Nagaland Post www.nagalandpost.com
Vol XXXIII No. 119
DIMAPUR, THURSDAY, APRIL 6, 2023 Pages 12 ` 5.00
IPL: Punjab Kings beat Rajasthan Royals by 5-run SPORTS, PAGE 12
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US recognises Arunachal as India’s integral part: WH INTERNATIONAL, PAGE 9
stays Nagaland govt notification Rio promotes Nagaland at B20 investors meet SC of cancelling local body elections
Correspondent
KOHIMA, APR 5 (NPN): Nagaland chief minister Neiphiu Rio said agriculture and allied sectors offer great potential for investment and urged G20 delegates to consider exploring investments in the sectors in the State. Addressing the inaugural session on “Opportunities for Multilateral Business Partnership in Agriculture and Food Processing Tourism & IT” on the fourth and last day of the 2-day G20 Business Meet in North East at State Banquet Hall here Wednesday, Rio mentioned that Nagaland has naturally occurring Naga chilli, varieties of tropical fruits and vegetables, cash crops like coffee and tea and other organically-grown processed foods and traditional items. He also said ‘Naga chilli’, considered the world’s hottest naturally-occurring pepper, and varieties of tropical fruits and vegetables,
Neiphiu Rio addressing the inaugural session of the G20 business meet at the State Banquet Hall, Kohima on Wednesday. (PIB)
especially pineapple, papaya and passion fruit, garnered good attention wherever they have marketed with their unique taste and quality. He also said Nagaland’s economy was mainly centred around agriculture and allied activities, with about 70% of the populace being dependent on these sectors. He also said the tropical and sub-tropical climate was suitable for growth and cultivation of agricultural products.
He also said that Nagaland has a pristine and natural environment that offered a huge potential for tourism, especially for those desiring a unique “out-of-the box” experience. He also said with 119 persons per square km, making Nagaland has lower population density than rest of the country, thereby enjoying a favourable land-man ratio. He said cash crops like coffee and tea also witnessed high quality yield and under
the brand “Naturally Nagaland” marketing platform had also been created for the various organically-grown processed foods and other traditional items. Rio also informed that the state was fully geared up to put in place all the requisite systems and enabling policy frameworks for providing business opportunities and facilitating investments, in order to ensure a rapid and sustained development. Rio pointed out that the theme of India’s G20 Presidency –“One Earth, One Family, One Future”– brought delegates coming from every culture and nationality to the shared oneness among in every aspect. Rio mentioned that Nagaland also had a relatively young work force and a higher literacy rate than the national average and, with the right guidance and given an opportunity, Nagaland could excel in the IT sector. He assured that the state will
create investor-friendly environment and infrastructure, provide institutional support and attractive incentive packages and ensure optimum utilisation of existing resources in order to gainfully utilise/tap emerging opportunities in the national and international markets. He exuded confidence to build strong business ties with the investors. In his keynote address, Union Minister of State for External Affairs Dr Rajkumar Ranjan Singh remarked that the summit was an opportune time as Kohima and entire the North-eastern region were central to New Delhi’s reach-out policy with immediate neighbours to the east like ASEAN countries. Singh also said that as Northeast being India’s gateway to Southeast Asia, the Central government was focusing on seamless land connectivity of the region with neighbouring countries. (Cont’d on p-8)
NEW DELHI, APR 5 (PTI): Supreme Court on Wednesday stayed the March 30 notification cancelling till further orders the elections to the urban local bodies (ULBs) in Nagaland which were scheduled for May 16 after almost two decades. Following pressure from tribal organisations and civil society groups, the Nagaland assembly had passed a resolution to repeal the municipal act, resolving not to hold the elections. On March 30, the State Election Commission (SEC) had issued a notification which cancelled the election programme notified earlier “till further orders” in view of the repeal of the Nagaland Municipal Act 2001. The apex court, which was hearing a petition seeking 33 per cent reservation for women in the elections to the local bodies in the state, had noted in its March
14 order that the SEC counsel had submitted the elections will be held on May 16. It had directed the schedule will not be disturbed now and the election process be completed in terms of the schedule. The matter was mentioned on Wednesday before a bench comprising Justices S K Kaul and A Amanullah. Senior advocate Colin Gonsalves, appearing for the petitioners, said the elections have been cancelled. “The order of this court dated March 14, 2023 despite making it clear that any endeavour to tinker with the local elections now would be in breach of the orders of the court either by the Election Commission or the State Government. Notice both to the Election Commission and to the State Election Commission,” the bench said in its order. (Cont’d on p-7)
NBA on ULB issue, NLTP Act
NPN Adds: Interacting with media persons on the sidelines of the seminar held at Dimapur on the occasion of celebration of the platinum jubilee of Gauhati High Court, Nagaland Bar Association president A Zhimomi maintained that the chapter on municipality in the Constitution of India, was still alive and that Nagaland has no authority to erase it (on the attempt to re-write the Act). He noted that the chapter required the municipal Acts to make reservations for women. “The state of Nagaland amending or repealing the Municipal Act does not take away that chapter of the constitution,” he pointed out. (Cont’d on p-7)
High time to open international borders for development: Rajkumar Politicians don’t have higher immunity: Correspondent
KOHIMA, APR 5 (NPN): Union Minister of State for External Affairs Dr Rajkumar Ranjan Singh said it was high time to open international borders and claimed that the focus of the Central government was to deliver development to the last mile villages. Addressing the media after the inaugural session of B20 meet here on Wednesday, he said he wished there were collaborations among educational institutions and construction of all-weather roads in all villages located in close proximity to international borders.
Neiphiu Rio and Dr Rajkumar Ranjan Singh at the press meet. (DIPR)
With more than 250 ethnic tribes domiciled, he observed that diversity was the strength of the Northeastern States. He said the region had now become the centre for investment and partnering with other global business communities and a platform for various collaborations. He said the G20 event
was a good platform to showcase to the world the region’s potential and described it as the new engine of growth for India. He assured that the Ministry of External Affairs was ready to assist the States in exploring the potential areas of the region for investment and promotion of partnership in the business. On his
part, chief minister Neiphiu Rio said Kohima was witnessing the convergence of 60 overseas delegates from 27 countries including delegates from Argentina, Australia, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Canada, China, Costa Rica, Cote D’Ivoire, Cuba, Estonia, Germany, Iceland, Indonesia, Ireland, Italy. Jamaica, Japan, Nepal, Nigeria, Panama, Paraguay, Romania, Russia, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Turkiye, United Kingdom and the United States. He disclosed that the diplomatic delegations included five ambassadors from Cuba, Iceland, Jamaica, Paraguay and Panama,
one deputy head of missions from Estonia and two consul generals from Costa Rica and Germany. He said there were trade delegations from Bhutan, Bangladesh, Iceland, Japan and UAE, while Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) was facilitating Business to Business and Business to Government meetings. He revealed that overseas business delegates got the opportunity to interact with the local industry during the B2B and with the government in the B2G session for potential investment, collaboration and tie(Cont’d on p-8) ups.
SC on Oppn’s plea on CBI, ED misuse
NEW DELHI, APR 5 (IANS): Supreme Court on Wednesday declined to entertain a petition jointly filed by 14 political parties, including the Congress, Trinamool Congress, the AAP, the NCP, the Shiv Sena-UBT, alleging misuse of investigative agencies in arresting opposition leaders, and sought guidelines on arrest. A bench headed by Chief Justice D.Y. Chandrachud and comprising Justice J.B. Pardiwala observed that political leaders do not enjoy an immunity higher than a common citizen and they are absolutely on the same foot-
ing as common citizens, as it questioned how can there can be no arrest unless the triple test is satisfied? The political parties sought a fresh set of guidelines governing the arrest and remand. Senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, representing the political parties, tried very hard to convince the court to change its mind and lay down guidelines of arrest of the leaders of opposition parties. However, the bench stressed that politicians are citizens and cannot enjoy any higher protection and the aggrieved individual politicians can approach the
court concerned for appropriate remedy. The bench told Singhvi that when political parties argue that there is a chilling effect on the Opposition due to the CBI and ED cases against the leaders of the political parties, then the answer lies in the political space and not in courts. Chief Justice Chandrachud said general principles of law can’t be laid down in absence of specific facts and added, “we can’t lay down guidelines merely on the basis of some statistics relating to politicians”. (Cont’d on p-5)
Prez confers Padma India sees highest one-day rise Private hospitals declared tobacco-free zones Nagaland has potential to attract Shri to Moa Subong in Covid cases since Sep 2022 DIMAPUR, APR 5 (NPN): Covid-19 during the pan- launched Pradhan Mantri investments, say B20 delegates
Moa Subong receiving the award from President Murmu.
DIMAPUR, APR 5 (NPN): President Droupadi Murmu presented the Padma Shri Award, 2023 to Moa Subong in the field of Art, at the second Civil Investiture Ceremony held at Rashtrapati Bhavan on Wednesday. Moa, a folk fusion artist, leads the popular Naga band ‘Abiogenesis’ along with his wife Arenla. He invented the bamboo wind musical instrument called ‘Bamhum’, and also created a new music genre called ‘Howey.
NEW DELHI, APR 5 (AGENCIES): India on Wednesday reported 4,435 new Covid-19 cases, the highest single-day jump since September 2022, the Union Health ministry stated. The number of active cases stands at 23,091. With the surge in the past 24 hours, the tally has climbed to 4,47,33,719. Also, 15 deaths reported during the same time span has pushed the toll to 5,30,916. While one death each was reported from Delhi, Gujarat, Chhattisgarh, Haryana, Karnataka, Puducherry and Rajasthan,
four each were reconciled by Maharashtra and Kerala. Though no severity has been witnessed in Covid-19 cases reported in the past few days, the spike nevertheless calls for precautions. Officials have asked people to mask up particularly in public places and avoid crowded places. As per the ministry data, the national Covid recovery rate was pegged at 98.76%. India has been witnessing an uptick in cases lately, prompting several states and UTs to ramp up anti-Covid measures to keep cut the chain of transmission.
As decided during a coordination meeting with the Nagaland Private Practitioners’ Association (NPPA) under the chairmanship of commissioner and secretary Y Kikheto Sema on Tuesday, all private hospitals in the State have been declared as tobacco-free zones with effect from April 11. Health & Family Welfare (H&FW) department had already declared all government hospitals, healthcare centres and health offices in the State as tobacco-free zones since February 1 this year. Recollecting the relentless contribution of private hospitals in the fight against
NBA stresses on having separate HC
(6th from R) Justice K Sema with other officials during the platinum jubilee celebration. (NP)
Correspondent
K Y M C
Bharatiya Janaushadhi Pariyojana campaign under the Department of Pharmaceuticals. He urged the private hospitals to come on-board the scheme and use generic medicines that were available through special outlets known as Pradhan Mantri Bharatiya Janaushadhi Pariyojana Kendra, so as to reduce the healthcare expenditure of every citizen, particularly of the poor patients. Responding to the appeal by the commissioner and secretary on private practice by government doctors, nurses or other employees, NPPA assured not to engage (Cont’d on p-8)
Nagaland celebrates Gauhati HC platinum jubilee
This is it!
“We’ll never be able to clean this place unless they appoint one sweeper for every five people.”
demic, Kikheto conveyed appreciation of the State government to the private hospitals for their collaboration with the government in various healthcare services. He also appealed to the private hospitals to continue to work together even in the days to come, besides participating in the health information collection system of the department, so that health information from both public and private sectors was captured on real time. With the aim to provide quality medicines at affordable prices to the masses, Kikheto mentioned that the Central government had
KOHIMA, APR 5 (NPN): Platinum Jubilee of the Gauhati High Court was celebrated at Gauhati High Court (GHC) Kohima Bench as well as at Dimapur at separate programmes Wednesday. At Kohima, GHC bench judge justice Kakheto Sema addressed the programme as special guest where he
highlighted about the history on how GHC had emerged from the High Court of Assam on September 9, 1947, after Assam Legislative Assembly adopted a resolution to establish a High Court for the Province of Assam. He said that the GHC was a unique one whereby a single institution exercises jurisdiction throughout the North Eastern region. (Cont’d on p-7)
Staff Reporter: The Nagaland Bar Association (NBA) and the District Judiciary organised a seminar commemorating the platinum jubilee celebrations of the Gauhati High Court here at the District Court Complex, Dimapur on Wednesday. Speaking on the theme Akito Zhimomi and Inalo Zhimomi (NP) “Professional Ethics”, president Nagaland Bar Association (NBA) Akito Zhimomi mentioned that professional ethics were laws and principles that governed a person’s conduct in a professional workplace or work life. He also highlighted that even after more than 60 years of Statehood, Nagaland was yet to have its own high court, and termed it as “a matter of shame”. He noted that the pursuit to have a high court seemed to have hit a road block. Akito also reiterated the stand of the NBA that the state gov(Cont’d on p-7) ernment appoint someone from the legal
Correspondent
KOHIMA, APR 5 (NPN): Delegates of the B20 meeting here at the State capital Kohima were optimistic that Nagaland has the potential to attract investors especially because of the warm and hospitable nature of the people. Talking to Nagaland Post, Simona Mihai, representing Romanian Embassy, said her visit to Nagaland was a very lovely surprise and that she had been using the words ‘amazing’ and ‘fantastic’ very often after landing here in Nagaland. She acknowledged that Naga culture was very rich and deeply rooted within the people and that most of the visitors were only seeing the surface of that connection. Mihai said she found the place ver y natural, green, yet very colourful and although people had their own rich culture, they were willing to share it with any visiting guest. Sharing her experience of how she was visiting Nagaland for the first time even though she had been in India for the past seven years, Mihai said after coming to Nagaland she found out that there were many avenues which could attract investment. She observed that Nagaland had very good coffee and apart from investing in it, there was also a need to
support the entrepreneurs, NGOs and companies that were involved in the production. She said the companies dealing in coffee, handicraft, handlooms or silk, were well established however, they were looking for people to help them expand since it was not just government initiative but a local initiative as well. Mihai, a geologist by profession, said the investment avenue for her was that she plans to bring geologist from all over the world to study the rocks, trees, mines, flora and soil which would expose the people to a variety of outcrops in India and Asia. She said in terms of modern technological overview, Nagaland still has a long way to go, however, she pointed out that even with limited resources and all the political conflict that took place over the years, the people had managed to set up State that was really thriving and was headed towards more prosperity for its citizens. “The goal here is not to Westernise Nagaland, imitate another State or country but maintain its culture while technologizing it. I think that is the root of this conference and people from all over the world wants to invest in Nagaland to make it more Nagaland, a more modern one and a united one,” Simona said. (Cont’d on p-7) K Y M C