26 Sept 2022

JAIPUR, SEP 25 (AGEN

CIES): Over 90 Rajasthan legislators MLAs have re portedly threatened to sub mit their resignation letters to the assembly Speaker CP Joshi, as the legislators gathered at the Speaker’s residence in a massive fresh crisis for the party in the state on Sunday night.

According to some re ports, 92 MLAs submitted their resignation to Speaker CP Joshi on Sunday while Rajasthan Congress chief Govind Singh Dotasra also resigned amid political tur moil in the state.

A resignation by an alleged 92 MLAs will bring the strength of the Rajasthan Assembly to 108 where the halfway mark will be at 55. The BJP has 70 MLAs in the house. The Gehlot faction, with the alleged support of 92 MLAs, is comprised of over 80 Congress MLAs and close to 12 Independents.

The MLAs of Gehlot faction adopted a stand on Sunday evening at Cabinet minister Shanti Dhariwal’s residence against Sachin Pilot and his candidature to be the next chief minister if Ashok Gehlot is elected the Congress chief.

Gehlot’s loyalists want the next CM to be someone who had supported the gov ernment during the open rebellion by Pilot in 2020. All the resignations were col

lected at Dhariwal’s home.

“The talks of changing the chief minister will happen after Ashok Gehlot becomes party president. Of the 102 MLAs, anybody can become the chief minister. Congress president Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and Ashok Gehlot will decide it,” Rajas than Minister Pratap Singh Khachariyawas said.

“The MLAs want ei ther Gehlot or his pick to be chief minister instead of

Sachin Pilot,” Khachariya was told the media.

Meanwhile, Sachin Pilot met CM Gehlot at the latter’s residence amid the turmoil. The Congress Legislative Party, held to indicate potential change in leadership, was supposed to take on Sunday. However, the meeting was postponed to Monday. “All the MLAs are angry and are resigning. We are going to the party president for that,” Khacha riyawas further said, adding, “Our MLA meeting is done. 92 MLAs are with us.”

Meanwhile, sources in the Congress said senior party leader and MP KC Venugopal spoke to Ashok Gehlot on call in an attempt to troubleshoot the catastro phe. “Mere bass mein kuch nahi hain (nothing is in my hands),” Gehlot reportedly told the MP, the sources said.

“We have left no stone unturned in maintaining the

alliance with respect to Raj asthan, nor will there be any changes in it today. If any new equation is formed after the election of the Congress president, then the decision about the post of chief minis ter in the state will also have to be taken by the Congress,” tweeted Rashtriya Lok Dal’s Jayant Singh. The RLD is in alliance with the Congress in the state.

Some of its MLAs said Gehlot’s successor should be someone who was in strumental in saving the government during the po litical crisis in 2020 and not someone who was involved in the bid to topple it, a veiled reference to Pilot.

Correspondent IMPHAL/DIMAPUR,

SEP 25: A CRPF personnel was apprehended by villag ers in Manipur’s Tamen glong district for allegedly trying to plant an impro vised explosive device (IED) along the national highway between Nungba and Puilu an village on September 23.

According to reports, it was alleged that the IED was supposed to be planted at the site where a programme for the renovation of Jadonang Memorial was to be held, at Puiluan village on Septem ber 24, where two senior NSCN (I-M) functionaries were to attend the event.

The personnel was re portedly detained by wom enfolk after he was found moving suspiciously in the area. The person was later released after an agreement was signed between the vil lagers and the CRPF authori ties as per the customary law.

Meanwhile, State po lice team led by a senior officer was expected reach the village to investigate the incident.

NSCN(I-M),CSOsflay

NSCN (I-M): Con demning the incident, NSCN (I-M) alleged that the IED was planted by 87th Battal ion of CRPF and 39th AR posted at Nungba. In a press note, MIP NSCN (I-M) said that IED was planted when the program for the renova tion of Jadonang Memorial was going on at Puiluan vil lage in Tamenglong district on September 24.

Citing eye witnesses, MIP said Thiyam Ashok Singh from the CID/GD of the 87th CRPF Battalion of Kambiron (Puiluan), was detained by the womenfolk of Puiluan village, after he was found moving around in suspicious manner.

Staff Reporter

DIMAPUR, SEP 25

(NPN): Union minister of state for Electronics, Infor mation Technology, Skill Development and Entre preneurship, Rajeev Chan drasekhar arrived Nagaland Sunday on a three-day visit. The minister was received by host of BJP legislators and party karyakartas at Dimapur airport.

After a brief meet ing with legislators and party officials at the air port, Chandrasekhar left for Zunheboto by road Sunday afternoon.

The minister is sched uled to attend a programme at Longsa village, Wokha before leaving for Dimapur on September 26.

On September 27, Chandrasekhar is scheduled to hold series of meetings at Dimapur. According to par ty sources, Chandrasekhar will be meeting the BJP legislators and district au thorities, district office bear ers and others at Hotel Saramati, before leaving for Kolkata the same day.

Staff Reporter

DIMAPUR, SEP 25 (NPN): A team of the Working Committee of NNPGs delegation will be leaving for Delhi on Sep tember 26 (Monday) to hold talks with Government of India’s representative for Naga talks, AK Mishra.

Informing this to Na galand Post earlier on Sep tember 23, WC/NNPGs co-convenor Isak Sumi said the WC, NNPGs will be leaving for Delhi to “fine tune the political process in order to facilitate an early solution”.

Sumi maintained that since all official talks have already concluded, WC delegation will be meeting Government of India rep resentatives in Delhi to give a final touch for solution.

It may also be recalled that the Working Commit tee of the seven–member Naga National Political Groups (NNPGs) has de cided to “prevent the forth coming election under any circumstances to prevent election without solution”.

Meanwhile, sources said that the NSCN (I-M) delegation, that arrived in Delhi on September 19,

were still camped in the national capital.

NEW DELHI, SEP 25

(PTI): The government aims to deliver 10 lakh Ayushman Bharat cards everyday under its flagship health insurance scheme AB PM-JAY, Union health minister Mansukh Mandaviya said on Sunday while highlighting that 3.95 crore admissions amounting to Rs 45,294 crore have been done so far under it.

Nineteen crore ben eficiaries have Ayushman Bharat cards so far, he said while inaugurating the “Arogya Manthan 2022” to celebrate four years of implementation of the Ay ushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri–Jan Arogya Yojana

(AB PM-JAY) and one year of implementation of the Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission (ABDM).

“Earlier 1-1.5 lakh Ay ushman cards were made daily, now 4-5 lakh are made daily, my target is to make 10 lakh cards everyday,” Mandaviya said. He said under the Ayushman Bharat health infrastructure mis sion, about Rs 100 crore will be spent in every district to strengthen the health infra structure of the country.

“Stressed on making healthcare more affordable & accessible while address ing the august gathering. Also, called for taking AB

DIMAPUR, SEP 25 (NPN): Nagaland Voluntary Con sumers’ Organisation (NVCO) has alleged that the Lokayukta office was being run in total violation of Na galand Lokayukta Act, 2017.

In a statement, NVCO accused the State govern ment of flouting Sec. 3(9) of the Act that states that vacancy occurring in the office of Lokayukta or UpaLokayukta should be filled in as soon as possible, but not later than six months.

However, it lamented

that the government had kept the post of Lokayukta vacant for over a year now after Justice UN Singh was compelled to tender his res ignation. NVCO pointed out that even after the expiry of one year, the present UpaLokayukta was still holding charge in total violation of Nagaland Lokayukta Act.

NVCO said the state government was solely re sponsible to immediately ap point Lokayukta consider ing the rate of corruption in the state and also to dispose of the pending cases in the fairest manner that justice is delivered where several public servants are likely to be punished.

Meanwhile, in the se lection of Lokayukta and

NSCN (I-M) and Gov ernment of India repre sentatives held series of meetings during which both the sides deliberated on the Framework Agreement and the competencies.

With clamor for early solution growing louder the government of India appears to be assessing the situation in Nagaland where holding of election before solution is being opposed. It may be noted that most parties have kept on hold election related exercises and campaigns.

DIMAPUR, SEP 25 (NPN): Western Sumi Hoho (WSH) in a letter by its president Shikaho Jimomi and general secretary H. Kisheto Chishi, drew the attention of chief minister Neiphiu Rio on the recent social media cam paign against the extension of service to T. John Long kumer IPS (state DGP) by the ministry of home affairs for a period of six months.

WSH told Rio that he was fully aware that the so cial media campaign against the DGP was “clearly en gineered and calibrated by

some vested interest with the ulterior motive to deface, condemn and damage the good name of the sitting DGP Nagaland and to ma lign the government of being partial.”

WSH said that as per laid down rules and proce dure of All India Service (AIS)officers, extension of service to an officer beyond retirement was ‘very well within the preview of the permissible norm”. It added that there have been many such cases in the past and cited the case of the present

Several civil society or ganizations of Tamenglong district and the NSCN (I-M) have condemned the alleged planting of improvised ex plosive devices (IED) on Saturday, allegedly by one CRPF personnel

Upon interrogation, MIP said the person admit ted to have planted the IED, allegedly under the direction of his commander-- an in spector, while also claiming that the IED was allegedly delivered to him by AR.

In the 200-seat state assembly, Congress has 107 MLAs, followed by the BJP with 70. The Rashtriya Lok Dal, which had lent its sup port to the Congress, has one member while 14 are Independent MLAs. today to CM: Probe who fed confidential doc to social media on extension of DGP’s service

union home secretary who “is on the fourth extension beyond his retirement.”

WSH said it has brought the issue to the chief minister because some unscrupulous and “vested interest individual is de liberately trying to defame and demean the image of a bonafide Naga officer”.

WSH reminded that when Nagaland has a his tory of having many DGPs from other cadres, both local and non-local IPS of ficers who had served with distinction; “why single out

the present DGP and accuse the state government of ap pointing a DGP from other cadre?”

WSH asked whether it wasn’t true that it was the prerogative of the state government to choose the DGP of a state irrespective of the cadre of the officer?

WSH further provided a vital clue that confidential document were fed to “few social media influencers, youtubers and wannabe spokesperson of the masses “with twisted and malafide

PM Jan Arogya Yojana & Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission schemes to greater heights by working together in cooperation with States & private players,” the minister said in a tweet.

Over 28,300 hospitals of which 46% are private have been empanelled so far under the scheme. Of the total 3.8 crore hospital admission under the scheme, 46% were in governmentrun hospitals. Fifty-two per cent of the total admissions were male. While 27 per cent of the total patients admitted to hospitals were between 45 and 59 years old, 24 per cent were in the age group

of 3-44 years. The minister on Saturday said ABDM has crossed the landmark of one crore digitally linked health records with over 27 lakh records linked in a day. Since its launch in Sep tember 2021, the ABDM has achieved significant growth with over 24 crore ABHA numbers (earlier known as Health ID), 1.50 lakh health facilities registered in the health facility registry, over 80,00 healthcare profes sionals under the healthcare professionals registry, 7,11, 571 ABHA app downloads and 1,10,89,509 health re cords linked to ABHA of individuals.

DIMAPUR, SEP 25 (NPN): Concerned Citi zens’ Forum (CCFM) said now was the opportune time for all to come together and pursue the rightful place for a common Naga future with a new relationship for all.

CCFM convener Tem jen Paul and co-convener Limasashi stressed that one could not just cry for the sake of settlement but for “Just peace and honourable settlement” once and for all.

They said it was a posi tive step with genuine con cern that Naga negotiators

had once again responded to the ardent call of Naga people to continue and pur sue the long-pending Naga political settlement in spite of Government of India’s delaying tactics towards resolving the issue.

During the 25 years of ceasefire and negotiations, they claimed that not only Naga negotiators but entire Naga people irrespective of political boundaries had taken the pain in nurturing the hard-earned democratic space for peace and honour able solution. CCFM said

it was convinced that when Centre had already declared to the world that Naga prob lem was political problem, it clearly implied political solution by any standard.

They pointed out that the signing of Framework Agreement was an outcome of the political negotiations under which a final settle ment would be arrived at.

With this background, CCFM said there was no dubiety that any discourse on Naga flag and constitu tion must end with political proprieties.

Upa-Lokayukta, NVCO warned the State govern ment not to commit the same mistake as it would amount to playing with the highest institution in the State, which was in dire need to check corrupt public servants and punish them, adding that this was the only way to build the society.

It also warned the poli ticians not to lobby for their own candidates if at all they supported the institution to truly function as per the Act. Especially for the post of Upa-Lokayukta, it added that the Naga people did not want a person who retired as government servant/ bureaucrats/technocrats, etc, with accumulations of wealth, as Lokayukta was

meant to punish corrupt public servants and also amassing wealth dispro portionate to their known sources of income, which might be similar to the case of one former Tamil Nadu chief minister.

NVCO stressed that he or she should not be someone having record of corrupt practices and pend ing cases against them with scam, while someone having political party affiliation should be totally rejected. He said someone with a Naga by blood was required who could genuinely love Naga society and was cou rageous enough to check the corrupt public servants be politicians, technocrats, politicians, etc.

On the other hand, NVCO president Kezhok hoto Savi appealed to the public to come forward to voice for strong Lokayukta in Nagaland so as to let the State government select the right person having integrity and a heart willing to truly curb corruption for the love of society and not to commit the same mistake.

If politicians and min isters lobby for retired gov ernment servants, bureau crats, technocrats, etc, as candidates, he said the State government then might constitute an investigating agency to assess their assets so that they were free from disproportionate assets, be these cash or moveable and immoveable properties.

Dropout rate at secondary level high in over dozen States

NEW DELHI, SEP 25 (AGENCIES): In more than a dozen states of the country, the dropout rate among students at the sec ondary level is higher than the national average of 14.6 percent.

These states include Jharkhand, Odisha, West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Bihar, Karnataka, Tripura, Nagaland etc.

According to sources, the government wants to achieve 100 percent Gross Enrollment Rate (GIR) at the level of school educa tion by 2030 as targeted in the new National Educa tion Policy and considers dropout of children as a hindrance in this.

According to the docu ments of the PAB meeting, in the year 2020-21, the dropout rate at the second ary level in schools in Bihar

The central govern ment has suggested these states to take special steps to reduce ‘dropout’ rate. This information has been obtained from the docu ments of the meeting of the Project Approval Board (PAB) under the Ministry of Education on the Samagra Shiksha Program for the year 2022-23. These meet ings took place between April and July with different states.

Womenfolk confronting security personnel. (Via Social Media)

Congress MLAs leave for the residence of Rajasthan Assembly Speaker CP Joshi for a meeting on Sunday. (PTI)

Rajeev Chandrasekhar

Sensitisation programme at Kezo Town

rate of HIV infections in the state stressing that it was “equal responsibility for all concerned citizens”. Dr. Richa also stressed on importance of HIV testing and called upon the audience not to stigmatise the PLHIV but to extend full support to address the problem.

Correspondent KOHIMA, SEP 24 (NPN): Nagaland Users’ Network (NUN) Targeted Intervention (TI) Jakhama, in collaboration with Ayush Health Wellness Centre Kezo town, LWS Kripa Foundation, and DAPCU Kohima organised an advocacy and sensitisation programme on “HIV/ AIDS and drug related issues” with stakeholders and HRG’s at Panchayat Hall, Kezo Town, on Saturday.

In his opening remarks, program manager, NUN TI Jakhama, Vikukhoto Rolnu said Nagaland Users’ Network was the first state level drug users’ network in

the country.

He also shared about drug related issues and how young people often start to take drugs just to try it, to get relief from stress, to calm their anger, or out of peer pressure and gradually end up getting addicted to it. He pointed out that drug addiction caused mental and physical weakness, and how it could also attract other diseases.

He emphasised on roles and responsibilities of stakeholders and church leaders to extend their cooperation and support towards the management and treatment of people who are suffering from drug addiction. “Threats, punishment and social

CFD AIDA conducts ‘child rights club leaders training’

discrimination are not the solution for drug addiction” Rolnu added.

In a short speech, district resource person from LWS Kripa Foundation, Rokuoneinuo spoke on Hepatitis, its different types, and causes. She then spoke on how there were vaccines for Hep. ‘B’ but there was no treatment while on the other hand, Hep. ‘C’ could be treated but there was no vaccination for it.

Meanwhile, sharing on wellness aspect, Ayush Health and Wellness Centre Kezo Town, MO, Dr. Adunu Richa presented on ‘HIV/AIDS and its awareness’. She expressed concern over the increasing

The programme was held simultaneously with free medical check-up, test for RBS, HIV/AIDS, Hepatitis ‘B’ and ‘C’, CBS screening and malaria testing conducted by Dr. Adunu Richa, mobile medical unit, NRHM, MO, Dr. Zubenthung, Kezocha CHC, MO, Dr. Vekholu, mobile ICTC Kohima, Malaria department Kohima, NUN TI Jakhama, and NCD screening (India Hypertension Control Initiative).

Earlier, the programme was chaired by Kezo Town secretary, Kikhwel Kiso, invocation was pronounced by Kezo Town Baptist Church, senior pastor, Khwenil Chürah, welcome address was delivered by Kezo town VHC chairman, Medozeyo Yhobu, and vote of thanks on behalf of the organisers was proposed by NUN TI PE, Sabu Tepa.

‘Mega credit outreach’ camps held across Nagaland

DIMAPUR: With an objective to reach out to maximum Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM Kisan Yojana) beneficiaries in the state, “mega credit outreach” camps were organised on September 24 across Nagaland.

DIMAPUR: With a view to instill confidence, transparency, respect, and inclusiveness in children, Child Friendly Dimapur (CFD), ANMA Integrated Development Association (AIDA) conducted one-day “child rights club leaders training” on September 24 at AIDA, conference hall.

A press release by AIDA informed that the training was attended by 33 child rights club leaders from Signal Angami, Kacharigaon, Kirha, Govt.

Higher Secondary School Singrijan, Selouphe and Neisatou colony.

AIDA said the programme comprised of technical sessions, audio visual presentations and group activities based on roles and responsibilities of child rights club leaders, roles and responsibilities of a leader, leadership skills, United Nation Convention

for the rights of the child-4 cardinal rights and violence against children.

During the input sessions, children were educated on rights of the child focusing mainly on four cardinal rightsinclusiveness for all without any discrimination, considering best interest of the child in all action undertaken by public or private social welfare institutions, court of law, administrative authorities or legislative bodies, maximise the survival and development of all its children – providing the optimal conditions for childhood, for the child’s life.

The leaders were also trained on skills needed to be effective leaders by inculcating inclusiveness, diligently following the roles and responsibilities of a leader, and violence

against children.

Stressing on the rights of children, training facilitator elaborated on the four cardinal rights towards realising the dream of child friendly Dimapur, AIDA i.e., to make Dimapur a child friendly city by enhancing active participation of children in the city, ensuring freedom to express their views on “all matters affecting them” and making sure that their views are taken seriously – at home within their families, in the schools and in their communities as active, informed participants.

In a press release, chief manager & coordinator state level bankers’ committee Kohima Nagaland informed that the aim was to reach out to PM Kisan beneficiaries for saturations under Kisan Credit Card (KCC) –crops/animal husbandry / fisheries.

The camps held at Kohima, Mokokchung, Dimapur, Wokha, Zunheboto, Phek, Kiphire, Tuensang, Mon, Longleng, Tseminyu and Peren (Jalukie) were organised by lead district managers and various banks present in the districts and in collaboration with district administrations, department of agriculture, department of animal husbandry and

department of fisheries and aquatic resources and village authorities. During the camps, around 6000 KCC loan applications were distributed to PM Kisan beneficiaries. The camp was held in addition to weekly camps held by the lead district managers and bank branches for special saturation drive.

Correspondent

KOHIMA, SEP 24 (NPN):

Curtain came down on the two-day golden jubilee commemoration of Konyak Baptist Church Kohima (KBCK) on Sunday evening.

In the closing ceremony, dedicatory prayer for the youth was offered by general secretary, NBCC, Rev. Dr. Z Kheyo.

Former Bumeinok Mission KBBK and former deacon, M. C Konyak exhorted the gathering. Earlier during the devotional service,v former

general secretary, NBCC, Rev. Dr. W Pongsing spoke on “Maturity in Christ- as a church”.

He advocated KBBK to be like the Thessalonica Church, a church which had unity, growth, compassion, evangelism, spirit and urged to be a receptive church.

Rev. Pongsing also urged KBBK to be an exemplary church as KBBK celebrates 50 years of God’s faithfulness.

KBBK jubilee choir presented “Hallelujah Chorus”, while Rev. Y. Chingang offered the

dedicatory prayer for KBBK members.

The jubilee curtain came to a close with a prayer led by former pastor KBBK, B. Tingshem and all other former and present pastors of KBBK and concluded with a closing hymn by the jubilee choir.

The jubilee celebration was attended by a congregation of believers and leaders from other Baptist churches in Kohima, delegates from different villages from Mon district, Konyak legislators, MP and others.

Training for PWDs volunteers concludes

DIMAPUR: A three-day training for volunteers for coordinating outreach services for Persons with Disabilities (PWDs) organised by Development Association of Nagaland (DAN) under CARE Disability Project concluded on September 22 at DAN Training Centre, Dimapur.

In a press release, DAN stated that the training programme was attended by 20 “volunteer disability advocates” from targeted villages.

During the training, resource person, in-charge, DDRC Dimapur, Dr. Imlitemsu Ozukum took the session on “understanding disability”, wherein he provided detailed inputs on different types of disabilities and highlighted the different rehabilitative and treatment services available in Nagaland and in the northeast region.

Programme coordinator, SCPD Kohima, Ashe Kiba took a session on the various initiatives under the State

Commission for Persons with Disabilities in Nagaland.

She highlighted activities of the Nagaland State Disability Forum and the need for mobilising PWDs and their families into disabled people’s organisations to work collectively towards improving service delivery systems.

In a keynote address, director, DAN, Rev. Fr. Sajan Joseph said that if every village has a volunteer “disability advocate”, who would stand for the rights of the persons with disabilities, then it would be easier to link every person in need to existing services and programmes by government departments and nongovernmental organisations.

Sessions on volunteerism, home based care and follow up, community sensitisation and promotion of disabled people’s organisations were animated by project care disability team consisting of Jiji Joseph, Sedekino Rino, and Latsu.

Wife, sons and daughter, grandchildren, in-laws and relatives db-1113/22

Participants of the programme with the doctors. (NP)

Participants of Child rights club leaders training at AIDA conference hall.

Rev. Dr. W Pongsing (inset), KBBK Jubilee choir presenting Hallelujah chorus at Kohima, Sunday. (NP)

H&FW deptt organises various programmes

One day district level advocacy and orientation on “Mission Parivaar Vikas” was conducted on September 23 at the Conference Hall of Chief Medical Officer (CMO) Longleng office.

A press release by CMO Longleng office informed that the programme was conducted for District Com munity Mobilizer (DCM), Block Asha Coordinator (BAC) and Block Program Manager (BPM) in the pres ence of CMO Longleng, Dr. Obangjungla. The resource persons, DIO (RCH/UIP),

Dr. Imnameren Phom and District Program Manager (DPM), National Health Mis sion (NHM), Viroli Sangtam oriented the participants on the family planning demand generation and how to mobi lize the beneficiary so that the beneficiary could have more better access to family plan ning methods and to increase more methods for planning methods. In a separate event, DHS observed “National De-worming Day” on Sep tember 19 by launching the de-worming programme at all the health units.

PEREN

Peren district marked the 4th launching of Ay ushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB-PMJAY) by celebrating “Ayushman Bharat Diwas” and first anniversary of “Ay ushman Bharat Digital Mis sion” cum health mela in commemoration of 75th an niversary of Peren Township on September 23 at District Hospital, Peren.

A press release by Chief Medical Officer (CMO) Peren office informed that in a keynote address, dep uty CMO and nodal of ficer, AB-PMJAY Peren, Dr. Lanuakum highlighted

the key features, eligibility and criteria, requisite KYC documents for generating AB-PMJAY e-card, about ABDM, eligibility criteria and benefits of ABHA health ID. He also briefed the gath ering on the Chief Minister’s Insurance Scheme (CMIS), which would cover govern ment employees. At the pro gramme, MS, DH, Peren, Dr. K. Limatula highlighted the “Ayushman Bharat Diwas” and health mela, its aims and objectives while EAC Peren, Er. Seyievilie Pfukri spoke on the benefits of AB-PMJAY and called for wide publicity of the scheme.

Training on Stan dard Treatment Guidelines (STGs), International Clas sification of Diseases-11 (ICD-11), International Clas sification of Health Interven tions (ICHI-11) and Health Benefit Package 2022 (HBP 2022)ABPMJAY for medical officers and nurses was held on September 23 at the Con ference Hall of CMO Wokha.

A press release by CMO Wokha office stated that DC Wokha and chairman District Health Society (DHS) Ajit Kumar Ranjan highlighted the importance of ABPMJAY

in terms of usefulness for the hospital management and administration. Speaking on Ayushman health card coverage in Wokha district, Ranjan said it was the lowest in the state and that the district administration along with the district ABPMJAY team was working together to improve coverage by focusing on vil lages with low coverage.

The resource persons were Medical Officer (MO) DH Wokha, Dr. Chum demo Kikon and District Programme Officer (DPO) Kohima, Dr. Chiben Kithan.

PHEK

A two-day orientation training on Vitamin A and Albendazole was conducted for Health Care Workers (HCWs) of Phek district on Sep tember 21-22 at Dr. Wethselo T. Mero Memorial Hall, District Hospital Phek.

In a press release, Na tional Health Mission (NHM) stated that the training or ganised by Vitamin Angels was attended by Commu nity Health Officers (CHOs), Auxiliary Nursing Midwives (ANMs) and Lady Health Visitor (LHV).

During the training, Chief Medical Officer (CMO) Phek, Dr. Khriezotuo Paph

ino appreciated the Vitamin Angels for organising such trainings for health care work ers, which aims to provide healthy life to mothers and children in far flung areas.

He also urged the health care workers to be attentive, responsive and learn from the productive training.

The resource persons, State Program Officer (SPO) Alice Kamei Achumi and Sr. SPO for North East/ West Bengal, Swapan Ku mar oriented the trainees on the benefits, dosage, dosing interval and dosing steps etc. of vitamin A and albendazole for children under five years.

Advocacy and orientation on “Mission Parivaar Vikas” at CMO office conference hall Longleng. (DIPR)

Orientation training for Phek district HCWs at Dr. Wethselo T. Mero Memorial Hall, DH Phek.

DIMAPUR: Department of Health and Family Welfare (H&FW) Nagaland organised various programmes across the state in an effort to implement central health schemes and programmes, and to sensitise the beneficiaries and create awareness.

‘Oneness’ is India’s strength, says RSS Chief

Correspondent

SHILLONG, SEP 25: Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) chief Mohan Bhagwat on Sunday em phasised that “oneness” is the strength of India, the diversity of which is to be proud of.

“The oneness of India is its strength. The diversity that India boasts is some thing to be proud of. The invaders saw this differently. The world thinks that we are different and hence we are separate, whereas India says ‘Unity in Diversity’.

This is the specialty of India which has been there since ages,” Bhagwat said in the course of his address at a public meeting at the U Soso Tham Auditorium in Meghalaya’s state capital Shillong.

He added: “We have been one always. When we forgot this, we lost our independence. Hence, we must make sure that we become one and make our country stronger and more self-reliant. We all have to work for this unity.”

Labour Minister San bor Shullai, veteran BJP legislator, Alexander Laloo

Hek, Trinamool Congress legislator Himalaya Muk tan Shangpliang, National People’s Party legislator Wailadmiki Shylla, State Director General of Police L.R.Bishnoi were among those who attended the public meeting.

Underscoring the im portance of the ancient Indian philosophy of “Va sudhaiva Kutumbakam”, meaning the “world is a family”, the RSS chief said, “We are an ancient nation since time immemorial, but due to forgetting our civilizational motto and

values, we lost our freedom. Our binding force among one another is our inherent faith in our age-old value which lies in spirituality. These values of this coun try’s eternal civilization had been named as Hindu tva by people outside our country.”

“We are Hindus, but there is no particular defini tion of Hindu, although it’s our identity. Both the terms ‘Bharatiya’ and Hindu are synonyms. It is a geo-cultur al identity in fact,” Bhagwat maintained.

Allaying fear that the

RSS would try to convert people, the RSS chief said that people should not be lieve in propaganda about the RSS and should visit some of its camps and see for themselves what the organisation is striving for.

“ RSS’ objective is to mould the youth to shape the destiny of the nation into a better future. In the one hour Sangh shakhas, people learn about these benevolent values and duty to the motherland,” Bhag wat said.

“The Sangh teaches to do sacrifice for the country

by giving up one’s indi vidual selfish ends. The RSS draws this tradition of sacri fice from this country’s an cient history. Our ancestors had visited different lands beyond and had departed the same values to Japan, Korea, Indonesia and many other countries. We are fol lowing the same tradition today even,” he said.

Stating that RSS cad res are being trained to help fellow Indians, Bhagwat cited the examples of In dia’s sending vaccines to different countries during the Covid crisis and how the country recently stood with Sri Lanka during its worst ever economic crisis.

Citing the example of North East students’ exodus from Bangalore a few years back, Bhagwat said it was the RSS cadres who provided them every necessary support.

He further said that he would not like to take credit for anything, but was narrating that incident as an example of how Indians help each other.

Meanwhile, Bhagwat would be leaving the state on Monday after being here for two-days.

Mizoram Chief Minister urges Centre to resume peace talks with Myanmar

AIZWAL,SEP 25 ( AGEN

CIES): Mizoram Chief Minister Zoramthanga has urged the Centre to resume its peace mission in coup-hit Myanmar following requests from some quarters that India should broker peace in the wake of the political crisis in the neighbouring country, an official said on Sunday, reports East Mojo.

Four Indian states, Mizoram, Meghalaya, Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh, share over a 1,600km long international bor der with Myanmar.

“We receive requests from some quarters in Myanmar that India should broker peace in the coup-hit country. This is a golden chance for our country to resume the peace mission we have begun in the past in order to restore peace in the neighbouring country,” Zoramthanga told report ers in Aizawl soon after his arrival from Delhi on Saturday. He said that the Centre should negotiate with the military govern ment and various ethnic underground groups in Myanmar to restore peace, which in turn will help in

restoring democracy in the neighbouring country. The chief minister said that he was sent to Myanmar on a peace mission along with National Security Advisor AjitDoval five years ago.

However, the peace process with the Myanmar military government and ethnic groups was aborted when the Aung San Suu Kyi-led National League for Democracy came to power in 2015, he said.

Zoramthanga visited the national capital on Sep tember 3 and September 24 and met various lead ers at the Centre including President DroupadiMurmu, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and Home Minister Amit Shah over the Myan mar political crisis and in

flux of refugees from the neighbouring country.

“During our visit to Delhi, our main subject was the Myanmar political issue. All the central leaders whom I have met, including the President, were concerned about the Myanmar political crisis,” the chief minister said.

He said, ” I told the central leaders that India should take a fatherly step and resume the trade we have already started in the past in order to restore peace in Myanmar.” The former rebel leader-turned-poli tician said that the ethnic underground groups oper ating in Myanmar are in favour of federation within the Union of Myanmar and independence is not their main goal. He said that when he was on a peace mission in Myanmar, the former military government headed by Min Aung Hlaing (now also military chief) was willing to grant federations to the ethnic groups.

The subsequent Aung San Suu Kyi government also did not object to grant ing federations to the ethnic groups, he said.

Activists slams Sarma, Sadhguru for night safari

ITANAGAR, SEP 25 (PTI): Five-month-old Si yang and three of her peers are all set to make Pakke Tiger Reserve (PTR) in Arunachal Pradesh their new home, having com pleted the acclimatisation process in the national park under the supervision of experts over the past few months.

Siyang, an Asiatic black bear cub, was rescued by local environmentalists when it was just one month old.

The tiny one was then brought to the Centre for Bear Rehabilitation and Conservation (CBRC) here, where it was nursed back to health, said one of its officials.

The cub was found in a dehydrated condition on the Siang river bed, and was named after the river.

At the centre, Siyang met three other rescued friends – two male cubs, Den and Itna, and another female Devi – and the four got along well quickly, the CRBC official said.

“Orphaned bears are made to go through the ac

climatisation process before they are released in the wild. These four will be released in the reserve in December or early January next year,” he said.

Siyang is the most ac tive of the four and a favou rite of all forest personnel, CBRC head PanjitBasu matary said.

“The day begins with morning walks deep inside the reserve. They play and fight with each other, climb trees and feed on fruits and insects before returning home,” Basumatary stated.

During their walks,

which are monitored by ani mal keepers and biologists, the cubs learned to forage and also gradually devel oped their wild instincts.

“Once the cubs be come reluctant to follow their keepers back to the camp, they are ear-tagged, micro-chipped and radiocollared for soft release in the wild. Eventually, if they do not return to their cages anymore, they are considered ready for the wild. However, they are monitored for a few more months before release,” the CBRC chief said.

Four rescued bear cubs set to be released in Arunachal national park photo of 6 NDFB militants arrested in Assam in 2019.

GUWAHATI, SEP 25 (PTI): A total of 5,202 militants have been arrested in the last 12 years from various parts of Assam, but only one of them has been convicted so far, according to official records.

Only about half of those arrested have been charge-sheeted so far.

Experts said investiga tors and the legal system “are at fault”, resulting in an inordinate delay at mul tiple stages of the justice delivery system. The Assam Police arrested 5,202 cadres of ULFA and other ex tremist groups, comprising people from the Bodo, Garo, Rabha, Karbi, Adivasi, and Muslim communities, from

2011 to September 4 this year, the official documents stated. A total of 2,606 persons have been chargesheeted in connection with the cases to date and “most of the cases are under trial and one person has been convicted”, it said.

The conviction of the lone militant took place in the Lakhimpur district in 2012. No other militant has been convicted since then.

Of the arrested people, the highest 2,392 number was from militant groups formed by Bodo people, fol lowed by 1,468 from ULFA and 582 from Karbi groups.

Police also arrested 346 people from Adivasi groups, followed by 178 from Garo,

155 from Muslim, and 81 from Rabha communities.

Gauhati High Court Advocate SantanuBorthakur told PTI that the delay in the conviction of an accused takes place at multiple stages and it is also done “deliber ately at times”.

“Until we know the dates of arrest and the filing of the charge sheet, it is dif ficult to know where exactly the delay is taking place.

At times, the investigators delay the probe purposively because many militants get political patronage and eventually become political personalities, “ he added.

When the charge sheet is filed after a prolonged period, witnesses cannot

GUWAHATI, SEP 25 (IANS): Environment and animal rights activists on Sunday alleged that Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, state Tourism Minister Jayanata Malla Baruah, and spiritual guru Jaggi Vasudev aka Sadh guru violated the Wildlife (Protection) Act by driving a safari vehicle inside the Kaziranga National Park and Tiger Reserve beyond the scheduled time.

Activists Soneswar Narah and Prabin Pegu lodged a police complaint at the Bokakhat police station in Golaghat district against the Chief Minister, spiri tual guru, and the Tourism Minister, demanding action against them under the act.

“Villagers around the Kaziranga have sacrificed a lot to protect the worldfamous park. Wild tigers, elephants and other ani mals killed many domestic animals of the people living alongside the park,” Narah told the media.

Forest and other law enforcing agencies took ac tion against many people for “violating” the Wildlife Protection Act and and many people were sentenced

to imprisonment, he said.

The activist said that if the law is equal for everyone, then action must be taken against the Chief Minister, Sadhguru, and Tourism Minister for conducting the vehicle safari inside the national park much beyond the scheduled time.

A fleet of vehicles car rying Sarma, Sadhguru, and the minister covered around two km inside Kaziranga after the inauguration of a rhino memorial about two hours much behind the scheduled time on Saturday.

Sadhguru was driving one of the safari vehicles with the Chief Minister in the passenger seat while the Minister sat in the back along with o fficials and guards.

Environment and wild animal expert Rohit Choud hury said that vehicle safari after sunset in Kaziranga is a violation of Section 27 of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, which restricts the en try in a wildlife sanctuary of anyone other than a public servant on duty.

Another environment

and animal rights activist Apurba Ballave Goswami said that it is most unfortu nate that an important per son like Sadhguru, “whom we expect to practice what we preach, has no sensitiv ity towards animals”.

Goswami said that it is known that wild animals in their protected homes and forest feel disturbed by lights, sounds and noises of vehicles at night.

The Chief Minister, Sadhguru and Tourism Minister formally re-opened Kaziranga for tourists for

NSCN (I-M), CSOs flay

be found on several occa sions for giving evidence in court. Some witnesses do not appear even if they get notice after a long time, Borthakur said.

“There is a delay in our criminal justice system. … Many a time, the witnesses turn hostile and cannot be found,” he said.

Another Gauhati High Court Advocate RakheeSir authia Chowdhury said that the fault lies with both the police and the legal system.

“The investigators do not probe the cases and keep it lying for years. On the other hand, a trial goes on for a long time due to vari ous reasons, “ she added.

Chowdhury said that in the case of militants, the investigation often loses focus because several people start questioning the viola tion of human rights of the accused.

“That he or she is a criminal, killed many peo ple, and waged war against the nation -- these facts get diluted under the cover of allegations of human rights violation in police custody. And this leads to delay in investigation,” she added.

Senior Advocate Angshuman Bora told PTI that in most cases involving militants, the witnesses do not come to the court to record their testimony.

(From p-1)

MIP also said that villagers coming to attend the program were frisked by the joint team of the 39 AR at Nungba under the commandership of two officers in the rank of Major. MIP said that during the frisking and checking of vehicles, questions like whether there were any “IM cadres” and whether “two elders” were coming for the program?

MIP said that the incident has exposed the Indian security forces, who were allegedly determined to disrupt peace and harmony of the village and particularlarly put the life of Longchaibi Gonmei, kilonser and ‘brig.’ Lovejoy Jajo, commander of Jadonang Brigade, Naga Army in grave danger as they were supposed to attend the renovation program as chief guest and guest of honour respectively. It also alleged that the “use of IED to cause panic and dead” was highly un warranted given the peaceful conduct of the villagers led by the CSOs, the

local civil courts and the public leaders in any situation.

MIP further said that the detained CRPF personnel was treated fairly after he was put in public custody. An agreement was signed between CRPF and the village court and accordingly, the CRPF man was set free with a strong warning, MIP said.

CSOs: According to a joint state ment signed by Nungba Area Village Authority Association (NAVAA), RNCM Luangba Luangrian, RN LPM Luangba Luangrian, RNSOM Luangba Luangrian and NAJAC one Thiyam Ashok Singh, CT/INT Force of the 87 Bn CRPF planted the IED, allegedly at the behest of 39 Assam Rifles of Nungba outpost at Puiluanh (Kambiron), during the program for the renovation of Jadonang Memorial.

They claimed that this was the “fourth consecutive incident of plant ing of bomb in Nungba area” in last four years with no reason, adding that it was all stage managed and en

CBI conducts raids in Assam in child porn content crackdown

GUWAHATI, SEP 25 (IANS): The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Sunday carried out raids in Assam’s Guwahati and Dhemaji in search of a few people who are allegedly involved in uploading child pornographic content, a police officer said. As per the police, a number of child porn movies were uploaded using IP addresses located in those areas. Inputs were received by the CBI that miscreants used mobile phones and other electronic gadgets in Guwahati and Dhemaji to upload child por nographic content. The CBI has also launched raids in few locations of Agartala and Itanagar. However, it could not be known if any arrests were made.

the forthcoming season on Saturday.

Elephant safari and jeep safari in the park, In dia’s seventh Unesco world heritage site, remains closed during the monsoon and reopens in October but this year, the park opend early to attract the tourists who could not visit there during the Covid-19 pandemic.

The Chief Minister and Sadhguru also unveiled three statues of rhinoceros at the Mihimukh area of the park. The statues were crafted using the ashes from burning seized rhino horns on September 22 last year. Assam had created history when a stockpile of 2,479 rhino horns was burnt at a public function to send a strong message to poachers.

Kaziranga, which is spread across five districts of Assam -- Golaghat, Nag aon, Sonitpur, Biswanath and Karbi Anglong, is not just a home of at least 2,613 one-horned rhinos, but also to Royal Bengal tigers, Asian elephants, wild buffalos and many mo re animal species while it is also habitat to thousands of birds of over 125 species.

gineered drama. They also expressed deep concern over the action of the Indian government and its security forces allegedly against the Nagas. Terming it as an act of cowardice, they said planting of bomb in a peace zone and trying to create fear, tension and mistrust, was only to get credit from their higher ups. CSOs said that the culprit, who was brought before the Puiluanh Pei (village customary court) accompanied by assistant Comman dant 87 Bn CRPF, confessed and ad mitted to his involvement at the behest of the 39 AR. Before releasing, fines were imposed on the culprit as per the customary law of the Rongmei Naga tribe by the Puiluanh Pei, it added.

Urging all to condemn such in human act, the CSOs demanded that the CRPF and Assam Rifles personnel involved should be booked and pun ished as per the law, adding that the people of Nungba will start wave of democratic agitation and not remain as mute spectator.

AFFIDAVIT (Correction of name and date of birth) Regd. No. 3757 / 22 Date: 21/07/2022

I Smti. IN CHHAMLO, W/o, Late NTHINGO LOTHA, R/o, Pangti Village, District Wokha, Nagaland do hereby solemnly affirm and declare an oath as follows:

1. That I am a bonafide citizen of India.

2. That I am the legal wife of Late Pnr NTHINGO LOTHA

3. That my correct name is IN CHHAMLO and my correct date of birth is 15.03.1951 (15th March 1951) however, in my Aadhaar Card my name has been recorded as MECHMLO LOTHA and my date of birth has been recorded 21.08.1946 (21st August 1946) which is an error, hence the above stated name represent the same and one person having single identity i.e., myself.

4. That henceforth, I herewith rectified the same and declares that my correct name will be IN CHHAMLO and my correct date of birth is 15.03.1951 (15th March 1951) for all official references and correspondences.

5. That this affidavit shall stand as a piece of evidence and that it shall be kept in records for any future rectification/correction if any complication that may arise with regard to my name and my date of birth and it shall be used for all my future records, correspondence and official purposes.

Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma with Sadhguru in Kaziranga National Park.

Orphaned bear cub Siyang at Seijosa in Pakke Kessang district. (PTI)

Mohan Bhagwat in Shillong

Zoramthanga

C’garh airport to be renamed after Bhagat Singh

NEW DELHI, SEP 25

(PTI): Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday announced that the Chandigarh airport will be renamed after Shaheed Bhagat Singh as a tribute to the great freedom fighter.

In his Mann Ki Baat radio broadcast where he referred to diverse issues, Modi spoke of climate change which he said is a major threat to marine ecosystems and also expressed concern about the “disturbing” menace of litter on beaches.

“It becomes our responsibility to make serious and continuous efforts to tackle these challenges,” he said.

In the broadcast, Modi paid tributes to BJP ideologue Deendayal Upadhyay, saying he was a profound thinker and a great son of the country.

Modi also said that 130 crore Indians were filled with pride over the return of cheetahs to the country. He said a task force will monitor them and on the basis of that, it will be decided when people can see them.

He said that September 28 is an important day of ‘Amrit Mahotsav’ when the birth anniversary of Bhagat Singh will be celebrated.

“Just before the birth anniversary of Bhagat Singh, an important decision has been taken as

a tribute to him. It has been decided that the Chandigarh airport will now be named after Shaheed Bhagat Singh. It had been in the waiting for a long time,” Modi said.

He congratulated the people of Chandigarh, Punjab and Haryana, and the entire country for this decision.

“Let us take inspiration from our freedom fighters, following their ideals and build the India of their dreams… this is our tribute to them. The memorials of martyrs, the names of places and institutions named after them inspire us with a sense of duty,” he said.

Just a few days ago, the country had made a similar effort by setting up the statue of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose on Kartavya Path and now the name of Chandigarh Airport after Shaheed Bhagat Singh is another step in that direction, he noted.

Punjab and Haryana

governments had last month agreed to name the Chandigarh international airport after freedom fighter Bhagat Singh.

The decision had come after Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann and Haryana Deputy Chief Minister Dushyant Chautala held a meeting over this issue. In his remarks, Modi also said people have another reason to celebrate September 28.

“Do you know what it is? I will say only two words and I know your enthusiasm will increase four-fold. These two words are – surgical strike! Hasn’t the Josh risen,” the prime minister said.

Referring to the release of eight Cheetahs from Namibia in Kuno national park in Madhya Pradesh, Modi said 130 crore Indians are happy and full of pride. Such is India’s love for nature, he said.

Noting that a common

World seeing India as inspirational place in space sector: ISRO chief

CHENNAI, SEP 25 (PTI):

The world is looking at India as an inspirational place with what the country has achieved in the space sector in the last 60 years, chairman of Indian Space Research Organisation S Somanath said on Sunday.

Somanath said he was witnessing a transformation in the sector by bringing in startups, incubating them in space technology and bringing great applications to develop rockets and satellites.

“The whole world is looking at India as an inspirational place and it is wonderful to see what is happening in India, especially in the space sector, with the startup eco system,” he said at the 18th convocation of the SRM Institute of Science and Technology at Kattankulathur near here.

Somanath, who received the honorary degree of Doctorate of Science (honoris causa) in recognition of his contribution to the field of

science, said, “We always believed others but they never believed we can do such things -- building rockets and satellites in this country ourselves -- besides having a large percentage of our own contribution (of satellites) to build them over the years and to have self-sufficiency in having our own satellites and rockets and placing them in orbit.”

“We have 50-plus satellites of our own currently operating and at least three of the rockets are ready to fly at anytime from our own soil,” he said.

Referring to the 75th year of India’s independence, Somanath said Prime Minister Narendra Modi has a clear vision of what the country

Azad reaches Jammu; likely to launch party next week

JAMMU, SEP 25 (PTI):

Veteran Congress leader

Ghulam Nabi Azad, who ended his more than fivedecade-long association with the Congress last month, is likely to launch his party in the next couple of days. “I am inviting the media tomorrow (Monday) before the launch of the party. I am here to meet workers and leaders,” Azad told reporters in a brief interaction at his residence here upon his arrival from Delhi. A close aide of the former J&K chief minister has confirmed the news.

question posed by people is when will they get an opportunity to see the cheetahs, Modi said a task force has been formed which will monitor the cheetahs and see how much they have been able to adapt to the environment here.

“On this basis, a decision will be taken after a few months and then you will be able to see the cheetahs,” he said.

Modi said competition will be organised on the MyGov platform in which people could share certain things like what should be the name of the campaign that is being run on cheetahs and naming all these cheetahs could also be thought about.

“By the way, if the naming is done the traditional way, it will be very nice since anything related to our society and culture, tradition and heritage, draws us easily,” he said. Modi said people should also share how humans should behave with animals and noted that even in fundamental duties, emphasis has been laid on respect for animals.

“I appeal to all of you to participate in this competition. Who knows… you may be the first to get an opportunity to see a cheetah as a reward!” the prime minister said.

Paying tributes to Upadhyay, Modi said the

more the youth of any country take pride in their identity and honour, the more their original ideas and philosophies attract them.

“The biggest feature of Deendayal ji’s thoughts is that in his lifetime, he had seen the great upheavals of the world.

‘’He had become a witness to the struggles of ideologies. That is why he put forward an idea of ??’Ekatma Manavdarshan’ and ‘Antyodaya’ before the country which was completely Indian,” Modi said.

Upadhyay’s ‘Ekatma Manavdarshan’ is such an idea that in the realm of ideology gives freedom from conflict and prejudice, he said. He again put forth to the world, the Indian philosophy which considers human beings equal, Modi added.

“Deendayal ji taught us how Indian philosophy can guide the world even in the modern, social and political perspective. In a way, he awakened our intellectual consciousness by freeing us from the inferiority complex that prevailed in the country after independence,” Modi said. The prime minister said the biggest support for many people who are either unable to hear, or are unable to express themselves through speech is sign language, Modi said.

KOLKATA, SEP 25 (PTI): West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Sunday said she does not believe in politics of revenge otherwise she had enough grounds to send some CPI(M) leaders to jail after coming to power in the state.

Unveiling the festival edition of TMC mouthpiece ‘Jago Bangla’, Banerjee also took on social media trolling and alleged that outsiders have been hired to spread misinformation about the state.

“At times I feel ashamed and embarrassed when I visit Delhi and discover how some people are spreading falsehood to malign Bengal, how they badmouth the state,” she said. The chief minister said that these people cannot see the recognitions received by her government, and the achievements it made.

“One particular comment is picked up and twisted and circulated in social media and you are trolled,” she said.

“Some outsiders have been hired to spread misinformation. This is not the culture of our state,” she added.

Hitting out at the opposition CPI(M), which has been upping the ante against the TMC government over the

corruption allegations, Banerjee said she does not believe in the politics of revenge.

“We are not vindictive enough to send some of our predecessors, CPIM leaders, to jail though there were enough grounds. Still, if they believe in speaking ill against us, all I can say is please carry on. We don’t care, we can only feel hurt,” she said.

“All in the TMC are bad and those in your party good? Please don’t be so myopic,” she said.

Banerjee also slammed the CPI(M), saying that its mouthpiece Ganashakti took advertisements from corporates and also got government ads when the Left Front was in power.

“CPI(M)’s Ganashakti had government advertisements on all its pages, and also had chit

fund ads. We do not take ads from corporates to run the paper like the Left. They don’t have any moral right to speak. We will continue to sustain without any ad,” she said.

The CPI(M) said that Banerjee was “frustrated” as she could find any misdeeds during the 34-year rule of the Left Front.

“In comparison, everyone knows how one after another leader of her party are getting arrested on corruption charges, with crores of rupees being found with them,” CPI(M) leader Sujan Chakraborty said.

“She is desperate and making all sorts of allegations,” he claimed. BJP vice-president Dilip Ghosh said that Banerjee was “scared and nervous” as the “misdeeds” of her party are getting exposed.

Big question mark over ECI’s fairness in last few years: Bhushan

NAGPUR, SEP 25 (PTI):

needs to achieve in the next 25 years and in those 25 years, the nation would work in the domain of science and technology.

“I believe the real power of a nation will come out and it is only through the original work of people in science and technology and truly we can build that capability in this country,” he said.

Somanath said India holds the responsibility to kindle the spirit in the young minds to bring about the transformation in society which is needed for the country to become a super power.

“A super power where every human being in this world will wish to come and live happily without fighting each other, without expanding our domains but accepting everybody to be contributing to the entire world in terms of knowledge and skills. We have to bring about a positive change in this society and that is what a nation is supposed to be,” he said.

Defence exports grew by 334 pc in last 5 years: Govt

NEW DELHI, SEP 25 (PTI): Defence exports have grown by 334 per cent in the last five years and India is now exporting to over 75 countries due to collaborative efforts, the government said on Sunday.

PIB said in a tweet: “The Indian Defence sector, the second largest armed force is at the cusp of revolution.”

Activist-lawyer Prashant Bhushan on Sunday said the fairness of the Election Commission of India (ECI) has come under cloud in the last few years.

He accused the ECI of keeping mum when big leaders from the ruling party violate the poll code, while acting swiftly against the opposition parties in such cases, and also claimed that the schedule of elections is made keeping in mind the convenience of the government.

Bhushan alleged that the independence of the judiciary is under threat and those speaking against the government face sedition and other serious charges, and they are not able to get bail for years.

He was speaking on the topic ‘Challenges before Democracy ‘ during a programme organised here by ‘Deshonnati’, a Marathi daily.

“After T N Seshan became the chief election commissioner, for many years we could see that the Election Commission was very fair and impartial.

But in the last six to seven years, a big question mark has arisen on its fairness,” he said.

The Election Commission takes action if the Model code of conduct is violated by the opposition parties. But it keeps quiet when big leaders from the ruling party violate it. We have been witnessing this for a very long time, he alleged.

The election dates are prepared as per the convenience of the government, he said.

“Earlier, even the government did not know what dates will be decided by the EC for elections. But now, it is being witnessed that representatives of the ruling party even before the formal announcement tell what the polling dates are and the same dates are later announced by the EC,” he said.

“The reason for the EC not being fair anymore...the problem for this has always been the selection in the poll watchdog is done by the government and there is no independent selection committee. And now, what the government is doing is

that it is selecting people mostly from Gujarat and they are those who will do what the government will ask them to do. This also is an issue before democracy,” he said.

Bhushan also alleged that there was a lack of independence in all regulatory institutions, and termed it as one of the biggest problems.

He said the judiciary was formed to protect the fundamental rights of people and to keep the legislature and the executive within limits.

“But now we are seeing that this is not happening. Those speaking against the government are facing sedition and and sometimes false cases under the Unlawful Activities

(Prevention) Act. They are not able to get bail for years and this is being done blatantly. Our judiciary is not able to act against it. Hence, the independence of the judiciary is also under threat,” he said.

“Media is also being controlled by the government. The police agencies are also being used for political use. The selection of some agencies like the Enforcement Directorate (ED), the National Investigation Agency (NIA) and the Income Tax department is completely in the hands of the government, which has put democracy in real danger,” he alleged.

On the electronic voting machines (EVMs), he said that although there was no significant manipulation in EVMs at present, in the coming times it cannot be ruled out.

“There is a possibility of manipulation and I feel EVMs are very dangerous. Paper ballots should return and they have returned in most of the countries,” he said.

In order to tackle these

challenges, a number of reforms can be brought by introducing Initiatives and Referendum law, Prelegislative Transparency and Consultation law, he said, adding that parliamentary committees should be revived.

Since the opposition has become weak now, these reforms cannot be done by it alone and hence people need to raise their voice now. They can raise voice for unfair practices like it was done for the Lokpal Bill. People can launch big agitations on issues like unemployment and privatisation of public sector units, which will also strengthen the opposition, he said.

Replying to a query by PTI on the sidelines of the programme about why the Supreme Court was not taking up issue of electoral bonds on priority basis, Bhushan said the government was not interested in the issue and probably they were stalling it. “However, with the new Chief Justice of India at the helm, the matter will be heard,” he said.

SRINAGAR, SEP 25

(PTI): Two terrorists were killed as security forces foiled an infiltration bid near the Line of Control (LoC) in the Machil sector of Jammu and Kashmir’s Kupwara district on Sunday, police said.

The infiltration bid was foiled by Army and Jammu and Kashmir Police early on Sunday morning.

fight ensued & 02 terrorists were eliminated. 02x AK Rifles, 02x Pistols, 04x Grenades & other war like stores recovered,” Army’s Srinagar-based Chinar Corps said in a tweet.

The police said the identification of the terrorists was being ascertained.

FATEHABAD (HARYANA), SEP 25 (PTI): RJD leader and Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav on Sunday said the JD(U), SAD and the Shiv Sena left the BJP-led NDA to save the Constitution and democracy.

song of yesteryears, he said “mahangai” (price rise) used to be described as “dayan” (witch) by the BJP when it was in the opposition.

“Mahangai” has now become its “bhaujai” (sisterin-law) when it is in power, he said.

“Defence exports grew by 334 per cent in the last five years; India now exporting to over 75 countries due to collaborative efforts,” it said.

“He is having two backto-back separate meetings with senior and second rung leaders later today,” he said, adding Azad is visiting Srinagar on September 27.

He said the name and the flag of the new party have been finalised and it is now a matter of a day or two before the new party becomes a reality on the political landscape of Jammu and Kashmir.

He has earlier spelt out that the top agendas of his party will be to restore Jammu and Kashmir’s statehood and protect the land and job rights of its residents.

Azad, 73, quit Congress on August 26, terming the party “comprehensively destroyed”. He also lashed out at Rahul Gandhi for “demolishing” the party’s entire consultative mechanism. Over two dozen prominent Congress leaders including former deputy chief minister Tara Chand, several former ministers and legislators also resigned from the Congress in support of Azad. Two former legislators, one each of the PDP and Apni party, also followed suit.

PIB India Twitter handle also shared some data in a poster attached with the tweet to underline the indigenisation and boost of production in the defence sector. It mentioned the recent commissioning of India’s first indigenous aircraft carrier INS Vikrant in Kochi. It also mentioned about the indigenous ALH Mk-III’s squadron being commissioned into the Indian Coast Guard, and successful testing of ballistic missile ‘Agni P’.

“Jt (joint) Op (operation) launched by #IndianArmy & @JmuKmrPolice. An Infiltration bid along LoC in Tekri Nar, Maachal Sector #Kupwara foiled early morning today. Fire

“Army and Kupwara Police neutralised two #terrorists near #LoC Tekri Nar in Machil area of #Kupwara. 02 AK 47 rifles, 02 pistols & 04 hand grenades recovered. Further details shall follow,” Kashmir Zone Police wrote on Twitter.

LALITPUR, SEP 25 (PTI): Four persons lost their lives, while eight others were injured when a tractor collided head-on with a truck in the Talbehat police station area here on Sunday morning, police said.

Additional Superintendent of Police (SP) Anil Kumar said at around 9 am on Sunday, there was a head-on collision between a truck and a tractor in Bamorisar village in which tractor passengers Pannalal (42), Kiran (36), Aarti (36) and Nirpat (50) died on the spot, while eight persons were injured.

Addressing an INLD rally to mark former deputy prime minister Devi Lal’s birth anniversary here, he also accused the BJP of making false claims and promises and dubbed the party as “Badka Jhuta Party” (big lying party).

He said Home Minister Amit Shah spoke of an airport in Purnea in Bihar at his recent public meeting there even though there is no airport in the city.

While the grand alliance government in Bihar has kicked off the process of giving over 4.5 lakh jobs, the BJP dispensation at the Centre has been unable to fulfil its job promises, Yadav said.

With Bihar Chief Minister and JD(U) leader

Tejashwi Yadav

Nitish Kumar, Shiromani Akali Dal’s Sukhbir Singh Badal and Shiv Sena MP Arvind Sawant on stage, he noted that they were all members of the BJP-led NDA.

They have left the ruling alliance to save the Constitution and democracy, he claimed. Where is the NDA now, he asked.

He alleged that the BJP does not want real issues such as price rise and unemployment to be discussed and instead harp on topics like “Musalmaan, Pakistan, mandir and masjid”.

Referring to a popular

The RJD leader called for fighting the BJP, saying those who will be scared of it will be finished while those who take it on will win. He said Kumar has struck down the BJP with a hammer blow from which it will not be able to recover.

Yadav said the BJP wants everyone except those aligned to it and the RSS to be finished and lauded farmers of Haryana and Punjab, saying they taught the party a lesson, a reference to their protests against the nowrepealed farm laws. The BJP government is selling out all public firms and wanted to sell off farmers’ land as well, he alleged and also attacked it for ‘agniveer’ scheme, a short-term employment programme in the armed forces.

S Somanath

Prashant Bhushan

Ghulam Nabi Azad (PTI)

JD(U), SAD, Sena left BJP-led NDA to save Constitution, democracy: Tejashwi

UP: 4 dead, 8 injured after tractor collides head-on with truck

2 terrorists killed as security forces foils infiltration in J&K

A view of Chandigarh airport.

Mamata Banerjee

‘Don’t believe in revenge, otherwise CPI(M) leaders would’ve been in jail’

A focus on medical practice

Avery interesting matter came up during the recently concluded 2-day 12th session of the 13th Nagaland Legislative Assembly (NLA) pertaining to medical negligence and malpractice. Initiating the discussion, NPF legislature party leader Kuzholuzo (Azo) Neinu proposed the enact ment of a bill-titled Nagaland Medical Negligence Bill to tackle various cases of medical negligence and malpractice so as to restore trust of public on the medical profession. He also said medical negligence was an act omission by a healthcare provider which was a deviation from accepted standards of practice in medical community. Azo said his proposal for the medical negligence bill was necessitated since Sections 88 to 92 of the Indian Penal Code(IPC) protects doctors from criminal liability on the premise that such an act was done in good faith for benefit of a person without con¬sent. The issue raised by Azo is pertinent and crucial. Medical negligence has become one of the serious issues in the country in recent years. Even the medical profession, which is known to be one of the noblest professions, is not immune to negligence which often results in the death of the patient or complete/partial impairment or any other misery which has adverse effects on the patient’s health. Azo also said that the medi cal profession today at least in Nagaland, is poorly regulated .It may be noted that the general opinion of people over the profession is that it has become like a business profit making industry not only in Na galand but all over. There have been several cases of malpractices where unnecessary tests or even surgery are conducted for earning money. These are often hazardous to patients. As former medical minister Azo also made some startling revelations that government as well as private hospitals were functioning without necessary medical equipments and thereby compelling many patients to seek needed medical treatment outside the state. An other unethical practice mentioned was about many government doctors were drawing Non Practising Allowance (NPA) and yet continuing to practice in private clinics or hospitals. When the government of Nagaland has consistently maintained that it was according health care as top priority, Azo took on the department of health and family welfare (DoHFW) over illogical posting of doctors. He cited the case of an anaesthetist who was posted at a government hospital where there was no surgeon. There are also several instances where government hospitals do not even have the basic required equipments such as X-ray machines, ICUs, cardiac monitor, oxygen cylinders, bandage gauss or morphine etc. Sometimes medical laboratory technicians are not available in some hospitals where even simple maternity cases cannot be undertaken. Two doc tors among the legislators- Dr Nicky of NDPP and Dr. Chumben Murry also of NDPP, maintained that all doctors cannot be painted with the same brush. Responding to Azo’s proposal , Dr. Murry said that rather than the proposal for a Medical Negligence Bill, what was needed was for strengthening rules and regulations of Medical Council and penal laws dealing with medical negligence so that disposal of cases could be fast-tracked. While laws may exist on the issue, what is needed is for the Nagaland Medical Council (NMC) to be more proactive and reflect the weaknesses and shortcomings of the profession and suggest remedial measures for the benefit of the public.

DailyDevotion

The “Go” of Relationship

Whoever compels you to go one mile, go with him two. —Matthew 5:41

Our Lord’s teaching can be summed up in this: the relationship that He demands for us is an impossible one unless He has done a supernatural work in us. Jesus Christ demands that His disciple does not allow even the slightest trace of resentment in his heart when faced with tyranny and injustice. No amount of enthusiasm will ever stand up to the strain that Jesus Christ will put upon His servant. Only one thing will bear the strain, and that is a personal relationship with Jesus Christ Himself— a relationship that has been ex amined, purified, and tested until only one purpose remains and I can truly say, “I am here for God to send me where He will.” Everything else may become blurred, but this relation ship with Jesus Christ must never be.

The Sermon on the Mount is not some unattainable goal; it is a statement of what will happen in me when Jesus Christ has changed my nature by putting His own nature in me. Jesus Christ is the only One who can fulfill the Sermon on the Mount.

If we are to be disciples of Jesus, we must be made dis ciples supernaturally. And as long as we consciously maintain the determined purpose to be His disciples, we can be sure that we are not disciples. Jesus says, “You did not choose Me, but I chose you…” (John 15:16). That is the way the grace of God begins. It is a constraint we can never escape; we can disobey it, but we can never start it or produce it ourselves. We are drawn to God by a work of His supernatural grace, and we can never trace back to find where the work began. Our Lord’s making of a disciple is supernatural. He does not build on any natural capacity of ours at all. God does not ask us to do the things that are naturally easy for us— He only asks us to do the things that we are perfectly fit to do through His grace, and that is where the cross we must bear will always come.

Quotes

Let the rupee fall: less dollar parity, faster growth likely

The surging dollar and falling rupee are the most difficult aspects. It should be considered an opportunity than a crisis. India has to think and act differently.

Rupee hitting 81 to a dollar has made many have sleepless nights as stocks plunge 1021 points and RBI opens its purses to stabilize rupee and still it slipped to 80.99 after a brief rise to 80.87.

Let India not subscribe to the theory that rupeedollar partiy decides our economy. The Indian econo my has strengths beyond the obvious in its still partially surviving mixed economy. Finance Minister repeatedly harping on the resilience of Indian economy but the ministry and RBI apparently remain panicky at rupee fall. Let the oddity be considered a favuorable syndrome. The fall can be more profitable.

Thursday, September 23, RBI operations made it clear that interventions add to forex kitty losses and gains are restricted to one paise literally. The govern ment cannot apportion the blame. It is beyond it. Is not there a way out? The govern ment must realise it is not at all at fault, it cannot reverse

the dollar trend even if the economy sprints to make a new record. In the present global scenario dollar would appreciate and India has to create the strength out of the falling rupee. It must get rid of the fad that rupee has to maintain a high level of parity.

Rather lower the ru pee better it is for Indian economy. Trying to stabilize means as it is being said by Reuters, RBI preparing to lose $ 100 billion and achieving little. It must not do that. Allow rupee to sink. Indian economy knows how to swim and do better.

The domestic economy can thrive with the dollars saved. It could be used instead to bolster the economy than reinforcing the US economy. Every fall of a currency helps it. Since last January the US has gained by its maneuverings to snatch the best of the world economy for itself. India itself has deployed $ 82.8 billion from its reserves. In September alone, it sold $ 10 billion with the RBI intervention. The forex reserves have come down to $ 550.8 bil lion compared with an all time high of $ 642.4 billion last year.

The intervention is not

The battle over Ukraine ex tends across the world: In formation warfare is quickly evolving as key nations seek to influence public opinion and gain political support. As during the Cold War, Russia and the United States are the two main combat ants. Some efforts are clandestine, but plenty of material is broadcast to the public as each country at tempts to, in the words of political linguists, “constrain the power and influence of the other … and win ‘hearts and minds’ … around the world”.

Key government-sponsored media outlets in the current battle are Russia Today, often known as RT, and two US governmentbacked operations, Voice of Amer ica and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.

But it can be hard for many people to tell the difference be tween these outlets and inde pendent news. As a propaganda scholar, I believe citizens of all nations deserve to know how their media have been filtered and when governments are seeking to influence their views.

My colleague Weston Sager and I developed a test for deter mining whether a particular media outlet is, or is not, a government mouthpiece. We examine key factors such as government con trol, funding, attribution and its resemblance to news.

At their best, these types of outlets provide official govern ment information – at worst, blatant propaganda. Here’s how the main players in the US and Russia measure up.

Russia Today: Propaganda with some facts sprinkled in RT is a multilanguage inter

helping India as dollar rates are decided by international factors and US manipula tions. In reality, each dollar intervention subsidises the US economy and not the domestic. In other words the US gains at India’s cost. Let the rupee fall and create new avenues.

When fall of rupee is orderly normally RBI allows the rupee to find its value. But when fall it is due to speculative activity RBI in tervenes. RBI also acts when rupee crosses its comfort lev el which for many months had been 80. After the US Fed meeting raising rates by 75 basis point the fall in value of rupee is unprecedented. The recent RBI interven tion could not control the abnormal fall.

The US was among the first ones to advocate movement away from gold standard in 1971, when President Richard Nixon closed the gold window in 1971 in order to address the country’s inflation problem and to discourage foreign governments from redeem ing more and more dollars for gold.

They built military might and hegemony

across the world. Plus they controlled the oil trade hedging it to dollars. Fur ther the consumer economy it created forced the most of the world to look at it and exporting to US. Most of the world also resorted to dollar denominated trading as they were all receiving dollars for goods exported to the USA. This accorded dollar a reserve status. And almost all Central banks would park their surplus money with US treasury. So even though today US has a very high debt compared to its GDP, the dollars flowing in strengthen it. China had been trying to challenge this status. It kept its currency artificially low. Russia and China are also trying to break the dol lar stranglehold on oil trade post Ukraine war. Japanese currency is also undervalued but its economy thrives.

In case the rupee con tinues to fall with many global currencies, including Euro and pound sterling the advantages would be for the products like metal, pharmaceuticals, IT, host of cosmetics and products that are not import depen dent. The products for the

domestic market could even in the course of time get insulated from dollar-linked inflation. More so as crude prices have come down to around $ 80 a barrel. If the taxes on petrol and gas are cut the advantages would be more than gains in GST collections.

A depreciating rupee would make the Indian exports more competitive though imports of essen tials may be expensive. An exporter is to earn more in rupee terms. The advantage could be that larger forex would be earned and the outgo would be less. The kitty not lost on stabilisation exercises could be used to help incentivise and indi genise domestic products.

There is a myth that foreign investors withdraw as the rupee falls. This is partially true of short-term foreign portfolio stock exchange investors who come for quick profits. But it makes little difference to long-term investors. They come with a different mind set and had been investing in many industries even before 1991.

It could also be great b ooster for checking un certain technology and EV imports that is bound to

raise India’s dependence on import of lithium-ion battery technology and coal, causing enormous environ mental hazard. Yes, India can put off the emission norms to make its indus try more competitive and remove checks on cheaper diesel use.

Imports might cost a bit more. But if the trend in crude prices continues major outgo would be checked. Industries that import components for their products could see a surge in cost. But chemicals and automobile prices may have discomfort with some rise in their costs. So higher export volumes spur economic activity and pricey imports lead consumers to opt for local alternatives. The EU has raised duty on Indian textile imports. The rupee depreciation may partially set off the adverse impact on Indian exports.

The RBI is bound to increase interest rates to keep investment flow on with checking the rising in flation and boost the growth path. Overall a falling rupee is not a liability for India as managed properly it would maintain domestic growth and has not much to lose externally.

How our roads were built and maintained in 1880’s by the hands of our great grand parents.

I feel that it is extreme ly important for us to revisit history if we wish to plan for the future. And in this context, while the country is launching it’s National Logistics Policy, here in Nagaland let us re-visit the milestones of when our first logistics infrastructures were built in Nagaland.

1. The first ever road from the plains(Golaghat) to Dimapur spanning 90.12 Kilometers was constructed in 1870’s at a cost of Rs. 4050/-

2. Dhansiri river be came the main mode of transportation to the Naga Hills where the British ers almost abandoned all land transport completely in favour of large boats to transport goods to Naga hills as waterways trans port was much cheaper & efficient. The length of the

national media broadcaster that claims to be an “autonomous, non-profit organisation”.

But in reality, it has officially declared to the US State Depart ment that it is an arm of the Rus sian government. In lockstep with the Kremlin, RT has supported the 2008 Russian invasion of Georgia, the 2014 Russian invasion of the Crimean peninsula of Ukraine and the 2022 Russian invasion of mainland Ukraine.

The outlet has a history of publishing sensationalised and biased articles promoting Rus sian policies and accentuating the perceived failings of the United States and its allies.

For example, in 2015, RT devoted extensive coverage to the Occupy Wall Street movement. Not only did this storyline allow RT to selectively showcase people protesting in the United States, it helped further Russia’s narrative that its economic system is supe rior to US capitalism.

More recently, RT has, with out credible evidence, accused the United States of developing bioweapons in Ukraine and test ing them on people there. But this doesn’t mean that RT is “able to dispense with facts all together”, as propaganda often leverages truthful bits of information, nor that it is strictly anti-American.

In 2010, for instance, RT published an interview containing accusations that the Republicans were exploiting racial fears ahead of midterm elections. Then RT publicly defended the Obama administration against Fox News host Glenn Beck‘s accusations that Obama was turning the United States into a socialist country.

Propaganda works by sup

porting themes that are in popular discourse at the time. It does not necessarily follow a linear path and may be counter-intuitive at times.

In the wake of the 2022 Rus sian invasion of Ukraine, RT was blocked in many nations around the world to limit the spread of Russian propaganda.

Nevertheless, RT continues to publish its content, especially in less developed countries where the Russian government is work ing to increase its international reputation and influence.

Major US outlets present mostly facts – that support Amer ican values Voice of America and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty are the US government’s primary in ternational media outlets, though there are other channels as well.

In 1942, during World War II, the US government established VOA to broadcast pro-Allied mes sages and to combat Nazi propa ganda abroad. In the 1950s, the CIA founded RFE/RL to counter Soviet propaganda in Eastern Eu rope and the Soviet Union. Both outlets are now overseen by the US Agency for Global Me dia, a part of the executive branch of the federal government. The agency receives over USD 800 million in annual funding from Congress. Similar to RT, VOA and RFE/RL claim that they are independent media outlets. In support of that claim, they often point to a vaguely defined “fire wall” that is supposed to shield their editorial integrity from US government influence.

But the firewall is often strained under the weight of po litical pressure. In 2020, President

Donald Trump’s newly appointed CEO of the US Agency for Global Media rescinded the firewall regu lation, which compromised VOA’s independence in advance of the 2020 US presidential election.

In 2021, the firewall was legislatively strengthened, but questions remain about its effec tiveness at preventing government influence. Governmental influ ence over the editorial direction of US state media can also come through legislation. In 2021, Con gress introduced a bill that would instruct the agency to “facilitate the unhindered dissemination of information to Islamic majority countries on issues regarding the human rights and religious free dom of Uyghurs”.

Additional editorial pressure comes from federal law. VOA material must be “consistent” with US foreign policy objectives, “represent America”, “present the policies of the US clearly and effectively” and include editorials that reflect the views of the US government. Under the same law, RFE/RL is required to support the US government abroad.

Additionally, federal law also more pointedly provides a new pathway for folding this into a larger outlet that would be expressly required to “counter state-sponsored propaganda which undermines the national security or foreign policy interests of the US and its allies”.

VOA and RFE/RL have a history of providing slanted and incomplete portrayals of major events and issues. Scholarship has highlighted how, during the Cold War, RFE spread “rumours as fact” and displayed a “consistent pattern of downplaying or ignor

ing evidence that contradicted RFE’s vision of Eastern Europe as a totalitarian dystopia” early in the Cold War.

US government editorial pressure has also come indirectly through funding cuts, which VOA experienced after senators balked at spending tax money to produce “unpleasant news” surrounding Watergate. The Reagan admin istration was known to object to critical VOA coverage and also steered its “editorial voice” to align with the administration’s political agenda.

Today, VOA often publishes stories about the US that promote American values, such as recent articles titled “Refugees Shape America” and “US International Festival Celebrates Traditional Food, Dance”.

On the other hand, RFE/ RL is more focused on countering propaganda. It includes cover age that is often critical of US adversaries, such as “We Have To Pay For Our Indifference”: A Russian Deserter Speaks Out After Ukraine War Memoir Hits A “Nerve” and “Putin Hints At ‘Changing Routes’ For Ukrainian Grain Exports, Warns Of Food ‘Catastrophe’.”

Even though VOA and RFE/ RL sometimes publish pieces that show unflattering aspects of the United States, such as “The Global Legacy of January 6”, this is by design, as the outlets would lose credibility if they ignored impor tant topics covered in independent media.

By Jennifer Grygiel, Associate Professor of Com munications (Social Media), Syracuse University The Conversation

waterways from Dimapur to Golaghat was 192 Kms.

3. 1873-84, the 64 Ki lometers road to Kohima was completed and the 40 kilometers road from Samagutin to Wokha was completed where the la bourers were mostly Nagas.

The point being - Our great grandparents with no JCBs using only spades (pharwa) & donkeys built 104 kms of road in one year! Compare that with our pace of work in today’s age of machin ery and technology, it is clearly evident how self interest over public inter est, extortion, demands, commissions, red tapism and greed of a handful of individuals has negatively affected the progress of an entire generation.

4. The improvement of the main road from Ko hima to Golaghat by P.W.D. in 1882-83 was praised in the administrative report.

5. During that year, 300 mules (Mule is a cross-

breed, an offspring of a male donkey and a female horse) were given on loan to DC of Naga Hills and carried 2000 maunds (1 maund = 37kgs) of rice from Wokha side upto Ko hima Bazaar.

6. The road from Ko hima to Mao was com pleted between 1883-84 which apparently had traffic congestion that time (I’m assuming traffic congestion of bullock carts, carriages and donkeys?)

7. RESPONSIBILITY OF MAINTAINING THE ROAD IN 1880’s was the DC wherein each village through which the roads passed, the villagers were responsible for clearing the stones, trees and landslides.

8. By 1923, Naga hills had roughly 1182 kms of road and it was becoming difficult to maintain the roads. Repairing costs of the entire roads were esti mated at Rs.3042/- but the Govt had only Rs.2000/-

allocated to PWD for road repairs. Similar situation we see today even after more than 100 years, the O&M (Operation & Maintenance) sustainability of such proj ects which need to be col lected through toll gates or realised through Road Tax component which we pay during vehicle registration.

9. THE HIGHWAY TO KOHIMA WAS REG ULARLY MAINTAINED ESPECIALLY DURING RAINY SEASONS. Even the Mokokchung sub-di vision roads were main tained with a budget of Rs.20,257/- But in contrast during this 21st century, we Nagas seem to have re gressed and gone further 2 centuries backward than the British times where the road maintenance component seem to be missing big time.

10. By the time, World war II approached, the need for good motorable roads was realised and the Britishers added 321 kms

of roads which led to the unadministered areas of the Naga Hills.

ROADS played a sig nificant role in connecting the Nagas with the world.

As time progresses, the lifeline and the most basic necessity for any civiliza tion to remain connected with one another and also with the rest of the world - ROADS. The cost of build ing roads has become very expensive at this day and age where hundreds of crores are required to build few kilometers of roads wherein the red tapism, self interest over public interest and cor ruption seem to become a hindrance in providing good quality roads to our people.

Most of the old great roads of Naga land that were built and maintained through Govt funding(Collected from tax) and community effort dur ing the time of the British, are turning into ruins and tatters today after more

than 130 years but have re mained the only nerves that run across our terrains and connecting us to the rest of the country & the world. We must find a way to reflect upon history and remind ourselves of how these roads were built and maintained by the hands of our great grandparents and with the money collected as tax by the Government. I hope we find a way to reflect upon our past to re-imagine our present in order to reform our project planning, implementation, execution and maintenance to move towards a truly progressive Naga society in the coming days, not only for roads but using this analogy of building physi cal infrastructure towards diving into a philosophical inquiry for our Naga solu tion as well.

Yanpvuo Kikon, Entrepreneur and Senior Consultant and Russia engage in a digital battle for hearts and minds history of roads in Nagaland

“The weak can never forgive. Forgive ness is the attribute of the strong.”

Shivaji Sarkar

Nitish, Pawar lead call to form united oppn anti-BJP front for 2024 polls

FATEHABAD, SEP 25 (PTI): In a major step towards forging a united anti-BJP front, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, NCP supremo Sharad Pawar and other promi nent opposition leaders on Sunday called for a new alliance that includes the Congress for the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, stressing that a bipolar contest will ensure the BJP’s defeat.

“If all non-BJP parties unite, which must include our friends from Congress, then we can get rid of those working to destroy the country,” Kumar said at a mega rally organised by the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) here to mark former deputy prime minister Devi Lal’s birth anniversary.

The JD(U) leader, who snapped ties with the BJP last month, said there is “no question of a Third Front’’ and there should be one “main front” to trounce the BJP in the 2024 elections.

The same sentiment was echoed by other leaders including Nationalist Con

gress Party (NCP) supremo Sharad Pawar, Communist Party of India (Marxist) general secretary Sitaram Yechury and Shiv Sena’s Arvind Sawant.

Even INLD president OP Chautala said that “they will talk to all parties including Congress to form a united front of opposition parties.”

Chautala and Shiro mani Akali Dal’s Sukhbir Singh Badal, both with a long history of fighting the Congress, were on the stage with other senior leaders like Bihar Deputy Chief

Minister and RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav.

Though not in as many words, Badal un derlined the need for op position parties to come together.

He asserted that the “real NDA is here on this stage not somewhere else. The founding members SAD, Shiv Sena, and JD(U) are present here. We removed the BJP from the NDA.”

The leaders attacked the BJP, accusing it of try ing to create “Hindu-Mus lim disturbances” to benefit

Nadda says Kerala CM’s office in ambit of corruption, facing heat of gold scam

also pointed out that many party workers have been murdered or physically marginalised in Kerala and said that there is no place for violence in democracy, “that too state-sponsored violence”.

“In democracy, there is no place for violence. There is only place for ar gument, and discussions.

But we see that physical assaults, violence, that too state-sponsored violence, goes on,” he said.

politically and making false claims and promises.

Pawar spoke at length on the plight of farmers who protested against the three farm laws and said the government has still not fulfilled their demand for minimum support price (MSP).

He also talked about the government not taking back cases filed against the protesting farmers.

“The real solution to problems of farmers and unemployment can only be by bringing a change and everyone must strive for a

change of the government at the Centre in 2024. All opposition parties should come together,” he said.

Speaking on similar lines, Yechury said it is time to change the manager who is ‘’mismanaging the coun try and creating chaos’’.

“We all should come on one platform including the Congress,” the CPM leader said. Though no one from the Congress attended the rally, Nitish Kumar and RJD chief Lalu Prasad Ya dav met Congress chief So nia Gandhi at her residence in the national capital after the public meeting.

Kumar later told re porters that all parties are on the same page in the fight against the BJP and talks on a concrete plan of action will be held after the election of the Congress president.

However, regional big wigs like West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and Telangana Chief Min ister K Chandrashekar Rao, who have shown an incli nation towards forming a non-Congress alliance to take on the BJP in the past,

stayed away from the rally, besides Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav. With one leader after another pitching for a larger unity among opposition parties, JD(U) leader K C Tyagi said in his speech that the rally marked the beginning of the coming together of non-BJP par

ties in the run-up to the Lok Sabha polls in 2024.

In his address, Kumar sug gested that an opposition front cannot be envisaged without the Congress and the Left parties.

He urged leaders on the dais, including some with a strong anti-Congress history, to work for a larger

unity and said this “main front of opposition” will ensure that the saffron par ty loses badly in the 2024 general elections.

There is no real Hin du-Muslim conflict in so ciety, Nitish Kumar said in his address, adding that some mischief-makers are present everywhere.

Lalu, Nitish meet Sonia; say focus on uniting opposition parties to defeat BJP in 2024

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and RJD supremo Lalu Prasad Yadav met Congress president Sonia Gandhi here on Sunday and later asserted that there was a broad agreement over taking on the BJP unitedly in 2024 but a concrete plan would be formulated only after a new Congress chief is elected.

The meeting at Gan dhi’s 10 Janpath residence was seen as very crucial in forging an Opposition unity with efforts on to reconcile differences between the Congress and some regional parties that have been at log gerheads traditionally.

This was Kumar’s first meeting with Gandhi since

KOZHIKODE, SEP 25 (PTI): Senior Congress leader and eight-time legis lator Aryadan Mohammed died here on Sunday, his family said. He was 87.

Mohammed, a threetime minister, was undergo ing treatment at a private hospital here for the past one week. He represented Nilambur constituency eight times from 1977 to 2011.

KOTTAYAM (KERALA),

SEP 25 (PTI): BJP chief J P Nadda on Sunday at tacked the Left Democratic Front (LDF) government in Kerala by saying that Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan’s office was “not out of the frame of corruption” and the “heat of gold scam” has also reached it.

Nadda further accused the Left government of cre ating a situation where the state will “end up in a debt trap” and added that its debts have almost doubled.

He also said, while speaking at a meeting of PM Awas Yojana beneficiaries here, that drug menace, fringe elements and lawless

ness were on a rise in Kerala.

“The present govern ment, the LDF government, the CPI(M) government, is trying to create a situation where the government will be in a debt trap and the debt has almost doubled,” he said.

“If I talk about corrup tion, even the CM’s office is not out of the frame of corruption. It is very much in the ambit of corruption. If I talk about the gold scam, the heat has even reached the CMO. Drug menace, fringe elements are on the rise and not only that you will also see that lawlessness is there...,” he said.

The senior BJP leader

Stalemate ends as Punjab Gov convenes assembly session

CHANDIGARH, SEP 25

(PTI): After days of squab ble between the Raj Bhavan and the AAP government over holding an assembly session, Punjab Governor Banwarilal Purohit Sunday gave his nod to convene the House on September 27.

The governor’s ap proval came a day after the AAP government informed him about the issues to be taken up during the session. Earlier, the governor had withdrawn the permission to hold a special session on September 22 when the AAP government wanted to bring a confidence mo tion.

According to an order issued of the governor, he has now summoned a day long session at 11 am on Tuesday.

Earlier in the day, Pun jab Vidhan Sabha Speaker Kultar Singh Sandhwan tweeted, “The Hon. Gover nor, Punjab, has very kindly acceded to our request and summoned the Punjab Vid han Sabha to meet for it’s third session on 27.9.2022 at 11.00 AM at Chandi garh.”

The approval comes after days of public spat be tween the Raj Bhavan and the AAP dispensation over the issue.

Banwarilal Purohit

ter the governor on last Wednesday withdrew his permission to hold a spe cial session the next day when the AAP dispensation planned to bring a trust mo tion, alleging the BJP was trying to “poach” ruling party MLAs under ‘Opera tion Lotus’.

The governor had said he cancelled the special session and sought legal opinion after the Congress and the BJP approached the Raj Bhavan arguing that the House rules did not allow a session just for .

The state Cabinet met Wednesday evening and called the governor’s move “arbitrary and anti-demo cratic”. It also decided to hold the session of state Assembly again on Septem ber 27. When they again requested the governor’s permission, he sought de tails of the legislative busi ness to be taken up, which prompted a strong reaction from the AAP.

Nadda said that if peo ple of Kerala want the state to develop, have infrastruc ture, be corruption free and the public be empowered, then they should “support” and “empower” policies and programmes of the BJP.

“The only way is to support the BJP,” he said.

At the event, he also said that various scheme and welfare measures, like PM Awas Yojana, Jal Jeevan Mission, PM Garib Kalyan Yojana and PM Kisan Yo jana, have been introduced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and that crores of families across the country have benefitted from the same.

Mohammed was a minister in the first E K Nayanar ministry. He also became a minister in the A K Antony cabinet and the Oommen Chandy-led gov ernment.

“The body will be tak en to Nilambur later in the day where the public can pay respects. He was admit ted in the ICU for the past one week,” his son Aryadan Shoukath reporters.

The funeral will be held on Monday at 9 am, he said.

Meanwhile, leaders cutting across political lines condoled the demise of the senior Congress leader.

Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan condoled the senior Congress leader’s death and said he was a noted legislator.

“Mohammed had a

political experience in work ing with and against the Left party. He was a noted legislator. He always upheld secular values,” Vijayan said.

KPCC president K Sudhakaan said Moham med was a Congress leader who held the spirit of the party close to his heart.

“He worked for the Congress party for seven decades. He had a strong political stand and was a secular leader with great knowledge,” Sudhakaran said.

Senior Congress leader Ramesh Chennithala con doled the death of Mo hammed and said he was a strong leader of the party.

“He has proven him self as an able administrator. For a long time, he played a major role in guiding the Congress party,” Chennith ala said.

Govt aims to deliver 10 lakh Ayushman Bharat cards daily, says Mandaviya

NEW DELHI, SEP 25

(PTI): The government aims to deliver 10 lakh Ay ushman Bharat cards every day under its flagship health insurance scheme AB PMJAY, Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya said on Sunday while highlight ing that 3.95 crore admis sions in hospitals amounting to Rs 45,294 crore have been done so far under it.

Over 19 crore people have been provided Ayush man Bharat cards so far under the scheme spanning its coverage in 33 states and Union Territories, he said.

The minister said this after inaugurating the “Ar ogya Manthan 2022” to celebrate four years of the implementation of the Ay ushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri–Jan Arogya Yojana (AB PM-JAY) and one year of the implementation of the Ayushman Bharat Digi tal Mission (ABDM).

More than 24 crore ABHA (Ayushman Bharat Health Account) numbers have been generated under the ABDM, Mandaviya said. “This reflects an im portant milestone in the digitisation of health re cords in the country,” he said. “Earlier 1-1.5 lakh Ayushman cards were made daily, now the number is 4-5

lakh. The target is to make 10 lakh cards every day,” Mandaviya said. He said under the Ayushman Bharat Health Infrastructure Mis sion, about Rs 100 crore will be spent in every district to strengthen the health infra structure in the country.

He said the govern ment’s focus is to make health services reach a per son at the end of the delivery chain, enabled by technolo gy. Mandaviya said the PMJAY has been successful in bridging the gap between the rich and the poor in terms of accessibility of healthcare services in the country.

“Stressed on making healthcare more affordable and accessible while ad dressing the august gather ing. Also, called for taking AB PM Jan Arogya Yojana & Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission schemes to greater heights by working together in cooperation with States & private players,” the minister

said in a tweet.

Over 28,300 hospitals, of which 46 per cent are pri vate, have been empanelled so far under the scheme. Of the total 3.8 crore hos pital admissions under the scheme, 46 per cent were in government-run hospitals.

Fifty-two per cent of the total admissions were male. While 27 per cent of the total patients admitted to hospitals were between 45 and 59 years old, 24 per cent were in the age group of 3-44 years, as per the of ficial data.

Addressing the gath ering, Union Minister for Railways, Communications, Electronics and IT Ashwini Vaishnaw said the interplay between information tech nology and healthcare could achieve the vision of the prime minister of making health services accessible to all in the country.

He said every village in the country will be con nected through high-speed optical fibre in the next few years, which will ensure connectivity and continuous health access to all.

Vaishnaw also high lighted that the government is making adequate legal framework towards safe guarding the data of the health beneficiaries.

BENGALURU, SEP 25 (PTI): Six Indian Air Force officers have been charged with murder after a trainee cadet, against whom a court of inquiry was initiated, was found hanging, a police of ficer said.

According to police, Ankit Jha (27) was found hanging in one of the rooms of Air Force Technical Col lege (AFTC).

Police suspected that the death happened four or five days ago.

Based on his brother Aman Jha’s complaint, the police registered a case against six IAF officers at Gangammana Gudi police station on Saturday.

Aman has also alleged

he severed ties with the BJP and joined hands with the RJD and the Congress to form the government in Bihar in August. Notably, the three leaders were meet ing together after over five years. This was also Lalu Prasad’s first active political engagement in a long time. He has been ailing for some time now.

“We will hold further talks after the Congress or ganisational elections,” he said. Echoing similar views, Lalu Prasad said, “We have to remove the BJP and save the country. For that, we all have to come together in the same manner as we have done in Bihar and dis lodged the BJP from there, the response to that is being seen in the whole country.”

Speaking with report ers after meeting Gandhi, Kumar said they held talks with the Congress president as it was their view that Opposition parties should come together and work for the progress of the country in the future. “We held talks on these matters... But there are presidential elections in the Congress and only after that she (Sonia Gandhi) can say something,” he said. He said there was broad agreement on an Op position unity to take on the BJP but a concrete plan of action could be formulated only after Congress presi dent polls.

in his complaint that at tempts were made to tamper with the evidence as people from the AFTC were present around 4.30 am on Saturday at the police station with a piece of evidence he was also looking for.

He even wondered how the people from AFTC knew beforehand about his presence in the police sta tion in the early hours and reached there.

“The reason behind the death is yet to be ascer tained. Our investigations are on. Jha was a trainee cadet and he was found hanging in one of the rooms of AFTC,” a senior police officer told PTI.

“The officers against whom the complaint was lodged have not been ar rested but the Indian Air Force has assured us all assistance,” the officer said.

6 IAF officers charged with murder after trainee cadet found hanging in Bengaluru

Senior Congress leader Aryadan Mohammed dies

Aryadan Mohammed

JP Nadda with K. Surendran, Prakash Javadekar and others pays tribute to Deendayal Upadhyaya on his birth anniv. (PTI)

INLD chief OP Chautala, NCP chief Sharad Pawar, Bihar CM Nitish Kumar, Bihar Dy CM Tejashwi Yadav, CPI (M) GS Sitaram Yechury, SAD President Sukhbir Singh Badal and others. (PTI)

Mansukh Mandaviya

RBI set for 4th straight rate hike

MUMBAI, SEP 25 (PTI):

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) may take cues from its global counterparts, including the US Federal Reserve, to raise interest rate for the fourth time in a row on Friday to tame stubborn inflation.

The RBI, which has since May raised the shortterm lending rate (repo) by 140 basis points (bps), may again go for a 50-bps increase to take it to a three-year high of 5.9 per cent, say experts.

The central bank had raised the repo rate by 40 bps in May and 50 bps each in June and August. The present rate is 5.4 per cent.

The consumer price index (CPI) based retail in flation, which had started showing signs of modera tion since May, has again firmed up to 7 per cent in August. The RBI takes into account retail infla tion while framing its bimonthly monetary policy.

The RBI Governorheaded Monetary Pol icy Committee (MPC) is scheduled to start its three-day deliberations on

Wednesday. The decision of the rate-setting panel would be announced on Friday (September 30).

The US Fed delivered third consecutive rate hike after it raised the rates by 75 bps to take the target range to 3 - 3.25 per cent. The central banks of the UK and the EU have also gone for rate hikes to tame inflation.

Madan Sabnavis, Chief Economist at Bank of Baroda, said inflation in India remains high at around 7 per cent and is unlikely to come down any time soon.

“This means that a rate hike is given. The quantum is what the mar

Dropout rate at secondary level high in over dozen States

(From p-1) is 21.4 percent, Guja rat 23.3 percent, Madhya Pradesh 23.8 percent, Odis ha 16.04 percent, Jharkhand 16.6 percent, Tripura 26 percent and Karnataka re corded 16.6 percent.

In the year 2020-21 in Assam, 19 districts at the secondary level registered a dropout rate of more than 30 percent. In Nagaland, this rate was more than 30 percent in eight districts. The dropout rate at second ary level was 7.1 percent in Kerala, 8.41 percent in Ut tarakhand and 10.17 percent in Goa.

A recent survey by the United Nations Children’s Fund states that 33 per cent of girls drop out of school due to domestic work and 25 per cent girls drop out

of school due to marriage. According to this, it was also found in many places that after leaving school, children started working as laborers with their families or cleaning people’s houses.

Anil Swarup, former sec retary of the Department of School Education and Literacy, said that at gram panchayat and ward level, ‘mapping’ of children liv ing outside the purview of school education and meet ing at teacher-parent level should be organized at least once a month in schools. It is important to spread tax awareness. He said that such children should be identi fied and communicated by visiting their homes because sometimes the result is not good or the family situation is also the reason.

ket would be interested in.

While a hike of 25-35 bps would have signaled that the RBI is confident that the worst of inflation is over, the recent develop ments in the forex market could prompt a higher quantum of 50 bps to stay on track with other mar kets so as to retain investor interest,” he said.

The government has tasked the RBI to ensure the retail inflation remains at 4 per cent, with a margin of 2 per cent on either side.

Dhruv Agarwala, Group CEO, Housing. com, said reining in infla tion will remain the RBI’s top concern amid resilient economic expansion and

WSH to CM: Probe who fed...

(From p-1) intention to discredit the state government” and also “to serve one’s self in terest, in the hope to sit on the top chair of the police department.”

WSH said it has taken the matter seriously as it was “setting a bad precedence and even polarising the po lice department itself into different camps, which can be dangerous in the main tenance of law and order”.

In view of the above, WSH appealed to the chief minister to “have an open probe and identify the per son behind the scene, creat ing all these social media drama, thereby causing con fusion and uncertainty in the overall administration and maintenance of law and order in the state.”

robust credit growth.

“Any hike in rates would result in banks in creasing home loan in terest rates, too. But, we are of the opinion that its impact would not be significant as demand for property remains robust. Demand is only going to accelerate further during this festive season,” he said.

Global commodity prices have remained vola tile after their fall from historical highs in June.

SBI in a special report said a 50 basis points hike in repo rate “looks im minent”.

“We expect the peak repo rate in the cycle at 6.25 per cent. A final rate hike of 35 bps is expected in December policy,” it said.

Aditi Nayar, Chief Economist, ICRA, too ex pects another ‘new normal’ 50 bps rate hike from the MPC in September 2022.

With inflation ex pected to soften in Octo ber 2022, the December policy decision is likely to be highly data dependent, she added.

India on track to attract $100 bn FDI this fiscal

NEW DELHI, SEP 25 (PTI): India is on track to attract USD 100 billion foreign direct investment (FDI) in the current fiscal on account of economic reforms and ease of doing business, the government said on Saturday.

In 2021-22, the country received the “highest ever” foreign inflows of USD 83.6 billion. “This FDI has come from 101 countries, and invested across 31 union territories and states and 57 sectors in the country.

On the back of economic reforms and Ease of Doing Business in recent years, India is on track to attract USD 100 billion FDI in the current FY (financial year,” the commerce and industry ministry said in a statement.

It said that to attract foreign investments, the government has put in place a liberal and transparent policy wherein most sectors are open to FDI under the automatic route. FDI equity inflows in India dipped by 6 per cent to USD 16.6 billion during April-June period of the current fiscal.

FPIs pump in Rs 8,600 cr in Sept in equities; pace of investment slows

NEW DELHI, SEP 25

(PTI): After infusing more than Rs 51,000 crore last month, foreign investors have slowed down the pace of equity buying in India in September so far, as they in vested a little over Rs 8,600 crore, on sharp depreciation in rupee.

Going forward, For eign Portfolio Investors (FPIs) are unlikely to buy aggressively amid rising dollar, VK Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services, said.

Indication of further rate hike by the US Federal Reserve, fears of a reces sion, depreciating rupee and continued tensions in Russia and Ukraine will affect FPI flows, Basant Maheshwari, smallcase manager and Cofounder, Basant Mahesh wari Wealth Advisers LLP, said.

The latest inflow comes following a net investment of Rs 51,200 crore in August and nearly Rs 5,000 crore in July, data with depositories showed.

FPIs turned net buyers

in July after nine straight months of net outflows, which started in October last year. Between October 2021 till June 2022, they sold Rs 2.46 lakh crore in the Indian equity markets.

According to the data, FPIs have bought equity to the tune of Rs 8,638 crore during September 1-23.

However, FPI activity has turned highly volatile with alternate bouts of buy ing and selling. They have sold on seven occasions in this month so far. In fact, in the last two trading sessions, they have pulled out Rs 2,500 crore from the Indian equity markets.

Vijayakumar has attrib uted increased FPI selling in recent days to rising dollar and rising bond yields in the US.

In addition, the 75 ba sis points (bps) rate hike by the US Fed for the third consecutive time to control rising inflation and the surg ing dollar have impacted FPI buying, Wealth Advis ers LLP’s Maheshwari said.

‘’The US Fed’s hawk ish tone on interest rates and

the fear of a global recession fuelled pessimism among in vestors,’’ Shrikant Chouhan, Head - Equity Research (Re tail), Kotak Securities, said.

Foreign investors have been slowing down their equity buying in India since Septem ber. The scenario turned adverse after a hot ter-than-expected inflation report dashed hopes that the US Fed would scale down its rate hikes in the coming months.

The August US infla tion edged 0.1 per cent higher from the preced ing month to 8.3 per cent. Compared to one year ago, it eased as it was 8.5 per cent previously.

The aggressive stance of the central bank chair, which made it apparent that the Fed will once again go for another 75 bps hike for the fourth consecutive time in its next meeting as well, dented sentiments and turned investors risk averse towards emerging markets like India, Himanshu Sriv astava, Associate Director - Manager Research, Morn ingstar India, said.

Weakening rupee to make import of crude oil, commodities expensive

NEW DELHI, SEP 25 (PTI): The Indian rupee sliding to a historic low of 81.09 to a dollar will make import of crude oil and other commodities expen sive further fueling inflation which for the past several months has remained above the Reserve Bank’s upper tolerance level of 6 per cent.

The pressure on the domestic currency, which is mainly due to repeated hikes in interest rate by the US Fed, is likely to continue with rise in trade deficit and gradual withdrawal of funds by institutional investors.

The Reserve Bank, which is scheduled to an nounce its bi-monthly mon etary policy later this week, is expected to increase the repo-rate or the short-term lending rates by 50 basis points in a bid to tame in

flationary pressure.

For a nation that is 85 per cent dependent on imports to meet its oil needs and 50 per cent for gas re quirements, a weakening rupee has a bearing on do mestic price of fuel.

India’s trade deficit more than doubled to USD 27.98 billion in August due to increased crude oil im ports. Import of ‘petroleum, crude & products’ stood at USD 17.7 billion in August

this year, an annual increase of 87.44 per cent.

India’s forex kitty con tinued its southward jour ney, with the overall reserves declining by USD 5.219 billion to USD 545.652 billion for the week ended September 16. The reserves, which have been dipping as the central bank deploys the kitty to defend the ru pee am id pressure caused majorly by global develop ments, had declined by USD 2.23 billion to USD 550.87 billion in the previous week.

SBI in a report said global commodity prices have remained volatile after their fall in June from his torical highs. Prices edged up during late July - early August, before moderat ing towards the end of the month, largely driven by concerns over demand slow down. Crude oil prices are trading decisively below USD 100 per barrel with heightened volatility due to expectations of an im minent slowdown in global demand, it said.

“A depreciating INR will partly counteract the benefit of lower commod ity prices on inflation,” said Aditi Nayar, Chief Economist, ICRA. Solvent Extractors’ Association of India Executive Director B V Mehta said the cost of imported edible oils will go up. The country imports about 13 million tonnes of edible oils every year. “Ul timately, this will be passed

on to consumers. However, the only silver lining is In dia’s oilseed sector exports... The rupee depreciation will boost export realisation and support export,” he said.

Imports of vegetable oils stood at USD 1.89 bil lion in August 2022, up 41.55 per cent over the same month last year.

As per the SBI report, no central bank can prevent currency depreciation cur rently and RBI may allow the rupee to depreciate for a limited period. Foreign currency assets of RBI have declined by USD 75 billion since Ukraine War, in order to protect the rupee, it said and added that this has led to reduced import cover of nine months, which is at the lower end. “This is also true that once the currency settles at a lower level, ap preciation of the currency picks up at a dramatic pace, that is a distinct possibility given India’s strong funda mentals,” the report said.

Moreover, much of the weakness in rupee is on ac count of a strong dollar and not because of our domestic economic fundamentals, it said. Madan Sabnavis, Chief Economist, Bank of Baroda was of the opinion that the RBI’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) will have a unique issue

to debate when it meets next week for the monetary policy. The recent downhill movement of the rupee fol lowing the Fed’s announce ment has made the rupee one of the more unsatisfac tory currencies based on the response to the dollar strengthening in the global market, he said.

“This piece will also be actively discussed in the deliberations, as when de ciding on interest rates, the currency part of the story cannot be left out,” he said.

Dilip Parmar, Research Analyst, HDFC Securities said Indian rupee marked the biggest weekly decline after April 2021 amid a stronger dollar index and risk-off moods.

“There seems to be no turning back for the dollar as it made a fresh two-decade high and in turn pushed the rupee to a record low level,” Parmar added. The 38th meeting of the Monetary Policy Committee, consti tuted under the Reserve Bank of India Act, will be held on September 28-30.

The rupee declined by 30 paise to close at a fresh lifetime low of 81.09 against the US dollar on Friday, weighed down by a strong American currency over seas and risk-off sentiment among investors.

Protests in Iran biggest threat to hardline regime in 13 yrs

LONDON, SEP 25 (IANS):

Demonstrations have spread to most of Iran’s 31 prov inces and almost all urban centres, pitting anti-govern ment demonstrators against regime forces, including the military, and posing the most serious test to the hard line state’s authority in more than 13 years, local media reported.

The demonstrations have evoked images of an anti-government protest in 2009, known as the green revolution, that followed contentious presidential elections and marked the last time citizens faced off against security forces on a large scale. “The main difference between the cur rent protest compared to the green movement in 2009 is that now people are fighting back; they are not afraid of the brutal regime,” said Sima Sabet, an Iranian journalist and presenter on the Iran International TV station, The Guardian re ported.

“Demonstrators are now burning ambulances because the government is using ambulances to move

their security forces not to rescue people. The protest ers are now using different tactics; they move between all cities and make it hard for security forces to control all locations.”

Firuzeh Mahmoudi, executive director of hu man rights NGO United for Iran, said the recent unrest followed months of Irani ans being prepared to hold smaller protests on an array of issues. “The uprising

in 2009 in some ways was more expansive in certain cities,” she said.

“We had millions of people protesting in certain cities during the biggest day of that protest. It was the biggest thing since the [1979] revolution. They did not see it coming and were very surprised.

“Now we’re seeing not only big cities, but smaller cities that we’ve never seen before. We’re now also see

ROME, SEP 25 (IANS):

Polls opened to renew the parliament in Italy early on Sunday, in a snap elec tion seen as crucial for the country. Over 50 million citi zens, including some 4.7 million living abroad, are eligible to cast their ballots at 61,566 polling stations, which will remain open from 7 a.m. (0500 GMT) to 11 p.m. (2100 GMT) local time, Xinhua news agency reported.

They are set to choose the 400 deputies and 200 senators that will form the two houses of the next as sembly.

A right-wing coalition and a center-left alliance are seen as the main con tenders. Adding to them

are a smaller coalition of two centrist parties, and the populist Five Star Move ment (M5S), with both the coalition and the M5S run ning alone.

The right-wing alli ance -- made up of the na tionalist Brothers of Italy, the League, and centerright Forza Italia -- ap

peared to be leading in all opinion polls published up to two weeks before the vote.

Brothers of Italy ap peared as the frontrunner, followed at a short distance by the Democratic Party, the key force of the centerleft coalition.

Giorgia Meloni, lead er of the Brothers of Italy, is therefore seen as a poten tial candidate for the post of next prime minister of Italy. If so, she would be the first woman to serve in such a role in the country.

For the first time ever, as a result of a recent con stitutional reform, 18-yearolds in the country will be allowed to vote to elect the Senate and the Chamber of Deputies.

BEIJING, SEP 25 (PTI):

The countdown for next month’s key Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) began as the ruling party on Sunday an nounced that all delegates totalling nearly 2,300 were “elected” for the oncein-a-five year meeting in which President Xi Jinping is widely expected to get endorsed for a record third term.

A total of 2,296 del egates were “elected” to attend the upcoming 20th National Congress of the CPC to be held on October 16, official media reported, citing a statement by the party here.

Scotching rumours and speculation over ten sions within the ruling party over Xi’s continua tion for an unprecedented third term, the statement said that the delegates were elected “under the guid ance of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era,” and in accordance with the Party’s Constitu tion, adopting methods re quired by the CPC Central Committee.

Xi, 69, himself was “elected” as a delegate to the Congress in April this year, according to the par ty’s earlier announcement.

The process upheld the Party’s nature and pur pose, adhered to and en hanced the Party’s overall leadership, and fully em bodied intra-party democ racy, the statement said.

The Congress, in which Xi is expected to get endorsed for an unprec edented third term, is being

held amid a big purge of top security officials, stated to be part of a “political clique” opposed to the Chinese President.

Three security offi cials were sentenced to death with a two-year re prieve this week for cor ruption, raising eyebrows about the sudden surge of punishments ahead of the Congress.

Sun Lijun, former vice minister of public security who was accused of head ing a “political clique” op posed to Xi, was sentenced to death on Friday with a two-year reprieve for taking bribes, manipulating the stock market and illegal ly possessing firearms by the Intermediate People’s Court of Changchun in northeast China’s Jilin Province.

A day before that the same court sentenced Fu Zhenghua, former Justice Minister and one of Chi na’s most powerful police chiefs, to death with a twoyear reprieve for indulging in corruption amounting to USD 17.3 million and abuse of power.

Hours later, the same court gave a similar sen tence to former Jiangsu official Wang Like. He was also sentenced to death with a two-year reprieve for bribery, conniving with criminal gangs and fak ing identity cards, official media here reported. Since he came to power in 2012, Xi has carried out a shock and awe anti-corruption campaign in which over a million officials, including dozens of top military of ficers, were punished.

UNITED NATIONS, SEP 25 (PTI): Russia has voiced its support for In dia and Brazil as “worthy candidates” for permanent membership in the UN Se curity Council, calling them “key international actors.”

During the 77th Session of the UN General Assembly, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Saturday expressed his support for India, becoming a perma nent member of the Security Council. In his address to the General Assembly just an hour before External Af fairs Minister S Jaishankar’s speech, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that the UN and Security Council have to be aligned to contemporary realities.

He said Moscow sees the prospect of making the Security Council more dem

UNITED NATIONS, SEP 25 (PTI): Underlining that India is prepared to take up greater responsibilities, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said on Sat urday that negotiations for the much-needed UN Security Council reforms should not be blocked by procedural tactics and nay sayers cannot hold the process “hostage in perpe tuity.”

India, currently a nonpermanent member of the 15-nation UN Security Council, will complete its two-year tenure in Decem ber this year when it will preside over the Council.

“India is prepared to take up greater responsi bilities. But it seeks at the same time to ensure that the injustice faced by the

ing unprecedented ways in which people are showing up, in the messaging and the boldness. Things are a lot more unified.”

Mahmoudi said chants heard at rallies, such as “We’ll support our sisters and women, life, liberty”, had been heard around the country.

DUBAI, SEP 25 (AP):

Iran’s Foreign Ministry said Sunday it summoned Britain’s ambassador to protest what it described as a hostile atmosphere creat ed by London-based Farsi language media outlets. The move comes amid vio lent unrest in Iran triggered by the death of a young woman in police custody.

The state-run IRNA news agency reported the ministry also summoned Norway’s ambassador to Iran and strongly protest ed recent remarks by the president of the Norwe gian parliament, Masud Gharahkhani.

The death of 22-yearold Mahsa Amini in cus tody after being detained by Iranian morality police launched unrest across Iran’s provinces and the capital of Tehran. State TV suggested Saturday that 41 protesters and police have been killed since the pro tests erupted Sept. 17. It said official statistics would

be released by the Interior Ministry.

According to a tally by The Associated Press, there have been at least 11 deaths from both sides since protests began after Amini’s funeral.

The Foreign Minis try’s website said it sum moned Simon Shercliff, the U.K.’s ambassador to Iran, on Saturday and pro tested the hosting of critical Farsi-language media out lets. The ministry alleges the news outlets have pro voked disturbances and the spread of riots in Iran at the top of their programmes.

Iran said it considers the news agencies’ report ing to be interference in Iran’s internal affairs and acts against its sovereignty.

The crisis in Iran be gan as a public outpour ing of anger over the the death of Amini, who was arrested by the morality police in Tehran for alleg edly wearing her Islamic headscarf too loosely.

“This is unprecedented for us. We have never seen women take their hijab off in mass like this. ambassadors amid violent unrest

SEOUL, SEP 25 (AP):

North Korea fired a shortrange ballistic missile on Sunday toward its eastern seas, extending a provoca tive streak in weapons test ing as a US aircraft carrier visits South Korea for joint military exercises in re sponse to the North’s grow ing nuclear threat.

South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said the mis sile launched from the west ern inland town of Taechon flew 600 kilometres (370 miles) cross-country on a maximum altitude of 60 kilometres (37 miles) before landing in waters off North Korea’s eastern coast.

South Korea’s military condemned North Korea’s launch as a “serious provo cation” that violates UN Se curity Council resolutions and “damages the peace and safety” of the region

and the broader interna tional community.

The US Indo-Pacific Command said the launch did not pose an “immedi ate threat to US personnel or territory, or to our al lies,” but still highlighted the destabilising impact of North Korea’s illicit nuclear weapons and missile pro grammes.

North Korea has di aled up its testing activities to a record pace in 2022, testing more than 30 bal listic weapons, including its first intercontinental bal listic missiles since 2017, as it continues to expand its military capabilities amid a prolonged stalemate in nuclear diplomacy.

The launch came as the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan and its strike group arrived in South Korea for the two

countries’ joint military exercises that aim to show their strength against grow ing North Korean threats.

In a discussion over the launch Sunday, South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff chair Gen. Kim Seung-kyum and Gen. Paul LaCamera, an Ameri can general who heads the South Korea-US combined forces command in Seoul,

LONDON, SEP 25 (IANS): The EU must not ignore Vladimir Putin’s threats that he could use nuclear weapons in the conflict in Ukraine, the bloc’s foreign policy chief has said, as per a media report.

Josep Borrell told the media that Putin’s assertion he was not bluffing had to be taken seriously.

His remarks come as Russia begins a partial mobilisation and moves to annex four regions of Ukraine.

Putin has faced set backs on the battlefield, with his forces pushed back by a Ukrainian counteroffensive.

“Certainly it’s a dan gerous moment because the Russian army has been pushed into a corner, and Putin’s reaction - threaten ing using nuclear arms - it’s very bad,” Borrell said. Seven months since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine began, analysts agree that President Putin’s forces are on the back foot, but he said a “diplomatic solution” must be reached,

one that “preserves the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine”.

“Otherwise, we can finish the war, but we will not have peace, and we will have another war,” he said, BBC reported.

Putin said his country had “various weapons of destruction” and would “use all the means available to us,” adding: “I’m not bluffing”.

At the same time, the President announced the call-up of 300,000 Russians who have done compul sory military service, spark ing protests and reports of people fleeing the country to avoid being sent to the front line.

Borrell dismissed con cerns that the EU’s arms supplies were running low, and said it must continue providing military support to Ukraine, as well as ap plying economic sanctions against President Putin and his allies and conducting diplomatic activity.

He admitted that the rising cost of energy prices caused by the conflict was a matter of concern.

reaffirmed plans to bolster the allies’ joint defences posture through training, according to South Korea’s military.

Japanese Prime Minis ter Fumio Kishida said in a statement Tokyo is “doing its utmost” to gather infor mation on North Korea’s launch and confirm the safety of ships and air craft, although there were no immediate reports of damages. The North Ko rean threat is also expected to be a key agenda when US Vice President Kamala Harris visits South Korea next week after attending the state funeral in Tokyo of slain former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

North Korea has di alled up its testing activities to a record pace in 2022, testing more than 30 bal listic weapons, including

its first intercontinental ballistic missiles since 2017.

North Korea is exploit ing a divide in the United Nations Security Council that deepened over Russia’s war on Ukraine to speed up arms development.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has punctu ated his weapons tests with repeated threats that the North would proactively use its nuclear weapons when threatened, increas ing security concerns for its conventionally armed rival South Korea.

North Korea has so far rejected US and South Korean calls to return to nuclear diplomacy, which have been stalled since 2019 over disagreements in ex changing the release of US-led sanctions against the North and the North’s disarmament steps.

forefront of efforts at the UN to push for urgent longpending reform of the Secu rity Council, emphasising that it rightly deserves a place at the UN high table as a permanent member.

ocratic, exclusively, through broadening the representa tion of countries from Afri ca, Asia and Latin America.

“We note India and Brazil in particular as key international actors and worthy candidates for per manent membership within the Council whilst simul taneously unilaterally and mandatorily raising the pro file of Africa,” Lavrov said.

India has been at the

At present, the UNSC comprises five permanent members and 10 non-per manent member countries which are elected for a twoyear term by the General Assembly of the United Nations. The five perma nent members are Russia, the UK, China, France and the United States and these countries can veto any sub stantive resolution. There has been growing demand to increase the number of per manent members to reflect the contemporary global reality.

Later, addressing a press conference at UN

headquarters Saturday, he was asked why he men tioned only India and Brazil for permanent membership and not South Africa.

“I said that we view India and Brazil as strong candidates given they are leading international play ers, as strong candidates for permanent membership at the Security Council with the condition that at the same time, in the same way, the profile of Africa will be raised,” Lavrov said.

“I mentioned India and Brazil for a single rea son. They have long offi cially advanced their candi datures. As for South Africa, the Republic of South Afri ca, this step has not been put forward,” he said, adding that Members of the African Union are committed to the Ezulwini Consensus.

ADEN (YEMEN), SEP 25 (IANS): Yemen’s progovernment forces con tinued anti-terror military operations in the southern province of Abyan, a secu rity official told Xinhua.

The troops raided the al-Qaida terrorist group’s strongholds in various ar eas of the province in re cent days, killing 24 armed al-Qaida members, the lo cal security source said on condition of anonymity on Saturday.

“The troops launched on Saturday the fourth phase of the anti-terror campaign aimed at push ing their elements out of the whole province,” the source added.

He said al-Qaida mili

tants were evicted in four districts following weeks of deadly fighting, adding that 32 soldiers were killed and 40 others wounded in op erations in the past several days, Xinhua news agency reported.

The pro-government forces backed by Saudi Arabia also continued their operations against al-Qaida militants in other southern areas, according to the of ficial. On Tuesday, military units of the Southern Tran sitional Council (STC), which are part of Yemen’s government, attacked alQaida hideouts and posi tions in various moun tainous areas of turbulent Abyan, making headway on the ground.

UNGA.

Global South is decisively addressed,” Jaishankar said in his address to the UN General Assembly’s high-level General Debate.

“In our term, we have acted as a bridge on some serious but divisive issues confronting the Council. We have also focused on concerns such as maritime security, peacekeeping and counter terrorism.

“Our contributions range from providing technology with a human touch to ensuring the safety and security of UN Peace keepers,” Jaishankar told the 193-member UN Gen eral Assembly. Underlining that India believes that multipolarity, rebalanc ing, fair globalisation and reformed multilateralism cannot be kept in abeyance,

and regions a voice in a forum that deliberates their future,” he said.

He emphasised that New Delhi’s call is to al low serious negotiations on such a critical matter to proceed sincerely. “They must not be blocked by pro cedural tactics. Naysayers cannot hold the IGN pro cess hostage in perpetuity.”

In these turbulent times, it is essential that the world listens to more voices of reason. And ex periences more acts of goodwill. India is willing and able on both counts, he said.

the Council, which in its current form does not rep resent the geo-political re alities of the 21st Century.

“It does so because of the widespread recog nition that the current ar chitecture is anachronistic and ineffective. It is also perceived as deeply unfair, denying entire continents

India has been at the forefront of the years-long efforts to reform the Se curity Council, saying it rightly deserves a place as a permanent member of

The G4 nations of Brazil, Germany, Japan and India had this week expressed concern at the slow pace of the InterGovernmental Negotia tions process and decided to intensify dialogue with all pro-reform Member States, including other countries and Groups, to aim for achieving con crete outcomes in a fixed time-frame. The group had expressed disappointment at concerted attempts to stall the IGN process, and renewed their commitment to addressing the issue in a decisive manner and with increased urgency in the 77th Session of the

The G4 Ministers had welcomed the clear recom mendation of the President of the 76th General As sembly Abdulla Shahid to “gradually move the pro cess towards text-based ne gotiations”, and expressed hope that this guidance would be followed by all delegations in the 77th General Assembly Session.

India, which is Chair of the Counter Terror ism Committee this year, would be hosting a special meeting of the Committee in Mumbai and New Delhi on October 28-29. The meeting is aimed at high lighting increase in use of new technologies by terror ists and exploring course of action to effectively deal with this threat.

S Jaishankar

Sergey Lavrov

Gen. Kim Seung-kyum

Silvio Berlusconi

Jaishankar said that the call for reformed multilateral ism – with reforms of the Security Council at its core – enjoys considerable sup port among UN members.

A protester holds a portrait of Mahsa Amini during a demonstration in support of Mahsa Amini.

BLACKPINK becomes first K-pop girl group to top Britain’s albums chart

Post Malone cancels show following ‘stabbing pain’

American rapper Post Malone’s injuries after a fall through a stage trap door during a concert last weekend is turning out to be a lot more serious than they first appeared, reports Variety.

The performer’s description of extreme pain he was suffering on Saturday night (Pacific Standard Time) led him to cancel a concert in Boston at the last minute.

The performer posted to fans on social media Saturday evening that he was in the hospital with “stabbing pain” and would be unable to go on as scheduled at Boston’s TD Garden.

o’clock p.m., and today I woke up to cracking sounds on the right side of my body. I felt so good last night, but today it feels so different than it has before.”

“I’m having a very difficult time breathing, and there’s like a stabbing pain whenever I breathe or move. We’re in the hospital now, but with this pain, I can’t do the show tonight,” his post read.

Study Suggests Walking Can Help Prevent Knee Pain

Anew study has found that walking can ward off knee pain for people with osteoarthritis. This condition affects more than 32 million adults in the United States.

As a form of exercise, walking traditionally has been promoted as benefitting your heart. Lately, it has been linked with battling depression and cognitive impairment as well. The new study, published by Wiley Online Library, suggests that walking could also help prevent joint discomfort.

BLACKPINK has topped the albums section of Britain’s Official Chart with its latest work, ‘Born Pink’. It has thus become the first K-pop girl group to claim the belt on the most celebrated music chart in Britain, its agency said, reports Yonhap.

boy band BTS was the only K-pop artiste to top the Official Albums Chart. In 2020, BLACKPINK’s first full-length album, ‘The Album’, was placed at No. 2 on the same chart.

The album’s lead song, ‘Shut Down’, and the track ‘Pink Venom’ placed 24th and 38th, respectively, on the Official Singles Chart.

Before BLACKPINK,

The girl group’s second full-length album, which was released on September 16, beat albums by Suede, Rina Sawayama and other global pop stars on the Official Albums Chart on Friday (BST), YG Entertainment said.

Former US President Bill Clinton believes that “democracy is fragile right now”, and, says ‘Variety’, he spoke candidly on Saturday at A+E Networks and the History Channel’s History Talks about the issues “tearing us apart”. “What’s more important? Our common humanity or differences?”

Clinton mused. “And what works better to build the kind of future we all want? Does cooperation work better, or is everything a zero-sum game?”

He answered the rhetorical question by saying, “Life is not a zerosum game. Football is a zerosum game -- I’ve already watched one game today. I hope it’s not true, but it may be true that saving our democracy is just a zero-sum game because democracy is fragile right now.”

The former president was joined by Tom Hanks, chef-philanthropist Jose Andres and moderator Chelsea Clinton in an hourlong conversation. They spoke at length about their humanitarian efforts, as well as their hopes and concerns about the outlook of the country, spoke ‘Variety’.

Chelsea made one thing clear -- young people alone should not be responsible for the future of the world. “I loathe the framing that young people are going to save us,” she said. “With all

Among K-pop singles, ‘Gangnam Style’ by K-pop solo artiste Psy claimed the top spot on the Official Singles Chart in 2012.

(IANS)

Given that he was apparently still being examined, no word was offered on whether future dates are expected to go on as scheduled, with his next show being three days away in Cleveland. The singer said that the Boston date was already in the process of being rescheduled.

According to Variety, he began his post writing: “Boston, I love y’all so f****** much. On tour, I usually wake up around 4

Variety further states that the development came right at the one-week point since he stepped into an open trap door on stage during a show in St. Louis, Missouri, at the Enterprise Centre.

Medics attended to him for several minutes, then he addressed fans, asking them to give him a quick time-out before the show resumed.

(IANS)

“In individuals > 50 years old with knee osteoarthritis, walking for exercise was associated with less development of frequent knee pain,” the authors wrote. “These findings support that walking for exercise should be encouraged for people with knee osteoarthritis.”

breakdown of cartilage in the joints and can occur in almost any joint. It commonly occurs in the weight-bearing joints including the hips, knees, and spine. It also affects the fingers, thumb, neck, and large toe.

of Medicine in Houston and the lead author on the study, said in The New York Times.

due respect, what the f**k are adults doing?”

As the audience cheered, an aghast Hanks mouthed: “She said ‘f**k’.”

Hanks, speaking with the reverence and authority of a history professor, said that educating people about true historical events can help to get the public to care about -- and advocate for -- important causes in their own community.

But being a storyteller is a responsibility that comes with great power, he said. In short, according to ‘Variety’, he doesn’t support artistes who feel inclined to bend, bow or break from reality.

of telling a good tale.

But while adapting stories for movies, TV, podcasts or documentaries, Hanks said there’s an obligation to ensure the truth doesn’t end up getting “crowded out” at the expense

“I do non-fiction entertainment,” noted Hanks, who has played real-life figures such as Captain Phillips, Mr Rogers, Walt Disney and Captain Sully Sullenberger on screen. “[It’s] the best of entertainment because that comes with a degree of education.”

“When we come across inconvenient facts that we don’t want to talk about because it may take away from the purity of a protagonist ... I say, ‘Oh, what you want to do is alternative history. You want to have an alternative fact’.”(IANS)

The study began in 2004, looking at more than 1,000 people over age 50 who had osteoarthritis in the knee, the most common type in the country. Participants reported how much they exercised, symptoms of their osteoarthritis, and pain levels. After four years, more than a third, or 37%, who didn’t walk for exercise experienced frequent pain; just 26% of those who walked experienced the same pain.

Arthritis is inflammation of the joints. Osteoarthritis, sometimes called “wear and tear arthritis,” is the most common form of it. It is associated with a

“Everyone’s always looking for some kind of drug. This highlights the importance and likelihood that interventions for osteoarthritis might be something different, including good old exercise,” Grace HsiaoWei Lo, MD, an assistant professor at Baylor College

Exercise builds muscle mass and strengthens ligaments around the joints affected by osteoarthritis. The study research suggests that exercise could help manage osteoarthritis in other joints, she added, like those in the hips, hands, and feet.

And unlike joining a health club, walking is free –and something most people can do just about anywhere at any time.

By Jay Croft

In conversation with Tom Hanks, Clinton says ‘democracy is fragile right now’

W Zone thrash South to win Duleep Trophy

after opposition batsman Teja complained of sledg ing, which had led to a couple of warnings.

“The way everyone contributed was magnifi cent. Just looking to play one game at a time, not thinking too much for the future. Excited about the season ahead, first full season after Covid, look ing forward to playing for Mumbai,” winning captain Rahane said.

The Duleep Trophy returned to the zonal for mat this season after an ex periment with three teams for a few years.

Proper 5 win Futsal tournament

COIMBATORE, SEP 25

(PTI): West Zone thrashed South Zone by 294 runs to win the 2022 Duleep Trophy here on Sunday, completing the formalities before lunch on the fifth and last day’s play.

Set an improbable tar get of 529 runs for an out right win, South Zone were bowled out for 234 in 71.2 overs, with left-arm Shams Mulani (4 for 51) picking up three of the four wickets to fall on the final day.

Resuming at 154 for six, South batters Ravi Teja and R Sai Kishore defied the West attack for nearly two hours. Most of the South Zone’s experienced

batters failed and fell to the pace duo of Atit Sheth and Jaydev Unadkat on the fourth evening, leav ing the team in a hopeless situation.

Teja (53) batted with resolve and was well supported by lanky Sai Kishore, who kept the bowlers at bay for 82 deliv eries for his seven.

The duo added 57 runs in 157 deliveries, han dling the West bowlers with circumspection. While Teja got three boundar ies and hit a six, Kishore was content in defending and spending time in the middle.

Medium-pacer Chin

tan Gaja broke through with the score at 203 when he had Kishore caught by Priyank Panchal.

Karnataka off-spinner K Gowtham who joined Teja made sure the West bowlers were made to work hard for more success. They added 23 runs and threatened to extend the game past the lunch break.

Mulani trapped Ravi Teja leg before wicket af ter he had scored a halfcentury.

Basil Thampi (0) was the next to go, caught by Sarfaraz Khan off Mu lani before Tanush Kotian had Gowtham (17) to end South’s resistance.

West Zone had amassed 585 for four be fore declaring in their sec ond innings after conced ing a 57-run first-innings lead to their opponents.

Prolific run-scorer Sarfaraz Khan recorded a fine, unbeaten century (127 off 178 balls) while Yashasvi Jaiswal made a monumental 265 in the sec ond innings to help set the game up for the Ajinkya Rahane-led West Zone.

Kerala Opener Ro han Kunnummal waged a lone battle, scoring 93, in South’s second innings.

Meanwhile, West cap tain Rahane decided to ask Jaiswal to leave the field

Portugal beat Czechs; Spain stunned by Switzerland

PARIS, SEP 25 (IANS): Portugal have boosted their chance to the semifinals of the Nations League after a convincing 4-0 win over the Czech Republic on Sat urday, topping the group in which Spain suffered a shocking 2-1 loss to Swit zerland on the same day.

Portugal, who won the first edition of the tour nament in 2019, moved two points ahead of Spain and will host their neigh bours in Braga on Tuesday in the showdown of the group stage.

Diogo Dalot opened his international scoring account by hitting a brace with Bruno Fernandes and Diogo Jota also on target, reports Xinhua. Dalot put Portugal in front after 33 minutes as he carried the ball from the midfield into the attacking third before making a smart run into the box to finish Rafael Leao’s cut-back pass.

Fernandes doubled the lead in the first-half injury time before Cris tiano Ronaldo committed a penalty for a handball only seconds before the break, but the Czech striker Patrik Schick failed to convert it.

Dalot scored his sec

ond goal in the match only seven minutes into the sec ond half as the Manchester United right-back curled brilliantly into the corner with his left foot.

Substitute Jota fin ished the rout in the 82nd minute by heading in Ron aldo’s header cross.

In the other match of the group, Luis Enrique’s Spain conceded the first defeat in the group in five games, losing to the Swiss 2-1 at home. The visitors took the lead in the 21st minute when Manches ter City defender Manuel

Akanji got the better of Cesar Azpilicueta in the air at a corner and nodded past Unai Simon. It was also the 27-year-old’s first interna tional goal in 43 caps.

“Our first half was as imprecise as any since I’ve been in charge,” said En rique after the first defeat in nine games.

“I can’t remember a match with so many tech nical errors, especially on the two corners where we conceded goals.”

Real Madrid forward Marco Asensio found a hole in Switzerland’s de

fence in the 55th minute when he dribbled past four players before setting up for Jordi Alba’s easy equaliser. But Switzerland re gained the lead from a cor ner only three minutes later as Breel Embolo headed home from close range.

With this win, Swit zerland surpassed the Czech Republic to take the third place in the group and a draw in their last group match with the latter would see it avoid relega tion, however, the Czechs need a win to stay in the League A.

“I think zonal cricket is very important for those players who have been doing well for their statesRanji Trophy, Irani Trophy and Duleep Trophy are very important for picking out Test cricketers for In dia in the future,” Rahane added.

Brief Scores: West Zone 270 and 585/4 de clared in 128 overs (Yas hasvi Jaiswal 265, Shreyas Iyer 71, Sarfaraz Khan 127; R Sai Kishore 2/157, K Gowtham 2/235) beat South Zone 327 and 234 in 71.2 overs (Rohan Kun nummal 93; Ravi Teja 53, Shams Mulani 4/51, Jaydev Unadkat 2/28, Atit Sheth 2/29).

DIMAPUR, SEP 25 (NPN): Proper 5 emerged as the champions of the 1st Open Futsal Tournament by defeating Native Feathers in the final match on Sep tember 23 at Junkyard Turf, Padumpukhuri, Dimapur.

The two-day tourna ment was organized by Western Sumi Sports As sociation (WSSA). Proper 5 received Rs. 1 lakh while Native Feathers pocketed Rs. 50,000. Khaozang of Proper 5 was named as the best goalkeeper and received Rs. 5000.

According to media cell of WSSA, the tourna

ment opening ceremony was graced by founder and chair YouthNet, Hekani Jakhalu as special guest.

In her speech, Hekani appreciated the leadership role played by the WSSA in promotion of sports at the grass root. She said that sports help in building leadership skills in organiz ing capacities, team work, better communication skills, help to focus which was critical in capacity building of a child.

Sports Director WSSA/DDFA, Mughato Sumi expressed gratitude to the special guest for her

contribution towards devel opment of sports in Western Sumi area.

Earlier, delivering wel come address, WSSA presi dent, VikutoZhimo said that the main theme of the tournament was to instill hope, foster positive mind set and connect with the Western Sumi community especially through sports.

Former president NSF, Ninoto Awomi graced the tournament as guest of hon our and head GB and presi dent BJP Dimapur district, Tokuho Suhoi Neho graced the semifinal as match pa tron.

DDFA selection for Nagaland Club futsal C’ship

DIMAPUR, SEP 25 (NPN): Dimapur Dis trict Football Association (DDFA) will hold club futsal tournament to select team to represent Dima pur district for the 2nd Nagaland Club Futsal Championship to be held at Kohima from October 7 to 11.

National Games will unearth new talent, says Dilip Tirkey

GANDHINAGAR, SEP 25 (IANS): Newly elected Hockey India President and Olympian Dilip Tirkey is confident that the 36th National Games will un earth several new talented players.

“Indian hockey is in revival mode. Youngsters are taking it in large num bers once again and the National Games could well give the final push that the sport needs,” Tirkey said.

“As only the top eight men’s and women’s teams will be in competition, hockey will be of the high est quality. Young players can showcase their tal ent and hope to get into national reckoning,” he stated, suggesting that the selectors would be in at tendance.

Hockey action will be gin in Rajkot on October 2.

Speaking of his own elevation in Indian hockey, Tirkey accepted that it was huge honour. “It is really an honour to lead a body that has such a rich history. I’m happy that the men’s team had won bronze the in the Tokyo Olympics and hope to give the necessary

Hope I have been successful in inspiring the next generation: Goswami

LONDON, SEP 25 (IANS): Legendary fast bowler Jhulan Goswami on Sunday hoped she had been successful in inspiring the next generations to play “this beautiful game” while penning a heartfelt farewell note in which she con firmed her retirement from all formats of the game.

On Saturday, Jhulan was given a fitting farewell at Lord’s, as India defeated England by 16 runs to seal a 3-0 ODI series sweep. While she was dismissed for a golden duck with the bat in her final match, she clinched figures of 2/30 in her ten overs, which in cluded three maidens and taking the wicket of Kate Cross in her final over.

“To my cricket family and beyond. So, the day has finally arrived! Like every journey has an end, my cricket journey of over 20 years ends today as I an nounce my retirement from all forms of cricket.”

“As Ernest Heming way said, “it’s good to have an end to journey towards, but it is the journey that matters in the end’. For me,

this journey has been the most satisfying. It has been exhilarating, thrilling to say the least, adventurous. I have had the honour of donning the India jersey for over two decades and serv ing my country at the best of my abilities. There is a sense of pride every time I hear the National Anthem before a match.”

Considered as one of the greatest fast bowlers to have ever played the game, Jhulan represented India in 12 Tests, 204 ODIs and 68

T20Is, picking 355 wickets across formats, the most by any bowler in women’s international cricket. In ODIs, she picked 255 wick ets, a record in women’s international cricket.

“Cricket has given me several gifts over the years, the greatest and the best, without doubt, has been the people I have met along this journey. The friends I made, my competitors, teammates, the journalists I interacted with, match officials, board administra

tors and people who love watching me play.”

“I have always been honest as a cricketer and hope, I have been able to contribute to the growth of women’s cricket in In dia and the world. I hope I have been successful in inspiring the next genera tion of girls to play this beautiful game,” added Jhulan. Jhulan played for India in five Women’s ODI World Cups - 2005, 2009, 2013, 2017 and 2022. She remains the leading wicket-

taker in the history of the Women’s Cricket World Cups with 43 scalps. She went on express her grati tude to the people who have been a part of her cricketing journey.

“Ever since watch ing the Women’s World Cup final at Eden Gardens back in 1997, it was my dream to play for India, and I am thankful to the BCCI (Board of Control for Cricket in India), CAB (Cricket Association of Bengal), Women’s Crick et Association of India (WCAI) and Air India officials for reposing faith in me and giving me the opportunity to fulfil my dream.”

“I want to thank the National Cricket Academy (NCA) for taking care of my injuries and keeping me fit as fiddle over the years. I am grateful to all the coaches, trainers, physios, and ground staff who have been an integral part of this journey. A huge shout out to all the captains I have played under. Their faith in my abilities helped build my confidence.”

boost to the sport. We have to look for ways to raise our game,” the 44-year-old said. Tirkey’s big goal is to promote hockey in a big way where the game was once very popular. “States like Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and cities like Mumbai and Bhopal are crucial. I will go to these places and look to develop the game from the grassroots level. We need more artificial turfs in these places to groom talent,” he pointed out.

Regarded as one of world hockey’s finest de fenders during his playing days, the HI chief under stands the need for dragflick specialists and brave goalkeepers.

The first eight teams to register will be eligible for the tournament and clubs under Dimapur Dis trict will be allowed to play.

The tournament will be held from October 3 and 4 at Kakit Futsal, Dimapur. Registration fee for each team will be Rs.1000 and the last date for registration will be October 1. For more information, interested teams or clubs can contact 8119075168 and 7005656207.

West Zone celebrates after winning the Duleep Trophy final against South Zone. (Periasamy M)

Diogo Dalot celebrates after scoring a goal.

Players and officials at the 1st Open Futsal Tournament.

Indian women cricket player Jhulan Goswami during her farewell match at the Lord’s cricket ground in London. (PTI)

India beat Aus by 6 wkts; win T20 series 2-1

at mid-on. Green brought his 50 in 19 balls in the fifth over, his innings studded with seven fours and three sixes. But the opener was soon sent packing by Bhu vneshwar Kumar (1/39).

Australia plundered 66 runs for the loss off two wickets from the Powerplay.

But Glenn Maxwell’s (6) woeful run continued as Axar executed a brilliant run out with a direct hit from the boundary.

Leo Club T T tourney concludes

HYDERABAD, SEP 25 (PTI): Virat Kohli’s scin tillating strokeplay found its match in maverick Suryakumar Yadav’s bat ting pyrotechnics as the duo fashioned India’s seriesclinching six-wicket win over Australia in the third and final T20 International here on Sunday.

Kohli (63 off 48 balls) and Suryakumar (69 off 36 balls) shared a 104-run partnership to lay the plat form for the Indian victory. India won the three-match series 2-1.

Cameron Green (52) scored upfront while Tim David (54) provided the final flourish as Australia posted 186 for six after be ing invited to bat.

With the pitch offering grip and turn, Axar Pa tel(3/33) picked three wick ets, while also executing a sensational run out. Yuz vendra Chahal (1/22) was also in his element, bowling an economical spell. Chas ing 187, India didn’t have the best of starts as openers KL Rahul (1) and Rohit Sharma (17) were out inside

the first four overs.

But Kohli and Suryakumar batted with authority, hitting boundar ies and sixes at regular in tervals to keep the required run rate in check as Aus tralian bowlers struggled to find answers.

While Suryakumar orchestrated the carnage, Kohli played the second fiddle. Australia fashioned a comeback, ending Suryaku mar’s outstanding innings with India needing 53 off the last six overs.

Kohli, however, con

Laver Cup: Felix-Sock give Team World hope against Team Europe

returns in the Match Tiebreak to triumph after one hour and 37 minutes.

The American Sock has now won four points for his side, having teamed with Frances Tiafoe to defeat Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal in the Swiss star’s final tour-level match on Friday night.

tinued to go about his busi ness and brought his first fifty of the series in 36 balls.

Hardik (25 not out) and Kohli slammed a cou ple of sixes but the latter was out leaving India in need of five runs from four balls. Earlier, Green was on the offensive from the start.

With Australia going over 13 runs per over, Axar provided the home side with the first breakthrough as he bowled a slower one, forcing Aaron Finch (7) to mistime the shot with Hardik collecting the ball

There was some doubt whether it was a run-out as wicketkeeper Dinesh Karthik’s glove had knocked out one bail but in the end the decision went in India’s favour. Just before the halfway mark Karthik stumped Smith (8) who was deceived by Chahal’s wrong ‘un as the Australian innings seemed to fall apart.

But Josh Inglis (24) and David steadied the Australian innings as the visitors made a comeback.

Brief scores: Australia 186/7 in 20 overs (Cameron Green 52, Tim David 54, Daniel Sams 28 not out Josh Inglis 24; Axar Patel 3/33) lost to India 187/4 in 19.5 overs (Virat Kohli 63, Suryakumar Yadav 69, Hardik Pandya 25 not out; Daniel Sams 2/33) by six wickets

Staff Reporter

DIMAPUR, SEP 25 (NPN): The 33rd Leo Club Inter School Table Tennis tournament organised by Leo Club concluded here on Sunday with over 100 participants from around 40 schools.

In the finals of the boy’s singles, Dhruv Jain of Hope Academy defeated Shreyans Jain of Delhi Public School while in the girl’s singles, Akshita Jain of Delhi Public School defeated Atolika of Little Star Higher Second ary School.

In the boy’s doubles, the pair of Shreyans Jain and Vidhan Jain of Delhi Public School defeated Tub hyam Jain and Mayank Jain of St. Mary’s Hr. Secondary School. In the girl’s doubles,

Lachita Jain and Akshita Jain of Delhi Public School beat the pair of Tania and Atolika of Little Star Higher Secondary School.

Speaking at the closing function, Editor in chief of Nagaland Post, Geoffrey Yaden, congratulated Leo Club for successfully orga nizing the tournament. He said the club with its com mitment, consistency and competency has been able to organize the tournament for the past 33 years.

He recalled that the tournament was earlier held in memory three Leo Club members who perished in a traffic incident but over the years, it has become a tour nament of Leo Club.

Yaden encouraged the Leo Club along with Lions Club to raise the tournament

to a higher level to the level as a premier tournament in the entire North East.

Towards this, he urged Leo and Lions club to act as catalyst by bringing together all schools including promi nent institutes and person alities to spark a sporting culture. He also lamented that Nagaland has not pro gressed in sports for various reasons while other states have move way ahead.

He also thanked the Club and participants for making the tournament a big success and expressed the hope that they will strive to raise the standard of the tournament. Earlier, short speech was delivered by Leo District president, Leo Vishal Patni and vote of thanks by Leo Club secre tary, Leo Vishal Pareek.

NF&ES win 5 medals at All India Fire Service sports meet

DIMAPUR, SEP 25 (NPN): Nagaland Fire & Emergency Services (NF&ES) participated in the 1st All India Fire Ser vice Sports meet and Fire Service meet-2022 at Thya garaj Stadium, New Delhi from September 22 to 24 and won five medals.

Kenilo Khing, FM Vibozo to Rolnu and FM Tsieovilie Semo in Extension Ladder Drill; SI Rouvivor Yiese in Table Tennis Men’s Singles and SI Thejavizo Benedict Miasalhou in 5000 meters race men.

LONDON, SEP 25

(IANS): Felix Auger-Ali assime and Jack Sock deliv ered for Team World at the Laver Cup, edging Team Europe’s Matteo Berrettini and Andy Murray 2-6, 6-3, 10-8, here on Sunday.

Team Europe now

leads Team World 8-7 with three matches to go. Each clash on Sunday is worth three points. In an enter taining battle at the O2 in London, Auger-Aliassime and Sock held their nerve when it mattered, find ing first serves and deep

Auger-Aliassime will look to move Team World into the lead when he takes on former World No. 1 No vak Djokovic in the second match.

Captain Bjorn Borg is aiming to guide Team Europe to its fifth consecu tive Laver Cup title against John McEnroe’s Team World Sunday in the UK capital.

Kenya’s Eliud Kipchoge shatters marathon world record in Berlin

15 fire personnel from the state participated in the event conducted by All India Fire Service Sports Control Board (AIFSS CB).

Following are the medal winners: SI Ruovi vor Yiese and ASI Se nokhape Koza- gold in Table Tennis men’s dou bles; SI Thejavizo Bene dict Miasalhou- silver in 1500 meters race men and bronze medalists- FM Mhashevoto Thapru, FM

The sports meet was centered around the ‘Khe lo India Khelo’ and ‘Fit India Movement’ with Ra jeev Tomar, Olympic wres tler, Arjuna awardee, Hind Kesri as the chief guest and Rakesh Kumar, Kabaddi player, Arjuna awardee, coach Haryana Steelers and Padamjeet Sehrawat, singer and Olympic com mentator as guests of hon our.

Fire service personnel from across the country including a number of pri vate corporations, Central

agencies, aviation fire ser vices, military emergency response personnel etc., involved in the fire safety profession competed in various sports disciplines. The main events included Water Tender

(Pump) Drill, Extension Ladder Drill and Toughest Firefighters Alive (TAF) where fire personnel clad in full fire fighting gears showcased their fire fight ing skills and rescue opera tions and competed with

each other within a stipu lated time. It may be noted that the fire personnel who have excelled in various disciplines at the national event will represent the country at the World Fire fighters Games.

BERLIN, SEP 25 (RE

UTERS): Kenya’s Eliud Kip choge shattered his own mara thon world record on Sunday, winning the Berlin race with a time of 2:01.09, around 30 sec onds faster than his previous world best set in the German capital four years ago.

The 37-year-old, who has now won 15 of his 17 career marathons, including two Olympic triumphs and 10 ma jor titles, was in a class of his own, setting a blistering pace along the flat, fast inner-city course from the start on an overcast day.

Only a handful of runners could keep up with Kipchoge along with the group of pace makers. He gradually shook off last year’s winner Guye Adola but fellow Ethiopian Andamlak Belihu refused to buckle, even as they raced

through the halfway mark in less than an hour. Belihu final ly dropped back around the 27 kilometre-mark as Kipchoge pushed on for the record.

The Kenyan, who re tained his Olympic at the To kyo Games last year, had fallen short of his world mark by just over a minute at the Tokyo Marathon in March, but he was not to be denied in Berlin.

With a final 500-metre sprint passing through the city’s iconic Brandenburg Gate just as the sun started to emerge, a beaming Kipchoge crossed the finish line to ce ment his status as one of the greatest runners of all time.

Fellow Kenyan Mark Korir completed a one-two finish for the African nation, four minutes and 49 seconds behind, with Ethiopian Tadu Abate third.

Boy’s singles final match in progress. (NP)

Officials and fire personnel of NF&ES at the 1st All India Fire Service Sports Meet.

Eliud Kipchoge celebrates after breaking marathon world record.

Felix Auger-Aliassime and Jack Sock return to Matteo Berrettini and Andy Murray. (Adrian Dennis/AFP/Getty Images)

Indian players with the trophy after winning the 3rd and final T20 cricket match of the series against Australia, at Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad, Sunday. (Sportzpics for BCCI/PTI)