments advanced by the review petitioner have been considered in detail in the judgment (of March 21, 2013) which is sought to be reviewed. Hence, we do not find any error apparent on the face of record or any other ground so as to warrant interference in exercise of our review jurisdiction." The apex court by its March 21, 2013 verdict, while upholding the death sentence, had said that his "deeds can't be viewed distinct from the act of Tiger Memon, hence, both owe an equivalent responsibility for the blasts" that led to 13 serial bomb blasts in Mumbai.

Yakub Memon, younger brother of the absconding blasts mastermind Tiger Memon, has been in custody for almost two decades. (File Photo)

"They were the architects of the blasts, without whom the plan would have never seen the daylight. From this conduct, it is not hyperbole to state that, he (Memon) was one of the 'driving sprit' behind the plan of the 1993 blasts, whereas the other appellants played a far lesser role and thus a lesser contribution to the crimes resulting from this plan", the court had said. The court had then held that the dominant position that Yakub Memon held in the execution of serial blasts was an "aggravating factor by itself, as it gives the status of direct responsibil-

ity". "Since Yakub Memon as well as other absconders were the real conspirators who hatched the scheme for such a tragic act, the other 10 appellants awere mere subservient subordinates whose knowledge and acquaintance might have been restricted to their counterparts." "It is difficult to rule out with certainty that if the absconding accused (Dawood Ibrahim, Tiger Memon and Ayub Memon) were to be brought to trial, they might have thrown further light at the role played by Yakub Memon," the court had observed in 2013.

Can gender equality reduce suicides in India? New Delhi, July 21 (iANS): Offering more reasons for men to share power with women, psychiatrists have said that gender equality can prevent many men from taking their own lives. Of the 15 people, on an average, who committed suicide every hour in 2014, 10 were men, latest data with the home ministry's National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) shows. "The number of suicides in the country during the decade (2004-2014) has recorded an increase of 15.8 percent (131,666 in 2014 from 113,697 in 2004)," stated the NCRB report, "Accidental Deaths and Suicide in India 2014." The overall male:female ratio of suicide victims during 2014 was 67.7:32.3, a marginal increase of males and marginal decrease of females as compared to 2013, the report said.

While suicides may be the result of a complex interplay of personal and socio-economic factors that vary across regions, psychiatrists warn that the type of masculinity that has helped build and sustain the structure of patriarchy may literally take a toll on the lives of men, and not just women. "Yes, gender equality can decrease the suicide rate in men," psychiatrist Gorav Gupta, director of New Delhi-based Tulasi Healthcare, told IANS. "If they are not the only partner responsible for financial and social decisions, in times of problems the decisions can be collective, and therefore failure will not be seen as personal failing," Gupta explained. In India, the rate of suicides per 100,000 population was 10.6 during 2014. It is also well-estab-

lished that divorced and widowed men are more vulnerable than women to taking their own lives. In 2014, the combined number of male divorcees and separated who committed suicide were 1,150 as against combined total of 733 female divorcee and separated. "Loss of spouse in terms of death or divorce is a contributing factor for higher suicide rates among men," Gupta said. "Studies show men derive more mental and physical health benefits from marriage than females and so the breakdown of a marriage could lead to intense feeling of loneliness which is detrimental to them," Gupta noted. "They also perceive it as a blow to their masculine ego or stereotypical role that society has tagged them with," he said.

Dr (Brig) S. Sudarsanan, senior consultant psychiatrist at the BLK Super Speciality Hospital here, agreed. "Men have been used to a lot of support and comfort and unconditional companionship from their wives. Hence being widowed leaves a greater void and leads to loneliness and depression more commonly among men," Sudarsanan noted. According to Gupta, other probable causes for men committing suicide is the higher prevalence of substance abuse and socioeconomic factors like loss of job and a financial crisis. "In India, most households are still run by men. Since they are the breadwinners of the family, any financial loss or unemployment results in feelings of hopelessness and also loss of self-esteem. Therefore,

there is a higher risk for men in such conditions to commit suicide," he elucidated. Sudarsanan however believed that equitable gender relations alone may not bring down the number of suicides among men as the factors that provoke people to take the extreme step may vary from region to region. For example, in Maharashtra - from where the highest number of suicidal deaths were reported in 2014 - Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh, suicides among farmers are high due to financial debts linked to failed crops and extreme poverty. He said that in Kerala and many other parts, unemployment, economic disparity and debts are important causes. Unemployment, lack of housing and marital issues drive suicide cases in

urban areas. "Substance abuse disorder is a leading cause of suicide, apart from depressive disorders and schizophrenia among many psychiatric causes," Sudarsanan noted. Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Karnataka and Telangana together accounted for 51.1 percent of the total suicides reported in the country in 2014. A study by University of Cambridge researchers found that suicide rates in India tend to be higher in states with greater economic disparity - the more unequal the state, the more people kill themselves. The shame and stress of no longer being able to provide for their families have resulted in hundreds of male farmers taking their own lives, the researchers found.

The study, published last year in the journal Globalisation and Health, found that Kerala has the highest male suicide rate in India. Among the causes of suicides that NCRB cites, "other family problems" and "illness" were the biggest killers, accounting for 21.7 percent and 18 percent respectively of total suicides. What is intriguing is that even as the suicide rates are higher among men, more women attempt to end their lives, suggesting that more women suffer from depression, a factor that generally precedes the decision to commit suicide. "Men commit suicide more often but attempted suicide is more common among females," Sudarsanan said. So, one of the reasons why suicide rates are high-

er among men could be the method they employ to execute their decisions. "Men use more lethal ways of committing suicide than women," Gupta said. Sudarshanan suggested that men are also less competent than women in managing stress. "Women are more resilient and can manage stressors more competently," he said. Gupta however believes that men learning to dissociate themselves from the traditional masculine roles reinforced by various social and cultural norms may be a step forward towards decreasing suicide rates. "Acknowledging problems, seeking help and building a support system can go a long way in decreasing suicides among men. We should teach boys early to share problems and ventilate," he suggested.

InternatIonal

the Morung express

Wednesday 22 July 2015

Dimapur

UN endorses Iran nuke deal with 6 world powers Edith M. Lederer Associated Press

he U.N. Security Council on Monday unanimously endorsed the landmark deal to rein in Iran’s nuclear program and authorized measures leading to the end of U.N. sanctions, but also approved a provision that would automatically reinstate the harsh measures if Tehran reneges on its promises. European Union foreign ministers meeting in Brussels immediately followed suit, endorsing the agreement between Iran and six major powers and taking the first step to lift EU sanctions. President Barack Obama told reporters he hopes the Republicancontrolled U.S. Congress, where there is strong opposition to the deal, will pay attention to the “broad international consensus,” stressing that the deal is “by far our strongest approach to ensuring that Iran does not get a nuclear weapon.” But House Speaker John Boehner accused Obama of “ignoring the concerns of the American people” by allowing “such a consequential vote” to go ahead in the U.N. just 24

Members of the Security Council vote at United Nations headquarters on Monday, July 20. The U.N. Security Council unanimously endorsed the landmark nuclear deal between Iran and six world powers and adopted a series of measures leading to the end of U.N. sanctions that have hurt the Iranian economy. (AP Photo)

hours after submitting the agreement to Congress, which has 60 days to consider it. “This is a bad start for a bad deal,” he said. While sharp differences remain between the United States and Iran, ambassadors from both countries

called the agreement an important achievement for diplomacy. Under the agreement, Iran’s nuclear program will be curbed for a decade in exchange for potentially hundreds of billions of dollars’ worth of relief from

international sanctions. Many key penalties on the Iranian economy, such as those related to the energy and financial sectors, could be lifted by the end of the year. Iran insists its nuclear program is purely peace-

ful, aimed at producing nuclear energy and medical isotopes, but the United States and its Western allies believe Tehran’s real goal is to build atomic weapons. Iran’s U.N. Ambassador Gholamali Khoshroo reiterated that Iran’s Su-

preme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has declared nuclear weapons “Haram,” which means forbidden by the Muslim faith in Arabic. Khoshroo said Iran promises to be “resolute in fulfilling its obligations” and expects all other parties to the agreement to meet their commitments. This is the only way diplomacy can “prevail over conflict and war in a world that is replete with violence, suffering and oppression,” he said. The Iranian ambassador said the agreement “provides a solid foundation for further and more effective diplomatic interaction.” And he expressed hope that the agreement heralds “a new chapter” in the country’s relations with the Security Council and the six powers that negotiated the deal — the United States, Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany. U.S. Ambassador Samantha Power said the deal gives Iran “an opportunity to prove to the world that it intends to pursue a nuclear program solely for peaceful purposes.” “If Iran seizes that opportunity ... then it will find the international community and the United States willing to provide a path out of isola-

tion and toward greater engagement,” she said. But Power said the nuclear deal doesn’t change the United States’ “profound concern about human rights violations committed by the Iranian government or about the instability Iran fuels beyond its nuclear program, from its support for terrorist proxies to repeated threats against Israel to its other destabilizing activities in the region.” She urged Iran to release three “unjustly imprisoned” Americans and to determine the whereabouts of Robert Levinson, a former FBI agent who vanished in Iran in 2007. Khoshroo departed from his prepared speech to react to what he called “baseless accusations” from Power. He accused the United States of “feckless and reckless acts” by invading Iraq and Afghanistan. These invasions “created favorable ground for the growth of terrorism and extremism” and are at the root of many challenges facing the unstable region, he said Obama has stressed that all of Iran’s pathways to a nuclear weapon are cut off for the duration of the agreement and Iran

is obliged to remove twothirds of its installed centrifuges and get rid of 98 percent of its stockpile of uranium. But Russia’s U.N. Ambassador Vitaly Churkin said the Security Council “has confirmed the inalienable right of Iran to develop its peaceful nuclear program, including to enrich uranium” under supervision by the International Atomic Energy Agency. The resolution specifies that seven previous resolutions related to U.N. sanctions will be terminated when Iran has completed a series of major steps to curb its nuclear program and the IAEA has concluded that “all nuclear material in Iran remains in peaceful activities.” All provisions of the U.N. resolution will terminate in 10 years, including the “snap back” provision that would make it easier to reimpose sanctions. But last week the six major powers and the European Union informed U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon that they have agreed to extend the snap back mechanism for an additional five years. They asked Ban to send their letter to the Security Council.

100 million year old fossils found in Australia Japan emphasizes China as a threat SYdneY, JulY 21 (IAnS): The discovery of fish fossils estimated to be 100 million years old has excited Australian paleontologists who said on Tuesday that it filled missing pieces in their knowledge of the period. The discovery of the fossils near the town of Julia Creek in the state of Queensland will provide an insight into Australia’s ancient inland sea which

is now a rugged outback country, reported Xinhua news agency. Paleontologist Timothy Holland told the AAP news agency the fossils include a huge primitive fish dating back 100 million years. They include the huge eye-socket of a primitive fish called the cooyoo and the skeletons of 20 to 30 diminutive fishes. Holland said the cooyoo discovery was sig-

nificant because it showed the species’ teeth were two centimetres long, much bigger than previously thought. “It suggests the cooyoo was probably targeting large fish ... its teeth were well adapted for latching onto slippery prey,” Holland said. The fish was also more than three metres in length and had a powerful tail that made it look like the “tar-

pon from hell”, he said. The discovery of the fish skeletons is the best preserved example of smaller fish from Australia’s ancient inland sea. “They never come whole, so finding one of these fish would have been exciting but we have 30 of them protected inside a clam shell,” Holland said. Julia Creek is one of the main attractions on Australia’s dinosaur fossil trail.

Another month, another global heat record broken Seth Borenstein

AP Science Writer

arth dialed the heat up in June, smashing warm temperature records for both the month and the first half of the year. Off-the-charts heat is “getting to be a monthly thing,” said Jessica Blunden, a climate scientist for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. June was the fourth month of 2015 that set a record, she said. “There is almost no way that 2015 isn’t going to be the warmest on record,” she added. NOAA calculated that the world’s average temperature in June hit 61.48 degrees Fahrenheit (16.33 Celsius), breaking the old record set last year by 0.22 degrees (.12 degrees Celsius). Usually temperature records are broken by one or two one-

hundredths of a degree, not nearly a quarter of a degree, Blunden said. And the picture is even more dramatic when the half-year is considered. The first six months of 2015 were one-sixth of a degree warmer than the old record, set in 2010, averaging 57.83 degrees (14.35 Celsius). The old record for the first half of the year was set in 2010, the last time there was an El Nino — a warming of the central Pacific Ocean that changes weather worldwide. But in 2010, the El Nino petered out. This year, forecasters are predicting this El Nino will get stronger, not weaker. “If that happens, it’s just going to go off the charts,” Blunden said. June was warm nearly all over the world, with exceptional heat in Spain, Austria, parts of Asia, Australia and South America. Southern Pakistan had a June heat wave that killed

more than 1,200 people — which, according to an international database, would be the eighth deadliest in the world since 1900. In May, a heat wave in India claimed more than 2,000 lives and ranked as the fifth deadliest on record. May and March also broke monthly heat records, which go back 136 years. Initially NOAA figured February 2015 was only the second hottest February on record, but new data came in that made it too the hottest, Blunden said. Earth has broken monthly heat records 25 times since the year 2000, but hasn’t broken a monthly cold record since 1916. “This is what anthropogenic global warming looks like, just hotter and hotter,” said Jonathan Overpeck, co-director of the Institute of the Environment at the University of Arizona.

China displays ‘no exceptions in crackdown on corruption’ BeIJIng, JulY 21 (IAnS): The expulsion of Ling Jihua from the Communist Party of China (CPC) and his removal from public office show that no exception should be allowed in the country’s crackdown on corruption, a state-run daily said Tuesday. The Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee took the action against Ling, a former vice chairman of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) National Committee, on Monday. The meeting also decided to transfer the suspected criminal case against Ling to judicial organs for handling in accordance with the law, Xinhua reported. “Running the party with strict discipline are not empty words, and no exception should be allowed in graft crackdown,” a commentary published in the CPC’s flagship newspaper said on Tuesday. The decision fully showcases the CPC Central Committee’s clear attitude towards and strong determination in upholding Party disciplines and unswervingly punishing corruption, the article said. Investigations revealed Ling took advantage of his posts to seek profit for others and accepted huge bribes personally and through his family. He is also suspected of obtaining a great deal of the Party and state’s core secrets in violation

of the laws and discipline as well as committing adultery with a number of women, said the daily. Thoroughly investigating Ling’s case and eradicating its negative impacts have “a significant meaning on eliminating hidden problems inside the Party, maintaining strict Party discipline and purifying Party organizations”, according to the article. “Party rules and discipline are not only the firewall in anti-corruption campaign, but also the Party’s lifeline,” it said. Ling’s case serves as a warning for all Party members that one should put rules and discipline in the very front to guard against corruption. “The weakening and downgrade of faith and ideal of the Party are the most dangerous. All Party members, especially leaders at different levels, should never relax efforts of self-discipline or be indulged in individualism and selfishness, nor should they be two-faced,” the article said. Party members should always strengthen their faith and ideals, enhance the merit of being loyal to the Party, and keep the integrity of being a communist, it says. All Party members should unify their thoughts and actions with the CPC Central Committee, draw a lesson from Ling’s case, and follow the Party’s discipline and rules more closely, the daily said.

TOKYO, JulY 21 (AP): Japan emphasized China as a threat in escalating regional tensions in this year’s annual defense report as Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s government tries to convince the public of the need to pass legislation to give Japan’s military a greater role. The report, approved Tuesday by the Cabinet, was delayed for more than a week as Abe’s ruling party panel demanded mention of additional examples of China’s “one-sided” maritime activities, such as undersea gas and oil development in the East China Sea. Abe’s ruling coalition has been pushing to pass highly contentious legislation allowing Japan’s Self-Defense Force to fight for foreign militaries even when it is not under attack, while expanding its role in international peacekeeping. Many Japanese are wary of expanding the military because of bitter memories of Japan’s World War II defeat. Opposition lawmakers have said Abe’s party might be exaggerating the threats to drum up support for unpopular legislation that many experts have also called unconstitutional. The 429-page white paper underscored that

In this Oct. 26, 2014 photo, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, right, walks by a mock-up of the F-35 fighter jet during the annual Self-Defense Forces Commencement of Air Review at Hyakuri Air Base, north of Tokyo. Japan emphasized China as a threat in escalating regional tensions in this year’s annual defense report. (AP Photo)

Japan’s security risk had worsened overall and cited continuing missile and nuclear threats from North Korea and terrorist threats from the Islamic State group as examples. China by far topped Japan’s list of security concerns, taking up one-third of a chapter on global security trends covering eight countries and regions. “China, particularly over conflicting maritime issues, continues to act in an assertive manner, including coercive attempts to change the status quo, and is poised to fulfill its unilateral demands highhandedly without compromise,” the report said. “Japan is strongly concerned about China’s actions, which we need to keep watching closely.” The report also raised

NAGALAND: KOHIMA

NO.DET-2/14/2001/PT-1/

Dated Kohima, the thJuly,2015

In continuation to this office letter of even number date 28.05.2015, interested and eligible candidates are hereby informed that few seats are available for undergoing Training in the following trades under the following Govt. ITIs. Interested and eligible candidate may contact the Principal/Vice- Principal of the concerned Govt. ITI along with relevant documents for admission (First come First Basis) on or before the 5th August 2015 Sl. no 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Trade Machinist Diesel Mechanic Motor Mechanic Plumber COPA Hair & Skin Care Dress Making Cutting & Sewing Stenography Secretarial practice

Name of Govt.ITI Kohima Tuensang Wokha&Tuensang Phek&Zunheboto Dimapur Kohima,Dimapur&Phek Zunheboto Phek Dimapur Dimapur

In addition to above, fresh applications are invited from bonafide local Candidates for undergoing Training in Cutting & Sewing Trade at GOVT. ITI, Dimapur for the Session Commencing from Aug.2015 Interested and eligible Candidate may Contact Principal GOVT. ITI Dimapur for information and submission of forms on or before 5.08.2015 Sl. no Trade GOVT.ITI Seating Capacity 1 Cutting & Sewing Dimapur 20 Nos NOTE: All Eligibility Criteria, Terms & Conditions Remains the Same. SD/(MUTHINGNYUBA SANGTAM) Director, Employment & Craftsmen Training, Nagaland, Kohima.

China’s repeated incursions into territorial waters around the disputed East China Sea islands have become routine, with larger vessels now being mobilized, the report said. The uninhabited islands are controlled by Japan and also claimed by Beijing, the report said. Responding to demands by the national security panel of Abe’s party, the report takes special note to China’s undersea oil and gas drilling and surveying in the regional seas. In disputed waters of the East China Sea, China has been building new offshore platforms and other facilities on the Chinese side of the median line since June 2013, causing repeated protests from Japan over china’s “unilateral” development, the report said.

PUBLIC NOTICE

GOVERNMENT OF NAGALAND

OFFICE OF THE DIRECTOR OF EMPLOYMENT & CRAFTSMEN TRAINING

concerns over China’s recent reclamation work in the South China Sea, saying it had escalated regional tensions. The Defense Ministry report also added a new section that also refers to maritime activities elsewhere. China has been building artificial islands in the vast, resource-rich area, alarming neighboring nations. Japan has increased defense cooperation with the Philippines and has conducted joint exercises in the area. Defense Minister Gen Nakatani has suggested that Japan could send reconnaissance aircraft to the region if the legislation is approved, though he denied any specific plans. The report called secure maritime transport crucial to the nation’s survival.

NO. JIC-5/NS/2015/58

Dated: Chumukedima, the 20th July 2015

Whereas, the Government of Nagaland has constituted a Judicial Inquiry vide Notification NO.CON-6/LOR-11/2006 (Vol-I) Dated 6th March 2015 and NO.CON/OMJI/20/2015 Dated 16th May 2015 headed by Justice B.D. Agarwal (Retd.) and its member, Shri. Veprasa Nyekha, District & Sessions Judge (Retd.) to ascertain the causes and circumstances leading to the incident of vandalism and forcible entry into the Central Jail, Dimapur on 05/03/2015 by a mob and killing of an Under Trial Prisoner Sayed Sarif Khan and also the death of one Inito Swu in the ensuing violence. The Inquiry Commission is also asked to ascertain the person(s), group/ groups responsible for the incident, lapses or dereliction of duty on the part of Government Officials, public authorities, etc. Accordingly, the Inquiry Commission invites Written Statements from the State of Nagaland, Government Officials in the District Administration, Police Department, Central Jail Authority, DPRO Dimapur and any other Officer/s interested to assist the Inquiry Commission regarding the incident that took place at Central Jail, Dimapur on 05/03/2015. Written Statements should be filed before the Inquiry Commission, whose office is situated at the Police Officers' Central Mess, Chumukedima: Dimapur District on or before 20th August, 2015 (Thursday). The Written Statements should be accompanied with affidavits, documents and evidences in any form, in possession of the authority filing the Written Statements. (L.JAMITHUNG LOTHA) Secretary to the Judicial Inquiry Commission (Regarding Central Jail Breaking, Dimapur on 5.3.2015) Camp: Chumukedima Police Officers' Central Mess Dimapur: Nagaland. O/Phone No: 03862 — 240142 Fax: 03862 – 240123 Email: - judicialinquiry@gmail.com

Dimapur

public discoursE

Wednesday 22 July 2015

The Morung Express

FACT FINDING REPORT OF WUZU FIRING AND THE KILLING OF TWO STUDENTS BY THE ASSAM RIFLES

Fact-finding Team: 1. Naga Students’ Federation (NSF) 2. Naga Peoples Movement for Human Rights (NPMHR) Why did they fire at us? Was one question the villagers at Wuzu, Phor and new Phor asked when the NSF and NPMHR team went for fact-finding at Wuzu village. A five members fact-finding team from 17th to 19th July 2015 visited and talked to the eye witnesses. Sequence of events July 15: Firing starts at Avankhu (Also known as Avankhung) area where two NSCN K cadres are killed by the Assam Rifles. The firing starts around 11 pm at night and lasted till 5 am in the morning of July 16. July 16: The bodies of the two cadres were being taken to Meluri via Wuzu by the AR. Five AR vehicles convoy (three 407 truck, gypsy, and one tata truck) passes through Wuzu village by 6 pm, according to eye witnesses in the village. The villagers having learned that one of the slain cadres, Captain Puhachu belonged to Wuzu village decides to request the AR to hand over the body for proper burial in the village land as per Naga customs. Firing inside Wuzu village The village leaders of Wuzu and neigh-

boring villages of Phor and New Phor stood by the side of the road and raise their hands when the Army convoys was passing through. The first three vehicles sped off without stopping however they stopped near the village community hall on seeing the Major stop his vehicle, which is a few metres away from where the villagers are standing. The villagers did not force the military convoy to stop. The fourth vehicle carrying Major Surinder Singh and the last vehicle stopped where the villagers stood. The village leaders requested the Major who was well acquainted with them, if it were possible for the Major to handover the body to which the Major expressed his inability. So they requested the Major to at least take the coffin for the dead bodies to which the Major agreed. The conversation lasted for about two minutes when they started hearing gunshots from the direction of the AR truck near the Community hall which was followed by indiscriminate firing from the vehicle of the Major and the last vehicle behind the Major’s vehicle. Aso and Tiizali were killed from the bullets of the Jawans who fired from the Major’s vehicle, according to the eye witnesses. The villagers have also stated that the shots fired by the Jawans were not blank firing but

Wuzu Village Council clarifies on July 16th carnage

he Wuzu village Council (WVC), under whose jurisdiction the murder of two innocent school children Aso(13), D/o Mr. T. Yeteli of Wuzu, Tiizali(14) S/o Mr. Siikaho of Phor Village, and the injured Vitsiirho(24), W/o Mr. Riitu of Wuzu Village took place has vehemently condemned the atrocious act of the 46th AR under the command of Major Surinder Singh. The Village Council through a press note wish to enlighten the people on the course of the incident and to disprove the wild allegations of the AR. On the 16th of July, the villagers gathered at Wuzu to receive the body of slain cadre ‘Capt.’ Puhachu of NSCN(K) a permanent resident and a native of Wuzu Village. As such is the social and customary practice of the Nagas to stand in solidarity and share the griefs of the bereaved family, the village folks of Phor, New Phor and Wuzu gathered at Wuzu Village. It was learnt that the ADC of Meluri, along with the Officers from Meluri police station visited Avakhong and that the Convoy of the AR comprising 5 vehicles under the command of Major Surinder Singh was bringing the bodies of the slain cadres. At around 6:30 p.m the public leaders of the three villages in good faith tried to stop the convoy. However, the first three vehicles of the convoy(a407 truck,a Maruti Gypsy, Tata truck) passed by and stopped a little farther from where the villagers have gathered. Major Surinder Singh, the commanding officer who was in one of the last two convoy vehicles(both 407 trucks) stopped on the request of the Public leaders. Major Surinder Singh was approached with a request if the mortal remains could be handed over to the villagers for the last rites. The said officer told the leaders to collect the bodies from the office of the ADC, so the leaders further requested that since the coffins were kept ready, the bodies be taken in coffins. The negotiation was on when the AR personnel on the gypsy started firing which was followed by simultaneous firing from all other vehicles. The personnel from the vehicle in which the major was seated started firing towards the direction of the public. The intermittent firing lasted for 20 minutes. The unprovoked and senseless firing, resulted in the murder of two innocent school children, both student of class 7,Govt High School Pholary and injured a women. The WVC reiterates that at no point of time, whether prior to the firing, or while firing by the AR did the villagersprovoke, or pelted stones or any projectiles or used any firearms on the AR. In the aftermath of the incident, the convoy fled the crime scene leaving behind three of his jawans. The Village Council state that the question of the villagers working in collusion with or aiding the NSCN(K) to attack the AR is totally absurd. If there were any armed insurgents involved in the attack, the three jawans left behind after the convoy fled could not have regrouped with their troops after two days. The village council, condemn the blatant lies of the IGAR(N) that the troops came under heavy firing from the three sides of the village and that the victims were killed by the NSCN(K). The council under a declaration states that there were no armed groups whether NSCN (IM), (K), or any other groups involved in the firing. Therefore the question of exchange of gunfire, or shootout does not arise at all at the time of the incident in the jurisdiction of the village or near its vicinity. The Village council further declares that the firing was unprovoked. These declarations can be validated by the ADC of Meluri who did the spot verification on the same night of 16th July at 9:30 p.m, the DGP and Home Commisioner, officials of Naga Hoho, the Pochury Mothers Association, The PochuryHoho, the NSF who promptly visited the village. The Village council express appreciation to the Govt of Nagaland for the prompt response in sending and inquiry Commission and for the Ex-gratia granted to the victims. We the Village Council of Wuzu express our unqualified gratitude to all the govt agencies, the Naga frontal organisations and individual who stood by us in our hours of great misfortune and who stands with us in our fight for justice. Let the whole world know who is terrorising who, and who is the real terrorist in Nagaland. C Pitu Thur Chairman, Village Council Wuzu

aimed directly at the civilians. The firing lasted for about 20 minutes, we have been told. Bullet marks are seen in the houses and trees in the whole stretch. The villagers have collected around 140 empty shells. Witnesses have claimed that there could be much more empty cases inside the AR vehicles as the maximum number of gunshots was fired inside the vehicle. A civilian non-villager who happened to be at the site of the incident at that point in time witnessed the entire incident. He was by the site of the Community Hall next to the Army Maruti Gypsy vehicle where he witnessed the first gunshot being fired from the Assam Rifles Gypsy, he stated. Accounts of Witnesses Aso Aso, 13, a class VII student of GHS Pholary, was the youngest child in her family. Aso is said to be a promising student. Her own grandfather was killed by the Indian Army in the 1960s during the battle of Thuda Phor. She was inside her relative’s house when the jawans fired. The bullet hit right below her armpit and came on the other side of her body. Tüzali Tiizali, 14 years and Class 7 student of GHS Pholary belonged to the neighboring

village Phor, which is a walking distance from Wuzu village. Tiizali was with his three other friends right above the road when the shooting started. His friends escaped but he was shot in the chest and the skull. Esther Jorror The fact finding team visited Esther Jorror, 24 years old, on July 19 at the Community Health Centre of Meluri. Esther was shot in the right arm by the Assam Rifles. She was carrying her one year and five months old baby when she heard the firing. She ran inside the house of Yichiili for cover but was shot in the arm while running for cover. It is the same house where Aso was killed. Esther saw Aso being shot. Esther’s husband Ritu Jorror was also at the spot and is an eye witness to the firing by Assam Rifles. The NSF and NPMHR Fact- finding team has taken pictures of the bullet marks in each houses which were shot. The Assam Rifles has claimed that the NSCN K had shot from the hilltops but the bullet marks and eye witness evidences indicates that the Assam Rifles shot directly at the civilians and the houses. The Team called on Maj. Surinder Singh of the 46 AR C Coy at his camp at Akhegwo Post. In course of the interaction, he admit-

ted that he was not sure who shot the students in the village. He further told the Team to contact his superiors, particularly the IGAR, on the matter. The Team also noticed a group of Para Commando personnel of the Indian Army with their strange looks and unusual uniform. Maj. Surinder Singh also revealed that the assault team comprised of personnel from the Para Commando personnel of the Indian Army along with the jawans from the Assam Rifles under his command. He also admitted that he had an Officer senior to him and some other Junior Commissioned Officers at the spot where the students were murdered. On being queried how he could claim that the NSCN (K) had killed the students, he responded that he was not sure and requested the team to contact the IGAR (N). This is particularly interesting because it is ascertained that there was no presence of the cadres of the NSCN (K) in the vicinity. If the Major himself who was present at the incident of July 16 is not sure, then how can the IGAR (N) be so sure in there press statements that the two students were killed by the NSCN (K)? Naga Students’ Federation (NSF) Naga Peoples Movement for Human Rights (NPMHR)

Rejoinder to Inspector General Assam Rifles (North)

he Pochury GB Union is pained and expressed our utter shocked to read the so called ‘clarification’ on Phor village episode of 16th July 2015. The news reads, “The Inspector General Assam Rifles (North), Maj Gen MS Jaswal today out rightly denied that the two students killed Thursday evening at Phor village were caused by Assam Rifles firing but they were killed due to firing from NSCN (K) cadres, who attacked an AR convoy transporting bodies of 2 NSCN (K) cadres killed earlier to Akhegwo Police Station.” This is nothing but a complete lie and distortion of the truth which many people who were on the crime scene on that fateful day can testify. Here is the sequence of the incident which the Assam Rifles MajorSurinder Singh in his right mind will agree and should agree to the truth for the simple reason that while the village leaders 3 VCCs of Phor, New Phor and Wuzu and others were negotiating with him to hand over the dead body of ‘Captain’ Puhachu and his deceased colleague where the Major Singh politely declined that they have to first hand over to the Police and from there the villagers can receive the dead bodies. They offered the readymade coffin as the dead bodies were being brought without coffin. The Major said that would not be a problem. While negotiating with the Major, his soldiers sitting in Gypsy in front of him (The major was coming by Mini truck), started firing (the reason only the first personnel who fired can explain why he did so when everything was going smoothly). Thereafter everyone started running helter-skelter. The security personnel then, without checking how that had happened, started firing indiscriminately killing 2 innocent school going children and injuring a mother of one. On that fateful evening of 16th July 2015, at around 6:30 PM, on hearing that the dead body of late ‘Captain Puhachu of NSCN (K) (from Wuzu village) was killed on 15th July 2015aytAvakhung (not Avangkhu), the relatives and the public of Phor, New Phor and Wuzu villages were gathering at Wuzu village to receive the mortal remains of the late ‘Captain.’ The villagers have made 2 coffins for late Puhachu and his colleague who were killed at Avakhung. The Assam Rifles came and reached Wuzu in five vehicles (407 Truck, Gypsy, Tata truck, 407 truck and 407 truck) under the command of Major Surind-

er Singh. The first 3 vehicles stopped at near the Community Hall. The fourth vehicle with Major Surinder Singh followed by the last vehicle stopped at outside the residence of Shri Yichüli, Lance Naik of Village Guard (VG) of Wuzu Post. The village leaders, being acquainted with the Major Surinder Singh, went and requested the Major to hand over the mortal remains. The major politely expressed his inability to do as requested. Then the relatives requested the Major to accept the readymade coffins for the deceased. While negotiating the matter with the Major on the issue, suddenly, to the utter surprise of everyone, the occupants of Gypsy started firing (The driver Shri Rashid and his colleagues of one private Tata truck standing near the Gypsy vehicle at that juncture can testify this). Then the occupants of Major Surinder Singh’s vehicle also started firing indiscriminately followed by the last occupants of the last vehicle. The pleas of the public to stop the firing went unheeded for about 20 (twenty) minutes. The so called ‘security personnel’ fled from the scene of the crime. In the event of such an unprovoked firing two innocent school going children, Master Tüzali, age 14 years, s/o Sükaho of Phor village and Ms Aso, age 13 years, d/o T. Yeteli of Wuzu village, both Class 7 students of Pholary Government High School, Phor, were killed and one Mrs Vitsürho (Esther), age 24 years, a mother of one and w/o of Shri Rütu of Wuzu village injured. Ms Aso was killed instantly inside her house when the Assam Rifles personnel fired indiscriminately to all the houses in and around the spot and Master Tüzali outside on the street. The Vitsürho was injured with her child in arms while running away from the scene. Having fled the crime scene, the major called up Mr Chili, the VCC of New Phor at 7:14 PM as per mobile record) and Mr C. Pitu Thurr at 7:28 PM as per mobile record) from mobile phone No.8732891987, accusing the villagers tried to ambush the ‘security forces’ in collusion with the undergrounds which the two chairmen retorted that it was he and his personnel who have committed a serious crime by killing two children and injuring one mother besides destroying properties. The villagers, under no circumstances used any provocative words, neither used any materials, such as stone pelting, fire arms to provoke the

security personnel in the course their negotiation with the Major. Our assumption, which may be the truth, is that the security personnel, including those so called ‘Para Commandos’ were coming with fear psychosis that anywhere, any place they may be attacked or ambushed, after dismantling the NSCN(K)’s last camp in Pochury area where they have killed two cadres. If not there is no other reason why such foolishness and merciless action could have been perpetrated to the innocent civilians. For us, the people of Pochury, have been reminded through this despicable action of the Assam Rifles the late 1950s and early 1960s where the Assam Rifles have massacred the innocent public both physically and mentally beyond tolerance. We, the public have no say when the two opposing forces fight and kill each other as it a part of their duties. If any group are careless and unfortunate the opponent team shall overrun it. Thereis nothing the civilian society, the public can say much. Even in this case, the public have not raised any voice when the Assam Rifles went and attacked the camp at Avakhung. We know that it was a smart act and the wisdom of the Para Commandos have ameliorated the NSCN (K)’s. We feel sorry for the loss of lives but the civil society have nothing to interfere here. The core issue of the public’ anger today is killing of innocent people through unprovoked (I repeat unprovoked) firing and the lie you and your men are trying to influence. You know better that the last column of the NSCN (K) cadres weredefeated and chaseddown to Myanmar the previous day and they have no chopper as was used by your ‘Para Commandos’ on that day. How could they reach Phor within a matter of 12 hours(6 AM to 6 PM) and ambush your boys at Wuzu village? Everyone (including you or do you?) knows that there are no more NSCN (K) cadres in and around Pochury land any more at this juncture after the Organisation abrogated the Cease Fire agreement. The same day (16.07.2015), at 9:30 PM, the Additional Deputy Commissioner, Meluri came and verified the spot and ascertained the fact of the event. This was followed by the visit of the Commissioner, Home Commissioner and the Director General of Police and ascertained the fact of the incident. These Nagaland Government officials’ visit was followed by

Naga Students Federation, different NGOs of Pochury like Pochury Hoho, Pochury Students Union, Pochury GB Union, Pochury Mothers Association, Pochury Baptist Church Council, and Pochury Council of Nagaland Christian Revival Church visited the spot to take stock of the situation. Now, the people know what had happened on that day and how it started. So, Mr Major General Manvendra Singh Jaswal, do not try to mislead the public by distorting the truth. There was no one who have shot any single bullet from any person but from the coward occupants of that Gypsy who started the whole ugly scene on that fateful day. Do not try to protect the guilty. Remember that yours is, whether one likes it or not, ‘Security Force.’ I advise you to be one and tell your men to be humane in action and not with all these empty talks. No one believed you when you ‘clarified’ and don’t believe your Major Surinder Singh and his arrogant boys, particularly in this case. Your men’s careless, and indifference attitude to the public has contributed to two more dead bodies. Now, you aretrying to rub the injury with salt when the truth says otherwise. Unbelievable. And as for your injured boys, remember, they were coming from Avakhung, after killing two NSCN cadres in a fierce gun battle that lasted about five hours (11 PM on 15th July 2015 to 5 AM on 16th July 2015. Also, imaging, five vehicles’ occupants firing to different directions from five spots on that day at Wuzu village. After all they have killed two innocent students. Let me also remind you that your 3 personnel were hiding in nullah on that day. They were declared lost because the Major and his other vehicle bound men left them lying there at Wuzunullah fighting. Fortunate that the villagers went and told them not to fire anymore at the public as they have already killed two innocent students. Only then those poor ‘neglected’ three personnel ran and found their way back. The lie cannot be the truth and the truth cannot be the lie. They tried to conceal the truth. But the truth come out and it will prevail. Meanwhile, the Pochury GB Union convey our heartfelt condolence to the bereaved innocent victimfamily members. May peace reigns in the family in the days to come. T. Nyupuli, President, Pochury GB Union, HQ: Meluri, Nagaland.

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

Entertainment

The Morung Express

Wednesday 22 July 2015

Miranda Lambert & Blake Shelton divorcing after 4 years of marriage

iranda Lambert and Blake Shelton are divorcing. The country music superstars are separating after four years of marriage. The news was broken earlier today (20th July) by an entertainment website which unearthed the preliminary legal documents. Shortly after the news broke the former couple confirmed they were parting ways. TMZ first reported the news, noting Shelton filed for divorce in Oklahoma some time ago. It is unsure when the pair separated but it is thought their divorce will be finalised by a judge today. The division of their assets has reportedly been relatively straightforward, because of the pre-nup they signed before their marriage in 2011. Shelton, according to reports in TMZ, will re-

tain their ranch in Oklahoma and Lambert will stay in their family home in Nashville, Tennessee. According to sources close to the former couple, Lambert has been moving her property off the ranch. She also has a number of show animals, including horses, a camel and a llama, which she has been moving from the property over the past few days. The former couple released a statement shortly after the news broke. "This is not the future we envisioned and it is with heavy heart that we move forward separately,” Lambert and Shelton said in a joint statement. “We are real people, with real lives, with real family, friends and colleagues. Therefore, we kindly ask for privacy and compassion concerning this very personal matter."

Dimapur

31-year-old Lambert and 39-year-old Shelton began dating in 2006. They had met when they were paired together at CMT's 100 Greatest Duets Concert in 2005. They performed 'You're the Reason God Made Oklahoma' together and the chemistry between them was palpable. At the time, Shelton was married at the time to his first wife Kaynette Green. Shelton and Green divorced in 2006. They announced their engagement five years later and married the following year at a ceremony in Texas. The ceremony was a starstudded event with the likes of Kelly Clarkson and Cee Lo Green attending, along with more than 500 other guests.

Backstreet Boys and 'NSync to make Zombie Western

merican boybands Backstreet Boys and 'NSync are to collaborate on a zombie Western film, Nick Carter has confirmed. The American boybands were chart rivals in the late 1990s, but have officially buried the hatchet by agreeing to work on a new horror movie in partnership with the studio behind the 'Sharknado' franchise. Backstreet Boy Nick Carter said: ''It's a zombie Western futuristic horror movie.

''My character is still being worked out right now, but I'm a good guy that's going to help save the day.'' Nick, 35, is set to write and star in the post-apocalyptic drama about a ''ragtag band of gunslingers'' fighting a zombie uprising, and he's revealed he's reaching out to a number of musicians to star in the movie. He told Rolling Stone magazine: ''There's a wish list of people that I want. ''I want it to be musically based. I

might reach out to Jordan [Knight] from the New Kids on the Block.'' However, 'NSync's Joey Fatone has warned against expecting Justin Timberlaketo make an appearance in the movie. He said: ''I'm the only NSYNC-er as of now, but you never know. ''Nick's vision is to bring some other people in that genre that have never really done a lot of film but that were in music in the Nineties and 2000s.''

“I want to be a superstar like Salman uncle”

says his 'Bajrangi Bhaijaan' co-star Harshaali Malhotra

'Xena: Warrior Princess' reboot in works

C M Y K

reboot of 1995 "Hercules" spin-off, "Xena: Warrior Princess", is underway at the cable network NBC. Producers NBC and NBC Universal International are currently searching for a writer to board the reboot, which hails from original executive producers Rob Tapert and Sam Raimi, said The Hollywood Reporter. The makers are prepping the reboot of the beloved Lucy Lawless action-adventure drama. The drama is in the extremely early development stages. Tapert and Raimi are also involved in the project, which is considered to be a "modern reboot."

It is unclear what, if any, role original star Lawless would have, though sources said that insiders would like the original star to have both a role onscreen and behind the scenes. The drama is eyed for 2016. It is too early to know if it would be a limit-

Miley Cyrus to host this year's MTV Video Music Awards

ed 13-episode run similar to Fox's revived "24" or a more standard full-season order. The original series ran in syndication for six seasons from September 1995 to June 2001 and originally started as a spin-off from "Hercules" after producers realised how popular the Xena (Lawless) character was and opted to launch a new series built around the Amazon warrior on a quest for redemption and her trusted companion Gabrielle (Renee O'Connor). The drama was a cult favourite and ratings hit, ranking in the top five syndicated programs during each of its six seasons.

he has audiences going gaga over her innocent and endearing performance in Bajrangi Bhaijaan, and seven-year-old actor Harshaali Malhotra now aims to be a big star like Salman Khan. Harshaali played Munni, a mute girl from Pakistan, in the Kabir Khan-directed blockbuster. "I like acting and singing. I want to be a superstar like Salman uncle," she told PTI. Her mother Kajal had once met casting director Mukesh

Sentry's mission is to analyse money flow to target those who fund and profit from violence so world leaders can change policy and "make war more costly than peace". In a video launching the initiative, Clooney says, "Real leverage for peace and human rights will come when the people who benefit from war will pay a price for the damage they cause." Prendergast adds, "Conventional tools of diplomacy usually have not helped end conflicts because they don't alter the calculations of those fuelling war and committing atrocities... The objective of The Sentry is to follow the money and deny those war profiteers the proceeds from their crimes." The Sentry project is also backed by Clooney's organisation Not On Our Watch, which he cofounded Matt Damon, Brad Pitt and Don Cheadle.

Jessie J taking break from music

he was the center of attention at the MTV Video Music Awards two years ago thanks to her risqué performance with Robin Thicke. Now, Miley Cyrus is back for more, after revealing to fans that she’s set to host this year’s MTV VMAs on Aug. 30. The “Wrecking Ball” singer posed in a green, alien bodysuit for two photos she shared together in a collage – the first of which saw a hooded Cyrus wearing a sign that reads “MTV won’t let me perform. In the second, the singer reveals her face with a new sign that says “So I’m hosting this year’s VMAs.” As unpredictable as she is, no one is sure what to expect from Cyrus as a host, but her most memorable VMA moments in the past two years have certainly become water cooler moments. The 2015 MTV Video Music Awards will air Aug. 30 at 9 p.m. EST.

George Clooney launches investigative charity project

he Ocean's Eleven star has teamed up with human rights activist John Prendergast and the Enough Project, a nonprofit organisation which aims to end genocide and human rights abuses, to create The Sentry. The

he 'Flashlight' hitmaker has revealed she is to have a few months away from the industry next year to ''write and live''. Clarifying comments she made on stage at Somerset House, London, she wrote on Twitter: ''I said on stage last night I want/need a break I didn't mean today I am working until Jan/Feb next year Then I will be writing/living. ''It was just a open conversation with myself and the audience Last night wasn't my last show of the year lol (sic)'' Meanwhile, the 27-yearold beauty recently admitted she hates being famous. She said: ''I don't like being famous, I'm not very good at it. I like simple things like cooking and bowling. I like helping people.'' And Jessie also referenced her recent health issues, which saw her admitted to hospital for a mystery operation. She added: ''Every time I step on the stage I never presume or expect it to last forever. I take in each moment as though they are stars - I know that sounds strange, but it's true. ''If you see me sitting down, it's because it's one of my first gigs since having two operations. I'm still a bit shaky and I'm not my usual jumpy self.''

Chhabra. One day he called her up saying that the child has bagged the role in Salman Khan starrer Bajrangi Bhaijaan. "I was not aware that Salman was part of this project. We couldn't believe initially. It was tough for us to accept it," Harshaali's mother said. The child artiste said that Salman used to play Barbie games and table tennis with her on the film's sets. "I used to play games with Salman uncle on cell phone. I used

to sit on Kabir uncle's lap and play Barbie games. Kareena aunty was busy with the shoot, so she did not get time to play games with me. Salman uncle used to play table tennis with me in Karjat," said the seven-year-old actor. Her mother said that Harshaali is now dedicated to acting. She said, "Right now she is dedicated to acting. I keep giving her a gap in between. Sometime back she was unwell, so we had stopped doing

assignments... she is too small. By the time she is in class five, we will take a break of 6-7 years till she is in class XII. If she wants to pursue acting, then we will let her do it." Harshaali said that she used to cry seeing Salman fighting or getting emotional in the film. "I used to cry when he (Salman) did action scenes. Even when Salman uncle shot emotional scenes, I used to feel bad. Even I cried when Salman uncle cried," said Harshaali.

F1 pays last respects to Bianchi

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Nice, July 21 (AFP): Formula One turned out in force on Tuesday to pay its last respects to Jules Bianchi at the 25-year-old French driver's funeral in his hometown of Nice. World champion Lewis Hamilton and many of Bianchi's pitlane colleagues joined family and friends of the talented young Marussia driver who died in Nice on Friday, nine months after his devastating accident at the Japanese Grand Prix. Two giant portraits of Bianchi in full racing gear adorned the walls either side of the cathedral's main entrance. His coffin, with his No 17 helmet resting on it, was carried from the hearse into the cathedral by a group of young drivers, described by Father Sylvain Brison as Bianchi's "racing brothers". With The Eagles' haunting 1970s anthem "Hotel California" playing in the background, the coffin was carried up the cathedral's central aisle. Hamilton and his Mercedes teammate Nico Rosberg, who had made the short trip from their homes in Monaco, as well as Jean Todt, head of F1's governing body, the FIA, and the French Sports Minister Thierry Braillard, were in attendance for what Bianchi's parents had requested was to be an intimate farewell to their son. "Jules' death is deeply unjust," Father Brison told the mourners in the Sainte-Reparate Cathedral situated in Nice's historic old town. "He was happy, because he had turned his dream into reality." F1 "was his life, his vocation. He was a champion blessed with a rare talent, as well as being a young man whose stature was as high as the depth Canada's Carmen Whelan performs during the rhythmic gymnastics clubs com- of his humility". He concluded the service by saypetition in the Pan Am Games in Toronto Monday, July 20. (AP Photo)

2 Spanish riders killed in California motorcycle race

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SAN FRANciScO, July 21 (AP): Two Spanish racers were killed in a chain-reaction crash on the first lap of a World Superbike race. The deaths occurred Sunday at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, Monterey County sheriff's spokesman Cmdr. John Thornburg said. MotoAmerica spokesman Paul Carruthers said there were 28 riders in the race and thousands of spectators in the stands when five competitors collided on the first lap. Riders were tossed into the dirt to the side of the track. The sheriff's office is not investigating the crash at the MotoAmerica Superbike/Superstock 1000 race, which appeared to be an accident, he said. The track was dry during the race, Carruthers said. "If there's ever an issue with the track, we don't hold the race," he said. Carruthers declined to comment on whether MotoAmerica, which organizes the race, will investigate. MotoAmerica identified the riders killed as 35-yearold Bernat Martinez, 35, of Alberic, Valencia, Spain; and Daniel Rivas Fernandez, 27, of Moana Galicia, Spain. Both were taken to hospitals, where they died. Track spokesman David Hart said four other riders were treated at the track and released. Their names were not released. It was not immediately clear what led to the crash, Hart said, adding that Laguna Seca will conduct an investigation. MotoAmerica president Wayne Rainey sent condolences to the families. "I really don't have any words to describe what we all feel," Rainey said in a statement. "First and foremost, is the loss to the families and loved ones."

ing: "Jules never managed to make it on to the Formula One podium, and so I ask you to applaud him now," which the emotional gathering, both inside and outside the cathedral, duly did for several minutes. The service ended with the playing of the tender 1980s classic hit "Mistral Gagnant" by French singer Renaud. - Ferrari beckoned Sebastian Vettel, the four-time former world champion, helped carry the coffin out of the cathedral in a poignant reminder that if fate had not cruelly intervened Bianchi would have joined the German as Kimi Raikkonen's replacement at Ferrari next season. Bianchi was the first Formula One driver to die as a result of a racing accident since triple world champion Ayrton Senna in San Marino in 1994. And Senna's arch-rival, Alain Prost, was among the mourners saying goodbye to Bianchi as were Romain Grosjean, Felipe Massa and Olivier Panis. Bianchi suffered a traumatic brain injury when his car careered off the rain-drenched Suzuka circuit during the Japanese Grand Prix on October 5 and smashed into a recovery truck at around 200 kilometres (125 miles) an hour. He had been fighting for his life since under controlled medical conditions in a Nice hospital. Born in Nice in 1989 to Italian parents, Bianchi had racing in his blood. His father Philippe was a go-kart specialist. His grandfather Mauro had been a well known Formula Three and endurance driver in the 1960s. His great-uncle Lucien competed in 17 Grands Prix before he was killed in a crash in 1969 at the age of 34. After a spell at Ferrari's drivers' academy Bianchi joined Marussia in

BCCI gets breather as Lodha committee seeks five months to submit second report

New Delhi, July 21 (AGeNcieS): The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is likely to get some breathing space with the RM Lodha Committee having sought another five months to submit its second report, in which it is expected to recommend reforms to the board’s functioning. While the BCCI is scheduled to host its annual general body meeting in September, the much-awaited reforms will not be made public till the end of the year. This will mean that the board can continue to run its affairs based on its present rulebook for some time yet. There has been a sense of anxiety that has gripped the BCCI’s corridors of power ever since the Supreme Court had asked the Lodha committee to recommend reforms to the board’s Memorandum of Association and Rules & Regulations. The committee has of course already dealt with their primary objective, which was to decide

upon and deliver the quantum of punishment to Gurunath Meiyappan, Raj Kundra and their respective franchises in the Indian Premier League (IPL) corruption scandal. In addition to banning Meiyappan and Kundra for life, they also suspended Chennai Super Kings (CSK) and Rajasthan Royals (RR) for a period of two years. Unsure of consequences There is a feeling within the BCCI that they could save face by taking a strong call on the issue regarding the futures of CSK and RR, with the body divided on whether to terminate the two tainted franchises or not. They are even unsure whether it will have a direct bearing on the Lodha committee’s recommendations. For now, the IPL Governing Council (GC) named those who will make up the working group to study the Lodha commission’s report. The panel will be headed by IPL chairman Rajiv Shukla, with former India captain

Sourav Ganguly included as a players’ representative. The four-member group also comprises of BCCI treasurer Anirudh Chaudhary and secretary Anurag Thakur. The committee will be assisted by Usha Nath Banerjee, BCCI’s legal adviser. “The committee will share their recommendations with the Governing Council within a time frame of six weeks after consulting all the key stakeholders,” BCCI secretary Thakur said in a statement on Sunday. Shukla has indicated that the working group will discuss the issue with all the stakeholders of the IPL and also consult legal experts on the complications that might arise in the future. The Indian board is learnt to be not in any hurry to take a decisive call as the next edition of the IPL is still nine months away. “We still have some time for IPL 9, so we should not take any hasty decision. We will follow the procedure and come to a consensus on all the matters relating to IPL,” said Shukla.

Pallbearers carry the casket of French Formula One driver Jules Bianchi into the Sainte Reparate Cathedral during his funeral in Nice, French Riviera, Tuesday, July 21. Bianchi, 25, died Friday from head injuries sustained in a crash at last year's Japanese Grand Prix. He had been in a coma since the Oct. 5 accident, in which he collided at high speed with a mobile crane which was being used to pick up another crashed car. (AP Photo)

2013 and competed in 34 Grands Prix, notching two world championship points -- still the team's best result. Since the accident new measures have been introduced to force

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drivers to slow down for accidents, including a 'virtual safety car'. The FIA has announced that in Bianchi's honour it had retired his number 17 car.

Sterling makes instant impression on debut

MelBOuRNe, July 21 (ReuTeRS): Record signing Raheem Sterling made an instant impression on his Manchester City debut, scoring in the third minute of the Premier League club's penalty shootout win over AS Roma in a pre-season friendly on Tuesday. The 20-year-old was jeered at the Melbourne Cricket Ground when he tripped over the ball on one of his first touches in the area, but a minute later soaked up the acclaim after slotting home a through ball from Nigerian teenager Kelechi Iheanacho. Though all eyes were on Sterling, the most expensive English player in history after joining from Liverpool for a reported 49 million pounds, it was goalkeeper Joe Hart who secured victory with two fine saves in the shootout as City prevailed 5-4 on spot-kicks after the teams drew 2-2. Aleksandar Kolarov missed City's second kick in the shootout but Hart parried away a weak effort from Seydou Doumbia and also denied Seydou Keita to clinch the International Champions Cup victory in front of a

crowd of 41,134. Sterling's transfer fee generated plenty of debate, but his man-of-thematch performance against the Serie A side was a positive start in justifying his price-tag. He was desperately unlucky not to create a second goal before being substituted at halftime, garnering no sympathy from Australian referee Jarred Gillett despite a forceful challenge from Alessandro Florenzi that took out the Englishman's legs. Roma forward Adem Ljajic curled in a sumptuous free kick three minutes from full-time after being brought down just outside the area to take the match into the shootout. Eighteen-year-old Iheanacho, a much-hyped product of City's youth academy, also impressed with his calm in front of goal, hammering home City's second in the 51st minute after being gifted the chance when a defensive pass intended for keeper Morgan de Sanctis landed horribly short. Miralem Pjanic scored Roma's first in the eighth minute with a thundering 25-metre strike.

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Zach Johnson wins British Open

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United States’ Zach Johnson celebrates with members of the public as he holds the trophy after winning a playoff after the final round at the British Open Golf Championship at the Old Course, St. Andrews, Scotland on July 20. (AP Photo)

Doug Ferguson AP Golf Writer

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ach Johnson cradled the silver claret jug in his arms. Jordan Spieth let it slip through his fingers. Spieth was right where he wanted to be in his spirited bid for the Grand Slam — tied for the lead with two holes to go in the British Open, right after making a 50-foot birdie putt that made it feel as though he were destined to win at St. Andrews for his third

straight major. And he was still there at the very end Monday, but only as a spectator. The slam gone, Spieth graciously returned to the steps of the Royal & Ancient clubhouse to watch Johnson finish off a sterling performance of his own. Johnson rolled in a 30-foot birdie putt on the 18th hole that got him into a three-man playoff, and he outlasted Louis Oosthuizen and Marc Leishman to win the British Open. Johnson described himself as a "normal guy" from

Cedar Rapids, Iowa, when he won the Masters in 2007. And now? "I'm a normal guy from Cedar Rapids ... with a green jacket that has something that most guys don't get to drink out of right now," Johnson said, smiling as he looked at golf's oldest trophy with his name etched alongside most of the game's greatest players. Spieth was close to having his name on that jug. No one ever came closer to the third leg of the Grand Slam. He fought back from

taking four putts for a double bogey on No. 8 with back-to-back birdies. He rolled in that long birdie putt on the 16th for a share of the lead. After missing an 8-foot par putt on the tough 17th hole, Spieth needed a birdie on the closing hole to join the playoff. "Up and down for a playoff," was the last thing Spieth said to caddie Michael Greller from about 90 yards away. It was too far right and quite hard enough, and it rolled to the edge of the Valley of

Sin short of the green. His birdie attempt up the slope stayed inches left of the cup, and he tapped in for a 69. "We gave it a great effort," Spieth said. At least he was in elite company. Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods — the three biggest names in golf over the last 50 years — were the only other players to capture the Masters and U.S. Open in a bid to sweep the four professional majors in the same year. All came up short in the British Open. Spieth was the only one who had a share of the lead so deep in the final round. It took a superlative effort from Johnson, who now has two majors among his 12 PGA Tour victories, an astounding record and a reminder that a good wedge game and a putter can still go a long way in this era of power. Johnson was in tears when he was interviewed off the green."I'm grateful. I'm humbled. I'm honored," Johnson said. "This is the birthplace of the game, and that jug means so much in sports." On a tense afternoon of shadows and showers on the Old Course, Johnson closed with a 6-under 66. He was the first in at 15-under 273.

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