Nagaland Post www.nagalandpost.com
Vol XXXI No. 55
DIMAPUR, SUNDAY, JANUARY 31, 2021 Pages 12 ` 5.00
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Offer on farm laws still stands: PM Opposition question handling of protests at all-party meet NEW DELHI, JAN 30 (PTI): Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday told floor leaders of various political parties that his government’s offer on agri laws made to protesting farmers “still stands” and it was a “phone call away” for talks, days after violence broke out in parts of the national capital on Republic Day. Addressing these leaders at the customary all-party meeting convened by the government for the smooth conduct of the Budget Session, the Prime Minister, responding to the references by opposition leaders about the “unfortunate incident” on Republic Day, said that the “law will take its own course”. Sharing the details of the meeting chaired by Modi and attended by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi said, “The Prime Minister assured that the Centre is approaching
Hike in fuel prices hit pause for third day NEW DELHI, JAN 30 (IANS): Pause on price hike of petrol and diesel continued on Saturday for the third day in a row. Across the country as well the fuel prices remained at Wednesday’s level. Though firm global crude and product price is the reason for the increase in retail price of petrol and diesel, it is interesting to note that even though crude has been hovering just over $55 a barrel for some time now, OMCs have gone in for both a pause in price of auto fuels as well increase in its retail prices on consecutive days. Informed sources said that oil companies may be building buffer on retail price of petrol and diesel to prevent any sharp price increase of government decided to further raise excise duty on the two products to mobilise addition al revenue. Crude price have remained firm for last few weeks in wake of unilateral production cuts announced by Saudi Arabia and a pick up in consumption in all major economies globally. Petrol and diesel prices have increased 10 times in January with both auto fuels increasing by Rs 2.59 and Rs 2.61 per litre respectively during the month.
This is it!
“You are the chosen. For, it is written-many are called but few are chosen. “ K Y M C
Narendra Modi
the farmers issue with an open mind.” “The Prime Minister said the Centre’s stand is same as it was on January 22, the last meeting between the protesting farmers and the Centre and proposal given by Agriculture Minister on the farm laws still stands. Modiji reiterated what Tomarji had said - that he (Narendra Singh Tomar) is phone call away for talks,” Joshi said, quoting Modi. Emphasizing on the need for smooth functioning of Parliament, Modi said smaller parties suffer the most due to disruptions as they do not get chance to raise their issues. “It is for the bigger parties to ensure Parliament functions smoothly, there are no disruptions and thus, the smaller parties are able
to voice their views in Parliament,” Joshi said citing Modi’s remarks. The all-party meeting is convened for the government to put forth its legislative agenda before political parties. Leaders from various parties flag issues they wish to raise during the meeting. Meanwhile, the opposition parties demanded that the Prime Minister must convene a meeting of all party leaders and discuss threadbare the three farm laws. While unequivocally condemning the violence during the farmers’ tractor rally in Delhi on Republic Day, the opposition parties, including the Congress, Trinamool Congress, Shiromani Akali Dal and Shiv Sena, questioned the government’s handling of the farmer agitation. The opposition parties demanded an immediate inquiry into the Republic Day violence to find out who was responsible for it and they were also unanimous that the blame should not be put on the farmer leaders. TMC party leader in the Lok Sabha Sudeep Bandopadhyay , said that 20 opposition parties boycot-
ting the President’s address on 29 January is a strong message for the government to withdraw the three farm laws. Bandhopadhyay said “This will be a good message that the government is democratic,” the party’s leader in Lok Sabha, as saying during the meeting. “Majoritarianism cannot let farmers suffer,” Bandopadhyay was quoted as saying. Congress’ Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury told reporters that the Prime Minister narrated what Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar told the farmers during discussions that he is a phone call away from them provided they accept the government’s proposal. Even the Biju Janata Dal (BJD), considered friendly to the ruling BJP, said the government should incorporate a specific provision in the farm law that the Minimum Support Price will not be removed. While almost all opposition parties condemned the violence and vandalism at the Red Fort by a group of protesting farmers on Republic Day, they asserted that other farmers protesting peacefully should not be held responsible for it.
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Meet to discuss Trans Nagaland Expressway
Cong slams BJP over FIRs filed against Tharoor, 6 journalists
DIMAPUR, JAN 30 (NPN): Nagaland Foothills Road Coordination Committee (NFHRCC), which had a meeting with 11 Dimapur-based tribal hohos at its KherMahal Office, Dimapur on January 30,2021, has resolved to organise a meeting in consultation with all the elected MLAs of the 11 tribes on or before February 5, 2021 on the issue of Trans Nagaland Expressway (Foothills Road). In a press release, NPHRCC convenor Supu Jamir, general secretary W Lemba Chang and assistant general secretary Chenithung Humtsoe stated that detail of the meeting date, venue and the timing would be intimated at the earliest. Further, the meeting urged the state government to specifically finalise the Head of Account against which the remaining bills would be booked once the ongoing Doyang bridge construction was completed. NFRHCC also acknowledged the donation amount of Rs.30,000from the Dimapur Phom Baptist Church to the committee.
New Delhi, Jan 30 (PTI): Congress on Saturday slammed the BJP over FIRs filed against party MP Shashi Tharoor and six journalists, with its leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra alleging that the ruling party has “torn to shreds” the “dignity of democracy” by this action. The opposition party also alleged that the BJP governments at the Centre and in states are hell-bent on “brutally and blatantly silencing” every contrarian or dissenting voice “by hook or by crook”. Tharoor and six journalists — Mrinal Pande, Rajdeep Sardesai, Vinod Jose, Zafar Agha, Paresh Nath and Anant Nath — have been booked by police in some BJP-ruled states over their allegedly misleading tweets on the violence during the farmers’ tractor rally in Delhi on Republic Day. Reacting to the development, Priyanka Gandhi said the trend of the BJP government threatening public representatives and journalists by filing FIRs is “very dangerous”. “Respecting democ-
BJP has ‘torn to shreds’ the ‘dignity of democracy’
- Priyanka Gandhi racy is not the government’s prerogative but it is its responsibility. The atmosphere of fear is like poison for democracy,” she said in a tweet in Hindi.“The BJP government has torn to shreds the dignity of democracy by FIRs against senior journalists and public representatives,” she said. In a statement, Congress chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said, “The BJP governments at the Centre and in states are hell-bent on brutally and blatantly silencing every contrarian or dissenting voice by hook or by crook.” In doing so, it is resorting to threats, intimidation and coercion that seem to be exceeding the overreach of even the “draconian Press Act of 1910 and the Rowlatt Act of 1919”, he said refer-
ring to the British-era laws. “The FIR filed against senior journalists and editors and a Congress MP is a clear cut instance of strangulating democracy by the BJP and its leaders,” Surjewala said. “Either you should be with us, or we will use state machinery to harass and bulldoze you’ is thoroughly embedded in the Modi government’s DNA,” he alleged. Tharoor and the six journalists have been booked by the Noida Police for sedition, among other charges, over the violence during the farmers’ tractor rally in Delhi, officials said on Thursday. Madhya Pradesh police have also filed a FIRagainst Tharoor and the six journalists over their ‘misleading’ tweets.
States asked to increase coverage of Tikait’s emotional outburst reignites stir beneficiaries receiving COVID vaccine NEW DELHI, JAN 30 (PTI): Centre on Saturday asked states and Union Territories to augment coverage of beneficiaries receiving vaccination against COVID-19 and increase as well as optimize inoculation sessions per day. The states and UTs have also been asked to start vaccinating frontline workers from the first week of February, the Union Health ministry said in a statement. This was done during a review meeting chaired by Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan. “While some states and UTs have more than 50 per cent coverage, they were all advised to improve the percentage coverage of vaccinated beneficiaries as there are many states and UTs that need to improve their performance on this parameter,” the statement said. The health secretary pointed out that COVID-19 vac-
cine is available in sufficient quantity and technical glitches on CoWIN have now been resolved. “States/UTs were advised to ensure that regular review meetings of the state, district and block task force were held to assess the emerging challenges, understand the ground issues and promptly address them at the appropriate levels,” it said. It was pointed that there is a huge scope for improvement in the number of average vaccinations per session and the state health secretaries were asked to analyze the daily variation in the number of average vaccination and take the necessary steps to increase them. The states and UTs were also asked to organize multiple simultaneous vaccination sessions per day in the health facility wherever possible. “This would substantially boost the number of vaccina-
tions per day. He (secretary) urged the District Immunisation Officers to interact with the nodal officer at the session sites on a regular basis to evaluate the scope of this enhancement,” the statement said. Drawing attention to the recent letter of the Health Ministry, Bhushan pointed out that a provisional digital vaccination certificate after the first dose and final certificate after completing the second dose is required to be issued. “States/UTs were asked to take the necessary steps to ensure that the vaccination certificates are issued to all vaccinated beneficiaries before they exit the session,” it said. Bhushan reiterated that validation of eligibility and verification of identity of a beneficiary is of utmost importance to ensure that only genuine and duly authenticated beneficiaries are vaccinated as per the priority group identified.
Rakesh Tikait addresses a gathering of farmers at Ghazipur border in New Delhi, Saturday. (PTI)
NEW DELHI, JAN 30 (AGENCIES): The emotive pull of tears of UP farm leader Rakesh Tikait is being felt in the villages of Punjab too. The fear and confusion over the protest ending abruptly that had gripped the state’s villages in the aftermath of the Republic Day violence has now been replaced by a renewed vigour to join the stir. Several village-level committees are now sending
‘Nana- A tale of us’ wins best film at Prag Cine Award Correspondent
KOHIMA, JAN 30 (NPN): Indigenous film ‘Nana— A tale of us’ has won the ‘Best Film’ in the Northeast category at Prag Cine Award 2021. The award ceremony was held at University of Science and Technology (USTM), Guwahati on January 30. The film was earlier nominated in four categories including Best Film Northeast Category, Mengu Suokhrie for Best Actor Female Northeast Category, Zhokhoi Chüzho for Best Actor Male Northeast Category and Tiakumzuk Aier for Best Director Northeast category. In a telephonic interview with Nagaland Post, female protagonist of the film, Mengu Suokhrie, said that getting recognised and being nominated for Best Actor Female Northeast cat-
A still from the movie ‘Nana— A tale of us’ that won the award.
egory was very rewarding. “I feel humbled and grateful and take the nomination as a huge encouragement and a boost for me to work harder. And I’m very proud for our very own Nagaland made film bagging the prestigious award,” Mengu said.
With this recognition, Mengu said she hoped that more avenues and opportunities would open up for the youth, especially, the aspiring actors and film makers in the state. She thanked all her fans for their continuous support this far and
expressed optimism that the same would continue even in the future. Director of the film Tiakumzuk Aier in a short note said, “I thank God for the award, for the recognition. I feel happy to start the year with an award.” While lead actor of the film Zhokhoi Chüzho said, “Finally our work getting recognition outside our State, in a prestigious award as a nominee itself feels truly rewarding. I thank God for this.” The film produced by Aoyimti Youth Ministry was released on July 17, 2017 and besides the above two stars, other casts of the film included Watipongla Kichu, Ariensa Longchar and BokaviSwu. The film, regarded as one the most expensive indigenous films, has received both critical and commercial success after its release.
large number of people, not just farmers, to support the movement. These committees are now also assigning duties to villagers related to the staying at protest sites, taking water, milk, food for the protestors there. In several villages, people said that they were moved by the video of farm leader Rakesh Tikait getting emotional over how farmers were being branded as terrorists.
Over 37 lakh beneficiaries vaccinated: Govt NEW DELHI, JAN 30 (PTI): Over 37 lakh healthcare workers have been vaccinated against COVID-19 till now, the Health Ministry said on Saturday. On the 15th day of vaccination on Saturday, 2,06,130 beneficiaries were vaccinated and 71 adverse events following immunization (AEFIs) were reported. “The cumulative number of healthcare workers vaccinated against COVID-19 is 37,06,157 (as at 7 pm Saturday), as per the provisional report,” the ministry said. Of the 37,06,157 beneficiaries, the highest number of people were vaccinated in Uttar Pradesh at 4,63,793 followed by Rajasthan at 3,26,745, Kar nataka at 3,15,343, Madhya Pradesh at 2,73,872 and Maharashtra at 2,69,064.
They added that several farm leaders in Punjab needed to learn from Tikait’s dedication. He was once a Delhi Police constable, tried his hand at electoral politics and been a farmer leader for years. But Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) leader Tikait has broken out of the confines of western UP to find a space in the national spotlight as arguably the most powerful farm leader of the day. The movement was till now dominated by protesters from the fields of Punjab and Haryana who set up camp at Singhu and Tikri border points into the city. Now, the focus has shifted to Ghazipur on the Delhi-Uttar Pradesh border where farmers are gathering in thousands to boost the fight that seemed to have been weakening only two days ago. “We have a population of around 1,800 peo-
ple and every household will send one person each to the protest site and we have decided to send 4050 persons every week who will be replaced with the new group,” a farm leader said, adding that now zeal to go to Delhi has increased manifold ever since the government used force on the protestors at Singhu and Gazipur borders. The crowd at Ghazipur border that had reduced to 500 Thursday night grew manifold over the next 12 hours, running into well over 5,000 in next 24 hours. The movement was not just revived but further energised. Various farmer leaders Saturday claimed that with more and more farmer groups marching towards Delhi, there would a be a record gathering of peasants and farm labourers on the borders by February 2.
State COVID tally 12090 COVID-19 STATUS AS ON january 30, 2021 ACTIVE CASES Symptomatic AsympCritical-ICU District tomMod- Se- With- With On Mild atic erate vere out Oxy- VentiOxygen gen lator Dimapur 22 7 2 0 0 0 0 Kiphire 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 Kohima 13 0 0 0 0 0 0 Longleng 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Mokokchung 3 2 0 0 0 0 0 Mon 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Peren 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 Phek 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Tuensang 2 0 0 0 0 0 0
Death MiRecovunder Total Death gratered InvestiCases ed gation 6306 40 3708 10 180 594 504 47 243
59 1 21 0 3 2 0 0 1
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
74 0 39 9 6 9 1 0 1
6470 41 3781 19 192 605 507 47 247
2
39
Wokha
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
35
1
0
Zunheboto Total
0 42
0 8
0 2
0 0
0 0
0 0
0 0
139 11806
0 88
0 0
3 142 144 12090
*10 deaths not due to Covid-19 *0 deaths under investigation
DIMAPUR, JAN 30 (NPN): Nagaland on Saturday reported two new COVID-19 positive cases in Kohima, taking the caseload to 12090. As on January 30, the state recorded 52 active cases while 11806 have recovered from the infection. Out of 88 deaths recorded
till date, 78 have died due to the infection. PTI adds: With 13,083 fresh cases, India’s COVID-19 tally has gone up to 1,07,33,131, while 1,04,09,160 patients have recuperated so far, pushing the national recovery rate to 96.98 per cent, the health ministry said on Saturday. K Y M C