17 Jan 22

Nagaland Post www.nagalandpost.com

Vol XXXII No. 41

DIMAPUR, MONDAY, JANUARY 17, 2022 Pages 12 ` 5.00

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SPORTS, PAGE 12

Long wait for justice for victims at Oting

Staff Reporter

D I M A P U R , JA N 1 6 (NPN): Many serious crimes in the state are stuck for months or even years, as charge sheets cannot be prepared due to pending reports of forensic analysis on material evidences from the crime scene(s).

To highlight this issue, the Special Investigation Team (SIT) instituted on December 5, 2021 by the state government to probe the Oting Massacre that took place on December 4, 2021 was to submit its report within a month. The SIT could only submit its “preliminary report” to the Nagaland government on January 9.

As reported, ADG (L&O) Sandeep Tamgadge, who was also supervising the SIT, had said that the SIT will submit its final report once it gets inputs from the Central Forensics Science Laboratory

(File photo) Minister P Paiwang, DGP TJ Longkumer and senior officials at the incident site on December 5, 2021.

(CFSL) at Guwahati and Hyderabad.

The one-month timeline of the SIT ended on January 5.

Forensic experts from the Guwahati and Hyderabad Forensic Science Laboratories had reportedly collected material evidences from the site during December 21-22, 2021.

It appears that “justice” as demanded over the Oting massacre will have to be played out in other states. There is no guaran-

tee when the FSL reports of the Oting Massacre will be completed due to the fact that reports of states where the labs are located, generally get priority.

One official, speaking on condition of anonymity speculated that the Forensics Science Laboratory report could take another month or two.

The official also said that the Oting incident was a very sensitive issue with the Centre (Home ministry) and the onus should be

with the state government to press for early completion of the FSL report.

The official also lamented that while the state government talked about improving the functioning of the law enforcement agency (notably police) very little has been done on the ground to prove sincerity and seriousness.

The official cited the issue of Nagaland still not having an operational Forensic Science Laboratory and police have to send material evidence for analysis to either Kolkata, Guwahati or Hyderabad.

Nagaland has shown little interest in setting up of a Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) even decades after the Forensic department was established. Most of the other North Eastern states already have operational FSL which analyse and provide report on material evidences.

Gov, CM, DyCM greet on Mimkut DIMAPUR, JAN 16 (NPN): Nagaland governor Prof. Jagdish Mukhi, chief minister Neiphiu Rio and deputy CM Y. Patton have extended Mimkut greetings to the Kuki community and the people of Nagaland.

Mukhi said that the festival expresses exhilaration and triumphant over the harvest of Mim (Maize) which is the last harvest crop of the season. During the celebration, he said Kuki community exhibit their magnificent traditions and customs, their ethnic culture are also expressed through art work that represent their (Cont’d on p-7) roots.

This is it!

"Imagine that rascal left our party and now we're welcoming him like a hero."

K Y M C

have increased to 15,50,377, the highest in 225 days, while the death toll has climbed to 4,86,066 with 314 fresh fatalities, the data updated at 8 am stated.

The active cases comprise 4.18% of the total infections, while the national Covid-19 recovery rate has decreased to 94.51%, the ministry said. An increase of 1,32,557 cases has been recorded in the active COVID-19 caseload in 24 hours.

The daily positivity rate was recorded at 16.28 per cent, while the weekly positivity rate was recorded at 13.69 per cent, according to the ministry. The number of people who have recuperated from the disease surged to 3,50,85,721, while the case fatality rate was recorded at 1.31 per cent.

The ministry stressed that more than 70 per cent of the deaths occurred due to comorbidities.

“Our figures are being reconciled with the Indian Council of Medical Research,” the ministry said on its website, adding that statewise distribution of figures is subject to further verification and reconciliation.

R-value drops to 2.2 between Jan 7 & 13

I n d i a ’s ‘ R - va l u e ’ , which indicates how rapidly Covid-19 is spreading, was recorded at 2.2 between January 7 and 13, a drop from the previous two weeks, according to a preliminary analysis by IIT Madras.

The R value of Mumbai was 1.3, Delhi 2.5, Chen-

INTERNATIONAL, PAGE 9

IMD predicts rainfall across NE states

DIMAPUR, JAN 16 (NPN): India Meteorological Department (IMD) has predicted isolated to scattered light/moderate rainfall over Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram and Tripura on January 19 and 20.

The weather office has also forecast dense to very dense fog likely over East Uttar Pradesh and dense fog in isolated pockets over West Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, north Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Assam & Meghalaya and Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram and Tripura.

The Meteorological Department has also predicted cold day to severe cold day conditions in the Northern parts of India-Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh, Delhi, West Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh (Cont’d on p-8) and Rajasthan.

India logs biggest one-day jump of 2.71L Covid cases NEW DELHI, JAN 16 (PTI): India registered 2,71,202 new Covid infections in a day--its highest daily count in eight months, taking the total tally of Covid-19 cases to 3,71,22,164, including 7,743 cases of Omicron variant, Health ministry said on Sunday.

The daily deaths due to infection stood at 314. With this, the number of people who have succumbed to the virus rose to 4,86,066.

The country saw 1,702 new cases of Omicron variant, the highest in a single day so far, and an increase of 28.17% since Saturday.

Experts said it is not possible to undertake genome sequencing of each and every sample, but stressed that this wave is largely being driven

by Omicron. The active cases

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nai 2.4 and Kolkata 1.6, according to the analysis

by IIT Madras’ department of Mathematics and Centre of Excellence for Computational Mathematics and Data Science headed by Prof Neelesh S Upadhye and Prof S Sundar. It was close to 2.9 nationally from December 25 to 31 while it was 4 between January 1 and 6.

The R value is the number of people that an infected person can in turn infect. A pandemic is considered to end if this value goes below 1.

Dr Jayant Jha, an assistant professor in the department of mathematics at IIT Madras, said the R value depends on transmissibility probability, contact rate and expected time interval in which infection can happen.

State logs 82 fresh Covid-19 cases DIMAPUR, JAN 16 (NPN): Nagaland on Sunday recorded 82 fresh Covid-19 positive cases while no deaths were reported during the day. Of the fresh cases, 72 were from Dimapur and 10 in Kohima pushing the total caseload to 32916.

Nagaland’s sample positivity rate (SPR) as on January 16 stood at 21.24% (Dimapur’s SPR stood at 29.39% and Kohima11.11%).

Meanwhile, till January 16, a total of 13,66,191 persons had been inoculated against Covid-19 (774065 first dose and 592126 second dose). Altogether 3839 beneficiaries were administered the booster shot and 18193 teenagers received their first dose of Covaxin shot.

India’s Covid vaccination programme saved lives, protected livelihoods: PM India surpasses 150 crore Covid vaccination mark NEW DELHI, JAN 16 (AGENCIES): Lauding citizens of the country after India achieved a milestone of administering over 150 crore Covid-19 vaccines, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday said that India is grateful to all those who have been working to make our vaccination drive a success.

On Sunday over 156.76 crore vaccine doses were administered.

Modi said that the vaccination drive has ensured that many lives are saved and advised all to keep following all Covid-19 related protocols.

In a series of tweet ,Modi said: “India is grate-

Narendra Modi

ful to all those who have been working to make our vaccination drive a success.

We thank our doctors, scientists, innovators and the health care workers who are vaccinating the people. I urge all those eligible to get their shots. Together, let's fight Covid-19.”

When the pandemic first struck, not much was known about the virus.

However, our scientists and innovators immersed themselves in developing vaccines, he noted.

“I salute each and every individual who is asso-

ciated with the vaccination drive,” he said, adding that the role of our doctors, nurses and healthcare workers is exceptional.

“When we see glimpses of people being vaccinated in remote areas, or our healthcare workers taking the vaccines there, our hearts and minds are filled with pride,” he said.

Modi asserted that India’s approach to fighting the pandemic will always remain science based.

Health infrastructure is also being augmented to ensure that fellow citizens get proper care, he said, asking people to keep following all Covid-19 related protocols.

Let us keep following all COVID-19 related protocols and overcome the pandemic, he added. Union Home Minister Amit Shah also congratulated the nation saying “with unity, we can achieve any target”.

Omicron a ‘deviant’, two pandemics going on side by side now: virologist NEW DELHI, JAN 16 (PTI): Omicron is a “deviant” from the COVID-19 pandemic progression script and so it must be postulated that two pandemics are going on side by side, one by the Delta and close relatives and the other by the latest variant of concern, said noted virologist Dr T Jacob John.

Speaking to PTI on how the pandemic can now be expected to progress, he pointed out that Omicron is not “fathered, or mothered,

by Wuhan-D614G, Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta, Kappa or Mu and That much is for sure”. “So, in my opinion, this is a variant of unknown proximal parentage but great great grandparent

was Wuhan-D614G… We shall see as the pandemic progresses,” John, a former director of the ICMR’s Centre of Advanced Research in Virology, said.

D614G refers to an amino acid mutation in this protein that has become increasingly common in SARS-CoV-2 viruses from around the world.

“Since Omicron is illegitimate or ‘deviant’ from COVID-19 pandemic progression script, we must think of two pandemics going on side by side — Delta and close relatives, and Omicron and its variants in future. “Diseases caused by them are also different.

One is Pneumonia-hypoxiamultiorgan damage disease

but the other an upper/ middle respiratory disease that pushes pre-existing chronic disease or old age beyond the wall,” he said.

Asked if the peak of the third wave has been reached since cases have started plateauing in some places, John said metro cities started first and will finish first.

“All put together is a national epidemic,” he said.

On whether the upcoming COVID-19 variants would be more infectious but less lethal, John said generally new pathogens get adapted to human hosts and in the process tend to become more infectious and less pathogenic, within limits.

RPP slams govt’s compulsory Covid vax directive Tenure of executive extended by DIMAPUR, JAN 16 (NPN): Rising People’s Party (RPP) has slammed the state government’s recent notification making Covid-19 vaccine compulsory for students of class IX and above in order to attend offline classes, terming it as discriminatory and highly outrageous.

Pointing out that deputy commissioner of Kiphire had through a notification on December 3, 2021 made it mandatory for anyone entering the district to be vaccinated and the notification of ADC Meluri November 29, 2021 also made it illegal for unvaccinated people to enter the ADC office and SBI, Meluri, RPP asked “Are we living in a banana republic that DCs/

administrative officers should behave as dictators, issuing illegal notifications?”

RPP wondered whether the State government knew of the numerous court rulings in India that made it clear that vaccination was not mandatory, or that services could not be denied to citizens based on vaccination status, including their entry into airports, trains, malls, cinema halls, recreation areas, etc.

Asking the UDA whether it would deny students their future, the party wanted to know which science was the ruling coalition relying on, or whether quacks were running the State.

When vaccination was not mandatory, the party asked why

the ruling coalition was so keen to show 100% vaccination status in the State and why government officers were moving about as safai karamcharis coercing villagers to vaccinate.

Further, wondering whether this was about Central funding and if the UDA was following Himanta Biswa Sarma, the party said the ruling coalition was behaving more and more like Sarma’s B team on Naga political issue to vaccination/COVID-19 policy. Appealing to all villagers to report to the party on its email id risingpeoplesparty@gmail. com in case of any officer or village council forcing anyone to take mandatory vaccination, the party in a statement declared that

it would file FIRs on their behalf.

Before the State government tries to impose its mandatory vaccination policy upon the hapless general public, the party demanded that the former should first provide data on the number of frontline workers already vaccinated.

RPP demanded that the government should withdraw/ modify the flawed notifications without delay, and expressed serious apprehension of breakdown of law and order situation in the State.

Challenging the ruling coalition for an open debate on the issue, the party asserted that it would not allow civil liberties of the people to be curtailed.

1 term due to pandemic: NGBF

DIMAPUR, JAN 16 (NPN): Nagaland GB Federation (NGBF) has clarified that all presidents and general secretaries of district federating units of Nagaland, including from two-sub-divisions, attended the October 7, 2021 annual executive meeting and unanimously decided to extend the tenure of present executive members constitutionally for one term, i.e., five years, in light of Covid-19 pandemic.

Sessional chairman T Nypuli and sessional secretary Hetoho S Jimomi said this in a statement in the interest of maintaining transparency in the eyes of public and to prevent any confusion that

might arise out of statements issued by any individual or groups of individuals acting at the behest of vested interests. They said the house had also resolved to convene the general session in Phek district as and when situation was conducive to hold such a meet. They mentioned that NGBF then had 12 districts and two subdivisions as federating units.

Pointing out that presidents and general secretaries of the districts, by virtue of their posts, were executive members of the federation, the duo asserted that the executive members have the constitutional power to decide on selection of office bearers.

Kohima War Cemetery among CWGC’s 5 sites with unusual features DIMAPUR, JAN 16 (NPN): The famous Kohima War Cemetery has been featured by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission as among the five sites with unusual features.

In its official website, CWGC said “The cemetery with a tennis court” has a feature that is possibly not shared by any other cemetery in the world.

“Each of our cemeteries tells its own story. As you A view of the tennis court at Kohima War Cemetery. walk through and read the names, dates and regiments build an understanding of and women commemorated on our headstones you can what happened to the men there. But you can also gath-

er clues about the history of the world wars by looking at the physical features of a cemetery,” CWGC said.

In 1944, following hard fighting in the Burmese jungle, the Japanese forces in the region pushed across Chindwin River and into India. In their path was the 14th Army, made up of forces from across the Commonwealth. This invasion hinged upon two key points, Imphal and Kohima. Defeat for the 14th Army meant that the Japanese could strike further into India.

The town of Kohima was of key strategic importance, at the highest point of the pass through the jungle mountains to the city of Dimapur. If Dimapur fell, then the defenders at Imphal would be cut off without supplies. On 3 April, a Japanese force of 15,000 attacked Kohima and its 2,500 strong garrison. The ridges at Kohima led to two weeks of difficult, bloody fighting as the defending forces were pushed back to the former house of the British deputy commissioner.

CWGC said the surviving defenders, encamped around the garden tennis court, prepared for their final stand. As the Japanese forces prepared to attack, they were attacked in turn by the lead tanks of a relief force, saving the garrison and pushing the attackers back.

In the battle at the tennis ground (now marked by white concrete lines) of the Deputy Commissioner’s bungalow (which was destroyed during the war), which also involved hand-to-hand fighting be-

tween the opposing forces, the Commonwealth forces prevailed over the Japanese forces and forced them to retreat in defeat Despite this setback, the Japanese force continued to fight for Kohima before they were finally forced to withdraw in May. Those who had fallen in the defence of Kohima were buried on the battlefield, which later became a permanent CWGC cemetery, with further burials from the surrounding areas.

(Cont’d on p-7) K Y M C

2

STATE

NAGALAND POST, DIMAPUR MONDAY, JANUARY 17, 2022

KTCRYF silver jubilee celebration concludes

A choir presenting special number during the jubilee celebration on Sunday. (NP)

Correspondent KOHIMA, JAN 16 (NPN): Two-day, Kohima Town Christian Revival Youth Fellowship (KTCRYF) Silver Jubilee celebraton came to an end on Sunday

at Union Christian Revival Church, New Market, Kohima.

A l t o ge t h e r, 1 5 Churches under KTCRYF came together and celebrated the jubilee.

The morning

congregation was led by T h e p f u l h o u z o Ts ü r h o while the word of God was preached by ACRCC advisory board, secretary, Rev. Vitsiepielie Nguzhü, on the topic, “Jihova meho zotuo” (God will hear me)

Micah 7:7.

Welcome address was delivered by pastor of the host church, Zhabu.

Aphrielie Phewhuo and Keneilevonuo Viluo delivered Bible verses each from the Old Testament and

New Testament respectively.

The congregation were presented with beautiful songs by the Jubilee Organizing Committee and the Jubilee Choir. The offertory prayer was said by Kevi Khana, pastor, CRC Bayavü Hill Kohima. The service concluded with a closing hymn “Jisu, No hie Kepfheu” followed by a mass benediction.

Thereafter, a closing ceremony was held in the evening led by Müdohü Kezo.The word of God on the topic “Ukosielie di chükhe” was preached by Beautiful Feet Ministry, chairman, Ado Kezo.

The Bible verses from the Old and New Testaments were read by Avi Shupao a n d Vi z o m e nu o Te t s o respectively. KTCRYF office bearers and Union CRC CYE, presented special songs, while the offertory prayer was pronounced by the prayer group.

Furthermore, the new office bearers were bestowed with the blessings of God through prayer. The vote of thanks was extended by Keduolhoulie Belho.

LDSU holds area conference at Longkhim town DIMAPUR: Longkhim Division Students’ Union (LDSU) held its first area conference from January 6-8 at Longkhim town under the theme “Discovering and creating possibilities”.

In a press release, Longkhim Division Students’ Union general s e c r e t a r y, T s a l e m s e Sangtam stated that main speakers of the conference were Rev.Y. Imti executive secretary USBLA, pastor Kijung president USBPU and pastor Rangpi president LAPF, where the students were

encouraged to discover their potentials and create more job avenues and be self dependent rather than the conventional method of depending or aiming only for the government jobs.

R.Sethrongchem Sangtam ex-candidate 52 A/C was the chief guest of the event. He exhorted the student community to be vigilant in choosing a right leader; as the need of the hour was a strong leadership.

D u r i n g t h e conference, workshop on “Road to science and

Aadhaar centre launched in Longleng

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Technology” was taken up r e s e a r c h s c h o l a r I I T

by Er. Bongliba Sangtam, Guwahati, “Leadership

NSCN (Niki) extends greetings DIMAPUR: NSCN/ GPRN (Niki) has extended greetings to the members of Yimkhiungs and Kuki communities on the occasion of Tsungkamneo a n d M i m k u t f e s t iva l s respectively.

In a message, NSCN (Niki) MIP said festival was a time to celebrate friendship and unity while also upholding Naga people’s distinct cultural heritage. It said that Nagas needed to be one with one common goal for peace and progress and hoped that the celebration of such colourful festival reignites the spirit of unity and brotherhood among the people. Further, NSCN (Niki) has wished the Yimkhiungs and Kukis prosperous year ahead.

E a r l i e r, N S C N / GPRN (Akato) extended war m g reetings to the Yimkhiungs and Kukis on the joyous occasion of Tsunkamneo and Mimkut festivals respectively. In a message, MIP NSCN/ GPRN (Akato) hoped that the two communities would continue to be the propagator of unity and brotherhood bonding amongst Nagas.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

“Yahweh shall go before you. He shall be with you; He shall not leave you or abandon you. Do not fear, then, or be discouraged.”

Deuteronomy 31: 8

LATE VIPRAZOLE TERESA RICHA, W/O THINUZHOSA FRANCIS RICHA BORN: 10/03/1946 – DIED: 13/01/2022 What a mighty God we serve. To God be the glory. There is so much comfort in knowing that we are not alone. Words of thanks seem so inadequate for all of the kindness that has been bestowed upon us. To everyone, your personal and encouraging visits, the generous contributions, the comforting calls, the sincere words of solace and other special gestures during this time have truly touched our hearts. We are especially appreciative for the fervent prayers whispered on our behalf. We are finding strength in knowing earth has no sorrows that heaven cannot heal. May Almighty God bless you all richly for blessing us.

DC-XXXX

We will miss you dearly, Rest in Peace Loving Husband, Children and Grand Children

REMEMBRANCE

1st DEATH ANNIVERSARY

1ST DEATH ANNIVERSARY of our beloved LT. KIVIHE ASSUMI

“He heals the broken hearted, and binds up their wounds.”

Psalms 147:3

LATE MRS LATONGMONGLA, CHUCHUYIMLANG DP-222/22

DIMAPUR: Aadhaar centre was launched on January 15, at DC office, Longleng.

According to DIPR, DC Longleng M. Shayung Phom in his short speech asser ted that opening of Aadhaar centre was necessary to avoid misunderstanding on the fees charged for the Aadhaar enrolment.

He informed that to avoid any problems in the future one administrative officer as a nodal officer was assigned to look into the affairs of the centre to redress any issues.

He therefore urged the gathered NGOs to extend cooperation and support and at the same time urged the Aadhaar supervisor to be sincere and give the best service to the people.

In his key note a d d r e ss, SD O c iv il Longleng, Trongdiba T Sangtam highlighted the hardships faced by the district administration headed by the DC to reinstall Aadhaar centre due to various factors. He informed that new Airtel internet connectivity was expensive and therefore fee charged for Aadhaar enrolment or corrections would be little higher compared to normal fees charged in other districts.

DA O L o n g l e n g , Yo n g j a n g P h o m a l s o spoke on requirement of Aadhaar for beneficiaries in various central flagship programmes and its importance in other purpose. He urged the gathering to provide right information during the Aadhaar enrolment.

Representatives from PPC, Phomla Hoichem, president all ward union lauded district administration for opening the Aadhaar centre.

Building” by Thrikyuse NDPM NSRLM RD Tuensang, “Education as a game changer” by T h s a j u n g l i , a dvo c a t e Dimapur and “Car rer guidance” was facilitated

by C. Sethrichem MD Better Life Foundation.

Competitions on volleyball, traditional firemaking, traditional bow and arrow shooting, debate etc were conducted. All together 350 students from 13 federating units took Executive chairman LDSU handing the presentation to part in the conference.

R. Sethrongchem.

DGP Nagaland, T. John Longkumer attended the 8th Triennial and 33rd general annual council of NPBCA at 8th NAP Naltoqa PBC on January 16.

17-01-2021 “To live in the hearts of those we love is never to die,” Loving wife, children, grandchildren & in-laws

BORN : 04/06/1953 – DIED : 17/01/2022

Oja, A day never passes without you in our thoughts We always miss and cherish your time with us As time passes we treasure your memories bit by bit Though you're gone, you are in our hearts We take solace and comfort praying we shall all meet one day.

At the feet of JESUS. DP-239/22

Loving, Husband, Children and Grandchildren

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

1st DEATH ANNIVERSARY of our beloved

Late Kelhousezhü Thomas Vizo

Late GHOHELI AYE 1934 – 13th Jan 2022 “And the dust returns to the ground it came from and the Spirit returns to God who gave it.” Ecclesiastes 12:7

Died on 17/01/2021

A year has gone by but your memories will never fade.

We love you and will forever hold you in our hearts.

You are loved beyond words and missed beyond measure.

Love and miss you everyday.

Till we meet again.

DP-245/22

K-102/22

Loving Wife, Children, In-Laws & Grandchildren

We, the bereaved family members express our profound gratitude to our relatives, neighbours, friends and well-wishers for your sympathy and support during our recent bereavement.

We would like to convey our special thanks to : 1) HAKHIZHE AKUKUHOU 2) IKISHE AKUKUHOU 3) CHQ CHURCH 4) CHQ NAGA ARMY KHEHOYI DESIGNATED CAMP 5) SITIMI We deeply regret our inability to thank each and every individual but we sincerely pray that God Almighty bless you all abundantly.

DP-244/22

Loving Family Members K Y M C

STATE

NAGALAND POST, DIMAPUR MONDAY, JANUARY 17, 2022

nagalandpost.com Poll Q.: Should state govt make it mandatory for testing of all travellers?

100% 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0%

A B C

NHAK prepared to tackle Covid-19: DC

–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– ––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

A

B

Yes. No. Can’t Say.

C

68% 28% 4%

NEXT POLL

Q: A r e

authorities checking rising prices of all commodities in the market?  Yes.  No.  Can’t Say.

WEATHER FORECAST JANUARY 17

(Temperature in ºC)

Max Min

Agartala Hazy sunshine

26 11

Mostly sunny and pleasant

22 8

Guwahati Mostly sunny and pleasant

26 9

Mostly cloudy

23 5

Aizawl Imphal

Itanagar Mostly sunny and delightful

22 10

Shillong

Mostly sunny

17 4

Kohima

Brilliant sunshine

19 6

Dimapur Delightful with sunshine

24 9

Sunny and comfortable

21 7

Mkg

Tuensang Sunny, but cooler

14 1

Abundant sunshine

19 9

Zunheboto Plenty of sunshine

18 5

Wokha

DC Kohima Gregory Thejawelie speaking at the sensitization programme on January 15.

DIMAPUR: DC Kohima Gregory Thejawelie on Saturday informed that Covid hospitals, particularly NHAK are fully prepared with sufficient required items including oxygen, manpower arrangement to deal with the third wave of corona infection.

According to DIPR, the DC said this at the interactioncum-sensitization programme on social health responsibility conducted in association with Kohima Municipal ward Panchayat (AKMWP) at DC’s Conference Hall Kohima.

He said depending on the

number of requirements, the number of beds in ICU as well as in all the ward rooms would be increased.

The DC also informed the members present at the meeting, that Meriema Covid Care hospital and Quarantine Speciality at K Badze have also been prepared with all the required items and facilities which can be utilised.

He therefore, requested all the representatives from Wards Panchayat to take up the enforcement particularly on wearing of mask in all their respective Wards Speaking at the meet-

ing, Chief Medical Officer, Dr.Vezokholu Theyo said that the programme’s objective was to protect the co-morbid group of people from Covid death. She informed that health camp will be organised in all the urban colonies for screening NCD /co-morbid disease and do mapping of the co-morbid disease prevalence in the community within one month in anticipation of the third wave that was projected to affect persons with co-morbid diseases and unvaccinated.

Targeted groups were 30 years and above, pregnant women

and those less than 30 years but have family history, she added.

She also informed that only 50% of people living in Urban areas knew their status of their blood pressure and blood sugar i.e. diabetics. Therefore, during this social health camp responsibility, the medical team will be visiting every household and do the mapping and identify those unknown status to get them medical intervention, Dr. Theyo said. She also added that once the medical team has done mapping, every individual will get free medicines through the National Urban Health Mission.

Therefore, the CMO has appealed to all the wards and community to extend their support in mobilising and organising teams to visit house to house for identification of persons with co-morbid diseases.

While stating the action plan for vaccination of 15 to 18 years, precaution dose for HCW, FLW, 60 + with co-morbid diseases in Kohima district, CMO Officer informed that all health centres will be Covid vaccination centres for 15 to 18 years in a phase manner as per the demand generation.

Starting with Kohima urban, all the health centres including HWC/SC are vaccination sites for 15-18 years beneficiaries and vaccine for 18 +, 15+ and precautionary dose will be offered everyday (Mon-Fri) at NHAK, UPHC Potterlane, and UPC Seikhazou also extra vaccination have been assigned as per requirement.

3 Longleng to impose restriction on unvaccinated persons

DIMAPUR: Longleng District Planning and Development Board (DPDB) has decided to restrict unvaccinated citizens from travelling and restrict entry to the banks and educational institutions in an attempt to achieve cent percent Covid vaccination.

According to DIPR report, the decision was taken during Longleng DPDB meeting held on January 15 at the Conference Hall of Deputy Commissioner (DC) Longleng under the chairmanship of DC Longleng, M. Shayung Phom.

The meeting decided to impose the restrictions following an order by the District Task Force (DTF).

It also resolved to conduct vaccination drive in all the educational institutions to cover all teachers, staffs and students above 15 years of age. In this regard, the board has appealed Longleng citizens to get vaccinated before they are barred from “availing the facilities to enter the bank, educational institutions or to travel in any travel agencies”.

The board also discussed on traffic control management, sound pollution created by two wheelers and influx of illegal drugs in the district. In this regard the ADC Longleng, SDPO Longleng and Phom

People’s Council (PPC) president Shami Angh spoke and pointed out suggestions for safety, improvement of traffic control management system and to control the influx of illegal drugs in the district. After deliberation on the issues the board decided to strictly enforce the directives which would be issued by the district administration. Earlier, while welcoming the members, DC Longleng M. Shayung Phom appealed the officers to be regular and available in their respective place of posting. He asked them to attend all important meetings and programmes personally without deputing their subordinate officials.

The DC warned that irregularities were being examined and that the matter would be reported to the higher ups.

PPC president also supplemented DC’s appeal and also sought cooperation of the government, officers and NGOs for overall development and to maintain peaceful atmosphere in the district. The Water Resource department presented its activities through power point while the Soil and Water Conservation department will present their activities in the next DPDP meeting. The meeting ended with vote of thanks by the chairman.

Patton calls for unity at SBC golden jubilee

Y Patton being felicitated during the programme on January 16.

DIMAPUR: Forgiveness and unity is the true essence of celebrating jubilee and that feeling of oneness and cohesiveness is a must for the church and the society to grow hand in hand, said deputy chief minister, Y. Patton.

According to media cell of Dy. CMO, the minister said this while gracing the golden jubilee celebra-

tions of Serika Baptist Church (SBC) on Sunday.

He added that giving reverence and recognition to the pioneers was also paramount because, it was only through them, we have reached thus far.

Reminding the congregation that every success story has a humble beginning, and celebrations of golden jubilee

was a huge milestone, he congratulated the Serika Baptist Church for achieving the milestone.

Patton also said that Serika, being located at the Merapani stretch of Assam, was porous and a haven for contraband substances to flow in easily.

He therefore cautioned the youngsters against drugs and substance abuses,

which can ruin their career.

Patton also emphasised on the urgency of conservation and preservation of forests and wildlife and urged the gathering to desist from gifting wildlife to VIPs and dignitaries.

He further assured to sponsor two needy theologians with Rs. 10,000 each per month from the village till Cultural troupe performing traditional dance on the 5th day of the Poanglum graduation.

While bringing jubilee Mini Hornbill celebration ‘Youth Cultural Tapestry’ on January 15. (IA Tuensang) greetings to the congregation, principal secretary government of Nagaland, E. Mhonbemo Patton, said that putting God first in everything and anything was the only way to reach what has not been attainable and to achieve what has not been achieved earlier.

Sr. pastor KLBC, Rev. Dr. Benry Lotha while sharing the word of God termed jubilee as a time for thanksgiving, forgiveness and more importantly; to renew fellowship with the Lord and a new covenant for the future to be made with the faithful and God. Beautiful melodies were presented by Serika Baptist Church choir and Old Riphyim Baptist Church choir. The programme came to a close with a benediction by pastor Yanmhon Baptist Church, Renchio Mozhui.

Yajang-C Baptist Church induction programme

Sailesh Gamang with the church members at the induction programme.

DIMAPUR: In order to imbibe a true “cross cultural mission” towards brotherhood, Sailesh Gamang, who graduated from Impur Bible School in 2021, a member of the Assam Valley Baptist Mission has been inducted as an “Apprentice Trainee” at Yajang-C Baptist Church (ABAM) on January 16.

In a press release, president of Assam Valley Baptist Mission (AVBM) and coordinator, BPCC (A-N), Er. Temsu Wathi Ao stated K Y M C

that the induction programme was held at YajangC Baptist Church, where Sailesh was inducted as Apprentice Trainee by Rev. T. Wapang Jamir, pastor of Yajang-C. The service was chaired by associate pastor Youth Ministry, Imna while message was delivered by associate pastor, Christian Education Ministry, L. Asenla.

The release stated that the Baptist churches located in the Nagaland Assam periphery were mostly in-

dependent churches and require a sincere Christian nurturing in many aspects especially in the spiritual and church leadership.

Realising the above needs, the AVBM has been mobilising sponsorship from various stakeholders and sending out born again youths to various theological institutions for learning and to bring out valuable human resources to lead these aspirations.

Taking this into account, AVBM felt it neces-

sary that Sailesh be kept at a full-fledged Naga Community Church where he can not only learn the church model but also the village customary and other ethics as a part of practical in church ministry.

A combined meeting was held after the church service consisting of Yajang-C village council members, Church elders, Naganijan Soura Baptist Church members (Sailesh’s local church), Nakachari Ao Baptist Church, pastor, Panger Jamir and AVBM executives.

Church elders and village council members assured for all logistic assistances to the newly inducted trainee and termed it as rare instance where the church will be venturing for a new generation ministry and hoped that God will bestow wisdom to a fruitful outcome.

AVBM expressed gratitude to Yajang-C village church congregation and also to the village authority for consenting the great endeavour in building a greater zeal towards cross cultural ministry.

K Y M C

4

NORTHEAST

PLA claims responsibility for Jan 13 attack

Correspondent

IMPHAL, JAN 16: At least four personnel of the Indian Para Special Force, 2 Revolutionary People’s Front (RPF) cadres of the People Liberation Army (PLA) were killed in the January 13 gunfight , PLA claimed in a statement on Sunday.

RPF added that seven personnel of the Indian special force which it referred to as “Terrorist Indian Army (TIA)” were also critically wounded in the gunfight when the Indian security force launched an attack on a temporary camp of the PLA at a place border Chandel district of Manipur and Myanmar on January 13.

The RPF stated that if social media posts claiming that one of the slain personnel was a cadre of CNA (Chin National Army) serving the group in the rank of major was true, then it showed that Indian government was using Myanmar based ethnic rebel group in countering the rebel groups of WESEA (Western Southeast Asia), the RPF added.

A photo sent by RPF showing arms and ammunitions recovered from the site of gunfight on January 13.

The statement said that Special Forces Para Commando launched the attack at the temporary camp of the PLA on that fateful day at the IndoMyanmar border.

The PLA cadres immediately retaliated with full force and the Indian Army personnel had to run away in no direction for life, unable to face the counter attack, the statement claimed.

The RPF said its cadres followed the army personnel carrying their slain and wounded colleagues and recovered a dead body of Indian security forces

along with one AK-47 rifle and a RT set.

The cadres who launched a search operation in the areas where the gunfight took place on January 14 (the next day) recovered one more dead body of an army personnel along with one AK-47 rifles with three magazines, one hand grenade, a helmet-torchlight and a packet of opium among others.

The recovery of opium indicated that Indian security forces who joined the force for running their families with the meager salary paid by the Indian

government were consuming opium and other intoxicants to overcome the fear of death, the RPF alleged.

RPF claimed that unable to face the retaliation, the Indian Army personnel carried away two dead bodies, adding that four personnel of the Indian para commando were killed in the gunfight and seven wounded critically.

Later, image of a dead cadre of CNA of a major rank with uniform of Indian para commandos was uploaded in the social media while offering condolences RPF asked how cadres

of an ethnic rebel group of Myanmar were among the Indian security, that too, with uniform of the Indian security forces. RPF said it was surprised and found it hard to believe.

It showed that the Indian government was not only supporting the Myanmar based ethnic rebel groups but also utilizing them in countering the rebel groups of the WESEA. RPF alleged that the inclusion of cadres of CNA in the recent attack on the PLA camp clearly showed that the Indian government was spewing venom among the ethnic rebel groups in the region to kill each other.

On the other hand, while identifying its slain cadres as captain Bishorjit alias Chingangbam Koktummani (MC-369) and second lieutenant Thoihenba alias Khaidem Indrajit alias Inoacha, the RPF offered revolutionary salute to the departed souls.

The rebel group said it shared the pains and shocks suffered by the families of the cadres who sacrificed their lives for the sake of the motherland.

NAGALAND POST, DIMAPUR MONDAY, JANUARY 17, 2022

Assam CM reprimands Deputy Commissioner for halting traffic GUWAHATI, JAN 16 (IANS): Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, who earlier urged everyone including BJP leaders to move away from the Personal Security Officer culture and also drastically cut his security strength, on Saturday publicly reprimanded the Deputy Commissioner of Nagaon district for blocking the traffic on highway during his visit and directed not to repeat the same during the chief minister’s movement.

The Chief Minister on his way to an official function suddenly stopped his convoy and alighted from his car at Gumothagaon on National Highway-37 and said: “DC sahab yeh kya natak hai ? Gari kyun rukwaya hai. Koi raja maharaja jaa raha hai kya? Aisa mat karo again. Logo ko kasht ho raha hai. Gari jane do (What is this drama?

Why the vehicles have been stopped? Is a king passing through here? This should not happen again. People are suffering a let. Let the vehicles go).”

Screen grab from a video that went viral.

After the Chief Minister’s intervention many stranded vehicles including several passenger buses had started moving. Later, Sarma tweeted: “In our state we want to create a culture where DC, SP or any govt servant/ public rep-irrespective of background,intellectual capacity or popularity will work only for the people Changing babu mindset is a tough, but we are determined to achieve our goal-Janta hi Janardhan.”

Sarma had earlier announced to cut down his convoy from a fleet of 22

vehicles to seven to eight while moving in Guwahati.

The Assam cabinet in a recent meeting, chaired

by Chief Minister, also decided that PSO would be deployed based on core security review and constitutional post.

“Over 4,240 PSOs are now being posted with the politicians, in-service and retired officials, businessmen, surrendered militants, tea estate owners and others.

A n nu a l ly, A s s a m spends Rs 400 crore for the PSOs. This cannot continue,” Sarma had said.

BJP to contest all 60 seats in Took ‘right steps’ on boundary issue with Assam: M’laya govt Mnp, talks on for pre-poll alliance Correspondent

IMPHAL, JAN 16 (AGENCIES): The ruling BJP is preparing to contest all the 60 seats in Manipur, although it is also in discussion with some parties for possible tie-ups.

Assam minister and Manipur state election co-in charge Ashok Singhal told ET: “We are in discussion for a pre-poll alliance.”

Assembly elections will be held in two-phases in the state on February 27 and March 3.

BJP’s ally in the state government, the National People’s Party (NPP), has hinted at contesting the assembly polls on its own.

National president of the NPP and Meghalaya chief minister Conrad K Sangma said that the party has finalised 30-plus candidates for Manipur assembly polls.

The party plans to field

about 40 candidates. The NPP contested nine seats in 2017 and won four seats.

In Meghalaya, NPP is leading the six-party coalition government, which is supported by BJP. Another ally of the BJP-led government, the Naga People’s Front (NPF), is undecided on an alliance.

NPF Manipur State unit president Awangbow Newmai claimed that NPF and BJP share a very warm relationship at present, and the two parties may prolong their alliance. “However, no pre-poll alliance has been officially sealed nor is there any restriction on forging alliances with other political parties,” he said.

The party has received applications for contesting 40 seats. However, the party may field candidates in 15 seats. NPF is the rul-

ing party in Nagaland and has substantial supporters in the hill area of Manipur.

In 2017, NPF contested 15 seats.

While hills account for 20 seats, Meitei Hindu dominated plains have 40 assembly seats.

In 2017, Congress went out of power in Manipur after 15 years of rule. In the 2017 assembly polls, Congress emerged as the single largest party with 28 MLAs in the 60-member assembly.

Later, eight Congress MLAs left the party. BJP won 21 seats and it contested all the 60 seats.

BJP got support from NPP and Naga People’s Front NPF, which won four seats each. One MLA each from Trinamool Congress, Lok Jan Shakti Party and the lone independent member supported the government.

SHILLONG, JAN 16: The Meghalaya Government has taken the “right steps” towards resolving the inter-state boundary dispute with neighbouring Assam, United Democratic Party (UDP) president, Metbah Lyngdoh said on Sunday.

The UDP is a key constituent of the National People’s Party (NPP)-led ruling Meghalaya Democratic Alliance (MDA) “We have submitted representations to the state government since 2020 on the various long pending issues of the State.

The first issue is the interState boundary dispute with Assam. I am happy that the government has taken the right steps to find a permanent solution to the different areas of differences along the interState boundary,” Lyngdoh,

who is also the Speaker of Meghalaya Assembly, said.

“It also clearly reflects on the seriousness on part of the government to address this long pending issue since the State is slated to celebrate its 50 years of statehood. We feel that it is really unfortunate that after so many years the boundary of the state is yet to be demarcated,” he mentioned.

The UDP supremo also assured Chief Minister Conrad Sangma that his party would support the government in resolving the vexed boundary dispute with Assam.

“We are also hopeful that the long pending issue will be resolved once and for all which will be in the best interest for the people of both the States. We understand that the people residing in the villages along the inter-State border are

facing problems and difficulties if the boundaries remain unresolved,” Lyngdoh pointed out.

Emphasizing on a separate cadre for the state, Lyngdoh said, “We need to have our separate cadre for the State only. The joint cadre with Assam should be done away with and there should be a separate Meghalaya cadre,”adding that his party would continue to pursue with the ILP and other issues.

He said the UDP has also been closely following up with the state government to impress upon the Centre to give recognition to the Khasi and Garo languages in the Eight Schedule.

“We had also submitted representation in this regard to move the centre that it is time that the Centre should recognize the two major languages of

the State. This is one of the agenda as the party we are closely following up,” the UDP president said.

“We strongly feel that the state government needs to earnestly purse this matter with the Centre as the state is completing 50 years,0 he added.

Lyng doh sa id the UDP also favoured for an increase in the upper age limit for recruitment to the vacant posts in the various departments of the state government.

“With the COVID-19 pandemic in the past two years and even this year, we feel that there is a feeling of insecurity and sense of restlessness among the youth since the age limit is only 32 years,” he said.

“I also understand that there are difficulties on the part of the state government to increase the upper age limit. But at the same

time we have also witnessed that there are many states which have increased the upper age limit to 38 years and even 40 years,” Lyngdoh said.

“The increase in the upper age limit is very important in terms of the opening up of employment opportunities for our youth in the various government departments. We have many of our youth who attain the age of 33 and 37 and are no longer eligible to apply if there are vacancies in the government departments,” he pointed out.

“We understand that there are various government departments like the police where one cannot recruit people who are above the age of 32. These are exceptions since the recruitment to the police force should be of people who are of younger age,” he maintained.

48 hour bandh in Itanagar from Jan 18 Mizoram reports 875 COVID Over 200 illegal petition writers held in Assam cases, two more fatalities

ITANAGAR, JAN 16 ( AGENCIES): The All Nyishi Youth Association (ANYA)has called for another Itanagar shutdown from January 18. Rejecting appeals made from different sections of the society, particularly the Nyishi community, to call off the ongoing stir the ANYA this time has called for a 48-hour bandh, reports nelivetv news.

The fresh bandh call also comes at a time when the Arunachal Police has given clear indication of a big conspiracy being hatched in the garb of the shutdown to destabilize the law and order scenario of the Arunachal Caital. The state police yesterday arrested vice president of the organisation, Temi Pabo from Yazali gate in Lower Subansiri while he was on his way to Raga. The confirmation of Pabo’s arrest was given by the officer in charge of Yazali

police station. The arrest of the ANYA vice president comes a day after the president of the association Byabang Joram appealed for the release of all members detained by the police during the 36-hour bandh called in the Itanagar Capital Region.

It may be mentioned that the state police made some significant revelations in connection with the 36-hour bandh called

by ANYA. As per preliminary investigation, anti-social elements were hired from outside the state to create a law and order situation in the state. Police further said that the handlers offered money to the tune of Rs 10 lakh to the bandh callers for creating a serious law and order situation in the Itanagar Capital region. The bandh callers, police alleged also had plans to target vital installations to create chaos.

AIZAWL, JAN 16 (PTI): The COVID-19 tally of Mizoram rose to 1,52,255 on Sunday as 875 new cases were recorded, 33 more than the previous day, a health department official said.

The single-day positivity rate stood at over 18 per cent, up from 12.94 per cent on Saturday, as the fresh infections were detected from 4,824 sample tests, he said.

Two more COVID fatalities from Serchhip and Khawzawl districts in the last 24 hours raised the death toll to 570, the official said. The two patients succumbed to the infection at Zoram Medical College (ZMC) in Aizawl.

At least 151 children were among the newly infected people, and 69 had recently returned to Mizoram from other parts of the country, he said.

Aizawl district logged the highest number of fresh cases at 408, followed by Lunglei at 90 and Hnahthial at 81, he said.

GUWAHATI, JAN 16 (PTI): Over 200 illegal petition writers who allegedly seek money to write petitions and add irrelevant sections of laws while drafting them were arrested from across Assam, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said on Sunday.

Sarma, who had earlier cautioned against such illegal petition writers, said more arrests will be made soon.

“Assam Police have arrested 242 illegal petition writers since Saturday night.

We can expect 20-25 more

Hamlet, James Bond, Iron Man join Assam Police to fight crime GUWAHATI, JAN 16 (PTI): From Hamlet and James Bond to Iron Man and Captain America -- all have been “partners” of the Assam Police in fighting crime and generating awareness against social ills.

Not to forget the helping hand lent by ‘DJ Lockup’ in checking drunken driving, which has earned international recognition.

These heroes and superheroes haven’t stepped out of their fictional worlds, but are being featured in social media campaigns of Assam Police to connect more easily with the people in a bid to promote awareness, an ally to law enforcement.

Policing is all about action, or so one thinks until coming across the campaigns being churned out by the state’s police force with popular Hindi phrases -- “Hum Do, Hamare Do”

and “Ek Aur Ek Gyarah” -- tweaked to get across the messages. Police Commissioner of Guwahati Harmeet Singh told PTI, “Our idea is to work together with society and impress upon the people that following rules is in everybody’s own interest.”

“We wanted to connect with the people and we have been trying to put across our messages in a language and an idiom that is understood across generations and the entire spectrum,” he said.

Be it the campaign against drunk driving on New Year’s Eve or the one on helmets for two-wheeler riders, the messages have not just drawn praise but also inspired police forces in different parts of the country and even abroad, to launch similar campaigns.

The campaign against drunk or rash driving on

New Year’s Eve, which featured a creative imitating a New Year’s party poster, mentioning “special performance by DJ Lockup” and an invitation “not to be our guests”, inspired not just police forces from other parts of the country -- UP, Punjab and Shimla -- but also from Uganda to post similar messages.

The latest campaign on wearing helmets by pillion riders with the phrase “Hum Do Hamare Do Helmet”, has also been well-received by the people. The helmet safety campaign has seen a creative of Shakespeare’s Hamlet -- “To be or not to be!”, with the police urging the public “Don’t be Hamlet. Always wear a Helmet”.

Another features photos of Iron Man and Captain America with the question “Your child’s heroes go to work wearing a helmet. Do

you?” James Bond joins Assam Police in a “No Time For Violence” appeal, while legendary Queen singer Freddie Mercury features in a tweaked poster of the film ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’, urging people not to fall victim to fake news and factcheck before forwarding any message. The state police force’s intensified ‘war on drugs’ campaign has also featured many eye-catching creatives and memes, including one in which the police appealed for people’s support by stating, “Public aur Police Ek aur Ek Gyarah hai... aur Drugs ke karobar karnewalon ko Nau-DoGyarah karna hai!”

The power of social media to not only connect but also ensure a positive two-way engagement with the citizens is being worked upon to the maximum by the Assam Police, Singh said.

“Social media is a twoway medium and our response on it has been quick.

We are perhaps among the handful of police forces where even topmost police officials respond promptly to public queries on social media and send forth help,” he said.

“This quick connect with the people has been particularly helpful during the COVID-19 pandemic, especially during the lockdowns, where we were able to serve the people in the best possible manner,” he added. The campaigns on traffic rules awareness have been very fruitful and as envisioned by Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, the police were able to ensure an incident-free New Year and Bhogali Bihu Uruka celebration (on January 13 and 14) in Guwahati, Singh said.

“We are working to-

wards commuter ease and safety. Everyone has an equal right on the road and we want to sensitise people about this, so as to ensure their own as well as everyone else’s safety,” the commissioner said.

Challans for fines amounting to Rs 17.98 crore have been issued from August last year till January 12 in Guwahati itself, with a whopping Rs 4.21 crore in December when the campaign against rash driving was intensified. As many as 793 cases of drunk driving have been registered in the city from December 22 to January 12, and 13,564 cases of helmet violations during the same period.

“The drive has ensured that the festivities around New Year were enjoyed safely by everyone. We shall be continuing it with the same zeal throughout,” Singh said.

arrests shortly,” the chief minister told reporters.

Such petition writers who operate outside several police stations “manipulate” petitioners by mentioning wrong sections of law in the complaints thereby making the cases “unnecessarily complicated”, the chief minister said.

A police officer said that though writing a petition on behalf of another person is not illegal, it becomes so when money is charged for it and irrelevant sections are incorporated in a complaint without the

petitioner being explained about it.

“These petition writers manipulate innocent people and also charge money for writing the petitions,” he said.

The chief minister had in November warned of cracking the whip against illegal petition writers and asked the officer-in-charge of the police stations to act against them.

Sarma had pointed that it is the job of the subinspectors to draft the complaints, and people should not pay for the service.

Akhil tests positive for COVID-19 GUWAHATI, JAN 16 (AGENCIES): Akhil Gogoi , Raijor Dal Chief and Sivasagar MLA, on Saturday tested positive for COVID-19, along with his wife and son. Taking to the micro-blogging site twitter, Gogoi apprised the same and urged everyone who came in contact with him to get tested for COVID-19.

Presently, Gogoi is in home quarantine, reports The Sentinel Assam. “‘Finally, the RTPCR test has been revealed and I am COVID positive. Taking care at home and hoping to recover soon.I urge all the persons who had come in my contact in the past few days to get tested. Take care.

Thanks,’’ he tweeted.

According to him, since Friday, all of his family members, including Gogoi, have been suffering from fever since Friday evening and after getting tested this

Akhil Gogoi morning both my son and wife tested positive for COVID-19. However, Gogoi’s report was negative. Following this update, he didn’t leave his house throughout the Bihu celebrations and avoided participation in any programme related to Bihu.

Earlier, on January 13th, Assam Governor Professor Jagdish Mukhi was tested COVID-19 positive. Later, he was admitted to Apollo Hospital located in Guwahati and is at present undergoing medical treatment as informed by the official.

ISI planning to derail Punjab, UP polls: Intel

NEW DELHI, JAN 16 (IANS): With an aim to to derail the electioneering process in the state and to increase the Khalistani footprints in Punjab, the Pakistan’s Inter-Services I n t e l l i ge n c e ( I S I ) h a s activated its terror outfits to execute more terror activities in the state and also in some parts of Uttar Pradesh, the Intelligence agencies have warned.

The sources in the security set up, quoting the intelligence inputs, said that the ISI sponsored Sikh terror outfits may target the election rallies and may attempt to hit some important leaders or VVIP during the electioneering process in Punjab, parts of UP and Uttarkhand.

Considering Punjab election as an apt opportunity to reactivate the Khalistani movement in the state and also in other poll bound states wherein the Sikh voters are in large numbers, the ISI has activated all small or big terror groups which have been tasked to derail the poll process in the state, the

sources further said.

The inputs have been shared by the Punjab, UP and Uttrakhand administrations which disclosed that these outfits may try to make inroad among Sikh population in other states too to gain their supports for their cause. The ISI has also conveyed these proscribed Sikh Militant organizations that this is a time of ‘Now or Never’ for Khalistan.

A c c o r d i n g l y, t h e UP and Uttarakhand governments have been asked to keep a vigil on these activities and to keep in touch with the Sikh religious leaders and prominent

5

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NAGALAND POST, DIMAPUR MONDAY, JANUARY17, 2022

persons in these states.

The ISI has instructed the Sikh militant groups which are active abroad to channelize the supply of weapons and explosives in Punjab and the organizations like International Sikh Youth Federation (ISYF), Babbar Khalsa International (BKI) to arrange the supply of weapons through Pakistani handlers.

The sources, quoting the intelligence input, also said that Sikh militant Wadhava Singh Babbar of BKI, Parmjit Singh Panjawar of Khalistan Commando Force and Ranjeet Singh Neeta of

Khalistan Zindabad Force are in constant touch with ISI and executing the instr uctions while Gurpatwant Singh Pannu of Sikh for Justice who have already been declared terrorist by Indian authorities, is also active in the UK, the US and Germany to support his men in Punjab by all means.

They also said that Lakhveer Singh led ISYF has a substantial influence in the villages at international border with Pakistan and many of his henchmen are expert in making bombs and other explosive devices.

Singh has been tasked to arrange safe passage in Punjab of these explosive materials once it is smuggled in to Indian Territory, the sources revealed.

The use of drones for transporting weapons and explosives across the border has become a major challenge for the security forces in recent times along the Punjab border.

According to the officials, over 60 incidents of drones have been spotted on the Indo-Pakistan border in

Punjab sector. Many of them have been shot down by the Border security Force.

The investigations into the recent Ludhiana blast have also revealed that how these Sikh Militant groups are trying to execute their terror attacks in the state with their overground workers.

A senior official in the Punjab security grid said that the ISI has also activated the old terror groups like Lashkar-e-Taiba, Jaish-e Mohammed, Indian Mujahideen and Hizbul Mujahideen and asked them to recreate their sleeper cell network in Punjab and other parts of UP too. These Pakistan Occupied Kashmir based terror wings have been more active in Jammu and Kashmir through over ground workers especially after the Taliban took over the reign in Afghanistan in August last year. He also said that by extending the jurisdiction of BSF up to 50 km from the border to the hinterland in Punjab will help the security forces to prevent the terror activities in forthcoming elections.

BJP imported workers from Gujarat to spread rumours, hatred in UP: Akhilesh LU C K N OW, J A N 1 6 (PTI): Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav on Sunday accused the BJP of importing workers from Gujarat to train its cadres in poll-bound Uttar Pradesh in spreading “hatred and rumours”.

He asked the Election Commission to take cognisance of the issue and send them back, failing which, he said elections may not remain impartial.

“None of our workers are from other states. I will ask my journalist friend to give me the list of people t h a t h ave c o m e f r o m Gujarat. I will write to the Election Commission to send back also those who have arrived here from Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh,” he said.

Yadav said photos that are doing rounds on the social media convey that BJP workers from Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s home state had arrived in Uttar Pradesh to spread “rumours, conspiracies, lies and hatred, besides

Akhilesh Yadav (PTI)

distributing money”.

The SP chief addressed journalists at the party office after inducting former Uttar Pradesh cabinet minister Dara Singh Chauhan and Apna Dal (Sonelal) MLA RK Verma into the party.

Responding to Anurag T h a k u r ’s j i b e t h a t S P leaders were either “in jail or out on bail”, Yadav asked journalists to look into the Union minister’s records in various ministries.

W e l c o m i n g for mer Kanpur Police Commissioner Asim Arun into the BJP fold, Thakur had on Sunday said those

indulging in riots join the SP and those who crack the whip on rioters join the BJP. Commenting on the former IPS officer, Yadav said he will move the Election Commission demanding that those officials, who had been discharging duties with Asim Arun, be kept away from poll duties or else they too would “double up as BJP workers”.

“I am hopeful that the Election Commission will act on such officials. If does not, it will raise questions on the Election Commission’s sanctity,” Yadav said.

Ex-minister Chauhan, Apna Dal MLA join SP Alliance with BJP final, Nishad party will contest 15 seats in UP: Sanjay Nishad

BKU chief Naresh Tikait supports RLD-SP candidates

L U C K N O W, J A N 16 (PTI): Former Uttar Pradesh minister and OBC leader Dara Singh Chauhan joined the Samajwadi Party on Sunday, days after he resigned from the Yogi Adityanath cabinet ahead of the assembly polls.

Besides Chauhan, Apna Dal (Sonelal) MLA from Vishvanathganj Assembly constituency in Pratapgarh district R K Verma too joined the Akhilesh Yadav-led party which has emerged as the main challenger to the BJP in the state.

Apna Dal (Sonelal) is an ally of the BJP. On Friday, for mer ministers Swami Prasad Maurya and Dharam Singh Saini, five BJP MLAs and one from the Apna Dal (Sonelal) had crossed over to the Samajwadi Party.

While joining the Samajwadi Party on Sunday, Chauhan trained his guns at the BJP, saying, “When the

Former UP minister Dara Singh Chauhan (L) joins the SP in presence of party president Akhilesh Yadav, Sunday. (PTI)

BJP formed government in Uttar Pradesh in 2017, it gave the slogan ‘sabka saath, sabka vikaas’... But, ‘vikaas’ (development) of a handful of people was done and the rest were left to their fate.”

Terming the Samajwadi Party as his “old home”, he said, “We will change the politics of Uttar Pradesh, and make Akhilesh Yadav the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh once again.”

“People belonging to the OBC and Dalit

Goa polls: AAP promises free power, jobs, to restart mining

Arvind Kejriwal (PTI)

PANAJI, JAN 16 (PTI): Ahead of the next month’s Goa Assembly elections, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) national convener Arvind Kejriwal on Sunday unveiled his party’s 13-point agenda for the state, which promises free electricity of up to 300 units, resumption of mining activities within six months of coming to power, jobs for all and allowance for the unemployed.

The poll manifesto, which Kejriwal termed as the ‘Goa model’, also seeks to provide free education, free water supply, uninterrupted power supply, free medical services to all, good roads and Rs 1,000 per month allowance to every woman above 18 years of age.

It also promises resolution of far mers’ problems and the issues concerning land rights.

“AAP’s Goa model has 13-point agenda, which includes providing jobs to the Goan youths. After coming to power, AAP will provide government jobs on the basis of merit, and give unemployment allowance

of Rs 3,000 per month to until they get work,” he told reporters here.

“Mining activities would be restarted within six months and issues concer ning land rights would be resolved within the same time-frame,” he said.

If AAP comes to power in the state, then every Goan family will get a benefit of Rs 10 lakh in five years by way of different schemes like free electricity of up to 300 units and unemployment allowance, the Delhi Chief Minister said.

Providing free education to all Goans, improving the condition of the state-run schools and hospitals are some other points of the agenda, he said.

“All issues of farmers will be resolved, while a ‘raid raj’ and corruption will be eliminated. Congenial atmosphere will be created for trade and industry to flourish in the state,” he added.

Election to the 40-member Goa House will be held on February 14.

communities will come together. Our rivals may try their level best but will not be able to stop this storm.

A change is inevitable,” Chauhan said.

In a jolt to the ruling B J P, C h a u h a n , w h o represents the Madhuban Assembly constituency in Mau district, had resigned from the Yogi Adityanath cabinet on Wednesday while alleging that the Dalits, the OBCs and the unemployed did not get justice from the

Why MSP law is not being passed, asks Congress NEW DELHI, JAN 16 (IANS): A day after the farmer unions gave ultimatum to the government on the issue of MSP, the Congress on Sunday questioned the government over the issue.

Congress spokesperson Jaiveer Shergill said, “Why MSP law is not being passed? Why Minister in Lakhimpur Kheri case not being dismissed?

Why farmers union not being called for meeting?

Withdrawal of black farm laws turning into mere election stunt. Will 19 Nov 2021 day when farm laws were withdrawn will turn into ‘Dhokha Diwas’?”

The Samyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM) on Saturday had alleged that there is no forward movement on the MSP issue.

“There has been no progress. No committee has been formed on Minimum Support Price (MSP). There is only some action on withdrawing cases against farmers in Haryana, but not much progress on that count in other states, including Delhi. There has been no discussion on our demand in connection with power bills,” SKM leader Yudhveer Singh told a media conference SKM, a consortium of 40-odd farmers’ organisations, had on December 9 declared to suspend their 15-monthlong agitation that had started to protest the three contentious far m laws passed in 2020.

BJP government.

“It was the poor who had made the government but others took all the advantage in the past five years,” he alleged after resigning as the minister for forests and environment.

He represented the Ghosi seat in the 15th Lok Sabha after winning the 2009 general elections on Bahujan Samaj Party ticket.

In the 2014 general elections, he was defeated by the BJP’s Harinarayan Rajbhar by over 1.4 lakh votes.

The next year, he joined the BJP and was appointed the party’s OBC Morcha president and fielded from the Madhuban assembly constituency.

Swami Prasad Maurya was the first to desert the BJP, and the move was followed by a similar announcement by others -- mostly leaders from the Other Backward Classes who claimed that the ruling party had ignored their community.

LUCKNOW, JAN 16 (PTI): Nishad party president Sanjay Nishad on Sunday said they will contest in 15 assembly constituencies in Uttar Pradesh as part of an alliance with the BJP, but the seats are yet to be finalised.

Nishad said he will meet senior BJP leaders, including Amit Shah, in Delhi on Monday to finalise the constituencies where the party will field its candidates.

“We have got 15 seats (out of 403 seats) to contest in alliance with the BJP. The seats are almost final.

Most of the seats are in ‘Purvanchal’ (East UP) and some are in ‘Paschimanchal’ (West).”

“There are some seats which we want to change due to changing equations.

We are focusing not only on seat but ‘jeet’ (victory),” Nishad told PTI when asked

TMC, AAP already in power in Goa in their imagination: Raut

Sanjay Raut

MUMBAI, JAN 16 (PTI): Taking a dig at the TMC and the AAP in the run-up to the next month’s Assembly elections in Goa, Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut on Sunday said that these parties have already come to power in the coastal state in their imagination.

Apart from traditional contestants like the BJP, Congress, MGP, and GFP, the Arvind Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party and Trinamool Congress under Mamata Banerjee are vying for a power pie in Goa scheduled to go to polls on February 14.

Raut also took a swipe at Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, saying while the coronavirus is spreading in the national capital he is busy in a doorto-door campaign in Goa. “The Delhi chief minister is undertaking a door-to-door campaign in Goa. Coronavirus is spreading in Delhi and he is going door-to-door. It is

good to spread one’s party but...let’s see what happens in Goa. I was on the road while he was campaigning,” he said.

On Saturday, Kejriwal joined the door-to-door campaign for the candidates of his party at St Andre Assembly constituency in North Goa. “The TMC and the AAP have already come to power in Goa in their mind (imagination),” Raut added.

In the 2017 Assembly polls held for the 40-member Goa Assembly, AAP had drawn a blank.

For the next month’s elections, the Congress in Goa has already announced its pre-poll alliance with the Goa Forward Party (GFP), while the TMC has tied up with the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party (MGP).

Recently, the TMC had hinted at a grand alliance comprising the Congress and AAP to take on the ruling BJP in the coastal state.

Sanjay Nishad

about his proposed meeting with Union Home Minister Shah.

The Nirbal Indian Shoshit Hamara Aaam Dal, or Nishad party, was formed in 2016 and its leaders claim to enjoy support of the Nishad community, which is one of the Other Backward Classes (OBC).

Nishad said his party has built cadre base all over the state and has substantial influence in Gorakhpur, Ballia, Sant Kabir Nagar, Ambedkar Nagar, Jaunpur, B h a d o h i , S u l t a n p u r,

Fa i z a b a d , C h i t r a k o o t , Jhansi, Banda, Hamipur and Etawah districts, among others.

The party fielded 100 candidates in the last assembly election in 2017 in alliance with the Peace Party of India, Apna Dal and the Jan Adhikar Party, but could win just one seat -- Gyanpur in Bhadohi district.

Nishad, now a member of the Legislative Council, had contested the last assembly election from Gorakhpur Rural and came third.

In the 2018 Lok Sabha by-election, Sanjay Nishad’s son Praveen Kumar Nishad was a Samajwadi Party candidate and wrested the Gorakhpur constituency from the BJP which had been winning the seat since 1 9 8 9 . P r ave e n Ku m a r Nishad is now a BJP MP from Sant Kabir Nagar.

M U Z A F FA R NAG A R (UP), JAN 16 (PTI): BKU national president Naresh Tikait extended his support to SP-RLD candidates in the upcoming Uttar Pradesh elections. The alliance of the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) and Samajwadi Party (SP) had on Saturday announced its second list of seven candidates for the assembly elections. All candidates are members of the Jayant C h a u d h a r y - l e d R L D, according to the list shared by the party on social media.

The alliance has fielded Rajpal Baliyan from Budhana and Chandan Chauhan from Meerapur, both in Muzaffar nagar district, and Ashraf Ali from Thana Bhawan in Shamli.

I hope people of the state will support the candidates of this coalition, Tikait said while addressing people at Sisauli here.

Punjab CM’s brother says will fight as independent from Bassi Pathana seat

CHANDIGARH, JAN 16 (PTI): Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi’s brother Manohar Singh, who was eyeing a Congress ticket from Bassi Pathana assembly seat, on Sunday said he will contest as an independent from the constituency after the ruling party fielded its sitting legislator.

In its first list of 86 candidates, the Congress on Saturday gave the ticket to party MLA Gurpreet Singh GP from Bassi Pathana (SC) seat.

Manohar Singh dubbed the decision of the Congress giving ticket to Gurpreet Singh GP as “injustice” with the people of the constituency and alleged that the sitting legislator was “incapable and ineffective.”

“Several prominent people of Bassi Pathana area have asked me to fight as an independent and I will go by what they have said.

Manohar Singh

There is no chance of going back and I will surely fight the polls,” Manohar Singh told PTI over the phone.

Singh had in August last year resigned as a senior medical officer from Kharar civil hospital.

He said he took the decision of contesting as an independent after meeting several councillors, village sarpanch and panch who asked him to fight the polls.

“People told me it was wrong to give the ticket to him (Gurpreet Singh GP).

He had earlier not done anything and now he has

again been foisted upon,” said Singh.

Singh said he will talk to his brother Channi and convince him about his decision.

On the ‘one familyone ticket’ formula of the Congress for the upcoming assembly polls, Channi said the party fielded Vikramjit Singh Chaudhary, who is the son of Jalandhar MP Santokh Singh Chaudhary, from Phillaur seat.

Similarly, Fatehgarh Sahib MP Amar Singh’s son Kamil Amar Singh has been given the ticket from the Raikot seat, he said.

L a s t ye a r, P u n j a b Congress chief Navjot Singh Sidhu had inaugurated the poll office of Gurpreet Singh GP at Bassi Pathana constituency.

Voting for Punjab’s 117 assembly seats will be held on February 14 and the counting of votes will take place on March 10.

Goa polls : Lourenco quits TMC a month after joining it from Congress

PANAJI, JAN 16 (PTI): he quit the party and the state A month after quitting the Assembly in December.

Congress and joining the He did not give any Trinamool Congress, former reason in the letter that he Goa MLA Aleixo Reginaldo sent to Banerjee informing Lourenco on Sunday quit the her about his decision to Mamata Banerjee-led party, leave TMC. the move coming a few weeks M e a n w h i l e, B J P ahead of Assembly polls tur ned-Cong ress leader in the state scheduled for M i c h e a l L o b o i nv i t e d February 14. Reginaldo was Lourenco to return to the MLA from Curtorim and was Aleixo Reginaldo Lourenco Congress. Lourenco could working president of Goa Congress when not be contacted for comment.

6

OPINION/EDITORIAL

Nagaland Post VOL. XXXII NO. 41 DIMAPUR, MONDAY, JANUARY 17, 2022

Losing part of Nagaland

I

t was not a surprise when the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change had revealed that Nagaland lost a total of 235 sq km forest cover in two years, as per the India State of Forest Report (ISFR) 2021. In terms of forest cover as percentage of total geographical area, the top five States are Mizoram (84.53%), Arunachal Pradesh (79.33%), Meghalaya (76.00%), Manipur (74.34%) and Nagaland (73.90%). Arunachal Pradesh lost the maximum forest cover of 257 sq km, Meghalaya lost 249 sq km, Mizoram 186 sq km, Meghalaya 73 sq km, Assam 15 sq km, Tripura 4 sq km and Sikkim lost one square kilometre forest cover. Due to rapid population growth and migration, fresh forest areas were felled and cleared for shifting agriculture, timber, firewood and settlements in Nagaland. The rate of deforestation is alarmingly high in unprotected community forests due to logging, shifting cultivation, jhum and heavy consumption of firewood. Jhum cultivation alone is taking a toll on the forest resources of Nagaland, depleting the dense forest cover essential for the ecological stability of the region. The special status accorded to Nagaland under Article 371A has also been more abused than used that even natural forests containing rich diversity of flora and fauna have been destroyed under the contentious plea that all forests(even at Rangapahar) belong to the tribe and the state government does not have an inch of land. This can be seen when Nagaland became a state in 1963, it inherited a vast tract of forest in Dimapur area(then under Kohima Forest Division) from the government of Assam, spread over a total area of 8809 Hectares or 21,768 Acres. The pristine forest replete with valuable wood such as teak, hollock, titachap, agar, bonsum etc, to name a few, was also the home to various other rare animals and indigenous botanical species. The Rangapahar reserved forest was a protected area under the 1925 notification of the Forest department of Assam. The new state of Nagaland inherited a veritable nature’s trove. Unfortunately, the state government exhibited lack of vision, will and purpose towards protecting such a rich inheritance. With support of powerful politicians, corrupt officials and land grabbers, this valuable nature’s gift was systematically plundered from the seventies onwards through rampant poaching, illegal felling of trees.Today what remains is a pathetic area of 300 acres styled as Nagaland Zoological Park. This spot could also vanish from the face of the earth one day if the past serves as indication, from land grabbers in league with powerful politicians, pliable officials and dubious landowners. Another case in point was a sensational letter dated June 16,2020 written by then governor R.N.Ravi to the chief minister bringing to his notice the forcible occupation of forest department quarters by some elements who evicted forest officials from their departmental residences at Munglamukh forest colony. Encroachments have also taken place inside the Intangki National Park and also forests under Wokha district. The forest department was compelled to act after the governor’s letter with eviction drives at Yimparasa, Bhandari and Longayim in Wokha where hundreds of acres of land were encroached. The elected representatives have consistently failed to insist on using Art.371A for the good of all instead of the good of some.

DailyDevotion The Voice of the Nature of God I heard the voice of the Lord, saying: “Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?” —Isaiah 6:8

When we talk about the call of God, we often forget the most important thing, namely, the nature of Him who calls. There are many things calling each of us today. Some of these calls will be answered, and others will not even be heard. The call is the expression of the nature of the One who calls, and we can only recognize the call if that same nature is in us. The call of God is the expression of God’s nature, not ours. God providentially weaves the threads of His call through our lives, and only we can distinguish them. It is the threading of God’s voice directly to us over a certain concern, and it is useless to seek another person’s opinion of it. Our dealings over the call of God should be kept exclusively between ourselves and Him. The call of God is not a reflection of my nature; my personal desires and temperament are of no consideration. As long as I dwell on my own qualities and traits and think about what I am suited for, I will never hear the call of God. But when God brings me into the right relationship with Himself, I will be in the same condition Isaiah was. Isaiah was so attuned to God, because of the great crisis he had just endured, that the call of God penetrated his soul. The majority of us cannot hear anything but ourselves. And we cannot hear anything God says. But to be brought to the place where we can hear the call of God is to be profoundly changed.

Quotes

If you set your goals ridiculously high and it’s a failure, you will fail above everyone else’s success.

~ James Cameron

NAGALAND POST, DIMAPUR MONDAY, JANUARY 17, 2022

Post-mortem

WB: More unrest in globalised world; India must show fair, just path

I

ndia has to grapple with difficult world economic prospects, not so bright domestic growth and inflationary situation as it prepares to present its new budget.

T h e Wo r l d B a n k foresees more inequality leading to socio-political unrest. India needs to feel concerned and rethink about ending the global woes.

The domestic industrial (Index of Industrial Production) growth has slowed down in November to 1.4 percent from 3.2 percent in October 2021. It is a matter of concern but it is almost in sync with the World Bank (WB) global economic growth forecast. The WB projecting a prickly slowdown says that growth in 2022 will sharply dip to 4.1 percent and 2023 to 3.2 percent indicating that pandemic lockdown is creating an unequal world.

The WB projection for India is 8.3 percent in 2021-22, less than what RBI estimated. It is less enthusiastic about the future as it finds the Indian growth to be at 6.8 percent in 2023-24. The present projections are over a negative minus 23.9 percent contraction in 2020-21.

The ongoing third wave of pandemic, Omi-

A

cron, is apparently to cast a long shadow. The National Statistic Office (NSO) finds retail inflation growing at 5.6 percent in December but it is over14.6 percent wholesale price inflation.

It means overall costs would be impinging government efforts at pacing up the economy with high deficit and borrowings.

The cost of development, particularly infrastructure, is likely to go through the roof. For instance the cost that was projected for Jewar airport in Noida in UP has escalated in less than two years.

It calls for reviewing the economy with consideration of delinking with globalization. India needs to insulate itself against global woes and misdemeanor for ensuring societal vibrancy. The global arbitration process is impacting the country on many deals and latest is Canadian court order attaching Air India assets.

The WB is concerned about growing inequality threatening to reverse historic development gains exposing millions of people worse off than they were three years ago. It is to close pathways to better education, health and professional opportunities what the WB president says is “permanent scar”

on development and lead to socio-political unrest which governance structures, both domestic and global are ill-equipped to mediate.

The latest Indian numbers are a cause for concern as rising prices will put a greater squeeze on disposable incomes further affecting weakening aggregate demand. The third wave may add to the problems. The core inflation, almost constant at 5 percent since early 2020, is above 6 percent now.

Non-core inflation has increased to 5 percent Shivaji from 2.5 percent between September and December. Food inflation has risen to 4.1 percent from 1.9 percent in November. Almost all food item prices, including vegetables, are rising.

The manufacturing has the most muted growth.

The economy is in the midst of anaemic investment and consumer demand, observes principal economist, Sunil Sinha of India Ratings. It is indicated by fall in capital and consumer demand fall of 3.7 percent and 5.6 percent in November 2021. The growth is yet to touch the pre-covid19 level.

The WB finds this as per the global trend. In the

past two years Gini coefficient, the metric used to measure income inequality, increased on average by 0.3 points in 2020 and extreme poverty in 33 of the 34 countries by the WB. The gap between countries has increased even more. By 2023, all advanced economies are expected to achieve a full output recovery, but output in emerging economies to remain below the prepandemic levels.

It is to accentuate with rising inflation, which hits low-income workers particularly h a r d — Sarkar constraining monetary policy. The poor are the worst hit by food inflation. Globally and in advanced economies, inflation is running at the highest rates since 2008. In emerging market and developing economies, it has reached its highest.

Many emerging and developing economies are withdrawing policy support to contain inflation, well before the full recovery, says WB. The global inter-personal inequality has increased for this reason. The situation in India is apparently no different.

This calls for a policy review and rejection of hackneyed global bod-

It’s back to the season of ‘Aaya Ram Gaya Ram’ politics

s the election to the five state assemblies draws near, the pace of political activities naturally has become turbocharged. Not that rallies or road shows are happening, neither are posters and banners flooding the streets. The movement is of politicians shifting alliances in search of pastures that they believe can fetch them the necessary greens.

The proverbial ‘Aaya Ram Gaya Ram’ is here again, and no matter what the law says, or what the sentiment and goal of the law is, the crossovers continue.

It is not common to see politicians who have been ministers for full five years suddenly decide to exit their parent party and join the rivals. In recent days, Uttar Pradesh, Goa and Punjab -- three of the five states going to the polls -- has this drama unfolding almost daily. It must surely have made the voters sit up and ponder.

In Goa, political defections continue unabated. At least nine MLAs resigned their seats in the state assembly to join other parties. A Minister in Chief Minister Pramod Sawant’s cabinet, Michael Lobo, switched over to the Congress, which is said to have promised tickets to him (Lobo), his wife and some of his associates.

Senior Goa Congress leader and former MLA Victor Gonsalves left the party to join Mamata Banerjee’s TMC. The reason for his resignation is said to be the induction of Lobo into the Congress. However, Gonsalves has himself been partyhopping, from the Congress to Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) to Goa Forward Party (GFP) in 2017, to the Congress in 2020, before settling in Trinamool.

Uttar Pradesh is considered to be one of the toughest political territories in the country, where political equations and affiliations are dominated by caste and religion. And the state has its own share of ‘Aaya Ram Gaya Ram’ stories. At least 20 leaders, including ministers, have jumped ship so far.

Just ahead of the election, Swami Prasad Maurya, a minister in the Yogi Adityanath government, announced his resignation on Twitter and joined the Samajwadi Party. After serving his complete five-year term as minister, he accused the BJP of neglecting Dalits, OBCs and farmers.

Maurya had switched over to the BJP from the Bahujan Samaj Party, months ahead of

the 2017 Assembly elections, accusing Mayawati of corruption.

Before joining the BSP in 1996, he had a stint in the Janata Dal. Soon after Maurya’s resignation from the BJP, two more ministers -- Dara Singh Chauhan and Dharam Singh Saini -- followed in his footsteps. Saini was with the BSP before joining the BJP in 2016 and now has moved to SP with Maurya. Chauhan started with the BSP in 1996, then went to SP and got elected as a Rajya Sabha MP, returned to the BSP ahead of 2009 general elections and was appointed leader of the BSP parliamentary party in the Lok Sabha, switched to the BJP in 2015, and now has again moved on.

As the exodus continued, the BJP was also inducting ‘other’ leaders -- SP’s Hariom Yadav and Dharampal Singh, and Naresh Saini of the Congress, for instance.

In Punjab, too, politicians are hopping around from one party to another in search of better deals. The Congress’ Dalit face and former minister Joginder Singh Mann resigned and joined AAP after accusing the party of “patronising the tainted and giving space to opportunists”. Six days after joining the BJP, MLA Balwinder Laddi rejoined the Congress on January 2. It is being said that he returned after being assured of a party ticket in the assembly elections.

Harjot Kamal, Congress MLA from Moga, was said to be unhappy after his seat was given to actor Sonu Sood’s sister Malvika, just weeks ahead of the state elections. A “humiliated” Kamal joined the BJP on Saturday. Congress MLA Fateh Jung Singh Bajwa, brother of senior party leader and MP Partap Bajwa, also switched sides, fearing he may lose the candidature this time. In Uttarakhand, AAP leader Ravindra Jugran quit the party and rejoined the ruling BJP, saying it was like a homecoming for him. He had earlier been in BJP for 25 years, but had joined AAP a year ago.

Former Uttarakhand Congress president Kishore Upadhyay was reported to have met some BJP leaders because he is said to be unhappy with Harish Rawat spearheading the party’s election campaign. Upadhyay was removed from all party posts on the charge of committing ‘anti-party activities’.

Similar examples of jumping ships can be multiplied.

The ‘Aaya Rams Gaya Rams’

may evoke awkward responses, but the fact is that they are a striking feature in the political space. Some may dismiss them as being disgustingly opportunistic, others may even regard them as loyalty shifts dictated by legitimate political reasons.

The fact is that ‘Aya Rams Gaya Rams’ continue to exist even in 2022, a good 55 years after an independent MLA, Gaya Lal, from Haryana in 1967 switched two parties in a day and three in 15 days -- joined the Congress, then the United Front, and finally, back to the Congress to become a part of the new government.

According to contemporary news reports, Congress leader Rao Birender Singh addressed a press conference in Chandigarh with Gaya Lal by his side.

Birender Singh told the media: “Gaya Ram ab Aaya Ram hai.”

A few days later, the then Union Home Minister, Yashwantrao Chavan, used the phrase ‘Aaya Ram, Gaya Ram’ in Parliament as he took a jibe at Gaya Lal. In June 1979, Bhajan Lal formed the Janata Party government in Haryana. However, when Indira Gandhi won the Lok Sabha elections in 1980, he joined the Congress along with all his MLAs. This is also regarded as one of the worst instances of ‘Aaya Aam Gaya Ram’ politics.

The Rajiv Gandhi government in 1985 introduced the anti-defection law to stop the jumping jacks from ditching their mother parties. A Constitution Amendment Bill that included the Tenth Schedule to enact the anti-defection law was passed.

An MLA or MP who switches parties can avoid the anti-defection law, only if onethird of the party legislators also resign; otherwise he or she would stand disqualified.

Although ‘Aaya Ram Gaya Ram’ politics has become uncommon after the anti-defection law came into force, it keeps surfacing every now and then.

The phrase is an idiom that became popular in the late 1960s, but has a deep political history laced with suspicion.

The openness on social media and the unparalleled access to all sorts of information today gives an advantage to the people and it is this that the turncoats, the ‘Aaya Rams Gaya Rams’, need to fear.

By Deepika Bhan (Deepika Bhan can be reached at deepika.b@ians.in)

T

ies’ suggestions that are under pressure of large economies. Such economies want developing economies like India’s to subsist theirs. India has to take strong steps as per its policy of swadeshi and make in India to stem inequality growth.

India has to review its policy of awarding projects to foreign companies while opening the door for competition so that local corporate do not revert to the licence-permit raj. But unless it takes steps to insulate the Indian economy from malignant global influences, it would continue to be in a situation of unwanted crisis.

It has to take steps to reduce inequality drastically. As per World Inequality Report the richest 10 percent of the global population takes 52 percent of the global income and 76 percent of the global wealth, while the poorest 50 percent earns 8.5 percent of the income and owns 2 percent of the wealth.

Indian numbers are more intriguing. The top one percent earns 21.7 percent of the income, while the bottom 50 percent of the population earns a mere 13.1 percent of the income. Gender inequality adds to the divide.

The corporate constitute the largest segment of the richest. In other words, the world being dominated by the corporate is heaping tremendous woes on the people. Unfortunately enough the corporate have grown in power more than the sovereign states. They are dominating the global policy formulations. This is what affects global situation. A strong message from India can change the global scenario.

India is at the brunt of witnessing social turbulence that is likely to decide the political outcome in the present elections to five states.

The WB concern of turbulence in a more unequal world is an alert that India must listen and take fast corrective steps to reduce inequality through better working conditions, wages and stability to the poor.

The growing unrest in the world has to be stemmed through drastic policy changes and thrust on welfarism, which is the message given by all religions. Let the world change as per innate concept of vasudhaiva kutumbakam. A change in India can alter the global course.

India has to take the lead to show the path to a fair, just and dignified world.

Eating seasonal food is good for you

o meet our dietary needs, nutritionists throughout the country have begun looking at substances accessible in India.

They’re looking at ancient wisdom and seasonal local possibilities, which is unsurprising. These solutions are not only environmentally friendly, but they also help the local economy!

“Each season offers an array of gorgeous fresh vegetables, each rich in nutrients, antioxidants, and phytonutrients in their own way,” explains Dr. Rajyalakshmi Devi of Lovlife Hospital. Furthermore, the climate provided by each season makes seasonal produce easily edible and absorbable by our bodies.”

It’s crucial to note, however, that these indigenous fruits and vegetables are sprayed with pesticides to prevent insects and pests from spoiling them.

“Always choose seasonal fruits and vegetables as they are filled with the nutrients needed to aid you during that time,” says Chef Kunal Kapur, who promotes eating seasonal cuisine.

However, keep in mind that these pass through numerous hands, potentially transferring germs. So wash your food with a natural action fruit and vegetable

wash like Nimwash, which removes chemicals and pathogens while ensuring that it is safe to eat.”

Further, he also shares his expertise on the various benefits of consuming seasonal food: - Seasonal food offers high nutritional value - Fruits and vegetables that naturally ripen taste better, are fresh and offer the highest amount of nutrients as compared to those that are preserved.

- Seasonal food is cheaper Crops produced seasonally are cost effective since farmers invest and harvest them in bulk. Sourcing of local stock also reduces the cost of logistics drastically.

- Seasonal food is ecological Eating seasonal food decreases the demand of out-of-season produce, increases the consumption of local farming and more importantly lessens the time for refrigeration, decreases the cost involved in transportation and irrigation of the crops.

- Seasonal food tastes better - Since the food produced in a particular season is fresh, it tastes better, sweeter and is perfectly ripened. When fruits and vegetables are harvested at the right time, it will be more flavourful.

IANSlife

Reader’s Post

Sir,

On Selling Yearly calenders and lotteries

It is a very serious concern for students community and the parents to note that some institutions including theological college/seminary are compelling students to sell calenders and lotteries by giving them 50 to 100 per students. They are given this responsibility during winter break mostly .Winter break is supposed to be mental break for students but they are compelled to run around and request everyone to buy them.

This is not at all professional on the part of institutions. Most of them are not willing to go back to institutions without selling these lotteries and calenders because they said they don’t have courage to say to the authority that they couldn’t sell and hence giving pressure to parents and relatives to buy them in bulks as these days nobody is interested to buy them or say “fed up” of calenders and lotteries tradition. They are unable to sell except five to ten on continuous request to neighbors or relatives. At the end of the day, parents are giving those supposed to be sold “money “to their children. This is crazy because kids would blackmail parents that they would not go back institutions without these lotteries and calenders money as they don’t have guts to meet authority.

This is unjust and unfair practices and must come up with solutions.

For private institutions whose fund is good enough must not involve in this kind of malpractices and for theological college/seminary ,if at all financial assistance is required,must come up with some better solutions than torturing students in this manner.

Heni X Sumi, Concerned citizen

Reader’s note: Articles or letters published in any of the columns do not reflect the view of this newspaper nor that of the Editor in any manner.

Stamp launched to mark 1 year of Covid vax drive

administering over 156 crore doses despite such a huge population and diversity.”

“On the occasion of completion of one year of the Covid vaccination drive, a postage stamp has been released on the vaccine indigenously developed jointly by the ICMR and Bharat Biotech, realising Prime Minister Narendra Modi ji’s dream of self-reliant India,” Mandaviya said.

He also congratulated all scientists on the occasion.

“Our prime minister encouraged scientists to carry out research and develop

Mamata writes to PM on move to reject WB R-day tableau

Mamata Banerjee

KOLKATA, JAN 16 (PTI): Expressing shock over the Centre’s decision to exclude West Bengal’s tableau, which was set to highlight contributions of freedom fighters, from the upcoming Republic Day Parade in Delhi, Chief Minister Mamara Banerjee on Sunday wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi urging him to reconsider the decision as people of the state would be “pained” by the move.

Banerjee also said that no reason was cited for the tableau’s rejection. “I have been profoundly shocked and hurt by the decision of the Government of India to abruptly exclude the proposed

tableau of the Government of West Bengal from the ensuing Republic Day Parade. It is even more baffling for us that the tableau was rejected without assigning any reasons or justifications,” Banerjee said in a two-page letter to Modi. The proposed tableau was set to commemorate the contributions of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose and his INA on his 125th birth anniversary year, the CM said. “I may like to inform you that all the people of West Bengal are deeply pained by this attitude of the central government. It is shocking to find that the contribution of its valiant freedom fighters finds no place in the nation’s ceremony to celebrate the occasion of the Republic Day on the 75th year of our Independence.

“I urge you to reconsider the decision and include the tableau of freedom fighters from West Bengal in the Republic Day parade on the 75th year of our Independence,” Banerjee added.

an indigenous Covid vaccine and held discussions with vaccine manufacturing companies and offered them support.

“There was no dearth of manpower or brainpower.

What was needed was the ability to identify the potential in the country for coming up with vaccines,” he said.

The government and the private sector worked in tandem on vaccine research and in nine months a Covid vaccine was indigenously developed while the process of granting authorisations to

18 years began on January 3 this year.

India started administering the precaution dose of Covid vaccine to healthcare and frontline workers, which include polling personnel deployed in the five poll-bound states, and comorbid people aged 60 and above from January 10 in a bid to stymie the coronavirus spread driven by its Omicron variant.

With the administration of more than 66 lakh vaccine doses in a day, India’s COVID-19 vaccination coverage has exceeded 156.76 crore, according to provisional reports till 7 am on Sunday.

More than 43.19 lakh precaution doses of the vaccine have been administered.

Also, 3,38,50,912 first doses have been given to beneficiaries in the 15-18 years age group.

Covid vaccine doses administered in the country surpassed the 100-crore mark on October 21 last year. The cumulative vaccine doses administered in the country surpassed the 150-crore mark on January 7.

NEW DELHI, JAN 16 (PTI): Prime Minister Narendra Modi will deliver a ‘State of the World’ special address at the World Economic Forum’s Davos Agenda on Monday via video conference, his office said.

The virtual event will be held from January 17 to 21 and will also be addressed by several Heads of State including Japanese

Tamil Nadu police are high on its action to crack the child trafficking network.

are getting the support from some ambulance drivers, testing laboratories and even government hospitals on women who are aborting their pregnancy due to social reasons and in some cases due to physical issues. These women are convinced by the child trafficking network to give birth to the child and the child is then bought for a paltry sum and sold at a higher price. We are in the process of cracking this racket and have got valuable tips.

However, we cannot provide more information now.”

Police said that a special team has been constituted based out of Chennai and

this team is tracking people who have previous cases of child trafficking as well as some adoption centres. The state police have also found that the traffickers are getting support from even Primary Health centres in several parts of the state and an effective network is in place.

R. Kumaravelu, a social activist based out of Salem while speaking to IANS said, “Child trafficking cases are taking place in several parts of the state and I was doing a study based on media reports and then followed these links. There is a pattern evolving with several laboratories, even posh

(From p-1) Colin St. Clair Oakes, who designed the cemetery incorporated the tennis court into the design, and it remains today, to commemorate the men who died in defence of the town. The other unique sites include-- ‘The cemetery in no man’s land’-- Nicosia (Waynes Keep) Cemetery is located in the disputed area, a no man’s land that splits the island in two. Barriers have separated the Greek and Turkish sectors of Nicosia, the capital of Cyprus. ‘The Crater Cemeteries’-- Zivy Crater and Litchfield Crater are two small cemeteries in the Pas de Calais region in France.

Both were formed around two craters less than a kilometre apart from one another.

‘The Eye Hospital’, it is the only memorial created by the Commission that was not in the form of a monument or cemetery was the Memorial Ophthalmic Laboratory at Giza, Egypt-- complete with library, and bacteriology and pathology departments-- as its memorial to men of the Egyptian Labour Corps and Camel Transport Corps.

and high-end ones, turning into information centres for the traffickers and once the pregnancy of an unwed girl is confirmed, the agents up their ante and try to do a background check of the concerned families.”

He added, “Once the pregnancy is confirmed, the agents approach poor and lower-middle-class families and try to convince them to deliver the child and assure them money. If the family agrees, the girl is shifted to some other town on the pretext of a job or higher studies and admitted to a good hospital and after the baby is delivered and handed over to the agents, the girl is brought back to the home town. The family is given some money but the child is sold at a huge amount and this racket has roots in village offices, municipalities and corporation offices to get the birth certificate of the child and some adoption centres are also hand in glove with these racketeers.”

EGI condemns ‘coup’ at Kashmir Press Club was forcibly taken over by a group of journalists with the help of armed policemen on Saturday. The Guild said even more alarming is that the Jammu and Kashmir Police entered the premises without any due warrant or paperwork and had “therefore been brazenly complicit in this coup, in which a group of people have become self-declared management of the club.”

The Guild is equally alarmed by an arbitrary order of putting the registration of the Kashmir Press

Club “in abeyance” by the Registrar of Societies, a day before its takeover.

“The armed takeover has effectively scuttled this rule-based functioning of the club,” the statement said, adding that this violation of the sanctity of the club by the police and the local administration is a manifestation of the continuing trend to smother press freedom in the union territory. The Guild also referred to the arrest of Sajad Gul, a young journalist, for merely posting a video on

social media which showed a family protesting against the government. Demanding immediate restoration of the status quo before this hostile takeover, the Guild called for holding of elections to appoint a new management body and executive council, and strict prohibitions on any armed forces from interfering with the functioning of the club, without due legal sanction. “The Guild further demands an independent inquiry as to how armed forces entered the club premises,” the statement added.

DEHRADUN, JAN 16 (PTI): A Haridwar court on Sunday sent Yati Narsinghanand, organiser of the controversial Dharma Sansad in Haridwar, to 14day judicial custody.

He has been booked under Sections 295 (A) and 509 of the Indian Penal Code and sent to Roshnabad Jail, Haridwar police station SHO Rakinder Singh Kathait said.

Section 295 (A) deals with deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs while section 509 deals with word, gesture or act intended to insult the modesty of a woman.

Yati Narsinghanand, the head priest of the Dasna temple in Ghaziabad, was picked up on Saturday

Yati Narsinghanand

night from Sarvanand Ghat of the Ganga, where he was staging a ‘satyagraha’ against the arrest of another accused in the case Jitendra Narayan Tyagi, earlier known as Waseem Rizvi.

Tyagi is already in jail, Kathait said.

Some of the speakers at the Dharma Sansad, held from December 17-19, are accused of delivering hate speeches against a particular community.

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CHANDIGARH, JAN 16 (IANS): Fulfilling one of the key poll promise made

by Dushyant Chautala’s Jannayak Janta Party (JJP), a coalition partner of the BJP in Haryana, a law that provides 75 per cent reservation in the private sector to job seekers from the state has come into effect.

Elated over the implementation of the legislation, Deputy Chief Minister Chautala on Sunday said: “Today is a historic day for the youth as from now priority for jobs would be given to the youth of Haryana in all private sector companies, institutions, trusts, societies and industries established in the state.”

The rule regarding 75 per cent job reservation came into effect on January 15.

Hate speech: Narsinghanand sent to 14-day judicial custody

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This festival is also a time to remember the loss of our loved ones.

CM: “I extend warm Mimkut greetings to the Kuki community. May the bond of love and brotherhood grow stronger. I wish you all a happy and a safe Mimkut and a fruitful year ahead,” Rio said in a tweet.

DyCM: Y. Patton while greeting the Kukis said that besides Nagaland, Mimkut festival is celebrated in various parts of North Eastern states. He hoped that the festival is celebrated with oneness setting aside differences and boundary barriers.

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NEW DELHI, JAN 16 (PTI): The Editors Guild of India on Sunday condemned a “coup” at Kashmir Press Club (KPC) by the Jammu and Kashmir administration and termed it a continuing trend to smother press freedom in the union territory with the help of police who have been “brazenly complicit” in it.

In a strong statement, the Guild said it was aghast at the manner in which the office and management of KPC, the largest journalists’ association in the valley,

Forum’s Davos Agenda on January 17, 2022 at 8:30 PM IST via video conferencing, the Prime Minister’s Office said in a statement. The event will also witness participation of top industry leaders, international organizations and civil society, who will deliberate on critical challenges being faced by the world today and discuss how to address them, it said.

Gov, CM, DyCM...

Kohima War Cemetery among... From p-1)

TN Police on alert after rise in child trafficking cases

C H E N NA I , JA N 1 6 (IANS): The Tamil Nadu Police are on high alert after a number of child trafficking cases have been reported.

The police had arrested four members, including the mother of a 10-monthold baby, when they were trying to sell it to a couple in Andhra Pradesh for a huge sum. Police arrested an agent Thanakam on Friday based on the information provided by the four people who were arrested.

Thankam has four cases of child trafficking against her and is a habitual offender and has nationallevel networks, according to police. While there are several processes of adoption in the state with approved legal procedures, the sidestepping of these laws and making children available through the illegal route is getting rampant in the state. A senior police officer with the Tamil Nadu Police while speaking to IANS said, “The child traffickers

Prime Minister Kishida Fumio, European Commission President Ursua von der Leyen, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison, Indonesian President Joko Widodo, Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, Chinese President Xi Jinping, among others.

Prime Minister Modi will deliver the ‘State of the World’ special address at the World Economic

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A postage stamp released on the vaccine indigenously developed jointly by the ICMR and Bharat Biotech- Covaxin.

jabs was also simplified, the minister said.

“A certain section of people attempted to sow confusion over the vaccination drive but the prime minister was determined and he kept on encouraging and motivating the scientists and companies. Thus, the vaccine manufacturing and the inoculation drive progressed at a steady pace,” the minister stated.

The countrywide vaccination drive was rolled out on January 16 with healthcare workers getting inoculated in the first phase. Vaccination of frontline workers started from February 2.

The next phase of the COVID-19 vaccination commenced from March 1 for people over 60 years of age and those aged 45 and above with specified co-morbid conditions.

Vaccination of all people aged over 45 from April 1. The government then decided to expand the ambit of the inoculation drive by allowing everyone above 18 to be vaccinated from May 1. COVID-19 vaccination for those in the age group of 15-

Modi to address World Economic Forum’s Davos Agenda today

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Says 70%adults fully vaccinated NEW DELHI, JAN 16 (PTI): Seventy per cent of India’s adults have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19 while 93 per cent received the first jab, said Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya while launching a postage stamp on indigenously developed vaccine Covaxin to mark one year of the inoculation drive.

This is a proud moment for Indians and the entire world is amazed by the country’s Covid inoculation drive, he said at the commemorative postage stamp release event.

Addressing the programme through a video link, Mandaviya said some people tried to sow confusion over the vaccination drive but Prime Minister Narendra Modi was determined and he kept encouraging and motivating the scientists and companies.

“India has been able to achieve the milestone of

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Modi’s National Startup Day a new start for Indian entrepreneurs

Google, Fb CEOs cheating in online ad sales, alleges lawsuit Gold imports rise over 2-fold plaint.

Meta spokesperson Chris Sgro said Friday that the company’s ad bidding agreement with Google and similar agreements it has with other bidding platforms have helped to increase competition for ad placements.

These business relationships enable Meta to deliver more value to advertisers while fairly compensating publishers, resulting in better outcomes for all, Sgro said.

Internally, Google used the code phrase Jedi Blue to refer to the 2018 agreement, according to the lawsuit. Google kept this code phrase secret.

to $38 bn in Apr-Dec 2021

NEW DELHI, JAN 16 (PTI): India’s gold imports, which has a bearing on the country’s current account deficit (CAD), more than doubled to $38 billion during April-December this fiscal on account of higher demand, according to data of the commerce ministry.

The imports stood at $16.78 billion in April-December 2020.

In December 2021, imports of the precious metal rose to USD 4.8 billion from $4.5 billion in the year-ago period. The surge in gold imports during the nine months contributed to

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the widening of the trade deficit to $142.44 billion against $61.38 billion in April-December 2020.

Similarly, silver imports also increased to $2 billion during April-December 2021 from $762 million in the same period of the previous fiscal. India is the world’s second-biggest gold consumer after China. The imports mainly take care of the demand by the jewellery industry.

startups, thereby reversing the brain-drain process,” Shukla told IANS. Right from the inception of ‘Startup India’ in 2016, a slew of measures has been taken by the government like pushing for digital mode of payments, 100 per cent tax rebate on profit for a period of 3 years for eligible startups, waiver of norms for PSUs to promote procurement by startups and also encouraging PSUs to fund and nurture relevant startups.

“This has created goodquality jobs for people and has also encouraged a lot of young people to take up the plunge. There is still a long way to go for India and we need not only unicorns but decacorns in the near future that will solve the problems of 21st century India,” Shukla emphasised.

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We’re nearly ready to sign and need your approval to move forward, the email read, according to the complaint. Zuckerberg wanted to meet with Sandberg and his other executives before making a decision, the complaint states.

In a statement, Google spokesperson Peter Schottenfels said the lawsuit is full of inaccuracies and lacks legal merit.

In September 2018, the complaint says, the two companies signed the agreement. Sandberg, who was once the head of Google’s ad business, and Pichai personally signed off on the deal, per the states’ com-

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Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg in approving the deal.

Facebook has since renamed itself Meta.

According to the lawsuit, Facebook’s chief operating officer, Sheryl Sandberg, was explicit that this is a big deal strategically’” in a 2018 email thread about the deal that included Facebook’s CEO. While the names of the Facebook executives are still redacted in the suit, their titles are visible.

When the two sides hammered out the terms of the agreement, the team sent an email addressed directly to CEO Zuckerberg, the lawsuit states.

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NEW DELHI, JAN 16 (PTI): Newly unredacted documents from a state-led antitrust lawsuit against Google accuse the search giant of colluding with rival Facebook to manipulate online advertising sales. The CEOs of both companies were aware of the deal and signed off on it, the lawsuit alleges.

The original, redacted lawsuit, filed in December 2021, accused Google of anti-competitive conduct and of teaming up with the social networking giant. But the unredacted version offers details on the involvement of Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai and

emerged as the third largest startup ecosystem in the world in 2021, after the US and China, according to Hurun Research Institute.

India’s unicorns are currently worth more than $170 billion, and counting.

Modi said that like small businesses, which are the spine of India’s economy, startups are turning out to be the game changers.

According to Satish Shukla, Co-founder of automation and robotics firm Addverb Technologies, the Indian startup ecosystem has come a very long way and has matured a lot.

“We can see startups getting listed on the Indian bourses amid a slew of accessible VC/PE funds for the Indian startups. Several talented people are coming back to India to start on their own or work with

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NEW DELHI, JAN 16 (IANS): With Prime Minister Narendra Modi announcing to celebrate January 16 as the National Startup Day, the meteoric rise of desi entrepreneurs in the past couple of years, which made global headlines, has received a tremendous boost.

Fresh data reveals that India produced 46 unicorns (companies with over $1 billion valuation) in 2021 alone, which raised a whopping $42 billion, up from $11.5 billion in 2020.

According to a latest report by Orios Venture Partners, the country now has 90 unicorns -- from ShareChat to Cred and from Meesho to upGrad -- with new ones across the spectrum joining the coveted unicorn club faster than ever. India also

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enhance productivity.

Basu suggested that the aim should be to direct money into the hands of the poor and even some of the middle classes but it needs to be ensured that there is a simultaneous increase in output, strengthening of infrastructure, and easing of supply bottlenecks.

“I know India’s finance Ministry has enough expertise to design these changes but I do not know if it has the political space to do them,” he opined.

Asked about the impact of ‘taper tantrum’ or withdrawal of monetary stimulus by the US Federal Reserve on India, Basu said he does not think the US Fed policy will be that worrying for India because “we have enough foreign exchange reserves now to be able to weather this”.

On cryptocurrencies, Basu said he believes what India is doing on cryptocurrencies is right.

“I have no doubt that ultimately -- and in the not too distant a future -- the whole world will stop using paper currency,” he said, adding that blockchain technology will be used even by central banks and cryptocurrency will become widespread.

Science Laboratory (FSL) in January 1987; Mizoram in 2000; Arunachal in 2018; Tripura in 2002 and Manipur in 2009.

FSLs are considered a must for investigation and prosecution of crimes.

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DP-111/22

unemployment rate in the country touched 23 per cent, among the highest globally, even before the COVID-19 pandemic started. Workers, farmers and small businesses are seeing negative growth, he added.

While India’s GDP is estimated to grow 9.2 per cent in 2021-22, Basu said since this comes after a contraction of 7.3 per cent in 2019-20 due to the pandemic, the average growth rate over the last two years is 0.6 per cent per annum.

The National Statistical Office (NSO) in its first advance estimate has projected a GDP growth of 9.2 per cent in April 2021 to March 2022 fiscal year while the Reserve Bank of India has forecast 9.5 per cent expansion during the same period.

last two years.

“Since this is a stagflation situation, the big task is to create jobs and help small business... the task now is to create jobs while at the same time increasing output,” he observed.

Retail inflation rose to 5.59 per cent in December 2021, mainly due to an uptick in food prices, while the wholesale price-based inflation bucked the 4-month rising trend and eased to 13.56 per cent last month, as per latest official data.

Stagflation is defined as a situation with persistent high inflation combined with high unemployment and stagnant demand in a country’s economy.

While the standard Keynesian policy of making workers do any work, even unproductive, and paying them, works in boosting the economy during deflation, Basu said it is a mistake to do this during stagflation.

“For this reason, the ongoing work on the Central Vista project in the middle of a pandemic and with so much economic suffering, with the enormous expenditure -- by some estimates this will cost the government around USD 2 billion -- is an embarrassment,” he said. It does not

(From p-1) Assam has two functional FSL at Guwahati and Jorhat and recently the state government has sanctioned four more FSLs at Assam Medical College and Hospital (AMCH) at Dibrugarh; Silchar Medical College and Hospital, Tezpur Medical College and Hospital and Bongaigaon Civil Hospital.

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Kaushik Basu

The World Bank has been the most conservative projecting 8.3 per cent growth while Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) has pegged GDP expansion at 9.7 per cent.

On whether the government should be going for fiscal consolidation or continue with stimulus measures in the upcoming Budget, Basu said the current situation in India is a big challenge to Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and the entire fiscal policy apparatus.

The Indian economy is facing stagflation, which is much more painful and requires very carefully curated policy interventions, he said, adding that 15 years ago, inflation was even higher, close to 10 per cent, but there was one big difference.

“At that time, India’s real growth was close to 9 per cent... so, even with the inflation, the average household was becoming better off per capita by 7 or 8 per cent,” he pointed out.

According to Basu, what makes the current situation so grim is that the near 5 per cent inflation is occurring over a fall in real per capita income over the

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India is facing stagflation: Kaushik Basu

NEW DELHI, JAN 16 (PTI): India’s overall macroeconomic situation is in a recovery mode but the growth is concentrated at the top end, which is a worrying trend, according to former World Bank Chief Economist Kaushik Basu.

Amid the rising inflationary trends, including the sharp increase in retail inflation last month, Basu, who has also served as Chief Economic Advisor to the Indian government during the UPA rule, said the country is facing stagflation and “very carefully curated policy interventions” are required to address the situation.

Currently, Basu is a professor of Economics at the Cornell University in the United States.

While the aggregate economy is growing, “the bottom half of India” is in recession, he said and noted that it was sad the country’s policy over the last few years has been largely focused on big businesses.

“India’s overall macroeconomic situation is in recovery mode... The worry stems from the fact that this growth is concentrated at the top end,” Basu told PTI in an interview.

He also said the youth

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No. 3800 Yesterday’s solution No. 3799

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KAKURO

Don’t construct road via Nepali territory unilaterally, Nepal tells India KATHMANDU, JAN 16 (IANS): Nepal on Sunday once again reminded India not to construct any roads in Nepali territory unilaterally. This reaction comes in a response to a recent statement of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on December 30 in Uttarakhand. While addressing an election rally, Modi on December 30 announced that his government had built a road to Lipulekh and that there were more plans to extend it further.

Responding the statement of the Indian Prime Minister after it created a huge uproar in Nepal across the political spectrum, Nepal’s Minister for Information and Communication Minister Gyanendra Bahadur Karki said on Sunday that Nepal government has been asking India not to extend and construct road via Nepali territory unilaterally.

The Indian government is building a road via Lipulekh to Kailash Mansarovar in the Tibetan Autonomous Region of China.

After the row in Nepal

9

INTERNATIONAL

NAGALAND POST, DIMAPUR MONDAY, JANUARY 17, 2022

Representational image

over Modi’s statement, the Indian Embassy in Kathmandu on Saturday issued a statement, clarifying that any outstanding boundary issues with Nepal will be settled through established mechanisms and channels.

“The Gover nment of India’s position on the India-Nepal boundary is well known, consistent and unambiguous,” it said in the statement. “It has been communicated to the Government of Nepal.”

Almost all political parties in Nepal, including Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba’s own Ne-

pali Congress, have been demanding that the government speak up on Modi’s statement and make its position clear on Lipulekh.

When India and China agreed to develop a trade and transit route via Lipulekh during Modi’s visit to China in 2015, the Nepal government had objected to the decision and protested with both Indian and Chinese governments through the separate diplomatic notes. While calling Lipulekh an integral part of its territory, Nepal asked both New Delhi and Beijing to scrap the agreement or take

prior consent from Nepal if they want to construct anything into the disputed territory. Lipulekh is a trijunction between Nepal, India and China.

Earlier in 2020, Nepal again protested India’s decision to extend the road via Lipulekh.

Indian Defence Minister Rajnath Singh had inaugurated the road in the first week of May 2020, creating quite an uproar in Nepal. The Nepal government then on May 20, 2020 unveiled a new map incorporating Kalapani, Limpiyadhura, and Lipulekh within the Nepali territory. The new map was endorsed by Parliament unanimously through a constitutional amendment.

India had taken umbrage at Nepal’s move, calling the publication of the new map “cartographic assertions”. Nepal-India relations then hit a rockbottom and came back on track only at the end of last year. But Modi’s remarks on Lipulekh once again created a commotion in Nepal.

6 injured after shooting outside concert hall in US SAN FRANCISCO, JAN 16 (IANS): Six people were injured after a shooting outside a concert hall in Eugene, US state of Oregon, police said.

Of the six victims that were shot and hospitalised, one was in critical condition, The incident took place on Friday evening.

Eugene Police Chief Chris Skinner said at a news conference early Saturday morning, adding that it’s not clear if the shooting was random or targeted, Xinhua news agency reported. “What we have right now is a single suspect,” Skinner said.

“All we know is that he’s male and in a hoodie.”

Police were called to the WOW Hall in downtown Eugene around 9:30 p.m. Friday night after receiving reports of multiple shots fired and multiple victims. The shooting happened in a parking lot behind WOW Hall while a concert was taking place.

According to the Police Chief, witnesses were not cooperative with the officers who first responded to the scene.

Pacific tsunami threat recedes, volcano ash hinders response

The eruption of an underwater volcano off Tonga, is seen from the NOAA GOES-West satellite taken on Jan 15.

WELLINGTON, JAN 16 (AP): The tsunami threat around the Pacific from a huge undersea volcanic eruption began to recede Sunday, but the massive ash cloud covering the tiny island nation of Tonga prevented surveillance flights from New Zealand to assess the extent of damage.

Satellite images showed the spectacular eruption that took place Saturday evening, with a plume of ash, steam and gas rising like a mushroom above the blue Pacific waters. A sonic boom could be heard as far away as Alaska.

In Tonga it sent tsuna-

mi waves crashing across the shore and people rushing to higher ground.

The eruption cut the internet to Tonga, leaving friends and family members around the world anxiously trying to get in touch to figure out if there were any injuries. Even government websites and other official sources remained without updates on Sunday afternoon. New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said there had not yet been any official reports of injuries or deaths in Tonga, but cautioned that authorities hadn’t yet made contact with some coastal areas

and smaller islands. “Communication with Tonga remains very limited. And I know that is causing a huge amount of anxiety for the Tongan community here,” Ardern said. She said there had been significant damage to boats and shops along the Tongan coastline. The capital, Nuku’alofa, was covered in a thick film of volcanic dust, Ardern said, contaminating water supplies and making fresh water a vital need.

Aid agencies said thick ash and smoke had prompted authorities to ask people to wear masks and drink bottled water.

Ardern said New Zealand was unable to send a surveillance flight over Tonga on Sunday because the ash cloud was 63,000 feet (19,000 metres) high but they hoped to try again on Monday, followed by supply planes and navy ships.

One complicating factor to any international aid effort is that Tonga has so far managed to avoid any outbreaks of COVID-19.

Ardern said New Zealand’s military staff were all fully vaccinated and willing to follow any protocols established by Tonga.

UK’s Prince Harry seeks right Israel to roll out Covid vax for kids below 5 years in April to pay for UK police protection LO N D O N, JA N 1 6 (AGENCIES): Britain’s Prince Harry is challenging a government decision that he should not receive police protection when on British soil even if he covers the cost himself, his legal representatives said.

Harry, Queen Elizabeth’s grandson, and his American wife Meghan quit royal duties in 2020 to forge new careers in Los Angeles. Subsequently the couple have relied upon a private security team.

However, his legal representatives said that these arrangements did not give the prince the level of protection he needed while visiting Britain.

“In the absence of

Prince Harry

such protection, Prince Harry and his family are unable to return to his home,” the statement said.

It cited an incident in July 2021 where they said his security had been compromised whilst leaving a charity event due to the lack of police protection.

Harry’s mother Princess Diana died in a 1997

car crash while trying to escape paparazzi photographers.

The government has previously dismissed two offers to pay for police protection, the prince’s lawyers said. A spokesperson said the process behind those decisions had been opaque and inconsistent and failed to consider the full risks.

Asked about the statement a government spokesperson said that the UK government’s protective security system was “rigorous and proportionate”, and that it was its long-standing policy not to provide detailed information on any arrangements as this could compromise individuals’ security.

JERUSALEM, JAN 16 (IANS): Israel is expected to start vaccines for babies and toddlers, between six months and 5 years, by April, according to a senior health official. Currently vaccines are available in the country for adults, and children aged five and above.

“In Israel vaccines are available now for everybody aged five and over. I believe

by April this year it will be expanded for any age above six months,” Dr Asher Shalmon, the Health Ministry’s director for international relations, said in a briefing to foreign policymakers and journalists this week.

US drugmaker Pfizer is in the process of conducting clinical trials to lower the approved age for its vaccine from five years to six months, Times of Israel re-

ported. Pfizer had reported last month that in its ongoing trial of children aged six months to five years, “no safety concerns were identified” and the vaccine

“demonstrated a favourable safety profile.”

The company is currently checking responses to a regimen of three mini doses for under-5s, after

finding that a two-dose approach provoked a strong response among children aged 6-24 months, but was not very strong in children aged two to five years, the report said.

According to government Covid adviser Prof Nadav Davidovitch, a top epidemiologist, children are often much less sick than adults, but they can have “PIMS [pediatric inflammatory multisystem syndrome, an after effect of Covid-19] and long Covid, which is why vaccines are important, and there will be vaccines for children under five.”

The US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention found that the Pfizer vaccine is highly protective against PIMS. It concluded that the vaccine is 91 per cent effective in preventing

PIMS among 12-18 years of age, a statistic based on comparison of its occurrence among unvaccinated teenagers, the report said.

Davidovitch said parents should not let their guard down against Omicron based on observations that it tends to cause milder illness than previous variants. “It’s clear now that unlike with the original SARS-COV-2 that was not so relevant to children and they were not so infectious, now things are very different,” he said. “It’s probably related to biological characteristics, infection is now much more in your throat and in the upper respiratory areas. With children, whose anatomy is different from adults’, this seems to make them more prone to infection now.”

Hostages safe after Texas synagogue standoff; captor dead Singapore’s Omicron wave likely to see a COLLEYVILLE (US), JAN 16 (AP): Four hostages are safe and their captor is dead after an hours long standoff that began when the man took over services at a Texas synagogue where he could be heard ranting on a livestream and demanding the release of a Pakistani neuroscientist who was convicted of trying to kill US Army officers in Afghanistan.

One hostage held Saturday at Congregation Beth Israel in Colleyville was released during the standoff; three others got out about 9 p.m. when an FBI SWAT team entered the building, authorities said. The hostage taker was killed and FBI Special Agent in Charge Matt De-

A law enforcement official stands patrol on a main road leading to Congregation Beth Israel synagogue in Texas. (AP)

Sarno said a team would investigate “the shooting incident.”

Video from Dallas TV station WFAA shows people running out a door of the synagogue, and then a man holding a gun opening the same door just seconds later, before he

turns around and closes the door. Moments later, several rounds of gunfire can be heard, followed by the sound of an explosion.

FBI and police spokeswomen declined to answer questions about who shot the man.

DeSarno said the hos-

tage taker was specifically focused on an issue not directly connected to the Jewish community, and there was no immediate indication that the man was part of any broader plan. But DeSarno said the agency’s investigation “will have global reach.” It wasn’t clear why the attacker chose the synagogue.

Law enforcement officials who were not authorised to discuss the ongoing investigation and spoke to the AP on the condition of anonymity earlier said that the hostage-taker demanded the release of Aafia Siddiqui, a Pakistani neuroscientist suspected of having ties to al-Qaida.

He also said he wanted to be able to speak with her,

according to the officials.

Siddiqui is in federal prison in Texas.

DeSarno said Saturday night that the man had been identified “but we are not prepared to release his identity or confirm his identity at this time.”

A rabbi in New York City received a call from the rabbi believed to be held hostage in the synagogue to demand Siddiqui’s release, a law enforcement official said. The New York rabbi then called 911.

Police were first called to the synagogue around 11 a.m. and people were evacuated from the surrounding neighborhood soon after that, FBI Dallas spokeswoman Katie Chaumont said.

fairly sharp peak: infectious disease expert

SINGAPORE, JAN 16 (PTI): Singapore’s Omicron wave is likely to see a fairly sharp peak in the near term, similar to what South Africa had witnessed last month, which could push the number of infections in the affluent city-state to around 15,000 cases a day, a media report said on Sunday.

According to the Ministry of Health, 692 cases of the Omicron variant were reported in Singapore on Saturday, of which 541 were locally transmitted and 15 were imported.

The number of COVID-19 cases have been steadily climbing in recent

weeks here, with Omicron constituting a major proportion of the new infections on a daily basis.

“I would anticipate that we will see a fairly sharp peak, like what South Africa has had, and it will decay after that. It will only be after that point that we get to a stable number, with lower numbers of infections,” the Straits Times newspaper reported, quoting an infectious disease modelling expert Alex Cook, who is an associate professor at the National University of Singapore’s Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health. Given the latest number of daily

confirmed cases, Singapore could soon face an Omicron wave, with 10,000 to 15,000 cases a day being a distinct possibility, the report said.

Just how steep the slopes of the next wave are will depend on the kind of restrictions Singapore have in place, it said.

“It could be that we have a lower, longer, slower burn, and we maintain the measures that we currently have in place,” the report said, quoting Professor Cook. The Omicron variant was first identified in South Africa on November 25 last year, before it spread to other parts of the world.

Chinese city lifts restrictions Omicron exposes inflexibility of Europe’s public hospitals Yemen forces recapture after three-week lockdown strategic district from Houthis BEIJING, JAN 16 (AP): State media are reporting the Chinese city of Xi’an has gradually begun lifting restrictions after over three weeks of lockdown as authorities sought to stamp out a local outbreak.

State-owned broadcaster CCTV reported Sunday that certain counties and development zones in Xi’an had begun restoring production, citing a news conference by Xi’an officials.

They also said that lockdown measures had been either partially or completely lifted in some communities that have been designated as lower risk, allowing people to leave their homes for a limited time to

purchase daily necessities.

The partial lifting of measures comes after the city went into strict lockdown on Dec 22, following a local coronavirus outbreak that officials attributed to the delta variant. The city has reported over 2,000 infections since December last year.

China is seeking to stamp out local transmission of the omicron and delta variants with its “zero COVID” policy. Several municipalities and cities in the southern province of Guangdong as well as Beijing have in recent days reported local cases of the more contagious omicron variant.

S T R A S B O U R G (FRANCE), JAN 16 (AP): A World Health Organisation official warned last week of a “closing window of opportunity” for European countries to prevent their health care systems from being overwhelmed as the omicron variant produces near-vertical growth in coronavirus infections.

In France, Britain and Spain, nations with comparatively strong national health programmes, that window may already be closed. The director of an intensive care unit at a hospital in Strasbourg is turning patients away. A surgeon at a London hospital describes a critical delay in a man’s cancer diagnosis. Spain is seeing its determination to

prevent a system collapse tested as omicron keeps medical personnel off work.

“There are a lot of patients we can’t admit, and it’s the non-COVID patients who are the collateral victims of all this,” said Dr Julie Helms, who runs the ICU at Strasbourg Univer-

sity Hospital in far eastern France. Two years into the pandemic, with the exceptionally contagious omicron impacting public services of various kinds, the variant’s effect on medical facilities has many reevaluating the resilience of public health systems that are consid-

ered essential to providing equal care. The problem, experts say, is that few health systems built up enough flexibility to handle a crisis like the coronavirus before it emerged, while repeated infection spikes have kept the rest too preoccupied to implement changes during the long emergency.

Hospital admissions per capita right now are as high in France, Italy and Spain as they were last spring, when the three countries had lockdowns or other restrictive measures in place. England’s hospitalisation rate of people with COVID-19 for the week ending Jan 9 was slightly higher than it was in early February 2021, before most residents were vaccinated.

SANAA, JAN 16 (IANS): The Yemen government army has recaptured Harib district in the oil-rich province of Marib from the Houthi militia after a deadly battle, a military source confirmed.

The army entered the district’s central town on Saturday and now is combing the areas surrounding it, the source told Xinhua news agency. Meanwhile, the Saudi-owned Al-Arabiya TV reported that the coalition carried out 33 airstrikes on Marib in the past 24 hours, destroying 21 vehicles of the Houthi militia and killing 190 militants. The Houthi is yet to officially comment on the

developments.

The Houthis seized Harib and several other districts in the governmentcontrolled province last year. Last week, the Yemeni army recaptured three districts in the adjacent province of Shabwa from the Houthi militia after a 10-day battle, taking the whole province of Shabwa from the militia.

Yemen has been mired in a civil war since late 2014 when the Houthi militia seized control of several northern provinces and forced the internationally recognized government of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi out of the capital Sanaa.

INFOTAINMENT

10

NASA citizen scientist spots Jupiter-like planet A citizen scientist has discovered a giant gaseous planet about 379 light-years from Earth, orbiting a star with the same mass as the Sun, NASA has said.

The exoplanet, called TOI-2180 b, was discovered in data from NASA’s Tr a n s i t i n g E xo p l a n e t Survey Satellite (TESS).

TOI-2180 b is almost three times more massive than Jupiter but has the same diameter, meaning it is more dense than Jupiter.

This made scientists wonder whether it formed in a different way than Jupiter.

F u r t h e r, t h r o u g h computer models the team determined that the new planet may have as much as 105 Earth masses worth of elements heavier than hydrogen and helium.

“That’s a lot. That’s more than what we suspect is inside Jupiter,” said Paul Dalba, astronomer at the University of California,

Riverside, and lead author of the study.

The Jupiter-size planet is special for astronomers because its 261-day year is long compared to many known gas giants outside our solar system.

W i t h a n av e r a g e temperature of about 170 degrees Fahrenheit, TOI2180 b is also warmer than room temperature on Earth, and warmer than the outer planets of our solar system including Jupiter

and Saturn.

But compared to the array of transiting giant exoplanets that astronomers have found orbiting other stars, TOI2180 b is abnormally chilly, NASA said.

The result, published in the Astronomical Journal, also suggests the planet is just a bit farther from its star than Venus is from the Sun. To track the planet, professional astronomers

and citizen scientists e n g a ge d i n “ a g l o b a l uniting effort”.

Using TESS data, scientists looked for changes in brightness of nearby stars, which indicated the presence of orbiting planets. “ D i s c ove r i n g a n d publishing TOI-2180 b was a great group effort demonstrating that professional astronomers and seasoned citizen scientists can successfully w o r k t o g e t h e r,” s a i d Tom Jacobs of Bellevue, Washington, a former US naval officer who discovered the exoplanet.

While professional astronomers use algorithms to scan tens of thousands of data points from stars automatically, these citizen scientists use a programme called LcTools, to inspect telescope data by eye.

On February 1, 2020, Jacobs noticed a plot showing starlight from TOI-2180 dim by less

Celine Dion cancels North American stretch of ‘Courage World Tour’, cites health reasons

C

anadian singer Celine Dion is ending her ‘ C o u r a ge World Tour’ in the United States and Canada owing to her health condition as muscle spasms rendered her unable to perform for sometime, reports ‘Variety’.

The remaining part of the North American stretch of her ‘Courage World Tour’ was scheduled for March 9 to April 22.

The singer had already performed 52 shows across North America for the tour, which started before the COVID-19 pandemic wrecked live entertainment in March 2020.

According to ‘Variety’, Celine said in a statement, “I was really hoping that I’d be good to go by now, but I suppose I just have to be more patient and follow the regimen that my doctors are prescribing.”

“There’s a lot of organising and preparation that goes into our shows, and so we have to make decisions today which will affect the plans two months down the road. I’ll be so glad to get back to full health, as well as all of us getting past this pandemic, and I can’t wait to be back on stage again”, she added.

However, the European stretch of the ‘Courage World Tour’ is still on cards for the singer with the first concert scheduled for May 25 in Birmingham, England. (IANS)

than half a percent and then return to its previous brightness level over a 24-hour period, which may be explained by an orbiting planet that is said to acetransit” as it passes in front of the star from our point of view, NASA said.

With 27 hours of observations spread over more than 500 days, the team measured the amount of light that dims as the planet passes. This helped scientists to estimate how big the planet is and its density.

The team wanted to observe the planet’s transit when it came back around to confirm the orbit, but they couldn’t.

The lack of a clear detection put a boundary on how long the orbit could be, indicating a period of about 261 days.

Using that estimate, they predict TESS will see the planet transit its star again in February 2022, NASA said. (IANS)

NAGALAND POST, DIMAPUR MONDAY, JANUARY 17, 2022

Lata Mangeshkar’s condition improving: Maha health minister

T

he health condition of legendary singer Lata Mangeshkar, who remains admitted in the ICU of a hospital in Mumbai, is improving, Maharashtra Health Minister Rajesh Tope said here on Sunday.

The 92-year-old singer tested positive f o r c o r o n av i r u s w i t h mild symptoms and was admitted to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of the Breach Candy Hospital in south Mumbai last week.

“Lata Mangeshkar’s condition is improving. I spoke to authorities of the Breach Candy Hospital who updated me about her health. I told them that the spokesperson of the hospital should provide updates on the singer’s condition as people are eager to know about her health,” Tope told reporters in Jalna.

After discussing with her family members, the

Breach Candy Hospital can update about the health of the veteran singer, Tope said.

Earlier in the day, associate professor, Dr Pratit Samdani from the Breach Candy Hospital told PTI that Mangeshkar continues to be in the ICU and is under treatment.

Mangeshkar’s niece Rachana Shah had on

Thursday said the singer is doing well and requested the media to respect the privacy of the family.

Regarded as one of Indian cinema’s greatest s i n g e r s, M a n g e s h k a r started her career at the age of 13 in 1942 and has over 30,000 songs to her credit in several Indian languages.

(PTI)

of the song – it was totally nuts. It’s been amazing. It’s so powerful playing these old tunes. It’s very very special.”

A n d Jo h n n y w a s delighted to have rebuilt his old friendships.

He said: “I’m really enjoying reconnecting with Andy and Carl, it’s like getting to know people

again. I’m enjoying it because you never want to lose friends. It’s a horrible thing to think. It doesn’t really make sense.

It definitely feels good to me on a personal level.

“On a creative level – amazing. We’ve been in the studio rehearsing and recording. As soon as the four of us are in the room,

it just sounds amazing, straight away.”

In 2020, guitarist Björn re-joined the band and Johnny admitted at the time that he was hoping to persuade bassist Carl to make a comeback.

R a z o r l i g h t ’s l a s t studio album was 2018’s ‘Olympus Sleeping’.

(Contactmusic)

Razorlight confirm new album on the way

R

azorlight are working on a new album. The ‘Golden Touch’ hitmakers confirmed last April their classic line-up - Johnny Bor rell, Björ n Åg ren, Carl Dalemo and Andy Burrows - were reuniting for a live-streamed show that summer following a 10-year hiatus and they’ve now revealed they are planning to release new music.

Sharing some professional photos of the whole band on Twitter, they posted: “Greetings from 2022, here we are in Gloucestershire working hard on Razor album 5.”

Andy previously admitted it was “incredible” to be back with the band.

He said: “It feels incredible. We’ve spent the past week or two rehearsing. Playing these songs has been an absolute joy. The emotions that were going through me when we started playing ‘America’, I forgot to play the first half

F

o r a l o n g t i m e, curcumin was the most popular supplement in the country.

Millions of Americans turned to this root for its incredible health benefits... only to stop using it because it just wasn’t working.

But, curcumin’s effects on your health have been proven in hundreds of studies. Some of these benefits confirm that curcumin: • Reverses memory loss from late-stage Alzheimer’s in just three months1 • Reduces arthritis joint pain by 60%…and joint swelling by 73%2 • E l i m i n a t e s symptoms of hard-to-treat depression3 • Halts the onset of type-2 diabetes with 100% success4 • P r e ve n t s D NA damage that can lead to cancer5 You see, the problem isn’t the spice itself. The fault lies with the supplements.

More on this in a moment.

First, I want to share the latest research on how curcumin can extend your “health span” – the number of years you feel physically energized and ready to take on the world.

K Y M C

N ew r e s e a r c h h a s revealed the aging process is controlled primarily by two parts of your cell biology: 1. Your mitochondria, the microscopic energy powerhouses found in each of your cells.

2. A n d yo u r telomeres, the tiny caps at the ends of your chromosomes, found in the nucleus of your cells.

Studies now show that inflammation from free radical attacks is at the root of mitochondria dysfunction. When these tiny energy generators m i s f i r e, y o u b e c o m e vulnerable to the “diseases of aging,” including insulin resistance, diabetes, macular degeneration, cognitive decline, osteoar thritis, heart disease, fibromyalgia, Alzheimer’s, and Parkinson’s.

But, recent research shows curcumin’s powerful antioxidant proper ties dramatically reduce free radical attacks and inflammation in the mitochondria, thus slowing the aging process.6 And curcumin isn’t just an anti-inflammatory and antioxidant. It’s also anti-pain, anti-microbial, anti-Alzheimer’s, antiParkinson’s, and anti-cancer

– thanks to its mitochondriaprotective qualities.

M e a n w h i l e, n e w research reveals curcumin prevents telomeres from shortening and also helps them grow longer.7,8 Alternatively, curcumin has the opposite effect on cancer cells. Researchers have found it shortens the telomeres of cancerous tumor cells, driving them toward cell death.9 Getting hold of curcumin is easy and inexpensive. One way to get the benefits is to cook with turmeric, the Indian spice you can buy for just a few dollars. But it’s almost impossible to get what you need from food. The average Indian diet provides around 2,000-2,500 mg per day – and, in my experience, even that’s not enough.

So, most people turn to supplements. Unfortunately, as I mentioned earlier, the majority of curcumin supplements you find on drug store shelves won’t work. I did a quick search of the labels of a handful of popular brands. Most had a paltry dosage of around 450 mg.

I recommend a daily dose of at least 3,000 mg to make sure you’re getting the most anti-aging benefits from curcumin.

But, that’s not the only issue with drug store supplements…

It turns out curcumin has limited bioavailability.

That means most of it gets metabolised before it can be absorbed due to the digestive enzymes in the stomach, intestines, and liver.

Dr. Al Sears MD

dc-30/22

Curcumin not working. This is why

K Y M C

U-19 WC: India beat South Africa by 45 runs

GUYANA (WEST INDIES), JAN 16 (IANS): Yash Dhull played a captain’s knock of 82, while left-arm spinner Vicky Ostwal grabbed a five-wicket haul as India began their campaign in the U-19 ICC Cricket World Cup here at the Providence Stadium with a crushing 45-run victory over South Africa in their opening Group B match on Sunday (IST).

The four-time champions, after setting a target of 233 for the Proteas to win, bundled out the 2014 champions for just 187 in 45.4 overs with Ostwal doing most of the damage to the South African top and middle-order.

After South African left-arm seamer Aphiwe Mnyanda had caused mayhem with the new ball to reduce India to 11/2, captain Dhull strode to the crease and showcased all the fighting spirit that has seen India emerge as the most successful team in the tournament since the turn of the century.

Dhull struck a clinical 82 off 100 deliveries to steer his side towards a competitive total

India U-19 cricket team members celebrate after winning against South Africa during the U-19 ICC Cricket World Cup at the Providence Stadium, Guyana.

as Kaushal Tambe (35), Shaik Rasheed (31) and Nishant Sindhu (27) also made important contributions.

M n ya n d a ’s e a r l y menace was supplemented by fellow opening bowler Matthew Boast’s 3/40 as South Africa dismissed India for 232 in 46.5 overs to leave the clash on a knife’s edge at the interval.

R a j va r d h a n H a n gargekar set the tone in the second innings by dismissing Ethan-John Cun-

11

SPORTS

NAGALAND POST, DIMAPUR MONDAY, JANUARY 17, 2022

ningham in the first over but Dewald Brevis (65) and Valentine Kitime’s (25) half-century partnership kept the game evenly poised.

South African captain George Van Heerden made 36 in the middle order but fabulous figures of five for 28 from Ostwal, who was adjudged ‘Player of the Match’ ensured India continued to suffocate their opponents, returning figures of 5/28 off his 10 overs.

Wickets tumbled at regular intervals as South Africa left themselves with too much to do and India, the only country to win the ICC U19 Men’s CWC four times, got their campaign off to a flyer.

South Africa required 100 runs to win with seven wickets in hand and more than 15 overs remaining.

But the fall of the dangerous Brevis prompted a collapse as the Proteas lost six wickets for 27 runs to put a stop on their run chase.

South Africa may have slumped to defeat, but in Brevis they have a future star on their hands.

The young batter, nicknamed ‘Baby AB’, saw him bring up his half-century with a massive six.

Earlier, only a mixup between the wickets denied Dhull the century that he deserved after a fine knock of 82 from 100 balls to anchor his side’s innings. Had the 19-yearold been able to extend his stay at the crease, India would have managed an imposing total.

The right-hander has now scored three halfcenturies on the bounce, with this innings following 50s against Australia and the West Indies during the warm-up matches.

Brief scores: India Under-19s 232 in 46.5 overs (Shaik Rasheed 31, Yash Dhull 82, Kaushal Tambe 35; Matthew Boast 3/40, Aphiwe Mnyanda 2/29) beat South Africa 187 in 45.4 overs (Dewald Brevis 65, George Van Heerden 36; Vicky Ostwal 5/28, Raj Bawa 4/47) by 45 runs.

Juventus manage comfortable victory in Allegri’s milestone

Juventus players celebrate after winning their match against Udinese.

ROME, JAN 16 (IANS): Massimiliano Allegri marked his 300th games on Juventus’ bench with a comfortable victory, as they beat Udinese 2-0 with a pair of strikes from Paulo Dybala and Weston McKennie.

Juventus had suffered a 2-1 SuperCoppa defeat to Inter Milan in mid-week and entered Allianz Stadium on Saturday evening without Federico Chiesa, Leonardo Bonucci, Danilo, and Aaron Ramsey but had Matthijs De Ligt and Juan Cuadrado back from suspension, while Udinese still

had nine players who tested positive for COVID-19.

The Bianconeri went ahead in the 19th minute as Arthur’s pass was tapped

by Moise Kean for Dybala to finish with a left-footed strike, Xinhua reports. Dybala refused to celebrate the opener, instead glaring at the Juve’s directors on the stands, as the reports disclosed the confrontation between La Joya and the upper echelon after the club suspended his contract extension.

The Old Lady sealed the win in the 79th minute, Dybala was involved again

when the Argentine spread the play down the left, and Mattia De Sciglio rolled across for McKennie to head in.

With the win, Juventus still rank fifth with 38 points, three behind Atalanta who hosts Inter Milan on Sunday and has a game in hand.

A l s o o n S u n d ay, Lazio also registered a convincing victory as it beat Salernitana 3-0, with Ciro Immobile’s quick-double on Manuel Lazzari’s goal.

Elsewhere, Torino beat Sampdoria 2-1 on the road.

WADSA’s 50th Sevilla midfielder Jordan hit by object Murray finds spark before longthrown from stand, game postponed anniversary concludes awaited return to Melbourne Park taken to suspend the game with the RFEF publishing a tweet “condemning every act of violence on the field of play”, Xinhua reports.

The press speculate that the remaining minutes of the game may be played on Sunday behind closed doors.

It is not the first time Betis fans have carried out an action like this with former Sevilla coach Juande Ramos getting hit by a bottle thrown from the stands in a derby played in the same Benito Villamarin Stadium in a Cup tie in 2007. An Athletic Club Bilbao keeper was hit in the head by a bottle thrown by a Betis fan in a match played in 2008.

In the last-16 games which were played on Saturday, Mallorca beat Espanyol 2-1, while Rayo Vallecano won 2-1 away to second division Girona and Cadiz knocked out second tier Sporting Gijon on penalties.

Sevilla midfielder Joan Jordan has been kept under a minimum of 24-hour home observation after he was hit by an object thrown from the stands.

Keneizhakho Nakhro, MLA addressing the closing function on January 15.

D I M A P U R , JA N 1 6 (NPN): A four day long 50th anniversary of Western Angami ‘D’ Sports Association (WADSA) concluded on January 15 at Kiruphema ground, Peducha under Kohima district.

Sechii Zubza Youth Organization (SZYO) emerged as the football champion while Mengujuma Youth Organization (MYO) stood runners-up.

Kiruphema Youth Organization (KYO) bagged the first position in volleyball (men) while Thekrejuma Youth Organization (TYO) was the runners-up.

In volleyball (wom-

en), SZYO clinched the champion title while TYO bagged the runners-up.

The overall champion was bagged by Sechii Zubza Youth Organization.

Earlier, MLA Keneizhakho Nakhro graced the closing ceremony as the guest of honour. The function was chaired by WADSA former president Aletuo Kruse while vote of thanks was proposed

by WADSA joint secretary Keneiletuo Sano. The four day long meet which started on January 12 was graced by Nagaland’s chief minister Neiphiu Rio as the special guest.

MELBOURNE, JAN 16 (AGENCIES): Tears, pain and a defiant five-set loss marked Andy Murray’s last appearance at the Australian Open but the Scot will stroll Melbourne Park’s grounds with a positive outlook for the first time in three years.

On Sunday, Murray played his first ATP final since Antwerp in 2019.

Although he lost in straight sets to Russian bruiser Aslan Karatsev at the Sydney Tennis Classic, it was an encouraging start to the year for the Briton.

“There are many positive things to having good runs in these tournaments,” Murray told reporters.

“I didn’t have to worry so much about that before.”

Since major surgery on his troublesome hip in 2019, little has come easy to the 34-year-old who won the last of his three Grand Slam titles at Wimbledon in 2016. His last match at Melbourne Park was a grinding five-set defeat by Spain’s Roberto Bautista Agut where he gave every-

Andy Murray

thing he had. At his prematch media conference, he had sobbed uncontrollably, revealing his hip pain was so bad that he thought his career might be over.

Another fitness setback saw him miss the 2020 tournament and last year it was a COVID-19 infection and Australia’s strict 14-day quarantine rule that scuttled his return.

Now, he arrives at Melbourne Park with a wildcard and a ranking outside the top 100, a far cry from his halcyon days as a feared competitor who reached the final five times.

He faces Georgia’s 21st seed Nikoloz Basilashvili in the first round on Tuesday and is glad for the momentum built in Sydney heading into a tricky opening clash.

“I have put so much work and effort into getting back into these positions and to be competing for tournaments again,” said Murray. “It’s not a goal of mine to get to a specific ranking, like in the next year. “But improving your ranking and getting yourself up into the top 50, top 30, top 20, (it) allows you to be seeded in tournaments.”

Nuggets win another blowout, this time over Lakers Tritons CC Mkg and LCYO into T20 WCC final

ISL postpones match between Blasters & Mumbai

Copa del Rey

M A D R I D, J A N 1 6 (IANS): The Copa del Rey tie between local rivals Betis and Sevilla was halted and subsequently postponed after Sevilla midfielder Joan Jordan was hit by an object thrown from the stands.

The game was in its 40th minute on Saturday night, just after Nabil Fekir had equalised for Betis to make the score 1-1, when a

DENVER, JAN 16 (AGENCIES): Bones Hyland had career highs of 27 points and 10 rebounds, Nikola Jokic had 17 points, 13 assists and 12 rebounds, and the host Denver Nuggets routed the Los Angeles Lakers 133-96 on Saturday night.

Jeff Green scored a season-high 26 points, Will Barton scored 12, Aaron Gordon and Davon Reed had 11 each and Monte Morris scored 10 for Denver, which has won two straight in blowout fashion.

The Nuggets beat the Portland Trail Blazers 140-108 on Thursday.

LeBron James had 25 points and nine rebounds, Russell Westbrook scored 19 points and Dwight Howard had 13 for the Lakers, who have lost three straight.

The Nuggets led by five after the first quarter, and then opened up a double-digit lead in the second.

They built a 102-79 lead after three quarters. It marked the second straight game the Nuggets have reached 100 points after three quarters after scoring just 85 in a loss to the Los Angeles Clippers on Tuesday night.

bar hit the Sevilla midfielder on the head, leaving him dizzy and needing treatment. After around five minutes, referee De Burgos Bengoetxea instructed the teams to go to their dressing rooms, while deliberations took place over what to do with representatives of the Spanish Football Federation (RFEF). Around 40 minutes later, the decision was

Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokic (15) shoots the ball past Los Angeles Lakers forward Trevor Ariza (1) in the second quarter at Ball Arena.

notched his first tripledouble of the season as Toronto took down host Milwaukee to complete a three-game sweep of the season series.

Siakam had 30 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists to lead the Raptors to their seventh win in the past nine games. OG Anunoby added 24 points on 9-of-23 shooting, and Fred VanVleet added 17 points.

Giannis AntetokRaptors 103, Bucks 96 ounmpo paced MilwauP a s c a l S i a k a m kee with 30 points and K Y M C

six rebounds even though he shot only 6-of-17 from the field. Grayson Allen chipped in 18 points, and Khris Middleton had 16.

Bobby Portis posted 11 points and 11 rebounds to tally his third double-double in his past five games.

76ers 109, Heat 98

Joel Embiid saved 11 of his game-high 32 points for the final 6:18 to win an entertaining duel with Omer Yurtseven and lift Philadelphia over host Mi-

ami in a duel of two teams playing for the second time in two nights.

Embiid completed a double-double with a game-high 12 rebounds, while Tobias Harris added 22 points and Seth Curry 21 for the 76ers.

Yurtseven, an undrafted rookie sensation, nearly matched Embiid with 22 points and 11 rebounds, both team highs, for the Heat, who saw a four-game winning streak come to an end.

D I M A P U R , JA N 1 6 (NPN): Tritons CC Mokokchung will take LCYO in the final match at the ongoing T20 Winter Cricket Challenge (WCC) after winning their respective matches on January 16 at local ground Wokha.

The first match of the T20 WCC semi-final match was played between the Royal Strikers Tsumang against the mighty Trinton CC Mokokchung.

Winning the toss, Titons CC Mokokchung decided to field first. Batting the Royal Strikers Tsumang made a target of 102 runs in 18.2 overs losing all wickets.

Lima thing Ngullie’s 19 runs, Ayush Agarwal’s 13 runs, Renben Murry’s 16 runs and Renben Shitiri’s 10 runs for Royal Strikers Tsumang.

Neehal of Tritons CC claimed 3 wickets in four overs, 23 runs, Mrimor Dutta 3 wickets in 3.2 overs 10 runs and Arjun Kumar, Bidesh Nayak (one maiden), Vezale (one maiden) claimed a wicket respectively.

Tritons CC Mokokchung in the form of Fahim Ahmed 19 runs, Nripen’s 26 runs and Arjun Kumar’s 25 runs took the team to victory by 4 wickets in 17.5 over, where Arjun Kumar

General secretary of The Naga Club, K.N Mhonthung Lotha, giving away man of the match award.

was adjudged the man of the match award.

In the second match of the last semi-final match played between EYL Vs LCYO, the former winning the toss decided to bat first where Renjanthung collected 49 runs, Epithung’s 28 runs and Ajen Patton’s 14 runs collected to reach the team total target of 126 in 20 overs losing seven wickets.

Karthick of EYL in four overs, 25 runs claimed three wickets, Chumchamo in four overs took 2 wickets, 25 runs while Alamo and Anand Basumatry claimed a wicket each.

Renjamo’s 23 runs, Tsenpon Murry’s 22 runs and Anan Basumatry’s 14 runs could not help the team to secure and were all

out in 17.6 overs with just 102 runs.

Ajen of EYL claimed three wickets, David Yanthan and Chonbenthung claimed two wickets each and Thechamo collect a wicket.

LCYO registered victory in 17.6 overs by 23 runs and the man of the match was claimed by Renjanthung Tungoe.

The final match will be played against Tritons CC Mokokchung Vs LCYO on January 17 after an exhibition match between DC Wokha XI Vs SNK President XI where the exhibition match will be a benefit match and amount collected will be sent to Oting victims’ families, informed SNK, the organisers of WCC.

NEW DELHI, JAN 16 (IANS): The Indian Super League (ISL) match between Kerala Blasters FC and Mumbai City FC, slated to be played later on Sunday, has been postponed, the League confirmed in a statement. However, ISL has not revealed the exact reason behind the postponement of the match, but it was believed that ISL clubs are facing problems on multiple fronts due to the rising number of Covid-19 cases “Indian Super League (ISL) has decided to postpone Match No. 62 between Kerala Blasters FC and Mumbai City FC scheduled to be played on January 16 at Tilak Maidan Stadium, Vasco da Gama.

The League will look to reschedule the fixture to a later date,” ISL said in a statement.

“The decision has been taken in consultation with the League’s medical team after it was assessed Kerala Blasters FC do not have the requisite number of players available for the match. The League will work closely with the medical experts to monitor and ensure the safety of all the players and support staff in the squad and others involved,” the statement added.

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NAGALAND POST, DIMAPUR MONDAY, JANUARY 17, 2022

India Open: Sen wins men’s singles; Satwik-Chirag pair claims maiden title

NEW DELHI, JAN 16 (PTI): India’s Lakshya Sen secured his maiden Super 500 title by winning the Yonex-Sunrise India Open with a stunning straightgame victory over reigning world champion Loh Kean Yew of Singapore in the men’s singles final here on Sunday.

It was after Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty became the first team from the country to win India’s flagship tournament after toppling three-time world champions Mohammad Ahsan and Hendra Setiawan.

The 20-year-old Sen, who had claimed his maiden world championships medal with a bronze in Spain last month, produced a fine performance to outshine the fifth seeded shuttler 24-22 21-17 in the summit clash that lasted 54 minutes.

Satwik and Chirag showed nerves of steel as

Lakshya Sen

the duo saved five game points to overcome the world No. 2 Indonesian pair 21-16 26-24 in 43 minutes.

Going into this match, the two had a 2-2 head-to-head record with Sen losing two of the last three meetings, but the

Indian was the better man on show on Sunday as he showed great athleticism, used his attacking shots to good effect and came up with his punched winners from the back at the right moments.

It is Sen’s biggest title of his career. He had

Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty

won two Super 100 titles -- Dutch Open and SaarLorLux Open -- besides three international challenge at Belgium, Scotland and Bangladesh in 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic came in the way of his progress.

Last year, the young-

ster made it to the semifinals at Hylo, reached the knockout stage at World Tour Finals on debut before sizzling at the World Championships with a bronze.

Satwik and Chirag came into the match with a 1-3 head-to-head record

against their opponents but they dished out a brave effort to stave off a fightback from the Indonesians and reign supreme in the final.

From almost missing the tournament following false COVID positive results to winning the title, it turned out to be an incredible start to 2022 for the Indian pair, which accumulated valuable ranking points ahead of a busy season, which comprises bigticket events such as the Commonwealth Games and the Asian Games.

The Indian pair started on a positive note and even though the Indonesian combination fought back, Satwik and Chirag ensured they were two points ahead at the first interval.

The Indians tried to engage their rivals in rallies and led 18-13 but the Indonesians reduced the deficit to 16-18 before Satwik and Chirag prevailed in the

opening game.

Fast-paced but short rallies were the norm in the second game as well, as Ahsan and Satiawan grabbed a three-point lead at 9-6 early in the second game.

But the Indian pair again ensured they have the advantage at the break, grabbing a slender 11-10 lead. Sawtik and Chirag maintained the intensity in the rallies after the break to lead 15-13.

The world number two again drew parity at 17-17 but Satwik and Chirag moved to 19-17 when Ahsan erred at net. Chirag went long next and it was 19-19. The Indonesians managed to move to a game point with a tap by Ahsan.

What followed was a frequent exchange of points as both India and Indonesia ear ned and squandered their advantageous positions in equal

measure.

After a fierce battle, it was the Indian pair that emerged winners with the Indonesia squandering five game points.

Satwik and Chirag had won the Thailand Open Super 500 title in 2019, besides reaching the final at French Open Super 750 the same year.

The duo also claimed the silver medal at the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games, besides winning the Hyderabad Open Super 100 and finishing runnersup at Syed Modi International in 2018.

Satwik and Chirag played a crucial role in India earning the historic mixed team gold medal in the 2018 Commonwealth Games.

The Indian pair also had qualified for the Tokyo Olympics last year but couldn’t cross the group stage despite winning two out of their three matches.

Tennis star Djokovic flies out of Aus beats Eng by 146 runs; completes 4-0 Ashes win Australia after losing court appeal

MELBOURNE, JAN 16 (AGENCIES): Tennis superstar Novak Djokovic flew out of Australia on Sunday after a court upheld the government’s decision to cancel his visa, capping days of drama over the country’s COVID-19 entry rules and his unvaccinated status.

The unanimous ruling by a three-judge Federal Court bench dealt a final blow to Djokovic’s hopes of chasing a record 21st Grand Slam win at the Australian Open that starts on Monday.

The Serbian player went to the airport in Melbourne just hours later.

Federal agents escorted him and his team from the business lounge to the gate, where he boarded an Emirates flight bound for Dubai. The flight took off shortly before 11 p.m.

(1200 GMT).

In a rollercoaster ride, the world’s top men’s player was first detained by immigration authorities on Jan. 6, ordered released by a court on Jan. 10 and then detained on Saturday again pending Sunday’s court hearing.

Djokovic said after the ruling he was extremely disappointed as it meant he could not take part in the

Serbian’s Tennis star Novak Djokovic walks in Melbourne Airport before boarding a flight.

tournament.

“I respect the Court’s ruling and I will cooperate with the relevant authorities in relation to my departure from the country,” he said in a statement, and wished the tournament well.

Djokovic, 34, had appealed against Immigration Minister Alex Hawke’s use of discretionary powers to cancel his visa. The minister had said Djokovic could be a threat to public order because his presence would encourage anti-vaccination sentiment amidst Australia’s worst coronavirus outbreak.

Chief Justice James Allsop said the court ruling was based on the lawfulness and legality of the minister’s decision in the context of the three grounds of appeal Djokovic’s legal team lodged.

“It is no part of the function of the court to decide upon the merits or wisdom of the decision,” Allsop said, adding that the three judges were unanimous in their ruling. Full reasoning behind the ruling would be released in coming days, he said.

It was not immediately clear when Djokovic would leave the country.

HOBART, JAN 16 (IANS): Showing their sheer dominance, fast bowlers helped Australia thrash England by 146 runs in the fifth and final Test on Day 3, to clinch the 2021/22 Ashes series 4-0 and to retain the urn, here on Sunday.

Despite Mark Wood’s lion-hearted efforts to keep his side in the contest with his career-best 6 for 39 to bowl Australia out in their second innings for 155 and set England a realistic chase of 271, visitors folded from 0-68 a ball prior to tea to 124 all out just 22.4 overs later.

It was a 17-wicket day -- just the third of such carnage in Tests played in Australia over the past 25 years, and the second since yesterday -- saw Australia complete such a clinical win that off-spinner Nathan Lyon wasn’t required to bowl a ball during the match.

The Australia fast bowlers showed their mastery with wickets shared between skipper Pat Cummins (3-42), Scott Boland (3-18), Cameron Green (3-21) and Mitchell Starc (1-30).

Chasing a challenging target of 271 to win, Rory Burns and Zak Crawley logged England’s highest opening partnership of the tour in a quick-fire fashion that belied their previous struggles in the series. However, Burns (26) chopped on to Cameron Green at the stroke of tea and his partner

Australia’s players spray champagne as they pose with the trophy after winning the Ashes cricket match and the series against England in Hobart, Australia, Sunday. (AP/PTI)

Crawley was 32 not out when tea was called.

After the interval, it was Green, who opened the floodgates by picking quick wickets. Dawid Malan wore a bouncer on his head and then chopped a delivery onto his stumps. Crawley, who had moved on to 36 serenely, went searching for a booming drive to a full Green ball that swung away late and nicked off to the keeper.

Joe Root and Ben Stokes joined hands to revive England’s chase, but the latter fell to a short ball from Mitchell Starc and England’s hopes plummeted.

Scott Boland then got into the act, dismissing Root for the fourth time in the series. The England captain was a tad unlucky to receive one that stayed low and went beneath his bat to crash into the stumps. Sam Billings chipped one to mid-on off Boland soon after and Cummins cleaned up Ollie Pope to leave England at 107/7.

Chris Woakes, Mark Wood and Ollie Robinson were dismissed in the space of six balls as England went from 82/1 to 124 all out, conceding the match by 146 runs. Earlier, resuming at 37/3, Wood into fourth

over of the day’s play hit the hard length and got a delivery to climb steeply towards Scott Boland’s throat, something the nightwatchman could only glove to the ‘keeper. Two overs later, he dismissed first-innings centurion Travis Head, who became the latest in a list of batsmen strangled down the legside in this game.

The short-ball bowling got the biggest reward when Smith got out on the pull at fine-leg. Australia at that stage were reduced to 63/6 with England entertaining the possibility of chasing a target under or close to 200.

However, there was re-

sistance from Aussie batters as Alex Carey and Cameron Green got together to add some important runs with some luck along the way.

Carey played on to a Chris Woakes delivery while on 19 only for the third umpires to reveal that the bowler had marginally overstepped.

Carey was also adjudged LBW, a decision that he overturned with a review.

The 49-run partnership was eventually ended when Broad had Green ruled out LBW with a review. Wood then returned for another spell and used his patented short ball to have Mitchell Starc caught at short leg.

Carey wasn’t done, though, and he and Pat Cummins gave Australia more cushion with 30 crucial runs before Carey (49) was caught behind off Stuart Broad’s bowling.

Wood’s 6-37 was the best Test innings return by a visiting bowler in Australia since Jasprit Bumrah’s 6-33 for India at the MCG last summer, and the best by an England bowler in an away Ashes contest since Matthew Hoggard’s 7-109 in his team’s famous lost cause at Adelaide in 2006.

Brief scores: Australia 303 & 155 (Alex Carey 49; Mark Wood 6-37) beat England 188 & 124 (Zak Crawley 36; Scott Boland 3-18, Pat Cummins 3-42, Cameron Green 3-21) by 146 runs.

His decision is personal, BCCI respects it: Ganguly lauds Kohli NEW DELHI, JAN 16 (IANS): BCCI president Sourav Ganguly has lauded Virat Kohli for taking the team to new heights in all formats of cricket during his tenure as India skipper but said that the star batter’s decision to quit Test captaincy was a personal one and the board respects it immensely.

Kohli on Saturday made a sudden announcement of stepping down as India’s Test skipper, a day after the 1-2 series loss against South Africa.

The 33-year-old finished his tenure as India’s most successful captain in the longest format of the game, with 40 wins in 68 Tests. He also helped the side to a historic Test series win in Australia and took them to the top of the ICC Test rankings. Under him, India also reached the final of the inaugural ICC World Test Championship.

“Under Virat’s leadership Indian cricket has made rapid strides in all formats of the game... his decision is a personal one and bcci respects it immensely... he will be an important

Sourav Ganguly

member to take this team to newer heights in the future.

A great player. well done... @BCCI @imVkohli,” Ganguly said in his tweet.

Kohli had earlier given up T20I captaincy after the 2021 T20 World Cup but BCCI’s decision to replace him as India’s ODI captain despite him wanting to continue in the post had led to controversy and the batter’s relation with the board and president Ganguly became tense.

While Ganguly in an interview said that he had asked Kohli to not step down from T20I captaincy before the 2021 T20 World Cup, Kohli contradicted that by saying that no one had asked him to stay in the position.

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