January 29, 2017

Nagaland Post www.nagalandpost.com

Vol XXVII No. 53

DIMAPUR,sunday, january 29, 2017 Pages 12 ` 4.00

50 years of Dimapur Ao Baptist Arogo Youth Ministry

Serena wins record 23rd Grand Slam

Cut indirect tax rates, not direct ones: Chidambaram

Sunday Post Supplement

sports, Page 12

business, Page 8

State-wide bandh evokes spontaneous response

Dimapur

Chumukedima

Kohima

Mokokchung

(L-R) Volunteers in Dimapur barricade a road to prevent polling officials’ training; Chumukedima volunteers block the highway with boulders; heart of Kohima town wears a deserted look and volunteers of Mokokchung keep vigil.

Zunheboto

Phek

Kiphire

Wokha

(L-R) ZTYO volunteers (at the background) enforcing the bandh in Zunheboto; Phek town and Kiphire town wear a deserted look during the bandh and Lotha public at the general meeting of the Lotha Hoho at Wokha on Saturday. (NP)

Staff Reporters/Correspondents

D I M A P U R / K o h ima / Mokokchung/Zunheboto/WOKHA/KIPHIRE, Jan 28 (NPN): Entire Nagaland came to a grinding halt on Saturday,January 28 during the day-long statewide bandh called by all apex tribe organisations in several districts. The bandh will resume on January 30 and continue up to February 1, the latter date being scheduled for polling.

The state government has rejected outright the appeals by various tribe organisations to defer the elections in order to resolve certain aspects of the Nagaland Municipal Act including 33% women reservation.

Dimapur: In Dimapur and nearby areas of Chumumedima, bandh was total and complete with no untoward incident reports. Some over zealous volunteers however harassed media persons despite being exempt from the purview of the bandh .

The issue was also flagged to the Nagaland Press Association, CNTC and JCC to ensure that no media persons on duty

Gov condoles

DIMAPUR, JAN 28 (NPN): Nagaland Governor, P.B. Acharya has expressed grief over the demise of KT Thomas, director Tourism.

In a condolence message, Acharya said not only the department but people of Nagaland have lost a sincere, dedicated and disciplined officer with vast experience.

Governor said the department under able stewardship of late Thomas made significant progress in all fronts, enabling the state to figure in International tourism map.

Conveying condolences to the family members, he prayed that Almighty grant them strength to overcome the grief and departed soul to rest in peace.

This is it!

“Booth capturing or bandhs, what does it matter to us?That’s where our expertise is in demand.”

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covering their event should be harassed in any manner. Police personnel in anti-riot gear were also stationed in all locations.

Vehicular movement remained minimal during the bandh.

The training programme for returning officers scheduled on Saturday at Dimapur Government College was abandoned as a large number of volunteers occupied the college entrance and prevented entry by erecting barricades. Women volunteers were also seen in most of the places. Passengers travelling by trains and planes were stranded.

Hundreds of train passengers had either remain within or walk with luggage as there were no autos or taxis.

Those travelling by bus from Guwahati, Shillong, Mon, Tuensang etc had to get down at New Field Check Gate and waited till the bandh was lifted.

There were no reports of confrontation between police personnel and the volunteers.

Medziphema/Chumukedima: Volunteers in Medziphema town said the bandh was peaceful with people’s cooperation. Some

food stalls in the vicinity were kept open to cater to the needs of travellers and volunteers.

The three major gates at Chümoukedima town were also heavily guarded by volunteers from the town and neighbouring villages. A leader of the volunteers said the bandh was being held peacefully and that the public was cooperating by staying indoors. Transport vehicles numbering close to 500 carrying goods and other essential commodities on their way to Kohima and Imphal were stranded all the way from Lahorijan to Khatkhati in neighbouring Assam.

Kohima: Despite nil candidates from the Angami community for the civic body polls under Kohima district, the Angami Public Organization (APO) had responded to the call of other tribe bodies to impose the bandh state-wide on January 28.

The bandh enforced by the Angami Youth Organisation (AYO) along with NAYO, CYO, SAYO and WAYO, in Kohima district was successful with no untoward incidents. Normal life came to a standstill in Kohima as

all offices, business houses and schools remained closed.

Further, AYO president Neinguvotuo Krose and general secretary Kekhrie Pfukha, in a press note, informed that there would be no further bandh under Kohima Municipal, Medziphema Town and Chumukedima Town Council areas till further notice.

However, AYO said the bandh would be resumed in Medziphema/Chumukedima areas under Dimapur district depending on the situation in areas under DMC and East Dimapur Town Council. AYO said its volunteers were ready not just morally but physically to assist other fellow Naga tribe in any district if called for.

Mokokchung: The bandh call imposed by the Ao Senden across Mokokchung district from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. passed off peacefully. In Mokokchung town, the streets wore a deserted look with vehicular movement restricted, while shops, offices and institutions remained closed for the day. Volunteers both young and old were stationed at strategic locations across the

town. After the bandh ended, the Senden officials held a meeting and resolved to relax the bandh on January 29 being a Sunday. It was also informed that the bandh would be relaxed on Monday, since the Senden officials would be “engaged with very important matters related to the municipal elections”.

Zunheboto: The bandh imposed by Sumi Hoho passed off peacefully with no reports of any untoward incidents. Zunheboto Town Youth Organisation (ZTYO) members along with youths from neighbouring villages maintained vigil in all the strategic locations within the town. Vehicular and pedestrian movements were restricted while all educational institutions, shops and offices remained closed during the bandh from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Meanwhile, the bandh enforcement cell of ZTYO has informed all business establishments to open on Sunday after the devotional service (12 p.m.) to allow citizens to buy essential commodities. ZTYO has further informed that the bandh would

resume on Monday from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Meanwhile, ZTYO has warned bloggers not to spread false information with regards to the ongoing bandh in Zunheboto.

Speaking to this correspondent, Sumi Hoho general secretary Vihuto Asumi said they will be meeting the intending candidates for Zunheboto Town Council for the last time on Sunday to seek their withdrawal. “Personal and selfish interest should not belittle tribal interests,” Asumi said.

SH was prepared to face any consequences in the days leading to the date of the polls.

He further informed that more volunteers would be called in from areas and ranges falling under Zunheboto district if the situation demanded.

Kiphire: All 18 candidates for the Kiphire Town Council polls have decided to back-out from contesting the February 1 elections. Talking to this Correspondent, ULSP secretary, Chorise Sangtam informed that the candidates on Saturday willingly signed an undertaking not to contest the polls taking note

of the appeal made by Naga apex bodies. This was also made known to the Returning Officer in a letter by Kiphire District Joint Coordination Committee (KDJCC) signed by USLP vice president, K. Tsilise Sangtam; TTC president, Topan K and KDGBA president, Sepithong.

Meanwhile, the bandh called at Kiphire under the banner of KDJCC comprising of USLP, Tikhir Tribal Council and Kiphire District GB’s Association was peaceful.

KDJCC said its volunteers would continue to keep strict vigil till February 1, scheduled polling day. KDJCC also acknowledged the decision of all candidates of KTC for their cooperation and sacrifice Wokha: In Wokha, all commercial activities came to a halt from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., during which the Lotha Hoho along with the Lotha Hoho Joint Action Committee (LHJAC) held a “General Meeting cum Car Rally” at Local ground, Wokha and reaffirmed to stand by the January 8 resolution.

Will take measures to withdraw SLP, says JACWR NPA, DPC condemn

DIMAPUR, JAN 28 (NPN): After having received an “assurance letter” from chief minister, T.R. Zeliang on January 28, that the civic polls would be held as scheduled on February1, the Joint Action Committee on Women Reservation (JACWR) convenor Abeiu Meru and co-convenor Dr. Rosemary Dzuvichu on Saturday informed that the committee has decided “to take up necessary mea-

sures to withdraw the Special Leave Petition in the Supreme Court of India.”

JACWR said the decision was also made after taking due cognisance of appeals by various Naga organisations and in the interest of peace in the society.

According to JACWR, the petitioners will leave for Delhi for necessary legal preparation to withdraw the SLP, before the elections.

In this regard, JACWR has appealed to all organisations to allow the democratic process of a free and fair election in the state without any hindrance.

The JACWR members further appealed to the state government to consider for an early second phase of polls for those towns and candidates who were unable to file/had withdrawn nominations.

APO slams U-turn by Zeliang and Shurho RGBA backs RH Correspondent

KOHIMA, JAN 28 (NPN): Angami Public Organization (APO) has asked chief minister T.R. Zeliang and NPF president Dr. Shürhozelie Liezietsu to realize that what they supported earlier in 2012 (against 33% women reservation) and what they now favour (33% women reservation) raised questions about the integrity of their leadership.

APO president Dr. Vilhousa Seleyi said this while interacting with media in his office Saturday. He said the contradictory stand of the government (2012 and 2016) showed it cannot keep its decision and cautioned that if this continued more problems and confusions would result.

Dr. Seleyi said the January 27 cabinet decision ignored people’s feeling but was not a surprise. He said the present ministry in Nagaland has become so comfortable

with being “opposition-less, party-less, color-less, smellless, tasteless, five minuteless” government. When a person became “over comfortable and over confident” then it was natural that a de-generation process would begin, he said.

On the JACWR assurance to withdraw SLP with a rider, the APO president wondered whether it was in the interest of the Nagas adding it was not a compromise.

Dr Seleyi recalled that the government at the November consultative meeting last year did not give the tribal hoho representatives to express their views and opinions on the issue.

When the government was asked about the status of the 2012 assembly resolution, he said it replied that the matter would be reviewed by the NLA. However, he said the reasons behind the revocation was not explained to the house.

He also said that the

DIMAPUR, JAN 27 (NPN): Rengma GB Association (RGBA) has extended strong support to the decision of the Rengma Hoho to boycott the civic body elections, in the wake of the social unrest that had emerged out of government’s decision to impose the Municipal Election.

RGBA president Kehoga Kent and secretary P. Lorin further hit out at the government for going against the will of the people.

As guardian of Rengma Naga customary law, Rengma GBs asserted that it will not compromise its right at any cause and reminded that the association would continue to uphold Rengma Naga customary and traditional practices.

Meanwhile, RGBA has warned all its members to remain committed to its responsibility as the guardian of the Law. Any bonafide members going against the wishes and will of the community would invite serious disciplinary action as deem fit according to our customary law, (Cont’d on p-8) RGBA stated.

2012 resolution was revoked six days after meeting with tribal hohos and spearheaded by the same people who had passed the resolution in 2012.

This act had provoked and surprised the Naga leaders especially when the government ignored the ultimatum served by the Naga Hoho and ENPO. The APO president also narrated the sequence of events when the tribal hohos met with the chief minister and the cabinet on December 5,2016 for giving them six months to resolve the issue with the women leaders. Accordingly, the tribal Hohos held consultation with the women leaders on December 19,2016, when 11 tribes requested the women leaders to reconsider their stand and some even suggesting 40 to 50% nomination with voting rights if they withdrew the case from the Supreme Court. However he said the women leaders declined.

harasment of scribes

DIMAPUR, JAN 28 (NPN): Nagaland Press Association (NPA) and Dimapur Press Club (DPC) have condemned the behaviour of some bandh enforcers who intimidated and threatened the journalists covering the JCC bandh in Dimapur town on Saturday.

In a press release, NPA expressed its deep shock and anguish over the “unruly behaviour” of some volunteers who reportedly passed abusive language to the media persons on duty and also threatened to their movement during the bandh. NPA has expressed hope that the responsible leadership of JCC would be able to discipline their own volunteers with sense of great responsibility and maturity.

DPC also expressed dismay at the actions of some volunteers and said that journalists on duty, even after producing identify cards, were reportedly warned not to frequently cross by the main road. It said some volunteers even threatened to burn the press vehicle. In a press release, DPC president, Moa Longkumer, and general secretary, Henlly Phom, condemned the “ignorant behaviour” of volunteers who prevented journalists from performing their duties even after JCC exempted press from the bandh. DPC has appealed to the responsible organisations to ensure security of journalists on duty.

JCC apologizes for incidents

Joint Coordination Committee (JCC) in a statement, expressed sincere apology to the press/media and medical staff for the misconduct of some volunteers during the bandh.

Further, JCC said it has taken serious note of some police personnel moving around freely even while not on duty. The committee has asked public as well as police personnel off-duty to honour and respect the will and aspiration of the Naga people during the bandh period.

Meanwhile, JCC has also asked DMC garbage collectors to stop collection around Dimapur with effect from January 30 in view of the bandh.

(Cont’d on p-8)

NBCC call for Jan 29 prayer DIMAPUR, JAN 28 (NPN): Nagaland Baptist Church Council (NBCC) has appealed to the church for dedicating Sunday, January 29, as a prayer for “our land”, for the leaders in the state government, who could deliver the right decision, and for the tribal leaders who represent people.

In a press release, the NBCC expressed concern over the “unfolding ULB electoral crises” and appealed to all stakeholders to exercise restraint, patience and understanding for the larger interest of the people. It also expressed regret that desirable outcome from negotiations have not arrived. NBCC, however, appealed all to stop blaming each other as “we are all aware that by doing that we have found ourselves in the present predicament of fear and apprehension.”

Further, the council said common people were anxious and yet hopeful thinking that wisdom would prevail, but that too seemed far-fetched at the moment. However, NBCC said “we have not lost our hope in God!” adding that this was a time for Christians to sincerely pray for God to intervene in the worst situation “we all can imagine.” NBCC has further called upon all to pray that God would intervene, soften the stance, mindset of all the parties who have in their hands to save the situation.

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Nagaland Post, Dimapur sunday, january 29, 2017

ZUK celebrates golden jubilee SASU conference gets underway Correspondet

(L-R) KVC chairman Medoselhou addressing the gathering. Section of participants during ZUK golden jubilee celebration at APO hall Kohima. (NP) Correspondent KOHIMA, JAN 28 (NPN): Zhobumai Union Kohima (ZUK) celebrated its golden jubilee on Saturday at Angami Public organization (APO) conference hall under the theme “one family, one dream” with chairman Kohima village council Medolselhou Keretsü as the chief guest.

Extending jubilee greetings, Keretsü reminded that jubilee was a time to retrospect, learn and continue to strive for the betterment of the union. He encouraged the members to know their roots saying people without a sense of their root or origin are “lost people”.

Encouraging the union to strengthen the Tenyimi family, Keretsü reminded that Tenyimi people are not like any other formed organizations but they are from one family by blood and not by choice. He urged the members to pass the true history of “our” ancestors.

He said that during the British rule “we” were divided into different geographical areas but added that that should not weaken “our” emotional integrity.

Highlighting the importance of preserving culture and tradition, he said the members that Ura Academy was working hard to preserve “our” culture and traditions including Tenyimi tribes. He then

urged the gathering to living together peacefully as one family and progress together.

In a short speech, Zhobumai Village Council chairman, Daihrü Soto appreciated the union for completing 50 years in Kohima. He acknowledged the presence of chairman Kohima village as the chief guest for his concern and care for his people living in Kohima town. He urged the gathering to live together in unity for the progress of the society.

The programme was compeered by Davilou Zho and Helena Rova, welcome song was presented by women society ZUK, invocation was said by Pastor Poumai

Baptist church Kohima Rev. Thaongaolou Rosü, welcome address was delivered

by Dangao Rova chairman ZUK, special song was presented by Dapuzü Soto & co, folk song was presented

by Daikho Zho and friends, introduction and presentation led by Liavini Zho, vote of thanks was proposed by Ashipri Zho while benediction was said by pastor Zhobumai Baptist church Liavikho Rosü.

The jubilee celebration programme was attended by hundreds of ZUK members, Kohima Poumai public and church leaders, delegates from Dimapur, Senapati town, parent village, Pfütsero town and others.

Kohima, Jan. 28 (NPN): Two-day Southern Angami Students’ Union (SASU) 67th biennial general conference got underway on Saturday at St. Paul School, Phesama under the theme “Be an Asset, not a Liability”.

Addressing the inaugural session of the conference as the speaker, former MLA, Dr. Dietho-o Yhoshü asked students to prepare themselves to cherish, embrace and celebrate three thingslearning, nature and life.

Dr. Yhoshü said “short and simple, yet profound…

All great men have done that. The love for these three can usher in balance, order, rhythm and harmony in your lives.”

He called upon the student community to try to learn something new each day stating that learning is a lifelong process with no age bar and that it is life’s greatest opportunity.

Dr. Yhoshü also encouraged the students to appreciate and love nature and to take care of it as God’s gift. He also emphasized on loving life and to lead a meaning life by taking care of its four dimensions-

Dr. Dietho-o Yhoshu addressing the gathering during SASU conference. (NP) physical, mental, social and spiritual.

Stating that “life is too short to be small”, he encouraged youth to make their lives great and meaningful through the divine service of loving life.

Asking students to own their mistakes and learn the lesson, Dr. Yhoshü said every student will make a mistake and face failures but what is important was whether the person has learnt a lesson and corrected his/her ways.

Also speaking in the programme, SAGOK president, Nosazol Charles said people, including students, need to start thinking and planning for sustainability.

He reminded that “our” forefathers were hardworking and independent and added that the present generation has to emulate these qualities and work towards sustainability.

Charles said people today have to do away with parasitic behaviour of wanting to earn and do things in an easy way.

Angami Students’ Union president, Dievi Yano while delivering greetings, called upon the student community to preserve one’s mother tongue and identity while SASU president Teisovi Thorie said that the organization has set up a new vision to bring positive changes in the society.

news in brief NNC informs: Naga National Council (NNC) would be observing 71st anniversary of NNC formation on February 2, at 10 a.m. at Peace Hall, Chedema Peace Camp. All Nagas have been invited to attend the programme of this historic day as sovereign people and Nation.

Further, all Regional Presidents of NNC have been requested to make wide publicity to their own respective regions to observe this National Day. DBS informs: Dimapur Bangali Samaj (DBS) has informed all the members to assemble at Sri Sri Ramtakhur Sevashram Railway and Netaji colony Dimapur on January at 3.30 p.m for distribution of study materials and financial help provided to poor and needy students for admission into different school of Dimapur.

NCRC thanksgiving service: Nagaland Christian Revival Church (NCRC) would be organizing “thanksgiving service” for the successful conduct of the “revival and healing convention” on February 5 at 3 p.m. at CRC, Kohima village.

Snapshots of Joint Co-ordination Committee bandh in Dimapur on January 28

Travellers walk on foot from New Field check gate. (NP)

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Passangers stranded at Dimapur railway station. (NP)

Travellers from Mon stranded at Lahorijan. (NP)

Goods-laden trucks stranded at Lahorijan. (NP)

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nagalandpost.com Poll Q.: Who will win the assembly elections in UP this year?

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

A B C

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Raj Bhavan observes GBs, VCs should be in accord with govt: S Chuba Rani Gaidinliu’s birth anniv Correspondent

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A

B

SP-Cong BJP BSP

C

67% 31% 2%

Next poll

Q: H a s U S p r e s i d e n t

Donald Trump proved he will deliver on promises?

Yes He has already ď ą signed several orders No it’s too early to ď ą judge ď ą Can’t say

WEATHER FORECAST January 29

(Temperature in ÂşC)

Max Min

Agartala Plenty of sun

27 12

Mostly sunny and nice

23 8

Guwahati Mostly sunny and nice

26 11

Aizawl Imphal

Mostly sunny and delightful

Itanagar Mostly sunny and nice

25 7 23 11

Shillong

Sun and some clouds

Kohima

A stray afternoon t-showers 21 8

18 3

Dimapur Partly sunny and pleasant

24 11

Partial sunshine

19 7

Mkg

Tuensang Mostly sunny and cooler

13 6

Partial sunshine

18 12

Zunheboto Partial sunshine

17 5

Wokha

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state State

Nagaland Post, Dimapur Sunday, january 29, 2017

Governor P.B. Acharya paying floral tributes. (PRO Raj Bhavan) DIMAPUR: The bir th anniversary of Rani Ma Gaidinliu was observed at Raj Bhavan, Kohima on January 26 with floral tributes to the “great freedom fighter� by Governor P.B. Acharya and Raj Bhavan staff.

According to PRO Raj Bhavan, the governor shed light on Rani Ma Gaidinliu’s life and activities. Acharya mentioned about his first meeting with Rani Gaidinliu in the year 1965, during late P. Shilu Ao’s government when she was under “house

arrest� and kept in Minister’s Hill, Kohima.

Giving a brief account of Rani Ma Gaidinliu’s life and activities, commissioner & secretary to governor, P i y u s h G o ya l g ave a brief account of Rani Ma Gaidinliu’s life and activities.

He said that she was born on January 26, 1915 in Manipur and she was “Naga spiritual and political leader� who led a revolt against British rule in India.

Goyal said Gaidinliu

was arrested in 1932 at the age of 16 and was sentenced for life imprisonment by the British rulers and she was released in 1947, after India’s Independence, and continued to work for the upliftment of her people.

He said that Gaidinliu had to spend her youthful 15 years in jail, as freedom fighter. In 1937, it was India’s first Prime Minister late Pandit Nehru went to Shillong and later pursued her release from jail and gave her the title of “Rani�, added Goyal.

MOKOKCHUNG, JAN 28 (NPN): Parliamentary secretary of Veterinary & Animal Husbandry, S Chuba Longkumer, has reminded all GBs and the village councils in Nagaland to be in accord with state government’s “orders� as they are all machineries of the state.

He said this in reference to the tension brewing in Nagaland due to state government’s decision to conduct Urban Local Body (ULB) election amidst opposition from several tribal organizations and boycott called by Joint Co-ordination Committee (JCC).

The parliamentar y secretary was speaking as chief guest on the occasion of declaring Chuchuyimlang Adhoc Town Committee to Urban Station and the upgradation of Veterinary Dispensary on January 27 at the Chuchuyimlang town hall.

Parliamentary secretary, S Chuba (3-R) and others after inaugurating urban station of Chuchuyimlang Town on January 27. (NP) Reminding the gathering that ULB election would be conducted as decided by the government, S. C h u b a s a i d t h a t “propagandas and wrong interpretations of the Council Act was misguiding the public.�

He then reminded the people that “taxations of any forms, in a municipality lay in the decision of t h e e l e c t e d mu n i c i p a l members, in approval of the government.�

The parliamentar y secretary then said that “various Naga apex civil bodies/organizations do not possess the customary laws� and that the “customary laws were wholly bestowed on the village councils to apply.�

The programme was

chaired by ATC, vicechairman I. Zulutemba, welcome note was delivered b y E AC M e ya z u n g b a Jamir, invocation was said by Longkong Baptist Church, Pastor Imkong and benediction by Salulemang Baptist Church, Pastor Meren.

Army recruitment rally at Rangapahar

D I M A P U R : A n a r my Recruitment Rally would be held from March 5 to 7 at Bhagat Stadium, Rangapahar (Dimapur) to enroll male candidates for soldier general duty of Naga/Kuki, hill tribes and Indian Gorkha only into the Indian Army.

In a press release, PIB defence Imphal has advised

candidates to report at rally site at 4 a.m. strictly as per the dates given on admit card for the recruitment rally. It clarified that a candidate could register and apply only once during the rally and if an individual was found to have applied twice, one of his application would be cancelled.

The release also

informed that candidates who have registered in the previous rally can login directly and check eligibility and apply fresh. It has been informed that the online application is open from January 25 to February 24 and that candidates would get their admit card on their e-mail ID/joinindianarmy. nic.in on February 25.

The release further informed that no candidate would be permitted to attend the rally without admit card, while written exam for all categories would be conducted at APS Shillong on April 30. Candidates have been asked to obtain further details from ARO Rangapahar or contact at 8729987931 & 9862877598.

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northeast

I will not resign: Meghalaya HM

Donkupar Roy Lyngdoh

S h i l lo n g, Ja n 2 8 (IANS): Meghalaya Home Minister Horju Donkupar Roy Lyngdoh on Saturday said that he will not resign in connection with the rape of a minor girl in his son’s guest house here. “ I h ave n o t d o n e wrong. I did not run the guest house. The guest house is run by the management,” Lyngdoh said reacting to the demands from several quarters, including the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), for his resignation.

“I have given the police a free hand to investigate to find out the truth.

If need be they (police) can interrogate me in this matter. Therefore, I will not resign as a minister,” the Home Minister told IANS. Four people had separately

Acharya sworn in as Arunachal Gov

P.B. Acharya

D i m a p u r , Ja n 2 8 (NPN): Nagaland Gover nor Padmanabha Balakrishna Acharya was on Saturday sworn-in as the Governor of Arunachal Pradesh by Chief Justice of Gauhati High Court Ajit Singh at Raj Bhavan, Itanagar. Acharya was given the additional charge after V Shanmuganathan, who was holding additional charge of Arunachal Pradesh, resigned on Thursday night.

Arunachal Pradesh chief minister Pema Khandu, cabinet ministers, members of the state legislative assembly, chief secretary in-charge Satya Gopal and senior officers attended the function. The swearing-in ceremony was followed by presentation of guard of honour presented by Arunachal Pradesh Police.

raped the 14-year-old girl at the Marvelene’s Inn, the guest house which is run by Lyngdoh’s son Nathaniel Osbert Rymmai.

Lyngdoh’s statement is significant in the wake of V.Shanmuganathan resigning as Meghalaya and Arunachal Pradesh Governor on Thursday night after he was accused of inappropriate behaviour and hurting the decorum and prestige of the Raj Bhavan.

Meghalaya police have arrested 16 people, including Independent legislator Julius Kitbok Dorphang in connection with the sexual abuse of the 14-year-old girl at various guest houses and a government-owned resort.

“The investigation into the case (sexual assault of minor girl) is in full swing.

We have questioned the Home Minister’s son and if need be we will also summon the Home Minister for questioning,” Mariahom Kharkrang, the district police chief of East Khasi Hills, told IANS. However, BJP’s Secretary in-charge Meghalaya Nalin Kohli questioned the ruling Congress-led government for turning a deaf

ear to the demands of civil society groups, who were demanding the resignation of the Home Minister to ensure a free and fair investigation. “With what face is the Congress party politicising this (inappropriate behaviour of former Governor V Shanmuganathan).

They should first answer why is the Home Minster still in office and what action is being taken against him. After all a 14-year-old girl was repeatedly raped in a guest house owned by him and various complaints exist already,” Kohli told IANS. “Shanmuganathan resigned to ensure the dignity of the office and institution has been maintained. Let’s not forget no statement or complaint exists from any lady against him (Shanmuganathan),” the BJP leader stated.

On the other hand, Leader of Opposition Donkupar Roy said that Chief Minister Mukul Sangma should relieve Lyngdoh of his Home portfolio to ensure a free and fair probe into the alleged sexual abuse in the guest house owned by his son.

“There is a growing

demand for the resignation of Home Minister on this issue and the Chief Minister should have relieved him from the Home portfolio since he is the overall head of the state police department even if he does not sack him from his ministry to ensure free and fair probe,” Roy told IANS. On the other hand, civil society groups - Thma U Rangli (TUR) and Civil Society Women’s Organisation - reiterated their demand for the resignation of the Home Minister.

“He (Lyngdoh) should immediately quit. The Home Minister cannot be so stubborn in such a sensitive case and he cannot say he is not interfering and giving a free hand to police to investigate when he is still the Home Minister,” TUR leader Angela Rangad said.

“He has to step down since there is no free flow of investigation. We don’t care if he is BJP or Congress legislator. He has been elected by the people. We are demanding a free and fair investigation to ensure justice to the victim and security to the people of the state,” she added.

CJNCSD questions Ibobi govt’s move to outlaw UNC

Teenage girl murdered; minor raped in Manipur

New Delhi, Jan 28 (NPN): Reacting to Ibobi government’s move to declare UNC as “unlawful organization”, the Committee for Joint Naga Civil Societies, Delhi Saturday questioned whether the State government is propounding a new definition of the term “unlawful organization” to facilitate gagging and curbing of dissenting voices at the whims of the State government.

CJNCSD asserted that “dissent” and “democratic protest” are not “unlawful” and UNC by observing peaceful partial suspension of commercial vehicular movements in protest against the most undemocratic formation of seven new districts does not become “unlawful”.

CJNCSD clarified that UNC is the customarily mandated apex traditional body of the Nagas in Manipur with a democratic set-up of grass-root level and institutional support, participation and representation from all the Naga tribal bodies and village traditional authorities and

thus, the legitimacy and mass-based organizational structure of UNC cannot be put to question.

CJNCSD affirmed that the Naga people and their endearing organization cannot be distinguished and separated as UNC constitutes the Naga people themselves and thus, any move on the part of the State government to declare UNC as unlawful would amount to declaring the entire Naga people as unlawful.

CJNCSD also slammed Ibobi led Congress government’s relentless attempt to vilify the sacred cause of the Nagas by painting UNC as a “terror organization” and vouched that UNC by voicing the interest of the Nagas does not make it a mouthpiece of the National Socialist Council of Nagalim (NSCN-IM).

CJNCSD further reminded that NSCN (I-M) is not a “terrorist” or “unlawful” organization within the purview of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act and termed the hyper-acrimonious stance of Ibobi’s government as regrettable.

Correspondent

IMPHAL, Jan 28: A 17year-old girl was found hanged on a tree at Kwakta Part-3 under Moirang police station of Bishnupur district early Saturday morning.

The girl was staying at her boyfriend’s house after they eloped two years ago. Police suspect she was murdered before being hanged on the tree by the assailant(s) as there were bruises on her body including on her necks.

After locals pointed her would be father-in-law behind the murder, Md Ethem surrendered before the police this forenoon, around 11.30 am, reports said.

Meanwhile, police Saturday arrested a youth serving in the Assam Rifles after a case was registered against him of allegedly raping a 13-year-old girl on January 26. The minor girl, studying in class-VII, was allegedly raped by Vungginmang of Lammual village inside a vehicle at an approach road near Khuga Dam under Churachandpur police station.

Tripura CPI-M begins stir against demonetisation

Agartala, Jan 28 (IANS): The ruling CPI-M in Tripura on Saturday launched a five-day statewide agitation to protest the demonetisation of high value notes. “The Central government must vacate all restrictions in banking transactions including withdrawal of money by the people,” Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) central committee member Bijan Dhar said elaborating the issues of the agitation, which is a part of the party’s nationwide stir.

“We are also demanding to compensate the revenue loss of the state governments due to demonetisation of old notes of Rs 1,000 and Rs 500. The Central government must announce compensation for those families whose members were due to the step of demonetisation,” he added.

The other issues to be highlighted during the agitation include waiving of farmer loans, withdrawal of restrictions relating to cooperative banks, no forceful imposition of cashless transactions and continuation of public distribution system with the old method.

Guwahati, Jan 28 (PTI): Union minister Prakash Javadekar Saturday asserted that the NDA government was committed to upholding freedom of expression, thoughts and writings in all spheres of life.

“Freedom of expression, thought and writing is the very essence of democracy and we are committed to uphold it,” he said at the inauguration of the three-day Brahmaputra Literary Festival here.

The Union Human Resources Development Minister recalled the “dark days of Emergency against which we fought, went to jail and had it finally revoked” and said, “This government values freedom of speech, thoughts and writings as we believe that this will take the nation forward.”

Javadekar described libraries as the “pride of a nation” and said they must be made “a part of our lives and set-up in every part of the country”.

“India has, since ancient times, had a rich tradition of libraries in

against Shanmuganathan’

Villagers watch a traditional buffalo fight at Ahatguri, some 80 kms from Guwahati.

New Delhi, Jan 28 (Agencies): Following the footsteps of Tamilians in Jallikattu row, the banned buffalo fight held in Assam’s Nagaon district. The hundreds of people who thronged to attend the fight asserted that its a part of their culture.

Reportedly, at least 15 pairs of buffaloes were made to at a large ground in Ahatguri, Assam. Ahatguri is a popular place where buffalo fights have been taking place since 1972.

The Ahatguri Moh Juj Aru Bhogali Utsav Udjapan Samiti (AM-

JABUUS) on January 25 decided to organize Assam’s traditional Moh Juj (buffalo fight) at Ahatguri in Morigaon district on Friday. Buoyed by Tamil Nadu’s Jallikattu event, preparations were made and the traditional buffalo fight was held in on January 27.

Pranabjyoti Das, secretary of the committee who organised the biggest buffalo fight said that restriction was there because of the Jallikatu, now that it has been allowed, the same way we to can organize buffalo fight.

He added, “In Ahat-

guri the event is held twice, the first one takes place on the first day of Hindu month of Magh while the second one takes place after the Republic Day. We have not organized since 2015.”

India’s Supreme Court first banned the sport in 2014. But in January 2016, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government made amendments to the legislation allowing the practice.

In July, the court heard a petition against the change that was brought on by the country’s Animal Welfare Board, and upheld its original ban.

SHILLONG, JAN 28: Assam Governor Banwarilal Purohit, who took charged as Governor of Meghalaya on Saturday said the law will take its own course on the alleged “inappropriate behaviour” of his predecessor V Shanmuganathan.

In the meantime, Chief Minister Mukul Sangma said that his government was communicating with the central government on the controversy in the Shillong Raj Bhavan.

Purohit was given the additional charge after Shanmuganathan, who was holding additional charge of Arunachal Pradesh, resigned on Thursday night following charges of

Smirti Irani to inaugurate first ever NE investors’ summit

Spl. Correspondent

NEW DELHI, JAN 28 (NPN): Union Textiles minister, Smriti Zubin Irani would be inaugurating the first ever “Investors Summit” exclusively for North Eastern Region (NER) in Shillong on January 29, 2017.

The summit, focussed on manufacturing in textiles and allied sectors, is being organized jointly

by Textiles ministry and DoNER ministry, in collaboration with industry associations FICCI and CII, January 30-31 at Shillong under the theme “Exploring Opportunities in North East Region” The summit which will be attended by sister states, industries from the region and leading investors across India, will showcase NE as a global destination for investment, and to explore the possibility of bringing in convergence of efforts of various central Ministries and North Eastern states to attract investment in the region.

“It is expected to unlock the huge potential of

Union Cabinet Minister of Textiles Smriti Zubin Irani at the inauguration of Apparel & Garment Making Centre at Paschim Boragaon in Guwahati on Saturday. (PTI) the NER in textile manufacturing and generate new avenues for employment in the region,” an official communiqué stated.

Those who would be attending the summit incuse-- Union Minister for DoNER, Dr. Jitendra Singh; chief minister of Meghalaya, Mukul Sangma; Minister of State, Home Affairs, Kiren Rijiju;

Minister of State, Textiles, Ajay Tamta; vice chairman, NITI Aayog, Dr. Arvind Panagariya, and other dignitaries.

Various MoUs between industry bodies and state governments are also expected to be signed during the summit. Buyer-Seller meets and exhibitions would also be held on both days of the summit.

‘Centre committed to upholding freedom of expression’

Bull fights organised in Assam despite ban ‘Law will takes it own course Correspondent

Nagaland Post, Dimapur sunday, january 29, 2017

inappropriate behaviour against him. Shanmuganathan’s resignation came after nearly 100 employees of the Raj Bhavan in Shillong on Wednesday sent a five-page letter to the Prime Minister’s Office and Rashtrapati Bhavan, demanding recall of the Governor for what they alleged was “turning the Raj Bhavan into a Young Ladies Club.”

“I don’t know anything. Whatever I have read in the media, I can’t comment on it. The law will take its own course (allegations against Shanmuganathan),” Purohit told journalists after taking the oath of office, administered by Meghalaya High Court Chief Justice Dinesh Maheshwari.

Three killed in Mizoram road accident

Aizawl, Jan 28 (IANS): Three people, including two women, were killed and two others injured in a road accident in Mizoram on Friday, police said.

A police official said that a small car in which the victims were travelling in fell into a 150-metre-deep gorge near Khumtung village in central Mizoram’s Serchhip district. “The accident occurred when a maxi cab was giving way to a goods-laden truck and the soft soil on the edge could not hold the vehicle resulting the car rolling down in the ravine.” The two injured including the driver of the vehicle were admitted to a hospital where they were declared as out of danger.

HRD Minister Prakash Javadekar with Assam education minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, Rita Chowdhury Director of National Book Trust and others flagging off the Brahmaputra Literary Festival 2017 cultural rally in Guwahati on Saturday. (PTI)

Nalanda, Taxila and Vikramshila and history has been witness to the fact that invaders have always attacked and vandalised libraries first,” he added.

Javadekar said all kinds of reading -- in print, through audio or e-books -- must be encouraged at all costs as it has been seen that the development of these platforms has

not adversely affected the publishing industry.

He also called upon writers “to create a bridge” with the readers and promote reading habits.

“Readers’ participation is very important and the culture of reading is the essence of development of human beings,” Javadekar said.

He hoped that literary festivals were viewed

Officer suspended for signing MoU with fake institute

Strike hinders distribution of fuel in Manipur

Aizawl, Jan 28 (PTI): The Mizoram government has suspended an official for allegedly signing an memorandum of understanding (MoU) with a fake institution and causing a loss of nearly Rs 128 lakh to the state exchequer.

Additional Secretary for Information and Communication Technology Rotluanga was suspended last evening by the state government. The officer in 2014, as then Director of Labour, Employment and Industrial Training, had signed a MoU with Kolkatabased Nalanda Institute of Advanced Studies (NIAS).

Thirty-two students were send to the institute to study Bachelor of Hotel Management and the cost was borne by the Mizoram Building and Other Construction Workers Welfare Board (MBOCWWB) that disbursed Rs 128.20 lakh for the same during the first year. However, the students returned to Mizoram without completing the course after finding that the West Bengal government had declared NIAS a ‘fake institute’ and the standards as claimed on the institute’s website was far from true.

Correspondent

IMPHAL, Jan 28: Oil tankers’ steering down strike has hindered distribution of petrol and diesel to the public in spite of improving stock position of the products.

Manipur has been reeling under acute scarcity of essential commodities, particularly petroleum products owing to the indefinite economic blockade imposed by the United Naga Council (UNC) on the national highways since November 1 last year.

According to an official source in the IOC, the stock position in the government oil depots has been improved in the last few days after more loaded oil tankers arrived at Imphal through NH-37 besides airlifting the products.

An official of Imphal division of Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) said the newly opened government oil depot in Imphal’s Malom has petrol stock that can last for seven days, diesel for nine days, LPG for two days and ATF for 15 days.

The stock position is expected to improve further as the High Court of Manipur has directed the IOC to fetch these products

as “cultural investments” and held in all the states to celebrate the country’s diversity and plurality.

On the occasion, Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal said the world knew Assam for its two rivers – Brahmaputra and Barak -- and hoped that the writers celebrated the culture, civilisation and strength of the Brahmaputra.

from its distributing point at Silcher.

In spite of the improved stock position, authorities could not distribute petrol and diesel as drivers of oil tankers has called for a cease work strike under the banner of All Manipur Petroleum Product Tanker Drivers’ Welfare Association (AMPTDWA).

The association launched the cease work strike demanding a full security proof protection to them while moving on the national highways.

The agitating drivers were supposed to resume their work from today following an understanding with the state consumer affairs, food and civil supply minister Ksh Biren. However, AMPTDWA decided to cease their work further after a confrontation with members of United Bus Owners’ Welfare Association who stormed the IOC depot at Malom demanding immediate release of fuel.

AMPTDWA alleged that their president was physically assaulted by the members of UBWA. “We will not resume out work until and unless UBWA members apologize,” said a spokesperson of AMPTDWA.

Nagaland Post, Dimapur sunday, january 29, 2017

PDP-BJP diluting J&K’s special status: Omar

Jammu, Jan 28 (IANS): Former Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir and Leader of Opposition in the state assembly Omar Abdullah on Saturday accused the state government of deliberately allowing dilution of Article 370 that gives special status to the state.

Speaking during the debate on grants to the Home Department in State Assembly, Omar Abdullah accused the state government of not defending the state’s interest during the SARFAESI ACT petition in the Supreme Court.

The National Conference leader alleged that the state government did not deliberately defend its case in the apex court and thereby allowed the dilution of Article 370.

Omar war ned that such a situation should not arise again as the state has a battery of lawyers who know the state constitution well and can defend it.

“Don’t blame us tomorrow if we take up this issue as these are very sensitive issues,” he cautioned the government.

He said two years is enough time to make impact and the state government that has been in power for two years cannot hide under the excuse that it got little time so far to make an impact on ground.

“Tell us about one

Omar Abdullah

point that showcases your performance and achievements,” Omar asked.

He also castigated the state government for turning down the Opposition demand for a judicial probe in 2016 unrest killings.

“Why constitute an SIT and not have a judicial probe,” Omar questioned.

“In our time one person (Haji Yusuf) died and you demanded a judicial probe,” he added.

The former Chief Minister said his party had never been against the agenda of the PDP and the BJP alliance or its contents.

“We only raised questions on government’s failure to implement the agenda of the alliance.

“You are not following the agenda of the alliance, but facilitating Ajit Doval’s (NSA) doctrine.

“He delivered a speech

in 2010 and what he said is what you are doing right now. He spoke about how the state should deal with Kashmir to marginalise the separatists and how to suppress the agitation,” he alleged.

He said the two things could not go together. “Either you implement the agenda of the alliance or implement Ajit Doval’s doctrine because there is no meeting point between the two,” he said.

Omar also lashed out at Chief Minister, Mehbooba Mufti’s last year’s speech in which she had asked the security forces to differentiate between local and foreign militants during an encounter.

“In one of your speeches you said that the police should play a fatherly role if the trapped militant is a local.

“Tell me how to implement that? How will you find out that the terrorist trapped is a local and not a foreigner? Have you got any technology for that,” he asked Mehbooba Mufti.

Omar Abdullah also criticised the Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, saying that Modi spoke about ‘Kisan aur Jawan’ in his speeches and today the ‘Kisans’ are committing suicide while the ‘Jawans’ are being attacked by terrorists.

BJP manifesto promises farm loans, free laptops Lu c k n ow, Ja n 2 8 (IANS): Batting for allround development of Uttar Pradesh and wooing voters, the BJP on Saturday released its manifesto promising to waive off loans of marginal farmers, provide interest free loans to them and distribute laptops to the youth.

Releasing the manifesto here, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) President Amit Shah said that Uttar Pradesh had been “left behind” in the race for development.

“For the last 15 years Uttar pradesh has been ruled by either Samajwadi Party or Bahujan Samaj Party during which all the development works were stalled in the state; so we are going to bring in the era of performing politics,” Shah said.

“If voted to power, we will make Uttar Pradesh a developed state in five years,” he promised.

“I appeal to the people to give us one opportunity, and we promise to turn UP into a developed state.”

Promising to waive off loans of small and marginal farmers, he said: “While the new loans to the small and marginal farmers would be given at zero per cent interest, the sugarcane farmers would get the payment of their crops within 14 days from sugar mills.” “Debt of Rs 6,000 crore of the sugarcane farmers will be

cleared within 120 days if the BJP is voted to power,” he said.

He also said his party would make arrangements to buy the yields of crops from farmers at the minimum support price.

For the drought-hit Bundelkhand region, Shah said, “The new BJP-led government would set up a Chief Minister Agriculture Irrigation Scheme with a budget of Rs 20,000 crore to make water available in every field of Bundelkhand.”

Noting that the number of cattle were on the decline in the state, Shah said, “We will shut all the illegal slaughter houses in the state and ban all the automatic slaughter houses too.” To bring ‘White Revolution’ in the state, the BJP will start a Dairy Development Fund with Rs 15 crore, he said.

“For the state’s milk collection with the help of the National Dairy Development Board a dairy processing unit would be formed for every four districts,” Shah said. The party also promised to create a fund of Rs 150 crore for agricultural development in the next five years. Targetting Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav over his laptop distribution scheme, Shah said, “We won’t discriminate with any student of any caste or religion to distribute the laptops.

36,779 win unopposed in Demonetisation put RBI’s Odisha panchayat polls reputation at risk: Chidambaram Bhubaneswar, Jan Meanwhile, the three 28 (IANS): A staggering 36,779 candidates have been declared elected unopposed in the Odisha panchayat polls, the State Election Commission (SEC) said on Saturday.

SEC Secretary Rabindranath Sahu said the candidates have won the polls unopposed due to their filing the sole nominations.

While 36,222 candidates have won uncontested for ward member posts, 209 won uncontested for the posts of sarpanch, Sahu said.

Similarly, 347 candidates won uncontested for samiti member posts and one candidate emerged victorious for a zilla parishad member post, Sahu added.

The SEC office had notified a final list of 189,099 candidates who were in the poll fray after the withdrawal of nomination papers by candidates on January 21.

major political parties Biju Janata Dal (BJD), Congress and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) have intensified their campaigns for the remaining posts scheduled to go on polls from February 13 to February 21.

While Odisha Congress has already released a manifesto for the panchayat polls, the leaders of BJP and BJD have started campaigning in the rural areas canvassing votes for their respective candidates.

The three political parties have declared their star campaigners for the rural polls. While Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee President Prasad Harichandan has already started the poll campaign, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, Union Ministers Dhar mendra Pradhan and Jual Oram will start their poll campaign for their respective parties soon.

Ko l k at a , J a n 2 8 (IANS): Echoing former Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Y.V. Reddy, former Union Finance Minister P. Chidambaram said on Saturday that demonetisation has put the central bank’s reputation at great risk.

Asked whether the apex bank’s autonomy was over or not, he said, “On this issue, the answer is yes.”

Explaining his remark, Chidambaram said: “Reversing the sequence stipulated in the act... instead of Reserve Bank recommending withdrawal of legal tender status for the currency, the government is recommending to the Reserve Bank that legal tender status should be taken away.”

Recalling the build up to the November 8 announcement by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the former Finance Min-

Two coastal economic zones to be developed in Andhra Visakhapatnam, Jan 28 (IANS): Two coastal economic zones will be created at a cost of Rs 20,000 crore as part of the Sagarmala project in Andhra Pradesh, Union Minister for Road Transport, Highways and Shipping Nitin Gadkari said on Saturday.

Addressing the Partnership Summit, he said both the zones -- one covering Srikakulam to Vijayawada and the other from Vijayawada to Nellore -- will come under Visakhapatnam-Chennai industrial corridor.

He said the commerce ministry was planning 14 coastal economic zones in the country as part of the ambitious Sagarmala project, which will create direct employment for 40 lakh people and indirect employment for 60 lakh.

“This is an ambitious project in which Rs.15 lakh crore investment is expected. Out of this, Rs 4 lakh crore will be in port modernization, mechanization and port road and port rail connectivity,” he said.

He pointed out that providing highway and rail

connectivity to these zones would be the responsibility of his ministry while the state government will have to provide land, power and other infrastructure.

A Port Rail Connectivity Corporation has already been formed and work has started. The ministry plans to start railway work worth over Rs 1 lakh crore before the end of the five-year term of the government.

Stating that port-led development is important for double digit growth, he said priority was being given to the sector.

The minister said the government has also decided to give the highest priority to waterways to bring down the cost of transportation. The project will cover 111 rivers in the country.

National Waterway 4 or Buckingham Canal (1,095-km long) will be developed in Andhra Pradesh and will connect Tamil Nadu and Puducherr y.

He announced that work on Buckingham canal in Andhra Pradesh will begin after the assembly elections in Punjab and Uttar

Pradesh.

The cost of this joint venture project between the state and central governments is Rs 2,000 crore.

A subsidiary company will be created which will be merged with Visakhapatnam Port as the idea is to use the profits of this port for Buckingham canal.

He said last year all major ports and flagship organisations -- Cochin Shipyard, Shipping Corporation of India and Dredging Corporation of India -- made a profit of Rs 6,000 crore and this year the profit is expected to be Rs 7,000 crore.

Gadkari said Rs 7,000 crore was being invested in Visakhapatnam port, which is the second largest port in the country.

According to the minister, a Rs 1,665 crore project was already completed while work is on for a Rs 2,702 crore project. Within three months, the ministry will award a Rs 1,200 crore project. The minister announced that work on the Amaravati-Anantapur highway will start as soon as possible.

5

national

ister said: “That was on November 7, the Reserve Bank board was called. Was there a written notice? They would not tell us.”

“How many people attended, they would not tell us. Was there an agenda paper for the meeting? Were there minutes of the meeting, they would not tell us. How long the meeting lasted, they would not tell us,” he said.

“I have information the meeting lasted for 30 minutes and the recommendations were made to the government. The Cabinet was waiting for the recommendation,” he explained.

“How could the cabinet know that the RBI will recommend the withdrawal of legal tender status? It was a command performance,” he said.

Echoing Reddy, Chidambaram said: “And to that extent, in this instance,

Temperatures drop in Himachal Shimla, Jan 28 (IANS): Temperatures across Himachal Pradesh dipped on Saturday with high-altitude areas still getting mild spells of snow while other parts were experiencing rain.

“High hills in Kullu, Kinnaur, Lahaul and Spiti, Shimla and Chamba districts have experienced light snowfall and this will continue till Sunday,” a weather department official told IANS. There has been no snowfall in Shimla and its nearby areas like Kufri and Narkanda since Friday.

In Manali, temperatures dipped to a low of minus 4 degrees Celsius. The Rohtang Pass, just 52 km from Manali, had snowfall.

The minimum temperature in the state capital plunged to 2.9 degrees Celsius, whereas the maximum was 13.6 degrees.

Kalpa, some 250 km from Shimla, and Keylong in Lahaul and Spiti district recorded the night temperature at minus 3.8 degrees and minus 9.4 degrees, respectively. Kalpa experienced 6 cm of snow, while Dalhousie had 15 mm of rain.

the Reserve Bank’s reputation has been put at a great risk, the point which Governor Reddy made.”

The senior Congress leader also said that he would have resigned if demonetisation was implemented in his tenure as Finance Minister.

Rahul, Akhilesh to hold road show for UP polls today Lu c k n ow, J a n 2 8 (IANS): Congress VicePresident Rahul Gandhi and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav would jointly address a press conference here on Sunday after which they will take out a road show, a minister said.

“The events would be to show we are coming together and display ourselves as a united force for the state assembly elections,” Cabinet Minister in the Uttar Pradesh government and Samajwadi Party (SP) spokesman Rajendra Chowdhary said.

The roadshow will begin from the GPO Park, near the Gandhi state, will go through the Mayfair roundabout to Lalbagh, Novelty roundabout and then weave its way to Qaiserbagh through Muslim dominated areas like Aminabad and old city. The Gandhi scion

Akhilesh Yadav (R) and Rahul Gandhi and the National President of the Samajwadi Party will then go to Nakkhas, Chowk, Ghantaghar where the road show will conclude.

Adequate security arrangements are being made for the high-profile road show. This would be the first outing of the two leaders after the alliance between the Congress and

the Samajwadi Party was announced.

The Congress is contesting 105 seats while the ruling Samajwadi Party is contesting 298 seats. Uttar Pradesh will be voting for a new state assembly in a seven-phase election, voting for which begins on February 11 and concludes on March 8.

Suicide by farmers is a sensitive matter: SC NEW DELHI, Jan 28 (PTI): Supreme Court on Friday favoured a comprehensive national policy to protect farmers, many of whom have committed suicide due to rising debt and crop failures caused by natural calamities, terming it a “sensitive” matter of public interest and human rights.

“It is a sensitive matter of larger public interest and human rights which covers the entire country,” a bench comprising Chief Justice J S Khehar and Justice N V Ramana said. The bench, on its own, expanded the

scope of the petition which has raised the issue of farmers’ suicides in Gujarat, to entire country.

“In this matter, we are of the view that all states should assist and accordingly we implead all state governments, Union Territories, the Centre and the RBI,” the bench said asking them to file their responses in four weeks. The court was hearing the appeal, filed by NGO ‘Citizens Resource and Action and Initiative’ on issues relating to farmers in Gujarat.

GOVERNMENT OF NAGALAND

DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE & LAW NAGALAND:KOHIMA

Dated Kohima, the 28th Jan’2017 NO.LAW/MISC-27/2016 :: With reference to this Department’s notification of even number dated 23/01/2017, it is hereby informed to all the candidates that the examination for LDA-cum-Computer Assistant under Justice & Law Department scheduled to be held on 31st Jan’2017 has been postponed due to the ongoing bandh relating to ULB election 2017.

Therefore, the re-scheduled date for conducting the examination shall be notified in due time.

Sd/BENDANGNARO Addl. Secretary to the Govt. of Nagaland DC-194

6

opinion/EDITORIAL

Nagaland Post Vol. XXVII NO. 53 Dimapur, Sunday, January 29, 2017

B

Sweet and sour

efore Trump won the election, Barack Obama, George Bush, David Cameron etc had dismissed him as unfit, inexperienced, racist and divisive and everybody projected a massive win for Hillary Clinton. The Democrats have made their foundation to change the face of America from a God blessed land and a land that openly welcomes all those who share its values into a land for everybody and anybody who don’t have to share the American values and who can propagate their values, cultures, preferences etc.

After Trump’s shocking victory critics have to now gradually come to grips with reality that Americans who don’t share the Democratic Party’s liberalism have voted the other way and Trump was the beneficiary because he spoke in a direct way without being frilly, diplomatic and ambiguous. There was no reading between the lines when Trump made a speech. Even today, the Democrats are still rankled and unable to digest the fact that they lost badly to someone who should not have won, at least by liberal American standards. That’s why Trump bashing in the liberal mainstream media has not worn off. His every word is being analysed and commented upon as they feel that Trump seems to be out of place in his new environment.

The entire western democracies today are in a near disarray after the shocking Brexit and Trump victory in the US presidential elections. The now infamous and totally prejudiced pollsters continue to troll Trump by giving him only 36% approval rating as compared to Barack Obama’s 56% in the first week of office. Democratic approval of the new president’s job performance plunged 81 points between Barack Obama and Trump. But the poll did not mention that Republican opinions of the president improved by 76 points from Obama’s last rating to Trump’s first one. Trump does not make great speeches which can be ambiguous and leaving much to be read between the lines and neither does he find the need to use teleprompters like his predecessor. One issue that needs to be seriously pondered is the perception that everything about Trump and what he stands for is racist. This perception is predominant among critics, especially liberals within the Republican Party and Democrats. The House committees that “interrogated” Trump’s nominees to various government posts under the new administration, appear to have pushed the agenda for the status quo- to see Russia as a foe, blaming Russia for hacking into Democratic Party severs; reaffirm commitments to NATO in the war against terror and continue aid to the UN. Interestingly even Republicans like John McCain have been involved in propagating “fake news” against Trump – his alleged romp in Moscow which Putin and his spies had video taped for blackmail. The challenges facing Trump are diverse and many and enough to ensure that the four years would be full. However, he has kept his campaign promise and that has definitely cut ice with many critics. Also Trump has shown he is not obstinate or rigid and is willing to consider suggestions and will have to learn to be accommodating and willing to relook at his ideas.

However, Trump appears to be his own greatest enemy and he needs to fix this before trying to fix America and make it great again.

DailyDevotion How Could Someone So Persecute Jesus!

Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?

—Acts 26:14 Are you determined to have your own way in living for God? We will never be free from this trap until we are brought into the experience of the baptism of “the Holy Spirit and fire” (Matthew 3:11). Stubbornness and self-will will always stab Jesus Christ. It may hurt no one else, but it wounds His Spirit. Whenever we are obstinate and self-willed and set on our own ambitions, we are hurting Jesus. Every time we stand on our own rights and insist that this is what we intend to do, we are persecuting Him. Whenever we rely on self-respect, we systematically disturb and grieve His Spirit. And when we finally understand that it is Jesus we have been persecuting all this time, it is the most crushing revelation ever.

Is the Word of God tremendously penetrating and sharp in me as I hand it on to you, or does my life betray the things I profess to teach? I may teach sanctification and yet exhibit the spirit of Satan, the very spirit that persecutes Jesus Christ. The Spirit of Jesus is conscious of only one thing— a perfect oneness with the Father.

And He tells us, “Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls” (Matthew 11:29). All I do should be based on a perfect oneness with Him, not on a self-willed determination to be godly. This will mean that others may use me, go around me, or completely ignore me, but if I will submit to it for His sake, I will prevent Jesus Christ from being persecuted.

Quotes

People don’t notice whether it’s winter or summer when they’re happy. ~ Anton Chekhov

Nagaland Post, Dimapur Sunday, January 29, 2017

Post-mortem

BJP Bhandari reacts to rejoinder The government and the people

T

he BJP Bhandari unit, is constrained to issue this press statement with regards to the ludicrous response of the Home Minister and his cohorts in the NPF, both from Bhandari and Wokha units. The letter to the election commission is itself a legal tender and is supported by the weight of substance and evidence as the complaint is lodged with a statutory body of the Government of India.

Relevant section of the law that was violated has been quoted in the letter to the EC and the self-styled interpretation of the NPF units of what is a violation or not is ridiculous. The letter will be appropriately addressed by the Election Commission and whether the Home Minister reserves the ‘right to initiate legal action civil or criminal action’ is irrelevant as the matter is already brought before the Election Commission with the same submission of the violation of the Model Code of Conduct. The BJP, Bhandari unit, leaves it to the Election Commission to determine whether the violation of the Section 123 of the Representation of the People Act, 1951, is a violation of the Model Code of conduct or not. The NPF, Bhandari and Wokha units are thankfully not the judge in this case. The admission in the press statement by Hachio Patton of the presence and conduct of the party meeting at Bhandari and the elaborate explanations given to the media about the issues discussed in the meeting is sufficient proof of the violation cited by the BP, Bhandari unit, in the letter to the Election Commission of India.

The letter to the EC was a complaint availing of the democratic provisions of the laws available under the constitution of lndia. If the Home Minister is threatening to take action against the BJP, Bhandari unit, it is only because of his fear that his utterances and bravados during the meeting, of which some are duly recorded and some said outside the purview of such recording, will be exposed. Therefore the audio and visual recordings the NPF Bhandari might posses may kindly be submitted to the Election Commission for the same reasons. The BJP, Bhandari unit will also be submitting evidences to the Election Commission of not only the jobs for votes offer but also the promise for transfer and posting given in writing by the Home Minister on that day. The BJP, Bhandari unit, is compelled to lay the following truth for all to know in the light of the mindless refutation of the NPF, Wokha and Bhandari units. I . In the morning of the 27th of January 2017, Hachio Patton, PS to Home Minister, Nagaland, called up Shri Nyamo Odyuo, President of the BJP Bhandari Unit and demanded an

F

or centuries, humans believed that the earth is the center of the universe and that all other planets, stars and the sun revolve around the earth.

Galileo, who tried to proveit otherwise, was condemned by the church, forced to recant his findings and put under house arrests till his death. The current crisis and protest to the municipal elections and the use of threats including excommunications, incendiarism and bandhs by the civil organizations take us to another level- backwards and regressive. To excommunicate a person or vandalize their properties for contesting an election to an urban local developmental agency that seeks to empower women in decision making platforms, will enter into the annals of Naga history, where only the future would be able to judge us correctly.

The escalations of protest despite the Nagaland Legislative Assembly having amended the major concerns of the civil organizations including taxes on house and buildings, the inadvertent mention of Schedule Caste in the Act and some concerns on surrender and transfer of immoveable properties including land and buildings etc. shows that the bone of contention is not just taxes or other excuses but the reservation of seats for women.

What is strange, however, is the very fact that the beneficiaries of a ST reservation policy themselves protesting another reservation policy on the ground that latter infringes article 371A of the Indian constitution. To call spade a spade, reservation is reservation, whether it is

apology from Nyamo Odyuo. This is unbecoming of a person of his position and the people of Bhandari seriously view this as a threat. 2. In the meeting, as admitted by the Bhandari and Wokha unit-being culpable as they are, the Home Minister, Y Patton, declared that the BJP in Nagaland is surviving on life support (oxygen) given by the NPF and therefore the NPF must win the town council elections at Bhandari against the BJP. He further stated that for the Wokha Town Council elections, Dr T. M. Lotha, BJP MLA and Advisor, T&A, L&E, had asked him for funds for the BJP to be utilized in the Wokha “Town Council Elections, but he had categorically rejected the request as the BJP and NPF are fighting against each other and this town council elections are the semi-final in the run up to the next Assembly elections in 2018. He further said that the NPF cannot give even one paisa to the BJP and enable them to defeat the NPF. We strongly condemn the statement of Y. Patton wherein he calls the BJP as surviving on life support given by the NPF”. The BJP, Bhandari unit, is certain that the Honorable advisor, Dr T. M. Lotha, would have never asked him for funds for the ensuing ULB elections and that the allegations are baseless.

3. In the meeting he said that the Government approved the Bhandari Town Council because he had exchanged it for opening a new police station at Shamator Chessore constituency as a favor to Shri Tohanba, (Parliamentary Secretary MAC), in lieu of the Bhandari Town Council being approved. All this falls within the recorded statement of Y Patton, which we will produce as evidence before the Election Commission of India. In the first place, we are amused at the statement where he considers such policies being based on available Government criteria to be mere exchange of policy decisions.

Such a rustic and crude explanation of important Government decisions is embarrassing coming from the Home Minister of Nagaland. Considering that Bhandari is not even his constituency, and the flimsy reasons he gives for approving Town Councils, we wonder as to why he did not want the same to Chukitong Town, which falls under his constituency. The statement itself is a clear violation of the MCC. The entire reaction by the Home Minister is a display of his wanton and continuous disregard for the constitution of India and wilful flouting of due processes in making appointments in the Police department of which the entire Nagaland is sufficiently aware.

Paul Kikon, General Secy.

BJP 40th A/C Bhandari

I

ntroduction: Let us also look at the government from an administrative point of view.

Let us also, for a moment, put ourselves into their shoes and think, how or what would it be like to deal with a whole lot of uncivilized people, people who throw stones at the window panes and doors of the buildings constructed for them. People who spit on, everywhere? People who after countless reminders not to do it again, does the same thing over again? Is this not what is called uncivilized? How do we then expect the government to do so much for us when all we do is destroy what is done for us? (of course the government is corrupted in many mysterious ways).

Main: We blame the whole lot of problems happening in and around us to the government but do we, for a moment, sit back and think have I done my part as a responsible citizen?

The answer is ‘NO’ for most of us.I don’t understand how we are able to criticize the government when all we do is fail the smallest duties of ourselves.

We don’t realize that we are also part of the government.

For the most part, we think the government is a separate entity and the citizens are a separate entity. And for which we look up to the government to provide for the people/ citizens. Of course there is a thin line between those who governs (the Government) and those who are governed (the citizens). But when we look at the developmental and prosperous side of making our society a better place or developed state there is very little difference. Both the citizens and the Government play an equally important role. So we, as citizens, are also responsible for the many things happening around us.If we are to make Nagaland a developed state it starts with the citizens,not necessarily the government.

It is in the instinct of an outright born baby or a human person to distinguish between what is good and bad. Andif that is the instinct, I think it is the sameparallel notion with duties and rights as well.If the child is being given the notion

to distinguish between what is good and bad, then as he grows up, he is also given the notion to know what his duties are, so also his rights.

I believe, at the time of independence, in the void of diversities in our country and to unify a diversified nation, we are being told more of our rights rather than our loyalties/duties to the prosperity of the state/country.

Just like you can’t get a candy from a shop unless you give the shop-keeper some amount of money, we cannot expect our rights from the government unless we play our role and duties as responsible citizens. Literally we, as citizens, buy our rights from the government/state through our duties. It was rightly said, “Duties comes first, than, Rights”.

John F. Kennedy, the 35th President of the United Statefamously remarked “My fellow Americans, ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country”. To rephrase the line, it also means, we should (or let us) contribute to the growth and prosperity of our country or state and not trying to get every penny from it. So long as we expect from the government instead of contributing we slog/drag behind many other society of the world. We eat the government and we are never going to progress as a state or as a society.

I know it’s easy to complaint and tweet or post in Facebook about the nuisance of the government, going out and doing it ourselves is difficult.– ‘Anyone can complaint, finding a solution is difficult’.

If you think, our society is a Hell; it indeed is for the bureaucrats and the government as well. In making Nagaland a better place it starts with the small little things like picking a wrapper on the street, it is not having a tall building on the side of our highways or on our street. These tall buildings will come up when we learn how to pick up those small wrapperson the street. It is by inculcating good manners in public places. It is by following lanes on the road or on

Municipal election and the clash of titans

for a select group of communities, gender or race.

Therefore, if one form of reservation infringes article 371A, then the other form of reservations, whether it is the ST reservation or the backward tribe quota also infringes the same article. The best remedy, then, would be to give up all forms of reservations and live as equals, not just within the Naga society but also with the rest of the country, and that way preserve and protect the sanctity of our customary practices and the 371A as desired by some leaders of our civil societies. But such an outcome is highly unlikely for obvious reasons.

The civil organizations, despite their differences, have somehow managed to put a unified voice to reject the Municipal Act citing various reasons. However, many volunteers and supporters of the protest seems to have been influenced by distorted information rather than by the merits or limitations of the Act.Some leaders, with or without malice, are propagating that the Act will empower the authority to levy tax even on the domesticated animals or agricultural produce. That’s gross misinterpretation. The Act did stipulate numerous form of taxes such as toll tax, octroi, scavenging tax etc. to generate funds for the municipality for discharge of its duties. But a tax such as an octroi, which is a tax on goods brought into a municipal town, has no provision whatsoever to levy tax on domesticated animals or agricultural produce.

Likewise, the contention that women reservation infringes article 371A is not

properly established and legal luminaries of the state have diverse opinion,though majority of themare of the view that it does not. But the real cause for opposition of the women reservation is not necessarily because it infringes 371A but possibly because it invades the permanent space occupied

by Naga men in decision making platforms since time immemorial. And therefore, many Naga elders are of the firm view that it violates the customary practice of the Naga society.But the crux of the matter is that the urban local bodies are nontraditional institutions, therefore, invoking customary laws to decide on such matters does not seems to be appropriate.

With or without the municipal elections, our attitude towards public taxation also needto change.

The idea to perpetually avail government benefits without paying taxes is no longer practicable. In essence, no nation-state or development agency can survive without tax and revenue. The popular phrase “give unto Caesarwhat isCaesar’s and unto God what is God’s” reminds us that we owe an obligation to the government as citizens just as we owe to the church as Christians.The contentious land and building tax has been amended. Other form of taxes such a toll tax, octroi, scavenging tax, advertisement tax etc. are nothing new, and we have been paying them from before. Therefore, if there are serious opposition to a particular kind of tax, that should be properly highlighted and make known to the public as well as to the

government for necessary review. Without divulging the specifics and simply chanting tax only makes the resistance shallow.

Coming again to the reservation issue, common opinion as echoed through various medium is that Naga women are at par with men as there are no perceived discrimination against women in our society. That is true in so far as social, educational and economic domain is concern.

But in politics and in decision making bodies, women still have to climb an uphill task to rub shoulders with their male counterparts. The fact that not a single women legislator has been elected to the state assembly for the past five decades justifies the need to accord some kind of affirmative actions to the women. The Naga Hoho itself has admitted that “with the current election scenario involving corruption, manipulation and muzzle power… genuine, capable and deserving women may not be elected…” Certainly, if elections are held in free, fair and transparent manner, our Naga women can also do well. But with an alien culture of threats, intimidations, and use of money and muzzle power, not just women but even men with right conscious and attitude don’t stand a chance to win an election.

It would be unfair, therefore, to coerce the women into a competition where they are doomed to fail.

The right to dissent is an important aspect of democracy, so long as such dissent does not involve inhuman and unconstitutional actions. Therefore, just as the civil organizations

the traffic. It is by maintaining ‘Civic Sense’ in public places so also, very importantly, in our daily lives.When each of us keeps the surrounding of our houses clean then we are developing our society.

When we say a developed state, it is not defined by buildings or infrastructure, it is defined more by cleanliness, it is define more by civility, it is defined more by virtue of kindness. It is not defined by a disruptive state, it is define more by a peaceful state. It is not defined by having many cars around (and polluting the environment), it is define by having the basic ones and keeping ourenvironment clean. Development is more of the citizens developing themselves and not necessarily the things around them.

Conclusion: So dear citizens, let us be more civilized and play our roles as responsible citizens, you and I. When we are responsible citizen, I am sure the government will be bond to provide us, but first we do our part. Although not trying to downplay the government and I don’t mean the government is weak, but the government is also run by people - Humans like you and me (And guess what! people have weaknesses, people make mistakes and no one is all that perfect). So it’s time, let’s be more rational, think from both perspective not only from our own perspective and make this ‘Nagaland’ a better place to live in by playing our best role as responsible citizens.

The whole idea of this write-up is to encourage people and citizens to live a responsible and a civilized live so as to make our place or society a better one, and not in support or in favor of any government. It is to send this message that, ‘Let us, as citizens and as individuals, make the change or let us BE the change we want to see, in our locality, in our colony, in our state or in whichever surrounding we live in’. Let us not wait for the government to change us, LET US BE THE CHANGE OURSELVES. P. David Ndang, MSW, 1st Batch of NEISSR

reserves their right to dissent or oppose any governmental policy, the Hohos must also allow its members to form their own rational opinion.

It is not appropriate for the Hohos, though may be competent in nature, to impose its resolutions upon its members without giving space for healthy discussions and critical analysis.

Such trends are despotic and go against the very fabric of democratic establishments. Secondly, dissent should be objective and issue based. One must spell in clear terms the points of disagreements, and once those disagreements are ironed out, efforts should be channeled towardspavinga way for consent. Opposing just for the sake of opposing is also not reasonable nor productive.

Lastly, the cr y for change in leadership and better governance must be preceded by change in our individual beliefs, attitude and conduct. But most importantly there is an urgent need to cleanse

the electoral process and bureaucratic corruption. We want an upright leader but the system of electing our leaders remains corrupt and unfair. Our talk of transparency and accountability in governance is marred by corrupt poll practices and exchange of money.

So far, the rhetoric is not in sync with our actions.

And we the public also willinglyallow ourselves to be sandwiched between the vested goals of the politicians. Governments have come and gone but the basic underlying issues remains the same: because the corrupt system upon which the government draws its power remains intact. Therefore, better governance will become a realityonly when we break down the corrupt structure and build a new system based on the finest ideals of democracy. Until then we are all equally guilty in the comity of errors.

N Janbemo Humtsoe, Wokha, (janbemolotha@ gmail.com)

Reader’s Post

Sir,

Safety of people

With the decision of the government to conduct the ULB election, today saw the imposition of bandh across the state by the civil societies. The whole of Dimapur wore a deserted look as if bemoaning the state of affairs in Nagaland. With the election set to take place on February 1, the people are uneasy as to what situation would ensue. The safety of the people is very important and especially the school going children. As a concerned citizen one can only hope and pray that no untoward incident take place.

Subenthung Lotha, Duncan Basti Dimapur

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

Five soldiers trapped after hit by avalanche in Kupwara

Army jawans engaged in search operations in the avalache-hit Gurez sector of Kashmir on Friday.

“The war ning has been issued for avalancheprone slopes of Kupwara, Bandipora, Baramulla, Ganderbal, Kulgam and Budgam and Kargil district of Kashmir division,” a government official said.

Over 15 soldiers were killed in snow-triggered tragedies since Tuesday in the state.

On January 24, an army major lost his life in a snowslide in Kashmir’s tourism desitination Sonmarg and on the following day over 14 soldiers were reportedly killed after two avalanches hit the Gurez

NEW DELHI: Amicus curiae Gopal Subramanium told the Supreme Court on Friday that as much as 1,500 acres of land belonging to some temples in Tamil Nadu had been encroached upon by outsiders. Subramanium was assisting the apex court, which has widened the ambit of a case which was described by the Madras High Court as “land of lords in trouble”.

The High Court had expressed concern over rampant encroachment, misuse and misappropriation of temple lands.

On a petition by one K S Kappusamy who sought fixing of market rent for shops and establishments in the Arulmigu Sellandiamman temple in Perundurai village in Erode district, the SC had decided to seek Subramanium’s assistance. The petitioner had said, “Most temples are gasping for survival as their incomes have steadily declined.

Their properties were rented out decades ago for a pittance. There has been no revision of rent.

Temple lands have been encroached upon.”

The court had issued notice to the commissioner, Hindu religious and charitable endowments department, Chennai. It had said the problem affected most Hindu religious establishments.

10,000 people Government to focus on infra, says Gadkari Overscreened for

NEW DELHI: With 4-5 days still to go for sowing operation of rabi crops, the country is looking at the prospect of having the highest acreage of winter crops in the past five years. Adding to the good news, rains in some parts of the country in the past couple of days could also mean a better yield situation as well.

Latest sown area data, released by the agriculture ministry on Friday, seems to indicate that the fear of demonetisation leading to a drop in farm yields due to cash-strapped farmers inability to access inputs was largely unfounded. It clearly shows that the acreage of major rabi crops (wheat and pulses) has not only crossed the corresponding figures of last year but also beat the ‘normal’ (expected under positive conditions) sown area of the season.

Total rabi sown area as on Friday stands at 637.34 lakh hectares as compared to 600.02 lakh hectares at

this time last year (over 6% higher). It has almost touched the ‘normal’ rabi sown area (638.37 lakh ha) in what could be a clear sign that the sowing operation was not affected by the note ban the way it was feared inmid-November.

“Farmers do not need to depend on the market to buy their entire requirement of seeds. As far as other inputs including fertilisers are concerned, they could probably manage it with the system where they can easily get things on credit in rural areas”, said an official.

Figures of acreage for wheat and pulses are, in fact, encouraging as sown areas of both these crops crossed their ‘normal’ area by a good margin. The sown area under wheat stands at 315.55 lakh hectares as compared to its ‘normal’ area of 304.05 lakh hectares. It was 292.52 lakh hectares at this time last year.

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Mumbai, Jan 28 (IANS): Over 10,000 people were screened for diabetes and its health implications during a diabetes mela held here on Saturday. The medical camp inaugurated by Maharashtra Education Minister Vinod Tawde, was organised to check the health status of the people here living with the risk of diabetes.

According to the organisers -- Gadge Diabetes Center -- the mela highlighted the effects and causes of diabetes with the help of skits, music and dance.

“The mela helped spread a positive message,” the centre said in a statement.

Amartya Sen

-- Bangladesh, China and Nepal, with similar or even lower income levels than India, have better health and social indicators, including lower infant and maternal mortality rates, better percentage in girl education and improved sanitation facilities,” Sen lamented.

While privatisation of health sector may play a great role, it cannot be our solution, as it has caused exploitation of poor, ignorant patients at the hands of private doctors, which

President launches Pulse Polio Programme New Delhi, Jan 28 (IANS): President Pranab Mukherjee on Saturday launched the Pulse Polio Programme for 2017 under which about 17 crore children of less than five years age will be immunised.

The drive is a part of the government’s efforts to sustain polio eradication from the country.

Launching the programme on the eve of National Immunisation Day, Mukherjee administered polio drops to children less than five years old at Rashtrapati Bhavan here.

Union Health Minister J.P. Nadda, who was also present, said: “Poliofree certification of the entire Southeast Asia region, including India, is a huge accomplishment in the history of public health.”

The World Health Organisation on March 27, 2014 declared India polio free.

The last case of polio was reported on January 13, 2011 in the country.

Nadda said the risk of importation from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Nigeria -- three countries where the virus is still circulating -- still persisted.

WANTED

President Pranab Mukherjee launching the Pulse Polio Immunization programme for 2017.

The country needs to maintain the population immunity and sensitive surveillance till global polio eradication, the Health Minister said.

According to the Health Ministry, the government is conducting continuous polio vaccination at the international border with Pakistan.

“An advisory has also been issued for vaccination of all travellers between India and eight other countries,” Nadda said.

“An Emergency Preparedness and Response Plan (EPRP) is also in

place in all states/union territories for urgent response to any importations of polio virus,” he said.

Stating that there is a need to provide double protection to children, Nadda said: “The government has also introduced the injectable Inactivated Polio Vaccine (IPV) into its routine immunisation programme. India has reduced under-five mortality rate from 75 per 1,000 live births in 2005 to 45 in 2014,” Nadda said.

The second phase of the programme will be conducted on April 2.

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needs to be stopped, he said.

Further, the “moral hazard” involved in subsidising private hospitals for unverified treatments also needs radical reforms, he added.

“No country has ever successfully provided universal health coverage without the strong support and commitment of the public health sector,” he continued.

Thus, public healthcare should include the social determinants of health, such as nutrition, sanitation and social equity.

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Government data shows note ban hasn’t hit sowing

infrastructure at trillions of dollars and “we need to remove all the roadblocks to get that money”.

Speaking about infrastructure projects in Andhra Pradesh, the road transport minister said Rs 1,665 crore worth of projects have been completed for the Visakhapatnam port and projects worth Rs 2,702 crore are going on.

“Within 3 months, we are going to award the projects of Rs 1,200 crore. On this port, we are making investment of Rs 6,000 crore,” Gadkari added.

He felt that port—driven development will reduce the cost and this is one of the reasons why the government is giving priority to waterways.

On Buckingham Canal near Vijayawada, the minister said: .“We will try to take loan in dollars and use that for this canal project, which costs Rs 2,000 crore.”

For the Amaravati— Anantpur road project, land acquisition has started and soon, it will start, according to the minister.

Mumbai, Jan 28 (IANS): Although India has made great progress on the economic front, our progress in healthcare has so far been extraordinarily limited, Nobel laureate Amartya Sen said at an international conference here on Saturday.

“It is disconcerting to note that despite being the world’s largest democracy, we are far from achieving reasonably good standards of healthcare delivery in India even today,” Sen said in his keynote address at the Tata Memorial Centre’s three-day “Platinum Jubilee Conference” on the theme “Healthcare: A Commodity or Basic Human Need”.

There is a complete and total lack of public discussion on the subject and the issue has not been raised by any political party during the elections, he rued. “Our neighbouring countries

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Vishakhapatnam, JAN 28 (Agencies): Government is working on boosting infrastructure, particularly ports, roads and waterways, to significantly reduce logistics cost that is “very high” in the country, Union Minister Nitin Gadkari.

He made a pitch for port-led development which is “crucial” for higher economic growth.

“Our logistics cost is very high. It is 18 per cent. It is easy to take any material from Mumbai to Dubai or from Mumbai to London, but it is very difficult to take material from Mumbai

development... we have Sagarmala as a big investment project.

We have already started work on Rs 1 lakh crore,” he disclosed.

Last year, the three flagships — Cochin Shipyard, Shipping Corporation of India and Dredging Corporation - recorded profit of Rs 6,000 crore and “for this year, we are expecting profit of about Rs 7,000 crore and we are going to invest this profit“.

Essar Ports CEO and MD Rajiv Agarwal agreed, saying infrastructure development is key to growth and the sector needs “cheap finances to develop that“.

“What we need is cheap finances... We should need infrastructure as something like defence because it is so important to give quality living to our people and take India to a stage of developed nation,” he said, adding that there should be no roadblocks on land or environment for infrastructure development.

Agarwal put the estimate for India to develop

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Nitin Gadkari

to Delhi as it is costly and complicated... We want to give highest priority to that on how we can reduce this cost,” he said.

Speaking at the Andhra Pradesh Investors Summit, the road, transport, highways and shipping minister hoped that the target 40 km of road construction per day will be achieved by next year.

“It was 2 km per day, last year, it was 18 km per day and by the end of this March, it will be 30 km per day. But our target was 40 km per day, and I am confident that next year, we will complete that target,” he said, adding that the government will complete 2 lakh km National Highway on time.

By December-end, he said that the ministry has finalised contracts worth $ 80 billion.

About ports and shipping, Gadkari said contracts worth Rs 1 lakh crore have been finalised to give a push to the sector.

“Most important for our development is port led

Amartya Sen rues lack of good healthcare in India

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trapping several soldiers under the debris. While seven soldiers were rescued alive by the teams on the same day, bodies of remaning soldiers were recovered yesterday.

The northern state has been witnessing one of the most severe winters in recent decades, with heavy snow across the territory and temperatures dropping to minus 7 degree celsius.

Earlier in the day, the state authorities have issued a high danger avalanche warning for the hilly areas of Kashmir valley for the next 24 hours.

sector of the valley+ .

Gurez and Sonmarg are the same avalancheprone sectors where 16 soldiers were killed and four injured in two snowslide-related incidents in March 2012. In February 2010, at least 15 Armymen were buried in snow after an avalanche hit a military camp in the Khilanmarg area near Gulmarg.

----subhead----TN CM announces Rs 20 lakh solatium to avalanche victims’ kin Tamil Nadu Chief Minister O Panneerselvam on Saturday condoled the death of two armymen hailing from the state and killed in an avalanche in Kashmir and announced a solatium of Rs 20 lakh each to their families.

He expressed grief over the death of B Elavarasan and Sundrapandi of Thanjavur and Madurai districts, respectively, in the avalanche in Guerez sector in Kashmir on Thursday.

“I extend my condolences and sympathies with their families,” he said in a statement. In line with former Chief Minister Jayalalithaa’s announcement hiking the solatium for armymen killed in duty from Rs 10 lakh to Rs 20 lakh, he had directed a solatium for the said amount, he added.

SC to debate ways to keep temple land from intrusion

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NEW DELHI: Five soldiers were hit by a snow avalanche that struck an army post in north Kashmir’s Kupwara district on Saturday.

“Five soldiers are trapped under the snow and rescue operation to save them is underway,” Defence PRO in Srinagar Col Rajesh Kalia told TOI over phone.

According to reports, the post of 56 RR was struck by an avalanche in Macchil sector early today.

On January 25, two avalanches hit army personnel in Gurez sector

7

national

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Nagaland Post, Dimapur sunday, JANUARY 29, 2017

Indian Railways to rent out hill trains to private players

NEW DELHI, Jan 28 (Agencies): The Indian Railways will soon start leasing out its standalone passenger corridors and branch lines to private companies for operations and maintenance, marking the beginning of corporate participation in the running of the world’s fourth largest railroad network.

Narrow and metregauge tracks linking the colonial era hill stations are set to be the first of the 108,000-kilometer rail network to be run privately, a senior railway official told ET. Largely unprofitable routes linking Kalka and Shimla, Siliguri and Darjeeling, the Nilgiri mountains with the plains, Neral and Matheran, and the Kangra Valley railways would be among the first the government will likely choose to bid out to private operators, which may include overseas companies

as the existing policy on investment in railways allows 100% foreign ownership.

“We keep getting queries from private players who want to run their own operations. We want to be completely out of operations from these standalone corridors and branch lines and would only assist private players in running operations,” a senior railwayofficial said.

“All these railways are on the international tourism map and Darjeeling Himalayan railways is a Unesco world heritage site.

There’s a huge opportunity for private sector, and for railways also it will be profitable.”

The Indian Railways, with a 1.54-million workforce and about 6,800 stations, runs about 7,000 trains everyday to ferry passengers, an activity that is generally unprofitable.

In the financial year ending March 31, 2017, the

losses from the passenger segment of the railroad operations are set to be about Rs 33,000 crore, about 10% higher than the losses for the previous financial year.

To minimise operating losses from a venture that also helps the government achieve part of its social objective of subsidising mass transportation, the Indian Railways is using tourism to attract private companies, particularly those from the hospitality and infrastructure industries.

“It will help us cut some flab as well as we lose a lot of money on these lines. Maintenance is also a problem since all of them are heritage lines,” the official said.

If the experiment meets specified benchmarks for success, these leases could be the future templates for enhanced private participation.

business/state

Cut indirect tax rates, not direct ones: Chidambaram Ko lk ata , Ja n 2 8 (IANS): In view of the “sufferings” of the common people resulting from demonetisation, former Union Finance Minister P. Chidambaram on Saturday suggested that the Centre should cut indirect tax rates to mitigate the hardships people are facing now.

Chidambaram said: “The correct tax to cut is the indirect taxes. You should cut service tax, excise and customs duty.

Any cut in the indirect taxes will benefit millions of people.”

“A direct tax cut will only benefit a very small number of people - not more than 25-50 lakhs of people. Indirect tax cut will benefit crores of people in the country and stimulate the economy,” he said.

“What you have to do now is alleviate sufferings and misery of the masses of this country,” he said adding that demonetisation has hit the economy by at least one per cent of the GDP.

ENSF, NSO resent Indo-Myanmar border fencing DIMAPUR, JAN 28 (NPN): Eastern Naga Students’ Federation (India) and Naga Students’ Organisation (Myanmar), in pursuance of their joint declaration dated July 15, 2016, have reiterated their “utmost resentment” against border fencing and described the move as “repeating a historical wrong upon the Nagas”. In a joint press release, ENSF general secretary, Honang M Jessuhu, and NSO president, T. Mankhat Konyak, stated that Nagas along with their inherited land was an undeniable “natural barrier”, which had stood firm safeguarding the sovereignty of both India and Myanmar since time immemorial.

Joint students’ forum of ENSF and NSO said that such barrier should be honoured, adding that the “concept/question of concrete wall or even imaginary line should not be diluted upon it which might endanger its own sovereignty instead.”

The forum urged both government of India and government of Myanmar

Crossword

Su doku

KAKURO

to divert their “cruel investment” on border fencing and utilise the same on education, health and development.

Highlighting the “historical and traditional rights of the people”, the forum said every single Naga village had survived “self independently” since time immemorial. In fact, the forum said that the code of law that governed its existence was purely in a republicanism form, adding that encroachment or disaffiliation of its land was totally unthinkable.

The joint forum affirmed that the Naga villages at the border inherit their land that cannot be either encroached upon or be seceded through “any treacherous force”. In this regard, the ENSF and NSO urged New Delhi and Naypyidaw to immediately “reconsider its so-called imaginary line that runs through the heart and the soul of the Nagas.”

Reminding that the ENSF and NSO without any bias had appealed the government (India and Myanmar)

as well as the NSCN/GPRN (Khaplang) to be sincere in delivering peace and tranquillity, the forum, however, said that to their “utmost dismay”, the pleas were totally disregarded and the “aspiration of its countrymen was left unaccounted and shattered.”

Today, the joint forum said it was “shocked to see the self made insincere attitude and its doctored consequences/situation as fingered upon.”

Further, asserting that the Nagas and their soil (natural barrier) had been “divinely ordained and fortified”, the forum said its peaceful existence should hence be “honoured and worshipped by both India and Burma.” It cautioned that any act or moves to segregate the peace loving Nagas would be “creating a self inflicted curse instead.”

Terming as “undemocratic act of cruelty” the move to segregate the Naga families through border fencing initiated by the Myanmar government, the

joint forum asked “on the contrary, can New Delhi declare its uncontaminated mind on this issue when after huge funding have been plunged at Naypyidaw?”

The joint forum said Nagas might not be happy if such undemocratic act was inflicted upon its soil and suggested that if at all such move was included in its diplomatic talks, then it should be rectified at the earliest. Affirming that it cannot compromise on such infliction that permanently segregates its land and its people, the ENSF and NSO stated that funding or investment on either side should be primarily focused or be invested on the development of road infrastructure, health, education and economy of the Nagas living on either side instead.

Meanwhile, ENSF and NSO have appealed to New Delhi and Naypyidaw to “immediately stop such cruel moves” and expedite governmental talks for peace and development through investment in all those Naga inhabited area.

No. 8407 Yesterday’s solution No. 8406

No. 3027 Yesterday’s solution No. 3026

No. 1854 Yesterday’s solution No. 1853

P. Chidambaram

He suggested that the present government must stick to the path of fiscal consolidation which means the fiscal deficit must be less than three per cent.

“Current account deficit must be 1-1.5 per cent and CPI inflation must be below five per cent. Fiscal stability is very important.

Are we going to deviate from the path of fiscal consolidation and fiscal prudence?,” he asked.

“If I was the Finance Minister today, I would have cut indirect taxes,” he said.

Digital drive to slow down ATM expansion MUMBAI, Jan 28 (Agencies): The pace of expansion of ATMs — cash dispensers that have been at the vanguard of India’s banking penetration since the 1990s — is set to slow further as the Reserve Bank of India seeks to reduce currency circulation by as much as a quarter to help achieve state objectives of increased digital-money usage in Asia’s third biggest economy.

“I don’t see a business case for significant expansion of ATMs in the near future,” says Pralay Mondal, senior group president at Mumbai based private lender YES Bank.

“The way the acceptance of other digital modes will grow, there is no way I see ATMs growing that way.’’ Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the evening of November 8, 2016, had announced that old Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 bills would immediately cease to be legal tender.

Across 1 After drink, sat and thought (8) 5 Misfortunes in the ‘ighlands (4) 8 Arab from the capital of Syria getting German car (5) 9 Oppose meeting of nobleman and queen (7) 11 Shelves about right for account books (7) 12 Policemen heard in thicket (5) 13 Stumbling at rear, making mistakes (6) 15 Overthrow of French achievement (6) 18 Talk with Spanish leader at summit (5) 20 Silly Hector beginning to see lights (7) 23 The vowel sounds we make? (3,3,1) 24 Interior covering for ship (5) 25 Princess has second thoughts - and goes down (4) 26 School staff trained cats here (8) Down 1 This is almost some fibre (5) 2 Record turning up beneath sack (7) 3 Name of female oil producer (5) 4 Tax cut (6) 6 Rest from dispute, leading retreat (3-2) 7 A snake makes an unusual present (7) 10 Difficult clue about northern kinsman (5) 13 Tried, for example, scattering seed around (7) 14 A Kent resort is captured (5) 16 Improve quality. Hence an improvement? (7) 17 Conflict on street - widespread (6) 19 Furnish egghead with clever remark (5) 21 Some are licensed to provide a souvenir (5) 22 Fathers rage when boarding steamship (5)

Nagaland Post, Dimapur sunDay, january 29, 2017

Fiscal deficit target of 3% for 2017-18 stiff at this juncture: Crisil New Delhi, Jan 28 (IANS): Fiscal deficit target of 3 per cent for 2017-18 looks difficult as the debt dynamics of the country show “stickiness”, rating agency Crisil said on Saturday.

“Three per cent looks like a stiff task at this juncture for fiscal deficit. When the economy needs help, we need to move to a range that is going to provide the government some flexibility,” D.K. Joshi, Chief Economist at Crisil, told BTVi in an interview.

“The debt dynamics show stickiness. We have not been able to bring down the debt-GDP ratio, which is quite high for India. It complicates matters,” Joshi said. The economist said that the government needs

to come up with substantial steps to push up the revenues to maintain fiscal prudence for the next two to three years. The borrowing target, however, he said is not expected to be very large and in line with the fiscal deficit target.

“The borrowing will not be too large if fiscal deficit target is three per cent. I don’t see borrowings as significant or at the level that would spook the stock market and reverse the gains.”

In FY17, spectrum or excise duty on oil that has led to revenue windfall are all temporary measures and may reverse in the coming fiscal.

Joshi said that the concern is to improve the

tax-GDP ratio in the next 2-3 years.

“Let’s see how creative the Budget is in extracting higher compliance from individuals. Though there is not much scope to raise the tax-GDP ratio in the short run,” he said.

“In terms of Income Declaration Scheme (IDS), I don’t see much cushion coming from these schemes.

They can’t continue for ever, they should be leveraged for increasing compliance,” he added. Joshi said that if there is any tax benefit or tweaking from the Budget, it will be for the lower income group.

He said the government should focus on execution capacity so that the budget does not lie unused.

APO slams U-turn by Zeliang and Shurho

(From p-1) On some tribe agreeing to hold elections, he said the integrity of such leaders will speak whether election will be held. On Noklak town polls, Dr Seleyie said a minister’s village was closest to the town but instead of addressing the boundary issue which would divide the village under to nations, it appeared that civic polls was more important.

State-wide bandh evokes JCC bandh call: Organizations spontaneous response express gratitude (From p-1) directed all the youths of LHJAC has informed that a total bandh would enforced starting January 31 till February 1 from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m.

According to Lotha Hoho joint secretary Likhao Humtsoe, the meeting was attended by around 2500 people, after which a car rally was carried out from Local Ground to Zero (0) Point and to Longsa village where more than 200 cars participated the rally.

The car rally was part of the awareness/publicity campaign to inform all Lothas that the community would not cooperate and oppose the ensuing ULB election.

LH also acknowledged the reassurance made by chairmen of Longsa village and Wokha village to oppose the elections and to ensure that no individual or candidates take part in the election.

The hoho has also

39 & 40 Assembly Constituency to be present at Bhandari and youths of 37 and 38 A/C at Wokha Town by January 30 to boycott the election.

Phek: The bandh called by Chakhesang Youth Front (CYF) on Saturday in Chakhesang region of Phek district in protest against government stand to go ahead with the ULB election ended peacefully with no untoward incidents. In Phek town, the bandh which began from 9 a.m. till 4 p.m., was total and peaceful.

All shops and vehicular movements were restricted, informed Chakhesang Youth Front president Welete Kapfo The bandh was also obser ved at Pfutsero, Chozuba and Chetheba.

Chakhesang Youth Front has thanked all public for their cooperation towards successful implementation of the bandh.

DIMAPUR, JAN 28 (NPN): Naga Council Dimapur (NCD) has expressed gratitude to the volunteers, public, security agencies, district administration for the success of day one of the bandh called

by JCC. NCD has once again called upon all, particularly bandh volunteers, to maintain total peace and harmony at all cost and in the interest of the Nagas for the remaining bandh period.

AYO: Angami Youth Organisation (AYO) has expressed gratitude to all citizens and tribes residing in Kohima town for their cooperation as well as monetary, physical and material assistance.

SH: Sumi Hoho (SH) general secretary Vihuto Asumi has thanked the public for their cooperation extended on day one of the bandh.

New Delhi, Jan 28 (Agencies): Maruti Suzuki India Limited, India’s leading passenger vehicle manufacturer, Friday announced the launch of an all-new VXi+ variant for India’s most loved car, WagonR. The latest addition to the WagonR family, the best-selling car, is available in both automatic and manual transmission trims.

Introducing the WagonR VXi+ variant R. S. Kalsi, executive director, marketing & sales, Maruti Suzuki India Limited, said, “WagonR has had a phenomenal journey since its launch. Maruti Suzuki

has delivered over 19 lakh WagonR. The WagonR VXi+ has been introduced to meet customer demands, who have desired for more style, along-with comfort, convenience and advanced safety features. The WagonR VXi+ defines unique design interventions both on the interiors as well as exteriors. It would strengthen the WagonR brand and help to enhance Maruti Suzuki’s market share.”

WagonR VXi+ offers a wide array of new features including Projector headlamps, stylish front grill, alloy wheels and side skirts.

district on January 31 and February 1, 2017, the Phom Peoples’ Council (PPC) has clarified that it has empowered “all youths for ensuring total compliance in implementing the resolution of PPC for imposing bandh” and not as published.

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The text of the order was released several hours after it was signed.

Among the measures are: Suspension of the US Refugee Admissions Programme for 120 days; a ban on refugees from Syria until “significant changes” are made; a 90-day suspension on anyone arriving from Iraq, Syria, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, and Yemen, except certain visa categories such as diplomats; to prioritise future refugee applications from those persecuted for their religion - but only if the person is part of a minority religion in their home country; a cap of

50,000 refugees in 2017 - less than half of the upper limit under Mr Trump’s predecessor, Barack Obama However, a mention of creating “safe zones” within Syria, seen in an earlier draft, was removed from the final order. The order also said all immigration programmes should include questions to “evaluate the applicant’s likelihood of becoming a positively contributing member of society.”

In a TV inter view broadcast earlier on Friday, the president said Christians would be given priority among Syrians who apply for refugee status in

UK to enhance trade with Turkey, says Theresa May

40 Turkish soldiers seek German political asylum

ANKARA, JAN 28 (AGENCIES): Theresa May has said the UK will enhance trade relations with Turkey after talks with the country’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

The prime minister said Turkey was one of Britain’s “oldest friends” but there was much that could be done to build on that relationship.

Mr Erdogan announced that Turkey aimed to increase trade with the UK to $20bn (£16bn) a year from $15.6bn.

The two leaders also discussed Cyprus, Syria and aviation security.

Mrs May arrived in Ankara from the US, where she met President Trump.

It comes as Brexit Secretary David Davis predicted a “round of global trade deals” would be “fully negotiated” within 12 to 24 months, coming into force when the UK leaves the EU. The government plans to begin the formal two-year Brexit process by triggering Article 50 by the end of March.

Both Ankara and London find themselves in a

position where they need friends. Many fear that Turkey - a key Nato ally - is heading towards a more authoritarian future under President Erdogan.

He is clamping down on dissent and press freedom, pushing his country further away from the prospect of EU membership and in the process drawing strong criticism from European governments.

Mrs May arrives as an advocate of “global Britain” - this policy a necessity following the Brexit decision.

The UK has a strong security relationship with Turkey - an ally in the fight against so-called Islamic State (IS) - and she will also be seeking preliminary understandings on bilateral trade.

But she will need to show her domestic critics that the growing emphasis on trade in Britain’s relationships abroad does not come at the expense of values such as human rights.

Mrs May’s first prime ministerial visit to Turkey comes as Mr Erdogan is increasing pressure on opponents following the failed military coup in July 2016.

A n k a r a , J an 2 8 (IANS): Around 40 Turkish soldiers stationed in NATO military bases have sought political asylum in Germany, according to media reports on Saturday.

Some of these Turkish armed forces members are officers, which according to German media, will only increase pressure on Angela Merkel’s government as the Chancellor is due to travel to Ankara for talks, Efe news reported.

According to the local Der Spiegel magazine, the chancellor’s conservative rank and file suggest the impossibility of repatriating these soldiers back to Turkey due to the risk of, once returned, they will be immediately imprisoned.

“These asylum requests, from the legal standpoint, are legitimate and cannot be considered an act of political opportunism,” said the president of the Foreign affairs commission of the Bundestag (Lower Chamber), Norbert Röttgen, of Merkel’s Cristian Democratic Union (CDU).

Yemen could suffer famine in 2017: UN Sana’a, JAN 28 (AGENCIES): The conflict-driven food crisis in Yemen could become a full-blown famine this year, the UN’s humanitarian chief has warned.

Two million people need emergency food aid to survive and child malnutrition has risen 63% in a year, Stephen O’Brien told the UN Security Council.

A child under five dies every 10 minutes of preventable causes, he said.

Severe poverty, war damage, and a naval embargo by the Saudi-led coalition have all damaged food security. About 14 million people are currently food insecure in Yemen, including 2.2m children who are acutely malnourished and nearly 500,000 suffering from severe acute malnutrition. Mr O’Brien urged the Saudi-led coalition - which is backed

by Western countries including the US and UK - to remove its no-fly zone and reopen Sanaa airport.

The blockade is having a “disproportionate impact” on civilians, he said, by stopping life-saving medication being flown in, and preventing 20,000 Yemenis accessing specialist medical treatment abroad.

Jamie McGoldrick, the

UN humanitarian coordinator in Yemen, told the BBC that people were desperate and wheat supplies would last only an estimated three more months.

“Everywhere you go, you see people begging in the streets in bigger numbers, you see people rummaging through rubbish to survive,” he said.

“You hear catastrophic stories of children dying because they can’t get to health centres. People dying of malnutrition, people dying of preventable diseases.

“It will get worse because the problem is that the economy is in really bad shape and banking sector doesn’t function.”

Widows, orphans, the disabled and elderly are no longer receiving a monthly allowance from the government and 1.25 million civil servants were not receiving regular salaries, Mr O’Brien said. “Humanitarians now fill in for collapsing public institutions, which at this scale is both beyond our capacity and our remit,” he said.

Yemen has been devastated by nearly two years of war between forces loyal to the internationally-recognised government of Presi-

dent Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi, backed by Saudi Arabia, and those allied to the Houthi rebel movement.

Previously dependent on imports for 90% of its staple food, the country has been hit hard by a naval embargo imposed by the Saudi-led coalition, fighting around the governmentcontrolled port of Aden and air strikes on the rebel-held port of Hudaydah.

Half of the country’s medical facilities are no longer functioning. Some have been bombed by the Saudi-led coalition, others are short of funding.

The situation in Yemen is desperate but overlooked by donors and the international community because it attracts less attention than Syria and Iraq, Mr McGoldrick said.

“The fact you don’t have Yemenis washing up on the shores of Greece and Italy means they are not in the same mix as Syrian refugees” in public perceptions, he said.

He added that media attention has been low, given that only UN flights can land at the airport in the capital Sanaa and Saudi Arabia does not allow journalists on those flights.

Washington, Jan 28 (IANS): New commercial satellite imagery has indicated that operations at a plutonium production reactor located in North Korea’s Yongbyon Nuclear Scientific Research Centre has likely resumed, according to a US think tank.

A statement issued on Friday by 38 North, that monitors nuclear activity in North Korea, said an analysis from January 18 showed that Pyongyang was preparing to restart the reactor, after unloading spent fuel rods for a re-processing campaign that produced additional plutonium for its nuclear weapons stockpile.

“Imagery from January 22 showed a water plume (most probably warm) originating from the cooling water outlet of the reactor, an indication that the reactor is very likely operating,” it said.

Without further data, it is impossible to estimate at what power level the reactor is running, although it could be considerable, the statement added.

Colombian govt and rebels announce cocaine crop plan

Missing Pakistani activist Salman Haider returns home

Salman Haider teaches at Fatima Jinnah Women’s University in Rawalpindi.

Islamabad, Jan 28 (IANS): Prominent Pakistani academic and human rights activist Salman Haider, who went missing earlier this month from Islamabad, is “fine and safe” and has returned home, his brother Zeeshan Haider confirmed to Dawn. However, he did not divulge further details.

A professor of Fatima Jinnah University, Haider, went missing on January 6, following which a report was registered at the Lohi Bher police station by his wife. Police found the professor’s car from Koral Chowk but did not receive any information about him. Haider, who has been a vocal opponent of religious extremism and the Pakistani authorities’

this year, and has yet to rule out other methods to bring coca levels down.

But the preferred strategy appears to be winning over the estimated 64,000 peasant families dependent on the coca trade.

“This is much more cost-efficient and furthermore ensures that territories are transformed and people’s lives are changed,” Mr Pardo said.

Each family would receive a monthly stipend of around $350 (£280) as well as loans, subsidies, and technical assistance.

The programme is supported by the Farc and will initially focus on 40 municipalities responsible for more than half of Colombia’s coca production.

During the armed conflict, the Farc initially taxed farmers producing coca in areas under its control, but eventually dominated trafficking in those areas.

As the Farc leave these regions to comply with the peace accord, the concern is that other armed groups including paramilitary and other crime gangs will try to replace them and take over the trade.

May’s trade deal pledge ‘impossible’ : EU Brexit official

Canada may contribute to Dutch-led intl abortion fund O T T AWA , J A N 2 8 (AGENCIES): Canada is considering contributing to a Dutch-led international fund to support abortion services in developing countries, set up in response to Donald Trump’s order to halt financing of NGOs that support the practice.

A spokesman for Canada’s international development minister, MarieClaude Bibeau, told AFP the minister had spoken with her Dutch counterpart about the fund, and was considering donating an unspecified sum to it or a similar measure that would support “sexual reproduc-

Beijing, Jan 28 (IANS): A Chinese military official has said that war with the US is a practical reality, signalling Beijing’s preparedness for a possible military conflict with Washington.

In a commentary on the official website of People’s Liberation Army, the official at the national defence mobilisation department in the Central Military Commission has said that US rebalancing its strategy in Asia, military deployments in the East and South China Seas and the instillation of a missile defence system in South Korea were hot spots getting closer to ignition.

“A war within the president’s term’ or ‘war breaking out tonight’ are not just slogans, they are becoming a practical reality,” South China Morning Post quoted the article.

The official People’s Daily said in another commentary on Sunday that China’s military would conduct exercises on the high seas regardless of foreign provocations. China’s sole aircraft carrier Liaoning passed through the narrow Taiwan Strait last month.

Islamic State planned to launch chemical weapons

B ogot á , J A N 2 8 (AGENCIES): Colombia has announced a plan to eradicate vast crops of coca leaf, the raw material for cocaine.

The Farc rebel group relied on cocaine production to fund its insurgency, and controlled much of the industry.

But a joint programme between rebels and the government will offer farmers monthly payments if they voluntarily destroy their crops.

They will also be offered loans and guidance to plant alternatives such as fruit trees and cacao.

The crop substitution programme was agreed as part of Colombia’s peace accord, which was finally ratified in December.

The Colombian official responsible for the programme, Rafael Pardo, said the government would invest $340m (£271m), which would benefit 50,000 families. Last year, President Juan Manuel Santos decided to suspend US-backed aerial fumigation of illegal coca crops. The government has set a goal of destroying 100,000 hectares of coca

London , J an 2 8 (IANS): The European Parliaments chief Brexit negotiator rubbished British Prime Minister Theresa Mays pledge to deliver a new EU trade deal by 2019 as “impossible”, a media report said. Guy Verhofstadt also suggested the British people voted to leave the EU because of a Little Englander mentality.

Yet he held out the prospect that Britain could choose to rejoin the bloc one day, saying, “That is always possible”, the Independent reported on Friday.

In her Brexit speech earlier in January, the Prime Minister threatened to crash out of the EU with “no deal” if other leaders refused her demands.

However, a day later, May told MPs that she would “deliver” an agreement by Brexit, to avoid inflicting punishing World Trade Organisation tariffs on businesses. “That’s what I’m committed to - and that’s what this Government is going to deliver,” she said, raising the stakes for the negotiations to come.

abuse of opposition activists, was reported missing from Islamabad on January 8. His disappearance led to an online campaign for his safe return.

Earlier, social media activists Waqas Goraya and Asim Saeed disappeared from Lahore on January 4, Ahmed Raza Naseer went missing from Sheikhupura on January 7 while Salman Haider vanished from Islamabad on January 6.

The others who have vanished were critical of organised religion, the influence of clerics in Pakistan and the country’s powerful military on social media.

Haider was reported missing after he failed to return home on the night of January 6.

War with US practical reality: PLA official

Some of the weapons had Russian markings.

BAG H DA D, J A N 2 8 (AGENCIES): Iraqi special forces say Islamic State were planning to launch long and short-range missiles tipped with chemical or biological war heads from western Mosul. It follows analysis of material taken by French special forces working with Iraqi units in the city.

Sky News was taken to a warehouse and unloading area near the Tigris River, where dozens of missiles were stored alongside makeshift launchers. The weapons, with Russian markings, are thought to have come

tive rights, including abortion” abroad.

“Sexual health and reproductive rights will be at the heart of Canada’s new international assistance policy,” spokesman Louis Belanger said in an email.

“We will continue to explore opportunities to work together to advance women’s empowerment by expanding access to sexual and reproductive health services including abortion,” he said. Canada is set to unveil its new foreign aid strategy in the coming weeks. A decision on the fund would either be included or follow soon after that announcement.

China see surge in tourist numbers Beijing, Jan 28 (IANS): China witnessed a surge in tourist numbers on Friday, the first day of the week-long Lunar New Year holiday, official data showed on Saturday. The number of tourists jumped 10.4 per cent year on year to 50.5 million, Xinhua news agency said. Touristgenerated income climbed to 59 billion yuan (around 8.67 billion US dollars), up 13.3 per cent from one year earlier, according to data from the China National Tourism Administration. In Beijing alone, 294,000 tourists visited the city’s 160 key scenic spots on Friday. China’s northwestern Gansu Province received 860,500 travellers, up 22.1 per cent year on year. The province reaped tourist revenues of 520 million yuan, up 25.9 per cent year on year.

from Syria. Most were designed to be fired by jets but one, a 10ft-long missile, is a type of Scud.

Even fired from a makeshift launcher, it could carry its lethal payload tens of kilometres, according to military advisers.

Beneath the cover of trees Islamic State fighters had been working on the Scud. The area smelt strongly of chemicals and reporters were warned not to touch anything.

The French soldiers advised the Iraqi team that the whole area was con-

taminated. Tests are now being carried out on what senior commanders called “poison”.

Near the preparation site three large refrigerated cargo carriers had been opened. They are all full of coking coal but, buried inside, Iraqi soldiers found containers with the unidentified substance inside.

They believe the substance had to be kept at or below freezing point.

Brigadier Ali of the Counter Terrorism Service, in charge of the weapons discovery, told me he believed the production of the chemical weapons had been halted by the start of the offensive on Mosul and the targeting of IS fighters by coalition planes and drones. “Daesh (IS) wanted to use these weapons and had spent a long time modifying,” he said.

Allegations of chemical weapons use, particularly chlorine, in the Syrian conflict have been levelled at all sides. But the discovery of a substance perhaps even more lethal than chlorine is a new and frightening development.

ASSOCIATION OF POWER ENGINEERS NAGALAND NAGALAND:KOHIMA

(Regd. No.RS-41, Dated 3rd April 1974) Mailing Address: Electricity House, Below A G Nagaland, Kohima-797001 No. APEN/GEN – 1/ Dated: Kohima, the 28th January, 2017

FELICITATION With immense pride and happiness, the Association of Power Engineers Nagaland conveys its heartiest congratulation to Er KASHO CHISHI, E.E (Electrical) for having been conferred the Governor’s Commendation Certificate on Republic Day 2017.

The Association further wishes and prays that Almighty God guide and grant him more success in his future endeavors.

Sd/Sd/(Er. SHIKATO SEMA ) ( Er. RUKONGUTUO SUOHU) President, APEN General Secretary, APEN

DC-192

U.S. President Donald Trump signs executive orders at the Department of Defense on January 27, 2017 in Arlington, Virginia.

the future. Other measures include a broad review of the information required from all countries to approve a visa; a review of visa schemes between nations to ensure they are “truly reciprocal” for US citizens; and the immediate suspension of the Visa Interview Waiver Programme.

Refugees Detained President Trump’s executive order closing the nation’s borders to refugees was put into immediate effect Friday night. Refugees who were in the air on the way to the United States when the order was signed were stopped and detained at airports. The detentions prompted legal challenges as lawyers representing two Iraqi refugees held at Kennedy Airport filed a writ of habeas corpus early Saturday in the Eastern District of New York seeking to have their clients released. At the same time, they filed a motion for class certification, in an effort to represent all refugees and immigrants who they said were being unlawfully detained at ports of entry.

N. Korea’s nuke reactor functioning again: US think tank

3rd LATE IMDANGLA SAKU MEMORIAL MEN’S DOUBLE AMATEUR BADMINTON TOURNAMENT

Organized by Shuttlers United, Dimapur & Sponsored by Lt. Imdangla Saku’s family Venue : INDOOR STADIUM, SAKUS MISSION COLLEGE Landmark Colony, Dimapur Date : 9th & 10th February, 2017 Time : 02:00 P.M. Onwards N.B. i. The tournament will be in three categories: a. 35 Years & below (Yonex Mavis 350) b. 36 – 45 Years c. 46 Years and above ii. Registration fee will be Rs. 1,000/- per Team. iii. A cash of Rs. 15,000/- & Rs. 8,000/- shall be awarded to winners and runners up respectively. iv. Forms will be available at: a. Kiran Sports, Dimapur b. Popular Sports, Dimapur c. Sports Lifestyle, Dimapur e. G. Sports, Chumukedima iv. Last date for submission of Registration Form will be 7th February, 2017. v. For further information contact: a. Mr. Fujung – 8974566069; b. Mr. Tongpang – 9089665441

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Donald Trump suspends US refugee programme, bans Syrians indefinitely

WASHINGTOIN, JAN 28 (AGENCIES): President Donald Trump has banned the entry of Syrian refugees into the US until further notice. He has also halted the issuing of visas to the nationals of six other mainly Muslim countries, including Iran, Iraq, Yemen and Libya, for three months.

Mr Trump said the measures were part of new measures to “keep radical Islamic terrorists out of the US”. Rights groups have condemned the move, saying there is no link between Syrian refugees in the US and terrorism.

Under Mr Trump’s wide-ranging executive order, all refugee admissions have been suspended for four months. Mr Trump signed the order at the Pentagon after a ceremony to swear in Gen James Mattis as defence secretary. During the ceremony, he said: “I’m establishing new vetting measures to keep radical Islamic terrorists out of the United States of America.

We only want to admit those into our country who will support our country and love deeply our people.”

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international

Nagaland Post, Dimapur sunday, january 29, 2017

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Infotainment

Nagaland Post, Dimapur Sunday, January 29, 2017

showed me the way Rockin’ 1000 take on Nirvana’s Padmavati ruckus: stars Arshad to do ‘Jolly LLB 2’: Akshay Smells Like Teen Spirit call it ‘a matter of shame’ V

Bhansali, was shooting for the film in Jaipur, when he was assaulted by activists of Rajput community group, Karni Sena, who also vandalised the set.

Leading stars Deepika Padukone, Ranveer Singh and Shahid Kapoor have spoken up against the attack. In a series of tweets, Deepika expressed her shock and sadness over the events that played out at the Jaigarh Fort.

Saying that she was “in a state of shock” and “deeply saddened and disheartened by yesterday’s events”, the actress also came forward to clarify that is “no distortion of history” in the film and that their only endeavour is to share

George RR Martin to release new story set in world of ‘Game of Thrones’

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cut material from Martin’s previous stories ‘The Princess and The Queen’ and ‘The Rogue Prince’. The full version of ‘The Princess and the Queen’ was 80,000 words, but only 30,000 made it into the 2013 ‘Dangerous Women’ anthology.

The site claims that Martin may include a full history the Targaryen’s, including an account of the lives Aenys Targaryen and Maegor Targaryen (aka Maegor the Cruel), the two sons of Aegon the Conqueror.

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kshay Kumar says he is grateful to “friend” Arshad Warsi for showing him the way to do a film like ‘Jolly LLB 2’. Arshad played the lead role in the original film but Akshay replaced him in the sequel.

He earlier said that he was supposed to do the sequel but Fox Star Studios decided to go with Akshay as he is a bigger star.

Akshay said he spoke to Arshad after coming on board for the court room drama. “I did speak to Arshad. He is not small (actor). He is my good

friend. People just blow up things out of proportion,” the actor said in an interview.

“I am very grateful to Arshad to show me the way of doing a film like this. He made the way for me, he made things easy for me. He made this film very big and I hope that ‘Jolly LLB 2’ also turns out to be a good film.”

Helmed by Subhash Kapoor, ‘Jolly LLB 2’ also features Huma Qureshi while Saurabh Shukla will reprise his role of a judge.

The fill will hit the theatres on February 10.

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aving successfully campaigned to bring Foo Fighters to Italy, the multi-membered Cesena-based band Rockin’ 1000 have released a live version of Nirvana’s classic 1991 single Smells

HAPPY 75TH BIRTHDAY 29 January 1942

UK’s ‘Eurovision’ contestant picked for 2017

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he UK representative has been announced for the Eurovision Song Contest 2017.

The winner, former X Factor contestant Lucie Jones, was picked during heats show You Decide, shown live on BBC2 on Friday night (January 27).

Jones performed her song ‘Never Give Up On You’ for a judging panel that included Sophie EllisBextor and Strictly Come Dancing’s Bruno Tonioli.

In tears, the singer said of the news: “I can’t believe you picked me – thank you

so much.”

Jones faces a tough task. The UK hasn’t finished inside the top 10 since 2009, and last year’s Brexit vote is expected to make so-called “political voting” even less favourable for the British representative.

After the Eurovision shortlist was initially announced, fans took to Twitter to complain that all six hopefuls are former X Factor contestants.

Danyl Johnson and Lucie Jones both competed in the 2009 series, featuring

Like Teen Spirit.

Now positioning themselves as the “world’s largest band”, the video has been released to accompany their new live album, That’s Live - Life In Cesena 2016, which also

Mrs. T. Alice Lemtur We thank you Lord for this great blessing and pray that You will continue to bless her peace, happiness and long life.

fourth and eighth respectively. Fellow contestants Olivia Garcia and Nate Simpson both progressed through several rounds on last year’s series, though neither made the final.

Loving children, grandchildren, in-laws and relatives

GDYS

eorge RR Martin is set to release a new story set in the Game of Thrones world.

The story will be included in a new anthology book called ‘Book of Swords’.

The Amazon description says it will feature “[f]ifteen original tales celebrating fantasy’s golden age of sword and sorcery, including a new story from George R. R. Martin set in the world of A Game of Thrones!”

Game of Thrones fan site Winter Is Coming speculates that the story could feature

with the world “the story of this courageous and powerful woman in the purest form” there is.

Shahid Kapoor, who will be seen playing the role of Padmavati’s husband Raja Rawal Ratan Singh, expressed his anger and his ‘regret’ that he wasn’t by the filmmaker’s side when the incident took place.

Questioning the actions of the fringe group, Shahid said that the director was someone who the country should be ‘proud of ’ because of the “dignity he brings to the film”.

Ranveer Singh, who will be playing the role of the Alauddin Khilji, assured the people of Rajasthan and the Rajput community, that his director Bhansali “won’t ever do anything to hurt anyone’s feelings”. Admitting that the incident on Friday evening was “very unfortunate”, the actor also requested the people of Rajasthan to “understand and empathise” with their intentions and to give them their support.

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eteran scriptwriter Salim Khan has condemned the attack on director Sanjay Leela Bhansali during the shooting of ‘Padmavati’ in Jaipur’s Jaigarh fort, saying the incident is a ‘matter of shame’.

The 81-year-old ‘Sholay’ writer said he has many friends from the Rajput community and the race is noble. “I have grown up with Rajput boys and have been close to their families.

This race is genetically brave hospitable and loyal.

“The people those who attacked Sanjay Leela Bhansali called themselves Rajputs. The incident is a matter of shame to the noble community,” Salim tweeted.

The writer said he is sure that Bhansali will not do anything that will hurt the sentiment of anyone.

“Nobody has seen the film or read the script but i am sure Sanjay would not have hurt the sentiment of any community or individual,” he wrote.

features covers of many classic rock songs including Steppenwolf ’s Born To Be Wild, AC/DC’s It’s A Long Way To The Top and Neil Young’s Rockin’ In The Free World. The album was filmed in front of a crowd of 14,000 at Cesena’s Orogel Stadium Dino Manuzzi stadium, and featured 1200 musicians and singers.

“You can enjoy the seventeen songs of the concert in Cesena into your headphones,” says band leader Fabio Zaffagnini.

“When you’re screwing around or when you’re working, when you’re stuck in a traffic jam or while being laid on the couch, where you want, when you want!” Which is convenient.

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Wolves shock Liverpool in FA Cup challenge to send in Andreas Weimann, who rounded Karius and slammed the ball into an empty net.

Liverpool finally netted in the 86th minute, when Divick Origi netted his first goal in 10 matches with an emphatic finish at the far post from Dubliner Matt Doherty’s poor clearance.

Burgoyne produced an instinctive block with his feet to deny the Belgian seconds later, and Wolves held on through four minutes of injury time to secure a famous victory.

Weimann is embraced by team-mates Conor Coady, Nohua Dicko and Helder Costa after doubling Wolves’ advantage

Lo n d o n, Ja n 2 8 (Agencies): Wolves are the first side in the hat for Monday’s FA Cup fifthround draw after shocking Premier League high-fliers Liverpool 2-1 at Anfield on Saturday.

Paul Lambert’s side, 18th in the Championship, produced a performance of real quality and maturity to book their place in the fifth round for the first time in nine years. But it was another home horror

show for Jurgen Klopp and Liverpool, who slumped to their third defeat at Anfield in seven days following last Saturday’s Premier League reverse to Swansea and the EFL Cup loss to Southampton on Wednesday.

Wolves stunned the Kop with the opening goal after just 52 seconds, as centre-half Richard Stearman ghosted off his marker to head Wander Helder Costa’s angled free-kick towards the far post beyond

I’ve had PL offers: Lampard Lo n d o n, Ja n 2 8 ( Ag e n c i e s ) : Fr a n k Lampard says he is not yet ready to retire from football, revealing he has had offers to join various Premier League clubs.

The 38-year-old former Chelsea star left New York City FC last year after two seasons in the MLS, but told Sky Sports pundit Jamie Carragher in an interview with the Daily Mail that he is not yet ready to call time on his career.

“There is a part of me that wants to stay in the game, sometimes I don’t know why, it just feels this is what I do,” Lampard said.

“I don’t want to leave and think to myself, ‘Maybe I should have stayed a bit longer’, I’m dwelling on it, I have turned down a few Premier League offers. But the fact is, after being at Chelsea for so long and a year with Manchester City, I don’t want to get involved in a relegation dogfight.” “ I d o n’ t m i n d challenges but there comes a point when you have to take stock, I understand my weaknesses, it’s late January now and to try and get fit and then get into a team and make a massive impact... I don’t feel I could give enough.”

Liverpool goalkeeper Lloris Karius. It was the 29-yearold’s first goal in any competition since April 2014, 1013 days ago, when he scored a header against Leyton Orient at Brisbane Road that secured the League One title for Wolves. Costa, who almost netted a second for Wolves in the tenth minute following a run from his own half, added his second assist of the afternoon just before the break, when he held off an Alberto Moreno

Arsene Wenger

Lo n d o n, Ja n 2 8 (Agencies): Arsene Wenger has been given a four-match touchline ban and fined £25,000 after the Frenchman accepted a

Indian crickters during a practice session before at Green Park stadium in Kanpur.

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in the Indians’ mind and on that occasion the famed batting had come a cropper against the spinners Mitchell Santner and Ish Sodhi.

At Kanpur, it was the pace attack of England, with the visitors’ bowlers keeping the length short, that undid the strong India batting line-up boasting of Kohli, Dhoni and Yuvraj Singh, all proven match-winners on their own.

Yuvraj’s position in the T20 set-up, Manish Pandey’s batting slot at No 6 and KL Rahul’s indifferent form in limited overs, will certainly be taken into consideration when captain Kohli and Anil Kumble sit down to finalise the playing XI. The Indian total of 147 in first match, in which Dhoni top-scored with 36, was well below the par score and they would be eager to correct the aberration against an English batting line-up that’s not only strong but has depth too.

Skipper Eoin Morgan has been in good form from

Foxes earn replay against Derby County

A late Wes Morgan equaliser earned Leicester City a replay against Derby County as both sides played out an exhilarating 2-2 draw in the FA Cup fourth round at the iPro stadium. The skipper powered his headed attempt home in the 86th minute, in a second-half which seen the Premier League champions dominate, having six shots in 25 minutes and having twothirds of the possession.

Claudio Ranieri’s side started the brighter of the two teams, and managed

to break the deadlock in the eight minute, when Darren Bent failed to clear his lines, putting into his own net after horrific defending from the Derby backline, who should have dealt with Marc Albrighton’s corner.

Derby responded well, and the former Aston Villa man rectified his mistake 14 minutes later, when his glancing header from distance proved too accurate for Kasper Schmeichel to deal with, in what is the 32year-old’s tenth FA Cup goal in 11 appearances.

After the equaliser, the Foxes looked out of their depth, and pressure from Steve McClaren’s side paid off in the 39th minute when Craig Bryson displayed great feet before sweeping the ball into the bottom corner.

S h o r t ly a f t e r t h e interval, Ranieri turned to Demarai Gray from the bench to draw his side level and the Italian’s decision nearly paid off when the midfielder’s effort was dealt with by the ever-present Scott Carson, before the 20-year-old struck the post two minutes later.

WI appoint Stuart Law as head coach St. John’s, Jan 28 (IANS): The West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) has confirmed the appointment of former Australia batsman Stuart Law as head coach of the men’s team on a two-year contract. The 48year-old Law, a former Sri Lanka and Bangladesh head coach, will formally take up the post on February 15, just weeks before the West Indies face England in a threematch one-day series in the Caribbean, reports CMC. “We are delighted to welcome Stuart to West Indies Cricket. He comes at an exciting and critical time in the development of the West Indies men’s team, with the emergence of some outstanding young talent, as seen in the most recent test series against Pakistan,” outgoing director of cricket, Richard Pybus said on Friday.

Law played a single Te s t a n d 5 4 O n e - D ay Internationals and also campaigned extensively for English counties Essex and Lancashire.

Following his playing career he served in a number of coaching roles.

Expertise at grassroots missing link in Indian sport: Bindra Kolkata, Jan 28 (IANS): Olympic gold medallist shooter Abhinav Bindra on Saturday said a collective expertise at the grassroots level is absent in Indian sport, a “missing link” that needs to be fixed.

Bindra, India’s only individual Olympic gold medal winner which he won at the 2008 Beijing Games, was on Friday appointed chairman of the re-constituted Target Olympic Podium (TOP) Committee, which also has sprint star P.T. Usha and badminton g reat Prakash Padukone among others.

Asked if there is a collective place where budding shooters can learn the trade, Bindra said, “Unfortunately not. There is no such place around.

We have a lot of ‘so called’ coaches now who have a bit of knowledge. “ B u t o b v i o u s ly I think for a collection of knowledge there is a long way to go for us. That is a missing link in Indian sport,” said Bindra.

Bindra’s quest for

Arsene Wenger hit with four-game ban

Combination woes for Kohli as India gear up to save series

Nagpur, Jan 28 (PTI): Facing the prospect of a series defeat at home for the first time in 15 months, skipper Virat Kohli will have a relook at his team combination as hosts India take on a resurgent England in a do-or-die second T20 International, here Sunday.

The last time that India lost a series was 2-3 against South Africa in October 2015.

After receiving a sound thrashing in the first T20 International at Kanpur, the hosts’ first aim will be to keep the series alive.

Kohli, unbeaten as captain (series wise) at home in all forms, will need to go back to the drawing board as he tries to figure out his best playing XI at a venue where the ‘Men in Blue’ have lost both their previous encounters.

The defeat to New Zealand in the league phase of the World T20 Championship under Dhoni at the VDCA stadium in Jamtha, will still be fresh

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Nagaland Post, Dimapur sunday, JANUARY 29, 2017

the start of the limited overs series as his sequence of scores 28, 102, 43 and 51 will suggest. The first three were during the ODI series.

Especially, the spinners, who were carted around for sixes with nonchalance by the Ireland-born left-hander during his blazing knock of 51 in Kanpur.

The visitors have lot of muscle power in the top five or six batsmen and the need of the hour for India will be to blow away the top-order quickly.

England batsmen displayed some vulnerability against the leg spin of Yuzvendra Chahal, but he and other bowlers need some significant total to defend if India bat first again.

The home team has also the option of making a few changes and one of them is exciting young talent Rishab Pant, who caught the eye with his clean hitting in the 50-over warm-up game against the visitors at the Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai.

Football Association charge of misconduct following his side’s 2-1 win over Burnley.

The 67-year-old was punished after pushing a n d ve r b a l l y a b u s i n g official Anthony Taylor and will be in the stands for the Gunner’s FA cup clash against Southampton and three Premier League games – including a crucial tie against league leaders, Chelsea. “Arsene Wenger has been given a fourmatch touchline ban with immediate effect after he was charged for misconduct following Arsenal’s game against Burnley on Sunday,

Ja nu a r y 2 2 , 2 0 1 7 ,” a statement from FA read.

“It was alleged that in or around the 92nd minute, he used abusive and/or insulting words towards the four th official. “It was further alleged that following his dismissal from the technical area, his behaviour in remaining in the tunnel area and making physical contact with the fourth official amounted to improper conduct.

“The Arsenal manager, who was also fined £25,000, admitted the charge and requested a personal hearing which took place before an

Man City accept FA charge Lo n d o n, Ja n 2 8 (Agencies): Manchester City have acce pted a Fo o t b a l l A s s o c i a t i o n charge of breaching antidoping whereabouts rules.

City were charged by the FA earlier this month following an alleged third violation of r ules concer ning ‘club whereabouts’ in the space of 12 months.

No specific details have been given but it is understood the charge is one of misconduct relating to the club in general rather than any particular individuals. City, who could now be facing a fine, have not yet commented on the situation.

Clubs are required to keep the FA informed of the location of their players in order to facilitate drug testing.

This includes providing the times of training sessions, home addresses of players, or other addresses where the team may stay overnight.

Rules state a breach occurs “if the information contained in such reports is either initially inaccurate or has not been updated by the club as necessary to ensure it remains accurate”.

A ‘three-strike’ policy is operated, meaning that a charge is only triggered after three infringements in the space of a rolling oneyear period.

The sanctions City will face are to be determined following a hearing in front of an independent regulatory commission, which could take place within the next fortnight.

The charge is for a breach of FA rules only and is not under the jurisdiction of the World Anti-Doping A ge n c y o r U K A n t i Doping, who do not deal with team violations.

Independent Regulatory Commission on Friday 27 January.” Wenger confirmed on Friday that he would not oppose the charge and admitted his lack of composure overshadowed his side’s hard-fought victory. “Yes, this team has shown qualities that are very important,” the former Nancy manager said.

“We are a team that has produced more goals in the last five minutes than anyone else, it shows that we are relentless and (have) a refusal to give in no matter what happens, we keep going.”

Abhinav Bindra

a second medal ended in heartbreak at the Rio Olympics last year as he finished fourth in a tense shoot-off in the men’s 10 metre air rifle event. He was speaking at the Tata Steel Kolkata Literary Meet. “ T h a t k n ow l e d ge and expertise available to the grassroot (is missing).

And that is something that needs to desperately change in our country and in our scenario because at the time they are starting out, that is the most crucial time when their foundation is laid and techniques are formed.”

Bindra admitted that things have been better in the last few years, but said that more needs to be done.

1st DEATH ANNIVERSARY of Late A. Mhonbemo Ngullie

“You are gone but with tears, we deeply miss you and remember you in our hearts”.

Loving Wife, children & relatives.

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FIRST DEATH ANNIVERSARY OF OUR BELOVED

CHUMBEN LOTHA

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

Late L Imtiningsang Longkumer Born : 1-12-1934 – Died : 21-1-2017

We the family members of Late L Imtiningsang Longkumer (Rtd Teacher, Changki) convey our heartfelt and profound gratitude to all those who have stood us through your prayers, physical and financial support during his brief illness and at the demise on January 21, 2017. We are unable to thank each and everyone of you individually, but it is our sincere prayer that the good Lord will bless your acts of generosity. May our gratitude be your blessing.

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Loving family members

ON THIS DAY, 29.01.2016, YOU LEFT US: AND WE PASS OUR DAYS IN TEARS, BECAUSE WE MISS YOU EVERY MOMENT. OH BELOVED, TILL WE MEET AGAIN, REST IN PEACE IN THE LORD. DP-803

2nd DEATH ANNIVERSARY OF LATE MENTO ZHIMOMI

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

Lt. T. Tsasela.

Died on 23rd January 2017 We, the bereaved family members of Late T. Tsasela, would like to express our sincere gratitude to all individual, friends, neighbours, relatives and well wishers from far and near who supported us physically, financially, spiritually and materially during her prolonged illness and at the sudden demise of our beloved mother.

We would like to convey our special thanks to: 1. Shri. C.Kipili Sangtam, Minister of Power, Nagaland Kohima.

2. Deputy Commissioner, Kiphire.

3. GMS Kiphire Village staffs.

4. Oking Hospital, Doctors & Staff.

5. Bethel Hospital, Doctors & Staff.

6. Sangtam Baptist Church, Lithrolarü Kohima.

7. Langkok Fellowship, Kohima.

8. Rengma Fellowship, Agri Forest Colony, Kohima.

9. Hosanna Prayer Group, Kohima.

10. Atparü Mülong, New Secretariat Kohima.

11. Kiphire Town Baptist Lithro.

12. Kiphire Village Baptist Lithro.

13. Langkok Village Baptist Lithro.

14. Kisetong Village Baptist Lithro.

15. Good Shepherd High School, Kiphire.

16. Atparü Union Kiphire Village, Kiphire Town.

17. Atparü Jubilee Planning Committee, Kiphire Town.

18. Yingphithongrü Akheda Hong, Kiphire Town.

19. Kiphire Village Council.

20. Jail Ward Public Union, Kiphire.

We deeply regret our inability to thank each and every individual but it is our prayer that the Almighty God blesses you all in abundance.

Loving husband & families DP-983

Loving Ma, daddy, wife, children & relatives

29th Jan.

Years pass by but your memories never die, since you left for your heavenly abode, yet not a single moment has passed without you in our thoughts.

Deeply miss you in silent tears and prayers.

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Loving wife, children, parents & relatives K Y M C

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Serena wins record 23rd Grand Slam

an amazing person. There is no way I would be at 23 without her. She is my inspiration, the only reason why I am standing here.

Thank you for inspiring me to be the best player.

She has been such a great champion,” Serena said after the match.

Peers, Kontinen win men’s doubles title

Serena Williams and Venus Williams with their trophy after the ceremony.

Melbourne, Jan 28 (PTI): American superstar Serena Williams today rewrote history by becoming the first woman tennis player to win a record 23 Grand Slam titles beating elder sister Venus Williams 6-4 6-4 in the final of the Australian Open, here.

With today’s triumph, the 35-year-old younger Williams will also get back to numero uno position when the WTA publishes its latest rankings on Monday.

Inarguably, one of the greatest exponents that the game of tennis has ever seen, Serena’s seventh Australian Open title was a bit of an anti-climax as the quality of tennis was bereft of the top billing of a marquee clash.

In what turned out

Nagaland Post, Dimapur sunday, january 29, 2017

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to be a baseline slugfest between the two sisters, Serena walked away with the coveted title by winning the big points and making less mistakes.

In the end, Venus’ backhand lob went wide and Serena seemed more relieved than elated as her elder sister crossed the sides to give her a tight hug.

For 36-year-old Venus, a sentimental favourite after making it to the finals beating some of the opponents half her age, the summit clash was a big letdown with the number of unforced errors that marred her game.

Especially her crosscourt shots -- both backhand and forehand couldn’t come through, making it easier for Serena to come back hard at her. Either she hit the net or

the shots went wide.

Venus showed glimpses of her old self in the third game of the second set, when she was down 0-40 on her serve. But she reeled off five straight points to make it 2-1.

The most important game turned out to be the seventh game of the second set when Serena broke Venus’ serve. The standout shot was a thundering backhand down the line and the break happened when the champion hit a double handed backhand cross the court to make it 4-3 and then closed the match in the 10th game.

“I just kept praying and praying and I am here.

I love you (Venus), thank you. I take this moment to congratulate Venus, she is

Australian John Peers and Finnish partner Henri Kontinen have been crowned men’s doubles’ champions at the Australian Open.

No.4 seeds Peers and Kontinen defeated American pair Bob and Mike Bryan 7-5 7-5 on Saturday night to claim their first silverware at a major. The third-seeded Bryan brothers had each been looking to equal John Newcombe’s record for the most grand slam doubles titles won by an individual with a 17th major win.

But Peers and Kontinen were not to be denied, outplaying their more experienced opponents in an hour and 14 minutes.

The Bryans are the most successful doubles pairing of the open era with the ‘Woodies’ - Australian pair Mark Woodforde and Todd Woodbridge - next best with 11. “We realise that this is maybe going to be one of our last years, maybe the last year,” Mike Bryan said.

“I think we’re going to just devote one more hard year and start talking about it at the end of this year.”

Blind football orientation camp cancelled

D im a p u r , Ja n 2 8 (NPN): Special Olympics Nagaland (SON) has informed that the Blind Fo o t b a l l O r i e n t a t i o n Camp scheduled to be held on January 30 at Dimapur has been cancelled due to the prevailing situation in the state.

The camp will be held in few months time. Non Governmental Organizations (NGOs)/ social workers can visit www.blindfootball.in for updates on the matter and may contact national coach and sporting director of IBFF Sunil J Mathew at 9447132363 for training camps.

Sarita Devi to make pro debut today

Imphal, Jan 28 (PTI): It will be the beginning of a new phase for celebrated I n d i a n w o m a n b ox e r L Sarita Devi as she will make her foray into the professional circuit by taking on veteran Hungarian Zsofia Bedo in her debut bout, here Sunday.

The five-bout Fight Night, being conducted by the Indian Boxing Council, will also witness Pinki Jangra and veteran Som Bahadur Poon making their professional debut.

Sarita, a former world champion and Asian Games bronze-medallist, had a faceoff with her opponent Zsofia here today. The 59-pro bout veteran from Hungary has experience on her side, but Sarita exuded confidence

that she had trained hard to silence her opponent.

“These (professional) boxers always make tall claims. I have trained really hard, my coach is among the best in professional boxing, he is monitoring my progress. He is confident, I have trained up to 8 hours every day. I am playing for the pride of Manipur, I am playing for the pride of India,” Sarita said.

“I have to give a gift of victory to my fans. Ask her (Zsofia) after the bout tomorrow, you will find her looking for excuses.

She made fun of my emotions yes I cry, because I am not ready to lose,” she added. Zsofia was quick to br ush aside Sarita’s assertions.

Sarita Devi

Glasgow Common wealth 2014 Games bronzemedallist, Pinki too is confident of a winning start to her professional career.

Pinki will take on Claudia Ferenczi of Slovakia.

Fo r m e r C o m m o n wealth champion, Som Bahadur Poon will return to make a pro debut eight years after he had played his last competitive bout during the 2008 Military Games.

The Nagaland Motorcycle Club (Naga Chiefs) visited the Galilee Home for children (Orphanage) at Chumukedima on January 26. The members of the club interacted with the children and donated money to orphanage. NMC undertakes such charitable works as its social responsibility program every year on the Republic Day.

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