November 5th, 2015

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www.morungexpress.com

thursDAY • November 05 • 2015

DIMAPUR • Vol. X • Issue 301 • 12 PAGes • 4

T H e

ESTD. 2005

P o W e R

We are made wise not by the recollection of our past, but by the responsibility for our future APMC Kohima boost local farming community

No difference between Shah Rukh and Hafiz Saeed: BJP MP PAGe 8

o F

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— George Bernard Shaw

Rooney equals Law goal record as ManU go top

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nagaland and its oil impasse From challenge of permit to challenge of Rules & Regulations— how the Lotha Hoho PIL came into being Morung Express news Dimapur | November 4

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Farmer Zhang Xianping rides his pig “Big Precious” during an interview with the media, in Zhangjiakou, Hebei province, China, november 2. Zhang, a pig breeder, instead of killing it, decided to keep the two-year-old “Big Precious” as pet when its weight reached 600 kg, according to local media. (REUTERS)

reflections

By Sandemo Ngullie

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Nagaland BJP highlights urgent infrastructural needs of State

DIMAPUR, NOVEMBER 4 (MExN): The Nagaland state unit of the BJP has submitted a memorandum to the Union Minister for Road Transport, Highways and Transport, Nitin Gadkari on the need for infrastructure development in the state. The memo was submitted by a delegation of the party led by BJP Nagaland President, Dr M. Chuba Ao and HK Khulu, state executive member, during the Union Minister’s visit to the state on Tuesday. The memo pointed to certain priority works on infrastructure which are required to be implemented through the state Government in right earnest during the NDA/BJP regime. Included in this 15000 Crore package... “priority works” was the North- South ExAree! nothing for us? pressway (Foothill Road-4 Lane) on the western side of the state (Mon to DimaThe Morung Express pur/Khelma). The Nagaland BJP said that state government had sent a proposPoll QuEsTion the al for approval under NLCPR (Central), Vote on www.morungexpress.com which can be linked to the Stilwell road in SMS your anSwer to 9862574165 Arunachal in the north and to the national Quadrilateral road near Silchar in the Has Naga civil society groups (Hohos, south. It also referred to the Trans-Eastern students, mothers, etc) Highway linking the districts in the interbeen compromised national boundary with Myanmar (Monby the Nagaland state

Longwa – Pangsha –Avangkhu – Kiphire) and highlighted the need to need to link the trilateral highway being taken up from Moreh(Manipur) via Bagan (Myanmar) to Mae Sot (Thailand) to Nagaland from Dimapur via Niuland – Zunheboto –Aghunato –Pangsha(ITC) on to Lahe and beyond in Myanmar linking the Trilateral highway. “In order to facilitate trade and commerce with Myanmar it would be necessary to open up waterway through Tizu/ Zungki River (Nagaland) which flow into the Chindwin river and onto Irrawady river in Myanmar,” it added. The party further pointed out the urgent need for a new airport of international standard in Dimapur area. “Possible areas are located towards Dhansiripar or at Razaphema – This needs to be expedited,” it said. It also cited the circular road and bypass in Kohima as “absolutely essential,” while urging that roads to all the 11 district headquarters be taken up during the NDA regime on priority. The party then asked for two more bridges over Dhansiri River and at least two fly-over bridges in Dimapur to be built.

government? Why?

Yes

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no

others

Thai court orders extradition of arms dealer wanted in India BANGKOK, NOVEMBER 4 (PTI): An Appeals Court in Thailand today ordered the extradition of a Thai arms dealer who is wanted in India in connection with brokering arms deals between Chinese suppliers and insurgent outfits in India’s Northeast. Wuthikorn Naruenartwanich, alias Willy Naru, was arrested in August, 2013 on India’s request for allegedly brokering arms deals between Chinese suppliers and Anthony Shimray, a top operative of the Nationalist Socialist Council of Nagaland (Isac-Muivah) or NSCN-IM faction. Shimray, who was arrested on Indo-Nepal border in October 2010, had indicated that Willy had helped him to purchase weapons and ammunitions worth USD 1.2 million. Indian intelligence traced their contact and found that they had made the deal via email and an amount of USD 8,00,000 had already been paid. Willy, 57, runs a spa business in Thailand, allegedly as a cover for his illegal activities. “The court said he should be extradited within 90 days but we hope to do so in a month,” sources told PTI.

What has become a full blown challenge to the Nagaland Petroleum and Natural Gas Rules & Regulations 2012 (NPNGR&R) in the Gauhati high Court (GHC) started off with a challenge to a permit that has now been stayed by the Court. The Nagaland State, through the Nagaland Petroleum and Natural Gas (NPNG) Board, granted a permit for ‘mixed operations’ (exploration, production/extraction and refining/bottling of petroleum and natural gas) in the Wokha Zone for a period of 10 years to Metropolitan Oil & Gas Pvt. Ld. (MOGPL) on February 28, 2014. Issued at a fee of Rs. 3 crore, the permit was issued on the basis of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the Government of Nagaland (GoN) and MOGPL, also signed on the same day. This, in turn, found basis in the NPNG Rules 2012—a Ministerial Group would first decide on a company and then get the NPNG Board chairman to sign the MoU. The Ministerial Group consists of the GoN’s Cabinet Sub-Committee on petroleum and natural gas members who helped draft the NPNGR&R in the first place. The subsequent permit, through which MOGPL could mine billions of dollars worth revenue from Nagaland, is a piece of paper anyone could have typed out (see picture). The permit is not on a Government letterhead. It has no file number. It is signed by one person—the additional chief secretary and development commissioner to the GoN at the time, also the NPNG Board chairperson. Owing to “wrongful” procedure in giving such an important permit, the Lotha Hoho called for its cancellation by writing to the Chief Secretary in July this year. They stated in a press release earlier that the way the permit was given “is against the state government’s standing Rule no. 4, first schedule of the Rules

of Executive Business 1980 P&AR department notification No. AR. 11/4/77 of 28/07/1980 which states that all such cases has to be issued by the concern department and in this case by the secretary, Geology & Mining department through a notification in consultation with the Finance department.”

Concurrently, in a response given in 2015 to an RTI filed in 2014, the GoN’s Department of Geology & Mining seemed puzzled at questions about the oil gymnastics. How could it have all answers? It stated that it was not consulted during the framing of the NPNGR&R. It ascertained before the Nagaland Information Commission that the Department “came to know (the details) only after the permit was issued” to the company. When the Government forcibly reinaugurated Changpang (oil wells) in 2014 (to the extent of enforcing a curfew), the Department of Geology & Mining was left uninvited. Earlier, the Lotha Hoho had also stated, “Expression of Interest (EOI) on which the permit was based was also notified without any file number

and that too by the NPNG Board and not by the department concerned.” In the RTI response, the Department of Geology & Mining affirmed, again, that it had not received a copy of the EOI and knew nothing about MOGPL. These administrative high jumps were made possible by the NPNGR&R. It gave away major decision making power vis-a-vis petroleum and natural gas to a Ministerial Group and bureaucratic powers to the NPNG Board. Thus, if the permit is not cancelled, it will lead to litigation in a court of law, intimated the Lotha Hoho to the Chief Secretary of Nagaland in July 2015. Copies were sent to top functionaries of Nagaland State Government—the Commissioner & Secretary to the Chief Minister, PS to the Parliamentary Secretary, Geology & Mining, PS to the Minister, Home, Commissioner & Secretary to GoN’s Geology & Mining, the Director, Geology & Mining. It also informed all Lotha frontal organisations of the same. No known action was taken by the GoN, similar to its response since 2012 when the Lotha people, including landowners and apex bodies, repeatedly objected to the way things were taking shape. In late 2015, the Lotha Hoho decided to go beyond the permit and filed a PIL in the Kohima bench of the GHC challenging the NPNGR&R 2012 itself. The PIL relies on Article 371-A of the Indian Constitution to protect the Naga people from land and resource alienation by the State—it asks the court to enforce Article 371-A as well as others. The PIL has termed the award of permit as “arbitrary, unfair, non-transparent and illegal action.” There was a violation of established principles of natural justice and administrative fair-play, it noted, among other allegations. On October 8, the GHC passed an order that stayed the permit granted by the GoN to MOGPL and questioned the constitutional basis of the NPNGR&R 2012.

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Maldives declares state of emergency Foodhills - organic retail outlet in Kohima

MALE, NOVEMBER 4 (REUTERS): The Maldives declared a state of emergency on Wednesday, as the Indian Ocean island nation’s political upheaval intensified following a suspected assassination attempt on the president. Citing a threat to national security, the foreign ministry said on its official Twitter feed that the state of emergency would remain in force for 30 days. Umar Naseer, minister of home affairs, confirmed to Reuters that the

emergency had been declared. The string of tropical islands, home to 400,000 people and a favourite of tourists, has been in turmoil since a Sept. 28 blast on board President Abdulla Yameen’s launch as it was about to dock at the capital Male. Yameen was unhurt but his wife and two aides were injured in the blast, which the government quickly said was an assassination attempt. The authorities have since uncovered stashes of weapons believed to

have been hidden by Yameen’s opponents, leading the police to recommend the imposition of a state of emergency under Article 253 of the constitution. “Further investigations showed a high probability that these people have weapons and explosives,” Ali Ihusaan, a Maldives National Defence Force (MNDF) official, told a news conference. “There is every possibility that these things will be seen again, and so we advised on this action,” he said.

3930 backdoor appointments in Home Dept since 2010: CSU

PHEK, NOVEMBER 4 (MExN): The Chakhesang Students’ Union (CSU) today submitted a representation to the Nagaland Chief Minister, TR Zeliang, alleging that 3930 “backdoor appointments” have been made in the state Home Department from 2010 till date. Various documents supporting the CSU’s allegations were also submitted to the CM along with the representation The representation appended by CSU President, Seve R Vadeo and General Secretary, Ngapunyi Krocha, based these findings on an RTI filed on August 20, 2015 in the Home Department. As per information received through the RTI, the CSU said that from 2010 till date, 95 ABSI, 72 UBSI, 64 ASI, 74 Havildar, 3551 Constable and 74 Ministerial staff, medi-

Demands that Nagaland CM revoke all ‘illegal appointments’ within 10 days

cal staff (district) and LDA posts were appointed through “backdoor.” It informed that 106 ABSIs were appointed from January 1, 2010 till date, of which it alleged that except for 11 appointees, “the rest have all been appointed through backdoor.” The CSU pointed to appointment number PHQ (B-1) 1/24/2011 dated Kohima, November 29, 2011 as evidence for this. The CSU also said that only 9 out of 81 UBSIs were appointed through competitive exams during the period. It then informed that only 6 out of 70 ASIs appointed during the period were through proper competitive exams.

The CSU alleged that all 74 Havildar posts appointed during the five year period were made through “backdoor.” Further, it stated that no advertisements were carried out for the posts of 3551 constables appointed from January 1, 2010 till date. It then revealed that 74 out of the 75 Ministerial staff, medical staff (district) and LDAs were appointed through “backdoor” during the period. It further stated that except for one advertisement number PHQ (B-1) 1/24/2011, dated Kohima, August 11, 2011, whereby 32 posts of ABSI (male-14), UBSI (male-8), UBSI (female-3), and ASI (male-7) were made; “the rest have

not carried any advertisement for publication in any manner flouting all norms and procedures.” The CSU also apprised the Nagaland CM of their press statement dated August 11, 2015, regarding “backdoor appointment” of 259 posts made in the months of April and May, 2015. It expressed concern that till date, there has been no response from the department or the government. The CSU informed that the union is taking steps to collect data of other departments as well to place before the CM, and asked him to “revoke all the illegal appointments in the Home Department as per the data furnished within a period of 10 days.” Failure to do so, the CSU cautioned that it would recourse for legal action.

Vegetables sold at Foodhills, an organic retail outlet which opened in Kohima today.

Chizokho Vero Kohima | November 4

Looking for organic vegetable/produces? Then Foodhills is the perfect outlet for you. Located opposite de Oriental Grand, Themezie, High School Road, Foofhills was formally opened today to cater to people looking for organic produces. Foodhills, which opens from 9:00am to 6:00pm, is the initiative of six families under the banner of Pfutsero Produce Marketing Organization (PPMO). This organic retail outlet started with agricultural produces from Pfutsero of Phek district, and will later engage other produces from Wokha, Mokokchung etc. Among the many items

available include Naga Dal, Millet, Rice, Cabbage, Potato, Tree Tomato, Potato, Beans, Maize, Axone, meat pickles, Green vegetables, Squash, Garlic, Pumpkin etc. The outlet also sells imported essential commodities. “We want to engage produces from all over Nagaland in the coming years,” said PPMO director Wenyitso Kapfo. Kapfo stated that through this venture they also wanted to promote the youngsters in agricultural production activities. Inaugurating Foodhills, renowned singer Methaneilie Jutakhrie said agricultural practice in Nagaland is organic by default and stressed on the need to go for large scale produc-

tion to meet the growing demand of the populace. He encouraged the farmers to intensify cultivation and produce more. Methaneilie also lauded PPMO for initiating Foodhills in the state capital and wished them a successful venture. Parliamentary Secretary for Planning & Coordination and Evaluation, Neiba Kronu was appreciative of the PPMO, saying that it has established Foodhills with a purpose. He expressed hope that Horticulture Department would come forward to assist PPMO in packaging and storage aspects. Kronu also encouraged Naga entrepreneurs to venture into wild apple and honey, which has high potential in the state. Nagaland Horticulture Director, Watienla Jamir was also positive of the PPMO venture and their seriousness in the business. Stating that the good wishes of the Department will be always there, she informed that PPMO can come forward to sit with the department pertaining to the scheme under the National Horticulture Board. Meanwhile, PPMO CEO Wecheteu Khape has asked for support from the public for their venture.

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