8 Feb 2023

Kerala Blasters beat

Eminent cardiologist red flags issues with

Covishield vaccine

NEW DELHI, FEB 7 (PTI):

Eminent BritishIndian Cardiologist Dr Aseem Malhotra, who has been leading international calls for the suspension of mRNA COVID-19 vaccines, said on Tuesday that Oxford-AstraZeneca’s jab, administered in India as Covishield, was even “worse” in terms of cardiovascular effects, heart attacks and strokes.

Dr Malhotra, who has demanded a full safety review into the use of AstraZeneca’s Covid vaccine, told PTI Covishield “should never have been rolled out in the country in the first place”.

Dr Malhotra is National Health Service (NHS) trained medic and he has had two doses of the COVID-19 vaccine. He is in India this week to deliver a series of lectures on COVID vaccines to try and make an “evidence-based case” for their suspension.

He said there have already been international calls to suspend mRNA vaccines like those manufactured by Pfizer and Moderna because of the serious adverse effects especially related to the cardiovascular system.

However, a comparison done up till June 2021, and published in a peerreviewed research journal, showed that the Oxford/ AstraZeneca’s Covid vaccine is far worse than Pfizer’s mRNA jab in terms of cardiovascular effects, heart attacks, strokes, soime death and clotting problem in both younger and older adults, he said.

“We also have the phar-

Assembly elections: ECI bans exit poll

DIMAPUR, FEB 7 (NPN):

Ahead of assembly elections in Meghalaya, Nagaland and Tripura and several bye-elections, the Election Commission has banned conducting and publishing exit polls between February 16, 2023 and February 27, 2023.

EC also stated that displaying any election matter including results of any opinion poll or any other poll survey, in any electronic media, would be prohibited during the period of 48 hours before the hour fixed for conclusion of poll.

EC cautioned that action would be taken against violators under relevant sections of the RP Act, 1951.

This is it!

Quake death toll over 7,200 as Turkiye, Syria search for survivors

NURDAGI (TURKIYE),

Assembly Polls: 101 file papers on last day

DIMAPUR, FEB 7 (NPN):

macovigilance data, which is post-marketing data, after the vaccine was approved and rolled out in the UK.

We had 8,00,000 reports of adverse effects which were beyond mild after administering 9.7 million doses, almost 10 per cent,” he said.

“This is unprecedented.”

“Why was AstraZeneca’s Covishield administered in India when it was suspended in the UK and some European countries due to severe side-effects?” he said. “There needs to be immediate suspension pending inquiry as to why India got this so very very wrong.”

The World Health Organisation (WHO) had said last year that the Oxford/ AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine is “safe and effective for all individuals aged 18 and above”.

“The Astra-Zeneca vaccine can be offered to people who have had COVID-19 in the past. But individuals may choose to delay vaccination for three months following the infection,” the WHO advice from June 2022 reads.

Dr Malhotra said the major issue is that commercial entities and big pharma companies were allowed to control the politicians, regulators, media and ultimately

that created a pandemic of misinformation amongst doctors and unwittingly harmed members of the public. “People need to understand that the pharmaceutical industry is there to make profit for their shareholders,” he said.

“They have no legal requirement to give you the best treatment. In the process the way they exert their power has been described as being psychopathic. What we are dealing with are the psychopathic determinants of health. Once people understand that everything else starts to make sense,” he said.

Dr Malhotra, who critically analysed the data on the Pfizer mRNA vaccine and published the study last year in the peer-reviewed research in the Journal of Insulin Resistance, said the evidence became very clear that harms outweigh the benefits even from the beginning from reanalysis of the original trials.

Which means both Moderna and Pfizer’s vaccine should not have been approved in the first place, he said.

His analysis has found the backing of medical experts in India ahead of his lecture tour in New Delhi

and Mumbai this week. When asked isn’t it late in the day to be seeking a full safety review when most of the people in several countries including India have already been vaccinated with two doses, Dr Malhotra said, “What should be asked rather is why we got it wrong so that these problems do not happen again.”

“Many many people are suffering from vaccine induced injuries or have lost relatives. So we need compensation for these people. AstraZeneca has not got immunity or liability from vaccine injuries so this inquiry also needs to find out who is ultimately liable and who is going to compensate them.

When asked about Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin, he said, “The data I have seen at the moment doesn’t suggest that Covaxin has any significant effects, and (it) seems safe. But of course when other vaccines are getting investigated we also need to look at Covaxin.”

What should be reassuring to the Indian public and the government is that more than 90 per cent of Indians have been exposed to Covid-19 and natural immunity is very very powerful and protects against severe illness and death, he said.

“There is no further requirement of vaccination for anybody in India,” Dr Malhotra asserted.

“And there’s certainly no requirement for anyone to have a booster especially as we know the side-effect are incremental. In other words the more shots you have the greater the chance of suffering a serious sideeffect,” he said.

FEB 7 (AP): Search teams and international aid poured into Turkiye and Syria on Tuesday as rescuers working in freezing temperatures and sometimes using their bare hands dug through the remains of buildings flattened by a powerful earthquake. The death toll soared above 7,200 and was still expected to rise.

But with the damage spread over a wide area, the massive relief operation often struggled to reach devastated towns, and voices that had been crying out from the rubble fell silent.

Monday’s magnitude 7.8 quake and a cascade of strong aftershocks cut a swath of destruction that stretched hundreds of kilometers (miles) across southeastern Turkiye and neighbouring Syria. The shaking toppled thousands of buildings and heaped more misery on a region

shaped by Syria’s 12-year civil war and refugee crisis.

Unstable piles of metal and concrete made the search efforts perilous, while freezing temperatures made them ever more urgent, as worries grew about how long trapped survivors could last in the cold.

The scale of the suffering — and the accompanying rescue effort — were staggering. More than 8,000

people have been pulled from the debris in Turkiye alone, and some 380,000 have taken refuge in government shelters or hotels, said Turkish Vice President Fuat Oktay. They huddled in shopping malls, stadiums, mosques and community centers, while others spent the night outside in blankets gathering around fires.

Teams from nearly 30 countries around the world headed for Turkiye or Syria.

NSCN/GPRN (K) reaffirms impeaching Khango

Staff Reporter

DIMAPUR, FEB 7 (NPN):

NSCN/GPRN (K) Isakled faction has once again reiterated that its government would stand firm on the January 6 resolution to impeach president Khango Konyak for going against the “Yezhabo” and for impeaching ato kilonser ‘col.’ (Retd) Isak Sumi without any consultation with the council of ministers.

Addressing the media at Isak Sumi’s residence at Toluvi, NSCN (K) acting president Luyanba Yimkhiung however declared that he was ready to give up his position if “Baba Khango”

agreed to reconcile. “If Baba Khango comes back, he will remain the president and I will remain as the vice-president,” he stated, extending the olive branch to Khango. He lamented that though the group had waited for Khango to reconcile, there was still no reply from the latter. Luyanba, how -

ever, asserted that if Khango refused to reconcile the government would continue to function with him as the president.

Meanwhile, kilonser PR/NGO, Zheito Murumi reiterated the January 6 decision to impeach Khango for going against Yezhabo.

On the last day of filing nomination to the 14th Nagaland Legislative Assembly (NLA) election scheduled to be held on February 27, 2023, 101 candidates including standby candidates filed nomination papers before their respective returning officers on Tuesday. According to CEO office, four candidates each filed nomination papers in Dimapur and Tseminyu, six each in Peren, Kohima,Tuensang, Noklak and Phek, 13 in Mokokchung, five each in Zunheboto and Wokha, 22 in Mon, three in Longleng, eight in Kiphire, three in Chumoukedima and two in Shamator.

Altogether, 225 candidates have filed their nominations for the February 27 Nagaland Assembly elections. The last date for withdrawal is on February 10.

Meanwhile, RJD candidate for 1 Dimapur I assembly constituency, Kiyazhe Shohe, withdrew nominations.

AAP opts out of 2023 poll battle

DIMAPUR, FEB 7 (NPN):

The Aam Aadmi Party has decided to opt out of the 2023 assembly election owing to the fact that scrutiny of over a dozen ticket aspirants indicated that criteria to become official party candidate was found wanting and minimum expected eligibility was not found due to limited time since AAP was only launched in the state on January 25,2023.

Stating this AAP state president Asu Keyho said the decision was made in

Cong has genuine care and clarity for Nagas: Khera DGP launches e-Police mobile app

in 1991. Khera also pointed out that Congress party fulfilled the demand that Naga talks be held at the highest level when prime minister PV Narsimha Rao initiated the talks in Paris.

tient enough and tolerant in tackling the problem”.

Staf f Reporter

DIMAPUR, FEB 7 (NPN):

A ll India Congress Committee (AICC) media and publicity department chairperson, Pawan Khera said Congress party since the time of Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, has always had genuine concern and clarity

for Nagas and continues even till today.

Addressing media at Hotel Shunammite Inn here Tuesday, Khera reminded that it was late Rajiv Gandhi who had promised to fulfil the demand to hold talks at the highest level which he announced in Dimapur two days before his assassination

Khera said Congress party was ready to resume the Naga talks “to achieve fruition unlike the procrastinators of the day-DAN government.”

He said prime minister P.V. Narasimha Rao in 1995 again reiterated the position of the Congress on June 12, when he had said in Paris that “I believe in a Political Solution, we must solve the problem through political dialogue. We should be pa-

Khera said Congressled governments were the only ones to had first agreed to hold talks at the highest level (Prime Minister’s level) as “demanded by rebel brothers with the NSCN and other Naga Rebels.” Khera however alleged that chief minister Neiphiu Rio has always acted with a mala fide intention, by “conveniently constituting and chairing a consultative committee for peace” during the rule of UPA led by Congress during 2004-2014, and then disbanding it at his own convenience.

NDPP-BJP alliance will win over 40 seats: Patton

Says-Peace,Unity, Development& Progress-BJP’s 2023pollslogan

Correspondent

WOKHA, FEB 7 (NPN):

State deputy chief minister Y Patton on Tuesday exuded confidence that the NDPP-BJP alliance will win the 2023 assembly elections with a thumping majority.

gramme for BJP candidate Renponthung Ezung from 38 Wokha assembly constituency at Longsa village, Patton said that as per the assessment of the alliance partners, the NDPP-BJP combine would win not less than 45 seats and exuded

confidence to form the next government smoothly.

To a query about BJP’s 2018 election slogan-- ‘Election for solution’ and what was the party’s slogan for the ensuing election, Patton asserted that, inspired by Prime Minister Naren-

dra Modi’s able leadership, BJP’s slogan for the upcoming Assembly election was “peace, unity, progress and development”.

He also disclosed that Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, BJP national president JP Nadda and almost all Union ministers would be visiting the State in the coming weeks. Though initially Modi was scheduled to visit Mon on February 16 for election campaign, he said the date had since been changed and that he was now likely to visit some time before February 20.

Staff Reporter

DIMAPUR, FEB 7 (NPN):

As part of its efforts to bolster policing through progressive adoption of technology, Commissionerate of Police (CoP), Dimapur launched e-Police mobile app in collaboration

Poll-related violence in Mkg; two injured

Correspondent

MOKOKCHUNG, FEB 7 (NPN): In a case of suspected election-related violence, two persons were injured when unidentified miscreants vandalised a house here on late Monday evening.

According to Mokokchung Police, the incident happened at Salangtem ward between 10.30 pm and 11 p.m.

The house was stated to be a camp of JD(U) candidate who arrived from Kohima on Monday evening to file his nominations on Tuesday.

with Excellogics Tech Solutions Pvt Ltd (ETSPL), a Kohima-based IT firm, at the commissionerate here on Tuesday.

Addressing the media on the occasion, director general of police (DGP) Rupin Sharma acknowledged and congratulated

CoP and ETSPL for coming up with the innovative idea, pointing out that it was a first-of-its-kind app in the State. He termed the launch of the app as the beginning of digitisation of storing records systematically for the police. He said that though the app was currently available only for Dimapur Police, it would be later implemented in other districts if the app performed well. He also hoped that features in the app would be upgraded to allow public to participate for transparency in policing.

Police to crack whip on unregistered vehicles

DIMAPUR, FEB 7 (NPN):

Nagaland Police has warned that vehicles without proper vehicular registration/registration number and with AF (Applied For) mentioned would be subjected to immediate confiscation and further legal action if found plying on the roads.

The police in a press release stated that as per the provisions of Motor Vehicles Act, vehicles should be registered in the name of new owner within a stipulated time period and cautioned that any violation would result in legal action

as per the provisions of the Act.

The police claimed that many vehicles were plying in the State without proper vehicular registration/ registration number and with AF mentioned. Further, registration of government vehicles purchased in the auction had not been changed, while some government vehicles were being used by retired government officers. According to the police, the possibility of such government vehicles being misused for illegal activities

(C) Pawan Khera with NPCC officials address the media. (NP)

Y Patton along with Renponthung and his supporters. (NP)

(2nd from R) Rupin Sharma launching the mobile app. (NP)

(C) Luyanba and other members during the press conference. (NP)

Aerial photo shows the destruction in Hatay city center, Tuesday. (AP/PTI)

(Representational image)

ABPF organises clean election prayer rally

AR organise veterinary camp

DIMAPUR: Mokokchung battalion of Assam Rifles under the aegis of HQ IGAR (North) organized a free Veterinary Camp at Veterinary Hospital, Yimyu Ward, Mokokchung on February 7 under Operation Sadbhavana Project.

According PRO defense, the event was primarily organised keeping in view the paucity of veterinary medical facilities in the area and provide veterinary support at the doorstep for the poor livestock and animal of villagers.

The battalion has carried out wide publicity well in advance so that maximum people could avail the benefits for their animals.

Delhi Lotha Baptist Church celebrates silver jubilee

Correspondent

MOKOKCHUNG, FEB 7 (NPN): Ao Baptist Pastors’ Fellowship (ABPF) organized a clean election prayer rally in collaboration with district administration Mokokchung on Tuesday.

The rally started from Imkongmeren Sports Complex and culminated at the town square. Pastors, church members, well-wishers from other churches in Mokokchung and district administration attended the rally.

The rally halted at five different locations where various speakers spoke on different topics including “Nagaland for Christ” by Rev. Dr. Prof. Mar Pongener, ex. secretary ABAM. Rev. Aowabang, pastor Guwahati, Ao Baptist Arogo spoke on the topic “Clean Election against Corruption”, Imnatoshi pastor DABA and president Nagaland Baptist pastor’s union spoke on “Vote for Clean Election” and Rev. Dr. Lima Jamir, pastor DABA spoke on the topic

“Free and Fair Election” at the location below Elate Hostel.

The rally was flagged off by DC Mokokchung, Shashank Pratap Singh and concluded at the main police point where Rev. Sentisashi Aier, senior pastor KABA spoke on the topic “Vote against Communalism”.

The concluding remark was given by Rev. L. Meren Kichu, pastor Sabangya Compound Baptist Arogo and president (ABPF).

The camp was conducted under the supervision of Veterinary Representatives from Mobile Field Veterinary Hospital of Dimapur and medical staff of Mokokchung battalion.

More than 3000 animals including dogs, cattle, goats, poultry in all categories were treated. Veterinary medication was distributed free of cost to pet owners and animal farmers were educated on hygiene and sanitation of their livestock.

NE Japan caravan held at E-Edge College

Aoi Ishimaru, director of Arts & Culture Exchange and Taisei Toyomaru, director of Language graced the event.

The inaugural programme was chaired by Daisy Shitio, Dean of Social Sciences and Humanities at the College GK auditorium.

DIMAPUR: Delhi Lotha Baptist Church (DLBC) celebrated silver jubilee in the national capital New Delhi on February 5. The silver jubilee was celebrated under the theme “Hungjan Ethan-A New Horizon”.

In a press release, convenor silver jubilee, Dr.Rembomo Odyuo and secretary, Emilo Ngullie said that the event started with a cutting of ribbon and dedication by pastor, Delhi Lotha Baptist Church, Rev.K.Chumben Kyong.

Speaking as the jubilee speaker, Rev.Dr.Benri Lotha, senior pastor, Kohima Lotha Baptist Church

praised the church leaders of the past and present for sustaining the church and leading them to its 25 years celebration. He also spoke about how living a meaningful life today can determine a powerful legacy for the future generation of the people.

Rev.Dr.Benri challenged the congregation to remain faithful, and be more focused on what was ahead in heaven and not to be swayed away by the glitters of this temporary physical world.

Dr. Rembomo Odyuo, the convenor of the silver jubilee delivered the welcome address, followed by

invocation by Jethro Merry, founding member of the church.

Prof. Benrithung

Murry, convenor of history committee presented a brief comprehensive report of the church history and pastor Chenithung Ezung consecrated and unveiled the silver jubilee monolith and souvenir. Prof. Zuchamo Yanthan, gave away the presentation to all the executive members of the past and present, different organizing committee members, guest speakers, choir members, individuals, in-laws etc.

Dr.Thungpamo Patton, spoke on behalf of the

founding members of the church.

The prayer of blessings was offered by Rev. Ntsenth Lotha and a special offering was collected in the name of “Silver Jubilee Celebration”, which was blessed by Evangeline Odyuo Koireng. The church choir members led by Eyingbemo Ovung, the choirmaster and the pianist Zichibeni Murry presented two songs based on the ‘Silver Jubilee’ theme. The children choir members also presented a song titled “Glorious”. Dr. Chumbemo Khuvung, advisor of DLBC delivered the vote of thanks.

DIMAPUR: The two-day North East Japan Caravan was held at C-Edge College, Dimapur from February 3 to 4.

The event was conducted in collaboration with Japan Foundation, New Delhi. Eight member team from Japan Foundation led by

Delivering welcome address, Er. Moa Aier, president of the College highlighted about the College relationship with Japan Foundation New Delhi with the perspective to help the younger generation in learning a new language purely on economic factor. He stressed on inculcating mother tongue among the younger generation which the College had emphasised through its various programmes since the last five years.

Aoi Ishimaru, Director

of Arts & Culture Exchange, Japan Foundation in her speech highlighted the purpose and the objective of Japan Caravan and also about Japan Foundation. She said the event has been successful in the Northeast with positive responses and look forward to more events in the future. The two-day Japan Caravan featured the much demanded Calligraphy workshop where visitors were taught the artistic writing of the Japanese language. It also featured the Yukata Workshop on the style of wearing the light cotton Japanese Kimono which was accepted with delight by everyone through vibrant photo shoots.

In addition, four Japanese Anime Films namely Garden of Words, Place Promised in Our Early Days, anime 5 Centimeters per Second, and Children Who Chase Lost Voices were screened. The event also featured Voice Acting based on the Anime films and the mini game Fukuwari.

Training on MCMM

DIMAPUR: In view of the ensuing general election 2023, the training for paid news Media Certification and Media Monitoring (MCMM) was held on February 7 at DC Conference Hall Kiphire. Before the start of training session, DC and chairman MCC Kiphire Wati Aier gave a short briefing. While SDO (C), T. Sulanthung spoke at the programme. The training was imparted by Master Trainer, Gagan Chandra Assistant Professor.

Blood donation camp at NEISSR

the remaining 20 percent of the blood comes from voluntary donation. Therefore, he encouraged the students present to be voluntary donors, to reduce unhealthy replacement and professional donors.

Dr. Miachieo also clarified the queries, doubts and misconceptions of the students, in relation to voluntary blood donation.

3 Special Observers appointed for assembly polls

DIMAPUR: Chief Electoral Officer, Nagaland, V. Shashank Shekhar has informed that the Election Commission of India has appointed three Special observers to the state for the ensuing General Election to the Legislative Assembly, Nagaland 2023.

Special Observers were:- Special Expenditure Observer, B.R Balakrishna; Special General Observer, Ajay V. Nayak and Special Police Observer, Anil Kumar Sharma.

CEO media cell informed that Special Observers will be observing the poll preparedness in the state and various arrangements for a free and fair poll.

The commission has already deployed 24 General Observers and 24 Expenditure Observers and 13 Police observers for the entire 60

NEWS IN BRIEF

Assembly Constituency in all the 16 districts. They will be conducting detailed review of the election preparedness with the DEOs, ROs and others elections officials in order to ensure smooth conduct of 14 General election to Nagaland legislative Assembly 2023,scheduled on the date February 27.

As per the Election Commission of India’s instruction, CEO informed all officials engaged in the conduct of election to discharge their duties in an impartial manner without any fear or favour.

The Observers will keep a close watch on every stage of the electoral process to ensure free and fair election. They will be closely monitor the election expenditure of the candidates. The total polling stations as of now is 2315.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

“I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the Faith” (2 Timothy 4:7)

Heavy vehicles restricted: Deputy Commissioner Chumoukedima, Abhinav Shivam has informed that all heavy vehicles have been restricted from plying between Punglwa to Thekrejuma road with effect from February 7 to 15 to facilitate the progress of road construction. DC informed that the above restriction has been enforced in the interest of public safety.

Training schedule for assembly election: Deputy Commissioner (DC) and District Election Officer (DEO), Dimapur Sachin Jaiswal has notified that the training for presiding officers and first polling officers who missed out on the 1st phase of training will be held on February 8 from 10 am – 12 noon for the first session and from 1 pm to 3 pm for the second session at the Office of the Deputy Commissioner’s Conference Hall, Dimapur.

National deworming day: Chief Medical Officer (CMO) Mokokchung has informed that 1st round of National De Worming (NDD) will be held on February 10 in a fixed day approach through Schools and Anganwadi platform followed by a mop-up round on February 17. Therefore, all the parents have been advised to let their children (1-19 years) avail the services through their respective schools and Anganwadi platforms.

DIMAPUR: A blood donation camp was jointly organised by Red Ribbon Club of North East Institute of Social Sciences & Research (NEISSR) in collaboration with IQAC, NEISSR and Christian Institute of Health Sciences & Research (CIHSR) on February 7 at Peace

Centre, Chumoukedima.

Speaking on the theme, “Every blood donor is a Hero”, Dr. Nounechutuo Miachieo, department of Transfusion Medicine, CIHSR, said that there was a shortfall of 13 million units of blood against the annual requirement of 26.2 million

units in India. He also underscored the importance of voluntary blood donation, citing that there was a demand for roughly 300 – 400 units of blood per month at the Blood Centre, CIHSR, Chumoukedima, while the centre can cater to about 80 percent of the demand and

Altogether 20 volunteers comprising of students from BSW and MSW courses donated blood. The Blood Donation Camp was attended by students, teaching and non – teaching faculty member of NEISSR, along with the medical staff and personnel of CIHSR.

LATE REV. KALI BAHADUR KARKI (Born : 15th Dec 1945 – Died : 24th Jan 2023)

Through this column, we the family members of Lt. Rev. Kali Bahadur Karki, would like to acknowledge the many expressions of sympathy and gestures of kindness shown to us at the sudden demise of our beloved father. Our heartfelt gratitude to one and all who stood by us during the time of grief and immense loss.

We convey our special thanks to:

1. Khehokhu Village Baptist Church

2. Council of Khehokhu Village

3. Gorkha Baptist Church, Khehokhu

4. Lamkang Baptist Church Dimapur, LNBA

5. Loving God Bible College, Khehokhu

6. Gorkha Christian Alliance (GCA)

7. Association of Gorkha Baptist Churches Nagaland (AGBCN)

8. Nagaland Christian Ministry Association (NCMA)

9. United Baptist Church, Kushiabill

10. United Baptist Church, Thahekhu Bl-3

11. Nagamese Baptist Church, Namsa, Tizit-Mon

12. Gorkha Baptist Church, Perizie Kohima

13. Leingangching Baptist Church, Chandel Manipur

14. Gorkha Baptist Fellowship, Shillong

We regret the inability to mention each and every individual who helped us physically, financially and spiritually in our time of mourning but it is our earnest prayers that God bless you all abundantly. Loving Wife, Children, In-Laws and Grand-Children

28.09.1992 – 08.02.2021

The years may pass but still you stay as near and dear as yesterday!

DP-581/23

Loving parents and loved ones.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

Born : 01.03.1945 Died : 24.01.2023

With profound gratitude, we would like to convey our deepest appreciation and indebtedness at the sad demise of our beloved father Lt K.Mademshiba on 24th January 2023.

We sincerely acknowledge and thank each and every one of you, who supported us through prayers and also physically, economically and through various means. We earnestly pray that Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ bless you all abundantly.

DB-48/23

Loving Wife, Children and Family members

2nd DEATH ANNIVERSARY Dr. Atopu G. Kiba

In view of the forthcoming general election 2023, the commissioner of police, Dimapur has sealed 16 gun shops, five air gun shops and four arms repairing shops with effect from February 7 until the completion of the election process.

Member of NEISSR along with medical staff and personnel of CIHSR.

Delhi Lotha Baptist Church silver jubilee celebration at New Delhi.

Students practicing artistic writing of the Japanese language.

Filing of nominations for assembly election ends

DIMAPUR: The process of filing nominations for assembly elections 2023 ended on February 7. As per the Election Commission of India (ECI) notification, scrutiny of nominations will take place on February 8 and the last date for withdrawal of candidature is February 10. The polls will be conducted from 7 am to 4 pm on February 27, results will be declared on March 2 and election shall

be completed on March 4.

BHANDARI: BJP candidate from 40 Bhandari, Mmhonlumo Kikon accompanied by Union Minister of State, Rajeev Chandrashekar and National Spokesperson, BJP, Nalini Kholi filed his nomination papers at Additional Deputy Commissioner’s and Returning Officer, Bhandari on February 7. Chenithung Humtsoe, Congress candidate and John Ovung, Independent candidate were the other two candidates who filed their nomination papers for 40 Bhandari A/C.

NPF candidate, Achumbemo Kikon and NPP candidate, Tsungro Kithan dfrom 40 Bhandari A/C filed their nomination papers on February 6.

Meanwhile, JD (U) candidate from 37 Tyui A/C N Senchumo Lotha also filed his nomination KOHIMA: Three more candidates and three standby candidates under Kohima district filed their nominations papers to their respective Returning Officers on February 7, 2023.

The candidates who filed their nomination papers included: Thekrulhou-

lie Abao Kire standby for Dr. Neikiesalie Nicky Kire NDPP candidate from 9 Kohima Town A/C.

Dr. Kekhrielhoulie Yhome NDPP candidate along with Kelhouneizo Yhome as his standby from 10th Northern Angami-1 A/C filed their nomination papers before the Returning Officer and ADC Kohima.

Seyievilie Sachu, INC candidate from 11 Northern Angami-II A/C also filed his nomination papers before the Returning Officer & ADC Chiephobozou.

From 15th Southern Angami-II A/C, Er. Zale

GOs for Assembly election arrive

DIMAPUR: General Observers (GOs) appointed by Election Commission of India (ECI) to monitor the poll process arrived and were camped at their assigned districts.

DIMAPUR: ECI has deputed P. Ramesh as the General Observer (GO) for Dimapur district and Jitendra Kumar Singh for Chumoukedima district for overseeing the entire electioneering process. For any grievances, the public of Dimapur district can contact the GO at 9491067970, and the public of Chumoukedima district can contact the GO on his mobile number: 8837272249. Both the observers will be camping at the Police Officers’ mess at Chumoukedima.

PFUTSERO: S.Suresh Kumar, GO for 16 Pfutsero A/C, 17 Chizami A/C, and 18 Chozuba A/C arrived Pfutsero on February 6 and was stationed at the Tourist Complex Pfutsero town. He can be contacted at his official number 6009260739.

PHEK: DC & Deo

Phek, Kumar Ramnikant has informed that Vijay Kumar P. Phad, General Observer for 19-Phek AC and 20-Meluri reached Phek HQ on February 6 and currently stationed at GA Guest House, Phek Hq. Any issues can be contacted at 9863169832.

S. Suresh Kumar, GO for 16- Pfutsero AC, 17-Chizami, and 18-Chozuba AC reached Phek district on February 6. He will be

stationed at Tourist Complex, Pfutsero Sub-Division and can be contacted at 98631-69832. Meanwhile, Ajay Dhoke, Expenditure Observer for 16-Pfutsero AC, 17-Chizami AC, and 18-Chozuba AC of Phek also reached Phek district on February 6 and stationed at Neinu’s Inn, Phek Hq. His official contact number is 87878-37078.

TSEMINYU: GO for 12th AC, Tseminyu Kanwal Tanuj arrived at Tseminyu district on February 7. On his arrival, DC & DEO, Tseminyu briefed the general observer about the preparedness status undertaken for the electioneering process in the district for the smooth conduct of the elections.

Neikha, NCP candidate along with Neisuho Chaya as standby candidate filed their nomination papers before the Returning Officer & SDO (C) Jakhama.

Meanwhile, Neizosieo Rhutsu substitute candidate for Medo Yhokha NDPP candidate from 14th Southern Angami-1 A/C also filed his nomination papers before the Returning Officer and SDO Jakhama.

TUENSANG : RPI (A) candidate from 52 Longkhim- Chare A/C, Sethrichem Sangtam filed his nomination before Re-

turning Officer and ADC Anoka H Assumi at Longkhim Sub-division Tuensang on February 7.

SURHUTO: BJP candidate for 33 Suruhuto Assembly Constituency H. Khehovi filed his nomination papers for the forthcoming Assembly Elections on Tuesday. The candidate was accompanied by Union Minister for skill development & Entrepreneurship Rajeev Chandrashekhar, Nahlin Kohli National Spokesperson (Prabhari Nagaland) BJP executives from the state, district and Suruhuto.

Assistant programmer, Election department, Noklak, Senitmeren Ao demonstrates EVM to Expenditure Observer, Arvind Kumar Gehlot for 56th Noklak A/C and 57th Thonoknyu A/C at GA guest house, Noklak on February 7. (IA Noklak)

EO interacts with officials

DIMAPUR: Election Observer (EO), S. Suresh Kumar interacted with officials of General Election 2023, Nagaland for 18-Chozuba, Assembly Constituency at G/ A Rest House on February 7. According to DIPR, Kumar instructed the officials to be vigilant and attentive. The meeting was attended by different teams of the Election Model Code led by Additional Deputy Commissioner cum Returning Officer, Imokokla. Later S. Suresh Kumar visited the nomination file records in Returning Officer Office.

at RO office Mon

H. Haiying at DC office Noklak

Kuzholuzo Nienu at RO office Phek.

R. Khing at ADC office Tseminyu

Z Kasheto Yeptho

Er. Levi Rengma at ADC office Tseminyu

Kewekhape Therie at DC office Dimapur

L. Khumo Khiamniungan after filing his nomination

S. Heno Khiamniungan at DC office Noklak

Zhaleo Rio filing his nomination

Er. Zale Neikha at RO office Jakhama

Kitoho S Rotokha

Medo Yhokha at SDO (C) office Jakhama

Senchumo Lotha handing his nomination paper

DC Tseminyu briefing the General Observer for 12 Tseminyu A/C Kanwal Tanuj.

Murmu to be chief guest at DU convocation

NEW DELHI, FEB 7

(PTI): President Droupadi Murmu will be the chief guest at Delhi University’s convocation during which over 1.5 lakh students will receive their degrees, a varsity official said. The varsity will hold its 99th convocation on February 25, according to an official notification. This year, the highest number of PhD degrees will be handed over, Dean of Examination DS Rawat told PTI.

Snatcher escapes from police custody

NEW DELHI, FEB 7 (PTI): A 19-year-old snatcher gave the police the slip while they were taking him to a prison, officials said on Tuesday.

The accused has been identified as Karan, a resident of Ram Bagh, Ranjeet Nagar. He was arrested on Monday in connection with a snatching case registered at the Ranjeet Nagar police station. He was produced before a court which sent him to judicial custody, a senior police officer said.

NIA arrests PFI operative from Bihar

PATNA, FEB 7 (IANS):

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has arrested an operative of outlawed Islamist outfit Popular Front of India (PFI) from Bihar’s East Champaran district late on Monday night. The accused was arrested from Jitaura village under Madhuban police station late Monday night. During raids at eight places of Motihari in East Champaran, Muzaffarpur and Patna since Sunday, NIA has arrested seven accused.

Ahmedabad Police arrest youth for rape

AHMEDABAD, FEB 7

(IANS): The police here have arrested a youth for raping and impregnating a minor girl. Police will also investigate how and where the parents of the girl got the pregnancy illegally aborted. Nikol Police Inspector K.D. Jat told media that the parents of minor girl have registered a rape complaint against Aakash, who was arrested Monday evening.

Allegation against Aakash is that he befriended the minor and on the promise to marry her established physical relationship a few months ago.

Village head dies battling bullet injury

GHAZIPUR (UP), FEB 7 (PTI): A former village head allegedly died after battling a bullet injury in a hospital in this Uttar Pradesh district, police said on Tuesday. The incident happened in the Bansi Bazar locality here.

Will give appropriate response to any aggression: Army Commander on LAC

SRINAGAR, FEB 7 (PTI): The Army on Tuesday said it was ready to give a befitting response to any Chinese aggression in Ladakh, maintaining that the integrity of the country was being ensured through physical patrolling and technical means.

Addressing the Northern Command Investiture Ceremony here, General officer Commanding in Chief Lt General Upendra Dwivedi also said that the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war has brought forth many lessons such as employment of disrutpive and dual use technologies.

“On the LAC, our response to Chinese attempts to unilaterally change the status quo was a swift, undaunted and synergised action by the Indian Armed Forces.Any adverse aggressive designs or attempts will definitely be met with appro-

priate posturing of Forces and a strong intent with complete synergy among the three services,” he said. He said measures to resolve the Line of Actual Control (LAC) situation at diplomatic and operational levels are also simultaneously underway.

“I assure you that the LAC in Eastern Ladakh is being dominated by physical patrolling and through technical means and our territorial integrity is being ensured,” he added.

Lt Gen Dwivedi said the Northern Command is

in a high state of readiness and morale, to face constantly evolving threats and challenges.

“The security situation in Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh poses many challenges in terrain and operational dynamics, especially from different adversaries along the Northern and Western borders. We are committed to defending India’s sovereignty and territorial integrity while upholding the democratic traditions of the Nation.

“We are maintaining a constant vigil, monitoring all developments and will take all necessary steps to protect our national interests,” he said. The Army commander noted that cyber and space have emerged as new domains of warfare.

“Information warfare, cyber and space have emerged as new domains of warfare. Gray zone warfare

Forceful removal of innerwear of minor girls equivalent to rape: Calcutta HC

KOLKATA, FEB 7 (IANS): Forceful removal of the innerwear of a minor girl is equivalent to rape even if rape, as per medical terms, has not been done by the accused or convict, the Calcutta High Court has held.

A single judge bench of Justice Ananya Bandopadhyay made this ruling while hearing a case in which Robi Roy was declared as guilty by a lower court in West Dinajpur district in 2008.

On May 7, 2007, Roy was acccused of alluring a

minor girl in his locality to a secluded place after promising her an ice cream. There he first asked her to remove her innerwear. When the victim refused, he forcefully removed her innerwear.

The victim started shouting which caught the attention of the people residing nearby, who rushed to spot, assaulted Robi Roy and handed him over to the local police.

In November 2008, a trial court, finding him guilty, sentenced him to imprisonment for five and a

in both the kinetic and nonkinetic domains is a challenge and we have adapted well to the ambiguities associated with strategies,” he said.

“It is essential that we equip ourselves, progressively factor and consider these peculiarities to facilitate better and more effective war fighting,” he added.

He said the Army is prepared to meet any challenges in the future and will always work for the betterment of the people of the region.

“The last two years have brought to the fore newer challenges in the wake of abrogation of Article 370, the Galwan conflict and multiple waves of COVID-19,” he said.

“These challenges have only served to strengthen our resolve to be steadfast and determined in our commitment,” he added.

half years and also slapped a Rs 3,000 fine on him.

After being freed from jail, he challenged the order of the lower district court at the Calcutta High Court claiming that he was falsely implicated which caused loss of his social prestige. He claimed that his intention was to express his fatherly affection towards the victim.

Justice Bandopadhyay, however, upheld the order of the lower court and observed that the intention of alluring the victim with icecream had mal-intention.

NEW DELHI, FEB 7

(IANS): The newly elected municipal councilors of Delhi BJP on Tuesday staged a protest outside the Aam Aadmi Party’s headquarters over delay in the elections of mayor, deputy mayor and standing committee members. The demonstration was led by Delhi BJP chief Virendra Sachdeva, Leader of the Opposition in Assembly Ramvir Singh Bidhuri, MPs Ramesh Bidhuri and Parvesh Ver-

Gujarat court sentences Cong MLA to six months in jail

JUNAGADH (SAURASHTRA), FEB 7 (IANS): The Maliya Hatina Judicial Magistrate First Class (JMFC) Court on Tuesday sentenced Congress MLA Vimal Chudasama to six months in jail. However, Chudasama claimed that he has been acquitted by the court of criminal intimidation charges. The court found the Congress MLA and three others guilty of voluntarily causing hurt to people and unlawful assembly with common object and for rioting. In 2010, Mit Vaidya and Harish Chudasama had lodged complaint against Vimal Chudasama and three others, alleging that they had beaten them at a holiday camp for unknown reasons.

83,000 posts vacant in Central Armed Police Forces: Govt

Over

NEW DELHI, FEB 7 (PTI): More than 83,000 posts were lying vacant in the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs), such as the CRPF and the BSF, as on January 1, against the total strength of 10,15,237 posts, the government informed Parliament on Tuesday. The forces in which the posts are lying vacant are Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), Border Security Force (BSF), Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), Indo-Tibetan

Border Police (ITBP), SashastraSeemaBal (SSB) and Assam Rifles. “The current number of vacancies as on January 1, 2023 in the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs) and Assam Rifles are 83,127 against total sanctioned strength of 10,15,237,” Union Minister of State for Home Nityanand Rai said in a written reply to a question in the Lok Sabha.

He said 32,181 people were recruited between July 2022 and January 2023 and

an additional 64,444 vacancies have been notified and are at different stages of recruitment, adding that it has been planned to conclude the exercise in 2023 itself.

It will be incorrect to say that the vacancies are leading to overtime work for the existing personnel, the minister added. He minister said filling up vacancies is a continuous process and added that the home ministry has been taking and will continue to take earnest steps to fill up the vacancies expeditiously through UPSC, SSC and the forces concerned. The CRPF is deployed for internal security duties, maintenance of law and order and anti-militancy operations in Jammu and Kashmir and the northeast. The BSF guards the country’s 3,323-kilometre-long border with Pakistan (except the 740-km-long Line of Control) and the 4,096-km-long border with Bangladesh.

BJP’s Nishikant Dubey counters Rahul’s allegations

Recalling reports, Dubey said, “The Congress party had helped the Tata, Birla and Ambani.”

NEW DELHI, FEB 7 (PTI): BJP member Nishikant Dubey on Tuesday countered the allegations levelled by Congress leader Rahul Gandhi in Lok Sabha against the Narendra Modi government, saying the Congress itself had favoured several industrial houses like the Tata, Birla and Ambani.

Earlier, while partici-

patin g in the debate on Motion of Thanks to the President’s Address, Gandhi had accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of helping and according favour to ‘industrialist friend’ Gautam Adani.

BJP protests outside AAP headquarters over delay in Mayoral election

ma, MLA Anil Bajpai etc. State General Secretary Harsh Malhotra also took part in the demonstration.

BJP’s mayor candidate Rekha Gupta, deputy mayor candidate Kamal Bagdi and standing committee candidates Kamaljit Sehrawat, Gajendra Daral and Pankaj Luthra, including all the newly elected councillors, district presidents and key workers participated in the protest.

On the occasion, Vi-

Even some industrialists, who owned large newspapers, were members of the Congress party, he said.

Adani got mines in Australia in 2010 when the Congress was in power at the Centre, he said, adding that the businessman also has good relations with Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.

The BJP leader also wanted to know if the

rendra Sachdeva said that Aam Aadmi Party has resorted to hooliganism during the mayor’s election. Sachdeva warned Kejriwal that the AAP would have to give up hooliganism as the BJP could no longer see Delhi being ruined. “BJP will continue to fight for getting Delhi its mayor,” he added.

CBC 21316/12/0016/2223

Congress-led UPA government had changed concessionaire agreements to help GMR group and GVK group to complete development of airports in New Delhi and Mumbai. Amid objections raised by the Congress member to his speech, Dubey said he was ready to authenticate all documents and resign in case they were found incorrect. On the 1984 Bhopal gas tragedy, the BJP member said it was the Congress which permitted Warren Anderson, the then head of Union Carbide, to flee the country.

Lt Gen. Upendra Dwivedi

Nishikant Dubey

Says,Conghad favoured Tata, Birla, Ambani

Land of migrants

Nearly 2500 husbands of alleged ‘minor’ wives have been arrested in Assam while over 4000 FIRs have been lodged against those suspected of having child marriages as the BJP-led coalition government under Himanta Biswa Sarma is on top gear against child marriages. Himanta Biswa Sarma, a former Congress politician who switched sides after being hounded by the ED over alleged involvement in the Saradhha Scam, has become converted into a hard core Hindutvawadi under the tutelage of the Modi-Shah reign. Himanta is an unabashed enforcer of majoritarianism in Assam, a state that has given birth to all states in the north east. Besides demolition of ‘encroached areas’ or coming down hard on mardrasas since 2021 when several were bulldozed on charges that they were imparting anti-India feelings and promoting extreme Islamic terrorism. Himanta has also closed down several of those mardrasas which were not following the state government guidelines on education. Himanta’s recent mission against child marriages is mainly directed at muslims which was driven by the National Family Health Survey(NFHS) report that Assam’s Total Fertility Rate(TFR) or average number of children born per woman- is 1.9 per cent, well below the national average of 2.However the TFR among muslims in Assam was at 2.4, billed as the highest in the country. The NFHS-5 showed that 50.8 per cent of all women in Dhubri between 20 and 24 years got married before they turned 18. South Salmara, another Muslim-dominated district, at 44.7 per cent recorded the second-highest number of child marriages. This triggered a reaction on January 23,2023, when the Himanta cabinet issued instructions to police to carry out massive crackdown and arrest and initiate legal action against those found to be involved in child marriage. Those who had married girls below 14 years of age have been booked under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, while cases under the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006 have been registered against those who married girls in the 1418 age group. On February 3, a young widow and mother of two committed suicide in Assam’s South Salmara-Mankachar district because she feared her father would soon be arrested. As chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma has launched a massive crackdown on child marriages, the young woman assumed that her father, who had allegedly married her off when she was a minor, would now face legal action.On February 5, a 17-year-old girl committed suicide in Cachar district because her parents had refused to allow her to tie the knot with the man she loved. In Assam, agitation against illegal Bangladeshi immigrants had led to the violent Assam agitation in the mid-70s. The statistics indicated that between 1971 and 1991, Muslims in Assam grew at 77.42 per cent while Hindus grew at 41.89 per cent. The Muslim growth rate during this period was higher than the national average of 55.04 per cent. At the same time, the Hindu growth rate is lower than the national average of 48.38 per cent.The fear of demographic change can be explained by the population growth rates in two adjacent districts—Dhubri and Kokrajhar. In Dhubri, where nearly 80 per cent of the inhabitants are Muslims, the decadal growth rate between 2001 and 2011 was 24 per cent. In neighbouring Kokrajhar, mostly dominated by the Bodo tribe, it is 5 per cent. Whatever be the justification, it is hoped the process of rule of law will be applied.

DailyDevotion

Spiritual Dejection

We were hoping that it was He who was going to redeem Israel. Indeed, besides all this, today is the third day since these things happened. —Luke 24:21 Every fact that the disciples stated was right, but the conclusions they drew from those facts were wrong. Anything that has even a hint of dejection spiritually is always wrong. If I am depressed or burdened, I am to blame, not God or anyone else. Dejection stems from one of two sources— I have either satisfied a lust or I have not had it satisfied. In either case, dejection is the result. Lust means “I must have it at once.” Spiritual lust causes me to demand an answer from God, instead of seeking God Himself who gives the answer. What have I been hoping or trusting God would do? Is today “the third day” and He has still not done what I expected?

Am I therefore justified in being dejected and in blaming God? Whenever we insist that God should give us an answer to prayer we are off track. The purpose of prayer is that we get ahold of God, not of the answer. It is impossible to be well physically and to be dejected, because dejection is a sign of sickness. This is also true spiritually. Dejection spiritually is wrong, and we are always to blame for it.

We look for visions from heaven and for earthshaking events to see God’s power. Even the fact that we are dejected is proof that we do this. Yet we never realize that all the time God is at work in our everyday events and in the people around us. If we will only obey, and do the task that He has placed closest to us, we will see Him. One of the most amazing revelations of God comes to us when we learn that it is in the everyday things of life that we realize the magnificent deity of Jesus Christ.

Quotes

“Every man dies. Not every man lives.”

~ William Wallace

Suggestions for clean & honest poll in Nagaland

The methodology of election is through universal adult suffrage, whereby every citizen of India over 18 years of age is an eligible voter in the eyes of the constitution. Elections provide a way to the people to assert their voice, opinion and choose the person whose priorities and ideas matches with them most. Elections in India are also a platform for the public to voice their resentment against a party/ coalition led elected government. By voting for other parties and helping elect a different government the citizens demonstrate that they possess ultimate authority.

How citizens can support strengthening clean and hones t elections in Nagaland.

1. Citizens to stop selling their vote and to stop others from selling their vote.

2. Citizens to stop

telling your religious leaders to pray for corrupt leaders. No matter how many campaigns are organized for clean election, we’re still money blinded (except a handful). So, of course, the only way to clean election depends on the individual’s decision and conscience.

3. We need several electoral reforms –

a) Minimum qualification to contest election should be graduation level.

b) Clean election ideal be inculcated in one of the subjects in schools/ colleges etc.

c) Massive public awareness campaign.

d) To track the criminal records of each candidate minutely.

4. Link the voter ID card with aadhaar card and Check the voter ID properly while voting. If anyone is found giving proxy, discard all the benefits from villages or town

council etc.

5. No matter how loud we shout on the streets or social media about how we need to change the system, at the end of the day, voting decisions are made but by village council, colony elders, etc. Voting is a right where every individual should be able to exercise their vote. Until this practice is stopped – clean election will be a dream only.

6. Let us cancel our multiple voting cards and vote either from our permanent constituency or from our present place of residence.

Ghost voters with multiple voting cards hampers clean election in Nagaland. In this new age of technology our individual rights, our privacy and reputation, need to be well guarded and protected by rule of law. Most importantly to protect against the abuses of data ma -

nipulations with elections through EVM’s/counting machines etc.

The sanctity of elections and democratic process is to be protected. In order to deal with the harm done by automation and artificial intelligence; our law procedures should counter with competence & commitment.

Corruption undermines democratic rights; violates human rights and erodes human life. Millions of people are suffering in the hands of few people without basic amenities of electricity, food, drinking water, shelter & medical services etc.

In politics the corrupted people are celebrated because they can spread money around. And in temples or mosques they are given the fronts seats because they can give huge offering and donations. Judiciary is a serious partner to fight against corruption and eradicate

abuse of power. Judiciary should judiciously interpret the laws as per the constitution of our land, so as to be enforced by the executives/administration. In Saudi Arabia they can try a person within few hours and sentence them. That’s the rule of law in Saudi Arabia. We must clean corruption for good governance and enhance justice. The solution lies with us and how willing are we to do it?

Pratibha Patel the former president of India said corruption is the enemy of the government and good governance. And so it must be eradicated. Do not leave the fight against corruption to few people but we are to fight against corruption together. It should be a people’s war against corruption.

There has to be legal effort to counter all these problems – we have to find solutions to deliver the rule of law in this

modern Hi Tech world. For everyone the only weapons against injustice is the rule of law. If we learn to respect the rule of law – the world will be a better place to live in and the future of our people will be protected. No matter what the situation is, the constitution should be considered as the supreme law of the land. Constitution is the supreme law of the country and everyone is answerable to the constitution; be it ruling; opposition or Supreme Court and the sub- ordinate courts. If any organ of the government tries to do something which is outside the authority given to it by the constitution, the said act should be declared unlawful and hence void and invalid.

Dr. Maong Aier IAS, Rtd., Former Principal Secretary to Govt.

of Nagaland

The social taboo of seeking mental health advice

The ever-increasing importance of psychological issues and wellness has been a gigantic wave in the recent past and it is expected to rise massively. The concept of mental health has been revolutionary over the years especially after the COVID pandemic era. Mental health is the emperor in today’s world. However, this wasn’t the case a few years back and even now we have a long way to go. The stigma around this profession has been deep-rooted in the psyche of mankind.

As from generations, people have been ingrained with this irrational, intense preconceived prejudice, stigmatising beliefs and imbibed the fear of being negatively evaluated, judged and looked down upon by other members of society.

Henceforth, starting a conversation or seeking help or even helping oneself is compromised, and staying oblivious, stuck and making the condition worse becomes the preferred choice/ priority.

When people start acting out on these values with this kind of biased attitude, the consequence is a “societal blemish”

which is as contagious as common cold. The problem never subsides; it still exists, in fact, it has aggravated only because of the prolonged ignorance.

It still is very common that if an individual has any healthrelated disease, for example - a viral fever or any other bodily infection, he/she will consult a doctor and get treated after a check-up.

However, when it comes to psychological issues/illnesses of any sort, the first reaction is the lack of acknowledgement or awareness about the existing problem followed by the lack of acceptance (even if there is acknowledgement) and lastly if by any chance these above two conditions prevail - no steps are taken further for the improvement of the problem or for betterment. It seems unfair because the individual is denying his/her own reality and doing injustice to themselves.

It’s time that we break the myths and taboos surrounding psychological help and start a conversation about the concerns, issues and battles that we’ve been fighting silently. Prioritising mental health should become the new normal.

With the alarming increase in mental health needs of the population, it becomes the responsibility of psychologists and other professionals of the same field to psych educate as many people as they can regarding the significance, demand and supply of mental well-being and overall quality of a healthy lifestyle.

Emerging technologybased solutions including telephone/audio counselling and video/Web conferencing tools; self-directed, Web-based, and desktop computer-based therapeutic tools; Web-based text communication (e.g., email, chat, forums); and mobile technologies can help break down barriers to accessing mental healthcare, by providing information, accessible and private therapy services, and addressing some of the key mental health stressors people face, such as harassment, abuse, work pressure, family problems or other mental health disorders.

The Internet offers several avenues for augmenting the health care services in clinical settings.

Remote video consultation, for example, could give consumers greater access to skilled

health professionals regardless of geographic proximity.

The use of the Internet to transfer medical images to expert interpreters could accelerate and improve the diagnostic process as well as reduce costs.

Virtual reality tools could help therapists plan effective intervention techniques and improve their use of information during procedures.

The use of the Internet to access and assemble health records could give a provider improved information for treatment purposes, regardless of whether the patient is a regular client or a stranger.

Furthermore, telehealth platforms, which include instant messaging or video calling, already are proving useful in primary care settings for helping counselors reach clients.

Telephone-based interventions have been shown to have considerable clinical utility in areas such as the behavioural management of chronic pain (Naylor, Keefe, Brigidi, Naud, &Helzer, 2008) and as part of posttreatment smoking cessation efforts (Regan, Reyen, Lockhart, Richards, & Rigotti, 2011). As telephones, including

mobile phones, have been a routine part of life for so long, research typically shows that both clinicians and clients are comfortable with telephonebased counselling.

Indeed, many clients consider telephone counselling a satisfying and helpful process (Reese, Conoley, & Brossart, 2002, 2006). Additionally, some evidence suggests that clients may participate in counselling sessions more if they are offered in a distance telehealth environment as an alternative or an adjunct to in-person settings (Day & Schneider, 2002).

In conclusion, significant developments in technology continue to emerge and offer great promise for integration into behavioural health services.

This is an exciting time for harnessing technology to increase the quality and reach of effective behavioural health services, but a carefully planned approach for embracing TAC is essential to grant behavioural health service providers and program administrators-as well as their clients-the greatest benefit.

Dr. Ashna Gupta (The writer is a Clinical Psychologist, vHealth by Aetna)

Holistic education for peace in Northeast India

Northeast India boasts of rich biodiversity, but peace is still a longing. Insurgency, inter-tribal hostilities, boundary disputes, and trust deficits abound galore. Inhabitants of these eight states of India are vulnerable to media influence, political propaganda, and incited violence due to a lack of holistic education. Private enterprises are taking up education at various levels. Thanks to the growing educational competitiveness, even without many state-sponsored motivations.

Why education:

Education is a means to learn about others, a tool to bind people and nourish multiculturalism. Education is not a method to separate, se gregate or create hostility between communities. Holistic education helps us to know ourselves and also accommodate others with their uniqueness. Education makes us see things from the proper perspective.

For example, with our normal naked eye, we don’t see anything spectacular while observing tree leaves. But with proper education and in-depth knowledge,

we realise that the trees’ leaves are breathing. This awareness could change our perspective about trees.

Hate speech:

Hate speeches and sectarian ideas creep into a person or community due to shallow education and a lack of universal perspectives. Hate speeches show a myopic vision of life and a ‘frog in a well’ philosophy. Hate speeches are popular today in various degrees, thereby causing further ‘trust deficit’ between communities.

The hatred between communities is a dormant monster that will erupt as ethnic conflict or war. People who propagate and close their eyes to hate speeches are far from peace. Hate speeches and hate mongers should be snubbed at its bud else negatively will thrive and spoil the social fabric of peace. Root cause treatment:

All the educational syllabi include various subjects to train a person for a holistic view of life. Engagement with various subjects is to broaden one’s mind and attain holistic education. Once a society

has holistic education, it will look at problems as occasions for solutions. An educated society will not indulge in the symptomatic treatment of problems but conduct a proper diagnosis and treat problems at their roots. This exercise can be handled by subject-trained persons and not any Dick and Harry. Root cause treatment will contribute to long-term redressal and save money.

Consumption of truth:

Once a society attains holistic education, its members will not believe dramatised TV debates, films, shows, social media war, and divisive propaganda. They can read between the lines and extract the truth from the apparent. While the truth is hard to spell and even harder to digest, it is still true whether it is told or hidden. Truth makes us free. Lies can be told for a few years (1,3,5,10), but they cannot go on. Education opens the minds of people to know what is true and false. The truth is that the Constitution of India is oriented towards peaceful living and coexistence with accommodating people from multicultural

backgrounds. Diversity is the truth of India, while propaganda for homogeneity is a direct blow to peaceful coexistence. If you tell the truth, you don’t have to remember anything, but if you tell lies, you will have to remember the sequences of your lies to make them look like the truth.

Enemies of holistic education:

Some real enemies hold back holistic education: absentees of Government appointed teachers in their place of appointment, substitute teachers, non-existence of conducive infrastructure for the education of children, corruption in the appointment of unfit teachers, mere lip service propaganda and less holi stic education ground zero realities, commercialisation of educational institutions. Aping some education models that are not quite relevant to a particular society, numerous external interferences on the administration of educational institutions, lack of focus on skill development, the mere insistence on rote memory, etc., are some areas for proper subject expert investigation

redressal.

When educated people le ad society, it will progress. It is bound to deteriorate if a society is led by force and half-educated people.

Holistic education will bring about environmental care consciousness, a coexistence mindset and, above all, peace, the need of the hour. Holistic educa-

tion will lead to tolerance, appreciation of diversity and peaceful coexistence. When there is peace, progress and social cohesion are its cousins.

Fr Paul Lelen Haokip

(The author is a PhD research scholar, Department of Sociology and Social Work, Christ University, Bengaluru, Karnataka, India

Reader’s Post An Appeal to NPSC

Sir,

This is to bring to your notice and request that the standard of NPSC question paper is degrading. In 2022, most of the questions in the prelims examination were copy pasted from websites such as Toppr and vedantu. In fact, even the options were the exact copy from the websites.

As such, the exam does not test the candidate’s conceptual or even factual understanding of the subjects. But people who were randomly lucky enough to go through the random websites are most likely to clear the exam.

Therefore, I as a sincere aspirant, would like to request the Chairman and members of NPSC to kindly entrust a more experienced or reliable body to set the questions in the coming exams. This will test a person’s conceptual and factual understanding of the subjects.

Thank you!

Your’s sincerely Akibo Sumi

SNIPPETS

4 family members killed in Guj road accident

SURENDRANAGAR (GUJARAT), FEB 7 (IANS): Four members of a family were killed after a car, in which they were travelling, rammed into a truck in Gujarat’s Surendranagar district on Tuesday. The locals and police had a tough time as they had to literally tear the car doors to pull out the bodies. The bodies have been sent to a government hospital for the post-mortem.

RPI leader’s office set afire in Andhra

AMARAVATI, FEB 7 (IANS): Unidentified people set afire the office of Republic Party of India’s Andhra Pradesh unit president Borugadda

Anil in Guntur in the early hours of Tuesday. The miscreants poured petrol and torched Anil’s office around 1.30 a.m. The office was completely gutted in the fire. Anil blamed Nellore rural MLA Kotamreddy Sridhar Reddy, who had recently raised a banner of revolt against ruling YSR Congress Party (YSRCP).

Bajrang Dal associate shot dead in Udaipur

UDAIPUR, FEB 7 (PTI):

A man associated with the Bajrang Dal was shot dead here by two assailants, police said on Tuesday.

The 38-year old Raju Teli was shot outside his shop on Monday night. He was rushed to a nearby hospital where he was declared dead, police said. Soon after the incident, his family members and members of Hindu outfits gathered at the spot and demanded immediate arrest of the accused. “Raju Teli was shot dead in front of his shop on Monday night,” SP, Udaipur, Vikas Sharma said. He said efforts are being made to identify the accused involved in the firing.

PDP, AAP protest against eviction drive

SRINAGAR, FEB 7 (PTI): The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the AamAadmi Party (AAP) on Tuesday held demonstrations against the ongoing anti-encroachment by the Jammu and Kashmir administration. Holding placards denouncing the use of bulldozers, dozens of PDP leaders and workers took out a protest march from their party office near Sher-e-Kashmir Municipal Park here.

PDP, National Conference (NC), Congress, Democratic Azad Party and People’s Conference too, have denounced the drive and asked the Lieutenant Governor’s administration to stop it.

Two held in UP for luring people to convert

KAUSHAMBI (UP),

FEB 7 (PTI): Two men have been arrested for allegedly luring people to convert to Christianity on the pretext of curing them of their diseases, police said on Tuesday. Gendalal and Hiralal were arrested on Monday from the Saini area for allegedly trying to covert people in Ghumai village, Superintendent of Police Brijesh Kumar Srivastava said.

NEET-Super Speciality percentile reduced

NEW DELHI, FEB 7

(PTI): The Union health ministry in consultation with the National Medical Commission (NMC) has decided to reduce the eligibility criterion for NEETSuper Speciality courses from 50 percentile to 20 percentile, officials said on Tuesday. Candidates who have scored 20 percentile and above in the NEETSuper Speciality (SS) will be eligible to participate in the “special mop-up round”, they said.

Rahul questions surge in Adani’s wealth under PM

NEW DELHI, FEB 7 (PTI): Leading the Opposition attack over the Adani-Hindenburg issue in Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday linked Gautam Adani’s meteoric rise to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s coming to power and said “magic” happened after 2014 that propelled the businessman from the 609th to the second spot on the global rich list.

The Congress leader’s remarks drew a sharp response from the treasury benches, with Law Minister Kiren Rijiju asking him not to level “wild allegations” and furnish proof of his claims.

Speaker Om Birla disapproved of the Congress leader displaying two pictures of Prime Minister Narendra Modi - one in which he can be seen with Adani inside a plane and the other in which he is getting down from a plane which has an Adani logo on it - to highlight their alleged proximity.

Participating in the debate on the Motion of Thanks to the President’s Address in Lok Sabha as the first Opposition speaker, Gandhi made a barrage of allegations including that

PM Modi helped Adani bag overseas contracts in various sectors.

Posing questions for the prime minister, Gandhi asked how many times has he travelled together on a foreign trip with Adani.

“How many times did Adani ji join you later on a visit? How many times Adani ji travelled to a country immediately after you visited the country? How many times Adani ji bagged a contract in a foreign country after your visit there?” Gandhi said.

He asked how much money Adani has given to the BJP in the last 20 years, including through electoral bonds.

Gandhi also hit out at PM Modi for slamming the

Opposition over its criticism of the Rafale deal by allegedly overlooking the capabilities of Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL).

“Yesterday the prime minister said at HAL that we hurled wrong allegations. But in reality, HAL’s contract of 126 aircraft went to Anil Ambani, who then went bankrupt,” Gandhi said.

Gandhi, who just completed his over 4,000 km Bharat Jodo Yatra, said people asked him how Adani got into so many businesses and succeeded, as well as what is the nature of his relationship with the prime minister.

“From Tamil Nadu, Kerala to Himachal Pradesh, we have been listening one

Opposition members in Lok Sabha criticise President’s address

NEW DELHI, FEB 7 (PTI): Some Opposition members in Lok Sabha on Tuesday criticised the President’s address to the joint session of parliament, saying it contained “some half-truths” and did not talk about important issues like the Women’s Reservation Bill.

Participating in the debate on the Motion of Thanks on the President’s Address, BJD’s Pinaki Misra said it was “somewhat a untrustworthy document,” and it “suppressed” several truths.

The address talked about women empowerment, but it did not mention the Women’s Reservation Bill, which is pending for long, he said. “We

are deeply unhappy that Women Reservation Bill does not find mention in the address.”

He also said the address talked about the poor, but in the Budget, the government slashed allocation to the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act 2005 (MGNREGA).

The finance minister needs to reconsider this, he added.

The BJD member also said that “some half-truths crept into the statement” on medical colleges also. Most colleges lack good infrastructure and equipment, he said. However, Misra added that government policies on mines, minerals and air connectivity have

India slams Pakistan for raking up Kashmir issue at UN

UNITED NATIONS, FEB

7 (PTI): India has slammed Pakistan for raking up the Kashmir issue in the UN, saying Islamabad harbours a deep sense of insecurity and orchestrated hatred for India and its secular credentials.

Responding to Pakistan’s raising of the Kashmir issue during a UN General Assembly (UNGA) meeting, Counsellor in India’s Permanent Mission to the UN, Rajesh Parihar, said on Monday that Islamabad repeatedly utters falsehoods about India.

“I’m constrained to take the floor to respond to the frivolous remarks made by the representative of Pakistan against my country. While such a statement deserves our sympathy for a mindset, which repeat -

Medical colleges in India has gone up to 654 from 387: Govt

bone in setting up a group of businessmen in Gujarat, he said, adding that the result was a tremendous expansion of Adani’s businesses in Gujarat.

name everywhere ‘Adani’. Across the entire country, it’s just ‘Adani’, ‘Adani’, ‘Adani’...,” Gandhi said. He said that during the yatra people also asked him how Adani’s net worth increased from $8 billion to $140 billion between 2014 and 2022.

“The (Adani-Modi) relationship began many years ago when Narendra Modi was Gujarat CM. When most of India was asking questions of the prime minister, was against the PM (then CM Narendra Modi), one man stood shoulder to shoulder with PM Modi, he was loyal to the prime minister and helped Mr Modi construct the idea of a resurgent Gujarat,” Gandhi said. Adani was the back -

“Then the real magic starts, when the PM comes to Delhi and the real magic begins in 2014. In 2014, he was in 609th spot on the list of richest people and climbed to the second spot,” the former Congress chief said Gandhi also raised the issue of the report by US-based Hindenburg Research, saying it alleged that Adani has shell companies abroad.

Pointing out that Adani works in strategic sectors, he said the government must find out about these shell companies as to who controls them as this is a national security issue.

The opposition has been demanding a joint parliamentary committee probe or a Supreme Courtmonitored investigation into the allegations of fraud and manipulation made by Hindenburg Research against Adani’s companies that triggered an unprecedented stock crash. The group has denied the charges.

NEW DELHI, FEB 7 (PTI): There has been a 69-per cent increase in the number of medical colleges in the country, from 387 before 2014 to 654 as of now, the government informed Parliament on Tuesday.

Further, there has been a 94-per cent rise in the number of MBBS seats, from 51,348 to 99,763, and a 107per cent increase in the number of postgraduate (PG) seats, from 31,185 before 2014 to 64,559 as of now, Minister of State for Health Bharati Pravin Pawar said in a written reply to a question in the Rajya Sabha.

In order to increase the number of doctors in the country, the government has hiked the number of medical colleges and consequently, that of MBBS seats, she said. The steps taken by the government to increase the number of medical seats in the country include a centrally-sponsored scheme for the establishment of new medical colleges by upgrading the district and referral hospitals, Pawar said, adding that 94 of the 157 new medical colleges approved are already functional.

Bharati Pravin Pawar

A centrally-sponsored scheme for strengthening or upgrading the existing medical colleges run by the state or the central government has been implemented to increase the numbers of MBBS and PG seats, the minister said. Under “upgradation of government medical colleges by construction of super specialty blocks” of the Pradhan MantriSwasthya Suraksha Yojana (PMSSY), a total of 75 projects have been approved, of which 60 are complete, she added. Under the central sector scheme for setting up new All India Institutes of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), 22 such facilities have been approved and undergraduate courses have started in 19 of those, Pawar said.

JEE-Main result: 20 candidates score perfect 100

NEW DELHI, FEB 7

worked well. JD (U) member Kaushalendra Kumar said that the government is talking about amrit kal, but there is nothing like that.

Kumar alleged that the Modi-government has failed to provide jobs to people and also failed to bring back black money. He also demanded special status for Bihar.

Danish Ali (BSP) alleged the government has worked only for the benefit of corporates like Adani. He alleged that sugar mills have not paid dues running into thousands of crores to farmers.

Ali also alleged the government was threatening the judiciary. “What is happening in this country,” asked.

(PTI): Twenty candidates have scored perfect 100 in engineering entrance exam JEE-Main’s January edition, the National Testing Agency (NTA) announced on Tuesday.

All the candidates with 100 NTA score in the Joint Entrance Exam (JEE)Main are males.

The 20 toppers include 14 from the general category, four from the OBC category and one each from gen-EWS and SC category. While MdSahil Akhtar is the PwD topper with 99.9848042 NTA score, the SC topper is DeshankPratap Singh with 100 NTA score and ST topper is DheeravathThanuj with 99.99041.

The candidates who scored 100 NTA scores are

TEACHER REQUIRED

(For a Coaching Institute in Dimapur)

AbhineetMajety, AmoghJalan, ApurvaSamota, Ashik Stenny, BikkinaAbhinavChowdary, DeshankPratap Singh, Dhruv Sanjay Jain, DnyaneshHemendraShinde, DuggineniVenkataYugesh, Gulshan Kumar, GuthikondaAbhiram, KaushalVijayvergiya, Krish Gupta, Mayank Son, N K Vishwaajith, NipunGoel, Rishi Kalra, Soham Das, SutharHarshulSanjaybhai and VavilalaChidvilas Reddy. “The NTA scores of 50 candidates have been withheld as they are under scrutiny The cases of these candidates are being placed before a committee separately. Their NTA scores will be declared once the committee finalises

its report,” a senior NTA official said. NTA score is not the same as percentage of marks obtained but normalised scores.

“NTA scores are normalised scores across multi-session papers and are based on the relative performance of all those who appeared for the examination in one session. The marks obtained are converted into a scale ranging from 100 to 0 for each session of examinees,” the official explained.

A record 95.80 per cent attendance was recorded in the January edition of the crucial exam with over 8.23 lakh candidates appearing for it.

The examination was held in 13 languages (As-

VISITING CONSULTANT

samese, Bengali, English, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Odia, Punjabi, Tamil, Telugu, and Urdu). The examination was also conducted outside India in 17 cities of Manama, Doha, Dubai, Kathmandu, Muscat, Riyadh, Sharjah, Singapore, Kuwait City, Kuala Lumpur, Lagos and Abuja, Colombo, Jakarta, Moscow, Port Louis, Bangkok, Washington D.C. The second edition of the exam will be conducted in April. After both sessions of JEE (Main) - 2023 examination, the ranks of the candidates will be released taking into consideration the best of the two NTA scores in accordance with the policy already made.

Dr. Deva Kumar Borgohain, MCH Neurosurgery (AIIMS) Consultant Neurosurgeon, EXCELCARE HOSPITAL, PASCHIM BORAGOAN, NH: 37, Guwahati, Assam will be available for consultation on 11th Feb. 2023 from 2 PM to 5 PM.

He is specialized in all neurological conditions.

For further details and appointments, kindly call the Reception at 03862-248288 / 296600 DP-590/23

DIMAPUR MISSION HIGHER SECONDARY SCHOOL Churches Colony, Near City Tower, Dimapur Email: dmhssdim@gmail.com

Rajesh Parihar

edly utters falsehood, it is important for me to set the record straight,” he said in the UNGA.

Parihar said irrespective of what the representative of Pakistan believes or covets, the Union territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh were, are and will always be an “integral and inalienable” part of India.

SC assures Bilkis Bano of early hearing of her plea

NEW DELHI, FEB 7 (PTI): The Supreme Court on Tuesday assured BilkisBano, who was gang-raped and seven members of her family killed during the 2002 Gujarat riots, that her plea against the remission of the sentence of 11 convicts will be heard soon after the constitution of a new bench.

A bench of Chief Justice DY Chandrachud and justices PS Narasimha and JB Pardiwala assured Bano, represented through her lawyer Shobha Gupta, that the new bench will be formed at the earliest.

Gupta mentioned the matter for urgent hearingand said that a new bench needs to be constituted by the Chief Justice of India as Justice Bela M Trivedi recused from hearing the plea.

CJI Chandrachud said, “I will do so at the earliest. The matter will be listed soon”. Earlier, on January 24, the hearing on Bano’s plea challenging the remission of sentence of 11 convicts in the gang-rape case by the Gujarat government could not be held in the top court as the judges concerned were hearing a matter related to passive euthanasia as part of a five-judge Constitution bench.

(Botany): M. Sc. (Botany / Biotechnology) Preferences will be given to candidate with teaching experience in Higher Sec. Section.

TEACHER VACANCy

Required 01 English Graduate Teacher with B.Ed, preferably with experience, for a school in Kohima Town.

should be supported with Curriculum-Vitae and photocopies of all educational qualification, experience certificate, and any other necessary documents.

V A C A N C Y

English Teacher : 1 Post (for Middle School level) Educational Qualification : B.A (English Honors/ M.A (English) with B. Ed or D.El.Ed

Interested Candidate(s) are invited to apply on or before 24th February 2023 , with full bio-data with all the academic documents of HSl C onwards.

Application may be submitted either through e-mail or physically at the given address.

DP-584/23

CHAIRMAN School Governing Board

Dimapur Mission Hr. Sec. School

Congress MP Rahul Gandhi speaks in the Lok Sabha during Budget Session of Parliament, in New Delhi, Tuesday. (PTI)

SNIPPETS

4 family members killed in Guj road accident

SURENDRANAGAR (GUJARAT), FEB 7 (IANS): Four members of a family were killed after a car, in which they were travelling, rammed into a truck in Gujarat’s Surendranagar district on Tuesday. The locals and police had a tough time as they had to literally tear the car doors to pull out the bodies. The bodies have been sent to a government hospital for the post-mortem.

RPI leader’s office set afire in Andhra

AMARAVATI, FEB 7 (IANS): Unidentified people set afire the office of Republic Party of India’s Andhra Pradesh unit president Borugadda

Anil in Guntur in the early hours of Tuesday. The miscreants poured petrol and torched Anil’s office around 1.30 a.m. The office was completely gutted in the fire. Anil blamed Nellore rural MLA Kotamreddy Sridhar Reddy, who had recently raised a banner of revolt against ruling YSR Congress Party (YSRCP).

Bajrang Dal associate shot dead in Udaipur

UDAIPUR, FEB 7 (PTI):

A man associated with the Bajrang Dal was shot dead here by two assailants, police said on Tuesday.

The 38-year old Raju Teli was shot outside his shop on Monday night. He was rushed to a nearby hospital where he was declared dead, police said. Soon after the incident, his family members and members of Hindu outfits gathered at the spot and demanded immediate arrest of the accused. “Raju Teli was shot dead in front of his shop on Monday night,” SP, Udaipur, Vikas Sharma said. He said efforts are being made to identify the accused involved in the firing.

PDP, AAP protest against eviction drive

SRINAGAR, FEB 7 (PTI): The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the AamAadmi Party (AAP) on Tuesday held demonstrations against the ongoing anti-encroachment by the Jammu and Kashmir administration. Holding placards denouncing the use of bulldozers, dozens of PDP leaders and workers took out a protest march from their party office near Sher-e-Kashmir Municipal Park here.

PDP, National Conference (NC), Congress, Democratic Azad Party and People’s Conference too, have denounced the drive and asked the Lieutenant Governor’s administration to stop it.

Two held in UP for luring people to convert

KAUSHAMBI (UP), FEB 7 (PTI): Two men have been arrested for allegedly luring people to convert to Christianity on the pretext of curing them of their diseases, police said on Tuesday. Gendalal and Hiralal were arrested on Monday from the Saini area for allegedly trying to covert people in Ghumai village, Superintendent of Police Brijesh Kumar Srivastava said.

NEET-Super Speciality percentile reduced

NEW DELHI, FEB 7 (PTI): The Union health ministry in consultation with the National Medical Commission (NMC) has decided to reduce the eligibility criterion for NEETSuper Speciality courses from 50 percentile to 20 percentile, officials said on Tuesday. Candidates who have scored 20 percentile and above in the NEETSuper Speciality (SS) will be eligible to participate in the “special mop-up round”, they said.

Rahul questions surge in Adani’s wealth under PM

NEW DELHI, FEB 7 (PTI): Leading the Opposition attack over the Adani-Hindenburg issue in Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday linked Gautam Adani’s meteoric rise to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s coming to power and said “magic” happened after 2014 that propelled the businessman from the 609th to the second spot on the global rich list.

The Congress leader’s remarks drew a sharp response from the treasury benches, with Law Minister Kiren Rijiju asking him not to level “wild allegations” and furnish proof of his claims.

Speaker Om Birla disapproved of the Congress leader displaying two pictures of Prime Minister Narendra Modi - one in which he can be seen with Adani inside a plane and the other in which he is getting down from a plane which has an Adani logo on it - to highlight their alleged proximity.

Participating in the debate on the Motion of Thanks to the President’s Address in Lok Sabha as the first Opposition speaker, Gandhi made a barrage of allegations including that

PM Modi helped Adani bag overseas contracts in various sectors.

Posing questions for the prime minister, Gandhi asked how many times has he travelled together on a foreign trip with Adani.

“How many times did Adani ji join you later on a visit? How many times Adani ji travelled to a country immediately after you visited the country? How many times Adani ji bagged a contract in a foreign country after your visit there?” Gandhi said.

He asked how much money Adani has given to the BJP in the last 20 years, including through electoral bonds.

Gandhi also hit out at PM Modi for slamming the

Opposition over its criticism of the Rafale deal by allegedly overlooking the capabilities of Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL).

“Yesterday the prime minister said at HAL that we hurled wrong allegations. But in reality, HAL’s contract of 126 aircraft went to Anil Ambani, who then went bankrupt,” Gandhi said.

Gandhi, who just completed his over 4,000 km Bharat Jodo Yatra, said people asked him how Adani got into so many businesses and succeeded, as well as what is the nature of his relationship with the prime minister.

“From Tamil Nadu, Kerala to Himachal Pradesh, we have been listening one

Opposition members in Lok Sabha criticise President’s address

NEW DELHI, FEB 7 (PTI): Some Opposition members in Lok Sabha on Tuesday criticised the President’s address to the joint session of parliament, saying it contained “some half-truths” and did not talk about important issues like the Women’s Reservation Bill.

Participating in the debate on the Motion of Thanks on the President’s Address, BJD’s Pinaki Misra said it was “somewhat a untrustworthy document,” and it “suppressed” several truths.

The address talked about women empowerment, but it did not mention the Women’s Reservation Bill, which is pending for long, he said. “We

are deeply unhappy that Women Reservation Bill does not find mention in the address.”

He also said the address talked about the poor, but in the Budget, the government slashed allocation to the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act 2005 (MGNREGA).

The finance minister needs to reconsider this, he added.

The BJD member also said that “some half-truths crept into the statement” on medical colleges also. Most colleges lack good infrastructure and equipment, he said. However, Misra added that government policies on mines, minerals and air connectivity have

SC assures Bilkis Bano of early hearing of her plea

NEW DELHI, FEB 7 (PTI): The Supreme Court on Tuesday assured BilkisBano, who was gang-raped and seven members of her family killed during the 2002 Gujarat riots, that her plea against the remission of the sentence of 11 convicts will be heard soon after the constitution of a new bench. A bench of Chief Justice DY Chandrachud and justices PS Narasimha and JB Pardiwala assured Bano, represented through her lawyer Shobha Gupta, that the new bench will be formed at the earliest.

Gupta mentioned the matter for urgent hearingand said that a new bench needs to be constituted by the Chief Justice of India as Justice Bela M Trivedi recused from hearing the plea. CJI Chandrachud said, “I will do so at the earliest. The matter will be listed soon”. Earlier, on January 24, the hearing on Bano’s plea challenging the remission of sentence of 11 convicts in the gang-rape case by the Gujarat government could not be held in the top court as the judges concerned were hearing a matter related to passive euthanasia as part of a five-judge Constitution bench.

Police to crack whip on...

(From p-1)

during the upcoming election to the State Legislative Assembly could not be ruled out. In view of this, owners of government vehicles purchased in the auction but had not been changed the registration have been directed to contact the nearest police station along with relevant documents for having applied for registration and give an undertaking that the vehicle would not be used for any illegal activities that would violate the Model Code of Conduct.

The police also request-

Medical colleges in India has gone up to 654 from 387: Govt

bone in setting up a group of businessmen in Gujarat, he said, adding that the result was a tremendous expansion of Adani’s businesses in Gujarat.

name everywhere ‘Adani’. Across the entire country, it’s just ‘Adani’, ‘Adani’, ‘Adani’...,” Gandhi said. He said that during the yatra people also asked him how Adani’s net worth increased from $8 billion to $140 billion between 2014 and 2022.

“The (Adani-Modi) relationship began many years ago when Narendra Modi was Gujarat CM. When most of India was asking questions of the prime minister, was against the PM (then CM Narendra Modi), one man stood shoulder to shoulder with PM Modi, he was loyal to the prime minister and helped Mr Modi construct the idea of a resurgent Gujarat,” Gandhi said. Adani was the back -

“Then the real magic starts, when the PM comes to Delhi and the real magic begins in 2014. In 2014, he was in 609th spot on the list of richest people and climbed to the second spot,” the former Congress chief said Gandhi also raised the issue of the report by US-based Hindenburg Research, saying it alleged that Adani has shell companies abroad.

Pointing out that Adani works in strategic sectors, he said the government must find out about these shell companies as to who controls them as this is a national security issue.

The opposition has been demanding a joint parliamentary committee probe or a Supreme Courtmonitored investigation into the allegations of fraud and manipulation made by Hindenburg Research against Adani’s companies that triggered an unprecedented stock crash. The group has denied the charges.

NEW DELHI, FEB 7 (PTI): There has been a 69-per cent increase in the number of medical colleges in the country, from 387 before 2014 to 654 as of now, the government informed Parliament on Tuesday.

Further, there has been a 94-per cent rise in the number of MBBS seats, from 51,348 to 99,763, and a 107-per cent increase in the number of postgraduate (PG) seats, from 31,185 before 2014 to 64,559 as of now, Minister of State for Health Bharati Pravin Pawar said in a written reply to a question in the Rajya Sabha.

In order to increase the number of doctors in the country, the government has hiked the number of medical colleges and consequently, that of MBBS

Bharati Pravin Pawar

seats, she said. The steps taken by the government to increase the number of medical seats in the country include a centrally-sponsored scheme for the establishment of new medical colleges by upgrading the district and referral hospitals, Pawar said, adding that 94 of the 157 new medical colleges approved are already functional.

AAP opts out of 2023 poll battle

(From p-1)

consultation with the AAP’s Northeast in-charge. He however assured that AAP would start the campaign for enrolment of membership, and therefore, appealed to all likeminded people who subscribe to a new vision of governance and deliverance for the people of Nagaland to join hands. Keyho said this would help endeavour to meet the challenges with a new hope for any electoral democratic exercise ahead in the near future.

JEE-Main result: 20 candidates score perfect 100

NEW DELHI, FEB 7

ed the retired government officers using government vehicles to return the vehicles to the departments concerned or not use these till the completion of the election process.

Meanwhile, in order to control various traffic violations in the State, the police had been conducting special drive since February 1. In order to inculcate traffic discipline and reduce accidents, rash and negligent driving and control various offences under the Motor Vehicles Act, the police said they would further intensify and continue these actions.

Poll-related violence in Mkg...

(From p-1)

However, the candidate was reportedly not present at the house at the time of the incident.

As per the statements of the victims, police said more than 20 miscreants with faces covered, vandalized the house and properties, injuring two of the occupants. The injured were rushed to hospital for treatment. Police said that a case has been registered and further investigation on to identity the miscreants.

worked well. JD (U) member Kaushalendra Kumar said that the government is talking about amrit kal, but there is nothing like that.

Kumar alleged that the Modi-government has failed to provide jobs to people and also failed to bring back black money. He also demanded special status for Bihar.

Danish Ali (BSP) alleged the government has worked only for the benefit of corporates like Adani. He alleged that sugar mills have not paid dues running into thousands of crores to farmers.

Ali also alleged the government was threatening the judiciary. “What is happening in this country,” asked.

(PTI): Twenty candidates have scored perfect 100 in engineering entrance exam JEE-Main’s January edition, the National Testing Agency (NTA) announced on Tuesday.

All the candidates with 100 NTA score in the Joint Entrance Exam (JEE)Main are males.

The 20 toppers include 14 from the general category, four from the OBC category and one each from gen-EWS and SC category. While MdSahil Akhtar is the PwD topper with 99.9848042 NTA score, the SC topper is DeshankPratap Singh with 100 NTA score and ST topper is DheeravathThanuj with 99.99041.

The candidates who scored 100 NTA scores are

TEACHER REQUIRED

(For a Coaching Institute in Dimapur) Teacher (Botany): M. Sc. (Botany / Biotechnology) Preferences will be given to candidate with teaching experience in Higher Sec. Section.

TEACHER VACANCy

Required 01 English Graduate Teacher with B.Ed, preferably with experience, for a school in Kohima Town.

should be supported with Curriculum-Vitae and photocopies of all educational qualification, experience certificate, and any other necessary documents.

AbhineetMajety, AmoghJalan, ApurvaSamota, Ashik Stenny, BikkinaAbhinavChowdary, DeshankPratap Singh, Dhruv Sanjay Jain, DnyaneshHemendraShinde, DuggineniVenkataYugesh, Gulshan Kumar, GuthikondaAbhiram, KaushalVijayvergiya, Krish Gupta, Mayank Son, N K Vishwaajith, NipunGoel, Rishi Kalra, Soham Das, SutharHarshulSanjaybhai and VavilalaChidvilas Reddy. “The NTA scores of 50 candidates have been withheld as they are under scrutiny The cases of these candidates are being placed before a committee separately. Their NTA scores will be declared once the committee finalises

its report,” a senior NTA official said. NTA score is not the same as percentage of marks obtained but normalised scores.

“NTA scores are normalised scores across multi-session papers and are based on the relative performance of all those who appeared for the examination in one session. The marks obtained are converted into a scale ranging from 100 to 0 for each session of examinees,” the official explained.

A record 95.80 per cent attendance was recorded in the January edition of the crucial exam with over 8.23 lakh candidates appearing for it.

The examination was held in 13 languages (As-

VISITING CONSULTANT

samese, Bengali, English, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Odia, Punjabi, Tamil, Telugu, and Urdu). The examination was also conducted outside India in 17 cities of Manama, Doha, Dubai, Kathmandu, Muscat, Riyadh, Sharjah, Singapore, Kuwait City, Kuala Lumpur, Lagos and Abuja, Colombo, Jakarta, Moscow, Port Louis, Bangkok, Washington D.C.

The second edition of the exam will be conducted in April. After both sessions of JEE (Main) - 2023 examination, the ranks of the candidates will be released taking into consideration the best of the two NTA scores in accordance with the policy already made.

Dr. Deva Kumar Borgohain, MCH Neurosurgery (AIIMS) Consultant Neurosurgeon, EXCELCARE HOSPITAL, PASCHIM BORAGOAN, NH: 37, Guwahati, Assam will be available for consultation on 11th Feb. 2023 from 2 PM to 5 PM.

He is specialized in all neurological conditions.

For further details and appointments, kindly call the Reception at 03862-248288 / 296600

DP-590/23

DIMAPUR MISSION HIGHER SECONDARY SCHOOL Churches Colony, Near City Tower, Dimapur Email: dmhssdim@gmail.com

V A C A N C Y

English Teacher : 1 Post (for Middle School level) Educational Qualification : B.A (English Honors/ M.A (English) with B. Ed or D.El.Ed

Interested Candidate(s) are invited to apply on or before 24th February 2023 , with full bio-data with all the academic documents of HSl C onwards.

Application may be submitted either through e-mail or physically at the given address.

DP-584/23

CHAIRMAN School Governing Board

Dimapur Mission Hr. Sec. School

Congress MP Rahul Gandhi speaks in the Lok Sabha during Budget Session of Parliament, in New Delhi, Tuesday. (PTI)

RBI’s MPC might hike repo rate by 25 bps

CHENNAI, FEB 7 (IANS):

Will there be a convergence or divergence among the members of the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) on the 25 basis points (bps) policy rate hike, experts debate.

However, the experts believe that the MPC may hike the repo rate -- the rate at which RBI lends to the banks -- by 25 bps to 6.50 per cent on Wednesday. The RBI’s MPC meeting is on between February 6-8 to decide on the policy rates.

At the MPC meeting held during December 5-7, 2022, Prof. Jayanth R. Varma, a member voted against the resolution to hike the repo rate by 35 basis points to 6.25 per cent.

“The decision of RBI MPC in the first policy meeting (Feb-23) of CY23 is unlikely to be based on consensus. While we believe there is a higher likelihood

Cong

(From p-1)

of a modest 25 bps (or even lower) hike in the repo rate, the probability of a pause has also increased due to the last two monthly inflation prints and the relatively conservative borrowing projections for FY24,” Suman Chowdhury, Chief Analytical Officer, Acuite Ratings & Research said. Not ruling out a possibility of a split in the MPC on the rate hike Madhavi Arora, Lead Economist, Emkay Global Financial Services in a report said the vote split could be 4-2 or even 3-3 with the RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das’ veto.

“The last MPC minutes saw the two diverging members argue that (1) India has limited evidence of a wage-price spiral or demand-led inflation and (2) that the current policy rate is sufficient for inflation to glide back to the target,” Arora said.

According to Arora, the MPC tone will likely be

He demanded that chief minister Rio should declare to the people of Nagaland as to what his real intention has always been about.

“The gambit of six-month deadline started in 2003 with Rio’s election slogan and here we are with PM Modi at the center echoing the eternally corrupt Chief Minister’s conduct,” Khera said. He also reaffirmed that the priority of the Congress party would be safeguarding the interests of Nagaland on all fronts. Khera said the “real intention” of Rio had been to mislead the trusting people of Nagaland “because he couldn’t have possibly solved the Naga Political issue within six months as per his party’s slogan in 2003” because he always wanted to buy time to remain in power. He said that Congress had always had an open heart and a transparent approach of strategic resolution towards the peace-loving people of Nagaland. Khera said it was “impossible” to look away from the “procrastination and dilatory tactics” that have ever been at the core of modus operandi of the Democratic Alliance of Nagaland (DAN).

He said that Rio-led government has worked in tandem with BJP government at the centre to “widen the rift between the seven sisters especially

still cautious and data dependent, as inflation is still around the 6 per cent upper tolerance mark, even though it is poised to ease.

“With another shallow hike of up to 25 bps, the oneyear ahead estimated real repo rate will likely get fairly positive (implying a pause, although not necessarily an end to the cycle). We still think that the RBI would not turn too restrictive but reckon the situation is fluid and the extent of global disruption and disinflation will remain key to the RBI’s reaction function ahead,” he remarked.

“Inflation has come down substantially over the last three months and showing further downward momentum. External conditions have also eased with slower rate hikes in the US. The RBI’s foreign exchange reserves have also increased over the last few months. All these developments should provide comfort to the RBI.

with respect to Nagaland” adding that it would be Congress’ priority to mend that. Khera said that the honest people of Nagaland were “all set to oust dishonesty” and bring in transparency with the Congress. He said people were ready for change and expressed confidence that Congress would win the election, form government and deliver good governance to the state of Nagaland.

Also speaking at the press conference, NPCC president K Therie said that Naga intellectuals have lost an independent mind to decide the future as they were rather, “Slaves of money and power”. Therie noted how candidates were rushing to join other political parties such as Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas), which he said, had no presence at all in Nagaland and have no stand on any issue or word.

Claiming that LJP was part of NDA and close to prime minister Modi , Therie said that the intent of LJP-BJP was to eliminate NDPP. Theire said people of Nagaland would decide whom to vote for. He said that the Congress was confident that even the weakest candidate will be able to win through the party’s manifesto. Therie said the source of power behind Congress was that it has confidence of returning to power in 2024 at the Centre.

We expect the RBI will pause the rate hiking cycle in the February meeting and will maintain the repo rate at 6.25 per cent for extended period. It might also change the policy stance to neutral,” said Pankaj Pathak, Fund Manager, Fixed Income, Quantum AMC. According to Pathak, the bond market should react positively. “We expect bond yields to go down gradually though elevated bond supply will limit the downside of yields.”

Retail inflation for December 2022 fell to a year’s low of 5.72 per cent, mainly due to low food prices, especially those of fruits and vegetables.

This was the second consecutive month when it has remained within the RBI’s tolerance band of 2 per cent to 6 per cent.

However, economists are worried as the core inflation remains on the higher side.

DGP launches e-Police mobile app

(From p-1)

ETSPL CEO Tiarenla Jamir gave a brief presentation on the app and disclosed that e-Police was a record management system that had been envisaged to help the police in maintaining effectively digital records related to cases such as nonFIR, non-bailable warrants, seizures, deposit of arms and arrests. He claimed that the app would help the police in storing records systematically while generating insightful reports to aid in informed decision making and quick retrieval of records. He pointed out that all these would allow the police to dispose of cases and conduct investigations more efficiently.

With the utilisation of the app, Jamir hoped that Nagaland Police would be able to bolster policing and provide a huge boost to it endeavour to serve the citizens of Nagaland in a better way. Chümoukedima assistant commissioner of police (ACP) Ninoto I Zhimomi chaired the programme and Dimapur commissioner of police Kevithuto Sophie welcomed the gathering.

(From p-1) After Isak’s impeachment notice was declared on January 4 by Khango, Zheito claimed that the council of ministers held a meeting on January 5 and decided to send a letter of request to Khango to revoke the impeachment order since it was not under Yezhabo.

He said since Khango did not adhere to the request of council of ministers, the house unanimously decided to impeach Khango on January 6.

“NSCN/GPRN was formed to fight for Naga nation and not to work for either Baba Khango or Isak Sumi. But since Baba Khango went against Yezhabo, the house decided to impeach him,” he stated. He further alleged that Isak was not only impeached by Khango but there was also an attempt to murder on Isak Zheito reaffirmed the government’s stand and willingness to reconcile as per the request of WC, NNPGs for the betterment of all Nagas.

Furthermore, in his address, dep-

uty kilonser home Khone Lachumong Chang stated that he was not aware of impeachment of Isak and that he was unhappy with the works carried out by Khango. He also termed the impeachment of Isak as a one person’s work, and not the entire government. “Even if he (Khango) is the president, he would not be able to form the government,” he pointed out. He also claimed that Khango was in favour of breaking alliance from the seven NNPGs.

Also addressing the gathering, deputy chief of Naga Army Pangging Konyak explained the working system of the government and how Isak had also helped Khango in forming the government.

Meanwhile, in a communiqué, NSCN (K) Isak-led group declared that since there was no positive response to its call to Nagas to reconcile at this crucial juncture from the impeached president and the “outlawed gang”, the government would move ahead in accordance with NSCN/

GPRN constitution, whereby vicepresident Luyanba Yimkhiung had assumed office as president, Isak Sumi as ato kilonser and deputy chief of Naga Army Pangging Konyak as the chief. The group also asserted that it was not a property of anyone.

The statement further clarified that the suffix “Khango” previously used by NSCN/GPRN (K) to differentiate from others, as many splinters groups originated from NSCN/GPRN (K), and with the impeachment of Khango Konyak, would have no significance as the ceasefire agreement was between two entities, the Central government and NSCN/GPRN, represented by its functionaries.

Therefore, with the mandate of Naga people and the blessing of NNPGs, NSCN/GPRN once again appealed to all to continue their unwavering support and collaborate together to free the Naga society from the clutches of criminal gang in guise of national workers.

NDPP-BJP alliance will win over 40 seats: Patton

(From p-1)

Addressing a mammoth gathering at Longsa village, he acknowledged that there were more than 100 party ticket seekers, though majority could not be accommodated due to the seat-sharing arrangement. He cautioned that even though Ezung received the ticket, it did not ensure him a victory. He thus appealed to villagers to extend their full support to Ezung and elect him so for their welfare. He admitted that former legislators from 38 AC had done a lot, but stressed that there was still so much to be done more. And for that, he claimed that a responsible person like Ezung was picked to represent the constituency.

Patton asserted that out of the 20 seats from where BJP would be contesting, all efforts would be made to ensure that the party won at least 17-18 seats else, he admitted that it would be a huge embarrassment for the party.

He also declared that the NDPP-BJP coalition would form the next government again and complete the term without any glitch.

Assuring to provide all assistance to develop

the constituency if Ezung was voted to power, Patton remarked that the electorate must allow their constituency to shine and set an example for rest of the State to emulate.

He also appealed to party workers and supporters not to be overconfident but come out of their home and participate in the electoral process. He also reiterated to maintaining a peaceful environment and allow the election process to complete peacefully.

In his address, Ezung acknowledged and thanked Patton for securing him the ticket and for the assistance and guidance rendered to him thus far. He remarked that it was because of the party workers and supporters that he was contesting the election and promised welfare for the people of 38 AC if elected.

Speaking on the occasion, BJP Wokha district

president Subenthung Kithan remarked that though the party did not want seat sharing as the party was growing, the central leadership decided in its favour, leading to disappointment among many aspiring candidates from the party.

He however assured that the pre-poll alliance

would be maintained and, as BJP had allotted a ticket to Ezung, he urged the electorate not to cause embarrassment and elect Ezung. P Zubenthung Humtsoe also spoke at the meeting, while welcome address was delivered by Longsa Village Council chairman Ponphyamo Kikon.

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has genuine care and clarity for Nagas...

SNIPPETS

Shehbaz Sharif to visit Turkey

ISLAMABAD, FEB 7

(IANS): Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif will travel to Turkey on Wednesday to offer support to the quake-hit nation where a 7.8-magnitude quake that struck an area near the Syrian border killed nearly 5,000 people in the two countries. In a tweet on Tuesday, Information Minister Marriyum Aurangzeb said the Prime Minister will leave for Ankara on Wednesday morning.

3 dead in boat mishap in Greece

ATHENS, FEB 7(AP):

Three migrants died and 16 others were rescued off the Greek island of Lesbos on Tuesday after a dinghy transporting them from the nearby coast of Turkey hit rocks in high winds, authorities said. The coast guard said the three bodies were recovered off the eastern coast of the island, adding that a rescue effort involving two patrol boats, a helicopter and ground crews was underway to search for others possibly missing. None of the people on the dinghy had been given life jackets.

36 killed in Peru mudslide

LIMA (PERU), FEB 7

(AP): Landslides triggered by steady rains swept mud, water and rocks into several villages in southern Peru, killing at least 36 people, authorities said on Monday. Wilson Gutierrez, a civil defense official in the Mariano Nicolas Valcarcel municipality in Camana province, told local radio RPP that 36 bodies had been recovered in a remote sector called Miski.

Pakistan to unblock Wikipedia

ISLAMABAD, FEB 7 (PTI): Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has ordered authorities to unblock Wikipedia “with immediate effect”, days after the country’s telecommuni cation watchdog banned the online encyclopedia for its failure to remove offensive and blasphemous content. Blasphemy is a sensitive issue in Muslimmajority Pakistan.

Mother, 7 children die in house fire

PARIS, FEB 7 (IANS):

A mother and her seven children aged between 2 and 14 died in a house fire in France’s northern department of Aisne, the local prefecture confirmed in a press release.

Just after midnight on Monday, the blaze ripped through a twostory house in the city of Charly-sur-Marne, Xinhua news agency reported.

Turkey President declares state of emergency

ISTANBUL, FEB 7 (AGENCIES): Turkish

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday declared a three-month state of emergency in 10 southeastern provinces hit by a major earthquake that has claimed thousands of lives.

Rescue in recovery work in the isolated region near Syria has been hamstrung by a fierce winter storm that has made some roads impassable and slowed the delivery of food and aid, reports AFP.

Erdogan said a series of emergency measures would be taken to flood the affected areas with humanitarian relief workers and financial aid.

“We have decided to declare a state of emergency to ensure that our (rescue and recovery) work can be carried out quickly,”

Erdogan said in televised remarks. “We will quickly complete the presidential and parliamentary processes related to this decision, which will cover our 10 provinces where the

Around 23 mn May be affected by earthquake in Turkey, Syria: WHO

Senior officials from the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Tuesday that Syria’s humanitarian needs were the highest after a major earthquake killed thousands there and in southern Turkey, reports Reuters. Adelheid Marschang, WHO Senior Emergency Officer, said Turkey had a strong capacity to respond to the crisis but that the main unmet needs in the immediate and mid-term would be across the border in Syria, already grappling with a years-long humanitarian crisis due to the civil war and a cholera outbreak.

“This is a crisis on top of multiple crises in the affected region said at the organization’s board meeting in Geneva,” she said.

“All over Syria, the needs are the highest after nearly 12 years of protracted, complex crisis, while humanitarian funding continues to decline.”

Pak government postpones APC on terrorism, again

ISLAMABAD, FEB 7

(PTI): The Pakistan government on Tuesday postponed for a second time a crucial meeting of all parties to discuss the increasing incidents of militancy in the country and the ways to tackle the growing menace. The All Parties Conference (APC), initially set to meet on February 7, was rescheduled to take place on February 9 but was delayed again.

She said that some 23 million people, including 1.4 million children, were likely to be exposed both senior officials from the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Tuesday that Syria’s humanitarian needs were the highest after a major earthquake killed thousands there and in southern Turkey.

UK cop

sentenced to life term for 71 sexual offences

LONDON, FEB 7 (AGENCIES): An Indian-origin UK judge on Tuesday sentenced a former policeman to life in jail, with a minimum term of 30 years, for dozens of rapes and sexual assaults in the latest case to shame London’s Metropolitan Police force, reports AFP.

Justice Parmjit Kaur “Bobbie” CheemaGrubb, presiding over the sentencing hearing at Southwark Crown Court in London, handed David Carrick 36 life sentences for a “monstrous” string of 71 sexual offences against 12 women.

People react as they sit on the wreckage of collapsed buildings, in Aleppo, Syria, Tuesday. (AP/PTI) earthquake has been experienced and will last for three months.”

Erdogan’s government is coming under growing pressure on social media for what his critics view as a slow response to Turkey’s biggest earthquake in nearly a century.

The latest toll showed Monday’s 7.8-magnitude tremor and its aftershocks killing 3,549 people in Turkey and 1,602 in government- and rebel-controlled parts of Syria.

Erdogan said his government would send more than 50,000 aid workers to

China says it will ‘safeguard interests’ over balloon shootdown

BEIJING, FEB 7 (AP): China said Tuesday it will “resolutely safeguard its legitimate rights and interests” over the shooting down of a suspected Chinese spy balloon by the United States, as relations between the two countries deteriorate further.

The balloon prompted U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken to cancel a highly-anticipated visit to Beijing this week that had offered slight hopes for an improvement in relations.

China claims it was a civilian balloon used for meteorological research but has refused to say to which government department or company it belongs.

Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning on Tuesday reiterated that the “unmanned airship” posed no threat and entered U.S. airspace accidentally.

Mao again criticised the U.S. for overreacting rather than adopting a “calm, professional” manner, and for using force in bringing the balloon down Saturday in the Atlantic Ocean just off the U.S. coast.

Asked if China wanted the debris returned, she only reasserted that the balloon “belongs to China.” “The balloon does not belong to

Mao Ning

the U.S. The Chinese government will continue to resolutely safeguard its legitimate rights and interests,” Mao said at a daily briefing without giving further details. Beijing’s attitude has hardened considerably following a surprisingly mild initial response on Friday, in which it described the balloon’s presence as an accident and expressed “regret” for the balloon having entered the U.S.

Subsequent statements have grown firmer, in the same tone used to confront the U.S. over issues from Taiwan to trade, technology restrictions and China’s claim to the South China Sea. China says it lodged a formal complaint with the U.S. Embassy in Beijing, accusing Washington of having “obviously overreacted and seriously violated the spirit of international law and international practice.”

Recent developments have laid bare the extremely fragile nature of what many had hoped could be a manageable economic, political and military rivalry.

U.S.-China tensions have stirred deep concern in Washington and among many of its allies.

They worry that outright conflict could have a strong negative impact on the global economy, especially since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine last year, on which China has largely sided with Moscow.

Balloons either suspected of or confirmed to be Chinese have been spotted over countries from Japan to Costa Rica.

Taiwanese media have reported that mysterious white balloons had been spotted over the island at least three times in the past two years.

That’s especially concerning because China claims Taiwan as its own territory to be brought under its control by force if necessary and routinely sends warships and military aircraft into the island’s air defence identification zone and across the middle line of the Taiwan Strait dividing the sides.

RESIGNATION

We, the undersigned party office bearers of NDPP from 47 Aboi Assembly Constituency, do hereby tender our resignation from active and primary membership on this day the 7th February 2023.

We have decided to join Republican Party of India (RPI) (A)and pledge to support Shri. Wangka Konyak, an intending candidate of RPI (A) 47 A/C Aboi.

1 Nyei-e Working President

2 b. Chaohong Konyak President Youth Wing

3 Eangchi G/S Youth Wing

4 S. Tongmeth Advisor Youth Wing

Declaration of support to Shri. Renponthung Ezung, BJP candidate 38 Wokha A/C

In a general meeting held on 04/02/2023, Shri. P. Zubenthung Humtsoe along with his supporters have declared unconditional support to Shri. Renponthung Ezung, BJP candidate representing 38 Wokha A/C for the forth coming general election to fulfil the aspirations of the people and for overall development and progress.

The general public of Longsa village would like to extend our sincere gratitude to Shri. P. Zubenthung Humtsoe for the sacrifice made for welfare of the village and for the constituency in general.

Ponphyamo Kikon

the area and allocate 100 billion liras ($5.3 billion) in financial help.

Erdogan’s handling of the biggest natural disaster in his two-decade rule could prove crucial ahead of tightly-contested parliamentary and presidential polls on May 14.

Adelheid Marschang, WHO Senior Emergency Officer, said Turkey had a strong capacity to respond to the crisis but that the main unmet needs in the immediate and mid-term would be across the border in Syria, already grappling with a years-long humanitarian crisis due to the civil war and a cholera outbreak.

“This is a crisis on top of multiple crises in the affected region said at the organization’s board meeting in Geneva,” she said.

Russian shells spark hospital fire ahead of expected assault

KYIV, FEB 7 (AP): Russian shelling hit more civilian targets in Ukraine, starting a fire at a town’s hospital, local officials said Tuesday, before what Kyiv authorities suspected was an impending new offensive by Russia around the anniversary of its invasion. A hospital in the northeastern town of Vovchansk caught fire late Monday

as a result of the shelling, regional Ukrainian emergency services reported.

The shelling caused multiple fires in the town, including at its two-story municipal hospital, the State Emergency Service in the northeastern Kharkiv region said in an online statement.

Emergency crews evacuated eight civilians from

PUBLIC NOTICE

It is hereby notified to the following land purchasers, those who purchased land under Khehokhu Village jurisdiction to contact the undersigned on or before 11th February 2023 (Saturday) to discuss important issue related to LPG Gas Pipe Line.

Land Purchased Area :

1. Bokavi Chishi

2. Late Zhehuto

3. Khehuvi

4. Obang Longchari (K. Meren)

5. Pishito Aye (Ajila & Moala) (S. Semato) Secretary Khehokhu Village Council M/No. 9856859733

DP-589/23

the site before putting out the blaze, which caused no casualties, authorities said. Vovchansk is in the Kharkiv region, which was occupied by Russia after its full-scale invasion began on Feb. 24 and subsequently retaken by Ukraine during a counteroffensive last year.

Information Minister Marriyum Aurangzeb tweeted about the meeting being postponed, as Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif would be travelling to Turkiye on Wednesday to show solidarity in the wake of the tragic earthquake there.

The premier is also expected to meet Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

“Due to the prime minister’s visit to Turkey, the APC convened on Thursday, February 9 is being postponed, a new date will be announced in consultation with the allies,” Aurangzeb tweeted. The government last week decided to call a meeting of all political parties after a suicide bombing inside a mosque in Peshawar killed over 100 people. Pakistan is in the grip of a new wave of terrorism, and the APC is expected to help to review the National Action Plan (NAP) to plug holes in the policy to deal with terrorism.

OFFICE OF THE DAPFHÜTSUMIA COUNCIL KOHIMA VILLAGE, NAGALAND

FELICITATION

The Dapfhütsumia Council, Kohima Village with immense pride and honour would Iike to expresses our hearty congratulations to Dr. Vibeituonuo M. Sachü wife of Dr. Khriesi Sachü on her being promoted to the post of Principal Director, Health and Family Welfare Department, Government of Nagaland. May the Almighty God grant her good health and wisdom to lead the Department. Dapfhütsumia Council wishes her all success in her future endeavors.

Pelesielie Khezhie Ketounei Kire Chairman General

Secretary D.Khel Council D.Khel Council

NOTICE

K-282/23

OFFICE OF THE WOKHA HUMTSO ELUMYO

SENIOR YOUTH WELFARE FORUM

Wokha- 797111: Nagaland

PRESS

NOTE

We, the Wokha Humtso Elumyo Senior Youth Welfare Forum (WHESYWF) convened an emergecny meeting Dated 6th Feb 2023 and resolved to unconditionally support and strengthen the visionary and dynamic leadership of Shri. Y. Mhonbemo Humtsoe, NCP intending candidate from 38 A/C, Wokha during the NLA Election 2023.

The forum also extends immense gratitude to National President NCP Shri. Sharad Pawar and Shri. Vanthungo Odyuo Nagaland NCP President for awarding the ticket to Shri. Y.Mhonbemo Humtsoe and assures them full cooperation in their leadership.

Further, the forum resolved to uphold the principle of free and fair election and appeal to all concern citizens to exercise their rights freely.

(YANREN.Y.TSANGLAO) (NZANTHUNG TUNGOE) PRESIDENT GENERAL SECRETARY WHESYWF WHESYWF D b-176/23

OFFICE OF THE KUHUBOTO GHAKHU STUDENTS' UNION

H.Q. KUHUBOTO TOWN. Affiliated to WSSU NIULAND - 797109 : NAGALAND MOTTO : "Labour & Honour" FELICITATION

With immense joy and happiness, the Kuhuboto Ghakhu Students' Union would like to extend its heartiest congratulations to Mr. Kabo G. Zhimomi for being elected as the President of Western Sumi Students' Union for the tenure 2023-2025 and Mr. P. Kiyekhu Yeputhomi on being elected as the president of Western Sumi Baptist Akukuhou Kuqhakulu (WSBAK) Council. The Union expresses its prayer that Almighty God continue to bless and guide you in each and every step you take.

Secretary DP -585/23

It is hereby notified to the General Public to take caution not to be misled by certain self-styled individual acting as Gaon Bura, as instances of attempted impersonation for political agenda is being prevailed in the recent days pertaining to the village authority.

Toluvi Village under Dimapur District has exclusively one Hereditary Village Chief Shri. T Tozhevi Chishi, Ato Kükau and Gaon Bura appointed by the Govt. Whosoever impersonates, manipulates or involves in any kind of Self-Proclamation and identity fabrication for a motivated purposes/cause for such shall be held liable and authoritative measures shall be taken for such malafide activities.

DP-588/23

T. Tozhevi Chishi Hd. G.B, Toluvi Village

OFFICE OF THE LANDMARK COLONY COUNCIL

DIMAPUR - 797112 : NAGALAND

Recog. No. Gen-11/2009-D/2802-05 Dt. 10th July 2009

Ref No. LMCC/GEN/2022-23 Date : 07/02/2023

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

The Landmark Colony Council and the Landmark Colony Youth Organization in particular and the Landmark Colony general public in general would like to express our deep appreciation and honour to our leader Shri. Moatoshi Longkumer , the Hon'ble MLA, II Dimapur-2 Assembly Constituency for fulfilling the long cherished dream of the colony public over the last forty years for having a good road by successful completion of black topping construction works of all Lanes of colony road recently.

In this regard, on behalf of the two organizations, i.e. the Landmark Colony Council as well as the Landmark Colony Youth Organization further convey our profound gratitude to every individual and organizations for extending your utmost support and cooperation to the road construction team for successful completion of the road construction. Sd/- Sd/(CHAIRMAN) (PRESIDENT) Landmark Colony Council Landmark Colony Youth Organization

‘Pathaan’ first Hindi film to make $100 mn without China release

audiences.

Similarly, ‘Bajrangi Bhaijaan’, which features Salman Khan, who also appears in ‘Pathaan’, is still ahead globally, having had a dubbed China release. There is no word yet on a China window for ‘Pathaan’.

Continuing its powerhouse run at worldwide turnstiles, Shah Rukh Khan’s espionage actioner ‘Pathaan’ has topped the global box office century mark (that is, in million dollars), getting there in 12 days on Sunday, reports ‘Deadline’.

And now with its earnings going up to $103.6 million through Monday, it is the first Bollywood movie to reach the $100-million milestone without a China release, ‘Deadline’ adds.

The split sits at Rs 526 gross crore ($64.2 million) in India and $39.4 mil -

lion from overseas markets through Monday. Already, the Siddharth Anand-directed movie is the biggest Bollywood movie ever globally in the original Hindi language.

This is where, according to ‘Deadline’, it gets slightly confusing in terms of the records posted. Aamir Khan-starrers ‘Dangal’ and ‘Secret Superstar’, both Bollywood titles, remain ahead of ‘Pathaan’ worldwide, but that includes more than $100 million each from China, where the movies were dubbed for local

Producer Nazim Rizvi, whose ‘Chori Chori, Chupke Chupke’ exposed Bollywood-Mafia links, dies in Mumbai

Controversial film producer Nazim Hassan Rizvi, whose hit film “Chori Chori, Chupke Chupke” (2001) blew the lid off the Bollywood-Mafia nexus, passed away at a private hospital here, industry sources said on Tuesday.

Re Aala” (2017).

In India, notes ‘Deadline’, where box office earnings are measured in both gross and net figures, ‘Pathaan’ maker Yash Raj Films reports that the film’s Rs 438.5 crore net takings on Monday surpassed the net of the Hindi-dubbed version of the Yash-starrer ‘KGF 2’ (it was originally in the Kannada language).

Next ahead of ‘Pathaan’ on a net basis is S.S. Rajamouli’s ‘Baahubali 2’ with a Rs 510-crore ($61.7 million) lifetime collection in Hindi (the film was originally in Telugu).

Whichever way you slice it, as ‘Deadline’ puts it, ‘Pathaan’ is having an incredible ride. (IANS)

Admitted to the Kokilaben Dhirubhai Ambani Hospital (KDAH) for certain undisclosed ailments, Rizvi breathed his last while under treatment late on Monday.

Said to be in his early 70s, his mortal remains are being taken to his native place in Uttar Pradesh for the funeral.

Rizvi had also produced other inferior films such as “Majboor Ladki” (1991), “Apaatkal” (1993), “Angarvaadi” (1998), “Undertrial” (2007), “Chori Chori, Chupke Chupke” (2001), “Hello, Hum Lallan Bol Rahe Hain” (2010), “Qasam Se, Qasam Se”, (2011), and “Laden Aala

However, he is widely known for the musical hit “Chori Chori, Chupke Chupke” starring the top trio of that time -- Salman Khan, Rani Mukherjee and Preity Zinta -- which discussed the topic of surrogate motherhood for the first time on the silver screen.

Nevertheless, the film, which shot him into big league, also made news for other unsavoury reasons. Shortly before its release, Rizvi and another financer Bharat Shah were arrested in December 2000 for allegedly diverting tainted underworld-linked money for the movie production.

The stunning expose was made by a crack team of Mumbai Police Crime Branch comprising former ‘encounter-specialists’ who had shadowed Rizvi, his associates, and investigated the case in depth before finally swooping on them.

The Mumbai Police

had charged the Rizvi-Shah duo with allegedly receiving funds from the Mumbai mafia, specifically from Shakeel Babumiyan Shaikh - dreaded as Chhota Shakeel - and a close aide of the absconder underworld don Dawood Ibrahim Kaskar.

Rizvi had been under surveillance for his alleged murky activities for months before the arrest by the Mumbai Police and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), which later seized the film’s negatives and prints, and deposited them with the Special MCOCA Court in Mumbai.

The film was finally released under the Special Court’s order, with an unprecedented directive that all profits earned by the movie should go to the Maharashtra government treasury.

Interestingly, the film’s credits had acknowledged the ‘role’ of the Special MCOCA Court, the Mum-

bai Police Crime Branch and the Court Receiver without whose untiring efforts and good offices the picture would never have been made.

Prior to its official release, the Mumbai Police were given a special screening as per a previous commitment and to ensure that there was no objectionable content in the film.

Ironically, during its formal release in cinemas in March 2001, where it got huge initial response, both Rizvi and Shah remained in jail, and later they were awarded six years and one year in jail, respectively.

“It was the film ‘Chori Chori, Chupke Chupke’ that is said to have convincingly proved the long-suspected theory of ‘Bollywood-Mafia, bhai-bhai’,” a veteran

Bollywood producer told IANS, preferring anonymity. However, the film’s fiasco and its aftermath opened alternative doors for more respectable channels of film financing like banks, later some companies, corporate houses and even MNCs entering the scene, he explained. He recalled how that was a trying period for Bollywood which was reeling under immense pressures from the underworld and mafia dons Gulshan Kumar was shot dead (August 1997), Mukesh Duggal was killed (March 1998), and an unsuccessful ‘warning’ attack was made against Rakesh Roshan (January 2000), besides other similar scary developments that rattled Bollywood biggies. (IANS)

LinkinParkannouncereleaseofnever-heard-beforesong‘Lost’ Chris Brown apologises to Robert Glasper after throwing tantrum

Li nkin Park have announced the release of a new song titled ‘Lost’. The band shared the news on social media earlier today (February 6), writing: ““Lost,” a new, never-before-heard song from the Meteora archives.

Out Friday, February 10th.”

The track will arrive ahead of the 20th anniversary of ‘Meteora’, which was the band’s second studio album, featuring hits like ‘Numb’ and ‘Somewhere I Belong’.

Fans have been specu-

lating Linkin Park could be gearing up to release an expanded version of ‘Meteora’ in honour of the album’s 20th anniversary.

Last month, Linkin Park posted a countdown on their website, which expired on February 1. This was then replaced by an interactive puzzle which fans have been scouring for clues.

Back in 2020, the band reissued debut album ‘Hybrid Theory’ across multiple formats. The anniversary edition of that record featured unreleased tracks.

Last May, they unveiled a new, deluxe edition of their 2007 album ‘Minutes To Midnight’. Linkin Park have been

on hiatus since the 2017 death of frontman Chester Bennington, but last year said they planned to communicate with their fans “a

little more regularly” moving forward.

It comes after Shinoda told fans that the band’s survivng members were still in regular contact. “The only Linkin Park news I have for you is that… Yeah, we talk every few weeks – I talk to the guys, or some of the guys,” Shinoda said on a Twitch stream last Spring. “And there’s no tours, there’s no music, there’s no albums in the pipeline. Okay, so let me just tell you that. So just keep in your minds that that is not happening.” (NME)

After throwing a temper tantrum, Chris Brown is backtracking on a series of comments he made following the 2023 Grammys.

The 33-year-old singer was up for an award in the best R&B album category and lost to pianist Robert Glasper, reports People magazine.

While other nominees in the category included PJ Morton, Mary J. Blige and Lucky Daye, Brown openly

Guide to gastric (stomach) cancer

What Is Gastric Cancer?

It’s when healthy cells in your stomach change and start to grow out of control. It tends to slowly get worse over many years. It can start in any part of your stomach and can spread to other areas of your body, including your liver, lungs, and bones.

Adenocarcinoma

This is the most common type of gastric cancer, making up as many as 95% of all cases. It starts in the tissues of your stomach lining, in the cells that make mucus and other fluids.

Other Types

Less common kinds of gastric cancer include ones that start in the cells of your digestive tract -- carcinoid tumors and gastric sarcoma -- and lymphomas, which are linked to part of your immune system called lymph nodes.

Who Gets Gastric Cancer?

Around 28,000 people get it each year in the U.S. -- about 60% of people diagnosed with it are over 65. Men are more likely to get it than women. It was the leading cause of cancer death in the U.S. until the 1930s, but now it’s the 14th most common type of cancer. Researchers think it may have become less common after refrigerators made it easier to store fruits and vegetables, and people began eating fewer salted and smoked foods.

Helicobacter pylori

(H. pylori)

This is a kind of bacteria that causes ulcers and inflammation in your stomach, and it’s one of the main causes of gastric cancer. There are different strains, some of which have a higher risk of cancer. Your doctor can test to see if you have this bacteria. H. Pylori can be treated with antibiotics, which may be another reason this kind of cancer is less common now

than in the 1930s. The only way to know you have this bacteria is with a test. If you have a parent, sibling, or child who’s been diagnosed with gastric cancer, you should get tested.

Medical History

You have a higher chance of getting gastric cancer if someone in your family has had it or you’ve had stomach surgery. A few medical conditions also can raise your chances: pernicious anemia (when you’re very low on red blood cells because you need more B12), familial adenomatous polyposis (when you have polyps in areas like your stomach and colon), and achlorhydria (when you don’t have enough of a certain acid in your digestive fluid).

Lifestyle Matters

Things you do every day can affect your chances of getting gastric cancer. Eating a lot of smoked foods, salted fish and meat, and pickled vegetables can boost your risk, along with not getting enough fruit and veg-

etables. You also might be more likely to get it if you smoke, drink a lot of alcohol, or are very overweight.

Stomach Cancer Symptoms

You may not notice any symptoms -- sometimes it’s not found until it’s spread to another part of your body. But here’s what to look for:

Tiredness

Feeling bloated or full after you eat even a little

Painful heartburn and indigestion

Nausea and vomiting

Diarrhea or constipation

Stomach pain

Weight loss for no reason

Not being hungry

Bloody or black stools

The Diagnosis

Your doctor will ask about any symptoms you have and do a physical exam. They’ll ask about your medical history and

lifestyle. If they think you might have gastric cancer, they’re likely to recommend that you see a doctor who specializes in digestive issues (a gastroenterologist) for tests.

Endoscopy

Your doctor probably will start with this test. They’ll send a tiny camera through a tube down your throat to look into your stomach. If anything doesn’t look right, they’ll take a tiny piece of tissue -- called a biopsy -- and send it to a lab, where they’ll look for cancer cells in the sample under a microscope.

Other Tests

Your doctor might suggest other ways to get a closer look at any tumor. This could be a CT (computerized tomography) scan, when several X-rays are taken from different angles and put together to make a more complete picture. Or you might have an MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) scan, which uses powerful magnets and radio waves to make detailed images.

Surgery

Your treatment depends on where your cancer is, how far it’s advanced, and your overall health. In most cases, sur-

gery to take out the tumor is the first step. Your doctor also might remove part or all of your stomach or take lymph nodes from other parts of your body to look for signs that the cancer has spread.

Radiation and Chemotherapy

You also may have radiation therapy (highpowered X-rays) or chemotherapy (powerful drugs) to shrink the tumor before surgery -- and possibly afterward as well to kill any leftover cancer cells. These two kinds of therapy are often used together.

Other Treatments

Your doctor may suggest targeted therapy -special drugs that find and attack cancer cells without harming the healthy cells around them. They also might talk with you about immunotherapy, which helps your body use its natural defenses to fight the cancer.

Clinical Trials

Ask your doctor if there are any stomach cancer research trials that might be right for you. These studies look at new drugs and procedures, so you might get to try the latest treatments.

Medically Reviewed by Gabriela Pichardo, MD

voiced his frustration after losing the award by verbally attacking Glasper in a series of posts shared to his Instagram Story. After Glasper’s 2022 album Black Radio III took home the

prize, he began expressing his feelings by writing on his story “YALL PLAYING WHO DA F-K IS THIS?” against a screenshot where Glasper was announced as the winner. (IANS)

Frolic Cup: MVYO to face Amigos in final

was sealed when Rhitso broke the defence of Fury and tipped the ball in the corner beyond the reach of the keeper.

Kerala, Goa to play opening of Santosh Final Round

Mandhana stays in top 3; Deepti drops to third in ICC T20 rankings

Tsovi Vasa of UFC in action against Lhangphong of MVYO.

DIMAPUR, FEB 7 (NPN): Medziphema Village Youth Organisation (MVYO) will face Amigos FC in the final match on Wednesday at the ongoing 8th Frolic Cup at Medziphema ground. Medziphema Village Youth Organisation and Amigos FC

have won their respective matches in the semi-final matches on Tuesday. In the first semi-final match, Amigos FC defeated Fury FC Molvom 3-0. The trilling match witnessed the fight for midfield dominance till the final whistle. The opening

score came early in the match in the 13th minute from Menguzelie. In the second half, a 30-yard shot from Nyithong in the 57th minute took the score to 2-0. Fury FC trying to come back for equaliser but lost a couple chances at close range. The match

Ghana winger Christian Atsu rescued from Turkey quake rubble with injuries

NEW DELHI, FEB 7

(IANS): Ghanaian wing-

er Christian Atsu, who was reported missing in Turkey’s Hatay province following the devastating earthquake, has been removed alive from the rubble of a building with injuries, his Turkish club Hatayspor’s Manager Mustafa Ozat has told Turkish radio on Tuesday.

The 31-year-old Gana international and his Sporting Director Taner Savut were trapped under rubble after the earthquake that killed at least 4,800 people in Turkey and Syria on Monday.

“Christian Atsu was removed injured. Our sporting director, Taner Savut, is unfortunately still under the rubble,” Hatayspor manager Mustafa Ozat told Turkish Radio Radyo Gol.

“Hatay was deeply affected. We are coming towards the end of the most dangerous hours,” he added.

Atsu, who has 65 caps for Ghana, represented the Black Stars at the 2014 World Cup and at four Africa Cup of Nations tournaments.

He is playing with Turkish Super Lig side Hatayspor, the main club in Hatay, which was one of the most affected Turk-

ish cities during the earthquakes. Atsu has spent the majority of his club career in England where he signed for Chelsea in September 2013. Then, he was loaned to a host of clubs including Everton, Bournemouth and Newcastle United FC, for whom he signed permanently in 2017.

In the second match, MVYO downed United Falcon Club 3-1 to book their berth in the final. The first goal came in the 9th minute when Thejasetuo tapped the ball into the UFC’s net. Despite strong midfield control, the MVYO attackers were denied goals by the disciplined defence and goal keeper. The second half saw the custodian on both side busy keeping their net safe. Avika of MVYO found the net in the 64th minute taking the lead to 2-0. A fine dribbling skill and finishing from Thejasetuo in the 76th minute took the score line to 3-0. The solitary goal for the UFC finally came from Nourhelhoulie in the 85th minute in a display of fine counter attack.

Wednesday’s final match Amigos FC Vs MVYO - 1 pm

Leeds Utd sack coach Marsch

LONDON, FEB 7 (IANS): Premier League club Leeds United have sacked coach Jessie Marsch after just a year in charge and with the club only above the relegation zone on goal difference.

“We would like to thank Jesse and his backroom staff for their efforts and wish them well for the future. The process of appointing a new head coach is underway and we will continue to keep supporters up to date throughout the coming days,” said the club in a statement that confirmed that Marsch’s backroom staff had also left their jobs.

The American replaced Marcelo Bielsa in February 2022 and last season managed to keep the club in the EPL with a last-day win away to Brentford, reports Xinhua. However, despite spending over 150 million euros on new signings over the summer and in January, the former Leipzig boss has been unable to bring results, while fans have not taken to his more pragmatic football in the wake of Bielsa’s more cavalier style of play.

NBA: Warriors’ Klay Thompson bombs in 12 treys

SAN FRANCISCO, FEB

7 (AGENCIES): Klay

Thompson bombed in an NBA season-high 12 3-pointers en route to 42 points, Jordan Poole aided the cause with a career-best 12 assists and the Golden State Warriors didn’t miss Stephen Curry’s offense in a 141-114 triumph over the Oklahoma City Thunder on Monday night in San Francisco.

Thompson shot 12for-16 from beyond the arc, becoming just the second player in NBA history with 12 or more threes in multiple games. Thompson holds the NBA record for 3-pointers in a game with 14.

Curry, sidelined after sustaining ligament damage in his left knee in Golden State’s win over the Dallas Mavericks on Saturday, is the only other player with 12 or more threes on more than one occasion.

Poole finished with 21 points while Andrew Wiggins added 18 for the Warriors, who earned their second consecutive win. Shai

Gilgeous-Alexander had 20 points and Aaron Wiggins scored 19 for Oklahoma City, which lost for the third time in the past four games.

Clippers 124, Nets 116

Kawhi Leonard hit the go-ahead 3-pointer with 2:46 remaining as Los Angeles ended a six-game road trip with a hard-fought victory over Brooklyn in New York.

Leonard, who scored 24 points, put the Clippers

ahead for good with 2:46 remaining when he hit a 3-pointer over Cam Thomas from the left side for a 114113 lead. After Leonard made two free throws with 2:13 left, Thomas missed a trey that would have tied the game with 1:57 to go and Leonard found Ivica Zubac for a dunk that made it 118113 with 1:41 remaining. Paul George scored 29 points for the Clippers, who went 4-2 on their trip. Zubac added 19 points and 12 rebounds. Thomas scored a career-high 47 points, becoming the second-youngest player in NBA history to score at least 40 points in consecutive games.

Bulls 128, Spurs 104

Nikola Vucevic posted

22 points and 12 rebounds and Andre Drummond had season highs of 21 points and 15 rebounds in 21 minutes as host Chicago topped struggling San Antonio.

The Bulls produced seven double-figure scorers en route to their third straight victory. Zach LaVine scored 20 points and DeMar DeRozan had 19.

The Spurs, who lost for the ninth straight time, got 21 points from Keldon Johnson. Malaki Branham put up 15 points, and Jakob Poeltl had 14 points and nine rebounds.

Cavaliers 114, Wizards 91

Darius Garland and Jarrett Allen scored 23 points apiece as visiting

NEW DELHI, FEB 7 (IANS): The final round of the 76th National Football Championship for the Santosh Trophy will begin on Friday in Bhubaneswar. The opening day of action will feature three games from Group A. Defending champions Kerala will take on Goa in the opening match at the Capital Football Arena at 9 AM IST. Later, Odisha, hosting the tournament for the first time since May 2012, will play Maharashtra, while eighttime champions Punjab battle it out against Karnataka at the 7th Battalion Ground; both matches set to kick off at 3 PM IST.

Group B, beginning the next day, features six teams as well, including direct final round entrants Railways and Services. They take on Manipur and Meghalaya, respectively, in their first matches. Last year’s runners-up West Bengal will start their final round campaign against Delhi.

NEW DELHI, FEB 7 (IANS): India opener Smriti Mandhana continued to be in the top three while all-rounder Deepti Sharma slipped one place in the latest ICC Women’s T20 rankings released on Tuesday. Mandhana stays in the third spot despite being dismissed cheaply against South Africa tri-series final, though does drop from 731 to 722 rankings points, while Australia duo Tahlia

McGrath and Beth Mooney hold onto first and second spots respectively. India skipper Harmanpreet Kaur remained on 612 rankings points and equal with Sri Lanka’s Chamari Athapaththu after scoring 21 runs against South Africa, both moving into the top 10. Deepti, on the other hand, slipped to third place in the all-rounder’s list despite opening the bowling and taking 1-19 in the same

Nagaland 50+ football team to participate at 5th National Masters Games in Varanasi

tri-series final. Sneh Rana was the big mover in the bowling rankings, rising four spots to sixth after claiming 2-21 in the final. England’s Sophie Ecclestone maintained the top spot with 763 points. A match-defining spell against India in a T20I tri-series final has propelled emerging South Africa spinner Nonkululek Mlaba to the second spot in just 27 matches with 753 rankings points.

WPL 2023 player auction list announced

MUMBAI, FEB 7 (IANS):

Cleveland routed shorthanded Washington. Donovan Mitchell had 21 points and Evan Mobley added 16 for Cleveland, which has won three in a row. Kristaps Porzingis led Washington with 18 points and seven rebounds. Will Barton added 15 points for the Wizards, who were without Kyle Kuzma (ankle) and Bradley Beal (foot). Cleveland held a 66-46 advantage at the break with all five starters scoring in double figures. The Cavaliers carried the momentum into the third quarter and stretched the lead to 9062 on Mobley’s two free throws. Both coaches rested their starters for much of the fourth quarter.

Nagaland men’s 50+ football team squad.

DIMAPUR, FEB 7 (NPN): Nagaland men’s 50+ football team will leave for Varanasi on Wednesday to participate in the 5th National Masters Games 2023 to be held in IIT BHU Gymkhana, Varanasi from February 11 to 14.

In a press release, Nagaland Masters Games

3rd Champions Trophy Day-2 match update

DIMAPUR, FEB 7 (NPN): Silver Machete Cricket Club (SMCC), Brezza IX and Rabbit BCC have registered their win in their respective matches on the second day of the ongoing 3rd Champions’ Trophy T-20 cricket tournament organised by Nagamese Baptist Fellowship Sports Ministry Chumoukedima village at Chumoukedima Town local ground.

In the first match played between Silver Machete Cricket Club (SMCC) and NIT Nagaland, SMCC won the match by 261 runs. Machete CC won the toss and taking on the bat, set a mammoth target of 306 runs where NIT Nagaland were all bowled out for just 44 runs.

In the second match, Brezza IX CC faced Optimus CC where Brezza IX CC set a target of 275 runs. Chasing the target, Optimus CC managed to score 193, losing the match by 82 runs.

In the third match of the day, the defending champion Flying Rabbit BCC faced Royal CC where Royal CC after batting first set they set a target of 171 runs. Flying Rabbit managed to chase the target in just 14.2 overs winning by 3 wickets.

Altogether, 32 teams are participating in the championship.

Association (NMGA) informed that the game is organised by the Masters Games Association, Uttar Pradesh under the auspices of the Masters Games Federation, India. Nagaland Masters Games Association also informed that NMGA 50+ team successfully par-

ticipated in the games in the 4th National Masters Games 2022 held in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala representing Nagaland. In the upcoming 5th National Masters Games, the team will be led by team manager Shiyito Achumi, coach Oniam Jet Singh and physio G Kamei.

The inaugural edition of the Women’s Premier League is set to be played in Mumbai from March 4-26. A total of 22 matches will be played with the Brabourne Stadium and DY Patil Stadium playing hosts to the marquee tournament. The Women’s Premier League Player Auction list is out with a total of 409 cricketers set to go under the hammer at the Jio World Convention Centre here on February 13th. A total of 1525 players registered for the inaugural Women’s Premier League Player Auction and the final list was pruned to 409 players. Out of 409 players, 246 are Indians and 163 are overseas players of which 8 players are from associate nations. The total capped players are 202, uncapped players are 199 and 8 from associate nations. A maximum of 90 slots are available with the five teams, with 30 being slotted for overseas players.

Long, Meng among world’s top paddlers to feature in WTT Star Contender Goa

GOA, FEB 7 (IANS): Table Tennis legend and reigning Olympic champion Ma Long and current women’s Olympic champion Chen Meng will be among a galaxy of the world’s top paddlers, to descend in India for the World Table Tennis (WTT) Star Contender Goa, scheduled from February 2 to March 5.

The tournament will be played at the Dr. Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Indoor Stadium is being hosted by Stupa Analytics as well as the Government of Goa. The Table Tennis Federation of India (TTFI) will also be the supporting partner of the tournament. The WTT Star Contender Goa is the highest level of Table Tennis event ever to be witnessed in India where the biggest global superstars of the sport will be seen in action.

Widely regarded as the best in the world, the 34-year-old Ma, who is a two-time Olympic champion will have his compatriot World No 1 Fan Zhendong, current world champion, to feature in the men’s singles, where Indian legend Sharath Kamal and Sathiyan Gnansekaran will also be putting up a challenge.

Among other leading lights of the men’s game, world number four Tomakazu Harimoto of Japan and World No. 6 Truls Moregard of Sweden, world No. 8 Lin Yun-Ju from Chinese Taipei and Darko Jorgic from Slovenia will also be

seen in action. In the women’s section, besides Chen, her countrywoman and top-ranked Sun Yingsha has also confirmed participation along with world number five Hina Hayata and Kasumi Ishikawa from Japan, Doo Hoi Kem of Hong Kong, and Ying Han from Germany.

Also trying to give them a run for their money on home turf will be the India’s No.1 and world number 34, Manika Batra.

Expressing her views on the mega event in India, Manika said: “Playing my first World Table Tennis event in Goa is going to be a great experience. It is always a great honour to play in front of a home crowd, and I can’t wait to hear them cheering us all on. We hope to make them proud.”

Leading the charge in the men’s singles for India will be world-ranked 41 Sathiyan, who won the men’s singles bronze in the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham last year and was also a part of India’s gold medal-winning men’s

team event, along with a silver in the men’s doubles event category. “I am excited to be playing my first WTT Series event in India. The field is incredibly strong, so all the matches are going to be tough. I hope as many fans as possible will come and support us in Goa,” Sathiyan said.

Accompanying Sathiyan will be the legendary and evergreen Sharath, gold medallist in the men’s singles, mixed doubles and men’s team events at the Commonwealth Games (CWG) 2022 Birmingham and currently ranked 47 in the world, will add more stealth and power to the Indian challenge.

Some other Indian names like Sreeja Akula, who is the reigning national women’s singles and doubles champion, will be competing in the qualifiers with other Indian paddlers viz; Reeth Teenison, Diya Chitale, Swastika Ghosh, Harmeet Desai and Sanil Shetty and many more, will try and grab a spot in the main draw of the competition.

Smriti Mandhana and Deepti Sharma.

Christian Atsu

Ma Long Chen Meng

Golden State Warriors shooting guard Klay Thompson (11) controls the ball against Oklahoma City Thunder small forward Aaron Wiggins (21) at Chase Center.

Kerala Blasters beat Chennaiyin FC 2-1 in ISL

KOCHI, FEB 7 (AGENCIES): Kerala Blasters FC secured a 2-1 comeback win against Chennaiyin FC in the Indian Super League (ISL) at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Kochi on Tuesday. Abdenasser El Khayati netted the fastest goal of the season to put the visitors in front before Adrian Luna cancelled it out with a stunning curling effort in the 38th minute, and then set up Rahul KP’s strike in the 64th minute.

Two minutes into the game, El Khayati silenced the stands with his ninth goal of the season. Victor Mongil failed to deal with a long ball that was eventually played into the path of El Khayati by Petar Sliskovic.

The Dutchman danced with the ball at the edge of the box before dispatching it into the net off the upright.

Four minutes later, Sliskovic’s low diving header was on target at the near post but Prabhsukhan Gill was alert and got his arms behind it. At the other end of the pitch, Dimitri Diamantakos overpowered Vafa Hakhamaneshi and squared it across goal to Rahul KP,

but the winger failed to keep his effort on target.

Kerala Blasters were constantly pushing for an equaliser and came close in the 20th minute after

Ivan Kaliuzhnyi’s pass was flicked by Rahul KP into the path of Nishu Kumar, whose eventual shot was saved at the near post. Rahul

KP was involved in another move minutes later when his cross was cushioned and squared to Diamantakos by Luna in the box. The striker’s low shot rolled inches wide of the goal.

The stadium erupted in the 38th minute when parity was restored. Anirudh Thapa intercepted Rahul KP’s

India’s Sania Mirza suffers firstround exit from Abu Dhabi Open

ABU DHABI, FEB

7 (IANS): Indian tennis

ace Sania Mirza and her American doubles partner Bethanie Mattek-Sands bowed out of the Abu Dhabi Open WTA 500 tennis tournament, which was the Indian star’s penultimate event of the career. Sania and Bethanie lost to BelgianGerman pair Kirsten Flipkens and Laura Siegemund by a 3-6, 4-6 scoreline in the opening round of the women’s doubles on Monday.

The loss brings six-time Grand Slam winner Sania closer to her retirement as she has announced to hang up her racquets after the Dubai Tennis Championships, which starts on February 27, where another American Madison Keys will be her partner in women’s doubles. Last month,

Sania Mirza

Sania wrapped up her glittering Grand slam career in Australian Open as mixed doubles runner-up. The Indian ace and partner Rohan Bopanna suffered a 7-6(2), 6-2 loss at the hands of the all-Brazilian pair, Luisa Stefani and Rafael Matos.

Interestingly, Sania claimed her first major in 2009 at Melbourne Park, when she paired up with Mahesh

Bhupathi. And she ended her illustrious Grand Slam career at the same venue.

From 2009 to 2016, Sania Mirza won six Grand Slam doubles titles - three each in the women’s doubles and mixed doubles. In 2015, she even became the world’s No. 1 in women’s doubles ranking. “The journey of my professional career started in Melbourne in 2005 when I played Serena Williams in the third round as an 18-year-old,” a tearyeyed Sania said after the Australian Open mixed doubles final. “That was scarily enough 18 years ago and I’ve had the privilege to come back here again and again and win some titles here. There’s no better place and no better person to finish my Grand Slam career with.”

pass to Sahal Samad inside the box before the stray ball went straight to Luna, who pounced on it and curled it into the top right corner. In first-half stoppage time, a pinpoint cross from Akash Sangwan came straight to Vincy Barretto. The winger was right in front of goal and side-footed

it towards the target, only to meet a superb save from Gill.

Seconds after Brdaric threw a couple of substitutions on the pitch to change things around, the game turned on its head. Adrian Luna whipped a cross into the box from the right flank before Rahul KP squeezed it past Samik Mitra in the 64th minute.

In the final quarter of the game, El Khayati and substitute Prasanth K kept trying to find a gap in the Blasters’ defence, but the hosts kept their shape and were able to keep the visitors at bay.

Three points puts Kerala Blasters four points clear of FC Goa and ATK Mohun Bagan in third place. The Blasters could confirm their playoff qualification against arch-rivals Bengaluru FC in their next game on February 11. Chennaiyin FC’s playoff race is now down to only a mathematical possibility. They face East Bengal FC on February 12, who could be equal on points with them with a win on Wednesday against NorthEast United.

PVL: Chennai Blitz win five-set thriller against Kochi Blue Spikers

FEB 7 (IANS):

BENGALURU,

Chennai Blitz defeated Kochi Blue Spikers in a five-set thriller at the Koramangala Indoor Stadium in Bengaluru, Karnataka in its first match of the second season of Prime Volleyball League on Tuesday. In a match that went right down to the wire, the Blitz came out victorious, winning the match 15-9, 11-15, 15-10, 8-15, 15-9. Naveen Raja Jacob was named as the Player of the Match.

The Blitz earned the opening point with Renato Mendes’ powerful spike. A minute later, with another tremendous strike, Mendes earned the second point for his side. Three consecutive serve errors from the Blitz allowed Kochi Blue Spikers to equalise, but Y

V Sita Rama Raju’s block allowed the yellow brigade to regain its lead. Using his long height, Dushyanth sent a tap over the net to reduce the gap for the Spikers. With a super point on offer, Blitz made an error further giving the Blues two crucial points. But fan tastic blocks from

DHAKA, FEB 7 (IANS):

The India U-20 Women’s National Team are staring down the barrel of elimination from the SAFF U-20 Women’s Championship after suffering a 1-3 defeat at the hands of Nepal at the Mostafa Kamal Stadium here on Tuesday.

India stand on four points from three games after the Group Stage, while Nepal sit on six points from as many matches. Bangladesh, who are set to play Bhutan later in the day, also sit on four points, and need a draw to make it to the final.

It was a tale of two halves, as India started the match on the front foot, but Nepal clawed back in the second half.

Apurna Narzary had put India in the lead early on, but a goal each from Anjali Chand, Preeti Rai, and Amisha Karki meant

that Nepal secured their spot in the final.

After a number of forays into the opposition third, India broke the deadlock through Narzary, when she finished off a move that can only be termed as a team effort.

Kajol Dsouza drove with the ball into the attacking

third and played it wide to Sumati Kumari on the left, who whipped a low cross across goal for the striker to tap in from point blank range.

Despite the flurry of Indian attacks, Amisha Karki looked dangerous for Nepal in the first half, though she was unable to

Chennai Blitz players celebrate after beating Blue Spikers. skipper Naveen Raja Jacob ensured the Blitz stayed ahead, and took the first set 15-9. The Spikers took a 3-0 lead in the second set but the lead was soon reduced to one point at 8-7. Dushyanth’s block went wayward and the Blitz levelled the scoreline in the set. Rohit Kumar’s block gave Kochi Blue Spikers back-to-back super points, after which Raman Kumar’s erroneous serve gave Kochi a 15-11 win in the second set to level the score. Chennai dominated the third set and was five points ahead when

Naveen smashed the ball with bullet-like speed on the opposition’s end. Abhinav’s serve struck the net and the Blitz won the set 15-10 to take a 2-1 lead in the match. Just like the second set, the Spikers fought back again and took a 8-5 lead. As Naveen’s ambitious shot landed outside, the Spikers extended the lead by five points. As the Blitz called for the Super Points, Erin’s spike gave Spikers two crucial points, and he followed it up with another delicious hit to win the set 15-8 for his team, pushing the match to the final set.

SAFF U-20 Women: India lose lead and match against Nepal

score. The passing intent that India showed seemed to have somewhat fizzed out in the second half, as Nepal pressed high and did not let the Indian midfielders any moment on the ball. In the end, it was an error by goalkeeper Anshika, that gave the Himalayan nation its first goal.

India goalkeeper Anshika tried to clear the ball under some pressure, but hit it straight at Amisha; Chand got on the rebound and put it into an empty net.

Nepal kept troubling the Indian midfield, and were soon awarded a penalty after Astam Oraon was deemed to have made a dangerous tackle inside the box in the 69th minute.

Captain Preeti Rai stepped up to the spot and slammed it home despite the fact that Anshika had dived in the correct direction.

With a little under 15 minutes of regulation time left on the clock, Shilky’s long ball into the Nepal box created some tension as Kajol tried to control it, but Nepal keeper Kabita stepped out and brought it under her control.

Amisha Karki secured the win for Nepal with just a minute of regulation time left, when she tapped in a low cross by Preeti Rai, to make the score 3-1 in Nepal’s favour. India head coach Maymol Rocky said after the match, “It’s quite sad that we started well, but we went lower and lower. Nepal got a penalty, which was of course not good for us, and then the girls started slowing down. Overall, we played well in the tournament, but we probably could not make it to the final, which was the saddest part for us.”

Match in action between India U-20 Women and Nepal.

Kerala Blasters FC players (yellow) and Chennaiyin FC players in action during the Indian Super League (ISL) 2022 match, in Kochi, Tuesday. (PTI)