link Turkiye, Japan and Syria in suffering

weeks, but it’s unlikely to be the end. Japan, for instance, has recognised thousands of other people who died later from stress-related heart attacks, or because of poor living conditions.

And despite hundreds of billions of dollars spent in Japan on reconstruction, some things won’t ever come back — including a sense of place.

Before the quake, Tohoku was filled with small cities and villages, surrounded by farms, the ports filled with fleets of fishing boats. It’s one of the wildest, most beautiful coastlines in Japan. Today, while the wreckage of the quake and tsunami has largely been removed and many roads and buildings rebuilt, there are still large areas of empty space, places where buildings haven’t been erected, farms haven’t been replanted. Businesses have spent years trying to reconstruct decimated customer bases.

Just as workers once did in Japan, an army of rescuers in Turkiye and Syria are digging through obliterated buildings, picking through twisted metal, ing upright tough opposition member can bring more development to his constituency and the State than a ruling member and also such MLA or MLAs can even unseat a government if need be.

Everyone in our society, beginning with the politicians, talks about the much needed change in Nagaland but it is not happening. The reason is change, like the idea of peace, is a value and an objective only. It cannot come about or happen by talking about it but has to be created. It can happen only by doing things and legislating policies that help bring about change.

If we truly want progress and change to happen in our society then the primary need is in addition to integrity and discipline of the politicians, they must have the vision as well as dare to adopt innovative good policies and the other is planning holistically for the State to effect change.

Lack of holistic planning and roadmap has resulted in wasteful piece meal exercises.

Without roadmap, no government is going to take the State anywhere except to social and economic disparity. Lack of common development roadmap results in disproportionate distribution of funds among the districts, neglect of priority infrastructures and misuse of developmental funds. So pulverized concrete and exposed wires for survivors. What comes next won’t be easy.

In Japan, there was initially a palpable pride in the country’s ability to endure disaster. People stood calmly in long orderly lines for food and water. They posted notices on message boards in destroyed towns with descriptions of loved ones in the hopes that rescue workers would find them.

After what locals called the Great East Japan Earthquake, the dead in Tohoku were left by piles of rubble, neatly wrapped in taped-up blankets, waiting to be taken away by workers still combing through the detritus for anyone left alive.

The long haul of rebuilding has challenged this resolve. The work has been uneven and, at times, painfully slow, hampered by government incompetence, petty squabbling and bureaucratic wrangling. Nearly half a million people were displaced in Japan. Tens of thousands still haven’t returned home.

The issue has seeped into politics, especially as far, no Chief Minister or ruling government in the State has ever come out with a roadmap as to how to develop the State. I hope the new House will take up this issue in right earnest if they are truly honest and interested in developing the State.

Amidst hopelessness, we all desire for progress and change; the question is how? To my mind, the way out is firstly, the general public must proactively be critical of the government’s functioning instead of remaining mute spectators. Be bold to correct the Chief Minister or Ministers, cutting across all tribal lines, for any wrong doings because they are allotted Ministerial or Advisory post to administer the whole State and not his or her District, Tribe or one’s constituency alone.

Secondly, as a long drawn measure, public need to be empowered politically, socially and economically which can be achieved by conducting marathon statewide seminars, awareness campaign on both central and State schemes, workshops etc., as part of human resource development which may be initiated by the respective Deputy Commissioners, Nagaland University, Tribal Hohos and the various Unions of villages formed by citizens residing in Kohima and Dimapur. Thirdly, to move the whole State towards the debate continues about how to handle the aftermath of catastrophic meltdowns at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant. Years later, a fear of radiation permeates, and some areas of northern Japan have placed radiation counters in parks and other public areas. Officials and experts are still undecided how to remove the highly radioactive melted fuel debris in the reactor.

There’s already been criticism that the Turkish government has failed to enforce modern construction codes for years, even as it allowed a real estate boom in earthquake-prone areas, and that it has been slow to respond to the disaster.

The years since 2011 have seen another failure, one officials in Japan have acknowledged: an inability to help those traumatized by what they experienced.

Some 2,500 people are unaccounted for across Tohoku, and people are still searching for their loved ones’ remains. One man got a diving license and has gone on weekly dives for years trying to find evidence of his wife. People still oc- progress and change at a revolutionary mode we require one person. We all know that we can’t expect everybody to change immediately nor can we change everybody automatically; to change everyone in the society requires time.

The question is who can be that one person to embark on the road towards change and progress. For instance, the success of any team work depends mainly on the quality and character of its leader. Similarly, the strength or weakness of any office depends on the Head of office or Director. We notice here that a change, good or bad, does not come from many or group of employees but their leader/Director and at the Departmental level, it is the Secretary or the Commissioner Secretary.

At the State level, we have the Chief Minister, as the head, who is armed to the teeth with all legal and constitutional authority, the only person who is also elected twice in a row; first by the constituency and second by the elected party MLAs, who becomes the Leader of the House.

The one man who can bring this drastic change in the State has to be the Chief Minister and no one else. I am not saying this for the sake of saying. Look at the world map critically and analytically and you will notice that some of the countries that are rich casionally unearth victims’ photo albums, clothes and other belongings. Perhaps the most telling connection, however, is the sharp empathy shared by those who have survived a cataclysmic disaster, and the gratitude at seeing strangers help ease their suffering.

A group of about 30 rescue workers from Turkiye were in the hard-hit town of Shichigahama for about six months in 2011 for search and rescue operations. Shichigahama locals have not forgotten. They have now started a donation campaign for Turkiye. One man said this week that he wept as he watched the scenes in Turkiye, remembering his town’s ordeal 12 years ago.

“They bravely walked through the debris to help find victims and return their bodies to their families,” Mayor Kaoru Terasawa told reporters of the Turkish aid workers who came to Japan. “We are still so thankful to them, and we want to do something to return the favour and show our gratitude.”

Foster Klug, (AP)

in resources are still underdeveloped and poverty stricken like the African countries and the only reason is because their leaders are selfish or inefficient baptized by factionalism and Tribalism. In contrast, countries that have less or no substantial resources are far better developed and the only reason for it is because of one factor called “good and vibrant leadership”. We say Nagaland is one of the oldest States in the Union of India but is still far behind our neighboring new born States in regard to infrastructure and development.

The reason is not because our neighbors have more resources than us but it can only point to one truth; the kind of leadership they have. Our poor infrastructure and impoverish rural areas with no water supply or roads even after sixty years of statehood invariably points to the kind of politicians and leaders that we had and have. Does Neiphiu Rio have the leadership caliber of the 21st century to bring the change and excellence he talks about or is there anyone among the contesting candidates with that fire of leadership who is beyond the confines of one’s tribal kitchen, beyond self-aggrandizement to actualize the change to usher in peace and progress of our people?

Jonas Yanthan

Snippets

1 held for flesh trade in Maharashtra

THANE, FEB 10 (PTI):

The police have arrested an autorickshaw driver and are on the lookout for two more persons who allegedly ran online flesh trade in Mira Road near Mumbai, an official said on Friday. The two absconding accused accepted money through mobile payment services and booked hotel rooms for clients. They would send women in an autorickshaw, said the official.

Goa float parades to be held on ground, air and water

PANAJI, FEB 10 (PTI):

The famous Goa Carnival will begin on February 18 and will witness float parades on the ground, water and air at the same time, state Tourism Minister Rohan Khaunte said on Friday. The four-day event will be held in all major areas of the coastal state. For the first time, a helicopter will be a part of the carnival parade, while there will be floats in river Mandovi, he said.

Cong

MP suspended

for filming RS proceedings

NEW DELHI, FEB 10

(PTI): In the first action against unruly MPs since Jagdeep Dhankhar took over as Chairman of Rajya Sabha, Congress MP

Rajani Ashokrao Patil was on Friday suspended for the remainder of the Budget session for filming proceedings of the House.

Two killed as truck hits bike in UP

KAUSHAMBI (UP), FEB 10 (PTI): Two people were killed when a speeding truck rammed into their bike in this district on Friday, police said. Both were seriously injured and were taken to the district hospital where they died during treatment, police said. The truck driver fled after the accident leaving the vehicle behind, Lal said, adding that the bodies have been sent for post-mortem.

11-year-old boy kills another in fight

BAREILLY (UP), FEB 10 (PTI): An 11-year-old boy died after being attacked with a glass bottle by another boy of the same age while dancing to DJ songs at a wedding function here, police said on Friday. An argument broke out between the two minors in Ratnanadpur village on Thursday night. One of them attacked the other with a sauce bottle, Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Akhilesh Chaurasia said. The police reached the spot and sent the body for post-mortem.

2 killed, 3 injured in road crash

SIKAR, FEB 10 (PTI):

Two youths were killed and three injured on Friday when a speeding car overturned after colliding with a road divider in Rajasthan’s Sikar district, police said. The accident occurred near Kalyan circle falling under Kotwali police station limits of the district. Car occupants Saurabh Saini and Narendra were killed while their two other friends were injured.