July 25th, 2016

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C M Y K

C M Y K

www.morungexpress.com

MonDAY • julY 25 • 2016

DIMAPUR • Vol. XI • Issue 203 • 12 PAGes • 5

T H e

ESTD. 2005

P o W e R

o F

T R u T H

Without moral and intellectual independence, there is no anchor for national independence — David Ben-Gurion Turkish president Erdogan gains upper hand in power struggle PAGE 09

reflections

By Sandemo Ngullie

PAGE 02

Dimapur | July 24

Head Masterji, did you give the state government 4 years paid holidays?

The Morung Express Poll QuEsTion

Vote on www.morungexpress.com sMs your answer to 9862574165 Can NBCC’s admission of failure as a Church be seen as an opportunity to start doing and speaking what is right? no

others

Do you think that Nagaland is a failed state? Yes

70%

Konyak women picking tea leaves in a tea plantation in shiyong village, Mon district (Photo by Ashikho Pfuzhe)

no

10%

others

20%

Ashikho Pfuzhe

Details on page 7

NEA-N calls off agitation KohiMa, July 24 (MExN): The National Health Mission Employees’ Association of Nagaland (NEA-N) has resolved to postpone their proposed agitation in view of the Nagaland State Government’s Finance Department releasing about 50 percent of funding under ‘RCH flexipool’ and assurances by MD, National Health Mission (NHM), for release of pending salaries in a week’s time. The NEA-N requested the Government and the Finance Department to release the remaining NHM and vertical programme funds as early as possible. In a press release, the Association today thanked the public for their support and cooperation as well as its members for remaining united and supportive.

Nepal’s KP Oli steps down; Prachanda set to be PM

KathMaNDu, July 24 (iaNS): Nepal Prime Minister K.P. Sharma Oli on Sunday resigned in the wake of a no-trust motion against him in Parliament. He submitted his resignation to President Bidhya Devi Bhandari at the President’s Office here, officials here said. Though the Nepali Congress and the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist Centre) had moved a no-confidence vote against Oli, which was due for continued discussion followed by a vote thereon in Parliament on Sunday, Oli announced his resignation minutes before the discussion recommenced. Meanwhile, CPN (Maoist Centre) Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal aka ‘Prachanda’ is all set to make a comeback as the 39th Prime Minister of Nepal. The single largest party, the Nepali Congress, has already extended its support for Prachanda and signed an agreement that the former Maoist leader will lead the government for the first nine months. Thereafter, Prachanda will hand over the leadership to Nepali Congress President Sher Bahadur Deuba. The CPN (Maoist Centre) bid to form a new political alignment received a major boost after the Madhes-based parties agreed to oust Oli.

PAGE 12

tea: Brewing alternative Morung Poll results point to livelihoods in Mon district nagaland as ‘failed state’ Morung Express news

Yes

Hamilton wins in Hungary to take overall lead

‘Mithuns and forests complement each other’

Mon | July 24

Lush-green tea gardens are gradually dotting the landscape of Mon district and brewing up an alternative source of livelihood for farmers dependent on jhum cultivation. The growing number of tea gardens is also reversing the tea trade in Mon from buying processed tea from neighbouring Assam, the Konyak tea farmers are now selling fresh plucked tea leaves to Assam and also brewing their own heady drink in their homes. Sayeang Tea Estate in Shiyong Village, some 32 km from Mon town, exemplifies the success story of tea plantation in the interior Mon district bordering Myanmar. The estate annually supplies 3 lakh kg of tea leaves to tea factories in Sonari, Assam.

The sprawling 250 acre tea estate, the biggest and oldest tea garden in the district, was jointly established by two brothers Honlei Konyak and Chingwang Konyak (former MP). “My father Honlei Konyak didn’t get the opportunity to go to school and has been a farmer all his life. In the late 80’s when he went to Shillong to drop my elder brother studying in a boarding school, he saw countless numbers of tea plantations on the way in Assam. This made him think that if tea grows so well in neighbouring Assam why not try growing it in our village in Mon district,” said Phejin, daughter of Honlei. Phejin, who runs ‘The Konyak Tea Retreat’, a working farmhouse located in the middle of the Sayeang Tea Estate, said her father started experi-

menting by planting tea in a small plot in the year 1989. “Seeing that the tea plant adapted well to the climatic conditions here motivated my dad and his brother to expand the tea plantation,” she added. The tea estate currently employs over a hundred Konyak men and women. “In the beginning we employed Adivasis to work in our estate. But now we are only employing local men and women. While women are employed for tea leaf picking, the men do the pruning of tea plants. Many women are able to send their children to the school run by the tea estate through the earning they get from tea picking,” a supervisor of the tea estate said. Though tea farmers in Mon do not have an organized body yet, sources hint that there are about 250 small tea gardens in

Mon district. The owner of a small tea garden said Mon soil is ideal for growing tea and went on to claim that tea grown on elevated slopes, as in Darjeeling, tastes different and even better. Since there is only one tea factory in Mon district, located at Tizit, many tea farmers are compelled to sell their produce in Assam, entailing a lot of difficulties. “Foremost is the transportation problem due to bad roads. During hot days if the picked tea leaves are not disposed of in time, the rate goes down or they go waste. The nearest tea factory in Assam is 5-hour drive from here. Also manipulation by middlemen in Assam leads to fluctuation of tea price. The rate varies from Rs. 8-17 per kg as the market fluctuates,” said the veteran tea farmer Honlei.

People who took part in a poll recently have declared Nagaland a ‘failed state’. In a Morung Express Poll conducted through the last week, maximum number of respondentsdubbedNagalandstate a dysfunctional one. The Morung Express Poll asked the question ‘Do you think that Nagaland is a failed state?’ To this, a whopping 70% of the respondents opted for YES, while 10% said NO and a further 20% found sense in the category OTHERS. “Nagaland is a failure because there are no avenues for progress, it is a failed state because from church leaders to politicians and common people alike all are corrupted from the core,” noted one responded in the YES category. Another respondent described what a ‘very sick state’, and perhaps a ‘failed state’, looks like. “Government mismanagement and corruption, deficiency of basic infrastructures (specially roads), absence of law and order and declining public moral standards (fuel adulteration, unethical butchers, politicians lying about their education - etc.,), rising unemployment, unproductive local economy, poor relation with neighbouring states, lack of inspiring leadership and visionless society, tribalistic mentality with increasing inter-tribal animosity, and a general public apathy to all social ills.” Noting that there is “no vision or integrity” in the State’s leadership, people felt that one of the reasons for this is that the State Government is a “puppet” government—at times pandering to Indian politicians, and other times to

‘Nagaland has a reason to celebrate’

GuWahati, July 24 (MExN): Despite the ‘fail’ report card, the North East Social Research Centre (NESRC) in Guwahati has now revealed that Nagaland may have a reason to celebrate afterall. A recently released report of a study has lauded the Government of Nagaland for allocating adequate funds for children, thus setting an example for other states to follow. This was informed in an article by Dr. Melvil Pereira, Director, NESRC, Guwahati. The report titled, Budget for Children in Nagaland 2015-16, noted: “Children in Nagaland have been allocated 13.14 percent share in the Nagaland State Budget 2015-16. This is much more than the share allocated by other North Eastern States like Meghalaya (4.53 %), Assam (5.57 %) and Tripura (2.68 %). It is heartening to note that the State has allocated a substantial share of its budget for children.” The report was prepared by HAQ: Centre for Child Rights, Delhi, and NESRC, Guwahati. The authors of the report observed that during the past years Nagaland has consistently allocated more funds for children than other states in Northeast India. The report appreciated the financial commitment on the part of Nagaland Government to the welfare of children, while also suggesting ways and means to strengthen the health of children who, in Nagaland, are also found often dropping out of school or hired as domestic labour. Full article on page 10 Naga national groups. While some felt for the need of a “new leader… with a sincere and undiluted vision and one who upholds the truth,” others remained skeptical. They felt that given all these years of Nagaland’s statehood, the younger generation has become “hypocrite keyboard warriors” who remain distant from reality; so consumed by “branded outfits” that they have “lost their grounding” while the older generation has become “corrupted and shameless.” Another respondent stated what they felt could be the root cause of this failure: “The so called Nagaland state under Indian union was formed after ferocious threat, rampant killing, tortures and suppression… by

Indian forces. The Nagas were forced to surrender regardless of their rightful consent and opinion to join the Indian union.” Among those who did not think that Nagaland can be termed a ‘failed state,’ one respondent compared the current situation to a “woman in birth pangs.” “Many including the legislators think this is a transitional period with a ray of hope for a better future for all including urban and rural citizens, far and near. It’s like a woman in birth pangs. Great care must be taken lest negligence and indifference cause the death of both the child and the 54 year old mother (Nagaland),” stated the respondent. Poll results on page 7

Modi govt’s ne push will only Kashmir needs political solution, Omar tells Rajnath see 7.5% road target achieved NEW DElhi, July 24 (iaNS): Even as poor road connectivity in India’s Northeast continues to stall the government’s ‘Act East Policy’, the state-run company mandated to improve this crucial infrastructure will barely manage 7.5 per cent of its target by 2019, official data shows. According to its updated work status, the National Highway Infrastructure Development Corp Ltd (NHIDCL), established in July 2014, will only be able to construct a little over 300 km of roads till 2019, against a target of 4,000 km it has been tasked with building in the coming years. The NHIDCL was set up by the Narendra Modi government in July 2014 to speed up road construction in the Northeast. However, the mandate of the PSU will remain far behind when the Modi government completes its five years. The company, specifically formed to replace the Border Roads Organization (BRO) following its failure to meet its targets, says it will be able to complete a total of 63.39 km of roads by 2017, 129.21 km by 2018 and 108.53 km by 2019. “Road construction is a time consuming task and it takes at least five years of time. We face severe hurdles during the planning as well as the execution of the road project. But whatever we commit we do,” a senior authority of NHIDCL, who did not wished to be named, told IANS. Elaborating the difficulties faced by the NHIDCL authorities in the execution of the projects in the Northeast, he said: “Land acquisition is a major issue. We have not been able to start the work in Meghalaya as we have not been able to get the land despite speaking to the higher authorities. Still we are trying to find out ways after meeting them over the issue.” Arunachal Pradesh will be most benefited state in the entire Northeast as majority of the roads to be completed by 2019 lie in the border and interior areas of the state.

Most of the NHIDCL projects now are either at the preparation of DPR (Detailed Project Report) or location identification stage, the official said. NHIDCL was tasked with constructing over 4,000 km of road in the hilly terrains of India, majority being in the Northeast region at a cost of Rs 45,164 crore (nearly $7 billion). According to the government, good quality roads in the Northeast can boost India’s trade with the entire Southeast Asian region, which has been marred by poor connectivity. Earlier, in an interview to IANS, Vietnam’s Ambassador to India Ton Sinh Thanh said that they did not wish to invest in the Northeastern region of India because of poor road and air connectivity which posed a hindrance to developing tourism and other economic linkages. Citing other reasons behind the difficulties faced by NHIDCL, the senior authority said that there were several cases where work would get stalled as the contractors used to go to court over several “petty” issues. “As of now we are not even giving chance to the contractors or the DPR developers to commit any mistake. We are either serving them notice or directly blacklisting the companies if found guilty of any malpractice during the road contract,” the senior authority told IANS. Among the projects given to NHIDCL in the initial months in 2014 include 11 projects in Manipur, nine in Meghalaya, three in Mizoram, four in Nagaland, 23 in Arunachal Pradesh and seven in Tripura. In several projects, Japanese infrastructure major Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) has also chipped in. The 100-km road project between Imphal, Manipur, and Moreh on the IndoMyanmar border is being funded by the Asian Development Bank (ADB).

SriNaGar, July 24 (iaNS): Jammu and Kashmir needs a political solution and not economic packages, former Chief Minister Omar Abdullah told Home Minister Rajnath Singh here on Sunday. On the second and last day of his visit amid unrest that has left over 45 people dead in the Kashmir Valley, Rajnath Singh chaired a high-level security meeting and met delegations of political parties. Abdullah, leading a del-

egation of National Conference, told reporters that he put forward some suggestions on how to control the violent unrest in the valley. “But we also told him that unless some long term measures are taken,” the Kashmir issue will continue to burn, he said. “First of all, we have to accept that Jammu and Kashmir is not an issue of money. You cannot solve it by sending (economic) packages. It is not an issue of gun either. The gun has,

of course, played a role in this issue. But fundamentally, it is not an issue related to the gun,” he said. He said he explained to Rajnath Singh that “Kashmir is fundamentally a political problem”. “And till we accept that, we cannot find a solution to it.” The former Chief Minister said his party leaders told Rajnath Singh that the central government should “muster courage” and accept the reality of the Kash-

mir issue. “Then you can involve people with different opinions. Talk to them. Bring in all stakeholders within the ambit of dialogue and arrive at a solution that is acceptable to all.” Meanwhile separatist leaders Syed Ali Shah Geelani, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and Yaseen Malik have reiterated their call for the Monday march to Anantnag and extended their shutdown call till Friday. Related news on page 8

nagaland still short on meat production

Spends Rs.231 crore annually on import of livestock our Correspondent Kohima | July 24

Commissioner & Secretary for Veterinary & Animal Husbandry, MK Mero has said that Nagaland is still short on meat production to meet the requirement of the consumers. The State spends about Rs.231 crore annually on import of livestock with more than Rs.92 crore on pork alone. In this, Mero said the Department is focusing on promotion of pig breeding, for which it had framed a pig breeding policy and Central government agreed to carry it forward. He informed this during an official function here last week.

Mero said the State pig breeding policy in booklet form will be released by Union Minister for Veterinary & Animal Husbandry, Dairy & Fishery during the inauguration of Veterinary College in Jalukie on August 6 this year. It may be recalled that as per the 19th Livestock Census conducted in 2012, the total livestock population of the State was 31, 91,149 numbers compared to 50,23,269 numbers in 2007 census showing a negative growth of 36.47 %. Out of 10,67,454 animals (excluding poultry birds, ducks, Turkeys and quails), pig accounted for 47.19% followed by cattle at 22.01%, dog at 10.59% and goat at 9.31% while Mithun and Buffalo population accounted for only 3.30% and 3.06% respectively. The poultry birds, ducks, turkeys and quails constituted 66.55% of the total livestock population in the State, according to the report of Nagaland

Economic Survey 2015-16 brought out by the Department of Economics & Statistics. The Survey report stated that livestock development in the State improved through adoption of various strategies. Charting out a road map, Vision 2020, revival and improvement of the traditional backyard livestock and poultry farming, conversion of demonstration farms into breeding and production units, setting up of private commercial and rural breeding farms on Private Public Partnership mode are some of the initiatives which have scaled up production in this sector. The Nagaland State Government is aiming to bring down the import of meat to zero by 2020. Production of milk, meat and egg in the State during 2014-15 was 75.92 thousand tonnes, 39.27 thousand tonnes, and 706 lakh numbers respectively.


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July 25th, 2016 by The Morung Express - Issuu