March 5, 2018

Nagaland Post www.nagalandpost.com

Vol XXVIII No. 87

MONDAY, MARCH 5, 2018 Pages 12 ` 5.00

‘China’s development poses no threat to any country’

Liverpool beat Newcastle 2-0

Mamata supports KCR’s third front proposal

international, Page 9

sports, Page 12

national, Page 5

Rio, Zeliang given 48 hrs to prove majority Khidchdi govt in M’laya; Cong left in lurch Correspondent/Agencies

Correspondent

KOHIMA, MAR 4 (NPN): Though the election battle is over, the race to power is still on as both claimants- NDPP+ BJP along with one JDU and one Independent MLAs have staked claim to form the next government while the NPF (26) with NPP(2) have also met with the Governor where NPF insisted that it is the single largest party.

NDPP+BJP have 30 and with one JDU and Independent have a simple majority of 32 members.

NPF on the other has 26 members and along with pre-poll partner NPP claimed 28 and with another pre-poll alliance partner JDU claimed 29.

Earlier, NDPP chief ministerial candidate Neiphiu Rio along with BJP national general secretary Ram Madhav including two JDU and Independent MLAs met the Governor to stake claim to form the next government with 32 MLAs that included NDPP+BJP including one JDU and one Independent legislator. Those who accompanied Rio

NDPP wins Tening constituency DIMAPUR, MAR 4 (NPN): Election Commission (ECI) has directed cancellation of the result of 6 Tening constituency that wrongly declared NPF candidate Namduadi Rangaku Zeliang as winner due to wrong tabulation.

On reviewing the tabulation, NDPP’s Namri Nchang was found to have polled 7,018 votes against Zeliang’s 6,850 votes. Hence, Nchang was declared to have won by a margin of 168 votes.

JD(U) reiterates support DIMAPUR, MAR 4 (NPN): Janata Dal (Uinted) national secretary general and spokesperson, K.C. Tyagi has reiterated his party’s decision to support the NDPP-BJP alliance to form the government in Nagaland.

In a press note, Tyagi said with the support of its MLA, G. Kaito Aye the party will strengthen the leadership of Neiphiu Rio as the chief minister. He said NDPP-BJP along with JD (U) was in a comfortable position to form a stable government in the state.

Meanwhile, Tyagi also congratulated all its party workers for their hard work and contribution during the recently concluded elections.

This is it!

“If there is delay in govt formation, we might shift from here to Kaziranga again.”

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Neiphiu Rio, Ram Madhav accompanied by JD(U) and Ind MLAs call on Governor Acharya.

included NDPP president Chingwang Konyak, State BJP president Visasolie Lhongou, NDPP secretary general Abu Metha and NDPP general secretary Rusemtong Longkumer.

Rio will also submit the letter signed by all NDPP MLAs Monday morning after they arrive Kohima from various districts.

Later, Chief Minister T.R. Zeliang, along with NPF legislators, also met Acharya and claimed to be the single largest party.

Zeliang handed out a letter claiming support of

28 MLAs (including NR Zeliang), besides two NPP legislators and one JD (U) MLA, to which the governor replied that JD (U) legislator had already given his letter of support to the BJP-NDPP combine.

Reacting to the development, Nagaland Governor, P.B. Acharya said “I have not invited anyone to form the government as of now. I have given them 48 hours time to submit the signatures of the elected members supporting them”.

“As the constitutional head, my duty is to see who

has the majority and call him to form the new government. Whoever brings the signatures of more than 30 elected members I will accept,” he said.

Now, faced with two claimants, the Governor is said to have given both Rio and Zeliang 48 hours to prove their majority.

Meanwhile, sources informed Nagaland Post that Zeliang would fly to New Delhi to try and rope in BJP support to an NPFled government by meeting the saffron party’s central leadership.

On the other hand,

NPF president, Dr. Shürhozelie Liezietsu has also reportedly shot off a letter to BJP chief Amit Shah informing him of the party’s eagerness to continue its friendship and alliance with the latter, which was maintained for the last 15 years. Dr. Shurho also reiterated that BJP had not withdrawn from the alliance till date.

With Tening constituency election result having been altered and now going in favour of NDPP candidate Namri Nchang, the BJP-NDPP alliance’s strength has risen to 32 in the 60-member House– 18 NDPP and 12 BJP members, besides one JD (U) MLA and one Independent MLA. Meanwhile, it has been learnt that the two NPP elected member were divided – one lending his support to Rio and the other to Zeliang.

NPP president Ato Yepthomi has clarified that any declaration or claim made by the MLAs would be invalid and reiterated his party’s stand to honour its pre-poll alliance agreement with NDPP.

SHILLONG, MAR 4: Putting an end to the longstanding suspense over Meghalaya’s next alliance, the UDP (United Democratic Party) chief Dr. Donkupar Roy Sunday said, “We are going to support NPP (National People’s Party) led government. Conrad Sangma should be the next chief minister.”

Conrad Sangma, the lone NPP Lok Sabha from Tura constituency, will be sworn in as the chief minister on March 6. Outgoing chief minister, Mukul Sangma, who had submitted his resignation letter to Governor Ganga Prasad has been asked to continue in office till the formation of the new government.

“We have submitted a letter of support of 34 legislators to Governor Ganga Prasad and staked claimed to form the new government,” Conrad Sangma told jour nalists as he emerged from Raj Bhavan.

He said the 34 legislators include 19 from NPP, six from United Democratic Party (UDP), four from People’s Democratic Front (PDF), two each from Hill State People’s Democratic

Conrad Sangma hands the letter of support to Governor Ganga Prasad on Sunday.

Party (HSPDP) and BJP besides one Independent member Samuel Sangma.

The regional parties – UDP, HSPDP and PDF – extended support to NPP on the condition that Sangma, the youngest son of former Lok Sabha Speaker P.A. Sangma, would be the Chief Minister. “NPP have agreed to the condition of the three regional parties and I (Conrad Sangma) will be the Chief Minister,” Sangma said.

He said the non-Congress parties will now only wait for the invitation of the Governor to install the new government. The sources say, the alliance has 30 seats now, one less from securing majority in

Zeliang refuses to quit as CM, says he will meet Shah Parl session to begin on stormy DIMAPUR, MAR 4 (AGENCIES): Nagaland chief minister, T.R. Zeliang on Sunday refused to resign and said he would meet with BJP president Amit Shah in New Delhi to form a “more stable” government in the state.

Zeliang heads the Naga People’s Front (NPF) that won 27 seats in the Assembly election, three short of the majority mark while its pre-poll ally, National Peoples Party (NPP), won only two seats.

The Nationalist Democratic People’s Party and Bharatiya Janata Party contested the polls in an alliance, winning 30 of the 60 seats.

The Janata Dal (United) and one independent MLA have pledged support to the alliance.

However, Zeliang said he would meet BJP national president Amit Shah in New Delhi to discuss government formation in Nagaland.

note of bank scams issue

T.R. Zeliang along with the newly elected NPF legislators call on Governor at Raj Bhavan, Sunday.

Nagaland Governor PB Acharya told reporters that he thought Zeliang would resign when the chief minister came to meet him earlier on Sunday.

Manipur NPP, NPF want BJP-NPF-NPP coalition in Nagaland NPP and NPF parties of Manipur have expressed the desire for a BJP, NPF and NPP alliance government in Nagaland.

A letter to BJP president, Amit Shah from Manipur NPP president,

Thangminlien Kipgen and Manipur NPF president, Awangbow Newmai, said that the three parties had formed the government in Manipur in 2017 headed by the chief minister, N. Biren Singh. The letter also said the the NPP and NPF had extended overall cooperation in terms of policy implementation of various programs in the state.

The letter further appreciated the Prime Minister, Narendra Modi’s efforts to bring development to the North East, which, according to Newmai and Kipgen,

had been in the dark, neglected and sidelined by the erstwhile government.

The duo expressed hope that the NPP led BJP government would be formed in Meghalaya too. Since the NPP and NPF are alliance partners with the BJP in Manipur, they felt that such a coalition in Nagaland would be more stable and lead to a more cordial and congenial political atmosphere in the region. They appealed to the BJP president to intervene in this matter in the interest of Nagaland in general and the North East at large.

New Delhi, Mar 4 (PTI): The second part of Parliament’s budget session is set to begin Monday on a stormy note with the opposition ready to corner the government on the issue of bank frauds.

As both the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha meet after month-long recess, the multi-crore PNB bank fraud and other financial scams are likely to dominate the proceedings in both the Houses. The opposition and the government are likely to lock horns over the issue.

Opposition par ties would demand answers from Prime Minister Narendra Modi on how the multi-crore Punjab National Bank (PNB) fraud and other banking scams took place under his watch and how the government failed to stop them. Congress deputy leader in the Rajya Sabha

Anand Sharma has given a notice for a discussion on Monday under rule 267 of the House on the bank fraud issue. The government, on its part, is seeking to counter the opposition offensive by bringing the Fugitive Economic Offenders Bill.

The legislation, once passed, will grant powers to the government to attach assets of persons declared fugitive. This will include benami assets too.

The bill to target economic offenders was approved by the government following the fleeing of diamond merchant Nirav Modi and other accused in the over Rs 12,600-crore Punjab National Bank scam.

The BJP has claimed that the PNB scam had started during the UPA rule and its government has acted swiftly after the fraud came out in the open.

the 60-seat assembly.

The Congress which emerged as the single largest party winning 21 assembly seats is short of ten seats to get an absolute majority in the 60 member assembly.

But the designated chief minister said, “It is not about the single largest but it is about the group who has the majority. It is clear that we have the majority by getting the support of the 34 MLAs. Therefore, we have come and staked our claim to form the government,” he said. Congress leader Kamal Nath said, “We have already met the governor and handed him a letter to request him to invite the Congress being the single largest party.” He also added that the Congress is confident of forming the new government.

Further he said, “The voice of the people should be respected and the BJP winning only two seats has proven that people rejected them.” Meanwhile, the newly elected member of the Congress Legislature Party (CLP) has elected the outgoing chief minister, Mukul Sangma as their CLP leader.

NDPP-BJP CM candidate office refutes DIMAPUR, MAR 4 (NPN): Office of the NDPP-BJP chief ministerial candidate has strongly refuted the report published in section of the media, quoting Neiphiu Rio as saying “Naga Peace Agreement will be signed on August 10”.

In a press note, NDPPBJP office clarified that Rio had never made such statement on any occasion and said it was a false report, meant to mislead the people.

Such ‘news’ items, being widely circulated in social media platforms, are bereft of any truth and far from the ethics of journalism, it added. Stating that the Naga political issue was a sensitive issue, the NDPPBJP requested one and all to refrain from concocting and circulating such fabricated reports without verifying the same.

Lotha Hoho accuses NHIDCL of insincerity ‘Counting hampered by connectivity issues’ DIMAPUR, MAR 4 (NPN): Lotha Hoho has alleged that National Highways & Infrastructure Development Corporation Limited (NHIDCL) was not sincere in executing the WokhaMerapani highway. Stating this in a letter to Union Ministry of Road Transport & Highways (MoRTH), the apex Lotha body asserted that it had come to such a conclusion after having observed the ongoing work on the highway for several months, during which it was convinced that the work was doomed to be a failure.

In a press release, Lotha Hoho chair man Mhao Humtsoe and general secretary Er Mhondamo Ovung pointed out that the total road length was 60/585 km and that the work was divided into three packages – 0/00 km to 26/00 km for Rs 65, 26/00 to 48/00 km for Rs 60 crore and 48/00 km to 60/585 km for Rs 65.00

crore. Claiming that tender for the work was accepted at 22% below scheduled rates and contract awarded to Lucknow-based M/s CS Infraconstruction Ltd, the apex Lotha body warned that this would reduce the work amount by Rs 41.80 crore, which consequently would affect the overall quality of work.

Explaining that the process of tendering for awarding contract was to determine the capability of the contractors at optimum rate, the body pointed out that it was not necessary to choose the lowest bid and that it failed to understand the reason why NHIDCL had awarded the contract at such an “extremely low” rate. The release pointed out that NHIDCL general manager (GM) in charge of the work was based at Tezpur, Assam, while the deputy general manager (DGM) was based at Sivasa-

gar, Assam, and that there was no coordination office in Nagaland, and hence not readily accessible.

Lotha Hoho claimed to have visited the DGM at Sivasagar on November 11, 2017 and requested for compliance to specifications, to which the NHIDCL official had agreed. However, it regretted that despite repeated requests for consultative/ coordination meeting, the NHIDCL official had refused to meet the beneficiary community’s monitoringcum-vigilance committee.

Lotha Hoho had written to the NHIDCL GM too, requesting for a co ordination meeting on December 28, 2017 at Wokha, to which the former had initially agreed. However, after the tribal apex body made arrangements for the meeting, the NHIDCL DGM informed the former on the day of the scheduled meeting that Assam’s power

DIMAPUR, MAR 4 (NPN): Nagaland Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), Abhijit Sinha (IAS) said that the counting of votes had been hampered by issues of net connectivity.

According to a press release from CEO Nagaland, media cell, the CEO said this in a briefing held for media personnel at Conference Hall, AMK Building on Saturday. There had been heavy rainfall in Mokokchung that caused connectivity issues, and besides this the BSNL network was off for many hours in other areas, Sinha said. This delay also affected all the other counting that had been in progress.

According to the CEO, beginning this election, the Electronically Transmitted Postal Ballot System (ETPBS), was used. These ETPBS ballots were scanned by a QR code reader to verify authenticity and then (Cont’d on p-7) counted, after which the

minister was inaugurating a power project at Sivasagar and hence expressed his inability to turn up. The release claimed that Lotha Hoho had arranged for another consultative meeting on January 30 this year, in which the NHIDCL officials again did not turn up, although contractor’s representative Sudip Singh, claiming to be site in-charge, was present. But Singh failed to produce any document to prove his identity, it added.

Lotha Hoho said as no NHIDCL personnel was available at work site and that the road work was not supervised by any technical personnel. The organisation stated that M/s CS Infraconstruction Ltd had involved a few backhoe fuel loaders (three or four) and an equal number of dippers (dumpers) for the entire stretch and was not doing any widening earthwork so far.

normal postal ballots were counted, the CEO stated.

He informed the media that the counting process was almost done except for one or two places where the VVPATs had to be verified, EVM counting was otherwise over.

Sinha added that the Genesis software which was used to upload the results could not work in Zunheboto due to severed towers.

According to him, even after the results were known, the Returning Officers (ROs) had to follow due process and complete many technical procedures.

According to Sinha, out of 11,70,548 electors in the state, the total voter turnout was 9,48,770 hence, the polling percentage for the entire election process was 81.05 % excluding some postal ballots which were still in the process of being counted. There were about 60,000 to 70,000 postal

ballots that were received by the ROs, he said. Additional CEO, Moa Aier expressed regret over the delay of information during the election process. He said the election department was grateful to media personnel as well as the general public for the cooperation extended during the election process.

M e a n w h i l e, C E O thanked every voter who came out to exercise their franchise and patiently stood in queues at polling stations to cast their votes. Sinha, also thanked the entire district election machinery, all polling personnel deployed at booths and officials involved in the poll process for smooth conduct of the election.

Sinha also expressed his gratitude to the police and Central forces personnel deployed in the State for ensuring a peaceful poll, besides complimenting the media for their wide coverage of the entire election process.

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Dmp observes ‘National safety day’

LPG Bottling plant workers participating in the mock drill. (NP) Staff Reporter

DIMAPUR, MAR 4 (NPN): Nagaland observed the “47th national safety day” along with the rest of the country on Sunday at LPG, Bottling plant, Chumukedima Dimapur organised by the labour department, Nagaland.

Labour commissioner and chief inspector of factories and boilers, Er. L. Nungshiyanger Aier spoke

on the importance of safety at work places and proper maintenance of health care and routine check up of workers.

Aier also highlighted the three parts of safety: personal safety, machinery safety and factory safety.

Thanking the participants for understanding the importance of safety and attending the function, Aier extended special thanks to the large number of women

participants.

He also appealed to the Naga men folk to not flinch from working in factories in order to make a living.

Fur ther, he spoke about the financial security fund and health security fund provided by the state government and urged the gathering to avail of these government schemes.

M e a n w h i l e, s h o r t speeches on safety mea-

sures, proper use of personal protective equipments (PPE) etc, were delivered by chief manager IOC, Dimapur, H. Sema, proprietor Amar Roller Flour Mills, Dimapur, Tikam Sethi and proprietor Angami Plywood Ltd. Dimapur, Pradeep.

During the programme, a safety and health pledge was administered by the proprietor of Amar Roller Flour Mills, Dimapur, while the workers were also awarded with safety awards of cash along with citation certificates from the labour department in recognitions of the worker’s exemplary devotions to duty by the labour commissioner and chief inspector of factories and boilers, Er. L. Nungshiyanger Aier.

Earlier, the programme was chaired by inspector of factories and boilers, Nagaland, Vikeheto Naki and demonstration mock drills were performed by employees of LGP bottling plant.

The function was attended by more than 200 people representing proprietors, sr. managers, managers, executives, supervisors and selected workers from various factories in and around Dimapur.

Retired IAS and two directors among new legislators Correspondent

KO H I M A , M A R 4 (NPN): Among the 18 new entrants to the 13th Nagaland Legislative Assembly, there are two retired directors and an IAS retired commissioner and secretary.

K.T Sukhalu (IAS), who won from 35-Zunheboto A/C, retired as commissioner and secretary while Mhathung Yanthan who won from 39-Sanis and Muthingnyuba Sangtam from 52-Longkhim Chare retired as directors of Land Resource Department and Industrial Training Institute (ITI) respectively.

Former president, Naga Students Federation (NSF), Tongpang Ozukum, who defeated retired chief secretary Alemtemshi Jamir in 24Angetyongpang A/C, under Mokokchung district and Temjen Imna Along from 30-Alongtaki were the youngest elected members, both at 37 years of age.

In 2013 former MLA, Merentoshi R. Jamir was the youngest elected member at 34 years of age when he was elected.

Nagaland Post, Dimapur MONDAY, MARCH 5, 2018

Students leave for Assam Rifles national integration tour

Flag off ceremony of the national integration your.

DIMAPUR: Kohima Battalion of Assam Rifles under the aegis of HQ IGAR (North) organised National Integration Tour (NIT) for twenty students and two teachers from across the state.

According to PRO HQ IGAR (North), Lt Col Amitabh Sharma, the tour was flagged off

by inspector general Assam Rifles (North), Maj Gen Sanjay Gupta on Sunday in Kohima. The press release informed that the tour team would tour Delhi, Jaipur and Agra from March 4-15.

Meanwhile, the flag off ceremony was attended by the touring children, their friends, family mem-

bers and various ranks of Assam Rifles. Lt Col Amitabh Sharma also claimed that the students would benefit through the tour as they would witness historical sites and interact with civil dignitaries and senior commanders of the armed forces during their visit to Delhi, Jaipur and Agra.

NDPP candidate demands re-poll in 7-Peren A/C CFC organises ‘kids for Christ family conference’

DIMAPUR, MAR 4 (NPN): NDPP candidate from 7-Peren A/C, Iherie Ndang has demanded re-poll in his constituency stating that the “distorted result” was unacceptable to the people of his constituency.

Justifying his demand, Ndang in a letter to the Chief Election Commissioner of India, alleged of EVMs tampering.

Ndang, who was pitted against chief minister T.R. Zeliang, also pointed out that his election agents were not invited for the mock polls “nor mock poll certificate received except for 7/36 polling station.” According to him, without being invited for mock polls, the validity of EVMs could not be authenticated and thus it had been tampered for the opponent candidate.

Ndang also alleged that when-

ever he had an advantage, the EVMs were “reportedly broken down” and replaced to manipulate the machine and distress genuine voters. He further alleged that Jalukie Town Sector A 7/11, his stronghold, was “fully stage managed” leading to a surprise 50:50 result.

Also, Form 17(C), Account of Votes Recorded, which was mandatory for the Presiding Officer to issue, was not done at various polling stations, Ndang stated.

He also claimed that his agents had not been informed or invited when the strong room was sealed and opened. Besides this, according to Ndang, accessibility to the strong room was not restricted “thereby giving ample opportunity for manipulation.”

Demanding the review of the CCTV footage of various polling sta-

tions, he alleged that some polling stations had allowed casting of multiple votes by one person.

“Screening of Ballot Unit No. used and replaced in the polling station”, he alleged, were done randomly without the knowledge of the polling/ election agents which indicated possible malpractices. Ndang also alleged that the counting officials were mostly NPF loyalists and their role in the counting process was suspicious which had led to the excess vote count. There also was, allegedly an excess of 1224 votes counted as compared to the votes cast. According to him, the total number of votes cast had been 21,585 while the total number of votes counted had been 22,809.

Citing these claims, Iherie Ndang demanded that a re-poll be declared for 7-Peren A/C.

Peraciezie Baptist Church Kma organises seminar

DIMAPUR: Peraciezie Baptist Church (PBC) Kohima on March 2 organised a seminar for its members with Nagaland Voluntary Consumers’ Organisation (NVCO) president, advocate Kezhokhoto Savi, as speaker. The seminar had three sessions wherein the participants were highlighted on the topics, “know your rights”; “rights and benefits entitled to the citizen” and “constitutional provision protecting the Christian community”.

In the first session, Kezhokhoto Savi asserted that right was the privilege granted to the person who is entitled for it and added that there were basic rights granted to a person, by

birth, which could be called as natural rights and also briefed the gathering on the different types of rights such as human rights. Highlighting on “consumer rights”, Savi said NVCO had started its two week-long observance of “world consumer rights day” from March 1 which would conclude on March 15. He also asserted that all the neighbouring states had stopped collection of cash at the check-gates or on any highways with implementation of Goods and Services Tax (GST). However, despite of government standing order in banning the collection of cash at the check-gates and on any highways the menace has continued in Nagaland

till date. In the second session, Savi while speaking on “rights and benefits entitled to the citizen” said National Food Security Act was implemented to give access to adequate quality food at affordable prices to people to live a life with dignity.

He also briefed the gathering ON Free legal-aid, Lokayukta, MGNREGA, VDB guidelines, unconstitutional practices of retaining parliamentary secretaries and advisors, backdoor appointments. In the third session, Savi spoke on “constitutional provisions protecting the Christian community”.

The moderator of the seminar was Pastor Kevichalie Metha.

DIMAPUR: Couples For Christ (CFC) Nagaland held “CFC kids for Christ family conference” at Rüsoma Village, Kohima on March 4, under the theme, a family for Jesus!” and anchor verse, “we stand for Jesus” as on 1st Cor. 16:13-14.

According to a press note by state coordinatorcum-chapter head, CFC Nagaland, Mengukhreituo Marcus the overall message of this conference revolved around “family as God’s plan”, “importance of communication (one to one’s) with each member of the family”, “importance of praying, not only as an individual but as one family (household)”, “importance of a family meal, family meal as a hidden sacrament”, “gratefulness of a family for the presence of each members in their lives, all the blessings that God has blessed them (honoring)” and that “families are called to be witnesses (do everything in love)”, while the tone and atmosphere of the conference was “happy home”.

It may be noted that the Couples for Christ (CFC) is a private international association of the faithful in accordance with the Apostolic

Volunteers, organiser and kids at the CFC kids for Christ family conference.

Constitution Pastor Bonus for the Roman Curia. The Pontifical Council for the Laity of the Holy See (Vatican) temporarily recognised on March 11, 2000 and finally approved on April 25, 2005.

Further, the press note informed that CFC was a work of Christ which raise up Christian couples and establish Christian families committed to the work of evangelisation and winning the world for Christ through

Temperature soars in Dimapur news in Brief Staff Reporter

D I M A P U R , mar 4 , NPN: With the onset of March and mercury soaring by the day, people in Dimapur have been waking up to warmer mornings with minimum temperatures settling at 19 to 25 degrees Celsius.

Dimapur had been witnessing mainly dry and rather comfortable weather for the past few weeks.

Rains were not making an appearance until on Monday, February 26, when the town received a light precipitation.

The winter chill seems to have significantly decreased, with an increase in the humidity level. According to AccuWeather, the forecast for Tuesday shows the mercury hitting a temperature of 30 degrees Celsius, which would seem to be the highest temperature the town would experience so far, with a humidity of 64%.

February has shown signs of warming while temperatures have seemed to soar significantly in March as the thick of sumK

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mers begin for the town. As far as weather conditions are concerned, they would remain warm during the days and cooler in the nights.

Stay hydrated: Students advised Ke e p i n g i n m i n d the rising mercury levels, Treasurer IAP Nagaland and NRP state academic coordinator, MBBS, MD, FICM, PGPN, Dr. Akumtoshi advised the students to drink ample amount of water and avoid aerated drinks like coke, Pepsi etc.

“Avoid salty items and food with high salt content like chips etc. as well as high protein food”, Dr. Akumtoshi added.

While talking about the rising humidity, he advised students to wear light coloured clothes to keep cool and avoid playing directly under the Sun and rather play under trees so as to avoid dehydration and heat stroke.

M e a n w h i l e , D r.

Akumtoshi recommended that schools provide clean safe water to drink and prevent dehydration and water borne infections.

Pedestrians strolling under a warm Dimapur sun.

the power of the Holy Spirit.

CFC also informed its family ministries care for other family members through “CFC kids for Christ (KFC)”, which aims to provide a Christian support environment for kids of couples for Christ members who are between the ages of 4-12, “CFC Youth for Christ (YFC)”, which provided a Christian support environment for young teenagers between 13 to 21, “CFC Singles for Christ (SFC)”

which provides a Christian support environment for single men and women who are at the crossroads of their state of life, “CFC Handmaids of the Lord (HOLD)” - a Christian support environment for single mature women, widows, separated or divorced women, single parents, wives of overseas workers etc and “CFC Servants of the Lord (SOLD)” which is the counterpart of CFC HOLD for men.

Assam Rifles nab NSCN (I-M) member

Army recruitment rally in Tsg: Army recruitment rally will be held from April 9-15 at New DC Football Ground, Tuensang for enrolment of youths from Nagaland only. A press release by PRO (Defence), Col C Konwer, has informed all aspirants to visit army website, www.joinindianarmy.nic.in for registration. It has been informed that last date of registration is March 24. For any other query one has been asked to contact at 03862-248845 and 8974958673 from 8:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. on working days.

Exam wishes: Libra Women and Youth Wing, under the aegis of India Northeast Tribal Community Welfare Society (INTCWS) Notun Bosti Dimapur, has wished good luck to all the students who will be appearing their HSSLC/ HSLC examinations 2018. It has advised students to work hard and not to indulge in unfair means. The wing has also prayed for the success and bright career of the students.

Correction: BJP candidate from 33 Suruhoto A/C, H. Khehovi secured the highest margin of 8559 vote over his rival NPF candidate, Dr. Kaito Jakhalu, followed Dr. Chumben of the NPF from Wokha Town A/C who bagged 8555 votes .

Assam Rifles along with the accused individual.

DIMAPUR: Longding battalion under the aegis of Dao division on March 4 has apprehended NSCN (I-M) “corporal” Pujat Wangsu alias Wanghbo with weapon, ammunition and “large amount of cash”.

A press release by PRO (defence) Col C Konwer, has informed that the battalion acting on a “precise input received from its sources” launched a swift and well planned operation in the early hours and nabbed Pujat.

PRO informed that during interrogation, Pujat revealed that the cash was “extorted” from the locals of the area. It also claimed that Pujat had been involved in “extortion activities in the area for a long time and the local population have been harassed by him for money”.

PRO also infor med that Longding battalion under the aegis of Dao division has been carrying out relentless operations and a number of cadres have been apprehended.

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nagalandpost.com Poll Q.: Is US president Donald Tr u m p l i k e l y t o b e impeached?

100% 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0%

A B C

–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– ––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

A

B

Yes No Can’t say

C

42% 50% 8%

Next poll

Q: Will the next govt in

Nagaland be better in all sense?  Yes  No  Can’t say

WEATHER FORECAST March 5

(Temperature in ºC)

Max Min

Agartala Summerlike with a t-storm

36 22

Aizawl

Sunny to partly cloudy

Guwahati Mostly sunny and humid Imphal

Mostly sunny and pleasant

Itanagar A couple of morning showers

29 14 30 16 29 13 23 15

Shillong

Mostly sunny and pleasant

24 10

Kohima

Mostly sunny and pleasant

24 11

Dimapur Mostly sunny and nice Mkg

Mostly sunny and pleasant

Tuensang Mostly sunny and cooler Wokha

Sunshine and nice

Zunheboto Mostly sunny and pleasant

31 15 26 10 18 8 22 14 23 9

INX Media case probe: Karti confronted with Indrani Mumbai, Mar 4 (PTI): Karti Chidambaram, arrested in the INX Media case, was today brought to the Byculla prison here and confronted with Indrani Mukerjea as part of the CBI’s probe into the matter, a senior official said.

Karti Chidambaram, the son of senior Congress leader and former Union minister P Chidambaram, was brought to the jail in central Mumbai around 11.15 am by a six-member team of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), he said.

The official said Karti Chidambaram and Mukerjea were brought face-to-face and questioned by the CBI team for about four hours.

Mukerjea, a former director of INX Media (P) Ltd, is lodged in the jail in connection with the Sheena Bora murder case.

After the questioning, the CBI team left the prison along with Karti Chidambaram and headed towards the Mumbai airport.

While entering the prison, Karti Chidambaram waved at the media persons who had assembled outside the high security prison.

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Nagaland Post, Dimapur MONDAY, MARCH 5, 2018

Karti Chidambaram leaves Byculla Jail after meeting with former INX Media director Indrani Mukerjea.

Karti Chidambaram and Mukerjea were questioned by the CBI as a part of its probe in the INX Media deal in which the former allegedly received kickbacks.

The doors of the prisons were shut and no other person from outside was allowed to enter the premises when the two were questioned, the official said.

The CBI team came out of the prison around 3.15 pm and a smiling Karti Chidambaram waved again at the media persons while standing on the footboard of a car being used by the agency.

He was asked by the CBI officials to get down from the footboard before they left the jail premises.

Karti Chidambaram was arrested by the CBI on February 28 after a confessional statement was given

by Mukerjea before a magistrate.

He was sent in a fiveday CBI custody on March 1.

Karti Chidambaram, 46, was arrested at Chennai airport on his return from the United Kingdom, in connection with the FIR lodged on May 15 last year alleging irregularities in Foreign Investment Promo-

tion Board (FIPB) clearance to INX Media for receiving overseas funds worth about Rs 305 crore in 2007 when his father was the Union finance minister.

It is alleged that Karti had received funds to the tune of Rs 10 lakh in the case, officials had earlier said.

The fresh evidence in the case, which triggered his arrest, was based on the statement of Mukerjea, who recorded it under section 164 of CrPC before a magistrate on February 17.

The CBI alleged that Karti Chidambaram also received money from INX media to scuttle a tax probe.

The firm was owned at the time by former media baron Peter Mukerjea and Indrani, who are currently in jail on charges of murdering Indrani’s daughter Sheena Bora.

The Enforcement Directorate has also registered a money laundering case.

The CBI and the ED had carried out a series of searches at the houses and offices owned by the Chidambarams. Karti Chidambaram was questioned several times by the ED.

Regional parties, KCR to play imp role in next LS poll: Owaisi Hyderabad, Mar 4 (PTI): Regional parties will be key to government formation after the next parliamentary polls and Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao will play an important role in that, AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi said today.

He claimed that the Congress failed to deliver after the 2009 elections, and the BJP also did not live up to the people’s expectations since it came to power at the Centre in 2014.

“So, I feel that regional parties will have a very, very important role whenever the next Parliament elections are held,” Owaisi told reporters here.

“I am of the opinion that Chandrashekar Rao will play an important role before and after Parliament elections. I am of the opinion that the country is looking towards regional parties. The country is looking towards those parties which are against the BJP and the Congress,” he said.

He said Rao’s remarks yesterday, when he expressed keenness to participate in the national

Asaduddin Owaisi

politics to bring about a “change”, will have a far reaching effect.

Rao had also said that he was in talks with other political leaders to form a platform of “like-minded” parties.

Owaisi said there is a need for that sort of political platform. “I welcome his statement... It is encouraging. It is a statement which will have far reaching impact on the national politics,” Owaisi said.

Rao, as a political leader, has proven himself, the Lok Sabha member from Hyderabad said. “In the last four years, KCR (as the chief minister is popularly referred to) has given a fantastic governance in Telangana. Now, Telangana is a progressive

state,” he said.

“I feel KCR can become a pivot against the Congress and the BJP. He has the political farsightedness and vision.

There is a vacuum in the country and people are looking for an alternative,” Owaisi said.

He said Rao’s statem e n t s h o u l d b e we l comed by everyone, and expressed hope that the Telangana chief minister will take forward the idea of playing a role in national politics.

On whether Rao has the ability to bring different parties together, Owaisi said: “Let us not speculate quickly. He has given an idea and I am sure it will appeal to everyone. But, I am sure that he will be successful in what he is doing.”

Asked if he would support Rao for the post of prime minister, Owaisi said: “Let’s not stretch things to that extent. I would reiterate that KCR can definitely play and should play an important role in getting all the nonCongress and the non-BJP parties (together) and that is what he hinted at yesterday.”

Cong to focus on agriculture, employment Goa BJP pins hope on Shah to resolve Mahadayi water row

New Delhi, Mar 4 (PTI): Ahead of polls in some states and the 2019 general elections, the Congress has decided to up the ante over issues related to agriculture, employment and poverty as it prepares to take on the ruling BJP, party sources said.

For The Grand Old Party’s plenary session, to be held between March

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16 and March 18 in the national capital, a separate resolution will be passed on issues related to agriculture, employment and poverty alleviation. During the last plenary session in 2010, agrarian and employment issues were part of the economic resolution.

The Congress has also formed a nine-member sub-group on ‘agriculture,

employment and poverty alleviation’ under the chairmanship of former Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda. Party leader Meenakshi Natarajan is the convener of the subgroup.

Another party insider said the issues of employment and poverty alleviation have become “acute” over the past three years.

Panaji, Mar 4 (PTI): The BJP in Goa today expressed confidence that party chief Amit Shah would be able to resolve the logjam between Karnataka and Goa over diversion of the Mahadayi River water.

Karnataka and Goa, the riparian states of the Mahadayi (known as Mandovi in Goa), have been locked in a bitter battle over the

sharing of water of the river, which originates in Belagavi in Karnataka.

The matter is pending before the Mahadayi Water Dispute Tribunal.

The Goa BJP unit president, Vinay Tendulkar, said he is hopeful that a solution to the issue would be worked out soon.

“We have full faith that our party president

Amit Shah will resolve the problem,” Tendulkar told reporters here.

“We also have faith in the inter-state water dispute tribunal too. We are waiting for the tribunal’s order on the issue,” he said.

Shah, during his election campaign rally in Karnataka, had earlier given an assurance on resolving the Mahadayi water dispute

issue, if the BJP comes to power in the state.

Tendulkar said that while Goa has agreed for a solution, his party’s stand on opposing diversion of the river water will remain unchanged.

Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar had earlier said his state could share the river water with Karnataka for drinking purposes

and expressed his willingness for bilateral talks.

However, the BJP’s ally Goa Forward Party had said it will not allow the diversion of water at any cost.

Last year, the Supreme Court had ordered Karnataka to stop the work on the construction of the canal, which was aimed at diverting water from the Mahadayi tributary.

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Tripura Assembly election: process to form new govt begins

Bharatiya Janata Party supporters celebrate their victory in Assembly elections at Dharmanagar, in Tripura on Sunday. (PTI) Agartala, Mar 4 (IANS): A day after the Tripura assembly election results were declared, efforts were on to form the first BJP-led government in one of India’s last Left strongholds on Sunday.

“BJP Parliamentary Board on Saturday appointed Union Ministers Nitin Gadkari and Jual Oram as central observers. They are likely to meet the newlyelected MLAs on Tuesday to ascertain their views on government formation and to elect legislature group leader,” Bharatiya Janata Party Tripura Pradesh President Biplab Kumar Deb told the media.

“The BJP ministr y in Tripura would likely to assume office within this week. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, party President

Amit Shah and many central leaders are likely to be present during the swearing-in ceremony, date of which would be finalised after getting the Prime Minister’s schedule,” he said.

Deb refused to name the probable Chief Ministerial candidate of the BJP. “The party would decide everything,” he added.

According to the BJP leader, a combined meeting of the newly elected legislators of the BJP and its ally - the Indigenous People’s Front of Tripura (IPFT) - would also be held on Tuesday to discuss the government formation.

Many BJP leaders in the state said that Tripura Pradesh President Biplab Kumar Deb is the most favoured leader for the post

of Chief Minister.

Deb, who defeated the Communist Party of IndiaMarxist (CPI-M) nominee and the party’s youth leader Amal Chakraborty in the Banamalipur constituency by a margin of 9,549 votes, won the electoral battle in his maiden attempt.

The BJP-IPFT coalition swept the February 18 polls, the results of which were declared on Saturday, winning 43 of the 59 seats for which elections were held. The BJP secured 35 seats in the 60-member assembly while its ally IPFT, a tribal based party, won eight seats.

Elections were held for 59 seats and countermanded in one (tribal reserve Charilam seat) following the death of a CPI-M candidate a week before the polls.

Sonowal for job-oriented edu curriculum

GUWAHATI, Mar 4 ( Ag e n c i e s ) : A s s a m chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal Saturday advocated a research- based employment-driven curriculum for higher education which should be restructured every five years to keep the education system in tune with the changing times. Holding a review meeting of the higher education department in the conference room of his office at Janata Bhawan this evening, the chief minister said the education system is the mirror of a society which should have an answer to every phenomenon happening in the society.

“An education system with deep-rooted emphasis on research and development would go a long way in solving various societal problems of our society,” he said.

Sonowal added that in today’s society, unemployment is a key issue and education should be imparted to stimulate the employability quotient of the students.

Sonowal also advocated encompassing components like skill, research education, culture, sports and industry with the ambit of education to help the students respond to the present need of society more effectively.

Taking a note of the Gross Enrolment Ratio of Assam which is 17. 2 per cent at present, of the students between 18 to 24 years of age, the chief minister asked Principal Secretary Higher Education Ajay Tiwari to take steps to make higher education more skilldriven and career-oriented through participatory teaching to stop brain drain of the

students from the State.

He also issued instructions for revamp of polytechnic colleges in the State and for transforming them into skill centres. He reviewed the progress of work regarding setting up of three universities, Sri Sri Bhattadev University in Barpeta district, Sri Sri Madhabdev University in Lakhimpur and Kabi Guru Rabindranath Tagore University in Hojai.

Sonowal asked the higher education department to expedite the process of starting the academic activities of the proposed Cultural University at Majuli. He said that till the new cultural university gets its exclusive campus on the river island, academic activities should start from an alternative accommodation from this year itself.

“BJP leaders would try to accommodate women, tribal, schedule caste and youth leaders in its ministry.

Regional representation would also be kept in mind,” a BJP leader told IANS. Meanwhile, CPI-M alleged that at least two people including a woman were killed and around 300 injured in attacks by rival party workers at more than a hundred places across Tripura since Saturday after the declaration of the poll results.

“BJP workers armed with lathis, sharp weapons and crude bombs attacked many CPI-M party offices, houses belonging to Left party supporters, small shops in more than 100 places across Tripura.

A woman and a youth were killed in Jirania areas of western Tripura and around 300 injured throughout the state after the rival party workers attacked them.

“Many of the injured were admitted to the hospital,” CPI-M leader Haripada Das told the media.

He said that a delegation led by the CPI-M’s west Tripura District Secretary Pabitra Kar and Lok Sabha Member Sankar Prasad Datta met Director General of Police Akhil Kumar Shukla and apprised him about the “large-scale postpoll violence across the state

by BJP members.”

“We have asked the DGP to take adequate security measures all over the state to stop the postpoll violence,” Kar told reporters.

Sangma resigns as Meghalaya CM S h illong, M a r 4 (Agencies): Congress leader Dr Mukul Sangma has tendered his resignation as the chief minister of the state on Sunday.

Dr Sangma submitted his resignation letter to the Governor Ganga Prasad on Sunday afternoon. It may be mentioned that Dr Sangma successfully contested in two seats — Songsak and Ampati, the results of which was declared on Saturday.

Later, Dr Sangma visited UDP president Dr Donkupar Roy at his residence at Laban.

“The people of the State has given the fracture mandate. Therefore, it is obvious that they will have to align with other political parties,” Sangma told reporters here on Sunday.

Nagaland Post, Dimapur MONDAY, MARCH 5, 2018

People of Northeast rejected ‘politics of hate’, says PM Bengaluru, Mar 4 (PTI): Prime Minister Narendra Modi Sunday said that the people of the Northeast have rejected the “politics of hate” by “unanimously” voting the BJP to power.

The BJP yesterday wrested Tripura, the Left bastion, and received an invitation to be part of the government in Nagaland, while Meghalaya elected a hung Assembly.

Modi, while addressing a youth convention in Tumakuru about 70 km from here via video-conferencing, said the poll results of Tripura had given him immense joy.

“The brothers and sisters of the Northeast have rejected the politics of hate by unanimously voting the BJP to power,” he said.

The convention is being organised to mark the silver jubilee celebrations of the Ramakrishna Vivekananda Ashram in Tumakuru and celebrate the 150th birth anniversary of Sister Nivedita, a social worker and a disciple of Swami Vivekananda.

Modi, speaking on the subject of ‘Youth power: A Vision for New India’, said a fitting reply to radicalisation could only be given by the resolve for integration.

Hitting out at the previous Left and Congress regimes in the Northeast, Modi said the people there earlier were feeling cut off from the Indian mainstream because of policies and decisions that alienated them, but his government has been working relentlessly to wipe off this feeling.

“Our government has resolved to work in such a way that no part of the coun-

try and no group feels alienated and we have proved this by working towards it,” he said. “This wave of integration can also be felt among the people of Karnataka,” he said. The mandate which the people of Northeast have given is in itself is a very big change, Modi said.

By participating in the happiness of the people of the Northeast through the Assembly polls results, the whole country has sent a strong message that they were with their dreams and sentiments.

“For the country’s unity, showing solidarity to the sentiments of the Northeast is a necessity and very big thing,” he said.

Modi said the results of Northeast Assembly polls have created an environment of festivity in the entire country. The Prime Minister said the Assembly polls also brought the whole country together to celebrate the happiness of the people living there.

“I don’t see Northeast poll results through the lens of victory and defeat of political parties, but what is important is that the whole country became participants in the happiness of people residing there,” he said.

Modi said such occasions were rare that accomplishments of the Northeast become accomplishments of the whole country.

“We all saw this happening when many Indians, who were glued to the television as though they themselves were in the electoral battlefield, started to realise the happiness, dreams and sentiments of the people of the Northeast as their own,” he said.

Dear, Asha Birthdays come around every year but friends like you only come once in a lifetime,We are so happy and blessed that you came into our life. We love you alot “Happy Birthday dear” With lots of love and prayer Pinewoodiens (Fanny,Grace,Taren,Mhovi,Shuni) and vikuo Dear Tongti, As you grow older may you have more dreams than memories, more opportunities than chances, more hard work than luck and more friend than acquittances.

May you have the very best in life.

Happy Birthday.

Loving Mum, Oba and Imjung.

Rhino killed by poachers in Assam

Tezpur, Mar 4 (PTI): An adult rhino, strayed away of the Kaziranga National Park, was killed and its horn taken away by poachers in Majuli district, a forest department official said Sunday. The female carcass of the rhino with its horn missing was recovered this morning at Lohore Chapori situated north-west of Shankarghat at Dergaon by villagers who informed local forest officials, Divisional Forest Officer of Kaziranga National Park Rohini Ballav Saikia told PTI. Stating the rhino was killed last night by poachers taking advantage of heavy rain, Saikia said the animal hunters shot nine rounds of bullet of .303 rifle to kill the rhino as evident from the empty cartridges recovered from the spot. The rhino went to Majuli district walking over the sandbar of the river Brahmaputra after it had strayed away of the Agaratoli Range of the Kaziranga National Park from February 22 last, the DFO said. This is the third rhino killed by poachers since January this year with the earlier two rhinos killed in Kaziranga and this one outside the Park area. The first rhino was poached at Daflang camp area of the Bagori range on January 14, but the poachers could not take away its horn, while the second one was killed at Polokata Tapu near Sitamari under Lahorijan forest camp on February 11.

SDF celebrates its foundation day

Gangtok, Mar 4 (PTI): The ruling Sikkim Democratic Front (SDF) Sunday celebrated its 26th foundation day at Rangpo Mining ground, 45 km from here. Thousands of supporters from all the four districts gathered at the ground along with party president and Chief Minister Pawan Chamling along with his cabinet ministers among others. The SDF was formed on March 4, 1993, in opposition to the political practice of the then Sikkim Sangram Parishad.

Women in NE are financially independent: Heptulla Guwahati, Mar 4 (PTI): The women in the Northeast region is “not a neglected lot”, they are financially independent, Manipur Governor Najma Heptulla said here Sunday.

In Manipur, there is a market, where 5000-6000 women work every day to support their families, she said after inaugurating the ‘Emerging North East 2018’ Expo at Shilpgram here.

The daylong expo, organised by the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM), gave farmers, agri-preneurs, entrepreneurs and experts from the food industry from across the Northeast a platform to interact and generate business in the region.

“I am happy to see that women are participating in

large numbers in today’s event. We do get to see that women are being neglected (in certain parts of the country), but in the Northeast, the case is very different.

Women here are financially independent.”

The governor, however, rued that development still eludes parts of the Northeast.

“Barring Assam, there are hardly any industries in the region. The focus should be on bringing about industrialization in other states too. That can be made possible once the communication between these states is improved.”

In the past one-and-ahalf years, the government has introduced many projects for the benefit of the people and are even holding events to promote the

Najma Heptulla schemes, she asserted.

BJP MP Bijoya Chakravarty, who was also present at the event, said, “Northeast now has better connectivity. We should apply scientific technology in various sectors for the all-round development.”

ASSOCHAM Secre-

tary General D S Rawat said his organisation will be handholding entrepreneurs from technology, finance and marketing sectors to bring about development in the region and work closely with the state governments and central government agencies.

BJP win in Tripura due to influence of power at the Centre: CPI (M) Army chief visits Umroi station in M’laya T h i r u v anan thapuram, Mar 4 (PTI): Terming its drubbing in the Tripura assembly polls as temporary, the ruling CPI(M) in Kerala Sunday alleged that BJP’s victory in that state was due to the ‘influence of their power at the Centre.’

CPI(M) state secretary Kodeyeri Balakrishnan said at Kannur that there would be victory and defeat in elections in a democracy.

The CPI(M) was not a party that would “over celebrate” an electoral victory or plunge into despair during a loss, the polit bureau member said and expressed confidence that the Left party would make a comeback in that state.

Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said BJP’s win in Tripura was a setback not only to the Left, but also to the secular and democratic forces in the country as a whole.

In a Facebook post, he said reasons for the party’s setback would be examined and necessary steps taken.

Vijayan said BJP man-

aged the victory using the “influence of their power at the Centre and pumping money.” The saffron party also made unholy nexus with separatists.

It was also to be noted that the Congress that captured 36.5 per cent votes during the last polls had gone to BJP this time, Vijayan said.

He pointed out that CPI(M) secured 42.7 per cent votes by overcoming all types of ‘political machinations’ of BJP in that state. BJP had unleashed violence against Left cadres in Tripura after its victory, he alleged.

Former Chief Minister and veteran party leader V S Achuthanandan said that the party’s defeat in the Tripura should be viewed with utmost seriousness.

“The CPI(M)’s setback in Tripura should be viewed with utmost seriousness” and urged the party leadership to join hands with secular forces to fight the sangh parivar.

The country was facing serious challenges. The Congress, which had ruled

for decades in the postindependence period, had become “weaker now,” the 94-year-old Marxist veteran said in a statement here.

The Left parties, which ruled West Bengal and Tripura, were also “weak,” Achutanandan, who supported the party General Secretary Sitaram Yechury’s line of having an understanding with Congress to fight the BJP, said.

As the Left parties had no strength now to fight and defeat the sangh parivar forces on its own, a tactical move with secular forces was necessary, he said.

Senior party leader and state Minister A K Balan alleged that the saffron party had “misused” money and power at the Centre for their victory in the north eastern state, which had been considered as the fortress of the Left party.

BJP’s win was a challenge to democracy and the national integrity, Balan told reporters at Kasaragod district. “ B J P ’s v i c t o r y i n Tripura was the sabotage of

democracy. What happened there was not the people’s mandate,” he said.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, BJP president Amit Shah and union ministers had camped in the small state before elections, he said, adding, that the saffron party had even joined hands with “separatists” for the poll victory.

Senior CPI(M) leader M V Jayarajan said in a Facebook post that BJP’s win in Tripura was the result of money power and the “unholy alliance with terror groups.”

Jayarajan, also the private secretary of Vijayan, alleged that Congress leaders and its cadres had moved towards BJP. He also said that the poll result of Tripura should not be viewed lightly and all patriots have the responsibility to check and isolate any effort of the ‘communal forces’ gaining strength in the country.

Senior polit bureau member M A Baby told PTI that the defeat of the party was “unexpected” but “we respect the verdict of the

people.”

H oweve r, h e s a i d though the 25 years-old Left government had been defeated, “we still have over 35 per cent vote share, which is a substantial section of Tripura voters.”

“However, there is a decline of 6-7 per cent vote share of the Left front. It is a concern...how the erosion has taken place and why this happened will be dispassionately examined by the party in Tripura and the national leadership,” he said.

Baby, a former state minister, said most of the votes of Congress and its allies had shifted to BJP. He said the failure of Congress to hold on their influence was a primary reason for BJP’s victory.

However this did not belittle the setbacks suffered by the Left, he said.

BJP and its state ally, the Indigenous People’s Front of Tripura, are set to form the next government in Tripura, after securing a majority in the 60-member assembly in the February 18 election.

Army Chief, General Bipin Rawat inspects the Joint Training Node at Umroi on Sunday.

GUWAHATI, Mar 4 (Agencies): The Army chief, General Bipin Rawat visited the ‘Red Horns Division’ at Umroi Station in Meghalaya on Sunday and reviewed the internal security situation in the region apart from inspecting the Join Training Node, a state-of-the -art facility which has been developed

in the Eastern Theatre to undertake joint training with Armies from Friendly Foreign Countries.

The Joint Training Node in the recent past has hosted Army delegation from two Friendly foreign countries wherein, Bilateral Exercises were undertaken with Myanmar and Bangladesh with

the aim to bolster Defence Cooperation with the country’s immediate neighbourhood.

Lieutenant General Abhay Krishna, GOCin-C, Eastern Command and Lieutenant Gurpal Singh Sangha, GOC Gajraj Corps too accompanied the Chief of Army Staff.

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Nagaland Post, Dimapur MONDAY, MARCH 5, 2018

Goa may lose Rs 3,500 cr due to SC order on mining leases: Minister

Panaji, Mar 4 (PTI): Goa is staring at a revenue loss of Rs 3,500 crore annually and downscaling of nearly two lakh jobs following a Supreme Court order over non-renewal of iron ore mining leases in the state, a minister has said.

The state government wants that the Centre should help it in dealing with this impending crisis.

The SC had last month quashed the second renewal of iron ore mining leases given to 88 companies in Goa in 2015.

The apex court said it was giving time till March 15 to mining lease holders, who have been granted a second renewal in violation of its previous directions, to manage their affairs.

They are directed to stop all mining operations with effect from March 16, until fresh mining leases (not fresh renewals or other renewals) are granted and fresh environmental clearances are granted, the court

Sudin Dhavalikar said. Goa transport minister Sudin Dhavalikar said there is a concern about the loss of revenue and jobs because of the court order.

“The estimate is that we will lose Rs 3,500 crore annually and also around two lakh people will be rendered jobless, if the mining industry stops forever,” he told PTI. “The Centre has to provide us a way out of this situation and we have faith that it will do it,” said Dhavalikar, whose Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party (MGP) is an ally of

the BJP in Goa. While the Goa government is busy charting its strategy to minimise the impact of the apex court’s verdict on the state’s economy and the people, the mining industry stakeholders are also concerned about the uncertainty hovering over their means of livelihood.

The stakeholders include the truck owners, who transport the ore from mining sites to jetties located along the river side.

Earlier, the Supreme Court had banned mining in Goa in 2012 after the allegations of illegal mining surfaced.

The industry had resumed in 2014, but failed to take off due to various regulations pertaining to the iron ore extraction and its export.

Gawas alleged that the greed of mine owners and politicians in power pushed the mining industry to the brink of a crisis.

Nor th Goa Tr uck

Owners’ Association secretary Suresh Desai said the solution for the problem has to be worked out before March 15 or else, he feared, there would be a major economic disaster for the people dependent on the industry.

All Goa Barge Owners Association’s spokesman Atul Jadhav said the people dependent on the mining industry are hopeful that Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar will come up with some solution.

“It is he who has the capability to provide a solution for this problem,” said Jadhav.

One of the oldest mine owners in Goa, Haresh Melwani of H L Nathurmal mining company, said the BJP should take up the issue in Parliament and move an amendment to the Mines and Minerals (Regulations and Development) Act so that the industry is not adversely affected by the Supreme Court’s order.

Cong to highlight BJP’s ‘hollow promises’ in polls Bhopal, Mar 4 (PTI): The Congress’ victory in the recent Assembly bypolls in Madhya Pradesh has made the party upbeat and it has now decided to campaign aggressively against the ruling BJP in the state elections due later this year.

Out of power in the state since the last 14 years, the Congress is planning to highlight the “unfulfilled” promises of Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, whom the party has termed as a “Ghoshnaveer” (a man of hollow promises).

However, the BJP claims Chouhan has always adopted a sensitive approach in formulating welfare schemes and that the people have trust in him which, it says, is evident from the Congress’ victory margin going down in the recent bypolls.

MP Congress chief spokesman K K Mishra said, “During his over 12year-long tenure, Chouhan made nearly 13,000 announcements, out of which about 9,500 have been unfulfilled.

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2 lakh jobs provided in our tenure: Haryana CM Khattar Chandigarh, Mar 4 (IANS): A day ahead of the assembly’s budget session, Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar said on Sunday that over 2 lakh people have been provided jobs during the tenure of his government.

T h e C M ’s c l a i m comes at a time when the opposition Congress and the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) are all set to corner the ruling BJP government in Haryana for “failing” to fulfil its promises made during the 2014 election campaign.

“During the last threeand-a-half years, our government has not only done well in providing jobs and skilling the youth of the state, but also lived up to its credentials of openness, merit, transparency and no-nepotism in matters of recruitment.

“Since the government assumed office, employment has been provided to 2.03 lakh persons in the private sector, including 1.24 lakh in Micro, Small

Manohar Lal Khattar and Medium Enterprises,” Khattar told the media here on Sunday.

Apart from this, an investment of Rs 45,000 crore has been made and as a result of the MoUs inked during the “Happening Haryana Summit, as many as 136 projects have already been set up with an investment of Rs 18,000 crore,” he said.

He claimed that against a total target of 2.27 lakh, 1.17 lakh youth were trained in different sectors, and out of these, 37,134 were placed in keep-

ing with their specific areas of skills.

Khattar said that in addition to the Haryana Skill Development Mission, a Skill Development University has also been set up in the state to train the youth in about 800 different trades and sectors.

“Appointment letters have been given to 17,300 candidates recommended by the state recruiting agencies in a transparent manner. Besides, 28,000 suc cessful candidates would soon be appointed in different departments,” Khattar said.

He said the result of the recruitment to about 28,000 posts out of the 55,000 posts in various categories advertised by the Haryana Public Services Commission and State Staff Selection Commission since October, 2014 is pending due to litigation in courts. He hoped that the recruitments pending in court would soon be cleared so that appointment letters could be given to the successful candidates.

Gorakhpur bypoll: BSP extends Maha approves release of Rs Naidu honours former CJI Khehar, Milkha support to SP party candidate 313 cr for hailstorm-hit farmers

BSP chief Mayawati and former UP chief minister Akhilesh Yadav.

Lu cknow, M ar 4 (AGENCIES): The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) on Sunday announced to support its once bitter rival Samajwadi Party for the ensuing Gorakhpur Lok Sabha bypoll.

The announcement to back the SP’s candidate was made at the district level convention of the BSP in Gorakhpur, triggering speculations about the two parties stitching an alliance ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.

The Nirbal Indian Shoshit Hamara Aam Dal (NISHAD) has already extended its support to the SP for the poll, perceived

as a prestige fight for Yogi Adityanath, who vacated the seat after he became chief minister.

“BSP supremo Mayawati has decided to support SP candidate Praveen Nishad who belongs to the most backward class,” said party coordinator Ghanshyam Kharwar at the meeting. Nishad was also present at the meeting.

As Nishad expressed gratitude to BSP supremo Mayawati for supporting him, the crowd shouted old BSP-SP slogans: ‘Mil gaye Mulayam-Kashi Ram, hawa me udd gaye Jai Shree Ram’ and ‘PichdonDaliton ke samman mein

Mayawati maidan mein’.

The bypoll will be held on March 11.

The BSP is likely to announce a similar support for the Phulpur (Allahabad) LS bypoll on the same date. The seat left vacant after deputy chief minister Keshaw Prasad Maruya resigned to become member of the UP legislative Council.

At the BSP coordinators meeting, the district president of SP Prahlad Yadav said: “BSP-SP partnership will root out BJP in 2019.”

The statement was taken as a hint that the two parties will come together for the 2019 Lok Sabha polls to trounce the BJP. “Now, with the BSP supporting us, the contest has become close here,” said Yadav about the Gorakhpur by-elections.

Yadav also accused Gorakhnath Mutt of indulging in “succession politics” in the Lok Sabha constituency and claimed the SP-BSP combine “will end this politics.”

Adityanath, a mahant of the mutt, represented the seat for 22 years.

Mumbai, Mar 4 (PTI): The Maharashtra government has given an administrative nod to release nearly Rs 313 crore from the state disaster response fund (SDRF) for farmers whose crops were damaged in the recent unseasonal rains and hailstorms.

A government resolution (GR) to this effect was issued recently, a revenue department official said.

According to figures of the revenue department, standing crops on 2,93,289 hectares of land, spread over 19 districts, were affected by the last month’s unseasonal rains and hailstorms.

“The government has sent a memorandum to the Centre seeking a financial assistance of Rs 2,400 crore collectively for pink bollworm (a pest) attacks on cotton crops and damage to crops caused by hailstorms and unseasonal rains,” Agriculture Minister Pandurang Fundkar told PTI. The Centre is yet to release any amount. He said the amount (Rs 313 crore) sanctioned for farmers affected by hailstorms and unseasonal rains will be provided on an urgent

basis and as per the SDRF norms.

Once the required funds are sanctioned by the Centre, this amount will be adjusted against the money taken from the SDRF, Fundkar said.

As per the data, Rs 139 crore would be required for affected farmers in Amravati division, Rs 130 crore in Aurangabad, Rs 42 crore in Nagpur and Rs 96.72 lakh in Nashik division.

“The government has told the district collectors it will be mandatory for them to conduct `panchnama’ (site inspection) for agricultural fields that have suffered losses of more than 33 per cent,” the revenue department official said.

In such cases, the maximum compensation will be provided for two hectares, he said.

The collectors have also been directed to ensure the relief amount is directly deposited into the accounts of farmers and banks do not undertake any loan recovery exercise, the official said.

Finance Minister Sudhir Mungantiwar has said “The BJP government has given the first right on the treasury to farmers.”

Vice-president M Venkaiah Naidu presenting Khel Ratna award to Milkha Singh.

Chandigarh, Mar 4 (AGENCIES): Vice-president M Venkaiah Naidu on Sunday honoured several eminent personalities, including former CJI Jagdish Singh Khehar and legendary athlete Milkha Singh, with awards at a ceremony held in Chandigarh.

Khehar and three other people were conferred the ‘Honoris Causa’ degrees during the 67th annual convocation of the Panjab University (PU) here.

Naidu, who is also the chancellor of PU, conferred ‘Honoris Causa’ on renowned scientist & tech-

nologist Prof M M Sharma and physicist Prof Tejidner Singh Virdee here.

Besides, Khel Ratna was awarded to legendary athlete Milkha Singh, Gian Ratna was given to Prof B N Goswamy and Udyog Ratna was given to leading industrialist Sunil Kant Munjal.

Speaking about Milkha Singh, Naidu said, “Even at this age, he is an inspiration for all of us.”

Shiv Nath Rai Kohli Memorial Mid Career Best Scientist award was given to Vandana Bhalla, assistant professor, department of

chemistry, GNDU Amritsar in recognition of her contribution in the field of chemical sciences and Sanjay Jain, assistant professor, department of pharmaceutics, NIPER, Mohali in recognition of his contribution in the field of pharmaceutical sciences.

The award comprised a cash prize of Rs one lakh and citation for researchers.

Governor of Punjab and Administrator, UT Chandigarh, V P Singh Badnore and governor of Haryana Kaptan Singh Solanki were also present at the event as guest of honours.

Mamata supports KCR’s third front proposal Hyderabad, March 4 (IANS): West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Sunday telephoned her Telangana counter par t K. Chandrasekhar Rao to extend her support to his plan to cobble up a third front as an alternative to both the BJP and the Congress.

The Tirnamool Congress leader spoke to the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) chief to convey that she is with him in bringing like-minded parties together.

According to the Chief Minister’s Office, Mamata told him that she fully agrees with him and is ready to work with him.

“Ham aap se ek mat hain. Aap ke saath rahengey” (I am in agreement with you. I will work with you),” the CMO quoted her as saying.

KCR, as the TRS chief is popularly known, said on Saturday that there is a need for a qualitative change in the Indian politics and declared that he is ready to bring together like minded parties.

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Mamata Banerjee Former Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemanth Soren also telephoned KCR and expressed his solidarity. He welcomed KCR’s decision to play a key role in national politics.

Two MPs from Maharashtra and prominent persons from different walks of life also spoke to KCR over the phone and expressed their support.

The TRS chief has been receiving support from people belonging to different walks of life.

People from all parts of Telangana are reaching Pragathi Bhavan, the official residence of the Chief Minister, to express their support.

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OPINiON/EDITORIAL

Nagaland Post Vol. XXVIII NO. 87 Dimapur, MONDAY, MARCH 5, 2018

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Logic of insanity

fter the din and dust of the February 2018 electioneering in Nagaland settles down, certain issues that have been in public domain, will continue to be subjects of discussions by those who grapple to find solutions. The results indicate that it was not a mandate for any particular party or candidate(s). Clean election was a miserable failure and it proved once again that slogans and campaigns cannot deliver. First, after raising the issue of ‘clean election’ the church hoped this agenda would drive the electioneering to a different level. This was not to be and before the process hardly started, the proponents beat a hasty retreat. The church made the same cardinal mistake of believing that it can bring the change just by invoking the name of God. First of all, God is not in the business of banning alcohol or guns or drugs or guaranteeing clean elections. The other appeal of the church leaders not to vote for Hindutva parties RSS/BJP and those in league with it did not also succeed. Instead, the BJP won the highest ever seats among the bible states of Nagaland, Meghalaya and Mizoram. BJP contested 20 and won 12 seats in Nagaland with a population of 9 percent Hindus. In Meghalaya, which has a very substantial 12 percent Hindu population, BJP contested 47 and could win only two. In Mizoram, BJP has not been able to penetrate the state despite having tried its best. It is not to mean that having BJP gain ground is good or bad. The perception among people of the hill states of the north east over the issue of RSS/BJP targeting Christians has been impacted by atrocities against Christians in other states especially the blatant and aggressive ‘ ghar wapsi’ or “reconversion” of backward caste Christians into Hinduism. The attacks on Christian churches, workers and even pastors have shocked people in the Bible states even if most may not be practising Christians. Also, the state-sponsored “reconversions” clearly makes it difficult and even illegal for someone to profess adherence to Christian tenets or attempting to openly practise one’s religious beliefs.

Christians are dominant in the hill states of the north east and along with Christians living in other states, make up hardly 2% of the country’s population. The country’s 2% Christians including 14 % of the country’s Muslims have grounds to feel insecure in an environment where extremist and radical right wing elements espousing ‘Hindutva’ are trying to enforce dietary habits, dress codes and adopting norms to prove their patriotism etc. In the recent Nagaland elections, the fact that 12 BJP candidates won also means that people voted differently despite open appeal by church leaders. People did vote for the BJP candidates because it is ruling at the Centre; due to the personal popularity of the candidates; because candidates could spend money to woo voters or because of community, village or clan factors. Thus, in many ways the issue of communalism was not on the top of the agenda.

However some media including regional and national have hyped the results as if to mean that voters went gaga for BJP even if ‘Amit Shah did not campaign’ or despite the diktat by the church. One aspect why BJP could do well in Nagaland was because it went into a pre-poll alliance with Rio’s NDPP by winning 12 out of 20 contested. In Meghalaya it went alone and contested in 47 seats but won only two. Politics is about strategy and appeal of candidates by use of money or materials and religion is also used as much.

DailyDevotion Is This True of Me? None of these things move me; nor do I count my life dear to myself… —Acts 20:24 It is easier to serve or work for God without a vision and without a call, because then you are not bothered by what He requires. Common sense, covered with a layer of Christian emotion, becomes your guide.

You may be more prosperous and successful from the world’s perspective, and will have more leisure time, if you never acknowledge the call of God. But once you receive a commission from Jesus Christ, the memory of what God asks of you will always be there to prod you on to do His will. You will no longer be able to work for Him on the basis of common sense.

What do I count in my life as “dear to myself”?

If I have not been seized by Jesus Christ and have not surrendered myself to Him, I will consider the time I decide to give God and my own ideas of service as dear.

I will also consider my own life as “dear to myself.” But Paul said he considered his life dear so that he might fulfill the ministry he had received, and he refused to use his energy on anything else. This verse shows an almost noble annoyance by Paul at being asked to consider himself. He was absolutely indifferent to any consideration other than that of fulfilling the ministry he had received. Our ordinary and reasonable service to God may actually compete against our total surrender to Him. Our reasonable work is based on the following argument which we say to ourselves, “Remember how useful you are here, and think how much value you would be in that particular type of work.” That attitude chooses our own judgment, instead of Jesus Christ, to be our guide as to where we should go and where we could be used the most. Never consider whether or not you are of use— but always consider that “you are not your own” (1 Corinthians 6:19). You are His.

Quotes

Aging is not lost youth but a new stage of opportunity and strength. ~ Betty Friedan

Nagaland Post, Dimapur MONDAY, MARCH 5, 2018

Banks must not be corporate puppet; loan rates be hiked; fortify public sector; “Safe Online” is superstition Organizational heads function like despots, go on a rampage of penalizing employees striking a sense of fear as they boast that there would not be any hearing against them. This must change.

T

he banking sector is shaky. Loan frauds have affected different banks. The latest to surface is Rs 390 crore Oriental Bank of Commerce scam.

The malaise may be deeper if bank officers are to be believed.

According to All India Bank Officers’ Confederation (AIBOC), 11643 borrowers have availed 38 percent of the total loans given by banking sector till March 2016. The statement says 12 non-performing asset (NPA) accounts have an outstanding Rs 2.5 lakh crore and 84 percent of NPAs belong to corporate.

The worse, the AIBOC says, “Every year banks are writing off thousands of crores (of corporate loans), which is the biggest scam”.

Of late, there has been a tendency not to heed the employees of an organisation. They are considered “irresponsible” and hampering “growth” path decided by the autocratic heads of organisations. They are penalized for speaking out the truth and branded as working against the “interest of the organisations”.

The truth is they are aware of each misdeed be it in banks, autonomous bodies, departments or public or

private sector.

It calls for a change in corporate and departmental, particularly autonomous body, set ups. The chairmen often are government functionaries instead of being an independent professional.

The chairmen, unfortunately enough, do not meet the employees or officers, who red flag inaccuracies or inappropriate functioning of the heads of organisations.

The heads, whether they are honest or not, reportedly function like despots, go on a rampage of penalizing employees striking a sense of fear as they boast that there would not be any hearing against them. This must change.

Is not the RBI aware of the malfunctioning? It would be naïve to say so.

In the Financial Stability Report, June 2017, the RBI had pointed out that one of the emerging risks to the financial sector is a rising trend of frauds in commercial banks and financial institutions. During the last five financial years, the RBI report said the volume of frauds had increased by 19.6 percent from 4,235 to 5,064 and the loss incurred had gone up 72 percent from Rs 97.5 billion to Rs 167.7 billion (Rs 9800 crore to

16800 crore). network. Fraudulent mesNow finance minis- sages are then used to initiate try has put another list of cash transfers. This is what 9,500 non-banking finance had been done by Nirav companies, which have been Modi in PNB fraud and othcategorised “high risk”. ers in Oriental Bank.

A former RBI deputy This again raises the governor SS Mundra on questions on mandatory September 7, 2016, had Aadhar and other online questioned the SWIFT. “We linkages for bank deposihave come across instances tors. It needs scrutiny of of fraudulent the safety of messages Shivaji Sarkar the system. confirming It would be documentary credits being wise to put it off for now transmitted using SWIFT. to save gullible depositors The SWIFT transactions as also unnecessary burden could be done without cor- on the banks. responding information in The AIBOC had also the CBS”. objected to banks being burThe online has its loop- dened with the responsibilholes. AIBOC wants inde- ity of Aadhar enrolment. pendent strong supervision.

Millions of mobile “It is a well-known fact the phones are stolen every year.

SWIFT has been used for They have IMEI security frauds from the 1990s and numbers but only a fraction there are many reported of these are recovered. This hacks of SWIFT”, officers generation must come out of say. the superstition that online One of the worst re- is safe and I-D linkages are ported hacks is of online foolproof. Indian banks transfer of $ 81 million have been suffering more from the Bangladesh central frauds as online transactions bank in February 2016 us- increase. The defaulters or ing SWIFT out of the New fraudsters are well known York Fed. In February 2018, corporate personalities but Russia reported a similar recoveries are thwarted. heist from a bank of $ 6 So why repeated I-Ds and million.

KYCs are insisted upon.

Attackers circumvent a They have swindled bank’s local security systems almost all banks as mountand gain access to SWIFT ing losses of SBI and others

suggest since 2008 incentives in the wake of the US subprime scam that did not hit India. The banks often allege that they work under government’s diktat. A wider study must be done to substantiate or reject it.

But with impunity corporate have swindled people’s deposits. The people’s tax-paid money is utilized to recapitalise banks. The depositors have been penalized with higher bank charges even for a cheque book, issue of a draft, online transactions and lower interest rate accrual.

Cor porate or their owners have been subjected to least penalization. It is time to unravel why this happened and what role the well-known trade bodies played in forcing the banks to take a soft approach.

The RBI has been blamed quite often. It has not published the list of NPA borrowers. It has not been able to stop the organized loot despite corporate debt restructuring (CDR) – a method to allow larger leeway; including interest waivers without the recovery, asset quality review (AQR) or prompt corrective action (PCA). It is said that with the revised norms the banks may have to declare more as

NPAs. Many more banks may slip into losses.

The only aspect that is saving the Indian economy is the implicit sovereign guarantee of the banks, which has maintained confidence of the market.

This aspect has to be strengthened but not with repeated infusion of capital at taxpayers’ cost. The system has to be fortified so that recoveries are regular and faster, gestation for repayment are shorter and longterm corporate loans are sanctioned at higher interest rates of 15 to 20 percent to save the poor man’s deposits.

For faster repayment interest incentives could be built into the agreements.

It also calls for strengthening the public sector enterprises with more autonomy, less control by government officials and better functioning. The banks have erred but they are not beyond redemption.

The Narendra Modi government has the capacity to redesign the banking structure in a people-friendly way and efforts must begin to start a foolproof banking system that does not become a puppet of the corporate.

It must appoint an expert body to suggest remedial measures.

Post-mortem

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No opposition-less government this time in Nagaland please!

n a democratic form of government, the common people believe that a healthy opposition is essential for the sound working of democracy.

There is a vigilant opposition, constantly on the alert and keep an eye on the government’s policies and actions. When there are well-informed critics they are ever ready to expose the wrongs committed by the government.

It can bring to light its acts of omission and commission. As such the ruling party can hardly afford to be slack and negligent in the performance of its duty towards the country/state to provide an efficient and sound government. In sum, the role of opposition is to ensure stability, legitimacy, accountability and transparency in the political process and governance.

As I understand the role of the opposition party/parties are very important and crucial in the democratic process.

Unfortunately in recent years Nagaland seems to be one of the pioneers in forming the opposition-less government in India and it is disgraceful to make a big boast out of it. Is it not an assault on democracy in running an opposition-less government in Nagaland?

Why did our elected members of assembly want to form an opposition-less government in the first place? Indeed, it is nothing short of a political harum-scarum pact having no substantial ingredient to feed on. What more evidence do we need to prove! The entire system was broken down yet it was okay with the government!

But have we given a thought on why our elected members of legislative assembly have tendency to hang on to an opposition-less government?

Why do all of them want to be in the ruling government leaving no one in the opposition?

Why do all of them want to be cabinet ministers, ministers of state or parliamentary secretaries at least as a last resort? Do they really have people in mind when they do horse trading? Do our present elected members of legislative assembly still have that instinct in their blood as they are like old wine in the new wineskins?

I observed serious political and practical flaws in the concept of opposition-less government that was obnoxiously experimented in recent years in Nagaland. First, the opposition-less government is driven by position and money power thereby doing all sorts of tricks and unethical practices to be with the ruling party(ies). It is not for the sake of the people that all the parties are riding on the same boat. Instead, it is for their own convenience and benefits that they are all on the same boat no matter how stinging and uncomfortable inside.

Second, the opposition-less government is without guiding principle. Any political party that lacks guiding principle is farce. There is no vision, no mission, no direction and no road map for the development of the state. Every elected member consumes the central funds that are meant for the development of the state through various unfair means. They are

running the government by hook or by crook. As someone has rightly commented that opposition-less government leads to party less government.

Hence, in this context it is not exaggerated to say that opposition-less government is more of enjoyment and entertainment government. Third, the opposition-less government viciously lacks transparency and accountability in all spheres of governance. As the government is run by power mongers, the entire system is based on appeasement and one’s own quota attitude. This practice leads to manipulating the entire system for one’s own personal interests and agendas. Fourth, the very idea opposition-less itself carries perverted and corrupt idea of governance. Indeed, opposition-less government strengthens and enhances corruption extensively. Corruption breeds comfortably under its loose system.

As the formation of the new government is almost taking the final shape, it is equally important to consider the election verdict that it clearly favours that the role of an opposition in the formation of new government in Nagaland. This people’s mandate is to be taken seriously by all the political parties. If this aspect is sidelined and undermined it would bring the worst nightmare for the people of Nagaland. Do not ever repeat an opposition-less government in Nagaland for God’s sake please!

Rev. Aheto Sema, Secretary, Youth Department, WSBAK: Akuvuto, Thahekhu

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Spurt in quarterly growth rate: reforms showing results

n a significant recovery, Asia’s third largest economy, India’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) grew at 7.2 per cent in the third quarter of financial year 2017-18 (October-December), up from 6.5 per cent and 5.7 per cent in the previous two quarters respectively as the twin impacts of demonetisation and GST implementation wane. With this, the Indian economy regained its status as the world’s fastest-growing major economy during the quarter, beating China after a one-year gap.

This recovery was sparked by a revival in investment demand, registering a growth of 12%. Consumption demand decelerates but is offset by a spurt in investment demand which strokes a rebound in growth. The double-digit growth of capital goods, the sharp rise in the government’s capital spending (it doubled to Rs 90,207 crore in Q3FY18 from a year before) and the modest pick-up in the capital spending of the state governments in Q3FY18 may have contributed to the 12% expansion in gross fixed capital formation in Q3FY18 “All three sectors - agriculture, industry and services - have accelerated in the third quarter. Agriculture, forestry and fishing sector showed improved growth of 4.1%, while the industrial sector growth also improved to 6.8% and services sector to 7.7% in Q3 of 2017-18. Within the industrial sector, the manufacturing output surged 8.1%, utilities 6.1% and construction 6.8%, but mining sector output fell 0.1%. Among the services sector component, the output of trade, hotels, transport, communication and services related to broadcasting jumped 9.0%, financial, real estate and professional services 6.7%, and public administration, defence and other service 7.2% in Q3 of 2017-18.

“Importantly GST disruption is seen waning as borne out by manufacturing

NE gets rid of violent left politics: Now JNU needs to be cleaned from becoming breeding centre for left elements

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leading Russian leftideologist Trotsky had once made a forecast, and rightly too, that left ideology once would lose its existence from media-headlines to find its place in historybooks. Same has proved to be true when even an honest image of former Chief Minister Manik Sarkar (CPM) of Tripura could not prevent a complete collapse of left forces not only in Tripura but even in complete north-east India. Now left parties are shrunk to just Kerala but

more importantly to their breeding-centre at Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) at New Delhi.

Other advantage of results of north-east stateassemblies is that vastly neglected region in last seventy years of independence has now by and large politically aligned itself with a leading national party rather than opting for regional parties. New emerging political realignments with careful political strategy of BJP-RSS combine may even National People Party with 19 seats merge

into BJP. However regret is that another national party Congress till now dominating north-east politics has lost its ground completely in Tripura and Nagaland evidently because of forced dynastic leadership of a politically immature national President who preferred personal visit to Italy rather to oversee electionresults drowning his party to a situation of nowhere.

While Rahul Gandhi suddenly projected himself as a devout Hindu during Gujarat elections, a leading left leader Sitaram Yechuri

was observed recalling Ramayana episode after crushing defeat of left in north-east.

Now political strategist should take it as their national duty to free JNU at New Delhi from becoming a breeding centre for left and decisive forces.

Of course, only state left Kerala is the natural political target to make India completely free from left ideology with violent practices.

Subhash Chandra Agrawal, (Guinness Record Holder & RTI Consultant), Delhi Reader’s note: Articles or letters published in any of the columns do not reflect the view of this

sector growth at 8.1% in OctoberDecember vs 6.2% in July-September.

Construction, government services and agriculture have led the growth in the December quarter. According to Economic Affairs Secretary Subhash Chandra Garg, strong fixed capital growth also indicates that investment is picking up very well and agriculture and services have performed quite well.

The current growth rate reflects that reforms by the government have started showing results The GDP data could help Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who faces criticism over mounting bad loans of state banks and a $1.77 billion fraud at state lender Punjab National Bank , the biggest in the country’s banking history.

Modi is trying to accelerate growth through higher state spending, including Rs 2.1 lakh crore ($32.36 billion) for recapitalisation of state banks, beset with mounting bad loans of nearly $148 billion. Improvement in private consumption, increase in capacity utilization and private capex cycle revival will be driving higher growth But given that government spending has driven economic growth, the rising fiscal deficit numbers could prove to be a constraint. Growing concerns of embers over continued inflationary risks arising from high food and crude prices. High bad loans and reported fraud in the banking system have already happened. Right measures to eradicate such incidences in future and finding NPA resolution is the path ahead. There are concerns of rising fiscal deficit and possibility of interest rates rising further. While all other things seem to be in place, paucity of rainfall can be major risk in next one year.

Prof Mithilesh Kumar Sinha, Finance Officer, Nagaland University, Lumami

Reader’s Post

Roads, Electricity and Salary Sir,

As the potential legislators run around fielding portfolios, I hope this is not too early to impress on them the need for good roads, regular electricity and consistent salary disbursement. These things are required not just for convenience the people but also for the image and upkeep of the state. Please allow the roads to be constructed well this time.

Allocate a big enough budget for the electrical department so that enough electricity, materials and employees can be secured to supply the entire state continuously. Also, please look into the pending salaries of various departments, and some departments being paid only in the space of a few months habitually for some reason. Although I am not a govt. employee, payment of salaries is one way money is injected into the economy and benefits everyone.

Phyobemo, Dimapur newspaper nor that of the Editor in any manner.

national/state

PNB scam: Mauritius to take necessary action

lands, Mauritius, and the US,” a RBI report said.

In this connection, the India-Mauritius Double Tax Avoidance Agreement (DTAA) was amended in 2016 in order to prevent evasion of taxes on income and capital gains by entities of either side.

It was amended to tackle a long-pending issues of treaty abuse -- where illgotten money is first sent to Mauritius through ‘havala’ transactions, and then Mauritius has promised of necessary action against offenders. comes back as a legitimate New Delhi, Mar 4 against any of its licensee/ messaging system used for investment. This is called (IANS): In connection with approved Officer/Manage- overseas funds transfers. ‘round-tripping’. the alleged Rs 12,600-crore ment Company found to According to the Re- NCLT bars over 60 entities fraud at the state-run Pun- be linked with any illegal, serve Bank of India (RBI) from selling assets jab National Bank (PNB), harmful and/or fraudulent earlier this year, Mauritius also involving overseas practices that may cause is the largest source of forAmid the ongoing branches, Mauritius has any prejudice to the good eign investment in India, multi-agency probe into promised regulatory action repute of Mauritius,” it followed by the US and the the Rs 12,700 crore Punjab against individuals or enti- said. “The FSC is assessing UK. The Indian Ocean National Bank scam, the ties found to be linked with the reported information island nation is the largest NCLT has restrained more “fraudulent practices”. and is closely monitoring source of foreign direct in- than 60 entities, includTaking cognizance the matter in collaboration vestment (FDI) into India ing Nirav Modi, Mehul of media reports about with the Bank of Mauri- with a cumulative inflow Choksi, various individuthe PNB fraud by ac- tius, the Mauritius Revenue that has touched $111 bil- als, companies and limited cused diamantaire Nirav Authority and the Finan- lion, thus, accounting for liability partnership firms, Modi and his uncle Mehul cial Intelligence Unit,” said 30 per cent of all FDI in- from selling their assets.

The National CompaChoksi, the Financial Ser- the Mauritius’ regulator of flows into the country. vices Commission (FSC) non-banking financial ser“Mauritius was the ny Law Tribunal (NCLT) of Mauritius has said in vices and global business largest source of FDI in has passed the directions a statement that it is in sectors.

India (21.8 per cent share at against Nirav Modi and constant communication The PNB scam in- market value) followed by Mehul Choksi, the alleged on the matter “with its volved using Letters of the US, the UK, Singapore main perpetrators of the international counterparts Undertaking (LoUs) issued and Japan whereas Singa- fraud, as well as their firms under existing exchange of in favour of the accused pore (19.7 per cent) was the and relatives, among other information agreements”. by bank employees who major ODI (overseas direct entities, as per a public an“The FSC will take misused their access to ther investment) destination, nouncement by the corponecessary regulatory action bank’s SWIFT electronic followed by the Nether- rate affairs ministry.

NPCC unhappy with 2018 poll verdict He alleged that this situation had been exploited with corrupt money gained from MGNREGA. He said that he was pained to see educated people, who pretend to have high morals, were the ones going from house to house buying votes.

Therie also alleged that the election was reduced to an auction of votes, adding that Rs. 1 lakh was paid for a household with two votes. According to him, people did not vote for roads, hospitals or infrastructure, no objections were raised over MGNREGA corruption and also “some party did not even offer election manifesto.”

He blamed the Congress election debacle on its inability to beat the power of corrupt money.

“We have lost the battle to corrupt money”, Therie stated.

Stating that the Representation of the people

AIIMS-Patna rusticates student for misbehaviour

Patna, Mar 4 (AGENCIES): The All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Patna (AIIMS-Patna), has rusticated a final year MBBS student who reportedly entered a girls’ hostel allegedly in a drunken state and in semi naked condition after a pre-Holi bash on February 27.

The student, who belongs to Kerala, left the hostel on March 1 within 24 hours of the rustication order. His parents were immediately informed and a junior student was asked to escort him home.

“We have rusticated the student for three years to pacify the girl students.

However, we will talk to the students again and review his sentencing because the career of a medico is at stake,” AIIMS-Patna director Dr PK Singh said on Sunday.

Following the unsavoury incident, Dr Sadhana Sharma, who is the chief warden of girls’ hostel, has issued an order asking all interns (63 boys of 2013 batch) to vacate hostel 1 and shift to hostel 4.

of Act 1951 had outlived itself, he said that the Electoral Roll itself was defective with multiple entries and the CCTV and web casting could not stop the proxy voting. Therie opined that serious electoral reform was necessary and that the present system was not fit for the rural poor society which does not understand the system and purpose of election.

“The verdict is a mindless verdict”, he said adding that the vote was not for the future.

He also said that the verdict was a shameful reflection to the world that Nagaland is a corrupt society where religion and faith are not practised and the society had lost its inherent honesty.

Stating that the Congress party does not belong to such a corrupt society, Therie said that he refused to “honour and accept the verdict as a democratic mandate.”

Jammu, Mar 4 (IANS): Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Sunday said that the students of Jammu and Kashmir have shown unprecedented resilience by living in the midst of a disturbed atmosphere and yet excelling academically.

Delivering the convocation address at the 17th convocation of Jammu University here, the Finance Minister said: “If all had been well historically, given God’s gift of its best pilgrimage and tourist centres, best agriculture, limited population, handicrafts, large area, etc., Jammu and Kashmir should have been theoretically the most affluent part of this country, but unfortunately the curse of insurgency struck us.” He said industries in the country prior to 1991 were mostly regulatory, while post 1991 these became market-driven and this provides huge opportunities in the country’s current career market.

Swati Maliwal

New Delhi, Mar 4 (IANS): The #RapeRoko campaign, started by the Delhi Women Commission (DCW) after the rape of an eight-month-old baby, has received support from the Indian Medical Association (IMA) and the Bar Associations of Delhi, the Commission said on Sunday.

“Today Indian Medical Association and Bar Associations of Delhi have extended support to the #RapeRoko movement of DCW to ensure completion of trials of sexual crimes cases against women and children by fast track courts within six months and death penalty to child rapists,” said a statement by DCW.

Lotha Hoho accuses NHIDCL of insincerity (From p-1) The contract work was for rehabilitation-cumupgrade of the road to a two-lane road with carriageway of 7 metres for plain areas and 5.50 metres for hilly terrain, and hence the formation cutting must include the shoulders as well as provision for drain.

But the contractor was yet to start the widening earthwork and had instead started clearing the drain, collected many Hume pipes for construction of culverts without widening and had brought stone gravel and sand to start the surfacing, Lotha Hoho alleged.

Pointing out that the work should be completed within 12 months (by end of September 2018) as per the work order, the tribal body said it was not satisfied with the progress of the work and that it failed to understand why the contractor should not follow the specifications of DPR. However, when contacted, project coordinator of CS Infraconstruction Rakesh Kumar Jain clarified that the work was go-

ing on as per NHIDCL directions.

Lotha Hoho stated that from the facts that it had accepted an extremely low bid and by not supervising on ground, it could be inferred that NHIDCL was not keen on quality work. It also wondered why an agency like NHIDCL was created when National Highway Authority of India and State national highway authorities were available locally and keen to ensure quality work.

The release said Lotha Hoho had urged MoRTH to either depute technical personnel from the ministry for inspection or authorise supervision of the work by PWD (Roads & Bridges division) of Wokha, Nagaland.

Pointing out that the Wokha-Merapani highway was yet to be declared a national highway and hence State PWD (R&B division) was responsible for its upkeep, Lotha Hoho suggested that the R&B division of State PWD could only do technical supervision to ensure compliance to specifications, while

other work like bill preparation and payment could be done by NHIDCL. It emphasised that Lotha organisations were keen to extend all possible help and cooperation to NHIDCL and the contractor for satisfactory implementation and commissioning of the road project as the Wokha-Merapani highway was the lifeline for Wokha district.

The project being a mega project, the organisations would do their best to check any irregularity and, if necessary, even seek legal recourse to achieve the desired objective, the release warned.

Lotha Hoho appealed to MoRTH not to pay any running bill to the contractor without physical verification to ascertain the actual work achievement at the site. It also urged the ministry to transfer the work to NHIDCL Nagaland office at Dimapur and authorise the Nagaland PWD (R&B division) to supervise the work for better coordination before any bill was paid.

BSF personnel battle drinking water problem Barmer, Mar 4 (AGENCIES): Border Security Force (BSF) personnel, guarding the 270-kmlong India-Pakistan border in western Rajasthan, are grappling with a drinking water crisis.

Out of the 66 border outposts in Barmer, only two have piped drinking water; the rest depend on water supplied through tankers, BSF officials said.

There is a “drinking water problem at many posts,” said Shyam Kapoor, BSF deputy inspector general (acting) at Barmer sector. He further said this isn’t unusual in the region and that many villages face the same situation.

“We have moved proposals to the water works department and are expecting that there will soon be a solution,” Kapoor said.

Ravi Gandhi, BSF deputy inspector general at Rajasthan frontier, said the problem isn’t restricted to Barmer and that border outposts in Jaisalmer and

Bikaner in the state face it too. “We are working with state and central government agencies to sort out this problem and expect that soon we will be able to get drinking water at all the border outposts,” he added.

The Rajasthan water works department’s executive engineer Hajariram Balwan said: “It is true that drinking water is not supplied through pipelines to all the border outposts. In 2014-15, we got a budget under the Border Area Development Plan, and four border outposts could be linked with drinking water pipelines.”

Balwan said the department and the BSF carried out a joint survey in the first week of February to sort out the problem. “BSF has asked us to prepare a detailed feasibility report, which is under process.”

He said the BSF would provide the department a special budget for drinking water supply. “We are

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Pastor Ihidong tongphita Meriyan Baptist Ekhumkho lo Pastor. Mr. James Yanthan ji Pastor lhidong lo na lanchisi. Mr. Yanpvuo Lotha ji Pastor lhidong lo sothetala.

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expecting that the work (linking outposts with water pipelines) will start in July and will be completed in the next one year.”

Four years ago, BSF submitted a proposal for laying of water pipelines but no steps have been taken since.

“Sometimes we get tankers from nearby areas, but sometimes we have to bring water from towns located 80 to 125 km from border outposts,” said a BSF official who asked not to be named. Each outpost needs about 20 tankers in a month. “Apart from paying the water works department (for the water), we have to bear the fuel expense of the tanker that fetches water to the outposts,” added this official.

He and other BSF officials who asked not to be named said they had raised

the issue with home minister Rajnath Singh during his visit to Munabao check post in Barmer in October 2016. Expressing concern, Singh had assured the BSF that a survey would be conducted soon on the feasibility of providing piped water to all the outposts.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi was also aware of the problem, the BSF officials said.

Addressing a meeting at Pachpadra in Barmer district on April 12, 2014, when he was the BJP’s prime ministerial candidate, Modi had said the situation was similar at the Kutch border in Gujarat, where he had sanctioned a 30-km-long pipeline to meet the drinking water crisis . “When I can do it in Gujarat, then why not in Rajasthan,” Modi had said then.

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D I M A P U R , M AR 1 (NPN): Nagaland Pradesh Congress Committee (NPCC) president, K. Therie said that he would not honour and accept the verdict of the 2018 elections as a democratic mandate.

A press release from Therie said that the party had known that they would “draw a blank” but decided to not retire INC candidates and gave what they had to the people of Nagaland. According to him, the Congress manifesto had a vision for total change and the Congress candidates were God fearing and secular minded with good morals.

Therie observed that the rural population had become so poor that they only had money on their minds. He was of the view that they did not have money for medicine or admission fees and many households had qualified but unemployed children.

J&K students excelled against all odds: Jaitley

Medical, bar associations support ‘RapeRoko’

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Nagaland Post, Dimapur MONDAY, MARCH 5, 2018

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Nagaland Post, Dimapur MONDAY, MARCH 5, 2018

PNB scam: Trade finance hit as 87 cr bank accounts seeded with Aadhaar caution prevails, premium soars already been verified while in case of the rest the authentication process is underway with the documents that have been submitted to the banks, the official said.

The official further said that as against the 142.9 crore active mobile connections, 85.7 crore have already been linked with Aadhaar.

When contacted, UIDAI CEO Ajay Bhushan Pandey told PTI: “Yes, about 80 per cent of the bank accounts have been seeded with Aadhaar, and we hope that the remaining will be covered soon...

Financial losses caused to banks and genuine account holders through identity frauds will be curbed.”

With over 1.2 billion residents already enrolled for Aadhaar -- a unique 12-digit number backed by fingerprints, iris scans and certain demographic details -- the programme today is the world’s largest biometric database.

Aadhaar is required as an identity proof of residents by various govern-

ment and non-government entities.

While a five-judge Constitution bench is hearing a clutch of pleas challenging the constitutional validity of the Aadhaar programme, as things stand today, PAN, bank accounts, credit cards, insurance policies, mutual funds, pension plans and social welfare benefits will have to be linked to Aadhaar by March 31, 2018.

The Unique Identification Authority of Indi recently announced a new concept of Virtual ID which an Aadhaar-card holder can generate from its website and give for various purposes, including SIM verification, instead of sharing the actual 12-digit biometric ID. The soon-to-be-introduced Virtual ID, a random 16-digit number, will give the users the option of not sharing their Aadhaar number at the time of authentication.

Aadhaar has also announced that it will soon include face recognition alongside iris or finger-

Industry body Assocham on Sunday urged the government to relax the deadline for linking bank accounts, particularly those in the PSBs to Aadhaar, saying post-PNB scam, the PSU lenders are fire fighting to protect their core business and are hard pressed for human and other resources.

It said the economy is just about to come out of the impact of demonetisation and the Goods and Services Tax (GST) and is not ready for another challenge by way of any bank account becoming inoperative after March 31.

The last date to link bank accounts with Aadhaar is March 31.

“Notwithstanding judicial scrutiny and govern-

‘Adopt sectoral approach to increase women workforce’

Five of top-10 cos lose Rs 26,641 crore in m-cap

Loan defaults: Sebi to push for NCLT bars over 60 entities urgent disclosure by listed firms from selling assets

New Delhi, Mar 4 (PTI): Five of the 10 most valued Indian companies saw a combined erosion of Rs 26,641.48 crore in market valuation last week, with the country’s largest lender State Bank of India (SBI) taking the steepest hit.

The other firms which witnessed a decline in their market capitalisation (mcap) for the week ended Thursday were TCS, ITC, ONGC and HDFC Bank.

On the other hand, RIL, Maruti Suzuki, HDFC, Infosys and HUL finished the week with gains. The m-cap of SBI dived by Rs 11,696.44 crore to Rs 2,26,634.57 crore.

The valuation of TCS plunged Rs 7,618.87 crore to Rs 5,81,388.28 crore and that of ITC tanked Rs 6,535.69 crore to Rs 3,21,521.62 crore.

New Delhi, Mar 4 (PTI): Seeking to join forces with other agencies to check financial frauds, regulator Sebi plans to make it mandatory for listed companies to make urgent disclosure about all major loan defaults. Concerned over an alleged loan fraud of over Rs 12,000 crore at staterun Punjab National Bank remaining undetected for years, the capital markets watchdog is revisiting its “on-hold” proposal to mandate listed firms to disclose all ‘substantial’ loan defaults within a day.

The proposal is expected to be discussed by Sebi’s board at a meeting later this month, even as a final decision is yet to be reached on the threshold limit for quantifying a loan default as ‘substantial’, a senior official said.

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New Delhi, Mar 4 (PTI): Amid the ongoing multi-agency probe into the Rs 12,700 crore Punjab National Bank scam, the NCLT has restrained more than 60 entities, including Nirav Modi, Mehul Choksi, various individuals, companies and limited liability partnership firms, from selling their assets.

The National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) have passed the directions against Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi, the alleged main perpetrators of the fraud, as well as their firms and relatives, among other entities, as per a public announcement by the corporate affairs ministry.

The ex-parte order was passed on a petition filed by the ministry under various sections of the Companies Act, 2013.

The ministry moved the petition under various provisions such as section 221, which pertains to freezing of assets of company on inquiry and investigation, and section 222 that relates to imposition of restrictions upon securities. It has been passed against 64 entities that includes Nirav Modi, Mehul Choksi, few

individuals related to the Punjab National Bank, various companies and limited liability partnerships.

Gitanjali Gems, Gilli India, Nakshatra Brands and Firestar Diamond are among the barred companies, while partnership firms include Solar Exports and Stellar Diamond.

According to the ministry, the petition came up for urgent hearing before the Mumbai bench of the NCLT on February 23 and that an ex-parte order was passed.

There is an injunction against these entities from “removal, transfer or disposal of funds, assets and properties” till further order, according to the announcement. The NCLT has posted the matter for further hearing on March 26 when the entities concerned have been asked to present before the tribunal. As per the public announcement, in case the entities fail to appear on that day, then the matter would be heard ex-parte.

Apart from the CBI and the Enforcement Directorate, the Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO) under the ministry is also probing the matter.

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based short-term loans are coming in at a premium of 10-30 basis points, another private banker said in some cases it has gone up to even 50 bps.

One of the two bankers cited above said calls are being made to the issuer bank for re-confirming the genuineness even though it is not supposed to be done, because an LoU is generally taken at face value.

“Historically, there has been no default on buyer’s credit, as it is guaranteed by another bank, and so we take it as 100 per cent safe business. This is for the first time that we saw a problem. We are building some mechanisms to strengthen it,” Union Bank of India managing director and chief executive Rajkiran Rai G told PTI. “In the Nirav Modi case, our people got carried away by the PNB guarantee and they took that risk.

Now, we are taking care of that and even though it is a guarantee from governmentrun bank, we’ll evaluate counter-parties.

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No. 3418 Yesterday’s solution No. 3417

Across 1 Bigwig about to come back for reptile (5) 4 Approaches made by listeners after end of transmission (5) 7 Agreement to read pamphlet (8) 8 Payment for travel and food (4) 9 A cook’s endless pain (4) 10 Mine worker taking dog by river (7) 12 Wrongly cultivating only rose and rue (11) 14 Stone that’s great in construction? (7) 16 Deer in British India (4) 19 Make changes before publishing new diet (4) 20 Bishop without polish (8) 21 Eccentric names minister’s house (5) 22 Piece of bullion, for example, brought back in boat (5) Down 1 Instrument for a girl (5) 2 Vessel for baseball player (7) 3 Study article penned by socialist (4) 4 Nothing to boast about in cooler (3,2,3) 5 Terrible starts for anyone who files unread letters (5) 6 Sad to have church involved in witchcraft (7) 11 Bedfordshire town without capital, liable to collapse (8) 12 This could make me a lord! (7) 13 Small fiddle for cad (7) 15 Out without can? (3,2) 17 European holding cold ball (5) 18 Talk about Roundhead costume (4)

corporate affairs and finance ministries in this regard.

With regard to the loan default disclosure, Sebi’s board will discuss its “onhold” proposal to mandate listed companies to disclose to the stock exchanges about their loan defaults, to banks and financial institutions, within one working day of such a miss.

Once implemented, the move would help investors take an informed decision at the earliest in cases of loan defaults by listed companies and at the banks. The proposal was put on hold just a day before it was supposed to implemented on October 1 --apparently after reservations expressed by the banking industry that such a move can create a panic like situation. The fresh push

by Sebi follows detection of an alleged loan fraud of over Rs 12,000 crore fraud at state-run PNB. While billionaire jewellery designer Nirav Modi, the alleged perpetrator of this fraud, is not directly linked to any listed company, his relative and business associate Mehul Choksi’s Gitanjali Gems is a listed firm and has been involved in some other cases of suspected market manipulations.

the Brady House branch of PNB had diamontiare Nirav Modi and his various company officials colluding with senior officials of the staterun lender, wherein LoUs were issued without proper checks and securities. The fraud went undetected for many years as the SWIFT, the financial transaction messaging system, was not linked to PNB’s core banking system. As a result of this the issues LoUs were not shown in the bank’s books.

An LoU is a guarantee by a bank to pay another lender for import by companies and is considered very crucial for cross-border trade which helps the importer access funds at lower costs.

Meanwhile, bankers said the cost of funds for domestic exporters/importers has gone up considerably following the scam, as for the LoUs already issued, a “risk premium” has already been set in for any Indian paper.

While one private sector banker said the trade is availing of the same, LoU-

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this ‘threshold’ as low as Rs 5 crore, though some want it higher at Rs 50 crore, the official said, while adding there would be other factors such as direct and indirect systemic impact of the default to determine whether it would be considered ‘substantial’ or not.

Besides, the Sebi board is also likely to discuss the Kotak panel report on corporate governance. The high-level panel, headed by eminent banker Uday Kotak, has suggested a major overhaul of corporate governance norms for listed companies, including steps to improve oversight of financial irregularities at listed firms.

The Securities and Exchange Board (Sebi) has already received public comments on the report, while preliminary discussions have been held with the

Mumbai, Mar 4 (PTI): In what can impact the exim trade, the Rs 12,700-crore Nirav Modi scam at Punjab National Bank has affected trade finance activities as lenders have become extra cautious, while the premium on Indian paper has shot up by 10-50 bps, say bankers.

“The PNB fraud has already affected trade financing. No bank is now prepared to extend letters of understanding (LoUs).

The ability of a company to raise money through LoUs from abroad has been affected badly,” a senior official from a state-run bank has told PTI. A private sector banker closely associated with the activity echoed the same, saying lenders have taken a “cautious” approach in the aftermath of the largest financial fraud in the history of the nation.

Despite the immediate setback, bankers, however, feel that there will not be a complete freeze so that a genuine businessman’s operations are affected.

The fraud unearthed at

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as the provision of safe and inexpensive transport, clean washrooms, affordable childcare, equal pay etc.

In the Fifth Annual Employment-Unemployment Sur vey (2015-16) published by the Labour Bureau, the industry pointed out that over the last two decades, India has witnessed a continuous decline in its Female Labour Force Participation Rate (FLFPR), which stood at only 27.4 per cent in 2015-16.

It also noted that the proportion of women in the manufacturing sector is higher than that of men in both rural and urban areas.

“About 29 per cent of urban women are engaged in the sector as compared to 22 per cent of urban men.

In rural areas, 9.8 per cent of women are engaged in the sector as compared to 8.1 per cent of men,” CII observed.

‘Relax deadline for linking bank A/c with Aadhar’

ment’s well-intentioned moves, the banks, particularly those in the PSUs, may find it hard and challenging to complete the task of linking Aadhaar with the accounts of all the customers by March 31, 2018 thus necessitating relaxation of the deadline,” Assocham said in a statement.

Following unearthing of alleged frauds in the Punjab National Bank and a few other banks, the PSU lenders are anyway fire fighting to protect their core business and are hard pressed for human and other resources, to take up the job of Aadhaar linkage, it added.

The statement noted that even those having submitted Aadhaar details are getting KYC reminders.

“There is a lot of confusion which may lead to further problems as we approach the deadline ...It is best advised that the banks be allowed to come out of the crisis like situation before they are given the additional task of Aadhaar seeding to customer accounts,” it said.

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New Delhi, Mar 4 (PTI): A sectoral approach could be appropriate to increase participation of women in the workforce, industry body CII has suggested.

Noting that manufacturing sub-sectors with high employment elasticity could be a major employment provider for women, CII said,”Other upcoming sectors of interest for women include construction, communications, and financial services”.

The industry body in a statement further said greater participation of women in the workforce is a win-win situation as this will significantly boost India’s growth prospects and also improve socio-economic conditions.

CII also emphasised the need for encouraging and facilitating women entrepreneurship, improving workplace conditions such

print scan as a means of verifying the users, helping those who face issues in biometric authentication or have worn-out fingerprints.

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New Delhi, Mar 4 (PTI): A month before the expiry of the deadline, around 80 per cent of bank accounts and 60 per cent of mobile connections have been linked with national biometric identifier Aadhaar, according to a senior official at UIDAI. The government has mandated submission of the 12-digit unique identity number by every bank account holder by March 31, 2018 to weed out unaccounted wealth.

For the same purpose, Aadhaar linking with income-tax permanent account number or PAN has also been made mandatory.

By March 31, all mobile SIM cards are also to be linked with Aadhaar to establish the identity of mobile phone users.

Out of the 109.9 crore banks accounts, almost 87 crore have been seed with Aadhaar, said the official of the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), which issues the national ID number.

Of this, 58 crore have

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‘China’s development poses no threat to any country’

Beijing, Mar 4 (PTI): China’s development will pose no threat to any other nation, a top official said Sunday as the country for the first time in recent years skirted the customary announcement of its national defence budget ahead of its annual parliament meeting.

Every year, the spokesman of the National People’s Congress (NPC), unveils the country’s defence budget in terms of percentage. But this year, Zhang Yesui, a former Vice Foreign Minister, who took over as the spokesman of the NPC did not reveal any percentage of increase though he defended the steady rise of China’s military expenditure, saying it is consistent with China’s rise. China will adhere to the path of “peaceful” development, Zhang said.

“With a defence policy that is defensive in nature, the development of China

Zhang Yesui

will pose no threat to any other country,” he said.

China last year increased the defence budget to USD 150.5 billion, three times higher than India’s latest defence budget of about USD 52.5 billion.

The defence budget of the US which is the highest in the world amounted to USD 602.8 billion.

Though China announced its military spending at about USD 150.5 billion, observers say it is considerably higher, con-

sidering it is now building two more aircraft carriers in addition to the one already in service as well as addition of new jet fighters, including stealth fighter J-20. Chinese Navy also expanded its global reach with flotilla ships sailing through the far-off oceans to expand China’s influence.

It is not clear yet whether China’s defence spending for this year would be figured in the work report of Premier Li Keqiang which would be submitted to the NPC tomorrow. Without disclosing any details, Zhang said China’s defence input rate is lower than other major countries and China’s development will pose no threat to any other country.

China’s defence budget takes up a smaller share of its gross domestic product and national fiscal expenditure compared with major world countries, he said.

Its military spending per capita is also lower than other major countries, he said.

A large part of the growth of China’s defence budget is to make up for the low military spending in the past and is mainly used to upgrade equipment and improve the welfare of servicemen and women and the living and training condition of troops.

Zhang also denied that the multi-billion dollar Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) is China’s geo-strategic tool, saying such a characterisation is a misinterpretation.

“To say that the Belt and Road Initiative is a geostrategic tool, in my view, this is a misinterpretation of the initiative.”

Zhang said. India opposed the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor connecting China’s Xinjiang with Gwadar as it passes through the Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.

Germany’s SPD in favour of coalition with Merkel Berlin, Mar 4 (IANS): Members of Germany’s Social Democratic Party (SPD) on Sunday voted in favour of a coalition with Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservatives. Over 66 per cent voted “yes”, Dietmar Nietan, head of the SPD Mandate and Counting Commission, announced at a press conference at the SPD Headquarters.

The 463,723 par ty members had between February 20 and Friday midnight to decide if they approved of their party again being part of a government led by Merkel, reports Efe news. The conditions of the pact and the concrete measures that will be implemented were detailed in a 177-page deal that was negotiated between January and February. It includes key proposals of the SPD and assigns major ministries such as finance and foreign affairs to the SPD. The result ended a five-month-long political stalemate after the September 24, 2017, Federal Parliament elections.

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Hindu woman elected to Pak’s senate in historic first Karachi, Mar 4 (PTI): Kirshna Kumari Kolhi from Pakistan’s Sindh province has become the first-ever Hindu Dalit woman Senator in the Muslim-majority country, according to a media report.

Kolhi, 39, from Thar is a member of Bilawal Bhutto Zardari-led Pakistan People’s Party (PPP).

She won the election for the reserved seat for women from Sindh province, Dawn News reported.

Her election represents a major milestone for women and minority rights in Pakistan. Earlier, PPP had elected first Hindu woman named Ratna Bhagwandas Chawla as a senator.

Kolhi belongs to a remote village in Nagarparkar district of Thar in Sindh province.

Born to a poor peasant, Jugno Kolhi, in February 1979, Kolhi and her family members spent nearly three years in a private jail owned by the landlord of Kunri of Umerkot district. She was a

Kirshna Kumari Kolhi belongs to a remote village in Nagarparkar district of Thar in Sindh province.

grade 3 student at the time when held captive.

She was married to Lalchand at the age of 16, when she was studying in 9th grade. However, she pursued her studies and in 2013 she did masters in sociology from the Sindh University.

She had joined the PPP as a social activist along with her brother, who was later elected as Chairman of Union Council Berano. Kolhi also actively participated and worked for the rights of downtrodden people of marginalised communities living in Thar

and other areas.

She is from the family of the valiant freedom fighter Rooplo Kolhi, who had waged a war against the invading British colonialist forces when they had attacked Sindh from Nagarparkar side in 1857. Subsequently, he was arrested and hanged by the Britishers on August 22, 1858.

P a k i s t a n’s r u l i n g PML-N of ousted prime minister Nawaz Sharif yesterday won 15 seats in Senate and became the largest party in the upper house of Parliament, according to the provisional results.

Man shoots himself outside White House Italians vote in country’s S Korea to send envoys to North on Monday general elections

A police man stands guard at the White House after the shooting.

Washington, Mar 4 (IANS): A man shot himself in the head outside the White House, according to a Secret Service spokesperson.

On Saturday afternoon, the man approached the fence line, removed a concealed handgun and fired several rounds, none of which appear to have been aimed at the White House, the spokesperson told CNN. A law enforcement source said the shooter shot his phone before shooting himself. No suicide note was found, but incoherent sentences were found in a book recovered on the scene.

The man has since died; no one else was injured in the incident, the Secret

N. Korea urges US to hold dialogue without strings Pyongyang, Mar 4 (IANS): North Korea on Saturday urged the US to hold dialogue without any precondition.

A dialogue with Washington is possible, a Foreign Ministry spokesperson said in a statement.

“It is the consistent and principled position of Pyongyang to resolve issues in a diplomatic and peaceful way through dialogue and negotiation,” the Korean Central News Agency quoted the official as saying.

The spokesperson said North Korea wants dialogue “designed to discuss and resolve the issue of mutual concern on an equal footing between states.”

“In the decades-long history of the North KoreaUS talks, there has been no case at all where we sat with the US with any precondition, and this will be the case in future too,” he said.

H o w e v e r, w h i l e Pyongyang intends to resolve issues in a diplomatic and peaceful way, it will “neither beg for dialogue nor evade the military option claimed by the US,” he said.

Service spokesperson said.

The victim suffered a single gunshot wound, and Secret Service personnel did not fire any shots.

President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump were at Mara-Lago in Florida, CNN reported.

“We are aware of the incident,” deputy press secretary Hogan Gidley said.

“The President has been briefed. I refer you to the Secret Service for any more information.” The Washington, DC, Metropolitan Police Department is taking the lead in the investigation, the Secret Service spokesperson told CNN. Law enforcement au-

thorities have identified the victim but are withholding the man’s name pending notification of his family, the spokesperson said.

Law enforcement personnel spent about four hours on Saturday afternoon searching a maroon Honda Accord with an Alabama license plate parked on the street near the Capital Hilton hotel, a few blocks from the White House.

After officers blocked off the area, a bomb squad swept the car, and law enforcement personnel removed several items from it, including what looked like pictures and documents from a cigar box, before towing the car away.

Rome, Mar 4 (IANS): Italians started voting on Sunday in the country’s general elections to elect a new parliament after a divisive campaign dominated by concerns over immigration and the economy.

Some 46 million Italians are eligible to vote.

Polling stations opened at 7 a.m., and will close at 11 p.m., reports Efe news Italians are set to elect 630 members of the Chamber of Deputies and 315 members of the Senate under a new law.

In the new system, 36 per cent of representatives will be allocated by using the first-past-the-post electoral system and the remaining 64 per cent using a proportional method, with one round of voting.

According to recent opinion polls, published in mid-February, former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi’s right-wing coalition formed

by Forza Italia, the antiimmigrant Northern League party and the Brothers of Italy could be the eventual winner with about 35 per cent of the vote, although insufficient to form the government.

The four-time Prime Minister has backed European Parliament President Antonio Tajani as his choice to lead the country, reports the BBC. The Five Star Movement is expected to come in second place but get the most support of any single party with 29 per cent of the votes.

The ruling Democratic Party headed by Prime Minister Matteo Renzi is expected to get about 23 per cent.

Opinion polls said that more than 30 per cent of voters had not decided how they would vote.

Results are expected by early Monday morning.

Meanwhile, the huge number of immigrant arrivals has upset many Italians - with politicians, including from the mainstream, toughening their rhetoric as a result.

Berlusconi has called the presence of illegal migrants a “social time-bomb” and pledges mass deportations.

The campaign has seen violent clashes between farright supporters and antifascist protesters.

Seoul, Mar 4 (AFP): South Korean President Moon Jae-in will send a team of special envoys -including Seoul’s spy chief - to the North Monday to push for talks between Washington and Pyongyang on nuclear weapons.

The delegation, announced by Moon’s office on Sunday, is the latest chapter in a remarkable Olympics-driven detente between the two Koreas.

An intense rapprochement saw the two foes march together at the South’s Pyeongchang Winter Olympics that ended February 25, with the North’s leader Kim Jong Un sending his sister as a special envoy to the event.

Kim Yo Jong’s appearance at the Games’ opening ceremony made global headlines, marking the first visit to the South by a member of the Kim family since the end of the Korean war.

Moon has sought to use the Pyeongchang Games to open dialogue between the US and the North in the hopes of easing a nuclear standoff that has heightened fears over global security.

He chose five top offi-

Moon Jae-in cials -- including top national security advisor Chung Eui-yong and spy chief Suh Hoon -- to visit Pyongyang on Monday, Moon’s spokesman said.

“The special delegates will have extensive discussions over issues including creating conditions for North-US talks to denuclearise the Korean peninsula and improving inter-Korea ties,” Yoon Young-chan told reporters.

The 10-member group -- five top delegates and five supporting officials -- would fly to the North’s capital Pyongyang tomorrow afternoon before returning on Tuesday, Yoon said.

The delegation will then fly to the US to explain the result of the talks to officials in Washington, he

added.

Suh is a veteran in dealings with the North.

He is known to have been deeply involved in negotiations to arrange two previous inter-Korea summits in 2000 and 2007.

The isolated, impoverished North staged its most powerful nuclear test and test-fired multiple missiles last year, including some capable of hitting the US mainland, in defiance of UN sanctions.

The North’s leader Kim and US President Donald Trump have also traded threats of war and personal insults, sending tensions soaring.

Moon, who advocates dialogue with the nucleararmed regime, said last week that Washington needs to “lower the threshold for talks” with Pyongyang.

But the US has ruled out any possibility of talks before the North takes steps towards denuclearisation, and imposed what Trump hailed as the “toughest ever” sanctions on Kim’s regime late last month.

On Saturday, a foreign ministry spokesman in Pyongyang called on the US drop any preconditions for talks.

UK tribunal to rule on secret Syrian troops advance in rebel-held region Operation Blue Star files London, Mar 4 (PTI): A British tribunal will rule on a Freedom of Information (FOI) request for classified UK Cabinet Office files that are believed to hold information on Britain’s involvement in Operation Blue Star in 1984.

A three-day hearing of the First Tier Tribunal (Information Rights) will open in London on Tuesday to determine if the UK’s Information Commissioner was right to uphold a Cabinet Office decision not to allow the files being made public.

The appeal is being handled

by KRW Law on behalf of freelance journalist Phil Miller, who has been investigating the exact nature of the then Margaret Thatcher led government’s assistance to the Indian Army operation on Golden Temple in Amritsar.

“The FOI request should be granted because there is overwhelming public interest in understanding the extent of UK involvement in the tragic events of 1984.

Disclosing documents from three decades ago will not harm diplomatic relations – politicians in the UK and India have embraced right to information laws and

recognise the importance of public access to national archives,” Miller told PTI. In 2014, UK government documents declassified under the 30-year rule to make such material public had revealed that British military advice was given to Indian forces prior to Operation Blue Star.

The then British Prime Minister, David Cameron, had ordered a review into this discovery, which led to a statement in Parliament declaring that Britain’s role had been purely “advisory” and the Special Air Service (SAS) advice had “limited impact”. But Miller, the author of ‘Sacrificing Sikhs: The need for an investigation’ report released last year, says many documents from the incident remain classified and only “full transparency” would reveal the exact nature of Britain’s involvement.

“A public inquiry would allow us to understand how much Margaret Thatcher’s decision to send a military adviser to Amritsar in 1984 was motivated by trade and arms deals worth billions of pounds. It would also establish whether the UK military advice was really a one off

or whether in fact it continued throughout the period, even after the tragic events of June 1984,” he said. The tribunal next week will hear evidence from senior civil servants from the UK’s Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) and assess evidence in closed session in addition to hearing arguments from all sides to determine whether the documents can be declassified.

The UK Cabinet Office has declined to release the files on the grounds of national security and safeguarding international relations with India. The UK’s Information Commissioner, who was referred the case in August 2015, supported the Cabinet Office position. An appeal over that decision was lodged in September 2016 and was to be heard in April last year but was delayed and will now begin on March 6. The Opposition Labour party has backed some British Sikh groups in their call for an independent public inquiry into Britain’s links with the then Indira Gandhi led government in the lead up to the Indian para-military operation on the Sikh holy shrine in June 1984.

BEIRUT, Mar 4 (Agencies): Syrian troops and allied militias have captured a number of villages and towns in a rebel-held region near the capital, in the largest advance since a wide-scale offensive began last month, state media and activists reported Sunday.

Syria’s Central Military Media said government forces captured at least six villages and towns along the edge of eastern Ghouta in the advance that began late Saturday.

A reporter from the state-run Al-Ikhbariyah TV, who accompanied the troops, broadcast from Nashabiyah, a village on the southeastern edge of eastern Ghouta. The reporter said the Syrian troops had crossed a “moat” and seized around 12 square kilometers (4.6 square miles). The advance was backed by intense shelling and airstrikes.

Rebel factions said they launched a counteroffensive Sunday, sending fighters behind government lines in a series of attacks. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the rebels regained control of at least one town, while fighting continues.

The Observatory and the Syrian Civil Defense said civilians fleeing the advanc-

A man and child look at the remains of a missile in the besieged settlement of Douma, the largest in eastern Ghouta.

ing troops were taking cover in underground shelters. “It is a scorched-earth policy,” said Ghouta-based activist Nour Adam. “People are moving out because of the relentless bombing.”

Eastern Ghouta, home to some 400,000 people, has been under a crippling siege and daily bombardment for months. More than 600 civilians have been killed in the last two weeks alone.

Meanwhile, no civilians have exited through a humanitarian corridor set up by Russia and the Syrian government nearly a week ago.

Russia has accused the rebels of preventing civilians

from leaving, allegations denied by the insurgents. The rebels say the humanitarian corridor is part of government efforts to forcibly displace the population, and have called on government forces to implement a full cease-fire adopted by the UN Security Council.

Attacks on Syria’s Ghouta unacceptable: UN

Violence has escalated in eastern Ghouta, despite a U.N. ceasefire call a week ago, and the bombing of the besieged Syrian enclave represents a “simply unacceptable” punishment of civilians, the United Nations said on Sunday.

Nearly 600 people have been reported killed and more than 2,000 injured in air and ground-based strikes since Feb. 18, U.N. regional humanitarian coordinator Panos Moumtzis said, noting that mortar shells fired from the rebel-held enclave into the capital Damascus had killed and injured scores of civilians.

“Instead of a much needed reprieve, we continue to see more fighting, more death, and more disturbing reports of hunger and hospitals being bombed.

This collective punishment of civilians is simply unacceptable,” Moumtzis said in a statement.

10

Infotainment

Acoustic singer Johnson

Elton John explains storming off stage

coming to Nagaland

M

ulticultural acoustic singer Jordan Johnson will be coming to Nagaland to perform at various locations in Kohima and Dimapur from March 9 to 11.

Johnson his performance will be on March 9 at Dcafe Kohima, 5:30 p.m. onwards, followed by Pepper Lounge, Dimapur on March 10 from 9:00 p.m. onwards and finally at Fusion Open Mic, CBZZ building, Dimapur on March 11 from 6:00 p.m. onwards.

Born in Mussoorie, India, with roots in New Zealand and South Africa, Johnson moved to New Delhi where he started learning basic chords from his father at age 8. He began experimenting with open chords, tunings and eventually writing his own songs. After performing in various café’s and bars in New Delhi at age fifteen, he came out with his solo debut album “Distance with

Ed Sheeran fan pulled away by security

A

singer Ed Sheeran fan was pulled away by security after storming the stage here to meet her idol.

The English singer was here for the Australia leg of his ‘Divide’ tour, focusing on his #1 album of the same name. But one fan clearly was overwhelmed to see her favourite star in the flesh, and had to get a closer look.

In a video footage taken by an audience member, a fan is seen running on stage, seemingly from the backstage area, towards the singer, reports mirror.co.uk.

They shake hands before the singer tells the fan: “You’ve got to go now.”

The camera moves away but when it returns to the action, the stage invader is seen being wrestled and pulled away from the star by three security guards.

Sheeran, not showing his concern, moves across the stage, guitar in hand, and prepares the crowd for another song.

(IANS)

Pitt hangs out with Sean Penn, Cooper

a Kiss” followed by “Pieces of Mind” in 2015 with his band NORTH. His influences include Bon Iver, J u s t i n Ve r non, James Blake, Jack Garratt, Matt Corby, Flume, Ta-ku and Post Malone.

Johnson is expected to release an Extended Play (EP) by this month. He has performed in North America, England, Ireland, South Africa, Nepal, Thailand, Switzerland, New Zealand, and Singapore.

He has previously worked with legendary producers, sound engineers, and musicians including Nigel Palmer, Julian Wiggins, Phil Harding, and Pandit Dinesh who have worked

E with musicians such as Michael Jackson, Pink Floyd, and Van Morrison.

22-year old Jordan has been recently voted within the top 5 acoustic acts in New Delhi. He’s excited to share brand-new material in 2018 that is the product of a year of self and musical exploration.

lton John shared his side of the story Saturday following an onstage incident that prompted him to storm off in the middle of a performance at his Las Vegas show earlier this week.

In a tweet to his fans, the singer explained that one of the people invited onstage during his performance of “Saturday Night’s Alright for Fighting” was behaving in a way that was “completely disrupting.”

“On Thursday night in Las Vegas a fan put his hands on the piano keys while I was playing and continued to do so even after I asked him to stop,” the singer tweeted. “He then proceeded to reach over the

piano and try to take pictures, completely disrupting the performance.”

The moment was caught on a video obtained

by TMZ and shows the veteran performer’s piano crowded with fans, some of whom appear to start acting up. John, seeming frustrated, can be seen on a closeup shot briefly turning away before yelling something and ultimately walking off. He eventually returned to the stage but informed fans that they were no longer allowed up there with him, declaring, “You f—ed it up,” the outlet reported.

In the tweet, the singer continued on to say how meeting the fans and having them come to the stage with him during the song “is always a lovely part of the show.” And they’re typically respectful, he said.

“This guy was rude, disruptive and had no care or respect for our show and so I let him know how I felt, then left the stage until they had removed him.”

(FoxNews)

Nagaland Post, Dimapur MONDAY, MARCH 5, 2018

U2 are reissuing three classic records on vinyl

U

2 have announced the vinyl reissue of three of their classic releases, including their 2000 album ‘All That You Can’t Leave Behind’.

The three records in question – 1985’s ‘Wide Awake In America’ EP, 1997’s ‘Pop’, and ‘All That You Can’t Leave Behind’ – will be all be remastered and pressed on 180-gram vinyl for the reissue, with each record set to be packaged in a sleeve which faithfully reproduces the original release’s artwork.

Jack Sparrow to get Indianised version Keanu Reeves may lead superhero film ‘Past Midnight’

H

ollywood star Johnny Depp’s popular character Captain Jack Sparrow will be given a ‘desi’ twist in an Indian TV show.

Actor Ashish Sharma will soon be seen dressed up as Sparrow from “Pirates of the Caribbean” series in Anirudh Pathak’s show “Prithvi Vallabh”.

His character will be called Dharti Dhakel Singh.

As per the storyline, Sindhuraj orders that Mrinal be abducted but she will be rescued by a masked man named Dharti Dhakel Singh, which will be his disguised look.

“I think Johnny Depp is one of the most recognised actors of world cinema. His performance as Jack Sparrow in the ‘Pirates...’ series is commendable,” Ashish said in a statement.

“The makers have given my look a Jack Sparrow feel. It is not just about the look, I have even worked very hard on the body lanctor Keanu Reeves guage to pull off Dharti’s may be seen as a viglook. I completely Indiilante in superhero anised and made it ‘desi’ with rural accent and body movie “Past Midnight”.

According to deadline. language,” he added.

The experience was com, the actor is being eyed to lead “Past Midnight”. “full of fun” for Ashish.

Following its success (IANS)

A

with a slew of small-screen superheroes series such as “The Punisher”, “Daredevil” and “Marvel’s Jessica Jones”, Netflix won a bidding war for “Past Midnight”. The film is to be written by T.J. Fixman,

directed by Rick Famuyiwa and produced by Anthony Russo and Joe Russo.

The deals for these people have been done and the team expects Reeves to join in. The film’s plot is still under wraps. However, it is said that the film is a new type of vigilante superhero story.

If Reeves signs the deal, then people can see the “considerable discipline and range, easy movement between the buttoned-down demeanour that suits a police procedural story and the loose-jointed manner of his comic roles” again.

(IANS)

Both ‘Pop’ and ‘All That You Can’t Leave Behind’ will come with a lyric booklet, while all three reissues will include a special download card.

All three reissues are due on April 13, and pre-order is available now through U2’s official store.

U2 will tour the UK later this year in support of their most recent album ‘Songs Of Experience’, which was released in December 2017. The jaunt will form part of their wider European tour, which kicks off in Berlin on August 31.

OFFICE OF THE

NAGA PEOPLE'S FRONT

DIMAPUR DIVISION LANDMARK COLONY, DIMAPUR; NAGALAND

Gratitude The Naga People's Front Dimapur Division expresses its profound gratitude to the electorates of Dimapur district and of Dimapur II & III A/Cs in particular for having strong faith in the leadership of Dr. Shurhozelie Liezietsu and Shri. T. R. Zeliang and overwhelmingly voting in favour of NPF party and electing Shri. Moatoshi Longkumer and Shri. Azheto Zhimomi.

NPF Dimapur Division heartily congratulates Party President, Dr. Shurhozelie Liezietsu and Chief Minister, Shri. T. R. Zeliang for powering the party as the Single Largest Party to the 13th Nagaland Legislative Assembly. NPF Dimapur Division as a whole affirm its unflinching support to their leadership and assure that together, we will continue to work for the right and development of the people.

Long Live NPF! DP-1749

(ITOKHU CHOPHI) General secretary

Margot Robbie once prank-called Prince Harry

A

ctress Margot Robbie says she once prankcalled Prince Harry after getting his number from friend and model Cara Delevingne, who she blames for inciting her.

It happened when the pair found themselves with spare time while co-starring in a movie and the model was bored.

Robbie told thesun.

co.uk: “Cara knows Harry and while we were filming ‘Suicide Squad’ she was like, ‘Let’s prank-call him’. I said, ‘We can’t prank-call ­royalty’, but anyway we did - and he was so cool with it.”

The actress, 27, did not elaborate on the details, but confirmed Meghan Markle’s fiance can take a joke.

She said: “Prince Harry is so nice. England literally

has the coolest royalty in the world.” She later cringed with embarrassment over the prank when she bumped into the royal in a photo booth at a party in London in 2016.

Prince Harry was wearing comedy spectacles, and was squeezed in with cousin Princess Eugenie, actress Sienna ­Miller, presenter Poppy Jamie and Delevingne as well as Robbie.

She said: “There were maybe five of us in this photo booth and I didn’t realise until I was inside that one of the people was Prince Harry.

He loved the booth though, I think he should get one for the ­wedding for sure.”

(IANS)

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

B

rad Pitt stepped out for a dinner date with famous friends, including fellow actors Sean Penn and Bradley Cooper.

Pitt was sharply dressed in forest green trousers, a navy coat and scarf with a black newsboy cap for the outing in California on Friday night, reports etonline. com.

In his coat pocket was a copy of Penn’s new book, “Bob Honey Who Just Do Stuff ”. Penn was casual wearing beige pants, a grey T-shirt over another shirt, a blue jacket and holding onto a backpack.

Cooper was also spotted leaving the restaurant with his girlfriend, Irina Shayk. She too was holding a copy of Penn’s latest book.

On Thursday, Pitt made a rare appearance at the Gersh Oscar Party at Chateau Marmont here. An eyewitness said: “(Brad) was pretty low-key, but in a good way. He was in a happy mood. He did not stay long, but while inside he spent time speaking with friends.”

(IANS) K Y M C

Through this column, I would like to express my sincere gratitude and appreciation to all the electorates of 37 Tyui A/C in particular and to all my unflinching supporters, 37 Tyui BJP Mandal party workers, BJP Wokha Mandal unit and well wishers from every nook and corner for reposing their faith and trust upon me once again by casting their valuable votes in my favour in the recently concluded State Assembly Election held on 27 February 2018.

I know we had a very tough time as our opponents had resorted to violence on many occasions and you had undergone untold hardships mentally, physical torture and in terms of material loss. However, it was through your utmost restraint and patience, your prayer strength throughout the tumultuous times that our Almighty God has given His own verdict in our favour. I salute every supporters and well wishers for all your efforts and services in all aspects and assure you that I will remain indebted as I have committed.

I would also like to express my special thanks to the honourable Prime Minister of India Shri Narendra Modi, BJP National President Amit Shah, Union Minister of State for Home and in charge of Nagaland Kiren Rijiju, National General Secretary in charge of Northeast Ram Mahadev and all other Central BJP dignitaries, BJP President Nagaland Unit Visasolie Lhoungu and all his subordinates for allotting me the BJP ticket and also for leading the BJP in the State to a victory by bagging 12 seats creating a historic record for the first time in Nagaland. It was through their untiring efforts and committed visions that the BJP could achieve this extra milestone this election.

Yanthungo Patton BJP Candidate 37 Tyui A/C Wokha

DC-493

DC-484

K Y M C

goal this term 13 minutes from time to complete a victory that left PSG 14 points clear of defending champions Monaco at the top of Ligue 1.

With a 3-1 deficit to overcome in the second leg of their last-16 tie against Real on Tuesday, PSG coach Unai Emery refused to risk Cavani while Mbappe stayed in Paris to continue treatment on an ankle injury sustained against Marseille in midweek.

Marco Verratti was also rested for Saturday’s trip, as Di Maria again took full advantage of the opportunity presented to several members of PSG’s

expensively assembled squad in the wake of Neymar’s injury.

Di Maria himself was feted as the player to turn PSG into genuine Champions League contenders when he signed from Manchester United for 63 million euros ($78 million) in 2015, and the 30-year-old has arguably been their best performer of late.

Troyes goalkeeper Erwin Zelazny produced a series of saves to deny Di Maria, and then Giovani Lo Celso twice in the first half, but the home goal was breached after a defensive lapse on 47 minutes.

A poor clearance followed by further miscom-

Amsterdam, Mar 4 (Agencies): Wesley Sneijder has announced his retirement from international football following a visit from new Netherlands manager Ronald Koeman.

The former Everton and Southampton boss travelled to Qatar to visit Sneijder, who now plays club football for Al Gharafa, to discuss his international future.

Following their discussions, Sneijder said: “When I left, I knew, of course, the influence that this move to Qatar could have on my career as an international.

“In addition, I understand that Koeman wants to make a new beginning with other, younger players. We were very open and that was a very pleasant conversation. I respect his choice.”

Koeman, who was appointed as Netherlands manager last month, said: “Wesley is one of the best Dutch footballers from the past few years. A great player with a great look.

But I want to be selecting and building a new Oranje and must therefore make choices.”

Sneijder represented his country for 15 years after making his debut in a friendly against Portugal in 2003.

Del Potro wins Acapulco title Bouchard, De Minaur get

Juan Martin del Potro holds aloft his trophy after defeating Kevin Anderson. (AP/PTI)

ACAPULCO, Mar 4 (Agencies): Juan Martin Del Potro continued his dominance over Kevin Anderson, putting the brakes on the South African’s brilliant run of success to claim the ATP Mexican Open title on Saturday night.

Del Potro defeated the

hard-serving Anderson 6-4, 6-4 in the final to claim his first title of 2018 and post his seventh-straight career victory over Anderson.

The 29-year-old Del Potro recorded his 21st career ATP title but this is one of his biggest in years and the earliest he has hoisted

a trophy since the 2014 season. The Argentine won the title by battling through a tough draw that included a trio of top 10 players.

He defeated Mischa Zverev, four-time Acapulco champion David Ferrer, No. 6 Dominic Thiem and No. 5 Alexander Zverev before dispatching world number eight Anderson.

Del Potro has owned Anderson on the hardcourts ever since their first meeting in 2011 in Delray Beach, Florida that he also won 6-4, 6-4. Since then, they have squared off in Vienna, Valencia, Basel, Washington and Delray again with all the matches taking place on the hard surface.

Del Potro served masterfully on Saturday, blasting 12 aces and winning 78 percent of his first serve and 64 percent of his second serve points in the one hour, 40 minute match.

Del Potro managed to hold serve throughout the match and broke Anderson twice. Anderson, of Johannesburg, had his eight-match winning streak snapped and was coming off a title at the New York Open.

On the women’s side, Lesia Tsurenko successfully defended her WTA Mexican Open title by rallying from a first set loss to beat Stefanie Voegele 5-7, 7-6 (7/2), 6-2.

wild cards for Indian Wells

Eugenie Bouchard

Alex de Minaur

LOS ANGELES, Mar 4 (Agencies): Canada’s Eugenie Bouchard and Australian Alex de Minaur were given wild card invitations to the ATP Masters and WTA hardcourt tournament at Indian Wells, organizers said Saturday.

Bouchard, ranked 115th in the world, will be playing her first tournament since a New York jury found in her favor in her lawsuit against the US Tennis Association over her locker room fall at the 2015 US Open.

After the jury found the organizing body was largely liable for Bouchard’s fall, which left her with a concussion, the two parties reached an undisclosed financial settlement. Since that accident, the 23-year-old has been unable to replicate the success that saw her rise as high as number five in the world.

She has, however, remained a popular figure thanks to a strong social media presence and her appearance in the swimsuit issue of Sports Illustrated magazine.

De Minaur, ranked 139th in the world, enjoyed a strong start to 2018 reaching the final at Sydney and the semi-finals at Brisbane.

Tournament organizers announced another initiative aimed at encouraging top players to tackle doubles, offering a $1 million bonus prize to any player who captures both singles and doubles titles at the tournament. The feat has been accomplished six times in tournament history, most recently by Vera Zvonareva in 2009.

Prize money for both the men’s and women’s singles champions at the 2018 event will be $1,340,860.

Rizvi wins gold; bronze for Jitu, Mehuli at ISSF WC New Delhi, Mar 4 (PTI): Unheralded Indian shooter Shahzar Rizvi clinched the gold medal with a world record score in a memorable maiden ISSF World Cup appearance, while Jitu Rai and Mehuli Ghosh bagged a bronze each in Guadalajara, Mexico.

The Meer ut-based Rizvi shot a world record 242.3 in the 10m air pistol event’s final to beat reigning Olympic champion Christian Reitz of Germany, 239.7, to win the top prize.

Pistol ace Rai won the bronze in the event with a score of 219, as three Indians made it to the finals of the season’s first World Cup. Om Prakash Mitharval, the other Indian shooter in the event, finished at creditable fourth position with a score of 198.4 points.

Mehuli, also a senior World Cup debutant, added to India’s medal tally as she shot a world junior record 228.4 to win bronze in the women’s 10m air rifle event.

In this women’s event too, three Indian shooters progressed to the final.

Anjum Moudgil fin-

Bautista Agut claims Dubai crown

DUBAI, Mar 4 (Agencies): Roberto Bautista Agut defeated in-form Lucas Pouille to secure his maiden ATP 500 Series title at the Dubai Duty Free Championships. The Spaniard, who came into the meeting with a 2-1 head-to-head record over the Frenchman, secured his second ATP Tour title of the season for his eighth career tournament crown with a 6-3 6-4 victory in one hour and 22 minutes.

Bautista Agut, world No 23, began his season by winning the ASB Classic and finished an impressive week - which had seen him drop only one set en route to the final - with another accomplished display to deny Pouille entry into the world’s top 10 for the first time in his career.

“I was a bit nervous to close out the match. I have been working a lot this month and I was prepared to manage all the emotions and I did very well in the last game,” said Bautista Agut.

“This tournament is very special. It is for sure going to be [always] in my heart and I am so happy I have won a 500 event. Lucas is a really great player, he has a great future and is playing unbelievable tennis in the last month. I want to wish him good luck for the rest of the season.”

Wilder beats Luis Ortiz to retain WBC world title New York, Mar 4 (Agencies): Deontay Wilder produced another sensational finish to see off Luis Ortiz in 10 titanic rounds in New York.

The ‘Bronzed Bomber’ had his challenger down in the fifth round and twice in the decisive onslaught but was in all sorts of trouble himself in the seventh.

Wilder was staring a disastrous defeat in the face as Ortiz almost finished him off, only for the WBC heavyweight world champion to cling on and then turn the fight on its head, eventually moving to 40-0-KO39, just over two minutes into the 10th.

It might not have fired out the expected warning to Anthony Joshua but in front of a sold-out Barclays Center, Brooklyn, it had an air of ‘AJ’s epic win over Wladimir Klitschko at Wembley Stadium.

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Wilder had always said Ortiz, unbeaten himself, was far and away his biggest test and so it proved, the Cuban making a bright start with the champion looking as nervous as he was focused.

Ortiz slipped straight into a smooth rhythm, the only one to land any combinations of note and although he did touch the canvas in the second round, this one was clearly a stumble.

Wilder’s jab took a while to get going and with his famous right missing more than it hit, the New York crowd delivered the first serious blow of the night, with a chorus of boos as neither fighter went on the offensive.

Ortiz was the first to try and find, if not light, the heavyweight touch paper, a left hook and a straight right sneaking in, showing

Deontay Wilder leans over to land a left hook on his way to stopping his opponent as Luis Ortiz takes evasive action.

there were gaps in the 6ft 7in giant’s guard.

Wilder though, was the first to set the sparks going and had his man down in the fifth. A gentle dabbing jab took the Cuban’s attention and the ferocious right that landed

flush on his forehead had ‘King Kong’ down for the first time in his professional career.

Ortiz made it up and with less than 10 seconds left, Wilder was unable to go for the familiar finish but after such a cagey open-

ing, he had, at last, started to stamp his authority on proceedings.

It did not last long though, because despite being caught with another hard right, Ortiz then troubled his man with a classic countering right, then a big

left hook, leaving Wilder clearly stunned, somehow still on his feet and able to make it to the safety of his corner.

The ninth round had more boos from the crowd but with his trademark right cocked throughout, Wilder was either appeasing the Brooklyn boxing fans or realising that maybe Ortiz’s efforts were taking their toll.

Either way, the Wilder knockout was not far away, despite Ortiz making the sharper start of the 10th, his left-right combination sneaking in.

But, when he tried it again that right was poised and responded with pure power, wobbling then toppling ‘King Kong’. Somehow Ortiz beat the count but with Wilder on the rampage, the WBC holder put him over again, before the referee stepped in.

Gold medalist Shahzar Rizvi of India after winning the 10m Air Pistol Men Final.

ished at fourth position with 208.6 points, while Apurvi Chandela was seventh in the standings with 144.1 points.

India had a fruitful opening day in the competition as they won three medals - a gold and two bronze.

Shahzar finished second in the qualifying, behind Reitz, shooting 579 to the German’s 588 after 60-shots.

Rai was one behind Shahzar with 578, while Om Prakash shot 576 to qualify in fourth place.

While Jitu and Om Prakash maintained their positions at the end of the finals, Shahzar turned the tables on Reitz in style,

staying ahead of the classy German throughout the length of the 24-shot final.

In the women’s 10m air rifle final, Mehuli and Anjum were in medal contention from the beginning, and after a sea-saw battle between the two a 9.9 on the 17th shot meant Anjum ended in fourth position with a score of 208.6.

Mehuli won bronze while China’s Hong Xu won silver with 251.0.

Ro m a n i a ’s L a u r a Georgeta Coman, who won gold in the Munich World Cup last year and a silver at the World Cup Finals, came up with a classy display, leading throughout to win the gold medal with 251.5.

Hope to do well in All England Championships, CWG: Sindhu HYDERABAD, Mar 4 (PTI): Badminton ace PV Sindhu on Sunday said that she aimed for the top spot in the sport and expressed hope that she would do well in the forthcoming All England Badminton Championships and the Commonwealth Games.

“The upcoming tournament is the All England Championships. So, I hope I do well. There are many tournaments, so I just hope that I give my best and play my game,” the Rio Olympic silver medallist said.

The All England Badminton Championships start on March 14.

Replying to a query on the Commonwealth Games, Sindhu said, “It’s not going to be easy. I definitely should work hard for it and I hope I just give my best.

Because it’s not so easy. We have to play each and every match and give a 100 per cent.” The Commonwealth Games begin in Australia’s Gold Coast from April 4.

Sindhu had won a bronze in the previous edition held in Glasgow, Scotland.

1ST DEATH ANNIVERSARY

OF OUR BELOVED LATE KUVEVOYI LOHE

DP-1724

PSG’s Angel Di Maria (R) and Julian Draxler celebrate after scoring a goal.

munication in the Troyes backline gifted Julian Draxler the opening to slide in Di Maria and the Argentine masterfully dinked the ball over an advancing Zelazny.

Twenty-year-old Nkunku sealed the win on 77 minutes, picking out the far corner of the net after gathering a threaded pass from Dani Alves as the linesman’s flag controversially stayed down.

Troyes boss Jean-Louis Garcia and his assistant were both ordered to the stands after protesting the decision to allow the goal, with replays indicating Nkunku had strayed marginally offside.

Emery then handed a first-team debut to Timothy Weah, as the son of former PSG star, and current Liberian president, George Weah replaced Lo Celso for the final few minutes.

The 18-year-old US youth international, whose father won the 1995 Ballon d’Or, nearly bagged a debut goal in stoppage time after racing clear of the Troyes defence before being foiled by Zelazny.

O n Fr i d ay, Ro n y Lopes scored his sixth goal in seven games as Monaco came from behind to beat Bordeaux 2-1 to tighten their grip on second place.

Sneijder retires from intl football

Days will pass and time turn into year But we will always remember you with silent tears.

Loving wife, daughter, sons, family members and relatives

1ST DEATH ANNIVERSARY

OF OUR BELOVED FATHER LT. MEYITOSHI JAMIR (Mopungchuket)

It's been a year since you left us. But your Deeds & love are still fresh in our hearts.

Though you are no longer with us, you are fondly remembered and Treasured...

You memories are always cherished.

DC-488

Di Maria strikes as PSG beat Troyes

PARIS, Mar 4 (Agencies): Angel Di Maria kept up his irresistible form as a Paris Saint-Germain side missing Neymar, Edinson Cavani and Kylian Mbappe defeated Troyes 2-0 ahead of their Champions League showdown with Real Madrid.

The Argentine notched his 13th goal in 14 starts this year during Saturday’s visit to the Stade de l’Aube, which coincided with Neymar successfully undergoing an operation to repair a broken bone in his right foot.

Academy product Christopher Nkunku marked his first start of the season with his first

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Nagaland Post, Dimapur MONDAY, MARCH 5, 2018

We miss you dearly, Loving wife, children, granddaughter & in-law.

Born : 05.09.54 Died : 05.03.2017

1ST DEATH ANNIVERSARY OF LATE NEIVO-Ü THEÜNUO

05-03-2017 It is one year since you left us for your heavenly abode, words cannot express our feelings of losing you.

We remember you each moment with utmost respect and love in our hearts.

“You are deeply missed” Loving family members K-550 K Y M C

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Liverpool beat Newcastle 2-0

Karthik named KKR captain

Brighton hang on to beat Arsenal

Liverpool moved up to second in the Premier League table on Saturday night with a 2-0 win over Newcastle at Anfield.

Lo n d o n, Na r 4 (Agencies): Mohamed Salah scored for the seventh consecutive game as Liverpool moved back into second place with a 2-0 win over Newcastle in the Premier League.

It was not a vintage Reds performance but goals either side of half-time from Salah (40) and Sadio Mane (55) were more than enough to thwart a toothless Newcastle side, who remain just two points above the relegation zone.

The Toon were lucky not to have captain Jamaal Lascelles sent off late on for a professional foul on Salah.

Manchester United can leapfrog Liverpool back into the runners-up spot with a win over Crys-

tal Palace on Monday.

Rafa Benitez was returning to Anfield as an opposition manager for a third time having never lost in the away dugout. However, it was a case a damage limitation from the first whistle for the visitors.

They held out until just before the break when Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain burst onto a loose ball and slipped Salah in down the right where he slotted it under Martin Dubravka for his 32nd goal of the season.

The only glimpse of goal Newcastle conjured up came during injury time in the first-half when Loris Karius tipped over Mohamed Diame’s curling effort that was heading for the top corner.

The game was over as a contest when Mane scored the 200th goal of the Jurgen Klopp era on 55 minutes. Roberto Firmino did the damage with a classy through ball and Mane swept home his fifth goal in his last three games.

There was still time for Salah to breeze past Lascelles injury time but his shout for a penalty was turned down despite Lascelles looking like a guilty party.

Liverpool are back in action on Tuesday night in the Champions League for their second-leg clash against FC Porto, holding a 5-0 advantage, while Newcastle host Southampton next Saturday at St James’ Park.

Brighton beat Arsenal for the first time since 1982 to increase the pressure on Gunners boss Arsene Wenger.

Lewis Dunk put Brighton ahead when he hooked the ball home from a corner after it dropped to him inside the six-yard box.

The Seagulls added a second when Laurent Koscielny’s misplaced pass was intercepted and Pascal Gross teased a high cross into the box for Glenn Murray to head past Petr Cech.

Arsenal pulled a goal back when Brighton failed to clear their lines. Granit Xhaka fed the ball into Pierre Emerick-Aubameyang, who cleverly flicked the ball home with the outside of his boot.

Arsenal dominated possession in the second half and had a late chance to equalise through Aubameyang but he could only shoot straight at Mathew Ryan.

The Gunners were also fortunate not to have Sead Kolasinac, who had already been booked, sent off for a challenge that ended Ezequiel Schelotto’s involvement.

Match results

Leicester 1-1 Bournemouth Swansea 4-1 West Ham Tottenham 2-0 Huddersfield Southampton 0-0 Stoke City Watford 1-0 West Brom

Dinesh Karthik

Mumbai, Mar 4 (IANS): India wicketkeeper batsman Dinesh Karthik was on Sunday appointed the new captain of the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) ahead of the 11th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL), the franchise announced.

The 32-year-old, who was picked up by KKR for Rs 7.4 crore in this year’s auction, was one of the front-runners to lead the side after the franchise decided not to retain or buy back their long-serving captain Gautam Gambhir.

Robin Uthappa, also in contention for the captain’s role, was named the vice-captain. “It is an honour to represent Kolkata Knight Riders, one of the most successful franchises in the IPL and I look forward to this new challenge. I will do my best to represent brand KKR and the millions of KKR fans,” Karthik said.

The seasoned campaigner has previous experience of captaining Tamil Nadu in domestic cricket. He led Tamil Nadu to a title triumph in the Vijay Hazare Trophy in 2009-10.

Karthik played for Gujarat Lions in the 2017 IPL, amassing 361 runs at an average of 36.1.

Nagaland Post, Dimapur MONDAY, MARCH 5, 2018

Ronaldo nets 300th La Liga goal M ADRID , M a r 4 (Agencies): Cristiano Ronaldo became only the second player ever to score 300 goals in La Liga as his double fired Real Madrid to a 3-1 victory over 10-man Getafe on Saturday.

Gareth Bale opened the scoring at the Santiago Bernabeu before Ronaldo followed Lionel Messi in hitting his 300th and 301st goals after just 286 matches in the Spanish top flight.

Messi needed 334 to reach the same mark.

Getafe’s Loic Remy was sent off in the 47th minute for a second yellow card but the visitors still threatened a comeback at 2-0, when Francisco Portillo converted a penalty, awarded for a foul by Nacho on Jorge Molina.

Ronaldo had the last word, however, and his contribution is timely given Real now turn their attention to what could be a seasondefining Champions League second leg with PSG on Tuesday, in which they lead 3-1.

Bale also put his hand up for a starting spot in France by capping a lively display with a goal. He almost had a second late on but a curling shot nipped the post.

The Welshman’s place at the Parc des Princes is not assured, however, his 90 minutes here perhaps even an indicator that his rest is to come in midweek.

But, on a night when his 117th La Liga appearance saw him pass David Beckham as the division’s most capped British player, Bale delivered a timely reminder of his quality.

Cristiano Ronaldo has become the second player to score 300 goals in La Liga after Lionel Messi.

Sergio Ramos and Isco both challenged for Benzema’s deep cross to the back post in the 24th minute and as the ball dropped invitingly eight yards out, Bale applied the finish.

It was no surprise when Ronaldo doubled their advantage on the stroke of half-time. Benzema fooled the Getafe defence with a superb reverse pass before his partner dummied inside and drilled the ball into the far corner.

Getafe’s task became even tougher two minutes into the second half as Remy, previously of Chelsea and Newcastle, clattered Nacho

in the neck with his arm.

He was awarded a second yellow card by referee Mario Lopez but it could have merited a direct red.

The game looked over but Getafe were handed a lifeline when Lopez gave a generous penalty for what seemed a fair challenge from Nacho on Molina. Portillo coolly lifted it down the middle.

Ronaldo dashed their hopes, however, in the 78th minute heading in Marcelo’s cross at the near post. It was Ronaldo’s final contribution before being taken off with 11 minutes left, preserved for PSG.

India, Eng draw 1-1 in Azlan Shah Cup

NEW DELHI, Mar 4 (Agencies): A wasteful India played out a 1-1 draw against England in their second match of the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup hockey tournament on Sunday in Ipoh, Malaysia.

India took lead in the first quarter itself through

Shilanand Lakra in the 14th minute. Ramandeep Singh’s cross from the right found Talwinder Singh whose first touch was blocked but Lakra scored on the rebound to put India ahead.

England ended the quarter with late incursions but as was the case through-

out the contest, Indian defenders denied them. However, India could have easily pocketed the game and full three points had they not been wasteful with the set pieces. They won as many as nine penalty corners but failed to convert any of them.

Meanwhile, England continued their efforts for an equaliser.

With eight minutes remaining in the fourth quarter, England won a penalty stroke. Mark Gleghorne fired his shot to the right of Indian goalie Krishan Pathan and made it 1-1.

Italy international footballer Astori found dead

Davide Astori

ROME, Mar 4 (Agencies): Italy international defender Davide Astori died in his hotel room on Saturday night, his club Fiorentina said on Sunday.

“Fiorentina are profoundly shocked to have to announce the death of captain Davide Astori after a sudden illness,” the Serie A club said on Twitter. The 31-year-old was in Udine to prepare for Sunday’s match against Udinese, who announced the game has been postponed.

Italian media reported that Astori died of a heart attack during the night. In addition to the Fiorentina game, Sunday’s match between Genoa and Cagliari, one of his former clubs, was called off.

When Astori’s death was announced on the stadium video screen, many of the players warming up walked off the field.

Astori began his career at AC Milan, also playing for Cagliari and Roma before joining Fiorentina in 2015. He played 14 times for Italy.

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