September 25th 2014

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www.morungexpress.com

Dimapur VOL. IX ISSUE 264

The Morung Express “

www.morungexpress.com

”

The smarter the journalists are, the better off society is Mission accomplished: India joins Mars explorers [ PAGE 8]

Bible in Pochury translation launched [ PAGE 2]

PGC annual games and sports week underway

Thursday, September 25, 2014 12 pages Rs. 4 –Warren Buffett

China drought worsens long-term water crisis

[ PAGE 10]

reflections

By Sandemo Ngullie

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[ PAGE 09]

District Hospital Kiphire: crying for Attention Lipichem

Kiphire | September 24

Come back next season.

Right now they`re busy watching the Naga premier oil league.

Bye poll counting date on October 20 KOHIMA, SEPTEMBER 24 (DIPR): The Chief Electoral Officer, Government of Nagaland has informed that the counting date for the Bye Election to 11 Northern Angami –II (ST) A/C has been fixed on October 20, 2014 instead of October 19. The Nagaland CEO informed that this has been done as per the letter of the Election Commission of India letter No.100/ NL- LA/1/2014 dated September 22, 2014.

KADTA resolves against paying ‘illegal collection’ DIPHU, SEPTEMBER 24 (MExN): The Karbi Anglong and Dimapur Transporters Association (KADTA) and vehicle owners today resolved not to pay the Rs 200, which it said is being “illegally collected” at AK weighbridge, Lahorijan, Dillai Road. A press note from the KADTA President, Anil Toppo and General Secretary, Nito Sumi informed that this was resolved at a joint meeting on September 24. The meeting further agreed to pay “only as per the order passed by the Karbi Anglong Autonomous Council, whereas the Council Gate Dillai Road NH-36, NH-39 and Garampani are collecting Rs 400, Rs 300 and Rs 400 respectively.” It further resolved “not to pay the Bokajan Sand and Stone Supply Union, Karbi Anglong which is illegally collecting Rs 350 per vehicle.”

‘India’s healthcare in dismal condition’

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NEw DELHI, SEPTEMBER 24 (IANS): India ranks the lowest in the world on several health indicators and a large part of the country’s population has little or no access to good quality healthcare, according to the India Infrastructure Report 201314: The Road to Universal Health Coverage, released here said. The report said that the public health system is in jeopardy, due to decades of appallingly low public investments, inadequate and antiquated infrastructure, severe shortage of human resources and inadequacies in government policies. “Failed public health systems have forced people to turn to the private sector, which is costly and unregulated, with services often being provided by unqualified medical practitioners,” it said. It goes on to say that preventive and primary healthcare has been marginalized. “Health expenditures can be prohibitively high with the rural population and the urban poor being the worst sufferers,” the report by IDFC said.

For citizens of Kiphire district, getting quality health care remains just a wish and seems almost impossible to attain even in the near future. Patients at the lone government owned hospital in Kiphire, are suffering due to lack of sufficient staff, proper medical equipment and a lack of basic facilities.

The hospital is supposed to have at least one Surgeon, Pediatrician, Orthopedician, Physician and 2 medical officers for general duty. However, only a lone regular doctor (Pathologist), one contract doctor, one doctor attached from PHC Sitimi, an AYUSH doctor (NRHM) and a dentist are operating the district hospital Kiphire.

The severe shortage of staff and lack of adequate facilities at the state-run District Hospital Kiphire (DHK) has not only hit services but also increased the work pressure on the existing staff. Working under tremendous stress due to lack of staff, the present employees fail to deliver quality service to the 70004 population in the district.

The hospital, located in a remote area with the nearest tertiary health center

(LEFT) The general room is in a shambles with rusted and dirty bed at District Hospital Kiphire. (RIGHT The hospital kitchen tagged as “Morgue” at District Hospital Kiphire. (Morung Photos)

about 300 kms away, has to cater to the health needs of the entire district. It has been reported that every month at least 10 patients are being referred out of the district due to lack of specialized doctors, forcing patients to avail the only ambulance service (Gypsy) which was provided in 2007.

According to the hospital staff, a majority of the patients are being referred to other hospitals citing lack of essential medical facilities and equipment. In September 2014 alone, 14 patients were referred out of the district for treatment, out of

which three cases were referred due to non-availability of an Obs & Gyne doctor.

The staff also informed that the system of attachment adds more problems to the health of the Hospital itself. An Anaesthesist is attached to district hospital Dimapur, a Sr. Dental Surgeon is attached to NHAK, an ENT doctor was transferred and never replaced, Obs & Gynae doctor has been transferred and the reliever has not joined.

“The doctors and other staffs in DHK cannot avail even an entitled leave due to lack of workers. We have

to work round the clock due to staff shortage,” says one of the hospital workers.

In June 2014, a representation was sent to the Principal Director, Directorate of Health and Family Welfare, Kohima for additional nurses at DHK. The representation cited that at present, the DHK has a strength of 16 nurses (11 regular and 5 contractual under NRHM), which has remained the same since it was upgraded to District Hospital from Civil Hospital in 2006.

“We have only one nursing station, which is managing the five wards

of the hospital including emergency. For each emergency duty shift (evening and night), only two nurses can be detailed for covering the whole hospital and emergency cases,” lamented the representation appended by Nokentula and Imnajungla, both staff nurses at DHK. The 50 bedded DHK established in 1980, has only 37 functioning beds due to lack of space. Due to nonavailability of a technician, the darkroom attendant operates the only functional portable X-Ray procured through Rogi Kalyan Samiti

(RKS)/ Hospital Management. The Blood Bank Unit has become non-functional due to irregular power supply and it requires a larger blood storage refrigerator. The hospital has no regular technician and those appointed are done through various national programmes.

Hospital records show that in the past two month, the DHK has attended to 1254 emergency patients and 1604 OPD patients.

The authorities are also fearful of an outbreak of new diseases, since no proper cleaning of clothes

and other materials for hospital use has been done since February 2014 due to non-availability of workers.

The hospital also requires a morgue with necessary equipments and a work force to conduct postmortem in medico-legal cases.

To further highlight the lamentable condition of the DHK, a kitchen constructed by a women’s organization for patients a few years back has been painted and labeled as the “Morgue” by the authorities. This was done during a visit by the previous Nagaland state Governor to the DHK.

Disqualification order of three NPF declares candidate MLAs remain suspended: BJP for upcoming bye poll NCP & NLA Speaker file two writ appeals

DIMAPUR, SEPTEMBER 24 (MExN): The Nagaland state unit of the BJP today informed that the NCP and the Speaker of the Nagaland Legislative Assembly (NLA) has filed two writ appeals “challenging the interim stay order” whereby the NLA Speaker’s order disqualify-

ing three MLAs was stayed.

A press note from the President of the Nagaland BJP, Dr M Chuba Ao stated that the writ appeals, numbered WA 297 and 298 of 2914 respectively, were filed before the principal bench of the Guwahati High Court at Guwahati. Both the writ appeals came up for admission hearing before a division bench of the Guwahati High Court comprising of Chief Justice (acting) Rao and Justice AK Goswami.

According to the BJP Nagaland, “the division bench opined that the

subject Matter pertaining to the writ petition filed by the three MLAs namely Imtilemba Sangtam, Dr T M Lotha and Mmhonlumo Kikon, being of immense public importance, the writ petition should be heard by a division bench henceforth, instead of the single bench.” The bench ordered that the hearing of the “writ petition fixed on 29-10-2014 before the single Judge will now be heard on the same date by a division bench of the Honorable High Court.”

The stay order dat-

ed September 12, 2014 passed by the single bench Justice L S Jamir “was not interfered with by the Division Bench,” informed the BJP. It further asserted that the “disqualification order passed by the Speaker on the 3 MLAs continues to remain suspended and inoperative.”

The BJP Nagaland state Unit has welcomed the decision of the Judges of the Guwahati High Court and reiterated that “justice will prevail inspite of the arbitrary and the unconstitutional act” of the NLA Speaker.

Climate change could trigger violent conflict in India: report

LONDON, SEPTEMBER 24 (TNN): A British report has warned that climate change could trigger violent conflict in India - similar to the Arab Spring where climate change, drought, water mismanagement and food prices contributed to the outbreak of civil unrest.

The Global Sustainability Institute at Anglia Ruskin University in Cambridge has said that water availability is closely tied to food production and with India’s population expected to reach 1.4 billion by 2050, the country could face a “perfect storm” of challenges. The report specifically looks at the specific socio-political, economic, cultural and environmental characteristics of the Cauvery and Indus catchments and the potential for both climate change and scarcity of natural resources to destabilise social and political systems.

Dr Aled Jones, director of the Institute, said “Although unlikely to be the primary cause of violent conflict, natural resource scarcity and climate change can be a catalyst that exacerbates simmering tensions and existing conditions for instability. A decreased availability of water and a

rise in food prices in already waterstressed regions can create the perfect storm for civil unrest and conflict.

Climate change, population increase and water mismanagement stresses are therefore a relevant factor in the ongoing peace negotiations between India and Pakistan. The Cauvery River catchment demonstrates the genuine risk of climate change impacting India’s stability”.

Freshwater is fundamental to food production; 71% of global water withdrawals are used in agriculture.

Water security links food production, energy, the climate, economic growth, and human security.

The report points to India as a case study and says “India is the world’s largest democracy with a decentralised political system and strong state powers. India has experienced rapid economic growth over the past 15 years, yet despite economic success India is a country of contrasts; where vast wealth coexists with abject poverty. The level of inequality between the wealthy elite and the numerous poor has led to the concept of “two India’s”, with the latter threatening prosperity and growth of the former. In a

country of 1.19 billion people, 48 Indians made it on to the Forbes’ 2012 list of billionaires, while in 2009-10 30% of the population were living on less than $0.44 per day in rural areas and $0.56 per day in urban areas”.

“India is crisscrossed by numerous rivers yet rapid economic and population growth means demand for water is growing faster than available supply. The result is falling per capita freshwater resources. The country is also experiencing high levels of baseline water stress driven by its growing populations, growing middle class population and therefore growing domestic demand for rice, wheat and sugar”.

“Indian water withdrawals are expected to reach 1,195 billion m3 by 2030 which is a 50% increase from 2012 withdrawals. Despite national water withdrawals being below the total potential water resource available in India individual river basins face physical water scarcity. This includes agriculturally important basins, such as the Indus, Ganges, Cauvery and Krishna. Together these basins represent two-thirds of the total irrigated area,” the report added.

Morung Express News Kohima | September 24

Affirming to be “an asset and not a liability,” 39 year old Dr. Neiphrezo Keditsu from Chiechama village was given the NPF party ticket for the candidature of the bye-election to 11 Northern Angami II Constituency on September 24 at the NPF office, Kohima.

A contractor, and the son-in-law of the Member of Parliament (MP) Neiphiu Rio, Dr. Neiphrezo Keditsu thanked the party for bestowing their trust in his leadership and affirmed to uphold the NPF manifesto and principles.

Speaking at the occasion, Nagaland MP, Neiphiu Rio informed that after much analysis among the candidates, Dr. Neiphrezo was found to be young, educated, active and enthusiastic to serve the people, even though the others were equally capable.

“This being my constituency for my political years, my duty is to see that the party candidate and the candidate I support should have thumping majority,” said Rio. He further requested his party members not to work in isolation nor give much importance to gossips doing the rounds during the transitional period. Rio asserted that the party will leave behind its legacy and that the people will remember the good as well as the bad.

He further expressed regret at being the lone MP from Nagaland state, which he stated is a disadvantage. ““It will be to our advantage if my service is utilized in

the state as a whole and the departments too,” he stated Nagaland Chief Minister TR Zeliang stated that Dr. Neiphrezo was a consensus candidate of not only the NPF but of the DAN III coalition. At the moment where NPF has only 37 MLAs, Zelaing called upon the party functionaries and elected members to ensure victory in the upcoming poll.

Zeliang also stated that the BJP and NPF partnership coalition is not just a newly established partnership, but is a partnership which started since the inception of NPF in 2003.

“NPF never parted with BJP whether it won or lost.

Speaking during the handing over of the party ticket, NPF President, Dr Shürhozelie Liezietsu termed Dr Neiphrezo as a young and vibrant leader.

“This party represents the regional interest, the personality and the aspirations of our people. It is the principle of this party that can protect the interest of our people. No other party in the country will be able to protect the interest of our people,” he asserted.

After receiving the NPF ticket, Dr Keditsu held a thanksgiving program at Hotel Vivor on September 24 where further instructions on the election code of conduct and campaigns were given to his supporters. While exhorting supporters on the election code of conduct; Vibeiletuo, Gariphema, who will be the expenditure agent for the party informed that Rs 20 lakhs has been allotted for the election expenditure. Overwhelmed by the support of his constituency, Dr. Neiphrezo stated the ticket belongs to his people and expressed optimism that he would win the election to work towards the cause of the poor, the farmers, youth and the underprivileged.

Consider it as a ‘friendly election,’ says Nagaland CM So today the BJP setting up a candidate in NA II should not disturb the coalition or the friendship of BJP but consider it as a friendly election,” said the Chief Minister. However, the CM also noted, “In politics sometimes friendliness becomes very rough. But the point is to score the goal.”

The Nagaland CM further claimed that the DAN III, during its change of guard, had done justice to independent leaders and leaders from the JDU, BJP and especially the NCP leaders. Referring to the legal tussle regarding the disqualification of three MLAs who had joined the BJP, Zeliang stated this should not disturb the coalition partnership of BJP. Let the law take its own course, he added.

Congress not to field candidate?

Meanwhile, sources have informed that the Nagaland Pradesh Congress Committee (NPCC) will not be fielding a candidate for the upcoming bye poll. On being contacted, an official from the NPCC informed that the party would intimate the public of their decision on Thursday.

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The Morung Express 2 LocaL NMP+ reaches out to more PLHAs through new project Bible in Pochury Dimapur

Thursday

25 September 2014

Our Correspondent

Mokokchung | September 24

Taking another step in the fight against HIV/AIDS in the society, the Network of Mokokchung District People Living with HIV/AIDS (NMP+) started the Care & Support Centre at its office which was formally launched by Mokokchung DC Sushil Kumar Patel (IAS) here today.

The Care & Support Centre, which is being funced by the Indian HIV/ AIDS Alliance under is ‘Vihaan’, project is expected to reach out to a greater number of PLHAS in the society.

The deputy commissioner of Mokokchung, Sushil Kumar Patel, while speaking at the launching programme, commended that the NMP+ is doing a great job in the field of HIV/ AIDS. While strongly lamenting that social discrimination prevalent in the society against PLHAS, Patel maintained that stigma and discrimination can be eradicated through proper awareness about HIV/AIDS in the society.

He blamed ‘unawareness’

New prayer centre building dedicated at Losami Our Correspondent Losami | September 24 C M Y K

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The new building of the Christian Prayer Centre of Losami Baptist Church was dedicated today by Rev. Dr. Vezopa Tetseo executive secretary Chakhesang Baptist Church Council.

Speaking on the occasion Rev.Dr. Tetseo said this centre should not be used for competition but a place of compliment.

Minister for PWD (Roads & Bridges) and parliamentary affairs Kuzholuzo (Azo) Nienu wishes this prayer centre to act as epicenter of peace for the people of Phek area as well as Chakhesang and Nagas as a whole. The minister was also hopeful that this prayer centre will bring a sense of closeness and oneness among the people of Phek area. A time has come for the people to build better relationship and oneness be it in social, sports, politics etc., the minister said.

Neisepeu Medoze also spoke on the occasion.

Earlier, the function was chaired by Kesowe pastor Losami Baptist Church.

Kewetsi and Kowelo-u pronounced invocation and benediction prayer respectively.

Mokokchung DC, Sushil Kumar Patel (second from left) along with NMP+ officials and others after launching the Care and Support Centre at NMP+ office on Wednesday, September 24, 2014. (Morung Photo)

of HIV/AIDS as the main cause of stigma and discrimination in the society.

He also assured the NMP+ of all possible help from the district administration as and when the need arises.

The Project Co-ordinator (CSC-NMP+), Toshi Sangpi while talking on the topic ‘promoting survival and quality of life to PLHIVs’, said that the NMP+ with the implementation of Vihaan Care & Support Centre (CSC) Project has to ensure that “universal rights” are accorded

to people infected and affected within its capacity and will embark on a series of interventions that will provide life skills for PLHIV while promoting the benefits of prevention; train persons in the techniques for coping with stigma and discrimination; provide direct support to associates of PLHIV and other vulnerable populations and promote and advocate for the human rights of these populations.

Others who spoke at the programme were, Dr

pfütsero, september 24 (mexN): The Youth Department, Nagaland Baptist Church Council (NBCC) is having its Triennial Conference cum 30th Annual Session at Pfütsero from September 26 to 28 with the theme “Speaking the Truth in Love” – Eph. 4:15.

Dr. Vesekhoyi Tetseo (Vee) President, Asia Pacific Baptist Youth Fellowship (APBYF) and his wife Rev. Ai Nohara Tetseo from Japan, Rev. Dr. L. Anjo Keikung, General Secretary, NBCC, Denny John, Wabang Moa, Rev. Dr. Vezopa Tetseo, and Mudovolu Swuro shall be the Speakers and Resource Persons respectively.

All Associations under NBCC are requested to come with 30 delegates each.

The Chakhesang Baptist Church Council (CBCC) is the host. Highlight of the program includes- Praise & Worship, Special presentations, Extra-vaganza, Bible Study,

Gospel Messages, Workshops, Business, Kohima, september Music, etc. Request the Churches and be24 (mexN): The annual lievers to uphold in prayer. initiative, beginning last year of a Clean Kohima to PTCWF bans alcohol in Pfütsero Pfütsero Town Citizen Welfare Forum make cleanliness a way of (PTCWF) has informed that during NBCC life, especially amongst stuyouth triennial conference cum 30th an- dents, who form the most nual session scheduled to be held at Pfüt- impressionable sector, the sero Town from September 26 – 28, any Environment and Sanitahouse found selling or entertaining with tion (E&S) under the ausliquor, wine, roxi, ruhi and zutho in their pices of NBCC is set to carry household(s) within Pfütsero Town will be out inspection of private penalized with a fine of Rs.2,000 – Rs.5,000 and government schools in and “this shall be at the discretion of re- Kohima for Cleanest School spective Colony Chairman, Colony GBs Award soon. and Colony Youth President.” A press reChairman Kuolachalie lease from PTCWF in-charge, general law & order, Mezelo Lomi and convenor Meyielo Kapfo informed that the order will remain effective from September 26 – 28.

quality Hindi education Our Correspondent

Phek | September 24

Minister for PWD (Roads & Bridges) and parliamentary affairs Kuzholuzo (Azo) Nienu today graced the state level Hindi Diwas celebration at Phek Town Hall.

Speaking on the occasion, the minister expressed happiness that young Naga boys and girls are going well in Hindi.

Encouraging the youngsters to continue to learn Hindi, he said "Our children should not miss the opportunity." Stressing on the need to promote Hindi in the state, he lauded All Nagaland Hindi Teachers

Union (ANHTU) for propagating the importance of Hindi in Nagaland. Azo also wishes Hindi teachers to take proper step to provide quality Hindi education among their students "so that our local young students can develop different language skill for communication." Stating that out of 41 Govt. High School, eight post graduate Hindi teachers has been introduced in Nagaland so far, he called for introducing more PGHT in the near future. He also urged upon the director of school education to appoint one Hindi teacher each to all government school in the state.

25thSeptember, 2014, 02:30 PM Zonal Council Hall,Kohima. : Shri. T.R Zeliang, Hon’ble Chief Minister, Nagaland

Guest of Honour: Shri. Noke Wangnao, Hon’ble Minister PHED, Nagaland : Smt. Anenla S. Longchari IAS Secretary, PHED.

1. Introduction

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2. Invocation Prayer

: Mr.Kedo Peseyie, Pastor, City Church, Kohima.

3. Keynote Address

: Er. Kevisekho Kruse, Chief Engineer, PHED.

4. A Solo

: Miss. Kenei Chale.

5. Speech by Guest of Honour : 6. Special Number

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translation launched

Rev. Dr. ZK Rochill, Senior Auxiliary Secretary, BSI, Dimapur releases the Bible translation in Pochury by Bible Society of India (BSI) on September 23.

Yisisotha, september 24 (mexN): The Pochury churches had a historic landmark in their journey of Christianity by releasing Bible translation in Pochury by Bible Society of India (BSI) on September 23 at Pochury Baptist Church Council Mission Centre, Yisisotha.

Rev. Dr. ZK Rochill, Senior Auxiliary Secretary, BSI, Dimapur ministered the release programme.

The minister stated that it

is a moment of rejoicing at the release of Pochury Bible after 18 years of work; at the same time a moment filled with sadness because the former translator Rev. Thsuwachu S Nyuwi as well as former Advisor Rev. Nitoy Achumi are no more with us. A minute silence was led by the minister in memory of them and prayed for their family members. The minister exhorted Pochury people to be a missionary tribe after

having their complete Bible (OT & NT) and to read and use it instead of just decoration. Rev. T Kachusie on behalf of Pochury Christians received the released Bible.

The programme was chaired by Rev. Tivisie, President, PBCC while welcome and introduction was made by Disie, Executive Secretary, PBCC. Rumatho Nyusou, the translator, gave his report. A special song was favoured

by Wezihu Baptist Church choir. The program was attended by various denominations in Pochury namely Catholic Union, Pochury, represented by Zhierutho, President and St. Xavier Parish Priest Fr. Solomon along with his members, Rev Rathvu (Executive Secretary CRC Pochury) and his members, Rev. Pangtsathvu, (Superintendent, United Pentecostal Church), Rev. Danishka (Superintendent, United Pentecostal Church) and by all pastors and Executive members of Pochury Baptist Church Council.

Seyie and Coordinator, Rev. Phomlee Van on NBCC (E&S) behalf stated in a press release that towards this end, it is an appeal to principals/ headmasters for cooperation, as extended earlier to visiting teams. The appeal is made so that the target of achieving a clean Kohima becomes a reality and the message of sanitation as integral to health and dignity of its denizens is conveyed.

The schools would be assessed on criteria like toi-

let sufficiency and cleanliness, general cleanliness of school and its compound, level of awareness on hygiene and sanitary education through questionnaires, solid and liquid waste management and tidiness of uniform. The schools with the top ten ratings would be commended with certificates and those securing first three positions would be given trophies. As previously observed, the institutions

which are lagging behind are expected to improve this time, the release stated.

The work undertaken through NBCC Sanitation Committee is in collaboration with churches, Kohima Municipal Council, Chamber of Commerce and Industries, Kohima Village Council, Public Health Engineering Department, Angami Students Union, Kohima Village Youth Organization and State Urban Development Department.

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IDCC discusses 100 % registration Naga officers should be Hindi teachers urged to provide of births & deaths by 2020 united: Patton

(25th Sept – 23rd Oct)

Chairperson

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NBCC youth triennial conference Call for Clean Kohima campaign 2014

LAUNCHING OF NATIONAL SANITATION AWARENESS CAMPAIGN

Chief Guest

Amenla MO ARTC Mkg, District ICTC Supervisor Mkg Molo, representative from Vihaan Nagaland and others.

Meanwhile, the NMP+ president and Projector Director CSC-NMP+, T Temsu Jamir disclosed to media persons that under this new project, the NMP+ aspires to reach out to a greater number of PLHAs in the society. Prominent among the works to be undertaken through this project is the ‘Lost to Follow UP’ programme where the

outreach workers will identify those PLHAs who have discontinued their ART and also those who have discontinued their CD4 count tests, so that they can continue it again. Besides, under this project a DRT (Discrimination Response Team) is also set up comprising of doctors, lawyers, police officials and media persons that will tackle any cases of discrimination in the society.

“We would like to appeal the society to continue their support to the NMP+ like before so that together we can make out society HIV free, so that the PLHAs can also live with dignity without any discrimination,” said Temsu Jamir to media persons.

It may be noted the NMP+ is one of the most active non-profit organizations working in the field of HIV/AIDS in Mokokchung district. It was formed in the year 2008 and during its more than seven years of existence it has undertaken numerous project and activities aimed at the welfare of the PLHAs and also to stop the rampant of HIV/ AIDS in the society.

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: Mr. Ruokuovotuo Pfusenuo, Naga Idol 2007.

7. Speech by Chief Guest

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8. Vote of Thanks

: Er. K.G. Sumi, Director, WSSO, PHED.

Later, the minister released Nagaland Gunjan magazine to mark the occasion. School education director Zaveyi Nyekha and Phek deputy commissioner Murohu Chotso also spoke on the occasion. Earlier, welcome speech was delivered by Pochizo Veswuh president ANHTU Phek unit while report of ANHTU was given by ANHTU general secretary A.S. Yarthotgam. The celebration was marked by ramp show, solo, Nepali dance, reading out of 14 points about Rashtra Bhasha, dance etc.

ANHTU president Rometo Sema proposed vote of thanks.

Kohima, september 24 (Dipr): The 9th meeting of the Inter departmental co-ordination committee on Registration of Births & Deaths was held with Secretary and Chief Registrar of Births and Deaths, Nagaland, Kevileno Angami, IES at the directorate of Economic & Statistics conference hall Kohima on September 24.

Kevileno who chaired the programme said that the country is targeting to achieve 100 % registration of Births and Deaths by 2020. She emphasised on the issue of certificates in the rural and urban areas and the need to avoid registration of illegal immigrants and urged the Officials in-charge who were issuing certificate to keep proper records. For better health records, the concerned department was urged to tie up with the state Programme Officer, NRHM, Health & Family Welfare or the District Incharge to collect the data in time so as to submit the report to the Registratrar General of India.

Director, Economics & Statistics and Addl. Chief Registrar of Births and Deaths

Nagaland, Y. Sachio Ovung also said that the department is insisting the DCs and DSOs for IDCC inter- departmental cooperation meetings in the districts to obtain detailed statistical data.

Director, Health and Family department spoke that his department is giving utmost efforts on collecting health data and taking the records from the districts in-charge and the churches and sending to the state Programme Officers for compiling monthly records.

Various vital pertaining issues were deliberated such as on mandatory requirement of Birth Certificate during initial admission to educational institutions; review and enhancement of delayed registration fees, proposals for honorarium to registrar of births and deaths. Review of current set up of registrars and setting up new system with Sub- inspector of statistics (SIS) as circle registrars and review of issuance of Birth and Death certificate as part of 35 services short listed in the first phase of e- District MMP.

Protection of Amur Falcon and wildlife in Peren dist

pereN, september 24 (mexN): Awareness programme on protection of Amur Falcon and Wildlife in Peren district was organized on September 23

by Peren Forest Range office under the guidance of DR. N. Senthil Kumar IFS, DFO Peren Division.

A press note stated that the programme was attended by village functionaries under Peren Range and Peren Town council members totalling to about one hundred besides the presence of District Administra-

tion and Forest Department officials. The DFO Peren, while welcoming the village functionaries and Govt. Officials to the programme, also highlighted about the efforts undertaken in 2013 where Peren Forest Division with the co-operation of District Administration, Police and villages councils successfully controlled killing and selling of Amur Falcon in the district. He reasserted that even in 2014, the same plan of action would be followed for replication of last year’s success and called upon all

concerned to give the same co-operation.

The Chief Wildlife Warden Nagaland SP Tripatti IFS, gave a detailed account of both State and National scenario with regard to wildlife conservation and appreciated the people of Peren district, whom he said are the front runners in community conservation effort in the State and urged the people to keep up the effort for posterity.

Kocha Meyase IFS, Conservator Wildlife Nagaland, encourage the villagers to

preserve the rich biodiversity in the district as a heritage and emphasized on the importance of every plants and animals in our everyday activities be it food, shelter, medicine and subsistence.

Dr. Kadambari IAS, ADC Peren expressed appreciation to Peren Division forest personnel for taking the initiatives towards protection of Amur Falcon and wildlife in the district and assured of the District Administration fullest support and co-operation in the endeavour.

Kohima, september 24 (Dipr): Nagaland Home Minister Y. Patton urged the Naga Officers and Bureaucrats to be united in fighting against the unwanted elements in the name of Naga Sovereignty, during the inaugural function of the Additional floor ( North Block) on the Secretariat Building on September 24.

The Home Minister also said that the main purpose for construction of this structure was to accommodate the Parliamentary Secretaries, Chairmen and Advisors which were expanded and needed to be accommodated. He appreciated the efforts and contribution of the Officers and urged the secretariat staff to maintain cleanliness.

The Chief Engineer, PWD (Housing) Er. Chanbemo Lotha in his brief technical report said that the building was constructed by the departmentally housing (PWD) which was not contract work. Principal Secretary, Temjen Toy in his Chairman’s remarked said that the new building will be occupied by the department of Tourism, PHED, RNE, YRS and Veterinary. Parliamentary Secretary Housing and excise T. Torechu accompanied the Home Minister.

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5th Minor Irrigation Census training conducted

Kohima, september 24 (Dipr): State level training for conduct of 5th Minor Irrigation Census was held at the conference hall Directorate of Irrigation & Flood control, Kohima on September 24. Parliamentary Secretary for Irrigation & Flood Control and Election, Y. Vikheho Swu graced the inaugural function as the chief guest.

The chief guest said that the MI Census is a genuine undertaking since planning and achieving development goals depends on it. He apprised the trainees on MI census by saying that except Daman & Diu and Lakshadweep all States and union territories of India conduct census after every 5 years. He mentioned that 100 % central assistance is provided to the States and Union territories to conduct the census.

Y. Vikheho Swu said that the approach of the 5th MI census is to use mobile based GPs as data verification mechanism and improve quality of data collection. “Our State has 1175

recognized villages and the I&FC department has limited staffs therefore a request has been made to mobilize Agri field Assistants and District Statistical Officers/Inspectors to assist in the enumeration,” he added.

Chief Engineer, B&BBO, CWC, Shillong, Er RK Sinha in his keynote address said that the Minor Irrigation Schemes had played a key role in past in ushering the green resolution in India. He added, Minor Irrigation is more important in hilly areas because it is the only way of irrigation. Er. Sinha highlighted the history of the four MI census conducted earlier. He made a brief statement on the plan to conduct the 5th MI census which is likely to start in October 2014 and get completed in July 2015.

Secretary, I&FC, Census Commissioner, MI Census Bendangkokba (IAS) chaired the function. Chief Engineer I & Parliamentary Secretary Y. Vikheho Swu addressing the FC and Joint Commissioner, MI Census Er. State level training for conduct of 5th Minor Irrigation CenNjilo Kemp said vote of thanks. sus held on September 24. (DIPR Photo)

C M Y K

REgional

The Morung Express

Thursday

25 September 2014

Dimapur

3

Rajnath assures all Assam flood toll rises to 31; waters receding help to flood-hit Assam

Guwahati, September 24 (iaNS): The toll in the floods and landslides in Assam Wednesday rose to 31, with the recovery of more bodies in the severely-hit Goalpara and Kamrup districts, even as the water was receding from the flood-affected areas, officials said.

Rescue operations by the army, National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and its state unit were on in many areas, including main city Guwahati.

Incessant rain in Assam and Meghalaya since the last few days has resulted in floods in many districts of Assam, and severely affected Goalpara, Dhubri, Kamrup (Metro) and Kamrup (Rural) districts.

The Goalpara district administration has recovered 14 bodies so far, while 12 bodies have been recovered in Kamrup (Rural) district.

Four people have died due to landslides and electrocution in Guwahati in the last two days.

Officials said the toll was likely to increase as

many people were still missing in many flood-affected areas.

Around one lakh people are taking shelter in relief camps in Goalpara district.

Agriculture Minister Nilamoni Sen Deka and Forest Minister Rockybul Hussain Wednesday visited Goalpara and reviewed the situation.

"The flood water is receding, but it would take some time for the administration to arrange for return of the affected people, who are taking shelter in relief camps," Deka said.

The government has announced an ex-gratia of Rs.3.5 lakh to the kin of the deceased.

Kamrup (Rural) Deputy Commissioner J. Balaji said the situation has improved, with no rain for the last one day.

"The situation in Guwahati has also improved as there has been no rain and flood waters have receded," said Kamrup (Metro) A man looks at his house that was damaged in flash floods at Krishnai village in Goalpara district of Assam on Wednesday, Deputy Commissioner M. September 24. Landslides and flash floods triggered by two days of heavy rain killed dozens of people in India's remote Angamuthu. northeast. (AP Photo/Anupam Nath)

38 dead in Meghalaya floods; situation grim

ShilloNG, September 24 (pti): The Meghalaya flood situation remained grim with 38 deaths reported while at least nine persons still remained untraced.

Inspector General of Police G H P Raju told PTI, Thirty-eight persons have died due to flash floods and landslides in various parts of Meghalaya and nine persons are....reported missing.

Incessant rains triggered flash floods in the low lying areas of Garo Hills region and severe landslide in the KhasiJaintia Hills region for the past three days.

Twenty-six persons have died and nine are missing in the three Garo Hills districts along while 12 have died in the Khasi Jaintia Hills region, the IGP said.

With certain parts still inaccessible for search and rescue operations the toll may go up, an official of the disaster management authority (DMA) said here.

Over 40 relief camps have been set up in the three worstaffected districts in the Garo Hills region and more than 30,000 people had been shifted to these camps where food and

essentials were made available by the district administration, the DMA official said.

The NDRF and the Army besides the BSF have also sent their teams aiding the district administration in search and rescue operations.

The flash floods and landslide also affected several border outposts of the BSF along the Indo-

Meghalaya blockade cuts off parts of northeast a G a r ta l a , S e ptember 24 (iaNS): The northeastern states of Tripura and Mizoram, and southern Assam remained cut off from the rest of India following a blockade of the National Highway (NH) 44 in Meghalaya, official said here Wednesday.

The Movement for Indigenous People's Rights and Livelihood, a nongovernmental organisation in Meghalaya, has called for an indefinite "economic blockade" from Sep 23 against a ban imposed by the National Green Tribunal (NGT) on unscientific coal and sand

mining in the state.

The NH 44 from Guwahati passes through Meghalaya connecting southern Assam, land-locked Tripura and Mizoram with the rest of India. "Thousands of southern Assam, Tripura and Mizoram bound goods-laden trucks, passenger buses, small cars and other vehicles have been stranded in different places of NH 44 in Meghalaya. The agitators attacked and damaged some vehicles Tuesday and Wednesday," a Tripura transport department official said.

"We have approached the Meghalaya govern-

ment to intervene into the matter and restore the normal movement of vehicles through the NH 44.

The NH 44 blockade would further affect the scarcity of essentials and food grain in Tripura, Mizoram and southern Assam due to monsoon related transportation difficulties."

The official said that after torrential rain during the past three days huge landslides on the NH 44 at Tansen (50 km south of Shillong) in Meghalaya also blocked the movement of vehicles through the highway.

Following a public interest litigation filed by an

NGO of Meghalaya, the National Green Tribunal in April imposed a ban on unscientific coal and sand mining in the northeastern state. The NH 44 blockade was launched just days before train services in Tripura, Manipur, Mizoram and four districts of southern Assam would be stopped for gauge conversion by the Northeast Frontier Railway.

Tripura Transport Minister Manik Dey said this would further affect the movement of food grain from different parts of the country to Tripura, Mizoram, southern Assam and parts of Manipur.

Bangladesh border in the state, BSF spokesperson said.

Parts of the border roads were also damaged and communication networks snapped, he said.

Chief Minister Mukul Sangma has asked all line departments to send an official assessment about damages to life and property including agriculture and livestock immediately to the government.

In Association with

flights to these destinations under viability gap funding (VGF) which is mechanism through which Alliance Air only recovers its operating cost of services to the region.

However, since January 2013, due to outstanding VGF, the airline restructured its turbo-prop aircraft 'ATR' operations in the region by discontinuing flights to some of these destinations.

According to the civil aviation ministry, under

the new MoU, Alliance Air will provide air services with ATR 42 type of aircraft.

The North East Council (NEC) on other hand will assist the airline in obtaining concessions on jet fuel, landing, parking and housing charges in the region.

"The actual cost of operations shall be reviewed every three months based on the proposed cost and VGF amount will be fixed accordingly," the ministry said in a statement.

Japan keen to help India improve road network in Northeast New Delhi, September 24 (pti): Japan today offered help to India in building road infrastructure in strategically important Northeast, a proposal unlikely to go down well with China.

The offer was made by visiting Japanese Minister for Land, Infrastructure and Tourism Akihiro Ohta during his meeting with Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari here.

Ohta said his country, which has expertise in constructing roads in mountainous regions, can "actively contribute" in building such infrastructure in the Northeast.

"One of the issues that India is facing is the ageing of the road infrastructure. In that regard also I would particularly like to bring the topic of the northeastern road network improvement project.

"I understand that the northeastern part of India is very mountainous and that is very similar to Japan, so I feel Japan especially has the experience and the expertise to make road infrastructure in mountainous region," Ohta said.

"We have the technology of tunnel, also for reinforcement. We have also technology of making roads in very very narrow spaces. I think that is one area where Japan can very actively contribute.... Infact I understand that Japan International Cooperation Agency ( JICA) is already carrying out a study from early this year," he said.

Noting that the new government is giving "highest priority" to building road network in the Northeast, Gadkari said "definitely the Japanese help, guidance and cooperation

is very much useful".

He said "infrastructure is the important key for our success and our new government has given maximum importance to infrastructure".

The Japanese move comes weeks after Prime Minister Narendra Modi undertook a successful visit to the country where he sought help in improving India's infrastructure.

Infrastructure development in border areas has become a contentious issue in recent years between India and China. India is now focusing on such projects in a big way after a massive builtup by China in the region.

Japan has promised 3.5 trillion Yen ($35 billion or Rs 2,10,000 crore) to India through public and private funding over five years for various works, including building of infrastructure.

Nagaland Handloom &Handicrafts Development Corporation Ltd. [A GOVERNMENT OF NAGALAND UNDERTAKING] HALF NAGARJAN, Dimapur, Nagaland

Organizes Workshop on State Level Vendor Development Programme at Dimapur (one day) (Buyers - Sellers Meet for MSMEs)

Date: Time: Venue: 10-10-2014 10.30 AM URBAN HAAT to 4.00 PM Below old Dhansiri Bridge, Dimapur, Nagaland Contact Persons: 1. Shri. Tali Longchar. Deputy Director (I/C), Br. MSME-DI, Dimapur. Mob: 9402437522 2. Shri. Meren Longchar, Project Manager, NHHDC, Dimapur Mob:9436602955 3. Shri. M.Govindaraj, Asstt. Director(Mech),Br. MSME-DI Mob:9436882304

Sunday Brunch at Niathu Resort Date : 28th September, 2014 Time : 12pm to 4pm Special Rate : Rs. 650( Non Veg) / Rs. 550 (Veg) For Table Reservation call @ 03862 241489 / 08415921118 Niathu Resort, 7th Mile, Chumukedima, Dimapur www.niathugroup.com

PROGRAMME FOR CONSULTATIVE MEETING ON NSDZs, NIB & NLTP ACT TO BE HELD ON 26/09/2014 AT SIRD HALL, KOHIMA

Time 9:30 AM 10:00 AM

: Arrival of Delegates and Registration : Consultative meeting commence

Chairperson 1. Invocation prayer 2. Welcome Address 3. Address 4. Power Point Presentation on Nagaland Special Development Zones & Nagaland Investment Board 5.

Presentation of Resolutions/ Views by NGOs on NSDZs & NIB Discussion

: Chief Secretary, Nagaland : Rev. K. Luruo, State Chaplain : Chairperson : Hon’ble Chief Minister : Commissioner & Secretary, Planning & Coordination

: : Moderated by Commissioner & Secretary (Planning & Coordination) 7. Power Point Presentation on NLTPA : Commissioner, Excise 8. Presentation of Resolution/ Views on NLTPA by NGOs : 9. Discussion : Moderated by Secretary, Excise 10. Adoption of Resolution : By the House 11. Vote of thanks : Principal Secretary & Development Commissioner 6.

LUNCH

Gogoi urges centre to raise ex-gratia Guwahati, September 24 (iaNS): Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi Wednesday appealed to union Home Minister Rajnath Singh to raise the ex-gratia for families of those killed and injured in the devastating floods in the state.

Gogoi made the appeal when Singh called him up to take stock of the state's flood situation. The chief minister also appealed for enhanced assistance from the central government for damaged houses and cropped land. A statement issued by the Chief Minister's Office here said the home minister assured Gogoi of all possible help and assistance and asked him to submit a proposal in this regard.

Since last week floods have killed at least 31 people in Assam. The central government will give Rs.3 lakh as exgratia to the kin of the deceased while the state government has announced Rs.3.5 lakh as ex-gratia. Officials said the toll was likely to increase as many people were still missing in many flood-affected areas.

INFORMATION This is to inform that the General Session of Viswema Gazetted Officers Krotho (VGOK) will be held at Heritage, Kisama on 27th September, 2014 at 11:00 a.m. All the members are requested to attend the session without fail.

DECLARATION A GOVERNMENT OF NAGALAND UNDERTAKING

Alliance Air to restore flights to northeast New Delhi, September 24 (iaNS): Air India's subsidiary Alliance Air Wednesday said it will restart flights to destinations in northeast cities where it used to operate earlier.

The airline signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the North East Council (NEC) for restarting flights to destinations like Shillong, Tezpur, Lilabari, Silchar and Guwahati till March 31, 2016.

The airline operates

Eleven NDRF teams comprising over 550 personnel have been deployed for relief and rescue operations in the flood-hit areas of Assam.

Following demands of the state authorities, rescue and relief teams of NDRF are deployed at Boko, Goalpara, Guwahati, Sonitpur, North Lakhimpur, Tinsukia and Dhemaji in Assam while two teams have been sent to Tura and West Garo Hills in Meghalaya, which is also facing the onslaught of heavy rains and landslide.

President VGOK

Government of India

Ministry of Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises Br. MSME-Development Institute Old Industrial Estate, Dimapur, Nagaland

New Delhi, September 24 (pti): Home Minister Rajnath Singh today assured all possible assistance to the Assam government for rescue and relief of flood-affected people in the state.

During a telephonic talk with Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi, the Home Minister conveyed to him that the central government was monitoring the flood situation in the northeastern states and was ready to help all flood-affected states in facing the challenge.

Rapporteurs : OSD (General) Finance & Officials from Nagaland Legislative Assembly

This is to notify the general public for the record that I Mr.Keso Shüya of Chumukedima Town, Dimapur, Nagaland, declare herewith that I have never ever sold any plot of land in Chumukedima area to Mrs. Zhanuo Kuotsu in the past nor at present.

The pattas which have been produced for registration under Chumukedima Village Council Authority are without my knowledge and consent. Hence, the pattas which are brought forth for registration to Chumukedima Village Council Authority should not be entertained whatsoever it maybe.

Putting my signature here below, I have declared all bogus pattas/agreements null and void.

Date: 24th Sept.2014

Deponent (MR.KESO SHÜYA) Landowner Chumukedima Town

The Nagaland State Co-Operative Bank Ltd. (Sponsored & Financed By the Govt. of Nagaland) Head Office: Khermahal, Circular Road, Dimapur Post Box-153

Ref No.NSCB/HO/IDC/Cores/301/13/3457

Date: 23.09.2014

NOTICE RECOVERY DRIVE In view of the half yearly closing as on 30 September 2014, the Management of the Bank advise all the Loanees who have defaulted in repayment of loans are hereby advised to approach the respective branches and settle the dues latest by 30.09.2014 without fail.

Sd/S.Atovi Sema Managing Director The Nagaland State Co-Operative Bank Ltd. Head Office: Dimapur

MILITARY ENGINEER SERVICES e-PROCUREMENT TENDER FOR MUKHYALAYA 137 NIRMAN ABHIYANTHA HEADQUARTERS 137 WORKS ENGINEERS, C/O 99 APO

TENDER NO: CWE/ZKH OF 2014-15 Dt HQ 137 Works Engineers, C/O 99 APO on behalf of the President of India invites electronic bids from MES enlisted Contractor/un-enlisted contractors for "SPECIAL REPAIR TO ROAD AT CERTAIN PLACES AND PROVN OF PCC APPROACH FOOTPATH VARIOUS BLDGS AT CHAKABAMA MILITARY STATION.". Estimated cost of the work as per contract Rs 31.80 Lakhs. For details refer "www.eprocuremes. gov.in" The prospective/likely contractors are requested to look up the website "www.eprocuremes.gov.in”. These tenders is being received based on e-Tendering system, manual offers/bid for these tenders will not be accepted in any circumstances, only electronic offer/bids shall be accepted. Tender information is also available in www.mes.gov.in call : 03862-249225.

Davp:- 10102/11/1180/1415

MILITARY ENGINEER SERVICES e-PROCUREMENT TENDER FOR MUKHYALAYA 137 NIRMAN ABHIYANTHA HEADQUARTERS 137 WORKS ENGINEERS, C/O 99 APO TENDER NO: CWE/ZKH OF 2014-15 Dt HQ 137 Works Engineers, C/O 99 APO on behalf of the President of India invites electronic bids from MES enlisted Contractor/un-enlisted contractors for "SPECIAL REPAIR TO BUILDING NO T-33-36A, T-93 AND T-12-14 (BCD) AT SUP AT CHAKABAMA MILITARY STATION.". Estimated cost of the work as per contract Rs 20.90 Lakhs. For details refer "www.eprocuremes.gov.in" The prospective/likely contractors are requested to look up the website "www. eprocuremes.gov.in”. These tenders is being received based on e-Tendering system, manual offers/bid for these tenders will not be accepted in any circumstances, only electronic offer/bids shall be accepted. Tender information is also available in www.mes.gov.in call : 03862-249225.

Davp:- 10102/11/1181/1415

4

Dimapur

public discoursE

Thursday 25 September 2014

The Morung Express

Justice delayed From Protectors to Predators: The is justice denied Terrifying Changing Role of Naga Men T

N

ot long time ago, when Nagas were engaged in warfare or head-hunting (whichever you prefer), Naga men were known to defend the lives and honor of their women to the extent of decapitating or being decapitated for their sake. Conversely, the enemy’s highest sign of bravery was apparently confirmed by the warriors’ ability to bring in a woman’s head from the enemy’s side. Alas! What an irony! Still, the point here is that women on both sides were protected dearly.

Even when villages were not at war, menfolk ensured that their women were also safe from enemy’s attack or predators of any kind – like wild animals. Men, we are told, would walk before and behind women on their way back from field. Men, we are told, would take the first plunge when an attack occurred. Men, we are told, would readily sacrifice themselves before a predator could harm their women.

Ah! What a story! The point here is that women were protected dearly.

Those days seem to have

gone. The role of Naga men as protectors of women is apparently shifting towards a terrifying future. The horror of a minor girl being murdered in Bhandari by another Naga man is one of the most recent incidents that would bring shame to Naga men in general because they have always enjoyed an honorable status, particularly in the eyes of their women – daughters, wives, mother or whoever. News of physical assault on a wife by a husband, rape of a child by a father’s adult friend, threats, violation of pure little girls, and murder of innocent women are some of the appalling occurrences in Naga society. In all these cases of atrocities the culprits are consistently men who make vulnerable girls and women their unsuspecting preys - to be devoured physically and morally.

Tragically, customary laws lack the mechanism to address such modern and yet devious acts. The common practice of expelling from village or locality is no longer stringent enough because of the unprecedented trend of mobility of Nagas to-

day. Also, traditional Naga laws do not seem to include gender specific concerns. This, perhaps, at best can be construed as a reflection of a Naga male mentality that places women under their direct protection, devoid of personal authority. Such mindset was appealing and applicable in the past. In fact, such interconnectedness between the genders evokes sentimental value towards our past heritage.

However, times have changed and now women find themselves in dangerous situations necessitated by the demands of modern life. Many times they have to venture out alone to schools, colleges and work. Those who stay back at home are also oftentimes alone because others have gone to schools and work. On occasions, women have to stay out late for one valid reason or the other.

Women today also marry into homes and families beyond their village. Many women also live away from their homes to pursue higher education and professions of their dreams. All these factors doubled with the perversion of evil men puts women in

more precarious circumstances than in the headhunting days of their ancestors. The only difference is that women then felt secure in the presence of their own men even in the face of an enemy’s attack. The same cannot be said today of most Naga men – women’s potential foes.

The task at hand for the Nagas is not only to revive the protective role of Naga men towards their women but more importantly for them to act as empowering agents. The growing number of Naga men assaulting their women, physically, sexually or verbally, specifically manifests an act of masculine domination that seeks to control the rights, honor and lives of women. As a general malady, it is symptomatic of a deeper issue of gender inequality. Women can no longer be treated merely as subjects to be protected or objects to be ruled over. Women’s personality and freedom as human beings need to be respected and they need to be empowered by the society to live, move, think and choose freely without fear of men or society.

The UN’s HeForShe campaign (MEx21Sept, 2014, p.9) is very relevant for the Nagas to combat the internal challenge of violence against women. The campaign’s aim to rope in men – fathers, sons, husbands and brothers (male friends, boyfriends/lovers maybe included) – to achieve gender equality should inspire our society to collectively work for putting an end to violence against our girls and women. Our boys and men must no longer enjoy immunity from the family and community for crimes against their wives, sisters, girlfriends, mothers, daughters and any female.

Along with rigorous penalty for women-related offenses committed by Naga men, Naga communities should promote ethos of equality in all areas between the genders. This seems to be a credible way forward. This seems also to be the only way I would be proud of my fellowmen as a whole.

Dr Eyingbeni Hümtsoe-Nienu Faculty at Clark Theological College, Mokokchung

he rape and murder of a minor girl is yet another shameful incident which had been brought to our society, such a barbaric act continuum in our society without any fear of consequences is a cause of serious concern. It can be said that it is due to lack of fear of the law.

After every savage crime, politicians and leaders from various organizations condemns a crime like a wild fire, but in a few days, the rapist gets a bail, the media headline becomes a footnote, politicians and NGO’s pressure slowly fades away without any solution. Thereby encouraging the crime in our society.

Crime against women has been on the rise in our society because the enough laws enacted by the parliament are not implemented in an effective manner. Therefore, the lawmakers should make watertight case and set an example to the rapist by giving the exemplary punishment. Though our judicial system takes time and effort should be taken based on one’s own moral responsibility to give justice to the victims as soon as possible as “Justice Delay Is justice Denied”. The prolong trail not only helps the accused to find loopholes in the law, but also discourages the victims to further approach the police or the court for the justice. Thus, the victim suffers silently and it further encourages crime because of justice delay.

Rape not only shatters the confidence of the victim, but also makes the victim mentally fragile. Therefore, before showing any indifferent attitude one should think of the physiological trauma (especially distress or shock) she will undergo for the rest of her life. In view of that, the society along with the family members should be more sensitive towards the victim and help her to overcome the mental agony by supporting and integrating her back to the main stream of life.

Huka V Awomi Satoi Town, Zunheboto

Growth suffers by corruption

C

orruption is relative, not absolute, as Swami Vivekananda had said. Relative corruption does not affect the public at large, not against the nation, not against an individual but taking a share of money or gift to overcome economic suffering under necessities of life. This factor defect the system of growth. Some definitions: Political manipulation against leaders’ conscience, people and nation.

Political gains pleasing or protecting a particular section of society/population.

To favour one on threat of consequence.

Negligence, inefficiency and lethargy of government employees, bureaucrats, workmen. They draw full salary, expect DA, expect increment but do not give honest service.

A person is a core honest. He does not take money and does not work for the

sake of being called honest.

So project suffers, establishment suffers, people suffer and finally growth suffers.

He is relatively corrupt. A person is a church leader.

He is holy. He does not cast his own vote, for election is dirty. He refrains from vote, so let others getting chance to vote proxy for him. He is relatively corrupt and let the nation corrupt.

Selling the state/national assets/resources without proper valuation and proper assumption in the long term. Underhand money is sent outside the state/nation.

Corruptions at a bigger scale do happen in other countries too. In western countries scams, manipulations, adjustment all have occurred despite stringent laws. Take for instance: Reuter’s investigation into Starbucks that show that it had paid no UK corporation tax in the past few years and told investors it was prof-

itable while reporting big losses to the UK tax man.

The much more rampant is in Asian countries.

There was report of hidden riches for China Premier’s family. India is no exception. Dr. N. Kazanas, Director, Cultural Institute, Athens, Greece in an opinion page of Business Economics stated that the defects and faults in the Indian economy are not much different from those in the Western Countries, the therapy cannot be different.

He also said, “….politician grabs riches for themselves, enabling their party-cronies to amass wealth. That policies aim at helping certain party-friendly groups to enrich themselves and then support the particular party with donations and votes is the normal practice not only in Greece but also the USA and practically all other countries…” There are no facts to deny. How much the riches help politi-

cians (money & votes) and interact with lucrative mutual, a share of wealth ultimately goes in the account of riches. Rich or poor must have been at times involved in corruption. A poorman’s valuable vote goes for pocket money and many nonpoor benefits under different welfare schemes taking advantage of the ignorance of poor that provide purposely to lift poverty. One must have violated own conscience. There is no single drop of contentment, simplicity and austerity among people.

To boost economy and to have higher GDP, consumerism is being promoted which increase consumers’ expenditure and GDP increase at the cost of consumers.

To boost economy of state/nation, the land of poor farmers is being taken up by government for the sake of development.

Develop cost the very as-

sets—the lifeline of farmers. Government acquires natural resources, gives to the corporate/company at very low prices and exorbitant profit which made by corporate/company goes between political class and corporate/company.

The Ministry of previous government under Manmohan Singh had called “No decision please” “play safe”. At every level were scared of taking an honest decision even for the interest of the nation. Peoples loss hope on UPA-I & II and were been longing for new government. New government led NDA under Narendra Modi has come.

Peoples’ expectations are high like something miracles would happen. We can impress at the initial/minorities may not like their (Hinduism) ideology; whatsoever future will tell the success of their tall pledged.

Different movements have started against cor-

ruption; people join the movement for the sake of movement and enthusiasm. People concerned for Aam Admi perhaps should lead to create wealth to give them regular income. Any anti-corruption movement should not be at the cost of state/national growth.

Dole to public before election by giving cheap rice, clothes, vehicle, bike, TV and many such articles to purchase vote of the public. A candidate addresses even tiny grievance of public if he intend to contest election. Women are being used too for illegal gain where directly man could not involve. Women are being sent to buy votes intrigued in the form of gift/ donation to society/organization/association/SHGs. Is there any wife who will refuse to take the money (wealth of state/nation meant for growth) brought in illegally by her husband?

The answer ‘YES’ is unlikely.

Heinous corruption: Adulteration in food, medicines; compromising the quality of construction like road, bridges, ports, defence centre, Railways, Government quarters or any other public infrastructure under central/ state budget and so on; adjustment/manipulation in defence, movable and immovable properties and other purchases.

Under various social assistance programmes people receive only few paisa of a rupee. Several paisas have loss in a zigzag journey from New Delhi/State capital. Hundred day’s wages under MGNREGA is only a publicized guarantee. Poor adult household members are not allowed to work but let them have getting few amount in a year without work. Funds are being utilized by local leaders in the name for public/community infrastructure that ends in com-

promise. Do you believe it?

Is this not corruption?

Swami Vivekananda said that the entire wealth of the world will not eradicate poverty of even a village as people are not united, disciplined, hard working. If they united they can stop swindling of money.

Corruption in whatever form—little or big—is universal which is rooted deeply in the life of modern man.

Scribes and Pharisees askedJesustostoneawoman who caught in the very act of adultery as says in the Law of Moses.Jesussaidtothem,“All right, stone her. But let those whohaveneversinnedthrow the first stones!” None turned up. All fled away one by one beginning with the eldest.

(John 8:3-9) In every country, every state at all level—corruption happens despite stringent laws binds them.

Bausha Pauwung Buchem, Nyengching, Longleng

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

_

LEISURE

Simple Rules - There is just one simple rule: “Fill in the grid so that every row, every column, and every 3x3 box contains the digits 1 through 9.”

SUDOKU Game Number # 3006

DAILY CROSS WORD

CROSSWORD # 3013

DIMAPUR Civil Hospital:

STD CODE: 03862

Metro Hospital: Faith Hospital: Shamrock Hospital Zion Hospital: Police Control Room Police Traffic Control East Police Station West Police Station CIHSR (Referral Hospital) Dimapur hospital Apollo Hospital Info Centre: Railway: Indian Airlines Chumukedima Fire Brigade Nikos Hospital and Research Centre Nagaland Multispecialty Health & Research Centre

Answer Number # 3005

KOHIMA

Police Control Room: North Police Station: South Police Station: Fire Brigade: Naga Hospital: Oking Hospital: Bethel Nursing Home:

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ACROSS 1. Handguns 5. Unit of capacitance 10. Pulp 14. Wings 15. Alpha’s opposite 16. Savvy about 17. Container weight 18. Absolution 20. Trampled 22. Saliva 23. Type of dog 24. Fails to win 25. Relating to theology 32. Intoxicating 33. Housemaids 34. Barely manage 37. Makes a mistake 38. Tropical vine 39. Implored 40. Dawn goddess 41. A skin disease 42. Levelled 43. Compulsively 45. Caused by streptococci 49. Night before 50. Most destitute 53. Vibrating effect 57. Air 59. Distinctive flair

60. Deceased 61. Moses’ brother 62. Agreeable 63. Feudal worker 64. Ancient Greek unit of length 65. Playthings

DOWN 1. General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade 2. Winglike 3. Tropical tuber 4. Legumes 5. Relinquish 6. Ends a prayer 7. Scarlet 8. How old we are 9. Humid 10. Slogan 11. Pieces 12. Filched 13. Sharpens 19. Tablets 21. At the proper time 25. You (archaic) 26. Protagonist 27. Hearing organs 28. Advances 29. Picture 30. Flogs with a stick

31. “Eureka!”

34. If not 35. Ship part 36. Countercurrent 38. Chemist’s workplace 39. Sidewalk 41. Broods 42. Rend 44. Calm 45. Garden tool 46. Carries 47. Ancient empire 48. Wear away 51. Resorts 52. Not this 53. Stepped 54. Hodgepodge 55. Delicate 56. 1 1 1 1 58. Historic period Ans to CrossWord 3012

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LOCAL

The Morung Express

Harmonic Surge: A choral fiesta

Dimapur, September 24 (mexN): The Nagaland Chamber Choir (TNCC) is celebrating “Harmonic Surge: A choral fiesta” as part of the ongoing celebration of its ten years of existence. The three-day long festival from September 26-28 at Covenant Hall, Dimapur, will be celebrated with varied activities - seminars, workshops, panel discussion, voice clinic, and choir competition.

The primary goal of TNCC is to promote Church Music.

Apart from singing and performing, the choir has always dreamt of bringing qualified church musicians together with choirs and singers to provide avenues for learning and imparting excellence in Church Music. The choral fiesta is the realisation of this dream.

Four experts in the field of Church Music- Dr. Vivee Peseyie, Khyochano TCK Ngully, James Swu and Razo Vasa, who very well understand the church music scene in Nagaland, will mentor and inspire participants during the festival.

The Resource Persons Dr. Vivee Peseyie teaches Music at Patkai Christian College (Autonomous), where she is currently the Music Dean. She earned all her music degrees from the United States of America. She is a recipient of the Governor’s award for Distinction in Music 2007.

Khyochano TCK Ngully is the Director of Music Academy Kohima (MAK). She is also the official representative of Trinity College of Music London.

She is a graduate of BIOLA Conservatory of Music, California, USA. She is a recipient of the prestigious Governor's Award for music in Nagaland 2008.

James Shikiye Swu is a composer, conducThe first day of the festival will have James Swu offering clinic on Conducting. This clinic is specially targeted for church choir directors, conductors, choir leaders and those interested in conducting. This session is open to all and entry is free. The second day will have all the four experts interacting with the participants through workshops and panel discussion.

The topics they will deal with are “Indigenous Music and Composition” (James Swu), “Choral Experience” (Vivee peseyie),

tor, and arranger. He has studied and worked extensively in Manila, Philippines in the field of music. He is the co-founder of Nagaland Conservatory of Music at Dimapur, where he currently serves as the Director of Studies. He did both his Bachelors and Masters in church music from Asian Institute of Liturgy and Music, Manila. He is a recipient of the prestigious Governor’s award for Distinction in Music.

Razo Vasa has a Bachelor of Church Music and Master of Divinity from Singapore Bible College. He is currently serving as the Pastor of Dimapur Christian Fellowship.

“The Art of Accompaniment” (Khyochano TCK Ngully) and discussions on the topics “Music as Career”, “Music and Worship”, “Music Vs Performance” will follow. Another spotlight of the event is the Voice clinic under Razo Vasa, which will also feature a combined choir of all the participants and a performance on the 28th evening. All interested individuals can make the best of the second day by just paying a nominal fee of Rs. Fifty for the whole day’s activities.

The festival will culminate in the choral competition on September 28. There are five choirs competing for the festival’s choral competition trophy – Chang Baptist Church Choir, Coronation Choir, Kuda Village Baptist Church Choir, Lotha Baptist Church Dimapur Choir and Sharon choir.

TNCC has given an open invitation to all interested to the festival with the hope that churches, institutions and individuals will all benefit from the event.

SN demands ILP to ‘prevent influx’ of illegal immigrants Dimapur, September 23 (mexN): Lauding the action taken in the molestation case of a girl by one Ahad Uddin, where the latter was expelled from Dimapur, Survival Nagaland (SN) has expressed concern whether “this expulsion is indefinite or whether Naga women are safe from him in future.” With Dimapur not under the purview of Inner Line Permit (ILP), SN in a press statement issued by its Media Cell stated, “IBIs like Ahad Uddin has every chance to come back in disguise and settle in any parts of Nagaland to carry on with his nefarious acts on Naga women.”

SN therefore appealed to the government to bring Dimapur and towns in the border (not covered by ILP) under the purview of ILP “to prevent further influx of IBIs in the State.”

Survival Nagaland also condemned the molestation of a young Naga girl by one minor “Illegal Bangladeshi Immigrant” (IBI) on September 19 and urged the village council and district administration to award the strictest punishment to the accused.

“Through these frequent acts committed by IBIs, our own Naga children are apprehensive about their own safety

even in our own homes and or at schools,” it stated and appealed to all the parents to be extra cautious. The Dimapur Muslim Public Forum, the release declared, “should owe the moral responsibility of these anti-social acts as all these illegal immigrants are protected and harbored by the body.”

It also reiterated its appeal to all GBs and Chairmen to stop issuing any residential proof certificates for the time being to check any further influx. SN has also decided to press the government to open an ILP detection and verification cell which

YAN resolves on violence against women Dimapur, September 24 (mexN): In the wake of series of atrocious sexual violence committed against women across the State, the Youth Association of Nagaland (YAN) has resolved to act upon all forms of atrocious sexual violence against women with zero tolerance.

YAN in a press statement condemned the alleged rape and murder of a class XI student of GHSS Bhandari on September 11, rape and murder of a

9-year-old girl at Amuluma village on September 14, alleged rape and murder of a class V girl in Meluri subdivision on September17, molestation of 11-year-old girl between Signal Bosti and Kevijau colony on September 19, molestation of a female customer by new market footpath vendor, and molestation of a young Naga girl by two alleged illegal Bangladeshi immigrants on September 14.

“These recurring acts of bestial sexual violence

against women have humiliated the Naga society which highly holds dear the honour and dignity of a woman since time immemorial,” stated YAN spokesperson Alise Sangtam and general secretary Zhalie Chuzho. “It is not only just another reprehensible acts to voice out for but it has become the need of the hour for every individual Nagas and organizations in taking concrete stand against theses heinous forms of sexual violence against women.”

Mkg postman arrested for theft moKoKchuNg, September 24 (mexN): Police in Mokokchung has arrested a Postman employed at Mokokchung Post Office for larceny after he stole an ATM Card and Pin Code of a client of a bank in Mokokchung town.

The Postman, identified as one Rahul Langthara, 37, a resident of Dhansiripar, Dimapur, was arrested on September 22 after a victim filed an FIR at Mokokchung

The accused Rahul Langthara.

Police Station. Langthara was posted at Kohima before he was transferred to Mokokchung in July this

year. Police also recovered 69 capsules of contraband Spasmo Proxyvon from his possession at the time of his arrest. Langthara has confessed to siphoning off rupees sixteen thousand from the victim’s account.

A case has been registered against him at Mokokchung Police Station-1 under section 468/409 R/W 22 (a) of the NDPS Act and he is kept under police custody for further interrogation.

will be monitored by SN volunteers, the release added.

It also informed that SN volunteers met Diphuphar council chairman, president and members of Chumukedima Students Union, head GB, Tenyemia Students Union office bearers and several church leaders and youth directors recently where concerns on influx of IBIs were exchanged.

Meanwhile, Survival Nagaland noted that thousands have joined the movement after a week of its launch and “we expect that more and more would join hands with the movement for the future survival of Nagas.”

NSSATA reiterates demand for salaries Kohima, September 24 (mexN): The Nagaland SSA Teachers’ Association (NSSATA) has appealed for payment of salaries to SSA teachers and demanded that, “all pending dues, i.e. salary from the month of May 20I4 till date must be paid at one go once the amount sanctioned by the Government of India is credited to the State account.” In a representation to the Commissioner & Secretary, School Education & SCERT, Government of Nagaland, the NSSATA also cautioned that on failing to comply with its appeal, “situation will restrain teachers going to duty empty stomach, which in turn would hamper the academic career of the students and that would not be Justifiable.”

The representation appended by NSSATA general secretary, Samina Meru and president, John Pihoshe Sema further asserted that despite all untold difficulties and irregular payments, SSA teachers are performing duties as assigned to the best of their abilities upholding the spirit to impart better education. The NSSATA also requested for regular payment in the following months and years as “salary is the only source of livelihood for teachers.”

Executive meeting on October 3 There will be an emergency NSSATA executive meeting along with its district units’ executives on October 3 at Ungma Kiti, Minister Hill, Kohima at 11:00 am. Therefore, all the district units’ executives have been asked to attend the said meeting without fail.

Siddhartha Professional Unions condemn threat to member September 24 untoward incident, VK Sumi shall be Academy launches ESDP Dimapur, (mexN): The Dimapur Nkonjan responsible. The union also urged

Dimapur, September 24 (mexN): Siddhartha Professional Academy, Dimapur inaugurated its six-week Entrepreneurship Skill Development Programme (ESDP) on September 23 with Chief Guest Tali Longchar, Deputy Director, Micro Small Medium Enterprise, Govt. of India and Guest of Honor Senti Jamir from Nagaland Khadi and Village Industries Board (NKVIB).

A press release from the Academy informed that the chief guest urged the students to profit from the programme and try to become an entrepreneur for development of the society and the State. He also announced the MoU signed between Siddhartha Professional Academy, Dimapur and Appin Technology Lab, New Delhi for imparting training and job oriented programme in Embedded Robotics and Ethical Hacking & Cyber Laws.

According to the re-

lease, Appin Technology Labs, currently a network of 110+ training labs, provides comprehensive training in Information Security and related technology, including Embedded Robotics, Programming (Microsoft .NET, Java, PHP), Networks, Database and has training centers across India, Africa, Asia, Eastern Europe, South America and Middle East.

It also runs online training programs in North America, Western Europe and Australia. Appin technology lab, the release added, has been acclaimed as among top 5 IT professional training companies in India and the best in its category by the popular The Week magazine.

Meanwhile, Rajesh Choudhury, Director of the academy added that the need for information security and cyber laws has increased as everything today is online and there will be a requirement of 2.8 million information security jobs worldwide by 2015.

Ngullie Ekhüng (Dimapur Area Ngullie Union) has condemned the threat letter issued to one of its member Er. Chanbemo Ngullie, Chief Engineer (Housing), reportedly by one VK Sümi on September 21. “Such cowardly act of VK Sümi is without any sense, hence cannot be tolerated in the present day society when every citizen is yearning for peace in the land,” stated DNNE chairman, Nyimchamo Ngullie and secretary, Khümkhothüng Ngullie in a press release. The DNNE further warned that if any untoward incident happens to Er. Chanbemo Ngullie or his near and dear ones, VK Sümi shall be entirely held responsible. It also urged upon the law enforcing agencies to intervene in the case and bring the accused to book.

Meanwhile, Dimapur area N. Longidang Village Union Dimapur has also condemned the threat given to its member Er. Chanbemo Ngullie.

In a press statement, General Secretary Longshi Ezung stated that the union will not be a silent spectator to such activity “which cannot be tolerated by any right thinking member of the Society.” Stating that the union seriously viewed the threat, the statement warned that in the event of any

upon the Government of Nagaland to investigate the matter and book the culprit as “Er. Chanbemo Ngullie is not only a bonafide member of the Union but also a high ranking technocrat serving the Government.”

As such, it stated, “the Government ought to shoulder responsibility and protect him.”

The Association of Engineers, NPWD in a statement issued by its general secretary, Swarai Meru and president, R Temsutemjen also viewed the intimidation letter issued to its member, Er. Chanbemo Ngullie as "unwarranted" and condemned the same.

The Kohima Nrung Longidang Village Union has also condemned the threat letter. “Er. Chanbemo Ngullie, is a well respected officer ( for his integrity and clean image) not only to the department but also to the general public of Nrung Longidang village, so this union take cognizance of this threat to him as a direct challenge to a peaceful coexistence,” stated the union in a press release. It further warned that if any incident/harm happens to Er. Chanbemo Ngullie or his family, VK Sumi shall be “solely and personally” held responsible.

Thursday 25 September 2014

Dimapur

5

MEx FILE WYSU meeting today

Secretary Fr. Chacko Karinthayil in a press release stated that alcohol abuse and HIV/AIDS is affecting the lives of many people in the State. In spite of the efforts of government and civil societies, the number of the infected and affected people and families are increasing, he added.

Dimapur, September 24 (mexN): Western Yimchungru Students' Union (WYSU) has convened an emergency meeting on September 25, 4:30 pm at the new WYSU Office, old Showuba to discuss about the upcoming literary week scheduled from October 1 to 3. All ATMA Mkg training WYSU office bearers have been requested to moKoKchuNg, September 24 (Dipr): attend the meeting. For more information, call ATMA Mokokchung District is organizing a two 9612935793, 9856012853. day training on “Production Technology and Marketing of vegetable crops for the farmers of MoNPCC expels one kokchung district on September 25 and 26 at the Kohima, September 24 (mexN): Naga- State Agricultural Research Station, Yisemyong. It land Pradesh Congress Committee (NPCC), in is being organized with an effort to cover the topaccordance with the constitution of the Indian Na- ics/ issues/ priorities as addressed by the farmers tional Congress under Art XIX (f) (IV), has expelled from different blocks. During the two day training, Kevise Sogotsu, PCC member of 11 Northern An- experts and subject specialists will impart training gami-II A/C from the membership of Congress on cultivation practices of important crops, nursparty with immediate effect. This was informed in ery management of vegetable crops, pest managea press release issued by NPCC vice president and ment, integrated disease management of vegetable crops and agricultural marketing. Participants in-charge Kohima DCC, Khuosatho. will be taken to field visit during the training.

ICFAI to organize ‘Biz Horn 2014’

Dimapur, September 24 (mexN): The Department of Management, ICFAI University, Nagaland is organizing a management festival titled “Biz Horn 2014” on September 26 & 27 at the university campus, 6 Mile Sovima. A press note from the organizing committee stated that, the Minister of Mechanical & Highway, Soil & Water Conservation, government of Nagaland, Nuklutoshi will be the chief guest at the formal inauguration programme on September 26. Biz Horn 2014 is a two-day management festival encompassing various aspects of management and simulated corporate functioning providing students to explore their talents and forte, it added. According to the organizers, the festival will include several attractive events and competition such as business plan, debate, Ad campaign, RJ war, product launch, Ice campaign and so on. There will be attractive prizes for the winners and more than 25 colleges are expected to participate at the festival, said the organizers.

KVC nabs molester Dimapur, September 24 (mexN): A minor girl was molested while returning from school on September 19 at Kevijau Village in Dimapur, by a non-local boy (around 15 years) residing in Signal Angami Village. The victim’s family members reported the matter to Kevijau Village Youth Organisation (KVYO) on September 20. Kevijau Village Council Chairman Mayangtaka in a press release stated that on receiving the report, the Youth Organisation went to nab the accused, but he was found absconding. In the evening of the same day, the matter was taken over by the joint council of Kevijau Village Council (KVC) and Signal Angami Village Council. Finally, on September 22, the accused was caught and after his confession to the crime, he was handed over to the Sub Urban police Station, the release informed, adding, as per the customary law of the both the Councils, the accused and his family assured the Councils to leave Nagaland for good.

Consultative meeting of ZSU pereN, September 24 (mexN): There will a consultative meeting of all the student unions of Zeliang native villages under Peren district at the Zeliangrong Students’ Union Headquarter, Peren Town Hall on September 26 from 12:00 pm.

In a press note, ZSU president, Itetchu Zeliang requested all respective Student Union presidents and secretaries to send two representatives each positively to the consultative meeting.

NSCN (IM) union territory condoles Dimapur, September 24 (mexN): The Union Territory of NSCN (IM) today stated that the demise of Ghokuto Zhimomi is a great loss for the Nagas and Sumis in particular. “Late Ghokuto Zhimomi was a genuine national worker; he was one of the most senior members of Union Territory region…he tirelessly worked for the Naga national cause as well as the union territory,” stated M Daniel Lotha, CAO, UT NSCN (IM) in a condolence message. The message informed that Ghokuto Zhimomi was appointed as regional council chairman of the union territory on November 12, 1989 at Jordan camp and “he served the nation till his last breath.” It recognized the deceased as a “true patriot and a dynamic leader, a peace pioneer between the public leaders and the Naga national workers.”

Further, it stated that Ghokuto “sacrificed” his "Prime life" for the cause of the Naga National freedom. The note also prayed for the bereaved family members and relatives of the deceased.

Peren Town water supply interrupted pereN, September 24 (mexN): The PHED Peren office has informed the consumers of Peren Town that the water supply has been temporarily disrupted due to damaged mainline pipes at Chalkot Jn (New Peren road) on September 22, following the incessant rain, causing landslide. Er. Ichirang Zeliang, Sub- Divisional Officer, PHED Peren in a press release has requested the consumers to bear the inconvenience till the pipeline is restored.

Seminar on alcohol abuse, HIV/AIDS Dimapur, September 24 (mexN): The Dimapur Christian Forum (DCF) is organizing a one-day seminar on alcohol abuse, HIV/AIDS to train Church leaders on September 27 from 8.00am at the AIDA Complex, Circular Road, Dimapur. The training will be conducted by Dr. Vinito Chishi (Consultant, UNAIDS), Dr. Joyce Angami (LFA), Dr. Molusen Jamir (M.O, ART, Dimapur) etc. The training will equip to understand the problem of HIV/AIDS and alcohol abuse and counsel for a more healthy way of life. Delegates from all the dominations have been invited to the programme. The training is sponsored by the Legislature’s Forum on AIDS (LFA). DCF General

Baptist women combined service Kohima, September 24 (Dipr): The Kohima Town Baptist Women Union Combined Service will be held on Friday, September 26 at 3:00 pm at Paraciezie Baptist Church, Kohima.

The Service will be led by Apino Haralu and the main speaker will be Serenle Apon from Rengma Baptist Church, Kohima.

Labours budget preparation training tueNSaNg, September 24 (Dipr): Training on participatory planning for the labours budget preparation, which started at SIRD Hall Tuensang on September 23 will conclude on September 25. The main resource person of the training was Kabi John, Prime Minister’s Rural Development Fellow and other resource persons were State Resource team and District officers. The participants of the training were mostly Village Council Secretaries, Council members and the beneficiaries of MGNREGA. The main objective of the training was to impart awareness on the goals and objective of the IPPE (Intensive Participatory Planning Exercise), Roles and responsibilities of the IPPE, preparation of scheme on MGNREGA, and basic of the Act and its amendments. The programme included an introduction to watershed management and concluded with a field trip.

Non-biodegradable plastic bag banned Dimapur, September 24 (mexN): All business establishments and general public within the jurisdiction of Dimapur Municipal Council (DMC) have been warned that no person will manufacture, stock, and distribute or sell any carry bag made of virgin or recycled or compostable plastic. Administrator of DMC, K Tarep Imchen in a press release stated that henceforth, use of nonbiodegradable plastic carry bag is strictly banned in Dimapur Municipal jurisdiction. The release warned that anyone found violating the order, which comes into force from November 1, 2014, shall be penalized as per provisions of law. The order is as per notification made by the Ministry of Environment & Forest (MoEF), Government of India under the Environment Protection Act' 1986 and in accordance to the publication made by the Nagaland Pollution Control Board in local dailies in March 2013 on the Plastic Waste Management & Handling Rules 2011, according to the release.

CSUD Silver Jubilee Dimapur, September 24 (mexN): The Chakhesang Students’ Union Dimapur (CSUD) will celebrate its Silver Jubilee on September 26, 10:00 am at Town Hall Dimapur. Küzholüzo Nienu, Minister Road & Bridges, Parliamentary Affairs, Govt. of Nagaland will grace the occasion. All the students in Dimapur from class 10 and above are compulsory to attend the function, a release informed. The Union has invited all the Chakhesang - Church leaders of different churches, students union of different villages, village council chairmen, VDB secretaries, GBs, leaders of youth organizations, women affairs, NGOs, public leaders, senior leaders and well wishers to grace the occasion. The Union also informed all the delegates to come with some form of traditional attire.

ZPO Peren extends support to govt pereN, September 24 (mexN): Zeliang People Organization (ZPO), Peren today extended its “full co-operation/support” to the government, while lauding the initiative of Nagaland government in launching the pre-production of oil & gas in Peren district. The Media Cell of the organization in a press release stated that the beginning of new era in the field of development has started with the launch of Oil & Gas pre-production at Old Jalukie Village on September 22. Simultaneously, the ZPO expressed dismay at the “obstruction” by “handful of bogus organization which are formed by some unscrupulous, selfish leaders from their sitting/common rooms without people`s mandate to meet /serve their ends/purposes.”

Thang Students’ Union informs tueNSaNg, September 24 (mexN): As per the 2013 general meeting, the Thang Students’ Union (TSU) will collect handicrafts with a view to encourage, enhance the skill of artisanship among the students community and inculcate a sense of responsibility. For this, handicraft will be collected from students of classes 5 and above by October last. Therefore, all the students concerned have been requested to get prepared for the same, failing which, a sum of Rs 50 and above will be collected, a press release informed. The parents concerned have also been requested to take responsibility for their children. For further information contact: Kohima- 8729992295 and 9436801279, Dimapur- 9436806650 and 8974313368; Tuensang- 9402435746.

6

IN-FOCUS

The Power of Truth

The Morung Express THursDAy 25 sEPTEmbEr 2014 volumE IX IssuE 264

by Aheli moitra

Dhokla politics

T

hey say dhokla can give you acidity and an eventual upset stomach. Yet, Chinese President Xi Jinping’s security was unfortunately compromised by the Ahmedabad police when this fermented chick pea-rice product was allowed to enter the Chinese top man and his wife’s digestive tract. A picture clicked at one of the visits gave away signs of discomfort on Jinping’s face—surrounded by statues of lion cubs, Jinping held on to the dear khatiya he and his wife shared with a hospitable Indian Prime Minister bending over, probably asking if they would like more dhokla.

But one thing was secured. No person of ‘North East’ (Indian) origin was allowed to get to an X km radius of the Chinese delegates. What if China wants to crack a deal with North East staff about taking over the region? How appropriate a mall or a hotel room would be for the North Easterners/ Tibetans/Mongoloids of the World to unite in!

No, wait. That is an unfair reading of the situation. According to the Ahmedabad Mirror report’s starting paragraph, “The Gujarat police don't want any untoward incident to mar the Chinese president's visit to Ahmedabad.” The report, quoting ‘sources’, stated that “in order to avoid any conflict,” the police might have taken the said measure (asking North East Indian staff from the hotel and mall to stay away) “to avoid mistaking north-easterners as Tibetans.”

Oh yes, what if the Chinese confuse the people of the multi-ethnic North East for Tibetans, because, you know, all look same that part of world? Worse, what if all of them clubbed together to bully the bullies about their respective political rights to self determination? It would be a horrible breakdown of security indeed—India and China would have to, for once perhaps, justify their abuse of power and their shameless disregard for people forced into their polities.

Alas, that is not to be and the North Eastern job seekers, devoid of opportunities at home, or the right to determine their future, will have to get back to work in the black holes of Ahmedabad, Delhi, Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad or Bombay to another day of being looked down as lesser humans, worthy only to be used for their services at the bottom rung of the market, and thrown out when looks don’t match up.

Humiliation of subjugated peoples is a chiseled tool in the hands of the oppressor to undermine the former’s social or political standing—racial discrimination, for India towards its North East lesser citizens, is one such sharpener for this tool. Time and again it has been used against the people of the region to delegitimize their standing as equal citizens of the country. Alienating the ‘North Easterner’ comes just as easily to Indian citizens who humiliate, intimidate and violently abuse people from the region on a daily basis. Can a constitutional amendment change these attitudes?

Perhaps not. Not even a large serving of dhokla can.

Comments may be sent to moitramail@yahoo.com

lEfT wiNg |

Ranjana Narayan IANS

A new touch to Indian diplomacy

I

ndian diplomacy may have lost its highfalutin edge with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, known to have little patience for bombast, keeping his sentences, like his work, focused on the deliverables.

The prime minister is known for his out-of-the-box thinking and to-the-point speaking, and has taken this to the realm of foreign policy where India is speaking more in terms of doables, shorn of diplomatic equivocation and verbiage.

His move to welcome Chinese President Xi Jinping and his wife Peng Liyuan at an Ahmedbad hotel was a first of its kind gesture - just as was the prime minister flying down to another state to receive a visiting dignitary.

But the charm offensive that followed was even more striking as Modi played the perfect host to Xi, taking him personally to every room of the Sabarmati Ashram and later strolling and chatting with him along the colourful Sabarmati Riverfront.

Yet, Modi did not mince his words when it came to telling Xi that his soldiers were creating trouble for India at the border. “Even such small incidents can impact the biggest of relationships just as a little toothache can paralyze the entire body,” he is reported to have told Xi, using an apt imagery to describe a painful situation.

The prime minister, whose speech delivery makes for compelling listening, speaks with elan in Hindi even at diplomatic meets with his speeches translated into English. And yet he has his audience paying attention to his every word.

A good example was his August 15 address to the nation that had most of the diplomatic corps gathered at Red Fort, listening keenly to what he had to say, as he made his short, but emphatic appeal – “Come, Make in India”.

Prime Minister Modi’s diplomatic speeches are clear and direct – minus any hyperbole, and are in simple words that people can follow easily – in keeping with his style of political speeches. In Japan, when he addressed a joint press interaction with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in Tokyo, Modi spoke of the elevation of bilateral ties from a Strategic and Global Partnership to a Special Strategic and Global Partnership.

Known as a man of clarity, Modi did not leave his audience guessing as to the nuances of the new term. Speaking in Hindi, he explained what each word signifies in the new India-Japan partnership. Likewise during his interaction with Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott in New Delhi, Modi was clear and direct – almost every sentence focused on a deliverable.

According to officials familiar or getting to be familiar with the working of the prime minister, he is impatient with obfuscation or verbosity. While he is known to treat officials of the foreign service cadre well, he has made it clear he wants work done – and make it snappy! The prime minister is known to have given clear directions on how he wants his diplomatic speeches written – each sentence simple, and conveying the full import of what he wants to say.

His extempore speeches in Hindi have the officials designated to translate these into English paying extreme attention so as not to miss the nuances, much like his political speeches when he has the Indian journalist delving deep in his or her mind to unscramble a particular Hindi word.

Much like the prime minister, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj keeps her speeches clear and short. At her first press conference, after 100 days of the government, Sushma Swaraj’s answers were simple and brief. She answered around 50 questions in the presser – thanks to her brevity.

C O M M E N T A R Y

THE EDIT PAGE

Nicholas Bequelin

What's Wrong With Hong Kong?

Three reasons why China's laboratory for ideas now faces a murky future

"D

o you think we're going to end up like Tibet?" It was the spring of 2011, and the abrupt question from my Hong Kongese running coach, as we ascended a seemingly never-ending section of steps, almost had me tumble down in shock. We had never discussed politics, current affairs, or my profession as a human rights researcher. Mostly, our conversations had revolved around nutrition (my being a vegetarian clearly pains him), training discipline ("If there are no gyms around, you can use bricks"), and the fact that no current Hong Kong pop stars even remotely measure up to their peers from the 1980s (the decade he was born).

While the parallels with the situation in Tibet remain limited -- notwithstanding the display of armored personnel carriers in the streets in recent weeks -- the steady rise of disquiet among ordinary Hong Kongers about the poor performance of their local government and its successive chief executives has been the paramount factor leading to a recent clash with Beijing.

The trigger for the clash was somewhat technical: a decision by China's legislature, announced in late August, spelling out the eligibility criteria for candidates aspiring to the chief executive position, the head of the Hong Kong government under the territory's mini-constitution, called the Basic Law. The problem Beijing was facing was straightforward: how to implement universal suffrage in the former British colony of Hong Kong, as the Basic Law required, while ensuring that only candidates to its liking could be elected. China had agreed to the universal-suffrage clause during handover negotiations with the U.K. in the 1980s as a way to show that it would indeed grant a "high degree of autonomy" to the territory, and to reassure the Hong Kong public that even after the 1997 transfer to Chinese sovereignty, "Hong Kong people would rule Hong Kong." Back then, Beijing firmly expected that by the time the first universalsuffrage election of the chief executive was to take place, the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment of Hong Kong (DAB), Beijing's political vehicle in Hong Kong, would have cemented an unassailable position within the electorate, therefore delivering an elected chief executive to the mainland's liking.

Unfortunately for the rulers in Beijing, this did not happen, in part because the Hong Kong population was riled by the bloody suppression of the 1989 democracy movement in China, but mostly thanks to the deep unpopularity of the succession of handpicked chief executives since 1997, which has fueled support for the pro-democracy camp and contributed to the hardening of a distinct Hong Kong political identity, one out of step with the mainland system.

Not ensured a win anymore in genuinely competitive elections, Beijing had no option but to prevent the candidates it did not like from running.

In that sense, the decision by the National People's Congress Standing Committee announced on Aug. 31 -- which institutes a drastic system to screen out candidates not approved by Beijing -- was a foregone conclusion, notwithstanding the mobilization

by Occupy Central, a protest movement led by a trio of Hong Kong intellectuals whose plan was to force Beijing's hand with the threat of civil disobedience.

It is a mistake, however, to argue that the clash was ineluctable and that Hong Kong's fate was sealed back in 1984. In fact, the recent events, which included an unprecedented mobilization in favor of genuine universal suffrage and a (mostly counterproductive) all-out attack by Beijing and its forces in Hong Kong, were precipitated by the almost coincidental convergence of three distinct factors.

The first factor has been the growing anxiety about how long ordinary Hong Kongers would be able to maintain their livelihood and distinct identity. (Everyone in Hong Kong knows that ultimately, the game is up, but, as the truism goes, the certainty of death doesn't prevent us from living.) The second factor has been the deep cultural and political divide between Hong Kong's established pro-democracy establishment and its younger postcolonial digital natives, who tend to be more socially radical. The third factor has been the elite power play in Beijing as Chinese President and leader Xi Jinping is forcefully establishing his authority at the helm of the mainland's ruling Communist Party.

Let's look briefly at these three factors, as it is their very interplay, now that Beijing has put its foot down, that will shape what happens next: 1. A growing sense of alienation from government. Through a series of crises in recent years, Hong Kongers have come to realize that their government is largely inept when it comes to defending the interests of the average person: It is hopelessly subservient to property-development tycoons, and tone-deaf to citizens' demands and criticisms.

From the destruction of the beloved Star Ferry pier to the massive reclamation of shrinking Victoria Harbour, from the granting of the would-be innovation center Cyberport's building contract without a public tender to billionaire Li Ka-shing's son to the empty promises of affordable housing in a highly unequal city, Hong Kongers have had a growing sense that the government is watching out for its members' collective interests, not its people's. Out of self-interest -- and possibly out of a kind of colonial unease -the British colonial government was in fact far more attentive and responsive to the needs of the public.

But it's the influx of mainland visitors that has broken the proverbial camel's back. The average Hong Konger simply has been crowded out -- from public transportation, from shopping malls (the ter-

Students raise their fists during a rally at the Chinese University of Hong Kong campus in Hong Kong, Monday, Sept. 22, 2014. Thousands of Hong Kong students boycotted classes Monday to protest Beijing’s decision to restrict electoral reforms in a weeklong strike marking the latest phase in the battle for democracy in the southern Chinese city. (AP Photo/Vincent Yu)

ritory's biggest public spaces), from hospitals, from schools, and from the property market, long the best route for members of the salaried class to get ahead.

Measures initially designed to reduce the influx of mainland buyers driving up property prices ultimately have played out against Hong Kong residents, raising the bar of entry too high for the average citizen while doing virtually nothing to prevent the influx of hot money from the mainland.

Two high-profile cases have solidified long-held suspicions of the erosion of the civil service's reliability and impartiality. In one case, the former head of the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC), Timothy Tong, was foundto have vastly exceeded the statutory limits set on the value of gifts and reception expenses, including during some of his no fewer than 19 trips to the mainland. (As undersecretary for security, Tong had been one of the active proponents back in 2003 of the drastic Article 23 anti-subversion law, which would have dealt a severe blow to the rule of law, and which was later abandoned after massive protests and a revolt among then-Chief Executive Tung Chee-Hwa's political allies.) In another case, Rafael Hui, the former head of the civil service, was exposed as having colluded for years with one of the main property-development groups in the territory and now faces trial.

2. A generational clash. Among the casualties of the growing sense of political deadlock in the Hong Kong government have been the traditional, established, pro-democracy parties, such as the Democratic Party, which have been challenged by the rise of more radical, youth-driven parties such as People Power and the League of Social Democrats, and non-institutionalized protest movements such as Scholarism and Occupy Central.* While at first it seems counterintuitive that the established opposition would not benefit from the government's growing unpopularity, one has to remember that the electoral system for the legislature (the "Legco") is irremediably rigged by the presence of so-called "professional constituencies" (representatives of various business sectors), and that as a result the opposition (the pan-democrats) can at best be a nuisance, but never a constructive force. Meanwhile, the way the chief executive has been chosen -- by a small, handpicked committee stacked with Beijing loyalists -- almost guaranteed that he would have no real support in the Legco, as the main pro-Beijing parties place a higher imperative on keeping their electorate happy than seeing the chief executive's proposed legislation go through. This system makes the chief executive a lame duck from the get-go and this is what originally provided the incentive for Beijing to reform the electoral system and announce back in 2007 that it would make good on its promise regarding universal suffrage for the 2017 elections.

Even though generations of Hong Kongers have come together in the end and joined forces around Occupy Central, the cultural divide between older and younger Hong Kongers runs deep. In the eyes of veteran democrats, the city's young radicals are politically naïve, ignore the fundamentals of building sustainable political movements, and delude themselves if they think Hong Kong can ignore the reality that it is now part of China. But generations of politically active Hong Kongers born after 1980 and 1990 have come to the conclusion that traditional political parties that play the proverbial game have been helpless in preventing the erosion of Hong Kong's way of life. In the eyes of the new generation, many of whose members rub shoulders with mainland students attending Hong Kong universities in larger numbers than ever, veteran democrats have nothing to show for years of play-bythe-rules battles against the authorities and Beijing, and are themselves naïve if they think that they can find common ground with the Communist Party.

Hong Kong's student activists, like those elsewhere around the world, have mobilized political energy through cyberactivism and attention-grabbing actions rather than through the slow buildup of political organizations. They are more radical than their elders, because they think traditional politics cannot achieve much, but also because they are less cognizant of the inner workings of the Communist Party. More assertive of their separate identity as Hong Kongers, they evince little patience for the ritual declaration of patriotism that their elders were always careful to make. In due time, this pro-

vided Beijing with a powerful opening to denounce the organizers of Occupy Central as the disloyal tools of unspecified "foreign forces," a charge organizers could not easily rebut.

The new generation has also embraced civil disobedience (as has the youth-led, anti-mainland Sunflower Movement in Taiwan). While this played well as a tactic to expose the mendacity of the political system, it constituted an unacceptable challenge to Beijing, was unlikely to gather large support in Hong Kong, and left the movement open to the attack that it was bent on breaking the law and disrupting business. This argument resonated with the business sector, multinational companies, and more than a few foreign diplomats. Scare tactics have done the rest.

3. A new emperor in Beijing. If there is one thing on which most observers agree, it is that Beijing's own actions and vitriolic rhetoric did more to shore up support for Occupy Central than anything else.

The June publication of a Beijing-authored white paper rubbing in the primacy of "one country" over "two systems," the evocation of a People's Liberation Army intervention, and what appeared to be a coordinated, all-out assault by every single Beijing proxy in Hong Kong that culminated in a rent-acrowd anti-Occupy Central demonstration on August 17 and the raid by the ICAC of the houses of the two most prominent pro-democracy figures -- the Apple Daily media group owner Jimmy Lai and the trade unionist Lee Cheuk-yan -- provided a general sense of repulsion that turned into sympathy for the movement and facilitated a rapprochement of all pro-democracy forces, irrespective of generation.

On August 31, as tensions reached their climax, Beijing announced a radically uncompromising decision that effectively bars anyone not endorsed by Beijing to stand as candidate for the chief executive.

Yet, Beijing's response, again, was not a given.

The Communist Party generally reacts poorly to direct challenges, but the timing of this particular challenge was especially bad. Xi Jinping was in the middle of a take-no-prisoners drive to create his own faction at the expense of the two others occupying the terrain: the so-called "Shanghai gang" (former President Jiang Zemin and his protégés) and the "shopkeepers" (former President Hu Jintao and others whose power base was established in the Communist Youth League).

Having already had several conflicts with the conservative hardliners -- over the ouster of powerful men like Bo Xilai and Zhou Yongkang, as well as the direction of economic reforms -- Xi had no interest in picking new fights. If anything, in all areas where he has found it to be politically expedient, Xi has tried to out-hardline the hard-liners: notchedup ideological and media controls, suppression of online and actual dissent, attention to giving greater face to the PLA, and the embrace of a tougher tone in foreign policy. He also explicitly introduced tougher policies in Tibet and Xinjiang. He was clearly not going to brook challenges from Hong Kong.

So where does Hong Kong go now? Unless governance improves and Hong Kong's people regain a modicum of confidence that the territory's authorities are watching out for the people's interests and resisting -- rather than enabling -- the erosion of the rule of law, tensions will only continue to increase, to the detriment of both Beijing and Hong Kong.

As longtime journalist David Schlesinger suggests in a recent piece in ChinaFile, protecting the integrity of the existing institutions that have guaranteed the rule of law and the prosperity of the territory are more important and reasonable goals than trying to force a one-party system to enable greater democratization. But this requires convincing Beijing that Hong Kong's specificities ought to be preserved out of mainland interests, whether it is for its international reputation -- Beijing has taken extreme care to fulfill treaty obligations to the letter for over three decades, enjoying the benefits of being a member in good standing in the global community -- or because having Hong Kong as a laboratory of ideas and practices can help China surmount its challenges.

In the meantime, can Hong Kong's local governance improve even if the next chief executive is not designated through true universal suffrage?

In theory, yes. But in practice, each chief executive has been worse than the previous one. The prognosis is not good.

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7

Thursday

THE MORUNG EXPRESS

25 SepteMber 2014

PERSPECTIVE NEWS ANALYSIS, FEATURE AND DISCOURSE

Is Ebola the Beginning of the End of the World?

As deaths rise in Monrovia and the sick cluster in gutters outside overcrowded treatment centers, many people are turning to God for answers -- and salvation Clair Macdougall

D

Foreign policy

r. Mohammed Sankoh, the medical director of Redemption Hospital, stole a few moments before meeting with his staff to sketch out a sermon in cursive in a blue spiral notebook. Sinking forward into his small frame, he furrowed his brow, bowed his head, and read Corinthians 13 aloud from his small, brown King James Bible.

"If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing," Sankoh recited under gold-rimmed glasses.

In addition to working at Redemption, Sankoh is a part-time preacher at Philadelphia Church here in Monrovia. But his two roles intertwine these days, as he seeks understanding in a crisis of unprecedented, horrible proportions: the Ebola outbreak. A holding center has taken over the main wards of his hospital, housing suspected patients before they are tested and released, or transferred to a treatment center. The disease has already claimed nine Redemption staff members.

All around Monrovia, there are portents and prophecies. The number of suspected probable and confirmed cases of Ebola throughout the whole of Liberia has risen to more than 3,000, with more than one-third occurring in the capital, according to figures from the country's Ministry of Health. Predictions of infections and deaths in the broader West African region, ranging from 20,000 cases to hundreds of thousands, have been offered by international experts and virologists.

But amid these prophecies, there are also signs of love. Outside Redemption, near a faded, red metal door, exhausted relatives wait in the September rain. In their hands are plastic bags full of clean clothes, bread and biscuits, and mobile phones and minutes so they can monitor the condition of their family members. They ambush health workers in white hazmat suits to get whispers of information about those inside Redemption.

Last Wednesday, Roosevelt Sargeoh, a 52-year-old teacher from a suburb in Monrovia called Battery Factory, sat near the front of a small bar directly opposite the red door. Since September 14, Sargeoh had been arriving at 6 a.m. and waiting until 10 p.m. for word about his son Exson, a patient inside. Exson, 22, a student in his final year of high school, who had dreams of being an engineer, became ill the previous week. He was vomiting, his stomach hurt, and he couldn't go to the toilet or eat. Sargeoh was concerned about keeping him in the house with his wife and seven other children, so he chartered a taxi and took Exson from hospital to hospital. (There are eight hospitals and many small clinics in the city.) No one would accept him. As his son lay outstretched in the back seat of the yellow station wagon, Sargeoh knew he would possibly die. Finally a doctor told Sargeoh to take Exson to Redemption.

The staff at the holding unit instructed Sargeoh to leave his son in a sitting area, a wide gutter, outside the front entrance. Exson lay down and waited for two and a half hours before he stumbled inside.

His father watched him go.

"I said goodbye in sorrow and tears," Sargeoh explained, but not with words.

Waiting outside of Redemption, Sargeoh held a small, black, rectangular bag containing a mobile phone he hoped to give to his son and hand sanitizer for himself. Sargeoh was dressed in a baseball cap, with long sleeves and closed shoes, measures he thought would protect him from Ebola.

Late that evening he learned of Exson's death. His

E

ver since India lost a brief border war to China in 1962, it has resented and mistrusted its neighbor to the north.

But when Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru visited Beijing in October 1954, expectations were high that the leaders of the world's two most populous nations could build a bilateral relationship based on dignity and respect. "The United States does not recognize our two countries [China and India] as great powers," Chinese Communist Party Chairman Mao Zedong told Nehru, according to archival material released on Sept. 15 by the Wilson Center. "Let us propose that they hand over their big-power status to us, all right?"

India was a new and messy democracy, China an impoverished communist dictatorship. Culturally, politically, and socially, they were worlds apart. Yet for a brief period in the mid-1950s, China and India came together in the spirit of "Hindi Chini Bhai Bhai" (India and China are brothers).

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his guest, Chinese President Xi Jinping, who is visiting India on Sept. 17 and 18, are heirs to this legacy. Like Mao and Nehru, they are trying to strengthen bilateral relations: Both have voiced support for expanding economic ties and have pooled efforts as BRICS and advocates of the diffusion of global power at the expense of the West.

Yet the torturous history of Sino-Indian relations since the 1950s suggests that great friendships are easier declared than sustained. Caught up in the toxic discourse of domestic nationalism and blinded by ideological dogmas, the leaders who worked to create the Sino-Indian friendship were the same ones who brought it to ruin.

When Mao met Nehru in Beijing, China had just barely begun to recover from nearly a half-century of war and revolution. But having just seen China fight the United States to a stalemate in the Korean War, Mao was upbeat about the future: Everywhere he looked, he saw imperialism in retreat, and complete liberation of

In this September 18, 2014, file photo, nurses are trained to use Ebola protective gear by World Health Organization, WHO, workers, in Freetown, Sierra Leone. Six months into the biggest-ever Ebola outbreak, scientists say they’ve learned more about how the potentially lethal virus behaves and how future outbreaks might be stopped. The first cases of Ebola were reported in Guinea by the World Health Organization on March 23 before spreading to Sierra Leone, Liberia and elsewhere. (AP Photo/Michael Duff/File)

son's was among 70 bodies removed from the holding ward at Redemption last week, according to supervisor Sam Tarplah. "People come in seriously sick, and there is nothing you can do about it. You reach here, you drop, and die," Tarplah said.

Monrovia is racing against time to prepare beds to deal with its current caseload of people infected with Ebola. The World Health Organization (WHO) and Doctors Without Borders, also known as Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), have been calling for 1,000 beds to be created, but there are now only around 400. Before long, as cases increase, the city will need many, many more. Sankoh's job, in other words, will only get harder -- and more people like Sargeoh, hoping for salvation, will lose their loved ones.

When asked how he makes sense of the crisis, Sankoh again turned to religion. "All of us will die," he said. "We are all strangers passing through."

Last Tuesday, after a meeting with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, U.S. President Barack Obama described the outbreak as "out of control" and said it could lead to a "potential threat to global security if these countries break down, if their economies break down, if people panic." Obama called the situation a "national security priority" and announced the establishment of a military command center in Monrovia. He also pledged $500 million in funding from the Department of Defense to fight the disease. He promised to send 3,000 military troops (who are not intended to come into contact with patients), to construct 17 Ebola treatment units with 100 beds, and to train 500 health workers per week.

The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) will also distribute 400,000 protective kits with sanitizer and gloves (Liberia is a focus of this plan).

Echoing Obama on Thursday, the U.N. Security Council declared Ebola a "threat to world security" that could undermine peace and security in affected nations.

It said it is creating an "emergency U.N. mission" that will work with the World Health Organization (WHO).

Both announcements came just over two weeks after MSF President Joanne Liu called for U.N. member states to deploy civilian and military medical teams in Ebola-affected nations. They also came after Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf's office sent desperate letters to world leaders, pleading for help.

(In an address broadcast over national radio and television last week, Johnson Sirleaf thanked Obama and members of the U.S. Congress who support the action plan, but she also stressed the need to "strengthen our health care system in the long term.")

Jeremy Youde, a political scientist focused on global

health at the University of Minnesota Duluth, says the announcement of U.S. deployment points to a positive shift in the attention being paid to Ebola, but it should have come four or five months ago. "How quickly can they mobilize?" Youde asks. "You look back at the plan the World Health Organization released back in August, and one of the issues that came up there was the WHO doesn't have those resources or those personnel on its own. So it has this great plan but it has to spend a month, or six to eight weeks, trying to get other people to come on board with it. Is this [Obama's plan] the kind of thing that will happen next week, or will it take three to four weeks to go through an appropriation process?"

On the ground in Monrovia, needs are growing by the day, even the hour. The infection last week of a foreign nurse with MSF meant that the organization's 160-bed treatment center was unable to accept patients for two days, according to MSF press officer Sophie-Jane Madden.

It has since reopened. Other centers are full, yet every day, ill people show up in taxis and ambulances at the gates of treatment centers. When they are not accepted inside, many go back to their communities, where they could continue to pose a risk to their families and neighbors.

Redemption, which saw its first cases of Ebola months ago, has become a potent symbol of crisis and the near-collapse of Liberia's health care system. Esther Kesselly, described by her colleagues as a "diligent, caring, and hardworking nurse," died in the emergency ward in late May. A Ugandan doctor, Samuel Mutoro, who treated Kesselly, also contracted the virus and became the first doctor in Liberia to die from Ebola.

Earlier this month, the Redemption staff came to work to find all of the wards boarded up, with only the outpatient department remaining open. The pediatrics, obstetrics and gynecology, surgical, and emergency wards are now filled with beds for suspected Ebola cases. The holding ward will close when there are enough beds in treatment centers, says Assistant Minister of Health Tolbert Nyenswah. (On Sunday, Island Clinic, a facility with 120 beds, opened nearby. Ambulances have slowly started moving patients from Redemption.

At the opening ceremony, Minister of Finance Amara Konneh thanked people for their pledges of support, but urged them to turn their "commitment into cash.")

The establishment of other treatment units, however, has been slow moving. They must be built with utmost care, ensuring that waste disposal is executed properly and that water and drainage does not contaminate neighboring communities. Monrovia's torrential rains during the wet season, which stretches for five months

and makes many roads impassable, has been hindering construction, according to Jean-Pierre Veyrenche, who is overseeing the building of treatment units for the WHO. Outside a large, long-unfinished building, the construction of which came to a standstill with the onset of the civil war in 1989, yellow earthmovers stand parked in the rain. At the end of the war in 2003, displaced people cooked, showered, slept, and traded between the black, moldy walls of this windowless structure. The Chinese once proposed making it into a new ministerial complex. Now there is a plan to set up tents outside of the building, with 100 beds -- another front line in the Ebola crisis. Veyrenche, however, said it will be at least a month before this unit opens.

Constructing the sites is not the only hurdle. "Finding foreign medical teams to come has been a challenge," said Roar Bakke Sorensen, the spokesperson for WHO in Liberia. Complicating matters, health workers promised hazard pay in August have yet to be paid.

Amid the chaos of ambulances roaring, family members waiting, and people dying in and near Ebola treatment units, there is a paradoxical sense that Monrovia has come to a standstill. The plush, maroon-carpeted amphitheaters of Capitol Hill, where senators and legislators usually sit in dark wood chairs behind lecterns, were empty on Tuesday. The political center had been closed after James K. Morlu, the deputy sergeant at arms, was suspected to have died of Ebola at Redemption. The halls were disinfected with chlorine spray. Many other government buildings in downtown Monrovia and along Tubman Boulevard, the city's main thoroughfare, are largely empty, with nonessential staff sent home. The clicking of black shoes and roar of children departing school each afternoon is gone; classrooms stand empty, unlikely to be filled until next year.

John F. Kennedy Memorial Hospital, the nation's largest hospital, is desolate and quiet, now filled with a jumble of plastic chairs, stacked beds, and abandoned hazmat suits. Many health workers are frightened to come to in, for fear that a patient might arrive with Ebola.

Patients with other ailments are being turned away. The hospital's morgue is empty. In the kitchen on Thursday, a worker placed a few food trays on a trolley. There were only seven patients to attend to in the whole facility.

The same day, at an Ebola treatment unit run by the Ministry of Health that has taken over the JFK cholera ward, a thin, middle-aged man hung out the window of an ambulance as though he was about to vomit. Four other people were in the shadows of the ambulance's tinted windows; the vehicle could have been mistaken for an ordinary car. The man had come from Kakata, a town in Margibi County, over an hour away. Those transporting him were from a hospital that last month lost almost half of its staff members, according to workers from the facility. With only a few ambulances or vehicles serving as such in each county and treatment centers few and far between, rural health workers must drive for miles with suspected patients across muddy, potholed roads.

Nearby people gathered to read the Daily Talk, a famous chalkboard on which the latest local news is written. All of the news was about Ebola. The headline "Killer Bean Ebola" underscored a picture of a strange wormlike creature with a skull-and-crossbones head, holding an arrow in one hand and a dagger in another. "I was created in the image of Satan to destroy life and property on earth," words under the drawing read. In the lower left-hand corner was a photograph of an Ebola survivor whose blood, the board claimed, could be used to treat patients.

At the Ebola treatment center, a fire billowed, burning used hazmat suits and waste, as people headed to their homes before the nightly curfew imposed by the government.

Sankoh believes Ebola is a sign of the end of times, which, according to Luke in the Bible, would be marked by earthquakes and pestilences. Others similarly believe that only God can explain the outbreak: In front of Redemption, a 13-year-old girl named Esther Cooper, whose mother, father, and 5-month-old brother had recently died from Ebola, lay on the ground in a pink Tshirt next to an elderly woman trying to stay conscious.

"I feel terrible, but there is nothing I can do," said Cyrus Williams, the girl's uncle. "I hope God will restore her. Everything is with God."

The Rise and Fall of Hindi Chini Bhai Bhai the East no longer seemed like a distant prospect. "Historically, all of us, people of the East, have been bullied by Western imperialist powers," he told Nehru. "The imperialist powers still look down upon us," helping forge an "instinctive feeling of solidarity" between China and India.

Nehru replied that the two countries had a great many people between them, and that they were bound to attain "immense influence." China and India, the two leaders seemed to be saying, would lead the developing world to a brighter future.

But Mao and Nehru had very different ideas about what that future might bring. Nehru wanted the developing nations to follow India's lead in staying out of the ideological quarrels of the Cold War. Mao, by contrast, perceived the Third World as central to the coming global revolution, which China would lead by example. From the start, China and India were engaged in a competition for influence. It did not take long before Sino-Indian solidarity gave way to frustration and bitterness.

Tibet was the trigger. Following China's brutal suppression of the Tibetan uprising in 1959, thousands of Tibetans, and their spiritual leader the Dalai Lama, sought asylum in India. From there, the Chinese government alleged, they continued to instigate rebellion, moving across the border to carry out subversion and sabotage.

The Chinese responded by increasing their military presence in the border area, which in August and October 1959 led to a series of skirmishes that resulted in the deaths of several Indian border guards.

As China and India faced off across the Himalayas, they started reminding each other and the rest of the world about their territorial dispute -- which even now remains unresolved. China claims roughly 32,000 square miles of Indian-administered territory in what is now the state of Arunachal

Sergey Radchenko

The long, tricky frenemyship of Asia’s two biggest powers Pradesh, south of the McMahon line, which marks the de facto Sino-Indian frontier in the east. India disputes China's possession of a nearly 17,000 square mile area further northwest in the strategically important Aksai Chin region that links Xinjiang and Tibet. It was at the latter locale that tensions heated up again in April 2013, when China's border troops allegedly breached the Line of Actual Control, briefly setting up an encampment on what India deemed to be her side of the line; in mid-September of this year, Indian officials claimed that hundreds of Chinese troops had recently crossed the border.)

Ironically, when the border conflict first erupted in 1959, it was the Chinese who pushed for a prompt resolution. Records reveal that when Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai met with Nehru in Delhi in April 1960 to discuss the crisis, the Chinese premier effectively proposed an exchange: China would withdraw its claims to the eastern section of the border, if India did the same in Aksai Chin.

The Chinese delegation, which also included then Foreign Minister Chen Yi, explained their reasons: for all of China's concern about Tibet, its real worry was the eastern seaboard. "We do not want to offend India," Chen said. "Our relations with

the United States and Japan in the east are tense. It would be stupid if we created a tense situation with India in the west."

China was also under pressure from the USSR to mend fences with Delhi: the Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev, who had come to Beijing in September-October 1959, nearly came to blows with his hosts over what he saw as China thoughtless pushing of India into the arms of the United States. And domestically, China faced an unprecedented catastrophe: the 19581961 Great Leap Forward and its ensuing famine, which led to the death of tens of millions of people. For all these reasons, Zhou came looking for a solution, and the records suggest he was prepared to make concessions.

Nehru would have none of it. He spoke of the importance of upholding "India's dignity and self-respect." But in his view, that required that China relinquish all claims to the areas India considered hers -- meaning a Chinese withdrawal from the Aksai Chin. The records suggest that Nehru had an excellent opportunity to resolve the border dispute from a position of relative strength. But, concerned that a settlement would undermine his standing in the eyes of the public, he simply stonewalled China's proposals.

Over the next two years, tensions grew.

On Oct. 20, 1962, China launched an offensive across the border, quickly routing the Indian force. As India's lines of defense crumbled, Nehru frenetically pleaded for U.S. help, of which little was forthcoming.

The war on the roof of the world abruptly ended a month later, just as China seemed poised for a decisive strike. The Chinese, after teaching Nehru a "lesson," withdrew behind the de facto border.

Xi and Modi are old enough to remember the war, and the bitterness and humiliation it engendered. Nevertheless, they have

worked hard to cultivate their relationship. Xi has come to India bearing gifts: a pledge for $20 billion of investments in India's infrastructure and industrial projects that are meant to signal China's long-term commitment to India and their interdependence. Modi has promised that the two countries would work together "to create a better tomorrow for all of mankind." Both emphasize their mutual rapport and a degree of intimacy unseen since the heyday of Hindi Chini Bhai Bhai.

Yet many in India, including Modi, are apprehensive of Beijing's increasing presence in South Asia -- including in India's own territory. "I raised our serious concern over repeated incidents along the border," Modi told reporters after meeting with Xi on Sept. 18. China's border incursions, its increasing ability to project naval power in South Asia, and its strengthening ties with regional players like Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, and Pakistan cast a shadow over the future of Sino-Indian friendship.

Mao's comments in 1954 of China claiming great power status were unrealistic, of course. His China was poor and underdeveloped -- a paper tiger. They're unrealistic no longer. China today has the power to challenge the status quo in ways the chairman could not have dreamed.

During his last meeting with Nehru on October 26, 1954, Mao told the Indian visitor about the Chinese saying "to seize someone's pigtail." China and India, he said, "do not seize each other's pigtail. We are not on the alert against each other."

Today, as then, the Chinese and the Indian leaders are emphatic that theirs is not a rivalry but a partnership of equals.

Yet, China's booming economy, first-rate infrastructure, technological sophistication, and military strength trump India's capabilities. Unfortunately for Modi, if it does come to pigtail grabbing, India cannot contend. China has much stronger hands and today, unlike in the late 1950s, it has no need of compromise.

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

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Thursday 25 September 2014

The Morung Express

Mission accomplished: India joins Mars explorers NEW DELHI, SEptEmbEr 24 (Ap): India triumphed in its first interplanetary mission, placing a satellite into orbit around Mars on Wednesday and catapulting the country into an elite club of deepspace explorers.

Scientists broke into wild cheers as the orbiter’s engines completed 24 minutes of burn time to maneuver the spacecraft into its designated place around the red planet.

“We have gone beyond the boundaries of human enterprise and innovation,” Prime Minister Narendra Modi said in a live broadcast from the Indian Space and Research Organisation at the command center in the southern tech hub of Bangalore. Indian TV channels had shown live footage of the command room, where scientists waited anxiously for the satellite to beam back information letting them know it had arrived as planned.

“We have navigated our craft through a route known to very few,” Modi said, congratulating the scientists and “all my fellow Indians on this historic occasion.” Scientists described the final stages of the Mars Orbiter Mission, affectionately nicknamed MOM, as flawless. The success marks a milestone for the space program in demonstrating that it can conduct complex missions and act as a global launch pad for commercial, navigational and research satellites.

Reaching the fourth planet from the sun is a major feat for the developing country of 1.2 billion people, most of whom are poor. At the same time, India has a robust scientific and technical educational system that has produced millions of software programmers, engineers and doctors, propelling many into the middle class. Astronomy students who gathered at the Nehru Planetarium in New Delhi for Mars-themed learning activities and games were elated by the mission’s success.

“I am proud to be born in a country that can do anything and suc-

ceed,” said Kashish, 12, who uses only one name, as is common in India.

Twelve-year-old Mansha Khanna said she was so inspired, she wanted to become “a scientist or an astronaut, and do research about other planets.” Getting a spaceship successfully into orbit around Mars is no easy task. More than half the world’s previous attempts — 23 out of 41 missions — have failed, including one by Japan in 1999.

India wanted this spacecraft — also called Mangalyaan, meaning “Mars craft” in Hindi — to be a global advertisement for its ability in designing, planning and managing a difficult, deep-space mission.

India has already conducted dozens of successful satellite launches, including sending up the Chandrayaan-1 lunar orbiter, which discovered key evidence of water on the moon in 2008. And it plans new scientific missions, including putting a rover on the moon.

But India “is likely to be somewhat limited because we can’t afford to spend that much money in pure science exploration and in an exercise of the imagination,” said D. Raghunandan of the Delhi Science Forum, a nongovernmental group that promotes the study of science.

The space agency’s focus will remain on developing technologies for commercial and navigational satellite applications — services that could bring in significant revenues from companies or governments seeking to place their own satellites or research equipment in space.

The U.S. space agency NASA, which has conducted 15 successful missions to Mars, including an orbiter that arrived in orbit on Sunday, congratulated India in a Twitter message welcoming MOM to studying the red planet.

India’s 1,350-kilogram (nearly 3,000-pound) orbiter will now circle the planet for at least six months, with five solar-powered instruments gathering scientific data that may shed

light on Martian weather systems as well as what happened to the water that is believed to have existed once on Mars in large quantities.

It also will search Mars for methane, a key chemical in life processes on Earth that could also come from geological processes. None of the instruments will send back enough data to answer these questions definitively, but experts say the data will help them better understand how planets form, what conditions might make life possible and where else in the universe it might exist.

“It’s yet another source of information. Mars is gradually unveiling its secrets to science and humanity, and the Indian mission is yet another means of unveiling this enigma that Mars presents,” said space expert Roger Franzen, the technical program manager at the Australian National University’s Research School of Astronomy and Astrophysics.

Scientists said it was helpful that MOM’s data will reflect the same time period as data being collected by NASA’s newest Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution mission, or Maven, allowing the two data sets to be compared for better understanding.

The U.S. has two more satellites circling the planet at the moment, as well as two rovers rolling across the rocky Martian surface. The European Space Agency’s Mars Express, launched in 2003, is still operating as well.

India was particularly proud that MOM was developed with homegrown technology and for a bargain price of about $75 million — a cost that Modi quipped was lower than many Hollywood film budgets. By comparison, NASA’s much larger Maven mission cost nearly 10 times as much, at $671 million. Indian scientists “designed the trajectory aspects and the interplanetary aspects,” said Vipparthi Adimurthy of the Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology, who headed the team that crafted the first feasibility studies on whether India could reach Mars.

Screens show Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi greeting Indian Space Research Organisation scientists and other officials after the success of Mars Orbiter Mission at their Telemetry, Tracking and Command Network complex in Bangalore on Wednesday, September 24. India triumphed in its first interplanetary mission, placing a satellite into orbit around Mars on Wednesday morning and catapulting the country into an elite club of deep-space explorers.

(AP Photo)

Manmohan Singh, Abdul India’s Mars mission is Kalam congratulate ISRO Asia’s pride: China NEW DELHI, SEptEmbEr 24 (IANS): Former prime minister Manmohan Singh and former president A.P.J. Abdul Kalam Wednesday congratulated ISRO for the success of its Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM). “This event marks the culmination of a decade’s worth of hard work. It’s a glowing tribute to the ability of our scientists, and their unfailing efforts in making this mission a success,” Manmohan Singh said in a statement.

“We are indeed humbled with the privilege of having been the government which piloted the Mangalyaan project,” he said.

Former president Kalam said: “ISRO team is fantastic, was very happy last night (Tuesday) when I met them. “They have achieved the Mars mission, as they planned. As a nation, we are the first nation to do the job,” he said. India Wednesday created space history by becoming the first country to enter the Martian orbit in its debut attempt.

A beaming Prime Minister Narendra Modi, wearing a red jacket symbolic of the Red Planet, described it as “achieving the near impossible”. He congratulated the feat of Indian scientists and called for challenging the next frontier.

bEIJING, SEptEmbEr 24 (tNN): China today expressed rare praise for India saying the successful launch of the satellite to Mars was a “pride of Asia”. The praise is significant because it comes amid strain in the relationship caused the border standoff between the two countries even after a “successful visit” to India by Chinese president Xi Jinping.

“We congratulate India on Mars satellite entering orbit successfully,” Hua Chunying, Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman said on Wednesday. “This is pride of India and the pride of Asia, and a landmark progress in humankind’s exploration of the outer space. So we congratulate India on that” China has not yet sent a mission to Mars making this one of the few areas where India has stolen the lead in Asia. China successfully sent robots to land on the moon last year becoming the first Asian country to achieve this feat. But it has not attempted going to the red planet.

Hua also indicated China might be interested in enhancing cooperation with in the area of satellite research. “We are willing to work with the world for peaceful development of the outer space and make our contribution to sustainable development and long term peace of outer space,” she said.

25 killed as bus falls into Himachal reservoir Centre to announce reworked skill development scheme SHImLA, SEptEmbEr 24 (IANS): At least 25 people were killed and 21 injured Wednesday when an overloaded mini bus fell into the Gobind Sagar reservoir in Himachal Pradesh’s Bilaspur district, officials said.

The bus was carrying around 50 passengers when it met with the accident near Kandraur, some 100 km from the capital Shimla, Superintendent of Police Ashok Kumar told IANS over phone. He said prima facie it seemed that the accident occurred after the driver lost control over the vehicle.

The dead include six women and a child. Most of the victims were locals.

Rescue workers said the toll was so high as most of the passengers could not escape from the bus. Divers managed to rescue eight people from the reservoir.

Police said around 50 people were travelling in the bus at the time of the accident. An operation to locate any survivor was still on. People in the area began rescue operations even before the district authorities reached the spot.

It took hours for rescuers and police to bring out the bodies from the bus.

NEW DELHI, SEptEmbEr 24 (IANS): The rural development ministry would Thursday announce a reworked skill development scheme, aimed at providing quality skill training and placement opportunities to poor rural youth and to take forward Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “Make in India” vision.

Official sources said the reworked scheme -- Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Grameen

Kaushalya Yojna (DDUGKY) -- seeks to re-position rural India in the 15-35 age group as a resource that can support the needs of global manufacturing industry.

They said the ministry had consolidated its previous efforts at skill development and introduced new features such as benchmarking quality to global norms. “We felt we should also fulfil the global demand for manpower. We have

identified countries where there is huge demand,” said an official, who did not want to be identified.

He said countries such as the US, Japan, Russia, Germany, France, Spain, Britain and China apart from countries in the Middle East have demand for skilled and semi-skilled manpower. The official said developed countries were predicted “to face a shortfall of 57 million semi-

skilled manpower by 2020 and India was expected to have surplus of 47 million”.

The ministry has been implementing skills and placement initiatives since 1999 and had started the Swarnajayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana (SGSY) as a placement-linked programme for wage earning and self-employment.

SGSY was redesigned and launched as Aajeevika in September last year.

‘Rape victims in India are always traumatised’

Rescue operations underway at the accident site near Auhar in Bilaspur district of Himachal Pradesh

Divers from the Bhakra Beas Management Board (BBMB) were pressed into the rescue operation. The bus was on its way from Rishikesh to Bilaspur town, both in Bilaspur district, when it met with the accident near the Rahian bridge.

Witnesses said rescue workers had a tough time retrieving the bus from the reservoir. Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh, Governor Urmila Singh and BJP’s Lok Sabha member Anurag Thakur expressed shock

and grief over the accident.

The chief minister directed the district administration to take all possible measures to rescue the survivors and provide them adequate relief. He announced an ex-gratia Rs.150,000 to the next of kin of the dead. He said all medical expenses of the injured would be borne by the government.

A magisterial inquiry has been ordered into the accident, a government statement said. This was

the second major accident in the state in just a month.

Twenty three people were killed and 20 injured Aug 21 when an overcrowded mini bus skidded off the road and fell into the Baspa river, some 300 feet below a mountainous road in Kinnaur district. Police records say over 800 people die every year in Himachal Pradesh in road accidents.

Police have identified 556 accident-prone spots, including 210 on national highways.

NEW DELHI, SEptEmbEr 24 (IANS): How cruel the world can be for a rape victim, Suzette Jordan, the 2012 Park Street victim, can tell you but this hasn’t killed her spirit or made her give up her zest for life.

“Victims in India are always traumatised. People pointed at my dignity. They did not even hesitate to call me a prostitute. But this hasn’t stop my spirit for living life zestfully,” Jordan, an Anglo-Indian who loves to live her life on her own terms, told IANS on the phone from Kolkata, saying she did not wish to shelter behind a pseudonym, which is usually the norm for victimes of rape.

“My kids are my biggest strength.

I have learned to survive because my family stood beside me every single time,” said Jordan, 40, who is a single mother to two children and runs an NGO that fights for women’s rights.

She was allegedly raped at gun-point inside a moving car and later thrown out of it in central Kolkata, on one of its most well known streets, in February 2012. The incident returned to haunt her some days ago when Jordan, accompanied by her friend, was refused entry into a reputed Kolkata hotel. The reason? She was a rape victim, the hotel staff told her in the presence of several people.

The restaurant management, however, denied the charge and claimed the woman was turned out for being “troublesome”.

“There were mails, posts, calls from people across the country supporting me, conveying their concern. But where were these people when I was insulted outside the hotel,” she asked.

“All have their own life, all get busy. The fight is of that solitary soul

who faces it, who goes through the mental trauma, that in-erasable horrific incident and those deep scars left behind,” Jordan added. Today she feels she is still a victim of the patriarchal society and what hurts her the most was the deafening silence from the people present at the hotel who turned out to be mere mute spectators.

“No one uttered a single word in protest. They stood silently and saw me getting chastened. Nobody came out in my support, and I knew people won’t, I didn’t expect this,” she uttered. “This is India, this is our society. Because I am raped I don’t deserve a life. Was it my fault if I was raped,” asked Jordan, reflecting her disgust. The hotel incident kicked up a storm in the social media. Thousands of posts, blogs and write-ups came up in her support.

Supreme Court scraps nearly all coal blocks allocated since 1993 NEW DELHI, SEptEmbEr 24 (rEutErS): The Supreme Court on Wednesday scrapped all but four of 218 coal blocks allocated by the government over the past two decades, in a tougher-thanexpected ruling that sank shares of companies that have invested heavily in projects around the concessions.

Most power, steel and cement companies that won blocks will have until end-March to return them, and the government then plans to auction them off.

The previous practice of selective allocation was ruled illegal and arbitrary by the court.

The uncertainty surrounding the allocations had made it difficult to develop the blocks. Only about 40 are producing at a capacity of about 9 percent of the 566 million tonnes of coal that India dug out of the ground last fiscal year.

Coupled with lessthan-expected output from state behemoth Coal India Ltd, this has kept India the world’s No. 3 importer though it sits atop the fifth biggest reserves of the fuel - chronically short of coal and heavily reliant on imports.

Half of India’s thermal power stations had less than a week’s supply of coal on hand as of Monday,

the lowest since mid-2012 when 620 million people in India were cut off in one of the globe’s worst blackouts ever.

“The ruling is more severe than the industry was hoping but it sends a clear message about India taking a stand against the improper allocation of national resources and in favour of improving transparency and good governance,” said Sushil Jacob, a lawyer at London law firm Linklaters.

The court, led by Chief Justice Rajendra Mal Lodha, let off two coal blocks operated by Reliance Power and one each by state firms NTPC Ltd and Steel Authority of India Ltd, as some of

them are developing mega power projects critical for the country.

Shares of other block holders such as Jindal Steel and Power Ltd, Hindalco Industries Ltd and Tata Power Co Ltd fell after the latest ruling as they will not only lose their mines but may also be fined. The companies can keep producing from their mines until the March 31 deadline.

The government will now be free to auction off the cancelled blocks after the end of this fiscal year, government lawyer Mukul Rohatgi told reporters outside the court. A spokesman for the Coal Ministry, which allocated the

concessions, could not be reached for comment.

COLLATERAL DAMAGE Coal fuels more than two-thirds of the power generated in India, and while the number of power plants has grown, various court cases and red tape have slowed coal output growth. A third of the nation’s more than 1.2 billion people go without electricity.

An official of a power company based in Odisha said how the government handles the aftermath of the court ruling will determine its impact on coal and power supply. “We have a real intention of providing power to the people of India,” the official said, declining to be

named. “We are hoping the government will come up with a solution.”

Kumar Mangalam Birla, chairman of Hindalco, told reporters: “I’m sure the government has a back-up plan as to how to accommodate these mines that have been deallocated.”

Accusations of crony capitalism in allocating India’s resources from coal to mobile telephone bandwidth had dogged the former government of Manmohan Singh. His Congress Party suffered its worst defeat in polls concluded in May. An audit in 2012 showed that allocating the resources, instead of auctioning them off, had cost the ex-

chequer as much as $33 billion, leading to investigations into the practice.

Though the government now wants to auction the blocks, it will be a time consuming process that will lead to increased imports in the meantime. There was a tepid response to first coal block auction attempt in February, with only two firms bidding for one of the three blocks on offer.

“The six-month time frame should ensure that the impact on coal imports and current account deficit will be marginal,” said A. Prasanna, economist at ICICI Securities Primary Dealership. “In case the auction mechanism fails to

take off, coal imports could increase in 2015/16.”

The block cancellations will also hit several banks.

State Bank of India and Power Finance Corp Ltd are among financial institutions that have together lent $10 billion-$12 billion to the coal, power and steel sectors. Some experts, though, have said a closure in the matter will help the government start with a clean slate.

“We believe that uncertainty is possibly the worst enemy of growth. We are glad that this is over with the Supreme Court verdict on coal blocks allocation,” said Arundhati Bhattacharya, chairwoman of State Bank of India.

InternatIonal

the Morung express

Thursday 25 September 2014

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Climate summit sets goals to save Climate change impacts forests, use clean energy fall ‘hardest’ on women UNITED NATIONS, SEpTEmbEr 24 (rEUTErS): A United Nations summit on climate change agreed on Tuesday to widen the use of renewable energy and raise billions of dollars in aid for developing countries in an effort to increase the prospects for a wide-ranging deal to slow global warming.

The one-day summit, hosted by U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, set goals to halt losses of tropical forests by 2030, improve food production and hike the share of electric vehicles in cities to 30 percent of new vehicle sales by 2030. The non-binding initiatives were set by various coalitions of governments, multinational companies, cities, financial groups, investors, environmental organizations and other groups.

The targets are meant to help prepare a 200-nation summit in Paris in late 2015 to finalize a deal to slow rising greenhouse gas emissions. Until now, work has been slow with many countries more focused on improving economic growth and creating jobs. Governments and investors said they would raise more than $200 billion in climate financing by the end of 2015, including $30 billion in green bonds by commercial banks and $100 billion from a group of development banks.

“This will serve as a catalyst in finalizing a universal and meaningful agreement at Paris on climate change in 2015,” Ban said of the cash. The United Nations said in a statement that pledges of financial support would give a “significant boost”

United States President Barack Obama addresses the Climate Summit, at United Nations headquarters on Tuesday, September 23.

(AP Photo)

to a promise by rich nations in 2009 to raise $100 billion a year by 2020 from all sources to help poor countries shift to renewable energy and adapt to heatwaves, droughts and rising seas.

Separately, an alliance of about 30 countries including the United States and a coalition of multinational companies set a goal of halving losses of forests by 2020 and halting losses by 2030. If fully implemented, this would stave off between 4.5 billion and 8.8 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions a year, equivalent to emissions by all

Fruits and vegetables linked to mental well-being LONDON, SEpTEmbEr 24 (IANS): The more portions of fruits and vegetables you take in a day, the better are your chances of improving mental well-being along with your physical health, says a study.

“The data suggest that higher an individual’s fruit and vegetable intake the lower the chance of their having low mental well-being,” said lead author of the study Saverio Stranges from the University of Warwick in Britain.

The research involved 14,000 participants in Britain aged 16 or over, 56% of them females and 44% males, as part of the Health Survey for England.

They found that 33.5% of respondents with high mental well-being ate five or more portions of fruit and vegetables a day, compared with only 6.8% who ate less than one portion.

While 31.4% of those with high mental well-being ate three-four portions and 28.% ate one-two. “These novel findings suggest that fruit and vegetable intake may play a potential role as a driver, not just of physical, but also of mental well-being in the general population,” Stranges added.

Low mental well-being is strongly linked to mental illness and mental health problems, but high mental well-being is more than the absence of symptoms or illness; it is a state in which people feel good and function well.

Optimism, happiness, selfesteem, resilience and good relationships are all part of this state. Mental well-being is important not just to protect people from mental illness but because it protects people against common and serious physical diseases.

Uighur scholar to appeal life sentence bEIJING, SEpTEmbEr 24 (Ap): A prominent scholar who championed China’s Uighur minority plans to appeal his conviction and life sentence, citing what he calls his improper detention and the authorities’ refusal to give his lawyers copies of evidence.

Scholar Ilham Tohti has denied prosecutors’ charges that he encouraged separatism while speaking and writing about the discontent in his native region of Xinjiang. A court in the regional capital of Urumqi sentenced him to life in prison Tuesday and ordered the confiscation of his possessions. One of Ilham Tohti’s lawyers, Li Fangping, said his legal team had not decided yet when to submit the appeal. He said Tohti himself could do that from the court in Urumqi. Li showed The Associated Press the first page of the 15-page document Wednesday. It cited several legal issues including what it said was the failure of police to tell Ilham Tohti why he was being detained and the extracting of testimony after he went without proper food in jail for weeks.

Tohti’s harsh sentence was the most severe in a decade handed down in China for illegal political speech and drew condemnation from the U.S. and the European Union.

President Barack Obama cited the scholar Tuesday among several people worldwide whom rights group call political prisoners. “They deserve to be free,” Obama said. “They ought to be released.” Chinese writer Wang Lixiong tweeted on Tuesday that China had created in Ilham Tohti “a Uighur Mandela,” referring to late South African leader Nelson Mandela who was jailed for 27 years before becoming president.

The official Xinhua News Agency responded a day later with a furious editorial, saying the analogy “displays not only a dangerous ignorance of history, but also a challenge to China’s determination to keep its 56 ethnic groups united.” The “irritating comparison,” the editorial said, “is blasphemy against the Mandela spirit.”

Xinhua cited ethnic violence that has caused deaths of both Muslim Uighurs and Han Chinese in Xinjiang. It said the Ilham Tohti prosecution came amid a larger anti-terrorism campaign in China. “Their accusations against the court’s ruling came as the warplanes of the United States and its allies bomb the ‘Islamic State’ militants in their anti-terrorism war,” the editorial read. “It is only because of Western countries’ double-standards on terrorism that a criminal was hailed as a hero.”

the world’s one billion cars.

Trees soak up carbon dioxide from the air as they grow and release it when they die.

Burning of forests from the Amazon to the Congo, mainly to make way for farmland, accounts for up to a fifth of all greenhouse gases generated by human sources.

Companies including Walmart, Unilever , Wilmar International, General Mills, Asia Pulp and Paper and Nestle, many non-governmental organizations and indigenous peoples’ groups signed up for the

plan. The declaration is backed by more than $1 billion from countries including Britain, Germany and Norway. Norway said it would provide up to $300 million to Peru and $150 million to Liberia.

“The actions agreed today will reduce poverty, enhance food security, improve the rule of law, secure the rights of indigenous peoples and benefit communities around the world,” Ban said. Among initiatives to curb the use of fossil fuel, one project would raise the share of renewable energy used in power gen-

eration in 19 countries in eastern and southern Africa to 40 percent by 2030 from 10 percent.

Another alliance of major nations and energy groups including ENI of Italy and Southwestern Energy in the United States signed up to do more to curb emissions of methane, a powerful greenhouse gas.

Companies including McDonald’s and Kellogg committed to “climate-smart agriculture” to protect farmers from global warming and to improve crop yields to feed the world’s rising population.

NEW YOrK, SEpTEmbEr 24 (THOmSON rEUTErS FOUNDATION): Women must take a greater leadership role in fighting climate change because its effects fall hardest on women, the head of UN Women said this week.

“Women are on the frontlines, bearing the brunt of climate change,” said Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, executive director of the United Nations agency dedicated to gender equality and the empowerment of women.

She spoke on Monday at the start of a discussion focused on the needs of women in terms of climate policy.

Her comments before an audience of women leaders and former heads of state from around the world came on the eve of the U.N. Climate Summit, which began Tuesday, and at the beginning of Climate Week NYC. Climate change and gender equality are inextricably linked, Chile’s President Michelle Bachelet said in her keynote remarks. “This is a crucial debate because we know those who are in an unequal situation are most at risk,” said Bachelet, who was the founding executive director of UN Women in 2010.

She noted that women and children are 14 times more vulnerable than men in climate change-related natural disasters, such as the floods and droughts.

Women also feel the negative effects of climate

change on agriculture, a sector in which they represent 43 percent of the global workforce and 65 percent of those involved in raising livestock, Bachelet said.

To mitigate the effects of climate change on these women farmers and ranchers, programmes are under way to train women in more efficient livestock management, organic farming that reduces the carbon footprint, and hydroponic farming that uses recycled water, she said. When it comes to climate policy, Bachelet said, more women need seats at the table.

“Female leaders should be present in the corridors of political power,” she said, adding that Chile recently mandated that 40 percent of all candidates for political office must be women. In an effort to encourage women’s leadership, she said Chile will host a conference early next year in conjunction with the 20th anniversary of the Beijing Platform for Action, a landmark agreement by governments to commit to gender equality and women’s empowerment.

The conference, which will include male and female leaders from around the world, will assess women’s progress in the last 20 years and also address the United Nations’ Post-2015 sustainable development goals which should include gender and climate change, Bachelet said.

Nationalist Sturgeon aims for top Scotland job GLASGOW, SEpTEmbEr 24 (rEUTErS): Scottish separatist Nicola Sturgeon said on Wednesday she would run for the leadership of the Scottish National Party (SNP), with independence from the rest of the United Kingdom still her long-term goal despite last week’s failed referendum.

If she succeeds, Sturgeon would almost certainly become first minister of Scotland. She is the clear favourite as other major nationalist politicians have ruled themselves out.

She told reporters her focus for now would be to hold London politicians to their promise of more powers for Scotland while building what she said was a fairer society.

Sturgeon, who would replace outgoing First Minister Alex Salmond as SNP chief, said she was not planning another referendum but that the question of independence could be reopened should the Westminster parties renege on their promise of further powers, or threaten to leave the European Union.

After failing to secure the Scottish people’s backing for independence in the vote last week, Salmond said he would step down as party leader and as the country’s first minister.

The favourite to take over from Salmond, Sturgeon said the referendum

had been a vote for change.

“I am more convinced than ever that we will one day become an independent country but that will happen only when the people of Scotland choose that course in the polling booth,” the 44-yearold SNP deputy leader said in Glasgow.

She added: “The fact is that those who voted Yes, combined with those who voted No on the promise of substantial extra powers, form a powerful majority for real and meaningful change in this country.”

Last Thursday, Scots voted by 55 to 45 percent to reject secession, prompting British Prime Minister David Cameron to declare that the question of Scottish independence had been settled “for a generation”.

After a close fought campaign, the campaign to keep the 307-year-old union intact was successful as unionist parties promised more powers would come to the Scottish parliament as a matter of urgency after the vote.

Salmond’s replacement as SNP leader will be chosen in an election at the party conference in November.

If Sturgeon is elected, her accession to first minister of the Scottish Government will be a formality, as the SNP have a clear majority in the parliament.

The parliament, which has enjoyed devolved power from Westminster since

1999, already has substantial powers over areas such as health and education.

Unionist parties promised further powers during the referendum campaign, including an extension of currently limited powers over tax and welfare, making the position of Scottish first minister an increasingly powerful role.

Sturgeon oversaw a campaign which produced a surge in support for independence, winning 45 percent of the vote despite historically only counting on the support of just a quarter to a third of the population. Membership of the SNP has more than doubled since the vote.

“It’s difficult to see any alternative emerging to Sturgeon,” said Professor James Mitchell, co-director of the Academy of Government at the University of Edinburgh. “It should be a coronation.”

If Sturgeon were to win, all three major parties in Scotland’s Holyrood parliament would be run by women, with Johann Lamont in charge of Labour and the Conservatives led by Ruth Davidson.

A YouGov poll on the eve of the vote found Sturgeon was the most trusted politician involved in the referendum campaign, ranking higher than either Cameron or Salmond.

She had considered standing for leadership in 2004, but withdrew to stand as Salmond’s deputy, filling in as

the SNP’s leader in the Scottish Parliament while Salmond was a member of the parliament in Westminster.

His confrontational style divided opinion, Mitchell said, adding that Sturgeon has a broader appeal.

In particular, Sturgeon led efforts to boost support among women for independence during the referendum campaign, and she is open about left-leaning priorities that drive her.

“My guiding ethos is a social democratic one and that will be the ethos of any government I lead,” she told reporters.

While the rise of oil-economist Salmond was shaped by the discovery of oil reserves North Sea in the mid ‘70s, fuelling demand for statehood based on natural resources, Sturgeon has says her formative years were shaped by the unpopular policies of Britain’s first female Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher.

“The economy wasn’t in great shape, lots of people around me were looking at a life or an immediate future of unemployment,” Sturgeon told the BBC’s “Woman’s Hour” last year.

“That certainly gave me a strong sense of social justice, and, at that stage, a strong feeling that it was wrong for Scotland to be governed by a Tory government we hadn’t elected.”

China drought worsens long-term water crisis

HEXINGTEN, SEpTEmbEr 24 (Ap): The corn has grown to only half its normal height on Yan Shuqin’s ranch in the hills of Inner Mongolia this year, as a swath of northern China suffers its worst drought in 60 years.

The ruddy-faced woman said that even before the rains stopped, the groundwater in her region had been sinking, from 20 meters (about 70 feet) below the surface just a few years ago to as much as 80 meters (260 feet) this past summer.

While she can still eat and sell the corn, lettuce and other vegetables on her farm, the yield has shrunk.

“If the grass doesn’t grow and the vegetables die off, who’s going to be able to live here?”

Yan asked outside her family’s spotless two-room house. “My mother and her mother lived here. My family has always lived here. What are my children going to do?”

After a season of recordbreaking drought across China, groundwater levels have hit historic lows this year in northeast and central parts of China where hundreds of millions of people live. Reservoirs grew so dry in agricultural Henan province that the city of Pingding-

shan closed car washes and bathhouses and extracted water from puddles.

But this is no one-time emergency. Farmers like Yan and water-hungry industries have been wrestling with a long-term water crisis that has dried up more than half the country’s 50,000 significant rivers and left hundreds of cities facing what the government classifies as a “serious scarcity” of water.

Half a billion Chinese live in a handful of provinces, largely in the northeast, where coalfired power plants, steel foundries and other water-gulping industries already burden reservoirs and aquifers. Widespread chemical runoff and other pollution have contaminated 60 percent of the country’s groundwater.

The country’s climate is also warming, particular in its populous northeast where rain levels have fallen, according to a 2011 study by Chinese, French and British researchers. Meanwhile, the country’s south has seen its rainfall concentrated in shorter bursts, which has made it harder to predict water supplies.

As a result, per capita water availability in the megacities of Beijing and Shanghai as well

as their surrounding provinces equals that of dry Middle Eastern countries such as Israel and Jordan, said Feng Hu, a water analyst with the Hong Kongbased research group China Water Risk. By comparison, the average U.S. household has access to nearly five times more available water than Chinese households do.

“If we continue with our business-as-usual model, the demand will exceed supply by 2030,” Feng said in a lecture in Beijing last month. “The water crisis is a real risk.” Already, Chinese farmers have lost an estimated $1.2 billion this year due to drought, while China has slowed plans to tap its vast deposits of shale gas, which sit in areas with the greatest scarcity.

The water crisis is also hitting China’s main energy source, coal, which requires large amounts of water to extract and convert into power.

Heavy rains over the past week helped lift some of the immediate crisis in central China, flooding cities that just days earlier had been struggling to keep taps flowing. But fields remain bone-dry and parched in Inner Mongolia and other northern regions. In response to the country’s water woes,

In this Tuesday, Aug. 19, 2014 photo, a farmer walks by a river in Pingdingshan in central China’s Henan province. After a season of record-breaking drought across China, groundwater levels have hit historic lows this year in northeast and central parts of China where hundreds of millions of people live. (AP File Photo)

Chinese authorities have called for solutions that include relying more on imports for foods that require lots of water to produce, such as grains and vegetable oils.

They also are betting on more than 2,400 kilometers (1,500 miles) of canal that when completed will move trillions of

gallons of water from the rivers of China’s south to its dry north.

One branch of the canal leading straight to Beijing is expected to be done this fall.

Many water experts remain skeptical about the project, however, with some warning it could wreak havoc on southern aquifers and watersheds.

10

Dimapur

LOCAL

Thurssday 25 September 2014

26th East Zone Junior Athletics C'ship

Dimapur, September 24 (mexN): Nagaland State Athletics Team participated in the 26th East Zone Junior Athletics Championship held at Kolkata on September 20 and 21 and won 7 medals.

A press release from Khrie-

hutuo Tsira, State Athletic Coach, informed.

The names of the medalists are Aungkali - Gold in High Jump, Kuvevolu Vero - Silver in High Jump, Kuvelu - Silver in Discus, Savoto - Silver in Javelin, Veluno – bronze in Discus,

Shoniu – Bronze in 3000m and 5000 m. Tsira further informed that the Gold and Silver medalists have been selected to represent East Zone in the coming Inter-Zone Championship to be held in Ranchi in November.

1st Tiger 5 football Tournament from Oct 10 Dimapur, September 24 (mexN): The Stallion Club, Dimapur will be holding its 1st Tiger 5 football Tournament from October 10 to 12.

The Tournament will be played under floodlights.

Interested teams can avail forms at Kings Sports, Circular Road, Dimapur and Revelin Bakery, Industrial estate colony (sub jail junction), Dimapur. A fee of Rs 1000 will be charged as entry fee for the teams with the winner walking away richer by Rs 15000 and the runners up pocketing Rs 7000. The organisers have also informed that food stalls will be set up during the tournament. For more details interested teams may contact 9774014011, 8014930416, 8575194252.

The Morung Express

PGC annual games and sports week underway

pereN, September 24 (mexN): The annual games and sports week, 2014 of Peren Government College, Peren was inaugurated on September 24.

D. Robin SDO(C) Peren graced the occasion as chief guest.

The chief guest in his speech encouraged the students to believe in themselves and to have the courage and determination to translate their dreams into reality even as they pursue academic excellence.

While also recollecting the achievements made by Naga sportspersons in the like of Dr. T. Ao and others, he said that they did not allow their poor economic background to stand in their way to success, and thereby encouraged the students to be disciplined, to sacrifice their time and energy and thereby to develop their potentialities to the fullest extent.

The Chief Guest also donated a generous sum of money to the students

D. Robin SDO(C) Peren and others during inaugural of the annual games and sports week, 2014 of Peren Government College, Peren on September 24.

union towards the conduct of the College Week.

Apart from the teachers, staffs and students of the college, a good number of public leaders also attended the function.

Ingauraile, Asst. Games & Sports Secy, chaired the programme while Dr. Kekuchol Pusa, Asst. Prof invoked God’s blessing for the College Week, Kedirie, Games & Sports Secre-

tary offered the welcome address and also administered the oath-taking.

Ch. Kanga Andrew, Asst Prof with words of prayer, closed the opening ceremony.

3rd annual NE region cultural competition concludes Nagaland's Greenwood High

Dimapur, September 24 (mexN): The 3rd Annual North East Region Cultural Competition 2014 organised by Dimapur Bangali Samaj concluded here on September 21. 450 participants from various parts of the North East took part in the event which started September 19. They competed in categories like songs, music, dance, drama and painting etc,

according to a press release.

Khekaho Assumi, MLA of Nagaland was the chief guest on the concluding day. He acknowledged that Bengalis have a rich tradition of promoting cultural activities and assured support for such activities, the release said.

Meanwhile, Joseph Lemtur, President of Dimapur District Citizen Forum was the guest of hon-

our, and Amento Sumi, Vihose Sumi, Hannan Tapadar (President of Muslim council), Neena Dutta (Principal of St Mary’s Montessori Higher secondary school), Prof. KP Aviksit, Swapan Paul, Ganesh Sharma, Kamal Jain, Uma Bhowmick were special guests. Also, there were four judges from West Bengal headed by Ritesh Chakraborty.

The release noted that Uttam

Dey, General Secretary, Dimapur Bangali Samaj stated “our endeavour to serve the society will grow day by day; till date we have been doing relief work, education service, donating cloths etc.” Siddhartha Professional Academy, Dimapur further announced 50% scholarship for students willing to pursue any kind of Information Training courses offered by the Institute.

Kohima district awards 16 teachers

Awardees of Kohima District Teachers’ Award-2014 with officials of School Education department, Kohima.

Kohima, September 24 (mexN): A total of sixteen teachers from various schools, both government and private, under Kohima district received the Kohima District Teachers’ Award-2014 on September 19 during ‘post-event Teachers’ Day ceremony’ organised by the District Education Officer (DEO), Kohima. “This unusual post-event ceremony lately being practiced in respect of Kohima district has been due to the necessitated cir-

cumstances of celebrating the joint State Level Teachers’ Day programme on September 5,” stated DEO Kohima, Ruovihulie Angami in a press release.

Meanwhile, the release informed that the District Education Officer, Kohima on August 28 conducted the District Level Science Seminar-2014 at Little Flower Higher Secondary School, Kohima on the topic – “Innovations in Agriculture for a Sustainable Future: Prospects and Challenges” with

Tekatushi Ao, Director, Department of Agriculture, as Chief Guest. Two students, namely Vitso-ü Tsürho (Class-9) and Phengna Lily Khadak (Class-9), both from Mezhür Higher Secondary School, Kohima respectively adjudged the first and second winners in the competition, were selected to represent Kohima district in the Nagaland State Science Seminar-2014 held on September 10 at Rüzhükhrie Government Higher Sec-

ondary School, Kohima.

According to the note, the two students “proved their merit” even in the state level by winning first and second positions respectively. As the winner of the state level competition, the release added, Vitso-ü Tsürho will represent the State of Nagaland in the National Science Seminar-2014 scheduled to be held on October 11 at Visvesvaraya Industrial and Technological Museum, Kasturba Road, Bangalore.

Special summary revision notification on ER Kohima, September 24 (Dipr):the Election Commission of India (ECI) has notified a special Summary Revision of Photo Electoral Rolls with reference to 1st January 2015 as the qualified date. Accordingly to a notification from ADC & Electoral Registration Officer, Phek, Kuko Mero, the schedule for special summary revision of stage of revision and period allowed for stage are as follows: Oct. 15draft publication of rolls; Oct. 15-Nov. 10- filling of claims and objection; Oct 17 & 30 – verification and reading relevant parts in electoral roll in local authorities; Oct 19 & Nov. 2 - special campaign dates with booth level agent of political parties of receiving claims and objections; Further, the disposal of claims and objectives will be done by November 20 while updating of database, merging of photographs, updating of the control tables, and preparation and printing of supplementary list will be done by December 20. The final list of the Electoral Roll will be published by January 5, 2015.

TOLIC to organize Hindi fortnight’ SABS novices commit to religious life

Kohima, September 24 (mexN): In compliance with government of India’s instructions, Hindi Fortnight (Pakhwada) is being organized from 16 to 26 September 2014 in various Central Government Offices under the aegis of Town Official Language Implementation Committee (TOLIC), Kohima.

According to a press note from Secretary, TOLIC, Kahoto J Yepthomi stated that, various Hindi competitions for both Hindi and NonHindi speaking categories will be organised during the period which will culminates September 26 at State Academy Hall, P.R. Hill, Kohima under the Chairmanship of Athikho Chalai, Chairman, TOLIC, Kohima and Accountant General

(A&E) Nagaland.

Neikiesalie Nicky Kire, Minister of Forest, Environment & Wildlife, Government of Nagaland will grace the occasion as Chief Guest while Yitachu, Parliamentary Secretary, School Education, Government of Nagaland will be the Guest of Honour. The other highlight of the programme will be Hindi Patriotic songs, Group dances and fables presented by Kendirya Vidhyalya students, TOLIC member Office staff, their children and NEZCC, Dimapur. The programme will be attended by all the Heads of Central Government offices including staff members, Nationalized Banks, Public Sector Undertakings and Para Military Forces stationed at Kohima.

ChumuKeDima, September 24 (mexN): A vestition and first profession of Sisters of the Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament (SABS) novices was held on September 20 at St. Joseph Parish, Chumukedima. Eight sisters, namely Elizabeth Soreng, Sophia Kameih, Anita Madar, Josena Sinruwng, Ivy Ningshen, Martina Shangjam, Lucia Hasda, and Agnes Rungsung committed their lives to the Lord “to work in His vineyard and extend God’s kingdom by embracing the religious life,” stated a press release received here.

The solemn Eucharistic Celebration was presided by Most

Rev. Dominic Lumon, D.D Archbishop of Imphal. In his homily, he congratulated the newly professed Sisters for their commitment to the Church and service of mankind. He further exhorted the sisters about the need of witnessing God in the modern world affected by globalization and consumerism. He encouraged living a faithful life by living the Evangelical counsels. Above all, he stated, “more than what we do; what we are is the good news for the people, and religious life is a bond of unity.”

Mother Sibia, the provincial superior, organized and coordinated the whole function.

KPASU 42nd fresher’s day held atioZu September 24 (mexN): The Khelhoshe Polytechnic Atoizu Students’ Union (KPASU) held their 42nd General Freshers Meet on September 20.

The Principal of the Institute Er. M Nakro exhorted the students as the Chief Guest. He welcomes the fresher’s into the family of KPA. In his speech, he exhorts the students refraining from misusing the technology especially mobile phones as many students are being spoiling due to such misuse. He also emphasized on the importance of punctuality for a good student and to fear and search God. With these, he also encourages the students to take active parts in Evangelical Union (EU).

The function was lead by compères Atohoto and Imlitula. Besides from other programmes, a special prayer for freshers conducted by Zhapulhoulie Rupreo, Lecturer. Visevoto Vitso and Sheboli Sumi were selected as Mr and Miss Fresher’s Principal Er. M Nakro and Students’ Advisor, Ruokuobeilie Mere with Mr and Miss Fresher’s 2014 2014 respectively. The main function was followed by a refreshment and entertainment session. with KPASU Executives.

School enter Subroto Cup final NeW DeLhi, September 24 (iaNS): Former champions Nagaland's Greenwood High School became the first team to enter the final of the 55th Under-14 Subroto Cup International Football Tournament beating present winners Govt.

Chawngfianga Middle School from Mizoram 1-0 at the Ambedkar Stadium

here Tuesday.

Striker Tokavi headed the game-clinching goal in the first half.

In other matches, Government Boys Senior Secondary School, Delhi, beat Lseling Lower Secondary School from Bhutan 2-0. Ishwan netted a brace for the Delhi team. Meghalaya's Khrumediengei Secondary

School defeated Emerald Heights School from Madhya Pradesh 5-0 while the Army Boys from Uttar Pradesh won against Sri Lanka's Zahira College 3-0. Sikkim's Namchi Sports Hostel boys beat Maharana Pratap Sports College from Uttarakhand 1-0 with Roshan Suba scoring in the 17th minute.

Khonoma Baptist and Catholic youth work together

Members of KCYA and BKK Khonoma pose outside Naga Hospital Authority Kohima during the sanitation drive in Kohima on September 20.

Kohima, September 24 (mexN): A sanitation programme was jointly organized by the youth department of Khonoma Baptist Church (BKK Khonoma) and Khonoma Catholic Youth Association (KCYA) in Kohima on September 20, under the theme “God gave us Green, so let’s keep it Clean.”

Places like Naga Hospital, NSF Martyr’s Park, Classic Island at Kohima and Children’s Park Kisa-

ma were cleaned during the sanitation drive. Over 150 members took part in the programme, which is one of the first of its kind initiated by the youth departments of both the denominations, informed a press release.

“The programme was organised keeping in mind the differences among denominations and the need for every denomination to respect other denomination for peaceful coexis-

tence,” it added.

“The programme also envisages that Christian denominations can come together and can do better if we put our heads together.”

Similar programmes were conducted during the past three years and “this has helped both groups understand each other better and have built better relationships among the village community as well,” according to the note.

Advocacy on HIV/AIDS at Pfütsero Town

pfütSero, September 24 (mexN): A oneday advocacy campaign on HIV & AIDS was conducted on September 18 at Pfütsero Town under 16th Pfütsero Assembly Constituency in Phek district. It was jointly organized by District AIDS Prevention and Control Unit (DAPCU) and Phek District Network of Positive People Living with HIV/AIDS (PNP+) under the support of Legislator’s Forum on AIDS (LFA), Nagaland.

Resource persons were Dr. Vinito L. Chishi, State Consultant, LFA-Nagaland,

Dr. R. Rose, State Program Officer, HIV-TB (NSACS), Rev. Dr. Yiepetso Wezah, Principal, Baptist Theological College Pfütsero.

During the programme, Dr. Vinito L. Chishi highlighted the activities of LFA and its aims. He also gave a talk on vulnerability issues that are faced in Nagaland.

While stressing on the importance of active participation of the Church in eliminating HIV/AIDS, he urged upon the mass to give more effort to prevent HIV/AIDS in the days to come.

Dr. R. Rose spoke on

HIV-TB, stigma and discrimination as an obstacle for detection of HIV/AIDS. He also talked on informed decisions about one’s sexual choices and the importance of condom usage.

Rev. Dr. Yiepetso Wezah shared about Church response on HIV/AIDS. While keeping in mind the lukewarm attitude of the Church in the past, he also observed the positive responses of the Church at present. He also stressed on “True Love Waits”, which he said “becomes very important for younger generation.”

RD Minister inaugurates black topping road Kohima, September 24 (mexN): Bringing cheers to commuters, minister for Rural Development & REPA CL John inaugurated black topping road of Zutovi village under RD Block Dhansiripar on September 19 last. This black topping road was constructed under MGNREGA during 2014-15.

Speaking on the occasion, the minister complimented Zutovi village for taking up such project under MGNREGA. He also expressed satisfaction with the quality of work and lauded the contractor for the same.

Asangla, Project Director, DRDA Dimapur also exhorted the gathering.

Earlier, welcome speech was delivered by Victo Achumi, Head GB Zutovi village. Cultural presentation also marked the occasion. Vote of thanks was proposed by Visheto Achumi, chairman, Zutovi Village Council. Parliamentary secretary Tovihoto Ayemi was also present on the occasion.

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