11 Mar 2022

Nagaland Post www.nagalandpost.com

Vol XXXII No. 94

DIMAPUR, FRIDAY, MARCH 11, 2022 Pages 12 ` 5.00

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SPORTS, PAGE 12

INTERNATIONAL, PAGE 9

BJP retains 4 states; AAP historic win in Punjab

WINS A BIG BOOST FOR BJP; AAM AADMI PARTY GROWING AS CONGRESS WITHERING

UTTAR PRADESH Constituencies Party BJP SP AD(S) Cong BSP Others

403

Won Lead Total 255 255 0 111 110 1 12 12 0 2 2 0 1 1 0 22 22 0

NEW DELHI, MAR 10 (PTI): The BJP on Thursday retained power in the politically crucial state of Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Goa and Manipur while the AAP swept Punjab with threefourths majority to give a boost to its pitch for a national role and the opposition camp ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.

As counting of votes in the Assembly elections to five states continued tonight, Holi came a week early for the BJP as an incumbent government returned to power in UP after over three decades with the saffron party riding on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s popularity and chief minister Yogi Adityanath’s effective implementation of welfare policies to create a “new history”.

PUNJAB Constituencies Party AAP Cong SAD BJP BSP Ind

The spectacular rise of the Arvind Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) outside its Delhi turf with an unprecedented mandate in Punjab and a toehold in Goa by bagging two seats also foretells a big likely churn in the opposition camp. While Kejriwal hailed the party’s performance in Punjab as a “revolution”, it was a hattrick for the BJP in Goa. “Poll results highlight people’s stamp of strong approval for BJP’s pro-poor pro-active governance,” Modi said in his address to jubilant party workers at the party headquarters in Delhi.

“Those who look at UP through prism of caste insult it; people of state repeatedly voted for politics of development since 2014.”

The Congress, now in power only in Rajasthan

117 Won 92 18 3 2 1 1

and Chhattisgarh, an alltime low, lost Punjab and could bag only two seats in UP notwithstanding the high-decibel campaign by the Gandhi siblings Rahul and Priyanka. Like the Congress, the AAP will also be in power in two states.

UP: In trends and results available for the 403 seats in Uttar Pradesh where Adityanath also achieved the maiden feat of an incumbent returning to power in the state after serving a full term, the BJP crossed the majority mark garnering 255 seats, short of its earlier count of 312.

“People have buried the politics of caste and religion by ensuring the victory of BJP and its allies in Uttar Pradesh under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi,” Adityanath said at

UTTARAKHAND Constituencies

70

Party

Won

BJP

47

Cong

19

BSP

2

Ind

2

the state BJP headquarters in Lucknow.

Bulldozers -- real as well as miniature versions -- were at the centre stage of the celebrations at the BJP office in the state capital as they figured in the poll campaign in a reference to the action taken against criminals and what the state government calls buildings linked to the ‘mafia’.

Samajwadi Party(SP), which made a vigorous bid for power with Akhilesh Yadav attracting huge crowds at campaign rallies, won 110 seats and was leading in 1, a significant jump from the 47 last time. The BJP increased its vote share in almost all the states that went to polls including a marginal rise in Punjab, where it just managed to win two seats.

Punjab: In the

MANIPUR Constituencies Party BJP NPP JD(U) Cong NPF Others

117-member Punjab Assembly, the AAP won 92 seats, Congress 18, SAD 3, BJP 2, BSP and Independent won one seat each. In terms of vote share, the AAP won 42 per cent of the total votes cast, as against 23.7 per cent it had won five years ago.

The Congress vote share slumped in Punjab from 38.5 per cent in 2017 to 23 per cent, with the party holding on to just 18 seats as against 77 seats it had won five years back.

From a comedian to the chief minister-designate, Bhagwant Mann, who has come a long way in a political career of just over a decade, said the oath-taking ceremony of the new Punjab cabinet will be held at Khatkar Kalan, the ancestral village of legendary freedom fighter Bhagat Singh in

60

Won 32 7 6 5 5 5

Nawanshahr district.

Goa: Belying predictions of a fractured mandate, Goa chief minister Pramod Sawant has been able to deliver victory for the BJP which is coming to power for the third time.

The BJP, which bagged 20 seats, said it has received letters of support from the Maharshtrawadi Gomantak Party (2 seats) and three Independent MLAs, enabling the ruling party to cross the simple majority mark of 21.

Uttarakhand: The BJP won big in Uttarakhand getting 47 seats to retain power and was ahead in two in the 70-member Assembly even as incumbent chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami lost by 6,579 votes in Khatima, a seat he had been winning for the last two consecutive elections. The Congress won 19.

GOA Constituencies Party

Won

BJP

20

Cong

11

AAP

2

MGP

2

Others

5

BJP crosses majority mark in Mnp; Biren rules out alliance with NPP Correspondent

IMPHAL, MAR 10: With the BJP in Manipur crossing the majority mark with 32 seats, the party is all set to form a government on its own.

Talking to media persons after winning the Heingang constituency for the fifth consecutive time, the incumbent chief minister N. Biren Singh, however, said that his party will not form an alliance with NPP this time but was open to alliance with other like-minded parties.

Besides NPP which won seven seats and Congress- 5 seats, the BJP is

2 sitting CMs, 3 ex-CMs among others bite the dust Leaders in Delhi to apprise Govt on Naga issue: Kaito NEW DELHI, MAR 10 (NPN): Even as the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is set to retain power in Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Manipur and Goa, the stunning performance and a clean sweep in Punjab by the Aam Aadmi Party, decimating the Congress to shreds, has come as a big surprise to many.

The Badals: The grand old man of Punjab politics, Parkash Singh Badal became chief minister of the state for the first time in 1970. He went on to occupy the chair several times with his last stint ending in 2017. Lambi assembly seat was considered his fiefdom from where he had won five consecutive terms. That was till Gurmeet Singh Khudian, riding an extraordinary AAP wave, defeated the stalwart.

Sukhbir Singh Badal: A former deputy CM, he controlled the affairs of the SAD. Badal had won his Jalalabad seat in 2017 even when the SAD-BJP alliance was routed by the Congress in 2017. In 2022, Sukhbir Badal was trounced

by AAP’s Jagdeep Kamboj.

Manpreet Singh Badal:

This is it!

Charanjit Channi

Parkash Badal

Navjot Sidhu

Sukhbir Badal

Member of the Badal clan who was in the Congress and the state’s finance minister, lost his Bathinda (Urban) seat to Jagroop Gill of the AAP. Punjab CM: Punjab chief minister and Congress leader Charanjit Singh Channi lost the election from both the seats that he contested - Chamkaur Sahib and Bhadaur. In Bhadaur, the AAP’s Labh Singh Ugoke got over 57,000 votes, while Channi drew a little over 23,000 votes. In the other seat, Channi got some 50,000 votes, while his nearest rival from AAP who has a similar name- Charanjit Singh- got over 54,000 votes.

K Y M C

Harish Rawat

Pushkar Dhami

Y Joykumar

According to news reports, Ugoke is in the business of repairing mobile phones. His father is a driver. In his victory, Kejriwal made it a point to announce Ugoke’s humble origins.

Navjot Sidhu: The ambitious state Congress chief of Punjab Navjot Singh Sidhu conceded defeat even before counting completed.

Sidhu, the sitting MLA from Amritsar East, to AAP’s Jeevanjyot Kaur.

Capt Amarinder Singh: The former chief minister was the main challenger to Badal. He brought the Congress to power twice and even defeated former finance minister Arun Jaitley in a

Correspondent/DIPR

KO H I M A , M A R 1 0 (NPN): With Nagas yearning for an early solution to the decades old Naga political issue, Agriculture & Cooperation minister G. Kaito Aye on Thursday informed that few leaders have left for Delhi to apprise the Central leaders as to how Naga solution should be arrived at in line with the rest of the country.

He said this while speaking at the reception cum interaction programme for National Cooperative

Kaito Aye with Dileep Sangkhani and others, Thursday. (NP)

Union of India (NCUI) president Dileep Sangkhani at Hotel Japfu here on Thursday.

While not denying that the state has been gripped with a lot of problems, Kaito said several issues had “certainly blocked our ways

KO H I M A , M A R 1 0 (NPN): The State government inked a power purchase agreement (PPA) with M/s Halo Energie Pvt Ltd at Hotel Vivor here on Thursday to set up 20 mw solar power plant at Ganeshnagar Industrial Area.

The agreement was signed in presence of advisor, Power, H Tovihoto Ayemi; principal secretary power, KD Vizo; officials of from power department and finance department.

20 MW PROJECT AT GANESHNAGAR INDUSTRIAL AREA

Tovihoto Ayemi addressing the gathering on Thursday. (NP)

According to the project overview, the company signed the PPA with the state government to set up the first greenfield solar power project in the State. This 20-mw power project will

be spread across 120 acres inside Ganeshnagar Industrial Area in Dimapur and envisages to generate close to 28 million units (MU) of power annually.

Halo Energie Pvt Ltd

intentionally or unintentionally.” He said “when law and order was not friendly with the people, naturally everything goes slow.” For this reason, he said the State was not able to catchup the rest of the nation, including (Cont’d on p-8)

likely to have a post-poll alliance with JD(U)-6, NPF5, Independent-3 and Kuki People’s Alliance- 2.

Though Biren was heading a BJP-led alliance government in Manipur, none of the parties made any pre-poll alliance.

When asked if he would retain his chair, Singh said that the Central party will decide on the chief ministerial face.

He said as done in the previous elections, this time too, BJP did not project anyone as chief ministerial candidates in any of the five states where the Assembly elections were held simultaneously.

State logs 2 fresh Covid-19 cases

DIMAPUR, MAR 10 (NPN): Nagaland on Thursday recorded two fresh Covid-19 positive cases while no deaths were reported in the last 24 hours.

One case each were reported in Dimapur and Mokokchung, taking the total caseload to 35443. The death toll remained unchanged at 757 (including 4 non-Covid deaths but with positivity).

PTI: India recorded 4,184 cases taking the tally to 4,29,80,067, while death toll climbed to 5,15,459 with 104 fresh fatalities.

ABAM calls for strengthening NLTP Act

DIMAPUR, MAR 10 (NPN): Ao Baptist Arogo Mungdang (ABAM) along with Nagaland Baptist Church Council and all stakeholders have called for continuing and strengthening the Nagaland Liquor Total Prevention (NLTP) Act, 1989 and vehemently opposed its lifting.

In a statement, ABAM executive secretary Rev Dr Mar Pongener noted that

much had been said, written and debated about the Act and varying proposals had been put forth by different stakeholders. While the proponents of the government seemed to lament loss of possible revenue for the State and how Assam continued to benefit from the Act, he said there were also those who were concerned about the inflow of spurious liquor into Nagaland because of

PPA inked to set up Nagaland’s first solar power plant Correspondent

“Our party is supreme.

Anyone of us chosen to be CM must be efficient and obedient like a robot.”

Cpt. Amarinder

fierce contest in 2014 Lok Sabha elections. However, Amarinder Singh, who was contesting the 2022 polls as a BJP ally, lost his Patiala bastion to AAP’s Ajit Pal Singh Kohli.

Uttarakhand CM, former CM loses: BJP’s Uttarakhand chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami lost from the Khatima seat to Congress party candidate Bhuwan Chandra Kapri by more than 7,000 votes.

C o n g r e s s ’s H a r i s h Rawat, a chief minister hopeful and a veteran leader, lost the election from the Lalkuwa seat. In a social media post, Mr Rawat conceded that he has lost and only a formal announcement by the poll body remains.

Manipur DyCM: Manipur’s deputy CM and national NPP vice president Yumnam Joykumar Singh lost to BJP’s Raghumani Singh in Uripok constituency by a margin of 909 votes Thursday. A former IAS officer, Raghumani Singh entered the fray for the first time and defeated Joykumar, who was also the former DGP of Manipur.

40

is an independent power producing company (IPP) based out of Hyderabad.

The power produced will be injected into the substation located in the Ganeshnagar estate, which in turn will churn other industries/activities. This green power will also be a stepping stone for the government in fulfilling the Renewable Purchase Obligations compliance that currently stands at a target of 8.75 % (State notified target as on December 2021). Currently, Nagaland had a requirement of

close to 750 MU of power, majority of which was being purchased from hydroelectric generation plants. This project would add a significant number to the State’s own generation capacity, a release stated.

The project will be using mono/poly crystalline solar panels to generate power. Central Grid inverters will be used to convert the DC power produced from the panels into AC and then stepped up to grid level voltage for smooth synchronization. (Cont’d on p-8)

this Act and how it destroyed the health of the consumers.

While both the concerns were understandable, he asserted that alcohol in itself did not have a lot of positive qualities. Mentioning that it destroyed the health of an individual, Pongener claimed there were no cases of health improving due to the consumption of alcohol.

Besides health, he said human relationships bore the

brunt of alcohol abuse in the family and community.

Further, neither the financial condition of the individual or of the family improved due to alcohol consumption, he added.

According to ABAM, the only group that stood to benefit from alcohol were those who manufactured it, earned an income from it as tax revenue and sold it.

(Cont’d on p-7)

NSF urges govt to begin recruitment under NSSB DIMAPUR, MAR 10 (NPN): Naga Students’ Federation (NSF) has appealed of the state government to ensure that the process for recruitment to various posts falling within the purview of Nagaland Staff Selection Board (NSSB) be initiated without further delay.

In a press release, NSF president Kegwayhun Tep and general secretary Süpuni Ng Philo cautioned that government’s failure to do so would compel the

federation to “take befitting actions in the interest of the deprived aspirants.”

NSF said that with NSSB well in place, it was hopeful that “all opposing forces” will pay heed to the grievances of the aspirants and ensure that “no further impediments” were created in the way of implementing the NSSB in the state.

It also called for rectifying the lacunas within the NSSB policy “as pointed out by a (Cont’d on p-8) K Y M C

2

STATE

Longleng DPDB sensitised on helpline for senior citizens

Programme manager, Elderline Nagaland, Neithonuo Liegise speaking at the meeting. (DIPR)

DIMAPUR: Activities of national helpline for senior citizens of Nagaland state was highlighted during Longleng District Planning and Development Board (DPDB) meeting Thursday at the Conference Hall of Deputy Commissioner (DC) Longleng.

According to a DIPR report, in a PowerPoint presentation, programme manager, Elderline Nagaland, Neithonuo Liegise said Elderline platform for senior citizens was created to redress their grievances by providing necessary information and intervention on guidance and emotional support.

She said it helps in rescuing and reunion of homeless elderly and abuse through a collective of highly committed stakeholders and partners including government agencies, non-

profit organisations and that it volunteers to facilitate happy and healthy aging by serving the senior citizens with dedication and compassion. Liegise said the presentation was initiated at the DPDB meeting to sensitize the stakeholders like the police, administration, medical, District Legal Service Agency (DLSA) and other government agencies and stakeholders. She then urged the DPDB members to come forward support the welfare of our senior citizens.

Earlier, chairperson of the meeting, DC Longleng, M. Shayung Phom reiterated that members should be regular and present in their place of posting and attend government activities of the district.

The DC also lauded and acknowledged the Chief Medical Officer (CMO)

Longlenga Dr. Obangjungla for being awarded the phenomenal women award in recognising and appreciating her distinctive social services rendered towards the Phom-Naga community during the celebration of International Women’s Day program. He also acknowledged and appreciated the dedication of the DEF Longleng to control the maniac of drug trafficking in the district.

The board recommended for creation and functioning of Noklangkong as Adhoc-ward bifurcated from Leinak ward.

DSO, Longleng, T. Mhao Humtsoe presented the activities of the sericulture department, Longleng followed by presentation of details activities of ATMA conducted during 2001-22

by PDP ATMA Longleng, Akam Zeliang.

Awareness & conservation programme at NZP

DIMAPUR: An “awareness and conservation programme” was organised by the Nagaland Zoological Park (NZP) Rangapahar in collaboration with the Central Zoo Authority, New Delhi as part of the ongoing “Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsay” series of activities on Thursday.

A press release by NZP Rangapahar stated that special invitee, director, Intanki National Park, Aochuba exhorted the gathering of school students and teachers from Beanstalk School, Lengrijan on the importance of the species in focus “Blyth’s Tragopan” and its conservation. He also spoke about identifying the state bird and state animal of Nagaland and the important role students could play in the combined efforts of the department and public towards the protection and conservation of wildlife in the state.

Earlier, director NZP Dr. C. Zupeni Tsanglai also interacted with the students on the awareness and conservation of wildlife. The programme was chaired by range forest officer, NZP, Watisungla Amer and vote of thanks was delivered

by NZP forester-I Vinoto K Rochill. As part of the programme, painting competition on the theme “State Bird of Nagaland” was organized and winners were felicitated.

NAGALAND POST, DIMAPUR FRIDAY, MARCH 11, 2022

Uplifting women street vendors: Kohima chapter DIMAPUR: Kohima chapter of “Uplifting Women Street Vendors” programme, organised by Entrepreneurs Associates (EA) and supported by Capri Global Capital Limited was held on March 7 at Aloha Learning Centre, Kohima.

A press release from EA informed that during the programme, soft skills trainer Susan Angami spoke on “Enhanced Customer Service” and emphasised the importance of interpersonal skills to communicate more effectively with customers.

She said that even a minute gesture could leave a huge impact and greeting a customer with smile regardless of one’s mood, understanding customer’s need and being punctual were also highlighted.

According to Susan, the present market scenario changed with an increase in vegetable supply and more people willing to take up farming.

With the “Support Local” tag, she believes that Nagaland was heading towards the right direction of self-sufficiency. In this regard, she motivated street vendors to take pride in their jobs and maintain selfrespect.

Accentuating the importance of financial planning, EA CEO, Neichute Doulo asked the vendors to

EA CEO, Neichute Doulo speaking at the programme in Kohima.

set aside 20% of their earnings as savings just as Joseph in the Bible advised Pharoah of Egypt to put aside 20% of all productions in preparation for the famine.

For them to scale their businesses and grow, Neichute encouraged the women vendors to be open to learning new skills and most importantly, master the art of financial planning.

He also informed that the interest free loans currently provided by EA was the outcome of EA’s intervention to help street vendors during the pandemic through relief distribution and facilitating incomes when they could not operate their businesses.

The social entrepreneur also suggested that women should adopt technology to improve their

businesses, citing the examples of EA’s programme on “Enabling Technology” in Manipur where 800 women were trained.

The attendees also learned about schemes available under EA. Many of the women are also members of the program which has so far covered 10 districts of Nagaland and Ukhrul district of Manipur; having impacted over 4000 women street vendors.

Komuhero, a street vendor from Pudunamei who has been vending vegetables at Mao market for the past 17 years said she began her business with just Rs. 40 when she was 17 years old.

She was purchasing one kg of brinjal at Rs 15 and bunch of mustard leaves for Rs. 25 with her first

capital.

“I sold them the same afternoon. I was so happy to see my money had almost doubled. That’s when I decided I would get into the business full time” Komuhero recalls.

She was one among the many vendors who attended the programme.

The programme was chaired by EA operations super visor, Chunjanglu and invocation was said Tsukjemnungla Ao, street vendor from Mao market.

Altogether, around 70 women street vendors across Kohima town attended the programme.

It may be mentioned that EA has been conducting trainings for street vendors and empowering them through its various linkages over the last five years.

Acknowledgement

Lt. Odimeren Pongen (Chuchuyimlang) 1st Death anniversary th (11 March, 2021 – 11th March, 2022) Dear Oba, It’s been a year since you left us for heavenly abode but not a single day goes by without thinking of you. Life is just not the same in your absence.

We miss you so much!

Loving Wife & Children mkc-79/22

db-183/22

An awareness programme on importance of meat, inspection and modernisation of meat shops and safer environment for butchers was organised by Dimapur Municipal Council on March 10 at IMC hall with scientist, vety parasitology ICAR NRC on Mithun Nagaland, Dr. Jayanta Kumar Chamuah and assistant professor, College of AH Jalukie, Dr. Kevimese Khate as resource persons.

Born :15.04.1969 – Died: 02.03.2022 We, the bereaved family of Late Jongponglemba (Kelingmen Village) would like to express our profound gratitude to all individuals, neighbours, friends, villagers and well wishers who stood by us and supported us spiritually, financially and materially during his brief illness and sudden demise.

We could not be able to mention your name individually here but it is our humble prayer that our Almighty God blesses you all abundantly.

A special mention of gratitude: 1. SP Mon 2. Police Baptist Church Mon 3. Doctor and nurses of Fellowship Nursing Home, Dimapur.

Loving wife, children, grand children and relatives.

dP-1121/22

Gone but still in our heart

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith, now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that day and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing.” 2 TIMOTHY 4: 7-8 With enormous respect, appreciation and grateful heart, we, the bereaved family members would like to acknowledge the many expressions of sympathy and gestures of kindness shown towards us and supported us through prayers, and in various capacities during the illness and demise of Late H. LONGNYEI PHOM Rtd DFO. Through this column, we extend our deepest gratitude to the following :1.

Shri. S. Pangnyu Phom, Hon’ble Minister of Health and Family Welfare Nagaland.

2. Dr. Hentok Phom, New Delhi.

3. Dr. Manyau Phom, Kohima.

4. Dr. Ongchu Phom Longleng.

5. Mr. Moa Kumzük Tzüdier, Addl. Deputy Commissioner Zunheboto.

6. Doctors & nurses of BLK Hospital, New Delhi.

7. Doctors & nurses of Eden Hospital, Dimapur.

8. Longleng Town Baptist Church.

9. Gospel Team Longleng.

10. Nyengching Ward Longleng.

11.

12.

13.

14.

15.

16.

17.

18.

19.

20.

21.

22.

23.

Yungshong Union Longleng.

Pensioner Association Longleng.

Senior Citizen Forum Longleng.

Kangching Union Longleng Yongshei Village Council.

Tangha Baptist Attoi.

Phom Baptist Attoi, Dimapur.

Phom Baptist Fellowship, Nagarjan.

Vomshakhü Phang Yongnyah.

Manling Aiha Ghong Kangching.

Kangching Baptist Attoi.

Kangching Village Council.

All relatives, in-laws, friends, neighbours and well-wishers.

As it would be impossible to thank everyone individually, please accepts this acknowledgement as an expression of our sincere and heartfelt gratitude, and it is our humble prayer that our Almighty God blesses you all abundantly.

“Nüngi mehe dükpa, ha kü shembüpai nüng kü nyemshempha” {Ruth 2:12} dP-1116/22

K Y M C

Loving Son, Daughters, Grand-Children & Relatives

DIED ON : 20th MarcH 2022 K Y M C

nagalandpost.com Poll Q.: Will the election results in 5 states indicate the t re n d f o r 2 0 2 4 L o k Sabha elections?

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

A B C

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

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

A

B

Yes. No. Can’t Say.

C

66% 17% 17%

NEXT POLL

Q: W i l l h o l d i n g U L B

elections with 33% women reservation be welcomed by people?  Yes.  No.  Can’t Say.

WEATHER FORECAST MARCH 11

(Temperature in ºC)

Max Min

Agartala Decreasing clouds and hot

36 16

Aizawl

Very warm with clouds and sun 32 13

Guwahati Rather cloudy and very warm Imphal

Hot with hazy sunshine

Itanagar Mainly cloudy

35 16 34 9 31 18

Shillong Very warm with clouds and sun 27 11

Hazy sunshine

27 13

Dimapur Hazy sun and very warm

35 17

Mostly sunny

31 15

Kohima Mkg

Tuensang Hazy sunshine and not as warm 23 10 Wokha

‘Church can educate Nagas on disability’ Capacity building workshop for ENCOURAGE DISABLED PEOPLE TO PARTICIPATE IN REGULAR SERVICES Staff Reporter

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

Hazy sunshine and not as hot

Zunheboto Mostly sunny

28 17 27 12

DIMAPUR, MAR 10 (NPN): State commissioner for persons with disability, Diethono Nakhro on Thursday said that the Church could educate the Naga population on disabled persons as it had a huge influence in the state.

Speaking at the Ao Baptist Arogo Mungdang (ABAM) “Social Concern Sesquicentennial Programme for differently abled persons” at Aoyimti Baptist Church on the theme “let everything that has breath praise the Lord” (Psalms 150:6) as special guest, Diethono said the Church could become a role model for other societies to bring about an inclusion of disabled persons in their lives.

She also acknowledged ABAM for organising the programme in commemoration of its sesquicentennial jubilee celebration and cited examples on how the Church could be a platform to eradicate negative mindset towards disabled persons.

She hinted about throwing open the doors of the Church to the disabled, not in forms of special services but encouraging disabled people to participate in regular services such as “a sign language interpreter

Naga activist receives ‘National Social Soldier Award 2022’ DIMAPUR: On the occasion of International Women’s Day, human rights activist and journalist, Yibeni Humtsoe from Wokha was conferred with the “National Social Soldier award 2022” by the National Council of Women in association with ministry of Women and Child Development on March 8 at New Delhi.

The National Social Soldier Award 2022 honours out standing women empowerment action in defence of women rights and empowerment.

It may be mentioned that Yibeni is an advisory panel member at National Commission for Women, Para legal Volunteer at District Legal Services Authority, Guwahati and bureau chief of the newspaper, “Country and Political”.

She advocates for human rights and social justice for women and was presented with the award

3

STATE

NAGALAND POST, DIMAPUR FRIDAY, MARCH 11, 2022

Yibeni Humtsoe

under the women rights segment.

The award recognises her unique contribution as a woman to “right to live with dignity”.

The award launched as part of the National Council for Women Development which focuses on promoting women empowerment at grassroots level by discovering and recognising those who choose to look beyond their limitation and contribute significant to positively impact the society.

State commissioner for persons with disability, Diethono Nakhro speaking at the programme on Thursday. (NP)

at worship service”.

The state commissioner for persons with disability said many times, disability inclusion was thought of as separate special activity however, it was about including disabled in general activities and providing them equal opportunities.

In this regard, she said that the Church had the capacity to transform lives of people with disability, their families and caregivers.

She also stressed that it meant providing people with disability equal opportunity in areas of education, employment, business, housing, etc.

Disability is neglected

by Nagas in general While lamenting that disability was neglected by Nagas in general including the state government and civil society organisations (CSOs), Diethono main-

tained that even though Nagas think they did not have negative attitude towards disability, it was so “ingrained” and it happened involuntarily. She informed that as per 2011 census, India was home to around 26.8 million disabled people with roughly around 29,631 in the state. Diethono however pointed out that the numbers were “conservative” figures and the absolute figures would be much higher.

Stating that disabled people were the “world’s largest minority”, she said that she was not born disabled but met with an accident in 2006 which injured her spinal cord and led to the disability.

She shared that she was initially frustrated and wallowed in self-pity, however later, she realised that what had happened to her was a necessary fire for her to

do what she was currently doing.

She disclosed that although she was able to restart her life, she found out that disabled people existed but did not matter to the larger society.

Speaking on the types of disability, Diethono said not all disabilities were visible and although people were inclined to group people with disability as one, this, however was not true.

“Disability is diverse and our needs are different” she stated.

Earlier, introduction of programme was delivered by ABAM executive secretary, Rev. Dr. Mar Pongener, Bible reading by members of Deaf Biblical Ministry Dimapur and special song

by Imsungla.

After the formal programme, curricular activities for disabled persons were conducted followed by a discussion on how to do mission works with the help of disabled persons.

During the discussion hour, MD (PMR) senior specialist, DDRC, Dr. Imlitemsü Ozükum spoke on “addressing issues of disabilities from medical perspectives” while a talk on “addressing the issues of disabilities” was given by Maong Jamir.

NEWS IN BRIEF DC Zunheboto informs: Deputy commissioner, Zunheboto has directed the extension of existing measures for containment of COVID-19 and relaxation for various activities subject to adherence to conditions and relevant SOPs as contained in the DC’s office order of even number dated February 18 and previous orders issued in this regard from time to time, till March 15 in Zunheboto district.

CGBA informs: Chakhroma GBs Association (CGBA) has convened a general meeting on March 19, 10 a.m. at Chakhroma Public Organisation (CPO) Hall, Chumoukedima to install/select Chumoukedima District Gaon Bura Association office bearers. All concerned GBs of the new district have been requested to attend the meeting.

NBCD informs: Notun Bosti Council Dimapur (NBCD) has informed all residents and business establishment (shop keepers) under Notun Bosti Colony that a mass social work would be held on March 12, 6 a.m. onwards within its jurisdiction. All concerned have been asked to clean respective house/ shop surroundings including the drainage. All khel chairmen/GBs and youth front have been asked to take initiative in their respective jurisdiction.

HCBA Kohima elects/selects: High Court Bar Association (HCBA) Kohima has elected/selected its new office bearers for the tenure 2022-2025 with senior advocate C T Jamir and Joshua Sheqi as president and general secretary respectively along with six other office bearers and nine executive members.

TB survivors held in Kohima

State TB officials along with TB champions after the programme.

DIMAPUR: A district level capacity building workshop for Tuberculosis (TB) survivors was organised by National TB Elimination Programme (NTEP) in collaboration with #Touched

by TB #REACH #USAID Project and ARK Foundation on March 8-9 at Kohima Town.

In a press release, state programme officer (NTEP), directorate of Health & Family Welfare, Dr. Tiasunup Pongener informed that workshop objectives was highlighted by national coordinator, New Delhi, Dr. Raghavan Gopa Kumar.

He said the role of TB

DC Zbto prohibits dumping of construction materials along the roads

champions was to make people aware about TB and need for seeking care and support people with TB to undergo treatment and get back to good health.

Rights based approach to TB was shared by Ketholelie Angami from ARK Foundation while assistant programme officer, Dr.Apichetla Amer shared about TB science: Getting the Basics of TB, understanding TB burden in India, pathways to TB cure and psycho social support to TB patients.

PPM coordinator Temjenochetla Ao shared on role of TB survivors to end TB in Nagaland,

understanding NTEP organogram –national and state and advocating and conducting community awareness among different stakeholders.

Role play was enacted

by TB champions and effective communication and role of awareness in TB programme to end TB was presented by state IEC officer, Thungchanbeni M Humtsoe.

She highlighted the importance of TB mukt bharat abhiyan to create a jan andolan to end TB by 2025.

TB champions from Kohima and Dimapur participated in the workshop.

CLCSU organises parting social

DIMAPUR: Owing to the ongoing two-lane road construction at Zunheboto town area and to ease traffic congestions and for public safety, deputy commissioner (DC) Zunheboto has informed that stockpiling and dumping of construction materials along the roads was strictly prohibited.The DC has directed all concerned owners to remove the unattended and off-road vehicles lying along the roads.

Further, in case of failure to comply with the order, DC warned that materials would be removed, confiscated and disposed of as deemed fit and defaulters would be CLC principal P. Leonard Aier speaking at the penalised while off-road vehicles programme. would be towed away by the police DIMAPUR: City Law experiences. He also urged at the expense of the owners.

College Students’ Union them to focus on how to be (CLCSU) organised its 25th good humans. fresher-cum-parting social Earlier, welcome adprogramme on March 9, dress was delivered by with principal P. Leonard CLCSU president, speech sions consumed around cers and staff to follow his Aier as guest speaker. on behalf of outgoing stu59% of the state’s total footsteps.

A press release from dents was delivered by S. energy consumption, she Meanwhile, EE Chü- CLCSU president Jangpuh Walunir while speech on advised all concerned to moukedima, Arohi Achini Lumkhiung and general behalf of the freshers was improve billing and collec- acknowledged the special secretary Tiakumzuk in- delivered by Thungashan tion efficiency. revenue team for taking formed that during the Ngullie.

The joint secretary the initiative to encourage programme, the principal Later, vote of thanks also acknowledged EE, and supervise the division encouraged the outgoing was proposed by CLCSU Chümoukedima electrical in all revenue activities for students by citing his life general secretary. division for his sincerity overall improvement in and dedication to the public revenue collection for the and encouraged the offi- state as a whole.

SRT of power department visits Chümoukedima DIMAPUR: Special Revenue Team (SRT) of the power department headed by joint secretary, Power, Sara S Jamir visited the office of Chümoukedima division on Thursday.

During their visit, joint secretary expressed appreciation to all officers and staff of Chümoukedima electrical division for

the remarkable improvement in revenue collection especially after the formation of the special revenue team from September 2021 till date. She encouraged all billing assistants and meter readers to keep up the sincere effort in the coming days.

Stating that Dimapur and Chümoukedima divi-

AICRP SASRD conducts training for farmers

DIMAPUR: All India Coordinated Research Project (AICRP on vegetable crops) School of Agricultural Sciences and Rural Development (SASRD) Nagaland University (NU) under NEH plan conducted a day farmers’ training on “scientific protection technology of summer vegetable crops” on March 9 at Beisumpuikam village, Jalukie under Peren district.

SASRD NU informed that technical session-one on “insect management of

summer vegetable crops” was delivered by assistant professor, department of entomology SASRD, NU Dr. Waluniba where he emphasised on the common insect pests found in vegetable garden and how farmers could manage them.

Preparation of NSKE was also imparted to the farmers.

The technical sessiontwo on “disease management of summer vegetable crops” was delivered by assistant pathologist, AICRP

(VC), department of horticulture, SASRD: NU, Dr. Nayan Kishore Adhikary.

He showed the farmers various common diseases attacking farmers field like damping off, bacterial wilt, leaf sop, Alternaria etc. and how they could control them organically. The farmers were also enlightened on the Integrated disease management system and how one could adopt it in their field. The training was attended by about 100 farmers.

Peren District Consumer Organisation (PDCO) in collaboration with department of Legal Metrology and Consumer Protection conducted an awareness seminar at St. Xavier College Jalukie town on March 9.

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NORTHEAST

BJP workers celebrate in Manipur

IMPHAL, MAR 10 (PTI): With BJP headed for a majority win in the assembly election in Manipur, Chief Minister N Biren Singh, Union Minister of State for External Affairs and Education, Rajkumar Ranjan Singh and state party unit President A Sharda Devi led celebrations at the party office here on Thursday.

As evening descended and it became clear that BJP will win majority in the 60-member state assembly, its workers rejoiced over the news of each win by party candidates and broke into traditional dance ‘Thabal Chongba’ with Devi leading the pack and Biren Singh also joining her.

Devi also felicitated successful candidates who visited the party office through out the day.

Earlier in the evening , Ranjan Singh kicked off the celebrations lighting fireworks as workers rejoiced the party’s victory.

RK Imo Singh, who won from Sagolband constituency, while joining the celebrations at the party

Celebrations outside the BJP office in Manipur.

office said it’s a people’s mandate for progress under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

“We will provide a stable government at the state,” Imo Singh said when asked what would be his next step.

He had joined BJP from Congress before the election.

Earlier in the day, Devi had said BJP’s impressive show in the Manipur assem-

bly elections is a reflection asked if there will be a new of people’s acceptance of chief minister or N Biren the party and its governance. Singh will continue in office.

On how long it will take for the party to decide, she said “As per rule the governor will invite the winning party once the full results “As a national party we are out. So the process of have a parliamentary board, government formation will which in consultation with happen and other processes the state unit will decide will follow and by then we who will be the next chief will be ready.” minister,” Devi said when Earlier in the day, Devi

Next CM to be decided by BJP Parl Board and state unit

said that BJP’s impressive show in the Manipur assembly elections is a reflection of people’s acceptance of the party and its governance.

Buoyant about BJP’s win, she said the party will not only be able to meet its target of emerging victorious on its own, but also defeat big personalities of rival parties.

“This time we’ve been able to do well in areas where we have not won before. The party has gained majorly in pockets which are considered Congress strongholds. It shows that the people of Manipur have accepted us and the governance we’ve provided,” she told PTI here in an interview.

Apart from targeting 40-plus seats, Devi asserted, “We had also set out to defeat big opponents of other parties in this election. I believe we have achieved that target as well.”

She also said local parties like the NPF and NPP have hinted at supporting the BJP.

NAGALAND POST, DIMAPUR FRIDAY, MARCH 11, 2022

BJP retains Majuli assembly constituency GUWAHATI, MAR 10 (PTI): The ruling BJP retained the Majuli (ST) assembly constituency with its candidate Bhuban Gam defeating the joint opposition candidate Chittaranjan Basumatary of the Assam Jatiya Parishad (AJP) by 41,860 votes in a by-poll, election office sources said on Thursday.

Gam secured 66,573 votes against Basumatary’s 24,713 while the third candidate, Bhaity Richong of SUCI(C), got 2,254 votes.

Altogether 1,620 people have voted for the ‘None of the above’ (NOTA) option.

The Congress did not contest the by-poll and left the seat to the AJP in a bid not to divide anti-BJP votes.

The by-poll to the constituency was held on March 7.

Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma thanked the people of Majuli island for reposing their faith in the ruling alliance.

NPP supremo congratulates party winners in Manipur Correspondent SHILLONG, MARCH 10: National People’s Party (NPP) Supremo and Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma on Thursday hailed his party’s performance in the Manipur assembly election and observed that the performance of the NPP in the state has “increased manifold” compared to the 2017 assembly elections.

“We at the NPP are delighted that our vote share has further increased, indicating that the electorate have shown trust and faith on the ideology of the NPP to protect politicalsocio-economic interest of the North Eastern States,” Sangma, who had extensively campaigned in Manipur for his party candidates ahead of the polls, said.

“The NPP extends its heartiest congratulations to our seven candidates who have emerged victorious in the election to the 12th Manipur Legislative Assembly,” Sangma said in a

Conrad K Sangma

statement.

“We are confident that our newly elected MLAs from the NPP will affirm their commitment to the welfare of the citizens of Manipur,” he said.

“The NPP accepts the people’s mandate with utmost humility. We thank our party workers, including our women wing and youth wing who have tirelessly campaigned for the success of the NPP,” Sangma said and congratulated all the winning candidates irrespective of political parties.

Mizoram to become fulcrum of NE region’s growth through Kaladan project: VP Assam police firing: DGP asked AIZAWL, MAR 10 (PTI): Vice President M. Venkaiah Naidu on Thursday said Mizoram will soon serve as the “all-important gateway” of South East Asian economies and become a fulcrum in the development of the North-eastern region through the bilateral Kaladan Multi Modal Transit Transport Project (KMMTTP) involving neighbouring Myanmar.

The KMMTTP will connect the Kolkata with Sittwe port of Myanmar by sea. It will link Sittwe with Paletwa in that country via the Kaladan river, and from Paletwa to Mizoram by road.

Addressing the MLAs of Mizoram in the state assembly, Naidu said that the KMMTTP when completed will transform the economy of not just the state but the entire North-eastern region and help accelerate economic growth and development.

“Within the renewed Act East Policy of the Government of India, Mizoram

is set to occupy the centre stage as it will serve as the all-important gateway of South East Asian economies into the region as well as into the country.

“I am confident that in the coming years Mizoram will become a fulcrum in the region’s growth and development through the important Kaladan Multi Modal Project,” the vicepresident said.

Naidu said that signing of the historic Mizo peace accord in 1986, which ended more than two decades of unrest and strife in Mizoram, has ushered in peace and progress in the state.

The accord has served as an example based on which similar peace agreements have become a reality in other parts of the Northeastern region, he said.

Mizoram today is not only counted as one of the most peaceful states in the country but has embarked upon the developmental journey with a rare earnest-

Vice President M. Venkaiah Naidu addresses the Legislative Assembly of Mizoram, in Aizawl. (PTI)

ness, Naidu said.

“Even though Mizoram was a late starter in the developmental process as compared to other Northeastern states, I am extremely pleased to note the rapid strides being made by this important state towards socio-economic development with completion of several infrastructure projects,” he said.

Naidu, who arrived

in Aizawl on Wednesday for a two-day visit, said that the state has improved its ranking in Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) index from 21st position in 2019-20 to 12th position in 2020-21.

He said that Mizoram is rich in natural resources and these resources and congenial weather must be harnessed in all possible ways to make sustainable

development.

The state also has great scope for small scale industries based on bamboo and timber, agro-products, handloom and handicrafts, as well as medicinal and aromatic plants, he said.

The vice-president said that sustainable agricultural practices must be promoted and encouraged in the state.

Mizoram also has a great potential for expanding horticulture and floriculture as orchids and anthuriums, for example, can, not only generate additional income to farmers but also make the state a favourite tourist destination, he said.

Naidu appreciated various programmes of the state government to bring about socio-economic development that is inclusive and people-centric.

Naidu also said that the central government gives priority to the development of the North East region.

He pointed out that Rs 600 crore was allocated in the 2022-23 Union Bud-

get for constructions of Aizawl by-pass road and bamboo link roads in different parts of Mizoram under the Prime Minister’s Development Initiative for North-East (PM-DevINE) Scheme.

Naidu said that he was pleased with the way Mizoram has deepened the country’s democratic roots by peaceful electoral processes, graceful conduct of legislators in the Assembly and sustained, inclusive development endeavour over the last five decades.

“I congratulate all of you in setting a high benchmark that other state legislatures and even the Parliament can emulate,” he said.

Despite being the worst COVID-19 affected state, Mizoram has been able to fight the pandemic because “Tlawmngaihna”, the Mizo code of ethics and life, has served as the guiding principle and mantra of the state against the pandemic, he said.

to conduct departmental probe

GUWAHATI, FEB 8 (PTI): The Assam government has asked the DGP to conduct a departmental inquiry into the role of all policemen involved in a firing incident leading to the injury of a former student leader last month in Nagaon district, an official release said on Tuesday.

The police had claimed that former Nagaon College general secretary Kirti Kamal Bora was selling drugs and he was shot in the leg after he attacked law enforcers on the night of January 22.

However, the AASU had alleged that drunk policemen were beating up a youth and they were irked after Bora protested.

The DGP was also directed to immediately disband the anti-narcotic squad, constituted by the Nagaon superintendent of police and suspend the subinspector who allegedly fired at Bora, the release said.

The government has ordered an inquiry by Additional Chief Secretary P K Barthakur into the firing by the anti-narcotic squad personnel at Kacholukhowa Tiniali leading to the injury of Bora.

The administration has accepted the inquiry report and issued the directions based on his recommendations, the release said.

The state government has also directed that the two cases registered in this connection be immediately transferred to the CID. The DGP has been asked to conduct a departmental enquiry by a senior police officer regarding the role played by each policeman involved in the incident. All members of the Nagaon anti-narcotic squad, barring the superintendent of police, would be transferred out of the district.

The shootout had created widespread protests across the state.

Digital technology should reach every Three rhinos translocated from Agri sector in Arunachal to nook and corner of country: Sitharaman CWRC to Assam State Zoo receive a major boost soon: Khandu

FM Nirmala Sitharaman being felicitated by Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, during a post-budget interaction with stakeholders from trade industry. (PTI)

G U WA H AT I / S H I L LONG, MAR 10 (PTI): Union Minister for Finance and Corporate Affairs Nirmala Sitharaman on Thursday asserted here that the benefits of digital technology should reach every nook and corner of the country to ensure its overall development, an official statement here said.

Chairing a closed-door post-Budget interaction with stakeholders from the industry in the northeast, Sitharaman said the government was taking “futuristic steps” by focusing on development through enhancement of digital infrastructure in the country.

Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, who was present at the meeting, discussed ways to develop start-up ecosystems in the state. Sarma said that his government and SIDBI have decided to set up mid-level start-up infrastructure in

colleges and universities, according to the statement.

He also emphasised the need to expand the Indian Institute of Technology’s role in handholding Others who attended the session include Chief Economic Adviser Dr V A n a n t h a N a ge swa r a n , Union Minister of State for Finance Dr Bhagwat Kishanrao Karad and finance secretary Dr T V Somanathan.

Sitharaman was here on a daylong visit to attend the meeting. She refrained from talking to the media, and left for Delhi in the afternoon.

Agri-producers from M’laya demands lowering of GST

Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Thursday assured leading women agri-producers from Meghalaya of reconsidering lowering GST from the

current 18 per cent, officials said.

Sitharaman met three women agri-producers Dasumarlin Majaw, Trinity Saioo and Iaishah Rymbai as part of the post budget interaction in Guwahati.

Majaw is involved in processing agri produces like coffee and jackfruits, Padmashree awardee Trinity Saioo is involved in production of Lakadong turmeric and Rymbai is a leading entrepreneur involved in founding Eri Weave, a handspun eri silk yarn and handwoven fabric company.

Majaw said she has urged Sitharaman to reduce it to help struggling entrepreneurs like her.

“I asked if the GST slab could be lowered from the current 18 % for processed/ packaged foods.

The minister assured that she would reconsider and have a thorough look into it,” she told PTI.

GUWAHATI, MAR 10 (PTI): Three rhinos have been translocated from the Centre for Wildlife Rehabilitation and Conservation (CWRC) in Kaziranga National Park to the Assam State Zoo here on Thursday, officials said.

The process of translocating the rhinos a male and two females, began from CWRC under Panbari area of the Park on Thursday morning and the trio were on their way to Guwahati, Eastern Assam Wildlife (EAWL)’s Divisional Forest Officer Ramesh Gogoi told PTI. The entire process was completed smoothly and the trio was expected to reach their destination late tonight, he added.

The rhinos, aged between two to three years, were injured and brought to the CWRC in 2019 and 2020 where they under-

went treatment and were completely cured, CWRC head Rathin Barman told PTI. Special wooden boxes were made for each of the three rhinos and they were transported in separate vehicles, he added.

A separate enclosure has been created for the rhinos at the Assam State Zoo where they will be kept for a month in isolation before the visitors can see them, DFO (Zoo) Ashwini Kumar told PTI. On their arrival, veterinary officers will check the health of the translocated rhinos and their condition will be regularly monitored, he said.

Earlier, 20 hand raised rhinos were translocated from Kaziranga National Park to Manas National Park by CWRC team jointly with Assam Forest Department.

ITANAGAR, MAR 10 (PTI): Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Pema Khandu Thursday expressed hope that the farming sector of the state, which has been witnessing a very slow growth, would receive a boost and rural economy based on agriculture would see a steep growth.

Khandu along with state Agriculture Minister Tage Taki during the day virtually gave away 44 tractors and 22 power-tillers to beneficiary farmers of Lower Dibang Valley during the inaugural ceremony of the day-long expo-cumKisan Mela being held at Roing, headquarters of the district.

The state government had in September last year launched two ambitious schemes, one in agriculture sector.

The distribution of

Pema Khandu

tractors and power-tillers during the day, are part of the Atma Nirbhar Krishi Yojana under implementation by the state Agriculture department as well as the Centre’s Sub-Mission on Agriculture Mechanization (SMAM), an official communiqué said here.

The scheme is based on front-end subsidies and beneficiaries are being provided credit-links by State Bank of India, Arunachal Pradesh Rural Bank and

the Arunachal Pradesh Cooperative Apex Bank that comprises of 45 per cent government subsidy, 45 per cent bank loan and remaining as investment by the beneficiary. Khandu thanked the banks, especially SBI, for cooperating with the state government in providing credit links to beneficiaries seamlessly in a very short period of time.

“Credit must be given to our partner banks for releasing a total of Rs 91 crore to the beneficiaries till date from the targeted 120 crore.

I hope that the same zeal and zest will be continued,” the chief minister said.

Khandu pointed that as this being the first year of implementation of the scheme, there might have been few shortcomings and assured that the department would work on these and ease them out for next year.

ULFA(I) warns of action against OIL if ‘outsider’ named as next CMD

GUWAHATI, MAR 10 (PTI): The banned ULFA (Independent) group on Thursday warned Oil India Limited (OIL) of action if an indigenous person was not named as the next CMD of the Maharatna PSU. The Public Enterprises Selection Board (PESB) had on Wednesday recommended the name of Ranjit Rath, currently the CMD of Mineral Exploration Corporation Ltd, for the position of Chairman and Managing Director (CMD) of OIL, under the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas. In an e-mailed statement to

media, ULFA(I) chief Paresh Barua said the group had demanded appointment of qualified indigenous persons to the post of CMDs in oil companies operating from Assam.

It was among the seven points served by ULFA(I) in a notice to public sector companies in the oil sector in the northeastern state in May last.

The separatist group also urged students and youth organisations as well as people of the state to build up opposition to Rath’s selection as the next OIL CMD. Barua claimed that Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa

Sarma had said that the seven points put forward by the group could be met and had assured ULFA(I) of taking steps to resolve the issues.

Naming of an ‘ousider’ Dr Ranjit Rath for the CMD’s position is in contradiction to the assurance of the chief minister and against the interests of the state, he claimed.

Barua asked the OIL to withdraw the decision taken by the PESB immediately and name a deserving indigenous person for the CMD’s post.

If the PSU fails to abide by its directive, the ULFA(I) is ready to take any “necessary action’”

Barua added, without elaborating on the details.

A top officer of the Assam Police, who wished not to be named, said they are aware of the ULFA(I) statement and are keeping a watch on the development.

The ULFA(I) had declared unilateral ceasefire in May last year, responding to an appeal for peace

by Sarma soon after he assumed office of the chief minister.

The group has been extending the ceasefire since and also refrained from calling bandhs during the last Indpendence Day and Republic Day.

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NAGALAND POST, DIMAPUR FRIDAY, MARCH 11, 2022

Failed to send Yogi ‘back to Gorakhpur’: Akhilesh

Yogi Adityanath busts ‘Noida jinx’ after three decades

JSS Science and Technology University. He also has a master’s degree in environmental engineering from the University of Sydney, Australia.

Married to Dimple Yadav, Yadav has two daughters and a son.

In 2012, after a stint as the head of the SP’s youth wing and then the party’s UP president, he became, with his father’s blessings, the state’s youngest ever CM at 38.

In the early years of his term as the SP unit chief and the CM, he strug-

gled with his father’s legacy, tackling politicians like D P Yadav, Amar Singh and Azam Khan. His uncle Shivpal Yadav brought in mafia don Mukhtar Ansari’s Quami Ekta Dal into the SP, against his will.

Another uncle Ram Gopal Yadav remained on his side as Akhilesh Yadav tackled dissension in the party and the Yadav clan.

And just ahead of the 2017 assembly polls, Yadav staged a coup of sorts. At an emergency convention of the party in January 2017, SP founder Mulayam Singh Yadav was ousted as national president and relegated to the post of its “patron”.

The BJP was to call Akhilesh Yadav Aurangzeb, recalling what one Mughal emperor did to his own father.

Both sides approached the Election Commission, which ruled in the younger Yadav’s favour, giving his faction the bicycle symbol.

In the 2022 elections, Akhilesh Yadav joined hands again with uncle Shivpal Singh Yadav.

In the past, Yadav has tried an image makeover for the SP.

As chief minister, he junked his party’s declared opposition towards computers, announcing what is sometimes claimed to be the world’s biggest laptop distribution scheme for students.

His government also took credit for launching development projects like the Agra-Lucknow expressway, a metro rail, an international stadium and a cancer hospital in Lucknow.

Yadav went to 2022 polls with the slogan “Nayi hawa Hai, Nayi Sapa Hai”, which promised a “new SP” to ward off (in the fresh breeze of air it’s a different SP) to ward off attacks on the party’s previous record on law and order. He referred to the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB).to challenge the perception that the BJP government has tackled crime better.

He also distanced himself from “bahubalis” (muscleman-politician) like Raja Bhaiya popularly called “Kunda ka Goonda” and Mukhtar Ansari, said to be close to the party during Mulayam Singh Yadav’s time.

We accept people’s mandate, will return with new strategy: Congress

It’s a revolution in Punjab, it will now spread: Kejriwal

After Punjab victory , AAP Poll results will have positive eyes Himachal Pradesh effect on K’taka poll: CM

keep fighting until we win.

We will reinvent and return and will come back with a new strategy,” Surjewala told reporters. In Punjab, the Congress leader said even though the party presented a humble, clean and grounded leadership, it failed to overcome the anti-incumbency of 4.5 yrs of Amarinder Singh government and people voted for change.

“The election results of five states have come against the party’s expectations. We were expecting good results in Uttarakhand, Goa and Punjab, but we accept that we failed to get the people’s blessings,” he said.

“We accept the verdict of the people and con-

U’khand: After Dhami’s loss, MoS Next set of polls beckons BJP Bhatt frontrunner for CM’s post? NEW DELHI, MAR 10

Ajay Bhatt NEW DELHI, MARCH 10 (IANS): With incumbent Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami losing the Assembly elections from Khatima, the BJP leadership has started looking for a suitable CM candidate for the hill state after retaining power with a comfortable majority on Thursday.

Among the several names that are doing the rounds in Uttarakhand’s political circles, Union Minister of State for Defence, Ajay Bhatt, has emerged as a frontrunner for the coveted post. Bhatt, a Lok Sabha member from Nainital-Udhamsingh Nagar, is a senior BJP leader who was a member of the Uttar Pradesh Assembly before the formation of Uttarakhand.

He was elected twice to the Uttarakhand Assembly -- in 2002 and 2012 -- and became a member of the Lok

Sabha in 2019. In July last year, he was made the Minister of State for Defence.

A senior BJP functionary in Uttarakhand said that search for the next Chief Minister has started and several names are doing the rounds after Dhami’s loss.

“The next Chief Minister of Uttarakhand will be decided by the Central leadership of the party, and names of a few leaders have already started doing the rounds. Right now, Bhatt is leading the race,” he said.

Names of former Chief Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank and Rajya Sabha member Anil Baluni are also doing the rounds in the party circles. Baluni, however, has an edge over Nishank, who was dropped from Narendra Modi’s Cabinet last year.

“The party’s central leadership has to take a call on whether the Chief Minister will be from outside, or from among the MLAs. If the leadership decides to make a non-MLA the new Chief Minister, Bhatt and Baluni are the possible choices,” a party insider said. Among the MLAs, the names of ministers in the previous Uttarakhand government -- Satpal Singh Maharaj and Dhan Singh Rawat -- are also doing the rounds.

(PTI): After scoring victories in four states, the BJP appears to have set its eyes on the next round of elections, including in Gujarat, with Prime Minister Narendra set to undertake a massive roadshow in Ahmedabad on Friday.

The term of the Gujarat assembly ends on January 8 next year, and the state is expected to go to polls this December. Besides, elections are also due in Himachal Pradesh alongside Gujarat.

The Cong ress had sprung a surprise by defeating the BJP in three assembly bypolls in Himachal Pradesh in October last year.

The BJP had also lost the bye-election to the Mandi Lok Sabha seat in the hillstate. Elections are also due in Meghalaya, Nagaland and Tripura early next year where the BJP or its alliance partners are in power. Earlier this week, Home Minister Amit Shah had visited Agartala to celebrate the fourth anniversary of the BJP-IPFT government and virtually set the tone for the election campaign next year.Shah had promised to reserve 33 per cent of government jobs for women and sought a fresh mandate for the BJP in the polls next year.

Arvind Kejriwal NEW DELHI, MAR 10 (PTI): Hailing the AAP’s performance in Punjab as a “revolution”, party national convenor Arvind Kejriwal on Thursday said that with their huge mandate, the people have said that Kejriwal is not a terrorist.

First this revolution happened in Delhi, then in Punjab and it will now happen all over country, he said as trends showed that the AAP was set to form government in the state, taking the lead in 91 of the 117 assembly seats.

While addressing AAP leaders and workers at the party headquarters here, the Delhi chief minister asked them to practice politics of love and said the coming days belong to India.

SHIMLA, MAR 10 (PTI): The AAP is hopeful of repeating its ‘Punjab-type’ performance in the Himachal Pradesh Assembly elections, scheduled to be held later this year.

The ruling BJP, on the other hand, maintains that it will retain power in the hill state after its remarkable performances in Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand.

Buoyed with a landslide victory in neighbouring Punjab, Himachal Pradesh Aam Aadmi Party president Anup Kesri told PTI that the people of the state are “fed up” with the traditional political parties. “The AAP will create history in Himachal Pradesh like it has created in Punjab, and it will form its government in the hill state,” he added.

The Arvind Kejriwalled party had failed to secure any seat in the previous elections in Himachal Pradesh, whereas it had won four Lok Sabha and 20 Vidhan Sabha seats in Punjab previously. When asked about this, Kesri said the AAP had created its base in each of the 67 As-

sembly seats in Himachal Pradesh. “Further, the Punjab poll results will certainly have a positive impact on the AAP’s performance in Himachal Pradesh,” he said, adding that AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal and other prominent leaders of the party are expected to visit the state soon. A resident of Una district, Kesri said it was up to his party high command to decide where he will be fielded from.

The state’s BJP chief spokesperson Randhir Sharma told PTI that his party will replicate its success in Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand in Himachal Pradesh, too. He said the Jai Ram Thakur-led BJP government was performing well and in the recent budget, it lowered the age limit for old age pension from 70 to 60 years.

“These measures will help the BJP to come to power again,” he claimed.

On the AAP’s claim, Sharma said that there was no scope for a third party in Himachal Pradesh. “Such experiments were done earlier too, but they were not successful,” he said.

TMC asks Congress to merge with it, Congress hits back

KO L K ATA , M A R 1 0 (PTI) : Trinamool Congress on Thursday asked Congress to merge with it and fight against BJP under the leadership of Mamata Banerjee after its rout in the assembly poll in five states where votes were counted on Thursday.

This drew a sharp retort from the grand old party which accused it of being an “agent of BJP”.

Asked to comment on the party’s poor show in Goa, Trinamool Congress leaders said the party is satisfied with the votes it secured given the fact that the party had opened its unit in the coastal state a few months ago.

BJP is racing to a second straight win in politically crucial Uttar Pradesh and is dominating the score chart in Goa, Uttarakhand and Manipur, while the Aam Aadmi Party won a landslide victory in Punjab and wrested the state from the Congress, diminishing the party even further.

Congress is now at an all time low, being in power only in Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh. It is ahead in only two seats in Uttar Pradesh with a vote share of just 2.3 per cent

-- notwithstanding the highdecibel campaign by the Gandhi siblings Rahul and Priyanka.

“From the results, it is proven that Congress is now just limited to two states.

Congress has failed to fight against the BJP. “Trinamool Congress has shown how you can put up a fight against the BJP and defeat it (in Bengal).

It is high time that Congress merges with TMC and fights under the leadership of Mamata Banerjee,” senior Trinamool Congress leader and state minister Firhad Hakim said.

Echoing him, Trinamool Congress state general secretary Kunal Ghosh said Congress’s failure to put up a fight has led to BJP’s victory in the assembly poll in four of the five states.

“We have been saying this for a long that Congress in its present form is not suited to fight against the BJP. To fight against a formidable force like BJP, you need a leader like Mamata Banerjee,” he said.

Reacting to TMC’s jibe, West Bengal Congress president Adhir Chowdhury said “agents of BJP” should not advise the party how

to fight against the saffron camp. “Trinamool Congress is the biggest agent of the BJP ... Rather Trinamool Congress should merge with Congress if it is so serious about fighting against BJP,” Chowdhury, who is also the leader of Congress in Lok Sabha, said.

On Trinamool Congress (TMC) drawing a blank in Goa, where it contested for the first time this year, Ghosh defended the party’s performance saying “We had opened our units in Goa just a few months back.

So we are happy that people of Goa are now aware of the party’s symbol and flag. We are satisfied with the votes we got; we want to work hard to further increase our organisation in the coastal state”.

The West Bengal BJP unit, which has lost much of its steam after the defeat in the state poll last year, said the party’s performance in the four states is the victory of developmental politics pursued by it.

“We don’t want to comment on Trinamool Congress’s proposal for merger of Congress as both are family-run parties,” BJP state president Sukanta Majumdar said.

Basavaraj Bommai BENGALURU, MAR 10 (PTI): Buoyed by the election results in favour of BJP in four States, Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai on Thursday said the party’s victory there will have a positive effect in the state, which goes to Assembly polls next year.

“There will be a positive effect of this election on Karnataka. The election results have filled our workers with enthusiasm. The BJP will march forward with more vigour in implementing the programmes mentioned in our budget,” he told reporters here.

He vowed that his government will give a “prosperous, safe and new” Karnataka to the people of the state. “We are confident that the people of Karnataka will install us in the 2023 general assembly election for another five years,” Bommai said. He congratulated the BJP leadership for the tremendous show in four out of five assembly elections.

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Randeep Surjewala

gratulate the Aam Aadmi Party Bhagwant Mann and Arvind Kejriwal for their victory in Punjab,” he told reporters.

In Uttar Pradesh, Surjewala said even though the Congress was successful in reviving the party, “we could not convert public opinion into seats”.

The Congress party has been successful in reaching every street and locality of Uttar Pradesh, he said, adding that ‘’we fought better elections in Uttarakhand and Goa, but could not emerge victorious’’.

“This is a lesson that we need to work harder on the ground,” he said.

“We made every effort to keep this election away from the issues of casteism and religious polarisation.

But with the help of BJP’s massive campaign, emotional issues dominated the issues of education, health, inflation, unemployment,” he said. In a democracy, the decision of the people is paramount and this is also the strength of our democracy, he said.

the state in 2012.

Mayawati hails from Badalpur village in Greater Noida.

Her predecessors Mulayam Singh Yadav of the Samajwadi Party, BJP’s Rajnath Singh and Kalyan Singh had also avoided visiting Noida during their chief ministership.

Malayam’s son Akhilesh Yadav, who became the CM in 2012, had continued the trend of avoiding inperson visit to Noida, often dubbed as the show window to Uttar Pradesh.

In 2013, former UP chief minister Akhilesh Yadav did not attend the Asian Development Bank Summit organised in Noida, when the then prime minister Manmohan Singh was the

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tion, this time chose to enter into an alliance with a string of small regional parties.

Briefly, he outmanoeuvred the BJP by inducting ministers Swami Pradesh Maurya, Dara Singh Chauhan and Dharam Singh Saini in an attempt to get the Other Backward Classes (OBC) on his side.

Yadav studied at the Military School in Dholpur, Rajasthan and then got his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Civil Environmental Engineering from

Yogi Adityanath

chief guest.

The “Noida jinx” took root after chief minister Veer Bahadur Singh had to step down in June 1988, a few days after he returned from Noida.

Yogi Adityanath, who had stormed to power in UP in 2017, has visited Noida nearly a dozen times since becoming the UP chief minister and launched the Noida Metro, among other development projects in the region over the years.

In January this year, Adityanath visited Gautam Buddh Nagar to review the COVID-19 pandemic situation and hit out at Mayawati and Akhilesh Yadav and said coming here becomes important for him as the chief ministers who preceded him always hesitated about visiting the district.

“They were afraid.

Their own life and political power were the only things important for them.

But they had no agenda for economic prosperity, health and well-being of the people of the state and hence they were hesitant about visiting Gautam Buddh Nagar,” Adityanath had said.

k-467/22

NEW DELHI, MAR 10 (PTI): After the defeat in assembly polls in five states, the Congress on Thursday said the election results are contrary to the party’s expectations, but it accepts the people’s mandate.

Addressing a press conference at the party’s headquarters here, Congress general secretary and chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said the party may have lost elections but not its courage and will continue to fight till it emerges victorious.

He also said that the Congress will reinvent and return with a new strategy and will always stand with the people, raising their issues, including inflation, unemployment and the “sinking” economy, with the same responsibility.

“We will introspect on the causes of defeat, work on the organisation and will try to do better in future. We are definitely disappointed but not demoralised. We have only lost the election, not courage. We are not going anywhere - we will

Akhilesh Yadav

NOIDA, MAR 10 (PTI): With the BJP looking set to secure a straight second term in Uttar Pradesh, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Thursday appeared to have successfully busted what was dubbed as the “Noida Jinx”.

Adityanath also looked set for a victory from Gorakhpur Urban seat while all three BJP candidates in Gautam Buddh Nagar district, appeared set for win, according to poll trends.

Noida, Dadri and Jewar Assembly constituencies fall in the district.

A myth was nurtured for nearly three decades that any chief minister of Uttar Pradesh who visited Noida in Gautam Buddh Nagar district was doomed to go out of power.

In recent history, Mayawati, who took oath as the UP CM in March 2007, had visited Noida in November that year to attend the wedding of close aide Satish Mishra’s relative.

However, the BSP supremo’s bold move, which was seen as a myth-buster at the time, was followed by her ouster from power from

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LUCKNOW, MAR 10 (PTI): While the BJP threw a pantheon of star campaigners, Akhilesh Yadav’s was virtually the lone face of his Samajwadi Party in the Uttar Pradesh elections. From distributing tickets to choosing allies, it was the SP president’s one-man show.

At 48, he is a year younger to Yogi Adityanath, the UP chief minister and the man he hoped to send “back to Gorakhpur”.

That didn’t happen and the BJP appeared set for another term in office. Yadav fought hard, but his party trailed well behind the BJP. Born in Saifai on July 1, 1973, Yadav entered politics in 2000, winning a Lok Sabha bypoll from Kannauj and is now the MP from Azamgarh.

He contested his debut assembly election this time, picking Karhal, a segment in his father’s Mainpuri parliamentary constituency.

The SP president, who burnt his fingers by partnering with the Congress in the 2017 UP polls and had joined hands with Mayawati’s Bahujan Samaj Party in last general elec-

6

OPINION/EDITORIAL

Nagaland Post VOL. XXXII NO. 94 DIMAPUR, FRIDAY, MARCH 11, 2022

Popular consultations

C

onsultative meetings have become a popular and populist means in “taking along” elected members from both sides of the aisle including apex tribe organisations, political parties, CSOs, church etc to achieve some consensus on issue of crucial and urgent public importance. Consultative meetings were re-introduced to Nagaland since 2003 first, with regard to the Naga political issue and concluding without any breakthrough since none of the invitees were involved in holding negotiations with the government of India, even including the state government leaders themselves. Various consultative meetings during the past nearly two decades discussed the contentious prohibition act(NLTP Act) several times.

The government had felt the need to lift the Act but was wary of the influential church organisations and has kept the issue on the back burner for years. The other issue has been the divisive Act on reservation of 33% seats for women in Urban Local Body elections.

The state government had attempted to go ahead with the Act but it met with huge resistance that also led to violent protests in 2017. Some women activists filed a PIL in the Supreme Court against over the issue in the light of the 74th Amendment. Some of the litigants reportedly withdrew their names and the case was taken up by the People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL). The Supreme Court recently issued a notice on the state government to implement the reservation in ULBs and giving the latter six weeks w.e.f February 23, 2022 to fulfil the constitutional obligation. The government had planned to hold consultative meeting on March 9 to discuss four main issues- NTLP Act, AFSPA, Women Reservation and Naga political issue. However, the notification was modified later and eventually only two subjects were chosen for discussion- Women quota and Naga political issue. In the light of the Supreme Court notice which made it clear to the state that women quota under the 74th Amendment was not an option but an obligation, the state’s attorney general had explained the matter to around 120 invitees that included 60 elected members and representatives of tribe organisations and CSOs etc.

The attendees may have in principle accepted the court notice but much still remains to be done before implementing it. The other subject, Naga political issue, is as old as the topic. Consultations on the political issue since 2003 continued even after signing of the Framework Agreement on August 3,2015, between government of India with NSCN(I-M) and later Agreed Position on November 17,2017 between government of India with the seven-member NNPGs. Needless to say, even when the prime minister Narendra Modi’s desire to conclude the endless negotiations was mentioned as October 31,2019, the government continued to hold consultative meetings. The forum split when NPF in 2020 formed its Political Affairs Mission(PAM) highlighting the contradiction of legislators who have been urging upon all factions to unite for solution. Later, on the advice of union home minister Amit Shah, both chief minister Neiphiu Rio and NPF leader T.R.Zeliang rejoined their efforts under a new name Core Committee on Naga Political Issue. Besides just having a meeting, consultations would be helpful if invitees are well informed and guided by wisdom not politics. However, consensus does not guarantee implementation if they are not in consonance with what the government wants. Perhaps this is the fate that had befallen various reports such as HPC on illegal taxation, RIIN, AFSPA recent Oting, NLTP Act etc.

DailyDevotion Being an Example of His Message

Preach the word! —2 Timothy 4:2

We are not saved only to be instruments for God, but to be His sons and daughters. He does not turn us into spiritual agents but into spiritual messengers, and the message must be a part of us. The Son of God was His own message— “The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life” (John 6:63). As His disciples, our lives must be a holy example of the reality of our message. Even the natural heart of the unsaved will serve if called upon to do so, but it takes a heart broken by conviction of sin, baptized by the Holy Spirit, and crushed into submission to God’s purpose to make a person’s life a holy example of God’s message.

There is a difference between giving a testimony and preaching. A preacher is someone who has received the call of God and is determined to use all his energy to proclaim God’s truth. God takes us beyond our own aspirations and ideas for our lives, and molds and shapes us for His purpose, just as He worked in the disciples’ lives after Pentecost. The purpose of Pentecost was not to teach the disciples something, but to make them the incarnation of what they preached so that they would literally become God’s message in the flesh. “…you shall be witnesses to Me…” (Acts 1:8).

Allow God to have complete liberty in your life when you speak. Before God’s message can liberate other people, His liberation must first be real in you.

Gather your material carefully, and then allow God to “set your words on fire” for His glory.

Quotes

Surprise is the greatest gift which life can grant us. ~ Boris Pasternak

NAGALAND POST, DIMAPUR FRIDAY, MARCH 11, 2022

Post-mortem

Address inequality by lowering unemployment rates

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arge scale protests were seen last week in UP and Bihar over issues pertaining to the recruitment of railway jobs.

These protests were led by the disgruntled aspirants of the recruitment exam conducted by the Railway Recruitment Board in the two states. Unemployment has been a chronic national issue for decades and this is the latest incident in the growing job crisis. In spite of this, the Union Budget 2022-23 announced a few days ago, like most of its predecessors, is growth-oriented and rather apathetic towards unemployment. And while the issue of unemployment features religiously in every election cycle and Budget speech, it somehow fails to become the central political issue. Contrast this to the media uproar and worry that GDP figures trigger.

Why do abstract aggregate numbers like GDP cost us our sleep but high rates of unemployment barely make it to the next news cycle? It appears that we think of GDP as a health report of ‘the economy’ that ‘affects all of us’ but unemployment is a problem of the unemployed alone, one that they can solve themselves through better education, skill development etc.

Much of this apathy stems from how we imagine the economy.

We are normally asked to think of the economy as a pie, delicious no doubt, but abstract and inanimate. And the objective of all economic policies is to increase the size of the pie because only then does everybody get to have a portion of it – after all who doesn’t want a bigger piece of the pie? This is why growth, measured almost solely in terms of Gross

Domestic Product (GDP), has become the predominant economic measure that everyone fixates upon.

But this visualisation of the economy as a pie may be misleading. Instead, it is perhaps more accurate and useful to think of the economy as a living organism, like the human body – dynamic, alive, fundamentally interconnected and vulnerable to sickness. Measuring the health of the economy only through GDP is like measuring a person’s health only by their weight. Of course, it is an important parameter but definitely not the only one.

Unemployment and other social indicators are equally valuable and important markers of an economy’s health. Currently, India’s GDP growth for 2021-22 is projected to be around 9.2% but the unemployment level is also high at 7.9% as of Dec 2021, which translates to a whopping 53 million people. Even if one disregards the effect of the pandemic and takes pre-pandemic figures, the unemployment rate in India has consistently remained higher than the South Asia average, staying over 5.5% of the total labour force.

It fares moderately better than some other developing countries but still lags behind many G20 economies and falls behind our immediate neighbours Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Bhutan. Relatedly, in 2019, the employment to population ratio was only 46.74%, lower than both the world average and South Asia average.

Gap between rich and poor widens High rates of unemployment point to an economy whose circulatory system is malfunctioning. Because it

is through wages, or in other words wages resulting from employment, that the working population can partake in the value that they help generate in the economy, popularly measured through GDP. In other words, it helps in the circulation of value and wealth among various segments of society. Without employment, a significant portion of the population is not only deprived of the economy’s growth but cannot effectively participate in it.

According to the World Bank, in 2011, the wage bill as a percentage of GDP was only 4.5% and the average daily wage was estimated at a meagre Rs. 247. However, profits, rent and other income from capital increased faster than compensation towards labour. The India Wage Report published by the ILO in 2018 shows that while India’s GDP quadrupled between 1993 and 2012, workers’ salaries only doubled in that period. Similarly, average labour productivity rose much faster than average real wages.

Contrast this with the fact that there are now 119 billionaires in India and their fortunes have increased almost 10 times in over a decade. Together, their wealth is placed at an astounding Rs. 24422 billion, which is higher than the entire budget of India for 2018-19.

What this shows is that the vast amount of income and wealth that is being generated in the economy is not reaching the majority of the population and is being siphoned off by a slim elite. As of 2018, the share of the top 10% in the national income of the country was 57.1% while the bottom 50% made up only 13.1%. The incomes and

wealth of the top 10% and 1% of the population have been steadily soaring while that of the bottom 50% continues to plummet. For the first time in history, the gap between the rich and poor is so unconscionably wide.

And what’s even worse is that it continues to widen rapidly.

Economic inequality is inextricably linked to both the levels of employment/ unemployment and the quality of employment that is available. Today, India is among the most unequal countries in the world and history shows us that a very high level of inequality and unemployment is economically, socially and politically unsustainable. Without correcting the entrenched structural bottlenecks of the labour market, including unemployment, India cannot effectively address the pressing problem of inequality. Therefore, employment is key, not just for economic equity but also for economic growth.

Full employment, as Keynes’ groundbreaking work argued, increased ‘aggregate demand’, which in turn would spur further economic activity. This was critical to maintaining the cycle of production and consumption in the economy. After all, money in the hands of ordinary people will find its way back to the economy, especially the local economy, much faster than the accumulated (and often hidden) wealth of the super-rich. Therefore, instead of leaving it to the workings of the free market, Keynes advocated that States should actively spend and make policies to ensure full employment.

Paradoxically, one of the main justifications for

neoliberal reforms was to create better and more job opportunities. Practically every economic policy promises job growth, whether in the form of targeted employment schemes like MGNREGA or more recent initiatives such as Make in India. In fact, the State allows the exploitation of natural resources and doles out concessions, incentives and tax breaks to investors and industries in order to generate jobs. It is also the justification behind many market-oriented reforms including labour law reforms.

However, the current state of the labour market suggests that these policies have met with only limited success in creating meaningful employment.

The continuing problem of jobless growth The violence in Bihar and UP draw sharp focus to the scarcity of the muchcoveted ‘government jobs’.

Much of the employment opportunities that have been created as a result of economic policies are flexible, precarious employment, largely in the private sector (especially in services), that have minimum wage stability, employment protection and legal safeguards against adverse conditions of work.

This is commonly referred to as ‘jobless growth’. It is an inevitable and even desired consequence of labour market reforms that seek to make labour flexible and focus mainly on maximising economic efficiency. Despite decades of economic policies, the formal sector constitutes less than 10% of the Indian economy.

The real challenge of employment generation, therefore, is to create gainful employment which comes with wage and legal protec-

tions. The labour market in India continues to be characterised by low wages, wage inequality and informalisation. And current labour policies are likely to only precipitate these conditions.

Coupled with the fact that India does not have a system of unemployment benefits or a wide social security net, the problem of poverty, precarity and inequality will only intensify.

Reading the Union Budget in this backdrop shows that the problem of unemployment, especially formal employment continues to be steadfastly ignored.

It promises a potential additional 60 lakh jobs through the Productivity Linked Incentive in 14 sectors, the operative word being ‘potential’. However, it focuses on capital investment and promoting SEZs while ignoring MSMEs, based on the false assumption that growth alone will eventually solve the problem of unemployment.

As commentators have pointed out, there is very little in the budget to stimulate aggregate demand in the economy and funds allocated to MNGREGA has remained the same despite the growing demand for work under the scheme.

The violent protests in Bihar and UP are telling us something grave and urgent: the economy is ailing from clogged arteries. And we’ll be wise to take the message seriously, not just for the health of ‘the economy’ but for that of our society.

Rashmi Venkatesan is an assistant professor at the National Law School of India University, Bengaluru (As published in The News Minute)

Might is right in the current international order Don’t delay the passage of

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ven after the Second World War, there have been numerous conflicts between countries, civil wars within nations, and continuous instances of ethnic hatred and racial violence.

The list is long: Korea, Vietnam, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Iraq, Bosnia, Chechnya, Rwanda, Palestine and Kashmir, to name just a few places. Military might and strong majoritarian beliefs have been the determinants of who inflicts the maximum damage and who suffers the most. Those who die or are injured seldom want any violence to occur. Those who initiate the violence seldom die or are injured, unless they are hunted down with a singular determination like in the cases of Osama bin Laden or Saddam Hussein. Iraq was completely destroyed by the United States of America on an erroneous belief that there were weapons of mass destruction in Baghdad despite evidence to the contrary.

Now, in the latest display of brute force, Russia is invading Ukraine on the suspicion that the country poses a vague threat in an indefinite future.

Might is right in the current international order.

The use of coercive force and violence is always rationalized by the aggressor in terms of ‘national interests’.

The aggressed nation is not supposed to have national interests worth mentioning.

Most other nations, not directly affected by the conflict, prefer to remain neutral, or make ineffective noises.

Neutrality stems from the fear of the bully; but the stance is couched in terms of national interests. It pays to be neutral.

Quite expectedly, that has been the argument made by India’s strategy experts and political commentators about India’s abstention in voting against Ukraine in the United Nations.

This argument, used many times in the past and in many nations, does not stand up to serious scrutiny.

What does national interest mean? Is there an overarch-

ing understanding of what constitutes a universal benefit to the nation? National interests are the interests of the rich and powerful.

In international conflicts, considerations of national defence receive top priority. But if a hungry Indian claims that for him/her, the national interest lies in getting more food and less of guns, then is he/she wrong? There being no system of binding international governance, the interests of the rich and the powerful will prevail in the international arena. People will be condemned to live in a world where brute force is the only game in town. But it need not be so. National interests are a reflection of lazy thinking popular amongst opinion-makers and mediainfluencers.

Any violent conflict between nations, ethnic groups or races can be reconciled by invoking a higher principle than that of national interest, such as those contained in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 1948. National interests can be problematic in other ways too. Suppose a nation is claiming as its national interest the preservation of democratic freedoms and non-coercion over strangers. The same nation may have democratic freedoms severely compromised for a section of its own citizens, for instance a religious minority. There is bound to be a contradiction in the search for justice.

Each of the articles in the Declaration of Human Rights seeks universal guarantees and facilities for all human beings independent of nationality, race, religion, ethnicity or gender. Why is this argument more powerful than the one in defence of national interest? Conflicts over group interests — international or intra-national — tend towards violence.

The invocation of human rights leads to reconciliation, stemming from a mutual respect for differences. The simple truth is that while we have multiple identities,

being human is the only one that cannot be changed as long as a person is alive. One can change one’s religion, nationality, social and political beliefs, even one’s gender.

The only immutable identity is that of being human as well as the basic interests that are shared.

There is a need to move beyond national priorities dotted on an international spectrum of vested interests towards a more global approach encompassing all human beings. While national interests can converge, it does not mean a convergence of freedoms, liberties and security within nations.

The discussion on global interests has to move beyond the talk of death and bodily harm, destruction of property, denial of freedom and liberties, into the more elementary aspects of violence, such as deprivation in terms of food, education, shelter and economic security. Most people do not know that malnutrition kills more people in the world annually than do military conflicts.

Another reason why the human rights approach ought to trump the national interest approach is that the world has become too integrated, with or without the expansion of free trade. Technology has increased connectivity in leaps and bounds. Challenges like climate change, pandemics, and cyber-attacks are global in nature and solutions can emerge if — and only if — people all over the world cooperate on the shared understanding of a common threat. To enable such a world, Article 28 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights states “everyone is entitled to a social and international order in which the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration can be fully realized.”

An interrelated world can never have a completely isolated conflict. The nations or groups engaged in violence raise their spending on weapons. Neighbouring countries, even if not engaged directly in

the conflict, may wish to raise their military budgets. Their neighbours feel threatened and spend more on guns.

There is a spiralling effect on military budgets across the world. Each nation finds that it can spend less on food, health and education: analogous to the famous guns and butter example of national or global production in elementary economics textbooks.

The world order has to change. The rich and the powerful have to be made less rich and powerful. International inequalities in wealth and incomes have to change. According to the World Inequality Report 2022, the richest 10 per cent of the world’s population enjoy 52 per cent of global incomes and 76 per cent of global wealth. On the other side, the bottom 50 per cent of people in the world managed to earn only 8.5 per cent of global income and possessed 2 per cent of global wealth.

Little wonder then that the world is controlled by big technology, big pharmaceuticals, big militaries and institutions controlled by the rich like the World Trade Organization, International Monetary Fund, World Bank and an impotent UN. The international order allows massive violations of human rights. The rules have to change. If they are to, the pressure has to come from ordinary citizens. After all, people are responsible for what their governments do and what they say. However, people often get seduced by the practical considerations of the ‘real’ world where one is supposed to play a strategic game of chess with destruction and death. The human interest is the most universal goal. The first step towards attaining that goal is to begin thinking about compatriots and strangers in a similar fashion — their needs, anxieties and well-being.

Anup Sinha is former Professor of Economics, IIM Calcutta (As published in The Telegraph Online)

the anti-trafficking bill 2021

I

ndia desperately needs an exclusive legislation on human trafficking, but the Trafficking in Persons (Prevention, Care and Rehabilitation) Bill 2021, an exhaustively drafted document, is awaiting parliamentary approval. The crime is covered under many laws, but even the latest definition given under Section 370 of the Indian Penal Code is limited. Notwithstanding the criticism of some aspects of the bill, it is the need of the hour. Trafficking in any form is prohibited under Article 23 of the Constitution.

Yet, this modern-day slavery is growing in intensity, dimension, and spread.

A 2017 International Labour Organization (ILO) report states that more than 40 million people are enslaved for exploitation. The spectrum of the purpose of exploitation ranges from sex slaves to child soldiers. The report estimates that in the preceding five years, 89 million people were victimised. Its classification projects that out of 40 million, 25 million were exploited in forced labour and 15 million were pushed into forced marriage to which they had not consented, and out of this, 5.7 million were children. For every 1,000 adults, 5.4 were victims, and for 1000 children, 4.4 children were victimised.

The UNODC 2020 Global Report estimates that in 2018, for every 10 victims of trafficking detected globally, about five were adult women and two were girls.

About one-third of the overall detected victims were children. So, there is a commonality in UNODC, and ILO reports that around 70% of victims are females (adult and child included). UNODC observes that “invisibility’ of some sectors helps to hide trafficking for forced labour.”

As per India’s National Crime Record Bureau, 2278, 2208, and 1714 cases of trafficking were reported in 2018, 2019, and 2020 respectively.

85.2% of the cases have been charge-sheeted. In 2020, 4,709 persons were victimised, out of which 2,222 were children,

including 1,377 boys and 845 girls. It also projects that 2151 children were rescued out of which 801 were girls. Among adult victims, 535 were males, and 1952 were females.

If we analyse the data, it seems to be misleading and untenable. The factual situation would narrate a different story. The figure of merely 845 girls being victimised in the country in one year reflects flaws in reporting.

If we see the data projected in the NCRB report, there is almost no trafficking in India.

While ILO says, out of 1,000 persons, 5.4 persons are victimised, the data of NCRB says out of 1.3 billion populations, only 4,709 have been victimised. This is a huge mismatch to the projected magnitude of human trafficking. This anomaly has to be understood. This huge gap in reporting could be attributed to the lack of an all-encompassing Act. The revised definition in the Bill would, to a great extent, clear doubts about what constitutes trafficking. The passing of the Bill should be followed by proper research and a study to understand the domestic and global situation, with reference to cause and effect, dimensions beyond the conventional definition, the vulnerability and attempts to alleviate it, the methods used by a trafficker to sustain captivity and role of stakeholders in prevention, protection, and prosecution, and other issues.

It would help understand human trafficking through intersectional analysis and beyond the lens of genderbased violence while locating anti-trafficking work as part of a globalised movement.

But for sure, an Act would help stakeholders and government and non-government organisations put a concerted effort to combat modern-day slavery.

Veerendra Mishra is Fulbright Humphrey Fellow; honorary adjunct professor of law, Jindal Global Law School (As published in The Hindustan Times)

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.

Over 39L students shifted to govt schools in 2020-21

CWSN students in 2020-21 stands at 21.69 lakh as compared to 22.49 lakh in 2019-20, showing a decrease of 3.56 per cent during 2020-21 as compared to 2019-20.

In 2020-21 over 12.2 crore girls are enrolled in primary to higher secondary showing an increase of 11.8 lakh girls compared to the enrolment of girls in 2019-20.

The report said that in 2020-21, the Pupil Teacher Ratio (PTR) stood at 26 for primary, 19 for upper primary, 18 for secondary and 26 for higher secondary, showing an improvement since 2018-19.

The PTR for primary, upper primary, secondary and

higher secondary was 28, 20, 21, and 30respectively during 2018-19.

In 2020-21, total students enrolled in school education from primary to higher secondary stood at 25.38 crore. There is an increase of 28.32 lakh enrolments as compared to the 25.10 crore enrolment in 201920, the report added.

Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) which measure the general level of participation has improved in 2020-21 at all levels of school education compared to 2019-20.

Level wise GER in 202021 as compared to 2019-20 are 92.2 per cent from 89.7 per cent in upper primary, 99.1

2020-21 stood at 15.8 lakh as compared to 12.37 lakhs in 2018-19.

Among the non-teaching staffs, the number of accountants, library assistants, laboratory assistants, head clerks, LDC/UDC staffs has grown from 5.79 lakh to 7.8 lakh by adding 2.05 lakh from 2018-19 to 2020-21.

The report also revealed that the schools with functional electricity have made impressive progress during 2020-21 with net addition of 57,799 schools provided electricity. Now 84 per cent of the total schools have functional electricity facility in comparison with 73.85 per cent in 2018-19 showing “remarkable” improvement of 10.15 per cent during the period.

Percentage of the schools with functional drinking water has increased to 95.2 per cent in 2020-21 from 93.7 per cent in 2019-20.

Percentage of the school with functional girl’s toilet facility has increased to 93.91 per cent in 2020-21 in comparison with 93.2 per cent in 2019-20 by adding the facility in additional 11,933 schools during the year.

(From p-1) While the ratio of those who benefited most probably were just a miniscule, he said the people were at the receiving end.

Recalling that it was a people’s movement under the leadership of the church, he said the church saw the ill-effects of alcohol in the society. The church was a witness to lives it damaged, relationships it destroyed, dreams it snuffed and communities it reduced to hopelessness.

While alcoholism ravaged lives, many Nagas were far from being responsible consumers of alcohol. Therefore, he said the church took upon itself as a moral responsibility to safeguard a promising nation and once again raise the level of self-respect of a people in crisis.

The tears of Naga mothers and the prayers of church leaders were collective a cry for the restoration and redemption of a people, he added.

Pongener declared that just because it did not work for Americans or other western countries did not mean likewise everywhere. He said the morality of western nations must not be used as an ideal yardstick for Nagas.

“If a house is dirty and filled with cobwebs, you don’t burn it.

Rather, you clean it. So also must

the NLTP Act, 1989,” he emphasised.

Admitting that there were loopholes that must be immediately addressed, he however urged the government not to look at the Act in a half-hearted matter. He said there should be the will to ensure it was effective and that systems and mechanisms were put in place to strengthen it.

He mentioned that ABAM saw the Act as a “spiritual bridle” that safeguarded Nagas against the ill-effects of alcohol in the community. He acknowledged that the church and all its partners needed to do more in its advocacy and care programmes.

Towards this end, Pongener declared that ABAM was committed to ensuring that greater and more comprehensive advocacy messages were disseminated and that adequate and appropriate services, along with pastoral care, were provided.

He admitted that more required to be done, especially for those affected by alcoholism and their families. And towards all these strategies, he said the church was firm in its commitment and remained resolute in its call for the building of lives.

Strongly propose reservation NPF fetes party’s 5 NDPP welcomes 2-point resolution for girls in legal education: CJI Manipur candidates

N.V. Ramana

N E W D E L H I , M A RC H 1 0 (IANS): Chief Justice of India, N.V. Ramana on Thursday said the dream of fair and equitable society will come true when women, from all backgrounds, have a say and he strongly proposes reservation for girls in legal education.

In his address on the occasion of ‘International Day of Women Judges’, he said there are numerous factors behind the under-rep-

resentation of women in judiciary and the primary reason is deeply ingrained patriarchy in our society.

“Now we are having 4 women judges in the Supreme Court which is the highest ever in its history. In near future, we shall be witnessing the first ever female Chief Justice of India. But, I think, we are still far away from ensuring at least 50 per cent representation of women in our judiciary,” he said.

“The recognition of 10th March as ‘International Day of Women Judges’ is an important step to create awareness and mobilise political will. I am a strong proponent of affirmative action.

To enrich the pool of talent, I strongly propose reservation for girls in legal education. The data proves such a provision has yielded encouraging results in appointing women judicial officers at the district level.”

Nagaland Dy. CM congratulates BJP DIMAPUR, MAR 10 (NPN): State deputy chief minister Y Patton has congratulated the BJP led by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi, party president JP Nadda and home minister Amit Shah for winning the state elections in UP, Uttarakhand, Manipur and Goa. In a statement, Patton, who is also the state BJP legislature party leader, said the party’s victory was

“clearly the people’s mandate” and showed that BJP was growing stronger.

Patton also lauded the BJP karyakartas (workers) who put in “tremendous effort” to ensure that the party emerged victorious.

The deputy chief minister has thanked the people for reposing faith in BJP to lead the states and the nation.

DIMAPUR, MAR 10 (NPN): NPF has congratulated its five candidates who emerged victories in the Manipur Assembly elections, whose results were declared on Thursday.

The party in a press communique said it was confident that the five newly-elected MLAs would be steadfast in their commitment to the welfare of citizens of Manipur in general and the hill people in particular, while remaining true to the ideology and manifesto of the party.

The five candidates who emerged victorious are Leishiyo Keishing (43 Phungyar Assembly constituency), Ramnganing Muivah (44 Ukhrul AC), Khashim Vashum (45 Chingai A.C), Losii Dikho (48 Mao AC) and Awangbow Newmai (52 Tamei AC).

NPF also acknowledged its Manipur unit under the astute leadership of its president Awangbow Newmai and all its frontal organisations who had tirelessly campaigned for the party’s success.

It also extended its gratitude to the electorate who deemed its candidates worthy of their votes, whether they won or lost, while assuring to continue working with sincerity and dedication for the upliftment of people and protection of their inherent rights. “We look forward to your continued support in the future so that we may scale even greater heights together,” the release added.

NPF also congratulated chief minister Biren Singh-led BJP for successfully securing 30 seats in the 60-member Assembly and hoped that the new government would work steadfastly for the development of Manipur, particularly the hill areas.

Rlys to resume providing linen, blankets

VISITING CONSULTANTS

Dr. Mezhuneituo Raleng, Consultant Surgical Oncologist from Health City Hospital, Guwahati, will be available for consultation at Eden Medical Centre on 12th March 2022 from 12:00 pm onwards.

For further details, kindly contact the reception at 03862-248722/296600

Since its inception, NDPP said it has been a strong advocate and supporter of gender equality and has been its endeavour to work towards this goal.

Ruling NDPP hoped that the “unanimous” passing of the resolution will be a further encouragement for Naga women to step forward in leading the people and will also be a stepping stone towards having women representatives in the Nagaland Legislative Assembly.

Further, NDPP appreciated and supported the resolution calling for the negotiating parties to arrive at a political solution that is honourable, inclusive, transparent and acceptable to the people and to work towards One Solution and One Agreement. NDPP said the resolution came at a time when the “IndoNaga” talks is heading towards a conclusion. NDPP said it has always stood for the early resolution of the “Indo-Naga” issue and had been supporting the positive negotiations between all the negotiating parties.

NDPP has, therefore, appealed to the state gov-

ernment and the people of the state to work hand in hand in making the resolutions a reality with a vision to make a new Nagaland which the future generations will applaud and appreciate.

NSCW lauds resolution on ULB election: Nagaland State Commission for Women (NSCW) has described as “positive outcome” the consultative meeting resolution to hold elections to the Urban Local Bodies (ULB) as per the 74th Amendment Act of the Constitution of India.

In a press release, NSCW chairperson Khrienuo Tachü said that the decision was “indeed a milestone for Naga women” towards inclusive and active participation in decision making processes, which she maintained will “uplift the status of women definitely.”

The commission has expressed gratitude to the state government for initiating consultative meeting with civil societies, churches, Naga women and the people of Nagaland in their endeavour to include women in decision-making.

M.K. Stalin

C H E N NA I , M A RC H 10 (IANS): Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin on Thursday sought External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar’s personal intervention to secure the release of Indian fishermen arrested by the Indonesian and Seychelles authorities.

Stalin in a letter to Jaishankar citing reports said five fishermen belonging to Tamil Nadu and Kerala were apprehended by the Indonesian air and sea police for allegedly entering Indonesian waters and were taken to Ditpolairud Pier, Aceh, Indonesia, for legal proceedings.

The fishermen had gone fishing on February 17 in an Andaman registered fishing vessel.

VACANCY 1. Maths Teacher : B.Sc (PCM), B.Ed/D.El.Ed 1 Post 2. Science Teacher : B.Sc (Life Science) B.Ed/D.El.Ed 1 Post 3. Assistant Teacher : B.A/B.Com, B.Ed/D.El.Ed 3 Posts Interested candidates can come for a walk-in-interview on 12th March 2022 (Saturday) between 10:30 am – 12:30 pm along with their original academic documents in the school office.

Principal Eden Hr. Sec. School, Dimapur DP-1094/22

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NEW DELHI, MAR 10 (PTI): In a major relief to passengers, the Railways on Thursday issued orders to resume the service of providing linen, blankets and curtains inside trains, a provision that was suspended due to the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic.

In an order issued to general managers of all railway zones, the Railway Board said the supply of these items will resume with immediate effect.

The linen will include pillows, blankets, sheets and towels in a sealed cover. The national transporter, which had also suspended the service of providing meals and most of its concessions on tickets, has reintroduced majority of the facilities.

The concessions on tickets for passengers remain suspended. In an attempt to prevent the spread of COVID-19, the Railways had announced in May 2020 that it would not provide blankets and curtains in air-conditioned coaches of all trains. Passengers were advised to bring their own blankets on long journeys.

It had instructed that the minimum temperature in train coaches be set at 2425 degrees Celsius.

DIMAPUR, MAR 10 (NPN): Nationalist Democratic Progressive Party (NDPP) has welcomed the resolutions passed at the consultative meet convened by the state government on March 9, 2022 at the State Banquet Hall, Kohima.

NDPP through its media & communication committee affirmed support to the decisions taken by the state government and all stakeholders. NDPP also congratulated the state government led by the chief minister, NDPP president, all political parties, tribal hohos, civil society organisations, churches and NGOs for “unanimously” passing the resolutions, especially to conduct elections to the Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) under the 74th Amendment of the Constitution of India.

Describing as “a red letter day” for Nagaland, NDPP said that the conduct of ULB elections and having elected members run the ULBs will “indeed expedite” all round development in the urban areas of the state and will immensely help in uplifting the lives of the people.

Stalin urges MEA to secure release of fishermen

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The impact has been particularly noticed in the enrolment of young and vulnerable kids.

per cent from 97.8 per cent in elementary, 79.8 per cent from 77.9 per cent in secondary and 53.8 per cent from 51.4 per cent in higher secondary respectively. “96.96 lakh teachers are engaged in school education during 2020-21.

This is higher by about 8,800 in comparison with number of teacher in school education in 2019-20,” the report said.

According to the ministry, the UDISE+ system of online data collection from the schools was developed by Department of School Education & Literacy in the year 2018-19 to overcome the issues related to erstwhile practice of manual data filling in paper format and subsequent feeding on computer at the block or district level in the UDISE data collection system since 2012-13.

In UDISE+ system, improvements have been made particularly in the areas related to data capture, data mapping and data verification. The present publication relates to UDISE+ data for the reference year 2020-21.

The number of nonteaching staffs has also improved over the years. Total non teaching staffs during

ABAM calls for strengthening NLTP Act

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NEW DELHI, MARCH 10 (IANS): Nearly 39.7 lakh students of government aided and private schools shifted to government schools during 2020-21. Similarly, there is also an impact of Covid-19 pandemic on enrolment in schools, showed a report released by Union Ministry of Education on Wednesday.

The impact has been particularly noticed in the enrolment of young and vulnerable kids like pre-primary, class 1 and ‘Children With Special Needs’ (CWSN), which can be attributed to postponement of admissions due to Covid-19.

In 2020-21, enrolment of students in schools from primary to higher secondary is around 25.4 crore. This is higher by 28.3 lakh as compared to the enrolment of students in 2019-20, the ministry’s report on Unified District Information System for Education Plus (UDISE+) 2020-21 on school education of India noted.

However, enrolment of students in pre-primary level and class 1 has reduced by 29.1 lakh and 18.8 lakh respectively in 2020-21 as compared to 2019-20, it said.

To t a l e n r o l m e n t o f

7

NATIONAL/STATE

NAGALAND POST, DIMAPUR FRIDAY, MARCH 11, 2022

NAGALAND POST, DIMAPUR FRIDAY, MARCH 11, 2022

BUSINESS/STATE

Su doku

KAKURO

No. 4829 Yesterday’s solution No. 4828

No. 3853 Yesterday’s solution No. 3852

Contact : 6009334075 9436262924

LAND FOR SALE

LAND FOR SALE

PRimE LAND FOR SALE at Kuhuboto town Both side of two lane road.

6 kms from Dubagaon village main gate.

Area : 17 bighas to be sold in bulk.

Rate 70 per sq feet.

Contact No : 9612247917

LAND FOR SALE at Old Showuba,

Lane 32, with approach road touched, near four lane.

Plots of different sizes available, ideal for residential/commercial/any other development @ Rs. 220/- per sq.ft.

(Negotiable).

Contact Nos. 9436006729 9972697405 db-178/22

Contact Number : 9362993773

LAND WitH HOUSE FOR SALE Near D.C Court, Dimapur Commercial Area 53x40 sq. ft.

Contact : 8416056413

RESiDENtiAL PLOt FOR URgENt SALE Area : 140x142 Price : 220 per sq. ft.

(Negotiable) Location :

Senthan Colony, Block-5, Purana Bazar-B, Dimapur

Contact : +91 9863031190 7005319502 db-174/22

@ Aoyimkum

3.54 Bighas or 50898 sq. ft.

Rs. 140/- per sq. ft.

Genuine buyers only Contact : 7005474616

dP-1128/22

Located at Aoyimkum Land measuring 14825 sq. ft.

Price : 39,00,000 (Slightly Negotiable)

dP-1084/22(A)

Contact No : 6909682422

1. 70 x 63 sq. ft.

2. 99 x 75 sq. ft.

No Broker

(Pigs Available 60-70 Kgs)

LAND FOR SALE Excellent location along NH-29 With Direct Access Well Planned and serviced Ideal for Commercial purpose And Social Institutions For Further details, please contact +91 7005901909/ 8132807224

Darogapathar Village

Local Pigs in Kohima WhatsApp me 6909793345

To teach Maths & Hindi Lower Classes.

(Pref. Trained) near Dma. Lodging available. dP-1113/22

LAND FOR SALE

FOr Sale

dP-1115/22

WANtED tEACHER

LAND FOR SALE

at Purana Bazar near Sumi Baptist Church Measuring :- 8250 sq. ft. at the rate of 900 per sq. ft.

Only for genuine customer

dP-1122/22

ACROSS 4 Front of the neck (6) 7 Lino (8) 8 Hire charge (6) 10 Honour and prestige (5) 13 Marquee, for example (4) 14 Identical (4) 15 Cast off (4) 16 Pen part (3) 17 Garden tool (4) 19 Heroic (4) 21 Vaudeville (5,4) 23 Colour (4) 24 Rabbit-like mammal (4) 26 Bleat (3) 27 Twelve inches (4) 29 Very keen (4) 32 Rise (2,2) 33 Gaze fixedly (5) 34 Boots for anglers (6) 35 Indefatigable (8) 36 Evaluate (6) DOWN 1 Ditties (5) 2 Partial or total darkness (5) 3 Modelling material (4) 4 Number (5) 5 Smallest of a litter (4) 6 Foreign language (6) 9 Make beloved (6) 11 Stripling (3) 12 Repeat (5) 13 Dismissal from work (3,4) 15 Move on snow (3) 16 Nothing (3) 18 Try to obtain by requesting (3,3) 20 Fold in clothing (5) 21 Girl’s name (3) 22 Titfer (3) 23 Heathens (6) 25 Tree (3) 28 Expels (5) 30 Manservant (5) 31 Thick (5) 32 DNA unit (4) 33 Pace (4)

Bus Helper to reside in school premises Add: Half Nagarjan, dimapur Contact No: 9366987175

Cook cum Helper For an educational institute at PR Hill, Kohima Must be able to cook Indian food Accommodation may be provided on requirement Salary : 5000/Contact : 8787404704

Contact No. 8575193378

LAND FOR SALE 4 Lane Touched 1. 7 Bighas Commercial/Residential site Rs. 190 per sq. ft.

2. 14 Bighas Farming Site Rs. 60 per sq. ft.

3. 9½ Bighas Paddy Field Rs. 45 per sq. ft.

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No. 10207 Yesterday’s solution No. 10206

WANTED

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prospective entrepreneurs deliberated on PMEGP loan, MSME schemes and financial literacy besides sharing of success stories by entrepreneurs.

Meanwhile, BAN installed its district chapter in Kohima with Ruguokhrietuo Kesiezie as district convenor of the Kohima chapter.

The district chapter comprises of five coordinators representing services, manufacturing, agriculture, education and trading sectors.

WANTED

all the departments for their collective efforts and giving the company the opportunity to build the first solar project of this scale in the Nagaland. The programme was chaired by principal secretary to the government KD Vizo. Officials from department and others also attended the event.

Contact : 9362359493

LAND FOR SALE NEAR FOUR LANE 45 BIGHAS PER SQ. FT. ` 50/-

Contact : 8798387715 LOST NOTICE I, V. Alino Shohe am applying for duplicate copy of HSLC Admit Card as I have lost it.

Name : V. Alino Shohe F/Name : V. Vitoho Shohe DoB : 18.06.2003 Roll No : 211826169 Year : 2021 School : Touch of Hope School, Shokhuvi Contact : 9366788439

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Crossword

CD ratio (71.7%) as per RBI 2021 data.

Speakers at the programmes include MSME-DI joint director Tali Longchar, general manager DIC Sukhonlal Langthasa, chief manager Nagaland state cooperative bank Nchumthung Kikon, AGM IDBI bank Rangshong Levis, president Glocal concepts Nagaland Kezhangulie and BAN executive member Benthungo Kithan.

The release stated that the programme attended by

almost on the verge of completion and said the State would have a power generating capacity of more than 300 megawatt very soon.

He urged the company to complete the project within the stipulated period. Halo Energie Pvt director Himadeep Nallavadla thanked the State government and

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DI and BAN spoke during the programme.

In his address, BAN president L Mongkum Jamir highlighted the apathy of the financial institutions in Nagaland. Describing bank finance as a key lifeline for entrepreneurs, he said that banks in the state are not issuing enough loans which was discouraging entrepreneurship.

Jamir said this was reflected by the poor Credit-Deposit (CD) ratio of Nagaland banks (43.2%) compared to the national

(From p-1) Company executives have started the initial land survey and design process of the project, which is also expected to create employment opportunities for both local skilled and unskilled workers. The execution of the project is scheduled to start by middle of this year and will take close to eight months to commission.

Speaking on the occasion, Advisor Power Tovihoto Ayemi thanked Halo Energie Pvt Ltd for entering into an agreement with the State government.

He claimed that some hydro projects taken up by the State government were

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DIMAPUR, MAR 10 (NPN): One day “entrepreneurship awareness programme” was organised by MSME Development Institute Dimapur, Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium enterprises, government of India in collaboration with Business Association of Nagas (BAN) and District Industries Centre on March 9 in Kohima.

A press release by BAN stated that resource persons from district industries centre, private and public sector banks, MSME

PPA inked to set up Nagaland’s first solar power plant

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(L) Jt Director MSME-DI Tali Longchar. (R) Entrepreneurship awareness programme Kohima.

DIMAPUR, MAR 10 (NPN): Nagaland governor Prof. Jagdish Mukhi, chief minister Neiphiu Rio and deputy chief minister Y Patton have extended warm greetings to the members of the Zeliang community on the occasion of Mileinyi festival.

In his message, Prof.

Jagdish Mukhi said that Mileinyi, which is a festival of purification, benefaction, prosperity and longevity, provides a platform for the young people to carry forward the rich and beautiful cultural legacies of the Zeliangs. Taking to twitter, Rio prayed that the festival of invoking bountiful blessings from God be filled with love and happiness and bring blessings of success in all spheres of life. Patton, on behalf of the BJP legislators, also conveyed “heartiest festive greetings” and expressed hope that they would celebrate with much grandeur and gaiety.

Sangkhani said the cooperatives offer enormous opportunities and can effectively address the task of socio-economic development of the North East region in general and Nagaland in particular where agriculture, products were higher in value.

About 17 women cooperative society members from all over the country and members of empowerment of women committee were also present at the event.

The Cooperation department also submitted a note “Revitalizing and upscaling cooperative movement in Nagaland” to the NCUI team.

(From p-1) few sections of people” through appropriate channels. NSF has, however, asserted that the move should not hinder the student and youth community from being “rightfully employed” through an open, free and fair examination process that the NSSB seeks to further. NSF assured to extend its “fullest support” to the state government in the implementation of the NSSB policy. Meanwhile, the federation has extended gratitude to the state government for relaxing the age limit for entry into government services by two years.

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BAN organises awareness programme

Gov, CM, Dy. CM greet Zeliangs

products and also promote health food, herbal medicine etc. through an integrated strategy for sustainable and equitable utilization of its natural resources and biodiversity.

He also appealed to the visiting team to highlight the productivity and marketable linkages to the main stakeholders for the progress of the farmers.

On his part, Sanghani assured that NCUI was committed towards developing and promoting the co-operative movement in India and educate, guide and assist the people and help them build up and expand the cooperative sector.

NSF urges govt to begin recruitment under NSSB

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agency said that average Consumer Price Index (CPI)-based inflation, will stay firm at 5.4 per cent next fiscal-- if the price of crude oil averages $85-90 per barrel -- and takes into account the excise duty cuts announced last year.

However, it cited that upside risks will build if the geopolitical strife prolongs, keeping oil and commodity prices higher for longer.

When the price of crude oil averaged $110 per barrel between fiscals 2012 and 2014, inflation was in

said that ripple effects of higher commodity prices have reflected strongly in the operating profitability of India Inc during past cycles.

This time around, it said that passthroughs have been “good” and earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (Ebitda) margin is expected to sustain above 20 per cent for the second year in a row for the top 700 corporates this fiscal.

In addition, it said revenue growth in most sectors has been driven by prices this fiscal.

The pace is significantly above fiscal 2019 (pre-pandemic period), especially in the exports and commodity-linked sectors.

“While both volume and value growth are above pre-pandemic levels in the exports sectors, prices have driven a higher proportion of recovery in the metals sector,” the agency added.

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the health of the financial sector is on the mend, with better capitalisation, profitability and asset quality,” said Amish Mehta, Managing Director & CEO, Crisil at ‘India Outlook, Fiscal 2023’ event.

“That, and enhanced public spending on infrastructure, private investments driven by the Production-Linked Incentive scheme, and a chunk of green capex should deliver some good-quality tailwinds.”

Besides, the ratings

double digits. Furthermore, the agency pointed out that private consumption, which is the largest component of demand and has been the slowest to recover from the pandemic, will also face headwinds from high inflation.

“We believe the fiscal policy will need to be deployed more aggressively than envisaged in the Union Budget for next fiscal. This can be done by increasing allocation for employment-generating schemes and food subsidy, and cutting duty on petroleum products,” said Dharmakirti Joshi, Chief Economist, Crisil.

“This can be a relief bridge for those most affected by the pandemic till such time the virtuous cycle of investment-led growth plays out in the labour market, and private consumption demand becomes self-sustaining.”

Additionally, Crisil

(From p-1) Pointing out that due too many defaulters, Kaito said not only the cooperative sector, but the farming sector has also been affected, as many were not able to avail the opportunity of the cooperative movement.

While asserting that the cooperation department stood by its principle of “one village, one cooperative societies,” Kaito said the introduction of cooperative societies in Nagaland was relatively late as compared to other parts of the country.

He also highlighted to the NCUI team that the state can be promoted as a centre for organic and eco-friendly

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NEW DELHI, MAR 10 (IANS): India’s gross domestic product (GDP) growth is expected to come in at 7.8 per cent in fiscal 2023, said ratings agency Crisil.

According to the ratings agency, any potential upside due to the early end of a mild third wave of Covid-19 infections will be offset by the ongoing geopolitical strife stemming from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Currently, the geopolitical crisis is creating a dampening effect on global growth and pushing up oil and commodity prices.

The agency said that risks to growth are tilted to the downside.

“Spiking commodity prices, especially of crude oil, will have a bearing on India’s macros, including the current account deficit and inflation. These would create headwinds to growth. The good part is,

Leaders in Delhi to apprise Govt on Naga...

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India’s GDP expected at 7.8% next fiscal: Crisil

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8

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INTERNATIONAL

NAGALAND POST, DIMAPUR FRIDAY, MARCH 11, 2022

No progress on ceasefire in Ukraine-Russia talk ‘Incredible momentum’ in India-US defence relationship: Pentagon

Moscow calls its incursion a “special military operation” to disarm Ukraine and dislodge leaders it calls “neo-Nazis.”

Kyiv and its Western allies dismiss that as baseless pretext for an unprovoked war against a democratic country of 44 million people.

Lavrov said he did not believe the conflict would spiral into a nuclear war but he cautioned the United States and Europe that Moscow never again wanted to be reliant on the West.

“We will do everything to ensure that we never again depend on the West in those areas of our life which have a significant meaning for our people,” he said.

Turkey, which hosted Thursday’s meeting, shares a maritime border with Russia and Ukraine in the Black Sea and has good ties with both. It has called Russia’s invasion unacceptable and appealed for a ceasefire but has opposed sanctions on Moscow.

WASHINGTON, MAR 10 (PTI): There is an “incredible momentum” in the USIndia defence relationship and the much awaited 2+2 dialogue between the two countries will take place here in early April, a top Pentagon official has said during a Congressional hearing on the Indo-Pacific region.

The last meeting of the 2+2 dialogue was held in New Delhi in 2020 and the next meeting is to be hosted by the US in Washington.

The 2+2 ministerial dialogue takes place between foreign and defence ministers of both sides.

India and the United States held a bilateral 2+2 Inter-sessional meeting at the official level on 1 September 2021 in Washington DC. They reviewed progress made since the last 2+2 Ministerial Dialogue in October 2020. Ely Ratner, Assistant Secretary of Defence for Indo-Pacific Security Affairs, told members of the House Armed Services Commit-

Situation at Chernobyl nuke Police raid N. Korean embassy plant dangerous, says Ukraine in Pak; minister apologises

Hungarian parl elects Katalin Novak as president

Ukrainian emergency employees carry an injured pregnant woman from a maternity hospital in Mariupol. (AP/PTI)

an hour and a half.

B o t h Ku l e b a a n d Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu, who hosted the talks, said it was not an easy meeting.

“I made a simple proposal to Minister Lavrov: I can call my Ukrainian ministers, authorities, president now and give you 100% assurances on security guarantees for humanitarian corridors,” Kuleba told a news conference.

“I asked him ‘Can you do the same?’ and he did

Chernobyl nuke plant in Ukraine.

KIEV, MAR 10 (IANS): Ukraine’s Presidential Office on Thursday warned that the situation at Chernobyl was “very dangerous” after an emergency power outage was reported at the now-defunct nuclear power plant.

“The situation in Chernobyl is overall very dangerous. It is critical that certain elements of the plant receive a consistent supply of electricity,” the Ukrayinska Pravda newspaper quoted presidential adviser Mykhaylo Podolyak as saying.

The adviser warned that since “these elements have been cut off from stable access to power”, it posed a “threat to the whole of Europe. And, of course, to Russia itself ”.

Podolyak added that not only has the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) stopped receiving crucial data from the safety monitoring system, no one currently understood what was going on at the Chernobyl power plant. According to the presidential advisor, Russia is targeting the nuclear

not respond.”

At a separate news conference, Lavrov said there had been no discussion of a ceasefire, and that the talks in Turkey could not be an alternative to the “real, main diplomatic track”, referring to lowerlevel meetings in Belarus, an ally of Moscow.

“I am not surprised that Kuleba said that it was not possible to agree about a ceasefire. Here, no one was intending to agree a ceasefire,” he said.

plants in Ukraine to “subdue its neighbours”.

According to Ukrenergo, the state energy company of Ukraine, the plant suffered the power outage on Wednesday due to which on site emergency diesel generators were turned on to provide power systems important for safety.

The company said that the supply of diesel fuel on diesel generators will be enough for 48 hours.

It added that repair work to restore the energy supply was impossible due to Russian combat operations in the region.

Although operations stopped at the plant after the catastrophic nuclear disaster in 1986, Chernobyl was never fully abandoned and still requires constant management, the BBC said, adding that spent nuclear fuel is cooled at the site.

HOSPITAL BOMBING Responding to Kyiv’s condemnation of Wednesday’s bombing of a maternity hospital in Mariupol, Lavrov said the building was no longer used as a hospital and had been occupied by Ukrainian forces, though the Kremlin separately said the incident was being investigated.

“Three days ago at the U.N. Security Council meeting our delegation presented facts that this maternity hospital had long been seized by the Azov battalion and other radicals,” he said.

Russia’s invasion has uprooted more than 2 million people in what the United Nations calls the fastest-developing humanitarian crisis in Europe since World War Two. read more Moscow has said that all of its demands - including that Kyiv takes a neutral position and drops aspirations of joining the NATO alliance - must be met to end its assault.

Sheikh Rashid

ISLAMABAD, MAR 10 (PTI): The police in Pakistan’s national capital conducted a raid at the North Korean embassy earlier this week over inputs about the presence of a large amount of liquor in its premises, prompting the diplomatic mission to lodge a strong protest over what it called the violation of the Vienna Convention.

Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid on Thursday apologised for the police raid on the diplomatic mission, terming the incident as a “misunderstanding”.

“We have apologised (to the North Korean mis-

sion),” Rashid said, adding that the incident “happened out of misunderstanding.”.

His remarks came hours after reports surfaced that the North Korean embassy wrote a letter to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, saying the Islamabad Police violated the Vienna Convention.

A report published in The News daily said that the embassy had stated in a letter to the Foreign Office and Islamabad’s police chief that police entered the mission’s premises from the backdoor at approximately 5 pm (local time) on March 7 and harassed its workers.

The paper reported that the embassy in the letter said that the staff reminded the police that the embassy was exercising the inviolable sovereign territory of North Korea, officially the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, and asked them to immediately stop this brutal, the letter read.

Katalin Novak

BUDAPEST, MAR 10 (IANS): The Hungarian parliament on Thursday elected Katalin Novak as the country’s first female president for a five-year term, winning over economist Peter Rona in a vote split along party lines.

Novak, a former member of the government as minister without portfolio for family affairs, is taking over from incumbent president Janos Ader, who is ending his second term as president, Xinhua news agency reported. Hungary’s president is not a member of any political party and represents the unity of the Hungarian state.

Indonesia’s Mount Merapi erupts multiple times, 250 evacuate

Lava flows down from the crater of Mount Merapi. (AP/PTI)

eled up to 5 kilometers (3.1 miles) down its slopes, said National Disaster Mitigation Agency’s spokesperson Abdul Muhari in a statement. The rumbling sound could be heard several kilo-

meters (miles) away.

He said 253 people were evacuated to temporary shelters in Glagaharjo and Umbulharjo villages in Yogyakarta special province and in Central Java’s

Covid-19 pandemic ‘far from over’: WHO

G E N E VA , M A R 1 0 (IANS): The last two years of Covid-19 infection has seen more than 500 million cases and over six million deaths globally, yet the pandemic is “far from over”, warned the World Health Organisation even as several countries have eased restrictions and opened borders over declining cases.

“Although reported cases and deaths are declining globally, and several countries have lifted restrictions, the pandemic is far from over,” said WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Gebreyesus, during a media briefing.

“It will not be over anywhere until it’s over everywhere,” he added even as many countries in Asia and the Pacific are facing surges in Covid cases and deaths.

“The virus continues to evolve, and we continue

Tedros Gebreyesus

to face major obstacles in distributing vaccines, tests and treatments everywhere they are needed,” the WHO chief said.

The global health body is also concerned that several countries are drastically reducing testing. The WHO recommends countries to offer self-tests in addition to professionally-administered testing services.

Meanwhile, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres also supported the WHO chief ’s assessment.

In a statement, he

warned that it would be “a grave mistake” to think the virus was now in the rearview mirror.

Guterres reiterated that the distribution of vaccines remains “scandalously unequal”.

“Manufacturers are producing 1.5 billion doses per month, but nearly three billion people are still waiting for their first shot,” he highlighted.

The UN chief blamed this “failure” on policy and budgetary decisions that prioritise the health of people in wealthy countries, over the health of people in poor countries.

“This is a moral indictment of our world. It is also a recipe for more variants, more lockdowns and more sorrow and sacrifice in every country. Our world cannot afford a two-tier recovery from Covid-19,” he said.

Klaten district because of the dangers on Merapi.

Ash from the eruption blanketed several nearby villages and towns and no casualties were reported, Muhari said.

Residents living on Merapi’s fertile slopes were advised to stay 7 kilometers (4.3 miles) away from the crater’s mouth and should be aware of the danger posed by lava, Indonesia’s Geology and Volcanology Research Agency said.

Mount Merapi is the most active of more than 120 active volcanoes in In-

donesia and has repeatedly erupted with lava and gas clouds recently.

The Volcanology and Geological Hazard Mitigation Center did not raise Merapi’s alert status, which already was at the secondhighest of four levels since it began erupting last November.

The 2,968-meter (9,737-foot) peak is near Yogyakarta, an ancient city of several hundred thousand people embedded in a large metro area. The city is also a center of Javanese culture and a seat of royal

AFFIDAVIT

Regd. No. 1103/22 dt. 04/03/22 That my correct name is KHRIEVOTUO SELETSU, however, in some important documents including in my Academic Records my name has been recorded as KHIRIE VOTUO. Hence, the stated name represents the same and one person having single identity i.e., myself.

That henceforth, I herewith rectify the same and declares that my correct name will be KHRIEVOTUO SELETSU for all official references and correspondences.

DEPONENT K-482/22

Office Of the

MIDLAND PANCHAYAT COUNCIL MiDLAND : DiMAPUR - 797112

feLicitAtiON

With immense pride and joy, the Midland Panchayat council and Urban health Sub-centre (UhSc) Midland, extend our heartiest congratulations to : 1. Smt. K KUSheN KhiAM (ANM) Urban Health Sub-Centre, Midland 2. Smt. KeNeiNGUNUO ANGAMi (Permanent Resident of Midland) For receiving the best vaccination award among the best vaccination 72 frontline workers/vaccinators across the country.

We wish them good health and success in their future endeavours.

R. Sanen Longkumer Chairman Midland Panchayat Council Dimapur, Nagaland

Kethoyopo Pucho Chairman Urban Health Sub-Centre Midland, Dimapur

dp-1117/22

YOGYAKARTA, MAR 1 0 ( A P ) : I n d o n e s i a ’s Mount Merapi volcano spewed avalanches of hot clouds in eruptions overnight Thursday that forced about 250 residents to flee to temporary shelters and left ash blanketing nearby villages and towns. No casualties were reported.

The volcano on the densely populated island of Java unleashed clouds of hot ash at least seven times just before and after midnight and fast-moving pyroclastic flows, a mixture of rock, lava and gas, trav-

dynasties going back centuries.

Merapi’s last major eruption in 2010 killed 347 people and caused the evacuation of 20,000 villagers.

tee during a Congressional hearing on Wednesday on the Indo-Pacific region that he perceives the US-India defence relationship as one with “incredible momentum”.

At the same time, he acknowledged that there are challenges with the relationship with India. “But I think they’re manageable and we are moving forward very rapidly in deepening the partnership,” he said.

“We’re going to hold our highest senior-level engagement with them in early April.

“That’s a two plus two with Secretary (of State Antony) Blinken, Secretary (of Defence Lloyd) Austin and their (Indian) counterparts

(External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and Minister of Defence Rajnath Singh); in that meeting we’ll discuss a number of activities that not only are unprecedented, but are the kinds of things that would have been unimaginable 10 years ago or even five years ago,” Ratner said.

“We are also seeing accelerated progress in our Major Defence Partnership with India as we continue to work alongside our Indian counterparts to better integrate and operationalise our day-to-day defence cooperation and logistics, enhance information sharing, and grow our bilateral cooperation in emerging domains such as space and cyberspace,” Ratner said.

The US recognised India as a “Major Defence Partner” in 2016, a designation that allows India to buy more advanced and sensitive technologies from America at par with that of the US’ closest allies and partners, and ensures enduring cooperation into the future.

Yoon Suk-yeol elected South Korea’s next President

SEOUL, MAR 10 (IANS): Opposition candidate Yoon Suk-yeol was elected South Korea’s next President on Thursday after an “unbelievably” close race that underlined deep divisions along regional, generational and gender lines and could weaken his mandate even before taking office.

With 99 per cent of the vote counted, Yoon of the conservative People Power Party (PPP) had 48.59 per cent of the vote against Lee Jae-myung of the liberal Democratic Party (DP)’s 47.79 per cent, Yonhap news agency reported, citing the National Election Commission. The less than 1 percentage point gap makes this year’s election the closest-ever.

“We, the people of the Republic of Korea, are one. Regardless of region, camp or class, the people of the Republic of Korea are equal people of this nation wherever they are, and must be treated fairly,” Yoon said in an address before party officials at the National Assembly.

“I will consider national unity as my top priority,” he said.

Ruling party candidate Lee conceded defeat and congratulated Yoon.

Yoon Suk-yeol

“I did my best but failed to live up to your expectations,” he said. “All responsibility lies with me.

I extend my congratulations to candidate Yoon Suk-yeol.”

Yoon also said that he learned during the campaign “what is required in order to become a national leader and how to listen to the voices of the people.”

He thanked his competitors Lee and Sim Sangjeung of the minor progressive Justice Party.

“Our competition is over for now,” he said.

“We must work together to become one for the people and for the Republic of Korea.”

Yoon added that as soon as he takes office he will respect the spirit of the Constitution and the National Assembly while working together with the opposition party and serving the people.

western sümi baptist akukuhou küqhakulu Regd. No. RS 2949, Dt. 14.3.95 Affiliated to NBCC (CBCNEI)

WSBAK Centre Aküvüto, B.P.O. Thahekhu Village-797118 Dimapur: Nagaland (03862) 245363 / 9856001364

Ref. No. WSBAK/ PM-02/PR/2005

Date 10/03/2022

WSBAK Response to Partial Lifting of NLTP Act The 174 churches of Western Sümi Baptist Akukuhou Küqhakulu (WSBAK) strongly oppose the bias and selfish intention of the Government of Nagaland to partially lift the Nagaland Liquor Total Prohibition (NLTP) Act of 1989. One should not forget that NLTP Act was the direct result of indefatigable three decades movement spearheaded by churches and societies. The sole intention of the glorious liquor prohibition movement was to save people from being entangled in the noxious clutch of alcoholism that destroys both life and relationship, viz. personal, parental, familial, and social relationships. As such NLTP Act is not only an Act that prohibits the manufacture, sell and consumption of liquor, but more importantly it is life-affirming and life flourishing Act. The recent attempt made by the Government of Nagaland to nullify the NLTP Act under the pretext of checking spurious liquor and illegal trades, promise to increase revenues and alike is disgraceful and awful. Such reasons and arguments are unjustifiable. It comes from the minds of false leaders who mislead people with adulterated facts for their own benefit.

Instead of altering the Act that embraces life and human flourishing, the Government of Nagaland should be looking for ways to strengthen the NLTP Act by curbing loopholes in the governing systems and punishing responsible government agencies who fail to execute the NLTP Act. In such a time as this, WSBAK as a religious organization does not have the right to check on the illegal activities related to NLTP Act, but as the body of Christ, WSBAK will continue to oppose and resist anything that comes in the way to destroy God's gift of life and relationship, will never allow its churches and believers to be persuaded by the lies and evil schemes of the Government of Nagaland to alter the NLTP act, and will continue to affirm and uphold the NLTP Act at any cost.

(Rev. Dr. Phughoto Sema) Executive Secretary, WSBAK

(Rev. Dr. Hevukhu Achumi) Senior Pastor Thilixü Village Baptist Church Former Executive Secretary, WSBAK

(Rev. Dr. Khetoshe Aye) Pastor Unity Village Sumi Baptist Church President, WSBAK Church Leaders Fellowship

email: wsbakakuvuto@yahoo.com & eswsbak@gmail.com | www.wsbak.org | @wsbakconnect |

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ANTALYA (TURKEY), MAR 10 (AGENCIES): Talks between Russia and Ukraine’s foreign ministers on Thursday made no apparent progress towards a ceasefire in the two-weekold conflict or on a humanitarian corridor from the southern Ukrainian port of Mariupol.

Ukraine’s Dmytro Kuleba said after the talks that he had sought a 24hour ceasefire across the whole combat zone as well as the opening of a Mariupol corridor, but that his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov did not commit to either.

Lavrov said he reminded Kuleba that Moscow had presented proposals to Kyiv, and that Russia wanted to see what he called a friendly, demilitarised Ukraine.

The meeting, in the southern Turkish resort of Antalya was the highestlevel contact between the two sides since Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24. It lasted just under

glimpseofwsbak

INFOTAINMENT

10

NAGALAND POST, DIMAPUR FRIDAY, MARCH 11, 2022

Auditions for model hunt on March 18 T W he final auditions for Nagaland Mr & Miss Mega Model Hunt 2022 is all set to be held on March 18, 2022 at Hotel Japfü, Kohima from 9:30 a.m. onwards.

Announcing this during a press conference at Hotel FIFA, in Kohima on Thursday, organisers of the hunt, Nagaland Mega Entertainment (NME) president, Samuel Achy Phom said the event was mainly organised to encourage the upcoming generations to take interest in fashion and pageantry.

He informed that the first edition held in 2021 in Dimapur was a grand success and that they were hoping to make the event bigger in this edition.

He said preliminary auditions had been done at various colleges in Dimapur and Kohima, however the open final auditions would be on March 18 and the grand finale would be held on June 25.

He observed that the event would greatly boost the

NME members during the press conference in Kohima on Thursday. (NP). fashion industry as was evident from the previous edition at the same time would benefit all the participants.

Samuel said winners of the hunt would get direct entry into the Northeast Model Hunt and would subsequently get the chance to represent the region at national level.

The winners would also receive cash prizes and hampers worth Rs 1 lakh along with other benefits including a contract to be the brand ambassador for department of Information and Public

Relation (DIPR).

He disclosed that talks were being held to rope in Miss India organisers, Miss Sikkim 2022, director of Northeast Spark the Ultimate Fire and also event partners Royal Mr & Miss India Globe, to be members in the jury board during the grand finale.

He added that by collaborating with some of the big pageantry organisations in the region and country, NME hopes to inspire the upcoming generations.

Phom said the event was

organised in a way to benefit all the participants without any disparity among the various social and economic stratas of the society.

The organisers plan to provide food and accommodations to the finalists of the hunt five days prior to the grand finale and in addition NME would also provide apparels and designer wears.

He said these provisions were made to ensure that no one was left behind especially youths from the weaker economic sections of the society.

Interested candidates should be between the age of 17 to 28 while females should be at a height of 5’5 and males 5’7.

The organisers added that these criteria were added to ensure that potential winners would be able to compete at higher levels both nationally and internationally.

It may be mentioned here that NME was formed in the year 2019 with an aim to

help youths focus on fashion, beauty pageants and charitable works.

It also aims to address the widening differences in the society resulting out of social challenges such as unemployment, lack of capacity building programs and unequal distribution of economic resources all the while promoting all round well-being of the younger generations.

Through the event, NME hopes to showcase the rich culture and diversity of the State and also inspire the youths with stories of success and laurels.

NME plans to promote Naga tradition and cultural heritage with a modern touch, promote talented and dedicated designers, lend a hand of support to Naga models in fashion industry and promote modelling and fashion as a source of influence to help youths deviate from substance abuse and alcohol addiction.

(Correspondent)

Sameer Sharma’s short film ‘Master ji’ wins at Spikes Asia Awards 2022

riter and Chaand’. director His movie is on Sameer how a teacher (RaSharma, who made ghuvir Yadav) goes his directorial debut through a tough time with ‘Luv Shuv Tey taking online classes Chicken Khurana’, and how his past stuhas recently won Sildent prevents him ver at the Spikes Asia from retiring from Awards 2022 for his Sameer Sharma teaching. short film ‘Master ji’ On asking about starring actor Raghuhis experience of vir Yadav. The film portrays the working on this film, he answers: journey of a teacher from the “Since this was a film on teachers inception of the lockdown till date. it would be nice to mention a few.

‘Master ji’ was shot in 2021 and All that we execute is what we was released around Teacher’s Day. have learnt from my gurus, Raj When asked how it feels Kapoor, Satyajit Ray, Billy Wilder, to win Silver at the Spikes Asia Hrishida, Yash uncle, Spielberg Awards 2022, he replies: “I feel are just a few of the teachers I ecstatic to win this prestigious have had. I learn from them all award! This represents a real India. the time.”

It is also a tribute to all our teachers “Your team also makes all the who actually form a nation and set difference. I had a great team. A a tone for the future. The people director is nothing without those and their music.The way we live who work with him on realizing as close knit families. A universal a vision. Every film teaches you. story! Inspiring and heartfelt.”

From some you learn just a little Sameer has worked as a bit more. This was a 9 minute writer in projects like ‘Swades’, film but it just said so much,” he ‘Bhoot’, ‘Raincoat’, ‘Khoya Khoya concludes.

(IANS)

The symptoms of a heart attack look different for men and women

K Y M C

What to do in an emergency If you suspect that you or someone near you is having a heart attack or stroke, the first step is to call emergency services (like 911).

You should never try to drive yourself to a hospital emergency department, as you may lose consciousness and be a threat to yourself and others on the road.

Waiting for paramedics is advisable as they can begin potentially lifesaving treatment upon arrival and while en route to the hospital.

If a heart attack is suspected, ask the emergency dispatcher if chewing an aspirin is advisable. In many cases, this may help break up a blood clot blocking blood flow to the heart muscle. If your doctor has prescribed nitroglycerin for heart-related chest pain, then take a nitroglycerin tablet.

If a stroke is suspected, try to note the time that symptoms began. Tell the emergency dispatcher, paramedics, or other personnel. A clot-busting drug can be administered only within a few hours of a stroke’s onset. Try to stay calm and rest until help arrives.

For either a heart attack or stroke, CPR may be appropriate to restore blood flow if the individual loses consciousness. The steps for CPR are: 1. Place the person on their back 2. Place one hand over the other on the center of their chest 3. Compress the chest twice per second

OFFICE OF THE

CHÜMOUKEDIMA TOWN WOMEN ORGANISATION CHÜMOUKEDIMA : NAGALAND

FELICITATION

We, the Chümoukedima Town Women Organisation with immense joy would like to extend our heartiest congratulations to Smti.

KEVINOURHENO SEYIE on being awarded NSCW Award 2022 for her commitment, leadership and service rendered to the state Nagaland by Nagaland State Commission for women on International Women’s Day 2022.

The CTWO prays and wishes her the best in SMTI. KEVINOURHENO SEYIE her future endeavours.

(TEISOLENUO KUOTSU) (DIEVILHOUTUONUO) Secretary, CTWO President, CTWO

k-483/22

risk factors or a family history of cardiac disease, talk to your doctor about getting tests done to check the condition of your heart.

Takeaway By scheduling regular checkups and learning to recognize the symptoms of a heart attack, you can help lower your risk of severe heart damage from a heart attack. This may increase your life expectancy and well-being.

Signs of Stroke or Heart Attack that Everyone Should Know A sudden and significant reduction in blood flow to the heart muscle is known as a heart attack, while a similar disruption in circulation to the brain is called a stroke. While both events share some similar symptoms, certain signs of a stroke or heart attack are unique and worth knowing, especially if you or someone close to you has a higher risk of either medical emergency.

In addition to being able to recognize signs of a stroke or heart attack, it’s critical that you know how to respond. While both events can be life threatening, they can often be treated if the person in crisis receives medical attention promptly.

Early warning signs of a stroke or heart attack Not all heart attacks begin with sudden and severe chest pain. Early heart attack signs can develop slowly and may make you unsure of what’s going on.

In addition, symptoms can vary from person to person.

actual stroke.

The main difference between a TIA and a fullblown stroke, aside from the severity of symptoms, is the difference is in the imaging findings (MRI) and duration of blockage. TypicallyTrusted Source a TIA blockage is short enough to avoid permanent brain damage.

Typical TIA “ministroke” symptoms include: • sudden headache • numbness or weakness, especially on one side of the body • balance and walking problems • sudden confusion • swallowing difficulties

k-484/22

heart rate • dizziness, lightheadedness, or fainting • palpitations, or a fluttering or pounding heart rate • cold sweats Silent heart attack symptoms A silent heart attack is like any other heart attack, except it occurs without the usual symptoms. In other words, you may not even realize you’ve experienced a heart attack.

The American Heart Association estimates that as many asTrusted Source 170,000 Americans experience heart attacks each year without even knowing it.

Though less symptomatic than a full heart attack, these events cause heart damage and increase the risk of future attacks.

Silent heart attacks are more common among people with diabetes and in those who’ve had previous heart attacks.

Symptoms that may indicate a silent heart attack include: • mild discomfort in your chest, arms, or jaw that goes away after resting • shortness of breath and tiring easily • sleep disturbances and increased fatigue • abdominal pain or heartburn • skin clamminess After having a silent heart attack, you may experience more fatigue than before or find that exercise becomes more difficult. Get regular physical exams to stay on top of your heart health. If you have cardiac

Some common early heart attack symptoms include: • mild chest pain that starts slowly and then comes and goes • discomfort in the arms, back, neck, or jaw • nausea or abdominal pain • dizziness or lightheadedness • shortness of breath with or without exertion Early stroke symptoms can be even subtler. The most common warning sign of a stroke is a transient ischemic attack (TIA), also known as a “ministroke.”

A TIA can occur hours, days, or months before an

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A

heart attack happens when the flow of blood to the heart is blocked. This can cause a variety of symptoms, which may develop suddenly or gradually over hours, days, or weeks.

According to The Heart Foundation, while chest pain or discomfort is the most common symptom of a heart attack, it doesn’t always develop, especially in women. Women may be more likely than men to experience other symptoms of heart attack, report researchers from the American College of Cardiology (ACC) and American Heart Association (AHA).

Read on to learn more about the symptoms of heart attack in women and men.

Heart attack symptoms in women The most common symptom of heart attack in women is chest pain or discomfort. This may feel like pain, tightness, pressure, squeezing, or heartburn. It typically lasts for more than a few minutes or comes and goes.

During a heart attack, it’s also common for women to have pain or discomfort in one or more of the following: • jaw • neck • upper or lower back • shoulders • arm • stomach Other common symptoms of heart attack in women include: • shortness of breath • nausea, vomiting • light headedness, dizziness, fainting • cold sweats Heart attack may also cause: • fatigue • trouble sleeping • general weakness • unusually fast or slow heart rate • palpitations, or a fluttering or pounding heart rate • anxiety or fear Heart attack symptoms in men Heart attack in men usually causes chest pain or discomfort, which may feel like pain, heaviness, pressure, fullness, squeezing, or heartburn. It typically lasts for more than a few minutes or goes away but returns again.

Another common symptom of heart attack in men is pain or discomfort in one or more of the following: • jaw • neck • upper back • shoulders • arm • stomach Heart attack in men may also cause shortness of breath.

Less common symptoms include: • fatigue • nausea, vomiting • unusually fast or slow

50 th WEDDING ANNIVERSARY

1 (One) Day Capacity Building Training Programme on PFMS for the Officers of Water Resources Department, Nagaland held on 9th March 2022. dc-218/22

50th Wedding AnniversAry

Mr Olemnungsang Jamir & Mrs Watitula Pongen

Mr & Mrs Mapulepzuk (Chuchuyimlang) 11/3/1972 – 11/3/2022

Dear Oba and Oja, With a thankful heart and gratitude, we your children acknowledge God's blessings upon our lives through you today, as you celebrate 50 years of God's faithfulness together. Praying for many more years of celebrations with happiness and good health. dP-1095/22

Your loving children, grandchildren and relatives

11/3/1972 – 11/03/2022 The glorious fifty years that you’ve spent together, the ecstasy and sorrow that you’ve faced together, now that we recall it that while treading on the path of life, you have covered so many miles....

“It takes 50 years to turn marriage into Gold...”

Loving Children, In-laws and Grandchildren k-480/22 K Y M C

Women’s WC: New Zealand crush India by 62 runs

HAMILTON, MAR 10 (IANS): Lea Tahuhu and Amelia Kerr took three wickets each as New Zealand crushed India by 62 runs at Seddon Park in the eighth match of ICC Womens Cricket World Cup, here on Thursday.

India, who had opted to bat second in the hope of dew aiding them, were all out for 198 in a chase where nothing went right for them, barring Harmanpreet Kaur’s 71.

Chasing 261, Frankie Mackay’s off-spin and pace from Jess Kerr kept India on a tight leash from the word go. The duo were bang-on with their line and length and didn’t offer Smriti Mandhana and Yastika Bhatia any width.

Smriti, whose shots were mostly going to the fielders, tried to break the shackles off Jess in the sixth over.

But Jess, who came in from round the wicket, got Smriti to mistime a loft to cover. New Zealand’s relentless pursuit of building the dot-ball pressure as Deepti Sharma was

New Zealand players celebrate during the Women’s World Cup against India.

trapped lbw on last ball of power-play off Lea Tahuhu. The on-field umpire gave it lbw but New Zealand took the review and got to reverse the decision in their favour.

India’s too slow a start and New Zealand’s disciplined bowling meant they never got the chance to break free and rotate the strike. Post-power-play, Yastika went for the push early, giving mid-off a catch off the leading edge.

Mithali Raj, dropped by cover off Lea early in the knock, stitched a laborious 47-run stand off 63 balls with Harmanpreet Kaur. But Amelia Kerr, the leg-spinner introduced from 25th over, made double strikes in the 30th over to dent India’s chances of making an improbable comeback in the match.

Mithali, expecting a googly from Amelia, was stumped off a legbreak outside off-stump

which she attempted to sweep. On the very next ball, Amelia bowled Richa Ghosh for a golden duck with a googly that turned in and hit top of off-stump.

Sneh Rana negated Amelia’s hat-trick ball with a cut through point but didn’t look comfortable at the crease. Lea, coming in her final over, bounced her out with a well-directed short ball which took the glove edge to Katey.

Amidst all the ruins, Har-

manpreet was waging a lone battle, pulling and sweeping hard even as Pooja Vastrakar holed out to mid-off off Hannah Rowe.

After Harmanpreet got her fifty in 54 balls, she slog-swept Hannah for two sixes over deep midwicket and two fours swept through square leg and fine leg to take 20 runs off the 43rd over.

Harmanpreet’s late surge came to an end at 71 when she miscued a slog to long-off off Amelia.

Hayley Jensen then yorked Jhulan Goswami and got Rajeshwari Gayakwad to nick behind on successive deliveries to seal a comprehensive win for New Zealand.

Brief Scores: New Zealand 260/9 in 50 overs (Amy Satterthwaite 75, Amelia Kerr 50; Pooja Vastrakar 4/34, Rajeshwari Gayakwad 2/46) beat India 198 all out in 46.4 overs (Harmanpreet Kaur 71, Mithali Raj 31; Lea Tahuhu 3/17, Amelia Kerr 3/56) by 62 runs

Andy Murray donates prize Tiger Woods inducted into money to Ukrainian children World Golf Hall of Fame

Andy Murray

L O N D O N, M A R 1 0 (IANS): Three-time Grand Slam champion Andy Murray has pledged to donate his 2022 prize money to help children in Ukraine.

E a r l i e r, w o m e n’s World number 18 Elina Svitolina announced she will donate all of her prize money directly to the Ukrainian war effort. Similarly, Ukrainian refugee and Lyon Open finalist Dayana Yastremska joined her compatriot and will do the same.

The British tennis star said he’s working with the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) to provide urgent medical supplies and early childhood development kits. Murray also highlighted how the war in

Ukraine is disrupting children’s schooling.

“I’m going to be donating my earnings from my prize money for the rest of the year, but anyone in the UK can support UNICEF’s humanitarian response by donating to our appeal by following this link - https:// unicef.uk/am_ukraine.”

“Children in Ukraine need peace - now!”

“It’s vital education continues, so UNICEF is working to enable access to learning for displaced children, as well as supporting the rehabilitation of damaged schools, together with replacement equipment and furniture,” he said.

As the war between Russia and Ukraine rages

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into its second week, the tolls, displacement and damage done looks set to continue and even increase.

Murray revealed that he will donate the rest of the prize money he earns this year to help rebuild damaged schools, provide medical supplies and other broken equipment.

On a larger scale, all three of tennis’ major governing bodies, the ATP, WTA and ATP, as well as the organisers of the four Grand Slams have all donated $100,000 each for a total of $700,000 (£532,000) to aid humanitarian relief in Ukraine.

Murray announced his decision via his social media channels in a statement that read, “over 7.5 million children are at with the escalating conflict in Ukraine, so I’m working with UNICEF UK to help provide urgent medical supplies and early childhood development kits.

“It’s vital education continues, so UNICEF is working to enable access to learning for displaced children, as well as supporting the rehabilitation of damaged schools, together with replacement equipment and furniture.”

Tiger Woods

PONTE VEDRA (FLORIDA) MAR 10 (IANS): Tiger Woods was formally inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame on Wednesday and ushered into golf ’s most revered club by his daughter, Sam, who delivered a touching speech as the 82-time PGA TOUR winner and 15- time major champion’s induction presenter.

As part of the live induction ceremony, fellow generational athletes including Tom Brady, Serena Williams, Michael Phelps, Jerry Rice, Annika Sorenstam and Jack Nicklaus offered perspective on Woods’ legacy as one of the greatest sports figures of all time.

Joining Woods as part of the 2022 induction class are 11-time LPGA Tour winner and three-time U.S. Women’s Open champion, Susie Maxwell Berning, former PGA TOUR commissioner, Tim Finchem,

and golf course designer/ architect, Marion Hollins.

The 2022 inductees were presented with the Hall of Fame’s new inductee trophy, created by Tiffany & Co. A d d i t i o n a l l y, t h e World Golf Hall of Fame presented two new distinguished service awards for the first time. Renee Powell was honored as the inaugural recipient of the Charlie Sifford Award presented by Southern Company (for her spirit in advancing diversity in golf), while Peter Ueberroth and the late Dick Ferris were honored through a Lifetime Achievement recognition for their contributions to golf.

Over the course of his career Tiger Woods has won a record-tying 82 PGA TOUR events, along with 15 major championships. Unforgettably, Woods accomplished the “Tiger Slam” in 2000-’01, becoming the first golfer since Bobby Jones (1930) to hold all four major titles at one time. He also is a two-time winner of THE PLAYERS Championship and became the first twotime winner of the FedExCup. Outside the ropes, Woods’ TGR Foundation has supported more than two million students around the world.

Novak Djokovic withdraws from Indian Wells and Miami Open

INDIAN WELLS, MAR 10 (IANS): World No. 2 Novak Djokovic withdrew from the BNP Paribas Open and the Miami Open, organisers confirmed on Wednesday.

The 20-time Grand Slam champion tweeted on Wednesday that the Centers for Disease Control in America “confirmed the regulations won’t be changing so I won’t be able to play in the U.S.” Djokovic, who recently dropped to No. 2 in the ATP rankings, has played in only one tournament so far in 2022 because he has not received any shots to protect against Covid-19.

He was deported from Australia in January and was not allowed to try to defend his title at Melbourne Park.

“While I was automatically listed in the @ BNPPARIBASOPEN and @MiamiOpen draw I knew it would be unlikely I’d be able to travel,” Djokovic tweeted. “The CDC has confirmed that regulations

Warne’s body arrives in Australia

MELBOURNE, MAR 10 (AGENCIES): The charter plane carrying the body of Shane Warne landed in his home city of Melbourne on Thursday evening after an eight-hour flight from Thailand, where the Australian cricketing great died last week at the age of 52.

Warne died while on holiday on the Thai island of Koh Samui last Friday.

Local authorities said an autopsy showed his death was caused by a suspected heart attack and congenital disease.

On Thursday morning, his coffin, wrapped in the Australian flag, was taken from the morgue to Bangkok airport before being loaded onto a private Dassault Falcon 7X jet.

The popular former spin-bowler and media personality will be buried at a private funeral, his family said last week.

A state memorial service will follow at the 100,000-seater Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) on March 30.

Dan Andrews, the Premier of the state of Victoria, said the evening service would be free and a large turnout could be expected. “There will be no limits on crowds and that sort of stuff,” he said.

Novak Djokovic

won’t be changing so I won’t be able to play in the US. Good luck to those playing in these great tournaments.”

Since Thursday’s order of play has not yet been released, Grigor Dimitrov will become the 33rd seed and be moved to the last line in the draw, Djokovic’s spot. He will play Belgian David Goffin or Australian Jordan Thompson in the second round. If the Bulgarian faces Goffin, it will

be a rematch of the 2017 Nitto ATP Finals championship match.

A qualifier or lucky loser will replace Dimitrov on Line 93, where he will challenge American Tommy Paul.

The final round of BNP Paribas Open Qualifying is being played on Wednesday, while maindraw action at the first ATP Masters 1000 event of the year starts Thursday in the California desert.

Coordination meeting on Dr. T Ao trophy 2022

Er. Zale Neikha and others during the co-ordination meeting of the 22nd Inter District Football Championship.

DIMAPUR, MAR 10 (NPN): A co-ordination meeting of the 22nd Inter District Football Championship (Dr. T. Ao Trophy 2022) was held in Kohima on March 10, under the chairmanship of advisor, YR&S, Er. Zale Neikha.

The meeting was attended by officials from Youth Resources and Sports department, hosting commit-

tee, Mokokchung District Football Association and Nagaland Football Association.

It may be mentioned that the 22nd Inter District Football Championship coincides with the 50 years anniversary celebration of NFA. The tournament is tentatively set to be held in April 2022 with 16 participating teams.

Suns clinch league’s first playoff spot in NBA Ukraine athletes appeal for peace MIAMI, MAR 10 (AGENCIES): Devin Booker returned from a four-game COVID-protocol absence and had a near triple-double, helping the Phoenix Suns clinch the NBA’s first playoff spot with a 111-90 win over the Miami Heat on Wednesday night.

Booker finished with 23 points, nine assists and eight rebounds, while Phoenix also got 21 points from Mikal Bridges and 19 points and 10 rebounds from Deandre Ayton. JaVale McGee added 11 points and a season-high 15 rebounds off the bench.

The game was a matchup between the team with the best record in the Eastern Conference (Miami) and the squad that leads the Western Conference (Phoenix).

Miami, which has won 12 of its past 15 contests, was led by Duncan Robinson (22 points), Tyler Herro (17 points) and Bam Adebayo (17 points). Kyle Lowry added five points and a game-high 10 assists.

Raptors 119, Spurs 104 Fred VanVleet poured in 26 points in his return after a five-game absence because of injury and Scottie Barnes added 20 points, 18 K Y M C

Devin Booker (1) gets away from Miami Heat guard Kyle Lowry (7) during the NBA contest in Miami. (AP)

of them in the second half, as visiting Toronto rolled to a win over San Antonio.

The loss kept Spurs coach Gregg Popovich tied with Don Nelson at 1,335 atop the list of career regular-season NBA coaching wins.

Pascal Siakam also scored 20 points for the Raptors, with Gary Trent Jr. hitting for 17 and Precious Achiuwa adding 13

points as Toronto snapped a three-game losing streak.

The Spurs’ Keldon Johnson led all scorers with 27 points while Dejounte Murray racked up 25 points and 12 assists.

Rockets 139, Lakers 130 (OT) Rookie Jalen Green scored 13 consecutive Houston points bridging the fourth quarter and overtime, and the Rockets

pulled away for a win over visiting Los Angeles.

Green scored a seasonhigh 32 points but he had ample help as seven Rockets scored in double figures.

Fellow rookies Josh Christopher and Alperen Sengun scored 21 points apiece, with Sengun adding 14 rebounds to his season-best point total. Kenyon Martin Jr. (17 points, 11 rebounds) also recorded a double-

double for Houston, which was missing two starters and entered on a 2-17 skid.

LeBron James posted his fifth triple-double of the season with 23 points, 14 rebounds and 12 assists for Los Angeles. Russell Westbrook added 30 points, eight rebounds and six assists, but the Lakers allowed the Rockets to shoot 51 percent from the floor, including 17 of 40 (42.5 percent) from 3-point range.

Nuggets 106, Kings 100 Austin Rivers gave Denver the lead for good on a 3-pointer with 3:52 remaining and Nikola Jokic capped a 38-point, 18-rebound performance with a key three-point play as the visiting Nuggets recorded a victory over Sacramento.

In winning, Denver took advantage of the suspension of Sacramento standout Domantas Sabonis, who was banned for one game after being cited for charging aggressively at an official during an ejection in Monday’s home loss to the New York Knicks. Monte Morris saved seven of his 20 points for the final 5:25, helping the Nuggets sweep the season series from Sacramento for the second time in the last four years.

with banner at Beijing Games

The Ukraine National Paralympic Committee, and the Ukraine delegation raise their fists with a banner after a speech to the media at the Paralympic Village. (Reuters)

ZHANGJIAKOU, MAR 10 (AGENCIES): Ukrainian athletes and officials made an appeal for peace at the Beijing Winter Paralympics on Thursday, unfurling a banner, observing a minute of silence and appealing for an end to the war triggered by Russia’s invasion of their country.

Led by national paralympic committee president Valerii Sushkevych, the entire 20-member delegation held up a “peace for all” message, accompanied by raised fists. “This one minute is about the thousands of

people, including children and others with disabilities, back in Ukraine,” said Sushkevych. “If mankind is civilised, then this war must be stopped. People, women and children deserve to live, not die.”

Head coach Andriy Nesterenko said that many cities had been destroyed and added that seven members of the team belonged to Kharkiv, which has been under siege by Russian forces.

“The Russians have bombed many hospitals and schools ... we need your support today, not later.

People who attack civilian areas cannot be human ... we kindly ask for a safe sky over Ukraine.”

Russia calls its action in Ukraine a “special operation” and it denies firing on civilians. Ukraine have thrived at the Paralympics despite almost not making it to the Chinese capital because of the war, claiming six gold medals to sit third in the table behind hosts China and Canada. Teams from Russia and Belarus, which has been a key staging area for Russian forces, were not allowed to take part.

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Kidambi Srikanth wins; Sindhu, Benzema’s hat-trick help Real Madrid beat PSG Saina Nehwal lose in German Open

M A D R I D, M A R 1 0 (IANS): Karim Benzema scored a second-half hattrick in just 16 minutes to inspire Real Madrid to a 3-1 win over Paris Saint-Germain to see his side through to the UEFA Champions League quarterfinals 3-2 on aggregate.

All the pre-match talk centered on PSG striker Kylian Mbappe’s likely summer move to Real Madrid, and the Frenchman’s first-half goal put PSG 1-0 up on the night and 2-0 ahead on aggregate.

However, on the hour mark, Benzema took advantage of an error from PSG keeper Gianluigi Donnarumma, who made a complete mess of a ball at his feet to gift Madrid a way back into the tie.

15 minutes later, Benzema leveled the aggregate

Karim Benzema celebrates after scoring against PSG.

score after neat work from Vinicius Jr and Luka Modric, slamming home from the right-hand side of the area.

VAR checked to see the second goal was onside, and just 12 seconds after the restart Benzema completed his hat-trick after PSG gifted Madrid the ball

from the kick-off, allowing Vinicius again to feed Benzema to net the decisive goal, reports Xinhua.

Benzema had been magnificent, but PSG only had themselves to blame for a series of disastrous errors when they looked to have the tie completely under control.

Real Madrid, with Toni Kroos, who passed fit to play, started strongly, creating a couple of halfchances, but PSG were able to weather the storm and after 15 minutes they began to take control.

Neymar Jr saw a shot saved by Thibaut Courtois, and the attacking trio of Messi, Neymar, and Mbappe began to combine well, although Donnarumma did well to tip away a curling effort from Benzema at the other end.

At the other end, Messi clipped the ball over Courtois, but it drifted just wide of the post, before Mbappe’s low drive was correctly ruled out for a tight offside.

Benzema headed just wide and straight at Donnarumma before Mbappe put PSG ahead on the night after being set up by

Neymar, who won a loose ball, before threading him through on goal.

The French international then dummied Courtois, and will no doubt be delighted if he does join Real Madrid in the summer, which after the second half looks more likely than ever.

In the UEFA Europa League, Real Betis lost 2-1 at home to Eintracht Frankfurt, who took the lead through Filip Kostic after 14 minutes, and although Nabil Fekir equalized on the half-hour, Daichi Kamada netted the decisive goal two minutes later as the German side showed their threat on the break.

The result would have been worse for the Spanish side had goalkeeper Claudio Bravo not saved a second-half penalty.

MUELHEIM AN DER RUHR, MAR 10 (PTI): World championships silver winner Kidambi Srikanth progressed to the men’s singles quarterfinals but two-time Olympic medallist P V Sindhu and London bronze medallist Saina Nehwal crashed out out of the women’s competition at the German Open Super 300 badminton tournament here on Thursday.

Srikanth, a former world no 1 and seeded eighth here, prevailed 21-16 21-23 21-18 over China’s Lu Guang Zu in a second round match. He is likely to face Olympic champion and top seed Viktor Axelsen of Denmark next.

The seventh seeded Sindhu, a 2019 World Champion, however, suffered a shock 14-21 21-15 14-21 loss against China’s

Kidambi Srikanth

Zhang Yi Man in 55 minutes in the women’s singles second round. Saina, who has been struggling with fitness issues, also proved no match against eighth seeded Thai Ratchanok Intanon, going down 10-21 15-21 in a lopsided contest.

Srikanth, who was forced to pull out of the India Open after testing positive for COVID-19, dished out a gritty performance to outlast his world no 27 opponent in a thrilling match that lasted an hour and

seven minutes.

The Indian made a good start, opening up a 8-3 lead early on but Lu made a late charge before Srikanth managed to enter the break at 11-10. The duo were locked at 14-14 after the interval when Srikanth stepped ahead with a fourpoint burst to seal the opening game.

After lagging initially, Srikanth managed to eke out a 15-11 lead in the second game but Lu kept fighting for each point and eventually snatched the second game after saving a match point to stay alive in the contest.

In the decider, Srikanth was 10-5 up and though Lu made it 15-14 at one stage, the Indian quickly wrest back control and shut the doors on his rival to extend his head-to-head count to 3-0 over Lu.

Krrish, Ravi enter finals of Asian Chelsea’s future uncertain after sanctions against owner Abramovich Youth & Junior Boxing Championships

NEW DELHI, MAR 10 (PTI): Indian boxers Krrish Pal (46kg) and Ravi Saini (48kg) progressed to the junior boys’ finals with contrasting victories at the Asian Youth and Junior Boxing Championships in Amman, Jordan on Thursday.

While Krrish dominated Thailand’s Kangpi Bokhunthod, winning comfortably by unanimous decision, Saini worked hard for a close 3-2 win over Kazakhstan’s Bexultan Boranbek.

In the finals, Krrish and Ravi will take on Tajikistan’s Anushervon Fazylov and Ilkhomjon Ergashev of Uzbekistan respectively. Later tonight, seven

Krrish Pal

Ravi Saini

more Indian junior boxers -- Jayant Dagar (54kg), Chetan (57kg), Yashwardhan Singh (60kg), Jackson Singh Laishram (70kg), Dev Pratap Singh (75kg), Rishabh Singh Shikharwar (80kg), Gaurav Mhaske (+80kg) -- will be in action in the boys semi-finals.

India’s junior boxers

have secured 21 medals, 12 in girls and nine in boys categories, at the prestigious continental event.

Among girls, 11 have progressed into the final.

Seven women will fight for gold in the youth category. The finals will be played on March 13 and 14.

L O N D O N, M A R 1 0 (AGENCIES): European soccer champions Chelsea are now effectively controlled by the British government after sanctions were imposed against Russian owner Roman Abramovich on Thursday.

Abramovich, who had been under scrutiny following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, had announced he was selling the Premier League club last week.

That process is now on hold, leaving the west London club, ranked by Forbes as the seventh most valuable in world soccer at $3.2 billion, in a state of limbo, operating under a special government licence.

The Russian bought the club in 2003 for a reported 140 million pounds ($184

million) and his investment resulted in the most successful era in their history as they won five Premier League titles, five FA Cups and the Champions League twice. His purchase of the club helped transform the landscape of English football with Chelsea breaking the stranglehold of Manchester United, Arsenal and Liverpool.

Abramovich had funded Chelsea via 1.5 billion pounds in total loans through Fordstam Limited, the entity through which he owns the club. In their most recent accounts in December, Chelsea, who reported post-tax losses of 145.6 million pounds ($191.93 million) for the year ended June 30 2021, said they were “reliant on Fordstam Limited

Roman Abramovich

for its continued financial support”. Yet now there is a huge question mark over the club’s future. Chelsea, the Premier League and a spokesperson for Abramovich did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

NEW OWNERS A number of potential new owners had emerged in the past week, including several American sports executives, but there is now

a block on any sale.

A spokesperson for Britain’ Prime Minister Boris Johnson said that block could be lifted in the future if another licence is agreed to. “We would have to grant a further licence. I think it is fair to say the government is open to the sale of the club, but ... currently, it would require another licence and that would require a further conversation with the Treasury (finance ministry),” he told reporters.

“The principle has been to mitigate the impact on fans ..., these measures are designed to punish those close to (Russian President Vladimir) Putin.”

A source close to Chelsea told Reuters on Wednesday that the expectation within the club was that a

deal would be done “sooner rather than later”.

New York investment bank Raine has been handling the sale and potential buyers will now have to wait to see whether a licence allowing a sale is granted and how any eventual legal action from Abramovich proceeds. Chelsea are now operating under a special government licence, which allows some exemptions to the asset freeze restrictions, in order to allow the club to fulfil their fixtures.

Chelsea, who are third in the Premier League and in the last 16 of the Champions League, will be able to play their games and pay their players while broadcasters will be permitted to show their matches on television.

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