August 19, 2017

Page 1

Nagaland Post www.nagalandpost.com

Vol XXVII No. 254

DIMAPUR, saturday, august 19, 2017 Pages 12 ` 4.00

Sikka quits as Infosys CEO

Europa League: Everton secure first-leg lead

Prepared militarily, will act if N Korea launches missile: US

business, Page 8

sports, Page 12

international, Page 9

Floods affect 11 million people in India

GENEVA/KAZIRANGA, AUG 18 (AGENCIES): A “serious” humanitarian crisis is unfolding across South Asia where “devastating” monsoon floods have affected more than 16 million people, including over 11 million in India, the Red Cross said today. According to the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), over 16 million people have been affected by monsoon flooding across India, Nepal and Bangladesh with more than 400 deaths in the three countries. “This is fast becoming one of the most serious humanitarian crises this region has seen in many years and urgent action is needed to meet the growing needs of millions of people affected by these devastating floods,” said Martin Faller, Deputy Regional Director for Asia Pacific IFRC. “Millions of people across Nepal, Bangladesh and India face severe food shortages and disease caused by polluted flood waters,” Faller said. In India over 11 million people are affected by floods in four states

10 lakh bankers to strike work on August 22 C H E N NA I , AU G 1 8 (IANS): Around 10 lakh bankers will go on strike on August 22 as the talks between the United Forum of Bank Unions (UFBU) on one side and Indian Banks’ Association, Chief Labour Commissioner and Department of Financial Services (DFS) failed on Friday, said a union leader. The Forum is an umbrella body of nine unions in the Indian banking sector. The UFBU has given notice of a nationwide strike on August 22 to protest against reforms in the banking sector and other issues. “The officials from IBA and DFS said there is no merger of governmentowned banks or privatisation in the immediate future and urged us to withdraw our strike call. The talks were not satisfactory as there was nothing concrete coming from their side,” D. Thomas Franco Rajendra Dev, General Secretary of the All India Bank Officers Confederation (AIBOC) told IANS after the meeting. He said that around 10 lakh bankers working in around 132,000 branches would be on strike on August 22.

This is it!

“Opposition unity against Modi? Problem is they are reduced to paper tigers.” K Y M C

(L) An aerial view of a flood-hit region of Motihari district in Bihar on Friday. (R) Animals inside Kaziranga National Park.

across the north of the country. India’s meteorological department is forecasting more heavy rain for the region in the coming days, the IFRC said in a report. Around 74 more deaths were reported yesterday from the deluge-battered areas of Bihar, Assam and West Bengal, taking the figure of flood casualties to 119 in Bihar. Geneva-based IFRC is the world’s largest humanitarian network, comprising 190 member National Societies that work to save lives and promote dignity around the world.

140 animals, including 7 rhinos found dead in flood-hit KNP The second wave of floods in Assam has inundated 80 per cent of the 481 sq km area of the famed Kaziranga National Park (KNP) and claimed the lives of over 140 animals, including seven rhinos. Since August 10, seven rhinos, 122 swamp deer, two elephants, three wild boars, two hog deer, three sambhar deer, one buffalo and one porcupine died, KNP Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) Rohini Ballav Saikia said here on

Thursday. “Carcasses are being recovered daily,” the official said. “Out of the seven dead rhinos, six drowned while the other died of natural causes. Water of the Brahmaputra river entered the Kaziranga National Park , a UNESCO World Heritage Site, through river Difloo on August 10, the DFO said. Intensified water patrolling was on by KNP guards, task force, pro-

tection force along with those from NGOs, Wildlife Trust of India and forest department employees for rescuing, recovering and making assessment of species trapped or dead in the KNP, Sakia said. At present, animals in Kaziranga National Park are moving in search of food available on both sides of the NH-37 and the adjacent tea gardens towards the higher altitudes of Karbi Anglong district, the official said.

NTC wants ‘unconstitutional’ post of advisers, parl secys removed DIMAPUR, AUG 18 (NPN): Nagaland Tribes Council (NTC) has urged the Governor of Nagaland to remove the “unconstitutional” post of advisers and parliamentary secretaries in the state as ordered by the Supreme Court Judgment. In a representation submitted to the Nagaland Governor, P.B. Acharya through the chief secretary, the NTC members -- Theja Therieh, Joel Nillo Kath, Vimedo Hibo, Kitoho S. Rotohka, Nchumbemo Tongoe, Akang Ao and Zhovehu Lohe – urged the governor to examine the matter and initiate appropriate action in terms of the Supreme Court Judgment dated July 26, 2017 within seven days from the date of receipt of representation. NTC stated that in Nagaland, after downsizing of the council of ministers in accordance with Constitution (Ninety-first Amendment) Act, 2003, the advisors and parliamentary secretaries were appointed by the chief ministers in all their respective tenures. It pointed out that at

present there were nine “unconstitutional” advisors with cabinet status and 26 unconstitutional parliamentary secretaries in the state. N a g a l a n d Tr i b e s Council contended that though there was no such Act of Advisors and Parliamentary Secretaries in Nagaland, they were however governed and regulated by the Nagaland Salaries, Allowances and Other Facilities of the Chief Minister, other Ministers, Speaker, Leader of Opposition, Deputy Speaker, Parliamentary Secretaries and other Members of the Nagaland Legislative Assembly and Pension for ExMembers Act, 2005. According to the council, the chief minister vide notification No CAB-1/2013 dated July 26, 2017, appointed nine “unconstitutional” advisors and 26 “unconstitutional” parliamentary secretaries purportedly under Rule 5 read with other relevant provisions of the Rules of Executive Business of the Government of Nagaland. N a g a l a n d Tr i b e s

Council stated that the said rule to which the chief minister resorted in appointing nine unconstitutional advisors and 26 unconstitutional parliamentary secretaries was irrelevant and the appointments were made in absolute distortion of the said Rules and in total contravention of the Constitutional 91st (Ninety-first) Amendment. It stated that Supreme Court judgment dated July 26, 2017 was a blanket judgment in the matter of appointment of unconstitutional Parliamentary Secretaries in the States of India wherever it exists. As the Supreme Court has declared Assam Parliamentar y Secretaries (Appointment, Salaries, Allowances and Miscellaneous Provisions), Act 2004 as unconstitutional, NTC said the appointment of unconstitutional Advisors and unconstitutional Parliamentary Secretaries in Nagaland was deemed to be interfered with by the governor for cancelling/ rescinding the Notification NO. CAB-1/2013 dated July 26, 2017.

SC rejects SLP by Dr. Shürho and party ACAUT to hold mass public rally on Aug 25 ANPSTA serves 30-day Correspondent

KOHIMA, AUG 18 (NPN): NPF president and former chief minister, Dr. Shürhozelie Liezietsü suffered a setback after the Supreme Court on Friday refused to admit the former’s Special Leave Petition (Civil) filed in the Supreme Court against NLA Speaker and chief minister T.R. Zeliang as respondents. When contacted, NPF legislator, Yitachu said that the case-- SLP(C) No. 020048-/2017 registered in the Supreme Court on August 5, was against the Nagaland Governor’s action in summoning an emergent session of the Assembly within a short notice. Yitachu however maintained that the refusal to admit the SLP was not a setback but just “an academic exercise only” as it would not affect the case in the high court. He disclosed that there were two more cases to be completed: the disqualification petition which was lying with the NLA

speaker and the question of chief whip of the NPF. Yitachu reiterated that no one can rewrite the law and was optimistic that the law will eventually take its own course so that truth will prevail.

NPF P&IC welcomes decision Meanwhile the NPF faction under its interim president Neiphiu Rio, welcomed the Supreme Court decision in dismissing the SLP. NPF press and information cell (P&IC) stated that the “utter dismissal” by the apex court has blatantly exposed the illegality and the disastrous stand of Dr. Shürhozelie, with regard to the ongoing leadership dispute and the tussle of the NPF Party Cock symbol and flag. Terming it as a landmark disposal of the case by Justice A.K Sikri and Justice Ashok Bhushan, NPF P&IC said the “NPF led by Neiphiu Rio can safely and assertively conclude that the legal and constitutional foundations of Dr. Shürhozelie and his group are extremely shaky and slippery.”

D I M A P U R , AU G 1 8 (NPN): ACAUT Nagaland has proposed to hold the “mother of rallies” on August 25 in Dimapur to voice out against the pathetic state of affairs in Nagaland crippled with blatant corruption and decay in governance which has led to widespread resentment from all quarters, including students, teachers and the common man. Coining it as a “public revolution for a better society”, an ACAUT member informed that the proposed public rally would be held at Super Market area on August 25 at 3 p.m. In this regard, Dimapur Police commissioner, while grating the permit to hold the rally at 4 p.m. on August 25, has also directed the police personnel take all precautionary measures to prevent any untoward incidents. Meanwhile, ACAUT in a press release said that the scourge of corruption has

shamed us all, and in desperate times such as this, the silent majority cannot afford to be silent anymore at any cost. What Nagaland needs now is for the silent majority to leave aside their petty differences and stand united in the idea that in the end we are all Nagas, and show to the world that we can break down the mighty wall of corruption created by greed and selfish politics, ACAUT stated. ACAUT has therefore appealed to every Naga from every creed, denomination, clan and tribe to come out in the streets to make the rally the “mother of all rallies”, in order “to send a strong message that enough is enough, that there is an alternative and better way to live as a society.” ACAUT also called upon every individual to stop complaining from the comfort zone of their homes, particularly the lakhs of social media bloggers, to attend the rally

Call drops: Trai slaps penalty of upto `10L NEW DELHI, Aug 18 (PTI): Telecom regulator TRAI Friday issued stringent guidelines to curb call drops along with a penalty of up to Rs 10 lakh on service providers if they fail to meet the benchmark for three consecutive quarters. “We have proposed financial disincentive in the range of Rs 1-5 lakh. It is a graded penalty system depending on the performance of a network,” TRAI Chairman RS Sharma told reporters here. TRAI Secretary (Acting) SK Gupta said if an operator fails to meet call drop benchmark in consecutive quarter, the penalty amount will be increased 1.5 times and in the third consecutive month it will doubled. “However, there is cap of Rs 10 lakh on financial disincentive,” Gupta said. Under the previous Quality of Service Rule, penalty on call drop was Rs 50,000 per violation. After the revision, the regulator has made measurement of call drop rate more granular from circle level to mobile towers in a circle. “There have been some issues

in measurement of call drop. Averages hide a lot of things. Under new rules, we are taking into account temporary issues that may be there in the network as well as geographical spread of the network,” Sharma said. Under the revised rule, 90 per cent of base transceiver station or mobile site in a telecom circle 90 per cent of time should not fail to handle 98 per cent of the call, which means not more than 2 per cent calls handled by them should drop. In worst affected case or busy hour of the day, not more than 3 per cent of call drop should be registered on 90 per cent of mobile towers in a telecom circle. The regulator also fixed benchmark for radio-link time out technology(RLT) - allegedly used by telecom operators for masking call drop. RLT is used for continuation of a call in case a subscriber is moving or is in base network area for short period. It is the time used for connecting call of a subscriber from one mobile tower to another.

Earlier, Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) had said that mobile phone operators would have to compensate subscribers on call drops starting January 1, 2016, at the rate of a rupee for each such failure. The decision has left the industry upset with legal help kept as an option. A notification from TRAI stated the calling consumer will get a credit of R1 per call drop, limited to three such occurrences per day in a 24-hour cycle. Following that, the mobile operators have to send them an SMS within four hours. It also defined what constituted such a failure: “Call drops means a voice call which, after being successfully established, is interrupted prior to its normal completion — the cause of the early termination being within the network of the service provider.” TRAI said it examined the representations of telecom operators, who maintain that some issues like poor spectrum allocation and difficulties in setting up towers that were beyond their control and contributing to call drops.

in person and voice their protests at the pathetic road conditions, and the widespread corruption which has robbed the Nagas of dignity as a race in the eyes of the world. Furthermore, ACAUT fervently appealed to all the tribal hohos, youth organizations, student unions, and the Chamber of Commerce in all the districts of Nagaland to send thousands of people for the rally. Anything less than 50,000 people in the rally would be disappointing, ACAUT stated. It also appealed to all the Churches in Nagaland to pray for the success of the rally this coming Sunday (August 20). D u r i n g t h e r a l l y, ACAUT said it would give time to anybody from the districts or far flung villages willing to tell their stories and the scourge of corruption that have affected them the most, for which interested persons have been asked to contact7005070868.

ultimatum on DoSE

DIMAPUR, AUG 18 (NPN): All Nagaland Pre-Service Teacher Association (ANPSTA) has appealed to the Department of School Education (DoSE) to recruit TET qualified primary teachers into 532 vacant posts. In a representation addressed to the principal director, directorate of school education, the ANPSTA president, Zakielhoukho Sirie, and general secretary, Ajano Z Humtsoe, cautioned that in the event the department failed to consider its representation within a period of 30 days, they would have no option, but to initiate own course of action. ANPSTA pointed out that despite 532 posts of primary teacher laying vacant in the department for fresh appointment, so far there was no positive outcome from the department. The association stated that the members having passed the TET examinations conducted in 2013 and 2016 by SCERT, and being professionally trained under SCERT – DIET centres, they have the “fundamental rights and legitimate expectation” to be considered for appointment to the 532 posts of primary teachers laying vacant in various schools within the state.

Footwear dealers Paper trail to be used in all appeal to DMC future elections, says EC

DIMAPUR, AUG 18 (NPN): Footwear dealers of Dimapur have appealed to the Dimapur Municipal Council (DMC) to revoke its notification that proposed to levy toll tax on footwear items. In a representation to the DMC administrative officer, the 22 footwear dealers questioned how could the toll tax be levied even after the introduction of Goods and Services Tax (GST)? The signatories stated that since all taxes have been subsumed under GST, imposition of the toll tax would amount to extra taxation and an extra burden on the dealers and consumers. The footwear dealers have therefore requested the DMC to rethink about the matter and do the needful for its revocation for the general interest of all. Meanwhile, the footwear dealers also expressed resentment over the imposition of the toll tax on footwear earlier on several occasions.

NEW DELHI, AUG 18 (IANS): All future elections will be held using voter verifiable paper audit trail or VVPAT machines, along with Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs), the Election Commission of India (EC) announced on Friday. Chief Election Commissioner A.K. Joti on Friday told the Chief Electoral Officers (CEOs) of states and Union Territories to develop extensive training programmes on VVPATs to prepare the electoral officers to use the paper trail machines, along with the EVMs. The Commission is holding a two-day conference of CEOs here that started on Friday to “review performance as well as to explore new initiatives and improve election management and voter experience”. Joti also stressed on the need to provide eservices to stakeholders and

the need to develop e-payment gateways for various election services of the EC. He said that systematic voter education and electoral participation (SVEEP) should be developed as a core area of election management. Last week, Minister of State for Electronics and IT, P.P. Chaudhary told Parliament tha the Election Commission of India was also considering linking the Aadhar number of Voters with their voter ID cards. The case in question pertains to an application filed by the ECI in the Supreme Court in July 2017 asking the apex court to obtain the Aadhar details from voters in order to link it to the voter database. “Based on the outcome of the case, the Election Commission will consider the proposal of linking Aadhar number for various electoral services, at an appropriate time,” Chaudhary said. K Y M C


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