13 Oct 22

2

die after gusty winds uproot trees

DIMAPUR/KOHIMA, OCT 12 (NPN): In freak in cident, gusty winds brought down two big eucalyptus trees crashing down on makeshift stalls used by street vendors along the roadside near Naga Shop ping Arcade (Super Market) on Wednesday afternoon, killing one on the spot while another among the eight injured died on way to hos pital.

This is the second time within six months that euca lyptus trees had fallen within the Naga Arcade premises. Earlier in April this year minister Forest & Environ ment and Climate Change Yollow Konyak narrowly escaped serious harm when a eucalyptus tree fell on top of the Innova in which he was travelling.

In Wednesday’s inci dent, DCP & PRO Dima pur Police, Bharat Laxman informed that the incident took place around 3:20 pm when a sudden gust of wind uprooted the two trees, that crashed onto vegetable ven dors and some customers.

Unpaid salary: NACHO launches phase-wise stir

DIMAPUR, OCT 12 (NPN): Nagaland Associa tion of Community Health Officers (NACHO) Wednes day launched phase-wise agitation against unpaid sal ary and performance-based incentive (PBI) of certain community health officers (CHOs) since April 2022.

The association said it decided to launch the agita tion in view of the health department and particularly NHM’s failure to resolve the issue even after repeated notices and ultimatums. It said that in the initial phase of agitation, affected CHOs would launch indefinite total cease work under the slogan ‘no pay, no work’ until the issue was resolved.

However, the unaf fected CHOs would show solidarity by wearing “black badge” on all official duty and programmes. The first phase of agitation, which commenced on October 11 would continue till October 17. Thereafter, NACHO would intensify agitation if the issue was not resolved within the stipulated period.

NACHO stated that a total of 105 CHOs working at different health and well ness centre (HWC) in rural areas have not received sal ary and PBI since April 2022. CHOs are appointed under Ayushman Bharat (NHM) for comprehensive health care at grassroots level.

Five men and three women were injured, one of the two seriously injured died later. Four of the in jured were vendors at the market while four others were customers, he said.

The shocked passersby and other vendors then sprung into action to rescue the injured and rushed them to District Hospital, Dima pur. However, one local woman vendor was declared brought dead by doctors at the hospital, the PRO said.

Later, in the evening, another non-Naga vendor also succumbed to his in juries, Laxman added. The PRO said one of the criti

cally injured was pregnant and was the sister of the deceased woman.

Images and videos showed that the uprooted eucalyptus trees lining up

Prez to flag off Nagaland-M’laya train service today

DIMAPUR, OCT 12 (NPN): President of India Droupadi Murmu will flag off the first passenger train service between Nagaland and Meghalaya on Thursday.

SC to review demonetisation; seeks affidavit from Centre, RBI

along the side wall in the Arcade and adjacent to the road above, were decayed and could not withstand the force of the wind and crashed to the ground.

Alleucalyptustreestobefelled:Yollow

Meanwhile, Forest & Environment and Climate Change minister YM Yol low Konyak, deputy CM Y. Patton and adviser power H. Tovihoto Ayemi have expressed deep anguish over the unfortunate incident.

Taking into consider ation the safety of all citi zens, Yollow said the Forest department had initiated the

process of felling all trees surrounding Naga Shopping Arcade (Super Market) area, especially eucalyptus trees.

Talking to Nagaland Post, Yollow acknowledged that eucalyptus trees in Super Market area were not decorative, but instead posed a threat to the life and property of many.

According to Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR) chief public relations officer (CPRO) Sabyasachi De, the existing Guwahati-LumdingGuwahati Express train had now been extended up to Shokhuvi in Nagaland in one end and up to Mendipathar in Meghalaya on the other.

The President would flag off the inaugural run of this train, which would con nect people of three North Eastern states of Assam, Meghalaya and Nagaland.

The Mendipathar-Gu wahati passenger special would depart from Men dipathar with a new train number (05607) on every Tuesday and Thursday at 12:30 pm and reach Guwa hati at 4:40 pm on the same day. The train would then depart from Guwahati at 5 pm on the same day with a new train number (05605) to reach Shokhuvi at 11:55 pm.

Cabinet approves Rs.6,600 cr PM-DevINE scheme

Spl. Correspondent

NEW DELHI, OCT 12 (NPN): The Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved a new Scheme-- Prime Minis ter’s Development Initiative for North East Region (PMDevINE)-- for the remain ing four years of the 15th Finance Commission from 2022-23 to 2025-26.

The new Scheme, PMDevINE, is a Central Sector Scheme with 100% Central funding and will be imple mented by Ministry of De velopment of North Eastern Region (DoNER), through North Eastern Council or

Central Ministries/ agen cies. The Scheme will have an outlay of Rs.6,600 crore for the four-year period from 2022-23 to 2025-26 (remaining years of 15th FC period).

A statement from the Cabinet secretariat said that efforts will be made to complete the projects by 2025-26 so that there are no committed liabilities beyond this year.

This implies frontloading of the sanctions under the scheme in 202223 and 2023-24 primarily. While expenditure would continue to be incurred

during 2024-25 and 202526, focused attention will be given to complete the sanctioned PM-DevINE projects. This will lead to creation of infrastructure, support industries, social development projects and create livelihood activities for youth and women, thus leading to employment gen eration.

To limit construction risks of time and cost over run, falling on the Govern ment projects would be im plemented on Engineeringprocurement-Construction (EPC) basis, to the extent possible. There are other

State BJP refutes Therie’s allegation

DIMAPUR, OCT 12 (NPN): State BJP has out rightly refuted NPCC presi dent K. Therie’s allegation made during the Congress party meeting on October 7, that the BJP was anti-Naga, anti-Christian, anti-faith, and anti-custom.

Terming it as “false, baseless and unfounded” al legation, State BJP through its media cell re-minded that the party, being one of the largest national political par ty, respect all religions and that the BJP was in no way anti-Naga or anti-Christian as alleged by Therie.

Moreover, it said the

Constitution of India guar antees equal rights to every citizen of India to practice any religion of their choice and to honour and respect every religion.

The party said it would not remain a mute spectator when “political fanatic lead ers like Therie habitually blamed BJP for all the mis haps that happen under the sun– in the hope of gaining undue political mileage for his party that is on the verge of extinction.”

“How can a ruling party at the Centre under Prime Minister Modi be called anti-Nagas? Under

whose Prime Ministership did the Naga Political issue gain momentum, unlike the Congress party that had played with the sentiments of the Nagas during their decades long regime?” the BJP questioned.

It further reminded Therie that no member of the BJP has had any such intention “to proliferate our Christian faith with Hindu ism.”

In fact, it said State BJP members were no less Christians than members from any political parties in the State.

MDoNER schemes for the development of NE.

The average size of projects under other DoN ER schemes is about Rs.12 crore only. PM-DevINE will provide support to in frastructure and social de velopment projects which may be larger in size and will also provide an end-toend development solution instead of isolated projects.

It will be ensured that there is no duplication of project support under PMDevINE with any of the other schemes of MDoNER or those of any other Minis try/Department.

NEW DELHI, OCT 12 (PTI): The Supreme Court said on Wednesday it is aware of the “Lakshman Rekha’’ on judicial review of the government’s policy decisions but will have to examine the 2016 demon etisation decision to come to a conclusion whether the issue has become a mere “academic” exercise.

Observing that when an issue arises before a constitution bench, it is its duty to answer, a five-judge bench headed by Justice SA Nazeer directed the Centre and the Reserve Bank of In dia to file a comprehensive affidavit on the petitions challenging demonetisation of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 cur rency notes.

Attorney General R Venkataramani submitted that unless the Act on de monetisation is challenged in a proper perspective, the issue will essentially remain academic.

The High Denomina tion Bank Notes (Demon etisation) Act was passed in 1978 to provide in public

interest for demonetisation of certain high denomina tion bank notes in order to check illicit transfer of mon ey harmful to the economy which such currency notes facilitate.

The top court said in order to declare whether the exercise is academic or has become infructuous, it needs to examine the matter since both sides are not agreeable.

“In order to answer that issue, we will have to hear and give an answer whether it’s academic, not academic or beyond the scope of judicial review. The point in the case is the government policy and its wisdom which is one aspect of the matter.

“We always know where the Lakshman Rekha is, but the manner in which it was done has to be exam ined. We have to hear the counsel to decide that,” the bench, also comprising Jus tices B R Gavai, AS Bopan na, V Ramasubramanian, and BV Nagarathna said.

Solicitor General Tush ar Mehta, appearing for the

Centre, said the court’s time should not be “wasted” on academic issues.

Objecting to Mehta’s submission, senior lawyer Shyam Divan, representing petitioner Vivek Narayan Sharma, said he was sur prised at the words “waste of constitutional bench’s time” as the earlier bench had said these cases must be placed before a constitution bench.

Senior advocate P Chi dambaram, appearing for one of the parties, said the issue has not become aca demic and has to be decided by the top court. He said this kind of demonetisation requires a separate act of Parliament.

The top court has now posted the matter for hear ing on November 9, 2022.

On December 16, 2016, a bench headed by then Chief Justice TS Thakur had referred the question of the validity of the decision and other related matters to a larger bench of five judges for an authoritative pronouncement.

First level checking of EVMs, VVPATs begins

DIMAPUR, OCT 12 (NPN): In view of the up coming Assembly 2023, the first level checking (FLC) of electronic voter machine (EVMs) and voter verifiable paper audit trail (VVPATs) got underway on Tuesday.

FLC is the process of full functionality test check of EVMs/VVPATs as prepa ratory step for the conduct of forthcoming NLA election.

In a press note, chief electoral officer (CEO) Na galand V Shashank Shekhar informed that the first level checking would continue till October 19 and would cover all district headquarters.

State govt to launch

on October 14

DIMAPUR, OCT 12 (NPN): State government would be launching the Chief Minister Health Insurance Scheme (CMHIS) on October 14, at 11 a.m. in the State Banquet Hall, CM’s residential complex Kohima.

The scheme is being lunched with the aim to provide free and cashless benefits to every bona fide citizen of the State for treatment of various ailments.

All AHoDs, HoD and officials, representatives of Nagaland Pensioners Association, CANSSEA, NCSA, NSSA and other associations; civil societies, Church and faith-based organizations and community leaders including exparliamentarians and ex-legislators have been invited to the launching programme.

Altogether, 34 EVMs & VVPATs engineers from Electronic Cooperation of India Limited (ECIL), Hyderabad headed by PC Mandal DGM as state coordinator have been deputed for the conduct of FLC of EVMs/VVPATs.

The Election Commis sion of India has also de ployed eight EVM nodal of ficers from Mizoram, Jammu & Kashmir, Maharashtra, NCT Delhi, Assam, Punjab, Sikkim and Manipur for inspection of FLC prepared ness and quality check.

NPCC urges citizens to be on guard against Hindutva forces

DIMAPUR, OCT 12 (NPN): Naga land Pradesh Congress Committee (NPCC) has once again urged the citizens to remain on their guard against Hindutva forces.

In a press release, NPCC com munication department alleged that trying to whitewash the misdeeds of BJP and its elements was nothing new and accused the saffron party of continuing to deny all the actions while the Christians, Muslims and other minorities across the nation were being persecuted.

In many instances, the party said police and other government agencies were utilised while RSS,

ANGTF demands restoration of GTs’ pay structure

DIMAPUR, OCT 12

(NPN): All Nagaland Graduate Teachers’ Forum (ANGTF) has reiterated its demand for restoration of graduate teachers’ (GT) pay structure and review of Personnel & Administrative Reforms (P&AR) depart ment’s office memo of 1975 to enable GTs to enjoy all three financial upgrades under Modified Assured Career Progression Scheme (MACPS).

ANGTF secretary Temjen Yapang and con vener Kekuolhouthie said Nagaland School Education Service Rules had down graded GTs pay band from

Rs 9,300-34,800 to Rs 5,20020,200, which was Rs 4,100 less than the existing one, while the grade pay was downgraded from Rs 4,200 to 3,400, which was Rs 800 less than the existing grade pay as per the ROP rules.

They claimed that alto gether a total amount of Rs 4,900 (Rs 4,100+800) had been downgraded from the existing GTs pay structure without any basis.

They said the service rules revision had been done after a gap of many years (10-15 years) to revise and upgrade the existing ones in view of price escalation and changing situation dur

ing the period. However, as far GTs pay structure from the purview of 2017 Service Rules was concerned, they pointed out that it had it has been reduced, instead of being upgraded, which they asserted was unacceptable.

They termed the slash ing down of teachers’ sal ary as a humiliation of the teaching community, which could have a negative impact on the teaching-learning process if not restored. To restore the downgraded pay structure of GTs, the duo said ANGTF had been fight ing for the past six years, but got no response from the higher-ups to date.

They said the forum’s executive meeting held in this connection on Octo ber 6 reviewed the situa tion and decided to take legal recourse to restore the pay structure of GTs. They therefore requested all GTs, irrespective of being trained, untrained, junior, senior and nature of appointment to pay the amount (Rs. 3000 for legal fees) to the respec tive district conveners/coconveners at an early date since the issue concerned all GTs.

With regard to the de nial of MACP, the duo recalled that MACP was introduced on April 1, 2010

and granted three financial upgrades to the employees at intervals of 10, 20 and 30 years of continuous regu lar service. But unless the seniority was protected/ claimed from the date of appointment, they feared that many teachers might not get the third lift before retirement.

In this regard, the ex ecutive meet unanimously decided to ask for review of P&AR office memo of 1975 along with substantive justifications and support ing documents to enable the GTs to enjoy all three financial upgrades under the scheme.

Bajrang Dal and other elements con tinued their rampage. It alleged that a pastor was tortured at Amamahua in Uttar Pradesh on April 22 on mere suspicion of forced conversion while he was on a visit to Christian family during which time they sang devotional songs.

Similarly, on July 10, a mob of radical Hindus associated with right-wing organisations like RSS and Bajrang Dal had reportedly disrupted the worship service of a congregation in UP, harassing the Christians and ultimately influencing the police to arrest five of them for forced conver sion.

NEW DELHI, OCT 12 (PTI): Supreme Court Wednesday directed no citi zen can be prosecuted under section 66A of the Informa tion Technology Act, 2000, which it had scrapped way back in 2015. Under the annulled section, a person posting offensive content could be imprisoned for up to three years and also fined.

Underlining that liberty of thought and expression is of “cardinal” significance, the top court had on March 24, 2015 done away with the provision, saying “the public’s right to know is directly affected by Section

66A of the IT Act”. A bench headed by Chief Justice U U Lalit said in all cases where citizens are facing prosecu tion for alleged violation of Sec 66-A of the Act, the reference and reliance upon the said provision shall stand deleted.

“We direct all DGPs as well as Home Secretaries of the states and competent officers in Union Territories to instruct the entire police force in their respective states/Union Territories not to register any complaint of crime with respect to alleged violation of section 66A,” said the bench.

First level checking of EVMs and VVPATs underway in Dimapur.

(L) People clearing the debris after the incident (R) Base of the decayed eucalyptus tree. (Via Social Media)

No citizen can be

under

of

Act:

Tsonglaknyi festival celebrated at Kiusam

DIMAPUR: Tsonglaknyi

cum Mini Hornbill festival of the Tikhir Tribe was held on October 11 at Ki usam Town. The festival was hosted by Tikhir Tribal Council with Advisor, Fish eries & Aquatic Resources, Evaluation, Economics & Statistics, L. Khumo as spe cial guest.

According to a DIPR report, message of the chief minister of Nagaland, Neiphiu Rio was delivered by the advisor. The CM stated that festivals have become the main platform for preserving cultures and traditions and it is this cul tural diversity that makes Nagaland one of the most enchanting states in India.

He said that the Tikh irs have a very rich culture and tradition and they must continue to preserve the same- “In a fast globalized materialistic world, it is easy for us to forget our culture and traditions. This would

amount to losing one’s iden tity as well as one’s roots.”

He mentioned that while inaugurating the new district of Shamator, the govern ment has given the district tag “Brotherhood District” and urged the people to lead the way to promote brotherhood and peaceful co-existence amongst all sections of society.

CM also congratulated the Tikhirs on being recog nised as a separate Naga tribe which is very signifi

NLA speaker calls on union minister

cant but added that recogni tion is only the beginning, and that people must strive to excel in every way in days to come.

The CM also men tioned that the government is striving and doing its best to uplift the socio-economic conditions of every Naga in every sphere of health, education, entrepreneurship development, and child/ women welfare among others. He appealed to the Tikhir people to be proac

tive and strive for economic development through posi tive people participation and availing the assistance given by the Government.

CM urged everyone to use this festive occasion to purify, humble themselves before God and work to wards reconciliation, ret rospections and renew the spirit of peace and prosper ity.

During the function short speeches were also delivered by DC Kiphi re, ENPO joint secretary, ADC Pungro, 41 Assam Rifles Commandant Tripati, USLP vice president, and CKS president.

Special guest L. Khu mo expressed appreciation to the Tikhir Council for organising such a big event to celebrate the festival and also thanked the leaders for their sacrifices and dedica tion.

Khumo said the tradi tional festival has been an in

dispensable part of people’s life since the olden days. The Tikhir Naga, like other tribal societies, has a richly unique culture and tradition. Tradi tional festivals play a leading role in preserving traditional culture and promoting cul tural continuity.

Advisor mentioned that for many years, Tikhir Community has been strug gling for recognition and by the grace of God Tikhir community has achieved their long-cherished dream.

He assured that whenever the Tikhir community needs him, he is ever ready to assist them in every aspect. While highlighting the significance of the festival, he encour aged the elderly to teach the youngsters about the rich culture and traditional way of life.

The display of “Tsonglaknyi” was pre sented by the village elders, followed by a cultural pre sentation.

Rotary Club of Kohima launches various livelihood projects to mark Rotary Year

KOHIMA, OCT 12 (NPN):

NLA speaker Sharingain Longkumer with Union Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Pralad Joshi in New Delhi.

DIMAPUR: Nagaland Legislative Assembly (NLA) speaker Sharingain Longkumer called on the Union Minister for Par liamentary Affairs Pralad Joshi in New Delhi on Oc tober 12, 2022.

According to a state ment issued by the assem bly secretariat, the speaker expressed gratitude to the union minister for the sup port extended in the imple

mentation of the National E-Vidhan Application Proj ect in the NLA Secretariat.

Union minister appre ciated the hard work and commitment shown by the NLA Secretariat for the early implementation of the Project. He also con gratulated the NLA Speaker for being the first in the Country to operationalise the E-Vidhan Project in the assembly secretariat.

Rotary Club of Kohima (RCK) launched various livelihood projects to mark the Rotary Year 2022-2023 during an event at de Ori ental Grand, here on Mon day. The projects are a joint venture of RCK and Rotary Club of Delhi South East supported by RNB Project Aspire and Today to Eter nity Foundation.

In a short speech, spe cial guest and district gov ernor on official visit, Dr Kaushanava Pabi said the vision was to bring people together to unite and take actions for the collective welfare of the people.

Meanwhile, RCK pres ident, Prof Rosemary Dzüv ichü disclosed that the club

had undertaken livelihood projects for women and girls. She said since Naga society was a patriarchal so ciety, the club wanted to give more focus on women and girls at the same time, stress on the importance of net working. Some of the RCK pilot projects was to encour age more local productions.

RCK will be taking up 20 piggery, 50 poultry and 50

organic farming projects.

In the first phase of the project, altogether 12 beneficiaries under piggery, poultry and organic farming units were selected.

Earlier foundation stones for 8 washrooms at Pheza college of Arts and Technology, Nerhema vil lage which was unveiled by Rtn. Neeraj Bhatnagar of RC Delhi South East.

NEWS

DC Kohima issues order on Aadhaar en rolment centre Kohima Hq: DC Kohima, Shanavas C, IAS has informed in an order that the Aadhaar enrollment centre Ko hima Hq would remain open on all seven days of the week (including Saturday and Sunday) as working days except national and local holidays to facilitate and ease the process for working people and others. He has directed at least one operator to at tend the office to cater to the needs of the people on a rotational basis on all Sundays and 2nd and 4th Saturdays.

Directorate of tourism informs Tribal Hohos and organisations: Directorate of tourism has informed all Tribal Hohos and organisations that a coordination meeting would be held on October 17, 11 AM at the conference hall of the Directorate of Tourism, Kohima to deliberate on the up coming 23rd Edition of Hornbill Festival.

In this regard, two representatives/mem bers from each Tribal Hoho have been requested to attend the meeting positively.

Zunheboto DPDB meeting: DC Zunhe boto has informed all concerned DPDB

members that the monthly District Plan ning and Development Board meeting is scheduled to be held on October 14, 11 AM at Town Hall, Zunheboto. All board members have been requested to attend the meeting positively.

YAA launches project: Yimkhiung Akherü Arihako (YAA) launched “Lum japung Project” on October 10 at YTC Complex Shamator Hq. The Project aims to give free coaching to HSLC and HSSLC repeaters as well as regular stu dents and also provides free hostel facili ties to girls. More than 50 students have enrolled so far.

PHC Yongnyah dedication programme: PHC Yongnyah under CMO Longleng held a dedication programme for a new ambulance provided by Department of Health and Family Welfare, Nagaland on October 9. The programme was attended by medical officer, PHC Yongnyah and its medical staffs, HCMC chairman and committee members, council members of Yongnyah, Shamshang, and Chingong villages, and other dignitaries of the area.

Rahul dons Naga waistcoat during BJY

DIMAPUR: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi was seen wearing an Ao Naga traditional waistcoat during the Congress’s Bharat Jodo Yatra (BJY) in Karnataka on Wednesday.

The waistcoat was presented to him by former legislator and Nagaland Pradesh Congress Committee vice president Supong meren Jamir, who also joined the yatra along with other leaders from the North East.

Special guest, advisor, L. Khumo addressing the gathering at Kiusam Town. (DIPR)

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi during the Congress’s BJY in Karnataka.

RTI Week observed across Nagaland

DIMAPUR:

officials, village councils/

VDBs, students, media, NGOs, CSOs, etc., various districts and educational institutions across the state observed ‘Right to Informa

tion (RTI) Week’ under the theme “RTI- a tool for transparent and ac countable governance” on October 11 and 12.

TSEMINYU

Tseminyu district ob served RTI week on Oc tober 12 at the DC’s of ficial chamber with extra assistant commissioner (EAC) Tseminyu, Tum ben P.Tsanglao as resource person.

IMFL seized; two arrested

DIMAPUR: Wokha Po lice along with ‘F’ coy of 11 IR led by Addl. SP K. Soriso (PRO) and SDPO, Vikato Thonger, conducted a special MVCP on the midnight of October 11 at NST colony, Wokha Town.

During the drive, one Mahindra Bolero Pick-up bearing registration No.

AS-O3CC-2099 was inter cepted at around 2:50 AM in the early hours of Octo ber 12 and recovered from their possession around

3000 bottles of IMFL.

In this connection, PRO informed that 2 per sons have been arrested and a case has been registered under relevant sections of Nagaland Liquor Prohibi tion (NLTP) Act 1989.

Chumoukedima dis trict observed RTI week on October 11 at CTC Hall, Chumoukedima with advo cate, Vikuolie Nihu Kera as resource person.

According to a DIPR report, addressing the gath ering, Kera emphasised on RTI, and how the public should be aware of RTI in order to exist in a democ racy. He stated that RTI was considered as ‘second independence’ as it granted a statutory right to informa tion for every citizen, to contain corruption. He also

NOKLAK

informed on what cannot be asked and what information cannot be given and their exemptions under different sections.

Kera mentioned that

RTI is for the public in terest but cautioned that it should not be used for mala fide purposes. He ad vised citizens to enjoy their rights but also to remember their duties and obligations.

The public has the right to appeal to the public infor mation officers (PIOs) or assistant public informa tion officers (APIOs) and

go for a second appeal to the Nagaland Information Commission within 90 days from the date on which the first appeal decision was made, he added. He reminded that the RTI is not created for finding faults but rather to ensure trans parency in governance. He called for prompt response to every application and pro-activeness in dealing with the matters of RTI.

Earlier, RTI week com menced with a keynote ad dress by ADC, Chumouke dima, Dr. Kuzonyi Wideo.

According to a DIPR report, Tsanglao empha sised the gathering that RTI is not only a right to get information but also to get the right information, add ing that the Act informed citizens to promote trans parency and accountability in government functioning.

The EAC further in formed on how applica tions could be addressed to the PIO/APIO in English, Hindi, or local language, and if the person is below the poverty line, to mention it and produce proof of documents such as ration card, ID card, etc. as there is no application fee and information is free.

Earlier, keynote ad dress was delivered by SDO (Civil) Tseminyu, Tsutsowe Kupa.

NIULAND

Noklak district observed its first RTI week on October 12 at DC Conference Hall.

According to a DIPR re port, SDO (Civil) Noklak Sadar, C. Phuniang while addressing the gathering, stated that the RTI is a powerful tool that gives a chance to improve the way the government and its employees functions. He mentioned that the RTI’s objective was to pro mote transparency and account ability in the working of every public authority and to contain corruption.

While elaborating on RTI,

he opined that the momentum of RTI had not fully picked up in the district, and hence, awareness of RTI is necessary. He also advised the gathering not to misuse the RTI Act with malicious intent but to use it as a tool for the common good.

In a power point presenta tion, SDO (Civil) Noklak Hq., Mongo Khiamniungan spoke on importance of RTI. He said that RTI was simple, reli able, time-bound, and citizenfriendly.

Meanwhile, OC, fire & emergency services, Theuosielie

Pielie in his power point presen tation elaborated on benefits of RTI. He encouraged informed citizens to promote transparency and accountability in govern ment functioning. He also stated that RTI was not the solution by itself, but rather, it is the first step by which citizens could claim their rights under the law and the Constitution. He also explained in detail the tips for writing an application, obtaining information, and penalty.

Earlier, programme was chaired by DPA Noklak, Tanghiu.

Niuland district celebrated RTI week on October 12 at DC’s conference hall.

According to a DIPR report, DC Niuland, Sara S Jamir while addressing the gathering, laid emphasis on how all government offices and departments have maintained official records ever since the RTI came into force in 2005 and how it has led to more transparency and accountability in governance. The DC said RTI is a ‘good instrument’ and urged people not to misuse it, advising that one should know how to seek the right information.

Leter, EAC hq, Imlijugla Lemtur presented a power point presentation on RTI while ADC hq, T Lemlila Sangtam chaired the meeting.

RTI week observed at CTC Hall, Chumoukedima. (DIPR)

Heavy rains lash Sikkim and Arunachal; flood situation in Assam still grim

is in constant touch with the Central Water Commission (CWC).

GANGTOK/ ITANA GAR/ GUWAHATI, OCT 12 (PTI): Incessant rains and resultant land slides in the Himalayan state of Sikkim left 200 tourists stranded and also affected piped water sup ply to the capital town of Gangtok, officials said on Wednesday.

The heavy rains have damaged NH-10 that con nects the rest of the country via Siliguri to Gangtok at 19 and 20 Mile between Singtam in East district and Rangpo in Pakyong district blocking a lane of the main highway that links Sikkim to West Bengal, officials said. The rains are set to continue and the met de partment has issued a red alert in the Himalayan state and warned of heavy to very heavy rainfall due to an upper air trough stretching from east Uttar Pradesh to Arunachal Pradesh across Bihar, sub-Himalayan West Bengal and Assam.

There were reports of heavy rains in neighbouring north Bengal and Bhutan too.

Officials here said the water supply in Greater Gangtok has been hit by a major landslide at Ratey chu which damaged the pipe lines, officials said.

Public Health Engi neering department offi cials said work is on to restore the water supply but it might take another two days to complete it. An advisory has been issued by the authorities to the people of Greater Gangtok to use water judiciously till the restoration is completed. Work is on in the area on a priority basis to clear the landslips. But the heavy rains have made the condi tion of the stretch on the highway unpredictable as there may be more landslips anytime and the authori ties have asked commuters to use alternative routes via Pakyong and central Pendam to reach the West Bengal border.

Permits for tourist ve hicles to north Sikkim, which has a number of tourist destinations, have

been cancelled by the ad ministration in view of the road blocks caused by the rains in several areas, the officials said.

Sikkim Tourism De velopment Commission (STDC) chairman Luk endra Rasaily said the 200 tourists are stranded in North Sikkim district and STDC in association with a travel organisation sent taxis to bring them back here. On reaching here they will be sent to Siliguri in West Bengal.

The tourists are being lodged in their hotels for the past two days and travel and hotel operators have been asked by STDC to take special care of them, Rasaily said.

In North Sikkim the places blocked included Ph odong and Namok on the highway to Mangan. Road

Mnp scribes protest against interference

Correspondent

IMPHAL, OCT 12: Mani pur scribes on Wednesday decided to resume working from Thursday while reaf firming to stand by their ethics.

Publication of news papers and broadcasting of news in the local cable networks remained sus pended for the second day on Wednesday after scribes ceased work in protest against “undue interfer ence” to the freedom of press.

As per a resolution passed by a meeting with major CSOs jointly con vened by All Manipur Working Journalists’ Union (AMWJU), Editors’ Guild Manipur (EGM) and Mani pur Hill Journalists’ Union (MHJU) at Manipur Press Club premises today, the scribes will resume working from Thursday.

The meeting further

Manipur scribes protest against undue interference to the freedom of press in Imphal on Wednesday.

resolved not to entertain any press releases issued by conflicting parties of the student body, All Manipur Students’ Union (AMSU), until the internal conflict is settled within the union.

The meeting also reaf firmed a resolution passed by a similar meeting con vened on March 5, 2021 that endorsed the journal ists’ bodies not to entertain statements of any internal conflict ridden organization.

It also appealed to all to respect the Code of Conduct (Local Adjustment) jointly framed by AMWJU and EGM.

before the mArriAge offiCer

dimApur : nAgAlAnd

Marriage Regd. No. 103/2022 Dated Dimapur, the 11/10/2022 notiCe of intended mArriAge

I, Marriage Officer, Dimapur, Nagaland hereby give notice Under Section 5 of the Special Marriage Act, 1954, that a petition of intended marriage has been filed by Mr. Monoranjan Debnath aged about 30 years, S/o Shri Animesh Debnath, resident of H/No. 66 Sabalie Colony CMD and Miss Yurthingla Longvah aged about 28 years, D/o Shri William Longvah resident of H/No. 153 Mount View Colony P/Bazar before me on 12 day of Oct 2022 and whereas 13/11/2022 has been fixed solemnizing their Marriage. Objections, if any, are to be furnished on or before the aforementioned fixed date.

Addl. deputy Commissioner Cum marriage officer dimapur : nagaland

Earlier in the day, scribes staged a sit-in-protest in Imphal’s Keishampat Junction to register a strong protest against repeated in terference to the freedom of press. The journalists staged the protest under the joint aegis of the All Manipur Working Journalists’ Union (AMWJU), Editors’ Guild Manipur (EGM) and Mani pur Hill Journalists’ Union (MHJU).

‘’Do not interfere in the freedom of press’’ read placards held by the scribes during the protest to urge all to allow the media to work without fear.

to the district is also blocked at Sokpey, Rakdong and Tintek Khola near Dikchu and work is on to remove the debris, the officials said.

Some houses have been damaged at Marchak village on the SingtamMangan highway and the affected have been shifted to new locations by the district administration.

Road to Lum, Dzongu in North Sikkim has also been blocked after a major slide washed away the only connecting road to the vil lage.

Tourist destinations Lachen and Lachung are to tally cut off from Gangtok due to a massive landslide at Pegong near Chunthang.

Restoration work there is being affected by the lashing rain, they said.

A tourist vehicle car rying five tourists from West Bengal was hit by a

landslide at B1 ( North Sik kim Highway) on Sunday night. All sustained minor injuries, they were rescued by the North Sikkim police..

Locals alleged that the authorities took no step to avert the situation.

Heavy rains in Arunachal trigger flood-like situation

A high alert was is sued for the low-lying areas of East Siang district in Arunachal Pradesh with the Siang river in spate, follow ing incessant rains over the last few days.

East Siang Deputy Commissioner (DC) Tayi Taggu, who took stock of the situation on Tuesday, appealed to the people liv ing in these areas to refrain from venturing into the river.

He, however, asked people not to panic as the water resources and disaster

management departments are keeping a close watch on the situation. “Any im pending danger would be informed to the people in advance,” he said. Taggu directed officials to not leave the district headquarters and stay alert to deal with the emerging situation.

District Disaster Man agement Officer Tsangpa Tashi said Pasighat record ed 482 mm of rainfall on Monday and 480 mm on Tuesday, the highest in the last 25 years.

“The water level in the Siang is rising but it is flow ing below the danger mark,” he said. SDRF teams are monitoring the situation closely and have visited all vulnerable areas in Pa sighat township, he added.

Pasighat Water Resources Department Executive Engi neer Gonong Pertin said he

The Guaging station for Siang river has so far not witnessed any abnormal water flow, he said. The Pasighat-Pangin Road was cut-off at the 64 km area, while the Pasighat-Siger Road was blocked in several spots due to massive land slides, Highway Executive Engineer Dabe Perme said.

“Men and machin ery have been deployed in all these areas to clear the road,” he said. The Sille river has washed away electric poles connecting the 11kv line linking Sille to the 12 Mile area, Power Department Executive En gineer Tarik Mize said. The heavy rains are hampering the repair works, he said.

Meanwhile, 31 labour ers of the Power Grid Cor poration stranded at an island in Dibang river at Bomjir in Lower Dibang Valley district since Monday were rescued on Tuesday evening, officials said.

The labourers got stuck on the island due to the rise in the water level of the river after heavy downpours, they said. The rescue operation was carried out by the 12th Battalion of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), with the support of the district administra tion, police, fire service per sonnel and local fishermen, they added.

Nearly 40,000 affected in Assam

The flood situation in Assam remained serious on Wednesday as incessant rains lashed several dis tricts affecting nearly 40,000 people, officials said.

Many affected people have taken shelter in re lief camps and distribution centers of the affected dis tricts, they said. In the last 24 hours floods due the to heavy rains in the state since Monday were reported from four districts comprising at least eight revenue circles of nearly 50 villages, the of ficials said. While Dhemaji, Lakhimpur and Dibrugarh districts have been affected by the rain, flash floods in Jatinga river affected some areas in Dima Hasao.

“One stone loaded dumper was stuck in Jatinga river when the water level rose suddenly. The driver and the handyman left the vehicle and ran to safety,” an official said. Reports of erosion from Bongaig aon, Dhemaji, Dibrugarh, Morigaon and Sonitpur districts have also been re ceived. A Central Water Commission bulletin said Brahmaputra river is flow ing above the danger mark at Neamatighat in Jorhat.

From Thursday to Sat urday light to moderate rain fall is likely at many places of the state, the weatherman said.

Murmu interacts with tea garden workers in Tripura

BAMUTIA, OCT 12 (PTI): President Droupadi Murmu on Wednesday inaugurated the National Law University (NLU) at Narsingarh in West Tri pura’s district after reach ing the Northeastern state on a maiden two-day visit.

Murmu reached Agar tala at 11.15 am, and was received at the airport by Chief Minister Manik Saha, Governor Satya Na rayan Arya, and Union Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment Pratima Bhoumik.

She was accorded guard of honour by the Tripura State Rifles (TSR) at the airport.

From the airport, she went to Narsingarh to take part in the inau gural function, which was also attended by the chief minister and Tripura High Court Chief Justice Indrajit Mohanty.

Law and Parliamen

iN the c ourt of the

N ci Pal District Ju D ge

P

Nagala

Notice

(Sec. 278 of Indian Succession Act,

Whereas application under Section 278 of the Indian

Act, 1925 has been filed by Mr. Punayanger S/o. Late Y. Temsu @ Y. Temsu Ao R/o. H.No.

Ward No. 13, Midland Colony, Dimapur, Nagaland for

of Letter of Administration in respect of landed property of his father Late. Y. Temsu@Y. Temsu Ao covered by;

No. 686, Dag No. 786, Mouza No. 2, Block No. 9, Measuring an area of 00B-01K-07Ls Dimapur, Nagaland before this court.

Notice is hereby given that any person having interest in the administration of the property of the said deceased may if she/he so desire appear in this court on or before

a period of 30 days from the date of publication.

tary Affairs Minister Ratan Lal Nath was also present at the programme.

Murmu then visited the Durgabari tea estate in the district’s Mohanpur subdivision, and interacted with tea garden workers.

“Do you send your kids to school? Send your children to schools regu

larly. Are you getting free rice and benefits of other government schemes,” she asked Ashtami Munda, one of the five-six female tea garden workers with whom she interacted.

Murmu also asked the garden workers if they could identify CM Saha, and local MLA Krishnad

before the mArriAge offiCer

dimApur : nAgAlAnd

Marriage Regd. No. 105/2022 Dated Dimapur, the 11/10/2022 notiCe of intended mArriAge

I, Marriage Officer, Dimapur, Nagaland hereby give notice Under Section 5 of the Special Marriage Act, 1954, that a petition of intended marriage has been filed by Mr. Neoji M Yimchunger aged about 26 years, S/o Shri Muremong resident of Ward-9 Chumoukedima Town and Miss Yapangtula aged about 26 years, D/o Shri Tekachujang Aier resident of Ward 9 Chumoukedima before me on 11th day of October 2022 and whereas 11/11/2022 has been fixed solemnizing their Marriage. Objections, if any, are to be

before the

fixed date.

Addl. deputy Commissioner Cum marriage officer dimapur : nagaland

“Can you identify Chief Minister Manik Saha and MLA Krishnadhan Das,” she asked the tea garden workers, to which they replied in positive.

“They are local... Contact them if you have any demand or problem,” she told the garden work ers.

Das later told report ers that the interaction was remarkable.

“For the first time, a president visited our tea estate. It was a great feel ing,” he said.

A cultural programme was also organised in hon our of the president at the garden.

A FFIDAVIT

Regd. No. 191/22, Date11/10/2022, I, Smti Sheklih Konyak, is legally wedded spouse of army No. 12994463L rank sep Name l. Chingkhah

AFFIDAVIT

Given under my hand and seal of the court

this 11.10.2022.

District Judge

a

avit

government of nAgAlAnd offiCe of the deputy Commissioner dimApur : nAgAlAnd

Civil Misc. Case No. 18/2022

Notice

Whereas the petitioner Shri Somnath Agarwal (Son) Savita Garodia (Daughter) Anita Gupta (Daughter) W/o, S/o, D/o Late K. L Gupta (Kishanlal Gupta) a Resident of Ram Janaki School Area Sambhav Apartment has filed a petition, praying for declaration as “Legal Heir and Next of Kin” of Late K. L. Gupta (Kishanlal Gupta).

have hereunto subscribed my former and adopted name/surname of TAKOCHUNGBA PHOM, TAKOCHUNGBA and affix my signature and seal, if any, this 11th day of October, 2022.

Date 11/10/2022

Former name Takochungba Phom, Takochungba

Notice is hereby issued inviting objection, if any to file before this court on or before 12/11 day of 2022, as to why the prayer of the petitioners shall not granted.

Given under my hand and seal of this court 11/10 day of 2022.

The rising water level in S iang river. ( C ourtesy: Arunachal 24.in)

Landslide in Sikkim, passengers stranded. (Courtesy: Arunachal 24.in)

President Droupadi Murmu being accorded a Guard of Honour on her first visit to Tripura as the President of India, in Agartala, Wednesday. (PTI) han Das from among the people accompanying her.

Kerala Killings: 1 body was cut into 56 pieces

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM.

OCT 12

(AGENCIES): A couple in Kerala who allegedly mutilated and killed two women in a ritualistic “human sacrifice” to get rich quick may have even eaten the flesh of their victims, the police said today, as shocking new details emerged in the case.

Victims Roselin and Padma were tied up and tortured before they were strangled, the police said. The women’s breasts were chopped off and the blood was allowed to flow out. One of the bodies was cut into 56 pieces, the police chief said. The body parts were found from three pits.

The main accused is Muhammad Shafi, described as a “sexual pervert” and sadist who lured the women to the house of Bhagaval Singh and his wife Laila. Shafi was out on bail in a 2020 case involving a sexual assault on a 75-year-old woman.

Shafi allegedly promised the victims money to act in a pornographic film. At the same time, he

“advised” Bhagaval Singh and Laila to carry out a human sacrifice to end their financial troubles and become wealthy, the police said.

“There’s a possibility that the accused ate parts of body after killing the victims. It is being investigated, but not confirmed yet,” said Kochi police chief CH Nagaraju.

Bhagaval Singh, a massage therapist and “healer” with a social media following, was reportedly associated with the state’s ruling CPI(M). The party, however, denied that he

was a member.

“He worked with us but wasn’t a member of our party. He once was a progressive man, but after his second marriage, he became a religious person.

It might be the influence of his wife,” said PR Pradeep, a CPI(M) official.

Roselin disappeared in June, said the police, and Padma in September.

They were murdered on June 6 and September 26, according to the police.

The police were investigating the disappearance of Padma when they discovered the

If elected Congress chief, will call for CWC polls: Tharoor

post’ and ‘one family, one ticket’ rules with riders.

“We must decentralise authority and truly empower the grassroots office-bearers of the party. Our PCC delegates, for instance, have literally had no role for the last 22 years but to vote in the “I want their elected status to be honoured by ensuring PCC delegates a place on the platform when any senior leader comes visiting, involve them in the consultations that must take place before candidates are selected for elections, and so on,” he said.

killings. The women’s phones were traced to Shafi. He was tracked down with the help of CCTV footage and a car that he had abandoned. Investigations led the police to the house in Pathanamthitta, where Bhagaval Singh and his wife reportedly confessed.

Shafi “is a sexual deviant, a psychopathic killer” and the main accused in the case, Mr Nagaraju said, adding that the school dropout was addicted to sexual perversion and “delighted in cruelty”.

Padma was strangled and beheaded and her body

was chopped into 56 pieces by Shafi, the police said.

Roselin was strangled allegedly by Laila, and her breasts were cut off.

One of the women was tortured with a knife, the investigations suggest.

Shafi is believed to have lured the women after contacting them on social media.

“Prime accused Shafi is a pervert. He committed acts of sexual perversion on the women. We’re investigating whether there are more accused and if more such cases happened. His motive was sadism and perversion,” Mr Nagaraju said.

Shafi allegedly used his wife’s Facebook to look for people with financial difficulties. That is where he reportedly came across Bhagaval Singh and his wife, who, he learnt later, were interested in human sacrifice, the police said.

The police commissioner also referred to allegations of Shafi attempting to rape an elderly woman. The injuries she suffered were similar, he said.

PM Modi to inaugurate fourth Vande Bharat Express in HP’s Una today

NEW DELHI, OCT 12 (PTI): Prime Minister Narendra Modi will flag off the country’s fourth Vande Bharat Express train and inaugurate a slew of developmental projects in Himachal Pradesh’s Una district on Thursday.

The prime minister will also dedicate IIIT Una to the nation and lay the foundation stone of Bulk Drug Park in the district, a statement from the PMO said Wednesday.

Modi will flag off the inaugural run of the new Vande Bharat Express from Amb Andaura to New Delhi. It will be the fourth Vande Bharat train to be introduced in the country and is an advanced version compared to the earlier ones, being much lighter and capable of reaching higher speed in shorter duration.

The train will run six days a week except on Wednesdays, with stops at Ambala, Chandigarh, Anandpur Sahib, and Una. It accelerates to 100 km per hour in just 52 seconds. The

introduction of the train will help boost tourism in the region and provide a comfortable and faster mode of travel.

Himachal Pradesh is going to polls later this year.

Last month, Modi had flagged off the third Vande Bharat Express in another poll-bound state Gujarat.

This train runs from Gandhinagar to Mumbai.

While in the state, Modi will also dedicate IIIT Una to the nation, the foundation stone for which was laid by him in 2017. Currently, more than 530 students are pursuing studies in this institute.

The Bulk Drug Park in

Una for which he will lay the foundation stone will be built at a cost of over Rs 1900 crore. The park will help reduce dependence on API imports. It is expected to attract investment of around Rs. 10,000 crore and provide employment to more than 20,000 people. It will also give a fillip to economic activities in the region, the statement said.

After that, at a public function at Chamba, Modi will lay the foundation stone of the 48 MW Chanju-III hydro-electric project and the 30 MW Deothal Chanju hydro-electric project which will generate over 270 million units of electricity annually. Himachal Pradesh is expected to get annual revenue of around Rs 110 crore from these projects.

The prime minister will also launch Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY)-III in the state for upgrading of around 3125 km of roads. More than Rs 420 crore has been sanctioned by the Centre under this phase.

Will implement Udaipur declarations if elected Cong Prez: Kharge

BHOPAL, OCT 12 (IANS): Veteran Congress leader and Rajya Sabha MP Mallikarjun Kharge said on Wednesday that after becoming the Congress national president, his prime responsibility would be to implement declarations made during the party’s meeting held in Rajasthan’s Udaipur.

Kharge, who is one of the candidates for the Congress president, was in Bhopal to seek support for his candidature.

NEW DELHI, OCT 12 (PTI): Congress presidential candidate Shashi Tharoor on Wednesday asserted that if he becomes the AICC chief, he would fully implement the party’s existing constitution which requires CWC elections and revival of the parliamentary board that has been dormant for about 25 years.

In an interview with PTI, Tharoor also said the Congress must decentralise authority and truly empower the grassroots office-bearers of the party.

The Lok Sabha member from Thiruvananthapuram said he would fully implement the Udaipur Declaration which was unanimously agreed at the party’s Chintan Shivir earlier this year.

Asked about his plans for the party if he wins the electoral contest against Mallikarjun Kharge for the top post, the former Union minister said, “I think an important first step would be to call for elections to the Working Committee

to spread our inner-party democracy even further.”

“I am going to implement fully the existing constitution, which requires CWC elections and the revival of the parliamentary board that has been dormant for a quarter-century, and the Udaipur Declaration which was unanimously agreed,” Tharoor said.

The holding of the Congress Working Committee elections and the revival of the parliamentary board were among the key demands of the group of 23 leaders, including Tharoor, who wrote to party chief Sonia Gandhi in 2020 seeking large scale organisational reforms.

At the Shivir, the Congress had adopted the Udaipur Declaration which included wide-ranging organisational reforms to make the party battleready for the next round of assembly and Lok Sabha polls, including wider representation to those under 50 years of age and enforcing ‘one person, one

Sharda University holds 6th convocation ceremony

Tharoor stressed that the Congress must provide a credible alternative to the BJP’s “centralisation of authority” in its party affairs and in the affairs of governance.

Addressing a press conference at the Congress headquarters in Bhopal, the Congress Rajya Sabha MP said that all the declarations made during the Udaipur conclave were finalised after long discussions and they are the need of the hour.

He said that all decisions would be taken by the collective leadership

of the Congress. Kharge added that he was selected as a candidate for the Congress presidential poll by the collective leadership of the party.

Kharge slammed

of the country has been jeopardised.

“I am contesting elections after it was decided that no one from the Gandhi family is ready to run for the party president’s post,” Kharge added.

The veteran leader, who was accompanied by senior party leaders Pramod Tiwari and Gaurav Ballabh, made it clear that Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi will be the prominent leaders in the Congress.

“Congress has won six states under Rahul Gandhi’s leadership, but the BJP’s horse trading policy and undemocratic policy wrested power from us in several states, including Madhya Pradesh and the fresh example in Maharashtra,” Kharge said.

GOVERNMENT OF NAGALAND DEPARTMENT OF LAW & JUSTICE NAGALAND :: KOHIMA

THE NOTARIES RULES 1956 IS HEREBY PUBLISH FOR AWARENESS OF GENERAL PUBLIC.

Notaries Rules,

Graduating students at the convocation ceremony.

NEW DELHI, OCT 11: The 6th convocation ceremony of Sharda University Greater Noida campus was held on Tuesday where 3159 students of batch 2021-2022 were awarded with degrees.

On the occasion, 29 PhD degrees, 5 Chancellor’s Gold Medal, 76 Vice Chancellor Gold Medal, 119 Certificate of Merits and 1 AK Gadpayle Medal were awarded in this year’s convocation.

Sharda University

honored Dr. Kamlesh Nilkanth Vyas, Chairman, Atomic Energy Commission & Secretary, Dept. of Atomic Energy, Govt of India with honorary doctorate degree for his significant contribution in the field of science. As a special guest, Dr. Mahesh Sharma, Member of Parliament, Gautam Budh Nagar, Uttar Pradesh and Dr. KVSS Sairam, President, Prathista Industries Limited encouraged them with their special address.

Accused Bhagaval Singh. (PTI) Accused Laila. (PTI)

“There are different

Congress presidential candidate Mallikarjun Kharge addresses a press conference in Bhopal, Wednesday. (PTI)

Shashi Tharoor pays tribute at a statue of Mahatma Gandhi, during his visit to Sabarmati Gandhi Ashram. (PTI)

Nagaland

Burning issues on the back burner

Several issues in Nagaland have remained pending some for over decades while some continuing for years such as- prohibition law(Nagaland Liquor Total Prohibition Act 1989); rampant illegal and multiple taxation; syndication of market at Dimapur; demand for implementing Inner Line Permit (ILP) in Dimapur under BEFR 1873; Register of Indigenous Inhabitant of Nagaland(RIIN); election to Urban Local Bodies(ULBs); still incom plete 4-lane highway on NH 2; encroachments against expansion and development of Dimapur airport and Dimapur railway station etc. It may also be noted that there are also other issues such as ir regular and backdoor appointments, blatant corrup tion at various levels of the government-all of which, have been in public domain over the decades. However, political parties ruling the government exhibited semblance of trying to walk the talk and so these issues are unresolved even after decades. State chief secretary Jane Alam, is an exclusive in terview to this newspaper, had explained about the government trying to address various issues through a wide spectrum of views, opinions or suggestions. One issue, prohibition act has been bandied around for several years. The fact is that today 30 years after the enactment, even the proponents candidly admit that it has totally failed. Not only failed but even doctors say that it has instead facilitated manufac ture and sale of spurious alcohol. Leaving aside the presumptive loss in revenue, the dry law has created a huge mafia-like thriving black market that has lured many to get involved in the biggest multi-crore money spinning cottage industry. Spurious alcohol also led many teenagers to switch to drugs because they are cheaper and easier to smuggle. All these are not meant to justify repealing the dry law but to understand that there is need to explore ways of dealing with alcoholism and consequences of the ban. Another critical issue is corruption where huge amount of money are spent on projects that linger of for decades and lead to huge cost overruns. The never-ending 4-lane construction is an example of cost overruns but a blot on the state. Even on the issue of irregular and back door appointments, no serious effort has been made to check the menace.

Cases after cases have been filed in the courts which clearly indicts the government on this issue. The problems caused by rampant and illegal taxa tion on the economy and the people is well known. The grip of those involved in such activities has also spilled over to syndication of the market in Dimapur. These are challenges which the government only re sponded passively. These are clear instances over the growing clout of parallel authorities controlling the entire economy at least in Dimapur, the so-called commercial capital and gateway of Nagaland. Trade and travel are boon for economic growth but Dima pur airport and Dimapur railway station have been doomed to their past glory, while all other airports and railway stations in the region have marched ahead. The cause is encroachments legalised through issuance of pattas by corrupt officials. RIIN for implementation of ILP in Dimapur may never see the light of day since the government is unwilling to walk the talk. The proposal for special economic zones (NSDZ) is a misnomer since as NTC, alleged, they have less economics but more politics and practically meant to rehabilitate outsiders. However, people should also accept responsibility for getting the government they deserve.

DailyDevotion

Getting into God’s Stride

Enoch walked with God… —Genesis 5:24

The true test of a person’s spiritual life and charac ter is not what he does in the extraordinary moments of life, but what he does during the ordinary times when there is nothing tremendous or exciting happening. A person’s worth is revealed in his attitude toward the or dinary things of life when he is not under the spotlight (see John 1:35-37 and John 3:30). It is painful work to get in step with God and to keep pace with Him— it means getting your second wind spiritually. In learn ing to walk with God, there is always the difficulty of getting into His stride, but once we have done so, the only characteristic that exhibits itself is the very life of God Himself. The individual person is merged into a personal oneness with God, and God’s stride and His power alone are exhibited.

It is difficult to get into stride with God, because as soon as we start walking with Him we find that His pace has surpassed us before we have even taken three steps. He has different ways of doing things, and we have to be trained and disciplined in His ways. It was said of Jesus— “He will not fail nor be discouraged…” (Isaiah 42:4) because He never worked from His own individual standpoint, but always worked from the standpoint of His Father. And we must learn to do the same. Spiritual truth is learned through the atmosphere that surrounds us, not through intellectual reasoning. It is God’s Spirit that changes the atmosphere of our way of looking at things, and then things begin to be pos sible which before were impossible. Getting into God’s stride means nothing less than oneness with Him. It takes a long time to get there, but keep at it. Don’t give up because the pain is intense right now— get on with it, and before long you will find that you have a new vision and a new purpose.

Post-mortem

Roles and Responsibilities of Nagaland Medical Council

T he Nagaland Medi cal Council (NMC) constituted under the Nagaland Medical Council Act of 2014, and as a mandatory require ment of Medical Council of India has been formed.

The Council shall hence forth function as a statu tory body under the MCI act of 1956, to fulfil its duties for health care pro fessional in particular, the doctors and in general, to the people of the state with impartiality to the best of its ability. Apart from getting all the doc tors who practice Allo pathic form of modern medicine registered in the state, it will fulfil its duties which also includes duties to the proposed medical college, and to see that doctors adhere strictly to the Medical Council of

India’s

Code of Medical Ethics. The following are the announcement of the Council.

1. All doctors in the state have to register under the Nagaland Medical Council. All other regis tration from other states will have to transfer their registration under the Na galand Medical Council. The doctors are requested to bring all their original certificates for registration and to present it to the Deputy Registrar’s Office at Paramedical Training Institute, Kohima.

The Nagaland Medi cal Council wants to do its outmost to help streamline the medical fraternity and the practice of medicine in the state. To achieve this, it will involve the fol lowing activities besides registration and scrutiny

of degrees of the doctors.

2. Nagaland Medical Council will be available to hearing complaints against negligence or un ethical activities against doctors. Complaints should be given in writing, addressed to the Regis trar of Nagaland Medical Council. Each complain will be scrutinized and the offending doctor will be called to defend his actions. Appropriate ac tion, even to the extent of the removal of the name from the state register will be enforced when need ed. Such doctors whose names are removed will not be allowed to practice in the state.

3. The Council will strengthen the Health and Family Welfare depart ment and the appropriate authorities to implement

health law for the welfare of the people in the state.

4. Ethical medical practice with proper obe dience to orders of depart ment of Health and Fam ily Welfare for those in government service, along with proper registration of Health Care Establish ments for clean, safe and proper practice of the medical profession will be emphasized. Doctors are requested to strictly abide by the Code of Medical Ethics laid down by the MCI. This Code of Ethics will be strictly enforced by the Nagaland Medical Council. Doctors are en couraged to perform their duties in latter and spirit, which includes services in the remote areas of the state.

5.The Council will also work towards ensur

ing that the doctors of the state update their knowl edge and keep in touch with the medical advances be making attendance of continuing medical educa tion a mandatory part of the activity of all clinical practicing doctors. Un less a doctor attends the mandatory requirement of the medical council’s academic activity, their registration for practicing clinically after 5 years will not be reconsidered. This in turn will help doctors of the state have the incentive to keep themselves updat ed and relevant resulting in better health care to the people of the state.

6. The Nagaland Medical Council will also work towards look ing after the welfare of the medical fraternity. A committee for the protec

tion of doctors has been formed under the Council and will address issues towards this goal.

7. Nagaland Medi cal Council will also give suggestions to the Health and Family Welfare De partment when needed for the ethical functioning of health care delivery to the people of the state.

The Nagaland Medi cal Council will welcome suggestions from both within the medical frater nity and from the general public on ways that we can improve the health care delivery in the state. We will work with honesty, transparency and fairness to our appointed responsi bility for the welfare of the people of our state.

Dr. Joyce Zinyu Angami, President, Nagaland Medical Council

Lasting lessons for post-Covid corporate leadership

Business and professional organisations are recover ing from the unprecedent ed disruption caused across the board by the Covid-19 pandemic that had arrived without much notice and enveloped the popu lation at large in deep fear and survivalist concerns.

The world is on its way to recovery and organisations relying on their job content and dependence on human re source are moving ahead after absorbing the paradigms of the ‘new normal’ set with regard to place and timing of work, methodology of communication and performance evaluation and the altered ‘boss-subordinate’ relationship.

Many of the shifts reflect an ‘evolution of management’ and are hence fit for future times. Smart CEOs have grasped the learnings from what was undoubtedly a first time expe rience for everybody, including the leaders, employees, clients, investors and regulators. Busi ness is all about human activity and a health crisis that directly impacted people regardless of distinctions of class, community and region evidently challenged it in all aspects in an unending and unpredictable kind of way.

And yet a deep insight and analysis of the demands that the Covid saga put on the leader ship of all organisations yield extremely valuable lessons for it - for application in the times ahead. At least five of these can be easily deciphered.

First and foremost, the pan demic legitimised the call that a leader should be able to ‘ride a challenge’ and not merely cope with it so that the organisation is carried forward amid all odds.

For this, it was necessary to have a correct understanding of the nature of the crisis itself - Covid was an emergency of external origin, was primarily a disabler of the human resource and was, in terms of ‘competi tion’, a great equaliser for all enterprises, big and small.

Madame Curie, the great est woman scientist of all time,

famously said that “nothing in life is to be feared but is to be understood”, suggesting that understanding is the end of the problem. Lockdowns confined people indoors, creating a mor tal scare of the ‘danger lurking in the air’ but the nature of the threat of the virus that required the logical triple precaution of mask, social distancing and washing of hands to counter possible touch with a contami nated surface, took a long time to be understood -even after the confinement was lifted.

Leaders with a scientific temperament and a certain familiarity with human psychol ogy and behaviour did a better job of handling the crisis but there were many who didn’t understand a simple thing that mask without covering the nose had no meaning as virus could get in with the breadth.

The leadership’s first duty even now is to keep all the members updated on the virus mutations that might still be coming back with varying effects and maintain the morale of the employees.

The second most impor tant Covid learning for cor porate leaders is that a prime responsibility that fell on them in the pandemic was to ensure the welfare of the employees even if it meant foregoing some of the corporate profits temporarily.

Covid affected the precious human resource of the organisa tion and expected the leadership to display a higher degree of emotional intelligence so that apart from the changes in work ing protocols compelled by the crisis, bosses gave the impression of being aware of the family concerns of their employees too.

They were required to send out the message that the corpo rate body was keeping up with necessary preventive medical arrangements such as oximeters, oxygen supply and special trans port for a contingency. In a way, this paternal nurtural approach of the management has returned to the corporates for good. The

enterprise will gain by receiv ing in return a much deeper organisational loyalty from its members and that would surely advance the cause of productiv ity as well.

Perhaps the most signifi cant and lasting fallout of the Covid crisis is the adoption of ‘work from home’ resulting in a happy adjustment of the enter prise with the so-called hybrid work environment for the future.

Both employees as well as the corporate employer needed each other and with a small one-time expenditure by the or ganisation on fixing a workplace at home for the employee - sav ing the latter from the hassle of preparing for commuting to the company headquarter everyday - the new arrangement is now in vogue with satisfaction on both sides.

Flexible working hours, vi ability of online team meetings and introduction of shifts for attendance at the workplace pro vided a cost-effective alternative to the maintenance of an osten tatious corporate headquarter.

All of this has made hybrid work environ a new acceptable feature of businesses. The new challenge for the HRD leader ship of ensuring supervision from a remote point, measur ing the output and keeping up the vital camaraderie among the members of the organisa tion, seems to have been met with experience overtime and a harmonious play of the new system is in evidence, marking a progressive shift in the prac tice of business management universally.

Of course, online work from home has come as an advantage to certain segments of business - other than those concerning physical manufac ture of products - but online support functions have become important even for the latter.

Technology has received a big boost in the post-Covid era. It is not a surprise that there is phenomenal growth of global businesses offering online de livery of products and services.

This trend is there to stay, but quality assurance has be come pivotal for retaining a competitive edge since consum ers are more impatient in today’s environ. In the West, there is a debate as to whether the em ployees are beginning to place their personal comfort above their organisational commit ment, but in the Indian context the business world is hopefully settling down to a productive economic outcome from the changes compelled by Covid.

In a situation of shrinking demands and disruption of supply chains, study of local markets as also trends of glo balisation, tracking of social media marketing (SMM) and in general gathering of business intelligence have become much more crucial since reliable infor mation is needed for diversifica tion, opening of subsidiaries and mid course corrections - which are now the order of the day.

Knowledge-based decision making was never so important. Confidentiality of exclusive knowledge is vital too for the organisation in these times when information is becoming public as soon as it is produced. Exclusive information makes a difference between a decision and a guess.

Apart from the scan of external environ, the enterprise has to have a close look inter nally at how the human resource development programmes are working, how is information on insider’s views on the corporate working being garnered and how is the competition possibly trying to poach the experienced hands of the organisation.

Today once again the Toy ota experience of feedback from the ‘assembly line’ is proving its worth. Moral of the story for the business world is that honesty pays in today’s pandemic-ridden times. Only correct information is to be acted upon for formu lating business strategy - being too tactical would not do - since what would bring success to a business enterprise is the established transparency of its

Imkong Imchen says ENPO statehood demand to be discussed in NLA

Honourable members, let me provoke all of you at this hour. I know all the honor able members are equally concerned as good as myself regarding the Statehood demand of ENPO.

If it is already an internally settled matter between ENPO, ENLU and Chief minister then that is splendid. If not I feel the necessity of having a EMERGENCY/SPE CIAL Assembly Session (maybe one day) to discuss on this pertinent issue and adopt Resolution to this affect.

The 20 strong Legislators from ENPO area are already party to the decision of the ENPO to boycott the forthcoming Assembly Election and therefore, according to me, they cannot betray their own people by participating in the forthcoming election. Because so far none of the 20 legislators have ever differed with

the decision of the ENPO till today and therefore I don’t think they can surreptitiously participate in the election but stand firmly with their own decision to boycott the election.

To my understanding it is not a thing to wish away and go ahead with the election without the par ticipation of the 20 assembly set in the House of 60. Or otherwise if the election is forcefully conducted under the given situation we will be carrying the present problem to the new House i.e 14th House which will be unbecoming and irresponsible on the part of the incompetent members i.e 13th House.

The State Government of Na galand is not a legally sou moto in stitution but it is a part and partial of the competency of the Government of India and we function as a govern ment under the advice and guidance

of the Government of India.

The issue at hand may not be necessarily to be handled by the State government nor the State Government is legally competent to take such decisions for granting of Statehood or whatever.

Under the given stated position, I as a member of the present house feel duty bound and obligated that this ENPO issue of demand for Statehood should be discussed in the People’s Elected Representative House and should not pass into the New House without collective ob ligations of mind of the incumbent House.

I know by temperament I am a outspoken personality in the House, the honourable members may like to bear with me for having provoking your peace of mind.

L Imchen, MLA

dealings with the clients .

Covid might have just brought the business world closer to creating the correct relationship with the consumers and discouraging trade mal practices.

If information is impor tant for business, it is equally important to make sure that communications with partner ing firms, clients and investors as also internal messaging are flawless in terms of avoiding any ambiguities, combining brevity with clarity and being prompt so that timely action is made possible.

Face-to-face briefings are substituted by online report ing and advice - this is another upshot of the Covid crisis - and clearly the leadership is on test for skills of producing compe tent and meaningful communi cations.

It would do a lot of good to the organisation if its leader ship looks afresh at the system of communications within the corporate body, keeping in view the hybrid work environ - this will also enable it to ensure se curity of sensitive information being shared online.

The days of lengthy letters drafted in black and white are over and a training of senior executives in drafting short but complete messages online would be of great help.

The empathy one can show and the willingness to explain things one could express in a verbal conversation would be difficult to replicate in digital communications and this is an important reason why leaders who communicated well on- line would achieve quick success in today’s times of scarcity of inperson contacts.

In short, what Covid has done is to put a further onus on the leadership for maintaining smooth functioning of the or ganisation in general, and keep ing up productivity in particular.

D.C. Pathak

(The writer is a former Director of Intelligence Bureau. The views expressed are personal)

Reader’s Post

Objection to centralisation of regional taxis ticketing counters

Sir, We, the traveller agents counter Tuensang, owners of regional taxis Tuensang, and Regional Taxi Driver Union Tuensang collectively oppose the idea of “Cen tralisation Scheme” of All Nagaland Regional Taxis proposed by All Nagaland Taxi Associations (ANTA).

The idea of centralization has created enormous hardship and inconveniences to public at large and shall not be in interest of the counters.

As for the shifting of taxi parking is concerned, we have no objections as long as it is feasible for the movement of the common travellers.

Thereby, we offer complete non-cooperation to such defective scheme and dreadful ideas which has created chaos and troublesome to the travellers and general public as a whole.

C. Yanchu, General Secretary, Travellers Agents Union, Tuensang

purpose of our lives

Cough syrup deaths: Panel to study WHO report

NEW DELHI, OCT 12

(PTI):

The government on Wednesday formed a fourmember panel of experts to examine the details and adverse event reports re ceived from the WHO on the deaths of 66 children in The Gambia being linked potentially to the four madein-India cough syrups, of ficial sources here said.

They said after exam ining and analysing the adverse event reports, causal relationship and all related details shared by or to be shared by the World Health Organization, the commit tee will advise and recom mend further course of ac tion to the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI).

The development comes on a day the Hary ana government ordered the halting of drug manu facturing at the Sonipat unit of Maiden Pharmaceuti cals, and asked it to explain within a week “many con traventions” found during a recent inspection, or face

suspension or cancellation of license.

The order to halt pro duction came days after the World Health Organization (WHO) potentially linked four cough syrups manu factured at the facility to the deaths of 66 children in the African nation of Gambia.

The four-member com mittee of technical experts are: Dr. Y. K Gupta. Vice Chairperson, Standing Na tional Committee on Medi cines; Dr Pragya D. Yadav, NIV, ICMR, Pune; Dr Arti

Bahl, Division of Epidemi ology. NCDC, New Delhi; and A. K. Pradhan, JDC(I), CDSCO.

According to official sources, the WHO on Sep tember 29 had informed the Central Drugs Stan dard Control Organisation (CDSCO) that they were providing technical assis tance and advice to Gambia, where children have died and where a contributing factor was suspected to be the use of medicines (Pro methazine Oral So lution

Yatra: Rahul walks with kin of organ donors

CHITRADURGA (KTK), OCT 12 (PTI): Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, who is leading the Bharat Jodo Yatra, on Wednesday walked along with the fami lies of people, who donated their body parts, to empha sise on organ donation, the party said.

It said 33 ‘yatris’ marching with the former Congress president have pledged their eyes for dona tion.

Organ donors, whose family members walked with Rahul Gandhi, were: late National Film Award-winning Best Actor Sanchari Vijay who died in a motorcycle accident; Rak

shitha, a PUC student from Chikkamagaluru district, who suffered a head injury after falling off a bus; and Veda Manjunath, who had an accident on the HubballiDharwad bypass Highway.

Later in a post on his Facebook page, Rahul Gan dhi said he had the privilege of walking with the braveheart families of these organ donors, and they personify resilience, empathy, and humanity.

“It was not their age to go. Rakshitha, Veda and Vijay went too soon. Even in death, they gifted meaning and happiness to others by donating their organs to save lives. A beautiful gesture of

love and sacrifice! It is the human spirit of care and compassion that we must nurture and cherish. It is too precious to be lost to the hateful and greedy ploys of a few,” he said.

Noting that Kannada thespian late Dr Rajku mar and his late actor-son Puneeth Rajkumar’s similar selfless acts of donating their eyes inspired millions of Kannadigas and others, and raised awareness on the importance of organ dona tion, Rahul Gandhi said, “I feel immensely proud to tell you all that 33 Bharat Yatris have pledged to donate their eyes from this beautiful land of Karnataka.”

NOTIFICATION

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required to clear the requisite professional qualification

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BP, KOFEXNALIN

Baby Cough Syrup, MaKOFF Baby Cough Syrup and Ma Grip n Cold Syrup).

There are manufac tured and exported by Maid en Pharmaceuticals Ltd, Sonepat, Haryana, and the WHO had informed they may have been contami nated with Diethylene glycol or Ethylene glycol.

The CDSCO took up the matter immediately with the Haryana State Regulatory Authority, un der whose jurisdiction the drug manufacturing unit is located, and a detailed investigation was launched by CDSCO in collabora tion with the State Drugs Controller, Haryana.

It has also been indicat ed by the WHO that as per the tentative results received by the WHO, out of the 23 samples of the products under reference which were tested by WHO, four have been found to contain Di ethylene Glycol/ Ethylene Glycol.

“The CDSCO had re quested WHO to provide relevant analysis / report indicating / establishing one-to-one causal relation of said deaths with the al leged adulteration of the drugs referred to above. The same is yet to be provided by WHO,” a source said.

On further follow up done by CDSCO with the WHO, the Certificate of Analysis (COAS) of the sampled products and the summary of the adverse events etc. were shared by the WHO on October 11 2022.

Further, the WHO has informed they are in the process of taking forward the investigation, the memo randum stated.

“In order to examine and analyse the details of the reports/adverse events/ CoAs received to be received from WHO in the instant matter, it has been decided to constitute a committee comprising technical ex perts,” the source stated.

TRS opposes move to replace English with Hindi in IITs

HYDERABAD, OCT 12

(IANS): The Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) has strongly opposed the rec ommendation of a Parlia mentary committee that the medium of instruction in technical and non-technical higher educational insti tutes such as IITs should be Hindi.

TRS working presi dent K. T. Rama Rao said on Wednesday that his par ty is against any move to impose Hindi.

He said that India does not have a national lan guage and Hindi is one among the many official languages.

“To impose Hindi by way of mandating in IIITs and central government recruitments, NDA govern ment is flouting the federal spirit Indians should have a choice of language and we say no to Hindi imposi tion,” tweeted Rama Rao.

The parliamenta ry committee headed by Home Minister Amit Shah has recommended that the medium of instruction in technical and non-technical

K. T. Rama Rao

higher education institutes such as IITs in Hindi-speak ing states should be Hindi and in other parts of India their respective local lan guage. It said the use of English should be made optional.

The end of compul sory English language ques tion paper in the recruit ment examinations and adequate arrangement for Hindi translation in the orders of the high courts in Hindi-speaking states are among over 100 recommen dations made by the com mittee in its latest report.

Former member of Legislative Council Profes sor K. Nageshwar also said that the move is against fed eralism and national unity.

Swati Maliwal gets rape threat for writing against Sajid Khan

NEW DELHI, OCT 12 (IANS): Delhi Commission for Women, Swati Maliwal, has lodged a complaint with the Delhi Police stating that she has been receiving rape threat on her social media accounts after she raised the demand to exit Sajid Khan from ‘Bigg Boss’ show. She wrote that she got the threat on her Instagram account. Two users with ID names -- Rahul and Hrithik Sheldekar -- threatened her. She has shared the screen shot of the threat messages.

Police said that they were looking into the matter.

Maliwal had earlier written to Union Informa tion and Broadcasting Min ister Anurag Thakur raising concerns over the entry of filmmaker and ‘#MeToo’ accused Sajid Khan into ‘Bigg Boss 16’ and sought his removal from the real ity show hosted by Salman Khan.

Sajid Khan was ac cused of sexual misconduct

by several women during the #MeToo movement in 2018.

Maliwal tweeted on Monday: “Ten women had accused Sajid Khan of sex ual harassment during the #MeToo movement. All these complaints show the disgusting mindset of Sa jid. Now, such a man has been given a place in Bigg Boss, which is completely wrong. I have written to @ ianuragthakur to have Sajid Khan removed from this show.”

Earlier, actress Man

dana Karimi, who had lev elled charges against Sajid during the #MeToo move ment, said in an interview that she was not interested in working in Bollywood any longer because Sajid had been given a place on the show.

Apart from her, singer Sona Mohapatra also ques tioned the makers of the show about Sajid’s entry.

Urfi Javed slammed Sheh naaz Gill and Kashmera Shah for supporting Sajid’s controversial entry into the show.

Modi, Shah ignorant of JP: Nitish

PATNA, OCT 12 (IANS):

Hitting back at Home Min ister Amit Shah’s “CM sit ting in Congress lap for power” remark, Chief Min ister Nitish Kumar accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah of being ignorant about the freedom struggle and the JP movement.

Upon returning from Nagaland late on Tuesday night, Nitish Kumar retort ed to Home Minister Shah saying, “I don’t give any importance to the outbursts of Narendra Modi or Amit Shah. Have they contributed to the JP movement in any way? Sadly, people who have nothing to do with the freedom struggle are talking about the JP movement. Who knew Modi before 2002,” Kumar said while pointing towards Gujarat riots of 2002. It was in the light of these riots that Modi made headlines.

“During the JP move ment, I went to jail for which Jayaprakash Babu appreciated me,” he said. Kumar was responding to Amit Shah’s statement made earlier in the day at

Government of n a G aland Society for Climate Resilient for Agriculture in Nagaland (SoCRAN) aPC/foCUS-Ifad Cell nagaland Civil Secretariat, Kohima-797 001

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The four Indian cough syrups that resulted in the death of

children in Gambia.

Swati Maliwal and Sajid Khan

Bihar CM Nitish Kumar meets Samajwadi Party President Akhilesh Yadav in Saifai, Wednesday. (PTI)

Rahul Gandhi walks with organ donors during the party’s ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’, in Chitradurga district, Karnataka, Wednesday. (PTI)

India’s debt ratio to be 84 pc of its GDP: IMF

WASHINGTON, OCT 12 (PTI): India’s debt ra tio is projected to be 84 per cent of its GDP by the end of 2022, which is higher than many emerg ing economies, but its debt is a little bit easier to sustain, a senior IMF official has said. Stressing that it is important for India to now have a very clear medium-term objec tive on the fiscal, Paolo Mauro, Deputy Director, Fiscal Affairs Department, International Monetary Fund, said there’s still not a whole lot of clarity on the fiscal anchor.

“It would be very im portant to give reassurance to people and to investors that things are under con trol, and things are going to become less vulnerable over time,” Mauro, told PTI in an interview.

“In terms of the debt ratio, India right now at the end of 2022, we’re pro

jecting it at about 84 per cent of GDP. That is high er than in many emerging economies,” he said. Of course, India has a lot of special features being the most populous country in the world by now and be ing a very large, emerging economy, he said.

“The other things that are special in a way or distinctive compared with other emerging economies are that most of India’s debt is in non-indexed domestic currency and there’s a large investor base from India. So those are good features to have and that’s what makes this debt a little bit easier to sustain,” Mauro said.

Having said that, the rollover, the necessity to borrow every year is very significant. It’s about 15 per cent of the GDP, he said. “So, in some ways, the debt vulnerabilities are something that one needs

to keep an eye on and be mindful of the fiscal defi cit,” he said. He noted that the fiscal deficit is about 10 per cent of the GDP right now.

That is quite a bit higher than in most emerg ing economies. About sixand-a-half per cent of the GDP is from the central government the rest is from the states, he said.

“I think, given the global conjuncture and countryspecific circumstances, inflation is a little bit on the high side... looking at all of those things, it makes sense to reduce the deficit, and to bring down the debt gradually over time,” Mauro said.

Another good thing for India is that growth is traditionally very high.

“That helps maintain that ratio at a stable level, maybe even bring it down if growth continues to be very strong.

NPCC urges citizens to be on guard against Hindutva forces

(From p-1)

NPCC said these were just two instances while a multitude of incidents went unreported in main stream media, though these could not be hid-den from the world.

The party asked whether these incidents did not demonstrate unequal treatment despite the Constitution of India guaranteeing equality to practice any religion and honour and respect every religion.

Congress questioned Naga land BJP whether it could deny the ideology of Hindutva and the objective of establishing a Hindu Rashtra and also deny that the draft constitution of Hindu Rashtra pro posed that Muslims and Christians would be denied the right to vote. It asked whether this was not contrary to the right to vote guaranteed in the Constitution of India to every citizen who had attained 18 years of age and above regardless of caste, education, religion, race, or ethnicity.

The party said the government had already got every registered citizen’s details, including religious

background, accusing of now proposing religious profiling with lesser rights based on religious lines.

“Is this not anti-Christian? Nagas consist of over 95% Chris tians. Is this not anti-Naga?” the release asked.

NPCC claimed that BJP leaders had also stated that all Indians were Sanatanis, implying worship and belief as in Hindu ism. While this was inac-curate, the party said the real danger lay in the gradual insertion of such ideas that were feeding the fire of a Hindu Rashtra and facilitating to submerge Nagaland into the ocean of Hinduism.

The party pointed out that Enforcement Directorate, Central Bureau of Investigation and Na tional Investigation Agency cases against leaders were hanging like a robe to blackmail, which was why 48 legislators were powerless and used as stooges.

While BJP would continue to defend and deny, it urged the citizens to be on their guard against such designs, NPCC reiterated.

(From p-1)

He said though the forest department had initiated the process of felling of the trees in the area, it was delayed due to several procedural formalities like involvement of other depart ments and financial constraints to develop the area once it was cleared of trees. Yollow said the felling would involve Develop ment Authority of Nagaland, Power Department, Telecom, etc, besides proper planning so that traffic was not disrupted.

He also assured that the forest department will definitely fell all the eucalyptus trees at the earliest. Yollow also expressed sincere condolences to the be reaved families of the deceased and wished the injured speedy recovery. It may be mentioned that experts say that 90% of a cultivated eucalyptus’s root system is found in the top 12 inches (30.5 cm.) of soil. This results in eucalyptus being shal low and potentially vulnerable during winds. In exposed loca tions, where eucalyptus trees are subjected to strong winds, a shallow root system presents a hazard to people, homes and other structures. The Eucalyp tus trees were planted sometime during the 90s by youths of some organisation as part of

beautification drive. The spe cies is fast growing but prone to attracting lightning and also getting uprooted during storms.

Patton: State deputy chief minister Y. Patton expressed deep pain over the tragic in cident at Super Market. “My heartfelt condolences to the bereaved family and prayers for the quick recovery of the injured. May the soul of the departed rest in peace,” Patton said in a tweet.

Tovihoto: Advisor for Power Tovihoto Ayemi also ex pressed shock and pain over the incident.According to media cell, Tovihoto, who is currently out of station, had directed the Dimapur district administration led by deputy commissioner Di mapur to effectively take stock of the situation along with the intervention of the district di saster management agency and Dimapur Municipal Council.

Condoling families of the deceased, Tovihoto also wished speedy recovery of those in jured. Tovihoto informed that the administration along with other concerned departments and agencies would initiate immediate necessary steps to ensure safety of the public and to prevent future occurrence of such incidents in crowded areas.

Prez to flag off Nagaland-M’laya...

(From p-1)

In return direction, the Shokhuvi-Guwahati passenger special would leave Shokhuvi with a new train number (05606) on every Wednesday and Friday at 5:30 am and reach Guwahati at 11:10 am.

The train would depart from Guwahati at 12:45 pm on every Wednesday and Monday with a new train number (05608) and reach Mendipathar at 4:50 pm on the same day.

Existing train no. 05601 (Gu wahati-Lumding) Passenger Spe cial would depart from Guwahati

at 5 pm on every Friday, Saturday and Sunday to reach Lumding at 9:40 pm. In return direction, train no. 05602 (Lumding-Guwahati)

Passenger Special would depart from Lumding at 7 am on every Saturday, Sunday and Monday to reach Guwahati at 11:10 am.

The details of stoppages and timings of these trains are available at IRCTC website and through NTES and are also being notified in various newspapers and social media platforms of NFR.

The CPRO requested all pas sengers to verify the details before undertaking their journey.

State BJP refutes Therie’s allegation

(From p-1)

Therefore, playing desperate politics on religious lines was very uncalled for, it added. With regard to the issue of Naga traditional decorative items that were put up at Puja pandals, BJP said that the incident was an old video of 2020 in Kharagpur, West Bengal and not Naga-land, which had nothing to do with the BJP. BJP, however, af firmed that the party would continue to serve the people to ensure that its welfare programs were accessible to every section of people, adding that their ideology was based on development for all.

It also assured to continue and aspire to focus more on development sector and shall not be deterred by negative agendas.

NEW DELHI, OCT 12 (PTI): The rupee fell 14 paise to close at 82.35 (pro visional) against the US dol lar on Wednesday amid the strengthening of the Ameri can currency and sustained foreign fund outflows.

Besides, risk aversion sentiment among investors weighed on the local unit.

At the interbank for eign exchange market, the local currency opened at 82.32, then fell further to settle at 82.35 against the American currency, register ing a decline of 14 paise over its previous close.

During the session, the local unit witnessed an intra-day high of 82.15 and a low of 82.37 against the greenback.

On Tuesday, the rupee rebounded from its all-time low to close 19 paise higher at 82.21 against the US dollar.

“In line with the dollar index, the rupee marked an other steady day. So far this week, the rupee has been trading in a narrow range and closing near 82.32,” said Dilip Parmar, Research Analyst, HDFC Securities.

In the near-term, spot USD/INR is expected to trade in the range of 82.10 to 82.80, Parmar noted.

New grand vitara launched

Staff Reporter

DIMAPUR, OCT 12 (NPN): The brand new Grand Vitara was launched here Wednesday, at Nexa progressive motors, Dima pur by the chairman TK Angami.

The new grand vitara features includes power 101 bhp @6000 rpm, engine capacity 1462 cc, fuel type petrol, type manual, gears 5 speed, drivetrain 2 WD.

Grand Vitara is a 5 seater SUV with a mileage of 21.11 Kmpl depending upon its transmission and fuel type.

This superior capabil ity of the Grand Vitara gives the driver the confidence to take on any challenging terrain while ensuring high fuel efficiency and peace of mind. The AllGrip Select lets you choose from 4 driv ing modes – Auto, Sport, Snow and Lock

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Russia arrests 8 in Crimean bridge attack

Ukraineplant losespower

KYIV, OCT 12 (AP): Rus sian missile attacks caused a crippled nuclear plant in Ukraine to lose all external power for the second time in five days, increasing the risk of a radiation disaster be cause critical safety systems need electricity to operate, Ukraine’s state nuclear op erator said Wednesday.

On-site monitors from the U.N.’s atomic energy watchdog reported the last remaining outside line to the Russian-occupied Za porizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant was restored about eight hours later. The warrelated interruption none theless highlighted “how precarious the situation is” at Europe’s largest nuclear plant, International Atomic Energy Agency Director Rafael Grossi said.

The nuclear scare came amid a flurry of de velopments in Russia’s 7 1/2-month invasion of Ukraine. Russia’s main domestic security agency said eight people were ar

rested over an explosion on a bridge that links Russia to the Crimean Peninsula.

The Ukrainian presi dent’s office said strikes Moscow ordered in retali ation for the bridge attack killed at least 14 people and wounded 34 in the last day. Western officials meeting in Brussels discussed their plans to maintain winter weapon and aid deliveries to Ukraine.

Ukrainian nuclear power operator Energoat om said the Zaporizhzhia plant suffered a “blackout” Wednesday morning when a missile damaged an electri cal substation, leading to the emergency shutdown of the

plant’s last external power source.

All six of the reactors were stopped earlier due to the war. But they still require electricity to prevent them from overheating to the point of a meltdown that could cause radiation to pour from Europe’s largest nuclear plant. Energoatom said diesel generators were supplying the plant but Rus sian troops blocked a convoy carrying additional fuel for the back-up equipment.

“Basically what we’ve got here is the weaponiza tion of civil nuclear, per haps for the first time,” Paul Dorfman, a nuclear expert at England’s University of

Leak detected in pipeline that brings Russian oil to Germany

WARSAW, OCT 12 (AP):

A leak was detected in an underground oil pipeline in Poland which is the main route through which Rus sian crude reaches Germa ny, the Polish operator said on Wednesday.

The operator, PERN, said it detected a leak in the Druzhba pipeline on Tues day evening about 70 kilo metres (45 miles) from the central Polish city of Plock.

It said the cause of the leak wasn’t known.

The incident follows leaks late last month in the Nord Stream 1 and 2 gas pipelines running along the Baltic seabed, and amid an energy standoff between Russia and the West.

A Polish government

security official, Stanislaw Zaryn, said it was too early to speculate about the causes of the leak as experts investi gate the matter.

“All hypotheses are possible,” Zaryn tweeted, adding that “the scale of the failure does not affect the safety of the Republic of Poland.”

The Druzhba pipeline, which in Russian means “Friendship” is one of the world’s longest oil pipelines, and after leaving Russia it branches out to bring crude to points including Belarus, Ukraine, Poland, Hungary, Austria and Germany.

Firefighters were work ing in cornfields near the village of Zurawice to deter mine the exact point of the

leak, according to a spokes man for firefighters, Brig. Karol Kierzkowski.

He told the state news broadcaster TVP Info that approximately 400 cubic metres of spilled crude had been pumped out, and trans mission along the line had been blocked.

Germany’s Economy Ministry said that Berlin’s supplies are currently se cure, with two German re fineries continuing to receive supplies via the Druzhba pipeline. It said that reserves at those two refineries have been increased in recent weeks, and that both can, if needed, be supplied via the German port of Ros tock and the Polish port of Gdansk.

Sussex said. “And in an increasingly unstable world, it’s important to understand this and what this implies for nuclear worldwide.”

Ukrainian workers lat er found a way to repair the line and connected the plant to the Ukrainian power grid, the company said. The chief of Energoatom, Petro Kotin, told The Associated Press last month the plant typically had enough diesel on hand to run the gen erators - “the station’s last defense before a radiation accident” for 10 days.

Western governments, in the wake of the pun ishing missile and drone strikes Russia carried out across Ukraine this week, were shipping new weap ons systems to Ukraine or gearing up to provide more help: The U.S.-led Ukraine Defense Contact Group and NATO defense ministers held meetings in Brussels on Wednesday.

Russia’s Federal Secu rity Service, known by the Russian acronym FSB, said it arrested five Russians and three citizens of Ukraine and Armenia in the attack on the Kerch Bridge. A truck

loaded with explosives blew up while driving across the bridge Saturday, killing four people and causing sections of road to collapse.

The span opened four years after Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014, serving as a symbol of Moscow’s regional domi nance as well as a crucial route for getting military supplies to Ukraine and Russian travelers to a popu lar vacation destination.

The FSB alleged the detained suspects acted on orders of Ukraine’s military intelligence to secretly move the explosives by a convo luted route into Russia and forge accompanying docu ments.

The Russian security services have pointed the finger at Ukraine’s intel ligence directorate and its head, Kyrylo Budanov. Ukraine’s Defense Ministry on Wednesday dismissed accusations of Ukrainian involvement.

“The entire activity of the FSB and the Inves tigative Committee is non sense,” Defense Ministry spokesman Andriy Yusov told reporters.

Vladimir Putin says Russia could increase gas supplies to Europe

MOSCOW, OCT 12 (AP):

Russian President Vladimir Putin said Wednesday that Moscow is ready to resume gas supplies to Europe via a link of the Germany-bound Nord Stream 2 pipeline un der the Baltic Sea — an offer quickly rejected by Berlin.

officials have said Russia halted supplies through the Nord Stream 1 as a political gambit and questioned why supplies through Nord Stream 2 would be any more reliable.

Natural gas powers factories, heats homes and generates electricity, and despite Russia’s reductions, Europe has been able to bring its gas storage to 90% full for winter by securing other supplies.

Natural gas prices have fallen markedly from Au gust peaks, but are still 80% higher than they were a year ago. Speaking at a Moscow energy forum, Putin again charged that the U.S. was likely behind the explosions that ripped through both links of the Nord Stream 1 pipeline and one of the two links of the Nord Stream 2

pipeline, causing a massive gas leak and taking them out of service. The U.S. has previously rejected similar allegations by Putin.

Several European gov ernments said the under sea explosions that ripped through both Nord Stream pipelines were likely caused by sabotage but stopped short of assigning blame.

The Russian leader has repeatedly taunted the West by raising the prospect of sending gas through Nord Stream 2, a political non starter for the German gov ernment and others.

German government spokeswoman Christiane Hoffmann noted that Putin had already made similar comments.

“Independently of the possible sabotage of the two pipelines, we have seen that Russia is no longer a reliable energy supplier, and that even before the damage to Nord Stream 1 there was no longer any gas flowing,” Hoffmann told reporters in Berlin.

“So for us, there is no reason to believe that that would change,” she added. As for Putin’s comments, she said: “Nice try.” Asked if she would rule out the use of Nord Stream 2, Hoff mann replied: “Yes.”

Reaffirming a claim that he made last week, Pu tin said that the attack on the pipelines was launched by those who wanted to weaken Europe by halting the flow of cheap gas from Russia.

“The act of sabotage of the Nord Stream 1 and 2 is an act of international terror ism aimed at undermining energy security of the entire continent by blocking sup plies of cheap energy,” he said, alleging that the U.S. wants to force Europe to switch to importing more ex pensive liquefied natural gas.

China’s ‘liberal’ Yang seen as possible premier as reshuffle looms

HONG KONG, OCT 12 (AGENCIES): When Wang Yang was Chinese Communist Party boss of economic powerhouse Guangdong province, the man now considered a top contender to be China’s next premier displayed a liberal streak that has been less vis ible since Xi Jinping took power. During his time in Guangdong, which borders Hong Kong, Wang made his mark by pushing an upgrade of rusting industries and touting socially inclusive policies.

In a stand-off over land grabs in the village of Wu kan in late 2011, Wang dis missed corrupt officials and allowed protest leaders to contest grassroots elections the following spring, win ning international plaudits.

Some of those liberalminded moves in Guang dong, however, were later scaled back or scrapped under Wang’s watch, with further curbs imposed on the media and civil society including labour groups after Xi became leader a

decade ago and set China on an increasingly authoritar ian path.

Wang, 67, is consid ered to be among the top candidates to be named to succeed Li Keqiang when Li leaves his post in March as overseer of the world’s

second-largest economy.

While the premiership is No.2 in the leadership hierarchy, it is seen to have become less influential as Xi has consolidated his own power and imposed a tighter state grip over economic management. Xi is expected to break with precedent by securing a third five-year leadership term at the Com munist Party congress that begins on Oct. 16.

A self-made man who worked at a food factory in his teens to support his single mother and family, Wang later reportedly caught the eye of former paramount leader Deng Xiaoping and forged close ties with former president Hu Jintao. In per son, according to some who have met him, Wang is selfconfident and charismatic.

He has preferred to leave his hair grey instead of dyeing it jet black like other leaders.

At an informal gath ering with journalists in Guangzhou more than a decade ago, Wang made unscripted, occasionally hu morous remarks on a wide range of topics. It was a style that contrasts with the stiffer public persona typically ad opted by top party leaders, who nowadays rarely if ever interact with foreign media.

During a meeting with then U.S. Treasury Secretary Jack Lew in 2013, Wang cracked a joke on gay mar riage, and said China and the United States couldn’t afford to divorce like media mogul Rupert Murdoch and his then-wife, the Chinaborn Wendi Deng, as the price would be “too high”.

NATO cautious to avoid war, struggles with dual challenges

CARACAS, OCT 12 (AP):

Rescuers worked to clear rocks and mud from the streets of a north-central city in Venezuela on Tues day, three days after it was hit by a massive and deadly landslide, and expanded their search for any bodies buried under the sludge.

Officials raised the death toll from the slide in Las Tejerias to at least 43 and warned that it could go up further as bodies are found downstream from the hardest-hit neighborhoods. Crews extended their search perimeter to include that area, along a river located about a mile (2 kilometers) outside the city.

At least 56 people were said to be missing, and some local residents have joined in the hunt for them.

Magaly Colmena res said she was with a group of firefighters that recovered the body of her grandson Monday from a house swamped by mud. The corpse was taken to a health center that has been pressed into service as a morgue.

“He was buried with a man who tried to help him and his 3-month-old sister,” Colmenares said. “I found my angel, and we have to look for his little sister too.”

Fifty miles away in the capital, Caracas, several or ganizations collected dona tions for survivors. Among them was the Leones profes sional baseball club, which asked fans to give goods such as food, water, clothes and baby formula.

One supporter, Juan Carlos Gomez, showed up at the team’s stadium with bags full of clothes, saying,

“These are things that one does not use, but many people may need them.”

Gomez added that his wife’s family had been af fected by landslides that left more than 70,000 people homeless in 1999, so “I know what it feels like.”

Officials said more than 300 homes, 15 busi nesses and a school were destroyed in Las Tejerias, which is located along Ven ezuela’s main industrial corridor.

In a rare public ap pearance, President Nicolas Maduro visited the city and toured affected neighbour hoods Monday.

BRUSSELS, OCT 12 (AP): NATO defence ministers met on Wednesday as the alliance’s member countries face the twin challenges of struggling to make and supply weapons to Ukraine while protecting vital Eu ropean infrastructure like pipelines or cables that Rus sia might want to sabotage in retaliation.

In the almost eight months since President Vladimir Putin ordered his troops into Ukraine, the 30-nation military alliance has been treading a fine line, as an organisation, provid ing only non-lethal support and defending its own terri tory to avoid being dragged into a wider war with a

nuclear-armed Russia. Individual allies though continue to pour in weapons and ammunition, including armoured vehicles and air defence or anti-tank systems. They’re also train ing Ukrainian troops, build

enough. NATO defence ministers were taking stock on Wednesday of the supply effort so far and to debate ways to encourage the de fence industry to ramp up

production in short order.

“Allies have provided air defence, but we need even more. We need dif ferent types of air defence, short-range, long-range air

defence systems to take (out) ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, drones, different systems for different tasks,” NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said.

ing on the lessons NATO has taught Ukraine’s mili tary instructors since Rus sia annexed the Crimean Peninsula in 2014. But as the Russian missile strikes across Ukraine this week demonstrated, this is not

Vladimir

A satellite image shows a close up view of smoke rising from a fire on the Kerch bridge in the Kerch Strait, Crimea.

Wang Yang

US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin arrives for a meeting of NATO defense ministers at NATO headquarters in Brussels.

World’s 1st space tourist signs up for flight around moon

The world’s first space tourist wants to go back — only this time, he’s signed up for a spin around the moon aboard Elon Musk’s Starship.

For Dennis Tito, 82, it’s a chance to relive the joy of his trip to the International Space Station, now that he’s retired with time on his hands. He isn’t interested in hopping on a 10-minute flight to the edge of space or repeating what he did 21 years ago. “Been there, done that.”

His weeklong moonshot — its date to be determined and years in the future — will bring him within 200 kilometers of the lunar far side. He’ll have company: his wife, Akiko, and 10 others willing to shell out big bucks for the ride.

Tito won’t say how much he’s paying; his Russian station flight cost $20 million.

The couple recognise there’s a lot of testing and development still ahead for Starship, a shiny, bullet-

shaped behemoth that’s yet to even attempt to reach space.

“We have to keep healthy for as many years as it’s going to take for SpaceX to complete this vehicle,” Tito said in an interview this week with The Associated Press.

“I might be sitting in a rocking chair, not doing any good exercise, if it wasn’t for this mission.”

Tito is actually the second billionaire to make a Starship reservation for a flight around the moon. Japanese fashion tycoon Yusaku Maezawa announced in 2018 he was buying an entire flight so he

could take eight or so others with him, preferably artists.

The two men both flew to the space station, from Kazakhstan atop Russian rockets, 20 years apart.

Tito kicked off space tourism in 2001, becoming the first person to pay his own way to space and antagonising NASA in the process.

The U.S. space agency didn’t want a sightseer hanging around while the station was being built.

But the Russian Space Agency needed the cash and, with the help of U.S.-based Space Adventures, launched a string of wealthy clients

to the station through the 2000s and, just a year ago, Maezawa.

Well-heeled customers are sampling briefer tastes of space with Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin rocket company.

Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic expects to take paying passengers next year. Starship has yet to launch atop a Super Heavy booster from the southern tip of Texas, near the Mexican border.

At 394 feet and 7.7 million kilograms of liftoff thrust, it’s the biggest and most powerful rocket ever built. NASA already has contracted for a Starship to land its astronauts on the moon in 2025 or so, in the first lunar touchdown since Apollo.

Tito said the couple’s contract with SpaceX, signed in August 2021, includes an option for a flight within five years from now.

Tito would be 87 by then and he wanted an out in case his health falters.

“But if I stayed in

good health, I’d wait 10 years,” he said.

Tito’s wife, 57, said she needed no persuading. The Los Angeles residents are both pilots and understand the risks. They share Musk’s vision of a spacefaring future and believe a married couple flying together to the moon will inspire others to do the same.

Tito, who sold his investment company Wilshire Associates almost two years ago, said he doesn’t feel guilty splurging on spaceflight versus spending the money here on Earth.

“We’re retired and now it’s time to reap the rewards of all the hard work,” he said.

Tito expects he’ll also shatter preconceived notions about age, much as John Glenn’s space shuttle flight did in 1998.

The first American to orbit the Earth still holds the record as the oldest person in orbit.

“He was only 77. He was just a young man,” Tito said. (AP)

DC Mokokchung releases music video ‘Longjemer Nokdakti’

D eputy Commissioner, Mokokchung, Shashank Pratap Singh released an awareness music video titled “Longjemer Nokdakti” in celebration of International Day of the Girl Child om October 11.

Medications seniors should use with caution

Why Age Makes a Difference

It’s no secret that when you get older, your body doesn’t work the way it used to. And that’s true for how you react to medicine.

Your digestive system might not absorb medications as quickly. Liver problems might mean the drug builds up in the bloodstream or doesn’t get into it as fast as it should. And kidney trouble could affect how well medicine moves out of your body as waste. Ask your doctor about the impact of your meds as you age. Over-the-Counter Painkillers

Non-steroidal antiinflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), like ibuprofen, aspirin, and naproxen, can keep some prescription medications you take from working the way they should. They’re often not a good combo with blood thinners, diabetes drugs, diuretics, or blood pressure drugs. NSAIDs are also rough on major organs when your body gets older, such as your kidneys, liver, heart, and the digestive system.

Muscle Relaxants

Your doctor may suggest these drugs to ease muscle spasms. Muscle relaxants like cyclobenzaprine (Flexeril), methocarbamol (Robaxin), and carisoprodol (Soma) can have side effects like feeling woozy and confused. That could raise your chances of falling and hurting yourself.

Certain Diabetes Drugs

Long-acting sulfonylurea drugs for diabetes, such as chlorpropamide (Diabinese) and glyburide (DiaBeta, Glynase), can cause low blood sugar, a condition called “hypoglycemia.” You might get confused, shaky, sweaty, hungry, and tired. If the condition is severe or long-lasting, it can cause seizures and, in rare cases, could be life-threatening.

Antihistamines

If you have hay fever, your doctor may suggest over-the-counter drugs called antihistamines. They can keep you from sneezing, but some come with more side effects than others. Some antihistamines may leave older adults extra drowsy and confused, which raises your chances of a taking a tumble.

Certain Sleep Aids

Drugs that help you go to sleep can cause problems when you wake up. You might feel groggy and have trouble with balance when you get out of bed in the morning. Your ability to think clearly might be affected. Diphenhydramine, the main ingredient in many

sleeping pills, can also lead to dry mouth, blurred vision, and bladder problems.

Anxiety Medication

Benzodiazepines are drugs that treat anxiety. They include diazepam (Valium), alprazolam (Xanax), and

chlordiazepoxide (Librium). Some of these medications stick around in your system a lot longer than others. Their side effects, like confusion, can last past the day you take them and raise your chances of falling.

Anticholinergics

Your doctor may prescribe these drugs to help treat conditions like Parkinson’s disease, irritable bowel syndrome, and depression. But anticholinergics can cause confusion, dry mouth, and blurry vision, especially in older adults. In older men, they are more likely to cause problems with peeing.

Tricyclic Antidepressants

They’re an older class of drugs that doctors don’t prescribe often. But if you take tricyclics, such as amitriptyline and

imipramine, keep in mind they have side effects that can be worse in older adults. These include problems like constipation, irregular heartbeat, blurry vision, confusion, memory trouble, and dry mouth. Men could have problems with peeing.

Antipsychotics

These drugs treat mental disorders, such as schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, and are risky for some older adults. Taking antipsychotics raises your chances of a life-threatening heart problem or a brain bleed if you have dementia. Cimetidine (Tagamet)

It’s an over-the-counter treatment for heartburn,

With immense pride and honour, the Sote’s Union Education Promotion Committee extends our heartiest congratulations to Mrs. Vilhoutuonuo T Sote, W/o Mr. Kikruneiu Anthony Sote for securing the post of Assistant Professor (Class-I Gazetted) under Higher Education Department.

Union Education Promotion Committee, P. Khel Kohima Village

indigestion, and ulcers. If you’re an older adult and take this medicine, it can have side effects like confusion, even at regular doses.

Combination Drugs

Look carefully at the labels of over-the-counter medicines to see if they have more than one active ingredient. Some cold and sinus medications, for example, have decongestants along with antihistamines. The combination can make you confused, drowsy, and groggy. It can also raise your blood pressure and cause problems going to the bathroom.

Laxatives

The music video was an initiative of district administration, Mokokchung & Sakhi One Stop Centre. The song was written and composed by Lima A Pongen and sung by Kilemtula and is available on Youtube.

The song depicts about violence, inequality and injustice towards women and the unprecedented challenges to various rights, physical and mental wellness that women face in society today. (DIPR)

A lot of older folks take medications to help ease constipation. But it isn’t wise to take some medicine, like bisacodyl (Dulcolax), as long-term,

regular treatment. Over time, laxatives can cause permanent problems with your bowels.

Reviewed by Melinda Ratini, MS, DO

DC Mokokchung, Shashank Pratap Singh, releasing an awareness music video on October 11 in Mokokchung. (DIPR)

Neiba Kronu inaugurates badminton court

Correspondent

KOHIMA, OCT 12 (NPN): Minister of Plan ning and Co-ordination of Nagaland, Neiba Kronu, inaugurated the badminton court and stadium renova tion at Badminton Indoor Stadium, Officers Hill, Kohima on Wednesday.

Kronu called upon the gathering to take advantage of the facility and make maximum use of it, adding that they need to improve in the field of games and sports and it was high time to catch up with the fastmoving world. Introspect ing the status of the state in sports sector, Kronu said “we had not made records till now however, encour aged the crowd to pull up their socks and march forward”.

On sports infrastruc ture in all districts and other places, Kronu in formed that under special infrastructure programme, they would try to reach out to the other districts in the

days ahead for the promo tion of excellence in sports and to create opportunities for athletes in the state.

Giving a report on the repair and renovation of indoor badminton sta dium, N Wati presented the construction commit tee report. He revealed that the state government had allocated a sum of Rs. 50 lakh and acknowledged the Youth Resources & Sports

Department (YR&S) for allocation of the renova tion work.

Wati also highlighted in brief the various works carried out in renovating the Indoor badminton sta dium such as procurement of world-class flooring approved by BWF from Taufik International Pro fessional Sports Flooring along with brighter lighting installed replacing the old

ones. Bathrooms have been installed with new fixtures, along with VIP bathroom, male and female dressing area have been provided and painting of the whole stadium inside and outside was carried out. New stage for various programmes has been constructed. He also informed that rain protected entrance at the frontside, along with water harvesting facility with

storage capacity of about 16,000 litres has been in stalled and repairment of the roof has been initiated however, due to shortage of funds, a major renova tion of the roofing is in dire need in the near future.

Above all, it was noted that the renovation of the stadium was carried out with contribution from the members of the Capital Shuttlers Club, which will be re-imbursed on release of funds.

Earlier in the function, the programme was led by information & public ity secretary KDBA, Er. Medozhazo Rutsa, invoca tion by ex-deacon KABA, Alemtoshi and welcome speech was delivered by vice president KDBA, Er. Sabu Yashu.

An exhibition match was also played between NBA president, Kesonyu Yhome and minister, Nei ba Kronu against KDBA president K Sophie teamed up with deputy commis sioner, Shanavas C.

Chess coaching camp-cum-1st

Tseminyu Chess C’ship 2022 begins

of playing chess. “Chess im proves the logical part of the brain and every time you learn a new move, a new neuron is developed in your brain, which increases the size and capability of your brain’s neural network. The game of chess helps to inte grate mind, soul and body together”, he stated.

DIMAPUR, OCT 12

(NPN): First ever free chess coaching camp-cum-1st Tseminyu District Chess Championship 2022 was de clared open by SDO (Civil) Tseminyu, Tsutsowe Kupa, at Baptist Higher Second ary School, Tseminyu on Wednesday.

Speaking at the pro gramme, Kupa said that chess is very important for school children and it helps them mentally, decision mak ing, power solving, etc. He said chess is a popular game around the world however, it is something very new to

the people here in the state.

He lauded the department of Youth Resources & Sports and Nagaland Chess Asso ciation for initiating the good opportunity to learn from the young age. He said that playing chess improves prob lem solving skills, memory retention by allowing mental exercise. Chess instructor, Youth Resources and Sports, Mughaho Awomi, who is also the honorary secretary Nagaland Chess Association and joint secretary, All India Chess Federation spoke on how chess helps students improving skills and benefits

Awomi also said that chess helps to prevent anxi ety and depression by en couraging self-improvement, improving self-esteem and self-confidence. “Chess is the game of tactics and strategy which can be applicable with our daily life with regards to how to approach challenges. Improve creative and logical thinking maturity intelligence strategy skills, concentration and observation skills”, add ed Awomi. He also said that it reduces delinquency, reduces drug use, improve ethical sense and discipline, improve social mobility, improve sense of fairness and integration of minorities.

Open volleyball tourney begins in Kiphire Open badminton tourney on October 14 & 15 at Meriema

Correspondent

KOHIMA, OCT 12 (NPN):

Kohima Town Christian Revival Church Youth Fel lowship (KTCRCYF) in col laboration with Nagaland Badminton Association (NBA) will be organising Fierce Open Badminton Tournament at Grand Vista Arena, Meriema, Kohima on October 14 and 15, 2022.

Correspondent

KIPHIRE, OCT 12 (NPN): The first open vol leyball tournament got underway at public ground

Kiphire town on October 11 with 16 clubs participat ing.

The tournament was organized by Elite Frontier Club Kiphire and would

conclude on October 13.

The event was graced by executive chairman of Kip hire Area Students’ Union, L. Sethricho Sangtam, as the special guest.

Informing this dur ing a press conference on Wednesday at Hotel Cres cent, convenor of the tour ney, Zhaviu Pienyü said the event was basically to encourage the youths to cre ate a platform to badminton enthusiasts in the State.

Basing on the teach

ings of the Bible which says, “our body is the temple of Christ”, he said the tourney aims to inculcate a physical ly active lifestyle among the youths. He hoped that the tourney would also foster unity among the members of the fellowship as this kind

of events create an opportu nity to bring people together.

He disclosed that proceeds from the event would be directed to helping churches in the State capital.

While the event will end in two days, he hoped that the fruits of the event

SCC organises 8K marathon in observance of World Mental Health Day

DIMAPUR, OCT 11 (NPN):

The department of Zoology and the Mentoring Committee of Sao Chang College (SCC), Tuensang jointly organized 8K marathon to commemorate World Mental Health Day on October 10 on the theme “Make Mental Health and Well Being for All a Global Priority”.

The run began from clock tower, Tuensang Town at 6 am and culminated at the college gate.

50 students took part in the marathon, all of whom com pleted the full stretch of the run. Puto S of BA 3rd semester (Politi

cal Science Honours) finished first in the men’s category with a time of 26 minutes and 10 seconds

followed by Thangpong K, of BA 3rd semester (Economics Hon ours) with a time of 27 minutes 15

seconds. In the women’s category, P Juliam of BA 1st semester (His tory Honours) came in first, clocking 35 minutes and 2 sec onds followed by Sekmoyembang of BA 3rd semester general with a time of 36 minutes and 5 seconds.

Before flagging off the run, psychiatrist, District Hospital Tu ensang, Dr. Senilo Magh, spoke briefly on the theme and stressed on the need to create awareness for mental health. Magh said that mental illness is the greatest pan demic of all which can affect just about anyone. “Despite its preva lence, it has not been given the priority and platform it deserves

in the society”, he stated. He also pointed out that mental illness is a silent pandemic and it is up to us to break the barriers. He assured that none of them are alone in their suffering and impressed upon the gathering to take on the burden to come together and join hands to create awareness and to give hope and a future to the people around them.

Principal, Sao Chang Col lege, Dr. Vitsosie Vupru, gave away certificates and cash prizes to the winners during a short presentation which concluded with a vote of thanks by assistant professor, Veduvolu Nienu.

60th annual sports week of GHSS Pfutsero begins

DIMAPUR, OCT 11

(NPN): The 60th annual school sports week, a fiveday event of Government Higher Secondary School (GHSS) Pfutsero kick start ed on Tuesday with commis sioner & secretary school education & SCERT Naga land, Kevileno Angami as the guest speaker.

Addressing the teach ers and students of GHSS Pfutsero, Kevileno Angami appreciated the school for being the exemplary school in the State. She also ac knowledged the active par ticipation of community leaders in school manage ment which reflects the progressive nature of the community. She recalled how the community lead ers sponsored computer lab for the school and said that such should be emulated by others as well.

Angami also said that high student’s enrolment at GHSS Pfutsero reflected the teachers’ commitments and dedication in provid ing holistic quality educa tion and congratulated all the principal, teachers and SMDC members. Informed the gathering that govern ment is making lots of ef forts in sports and physical fitness, she also spoke on various activities under Fit

India programme. She re minded the students that sport teaches them many lives skill lessons. “There are winners and losers in the games where we learn how to take things positively in life”, she added.

Kevileno also remind ed the students that sport teaches them team spirit, being sensitive to others’ feelings, hard work, deter mination and respect for opponents. She urged the students to learn these valu able lessons from sports and apply in one’s life. She also encouraged the students to be hard working, sincere and confident in life and said that it will help them achieve success in their lives.

She lamented on the is sue of mobile games addic tion being common amongst

the young people and urged the students to be disciplined by cultivating healthy habits in life. She also urged them to make time to play physi cal games and sports instead of spending time on mobile games. She spoke on the government focus to identify specialized sport for each district and said that there is bright future for developing professionalism in sports.

Earlier, principal GHSS Pfutsero, Vechikhoyi Lohe, while extending the welcome address thanked the commissioner & secre tary for the government ap proval in intruding science stream at GHSS Pfutsero and stated that it will greatly benefit the community.

He informed the gathering that the school has 684 students enrolled in the school during

the current academic year from classes 6-12. Lohe said that annual sports week is always organized with pas sion to provide fun time for the teachers and students by including traditional games such as pole climbing, cart racing, wrestling and oth ers. He also stated that the school is making every effort to provided holistic quality education to students how ever, shortage of teachers in the schoo l has become a serious challenge and re quested commissioner & secretary School Education to strengthen teaching staff in the coming days.

The programme was led by GT (Science), Vepocuyi Ruho; direc tor Chakhesang Mission Society, Rev. Dr. Kowepe Kanuo, invoked God’s bless ings; Erepe-u and friends enthralled the gathering with special number ‘’Rise’’ while administering of oath to house leaders was done by physical education teach er, Vilunyi Movi.

Later, commissioner & secretary School Educa tion, Kevileno Angami, accompanied by joint mis sion director, Dr. Kevizakie Rio, deputy mission director Samagra Shiksha, Kelhikha Kenye and junior education officer (Physical) School

would remain to benefit people in the days to come.

So far, more than 60 players from all around the State have registered and the organisers are expecting more to join.

While KTCRCYF will take care in organis ing the event, NBA would be looking after the match structures and refereeing.

The arena for the event has two courts with Badminton World Federation (BWF) certified carpets.

Altogether there will be 7 categories including beginners, amateur men (singles & doubles), 40+ men’s doubles and open category men’s doubles and mixed doubles.

Prizes for the event Beginners’ category: Men’s doubles - Rs 4,000 and runners-up - Rs 2,000.

Amateur category: Men’s Single - Rs 15,000 and runners-up - Rs 8,000; men’s doubles - Rs 30,000 and runners-up - Rs 15,000. 40+ (no pairing re strictions): Men’s doubles - Rs 30,000 and runners-up - Rs 15,000.

Open category: Mixed doubles - Rs 30,000 and runners-up - Rs 15,000; Men’s doubles - Rs 50,000 and runners-up - Rs 25,000.

Last date for registra tion will be October 13, till 12 noon. For more in formation, one may call 7628013440 or 8416044518.

We, the family of LATE EMILO HUMTSOE would like to express our heartfelt gratitude to each and every individual who stood by us throughout her illness till the time of her demise.

are deeply grateful to all the relatives, churches, friends, neighbours and well wishers who supported us during our moments of extreme distress. Your kind and thoughtful deeds are gratefully acknowledged by our family and we will always be remembered with deep gratitude. We pray that the almighty God bless you all abundantly.

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Officials at the badminton inauguration programme. (NP)

Education, Vitsolie Keyho inspected EBRC Pfustero, GMS Pfutsero Town, DIET

and SDEO office Pfutse ro and interacted with the teachers and officials.

Organiser during the press conference in Kohima

Students and others during the free coaching camp.

Players in action as spectators witness a volleyball match in Kiphire.

Participants of 8K marathon in Tuensang Town.

Kevileno Angami with other officials and faculties of GHSS.

ISL: FC Goa beat East Bengal 2-1 for 1st win

KOLKATA, OCT 12 (AGENCIES): FC Goa defeated East Bengal 2-1 in the Indian Super League (ISL) at the Vivekananda Yuba Bharati Krirangan in Kolkata on Wednesday.

Brandon Fernandes and Edu Bedia after Cleiton Silva’s equaliser to help FC Goa ended their search for a first ISL win in the city.

Even though East Bengal started their first ISL game at home with attacking intent, it was FC Goa who scored first. Al varo Vazquez’s quick pass and Brandon Fernandez’s quick thinking helped FC Goa take the lead in the 7th minute itself.

Four minutes later, Alex Lima came close to answering the goal in from a free-kick but his effort found just the side netting.

In the 20th minute, Brandon sent down on left flank again and found Redeem Tlang with a beau tiful cross. But the pace of the pass was such that Tlang couldn’t direct his deflection goalwards.

FC Goa players were pressured by a couple of East Bengal attacks, started to keep the ball and string

together intricate passes.

At the end of the first half, FC Goa were more comfortable on the ball, passing it around with ease. East Bengal, on the other hand, weren’t able to find the tempo of the game.

East Bengal started the second half on a posi

tive note, coming out with two changes - Naorem Singh and Sarthak Golui – as they started with a dif ferent kind of energy.

In the 57th minute

Alex Lima tried an outra geous attempt from the edge of the penalty box after Suhair started a coun

BCCIchiefGangulyleft‘disappointed anddejected’afterfallingoutoffavour

NEW DELHI, OCT 12 (IANS): Former India cap tain Sourav Ganguly, who is soon going to become a former BCCI president, has fallen out of favour in the board and is reportedly ending his term on a ‘disap pointing’ note.

During the upcoming BCCI AGM and elections on October 18, most mem bers of the outgoing ad ministration are set to find places in the new dispensa tion, barring Ganguly and Jayesh George, the joint secretary. And, Ganguly is definitely not pleased with the developments in the last few days. The former India allrounder Roger Binny on Tuesday filed his nomina tion for the post of BCCI president and is likely to get elected unopposed since no other candidate has emerged so far as his challenger.

As a normal practice, the outgoing BCCI presi dent proposes the name of the upcoming board

Sourav Ganguly

chief but a dejected Gan guly didn’t do the same with Binny. The former cricketer was to himself on Tuesday at the board’s office largely, while others were involved in the nomination process, a Cricbuzz report said.

“He clearly looked up set, disappointed and deject ed,” said a member who was present at the BCCI office.

The 50-year-old was the last one to leave the BCCI office after the nomi nation process ended, swift ly getting into his car and rolling up the glasses of the window. Outside the BCCI

office, there were also mur murs among state represen tatives about the immediate future of Ganguly.

“Back to Kolkata,” someone suggested. “Back to Delhi,” another chimed in, hinting that he will go back to Delhi Capitals fran chise of the IPL, as a direc tor. The report further said that Ganguly was told that his performance did not live up to the expectations al though the official reason is that there is no precedent of a president holding two full terms, during an informal meeting among the senior past and current admin istrators from prominent state associations before the nomination day.

Another reason for Ganguly not continuing at the coveted post is that the sponsors of Indian cricket boards were not happy with the cricketer, who endorses rival brands. The matter was often discussed among the members.

ter-attack from the right.

The pressure was building from East Bengal as Jerry Lalrinzuala got the ball in his own half and darted down the left, aided by a one-two with Naorem, to find Su hair with and brilliant grounded curling pass.

Suhair got to the ball ahead of Dheeraj Singh in the FC Goa goal and was brought down by the keeper. The referee pointed to the pen alty spot as Cleiton Silva converted calmly in the 64th minute.

Edu Bedia came close to getting the lead back from the corner in the 73rd as his curled effort was pushed over the bar by Kamaljit at the last minute.

Noah Sadaoui came on and immediately started terrorising the East Bengal defence. Bedia got a chance from a dangerous area to hit a free-kick but his effort in the 83rd minute was just wide.

With the clock ticking down to full-time, Bedia gave one last push for a goal. He got a free-kick just meters from the midline and he floated it at the far post. Noah tried to get a touch but it was enough to get Kamaljit miss the bounce and the ball crept in. A goal with the last kick of the match.

THURSDAY’S MATCH

Northeast United Vs Hyderabad FC Time: 7:30 pm

NSF Martyr’s Trophy: SWAT FC, Ura Uvie FC progress

Correspondent

KOHIMA, OCT 12 (NPN): SWAT FC and Ura Uvie FC have progres sewd to the next round after winning their respec tive matches in the ongo ing 22nd Martyr’s Trophy at IG Stadium, here on Wednesday.

In the first match of day-5, SWAT FC won with a solitary goal in the match up against Brothers FC to

progress to the next round.

The lone goal was scored by SWAT’s jersey no 11, Thejaneilhou Mere in the 78th minute.

Man of the match was awarded to Thejaneilhou Mere.

In the second match, Ura Uvie FC overpow ered Kohima Dynamos FC 4-0. The first and the fastest goal of the tourna ment so far was scored by Ura Uvie’s jersey no 10,

Shürhosül Zhotso, in the first minute of the game. He went on to double his score in the 8th minute of the game.

His teammate sport ing jersey no 17, Mengu zelie Rutsa added the third goal while jersey no 8, Kev isanyü Peseyie netted the fourth goal in 44th minutes which sealed the deal.

The man of the match was awarded to Ura Uvie’s Menguzelie Rutsa.

National Games ends; Services retain Raja Bhalindra Singh Trophy

SajanPrakash, Hashika crowned Best Athletes

SURAT, OCT 12 (IANS):

The 36th National Games came to a poignant end here at the Pandit Deen dayal Upadhyay Indoor Stadium on Wednesday, with Services Sports Con trol Board, Kerala’s Sajan Prakash and Karnataka’s Hashika Ramchandra walking away with the top honours.

The Government of Gujarat had stepped in at the last minute to revive the country’s largest and most significant sports festival after a 7-year hiatus, suc cessfully putting it all to gether in less than 100 days.

India’s best athletes from all 36 states and Union Territories, adding up to over 8,000, competed in 36 sports disciplines to symbolise the Games’ motto: Judega India, Jitega India.

Honourable VicePresident Jagdeep Dhankhar gave away the coveted Raja Bhalindra Singh Trophy to the hybrid contingent of Services for the fourth time in suc cession. They cornered 61 gold, 35 silver and 32 bronze to tower over all the competing teams.

Maharashtra bagged the Indian Olympic Asso ciation’s Best State trophy for finishing second in the medals tally with the most medals amongst States and

Honourable Gujarat Chief Minister Shri Bhu pendrabhai Patel presented the Best Male Athlete to Sajan Prakash (5 gold, 2 silver, 1 bronze) who pipped Karnataka’s Sri hari Nataraj (5 gold and 2 silver) at the post in a dramatic finish. This was Sajan Prakash’s second successive honour, having won the same trophy in 2015 as well.

Karnataka’s Hashika Ramchandra, barely 14

years old, appropriated the Best Female Athlete crown with 6 gold and 1 bronze. She received her reward from Honourable Lok Sab ha speaker Om Birla.

Gujarat’s 10-year-old Shauryajit Khaire (Mal lakhamb), who was a reluc tant starter after losing his father just a few days back, emerged as the ‘viral star’ of the Games, becoming its youngest medal winner.

As many as 38 Na tional Games records crumbled in Track and Field at the IIT Gandhi nagar and 36 in Aquatics in Rajkot. Tamil Nadu’s Rosy Meena Paulraj (women’s pole vault) and N Ajith (weightlifting men’s 73kg clean & jerk), Services’ Siva Subramaniam (men’s pole Vault), UP’s Ram Baboo (men’s 35km race walk) and Arunachal Pradesh’s Sambo Lapung (weightlifting men’s 96kg clean & jerk) were among the few to shatter National Records too.

Unmindful of the car

nage above them, sporting powerhouses Maharashtra and Haryana engaged in a bitter tussle till the very end before the former emerged as the worthy No. 2 with 39 gold, 38 silver and 63 bronze. Haryana (38 gold, 38 silver, 39 bronze) had to be satisfied with the third position on the table.

Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala took the fourth, fifth and sixth places respectively on the medal table. Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Manipur finished with a creditable 20 gold each.

Hosts Gujarat also registered their best-ever performance in the history of the National Games, bagging 13 gold, 15 silver and 21 bronze medals for a total of 49. The hosts finished 12th in the overall standings.

As many as 29 teams won at least one gold and three other contingents finished with at least one medal to show for their efforts.

Ura Uvie (white) playing against Kohima Dynamos on Wednesday at IGS Kohima. (NP)

Brandon Fernandes of FC Goa celebrates a goal during the ISL match between East Bengal FC and FC Goa in Kolkata on October 12. (Vipin Pawa/ISL)

VP Jagdeep Dhankhar, LS Speaker Om Birla, Gujarat CM Bhupendra Patel and others at the closing ceremony. (PTI)

UTs.