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Vol XXIV
FBI warns of possible al-Qaida attack ( 9 )
( 12 ) DIMAPUR tuesDAY, OCTOBER 7, 2014
No. 301
Major Cabinet rejig soon
NAGPUR/NEW DELHI, OCT 6 (AGENCIES): Union minister of state for information & broadcasting Prakash Javadekar dropped hints of a “major reshuffle” of the Cabinet in coming weeks. Javadekar said there would be a “major reshuffle” in the Cabinet either in October third week or in December around the winter session of Parliament. According to sources, Prime Minister Narendra Modi may undertake a maiden reshuffle of his council of ministers soon in his bid to make the government more efficient. There are indications that Modi may go in for the cabinet reshuffle after the upcoming round of assembly polls in Maharashtra and Haryana where stakes are high for BJP. It would be the first reality check on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s popularity and performance ever since he led the BJP to a massive victory in the May general elections. Sources say the reshuffle may take place anytime after Diwali. The first week of November is the most probable date for carrying out the exercise. Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) which has emerged as the power centre since Modi took over as the prime minister on May 26 this year is closely monitoring the performance of each member of his 44strong council of ministers which includes 22 cabinet ministers, 10 ministers of state with independent charge and 12 ministers of state. According to sources in the PMO, ministers whose performance is not up to the expectation and those who are
NON-PERFORMERS AND CORRUPTIONTAINTED MINISTERS MAY BE DROPPED
suspected to be directly or indirectly involved in corruption are on Modi’s radar and may get the marching orders. “PM is uncompromising and impatient by nature. Nonperformers have no place in his scheme of things. As for corruption, he follows zero tolerance policy,” sources said. The Constitution (NinetyFirst Amendment) Act, 2003 puts a cap of 15 per cent of the total number of members of the House of People (Lok Sabha) which has 545 members including two nominated members of the Anglo-Indian community. It means Modi can have 81-member council of ministers. While Modi may expand his council of ministers, it is highly unlikely that he will go in for a jumbo government since he believes in having a small but efficient council of ministers. “All ministers would have got over five months by the time the reshuffle takes place which is seen by the PM enough time given to them to
perform. There is definitely no place for NPAs (non-performing assets) in his government,” sources added. PMO has received complaints from public that relatives of some ministers are indulging in corrupt practices. Those ministers may also be on the line of firing. Modi is understood to have called and given dressing down to son of his home minister Rajnath Singh in the recent past, though it was later on denied by both Singh and Modi. The reshuffle may also witness some ministers being divested of their additional portfolios. Finance minister Arun Jaitley may have to give up his additional charge of defence in the reshuffle. It may be mentioned that Modi ahead of his US visit transferred as many as 48 senior civil servants. “This is the first time that such transfers have happened en masse at the Centre,” said one of the transferred officials who did not wish to be identified.
State governments are known to effect such bulk transfers, but it has never before happened at the Centre. “They have brought in several new people from states. The move seems (designed) to place their own people in sensitive posts in areas of coal, petroleum, finance and foreign ministries,” another bureaucrat aware of the situation said on condition of anonymity. “Some of the old ones have been sent to obscure positions” While 39 officers belong to the Indian Administrative Service, the others belong to allied services including the Indian Forest Service, Indian Postal Service, Indian Audits and Accounts Service, Indian Civil Accounts Service and the Central Secretariat Service. The transfers are of officers at the level of joint secretary or above. “The concerned ministry has no say in such appointments any more. The decisions are being taken directly by the prime minister,” the second person cited above said. On 8 August, Modi government issued a strict set of guidelines to bureaucrats on how they should conduct themselves. A third official said the new government was studying the credentials of each official. “Their backgrounds are being checked intensely. Earlier, that was not the case and any officer whom the minister desired, was appointed. Now the ministers have no say,” the third official said. A fourth official claimed that a similar en masse appointment could happen in the case of directors, who are one rank below joint secretaries.
Jaitley is richest minister; Modi’s assets Rs 1.26 cr NEW DELHI, OCT 6 (PTI): Prime Minister Narendra Modi has assets worth Rs 1.26 crore while Defence and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley stands out as the richest minister with assets totalling Rs 72.10 crore. Urban Development Minister Venkaiah Naidu is among the Union Ministers who has the least assets of Rs 20.45 lakh, according to the Assets and Liabilities declared by the Prime Minister and other 44 members of the Council of Ministers made public on Monday. Women and Child Development Minister Maneka Sanjay Gandhi, daughter-inlaw of former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, has assets to the tune of Rs 37.68 crore. Minister of State for Coal and Power Piyush Goyal has assets of Rs 31.67 crore and is closely followed by Minorities Affairs Minister Najma Heptulla with assets to the tune of Rs 29.70 crore. Notably, 17 out of 22 Cabinet Ministers are crorepatis including Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The five Cabinet Ministers who are not crorepatis are Naidu with assets worth Rs 20.45 lakh, Food Minister Ram Vilas Paswan with Rs 39.88 lakh, Labour and Employment Minister Narendra Singh Tomar has assets worth Rs 44.90 lakh. Health Minister Harshvardhan has assets of Rs 48.54 lakh, while Chemicals and Fertilizers Minister Ananth Kumar with Rs 60.62 lakh worth of assets.
Pages 12 ` 4.00
5 killed, 34 injured in Pak firing
Injured child being taken to a hospital. (R) A resident shows mortar shell fired by Pak forces.
ARNIA, OCT 6 (AGENCIES): Blood stained beds, torn off rooftops and windows punctured by bullets and splinters of mortar bombs are a mute testimony to the Pakistani shelling in the border hamlet where smell of cordite and gunpowder hangs in the air. The overnight attacks by Pakistani forces has left five people dead and 34 injured, triggering panic among the border villagers, SSP, Jammu, Uttam Chand said. Most of the injured were shifted to GMC hospital Jammu, SDPO, R S Pura Tehsil, Devender Shingh said. This was the heaviest shelling in decades devastating the hamlet in Jammu. “We have not seen such an attack of mortar bombs and heavy firing in the past several decades, even not during the August ceasefire violations. It was the worst attack on civilian areas”, Kulbushan Kumar, a resident of Arnia town, told PTI. Such was the intensity of the firing and shelling that 82mm mortar shells landed in Mahasha da Kote and Arnia town, which is around 5km away from the international border in Jammu district. Carcasses of animals
killed due to splinter injuries are also seen strewn in Kaku di Kotha and other areas. “Pakistani Rangers resorted to heavy and unprovoked firing and shelling of mortars on 10 border outposts (BoPs) and civilian areas along international border (IB) in Arnia belt of Jammu district from 10 PM last night,” a BSF spokesman said Monday. They used small, automatic weapons and mortar bombs to target the border hamlets and BoPs along the borderline. BSF troops guarding the borderline retaliated effectively and gave a befitting reply, he said, adding that the intermittent firing exchanges are going on in the area. A l a r ge nu m b e r o f houses were damaged and livestock perished in the firing and shelling, said Singh, who was leading a team of police personnel who risked their lives to shift the injured people to hospital during the heavy shelling. “People living in critical zones along the border will be evacuated,” he said Independent reports suggest four Pakistani civilians, including two children and a woman have died in Indian retaliation to attack by Pakistani forces.
India, four others to build biggest telescope CM seeks HUDCO funding for MSC project
The TMT telescope model.
TOKYO, OCT 6 (AGENCIES): India along with Japan, the US, China and Canada will start work on the world’s biggest telescope on Hawaii Island that will enable to identify an object as small as coin from a distance of 500km. The Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT), will be established near the summit of the Mauna Kea volcano with a cost of $1.4 billion. They plan to complete the construction in March 2022. Japan will cover about a quarter of the construction costs. To mark the start of construction, some 100 astronomers and officials from the five countries were scheduled to attend a ceremony to be held on Tuesday at a location 4,012 meters high on Mount Mauna Kea, Kyodo news agency reported.
This is it!
“Election candidates should have three qualities: one-money, twomoney and three-money.” K Y M C
The TMT will be larger than Japan’s Subaru Telescope, one of the world’s biggest, which was also built on the summit of Mauna Kea and started observation in 1999. The Subaru Telescope’s single main mirror measures 8.2 meters in diameter, while the TMT will be composed of 492 hexagonal mirrors, each measuring 72 cm across. The TMT’s light-condensing capabilities will be 13
times greater than the Subaru telescope’s, enabling the identification of an object as small as a coin from a distance equivalent to 500km, distance between Osaka and Tokyo. Astronomer Masanori Ie, a professor at the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan who leads the Japanese team on the TMT project, said the new telescope will broaden the understanding of the cosmos. A telescope with greater light-condensing capabilities can search for stars that are less bright or farther from Earth. The most distant and oldest star observed to date was born some 800 million years after the Big Bang. The TMT will help astronomers observe stars which were born 200 million to 400 million years after the Big Bang. The TMT will also have the potential to help identify whether planets outside the solar system have atmospheres that are capable of supporting life.
DIMAPUR, OCT 6 (NPN): Housing and Urban Development Corporation Limited (HUDCO) officials Monday called on Nagaland chief minister T.R. Zeliang and discussed various issues including business generation and for development of the state. HUDCO officials were led by its chairman and managing director (CMD), New Delhi Dr. M. Ravi Kanth and HUDCO regional chief L.M. Yanthan with other officials, regional office, Kohima According to a press release, HUDCO CMD highlighted various schemes and programmes that could be funded by HUDCO. The press release stated that chief minister T.R Zeliang was “quite impressed” and expressed interest, especially for revenue generation projects. He reportedly informed that the Mega Smart City (MSC) project either at Dimapur or Kohima would be
Zeliang with HUDCO officials and others in Kohima.
taken up shortly and sought HUDCO partnership in funding the projects. The meeting was held in presence of parliamentary secretary, planning & co-ordination, evaluation & monitoring Neiba Kronu; parliamentary secretary, labour & employment Dr. Longrineken and secretary to the government of Nagaland, finance department, Kikheto Sema. Dr. M. Ravi Kanth also discussed about CSR pro-
gramme of HUDCO with the chief minister. HUDCO had already granted assistance to health & family welfare department for construction of short home stay for HIV patients at Kohima; and for purchase of cesspool vehicles for Kohima and Dimapur Municipal Councils. In the evening, chairman and managing director met Nagaland governor P.B. Acharya.
CMD arrived Kohima October 5 and met parliamentary secretary for women resource development M. Thomas Ngullie. HUDCO officials are on a visit to North East from October 2-7. Earlier, they had visited Aizawl October 2 and 3 and Manipur October 3 and 4. They had meeting with various government officials, including chief ministers, ministers, parliamentary secretaries and other officials and discussed various schemes and programmes of HUDCO for development of Northeastern states. The main objectives of HUDCO are to provide longterm finance for construction of houses for residential purposes or finance or undertake housing and urban development programmes in the country besides setting up of the new or satellite towns. It also aims to finance or undertake the setting up of industrial enterprises for building material.
BJP leaders slam NPF for ‘double standard game’ Correspondent KOHIMA, OCT 6 (NPN): Nagaland state BJP president Dr. M. Chuba Ao accused Lok Sabha MP and former chief minister Neiphiu Rio of adopting “double standard game” when it came to declaring alliance with political parties with different ideologies. He has termed the tactic as a “shame” as the BJP had to fight with alliance partner NPF for the 11 Northern Angami-II A/C bye-election. Addressing a public rally at Chiephobozou local ground, Monday, Chuba said the election was “no more a friendly contest” but a contest between two rival parties. He however said BJP was hopeful of winning the election and of strengthening the DAN government in the state and NDA at the Centre. Dr. Chuba said Rio has confused all by stating that BJP was alliance partner of DAN but the bye-election was not a friendly contest. He also said that NPF setting up a candidate against the BJP has “disturbed” the party, voters/villagers and citizens.
BJP candidate V. Lhoungu with state and national BJP leaders at Chiephobozou local ground, Monday. (NP)
BJP state unit president also criticized Rio for claiming that NPF was an alliance partner of BJP and seeking money from the Centre while the party was acting like a rival party in the state. Dr. Chuba alleged that NPF was “frying fish from the fish oil” and said “we are not fools, neither the BJP national leaders are fools.”
On three former NCP MLAs joining BJP, the BJP state unit president said the merger took place according to 10th Schedule of the Indian Constitution (fourth para) but NPF felt such merger was not applicable in Nagaland. Dr. Chuba alleged that NPF tried to fool the BJP but the party leaders were “fooling themselves” and that
they were confused and divided into two camps. The BJP state unit president also alleged that the NPF candidate “must be son of a rich man or from rich background” but he has not contributed to the society. He also alleged that it took five days for the people to get an appointment with the NPF candidate and said after becoming MLA, it would take five years to get appointment with him whereas for the BJP candidate was available all time for the people. Dr. Chuba reiterated that if BJP wins, it would strengthen the NDA and DAN governments and help in bringing about a solution to the vexed Naga political issue. BJP MLA and parliamentary secretary for transport & civil aviation and IPR P. Paiwang Konyak appealed the people to leave the “differences, weakness” and urged the party men to help win the bye-election. The parliamentary secretary said that politicians and leaders should practice what they preached. He also opined that the DAN should have chosen
the BJP contestant as the consensus candidate so as to strengthen NPF’s position at the Centre. National Spokesperson and sitting MLA of Bihar Asembly Rameswar Chaurasia said Modi government was fully committed to bring fast development in every nook and corner of the country including Nagaland. He appealed to the people to elect the BJP candidate. The MLA said Modi government was taking steps to stop all types of corruption so that the country could march forward. BJP national secretary Tapir Gao, who is in-charge of Nagaland and Manipur said that the bye-election would be an “acid test” for the Angami people of the Constituenc. Tapir also criticized Rio for not agreeing to field a consensus candidate and for making the bye-election a straight fight between BJP and NPF. BJP candidate Visasolie Lhoungu in his address said BJP was a people’s party with a vision to take India to greater heights. (Cont’d on p-7)
India ‘fully ready’ to respond: Jaitley
In New Delhi, Defence Minister Arun Jaitley deplored the ceasefire violations from across the border and said the Indian armed forces were “fully ready” and are responding to each of these provocations from across the border. Home Minister Rajnath Singh said, “Pakistan should stop ceasefire violations now and understand the reality that times have changed in India.” J-K Chief Minister Omar Abdullah strongly condemned the shelling on civilians, saying targeting them exposed the frustration of the Pakistani government after its failure to gain international attention on the Kashmir issue. “They (the Pakistani leadership) have nothing else to speak, but only Kashmir. Whenever they go abroad, they try to raise only Kashmir issue, but every time they miserably fail to get international attention. The cross-border shelling is an indication of their frustration,” he told reporters after meeting the injured at GMC Hospital. Pakistani troops also resorted to mortar shelling and firing on forward posts along LoC in Bhimber Gali belt of Poonch district since 8.30 a.m. Monday, a Defence spokesman said.
Swu appeals special prayer for peace talks DIMAPUR, OCT 6 (NPN): NSCN (I-M) yaruiwo (chairman) Isak Chishi Swu has asked all the Churches in Nagalim to organize a special prayer programme on October 19 for the ongoing peace talks between the government of India and NSCN (I-M). This was informed through a notice issued by Isak Chishi which had been forwarded to all the Churches in Nagaland.
ACAUT on donations by anti-social elements DIMAPUR, OCT 6 (NPN): ACAUT Nagaland has appealed the public to be vigilant of anti social elements coming for “donation and contribution” in the name of ACAUT Nagaland. In a press release, ACUAT Nagaland said the organization stood on the principle that it would not raise any fund from the market or go for donation drive. As festive season approaches, ACAUT Nagaland appealed the public to be vigilant as anti social elements seeking contribution in the name of ACAUT Nagaland and tarnish the image of the movement. ACAUT Nagaland has asked the public to immediately inform the grievances cell and contact 8974761098 or Dimapur Police.
Muslims celebrate Eidul-Zuha in Nagaland
KOHIMA, OCT 6 (PTI): Muslims in Nagaland Monday celebrated Eid-ul-Zuha with festive fervour. Thousands of Muslims offered their Namaz at the main function held at the Assam Rifles Ground in Kohima and Idgha ground in Dimapur. In Kohima the Namaz was administered by Moulana Mohammad Bilal Ahmed, Pesh Immam of the Kohima Jama Masjid. After offering the mass prayer, they exchanged their greetings to each other and also donated alms to the needy persons. K Y M C