July 24th 2014

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www.morungexpress.com

The Morung Express

Dimapur VOL. IX ISSUE 201

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www.morungexpress.com

By Sandemo Ngullie

Academicians converge to discuss growth of govt schools

Disrespectful to see ‘Mary Kom’ as a trend film: Priyanka

[ PAGE 8]

reflections

Thursday, July 24, 2014 12 pages Rs. 4

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Wisdom we know is the knowledge of good and evil, not the strength to choose between the two School head arrested in India after girl, 6, raped

[ PAGE 2]

Loew to remain Germany coach until Euro 2016

[ PAGE 9]

[ PAGE 12]

11 parents of Nigeria’s abducted girls die

[ PAGE 11]

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–John Cheever

transAsia plane crashes nPcc says ‘protective measures’ for in ‘typhoon-hit’ taiwan Nagaland state cannot be sacrificed • NPCC expresses ‘deep concern’ over certain clauses of NSDZ • Cautions that NSDZ in its present form will benefit only a few

Let us bury our differences so that with a united front we can free nagaland from aliens!

The Morung Express POLL QUESTIOn

Vote on www.morungexpress.com SMS your anSwer to 9862574165 Do you agree that land for National Highways in Nagaland should be given free of cost without compensation?

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Naga boy missing from West Bengal Kohima, July 23 (mExN): A Naga boy went missing from West Bengal while he was on his way to Chhattisgarh. Ikangwangbe, a boy of 16 years from Peren district, was heading to Arya Jyoti Gurukul, a private Hindi medium school in Mahasmund district of Chhattisgarh for admission. He was travelling with 14 other students and a guide to assist them for the admissions. The boy went missing between Kharagpur and Tatanagar at around 9.30 pm on July 20. According to his family members, at around 7:15 pm on July 19, the boy boarded the Karmabhoomi Express from Guwahati. It was informed that the missing boy’s money and luggage were found in his train cabin. The guide, identified as Amit, and two other boys went around searching for the missing boy and reported the case to the police and railway authority. Meanwhile, it was informed that the rest of the boys have reached their respective schools.

Rescue workers survey the wreckage of TransAsia Airways flight GE222 which crashed while attempting to land in stormy weather on the Taiwanese island of Penghu, late Wednesday, July 23. A plane landing in stormy weather crashed outside an airport on a small Taiwanese island late Wednesday, and a transport minister said dozens of people were trapped and feared dead. (AP Photo)

TaiPEi, July 23 (aP): A plane landing in stormy weather crashed outside an airport on a small Taiwanese island late Wednesday, and the transport minister said 47 people were trapped and feared dead.

Taiwanese Transport Minister Yeh Kuang-shih was quoted by the government’s Central News Agency as saying 11 other people were injured when the plane crashed and caught fire while making a second landing attempt. Yeh was quoted as saying the flight, operated

by Taiwan’s TransAsia Airways, carried 58 passengers

and crew members.

Flight GE222, a twinengine turboprop ATR-72 aircraft, was heading from the southern port city of Kaohsiung to the island of Penghu in the Taiwan Strait, according to the Taiwanese news agency. It crashed outside the airport in Xixi village, and pictures in local media showed firefighters using flashlights to look at wreckage in the darkness.

The flight left Kaohsiung at 4:53 p.m. for Magong on Penghu, according to the head of Taiwan’s Civil Aeronautics Administration, Jean Shen. At 7:06

p.m., after saying it would make a second attempt at a landing, the plane lost contact with the tower.

Visibility as the plane approached was 1,600 meters, which met standards for landing, and two flights had landed before GE222, one at 5:34 p.m. and the other at 6:57 p.m., the agency reported. But it appeared that heavy rain reduced visibility and the plane was forced to pull up and make a second landing attempt, the report cited the county fire department as saying. Shen said the plane was 14 years old.

DimaPuR, July 23 (mExN): The Nagaland Pradesh Congress Committee (NPCC) has resolved that it will not allow the Nagaland Special Development Zones (NSDZs) to be implemented in its present form. A consolidated report of the PCC Committee, set up by the Congress on the NSDZs, appealed for all citizens and organized groups to “rise against” what it termed as a “stealthy attempt” by the Nagaland state government to “infringe upon and self-abrogate the special provisions of Article 371(A) under the dubious garb of NSDZs’ industrialization and urbanization.”

The report observed that “till such time that the border dispute with Assam is settled, cadastral survey must not be conducted as that will amount to legitimizing the illegal occupation of the encroached lands.” It further stated that registration of land ownership or issue of patta/land permit should be done in consonance with the existing state laws.

It appealed for the MLAs to defend the guaranteed special provisions of Article 371(A) when the matter is brought to the As-

sembly for decision and legislation. “Because till such time the resolution on NSDZs is abrogated/reviewed, the possible abrogation of Art 371(A) cannot be ruled out,” cautioned the report.

The PCC informed that it has consulted with various NGOs and Tribal Hohos and communicated its deep concern on the issue with particular emphasis on certain proposals within the NSDZ resolution.

These include proposals to review/amend the existing state laws/orders/ instructions, cadastral survey of lands, issue of patta, permanent settlement for non-Nagas and special land access permits and liberal entry & stay of nonNagas in the NSDZs for purposes of investment.

The PCC report stated that there was “complete unanimity” amongst the consulted groups on the need to develop the state’s economy and generate large scale employment through a “realistic process of industrialization and urbanization, as currently earmarked along the foothill area in the state.” However, it stated that there was “equally complete consensus” that the present form of the NSDZs contains “cer-

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However, it lamented that “not even 1/3 of the fund reached the actual beneficiary in the rural area and the entire lot of the fund was misused and pocketed by those in power.”

The NPCC cautioned that the NSDZ, if implemented in its present form, would benefit only a few and would not guarantee subsequent development or employment for the actual stakeholders. “Neither will it sufficiently accommodate inflow of the job seekers from the hills as projected nor will it pass over the benefit towards the hill area development,” it added.

It expressed concern that “on the pretext” of garnering industrialization and urbanization, “the state government is attempting to open the floodgates of migration” from other parts of the country to the most prospective regions of Nagaland state.

Lamenting the “total disregard” of their protest on the floor of the house against the present structure of the Resolution, the NPCC however affirmed that it would not allow any attempt to “hijack the guaranteed and safeguarded rights of the Nagas in Nagaland...”

‘Discrepancies in oil exploration rules’ NSCN (IM) questions

DimaPuR, July 23 (mExN): The Nagaland Tribes Council (NTC) today expressed concern at the ongoing controversy over the launch of oil and natural gas exploration in the state and stated that the existing rules for exploration “seems to have discrepancies.”

A press note from the NTC stated that “no room should be left for dissension over the financial benefit to be accrued by stakeholders.” It asserted that the land owners as well as the state government should receive what is legally due to them.

The NTC further ex-

Nagaland Tribes Council expresses apprehension

pressed apprehension on the Company engaged by the state government for the operation. Metropolitan Oil & Gas Pvt. Ltd (MO&GPL), it stated, “seems to be controversial and unless the credibility of the company is found satisfactory, no such work should have been allotted.” It iterated that the success of such an operation would largely depend on the capability and integrity of

the company engaged.

Terming the present trend as “disturbing,” the NTC stated: “It will be unfortunate if government had obtained NOC or approval of a village or tribal Hoho through the system of sale and purchase.”

“The exploration of our wealth through such maneuvering will bring ruin rather than gain,” it added.

The NTC stated that while a “section of land own-

ers in Wokha district might have agreed with the Government but there is no unanimity amongst the Wokha people.” It further censured the imposition of Section 144CRPC during the formal inauguration of the launch and lamented that the exploration “had to be operated under such intense situation without the good will of the people and the required atmosphere conducive for such an important operation will be missing.” It further expressed concern at the “hostile attitude of the government to impose its policy on the people in such haste.”

revoke 144 crPc: UntABA Nagaland candidates fail to

DimaPuR, July 23 (mExN): The United Naga Tribes Association of Border Areas (UNTABA) today demanded that the Nagaland state Commissioner immediately revoke prohibitory orders under Section 144 CRPC promulgated in and around the Dimapur-Karbi Anglong border.

A press note from UNTABA further demanded that the Nagaland government issue a “white paper” on the Assam-Nagaland border issue “vis-à-vis the highhanded actions of the armed Assam Police inside Nagaland in the current Assembly Session.”

UNTABA termed the promulgation of 144 CRPC in and around Rilan, Indisen, Aoyimkum and Dikoi villages as “nothing short of admitting the abject failure of the Government of Nagaland and the district administration of Dimapur in enforcing the rule of law in its own jurisdiction.”

It alleged that the “ten-

tain conflicting measures against the unique position and spirit of Article 371(A).”

It asserted that the protective constitutional measures for Nagaland state “cannot be sacrificed for the sake of industrialization and urbanization.”

The NPCC, in a separate press release, expressed concern that the Assembly Resolution attributed the malady of the state’s economy to the topography and habitation of Nagas. “Nagas are neither the only people in the world who live on hill tops nor are other similar hill top settlers undeveloped and poor as the Nagas apparently are.

Exodus of job seekers to urban area is indeed a national phenomenon...” the NPCC stated.

It further lamented that the state has not seen development and growth in proportion to the flow of funds through centrally sponsored schemes (CSS). It claimed that less than 5% of the population consumes more than 80% of the state resources and that 90% of the population share less than 5% of the state resources.

In addition, the NPCC stated that MGNREGS were implemented to reduce rural-to-urban migration.

sion” prevailing in the area “is the creation of unlawful intrusion of well armed Assam Police inside Nagaland and willfully destroying and burning houses and properties and killing Naga people…” It however lamented that instead of providing security to the Naga people “the Nagaland state government, law enforcing agencies and the district administration have allowed the Assam Police to indulge in arson and killings.” “The Naga villagers in and around the border areas have done nothing that merits the promulgation of 144 CRPC in their own home and orchards,” it stated.

UNTABA rather stated that 144 CRPC “should be promulgated inside and beyond Doldoli and other areas in the border districts of Assam so as to prevent the armed Assam Police from facilitating encroachers who have been unscrupulously occupying large

tracks of Naga lands all along under the direct supervision of the Government of Assam.”

It reminded the Nagaland state government that under Clause (1) of the January 28, 1979 Agreement, “the Assam Armed Police were prohibited from entering inside the areas inhabited predominantly by Nagas in the Diphu, Nambor and Rengma Reserve Forests…… and that the Assam Government agreed to withdraw all Assam Armed Police posts from these areas let alone establishing other Police Posts inside Nagaland.” This agreement, it stated was reaffirmed in the Delhi Agreement of April 11, 1979 and the Imphal Agreement of June 7, 1985.

The UNTABA however expressed concern at the “complete lack of political will on the part of the government and the lack of sincere commitment in their assigned duties from our bureaucratic hierarchy.”

secure seat in AIPMT 2014

NBSE to conduct Nagaland State Pre Medical Test on August 9

Kohima, July 23 (mExN): The Nagaland state Directorate of Technical Education (DoTE) today informed that no “bona fide candidate from Nagaland” has succeeded in getting through the All India PreMedical Test (AIPMT) for the year 2014. A notice from the DoTE informed that none of the candidates could secure the minimum qualifying marks of 40% as required by the Medical Council of India (MCI) for admission to MBBS & BDS courses.

In view of this, it informed that the Nagaland state government has decided to conduct the Nagaland State Pre Medical Test (NSPMT) on August 9, 2014. It informed that

only those Indigenous Naga candidates who have appeared for AIPMT 2014 will be eligible to sit for the NSPMT. AIPMT 2014 candidates who have already accepted their nomination letters for any other allied courses like B.Sc Agri, BvSc&AH, B.Sc. Horti, etc will not be eligible to take the NSPMT 2014.

The DoTE notified that the merit list will be made on the basis of weightage given to marks obtained in the AIPMT and NSPMT in the ratio of 60:40 % respectively while incorporating 100 point placement reservation policy approved by the state government. Candidates securing less than 40% marks in the NSPMT will not be eligible for nomination to MBBS/ BDS seats. The NSPMT 2014 will be conducted by the Nagaland Board of School Education (NBSE) in the same pattern and curriculum as AIPMT and will incorporate negative marking.

CFMG Chairman Singh

DimaPuR, July 23 (mExN): The NSCN (IM) has responded to the Chairman of the Cease-Fire Monitoring Group (CFMG), Lt. Gen. (Retd) NK Singh, for the latter’s comment on the area of coverage of the Ceasefire between the NSCN (IM) and Government of India. The NSCN (IM) alleged that the CFMG Chairman was being used as a “tool” by vested interests.

“What the NSCN observed and understood is that some vested interest officials in the Ministry of Home Affairs are using the CFMG chairman as their tool, maybe for their own personal interests”, Convener of the NSCN (IM) Cease-Fire Monitoring Cell (CFMC), Karibo Chawang told media persons at a press briefing held here at the CFMC office on Wednesday.

Kraibo was reacting to the CFMG chairman’s recent statement that the “ceasefire with the NSCN (IM) is under considerable stress due to repeated, deliberated and frequent serious violations of ceasefire ground rules” by the NSCN (IM). Singh had also quoted the Deputy Chief Minister of Manipur and reiterated that the Ceasefire was operational only in Nagaland state and not extended to Manipur.

Responding specifically to the CFMG Chairman’s comment that Ceasefire was operational only in Nagaland state, Kraibo reminded that during the “Indo-Naga” peace talks held in Paris in 1998, the then GoI interlocutor Swaraj Kaushal had told the media that the Ceasefire covered not only Assam, Nagaland and Manipur but “even Delhi upto Paris.”

He further reminded that when the NSCN (IM) collective leadership met former Indian Prime Minsiter, AB Vajpayee, in Osaka, Japan, on December 8, 2002, Vajpayee had assured the NSCN (IM) leaders that “where there is fighting there will be ceasefire. It was the nature of Ceasefire as per the agreement

entered into on June 14, 2001.”

The CFMC convenor displayed a copy of the “Joint Statement” signed by former GoI interlocutor, K Padnamabhaiah and NSCN (IM) General Secretary, Th. Muivah in Bangkok on June 14, 2001, wherein it was “mutually agreed upon” that “the cease-fire agreement is between the Government of India and the NSCN as two entities without territorial limits.”

Karibo also showed a copy of the letter written by former interlocutor Lt Gen (Retd) RV Kulkarni to the Joint Secretary (NE), MHA, on February 6, 2007, wherein the Director General Military Operations (DGMO) had reportedly told Kulkarni that the new location of the NSCN (IM) camp in Ukhrul “stands approved.”

Asserts that the Ceasefire agreement was “bilateral” and says one side alone cannot unilaterally drop clauses in the agreement “Now who is this chairman [NK Singh] to talk about coverage of ceasefire? If the GoI has assigned him only to the state of Nagaland, then that is the problem of the chairman or GoI, but not our problem”, the CFMC Convener said.

Asserting that the Ceasefire agreement was “bilateral” and that one side alone cannot unilaterally drop clauses in the agreement, Karibo questioned as to whether the NSCN (IM) should go by what the “Prime Minister” or “CFMG chairman” said.

“From day one when the present CFMG chairman assumed office, the way he has worked is all biased. In short, the NSCN (IM) became a victim of the ceasefire”, Kraibo said. He further claimed that the ceasefire is “more operative in Manipur, barring the valley district, as the hill districts are comparatively more peaceful.”

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24 July 2014

The Morung Express C

Academicians converge to discuss growth of govt schools

Kohima, July 23 (DiPR): With a view to coordinate equal growth and improvement of academic results of government schools in HSSLC/HSLC of Kohima district, a one-day interactive session was held at DC’s Conference Hall, Kohima on July 23. Principals and Vice Principals of GHSS/HMs/AHMs of Government High Schools and even Head Teachers of the newly upgraded GMs to GHS attended the programme. The District Education Office, Kohima and Kohima DPDB organized the programme.

Joint Director, School Education who is also holding additional charge of DEO, Kohima, Ruovi-

hulie Angami said that the interactive session was organized primarily to share problems, experiences and to learn from one another.

He called upon the house to actively share their grievances faced in their respective place of work so that fruitful deliberations can be held. While encouraging the meeting to voice out their concerns, R. Angami also stressed on the punctuality of teachers and urged them to be available at their place of posting and be dedicated in their duties. He also voiced out concerns on the practice of keeping proxy teachers and discouraged anyone from following such practices.

Most of the grievances

shared by the participants included lack of infrastructure, random transfer and posting of teachers without proper replacement, lack of maths and science teachers in most of the schools and shortage of teachers in schools especially in the newly upgraded schools.

The Joint Director assured to take up the issues with the higher authorities along with other school related matters.

SDO (C), Sechu Zubza, Mohammad Ali, IAS who also attended the programme shared on the non-detention policy in schools. He is heading a committee formed by the Kohima DPDB to study the Non-Detention Policy.

ADC, Planning, Ketoho

Luho gave a presentation on the various activities taken up by the Kohima DPDB on educational matters. He stated that since education is one of the most important sectors, the Kohima DPDB has been regularly taking up issues related to schools like grant-in-aid, upgradation of schools, opening of new schools etc. he said that the Kohima DPDB had also initiated activities like debate competition, extempore speech and quiz competition for government school students. The HSLC topper awards which is awarded to the toppers from Government High Schools under Kohima district has become a distinction in itself

and has set an exemplary encouragement for the students. So far, the Kohima DPDB has successfully awarded the students for the sixth consecutive year.

DEO Kohima also gave a 10-point policy for Government schools in Kohima where he called upon for maintaining proper sanitation and beautification of school premises, develop team spirit, to be humane in dealings but run the school with tact and strong administration, develop speaking and writing skills, abstain from partiality, favouritism and tribalism, provide extra coaching classes, provide enough model questions with answers to students and conduct weekly tests.

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Proprietor of Mercy Eye Centre with family and Technician after the installation and dedication of two new medical equipments - IOL Master and Visual Field Humphrey - at the clinic on Wednesday. While the IOL Master is a tool to accurately calculate the power of the intraocular lens (IOL) implant for cataract surgery, the Humphrey Field Analyzer is the accepted standard of care in glaucoma diagnosis and management. (Morung photo)

Neiphiu Rio inaugurates AMK Ki Governor of Nagaland leaves for Delhi Kohima, July 23 (DiPR); The Governor of Nagaland P.B. Acharya left for Delhi on July 23. During his maiden visit after being sworn-in as the new Governor of the State, he will call on the President of Indian, the Prime Minister, Home Minister, Human Resource Development Minister, other Union Ministers and meet central

Our Correspondent Kohima | July 23

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Lok Sabha MP Neiphiu Rio today inaugurated the newly constructed building of the Angamimiapfü Mechü Krotho (AMK) here, opposite Congress Bhavan.

This AMK Ki, having 26 rooms, was constructed at the cost of more than Rs. 2 crore. The basement will be used for bazaar.

Speaking on the occasion, Rio said that everything is possible when there is unity. He lauded the AMK for displaying unity, thereby owning a magnificent building today.

He was hopeful that the newly constructed building will bring the Angami women more closer and foster better understanding.

Rio also urged upon the AMK to initiate a cleanliness drive by conducting a surprise check on the functioning of hotels and hospitals in the state capital.

He asserted that untidy environment gives bad impression to the outlook of the state capital. The Lok Sabha MP also urged upon the AMK to focus on Naga ethnic dishes. In this, he

Government officials. He will discuss with the dignitaries and authorities, on general issues pertaining to the State for its development and welfare of the people. The Governor also intends to discuss with the concerned authorities the problems being faced by the people from the north eastern states while staying in New Delhi.

Before his departure, the Governor was called upon by the Advocate General of Nagaland, Advocate Balagopal. The Governor of Nagaland, P.B. Acharya who is also the Ex-officio President of the State Rajya Sainik Board was briefed

by Brig. (Rtd.) K.K. Roy Choudhury, Secretary Rajya Sainik Board and Director Sainik Welfare and

Resettlement, Nagaland at Raj Bhavan, Kohima, on various welfare issues pertaining to Ex-servicemen, Widows, World War-II Veterans and dependents.

The Governor enquired on welfare measures and the future plans of the Rajya Sainik Board and assured to extend his fullest support and desired to hold a meeting at the earliest.

KROS College – Tobacco free campus

Lok Sabha MP Neiphiu Rio with others during the inauguration of the newly constructed building of the Angamimiapfü Mechü Krotho at Kohima. (Morung Photo)

encouraged them to organize Naga chef competition and document and identify the best one for commercial scale.

He also encouraged the women folk to give special attention towards handloom and handicrafts, saying that such products will fetch handsome buyers. He stated that tourists always look for such products.

In the meantime, Rio also called upon the people

both overground and underground to come together and collectively pursue for amicable settlement of the Naga political issue.

Earlier, the function was chaired by AMK president Salhoutuonuo Kruse while building construction report was given by Theyietuonuo Rutsa, convenor building committee.

Dr. V. Atsi Dolie, executive director ABCC prayed for the programme while

vote of thanks was proposed by AMK advisor Marlyn Sale.

Parliamentary secretaries Zhaleo Rio and Vikho-o Yhoshu, Angami Public Organization (APO) president Keneingunyu Sekhose, Angami Students Union (ASU) president Zakie Khate, Angami Youth Organization (AYO) president Medo Yhokha and several other dignitaries graced the occasion

Kohima, July 23 (mExN): The KROS College held a Tobacco Free Campus and Campaign programme today with Delli Rose Sakhrie (IAS), additional secretary health & family welfare as the guest speaker.

Speaking on the occasion, Sakhrie said the Global Tobacco epidemic kills nearly 6 million people each year. Stating India is one of the largest consumers in the world, she called upon the students and lecturers to spread the awareness “Tobacco Kills” and be agent of change. The programme was chaired by Kelühol Tase, Asst. Professor Commerce Dept, Invocation prayer by Mimi Suohu, KROS College Chaplain while welcome address was delivered by Imsuinla Imti, principal KROS College. The programme concluded with vote of thanks by Dr. Kinitoli Yeptho, Asst. professor, Pol. Science Dept.

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The Bharat Scouts and Guides (BSG) Kiphire unit on Saturday conducts social work at Deluxe Point Kiphire and cleared the log drainage, which was kept unattended for a long period. District Organizing Commissioner (Guides) led the BSG team and Assistant District Organizing commissioner (Scouts) Kiphire.SDO(C) Kiphire supervised the BSG throughout the social work. (Morung Photo)

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Youth organizations serve ultimatum to BRO/BRTF

Our Correspondent Kohima | July 23

The L. Khel Youth Organisation and P. Khel Youth Organisation, Kohima Village, through its presidents Kethosituo Mepfhüo and Vimhalie Pienyü respectively, today served a joint ultimatum to BRO/BRTF in regard to the pathetic condition of the border road between Pezielietsie (Tinpati) and Keyake (BSF Camp). The ultimatum stated that BRO/BRTF must begin satisfactory repair works of the road latest

by 31st August 2014.

According to the organizations, the said road has not been repaired for more than 10 years and BRO/ BRTF has turned a deaf ear to the numerous pleas made by different individuals, NGO’s and public leaders on many occasions.

At one point of time, the youth organisations assisted BRO/BRTF in widening of the road which involved dismantling of encroaching structures along the road and forceful digging of private land. Despite such contributions, BRO/BRTF

Career Track EduyearBook

has not acknowledged the organisations, yet continued to furnish trivial reasons for their failure to initiate maintenance or repair works.

As such, if BRO/BRTF fails to honour the ultimatum within the stipulated deadline, youth forces are to be deployed at different locations to impose strict ban on movement of BRO/ BRTF vehicles and personnel along the border road and all other routes (New Sectt. to YRS junction; New Sectt. to BSF Camp; Kitsubozou to BSF Camp) that

they are using to avoid the almost unusable road from Tinpati to BSF Camp, the ultimatum stated.

The youth organisations further stated that in the event of failure of BRO/ BRTF to initiate repair works within the deadline, the State Government should make some effort to ease the plight of the citizens of the area.

“Moreover, if BRO/ BRTF continues to ignore public pleas, the State Government should take over the said road,” the organizations stated.

MEx File

secretary Ketholelie will present HepCoN report. The programme will also witness a talk on burden of HCV in NagaKohima, July 23 (mExN): The Career CliniQ, a Ca- land from NHAK, UN position on Hepatitis C for drug users reer Diagnosis Centre is launching Career Track Eduyear- by Kunal Kishore, project coordinator, UNODC Delhi and Book 2014-15 on July 24 at 3:00 PM at Hotel Japfu Kohima. exhortation from department of health and family welfare.

This career Track Eduyearbook is an annual career publication from Career CliniQ. This year’s edition of the book focuses on Science Careers.

Kohima, July 23 (mExN): The Pereizie Colony (High School ward No. I) Kohima is organizing a mass social work drive on July 26 from 7:00 AM onwards. Stating this in a remoKoKchuNg, July 23 (mExN): The Ao students' lease Pereizie Youth Welfare Board president Hetuo Solo Conference (AKM) strongly condemns the incident and secretary Khrielie Angami requested all the residents of where some unknown miscreants ransacked the NSF of- the ward to participate in the drive in and around the colony. fice on July 21. Such kind of irrational and unwarranted act shows that the people who did it have no respect and regards to the student community as a whole. Therefore, every right thinking people and the students’ community DimaPuR, July 23 (mExN): For the benefit of peoshould condemn such reckless act. AKM President L Jem- ple living in the border areas, a medical camp will be orti. Longchar and General Secretary Bendangkumba Aier ganized on August 9. In this connection, a meeting was ina condemnation note also appealed the law enforcing held on July 23 at the Deputy Commissioner’s Office to agency to investigate the matter and take the necessary chalk out the programme for the day. Chief Medical Ofsteps at the earliest before the student community loses ficer Dimapur, MS, Civil Hospital Dimapur, representatives of Lion’s Club, Rotary Club, Indian Red Cross Society hope and confidence on the law enforcing agency.

Dimapur attended the meeting.

Mass social work drive

AKM condemns

Medical camp for border areas

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World Hepatitis Day

Kohima, July 23 (mExN): The HepCoN, Nagaland Users’ Network and Kripa Foundation is all set to observe World Hepatitis Day on July 28 under the theme “Think again.” Nagaland Legislative Assembly (NLA) speaker Chotisuh Sazo will grace the occasion as the chief guest.

The programme will take place at Hotel Japfu, Kohima at 10:00 AM Abou Mere, president Indian Drug Users Forum will talk on the theme “Think again” while HepCoN general

DC Mokokchung calls meeting

moKoKchuNg, July 23 (DiPR): An emergency meeting of all Heads of Offices of Mokokchung district will be held at ADC Planning conference Hall on July 25 (Friday) at 11:00 AM to discuss matter relating to forthcoming Independence Day celebration. DC Mokokchung, Murohu Chotso informed all the concern officers to attend the meeting without fail.

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REgional

The Morung Express

Thursday

24 July 2014

Dimapur

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I am from North East ... but I am not Mowgli!

Prantick Majumder IANS "Does the Rajdhani Express go to Assam?" I thought I had heard something wrong. When the question was repeated, I knew I heard it right. My blood came to a boil. But my conscience got the better of me as I realised that the person may genuinely not know much about Assam. I said instead: "No, the Rajdhani goes only till New Jalpaiguri. On the Assam-Bengal border, we get off and take a bullock cart!"

So pleased was I with my own terrible joke that I almost rolled on the floor laughing! I am from the northeast, from Assam, from Guwahati, but I am not Rudyard Kipling's Mowgli who was raised by wolves. Now a migrant in Delhi, I came in 2008 after landing a job in a reputed media organisation.

I come from a respected and well-known family in Guwahati. My grandfather was a lawyer. My father was a gold medal-winning professor at a Guwahati college.

My mother is from a family of businessmen which once

traded with Bhutan's king and small Hindu princely areas of Bangladesh.

I was born and brought up in Guwahati, studied in a missionary school with origins in Italy, and finally in a reputed 60-year-old local college. I completed my Master's from a fledgeling but promising central university in Tezpur, a town linked to Lord Krishna. The question posed to me about Rajdhani came from a Delhiite educated in Mumbai.

Ignorance about the northeast is indeed widespread. Some get stumped when I tell them I travel by air; do planes fly to remote, far-off northeast? A woman Assamese colleague from Dibrugarh was asked by a Delhiite if rhinoceros roam in her backyard!

Once a man from Nainital asked me if I could "arrange" some "exotic" northeastern woman for him. Needless to say the man has never dared to speak to me again.

My colleagues often pull my leg about how they would help Assam get 'independence' -- provided I

NEIFAR speaks out against Akha Salouni’s killing New Delhi, July 23 (MexN): The North East India Against Racism (NEIFAR) has spoken out against the brutal murder of Akha Salouni, a youth from Manipur, in New Delhi on July 21.

“The North East India community living in the national capital region is not new to such atrocities to their fellow brethren in the past. But the recent trend is not only worrying but gives a chill feeling as to why these are on increasing and consistent trend,” a press release from NEIFAR Convener David Boyes stated.

It went on to give an account of the fateful day’s happenings and stated that the northeast community is beginning to question if the mongoloid features was a problem or if the government and the ruling elites or law makers were still in denial that the acts are manifestations of a deeply rooted racist society. hand over all the rhinos, all oil fields, the mighty Brahmaputra, all the tea gardens plus all the timber! I reply by saying that after getting freedom, I will be the charge d'affaires of Assam in Delhi!

Jokes apart, my fellow northeasterners may

While questioning if lessons have been learned from fellow Indians being racially attacked in other countries and the way the country’s response to the attacks with strong anti racial laws, NEIFAR asked if the government was really serious of the situation. It questioned, “Does the government think that all the tokenistic - eye wash gestures are enough to console the afflicted generation of NE India?”

It recalled the January Nido Tania killing, the various promises made and measures taken since then by the government. The Ministry of Home Affairs constituted the Bezbaruah Committee to look into the concerns of the people hailing from NE living in the metro cities of India. The committee submitted its report on July 11.

NEIFAR stated it is monitoring developments to see MHA's first step of announcing to the public at large what they have received from the report.

hate me for what I am going to say now. I am an Assamese. Although my surname sounds Bengali, my original surname was "Majumder Baruah". How the "Baruah" got dropped is another story. I have not faced any discrimina-

NEIFAR further gave out a list of demands to the MHA some of which included ensuring Salouni Akha gets justice and compensated immediately; Declaration of the Bezbaruah Committee recommendations and setting up of a Committee to moinitor and advise the implementation of Bezburuah Committee reports and recommendations; Constitute expert legal team to draw up Anti Racial Law as recommended by the NEIFAR legal team; Resolve all the pending cases of NE People in various courts in Delhi NCR; Initiate wide circulation early warning against the attrocities and Racial Discrimination on NE People in local dailies and electronic media.

If the above measures were taken up on an urgent basis, it will instill some level of confidence and lead to address the short and long term root causes, NEIFAR stated.

tion through the six years I have been in Delhi. My colleagues give credit for that to my non-Mongoloid looks. I have lived for five years in South Extension in south Delhi where there is a literal flood of people from the northeast. I have

seen a few scuffles over the years but none involving a northeasterner.

In fact, my landlord, from Haryana, goes to great lengths to make me feel at home and has helped me on several occasions.

It was indeed a cultural

shock when I first arrived in Delhi. I found many people here were vegetarians, a fact difficult to digest for my fish, meat-eating persona.

Hence my roommate (also from Assam but a Bengali) and I always choose a house whose owner is not a strict vegetarian.

I have seen some northeasterners lie to the landlords, then flout the house rules by cooking even pork and beef. I don't drink.

Northeasterners unfortunately have a bad reputation in Delhi. Some here think we are all alcohol guzzlers and sleep around.

Yes, there are bad apples but they are in a minority.

You need two hands to clap. I think both the northeast community and the so-called Delhiites are to blame for the state of affairs in the capital vis-a-vis people from the northeast.

Many north Indians may lack knowledge about the northeast, but how many from the northeast can claim to know everything about the rest of India?

Then there is music.

While the Constitution al-

lows freedom of expression, can people (north Indians included) play loud music late into the night?

Northeasterners should remember that they are migrants in Delhi and are easily identifiable. While playing music is no crime, respect your neighbours.

While people in Delhi or so-called "mainstream India" have little exposure to the northeast, people from the "remote, far-flung" region also need to make adjustments to local realities. While northeasterners have been hit by crime in Delhi, thousands of people like me are earning their livelihood in peace.

Iagreethattherearetimes northeasterners are targeted.

But don't Punjabis and south Indians and Biharis also become victims of Delhi's notorious abrasiveness?

People from other regions may find it difficult to make friends among Delhiites. But instead of being cocooned within their own community, they should mingle with other people and educate them about their region.

Japanese Encephalitis claims 165 lives Tamenglong BRTF truck accident: COmPUTEr ACADEmy GuwAhAti, July 23 (Pti): A total of 165 persons have lost their lives in Assam due to Japanese Encephalitis and Acute Encephalitis Syndrome, prompting Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi to call an emergency meeting with health officials on Wednesday.

According to an official release, Gogoi held an emergency meeting to review the health scenario with senior officials in

the backdrop of outbreak of Japanese Encephalitis (JE) and Acute Encephalitis Syndrome (AES).

“Reviewing the health scenario in the backdrop of growing incidence of JE and AES in the state which has claimed 165 lives so far, Chief Minister Gogoi directed the health authorities to gear up on war-footing to control the diseases from spreading to newer areas,” the release said.

UNC calls 48 hour bandh iMPhAl, July 23 (NNN): With no action from the Central government to the five day ultimatum served by the United Naga Council (UNC), the council today announced a 48 hour bandh on vehicular movement in all the national highways in Naga areas in Manipur from midnight of July 24. Educational institutions, medical, power and water supply, postal service will be exempted from the purview of the bandh.

According to the UNC, on July 18, a memorandum was dispatched to the Prime Minister of India in which it had reiterated that the Government of India must expedite its intervention with an alternative arrangement, outside the Government of Manipur pending settlement of the Indo-Naga issue and also demanded the Government of India's intervention for revocation of the vitiating 144 CrPC, removal of the state forces including police commandos and Manipur IRB from 'Naga areas' and for ensuring that the Government of Manipur observes the

ground rules of the ceasefire in letter and spirit within five days time of that memorandum, which if not considered would be followed with further democratic civil actions.

While stating that the Naga people must remain alert to face any eventuality at this critical time and situation, UNC urged the public for their cooperation and solidarity towards their legitimate demands which is being deliberately ignored. Any persons violating the vehicular bandh will be doing so at their own risk, it warned.

UNC recalled the 24hour peaceful total bandh in Naga areas on July 16 in protest against the highly vitiated situation brought about by the Government of Manipur after promulgating Section 144 of CrPC in Ukhrul district headquarters in the wake of the unfortunate incident of July 12. "The sentiment of the Naga people on the militarization of Ukhrul town with the deployment of Manipur Police Commandos and the IRBs was demonstrated loud and clear," UNC stated.

St. Joseph’s College, Jakhama VaCaNCy

Walk-in Interview Applications are invited for a temporary teaching position in Sociology Qualification : M.A. (minimum) Preferred : Prior teaching experience For more information contact stjosephc@gmail.com or 9436437544

PUBLIC NOTICE This is for general information that the Land/Plot exist within the boundary demarcated and erected between neighbouring villages and Unity village is solely and final settlement. And all the land/ Plot/Nala that falls within Unity Village Jurisdiction is clear and under the proceeding of Village Council authority. Henceforth, the Village Council will not entertain any claims or representations in regard of Land/Plot/Nala without relevant documents given/Provided by previous (Sugar Mill Village) authority. This is in reference to the previous notification Dated 24-08-2004.

Further it is notify that all the Land patty holders to develop or construct Building/House within one year with effect from the date of issue of this notification, failing which all unattended plot/ Land shall be treated as cancelled.

(Nihoshe Chophy) Chairman Unity Village Council Unity 5th Mile, Dimapur

(Kivigho Zhimomi) Secretary Village Council 5th Mile, Dimapur

While AES accounted for 60 per cent of the cases covering 24 districts this year, JE was responsible for 40 per cent of the cases in mainly lower Assam districts, it said. Gogoi asked the officials to make a comprehensive action plan to control JE and AES, including setting up of an ICU in each district hospital for treatment of emergency cases along with and laboratory testing units, the release said.

JAC to take further action

iMPhAl, July 23 (NNN): The Joint Action Committee (JAC) against the tragic accident of BRTF truck on June 19 has decided to take up further course of agitation as no response has come forth from the road construction agency. On June 30 in its memorandum to the BRTF the JAC had served 15 ultimatums to compensate the victims of the accident.

According to the JAC, the

ill fated accident took place on June 19 between Irang and Khongsang of NH-37, when 7 persons were killed and 16 others injured due to the negligence of the BRTF 83-RCC management. It demanded compensation for the deceased and the injured, reimbursement against funeral and medical expenses and appointment to the next of kin of the deceased.

NAGALAND PUBLIC SERVICE COMMISSION KOHIMA

NO.NPSC/CON-35/2009::

Dated Kohima, the 22nd July, 2014

NOTIFICaTION

In view of the UPSC Civil Services (Preliminary) Examination 2014 scheduled to be held on 24th August 2014, the Nagaland Public Service Commission is to notify all the candidates that the NCS, NPS, NSS & Allied Services Main Examination 2014 scheduled to be held on 28th, 29th & 30th August 2014 is hereby postponed to 2nd, 3rd & 4th September 2014.

Sd/( SaRaH R. RITSE ) Secretary, Nagaland Public Service Commission, Kohima

( Near SBI Bazar Branch ) Dhobinala, Dimapur

DCA,PGDCA

BCA, B.Sc (IT )

BASIC, DIPLOMA, C, C++,

DTP and Many More

Experienced Faculties, Well Equiped Lab, 14 years in IT Education

GOVERNMENT OF NAGALAND

DIRECTORATE OF TECHNICAL EDUCATION NAGALAND: KOHIMA

NO.DTE/TECH-a/6/2011

Dt. Kohima, the 23rd July’2014

NOTIFICaTION

As notified earlier, the MHRD New Delhi has directed that counseling for Central supernumerary seats for Engineering courses through JEE (Main) will be conducted by the Central Seat Allocation Board (CSAB- NEUT 2014) only. All JEE (main) appeared candidates desirous for availing (MHRD) seat under state reserved quota are therefore requested to visit the website of CSAB NEUT-2014 at www.csab.nic.in/neut2014. Seat Allocation Schedule under CSAB NEUT2014 is as follows.

1. Online registration, filling up of choices starts on July 22, 2014.

2. Locking of choices closes on July 25, 2014, 5 PM. 3. 1st round of seat allocation- July 29, 2014.

4. Reporting at the Reporting Centre against 1st round of allotment- July 30 to Aug 2, 2014, 5 PM. 5. 2nd round of seat allotment- Aug 6, 2014.

6. Reporting at the Reporting Centre against 1st round of allotment- July 30 to Aug 2, 2014, 5 PM. Candidates who get seat allotment during the 1st or 2nd round should report to the Reporting Centre located at Directorate of Technical Education Nagaland, below New Secretariat Complex, Thizama Road, Kohima 797004, within the stipulated period for those rounds for taking provisional admission. Candidates are required to carry the original documents and one set of self-attested copies of all the documents for verification at the time of reporting to the Reporting Centre.

Candidates are required to submit one passport photograph identical to the one pasted on the JEE (Main) 2014 application form and Demand Draft of Rs. 2000/drawn in favour of ‘CSAB-MNIT Jaipur’, payable at Jaipur.

Note: If the original certificates are not in Hindi/English, duly certified Hindi/ English version translation of such certificates will be required at the time of reporting at Reporting Centre/Allotted Institute. (a. Kathipri) Director.

GOVERNMENT OF NAGALAND

NAGALAND STATE AIDS CONTROL SOCIETY NAGALAND : KOHIMA

NO.NSaCS/aDMN/ICTC/2012-13

/Dated Kohima, the 21st July 2014

aDVERTISEMENT

Applications are hereby invited from eligible candidates to fill up the following contractual posts under the establishment of Nagaland State AIDS Control Society, Kohima. The contract period will be initially up to 31st March 2015 with effect from the date of joining. The appointment will be renewed every year based on the performance and directives from National AIDS Control Organization (NACO).

Sl. No

1

Category

Pay Range

No. of posts

Lab. Technician

Rs. 13,000/P.M.

2

Qualification Place of posting & Experience • Diploma in Medical LaboICTC ratory Technol1. CHC Tobu ogy (MLT) from 2. CHC Longkhim a recognized University

General Instructions: (i) Two passport size photo. (ii) The post applied for should be clearly mentioned on top of the envelope. (iii) Applications in prescribed format with attested photocopy of certificates & experience must be received at NSACS on or before 30th July 2014 addressed to the Project Director, Nagaland State AIDS Control Society, Directorate of Health & Family Welfare, Kohima-797001 (iv) Prescribed format can be obtained from NSACS Office. (v) All columns are to be filled. If no information is to be given, please mention ‘NA’.

Any unfilled column will be understood as ‘nothing to say’. Experience, should include ‘pay drawn’ and ‘Employer’. (vi) All application includes a ‘declaration’ which should be signed. In case you fail to do so, the application will be rejected. (vii) The originals of relevant qualifications and experiences shall be produced at the time of written test or interview. (viii) The Society reserves the right to reject any application or cancel any position advertised without assigning any reason. Decision of the Society shall be final. (ix) Application which is not in the prescribed format will be rejected The names of the Candidates who fulfill the criteria will be put up in the NSACS Notice Board. There will be Written Test on 6th Aug 2014 and Oral Interview on 7th Aug 2014 respectively for the short listed candidates. No lobbying in any form will be entertained.

Sd/DR. L. WaTIKaLa Project Director

admission open

Ph: 03862-235365,9436060115

GOVERNMENT OF NAGALAND

DIRECTORATE OF TECHNICAL EDUCATION KOHIMA : NAGALAND

NO. DTE/ TECH-a/ 17/ 2014/

Dt. Kohima, the 23rd July, 2014.

ATTENTION ALL AIPMT 2014 APPEARED CANDIDATES FROM NAGALAND!!!!!

Since none of the bona fide candidates from Nagaland who had appeared in AIPMT 2014 could secure the minimum qualifying marks of 40% as required by the Medical Council of India (MCI) for admission to MBBS & BDS courses, the Government of Nagaland has decided to conduct Nagaland State Pre Medical Test (NSPMT) on the 9th August 2014 under the following terms and conditions: i) Only those Indigenous Naga candidates who have taken the AIPMT 2014 will be eligible to take the NSPMT ii) AIPMT 2014 candidates who have already accepted and taken their nomination letters for any other allied courses like B.Sc Agri, BvSc &AH, B.Sc. Horti, etc will not be eligible to take the NSPMT 2014 iii) Merit list will be made on the basis of weightage given to marks obtained in the AIPMT and NSPMT in the ratio of 60:40 % respectively while incorporating 100 point placement reservation policy approved by the State Government. iv) Candidates securing less than 40% marks in the NSPMT will not be eligible for nomination to MBBS/ BDS seats. v) NSPMT will be conducted by Nagaland Board of School Education (NBSE) in the same pattern and curriculum as AIPMT and will incorporate negative marking.

Now therefore, all eligible candidates desirous of taking the Nagaland State Pre Medical Test (NSPMT) may collect fresh application form free of cost from the office of the Directorate of Technical Education below New Secretariat Complex Thizama Road, Kohima from 24th till the 31st July 2014. They must, however, produce a Xerox/photocopy of AIPMT result card as proof of having appeared AIPMT 2014. Alternatively, the application form may be downloaded from www.dtenagaland.org.in and printed in white A4 size paper and in which case Xerox/ photocopy of AIPMT result card should be produced while submitting the application form. Filled-in application forms will be accepted in the office of the undersigned till and no later than 4.00pm of 31st July 2014. Applications through post will not be entertained nor accepted.

The venue of examination and issue of admit cards will be notified separately

by NBSE. (a. KaTHIPRI) Director.

4

Dimapur

public discoursE

Thursday 24 July 2014

The Morung Express

NSCN (IM) states its position on current events

S

erious and coordinated efforts need be put in if the current peace process is to be preserved by all section of the Nagas and all peace denied peoples all over, no matter their present locations. Consequences of disruption will definitely engulf much larger area of unrest not only in the region but peace-targeted efforts in the long run for the Government of India. War-like situations promulgated by Manipur state government in Ukhrul district is clearly distinguishable calculation aimed at incapacitating the current India-Naga peace initiative. Backsliding from earlier commitment to peace and enduring negotiated settlement by GOI will be accountable for outbreak of whole sale deterioration of peace processes staked by strategy be-set sections all over India.

As a matter fact, incessant bomb attacks, assassinations, encounters, mock ambushes and fake skirmishes in Imphal valley resulting to unnumbered deaths, casualties and psychological disturbances are matter of exercises on daily basis. Surges of such state police actions are motivated and propelled. Indian leadership may be committed for every peace initiative and settlement in different parts of the subcontinent; but when swayed and overwhelmed by propaganda and misdirected sectors, the ultimate always slams down to inflict and disrupt all alike because when force is marshalled in, there is little opportunity for reason to guide. Manipur state is endemic of this kind of management. People-based leaders should be made aware of the flip side of active media stories doing their jobs every day here and there. Many of them are stories from an entirely dissimilar story.

If GOI is devoted to, as a gigantic democracy in the world and acclaimed Land of Ahimsa, Mr Okram Ibobi Singh and his cabinet colleagues should be directed to stop advancing incursion into lands of forest people known as ‘tribal areas.’ Defined territories or habitats of indigenous peoples owned, managed and controlled by the ‘first settlers since time im-

memorial, are being forcibly acquisitioned in the name of ‘new land use policy,’ ‘village development council’, state territorial integrity and vice versa. These so called ‘Tribal hill Areas’ have remained almost totally disfellowshiped and exploited in terms of highly lopsided fund distribution since Manipur attained statehood in 1972. While Indian ‘Look East Policy’ and its allied economic activities, security concerns apart, are being intensified, the indigenous major stake holders still remain uninformed since there is no policy partnership in the power sharing and decision making corridor. Acquisition of 600 hectares in Chandel district of Manipur through coercion and coordination of some unscrupulous individuals in the name of Autonomous District Council and land-grapping policies have completely denied the so called tribal peoples from the Universally declared rights to which India is a signatory. Defying their ‘free and prior consent’ in the matter of land and resources ownership has virtually reduced these ‘tribal’ to pauperisation.

Spurt of despicable and violent situations and chain of unrest is already pronounced by the political activities and protective exploitation policy of Okram Ibobi Singh in Manipur state. Meiteis’ staunch loyalty to Indian Constitution is their right and their job; it doesn’t nevertheless amount to reduction of officially agreed modalities at the Indian Prime Minister level that “The Talk is between two separate entities.” Unilateral abrogation of treaty signed between two politically opposed parties will never warrant negotiated settlement no matter the shrewd management of Okram Ibobi Singh and few ‘so called tribal representatives.’

Dastardly statements of some vested quarters saying that the current cease fire between the Nagas and GOI does not cover Manipur have bolstered the war-like situation in Ukhrul today. However, in the event following deliberate retraction from the declared cease fire will surely jeopardise greater interest of peace initiatives in the region and, the subcontinent at

large. This is the concern of Naga people.

NSCN leadership is deeply committed to bargaining peace with Union Government of India. But when leadership at the helm deliberately backtracks from the commitment on cease fire coverage, it is not only politically reproachful; it disgracefully insults the Indian Defence community. Fierce and nasty fighting in other parts of Naga inhabited areas had been fought resulting to loss of hundreds of decorated Indian army officials apart from many contemptible repercussions and casualties. Uncontrolled military actions christened as ‘Operation Blue Bird’ following raid and huge cache of arms and ammunitions from one Assam Rifles station in Manipur Oinam village by NSCN, the ambush of 21 Sikh Regiment at Namthilok between Imphal and Ukhrul district Headquarters in 1982 killing scores and so called total sanitization exercises unleashing horror and one of the most heinous atrocities meted out on civil population; other such military campaigns following encounters and fights and their backlashes; to all these aftermaths apart, hundreds both of Indian security forces and Naga armies have died fighting in Manipur sector. Don’t both Manipur state government and Union Government sponsor the same total disruption of normal life involving immeasurable human rights violations should fighting resumes and talk peace in present Nagaland state? What a ridiculous announcement to declare cease fire being operative in the state of Nagaland only! How far the entire populations in Manipur away from that kind of situation are is imaginable as follow-ups of rollback. Manipur state is corruption be-set and is reeling under highly militarized conditions.

Movements for repeal of draconian laws such as ASPA and endless protests against most loathsome police actions sanctioned by its own lawmakers are the state of affairs today.

Accusation of certain anti-corruption organization against using immigrants, this bureau is constrained to say that inviting impartial

participation from all over-sea friends and support groups (non-Naga) to peacefully resolve the longest pent-up case between the Nagas and imposing forces is not unlawful or against greater peace initiative. Any non-Naga or foreigner for that matter, who is a Naga ideological comrade and committing oneself to a universal common issue, should not be termed ‘against the very grain of Naga National principles’.Naga home front, with reference to Dimapur, is on the brink of being swarmed by immigrants calculatingly planted by some personal profit-oriented individuals as well as state politicians to expand their vote banks. The unabated trend of influx portending serious economic, social and political upheavals tomorrow is matter of not mere rash accusation; it invites active, coherent efforts on the part of all stake holders of indigenous peoples on war footing.

Statement of NK Singh, Chairman CFMG saying “cease fire with NSCN-IM is under considerable stress” and reiteration of “cease fire confined within Nagaland,” etc, is unfortunate and therefore, does not fall in line with the shared search for peace. Maintenance of cease fire-friendly environment has been under stress right from the day following revision of the whole text of cease fire ground rules.

Evidences testifying infringements of agreed rules are being maintained by both parties engaged. It is this defined purpose that monitoring mechanism was put in place. But when notorieties committed by parties concerned are utilized to derail the whole caravan, the motive is discernible; and the purpose gets not only stressed but served to implement other object. It is regrettable that instead of accommodative discussion across table to curb recurrences, full blast announcement through media indicates immaturity and ulterior ambition given the seriousness of the peace initiatives and result of eventualities following end of peace course. NSCN is bereft of malice towards the Chairman.

MIP, GPRN

Rejoinder to “Retrospection on Peace and Reconciliation”

T

his is a rejoinder to the article titled, ‘’Retrospection on peace & reconciliation’’ written by a so called Mr. Thomas who calls himself a Member of NNC which was published in Nagaland Post on the 20th and 21st of July, 2014. Though quite a detailed narrative on the subject of ‘Naga peace and reconciliation’ there seems to be no head or tail.

And in the first place a reply of this kind may be avoidable but certain issues need to be clarified owing to problems of truth and validity.

One thing most readers may not be aware is the fact that Mr. Thomas’s real name is Mr. W. Shapwon from Heimi Naga tribe (under Myanmar), married to a Khiamniungan lady and was settled for a long time in the Khiamniungan region, presently serving as the Joint Secretary of NNC and settled in Thailand. He has been writing articles under the assumed name of Thomas.

It may be noted that prior to August 1994, Mr. W. Shapwon/Thomas

was strongly opposed to and vocal about the Shillong Accord and the Transit Peace Camp. In August, 1994, on one of his hunting trips in Eastern Nagaland, he was attacked by a bear that left him badly injured, and he was brought by some good Khiamniungan people with great difficulty to Kohima for proper medical care. After his recovery, he joined the Transit Peace Camp which he was vehemently opposed to earlier. Though he has been living in Thailand for about 4(four) years, his wife and children continue to live in the Kohima Transit Peace Camp.

Firstly, on the issue of a Naga leader holding an Indian passport, though undesirable due to lack of option whenever the need arise many of the veteran National workers have gone abroad with the Visa and Passport of the occupational forces. Some of our National leaders continue to live abroad, and on that basis where do they get their passport? In this case, the issue of Madam Adinno’s passport is also

called into question or for that matter, Mr. W. Shapwon/ Thomas himself, who is settled in Thailand, as to what passport he is having?

Secondly, only a person with a dictatorial mind-set would come up with such a preposterous idea as was presented in his write up and say his ‘suggestion’ was not taken into consideration by the FNR. Mr. W. Shapwon/ Thomas should be aware that a confused person like him with a dual personality cannot dictate the FNR. Individuals with his kind of mentality, only tends to confuse and further divide the people while the need of the hour is to do away with the dissensions amongst ourselves. Mr. Thomas/W. Shapwon’s assertion that the NNC/ FGN did not attend the meeting in Atlanta in 1997 as ‘FGN leaders did not want to travel on Indian passport’ is not true, the Kedahge of FGN, Brig.(Retd) S. Singnya authorized two NNC/FGN representatives to attend the Atlanta Peace and Unity meet in 1997.

_

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 # 2945

Thirdly, what moral right has Mr. Thomas to term the NNC/FGN led by Brig. (Retd) S. Singnya as illegitimate? Is it because it denounces the Shillong Accord and the Transit Peace Camp? To put the record straight, the FNR is in no way, ‘manipulating’ and ‘nurturing’ the NNC/FGN. On the contrary, the NNC/FGN is giving its full support to the effort of the FNR, appreciating the great sacrifice of all the members of the FNR in trying to unite the Naga people.

Does Mr. W. Shapwon/Thomas need to be reminded of the mistakes he had committed and how his life was saved by the intervention of Brig.

(Retd) S. Singnya? Does Mr. W. Shapwon/Thomas have to be reminded of the kindness shown to him by the Khiamniungan people in his time of trouble? He is like a snake, a thankless person criticizing the people who helped and saved him. Is a person like him with dual-personality fit to be called a leader?

Mr. W. Shapwon/Thomas

should stop contradicting himself.

Firstly, on the one hand, he calls the NSCN leaders as renegade leaders and on the other hand suggests the FNR to “Invite the leaders from the Khaplang group, Muivah-Isak faction... I will attend the meeting on behalf of Eastern Nagas but not representing the NNC, ...”. Secondly, to quote him again, “But our suggestion was to hold a meeting in our homeland, instead of going to abroad on Indian passports which we don’t want to do as we are Naga National leaders and not Indians.”

And today he is settled in a foreign country still calling himself a Naga leader. Thirdly, if Mr. W. Shapwon/ Thomas considers himself as a real leader he should have the guts to write using his real name and designation instead of writing under an assumed name.

Thungem Khiamniungan Secretary to Kedahge, Federal Government of Nagaland.

DAILY CROSS WORD

CROSSWORD # 2951

Wither Tribalism

I

n the distant past, Nagas lived in their own villages as free people and not as tribal people. The early Nagas were first recognized and called as tribal people by the European explorers. Thus, Nagas became part of the global tribal family which Nagas themselves were quite unaware of it. The British India Government gave safeguards to the tribal people from exploitation by non-tribals through various notifications and regulations. After independence, the Nagas were notified as Scheduled Tribes/areas in the Constitution of India.

Naga society is a complex tribal society divided mostly on linguistic and indistinct topographic lines. Naga society is deeply interwoven on tribal tenets so much so that, everything seems to move on tribal line. Tribes were given official recognition for positive development on all fronts. But Nagas have used it for negative means and ends. Almost everything has been shared on proportionate tribal distribution formula. Tribalism sentiment has become so prominent, especially on educational and employment domains due to educational gap. There have been resentments and ill-feelings.

The Naga society has been sharply divided on forward and backward line.

Feelings of alienation, suspicion, exploitation and discrimination has brewed over the years and become prominent recently. These feelings have led the Nagas to develop deep ‘ism’ against one another that often erupted into violent confrontations on tribal lines. Tribalism captures the centre-stage when it comes to any conflict. Tribalism has not spared even church or the civil societies.

In recent past, polarization of electoral politics and governance on tribal lines has posed dangerous threat to the harmony and peace to Naga society. Nagaland’s politics have become tribe-centric. The emergence of tribes and sub-tribes conglomeration in the principle of common interest has not only been disturbing but also alarming. The Nagas seem headed for self-destruction because of our own folly on narrow tribalism.

Today, the Nagas stand on the threshold of disintegration due to these many seen and unseen forces. This needs to be arrested from its malignant progress. Only then, Nagas can hope for love, unit, peace and progress.

The need of the hour is to do away with tribalism. We have to shun tribalism if we want to survive and live as one people. The intellectual section of the Nagas should shed their tribal colours first and take it as personal responsibilities to enlighten the larger uniformed section of Nagas on the dangers of narrow tribalism. The call is for systematic campaign against tribalism. The challenge requires a political will, which alone will be able to give the right direction and determined effort.

Wither tribalism! Save Nagaland!

DIMAPUR Civil Hospital:

Imkong L Imchen, MLA

STD CODE: 03862

Metro Hospital: Faith Hospital: Shamrock Hospital Zion Hospital: Police Control Room Police Traffic Control East Police Station West Police Station CIHSR (Referral Hospital) Dimapur hospital Apollo Hospital Info Centre: Railway: Indian Airlines Chumukedima Fire Brigade Nikos Hospital and Research Centre Nagaland Multispecialty Health & Research Centre

Answer Number # 2944

KOHIMA

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

232224; Emergency229529, 229474 227930, 231081 228846 228254 231864, 224117, 227337 228400 232106 227607 232181 242555/ 242533 224041, 248011 230695/9402435652 131/228404 229366 282777 232032, 231031 248302, 09856006026

STD CODE: 0370

Northeast Shuttles

100/2244279 2222222 2222111 2222952 2222916 2243339 2224202

PINK RED SKYBLUE GREEN PURPLE ORANGE TURQUOISE AMBER BROWN WHITE BEIGE BLACK YELLOW GOLDEN LIME FUSHIA GRAY SILVER LAVENDER SAGE HEATHERBLUE MINTGREEN CHARCOAL

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U K C P D E B V J Z W L A R T Y O R I R

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R O R N P V Y P Z B J H F X F U X B E H

Y G O L Q X F E E L P R U P U Y P V T Q

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C V O J D K A G Q A R Q S K Y B L U E T

V G G E V V I I Q C F O H Q B I R H G A

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E A F R J N P X K Z Q Z I E I L A Y O G

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LOCAL

The Morung Express

Thursday 24 July 2014

NcP Nagaland responds to bJP

Dimapur, July 23 (mExN): The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) today responded to a recent statement by the Nagaland BJP wherein the latter had stated that “erstwhile NCP MLA’s are already full fledged BJP members.” Reacting to the BJP statement, the NCP stated that a final decision by the NLA Speaker is still awaited. “It is indecent for the BJP which has already embarked on a slogan for providing good governance to be so keen in owning up defectors from NCP,” said a press note from NCP Nagaland.

The three former NCP MLAs - Imtilemba Sang-

tam, Dr TM Lotha and Mmhonlumo Kikon, along with a few party officials had “claimed” to have merged with BJP on June 16. Subsequently the Speaker’s Office wrote to the three MLA’s to provide copies of resolution of NCP (National) to merge with BJP or any authorization to the State Unit of the NCP to take such action, “which could not be furnished.”

In this regard, the NCP stated that its national president, Sharad Pawar had written to the Speaker on June 19 that there is no resolution to merge with the BJP and that all three MLA’s have been suspend-

ed from NCP for “deserting the party without resigning.” The Speaker’s office also wrote to both National and State Presidents of NCP and BJP to cite legal authority in terms of provisions in the Constitution of India and Constitution of respective political parties which confers competence of the Nagaland State Units to merge as claimed.

Accordingly, the State Unit of NCP replied that as per Sub-paragraph (1) of paragraphs 4 of the Tenth Schedule, a merger must emanate from the original party (NCP) with another political party first. And thereafter, members of the legislature

party may claim that they have become members of another political party.

The NCP stated that the functioning of the original party (NCP) is evidenced from the statements of former president Imtilemba Sangtam on June 15, “when he told media persons that NCP will remain as a party with one MLA (L. Khumo) and the remaining Party Officials.” It further stated that Amanbo Renta, General Secretary, NCP Youth Wing, “has withdrawn his support and signature from the alleged merger, stating that he has been misled into assuming that it was a collective deci-

sion.” “Therefore, the claim presented to the Speaker without the original party merging with another political party is ill founded,” it added.

The NCP reminded that the MLAs concerned had signed an undertaking that they will neither indulge in anti-party activities nor defect to any political party if elected, on the basis of which they were issued NCP tickets and successfully returned by their electorates. On the advice of its Central office, NCP Nagaland had filed individual petitions to the Speaker seeking disqualification of the three MLA’s.

The NCP stated that it is “unable to understand the reasons behind the actions of the three MLA’s…”

Asserting that the party believes in the rule of law and that the Anti Defection law is in force to check this sort of unprincipled moves by elected Law Makers, the NCP stated that till the Speaker pronounces his decision, “it is premature and improper for the BJP to say that the three MLA’s are full fledge BJP Legislators.” The NCP further reminded that the Speaker has already stated that they “shall be considered as NCP MLA’s in the current Assembly Session.”

Indian Army Jawan from NE community in Delhi share grievances with Gov PB Acharya DElhi, July 23 the latest killing of a man but we all are equal. You guages of the region. “Our Nagaland killed in Jammu NEw should be very happy to be dialect and regional lan(mExN): Governor of Na- from Manipur. galand, and Tripura PB Acharya was felicitated today by the students and various communities of North East in Delhi at Nagaland House, New Delhi.

A press release from PRO, Nagaland House informed that the students and representatives raised many issues and apprised the Governor on the recent and past racism and atrocities meted out to the North East communities and also

Indian Army officers pay tribute to Naik Mongchon P in Akhnoor on July 23.

Kohima, July 23 (mExN): A Naga man, serving in the Indian Army, lost his life while eliminating an infiltration bid in Pallanwala sector of Akhnoor, Jammu & Kashmir on July 22. A tribute ceremony was held for Naik Mongchon P on July 23 at Akhnoor, where wreaths were placed on his mortal remains by General Officer Commanding, White Knight Corps; General Officer Commanding, Crossed Swords Division; Station Commander, Akhnoor; and other officers.

A press release from PRO Defence, Lt Col Emron Musavi informed that on the solemn occasion, as a mark of respect to

the martyr, “Reversing of Arms” was carried out by the guards, followed by sounding of “Last Post” by the buglers. The ceremony was attended by a large number of officers, Junior Commissioned Officers and Jawans in Akhnoor.

The General Officer Commanding, White Knight Corps has expressed his deepest condolences to the bereaved family, it said.

Mongchon P was a resident of Aniangan village in Tuensang district. He is survived by his mother.

His mortal remains will be brought to his native village, where his last rites will be performed with full Military honours, the release added.

Many of them shared positive suggestions for long term solution to such action and urgent need of the hour for NE community in the capital as well as other parts of the country, the release said.

According to the note, the Governor strongly condemned the violence against North East community in the capital and other parts. He said, “We are not at the mercy of someone,

Stolen vehicles seized from NSCN (IM) Brigadier’s house; DUCCCF condemns Dimapur, July 23 (mExN): The DUCCCF (Dimapur Urban Colony Council Chairmen Federation) has condemned in strongest term the seizure of stolen vehicles and vehicle number plates from the house of one Levi a.k.a Asu Tangkhul, Brigadier, NSCN (IM) at Padumpukhuri ‘B’.

A press release from DUCCCF Media Cell informed that in a major breakthrough, the Dimapur East Police Station team arrested two vehicle thieves, Ghutoka Zhimo and Inaka Achumi and recovered seven vehicle number plates and two vehicles, a Tata PickUp and a Bolero from the mentioned place. The

number plate of Bolero vehicle, NL-07- 9600, belonging to Aketo Zhimo, Chairman of Dr. Haralu Colony and Executive Member of DUCCCF was also recovered from the house, it said.

The DUCCCF expressed shock and aghast that “the house of a senior figure from the NPG could be used as a place to keep stolen vehicles and most probably as staging post to modify, tamper and re-sell these vehicles.”

DUCCCF has asked the higher ups of the NSCN (IM) to clarify on the matter “since the residence of its senior func-

& tally in Zunheboto on May 27. Altogether 30 participants attended the programme.

Public SPace Life Consumer Society & RTI Dimapur District

A

have every right to approach the District (Assistant Controller Legal Metrology and consumer protection office or Inspector) 3. Every commodity in packaged form, which without the purchaser being present is placed in a package of whatever nature, whether seal or not, so that the product contained therein has a predetermined quantity is under the purview of Legal Metrology Acts and Rules made thereunder.

4. As per the packaged commodities rule, the registration as packer under

the package commodities Rule are Permitted to reliable in the packaged commodities and they are not allowed to release the imported packaged commodities in the market, for sale without reliable.

5. There is no provision to declare expire date in commodities under Legal Metrology Act and Rules made there under.

6. The registration of packer for manufacturer of packaged commodities and importer is mandatory.

Pradip Sethi Vice President

Vitoho Press Secretary

tionary has been used to engage in anti-social activities.” Also, it urged the NSCN (IM) not to hamper Dimapur Police and allow it to interrogate Brig. Levi Tangkhul as part of its investigation to unearth the racket.

“In case the DUCCCF is convinced that the case is not proceeding as per the law, or hindrance is being created, DUCCCF would be forced to take matters into its own hands and it’ll not hesitate to treat this as law and order problem irrespective of Brig. Levi Tangkhul’s involvement in the case,” it warned.

guage should be promoted for the interest of our great nation.”

Some of the community members who had either been assaulted or harassed also met the Governor and shared their grievances.

The Governor extended financial help to those people who were physically assaulted and harassed.

Around 100 students and representatives attended the programme.

Corrigendum Apropos the news item "GPRN/NS CN condemns AR raid", MIP, GPRN/NSCN has clarified that the name of the Deputy Kilonser cum Chairman (Caretaker), Chakhesang Region, should read as "Kevepfolo (Kevi)" and not as rendered (Kevetsolo). It has expressed regret for the error.

5

Mex FIle Dimapur Police arrest two NSCN (IM) cadres Dimapur, July 23 (mExN): Dimapur Police Special Operations Team arrested two NSCN (IM) cadres on July 22 from New Market for “extortion” and seized number of illegal documents from their possession.

Addl. Superintendent of Police/PRO in a press release informed that the two were found "threatening and issuing illegal work permit issued by the NSCN (IM) to the businessmen, mostly non-local, at New market and were forcibly collecting Rs. 230/- per permit from the business owners." The illegal work permits totaling 27 (twenty seven) and cash amounting to Rs. 22,400/- were recovered and seized from their possession, he stated.

The arrested have been identified as Isakha Achumi (20) and Taliyanger (35). In this connection, a case was registered at East Police Station and investigation is in progress, according to the release.

Modern College freshers social Kohima, July 23 (mExN): The Modern College Kohima is all set to celebrate its 17th fresher’s social on July 26 at the college auditorium, located near SBI, Lerie branch at 10:00 AM.

PAPO to take action against substitute teachers mEluri, July 23 (mExN): The Phokhungri Area Public Organisation (PAPO) held CEC meeting on July 22 at Meluri and passed a resolution as per the government's directive that, no substitute teachers will be allowed to practice within its jurisdiction from August 1, 2014. Therefore, the PAPO, President Krutu and Jt. Secy Ase Perry have requested those teachers who are keeping substitutes to resume their classes personally without fail on or before August 1, "failing which the Organisation will take severe action."

Kohima police arrest six Kohima, July 23 (mExN): Kohima Police on July 20 arrested one person while he was serving demand slips of NNC (Non Accordist) to shops and stores at PR Hill Kohima. A press release from Sub Divisional Police Officer, Kohima informed that the arrested person has been identified as SS. Lieut Vito Achumi (27), resident of BOC Area, Kohima. A case has been registered at South Police Station for investigation, it said. Meanwhile, on July 22 at around 11:30 pm, Police personnel manning Phesama Police check post intercepted one vehicle (Winger - R/No. AS-01 DD8018), which was reported lost from Dispur, Assam.

Accordingly, the SDPO said, the vehicle was seized and five occupants were detained. They were identified as Kakito Chophi (22), Nchum Kikon (27), Md. Rajen Singh (37), Md. Babloo (32), and Y. Arjun (30).

The seized vehicle and detained persons have been forwarded to the court to enable the Assam Police to carry out necessary formalities in securing their custody, the release added.

Mass social work in Dimapur on July 26 Dimapur, July 23 (mExN): Christ for the City International – Nagaland, along with churches and mission organizations in Dimapur, in collaboration with the District Adminis-

tration Dimapur is organizing a mass social work from 5:00 am onwards on July 26.

Therefore, Deputy Commissioner N Hushili Sema has requested all the general public to participate

in the social work for the betterment and beautification of the city. Further, she informed that all shops are to remain closed till 9:00 am on the aforementioned date.

‘Spiritual Awakening Hindi teachers agree to accept two months’ Program’ in Jakhama salary; teachers asked to resume duties

Kohima, July 23 (mExN): The Jakhama Baptist Church is organizing a three day ‘Spiritual Awakening Program’ for students residing in and around St. Joseph’s College, Jakhama with the theme: “Kingdom of God” from July 25 to 27 at Christian Fellowship Zhodi, Jakhama A press release from the church’s Pastor Rev. Zapovil Sophie informed that the program will be held with Dr. Kethoser Kevichusa, Ministry Associate of Ravi Zacharia International Ministries Life focus Society, and Rev. Dr. Mechiehol Savi, Co-Ordinator for Indian Institute of Entrepreneurship, Guwahati in collaboration with Paragon Self Help Group School Education NBCC, organized an entrepreneurship & skill development programme on computer accountancy as speakers for worship ser-

wareness to packer under Package Commodities Rule: 1. MRP means Maximum Retail Price inclusive of all taxes, should be printed on package.

2. Always mention carefully on the packaged commodities: a. Name and Address of the Packer b. Name of the Goods c. Net Quantity in the packages d. Month & year of packing e. In case, the packages do not carry the above referred information, consumers

born from the North East Region of our country.”

Further, he suggested there should be college and university linkages, where Nagaland colleges and University can have exchange programmes with other universities in other cities like Delhi University, Jawaharlal Nehru University, Jamia Millia Islamia University and other universities in the country, especially on dialect and lan-

Dimapur

vices. The registration fee for the event is Rs.10/- per head and registration is limited.

Jakhama Baptist Church dedicated Christian Fellowship Zhodi, an inter-denominational Christian fellowship mainly for the students of St. Joseph’s College, Jakhama, and non-local families residing in Jakhama, together with Saho Memorial Hostel, opened recently in the same location as a mission project in commemoration of the centennial jubilee which was celebrated in 2005. The Fellowship building is mainly to conduct worship services, prayer meetings etc. particularly for those staying at Jakhama, the press release stated.

Kohima, July 23 (mExN): The 1379 Hindi teachers appointed under Centrally Sponsored Scheme (CSS) during 2012-13 have agreed to accept salary of two months (March & April 2014) as per the directive issued by Finance Department.

The representatives of 1379 Hindi teachers (2012-13 batch) along with All Nagaland Hindi Teacher’s Union central body office bearers had spoken with the Parliamentary Secretary for School Education on July 23 regarding the implementation of 6th ROP and arrears of 1379 CSS Hindi

teachers appointed during the year 2012-13.

The parliamentary secretary assured that the implementation of 6th ROP for 1379 CSS Hindi teachers will be discussed with the allotment of new budget from MHRD, informed a press release issued by Hindi Teachers (2012-13 batch) Convenor Kekhrieneilie Tsikhano and Secretary Nelson Yhokha.

According to the note, the parliamentary secretary also assured of taking the matter seriously and securing the service of the 1379 Hindi teachers for their future. “With his valu-

able concern towards the Hindi teachers and intervention of ANHTU central body office bearers, the 1379 Hindi teacher’s have agreed to accept the two (2) months’ salary (March & April 2014) as published in daily local newspapers

by Finance Department on 18th July 2014.”

Therefore, all DDO’s concerned have been requested to release the salary of CSS Hindi teachers as per the order passed by the Finance Department at the earliest and all the CSS Hindi teachers have been asked to resume their duties and revoke the ongoing agitation.

CondolenCe Messages PAPO

The Phek Area Public Organization (PAPO) has also mourned the demise of Rev. DN. Soho.

A condolence note appended by PAPO President Vezhiehu Vero stated that Rev. Soho was a man of vision, principle, high integrity and a dynamic spiritual leader.

Describing the absence of Rev. Soho as a great loss to the PAPO, PTBC, Chakhesang community in all aspects, Vero added that his death has created a big vacuum. He further termed Soho as a mentor of the Organization and stated PAPO would

never forget his immense contributions to PAPO. Sharing grief and sorrow with the bereaved family members, PAPO also prayed for his soul rest in peace.

PCF

The Phekmi Collegiate Forum (PCF) has expressed shock and pain over the demise of Rev. DN Soho. Late Rev. DN Soho was a pioneer member who engineered the formation of Phekmi Collegiate Forum with an aim to encourage upcoming members to pursue education for overall growth, the Forum said.

A visionary leader, Rev. DN Soho worked zealously to promote growth in all fronts and has always been a forerunner in reaching out to the youth through various seminars and workshops, it added.

The forum acknowledged that the late reverend was also highly revered for his strong messages as a spiritual leader. “A towering prayer warrior himself, late Reverend will always be fondly remembered as ‘peoples reverend’.” It further stated that Rev. Soho was also an intellect who worked tirelessly in various platforms and was

looked up to as a guide and counseller by many organizations in difficult times. “His demise has cost the PCF family dearly and left a vacuum which can never be filled.”

The PCF while sharing pain and grief of the bereaved family prayed that God would grant them strength to bear the loss and also extended heartfelt condolences to them.

Sohonumi Clan, Phek

Expressing shock at the passing of its member Rev. DN Solo, the Sohonumi clan, Phek said that

the deceased was a man of high moral integrity.

The clan Chairman Kuveluta and general secretary Kuzhovesa, on behalf of the clan, has expressed heartfelt pain over the demise. Stating, that Rev. Soho’s death has created a huge loss to the clan in particular and the whole society in general, the Sohonumi clan honoured him for the benevolent deeds and contributions to the clan during his life time. Praying for his soul to rest in peace, the clan also prayed that the spirit of solace and comfort be with wife, children and whole relatives.

The Morung Express is introducing “Public Space” as part of our intention to provide deliberate space for the opinions of the people to be expressed and heard through this newspaper.

Nonetheless, The Morung Express points out that the opinions expressed in the contents published in the “Public Space” do not reflect the views and position of the newspaper or the editor.

6

The Power of Truth

The Morung Express THursDAy 24 July 2014 volumE IX IssuE 201

GueST edIToRIAl Chingya luithui

T

RACISM

he killing of Shaloni in New Delhi just a few days back has yet again brought to the fore the issue of violence directed against people from Northeast in the capital.

Much of the discussion on such crimes, by people of the North East itself as well as people from other parts of the country, presently as well as in the past, in print and social media have mostly been articulations about the racist nature of such violence. While this is true, unfortunately not much attention is given to understanding the likely cause of such types of attacks. If one is to figure out what needs to be done to reduce the likelihood of similar attacks happening in the future, understanding the cause is vital.

This may not be a very easy task because racism does not exist in isolation. It is a very complex, multi-layered, multi-dimensional issue. Because, at its core racism is a doctrine of hatred based on feelings of superiority, it exist hand in hand with class divisions, religious antipathy, casteism, gender bias or other forms of prejudice. At the same time, violence based on racism is different from other kinds of violence because it is an attack on the very core of a person’s essence as a human being; it is an attack based on the natural attributes of identity, origin, nationality, ethnicity or physical features etc.

In this regard, another important aspect that is missing from most discussions is the psychological impact of such violence or even just the threat or fear of such violence. As evidenced by the response of the state, particularly police forces, only physical violence is recognised as an attack; others such as the persistent harassment through lewd comments, the overt gawking, abusive language, charging higher house rents or even auto-fare etc are not recognised as problems that stems from racism. However these are intrinsically linked and are glaring symptoms and manifestations of the deep institutionalisation and internalisation of racism against people from the Northeast.

All these point to the need to expand the discussion beyond racism to one that includes discrimination. Racism is necessarily discrimination.

There is also a need for people of the Northeast to come out of the self-defeating sense of victimhood to one of active actors who can change the prejudicial attitudes of others. Then, perhaps the most important, there is a need for Northeasterners to introspect and reflect upon their own attitude towards people of other race, ethnicity, or origin; maybe this will shine the way toward offering solutions to others.

(Feedbacks, suggestions, and comments can be mailed to chinxwrites@gmail.com)

lEfT wiNg |

Nathan Schneider Waging Nonviolence

From Ellsberg to Snowden -From Risks To Hacks

S

IN-FOCUS

haring the stage with a video feed of Edward Snowden, Pentagon Papers leaker Daniel Ellsberg noted that the new generation of whistleblowers has improved his reputation. Government officials and others seeking to discredit Snowden and Chelsea Manning have claimed Ellsberg’s historic leak as more legitimate than, and somehow different in kind from, the leaks of the new generation. Ellsberg of course rejected such claims as ridiculous and intentionally misleading. He emphasized the similarities, and also cited all sorts of ways in which the recent leaks have been even more daring than his.

In the course of their conversation, however, differences between the two figures did emerge, and maybe those differences say something about the rest of us. “Technology enables dissent,” Snowden postulated at the start of the dialogue, which took place at the tenth Hackers on Planet Earth conference, or HOPE X, in New York City. He warned against the tendency to “sleepwalk into new protocols, into new applications” and implored the geek-heavy audience to “encode our rights into the protocols you write.” He also called for hackers to help “shift the ground of technical literacy” in society as a whole, promoting more widespread adoption of such practices as public-key cryptography. “We don’t want a high priesthood of technology.”

Although Snowden pointed out that technology played an important part in Daniel Ellsberg’s 1971 leak — the technology of the photocopier — Ellsberg himself didn’t focus on that part of the story. “I have less optimism about technology than you have,” he said. The word he used again and again was risk. He meant human risk, human choice. He spoke of the sense of solidarity he felt with Manning and Snowden when he saw the risks to comfort and safety they were willing to take for truth. What motivated Ellsberg to take his own risk, by his account, was less to spread information or even enforce the Constitution than to end what he saw as a horrendous moral evil: the Vietnam War. Just as Snowden claimed Ellsberg as an influence, Ellsberg found common cause with his inheritors today. He made a lengthy and passionate speech denouncing the ongoing evils of the modern U.S. security regime, and calling on more people in the security services to take risks and speak out. “A lot of blood has flowed because people bit their tongues or swallowed their whistles,” he cried.

When the floor turned to Snowden after that, he fell quiet at first. “I’m still politically pretty moderate,” he began by saying. (He’d earlier described his political philosophy as “almost Stallman-esque,” referring to the anti-copyright, free-software advocate Richard Stallman.) He stressed that he doesn’t blame fellow contractors who haven’t followed his lead; rather, he put the burden on the hundreds of hackers in the room to create tools that will make whistleblowing easier and safer. Whereas Ellsberg spoke of resistance as a matter of moral urgency and heroic choice, Snowden saw it as an engineering challenge.

Maybe the difference between these two is a matter of personalities, or of life circumstances. But I wonder if it might also in some respects be a matter of generations. I wonder if there is some respect in which a more thoroughly computerized society is one in which information politics passes for politics as a whole, in which it’s harder for us to notice the importance of human agency — including one’s own.

Near the end of the conversation, Snowden lost his train of thought. “I have a really short working memory,” he said, and attributed the lapse, at least half-joking, to “a lifetime of memes and lolcats.”

“What can I say? I’m a child of the Internet.”

C O M M E N T A R Y

THE EDIT PAGE

Kristen Gelineau Associated Press

A Kiss, a prayer: The last hours of MH17's victims

I

n a bedroom in a townhouse near Amsterdam, Miguel Panduwinata reached out for his mother. "Mama, may I hug you?"

Samira Calehr wrapped her arms around her 11-year-old son, who'd been oddly agitated for days, peppering her with questions about death, about his soul, about God. The next morning, she would drop Miguel and his big brother Shaka at the airport so they could catch Malaysia Airlines Flight 17, the first leg of their journey to Bali to visit their grandmother. Her normally cheerful, well-traveled boy should have been excited. His silver suitcase sat in the living room, ready to go. Jetskiing and surfing in paradise awaited. But something was off. A day earlier, while playing soccer, Miguel had burst out: "How would you choose to die? What would happen to my body if I was buried? Would I not feel anything because our souls go back to God?" And now, the night before his big trip, Miguel refused to release his mother from his grasp. He's just going to miss me, Calehr told herself. So she stretched out beside him and held him all night. It was 11 p.m. on Wednesday, July 16. Miguel, Shaka and the 296 other people aboard Flight 17 had around 15 hours left to live. The Boeing 777 tasked with shepherding its passengers from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, held the promise of beginnings and endings for many on board: the thrill of a new adventure or dream vacation for some, and the comfort of going back home for others.

It was love and a fresh start that had lured Willem Grootscholten aboard. The burly, 53-year-old divorced former soldier from the Netherlands — a gentle giant of a man — had sold his house and was moving to Bali to build a new life with his darling Christine, a guesthouse owner. He'd met her by chance on a trip to the Indonesian island last year.

Christine, who like many Indonesians has only one name, had heard through a friend that some guy had fallen off a cliff and hurt his back. She told her friend to take him to a traditional healer she knew. The next day, Grootscholten called Christine to thank her. They connected over coffee. Grootscholten had to return to Amsterdam, where he was working as a bouncer at a pot-selling cafe. But the two stayed in touch online, and their relationship blossomed. On New Year's Eve, he surprised her by showing up at her doorstep. He stayed three weeks.

The father of Christine's two children, 14-year-old Dustin and 8-year-old Stephanie, had died six years ago, and they quickly bonded with Grootscholten, calling him "Daddy." The four stayed in touch online.

Almost every day, they shared meals via Skype by placing their iPads on their tables during dinner for Christine's family and lunch for Grootscholten.

In May, Grootscholten returned to Bali to celebrate Christine's birthday and told her he wanted to spend the rest of his life beside her. She drove him to the airport on June 3 and kissed him goodbye.

It would be their last kiss.

For 29-year-old New Zealander Rob Ayley, Flight 17 marked both the end of a month-long European trip and the start of a new career.

Life hadn't always been easy for Ayley. Diagnosed with Asperger's syndrome as a teen, he'd struggled to understand others' emotions. At 16, he dropped out of school and hopped from job to job — fast food, horticulture, cheese-making. He flitted between obsessions, from cars to drumming and eventually, to Rottweilers, after his parents bought him a puppy. Along the way, he fell in love with a woman named Sharlene.

They married and had two sons, Seth and Taylor. Fatherhood changed him; he was determined to provide for his family. He enrolled in college to study chemical engineering and decided to turn his Rottweiler fixation into a profit by becoming a breeder.

That dream prompted Ayley to book a trip to Europe with his friend Bill Patterson, a kennel owner.

Ayley's goal: to look at Rottweilers and hopefully bring back breeding dogs to New Zealand. The duo spent a month driving all over Europe, visiting kennels and grabbing a coffee, beer or meal with the owners. They delighted in speeding along the German autobahns in the small Peugeot they'd rented.

Finally, it was time to come home. On Wednesday night, Ayley sent his mother an email: "It's been a long, long journey. We've seen the world's greatest Rottweilers, we have established contacts, and made life-long friends, but now I'm just ready to come home. I hope all is well, if we don't talk before hand, I will see you on Saturday. Lots of Love Rob" Flight attendant Sanjid Singh was looking forward to getting home, too. He hadn't originally been scheduled for Flight 17, but he wanted to get back to Malaysia a day early to visit his parents in northern Penang state. So he asked a colleague to switch shifts.

Only five months ago, a similar last-minute switch had saved his family. His wife, also a flight attendant, had agreed to swap assignments with a colleague who wanted to be on board Malaysia Airlines Flight 370. The plane vanished en route to Beijing. The near-miss rattled Singh's parents, who fretted about the pair continuing to fly. But Singh was pragmatic.

"If I am fated to die, I will die," he said. "You have to accept it." On Wednesday, he called his mother and told her the good news — he'd nabbed a spot on Flight 17 and would be there on Friday. Take care of yourself, he told his mother. After they hung up, she said a prayer for Singh, the way she always did.

Family was also the reason Irene Gunawan had booked a seat on Flight 17. She was headed to an annual family reunion in the Philippines: a major event held at a resort that would include specially-designed shirts, drinking, singing and dancing. And 53-year-old Gunawan would — as always — be the star.

Gunawan was the light and laughter of her clan. The fifth of six children, the bubbly, music-loving girl had wanted to see the world outside her sleepy rural village.

After high school, she moved to Japan to sing and drum in a band. There, she met Budy, a fellow band member.

Indonesian Christine holds a portrait of her fiance Willem Grootscholten of the Netherlands who was a passenger of the crashed Malaysia Airlines Flight 17, at her guesthouse in Bali, Indonesia on Wednesday, June 23, 2014. (AP Photo/Firdia Lisnawati)

In this Monday, July 21, 2014 photo, Zenaida Ecal, 53, childhood friend and grade school classmate of Irene Gunawan, one of three Filipinos who died in the downed Malaysia Airlines Flight 17, lights candles in front of a portrait of Irene on an improvised altar prior to a novena prayer at her clan residence at Pagbilao township, Quezon province, south of Manila, Philippines. Irene, her two children and her Indonesian husband Budy were killed along with 294 others onboard the flight which crashed over eastern Ukraine. (AP Photo/Jim Gomez)

They toured Europe together, playing music and eventually falling in love. They married and settled in the Netherlands, where she gave birth to Daryll and Sheryll, now 19 and 14. Gunawan took up office work, and sent money to her family in the Philippines. Budy worked as a supervisor at Malaysia Airlines in Amsterdam. Gunawan flew back occasionally to the family's neighborhood, called "Heaven," in the town of Pagbilao, outside Manila. At reunions, she belted out songs

by Norah Jones and Diana Ross. When neighbors heard the music, they knew she was in town.

This year, the couple and their two children were flying to Pagbilao, and Daryll was bringing his DJ equipment. They'd planned to leave earlier, but a typhoon was lashing the Philippines, so they delayed their trip until it subsided. By chance, they nabbed seats on Flight 17. Albert and Maree Rizk weren't supposed to be on that flight either. Every year, the fun-loving 50-somethings from Melbourne, Australia, went on a month-long vacation with friends. They had hopscotched the globe, from Thailand to Fiji to Europe. This time, the Rizks had nearly skipped the trip due to family commitments. Family came first for Albert, a real estate agent, and Maree, parents of two and beloved fixtures in their community.

A change of plans freed them up to join their friends, Ross and Sue Campbell, but they weren't able to snag a seat on the Campbells' return flight.

So they bought tickets for the same route, a day later: Flight 17. The Rizks and the Campbells had become more like family than friends since Sue and Maree met at a mother's group when their nowgrown children were babies. They had a ball traveling through Italy, Switzerland and Germany. It felt like they'd laughed for a solid month. Together, they realized a lifelong goal: climbing to the top of the Klein Matterhorn in Switzerland.

On Tuesday night, the four gathered at an Italian restaurant for a final meal. They reminisced about their latest adventure — one of their best — and made plans for a reunion back in Australia. On Saturday, they would get together to feast on the delicious Dutch cheese they'd bought, drink wine and pore over their vacation photos.

The four headed back to the hotel, exchanged hugs and retired to their rooms. Some friends were surprised that the Rizks were willing to fly Malaysia Airlines, after the disappearance of Flight 370.

Maree's stepmother, Kaylene Mann, had lost her brother and sister-in-law in the disaster. Albert's buddy of 30 years, Jack Medcraft, got in a friendly dig: Why Malaysia Airlines? "Lightning never strikes twice," Albert replied. They burst out laughing. The nonchalant explanation had a double meaning. Albert's house had been struck by lightning last year.

Thursday, July 17, dawned warm and sunny in Amsterdam. Before leaving his house for Schiphol Airport, Grootscholten called Christine and the children for one last Skype chat. He was so excited, he began to dance. "Daddy's flying to see you!" he told the kids. "We will be together forever!"

Meanwhile, Ayley was struggling. Patterson, his Rottweiler business partner, had flown out Wednesday, so he had to get himself to the airport — and it was not going well. "Missed the airport bus," he wrote to his wife on Facebook. "Waiting for the next one."

Back in Malaysia, Singh's excited parents awaited their flight attendant son's arrival. His mother had prepared his favorite dishes — spicy prawns, blue crab curry, roast pork and vegetables.

Irene Gunawan couldn't wait to get home to Heaven to see her own family. She asked her sister-in-law to make that syrupy custard cake she loved. Gunawan's daughter was eager to stop at Jollibee, a popular burger chain.

Samira Calehr and her friend Aan had ushered her sons onto the train to the airport. They were joking and laughing, excited to spend time with their grandmother in the mountains of Bali. Shaka, 19, had just finished his first year of college, where he was studying textile engineering, and promised to keep an eye on Miguel. Their other brother, Mika, 16, hadn't been able to get a seat on Flight 17 and would travel to Bali the next day.

At the check-in counter, Calehr fussed over her boys' luggage. Shaka, meanwhile, realized he'd forgotten to pack socks. Calehr promised to buy him some and send them along with Mika. Finally, they were outside customs. The boys hugged Calehr goodbye and walked toward passport control. Suddenly, Miguel whirled around and ran back, throwing his arms around his mother. "Mama, I'm going to miss you," he said. "What will happen if the airplane crashes?" What was this all about? she wondered.

"Don't say that," she said, squeezing him. "Everything will be OK." Shaka tried to reassure them both.

"I will take care of him," he said to his mom. "He's my baby." She watched the two boys walk away.

But Miguel kept looking back at his mother. His big brown eyes looked sad. Then he vanished from view.

They all converged at Gate G3. Singh and his fellow flight attendants finished their preparations. The announcement finally rang out. It was time to board. Miguel and Shaka made their way to their seats in the first row of economy. Grootscholten was in the same row, two seats to their left. He'd just changed his Facebook cover photo to an image of Schiphol's air traffic control tower.

Farther back, Ayley settled into his seat. Against all odds, he'd made it. The anxious flier had shot one final message to his friend Patterson: "Gidday mate, leaving Amsterdam now. Great trip, not looking forward to the plane."

Up front, Albert and Maree Rizk slid into the first row of business class. Budy Gunawan sat down next to Maree.

His wife Irene and their children settled in a few rows behind them. They'd been among the last to check in.

Irene, still worried about how her family was coping with the typhoon, sent one last text to her sisterin-law: "Hehehe Lov u, turning off cellphone, time to take off...take care always, you may get hit by falling trees." She was on her way to Heaven. Flight 17 took off around 12:15 p.m. on what should have been an 11 hour and 45 minute flight. It lasted two hours. The bodies began to fall. The phones began to ring. The confusion erupted, the hearts broke. And the twists of fate or happenstance that brought these people to this plane on this day unfurled. In New Zealand, Ayley's frantic family began sending him messages, hoping his email about missing the bus meant he'd also missed the flight. "Your booked plane has been blown up, literally," his mother Wendie wrote. "So wherever you are, whatever mess you're finding yourself in, we'd be delighted to hear that you missed your flight. ... We love you heaps and heaps and we just want to know you're alive my darling."

In Australia, the Campbells had just arrived when they heard that a Malaysia Airlines plane had been shot down over Ukraine. Fearing the worst, they rushed over to the Rizks' house to check on their kids. And for the second time in five months, Maree's stepmother learned she'd lost a loved one to a Malaysia Airlines disaster.

In Bali, Christine prayed. "Hope you will be fine... ohhhhhhhhhh GODDDDDDDDDDDD... PLEASEEEEEEEEEE!!! I beg You..." she posted on Facebook.

And in Amsterdam, Calehr had just finished buying Shaka's socks when her phone rang. It was her friend Aan. "Where are you?" he screamed. "The plane crashed!" She made it home just in time to faint.

They grapple now with the what-ifs, the astronomical odds, the realization that the world they knew has turned alien in a blink.

In the Philippines, the Gunawan family home has grown quiet. Irene is gone, and with her, the community's joy. Friends stop by to offer condolences and pray. Irene smiles out of an old picture on an altar ringed by candles. A videoke machine and microphone she bought on her last visit lie idle in the corner.

Her best friend, Zenaida Ecal, is furious. What does she want as punishment for those who stole Irene? "What is worse than death?" she replies.

In Malaysia, the food Singh's mother had so lovingly prepared remains in the fridge. She cannot bear to look at it. The parents cannot comprehend how something as simple as a swapped shift could have proven so kind to their daughter-inlaw and so cruel to their son. "It saved her life," Jihar Singh says. "Now my son has saved someone else's life." In New Zealand, Wendie Ayley's work as a hospice nurse has given her a different perspective. She knows the end must come for everyone, including her son, who missed the bus but not the flight. "When he died he was 30,000 feet closer to God. He would have known he was dead, and opened his wings," she says. "I believe his first thought would have been, 'This is awesome.'"

In the Netherlands, Samira Calehr thinks about how her baby boy seemed to sense that his time on earth was running short. She imagines the futures that will never be: Shaka's dream of becoming a textile engineer, gone. Miguel's dream of becoming a go-kart race driver, gone.

How could he have known? How could she have known? "I should have listened to him," she says softly. "I should have listened to him."

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PERSPECTIVE

7 Whither women's security HIV disclosure: changing in Akhilesh's Uttar Pradesh? ourselves, changing others

Thursday

THE MORUNG EXPRESS

24 JUly 2014

O

NEWS ANALYSIS, FEATURE AND DISCOURSE

ne of the themes at this week's International AIDS Conference in Melbourne, is the testing and treatment of children. In Zimbabwe as elsewhere there are high numbers of children growing up with HIV who have not been diagnosed and in whom the disease is therefore advancing without check. A recently published study in Zimbabwe by the London School of Tropical Hygiene and Medicine sought to investigate why this is and how to overcome it. It concludes, “The HIV prevalence among children tested was high, highlighting the need for provider-initiated HIV testing and counselling (PITC).

For PITC to be successfully implemented, clear legislation about consent and guardianship needs to be developed and structural issues addressed. Healthcare workers (HCWs) require training on counselling children and guardians, particularly male guardians, who are less likely to engage with health care services.

Increased awareness of the risk of HIV infection in asymptomatic older children is needed.”

This study recommends training healthcare workers to counsel others. However, the study omitted to consider the key issue of attitudes held by health workers, lawmakers, and other professionals towards HIV and those with HIV. Unless healthworkers are offered this critical first step of training in self-awareness, to assess their own attitudes towards HIV, and therefore people with HIV, any amount of training to counsel others will be money wasted. High levels of stigma present a huge barrier across the whole spectrum of professional service providers in the field of HIV and AIDS. When will policy makers, politicians and academics start to think upstream, in order to change their own and their employees’ attitudes towards HIV before seeking to change the attitudes of others?

Stigma and discrimination are also experienced widely by many people living with HIV, particularly women and their children - in homes, communities, health-care settings, the legislative justice system and social services. This stigma is often started, and reinforced, by those who are meant to be their professional carers.

One HIV positive woman reported having been told by a healthworker, “The best thing you can do now for yourself and unborn child is to terminate the pregnancy. How would you feel when the child is born, and you have to watch her deteriorate and die after so much suffering. The likelihood of your child being born HIV negative is nil.” The woman refused to terminate, and today her child is nearly a teenager, HIV negative, and healthy.

Another woman, after missing a scheduled hospital visit due to transport issues, was told, “You decided to go on and enjoy sex and have a baby while you knew you are HIV positive, and therefore it is entirely your fault for infecting the child, and failing to meet appointments – we will attend to you last.”

The attitudes of service providers, and people living with HIV, are both light years apart from where the facts now reside. Extensive scientific research, partly conducted in Zimbabwe, now shows that use of a condom during a sexual encounter, especially if the person with HIV is taking antiretroviral medication and thus able to maintain an undetectable viral load, makes transmission of HIV to someone else highly unlikely.

The problem is not just with health service providers

M

arama Pala, hailing from Waikanae on the west coast of the North Island of New Zealand, was diagnosed with HIV at 22. The news of her diagnosis spread like wildfire in her tight-knit Maori community.

That was in 1993 but even today, she says, there is a “shame and blame” attitude surrounding HIV, which disproportionately impacts the region’s indigenous population. “If you are HIV positive, you are seen as ‘dirty’, as someone who must be a drug user or a prostitute. Our people are not seeking help because of this stigma, discrimination and criminalisation – the fear of being charged, hunted down, ostracised or put in jail,” says Pala, who, together with her Pacific Islander HIV-positive husband, runs the INA (Maori, Indigenous, South Pacific) HIV/AIDS Foundation.

The Foundation takes a cultural approach to HIV/AIDS awareness, education, prevention and intervention. “In the past five years the number of new infections has […] increased in the Pacific Island community living in New Zealand and especially among the Maoris because we are late testers. People who [engage] in risky behaviour [seldom] get tested until they are very, very sick,” Pala, a mother of two, tells IPS. “Our women are dying because they are afraid to go on medication, partly because they are afraid of the stigma and discrimination. Antiretroviral drugs are widely available in our country and they should not be dying in this time and age,” says Pala, who is a member of the board of directors for the International Council of AIDS Service Organisations (ICASO).

With HIV and AIDS disproportionately affecting indigenous people across the world, there is a strong need for culturally appropriate programmes designed, championed and delivered by indigenous people, activists and experts say.

Many indigenous women are living in silence with even their immediate families not knowing that they have HIV. “There are 130 aboriginal women who are living with HIV in Australia, but apart from myself there is only one other woman who speaks openly about living with HIV,” says Michelle Tobin, who contracted the disease at the age of 21.

She began dating a man who told her that he had HIV but “I was naïve and just believed that it wouldn’t happen to me,” she admits. “Within six months I was diagnosed with HIV. I had a baby so I fo-

Martha Tholanah

however. The law and attitudes of lawyers also lag behind science. For services to be particularly responsive to the needs of people living with HIV, legislation and legal policies also need to be revised in line with the scientific evidence that is rapidly emerging from ongoing research. Even though HIV transmission in the above circumstances is now known to be highly unlikely, the Zimbabwe legislation still treats all HIV as highly contagious. For example, the Criminal Law Codification and Reform Act 23/2004, states “(2) For the purposes of this section—(a) the presence in a person’s body of HIV antibodies or antigens, detected through an appropriate test, shall be prima facie proof that the person concerned is infected with HIV”. There has been no revision to this law to reflect the significant advances in scientific knowledge, so this statement is used to support the continued erroneous belief that all people with HIV having sex are likely to transmit HIV; and it upholds the views that they should be criminalised.

HIV-related stigma has remained high in Southern Africa in general, and across the whole of the sub-continent. While there have been many advances made in knowledge and management of HIV, such that neither in sexual intercourse nor in childbirth should there any longer be a threat of transmission, many still continue to acquire HIV through lack of ability to negotiate condom use, or lack of access to ARVs when needed, and they continue to bear the brunt of the epidemic.

The burdens faced by women in relation to HIV have often been cited. These burdens feel so big that any woman who has responsibility for caring for a child understandably feels she is protecting the minor by refusing to have her/him tested for HIV, or by refusing to disclose the child’s HIV positive status, even to the child concerned. A caring healthcare

worker may also feel like this if a minor approaches them seeking to be tested for HIV. The many discussions taking place amongst HIV programme implementers on “when to disclose to a child” are troubling. The argument many have put forward is that the child may be too young to understand, or too immature to be able to handle the 'burden' of knowledge of their HIV status, or a parent or guardian’s status. The fact is that having HIV is still not discussed because it still bears an element of taboo. Despite the many advances in research that have shown that HIV is not a contagious disease that can be spread by casual contact, it seems that much of society has remained stuck in the mode when not much was known about HIV, and there was no treatment. It is also considered safer not to know one’s status than to know it and run the risk of being accused of knowingly “putting someone else at risk”.

Surely therefore what decision-makers should be asking, instead of “when to disclose to a child?” is “how to overcome the stigmatising attitudes we as healthproviders and law-makers hold and convey?”

If HIV is talked about as part of normal conversations in the home and in the school, and not as a "contagious disease", then the issue of when to disclose falls away.

When I tested HIV-positive, I immediately disclosed to my brothers and sisters and their children. It became part of normal conversations, and when it came to the time when my baby started asking questions about my condition, it was easy for me to disclose my status to her.

While she was tested at 18 months, when she turned seven she insisted on getting tested - it was something easy to do, and gave her reassurance as to her status.

As counsellors, we are all taught that “change starts from within each and every one of us: without changing ourselves we can’t change others”. Yet this is not a concept that is familiar to other service providers or to law-makers.

We need to rethink how we change the landscape in relation to HIV, so that lawyers and health providers alike actually believe in and act on the science themselves, rather than continuing to behave as if HIV was a highly contagious condition whose carriers should be shunned and punished. Researchers working in the field of HIV would be wise to make a direct intervention to challenge and change the attitudes and practices of the health systems at national, regional, and international levels, on the results of emerging scientific research and the implications.

And what about our children? Unless we all take steps to change our own attitudes and those of our healthworkers and lawyers, our children will continue to acquire HIV at birth, and will continue to grow up uninformed, untested and untreated. They will also become criminalised as they begin to have their own sexual relations when older. And they will get sick and die. Unless we act now to perform a u-turn in attitudes and practices, this legacy of shame and blame will continue and will be the heritage that we, women and men alike, bequeath our children. And that will be a disaster for us all.

I am one of the many women with HIV who are not attending the conference this week, owing to lack of funds. However I very much hope that the issues I have raised here will be addressed.

Indigenous Peoples Say Education, Funding Key to Fighting HIV/AIDS Neena Bhandari Inter Press Service cused all my attention on her.”

“In the early 1990s in Melbourne we weren’t offered treatments when we were first diagnosed. In those days we lost a lot of people in the early stage of the disease, including my late husband,” Tobin, who belongs to the Yorta Yorta Nation, tells IPS. As a descendant of the Stolen Generation and an aboriginal woman living with HIV and now AIDS, she has experienced stigma and discrimination, especially from within her own family, who disowned her.

Some in her community still think she is contagious and don’t want to be near her, but her struggle has made Tobin a passionate and vocal advocate for indigenous women living with HIV/AIDS. According to Tobin, chair of the Anwernekenhe National HIV Alliance and a committee member of PATSIN (Positive Aboriginal Torres Strait Islander Network), “Aboriginal women are a minority within the minority of the HIV epidemic.

We need more resources and funding [to] enable women to speak out about prevention, treatments, isolation, confidentiality, housing and the whole spectrum of issues that impact us.”

In addition to endorsing targets set out in the United Nations Political Declaration on HIV and AIDS, Australia has also adopted the Eora Action Plan on HIV 2014, which sets strategic targets to bring greater attention to HIV prevention, including best clinical care for aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples living with HIV. The recent International Indigenous Pre-conference on HIV and AIDS hosted by the International Indigenous Working Group on HIV & AIDS (IIWGHA) in partnership with the Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Organising Committee (AATSIOC), held in Sydney on Jul. 17-19, was themed ‘Our story, Our Time, Our Future.’

It highlighted the need for increased epidemiological data with a focus on indigenous ethnicity. Lack of data about the level of treatment take-up amongst

indigenous people living with HIV is posing a challenge for Treatment as Prevention (TasP) strategies.

“We have evidence in Canada that aboriginal people are getting HIV three-anda-half times faster than the rate of the general population,” Trevor Stratton, IIWGHA Coordinator for the Canadian Aboriginal AIDS Network (CAAN), tells IPS. “We believe those trends exist all over the world, but we don’t have the epidemiological data. We are advocating for epidemiological evidence as that is what we need for the dominant cultures to recognise us as a key population at greater risk of HIV and AIDS along with gay men and sex workers, so governments can free up the money for us and we can create our own solutions,” he asserts.

Forty-nine-year-old Stratton, a citizen of the Mississaugas of the New Credit First Nation, Ontario, with mixed English and Ojibwe heritage, was diagnosed with HIV in 1990.

He believes that indigenous people are particularly vulnerable due to “colonisation, neo-colonialism, resource extraction, and assimilation amongst other similar issues” that push them down on social determinants of health and put them at higher risk of all poor health outcomes.

According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, the rate of HIV diagnoses among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women was substantially greater than among Australian-born non-Indigenous women (1.5 compared with 0.4 per 100,000 population).

Between 2004 and 2014, 231 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people were diagnosed with HIV. In 2013, the rate of newly diagnosed HIV infections was greater in the indigenous population (5.4 per 100,000) compared to the Australian-born non-indigenous population (3.9 per 100,000).

“We can’t just pretend that HIV/AIDS exists in isolation,” Stratton says. “The problem of social justice is systemic. We have to be able to leverage international human rights mechanisms so countries

can be held accountable.

“We have to encourage nation states to follow the recommendations from the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of the Indigenous People and the International Labour Organisation’s Convention 169, which talks of how to engage indigenous people,” he concludes.

IIWGHA has been working at increasing knowledge and addressing the entrenched stigma of HIV and AIDS within indigenous communities and supporting indigenous-directed research and awareness initiatives.

Its mandate and strategic plan are based on the 2006 ‘Toronto Charter: Indigenous People’s Action Plan’ that acknowledges the right of indigenous peoples to autonomy, social justice and human rights.

Doris Peltier, Aboriginal Women and Leadership Coordinator with CAAN, has been working with women living way below the poverty line, some of whom had their children taken away when they were diagnosed with HIV. Diagnosed with AIDS at the age of 44 while actively using drugs in Toronto, Peltier believes systemic issues – such as the fear of losing one’s child to the authorities – act as barriers preventing people from discussing their condition.

“A social system that is supposed to be there to support women is actually the one that is putting barriers up for the women,” Peltier tells IPS. When she decided to go home and reconnect with her family and her First Nations community in Wikwemikong, Ontario, some supported her but others remained reluctant to embrace her.

People wouldn’t let her use their dishes and asked her to clean the toilet after use.

“Soon rumours began to circulate and one of the words being used to talk about me was ‘Wiinaapineh’ (dirty disease). I stood my ground and became better with medication, and my family’s support and encouragement,” Peltier says.

“People have to know that there is help available, there is treatment and prevention and that they can have a good quality life,” concludes Peltier, who is today a great-grandmother.

For her, one of the key responses to high rates impacting indigenous women is to empower them to tap into their inner strength and resilience, and break the code of silence to speak up about HIV/AIDS.

B

Mohit dubey IANS

eing a woman and moving around in Akhilesh Yadav's Uttar Pradesh seems to be a mortally scaring thought.

While union home ministry records show that rape cases in India's most populous state of over 200 million people, which sends the largest number of 80 lawmakers to the national parliament, have seen a quantum jump of 55 percent over the previous year, the state government and the police force, possiblyl the largest in the country and pathetic by all standards, continues to drag its feet in one-line statements and knee-jerk reactions of setting up teams and taking the PR route of "CM blasted officials, probe is in the right direction".

Sadly, the ground reality is drastically different.

Sample this: The nude, bloodied and badly brutalized body of a 32-year-old woman was found Thursday morning in the premises of a government primary school at Balsinghkheda Mohanlalganj near Lucknow, at a place just a few kilometres from where former US president Bill Clinton was to arrive. None of the senior officials rushed to the spot.

For policemen, the recovery of bodies is a routine thing, says DIG (Lucknow) Navneit Sikera who while talking to IANS said he "failed to realize the proportion of the crime" when informed of it early Thursday morning. "I thought it is just another intimation of a dead body being recovered," he mused while also justifying his absence from the crime scene for well over 24 hours.

For a man who endlessly speaks of his 1090 women's powerline initiative, Sikera offers a feeble explanation - he was busy supervising the high-profile visit of Clinton as was the nodal officer for the security liason! His beaming and smiling pictures on the ClintonAkhilesh Yadav meeting sadly bore testimony to his misplaced and hyped concern about women's safety.

Even as horrifying pictures of nude woman and blood splattered all around were online doing the rounds and on applications like Whatsapp, all district police officers, barring the inspector and sub-inspector of Mohanlalganj were busy with "the high-profile visit and other errands".

Little has anyone explained so far why the police did not even have the basic decency and duty of wrapping up the victim in a sheet of cloth and preventing mobile phone users take her pictures with complete impunity to laid down norms. And now police said they will arrest people found posting these pictures on social networking sites. The crime scene was not secured and curious onlookers and angry villagers were allowed to trample upon crucial pieces of evidence. Rains completed the callous handling of the ghastly crime.

The police also botched up on initial leads as forensic teams, dog squads and fingerprint experts were brought to the crime scene many hours later. No wonder that so far the only lead with the police are that "more than one person was involved in the crime".

Sunday the police even reversed its earlier theories and said that the crime was committed "by one single person - a sex-obsessed private security guard, and that there was no gang rape, neither rape".

And the severe wounds on the body of the victim, that shook people inside out, ADG Sutapa Sanyal, overseeing the probe, told media persons were "inflicted by the motorcycle key"!! As if the police flipflops were not enough, comments made by Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Mulayam Singh Yadav, his brother and UP's PWD minister Shivpal Singh Yadav and Rajya Sabha MP Naresh Agarawal added insult to injury.

Turning the debate into statistics, Yadav said UP had lowest crimes against women and justaxposed it to the 21 crore population. His brother and MP too attributed such crimes to rising population!

As heart-rending details of the incident emerge, the anger only grows for many women activists in the city.

The rape victim was a widow who tragically lost her young husband a few years back to a kidney ailment.

She donated him a kidney but failed to save him.

She then got a job of Rs.4,500 as a lab technician in place of her husband - a job which enabled her to bring up her 13-year-old son and a 6-year-old daughter. The father of the dead woman broke down many-a-time after identifying her body. "She never had happy times in her life," he recounted as tears rolled down his wrinkled cheeks.

Worried about the future of his grandchildren and horrified at the fate of his daughter, he said he had often asked her to leave the job and come home, only to be told that she had a dream to realize!

Little did she know that this was Uttar Pradesh, a land where dreams turn into nightmares in no time.

Investigations reveal, she was lured by security guard Ram Sevak Yadav masquerading as a property dealer.

The victim was desperately looking for a flat on rent for her children.

State Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) chief Laxmikant Bajpai said that since the May 28 Badaun incident, more than 208 rapes have taken place in the state.

"While incidents like this shake the collective conscience of the society for some time I am aghast at the fact that despite repeated cases, the state government seems to be living in a denial mode," Bajpai said.

Madhu Garg, a prominent woman rights activist in the state capital, said her head hangs in shame and her heart goes out to the victims and their families. "This is the limit of brutality and numbs your senses on how animal instincts take over someone," she said while recalling how badly the Balsinghkheda Mohanlalganj victim was injured, had bled and had mutilated private parts.

Doctors who conducted the post-mortem examination said they were shocked to see the injuries, which "clearly were much more than those to Nirbhaya, the Delhi gang-rape victim".

What is even more shocking is the attitude of police, said Roop Rekha Verma, a prominent social activist and former vice chancellor of Lucknow University. "In many instances, the police does not even register cases," she said.

Government officials, however, said that all was being done and that a separate cells for dealing with crimes against women were being created in all districts and that security was being stepped up. This seems too little in a vast state like Uttar Pradesh, muse others.

While some may feel that I am swayed away by the latest incident, I must admit I am.

Anyone who saw the crime scene would have been.

But I am also a concerned parent, a family man whose heart shudders everytime women of our family step out of the house. I, like many other concerned people, want the government to send chills down the spines of criminals and allow peace-loving citizens to move around freely and without fear!

8

Dimapur

NATIONAL

Thursday 24 July 2014

MP forces Muslim to break fast, raises political storm

Bangalore raPe case: school head arrested

New Delhi, July 23 (iaNS): A Shiv Sena MP, who was seen in a video clip trying to force food into the mouth of a Muslim staffer of Maharashtra Sadan who was observing the Ramadan fast, kicked off a political storm Wednesday, with parliament in uproar.

While the Congress targeted the Narendra Modi government for the act, which they described as a “crime against secularism”, the government first refused to comment on the issue as it involved a key ally, but seeing an angry opposition, offered to probe the matter. Shiv Sena MP Rajan Vichare, who was in the midst of the controversy, defended his action, saying he had no idea about the man’s religion - even though he had his name badge on. His party chief Uddhav Thackeray decried attempts to ‘communalise’ the issue and attempted to play it down by describing it as a “trivial” matter.

Though all BJP leaders and ministers, including union Home Minister Rajnath Singh, refused to comment on the matter, party patriarch L.K. Advani just said “this is wrong.” But the opposition was unrelenting. Vichare’s action had hurt the religious sentiments of the Muslims, MP after MP said.

The Congress, which was on a back foot for the past two days following Press Council of India chief Justice Markandey Katju’s allegation of corruption in judicial appointments

Indian police officers stand guard as an activist of Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad, or All Indian Student Council, shouts slogans during a protest against the rape of a six-yearold student, in Bangalore on Wednesday July 23. Police in India have arrested the head of a school where the child was raped earlier this month and charged him with hindering the investigation and negligence. Earlier this week police also arrested the school’s skating instructor and charged him with attacking the child. (AP Photo)

New Delhi, July 23 (aP): The head of a school in southern India where a 6-year-old girl was raped earlier this month was arrested on Wednesday and charged with hindering the investigation and negligence, police said. M.N. Reddi, the top police official in Bangalore city, told reporters that Rustom Kerawalla, the chairman of VIBGYOR High school, was charged with negligence for failing to ensure the student’s safety.

Reddi gave no details on how Kerawalla hindered the investigation into the July 2 assault that happened when the girl left her classroom to go to the restroom. Kerawalla made no statement to media as he was being led away by police.

Earlier this week police arrested the school’s skating instructor and charged him with attacking the child. The instructor had been teaching at the school since 2011, and Reddi said the school performed no background check while hiring him. News reports have said that the

instructor had been fired from a previous job for “inappropriate” behavior with female students.

Police said that the girl was recovering from the attack. Over the weekend, parents and relatives of children who attend the school in Bangalore, India’s technology hub, shouted slogans against the school’s administration and demanded that police act swiftly against those involved in the assault, which was reported only last week.

India’s rampant misogyny and sexual violence against women have often been ignored, but public anger boiled over after the 2012 fatal gang rape of a young woman on a moving bus in the heart of the Indian capital. The nationwide outcry led the federal government to rush legislation doubling prison terms for rapists to 20 years and criminalizing voyeurism, stalking and the trafficking of women. The law also makes it a crime for officers to refuse to open cases when complaints are made.

govt actively considering amendment to labour laws

New Delhi, July 23 (ageNcieS): Government today said it is “actively” considering amendments to various labour laws for which tripartite consultations are in progress.

“The government is actively considering amendments in Child Labour (Regulation and Abolition) Act 1986, Factories Act 1948, Minimum Wages Act 1948, Apprenticeship Act 1961 and Labour Laws (Exemption from Furnishing Returns and Maintaining Registers by Certain Establishments) Act 1988. The inter-ministerial/public/ tripartite consultations are in progress,” said Minister of State for Labour and Employment, Vishnu Deo Sai in a written reply in Rajya Sabha.

He said amendments in labour laws are considered keeping in view the socio-economic changes in the country as well as oth-

er parts of the world with an intention to improving economic wellbeing of the workers and the need to provide a safe, decent working environment harmonised with the need of the economy to be productive and competitive.

Replying to another question on whether the Centre has taken note of the recent reforms enacted by Rajasthan government in labour laws by offering more flexibility to companies, Sai said his Ministry has not received any “formal” proposal from Rajasthan government for amending various labour laws.

On a question whether trade unions are of the view that more than 40 central labour laws, which are inconsistent with each other, need to clubbed, Sai said no such proposal has been received by his ministry from Central Trade Unions.

Replying to yet another

question, he said to promote participation of women in craftsmen training, state governments have been advised to implement recommendations of National Council for Vocational Training (NCVT) to reserve 30 per cent seats for women in general Industrial Training Institutes.

He said under state sector, vocational training facilities for Craftsmen Training Scheme (CTS) are provided through a network of 11,001 ITIs spread across the country with a seating capacity of 15,52,452.

“According to information available, 1013 ITIs (both government and private) have women wings to offer training solely to women. Further 418 are exclusively for women (Women ITIs) including both government and private. The total seating capacity of both the women wings and women ITIs is about 82,390 training seats,” Sai said.

Indian scientists craft portable blood-disorder detection kit

KolKata, July 23 (iaNS): Harnessing the technology that powers newage mobile phones, Indian scientists are set to develop a portable and affordable kit - a lab-on-a-chip - detection system for sickle cell anemia, a common inherited blood disorder in the tribal belts of India’s central and southern parts.

Debjani Paul, Ninad Mehendale and Ammar Jagirdar from the Indian Institute of Technology-Bombay will “make the most” of the mobile phone revolution to extend their data processing, sharing and imaging prowess to craft inexpensive diagnostic kits for sickle cell anemia (SCA). The disorder is widely seen in tribals in the remote regions of states like Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Andhra Pradesh, where the sickle cell gene is most prevalent.

There is no specific cure but treatment that lowers anemia and its complications can help alleviate complications that arise due to the abnormal sickle or crescent-shaped red blood cells that tend to block blood flow through blood vessels.

Paul and her team will engineer a microfluidic chip combined with a mobile phone-based diagnosis platform that could be used by relatively untrained health workers in remote stretches where rural populations do

not have access to sophisticated diagnostic equipment.

“About five percent of the children affected by sickle cell disease (SCD) die before they reach the age of two. Currently, the disease is detected in clinical settings by techniques such as hemoglobin electrophoresis, high-performance liquid chromatography, etc.

These techniques are still not affordable or accessible to the affected population,” Paul told IANS via an email interaction.

Moreover, these procedures need to be performed by clinically trained personnel in specially equipped laboratories, she pointed out. “The kit is something that we propose to develop over the next 18 months,” she said. The project proposed by Paul and her students of the Institute’s Department of Biosciences and Bioengineering received a Grand Challenges Explorations grant this June to steer the idea forward.

These grants aim to foster innovative ideas that can improve health in developing countries. This particular project was funded through a collaboration of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation with the Indian government’s Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council (BIRAC) through the IKP Knowledge Park at Nalgonda in Telangana.

The Morung Express

Shiv Sena MP Vichare faces eight police cases mumbai, July 23 (ageNcieS): Shiv Sena MP Rajan Vichare, who was caught on camera force-feeding a Muslim employee of Maharashtra Sadan during Ramzan, posted an uncharacteristic message on Facebook on July 21: Walk away from arguments that lead you to anger and nowhere.

Clearly, the 53-year-old shiv sainik did not follow his own advice.

The former Mayor of Thane, his associates say, is known for his “rude” manner and penchant for agitation.

He faces as many as 8 police cases, according to his election affidavit.

The offences registered against

during the Manmohan Singh government’s tenure, lapped up the opportunity to hit out at the Modi government. The Congress slammed the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government both inside and outside parliament.

In the Rajya Sabha, opposition members disrupted the proceedings of the house after the question hour, forcing Deputy Chairman P.J. Kurien to adjourn the house for 10 minutes. The issue was later raised again by Ali Anwar Ansari of the Janata DalUnited in the zero hour, who called it an insult to Indian culture and social tolerance.

Responding to the members, Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Prakash Javadekar said that government will probe the facts. “These are unsubstantiated reports.

We should not take it to the

the Thane Municipality.

In 2009, he became an MLA, winning the assembly election from Thane city. According to his Lok Sabha election affidavit, Vichare, his wife and their two daughters have properties worth Rs 9.85 crores.

Party activists in Thane have times complained of his rude behaviour towards senior leaders. “But his loyalty towards the party is unquestioned,” said a senior Sena leader.

Yet, Vichare was overshadowed by more prominent partymen from Thane and was said to be reluctant to contest the Lok Sabha polls. The campaign was a low-key affair.

him range from rioting (section 147 of the Indian Penal Code) to intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of peace (Section 504). During the Lok Sabha campaign, Vichare had claimed that all the cases were registered against him for agitating to revolve public grievances.

Vichare joined the Shiv Sena 30 years ago and was an ardent follower of party strongman, the late Anand Dighe known for dispensing his brand of justice through public durbars. He rose through the ranks, beginning as the head of the local Shiv Sena branch. He later became a corporator and finally the Mayor of

next level. Let us understand what exactly happened,” Javadekar said.

Kurien then instructed the government to “ascertain the facts and come back to the house”. The issue was also raised in the Lok Sabha during the zero hour

by Congress MP from Wayanad in Kerala, M.I. Shanavas. “The MPs who have to be a role model have done this. This house should condemn this,” he said.

However, Parliamentary Affairs Minister M. Venkaiah Naidu said no comments should be made on the issue as the facts of the incidents had not been established yet. “Whatever has to be done, the government will do,” he added.

There was however huge pandemonium when Shiv Sena MP and union Heavy Industry Minister Anant Geete said no such incident took place at the Maharashtra Sadan.

But soon television channels started flashing a video clip shot by a local channel, which clearly showed that the first time MP Vichare was trying to force a chapatti into the staffer’s mouth. The staffer was seen pleading with the MPs who were angry over the poor quality of food served at the state guest house.

Vichare and some other Shiv Sena MPs are residing at the New Maharashtra Sadan in central Delhi during their stay in the capital.

When Vichare was forcing the food into the Muslim staffer’s mouth, other Shiv Sena MPs watched quietly, the video clipping showed.

In the Lok Sabha too members from almost all parties trooped near Speaker Sumitra Mahajan’s podium forcing her to adjourn the house for 15 minutes. When the house reassembled, BJP MP Ra-

mesh Bidhuri was made to apologize for his conduct.

Outside Parliament House, Congress criticised the Shiv Sena MPs behaviour. Congress leader M. Veerappa Moily said the incident was the “biggest crime against secularism in the country.” Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad said the incident obstructed an individual’s right to practice his religion, which is guaranteed under the constitution.

“This is against the very basic tenets of the constitution of India which provides freedom to every individual to preach or practice his religion,” Azad added. As the incident snowballed into a major controversy, Uddhav Thackeray in Aurangabad said: “We may have a Hindutva agenda, but we shall never play with the religious sentiments of any community.”

Maoists blow up Is Shimla still a ‘pedestrian city’ July 23 (iaNS): The Him- the court also asked the state to frame a railway track in Bihar Shimla, achal Pradesh High Court has asked the policy on traffic management in other

New Delhi, July 23 (ageNcieS): Maoists blew up a portion of a railway track between Ismailpur and Rafiganj section in Bihar, leading to derailment of a pilot engine running ahead of the Bhubaneshwar-New Delhi Rajdhani Express.

No casualty was reported in the blast that took place late Tuesday night, deputy inspector general of police, Magadh range, P K Shrivastava told PTI. In Patna, chief public relations officer, East Central Railway, Arvind Kumar Rajak said the advance pilot engine running ahead of Bhubaneshwar-New Delhi Rajdhani Express jumped off the track due to the incident.

Nearly one dozen mail and Express trains including three Rajdhani Express trains have been stranded at various places between Gaya and Mughalsarai due to the incident, Rajak said. Railway minister Sadananda Gowda has asked for a report regarding the latest incident and said more safety measures would be set in place. Gowda said the damaged rail track would be repaired soon.

The blast was trigerred during a one-day bandh call called by the Maoists against police firing in Aurangabad and Rohtas districts. The CPRO said that nearly three metre of the track has been damaged in the blast. Electric wire overhead has also been damaged, he said. The DIG said that the blast appears to be a powerful one creating a four-feet deep crater.

Howrah-New Delhi Rajdhani Express, Bhubaneshwar-New Delhi Rajdhani Express, Sealdah-New Delhi Rajdhani Express, Jodhpur-Howrah Express and Doon Express were among the major trains stranded at various places.

state government whether Shimla still retains the tag of a pedestrian city where the walkers have the right to walk freely.

Hearing a petition on vehicular problems of Shimla filed by a city resident, Dharam Pal Thakur, the court asked the government Tuesday if the provisions of the Shimla Roads Users and Pedestrians (Public Safety and Convenience) Act, 2007, are being enforced.

“The government should file a status report on the implementation of the road user act and also furnish a list of permits granted by the authorities for plying of vehicles on sealed and restricted roads in Shimla,” said a division bench of Chief Justice Mansoor Ahmad Mir and Justice Tarlok Singh Chauhan.

The court also directed the government to furnish an affidavit by Aug 19, the next date of hearing, on whether CCTV cameras have been installed on these roads and what is the mechanism to check unpermitted vehicles on them.

Favouring the practice of auto-free zones in Shimla, the bench directed the government and the civic body to come out with a long-term plan to regulate traffic.

Expanding the scope of the petition,

tourist destinations as well.

Petitioner Dharam Pal Thakur said the authorities had failed to regulate the traffic in the town, resulting in total chaos.

He said government vehicles were plying on sealed and restricted roads illegally.

Earlier, irked over illegal parking of tourist vehicles in Shimla’s auto-free zones on New Year’s Eve, the high court had summoned top administrative and police officials.

“We were shocked to find that vehicles were parked on the sealed and restricted areas. Not only this, the vehicles were also parked in the core area of Shimla town,” a division bench of Justice Deepak Gupta and Justice Sanjay Karol had observed in January 2012.

Shimla has several auto-free zones to facilitate unrestricted movement of pedestrians.

The strolling culture of Shimla, which served as the summer capital of British India between 1864 and 1939, was developed by the colonial rulers.

The Mall and the historic Ridge, an open space just above the Mall and now a hub of commercial activity, were once ‘British only’ streets meant for strolling.

No place for girls in rising India as child sex ratio reaches ‘emergency proportions’ New Delhi, July 23 (ageNcieS): Despite being one of the fastest growing economies in the world, India is still grappled with the declining Child Sex Ratio (CSR). Sex ratio which has always been a matter of concern for India and a UN report on the same has raised more questions on the dwindling number of girls in the country.

In its report, titled ‘Sex Ratios and Gender Biased Sex Selection: History, Debates and Future Directions, the UN has warned by saying that the steadily declining child sex ratio in India has reached emergency proportions and urgent action must be taken to alleviate this crisis.

“The CSRs have fallen most precipitously during a period of unprecedented economic growth.

It has emanated from northern and northwestern India, regions which may be characterized as being in the wake of the Green Revolution and whose levels of prosperity therefore require more careful calibration,” says the report.

According to India’s 2011 Census, while the overall female-to-

male ratio has improved marginally as compared to the last Census, fewer girls were born than boys.

With the report it is pretty evident that the ‘shining’ India is still gender biased. The report said, “India’s declining child sex ratio speaks of a culture in which gender inequality is deeply ingrained. Gender biased sex selection is a manifestation of the subordinate status of women in society, with far reaching sociodemographic consequences. Gender equality and gender justice is a direct casualty of this practice.”

The facts and figures: According to the data in the study, Northeast states such as Manipur and Nagaland which are said to be less gender biased have shown a sharp decline in the CSR between 2001 and 2011, even as the ratio has risen in Punjab and Haryana. As per the report, the CSR in Manipur has dropped from 957 girls to only 936, while Nagaland went from 964 to 943 in the decade.

Whereas in states like Punjab and Haryana which are considered as areas with a skewed sex ratio, it improved from 798 to 846 from 819

to 834 in the same period respectively. However, when looked at data between 1951 and 2011, the study found that the child sex ratio dropped from 983 to 918 women per 1000 men, showing a declining trend across the country in the time period.

Reason of decline: The falling numbers can be attributed to many reasons including female foeticide, infant mortality rate and many others. At the launch of the study, Lakshmi Puri, deputy executive director of UN Women said, “It is tragically ironic that the one who creates life is herself denied the right to be born.” Suggesting some steps to improve falling female sex-ratio Ministry of Health and Family Welfare in a report had said, “Some of the reasons commonly put forward to explain the consistently low levels of sex ratio are son preference, low value of girl child, neglect of girl child resulting in higher mortality at younger age, female infanticide, female foeticide, higher childhood mortality and male bias in enumeration of population. Imbalance in the sex

ratio may lead to further decline in the status of women, increase in violence against women, practices of polyandry etc.”

How to improve the ratio: To develop India, the child sex ratio needs to be improved. Steps should be taken to empower women and sensitization about the aforesaid issues is a must to bring about a change. As the UN report said, “She now requires many more years at home with higher investments in nutrition, health and education... Sons, on the other hand, embody a range of ritual and economic roles. If the current climate of economic volatility and masculine anomie makes them often fall short of expectations, nonetheless at least one is essential for the future of the family. It is this conjuncture that is producing the falling Child Sex Ratio.” It seems that with the onset of development, the life chances of women have further decreased but for a better country these life chances should be improved and the skewed ratios should be at parity. So, ‘Save the girl child’ and build a better nation.

InternatIonal

the Morung express

Thursday 24 July 2014

Dimapur

9

11 parents of Nigeria’s abducted girls die LAGOS, JuLy 23 (AP): In the three months since Islamic extremists kidnapped more than 200 Nigerian schoolgirls, 11 of their parents have died, town residents say. The town where the girls were kidnapped, Chibok, is cut off by militants, who have been attacking villages in the region.

Seven fathers of kidnapped girls were among 51 bodies brought to the Chibok hospital after an attack on the nearby village of Kautakari this month, said a health worker who insisted on anonymity for fear of reprisals by the extremists.

At least four more parents have died of heart failure, high blood pressure and other illnesses that the community blames on trauma due to the mass abduction 100 days ago, said community leader Pogu Bitrus, who provided their names. “One father of two of the girls kidnapped just went into a kind of coma and kept repeating the names of his daughters, until life left him,” said Bitrus.

President Goodluck Jonathan met Tuesday with parents of the 219 kidnapped Nigerian schoolgirls and some classmates who managed to escape from Islamic extremists.

Jonathan pledged to continue working to see the girls “are brought out alive,” said his spokesman of the meeting which press were not permitted to attend.

The parents showed no

In this Sunday, May 18, 2014 file photo some of the parents of the kidnapped school girls sit outside a compound during a meeting in Chibok, Nigeria. At least 11 parents of the more than 200 kidnapped Nigerian schoolgirls will never see their daughters again. Since the mass abduction of the schoolgirls by Islamic extremists three months ago, at least 11 of their parents have died and their hometown, Chibok, is under siege from the militants, residents report. Seven fathers of kidnapped girls were among 51 bodies brought to Chibok hospital after an attack on the nearby village of Kautakari this month, said a health worker who insisted on anonymity for fear of reprisals by the extremists. At least four more parents have died of heart failure, high blood pressure and other illnesses that the community blames on trauma due to the mass abduction 100 days ago, said community leader Pogu Bitrus, who provided their names. (AP File Photo)

emotion after the meeting, but some shook hands with the president.

Chibok, the town where the girls were kidnapped, is cut off because of frequent attacks on the roads that are studded with burned out vehicles. Commercial flights no longer go into the troubled area and the government has halted charter

flights.

Through numerous phone calls to Chibok and the surrounding area, The Associated Press has gathered information about the situation in the town where the students were kidnapped from their school.

More danger is on the horizon.

Boko Haram is closing

in on Chibok, attacking villages ever closer to the town. Villagers who survive the assaults are swarming into the town, swelling its population and straining resources. A food crisis looms, along with shortages of money and fuel, said community leader Bitrus.

On the bright side, some of the young women

who escaped are recovering, said a health worker, who insisted on anonymity because he feared reprisals from Boko Haram.

Girls who had first refused to discuss their experience, now are talking about it and taking part in therapeutic singing and drawing — a few drew homes, some painted flowers and one

young woman drew a picture of a soldier with a gun last week.

Girls who said they would never go back to school now are thinking about how to continue their education, he said.

Counseling is being offered to families of those abducted and to some of the 57 students who managed to escape in the first few days, said the health worker. He is among 36 newly trained in grief and rape counseling, under a program funded by USAID. All the escapees remain deeply concerned about their schoolmates who did not get away.

A presidential committee investigating the kidnappings said 219 girls still are missing. But the community says there are more because some parents refused to give the committee their daughters’ names, fearing the stigma involved.

Boko Haram filmed a video in which they threatened to sell the students into slavery and as child brides. It also showed a couple of the girls describing their “conversion” from Christianity to Islam.

At least two have died of snake bites, a mediator who was liaising with Boko Haram told AP two months ago. At that time he said at least 20 of the girls were ill — not surprising given that they are probably being held in an area infested with malarial mosquitoes, poisonous snakes and spi-

ders, and relying on unclean water from rivers.

Most of the schoolgirls are still believed to be held in the Sambisa Forest — a wildlife reserve that includes almost impenetrably thick jungle as well as more open savannah. The forest borders on sand dunes marking the edge of the Sahara Desert. Sightings of the girls and their captors have been reported in neighboring Cameroon and Chad.

In Chibok, the town’s population is under stress.

“There are families that are putting up four and five other families,” local leader Bitrus said, adding that food stocks are depleted.

Livestock has been looted

by Boko Haram so villagers are arriving empty handed.

Worst of all, no one is planting though it is the rainy season, he said.

“There is a famine looming,” he warned.

Chibok and nearby villages are targets because they are enclaves of staunch Christians in predominantly Muslim north Nigeria.

The number of soldiers guarding Chibok has increased from 15 to about 200 since the kidnapping but they have done little to increase security in Chibok, said Bitrus. The soldiers often refuse to deploy to villages under attack though there is advance warning 90 percent of the time, he said.

Last month the extremists took control and raised

their black flags over two villages within 30 kilometers (18 miles) of Chibok.

Last week they ordered residents of another village just 16 kilometers (10 miles) away to clear out, Bitrus said. Every village in the neighboring Damboa area has been attacked and sacked, and all the villages bordering Cameroon have been burned and are deserted, Bitrus said, quoting residents who fled.

The attacks continue despite the fact the military placed the area under a state of emergency in May 2013.

Residents feel so abandoned that they appealed this month for the United Nations to send troops to protect them. The U.N. has repeatedly urged Nigeria’s government to live up to its international responsibility to protect citizens.

President Goodluck Jonathan insists his government and military are doing everything possible to ensure the girls’ release.

The Defense Ministry says it knows where they are but fears any military campaign could lead to their deaths.

Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau in a new video released this week repeated his demands that Jonathan release detained extremists in exchange for the girls — an offer Jonathan has so far refused.

After three months, few Chibok residents believe all the schoolgirls will ever return home.

US pushes for truce as Gaza battle rages Young MH17 victim has eerie premonition of crash GAZA CITy, JuLy 23 (AP): Israeli troops battled Hamas militants on Wednesday near a southern Gaza Strip town as the U.S. secretary of state flew into Israel to press topgear efforts for a truce in the conflict that has so far killed at least 657 Palestinians and 31 Israelis.

Trapped by the fighting in Khan Younis, a town on the southern edge of the Gaza Strip, dozens of Palestinian families scrambled to flee the area. John Kerry landed in Tel Aviv despite a Federal Aviation Administration ban following a Hamas rocket near the airport the day before, reflecting his determination to achieve a cease-fire agreement between the warring sides.

Kerry was to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in Jerusalem and Ramallah in what appeared to be a crucial day in the flailing talks. U.S. officials have downplayed expectations for an immediate, lasting truce between Israel and the Hamas militant group that controls Gaza.

In Jerusalem, Kerry said negotiations toward a Gaza cease-fire agreement were making some progress after days of a deadly impasse between Israel and Hamas militants. He was not specific in describing what he called steps forward in the negotiations as he met for a second time this week with

United Nations chief Ban Ki-moon.

Meanwhile, a foreign worker in Israel was killed when a rocket fired from the Gaza Strip landed in southern Israel on Wednesday, police spokeswoman Luba Samri said.

She did not immediately know the worker’s nationality. Israel also reported that two more of its soldiers have died in the conflict, bringing the military’s death toll to 29, but did not elaborate on the circumstances of the latest casualties. Two Israeli civilians have also died in the 15day fighting A Palestinian health official said eight Hamas fighters died in the ferocious battle near Khan Younis, from where the Palestinian Red Crescent was trying to evacuate about 250. Khan Younis has been under Israeli tank shelling and drone strikes since early Wednesday. The Red Crescent said Hamas fighters in the area were deploying rocket propelled grenades and light weapons, including machine guns, against the Israelis.

Hundreds of residents of eastern Khan Younis were seen fleeing their homes as the battle unfolded, flooding into the streets with what few belongings they could carry, many with children in tow. They said they were seeking shelter in nearby UN schools. “The airplanes and airstrikes are all around us,” said Aziza Msabah, a resident of Khan Younis.

“They are hitting the houses, which are collapsing upon us.”

The Israeli military did not respond to Associated Press inquiries as to why such heavy fighting was concentrated in Khan Younis, saying only it was conducting operations throughout the Gaza Strip. The fighting was centered on an agricultural area, which Israel has claimed is a site for Hamas tunnels going under the border into Israel.

The Palestinians say Israel is randomly deploying a wide array of modern weaponry against Gaza’s 1.7 million people, inflicting a heavy civilian death toll and destroying large amounts of property there. By mid-day Wednesday, the Palestinian death toll stood at 657, according to Gaza health official Ashraf alKidra, most of them civilians.

Israel says it began the Gaza operation to halt Hamas rocket fire into Israel — more than 2,100 have been fired since the conflict erupted — and to destroy a network of tunnels leading from Gaza to Israel that are intended to allow Hamas militants to carry out attacks against Israelis.

As the Gaza death toll mounted, a 34-year-old Palestinian man was killed in clashes with Israeli soldiers near the West Bank City of Bethlehem, a potentially ominous development in an area that has so far been relatively free of violence, despite the Gaza fighting.

Mahmoud Hamamreh was killed in stone throwing clashes in the village of Husan early Wednesday, doctors said.

Kristen Gelineau Associated Press

IN A BEDROOM in a townhouse near Amsterdam, Miguel Panduwinata reached out for his mother.

“Mama, may I hug you?”

Samira Calehr wrapped her arms around her 11-year-old son, who’d been oddly agitated for days, peppering her with questions about death, about his soul, about God. The next morning, she would drop Miguel and his big brother Shaka at the airport so they could catch Malaysia Airlines Flight 17, the first leg of their journey to Bali to visit their grandmother.

Her normally cheerful, well-traveled boy should have been excited. His silver suitcase sat in the living room, ready to go. Jetskiing and surfing in paradise awaited. But something was off. A day earlier, while playing soccer, Miguel had burst out: “How would you choose to die? What would happen to my body if I was buried? Would I not feel anything because our souls go back to God?” And now, the night before his big trip, Miguel refused to release his mother

from his grasp. He’s just going to miss me, Calehr told herself. So she stretched out beside him and held him all night. It was 11 p.m. on Wednesday, July 16. Miguel, Shaka and the 296 other people aboard Flight 17 had around 15 hours left to live.

The next morning, Samira Calehr and her friend Aan ushered her sons onto the train to the airport. They were joking and laughing. Shaka, 19, had just finished his first year of college, where he was studying textile engineering, and promised to keep an eye on Miguel.

Their other brother, Mika, 16, hadn’t been able to get a seat on Flight 17 and would travel to Bali the next day.

At the check-in counter, Calehr fussed over her boys’ luggage. Shaka, meanwhile, realized he’d forgotten to pack socks. Calehr promised to buy him some and send them along with Mika.

Finally, they were outside customs. The boys hugged Calehr goodbye and walked toward passport control.

Suddenly, Miguel whirled around and ran back, throwing his arms around his mother.

“Mama, I’m going to miss

US govt believes rebels likely downed MH 17 “by mistake”

A youth holds a placard during a rally to seek justice for the victims of the Malaysia Airlines Flight 17, outside the Parliament house in Kuala Lumpur on Wednesday July 23. A team of Malaysian investigators visited the site along with members of the the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) mission in Ukraine for the first time since the air crash last week. (AP Photo)

WASHINGTON, JuLy 23 (ReuTeRS): The U.S. government believes that pro-Russian separatists most likely shot down a Malaysia Airlines jet “by mistake,” not realizing it was a civilian passenger flight, U.S. intelligence officials said on Tuesday.

The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the “most plausible explanation” for the destruction of the plane was that the separatists fired a Russian-made SA-11 missile at it after mistaking it for another kind of aircraft.

“Five days into it (following the crash) it does appear to be a mistake,” one of the officials said in a briefing for reporters. The officials said that their assessments were backed up by evidence from social media and by intercepted conversations of known proRussian separatists, whose voice prints had been verified by U.S. agencies.

The speakers initially bragged about shooting down a transport plane, but later acknowledged that they might have made a mistake, the officials said. All 298 people aboard died. The downing of flight MH-17 deepened the Ukrainian crisis and prompted international outrage. Separatists in the Russian-speaking east have been fighting the Ukrainian military since pro-Western protesters in Kiev forced out the Moscow-allied president earlier this year.

U.S. President Barack Obama’s administration has said it is convinced the airliner was brought down last Thursday by an SA-11 ground-to-air missile fired from territory in eastern Ukraine controlled by pro-Russian separatists. U.S. officials said earlier that satellite data showed

a plume of smoke left in the missile’s trail that allowed analysts to calculate a launch area near the Russia-Ukraine border. They also said infrared sensors detected the explosion of the jet.

Who pulled the trigger?

The intelligence officials said they did not know at this stage who had actually fired the missile. “We don’t know who literally was operating the system that day but more generally we have the picture of evidence that says the Russians have been providing these types of systems, the Russians have been providing training,” said a senior U.S. administration official who spoke on condition of anonymity.

The intelligence officials said they had reports that as many as a dozen aircraft had been fired on from separatist-controlled areas during two months of fighting between the Ukrainian government and rebel forces. Two were large transport planes, the officials said. Most if not all of the aircraft which had been targeted had been flying at low altitude.

When it was hit the Malaysian airliner was at 33,000 feet.

The intelligence officials said

the U.S. did not know that the separatists were in possession or control of SA-11 missile systems until after the Malaysia Airlines plane was struck. Separatist leaders have said they did not bring the Malaysian plane down.

Russia has denied involvement.

The U.S. intelligence officials dismissed Russian assertions that the plane may have been brought down by a surface to air missile fired by Ukrainian government forces, or by a Ukrainian government warplane.

They said the air-to-air missile theory was backed by little or no evidence, and that while the Ukrainian government has had access to SA-11 missiles, there was no evidence they had deployed them anywhere near the region where the plane crashed.

The intelligence officials said that for several weeks the United States had been tracking the movement by Russia of large amounts of weapons, including tanks, armored personnel carriers and multiple-launch rocket systems, across the border. The officials also said that rebels were being trained at a large military base near the city of Rostov in southwestern Russia.

In this undated photo released by the Calehr family, Miguel Panduwinata poses for a photo.

Miguel and his brother were killed aboard Malaysia Airlines Flight 17, which was shot down over eastern Ukraine.

(AP Photo)

you,” he said. “What will happen if the airplane crashes?”

What was this all about? she wondered. “Don’t say that,” she said, squeezing him. “Everything will be OK.” Shaka tried to reassure them both.

“I will take care of him,” he said to his mom. “He’s my baby.” She watched the two boys walk away. But Miguel kept looking back at his mother. His big brown eyes looked sad.

Then he vanished from view. Flight 17 took off around 12:15 p.m. on what should have been an 11 hour and 45 minute flight. It lasted two hours. Calehr had

just finished buying Shaka’s socks when her phone rang.

It was her friend Aan. “Where are you?” he screamed. “The plane crashed!” She made it home just in time to faint.

She grapples now with the what-ifs, the astronomical odds, the realization that the world she knew has grown alien in a blink. She thinks about how her baby boy seemed to sense that his time on earth was running short. She imagines the futures that will never be: Shaka’s dream of becoming a textile engineer, gone.

Miguel’s dream of becoming a go-kart race driver, gone.

Cancer drug can detect HIV virus

MeLbOuRNe, JuLy 23 (IANS): In a key discovery against HIV, researchers have shown that an anti-cancer drug can activate hidden HIV to levels readably detectable in the blood by standard methods.

The anti-cancer drug romidepsin increased the virus production in HIV-infected cells between 2.1 and 3.9 times above normal. “The viral load in the blood increased to measurable levels in five out of six patients with HIV infection,” informed the team from Aarhus University and Aarhus University Hospital in Denmark.

Presenting the results at the ongoing international AIDS conference (AIDS 2014) in Melbourne, Australia, researchers said the findings open possibilities of a vaccine to strengthen the ability of the immune system to fight HIV. HIV can hide in a “state of hibernation” in the CD4 cells. These cells are a part of the body’s immune system, but the CD4 cells cannot fight the virus themselves; killer T-cells can.

However, killer T-cells cannot tell if a CD4 cell contains “hibernating” HIV virus. In the new findings, when the virus is activated and moves towards the bloodstream, it leaves a trace on the outside of the infected CD4 cells. “In principle, this means that the killer T-cells can now trace and destroy the HIV-infected CD4 cells,” said senior researcher Ole Schmeltz Sogaard.

In addition to measuring the increased viral load in six HIV-infected patients, researchers tested the side effects of the medicine. The test participants experienced transient fatigue and nausea, which are known side effects of romidepsin. “The next step is a bigger trial where the researchers will combine romidepsin activation of hidden HIV with a vaccine (vacc-4x) to strengthen the ability of killer T-cells to fight HIV virus,” Sogaard concluded.

10

Dimapur

SPORTS

Thursday 24 July 2014

The Morung Express

Ashwin should be part of Rodriguez unveiled at the Bernabéu India’s playing XI: Bedi

NEw dELHi, JULY 23 (PTi): Impressed by India`s brilliant showing at Lord`s, spin legend Bishen Singh Bedi feels the only trick the team has missed so far in England is not playing Ravichandran Ashwin. "Ideally, Ashwin should have played in the both the games. Again it`s not Stuart Binny`s fault that he`s been thrust there.

He has no utility when he doesn`t even get an over in the second innings," Bedi told PTI in an interview.

"It`s not about a winning combination, it`s about getting your act together. You don`t pick Ashwin and get Murali (Vijay) to bowl off-spinners, it doesn`t make sense. Both teams missed out on this front. Of course, England missed out more and India capitalised on it," said the former left-arm spinner.

Bedi said England are looking "helplessly hopeless" and playing below par cricket but that cannot take anything away from India`s brilliant showing at Lord`s.

"Let`s not take anything away from India.

They played brilliantly. And don`t forget they lost the toss also. England played much below par. They look pretty directionless. They look helplessly hopeless," Bedi said.

If England veterans like Cook, Ian Bell and Stuart Bell were left struggling then Indian youngsters rose to the occasion, he noted. Bedi said while Indian players are peaking at the right time the English cricketers have had their time. "When you touch the peak then there is nothing beyond that. You can stay at the top if you are willing but if not then there is no other way than the way down.

What goes up must come down. So the England veterans like Cook, Broad, Andersen, Bell, Prior have all past their peak." he said.

"But in the case of Indians -- Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane, Rohit Sharma, Ishant Sharma, Mohammad Shami, Bhuvneshwar Kumar -- their peak is ahead of

them. They haven`t peaked yet, they are on their way up. It is a cycle and Indians have stayed low for quite sometime. So they can only go up from here," the spin legend said.

Reacting strongly to the interpretation of the term all-rounder, Bedi was quick to clarify that he does not consider Ravindra Jadeja or Stuart Binny as genuine allrounders. "They are not the answer to an all-rounder.

Even Bhuvneshwar Kumar can score runs. Let`s not confuse this term called an all-rounder. The one who can find his way into the side purely for his batting and purely for his bowling is a true all-rounder. Same for Ashwin or Jadeja or Binny or Kumar," he said.

"Ray Lindwall scored 2 Test hundreds against England but nobody called him an all-rounder. He was a bowler. Gary Sobers, Imran Khan, Kapil Dev, Richard Hadlee, Ian Botham they were genuine all-rounders.

Let`s not insult the term allrounder," said Bedi.

Real Madrid president Florentino Perez, left, and new Real Madrid player James Rodriguez, from Colombia, right, accompanied by his wife Daniela Ospina,

State Special Olympics team bring laurels

Athletes and coaches of the Special Olympic team pose with their medals.

diMAPUR, JULY 23 (MExN): Special Olympics Nagaland (SON) team represented the state in the National Championship BOCCE held at Patna, Bihar from July 16 to 21 and has won laurels for the state. The team led by SON Chief Coach Amongla, Coach Bendang and Coach Yanrenthung Ovung - won 4 gold, 1 silver and 5 bronze medals.

Blinton Irengbum, Wa-

timeren, Thangkhahao and Chumremo won gold medals, Kaini won the lone silver medal, while Merensenla, Masapokba, Kedahule Kent, Wapangrenla and Chakumla won bronze medals. The 10 special athletes are from various active NGOs and special schools working for the disabled viz., Silver Lines Academy, Prodigal Homes, St. Mary’s Montessori, Development

Association of Nagaland (DAN) of Dimapur district, Care and Support Society of Mokokchung district, and Nagaland Parents Association for Disabled (NAPAD) of Kohima district.

Officials of SON have congratulated the special athletes and the coaches and also thanked the families and NGOs for their support in making the program a success.

27th State Taekwon-do C'ship diMAPUR, JULY 23 (MExN): The 27th Nagaland State Taekwon-do Championship 2014 is scheduled to be held from July 28 to 31 in the State Indoor Badminton Stadium, Dimapur.The event is being hosted by Dimapur District Taekwon-do Association (DDTA) under the aegis of Nagaland Taekwon-do Association. In view of this, the DDTA has informed

all the participating district presidents/secretaries to send the players along with team coaches and team managers to Dimapur by 4 pm of July 28 at the latest, since weighing of players and making of tournament fixture will be done simultaneously on the same day.

A press release from DDTA general secretary Anthony Lotha informed.

DDTA further informed

all the team managers/ coaches on arrival at Dimapur to submit two passport photos of each players; juniors and sub-juniors are to submit a photocopy of birth certificate or TFI I.D. cards.

Team managers/ coaches are also asked to submit 2 passport photos to the secretary, organizing committee (DDTA). For further queries, one may contact 9402738285/9436066705.

pose for photographers holding his new shirt during his official presentation at the Santiago Bernabeu stadium in Madrid, Spain, Tuesday, July 22, 2014, after signing for Real Madrid. Real Madrid have signed Rodriguez from Monaco on a six-year contract, (AP Photo)

MAdRid, JULY 23 (AGENCiES): Real Madrid have officially unveiled new £60million signing James Rodriguez after they completed the transfer of the World Cup Golden Boot winner from Monaco on Tuesday.

The Colombia international has agreed a six-year contract with Madrid and underwent his medical with the club on Tuesday morning before being displayed in front of a crowd at the Santiago Bernabéu. Madrid president Florentino Perez welcomed the forward andcompared him to the late legend of the club, Alfredo Di Stefano who also came to the club from Colombia. 'Colombia will be at your side,' said Perez, which raised a cheer

from the fans in the stadium. Rodriguez said: 'I hope to win many titles here, Hala Madrid,' invoking the club's chant. An overly-zealous Colombian fan ran on to the pitch to hug Rodriguez and he was restrained by security personnel.

Neither club have confirmed the fee for the 23-year-old, but reports suggest Madrid have paid about £60million, which would make Rodriguez the fourth most expensive transfer of all time after Gareth Bale, Cristiano Ronaldo and Luis Suarez.

A Real Madrid statement read: 'Real Madrid have reached an agreement with Monaco for the transfer of James Rodriguez, who will join the club for the next six

seasons.

'The player will be presented today, Tuesday 22 July, at 20:00 (Spanish time), in the Santiago Bernabeu's presidential box. 'Following that, James Rodriguez will take his first steps on the Santiago Bernabéu's pitch wearing the Real Madrid shirt and will attend the media in the press room.' Rodriguez was one of the revelations of the World Cup, scoring in each of Colombia's games as they reached the quarter-finals of the competition for the very first time, eventually losing 2-1 to hosts Brazil. In total Rodriguez scored six goals at the World Cup to finish as the leading scorer - one clear of Thomas Muller - while his stunning 25-yard volley

Brazil reacts with praise and scorn to Dunga return

RiO dE JANEiRO, JULY 23 (iANS): Brazil's media and past players reacted with a mix of praise and scorn to the appointment of Dunga as national soccer coach for a second time.

The 1994 World Cupwinning captain Tuesday replaced Luiz Felipe Scolari, who resigned last week following Brazil's failure to reach the World Cup final as hosts and pre-tournament favourites, reports Xinhua. Dunga's appointment comes four years after he was sacked from the same position after Brazil's quarterfinal loss to the Netherlands at the 2010 World Cup. Daily Folha de S. Paulo said Dunga's focus on discipline and methodical planning allowed him to mould a "powerful team bereft of stars" during his first spell in charge from 2006 to 2010. His return reflected

"a need for greater commitment" to the national shirt, the newspaper added. Former forward Pepe, a member of Brazil's 1958 and 1962 World Cup-winning teams, described Dunga as "a guy with attitude" and somebody "who doesn't hide behind a wall". "He is going to select players that are prepared to work," the 79-year-old added.

Jairzinho, who played in Brazil's 1970 World Cup triumph, said Dunga's previous spell as Selecao coach would hold the team in good stead. "He has experience and showed everybody what he is capable of," he said. "He is very well qualified for the role."

Among the harshest critics was the Rio de Janeiro-based Globo newspaper, which bemoaned the return of "a man who has no desire to make football beautiful". Another tren-

chant critic was Estado de S.Paulo columnist Robson Morelli, who wrote: "Dunga is the biggest error in the history of the Brazilian football confederation."

"The coach is the same as he has always been. He will close the team and use players that he trusts and that aren't always the best to prepare his battles. The CBF is going to have a lot to answer for one day. We all know Dunga."

Waldir Peres, Brazil's goalkeeper during the 1982 World Cup, also disapproved of the decision.

The former Sao Paulo stopper said he would have preferred ex-Corinthians coach Tite or Sao Paulo manager Muricy Ramalho in the role. "I don't think he is the right person," Peres said. "Brazil needed a new coach who has been able to get results at club level. I don't have high hopes."

Relevance of CWG again in question

Dennis Passa

AP Sports Writer

It's a question that comes up at every Commonwealth Games: How relevant is an event held every four years which often fails to attract top competitors or a large number of spectators?

This time around, and on the eve of the Glasgow games, the suggestion has become more compelling with the spiraling costs of the Olympics — the flagship of all multisport events.

On Tuesday, the Commonwealth Games Federation, which runs the games that attract countries and territories of the former British Empire, said at the end of a two-day meeting that it would review the number of sports at future games.

Like the IOC, it will also try to ensure that bidding does not become out of reach of cities or countries wishing to host them.

"It's very much about ensuring that the scope and scale of the games, and the number of sports we have, keep the games affordable for potential bid cities or countries," said Mike

England's Bradley Wiggins leads his cycle teammates during a training session in the Velodrome ahead of the start of the Commonwealth Games 2014 in Glasgow, Scotland, Tuesday July 22. (AP Photo)

Hooper, the federation's outgoing chief executive.

"Quality over quantity."

This month, the International Olympic Committee retained three cities that had indicated they wanted to bid for the 2022 Winter Games after the withdrawal of three candidates, mostly due to concerns of the costs of hosting them.

The Commonwealth Games has similar issues with a lack of interest in hosting future games. The Gold Coast, north of Brisbane, Australia, won the

right to host the 2018 games when it beat the only other bid city — Hambantota, Sri Lanka.

Durban, South Africa and Edmonton, Canada are the only cities vying so far to host the 2022 games.

Final bids have to be lodged

by March of next year, and a decision will be made by September 2015.

Reg Miley, chairman of the Edmonton bid, said Tuesday he has no doubt about the relevance of the Commonwealth Games.

He said when the games

were last held in Edmonton in 1978, they attracted 1,400 athletes. Glasgow will represent the largest-ever games with 7,300 athletes.

"I count two statistics that blew me out of the water — one-third of the world's population, 2.2 billion, live in Commonwealth countries," said Miley. "And more than 50 percent of those are under 25. So that's where our future is." Mike Stanley, president of the New Zealand Olympic Committee, said the Glasgow games are his

country's only multisports event outside of the Olympics. They've held the Commonwealth Games three times and suggestions are that they might try to host them again in 2026.

"We don't see them as an anachronism in any way," said Stanley. "As the IOC is doing, we realize it's a fast-moving world out there, and our voice and our brand has to be seen in a positive light and recognized." As usual, the Commonwealth Games suffer from a lack of star power.

Sprinter Usain Bolt is the biggest name here, but he will only compete in Jamaica's 4x100-meter relay. Mo Farah, who won both the 5,000 and 10,000 meters for Britain at the London Olympics in 2012, is scheduled to run in both events.

Judy Simons, president of the Bermuda Olympic Association, said Tuesday that the lack of high-profile athletes might create a more level playing field for some of the lesser-populated countries. The Commonwealth Games usually include sports like lawn bowls and netball, which aren't part of the Olympic program.

"It gives smaller countries a real platform to show their athletes in a different light to the Olympics," said Simons. "You can get swallowed up in the Olympics."

John Dawanincura, a member of the Papua New Guinea Olympic Committee, had a simple answer for critics of the Commonwealth Games. "A lot of people have their opinions, but getting 71 nations here is a testament that most everyone is in favor of them," said Dawanincura.

against Uruguay was voted goal of the tournament on FIFA.com.

His signing comes less than a week after Madrid brought in another of the World Cup's star performers in Germany's Toni Kroos, who moved from Bayern Munich for a reported £24m. It also means that, if the reported figure is correct, Madrid now boast three of the four most expensive signings in history, having spent a worldrecord £80m on Bale last summer and the same on Ronaldo in 2009.

The Champions League winners would hold a clean sweep of the top three signings but for arch-rivals Barcelona, who splashed out a reported £75m on Liverpool striker Luis Suarez earlier this summer.

Title holders City still looking for reinforcements MANCHESTER, JULY 23 (REUTERS): English champions Manchester City are still in the market for new signings to boost their title defence, manager Manuel Pellegrini said on Tuesday. Pellegrini has already brought in Brazilian midfielder Fernando from Porto, French fullback Bacary Sagna from Arsenal and goalkeeper Willy Caballero from former club Malaga but isn't convinced his impressive pool is enough. "I don’t think the squad is complete yet but we have six weeks before the transfer window closes," the Chilean told reporters in Kansas ahead of their friendly match against Sporting Kansas City. "Perhaps there is the option to bring one or more players in or maybe one or two will leave our squad but there is time for us to consider what is best for our team."

Pellegrini's purchasing plans may have been changed after striker Alvaro Negredo suffered a broken foot in the friendly win over Scottish side Hearts on Friday. Pellegrini, who won the Premier League title and the League Cup in his first season in England last year, said the powerful Spaniard had an operation on Tuesday. "Alvaro had surgery today on his broken foot and he will probably be out for two or three months," the former Real Madrid manager said. "It is a blow for us because Alvaro is a very important member of our squad so obviously we will miss him."

City will face AC Milan, Liverpool and Olympiakos Piraeus on the U.S. tour before returning for the English curtain raiser, the Community Shield, against FA Cup winners Arsenal on August 10.

Rodgers praises Suarez, says Liverpool moving on BOSTON, JULY 23 (AP): Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers says the team is moving on after Luis Suarez' departure to Barcelona for a $130 million transfer fee. "He gave everything for Liverpool," Rodgers said Tuesday when asked if Suarez had let the club down. "Of course there have been issues, but they're in the past. He was a brilliant player for us and for me. ... It's a shame he's not here. But Liverpool, as a club, is bigger than any one player." The Uruguay national scored 82 goals in 133 Liverpool appearances. But his three years in England were overshadowed by bans for racial abuse and biting.

He was suspended for four months by FIFA for biting Italy defender Giorgio Chiellini during the World Cup. Suarez cannot join his new team in Spain until after the suspension is over.

Rodgers also said that Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard's retirement from the national team "brings an end to a great career." But it might be beneficial to Liverpool. "Liverpool means everything to him," Rodgers said. "And there's certainly no doubt missing out on international football means he will be fresher and at his optimum level as often as possible for us."

Rodgers spoke at Fenway Park, the home of the Boston Red Sox, before the Reds practiced for Wednesday night's friendly against Roma. The 102-year-old baseball stadium was decked out for the game on Tuesday, with the pitch lined up from the third-base line to the right-field stands. The game between teams from England and Italy will have a local flavor: Liverpool is owned by Red Sox owner John Henry, and Roma is owned by NBA side the Boston Celtics minority owner Jim Pallotta.

Thursday

Entertainment

The Morung Express C M Y K

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24 July 2014

Dimapur

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Aircel Viewer's choice award

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he office of the Barefoot Production Pvt. Ltd. informed that the audience can sms AGP<space>contestant no to 58000. Sms charge is Rs.3/sms and it is only applicable from Aircel Mobile. 10 Lucky audiences will also get exciting prizes. So, keep voting from 10:00 AM – 5:00 PM till 7th of August, 2014 to make your favorite contestant win the AIRCEL Guitar prodigy viewer’s choice award. The10 contestants selected for the final round are:

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DISreSpeCTful to see 'Mary Simon Cowell Targeted Over Donation Kom' as a trend film: Priyanka to Israeli Soldiers' Charity S A ctress Priyanka Chopra, who will be next seen in the much-awaited biopic `Mary Kom`, said it is disrespectful to see it as a film made in sync with the trend of sports dramas. Priyanka will essay the life story of Olympic medal-winning boxer Mary Kom in the film, produced by Sanjay Leela Bhansali.

reporters here at the trailer launch of the film today.

The 32-year-old actress said `Mary Kom` is so far the toughest film of her career. It is the most hardest film of my career. To bring her (Mary Kom`s) personality on screen was the

imon Cowell has been bombarded with sickening messages on Twitter. com over a donation he made to a fund for Israeli soldiers. The X Factor boss handed $150,000 (£88,000) to the Friends of the Israel Defence Forces (Fidf) at a fundraising gala in Beverly Hills, California last year (13).

However, the conflict in the Middle East erupted again this month (Jul14) and several protesters on Twitter have since sent the music mogul hate-filled messages and gruesome photographs of victims of the fighting.

One user told Cowell, You have blood on ur (your) hands and another posted a photo of a father holding his dead baby, alongside the message, U (you) donated money to Israel to do this. Now imagine this was ur (your) child. Fidf was founded by Holocaust survivors in 1981 and provides support for Israeli soldiers.

Simon Cowell denies 'gay' claims imon Cowell has denied S the claim of him being a gay, post dismissal of Tu-

lisa Contostavlos`s drug trial. The former N-Dubz singer`s PA, Gareth Varey, was heard in a recording played during the trial, saying that he knew men who had slept with Cowell, suggest reports.

In a statement, after the conclusion of the trial, it was written that

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Last year, biopic on life of national sprinter Milkha Singh, played by actor Farhan Akhtar, had won the film several accolades, while Irrfan`s stint as Paan Singh Tomar in the 2012 film of same name bagged two National awards. The `Fashion` star made it clear that it was wrong to compare the film with `Bhaag Milkha Bhaag`.

I think you can`t compare Mary Kom with Bhaag Milkha Bhaag. For the first time a film has been made on life of a female athlete. It is disrespectful to say it is a trend of sports biopic film.

Mary Kom is the pride of our nation, Priyanka told

hardest part. To bring the part of a fighter, a homemaker, and a mother was a challenge, Priyanka said.

Priyanka said she was deeply touched with the real life journey of the pugilist. She comes from a small town farmer`s family.

Sports, in itself is a difficult thing in India, but she did it, the actress said. To get into the skin of the character, Priyanka underwent rigorous training and has even spent 15 hours training to have the muscular look.

Drawing parallels with real life instance of Kom, where her father tried to stop her from being a boxer, Priyanka said she too had her share of struggle.

Directed by debutante Omung Kumar, `Mary Kom` is slated to hit theatres on September 5.

Kevin SpaCey offered

donation to turn vegetarian

the 54-year-old television personality was referred to during the trial without forewarning, which resulted in widespread media coverage of untrue claims regarding his private life. The statement further added that in 2014, the question of someone`s preference (gay or not) was antiquated and since, Varey made a false statement, they were obliged to clarify.

freida pinto Attends Summit to end female Genital Mutilation I ndian actress Freida Pinto joined British Prime Minister David Cameron in London on Tuesday (22Jul14) to campaign against female genital mutilation (Fgm). The Slumdog Millionaire star attended the Girl Summit, the first global conference dedicated to eradicating Fgm and child marriage, two issues which plague African and Asian countries.

Pinto spoke to representatives from 50 nations in her role as ambassador for Plan International, a children's rights charity. During the

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conference she said, "Every 10 seconds, one girl has been cut. No religion or culture can be used to help cushion or justify these acts. They need to go. I often think of the fear a girl faces when she is taken to the forest, pinned down and cut. I think of the fear a girl feels when she is told the man she is to marry is a little older than her father."

Birthday Greetings Dear, Amenuo (Visemenuo Eva)

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ctor Kevin Spacey has been offered a donation of $6,000 to his theatre company by animal rights campaigners if he switches meat for vegetarian food at an upcoming fundraising barbecue. The 54-year-old is giving his fans an opportunity to pay and have barbecued ribs with him on the set of his drama series House of Cards, with proceeds going to the Geffen Playhouse here and London's The Old Vic Theatre Company, where Spacey works as artistic director.

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) have promised to make a donation if Spacey goes vegetarian for the event, reports contactmusic.com.

We believe that you care about animal welfare and about the environment, so in light of all the information available today about cruelty in slaughter houses and the detrimental effect of greenhouse gasses produced by animal-based agriculture, ...PETA is respectfully asking that the prize dinner feature delicious 'Fib Ribs' or Field Roast vegan offerings instead of ribs so that the theatre will not benefit at the expense of other vital social interests, said the PETA representatives in a letter to the star.

24th July 2014

A little being angelic and spritely cheerful soul with antics so rich placing smiles upon sullen faces evoking laughter from desolate hearts source of joy and happiness tender in years yet rich in giving truly a reason to live and witness a heavenly gift wrapped in your person On this day your 5th Birthday we wish you a very happy Birthday and pray that the Almighty God endow you long life good health and endless joy.

From loving Dad and all family members.

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At long last, Sachin responds to Sharapova's 'Sachin Who?'

new deLHi, JuLy 23 (PTi): Sachin Tendulkar has said he didn't find Russian tennis star Maria Sharapova’s ignorance of him disrespectful. "Sharapova's comments were not disrespectful. She doesn't follow cricket," Tendulkar said in an interview on NDTV. Tendulkar fans reacted angrily on social media when Sharapova admitted during a postmatch press conference at Wimbledon that she did not know the legendary cricketer.

Tendulkar was in the Royal Box during the championship, alongside former England cricket captain Andrew Strauss.

Sharapova's Facebook and Twitter account faced a severe backlash and unkind comments were posted by the cricketer’s Indian fans.

At Wimbledon, Sharapova was asked: "Sachin Tendulkar was the other person who came in at the same time as David (Beckham). Do you know who Sachin is?" The reigning French Open champion replied: "I don't." Tendulkar is a regular visitor at the Royal Box during Wimbledon. A few seasons ago Swiss ace Roger Federer posted a pic of himself with the Indian superstar on his Twitter account.

Dhoni 5th most valuable athlete: Forbes

million dollars, in the second place, Sport24 reported.

Federer and Woods earned 46 million dollars each to their names in 2013 while Dhoni managed to bag 21 million dollars.

Federer holds a record 17 Grand Slam tennis titles, while Woods has won 14 major golf titles; second only to Jack Nicklaus's record 18.

JoHannesBuRg, JuLy 23 (ani): India cricket team captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni is the fifth most financially valuable athlete on earth, according to Forbes Magazine.

Roger Federer, Tiger Woods, LeBron James, Phil Mickelson and Maria Sharapova succeed Dhoni, who is valued at 21 million dollars, in Forbes' list.

Swiss tennis ace Federer and American golf ace Woods are tied at the first place valued at 46 million dollars each followed by Basketball ace LeBron James, who is valued at 27

The top 10 most valuable athletes according to Forbes are: 1. Roger Federer (Tennis) and Tiger Woods (Golf): 46 million dollars each 2. LeBron (Basketball): 27 million dollars 3. Phil Mickelson (Golf): 25 million dollars 4. Maria Sharapova (Tennis): 23 million dollars 5. Mahendra Singh Dhoni (Cricket): 21 million dollars 6. Usain Bolt (Track and Field): 20 million dollars 7. Kobe Bryant (Basketball): 19 million dollars 8. Li Na (Tennis): 15 million dollars 9. Cristiano Ronaldo (Football): 13 million dollars 10. Messi (Football): 13 million dollars

Messi 'eyed' a move to Arsenal LIONEL MESSI weighed up a shock transfer to Arsenal before signing a new Barcelona deal just two months ago, according to reports in Spain

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London, JuLy 23 (agencies): The Argentina striker locked horns with the Spanish club in May as he demanded a new contract that would make him the best-paid player in the world. He spoke to team-mate Cesc Fabregas, to ask his agent to sound out a potential move to Arsenal.

The 27-year-old had a £197million buy-out clause and wanted wages close to £300,000 a week. Both would have put him out of Arsenal’s reach but as a longtime fan of Arsene Wenger, Messi considered a move, says Spanish website Vozpopuli. The disillusioned star was reeling as Barcelona were knocked out of the Champions League and lost the league title to Atletico Madrid.

At the same time Fabregas was dis-

cussing a potential return to the Emirates, but Wenger – well stocked in midfield – did not take up first option to buy him. Barca quickly tied Messi to a new deal. The buy-out clause stayed the same but his wages rose from £10m a year to £16m a year, according to Spanish media.

Messi missed out on the Ballon d’Or as best player in the world to Cristiano Ronaldo, but still scored 41 goals in 44 games and would have instantly made Arsenal title contenders.

However, signing him would have smashed their record transfer fee (£42.5m for Mesut Ozil) as well as their wage structure. Arsenal have agreed a £3m deal for Colombia keeper David Ospina from Nice.

Stage winner Poland's Rafal Majka, wearing the best climber's dotted jersey, is followed by Spain's Jon Insausti Izaguirre as they speed down Val LouronAzet pass during the seventeenth stage of the Tour de France cycling race over 124.5 kilometers (77.4 miles) with start in Saint-Gaudens and finish in Saint-Lary, France, Wednesday, July 23. (AP Photo)

ISL franchises spend 24 Ministry, BFI take up Sikh players' issue crore in players' draft

new deLHi, JuLy 23 (PTi): Football franchises spent around Rs 24 crore in the two-day domestic player draft for the upcoming inaugural Indian Super League, which concluded here today.

"The Rs 24 crore that was spent (by franchises) was a lot of money. We got into this venture three and a half years ago. Today it was very fulfilling this (draft) has happened. It has been a historic couple of days," said Jefferson Slack, senior vice president (global business development - football) of IMG, who are joint promoters of the IPL -style league along with Reliance and broadcasters Star India.

"This is a big step by IMG. We have invested money with our partners for improving Indian football. This is the first time we have done so. Indians are big football fans on television. The football world and FIFA want India to be successful. That is why this is a unique property for IMG," Slack told after the conclusion of the two-day player draft in which 84 domestic footballers were picked by the franchises.

The break-up of the amount spent by the six

franchises, which took part in the draft is: Athletico de Kolkata - Rs 3.91 crore, Delhi Dynamos - Rs 2.81 crore, Kerala Blasters Rs 3.31 crore, Bengaluru Rs 3.04 crore, Mumbai - Rs 3.76 crore and Pune - Rs 3.19 crore.

The remaining amount was spent by the other two franchises - Goa and North East United FC - who had finalised their domestic players before today's draft and announced them over the last two days.

Star India president Nitin Kukreja said the exact dates of the tournament, for which the All India Football Federation has left a window open between September 18 and December 7, are still not decided.

"We are nearly there in terms of finalising. It will be done by next week as we are still in discussion," he stated. Slack said an anti-corruption measure would be put in place and the footballers will be educated about the dangers of unscrupulous bookies approaching them to fix games, as part of ISL's tieup with the most glamorous and costly football league in the world - English Premier League.

new deLHi, JuLy 23 (PTi): Sports Ministry today expressed "shock and outrage" over the incident of two Sikh players being asked to remove their turbans at the recently-concluded Fiba Asia Cup in China and sought details from the BFI, which has already taken up the matter with the international body. "We have written to them and are awaiting their response. Once we get the response, we will act accordingly," a Basketball Federation of India spokesperson told PTI. Sports Minister Sarbananda Sonowal said the ministry has asked the IOC to issue necessary instructions to international sports federations, so that such incidents are not repeated. "We are shocked and outraged. Wearing a turban does not affect fair play and has not been objected to in international sports championships.

Therefore, the latest incident has surprised and shocked us. We have spoken to BFI and sought a detailed report from them," Sonowal said in a release.

"We have also asked International Olympic Committee to issue necessary guidelines/instructions to international sports federations so that such incidents

do not take place again.

Our Government respects all religion and will do everything to ensure that their sentiments do not get hurt," he added. Two Sikh players -- Amritpal Singh and Amjyot Singh -- were stopped from entering the court minutes before India were to open their campaign against Japan on July 12 at Fiba Asia Cup in Wuhan and were asked to remove their turbans.

The officials of the International Basketball Federation told the players that they were not allowed to play with their turbans on as it was in violation of the rules. "There is a Annual General Assembly of the FIBA Asia at Doha tomorrow and BFI senior vice-president K Govindraj will be attending the meeting and would be taking up the matter with them.

And from there on, we will be going forward," the BFI spokesperson said.

The two players initially did not figure in the starting five and it was only after they removed their turbans, that they were they allowed to play in the first quarter.

Both of them were forced to play the remaining six games of the tournament without wearing their turbans Acc. to Fiba new

rule, players shall not wear equipment (objects) that may cause injury to other players; 2. Headgear, hair accessories and jewellery are not permitted.

Amjyot, who is an integral part of the Indian team, said such instructions were never issues before.

"It was very humiliating for us when we were asked to remove our turbans. We have always played with our turbans on and even during the practice," said Amjyot. While Amritpal added: "Every time if we are asked to remove the turbans, it would be an insult to our religion."

The incident has provoked strong reactions from the sporting fraternity with legendary athlete Milkha Singh terming it as a "serious matter".

"I regret it. It should not have happened. Wherever in the world I have competed during my career, I always wore the turban. And even all the hockey players or any other Sikh player in any other discipline, always wear a turban.

"This is a serious matter. If they had any doubt, they should have checked their turbans with an instrument. I think the BFI should take up the matter with the international body," said Milkha.

Loew to remain Germany coach until Euro 2016

BeRLin, JuLy 23 (aFP): Germany coach Joachim Loew said on Wednesday that he never considered leaving his post after winning the World Cup title and insisted he would see out his contract which runs until Euro 2016. "I didn't think of stopping for one second," said Loew, 54, in an interview published on the German Football Federation (DFB) website.

Loew took over as German head coach in 2006 after two years as assistant and extended his contract until 2016 before the World Cup in Brazil.

"I didn't extend my contract with the DFB until 2016 to prematurely break it," said Loew, who had refused to answer questions about his future after guiding his side to a 1-0 defeat of Argentina in this month's World Cup final. "I simply kept to what we had agreed before the World Cup that we were going to calmly sit down and analyse the tournament as we have done after every tournament," he explained.

Loew said that he was already looking forward to leading Germany to Euro 2016 which will be played in France. "I can't imagine anything more beautiful

than to continue working with this team, to lead them to the European championship in France, to continue to develop the group and each of the players," he said. "I'm as motivated as the first day. We celebrated a huge success in Brazil, but there are other objectives that we want to achieve. The 2014 World Cup was a summit but it wasn't a conclusion."

Loew led Germany to their fourth World Cup title in Brazil and the first since reunification in 1990. One of his first tasks will be to find a new captain after defender Philipp Lahm's surprise international retirement, with Bayern Munich midfielder Bastian Schweinsteiger favourite for the job.

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