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The Morung ExpressEveryone speaks well of the bridge which carries him over

Dimapur VOL. III ISSUE 305 www.morungexpress.com Monday, November 3, 2008 12 pages Rs. 3

“ -Chinese Proverb

A Daily Publication of Morung for Indigenous Affairs & JustPeace

”

17% 56% 27%

Last week’s poll result

The Morung Express WEEKLY POLL

Vote on www.morungexpress.comSMS YOUR ANSWER TO 9862574165

Do you support the government’s decision to relax the recruitment

policy of teachers?

Is the voting card system the best and fair way to

choose Naga Idol?

NoYes Others

NoYes Others

Is Assam blasts a part of BADMAN?SHILLONG, NOVEM-BER 2 (PTI): The myste-rious 'BADMAN' theory propagated in the internet has come to the fore yet again with the Assam serial bomb-ings, with many now con-cluding that the next target of the terrorists could be a place that starts with the letter 'N'. The 'BADMAN' code was first circulated by an anonymous internet user immediately after the Delhi blasts at the social network-ing site mumbaihangout.org, a member of the net-working community said.

The user who posted the topic - many believe he could be one of the terrorists - abbreviated the words in 'BADMAN' in serial order of the target places i.e. Banga-lore, Ahmedabad and Delhi. Now after the blasts in Ma-legaon and Assam blasts, the theory continues to hold sig-nificance and now analysts say the next target could be a place whose name begins with 'N'. Interestingly, an anonymous user also posted the topic in the network-ing site Orkut in the second week of September, raising curiousness of the users.

Later, however, the user who posted it deleted his profile from the site. When contacted, a well-placed offi-cial in the IB said the intelli-gence agencies were looking into the matter, but nothing concrete has emerged as yet. The official said that most of the suspects in the serial blasts across the country were found to be net-savvy. Security agencies investi-gating the Assam blasts also suspect that the SMS by the ISF (IM) that claimed re-sponsibility for the blasts was routed through the in-ternet. According to secu-rity analysts, terrorists of late have been found to be techno-savvy and there were instances of them being fre-quent users of the internet.

Longrangty LongcharDimapur | November 2

ITS NOT every day, that Kashmiri journal-ists get to visit northeast India especially Na-galand where the longest running political conflict in South Asia is on. There is a parallel: both the regions are heavily militarized and have a long history of political conflict with India. The states of Kashmir and Nagaland recently had an unusual opportunity of open-ing up each other’s socio-political and eco-nomic situations during a Panos South Asia study trip of veteran Kashmiri journalists.

They visited the north-east, particularly Kohima, Mon and Lungwa village bordering Burma recently in October. The Kashmiri journalists did apparently draw a parallel between the Naga political struggle and the Kashmiris, much as there is a similarity there are stark dissimilarities.

The most significant difference that the Kashmiri journalists noted (with a sense of regret, in the context of politics) was that the Nagas are Christians while the Kashmiris are Muslims when it comes to political struggle. “Unfortunately we are Muslims,” said Khur-ram, a very eloquent and soft-spoken man who has lost one of his legs to a blast in 2002.

Delving into the sense behind the lamen-tation about being Muslims, Khurram said there is a war on terrorism and the Muslims are being branded as ‘terrorists’. So world bodies like the USA are not keen to openly support the Kashmiri cause. However, this is not so with the Naga political problem as Na-galand is a Christian state and that any form of forceful repression would be strongly con-demned by European countries and America. However, going by the international status of the conflict, Kashmir is on the upper hand as the United Nations Organisations has also

recognized the dispute as an international is-sue.

“In no UN map, Kashmir is depicted as belonging to India or Pakistan…it is always marked in red…as a disputed area,” the jour-nalists said. Khurram’s friend Hilal, attached with the Greater Kashmir daily said just like Kashmir, Nagaland is also a militarized state. However in Kashmir the ratio of soldiers and civilian is 1:14, he said. Khurram, who lost his leg during the last Kashmiri elections in 2002, asserts that the Kashmiris simply want “independence”. They don’t want to be with India nor with Pakistan. It’s simple as that. But the Kashmiri did display some admira-tion about the Nagas and said that the Nagas are very ‘diplomatic’ and ‘political’ when they talk about the Naga issue, which is not so with the Kashmiris. The Kashmiri are blunt to the point of being ‘brazen’, the journalists said.

The role of women in the Naga society also caught the attention of the Kashmiri scribes. They lamented that it is not so with Kashmiri women as they are not encouraged to take the lead, for Kashmir is a Muslim-dominated so-ciety. Though Kashmiri woman play a pivotal role in their political problems, yet they are discouraged to take the lead, unlike the Naga Mothers’ Association and such various Naga women organizations.

The rich culture of the Nagas did get the respect and admiration of the Kashmiri peo-ple who have only heard of the Nagas through the Media. It was a rare chance for the peo-ple of the two states to meet face to face and learn from each other during the trip which was closely monitored and followed by Intel-ligence Bureau agents. The Naga way of life, culture and tradition earned the respect of the Kashmiris who confessed to have never seen the Nagas in their lives.

People take part in a candlelight peace procession to protest against violence in Gauhati on Sunday. Police have ar-rested three people and are investigating whether local militants received help from other terrorist groups in carrying out coordinated attacks that killed at least 81 people in India’s troubled northeast, offi cials said. (AP Photo)

Nagas are very ‘diplomatic’ and ‘political’

The Nagas’ and the Kashmiri parallel

Vihokhu GB passes away DIMAPUR, NOVEMBER 2 (MEXN): The Gaon Bura of Vihokhu village, Vikheshe Zhimomi who is the uncle of Naga Hoho Speaker, HK Zhimomi passed away after a prolonged illness at his res-idence in Vihokhu this eve-ning at 9 pm. He was 84 and leaves behind his wife, a son and three daughters. Inform-ing over the phone, Naga Hoho Speaker HK Zhimomi said that the funeral service of Vikheshe Zhimomi will be held at Vihokhu at 12 noon tomorrow.

No Dmp shops closure today DIMAPUR, NOVEM-BER 2 (MExN): There would be no closure of shops on November 3 in protest against the killing of a businessman in Dimapur yesterday. Reliable sources informed that the district administration and the po-lice requested the business community especially the Dimapur Chamber of Commerce not to shut shops in protest against the targeting of business-men in Dimapur. The business community has agreed and decided to give the police time to in-vestigate into the killing the businessman, sources informed.

DIMAPUR, NOVEMBER 2 (MExN): Keeping hope alive, planted on ‘A Common Journey of Hope’ for reconciliation, thousands of Tang-khuls on Sunday gathered at Ukhrul to pray for healing and reconciliation for the “Naga political groups” (fac-tions). The prayers invoked strength-ening the hope of unity among the Naga tribes through the unity of the Naga groups in particular and har-monious existence with all neighbor-ing communities. It also sought to reach out each other through healing hands . The Naga Reconciliation Meet

of Tangkhul sector was organized by Tangkhul Committee on Peace and Confidence Building (TCPB) as a follow-up of the series of Naga recon-ciliation meets initiated by the Forum for Naga Reconciliation. The prayers were held also in the backdrop of the factional killings among the Naga un-derground factions.

Ukhrul has had its share of rallies and meetings over the Naga political movement and the peace process with the Government of India. However, nothing evoked more emotion than Sunday’s Naga Reconciliation meet

when the public cried for all the past misdeeds and looked for a room for rec-onciliation and peace.The Tangkhuls’ desire for peace and unity through rec-onciliation was empirically expressed by the prayer program’s two main Speakers. Grace Thumra Shatsang, president of the Naga Women’s Union Manipur and Rev. Dr. Mingthing, di-rector of the Tangkhul Theological Association highlighted the need for introspection to save the Naga nation from impending doom from factional clashes and self-annihilation.

continued on page 3

Zakir HussainDimapur | November 2

THE DEMAND for ‘coolie’ in Dimapur Railway Station, is declining these days. “Who asks for us, nowadays?” instantly re-plies a coolie, to a query on how much they manage to earn. They are distinct by the red shirts and a piece of cloth tied around their heads.

Ever ready to offer their services, the coolies, who wait at platforms of trains sta-tions, are being ‘replaced’ by easy carry-bags, rock-size bags, wheeled suitcases and so on. “We manage to earn around Rs. 2,000 in a month and sometimes even lesser than it,” said Jogi Shah, who is 55 years old and one of the oldest licensed porters at Dima-

Who ask for us, nowadays?pur station.

For porters, life is not easy as they start work from 5:00 in the morning and stay up till late afternoon, working or to find work. “We remain awake for most of the time and rush in and out of the station to find some work,” said Ram Babu, another porter at the station. He added that “despite the low de-mand, porters continue to function as per the trains or the railway timetable”.

“We guide passengers about the right train and the right platform,” said Babu,. “But we do not have any union or association to highlight our grievances” he added. “But often porters are paid less for their services; now, we depend less on passenger trains but more on good trains,” Ram Babu explained.

They do not have proper beds for sleep-ing, in their housings at the station, the por-ters pointed out further. “We do not have even toilet facilities,” informed the porters. Many porters suffer from fatigue due to the long hours of ‘standing or walking and car-rying heavy loads’. These have taken toll on their health. Some of them have even fallen addicted to banned substances.

It is not surprising that porters of Di-mapur Railway Station were thrilled when Union Minister for Railways Lalu Prasad Yadav announced ‘in his budget speech’ and ‘in his speech at Dimapur’ as well that they would be engaged as ‘gang-men’. As gang-men they would be Class IV Central Govern-ment employees earning a safe income of Rs 7,000-8,000 in a month.

continued on page 3

Age does not deter their spirit: Some of the old licensed porters at Dimapur Railway Station. (Morung Photo/Zakir Hussain)

DIMAPUR, NOVEMBER 2 (MExN): Altogether four ‘bonafide’ Muslim businessman owning shops in New Market Dimapur have been killed within a span of eight months this year. This is a cause of great concern for the Muslim Council of Dimapur which believes that if the present trend continues, the community would face serious problems in the future.

Podurul Islam, a poultry trader was abducted and his body recovered at 4th mile on February 2; former Muslim Council president Furkanuddin Ahmed was shot dead on March 3; Fukrul Isam, a second hand dealer, was shot dead at his shop on April 23 and the most recent one, Moklisur Rahman, was criti-cally injured in the head on November 1 and later succumbed to his injuries at Faith Hospital on November 2 early morning. Not a single perpetrator involved in the four killings have been arrested, the Muslim council of Dimapur lamented. Even the motive behind the killings have not been ascertained, although the police usually suspect most of the killings to be related with “extortion”cases.

“This is the worst year for our (Muslim) community,” said A Rahman, the working president of the influential Muslim Council. Besides, the global phenomenon of Mus-lims being termed ‘terrorists’ and ‘Jehadis’, what is more unsettling for bonafide Muslim members in Dimapur is the general feeling among the populace about the menace cre-ated by illegal Bangladeshi immigrants from neighbouring areas especially Assam state.

continued on page 3

Muslim community reels under fear

Ukrhul echoes with Reconciliation cry

24-Hr Assam bandh today DIMAPUR, NOVEMBER 2 (MExN): The All Assam Students’ Union (AASU) have called a 24-hour As-sam bandh on November 3 in protest against the Octo-ber 30 serial bomb blast in Assam which rocked the na-tion. The bandh will begin at 5 am and ‘all essential ser-vices have been exempted from its purview’.

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3 November 2008Monday2 Dimapur The Morung ExpressLOCAL

MEx FileENPSTA formedDIMAPUR, NOVEMBER 2 (MExN): The Eastern Na-galand Pre-Service Teachers’ Association (ENPSTA) for four districts, including Tuensang, Mon, Longleng and Kiphire, was formed on October 25 last in a joint meet-ing at the DIET conference hall. The association will be led by S Heno Khiam as president, Mansheen Konyak as vice-president, and Chemai Chang as general secretary. This was stated in a press note issued by T Yangthsase Sangtam, press and information secretary of ENPSTA.

State BJP appoints GSDIMAPUR, NOVEMBER 2 (MExN): The President of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Nagaland State Unit, on October 31 appointed T L Merry, Vice Presi-dent of BJP Nagaland, as General Secretary (Admin-istration) BJP Nagaland state with immediate effect. Informing this in a press note, the Nagaland state BJP president, Ato Yepthomi, stated that T L Merry shall relinquish the post of vice president and take up assign-ment as General Secretary (Admin) BJP Nagaland with immediate effect, “and work hard keeping in line with the rules as enshrined in the party constitution.” The state BJP president further wished T L Merry all the best in the joint effort to strengthen the party.

WORLD FAMOUS KERALA AYURVEDIC TREATMENT FOR THE FOLLOWING AILMENTS ARE OFFERED BY

1. Rheumatoid Arthritis2. Arthritis of different kinds3. Joint stiffness and pain4. Facial Palsy5. Anxiety6. Allergic Asthma7. Peptic Ulcer8. Psoriasis and other skin diseases9. Back Pain of different causes10. Slip Disc11. Hyper tension or high blood pressure

12. Headache, Migraine13. Chronic cough14. Diabetes15. Piles16. Sinusitis17. Stress, Anger, Depression18. Nervous tension, worry and fear19. Gastric20. Constipation21. All Types of Paralysis

Contact: CONTINENTAL AYURVEDIC HEALTH CARETejas Vihar, Gautam Bosti, Khatkatti, Karbianglong, Assam

Phone: 03675-249199, 09436003069, 9436003980, 09862144932.Timing from 7:00 A.M. to 5:00 P.M.

Under personal supervision of well qualifi ed and experienced doctors and therapists.M/S CONTINENTAL AYURVEDIC HEALTH CARE, KHATKATTI

Worship concert refl ects on God’s spirit

DIMAPUR, NOVEMBER 2 (MExN): The NPF of Ko-hima has termed R Paphi-no’s criticism that the DAN government’s development and progress was just politi-cal rhetoric and that their performance was dismal, as false and misplaced criti-cism. In a rejoinder issued by associate press secretary, Shilumar Ao, the NPF stat-ed that it was unfortunate that Paphino was making such statements just after his admission into the Con-gress, which had been his bitter political enemy for his entire career.

“If his memory serves him right, he will recall that just a few months back it was he who made several statements upholding the tremendous level develop-ment and progress achieved by the DAN government un-

der the leadership of Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio and NPF president Dr. Shurho-zelie,” states the rejoinder. In fact, the release stated, he had been critical of the poor governance and stagnation in development of Nagaland during the years of Congress rule.

The associate press sec-retary of NPF observed that Paphino’s opinion seemed to have suddenly changed as he changed his “party colour”. The release also noted that the accuser’s own contribution towards his people and development of his constituency was dis-mal when he was an elected member, and stated that all along he had been a regional party man, but on being de-nied a ticket, he had left the party fold to rejoin it after the NPF-led DAN had been

voted into power. Again, in 2008, when the party did not give him a ticket, he had joined the Congress, the re-lease stated and added that today, as a Congressman, he was contradicting himself in every statement.

The rejoinder further held that the people were the best judge of integrity and that as far as the level of development achieved by DAN was concerned, the growth and progress could be seen by everybody. The mandate given to the DAN coalition through the re-cent polls was testimony of the fact that DAN had per-formed admirably and peo-ple have placed their trust under DAN leadership, Shilumar stated, and added that the misplaced view of Paphino was in fact the real political rhetoric.

KOHIMA, NOVEMBER 2 (MExN): A two-day ‘Capacity building workshop on e-Governance’ will start from November 3 here at the Zonal Council Hall under the aegis of the Nagaland State e-Gover-nance Society, Directorate of Informa-tion Technology & Technical Education.

Day one is designed for legislators, administrative heads of department, members of commissions, secretaries, additional secretaries and deputy com-missioners, while day two is set for joint secretaries, heads of departments and departmental IT nodal officers. Gover-nor K Sankaranarayanan will address the inaugural function at 9:30 am while Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio will deliver the keynote address. Chief Secretary La-

lhuma will chair the inaugural session.The main speakers at the workshop

include Sanjay Murthy, IAS, vice presi-dent, NISG, Hyderabad, Ashish Sanyal, Sr. Director, DIT, Ministry of IT&C, Prof. Subhash Bhatnagar, IIM, Ahmedabad, Piyush Gupta, General Manager, NISG, Muralidhara Honnur, GM, WIPRO, and T V Ramesh, GM BSNL (SSA) Dimapur.

The main objective of the workshop is to sensitise those concerned on the principles of e-Government, to dissem-inate holistic understanding of e-Gov-ernment and build capacity to address the challenges in conceptualising and implementing e-Government projects, to emphasise the importance of Change Management and leadership, to un-

derstand issues related to government transformation by way of Government Process Re-engineering (GPR) and Public-Private-Partnership (PPP), and to give an understanding of the Nation-al e-Governance Plan and the State’s e-Government Road Map (EGRM).

The workshop will dwell on over-view of National e-Governance Plan (NeGP), conceptualisation of a State Mission Mode Project, impact of e-Gov-ernance Projects and critical success factors, e-Government initiatives of the Government of Nagaland such as e-Modop project, and core infrastructure for e-Governance besides discussion on challenges and issues in implementing e-Governance projects in Nagaland.

Workshop on e-Governance in Kohima today

‘The real political rhetoric’

KOHIMA, NOVEMBER 2 (MExN): The Directorate of School Education has announced the school academic calendar 2009 for compli-ance by all registered schools (both government and private) under the department of school education, Nagaland. It also notified that a common cal-endar has been prescribed for greater coor-dination be-tween the State Council of Ed-ucational Re-search & Train-ing Kohima, the Nagaland Board of School Education, the Directorate of School Educa-tion and its subordinate offices with their registered institutions.

Flexibility in reopening of institu-tions and summer vacation has been given for better administration by the institutions. This should not be mis-used by them, a notification received here said. Admission to any regis-tered (both government and private) school must be completed before it re-opens. Full classes are to begin from the second day of the academic year, while the minimum number of work-ing days must be strictly adhered to. The minimum number of working days for higher secondary, secondary and middle schools shall be 200 days with 20 contingency days.

Further, it has been made man-datory for all institutions (both gov-ernment and private) to observe the National Holidays declared by the state government. An institution can declare only two days’ holiday for lo-cal festivals in a year. The results of the final examination must be de-

clared before the school clos-es for the winter vacation.

“All reg-istered insti-tutions of the department of education shall submit their working calen-dar to the State Council of Ed-ucational Re-search & Train-

ing, Kohima, the Nagaland Board of School Education, the Directorate of School Education, the concerned District Education Officers and the concerned Deputy Inspector of Schools on or before 30th November 2008,” instructed Director Nipusilie Angami in a notification.

The District Education Officer and the Deputy Inspector of Schools are to see that all registered institu-tions under their respective juris-dictions follow the calendar. Timely reports must be submitted to ensure that the calendar is followed, the no-tification stated adding, “Failure to follow the instructions shall lead to disciplinary action.

NPF refutes Paphino’s criticism

Naga women who form part of the cultural troupe are seen here on the fi rst day of the annual Autumn festival at Polo Ground, Shillong, on Saturday. (Caisii Mao)

Rio to inaugurate Chozuba ADC HQ

KOHIMA, NOVEMBER 2 (MExN): Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio will inaugurate the ADC Head-quarter, Chozuba Sub-Division at Chozuba Town, on November 5 at 11:00 am. Minister for health & fam-ily welfare, Kuzholuzo (Azo) Nienu, and parliamentary secretary for so-cial welfare & women development, Chotisuh Sazo, will also deliver a speech on the occasion.

Commissioner of Nagaland, H K Khulu, IAS, will chair the function. Yesonu Veyie, president, Chakhe-sang Public Organization, will de-liver the welcome address while wel-come song will be presented by the Chakhesang Cultural Research In-stitute, Chetheba.

The occasion will also witness folk-songs from Khutsami village, Rungu-zu village, Thevopisu village, Therut-susu village and Phuhgwimi village. Further, folkdances will be preformed by Phusachodu village, Chozuba vil-lage, Yoruba village, Dzulhami vil-lage, Ruzazho village and Yhobulumi village. The function will be followed by a community feast.

DIMAPUR, NOVEMBER 2 (MExN): Following the music and worship work-shop on Saturday, a Wor-ship Concert was held this afternoon at the Dimapur Ao Baptist Church (DABA). The speaker of the evening, Dr. Jonathan Seet, Pastor of the Pentecost Methodist Church in Singapore, em-

phasised that since God is a Spirit, it is important to wor-ship Him in the spirit.

The pastor explained that God being a spirit meant that He was not limited by place and time, therefore He could be worshipped from any place, and that God is able to perform miracles He had performed in the past.

Dr. Seet also added that the Spirit of God did not limit Himself to methods of wor-ship and therefore urged the congregation to come to God “just as you are”.

“If you are sad, come to Him in tears… or in joy… or reflective silence, and God will meet you there,” iterated Dr. Seet. The pastor also put

on record that God did not limit Himself to receiving physical things but was look-ing for the offering of spirit and love. “God is looking not for service but for people who will serve him with love,” stated the speaker as he urged the gathering to surrender their lives to God, which is the meaning of worship.

The resource persons at the Workshop and the Con-cert were Mrs. Simon Chan, Voice teacher of Trinity Theo-logical College Singapore, Wong Kae Chee, pianist and harp teacher in Singapore, Kendrick Liew, Chinese American musical graduate from Boston School of Mu-sic, and Dr. Jonathan Seet.

(Left) The DABA Choir at the Worship Concert held on Sunday at the Dimapur Ao Baptist Church. (Right) Pianist and harp teacher in Singapore, Wong Kae Chee, plays the harp during the Worship Concert on Sunday. (Morung Photo)

Education deptt announces school academic calendar 2009

DIMAPUR, NOVEMBER 2 (MExN): An inter-colle-giate seminar was organised by the Department of Phi-losophy at the Salesian Col-lege of Higher Education, under the theme ‘Life is Sacred’ on October 31 last. Students of three colleges participated, namely Sale-sian College, Patkai Chris-tian College and Trinity Theological College. The students presented five pa-pers on the same theme. The topics dealt on abortion, war and violence, cloning, sui-cide and euthanasia.

For the seminar, the col-lege had invited four experts with qualifications in various fields. The panel of experts consisted of Rev. Fr. Dr. Solo-mon Vizo, Rector of Good Shepherd Seminary, Dr. Behera, HoD of Philosophy, Patkai Christian College, Dr. Sedevi Angami, Medical Su-perintendent CIHSR, and Dr. Kavito Zhino, Principal of Trinity Theological Col-lege, Dimapur.

The second session, a panel discussion, saw a number of students came up with their questions on

life issues, like morality and legality of abortion, eu-thanasia, suicide, cloning, just war, etc. Informing this through a press release, Lee-borki Dhar, SDB, Salesian College, stated that the par-ticipants were enlightened on the theme, and became more aware that life is a pre-cious gift of God and He alone has the right to take life, and that abortion is the killing of the most helpless human being in the world.

“From time immemorial people always considered life as sacred, and a precious

gift that God has given out of His immense love. Therefore terminating life through any means can be a heinous crime against God and Humanity. Young people of today should be well informed about the realities of life. In most of the colleges, importance is given only to intellectual forma-tion, and human maturing is neglected. Young people today are either confused or have no knowledge of certain basic realities of life like the sacredness of life, love, for-giveness etc…,” added the press note.

Inter-collegiate seminar held at Salesian College

PWD workcharge employees’ association informs on terminationDIMAPUR, NOVEMBER 2 (MExN): The All Nagaland PWD (R&B) and (H) Workcharge Employees’ Association has notified on the termi-nation of membership of Kuhoshe Sumi, general secretary, and Guovi Angami, vice-president, on April 14, 2008. “The reason behind it is that they have deducted W/C ADA arrears under PWD (R&B) Construction Division Chiephobozou without the knowledge of other office bearers in the Association. It is for this reason that they have no voice/right after ter-mination whatever the case may be,” stated a press statement issued by Khrielakuo Mepfuo, president of the association. “It also informed all unit office bearers W/C Employees as well as VRS applicants under NPWD (R&B) & (H) department not to confuse or misunderstand it that they have expelled from the association,” the statement concluded.

* Re-opening of school after winter vacation: Between Jan 20 to Feb 6, 2009

* Mid terminal examination: Be-tween May 26 to June 10, 2009

* Summer Vacation: 15 days within June and July 2009

* Final Examination: Nov 18 to Dec 5, 2009

* Winter vacation: Dec 18, 2009 to Jan 20/Feb 6, 2010

Langurs caught taking rest on the branch of a tree at the Nagaland Zoological Park at Rangapahar in Dimapur. (Morung Photo/Zakir Hussain)

Monday3 November 2008 Dimapur 3The Morung Express LOCAL

SITUATION VACANTWanted dedicated born-again Christian for

warden (male and female)Qualification : B.D/M.Div with B.Sc degree and

aboveStarting Salary : Rs 6000 PM with fooding & lodging

Apply to the undersigned with detail bio-data including Baptism Certificate

DirectorSt.John Hr.Sec.Residential School

Diphu Road, P.B No: 120, Dimapur- 797112Nagaland: Ph: 9436006373

SELF EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES UNDER PRIME MINISTER

EMPLOYMENT GENERATION PROGRAMME (PMEGP)Applications are invited from Rural and Urban unemployed youths, who

fulfill the following qualifications and other eligibilities, in the prescribed format available with Khadi & Village Industries Commission (KVIC), Nagaland Khadi & Village Industries Board (NKVIB), and District Industries Centers (DICs) of the respective Districts of Nagaland, for establishment of new Enterprise to be financed by the Banks with beck-end subsidy arranging from 15% to 35% of the project cost.Eligibility Conditions of Beneficiaries: 1) Any individual, above 18 years of age 2) There will be no income ceiling for assistance for setting up projects

under PMEGP 3) For setting up of project costing above Rs 10 lakh in the manufacturing

sector and above Rs 5 lakh in the business/service sector, the beneficiaries should possess at least VIII standard pass educational qualification

4) Assistance under the Scheme is available only for new projects sanctioned specifically under the PMEGP

5) Self Help Groups (including those belonging to BPL provided that they have not availed benefits under any other Scheme) are also eligible for assistance under PMEGP

6) Institution registered under Societies Registration Act, 1860 7) Production Co-operative Societies, and 8) Charitable Trusts

Existing Units (under PMRY, REGP or any other scheme of Government of India or State Government) and the units that have already availed Government Subsidy under any other scheme of Government of India or State Government are not eligible.

The Application form will be made available with the respective Departments i.e, KVIC, NKVIB and DIC of the respective District, from 13th Nov.2008 onwards, which will be issued to those candidates. who fulfill the criteria under PMEGP scheme, on submission of 02 copies of Passport Size Photograph. Application complete in all respects should be submitted to respective District Offices, KVIC, NKVIB & DIC.

For further details, please contact KVIC, NKVIB and DIC of the respective District, on any working day. Asstt. Director I/C, State Office, Khadi & V.I. Commission Dimapur: Nagaland

KIPHIRE, NOVEMBER 2 (MExN): Referring to a no-tification from the Kiphire DC’s Office to all the techni-cal departments of the dis-trict to report to the DC on October 29 for briefing, and for the spot verification to be conducted on October 30, the office stated that during the monthly DPDB meeting held on October 18, the DC had re-minded the technical depart-ments of the same. The joint spot assessment was to be done on the area proposed to be acquired for the LHEP.

However, departmental officials from the district

fishery office and deputy ranger, forest department, failed to attend the brief-ing, stated the release issued by Dr. Tinojongshi Chang, NCS, EAC Kiphire.

In this regard, the HoD of these two departments have been directed to report to the DC Kiphire on or be-fore November 5 to explain the absence of the officers. The release warned that in case of any failure or delay in assessment and payment of compensation to the land-owners, the department in concern would be held solely responsible.

Workshop on rural economy through bankingKOHIMA, NOVEMBER 2 (MExN): A one-day work-shop on ‘Prospect of rural economy through banking’ un-der the aegis of the Nagaland State Co-operative Bank Ltd. will take place on November 5 at Phek at 10:00 am. Phek Deputy Commissioner Z Thele will grace the occa-sion as the chief guest. The keynote address will be given by B K Thadani, Managing Director, NSCB Ltd. Short speech will also be delivered by Chubawati Chang, SDO (C) Phek, and Khosapa Venuh, president of Phek Dis-trict Co-operative Union. The function will be chaired by Kekhwengulo Lea, Board of Director, NSCB Ltd., while vote of thanks will be tendered by A Chibonimo, Assis-tant Branch Manager, Phek. The VCCs, VDB secretaries, chairmen, cooperative societies, chairman Phek District Farmer’s Union, and Pastors under Phek district have been invited to the workshop.

Integrated Pest Management (IPM) farmers seen trapping grasshoppers at Naga United Vil-lage organized by Department of Agriculture. IPM is a pest control strategy that uses an array of complementary methods: mechanical devices, physical devices, genetic, biological, legal, cultural management, and chemical management. These methods are done in three stages: prevention, observation, and intervention. It is an ecological approach with a main goal of significantly reducing or eliminating the use of pesticides.

DIMAPUR, NOVEM-BER 2 (MExN): The Sumi Aphuyemi Kuqakulu Dima-pur (SAKD) in a clarifica-tion note received here today “is deeply outraged to learn of the atrocity committed against an executive mem-ber along with two bona fide members of the SAKD by the Chumukedima Town Com-mand of the NSCN (IM).”

The SAKD in the note stated that, “On the said day the 1st of November 2008, Mr. X. Lukiye Swu, an executive member of SAKD and teach-er were accompanied by K. Zhetovi Assumi, a business-man and general secretary of Ghokimi Kuqakulu Di-mapur and Vikheto Assumi, a class XII student of Zakie-setuo Memorial Higher Sec-ondary School and Jt. Secy of Ghokimi Kiphimi Kuqakulu. The trio had gone to pay ‘Auto Tax’ to the ‘proper authori-ties’ of the GPRN, feeling re-luctant to do the transaction through a middleman,” add-ing further that “after failure to meet the ‘authorities’, they were on their way back when they were forcefully abducted causing serious injury in one case and released.”

Vikugha Kappo, Presi-dent and Shikato Shoh, Gen secretary SAKD in a joint clarification note stated, “It has come to light that the abduction and physical as-sault were perpetrated on the grounds of suspicion

DIMAPUR, NOVEMBER 2 (MExN): The Ghokimi Kuposhukulu Dimapur (GKD) today issued a clari-fication in “the aftermath of the abduction and physical assault of three of its mem-bers by the Chumukedima Town Command of the NSCN (IM)” on Novem-ber 1.

In a note appended by its chairman and Jt. secre-tary received here, GKD categorically stated that the “three persons concerned were not members of any political organisations nor do they engage in any anti-social activities but they are upstanding (sic) citizens and bona fide members of the GKD.”

Reiterating that the three were assaulted on mistaken identity the GKD stated that, “On the 1st of November 2008, Mr. X. Lukiye Swu, Mr.K. Zhetovi

Assumi, a businessman and general secretary of Ghoku-mi Kuposhukulu Dimapur and Vikheto Assumi, a class XII student of Zakiesetuo Memorial Higher Second-ary School and Jt. Secy of Ghokimi Kiphimi Kuqaku-lu were apprehended by the Town Command on suspi-cions that they were mem-bers of some rival factions. They were coming back af-ter failing to meet the ‘prop-er authorities’ of the GPRN to pay ‘Auto Tax’, feeling re-luctant to do the transaction through a middle man.”

P Vihoto Shohe, Chair-man and Ghoshivi Wotsa, Jt. Secretary GKD deeply re-grets that “the perpetrators committed the act inspite of the repeated plea of inno-cence by the victims”. GKD further stated that “the sole purpose” of this clarification is to validate “the identity of the victims”.

SAKD outraged by assaultGKD clarify mistaken identity

that they were members of rival factions.” The SAKD rues the fact that such “acts of aggression” can be com-mitted solely on the basis of “mere suspicion” and there-fore urged upon “the perpe-trators of the act” not to re-peat similar mistakes in the future. SAKD cautioned that such acts cannot be justified and added that “no amount of clarifications, apologies or compensation can bring a

person back to life again.”SAKD reiterated that the

clarification was necessitated to authenticate the real iden-tity of the victims and “not to create further ill-will between the involved parties”. It added that the purpose of this clari-fication was “to place it on record beyond any doubt that all three victims are outstand-ing citizens and bona fide members of Sumi Aphuyemi Kuqakulu Dimapur”.

KOHIMA, NOVEMBER 2 (DIPR): Along with the rest of the country, Nagaland observed the National Re-dedication Day on October 31 in the Conference Hall of the Nagaland Civil Sec-retariat with Chief Secre-tary of Nagaland, Lalhuma, IAS, on the chair. The intro-ductory speech was deliv-ered by the chairman and followed by administering of the pledge of National Rededication and Pledge of Vigilance Awareness Week. The National Anthem was sung, led by Addl. Chief Secretary, Lalthara. Earlier a two-minute silence was observed to pay homage to those killed in the serial blasts in Assam.

Chief Secretary of Nagaland, Lalhuma, IAS, administering the pledge of National Rededi-cation Day and Vigilance Awareness Week to the officers and staff of the Nagaland Sec-retariat on October 31, at the Secretariat Conference Hall. (DIPR)

National Re-dedication Day observed

DIMAPUR, NOVEMBER 2 (MExN): The golden jubi-lee of the Government High School, Wakching in Mon dis-trict was celebrated on Octo-ber 31 last, with MC Konyak, Minister for Forest and B Thawang Konyak, IAS, Sec-retary as the chief guest and guest of honour respectively.

Konyak, in his address, said that the invaluable knowledge of good and hard-ship that he imbibed through his association with elders and continued that “failing to do so, would be injustice on his part.” He also asserted that “to rule the earth education is re-quired.” “We must all pursue knowledge. We must worship education, as only those who strive for education shall rule the world,” he added. While

rewarding Moishen, for se-curing a position in the top ten of the PU exams, Konyak promised that he would hon-our such Konyak achiever.

“We cannot compromise with education and yet, there are teachers who are in the hab-it of absconding their duties. Such practices must be stopped forthwith,” said Konyak, stat-ing “Teachers’ task is painstak-ing, tough and holistic profes-sion and hence, we must all give them due respect.”

“We are celebrating 50 years jubilee of Wakching GHS today, in an old, dilapi-dated school building, it is my zeal that very soon we should be celebrating in a new school building. But to usher in prog-ress and developments, collec-tive cooperation must be given

to the officials manning the various government depart-ments,” Konyak added.

Thawang while stating that jubilee is a time of cel-ebration, stated that it is also a time of reflection about the past and maintained that it is only by the sincere approach and ingenuity of the teachers the pupils can be moulded into capable and responsible members of the society. “Let us try to build a good institu-tion out of this school through the efforts of all concerned and leave a good tradition for the posterity of this school to fol-low despite many possible ad-versities that may be faced,” he concluded. This was stated in a press note issued by TL Mer-ry, vice-president and Spokes-man of BJP Nagaland.

GHS Wakching celebrates golden jubilee

DIMAPUR, NOVEMBER 2 (MExN): The Hoteliers and Restaurant Association (HRA), Dimapur, strongly condemned the recent inci-dents of kidnapping, killings and extortions taking place in and around Dimapur.

A release issued by its president and secretary ex-pressed serious concern over the plight of business-men who have been griped by fear owing to the recent incidents, which are fast becoming a routine affair. HRA noted recent incidents where a young businessman Suresh Kumar Yadav was

kidnapped and later killed, including the kidnapping of a manager of Breeze Restau-rant on October 28 last who was later released.

In this regard, HRA stat-ed that the “Association shall come out openly to protest any act done or meted out to the HRA, Dimapur,” and added that “the adminis-tration and the police shall also be responsible,” if such acts occur in future. HRA Dimapur also notified its members to inform the said office of any such incidents of kidnapping, etc. being faced by them.

HRA Dimapur condemnsFrom page 1

As a pledge to work for healing through reconcilia-tion of all the Naga tribes in particular and neighboring communities Rev. E. Shaiza, general secretary of the Tang-khul Naga Baptist Conven-tion (TNBC) administered an oath to the public: accord-ing to a declaration of the reconciliation meet, every Tangkhul man and woman will work for the healing of spirits through forgiveness.

Sunday’s Naga reconcili-ation meet was attended by the headmen of all Tangkhul villages as well as pastors, stu-dents, youth and women lead-ers apart from others. The pres-

ident of Tangkhul Wungnao Long (Tangkhul Headmen’s Association) Kaphungkan Shimray invoked the creator (in the Naga custom of yodel-ling) and appealed for “inroad of good things and the exit of bad things” from the Nagas.

Among the thousands who attended the meeting to-day at Tangkhul Naga Long ground, Muivah’s fellow-vil-lagers from Somdal marked a strong presence. Reiterating the Tangkhuls’ cry for heal-ing through reconciliation among the warring Naga political groups, hundreds of balloons with a banner “Healing of Our Spirit” was released into the sky.

KOHIMA, NOVEMBER 2 (MExN): Concept Rela-tions (CR), an innovative idea initiated with an aim to bridge the people of Na-galand in Public Relations was formally launched on November 1 here.

Under the motto Bridg-ing the gap’, the Concept Relations (CR) was initiated out of the urgent need for an alternative PR in the prevail-ing environment in the state, and is truly dedicated to pub-lic relations in the fast grow-ing sophisticated markets in the state. CR aims to bring to the public a deeper under-standing and sharp insight into the complexities of the state to offer an authentic, indigenous interpretation of the art and social science of integrated communications.

Concept Relations (CR) offers innovative, cost-effec-tive communications pro-grams devised specifically for prospective clients with a focus on tactical public rela-tions, publicity and collateral material. The services offered by CR include logistic PR ser-vices such as organising me-dia team for coverage of func-tions/events, marketing and

Concept Relations launched in Kohima

From page 1“Over the years, the Mus-

lim population in Dimapur has increased so much and the Muslim Council Dima-pur has not been able to fully check the population,” ad-mitted Rahman. He asserted that there are many law-abid-ing and bonafide Muslim cit-izens of Dimapur who have settled in the city for so many years and who have also been grated the Non-Naga Indig-enous status by the govern-ment. However, the Muslim Council is disturbed by the large number of Bangladeshi migrants in the city from small pockets in Assam.

“What the bonafide Muslim community are wor-ried about is the large influx of migrants from other ar-eas outside Dimapur.” Not ruling out the possibilities of migrant Muslims in the crimes happening in Dima-pur, Rahman appealed the Nagas to differentiate be-tween the bonafide Muslim citizens and the migrants, saying that most of the prob-lems can be solved that way. “The eventualities of what

happens in Dimapur are not their concern since they (mi-grant) return to their places in the evening and don’t live in the city,” he said.

Rahman opined that Na-gas are very hospitable and cooperative by nature and that ‘people take advantage of it’. Interestingly, A Rah-man disclosed that he has been targeted by the migrant Muslims since he advocated among the bonafide Mus-lim citizens of Dimapur to distance and separate them-selves from the migrant Mus-lims by having a separate Mosque, burial grounds etc.

As the law enforcing agen-cies grapples with the law and order situation, Muslim com-munity in Dimapur who make up the bulk of the business community in Dimapur are a worried lot, caught between being branded jehadis and law abiding citizens. “We have been living here for so many years since the 1900’s…and when Dimapur became part of Nagaland, we decided to come under Nagaland…we love this place…we are also law abiding citizens,’ said Rahman.

From page 1But their dream damp-

ened, since many of them turned out to be ineligible as they were illiterate, old or medically unfit. “Out of 81 li-censed railway porters in Di-mapur Railway Station, only 33 get selected for the job of gang-men,” said Ram Babu.

Expressing his opinion, Babu demanded that young porters be given some training to help them meet the require-ments for the post of gang-man. “A lot of old people continue

working as coolies though their health doesn’t permit. Therefore, the children of such persons be given jobs in the railways,” he opined. Howev-er, Jogi Shah said their licenses should be transferred to their children so that their children would be able to apply for the job of gang-men.

“The 33 porters who got the job are presently working at the railway construction site at Silchar in Assam,” said Ram Babu to a query where the porters were working,

adding “During the time of submitting the application forms for the job”, he along with his 20 odd porters were out of station so they have applied for the job recently and waiting for the response from the NFR Maligaon.

Jogi Shah said that the porters were used for loading goods in trains, cleaning the stations and removing human waste from the tracks earlier. But, he added that “unfortu-nately, today, most of these jobs are contracted out.”

Who asks for us, nowadays?

Muslim community reels under fear

Ukrhul echoes with Reconciliation cry

promotional programme.CR also plans to seri-

ously invest in these unique features by creating one of the best think-tanks, which would be able to implement sustained and dynamic pub-lic relations campaigns for government departments, public and private sectors and also non-profit-making organizations (NGOs) at dif-ferent levels. For further in-formation, one may contact: + 91 9436001665 and + 91 9612153370.

Annapurna rice for Kma, ChiephobozouKOHIMA, NOVEMBER 2 (MExN): The Annapurna rice for two months will be distributed to the approved beneficia-ries of both Kohima and Chiephobozou Centres from the ADS Office Godown, Kohima. This was informed by Temsu Jamir, Assistant Director, Food & Civil Supplies, Kohima, Nagaland. The distribution will be made from November 3 to 14 between 10:00 am to 2:00 pm. The concerned beneficiaries have been di-rected to produce their ration cards to collect their quota within the stipulated period. The beneficiaries who find difficult to collect by them may authorize their respective Village Council chairman/secretary for collection by producing ration cards.

DC Kiphire notifies technical deptts

CMYK

CMYK

Monday3 November 2008 4 Dimapur The Morung Express

DAILY CROSS WORDLEISURE

DOWN

Answers to CROSSWORD #1141Across: 1. Bighorn, 7. Dowdy, 8. Ecuador, 9. Crunch, 11. Smile, 13. Sink, 14. Martina, 15. Kelp, 16. Baggy, 17. Reheat, 21. Foot-man, 22. Pluto, 23. Cheated.

Down: 2. Incomplete, 3. Headlamp, 4. Riot, 5. Boer, 6. Eden, 9. Claim, 10. Centigrade, 12. Grant, 13. Samantha, 18. Help, 19. Ants, 20. Loch.

CROSSWORD # 1142The Morung Express number gameS U D O K U

Sudoku # 1126

Simple Rules - There is just one simple rule: “Fill in the grid so that every row, every column, and every 3x3 box contains the digits 1 through 9.”

Yesterdays answer Sudoku #1125

W O R D S E A R C H

BUSINESS

CURRENCY EXCHANGECURRENCY NOTES BUY(Rs) SELL(Rs)US Dollars 47.40 50.70Sterling Pound 76.55 82.05Hong Kong Dollar 5.90 6.60Japanese Yen /1000 475.00 509.00Malaysian Ringtt 12.34 15.27Singapore Dollar 31.45 34.95Thai Bhat / 100 134.70 146.20U.A.E. Dirhams 12.70 13.95Euro 60.20 64.45

For details contact: Urban Station, Near NSC Petrol Pump, 6th Mile Dimapur. Ph No : 240994

DIMAPUR STD CODE: 03862Civil Hospital: 232224; Emergency- 229529, 229474Metro Hospital: 227930, 231081Faith Hospital: 233044, 228846Shamrock Hospital 228254Zion Hospital: 231864, 230889Fire Service: 232201Police Control Room 228400Police Traffic Control 232106East Police Station 227607, 228400West Police Station 232181CIHSR (Referral Hospital) 242555/ 242531

KOHIMA STD CODE: 0370Police Control Room: 2244279North Police Station: 2244923South Police Station: 2242897Fire Brigade: 2222952Naga Hospital: 2222916Oking Hospital: 2243339Bethel Nursing Home: 2224202

1. Desert river-valley (4)4. Silver four penny piece (5) 7. Sexless (6)8. Recedes (4)9. Draught? (2,3)10. Sloping script (6)11. Sharp spasm (4)12. Dispossess (5)13. Light cavalryman (6) 16. Agreement (4)18. Juicy fruit (4)19. Collapse (6)21. Voice range (5)22. Per item (4)24. Pandemonium (6)25. Model, - - - Campbell (5) 26. Composer, - - - Novello (4)27. Add spices (6)28. Combine (5)29. Bloodstained (4)

1. Pup (5)2. Perception (7)3. Needle (6)4. Shopkeeper (6)5. Contour, shape (7)6. Racing tout (7)14. Former French coin (3) 15. Noah’s boat (3)16. David - - British film producer (7)17. Frankness (7)18. Gazing (7)19. Contusion (6)20. Livestock enclosure (6) 23. Debbie - - - Blondie singer (5)

CHEVROLET CAR PRICE LISTCAR MODEL PRICESPARK 1.0 BASE 268,648SPARK 1.0 PS 289,992SPARK 1.0 LS 304,641SPARK 1.0 LT 334,123U-VA 1.2 BASE 401,639U-VA 1.2 LS 444,184U-VA 1.2 LT 483,975SRV 1.6 OPT. PACK 790,100AVEO 1.4 BASE 606,461AVEO 1.4 LTD EDI 661,631AVEO 1.4 LT OPT.PACK 754,930TAVERA 2.5 LT 9S BS3 877,748TAVERA 2.5 SSD1 7S (C) BS3 993,249OPTRA ROYAL 1.6 LT (PETROL) 967,686OPTRA MAGNUM 2.0 LT ACC (DIESEL) 1,074,547CAPTIVA 2.0 LT VCDI 1,812,688

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ORLANDOBLOOMPATRIOTSRADIODISNEYRAVENREDSOXSELENAGOMEZSHREK3SIMPSONSSPONGEBOB

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E S U O R P S E L O C C O S F

SYDNEY, NOVEMBER 2 (AP): Media tycoon Rupert Murdoch says the ongoing metamorphosis of China and India from historic back-waters into economic powers will reshape the world in the next few decades. The News Corp. chief gave an upbeat assessment of the future and made a vigorous case for free markets despite troubled economic times and what he called "naked, heartless ag-

gression" in the world.In the first of a series of

speeches in his birth coun-try of Australia, Murdoch spoke Sunday of "the great transformation we've seen in the past few decades, the un-leashing of human talent and ability across our world, and the golden age for human-kind that I see just around the corner." He said China and India are great countries whose people are only recent-

ly emerging from long histo-ries of being "incarcerated by communism or caste." The rise of their economies is creating a new middle class that would be 3 billion strong within 30 years and is setting a new benchmark for global competitiveness, he said.

"The world has never seen this kind of advance be-fore," Murdoch said. "These are people who have known deprivation. These are peo-

ple who are intent on devel-oping their skills, improv-ing their lives and showing the world what they can do." Murdoch, whose New York-based conglomerate includes Twentieth Century Fox, Fox News Channel, Dow Jones & Co. as well as newspaper stables in Australia and Brit-ain and the online network-ing site MySpace, described the global financial crisis as one of many challenges fac-

ing Australia.He urged Australia to

embrace internationalism and touched on a range of global issues, from interna-tional security to the com-mercial opportunities of-fered by the world's need for cleaner energy. Murdoch's comments were in the first of six radio lectures that will be aired nationally by the Aus-tralian Broadcasting Corp., this year's edition of an an-

“China and India will reshape the world”

News Corp. Chairman and CEO Rupert Murdoch gestures as he delivers the 2008 Boyer Lecture series "A Golden Age of Freedom" in Sydney, Austra-lia, Sunday, November 2. Media tycoon Murdoch says the ongoing metamorphosis of China and India from historic backwaters into economic powers will help reshape the world in the next few decades. The Boyer Lectures is a series of talks by prominent Australians chosen by the ABC Board to pres-ent ideas on major social, scientific or cultural issues. The lectures have been broadcast on ABC Radio for more than 40 years and have stimulated thought, discussion and debate in Australia on an astonishing range of subjects. (AP Photo)

nual series of talks by promi-nent Australians. Murdoch said that in another speech he would give his opinions on the future of newspapers, which are suffering a severe downturn, especially in the United States, as advertis-ing revenue is lost to the In-ternet.

He made a strong pitch for freer trade between coun-tries, taking agriculture as an example and saying that re-ducing artificial barriers is a moral and strategic issue. "So we must continue to leverage our connections and continue to push when others have left the conference table," he said. "The global trade dialogue should echo with Australian accents." Touching on secu-rity, he chided Europe for appearing to have "lost the will to confront aggression" and said NATO should be reformed into a group based on common values, not geog-raphy, and include countries like Australia as members.

"In this promising new century, we are still seeing naked, heartless aggression - whether it comes from a terrorist bombing in Islam-abad or a Russian invasion of Georgia," Murdoch said. "We can lament these devel-opments, but we cannot hide from them," he said, noting Australia's contribution of troops to Afghanistan and Iraq. In an interview pub-lished in The Weekend Aus-tralian on Saturday, Mur-doch said governments have only limited power to fix the financial crisis, though they could make it worse.

Murdoch warned that a rise in protectionism in the United States "could add to all sorts of tensions in the world financial system and the world trading system and eventually all the way down to employment."

Home, car loans to get cheaper

NEW DELHI, NOVEMBER 2 (AGENCIES): Interest rates could fall soon, making loans cheaper and saving less attractive, following a slew of measures by the RBI on Saturday. The central bank cut the rate at which it lends short-term funds to banks by half a percentage point and infusing an extra Rs 1,20,000 crore into the banking sys-tem. Pressure on banks to cut rates has risen sharply in the past few days with the RBI making clear the crisis could only be resolved if banks followed up with measures to boost demand and sustain spending. This would mean home, car and other consumer loans becoming cheaper by half a percentage point. Companies too can look for-ward to similarly lower lending rates. But, for depositors, the flipside of a rate cut is lower interest rates on savings.

Senior officials of public sector banks unanimously told STOI that rate cuts would follow very soon, perhaps within the week. They said they would follow through on the RBI’s move to contain the slowdown, even though they face a severe liquidity crunch because the central bank continues to suck cash worth $500 million every day in order to support the rupee. Punjab National Bank chairman KC Chakrabarty said that banks are likely to take their cue from RBI’s decision to cut rates.

On Saturday, the RBI in its mid-term review of policy announced that the repo rate — the rate at which banks can borrow short-term funds from RBI — will fall from 8% to 7.5% from November 3. This would make it easier for banks to cut interest rates for consumers. Simultane-ously, there will be a two-stage cut by November 8 of the cash reserve ratio (CRR) — the proportion of deposits banks have to maintain in cash with the RBI. It will fall from 6.5% to 5.5%.This will give banks access to an addi-tional Rs 40,000 crore to lend.

In another liquidity infusing measure, RBI in effect brought down the statutory liquidity ratio — the pro-portion of deposit money that banks mandatorily have to invest in government securities — by two percentage points. While the SLR is formally currently at 25%, vari-ous temporary relaxations that allowed banks to borrow from RBI against their holdings of government securities meant that it is effectively at 23.5%. Further relaxations announced on Saturday brought down the effective SLR to 21.5%, though the formal rate has been reduced only to 24%.

The effective two percentage point cut means an ad-dition of Rs 80,000 crore to the kitty available to banks for lending. With the CRR cut, that makes a total of Rs 120,000 crore in extra liquidity. One of the key relaxations was that banks can now borrow up to 1.5% of their deposit base from RBI to lend to mutual funds and non-banking finance companies (NBFCs) facing shortage of funds to repay their investors.

Non-deposit taking NBFCs that are deemed to be “systemically important” have also been allowed to get short-term foreign currency loans from abroad subject to their meeting certain prudential norms and getting ap-proval from RBI. Reacting to the RBI’s announcement, Union Bank of India chairman M V Nair pointed out that this was the second time that RBI had cut the repo rate within a fortnight. Prior to this, RBI had cut the repo rate by one percentage point to 8%. Since banks will find their cost of funds going down, he said they will pass on the benefit to the customer.

Airfares hikes leads to bonanza for Railways PM Manmohan Singh to discuss ways to lift economy NEW DELHI, NOVEMBER 2 (PTI): The sharp increase in airfares and consequent fall in number of air travellers has come as a boon for the Rail-ways, with even AC first class reservations going up by near-ly 20 per cent. Sources in the Railways acknowledged that the rise in demand for upper class reservations has been driven mainly by air travel-lers, who hit by the rise in tick-et prices were switching over to trains. “What we are wit-nessing is a gradual shift of air travellers towards Railways ... And the rush for a berth in AC-

first class explains it all,” said a Rail Ministry official.

He said that in September alone (a non-peak month), Railways earned Rs 17.11 crore from AC-first class tick-ets as against Rs 13.89 crore earned during the same pe-riod last year. Already book-ings in AC-first class coaches alone have touched the Rs 100 crore mark during the first six months of the ongoing fiscal, which is a 26.45 per cent jump compared to the correspond-ing period last year, he said.

This is in sharp contrast to a period not so long back

when AC-first class coaches ran with few passengers on board. In fact, going by the bookings for the next two months, almost all the ma-jor trains with AC-first class compartments are running to 80-90 per cent capacity. The rush is even more pro-nounced in Rajdhani Ex-press trains, notwithstand-ing the high ticket rates. “I have been trying with vari-ous travel agencies for a con-firmed ticket to Mumbai in Rajdhani but in vain,” said garment exporter Manoj Dubey, a frequent flyer.

NEW DELHI, NOVEM-BER 2 (PTI): As part efforts to shore up confidence erod-ed by the global financial rout, Prime Minister Man-mohan Singh will on Mon-day meet leaders of India Inc in New Delhi, which may seek more measures to tide over the liquidity crunch. Ratan Tata, Anand Mahin-dra, Mukesh Ambani, Anil Ambani, KP Singh, Sunil Bharti Mittal and Deepak Parikh are among those ex-pected to attend the meeting -- two days after RBI decided to inject another Rs 85,000

crore into the financial sys-tem by revising downward short-term lending rate and key deposit requirements for banks.

Presidents of the three apex chambers -- Assocham, CII and FICCI -- Sajjan Jin-dal, KV Kamath and Rajeev Chandrasekhar will also par-ticipate in the deliberations. With the RBI providing Rs 2,65,000 crore in the last one month, one of the industry’s main demands has largely been met. However, indus-try sources feel more was required since the overnight

inter-bank lending rates are still quite high. The RBI move to pump in money into the economy is in line with several central banks across the world providing more money to their cash-starved financial institutions.

While the government has given assurances on the safety of Indian banks, high interest rates ranging be-tween 14-17 per cent have particularly impacted sec-tors like real estate and au-tomobile. The aviation in-dustry, which was provided a much needed help in the

form of cut in jet fuel prices, is reeling under high cost of operations. Business lead-ers are concerned over the plunge in industrial growth to 1.3 per cent in August from a high of 10.9 per cent in the same month a year ago, mainly on account of poor performance by the manufacturing sector which expanded by a mere 1.1 per cent.

For the five month pe-riod (April-August 2008-09), the industrial produc-tion growth rate stood at 4.9 per cent, down from 10 per

cent during the correspond-ing period last year. CII will seek setting up of a special purpose fund from foreign exchange reserves for meet-ing the foreign currency re-quirements of Indian banks. The chamber is also seeking a guarantee from the govern-ment for bank deposits and a special corpus fund for small and medium enterprises. FICCI will ask for a review of FDI caps in telecom, multi-brand retail and aviation. It is also seeking raising long-term money with an NRI-bond issue.

Dimapur 5Monday3 November 2008The Morung Express REGIONAL

DHAKA, NOVEMBER 2 (AGENCIES): Dismissing as “baseless” reports about sus-pected involvement of the Ban-gladesh-based outlawed HuJI militant group in the deadly As-sam blasts, the government here has said it would never allow this country’s territory to be used to aid attacks on other nations. “The allegations are totally base-less and, as in the past... (there is) no evidence to back them up,” the Bangladesh Foreign Office said in a statement issued last night.

It said Bangladesh has adopt-ed the strictest measures against terrorists and would “never al-low her territory to be used to aid attacks on other countries.” “This is no time for finger-point-ing without proof. Instead, all ef-forts should be directed at appre-hending culprits and bringing them to justice. Bangladesh has strongly condemned these acts of cowardice and shares the pain of the people of India in this sad horror,” the statement said.

The Bangladesh Foreign Office reaction came as Indian security officials probed a pos-sible link between Harkat-ul Ji-had (HuJi) and the United Lib-

eration Front of Assam (ULFA) behind the Thursday blasts in Assam that claimed 77 lives. A senior Home Ministry official in Dhaka preferring anonymity earlier said the allegation about the HuJI engagement was being made without any proof which “is an irresponsible act.”

“The Indian authorities earlier also could not come up with any evidence to prove the engagement of any Ban-gladesh-based outfit in terror attacks on their territory,” he said. A spokesman of the elite anti-crime Rapid Action Bat-talion (RAB) said the outlawed HuJI has lost its “organisational strength” due to a massive secu-rity clampdown in the past two years leading to the arrest of most of its top leaders, includ-ing its chief Mufty Hannan.

Immediately after the As-sam bomb attacks, the interim government’s Foreign Adviser Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury sent a letter to External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee con-demning the blasts and convey-ing Bangladesh’s condolences to the members of the victims’ families. “It is a cowardly act of terrorism. Violence cannot be a

tool for achievement of political objectives,” Chowdhury said in a statement.

Assam still remains tense The overall situation re-

mained tense in Assam on Sun-day even though a massive hunt is on by the security forces to ap-prehend the culprits involved in Thursday’s serial blasts at 12 places killing over 70 people and leaving over 300 injured.

People are still scared to move out to crowded places in the blast-hit Guwahati, Kokrajhar, Barpeta Road and Bongaigaon, accord-ing to reports.Markets and other business activities remained al-most closed since the incidents took place on Thursday. The State Home Department has indicated that there is clear evidence of the United Liberation Front of Ahom (ULFA)-jihadi hand behind the blasts.

Intelligence official report-edly stated that Harkat-ul-Je-had-e-Islami (HUJI) carried out the blasts. Indian Mujahideen, a frontal organisation of HUJI and Lashkar - e Toiba - has claimed responsibility for Assam serial blasts. It made the claim in an SMS sent to a local TV channel.

Army worried over jehadi, home-grown militants nexusSHILLONG, NOVEMBER 2 (PTI): Jehadi elements are getting logistical support from home-grown terrorist or-ganisations in the Northeast and the army is taking steps to revamp the entire security system in the region to deal with threats in future, a senior Army official said. “Home-grown terrorist organisa-tions active in the Northeast are aiding jehadi elements with logistical support and to break the backbone of this de-structive force, the nexus has to be bro-ken,” GOC of Army’s 101 Area Maj Gen K S Sethi told reporters here last night.

Denying any security lapse in As-sam, Maj Gen Sethi said security forces were taking necessary actions to avert any such attempts in Meghalaya. Dis-missing reports that Meghalaya could be a target, he said, “The entire security apparatus in the region is undergoing a revamp to deal with any such threats in future.” The Army official also called for strengthening of various security agen-cies, especially the intelligence wings.

GUWAHATI, NOVEMBER 2 (THE TELEGRAPH): The army yesterday told the Prime Minister it had intercepted a message from Calcutta a week before the October 30 Assam blasts that said: “Attack Guwahati.” At an evening meeting at Guwahati airport, the army also told Manmohan Singh it had known about the impending terror strikes in western Assam towns for six weeks and had tried to prevent them.

Chief minister Tarun Go-goi, who heads the state’s uni-fied command that includes the army, corroborated this at the meeting with Singh who made a short trip to Guwahati yester-day. Lt Gen. B.S. Jaswal, GOC, 4 Corps, told Singh the army had received “non-specific” informa-tion on September 17 about pos-sible strikes in Guwahati, Barpe-ta Road and Kokrajhar, according to state minister Bharat Narah.

Gogoi admitted his govern-

ment knew all of this but did not anticipate the scale of the blasts that killed 81 people and injured over 300 in these three places and Bongaigaon. The government to-day formed a special team, head-ed by inspector-general of police (special task force) R. Chandrana-than, to probe the blasts and report within 30 days.

The police detained three persons, including the suspected owners of a car and a motorbike used in the blasts. The third de-tainee was a young man whose ad-dress tallied with that on the ap-plication for a mobile connection that was used to send yesterday’s text message claiming responsi-bility for the attacks. However, the suspect’s face did not match the photograph on the application, suggesting someone else may have used his name and address.

IGP (law and order) B.J. Ma-hanta said the three Guwahati

bombs were all planted in Maru-tis, and the one used in the court blast belonged to Tikendra Saikia of Nagaon and was registered in his wife’s name. Saikia claimed he had sold his car through Pal-lavi Motors, a Maruti dealer, for Rs 92,000 but was detained. “He first said he sold it in 2001 and later changed the date to 2006,” Mahanta said.

Biswa Borgohain of Guwaha-ti’s Kahilipara was held because the motorcycle used in the Bon-gaigaon blast was registered in his name. The suspect told the police the bike had been stolen on Octo-ber 22 and that he had lodged an FIR at Dispur police station. The car used in Guwahati’s Ganeshguri was bought in Itanagar, Arunachal Pradesh, Mahanta said. “We are in touch with Arunachal police.”

Yesterday, the police had de-tained three men linked to a mo-torbike whose registration number

matched that of the car used in the Panbazar blast in Guwahati. How-ever, the last digit of the car’s chas-sis number could not be retrieved. “We are in touch with Maruti Udyog Ltd to help us retrieve the last digit,” Mahanta said.

Sources said the cabinet today pulled up state police chief R.N. Mathur over the frequent blasts in places like Ganeshguri — which has seen 19 bombings in six years — and Paglastan in Bongaigaon. At the airport meeting, Lt Gen. Jaswal said that after receiving the terror inputs, a galvanised army had killed 25 militants and ar-rested 89. The defence PRO, Col Rajesh Kalia, confirmed Jaswal’s statements to the Prime Minister. Jaswal heads the operational group of the unified command, made up by the army, police, paramilitary and state and central intelligence and engaged in counter-insurgen-cy operations in Assam.

NEW DELHI (PTI): Hun-dreds of Assamese people residing in the national capi-tal, including students and youths, took part in a peace rally and condemned the October 30 serial bombings in Assam that snuffed out 81 lives.The rally began from As-sam Bhawan to Gyarah Murti (11 statues) last evening as slo-gans like ‘Terrorism - down, down’, ‘We want peace’, ‘Ter-rorists - Hang them’ and ‘This country is ours’ rent the air.

The participants con-demned the terrorists’ strikes and demanded safety of the people in Assam and other parts of the country.

“The Assamese citizens of Delhi are concerned at the lawlessness and helpless-

ness of the state machinery in tackling terrorist attacks. The scale at which the strikes were made and the impuni-ty with which the terrorists executed their plan, have shaken the confidence of the citizens,” former general sec-retary of Assam Association, Delhi, Manoj Das said.

Another rally was or-ganised by Assamese students at Delhi University campus. Few more such rallies are be-ing organised at Jantar Man-tar and India Gate.

In the deadliest terror attacks in Assam, at least 81 people were killed and over 400 injured in 13 near-simul-taneous blasts in Guwahati and Kokrajhar, Bongaigaon and Barpeta districts.

A group of artists and activists walk in a peace rally dur-ing a strike to protest Thursday’s explosions in Guwahati on November 1. Police have arrested three people and are investigating whether local militants received help from other terrorist groups in carrying out coordinated attacks that killed at least 77 people in India's troubled northeast, offi cials said Saturday. (AP Photo)

Newmai News Network

Guwahati | November 2

THE ASSAM government has urged New Delhi to put pressure on the neigh-bouring foreign countries of Assam, whose soils were being used to carry out anti-Indian activities. Assam chief minister Tarun Gogoi on Sunday linked the Thursday’s serial blasts to some an-ti-Indian forces in the foreign countries. “There are foreign hands in the blasts and I have told the Prime Minister on Saturday to put pressure on our neigh-bouring countries so that their soil is not used to destabilize Assam and the coun-try as whole,” said the chief minister.

“No doubt that there are foreign hands behind the Thursday’s blasts and so long the foreign soils are used against us it is very difficult to have a total check on similar activities,” Gogoi said. “The centre has already been taking up the issue with the neighbouring countries but I have repeatedly requested the Prime Minister over this,” he said.

The chief minister also defended the intelligence agencies and said that there were intelligence inputs that there could be blasts. “However, the inputs were not ‘actionable inputs. But I agree that we need to improve our intelligence network,” he said. The Thursday’s serial blasts in Assam, which were stated to be the biggest ever in recent times had how-ever, forced the state government to think of raising an elite commando force, spe-cifically to handle the investigation of the

terrorism and terrorist related incidents.“We are planning to raise a special-

ized battalion in the lines of the Grey-hounds commandos of the Andhra Pradesh to tackle the problems of ter-rorism in the state,” said Gogoi. “We are planning to raise the battalion in the lines of the Andhra Pradesh model, which has proved to be very effective,” said Gogoi while adding that the mo-dalities for raising the battalion would be completed very soon.

“We have also been planning to put in force some tough laws in the state to tackle the problems. The state cabi-net had already decided to specialized bomb detection squads in the lines of the NSG of the government of India to deal with the bombs, IEDs and other explosives,” said the chief minister. The state government has also decided to strengthen the police force and set-ting up of a research and analysis wing of the police within the Special Branch of the state police, he said while adding that the government is also planning to institute one Security Advisory Council for the state who can advise the govern-ment machinery over these issues.

The chief minister further an-nounced award of Rs 5 lakh for those persons who could give information regarding the Thursday’s blasts and the suspects. The state and central government had earlier announced ex-gratia payment of Rs 7 lakh each to the family of the deceased persons Rs 1 lakh to the injured persons.

There are foreign hands in the blasts: GogoiBangladesh refutes ‘baseless’ reports

Rallies held in Delhi against blasts in Assam

Army intercepted “Attack Guwahati” message

SHILLONG, NOVEMBER 2 (PTI): Alleging lack of time-ly political intervention and mature efforts, Foreign Invest-ment Promotion Organization (FIPO) has described the se-rial bombings in Assam as a fatal blow to efforts made to promote Northeast as a poten-tial business destination.

“The unfortunate and trag-ic serial bombings in Assam is the most dastardly act designed to derail the positive progress the region has been making in the last few years,” FIPO

Chairman I Nochet Imcha said in a statement here. The blasts, he said, was a very costly wake-up call and reminder for both the central and state gov-ernments that the prevailing strategy on terror needed to be refocused and bold political de-cisions taken if the region was to achieve its social and eco-nomic objectives.

Claiming that lack of time-ly political interventions and mature efforts facilitated ave-nues for anti-national elements to take advantage of the feeling

of alienation among the people of the region, the FIPO said it was time for every government in the region to confront head-on the issues that threatened to tear apart the social fabric.

“To the outside world, As-sam represents an overall im-age of the region and if the pres-ent trend of terror was allowed to continue, nothing could be more tragic for the entire re-gion,” Imcha said. FIPO is an organisation that helps bring in foreign investments including in the north-eastern region.

SHILLONG, NOVEMBER 2 (ANI): The State Government of Meghalaya is taking initia-tives to promote the State as an attractive tourist destina-tion for visitors from across the country and world. The State government is presently giving top priority to infrastructure development for tourism pur-poses. Special measures are be-ing taken to develop the West Khasi Hills and Garo Hills Districts that have been facing neglect in the past.

“Meghalaya is called the Jewel of North East in context of tourism. Inspite of lack of all the amenities tourists arrive here from outside. Our Department has chalked out a programme which the experts have advised to develop as a master plan on tourism,” said T. D. Kar, Direc-tor of the Tourism Department for Meghalaya.

Many wonderful places and landmarks are being developed as new tourist places. For in-stance, two of the longest caves in Asia, located in Meghalaya, are being developed for tourist attraction.

The inflow of the tourists (domestic as well as interna-tional) has witnessed a growth rate of 10 to 15 percent with

each passing year. In 2007, Shillong alone had 187,000 tourists visiting this fascinat-ing State capital. “When I come to see Shillong I feel very nice. It is neat and clean. I enjoy the weather, it is cold,” said P. T. Heni, a Manipuri tourist.

As part of developmental projects, the Tourism Depart-ment of Meghalaya has set up five new resorts and constructed several canopies for panoramic viewing. Besides, several other projects have been initiated in different parts of the State for promotion and development of tourism. Apart from Shillong, the other famous tourist spots of Meghalaya are Cherrapunji, which until the late ‘60s was fa-mous as the place with highest rainfall in the world. Now it is at Mawsynram, also located in Me-ghalaya, the abode of clouds.

Known as the Scotland of the East, Shillong, the capital of Meghalaya has been a pop-ular tourist destination in the north-eastern India. Located in the pristine evergreen hilly ter-rain, Meghalaya means abode of clouds in Sanskrit language and is also described as the Jew-el of the North East. During the British Raj, Shillong had be-

come a second home to scores of Englishmen stationed in Assam and Bengal with many settling down here instead of returning to Britain.

Spread over an area of 22,429 square kilometers, Me-ghalaya has retained its natural scenic beauty, thanks to the low density of population which is just 78 per square kilometer. Mainly three tribes, the Khasi, Jaintias and Garo are the indig-enous people of the State. As for Shillong, it boasts of fascinat-ing waterfalls in and around the city, a beautiful lake with boat-ing facilities, over a dozen sce-nic picnic spots and a sprawling golf course.

“I have seen many beauti-ful places but I have never seen a place like Shillong and this is the place where one must come and see the fascinating scenes, waterfall and enjoy the pleas-ant weather here,” said Bobita Chetia, a tourist from Assam.

The people of Meghalaya are well known for their warm hospitality and friendly na-ture. Another added asset of Meghalaya is its diverse cul-tural heritage. The State has more then 17 currently noti-fied tourist hot spots.

Archers participating in a shooting competition at the Shillong Autumn Festival on November 1. (UB Photos)

Assam blasts a blow to North-East’s image: FIPOTwo more arrested for Assam blasts

GUWAHATI, NOVEMBER 2 (PTI): Two prime accused in the Assam serial blasts case were arrested on Sunday taking the total num-ber of arrests to five.

The accused Muzamul Haque and An-warlul Haque were arrested from Lakhimpur following clues gathered from the detained persons, police said. The duo were in car theft racket and involved in duplicating the names of the owners of the vehicles which were used for the blasts in Guwahati and Bongaigaon, they added.

The accused are being brought to Guwa-hati for interrogation by the SIT formed to probe the incident. Three persons were ar-rested on Saturday and several detained in the serial blasts that rocked Assam on October 30 leaving 81 people dead.

Drive to check identities of tenants in ManipurIMPHAL, NOVEMBER 2 (AGENCIES): Manipur police today began a drive to find out identities and antecedents of tenants at various localities as precautionary measures in view of recent serial blasts in Assam, official sources said. DGP Y Joy Kumar has instructed the DSPs and police stations in Imphal east and Imphal west districts to step up check-ing of identities of tenants at different plac-es, the sources said. Police have also directed all house owners to submit full particulars of their tenants at police stations of their locality, the sources added.

Meghalaya being developed as a tourist destination

Newmai News Network

Imphal | November 2

WHILE REACTING strongly to the flip-flop press statement of the Kuki Lib-eration Organisation/Kuki Liberation Army (KLO/KLA) with regard to the Oc-tober 23 passenger bus burn-ing incident in Assam where two passengers hailing from Zeliangrong community were killed, the Zeliangrong Students Union, Manipur (ZSUM) terms the Kuki outfit’s move as that of un-dermining the Zeliangrong community.

Robert Goimei and Mrs Ginthailiu Gangmei were ‘roasted’ to death in the inci-dent, according to ZSUM.

This statement of ZSUM has come following the two

press notes of the KLO/KLA issued on two separate occasions which were con-tradictory to each other, ac-cording to the Zeliangrong students’ body.

ZSUM said that on Oc-tober 25, the KLO/KLA had claimed responsibility through the media by the outfit’s information and publicity secretary Malsawn Kuki saying that the burn-ing of a passenger bus in As-sam was the handiwork of the Eagle Claws unit of the KLO/KLA. “However, on the October 31 through the media, the KLO/KLA de-nied its involvement in the October 23 bus burning inci-dent,” said the ZSUM while adding, “The KLO/KLA ‘s commander-in-chief Robin-son Kuki had said through

the newspapers that the pas-senger bus was burnt down by a gang whose members’ identities are Seikhohao alias Malwin Khongsai of Thingkanphai, Churachand-pur, Ngamlet alias Jamdil Khongsai of Changkipot, Churachandpur, Paokholen Haokip s/o Nehthang of Checkon, Imphal, Letkhog-in alias Hegin of Terakhong near Andro and Henkholen alias Steward of Bethany vil-lage, Sapermeina.”

Such stance of the KLO/KLA undermines the Ze-liangrong community, fumes the ZSUM. The Zeliangrong students’ body then said that executing or targeting inno-cent and unarmed civilians and torching a passenger bus by armed group such as the KLO/KLA is a clear

case of violating of any civi-lised human standard which is against humanity. The ZSUM further stated that organised gruesome crime committed by KLO/KLA is against regional and interna-tional laws and conventions viz, the Geneva Conventions for armed opposition groups which are tantamount to genocidal activities.

“The tactic silence main-tained by Kuki apex body such as the Kuki Inpi further adds to the insult to the Ze-liangrong community,” said the ZSUM. “The Kuki apex organisation should initiate for an amicable resolution through Zeliangrong cus-tomary laws before things go out of hand,” cautions the Zeliangrong Students Union, Manipur (ZSUM).

Winner of Miss Kut 2008 Minerava Moirangthem (Middle), 1st runners up Soibam Itali (Right) and 2nd runners up Ningthing Haokip (Left). The Miss Kut 2008 Beauty Pageant was held at 1st M.R. Ground, Imphal on November 1. (UB Photos)

Flip-Flop stance of KLO/KLA fumes Zeliangrong students Massive drive against illegal migrants in MeghalayaSHILLONG, NOVEMBER 2 (PTI): Launching a massive drive against illegal migrants, administra-tion and police officials of Meghalaya on Sunday rounded up three truck loads of suspected infiltrators from Shillong. Official sources said alto-gether 190 people, mostly migrant labourers and construction workers, were detained after early morning raids in the Polo area of the city. The people were herded up at the Sadar Police Station and their credential checked. However, they failed to fur-nish any valid citizenship documents. Police said the people claimed they had come from places in Assam and Bihar. They would be pushed back to places from where they claimed they had come, the sources said. The drive comes in the wake of mounting pres-sure on the state government to act against illegal migrants, especially after the serial blasts in neighbour-ing Assam which have been blamed on “outside” forces.

Readers may please note that the contents of the articles, letters and opinions published do not reflect the outlook of this paper nor of the Editor in any form.

Letters to the Editor should be sent to: The Morung Express, House No. 4, Duncan Bosti, Dimapur - 797112, Or –email: editor@morungexpress.com.All letters (including those via email) should have the full name and Postal address of the sender.

I N - F O C U S6 THE EDIT PAGE

C O M M E N T A R Y Katherine Coon

LEFT WING | Fatima Ayub

The Power of Truth

The Morung ExpressMONDAY 3 NOVEMBER 2008 VOL. III ISSUE 305

W R I T E - W I N G

Statistics on the most recent global food crisis are well known. In the three years leading up to June 2008, food prices rose 83%. Although de-

clining since, they are still 60% higher than in 2006. There is little prospect of returning to the cheap food regimes that character-ized the world prior to 2005 anytime in the foreseeable future. So far, the food crisis has pushed an estimated 75 million people into chronic hunger since 2005.

Women and children, particularly girls, have been hardest hit by the food crisis. In part, this disproportionate im-pact is because women in poor rural com-munities have less access to resources, transportation, and communication net-works. Any effective resolution to the food crisis — and to reinforce food secu-rity more generally — must incorporate an understanding of this differential im-pact on gender roles.Rural Poverty

Most chronic hunger in the world is a failure of entitlement rather than sup-ply. People within nations, and often na-tions as a whole, are unable to secure the income needed to produce or purchase enough food to meet their basic needs. Today, almost a billion people live on less than $1 a day and suffer from food inse-curity. Although half of the global pop-ulation lives in towns and cities, three-quarters of those subsisting on less than $1 a day live in rural areas of the global South, depending on either small-hold-er farming, selling labor, or a combina-tion of both to survive. They are also net food buyers, spending up to 80% of their income on food. Not coincidentally, three-quarters of everyone suffering from chronic malnutrition also live in these same rural areas.

While rising food prices affect urban and rural poor alike, the impact on the ru-ral poor is particularly devastating because of their geographic, economic, and politi-cal isolation. The productivity of small-holder farms is low in most of the world. This is due to the spread of trickle-down "market fundamentalism," the political marginalization of whole regions within nations, and the widespread failure to un-derstand the importance of small-holder farming systems to poverty reduction. Be-cause of these factors, governments and international financial institutions have failed over the long term to invest in ru-ral infrastructure or sustainable technolo-gies appropriate to small-holder farming systems, especially in sub-Saharan Africa, where many countries are now dependent on food imports to survive.

As a result, opportunities for work in many rural areas are few, and frequently involve either the seasonal or long-term migration of at least one able-bodied adult, amplifying the burden on adults left at home. Transportation is limited, imposing high transaction costs even to reach local markets. Local and even re-gional markets often reflect this isolation in the form of excessive price swings be-tween harvest, when most small-holder households are net sellers, and the rest of the year, when they are net buyers. The poorer the household, the more expen-sive these negative rural biases become, making it impossible for many house-holds to reverse the tide and dig out of poverty. Because rural livelihoods are so fragile, the global rise in prices for basic cash grains, fuel, and fertilizer can trig-ger vicious cycles of deepening pauper-ization, especially when combined with long-term stresses caused by climate change or ongoing civil conflicts.Vulnerability of Women and Children

Women and children (especially girls) are more vulnerable to food, fuel, and fer-tilizer price increases, and to rural poverty

generally, than men. This is, of course, not intended as gender one-upmanship; men also experience hardship caused by the marginalization of rural societies. But be-cause rural agrarian societies are gendered in terms of property rights, the division of labor, direct knowledge of the natural re-source base, and access to and control over productive resources, an understanding of gender in rural households and communi-ties is a prerequisite to informed critiques of development policies and strategies.

Compared to men, women's indepen-dent property rights, legal protections, and social networks are fragile and contested in much of the world. Women have less ac-cess to or control over resources, transpor-tation, or communication networks than men. As a consequence, female-headed households are sometimes disproportion-ately among the poorest of the poor in ru-ral areas. And because rural poverty, civil conflict, and HIV are exacting their toll in the form of migration, suicide, debilitat-ing illness, and mortality among prime-age adults, households legally or de facto managed by women now comprise 30-60% of all rural households in parts of eastern and southern Africa. Furthermore, these households tend to face the additional challenge of caring for sick adults and feeding and educating young children. In places that have been affected by repeated shocks over the long term, especially in eastern and southern Africa, women have become the primary farmers and manag-ers in their communities. The main face of rural society has become female.

When women are engaged in serious cash- or staple-crop farming, systematic bi-ases against acquisition and enforcement of secure property rights can mitigate against their capacity or willingness to make long-term investments in their farms. When women's husbands are absent due to long-term migration, they must obtain his ap-proval — which can be time-consuming or impossible — before they can make changes in farm management. Additional biases against women's access to training, inputs, capital, and transportation also make it more difficult for them to produce or market as much as male-headed house-holds with similar assets. To the extent that day-to-day survival of female-headed households depends on selling labor to pur-chase food, fuel, and fertilizer, price spikes in these commodities can mean total desti-tution and starvation.

In married-couple households, women typically provide labor on husband's farms — usually for market-oriented crops — while also providing childcare and run-ning the household. In most places, the latter includes provision of water, fuel, and meals for the family, so women are ul-timately responsible for family food secu-rity. In most traditional systems, men are normatively responsible for giving wives staple carbohydrates and income as their contribution to household food security and consumption. But long-term erosion of assets, productivity, and income among small-holders has led to crises in tradition-al norms and male gender identities, as increasing numbers of men are either un-able or unwilling to provide enough food or income to tide their families over from one harvest to the next. When crops do come in, men frequently have to sell them to pay off debts and secure loans needed to plant the next season's crops — leaving little in the way of either food or cash for family consumption.

This dynamic is an important driver of adult labor migration. But whether or not men literally leave home, the burden of filling in the breach to "make ends meet" frequently falls on women in their traditional roles as day-to-day caretak-ers of the family hearth. Depending on

their situations and resources, women resort to a variety of strategies to keep their families alive from one harvest to the next. For example, in sub-Saharan Africa women are typically responsible for providing the "sauces" that go with staple carbohydrates at meals. Thus, women are the primary farmers (or gatherers) of legumes, groundnuts, veg-etables, oil-nuts, and other sauce ingre-dients for family consumption. When households are stressed, women sell their sauce crops to buy cheaper carbohydrates for family consumption, which reduces family dietary diversity and, depending on relative prices, overall energy intake. The same dynamic applies to households fortunate enough to own poultry or live-stock: increases in prices of basic staples translates into less consumption of their own eggs, milk, or meat.

When price or other shocks (such as HIV/AIDS, climate change, or conflict) intensify pressures on rural livelihoods over longer and longer periods of time, it eventually leads to asset stripping. Households sell livestock and other es-sential assets such as seed or tools just in order to survive. Because of underlying gender biases, female-headed households — or married women's assets — may be more vulnerable to stripping than male-headed households or men's assets.

In a common survival strategy of eco-nomically stressed rural households, wom-en try to intensify production of "food-security crops" such as cassava, and/or to seek part-time trades or seasonal employ-ment. Because poor women have greater difficulty accessing training and capital than men they tend to get unskilled, low-paying jobs. In the formal sector, because they are considered more pliable and easily controlled than men, women are preferred as laborers in agro-export industries — such as cut flowers or high-end vegetables — where they are paid very little and have no job security or benefits.

Since even relatively better-off rural women are already overloaded work-wise, additional pressures on their time and en-ergy caused by intensifications of house-hold poverty mean a reduced ability to care for children. This reduction in child-care translates into greater malnutrition among children under the age of five. And since early childhood malnutrition affects children's lifelong cognitive capacity and ability to learn, it also affects their long-term chances of climbing out of poverty. Likewise, as mothers increase the work they do outside the home, they are more likely to pull their daughters out of school to fill in at home. Since female education is highly correlated with virtually all mea-sures of children's welfare, it’s likely this cycle of extreme poverty will continue from one generation to the next.Factoring Gender In

Even before the current spike in food prices triggered food riots in cities in Haiti, Bangladesh, Egypt, and other de-veloping countries, the World Bank and private foundations began to acknowl-edge the urgency of investing in agricul-ture, especially in sub-Saharan Africa. The 2008 World Development Report "Agriculture of Development," and the recent IAASTD Synthesis Report on Agricultural Knowledge, Science, and Technology for Development both place investment in agriculture at the center of poverty reduction, and recognize that small-holder farming systems need to be at the heart of the new generation of agricultural development policies. Still, investments need to reach regions and groups that are politically marginalized — and so must be held to high standards of transparency and accountability re-garding project development, investment

decisions, contract awards, and fund dis-tribution if benefits are to actually reach small-holder farmers.

If this is true generally it’s doubly true for women, who are marginalized by gender in addition to poverty. Unless women's roles in small-holder farming systems and rural food security are fac-tored into the design of agricultural de-velopment projects, we will once again fail to address the root causes of chronic food insecurity and hunger. Organiza-tions developing agricultural policies, funding research, sector initiatives and projects must explicitly build in gender guidelines, standards, and indicators to ensure women have equal access to all training, resources, and opportunities. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation recently established a gender policy for agricultural projects they are funding to ensure women access activities and ben-efits, and to track project impacts on the welfare of women, children, and commu-nities. Likewise, the World Bank has just published the Gender and Agricultural Livelihoods Sourcebook — which con-tains an extensive compendium of best practices for gender-sensitive approaches to agricultural development.

Although these actions are a first step, the reality of pro-poor, gender-sensitive agricultural development lags behind the rhetoric — both in resources needed to mainstream gender into foundation-fund-ed projects and in mainstreaming gender in the development portfolios of large in-ternational financial institutions (IFI). Scarcity of technically trained profession-als in agriculture, forestry, and irrigation, who are also skilled in gender analysis and gender sensitization, is affecting gender mainstreaming in foundation grants. On the IFI side, there is no system for ensur-ing World Bank project or loan-develop-ment processes incorporate gender-sensi-tive approaches into Bank portfolios.

While gender policies are important, the models of agricultural development themselves must support the integra-tion of rural women's roles as nurturers of families and communities, managers of natural resources and biodiversity, and producers of wealth. Although market-oriented production should be directed toward robust and diversified local and regional food systems, farming systems producing for local and regional markets must adapt to the reality of women's lives. Women need to be able to manage water, rebuild soil fertility, and produce fuel, livestock, and diverse crops close to their homesteads, so they can care for their families while also growing and process-ing crops for food security and income.

When women (and men) are empow-ered with modern training and technol-ogy needed to transform homesteads into sustainable, poly-culture farms, they im-prove their food security and resilience in the face of climate change and price fluc-tuations. Biologically based techniques for building soil fertility, minimizing pests, and harvesting rainwater help small-holders extend the growing sea-son, improve yields, and increase profit margins by reducing dependence on pur-chased fertilizers and pesticides. Poly-culture farms provide multiple species of micro-nutrient rich plant and animal foods close to home, so households are not as dependent on volatile and hard-to-reach markets. When small-holders pro-ducing on intensive poly-culture farms form marketing groups to aggregate and sell their products, they are also able to make significant contributions to local, regional, and national markets — there-by improving resilience to climate change and price fluctuations in global food sup-plies of their countries as a whole.

G old mining and recycling car batteries are two of the world's Top 10 most dangerous pollution problems, and the least known, according a new report. The health of hundreds of millions of people is affected

and millions die because of preventable pollution problems like toxic waste, air pollution, ground and surface water con-tamination, metal smelting and processing, used car battery recycling and artisanal gold mining, the "Top Ten" report found. "The global health burden from pollution is astonish-ing, and mainly affects women and children," said Richard Fuller, director of the New York- based Blacksmith Institute, a independent environmental group that released the list Tuesday in partnership with Green Cross Switzerland. "The world community needs to wake up to this fact," Fuller told IPS.

In previous years, the Black-smith Institute has released a Top Ten list of toxic sites. The Institute continues to compile a detailed database with over 600 toxic sites and will release the world's first detailed global inventory in a couple of years. However, this year, rather than focus on places, it wants to bring specific pollution issues to world attention. And in particular highlight the health impacts -- a 2007 Cornell University study that 40 percent of all deaths worldwide are directly attributable to pollution, he said.

Remediation and preventing much of this pollution are not only possible but cost-effective, especially when compared to other international efforts to improve health in developing countries. Sometimes it is simply a matter of information and alternatives, as Fuller learned on a recent investigation in Dakar, the capital of Senegal, where children had died from lead poisoning. "Women from some poor areas of Dakar were hoping to make some money recycling car batteries and end-ed up accidentally killing their children," he said.

In the tropics, car batteries only last a year or two and so there is a thriving recycling industry. However, much of this is done by very poor people who break open the bat-

teries with axes and melt them down on open fires. Lead dust fills the air and children playing nearby inhaled the toxic lead dust, and some died. "It is very difficult to die from lead poisoning, it takes an awful lot of lead," Fuller said. Fuller and colleagues measured the lead levels in the blood of surviving children and found levels 10 times the maximum allowed in the U.S. Lead is a potent neurotoxin and children are especially sensitive, as it affects their de-veloping nervous systems and brains. "These are now the brain-damaged children of Dakar," he said.

Blacksmith arranged to have the site in Dakar cleaned up but because it is an important source of income for the poor, the batteries are still collected but are now be-

ing shipped to proper recycling facili-ties. The World Health Organisation is trying to treat the affected children, he said. "There is no simple, universal solution. It has to be solved on step by

step, one place at a time basis," Fuller noted.Another of the biggest overlooked pollution issues comes

from artisanal and small-scale mining involving some 15 million miners, including 4.5 million women and 600,000 children, the report finds. As much as 95 percent of the mer-cury used to recover the gold ends up in the environment. That mercury represents 30 percent of all mercury emit-ted into the global environment each year from all sources including power plants, according to the U.N. Industrial Development Organisation. "It's an enormous problem that transcends boundaries. That mercury ends up in the tuna we eat here in North America," Fuller said. Mercury is another potent neurotoxin and is dangerous in extremely small quantities. Hundreds of kilogrammes are used every day for gold recovery. "Artisanal miners are the poorest of the poor and you can't just tell them to stop," he said.

There are safer and more effective ways of recover gold us-ing a simple tool called a "retort" but education and retraining is required. Blacksmith and its partners have had good suc-cess in teaching and then paying a leader in the community to

train local miners on the safer technique. "It doesn't take that much money to solve these pollution problems," he said. And the pollution that affects the health of nearly a billion people and impairs countries' economy development could be fixed in just 20 to 30 years with a concerted effort by the internation-al community. "Governments are becoming interested in this. I'm cautiously optimistic," Fuller said. Education and other in-ternational development assistance efforts will fail without re-ducing the pollution burden that affects the mental and physi-cal capacity of so many people. Even with a downturn in the global economy, the argument for cleaning up pollution is so "compelling that it will not stop countries from taking action". "Clean air, water and soil are human rights," he said.

The World's Worst Pollution Problems list is un-ranked and includes:

• Indoor air pollution: adverse air conditions in in-door spaces

• Urban air quality: adverse outdoor air conditions in urban areas

• Untreated sewage: untreated waste water• Groundwater contamination: pollution of under-

ground water sources as a result of human activity• Contaminated surface water: pollution of rivers or shal-

low dug wells mainly used for drinking and cooking• Artisanal gold mining: small scale mining activi-

ties that use the most basic methods to extract and process minerals and metals

• Industrial mining activities: larger scale mining activities with excessive mineral wastes

• Metals smelting and other processing: extractive, industrial, and pollutant-emitting processes

• Radioactive waste and uranium mining: pollution resulting from the improper management of ura-nium mine tailings and nuclear waste

• Used lead acid battery recycling: smelting of batter-ies used in cars, trucks and back-up power supplies

Stephen LeahyInter Press Service

Truth and LegalityT he supposed ‘global village’ is filled with internal contra-

dictions, which if not addressed constructively could have detrimental consequences to the question of human co-ex-istence. The more aggressively the ‘global village’ heads to-

wards the direction of globalism, the greater the chasm between contradicting entities. And ultimately, the ones that suffer most are the common people, who are struggling to survive. Such has become the situation of the human condition itself.

The supposed war on terrorism is globalized and yet the defi-nition of an ‘act of war’ is not. The definition of what constitutes an ‘act of war’ is selective and dependent upon the power of the perpetrator or the status of the victim. The missing perspective in this power struggle is the fact that the people are not just against terrorism, but are searching for the realization of a genuine peace, which demands the transformation of unjust structures. It is here that we must draw the distinction between legality and legitima-cy; after all, what is legal is not necessarily legitimate.

The understanding of the rule of law is quire essential while drawing the difference between legality and legitimacy. For in-stance the Laws and Policy of Apartheid were considered to be legal by the government of South Africa, and yet they were very illegitimate in the face of the international community. Over the years, there is an increased stipulation demanding that the rule of law of a country to be consistent with acceptable universal stan-dards that respect the dignity of people.

The tension between legality and legitimacy causes a dilem-ma to the notion of truth, both philosophically and practically. Such a dilemma results in the dichotomy of truth. According to Mamdani the two kinds of truth are – ‘truth that brings un-resolved tensions to light; and truth that obscures, hides veils, masks the unpleasant facet of reality’ Tragically a status quo of power promotes and constructs a truth which obscures and sup-presses the unpleasant facet of reality, which becomes extremely difficult in the context of conflict where even what the conflict is about, is contested.

The reductionist ‘use’ of truth in situations of an unjust sta-tus quo, is often equated to that of an act when an admission of guilt or wrong doing is acknowledged. This limits the usage of truth to an act of acknowledgement. While the essence of truth as a component of the acknowledgement process is fundamental, yet the reductionist use effectively nullifies the understanding of truth as an essential virtue that is required to liberate the status quo. In other words, truth – the holistic truth – is crucial towards transformation.

Truth is the key to transformation because it brings to pub-lic expression the consequences of human subjugation and the inequalities that are further intensified by the initial injustice. Truth is not an outcome, but an underlying virtue existing within a process to ensure that all the core issues of contention are ad-dressed in a positive way, so that the ideals of a shared humanity becomes possible. Truth is that aspect which is necessary to create accountability, to enable closure of the past; and to sow the seeds of peace. It would be wise not to confuse legality with truth!

Not my grandfather's country

A suicide bomber attacked the Ministry of Information and Culture on October 31. The building, decrepit though still in use after Afghanistan's many wars, was blown apart. It was just another security incident in Afghanistan's downward

spiral, except that my grandfather, 35 years ago, served as head of this ministry, shortly before Afghanistan fell prey to revolutions, occupation and endless war. The contrast between Afghanistan then - progressing, optimistic - and Afghanistan today - violent, besieged, uncertain - could not be sharper, or more disheartening.

Once upon a time, Afghanistan was on the cusp of change. A spell of reform before Mohammad Daoud Shah's 1973 coup seemed to promise a new and better future. But it was merely a last breath of air before an unrelenting choke hold of war and violence. My grandfather, an outspoken journalist and proponent of political freedoms, was taken prisoner for two years at Kabul's infamous Pul-e-Charkhi prison during the upheavals following the 1978 Communist coup.

Lucky to be released with his life under a surprise political am-nesty, my grandfather fled. The rest of my family - parents, aunts, uncles - trickled out over the months and years following the 1979 Soviet invasion. Using forged documents and passports, hiring traffickers, my parents followed my grandfather to Pakistan, then to Germany, and finally to the United States. From Soviet occupa-tion, Afghanistan plunged into civil war, snuffing out the flickering hopes my grandfather had for returning to work in Afghanistan.

In my childhood, Afghanistan was only an idea, a place "over there," with war and orphans and mujahedin. It was no place I ever intended to visit, and it carried an indefinable mythical qual-ity. Thousands of Afghans in the diaspora were desperate to visit their homeland after the fall of the Taliban in 2001; my parents were not among them. Friends of mine went and came back; some spent several years working under the new transitional govern-ment or with international agencies. Precious few Afghans from the diaspora come to Afghanistan anymore now that the original allure has faded into the ever-thickening mists of war.

I never "returned" to Afghanistan, as I had never left. I simply came. Traveling to Afghanistan in 2007 for the first time as a research-er for a human rights organization, I came with no sense of national pride or longing for the land of my ancestors, but merely the same sense of curious wonderment that endured from childhood. Though I came with no expectation, I could not and cannot easily process the realities of life in Afghanistan. Crushing poverty, growing violence, inept governance and the corresponding collapse of hope suggest a grim future for the average person in Afghanistan today.

The general consensus, after seven years of a haphazard na-tion-building process, is that the country is now more violent and conflicted than before the fall of the Taliban. Kabul, formerly a safe haven, is now rocked by violence that was inconceivable four years ago. That the insurgency, once limited to the Afghan-Pak-istani border, has literally infiltrated the halls of government is explosive in more ways than one. Last year, much of the debate in the international community was whether Afghanistan had reached a turning point. They should not have to look any further for an answer. Afghanistan has again turned a corner, but it has not been for better.

No doubt, in the last seven years, Afghanistan has seen a num-ber of luminaries, thinkers and activists dedicated to meaningful, lasting development and political progress - not simply for the benefit of their own ethnic group or region, but for every citizen of the nation. They are and will remain in the minority. The in-ternational community in Afghanistan still fails to acknowledge its first critical missteps, as early as 2001 and 2002. Supporting a heavily centralized government in Kabul, failing to encourage the growth of legitimate government at the local level and drawing former paramilitary leaders - many of whom are accused of wide-spread human rights abuses - to posts of power , the international advisors in Afghanistan undermined themselves from the outset.

No one, goes the constant refrain among Afghans, wants to live in a country ruled by thieves, murderers and criminals. In no small part, this reckless insurgency owes its survival to the cor-rupt and inefficient apparatus that is the Afghan government.

Tonight, almost exactly eight years to the day of my grandfa-ther's passing, I stand disconsolately in front of the Ministry of Information and Culture, its windows shattered and dark, its en-trance blown open. Thirty-five years after my grandfather walked through the halls of this very building, I try to resurrect his vision and his pains for his country. I find only death and dust. Fatima Ayub is a researcher on human rights in Afghanistan. Her grand-father, Sabahuddin Kushkaki, served as minister of information and culture in 1972-1973 under Prime Minister Musa Shafiq.

The Food Crisis and Gender

Worst Forms of Pollution Killing Millions

MONDAYTHE MORUNG EXPRESS3 NOVEMBER 2008

Readers may please note that, the contents of the articles published on this page do not refl ect the outlook of this paper nor of the Editor in any form.

NEWS ANALYSIS, FEATURE AND DISCOURSE7 P E R S P E C T I V E

The Morung Express POLL RESULTS

17%

27%

56%

YES NO OTHERS

Some of those who voted YES had this to say:

• It is a good way to get the people of Nagaland involve in some way. So its a good idea but not the best too. At least it will make us hook to the proceedings which will surely up the Idol status.

• I don’t think there will be such a thing as perfect voting system. But what this voting card has done has been to eliminate those proxy votes that come through sms. There will still be some proxy through voting card, but since it cost more than sms, it will re-duce proxy votes.

• The best thing done. Sure, the organizers must be minting some money out of the voting card, and they deserve it since there are no big sponsors; but this will reduce the thousands of sms proxy voting.

Some of those who voted NO had this to say:

• No, because most Nagas still take deci-sions along tribal lines. Moreover people with money have an advantage over those who come from poorer backgrounds.

• ABSOLUTELY NOT!! Its easy to criticise but I am sorry there are too much of loop-holes in this system of voting card for the Naga idol. Certainly it does not do justice to one who has talent and potential but does not have the strong financial backing of voters.

• No, it’s a rich men’s game. Please stop this system for the sake of poor men’s talent.

• Some good and really talented individuals are eliminated this way.

• Voting card system is the murder of char-acter and is like a day light robbery. This system should be changed. This system is not a Naga idol, it is a rich men’s idol

• I think the voting system should only be a criteria to evaluate how much a specific performer appeals to the public in general. It should only give some idea to the panel of judges how the public is judging them. The final judgement should depend solely on the panel of judges. That will be fair then,

• Since the inception of voting cards I have been totally against it. I'm not so sure how much weightage it has to the final out-come. The voting numbers should carry

Is the voting card system the best and fair way to choose Naga Idol?only a few percentage, added to the overall package as judged by the panels. It will be unfair if a good performer didnt get more votes but an average one tops the voting counts.

• No, the voting card system alone is not fair to choose the Naga idol. It should be either 50-50 (judge+vote) or by the judge itself.

• No, sms voting should also be incorporated into the voting system

• No, No. It’s a shame that unlike American idol an individual is being made to vote as much as he could. This encourage chaos and partiality. After all we are imitating the American why not exactly be like them or better, if not, this has to be stopped. Please one man one vote.

• It is never the best system and far from fair. SMS voting will be better and fairer. Selling tickets for fellow contestant from own tribe from door to door is a wastage of time, promotes tribalism and most unde-sireably richest contestant/tribe becomes idols ignoring all genuine talents is against the spirit of true competition, belittles and renders the comments/judgements of the judges useless. But a good platform for mu-sic lovers.

• No way. This is too embarrassing and de-spicable!! If it does not stop, the Naga idol will only be Naga idiot bought with money by Naga idiots. And there is nothing exag-gerated here. It is plain simple.

• The first thing will be, ARRE? Itumanu tu ki manu ase ho? If he/she is not the tribe you like will you still vote? That is our problem.

• The participant themselves can buy as much they want.

• Nah coz its not da voice they hear but its only n only about da money

• Why do they need the voting cards? what are the judges doing then. The previous two episodes saw all of the judges giving only positive comments. That does no good to the performer .There has been an improve-ment this time. The judges are doing great a job. Give constructive criticism when you feel so. Your job is to see that the right per-son is selected. Tell him or her straight on the face, ala Simon Cowell of American Idol if he or she is no good. Then you wont need the voting system.

• Nagas for one are too good in proxy votings. Even in the general election where we have all the security people and voting agents around and we still manage to cast proxy votes at will. What in this case where no-body knows who is casting the votes can do. One person will cast all the cards available in the market. Is this fair?

• The semas will vote for a sema, an Ao for Ao, lotha for lotha and so on. Ultimately we can't escape this "ISM". In the end what we get is a biased outcome which is not a cri-teria to choose an Idol. We nagas will never get over of these 'ism' syndrome, so better do away with the voting cards.

• The voting cards are one way to get some revenues for the organisers. What! when I can't spare a rupee for myself why should I buy one to cast my vote? Have you ever heard of paying to cast a vote? Instead the organisers should pay us to do so. Then ev-erybody will be sincere and interested.

• Some of us will surely get through the back doors and cast all the cards there is for a par-ticular person. Nagas are too good for that. Who knows that person might have some connection with the big shots in our set up.

Nagas will never learn to play straight.• We are a race of people who have a habit

of cheating and politiking. Am sure there is going to be lots of proxy votes. Nobody knows proxy's better than us.

• See around! All the politicians we have, won their elections only by proxy votes. Do you realise we have all the wrong people doing the job? Do you want someone who is not fit to be an Idol gets the wrong proxy votes? Nagas can do anything to cheat.

• I think the selection criteria can do with-out the voting cards. Somebody is bound to cheat.

• Naga Idol for sale. These voting system will never be fair.

Some of those who voted OTHERS had this to say:

• In some way the organisers get some revenues through the sale of voting cards. Unlike oth-er places, we dont have big corporates back-ing them. Kudos to the organisers. But they should see that the cards are not only to get revenues but something to get people involved in the contest in good spirit.

• This time am going to sponsor anyone one of the contestant who is willing to give me at least 50% of the winning prize. That way he or she will become an Idol and i too make some prof-its out of my principal share. Nice idea ha!! I shouldn't have given this idea. I know some of you are going to bid out with me because its so hard to earn legally. To be rich you need to be crooked and ruthless. Naga Idol is going to give me a breakthrough. Am so excited ho!

• If ever i knew there was going to be voting cards system i should have taken part. I will buy all the cards in the market and cast it all in my name.And presto! Am the next Naga Idol. What foolish idea it is to have voting sys-tem. Dont you know Nagas are the best cheat-ers in the world(next only to bengalis)

• No where in the world do you pay for your own votes. Why do the cards need to be sold in the first place? Somebody please stop this nonsense.

• Ha ha ha aha!! Hats off to the organisers. Did you guys thought selling the voting cards will do? If you dont have revenues, why have the whole show? We have better things to do with our money than buy the cards for our own votes.

• The other day somebody brought the cards and sold to me by force. I had to oblige as he was insisting>I thought he is getting some percentage too. I cursed the whole show and dish out the money for the whole pack of cou-pon. I think these is like politics in Nagaland. Canvassing for the money thing only. Who cares who wins.

• I i had known that I could be an Idol by vot-ing cards too, I should have enrolled myself. I know that with a little politics and proxy vot-ing I will surely win. I know some big shots in the Govt, some ministers, some Underground people, and lots of local goondas to sell my voting cards.

• Its so easy to become a naga idol. Tell our CM to recommend me (he wont refuse, I have vot-ed for him too),bribe the organisers, Buy all the cards in town, print out some extra copies in duplicates and cast it all in my name. And Bingo! am the next Naga Idol.

• Infact the contestant should pay us for vot-ing them rather than we paying for the cards. Nagas really know how to collect money from others. Don’t we have enough of those lottery tickets, fund raising tickets, banquet tickets, etc etc?

The unsung lullaby“To our beloved first son

whose journeys begin and end from the womb prematurely”As the glimpse of an eye was your journey of nine monthsThe moment you formed, joy and tears brightened our life

The strike of a second, a minute, an hour of the clock,The days, weeks

and a month of the calendar were remarkableHeaven knows how we waited…You come into our lips with delightYou were in the royal bed of womb

Never know boy or girl, we gave you a rare name….As you moved and stretched in your throne

We respond with a fondle fingers and your pet name…Heaven knows how we waited….

In this hi-tech world we were choosyFor your school of intellect

We stored CDs to entertain youOur eyes were captured by the cloth stores

of infant dresses, our wallet neverceases to flow for your cause and luggage filled

with fine dresses to wrapped you summer and winter.We were disciplined to all medications for your well-being

As we bow our heads for prayer you come into our lipsWe waited and waited,

prematurely we noticed your long silenceThey said you’ve slept for eternal in your royal bed,

Adamant, pale and fragile, we were made to accept the unbelievableYou are in our hearts but not in our lap

We are to repeat after Job the faithful man of God,‘The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away,

May the name of the Lord be praised’.

N Suhuto Chishi and LydiaPurana Bazar, Diampur

KW Longkumer

A few days back I was reading the editorial of Morung Ex-press dated Oct 13, 08, Un-changed Hearts in a Chang-ing World, and I had to agree

with the writer how the recent economic indicators that show a boom are many a times superficial. It felt good to read such critical analysis in a popular newspaper in Nagaland. If it was written a few years back then many of us would have just dis-carded it as “Pious readings but impracti-cal”. The times have changed and humans are now critically viewing the notions that were presumed true for many decades in a significant way. Moreover, working in a US based MNC compels me to keep an eye on the world events and the changing de-mographics in business and how we Nagas can learn from it.

In many quarters especially in econom-ics a rethinking process is underway forced by the current financial crises threatening the world. The world is questioning the policies of extreme deregulation and pri-vatisation started by the Republicans and the Conservative party in the USA and UK respectively and later on by Clinton and Blair. The recent speech by author Naomi Klein (The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism) against the policies of Milton Friedman and the move to op-pose a new research center in the Univer-sity of Chicago named after him is also noteworthy. She argues that repression was employed to make the Chilean economy work. In fact in the USA there are now many of its citizens and intellectuals criti-cally commenting on the economic policies of the American Government. On the other side of the Atlantic too we are witnessing the ramifications and many commentators stated that the whole idea behind the for-mation of the EU is almost dead at present because the member states wants to protect their interest firsts. World economy is also driven by globalization and consumerism and this is what Jonathan Porrit the promi-

nent English Environmentalist had to say in one of his TV documentaries, “If all six billion people here on earth were to con-sume at the same level as we ourselves do here in the UK, we would need two other planets to provide all the necessary energy, soil, water, raw materials to make that pos-sible.” In other words it means the whole world cannot have the “American Dream”.

So tucked away in a corner in In-dia Nagas at the moment are influenced only in a small way by the global scenar-io, but the scenario will obviously change in a few years’ time due to the rapid ad-vancement in transport and communica-tion. This calls for the Nagas to chart out a broad based bi-partisan socio-economic roadmap before it is too late. This is the right time for Nagas to have a vision and with an objective of achieving it within the next 15 -20 years. The vision could be on the lines of the MDGs formulated by the

UN namely Poverty and Hunger, Prima-ry Education, Equality for Women, Child Mortality, Maternal Health, HIV/AIDS, Malaria and other diseases, Environmen-tal Sustainability and Development. With the MDGs as the basis we can further ex-pand and tweak it to make it work with the unique issues in Nagaland. The project can be a collaborative effort by the Naga intel-lectuals particularly the subject matter ex-perts in their respective fields. The politi-cians should also take the assistance from the intellectuals and stop socio-economic policies from being formulated only within bureaucratic and political circles. At pres-ent, immediate measures are required to control the growth of power and money of only a few vested interests and businesses. It should be curbed at the initial stages by making appropriate laws. The government needs to ensure uniform growth in all ar-

eas from now on or else Nagas will face the fallout, as evident from around the world, in the very near future.

A new system based on the strong social structure of the Nagas should be taken into account and the gaps that we are experienc-ing at present be duly filled. Nagas also need to start standardising and writing down the customary laws and wipe out the grey areas and try to bring some degree of uniformity among the villages and the tribes. Moreover if Nagas want to rise up as a people in the 21st century then a review of our customary practices is required and should be made at par with the UN Declaration of Human Rights. It is only when we accept the dec-laration in spirit and in practice among ourselves that we could also truly fight the perpetrators against us. A serious review is also required on the present relationship between the villages and the government. At present it can be said mostly as a “one-

way traffic”. Even the existing link between the villages and the civil administration is only a dotted-line and we end up having completely autonomous institutions. Eco-nomic packages for the rural areas and the villages in particular should also be stream-lined and critical riders included to check the accountability of the village councils. The present method of giving packages to villages, both economic and developmental, in Nagaland can be rightly construed more as a political tool to appease the incumbent council members but very less to do with actual improvement in human develop-ment. We are sadly still relying on a model designed for sustained control started dur-ing the conflict years in our history; it is in effect a ‘wartime interim model’ and not meant for permanence and very little has changed over the years since the Britishers left. Nagas need to come up with a new vi-

sion and a changed model to reach our goal. For instance, reliable sources indicate that even the much acclaimed VBD system is filled with political intrigues in the remote villages across Nagaland except for the few award winning villages.

These kinds of activity no doubt need a monumental shift in our thinking but not unachievable if it can be made into a partner-ship between the government and the civil organisations or NGOs. The strong com-munity based society that we have would in reality make it easier for us to mobilise and educate the people. The current advance-ment in technology and the media boom in Nagaland can be leveraged to disseminate information and educate the masses. Text books on civics can be improved upon to include more of the Naga system and stop the overdose of teaching other’s system. We should do away with the tendency of Nagas learning all about the rest of world but noth-ing about ourselves. Nagaland requires an educational system that strikes a balance between our age old traditional knowledge and the ideas of modern world.

However all these can only be achieved only when we can set a few things in place. We can wait for that almost supernatural legendary god-like "Naga Leader" who will solve all our problems. That charismatic, vi-sionary, humble and righteous Naga Leader for whom everyone is waiting for. Many of us have even stopped dreaming as it is not required because we still believe that this "Leader" will set everything right for every-one. We can either still wait for that leader or stop it immediately and do something. Let us come to a consensus by shedding the 'narrow domestic walls' that we have built between us over the years and work togeth-er for a common dream. We need to realise that everyone is follower but at the same time everyone is also a leader. Moreover leaders need not be an individual; it can be a political party, tribal body, student’s body or any civil organisation. Nagas need to dream again, dream together and work together to achieve this dream because so much is at stake if we stop dreaming.

Can We Have A Dream?

Yossi Alpher

THE FALL of Ehud Olmert’s government and the result-ing election campaign are something of an anomaly in Is-raeli politics. Every other Israeli coalition over the past two decades collapsed over the peace process, whether it was controversy over negotiations with the Palestinians, agreements, pullbacks or violence. The difference this time is hardly a happy one, given that Olmert’s ouster was precipitated by corruption charges against the prime min-ister.

But it is the peace process that will again dominate the incipient campaign. Tzipi Livni, of the Kadima party, ar-gued that she failed to form a new coalition because she refused to make the concessions - particularly regarding peace talks with the Palestinians - which had been de-manded of her by a hawkish potential coalition partner. Livni has been as unsuccessful at negotiating a peace deal with the Palestinians as any of her predecessors, and there is little to indicate that her chances will improve in the near future.

But she now presents herself as someone uncompro-misingly dovish on key issues of peace, such as the need to discuss the future of Jerusalem. Those who favor a two-state solution in which Arab parts of Jerusalem serve as the capital of a Palestinian state can draw encouragement from the fact that “dividing Jerusalem” is finally a legiti-mate issue of debate.

This will not, of course, prevent Likud leader Benja-min Netanyahu from pouncing on the Jerusalem issue. He has already declared that Jerusalem and the Palestinian refugee question are non-negotiable, and has suggested an “economic” (rather than territorial) peace with the Pales-tinians. It is as if the Likud has not repeatedly tried and failed to energize a peace process with the Palestinians precisely on these dubious points of departure.

The Likud and Kadima are running neck-and-neck in early polls. Far behind is Labor’s Ehud Barak, whose peace platform appears to be based on a broader regional approach that embraces the controversial 2002 Arab Peace Initiative spearheaded by the Saudis. Unfortunately for Barak, the Saudis and other moderate Arabs are prepared to do precious little to make good on their initiative until Israel and its Palestinian, Syrian and Lebanese neighbors first make peace on their own.

To this list of key actors we must add Olmert himself. By refusing to declare himself unable to continue in office due to his legal difficulties, he remains acting prime min-ister and leaves Livni out in the cold during her upcoming campaign.

Were he to step aside, she would automatically replace him, with all the advantages this would give her in the campaign. Moreover, by pursuing his own peace initia-tives with the Palestinians and Syria despite his lame duck status and abject lack of a mandate, Olmert threatens to become a factor in these elections.

Another key factor in the campaign is the American election. If Barack Obama is elected president, this could influence some middle-of-the-road Israeli voters to pull to the left.

Israelis traditionally want their prime minister to be on close terms with the president of the United States, and they punish those who are not. Recall, for example, Yit-zhak Shamir’s defeat in 1992 and Netanyahu’s in 1999 - the former was perceived as the object of President George H.W. Bush’s pique, while the latter roused the ire of Presi-dent Bill Clinton, in both cases due to the expansion of West Bank settlements.

Obama is perceived in Israel as more likely than John McCain to play an active role in Israeli-Arab peace issues, so his presidency could positively affect the chances of Livni or Barak, while a McCain victory could help Netan-yahu.

Whoever forms the next Israeli and U.S. governments, they are likely to confront a conundrum: It will be very difficult to negotiate with a fragmented Palestinian lead-ership, whereas it will be very tempting to accept Syrian President Bashar Assad’s persistent invitations to do a deal with him.

A Syrian-Israeli peace agreement would not resolve the heart of the conflict, and the Palestinian track would still have to be vigorously pursued, if only to avoid backsliding and greater chaos. But a peace between Syria and Israel currently appears far easier to attain than a final-status agreement between Israel and the Palestinians.

If the next U.S. administration agrees to play a serious role, there is a reasonable chance that a Golan Heights-for-peace deal with Damascus could remove Syria from the Iranian orbit and neutralize its support for terrorist groups like Hamas and Hezbollah.

Assad and his regime may be repugnant to many of us, but in view of Middle East realities a deal with him could generate a far greater short-term peace payoff for both Je-rusalem and Washington than we can expect on the Pales-tinian track. Indeed, whether Netanyahu or Livni, Obama or McCain, Syria is the best peace option for 2009.

of Ehud Olmert’s government and the result-ing election campaign are something of an anomaly in Is-raeli politics. Every other Israeli coalition over the past two decades collapsed over the peace process, whether it

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3 November 2008Monday8 Dimapur The Morung ExpressNATIONAL

NEWS FILEGerman girl undergoes medical testPANJIM, NOVEMBER 2 (NDTV): The German mi-nor girl, who was allegedly raped in Goa, has undergone a medical test at the Goa medical college. Her lawyer has said that doctors have confirmed rape. The medi-cal report will be handed over to the police by 5 pm on Sunday. Earlier, the girl’s statement was recorded by the judicial magistrate in Mapusa on Saturday. It was an in-camera recording before the judge. Though the statement is in English, the girl has apparently spoken in fluent Konkani. The accused Rohit Monserrat also gave a statement to the police on Saturday. A month back, a German researcher Fadela Fuchs had filed a complaint of rape against her daughter. Later, she also filed a com-plaint against Rohit Monserrat, son of Goa Education Minister Babush Monserrat for sending obscene SMSs to her daughter.

IAF to deploy radar for Taj Mahal securityNEW DELHI, NOVEMBER 2 (AGENCIES): Taj Ma-hal will get a watchful eye right over its dome to keep a tab on possible aerial attacks to the 17th century monu-ment of love. IAF will deploy its newly-acquired Aerostat radar for strengthening the security cover over Taj Ma-hal in Agra from the third dimension to ward off any threat from aerial platforms similar to 9/11 WTC twin tower attacks. “We are planning to deploy an Aerostat ra-dar specifically for providing aerial security coverage to the Taj Mahal,” a senior IAF officer told PTI here today. Aerostat radars are early warning and control phased-ar-ray radars mounted on balloons, tethered to the ground and designed to detect hostile approaching aircraft from afar, especially when they fly at low altitudes. IAF plans to put one of these radars in its inventory over Agra, as it found that the present assets in place for Taj Mahal’s aerial security were inadequate to tackle threat from low-flying aircraft. Such straying civilian aircraft were used by terror mastermind Osama bin Laden’s men to bring down the twin WTC towers in New York on September 11, 2001, an event which led to the US’ “War on Terror” campaign in Afghanistan. The Lankan guerrilla group LTTE’s newly-acquired air capabilities that have at-tacked the island nation’s airbases have also made India wake up to aerial threats from non-state actors to its vital installations and infrastructure.

SC outlines terms for granting bail in heinous offencesNEW DELHI, NOVEMBER 2 (PTI): In cases involv-ing serious offences like murder, dacoity and rape, the nature of accusation and evidence against an accused be examined by courts before granting bail, the Supreme Court has said. According to the apex court, bail should be granted by the sessions and high courts after exam-ining the nature of accusation, severity of punishment in case of conviction and the nature of supporting evi-dence. Before granting bail, the courts should evaluate if there is a reasonable apprehension of an accused tam-pering with the evidence or threatening the complain-ant. A bench of Justices Arijit Pasayat and C K Thakker re-emphasised on the parameters for granting bail to an accused while quashing the bail granted to an accused charged with carrying out “supari killing” of a person under Ashiyana police station of Uttar Pradesh’s Luc-know district. It was alleged that the accused had paid Rs 10 lakh through a conduit to two persons for shooting down the victim Chandra Pal Singh on September 21, 2006. Though the sessions court had dismissed the bail plea of the accused, the Allahabad High Court granted bail by passing certain observations against the prosecu-tion’s claim. Aggrieved by the grant of bail, family mem-bers of the deceased filed a SLP in the apex court seeking cancellation of the bail.

Toxic waste kills 23 cowsGHAZIABAD, NOVEMBER 2 (AGENCIES): Twenty-three cows have died after consuming poisonous indus-trial waste that was reportedly dumped near the Meerut Road Industrial Area, on NH-58. PFA (People for Ani-mals) Society’s Ghaziabad coordinator, Ashima Sharma, however claimed that 30 cows had died and several other were under treatment. More than 50 cows had reported-ly grazed in the area on Friday afternoon, when the poi-soning occurred. Although the cattle showed symptoms of poisoning, their owners could not gauge the reason. Teams of doctors from District Veterinary Hospital and PFA reached the spot immediately on the directions of the administration to save the animals. “We are interrogating several industry owners of the area who dump their manu-facturing waste. We have arrested one contractor who was hired by these industries to dispose of their waste. The companies have been asked to produce the contract agree-ment, failing which action would also be taken against them. A complaint has been lodged at Sihani Gate police station in this connection,” said Senior Superintendent of Police L. Ravi Kumar. Livestock Extension Officer, Aijaz Shamim, said, “Primary post-mortem reports have indicated the consumption of poison. Viscera has been dispatched to the Agra laboratory to further ascertain the type of poison.” The doctors were able to save 20 cows that were administered antidote on time.

Hindu couples participate in a mass marriage cer-emony in Hyderabad, November 2. Tirumala Tirupati Devastanam trust board organized a mass wedding ceremony for economically backward girls in Andhra Pradesh state and around 8,000 couples are estimated to have participated in the ceremony. (AP Photo)

BHUBANESWAR, NO-VEMBER 2 (AGENCIES): Asserting that the Orissa and central governments had “failed miserably” to protect Christians from the violence unleashed by Hin-du rightwing groups, five top bishops in the state said they were “agonised” by the belated response for help.

“We are agonised over the tardy manner in which both the state and central govern-ments have responded to the ongoing violence against Christians in Orissa. We are sorry to state that both these governments have failed mis-erably in discharging their constitutional obligations,” said a pastoral letter that was read out to the laity in church-es across Orissa for Sunday mass. While coming down heavily on both the govern-ments, the letter drafted joint-ly by the bishops of Balasore, Sambalpur, Bhubaneswar, Rourkela and Berhampur

demanded that “the guilty be punished and the affected people be protected and ad-equately compensated”.

Anti-Christian violence that swept through western Orissa in the last two months has left at least 38 people dead and rendered more than 20,000 people home-less, many of whom are liv-ing in relief camps now. The Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) and the Bajrang Dal have been blamed for the vio-lence against Christians, the majority of whom are tribals, after the two organisations re-taliated following the Aug 23 killing of VHP leader Swami Laxmanananda Saraswati and four of his aides.

“In this time of crisis and conflict, we come to you through this pastoral letter to express our solidarity with you, to pay homage to those brothers and sisters who have laid down their lives for the sake of their faith, to comfort

those who have been injured, to be with those who have been traumatised by the vio-lence and mayhem unleashed on Christians,” the letter says. “We stand by those whose rights have been violated and to assure that justice will be done to all who have suffered by the violence against the Christians of Orissa.”

While condemning “all forms of violence” the bishops exhorted the government to do more for the security of Chris-tians in Orissa. “Adequate se-curity be provided to all, relief and rehabilitation be under-taken in full measure, life in the relief camps be made more human; to demand from the government that the guilty be punished; to demand from the government that an adequate compensation package be an-nounced and undertaken.”

While individual priests have reacted to the violence in Orissa, this is the first time that five bishops have come to-

gether to collectively address worshippers during Sunday prayers. Also condemning the killing of Swami Laxma-nananda Saraswati in “strong words”, the letter demands that “the culprits be identified and punished. We reiterate the fact that no Christian, no church institution or leader-ship is involved in this mur-der”. In the same breath it said, “We condemn in strong words the lies that are propagated by some vested interests that the Christians were behind the killing of the Swami.”

“We are going to meet with the representatives of the Church of Orissa and would reflect about the violence and come out with short-term and long-term plans to respond to violence.” The pastoral letter was drafted by Rev. Thomas Thiruthalil, Rev. Raphael Cheenath, Rev. Alphonse Bilung, Rev. Lucas Kerketta, Rev. Sarat Chandra Naik and Rev. John Barwa.

TEHRAN, NOVEMBER 2 (PTI): Observing that it has been pursuing a policy of “positive and substantial” engagement with Pakistan, India today said it wishes to address all issues that have affected bilateral ties and make progress towards en-hancing physical connectiv-ity and upgradation of eco-nomic ties.

External Affairs Minis-ter Pranab Mukherjee said here that New Delhi wanted to see peace, stability and de-velopment in Pakistan as it is in India’s interest. He, how-ever, said terrorism is a ma-jor problem for the region as well as world and in this re-gard referred to the attack on Indian Embassy in Kabul in July in which five personnel of the mission, including two diplomats, lost their lives. “In recent years, India has pursued a policy of positive and substantial engagement with Pakistan,” Mukherjee said inaugurating a seminar on ‘India and Iran: Ancient

civilisations and modern na-tions’ here.

“We wish to address is-sues that have affected our ties over the last several years,” he said, adding, “we also wish to make progress in areas such as enhance-ment of physical connec-tivity and upgradation of economic ties.” He said through the mechanism of the composite dialogue, the two countries have ad-dressed a number of serious issues of bilateral interest.

On terrorism, Mukher-jee said it constitutes one of the “most serious threats” to global peace. Citing the case of Kabul Embassy attack in which 50 people, includ-ing several young Afghan girls, were also killed, he said “terrorists may claim to act on behalf of religion, but in truth they have no re-ligion, because the essence of religions is peace and uni-versal brotherhood, and not violence and the violation of human rights.”

Government let us down, lament Orissa bishops

India wishes to address all issues with Pakistan

India UN troops patrol Sunday November 2 near Rutshuru, some 80 kms north of Goma in the eastern Congo. Tutsi-led rebels have tightened their hold on newly seized swaths of eastern Congo, forcing tens of thousands of frightened, rain-soaked civilians out of makeshift refu-gee camps and stopping some from fleeing to government-held territory. (AP Photo)

NEW DELHI, NOVEM-BER 2 (CNN-IBN): The re-port of two suspected terror-ists from Kerala, who were recently killed in Kashmir, has led investigative agen-cies to conclude that the state is now a major recruit-ment centre for terrorists. Sources say it’s not religious fanaticism, but monetary incentive that’s turning un-employed youngsters from Kerala to terror.

Alexander Joseph is still in shock after learning of his son’s past. Twenty eight-year-old Mohammed Ya-sir, brought up as Verghese Joseph in Kannur, was shot dead while he trying to in-filtrate into Kashmir. “One

day he received a phone call, after which he immediately left for Calicut. Few days lat-er, he returned with a differ-ent religion Muslim. He was Muslim. We didn’t like that change. That day he gave us lots of money,” Yasir’s father Alexander Joseph says.

Bapinu has a similar tale to tell. Policemen often visit his home. They say his son Abdul Jabbar helped ter-rorists from Pakistan. Many such households across Kerala are weeping for their youngsters today. While ma-jority of them say they had no idea about the activities of their children, perhaps, a few of them did know about it but chose to keep quiet.

Perhaps money was playing a vital role here.

Sources say organisa-tions like the Lashkar-e-Toiba pay as much as Rs 25 lakh as start-up money to turn jobless youth into je-hadis. They believe a man called Mohammad Faisal to be the kingpin of this ter-ror recruitment cell. “These fundamentalists are given motor bikes and a monthly allowance. They even give a small amount to their fami-lies as a share of their wages,” SP, Kazargode, Subash Babu, says. For state police, which till now has handled crimes of a smaller nature, terror has certainly come as a rude awakening.

Money, not fanaticism luring youth to terror

NEW DELHI, NOVEMBER 2 (PTI): Not only have they stormed many a male bastion but also do not hesitate to undertake duties that re-quire them work at late hours – an adventure indeed in the metros.

As periodic attacks on women employees hit the headlines, women activists and employees feel safety of women working late hours has never been priority of any government. Be it Delhi where recently a television journalist was found murdered or Mumbai or Chennai or Bangalore – the story is the same – the safety index is going down.

The truth is that safety of wom-en working for late hours has never been a priority for the concerned stakeholders including employers, feel working women. Many feel that television journalist Soumya Vish-wanathan could have been saved

had a proper system in place to ensure that she and many like her those working till late hours reach safe and sound after on the job.

A recent study conducted by the ASSOCHAM Social Develop-ment Foundation (ASDF) in all the major metros says that about 53 per cent of working women feel inse-cure, especially during night shifts. “Vishwanathan’s murder by some unidentified assailants on a desert-ed roads has once again triggered a debate on the need for safety of the women,” says a female journalist with a news channel.

Requesting not to be named she says many times she had driven on the desolate stretches and Soumya’s murder comes haunting back as she drives out at late hours. At least what could have been assured was effec-tive police patrolling, she feels.

WB CM escapes assassination bidSHALBONI, NOVEMBER 2 (AGENCIES): West Bengal’s Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee on Sunday es-caped an assassination bid when a landmine blast occurred after his convoy passed from Shalboni in West Midnapore district. According to recent re-ports, naxalites masterminded the blast in which Bhattacha-rjee remained unhurt but six policemen got injuries.

The Chief Minister was returning from Jindal Steel plant’s opening ceremony in Shalboni. Union Steel Minis-ter Ramvilas Paswan was also present at the occasion. A po-lice vehicle has been report-edly damaged in the blast.

NASHIK, NOVEMBER 2 (AGEN-CIES): Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur along with two other accused, who were arrested by Maharashtra ATS in con-nection with the September 29 Male-gaon blasts and remanded to ATS cus-tody till November 3, will be produced again in a Nashik court on Monday.

ATS has so far arrested five per-sons, including retired major Ramesh Shivji Upadhyay and Abhinav Bharat office bearer Sameer Kulkarni, in connection with the blasts, which killed five persons. The custody of three accused – Prgya Singh Thakur, Shivnarayan Singh Kalsangram and Shyam Bhawarlal Sahu is ending tomorrow and they are likely to be produced in Nashik court tomorrow, while custody of two others – Upad-hyay and Kulkarni – will end on No-vember 10, court sources said.

Meanwhile, Diwakar Kulkar-

ni, Secretary of Bhonsala Military School (BMS) while talking to re-porters yesterday said that a meeting of Abhinav Bharat activists was held at BMS on September 16 for which the BMS had provided place. “Our leading 70-year-old educational in-stitute had no connection with said meeting,” he said adding that the name of BMS is unnecessarily being implicated into the case.

ATS has detained the retired army officer along with BMS com-mandant Shailesh Raikar and clerk Rajan Gaidhani yesterday but our institute will stand firmly behind them, he added. The Nashik court had allowed ATS to carry out scien-tific tests of brain-mapping, narco and polygraphy tests of both Up-adhyay and Kulkarni. Earlier, the court had also granted similar tests of Pragya Singh.

Safety of working women, never a priority

A nomadic Gujjar family walks on the Jammu-Srinagar highway, on the outskirts of Jammu, No-vember 1. Members of the tribe are moving out from the hills to escape the cold winter. (AP Photo)

JK POLLS80 companies of security forces deployed in PoonchJAMMU, NOVEMBER 2 (PTI): With an aim to ensure incident-free elections in border district of Poonch in the first phase of polling, 80 companies of para-military forces and police have been de-ployed there. As many as 80 companies of security forces have been deployed in the border district of Poonch to ensure free, fair and incident-free polls in the first phase on November 17, police said.

Poonch district, which falls in the category of highly militancy-prone belts in Jammu and Kashmir, has over 70 per cent of sensitive and hyper sensitive polling stations. Security forces have already conducted sensitisation operation in the district and taken position on area domi-nation posts on hill tops and sensitive places in the district, they said. There are 373 polling stations in the district of which 119 are hyper sensitive and 105 as sensitive, they said. Forty six candidates are in the fray in Poonch-Haveli, Mendhar and Surankote assembly segments. As many as 2,59,580 voters, including 1,32,107 men and 1,27,473 women, will cast their votes during the first phase polls.

Sadhvi to be produced in court today

NEW DELHI, NOVEMBER 2 (AGENCIES): Thousands of policemen across the country will give up non-policing jobs like verification of individuals and administrative work to con-centrate on law enforcement and security if a new proposal to outsource such tasks to private agencies is implemented.

A new bill – the Private De-tective Agencies (Regulation) Bill, 2007 – if approved, will en-able detective agencies to take over verification and adminis-tration related works of police. “Police are already overbur-dened with law and order job. They lack manpower. Handing over verification related jobs to private detective agencies will help police in doing their actual duty properly,” a Delhi Police officer said requesting anonymity.

Around 30 per cent of each state police force is involved in

doing non-policing jobs like pre-employment verification, serving summons, passport ver-ification, tenants and domestic help verifications etc. With increasing terror threats and rising instances of crimes, the police have been facing a short-age of manpower to maintain security and peace in the coun-try. “Many discrepancies have been reported so far. Tenants are not being verified properly, cyber cafes are operating with-out registration and what not. The department must look at the option available with it,” President of Association of Pri-vate Detective Agencies Kun-war Vikram Singh said.

Police regularly do jobs like verification of servant and ten-ant but they often lack depth. According to a senior Delhi Po-lice officer, more than 15,000 personnel are involved in doing such jobs in the national capital.

“It is true that many police per-sonnel are engaged in general administrative work which can be shared with competent agen-cies, leaving security person-nel free to engage in maintain-ing law and order,” Additional Commissioner of Police Rajan Bhagat said.

However, some officers ex-pressed apprehensions on au-thenticity and transparency, if private agencies are involved in verification. “We may think of in-volving them. But there are cer-tain modalities and guidelines to be worked out. From credibility to responsibility, we need to en-sure many things before any such proposal is finalised,” Bhagat said. If police have only the job of maintaining law and order, the situation then would have been much different,” he said, adding that with cities growing mani-fold in terms of providing em-ployment opportunities, a strict

check and monitoring is required to keep the capital free from any untoward incident.

In foreign countries, detec-tive agencies play a vital role in assisting investigation and share the workload of the police. Whereas in our country, detective agency only probe cases given by individuals or organisations pri-vately, said Singh. “We are plan-ning to approach government with a proposal to outsource non-policing jobs to detective agen-cies once the Bill gets passed in Parliament,” he said.

At present the bill is under consideration of a Parliamenta-ry Standing Committee headed by BJP leader Sushma Swaraj. “The new bill will help detec-tive agencies to properly shape up their working and operation. Also, government will have an ease to supervise their work and ensure transparency and cred-ibility,” Singh said.

Proposal on anvil to free policemen from non-policing jobs

NEW DELHI, NOVEM-BER 2 (CNN-IBN): A three-year-old girl suffered serious head injury after an iron rod fell on her at a Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) site in Lajpat Nagar area late on Saturday night. Bhawna was strolling in the area with her cousin when the mishap occurred. She was rushed to the AIIMS trauma centre where her condition is said to be critical. “We had gone for an evening walk when sud-denly an iron rod fell on Bhaw-na and me. DMRC workers ran away without helping us,” Bhawna’s cousin says.

Bhawna’s uncle alleges

that he was brutally beaten up when he tried to stop DMRC workers from destroying evi-dence. “When I tried to stop the DMRC workers from washing off the bloodstains, they started beating me up. They were trying to manipu-late substantial evidences,” Bhawna’s uncle says.

Speaking to CNN-IBN, DMRC spokesperson Anuj Dayal said their chief engi-neer would be speaking to the family and everybody else who was involved. He, however, insisted that their first priority would be medi-cal care for the child. “We’ll do our best to sort it out. Our

first attention naturally is the child. We will do whatever is required. DMRC would take care of the all the medical ex-penses that the child’s family has incurred,” Dayal said.

Earlier in October, one person was killed and at least nine were injured after a sec-tion of under-construction flyover for a DMRC flyover collapsed in East Delhi’s Shakarpur area. Dayal said there was no connection between the two incidents. “The iron got bent; it did not fall down. DMRC is a huge construction project. Today’s incident has no connection with the collapse,” he added.

Girl suffers head injury at DMRC site

The Morung ExpressMonday

3 November 2008Dimapur 9INTERNATIONAL

SPRINGFIELD, NOVEM-BER 2 (AFP): Warring White House rivals Barack Obama and John McCain hurled themselves into a Herculean last 48 hours of campaigning before their date with destiny

in Tuesday's election. Obama Sunday was on a three-city tour of Ohio -- a crucial state for both the front-running Democrat and his Republi-can opponent, after deciding the 2004 election in favor of

President George W. Bush. McCain, following his own two-day bus odyssey around the rust-belt state, was step-ping up the pace with his first midnight rally of the campaign, in Florida, fol-

Obama, McCain hurtle into final 48 hourslowing events in Pennsylva-nia and New Hampshire.

Entering the electrifying campaign's final weekend, Obama Saturday promised a "new politics for a new time" and said he had a "righteous wind" at his back as he pur-sues his quest to become the first black US president. Basking in a hefty poll lead and the adoration of mas-sive crowds, the 47-year-old Illinois senator is hammer-ing McCain over the US eco-nomic crisis and portraying his rival as a faithful side-kick of the deeply unpopu-lar Bush.

In its daily tracking sur-vey Saturday, Gallup had the Democrat gaining momen-tum and leading 52 percent to 42 percent. A Washington Post-ABC News tracking poll meanwhile put the figure at 53 percent for Obama and 44 percent for McCain. Mc-Cain, in turn, is attacking his rival's patriotism as he vies to turn Tuesday into a referen-dum on Obama's readiness to serve as commander-in-chief as the US military wages two wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. "(Obama) said the other day that his primary victory 'vin-dicated' his faith in America," said the Arizona senator, 72, highlighting a formulation used by the Democrat in his speeches for many months now.

"My country has never had to prove anything to me, my friends. I've always had faith in it and I've been hum-bled and honored to serve it," said McCain, a former navy pilot who was imprisoned for five years during the Vietnam War. The presidential cam-

paign has narrowed down to battleground states that have been reliably Republican in recent elections, or in the case of Virginia, Indiana and North Carolina, that have not voted for a Democratic hope-ful in decades. Flush with a record-breaking fundraising operation, Obama is on the offensive all across the map. He campaigned Saturday in Nevada, Colorado and Mis-souri as he bid to lock down Republican states in the west and midwest.

McCain hit the trail in Virginia and Pennsylvania -- probably his only hope of prising a Democratic state away from Obama -- before traveling to New York for an assured cameo on iconic TV comedy show "Saturday Night Live." New Hamp-shire took McCain to its heart when he ran for the Republican nomination against Bush in 2000. But Obama leads there, as well as in Pennsylvania. Obama had his own star power in the works with rocker Bruce Springsteen due to perform at one of his three rallies in Ohio, in front of what aides predicted would be a mon-ster crowd in Cleveland early Sunday evening.

Obama derided Mc-Cain after Vice President Dick Cheney on Saturday hailed the Arizona sena-tor as the right man to lead the country because he "un-derstands the danger facing America." "(Cheney) knows that with John McCain you get a twofer: George Bush's economic policies and Dick Cheney's foreign policies," the Democrat said. McCain

meanwhile said Obama was the wrong choice for a dan-gerous world where "millions of lives" were at stake, hoping his closing message will sow enough doubt to make voters overlook their stated prefer-

ence for Obama on the econ-omy. The Republican was to wrap his campaign up with a multi-state, whistle stop tour Monday. For his own campaign climax Monday, Obama was heading on a

battleground blitz of Florida, North Carolina and Virginia. He was then to return to Chi-cago, to see if his unlikely bet with the American people has paid off.

Democratic presidential candidate, Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., notes that there are three days until the election as he addresses the crowd during a rally in Springfield, Mo. Saturday, November 1. (AP Photo)

Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., reacts to the cheers of supporters during a campaign rally in Perkasie, PA., Saturday afternoon, November 1. (AP Photo)

SEOUL, NOVEMBER 2 (AFP): North Korea on Sun-day released photographs of leader Kim Jong-Il watching a football match, in an ap-parent bid to quell mounting speculation over the state of his health. The North's of-ficial Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) and other media carried the undated photos of Kim watching the game between two army teams, according to Seoul's unification ministry, which monitors North Korean me-dia.

One analyst said Pyong-yang was struggling to calm jitters about Kim, who Seoul says is recovering from a stroke and brain surgery in mid-August. In one of the photos disclosed by the min-istry here, Kim sat smiling on a sofa inside a glass structure wearing his trademark sun-glasses, while his full cheeks and bouffant hair looked the same as usual. With his dep-uties standing or sitting near-by, Kim was wearing a brown winter jacket. Trees near him had autumnal leaves.

The North's state televi-sion and Rodong Simnum

newspaper also carried 14 different photos of Kim watching the game, standing and giving instructions to his deputies as well as a soccer pit. None of the North Ko-rean media disclosed when and where the photos were taken. KCNA earlier Sunday reported that Kim watched the match between two army teams, Mangyongbong and Jebi, but did not say when. The National Intelligence Service, Seoul's main spy agency, said it was analysing the photos, but it refused to elaborate.

"North Koreans are des-perately stepping up their efforts to send a message: Mr. Kim is doing well. He is firmly in control," Kim Yong-Hyun, a professor and North Korean expert at Seoul's Dongguk University, told AFP. But Seoul's Yonhap news agency noted there was no single photo of both Kim and the game featured in the same frame. Instead, the re-leased photos carry separate images of Kim or those of the game.

The release of the photo-graphs were the latest effort

NKorea releases photos of Kim to quash health rumoursby Pyongyang apparently aimed at suggesting the leader is well, following widespread overseas reports that Kim, 66, suffered a stroke in mid-Au-gust. Japan's Prime Minister Taro Aso said last week Kim is probably in hospital but still capable of making deci-sions about his hardline com-munist state. On Thursday Kim failed to attend the state funeral for former vice presi-dent Pak Song-Chol.

Kim's health is the sub-ject of intense speculation since he has not publicly nominated a successor to run the impoverished and nuclear-armed nation. After he failed to attend a Septem-ber 9 parade marking the country's 60th anniversary, South Korean officials said he underwent brain surgery following a stroke around mid-August but is recovering well. On October 4 KCNA reported Kim watched a stu-

dent football match but did not say when the game was held. On October 11 state television released still pho-tos of Kim inspecting a wom-en's army unit.

US and South Korean of-ficials said foliage shown in the photo appeared to indi-cate the pictures were taken before his reported illness. KCNA in its latest report said the army game was held in connection with the close of the 11th People's Sports Contest and Mangyongbong won "by successfully apply-ing the Korean-style sport-ing method". "After watch-ing the match, Kim Jong-Il congratulated the footballers on their success in the match, expressing great satisfac-tion over a high level of the game played by them," it said. KCNA said the leader watched the game along with senior army and communist party personnel.

In this undated photo released by (north) Korean Central News Agency via Korea News Service in Tokyo Sunday, November 2, North Korean leader Kim Jong Il, wearing glasses, watches a soccer game between teams of the (north) Korean People's Army. The news service didn't say the date and place the North Korean leader watched the game in its caption. (AP Photo)

Foods to prevent disease? Rape victim stoned to death

A 13-year-old girl who said she had been raped has been stoned to death in Somalia after be-ing accused of adultery by Islamic militants. Dozens of men stoned Aisha Ibrahim Duhu-

low to death on October 27 in a stadium packed with 1,000 spectators in the southern port city of Kismayo, Amnesty International and Somali media reported, citing witnesses.

The Islamic militia in charge of Kismayo had ac-cused her of adultery after she reported that three men had raped her, the rights group said. Initial local me-dia reports said Miss Duhulow was 23, but her father told Amnesty International she was 13. Some of the Somali journalists who first reported the killing later told Amnesty International that they had reported she was 23 based upon her physical appearance.

"This child suffered a horrendous death at the be-hest of the armed opposition groups who currently control Kismayo," David Copeman, Amnesty Inter-national's Somalia campaigner, said in a statement on Friday. Somalia is among the world's most violent and impoverished countries. The nation of some eight million people has not had a functioning gov-ernment since warlords overthrew a dictator in 1991 then turned on each other.

A quarter of Somali children die before age five; nearly every public institution has collapsed. Fight-ing is a daily occurrence, with violent deaths reported nearly every day. Islamic militants with ties to al Qai-da have been battling the government and its Ethio-pian allies since their combined forces pushed the Islamists from the capital in December 2006. Within weeks of being driven out, the Islamists launched an insurgency that has killed thousands of civilians.

In recent months, the militants appear to be gain-ing strength. The group has taken over the port of Kismayo, Somalia's third-largest city, and dismantled pro-government roadblocks. They also effectively closed the Mogadishu airport by threatening to at-tack any plane using it.

PARIS, NOVEMBER 2 (AFP): Eating tomatoes to help prevent cancer, gar-lic to prevent AIDS or drinking fruit juice to ward off Alzheimer’s? Despite a bevy of research, the impact of food on killer diseases remains to be proved. Scientists agree that a balanced qual-ity diet is key to good health, and most governments in past years have urged citizens to adopt a daily diet of five por-tions of fruit and veg, and three each of dairy products and starch, while cut-ting back fats, sugar and alcohol.

Watching what you eat, experts say, does help prevent illnesses such as diabetes, hypercholesterolaemia -- which leads to cardio-vascular dis-ease -- or osteoporosis. But research-ers are in disagreement over illnesses not directly related to nutrition, such as cancer, AIDS or neurodegenera-tive diseases -- though again all rec-ommend a balanced diet. Among the thousands of studies on hand, one Eu-ropean investigation concluded that eating fruit and vegetable fibre might limit the risk of colorectal cancer.

Fruit was tipped as a possible pro-tection against cancer of the lung, and to ward off prostate cancer, the study recommended five cups a day of cat-echin-rich green tea -- catechins are polyphenolic antioxidant plant me-tabolites. Industrial -- or processed -- fats, already known to be harmful for the cardiovascular system, could double the risk of breast cancer while soybeans reduced the risk threefold. But soybeans, which are rich in an-ti-oxydants that help cells survive, could increase the risk of infertility.

Lycopene, the bright red anti-oxydant pigment found in tomatoes

and other red fruits, also was found by some researchers to reduce the risk of cancer, but the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) says there is no solid proof for the claim. Alzheimer’s on the other hand could be kept at bay by pomegranate juice, as well as the polyphenols in a glass of red wine. But while fish are hailed for their omega-3, a family of unsatu-rated fatty acids, fish are also rich in mercury and toxic PCBs, or polychlo-rinated biphenyls.

“There are no good or bad foods,” said France’s Afssa food security agency. But eating five fruit and veg-gies a day and little animal fat “is plain common sense”, said oncolo-gist Dominique Belpomme. Experts at France’s national food and cancer research centre, NACRe, said a var-ied diet of mainly fruit and vegeta-bles with not too much alcohol would help prevent cancers of the mouth, pharynx, oesophagus, lung, stomach, pancreas, colon-rectum and bladder. After leafing through 7,000 studies from across the globe, the World Can-cer Research Fund (WCRF) recom-mends avoiding food and drinks high in sugar, salt or fats and low in fibres, and instead eating fruit, vegetables, wholegrain cereals and pulses.

Eating well is also key to treating HIV-positive patients as malnutri-tion weakens the immune system, lowering resistance to secondary ef-fects. But good food cannot replace antiretrovirals despite claims to the contrary by South Africa’s controver-sial health minister -- “Dr Beetroot” -- on fighting AIDS with garlic, lem-ons and veggies.

Musicians perform in the cemetery during Day of the Dead celebrations in Patzun, Guatemala, Saturday, November 1. Guatemalans celebrate Day of the Innocents on November 1 and Day of the Dead on November 2, traditions that mix both Spanish and Indian traditions and honor the dearly departed. (AP Photo)

Britain's Prince Charles, center, speaks with officials during a visit to Harapan Rain Forest in Jambi, Indonesia, Sunday, November 2. Prince Charles is in Indonesia on a four day trip highlight-ing environmental awareness and inter-faith dialogue. (AP Photo)

Monday3 November 2008 10 Dimapur The Morung ExpressSPORTS

LONDON, NOVEMBER 2 (REUTERS): Liverpool suffered their first defeat of the season on Saturday when Roman Pavlyuchenko scored in injury time to give Tottenham Hotspur a 2-1 comeback win to complete a dream first week for new manager Harry Redknapp. Chelsea took over at the top of the Premier League after Nicolas Anelka's hat-trick in-spired a 5-0 rout of Sunder-land. In a thriller, Hull City

came from 4-1 down to push Manchester United all the way before losing 4-3 at Old Trafford.

Arsenal went down 2-1 at Stoke City, a red card for Robin van Persie and a bad injury to Theo Walcott com-pleting their miserable day. Chelsea have 26 points, the same as Liverpool, but lead on goal difference. United are third on 21, with Arsenal, Aston Villa and Hull all on 20. Spurs climb off the bottom af-

ter a memorable week.Liverpool seemed to be

cruising after an early goal by Dirk Kuyt but a Jamie Carragher own goal in the 69th minute opened the door and Spurs, who fought back to draw 4-4 at Arsenal on Wednesday after beat-ing Bolton Wanderers last week, seized their chance. Last weekend Spurs sacked manager Juande Ramos, in-stantly brought in Redknapp from Portsmouth and then

secured their first win of the season.

On Wednesday they netted twice in the last five minutes to draw at Arsenal and the next day announced plans for a new 60,000-seater stadium. On Saturday they dumped Liverpool with an-other last-gasp goal, having seen local rivals Arsenal lose at Stoke. Liverpool will won-der how they lost, having to-tally dominated and hitting the woodwork three times.

Pavlyuchenko snatched the unlikely winner after Da-vid Bentley's shot was par-ried by Pepe Reina. "I can't believe we lost, everybody could see we were the better team," Liverpool manager Rafa Benitez told Setanta Sports television. "We were controlling everything." Redknapp said: "We rode our luck at times for sure but once we got a goal back we were back in it."

Asked what he had done

to change things in such a short time, he said: "I just got among the lads and made them believe in themselves a bit. We've had a great week." Arsenal, stunned at home by Hull a month ago, became the latest team to fall foul of Rory Delap's long throw-ins. Ricardo Fuller outjumped everyone to head one in be-fore Seyi Olofinjana got the second after another Delap missile left Arsenal's defence flailing.

Arsenal then lost Van Persie, five minutes after he came on as a substitute. Walcott was carried off on a stretcher clutching his shoulder and striker Em-manuel Adebayor also went off injured. Gael Clichy's late effort was no consolation for manager Arsene Wenger. Two goals for Cristiano Ron-aldo and one each by Mi-chael Carrick and Nemanja Vidic had United seemingly cruising after an hour.

But Hull, who netted ear-lier through Daniel Cousin, pulled one back through Bernard Mendy and set up a tense last eight minutes with a Geovanni penalty. "Not many teams will come to Old Trafford, score three goals and come away with nothing," said Hull manager Phil Brown. Chelsea were on song from the start at Stam-ford Bridge with Alex and Frank Lampard also on tar-get in a dominant display.

Chelsea top as Spurs defeat Liverpool

Tottenham's David Bentley, front, vies for the ball with Liverpool's Albert Riera, during their English Premier League soccer match at White Hart Lane stadium, London, Saturday, November 1. (AP Photo)

Chelsea's Nicolas Anelka, second right no. 39, shoots to score his third goal against Sunderland during their English Pre-miership League soccer match at Stamford Bridge, London, Saturday, November 1. (AP Photo)

ManU embarrassed despite victory

MADRID, NOVEMBER 2 (AP): Xavi Hernandez scored twice as Barcelona beat Mal-aga 4-1 to top the Spanish league after its 12th straight victory on Saturday. Lionel Messi also scored to ensure Barcelona led the standings, replacing Valencia, which lost its unbeaten record in a 4-2 defeat from Racing Santand-er. Barcelona has 22 points, Villarreal 21 after its 4-1 win over Athletic Bilbao, and Va-lencia 20.

Real Madrid, which has 19, can match Barcelona on points on Sunday if it extends an eight-game undefeated league streak with a victory at ninth-placed Almeria. Ma-drid, without injured striker Ruud van Nistelrooy, would trail Barcelona on goal differ-ence, however. Messi scored six minutes after Duda drew Malaga level on a waterlogged field at La Rosaleda Stadium.

The Argentina winger collected Malaga's clearance in the 19th minute and re-turned a hard shot through two defenders and goalkeeper Francesc Arnau. Xavi curled a free kick over the defensive wall and into the top corner to open in the fifth. The Spain midfielder's second came in the 52nd, and defender We-ligton's own goal in the 81st capped the scoreline.

At the San Mames, Italy striker Giuseppe Rossi scored and set up the winner, and Villarreal teammate Jozy Al-tidore became the first Ameri-can player to score in La Liga as the Basques lost their fifth straight. Rossi opened for Villarreal in the 24th, but 19th-placed Athletic Bilbao equalized four minutes later through Joseba Etxeberria's header. Rossi shrugged off his marker in the 53rd to pass to Robert Pires, who scored with a left-footed shot that kept Vil-larreal unbeaten through nine rounds. Spain forward Santi Cazorla slashed a left-footed shot across goal inside the far post in the 59th before substi-tute striker Altidore notched from inside the area in the 90th for his first goal since an off season move from the New York Red Bulls.

Mohammed Tchite gave Santander the lead for the third time after heading home the winner in the 80th. The Burundese striker put San-tander ahead first in the 23rd and then with a powerful shot in the 49th. David Villa scored a penalty for his league-lead-ing 10th goal in the 28th and the Spain striker was unlucky not to be back at the spot again in the second half after being held up inside the area.

Santander goalkeeper

Barcelona victory march continues

Annual Hornbill Rally 2008DIMAPUR, NOVEMBER 2 (MExN): The Annual Hornbill Rally 2008, organised by the Nagaland Adven-ture and Motor Sports Association (NAMSA) under the sponsorship of Government of Nagaland will be held on December 4 and 5 next. The event will be of time, speed and distance (TSD). The event will include 4 wheelers and 2 wheelers. The basic format of TSD for 4 wheelers as well as 2 wheelers are, any 4 wheel vehicle having the basic requirements like seat belts, parking lights, third party insurance of the vehicle. A press note issued by the secretary of NAMSA stated that all vehicles must have proper documents as required by the transport depart-ment in original, all participating drivers’ navigators must have proper driving license, the event is open to all interested persons and motor sport enthusiasts and there will be prizes according to categories. The entry fee for 4 wheelers and 2 wheelers is Rs. Rs. 2, 000 and Rs. 1, 000 respectively. 4 wheel participants will be al-lowed 2 additional team members along with navigator and there will be special prizes for best decorated, bikes and lady participants. The entry forms will be available at Screwdriver, Dimapur (9436004129) and Ruguo Kes-iezie Desmodromic, Kohima (9856065060). For further information contact, Lima at 9436003727 and Vikishe at 9862572374 or visit www.namsa.co.in.

Phek District Open Football tourneyDIMAPUR, NOVEMBER 2 (MExN): The Phek Dis-trict Open Football tourney will be held from, Novem-ber 13 and 14 at the Phek district headquarter under the program of District Level Tournament in sponsorship with the Nehru Yuva Kendra (NYK), Phek, organised by the Veteran Sporting Club of Phek. The District Youth Coordinator, Y Laksman Singh and Kedechoyi Venuh, president, VSC, Phek in a press note invited all inter-ested youth clubs and teams on or before November 6 next. For further information contact, 9436645549 and 9436811020.

PDSC meetKOHIMA, NOVEMBER 2 (MExN): All the members of Peren District Sports Council have been informed that there will be a meeting on November 4 at 12:00 noon at DC Office Chamber. The meeting will discuss matter pertaining to the ensuing Dr. T. Ao Football Trophy, fe-licitation programme and other activities of the Council. All the members have been requested to attend the said meeting without fail.

‘Adam Gilchrist has lost his mental stability’NEW DELHI, NOVEMBER 2 (PTI): In a strong coun-ter attack, Harbhajan Singh today lashed out at Adam Gilchrist, saying the retired Australian has lost his men-tal stability if he thought he had chickened out of any Test because of the nature of the pitch. "Frankly, I think he has lost it (the stability of mind). Is it an honest com-ment about me? Even my bitterest critics have never ac-cused me of chickening out of a contest," said Harbhajan over phone from his residence in Jalandhar where he is mourning the death of his maternal grandfather with his family. Gilchrist, in his autobiography "True Colours" has said that Harbhajan had pulled out of the Nagpur Test of the 2004-05 series at the sight of the green wicket on offer. "Harbhajan was out of Nagpur Test with a 'flu', which he seemed to have contracted when he saw the grassy wicket," Gilchrist has written in his book. "If this is how he feels, if this is the only way for him to sell his book, well good luck to him. I would have thought earning the respect of his peers ought to have been his priority," a peeved Harbhajan told PTI. "My only advice to Gilchrist is: please stick to your own mates if selling book alone is his priority. I am sure there would be lot more for him to bare. And all of it would be genuine rather than cooked-up facts," he said. The fiesty off-spinner sought to rip apart the cloak of integrity and honesty which Gilchrist has covered himself with, further drummed up by Aus-tralian media who have accorded sanctity to it, passing it around as truth.

MANCHESTER, NO-VEMBER 2 (AFP): Sir Alex Ferguson insisted he was embarrassed by Manchester United's failings in front of goal despite his side's 4-3 victory over Hull City. The United manager had been highly critical of the number of chances his strikers missed during a routine victory over West Ham and, after seeing his side almost throw away a 4-1 lead against Hull on Sat-urday, Ferguson was again an-gry at United's failure to kill

off the game.Cristiano Ronaldo took

his United tally to 99 goals after adding to his West Ham double with two more strikes while Michael Carrick and Nemanja Vidic completed the home side's haul. But what should have been a second half stroll turned into an anx-ious wait for the final whistle for the reigning champions after Bernard Mendy and Ge-ovanni added to Daniel Cous-in's first half header as the visitors fought back bravely.

"It was incredible. We should have won by ten and we ended up scrambling a victory," Fer-guson said.

"The annoying thing is that we've not taken our chances, we should have scored ten or eleven there. We had clear chances. But you don't put them away and then you are left embarrassed. "The general feeling is a bit low be-cause we should have won the game by more." Ferguson had claimed last week that Ron-aldo can match his 42-goal

return of last season despite missing the start of the season with an ankle injury and the Portugese winger's brace took his total to seven, including six in six league appearances.

"His goals were fantastic. He could have scored four or five. And I don't know how many chances Dimitar Ber-batov made," Ferguson said. "Credit to Ronaldo, he's got two more goals and there was some fantastic football. On the plus side the thing that we can take out of today is that we are creating some good chances and playing some great stuff at times, but we just got our-selves in an embarrassing situ-ation."

Hull have made a habit of upsetting bigger names away from home in their first season in the top-flight with wins at Arsenal, Spurs and Newcastle already under their belts. Their early-season run has already accumulated 20 points and Phil Brown's side came into this game two points ahead of United. Unit-ed's win reversed that position but Brown drew pride from the fact Hull became the first team since Chelsea three years ago to score three at Old Traf-ford and believes this display should increase his players belief they can compete at the higher level.

Antonio Rodriguez dropped a cross straight into the path of Joaquin Rodriguez for the second equalizer in the 70th minute at Mestalla Stadium, where heavy rain left the field in terrible shape. Valencia midfielder David Albelda capped the scoreline in the 85th with an own-goal. Also, Sergio Aguero scored twice as Atletico Madrid snapped its league winless streak at four with a 2-0 win over Mallorca and joined Malaga with 13 points. The Argentina striker, making his first start in four matches, headed home Di-ego Forlan's pass in the 14th and then scored off a rebound from Forlan in the 28th. At La Rosaleda, a steady downpour formed pools of standing wa-ter but that didn't slow Bar-celona's high-scoring attack, which came into the game with 35 goals in all competi-tions. Barcelona goalkeeper Victor Valdes denied Adrian Lopez's clear chance but the rebound fell to Duda and the Portugal midfielder curled a left-footed shot into the net. Substitute Thierry Henry headed Daniel Alves' lofted pass back across goal for Xavi to volley home at the near post. Alves also hit the post with a powerful free kick in the 67th before Weligton deflected Al-ves's free kick into goal.

Ferrari'S Formula One driver Felipe Massa, of Brazil, cele-brates by kissing a TV camera's lens after winning the pole position in the Qualifying for the Brazilian Formula One Grand Prix at the Interlagos circuit in Sao Paulo, Saturday, November 1. (AP Photo)

Members of the Lokomotiv team crash out of their bronze place race in the Team Pursuit Competition during the Track Cycling World Cup at the Manchester Velodrome, Man-chester, England, Saturday November 1. (AP Photo)

Manchester United's Cristiano Ronaldo, right, celebrates scoring against Hull City during their English Premier League soccer match at Old Trafford Stadium, Manchester, England, Saturday, November 1. (AP Photo)

Malaga's goalkeeper Francesc Arnau Grabalosa, left, blocks as Barcelona's Lionel Messi from Argentina, right, heads the ball during their Spanish soccer league match at La Ro-saleda stadium in Malaga, Spain, on Saturday, November 1. Bellow is Malaga's Weligton Robson from Brazil. (AP Photo)

CMYK

CMYK

The Morung Express MondayDimapur 113 November 2008Ent /Tab lo id

Simon’s Girlfriend Gives Him the Boot

PRIME TIMEPRIME TIMEPRIME TIME06:00 - Fashion House; 07:00 - Friday Night Lights; 08:00 - Seinfeld; 08:30 - Friends; 09:00 - Less Than Perfect; 09:30 - Samantha Who?; 10:00 - Grey’s Anatomy; 11:00 - Are U Smarter

Than 5th Grader; 12:00 - Desperate Housewives; 13:00 - Private Practice; 14:00 - The Ellen Degeneres Show; 15:00 - Fashion House; 16:00 - Cold Case; 17:00 - Grey’s Anatomy; 18:00 - Friday Night Lights; 19:00 - Friends; 19:30 - Seinfeld; 20:00 - Life With Bonnie; 20:30 - According To Jim; 21:00 - Last Comic Standing; 22:00 - UgLy Betty; 23:00 - Jimmy Kimmel; 00:00 - Friends; 00:30 - Seinfeld; 01:00 - The Simpsons; 01:30 - My Wife And Kids; 02:00 - Grey’s Anatomy; 03:00 - The Ellen Degeneres Show; 04:00 - Cold Case; 05:00 - The Simpsons; 05:30 - Kenneth Copeland

06:00 - Crocodile Hunter; 07:00 - Teleshopping; 08:00 - Meerkat Manor; 09:00 - Lyndal’s Lifeline; 10:00 - Baby Planet; 11:00 - Max’s Big Tracks; 12:00 - Wild Africa; 13:00 - Incredible Journeys With Steve Leonard; 14:00 - Crocodile Hunter; 15:00 - Arctic Exposure With Nigel Marven; 16:00 - The Most Extreme; 17:00 - Lyndal’s Lifeline; 18:00 - Meerkat Manor; 19:00 - Max’s Big Tracks; 20:00 - Wild Africa; 21:00 - Penguin Safari With Nigel Marven; 22:00 - The Jeff Corwin Experience; 23:00 - The Most Extreme; 00:00 - Meerkat Manor; 01:00 -

Teleshopping; 02:00 - Petsburgh Usa; 03:00 - Monkey Business; 04:00 - Petsburgh Usa; 05:00 - Monkey Business

04:45 - Bewafa Sanam; 07:45 - Gtm Keshyog; 08:00 - Subah Ho Gayi Mamu; 09:00 - Evolution; 11:45 - Jaan; 16:00 - Anari No 1; 20:00 - Pratiggya; 23:40 - Bluffmaster!; 02:30 - Making Of Zinda; 03:30 - Jhankaar Beats; 03:45 - Dhaai

Akshar Prem Ke

06:00 - Telebrands; 07:00 - Dirty Jobs; 08:00 - Wild Discovery; 09:00 - New Detectives - The Case Studies In Forensic Scie; 10:00 - Discovery’s Biggest Shows; 12:00 - Amazing Baby Videos; 12:30 - Baby Whisperer 1; 13:00 - Planet Earth; 14:00 - Discover

India; 15:00 - Planet Food; 16:00 - Wild Discovery; 17:00 - Untamed Earth; 18:00 - Jeremy Piven’s Journey Of A Lifetime; 19:00 - Planet Earth; 20:00 - Giant Of The Skies: Building The Airbus A380; 21:00 - When We Left Earth: The Nasa Missions; 22:00 - I ShouLdn’t Be Alive; 23:00 - Extreme Engineering 3; 00:00 - Wild Discovery; 01:00 - Telebrands; 02:00 - Extreme Engineering 3; 03:00 - Jeremy Piven’s Journey Of A Lifetime; 04:00 - I Shouldn’t Be Alive; 05:00 - Extreme Engineering 3

06:00 - Seva Ganga; 06:30 - Vignan Shashwat Sukh Ka; 07:00 - Sangam; 07:30 - Raja Ki Ayegi; 08:00 - Kyunki Saas Bhi; 08:30 - Kayamath; 09:00 - Kumkum; 09:30 - Kahaani Ghar; 10:00 - Grihasti; 10:30 - Hamari Devrani;

11:00 - Kayamath; 11:30 - Raja Ki Ayegi; 12:00 - Bidaai; 12:30 - Jahan Pe Basera Ho; 13:00 - Kumkum; 13:30 - Hamari Devrani; 14:00 - Karam; 14:30 - Grihasti; 15:00 - Kyunki Saas Bhi; 15:30 - Kis Desh Mein; 16:00 - Sangam; 16:30 - Santaan; 17:00 - Jahan Pe Basera Ho; 17:30 - Raja Ki Ayegi; 18:00 - Bidaai; 18:30 - Hamari Devrani; 19:00 - Sangam; 19:30 - Santaan; 20:00 - Raja Ki Ayegi; 20:30 - Kis Desh Mein; 21:00 - Bidaai; 21:30 - Kasturi; 22:00 - Kahaani Ghar; 22:30 - Kyunki Saas Bhi; 23:00 - Kayamath; 23:30 - Jahan Pe Basera Ho; 00:00 - Kasturi; 00:30 - Kumkum; 01:00 - Bidaai; 01:30 - Kis Desh Mein; 02:00 - Grihasti; 02:30 - Kayamath; 03:00 - Hamari Devrani; 03:30 - Kahaani Ghar; 04:00 - Kyunki Saas Bhi; 04:30 - Raja Ki Ayegi; 05:00 - The New AdventureS Of Winnie Pooh; 05:30 - Little Einsteins

04:55 - Sky High; 06:35 - Bridge To Terabithia; 08:30 - My Baby’s Daddy; 10:15 - The Guardian; 12:55 - Leonard Cohen: I’m Your Man; 15:00 - The Touch; 17:05 - The Pallbearer; 19:05 - Daltry

Calhoun; 21:00 - She’s All That; 23:00 - Next Stop: Wonderland; 00:55 - Prophecy: Uprising; 02:25 - Tom Yum Goong; 04:1 - 0my Baby’s Daddy; 05:35 - The Touch

0:00 - Fifa: Futbol Mundial; 0:30 - Gillette World Of Sports; 1:00 - Us Pga Tournament - Ginn Classic - Day

4; 3:00 - Motorsport Asia : Asian Festival Of Speed; 4:00 - Uae Motor Racing Championship- Hl’s: Race Day 1; 4:30 - Scottish Premier League: Rangers V Inverness Ct; 6:45 - Nfl : New England Patriots @ Indianapolis Colts; 10:00 - Icl Hls - Chennai V Mumbai; 11:00 - Icl Hls - Chandigarh V Lahore; 12:00 - Rugby League World Cup 200 - 8 -Live Aus V Eng; 14:00 - Icl Hls - Chennai V Mumbai; 15:00 - Icl HLs - Chandigarh V Lahore; 16:00 - Wwe:experience; 17:00 - Wwe: After Burn; 18:00 - Sports News; 18:30 - Icl 20-20 - Preview: Ahmedabad V Dhaka; 19:30 - Icl 20-20 : Ahmedabad V Dhaka; 22:30 - Icl 20-20 - Review: Ahmedabad V Dhaka; 23:00 - Sportsnight; 23:30 - Wwe: After Burn

05:00 - Snakes On A Plane; 07:00 - The Making Of Happy Feet; 07:15 - The Assignment; 09:30 - As You Like It; 12:00 - Recount; 14:15 - Hollywood One On One 13; 14:45 - Reign Over Me; 17:15 - Striking Distance; 19:15 - Homie

Spumoni; 21:00 - The Covenant; 23:00 - The Cable Guy; 01:00 - Trespass; 02:30 - Hollywood’s 10 Best; 03:00 - Dominion: Prequel To The Exorcist; 05:15 - The Making Of Gladiator

06:00 - Sadgamaya; 06:30 - The Faith Show; 07:00 - Enjoying Everyday Life; 07:25 - Exposure Ek Nazar; 07:30 - Sales Slot; 07:55 - Exposure Jhalak; 08:00 - Teleshopping; 08:25 - Exposure Ek Nazar; 08:30 - Jai Ganesh; 09:00 - Ramayan; 09:30 - Naaginn; 10:00 - Vivaah; 10:30 - Betiyann; 11:00 - Maayka; 11:30 - Saat Phere; 12:00 - Dulhann; 12:30 - Kasamh Se; 13:00 - Chhoti Bahu; 13:30 -

Rakhi; 14:00 - Teen Bahuraaniyaan; 14:30 - Jhoome Jiiya Re; 15:00 - Dulhann; 15:30 - Maayka; 16:00 - Saat Phere; 16:30 - KahanI Ab Tak; 17:00 - Ranbir Rano; 17:30 - Betiyann; 18:00 - Kasamh Se; 18:30 - Chhoti Bahu; 19:00 - Vivaah; 19:30 - Parrivaar; 20:00 - Dulhann; 20:30 - Maayka; 21:00 - Kasamh Se; 21:30 - Saat Phere; 22:00 - Betiyann; 22:30 - Ranbir Rano; 23:00 - Waaris; 23:30 - Kasamh Se; 23:55 - Exposure Ek Nazar; 00:00 - Asian Sky Shop; 00:55 - Exposure; 01:00 - Asian Sky Shop; 02:00 - Teen Bahuraaniyaan; 02:30 - Kasamh Se; 03:00 - Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Challenge 2009; 04:00 - Vivaah; 04:30 - Urja; 05:00 - Parrivaar; 05:30 - NarsevA Narayan Seva

06:00 - Shararat; 06:30 - Exotica; 07:00 - Body And Soul; 07:30 - Tvc Sky Shop; 08:30 - Instant Khichdi; 09:00 - Shaka Laka Boom Boom; 09:30 - Son Pari; 10:00 - Mum Tum Aur Hum; 10:30 - Shararat; 11:00 - Hatim; 12:00 - The Great Indian Laughter Challenge Iv;

13:00 - Ssshhhh Phir Koi Hai; 14:00 - Dill Mill Gayye; 14:30 - Mile Jab Hum Tum; 15:00 - Movie; 18:30 - Sarabhai Vs Sarabhai; 19:00 - Dill Mill Gayye; 19:30 - Mile Jab Hum Tum; 20:00 - Anu Ki Ho Gayi; 20:30 - Dill Mill Gayye; 21:00 - Mile Jab Hum Tum; 21:30 - The Great Indian Laughter Challenge Iv; 22:30 - Sarabhai Vs Sarabhai; 23:00 - Dill Mill Gayye; 23:30 - Mile Jab Hum Tum; 00:00 - Siddhanth; 01:00 - Dill Mill Gayye; 01:30 - Mile Jab Hum Tum; 02:00 - Anu Ki Ho Gayi; 02:30 - Dill Mill Gayye; 03:00 - Mile Jab Hum Tum; 03:30 - The Great Indian Laughter Challenge Iv; 04:30 - Dill Mill Gayye; 05:00 - Sarabhai Vs Sarabhai; 05:30 - Mum Tum Aur Hum

06:00 - Mann Mein Hai Visshwas; 07:00 - Telebrands; 07:30 - Teleshopping; 08:30 - Gumrah; 12:00 - Hum Ladkiyan; 12:30 - Aathvaan Vachan; 13:00 - Indian Idol 4; 13:30 - Sujata; 14:00 - Comedy Circus; 14:30 - Hum Ladkiyan; 15:00 - Aathvaan Vachan; 15:30 - Indian Idol 4; 16:00 - Babul Ka Aangann; 16:30 - Sujata; 17:00 - Comedy Circus; 17:30 - Aathvaan Vachan; 18:00 - Hum Ladkiyan; 18:30 - Babul Ka

Aangann; 19:00 - Jai Hanuman; 19:30 - Sujata; 20:00 - Meet Mila De Rabba; 20:30 - Hum Ladkiyan; 21:00 - Aathvaan Vachan; 21:30 - Babul Ka Aangann; 22:00 - Sujata; 22:30 - Comedy Circus; 23:00 - Indian Idol 4; 00:00 - Telebrands; 00:30 - Teleshopping; 01:00 - Sujata; 01:30 - Comedy Circus; 02:00 - Babul Ka Aangann; 02:30 - Aathvaan Vachan; 03:00 - Hum Ladkiyan; 03:30 - Meet Mila De Rabba; 04:00 - Devi; 04:30 - Jai Hanuman; 05:00 - Babul Ka Aangann; 05:30 - Aathvaan Vachan

6:00 - Numb3rs; 7:00 - The Amazing Race Asia; 8:00 - Chuck; 9:00 - Numb3rs; 11:00 - Early Edition; 12:00 - Afterworld; 12:03 - World’s Most Amazing Videos; 1:00 - Dante’s

Peak; 3:00 - Ultimate Guinness World Records; 3:30 - Ebuzz; 5:00 - Top Design; 6:00 - Numb3rs; 7:00 - Afterworld; 7:03 - Chuck; 8:00 - World’s Most Amazing Videos; 9:00 - The Amazing Race; 10:00 - Ripley’s Believe It Or Not!; 11:00 - Csi: Ny; 12:00 - Afterworld; 12:03 - The Amazing Race; 1:00 - Ripley’s Believe It Or Not!; 2:00 - Csi: Ny; 3:00 - Early Edition; 4:00 - Chuck; 5:00 - Top Design

05:30 - Citizen Verdict; 07:00 - Charlie Chaplin; 07:30 - Infomercial; 08:00 - Eye Of The Needle; 10:15 - Raising Helen; 12:50 - Problem Child 2; 14:50 - I-Spy; 17:00 - Hollywoods 10 Best; 17:30 - Free Willy; 20:00 - Little Women; 22:30 - Last Dance; 00:50 - Epk; 01:00 - House Of Nine; 02:30 -

Basic; 04:00 - The Contract; 05:30 - Modigliani

06:00 - Madhur Jaffrey’s Flavours of India; 06:30 - Dream Hotels; 07:00 - Food Paradise; 08:00 - Honeymoon Adventures; 08:30 - Getaway 2006; 09:00 - Chhattisgarh - The Tribal

Planet; 09:30 - Feast India; 10:00 - Innertainment; 10:30 - Body And Soul; 11:00 - Amazing Vacation Homes; 11:30 - Superhomes 2; 12:00 - American Chopper; 13:00 - I Do, Let’s Eat!; 13:30 - Madhur Jaffrey’s Flavours of India; 14:00 - Finest Hotels In The World; 14:30 - Indian Rendezvous; 15:00 - Getaway 2006; 15:30 - Hotel By The Bay; 16:00 - Food Paradise; 17:00 - American Chopper; 18:00 - Ballroom Bootcamp; 19:00 - Cruiseline; 20:00 - Great Hotels Iii; 20:30 - Cocktail Kings; 21:00 - Jet Set; 22:00 - America The Wright Way; 23:00 - Hard Rock Treasures; 00:00 - Miami Ink 3; 01:00 - Jet Set; 02:00 - Honeymoon Adventures; 02:30 - Getaway 2006; 03:00 - Made To Order 3; 03:30 - Kylie Kwong: My China; 04:00 - Innertainment; 04:30 - Body And Soul; 05:00 - Monster House

The Morung Express presents a glimpse of colourful Chaga Gadi celebration at The Heritage, Old DC Bungalow, Kohima on October 31. The festival was marked by colourful dances, songs and Chaga feasts in the presence of T. R. Zeliang, minister for planning & coordination, evaluation, veterinary & animal husbandry and parliamentary affairs.

Colourful Chaga Gadi celebration

At 63 Priscilla Presley's face is taut, ironed and hard, and completely unlined. The former wife of Elvis has been

criticised in the past for her 'joker' ex-pression but it appears her love of plastic surgery has yet to fade. Her lat-est look, with blood red lips, dyed dark hair and white skin, is reminiscent of the cult horror movie Elvira, Mistress Of The Dark. And the photos of Pres-ley, taken yesterday at a launch in Las Vegas, show one eyebrow higher than the other in a Halloween-style shadow of her youthful beauty.

When Presley appeared on Amer-

ica's Dancing With The Stars earlier this year her face made her a figure of fun, with one TV critic cruelly compar-ing her to a 'bulldog bitten by wasps'. In March Presley confirmed reports that she had received botched treatment from an unqualified plastic surgeon. Presley was the victim of an unlicensed doctor, her spokewoman said.

It is believed he injected her with in-dustrial low-grade silicone similar to that used by mechanics to grease car parts. Ar-gentinian born Dr. Daniel Serrano, who also reportedly treated Lionel Richie's ex wife Diane, was only licensed as a nurse when he performed the cosmetic

procedure in 2003. Her spokesperson said: 'Priscilla Presley was one of many documented victims of Dr. Serrano. An investigation which uncovered his mis-conduct ultimately lead to his imprison-ment. Ms Presley dealt with this matter years ago and everything is now well.'

Serrano was investigated after his patients complained the injections caused lumps, paralysis and craters in the face. He was arrested in 2004 and charged in relation to the illegal in-jections. Serrano was later sentenced to 18 months in prison after pleading guilty to conspiracy, smuggling and use of unapproved drugs in 2006.

Simon Cowell was celebrating his new-found freedom as Hollywood’s most eligible bachelor last night after splitting from his girlfriend of six years. Sources close to the multi-millionaire X Factor judge said he was

‘hugely relieved’ that the relationship with Terri Seymour was over. They said his first words on hearing that she had confirmed the end of the relationship were: 'Thank God.'

The stunning 34-year-old TV presenter, who moved out of Cowell’s £20million Beverly Hills home in the summer, is now believed to be dating 35-year-old Hollywood actor Ste-phen Dorff, whom she met in September. Cowell, who is one of TV’s highest-paid stars, has given her new love his blessing and has privately said he is delighted to be free of the relation-ship. 'Simon has basically been waiting for Terri to announce the relationship is over for months,' a friend revealed. 'She has been a weight around his neck for a long time but the prob-lem was that his mother absolutely adored Terri and thought the world of her, so Simon was in a bit of a rut. 'Now, Terri has moved on and found someone else and Simon is hugely relieved. He said, "Thank God" when he heard Terri had gone public with the split and had met someone else.

'He’s been waiting for this day for a long time. He just wants to move on with his life. He’s so relieved, I can’t tell you. Terri’s finally found someone else which has enabled her to move on. In the end, she was clinging to Simon and something that didn’t really exist between them any more. 'She told him in September that she had met someone, and Simon basically said, "Go for it". I still think there was a bit of Terri that was hoping Simon would say he wanted to marry her.'

In reality, Cowell has made it very clear that he has al-ready moved on - and today he announces that he has new professional goals, too. In an exclusive interview in The Mail on Sunday’s Live magazine, he reveals his ambitions to ex-tend his domination into the world of politics. 'Politics is showbusiness these days,' he said. 'More and more so. I know I could engage that audience, get people involved. Make it interesting, for God’s sake.'

It seems the only ambition 48-year-old Cowell did not pos-sess was to make Terri his first lady. She was notably absent on Wednesday night when Cowell collected a lifetime achieve-ment accolade at the National TV Awards. Instead, the X Factor

mastermind spent his finest hour flanked by his co-star Cheryl Cole and his ex-girlfriend, the singer Sinitta. 'Anyone who knows Simon has known that his relationship with Terri was over months ago, but she’s very fragile and he didn’t want to hurt her,' said a source close to Cowell.

'She wanted kids with Simon desperately, but he wasn’t interested in starting a family or getting married. 'All Simon cares about is being the richest, most successful man on the planet. If he wants girls and companionship he can always get them, but it’s really not that important to him. Celebrity and money are all that he cares about.'

Terri will continue to live in the luxury Los Angeles apartment that Cowell, who is worth £130million, bought for her when she moved out of their shared home this sum-mer. 'Things are very amicable between Terri and Simon. There are no hard feelings,' said the source. 'She has actually done very well out of Simon. He has bought her a house and wishes her every success and happiness. They’ll stay close friends but he couldn’t give her what she ultimately wanted, which was children. 'Her biological clock is ticking and all Terri really wants is to start a family.'

Actor Mickey Rourke was once so de-pressed he

planned to end his life - but only after murder-ing a man who raped his then-wife. Rourke has revealed that he was de-termined to commit sui-cide and even penned a note to his now ex-wife, Carré Otis. But before he went through with his threat, he planned to punish a man who had previously raped Otis.

He tells New York Post gossip column PageSix, "I was about to commit two mortal sins, (I planned to kill) a guy who raped Carré when she was on heroin and beat her up." But the star admits he dropped his ideas of a grisly mur-der/suicide after vis-iting his close friend, famed New York priest, Father Pete Colapietro. Colapietro adds, "(He had) a letter he'd writ-ten to Carré - a note of a conciliatory nature. I told him, 'Let's fold it up and put it behind the statue of St. Jude.'" The duo then talked over Rourke's problems and convinced him not to go through with his deadly plan. Rourke and Otis divorced in 1998.

Nicole Kidman refus-es to show her baby daughter off to the world - because

she's keen to keep her precious child as protected as possible. The actress gave birth to Sun-day Rose in July and she insists there won't be any family mag-azine spread or intimate shots she releases online.

That means, she and hus-band Keith Urban are willing to fight the world's paparazzi over what has become a top-price first picture of the new baby. She tells the upcom-ing issue of Parade magazine, "People say, 'Oh, it would be so much easier if you'd just let them (paparazzi) get a photo of her.' And I can't. I'm like, 'I don't want to. I want her to stay out of that.' Maybe that will wane as she gets bigger, and I'll be easier with it. But, for now, I'm keeping her in a bubble."

Meanwhile, motherhood has turned Nicole Kidman

from an all-action woman to a wary mum. The 41-year-old actress admits her care-free, risk-taking attitude to life has been replaced by the need to take care and be around for as long as possi-ble now she's mum to baby daughter Sunday Rose.

Kidman says, "My re-lationship with death used to be far more ambivalent, I think, and now it's very much about staying in the world. That's why in the past I could jump out of planes and take a lot of risks."

And she admits Sunday's upbringing will be very dif-ferent from that of her ad-opted teenage kids with ex-husband Tom Cruise, Isa-bella and Connor. She adds, "Bella and Connor were very free and easy, probably be-cause they had parents who were very young and jump-ing around the world and pretty easygoing.".

Nicole Kidman Refuses To Show Off Her Baby

Priscilla Presley’s face becomes a maskMickey Rourke’s Murder/Suicide Confession

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NEW DELHI, NOVEM-BER 2 (AFP): Indian skip-per Anil Kumble announced Sunday he was retiring from Test cricket with immedi-ate effect, bringing down the curtain on a glorious international career. "The decision to retire was very tough," Kumble, 38, said at a presentation ceremony after the third Test against Australia ended in a draw. "When you have played the game for 18 years and so competitively at that, it does become difficult."

The ace leg-spinner said the finger injury that he sus-tained on the third day of the Test helped him make up his mind. "This injury helped me take this decision. I had already made the decision Saturday. I knew I would not be 100 percent fit for the fourth Test in Nagpur and I did not want to let the team down." Kumble, who fin-ished with 619 wickets from 132 Tests and had already given up one-day cricket, thanked his teammates and family for their support. "I shared the dressing room

with some of the great play-ers like Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Sourav Gan-guly and Venkatsai Laxman besides the younger lot like Virender Sehwag and Za-heer Khan.

"It has been a great expe-rience and a great journey."

The Indian stalwart, given a lap of honour by his teammates, said it would have been a fitting farewell had his side won the third Test. "Delhi has been very special to me. I thought it would be fitting if we won the game and the series here. Ideally I would have liked to bow out with a win. "But I am confident of sealing the series in Nagpur."

Kumble is India's most successful bowler ever. He trails only Sri Lankan spin-ner Muttiah Muralitha-ran and Australia's retired Shane Warne in the list of the world's highest wicket-takers. He picked 337 wick-ets from 271 one-day inter-nationals before quitting the shorter version of the game last year. Kumble bowled in the first innings here despite

11 stitches on his finger, re-minding critics calling for his retirement of his resil-ience and value to the team.

Australian captain Ricky Ponting hailed the India skipper. "On behalf of the Australian team, I would like to congratulate Kumble for his outstanding career. He is a great competitor and one of the greats of the game." Kumble, who missed his side's 320-run victory in the second Test in Mohali with a shoulder injury, also bowled with a broken jaw against the West Indies in the Antigua Test in 2002.

His announcement came at a venue where he claimed all 10 wickets in an innings, the only bowler to have at-tained this feat after Eng-land's Jim Laker. He smiled and waved to the crowd from the dressing room while re-ceiving handshakes from his teammates.

He was also given a guard of honour by his teammates when he came out to bowl during Australia's second innings. India lead the four-Test series 1-0.

India captain Kumble retires from Tests

Indian cricket team captain Anil Kumble, center, walks down to cricket fi eld for the last time after he announced his retirement from cricket on the fi nal day of the third test cricket match between India and Australia, in New Delhi, Sunday, November 2. (AP Photo)

Stanford Superstars thrash England to win $20 million

ST. JOHN'S, NOVEMBER 2 (AGENCIES): The West Indies-based Stanford Su-perstars became instant mil-lionaires when they trounced England by 10 wickets in the richest - and probably shortest - cricket match on Saturday. For a winner-takes-all US$20 million bankrolled by Ameri-can billionaire Allen Stanford, the Superstars routed England for 99 off 19.5 overs, then eas-ily topped that by flaying 101 without loss inside 13 overs. Each of the victorious 11 Su-perstars - a West Indies all-star side - pocketed $1 million.

Fittingly, captain Chris Gayle ended the match in grand style by hoisting an Andrew Flintoff full toss over long-on to send his team-mates racing onto the field to celebrate, and the crowd into a frenzy. England will go home with nothing, but know it has four more annual cracks at the cash after Stanford put up $100 million to fund his five-year Stanford Super Se-ries. Watched by 10,000 at cozy Stanford Ground and an estimated 700 million via TV worldwide, England pro-duced a woeful batting dis-play of careless shots. Seizing the initiative given by their bowlers, and energized by the partisan crowd, Gayle and An-dre Fletcher boldly attacked England. Gayle whacked 65 off 42 balls, and along with his barrage of five sixes, he hit five more boundaries.

Fletcher, who made his West Indies one-day debut this year against Australia and hit a 66-ball 90 on Thursday, added 32 off 31 balls, including five fours. The first over was inaus-picious. Gayle almost ran out Fletcher off the first ball, and survived the third umpire's decision on a leg-before-wick-et appeal. But Fletcher cut loose in the second over when

he spanked three consecutive boundaries off Test bowler Stuart Broad.

England's other quick, Steve Harmison, gave up 22 in the fifth over, including a pair of sixes by Gayle. After that, the Superstars were 49 with-out loss and it looked like they might not need half of their overs. Gayle also roughed up spinners Samit Patel and Graeme Swann, whom he belted for sixes over long-on as he reached his half-century off just 33 balls. Earlier, Su-perstars allrounder Darren Sammy, who was named man of the match, set the tone for the superb performance in the field by capturing 2-13, including bowling England captain and danger man Kev-in Pietersen for seven. Before Sammy's intervention, pacer Jerome Taylor rocked England by removing openers Ian Bell and Matt Prior in the space of three balls in the fourth over. Taylor forced Bell to drag a yorker onto his stumps on sev-en, and knocked back Prior's leg stump for 12 at 22-2. Owais Shah, on four, skied a pull shot off seamer Darren Sammy to deep midwicket at 29-3 in the sixth over, and two of the team's potential match-winners, Piet-ersen and Flintoff, could not stage a recovery. After Kieron Pollard outfoxed Flintoff for 8 with a slower ball which brushed his off stump, half the side was out for 51 in the 12th over. It took a top score of 23 from allrounder Patel, who was dropped on five, and Paul Collingwood's 10 to prop up the innings before left-arm spinner Sulieman Benn dis-missed Collingwood, Swann for one and last man Steven Harmison for six to prevent England from hitting triple figures. Benn finished with 3-16, Sammy 2-13, Taylor 2-24 and Pollard 2-26.

Sir Allen Stanford, right, and captain Chris Gayle of the Stanford Superstars celebrate with the match trophy after beating England in the Stanford Super Series match at Stanford Cricket Ground at Coolidge, Antigua, on Saturday November 1. (AP Photo)

NEW DELHI, NOVEM-BER 2 (AGENCIES): The Indian team was looking to build a sustainable lead to set a challenging target for the Australians. The Indian batsmen were looking to

hold their ground and also attack at the same time so that the flow of runs doesn't slow down.

Rahul Dravid's run of bad form continued as he was dismissed early in the

day by Brett Lee. Dravid's vulnerability against the in swinging delievery was again the cause of his down-fall as a fast in coming ball rattled his off stump and made India three down. The

new man in was Sachin Ten-dulkar. India were 71/3 with a lead of 107 runs.

The partnerhsip of Sa-chin Tendulkar and Gau-tam Gambhir steadied the Indian ship to some extent

as both the batsmen played some aggressive cricket. But Gambhir started to go into a shell and payed the price as he was wrapped on the pads by Johnson, but the ball was going down the leg side. In-

Indian batsman V.V.S. Laxman, right, drives a ball as Australian wicketkeeper Brad Haddin, center, and his teammate Simon Katich look on, on the fi nal day of the third test cricket match between India and Australia, in New Delhi, Sunday, November 2. (AP Photo)

PUNE, NOVEMBER 2 (PTI): Ace shuttler Saina Nehwal today became the first Indian to clinch the World Junior badmin-ton Championship with a straight-game win in the finals here. Top seed Saina got the better of her ninth seeded Japanese rival Saya-ka Sato 21-9 21-18 in a lop-sided match that lasted just 25 minutes. "It is a great feeling to win it this time. The last time in 2006, I had lost in the finals but I am happy that I clinched the title this time," Saina, who reached the quarterfinals of the Beijing Olympics, told PTI after the match.

"I never thought that I would play so well. The first game was easier but in the second game she was playing good smashed but I was successful in catch-

Kotla test ends in tame drawdia lost its fourth wicket. In-dia were 94/4 with a lead of 130 runs.

After the loss of Gautam Gambhir, Tendulkar and VVS Laxman took the In-dian innings forward. Both the batsmen, who love play-ing against Australia were looking very comfortable in the middle as they were scoring very easily and kept the score board moving. In-dia were 132/4 with a lead of 168.

Sachin Tendulkar fell victim to a soft dismissal as he gave catching practice to Matthew Hayden at first slip from White's bowling. India lost its fifth wicket. Sourav Ganguly walked in for the last time at the Kotla. India were 152/5 with a lead of 188. India were now just playing it easy as the match was headed for a draw. The Indian batsmen were scor-ing for fun as they tucked the ball for easy single. They were 193/5 with a lead of 229. In a shocking develop-ment, Indian skipper Anil Kumble announced his re-tirement from Test cricket after the Delhi Test.

India made the declara-tion with a lead of 244, set-ting Australia a target of 245 with 23 over still to play. It would very interesting to see if the Aussies go after the tar-get or play it safe. The match had an emotional ending as Kumble announced his retirement and the match ending in a draw. The match which was dominated by the bat saw plenty of runs and few wickets. India lead the four match series 1-0 as they head to Nagpur for the final test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.

Saina clinches World Junior badminton title

ing her on the nets. I played my back hands well and so overall I am satisfied with

my performance. It was an okay sort of a match. "How-ever, I reckon my semifi-

nals match against Chinese Shixian Wang as the tough-est in the tournament," she added.

With the Common-wealth youth gold and the World Junior badmin-ton title in her kitty, the world number 11 has now set her eyes on China and Hong Kong Open later this month. "I am next play-ing China Open and Hong Kong open this month and I am confident of doing well there as well," the national champion said. National coach Pullela Gopichand said Saina played like a champion all through the tournament. "She played like a champion. It is good to see her wining convinc-ingly through out the tour-nament. She has really done well, hats off to her," Gopichand said.

Ferrari's Formula One driver Felipe Massa of Brazil, left, and McLaren-Mercedes' Formula One driver Lewis Hamilton, of Britain, shake hands during the season end driver's photo prior to the start of the Brazilian Formula One Grand Prix at the Interla-gos circuit in Sao Paulo, Sunday, November 2. The Brazilian GP is the last Formula One race in the 2008 season. (AP Photo)