Nagaland Post www.nagalandpost.com
Vol XXX No. 257
DIMAPUR, SATURDAY, AUGUST 22, 2020 Pages 8 ` 4.00
No Arjuna for Sakshi and Mirabai
Follow us on @Nagaland_Post
sports, Page 8
SC notice on Nagaland Lokayukta NEW DELHI, AUG 21 (AGENCIES): In a major development, the state government has approached the Supreme Court to arbitrate on the actions of its own Lokayukta, Justice Umna Nath Singh, who it claimed to have made several “arbitrary demands”. Supreme Court Friday agreed to hear a plea filed by Nagaland government which has raised questions over the functioning of Lokayukta in the state. A three-judge bench of Chief Justice of India SA Bobde and Justices AS Bopanna and V Ramasubramanian issued notice after Advocate General for the State KN Balgopal made submissions on behalf of the state. Issue notice returnable two weeks, the court stated in its order. As reported by Bar and Bench- a news protal, the Supreme Court sought Nagaland Lokayukta’s response in state government plea calling for cessation of
his powers and functions. The petition also prayed for the Court to direct the Lokayukta to assign all the pending matters before him to the Upa-Lokayuktas. This was in addition to a prayer seeking an order to prohibit the Lokayukta from exercising his powers and functions as per the Nagaland Lokayukta Act of 2017. The state government claimed that since April 2019, the Lokayukta had fallen short of the standards that were expected from a person holding his position. Moreover, his unreasonable demands and “capricious behaviour” made it untenable for him to continue in the post, it is averred. Lokayukta Justice Uma Nath Singh, who is former Chief Justice of the Meghalaya High Court, also made a request to the chief secretary of the state government for relaxation of Section 4(2)(c) of the Nagaland Lokayukta Act in order to facilitate his engagement as an arbitrator in an arbitration matter. The provision makes it impermissible for the Lokayukta to hold any other office, the plea explained. Elaborating on other “arbitrary demands” made
1.5L illegally printed NCERT school books seized; kingpin flees
Ravi’s comment on state’s performance cannot be denied, says Imkong Imchen
Govt seeks cessation of state Lokayukta’s powers & functions
MEERUT (UP), AUG 21 (IANS): Over 1.5 lakh illegally printed NCERT school books worth Rs 50 crore were seized in a raid carried out by a joint team of Military Intelligence (MI), Uttar Pradesh Special Task Force (UP STF) and local police at a facility near Kashigaon on Friday. Official sources said that the alleged kingpin, Sachin Gupta, has gone missing after burning similar books in the main factory in Mohkampur Enclave near Sabzi Mandi. Early this month, local Military Intelligence officials received input of suspicious activities in a godown near Kashigaon, Achronda Road, under the Partapur police station. During the investigation, the MI sleuths learnt that the facility stored large number of illegally printed books of NCERT. MI shared the input with local STF of UP Police. A joint team of the three agencies raided the facility at about 2.30 p.m. on Friday. A massive number of illegally printed books for almost all classes starting from Class I were recovered during the raid. The illegally printed books, sources said, were being supplied to buyers in multiple states.
This is it!
“He’s taking the COVID19 SOP too far. It’s against sportsmanship spirit.” K Y M C
Correspondent
KO H I M A , A U G 2 1 (NPN): NPF leader L. Imkong Imchen said the remarks in the Independence day message from the Nagaland Governor RN Ravi that Nagaland was the “worst performing State in the country” was a fact which cannot be denied. While clarifying to Nagaland Post that it was his personal opinion, Imchen said the governor, as constitutional head of the State, had every right to make such an observation. Imchen maintained that the governor as “a fatherly figure had every right to give his advice to the State Cabinet and even the opposition”, which must be accepted. Imchen said even though the PDA government didn’t take lightly to the comment and claimed
by Singh, the petition stated that not only did he sought permission to function online from Delhi, but also made a request before the chief secretary for accommodation, among other things. The petition stated that the Lokayukta was personally informed that the requests could not be acceded to, considering that the same would require amendment to the statute. Subsequently, a communication dated June 6, 2019, purportedly sent from the office of the chief secretary, came to light, which claimed that the chief secretary approved of these demands, even though he did not have knowledge of the same. The June 6 letter was later withdrawn owing to the chief secretary’s lack of knowledge of the communication being made. It was also proposed that an inquiry be made into how the “misleading letter” was sent. The Lokayukta then “started showing his ire”, the petition said, by issuing notices to various honest officials. Justice Singh’s unreasonable requests also included a demand for the presence of the Commissioner of Police at Dimapur airport at
that the government was making every effort to take the state forward, the governor’s remark cannot not be denied. It may be mentioned that Ravi had, in his Independence Day message stated that Nagaland was the 16th State of the Indian Union, the second oldest State in the North East and was endowed with one of the finest of human and natural resources. Ravi said that for quite some decades since its birth, Nagaland had raced ahead of several other States in the region despite odds. The Governor, however, said unfortunately “today it has the dubious distinction of being the worst performing State in the country, including in the North Eastern region, on almost all significant indicators of human development”.
the time of his arrival and/or departure every time, which is in clear deviation from the security protocol and the Y plus security detail accorded to the Lokayukta, the petition stated. Meanwhile, in a press note, Advocate General Nagaland, KN Balgopal said the Lokayukta had made request for being allotted the chief minister’s former bungalow which was converted into a V.I.P guest house. He also insisted upon writing to the authorities for avoiding frisking at the airport which was also not allowed. Balgopal said that the Lokayukta, in a complaint case, directed the chief minister to conduct an enquiry against the deputy chief minister and to file a report in his court overlooking the fact that the chief minister was not an investigating authority. In yet another case, Balgopal claimed that the Lokaykta had alleged that the Law department was a danger to the government because some officer of the Law department in an internal note questioned his authority in interfering with service matters of an employee retired in 2009, adding the list was endless.
CWC to discuss JLF issue on August 26
NPF’s Central Working Committee (CWC), the apex decision making body of the party, has called for a meeting on August 26 to discuss about the party legislators’ withdrawal from the Joint Legislators’ Forum (JLF). In a notification, the party has asked all members to attend the meeting, while stating that COVID protocols would be strictly maintained. When contacted, party sources however refused to comment on the appeals by the ruling PDA and Nagaland Legislative Assembly speaker Sharingain Longkumer to reconsider the decision of withdrawing from the forum, stating that the party’s decision would be known only after the working committee meeting.
Biden accepts prez nomination
nagalandpostofficial nagalandpostofficial
JEE-Main, NEET exam to be held in Sept
NEW DELHI, AUG 21 (PTI): Joint Entrance Examination (Main) and the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET-UG) will be conducted in September as scheduled, officials in the Ministry of Education said on Friday. While NEET is scheduled on September 13, JEE-Mains will be held from September 1-6. In a statement, the ministry’s National Testing Agency (NTA), which conducts these exams, said over 6.4 lakh candidates have downloaded their admit cards for the JEE-Main. It said 6,49,223 candidates have downloaded their admit cards, so far, against a total of 8,58,273. There have been demands from several students and parents to further postpone the entrance exams in view of increasing coronavirus cases. Supreme Court Monday dismissed a plea seeking postponement of JEE (Main) April 2020 and NEET-UG exams, which are scheduled to be conducted in September, amid spurt in number of COVID-19 cases, saying precious year of students “cannot be wasted” and life has to go on.
WHO chief hopes pandemic ends within 2 years LONDON, AUG 21 (AP): World Health Organisation chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus Friday said he hopes the world can end the coronavirus pandemic in less than two years-less time than it took for the 1918 flu pandemic to be stopped. Describing COVID19 as a “once-in-a-century health crisis”, he said that while globalisation had allowed the virus to spread quicker than the flu did in 1918, there was also now the technology to stop it. “We hope to finish this pandemic (in) less than two years, especially if we can pool our efforts,” he said during a press briefing. WHO’s emergencies chief Dr Michael Ryan noted that 1918 pandemic hit the globe in three distinct waves and that the second wave was the most devastating. But he said it didn’t appear COVID-19 was following the same pattern.
international, Page 7
NEC funded project to boost water resources development in Nagaland
Govt to propose projects for easing Dmu, Kma traffic
Neiba Kronu releasing the report of the GWRM of Nagaland. (NP)
Correspondent
KOHIMA, Aug 21 (NPN): A North Eastern Council (NEC) funded project is set to boost the development of water resources in the state. Minister for Planning & Co-ordination, Land Revenue & Parliamentary Affairs Neiba Kronu, who released a two-volume report of the project “Geospatial Water Resource Map of Nagaland” at Nagaland GIS & Remote Sensing Centre, New Capital Complex here on Friday, said that the report would provide impulsion for the development of hydro-electric power, irrigation and drinking water availability besides monitoring of water quality and quantity in the state. The project, funded under NEC titled “conducting a detailed survey on the
Nagaland COVID-19 tally 3619 COVID-19 STATUS AS ON august 21, 2020 District
Asymptomatic
Dimapur 843 Kiphire 1 Kohima 520 Longleng 0 Mokokchung 2 Mon 73 Peren 3 Phek 0 Tuensang 3 Wokha 3 Zunheboto 61 Total 1509
bias incredibly seriously, and want to make it clear that we denounce hate and bigotry in any form,” Mohan said. He was referring to the controversy generated after a Wall Street Journal (WSJ) report claimed that Facebook’s content regulation policies favoured the BJP. The WSJ report sparked a widespread debate in India, raising serious questions over Facebook’s content regulation practices. The report claimed that Facebook India’s Public Policy Head Ankhi Das had told staff members that punishing violations by BJP politicians would damage the company’s business prospects. Mohan said the policies at Facebook are “ever-evolving to take into account
the local sensitivities, especially in a multicultural society such as India”. “An example is the inclusion of caste as a protected characteristic in our global hate speech policy in 2018,” Mohan said. The Facebook India chief said that the employees represent a varied political spectrum who have either served in many administrations or have political experience and take immense pride in being active contributors to public service. “Despite hailing from
diverse political affiliations and backgrounds, they perform their respective duties and interpret our policies in a fair and non-partisan way. The decisions around content escalations are not made unilaterally by just one person; rather, they are inclusive of views from different teams and disciplines within the company,” he elaborated. Amid the debate, BJP’s IT cell chief Amit Malviya has claimed that Mohan worked with the Planning Commission during the UPA era. According to Mohan, there is no place for hate speech on Facebook but they need to do more. “We know this work is never over, which is why we will continue to invest in our efforts to
ACTIVE CASES RecovMiTotal Symptomatic Death ered grated Cases Mild Moderate 20 1 975 1850 8* 3 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 487 1009 0 2 0 0 3 3 0 0 0 0 17 19 0 0 0 0 190 265 0 2 0 0 263 266 0 0 0 0 31 31 0 0 0 0 45 48 0 0 0 0 17 20 0 0 0 0 46 107 0 0 20 1 2074 3619 8 7
*1 death is Covid-19 positive but not due to Covid-19
D I M A P U R , AU G 2 1 (NPN): Nagaland registered 36 new COVID-19 cases on Friday-- 17 in Kohima, 10 in Dimapur, 7 in Zunheboto and 2 from in Peren, taking the state’s tally to 3619. Till August 21, the state registered 1,530 active cases, 2074 recovered, 8 deaths and 7 migrated. As per the severity of symptoms, 1509 active cases
Will purge hateful posts by public figures in India: FB NEW DELHI, AUG 21 (IANS): Facing intense political heat in India over its alleged role in favouring the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on its platform, social networking giant Facebook on Friday clarified its position, saying it has removed and will continue to remove content posted by public figures in India which violate its community standards. Ajit Mohan, Vice President and Managing Director, Facebook India, said in a statement that Facebook has always been an open, transparent and non-partisan platform where people can express themselves freely. “Over the last few days, we have been accused of bias in the way we enforce our policies. We take the allegations of
water resource potential in Nagaland, including preparation of report on potential of river”, was undertaken by the Nagaland GIS & Remote Sensing Centre under Planning department. Kronu pointed out that state line departments including Water Resource, Power, New and Renewable Energy, Land Resources, PHED and Disaster Management etc. would benefit from generated geospatial database, which would provide them the tools to plan with more precision and accuracy in the area of water resource programmes and schemes. Congratulating the state GIS & remote sensing centre for successful completion of the project, Kronu urged Centre to take up such projects in future by making use of tech(Cont’d on p-6) nology.
Minister for Planning & Co-ordination, and Revenue & Parliamentary Affairs Neiba Kronu disclosed that the state government would be contemplating proposing developmental projects in order to ease the traffic congestion in Dimapur and Kohima urban areas in the near future. Disclosing this during book release, Kronu observed that the traffic congestion especially in Kohima and Dimapur had adversely impacted the quality of life and economic productivity. To ease traffic congestion in Kohima and Dimapur, the minister said infrastructure such as construction of flyovers, bridges, multipurpose parking lot complex, bypass and arterial roads were required. Project Director GIS and Remote Sensing Centre, Mhathung Kithan, gave a brief highlight on survey findings on the cause for traffic congestion in Kohima and Dimapur. (Cont’d on p-6)
combat hate speech on our services. We welcome the opportunity to engage with all parties -- political or otherwise -- who want to understand our content policies and enforcement more,” he said, adding that Facebook’s commitment to India and its people is unwavering. The Congress has demanded that Facebook should order a high-level inquiry into its leadership team and their operations in a time-bound manner, and publish and make transparent all instances of hate speech since 2014 that were allowed on the platform. “Facebook India should appoint a new team so that the investigation is not influenced,” said Congress leader K.C. Venugopal in a letter to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg.
are asymptomatic, 20 mild and 1 moderate case. Further, out of the 3,619 positive cases, the distribution across various categories of people include 1,570 from the Armed Forces, 1,201 returnees, 239 frontline workers and 609 traced contacts. A tota l o f 34,188 samples were for testing through RT-PCR and re-
sults of 32,588 samples received. In addition, a total of 21,701samples were also sent for testing on TrueNat.
India’s virus tally crosses 29L mark
P T I a d d s : I n d i a ’s COVID-19 tally zoomed past 29 lakh, a day after it crossed 28 lakh, with a single-day spike of 68,898 infections, while the recoveries have increased to 21,58,946 on Friday pushing the recovery rate to over 74 per cent, according to the Union Health Ministry data. The total cases of coronavirus infections mounted to 29,05,823, while the death toll climbed to 54,849 with 983 new fatalities being reported in a span of 24 hours, the data updated at 8 am showed. Case fatality rate has declined to 1.89 per cent while the recovery rate has risen to 74.30 per cent.
GBs react to NSCN (I-M) Konyak Region statement DIMAPUR, AUG 21 (NPN): GB associations of nine districts and two sub-divisions have expressed “utmost disappointment and resentment” over the NSCN (I-M) Konyak region statement that was published in local dailies on August 12, 2020. In a joint statement, presidents of GB associations said they took exception to the Konyak Region statement, which they maintained was “a direct target” to NGBF president Shanlem Konyak in particular and GBs in general. Further, they said that the “intention to manipulate our simple and honest President cannot be taken lightly” and described it a “condemnable act.” Affirming “unflinching support” to NGBF president Shanlem Konyak, the signatories appealed to the NSCN (I-M) to “restrain from publishing such statements about GBs without proper understanding.”
GBs also affirmed support to the “demand for early solution to the Naga political issue under RN Ravi as interlocutor.” GBs said that Nagaland GB Federation (NGBF) was their apex body, which represented the voice of Nagaland Goanburas. The signatories included Mokochung District GB Association president Along Jamir, Kohima District GB association president Vineipra Pienyii, Wokha District GB association President PN Tongoe, Peren District GB association president Kania Dilong, Phek District GB association president Zadulhu Ringa, Tuensang District GB association president Khuni Chang, Longleng District GB association president T Yungie Phom, Kiphire District GB association president Selitong, Dimapur District GB association president Khehovi V Chophi, Tseminyu GB association president Kehoga Kent and Meluri GB association president T Nyupuli. K Y M C