July 7th 2014

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The Morung Express

Dimapur VOL. IX ISSUE 184

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www.morungexpress.com

Monday, July 7, 2014 12 pages Rs. 4

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Dysentery/ diarrhea crisis in village in Mon

Jessica Simpson marries Eric Johnson

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Ukraine govt forces capture Slaviansk stronghold

Morung Express news Dimapur | July 6

The Morung Express POLL QUESTIOn

Vote on www.morungexpress.com SMS your anSwer to 9862574165 Are you concerned by the intensity in which issues of public interest are being politicized and defined along lines of tribalism and groupism? no

Others

Do you think the nagaland government is sincerely committed towards completing the FootHill Road project?

Yes

19% 78%

no Others

03%

Details on page 7

Intangki National Park (INP) is considered a rich bio reserve, of diverse flora and fauna. As per experts, it is perhaps the only protected forest in Nagaland with a sizeable area still unscathed by human pressure. Ironically though, hunting, fishing, logging and encroachment is what it has come to be associated with today.

Despite being treated as a government protected forest, it has ever remained vulnerable.

With an area covering 202 square kilometres, Nagaland’s most expansive protected forest owes its origin to an administrative official of the British Colonial India, who designated the forest as ‘reserved’ back in the 1920’s.

According to available records, in early 1920’s, JH Hutton, the then Deputy Commissioner of the Naga Hills proposed the creation of a reserved forest at Intangki.

Subsequently, a survey team was deputed to Beisumpui village. The team took about three months to complete the survey assisted by two guides from Beisumpui village and eventually, Intangki Reserve Forest was Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama gestures as he prays before he teaches on the fourth day declared in 1923 with an approxiof Kalachakra near Leh, Sunday, July 6. Buddhist devotees from across the globe have arrived in this Himalayan region of Ladakh to attend the ‘Kalachakra’ or Wheel of Time initiations by the Dalai mate area of 44,800 acres. It was later expanded in 1927 with an Lama that began Thursday. Sunday marked the birthday of the Tibetan leader. (AP Photo)

V Purushothaman appointed naga youth found as Governor of Nagaland dead in new Delhi

DIMAPUR, JULY 6 (MExN): The Office of the President of India on Sunday notified that Vakkom Purushothaman, presently Governor of Mizoram, “has been transferred and appointed as Governor of Nagaland.” A press communiqué from the Rashtrapati Bhavan, New Delhi informed that Purushothaman will continue to hold the additional charge of the office of the Governor of Tripura.

Vakkom Purushothaman is a veteran Congress leader and has served as an MLA and MP from Kerala state. He served as the Chairman of the Committee on Public Undertakings and the Committee on Subordinate Legislation of Parliament and was also

Four injured in Assam blasts

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GUWAHATI, JULY 6 (IANS): At least four people were injured in Sunday, when suspected Bodo insurgents triggered two grenade blasts in Chirang district of Assam, police said.

Cadres of the National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB) faction, opposed to peace talks with the government, lobbed a grenade in Deokurapar and another at the Ballamguri bus stand area in Chirang, about 250 km from the state’s main city Guwahati and part of the Bodoland Territorial Area Districts. Four people were injured but their condition was stable, police said. “We suspect the anti-talk faction of the NDFB to be behind the incident. There have been operations against the militants by police and security forces. The grenade blasts might be a retaliation by the militants,” a senior police official said.

Hamilton wins British Grand Prix [ PAGE 12]

intangki: ‘i owe you’

By Sandemo Ngullie

“Every time we hit a pothole, every time something bad happens, its Minister khan`s fault. Who is Mr Khan? Is it really all his fault?”

–Elbert Hubbard

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reflections

Yes

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Do your work with your whole heart, and you will succeed - there’s so little competition Don’t make clean Ganga a Hindutva project: Jairam Ramesh

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Chairman of the Consultative Committee of Experts to the Inter Parliamentary Union for five years. He has also served as the Lieutenant Governor of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands Itwasfurthernotifiedthat DrKamlaBeniwal,Governor of Gujarat is transferred and appointed as Governor of Mizoram for the remainder of her term and that Margaret Alva, Governor of Rajasthan, will discharge the functions of the Governor of Gujarat, in addition to her own duties, until regular arrangements for the office of the Governor of Gujarat are made. The communiqué added that the appointments will take effect from the dates the incumbents assume charge of their respective offices.

NEW DELHI, JULY 6 (MExN): A Naga youth was found dead at Chirag, New Delhi on the night of July 5. The deceased has been identified as Welungbou Chawang (28) from Manipur, belonging to the Zeliangrong community and working at a BPO. The exact cause of the death could not be ascertained till the filing of this report. The deceased’s body was discovered at around 2:00am in a drain at a construction area. It was brought to the mortuary at AIIMS and a post mortem was conducted. Results of the autopsy are awaited.

Police said there were some injury marks on the body

but suspects that it was a case of accident. However, Naga Students’ Union Delhi President Maivio Woba suspects foul play and said, “Something is not quite right.”Mavio called for further investigation into the death.

An eyewitness informed police that he saw the deceased running and falling into the drain. The body was recovered at around 3:00am with the help of the fire brigade.

It was informed that the drain in which the body was found is around 20 feet deep. “We are verifying all the facts and his friends have been questioned,” informed a police officer.

Cybercrimes cost India 4 Billion in 2013

NEW DELHI, JULY 6 (PTI): Cyber crimes have cost India a whopping about Rs 24,630 crore ($4 billion) in 2013 alone as criminals used sophisticated means, says a Delhi High Court-commissioned report. “Internet frauds alone have cost India a whopping $4 billion (about Rs 24,630 crore) in 2013 as cyber criminals are using more sophisticated means like ransomware and spear-phishing,” the report said.

The facts figure in a report submitted by Surinder S Rathi, additional district judge and OSD to Delhi Legal Service Authority (DLSA), before the court in pursuance of a direction that a comprehensive study be conducted on various issues including the cost incurred in running the criminal justice system.

The bench of justices Gita Mittal and J R Midha, which is yet to pronounce the quantum of sentence to three convicts including Vikas Yadav in the 2002 Nitish Katara murder case,

had also asked DLSA to compute the cost incurred in the trial of this case, besides determining the compensation paying capacity of the convicts.

However, the reports gives no further details of cybercrime stalking the country.

Dealing with other crimes in the chapter, of ‘Cost of Criminal Justice System’,the report, quoting from the National Crime Records Bureau data, said that in 2013, as many as 66.40 lakh criminal complaints were received by the police stations across the nation.

It said that in Delhi alone, a total of 86,800 criminal complaints were received at its 175 odd police stations apart from around 89 lakh distress calls received by it last year.

“Although better part of the world has awaken to the exorbitant financial cost of running the criminal justice system, but our country is yet to take its first step in the right direction. Owing to mindless and unscientific planning all the

wings of criminal justice system are highly chaotic in their functioning and are immensely overburdened,” it said.

The report said that despite India having 12,700 odd police stations and 15.70 lakh policemen manning them, incidents of crime are spiralling uncontrollably.

“A lot is being done in this regard by all the stakeholders but unfortunately owing to lack of scientific methodology and concerted efforts of all concern not much headway could be achieved,” the report said.

The report also said police, the first ring of criminal justice system, is in an almost pitiable state nationwide. “Neither it (police) has the requisite manpower to deliver nor the technical expertise nor the infrastructure to contain crimes. To make things worse malice of corruption is eating into its vitals,” the report said.

It said the judiciary, the second ring of criminal justice system, is also not “far

behind in fulfilling its constitutional obligations and meeting the expectations of its citizen of delivery of timely justice”.

“Courts are inundated with lakhs of case pending trial. Such is the snail pace of trials that influx of cases at any point of time is out doing the disposal. All this is resulting in piling up of cases in courts,” the report said. The report also added that the ancillary support system like jails, juvenile, justice boards, child welfare committees and forensic labs all need to be brought out of slumber and urgently to save this system from crumbling.

On the cost of criminal justice system, the report said that measuring the cost of criminal justice is not easy yet it is essential to the proper appraisal of any criminal justice system policy. “There is an urgent need to develop a comprehensive methodology for calculating the cost incurred by society on account of various criminal offences,” it said.

additional area of 5120 acres.

It was upgraded to the status of a Wildlife Sanctuary in 1975, by which time, its area had expanded to 202 square kms, and finally as a National Park in 1993.

The foundation of INP has an amusing story. JH Hutton, it is said, still owes one gun, two blankets, two bags of rice and ten rupees to the two Naga guides promised as token reward for assistance during survey. As the story goes, the guides were asked to come to Kohima to receive the aforementioned token reward after the completion of the survey.

But the invitation was declined as they felt that they had been away from home for too long and headed back to the village. They were nevertheless issued an ‘I owe you’ receipt by furnishing which they were told that the reward could be claimed.

Years later, after the British left India, when Nagaland was still part of Assam, the villagers went to Kohima to claim the reward but they were told that the receipt was no longer valid. The reward is still pending.

Till World War II, it is stated that the INP area was fairly undisturbed by human activity. But during the war, a huge quantity of timber was reportedly exploited.

It later fell prey to sport hunting as

it was treated as a game reserve till its designation as a Wildlife Sanctuary in 1975.

Poaching, logging still continues to threaten the future of the Park, and more recently encroachment for human habitation. Kaziranga-Dhansiri-Rangapahar-Intangki corridor was once an elephant free range area but it is today cut off by human settlements. Aside from being a National Park, it is specially declared as an Elephant Reserve.

The Park’s fringe areas, particularly the low lying areas in the south-west facing Dimapur and bordering Assam have fallen prey to human encroachment. The Department of Forests has conducted as many as eight major eviction drives since the eighties. During the period, an estimated 800 hectares was destroyed by encroachment coupled with illicit logging.

Foresters however say that since the last eviction drive, the affected areas are now recovering.

Wildlife, elephants in particular, is coming back to the area once destroyed by encroachers. Foresters say that the sight of elephants is a good sign for Intangki as it means that smaller herbivores would follow the trail of the pachyderms in search of food and hopefully would revive the natural cycle of the food-chain.

BUDGet 2014: Modi to target record asset sales

NEW DELHI, JULY 6 (REUTERS): The Indian government will seek to raise up to a record $11.7 billion in asset sales in its maiden budget this week, a senior government source said, bolstering state finances and buying time for structural reforms to revive a weak economy.

The privatisation target could reach 700 billion rupees, almost equal to all proceeds over the last four years, in a budget Prime Minister Narendra Modi hopes will launch the growth and jobs agenda that in May won him India’s biggest election mandate in three decades. The budget is due on Thursday.

“The finance ministry has approached different ministries to increase the divestment target,” said the senior official with direct knowledge of the budget process. The previous government had pencilled in sell-off proceeds of 569 billion rupees.

The 63-year-old premier has made a decisive start by naming a streamlined cabinet, approving a slew of infrastructure projects and embarking on what promises to be a whirlwind first year of trade diplomacy. But his government has been plagued too by the economic ills that brought down its predecessor: weak growth and high inflation caused by spending too much and investing too little.

Despite the market reforms of 1991 that brought down the curtain on decades of socialist isolation, tracts of Asia’s third-largest economy remain off limits to outside investors.

Modi wants to open up industries like defence, but selling controlling stakes in bloated state enterprises is out of the question. They are not competitive and any job cuts ordered by a

foreign owner would cause an outcry.

Instead, he will whittle down state stakes in firms that have already been partly sold, like Steel Authority of India Ltd, without surrendering overall control, said the official and other sources familiar with the plans.

Stocks have enjoyed a Modi boom, rallying 23 percent this year. Listed state firms have outperformed on hopes that wider ownership would discipline managers and that their bottom line would benefit from a loosening of price controls.

TAX, SUBSIDY REFORMS In setting an ambitious asset-sale target, the government will face inevitable scepticism from investors who are used to seeing its predecessors miss their privatisation goals.

The Modi government will also have limited scope to put its stamp on this first budget, which has been delayed by the election and will be delivered three months into the budget year to March 2015. The deficit is already near half the annual goal inherited from the last government: 4.1 percent of GDP. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley is expected to roll out other revenue measures in addition to the asset sales, including a General Sales Tax that would unite the 29 states into a common market.

The measure would make it easier to do business and, over time, broaden the tiny tax base. Some of the “bitter medicine” that Modi has warned people to expect would come, the senior government official said, in the form of reductions to subsidies on fuel, fertiliser and food that cost 2.3 percent of GDP. Jaitley in turn has warned against “mindless

populism”, heeding the advice of officials at the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) who have warned him that fiscal laxity would complicate their task of curbing inflation, now in the high single digits.

OIL COMPANIES The government has signalled its willingness to trim its stakes in listed companies by backing a regulatory move to gradually increase the minimum free-float requirement for stocks included in the benchmark indexes, to 25 percent from 10 percent now. State-controlled firms currently have a 16 percent weighting in the indexes.

“It is the right time to sell stakes in public sector companies as the stock market is booming,” said the official, who requested anonymity as the budget process is confidential.

Jaitley plans to frontload share sales, with a 5 percent stake in Steel Authority of India, worth $340 million, on the docket for late July, say sources familiar with the deal.

That is likely to be followed by a 10 percent stake in Coal India, the world’s largest coal miner that is now 90 percent state owned. A deal would, based on current market pricing, be worth around $4 billion. A senior oil ministry official said some of the leading oil companies were contenders for the share-sale programme, but did not name any names. A final decision would be taken by the finance ministry.

Deutsche Bank Securities forecasts proceeds of 600-800 billion rupees from asset sales in this fiscal year. That would enable the government to avoid borrowing more even if it raises its deficit target to 4.3-4.4 percent of GDP.

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Dimapur

Monday

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7 July 2014

State BJYM donates free medicines for the patients

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Dysentery/ diarrhea crisis in village in Mon

BJYM president K.Kahoto Chishi and BJP Mon president with State BJP officials and party workers in Mon on July 4.

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The Morung Express

Mon, July 6 (MExn): More than 60 people from Sheanghah Chingnyu village in Mon district are undergoing treatment for dysentery/ diarrhea, informed a press release. The State Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM) provided free medicines to the patients on July 4.

According to the release issued by BJP Mon district general secretary, the State BJYM team led by BJYM president K Kahoto Chishi and party spokesperson K.

James Vizo reached Mon town on July 4 and delivered the relief items to the DTO (District Tuberculosis Officer) Mon, Dr M. Imyangluba Ao at a function.

Speaking at the function, BJYM president said, “As soon the news about the suffering of people was conveyed by party officials of Mon, the BJYM was directed by the State (BJP) to take up the initiative, thus in a very short time BJYM could organize with the help of the well-wishers from Dimapur and NMD association. The quantity is not important but the love and concerns for the people who are in distress and the call by the District party worker matter most.”

Briefing the party workers present, K. James Vizo also asserted that unlike others, BJP is a cadre-based

party and urged upon the party workers of various levels to keep aside personal differences and work together in party line as directed by the higher authority of the party - to be united and work for the interest of the grassroots people. “As it can be seen from the Central performance in the recent concluded parliamentary election, good days are coming soon, but for that, the party people need to work hard keeping in mind that party’s top priority is ‘Equity and development’ to our people.”

He further informed that at July 3 meeting, the State office bearers had empowered the State president to restructure the functionaries’ infrastructure at the district and state level, thus the nonfunctioning cadres may be

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reshuffled soon. As far as membership drive is concerned, he said, doors are open to all without any conditions for primary membership, but for active membership, as per the constitution of the party, one has to complete three years of primary membership.

Vizo further said that State President Dr M.Chuba Ao and General Secretary (Org.) Prasant Arora after meeting Union Minister of State for Home Kiren Rijiju in Itanagar on July 5 had confirmed that the minister will be visiting Nagaland after the parliamentary session. During Ayoung boy and a girl stand outside a house in Kingphu, a Khiamniungan Naga village which falls under Burma. (Photo by Imti Longchar) his visit, besides the State government, administration, and security wings, Rijiju will interact with the various civil societies/ NGOs and the party work- KohiMa, July 6 (MExn): The Chaplee Ministry, NSCN (K) has notified that the official with the folers of Nagaland.

Some of the senior par- lowing phone numbers has been appointed to over- DiMapur, July 6 were awarded for their ty workers who spoke at see financial affairs pertaining to Southern Zone - (MExn): The Rotary club professional excellence, the function were Khon- 9862567272, 9436111777. of Dimapur and Rotaract informed a press release iswang, chairman, ST Morclub of Dimapur conduct- sued by Rtn Rajeev Singh, cha State; Chinlei, District ed its 43rd and 39th instal- president, Rotary Club of vice president; Wangnai, lation ceremony in a func- Dimapur. A Sewing mapresident 43 A/C Tapi; KohiMa, July 6 (MExn): All students who have tion held at Rotary Centre chine was also handed over Tungkem, president 46 applied for MA admission in the Department of Edu- on July 5. The chief guest to Tapan.

A/C Mon; Leiyang, district cation, Nagaland University have been informed that and installation officer Meanwhile, Rotary Inthe merit list of eligible candidates will be put up in the general secretary; Nokyam notice board of the Department of Education, Kohima Rtn Debasish Mitra, PDG dia Literacy Mission orand Dr Chingo, executive Campus, Meriema on July 9. Head of the department from RI Dist 3291 installed ganised a workshop on members.

Dr. Buno Zetsuvi further informed that there will be Rtn Rajeev Singh as presi- TEACH mission on July 4 at The release further add- an interview for the eligible candidates on July 15 from dent and Rtn Neeraj Jain as Rotary Centre, which was ed that the BJP Mon district 10:00 am onwards. Candidates have been directed to secretary alongwith other conducted by Rtn Debapresident P. Phonwang bring along all necessary original documents/ certifiboard members of Rotary sish Mitra, who is the Zonal Konyak, on behalf of the cates for verification. Anyone who fails to turn up for Literacy Coordinator. The BJP Mon has expressed sin- the interview or fails to furnish original documents/ Club of Dimapur. Rtr Nismembers of Rotary club of han and Rtr Zakir were incere thanks to State BJP and certificates on the interview day will not be considered Dimapur, Innerwheel club stalled as president and BJYM in particular for pro- for admission, it was stated. of Dimapur and Rotaract secretary of Rotaract Club viding the medicines. club of Dimapur attended of Dimapur.

On the occasion, Lal- the workshop. The aim of batia from Power Depart- the workshop was to make ment, Khono from District aware the members about Hospital opthalmology the new initiative of Rotary ward, Tochimong Yimc- towards eradicating illithunger from Traffic Police, eracy from South Asia by and Raja Rao from DMC 2017.

NSCN (K) informs

Members of Rotary and Rotaract clubs installed

Education dept, NU informs

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KVK Longleng conducts training on SRI & ICM Legal rights awareness seminar held

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Farmers during the training cum demonstration on SRI and ICM at farmers’ field of Pongching village.

longlEng, July 6 (MExn): Krishi Vigyan Kendra (KVK), Longleng conducted two days training cum demonstration on System of Rice Intensification (SRI) and Integrated Crop Management (ICM) at farmers’ field of Pongching village on June 9 and 11. Dr. Manoj Kumar, Sub-

ject Matter Specialist (SMS) Agronomy and programme coordinator (i/c) shared with the farming community about the advantages of SRI and ICM technologies for better productivity of rice with minimum seed rate and higher income. All together, 15 farmers participated in the programme,

informed a press release.

A n o t h e r t ra i n i ng cum demonstration programme was conducted on nutrient management on lowland (panikheti) rice with locally available weed biomass at Pongching Village on June 9 and 11 at farmer’s field. According to a press release, farmers of Longleng district are not applying any external input for rice production, which leads to low productivity. Nutrient management is most important for higher productivity of the crop, it said.

It further added that weed biomass is locally available in huge amount in the district. It contains 2.5 – 3 % nitrogen, which plays vital role for higher productivity. In this training, 20 farmers participated with keen interest to adopt new technology for their benefit.

Obituary

Resource persons of the seminar held at Tyrannus Boys Hostel Jakhama on July 5.

JaKhaMa, July 6 (MExn): Tyrannus Boys Hostel Jakhama (TBHJ) hosted a one-day legal rights awareness seminar jointly conducted by Kohima Law College, Nagaland State Legal Services Authority, and NVCO on July 5. The resource persons were president of NVCO Kezhokhoto Savi, Alika Achumi, Chuba Ao, Asenla

Longkumer, Hitoka Sema, Alika Kiho, and Wekhrope Marhu. The topics covered in the seminar included, environment, lokayukta, medical negligence, human rights, legal services authority, free legal aid to the poor, food safety and standard act, consumer rights, etc. The hostel also held its fresher’s programme on the same day.

According to a press release, Warden Thokru thanked all the resource persons for enlightening them with legal knowledge, which would protect them in daily lives. A set of study materials provided

by Nagaland State Legal Services Authority was also given to all the hostellers consisting 21 seniors and 20 new students.

We the bereaved family of Late Heichurai Nreutuilang S/o Kemru, H/o Inzina would like to express our sincere gratitute and indeptness to all those who stood by us physically, morally, financially and in materials and prayers during his prolong illness and demise on the 4th of July 2014.

We are deeply regretted in our inability to mention each one of you individually but we pray that our almighty God bless each one of you in abundance.

Loving wife, children and relatives.

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Jalkund: Rainwater harvesting structure

Villagers participate in the construction of rainwater harvesting structure (Jalkund) under TSP project in Longleng.

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longlEng, July 6 (MExn): The Soil & Water Conservation Engineering discipline of KVK, Longleng conducted four-day long hands-on training cum demonstration programme on ‘Construction of Rainwater Harvesting Structure-Jalkund under TSP project 2013-14’ at Hukphang and Shayung wards of Longleng district.

Initially, site selection, estimate preparation, layout preparation and measurement of Jalkund were shown to all the participants, informed a press release. Excavation work, earth cutting, earth shaping, plastering of side and bottom wall by mixture of cow dung and aluminium phosphate was demonstrated on the spot. After the plastering of side and bottom walls was dried, cushioning

was done by locally available banana leaves. A silpouline PVC plastic sheet of 200GSM of 9m x 8m size was laid on top of the banana leaves. The inlet of rainwater was designed

by PVC plastic gutter pipe and a down pipe whereas outlet was designed only by PVC gutter pipe. The catchment area of the Jalkund was 700sq.m. To keep away cows, animals, and children from the Jalkund, a bamboo cane fence was constructed surrounding the pond.

Altogether, 30 participants attended the training. The whole programme was organized and supervised by Er P Chowdhury, SMS (SWCE) KVK, Longleng, ICAR Research Complex for NEH Region, Jharnapani, Nagaland Centre.

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REgional

The Morung Express

Monday

7 July 2014

Dimapur

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condemns Worry for India as Chinese 'Mizoram govt practicing nepotism' UNC use of force and violence mobile signals hold sway in NE NEW DELHI, JuLy 6 (PTI): A top Union Home Ministry official was in for a surprise on a trip to the remote areas of Arunachal Pradesh when he could not use his mobile phone as it picked up signals only of Chinese telecom firms on the other side of the border.

The Joint Secretaryrank officer says that to his dismay, he found he could not make any calls through the available Indian networks in the area which is in the northeastern part of the country.

The officer wrote a three-page letter to the Secretary of the Depart-

ment of Telecom, saying he "had personal experience of getting Chinese signal in Arunachal Pradesh but was unable to make use of any Indian facilities to make mobile calls".

The note alleged that private telecom operators had not installed telecom towers in the rural areas of the Northeast and also claimed that some companies, under the "influence" of Chinese telecom firms, did not want such facilities to be ever set up, particularly along the India-China border.

There "seems to be a nefarious design of the outsiders who seem to be

influencing Indian decision-making in order to keep the vulnerable areas vulnerable forever," the letter said.

The note claimed that certain private telecom companies have taken DoT for a ride "by not commissioning thousands of towers" in rural areas and alleged that subsidies have been extended without any physical verification on the ground.

"Since Northeastern India is a sensitive border zone, the government should decide to have full control over networks and that can only be ensured by nominating a govern-

ment PSU to execute the task of rolling out new networks," the note said.

It reasoned that this would also make the task of security agencies easier as they have time and again warned that in border areas, security of imported equipment can be compromised with "disastrous consequences".

The Telecom Commission, which met last month, has approved investment of about Rs 5,000 crore to augment telecom connectivity in the northeast and the proposal has been sent to the Union Cabinet for its approval.

A I Z AW L , J u Ly 6 (NNN): Opposition party Zoram Nationalist Party (ZNP) came down heavily on the Lal Thanhawla led Congress government for the alleged practice of nepotism in Mizoram.

The regional party which acts as an opposition party along with other seven other political parties here strongly slammed the Congress government for nepotism and slow development process witnessed in the state over the past few years.

At a press conference held at Aizawl Press Club, ZNP secretary, Lallunghnema said that the state of Mizoram has seen the 27th year of its birth anniversary. Although the state has advanced in

many fields, yet it still has no sustainable development on which people can depend on. “The people of Mizoram are yet to see a trustworthy government.

This is because the state is yet to produce a proficient government that has honesty, good vision and policy”, he said.

The ZNP secretary then said that in Mizoram, the actual development did not reach to the people because of the prevalence of nepotism and partiality. “Only the members of ruling party have prospered and the only 'royal families' and their intimate friends who exploit the government resources developed in no time”, he alleged.

According to Lallung-

hnema, the people are being exploited through the practice of corruption and maladministration due to the laxity of the government. "While the poor section becomes poorer, the rich people become richer by the day.

Knowledge and logic have no their values”, Lallunghnema said adding that Mizoram needs an honest government that loves the people and that leads them to the right path.

In a bid to bring justice and equal development to the people the ZNP's Legal and Public Interest Department is all set to examine government functioning and thereby takes initiative to improve the working system, Lallunghnema told the media.

NH-15 blocked to protest attack on village headman TSA bandh to begin July 7 TEZPuR, JuLy 6 (PTI): Scores of protestors on Sunday blocked National Highway 15 at Behali in Assam's Sonitpur district bordering Arunachal Pradesh in protest against the attack on a village headman and two others.

The police said that more than 500 protestors, led by Arunachal Agrasen Protirudh Samiti and CPI(ML), blocked the highway for more than three hours, demanding security for people living in villages along the border with neighbouring Arunachal Pradesh.

Armed miscreants had entered the residence of the village headman of Naharjan near Behali reserve forest on Saturday and started indiscriminate firing in which three persons were injured, including

Trucks line up the NH-15 as more than 500 protestors, led by Arunachal Agrasen Protirudh Samiti and CPI(ML), blocked the highway for more than three hours, demanding security for people living in villages along the border with neighbouring Arunachal Pradesh. (PTI Photo)

headman Lala Orang, his woman Baha Chare.

Protirudh Samiti Secretary son Himant Orang and a Arunachal Agrasen Ananta Hazarika demand-

Northeast Briefs Bomb found planted on ongoing railway project

ed that the state government immediately provide compensation of Rs five lakh and free medical aid to the injured.

The blockade was later lifted after senior police and civil officials rushed to the spot and assured the protestors that their demands would be considered at the earliest.

The protestors also submitted a memorandum to the Sonitpur Deputy Commissioner Lalit Gogoi through the local officials at Behali highlighting their demands.

The area had witnessed frequent incidents of attacks and violence allegedly by miscreants since January this year following which Assam government decided to set up six border outposts and construct a new road through Behali reserve forest.

IMPHAL, JuLy 6 (NNN): A bomb was found planted in the ongoing railway project in Tamenglong district last night. Reports said a grenade was found near Makru bridge. The explosive has been retrieved.

Meanwhile, it is not clear who might be behind the planting of the grenade.

Rising number of malaria patients in Tamenglong

CPI(M)'s future in national politics zero: Mollah AGARTALA, JuLy 6 (IANS): The future of the Communist Party of IndiaMarxist (CPI-M) in national politics is "zero", expelled CPI-M leader Abdur Rezzak Mollah said Sunday.

"The CPI-M's future in national politics is zero, zero, zero. The party is now

to create Mon and Patkai autonomous district councils (ADCs) in New Delhi recently. It urged the state government to revoke the decision.

The government should review the decision in the assembly as the move is against the unity and wel-

ruled by managers, not leaders," Mollah told reporters here. Mollah said there was no strong opposition in Marxist-ruled Tripura and a strong opposition can anytime topple the CPI-M led Left Front government in the state.

Mollah, a legislator

fare of the state, SUMA general secretary Franklin Naloiju told reporters here on Friday and suggested that the state government opt for a better approach.

The union also submitted a 15-point memorandum to the chief min-

since 1972, was expelled by the CPI-M'a West Bengal unit Feb 26 for "antiparty activities" days after he floated rhw Social Justice Forum -- a pro-Dalit and minority outfit which he claimed would contest the 2016 West Bengal assembly polls.

XUYIVI VILLAGE APPRECIATES 111 Bn. BSF, SATAKHA.

NAGALAND MULTISPECIALITY

HEALTH & RESEARCH CENTRE (NMHRC) MIDLAND DIMAPUR DOCTORS FROM INTERNATIONAL HOSPITAL & EXCEL CENTRE GUWAHATI AVAILABLE FOR CONSULTATION ON 12TH JULY 2014

DR.NEIL BORDOLOI MD DM (CARDIO) Consultant HEART SPECIALIST DR.PRAKRITISH BORA MD Senior Consultant Pediatrics, Neonatology & critical care specialist For Registration Contact: 9856006026 / 9856006023/ 03862-248302/ 248295

ister. The memorandum included their demand for a review of the resolution creation of Mon and Patkai ADCs in the state assembly in 2004 and enhancement of funds for the border area development programme in the state.

THE GLOBAL OPEN UNIVERSITY, NAGALAND A State University established by the Government of Nagaland under The Global Open University Act 2006 (Act 3 of 2006) Headquarter : Dimapur 797 115 No.GOUK/PRC/7-7/2010/379

Dated: Kohima the 4th of July 2014 NOTIFICATION

This is to inform to all the candidates who have applied for the post of LDC cum Computer Operator (2 Nos) Vide advertisement No. GOUK/ PRC/7-7/2010 dated Kohima the 4th of June 2014. A written exam shall be conducted as per date indicated below: DATE OF WRITTEN EXAM VENUE TIME SYLLABI OF TEST (2 hours)

26th July 2014 Alder College, Kohima 10:00 am onwards Multiple Choice Questions: 1. General English 2. Information Technology & Computer 3. General Knowledge

All applicants are requested to collect their Admit Card from Kohima Campus from the 14th July 2014 to 21st July 2014. Further details may be availed from the following nos: 0370-2260569, 9402489728 during office hours (10:00 am to 4:00 pm).

Sd/(DR. IMOTEMSU AO) Director cum Registrar

Mizo women association Day observed AIZAWL, JuLy 6 (NNN): Mizo Hmeichhia Insuihkhawm Pawl (MHIP) Day, literally meaning Mizo Women Association Day, was observed today at Electric Veng YMA Hall in Aizawl organized by Electric Veng MHIP. Mizoram Health Minister Lal Thanzara graced the function as chief guest. Lal Thanzara said the presence of NGOs in the state instituted to do good things for the people is shows the Mizos are more fortunate than others. Lauding MHIP, Thanzara said the activity of MHIP to empower and elevate the position of women and comforting their members who are the victims of sexual molestation and other atrocities is most comforting and thus deserved praise. The government and NGOs are taking earnest effort to lessen various crimes related to robbery, murder, drugs abuse and sexual molestation, the minister stated. "Usually when a person involved in such heinous crime is probed, it is found that the person comes from a poor family background. Therefore, everyone has the responsibility to protect and look after his family", Lal Thanzara said. The minister then said that with the advance of civilization in the present world, the position of women in Mizoram has also been growing. "It is highly grateful that we are now able to have a women representative in the state highest legislature", the minister said. The minister however, warned that women should not try to come above men. Lal Thanzara also lauded MHIP for its campaign to end consumption of tobacco products. He said that the drastic campaign by the MHIP to eradicate the use of various tobacco products like tiranga and gutkha which severely affect the health of youths due to excessive consumption.

The TSA-GHQ is in agitating mode following the alleged indifferent and callous attitude of Chaba Lukho to the accident victims incurred by his convoy on June 16 between Koirengei and Khonghampat in north Imphal under Sekmai police station.

If the TSA-GHQ goes ahead with its 72 hours bandh then it will effect in the Imphal-Dimapur road, the Imphal-Morehroad,ImphalJiribam road and ImphalChurachandpur road.

SUMA opposes Mon, Patkai councils ITANAGAR, JuLy 6 (TNN): The Students' Union Movement of Arunachal Pradesh (SUMA) has opposed the recent move by tourism and water resources minister Pema Khandu, requesting minister of state for home affairs Kiren Rijiju

IMPHAL, JuLy 6 (NNN): Malaria has claimed the life of a class-8 student at Tamei under Tamenglong district on July 3 and there has been rising number of patients at Tamei Primary Health Centre (PHC) but due to absence of doctors the situation is getting worse, according to Zeliangrong Students Union-Tamei Area (ZSU-TA).

Malaria and other diseases are affecting the Tamei sub division but in want of doctors the plight of the patients is mounting by the day, rued Pougaibou, convenor of ZSU-TA. He also said that at least there should be five doctors posted at the Tamei PHC but that was not done.

"The transfer order of the only doctor who is posted at the Tamei PHC has also been issued adding to the woes of the people," Pougaibou further narrated. Meanwhile, the convenor of ZSU-TA has threatened to resort to serious forms of agitation along the national highways in collaboration with other students' bodies if the required numbers of doctors are not posted at the Tamei PHC by the state government. "Time and again we have been requesting the concerned authorities to post doctors at the PHC but to no avail," Pougaibou said. The student leader also said that the whole sub division of Tamei is depending on the Tamei PHC "but the state government continues to show its callous and indifferent attitude towards the people of Tamei sub division."

IMPHAL, JuLy 6 (NNN): Thadou Students Association-General Headquarters (TSA-GHQ) has deferred its proposed 72 hours bandh by one day.

The TSA-GHQ said today that its proposed bandh will begin from midnight of July 7 instead of July 6.

However, there is also no certainty whether the TSAGHQ will go ahead with its bandh from midnight of July 7 as there will be a talk between the Thadou students' body and the 'concerned authority' at 3 pm on July 7. The TSA-GHQ said the bandh will go ahead only if the talk fails.

On July 2, the TSA-GHQ had announced that if the state government fails to terminate Chaba Lukho, the Commanding Officer (C.O) of the 7th IRB from his post by July 6 then the students' body will impose state wide 72 hours bandh from the midnight of July 6.

TAHAMZAM, JuLy 6 (MExN): The Presidential Council Meeting of the United Naga Council (UNC) held on July 3 has condemned the use of force and violence on Naga villages of Khangshim and St. Paul’s School area in Chandel District and also on Chingkham Rongmei village under Thoubal District by neighbouring communities. A release from the UNC’s Publicity Wing stated.

Stating that the traditional boundaries of any village or community must be respected and the Nagas would stand by this principle, UNC stated that Nagas believe in peaceful coexistence between neighbouring communities, but will collectively respond to any form of aggression upon its land and people.

The council also took strong exception to the attempt by the Manipur Government to “illegally acquire 3000 acres of Thangbung Minou village land under border Pillar Nos. 74 & 76 on the pretext of development of a new township.”

“All efforts would be made to stop the arbitrary acquirement of land without the consent of the traditional land owners,” UNC stated.

The Xuyivi Village Council on behalf of all its inhabitants conveys its sincere gratitude and appreciation to the 111 Bn. BSF stationed at Satakha town for conducting medical camp and generously distributing various CSD materials to Xuyivi Village Council, Xuyivi Student's Union, Women Dept. XBC and Youth Dept, XBC. The Village Council is thankful to: a. Shri Y.M Upadhayay, Commandant and his wife. b. Shri. M.L Singh, Bn. 2i/c c. Shri Huskha Sumi, Dy. Commandant and Bn. Adjutant. d. Shri. T Mere Angami, Dy. Commandant and Quarter Master. e. Dr. W. Thoiba Singh, CMO (S.G) f. Shri I Piketo Sema, Inspector.

The villagers would like to put on record that many officers and men had served at Satakha and contributed a lot to the welfare of the people however the present Bn. Commandant and his men have served the people of Satakha area with greater zeal and commitment and has done a lot to uplift the image of 111 Battalion in particular and BSF in general.Their cordial relationship with the public through developmental activities and medical assistance is praiseworthy. We wish them the very best as they continue to serve the people with commitment and vision.

Sincerely, L. Toshiho Naga, Hd. GB and Council Chairman, Xuyivi Village.

K. Hushito Zhimo, VDB Secretary, Xuyivi Village.

4

Dimapur

public discoursE

Monday 7 July 2014

The Morung Express

setting up of nagaland special Disaster Zone (nsDZ)?

business Anil Ambani-led Rel Group crosses Rs 1-trillion m-cap

O

ternal debate would have invariably preceded the adoption of a resolution such as this and if this is the end result of such a discussion, our so-called Leaders leave much to be desired.

When the GoI is mulling over a serious proposition to review Article 370 of the Constitution of India in relation to Kashmir, here in Nagaland, those who have purchased their way into the Nagaland Legislative Assembly are taking a very irresponsible preemptive step to give GoI a huge helping hand to destroy that very identity that is enshrined in Article 371(A) of the Constitution in the name of development ...presumably without being prompted...or is there an undercurrent vested collusion with the GoI to unknowingly belittle ourselves without realising the consequences?

If we want to open our gates to hell, the GoI would be more than willing to fund such an endeavour because it will be in their interest to devalue the special status as defined in Article 371 (A) which clearly sets the Nagas apart from the rest of the other States in the Union.

Let us begin with a touch of history. The British enacted Bengal Eastern Frontier Regulations way back in 1873,much before their physical entry into Naga territory. It was a time where they had no clear knowledge of or dealings with the Nagas, least of all consider protecting the welfare, traditions and customs of the Nagas.

This enactment was therefore, more a mechanism to effectively protect their Crown’s commercial interests from all other internal competitions in tea, Oil and elephant trade in the fertile Eastern Frontier. While the Inner Line Permit (ILP), which is an off-shoot of this Regulation, did not originate with a specific intention of protecting the Tribal culture and welfare as is often expounded, it had nevertheless served a side purpose of preventing most of the North Eastern Tribes from an outright outsiders’ exploitation. The Government of India in its post Independence era continued with the British policy of restriction into the “Protected Areas” in 1950 by simply replacing the reference of “British subjects” to that of “citizens of India” while retaining the same restrictive contents for application in Nagaland in particular and elsewhere in the North East in general. It was all the more relevant for the Government of India to continue this British policy of restriction especially in Nagaland because they had a sinister intention of subjugating the Nagas, who had declared Independence on 14th August 1947, without inciting an International condemnation. They needed to accomplish this devilish exercise with total National/ International press censorship. The

f late, Nagaland Foothill Road Construction issue has been churning up a storm in the local media with accusations and denials flowing thick and fast between the Minister(R&B) and the Contractors. It is a universal knowledge that the NPGs are thriving on illegal taxation in the name of ‘sovereignty’ just as much as the Nagaland Government machinery is mostly functioning from “under the table”... “under the table commissions” for awarding ‘under the table’ works and ‘under the table’ job appointments. Their ‘under the table’ dealings are endless. It has been going on for a very long long time. The sad part is that this scenario is not an exception. It is the rule. Nothing is for free. The word ‘merit’ no longer exists in the dictionary of the Government of Nagaland.

What deserves a special notice and appreciation therefore, is that the citizens of Nagaland are beginning to finally show some spines by washing the dirty linen of the NPGs and the Government in public as never before. It is the one tool in the hands of the helpless public to combat corruption. No one in the general world would be stupid enough to write a bribe/demand note,(with the exception of NPGs... since their kind of written demand notes are backed up by AK 47), or issue receipt for the bribe being taken. That’s the simple corrupted jungle rule. Therefore, it is not such a herculean task to brazenly declare publically that one has never asked for or taken work’s commission and sanctimoniously demand for the production of evidence knowing well that such an evidence obviously would not exist... unless second party witness was present at the time of such a transaction or the negotiation secretly recorded for evidence.

Well, even before the actual foothill road becomes a reality, this much of dishonest garbage is piling up. There are other storms looming in the horizon. For a change, the NSCN (IM) has quite rightly reflected their apprehension about the impending danger concerning the Nagaland Special Development Zones (NSDZs) in the foothill Road sector. Going through the details of the Resolution adopted on 24th March, 2014 by the Nagaland Legislative Assembly in this connection, there are real causes for the Nagas to worry...really worry.

The first and foremost evaluation that comes to mind is the questionable depth of understanding or the serious concerns amongst the Members of the Legislative Assembly in resolving issues that will have a disastrous ramification to the identity and well being of the Nagas in the coming days. One would presume that an in-

New Delhi, July 6 (PTi): Riding on a strong stock market rally, Anil Ambani-led diversified business conglomerate Reliance Group has crossed Rs one lakh crore market valuation as share prices of all its companies have gained sharply. This marks a significant turnaround since last year when the group’s market capitalisation had touched a low of Rs 50,000 crore amid a wide-spread bearish trend in the stock market.

As per the latest figures available with the leading bourse BSE, the combined market capitalisation of the four listed companies from Reliance Group stands at Rs 1,01,832 crore, following a rise by over onefourth in just about two months.

Among the four listed group firms, telecom venture Reliance Communications tops the chart with a market cap of Rs 34,377 crore, followed

by Reliance Power at Rs 30,548 crore, as per the BSE data.

Besides, Reliance Infrastructure now commands a market cap of Rs 20,797 crore and financial services arm of the group, Reliance Capital, is now valued at Rs 16,110 crore.

Markets have been on a upswing in recent months, buoyed by a positive outlook and hopes of strengthening fundamentals of the Indian economy post elections.

On Friday, the stock market benchmark Sensex closed at a lifetime high of 25962.06, barely 38 points away from the 26,000-points milestone. The cumulative market capitalisation of all listed companies on the BSE has also crossed Rs 92 lakh crore mark.

Among the large groups, Tatas remain the country’s most valued with combined market capitalisation of over Rs 8 lakh crore now, followed by HDFC Group (Rs 3.7 lakh crore) and Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries group (Rs 3.35 lakh crore) in the top three. The share price of group companies of Reliance have also gained amid a positive outlook for the sectors in which they operate, such as telecom, power, infrastructure and finance.

Besides, Reliance Communications last week raised Rs 4,800 crore through a placement of shares with qualified investors. Also, Reliance Infrastructure’s Mumbai Metro started commercial operations last month and Reliance Power’s Sasan UMPP has started generation of power from its 4th unit. Reliance Capital last week picked up stake in global media service giant Prime Focus, while merging assets of the group firm Reliance MediaWorks with that company.

inhuman atrocities and rampage committed against the Nagas were therefore successfully blacked out from the National and International media, and escaped the critical scrutiny of the International community.

While ILP had served this crucial interest of the GoI, it conversely spared the Nagas, unintentionally, from an even worse predicament of a perpetual economic exploitation in the hands of the outsiders,... though the fact of being exploited by the Richie Rich of our own kind from within has become more apparent these days.

With the change of the political tide, when GoI finally realised the futility of a military solution to the Naga imbroglio and had to deal with this issue as a political one, they recognised ILP as a distinct advantage that set the Nagas apart from the rest of the mainland.

They used ILP as a counter argument when this writer, as Commissioner & Secretary in the Department of Nagaland Tourism, officially requested the GoI to withdraw Restricted Area Permit (PAP) for the foreign tourists.

They too vehemently wanted Nagaland to relax restriction of ILP for the domestic/ Indian tourists. What served their purpose in the past had now turned into an awkward inconvenience. Perhaps intellectual and rational Nagas can perceive the value of the Naga identity, as seen through the Indian prism... They would gladly have the Nagas reduced to an unprotected status, minus Article 371 (A) and ILP, to enable them to ruthlessly exploit the gullible Nagas. The present Government of Nagaland seems to be on a full throttle to self-destruct by undoing what the GoI is legally uncomfortable to attempt.

Dispassionately judging from the “chronic money worshiping” disposition of the present Naga generation: IF ILP regulation, Article 371(A) concerning our rights to property, reinforced by the insecure law and order environment, did not exist, Nagaland would have already been swamped by the giant business houses like the Reliance, the Birlas, TATA etc. who are more than collectively capable of buying every inch of commercially viable land within Nagaland. Then yes, the whole of Nagaland would have perhaps become a roaring commercial hub with the presence of all their heavy industries and companies well spread out and entrenched, where the Nagas would have reaped the side benefits of their business in their purchased land from the Nagas ... with one giant twist in this tale... we would have been their servants, their employees, devoid of dignity and identity of our own, in our own land.

This more or less defines the ground reality implication of the proposed NSDZ. Can the Nagas really live with

this kind of reality?

Setting up the so-called High Powered Committee (HPC) to assist the 9 member Ministerial Committee is nothing more than an eye wash. It is not an illusory statement that ‘protocol pressure’ is a norm Nagaland bureaucracy is ill equipped to withstand. The Ministerial Committee is more than likely to get what it wants in a platter. The ominous task before the HPC, besides other lesser issues, is to: (i) review the existing State laws/ orders/instructions with a view to amending them to make the NSDZ project viable and effective; (ii) review and reorient the Nagaland State Industrial Policy with a view to liberalizing entry of, and investment from, non-Nagas and other investors in the NSDZ; (v) to suggest mechanisms for (b) evolving a system of registration of ownership of lands and issue of patta thereof; (vi) to evolve a system of permanent settlement for non-Nagas for the purpose of investment in the NSDZs in the form of special land access permits to be issued by the State Government in this behalf; (vii) to liberalize the system of entry and stay of non-Nagas in the NSDZs for the purposes of investment; In short, the HPC has been entrusted to find ways and means to gracefully dismantle the ILP to facilitate non-Naga investors and abrogate the rights of the traditional land owners that is otherwise protected by Article 371(A), to enable non-Nagas to legally acquire landed property for a permanent settlement within the NSDZs. What needs to be remembered is that the people living within the NSDZs will not do so in isolation. Their tentacles will spread way beyond the NSDZs and the economically weaker sections of the Nagas in the neighbourhood, as indeed elsewhere, will all become an easy prey to their financial influence which will be exerted without exception everywhere else.

Beyond the immediate injustice and the questionable misdemeanour being contemplated against the traditional land owners and pilfering the Naga identity, once the land owners are dispossessed and the full authority of land use is vested in the Government and once the ILP restriction is removed, consider the following kinds of ‘developments’ that is bound to follow: The new owners of land within the NSDZs will primarily be the Ministers, the MLAs, their politically connected sycophants and the omnipresent bureaucrats not too far behind. With the passage of time, who knows, the children of original land owners may find it difficult to acquire land patta within the NSDZs, within the land that once belonged to them, unless they too are prepared to bribe those in authority or

have strong connection with the political masters like all the rest. NSDZs will also become a fertile breeding ground for all the already wealthy Illegal Bangladeshi Immigrants (IBIs), getting legal rehabilitation within the vast expanse of the usurped land contiguous to Assam, because Nagaland will have no reliable checking mechanism to verify the origin if the IBIs claim Assam as their origin, as is the present rampant scenario even in the ILP controlled areas within Nagaland. There will be no end to the population explosion of IBIs within the NSDZs, once the established IBIs begin to bring in more of their kinds as technical helpers within their Firms... which they will do with vengeance without a doubt, with this legal opening. The political candidates contesting elections will begin their ‘vote bank’ tournament by harbouring all the IBIs with their lives, as is glaringly apparent in the plane sectors of Nagaland today. The long term implication of a demographical metamorphosis will be quite damning. These are just a few ‘off the cuff’ examples that are already happening, being shared.

The foreboding premonitions are endless because the bottom-line reality is this: our Government system from top to bottom, is riddled with ‘irresponsible’ managers who are prepared to compromise anything and everything in their quest for a fast buck. A positive tangible result is unlikely to emerge from this escapade with “money” as the end game. Have the Nagas not done enough to destroy ourselves already without the need to add more burdens to our woes?

What must be considered with care and concern is not to dissected the Naga identity beyond recognition. It is the only honourable property the Nagas possess, even though our present standing as a people in general is less than honourable in the eyes of the mainland, with corruption written all over our beings. The only other leverage that the Nagas have is the Constitutional safeguard which we now are proposing to dismantle on our own. Give an inch today and the rest will just be a matter of time when a yard and more will be conceded with equal ease, until our very existence will become a non-issue sans dignity. Nagas must learn to patiently grow within our own strength...and this we can...provided we put our honest hearts and minds to it and make investment plan carefully.

The least Government of Nagaland can do is to facilitate a thorough public discourse before the plunge.

There is no real need to hurriedly set up a Nagaland Special Disaster Zone.

Khekiye K. Sema IAS (Rtd) Forest Colony, Kohima

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

_

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 # 2929

DAILY CROSS WORD

CROSSWORD # 2936

DIMAPUR Civil Hospital:

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 # 2928

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

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CURRYCOMB BAY ROAN BLACK PALIMINO HOOFPICK THOROUGHBRED ARABIAN SHETLANDPONY FJORD BRIDLE SADDLE CARROT APPLE HAY

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ACROSS 1. Nonpoetic writing 6. Cushions or mats 10. Fog 14. Flax fabric 15. Computer symbol 16. Ancient Peruvian 17. Group of eight 18. Exploded star 19. Docile 20. Middleman 22. Sea eagle 23. Resist 24. Acts 26. Its symbol is Pb 30. Excluding 31. Excavated 32. Doing nothing 33. Sketched 35. Boorish 39. Scorn 41. Inability to understand language 43. Hair net 44. Agile 46. Quarries 47. Record (abbrev.)

49. Arrive (abbrev.)

50. Chop finely 51. Ambrosia

54. Shower 56. Astringent 57. Liberate 63. Arid 64. Money owed 65. Hospitality to strangers 66. Ends a prayer 67. Small island 68. Consumer of food 69. Enumerate 70. You (archaic) 71. Sleighs

DOWN 1. Farm equipment 2. Wealthy 3. Savvy about 4. Secure against leakage 5. Ceased 6. Sleeveless dresses 7. Altar boy 8. Bird of peace 9. Caught 10. A rotary duplicator 11. Unreactive 12. Display 13. Seizes 21. Dispatches 25. Large indefinite quantity 26. Jar tops 27. Biblical garden

28. As well 29. Conduct 34. Guarantee 36. Largest continent 37. Seats oneself 38. Cummerbund 40. Bright thought 42. Pertaining to burning 45. A short moral story 48. Recognition 51. Twangy, as a voice 52. Lacquer ingredient 53. Remedies 55. Vetoes 58. Netting 59. Resound 60. Initial wager 61. Fastened 62. Hearing organs Ans to CrossWord 2935

CHUMUKEDIMA: 03862-282777/101 (O) WOKHA: 03860-242215 (O) 9402643782 MOKOKCHUNG: 0369-2226225/101 (O) 9856872011 (OC) PHEK: 03865-223838/101 (O) 9436012949 (OC)

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H

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CHILD WELFARE COMMITTEE

W

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ZUNHEBOTO: 03867-220444/101 (O) 9856158740 (OC)

08974997923

MOKOKCHUNG:

FIRE STATIONS

STD CODE: 0369

Police Station 1: Police Station 2 :

2226241 2226214

Civil Hospital: Woodland Nursing Home: Hotel Metsüpen (Tourist Lodge):

2226216 2226263 2226373/2229343

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

222246 222491

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81.99

Public SPace/lOcal

The Morung Express

Do the Nagas really desire for peace?

T

he Print Media in Nagaland quite often says: ‘Nagas are fed up with armed fighting and direly desire for Peace’.

Who in the whole world would not desire for Peace? My hunch however is: in Nagaland, the Naga do not have a clear desire for Peace, he just wants it purchased but not with his life!

Today, respect for Democracy is only book knowledge, Rule of Law is followed only when convenient; when inconvenient, tribe, village and clan biceps comes easily; Christianity even is tribal in the Naga today. Corruption is taken as something come to Stay. It is accepted ‘Chalta hai!’ The Naga today shows little interest in democratic Institutions and Systems. Institutions and Systems are instruments for Prosperity and Peace. A State cannot do without good Institutions and Systems. The Chief Minister and a few Ministers alone cannot do big things without Institutions and Systems. It takes time to build good Systems and Institutions; the Naga shows no patience for Institution or System building.

The NSCN, both IM and K, the two most active of the armed Groups, have entered into Ceasefire Agreement with the GoI and ended violent activities against Government Forces. The IM has even entered into Political Negotiation with the Government of India for Peace.

Despite 17 years spent in negotiations with the GoI, they have not made Peace with the Naga Society, leave aside sharing their Political Aims and Objects. They have not given up any of their pre-Ceasefire behaviors: fight to gain supremacy over other Groups, intimidation, arbitrary, summary executions and most importantly, they have not renounced the Use of Force. Their Commitments are changeable; agreements made are broken with convenient self-justifications or dishonor. If others point to their embarrassing oddities, they threaten them with allegations of “disturbing the delicate Peace Process when it has come to a crucial Stage”; CAUT now appears to be their main aim, which is the greatest anathema in the life of the Naga.

The Naga may expect Peace to ultimately control the IM, a great hope in deed!

The recent revelation of the dirty inside Story of Khehoi Camp, the recent ugly clash between the Sümi Public and IM Camp in Zünhebo District, is very painful reading to the Naga. Do the Naga really expect the possibility of a Naga Peace in such a condition? Has the Naga desire for Peace any real possibility in the near future?

The Government of India, as the paramount Power involved in the Issue, must deeply consider the whole scenario. The GoI knows it can purchase a Naga Group with Money or with package of economic Opportunities: there can be no lasting peace in the Naga without willing support from the Government of India. But it (GoI) must first correctly assess which Group has the mandate of the Naga Society. The Government of India also must decide which Territory the Peace shall cover: Arunachal, Assam, Manipur, Nagaland or a bit of all of them? Is it a political possibility to take out bits of States and create a New One? This is of tremendous importance for lasting Peace and GoI must deeply be aware of.

During the Ceasefire Negotiation in 1964 between them, the Federal Government of Nagaland of the NNC objected to the inclusion of the Chief Minister of Nagaland State Mr. Shilu Ao in the Meetings; so the GoI put him as a Member of the Indian Team. The NNC carefully avoids Nagaland State Elections calling them Indian Election they would have nothing to do.

The IM contemptuously calls the Nagaland State a Puppet Government, yet plays influential part in its Elections and surprisingly justifies their unimaginable demand of State Schemes for paying them. The former Chief Minister of Nagaland, presently MP in the Indian Parliament, also oddly supports their cause. The Group and even the State show uncomfortable inconsistencies in their political morality.

Is the Naga clear and really serious of its stand for Peace?

E

7 July 2014

Dimapur

5

New DAN government should show something on the ground

ver since the TR Zeliang government came in a little over one month back, the overall administration and political environment continues to remain still unpredictable. No major programs and policies are initiated and the state government machineries are still visibly weak. Things are increasingly complex day by day and looking at the whole scenario, it appears that chief minister TR Zeliang is being bogged down and helpless in bridling his “jumbo size ministry.”

For the first time after becoming the chief minister of Nagaland, he admitted state’s pathetic financial position during the joint meeting of council of ministers, AHODs, HODs, on June 17 at secretariat conference hall, Kohima. Then after few days, he had given a statement to the press mentioning state’s estimated deficit at the tune of over Rs 1200 crore. This is not everything for the financial woes of the state, the loans taken by the state since 2003 to 2013 is Rs 5972.93 crore which in fact has exceeded the permitted limits of taking loans by the state. Although his remark that further appointment should be stopped was heard, it is extremely doubtful that such step would work.

It is true that then NDA prime minister Atal Behari Vajpayee had shown extra-ordinary care and concern for then Neiphiu Rio’s 1st DAN government which was, in fact, fortunate enough that it had not only got Rs 365 crore as one time grant to wipe out state’s accumulated deficit but also received another huge economic package of Rs 1053 crore. But such sops from the Vajpayee government in 2003 did not stop the Rio ministry from taking loans as stated above.

However, one should not forget that then Rio’s 1st DAN governThepfulhouvi Solo ment had enjoyed that entire un-

News in Pictures

Monday

precedented economic grant and package from then Vajpayee government was only because seven BJP MLAs were there in the ministry. In the 1st DAN government, the BJP was the second largest party with seven MLAs while NPF with nineteen MLAs. The DAN-I government after enjoying all these economic facilities from then Vajpayee government had to continue for the next 10 years with the next Congressled UPA governments at the Center. During this period, the Annual Plan Size of the state kept increasing till such time the state had to experience negative Plan Size in 2013.

Only after this expected trend, state government started narrating different stories that the Center had done away with the funding pattern which it enjoyed till 1989. This is the same story Dr SC Jamir as chief minister used to tell us demanding the Center to revert back to the pre1989 funding pattern.

The economic growth pushes nation’s wealth and also enhances its potential for reducing poverty and solving other social problems. However, such trend failed to make the human development progressed. Instead such economic growth was achieved at the cost of greater inequity, higher unemployment, weakened democracy, loss of cultural identity, or overconsumption of resources needed by future generations. As the links between economic growth and social and environmental issues are better understood, experts including economists tend to agree that this kind of growth is inevitably unsustainable—that is, it cannot continue along the same line for long, stated a recent document of the United Nations.

The United Nations explains that it is not difficult to point out

Dr. Hoshi resigns from Cong

KOHima, July 6 (NEpS): A senior functionary of the Nagaland Pradesh Congress Committee (NPCC), Dr. K Hoshi has resigned from the Indian National Congress (INC).

In his resignation letter addressed to the NPCC President on July 4, the former Congress leader stated he took the decision to resign from the party in view of the present political expediency with a strong conviction that it would be “good for my people.” Dr. Rainbow Choir performs during the reception programme of Governor of Nagaland Hoshi contested twice as Dr. Krishan Kant Paul hosted by Chief Minister T. R. Zeliang in Kohima recently. Congress candidate from (Morung Photo) 19th Phek Assembly Constituency unsuccessfully against present R&B Min-

ister Azo Neinu.

Dr. Hoshi, former chairman of the NPCC media cell, said he had resigned from both general and eligible membership of the INC with immediate effect.

Along with the resignation, he also relinquished himself from all party posts including PCC member, 19thPhek A/C and member of Pradesh Election Committee.

He acknowledged the Congress party and its leaders for reposing faith in him and giving him party tickets twice to contest in 2008 and 2013 assembly elections from 19th Phek A/C. He also co-drafted the NPCC election manifesto for the 2013 elections.

which country is richer and which one is poorer. But indicators of wealth, which reflect the quantity of resources available to a society, provide no information about the allocation of those resources—for instance, about more or less equitable distribution of income among social groups, about the shares of resources used to provide free health and education services, and about the effects of production and consumption on people’s environment. Thus it is no wonder that states with similar average incomes can differ substantially when it comes to people’s quality of life: access to education and health care, employment opportunities, availability of clean air and safe drinking water, the threat of crime, and so on.

To be sustainable, economic growth must be constantly nourished by the fruits of human development such as improvements in workers’ knowledge and skills along with opportunities for their efficient use: more and better jobs, better conditions for new businesses to grow, and greater democracy at all levels of decision making.

Looking at the present state of affairs in Nagaland, the chief minister will have a very unpredictable journey and of course, one can’t blame him as he inherits the state of affairs. Yet he as chief minister is accountable to the state and one wonders how he is going to develop the state when he literally has nothing at hand.

On the other hand, we can still see the complaints and disappointments from the ruling NPF over the distribution of portfolios. Some legislators appointed as chairmen of various boards with Cabinet status do not have their offices as yet due to “jumbo size ministry.” Even some former ministers are still occupying ministerial bungalows

which have already been allotted to new parliamentary secretary.

Some parliamentary secretaries are still using their Boleros allotted

by Assembly Secretariat.

Ironically, the initial jubilation that the powerful BJP-led NDA government at the Center will rescue the trouble-torn and cashstarved TR government in the state is fast dwindling. At the same time, after carefully studying the start-off of the Narendra Modi government at the Center, the scene becomes crystal clear that no bounty is likely to come hastily to the ever fragile TR government in Nagaland.

However, the recent merger of three NCP MLAs with the BJP in Nagaland has given some breather in the minds of the general publics for the fact that the Center is currently ruled by the BJP-led NDA. This masterstroke by the three NCP MLAs smacked other political detractors in the state as the move came at a time when the Center is ruled by the BJP-led NDA. However, it is still doubtful that the Center will come forward to lend their ears to the financial quagmire of the NPF-led DAN government.

Nagaland is a small state that depends for everything on the Center. The only way to convince the Central leadership is Zeliang has to start exercising frugality in his government and show some positive result on the ground. He also should ponder over his “jumbo size ministry” which simply defeats his point of argument seeking any kind of financial grant from the Center. He should exercise some kind of visible curtail of his jumbo size ministry, though they may be hard exercise. Then only will the Central government start contemplating to work out a grant for the state.

Oken Jeet Sandham

Livingstone Foundation Higher Secondary School fresher’s day

Dimapur, July 6 (mExN): Livingstone Foundation Hr. Sec. School, Dimapur celebrated annual fresher’s day under the theme ‘Learn from Yesterday, Live for Today and Hope for Tomorrow’ at the chapel hall of the school’s hostel block on July 3.

Akhevi Y. Aomi and Benchelo M. Enny hosted the event. The programme was marked by several colourful and entertaining items which included songs and dances from the students of the Higher Secondary section, informed a release. The invocation prayer was led

by Chaplain of the Hostel,

Aholi Sumi which was followed by words of welcome by Kitiamen of Class 12. Arthur Edwards, administrator of the school exhorted the gathering regarding challenging role and life of a student.

He emphasized on hard work, honesty and obedience which according to him must be imbibed by the students in their daily lives.

Andrew Ahoto, chairman cum principal of the school, delivered the fresher’s day message. He spoke about the paradigm shift in the educational process and encouraged the students to excel in all the

other fields of activity like games, art and craft, etc. apart from the academics.

Students of Class 12 presented welcome song, Chingnak and friends presented special song while Vinoto and friends presented a dance item.

Several students of Class 11 participated in the Mr and Miss Fresher 2014 Contest and showcased their mettle in facing the crowd and answering some challenging questions posed by the judges, the release added. T. Yanglise Sangtam and Odijungla Imchen emerged the winners of Mr and Miss Fresher 2014 titles respectively.

REGIONAL NEWS

Centring the Northeast

A

The residents of Upper Bayavü Colony Kohima had a social work on June 21 initiated by the Upper Bayavü Youth Organisation (UBYO) newly elected office bearers. All the members residing in Upper Bayavü Colony took part.

As part of anti malaria month observation, a health camp was held at Sechü Primary Health Centre on July 3. Free health checkups and medicines were provided to people from in and around the area. Pamphlets in local dialects were also distributed for awareness on malaria prevention. Meanwhile, District Vector Borne Officer (DVBO) Kohima, ZLO Kohima and SMO Sechü conducted clinical management where free blood test for malaria was carried out.

vibrant Northeast? This is not Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s catch-all phrase for the seven northeastern States, though the region does figure in his list of priorities for economic rejuvenation, and strategic and infrastructural development.

I am not sure if General V.K. Singh’s choice as MoS (independent charge) for the development of the Northeast is right, even though he is knowledgeable about the region. He has the reputation of being straight-forward and a doer, but only in the realm of defence so far.

The Northeast today needs a skilful politico-economic person who can take the region out of its insurgency grip, mobilise leaders of substance and work out a decentralised multilevel development strategy aimed at fostering the region’s growth.

The Look East Policy Theland-lockedregioncontinues to be stuck in politico-bureaucratic status quo, even after Prime Minister Narasimha Rao placed it under special focus as part of the Look East Policy in 1991. This has since become an integral part of India’s foreign policy rhetoric, which has already travelled from phase one to phase two under various Prime Ministers without addressing basic infrastructure and allinclusive growth.

Each Prime Minister has reiterated the country’s commitment to take the Look East Policy forward, but this has been done somewhat half-heartedly in view of strategic and logistical problems emanating from sporadic bursts of violence by terrorist and insurgent groups operating on both sides of the border.

Today, the situation on the insur-

gency front is somewhat easier, especially along the Myanmar and Bangladesh borders. Still, “caution” has to be the mantra.

The northeastern States account for about 8 per cent of the country’s geographical area. They share less than 2 per cent of their borders with other Indian States and share 98 per cent with Bangladesh, Bhutan, Myanmar and the Tibetan region (of China). The challenge is to convert this location disadvantage into an opportunity.

This can be done by opening up the seven-State gateway to more than millions of ASEAN consumers for trade, commerce and education.

The Northeast requires proactive, bold policies. People are alienated because of lopsided economic growth stemming from a Delhicentric approach to issues. The leaders in Delhi ought to understand the changing lives of the tribals who have adopted modern values, fashions and modes of living, and frame policies accordingly.

The Northeast can be rejuvenated by making the region a focal point for growth. Removing the Restricted Area Permit and Inner Line Permit would help to integrate the region with the rest of India. However, amid numerous misgivings about the existing institutional mechanism, what is reassuring is the concern among central and regional authorities and intellectuals about the future of the region and the alienation of its people.

This concern was expressed in an international conference organised by Chandigarh’s Centre for Research in Rural and Industrial Development in Shillong on June

Hari Jaisingh

6-7 in collaboration with the NorthEastern Hill University. While there was an overwhelming view in favour of preserving the distinct identity of northeastern people, there was also regret that the bureaucracy “has been indifferent to understanding tribal communities” since its stress “is on mainstreaming of culture.” A healthy economy, innovative tourism-oriented packaging of rich tribal heritage, and projecting modern facets of society are the keys to solving this problem.

The success of Nagaland’s Hornbill Festival is one example of how the region can add to India’s cultural richness.

The Northeast has higher standards of living and literacy, but it also has an unbalanced economy and suffers from a terrible industrial sickness. Except Meghalaya, all the States in the region face a power shortage, despite the fact that the Northeast has a huge reserve of hydroelectric potential (30,000 to 40,000 MW). Power apart, the region needs special efforts for the development of world-class infrastructural network of roads and railways, for strengthening the telecom sector, healthcare services, and tapping into the agricultural industry and the region’s rich biodiversity. It can also emerge as a hub for higher education for the entire Southeast Asian belt.

There has also been concern over the involvement of non-regional entrepreneurs. We need to examine ways and means of creating a unified common market of nearly 40 million people which will provide a big boost to the economy of the region. We also have to ensure a mas-

sive investment flow for infrastructural development on both sides of the border in order to improve connectivity for trade and commerce.

This will help the emergence of local entrepreneurs. As it is, the Delhi-Hanoi rail link, trilateral highway project between India, Myanmar and Thailand, and some other initiatives have got bogged down by red tapism and a lack of political will.

Bridging the gulf At the human level, there exists a big gulf between people from the hills and people from the plains.

This has resulted in creating a trust deficit. Recent ugly incidents in Delhi have only reaffirmed the distance that separates the Northeast from mainstream India. Promoting understanding at the human level apart, it is also essential to bridge the chasm in the areas of communication, information and culture. We have to provide people from the Northeast opportunities as well as honour, dignity and equality. The North-East Region Vision 2020 document states: “It is in Northeast India that Southeast Asia begins and as such, it is for the Northeast to play the arrow-head role in the further evolution of this policy. This requires a redefining of the ‘Look East Policy’ to resolve outstanding issues of trade, transit and investment with countries neighbouring the region. It also involves promoting Indian investment infrastructure in partner countries, especially Myanmar, particularly in respect of ports such as Sittwe and international highways to connect the Northeast Region with ASEAN.” (Source: The Hindu)

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

IN-FOCUS

The Power of Truth

The Morung Express MonDAy 7 July 2014 voluME IX IssuE 184

Along Longkumer Consulting Editor

Nagaland Special Development Zones

T

he present State government has piloted a resolution in the Nagaland Legislative Assembly (NLA) calling for ‘Nagaland Special Development Zones (NSDZs)’ to be created ‘along the foot hills of the State, wherever possible’. For a State that depends heavily on financial assistance from Delhi for all our development and non-development needs and also given our poor track record when it comes to implementation of big projects, the decision therefore to create NSDZs, although welcome, appears to be too ambitious and quite impossible to see in reality unless of course we work hard with honesty to achieve the goals set out. Nevertheless, the benefit of doubt should be given to the government and hopefully, this column is proved wrong.

No one is against the idea and concept of creating NSDZs. In fact as the government in its resolution explains, “there is an imperative to promote and facilitate faster growth of industrialization and urbanization in Nagaland to achieve faster growth and development of State's economy and to generate more employment opportunities for the youths”.

Creating NSDZs however will be easier said than done.

Many things will have to be done before we can realize the goal of putting in place the so called NSDZs. Basic infrastructure such as roads, electricity, water etc will have to be provided. Also law and order will have to improve and the rule of law enforced in order to instill confidence in the market. This will mean putting an end to the present system of unabated taxation (extortion and corruption) and other negative practices. The other priority will be to make present the foot hill road functional at the earliest. This will be the first test (step) towards undertaking the construction of the four lane foothill road from Tizit in Mon District to Khelma in Peren District, which will provide road connectivity to the NSDZ areas, as mentioned in the government’s plan. If the government is not in a position to even complete the present foot-hill road project, the less said about the ambitious NSDZs. While it is the prerogative of the government to set up various committee to oversee the planning and implementation of the NSDZs, one concern is the strong possibility of bureaucratic red tape and political interference getting in the way of such a mega project. Whether it is necessary at all to have a Ministerial Committee, headed by the Chief Minister, to be taking important decisions on the NSDZs when, actually there is a need to be thoroughly professional and having technical expertise to plan and guide such a venture. Going by the nomenclature itself, the Ministerial Committee in all probability will be crowded with politicians, each having its own vested interest to benefit respective constituency. Likewise there is no clarity on the High Powered Committee (HPC) to be headed by the Chief Secretary with the Development Commissioner as Member-Secretary. The HPC will presumably work under the tutelage of the political class. Is this the best way to plan and take decisions on the NSDZs? Can such a State-centric approach develop and deliver solutions for the NSDZs? Take for instance the development of the National Capital Region (NCR), Delhi. The then Central Government appointed a Committee under the chairmanship of G. D. Birla, a renowned and respected businessman, in 1950. This Committee reportedly recommended a Single Planning & Controlling Authority for all the urban areas of Delhi. Consequently, the Delhi Development (Provisional) Authority - DDPA - was constituted and later replaced by the Delhi Development Act, 1957 with the primary objective of ensuring the development of Delhi in accordance with a master plan. In this regard, many of us would be familiar with the working of the Delhi Development Authority or DDA. The point really is that for the mega NSDZs to become operational and successful there is need for proper planning, harmonization, professional approach and good governance.

Can the present system that we have deliver? Perhaps a rethink is required on how best the State government can create the NSDZs by incorporating the best practices available. People’s cooperation and support will also be important.

(Feedback can be sent to consultingeditormex@gmail.com)

lEfT WING |

Serge Halimi Le Monde diplomatique

When Obama got it right

W

as Barack Obama, then just an Illinois state senator, wrong back in 2002 when he thought that an invasion of Iraq would only “fan the flames of the Middle East and encourage the worst, rather than the best, impulses of the Arab world, and strengthen the recruitment arm of Al-Qaida”? Did vice-president Richard Cheney see things more clearly when he promised that US troops would be “welcomed as liberators”? Yet now it is Cheney who dares to accuse Obama of being a traitor and a fool in Iraq, concluding without shame: “Rarely has a US president been so wrong about so much, at the expense of so many”.

Obama currently rules out sending US troops to fight against the jihadist forces that control part of Iraq (see Iraq Special Report, pages 1-4). But he has already agreed to dispatch 300 military “advisers” to the Baghdad regime, while suggesting that the Iraqi prime minister, Nouri al-Maliki, should be replaced. The US has provided an autocratic and corrupt regime with “military advisers” before: Ngô Đình Diệm’s regime in Vietnam nearly 60 years ago. Exasperated by his ineptitude, the US let him be (or had him) killed. What followed — military escalation, region-wide violence, millions dead — may explain the American people’s reluctance to follow the warmongers this time.

Intervention by western powers has had catastrophic effects in the Arab world, too. The West has been tight-fisted over contributing to the economic and social development of Tunisia and Egypt by cancelling their debts, but spared no expense in destroying the latest enemy on “humanitarian grounds” — never invoked for US protégés such as Israel, Qatar or Saudi Arabia.

Obama suggested on 13 June that Iraq itself, laid waste by the US, was responsible for its current tragedy: “Over the past decade American troops have made extraordinary sacrifices to give Iraqis an opportunity to claim their own future.” This type of self-serving reconstruction of history can only embolden neoconservatives who believe that Washington’s failure to act anywhere automatically hastens the decline of US power, and the advent of universal chaos.

The Iraq war was “won” before Obama took office, Republican senator John McCain tells us. He believes any international crisis can be resolved by bombing the place and sending in the marines. On 15 March McCain had called for US troops to be dispatched to Ukraine and, on 13 May, for military intervention in Nigeria. Obama did not want to “fan the flames of the Middle East” in 2002.

Will he be as wise now?

THE EDIT PAGE

C O M M E N T A R Y

David Brenner Foreign Policy

When Buddhist Monks Wield Kalashnikovs

"I

was a monk. Most of us used to be," says a heavily armed soldier in the rugged mountains of northern Burma's Kachin state. "When I heard about this army, I really wanted to join. You know, in Rakhine state, we need to defend Buddhism."

The soldier fights for the little-known militia of Buddhist nationalists referred to as the Arakan Army. In his khaki uniform, a Kalashnikov slung over his shoulder, he is far from the peaceful Buddhist monk of the Western imagination. Yet some officials of the Burmese government, which faces challenges from countless ethnic armies, see the Arakan Army as a potentially useful ally in their efforts to consolidate one Burma.

Anyone familiar with the recent sectarian conflict in Burma will shiver at the militiaman's words. Since the country embarked on its rapid liberal reform process in 2011, communal violence between Buddhists and Muslims has swept the country. The bloodshed began in 2012 in the Arakan Army's home state of Rakhine, where ultranationalist Buddhists targeted the Muslim Rohingya population -- whom they dismiss as "illegal Bengali immigrants" -- in severe pogroms.

The uptick in violence against the Muslim minority follows classic conflict patterns. When power relations are shifting -- as they have been during Burma's transition to democracy -- those who are in a position to lose power seek to maintain it by mobilizing against minorities. The Muslim minority's historic strength in the business sector, its reputation for being wealthy and powerful, and its wellestablished transnational connections have fueled resentment from some among the Buddhist majority. Muslims in Rakhine, where the wave of religious violence began in 2012, are the targets of particular acrimony. Many Buddhist Burmese dismiss the Muslims, commonly called "Rohingyas," as "illegal Bengali immigrants" who came to take jobs and land in the overpopulated province. Though their ancestors hailed from Bangladesh, these Muslim families have lived in Burma for generations. But that hasn't stopped the authorities from denying them basic civil rights, such as freedom of movement, for many years. The United Nations lists them among the most persecuted minorities in the world.

Economic grievances have contributed to similar conflicts throughout history. Perhaps most infamously, rapid political and economic liberalization coincided with economic marginalization in the runup to the 1994 genocide in Rwanda. The violence against Rohingyas and the reported complicity by local security forces has similar characteristics.

With religious and nationalistic rhetoric serving as a tool for mobilization, the reordering of political power and economic assets is a primary cause of recent violence in Rakhine.

Yet, as is so often the case, the roots of the conflict date back to colonial history. Rakhine state was the independent Kingdom of Arakan until the Burmese conquest in 1784. Brutal occupation sent more than 35,000 Arakanese fleeing to British-administered Bangladesh. After the British annexed Rakhine at the end of the First Anglo-Burmese War, the fertile plains of Arakan were deserted. This caused the British East India Company to encourage migration from Chittagong, Bangladesh, to Rakhine state. Most of these migrants settled down as farmers, only to find themselves on the receiving end of hostility from the original inhabitants, who viewed them as occupants of their ancestral land. That the British often favored Bangladeshi immigrants for jobs in the colonial administration added to local resentments.

Communal violence in Rakhine first broke out during the Second World War. With the Japanese conquest of Burma in 1942, Rakhine nationalists attacked migrants in an attempt to drive them back to Bangladesh. During their reconquest of Burma, the Allies relied heavily on armed ethnic minority units to stage guerrilla attacks on Japanese troops all over the country. In Rakhine state, these units were recruited from Bangladeshi migrants. Instead of fighting the Japanese, they mostly targeted Buddhist Arakanese as revenge for the bloodshed against their own community just months earlier.

This history, plus the more recent competition for scarce land and resources amid economic liber-

T

he high drama over FYUP (Four Year Undergraduate Programme) rollback at Delhi University has raised many pertinent questions. Delhi University has become a case study that educators and policymakers must understand before any other educational institution follows the same trajectory knowingly or unknowingly.

Two lessons which are very evident are: (1) Not all changes qualify as reforms; (2) The pace and frequency of reforms are crucial. However, the full answer to the question - "Was this fiasco avoidable?" lies in the study of what went wrong on the campus in recent years.

Dinesh Singh became Vice Chancellor of Delhi University Oct 29, 2010, amidst chaos and a teachers' movement opposing semesterization at the undergraduate level - a "reform" hurriedly pushed by his predecessor, Deepak Pental. Teachers had hoped that the new head would initiate a dialogue and a more reasoned approach. But only two days later, the university announced that salaries of teachers refusing to teach in the semester system would be withheld. This was the first peep into the mind of the new vice chancellor and his ways of tackling issues.

Further, from the comments of Kapil Sibal (former HRD minister) at the felicitation programme for Dinesh Singh, one could sense that both changes and the tactics had government support.

The start of 2011 saw the completion of semesterization through coercion.

Memos were issued to dissenting teachers in the English department. Heads of departments were ordered to record names of dissenters and not to convene the General Body of teachers to decide

In Burma, an ultranationalist Buddhist militia is training to "defend the fatherland" against Rohingya Muslims alization, explains much of the Buddhist violence against Rohingya Muslims.

In 2008, Tun Mra Naing and 300 recruits traveled across Burma to Kachin state to receive basic training in guerilla warfare from the armed wing of the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO), one of Burma's oldest and strongest ethnic armed groups. Together with other armed groups, it is in de facto control of territorial pockets along the Chinese border. These mountains have given birth to several armed groups that are not necessarily linked to Kachin soil, including the All Burma Students' Democratic Front (ABSDF), a faction of Burmese students who militarized after the army's brutal crackdown on pro-democracy protests in 1988.

On the face of things, the Arakan Army's ethnic nationalism, and its claims to original ownership of land, seem to dovetail with the objectives of the Kachin rebels. Yet the two organizations are inherently different. The KIO, whose armed wing boasts over 10,000 active soldiers, has a sophisticated bureaucracy, administering Kachin civilians through managing taxes, operating hospitals and schools, building roads, and providing electricity from its own hydropower plants. Its decision-making apparatus includes military officers as well as a civilian administration resembling a one-party state that enjoys wide popular support. In contrast, the Arakan Army claims no governmental ambitions. As Tun Mra Naing, the militia's commander-in-chief, explains: "Our Arakanese politicians already do a good job. But in our situation we cannot only rely on soft power. We need hard power, too. In Buddhism, we say that you have to create your destiny with your own hands."

Over the past six years, since the Arakan Army moved to Kachin state, its ranks have swollen to more than a thousand heavily armed fighters. "You know, we first wanted this to be a secret mission.

But our growing numbers became hard to hide," the commander-in-chief notes over milk tea.

To the chagrin of the Kachin army, however, Arakan fighters seem unwilling to turn their "hard power" against the Burmese military. Although Rakhine soldiers have engaged in some skirmishes with advancing government troops since the cease-fire between the KIO and Burma's government collapsed in 2011, fighting the state was never their intention. The Arakan Army is simply trapped in a tricky situation: "We cannot move back home through the front line at the moment," Tun Mra Naing explains. "Also, we need to stand by our allies and help them fight the government. Right now we are, let's say, stranded here."

While stranded, the Arakan Army has largely refrained from heavy clashes with Burma's military. In fact, KIO soldiers even assert that the Arakan soldiers have, more often than not, handed over their front-line posts to the military without much resistance. According to one KIO officer, this is a problematic reality for the KIO: "We now realize that [the Arakan Army] never came to fight the Burmese armed forces. This wasn't obvious to us in 2008. We thought that they were similar to us and the other ethnic, armed resistance movements." The officer explain that the KIO originally agreed to train the Arakan soldiers at a time when they felt mounting pressure from the Burmese government, foreshadowing the upcoming war. "But all they want to fight for is religion," the KIO officer concludes.

Make no mistake, religion is important to the Kachin, too. (Most of them are Christian.) But they are much more inclined to support religious diver-

sity and tolerance in Burma than their brothers-inarms. Moreover, they oppose and decry military dictator Ne Win's 1962 declaration of Buddhism as the only religion recognized by the state, a measure that has aggravated extant political and economic discrimination. Yet religion was never at the forefront of the KIO's armed struggle. For decades, they have been struggling for political autonomy and minority rights side by side with predominantly Buddhist ethnic minorities, such as the Shan and Palaung.

Indeed, the Arakan Army's leader makes quite clear that he never intended to join Burma's various ethnic armed organizations in their battle against the Burmese state. "We want self-determination, too," Tun Mra Naing said, before quickly adding: "But for us it's a matter of survival. If we don't stand up today we will disappear forever." He then continued to speak emotionally about the exploding Rohingya population, its growing wealth and political influence, and its evil plans to seize the ancient homeland of Rakhine's Buddhists. Finally, he declared that this "invasion" is funded by Saudi oil money and masterminded by al Qaeda.

Despite its fiercely independent rhetoric, the militia does not have a bad relationship with the Burmese government. "At one point we will return and defend our fatherland," Tun Mra Naing explains. "We already asked to assist the Burmese army as an auxiliary border force protecting our land and sea borders from illegal migrants." Last year, the Arakan Army put forward a joint proposal with parliamentary members of the Rakhine Nationalities Development Party (RNDP), an ultranationalist party whose members are reported to have instigated and participated in sectarian violence.

The government has so far declined their request, but the militia leaders remain optimistic that their political allies in the RNDP will eventually convince the central government. The RNDP has indeed become a powerful force in Rakhine state, propagating an uncompromising line against Rohingyas, a platform that includes forced relocation to fenced-off camps and eventual deportation. One senior United Nations official who recently visited the camps expressed her horror at conditions in the camps, which she referred to as "appalling."

Most recently, the RNDP succeeded in lobbying the central government to exclude the Rohingya as a recognized minority group in the upcoming nationwide census. Officials have done little to end the sectarian violence or even to alleviate humanitarian suffering. On the contrary, the government has increasingly restricted the work of humanitarian agencies in Rakhine state, at one point even banning local operations of the outspoken medical NGO Médecins Sans Frontièrs (MSF) for allegedly favoring Rohingya.

According to Brad Adams of Human Rights Watch, a recently proposed marriage law that discriminates against non-Buddhists demonstrates how "government leaders are playing with fire by even considering proposals that would further divide the country by restricting marriage on religious lines."

The apparent agreement on religious questions between the Burmese government and RNDP ultranationalists explains why relations between them are warm. Given the alliance between the RNDP and the Arakan Army, as well as the government's longstanding practice of using ethnic militias to police its restive borderlands, the prospect that Burma's leaders may eventually allow the Arakan Army to return to Rakhine state does not seem out of the question.

While the underlying drivers of sectarian violence in Rakhine are complex, one thing is very clear: An alliance between ultranationalist politicians and a well-armed militia is certain to end in catastrophe. One KIO officer puts it this way: "We cannot let them return with weapons in their hands and massacre innocent civilians." That, of course, is far easier said than done, considering that the KIO is currently preoccupied with fighting the Burmese army. Yet the responsibility for solving this problem cannot be attributed to the KIO alone. So far, the Burmese government has focused on brokering cease-fires in its wars with restive ethnic groups. A more permanent solution will have to involve demobilization, reintegration, and a plan to address the socioeconomic causes of sectarian violence.

Was Delhi University fiasco avoidable?

Abha Dev Habib IANS on restructuring. Much more was said and done at meetings and on phone of which no record can be produced.

Thus, in the summer of 2011, Dinesh Singh forced semesterization of all undergraduate programmes. The manner in which Dinesh Singh handled the semester agitation made it clear that dialogue was not his cup of tea. That path was too lengthy and he was short of time. He was to undertake a specific task fixed by UPA II. There was reluctance even on small things he could have handled better. For example, the first exam results after semesterization was complete were announced in January 2012. Their analysis showed that marks were inflated.

Students admitted they got more marks than they even attempted, and DUTA raised the issue of devaluation of Delhi University degrees. In response, Dinesh Singh didn't review the moderation criteria. His solution was straightforward - block accessibility to the data!

His failure to respond to the genuine concerns of students and teachers decided the fate of Delhi University.

Implementation of semesterization and FYUP cannot be mistaken as aca-

demic restructuring alone. A new form of governance was put in place - and these "reforms" were pushed through a new route. Decision making was confined to the Viceregal Lodge (VC office). Without any in-house debate, all changes were first announced to the media. Statutory processes and norms, which allow participation of teachers in policy making, were subverted.

There was an assault on democratic space and rights. DUTA and other teachers' and students' groups were refused venues for meetings.

CCTVs were installed, the campus was barricaded, the path to the Viceregal Lodge was sealed for the public, and the number of security personnel ballooned.

The UGC Code of Ethics, a set of loose recommendations, was passed as a Code of Conduct. Dinesh Singh empowered himself to take action directly against defaulters without going through the Executive Council or governing bodies of colleges.

Despite hundreds of representations and appeals, he refused to meet the representatives of DUTA (Delhi University Teachers Association), DUCKU (Delhi University College and

WRITE-WING

Karamcharis Union) and DUSU (Delhi University Students Union). Even Deans, Heads and faculty members found it difficult to meet Dinesh Singh.

Those who succeeded were told: "Remember who you are talking to."

All key players of this "reform" game Kapil Sibal, Montek Singh Ahluwalia (former Planning Commission deputy chairman), Shashi Tharoor (former junior HRD minister), Ashok Thakur (secretary in HRD ministry looking after higher education) and Dinesh Singh - are Stephanians. The number of Deans and Deputy Deans increased exponentially and innovation projects were given to college teachers without any robust criteria of selection. Later, OBC grants were diverted and over Rs.170 crore were spent on distributing laptops to FYUP students.

Consequences for the university and its academic environment were dire. The silencing of teachers through carrot and stick tactics led to academic scams. Statutory bodies, meant to safeguard the interest of students by weighing proposals for their worth, looked at Dinesh Singh to decide which way to nod.

Applied Courses including Psychology were offered as B.Tech degrees! The National Education Policy of 10+2+3, which ensures parity in terms of opportunities across the country, was thrown in the bin.

Dinesh Singh refused to hear the outcry of the first batch of FYUP students against the faulty system. It was thought that their silence can be bought by distributing laptops and free trips across the country.

Thankfully, democratic processes in India do not allow fiefdoms to last forever.

Letters to the Editor should be sent to: The Morung Express, House No. 4, Duncan Bosti, Dimapur - 797112, Or –email: morung@gmail.com All letters (including those via email) should have the full name and Postal address of the sender.

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

7

Monday

THE MORUNG EXPRESS

7 JUly 2014

PERSPECTIVE NEWS ANALYSIS, FEATURE AND DISCOURSE

The Morung Express

POLL RESULTS

Do you think the nagalanD government is sincerely committeD towarDs completing the Foothill roaD project?

Some of those who voted YES had this to say: • Yes …. It’s a huge project for us. I think its coming out good but due to monsoon it will be tough. I hope the project was give to good contractor who had done excellent works with a vision that the project will sustain against time; natural calamities and human activities. Completion of this project will make Nagaland more self-reliant, more convenient for thousands of travelers daily.

• Yes, Because it is for the state.

• Yes, I believe they will if they have the funds for it, as this was a much discussed and needed road that was supposed to have come into being. And what a lifetime achievement it will be for whichever government who is in ruling! But the tragedy is that, with everybody harping on so much in the past few months about how we are all against corruption and everything should be done in a fair and open method, when the government decides to do it, it is the very own committee that was formed, to ensure the development for the road is accomplished for the welfare of the people in the region it goes through in the best way possible, is the very one that is advocating corruption by not even asking, but telling the government to give in to their demands and follow a corrupt method by not following procedures that are laid down by the law. Who creates a committee, gives themselves roles as office bearers and then decides that they who are the committee members should be given the contract as well? Is that not blatant corruption and self interest seeking? Ordering the government to accept only who they propose and then propose their own committee members?? So were is ACAUT now???? all this talk of seeking out corruption and remarking on it and here is a blatant showdown of rebellion to the rules and laws that have been set for following procedures and why are you keeping quiet now? Is this not corruption when they are trying to coerce the public into blindly following the selfish greed of a few individuals? Has the Naga society, especially those who had been jumping on the bandwagon of anti-corruption, suddenly lost their voices or turned blind and deaf to the open corruption that we see being promoted here??? For shame!!! If you are really for the welfare of the people and not for your own purse lining, then the committee should be there to make sure whoever the contract is given, does a good job and that nothing is deviated for its completion and not harp on and on about the little left over contract that is not given to you. At the end of the day who will benefit, isn't it the people of that region through which the road goes??? So why is it that you as the monitoring and welfare seeking committee, trying to delay the project when the law is being followed through open tender, with complete transparency, and when people from that region who will know their own people and their needs too are given the contract? And those of you who follow blindly like herded cattle, without objectively assessing and looking at things, are blind to see the antics of a few vested interest and a pure political diversion, then Nagaland is really lost.... Open your eyes and see the bigger picture, would you rather drag it for long and delay your region's development or should you because of whatever obligated reasons, wrongly follow people who are promoting corruption. Today it is this one organisation who claims it is a one time table tender, tomorrow another organisation will stand up and say the same thing and say you accepted their wishes now fulfill ours, we will tell you who should get the projects. Where then shall Nagaland head, when we cannot allow even this one situation when the government is openly against an organisation promoting corruption to hijack works for a few individuals, support their efforts, how then can we fight the corruption that has seeped in to our system? Maybe these individuals have contributed much to the community and deserves to be acknowledged for their works, but at what cost should obligated supporters do so? By sacrificing your Bible beating principles? How many of you have had applications, and proposals endorsed by government with the sentences "put up for consideration" or "to be considered" and never ever heard back of the files you

T

he convoy of Kurdish army jeeps suddenly made a U-turn on the road from Kirkuk — which had only just come under the control of KRG (Kurdistan Regional Government) forces — to Hawija, a Sunni town where the flag of ISIL (the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant) had been flying for a few days. Without realising it, the driver of the lead vehicle had passed the last Kurdish checkpoint and was heading for the ISIL positions.

This place had only recently become the border, and the concrete buildings of the checkpoint, once occupied by the Iraqi security forces, had just changed hands. The faded colours of the Iraqi federal flag were still visible on the wall, but the young peshmergas who had moved in had already raised their own Kurdish national flag. A few hundred metres away, the road passed under a bridge: on the other side were ISIL forces. After two days without incident, nobody wanted to tempt fate. The Kurdish soldiers were only lightly armed, and were resting; there would be no fighting today.

“We are here to secure Kurdish territory abandoned by the Iraqi army, not to become involved in a civil war,” said General Sherko Fatih, commander of the Kurdish forces in the area. Iraqi Kurdistan, which has not been under Baghdad’s control since the end of the Gulf War (1990-91), and won constitutional recognition of its autonomy after the fall of Saddam Hussein, was able to realise its territorial ambitions when the central government, dominated by Shia Arabs, lost control of the north of Iraq.

After the attacks on Mosul and Sunnipopulated areas by an alliance of Islamists, nationalists and Baathists advancing behind ISIL insurgents, the Iraqi government forces scattered, abandoning their bases and weapons, and creating a security vacuum — which the Kurdish peshmergas were quick to fill — in the “disputed territories”, land claimed since 2003 both by the main Kurdish political parties — the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) — and by the central government.

New Kurdish border The real front is in the towns captured

by ISIL, where the Sunni movement faces resistance from militias and volunteers who have responded to the call for jihad by

have been chasing?? I have many times.... and not a should blame the elected representatives of those dissingle time I have seen such sentences, have I considtrict who had siphoned off the funds instead of developing ered it sacrosanct that the cat is in the bag unless an their area and district. why should the other district sufactual legal document is signed. So to even use such fer for their leaders greed and corruption. did thos nfhrcc sentences as being the final say, is being randomly members and supporters woke up only a year back? why vague. I hope the NFHRCC and their blind supporters this road was not materialized during sc jamir or hokishe will see that this is not the time to stop progress from time when nagas were at the receiving end of assamese? happening. This is the time to use leverage against the hopeless road committee should cover their head in government and its chosen contractors to make sure shame for eating their own vomit. the purpose of this road was to avoid assam bandhs and the biggest irony of this their work is done so well, by becoming the monitoring stupid road committee is...imposing a bandh on nagas.. body you should be, since you claim to be for the welfare of the people. I am reminded of the two mothers who stood in front of King Solomon and claimed to be Some of those who voted no had this to say: the real mother of a child, and Solomon's advice is to • No, its not. In the first place instead of taking the lead, they were dragged in screaming and kicking. Now inslice the child in half and give one half to each mother, stead of taking the communities on board as a team, at which, the real mother for the sake of her precious the department is still screaming and kicking. child's life gives up her child to the other and wise Solomon finds out who the real mother is. I hope that if the • A big NO. And never will they in this century.

• Absolutely NO. Especially NFHRCC, if they really are with NFHRCC as a watchfor the welfare of the peodog there is little scope for ple of the region, will be like commissions and kickbacks. the selfless mother and in NFHRCC should just agree this case give up this corto give a heft commission to rupt demand and work for the minister and all the tenthe welfare of the people dering problem shall magiof their region, by assisting cally disappear. the government like they • No, I don't think so. This is have apparently said, that the scenario. PART-I: What? they will help in removing Already Rs 40 crores reall obstacles from outside leased and not a single rupee forces towards taxation or has come back to my pockland compensations and et (Minister, Commissioner, ensure that the best road CE(R&B)) etc. You say that in Nagaland is made there people are actually going to for further developments. I have a real road and I am not hope the government will even a beneficiary (commison their turn, ensure that sions)? Imagine how its going this controversy is put aside to be if this disease spreads to and that the best workmanthe whole of Nagaland infectship can be shown by doing ing all the roads? No, no, we everything fair and square. cannot allow such a deadly And to those who are pushspread of virus. Quick, we ing it as a political mileage must find a solution. How? or intrusion may you realise Yes, yes, the Tendering Rule that politics to you may be books. Bring the rule books. a game, but that you do not use it to stop progress Does not matter even if the road project is killed. The cure in a much needed develmust be administered before opment. STOP CORRUPthe whole State of Nagaland TION IN NAGALAND NO is infected. There has to be MATTER WHO DOES IT!!

• Yes...I believe they are. some sacrifice. Goodbye, The Govt. must perform.

Foothill Highway. The dream They can no longer fool was nice while it lasted. PART the people anymore. If any - II: The road is now made into a true peoples project with fiindividual or group of indinancial contribution from the viduals from the decision public. making body plays game...

• No, every one of them lookthey should be booked acing free money cording to the rule of the YES no OTHERS • Obviously they are not. This law. is proven by the fact that even • Yes...but not in time • Yes. ..but govt should also be given room for its imafter 30 years there is no DPR as admitted by the deplementation. Further NFHRCC should not interfere partment. If we only wait for the department, without the in the allotment contract since they doesn't have any insistence of the NFHRCC the project wont move forward legal domain over it rather they should focus on the even an inch even if we wait for another 40 years! proper implementation of the works. The work of the • I don’t think so because the department is no serious but more concerned about kickbacks, they have creMaster (govt) should be left to the master and work of ated controversy in the name of procedures, which the servant should be left to it. They need coordination we all know is just hogwash. but there is no ground that the servant should reign • No, not at all. The cited reasons of tendering, proceover his master by taking the law in his own hands. dures etc. have proved itself to be fig leaf as they are.

• YES but need to review and recommit the arrangeNow the cat is out of the bag as we knew all along. ments made with the NFHRCC both in letter and in spirit...This is OUR ROAD...pave this road with peace, • No....... only about money & corruption. love, understanding, sacrifice and prayers..not with • The Nagaland government is instead trying to jeoparprofit. The profit through the making of this road will dize/scuttle the implementation of the FootHill Road be for your future generations...not YOU! project in earnest by reneging on its prior agreements • yes. its only some vested interest members of nfhrcc with NFHRCC. The FootHill Road Project is a project of members playing politics. a mere road committee trying the people, by the people and for the people and will be to control the govt is pathetic. shameless road committee executed at any cost come what may no matter what the

78%

19%

03%

State government is playing at. It only stands to reason that the State Government expedite the smooth implementation and early completion of the project without resorting to any mean lowdown practices and precluding any further hiccups to making it a reality earliest.

• No, this too shall pass away. Other projects will come to make a few people richer, while the rest remain restless and angry. Time has come for all of us to stand up for each other’s rights.

• No, if public starts to think your problem is my problem, than no power on earth can stand against us.

Power to the people and more power to those groups working sincerely hard to be our voice.

• No, they are misusing the power.

• It took the Nagaland government 40 years to realize that the Foothill Road is a necessity. This too only after the public and tribe hohos make much hue and cry. Without the intervention of the tribe hohos the state government will still be sleeping. Even today the government does not seem to be interested at all. Instead they are busy asking for cuts and percentages and finding all ways to divert the meager resources away from the people.

The government may have fooled the people once, but they cannot fool the people again. It is very pathetic to hear that a letter from the govt has been written foothill committee asking for a percentage for the contract work.

How can Nagaland progress in this way.

• No, Never expect any sincerity from present Nagaland government. It is not only politicians but bureaucrats also are sincere only in filling their pockets.

• No, The government have missed a great opportunity to build partnership with the people for community development. The mass support of the people through the local government and other civil societies should have been a leverage for a paradigm shift in how we use to think about development- as people centric. Extremely sad to see the dismal state and the government lethargy.

• No, they are running after the money that’s all they don't even care for public, i mean we the Naga people.

• No, which naga minister was ever committed to Nagas. The Nagas should demand CBI. Some of those who voted OTHERS had this to say: • The pressure on the government to complete the project is tremendous. The pressure group and all right thinking citizens of Nagaland will not allow them to do otherwise. However as always some of the higher ups in the government are trying to make a quick buck from all the work allotments. we have heard of the officials charging exorbitant amount as bribe to allot the work from contractors.

• It should have been finished by now but the obstacles that prevented are our biggest challenges today • It depends upon the public and the govt..

• The government appears to be serious about the completion of this road but we all know who is not willing to have this road completed in time. Personal interest should not come in the way.

• Looks like too much interference from the concerned parties with vested interest for monetary profit rather than accomplishing the much needed project which ultimately will boost economy for one and all. Nepotism and fighting over short term profit seem to hamper the progress of the project.

• ...complete the FOOTHILL ROAD not the Foothill Road BUDGET! • the question is " is the NHFRCC really committed to complete the road? " Nagaland govt. sincere or not is not the issue now, what is more important is the credibility of the people in the NFHRCC, these people are more political than the politicians.They seem desperate to bring down the Nagaland Government. A handful group trying to impose their sinister plot under the guise of foothill road development and the majority of the guillible people blindly following them. why give importance to such group that divide the society. The newspapers should not give too much prime space to such groups, they dont deserve it.

• My humble message to government: the time has come for Nagaland not to seek money but to earn it.

the kurds’ big gains est Shia authority. On the margins of this conflict, the Kurds have consolidated territorial gains. The new frontier between Iraqi Kurdistan and the insurgent-occupied areas, 1,050km long, runs southeast-northwest across Iraq, from Khanaqin, near the Iranian border, to the Kurdish areas of Syria, threatened by ISIL and since July 2012 under the control of the Democratic Union Party (PYD), the Syrian branch of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).

Though there are frequent border skirmishes, it is not outright war. A former senior Baathist figure from Kirkuk said: “The common enemy — the Shia central state — no longer exists in northern Iraq, so it is in the interest of Kurds and Sunni Arabs to maintain good neighbourly relations.”

Iraq’s sectarian division has created a paradox: Sunni Arab nationalists, who make up a significant proportion of ISIL, talk of the need for good relations with the Kurds. “There may be local clashes, with some loss of life, but that is only because the Sunni movement is not unified or sufficiently well controlled by its leaders. At higher levels, people are keen to avoid trouble,” said a source close to the insurgents.

This has allowed the Kurdish movement in Iraq to achieve a key demand — control of the city and province of Kirkuk (the “Kurdish Jerusalem”). These are home to sizeable Turkmen and Arab minorities, whose fate had been undecided since 2005 because of a failure to implement article 140 of the Iraqi constitution, which calls for a census and a referendum on whether the city should become part of Iraqi Kurdistan.

The withdrawal of Iraqi government forces from Kirkuk has underlined the de facto supremacy of the Kurds. They have dominated the provincial council since the US invasion of 2003, and have now appropriated abandoned military equipment and gained a monopoly on military power, which they will be reluctant to give up if the central government attempts to regain control.

This has dispelled the legal and institutional fictions on which power sharing between Baghdad and Irbil (capital of the Iraqi

allan Kaval Le Monde diplomatique

The Kurds in Iraq and Syria are making impromptu deals with all sides, and with neighbouring countries, while defending their territory and annexing disputed places. They aren’t, however, a monolithic force to be based. The Kurds, who seized part of the huge Kirkuk oilfield by force in 2008, could now control it all. Soon after the Iraqi withdrawal, the Kurdish natural resources minister, Ashti Hawrami, announced infrastructure projects that would make it possible to pump oil officially still under federal control, and mix it with oil produced on KRG territory. The Kurds would then export it autonomously, via Turkey. On 21 June the first delivery of crude oil produced in Iraqi Kurdistan was shipped from the Turkish port of Ceyhan to Ashkelon, in Israel. The Kurds could force Baghdad, whose sovereignty over Iraq’s territory still has international recognition, to grant them favourable terms.

Through its prime minister Nechirvan Barzani, the KRG has declared itself in favour of an autonomous Sunni Arab region centring on Mosul. Yet it would be wrong to conclude that Iraqi Kurdistan’s growing strength as an autonomous region precludes its participation in the Iraqi political scene. A number of political players are involved, including Turkey and Iran — because of Iranian influence on Iraq’s Shia politicians — as well as the central Iraqi

terests of the Kurdish elite to use their influence with the Iraqi government, even when borders are becoming blurred and the number of players — government and non-government — is growing.

Patchwork border The Iraqi Kurds are not a cohesive body with a clear, shared agenda. The KDP and PUK are still, to a certain extent, party-states, each with its own territory and armed forces; they pursue their own interests, and occasionally divergent alliances. The KDP dominates the oil and gas sector, and is diplomatically aligned with Turkey, because of Turkey’s ambitions in energy. The PUK, itself facing deep internal divisions, has better relations with Iran and, indirectly, with the PKK, which opposes the influence of the KDP in Turkish Kurdistan and especially in Syrian Kurdistan, under the control of local allies.

Though the leaders on both sides are keen to minimise these divergences, the chaos in Iraq tends to exacerbate them. According to General Jabar Yawar, secretary general of the KRG’s armed forces ministry, the PUK still dominates southeastern Iraqi Kurdistan and is on good terms with the Iraqi army, which still holds a small area before the Iranian border. The KDP, which dominates the northwest, is more inclined to seek common ground with elements of the Sunni insurgency. Kirkuk’s military bases and resources lie not only on the border between Arab Iraq and Iraqi Kurdistan, but also at the meeting point of the zones of influence of the PUK and KDP. It has been dominated by the PUK since the fall of Saddam but, since the departure of the Iraqi armed forces, has become an object of rivalry between the two Kurdish blocs.

This tendency to division is stronger still in the territories formerly disputed with Baghdad, owing to the diversity of the population. Besides the ethnic divisions between Kurds, Turkmens and Arabs, there are sectarian divides: all three communities are split along Shia/Sunni lines. In the gaps between the areas controlled by the PUK and KDP — jointly or separately — armed

a sense of being “other” than their neighbours. All include members of the former federal security forces. Each finds distant allies against its nearby enemies.

So Iraqi Kurdistan’s new frontier is a patchwork of checkpoints, enclaves and pockets, held by different groups whose authority is based mainly on military strength, all fighting, competing, collaborating, or ignoring each other. Ten kilometres from the centre of Kirkuk, where life continues as normal, the Shia Turkmen community of Taza gives a snapshot of the situation. The neighbouring village of Beshir, also Shia Turkmen, was captured not long ago

by Sunnis who had been relocated to the area under Saddam’s regime in 1986, but were expelled by the original inhabitants in 2003. The ISIL insurgency gave the Sunnis an opportunity to retake the land and property of their neighbours, with some reports of torture. In the silent streets of Taza, I saw young men carrying weapons on their way to the mosque, where Grand Ayatollah al-Sistani’s local representative, dressed in military uniform except for his turban, was calling the faithful to martyrdom in the cause of recapturing Beshir.

In the courtyard of the mosque were greying members of the Shia Dawa Party, formerly exiled to Iran, who had come back to Iraq wearing the headdress and beards of the Revolutionary Guards. They were preparing for a meeting chaired by the commanders of the Badr militia, who are coordinating their efforts with the Shia militias established six months ago by the central government. A few kilometres away, with a Soviet tank and a few armoured vehicles that the PUK had discovered in Saddam’s barracks in 2003, a hundred peshmergas had taken up position on the canal that separates Taza from the Sunni lines. They controlled the bridge over the waterway; a PKK delegation passing through had fastened to the bridge a flag with a picture of its leader, Abdullah Öcalan, currently a prisoner in Turkey.

By the canal, a dozen teenagers carrying guns sheltered from the sun in a UN Refugee Agency tent, under a flag to the glory of Ali. A young man — who couldn’t have been 10 years old in 2003 — carried a Kalashnikov modified to look like a US armed forces assault rifle; he wore his battledress over a fake Olympique Lyonnais football shirt and was having his photo taken with a deserter from the Iraqi police who had answered Grand Ayatollah al-Sistani’s call to

8

Dimapur

NATIONAL

Monday 7 July 2014

The Morung Express

Speaker to decide on LoP issue: Naidu NEW DELHI, JULY 6 (PTI): Observing that the issue of giving Leader of Opposition (LoP) status is before the Lok Sabha Speaker, Union Minister M. Venkaiah Naidu on Sunday said everyone must abide by the presiding officer’s decision. “There was no Opposition Leader during Nehruji’s regime. There was no Opposition Leader during Indira Gandhi’s era.

Opposition Leader was not there in Rajiv Gandhi’s rule,” Mr. Naidu said.

“But Opposition Leader status should be given during BJP’s rule. They (Congress leaders) say how it cannot be given and that Constitution does not agree. They say situation was different then and now,” the Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister said, addressing an event held at BJP office here on the occasion of Jan Sangh founder Syama Prasad Mookerjee’s birth anniversary.

“They say you be liberal (in giving LoP status). It is people’s verdict and matter related to Constitution.

Speaker’s decision should be adhered to and let’s see how the Speaker decides.

‘Cong must go to court if Speaker denies LoP status’ NEW DELHI, JULY 6 (PTI): With no clarity on Congress getting the Leader of Opposition (LoP) status in Lok Sabha, senior leader Kamal Nath today said the party “must” go to court if Speaker Sumitra Mahajan’s decision, which could be “flavoured” by BJP andNarendra Modi, went against it.

Insisting that there is no rule, which says that a party cannot get LoP status unless it has 10 per cent of the total strength of the 543-member Lok Sabha, the former ParliaThere are some conventions, rules and regulations, precedents and directions of the Speaker. They are all there before us. Everybody has to go by that,” he said.

Asked about Congress leader Shakeel Ahmed’s reported comments that getting the LoP position is their right and that Parliament would not run if the position is not given to their party, Mr. Naidu al-

mentary Affairs Minister said in Delhi that while a Speaker is generally neutral when it comes to dealing with Parliamentary processes, it may be different in a contentious situation. In Hyderabad, Union Minister M Venkaiah Naidu said everyone must abide by the presiding officer’s decision.

“There was no Opposition Leader during Nehruji’s regime. There was no Opposition Leader during Indira Gandhi’s era.

Opposition Leader was not there in Rajiv Gandhi’s rule,” Naidu contended.

Picking on BJP, Nath said, “We know the Speaker is from the BJP... Speaker is appointed by a political party... When it is a contentious situation... It (the decision on LoP) will be flavoured by the BJP and Modi,” Nath told Karan Thapar on ‘Nothing But the Truth’ programme on Headlines Today. He was replying to a question on why he was raising fingers on the intention of the government in this matter when the decision on LoP will be taken by the Speaker.

While hastening to add that what he says “does not mean that she is acting on

the behest of somebody”, Nath insisted, “But there is always a flavour”.

He also said that if the Speaker rules against Congress on the LoP issue, it would be right and proper for the Congress to go to the court. “Certainly, we must. It should be one of the options,” he said. At the same time he said that Congress won’t retaliate or be obstructive in Parliament simply because the LoP status is denied to it as party President Sonia Gandhi won’t like it.

Tossing the ball in Speaker’s court, Naidu

leged that the Congress is not able to accept its defeat.

“We know how to run (the House) if it is not able to run. There is no need for a public debate on this. They are not able to accept the defeat. We leave it to their wisdom,” he said. “People have decided whatever they had to decide. We hope that Congress and all of us together run the Parliament and do good for people and

make efforts for country’s development,” the senior BJP leader said.

Earlier, in his speech at the party meeting, Mr. Naidu referred to the comments of some Congress leaders that they would go to court if the LoP position is denied to the party and said the matter is to be decided in the people’s court. “They have got every right to go to court. You can go to court for not getting

Prime Minister’s post also.

Anybody can go to court in this country for any thing.

Many people go to courts.

They have got every right to go. Constitution permits it.

Let them go,” he said.

“But people’s court has decided. People have given a mandate. We are in democracy. These things cannot be decided by judiciary. They have to be decided by people,” he said.

M. Venkaiah Naidu

said, “It is people’s verdict and matter related to Constitution. Speaker’s decision should be adhered to and let’s see how the Speaker decides. There are some conventions, rules and regulations, precedents and directions of the Speaker. They are all there before us. Everybody has to go by that,” he said.

Talking about the reported threat of a Congress leader that they would boycott the Speaker, if her decision went against them, Mr. Naidu alleged that it showed their impatience.

“The Budget session is starting tomorrow. Speaker was elected just the other day. How can they be so impatient. They had been in power for so long. The message of mandate of the

people has to be understood. They have not learnt from the ignominious rout in the election. This is my observation. I don’t want to undermine the opposition. We want the opposition and government to work together,” he said.

Asserting that the government is ready for debate on any issue, the Parliamentary Affairs Minister appealed to the opposition

parties not to disrupt proceedings of the House.

“There is nothing to hide. I said, debate, discuss, decide. Do not disrupt.

That’s my request to the opposition parties. I hope they will understand that,” he said. On the occasion, Mr. Naidu hailed the leadership of Syama Prasad Mookerjee and talked about different episodes of the life of the departed leader.

11 killed in wall collapse in Tamil Nadu Former Karnataka CM HD CHENNAI, JULY 6 tion workers were from Veeraraghava Rao, district Kumaraswamy caught on collector, told reporters.

(IANS): Eleven construc- Andhra Pradesh.

He said strict action The wall of the waretion workers were killed tape asking for bribe and two injured when a wall house collapsed early Sun- would be taken against those of a warehouse collapsed in Tamil Nadu’s Tiruvallur district, officials said Sunday.

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa announced a solatium of Rs.200,000 to the families of those who were killed and Rs.50,000 to the injured. The construc-

day on the huts abutting it.

The wall was being built for a privatewarehouseinTiruvallur, around 50 km from here, officials said. A portion of the wall fell on the shacks near it.

Rescueoperationshavebeen completed and the bodies have been sent for autopsy,

who were responsible for the incident. This is the second such incident at a construction site within a week in the state.OnJune28,an11-storey residential building which was under construction collapsed, killing 61 people and injuring 27 in Chennai.

‘Don’t make clean Ganga a Hindutva project’

A Buddhist woman walks towards the venue of the Dalai Lama's teachings on the fourth day of Kalachakra near Leh, India on July 6. Buddhist devotees from across the globe have arrived in this Himalayan region of Ladakh to attend the ‘Kalachakra’ or Wheel of Time initiations by the Dalai Lama that began Thursday. Sunday marked the birthday of the Tibetan leader. (AP Photo)

‘Blank firing’ near Israeli homes in Delhi

NEW DELHI, JULY 6 (IANS): An unidentified person opened ‘blank fire’ early Sunday in a south Delhi area where many foreigners including Israelis live but it was not clear if there was an intended target. Police said the incident happened around 2 a.m. near the Delhi Public School in Vasant Vihar.

A “blank fire” is caused by a weapon used often in

races. The firing causes a loud noise, accompanied by smoke, but no cartridge is involved. A police team rushed to the spot but the person who fired the blank shot had fled. A police officer told IANS: “It seems to be a case of mischief to create panic in the area.”

Vasant Vihar is a posh area popular with foreign diplomats posted in New Delhi. Many Israeli fami-

lies, including those of diplomats, also live there.

The Israeli embassy underplayedanypossibleIsraeli link to the incident. “Many foreign diplomats live in the area including Israel diplomats and their families. Delhi Police are probing the matter,” embassy spokesperson Ohad Horsandi told IANS. According to a police officer, around 6,000 Israelis live in the capital.

EU wants to discuss illegal migration with Modi government BrUSSELS, JULY 6 (IANS): The European Union (EU) hopes it will be able to discuss with the Narendra Modi government this year the issue of illegal immigration from India that has assumed worrying proportions. With India coming eighth on the list of nations from where most people try illegally to sneak into Europe, the EU feels the dialogue will help in facilitating the migrants to go back.

“A meeting has not been held since July 2012... With the elections now over, the EU is hopeful that the next meeting can be organised soon in Brussels, if possible before the end of the year,” EU Commissioner for Home Affairs Cecilia Malmström told IANS in an interview. The high-level meetings alternate between Brussels and New Delhi.

“India is a relevant country in terms of irregular migration to the European Union... Around 16,000 irregular migrants from India were found in the EU in 2012. “Whereas a downward trend can be seen in the last few years in irregular migration from a country such as China, which showed comparable figures in 2010, the flow from India has remained

constant. By comparison, around 10,000 irregular migrants from China were found in that year,” Malmström told IANS. In 2012, EU memberstates returned around 12,000 Indian citizens found to be staying irregularly.The EU has 28 member-states. Afghanistan (33,500) and Pakistan (29,000) are the two top countries from where illegal migrants were found staying illegally in EU. Malmström said the EU established a migration dialogue with India in 2006, which was renamed the EU-India High Level Dialogue on Migration and Mobility (HLD) in 2012.

She said three meetings have so far taken place, the last in New Delhi in July 2012.

Malmström said the EU wanted to establish “cooperation” with India on the return of irregular migrants and was interested in signing a Readmission Agreement a la the pacts it has with China, Russia and Nigeria. “The EU is interested in establishing cooperation with India on the return of irregular migrants by concluding a Readmission Agreement in order to facilitate and streamline the procedures required for

identifying and establishing the nationality of irregular migrants from India and the issuing of travel documents for this purpose.

“The high-level dialogue offers a framework for discussions and further exploration of possibilities for cooperation in this regard,” Malmström told IANS. She said these dialogues were in line with the Global Approach to Migration and Mobility (GAMM), the overarching framework of EU external migration policy governing the EU’s international relations with third countries in this field and are comprehensive in nature.

The dialogue addresses issues of legal and labour migration, mobility, travel and visa, irregular migration and the return and readmission of irregular migrants, international protection (asylum), and migration and development. “Under the GAMM, the EU has established several comparable dialogues or frameworks of cooperation with regions and/ or third countries, such as China, Russia and Nigeria. Also, the EU concludes Readmission Agreements with third countries, which facilitate the return process,” she said.

NEW DELHI, JULY 6 (PTI): Congress leader Jairam Ramesh on Sunday accused the NDA government of turning the programme to clean Ganga as a “Hindutva project” by attempting to polarize politics through the initiative on the holy river.

“Don’t look it as a Hindutva project. This is not a Hindutva project. This is a national project. Don’t try to polarize politics through Ganga cleaning,” Ramesh told the government ahead of the first national dialogue on river Ganga Ganga Manthan — being organized by the Centre tomorrow. The former environment minister said the government’s Ganga Mission programme should be a people’s programme and “we must involve society”.

“But don’t make it on sadhus and sant’s programme. Ganga is a national river. Ganga defines Indian culture,” he said, adding Jawaharlal Nehru also spoke about the role of Ganga in Indian culture.

Union and state ministers, MPs, experts, NGOs, sadhus and sants are expected to participate in the day-long brainstorming on Ganga cleaning plan.

Spelling out the steps taken by the previous UPA government to conserve the holy river, Ramesh said, “The NDA is going about this whole thing as if nothing has happened.” He accused the BJP-led government of not acknowledging the initiatives taken by the UPA including establishment of National Ganga River Basin Authority (NGRBA) for

cleaning Ganga.

NGRBA was established in 2009 when Ramesh was environment minister. “They are not talking of NGRBA, they are not talking of IIT-River Basin management plan, we declared 100 kms stretch from Gaumukh to Uttarkashi as eco-sensitive zone,” the Rajya Sabha member said.

“What is (Water Resources Minister) Uma Bharti talking... It has already started... My objection is that the NDA government is behaving as if nothing has happened in the past. Rajiv Gandhi launched Ganga Action Plan in 1986. “UPA government declared Ganga as a national river in 2009. We declared Gangetic dolphin as a national aquatic animal,” he said.

BANGALOrE, JULY 6 (TNN): Weeks after the legislative council polls, a cash-for-seat CD has surfaced in which former chief minister and JD(S) leader HD Kumaraswamy allegedly demands Rs 20 crore from a person to give away his party’s seat for the Upper House. He told STOI there’s only mention of money. “Has anyone captured a video of me taking money?” he asked.

The 35-minute audio CD, released by Vijugouda Patil Abhimanigala Balaga (Vijugouda Patil Fans’ Association), is a conversation between Kumaraswamy and supporters of Vijugouda, a JD(S) functionary from Bableshwara, Bijapur district. A Vijugouda supporter offers Kumaraswamy Rs 40 crore in exchange for a seat to the Bijapur leader. But Kumaraswamy scales it down to Rs 20 crore. “Give Rs 20 crore, I’ will try to convince MLAs,” he says.

Admitting that such a discussion had taken place, Kumaraswamy said he hasn’t done any “big crime”. “If TV channels want to run this for weeks,

they are free to do so and increase their TRPs. I have only stated how money% is important in present-day politics at all levels. After BJP came to power in 2008, the political scenario has changed,” he said.

“The system (cash-forMLC seat) is not only in the JD(S) but BJP and Congress too,” said Kumaraswamy. He is ready for a debate on the issue. Vijugouda only said the Congress had released the CD to tarnish his image.

Kumaraswamy also said his 40 MLAs are demanding Rs 1 crore each. He says JD(S) MLAs are so hungry for money that some suggested CM Siddaramaiah field an extra candidate from Congress so that they can cross vote. “The JD(S) MLAs, who were ministers for 40 months in coalition governments with Congress and BJP are demanding money. Most have taken loans to contest polls in 2013 and I have to fulfil their demands,’’ Kumaraswamy says in the conversation.

“The credibility of politicians is very low and such developments will further pull us down,” said former minister PGR Sindhia.

New college courses to nurture social entrepreneurs, medical experts

NEW DELHI, JULY 6 (IANS): Fancy pursuing distinctive areas of study to create a niche for yourself?

Institutions across the national capital are offering courses to mould social entrepreneurs, medical experts and disaster management experts, to name just a few, as the rush for students from all over the country to study in Delhi continues.

From courses like a masters in social entrepreneurship or early childhood care and development, an MBA in disaster management or a bachelors in rehabilitation therapy, audiology and speech language therapy to those in exotic languages like Pashto - all have been introduced to create experts in specific fields.

“Take childhood care and education - there is a major thrust for it after the national policy of 2013 on childhood care was formulated. This course will produce experts and in the process help in the implementation of the policy,” Venita Kaul, dean, School of Educational Studies at Ambedkar University (AUD), told IANS. The course, said Kaul, has been designed to suit

the need of the policy as experts will be required at the district and state levels for childhood care after its formulation. The National Early Childhood Care and Education policy aims at developing a national framework for early childhood care and education and quality standards in the country.

“Even organisations like Unicef, Plan India and the World Bank have requirements of experts on childhood care. Now in the private sector, with pre-nursery and playschools growing, the need for childhood care is immense,” added Kaul. The other courses introduced at AUD are MA in social entrepreneurship and M.Phil in development practice at the higher level.

“Social entrepreneurship is meant to produce entrepreneurs in the social sector. This course will produce job creators and teach students about basic business skills,” Kuriakose Mamkottam, director, School of Business Public Policy and Social Entrepreneurship at AUD, told IANS. Theory apart, students will also have to do two months of field work and prepare a plan for their entre-

preneurial ventures that can besupported(withresources and finances) by AUD’s Incubation Centre or by a pool of venture capitalists.

For the M.Phil in development practice, students will spend eight of the 24 months of the course in the villages of Jharkhand, Odisha, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, West Bengal, Rajasthan and Bihar in collaboration with NGO Pradan, which seeks to enable poor, rural families to lead a life of dignity.

“The M.Phil. in development practice answers questions of self and collective transformation by closely working with the community and creating action in the fields of livelihood, citizen’s and gender rights, health and environment,” Anup Dhar of the School of Human Studies at Ambedkar University, told IANS. Admission to the course, which has 25 seats up for grabs, is through an entrance test followed by an interview. This is not all, as even Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University has introduced new courses like a bachelors in audiology and speech language therapy and rehabilitation therapy and an MBA in di-

saster management.

“The audiology and speech language therapy course will help produce speech therapists for which there is a dire need in the country,” Nalini Ranjan, public relations officer of IP university, told IANS. According to Ranjan, the course, which not many universities offer, will help create experts in the field of speech therapy, of which there is an “acute shortage”.

At present, the course is available at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences and IP University. Similarly, the four-year bachelors course in rehabilitation therapy is designed to prepare suitable manpower which can help provide the service at the district level where it is lacking at present, and also act as a first-level referral point at the grassroots.

“In addition, it can also take care of the training programmes of community workers at the grassroots level. The students are imparted knowledge about disabilities relating to locomotion and speech, hearing, visual and mental retardation,” added Ranjan.

The Master of Business Administration (MBA) in disaster management is a weekend programme

which will provide insights into the different dimension of environmental disasters. “The programme gives the students an opportunity to focus and apply their learning to their particular professional development needs. The MBA will develop critical evaluation skills and the application of key elements of business planning and management of risk and disasters,” Ranjan said.

The course has prospects of jobs with state and district disaster management authorities, as also with private firms in areas like emergency planning, risk assessment, community development, humanitarian aid and capacity building.

Apart from these courses, Jamia Millia Islamia has on offer an advanced diploma in Pashto - the native language of Pashtun people of South-Central Asia and one of the official languages of Afghanistan. “As our university already had a diploma course in Pashto, an advanced diploma was started,” an official at the Department of Persian told IANS. The admission to the course is available through an entrance test and it is a must for students to have a diploma in the language.

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Ukraine govt forces capture Slaviansk stronghold SLAVIANSK, JULY 6 (REUTERS): Ukrainian security officials said on Sunday they were in full control of the former rebel stronghold of Slaviansk after re-taking it in a victory which President Petro Poroshenko said could mark a turning point in the fight against the separatists.

Government forces routed pro-Russian rebels in the flashpoint city in eastern Ukraine on Saturday and raised the blue and yellow national flag again over what had for months been the separatist redoubt of Slaviansk.

There were no immediate casualty figures available, though Ukrainian security officials said there had been no deaths on the side of government forces.

“Ukrainian forces fully control the towns of Slaviansk and Kramatorsk,” Andriy Lysenko, an official of the “anti-terrorist operation”, told journalists, adding that the government had begun to rebuild the town’s shattered

infrastructure and ensure food and drinking water for residents. Slaviansk has been the strongest redoubt of militants fighting government forces in mainly Russian-speaking eastern Ukraine in what has been a source of great tensions between the West and Russia.

Its re-capture represents Kiev’s most notable military victory in three months of fighting in which more than 200 Ukrainian troops have been killed as well as hundreds of civilians and rebels.

Speaking in a televised address on Saturday night, Poroshenko hailed the victory as a significant symbolic moment.

“This is not full victory. But the clearing out of people armed to the teeth from Slaviansk has huge symbolic importance. It is the beginning of the turning point in the battle with fighters for the territorial integrity of Ukraine,” he said. He said hostages held there by the separatists had

Newly-appointed Ukrainian Defence Minister Valery Heletey (C) walks with troops at a temporary base near the city of Slaviansk on July 6. (Reuters Photo)

been released and a significant amount of weapons had been seized.

But he warned that the rebels were re-grouping in other big towns and he said he himself was far from euphoric. “There are further tests ahead,” he said.

Lysenko, of the “antiterrorist operation”, said: “The bands of terrorists are demoralized but they are all the same carrying out treacherous attacks on Ukrainian forces.”

But he said also that in Slaviansk and neighboring

areas scores of rebels were surrendering. “Those who are giving themselves up are providing information about units of (rebel) fighters and where weapons are,” Lysenko said.

Many of the hundreds of armed rebels who fled

Slaviansk and Kramatorsk, 20 km (12 miles) to the south, went to Donetsk, the main industrial hub in the region where separatists first declared a “people’s republic” and declared their wish to join Russia.

MOSCOW DENIAL Moscow, which has already come under economic sanctions from the West, denies Western and Kiev’s accusations it has been backing the insurrection possibly with a view to dismembering the former Soviet republic.

Uprisings in eastern Ukraine erupted in April as rebels took over state buildings, built a powerful arsenal of seized weapons and declared their independence from Kiev, calling the pro-European government illegitimate. The crisis began when street protests ousted Moscowbacked Viktor Yanukovich in late February for rejecting a landmark political and trade deal with the European Union in favor of closer ties with Russia.

Russia subsequently annexed Crimea and separatist revolts against the new Kiev authorities broke out with rebels declaring “people’s republics” and saying they wanted to join Russia.

Talks in Berlin last

week involving the foreign ministers of Ukraine, Russia, Germany and France had set Saturday as the day for talks between a contact group representing Ukraine, Russia and the OSCE security watchdog, and separatist leaders.

The talks were to have been aimed at working out an effective ceasefire observed by the opposing sides. Poroshenko declared a week-long unilateral ceasefire on June 20 which he renewed for a further three days. But he refused last Monday to extend it any further, citing numerous violations by the rebels, and sent government forces onto an offensive against the rebels.

Russia has denied allegations by Kiev that it has been fanning the separatist rebellions by allowing weapons and fighters to cross over the long joint border to support the separatists. It has been pressing Poroshenko to engage in talks with the separatists and agree on a ceasefire.

Jewish Israeli attackers suspected in teen death

JERUSALEM, JULY 6 (AP): Israeli authorities on Sunday announced the arrests of several Jewish suspects in the death of a Palestinian teenager who was abducted and killed last week, marking a major breakthrough in a case that has sparked violent protests in Arab areas of Jerusalem and northern Israel.

In a joint statement, Israeli police and the Shin

Bet security agency said the suspects were arrested early Sunday. They remained in custody and were being interrogated by the Shin Bet. While the statement did not say how many suspects were in custody, an official speaking on condition of anonymity because the investigation was ongoing said they numbered six in total.

The announcement

shed new light on a case that has gripped the country’s attention since Muhammed Abu Khdeir, 16, was abducted outside his home in east Jerusalem early Wednesday and his charred remains were found in a Jerusalem forest shortly afterward. Palestinians immediately accused Jewish extremists of killing Abu Khdeir to avenge the earlier kidnapping and kill-

ings of three Israeli teens.

Police had investigated various motives for Abu Khdeir’s death, including criminal or personal motives. But officials said Sunday they believed the killers acted on nationalistic grounds.

The official described the suspects as young males, including several minors, and said they came from Jerusalem, the nearby

22 dead in attacks on Kenyan coast

Policemen stand near the wreckage of a burnt vehicle after gunmen attacked, outside Gamba police station in Gamba, Kenya on July 6. Eighteen people were killed in overnight attacks by the gunmen in two counties on the Kenyan coast, where last month al-Qaida-linked militants claimed responsibility for killing 65 people, the Kenya Red Cross said Sunday. (AP Photo)

NAIROBI, JULY 6 (AP): Twenty-two people were killed in overnight attacks by gunmen in two counties on the Kenyan coast, where al-Qaida-linked militants last month claimed responsibility for killing 65 people, the Kenya Red Cross said Sunday.

The Saturday night attacks took place in the towns of Hindi in Lamu county and Gamba in Tana River, Kenya Red Cross chief Abbas Gulet said. AlQaida-linked al-Shabab militants from Somalia

claimed responsibility for the attacks.

According to the Lamu county commissioner Njenga Miiri, a group of about 15 gunmen raided the Malamandi village of Hindi and started shooting at residents. The gunmen also attacked Gamba police station, Kenya’s police chief David Kimaiyo said.

Hindi is about 40 kilometers (25 miles) north of Mpeketoni where dozens were killed in an attack last month, while Gamba is about 70 kilometers (43 miles) north-

west of Mpeketoni. Police said 13 people were killed in Hindi, while in Gamba nine others were killed and one person was missing.

The nine victims in Gamba included five inmates said to be non-Muslim, who were killed when the gunmen attacked the police station, said a senior police officer who insisted on anonymity because he was not authorized to speak with the media. Three other inmates escaped with the gunmen.

The officer said the gun-

men got to the police station by car-jacking a truck and killing its three occupants. Five police officers were wounded in the attack and one officer was killed, he said. Kenya has suffered a spate of gun and explosive attacks since deploying its troops in Oct. 2011 to fight al-Shabab militants.

Al-Shabab claimed responsibility for an attack last month on the town of Mpeketoni on the Kenyan coast and another attack the following day on a nearby village. Despite that, Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta and the interior minister have blamed local political networks for those attacks and said they were planned locally — assertions that have been met with skepticism.

Late last month police arrested Lamu Governor Issa Timamy and charged him for murder, forceful eviction of population and terrorism charges in connection to the Mpeketoni attacks. The attacks come as tensions continued to rise in the country over a planned mass protest by the opposition on Monday to urge the government to convene national talks over topics including security, increasing costs of living, corruption and the disbandment of the electoral authority.

Church leaders have warned Monday’s planned protest could further split the country along tribal lines.

city of Beit Shemesh and Adam, a West Bank settlement near Jerusalem.

He said police had located a car used by the suspects, and that security camera footage allegedly showing parts of the abduction in recent days did not help police. During the investigation, however, police learned of an attempting kidnapping the previous day of a young child in the

same east Jerusalem neighborhood and concluded the incidents were linked.

News of Abu Khdeir’s death triggered violent protests in the east Jerusalem neighborhood where he lived, as angry crowds destroyed light-rail train stations, clashed with police and littered roads with stones and debris. The unrest spread to Arab areas of northern Israel over the

Dozens killed as Ugandan forces battle militia

KAMPALA, JULY 6 (AP): A Ugandan military official said Sunday more than 40 gunmen were killed in clashes between Uganda’s security forces and a tribal militia near the country’s border with Congo, in what appeared to be coordinated attacks targeting police posts and military barracks in three districts.

Ugandan troops killed at least 41 gunmen and repulsed others before containing the situation, Ugandan military spokesman Lt. Col. Paddy Ankunda said.

The death toll from the clashes, which took place Saturday, could rise further as Uganda’s security forces attempt to arrest the fleeing gunmen, who are suspected to be radical members of a tribal group that has long felt neglected by the central government.

The attacks took place in Kasese, Ntoroko and Bundibugyo, three Ugandan districts with a history of anti-government insurgency and tensions among rival tribes competing for limited natural resources in a mountainous region of western Uganda.

Bundibugyo, where the most deadly attacks took place, is a frontier district located more than 300 kilometers (about 186 miles) from Kampala, the Ugandan capital. Fred Enanga, the Ugandan police spokesman, said in a statement early Sunday that at least 12 people — mostly

police and civilians — were killed by “thugs” armed with guns, spears and machetes. That figure did not include the 41 gunmen shot and killed by Ugandan forces. Seventeen of the gunmen were arrested and are in custody, he said.

The attacks were likely carried out by “radical elements” within a group known as Obusinga bwa Rwenzururu, whose members — from the Bakonzo tribe — have long had a tense relationship with the neighboring Bamba tribe, local police said. Uganda’s military insists recent violence in the region has been sparked by tribal tensions and deny there is a resurgence of rebel activity.

Military officials have recently warned that a Ugandan Islamic extremist rebel group known as ADF, which launched a violent insurgency in the area in the 1990s, is trying to regroup. The group’s fighters now operate in neighboring eastern Congo.

Enanga, the police spokesman, said security officials are questioning the suspects to establish the motive behind the Saturday attacks.

Angelo Izama, a Ugandan analyst with a regional security think tank called Fanaka Kwawote, said the Bakonzo and Bamba regularly fight over natural resources, especially farmland, and that some may feel that the security forces are not always fair arbiters in such conflicts.

Cuba resists speedier path to free enterprise

HAVANA, JULY 6 (REUTERS): Cuban President Raul Castro told parliament on Saturday the communist country’s market-oriented reforms must remain gradual, a clear signal he would resist calls to accelerate change in order to address an underperforming economy.

He also praised Cubans for “defeating imperialism” by resisting U.S. aggression ever since the 1959 Cuban revolution. Since taking over for his ailing older brother Fidel in 2008, Raul Castro, 83, has enacted widespread reforms such as turning state enterprises into private co-

operatives, freeing Cubans to work in small private businesses, and reducing the role of the state in everyday life.

The reforms have raised expectations for improvements in the economy while also generating debate within the ruling Communist Party about how much more free enterprise should be allowed. Castro said the pace of reforms would remain deliberate.

«The gradual nature of a series of activities that we are approving is indispensable,» Castro told 548 members of the National Assembly in its one-day,

semiannual meeting.

The reforms have created a new class of wealthy Cubans, but a large majority still lives on $20 a month and overall Cuban productivity has stagnated. Low salaries remain a chronic complaint, even with free education, healthcare and a ration card good for a small amount of basic foodstuffs.

Castro blamed the 52-yearold U.S. economic embargo of Cuba for much of the country›s economic difficulty, saying the Cuban people deserved a medal for resisting U.S. hostility.

«We have had success. We have had success

in which our people have played a fundamental role. ... They have resisted and they are defeating imperialism,» Castro said.

The man charged with implementing the reforms, Marino Murillo, told the assembly more salary increases would be tied to productivity and that more state enterprises would be turned into private cooperatives in order to improve efficiency.

For example in the food products and services sector, the government had authorized 498 cooperatives, of which 249 were functioning, said Murillo, a member of the elite Poltiburo. Cuba has

also now authorized 467,000 people to work in the private sector, making them eligible to work in nearly 13,000 businesses, mostly restaurants, Murillo said.

The assembly meets more to hear updates on the economy and government activities rather than to approve laws. Special sessions are sometimes called to pass major legislation, as with a foreign investment law approved in March.

The Cuban economy grew just 0.6 percent in the first half, forcing the government to revise down its fullyear projection to 1.4 percent from a target of 2.2 percent

established in December, Economy Minister Adel Yzquierdo told the assembly.

Yzquierdo attributed the downward revision, which had been previously reported, to industries such as tourism, sugar and nickel mining coming up short of projections.

Other sectors outperformed expectations, Yzquierdo said. Transportation, warehousing and communications grew 6.2 percent while agriculture, livestock and fishing grew 5.6 percent. Sugar was up 5.3 percent, but well short of the target of 17.5 percent.

weekend.

In east Jerusalem, home to the most violent protests over the teen’s death, Abu Khdeir’s family said news of the arrests brought them little joy.

“I don’t have any peace in my heart, even if they captured who they say killed my son,” said his mother Suha. “They’re only going to ask them questions and then release

them. What’s the point?”

“They need to treat them the way they treat us. They need to demolish their homes and round them up, the way they do it to our children,” she added.

His father, Hussein, said the family still had not been officially informed of any arrests. “Even if they rounded up all of Israel, they will not bring my son back,” he said.

Iraq analyzing tape purported to show top militant

This image made from video posted on a militant website on July 5, which has been authenticated based on its contents and other AP reporting, purports to show the leader of the Islamic State group, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, delivering a sermon at a mosque in Iraq. (AP Photo)

BAGHDAD, JULY 6 (AP): Iraqi officials are working to determine the authenticity of a video that purportedly shows the leader of the Islamic extremist group that has seized large swaths of the country delivering a sermon this week in the nation’s second-largest city, authorities said Sunday.

The 21-minute video said to show Abu Bakr alBaghdadi, the head of the Islamic State group, was reportedly filmed on Friday at the Great Mosque in the northern city of Mosul. It was released on at least two websites known to be used by the organization and bore the logo of its media arm.

Iraqi military spokesman Lt. Gen. Qassim alMoussawi told reporters Sunday the country’s security services are still analyzing the video to verify whether the speaker is indeed al-Baghdadi, and that the government will “announce the details once they are available.”

The purported appearance in Mosul, a city of some 2 million that the militants seized last month, came five days after alBaghdadi’s group declared the establishment of an Islamic state, or caliphate, in the territories it has seized in Iraq and Syria. The group proclaimed al-Baghdadi the leader of its state and demanded that all Muslims pledge allegiance to him.

Wearing black robes

and a black turban, the man in the video said to be al-Baghdadi urges his followers to jihad, and emphasizes the implementation of a strict interpretation of Islamic law. He strikes an almost humble tone, telling listeners: “I am not better than you or more virtuous than you.”

A senior Iraqi intelligence official told The Associated Press on Saturday that an initial analysis indicated that the man in the video is indeed al-Baghdadi. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to brief the media.

Over the past month, al-Baghdadi’s fighters have overrun much of northern and western Iraq, adding to the territory they already control in neighboring Syria. The Sunni group’s initial surge in Iraq has crested, at least for now, having grabbed most of Iraq’s predominantly Sunni Arab regions and reaching majority Shiite areas.

One of the main battlefronts now is the country’s largest oil refinery near Beiji, some 250 kilometers (155 miles) north of Baghdad, where government forces are besieged by Islamic State group fighters.

Al-Moussawi, the military spokesman, said security forces repelled an overnight attack on the facility, killing around 20 militants and damaging eight vehicles.

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Super-sub keeper puts Dutch in World Cup semis

The Morung Express

India's pace potency could decide their fate in England

MuMBai, July 6 (rEutErS): As India prepare to take on England in what promises to be a hard-fought series, the potency of a bowling attack in which Ishant Sharma is the only paceman to have played a test on English soil could prove to be the decisive factor.

India were humiliated 4-0 the last time they toured England in 2011 but the hosts appear vulnerable ahead of this five-match series after a 5-0 Ashes whitewash in Australia at the start of the year and a more recent home series defeat against Sri Lanka.

Zaheer Khan's 18 wickets were the key to India's last test series triumph in England with a win at Trent Bridge earning them a 1-0 victory in a three-match series seven years ago.

However, with the 35-year-old wily left-arm paceman missing from the touring party, doubts have emerged over India's

ability to bowl England out twice in a test match.

Rahul Dravid, who led India to the 2007 series victory, believes the team have the batting strength to match their opponents, leaving it down to the bowlers of either side to make the difference.

"I think the key is going to be the ability to take 20 wickets," Dravid, who is mentoring the Indian team on the tour, told reporters at Lord's this week.

"When we won the series here in 2007, Zaheer was exceptional but he got good support from the other guys as well. The spinners, who can run through the opposition on surfaces conducive to slow bowling, will receive little assistance from English pitches with the onus resting on the seam attack to get a bulk of the wickets needed for a win. Out of the six frontline seam bowlers, the lanky 25-year-old Ishant is the only one to have toured

England before.

Ishant caught the imagination of Indian supporters with his fiery spells against Australia captain Ricky Ponting at Perth in 2008, during which he beat the righthanded batsman on numerous occasions and dismissed him in both innings.

Despite going on to play 55 test matches, his career has stagnated since his exploits at the WACA, disappointing those who marked him out as the country's next bowling leader after Zaheer. He has taken 164 test wickets and been impressive in patches but has also been derided for his failure to lead the bowling attack in the absence of the injury-prone Zaheer. While Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Mohammed Shami, the most likely pace duo to start alongside Ishant, are able to swing the ball both ways - a crucial skill in English conditions - they have only played six test matches apiece.

Netherlands' goalkeeper Tim Krul saves the last penalty kick during the World Cup quarterfinal soccer match between the Netherlands and Costa Rica at the Arena Fonte Nova in Salvador, Brazil, Saturday, July 5. The Netherlands won 4-3 on penalty kicks. Late substitute Krul made two saves in a 4-3 penalty shootout victory over Costa Rica on Saturday to give the Netherlands a spot in the World Cup semifinals following a 0-0 draw. (AP Photo)

Salvador (Brazil), July 6 (iaNS): Substitute goalkeeper Tim Krul produced two decisive saves in the penalty shootout to lift Netherlands 4-3 over Costa Rica after a scoreless 120-minute play in the last quarterfinal match of 2014 World Cup here on Saturday.

The 26-year-old keeper from English Premier League club Newcastle United was brought onto the pitch in the last minute of the extra time. He blocked the second and fifth round shots from Costa Rica's skipper Bryan Ruiz as well as defender Michael Umana while his teammates kept a perfect four-on-four record to seal the hard-fought victory, reports Xinhua.

The Netherlands will face Argentina, who edged Belgium 1-0 in Brasilia Saturday, in the semifinal in Sao Paulo Wednesday. The other semifinal match will be between the hosts Brazil and Germany.

Before Krul came onto the pitch, it was the Ticos' goalkeeper Keylor Navas who had stolen the spotlight as his seven impressive saves helped to maintain a

clean sheet for the Ticos.

The Netherlands started the match aggressively with Robin van Persie, Arjen Robben as well as PSV's promising star Memphis Depay leading the attacking line. Meanwhile, Costa Rica paid much attention on their defence.

Neither side managed to complete a shot until the 21st minute. Depay's deceptive reverse pass following a fast break found an unguarded Van Persie in the area. But the Man United striker's shot was blocked by Navas. And Dutch midfielder Wesley Sneijder's follow-up was also collected by the Levante goalie.

Eight minutes later, Navas denied another shortrange effort from Depay after Van Persie found space between the Ticos midfield and defence and fed in a low pass to meet in the box.

Costa Rica's first and only shooting chance in the first half came in the 34th minute. After a long freekick was sent into the box, midfielder Celso Borges tried to threaten Dutch keeper Jasper Cillessen with an overhead shot but found

his effort cleared away.

Robben ran at the defence of Costa Rica again in the 37th minute and was tackled down by Junior Diaz, who got a booking for the careless tackle. Sneijder's dipping free-kick shot curled towards the upleft corner of the goal but a flying Navas denied the effort with his right hand.

Throughout the first half, the in-form Navas made four saves.

The rhythm of the match was not changed much after the interval.

The Dutch side enjoyed the majority of the play trying to break the deadlock while the Ticos were kept busy defending while waiting for chances patiently through counter-attacks and set pieces. And Navas made two more saves.

The Netherlands were awarded a free-kick from the right flank in the 52nd minute. Robben hit a low pass towards the edge of the box before Sneijder's one-touch effort went high.

In the 61st minute, Costa Rica found their second chance of shot in the match as Christian Bolanos' long range free-kick

shot went off beyond the bar. And the Tico's central guard Giancario Gonzalez's header from the far post also went high after four minutes.

In the 82nd minutes, Sneijder curled another fine free-kick from the edge of the area. The shot managed to beat Navas but was denied by the near post.

Two minutes later Van Persie broke into the Costa Rica area and snapped a right-footed attempt which was again saved by Navas.

The Netherlands could have finished the match in regular time, but Van Persie's shot from the far post hit Costa Rican midfielder Yeltsin Tejeda, who was standing on the line, and looped up onto the bar before the Ticos cleared it to safety.

And Navas was still onfire in the extra time. Robben's corner in the 94th minute was received by Ron Vlaar, whose diving header bounced in front of Navas before he palmed it away past the post.

Defending for most of the match, Costa Rica launched an attacking surge in the final five minutes. Second half substi-

tute Marco Urena broke through into the Dutch area but the shot was blocked

by Cillessen, which was his only save in the match.

And the Dutch side responded quickly. Sneijder's wonderful right-footed curling effort one minute before the final whistle once again was denied by the woodwork, which was the second time for Sneijder and third time for the unlucky Netherlands.

The Dutch side was without their defensive midfielder Nigel De Jong who sustained a tear in his groin muscle during Netherlands' 2-1 comeback win over Mexico and could be sitting out for the entire World Cup. Costa Rica's first choice center defender Oscar Duarte was suspended for receiving two yellow cards in the round of 16 clash against Greece.

Reserve defender Roy Miller, who played in the Ticos' goalless draw with England, injured his foot while training and had to be benched. Johnny Acosta earned the opportunity to start for the most stunning dark horse in Brazil World Cup so far.

Winners of the 4th Imkongsangba Memorial Open Table Tennis Tournament.

Sachin delights crowd in short span, Finch wins it for MCC

loNdoN, July 6 (Pti): Sachin Tendulkar made everyone at Lord`s nostalgic with some delectable strokes but it was young Aaron Finch, who stole the show with a magnificent 181 as MCC comfortably beat Rest of the World by seven wickets in the `Bicentenary Celebrations` match here on Saturday.

It was a `Union of Legends` as the likes of Tendulkar, Brian Lara, Shane Warne once again put on their cricketing gears.

While Tendulkar, who made 41 and Lara, who chipped in with 23, showed their class and touch of genius in their short stay, it was Finch`s century that helped MCC overtake Rest of the World`s commanding 293 for seven with 27 balls to spare. Finch`s 145 ball innings had 23 fours and six sixes as he overshadowed India discard

Yuvraj Singh`s attractive 132 for the Rest of the World. The only disdappointment in the contest was public being robbed a chance to watch a Tendulkar vs Warne duel as the Aussie legend fractured his right hand trying to evade a Brett Lee beamer.

It was vintage Tendulkar as he square drove Peter Siddle and hit him for a straight drive. A cover drive off Paul Collingwood was sheer class.

He got a little too cheeky with his stroke-making and it proved to be his undoing as he was bowled by Sri Lanka?s Muttiah Muralitharan. His 41 off 44 balls had seven fours. Finch then carried on and put on another 67 runs for the second wicket with Brian Lara. The latter didn`t look too comfortable in the middle and departed in the 30th over, after scoring 23 runs off 38

balls, including 3 fours.

Earlier Yuvraj made a strokeful 132 to power the Rest of the World XI to 293 for seven in 50 overs.

Electing to bat in overcast conditions, the Shane Warne-led side slumped to 68 for 5 in the 12th over when Pakistan off-spinner Saeed Ajmal (4/45) bagged four wickets but soon Yuvraj and Paul Collingwood stitched together a 131-run sixth-wicket partnership to put the innings back on track. The opening combo of Virender Sehwag and Adam Gilchrist had given ROW a brisk 54-run start in 6.5 overs but Brett Lee (2/55) cleaned up the Indian dasher for 22 and then Ajmal took over.

Ajmal`s country-mate Umar Gul though sustained an injury and hobbled off after bowling two overs post sharing the new ball with Lee.

IOC set to keep 3 bids for 2022 Games Chris Weidman unanimously outpoints Machida at UFC 175 Stephen Wilson AP Sports Writer

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Iympic leaders meet Monday to decide which cities make the cut in the race for the 2022 Winter Olympics. It should be an easy choice.

After a series of voter rejections and city withdrawals, only three contenders are left standing — and the future of one remains uncertain.

The International Olympic Committee executive board is expected to keep all three remaining candidates: Almaty, Kazakhstan; Beijing; and Oslo.

Also on the agenda for the three-day meeting in Lausanne, Switzerland, is an update on Rio de Janeiro's delayed preparations for the 2016 Olympics, possible venue changes for the 2020 Tokyo Games and a review of IOC President Thomas Bach's plans for the future of the Olympic movement.

Five things at play at the Olympic meetings: WINTER OF DISCONTENT: The Ukrainian bid from Lviv dropped out of the 2022 race last week amid the continuing turmoil in the country and will focus on 2026 instead.

Krakow pulled out earlier after Polish voters rejected the bid. Stockholm withdrew previously after politicians refused to give financial backing. Potential bids from Switzerland and Germany were abandoned after voters said no in referendums.

No need then for the IOC to pare the field any further. Almaty, Beijing and Oslo should be safe.

"I think the three can go through," IOC executive board member Sergei Bubka told The Associated Press. "Normally we do a short list. Maybe in this case, we don't need it."

Oslo's bid remains in limbo. The Norwegian government has yet to back the project and won't make a decision until the autumn. Polls have shown that more than half the population opposes the games. It's possible only two cities could be left in contention by the end of the year.

At this stage, Almaty, which hosted the 2011 Asian Winter Games, would appear the favorite.

But plenty of things can happen before the host city is selected in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, on July 31, 2015. ___ RIO DELAYS: The relatively smooth running of the World Cup in Brazil

has alleviated some of the concerns about Rio's troubled preparations for the 2016 Games, recently described by IOC Vice President John Coates as the worst he's ever seen. Once the World Cup is over, the pressure will be back on Rio organizers. The IOC has already enacted emergency measures, including dispatching veteran administrator Gilbert Felli to work on site with local organizers.

In one positive sign, Rio finally began work this week on the long-delayed Deodoro complex, which is to host venues for 11 Olympic sports. Meanwhile, serious concerns remain over pollution in Guanabara Bay, venue for the sailing competition, and delays in building the course for golf's return to the Olympics after more than a century. ___ TOKYO TIME: Tokyo is experiencing turbulence in its preparations for 2020, just months after being awarded the games.

Concerned by soaring costs, Japanese organizers have decided to review their venue plans and consider switching some sites.

Plans for a new futuristic Olympic Stadium are drawing criticism and protests. About 500 demonstrators marched Saturday

against plans to destroy the existing 56-year-old national stadium and replace it with a new one.

Critics say the proposed 80,000-seat stadium, designed by British-Iraqi architect Zaha Hadid, is too big, too costly and clashes with Tokyo's urban planning. ___ BACH'S AGENDA: A main focus of the meetings will be "Olympic Agenda 2020," Bach's blueprint for the future. Fourteen working groups recently met in Lausanne to begin formulating proposals. Key areas include possible changes to the bidding process, sports program and age limits for IOC members, and creation of an Olympic TV channel. Recommendations will be voted on in Monaco in December. ___ BACH's BACK: Bach has been on a whirlwind of trips around the world since becoming president in September. He just recently returned from Japan and South Korea.

With the board meeting starting Monday morning, Bach didn't make it to Wimbledon for this weekend's finals. Former IOC President Jacques Rogge was in the Royal Box instead on Saturday to watch Petra Kvitova capture the women's title.

laS vEGaS, July 6 (aP): Chris Weidman unanimously outpointed Lyoto Machida at UFC 175 on Saturday night to retain his middleweight title. Weidman improved to 12-0, with the three judges scoring it 4946, 49-45, 48-47. Machida fell to 21-5.

In the co-main event, women's bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey stopped Alexis Davis at 16 seconds of the first round for her fourth consecutive title defense.

Rousey improved to 10-0 with all wins by way of submission, KO or TKO. The former Olympic Judoka was praised during her post-fight interview for her improved striking skills and replied, "I box six days a week and grapple four days a week.

I have more to catch up on striking, so that's what I train the most. I think I can do better."

Rousey rocked Davis with a solid right, secured an immediate judo toss and landed nine punches, knocking out Davis and forcing the referee to stop the fight in what became the second-fastest knockout in UFC title bout history. Rousey, jeered by fans following her past UFC victories, received a loud ovation from most in attendance.

"I'm not sure if they'll keep cheering me," Rousey said. "I'm not going to keep my fingers crossed, but thank you, I appreciate it." Weidman and Machida landed big shots in the first round, with neither taking time to feel out their opponent out.

Weidman pressed forward for most of the second round, keeping Machida on his heels and got a takedown against the fence with just under a minute left. "I just had to keep moving forward and keep pushing,"

Lyoto Machida, left, hits Chris Weidman during their mixed martial arts middleweight title bout at UFC 175 Saturday, July 5, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo)

Weidman said. "This is MMA. I'm confident standing and I knew kicks were going to be a part of the game."

Machida's awkward style and solid kicks kept Weidman's offense in check for most of the first half of the fight. "He's as good as I thought.

He's really tricky in there," Weidman said. "When you think he's going to do something, he doesn't." Weidman opened things up in the third round, slamming Machida twice and landing

two big straight rights that stunned the challenger and sent him into survival mode. Machida stuffed most of Weidman's takedown attempts throughout the fight and dazed the champ with a straight left halfway through the fourth round. Machida added a few kicks and punches to clearly gain the momentum in what was his best round. In the fifth round, both fighters landed multiple power shots and both were hurt.

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7 July 2014

Dimapur

Geri Halliwell

Jessica Simpson

Marries

Eric Johnson

Monday

Entertainment

The Morung Express

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‘set to wed Formula One boyfriend Christian Horner following whirlwind romance’

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he has spoken openly of her desire to find someone to settle down with and it looks like singer Geri Halliwell’s wish is finally coming true. According to a report from The Sunday Mirror the 41-year-old’s boyfriend and Formula One boss Christian Horner popped the question a few weeks back following a whirlwind romance that began in January. Sources tell the paper the mother-of-one is over the moon and telling loved ones ‘I am the happiest I have been in my life.’ Wasting no time, the pair are said to already be scouting out potential wedding venues including Castle Howard in Yorkshire. Celebrity guests such as the star’s Spice Girl bandmates Emma Bunton, Victoria Beckham, Melanie Brown and Mela-

nie Chisholm are expected to attend the nuptials. It’s believed the couple, who have been friends for years, decided to keep the exciting news under wraps as they were concerned about the reaction from Christian’s family.

The 40-year-old race car driver came under fire last year when he left his wife Beverly of 14 years just six months after she gave birth to their daughter Olivia. ‘Geri is delighted and has been telling close friends about the plans - but they have been more cautious about his family,’ a source revealed to the publication. Adding: ‘They made the decision to get engaged this spring but have kept it quiet to avoid any awkward fall outs.’ Geri and Christian went public with their

relationship in March and have since attended various Formula One events together and VIP parties in London. The Spice Girls stunner has previously dated comedian Russell Brand, DJ Chris Evans, singer Robbie Williams and has an eight year old daughter, Bluebell Madonna, with director Sacha Gervasi.

Opening up to Hello! Magazine in 2012 Geri admitted she was a romantic. ‘I quite like having somebody to cuddle. I like that intimacy, it would be wonderful,’ she said.

MailOnline has contacted a representative for Geri Halliwell for comment.

Courtney Love

49, says being an older woman in the public eye is tough as she reveals plans for a duet with Miley Cyrus S he was the original enfant terrible of Nineties rock music and now Courtney Love says she is in talks with today’s current holder of the title Miley Cyrus to collaborate on a song. The singer, and wife of Nivana front man Kurt Cobain, turns 50 on Wednesday, and has revealed she would love to work with the star, who is known for her crazy antics at awards ceremonies as well as what is seen by some as her lewd and rude behaviour in stage shows. In an interview on news.com.au, Love, who is touring in Australia for the first time in 15 years in August said: ‘“Miley and me, we are just talking about it, we will see.’

Love has been a long term fan of Cyrus - she has Tweeted her support of the 21 year olds outrageous antics, which include smoking a joint at the MTV Music Awards in Amsterdam last year.

She took to social media saying: ‘If it wasn’t for Miley Cyrus, 2013 would’ve been a dull dreary year. if you can’t agree with that, you’re an idiot.’

The lead singer of grunge girl group Hole is touring in Australia as a solo artist. Now sober for seven years - she had a well documented heroine and buprenorphine addiction, an opiate pain killer which is also used to treat addicts, she is embracing the onset of her 50th decade. She said: ‘I am 50 this week, that’s just reality and it’s fine. As long as you

SJessica Simpson has become Mrs

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inger and former US reality TV star newlyweds reads: “We are overwhelmed with complete happiness and love having Eric Johnson after tying the knot with her made our eternal commitment. “To say ‘I long-term partner in Santa Barbara, Cali- do’ in front of family, friends and, most fornia. The bride wore a custom Carolina importantly, our children has been the Herrera gown as she wed former American happiest moment of our lives.” The nupfootball player Johnson at the San Ysidro tials took place a day after Simpson and Ranch on Saturday in front of more than Johnson hosted a pre-wedding barbe250 guests, including her sister Ashlee cue at the same venue to celebrate US Simpson and her fiance Evan Ross, best Independence Day with all of their friend CaCee Cobb and her actor hus- guests. The couple began dating in band Donald Faison, and pal Jessica Alba early 2010 and became engaged on and her partner Cash Warren. The happy the blonde beauty’s 30th birthday in couple’s two-year-old daughter Max- November of 2010, but the pair had well served as a flower girl and their one- to postpone plans to wed twice after year-old son Ace was given the role of ring the 33-year-old fell pregnant with their bearer. Ashlee Simpson’s five-year-old boy kids. Simpson was previously married to with ex-husband Pete Wentz, Bronx, also singer Nick Lachey from 2002 to 2006, with took part in the ceremony. Advertisement whom she starred in the reality TV show A statement issued to People.com by the Newlyweds: Nick and Jessica.

Jewish Leaders Upset By Mel Gibson’s Lifetime Achievement Award At Festival M

el Gibson picked up a lifetime achievement award at the opening of the 2014 Karlovy Vary International Film Festival in the Czech Republic on Friday (04Jul14), amid protests from the country’s Jewish leaders. The movie star and director accepted his remarks were vitriolic and harmful Officials at the Federation of Jewish Communities objected to the honor, claiming Gibson’s 2004 movie The Passion of the Christ portrays Jews as “evil and blood-thirsty”. In a letter to festival bosses posted on the group’s website ahead of the prizegiving, the Jewish organisation’s leaders wrote, “By granting this award, the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival becomes another of

the very arguable platforms that are gradually changing the atmosphere of our country from a traditional, relatively tolerant society into one where space is given to hostility, xenophobia, and anti-Semitic ideas”. Festival bosses responded by stating the award would be presented to Gibson in recognition of his “filmmaking skills and his career”. Oscar winner Gibson, a devout Catholic, has had run-ins with Jewish groups in the past he was forced to apologize for anti-Semitic comments he made to a Jewish police officer who arrested him for drink driving in Malibu, California, in 2006. The movie star and director accepted his remarks were “vitriolic and harmful”.

Carol Anthony

30, says she doesn’t notice 22 year age gap between her and ex-Liverpool FC boyfriend Ian Rush, 52

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hen you grow up idolising a football player, it’s not often you expect to them to become your boyfriend. But for singer and Liverpool fan Carol Anthony that was the case, as she has recently spoken out about her love for 52-year-old footballer Ian Rush.

Despite the 22 year age gap, model and singer Carol, 30, has said that she doesn’t notice the difference in age between her and the football legend, who is Liverpool FC’s all time highest goal scorer. Carol is an Irish singer and was born in Cork, and according to her website has previously performed alongside Elton John, Westlife and N-Sync. The pretty brunette

has also recorded tracks with with Busta Rhymes, Tyga and JadaKiss and new single Bow To The Queen is on on August 4. Carol told the Sunday people that even though she felt the 22 year age gap was noticeable at first, she thinks Ian looks more gorgeous than ever.

The dance music singer said: ‘I don’t see an age gap. I did once or twice when we first got together but I don’t anymore. I’m trying to stop my ageing process but I think Ian looks better than ever’. The pretty brunette added that she would far be dating silver fox Ian than any man her own age: ‘I have been out with men nearer my age but they are not as polite. They’re not old

school’ the singer told the publication. Despite being together for over 18 months, Carol was initially blamed for the ending of Ian’s 25 year marriage to Tracy in 2012, whom he shares two children with. In the interview with the Sunday People Carol defended their relationship, and debunked any acusations that she is aiming to score a WAG title: ‘Ian and I have been together for 18 months, But I’m not a little, I’m not dazed by what is going on’.

look all right, you can still perform If you get really fat or lose all your hair, you can’t just put on a baseball hat like guys can. ‘They will forgive you all the drugs in the world but they will never forgive you getting fat.’ The singer confesses to having a love of cheese which s h e says has seen her get a bit chunky.

Love is now says trying to clean up her image - her only vice now is cigarettes which she has been smoking since she was 12, and picked up the habit when she was at a school in New Zealand. She doesn’t even drink coffee anymore. Speaking to Sunday Life magazine she revealed she is ‘done with controversy’ and trying very hard to turn the perception of herself around: ‘I have paid my dues in terms of my reputation and my history. I am reliable now, whereas there was a time in my past when I wasn’t at all.’

Considering her efforts to be taken seriously it may seem strange to some she should choose Cyrus for a collaborations. The singer has a new agent and would love to break into acting but says it has been a struggle because of her image as a troublemaker and addict.’ Despite an Oscar nomination for her role as a stripper in The People Vs Larry Flynt it has been difficult for her to be taken seriously.However things seem to be changing and she is currently looking at roles in a TV show and an indie film Love is also hoping Hole will reunite next year and hopes the band will be able to go on tour together. Her personal relationships also appear to be improving after the death of Kurt Cobain in 1994.

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Tony Iommi ‘We’Ll See You on the Next

Tour’

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lack Sabbath star Tony Iommi has given fans new hope that the reunited heavy rockers will be rocking on after revealing there are plans afoot to tour again. Iommi, who has been battling cancer since 2012, recently hinted that the band’s 4 July (14) gig in London’s Hyde Park would be his last with Ozzy Osbourne and Geezer Butler, but in a new video message to fans, filmed on the eve of the show, the guitarist reveals the reunion might not be over just yet. I am at home at the moment, about to leave for Hyde Park The rocker says, “It’s been great. We’ve had a laugh... Thanks so much. I am at home at the moment, about to leave for Hyde Park... and I’m really looking forward to that. The tour has been marvelous; we’ve had a great year, and you couldn’t wish for better. “It’s been phenomenal, and you’ve been phenomenal. And thanks for coming to the shows and being supportive.

Thank you very much and we’ll see you on the next tour”. And it appears Ozzy is game to go on after hearing Iommi’s last remarks, he said, “If it’s goodbye, we’re ending it on a high note (at Hyde Park)... but I’m up for another album and tour.

If we can, great. If not, I’ll just carry on doing my own thing”. The band’s final hurrah on Friday night featured Soundgarden and the reunited Faith No More as support acts.

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Britain's Prince William and Kate, Duchess of Cambridge, take their seats prior to the men's U.S. actor Samuel L. Jackson, right, talks with David and Victoria Beckham in the Royal Box Australian actor Chris Hemsworth, left, and Elsa Pataky take singles final between Roger Federer of Switzerland and Novak Djokovic of Serbia on centre prior to the men’s singles final between Roger Federer of Switzerland and Novak Djokovic of their seats in the Royal Box prior to the men's singles final court at the All England Lawn Tennis Championships in Wimbledon on July 6. (AP Photo) Serbia on centre court at the All England Lawn Tennis Championships in Wimbledon. (AP Photo) between Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic. (AP Photo)

wouldn't swap this for anything, Djokovic wins Wimbeldon title Isays champ Petra Kvitova Novak Djokovic recovered from throwing away the fourth set to deny Roger Federer a record eighth Wimbledon title with a 6-7(7) 6-4 7-6(4) 5-7 6-4 victory in an enthralling final.

WIMBLEdon, JuLy 6 (AGEnCIES): Novak Djokovic defeated Roger Federer 6-7, 6-4, 7-6, 5-7, 6-4 Sunday in a truly classic match to win his second Wimbledon title and seventh Grand Slam championship overall.

The match lived up to its lofty billing, with both men playing world-class tennis from start to finish.

There was only one broken serve in the first three sets, but the match opened up from there, with five broken serves in the fourth set -- a result that no one could have predicted.

But Djokovic was able to pull away in the final set, wearing down Federer in what may be the 32-yearold's last real shot at another Wimbledon title. The two played evenly to 5-4 with neither losing serve until Djokovic broke Federer for the match.

The start of the match signalled what was to come, as both players held serve until midway through the second set, when Djokovic earned the first break of the match. In fact, that marked just the second time Federer had lost serve this tournament.

They traded the first two sets, and the third, just like the first, went to a tiebreak.

Djokovic jumped ahead 4-2, but Federer appeared poised for a comeback when a challenge showed that his winner was in by, quite literally, a blade of grass. But Federer wasted an opportunity on the next point, and Djokovic closed out the set.

Djokovic broke Federer a second time in the fourth set, jumping ahead 3-1 and appearing in control. However Federer answered with a break of his own -- his first of the match -- igniting the crowd. But Djokovic answered back, breaking Federer and holding serve to go up 5-2.

Not to be outdone, Federer answered with his second break of the match, much to the delight of the crowd. He then held serve -- despite an ill-timed double fault -- fighting off championship point in the process. He then broke Djokovic and held serve to even the match at two sets apiece, setting up the decisive fifth set.

"I thought it was a great final. Can't believe I made it to five - wasn't looking good for a while," Federer said after the match. "I hoped it would be enough."

It wasn't quite enough, but still an electric match tremendously played that

Novak Djokovic of Serbia holds the trophy after defeating Roger Federer of Switzerland in the men's singles final at the All England Lawn Tennis Championships in Wimbledon, London, Sunday July 6. (AP Photo)

will go down in history.

"You know it's going to be tough facing him -sometimes rough physically," Federer said of Djokovic. "I can only say

Injured Neymar says WC 'dream' stolen

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RIo dE JAnEIRo, JuLy 6 (AFP): Brazil football star Neymar said on Saturday that his dream of playing in the World Cup final had been stolen from him by a fractured vertebrae inflicted by a Colombia defender.

"They took away my dream of playing in a World Cup final, but the dream of being world champion has not ended," Neymar said in remarks released by the Brazilian football federation. "There are two games left and I am sure my teammates will do everything to lift the trophy," he said. The Brazil squad applauded the 22-year-old Barcelona striker at an emotional farewell at their Teresopolis camp before he was taken to Rio de Janeiro by helicopter.

Neymar was ruled out of the rest of the World Cup after Colombian defender Juan Zuniga kneed him in the back in a challenge in Friday's quarter-final. Brazil play Germany in the semi-finals on Tuesday.

FIFA said it is investigating the incident to see whether disciplinary proceedings are necessary.

And Zuniga again insisted Saturday that there was no malicious intent in his challenge. "I deeply regret the sad injury suffered by

In this photo released by Brazilian Football Confederation, Brazil's Neymar gives a victory sign as he lies inside a medical helicopter at the Granja Comary training center in Teresopolis, Brazil on July 5. Neymar was airlifted from Brazil's training camp Saturday and will be treated at home for his back injury.

Neymar, the biggest football star in Brazil, was ruled out of the rest of the World Cup after fracturing his third vertebra during Friday's 2-1 quarterfinal win over Colombia. (AP Photo)

Neymar during the game between Brazil and Colombia," the defender said in a letter sent to Neymar that was quoted by the Colombian Football Federation.

"This situation resulted from normal game action and there was no ill-intent, malice or negligence on my part," Zuniga added. Ney-

mar was collecting the ball in the 88th minute, with his side leading 2-1, when Zuniga launched a jumping challenge from behind and kneed the Brazilian in the lower part of his back. Doctors said Neymar fractured the third vertebrae in his lower back. He was stretchered off the field in agony.

congratulations. An amazing match, an amazing tournament, and deserved, well deserved."

A win for Federer would have been his eighth, break-

ing a tie with Pete Sampras for the most ever at Wimbledon. For Djokovic, the win pushed him ahead of Rafael Nadal and into the world No. 1 ranking.

London, JuLy 6 (AFP): Petra Kvitova insists winning Wimbledon for the second time was such a sweet success that even becoming the world number one couldn`t be more fulfilling. Kvitova ended three years of underachievement as she powered to her second Grand Slam title with a ruthless 6-3, 6-0 thrashing of Canada`s Eugenie Bouchard in yesterday`s final.

The 24-year-old had endured a difficult time since her first major triumph at Wimbledon in 2011, with the expectations created by that breakthrough victory against Maria Sharapova proving a huge burden for the shy Czech.

She had failed to make it back to a Grand Slam final until this weekend, but all her pent up anger and frustration was taken out on 13th seed Bouchard in the quickest Wimbledon women`s final for 31 years.

Kvitova will rise to fourth in the world rankings next week, but asked if she would now set her sights on replacing Serena Williams as the number one, she made it clear that ending her wait for another major title at her favourite Grand Slam was more than enough for now.

"I was pretty close to No. 1 before and I feel this is something more special, to have this Grand Slam, especially Wimbledon," she said. "Of course the No. 1 means a lot to everyone.

We`ll see what the future holds. For me, I`m just glad that I have this Grand Slam.

"I was really up and down after my title here in 2011. I wasn`t really imagining this situation again.

I still believed I could win another Grand Slam, but it was hard to imagine at

Petra Kvitova of Czech Republic attends a press conference after winning the 2014 women's singles final against Eugenie Bouchard of Canada at the All England Lawn Tennis Championships in Wimbledon, London on July 5. (AP Photo)

Wimbledon because I wanted it so much.

"It was certainly a great journey for me here." When Kvitova last won Wimbledon she seems posed to dominate the women`s tour with her potent power game. But instead she felt uncomfortable in the spotlight and regularly crashed out of the Grand Slams in the early stages.

Those barren years made this emphatic victory even more memorable than her first Wimbledon and Kvitova was reduced to tears as the magnitude of her achievement sunk in.

"This means more than 2011 because I really played a great tournament this time," Kvitova said.

"It means everything.

It`s Wimbledon. Tennis here is tennis history.

"The Centre Court always feels great to play on.

I feel really at home."

Kvitova`s blistering performance included 28 winners and four aces, but mere statistics don`t do justice to the way she bludgeoned Bouchard into submission. Bouchard hadn`t dropped a set on her way to the final, but she had no answer to the barrage from Kvitova. "Definitely it was one of the best matches I`ve played," she said. "A few shots were really incredible and I couldn`t believe that I made actually them. Maybe it was magic.

"I said `Oh, my God, this is good! I can really run and put everything back`.

"I love to play finals in the big stadiums. Definitely I was in the zone."

While Kvitova had laboured to rediscover her mojo for the last three years, Wimbledon was the one place she thrived.

Hamilton wins British Grand Prix

SILVERSTonE, JuLy 6 (REuTERS): Lewis Hamilton won his home British Grand Prix on Sunday and slashed Mercedes team mate Nico Rosberg's Formula One lead to four points after the German retired for the first time this season.

Hamilton, who last won at Silverstone in his 2008 championship year, now has 161 points to Rosberg's 165 with 10 races remaining and his title hopes fully restored.

It was his fifth win of the year.

Finland's Valtteri Bottas finished second for Williams, 30.1 seconds behind Hamilton, for his second successive podium with Australian Daniel Ricciardo third for Red Bull and a further 16.3 seconds down the road. The race was redflagged almost as soon as it started after Ferrari's 2007 champion Kimi Raikkonen had a big crash that left the Finn limping to the medical centre with a sore ankle but otherwise unscathed.

It was the first time a race had been halted on the opening lap since Monaco 2000. When it re-started behind the safety car after an hour's delay to fix damaged barriers, Hamilton went from overnight devastation to delight as Ros-

First lap crash halts British Grand Prix

SILVERSTonE, JuLy 6 (AP): The British Grand Prix was halted on the opening lap Sunday after a collision involving Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen and Felipe Massa of Williams. The race was stopped as 2007 champion Raikkonen was taken to the circuit medical center. Massa escaped unhurt and drove back to the pits without his left rear wheel, but Raikkonen emerged limping from his smashed Ferrari that had lost most of the front end and left rear wheel. It resumed an hour later once debris from the crash was cleared and damage to track barriers was repaired.

Massa, in his 200th career Grand Prix, turned sharply to avoid a more serious crash after Raikkonen had lost control and cut in front of him. Raikkonen almost collided with several other cars at the start of the Wellington Straight having run off track and then hit a bump as he rejoined. "I just saw a car in front of me. Kimi crashed and he was coming into me so I turned right and he hit me. The car is very damaged," Massa said. "It is a weekend to forget. I hope Kimi is fine as I saw he had a big crash. I wanted to have a better weekend than this but I'm happy I'm fine." Ferrari said they had been told by the circuit medical centre that Raikkonen had not suffered any broken bones, but had injured his right ankle. berg finally suffered some of the misfortune that had plagued his team mate.

The championship and race leader reported a gearbox problem after 20 of the 52 laps, and just after Hamilton's race engineer had informed the second placed Briton it was "Hammer time' - time to for a full-

on charge. Nine laps later, Rosberg slowed, pulled over and parked up on the grass as Hamilton sped past. "It was just slowly but surely," said Rosberg. "It started on lap 20 and then it just got worse from there.

There was nothing I could do or that they could suggest to save the gearbox.

C M Y K

Britain's Lewis Hamilton of Mercedes celebrates with his trophy after winning the British Formula One Grand Prix at Silverstone circuit, Silverstone, England on July 6. Finland's Valtteri Bottas of Williams finished second, and Australia's Daniel Ricciardo of Red Bull finished third. (AP Photo)

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