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MonDAY • MAY 08 • 2017
DIMAPUR • Vol. XII • Issue 124• 12 PAGes • 5
T H e
ESTD. 2005
If you don’t stand for something you will fall for anything
P o W e R
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T R u T H
— Malcolm X
Langzanger citizens affirm to uphold Clean Election
Macron favourite as France votes for new president
o F
Rampant Real thrash Granada after Barca down Villarreal
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Nagaland govt’s response to audit observations lacking Morung Express news Dimapur | May 7
Five houses were gutted by a fire in T/chingkho village in Mon district on the morning of May 7, Sunday. Property worth thousands is estimated to have been destroyed by the blaze, leaving several families homeless. Sources informed that the fire probably occurred due to a short circuit.
The Morung Express Poll QuEsTion
Vote on www.morungexpress.com sMs your answer to 9862574165 Can an inclusive mechanism of cooperation help in addressing differences and building common ground among Nagas? Why?
Yes no others Does the Nagaland government need to initiate an honest and open review of the Prohibition Act with all stakeholders? Why? Yes 83% no
others
07% 10%
Details on page 7
India behind 161 nations in ratifying treaty on torture NEW DELHI, MAY 7 (PTI): India stands behind 161 nations, including Pakistan, as it is yet to ratify the 30-year-old United Nations’ Convention Against Torture by making a law on it despite signing it way back in 1997. It may sound bizarre, but India is among the only nine countries worldwide which are yet to ratify this crucial convention, an essential condition for a signatory state to ratify the international human rights treaty. This fact has been taken strong note of by the Supreme Court which has asked the government why it was not making at least a “good faith commitment” about its intention to legis-
late in the matter. “We do understand that the legislative process can take time, but tell us why can’t you (Centre) make a ‘good faith commitment’ on the law before us,” a bench headed by Chief Justice J S Khehar said. “This is an extremely important issue in the national interest and moreover, there is no conflict,” the bench, also comprising Justices D Y Chandrachud and S K Kaul, said. The remarks were made when Congress leader and former Law Minister Ashwani Kumar pointed out that India was among the only nine nations left in the world which have not yet ratified the treaty despite
signing it. ‘The Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment’, also known as United Nations Convention against Torture, is an international human rights treaty aimed to prevent torture and other acts of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment around the world. Solicitor General Ranjit Kumar, appearing for the Centre, sought some time on the ground that some states are yet to be consulted before a fresh bid is made to legislate. The top court said “it is nice to say that we are committed to the treaty, but there has to be a law”.
The Nagaland State Government’s response to recommendations by the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) has been found lacking, as seen with a large pendency of Inspection Reports. The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) Report for the year ending March 31, 2016, which was released earlier this year, recommended that the Nagaland State Government needs to look into this matter of pendency of Inspection Reports. The CAG said that the large pendency indicates the “absence of adequate action to rectify the defects, omissions and irregularities pointed out through Inspection Reports by the Heads of offices and Heads of Departments.” The Nagaland State Government, it advised, should ensure proper response to audit observations. “Action may be taken against the officials who fail to send replies to Inspection Reports/paragraphs as per prescribed time schedule and the losses/outstanding advances/overpayments may be recovered in a time bound manner,” the CAG added. The Accountants General (AG), Nagaland conducts periodical inspection of the state government departments to test check the transactions and verify maintenance of important accounts and other records as prescribed under the rules and procedures. These inspections are followed up with the Inspection Reports (IRs) incorporating irregularities detected
during the inspection and not settled on the spot, which are issued to the Heads of Offices inspected with copies to the higher authorities for taking prompt corrective action. The Heads of Offices and the government are required to promptly comply with the observations contained in the IRs, rectify the defects and omissions, and report compliance through initial reply to the AG (Audit) within one month from the date of is-
for their consideration within 15 days of presentation of the PAC reports to the Legislature. The PAC reports/recommendations are the principle medium by which the Legislature enforces financial accountability of the Executives to the Legislature. The CAG termed it appropriate that the legislature elicits timely response from the departments in the form of ATNs. The CAG informed that the State Level Audit and Accounts Committee had been formed at the government level to monitor the follow up action on audit related matter. It was formed in June 2008, at the state level under the chairmanship of the Chief Secretary, to monitor the response and corrective action on the findings reported by the audit, to review and oversee the working of Departmental Audit and Accounts Committee and also to hold meetings once in 6 months. Further, in order to expedite the settlement of the outstanding audit observations contained in the previously mentioned IRs, departmental audit committees have been constituted by the government. These committees are chaired by the Secretaries of the concerned administrative departments and the meetings are attended by the concerned officers of the state government and officers from the office of the Accountant General (Audit). During 2015-16, the CAG informed that no State Level Audit and Accounts Committee meeting was convened. Similarly for the same year, no audit committee meeting was convened to clear the outstanding observations.
• CAG says there is absence of adequate action to rectify defects and irregularities • Urges Nagaland Government to ensure proper response to audit observations sue of the IRs. Meanwhile, serious irregularities are reported to the Heads of Departments and the government. For the time period from 2011-12 to 2016-16, the CAG detected that there were 1000 pending IRs pertaining to Civil (Expenditure audit including that of Works, Forest and Autonomous Bodies); 75 pending IRs pertaining to Revenue (Audit of Revenue Departments); and 18 pending IRs pertaining to Commercial (Audit of Public Sector Undertakings). Meanwhile, as of December 2016, the CAG found that out of 1423 recommendations of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), made between 1990-91 and 2015-16, only 880 Action Taken Notes (ATNs) in respect of the recommendations had been submitted to the PAC and discussed. It may be noted that the Finance Department issued instructions to all departments to submit ATNs on various suggestions, observations and recommendations made by the PAC
Make NE a gateway Standoff between timber contractors & Peren District Administration ‘recedes’ to SE Asia: PM Modi
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NEW DELHI/SHILLONG, MAY 7 (PTI): The government aims to make the Northeast a gateway to Southeast Asia and was making huge investments for the overall development of the region, but lack of cleanliness could hamper this dream, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said today. “If such a beautiful gateway is unclean, diseased, illiterate or disbalanced, then it will fail to cross the gateway of the country’s development. There is no reason why, with all our resources, we should remain backward or poor,” the Prime Minister said. Addressing the centenary celebrations of the prominent voluntary organisation, Bharat Sevashram Sangha, in Shillong through video conferencing, he lamented that “only Gangtok had found a place among the first 50 clean cities”, out of the 12 cities from the Northeast surveyed as part of the recent nationwide cleanliness survey. While four Northeastern cities found a place between 100 and 200 clean cities, seven were positioned between 200 and 300, with Shillong being the 276th, he said while stressing that ‘Swachhata’ or cleanliness was a major challenge for everyone in the region. “We have to make the Northeast a gateway for Southeast Asia,” Modi said, adding if this gateway is dirty, then the dream would not be fulfilled and asked the people and organisations like the Sangha to join hands with the state governments and their agencies in the cleanliness campaign. Observing that there has been no balanced development in the entire Northeast so many years after Independence, Modi said his government, “with all its resources”, had planned to bring about balanced development of the states here. He said the major thrust was to improve connectivity and de-
velop the entire region for tourism purposes. “All these initiatives will help to make the Northeast the gateway of Southeast Asia,” he said. While an investment of Rs 40,000 crore is being made to improve the road infrastructure in the entire Northeast, 19 big railway projects have also been started in the region, he said. “We are also improving the electricity situation in the Northeast and trying to bring even more tourists to the region,” Modi said. Announcing that the Northeast would soon be connected with UDAN (Ude Desh ka Aam Nagarik) scheme, he said small airports were also being developed in the region, while the extension of the runway at Shillong airport has been approved. The Bharat Sevashram Sangha is a network of volunteers across the globe engaged in helping people in distress. The Sangha’s social welfare activities include disaster relief, spreading education, providing healthcare facilities, vocational training and upliftment of the tribals. Lauding the role of the Sangha in playing a critical role during natural calamities, the Prime Minister said a myth was sought to be created that spirituality and service cannot go together. “The Bharat Sevashram Sangha has been able to dispel this myth, through its work,” he said, saying that societal development through ‘Bhakti’, ‘Shakti’ and ‘Jan Shakti’ was achieved by Swami Pranavananda, the Sangha’s founder. He said Sangha, with more than 100 branches and over 500 units, had rendered services during various calamities, starting from the Bengal famine in 1923 and Noakhali riots in 1946 to Bhopal gas leakage in 1984, the Tsunami in 2004 and 2013 Uttarakhand tragedy.
DIMAPUR, MAY 7 (MExN): The impasse between the District Administration of Peren and timber contractors on the recent logging imbroglio in the district was today brought to an amicable understanding with the intervention of Chairman, DAN, TR Zeliang. A press note informed that the “standoff receded” today after a discussion at DC Complex, Peren New HQ coinciding with the meeting of the District Planning & Development Board (DB&DB), attended by District HoDs, Zeliangrong Baudi, Zeliang Kuki Public Organisation, Peren District Timber Union, NGOs and public leaders.
Speaking at the tripartite meeting between civil societies, timber contractors and the DP&DB, the DAN Chairman and Adviser Finance, who is also the Chairman of DP&DB, Peren said, “Compromise is possible only when we create the space to understand each other” while maintaining that “genuine grievances of the public” must be taken into consideration in all circumstances. He further stated that “green coverage is being reduced because of rampant logging whereas our target must be on maintaining ecological balance, allowing people to live with sufficient water and fresh air for a healthy life.”
While calling upon the District Forest Department to put more efforts in tackling illegal trade of timber passing through Peren district, Zeliang asked the Forest Department to “identify illegal timber coming from Manipur, Assam and Intangki National Park via Peren District.” Though every year, a 6 month period is opened for vehicles carrying timber to ply across Peren district, Zeliang regretted that the contractors “could not make use of the allotted time period and had instead opted for confrontation with the authorities and the public.” While stating that the government understood the hardships faced by the timber
contractors from an “economic point of view” due to the recent bandh, he maintained that one had to however “compare individual problems with public problems” in such situations. Following the DAN Chairman’s intervention, the time period for plying stranded timber was extended till May 31 under the condition that the timber contractors would commence immediate repair of roads. Around 45 trucks at AthibungKhelma area and 8 at PerenMpai area, reported to be stranded due to the bandh, were today allowed to pass, following the assurance of timber contractors to start repairing the road within 7 days time under the direct su-
CBI unearths 393 shell companies used to divert around Rs 2900 crore
NEW DELHI, MAY 7 (PTI): A complex web of 393 shell companies used for allegedly diverting funds unscrupulously to the tune of Rs 2900 crore has been unearthed by the CBI during its probe into such cases over the last three years. CBI sources said the shell companies were allegedly being used by the accused to divert loan funds meant for specified purposes, creating fake invoices, and “round-tripping” of funds to evade taxes and generate black money. Round-tripping is sending money abroad to tax havens in the guise of payments for fake imports through shell companies and bringing back that money showing it as foreign investment. The findings of the CBI are just a tip of the iceberg as these are only those cases where the agency has been able to find legally-tenable evidence of money trail, cheating and diversion of funds to cheat the banks, said the sources not willing to the named. The murky activities have been exposed during the CBI probe into various loan fraud cases involving 28 public sector banks and one private bank, the sources said.
Besides this, the agency is probing about 200 cases involving funds of at least Rs 30,000 crore, the sources said. The CBI is prosecuting these companies for corruption and scheduled offences associated with it. In addition, it will also refer these cases to other investigating agencies for action under other laws like Companies Act, Prevention of Money Laundering Act, Benami Transactions (Prohibition) Act and the Income Tax Act etc, the sources added. The agency has not only “exposed” these shell companies but also gathered enough material which would “plug” the possibility of them being used for any further operation, the sources claimed. The sources said it is likely that these shell companies have been used to abet financial crimes by other offenders too which will be probed by other agencies. The companies are spread across the country as also the ‘tax-haven’ countries facilitating transfer of black money which makes the investigation even more difficult, they said. Some important cases which have been probed by the CBI include the
one against Century Communication Group which used to run Mahua Channel. According to the figures mentioned in the agency’s charge sheets and FIRs, the group allegedly committed fraud to the tune of Rs 3000 crore. It used over 98 shell companies to allegedly divert bank loans for setting up digital studios in Noida, Mumbai, Kolkata and other locations, the CBI has said. These companies were allegedly used to divert funds showing fake equity infusion to the tune of Rs 802 crore. The Kolkata-based shell companies named in the case were allegedly controlled by one Muralidhar Lahoti. Three chartered accountants have also been charge sheeted. Zoom Developers faces 14 cases for allegedly swindling bank funds worth Rs 2600 crore involving a consortium of 26 banks. It allegedly collateralised foreign bank guarantees issued by Indian banks in favour of foreign aggregators. The CBI had registered two cases against Jignesh Shah and Anjani Sinha of National Stock Exchange Limited, also known as “NSEL scam”, in which funds of Rs 342 crore were allegedly swindled.
pervision of PWD (R&B). On the failure of timber contractors to keep their words and commence road repairing after extension of the deadline, a special DP&DB Meeting would be specifically convened to initiate action even before the normal date of the DP&DB monthly schedule. It may be noted that the Nagaland Timber Traders Union (NTTU) had called for an indefinite blockade on movement of vehicles in Peren District commencing Monday, May 8 if the authorities failed to revoke the January 11 notification, which had prohibited movements of trucks carrying timber in Peren District after April 30.
NSCN (IM) condemns Assam Rifles raid DIMAPUR, MAY 7 (MExN): The NSCN (IM) today condemned a raid conducted at the private residence of its Deputy Secretary, Finance in-charge of Tuensang, Royimchu on May 6 midnight. A press note from the MIP, NSCN (IM) informed that the residence is located at Naga Gaon (Singnal Angami), Dimapur. It was raided by the 32 Assam Rifles including two women personnel, the raid starting at midnight and lasting till 1:05am, informed the press note. The NSCN (IM) further alleged that the following items were “taken away” during the raid: a cash receipt book of 5%, recently audited cash book and payment endorsement for region. “The 32 Assam Riffles came and raided on the pretext of ‘Report’ with full concealment of their identities by wearing mask and without identification badge, which is purely a violation of ceasefire ground rules and it has a psychological effect on the young kids and women. This is the third time the Assam Riffles had raided this very house,” the NSCN (IM) alleged. “This random violation of conducive atmosphere is totally against the spirit of the recently concluded review meeting of 18th April 2017 between the GoI and NSCN in New Delhi,” it stated. The NSCN (IM) further asked the 32 AR to “give back the seized articles through the Monitoring Cell at the earliest.”