Nagaland Post www.nagalandpost.com
Vol XXVIII No. 56
FRIDAY, February 2, 2018 Pages 12 ` 5.00
All-friendly Budget will push development: PM
Man City beat Baggies to extend lead
Kamal Haasan to speak on Tamil Nadu issues at Harvard
national, Page 5
sports, Page 12
infotainment, Page 10
Budget: sops to poor, middle class ignored Political parties change track for polls Staff Reporter/Correspondent
NEW DELHI, FEB 1 (IANS): With an eye on the next Lok Sabha elections, finance minister Arun Jaitley in his 2018-19 budget on Thursday proposed a major health insurance scheme for the poor, a higher minimum support price and a step up of Rs 1 lakh crore as institutional credit for farmers along with a spend of nearly Rs 6 lakh crore on infrastructure development. To pay for this seeming bout of generosity, albeit with votebanks in mind, the finance minister has mopped up huge sums through three or four simple steps, mostly aimed at the middle class. While providing some sops to salaried individuals and pensioners, it has aimed to raise Rs 11,000 crore by increasing cess on income of individuals, from 3 to 4 %. Additionally, it has aimed to raise money by imposing a 10 % Social Welfare Surcharge on all imported goods. At the same time, the finance minister has eyed the share-owning and investing class by removing an exemption on long term capital gains to possibly raise over Rs 36,000 crore in a full year -- by taxing at 10 % shares
Gov, CM and others condole
DIMAPUR, FEB 1 (NPN): Nagaland governor, P.B. Acharya, chief minister, TR Zeliang and others have condoled the death of former legislator, Nyeiwang Konyak, who passed away in Dimapur on Wednesday after a brief illness. In a condolence message addressed to Mrs. Ngulanie-u Nyeiwang, the governor stated that late Nyeiwang Konyak had served the people of Nagaland in different capacities and dedicated his life towards the welfare of the Naga society. “His demise has left a great void which will be hard to fill,” Acharya said, adding that the State has lost a politician who was always concerned about the welfare of the people. Further, Acharya conveyed his heartfelt condolences to all members of the bereaved family and prayed to the Almighty to grant strength and solace to overcome the grief. CM: Expressing deep shock over the demise of Nyeiwang Konyak, the chief minister, TR Zeliang, described Nyeiwang as a sincere, dedicated and a down to earth person and a born leader. In a condolence message to Mrs. Ngulanei-ü Nyeiwang, the chief minister said Nyeiwang was a well-respected person and would be long remembered by all who knew him.
What’s getting costlier
* Cars and motorcycles * Mobile phones * Silver * Gold * Vegetable, fruit juices, including orange and cranberry * Sunglasses * Miscellaneous food preparations other than soya protein* Perfumes and toilet waters * Sunscreen, suntan, manicure, pedicure preparations * Preparations for oral dental hygiene, denture fixative pastes and powders; dental floss * Pre-shave, shaving or after-shave preparations * Deodorants, bath preparations, depilatories, perfumery * Scent sprays and similar toilet sprays * Truck and Bus radial tyres * Silk Fabrics * Footwear * Coloured gemstones * Diamonds * Imitation jewellery * Smart watches/wearable devices * LCD/ LED TV panels * Furniture * Mattresses * Lamps * Wrist watches, pocket watches, clocks * Tricycles, scooters, pedal cars, wheeled toys, dolls’ carriages, dolls, toys, puzzles of all kinds * Video game consoles * Articles and equipment for sports or outdoor games, swimming pools and paddling pools * Cigarette and other lighters, candles * Kites * Edible/vegetable oils such as olive oil, groundnut oil
What’s getting cheaper
* Raw cashew nuts * Solar tempered glass or solar tempered glass used for manufacture solar panels/modules * Raw materials, parts or accessories used in making cochlear implants * Select capital goods and electronics such as ball screws and linear motion guides. held for more than a year, exempting only profit of up to Rs 1 lakh. The 4 % health and education cess replaces the 2 % cess for primary educa-
tion and 1 % cess for secondary and higher education on individuals and corporates to take care of the needs of education and health of BPL and rural families.
HIGHLIGHTS
Govt’s health scheme to cover 10 crore poor families is world’s largest government-funded health protection scheme. Govt. to implement MSP for all crops; MSP hiked to 1.5 times of production costs Rural haats to be upgraded to Grameen agricultural markets This year’s Budget to focus on agriculture and rural economy Women SHGs will be encouraged to take up organic farming Rs.2,000 crore fund for development of agri market 2 crore additional toilets to be constructed under Swach Bharat Abhiyan Free power connections to 4 crore homes Govt. to provide free LPG connection to 8 crore women under Ujjwala scheme Similarly, the Social Welfare Surcharge of 10 % on all customs duties replaces the education cess on imported goods. He also levied a 15 % duty on some
Rijiju appeals Nagas to CCNTHCO reminds pol parties take part in Feb 27 polls Spl. Correspondent NEW DELHI, FEB 1 (NPN): Union minister Kiren Rijiju on Thursday called upon the people of Nagaland to take part in the forthcoming Assembly elections and assured that the Central government will implement the solution as soon as it was finalised. In a statement, Rijiju, who is also the BJP’s election in-charge of Nagaland said: “The union government is sensitive to the popular sentiments of the Naga people and is committed to an early solution to the issue.” In this regard, he appealed to all civil society groups to withdraw their call to boycott the election. As reported in Nagaland Post, Rijiju had categorically stated that Centre attaches utmost importance to the Naga issue and has full
faith in the on-going talks, saying peaceful elections in Nagaland will facilitate the talks and strengthen its commitment. Rijiju also opined that timely holding of polls was a constitutional process and the Centre was bound by constitutional provisions. Meanwhile, the Election Commission has reportedly told the CCNTHCO in New Delhi that the polls cannot be reversed, TOI reports stated. CCNTHCO convenor, Theja Therieh told TOI that a full bench of the Election Commission met the delegation of the core committee in New Delhi and heard its demand. “The commission has acknowledged our demand but said that it is not in a position to review the election notification. ECI is duty-bound. It is a stalemate now unless government of India takes a call,” he said.
DIMAPUR, FEB 1 (NPN): Core Committee of Nagaland Tribal Hohos and Civil Organisations (CCNTHCO) has once again reminded all the 11 political parties of the January 29 ‘joint declaration’ that “any violation of the declaration would be akin to betrayal.” In a press note, CCNTHCO convenor, Theja Therieh and secretary Joshua Newmai said the committee was “hopeful that there will be no Judas in the Naga family.” For those bent on filing nominations, it’s not only the political party which would be held responsible but even the tribe to which he/she belongs, would be tainted by the act of these opportunistic individuals, CCNTHCO stated. With regard to the February 1 bandh, it said conscientious Naga people had spoken, as it was for the first time in the State that no volunteers were deployed anywhere to enforce the bandh. Despite the differing voices of the leaders, the bandh evoked emotional responses, reflecting the general sentiment of the common people, the committee said. Since the people’s response was amply clear, the committee said political parties may reflect on this groundswell of public response. CCNTHCO said Dimapur district including Chumoukedima town wore a deserted look, likewise with Mokokchung, Zunheboto, Meluri, Peren and Tseminyu. Wokha town witnessed very few vehicular movements. In Kohima town, it said many remained indoors, while in Phek all shops were closed, with prayer and fasting programmes held in different places for Naga Solution, it added. However, in places where bandh was opposed, CCNTHCO said people decided to support the cry of solution not election in different manners. (CCNTHCO calls for meeting, see p-7)
DIMAPUR/KOHIMA, FEB1 (NPN): After failure to make all political parties adhere to their commitment not to participate in the February 27 election in favour of solution and also the lukewarm response to the state-wide bandh on February 1, the efforts of the CCNTHCO and the dire warnings by the Naga national groups have gone unheeded, political parties were now prepared to contest the forthcoming assembly polls. The February 1 bandh evoked no response in most of the districts except for Dimapur, Mokokchung and Zunheboto. The interesting aspect of the February 1 bandh was the absence of ‘enforcers’ in districts where tribe organizations and civil society groups opted for bandh. After the state BJP unit suspended its representatives for appending signature to the resolution at the CCNTHCO meeting on January 29 not set up candidates for the February 27 election, it was clear that this would have a cascading effect. This led the NPF to decide to also announce its participation and followed suit by other parties. All the political parties were now geared up to fight the polls and issue tickets to the candidates in the coming days. BJP: Putting all speculations to rest, State BJP unit was the first party to formally declare that the party would “contest the ensuing Assembly election for the cause of solution” to Naga political problem. Clarifying that the
also informed that NPF may not contest in Northern Angami-II (Kohima) and Tizit. NDPP: NDPP working president, Alemtemshi Jamir informed that the final decision of the party would be made known after Lok Sabha MP, Neiphiu Rio’s return from Delhi on Friday. JD-U: State JD-U convenor, NSN Lotha also informed that the party was prepared to contest since all other political parties have decided to do so. NPCC: Congress party has cleared the air to contest the election and was all set to release its manifesto and issue tickets to candidates by next week. Sources said Congress will be issuing tickets to over 30 candidates. Meanwhile in a press note, Nagaland Pradesh Congress Committee (NPCC) media cell said since all political parties, including NPF and BJP, were gearing up to participate in the polls, it too would soon release its election manifesto where the future of everyone would be assured. NPCC did not lose the opportunity to attack the BJP by describing its decision to go against CCNCTHO resolution as “belligerent”. NPCC said this has led to forced elections against the wishes of the people and civil societies and would be remembered for all times to come. NPCC accused BJP of allegedly planning to “flood the State with money” to lure candidates and buy voters. It said BJP simply brushed aside the January 29 joint declaration and made a scapegoat out of their senior party functionary. (Cont’d on p-7)
CCNTHCO bandh evokes mixed response Staff Reporter/Correspondents
DIMAPUR/KOHIMA/ MOKOKCHUNG, FEB 1 (NPN): Core Committee of Nagaland Tribal Hohos and Civil Organization (CCNTHCO) 12-hour (Cont’d on p-7) state-wide on Thursday to protest against ECI issuing the election notification on January 31, evoked mixed response in the state. The bandh in Dimapur, Mokokchung and Zunheboto was near-total, affecting normal life, but the rest of the districts remained unaffected as several apex tribal bodies abstained from participating/imposing the dawn-to-dusk bandh. In Dimapur, the streets wore a deserted look and vehicular movement came to a grinding halt Thursday “ Smart guy. He was despite the non-presence of for solution and bandh bandh enforces. Educational . Now he’s for election institutions, markets and and will gift the food to shops remained closed in candidates.” Dimapur whereas in Chu-
This is it!
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of the parts and accessories of mobile phones and TV sets to promote creation of more jobs under the “Make in India” programme. Jaitley also announced that Minimum Support Price (MSP) for unannounced kharif crops will be 1.5 times the input cost and stepped up the institutional credit for the sector to Rs 11 lakh crore -- 1 lakh crore more than last year. For the Railways, the capital expenditure has been fixed at Rs 1,48,528 crore for 2018-19 with a large part devoted to capacity creation. In a rejig of excise duty on petroleum products, the union government on the Budget Day cut basic excise duty on petrol and diesel by Rs 2. The government also abolished additional excise duty on fuel by Rs 6. While the government has cut excise duty, petrol prices are likely to remain the same as a new road cess of Rs 8 per litre has been introduced. Prime Minister Narendra Modi hailed the Finance Minister for presenting an all-friendly budget, but opposition reacted sharply to the government’s proposed budget.
party was all for early solution to the present Naga imbroglio, BJP added that it would be part of the system to implement all agreements that would be reached the Government of India and negotiating parties. The party’s assertion followed a meeting between the BJP delegation from Nagaland, led by state president, Visasolie Lhonugu and accompanied by former state president Dr. M. Chuba Ao and former Home minister Y. Patton, and party’s national general secretary Ram Madhav in New Delhi on Thursday. During the meeting, the state team apprised the Central leader about the present political situation in Nagaland, a release issued by BJP media cell said. After a thorough deliberation, it was agreed upon that BJP would contest the February 27 election, the party said. Meanwhile, BJP MLA and party’s Election Management Committee coconvenor, Mmhonlumo Kikon informed that the BJP Nagaland was in the “final stage of stitching together an alliance for the forthcoming elections.” Mmhonlumo chose to keep his cards close to his chest when he informed that BJP was in discussion with all the parties for finalising the seat-sharing alliance by Friday. NPF: Ruling NPF party sources also informed the Correspondent that the party was all set to go ahead and likely distribute tickets by this week. Sources also said that the party will not field candidates in all the 60 constituencies, but would setup over 20 new faces in the coming polls. It was
Busy NL Road wears a deserted look on Thursday. (NP)
mukedima shops remained open partially. With public transport paralysed, commuters were seen walking with their luggage. In Kohima, despite Anagami Public Organization (APO) declaring not to impose bandh within Angami inhabited areas, the citizens witnessed mixed response with less people and vehicles in town during the morning hour. Traffic flow was smooth until afternoon.
Few schools remained open while also many business establishments opened their shops in the afternoon. In Mokokchung, the bandh call given by the Ao Senden in the whole of Mokokchung district passed off successfully without any untoward incident. The bandh saw total closure of educational institutions and business establishments. Pedestrian movements were also restricted.
As per reports, the bandh was also observed successfully in all the administrative headquarters of the district including Tuli ADC Hq, Changtongya and Mangkolemba divisions. Meanwhile, the Ao Senden has stated that the bandh was called as per the resolution adopted by the tribal hohos and civil societies for a state-wide bandh. In Zunheboto, the bandh was enforced by Sümi Hoho (SH) from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. SH through its media cell said the decision to observe the bandh within its jurisdictions, was in solidarity with the decision taken on January 30, 2018 at CCNTHCO meeting. Reaffirming that it would continue working in the best interests for Sümis in particular and the Nagas in general, the SH stated it would stand for Naga unity and always fight for truth and justice in the society. (Cont’d on p-7)
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