March 21st, 2017

C M Y K

www.morungexpress.com

tuesDAY • MArch 21 • 2017

DIMAPUR • Vol. XII • Issue 77 • 12 PAGes • 5

T H e

ESTD. 2005

P o W e R

o F

Music is a fantastic peacekeeper of the world, it is integral to harmony, and it is a required fundamental of human emotion World Happiness 2017: Norway tops the list, India ranks 122

‘Envisioning a sustainable community’

PAGE 08

T R u T H — Xunzi

Handscomb-Marsh rearguard earns draw for Australia

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PAGe 12

Dating the undatables—frog croaks in evolutionary history Caption 1: Robust Horned Frog (Megophrys robusta), the largest species of Indian Horned Frog.

Photo by Systematics Lab

Imkong Walling Dimapur | March 20

The next time you put frogs in the cooking pot, beware - you might be an unsuspecting contributor to wiping out evolutionary history.

A culinary delight to many Southeast Asian communities, frogs are no stranger to Nagaland’s food menu.

Held in high gastronomic regard, aficionados here claim that frogs taste better than chicken, even believed to hold healing properties.

Science, though, has an altogether different take.

A giant rung in the evolutionary ladder To the science of evolution, frogs are more than mere gastronomic delicacy. They could well be a giant rung in the evolutionary ladder with an estimated evolutionary history spanning hundreds of millions of years.

One kind in particular, the Asian Horned Frog - an enigmatic group of frogs often with horn-like projections over the eyes - has scientists energized by recent research findings.

The ancestors of this family of frogs are said to have shared space with dinosaurs but little is known about its evolutionary history. Unlike their dinosaur contemporaries, these frogs did not leave behind any known fossils. Today they are found to be natives of Southeast Asia and India - the north-eastern region of the Indian subcontinent in particular.

Despite the absence of fossil records, recent developments in dating technology—a recently developed method called RelTime that does not

reflections

By Sandemo Ngullie

be described in Northeast India (including a few from Nagaland), and we are quite certain that several others remain to be discovered,” notes Dr. Mahony, responding to a query from The Morung Express.

“Each Northeast Indian state has its own unique community of species, some of which are endemic to only one area within the state.”

The scientist fears that climate change, large-scale deforestation, damming of rivers, domestic utilisation of stream water, and pollution are causing the loss of many species, frogs included, “before we can learn anything about them.”

“The future survival of these inoffensive little frogs (and countless other animals) relies entirely on whether local people recognise and respect the (Left) White-lipped Horned Frog (Megophrys major) species complex, adult female from Northeast India. (Right) Robust Horned Frog (Megophrys robusta), the extraordinary heritage value of their largest species of Indian Horned Frog. (Photo by Systematics Lab) vanishing Northeast Indian forests, White-lipped Horned Frog (Megophrys major)in species complex, adult femalebefore from they are all lost,” he maintains. require fossil information—is now overestimating the age of many frog severalCaption similar2:but scientifically ‘new’ Early settlers NE region

by Systematics enabling evolutionary scientists to families,” states a press release on the distinctNortheast species.India.

Six Photo of these species Lab The North East of the Indian subThe frog as food further raises cu“date the undatables” with relatively research findings. from Thailand, Cambodia and India, continent is regarded as an Asian riosity. Are people in Nagaland conbetter age estimates.

The findings of the research team were formally described as new to Horned Frog diversity hotspot. suming these “inoffensive little frogs” With the new dating technique, a - led by Ireland’s leading herpetolo- science between 2009 and 2013.

According to Dr. Mahony, Asian oblivious of their scientific value? group of scientists from Ireland and gist, Dr. Stephen Mahony, previously As per the research findings, the Horned Frog species can be found in Dr. Mahony says that he has not India, who embarked on a quest to of University College Dublin (UCD), Asian Horned Frogs family may have all the NE states confined to forested come across any reported instances resolve a 195-year-old “confusion Ireland and University of Delhi, and a originated as recently as 77 million hilly regions and need unpolluted of the Asian Horned Frogs consumed regarding relationships between the prominent mammal molecular evo- years ago (mya) in contrast to 100- streams to reproduce. And they could as food in Nagaland so far. species of Asian Horned Frogs” stum- lutionary biologist, Prof. Emma Teel- 126 mya as previously estimated. well be among the earliest settlers of bled upon potentially new, previous- ing (UCD) – was recently published “While this research particularly the region migrating from China and But who knows? ly unknown, species of this family. in the scientific journal, Molecular focused on frogs, many other animal Southeast Asia some 17-13 million As Naga herpetologist Dr. Rachun“Using DNA sequences, they Biology and Evolution. Nicole Foley, groups also lack a fossil record, and years ago. liu G. Kamei puts it, “I haven’t yet seen discovered many potentially new a PhD student of Prof. Teeling and so it is very difficult to decipher their When the research began study- megophryids (Asian Horned Frogs) in species in this group previously un- Prof. SD Biju, dubbed the ‘Frogman evolutionary histories. Our hope is ing Asian Horned Frogs, India had the markets of Dimapur or Kohima. I known to science. They also estimat- of India’, were co-authors in this re- that methods used here will prove only six reported species. won’t be surprised though if they were ed the ages of species and groups of search publication. beneficial for understanding how “Since then, six more new species eaten in some parts of Nagaland that species using a method that had preThe research project was envis- the distant ancestors of living ani- have been named. Our latest paper, I am not aware of because these frogs viously not been tried on amphibians aged by Dr. Mahony in 2006 after he mals may have coexisted in prehis- using molecular phylogenetic can get quite big and meaty.” and inadvertently discovered that discovered that one widely distrib- toric times,” Dr. Mahony states in the analyses indicates that at least Asian Horned Frogs are known to until now scientists may have been uted ‘species’ appeared to represent release. another six new species remain to be consumed in Bhutan and Nepal.

philanthropist UNC leaders released unconditionally from custody Billionaire David Rockefeller dies Newmai News Network Imphal | March 20

United Naga Council (UNC) President Gaidon Kamei and Information and Publicity Secretary SK Stephen were finally released unconditionally by the court of Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM), Imphal East on Monday.

Kamei and Stephen were declared innocent by CJM, Imphal East Aribam Noutuneshwari Devi and acquitted. The court also closed six different cases against the UNC leaders.

The six cases against the duo Maharaj, just say “hi” and were registered at Mao, Tadubi and hide. The police are coming Nungba police stations in connecto arrest you. tion with the economic blockade on national highways, which the UNC lifted on Sunday midnight. They

Home Minister clarifies to allegation

C M Y K

KohiMa, March 20 (MExN): In response to MLA Mmhonlumo Kikon’s allegation that he was intimidated and threatened to withdraw the questions submitted by him for the ensuing NLA session, Home Minister Y Patton today clarified that any responsible member in the house is free to ask any question(s) in any department and accordingly the department concerned is duty bound to provide the required reply on the floor of the house.

“Therefore threat against asking queries, be it by the home department or any of my supporters, is highly questionable and objectionable,” Patton maintained in a press statement.

“However if there has been any such threat as posed by the MLA from any quarter, through social media or text messages or in any form, I request the MLA to lodge a complaint to the police so that proper investigation would be initiated and stern action will be taken as per the law of the land which would also ensure that such incidents does not take place in future,” the Home Minister added.

were arrested and sent to judicial custody then.

The court also told the duo to appear before it on March 27 to help the court in closing the cases against them.

After walking out of the court, Kamei told reporters that the issue of district creation was still in the agenda of UNC. “We really appreciate the new government and its initiative and positive response,” Kamei said.

He added the matter relating to the district creation will come up in the next round of tripartite talks. “We’ll see the progress in the talks. I hope some positive result will come out.”

Meanwhile, a big reception programme was organised for the two leaders at Senapati Town Hall this afternoon by the UNC. Naga leaders and public attended the pro- UNC President Gaidon Kamei talking to journalists minutes after he was released on gramme.

March 20 in Imphal.

NEW yorK, March 20 (rEutErs): Billionaire philanthropist David Rockefeller, former head of Chase Manhattan Corp and patriarch of one of the most famous and influential American families, died on Monday, a family spokesman said. He was 101. Rockefeller, who reportedly gave away nearly $2 billion in his lifetime, died in his sleep of congestive heart failure at his home in Pocantico Hills, New York, spokesman Fraser Seitel said in a statement. One of the few remaining links to the U.S. “gilded” era of robber barons, he was the son of John D. Rockefeller Jr., who developed New York’s Rockefeller Center, and was the last living grandson of oil tycoon John D. Rockefeller, founder of Standard Oil and the family dynasty. Rockefeller’s wife, Peggy, died in 1996. They had six children and 10 grandchildren.

on 38th naga republic Day, naga political groups call for unity

All Naga political groups should Come together & become one in thought: NSCN (R) unite together: NPGN/NNC (NA)

DiMapur, March 20 (MExN): The National People’s Government of Nagaland (NPGN) of the NNC (Non Accordist) has appealed to all Naga political groups to “unite together and eradicate the issue of ‘ego’ and ‘ism’ and forgive and forget the past mistake and work together in the spirit of peace and harmony.”

Tsanthungo Ovung, President of the NPGN/NNC (NA) said this in his message on the 38th Naga Republic Day. He reiterated that Nagas do not “demand or request independence from the Indian Government but rather appealed to leave our country just as our ancestors had been living a life of free and Sovereign nation from time immemorial.”

He reminded how the Indian Government had used the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) to dominate the “Free Naga Country” using military might.

However, Nagas did not surrender and on March 21, 1956, declared a Naga Republic Nation to the world that would rule as per the will of the Naga people.

On the basis of the “uniqueness and legal rights of the Naga as Independent Nation,” the British “did not object to the declaration of the Naga Independence on August 14, 1947,” Ovung noted.

Owing to the “illegal occupation of Naga Country by the Indian Government the Nagas are still continuing to resist the

invading forces till date,” the President reminded, adding that the breach of the international law of the Right to Self Determination is “much against the aspiration of the Nagas.”

The Nagas have experienced “untold hardship and human torture under the hands of the Indian Military forces but the Nagas had never give up their determination nor surrendered the rights to the Indian.”

In spite of all this, the Nagas are “trying their level best to solve the long protected into Naga Political problem and amicably without any prejudice but wanted to be friendly and trusted neighbours with India till date.”

Thus, Ovung said, the Nagas have chosen a “policy of non-violence and non cooperation until the Nagas get freedom from the Indian Domination.” He appealed to the Indian Government to leave Naga country by “respecting one’s own national Rights.”

“We do not challenge the Indian Government rather want to live as good neighbor in a friendly manner and bring about permanent settlement of the Indo- Naga political issue on the basis of international code of human rights based on the status of Equality and respect each other rights so as to maintain international peace and unity,” the President maintained.

DiMapur, March 20 (MExN): In reiterating their inclusive stance, the NSCN (Reformation) has paid respect to “freedom fighters of different Naga national political groups for their selfless sacrifices and contribution in defending the Naga Nation.”

On the occasion of the 38th Naga Republic Day, President of the NSCN (R)’s GPRN, Y Wangtin Naga, also sa-

luted old freedom fighters who have refused to enjoy any pensions or other amenities till date, an attribute of a “born revolutionary”. He reminded that the Naga people are “not waging war against any country but they are only defending their Nation from being invaded by two giant countries India and Myanmar.”

However, he appealed to all the

freedom fighters to “come together and become one in thought and in action although total unification is not possible at this juncture.”

He also appealed to both India and Myanmar to respect the cause of the Naga people and “bring out internationally acceptable solution to put an end to Asia’s longest political problem.”

March hand-in-hand with one voice: NSCN (K)

MyaNMar, March 20 (MExN): The NSCN (K) has prayed that Nagas come together “sooner than later” in order to “march hand-in-hand with one voice and under the same banner towards ultimate national deliverance under the providential banner Nagaland for Christ.”

On the 38th Naga Republic Day, the President of NSCN (K)’s GPRN, SS Khaplang, sent out his salute for every Naga national worker who “despite overwhelming odds continues to dedicate their lives in the service of the nation risking their lives every day in the line of duties.”

He also sent out greetings to member of the United Liberation Front of Wesea (UNLFW) and all the revolutionary fraternities of the Wesea region in his Republic Day message.

Reminiscing the history of the

Naga struggle for “sovereign existence and rights,” the NSCN (K) President took note of how the Government of India had “refused to acknowledge” the same leading to “one of the most protracted and vicious political conflicts in the region.”

Khaplang acknowledged the contribution of countries like Pakistan and China in the 1960s for assisting the Nagas with “much needed moral and material help during the most critical stages of the struggle.” Further, he appreciated the “unreserved love and support” with which the Kachin people had helped the Naga people in the early stages of the Naga movement, particularly on the way to China and back.

The NSCN (K) chief reminded that the Naga “foreign policy is non-violent” and that the Nagas are

“friendly and peace loving” with a desire to “co-exist peacefully with all her neighbouring countries.”

However, he accused the Government of India of “playing diabolical and divisive policies to wreck the Naga National Movement as a result many whimsical and fickle minded leaders and groups have succumbed to these conspiracies and their chapters disgracefully terminated and consigned to sad memories only.”

According to SS Khaplang, the NSCN (K) has “successfully weathered all the political turbulences and managed to salvage the Naga struggle from decimation.” It is, he said, the “lone legitimate political authority fighting for the inherent freedom, identity and rights of the Nagas” and vowed to “carry on the fight to the last man standing.”

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tuesDAY 21•03•2017

NAGALAND

THE MORUNG EXPRESS

‘Envisioning a sustainable community’

TAAP residential training in Leadership Development Training under Baptist Associations in Eastern Nagaland underway Nagaland soon Morung Express News Dimapur | March 20

“Envisioning a sustainable community encompasses almost all aspects of life notably social, religion, politics and economy,” said Y. Kikheto Sema IAS, Secretary, Land Resources during the ongoing 5th Leadership Development Training under Baptist Associations in Eastern Nagaland in Kohima on Monday.

Stating that the topic, ‘Envisioning a Sustainable Community’ was quite relevant with the present context, Kikheto said peaceful society, political stability, religious tolerance, economic independence were all required if sustainable community is to be made a reality.

He asserted that the head hunting days of the forefathers when there was lack of basic healthcare and education could not be termed sustainable.

“With the coming of the Britishers and American missionaries, the barbarian way of life that Nagas lived

steadily evaporated and they stopped hunting for each other’s head basically through the teachings of the Gospel,” he said.

Kikheto, however said, that period was soon followed by turmoil of the Naga political movement which gradually brought statehood to Nagaland.

“Right from such times till today, the Church has been seen as indispensable to the society and that is why Church needs to play a pivotal role in shaping the society,” he added.

He said that the Church was the strongest institution among all since everyone irrespective of being a politician, bureaucrat, Naga national worker or businessman were all members of the Church which is highly revered.

“Therefore, being placed on a high pedestal, the Church should come forward and tell the truth. It should not focus only on the spirituality but even socio-economic issues. The Church can also focus on vocational and skill

Secretary, Land Resources, Y. Kikheto Sema IAS delivering presentation in Kohima on Monday.

trainings to imbibe work culture. And a Church leader should be carefully selected,” he maintained.

Kikheto recalled the recent “unfortunate incident” in Dimapur where a

prominent businessman was assaulted by one Sumi, reportedly a theologian.

“Such are the times when the Church should not shy away from speaking the truth,” he added.

Seeking apology, as a Sumi, to the victim, Kikheto said that individuals or groups commit unlawful activities yet the bad image is borne by the entire community.

He said even as Naga people have been bestowed with fertile soil, land and climate, a sustainable community could not be established since work culture has eroded leading to economic loss, killings have become frequent and political instability grips the state.

Kikheto said that the main reason of economic loss could be attributed to the eroding work culture resulting in outflow of money outside the state.

Kikheto pointed out that Nagaland has the highest ratio of government employees and population reaching 1:14.

He also maintained that electoral malpractice was one of the main evils in the society and encouraged the Church to make its Clean Election campaign bear bountiful harvest.

Kikheto urged upon the Church to work towards rooting out ism in the society and prevent it from further disintegration since Naga people are already a small society.

He lauded the Kohima Ao Baptist Arogo for sponsoring the seminar adding, “This is a good example of a big brother having concern for the younger ones. This is how we uplift each other.”

Institute for Development of Leadership is a training programme organized by the six Baptist Associations in Eastern Nagaland; Chang, Khiamniungan, Konyak, Phom, Sangtam and Yimchungru. The training programme which is being organized in partnership with Clark Theological College and Global lead Alliance will culminate on March 22.

Governor inaugurates Raj Bhavan Health Centre

kohiMa, March 20 (DiPr): Governor of Nagaland, PB Acharya inaugurated the Raj Bhavan Health Centre at Raj Bhavan, Kohima on March 20.

Addressing the gathering, the Governor thanked the Minister Health and Family Welfare and the officers and staff of the Department General manager, NABARD, Regional office Dimapur, Asoke Chakrabarty (2nd right), along for their prompt action in with officials of Nagaland State Cooperative Bank Ltd., after inauguration of an ATM booth at NStCB Ltd. Main Branch, Dimapur, on Monday. With the inauguration, the number of the setting up the Health Centre at Raj Bhavan.

Cooperative bank’s ATM booths in the state has gone up to six. (Morung Photo) Acharya stated that most Raj Bhavans in the country have a full-fledged Health Centre, which not only caters to the need of the Staff of Raj Bhavan but also to nearby localities and expressed his desire that the newly inaugurated Raj Bhavan Health Centre at Kohima should also follow the same example. The

Governor PBAcharya avails service at the Raj Bhavan Health Centre at Raj Bhavan, Kohima inaugurated on March 20. (DIPR Photo)

Governor also made the point that the doctor on duty should be regular and should serve that people with dedication.

Commissioner& Secretary to Governor, Piyush Goyal, IAS appreciated the Officers and Staff of Raj Bavan and the Department

of Health & Family Welfare who worked hard to make the Raj Bavan Health Centre possible. He said that it took less than a week, from the meeting on March 14, 2017 where the decision was taken to set up the Health Centre and stated that it was the kind of speed the State needs to get work done.

Goyal explained that the Doctor will be visiting the Health Centre twice a week initially and will be equipped with the basic medical facilities and medicines.

Minister, Health & Family Welfare, P Longon graced the occasion. Commissioner & Secretary, H&FW, Abhijit Sinha, IAS and officers and staffs of the Department of H&FW led by Principal Director, Dr. Watikala Wsere also present.

National Science Day held at Kiphire

Citizens in Kohima were in for an icy surprise when the rains continued on Monday, March kiPhirE, March 20 20. The temperature in Kohima dropped down to 11° by 5.30 pm as the early rains in the hill (MExn): Altogether 19 capital poured in, accompanied by clouds and fogs. Most citizens stayed indoors, offices students from 10 schools witnessed lean attendance and business centres wore a deserted look. (Morung Photo)

The Naga Students' Federation commemorated the NSF Martyrs Day on March 20 at the Martyrs Park, Kohima. The programme began with a prayer by Joshua Thong, Speaker, NSF. On March 20, 1985 two young Naga made supreme sacrifice while responding to the call of the Naga Students' Federation to safeguard the rights of the Nagas. Laying of wreath and one minute silence was observed in honour of Late Kekuojalie Sachü and Late Vikhozo Yhoshü. NSF executives, seniors, well-wishers, subordinate bodies and federating units attended the programme.

took part in the National Science Day held at Kiphire with Deenabandhu Panda, DEO as guest of honour.

The programme was organized by the district education office at the conference hall of the Deputy Commissioner Conference hall Saturday last.

Addressing the students, Deenabandhu Panda DEO shared on the life story of the C.V Raman and highlighted his achievements and contribution in the field of science.

The DEO also said that was a time when especially able persons were considered burden to the society but today, with the shift of

Deenabandhu Panda, DEO with the winners of the National Science Day programme held at Kiphire.

time things are changing and there are lot of innovations to help those persons and they are contributing a lot to the growth of the society.

The DEO also asked the gathering to encourage especially able persons so

that they come forward and become a living example to others. He encouraged the students to think and come up with technology and innovations which can be helpful to the especially able persons which can be a great contribution in the

field of science and technology.

Students from El-Beth school got the first and third runners up and Agape School student representative got second runners up was awarded cash and certificate.

Mokokchung, March 20 (MExn): An orientation programme was conducted by team from Centre for Microfinance and Livelihood (CML), Guwahati in collaboration with Care & Support Society, Mokokchung at the office premises on March 20.

During the programme, CML skills team introduced the Tata Affirmative Action Programme (TAAP) as a residential training based at Kolkata cum employability programme, mostly targeting unemployed graduate youth from the underprivileged sections of the society.

This programme covers three states- Nagaland, Manipur and Meghalaya and its spans to over 14 weeks (80-100 hours). It is designed by Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) with the objective of equipping the trainees with basic life skills and essential industry demanded skills, thereby ensuring that they can secure jobs. The team further explained that the programme is divided into two modules; the first of which spans 8 weeks during which trainees are taught basic life skills.

The second module running over 6 weeks focuses on extensive skill development training such as basic IT skills, corporate etiquette, etc and is initiated by Centre for Microfinance in collaboration with Tata Consultancy Services which is supported

by Tata Trusts.

A total of 13 candidates participated and availed the programme brochures for registration. Care and Support Society organization headed by Imchawati Kichu, Managing Director will be the point of contact for registration from Mokokchung District. Through the organization more unemployed graduates who are 28 years and below as per their academic date of birth and also who are genuinely interested in the programme would be taken on board.

It was further conveyed that the first batch which will be commencing on May 8, 2017 will be of women’s batch and followed by second batch which are male on July 10, 2017.

CSS, Managing Director, Imchawati Kichu stated in a press release that further discussion with the participants was initiated and thus, the first mobilization drive in Mokokchung district was successfully undertaken with the active participation of Care & Support Society team.

Minister gives financial aid to Lazami village fire victims LazaMi, March 20 (MExn): Minister for PWD (R&B), Y. Vikheho Swu today visited Lazami village under Pughoboto sub-division to take stock of the fire victims that razed down three houses and a village youth building displacing five families and death of an elderly woman on March 15.

For immediate relieve to the fire victims, the MinMinister PWD (R&B) Y. Vikheho Swu, ADC Pughoboto, Avelu Ruho along with the GB's, Vil- ister extended financial lage Council and NPF party workers. In the background, newly constructed building that assistant to all the famiwas razed down by fire. lies and also donated CGI

sheets and blankets.

Minister also expressed gratitude to the administration, volunteers from Lazami village and the neighbouring village of Mishilimi and Pughoboto Town for taking prompt action and averted the fire from further spreading more houses.

Interacting with the affected family along with GB’s, Village councils and Party Workers in the presence of the ADC Pughoboto, Avelu Ruho, Minister

urged upon the villagers to set up proper village planning while building the house in the near future.

Minister was of the viewed that one should build the house given aside free space for constructing pavement for passage of vehicles in every village. He also encouraged the villagers to take up rain water harvesting on priority basic in every household for the benefit of all and also to effectively manage the situation in time of emergency arise.

Water reservoir and toilets at Hongphoi inaugurated

Mon, March 20 (MExn): Water reservoir and toilets at Hongphoi was inaugurated

by Deputy Commissioner Mon Honje Konyak and Imnasangba SDO PHED Mon as chief guest and guest of honour on March 18.

The chief guest urged the community to take ownership and maintain the facilities being provided to them.

Stressing on communitization, he said water and sanitation, electricity, education and health committees’ need quality leadership at the community level. He further underlined the roles of Village Council and Village Development Board in village develop-

ment. “We acknowledge the contribution of World Vision India Mon for the community,” he remarked.

“Our livelihood, economy and good health all depends on safe drinking water hence maintain it properly,” said the guest of honor. Dr. L. Khobung Manager Program WVI Mon exhorted the gathering while Temjen Sangtam Coordinator, Development Facilitation WVI Mon staff in charge presented the community Now and Then and highlighted the interventions of the organization.

Tsalito Sangtam, Project Director, DRDA Mon and SDEO Mon also spoke during the programme. While proposing vote

of thanks, Chingnye Konyak, Chairman Village Council said World Vision India Mon had provided 127 GI Pipes with accessories and constructed a water reservoir 15000 liters and 60 toilets for individual families. They have also constructed 4 toilets and 4 urinals and hand washing stations with running water at Government Primary School-A and Government Middle School.

Earlier, welcome address was delivered by Buwang Konyak chief Angh and invocation was pronounced by Rev. Phowang pastor. The programme was organized by Hongphoi Village Council and Vil- DC Mon Honje Konyak and Imnasangba SDO PHED Mon with others during the lage Development Committee. inauguration of Water reservoir and toilets at Hongphoi on March 18.

TUESDAY 21•03•2017

NORTH-EAST 3

THE MORUNG EXPRESS

Biren Singh wins trust vote in Manipur One lakh students drop out of schools in Meghalaya IMPHAL, MARCH 20 (IANS): Manipur's new Chief Minister N. Biren Singh, heading the state's first Bharatiya Janata Party-led government, on Monday won the floor test in the assembly by voice vote.

BJP's Y. Khemchand was earlier elected the Speaker.

The floor test took place 11 days after assembly elections threw up a fractured verdict and five days after the Biren Singh ministry was sworn in.

In the 60-member house, the BJP won 21 seats and the Congress 28.

But the BJP joined hands with the Naga People's Front (NPF) and National People's Party (NPP), UNC President Gaidon Kamei (Left) and Information Secretary SK Stephen dur- which have four legislators each, as well as an independent and a ing the reception programme at Senapati Town Hall on Monday. (NNN Photo)

member each from the LJP and Trinamool Congress.

Also, Congress MLA T. Shyamkumar defected to become a cabinet minister.

Speaker Khemchand too was elected by voice vote, defeating Govindas Konthujam of the Congress.

Congress leader and former Chief Minister Okram Ibobi Singh conceded defeat but insisted that his party should have been called first to form the government as it was the single large group in the house.

BJP sources said the portfolios would be allocated to the ministers soon.

The Manipur Chief Minister is allowed to have 12 ministers. He already has nine.

Stranded trucks, oil tankers arrive in Imphal IMPHAL, MARCH 20 (IANS): Stranded trucks and oil tankers started arriving in Imphal on Monday after an ongoing economic blockade by Naga groups was lifted.

The blockade imposed by the United Naga Council (UNC) since November 1 was lifted from Sunday midnight.

The trucks and tankers moved into Imphal along National Highways No.2 and No.37 without any armed escorts.

O. Ramesh, a trucker, told IANS that he was stranded for over 10 days at Jiribam, adjoining Assam.

"Officials select trucks for proceeding towards Imphal on the basis of the goods they are transporting. I was not allowed to move since the iron

rods in my truck were not a top priority."

Newly elected Manipur Chief Minister N. Biren Singh hailed the withdrawal of the blockade. "We are happy that the economic blockade is lifted. It was one of the pre-poll pledges of the Bharatiya Janata Party. We hope that there will be no more blockade in the state."

Former Chief Minister Okram Ibobi Singh also welcome the blockade lifting.

"We welcome the decision.

There will be no more sufferings of the people."

The decision was taken following an agreement reached during a tripartite talk on Sunday involving two UNC constituents -- All Naga Students' Association Manipur (ANSAM)

OBJECTION NOTICE Date Peren the 14th March 2017

NO.PRN/JUD-5/PT-1/2016/455 /Smti. Thonriangliu of Mhaikam, has applied for issue of succession certificate declaring that her husband Late Abuipou has expire on 01/11/2016.

Public are hereby invited to file claims/`objection within 30(thirty) days w.e.f. date of publication in local papers. If no objection is received from the public within the stipulated time, the succession certificate shall be issued in favour of the applicant.

and Naga Women Union (NWU) -- and representatives of the central and Manipur governments.

The blockade was imposed on November 1 in protest the creation of seven new districts by the former Manipur government.

The Nagas maintain that the "lands of the Nagas" left by their forefathers cannot be taken away in this manner.

Manipur had been reeling under acute shortage of all essential commodities, including fuel, due to

the blockade. Hardly 300 trucks and oil tankers could transport essential commodities twice a week.

The BJP had assured the people that if it formed the government, the blockade would be lifted within 48 hours.

APOLOGY

Our side of the story on the unfortunate road incident that occurred on the night of 18/3/2017

To begin with, we are grateful to Shri Dr. Aotoshi and his families for allowing us to express our apology. Since the day we heard about the incident, we have been expressing our heartfelt apology to Shri Dr. Aotoshi and his families. We have approached them many times and had expressed our apology and he in his true Christian spirit had welcomed us and heard our apology with sympathetic ear.

It is true that Mr. Vinoka had an altercation with Shri Dr. Aotoshi and ended up hurting him physically as well as emotionally. We are not proud of his action. We would like to state that no parents "wish or advice their children to commit such act".

This incident occurred due to the events that took place at that particular moment. We would like to clarify that there were no prior motive behind the action. Mr. Vinoka and Shri Dr. Aotoshi met one another for the first time on that unfortunate moment.

We would also like to make the facts clear. On that unfortunate night, both the individuals were driving on national highway and it was raining heavily, without any intent of accusation or disrespect to Shri Dr. Aotoshi, while he was trying to overtake the car driven by Mr. Vinoka, he made a slight contact on his car. As a result, Mr. Vinoka realizing that his car had a slight contact with the car of Shri Dr. Aotoshi, with intent to seek apology from him went after him and confronted him, and in that unfortunate moment, he could not control his rage and ended up hurting him verbally and physically, for which he and the whole families are extremely sorry.

We know that we cannot turn back the time or take back the hurt and pain felt by Shri Dr. Aotoshi and his families. We only pray and hope that Almighty God comfort him and his families on this time of hurt and pain.

From Khetoshe Awomi and families

(ZARENTHUNG EZUNG) Deputy Commissioner, Peren: Nagaland.

LIST OF SELECTED PARTICIPANTS IN THE NATIONAL HANDLOOM EXPO AT GURKHA PANCHAYAT GROUND CHANDMARI, KOHIMA WEF: 22/03/2017 TO 04/04/2017

Sl. Name 1 M/s Toili Sema, Tresure Cove 2 M/s Honili Zhimo, Weaving Unit 3 M/s Khrolo, Creative Craft 4 M/s Tonikali Chishi 5 M/s Medohulie Medom 6 M/s Bothuki SHG 7 M/s Yahoi. K 8 M/s Maoya 9 M/s Phongshenyulan SHG 10 M/s Kewekhro MPCS 11 M/s A. Meren Jamir

12 M/s Vungi Women SHG (Food Court) 13 M/s R. Akum, Pongener Craft 14 M/s Chuba Wooden & Craft 15 M/s Alemla H. Handloom Unit 16 M/s Ngopkai 17 M/s Vunge Phom 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33

Address Thahekhu village

Toluvi village Dimapur, Nagaland Burma Camp Urra village Thilixu village Mon town Aboi town Mon town Enhulumi village PR Hill Kohima Nagaland Kohima, Nagaland 2½ mile Darogapathar Dimapur Kuda village Dimapur East Dimapur Mon town Signal Angami, Dimapur Golaghat, Assam Golaghat, Assam Golaghat, Assam Golaghat, Assam Assam Golaghat, Assam Golaghat, Assam Golaghat, Assam Golaghat, Assam Golaghat, Assam Golaghat, Assam Golaghat, Assam Golaghat, Assam Golaghat, Assam Golaghat, Assam H/No. 64 Nuton Bosti, Dimapur D. Block Kohima, Nagaland H/No. 252, Duncan Bosti H/No. 245, Lengrijan Dimapur Signal Angami, Dimapur Imphal, Manipur Imphal, Manipur Imphal, Manipur Kohima, Nagaland

M/s Nimai Debnath M/s Pintu Sarkar M/s Mazibur Rahman M/s Khudeja Khatun M/s Laila Begum M/s Binti Mech M/s Intiz Alle M/s Anil Basumatary M/s Alo Das M/s Gita Das M/s Raza Alle M/s Canu M/s Rane Khan M/s Abul Hamd M/s Farana Khan M/s Naga Pottery, (Robert James) 34 M/s Ethnicraft Nagaland (Rokosieno Mor) 35 M/s Cold Mountain (Lanu) 36 M/s Jamir Fruit & Food Product (Imti) 37 M/s M. Amongla Weaving Unit 38 M/s Ng. Ibempeshak Devi 39 M/s Kh. Renubala Devi 40 M/s R.K. Anarani Devi 41 M/s Sales Emporium, Kohima 42 to Reserved for Participants from outside the state 60

1 The selected participants are hereby directed to report to the Exhibition Ground, Gorkha Panchayat Ground, Chandmari Colony, Opp. Govt. Printing Press, Kohima on 22nd March, 2017 at 6.00 A.M. 2 The participants are hereby directed to bring their banner/synage for display in their respective stall.

3 The participants are also hereby directed to keep their exhibits in their respective stall under lock & key.The office shall not be held responsible in case of any losses/theft.

Sd/- K. Hokishe Assumi, Managing Director

WORKSHOP-CUM- SEMINAR

The Nagaland Handloom & Handicrafts Development Corporation Ltd, Dimapur is organizing the National Handloom Expo at Gurkha Panchayat Public Ground, Chandmari, Kohima from 22nd March to 4th April 2017.

During the Expo Workshop -Cum - Seminar will be conducted at the Venue National Expo Gurkha Panchayat Public Ground, Chandmari, Kohima on 25th March, 2017 at 11:00 A.M. Resource persons from different fields within and outside the state are being invited to address the participants in the Seminar for the upliftment and promotion of Handloom sector in the state.

It is inform to all the interested weavers/ Artisans/SHG’s & Entrepreneurs engaged in Handlooms sector to registered their name to the Manager Sales Emporium Kohima for participation in the Workshop-Cum-Seminar.

During the Seminar the participants will be informed about the available Financial facilities, Marketing, Designing, etc. which will be beneficial to them. The event is being sponsored by the Office of the Development Commissioner (Handloom), Ministry of Textiles, Govt. of India, New Delhi.

Sd/- K. HOKISHE ASSUMI, Managing Director

GOVERNMENT OF NAGALAND

STATE HEALTH SOCIETY (NATIONAL HEALTH MISSION) DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH & FAMILY WELFARE NAGALAND : KOHIMA

No. NHM/6/SA/48/2016-17/100378

Dated, Kohima the 20th March 2017

SELECTION OF AUDTITORS - REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL

HIRING SERVICES OF CHARTERED ACCOUNTANT FIRM FOR STATUTORY AUDIT OF STATE HEALTH SOCIETY (SHS) & DISTRICT HEALTH SOCIETY (DHS) - (FOR THE FINANCIAL YEAR 2016-17) under National Health Mission (NHM) Govt. of India (GoI) in partnership with the States is implementing the National Health Mission which comprises of various programs, with the objective of improving medical facilities in the areas and seeks to provide accessible, affordable and quality health care to the population, especially the vulnerable sections. To facilitate implementation of NHM, State and District level entities (Health Societies) have been registered which work under the administrative control of the Department of Health & Family Welfare. The Nagaland State Health Society invites “Proposal for audit” from firms of Chartered Accountants empanelled with C& AG and eligible for major PSUs audit for the year 2016-17.

Detailed RFP: Detailed Request for Proposal (RFP) comprising Background, Terms of Reference (ToR) and Guidelines for submitting the proposal can be either downloaded from the state’s website www nhmnagaland.in or this can be collected from the O/o Mission Director, Directorate of Health & Family Welfare, below new Secretariat Complex, Kohima, Nagaland SHS between 11.00 A.M and 4.00 PM Important Dates: i. Last date for collection of RFP from Office of SHS: 28-03-17 ii. Date for pre-bid conference: 29-03-17 iii. Last date for submission of Proposal to SHS: 05-04-17 iv. Date of opening of financial bid: 06-04-17 Venue for Pre-bid Conference: Pre-bid Conference would be held at Office Chamber of the State Programme, Officer, NHM (DR. N. BENDANGAYER JAMIR) Mission Director, State Health Society, NHM, Nagaland Address: Mission Director, NHM Directorate of Health & Family Welfare, below New Civil Secretariat Complex, Ruziezou Kohima- 797001, Nagaland E-mail: nrhmnagaland@gmail.com

SHILLONG, MARCH 20 (IANS): Nearly a lakh of boys and girls dropped out or did not get enrolled in schools in the past four years in Meghalaya, School Education and Literacy Minister Deborah C. Marak said on Monday.

"There are many factors and reasons for the drop-outs which include economic condition of the rural masses, poor infrastructure of existing state government schools, lack of access to schools due to small habitations, teacher behaviour and lack of training besides domestic and sibling-care responsibility for girls," the minister told the assembly dur-

ing Question Hour.

Replying to queries raised by Congress legislator Dikkanchi D. Shira, she said a total of 97,089 students from 11 districts across Meghalaya dropped out or did not get enrolled in schools from 2013 to 2107.

Shocked with the drop-out rate, legislators from opposition benches asked the government to adopt serious measures to bring the drop-outs back to school.

Opposition United Democratic Party legislator Paul Lyngdoh asked the government to create more vocational institutions to curb the worrisome dropout rates in the state.

While admitting that teachers in the remote areas of Garo Hills refused to attend schools due to militant-threats, Marak, however, said that her department hasww directed Deputy Commissioners in these affected areas to provide security to teachers.

She said the government was trying, through intervention under SSA scheme, to bring back children to school by setting up 418 special training centres across the state.

"The department is holding household visits awareness programmes in area where the number of dropouts is high," Marak added.

TRANSFORMATION CRUSADE 2017 Theme “Arise and Shine” Venue: Kohima Local Ground: Time: 4:30 PM

MARCH 21ST PROGRAMME

Praise & Worship: Surhuveyi Tetseo, Chakesang Baptist Church (MH) & worship team.

Leader: Pastor Neikuonyu CRC, Rokabozu.

Pianist: Min-e Nekong Konyak.

Cantor: Mr. Moanok Tzudir.

Vision of Transformation Crusade : Mr. Khotuo Yaotsu, Convenor.

Invocation & Offertory Prayer: Pastor N. Pumo, Khianmungam Baptist Church.

Speaker: Mr. Mhonchumo S. Lotha, Assoc. Pastor Lotha Baptist Church Kohima.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT The Finance Committee, Kuhuboto for the 9th Sumi Gold Cup (ASGS) held at Kuhuboto Town from 8th to 16th March 2017 hosted by KGSA would like to extend heartfelt gratitude to all the generous contribution for the success of the games. We are also deeply thankful to different committees besides KGKK, KGPO, KGSU, KGBPF, KGSTH, KGSA, Kuhuboto Joint Council and Adhoc Town Committee for their selfless contribution towards the success of the event. May God bless all the donors in cash, kind, volunteers and not forgetting our special thanks to the WSYF for contribution 40 packets of Rice in memoriam of Late. Kakiye Zhimomi, the then President of WSYF. List of cash donors :SlNo Name & Address 1. Shri. N. Jacob Zhimomi Hon’ble P/S (I & FC) Gon & Chief Host 2. Bricks Klin, Kuhuboto Area 3. Pukhavi- Ghokiye & Group 4. Feroz & Group 5. Q. Tuccu, Convenor FC 6. Hojei Swu, Member FC 7. Azheto Chophi, Member FC 8. TR Zeliang, Chairman DAN 9. Anato K. Zhimomi, Ikishe Village 10. C.L. John, Hon’ble Minister (RD & REPA) 11. Dr. Nihoto P. Chishi, Hd GB Nihoto & Member FC 12. RD Block Kuhuboto 13. Khekiye H. Yeputhomi Member FC 14. Likato Sukhalu, Member Secy. FC 15. Tsamfu Yim, Kilonser, Member FC 16. Lt. Col, Anito Yeputhomi, Member FC 17. Hokiye Yeputhomi, Hd. GB Khehokhu & Member FC 18. Akato Chophi, Kilonser, Member FC 19. Pukhavi Yeputhomi, Ex- DMC Member, Member FC 20. Kakuho Assumi, CAO, Member FC 21. Er. Kughabo Chophi, CE (I & FC) GoN 22. Kuhoi Zhimomi, President, Dimapur Sumi Community 23. Tokuho Suhoi Neho, Hd. GB Suhoi, Co-Convenor FC 24. Moa Walling, Secretary MIP 25. Viheto Swu, Hd. GB Khughovi 26. Tito Yeputhomi, G/Secretary , DDADU 27. Ghokiye Achumi, Nihoto , Member Planning Committee 28. Yekotha Awomi, GB Nihoto 29. Raijang Yim, GB Showuba Old 30. Er. Khetovi Assumi, Rtd. Chief Engineer (PHED) 31. Samson Aye, C n C 32. Tokiho Shikhu, Dy. Kilonser 33. N. Sema Dy. Kilonser 34. Ayito Yeputhomi, PS to Parliamentary Secy. (I & FC) 35. Lt. Col. Kiyehe Yeputhomi, Midland Dimapur 36. Gideon Zhimomi, Secretary MIP 37. Dr. Hotokhu Chishi, Joint Director H & FW 38. Lt. Col. Mughaho Sema 39. Honito Aye, Thahekhu 40. Mughato Yeputhomi, Hd. GB Henivi 41. Khehovi Yeputhomi, Ex- President KGPO 42. Viyiho Chishi, GB Nihoto 43. Kuhovi Zhimomi, GB Vihokhu, Member P/Committee 44. Alongdhinmen Jamir SDO (C) Kuhuboto 45. Tito Shohe, Dy. Kilonser 46. Kughalu Mulatonu, Kilonser 47. Er. Kihoto JE RD Dhansiripar Block 48. Phushika Zhimomi, Hd. GB Ghokito 49. Aoer Telongjem Kuhuboto Area 50. Suhoi GB’s 51. Suhoi Village Council 52. Showuba Old 53. Vikuto Rochill, GB Lotovi, Convenor Planning Committee 54. Khekaho Tuccu, Nihoto 55. Neol Aye, Thahekhu 56. Mrs. Isali, Presdient KGSTH 57. Robin A. Zhimomi, Kiyito 58. Kakheho Yeputhomi, Thahekhu 59. Lakato Zhimomi, Lhomithi 60. Pohozule Tokuho Neho, Suhoi 61. Hovishe Yeputhomi, Kuhuboto Treasurer FC & P/Committee 62. G. James Jimomi, GB Ghokito, member P/Committee 63. Hinoto Tokuho Neho, Suhoi 64. Inuka Tokuho Neho, Suhoi 65. Atsu Sangtam, Nihoto 66. Renthungo Lotha, Nihoto 67. R. Lotha Nihoto AREA AND VILLAGE BUDGET :1 KGKK Rs. 10000 2 KGPO Rs.10,000 3 KGSTH Rs. 5,000 4 Suhoi Village Rs. 5,000 5 Showuba Old Rs. 5,000 6 Xekiye Village Rs. 5,000 7 Lotovi Village Rs. 5,000 8 Khehokhu Village Rs. 5,000 9 Ghokito Village Rs. 5,000 10 S. Hotovi Village Rs. 5,000 11 Vihokhu Village Rs. 5,000 12 Pukhato Village Rs. 5,000 ONE DAY WAGES:1 Kuhuboto GHS 2 PHED Kuhuboto 3 Henivi GMS 4 Suhoi GPS/GMS 5 Xelhozhe GMS 6 Showuba Old, GMS 7 Tokugha GMS Sd/Q. Tuccu Convenor Finance Committee

Rs. 20,800 Rs. 13,550 Rs. 10,000 Rs. 9,100 Rs. 8500 Rs. 7,450 Rs. 7,100

Sd/Tokuho Suhoi Neho Co-Convenor Finance Committee

Amount Rs. 350,000 Rs. 200,000 Rs. 150,000 Rs. 150,000 Rs. 125,000 Rs. 105,000 Rs. 100,000 Rs. 100,000 Rs. 100,000 Rs. 100,000 Rs. 100,000 Rs. 100,000 Rs. 75,000 Rs. 72,000 Rs. 70,000 Rs. 65,000 Rs. 60,000 Rs. 50,000 Rs. 50,000 Rs. 50,000 Rs. 50,000 Rs. 50,000 Rs. 50,000 Rs. 25,000 Rs. 20,000 Rs. 20,000 Rs. 15,000 Rs. 10,000 Rs. 10,000 Rs. 10,000 Rs. 10,000 Rs. 10,000 Rs. 10,000 Rs. 10,000 Rs. 10,000 Rs. 10,000 Rs. 10,000 Rs. 10,000 Rs. 10,000 Rs. 5,000 Rs. 5,000 Rs. 5,000 Rs. 5,000 Rs. 5,000 Rs. 5,000 Rs. 5,000 Rs. 5,000 Rs. 5,000 Rs. 5,000 Rs. 5,000 Rs. 5,000 Rs. 5,000 Rs. 5,000 Rs. 5,000 Rs. 5,000 Rs. 2,000 Rs. 2,000 Rs. 2,000 Rs. 2,000 Rs. 2,000 Rs. 1,000 Rs. 1,000 Rs. 1,000 Rs. 1,000 Rs. 500 Rs. 500 Rs. 400

13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21

Xelhozhe Village Tokugha Village Henivi Village Ahoje Village Nizhevi Village Kiyezhe Village Nihoto Village Hoito Village Xekiye Village

8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15

Ghokito GPS Khehokhu GPS/GMS Lotovi GPS/GMS Xekiye GPS Vihokhu GMS Kuhuboto GPS Nizhevi GPS S. Hotovi GPS

Sd/Likato Sukhalu Member Secy.

Finance Committee

Rs. 5000 Rs. 5,000 Rs. 5,000 Rs. 5,000 Rs. 5,000 Rs. 5,000 Rs. 5,000 Rs. 5,000 Rs. 5,000

Rs. Rs. Rs. Rs. Rs. Rs. Rs. Rs.

7,100 6,000 5,000 4,500 4,500 4,400 4,200 3,800

Sd/Hovishe Yeputhomi Treasurer Finance Committee

4

TuesDAY 21•03•2017

nagaland

THE MORUNG EXPRESS

neidilhou Angami, deputy director, department of economics and statistics handing over a computer set to Kovi meyase, Administrator Kohima Municipal Council on Friday at office chamber of KMC, located inside the old complex Kohima Art’s College, which will be used for statistical activities .the KmC also extended thanks and gratitude to the department of economics and statistics for the help given to them.

AtmA Chen block under mon district conducted a capacity building programme on the production technology of oyster mushroom on march 18 and was attend by 25 farmers from two shgs, Chingya jutet and meipham. nokho Konyak (Atm) was the resource person. mushroom spawns and plastic bags were distributed to the farmers. Meanwhile, farmers of Chenwetnyu along with ATMA field staffs under Chen block performed Kisan ghosti on march 17. nokho Konyak (Atm) demonstrated the removal of infested leaves and the correct steps and time to remove the dried leaves surrounding the cardamom plants. 21 farmers attended the field day.

the tizit village baptist Church (tvbC) organised a father’s Camp from march 15 to 17 with 250 father participants.

representatives of Angami gazetted officers Krotho (AgoK) led by its president, dr. Kedo punyü called on the Chief minister of nagaland dr. shürhozelie liezietsu at his office chamber at the Nagaland Civil Secretariat on March 17. (DIPR photo)

A novel way of collecting the household wastes and garbage in a very hygienic and orderly way by the duncan basti residents of dimapur.the waste collectors comes and collect it on a daily basis from this elevated shelves. the elevated shelves also keeps the garbage intact from being scattered by stray animals.these method should be emulated by other residents who doesn’t have a proper garbage dump in their localities.

sdAo niuland conducted one-day farmers training under mission organic value Chain development (movCd) on march 17 at Kuhoxu village.

Farmers exhibit produce at Kigwema Kohima, march 20 (mExN): ATMA Kohima district organised an Exhibition cum Sales Day at Kigwema village on March 16. The event was inaugurated by Vizonyü Liezie, District Agriculture Officer & Project Director, ATMA, Kohima district. Liezie encouraged the participants that ATMA will continue its best to support farmers through skill trainings for increased production and marketing of produce, a press release informed. He also advised the farmers to continue to network with each other and promote farming practices. Agri clinic was also set up where Kethoneilhuo Vimera, Agriculture Officer II, gave advice to farmers to enhance productivity of crops. Display and sale of bio-manures, improved seeds and agro tools were also part of the event. Earlier, the programme began with a prayer by Neisolie, Farmers Friend, ATMA Jakhama Block. Visizolie Virie, Deputy A lecture on health and hygiene was conducted at Shamatore village by 15 Assam Rifles Project Director, ATMA, in his welcome address, welcomed Women Cooperative Society members from Nagaland led by Ketholenuo, Project Officer on march 18. Captain pC rai, rmo, 15 Ar addressing the gathering emphasized on measures to be taken against prevalent diseases. emergency services along with free medi- the officials and participants from various villages and ex- , nCui Kohima participated during national women workshop held on march 7 and 8 at tended his appreciation to all the participants. cines were also provided during the health awareness camp. new delhi, organized by nCui and nCdC new delhi.

leisure

CROSSWORD # 3892

SUDOKU

ACROSS 1. Fine thread 6. Frosts 10. Devil tree 14. Up to 15. Assign a grade 16. Distinctive flair 17. Burn with hot water 18. Scottish hillside 19. Green 20. A large African antelope 22. In baseball, 3 per inning 23. Type of cereal grass 24. Fumbling 26. Gave money 30. Cacophony 31. Cap 32. Unit of land 33. If not 35. Map within a map 39. Red wine 41. A vehicle that races 43. Electrical pioneer 44. Fourth sign of the zodiac 46. Rescue 47. Australian flightless bird 49. Lyric poem 50. Goulash 51. Desolate 54. 5280 feet 56. Anagram of “Sage” 57. An orbiting vehicle 63. Pervert 64. Murres 65. Gown fabric 66. Against 67. Lease 68. Huckster 69. Cease 70. Type of sword 71. Davenports DOWN 1. Verdant 2. Ancient Peruvian 3. Sun 4. A jaunty rhythm

Simple Rules - Fill in the grid so that every row, every column, and every 3x3 box contains the digits 1 through 9.

Game Number # 3888

Answer Number # 3887

std code: 03862

DiMaPUR 5. Church officer 6. Idiotic 7. Lurches 8. Historical periods 9. Draw 10. Piety 11. A part of the small intestine 12. Small open pies 13. Jittery 21. Anagram of “Debit” 25. Nonclerical 26. Agreement 27. Pang 28. Colored part of an eye 29. Car franchise 34. Destroy completely 36. Leave in a hurry 37. Overhang 38. An old spelling of “True” 40. What a person is called 42. Poplar tree 45. Type of lettuce 48. Hesitant 51. Anagram of “Basal” 52. Narc 53. Odd-numbered page 55. Toward the outside 58. Kind of school 59. Boorish 60. Charity 61. Antiaircraft gun 62. 10 10 10 10

Answer to Crossword 3891

ACtion before bling CrAsh Credit deAf employ fAlse forge grAde hAnger heAlth injury interim lArd lumber mound mumble

O

R

neCessAry negAtion prevention reed refuse rising sCreen seen signifiCAnt soil sore swept threAt tower wAdi womAn world

D

std code: 03871

(formerly senapati)

police station fire brigade

222246 222491

Civil hospital

232224

emergency

229529 229474

mh hospital

227930 231081

fire brigade

2222952

faith hospital

228846

naga hospital

2222916

shamrock hospital

228254

oking hospital

2243339

Zion hospital

231864 224117 227337

bethel nursing home

2224202

northeast shuttles

08974997923

KOHiMa

std code: 0370

228400

KohimA ps/oCs Contact numbers

Police Traffic Control

232106

north ps

east police station

227607

west police station

232181

south ps

Cihsr (referral hospital)

242555 242533

Zubza ps

police Control room

dimapur hospital

224041 248011

131/228404

Airport indian Airlines

229366 242441 225212

tseminyu ps

8575045507

Officer-in-Charge 8575045517 8575045505

Kezocha ps

nagaland multispecialty health & research Centre

248302, 09856006026

eden medical Centre

248288

C

Officer-in-Charge 8575045516

Officer-in-Charge 8575045515

232032, 231031

R

Chiephobozou ps 8575045506

Khuzama ps

nikos hospital and research Centre

A

8575045508

Officer-in-Charge 8575045518

railway

E

8575045502

Officer-in-Charge 8575045520

Apollo hospital info Centre 230695/ 9402435652

S

8575045501

Officer-in-Charge 8575045510

Chumukedima fire brigade 282777

W

TaHaMZaM

8575045549

Officer-in-Charge 8575045538

H

women Cell

8575045509

Officer-in-Charge 8575045519 Control room

8575045500 (Emergency No. – 100)

FiRE STaTiONS

KohimA south: 0370-2222952/ 101 (O) 9402003086 (OC) KohimA north: 7085924114 (O) dimApur: 03862-232201/ 101 (O) 9856156876 (OC) ChumuKedimA: 7085982102 (O) 8732810051 (OC) woKhA: 03860-242215/101 (O) 8974322879 (OC) moKoKChung: 0369-2226225/ 101 (O) 8415830232 (OC) pheK: 8414853765 (O) 8413822476(OC) Zunheboto: 03867-280304/ 101 (O) 9436422730 (OC) tuensAng: 8414853766 (O) 9856163601 (OC) mon: 03869-251222/ 101 (O) 9862130954 (OC) Kiphire: 8414853767 (O) 9436261577 (OC) peren: 7085189932 (O) 9856311205 (OC) longleng: 7085924113 (O) 9862414264 (OC) we4 women helpline 08822911011 WOMEN helpline 181 CHiLD welfAre Committee Toll free No. 1098 childline

MOKOKCHUNG

std code: 0369

police station 1 police station 2 police station Kobulong police station tuli police station Changtongya police station mangkolemba Civil hospital

9485232688 9485232689 9485232690 9485232693 9485232694 9485232695 2226216

woodland nursing home

2226263

hotel metsüpen (tourist lodge) 2226373/ 2229343

CURRENCY NOTES buy (rs) sell (rs)

us dollars sterling pound hong Kong dollar Australian dollar singapore dollar Canadian dollar japanese yen euro thai baht Korean won uAe dirham (Aed) Chinese yuan

63.92 79.07 7.97 49.26 45.64 47.91 56.51 68.72 1.78 0.0551 16.84 8.98

66.80 82.88 8.87 51.67 47.87 50.24 59.70 72.03 1.99 0.0614 18.76 10.00

TUESday 21•03•2017

NAGALAND

Cong accuses BJP of hidden religious agenda Dimapur, march 20 (mExN): The NPCC today alleged that “planting trishul is a long term program” of the BJP and accused the Party “trying to enter into Nagaland to exhibit before the World that BJP has taken over a Christian State.”

“We are worried, we are desperate to save Nagaland from temptation,” Nagaland Pradesh Congress Party President K Therie implied in a press statement responding to State Bharatiya Janata Party jibe that, “Congress is seriously worried.”

“We have never wanted to indulge religion in political debates although we are guided by the principles of our religion. But today, BJP and RSS are challenging Christianity without hesitance,” it said.

Nagaland BJP Unit members who are also Christians should restrain from facilitating such action, it added.

“Those people who follow the BJP are made to defend them as having nothing to do with RSS ideology and Hinduism.”

The NPPC further accused the Prime Minister Narendra Modi led government of “dividing the nation along religious lines.”

“We have nothing against Hinduism for the individual has the freedom to choose. But we will not allow any religion to be forced upon,” it reiterated.

The Congress also decried “agenda” of enforcing Uniform Civil Code “where ‘one religion, one nation’ is the goal by removing Art 370 and 371A and all the special

provisions provided therein.”

Perhaps it was delayed since presently BJP does not have majority neither in the Rajya Sabha nor in majority of States in the nation to “fulfill the requirement of the Constitution of ratification,” it added.

“They will get majority in the Rajya Sabha now and already ruling in 15 States out of 29 States and 7 Union Territories. It is too dangerous for Nagaland State to be with them,” NPCC added.

What has BJP achieved in 8 years? BJP's claim of its achievement in 8 years is “a tall claim,” NPCC further maintained adding that it was the Congress under Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru “who has given statehood, Art 371(A) and also offered Ceasefire in '64 to talk with NNC.” It was Indira Gandhi

who held six rounds of talks with the Naga delegates at Prime Ministerial level and Rajiv Gandhi, the then Prime Minister “offered talks without preconditions” at Dimapur Local ground on 1991, it added.

“PV Narasimha Rao, the then PM, came to the soil of Nagaland at Dimapur and offered talks with no conditions. Therefore, we are under Ceasefire and negotiations are on,” NPPC highlighted.

“During UPA's term, the regional Govt. in the state could not represent themselves on behalf of the stake holders and adopted a policy to merely facilitate and support the issue. Thus, there is no solution till today,” it maintained.

“On EVMs, it is common fact that robbers don’t

complain,” the Party tersely responded to BJP assertion that “only losers complained about EVMs” Advanced nations have banned the use of EVMs because they are not tamper proof and lack transparency, it said.

“Even if paper audit trail EVMs are provided, after the trail papers are shown, where the vote lands is not transparent. In the ballot paper system, the voter is satisfied of its transparency because you know where you have stamped.”

The NPCC further alleged that since it was not possible for BJP to win the election (UP), it “tampered with the EVMs.” “If it is not tampered, why not BJP agree to have re-election with ballot paper?”

Merangkong youth censures denigration of MVC Morung Express News Tuli (Mokokchung) | March 20

Merangkong village youths under the aegis of “Merangkong aser Tuli Lanur Telongjem (MTLT)” numbering in hundreds undertook a silent procession censuring four of its citizens for going against its ‘Merangkong Medemsanger Putu Menden’ (Merangkong Village Council) at Tuli town here today.

The MTLT, which comprises of “Merangkong village youths and Merangkong youths of Tuli town,” strongly condemned the action of four of its citizens for taking the Merangkong Medemsanger Putu Menden (MMPM) to the court.

A leaflet written in Ao language highlighting about today’s silent procession – which the MTLT said were distributed to each Merangkong household the previous day – elaborated about the run-up of the whole incident.

The leaflet declared that since from 2013, the Merangkong citizens felt the need for an MLA from the village, elected him and is still in office as the people’s representative from the area.

Meetings DLCC meeting All the members of the Kohima District Level Coordination Committee (DLCC) on Tobacco Control have been informed that there will be a quarterly meeting on March 29, 1:00 pm at DC office conference hall, Kohima.

A circular issued by Kohima DC, Rajesh Soundarajan has requested all the members concerned to attend the meeting positively.

DUCCF executive meeting Dimapur Urban Council Chairmen Federation (DUCCF) will have an emergency executive meeting on March 21, 9:00 am at Forest colony council hall. Members have been requested to attend positively.

JPN general meeting Jalukie Pumling Nko (JPN) has convened its general meeting at Old Jalukie MTEI KI on March 25 at 10:00 am. Therefore, all the frontal organizations, committees and subcommittees have been asked to attend the said meeting. The frontal organizations, namely Hekuina Gutdi, Jalukie Pumling Mipui Organisation, Jalukie Students’ Union Nagaland and Jalukie Pumling Youth Organisation have been requested to prepare and submit their general session reports compulsorily for final approval of resolutions.

Merangkong aser Tuli Lanur Telongjem (MTLT) members carrying out the Silent Procession at Tuli town on Monday, March 20, 2017. (Morung Photo)

However, the leaflet alleged that, before “the expiry of the term,” due to distribution of “political money” by some unknown persons, the MMPM, in order not to create unwanted situations in the society, made a declaration that “any unknown person creating confusion among the people in Merangkong jurisdiction would be appropriately dealt with by the Putu.”

“However, four Merangkong youths filed a petition against the Merang-

kong Medemsanger Putu in Court, which is totally wrong,” the MTLT leaflet declared. “Besides, there is enough space in the ‘Putu Court’ to discuss such case as per Naga customary laws, but giving the case to High Court is totally an act to demolish our customs and traditions, and therefore this silent procession has been organized,” the MTLT declared.

In this regard, the MTLT categorically declared that this silent procession is be-

ing organized by Merangkong & Tuli (Merangkong) Lanur (MTLT) and this procession is “not against any political party” or aimed at demanding anything from government, or against any group; but solely as a mark of solidarity and “protest against the indignation shown to the Putu Menden.”

“Our customs and traditions have enough room for discussing cases, but four good citizens taking the Merangkong Me-

demsanger Putu to Court is wrong and condemns it in the strongest terms. Why because, if the youths today are indifferent to issue, then fear that our customs and traditions will be lost to our future generation.

Therefore, this silent procession is being organized,” the MTLT declared through its leaflet.

Meanwhile, pamphlets with the words ‘We the Merangkong Tuli youths will seek out the wrong doers till the end”, “Those who cannot live under traditional laws, go away from village”, etc were pasted along the National Highway 2.”

The procession started from Longli Lenden Ward and culminated at Tuliyong Ward, traversing some nearly five kilometers by foot. The youths held placards, a banner with the pictures of the four Merangkong youths that took the Putu Menden to court and also individual portraits of the four youths.

There was no submission of memoranda or any untoward incident during the whole silent procession.

The Merangkong Students’ Union (MKT) and Merangkong Watsu Telen also joined in the procession.

Customs dispose narcotics and illicit foreign items Dimapur, march 20 (mExN): Contraband drugs and other illegal imports impounded by the Customs (Preventive) Division, Dimapur under the Commissionerate of Customs (Preventive) North Eastern Region, Shillong were put to flames at a destruction ceremony carried out at Ahozhe village, Dimapur on March 20.

The cache of impounded illegal imports included 688.2kg narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances, 1100 vials of codeine-based cough syrup; cigarettes, cosmetics and food items of foreign origin. The collective value of the destroyed items was estimated at Rs. 38,32,697.

As per a press release, the exercise was in pursuance to rrders passed by the District and Session Judge & Special Judge (NDPS), Dimapur, Session Judge Nagaon, Special Judge NDPS, The Additional Commissioner, trict Judicial Court, village authorities Tinsukia and the Commissioner of Central Excise & Service Tax, Guwa- of Ahozhe were also present, the reCustoms (Preventive), NER Shillong. hati and representatives from the dis- lease said.

DC Mon, Kiphire issue CMRDF: ACAUT Nagaland final reminder on UIN asks CM to denounce Dimapur, march 20 (mExN): The Deputy Commissioner Mon and Kiphire have issued ‘final’ reminder to Arms License holders in the respective district to submit their Arms License for generating Unique Identification Number (UIN).

The last date for the entry of UIN in National Database of Arms License (NDAL) is March 31.

According to DRPO Mon, the DC Mon also directed all administrative officers inform all Arms License holders within their respective jurisdiction about to convey the same to License holders.

The DC Kiphire Sedevikho Khro has also directed all Arms Licence holder in the district to submit the same its office before March 31 and no complaint shall be entertained thereafter.

As per the Ministry of Home Affairs with effect from April 1, any arms license without the UIN shall be “considered invalid” and the licence will be deemed cancelled.

Dimapur , march 20 (mExN): ACAUT Nagaland today asked the Chief Engineer (Roads & Bridges) not to carry out the executive order to process for tender the beneficiary list of Chief Minister’s Road Development Fund (CMRDF) for 2016-17.

Alleging in a statement that the R&B Minister has instructed to “process for tender” the beneficiary list, ACAUT Media Cell asserted “there can be no tender when there is only one ‘competing firm’ and therefore to direct the Chief Engineer to set-up tendering process is an insult to his own chair.”

According to ACAUT, the Chief Engineer “will be held culpable for abetting corruption if he does carry out the illegal instruction.” Further, he was requested to make a public clarification that “such an illegal order cannot be carried out and

the department has no option but to invite open tender bidding.” The statement also reminded the Chief Engineer not to “hang himself in unnecessary legal entangles, including FIR, which will be the case if he carries out the illegal directive of the former CM.” Further, Chief Minister Shürhozelie Liezietsu was asked to make a public statement denouncing the “illegal order” of his Advisor, Finance.

Meanwhile, ACAUT criticized the former Chief Minister TR Zeliang for allegedly positioning “himself as the CM” even after his resignation and also awarding Rs. 3 crore to M/S Hi-Tech Construction, the highest amount allocated among the 20 beneficiaries under the scheme. The total amount of funds for the CMRDF was Rs 12.50 crore.

LKM CEEC reaffirms commitment for clean election

Decries 'undemocratic impositions' in electoral process Dimapur, march 20 (mExN): The Langpangkong Kaketshir Mungdang Clean Election Campaign Committee (LKM CECC) had reaffirmed its “commitments to work selflessly amongst the people for clean election in ensuring one person one vote without compromising with money and muscle powers.”

The commitments were reaffirmed at the coordination meetings with the Local Action Committees on Clean Election held in Tuli and Changtongya town on March 17 & 18 respectively.

A press release from LKM CECC said that meeting also entrusted and empowered the respective action committees to initiate and adopt suitable measures to further educate the “general masses for fair and free participation with moral authority and political consciousness as a citizen during election.”

The Action committees have been constituted in the respective places comprised of the ward and church leaders’ alongwith the representatives from women and students’ Union to educate people and ensure fair and free election in their own locality, it said.

The meetings also reviewed the September 3,

2016 Resolutions on Clean Election adopted at Chuchuyimlang in the presence of all the concerned leaders from civil societies, church leaders, village council members and GBs from all the villages under Langpangkong range in Mokokchung district.

Meanwhile, the release said that LKM CECC also had a separate meeting with the leaders from five wards in Tuli jurisdiction regarding the “recent imbroglio that took place in connection with the local electoral politics.”

While LKM CECC was made to “understand that some people have announced certain impositions regarding the selection of a particular candidate in 21st Tuli Assembly Constituency,” it was clarified by the ward members that there was no case of “physical assault on any persons contrary to news report published in some local dailies recently,” it added.

In this connection, the committee condemned “such undemocratic impositions” upon the citizens in matter of selection of a candidate and cautioned that “such forceful imposition shall directly come under the scanner and supervision of the Election Com-

mission of India.”

The LKM CECC shall consult the Election Commission of India to ensure that no undemocratic decision in any place in Nagaland is enforced during election upon the electorates, it added.

It further appealed all the village council, ward leaders in respective towns and good citizens of Langpangkong Range to uphold the Chuchuyimlang Resolutions in letter and in spirit.

LKM CECC further informed that it will continue visiting all the villages under Langpangkong range in “coming months to meet consult and encourage people to participate in clean election campaign as a right for every citizen.”

There are also proposals to meet all the party leaders from all the political parties in Langpangkong range on the last part of April 2017, it added.

LKM CECC further appealed all concerned citizens to support its clean election campaign in all possible ways so as to make it a peoples’ movement in its “endeavor to let every person participate and cast their conscious vote during election without fear and favour in order to elect right persons for good governance in our state.”

More orgs flay March 18 assault Dimapur, march 20 (mExN): More organisations today denounced the alleged assault on Dr. Aotoshi at Purana Bazar, Dimapur on March 18. The retired officer of the Department of Animal Husbandry & Veterinary Services, who is also the Pro Vice Chairman of Delhi Public School, Dimapur and the CEO of Windows Media, was assaulted allegedly after a road mishap.

Meanwhile the family of the alleged assailiant today informed that they have approached the victim's family many times after the incident to expressed their regret. "In true Christian spirit the doctor has welcome us and heard our apology with sympathetic ear," the family said in a apology letter.

ASUD: Vehemently condemning the “brutal assault,” the Ao Students’ Union Dimapur (ASUD) today also urged the law enforcing agency to book the culprit/s at the earliest and award a “befitting punishment.”

The Union President Lanutoshi Aier and Secretary Moayanger Jamir in a press release also cautioned that “if any untoward incident occurs to any of its bonafide citizen” in the near future, the Union will not remain silent “but leave no stone unturned and stand head strong to protect and safeguard the integrity of its people.”

BAN: The Business Assocaition of Nagas (BAN) has also vehemently condemned the “physical assault” on its Advisor. “This is an insult to all the right thinking citizen of Dimapur,” BAN said in a statement issued by its Media Cell. It also expressed dismay over the action of the assualter who allegely “tried to stop Dr. Aotoshi and his wife from getting medical treatment even after the vicious assault.” “Every citizen should condemn and discourage such behavior of harassment and educate our younger generation the value of respect for our elderly citizen,” it said. BAN also requested the authorities to take strong action “against not only to those culprit” who assaulted Dr. Aotoshi but also to those, who tried to stop him from getting medical treatment.”

CII Nagaland Chapter The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) Nagaland State Chapter has also vehemently condemned the “atrocious attack” on one of its past Chairman and senior member of CII Nagaland state chapter Dr Aotoshi. “Such criminal behaviours should be swiftly and decisively punished by the law of the land to prevent recurrence and create deterrence for other criminals to be on our roads,” the Federation said in a press release from its Chair-

man Neichute Doulo.

“While appreciating the police for arresting the criminal, we would like to request the law enforcing agencies to deliver justice so that citizens of Nagaland will feel secure,” it added. It further wished speedy recovery to Dr Aotoshi.

EDSYO The East Dimapur Sumi Youth Organization vehemently denounced that the assault on Dr. Aotoshi. EDSYO condemn the “uncivilized act of the miscreants which creates nuisance and division in the society” and advised them to refrain from tarnishing “the good image of the youths of Purana Bazar” which is under its Jurisdiction.

Such incidents must not happen within our jurisdiction again, EDSYO said in a press statement issued by its Media & Publicity Cell. The organization also appealed to the Law enforcing agency to book “those culprit(s) under the relevant Sections and Law and prosecute them to thwart this kind of incidents in the near future.”

Nagaland Veterinarians’ Association The Nagaland Veterinarians’ Association has also condemned “physical assault” meted out to one of its bonafide member in strongest possible terms and also took note of the alleged “threat and comments” made against the victim.

The NVA pray that such incidences detrimental to the social harmony are not repeated in future, the Association said a press release issued by its President Dr. Ilang and General Secretary Dr. Michael Imti Imchen adding that it should be “condemned by all and dealt sternly by the law.”

Sumi Community, Darogapathar The Sumi Community, Darogapathar village has also strongly condemned the “mindless and brutal assault perpetrated” upon Dr. Aotoshi, a senior citizen and bonafide resident of the village. “This shameful act by a few arrogant youth has brought disgrace to the Sumis for which we condemn in the strongest terms and appeal to the Police and law enforcing authorities to identify all the accomplice(s) and companion(s) in order to let justice prevail,” SCD Chairman Hokato Zhimomi and Secretary P. Khetoi Sema said in a press statement.

“Such actions have no place in civilized society and stringent action as per the provisions of law should be taken to set precedence so that such incidents do not recur, particularly by the culprit(s),” it added. The SCD further wished Dr. Aotoshi a speedy recovery and prayer to “alleviate the mental harassment caused to him and his family.”

Girl found Loitering A girl, around 12-13 yrs of age, was found loitering alone near Chumukedima area by a police patrolling party on the late evening of March 19. She was later over to Diphupar police station, from where she was taken to women Police station, Dimapur. She was later handed the girl child to CHILDLINE Dimapur for further intervention at around 10:30 PM on the same night, CHILDLINE Dimapur Coordinator informed.

The girl appears to be deaf and dumb and no information of the child or her whereabouts could be known, it said.

Anyone having any information about the girl or her parents/Guardian can contact the CHILDLINE Toll free number 1098 (accessible through all mobile networks) or 03862-224151/ 09615297709.

6

IN FOCUS The Power of Truth

The Morung Express VOLUME XII ISSUE 77

Defiant Nonviolence

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here is a tendency to confuse and even distort nonviolence with pacifism. The words nonviolence and pacifism do not share a common meaning and are often confused and used interchangeably. In fact, the term defiant nonviolence is used to denote a deliberate process to challenge, confront, eventually empower and liberate the oppressed from the powers that be through nonviolent means.

Pacifism, while supporting using peaceful means to address conflicts and opposes war or violence for settling disputes, may not consistently take strategic action. From this perspective, nonviolence is a way of thinking and living which is guided by a principled interactive praxis of reflection and action.

The popular idiom “Freedom is not free” which is engraved into a wall at the Korean War Veterans’ Memorial, Washington, D.C., sends a very poignant message to struggling peoples around the world. In fact, Gene Sharp, a Senior Scholar at the Albert Einstein Institution in Boston, Massachusetts, is explicit in his understanding of the idiom when he says, “No outside force is coming to give oppressed people the freedom they so much want.” He goes to say, “People will have to learn how to take that freedom themselves. Easy it cannot be.”

It is in learning “how to take that freedom themselves” that the challenge of defiant nonviolence becomes fundamental. Human experiences have shown that when freedom is achieved through defiant nonviolence means there is a greater possibility for it to be more durable and sustainable. This is because freedom was achieved through the people’s collective concerted efforts. These collective efforts successfully contributed to an increased awareness of self-confidence and self-esteem by those who were once marginalized, oppressed and powerless. In this way, a liberated society becomes less susceptible to future oppression.

The present Naga situation can benefit immensely by embracing the principles and praxis of defiant nonviolence. Let us take for example the anti-corruption movement in Nagaland. Recent events against corruption indicate that their actions have been unplanned and essentially accidental or have been triggered by past actions and events. While spontaneous reactions have some positive qualities, their impact may be limited. Gene Sharp in his book, From Dictatorship to Democracy, asserts that, “At times the lack of planning ... has left crucial decisions to change, with disastrous results.”

If defiant nonviolent initiatives are to be effective in the Naga context, the people need to have a deep understanding of its basic principles. Indeed, as Sharp reminds us, “nonviolent struggle is a complex technique of social action involving a multitude of methods, a range of mechanisms of change, and specific behavioural requirement.” In other words, it is a dynamic integrated process involving strategic analyzing and planning actions and implementations in order to achieve a successful outcome.

Essentially a defiant nonviolent struggle is calling out for Naga women and men that are committed, determined, hard working, disciplined and are willing to adhere to strategic principles of a nonviolent struggle.

LEFT WING |

Andrea Vale Inter Press Service

Smiling Towards Development

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TUESDAY 21•03•2017

revious indications of national prosperity have focused on income, poverty, health and, above all, Gross Domestic Product, but on March 20th, World Happiness Day commemorates what is perhaps becoming the new way to measure welfare: happiness.

On this day, the 2017 World Happiness Report – the fifth to be published since the inaugural 2012 report – will be released by the United Nations General Assembly, reflecting years of research and development that began in 2015.

In contrast to the shorter World Happiness Report 2016 Update released last March, World Happiness Report 2017 will be a more comprehensive look at the factors leading to, as well as implications of, happiness. The report will include two separate chapters which each focusing on a sub-population in China and Africa, as well as deeper analyses of workplace happiness.

The 2017 report will also introduce a focus on the happiness implications of immigrants and refugees, reflecting a necessity brought on by the rising rates of migration worldwide.

The 2016 report listed the happiest country in the world as Denmark, followed in descending order by Switzerland, Iceland, Norway, Finland, Canada, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Australia and Sweden. Conversely, Burundi was ranked least in happiness, claiming the bottom spot just below Syria, Togo, Afghanistan, Benin, Rwanda, Guinea, Liberia and Tanzania, in ascending order of happiness.

In this instance, happiness was gauged by measuring a combination of GDP per capita, social support, healthy life expectancy, freedom to make life choices, generosity and perceptions of corruption. But as Former Finnish Prime Minister Alexander Stubb recently pointed out in an article published in Blue Wings, “it’s difficult to measure the happiness of a nation or what a country should do in order to boost it. The feeling of happiness is personal and by definition subjective.”

Governments, Stubbs noted, “do not create individual happiness, but they can focus on at least five things that create the right conditions for individuals to thrive: security, health care, education, equality and infrastructure.”

Why devote so much time and effort into measuring happiness? Because happiness doesn’t just result in more smiles: studies are increasingly illuminating stronger links between happiness and progress towards the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The two form a complementary relationship – the happier a country is, the more progress it has made towards the SDGs, and the more progress a country has made towards the SDGs, the happier it is.

In the 2016 World Happiness Report, Earth Institute Director Jeffrey D. Sachs compared progress towards the SDGs, national competitiveness and economic freedom in a regression chart, finding that though the former two accounted for high levels of positive increase in a country’s happiness, the latter had increasingly less.

“Economic freedom per se does not seem to explain much, if anything, about cross-country happiness after controlling for national competitiveness and progress towards the SDGs,” Sachs said.

Happiness is a particularly relevant concept considering the spike of mental health awareness among high school and college-aged persons. Talking openly about depression, anxiety and general well-being has become increasingly important to young people, and has begun to be considered as vital to assessing one’s life as income, health and other classic gauges of prosperity. In other words, it is no longer enough to simply be in good health and have a well-paying job; in order to have a ‘good’ life, one must feel fulfilled and satisfied in their daily lives. One must be happy.

Making a country happier could result in more than just a brighter day: it could result in less hunger, higher education rates and better equality.

THE MORUNG EXPRESS

C O M M E N T A R Y

Garga Chatterjee

Is calling for independence always seditious or illegal?

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he Supreme Court has long declared that no public service can be denied to anyone who for whatever reason does not produce the Aadhar card. In short, it can’t be made mandatory for any public purpose. The Union government led by Narendra Modi has been flouting this directive through notifications issued from various agencies under it. The most recent and probably the most shameful notification came very recently when the Union government decided to deny mid-day meal to poorest of the poor children if they don’t have an Aadhar card now or in future. It may be surprising that the directive of the highest court of the land can be flouted with such impunity by the Union government as if it runs according to some law different from the constitution of India. Or may be its not that surprising. Because if what the Supreme Court had said mattered, then senior ministers of the Union government wouldn’t be using the term ‘seditious’ to characterize everyone who call for the independence of Kashmir, Punjab, Nagaland, Manipur or anything. It is not illegal to do so per se. It is not a crime.

Merely raising slogans is not seditious Is publicly calling for an independent Kashmir or Punjab (and by implication destroying the unity and integrity of the Indian Union as presently constituted) seditious or illegal? The answer is No. Several hours after the assassination of Indira Gandhi who had ordered an Indian Army attack inside Sikhism’s holiest shrine, Balwant Singh and Bhipunder Singh raised slogans in support of Khalistan, that is the separation of Punjab from the Indian Union.

They said “Khalistan Zindabad” several times near a busy cinema hall in Chandigarh. Though the so-called sedition law or Section 124A was applied against them for this act, the Supreme Court set aside their conviction under Section 124A. In short, the Supreme Court opined that merely raising slogans in support of a free Khalistan is not seditious. The logical principle that the Supreme Court applied in this case was derived from a 1962 Supreme Court judgement (Kedarnath Vs State of Bihar AIR 1962 SC 955). In the Khalistan Zindabad case, the Supreme Court quoted this 1962 judgment and said that sedition charges “apply only to acts involving intention or tendency to create disorder or disturbance of law and order or incitement of violence.

This was done to avoid the provisions becoming violative of Article 19 of the Constitution which provides for freedom of speech and expression.”

Former Supreme Court judge Markandey Katju summarizes these points as follows – “mere demands and slogans for Azadi etc will not be crimes unless one goes further and (1) commits violence, or (2) organizes

violence, or (3) incites imminent violence.” That makes it clear that there is absolutely no legal basis to the ongoing hoopla that involves this person or that person being branded seditious merely due to slogans chanted in favour of freedom for Kashmir. In fact it is unfortunate that police forces apply this section in their chargesheet under weird assumptions of what constitutes sedition. One expects the enforcers of law to know the law in the first place.

Same is the case with elected MPs and cabinet ministers of the BJP. One of them, senior Union cabinet minister, M Venkaiah Naidu has recently said, “If raising azadi slogans is not treason then I don’t know what is”. He is right.

M Venkaiah Naidu simply does not know what treason is as per the constitution of India. There is no shame in ignorance but it is rather obscene to parade one’s ignorance with such pride of power. He is a lawmaker. He ought to know the law. He is a Union cabinet minister. He ought to know what the constitution of India means. The present government wants to criminalize even democratic, peaceful calls for freedom from the Indian Union.

Somewhere long dead British rulers of their South Asian empire must be very proud of the performance of their brown successors to uphold the worst elements of British rule. Criminalization of peaceful and democratic dissent is on one such. Compare this to the present day British isles which just recently had a referendum on Scottish independence. Such a call for independence was not responded to with militarisation, Section 144, army-roads, stripsearches, sedition charges, encounters, kidnappings, ‘friendly’ football and forced renditions of national anthems but by a debate around ideas of nationhood, autonomy, economy and future dreams. In the ensuing democratic referendum, the pro-independence side lost. Thus Scotland, for now, is part of the United Kingdom. That’s how governments of civilized societies deal with internal dissent and difference.

Self determination Some of the most eloquent speeches for secession have been made in the Parliament of India itself by none other than the stalwart leader of Tamil masses C.N. Annadurai. AIADMK and DMK, both of which claim to carry forward C.N. Annadurai’s ideology, between them won 223 out of the 232 seats of the Tamil Nadu assembly in the 2016 elections. And this is what Anna said in the Rajya Sabha in 1963 – “the very mention of separation is not a danger to sovereignty. Not only that, even granting that our propaganda for separation endangers sovereignty, what should a democratic party that controls the Government try to do?

Should it not go to the people? Does not our Preamble say that sovereignty rests with the people? It is the people

who have created the Constitution. It is to them, the repositories of our political rights, that you should appeal.

I go to the people with confidence. I would request members of the ruling party to assure your Government about your capacity, about your ability to counteract me by educating the public. Why do you give up your rights?

You as members of the ruling party and as responsible public men should suggest to the Government, ‘Do not intervene between us and the public.

If Annadurai carries on a propaganda for separation, we are alive to that danger. We shall meet the people and make the people understand the venomousness of the propoganda’. May I request Members of this House to give an amount of respect to the common man as a democrat? Do not think that the common man can be deluded by anybody. He may not be well versed especially in law but he has got a sound and robust commonsense. He knows how to distinguish between cheese and chalk, and when you bring in this measure, you are passing a vote of noconfidence against the commonsense of the entire nation. Why not leave the issue to the people? Let them decide.”

In another speech in the Rajya Sabha in 1962, Anna calls his Dravidian land a separate country and demands self determination. He said, “I claim Sir, to come from a country, a part in India now, but which I think is of a different stock, not necessarily antagonistic. I belong to the Dravidian stock. I am proud to call myself a Dravidian. That does not mean that I am against a Bengali or a Maharashtrian or a Gujarati. As Robert Burns has stated, ‘A man is a man for all that’. I say that I belong to the Dravidian stock and that is only because I consider that the Dravidians have got something concrete, something distinct, something different to offer to the nation at large. Therefore it is that we want self-determination.”

Truth can’t be legislated, though its expression can be. A nation is only a nation to those who believe in it. A nation does not exist by itself, without its believers. It is a self-styled collective. If this collective has the resources to put symbols of its nationhood in areas significantly inhabited by people who may collectively think of themselves to be some other nation, conflict occurs. The most democratic and peaceful way of resolving this conflict, is to ask the people inhabiting the contested area, what do they want. If this choice is denied, then the outcome of that conflict – victory, defeat or constant repression – is typically ensured by superior resources, especially military resources – who has more money for guns, in short. In such undemocratic scenarios, victory is not necessarily the expression of popular will; neither does it represent the validity of some nation concept over another. Men with

more guns and money 'win'.

What do Kashmiris want? I think New Delhi knows that very well and so do we. It is not without reason that Kashmir has been denied a referendum with independent nationhood as one of the choices. A power that confidently claims that most people in Kashmir are happy to be citizens of India also denies the people of Kashmir to show the world the extent of such happiness through a referendum.

Whether that is a sign of confidence in what New Delhi claims to be true, I leave my readers to judge.

When people cease to be sovereign If there is no call to violence, but the utterance and propagation of an idea is sought to be curbed by the biggest media agenda setting, most moneyed and best armed show in town, then we can only infer one thing. That there is fear that the utterance is something that people might love to hear and hence the hold of these utterances and the ideas they convey might propagate their hold on the people. One loves to hear things based on their inner aspirations and sensibilities as well as the degree to which such things illuminate or resolve contradictions between one’s various experiences and understandings existing at that time. In short, they have a basis in people’s mind and reality. Whichever these people are, the powers that be have decided that their opinion of such types will not count and labours hard to prevent people being ‘infected’ with a contagion that connects far more strongly than its own continuous propaganda. It is a portal, a vista of ideology that the powers to be does not want opened.

Thus, such ideologies are smeared as illegal (but ideologies can’t be illegal, states of mind can’t be illegal, only harmful action on others can be – harm being something that this ‘other’ also agrees with), people holding such ideological positions are either smeared as ‘dangerous’ or infantilized as ‘misguided’. At that point, the people cease to be sovereign. The real sovereign decides under what conditions people’s sovereignty can be suspended. Supreme power does not lie in deciding what rights a man has but in deciding in what situations can the rights of a man be suspended. Official extra-judicial killers are thus more powerful than courts. The strongest person in the ‘speech and expression’ department of the deep state is the one who decides what can’t be allowed to be spoken, what can’t be allowed to be expressed. And that’s precisely what the BJP is apparently conspiring. The Union government is apparently plotting to expand the ambit of sedition law to include certain ideas it doesn’t like, even if that does not call for violence. In short, it wants to terrorize people’s minds into silence. Coward is the one who fears words.

Global Harvests Robust, Yet 37 Countries Need Food Aid

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IPS World Desk

lobal food supply conditions are robust, but access to food has been dramatically reduced in areas suffering from civil conflicts, while drought conditions are worsening food security across swathes of East Africa, according to the United Nations.

In a new edition of its Crop Prospects and Food Situation report, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) informs that some 37 countries require external assistance for food, 28 of them in Africa as a result of lingering effects of last year’s El Niño-triggered droughts on harvests in 2016.

Yet, while agricultural production is expected to rebound in southern Africa, protracted fighting and unrest is increasing the ranks of the displaced and hungry in other parts of the world, the report adds.

Famine has been formally declared in South Sudan and the food security situation is of grave concern in northern Nigeria, Somalia and Yemen.

“This is an unprecedented situation. Never before have we been faced with four threats of famine in multiple countries simultaneously,” said FAO Assistant Director-General Kostas Stamoulis, head of the Economic and Social Development department.

“It demands swift action which should consist of immediate food as-

sistance but also livelihood support try is very high.” to ensure that such situations are not And in Somalia, the combination repeated.” of conflict, civil insecurity and drought have resulted in more than double the Millions Facing Famine number of people – now estimated at The UN specialised body cites sev- 2.9 million – being severely food inseeral examples. cure from six months ago.

In South Sudan, 100,000 people “Drought has curtailed fodder for were facing famine in Leer and May- pastoralists and the third consecutive endit Counties, part of former Unity season of poor rainfall is estimated State, while there was an “elevated to have reduced crop production in risk” that similar conditions existed in southern and central regions to 70 per two nearby counties. Over all, about cent below average levels, leaving food 4.9 million people across the country stocks depleted.” were classified Conflicts and as facing crisis, civil unrest in Afemergency or ghanistan, Bufamine. rundi, Central That numAfrican Repubber is projected to increase to 5.5 lic, Democratic Republic of Congo, million, or almost half the country’s Iraq, Myanmar and Syria are also expopulation, at the peak of the lean acerbating food insecurity conditions season in July. for millions of people as well affecting In northern Nigeria, 8.1 million nearby countries hosting refugees. In people are facing acute food insecurity addition, the drought in East Africa in conditions and require urgent life-savlate 2016 has heightened food insecuing response and livelihood protection. rity in several countries in the sub-reThat comes despite the above-average gion, according to the new report. cereal harvest in 2016 and reflects the disruption caused by conflict as well as Worldwide Trends the sharp depreciation of the Naira.

Cereal production made quite Meanwhile in Yemen, FAO reports strong gains in the world overall in that 17 million people or two-thirds 2016, with a record recovery in Cenof the population are estimated to be tral America, and larger cereal crops in food insecure, while almost half of Asia, Europe and North America. them are in need of emergency assisLooking ahead, FAO’s first global tance, with the report noting that “the wheat production forecast for 2017 risk of famine declaration in the coun- points to a 1.8 per cent decline from

WRITE-WING

last year’s record level, due mostly to a projected 20 per cent output drop in the United States, where the area sown to winter wheat is the lowest level in over 100 years.

Prospects are favourable for the 2017 maize crop in Brazil and Argentina and the outlook is generally positive for coarse grains throughout the Southern Hemisphere. Prospects for rice are mixed, but it is still too early to make firm predictions for many of the world’s major crops, according to FAO. Maize harvests in Southern Africa, slashed by El Niño, are forecast to recover this year, with South Africa’s output expected to increase by more than 50 per cent from 2016, with positive trends likely in most nearby countries. However, an outbreak of armyworms, along with localized flooding in Mozambique, Zambia and Zimbabwe, could limit larger production gains in 2017.

The 37 countries currently in need of external food assistance are Afghanistan, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Congo, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Guinea, Haiti, Iraq, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Libya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Mozambique, Myanmar, Niger, Nigeria, Pakistan, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Swaziland, Syria, Uganda, Yemen and Zimbabwe.

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.

TUESDAY 21•03•2017

THE MORUNG EXPRESS

Asian collision course

Donald Trump challenged the One China policy, but soon backed off. He wants concessions from China on trade and security, and he might even attempt to impede China’s global ascent Philip S Golub

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Le Monde diplomatique

ince the end of the US presidential campaign, Donald Trump and his team of advisers have made statements showing they seek to alter world politics in significant ways. None are quite as important, for world peace and global stability, as the adversarial pronouncements about the People’s Republic of China (PRC) that are now upsetting bilateral relations and generating turbulence in East Asia. While not yet formalised in a coherent policy framework, official and semi-official discourses point to sharpening rivalry, and possibly to an unfolding, and risky, containment effort.

At the economic level, the new administration is considering designating China a ‘currency manipulator’ for the first time since 1994, and is proposing punitive tariffs of up to 45% on Chinese-sourced imports. At the strategic level, prominent figures in or close to the new administration have been sending unusually unambiguous messages that the US will use force if necessary to curb China’s growing power and reach in East Asia and the Pacific.

In confirmation hearings on 11 January, secretary of state designate Rex Tillerson warned that the US would interdict Chinese naval forces in the South China Seas: ‘We’re going to have to send China a clear signal that, first, the island-building stops and, second, your access to these islands also is not going to be allowed.’ It would be a ‘danger to the global economy’ if China were to ‘dictate access to the waterway’. A few days later, Newt Gingrich, former Republican speaker of the House of Representatives (1995-9) and confidant of Donald Trump, told the German weekly Der Spiegel, ‘Well, frankly, on the South China Sea, I suspect we will try to communicate with the Chinese that they are not going to become the leading naval power in our lifetime’.

Concerns about the ‘China threat’ On 11 December, Trump had threatened to overturn the basic framework of Sino-American relations since the late 1970s by publicly questioning the One China policy: ‘I don’t know why we have to be bound by a One China policy unless we make a deal with China having to do with other things, including trade’. He has since reversed on this crucially sensitive issue, which the PRC sees as a core question of sovereignty, telling Chinese president Xi Jinping on 9 February that he would ‘honour our One China policy.’

Even so, this cluster of statements cannot be taken lightly: they reflect widely shared views in nationalist power circles about the ‘China threat’. At best, they can be interpreted as opening moves in a coercive diplomatic effort to extract concessions from China on trade and security; at worst, as the first articulation of an emerging strategic programme to inhibit China’s ascent. In either case, implementation would mark a significant and destabilising policy shift.

Since the late 1970s, when the US recognised the PRC, US behaviour towards China has been fairly consistent. Despite frictions over monetary and trade policy, and one symbolic, potentially serious, test of strength during the 1995-6 ‘Taiwan Strait crisis’, the primary thrust of US policy has been to incorporate China into the systems of the US-led international order, and the institutional and market disciplines of the world capitalist economy.

Successive US administrations thought that they could do this from a position of strength, creating the frameworks for China’s economic and political paths.

Conversely, the PRC demonstrated restraint, seen in cautious voting behaviour at the UN Security Council (from 1971 to 2006 the PRC used its veto power only twice) and in the subordination of strategic issues to the paramount aim of state capitalist transformation and global economic integration. More aggressive Chinese behaviour in the South China Sea in recent years suggests this might not last: rising nationalism, which has gone hand in hand with growing wealth and power, could prevail in China, as in the US. Nonetheless, current Chinese discourse — notably Xi Jinping’s Davos speech to the World Economic Forum on 17 January, which stressed the importance of global economic interdependence — points to continuity, at least for the moment.

The main change has come from the US. The nationalist ideologues and economic neo-mercantilists now in charge in Washington read world politics as a zero-sum game in which states seek relative gains in a competitive struggle for power, prestige and profit. They consider the PRC a major economic threat and a formidable strategic challenge. They aim to ‘aggressively and comprehensively address the China problem,’ according to Peter Navarro, head of the new National Trade Council and author of inflammatory books.

China cannot rise peacefully International relations theorist John Mearsheimer has offered the clearest argument in favour of containment. Starting from the assumption that interstate

PERSPECTIVE

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SUSTAINABLE LIVING Neithongunuo Angela Belho Assistant Professor, Dept. of Botany, St. Josephs College, Jakhama

S

In harm’s way: Chinese aircraft carrier fleet on training exercises in the South China Sea

not rise peacefully’ since it would ‘fundamentally alter the architecture of the international system.’ ‘If China continues to grow economically,’ he wrote in 2001, ‘it will attempt to dominate Asia the way the United States dominates the western hemisphere.’ In response, the ‘United States ... will go to enormous lengths to prevent China from achieving regional hegemony,’ leading to an ‘intense security competition ... with considerable potential for war’.

There is a thin, porous line between analysis and prescription in Mearsheimer’s work. He expressed astonishment not long ago about ‘Americans and people in allied states who profess wanting to see China grow economically.’ At a small gathering in Washington DC in 2014, he said he hoped the Chinese economy would ‘falter or collapse,’ thus removing ‘a potentially enormous threat to the US and its allies.’ Were China to ‘reach a GDP per capita that is comparable to Taiwan or Hong Kong today, it would be a greater potential threat to the United States than anything America has previously dealt with’.

Most recently, he has urged the Trump administration ‘to go to great lengths to prevent China from becoming a regional hegemon’ by actively leading a containment effort. ‘Ideally, Washington would rely on countries in Asia to contain China, but that strategy will not work. Not only is China likely to be far more powerful than its neighbours, but also they are located far from each other, making it difficult for them to coordinate those efforts to form an effective balancing coalition. The United States will have to coordinate these efforts and throw its considerable weight behind them ... The fact that no country threatens to dominate Europe or the Gulf is a blessing, as it not only allows Washington to concentrate its military forces in Asia, but also allows American policy makers to concentrate their strategic thinking on how to prevent China from becoming a peer competitor. That mission should be of paramount importance for the United States in the years ahead’.

Short of war, however, that mission seems unattainable. The regional and global conditions for containment are not in place. First, it would not be acceptable to most East Asian states. Many countries in the region do fear an overbearing China and have expressed serious concerns in recent years over the PRC’s suzerainty claims in the South China Sea. However, being fated to live forever in the PRC’s neighbourhood, they do not want to be enmeshed in a great power rivalry that would threaten regional stability. All regional states have enormous stakes in China’s ‘peaceful rise’. The PRC has become the gravitational centre of regional economic integration and currently accounts for nearly 40% of Taiwanese trade, 21% of South Korean trade (more than Korean trade with the US and Japan combined), 14% of ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) trade, and even 20% of Japanese trade.

In private, ASEAN diplomats now express greater concern about US intentions than about China’s. Some have been working behind the scenes to get the PRC to sign a ‘code of conduct’ over the South China Sea. They include states that have their own territorial claims, such as Vietnam, which retains close if sometimes tense relations with the Chinese partystate, and the Philippines.

If China does not severely overreach in Southeast Asia in the near future, a regional anti-PRC coalition will not come into being. A Chinese official noted in 2012 that some Asian countries ‘share the same bed [as the US] but have different dreams.’ A pro-Chinese coalition is not very likely either. Few East Asian states that now share China’s bed also share Xi Jinping’s China dream: the PRC’s appeals to ‘Asianness’, based on cultural proximities and shared histori-

despite a common allergy to universalising western discourses. Most East Asian states are seeking balance — as weaker states in the uncomfortable proximity of great powers are wont to do — to preserve some autonomy in the face of both Asian-Pacific giants. The last thing they want is to be forced to choose sides.

Also, containment would run counter to the interests of a constellation of transnational economic actors, including parts of US capital; these are deeply invested in China, and dependent on its role as a platform of production and assembly in the global production and value chains that make the world economy work. Until Trump, the geopolitical logic of state power had not come into contradiction with transnational economic interests, which now weigh heavily in overall strategic calculations.

The hot cold war That has now changed, at least for the moment. Containment of the Soviet Union worked during the cold war (which was often hot in East Asia and other colonial and postcolonial peripheries), insofar as the US built tight alliances and interdependencies — belts of security and prosperity that surrounded the USSR and were characterised by the convergence of public and private actors around a relatively unified agenda.

After the second world war the US aimed to restore the world capitalist economy, to contain the USSR and inhibit revolution in colonial and postcolonial world regions, as well as in Europe where communist parties claimed mass support. These aims were shared overall by dominant European and East Asian anti-communist social forces, which developed deep and lasting economic and security links with the US. In Europe, this led to institutionalised cooperation based on converging general interests. NATO was underpinned by an expanding and increasingly interdependent transatlantic economy. In East Asia, bilateral security alliances went along with US support for strong (read authoritarian), successful capitalist developing states, which were initially given unrestricted US market access and became subordinate but willing partners in the global containment effort.

The major business actors had powerful vested interests in this global system, which kept the Soviet Union caged in a closed economic area (Comecon) and limited international economic relationships. New York and Washington became the gravitational centre for the constellation of private economic actors that, over time, became the transnational constituency of Pax Americana.

Where China is concerned, there is no such common purpose today among public or private actors, either in East Asia or in Europe, which is now anxiously looking at the authoritarian Far East to moderate the newly bellicose Far West.

Transnational capital paradoxically and unexpectedly has become more aligned with China than with the current purposes of the US state. Unlike the Soviet Union, China has become an indispensable hub of the world capitalist economy.

Chinese state is not about to collapse The last reason why containment cannot work is that China is not in the same political or economic position as the Soviet Union in the late 1970s or 1980s, when industrial decline, overall economic stagnation and a failed overseas war combined to generate a systemic crisis. China has 17% of world GDP today in purchasing power parity (PPP), and while economic and social strains could well generate setbacks, the state is not about to collapse. There are serious questions about the longer-range sustainability of the current sociopolitical order, and of its environmentally damaging, externally driven growth logic. But the state has proved resilient over long periods.

Ironically, by threatening trade sanc-

may ultimately help the PRC gain greater autonomy. While higher tariffs would hurt its economy in the short run, they will spur the turn to endogenous growth that the Chinese leadership has been aiming for since the 2000s, reducing reliance on exports and helping to build more cohesive national and regional markets.

It is too late for the US to contain China, if indeed containment was ever possible. In 1965, when China was in a far weaker economic and strategic position, the scholar Hans Morgenthau argued that containment would fail, leaving US policymakers only two options, accommodation or general war: ‘Even if China were threatening her neighbours primarily by military means, it would be impossible to contain her by erecting a military wall at the periphery of her empire. For China is, even in her present underdeveloped state, the dominant power in Asia. The United States can no more contain Chinese influence in Asia ... than China could contain American influence in the western hemisphere ... If we are convinced that we cannot live with a China predominant in the heartland of Asia, then we must strike at the heart of Chinese power ... To be defeated China has to be conquered ... If we do not want to set ourselves goals which cannot be attained with the means we are willing to employ, we must learn to accommodate ourselves to the predominance of China on the Asian mainland’.

‘Strategic arrogance beyond America’s strength’ International politics is reflexive. US sovereignists read China as a revisionist emerging power, purposefully aiming, beneath a deceptive discourse of interdependence, to alter the regional and global status quo. And many Chinese analysts view the US as an ‘aggressive, ambitious, self-righteous and highly militarised Rome’. The Chinese leadership, which had already manifested concerns over the Obama administration’s announced pivot towards East Asia, has reacted cautiously to Trump administration pronouncements. But publications thought to reflect the power centres in Beijing have been quick to denounce Trump as showing ‘strategic arrogance that is beyond America’s strength.’

On 16 January the Global Times wrote that ‘China (had) to be quick in preparing for sharp provocations from the Trump administration’ by improving its ‘ties with other countries so as to have more leverage in its game with the US,’ and also by ‘preparing for the worst-case scenario’. A few days earlier, China’s aircraft carrier, the Liaoning, sailed through the first island chain in the East China Sea, accompanied for the first time by six H-6 long range bombers, signalling in the words of another Global Times piece, that the ‘PLA’s navy exercises in the West Pacific Ocean are entering into a normalisation state ... The breakthrough, however, is considered as just the beginning stage of the PLA navy’s sea operation in the region as more fleets of battleships led by carriers will sail into waters near and far in the future’.

The US and China seem set to test each other, with the growing risk of a clash between US or PRC naval and air forces in the South China or East China Seas, and the possibility of chain reactions leading to a major historical accident. There are other pathways. The PRC could choose a policy of strategic restraint and use the widespread aversion caused by Trump administration behaviour to make political gains in Asia and beyond. Or the US could back off from its confrontational course. Events and actor choices will inform us soon whether we are experiencing a historic reversal from limited but real transnational interdependence back to 19th century national power politics.

Philip S Golub is professor of international relations at the American University of Paris (AUP) and the

ustainable living. When we talk about sustainable living in general sense, it is a way of adapting a lifestyle that attempts to reduce an individual’s or society’s use of the earth’s natural resources and personal resources in such a way so as to use it to fulfill our needs and not our wants. Sustainability is a topic which has hit the charts of the need of the hour in this present generation. It is one of the most common topics under review and every individual has now become aware of it. In fact, it has become a must for any school going individual to be made aware of it.Thousands of organizations and individual activists have come forward with various ways and means to sustain the environment and its resources. And all these initiatives have been taken just because the earth has now reached to a state where it can no longer provide us with more than we need, forget that, but it is now becoming unable to even meet our needs just because of one particular reason alone and that is ‘human greed’, a nature in man which can prove very dangerous and fatal for one’s own kind, which is now evident in the present scenario of our very own environment.

Human kind needs the environment for survival. However, man often tends to forget that and tries to exploit the resources just to meet its own greedy desires and that is when everything goes wrong. Though it has been stressed on almost every time about the environment being deteriorated due to our merciless actions against nature just to fulfill our greedy desires, we often fail to realize what exactly we are leading ourselves to.

To add to this never solving issue of environmental deterioration, it has become the most ‘not taken seriously’ issue. This is because though it is an issue which when we compare it to any other issue stands out as the most serious issue which needs intensive looking in to because our future generation’s wellbeing relies on it, it is a most talked about issue and the negative effects are slow and doesn’t come with a bang. However, if one may look deeply, one will find that health has deteriorated, air has become a source of diseases, rain water has become harmful, floral and faunal species are getting extinct because of their inability to adapt to the impure state of the environment, pollution is even visible in the atmosphere, and all these are leading to an imbalance in the natural ecosystem and thus will slowly lead to the extinction of our very own human race. When that has been mentioned, extinction, it is not a metaphor, it is literally mentioned and meant the way it is because man like any other living being is mortal and is capable of getting extinct if we do not do something about it. We may be dominant in many aspects but we also need to keep in mind that no matter how much of artificial forces and means we may use to survive, nothing beats the three natural elements of life, Water, Air and Food. After all why would we need them in the first place? It is mere stupidity to be building your house out of the food you eat.

If only we could fight for our environment like we fight for our political rights. It does not require you to do extraordinary things to sustain the environment, even if it does, who is to benefit from it and why should one even hesitate. There are many small ways through which you can contribute a little more to sustainable living. Let me list out some, and they are as follows….

1) Think twice before shopping. Every product that we purchase has an environmental footprint from the material used to creat it to the pollution emitted during its manufacture to the packaging that ends up in landfills. So before you buy, ask yourselves if you really need it and if you do, try considering the ones with minimal packaging.

2) Make sure your big purchases have big environmental benefits, like when you buy a car, look for a fuel-efficient model, you’ll save thousands on gas money and reduce your carbon footprints over the years.

3) Ditch the plastics, as plastics never go away. Every year thousands of sea birds and mammals die due to ingestion of plastic wastes. Try to avoid any plastic product whenever possible.

4) Boycott products that endanger wildlife. Some products harm endangered species by threatening their habitat, from cutting down old-growth forests to using up the water that riparian species needs to survive. To avoid contributing to such, shop conscientiously and look out for sustainable materials like bamboos.

5) Pay attention to labels. Choose Fair Trade certified goods when possible to support companies dedicated to sustainable production.

6) Be water-wise. Most importantly skip bottled water.

7) Drive less, drive green. Changing your driving habits can dramatically reduce your carbon footprint. Walk, bike, carpool or use public transportation whenever possible.

8) Green your home. Try using energy – saving light bulbs for more efficient lighting and make sure your home has energy saving windows.

9) Try to eat locally sourced fruits and vegetables as it lowers the amount of fossil fuels used to transport food over long distances. Also eat less meat as meat production is environmentally very destructive and responsible for massive amount of water use and pollution and habitat destruction.

10) Choose to have a smaller family. With more than 7 billion people in the world our demands on food, water, fossils and land are pushing other species to extinction.

11) Use your voice and your vote. Vote for candidates with strong environmental platforms. Today one of the best things you can do to protect the habitat is to politically get involved in the community.

12) Opt for renewable energy like solar panels or solar water heating at home Sustainable living is thus just many easy steps away that you can do in your everyday life. It does not require any special skills; all it requires is just a little bit of concern for our own well-being as well as the wellbeing of our future generation, because, so to say,

8

tuesDAY 21•03•2017

INDIA

THE MORUNG EXPRESS

China angered as Dalai Lama shares stage with Indian officials BeiJiNG, March 20 (reuterS): China expressed anger on Monday after exiled Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama attended a Buddhist conference supported by the Indian culture ministry, the latest spat with India over a man whom China brands a dangerous separatist.

The Nobel Peace Prizewinning Dalai Lama, who fled into exile in India after a failed uprising against Chinese rule in 1959, denies espousing violence and says he only Exiled Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, gestures as he wants genuine autonomy speaks to his followers during the Jangchup Lamrim teachfor his remote Himalayan ing session at the Gaden Jangtse Thoesam Norling Monastery in Mundgod in Karnataka. (REUTERS File Photo) homeland.

The Dalai Lama culture ministry said in a statement. opened the conference last Friday in Buddha's teachings were especially eastern India. "Recently, India ignored relevant in a world facing violence, PresChina's solemn representations and ident Pranab Mukherjee said on Sunday strong opposition and insisted on in- in a closing address to the conference, viting the 14th Dalai Lama to attend held at Rajgir in the eastern state of Bian international Buddhist conference har. In December, Mukherjee hosted the organised by the Indian government," Dalai Lama at his official residence with Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswom- other Nobel prize winners, the Tibetan an Hua Chunying said. leader's first public meeting with an InThe Dalai Lama also shared the stage dian head of state in 60 years. with Indian government officials and Next month, the government repgave a speech, she told a daily news brief- resentatives will meet the Dalai Lama ing. "China is strongly dissatisfied and when he visits a sensitive border region resolutely opposed to this," Hua added. controlled by India but claimed by Chi"We urge the India side to clearly recog- na, despite a warning from Beijing that it nise the anti-China separatist nature of would damage ties. the Dalai clique, abide by its promises on China has ruled Tibet with an iron the Tibet issue, respect China's core inter- fist since it was "peacefully liberated" by ests and avoid further disturbances and the People's Liberation Army in 1950. harm to China-India relations."

China denies any repression in Tibet The Dalai Lama and Indian Culture and says its rule has brought developMinister Mahesh Sharma inaugurated ment to a once backward and povertythe conference on Friday, the Indian stricken region.

World HappineSS 2017

Norway tops the list, India ranks 122

OSlO, March 20 (iaNS): India ranked 122nd, behind terror-riven Pakistan and poorest-of-poor Nepal in the global list of the happiest countries, according to a United Nations report released on Monday. India came down by three slots, as last year it was placed at 118th spot. It was behind the majority of South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (Saarc) nations, apart from war-ravaged Afghanistan, that stood at 141. Among the eight Saarc nations, Pakistan was at 80th position, Nepal stood at 99, Bhutan at 97, Bangladesh at 110 while Sri Lanka was at 120. However, Maldives did not figure in the World Happiness Report.

Norway took the top spot from Denmark as the happiest country in the

world.

The Scandinavian nation, which was ranked fourth in last year's report, jumped to the top this year on the basis of several key calculations, including levels of caring, freedom to make life decisions, generosity, good governance, honesty, health and income.

Other factors by which 155 countries were measured in the annual World Happiness Report are: inequality, life expectancy, GDP per capita, public trust (i.e. a lack of corruption in government and business), and social support.

Denmark, Iceland, Switzerland and and Finland round out the top five, while the Central African Republic came last in the World Happiness Report.

Western Europe and North America dominated the top of the table, with the US and Britain at 14th and 19th positions, respectively.

Syria placed 152 of 155 countries -Yemen and South Sudan, which are facing impending famine, came in at 146 and 147.

The World Happiness Report was released to coincide with the United Nations' International Day of Happiness on March 20.

GpF WiTHdraWal ruleS eaSed

Now minimum time for sanction of fund is 15 days

New Delhi, March 20 (aGeNcieS): In a major relief for government employees, Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions has announced several relaxations in General Provident Fund Rules, with liberalization and simplification, particularly relating to advances and withdrawals by the subscriber/ employee.

According to the Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER), MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances, Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space, Dr Jitendra Singh, the existing GP Fund (Central Service) Rules came into force way back in 1960 and even though certain amendments have been made from time to time to address the concerns raised, it was felt to be the need of the hour to bring in some more changes for the convenience of the Government employees.

The liberalization in the provisions was essentially meant to bring in ease of procedures, especially for activities like house building, education of children etc., thus making the rules more employee-friendly.

Elaborating further, Dr Jitendra Singh stated that the requirement of documentary proof for withdrawing GP Fund has been done away with. As a result, a simple declaration by the subscriber / employee would suffice henceforth, he added. Similarly, the minimum time limit for sanction and payment of GP Fund withdrawal

Cabinet clears four GST-related bills New Delhi, March 20 (iaNS): The Union Cabinet on Monday approved four Goods and Services Tax (GST)-related bills, which have already been approved by the GST Council after detailed discussions.

The draft legislations include Central Goods and Services Tax (CGST) Bill 2017, Integrated Goods and Services Tax (IGST) Bill 2017, Union Territory Goods and Services Tax Bill (UTGST) 2017 and Goods and Services Tax (Compensation to the States) Bill 2017.

"With the Cabinet approval to these four bills, the GST regime in India is in the final stages of culmination and the GST law will most likely be implemented from July 1. The four Bills have been earlier approved by the GST Council after thorough, clause by clause discussion over 12 meetings of the Council held in the last six months," Finance Ministry said in statement.

The draft bills now need to be tabled in Parliament's ongoing budget session.

Minister of State for Finance Santosh Kumar Gangwar said here on Monday that all the four draft legislations pertain-

(Reuters Photo)

ing to the GST would be moved in Parliament within next 10 days.

"Within the next 10 days, we will place the bills in this Lok Sabha session," Gangwar told BTVi. While the CGST Bill makes provisions for levy and collection of tax by the central government on intra-state supply of goods and services, the IGST Bill does it for inter-state supply.

Similarly, the UTGST Bill is for the Union Territories like Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Lakshadweep, Daman and Diu, and Dadra and Nagar Haveli,

which do not have their independent legislative assemblies.

The Compensation Bill provides for compensation to the states for a period of five years for loss of revenue due to implementation of the Goods and Services Tax. The GST draft law will have to be approved by all the state legislative assemblies, including those of Delhi and Puducherry.

"Centre and states have to carry forward the legislative process. July 1 looks very much feasible. GST should be implemented from July 1," Economic Affairs Sec-

retary Shaktikanta Das told BTVi in an interview.

Abhishek Rastogi, Partner, Khaitan and Company, said: "The GST plan is well on time and July 1 looks realistic. The timely approval of the bills by the Cabinet ensures that the industry would have reasonable time to peruse the details of the law impacting them."

As a corollary, Rastogi said: "The assesses will be better prepared for implementation. Let's hope that all the state assemblies clear SGST on time as well."

Pritam Mahure, a GST expert, said: "Govern-

ments across the world are conscious of the fact that success of GST depends on preparedness of the taxpayers and have offered two to three years of time to taxpayers after GST laws/ rules were made available in public domain.

"However, in India we are looking at a very short time window, of two to three months only and thus, Indian taxpayers are looking at an adventurous GST ride in the coming months."

The world was watching whether India could successfully pull up the GST feat without much teething issues and emerge as an example of successful implementation of the GST regime, Mahure added.

"Introduction of GST would also make Indian products competitive in the domestic and international markets. Studies show that this would have a boosting impact on economic growth.

"It is expected that the implementation of the Goods and Services Tax law will lead to an increase in Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the country by onetwo per cent. This in turn will lead to the creation of more employment and increase in productivity," the ministry statement added.

Let's respect Indus Waters On day One, Yogi tells bureaucrats to perform Treaty, Pakistan tells India

iSlaMaBaD, March 20 (iaNS): Both India and Pakistan must respect the Indus Waters Treaty as it is in their interest, Pakistan's Minister for Water and Power Khawaja Asif said on Monday. "The talks, postponed since 2015, have resumed due to efforts made by the government. They are in the best interests of both neighbours," he said as the 113th India-Pakistan Indus Water Commission conference began here.

A 10-member Indian delegation led by Indian Indus Water Commissioner P.P. Saxena arrived on Sunday for talks, two years after water experts from the two sides met in May 2015, reported Dawn.

The Pakistani team is led by Indus Water Commissioner Mirza Asif Beg. The two-day talks would focus on the designs, disputed by Pakistan, of the three controversial water projects being built on the Chenab river.

Asif told the media that the talks would focus on three power projects with varying capacities of power generation: Pakul Dal (1,000 MW), Miyar (120 MW) and Lower Kalnai (48 MW). "To respect this agreement (the Indus Waters Treaty) and find a solution through it is in the interest of both countries."

The minister also spoke regarding the controversial

Kishanganga and Ratle hydroelectric projects about which Pakistan has asked the World Bank to set up a Court of Arbitration to hear its objections, the daily reported. Asif said delays had been witnessed in the past in the handling of the Kishanganga project.

"When we (Pakistan) went to the court of arbitration, our position was not as strong as it could have been if we had approached the court in a timely manner."

However, he added that Pakistan's stand on the Ratle project was "very strong".

"We are working to make changes to the design of the project that are in Pakistan's interest and which are in accordance with the treaty."

The two countries would not discuss the controversial Kishanganga and Ratle hydropower projects, a senior official earlier told Dawn.

The talks would conclude on Tuesday and the Indian delegation would leave for New Delhi the same day.

The Indus Waters Treaty was signed in 1960 and involves six rivers: the Beas, Ravi, Sultlej, Indus, Chenab and Jhelum. Brokered by the World Bank, the first three rivers were given to India and the other three to Pakistan.

luckNOw, March 20 (iaNS): Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Monday directed senior officials of the state to prepare a roadmap for "good governance and transparency" for all departments. Presiding over a meeting of the officials, Yogi handed them the Bharatiya Janata Party's vision document -- Sankalp Patra -- for the 2017 state assembly elections, and asked the bureaucrats to study the document and ensure its "speedy and complete implementation".

Officials present at the meeting told IANS that the "maiden meeting with the new CM was good" though it had its "share of anxious moments". They pointed out that they knew very little about the new Chief Minister, who is known for his firebrand Hindutva-oriented politics.

Yogi also asked policemen to ensure that law and order situation in the state improved within a week.

He referred to the late-night killing of a BSP leader in Allahabad and directed the Director General of Police (DGP) to bring the guilty to book. The Chief Minister was slated to attend a high tea hosted by Governor Ram Naik at Raj Bavan for the new ministers.

Earlier in the day, Yogi moved into the official Chief Minister's residence at 5, Kalidas Marg. But before he moved in, seven priests from the Gorakhnath temple in Gorakhpur, of which Yogi is the presiding priest, propitiated the gods -- performing a "Shuddhi Hawan" and "Vastu Puja" -- before a "Kalash" was placed as a sign of house warming. A priest also made the auspicious 'Swastik' symbols on both sides of the tall gate of the heavily guarded CM's residence, which was occupied by former Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav for well over five years.

The sprawling bungalow will now be home to the 44-year-old Chief Minister, who is a bachelor, and some of his companions of many years, who, an insider said, would take care of the "routine pujapaath". Before moving into the 5, Kalidas Marg, the Chief Minister spent the night at a luxury suite in the state's VVIP Guest House, where many senior officials visited him and sought directions.

Prominent among those who visited him included Chief Secretary Rahul Bhatnagar, Director General of Police Javeed Ahmad, senior Indian Police Service officer Sultan Singh and Surya Kumar Shukla.

RS passes Maternity Benefit (Amendment) Bill 2016

New Delhi, March 20 (iaNS): The Rajya Sabha on Monday approved the Maternity Benefit (Amendment) Bill 2016. The bill that seeks to increase maternity leave to 26 weeks from the present 12 weeks was earlier passed by the Rajya Sabha on August 11 last year. Deputy Chairman P.J. Kurien observed that the measure was already passed by both the houses and there was only a “technical amendment” with which it was to be taken up once again. The Bill was then passed with voice vote. The Maternity Benefit (Amendment) Bill, 2016, also provides for leave up to 12 weeks for a woman who adopts a child below the age of three months, and for commissioning mothers.

The period of maternity leave will be calculated from the date the child is handed over to the adoptive or commissioning mother. In surrogacy, the surrogate mother carries a child for another person after an agreement made before conception of the child. The person wishing to adopt and foster the child is called the commissioning person or couple. The bill paves the way for the ratification of International Labour Organisation convention No.183 that provides for 14 weeks of maternity leave benefit to women. It also facilitates “work from home” for nursing mothers once the leave period ends and has made crèche facility mandatory in respect of establishments with 50 or more employees.

Vodafone-Idea Cellular merger to create India's largest telco

would not be more than 15 days and in case of an emergency like illness, etc., it could only be 7 days. At the same time, the limit of withdrawal also has been increased following which, now the withdrawal for housing can be up to 90% of the balance at credit and withdrawal for purchase of vehicle / car can be up to 3/4th of the balance at credit.

Considering the importance of education, the definition of education for the purpose of withdrawal of GP Fund has now been widened to include primary, secondary and higher education covering all streams and institutions.

Not only this, GP Fund advance can now also be applied for travel and tourism related activities, he said. Dr Jitendra Singh said, the Government expects its employees to work with full dedication, sincerity and diligence, but at the same time, it is also always seriously considering various means and provisions to provide them with a work-friendly environment and socio-economic stability, so that they may put in their best without any unnecessary distraction.

N ew D e l h i / M u M B a i , March 20 (iaNS): In one of the biggest mergers in the telecom space, Vodafone India and Aditya Birla Group-promoted Idea Cellular on Monday announced their much-awaited amalgamation.

Kumar Mangalam Birla, Chairman of the Aditya Birla Group, will be its Chairman.

"Vodafone Group and Idea Cellular announced they have reached an agreement to combine their operations in India (excluding Vodafone's 42 per cent stake in Indus Towers) to create India's largest telecom operator," a joint statement by the companies said.

"The combined company would become the leading communications provider in India with almost 400 million customers, 35 per cent customer market share and 41 per cent revenue market share," it added.

Idea Cellular in a regulatory filing said its Board of Directors "has approved the scheme of amalgamation of Vodafone India Ltd and its wholly owned subsidiary Vodafone Mobile Service Ltd with the company (Idea)". The merger will create an entity with over Rs 80,000

crore revenue.

"Vodafone will own 45.1 per cent of the combined company after transferring a stake of 4.9 per cent to the promoters of Idea and/ or their affiliates for Rs 3,874 crore in cash concurrent with the completion of the amalgamation," the statement said.

"The promoters of Idea will hold 26 per cent of the company and the balance will be held by the public." The merged entity will have around a 406 million subscriber base, replacing the current dominant player Bharti Airtel (around 269 million customers).

"This landmark combination will enable the Aditya Birla Group to create a high quality digital infrastructure that will transition the Indian population towards a digital lifestyle and make the government's Digital India vision a reality," said Kumar Mangalam Birla.

"Idea and Vodafone will together create a very valuable company given our complementary strength," he added.

Vittorio Colao, Chief Executive, Vodafone Group Plc, said: "The combination of Vodafone India and Idea will create a new cham-

pion of Digital India founded with a long-term commitment and vision to bring world-class 4G networks to villages, towns and cities across India.

"The combined company will have the scale required to ensue sustainable consumer choice in a competitive market and to expand new technologies -- such as mobile money services -- that have the potential to transform daily life of every Indian," he added.

"We are very complementary.

Idea is strong where Vodafone is weaker and Vodafone is strong where Idea is weaker," Colao pointed out.

Both Idea Cellular and Vodafone India are present in all 22 telecom circles in India and have 4G connectivity in 17 circles.

The agreement contemplates the completion of the proposed amalgamation within 24 months.

"The name of the combined listed company will be changed in due course," the statement added.

Allaying apprehensions on the fate of employees in both companies, Birla assured that they do not foresee "any significant downsizing" post-merger, indicating little

chances of job losses in the new entity. Rajan S. Mathews, Director General, Cellular Operators' Association of India, said: "This trend of mergers and consolidation, will remain a positive development, benefiting customers, operators and the government in the long run on global lines.

"The need of the hour, however, is a predictable, stable, long term, regulatory and policy environment, to ensure the financial health of telecom service providers and a conducive environment for continued investments for a fully connected and digitally empowered India."

Earlier, there were 13 telecom operators in India as opposed to four or five now.

"Consolidation is a much anticipated and very welcome development in this beleaguered telecom sector. It will help bring in operational efficiencies and improved quality of service to customers," said Arpita Pal Agrawal, Partner and Leader-Telecom, PwC India.

Idea Cellular's stock prices crashed on Monday. It closed around 10 per cent down at Rs 97.60 per share in the BSE.

tuesdAY 21•03•2017

WORLD

THE MORUNG EXPRESS

9

How much is an Afghan life worth? That depends WASHINGTON, MArcH 20 (reuTerS): In March 2014, the U.S. military paid an Afghan man just over $1,000 to compensate for killing his civilian son in an operation near the border with Iran, according to U.S. military records released to Reuters.

Six months later, another Afghan father was given $10,000 by the U.S. military after his child, also a civilian, was killed in an American-led military operation in the same province.

And 68-year-old Haji Allah Dad lost 20 relatives, including his brother and sister-in-law, in a U.S. and Afghan special forces operation near the northern city of Kunduz last November.

Allah Dad said he received no money from the U.S. military, though he did get compensation from the Afghan government.

Nearly 16 years since invading Afghanistan, the United States has no standardized process for making compensation payments to the families of thousands of Afghan civilians killed or injured in U.S.-led military operations.

It first started paying the families of Afghan victims as a way to counter Taliban militants who were doing the same.

America’s approach to compensation is arbitrary by design as it tries to negotiate Afghanistan’s cultural and regional sensitivities as a foreign military force.

But civil activists say the system is unfair and confusing for often poor and uneducated Af-

the 1950s. In some cases, it paid compensation to the relatives of civilians it killed in the Iraq conflict.

Critics warn the lack of standardization in compensation payments means Afghan civilian victims are not treated equally as the conflict there grinds on.

The top U.S. commander in Afghanistan has said several thousand more troops would be needed to break a stalemate with the Taliban.

“It’s of great concern that we’re talking about stepping up the way that we carry operations without a standard operating procedure for making condolence payments,” said Marla Keenan, senior director of programs at the Center for Civilians in Conflict.

“A man in Kandahar may get $4,000 for his damaged car while a woman in Gardez gets $1,000 for her dead child. Civilians deserve better,” Keenan said.

Afghan children sit on a bullet-riddled concrete block in Kabul. (REUTERS File Photo)

ghans. A Pentagon spokesman said the military leaves the decision on how much to pay to commanders on the ground because they are best positioned to judge the incidents.

“Condolence payments in Afghanistan are based on cultural norms of the local area, advice from Afghan partners, and the circumstances of the event,” said spokesman Adam Stump.

“U.S. commanders in theater are therefore empowered to make decisions regarding payments as they have the greatest understanding of these factors,” Stump said.

It is unclear how the U.S. military puts these factors in monetary terms.

Washington started making condolence payments in Afghanistan in 2005 after realizing that the Taliban was gaining in-

fluence and goodwill by giving civilians money after fatal U.S. strikes, according to the Center for Civilians in Conflict, a U.S.based advocacy and research group.

The United States does not have to pay compensation to civilians killed in its military actions under international and national law. However, it has made such payments going back to the Korean War in

PAYMENTS VARY According to U.S. military documents obtained by Reuters under a Freedom of Information Act request, American forces have paid Afghan families about $1.2 million for the deaths of at least 101 Afghans and injuries to 270 others from the end of 2013 to 2016.

Almost all of the victims were civilians. Five of the payments were to members of the Afghan government, the documents, which have previously not been published, show.

The amount of payments, even in apparently similar cases, varies.

“This shows that each unit was setting its own policy and that there’s no standard operating procedure (or even financial guidance) across the military for how to make these payments and how much they should be,” said Keenan.

In Allah Dad’s case, the money came not from the United States but from the Afghan government.

The attack that killed his relatives in Boz, near Kunduz, was the subject of a U.S. military probe, which found in January that 33 civilians were killed and 27 wounded when U.S. and Afghan special forces returned fire against Taliban fighters using civilian houses and called in U.S. air support.

The United States did not make any condolence payments and left it to the Afghan government to decide what it wanted to do, Captain Bill Salvin, a spokesman for U.S. forces in Afghanistan, said. It is unclear why.

Mahmoud Danish, a spokesman for governor of Kunduz province, said the Afghan government paid 100,000 Afghanis ($1,500) for each death and 50,000 Afghanis ($750) for each of those wounded.

Allah Dad said the United States should have also taken responsibility for the civilian victims.

“Americans must be accountable for what they did and they have to pay for each

and everybody who were killed or wounded in this attack,” said Allah Dad, nine of whose relatives were also wounded.

He was forced to leave his job as a teacher and now works on his watermelon and corn fields.“The Afghan government promised to pay for our houses, cars, machinery and livestock but so far, they haven’t.”

When asked about Allah Dad’s case, the Pentagon said it does not comment on specific incidents. The Kunduz local government confirmed Allah Dad’s account of the payments and number of his relatives killed.

“We understand that no amount of money can compensate for the suffering and loss of life,” Salvin said.

One of the most well known instances of condolence payments was after a 2015 U.S. air strike in Kunduz that destroyed a hospital run by Doctors Without Borders which killed 42 people and wounded 37.

The incident received international media coverage and the personal attention of then President Barack Obama.

“The President was personally interested in the Kunduz incident and that is in part why we got interested,” a former senior White House official said, adding that it was rare for senior officials in Washington to get involved in condolence payments in Afghanistan.

For that incident, on average the United States paid $3,000 for those injured and $6,000 for those killed.

Pope Francis asks forgiveness for North Korea rocket-engine test shows ‘meaningful’ progress: SKorea admits MArcH 20 (re- Kim Jong Un had hailed the Church role in Rwanda genocide SeOuL, uTerS): North Korea’s successful test of a new high-

Pope Francis poses with Rwanda’s President Paul Kagame and his wife Jeannette during a private meeting at the Vatican on March 20. (REUTERS Photo)

VATIcAN cITY, MArcH 20 (reuTerS): Pope Francis asked on Monday for forgiveness for the “sins and failings of the Church and its members” during Rwanda’s 1994 genocide, saying the violence had “disfigured the face” of the Roman Catholic Church. In a meeting with Rwandan President Paul Kagame, Francis said he hoped his apology would help promote peace in the African country, which was torn apart by genocide in 1994, and contribute to a “purification of memory”.

The Catholic Church in Rwanda last year publicly sought forgiveness for the part played by some of its members, who it said

had fanned the ethnic hatred that led to the killings. Some massacres took place in churches where people who had sought refuge were killed by militias. The Vatican said in a statement that the pope had “implored anew God’s forgiveness for the sins and failings of the Church and its members, among whom priests, and religious men and women who succumbed to hatred and violence, betraying their own evangelical mission”.

Some 800,000 people from the ethnic Tutsi minority as well as moderates from the Hutu majority were massacred in the 1994 genocide. Kagame, a Tutsi, led a rebel force to halt the slaughter.

latest rocket-engine test showed “meaningful” progress, South Korea said on Monday, while an analyst said it was a dangerous step towards the North’s goal of developing a rocket that could hit the United States.

The North’s KCNA news agency said on Sunday the engine would help North Korea achieve world-class satellite-launch capability, indicating a new type of rocket engine for an intercontinental ballistic missile.

The North’s announcement of a successful engine test came as U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson was in Beijing at the end of his first visit to Asia for talks dominated by concern about North Korea’s nuclear and missile programmes. “Through this test, it is found that engine function has made meaningful progress but further analysis is needed for exact thrust and possible uses,” Lee Jin-woo, deputy spokesman for the South Korean defence ministry, told a regular briefing.

State-run North Korean media reported that leader

thrust engine at its rocket launch station as “a new birth” of its rocket industry.

Lee said the test featured a main engine supported by four supplementary engines. However, he did not elaborate on the progress the test showed the North had made, nor comment on whether the engine could be used for an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), saying the South Korean military was conducting analysis.

U.S. President Donald Trump told reporters he held meetings on North Korea at the weekend at his Florida resort. While he did not refer specifically to the rocket-engine test, he said Kim Jong Un was “acting very, very badly”.

OMINOUS A South Korean analyst said the test was an ominous development. “This was a comprehensive test for the first-stage rocket for an ICBM, and that is why it was dangerous,” said Kim Dongyub, an analyst at Seoul’s Institute for Far Eastern Studies. “It appears that North

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un watched the ground jet test of a Korean-style highthrust engine newly developed by the Academy of the National Defence Science in this undated picture provided by KCNA in Pyongyang on March 19. (REUTERS Photo)

Korea has worked out much of its development of the first-stage rocket booster.”

North Korea has conducted five nuclear tests and a series of missile launches in defiance of U.N. sanctions, and is believed by experts and government officials to be working to develop nuclear-warhead missiles that could reach the United States. North Korean leader Kim said in January his country was close to test-launching an ICBM. That would put parts of the United States in range.

Last week, Tillerson is-

sued the Trump administration’s starkest warning yet to North Korea, saying in Seoul that a military response would be “on the table” if it took action to threaten South Korean and U.S. forces. The United States has long called on China to do more to rein in its ally, North Korea. China resents being pressed to do more, saying the problem is between North Korea and the United States, although it too objects to the North’s nuclear programme.

No formal agreements were announced during Tillerson’s visit to China al-

though the two sides said they would work together to try to make North Korea take “a different course”.

China has called for a dualtrack approach on North Korea, urging it to suspend its tests and the United States and South Korea to suspend military exercises so both sides can return to talks. Beijing has also been infuriated by the deployment of an advanced U.S. anti-missile system in South Korea, which it says will both harm China’s own security and do nothing to ease tensions.

Mass graves in central Congo bear witness to growing violence TSHIMBuLu, MArcH 20 (reuTerS): The increasingly brutal nature of fighting in central Congo between the army and local militia is on vivid display in the village of Tshienke, where the bodies of rebel fighters were dumped into a mass grave last month following intense clashes.

A visit to this site this month was the first time that journalists including Reuters have been able to see the toll that the Congolese military has exacted on fighters of the Kamuina Nsapu militia, whose insurgency poses the most serious threat to the rule of President Joseph Kabila.

Reuters was unable to determine the exact number of bodies in eight mass graves dug in January and February in Congo’s Kasai-Central province. The graves were also confirmed by nine local witnesses.

The United Nations said it suspects that Congolese forces killed 84 militia members close to the town of Tshimbulu between Feb. 9-13.

The government denies

A boy walks past the ruins of the destroyed house of customary chief Kamuina Nsapu, whose death last August sparked months of deadly fighting between the government army and Kamuina Nsapu’s militia in Tshimbulu near Kananga, the capital of Kasaicentral province of the Democratic Republic of Congo. (REUTERS File Photo)

its soldiers used disproportionate force and says they have recovered automatic weapons from militia fighters after clashes.

Government spokesman Lambert Mende told Reuters that the bodies in the mass graves were those of Kamuina Nsapu fighters and it was the group who had buried them, not the army.

“I don’t see why the soldiers would hide the fact,

that after clashing with the terrorists, the terrorists died,” he said, confirming that the army killed militia fighters in the clashes.

Leaders of Kamuina Nsapu could not be reached for comment.

BONE SHARDS At one grave site at Tshimbulu, a human femur poked out of the dirt and shards of bone dotted the perimeter.

“We saw arms and legs.

There were ... people who were entirely exposed because they hadn’t been buried well,” said one man who found the mass grave last month with fellow farmers.

He, like about a dozen witnesses Reuters interviewed, spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals from the army.

Two km (1 mile) away in Tshienke, another farm-

er pointed out two more mass graves she said contained bodies dumped by an army truck between 8 p.m. and 11 p.m. on the night of Feb. 12, following intense clashes on Feb. 9 and 10.

A red headband of the kind worn by members of the Kamuina Nsapu militia was wedged in the grass near the graves.

In a statement to Reuters, the U.N. peacekeeping mission in Congo said it informed the government earlier this month of three alleged mass grave sites in Tshimbulu and, in December, of seven more in the village of Nkoto, about 150 km (90 miles) northwest. The government says the graves were dug by the militia.

Kabila’s decision not to step down when his presidential mandate expired in December was followed by a wave of killings and lawlessness across the vast central African nation.

Kabila has said he is committed to respecting the constitution but an election to choose his suc-

cessor cannot take place until a lengthy voter registration process is completed.

However, the rebellion that began in Kasai-Central has spread to five of Congo’s 26 provinces and resulted in hundreds of deaths.

VIOLENCE Kabila’s opponents have used violence to exploit the uncertainty caused by his decision to stay on. Last August, a local chief known as Kamuina Nsapu after his native village, was killed in a clash with soldiers.

He had rejected the authority of the central government in Kasai-Central and demanded that government forces leave. Since then, Kamuina Nsapu militants do not appear to have a leader and some of the latest violence appears to be ethnic score-settling.

But they have also demanded that the government move to implement a deal signed on Dec. 31 requiring Kabila to step down after an election this year.

“It has taken on a politi-

cal dimension because the aim is now to see Kabila no longer at the head of the country,” said Alphonse Mukendi, a human rights activist in the provincial capital Kananga.

More than 60 local leaders connected to the militia, including Kamuina Nsapu’s brother, began arriving in Kananga on Sunday for negotiations with the government, provincial vice governor Justin Milonga told Reuters.

The government hopes that conciliatory gestures, including suggestions it is prepared to return Kamuina Nsapu’s body to his family, can ease tensions, though Milonga cautioned that many in the decentralized rebellion hope to see it continue.

Kamuina Nsapu’s tactics have alienated many, according to local residents, who say it uses child soldiers, some as young as 10.

It has attacked schools and churches, institutions it sees as oppressive, and executed police officers, soldiers and rival chiefs.

Mende, the govern-

ment spokesman, said Congolese forces also suffered casualties at the hands of the group, including about 30 police officers killed last August.

But in battles with the military, the militia has faced machine gun fire while its fighters are armed with machetes, batons and home-made rifles.

After a video appearing to show soldiers massacring militia members was posted on social media, the United Nations called on Congo’s government to end “human rights violations, including apparent summary executions, by the ... armed forces”.

The military’s top prosecutor, Major General Joseph Ponde, announced on Saturday that seven soldiers had been charged in connection with the video, including for the war crimes of murder and mutilation.

Ponde also said investigators plan to exhume two graves discovered near where the video was shot in neighbouring Kasai-Oriental province.

10

public discourse/sports

Khekiye K. Sema IAS (Retd)

T

Kohima

he rest of the world is steadily moving ahead. We the selfproclaimed 'brave and honourable Nagas' also seem to be making serious attempt to go forward on a back gear...perhaps trying to first reclaim the lost honour of the past through corruptive means? The common masses are suffering serious disadvantage because a lot of power has been concentrated in the hands of conscienceless, rudderless few with so little leadership to show. While not discounting the fact that Government is manned by imperfect mortals of all hues, the 'Politicians' and 'Bureaucrats' have begun to show vulgar talents of recklessly crossing all legal boundaries with vengeance in the absence of transparency and accountability. Nagaland has gone through a bad patch lately because of the consistency of poor choices being made by the reigning DAN Government in its administration of justice. At this point the State Government is sitting on serious backlog of unresolved issues that ought not to have happened such as: the "Backdoor appointments"; the "Fuel adulteration" scam; the "PDS" scam; the High Power Committee's report on 'unabated taxation' by NNPGs and by the State Government; the CAG report on financial misappropriation in almost all the major Departments of the Government; the non-payment of teachers' salary...the list of corrupted incompetence is steadily growing by the day. Government ought to have sensitively perceived by now that the recent ULB fiasco was an eruption of a pent up public resentment against its inept mishandling of corruption related issues piled up over the years with ULB election serving as the short fuse that got ignited. The Government has displayed sheer unwillingness to do anything substantial to right the wrongs by reviving accountability with firm judicious action against defaulters. The perception of the people has been reinforced that this is a corrupt Government systematically out to protect the interest of the corrupt by keeping all the rot that has been dug up, in the cold storage. Not to talk of cleaning up the garbage in the kitchen they are blatantly piling up some more. For instance the Guwahati High

UNRESOLVED ISSUES

Court (Nagaland Bench) has passed a judgement directing the Government to put a stop to the malpractice of "Backdoor appointments".

The Govt. instead acknowledges this legal verdict by rampantly appointing over 1000 recruits in the Nagaland Police during 2016-17 without proper advertisement for recruitment. It is an Almighty pity that Nagaland print media has no stomach for investigative journalism otherwise all one has to do is check the total number of recruits undergoing training in the Nagaland Police Training Centre at Chumukedima at present. How can 1000 new recruits be undergoing training without the recruitment notice being transparently notified in the public domain? The Force is now overburdened with approximately 3000 cadre men in excess of the designated strength...who will definitely have a serious negative impact on the Government treasury under salary component and further compound the already existing unpaid salary problem of legitimate teachers and other regular Govt. servants. Apprehension is unfortunately mounting in the backdrop of the letter of recommendation sent by Dr. Shürhozelie Liezietsu (DSL), as President of NPF Party to TRZ's Cabinet, to urgently regularise all the ad-hoc/backdoor appointees who have completed the minimum term because it will otherwise attract adverse votes during the coming election. Now that DSL is the Chief Minister, the question that naturally crops up is: will he act on his own recommendation? The cycle of contempt for Law will be complete the day he acts on his own questionable recommendation. Since taking the Government to Court as a normal civilised course of action for judicial redress is proving futile the Government will have to contend with the consequence of public wrath being re-enacted in the open street in the days to come...unless this blatant disrespect for law is halted and a semblance of justice is re-established without having to resort to water cannon, tear gas and lathi-charge.

The current contentious pot boiler related to 33% women reservation is a subject that has thrown up a plethora of complexities in the realms of Indian Constitution, Article 371A and the Naga Customary Laws and Tradition that calls for

a very meticulous charting of course with maturity.

Just so that we are all in the same page let us self-examine our past inconsistencies where ignorance has played a major role in our inability to protect our own, without ascribing blame to any individual or groups. As per Clauses 2 of the 16 Points Agreement, Nagaland was placed under Foreign Affairs Ministry to be funded under Consolidated Fund in accordance to Clause 11. Government of India unilaterally shifted the existing status to the Home Ministry during 1972 along with the change in the funding norm. Nagas failed to see the technical significance of this change in status and accepted it without a whimper. Article 371A empowers the Nagas to a semi-independent status where Acts of Parliament would require ratification of the State Assembly to ensure that such laws passed by the Indian Parliament does not infringe upon the Religious or Social practices; Customary Laws and Practices; Civil or Criminal Justice that conflict with our Customary Law; Ownership and transfer of land and its resources. We were given a 'dao' for self-preservation.

We have thus far used this 'dao' to chop our own limbs Instead. Being a "money matter", the Government of Nagaland for the very first time haphazardly asserted its existence by legislating the stand of the State on the issue of 'Land and its resources' in relation to oil exploration. Even thought the legal status of 'land and its resources' belonging to the Nagas as stipulated under Article 371A is unambiguous, GoI is contesting this claim that article 371 A does not cover what lies under the ground. Laws passed in Indian Parliament have never been vetted by the State Assembly. All Acts of Parliament have been accepted by rote and implemented without question even if it may conflict with our social, religious, customary laws and practices. In the sphere of Customary Laws and Practices no systematic exercise have been structured as envisioned under Clause 8 and 9 of the 16Points Agreement.

We have Village Councils.

We used to have the Area Council without proper defined authority vested in it; The Tribal Court can loosely be described as the DB's Court perhaps. Most of all under clause 9 (b)(2) The Naga Tribunal for whole of Nagaland in respect of

cases decided according to Customary Law has never been set up. Today we have no statutory body to evaluate the essence of our customary law/practices that has become obsolete or irrelevant. In short, instead of creating a vibrant infrastructure to strengthen our Customary Law and Practices we ourselves have virtually paid no attention to this critical need to confirm what Article 371 A empowers. It is as plain as 'God created little apples' that our womenfolk were never really equal to men in our traditional past by the circumstance of them being the weaker sex, during the headhunting era. Today womenfolk are unquestionably relevant to be an equal partner under the new dispensation of subjects like 'development and progress' which has nothing to do with physical prowess but everything to do with brains.

This therefore significantly makes our customary practices of the past 'out of tune' with the present. Here lies the legal tangle. Instead of rectifying the redundant customary practices that needs amendment by ourselves through our own Naga Tribunal (that we do not have) as envisaged in the 16 Points Agreement, we have forced our womenfolk to seek justice in the Supreme Court (SC) to interpret our customary laws that SC knows nothing about. In so doing we are also abdicating our authority to allow our own customary law to be interpreted by the outside world and dilute the factor of empowerment handed to us through Article 371A. The Government ought to be able to see the aberration in our customary law management system and begin an earnest exercise to augment the shortfall before empowerment under Article 371 A is totally defiled. Codification of our Customary Law is also an unavoidable necessity for registering a distinct Naga management identity...towards which no concrete effort has been made even after 54 years of Statehood.

The moment is here for our leaders to spend a fraction of their money mongering time to establish viable infrastructure like the Naga Tribunal that would go a long way to reinforce and strengthen our Customary Laws and Practices thereby enhance our the Naga identity as envisaged under Article 371A rather than diminishing it. It is about time for the Government to start paying attention to the unresolved issues.

Nagaland and Humanity Liberal Democratic Party of Nagaland

W

TuesDAY 21•03•2017

Media Cell

hen Jesus came into this world he saw that there was suffering in the world and humans were still not familiar with the idea of humanity. Along with many of his divine teachings, love for humanity was perhaps the most significant one for the civility of human conduct in the society. And as his gospel and concept about caring for humanity spread, the civilized intellectual societies accepted the need of humanity for the whole of humankind. The impact of Christ’s teachings is still eminent in the order of the world organization like the UN. The UN and its organs play a great role in restoring peace based on humanity throughout the nations in the world.

As for the Naga Christians we focus more on Jesus being the son of God and seldom about his teachings to love and respect one another. Our society has become more conservative than liberal. Even the order of law in our society is brute and inhumane yet we accept it as if every paradigm is justified.

In the western societies there is a term, “innocent until proven guilty by a court of law”. The cops there don’t just jump up on citizens and assault them in front of the public. They first read them their rights and are taken to custody and are given the right to one phone call. Then they are only interrogated after the suspect first consult with their lawyers and are not subjected to any physical or mental torture.

Being a Naga and living in the Naga society everyone knows that we don’t have the privilege of civilized conduct of law in our society.

The behavior of the law enforcement personnel upon the civilians could all be traced back to the ignorant system that still prevails in Nagaland in this modern era. During the training of the recruits the amount of burden weighted upon the recruits is a factor for such kind of attitudes. It has been reported that they are brutally punished even in the most unethical ways which is why many flee away from the training camps due to extreme exhaustion. They are made to slide body flat in urinal pools from their bathrooms. It has also been said of the ‘training masters’ saying, “the bones in your body doesn’t belong to you. It belongs to us and we could break it if we want”.

We are not suggesting them to breed a weak batch of personnel but there are more ethical means to train the recruits so that they will not just be physically fit but also mentally and emotionally stable. The recruits should also be trained to remain calm in extreme conditions and how to interact politely with the civilians for the smooth welfare of the society. There are many impacts on the emotional and mental health of an individual after a traumatic experience. Post traumatic stress disorder (PSTD) has been known to affect our personal affairs and relationships and conduct in the society. That is why many advanced countries and states have implemented “anti-bullying” legislations in workplaces and even in schools.

Another extent of irrationality in our society is the attitude of women towards their own sisters. When a woman is found to have committed adultery with another married man, then she is dragged from the streets and trashed by women folks of the in-laws and shaved bald in front of all the community. Now what amount of justice is it served by proving to everyone that we could not even come up with civilized form of punishments and applying age old customs which creates trust issues and fear among the civilian. There is always ‘the court’ at our disposable to solve our issues in an ethical and rational way. As in the US where they solve such issues based on mutual understanding or the culprit is subjected to pay alimony to his/her spouse after divorce.

Not any man comes up with plans to behave irrationally in the society. The act of one bully could create a chain reaction of harassment and physical violence in the system and any one could fall a victim of this invisible force that could derail our moral judgment. It is time we stop repeating the same patterns which prove our ignorance, in the pretext of following customs and tradition, for the rest of the world has gone too far from where we are.

Should we neglect all our traditions, no but we could omit the irrational ones and preserve that which affiliates with our integrity and virtues. We could also add the refined ones from the civilized societies and maybe possibly we could be the “One to Look At” in the future by all the societies.

THE MORUNG EXPRESS

Federer tops Wawrinka in all-Swiss Indian Wells final

IndIan Wells, March 20 (reUTers): A rejuvenated Roger Federer beat fellow Swiss Stan Wawrinka 6-4 7-5 in the BNP Paribas Open final on Sunday to earn a record-tying fifth Indian Wells title and the distinction of being the tournament's oldest winner.

The 35-year-old Swiss, who made a stunning return from a sixmonth injury layoff to win the Australian Open in January, capped an impressive run in the California desert in which he did not lose a set.

"I have totally exceeded my expectations. My goal was to be top eight by Wimbledon. This is just a dream start," Federer, who will climb four spots to world number six on Monday, told Sky Sports courtside.

"I understand the talk about (me getting back to) world number one with Andy (Murray) and Novak (Djokovic) not playing well and I'll try to back it up. But this is my 90th (tour-level) title so I'll try to enjoy this first."

The rematch of the Australian Open semi-final saw the close friends hold serve until the 10th game of the opening set when Federer, ahead 5-4, outlasted Waw-

rinka in a thrilling 21-shot rally for the service break.

Wawrinka, making his first appearance in an Indian Wells final, came out firing in the second set as he became the first player to break Federer this fortnight and then saved a pair of break points in the next game to move ahead 2-0.

But Federer never wavered as he coolly won the next three games and then broke Wawrinka in the 12th game to close out the match in 80 minutes.

On championship point, Federer jumped right on Wawrinka's serve and quickly had his compatriot running back and forth along the baseline.

Finally, when Wawrinka reached out desperately to send a forehand back, Federer charged to the net and slammed down a running forehand to clinch the title.

While the defeat left Wawrinka an emotional wreck, with the teary-eyed U.S. Open champion calling himself Federer's "biggest fan", the popular champion was left to soak up a standing ovation.

Federer now joins Djokovic as a five-time winner at the event and becomes the oldest champion in the tournament's history, surpass-

ing Jimmy Connors who was 31 when he triumphed in 1984.

"I was very sad when I couldn’t come here last year so just being here is a beautiful feeling," Federer said during the trophy presentation.

"It's been just a fairytale week.

I'm still on the comeback. I hope my body is going to allow me to keep on playing.

"I came here for the first time 17 years ago so to be here again as the champion is an amazing feeling.

And I can’t tell you enough what it means to me."

Vesnina outlasts Kuznetsova in marathon Indian Wells final

IndIan Wells, March 20 (reUTers): Elena Vesnina survived a battle of attrition and nerves to beat fellow Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova 6-7(6) 7-5 6-4 in the BNP Paribas Open final on Sunday and secure the biggest title of her career. After more than three hours in the scorching midday sun on the Indian Wells hard court, Vesnina finally clinched victory on her second championship point when eighth seed Kuznetsova sent a service return long.

The win marked by far the biggest title of Vesnina's career and will boost the 30-year-old to 13th in the world rankings, surpassing her current career-high of 15th reached last month.

Vesnina stared defeat in the

face, down 4-1 in the second set before reeling off four consecutive games after starting to play more aggressive in an effort to keep the points short and conserve energy.

"I was playing a bit more free when I was down in the score and I think Svetlana got a bit tight on some moment and I saw that and I just took my chances," Vesnina, whose previous WTA titles came at Eastbourne and Hobart in 2013, said in a courtside interview.

"I was trying to get rest. My dad (and coach Sergey) said 'come to the net, put pressure on her' and it worked." The 14th seed collapsed to the court with a mixture of ecstasy and exhaustion after the final point, before the combatants hugged at the net.

Neither player served particularly well. There were 16 breaks in the 34 games and Vesnina dropped serve seven times, but that was better than her opponent, and proved to be the difference.

For Kuznetsova, who was making her third appearance in the Indian Wells final and first since 2008, the result will leave a bitter taste as she was seeking to shed her reputation as player who struggles to close the deal in big matches.

Vesnina, on the other hand, was overjoyed.

"I cannot believe to be honest, to win such a big title against such a great player," Vesnina said.

"I was down a set and 4-1. It seems like it was so far away this title, and now I won it I’m so happy."

Suppression of freedom of Speech

M

Z. Lohe

r. Mhonlumo, the Honourable MLA from Bhandari A/C disclosed that he is under threat at the moment for putting both Starred and UnStarred Questions relating to appointments so far made during 2013 till 2017 under Home Department. The MLA did not name anyone by name who is/ are threatening him openly or indirectly according to paper reports. Yet, it is obvious as to whom those questions will give embarrassment when so responded. Recently, I wrote a brief item on the kind of terrorism we have in Nagaland. I am talking about Naga terrorism which Mr. Mhonlumo is exactly facing now. Luckily, the MLA is under the protection of State Govt. as per entitlement.

Yet, thousands of common man without Police guard has been facing such threat from similar elements day in day out. We, the Nagas, are the Frankenstein and have to face and be afraid of our own creations.

This is my second item on the ethics and proprieties of the Nagaland Legislative Assembly.

The MLA in question is said to have put up both Stared and UnStarred questions. For the sake of those ignorant, let me enlighten the difference between a Starred Question and an Un-Starred question. When a Minister receives a Starred Question on a given issue, he is bound to give a verbal reply to the questioner in the morning session between 9:30 a.m. till 10:30 a.m. lest the Speaker extends the Question-Answer hour. When not satisfied with the reply, the questioner has the right to put supplementary question or questions. The questioner can be joined by any other Member to ask supplementary questions specifically relating to the original issue in question. The arrogant reply or misleading reply may lead the questioner to go a step further on the same issue by means of Calling Attention to matters of Public Importance, etc. Secondly, the Un-Starred Question on any issue will be answered in written which will be laid on the table of 60 Members on the day

it is scheduled to reply. During our days, when the answers to Starred questions are completed in advance before 10:30 am, the Speaker used to cover Un-Starred questions within the available minutes.

In the instant case, as the MLA from Bhandari has sought information about appointment so far made in Home Department during the last 4 years under UnStarred question, perhaps a bulky compilation of the answer papers will have to be laid on the table according to the nature of the question. As per the Assembly norms, no Department is allowed to give manipulated or incomplete or false reply be it to Starred or UnStarred questions. Whereas, the Home Department seems to lack courage and confidence to dutifully provide answers to those questions in the ensuing Session of NLA for reasons best known to the staff in Home Department.

Lest the questions are withdrawn as threatened, the Home Department has no option but to appropriately reply mandatorily both verbally and in written by Home Minister.

Indeed, I support the Honourable MLA from Bhandari not for any other reason but for putting relevant question on recruitment of manpower in Home Department. Not only Home Department but there have been rampant recruitments of both eligible and illegible people including people from mainland India into service under DAN Govt. during the last 14 years. Hopefully more exposures will take place of how people from UP, Bihar and Nepal whose number exceeded the number of inductees from weaker tribes in certain Department in Nagaland today. Most of the Departments have flouted the recruitment rules when fortunate ones were accommodated by both politicians and bureaucrats. Another burden is to regularise the services of the appointees who have been in service for 3 years continuously as per revised rule made during DAN Govt. as against the backdrop of 5 years service during the erstwhile Congress Govt.

I do not forget how Dimapur

Sugar Mill failed to survive though I did not man the Mill even once.

The most major factor that coiled Sugar Mill to wind up was excess staff. Against the requirement of 350 staff to run the Mill there was 1600 odd staff. The earning of the Mill could hardly meet the salary component. To feed the staff became the priority rather than feeding the Mill with raw materials. The Mill failed to pay sugarcane growers who eventually gave up cultivation of the crop since they had no scope of marketing their crop. Finally Nagaland Sugar Mill which had the viability turned into history of old.

The State of Nagaland is racing, not inching, towards the fate of yesteryear’s Nagaland Sugar Mill. There has been appointment spree without taking manpower requirement, vacancies and recruitment rules into consideration under the DAN Govt. The dilapidated roads, the shambled Govt. buildings particularly in rural areas, the pitiable education and medical facilities and the rest of essential public services have now become secondary. Who is complaining about the above public facilities and amenities?

The attention of people in authority was drawn to 7th ROP and nonrelease of salaries to employees, no doubt genuine but not to the maintenance of common asset.

All what fund we get from Delhi has to be consumed first by Govt. employees, the left over if for percentage deduction and ultimately nothing is left for development. At this rate how Nagaland State will survive as though the Statehood was created for the Govt. employees and not for the majority common man, and as though Nagaland belongs to employees and not to common man.

It is therefore very right for MLA M. Kikon from Bhandari to question Home Department on recruitment of staff. It is wrong for him and for any other MLA to remain mute when Nagaland is being devoured under the mismanagement by DAN Govt led by NPF. I hope Mr. Mhonlumo Kikon, Honourable MLA will retain his honour by remaining firm with his stand under the prevailing circumstances without succumbing to money power or threat.

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.

Tuesday 21•03•2017

EntErtainmEnt

Promoting change and peace through fitness!

Now ShowiNg revIseD TICKeT rATes (silver) : `.120 (Gold) : `. 200 (recliner) : `. 400

Akangchila Longchar Morung express News

10:20 AM & 05:30 PM

S

everal years ago, we brought to you the story of a young yoga practitioner who was making heads, necks, and limbs turn with her amazing yoga skills.

Orentsani Suzen Kikon started learning Yoga from the age of 18 at The International Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Centre where she took a Teachers Training Course. Her yoga teaching

for eight years till date has taken her all over India, with an impressive and extensive client list.

She’s finally come home to open “Orentsani Fitness Studio” which offers traditional yoga, power yoga, Zumba, aerobics, and cardio all in one. And not only fitness, but her endeavor is to promote wellness of the mind and soul.

A total mind, body, and

soul experience is what her studio promises.

She is also striving to bring a different perspective on the practice of yoga and dispel common assumptions that yoga is only about asanas and meditation. She simply states that preaching spirituality and philosophy through yoga is not the goal here but to bring awareness that yoga is a positive way of life which helps in stress relief, body image, and relaxation.

She shared, “I feel that there is an urgent need for change in lifestyle and mindset; yoga can be helpful for these. Nagas are going through lots of health related issues and not only that but emotional health like stress, anxiety, depression etc that modern lifestyle brings with it. I want to create awareness to people on the numerous health

benefits of yoga which continue to be more and more widely known.”

She is passionate about helping kids and adults feel more relaxed and lead a healthy life. Therefore, her studio is offering free workshops for relaxation and breathing classes which are held twice every week for half an hour. She is also collaborating with nutrition expert Dr. Imsutula and conducting nutrition workshops which are held twice every month. Also taking advantage of social networking site Facebook, she makes live videos which are exclusively targeted for people unable to come from distant places and people who don’t have the confidence to attend her fitness classes.

Presently, her studio which is up and running since March 1 is drawing a lot of curious attention

from people. She is amused at how people stand below her studio which is located on the first floor and look through the big seethrough windows with curious expressions.

A typical day at the fitness studio begins from 6:00 a.m until 7:30 p.m.

Classes are divided into 12 sessions for a month, three times a week. Registration fee is priced at rupees 1000 valid for one year to which every students gets a yoga mat and monthly fee is priced at 3000 rupees.

Members can avail all the free workshops and nutrition classes plus invite family and friends.

For her, running the studio is not a business venture but a choice to train and inspire people to maintain a healthy and positive lifestyle. To this she attests, “I gift yoga mats to my students to inspire them

to work out not only at my studio but even at home. In my experience working for various yoga centres and studios, I’ve never heard of anyone doing that. Also, if you’ve also signed up for 12 sessions, I’m going to make sure you avail all 12 and see some results” “We are all willing to spend our money on food and activities that will bring damage to our health. We don’t hesitate for a moment. I encourage everyone to try and spend some of their money as an investment towards good physical and mental health. Nowadays, people, especially those living in towns and cities are facing acute health problems. The misconception that if you are slim, you are healthy should also be done away with. Therefore, my goal is to promote and spread awareness about

being fit and healthy, to stay positive. It is my hope that through fitness, I can bring peace and change to the people and my society.”

Her future plan is to one day open an ashram the hills, hopefully in her dad’s village, Yikhum. She also expresses the wish to bring the eight North East states together by creating a unity dance variation by coming up with an eight states of yoga postures. This is something she has plans to work on!

Orentsani is commended to be a skillful, detail oriented and energetic instructor with lots of patience. At a very young age, her yoga journey is already a successful and inspiring story! To know more, visit Orentsani Fitness Studio, Kikon Building, 1st Floor near Bridgestone, ADC Court Junction, Dimapur.

“Descendants of The Sun” receives grand prize at broadcasting awards for excellence in production

break Batman v K Superman’s March records

C M Y K

E

mma Watson-starrer musical romantic fantasy film Beauty and the Beast registered an earning of Rs 6.67 crore in its opening weekend in India.

The film, which is a live-

action remake of 1991 animated movie of the same name, witnessed a 97% growth in its collection from Friday (Rs 1.42 crore) to Sunday (Rs 2.80 crore), read a statement on behalf of Disney India.

The opening weekend collection of Beauty and the Beast is three times higher than the opening weekend business of films like Cinderella, Moana and Zootopia in India, according to trade analyst Taran Adarsh.

“What’s noteworthy is, the opening weekend biz of Beauty and the Beast is almost three times higher than Cinderella, Moana and Zootopia,” Adarsh posted on Twitter on Monday.

BS’s “Descendants of the Sun” received the Grand Prize at the Korea Communications Commission Broadcasting Awards 2017.

This award show was held on March 20, and around 300 people attended the event, including governmental workers and broadcast industry representatives. A total of 338 works Internationally, Beauty were evaluated for this and the Beast set a record award show, and the Grand for a March opening in Prize went to “Descendants North America, Exhibitor Relations reported. The previous record was set last year by Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice, with $166 million.

Besides Watson, the film, which has been directed by Bill Condon, also features Dan Stevens, Luke Evans, Kevin Kline and Josh Gad.

of the Sun.” This drama was rated highly for its perfection in script, acting skills, the message of peace and devotion in humankind, and explosive popularity as a pre-produced drama.

Other dramas that received awards include tvN’s “Goblin” and “Signal” for creativity and cultural aspects, respectively. JTBC’s “Abnormal Summit” also received an award for diversity.

10:00 AM, 03:00 PM & 08:15 PM 03862-237226 Ticket Counter (09:00 AM - 09:00 PM)

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Ward 5 (6) Burma Camp, Landmark - Near J.K Hospital Dimapur.

Power House.

Hillstar NOW SHOWING aa gaya hero

10:00 AM

Source: Soompi.com

Kaheli Chophy selected Femina Miss india nagaland 2017

Machine

Source: IANS

12:30 PM | 08:00 PM

Badrinath ki dulhania

ReeSe WiTheRSpoon furious with nicole Kidman

A

ctress Reese Witherspoon is reportedly furious with once best friend and colleague Nicole Kidman. Gossip platform New Idea has claimed there is "no love lost" between the Oscar-winning actresses after a fallout over their new TV show "Big Little Lies", reports dailymail.co.uk. The publication claims Witherspoon is unhappy at her Australian co-star Kidman's failure to promote the HBO series in the run up to its debut in February, claiming Kidman used too much of her airtime to discuss her latest Hollywood hit "Lion". "Reese is furious that Nicole hasn't done more to support 'Big Little Lies'. All she's talked about in interviews is 'Lion'. Had Reese known that Nicole would put the show so far on the backburner, she would have cast some random," said a source. The magazine said the frosty relations between the pair manifested themselves at the Oscars last month. "You could cut the tension with a knife at the Oscars. Nicole was telling her people to keep Reese away from her there's no love lost at all," added the source. The show is aired in India on Star World Premiere HD. Source: IANS

03:00 PM

No problems with anxiety now: Zayn Malik

F

ormer One Direction singer Zayn Malik says he no longer has anxiety issues -- something that he mainly dealt with when he was part of the boyband.

Malik had earlier spoken about struggling with an eating disorder, but now feels he is more composed, reports eonline.com. "I now have no problem with anxiety. It was something I was dealing with

in the band," Malik told The Sunday Times Style magazine.

"People saw strength in that, and they didn't seem to expect it from a guy, but they expect it from a female, which to me is crazy. We're all human. People are often afraid to admit difficulties, but I don't believe that there should be a struggle with anything that's the truth," he added.

Beauty and the Beast

M

iss Nagaland 2014 1st Runner up Kaheli Chophy was selected as the Femina Miss India Nagaland 2017 at the Femina Miss India Auditons which was held at Guwahati, Assam on March 19. Miss Nagaland Source: IANS 2016 Vilokali Zhimomi and Miss Mokokchung 2015 Ay-

Photo Courtesy/Wathy Jamir

usangla also made it to the top 3 list.

Femina, a part of the Times of India Group introduced a new system where Femina will be selecting a winner from each State as to have equal representation of all the Indian States.

The official crowning for the North Eastern States will be held at Kolkata.

BASN in a press release informed that Kaheli Chophy who is the present Election Icon for Zunheboto District was also adjudged as the 1st Runner up at the Ponds Electic Model Hunt 2015.

She will represent Nagaland at the Femina Miss India finals to be held at Mumbai.

05:40 PM

12

Tuesday 21•03•2017

SPORTS

THE MORUNG EXPRESS

Handscomb-Marsh rearguard Benny Metha comes third at Shillong MTB Race helps earn draw for Australia

Australia's Shaun Marsh evades a delivery. (REUTERS)

C M Y K

RANCHI, MARCH 20 (ReuteRs): Resolute rearguard action

by Peter Handscomb and Shaun Marsh helped Australia escape with a remarkable draw against India on the final day of the third test on Monday.

Having conceded a 152-run first innings lead, the tourists were reeling when skipper Steve Smith departed, leaving his team at 63-4 with more than two sessions to go and the hosts confident of a win.

But Handscomb and Marsh battled on through the entire second session to first erase the deficit and then ensure Australia were

safe by the time they were separated.

Handscomb made 72 not out, his third test fifty, to help Australia finish on 204 for six before the players shook hands.

Marsh made 53, the duo frustrating India for nearly four hours with a dour 124-run stand to shatter the hosts' chances of going 2-1 up in the four-test series.

"I'm very proud. They had magnificent plans, they backed their defence for a long time. To see the game out for as long as they did, it was an outstanding performance," Smith told reporters.

"That's one of the things we've been talking about - being resilient and being able to stick out at tough times. The way Peter and Shaun did that was absolutely magnificent."

India, buoyant after making 603 in their first innings and with Ravindra Jadeja having taken a couple of late wickets the previous evening, came out hard at the Australians in the morning.

Overnight batsmen Smith and Matt Renshaw resumed with Australia on 23 for two and denied the hosts for about 21 overs before falling in quick succession.

Left-arm spinner Jadeja relentlessly attacked the rough outside Renshaw's off-stump, while Ishant Sharma bowled to Smith with a seven-two off-side field.

Pumped up after an altercation with Renshaw, Sharma earned the breakthrough for India when he trapped the opener leg-before for 15 with a fuller delivery.

A bigger blow awaited Australia in the next over when Jadeja, who claimed nine wickets in the match to go with an unbeaten fifty with the bat, spun one past Smith's advancing pad and uprooted the off-stump. Smith managed 21.

Australia coach Darren Lehmann had asked his team on Sunday to learn from the focus and application shown by India's Cheteshwar Pujara and Wriddhiman Saha whose 199-run partnership gave the hosts their commanding position.

Handscomb and Marsh certainly did, thwarting the Indian bowlers for 62 overs on a fifth day wicket at the Jharkhand State Cricket Association Stadium.

Jadeja eventually dismissed Marsh and Ashwin sent back Glenn Maxwell but Australia were safe by then.

"They batted really well," India captain Virat Kohli said of Australia's fifth wicket partnership that denied his team a victory.

"They were four down at lunch, credit to them that they did not lose another wicket in the following session."

The teams now move to Dharamsala for the final match from Saturday.

Spurs, United keep up pressure as City and Liverpool draw

loNDoN, MARCH 20 (ReuteRs): Tottenham Hotspur kept Chelsea just about within their sights at the top of the Premier League on Sunday by beating Southampton 2-1 and Manchester United improved their prospects by moving into fifth place with a 3-1 victory at Middlesbrough.

Both clubs would then have been happy enough to watch Manchester City and Liverpool drop points by drawing 1-1 with each other, even though City manager Pep Guardiola unexpectedly described it as one of the best days of his coaching career.

His fierce Manchester rival Jose Mourinho was

equally delighted with United. Before the match, Mourinho had deliberately played down his team's chances at struggling Middlesbrough because of injuries, suspensions and fixture congestion.

"The guys gave absolutely everything, they were magnificent," he said after goals by Marouane Fellaini, Jesse Lingard and Antonio Valencia moved United above Everton and Arsenal to their highest position for six months.

Middlesbrough were left in the bottom three, with crucial games to come away to Swansea City and Hull City after the international break.

Steve Agnew, tempo-

rary manager since Aitor Karanka was sacked on Thursday, said he was proud of them, however, and would like the job on a permanent basis.

There were two other happy managers following a thrilling 1-1 draw at the Etihad Stadium, where James Milner's seventh penalty of the season -- this one against his former club -- was cancelled out by Sergio Aguero's equaliser.

"It is one of the happiest days of my career as a manager. I am so proud," Guardiola told reporters.

His pride came less from the result than "the spirit, the way we played".

Liverpool's Juergen

Klopp rued missed chances but agreed that a draw was a fair end to an eventful encounter.

"Give me a few hours and then I'm happy," he said. "To get a point at Manchester City for (any) team in the world is absolutely OK." City stayed a point ahead of Liverpool with a game in hand but fell two behind second-placed Spurs.

The London side seemed to be comfortably on their way to a 10th successive home league win when Christian Eriksen and Dele Alli scored in the first half at White Hart Lane.

Southampton's James

Ward-Prowse, called into the England squad last week, gave them some concern by pulling a goal back but Tottenham held on to stand 10 points behind leaders Chelsea with 10 games to play.

Manager Mauricio Pochettino was impressed once more with the versatility of Alli, who now has 17 goals this season in all competitions and will need to keep scoring in the absence of injured striker Harry Kane.

"I saw him at 17 playing for Milton Keynes as a holding midfielder," the Spurs manager said. "Maybe one day he will play like a goalkeeper or a centre back or fullback."

sHIlloNg, MARCH 20 (MexN): Competing against the top 40 mountain bikers of North-East India, Meguo Benny Metha of Team Native Station from Kohima won the 3rd position at the Shillong Mountain Bike Race '4th CycloBHP' held on March 18 and 19. Metha missed the top position by mere milliseconds.

According to a press release, the team

from Nagaland was led by Kaolim Hanso along with Kevilebo Zhotso and Lunili Awomi from Kohima.

The 4th Cyclobhp Racing was a 2-day action-packed downhill race with 40 competitors from Assam, Nagaland, Mizoram and Meghalaya in the BMX and MTB open categories. Ismamul Howk topped the time sheets in both categories.

Royal Tourniquet enter Silver Cup quarters Ko H I M A , M A R C H 20 (MexN): Inclement weather conditions played spoilsports in the ongoing 8th Silver Cup T20 Cricket Tournament being organised by Nepali Baptist Church Kohima Youth Department.

Only the last pre-quarter final match could be played today wherein Royal Tourniquets defeated runners-up of last year’s edition Kohima Hornbills ‘B’ by 56 runs.

The continuous downpour completely soaked the Jakhama Ground and prevented the other scheduled matches from going ahead.

In the last pre-quarterfinal match between Royal Tourniquets and Kohima Hornbills ‘B’, the technical committee of the organisers reduced the match to 12 overs after due consultation with the team captains.

Favoured in toss, Kohima Hornbills ‘B’ decided to field but Royal Tourniquets batsmen made merry scoring 103 runs losing just 2 wickets. Nripen Rai remained not out at 42 while SS Alam contributed 39 runs. Hornbills’ bowlers Dito and Anna claimed a

Nripen Rai of Royal Tourniquets receiving the MoM from NBCKYD Chairman Kiran Gurung on March 20, 2017.

wicket each.

In the run-chase, the runners-up from last year’s edition could only muster were bundled out for 47 runs in 11.2 overs with Anga contributed highest 26 runs.

Tourniquets bowlers Longsasunep claimed 4 wickets while Moni and Merenti picked 2 wickets each.

Nripen Rai was awarded the Player of the Match for his 31-ball 42 runs.

With the end of the prequarterfinal round, the organisers declared the

highest wicket-taker so far and awarded Green Cap to Longsasunep for claiming 7 wickets. SS Alam with 67 runs was given the Red Cap for being the highest run getter. Both Longsasunep and Alam are from Royal Tourniquets.

Meanwhile, the organisers expressed regret at the quarterfinals being cancelled. With the ground conditions being rendered unplayable due to the continuous rainfall, the quarterfinal matches earlier fixed for today has been postponed to March 21.

JAluKIe, MARCH 20 (DIPR): The 12th Open Football Tournament being organised by the Jalukie Valley Youth Organisation got underway on March 18 under the theme “Play with respect” at Jalukie 'B' Local ground with Advisor,

DUDA, LM&CP, NIDC, N. Thongwang Konyak as the chief guest.

Speaking on the occasion the chief guest lauded the Jalukie Valley Youth Organisation for their initiative and said that football is not an individual

game so one should always have team spirit.

Guest of honour on the occasion was Parliamentary Secretary for Veterinary, S. Chuba Longkumer. Altogether, 12 teams are participating in the tournament.

Messi at double as Barca beat Valencia Open Football Tourney underway at Jalukie

BARCeloNA, MARCH 20 (ReuteRs): Lionel Messi scored twice as La Liga champions Barcelona saw off a persistent Valencia side, who had Eliaquim Mangala sent off in the first half, to win 4-2 on Sunday and stay on the heels of leaders Real Madrid.

Manchester City loanee Mangala stunned the Nou Camp by heading Valencia in front in the 29th minute but Luis Suarez soon cancelled out the opener following a quick throw-in by Neymar and the Uruguayan then won a penalty as he was hauled down by Mangala, who was sent off for a second booking.

Messi beat penalty-saving expert Diego Alves from the spot for the second time this season to pull Barca level in the 45th minute but Munir El Haddadi, who is on loan from the Catalans, equalised immediately in injury time of the first half.

Barca dominated the second half and took the lead for the second time when Messi smashed the ball past Alves's near post but the visiting side created an opening to level again but Munir squandered the chance.

Former Valencia midfielder Andre Gomes then scored his first goal for Barcelona to make sure of the points.

Barca are second in the standings on 63 points, two behind Real who have a game in hand.

"We controlled the

DDCA Inter School (U-16) Cricket

Barcelona's Lionel Messi land Valencia's Jose Luis Gaya in action. (REUTERS)

game but they made the most of a set piece and a counter attack. Overall we played well, we played at a high tempo and in general we can be happy with the game," Barca captain Andres Iniesta told reporters.

"The title race is still alive and we're obliged to stay up there and take advantage of any opportunity we get if Real Madrid slip up."

Earlier, Antoine Griezmann scored for the fifth time in four league games and provided an assist as Atletico Madrid beat Sevilla 3-1 to move to within two points of Jorge Sampaoli's third-placed side in the La

Liga standings.

The France international delivered a cross from a free kick for Diego Godin to head in the opener in the 37th minute then sent the ball fizzing in off the bar from a set-piece in the 61st while Koke tapped in the third in the 77th to seal a third straight league win for Atletico.

Joaquin Correa scored a consolation goal for Sevilla in the 85th.

While Atletico are in the midst of a good run of results Sevilla are in freefall. They have failed to win any of their last four games in all competitions. They

have now lost their last two matches as they went out of the Champions League following a 2-0 defeat at Leicester City on Tuesday.

Sevilla have 57 points while Atletico are in fourth place on 55.

"Sevilla have had a magnificent season, praised by everyone and so this makes our performance even more laudable," Atletico coach Diego Simeone told reporters.

Sevilla boss Sampaoli said his side had made a bad start to the game and lost focus at vital moments.

"We couldn't control the psychology of the

game. We were dominated at first then just as we started to control the game they scored from a set piece," he said.

"In the second half the same thing happened and it was all uphill from then on."

Also on Sunday Celta Vigo won the Galician derby at Deportivo La Coruna 1-0 thanks to a late goal from Iago Aspas while Sporting Gijon beat Granada 3-1 to leapfrog the Andalusians into 18th but remain in the relegation zone.

Leganes are five points above Sporting in 17th after drawing 0-0 at home to Malaga.

DIMAPuR, MARCH 20 (MexN): In the 6th Dimapur District Inter School Cricket tournament being played at NCA Stadium, Sovima, defending champions Ram Janaki HSS lost to Zakiesatuo Memorial HSS in the opening match while last year’s runners up St. Mary’s HSS also lost to MGM HSS in the second match. The third match between Milleniel Vision School and Bronson School was however washed out due to rain. The inter school cricket tournament is being organized by the Dimapur District Cricket Association.

ScoRES 1. RJHSS vs ZMHSS RJHSS won the toss and elected to bat RJHSS – 68 all out in 19 overs [Monoj – 12 runs; Irshad Alam – 2 wickets, Kamran Khan – 2 wkts, Yuvrah Mansuri – 2 wkts] ZMHSS – 69 for 8 in 12 overs [Tarik Jamil - 16, Kundan Gupta – 10; Nitesh Shah - 3 wkts, Sahil Gupta - 2 wkts] Result – ZMHSS won by 2 wickets.

2. MGM HSS vs St Mary’s HSS Toss won by MGM and elected to field St. Mary’s – 65 all out in 17 overs [Amit Kawa – 10 runs; Prince – 3 wkts, Mughapu – 2wkts] MGM – 66 for 6 in 13.2 overs [Aman – 8 runs, Dishulung – 6runs; Pankaj – 3 wkts, Rahul – 2 wkts] Result – MGM HSS won by 4 wickets.

March 21 matches SD Jain HSS vs G. Mhaisu School @ 8: 00 am HMC School vs St. Mary’s HSS @ 11:00 am Millenial Vision vs Little Star HSS @ 2:00 pm

Wushu Association selection trials

DIMAPuR, MARCH 20 (MexN): The Wushu Association Nagaland will conduct its 2nd phase selection trial for the next National Level Wushu Championship for all categories before May 2017.

A press release informing this stated that a special

coaching will be organised to help prepare competitors for the upcoming national championship.

The 1st phase was conducted during the last National Senior Championship in Jharkhand. In this regard, the association has requested all the instruc-

tors holding instructor certificates from the association to submit their applications to the WAN President before March 30. Instructors who fail to submit before the said date will not be eligible to conduct Wushu classes, the association informed.

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