14 Oct 22

Nagaland

Nagaland U-17 boys team lift

Russian official warns

News on ED summons to Rio false: NDPP 61st Subroto Cup: Nagaland wins Under-17 boys title after 42 years

NPCC ASKS GOVERNOR TO DISMISS GOVT FOR FAIR PROBE

DIMAPUR, OCT 13 (NPN): Ruling Nationalist

Democratic Progressive Par ty (NDPP) has condemned reports published in a na tional daily, that state chief minister Neiphiu Rio was summoned for questioning by Enforcement Directorate (ED) at Rangaphar Military Station last month.

The report was also widely circulated on social media was also picked by the Nagaland Pradesh Con gress Committee (NPCC) president K. Therie, who demanded immediate dis missal of the NDPP-led UDA coalition government for alleged financial irregu larities.

The report in a na tional newspaper, claimed that Rio was questioned for several hours at Rangapa har military cantonment in connection with “the nonexistent high court building at Kohima” for which a total amount of Rs 70 crore was withdrawn despite the project remaining still in complete.

NDPP Media & Com

Power shutdown in 4 districts on Oct 15

DIMAPUR, OCT 13 (NPN): Power department has informed that there would be shutdown of 132/66/33kV 2x100MVA Nagarjan sub-station on October 15 from 6 a.m. to 9 a.m. to facilitate routine maintenance of 132kV Busbar, 132/66kV 100MVA transformer & 132/33kV 100MVA transformer. Dur ing the period, power supply to the districts of Dimapur, Chumoukedima, Niuland and Peren will be affected.

While acknowledging incon venience, the department has sought cooperation from all.

2-wheeler taxi permit

DIMAPUR, OCT 13 (NPN): State government has notified fresh ceiling limit for issue of two-wheeler taxi permit in each district.

As per the notification, Ko hima district has been allot ted 150 two-wheeler taxi per mits, Mokokchung district 75, Tuensang 50, Mon 50, Wokha 50, Zunheboto 50, Dimapur 200 and Phek 50. The notification stated that all other conditions would remain the same.

Naga Natl prayer day

DIMAPUR, OCT 13

(NPN): Council of Nag alim Churches (CNC) has appealed to all join the in augural service of the ‘Naga National Prayer Day’ to be held on October 16 at 11 a.m. at Agri Expo, 4th Mile Diphupar, Chümoukedima. (Full text on p-6)

munication Committee con demned the report as “ma licious false news” which was “fabricated and spread by unscrupulous elements” solely with the intention to damage the image and name of the chief minister whom it described as one of the tallest leaders Nagaland had produced.

The party asserted that such acts of maligning the name and image of any person, let alone a chief minister, was “highly unac ceptable and unbecoming” in society which ought to be condemned by every right-

thinking citizen. NDPP also assured the people of Naga land that all legalities were being put in place in order to “identify and apprehend the source of this false and defamatory news” and that all legal actions would be taken so that such acts were not committed in the future.

The party also reaf firmed that the president and rank and file of NDPP collectively stood steadfast with the chief minister and demanded that the state government leave no stone unturned to identify and apprehend the culprits im

mediately and book them under relevant sections of the law so as to set “an ex ample to deter others from resorting to such malicious acts in the future.”

NPCC demands dismissal of Govt

Meanwhile, referring to a news report, NPCC president K Therie said the CBI had filed two cases and made 30 persons accused.

He also said the enforce ment directorate (ED) had filed five cases in connection with the matter.

Therie asked Rio to prove himself clean before the people and if he was not guilty, then should resign on moral grounds since the matter was sub-judice. Therie said this was to en able the judicial process but expressed doubt if ever Rio would do so.

Therie said in order to uphold the commitment of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah to zero tolerance towards corrup tion, the state Governor should dismiss the UDA government so as to remove any obstacle against free and fair investigation to deliver justice to the people.

He said in other states the accused either resigned on moral grounds or was dismissed and with many of them in jail. Therie reit erated that the law was the same for all and demanded justice from the governor in this regard.

He also asked BJP to come out clean on the mat ter if it was not collaborating with the corruption.

Correspondent/Agencies

KOHIMA/NEW DELHI, OCT 13 (NPN): Pilgrim Higher Secondary School (PHSS) Dimapur, Nagaland, beat Government Model Higher Secondary School (GMHSS) Chandigarh 1-0 to win the 61st Subroto Cup International Football Tournament Boys Under-17 title here at the famous Dr. Bhimrao Ambedkar Stadium in Delhi.

It was a game which Nagaland team dominated, but in the end it took a header in the first-half of extra-time by Setungchim, to ensure that the prestigious Subroto Cup Boys Under-17 crown came to Nagaland after 42

Supreme Court delivers split verdict on hijab ban

NEW DELHI, OCT 13 (PTI/AGENCIES): Two judges on a Supreme Court bench on Thursday deliv ered opposing verdicts in the hijab controversy, and asked the Chief Justice to constitute an appropriate bench to adjudicate in the case that stemmed from a ban on wearing the Islamic head covering in Karnataka schools.

While Justice Hemant Gupta dismissed the appeals challenging the March 15 judgement of the Karnataka High Court which had re fused to lift the ban, Justice Sudhanshu Dhulia held

there shall be no restriction on the wearing of hijab anywhere in the schools and colleges of the state.

Justice Gupta said per

mitting a community to wear its religious symbols to schools will be an “an tithesis to secularism”, but

Justice Dhulia insisted wear ing the Muslim headscarf should be simply a “matter of choice”.

With the apex court delivering a split verdict, the high court’s judgement still holds the field. However, the split verdict held off a

permanent resolution of the vexed row over hijab as both judges suggested placing the matter before a larger bench for adjudication.

Writing a separate 73page judgement, Justice Dhulia said, “By asking the girls to take off their hijab before they enter the school gates, is first an invasion on their privacy, then it is an attack on their dignity, and then ultimately it is a denial to them of secular educa tion.”

Justice Gupta, who was heading the bench and wrote a contrary verdict running into 133-pages, answered

the 11 questions framed by him for consideration in the matter and said the constitu tional goal of fraternity will be defeated if the students are permitted to carry their apparent religious symbols with them to the classroom.

While pronouncing the judgement on a batch of 26 petitions, Justice Gupta said at the outset, “There is diver gence of opinion.” “In view of the diver gent views expressed by the bench, the matter be placed before the Chief Justice of India for constitution of an appropriate bench,” the court said.

Revoke ‘illegal appointments’ in CTC: Chümou CSOs Committee for hit-and-run motor accidents scheme

DIMAPUR, OCT 13 (NPN):

Chümoukedima civil society organisations (CSOs), which had served 30-day ultimatum on the Municipal Affairs Department (MAD) to revoke the “illegal appointments” in Chümouke dima Town Council (CTC), have extended deadline by another seven days for the department to terminate those newly appointed candidates.

The civil society organ isations include Chümouke dima Town Angamimia Mechü Krotho (CTAMK), Chümouked ima Town Women Organisation, Chümoukedima Town Youth Organisation and Chümouke dima Town Students’ Union.

In a statement, CTAMK stated that the civil society or ganisations on learning about the “illegal appointment” of five candidates at Chümoukedima Town Council approached the Municipal Affairs Department on date September 6, 2022.

According to the Krotho, the CSOs submitted a repre sentation to the department for cancellation of the appointments since there were no vacant posts and appointments were made without following the requisition process of recruitment examina tion.

Stating that such appoint ment was “a gross violation of the fundamental rights of the

citizens”, the CTAMK said the bodies cannot accept “this unfair means of recruitment under any circumstance.”

Further, CTAMK main tained that appointment of grade-IV posts in the district had to be filled by the respective indigenous inhabitants of the Chümoukedima district only as per the P&AR notification.

Krotho said that CSOs had served 30-day deadline on the department to revoke the illegal appointments and fill any vacan cies through open advertisement.

CTAMK has cautioned that CSOs would launch phase-wise agitation if no positive response was received within seven days.

DIMAPUR, OCT 13 (NPN): State gov ernment has constituted a district level committee headed by DC in each district to undertake all functions connected with the implementation of the Compensation to victims of Hit and Run Motor Accidents Scheme, 2022.

The panel will evaluate the progress of implementation and take corrective steps, wherever necessary and submit a report on quarterly basis to the standing committee, including in electronic form.

The report would also include month-wise statistics about the claim applications re ceived, awarded, pending and reasons for pendency. The committee would meet at least once in each quarter with a minimum quorum of three members.

years. It was in 1980, that Government High School Dimapur shared the champi onship title with Ibemcha Hr Secondary School Manipur since the final match could not be held due to unavoid able circumstances.

Nagaland walked home with Rs 3, 50,000 including trophy and cita tions while the runners up received Rs 2, 00,000.

The winners received the grand trophy from the chief guest, Chief of Air Staff, Air Chief Marshal V.R. Chaudhari. Nagaland team was led by vice presi dent Nagaland Football Association Mughato Aye as the coach and Akihito Zhimo as the manager.

Red letter day, says Neikha: Advisor for Youth Resources & Sports, Er. Zale Neikha, congratulated the team for winning the pres tigious trophy and bringing laurels to the State, adding that it was a red-letter day for Nagaland football to have won such a prestigious tournament.

He said their win epito mised the hardwork put in by the young players. “Our boys from Pilgrim Higher Secondary School, Dima pur representing Nagaland showed their quality to be champions, their teamwork and effort contributed to the success of the trophy,” Neikha said.

Oil India signs MoU with leading NE varsities to boost research

DULIAJAN, OCT 13 (PTI): Oil India Ltd and five leading universities of the Northeast have signed a memorandum of under standing to create mean ingful industry-academia collaboration.

The main objective of the MoU is to boost research and development capabili ties in the universities and to enhance the understand ing the region’s geology, the central PSU said in a release on Thursday.

The OIL signed the agreement with Gauhati University, Dibrugarh Uni versity, Manipur University, Nagaland University and Rajiv Gandhi University at the Field Headquarters in Duliajan, Assam, on Wednesday.

OIL chairperson Ranjit Rath pointed out the need for such strategic collabora

tions to synergise diversified efforts from the industry and academia.

Rath said it was nec essary for capacity build ing and meeting growing demand of oil and gas, creating new ventures for an energy-efficient India in the future.

The main focus of the agreement is in line with the Hydrocarbon Vision 2030 to build a platform for indus try-academic collaboration, which can go a long way in not only creating skilled and effective workforce, but also working together for the na tion’s energy security.

Rath added that the academic expertise of these prestigious institutions would support the firm’s business activities, while the OIL’s practical compe tence would aid academic research.

Temporary fireworks license

DIMAPUR, OCT 13 (NPN): Ahead of festive season, the Dimapur police have informed that applications for temporary fireworks license would be issued at the office of the commissioner of police, Dimapur.

In a press release, DCP (crime) and PRO Dimapur police has directed the interested parties to stock and sell fire crackers to obtain Permit/License i.e Form LE-5 after duly filling up Form AE-5.

The form can be obtained from the office of the com missioner of police, Dimapur from October 14-17, 2022.

Trees along Naga Shopping Arcade to be felled HC forms team to inspect medical college

DIMAPUR, OCT 13

(NPN): Following the death of two individuals in a freak accident on Wednesday, dep uty commissioner (DC) and District Disaster Manage ment Authority (DDMA) Dimapur chairman Sachin Jaiswal has informed that cutting of trees from Nagar jan Police Point to Walford Petrol Pump would begin from October 17-24.

In this regard, Jaiswal informed that all vehicular movement would remain suspended from Old Dhansi ri bridge till Nagarjan Police Point form 5 a.m. to 5 p.m. starting from October 17- 24.

There would be total

power shutdown from 5am to 5 p.m. starting from Oc tober 17- 24 for consumers residing in Supermarket area, Circuit House areas and Bank Colony.

Further, any type of ca bles, wires etc strung between the trees within the stretch of Naga Shopping Arcade (Supermarket) starting from Nagarjan Police Point to

Walford Petrol Pump are to removed before October 16. Further, the general public has been requested to avoid using the said roads during the execution of the work.

Vendors ordered to shift: Meanwhile, all veg etable vendors and street vendors along the stretch of Super Market starting from Nagarjan Police Point to Walford Petrol Pump have been asked to immediately shift to the newly inaugurat ed marketing shed located at Supermarket area.

DC warned of action against non-compliance of the order as per relevant provision of DM Act 2005.

DIMAPUR, OCT 13 (NPN): Gauhati High Court Kohima Bench has consti tuted a four-member team to inspect Kohima Medical College-- Nagaland Institute of Medical Sciences and Re search on October 15.

Hearing a petition, a two-judge bench comprising of Justice LS Jamir and Jus tice Songkhupchung Serto ruled that the inspection team comprising TB Jamir, Tongpok Pongener, Joshua Sheqi and Apila Sangtam would visit the medical college in presence Neiteo Koza, counsel for the peti tioners, ZN Ngullie, learned CGC, N Mozhui, counsel for the medical department

and Health & Family Wel fare (H&FW) principal di rector. The court directed the H&FW department to ensure that a technical team was present at the site during the inspection team’s visit on October 15.

The judges also asked the inspection team to sub mit a report before the court, while listing the matter on October 19.

During the course of the hearing, the counsel for H&FW department fur nished a copy of an ad vertisement published on October 11, 2022 calling for applications for filling up six posts of professor, 20 posts of associate professor,

24 posts of assistant profes sor and 38 posts of senior resident/tutor. Since there was no timeline provided in the advertisement, the counsel was asked to ap prise the court with regard to timeline for the recruitment process and issuance of ap pointment orders to the posts advertised.

On September 28, the court recorded the submis sion of the counsel that the sports complex and MS residence and dean residence were complete and the 100 sq apartment (four blocks) was also on the verge of comple tion, while rest of the works would be completed on or before the timeline fixed.

Matter to be placed before CJI to set up appropriate bench

Nagaland team with officials after winning the Subroto Cup International Football Tournament in Delhi, Thursday.

File photo of the incomplete High Court complex at Meriema, Kohima.

A

Seminar on women’s role in preserving cultures

DIMAPUR, OCT 13

(NPN): North East Zone

Cultural Centre (NEZCC)

Dimapur in collaboration with Immanuel College Dimapur, department of Education organised a na tional seminar on “role of women in preserving cul tural heritage in North East India” in the conference hall of Immanuel College, here, on Thursday.

Speaking at the programme, director of NEZCC Dimapur, Dr. Prashanna Gogoi stressed on how North East has been putting importance of women and their roles in the society.

He, however, suggest ed that equal importance be given to women and encouraged the menfolk to be supporting systems.

Dr. Prashanna said that in order to empow er women, the menfolk should also be empowered so that their aspirations go

hand in hand while build ing a progressive society.

He also emphasised on the role of women in identifying culture and tra dition, in which, he said, women have played im portant roles in safeguard ing culture and traditions through various practices.

Delivering the keynote address St Joseph Univer sity, Dimapur professor, Rev. Fr. Dr. Sunny Joseph stated that the focal areas to be addressed as challenges in preservation of culture were—invasion of social media; marriages outside cultural milieu and social mobility.

He stated that there was a need to build rela tionships with clans for preservation of culture more effectively.

Fr. Dr. Sunny stated that women played an im portant role in promoting and preserving culture and urged upon the people to give them the best and equal opportunity.

Resource persons, in dependent researcher, Di brugarh, Assam, Dr. S Elika Assumi spoke on “Way finding: Locating Signposts in Naga Women’s writing” assistant professor, depart ment of Education, DM College of Arts, Imphal, Manipur, Dr. Manilei Ser to spoke on “Women as Creator and Carrier of Cultural Heritage: A Para doxical Overview in North East India” while assis tant professor, department of Mass Communication RGU (Central University), Arunachal Pradesh, Mapi Taipodia spoke on “Role of women in intergenerational

Various programmes held at LFI

transmission of culture and heritage folklores among Galo tribe of Liru village in Arunachal Pradesh”.

Phek Government College, HoD, department of Economics, Dr. Me dongulie Zatsu spoke on “Women empowerment in relation to socio-econom ic culture in Nagaland” while paper presentation on “Problems faced by the younger generation in preserving cultural heritage with special reference to Dimapur” was delivered by HoD, department of Edu cation, Immanuel College, Abeni Mozhui and Im manuel College, assistant professor, department of Education, Atshole Wet sah.

Immanuel College principal & research schol ar, Department of Educa tion, Arunachal Univer sity of Studies, Thingujam Sharatchandra Singh spoke on “The role of Women in curbing the Social Degen eration through cultural

heritage”, talk on Custodi ans or Desecrators: A Criti cal Study of Naga Women on Culture” was presented by assistant professor, de partment of History Zun heboto Government Col lege, Ngutoli Y Swu while “Empowering Adolescent Girls in Preserving Cul ture” was presented by assistant professor, depart ment of Education, St. Joseph University, Sentila Ao and professor, depart ment of Education, St. Joseph University, Rev. Fr. Dr. Sunny Joseph.

“A Study on the Role of Women Centric Schemes towards Women Empowerment in Naga land” was presented by re search scholar, department of Economics, St. Joseph University, Nchumbeni S. Ovung.

Later, valedictory speech and distribution of certificates was done by Immanuel College viceprincipal, Dr. Imchano chetla Changkija.

DIMAPUR: Watsu Mung dang has expressed grief at the demise of Dr. Temsula Ao, who was a voice in pro moting the lives of Nagas to the world through her contribution in literature and education.

In a condolence mes sage, Watsu Mungdang president Arenla Long kumer and general secre tary Sungtiriben described late Dr. Temsula as a role model who had the vision, determination and skills of a great leader.

“Her lifelong dedica tion to literary works and serving the people in dif ferent capacities with great passion and energy will continue to inspire genera tions of young people”, the Mungdang stated.

Lamenting the loss of an extraordinary woman, Watsu Mungdang con veyed condolences to late Dr. Temsula’s family.

NSDMA organises ‘Disaster Risk Reduction Day’ in Kohima

DIMAPUR: Nagaland State Disaster Manage ment Authority (NSD MA), Home department celebrated “International Day for Disaster Risk Re duction” on Thursday, in Kohima.

Students from 10 schools—G. Rio, Dainty Buds, Mewi, Government Middle School PWD, Gov ernment School Daklane, Coraggio, Vineyard, RD NUMS and Vinyuzo were invited to play a game called “Mithun Caravan”.

avan by NSDMA Home department. Mithun Cara van is a disaster prevention education event.

NRSU

DIMAPUR: Nokhu Range Students’ Union (NRSU) initiated its first phase of “educational tour” for the year 2022-2023 from Octo ber 10– 13 within Nokhu Range jurisdiction under Noklak district.

In a press release, NRSU media cell stated that during the tour, the union visited five govern ment schools on the theme “redefining responsibili ties”. NRSU held a meeting with the concerned village council, school manage ment committee, teaching faculties, church leaders and local student bodies to discuss issues faced by institutions.

The union also ap pealed to all the organisa tions to collectively shoul der the responsibilities in moulding the students. the schools in all aspects were in undeniably pathetic con ditions. Some of the griev ances observed during the tour included—shortage of teachers in all the schools; insufficient classrooms, in adequate blackboard and

tour’

whiteboard and irregular teachers.

NRSU education sec retary, Tangmong stated that during the tour, the members found the “worst case in Government Prima ry School, Kingpao”, where funds were never initiated for the school building con struction and that the exist ing building was constructed by the villagers.

The union provided a wall clock to all the schools and introduced “Pick Me Box”, a free-will donation box to help students who cannot afford basic study materials. To ensure collec tively responsibility, NRSU through a consensual agree ment adopted that the local churches under its jurisdic tion should conduct prayer for students and teachers at school premises once every month. Further, NRSU president P Shingnya also appealed to the responsible department and the state government to genuinely look into the plight of gov ernment schools in the vil lage.

Som Kamei felicitating Dr. Andrew Ahoto Sema at the programme. ternational (LFI) College, celebrated “World Mental Health Day” on October 10, on the theme “Make Mental Health and Well Being for all a Global prior ity”, by organising various activities.

DIMAPUR: As part of the National Postal Week 2022 “Philately Day” was organised at Livingstone Foundation International, Dimapur, with postmaster general, NE-II Region Som Kamei. In a press release, OSD to postmaster gener al, NE-II stated that during the programme, LFI chair man, Dr. Andrew Ahoto Sema was felicitated for his contribution in promotion of philately in Nagaland and North East.

Som Kamei acknowl edged Dr. Andrew for be ing a pioneer in promotion of philately with his col lection.

In his speech, Dr. An drew enlightened the gath ering on the advantages of stamp collection and the rich history of philately.

Meanwhile, depart ment of psychology, Liv ingstone Foundation In

HoD, department of

Psychology, Mekhrien gunuo also briefed the gath ering on the importance of mental health and en couraging the students and faculty to take care of their mental well-being and to create a better space of in clusion for everyone.

In a press release, NS DMA media cell stated that deputy commissioner (DC) and District Disas ter Management Author ity (DDMA) chairman, Shanavas C addressed the gathering during a brief programme at The Heri tage.

Later, NSDMA secre tary Lhouchalie Viya deliv ered the inaugural address.

An introduction to the game was given by Proj ects & Resources, assistant manager Thejangulie Zao.

Earlier, the pro gramme was chaired by NSDMA section assistant, Kevisede Usuo.

It may be mentioned that the Mithun Caravan is an adopted version of the Japanese “Iza Kaeru” Car

In this event, children learn about disaster pre vention while playing with families and friends in two teams or more with a maxi mum of 10 players on each side.

The objective of the game is to enhance the ca pacity of children through interesting set of games and to help them under stand the concept of di saster risk reduction by making disaster prevention activities more familiar and enjoyable.

FIRST DEATH ANNIVERSARY

Dad as time unfold another year, Memories keep you ever near.

We shall always cherish your patience, humility and gentle nature.

Your life was an inspiration to all of us and it will continue to guide us in our journey.

Ever loving Wife, children, grand children and family members

Dear Apo

Since a year has passed without your presence. Yet, we still remember you in our prayers. Your absence feels as empty, but you are again fill in the right hand of God.

May we all meet again once in eternity.

and

laws,

wife, children,

Late KEWIGHO SEB

Died:

1ST D EATH A NNIVERSARY

Late Yanasao Kikon (Died : 14th Oct 2021) Blessed are those who die in the Lord, For they will rest from their work, their good deeds follow them (Rev. 14:13)

Dr. Prashanna Gogoi

Union minister of state for Electronics & IT and Skill Development & Entrepreneurship, Rajeev Chandrasekhar presenting a Naga shawl to Ethiopian minister of state for Technology & Vocational Affairs, Dr. Beker Shale at Delhi, on October 12.

AR organises medical camp

DIMAPUR: Shamator battalion of Assam Rifles under the aegis of HQ IGAR (North) organised a free medical camp at Wui village under Noklak district on Thursday.

According to PRO IGAR (N), free check-up, ENT and preliminary di agnosis were carried out. Altogether, 200 patients availed the health services.

Orientation on People’s Plan Campaign held in Kohima

chaired by RD joint direc tor and state nodal officer for GPDP, K. Neibou Sek hose, introductory speech was given by director Liboni Humtsoe and presentation on People’s Plan Campaign was given RDO Imlisanen Aier. The meeting concluded with discussion and queries from departments.

DIMAPUR: An orienta tion training for line depart ment nodal officers on Peo ple’s Plan Campaign, Gram Panchayat Development Plan (GPDP), 2022-23 was held in the conference hall of the RD directorate, Kohima on Thursday.

In a press release, the department stated that commissioner & secretary, Neposo Theluo stated that the purpose of GPDP was to avoid duplication of schemes.

He informed that dif

ferent departments will be implementing their own schemes but the ministry has directed to have a com mon planning body.

In order to monitor whether things were go ing as per guidelines and activities, Neposo stressed on the need for setting up of village planning and facilitation team/Gram Panchayat Planning Fa cilitation Team (GPPFT) for proper functioning of GPDP.

The meeting was

Altogether, 23 officials including 14 from different line departments including School Education, Fisheries, PWD (R&B), Veterinary & A.H, PHED, Art & Culture, Forest, New & Renewable Energy, Minority Affairs, Ag riculture, Industries, Women Resource, Food & Civil Sup plies and Employment Skill Development & Entrepre neurship and SIRD attended the training.

It may be mentioned that People’s Plan Campaign is an ongoing activity for Gram Panchayat Development Plan which began on September 12 and will conclude on January 31, 2023.

As per activity calendar, orientation training for PDs and BDOs will be held on October 14.

Neposo Theluo addressing the training programme on Thursday.

President Murmu flags off two trains in Tripura IIT Guwahati needs to nurture other institutes in NE: President

AGARTALA, OCT 13 (IANS): President Drou padi Murmu on Thursday flagged-off two trains -Agartala-Guwahati-Kolkata Special Express and Jan Shatabdi Express, which would run from Agartala to Khongsang in Manipur.

The President, accom panied by Tripura Chief Minister Manik Saha, flagged-off the two trains of Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR) at Agartala railway station, on the outskirts of the capital city.

The President’s office in a tweet said: “President Droupadi Murmu flagged off Agartala-Khongsang Jan Shatabdi Express and Agartala-Kolkata Express from Agartala Railway station. The trains con necting Tripura to Assam, West Bengal and Manipur will boost connectivity and tourism in the North East region.”

NFR’s Chief Public Relations Officer (CPRO) Sabyasachi De said that in

order to further improve rail connectivity of Tripura with the rest of the country, the Guwahati-Kolkata-Guwa hati Express train extended upto Tripura capital Agar tala once in a week.

The express train would run with a composi tion of 14 coaches. During

its regular run, the express train (Agartala-Kolkata) would depart from Agar tala on every Wednesday morning to reach Kolkata on the next day afternoon. In return direction, the train would depart from Kolkata on every Sunday to reach Agartala on Tuesday eve

ning.

The CPRO said that Jan Shatabdi Express train between Agartala to Jiri bam upto Khongsang in Manipur would operate thrice in a week -- Monday, Wednesday & Friday. This section has been newly con structed under the 110 km

NSCN (R) clarifies on DNLTF

DIMAPUR, OCT 13 (NPN): NSCN

(R) has clarified that the group under the leadership of Y. Wangtin Naga and P. Tikhak was in no way involved in the formation of Dimasa National Libera tion Tribal Force (DNLTF) in Assam’s Karbi-Anglong.

In a press note, NSCN (R) secretary said they were shock to learn about the issue through social media and other platform. It, therefore, reassured all the

people that NSCN(R) is a responsible organization and believe in peaceful solution to the political problem through negotiation.

“We believe in the peace, progress and prosperity of the whole North East India and Nagaland,” it said. Therefore, the question of NSCN(R) encouraging any armed group within or outside Naga areas does not arise. However, it said that if the allegation by Assam police,

long Jiribam- Imphal new line project.

De said that train jour ney (Agartala to Khong sang) travel time would be less than half as the journey time would be around seven hours covering a distance of 300 Km against around 15 hours or so by road.

The Jan Shatabdi Ex press train would be having new Linke Hofmann Busch coaches with latest ameni ties for passengers, he, said adding that a Vistadome coach has also been added in this train to facilitate the passenger to witness the picturesque scenery of the mountainous region during the journey.

The Vistadome coach es with transparent glass windows and roofs provid ing 360-degree view are equipped with state of the art glass windows and all glass roofs for providing view of the sky, mountains, tunnels, bridges, hills, tea gardens and lush green for ests to the travellers.

that some workers in their own capacity had knowingly or un-knowingly encour aged any such activities, appropriate punitive action would be taken against such erring cadres.

While appreciating the security forces and Assam police in neutralizing the newly formed DNLTF, NSCN (R) said this would serve as a deterrent against such elements and help in usher ing an era of peace and prosperity for all.

Meghalaya to repeal regulation of gaming law

Correspondent

SHILLONG, OCT 12: In a major development, Megha laya Taxation Minister James Sangma on Thursday an nounced the government’s decision to repeal the Megha laya Regulation of Gaming Act, 2021 in keeping with popular public demands and sentiments against casinos in the state.

The announcement was made in the wake of grow ing pressure from church bodies, pressure groups and traditional bodies opposing the move saying that “legalis ing gambling” will increase criminality in several ways through illegal acts such as forgery, fraud, robbery

and murder to finance one’s gambling habit.

Sangma said that the Meghalaya Regulation of Gaming Act, 2021 was in troduced last year with the aim of boosting tourism, revenue generation and em ployment for the people of our State. “This Act would legalise and regulate gam ing in Meghalaya. Till that extent, introducing casinos — meant for tourists only — was considered as well,” he

said. In fact, the government had had issued provisional licenses to three firms to open casinos to boost tour ism and revenue. However, the Taxation Minister said that there were concerns expressed from parts of the society with regards to the scope and impact of the Act. Sangma said that he had met with various stakehold ers that includes religious organisations, non-govern mental organisations, civil society representations, Dor bar Shnongs, autonomous and local governance bodies and youth organisations on the matter. “I tried to under stand the concerns of the public and the impact that the Act could have further on.

Following such meetings and deliberations, it became clear to me that it is in the best interest of our State to com pletely scrap the Act, given that there could be untoward implications. Therefore, it will be my earnest endeavour to see that the Meghalaya Regulation of Gaming Act, 2021, will be repealed,” the Taxation Minister said.

Thanking individuals who came forward to aid, advise and provide feedback to the Government on the Act, Sangma said, “The citizenry is the keystone of any democracy and it only strengthens our commitment to better governance when the collective conscience is addressed.”

Office Of the JANAtA DAL (U) NAGALAND hQ. WOKhA - 797111: NAGALAND email: nagalandjdu18@gmail.com

NEW DELHI, OCT 13 (PTI):

The Supreme Court on Thursday granted two weeks to the Attor ney General to seek instructions on a PIL filed by Rajya Sabha MP Sushmita Dev seeking issu ance of Aadhaar cards to nearly 27 lakh people listed as doubtful citizens in the National Register of Citizens (NRC) of Assam.

The final NRC was pub lished in August 2019 and about 19 lakh applicants, many of them said to be genuine citizens, were claimed to have been left out of the list.

A bench comprising Chief Justice Uday Umesh Lalit and Justice Bela M Trivedi accepted the request of Attorney General R Venkataramani for time to seek instructions.

“The AG is granted two weeks’ time to seek appropriate instructions in the matter. He may put in a note so that issues can be resolved on the next date,” the bench said.

The top court will now hear the matter on November 9, 2022.

Senior advocate Biswajit Deb, appearing for the TMC lawmaker, submitted all those whose names figured in the first NRC list had received their Aadhaar cards.

The top court had on April 11 this year issued notices to the Centre, Assam government, the Registrar General of India, and the Unique Identification Authority of India, which is entrusted with the task of issuing Aadhaar, on Dev’s plea. She has filed the PIL seeking a direction to issue Aadhaar cards to nearly 27 lakh people listed as doubtful citizens in the NRC.

No:. Date. 12/10/2022

PRESS COMMUNIQUE

The JDU Nagaland sincerely acknowledge the support and well wishes of all and ones to the 11th October Commemorative program of Jaya Prakash Narayan's 120th Birth Anniversary. In particular, the JDU would like to make a mention of the Ministerial and Parliamentary delegation from Bihar led by senior Cabinet Minister Shri Shrawan Kumar and National General Secretary Shri Afaque Ahmed I/C Northeast who came in advance to pave way for the arrival of Hon’ble Chief Minister of Bihar Shri Nitish Kumar ji, and his entourage. The JDU also acknowledges all the Naga delegates from different walks of life who came to join the commemorative program. The ranks and files of JDU and the volunteers of the JDU who had spent tireless days to make the program a success deserve big applause. The organisers, Nagaland Bihari Samaj and Matri Foundation also deserve to be thanked. The JDU also acknowledge the efforts of the Bricks Factory Owners Union for their active cooperation. The media fraternity had been kind all along since the initiative for the said program started by following the issues till date. The JDU sincerely express gratitude. The security team members under the Commissioner of Police Dimapur and the security team members from Patna did a wonderful job. It was because of their prompt service that the schedule was met on minute to minute basis. The JDU convey a message of “a big thank you and keep it up” to all of the team members. Last but the most, the JDU Nagaland express it’s utmost heartfelt gratitude to Hon’ble Chief Minister of Bihar Shri Nitish Kumar ji and Hon’ble National President of JDU Shri Rajiv Ranjan Singh for having made the program a very meaningful and a historic event. Last, the JDU thank Almighty God for all His Blessings!

imsumongba Pongen General Secretary, JDU Nagaland. holovi S Awomi Secretary, JDU Nagaland.

GUWAHATI, OCT 13

(PTI): President Droupa di Murmu, on Thursday stressed the need to promote a knowledge-based society and the importance of tech nological solutions to the problems of the country, while highlighting the role of institutes of higher educa tion in this regard.

She was speaking after virtually inaugurating and laying the foundation stones for various central and state projects from the campus of the Indian Institute of Tech nology (IIT), Guwahati.

These include the in auguration of supercom puter ‘Param Kamrupa’, under the National Super computing Mission, and a laboratory for the design and development of high-power microwave components at IIT-Guwahati.

Murmu also virtually inaugurated the Dhubri Medical College and Hos pital and laid the founda tion stones for the Zonal

Institutes of the National Institute of Virology (NIV) at Dibrugarh in Assam and Jabalpur in Madhya Pradesh at the same programme.

Lauding the achieve ments of IIT-Guwahati, the President stressed the role of the institute in the region.

“Being the only IIT in the North East, it must shoulder the responsibility to nurture other institutes in the region to work with the state government and

defence forces to strengthen our borders and provide technological solutions to prevent recurrence of natu ral calamities in the region,” she said. Murmu also ex horted the people of the Northeastern region to play a leading role in creating a knowledge-based society. She said, “The North East should be a torch bearer in spreading knowledge and inculcating scientific temperament.”

Endangered bird Bugun Liocichla sighted in Arunachal

ITANAGAR, OCT 13 (PTI): Bugun Liocichla, a critically-endangered avian species, was seen at the Eaglenest Pass in western Arunachal Pradesh during a daylong birdwatching fes tival, an official said on Thursday.

The majestic bird, which has a very attrac tive plumage, is found only in the Eaglenest Wildlife Sanctuary in West Kameng district. The species is named after the local Bugun tribe, who protect them.

Only 14-20 such birds are reportedly present in the state. They occupy an area of 3-4 square kilome

tres in the temperate forest within the traditional lands of Singchung, 213 km west of Itanagar.

A male and a female pair was sighted during the

Bugun Liocichla Festival on Wednesday, chief organiser Naresh Glow told PTI.

Glow added that the SBVCR range officer, many social activists and civilians

who attended the festival were elated to see the rare bird, which is mainly olivegrey with a black cap and a black upper tail.

The International Union for the Conserva tion of Nature has classi fied the species as critically endangered in its Red List of Threatened Species due to the apparent extremely small population, which seems to be declining due to habitat loss.

The bird was first dis covered by astrophysicist Ramana Athreya in 1995 and again in 2006 at the Singchung Bugun Village Community Reserve, a bio diversity hotspot spread in 234 sq km.

President Droupadi Murmu inspects the Guard of Honour upon her arrival in Guwahati, Thursday. (PTI)

President Droupadi Murmu with Tripura Chief Minister Manik Saha at Agartala railway station, Thursday. (PTI)

Bugun Liocichla

Canrad Sangma

Assam flood: New areas affected

the third wave of flood due to heavy rain since Monday.

The Assam State Di saster Management Au thority (ASDMA) bulletin said as many as 199 villages under 20 revenue circles are currently affected by the flood. The Brahmaputra is flowing above the dan ger level at Nematighat in Jorhat and Tezpur, it added.

Carcass of male rhino found in Kaziranga

NAGAON, OCT 13 (PTI): A carcass of a male rhino was recovered near the entry gate to the Kohora Range in the Kaziranga National Park in Assam on Thursday, officials said.

The carcass was found in the Mihimukh area dur ing a regular inspection by forest guards.

Army assists tourists and locals stranded due to landslides

GANGTOK, OCT 13 ( AGENCIES): The Army Camp at Lachung rescued more than 250 tourists and locals who were stranded on the Chungthang route in Sikkim on Wednesday following landslides due to heavy rainfall, reports East Mojo.

Flood in Lakhimpur district.

GUWAHATI, OCT 13 (PTI): Fresh areas have been inundated in Assam as rainfall continued to lash several parts of the state, an official bulletin said on Thursday.

Though the number of districts impacted by urban flooding has increased to nine against five districts on Wednesday, the number of affected people has come down to 50,839 from 69,750

on Wednesday, the bulletin said. Lakhimpur district is the worst-hit with over 37,000 reeling under the im pact of the natural calamity.

The northeastern state is currently experiencing

Intl students visit Tezpur University under Rotary youth exchange prog

Two embankments -one each in Biswanath and Dibrugarh -- have been dam aged. Erosion has been reported from Biswanath, Dhemaji, Dibrugarh, Lakh impur, Morigaon, Majuli, Goalpara and Tinsukia dis tricts.

The Regional Me teorological Centre, Gu wahati, has forecast fairly widespread to scattered and isolated rainfall in several districts till Friday.

“The male rhino is suspected to have passed away due to his old age,” an official said. Later, forest officials collected the horn from the dead rhino so that the poachers could not do any foul play. The horn was stored in the local treasury of the forest department, he said. After conducting the post-mortem, the rhino was buried at the same site from where it was recovered, the official said.

At the request of the civil administration, the Army rushed to the scene to rescue tourists who were on their way to Lachung.

Heavy rainfall and inclem ent weather with freezing temperatures hit parts of the state on October 12 around 7 am resulting in landslides at many locations.

Two kilometres north of Chungthang, a massive landslide occurred due to which movement of approx imately 150 vehicles was

hampered. The traffic kept building till 10 am because of a lack of communica tion as mobile connectivity was also affected due to the heavy rains.

The troops provided immediate relief to stranded tourists providing water, food and medical care to the elderly and infants. Some tourists affected by the cold

were taken to the nearest medical facility for further assistance.

The Border Road Or ganisation also joined in the efforts to clear the roads but despite their best ef forts, the route could not be cleared immediately due to the heavy landslides and unprecedented rainfall throughout the day.

Manipur Women’s body meets state govt on prohibition policy

Correspondent

IMPHAL, OCT 13:

DIMAPUR, OCT 13 (

NPN): 11 students from various countries visited Tezpur University on Octo ber 12 and 13 under the Ro tary Youth Exchange Pro gramme. The students aged between 15 to 19 years are from Japan, Spain, Brazil, France, Italy and Germany got a first-hand experience of new languages, varied cultures and facilities avail able at Tezpur University. Through the exchange pro gramme of the Rotary Club, the students got to visit new places, exchange creative ideas and develop long-

Correspondent

SHILLONG, OCT 13: Congress presidential elec tion candidate Dr. Shashi Tharoor will be here in Meghalaya on Saturday to campaign for the upcoming poll to the top party post.

Tharoor is pitted against veteran Congress leader and Rajya Sabha member, Mallikarjun Kharge, who is seen emerg ing as the favourite to win the poll for party president.

“As per the itinerary, he (Tharoor) will be arriv ing here on Saturday and then interact with Con gress delegates at Congress

lasting friendships.

To introduce the visit ing students to the Univer sity, the Tezpur University fraternity organized an in teraction session between the international students, students of Tezpur Univer sity and the University fra ternity at the Council Hall of Tezpur University.

The programme began with a welcome note from Prof. Manabendra Mandal, Dean, Student’s Welfare. Prof. Dhruba Kumar Bhat tacharrya, Vice-Chancellor (in-charge) addressed the gathering and felicitated

the International Students with a Fulam Gamusa. Dr. Biren Das, Registrar, ex plained the genesis of the programme and welcomed the international students to Tezpur University. Prof. Farheena Danta, Dean, School of Humanities and Social Sciences, introduced the various programmes offered by the school to the visiting students while Prof. Prasanta K. Das, Director, International Students Of fice, spoke about the various international students study ing at the University.

A few visiting students also shared their experiences about the University and the Indian culture. They were delighted to encounter the plural cultural landscape of India and picked up a few Hindi and Assamese words on the way.

Women’s bodies and pres sure groups in Manipur on Thursday reaffirmed its demand for the roll back of state government’s decision on legalization of liquor.

“We have tabled our firm stand against the gov ernment decision (legaliza tion of liquor) during a talk with the chief minister and some of his cabinet ministers,” said L Nganbi Devi, spokesperson of All Manipur Women’s Social Reformation and Develop ment Samaj (Nupi Samaj).

A 10-member delega tion of the Nupi Samaj met with the chief minister on Wednesday and held a talk on the demand of the apex body of the women based organizations.

Cabinet ministers –Y Khemchand Singh, Govin das Konthoujam, Nemcha

Kipgen and Awangbow N ewmai – also attended the meeting. The meeting was the first time after the Nupi Samaj set an October 10 deadline for the govern ment to declare its stand on whether it will roll back its decision to legalize liquor.

After the meeting, chief minister N Biren Singh, in a Facebook post, stated that the meeting that discussed Manipur Liquor Policy was a very productive one.

“During the meeting, we exchanged our views on the implementation of the policy and I have also assured that massive drives against unregulated liquor will be conducted through out the state,” Singh further wrote. Addressing media today at Nupi Samaj office, L Nganbi Devi, one of the members of the 10-member delegation said that they have tabled their clear cut stand against the govern

Government of Nagaland Society for Climate Resilient for Agriculture in Nagaland (SoCRAN)

APC/FOCUS-IFAD Cell Nagaland Civil Secretariat, Kohima-797 001 No APC/FOCUS/AOS/56/97/2020-21 Dated 13.10.2022

REQUEST FOR EXPRESSIONS OF INTEREST (REOI)

The Society for Climate Resilient for Agriculture in Nagaland (SoCRAN) intends to hire a-

1. Consultant Agency for Conducting Annual Outcome Survey (AOS) for FOCUS

2. Software Programmer at PMU FOCUS

The eligibility criteria and the detail REOI for the advertised engagement can be obtained through the website:www.focusnagaland. gov.in

ment decision. During the meeting, the chief minister and his cabinet colleagues insisted that the govern ment decided to partially lift the liquor prohibition as consumption of liquor increased day by day de spite the enforcement of the Manipur Liquor Prohibition Act 1991.

Nganbi alleged that ineffective enforcement of the Act was behind the in crease in the consumption of liquor.

Manipur cannot be compared with Goa. The li quor policy similar to that of Goa should not be enforced in the state. There is a gulf of difference between Goa

and Manipur, she said. She asked why the Ma nipur government chose to adopt the liquor policy adopted in instead of the liquor prohibition policy en forced in Gujarat, the home state of Prime Minister Na rendra Modi.

“Our stand is very clear. We will not allow brewing of liquor of any type for commercial purpos es even though relaxation is given to the brewing of wine for customary purposes,” she declared.

Nupi Samaj will, at any cost, not allow importing and installation of liquor brewing machines in the state, she added.

Bhavan in the afternoon,” a Congress leader said.

However, it is unclear if the former diplomatturned politician will halt in Shillong. The election will be held on October 17 and counting of votes will take place on October 19.

SHILLONG, OCT 13 (PTI): Meghalaya Home Minister Lahkmen Rymbui said that action would be taken against officials concerned if it was found that the use of tear gas against protesting teachers last week was beyond what the law permits.

Police had opened tear gas canisters at teachers, who lost their jobs in 2019 after failing to clear an eligibility test, as they marched towards the secretariat in Shillong, seeking reinstatement. The act was condemned by many, including the opposition TMC. Leaders of the United Democratic Party have also asked Rymbui to initiate action as the inci dent had drawn criticism from all quarters of society.

“We’ll take action on anything that goes beyond what the law permits,” Rymbui told reporters on Wednesday.

“We’ve to understand the situation as we are not here to protect anybody or hide anything. But before doing any thing, we’ve to follow the due process of law,” the education minister said. His statement came after one of the pressure groups threatened to march to the secretariat against the government’s delay to suspend those involved in issuing and executing the order to use tear gas against the teachers who were protesting peacefully.

Rymbui said a report that was sought from the district administration was yet to reach him.

“When I get the report, I will look into it and see what necessary steps can be taken. We will do it accordingly,” he assured. Rymbui’s colleagues in the UDP had defended him by saying that it was difficult for the minister to take decisions on many issues related to the teachers as the finance department was not under him.

Asked about this, the home minister said everybody in a coalition government had a collective responsibility to serve the state of Meghalaya.

The interested Consultant Agency for conducting AOS are requested to submit Expression of Interest as per the prescribed format at annexure-I on or before 27/10/2022 through a hard copy in sealed envelope to the address indicated in the instructions to consultants.

Interested candidates for software programmer are requested to submit CV as per the prescribed format on or before 27/10/2022 2.00 PM via email- spdfocus@gmail.com.

State Project Director, APC/FOCUS-IFAD Cell Nagaland Civil Secretariat, Kohima-797 001

NAGALAND PUBLIC SERVICE COMMISSION KOHIMA

NO.NPSC/EXAM-12/2022

In pursuance of the

2. The online

NOTIFICATION

3. Existing users of NPSC

portal have been

login to the

password). Existing

their

from the

who have

4. Preliminary Examination is scheduled to be held

can

from https://npsc.nagaland.gov.in w.e.f.

onwards.

5. Candidates are advised in their own interest to apply online much before the closing date and not to wait till the last date to avoid the possibility of disconnection/inability/failure to log on to the website on account of heavy load on internet or website jam.

6. Any issue/complaints must be settled on or before the last date of submission of application form. No complaints will be entertained thereafter.

(JOHN TSULISE SANGTAM) NCS

Secretary,

Nagaland Public Service Commission, Kohima

Tharoor to visit M’laya on Saturday

Will take action if tear-gas was beyond limits: Rymbui

Army providing assistance to stranded tourists.

Members of Nupi Samaj during a news conference in Imphal on Thursday.

International students in Tezpur University.

Shashi Tharoor

Nagaland

Dubious distinctions

Statistics of unemployment rate of Nagaland is supposedly among the highest in the north east region. Nagaland has ‘regained’ the dubious distinction of being the State / Union Territory (UT) with the highest unemployment rate in India with 92,302 unemployed youth having registered till January 2022. Nearly 1/3 of educated people remain unemployed in Nagaland having the highest unemployment rate in India at 19.2% Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) report. The unemployment rate of other states in the north east include: Assam 7.69% ; Meghalaya 1.79%; Mizoram 1.56%;Nagaland 19.2%;Sikkim 10.0% and Tripura14.08%. Nagaland is also encountering a more major challenge of giving employment opportunities to its ‘educated persons,’ as revealed in the annual Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) for 2020-21 report. Specifically, it stated that the unemployment rate among the ‘educated’ (15 years and above) was 30.8% against the All-India average of 9.1%. After Nagaland, Manipur has the second-highest unem ployment rate in the Northeast. The unemployment rate in Manipur is 9.5 per cent, according to the union labour ministry’s data tabled in parliament last year, and the Covid-19 pandemic has made it worse. The number of educated unemployed youths in Nagaland today could well touch the one lakh mark. Not only being the state with the highest unemployment rate in the region, Nagaland also has the highest ratio of people employed in the government service among all other states. As per estimates, the number of em ployees under government services was recorded at 1,10,000 in 2008-10. The figure then rose to 1,25,000 by 2010-11 and by 2012-13, it reached 1,30,000. The next highest after Nagaland is Manipur with 65,000 employees for a population of over 25 lakhs. Also the highest Per Capita Income(PCI) recorded was Sik kim with Rs.2.97 lakh and followed by Mizoram with Rs.1.28 lakh and Arunachal Pradesh in third place with Rs.1.19 lakh. The contributing factor to excess employment in Nagaland has been the highly irregular and illegal practice of backdoor appointment in various departments. Backdoor appointment has become a well established racket in the state since 2003 and not even the state’s own Special Investigation Team(SIT) could do anything more than churn out figures and filed charges. In the end nothing has changed since the system has not been over hauled and no strong deterrent action put in place. VIPs managed to have their favourites or nominees appointed. It is a circle of vested interest among the senior bureaucrats and politicians. While employment in the government has already reached beyond the point of serious concern; in sharp contrast, the figure of unemployment in the government has crossed the point of no return. The trajectories themselves tell a story of how jobs in Na galand are going to become a negative factor against progress. In other states, when backdoor appointment takes place, it would have spiralled into agitations and government forced to take action. Huge funds for proj ects meant for developments have been spend during the past decades but only benefitted a handful. More jobs can come if private enterprises are thriving but instead the double-engine evils of corruption and ex tortions are negating economic progress. These have not only dampened the entrepreneurial spirit but dis couraged investors from outside to do business in the state. People get the khushi-khushi government they deserve and so that is where the entire problem lies.

Individual Discouragement and Personal Growth

…when Moses was grown…he went out to his brethren and looked at their burdens. —Exodus 2:11 Moses saw the oppression of his people and felt certain that he was the one to deliver them, and in the righteous indignation of his own spirit he started to right their wrongs. After he launched his first strike for God and for what was right, God allowed Moses to be driven into empty discouragement, sending him into the desert to feed sheep for forty years. At the end of that time, God ap peared to Moses and said to him, “ ‘…bring My people… out of Egypt.’ But Moses said to God, ‘Who am I that I should go…?’ ” (Exodus 3:10-11). In the beginning Moses had realized that he was the one to deliver the people, but he had to be trained and disciplined by God first. He was right in his individual perspective, but he was not the person for the work until he had learned true fellowship and oneness with God.

We may have the vision of God and a very clear un derstanding of what God wants, and yet when we start to do it, there comes to us something equivalent to Moses’ forty years in the wilderness. It’s as if God had ignored the entire thing, and when we are thoroughly discouraged, God comes back and revives His call to us. And then we begin to tremble and say, “Who am I that I should go…?” We must learn that God’s great stride is summed up in these words— “I AM WHO I AM…has sent me to you” (Exodus 3:14). We must also learn that our individual ef fort for God shows nothing but disrespect for Him— our individuality is to be rendered radiant through a personal relationship with God, so that He may be “well pleased” (Matthew 3:17). We are focused on the right individual perspective of things; we have the vision and can say, “I know this is what God wants me to do.” But we have not yet learned to get into God’s stride. If you are going through a time of discouragement, there is a time of great personal growth ahead.

Post-mortem

Frontier Nagaland: Dreams and lived reality Appeal & invitation for Naga national prayer day inaugural service

Th is writer in one of its articles published in 2017 attributed the demand of the Eastern Na galand Peoples’ Organization (ENPO) and its subordinate bodies to the ‘politics of elites’ played in Kohima for creation of ‘Frontier Nagaland’, de taching from the present state of Nagaland as a separate administrative unit within Indian Union. Understand ing ENPO demand requires prior appreciation of the state of affairs existing during preBritish phase and pre-Indian occupation of lands in the easternmost region of the present-day Nagaland by ac knowledging a simple fact that the people of the frontier identified themselves as ‘free people’. The Government of Nagaland (GoN) in acknowl edgement of this virtue has acted in the interest of the region by creating the De partment of Underdeveloped Areas (DUDA) and extends other grants to the people, too. However, as alluded to above, it is the tacit conniv ance between politicians and elites along the corridor of power in Kohima denuding the region of its extended assistance for growth and development, perpetuating imbalanced job ratio in public sector and persistently fuelling discontentment.

Continued territorial in tegrity of ENPO areas and the current Nagaland state will primarily be conditioned by how Kohima play its part not by effective diplomacy alone but also by deterministi cally understanding the basic problems encountered by the people of the region. Policy makers must have been con templating on the next charter of actions to restructure the fault-line running along the ever-widening socio-economic divides between Eastern and ‘virtual’ Western Nagalands, moving on a collision course.

In the process, policymakers ought not to also overlook the challenging administrative and structural empowerment of the region and its people.

Retrospective examination for amending our adminis trative set up (if flawed) and economic lacunae plaguing both the regions is categori cal in confidence building, while not forgoing the critical platform of exchanging ideas to pre-empt the predicament lies dormant.

This writer, after a daylong wait, was denied access for a short tête-à-tête with an administrative head of a particular department for

some personal work. It was learnt thereafter that the con cerned administrative head was engaging in an informal conversation with fellow peers to, on purpose, elude enter taining public visitors. Such experiences are not confined but prevalent. A single jour ney from the easternmost part of Nagaland to the State Capital involves distance, time, energy, resources and simultaneously faces multiple logistic challenges. When all these aspects are accounted for in monetary term, it may cost a person from the region a considerable amount (to the tune of a year-long savings). A person once lamented his ar duous journey he had under taken in his ‘scooter’ covering over 200 km in distance from Kiphire to the State Capital, to have had his work done in a certain department. The disadvantaged geography in timely accessibility of admin istrative work plays against the interest of the people in the ENPO region. These are few isolated cases but it comes in the way of emotional and geographical integration.

The discontentment, however, is not limited to the administrative inconvenience alone. Successive regimes have failed to ensure adequate representation in government jobs as per the extant policies of the State Government.

Equal participation is envis aged when guidelines for open recruitments to fill up vacant jobs in public sector are adhered to. Nonetheless, a level playing field is sup pressed through the practice of irregular appointments and it perpetuates imbal anced representation, which is deemed biased against the ENPO areas.

Pace of physical develop ment, especially in road sec tor, is also dismal throughout the state. However, the ENPO areas suffer the most when our only mode of mobility is by far by road and thus they are distanced farther by the combined factors of geography and decades of neglect in road infrastruc ture. As a result, there arises wide socio-economic divides burdening ENPO region and affecting incomes of the lat ter. For instance, farmers in Tuensang in 2017 disposed of annual ginger produce at a very low price of Rs 4 per kilogram which would other wise fetch around Rs 100 in the market in and around the State Capital. Such are some of the tangible elements of discontentment manifested

by the people through a de mand for separate Frontier Nagaland entailing the geo graphical areas falling under the ENPO jurisdiction. The demand stems from the per ceived notion that the ENPO areas shall be unchained from the shackles of appar ent discrimination allegedly orchestrated in Kohima and address prolonged challenges in connectivity. Contrarily, these objectives might not be easily addressed as instances may be evinced from recent experiment wherein creation of smaller districts with an aim to resolve regional dispar ity hardly bears any desirable result.

An emotional under standing of the demand for Frontier Nagaland portrays a complete legit and ideal pre sentation of a separate entity. Notwithstanding the above, when one sees the demand through the prism of empirical observation, a move to create Frontier Nagaland is slightly skewed by the region’s quest for leadership and authority. Who on earth will not wish to wield power to effect a desired change. However, we must remember the fact that leadership and authority in Nagaland further divide our already fragmented society along the socio-political faultline.

Earlier, civil society or ganizations (CSOs) and tribal bodies dispensed crucial ser vices in protecting social and cultural interest of the Nagas, which is so, to some extent, till date. Meantime, it’s time for us to reminisce whether we have erected virtual fences within ourselves by ascribing organizations like NTC, TPO, CNTC, UNC and ENPO a politically coloured image. Ontological understanding of these consortiums bears an impression that our CSOs have almost constituted them selves into blocs and pitched itself against the other with its constituents dancing to the tune of politically motivated rhetoric.

It won’t be an exaggera tion to state that individual istic ambition for leadership / social position has precipi tated flourishing of organiza tions (including Churches) and separates its adherents/ faithfuls.

Consortiums of civil so cieties assume supra-tribal superstructure accumulating high social standing within their sphere of influence. Its constituent communities owe them communal obligation to lend support and loyalty lest

Providing quality education to children

The progression and development of any country depends on the development of all its minor sections and communities.

The success of any nation is only possible through the de velopment of its society. This development and provision of services can be determined by the extent up to which services are provided to those who are the lowest level of society. An inclusive government or soci ety makes provisions in such a manner that equal opportuni ties and equitable services are given to all sections.

Education maintains it self as the primary way for lifting citizens as well as the nation out of poverty. Yet, while there are various provi sions for educating the socially backward, little provisions have been made for includ ing children with disabilities, into this structure.

Around 120 to 180 million children, below the age of 18, are dis abled in the world. In various countries, a child with disabil ity is two to three times less likely to attend school than a child without them. While the Indian government has made recognizable efforts for advancing primary education in the country, children with

disabilities remain a sizable majority of the children who remain out of schools.

Let us first examine the existing provisions for dis abled children. Until the age of 18, disabled children are entitled to free education, scholarships, uniforms, books and teaching materials in special schools or integrated schools. However, provisions do not equal action and that is where the government fails.

The number of special schools in the country is very less and they are mostly placed in urban areas, thus excluding disabled children from rural backgrounds. Even in these special schools, the ones being run by the government do not necessarily employ teachers with a background in special education. Thus, the educa tion that is being provided is not suited or very well under standable for these children. In integrated schools, we see that there is a lot of discrimination against disabled children and where there isn’t discrimina tion, disabled students are mostly ignored in classes and extra-curricular activities.

The first step is recogniz ing that disabilities are in all forms and include both physi cal and intellectual disabilities,

the provisions for both, and all their types, must be specialized. Secondly, along with providing policies that provide education, there also needs to be a struc tural change that makes these policies accessible. The school buildings and transportation must be disability friendly. It also requires that a conscious ness and awareness is built among the disabled students, normal students, teachers, parents and society to ensure that the drop-out rates remain low. Workshops must be held to reduce communication barriers and reduce negative attitudes of teachers and students. A specialized curriculum must be developed for disabled chil dren so that they are able to follow and comprehend what is being taught. This includes a change in the methods of teaching which also need to be specialized.

If we are to achieve high rates of education, inclusiv ity is the first basic step and the government must address disabled children in various parts of the country and make efforts to ensure they receive equal treatment and oppor tunities.

the errant constituent unit gets socially, culturally, and politically ostracized. There fore, the present imbroglio of extreme regionalism amongst the Nagas themselves is at tributable to hyped notion of liberation from the clutches of the other conglomerate of CSOs perceived to have been exercising absolute power at the expense of other con glomerates. In doing so, our society is obtrusively polar ized along cultural affinities and it appears to plant new divides amidst our persisting journey towards integration of our lands and peoples across the border. Much of our resources are unfortunately pooled towards sustained di vision, tribalism, regionalism and gradually undoing what we aspire for – integration.

ENPO has projected that a move for Frontier Nagaland would not impede a common predisposition for integration of the Naga peoples. Nev ertheless, ENPO may need to re-evaluate its stance by taking into account the ever distancing brotherhood be tween Naga peoples separated by artificial boundaries as our hope of coming together as one people is getting dimmer. We have already classified our people based on geography as Nagas of Nagaland, Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur and Myanmar. Soon, we will have another classification by the name ‘Nagas of Frontier Nagaland’ unless a moved for Frontier Nagaland is reversed. This is a humble appeal to the ENPO executives to recon sider its demand for Frontier Nagaland, and instead pres sure the State Government to protect the interest of its people by exploring alterna tive solutions like commis sioning of Mini Secretariat in Tuensang HQs, introduction of Minimum Support Price for farmers, establishment of Discrimination Registration and Resolution Bureau to fast-track cases of discrimi nation in both private and public sectors, Regional Au tonomous Territorial Council to administrate the affairs specific to the region, etc. Frontier Nagaland, again, may result in further perceived discrimination at the hands of the dominant community.

Anyhow, ‘if’ Frontier Naga land is a necessity, there is no better way to listen to the people than through a refer endum. People will speak up their minds when provided with an opportunity.

Nukhosa Chüzho, Kohima, (khozch@gmail.com)

In the past, God had shown His mercy on the Nagas in that He has destined us to be His own, NAGALIM FOR CHRIST. Accord ingly, the Nagas had decided to follow Jesus Christ and have been marching forward. To renounce this commit ment is ungodly and unchristian. Therefore, we must go forward. Noth ing should stop us on our journey to future, NAGALIM FOR CHRIST. Come what may, we must keep on going towards our destiny. There is no turning back from the course.

Now is the time for the NAGAS TO BE FREE from the domination of other nations. We have fought our battle with arms, with diplomacy, with negotiation and with politics. Now we are to fight the battle with prayers because it is the battle of believers. Whoever is on the Lord’s side must join in the battle. The proc lamation of the NAGA NATIONAL PRAYER DAY is none other than a war cry in your village gate. When the ancient people heard the bugle and the war-drum, they got up and readied themselves for war. We must do the same.

Dearly beloved of the Lord, join yourselves in your Church Worship Service on Sunday, 16th October, 2022 and cry out to the Lord renting your hearts. Pastors, priests, chaplains and catechists, lead the prayer in the front. We request you to set one beautiful significant moment to pray for your nation, for your leaders, for your neighboring countries and for the world.

People who want to join us in this special prayer enterprise/warfare may come to the INAUGURAL SER VICE OF THE NAGA NATIONAL PRAYER DAY scheduled at 11 am October 16, 2022 at Agri Expo., 4th Mile Diphupar, Chumukedima Dis trict, organized by CNC.

All the national workers are requested to turn up cheerfully and perform your spiritual duty as re quired of you. This is your reason able service to God. As you present yourself before God, may He prolong your life on earth with His blessing.

Some Important Prayer Points to consider:

1. Prayer of Consecration

2. Prayer of Repentance for the sins of our forefathers and present generation

3. Prayer of Blessing for the Naga Nation, National Leaders, your com munity, your village, your locality, your family & yourself.

4. Pray for the nations/peoples around us, Israel and the world for peace.

5. Prayer of confession of our faith in the Saviour, our commitment to the cause, and our pledge to Naga Flag and Constitution, the embodi ment of our national identity and sovereign power May God bless you all.

Rev. Seksim Kasar, General Secretary, CNC

Reader’s Post

Sir, Wokha District Regional Taxi owners, drivers and Tiyi Transport agency (counter), Nzanchi counter Wokha (Kyong Travels, A.B Travels, Nzan counter Dimapur to Wokha) sternly opposed the idea on centraliza tion scheme proposed by the All Nagaland Taxi Association (ANTA). We opposed the idea since it is a malicious and tactical practice of the ANTA and its unit to seize control over all government registered ticketing and booking agencies under their supremacy. Over a decade’s we have served for the welfare and the commuters of Wokha district therefore we suppress some individualistic idea to take control over a registered ticket counters, where we will continue to function under the Govern ment registration and authorization with or without the ANTA and its units for the welfare and interest of the public as per the resolution and meeting held on 9th Oct. 2022 at Pangti Baptist Ekhumko Building.

Lochumbeni Kikon, Tiyi Transport Agency (Counter) and Zubenthung Ngullie, Regional Taxi Owner

ANHTU Dimapur unit demands salary

Sir, All Nagaland Hindi Teachers’ Union (ANHTU) Dimapur unit hereby ask the School Education Department, Nagaland: Kohima, why there is delaying for the payment of Hindi Teachers 2012-13 & 15 Batch salary under DEO Dimapur SDEO Dhansiripar and SDEO Medziphema for the last 4(four) months i.e., June 2022 to Sept. 2022.

Though the Finance Department has signed for the disbursement of salary on dated 14th Sept. 2022.

Therefore, the Union request the department to look into the matter at the earliest and disburse the salary of our Hindi Teachers.

H. Daniel Sema, General Secretary, ANHTU Dimapur Unit

regional taxi owners, drivers

Shah slams Nehru for ‘insertion’ of Article 370

ZANZARKA (GUJ), OCT 13 (PTI): Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Thursday blamed India’s first prime minister Jawa harlal Nehru for the issues plaguing Kashmir and cred ited the Narendra Modi gov ernment for solving them by removing Article 370.

Speaking at an event to flag off the Bharatiya Janata Party’s ‘Gaurav Yatra’ in poll-bound Gujarat, Shah also said the Congress used to taunt his party over the construction of the Ram Temple in Ayodhya, but work on it was now in prog ress.

“Due to the mistake of Jawaharlal Nehru of insert ing Article 370, Kashmir was in a mess. It could not be properly integrated with the country. Everybody

Amit Shah

wanted the removal of Ar ticle 370. Prime Minister Narendra Modi removed it in one stroke and completed the integration of Kashmir with the country,” Shah said.

Incidentally, Modi had also blamed Nehru for the issues plaguing Kashmir while addressing a gather ing in Gujarat earlier this week.

Speaking on the Ram

Temple in Uttar Pradesh’s Ayodhya, Shah said the Congress used to mock the BJP with slogans like ‘Man dir wahi banayenge par tithi nahi batayenge’ (the temple will be built but can’t say when).

“But the dates were declared, the ground break ing ceremony was com pleted and a grand temple is coming up at the promised place,” the Union minister

Army to conduct military exercise on Western front

Reorganised Plains Infantry Division, test efficacy of lat est induction and upgrades in weapons and equipment, and also test the enhanced force ratios accrued post re balancing of forces on entire Western Front,” according to the release.

pointed out.

Hitting out further at the Congress, the senior BJP leader said curfews were a routine occurrence when the former ruled Gujarat, but the advent of the Modi dispensation in the state ensured that “those days are gone now”.

“Out of 365 days, cur few would be in force in 200 days in parts of Gujarat when the Congress was ruling the state. They (Con gress) thought they would benefit if people fought each other. Those days are gone now,” he said.

“After Narendra Modi came to power in Gujarat, curfew has not been im posed in the state for the last 20 years,” he claimed.

Shah is set to flag off two ‘Gaurav Yatras’ of the

party from Unai in Navsari district. On Wednesday, BJP national president JP Nadda had flagged off two such yatras.

The yatra that started from Zanzarka in Ahmed abad district on Thursday morning will conclude at Somnath Temple town, while the ones from Unai will go to Ambaji Temple, covering the tribal belt of the state, and Fagvel Temple town in Kheda district, re spectively.

The BJP has planned five yatras, each taking place over eight to nine days, to cover 144 constituencies in the state where Assembly polls are likely to be held by the year-end.

The BJP has been rul ing Gujarat for the past 27 years.

5 Delhi government schools among top 10 in country

NEW DELHI, OCT 13 (PTI): Deputy Chief Min ister Manish Sisodia on Thursday said five Delhi government schools had ranked among top 10 gov ernment schools in India, a feat made possible by train ing principals at leading institutes.

Sisodia, who also holds the education portfolio, said the Delhi government had made training programmes for principals so that other schools could also feature in the list.

Addressing a press conference, Sisodia said two government schools had topped the ranking for state government day schools in a ranking by Education World -- a portal for educa

tors, teachers and parents which comes out with rank ings for schools every year. Three others have also made the top 10 list.

“It is a matter of great pride and a result of hard work by principals, teach ers and students. All the principals of these schools were provided world-class training in leading insti

tutes such as IIM Ahmed abad, Cambridge Univer sity among others,” Sisodia said.

The press conference was also attended by princi pals of the five schools.

Sisodia added that a training programme had been made for government school principals so that other schools could also be come world class and com pete with the top schools of the country.

“We want all the top 10 government schools of the country to be Delhi govern ment schools in the future. We will do it with the help of principals of schools who have already made their place in the coveted list,” he said.

BJP leader’s wife killed in clash between UP Police, villagers in U’khand

MORADABAD/DEHRA

DUN, OCT 13 (PTI): The wife of a local BJP leader was killed and five others injured when residents of an Uttarakhand village clashed with an Uttar Pradesh Police team that had arrived there to arrest a man accused of illegal sand mining, an of ficial said.

CHANDIGARH, OCT 13 (PTI): Offensive formations of the Indian Army are pre paring to take part in a mili tary exercise on the Western front this month, according to a defence release here on Thursday.

It is expected to be one of the biggest exercises in

recent times and will be witnessed by the General Officer Commanding-inChief, Western Command, and other key officials from Army headquarters, it said.

“The exercise is planned to validate newly converted mechanised for mations, also known as

Validation of tactical concepts of these forma tions, especially on canalbased operations, and fight ing manoeuvre through built-up areas apart from many other latest opera tional concepts designed to launch a swift punitive blow to the adversary as part of the proactive strategy will be the key features of the exercise, it said. “The ex ercise will put into practice the synergy between all arms and services including attack helicopters in a semi desert terrain,” it said.

Four of the injured are personnel of UP Police, two of them with gunshot wounds, the police said.

The clash on Wednes day night took place in Bharatpur village near Ka shipur in Uttarakhand’s Ud ham Singh Nagar district.

The policemen had come from adjacent Moradabad district looking for Jafar, alleged to be a member of a mining mafia.

Acting on a tip-off, a Special Operations Group (SOG) of Thakurdwara police station in Moradabad district reached Bharatpur to

TMC, Cong criticise Dhankhar for his remarks on Bengal ; BJP, CPI-M comes out in support

KOLKATA, OCT 13 (PTI):

The ruling TMC and opposi tion Congress in West Ben gal Thursday criticised Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar for his comments on West Bengal’s law and order situ ation saying they are not be fitting for the post he holds.

The BJP state unit came out in support of Dhankhar and said it is good that he is portraying the “true picture” of the state.

Dhankhar speaking at a programme in New Delhi on Wednesday said “Law of the ruler, not the rule of law, is the bane of human rights in the state (West Bengal)”.

He was speaking at a programme of the NHRC in New Delhi where he recalled that a fact-finding committee of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), formed on the

order of the Calcutta High Court over petitions related to alleged post-poll violence in 2021, had said in a report that law of the ruler and not the rule of law prevailed in West Bengal.

Dhankar was the gov ernor of the state for nearly three years before his eleva tion as the vice-president of India and had on many occasions engaged in tussles

with the Mamata Banerjee government over the law and order situation and other is sues in the state.

Senior TMC leader Sougata Roy said that it was wrong on Dhankhar’s part to make such criticisms.

“The comments by Dhankhar do not behove the post he holds ... It was wrong on his part to have made such comments and we had opposed him back then too (when Dhankhar was the governor), as we do now,” the veteran TMC MP added.

TMC MP Santanu Sen said it seems Dhankhar is yet to give up his anti-Bengal views. “Whatever post he may hold, it seems he is yet to shun his anti-Bengal views. We condemn his re marks,” Sen said.

TMC had abstained from the vice-presidential

election as it did not agree with the process the can didate was decided upon without keeping the party in the loop. The Congress too slammed Dhankhar and its leader in Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury won dered why he was silent on the worsening law and order sitution in the BJP-ruled states.

“It seems he is per turbed about the law and order situation in West Ben gal. But why is he silent on the poor law and order situation in the BJP-ruled states? Despite holding a top constitutional post, it seems he is yet to shrug off his bias for the BJP,” Chowdhury, who is also the president of Congress in the state, said.

raid the house of BJP leader and Jaspur senior block pramukh Gurtaj Bhullar in search of Jafar, UP Police said. When they reached Bhullar’s house, an argu ment broke out. Both sides allegedly resorted to firing in which Bhullar’s wife Gur preet, who was returning home from work, was killed.

Udham Singh Nagar

Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Manjunath TC said the Uttar Pradesh Police team did not inform their Uttarakhand coun terparts about the action in advance.

Following the incident, angry villagers blocked the highway in protest. Ka shipur MLA Trilok Singh Cheema, Gadarpur MLA

Arvind Pandey and former MP Balraj Passi joined the protesters.

The blockade was lifted at 11 pm after persuasion by the district police.

Uttarakhand Police has registered a case against Uttar Pradesh Police per sonnel under sections 147 (rioting), 148 (rioting, armed with deadly weapon), 149 (every member of unlawful assembly guilty of offence committed in prosecution of common object), 302 (mur der), 452 (house-trespass af ter preparation for hurt, as sault or wrongful restraint), 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of the peace) and 120-b (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code fol lowing a complaint lodged by the deceased’s family, Manjunath said.

Moradabad Senior Superintendent of Police Hemant Kutiyal said four

injured policemen had been admitted to a private hospi tal in Moradabad.

Hospital sources said two policemen suffered gun shot wounds to their legs, one a head wound and an other bone injuries.

They are all out of dan ger, the sources added.

Deputy Inspector Gen eral (DIG), Moradabad, Shalabh Mathur told PTI that the Thakurdwara police team was on the lookout for Jafar. On Wednesday night, the police received informa tion that Jafar was hiding at the house of the Jaspur block pramukh.

“The police team reached the spot acting on this information but it was fired upon from the other side. Two police personnel sustained bullet injuries on their leg and a total four per sonnel, including the Station House Officer (SHO), were injured,” Mathur said.

File photo of a military exercise by Indian Army.

Gurtaj Bhullar and his wife Gurpreet Kaur.

Jagdeep Dhankhar

Manish Sisodia

card holders didn’t

NEW DELHI, OCT 13 (PTI): Around 39 per cent of all job card-holding households interested in working under the MNREGA scheme did not get a single day of work in the Covid pandemic year 2020-21, according to a survey.

On average, only 36 per cent of the households that worked received their wages in 15 days, showed the survey of 2,000 households across eight blocks in four states conducted by Azim Premji University in partnership with the National Consortium of Civil Society Organisations on NREGA and Collaborative Research and Dissemination (CORD).

The survey was conducted in NovemberDecember 2021 in Phulparas (Madhubani) and Chhatapur blocks (Supaul) in Bihar, Bidar (Bidar) and Devadurga (Raichur) in Karnataka, Khalwa (Khandwa) and Ghatigaon (Gwalior) in Madhya

Pradesh, and Wardha and Surgana (Nashik) in Maharashtra.

“Across all blocks, roughly 39 per cent of all the job card-holding households interested in working in MGNREGA in the Covid year could not get a single day of work while they wanted 77 days of work on average.

“Among households that found some work, the unmet demand (difference between the number of days desired and the number

of days of work received) across all blocks was 64 days,” the report stated.

“The most frequently mentioned reason for not getting as much work as needed, across all blocks, was the lack of adequate work being sanctioned or opened. On average, 63 per cent of all job card-holding households cited this reason in the surveyed blocks,” it added.

Despite these shortcomings, the survey found, the Mahatma Gandhi

High Court orders contractor to complete Package I & II road work

DIMAPUR, OCT 13 (NPN):

Gauhati High Court Kohima Bench directed M/s Ramky-ECI (JV) to complete the four-lane road work in respect of Package I & II within the timeframe already given by it.

A two-bench judge com prising Justice LS Jamir and Justice Songkhupchung Serto also ordered M/s Oasis Techno Construction Ltd and Nation al Highways & Infrastructure Development Corporation Ltd (NHIDCL) to have a deliberation with respect to Package III in pres ence of the learned amicus curiae.

They also directed NHIDCL to take the initiative for the de liberation. While ordering to list the matter again for October 27, 2022 the court ruled that the three directors of M/s Oasis Techno Construction Ltd should be pres ent before it.

The court perused the prog ress report filed by the authority engineer with regard to Packages

I, II and III. As regards Package I & II, the judges noted that some work had been done but at a very minimal level.

So far as Package III was concerned, they noted that not much progress had been made due to frequent rains. Further, it was stated that the newly-appointed contractor was expected to con tinue work till new arrangements were made.

At this stage, senior counsel KP Pathak assisted by M Arora, counsel for M/s Oasis Techno Construction Ltd, submitted that the three directors of the company could not appear before the court on Wednesday as directed on September 28, 2022 due to health reasons. He also made a proposal to have a deliberation with author ities of NHIDCL with regard to Package III in presence of amicus curiae. The proposal made by the senior counsel was accepted by S Borgohain, counsel for NHIDCL, in the interest of public.

National Rural Employment Guarantee Act made a marked difference during the pandemic, protecting the most vulnerable households from significant loss of income.

Increased earnings from MGNREGA were able to compensate for somewhere between 20 to 80 per cent of the income loss depending on the block, it stated.

“Our study shows how much the workers value the need and utility of

MGNREGA. More than eight out of 10 households recommended that MGNREGA should provide 100 days of employment per person per year.

“We also found a massive extent of underfunding. A conservative estimate yields that the allocations in the surveyed blocks should have been three times the amount that was actually allocated in the year after lockdown to fulfil the true extent of work demand,” said Rajendran Narayanan, co-author of the study and faculty member at Azim Premji University.

Ashwini Kulkarni of the NREGA Consortium said one of the objectives of MGNREGA is to act as a social protection measure during times of distress.

“Covid pandemic, lockdown created unprecedented distress and MGNREGA, as expected, rose to the need and provided work for many more villages and many more households than in the preceding years.

Rupee falls 5 paise to close at 82.38 against US dollar

MUMBAI, OCT 13 (PTI): The rupee traded in a narrow range and settled 5 paise lower at 82.38 against the US dollar on Thursday, tracking a muted trend in domestic equities amid weak domestic macroeconomic data.

Besides, risk aversion sentiment among investors weighed on the local unit. At the interbank foreign exchange, the rupee witnessed range-bound trading. It opened at 82.30 against the US dollar, then fell further to close at 82.38, registering a fall of 5 paise over the last close. It was moving in a tight range of 82.25 to 82.42.

On Wednesday, the rupee fell by 12 paise to close at 82.33 against the greenback. “Asian currencies fell amid caution as traders awaited Thursday’s US inflation data for clues on how much the US Federal Reserve will raise rates,” said Dilip Parmar, Research Analyst, HDFC Securities.

Parmar further added that along with weak regional currencies, dismal domestic economic data weighed on the Indian rupee. On the forward market, the one-year forward USD/INR premium declined as the central bank was at the receiving end.

“Spot USD/INR has been trading in the narrow range this week amid the central bank intervention on both sides. In the near-term, spot USD/INR is having resistance at 82.85 and support at 82.10,” Parmar noted.

Meanwhile, the dollar index, which gauges the greenback’s strength against a basket of six currencies, fell 0.26 per cent to 113.02.

Brent crude futures, the global oil benchmark, rose 0.32 per cent to USD 92.85 per barrel.

In the domestic equity market, the 30-share BSE Sensex closed 390.58 points or 0.68 per cent down at 57,235.33, and the broader NSE Nifty fell 109.25 points or 0.64 per cent to 17,014.35. Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) were net sellers in the capital markets as they offloaded shares worth Rs 542.36 crore on Wednesday, according to exchange data.

The Entrepreneurs Associates disburses loans in Mokokchung

Correspondent

MOKOKCHUNG, 13 OCT (NPN): The Entrepreneurs Associates today (tEA) held a program for disbursement of Zero Interest Loans at their office premises here at Mokokchung.

The project is implemented by tEA in partnership with Capri Global Capital Limited (CGCL) where loans were being provided to women street vendors. During the program today, a total of 15 women beneficiaries received Rs. 10,000 each with interest free loans which were handed over by Nungshichila Longchar, JE PHED, Mokokchung.

At the program, Nungshichila Longchar, JE PHED, Mokokchung gave a short speech where she dwelt on the aspects of dignity of labour saying that there is no shame in working. She asserted that the locals should take up entrepreneurship to the next

level.

She stated that trust building plays an important aspect in all spheres and added that there is blessing when one is trusted. She further lamented that Naga society as a whole lacks in the principle of saving, adding that it is not important how you spend, but it is important how you save.

She called upon the gathering to differentiate between wants and needs and encouraged the 15

Sensex falls 390 points; banking, finance stocks weigh

MUMBAI, OCT 13 (PTI):

Benchmark BSE Sensex declined by 390 points on Thursday following heavy selling in banking, finance and capital goods stocks due to inflation and growth concerns.

A weak rupee and rising crude prices also impacted the market sentiment, traders said.

The 30-share BSE Sensex declined 390.58 points or 0.68 per cent to settle at 57,235.33. Likewise, the broader NSE Nifty fell 109.25 points or 0.64 per cent to end at 17,014.35.

Wipro was the top loser in the Sensex pack, shedding 7.03 per cent, followed by SBI, L&T, ICICI Bank, Asian Paints, Bajaj Finance and HDFC twins.

On the other hand, HCL Tech, Sun Pharma, Dr Reddy’s Reliance Industries and Ultra Tech Cement were among the gainers, rising up to 3.19 per cent.

Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services, “Retail inflation persisting above the desired levels has been a major cause of concern for the Indian economy. This, coupled with declining industrial

production in August may not be taken well by the market because Indian economy is anticipated to sustain its resilience.

“In this backdrop, the impending US inflation figures, which are forecasted to remain high, may cause volatility in the global market.” In Asian markets, bourses in Tokyo, Shanghai, Hong Kong and Seoul closed in the red.

However, stock exchanges in Europe were trading with gains in midsession deals.

Meanwhile, the international oil benchmark Brent crude futures increased by 0.31 per cent to USD 92.74 per barrel.

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) remained net sellers in the Indian capital market on Wednesday as they sold shares worth Rs 542.36 crore, as per exchange data. The rupee declined by 6 paise to close at 82.39 (provisional) against US dollar. In twin blows to Indian economic revival, higher food prices drove retail inflation to a fivemonth high of 7.4 per cent, while factory output fell for the first time in 18 months.

beneficiaries and urged them to work hard with zeal and determination.

Earlier in the program, Moarenla, the zonal head of tEA Mokokchung gave a brief introduction about tEA in Mokokchung. She said the program of extending assistance to women street vendors is the fourth one in Mokokchung since its inception in 2017. She further informed interested women entrepreneurs to avail the said loan (interest free) from tEA.

Gold gains Rs 42; silver drops Rs 493

NEW DELHI, OCT 13 (PTI): Gold prices in the national capital rose by Rs 42 to Rs 51,255 per 10 grams on Thursday amid a rise in the prices of the precious metal in the international market, according to HDFC Securities.

In the previous trade, the yellow metal had touched Rs 51,213 per 10 grams.

However, silver dropped by Rs 493 to Rs 57,717 per kilogram from Rs 58,210 per kg.

“COMEX gold edged slightly higher as traders cautiously await highly anticipated US inflation data later today,” said Dilip Parmar, Research Analyst at HDFC Securities.

Beneficiaries after the loan disbursement program today at tEA office Mokokchung.

Earlier govts did not give facilities: Modi

UNA/CHAMBA (HP), OCT 13 (PTI): Prime Min ister Narendra Modi on Thursday accused the past governments of not provid ing facilities that were avail able to people elsewhere in the world even in the previous century and in his home state Gujarat a few years back.

Ahead of the assembly polls in Himachal Pradesh by the year-end, he launched a slew of development proj ects in Una and Chamba.

In Una, Modi flagged off a Vande Bharat Express, the fourth train in the series.

Addressing public meetings, he hoped that the state will break the trend this time of electing different parties every election.

Modi also stressed on the benefits of the “doubleengine” government, a ref erence to the BJP being in power both in Himachal Pradesh and at the Centre.

“We will provide you facilities of the 20th as well as the 21st centuries,” he said, addressing a rally at the Indira Gandhi stadium in Una. “Our government is fulfilling the aspirations of

21st-century India. New In dia is overcoming challenges of the past and growing rapidly,” Modi added.

“Earlier governments at the Centre and in the state failed to understand your needs. My government is not only fulfilling the needs of the people, but is doing it with full strength,” he said.

Modi also hit out at the opposition, saying ‘Dev Bhoomi’ Himachal has the grace of nature but previous governments did not work to fill the development gap. “After coming to power, we

not only filled that gap but also wrote a new chapter of development,” he said.

In an apparent ref erence to the “doubleengine”government, Modi said earlier, Himachal BJP chief ministers PK Dhumal and Shanta Kumar had to go to Delhi with BJP work ers to seek approval for even small projects.

Now, he added, the chief minister goes to Delhi to inform about the com pletion of projects. Modi recalled a saying that the youth and the water in the

Court grants 12-day custody of accused in human sacrifice case

KOCHI, OCT 13 (PTI):

A court here on Thursday granted Kerala police cus tody of the three accused in the sensational human sacrifice case, in which two women lost their lives, for detailed interrogation.

The court granted 12 days custody to police as sought by it for collecting evidence and further inves tigation into the horrific crime.

The court had on Wednesday remanded the prime accused Shafi (52), Bhagaval Singh (68), a mas sage therapist and his wife Laila (59) to 14-day judicial custody.

In the custody appli cation filed before a local court here on Thursday, po lice said the accused need to be further interrogated to probe whether there was any other reason behind the human sacrifice.

The police said they need to investigate whether

there are more victims of this horrific crime.

The gold ornaments of the deceased women are missing. It seems like they have been sold or pledged by the accused. They are yet to be traced, police said.

The custody applica tion also said that the ac cused need to be taken to various places in Pathana mthitta and Ernakulam districts as part of collect ing evidence.

The police said they also need to probe the

classes taken by Singh and the sectors associated with him.

The chopped body parts of the deceased were exhumed from the premises of the couple’s house at El anthoor village in Pathana mthitta on October 11.

The first woman went missing on September 26 and the probe led to Shafi.

On further interrogating

him, police found that the trio had earlier murdered the second victim in a simi lar manner in June.

hills is of little use locally, a reference to migration and the flow of water downhill. The prime minister said his government has changed the proverb. He launched the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sa dak Yojana-III in Chamba to upgrade 3,125 km of rural roads, saying the govern ment wants to build roads in every village of the state.

So far, the double-en gine government of the BJP has built 12,000 km of rural roads in eight years in Him achal Pradesh, Modi said, adding that several new vil lages will be connected with under the scheme.

More than Rs 420 crore has been sanctioned by the central government under this phase of the PMGSYIII for upgrading 440 km of rural roads in 15 border and far-flung blocks of the state.

Modi further said the BJP’s double-engine govern ment has made domestic gas connections available for every home. Hundred per cent piped water coverage has been made in tribal areas of Lahaul-Spiti and Kin naur under the ‘Har Ghar Jal Yojna’, he said. Refer

ing to recent grant of the Scheduled Tribe status to the Hatti community, the prime minister said it showed the government cared for the tribal people.

“I feel contented while serving you as you have given me this opportunity by voting the BJP to power,” Modi told a rally at the Cho gan maidan in Chamba.

In Una, he said phar ma, education and railway projects launched in the region will have positive impact on its progress. “I am pleased to announce gifts worth several thousand crores for Himachal before Dhanteras and Diwali,” he said. Flagging off the new Vande Bharat Express from Una, Modi said he was always concerned about connectivity in Himachal Pradesh.

Union Minister An urag Thakur, who was also present at the rally in Una, said Prime Minister Modi made it possible for people of Himachal Pradesh to have a Vande Bharat train whereas the previous Con gress governments used to snatch facilities from them.

Supreme Court to hear today pleas challenging electoral bond scheme

NEW DELHI, OCT 13 (PTI): The Supreme Court is scheduled to hear on Fri day a batch of pleas chal lenging laws permitting funding of political parties through the electoral bond scheme.

Electoral bonds have been pitched as an alterna tive to cash donations made to political parties as part of efforts to bring transparency in political funding.

A bench of Justices B R Gavai and B V Naga rathna is likely to take up the PILs by NGO, Association for Democratic Reforms, Communist Party of India (Marxist) and other peti tioners.

Advocate Prashant Bhushan, appearing for the NGO, on April 5 had men tioned the matter before the then CJI N V Ramana say ing the issue was critical and needed an urgent hearing.

The top court had agreed to list the NGO’s plea for hearing but it did not come up before any court. Earlier, Bhushan had sought an urgent listing of

the PIL from the apex court on October 4 last year seek ing a direction to the Centre not to open any further window for sale of electoral bonds during the pendency of a case pertaining to fund ing of political parties and alleged lack of transparency in their accounts.

The NGO, which had filed the PIL in 2017 on the alleged issue of corruption and subversion of democra cy through illicit and foreign funding of political parties and lack of transparency in the accounts of all political parties, had filed an interim application in March this year before the assembly polls in West Bengal and Assam seeking that window for sale of electoral bonds be not reopened.

The NGO, in its fresh application filed in the pend ing petition, had claimed that there is a serious appre hension that any further sale of electoral bonds before the upcoming Assembly elections, including in West Bengal and Assam, would further increase illegal and

illicit funding of political parties through shell com panies. On January 20 last year, the apex court had refused to grant interim stay on the 2018 Electoral Bonds Scheme and sought responses of the Centre and the Election Commission on an interim application by the NGO seeking stay on the scheme.

The government no tified the Electoral Bond Scheme on January 2, 2018.

According to provi sions of the scheme, elector al bonds may be purchased by a person, who is a citizen of India or incorporated or established in India.An individual can buy electoral bonds, either singly or joint ly with other individuals.

Only political parties registered under Section 29A of the Representation of the People Act, 1951 and which secured not less than one percent of votes polled in the last general election to the House of the People or the Legislative Assembly of the State, are eligible to receive electoral bonds.

‘Threatened by NCW’, alleges AAP’s Gujarat unit chief

Women’s body chairperson denies charges

NEW DELHI, OCT 13 (PTI): AAP’s Gujarat unit chief Gopal Italia alleged that he was “threatened and treated indecently” by NCW chairperson Rekha Sharma after he appeared before her on Thursday, as members of his Patidar community have come out in support of the Arvind Kejriwal-led party ahead of the state elections.

He also alleged that he was then handed over to a team of Delhi Police which took him to Okhla po lice station where officials tried to convince him that he should not mess with “powerful people” and that he should quit the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) to avoid any further trouble.

Italia was detained for more than 2.5 hours by the Delhi Police after

ED files charge sheet against Rana Ayyub

NEW DELHI, OCT 13 (PTI): The Enforcement Directorate has filed a charge sheet against jour nalist Rana Ayyub under the anti-money laundering law, alleging that she uti lised publicly raised funds of Rs 2.69 crore for herself and also contravened the foreign contribution law.

The federal agency filed its prosecution com plaint against Ayyub before a special Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court in Ghazi abad (Uttar Pradesh) on October 12.

“Rana Ayyub launched three fundrais er charity campaigns on ‘Ketto platform’ starting from April, 2020 and col lected funds totalling Rs 2,69,44,680,” the ED said in a statement issued on Thursday.

The campaigns, it said, were meant to raise funds for slum dwellers

and farmers; relief work for Assam, Bihar and Ma harashtra and help Ayyub and her team to help those impacted by COVID-19 in India.

Probe found, the agency said, that the funds raised on the online plat forms were received in the accounts of Ayyub’s father and sister and subsequently transferred to her personal accounts.

“Ayyub utilised these funds to create a fixed de posits of Rs 50 lakh for her self and also transferred Rs 50 lakh in a new bank ac count. Investigation found that only about Rs 29 lakh was used for relief work,” it claimed.

“In order to claim more expenses towards relief work, fake bills were submitted by Ayyub and subsequently, bank balances in the accounts of Ayyub amounting to Rs 1,77,27,704 (includ

ing FD of Rs 50 Lakh) were attached under the PMLA vide a provisional attachment order dated 04.02.2022,” it said.

The ED alleged Ayyub “illegally” raised the Rs 2.69 crore funds and “cheated” general public donors.

“These funds were not used for the intended purpose and instead used for creation of assets for herself. Ayyub has tried to project these funds as un tainted and thus has laun dered the funds received from general public,” the agency alleged.

“Ayyub also received these funds from foreign countries without any ap proval or registration from the government which is required under the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act, 2010,” it said.

The investigation by ED has “established that Ms Rana Ayyub had launched the aforesaid campaigns with the sole intention to cheat the gen eral public and acquired proceeds of crime in form of FD and balances in bank accounts projecting them as untainted”, the agency said. The money launder ing case against her stems from a September, 2021 FIR of Ghaziabad Police related to alleged irregulari ties in donor funds.

Ayyub had earlier re jected these allegations saying the money launder ing charges levelled against her were “preposterous and wholly mala fide”.

he appeared before the National Commission for Women (NCW) in con nection with his alleged comments against Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The AAP leader de scribed those in BJP as “Kansa ki aulad” (descen dants of demon king Kan sa)” and vowed to take his fight against them to finish in the upcoming Gujarat assembly polls, saying his name is Gopal and he too has blessings of lord Krishna.

NCW chief Sharma denied the allegations, say ing that Italia was given “enough time” to reply on his “abusive” tweet but his oral and written statements were completely contradic tory.

There was no immedi ate reaction from the Delhi Police to the AAP leader’s charge.

“I am yet to receive any notice from the NCW, but I came here (Delhi) to put forth my version before

its chief because I am a law abiding citizen. As I reached the NCW office, they first refused to allow my lawyer to accompany me,” Italia told a press conference after he was released by police. The AAP leader claimed that after he en tered the NCW chief’s office, “with all arrogance, she started threatening me that she would send me to jail…I was treated in a very indecent and cheap manner, scolded and in timidated a lot.”

Itlaia said that he was then take to a police station where officials “asked me

‘Open support for Kharge disturbs level-playing field’

NEW DELHI, OCT 13 (PTI): Congress presiden tial candidate Shashi Tha roor on Thursday lament ed that some leaders had openly come out in support of his poll opponent Mal likarjun Kharge and even summoned meetings in his favour, saying it disturbed the level-playing field.

The Thiruvanantha puram MP also said several PCC chiefs and senior lead ers were not available for a meeting with him during his visits to their respective states, but they warmed up to Kharge when he Seek ing votes from delegates at the Delhi Pradesh Con gress Committee (DPCC) office here, Tharoor said he wanted to bring a “change” in the organisation. He also said aimed to “bring back” the voters who did not support the Congress in the 2014 and the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. “I want to

bring a change in the party. I want to bring back those voters who didn’t stand by our side in 2014 and 2019,” he told the delegates.

Tharoor further rued that he could not meet some delegates as their contact details were “miss ing” from the list that was provided to him. “There were incomplete contact details in the list of del egates that we received. Some lists had names but no contact numbers, some had names but no proper address. Hence, it was dif ficult to reach out to them,” Tharoor claimed.

Chhattisgarh: ED arrests IAS officer, 2 others in money laundering case

RAIPUR, OCT 13 (PTI):

The Enforcement Director ate on Thursday arrested Chhattisgarh cadre IAS officer Sameer Vishnoi and two other persons after it launched multi-city raids in the state early this week as part of a money laundering investigation, officials said.

Businessman Sunil Agrawal of Indramani group and Laxmikant Tiwari, uncle of “ab sconding” businessman Suryakant Tiwari, were also taken into custody in

the morning by the federal agency from state capital Raipur, they said.The three persons were arrested un der criminal sections of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) and will be produced be fore a local court, where the ED will seek their fur ther custody.

Vishnoi, an Indian Administrative Service of ficer of 2009 batch, is cur rently working as the CEO of the Chhattisgarh Info tech Promotion Society

(Chips). He was questioned by the agency at its office in Raipur on Wednesday along with a few others.

The bureaucrat also holds additional charge of managing director of Chhattisgarh State Cooper ative Marketing Federation (Markfed) and has earlier served as the director of ge ology and mining depart ment and MD of Chhattis garh Mineral Development Corporation (CMDC) in the incumbent Congress government led by Chief

Minister Bhupesh Baghel. The CMDC undertakes scientific exploration, com mercial exploitation and viable trading of minerals in the state.

The premises of Lax mikant Tiwari, an advocate by profession from state’s Mahasamund district, were also covered during the raids. Raipur-based Agraw al has been in the coal busi ness for over a decade and apparently has links with senior politicians. The ar rests came after the agency

launched multiple raids in Chhattisgarh on October 11 in a money laundering case linked to alleged ille gal levy extorted from coal and mining transporters in the state by a purported nexus of government of ficials, businessmen and private entities.

The agency has also sealed the residence of IAS officer and Raigarh district collector Ranu Sahu as she was not available during the raids that began on Tuesday. Sahu is under

stood to have informed the agency that she was under going a medical procedure and has assured coopera tion in the investigation.

ED sources, however, said the IAS officer of 2010 batch is yet to appear at the agency’s office in Raipur “despite clear instructions” to do so. An ED team also conducted a survey of the mining offices in Raigarh and Korba districts along with a security team of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF).

why am I involving myself into such things, why am I messing with these power ful people, suggesting me to quit all these things.”

The AAP leader said the NCW did not summon him to hear the alleged charges against him but to threaten and harass him at the behest of the BJP as he belongs to Patidar com munity.

“These incidents hap pened because Gujarat elections are approaching and the Patidar community is coming out openly in support of the AAP, rising against the ruling BJP,” he charged

“They (BJP) are all descendants of Kansa. They hate Patidar. They have come together against me, AAP, and Arvind Ke jriwal. But I am also Gopal and have blessings of lord Krishna. I will take this fight to finish and emerge victorious.” Italia added.

The NCW chairper son had summoned Italia for using “abusive and in decent language” against Prime Minister Narendra Modi in a purported video and said that his comment was “gender biased, misog ynist and condemnable”.

“Italia refused to ac cept that the concerned video is his and insisted that it could have been ed ited,” Sharma said.

However, in his writ ten submission, he did not deny his association with the video and stated that the alleged word could imply anything and in no sense it can be attributed to be derogatory to women, she added.

FELICITATION

The “YELATU ASSÜMI KUGHUKO KÜQHAKULU” with immense pride congratulate the meritorious achievement of the following members and wish them the best in all their future endeavours.

Inoli V. Hekali Zhimomi, wife of Ino Inaka Assumi

being promoted to Additional Secretary, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government

G. Hukugha Assumi, IRS on being promoted

Commissioner, Income Tax, Government

Er. Kitoka V. Assumi on securing the post of Junior Engineer in NPSC

Assumi

FELICITATION

The Sastami Kughuko Kuposhukulu Dimapur extend heartiest congratulations to Mr. Kughaka Achumi, son of Lt. Xutoi Achumi & Mr. Toito Labo, son of Shri. Shikato Labo (G.B) on being promoted to the ranks of ABSI (GD) under Police Department.

SKKD wishes both good health and pray that God will continue to lead them in their new assignment.

OFFICE OF THE LONGKHIM DIVISION STUDENTS' UNION H.Q

TUENSANG FELICITATION

The Longkhim Division Students' Union with immense pride and honour would like to extend our heartiest congratulations to Shri. Sethrichem Sangtam of Chungtor Village for being appointed as the Male Member of the State Food Commission, Nagaland.

wishes

Union

his future

Toshika

Narendra Modi with Ashwini Vaishnaw, Himachal Pradesh Governor Rajendra Arlekar and CM Jai Ram Thakur. (PTI)

Bhagaval Singh and his wife Laila.

Rana Ayyub

Shashi Tharoor

AAP Gujarat chief Gopal Italia detained from NCW office by the Delhi Police. (Twitter)

Russian official warns of WW III if Ukraine joins NATO

LONDON, OCT 13 (AGENCIES):

If Ukraine is admitted into the U.S.-led NATO military alliance, then the conflict in Ukraine would be guaranteed to escalate into World War Three, a Russian Security Council official was quoted as saying on Thursday.

Just hours after Rus sian President Vladimir Pu tin formally proclaimed the annexation of up to 18% of Ukraine on Sept. 30, Presi dent Volodymyr Zelenskiy announced a surprise bid for fast-track membership of NATO.

Full NATO member ship for Ukraine is far off because all the alliance’s 30 members would have to give their consent.

“Kyiv is well aware that such a step would mean a guaranteed escalation to World War Three,” TASS quoted Alexander Venedik tov, the deputy secretary of Russia’s Security Coun cil, as saying. Venediktov, who is deputy to Security Council Secretary Nikolai

Patrushev, a powerful Putin ally, said he felt Ukraine’s application was propaganda as the West understood the consequences of Ukrainian membership of NATO.

“The suicidal nature of such a step is understood by NATO members them selves,” he said.

President Vladimir Pu tin has repeatedly railed against the United States for driving NATO’s east ward expansion, especially its courting of ex-Soviet republics such as Ukraine and Georgia which Russia regards as part of its own sphere of influence.

Putin on Sept. 21 warned the West he was

not bluffing when he said he would be ready to use nuclear weapons to defend Russia against what he said was “nuclear blackmail” from major Western powers.

U.S. President Joe Biden has said the world faces the biggest risk of nu clear Armageddon since the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis.

NATO is due to hold an annual nuclear preparedness exercise dubbed “Steadfast Noon” next week.

Russia and the United States are by far the biggest nuclear powers: they control about 90% of the world’s nuclear warheads.

Venediktov said Zel enskiy’s call for preventive strikes against Russia was dangerous, cautioning that nuclear war would have catastrophic consequences for the world.

“We must remember: a nuclear conflict will affect absolutely the whole world — not only Russia and the collective West, but every country on this planet,” Venediktov said.

NATO holds nuclear talks amid war tensions, Putin threats

BRUSSELS, OCT 13 (AP): NATO’s secretive Nuclear Planning Group met Thurs day as the military alliance presses ahead with plans to hold a nuclear exercise next week as concerns deepen over President Vladimir Pu tin’s insistence that he will use any means necessary to defend Russian territory.

Defense ministers led the session, which usually happens once or twice a year, at NATO headquarters in Brussels.

It comes against a backdrop of high tension as some NATO allies, led by the U.S., supply Ukraine with advanced weapons and munitions to defend itself against Russian aerial attacks.

NATO is keeping a wary eye on Russia’s move ments, but has so far seen no change in its nuclear posture.

But additional uncer tainty comes from the fact that Russia is also due to hold its own nuclear exer cises soon, possibly at the same time as NATO or just after, according to NATO diplomats. That could com plicate the 30-country mili tary organisation’s reading of the war and of Moscow’s intentions. “Russia will also

be conducting its annual exercise, I think, the week after or just after the annual exercise,” U.K. Defence Secretary Ben Wallace told reporters. But “what we don’t want is to do things out of routine.”

“This is a routine exer cise and it’s all about readi ness,” Wallace said, just as “NATO’s meeting is all about making sure we are ready for anything. I mean, that is the job of this alli ance — to make sure that the 30 partners together are ready for what is thrown at us. And we have to continue to work at that.”

NATO’s exercise,

UN overwhelmingly votes against Russia; India abstains again

UNITED NATIONS,

OCT 13 (PTI): India has abstained in the UN Gen eral Assembly on a draft resolution that condemned Russia’s “illegal” referenda and attempts to annex parts of Ukraine, saying its deci sion is “consistent” with its “well thought out” national position and calling for an immediate cessation of hos tilities and an urgent return to the path of dialogue and diplomacy.

The 193-member Gen eral Assembly voted over whelmingly on Wednesday to condemn Russia’s “illegal so-called referendums in re gions within the internation ally recognised borders of Ukraine and the attempted illegal annexation of the Do

U.N. Ambassador from Ukraine Sergiy Kyslytsya uses binoculars in the U.N. General Assembly before a vote. netsk, Kherson, Luhansk, and Zaporizhzhia regions of Ukraine, following the organisation of the abovementioned referendums”.

The resolution ‘Ter ritorial integrity of Ukraine: defending the principles of the Charter of the United Nations’ was adopted with

143 nations voting in fa vour, Russia, Belarus, North Korea, Syria, and Nicara gua voting against, and 35 countries, including India, abstaining.

The UNGA hall erupt ed in applause after the reso lution was adopted.

In the explanation of

the vote after the action was taken on the draft resolu tion, India’s Permanent Representative to the UN Ambassador Ruchira Kam boj said India urged that all efforts be made for an immediate cessation of hos tilities and an urgent return to the path of dialogue and diplomacy.

“The path to peace requires us to keep all chan nels of diplomacy open. We therefore sincerely hope for an early resumption of peace talks to bring about an immediate ceasefire and resolution of the conflict. In dia stands ready to support all such efforts aimed at deescalation,” Kamboj said.

“There are other press ing issues at play, some

of which have not been adequately addressed in the resolution voted today. Our decision to abstain is consis tent with our well-thoughtout national position,” she added.

Quoting Prime Min ister Narendra Modi, who had last month told Russian President Vladimir Putin that this is not an era of war, Kamboj said that with this firm resolve to strive for a peaceful solution through dialogue and diplomacy, India has decided to abstain.

She emphasised it is unfortunate that as the trajectory of the Ukrai nian conflict unfolds, the entire global South has suf fered “substantial collateral damage”.

dubbed “Steadfast Noon,” is held around the same time every year and runs for about one week.

It involves fighter jets capable of carrying nuclear warheads, but doesn’t in volve any live bombs. Con ventional jets, and surveil lance and refuelling aircraft also routinely take part.

Fourteen NATO mem ber countries will be in volved in the exercise, which was planned before Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24.

The main part of the maneuvers will be held more than 1,000 kilometers from Russia.

NATO as an organisa

tion doesn’t possess any weapons.

The nuclear weapons nominally linked to the alli ance remain under the firm control of three member countries — the U.S., the U.K. and France. But France insists on maintaining its nuclear independence and doesn’t take part in Nuclear Planning Group meetings.

With the Russian army retreating under the blows of Ukrainian forces armed with Western weapons, Putin raised the stakes by annexing four Ukrainian regions and declaring a par tial mobilisation of up to 300,000 reservists to buttress the crumbling front line.

As his war plans have gone awry, Putin has repeat edly signalled that he could resort to nuclear weapons to protect the Russian gains.

The threat is also aimed at deterring NATO nations from sending more sophisticated weapons to Ukraine.

In an interview with France 2 television on Wednesday, French Presi dent Emmanuel Macron warned about the respon sibilities of leaders when it comes to nuclear rhetoric.

He said he has spoken to Putin “several times.”

“We have a (nuclear) doctrine which is clear,” Macron said. “The dissua sion is working. But then, the less we talk about it, the less we brandish the threat, the more credible we are.”

“Too many people are talking about it,” he said.

Earlier this week, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg described Putin’s remarks as “dan gerous and reckless,” and underlined that the allies “have also conveyed clearly to Russia that it will have severe consequences if they use nuclear weapons in any way.” Stoltenberg warned that it “would be absolutely the wrong signal to send” if the world’s biggest security organisation were to cancel the maneuvers.

“NATO’s firm, predict able behaviour, our military strength, is the best way to prevent escalation,” he said.

“If we now created the grounds for any misun derstandings, miscalcula tions in Moscow about our willingness to protect and defend all allies, we would increase the risk of escala tion.”

Nepalese PM Deuba sacks four ministers representing Janata Samajwadi Party

KATHMANDU, OCT 13 (PTI): Nepalese Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba on Thursday sacked four ministers represent ing the Janata Samajwadi Party (JSP), which left the ruling coalition last week after joining hands with the CPN-UML for the upcom ing polls.

“On the recommenda tion of the prime minister, the President has relieved four ministers of their re sponsibilities,” the Kath mandu Post newspaper reported, citing a statement issued by the President’s Office on Thursday eve ning. Those relieved from the ministerial position

include Minister for Fed eral Affairs and General Administration Rajendra Shrestha, Minister for Forest and Environment

Pradeep Yadav, Minister for Physical Infrastructure

Mohammad Istiyak Rai and Minister for Agricul ture and Livestock Mrigen dra Kumar Singh.

According to the code of conduct of the Election Commission, even if these ministers are removed, the chances of the prime min ister being able to appoint new ministers are very low.

The EC states that new ap pointments in the Cabinet will violate the election code of conduct.

Janata Samajbadi leaders had argued that they hadn’t quit the govern ment but only partnered with the UML for the elec tions in some constituen cies.

Prime Minister Deuba had discussed the matter with the CPN (Maoist Centre), the CPN (Unified Socialist), and the Rastriya Janamorcha. The coali tion partners were divided on the issue even though Deuba was firm on sacking them, the paper reported.

Some leaders had sug gested only relieving them of their duties and render ing them ministers without portfolio.

China accuses US of ‘Cold War thinking’ in security strategy Ukraine’s Kyiv area hit by Iranian-made kamikaze drones

BEIJING, OCT 13 (AP):

The Chinese government on Thursday accused Washing ton of “Cold War thinking” and appealed for efforts to repair strained relations after President Joe Biden released a national secu rity strategy that calls for “out-competing China” and blocking its efforts to re shape global affairs.

The foreign ministry also accused Washington of trade protectionism after Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said the United States would reinforce its glob al supply chains to guard against “geopolitical coer cion” by China, Russia and other governments.

Biden’s document

Wednesday accused China of trying to “erode US al liances” and “create more permissive conditions for its own authoritarian model.” It called for “out-competing China” in political alliances and “global governance” as well as business, technology and military affairs.

US-Chinese relations are at their lowest level in de cades, strained by disputes over technology, security, Taiwan and human rights.

“Cold War thinking and zero-sum games, sen sationalising geopolitical conflicts and great power competition are unpopular and unconstructive,” said Foreign Ministry spokesper son Mao Ning. She called

on Washington to “meet China halfway and promote China-US relations back to a healthy and stable track.”

The White House doc ument calls for the United States to “maintain a com petitive edge” over China, which has antagonised Ja pan, India and other neigh bours with an increasingly assertive foreign policy and growing military.

China’s multibilliondollar Belt and Road Initia tive to build ports, railways and other infrastructure across Asia and Africa has fed concern in Washington, Moscow and other capitals that Beijing is trying to build its strategic influence and undermine theirs.

Bus bombing kills 18 Syrian troops, wounds dozens

BEIRUT, OCT 13 (AP): A bus bombing on Thursday killed 18 Syrian soldiers in a Damascus suburb and wounded at least 27 others, Syria’s state media reported citing a military source, as fighting in the country’s north picked up. Similar attacks over the past years have killed and wounded dozens of soldiers in government-held parts of the war-torn country.

Last March, militants at tacked a military bus near Pal myra in central Syria, killing 13 troops and wounding 18 others.

Syrian authorities in the past have blamed such attacks on Islamic State group militants who have been active in southern and central Syria, despite losing territorial control in the country since 2019.

Syrian authorities in the past have blamed such attacks on Islamic State group militants who have been active in southern

and central Syria, despite losing territorial control in the country since 2019.

In northern Syria, members of an al-Qaida-linked group cap tured a town that had been held by Turkey-backed opposition fighters since 2018.

The capture of the town of Afrin by members of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, Arabic for the Levant Liberation Committee, which is the strongest militant group in the rebel-held north west, came after days of fighting between rival insurgent groups in the area. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an opposition war moni tor, said HTS captured some 30 military posts in the area from Turkey-backed groups.

The fighting was triggered by last week’s killing of a citizen journalist and his wife who were shot dead while on a motorcycle in the northern town of al-Bab.

KYIV, OCT 13 (AP): Ukraine’s capital region was struck by Iranian-made kamikaze drones early on Thursday, officials said, sending rescue workers rushing to the scene as resi dents awoke to air raid sirens for the fourth consecutive morning following Russia’s major assault across the country earlier this week.

Kyiv regional governor Oleksiy Kuleba said the strike occurred in the area around the capital. It wasn’t yet clear if there were any casualties.

Deputy head of the presidential office Kyrylo Tymoshenko said on Tele gram that “critical infra structure facilities” in the area were hit, without of fering any details on which ones. In the southern city of

Mykolaiv, overnight shelling destroyed a five-story apart ment building as fighting continued along Ukraine’s southern front.

Mykolaiv Mayor Olek sandr Sienkovych said the building’s top two floors were completely destroyed in a single strike and the rest

of the building was left in rubble. There were no im mediate reports of dead or wounded.

Early morning attacks on Ukraine’s southern front have become a daily oc currence in Russia’s war as Kyiv’s forces push a coun teroffensive aimed at recap

turing territory occupied by Moscow.

Attacks on Kyiv had become rare before the capi tal city was hit at least four times during Monday’s mas sive strikes, which killed at least 19 people and wound ed more than 100 across the country.

Western leaders this week pledged to send more weapons to Ukraine, in cluding air defense systems

and weapons Kyiv has said are critical to defeating the invading Russian forces. Britain said on Thursday that it will provide mis siles for advanced NASAM anti-aircraft systems that the Pentagon plans to send to Ukraine in coming weeks.

It’s also sending hundreds of additional aerial drones for information gathering and logistics support, plus 18 more howitzer artillery guns.

NATO Secy Gen Jens Stoltenberg, speaks with U.S. Secy for Defense Lloyd J. Austin III prior to a media conference. (AP)

A man drives his motorcycle past a destroyed car in the retaken village of Velyka Oleksandrivka, Ukraine, October 12. (AP)

Alexander Venediktov

‘About Us’, Gideon & others to perform at DLSU golden jubilee night

Vin Diesel dethrones Prince William as 2022 World’s Hottest Bald Man

Dimapur

Lotha Students Union (DLSU) is all set to celebrate its golden jubilee on October 14 and 15, at Dimapur Government Col lege (DGC). The two-day celebration will also witness jubilee night on the last day from 5 pm onwards where “About Us” band will be performing as the headliner band, featuring the bandThe Paradigm Shift, artistes Gideon Kithan and Meri beni Patton.

Announcing this in a press conference on Thurs day at DDSC ground, gold en jubilee organizing com mittee convener, K Mhachio Lotha said that the jubilee night will be open air free concert, where everyone is invited to witness the con cert. The special invitees of

the Nite include, 2 DimapurII A/C MLA Moatoshi Longkumer and YM Humt soe, secretary to the govern ment of Nagaland (retd) and vice president Nationalist Democratic Progressive Party (NDPP) Nagaland.

The band “About Us” and Indian ‘Experimental melodic hard rock’ has re cently signed a record deal with Frontiers Records Srl, Naples Italy. (The label that promote established names like – Mr. Big, Def Leppard, Extreme, White Snake, Mi chael Kiske, Stryper, White Lion to name a few).

The band will be per forming ten songs (five origi nals and five cover songs).

On the upcoming project, the band “About Us” in formed that their first album will be released in the month

of November this year. “The band is working on our sec ond album”, the band vocal Sochan Kikon added.

The Paradigm Shift band is a rock band of five members. They have won 11 various music contests, during 2019. They will be performing seven songs which will also include their originals. Gideon Kithan, a 7-year-old guitarist from

Dimapur in Nagaland has emerged as a viral sensation at the turn of the year. He will be performing three pieces during the event.

Meribeni Patton, a solo artiste and a vocal trainer will also be performing on the day. In regard to the management of organiz ing the two-day event, the organizers said that keeping in mind the celebration of

the day to commemorate its inception and with the concept to remember and pay tribute to the pioneers, the committee was set up for the celebration.

“No fund raise was organized but it is solely organized with the help of event partners, sponsors and well-wishers from various community”, informed the committee. (Staff Reporter)

Duke of Cambridge Prince William has been defeated by Hollywood star Vin Diesel for the title of 2022 World’s Hottest Bald Man.

According to a study carried out by SEO agency Reboot, the Dominic To retto in the ‘Fast & Furious’ film franchise claimed the honour for 2022 with a score of 6.46 out of 10.

Different aspects such as facial Golden Ratio, Twitter sentiment analysis, net worth and height are considered in the study, re ports aceshowbiz.com.

The study also looked at the cranial shine factor for each heartthrob. These aspects were then used to create an index score out of 10.

The study shows that Diesel’s head is rather shiny, with a cranial luminance of

Raja Kumari nominated for ‘Best Indian Act’ at MTV EMA 2022

563.65 candelas per square meter, which means his head reflects light with 70.46 per cent of the luminous intensity of a standard light bulb. The 55-year-old actor is also slightly taller than the average male, at 5-foot-9.

Prince William, who previously won the title two times in-a-row, dropped to No. 5 this year with a score of 6.13.

regarding Prince William depict him as sexy.

The runner-up place went to actor Stanley Tucci, with a score of 6.33. Though “S.W.A.T.” actor Shemar Moore has a shinier head than Diesel with his head reflecting light at 71.85 per cent of a standard light bulb, he came in at number three slot.

Hip-hop

artiste Raja Kumari has been nominated for the fifth time for the ‘Best Indian Act’ at the MTV Europe Music Awards 2022, which is scheduled to be held on November 13.

She has been nominated for her song ‘Made In India’ for which she collabo rated with Bollywood star Madhuri Dixit.

Talking about her experience and the year so far, she said: “It has been an incredible year and I am looking forward to the rest of it. The support and love that my fans have always shown me has left me speechless. I’m happiest when I see my fans dancing to my music.”

Reacting to the news of receiving the nomination, she said: “I am thrilled to re ceive this nomination for ‘Made in India’ at the prestigious MTV Europe Music Awards 2022. This song holds a special place in my heart, and I had a wonderful time working on it. This is a big moment for all of us and I wish luck to all the other talented nominees.”

Some points that man aged to keep him in the top five include his tall height at 6-foot-2, which puts him as the second tallest in the group. The study shows that 15.69 per cent of all tweets

Meanwhile, Diesel’s former ‘Fast & Furious co-star Dwayne Johnson only came in at No. 9. At 6-foot-4, the former wres tler-turned-actor is the tallest of the group and scored 3.62 out of 10. (IANS)

FELICITATION

Lil Mama Tips performing live on stage of “Harman Fest Dimapur 2022”. Harman Fest is underway at Nihatu Resort on October 13 and 14 which is aimed at introducing new product range of Harman and to train the people on the same. There are 4 bands performing from 5:30 pm onwards on both days to help people understand how different genre on music will sound on these systems. The event is free for all to attend.

Public voting for all award categories is currently live on the MTV EMA’s web site. The awards ceremony will be held in Dusseldorf, Germany on November 13, 2022. (IANS)

The organisers during the press conference at DDSC Stadium on Thursday. (NP)

Sports have unifying power, have no barriers: Abu Metha

DIMAPUR, OCT 13 (NPN): Associate vice president of Athletics Federation of India (AFI), Abu Metha, who is also the secretary general of Nagaland Olympic Association (NOA) and the advisor to chief minister, said that sports have a unifying power to bring people together, adding that sports have no barriers and knows no differentiation.

He was speaking at the inaugural programme of first ever inter-college/ university annual sports event “St. Joseph Trophy” organised by St. Joseph University (SJU), Nagaland as the special guest on Thursday at the university campus. The event will culminate on October 15.

Expressing gratitude to the Catholic community for their innumerable service in all spheres of life, Metha emphasized how sports and games have changed in the present times and how sports now require professionalism and can be pursued as a vocation. He exhorted the students to aspire and to work hard towards their

KDVA to organise referee clinic

DIMAPUR, OCT 13 (NPN): Kohima District Volleyball Association (KDVA) will be organizing a three-day volleyball referee clinic at IG Stadium Kohima from October 17 - 19.

Trainers including Baleshwar Singh and Romeo Singh, both international volleyball referees will be the resource persons during the clinic. Any interested candidate other than Kohima district can participate in the clinic by obtaining forwarding letter from their respective district volleyball association. Each district volleyball association can forward five candidates each for the same.

Interested candidates can download the application form through the link at https:// volleyballkoh.wixcite.com/ kdva and submit a print-out copy on or before October 15 at Sports World, Kohima, opposite Bank of Baroda.

goals. He also suggested the management to look into the probability of opening an official department of Sports Science which would be a first in the state. In this regard, he assured that there would be support from the government of Nagaland and Nagaland Olympics Association to make the university a centre of sports in the state. He further encouraged all the participants to play in the spirit of sportsmanship.

The event was organised to foster a feeling of unity and sportsmanship among the student community. It aimed at

creating a healthy spirit of competition among higher educational institutions within Nagaland.

The sporting event has been planned for three days where sports such as football, basketball and volleyball will be played among the 16 colleges and universities that have registered for the competition.

The special invitee was retired medical officer and a well-wisher of SJU, Dr. John Murry. The masters of c eremonies for the three-day event were assistant professors, Betina, Atoholi and Pelesinuo, in

the department of English, Management and Zoology respectively.

The inaugural ceremony began with the SJU choir singing the National Anthem which was followed by a prayer offered by MMI campus manager, Fr. Sezhiyan; formal introduction about the St. Joseph University Trophy by assistant professor, department of English, Betina Vashi; welcome address by registrar SJU, Dr. K Sethupathy, and keynote address was delivered by vice chancellor SJU, Dr. Gnanadurai.

The programme also witnessed cultural events such as cultural fusion (folk dance), a folk song promoting women empowerment and a mime by MMI brothers about never giving up in life. It was followed by the vote of thanks delivered by dean of students’ affairs SJU, Charles Mhonthung Ezung. The anthem of St. Joseph University was sung by the SJU choir which was followed by the oath taking.

Women’s Asia Cup: India beat Thailand; enter final

SYLHET (BANGLADESH), OCT 13 (IANS): Shafali Verma made a quickfire 42 while Deepti Sharma bagged phenomenal figures of 3/7 as India defeated Thailand by 74 runs to enter the final of Women’s Asia Cup at the Sylhet International Cricket Stadium on Thursday.

After India posted 148/6 in their 20 overs on a sluggish pitch, their bowlers produced another stunning show to restrict Thailand to 74/9 in their 20 overs. India will now await the winner of the second semi-final between Pakistan and Sri Lanka, to be held later in the afternoon, to see who they come up against in the title clash on Saturday.

Pushed into batting first, Shafali got going with a brace of boundaries via sweep and loft in the first three overs. After Shafali got a reprieve as the cover fielder co’ldn’t take the catch, Smriti Mandhana

sweetly punched a backfoot drive through cover to make it third boundary in the third over. Shafali then took on Chanida Sutthiruang, by striking successive fours off her deliveries through midon. The opening partnership ended on 38 when Smriti hit a full toss straight to mid-on off Phannita Maya. Shafali marched on to swipe through mid-wicket for four and smacked Thipatcha Putthawong for a huge six over long-on.

Shafali’s 28-ball knock ended when she was caught by a sharp silly mid-on off Sornnarin Tippoch in the tenth over. Jemimah Rodrigues and captain Harmanpreet Kaur joined forces to hit five boundaries in the next three overs before the former was beaten in flight and holed out to longon in the 14th over.

Harmanpreet hung around to hit back-to-back fours through the gap in off-side before holing out

Team India celebrate during their match against Thailand. to deep mid-wicket in the 18th over as Thailand made a good comeback in the last five overs, conceding 31 runs and taking three wickets, including of Richa Ghosh and Deepti Sharma, to keep India to 148/6.

Brief scores: India

148/6 in 20 overs (Shafali Verma 42, Harmanpreet Kaur 36; Sornnarin Tippoch 3-24) beat Thailand 74/9 in 20 overs (Nattaya Boochatham 21, Naruemol Chaiwai 21; Deepti Sharma 3-7, Rajeshwari Gayakwad 2-10) by 74 runs

Late K SOMI Born on : 01/01/1971 Died on : 06/10/2022

We, the bereaved family members of Lt. K. Somi would like to express our thankfulness to each and every individual, churches, friends, neighbours, organisations and well wishers who stood by us emotionally, physically, financially and upholding us in your prayers at the sudden demise of our beloved, who left for his eternal home on 06/10/2022.

We deeply regret our inability to thank each and every individual but your act of kindness will always be remembered. We pray that our Almighty God bless you abundantly.

wife, sons, relatives and in-laws

Abu Metha speaking at the programme

Nagaland U-17 boys team lift Subroto Cup

KOHIMA/NEW

DELHI, OCT 13 (NPN/

NSF: Head Hunters, Gaziphema win

Correspondent

AGENCIES):

The Subroto Cup Boys Under-17 crown came to Nagaland after 42 years as Pilgrim Higher Secondary School (PHSS), Dimapur beat Government Model Higher Secondary School (GMHSS), Chandigarh 1-0 at the Dr. Bhimrao Ambedkar Stadium in New Delhi on Thursday.

After the game kicked off, the boys from Nagaland played the more enterprising football. Captain Bapen and Thanglenngam combined together well on the left flank where most of the attacks were created. Chandigarh had the best chance of the half when tournament top scorer Lemmet of GMHSS tested Nagaland goalkeeper Shotok, who saved well to keep the scores even.

The second half was an even affair with both teams not able to create any clear-cut opportunities taking the game to extra time. Nagaland however, looked the more compact and organized in attack throughout the game.

The goal came early in the first half of extra time, when off a Tongtinlen corner, Setungchim, who had scored a hat-trick in the semi-finals, rose highest to deflect a header past Rohit in the Chandigarh goal.

Nagaland team on their way to final beat Kejriwal High School, Bihar 3-1, Fountain Head School, Surat 16–0 and Banpother Bengenabari HSS, Assam 2–0 in the league matches to top the Pool G.

The team also bested St. Anthony’s High School, Meghalaya in quarters via penalty shootout 5-4.

In their semi-final match, they defeated CT Higher Secondary School Manipur, 3–1 to make it into the final round.

The 61st Subroto Cup edition began on September 6 where a total of 92 schools representing 25 States and Union Territories of India participated in the three (U14 Boys, U-17 Girls, U-17 Boys) categories including

a team from Bangladesh.

Earlier, speaking at the prize distribution, Air Chief Marshal V.R. Chaudhari said, “It was heartening to see two fine young teams battle it out so intensely for what is undoubtedly the premiere school football prize in the country. Today’s match once again reiterates that there is no dearth of talent in the country when it comes to football or any other sport.” Olympic silver medalist wrestler and

Guest of Honour Ravi Dahiya also shared his thoughts and emotions saying, “Sport in itself is a great guru for kids. It imbibes discipline and focus at a very young age. These are values which go a long way in the making of a successful human being.”

“Therefore, I urge the young to take up one sport, any sport, in your life and pursue it. It will not only make you a fitter individual, but also a responsible citizen and a good human being. I congratulate all the winners of today and wish them a bright future ahead.”

Individual Awards

Best Player - Lemmet Tangvah, GMHSS, Chandigarh.

Best Goalkeeper - Shotok Nikhuyi, PMHSS, Nagaland.

Best Coach - Ankur Khanna, GMHSS, Chandigarh.

Best School - Pilgrim HSS, Dimapur, Nagaland

Fair Play Trophy - 10+2 Zila School, Chabasia, Jharkhand.

KOHIMA, OCT 13 (NPN): Head Hunters FC and Vafümai Gaziphema

FC turned out to be the favorite teams on day 6 of the ongoing 22nd NSF Martyr’s Trophy played at IG Stadium, here on Thursday.

In the first match for the day, defending champions Head Hunters decimated Pfosemei 9-1.

Head Hunters’ Chingsha (10) was the star of the match scoring 4 goals in the 11th, 25th, 31st and 33rd minutes of the game earning himself a hat-trick in the process.

His teammate Samson (9) added 2 goals to the tally in the 43rd and 77th minutes.

While the remaining 3 goals were equally shared by Haotingmang (21), Khampei (8) and Thanglenhao (11) in the 21st, 72nd and 73rd minutes respectively.

The face saver goal for Pfosemei FC was scored by Sibo Ashuzhüo in the 76th minute. He also won the man of the match.

In the second match,

Vafümai Gaziphema

FC defeated Khuzama Students’ Care Union (KSCU) 5-1 and progressed to the next round.

Gaziphema’s D Naile (3) initiated the score in the 2nd minute helping the team to lead the match early on. However, KSCU’s Zayiese (6) equalised the scoresheet in the 11th minute.

Later in the 45th minute, Gaziphema’s Ngachano (15) doubled the team score.

The third goal for Gaziphema was netted

by Dahru (9) in the 55th minute.

Towards the end of the game, Gaziphema’s substitutes Zusho (25) and Wetshokhro (8) each added a goal in the 73rd and 90th minute bringing the game to a disappointing end for KSCU.

Gaziphema’s PM Rakevieche was awarded man of the match.

FRIDAY’S MATCHES

New Market FC vs Go Live FC CBCK - 11:30 a.m.

Kelhoukevira FC vs Bucaneers FC - 1:30 p.m.

‘Catch Them Young’ tournament begins Hyderabad FC thrash Northeast United 3-0 in ISL

DIMAPUR, OCT 13

(AGENCIES): The 14 inter-district “Catch Them Young” tournament 2022 got underway at Indra Gandhi Stadium, Kohima on October 13. The tournament was declared open by principal secretary to the chief minister and development commissioner, Government of Nagaland, A.S Bhatia, as the special guest. In the first boys’ Sepaktakraw match, Phek district defeated Noklak.

Addressing the gathering, Bhatia urged all the 16 districts’ young participants to maintain the three required international ethics in sports - discipline, hard work and dedication. He said besides learning sports from schools, the government also provides facilities including coaches and puts more effort to identify young and talented kids to groom them to bring medals at the state, national and international levels.

He encouraged the players, who were selected from the respective districts that they are the beginning of the journey for this Sepaktakraw sport. He added that sports teach a lot of life skills to them on how to perform in a team and understand the strength and weaknesses in partnership. He asserted that sports teach things that people would never learn in books which would take them a long way in life, and urged them to be professional and avail the opportunity. Bhatia said the sportspersons should accept their wins and losses in equal strength.

He also thanked the three international players Viseyie Koso, Akumtila, Vesevilü Dozo, who shared their experiences during this event after bringing laurels to the state. President, Nagaland Sepaktakraw Association, Ruokuo Kire in his short speech lauded the Youth Resource and Sports department for allowing Sepaktakraw to develop from grass root level through the conduct of this Inter-district ‘Catch Them Young’ tournament. He informed that Sepaktakraw is 25 years old in Nagaland and constantly maintained the top 5 level in the National Ranking (Girls-3, Boys -5). “The Nagaland Sepaktakraw team competed in 44 regional and National Championships and achieved 74 medals for the state at 25 years old in Nagaland”, he added.

Indian Army’s motorcycle expedition arrives Dimapur

GUWAHATI, OCT 13 (AGENCIES): Hyderabad FC secured their first win of the season after a dominant 3-0 victory over NorthEast United FC in the Indian Super League (ISL) at the Indira Gandhi Athletic Stadium in Guwahati. Hyderabad FC dominated the game as Bartholomew Ogbeche, Halicharan Narzary and Borja Herrera got their names on the scoresheet. They finished the game with nine shots on target while NEUFC could only muster two.

In the 13th minute, there was a sign of what was to come for the Highlanders, when Mohamed Irshad brought Halicharan Narzary down on the left flank and had his name taken by the referee. From the resulting freekick, Mohammad Yasir whipped a beautiful ball into the box and Bartholomew Ogbeche simply side-footed the ball into the back of the

net to give Hyderabad FC an early lead over NE United.

Midway through the first half, Hyderabad FC broke on the counter with Yasir. The winger played an inch-perfect low pass to Narzary on the opposite flank. Narzary then played the ball into the path of

Javier Siverio before the Spaniard’s attempt was superbly saved by Arindam Bhattacharja at full stretch.

In the final minute of first-half stoppage time, NorthEast United came close to leveling the score. Romain Philippoteaux’s cross from the right flank

was parried by Nikhil Poojary and went straight to Jon Gaztanaga. Ogbeche stepped up to take the penalty but Bhattacharja went the correct way to deny the Nigerian, keeping the Highlanders in the game briefly.

Closing in on the

hour mark, the NorthEast United FC shot-stopper produced another great save. Hitesh Sharma crossed the ball in from the left flank before Siverio’s goal-bound header was palmed away by Bhattacharja. Minutes later, substitute Rochharzela found Matt Derbyshire with a cross, only for the striker to put it wide of the post.

In the 69th minute, yet another instance of sloppiness from NorthEast United FC resulted in a goal-scoring chance that was successfully taken. Bhattacharja rolled the ball towards Bora, who was robbed of it by Narzary. The 28-year-old kept his composure and slotted in Hyderabad FC’s 100th ISL goal. Four minutes later, Narzary combined well with substitute Borja Herrera on the left flank. Herrera scored Hyderabad FC’s third goal of the evening, just two minutes after coming on.

DIMAPUR, OCT 13 (NPN):

The Army Service Corps (ASC) Tornadoes comprising one officer, two JCOs and sixteen other ranks led by Capt AS Grewal are undertaking a motorcycle expedition of North Eastern states to commemorate Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav and pay homage to martyrs.

Team Tornadoes embarked upon this adventure on October 1 from Tezpur and reached Dimapur on the day-12 of their expedition from Leimakhong, Manipur.

Enroute from Leimakhong to Rangapahar Military Station (Dimapur), Tornadoes paid homage to Captain Kenguruse, MVC at his native village Nerhema (Nagaland). An ASC officer, captain Kenguruse was attached with 2 Rajputana Rifles during Kargil operations. Owing to his unflinching bravery during the operations, Captain Kenguruse was

awarded the Mahavir Chakra (Posthumously), the second highest award for an act of bravery in the face of enemy.

Neiselie and Dinuo Kenguruse, the parents of Captain Kenguruse, along with his brother Atoulie Kenguruse were present at the Kenguruse War Memorial during the wreath laying ceremony by the Tornadoes team.

After an overnight halt at Rangapahar on October 12, the team paid homage to martyrs at the War Memorial, Rangapahar Military Station and was flagged off on October 13 by Lt Genl RC Tiwari,AVSM, SM, for their onward journey to Jorhat and Dinjan.

The expedition is sponsored by Royal Enfield and will cover 2600 km to pay homage to the brave hearts who valiantly fought various wars and gave supreme sacrifice of their lives.

Players of NE United FC and Hyderabad FC vie for the ball during the ISL match. (PTI)

Head Hunters’ captain Haotingmang (sky blue) dribbling the ball past a Pfosemai player. (NP)

A.S Bhatia speaking at the inaugural programme. (DIPR)

Lt Genl RC Tiwari flagging off the motorcycle expedition.

Setungchim scoring the winning goal through a header during the final match.