Tsaphimi Students Union

Issue of backdoor appointment W ith the fifth session of the Nagaland Legislative Assembly underway, the issue of backdoor appointment has rung out loud after the Naga Tribal Union Chümoukedima Town(NTUCT) in a statement, claimed that out of the total of 1200 candidates only 208 were recruited through the open recruitment. This means that the remaining 992 candidates got their appointment without passing the recruitment tests. This is a conjecture drawn from the NTUCT allegation unless it is confirmed. Totally,1200 of them are scheduled to undergo training at Police Training School (PTS) and Nagaland Armed Police Training Centre(NAP TC) . NTUCT has brought to public domain the highly questionable and illegal practise of ‘backdoor appointment’ . Such practises are clearly illegal and that has to be acknowledged and through which the government has contributed immensely to depriving thousand of unemployed youths the right of employment. This is among the main cause that has caused so much resentment and frustration within society. As the assembly is in session, certainly this public statement deserves to be discussed where the government and in particular, the police department has much to answer for. If what NTUCT has alleges is based on facts, even if the figure may not be wholly accurate; it raises an urgent and important issue. It also brings a recollection of the past, when a senior police officer had the guts to acknowledge the bane of the department caused by backdoor appointments. Interestingly, this happened when the same minister holding the same portfolio was also the then minister. Whether that acknowledgement was true or not, it certainly caused furore. Thus, the allegation by NTUCT could also be like a revisit of the phenomenon that has gripped almost all other government departments in the state. In other states, if there was any issue regarding backdoor appointment, there would have been massive protests riot throughout the state. The opposition would be calling for a statewide bandh or agitation and possibly, even compelling the government to ask the ministers in-charge to resign. It does not happen in Nagaland but that does not mean that people would continue to remain passive forever. Those organizations that have been crying hoarse over the plight of the unemployed as well as the system of selections, have not been consistently vocal about the backdoor appointment issue. Transparency and accountability in appointments to various government departments would satisfy people even though a fraction were to be selected and given jobs. Government cannot absorb even a fraction of around ten thousand youths graduating from various institutions. Today, hundreds of candidates compete for one post. To add to the problem, the state’s economy is on unsure ground- no industries and restricted opportunities for investments in private enterprises owing to the feeling of insecurity. Since private enterprise is the key, the quantum of jobs likely to be created within a time frame through some ventures, should be prepared. However, private enterprise can only thrive in a congenial environment and absence of which, has had a negative impact on the growth of the economy. Why backdoor appointments continue unabated is because people accept political patronisation, nepotism and favouritism. Unless the illegal practise of backdoor appointments are eradicated, there can never be social transformation.

Daily Devotion

Is Your Mind Stayed on God? You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You. —Isaiah 26:3

Is your mind stayed on God or is it starved? Starvation of the mind, caused by neglect, is one of the chief sources of exhaustion and weakness in a servant’s life. If you have never used your mind to place yourself before God, begin to do it now. There is no reason to wait for God to come to you. You must turn your thoughts and your eyes away from the face of idols and look to Him and be saved (see Isaiah 45:22).

Your mind is the greatest gift God has given you and it ought to be devoted entirely to Him. You should seek to be “bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ…” (2 Corinthians 10:5). This will be one of the greatest assets of your faith when a time of trial comes, because then your faith and the Spirit of God will work together. When you have thoughts and ideas that are worthy of credit to God, learn to compare and associate them with all that happens in nature— the rising and the setting of the sun, the shining of the moon and the stars, and the changing of the seasons. You will begin to see that your thoughts are from God as well, and your mind will no longer be at the mercy of your impulsive thinking, but will always be used in service to God. “We have sinned with our fathers…[and]… did not remember…” (Psalm 106:6-7). Then prod your memory and wake up immediately. Don’t say to yourself, “But God is not talking to me right now.” He ought to be. Remember whose you are and whom you serve. Encourage yourself to remember, and your affection for God will increase tenfold. Your mind will no longer be starved, but will be quick and enthusiastic, and your hope will be inexpressibly bright.

It is relatively easier to comfort someone than to practically endure the pain oneself. How do you console a person who has just lost someone very dear to him? Even the best motivating words in the world could sound just a shallow combination of trivial words. ‘It will be all right; my heartfelt condolences; don’t worry everything happens for a reason; Failures are the pillars of success; etc.’ are what we usually say to console somebody. It is worth brooding over as to if these words meant anything significant to them. On the contrary, should we then stop saying nice things to cheer somebody up?

Life is but a mix of happiness and sadness. Too many precious lives have been destroyed by our inability to manage trying and tiring circumstances. I knew people who tried to drink away their pains and in the process they ceased to exist, but their problems. There are another few lot who tend to run away from life’s challenges in the hope that their problems will disappear. In most cases, the problems only get maximized, if not multiplied, by ignoring it. Be the momentary feeling of loneliness, the acute shortage of funds to meet day’s end, sickness, loss of beloveds, failures and insecurity; it is us and only us who can make it go away. We can choose to face it or be doomed and gloomed.

The same way the beautiful words we said to our friends could mean little or nothing instantly, many encouraging words people conveyed to us might sound empty sometimes. But the inner-words from our heart will help heal our wounds. Spiritual guidance seems to work wonders for many to motivate one-self.

I must however agree that in the face of extreme difficulties, our very faith in God at some point seems even questionable. But beyond that, with the passage of time, it becomes evidently clear that there is someone who loves us in spite of everything. To reach to that realisation will however beseech one to just hang in there.

I did not want to meet anyone. In the midst of hundreds, I feel like being alone on top of a mountain and every word people told me sounded like an echo reverberating over the vales and hills. I was hell-bent in my belief that nobody and no words could ease my sorrow. But several years down the line, I remember a friend who said, ‘This too shall pass. May God give you the strength to overcome this irreparable loss of yours.’ His words then neither remove my grief nor did it brighten me up but now when I look back, it does feel good to know that there are people who care for you. I’d ask myself will I be able to understand the power of comforting words had nobody condoled my loss?

In as much as words might be inadequate to fill the emotional gap when one is down, it will be incorrect to do away with encouraging words altogether. Our kind words may not necessarily cure a wounded heart but it will surely work it’s worth.

When the momentary feeling of enveloping one’s problem passed, the heart rekindles the kind words earlier heard and values the warm feeling of being comforted by people who cared. It does help lighten the burdens and gladdens the mind. In that thought we ought to only be grateful when somebody says nice things to us and we ought to be saying beautiful things to people in their highs and lows. Let us thence build many positive words within us and spread even more, for given the happenings around us, we will need loads of them to survive in this world. As they say, ‘ kind words do not cost much. Yet they accomplish much.’ May beautiful words continue to flow from our lips and nips. T S Haokip Building, giving and receiving nice words F ew days back I had the privilege of attending a two days summit on Innovations and New Knowledge in Water, Sanitation and Hygiene organized by the Administrative Staff College of India, Hyderabad in association with the Government of Telangana where over 100 innovations in the areas of water potability and quality, water conservation and reuse, wastewater management, municipal solid waste management, plastic and e-waste, and faecal sludge management were showcased. The summit was attended by nearly 200 delegates comprising city commissioners, smart city professionals, representatives from public and private sector enterprises, venture capitalists, incubators etc. and senior bureaucrats from Telangana and GOI.

I was deputed to attend the summit mainly to get insight on latest technologies available to solve issues of school toilets becoming non-functional due to water scarcity and other similar issues related to Water, Sanitation and Hygiene at Schools. Though my mind was initially curious to find solutions for few problems, the presentations made by the innovators were so fascinating that I fully got involved with the summit.

Of late, Governments and people with social concern have woken up to realize the gravity of water shortage the world faces now and would face in the next few decades. Even it is feared that the third world war would be fought over water. Though many initiatives have been taken at various levels to conserve water, contributions made by organizations such as industries, universities, colleges, schools, Govt. establishments , civic bodies , apartments , individual households etc to recycle water is very much negligible. The concept of recycling of waste water still remains foreign to many of us and we are still at the stage of infancy in case of solid waste management. Almost all the models exhibited by the innovators are adoptable to rural Indian environment, successfully tested and been functioning well in many places. The following are some of the important innovations/best practices that we could adopt in our State.

Dry San-Toilet ( Water free-No flush system), Solar zero flush zero odour toilet, Waterless and odourless urinal system, Smart sanitation o/s for smart cities, Toilet seat sanitizer, Safe and portable water purifier for remote areas and disaster zones, Waste water recycle plant, Sewage Treatment plant, Floating Islands for restoring and beautifying water bodies, Hard water softener, Sanitary napkin disposal & recycling machine, Geo care reusable cloth sanitary pads, Faecal sledge management systems, Kitchen waste compost , Waste management services through wastepickers, The Suz-Hook for collection of plastic waste, Multi sustainable rainwater scheme, etc. The most interesting thing I have seen at the summit is that majority of the innovators are young professionals who gave up well paid corporate jobs to pursue their passion of innovating technology for a social cause. These young entrepreneurs spent their own money on research and development of the devices/ units and now seek support of Govt. departments and public so that the fruits of their hard work could become tools of development of the nation. More importantly, the products are priced economically compared to the long term benefits they would yield. Though few State Governments encourage these entrepreneurs, finding financial support to produce and market their products seems to be their major obstacle.

Most of the innovations listed above are well suited for hilly regions like Nagaland and I sincerely believe that schools, colleges, universities, hospitals, business establishments, Govt. organizations etc could make use of these innovations and new knowledge and serve as a role model to the public. I humbly request authorities of all educational institutions to spare few minutes of their time to go through the brief descriptions of these innovative products and implement at least few of them in their institutions. We all know that schools and colleges are the right places to begin initiatives for social change. If we can inculcate healthy habits in children at young age, it will naturally bring desirable changes in the society within a short span of time. Those interested to get soft copies of the ‘Catalogue of Innovations’ and the ‘Book of Innovations’ distributed at the summit may contact me through WhatsApp @ ‘9862925660’ or through email @ ‘bnellayappan@gmail.com’.

Nellayappan B Asstt. Director Directorate of School Education Kohima, Nagaland. The new generation rising stars

Reader’s note: Articles or letters published in any of the columns do not reflect the view of this newspaper nor that of the Editor in any manner. Reader’s Post Dead tower Sir,

Every city state around the globe has popular landmark structure living up to its name with concerted effort by local authorities to preserve the same. Efficient management is done in line with growing technology. Dimapur clock tower popularly known as city tower is one such old structure occupying a household name among residents and visitors of the state. From public rallies and meetings to musical fests, it has provided the perfect platform in facilitating many important public events. However, the true purpose of its foundation is slowly losing its significance and also an embarrassment to us all when our popular city tower turret clock is in complete ruins yet shows the correct time twice a day. Perhaps it’s long overdue for a complete makeover. Nongothung Tungoe, Endeavor Academy, Dimapur L eaders of Naga People’s Front and citizens of Dimapur City. We have codenamed today’s agitation as ‘sit-in-protest against Citizen (Amendment) Act, 2019.’ The people of Nagaland are democratic by nature. Our forefathers lived with the purest form of democracy. Therefore, we are not that type of people throwing stones or burning houses in the name of agitation. But, we are demonstrating our strong protest and our strong opposition to CAA

In the most peaceful and democratic manner which the Indian Constitution guaranteed to all of us. We feel it obliged to take up this type of agitation in order to save the future of our generations to come. We are doing this in order to save India’s secularism and democracy.

This Act - CAA - is discriminatory and divisive. It is an Act just to support one religion to suppress others though few names of other religions are mentioned in the Act including Christianity for cover-up. India is taken by the whole World as the ‘greatest democratic nation’. In other words, it is called the largest democracy in the world. India is great and its greatness depends on “Unity in Diversity’. The purpose of this CAA is to do away with that ‘unity in diversity’ which means, this Act will destroy the greatness of India if the arrogant attitude of the present government continues to surpess others. We cannot accept the slogan ‘One nation, one religion.’ I am telling this not for the sake of opposing CAA but it is not practicable at all anywhere in the world if the present government of India wants to continue their rule. Afghanistan is a glaring example shown to us in the recent past where a particular religion was rather imposed on the people resulting in the loss of thousands and thousands of precious lives which is still going on with uncertainty. Therefore, it will be very wrong if any political party try to impose upon all the Indians to agree to such slogan, because such imposition, who knows, may do more harm than good to the country which may even ignite unwarranted situation in due course of time. We believe, the elite society, the intelligentsia group in the country will never like to see India going backward again. India was emerging as a global economic power and every Indian was proud of such progress. But today, all the reports about the Indian economy is negative. The economic growth of the country is lowest in 11 years during 2019-20. The growth in manufacturing sector dropped from 9.9% in 2018 to 2.5% last year. In agriculture sector, the growth dropped from 8% to 2.8% during the same period. This downward trend is same in all other sectors. The Union Budget presented to the House recently predicted some improvement during the current year; but with the continued agitations all over the country, we do not know how far the prediction can come true. Every day we come across the pessimistic views expressed by the country’s economists. They are deeply worried for the economic slowdown of the country.

Besides all these bad news, a new method of dealing with the ongoing agitation has been noticed again in the country where some people started firing upon the people who are standing for their democratic right; branding them as terrorists, anti-nationals etc., this means that the miscreants (they called it) are firing upon the Indian democracy; a direct method of murdering the Indian democracy. With all these problems around, whether the Government can bring the situation under control or what will be the solution if the situation goes out of hand. There are many questions. As of now, there seems to be madness all around.

When the country’s situation is unpredictable as such, we are particularly worry for the people of Nagaland for the very reason that if anything happens in the mainland, how far our towns are prepared for their survival; Presuming that any thing happens in the mainland, apart from our political stand, do we have sufficient provision of foodstuff for one month? or how long can you survive with your food provision let alone other facilities. We are in the dark about the status of our State economy. The Nagaland economy seems to be under strangulation at the moment. When the public becomes poor, money can serve their masters better and, perhaps, this is the policy adopted by those people in power today. Nagaland economy is not only negative but it may be below zero percentage as per the economic datas conveyed to us from time to time by our daily Newspapers. We are grateful to our news media agencies.

NPF stands for secularism and democracy as enshrined in the Preamble of the Indian Constitution. As such we stand to defend our faith to whichever religion we may belong. I am a Christian and I am here to defend my Christian faith so also each one of you will do the same without fear or favor. In as much as we never create problem for other faiths, we do not want any other religion to suppress our right.

Our CEC resolution dated the 31st January, 2019 says, “Reiterate the Party’s stand against the Citizenship Amendment Bill 2016 (CAB) and further resolved that the Party RS Member, Mr. K.G.Kenye will vote against the Bill in Tesoent the Bill is not withdrawn....” This Bill got lapsed in 2018 when it could not be passed in the Rajya Sabha. But BJP put this Bill again in their election manifesto and accordingly, after they came back to power, in haste, passed the Bill, which is now Act (CAA). Mr. Tokheho, LS, MP voted in favor of the Bill, and according to his clarification, he said that he voted in favor of the Bill as directed by his Party- NDPP. Mr. K.G. Kenye, RS, MP voted in favor of the Bill against the stand of the party and, therefore, he was suspended from the primary membership of the party. In the said CEC meeting, “the house resolved that NDPPled PDA Govt. will be held solely responsible for any fall out on the Nagas out of the CAB 2016.” NPF was against this Bill from the very beginning because this Act becomes very dangerous for the people of the whole North East. For example, starting from the next day of passing this Bill, we see that many people jump over the international fencing from Bangladesh to India every day in thousands. Why should we oppose if the Hindus from Bangladesh want to come to India. But we know that these people will not get land either in West Bengal or Bihar, their entry point States. In that case, where these people will go? The density of population in Bihar stands at 1102 per sq km., and in West Bengal it stands at 1029 per sq km. In Nagaland, the density of population stands at 119 per sq km. Now, you can work out the logic yourself in what manner population stabilization will be worked out by the Government of India in due course of time. Therefore, in my earlier statement, I have said that the affect of CAB will come only after 10, 15 years and not in a matter of one or two years. The explanations of incorporating ILP in the CAA or exemption of Nagaland from CAA etc. have got nothing to do with population politics. We must understand the dangers of CAA and take precautionary measure before it is too late. The Act was passed by both Houses of Parliament but the rules are yet to be framed. Yet before the rules are framed, some States are in a hurry and registered so many even now according to report.

Dimapur city is the commercial hub of Nagaland. It is the miniature of India. Besides the Naga population from all different tribes, we have people from all different States in India living here together and practicing their own faith freely and openly. Christians, Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs, Jains, Budhists etc. have been living together in harmony. You practice freely and openly with full respect for one another. People from different places, practicing different faiths and living together in harmony is the real model of Indian secularism enshrined in the preamble of the Constitution. NPF stand to support it.

The NPF Legislature Party wanted the Nagaland Legislative Assembly to pass resolution against CAA. We may belong to different political parties but all of us have common future. If a storm comes, that storm cannot read or recognise who is NPF or who is NDPP, but it will destroy everything in its own way. I want to appeal to the leaders of Nagaland not to gamble with the future of our children for their own prestige sake or for their immediate gain. Political parties may come and go, government also may come and go but the people of Nagaland will continue to live together for all time to come. The ruling NDPPBJP is now defending CAA with various points. They have directed their MP (LS) to vote in favour of the Bill, NPF was not so kind to their member in Rajya Sabha, because NPF is against CAA from the very beginning. To be more precise, NPF is against CAA but NDPP is supporting CAA; that is the difference.

Now, coming to the development program, for information only, we are happy to see many developmental activities particularly in road sector in Nagaland during the last two years. Recently, the present Government has published through news media that the Nagaland Government has been given some projects by the Centre. Let us take it as good news, but as far as the works going on now or done during the last two years, sanctions were obtained by the previous NPF Govt. Some important projects are like :

1. Const. of 2-lane road from Golaghat Gate to Purana Bazar.

2. Four-lane road from Purana Bazar to Patkai Bridge, the foundation was laid by the former Chief Minister, Mr. T.R.Zeliang in Sept. 2017.

3. The Capital Road from Kohima to Dimapur via Dzüdza river to Niuland.

4 . Two - l a n e r o a d through Kohima city from Police Check gate at Byepass to Police Check-gate at Lierie (Phesama). 5. All Kohima Town roads in three groups etc. etc. In conclusion, I want to say that we are in the Opposition at the moment. We have to take this opportunity as a blessing in disguise. Let us try to learn lessons as opposition members so that we can do better next time when we take over the Government again in the near future. We stand on solid ground and there is nothing to fear. We stand for peace and harmony of the society. Long live NPF. Thank you and God Bless. Dr. Shürhozelie Liezietsu, President, NPF Speech of Dr. Shurhozelie Liezietsu at sit-in protest