Our Correspondent/Reporter Kohima/Dimapur, Nov. 16 (EMN): Director General of Police (Prisons, Home Guards, Civil Defence and SRDF), Rupin Sharma, on Wednesday called for print media to reinvent itself, lest it is “rendered redundant” in the age of social media. He was speaking on the occasion of National Press Day organised by the Kohima Press Club in Kohima on Wednesday. He also pointed out that investigative journalism is lacking in Nagaland media, which is important for every media in the state and country. He viewed fear of governance, peer pressure, inability to take the story out, and lack of confidence and conviction, as some reasons for the lack of investigative journalism in the state. Towards this, he challenged more investigative journalists who can collaborate with activists in the future. Sharma also said Nagaland media is the least corrupted and polluted, ‘except on tribal lines’. The DGP also emphasised on the importance of getting the “fact at the top”. “
Henlly Phom OdyuoDimapur, Nov. 11 (EMN): Construction workers in Dimapur go about their day quite early in the morning to earn their livelihood; some take their children along with them to work site. Despite being deprived of basic facilities like shelter, food and sanitation, they have no choice as putting food on the table daily outweighs good working condition. Rasheed, a construction worker, told Eastern Mirror that they were used to working sans adequate facilities. He added that they entered the profession without proper training but eventually acquired the skills with experience. His wife, who was also working with him in the construction of a roof slab in Dimapur, was seen with their two children, both aged below six. Along with them at the construction site were other minors. They appeared to be least bothered by the health risk posed by the dust and other materials at the site as it’s not new for them. Also read: Construction workers in Nagaland deprived of basic facilities
Henlly Phom Odyuo Dimapur, Oct. 24 (EMN): Housed in a temporary room with no walls and kitchen, Jiten lives with 10 other workers at a construction site. A makeshift bed, chullah and some clothes are the only items seen in a cramped shared space. They have constructed a temporary washroom, which also serves as a space for washing utensils. Migrant construction workers like Jiten are susceptible to many diseases due to lack of proper sanitation facilities and unhygienic living conditions. ‘Living at the construction site is extremely difficult but it is hard for us to rent a place,’ he told Eastern Mirror. Construction workers can be categorised into two types — inhabitant workers and migrant workers; the latter suffer more than the others as they are away from their homes. In Nagaland, especially in Dimapur, Kohima and the newly added districts — Niuland and Chümoukedima — most of the workers, mostly men, are from Assam, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar
Henlly Phom Odyuo Dimapur, Oct. 22 (EMN): A construction site in Dimapur was abuzz with the monotonous movement of workers laboriously carrying cement, sand and gravel on their heads on a sunny day, a scene not uncommon in a town that’s bustling with activity and development. What was disturbing was a 16-year-old Nilima working at an equal pace as the adults at the site. The teenager works as a labourer, toiling all day at construction sites with short breaks for lunch and tea, while most girls of her age are at school. Her parents and brothers are all part of the construction industry and they work together in a group, Nilima told Eastern Mirror. She said she was not ‘pushed’ into working at such a young age but was ‘helpless’ and had to take up the job owing to the poor condition of her family. But Nilima is not alone. Despite laws against child labour in the country, many children below 18 years of age and even below 14 are often seen working as labourers not only in
Henlly Phom OdyuoDimapur, Sep. 25 (EMN): Asymmetries abound in India’s labour market with numerous factors preventing women from entering, remaining and progressing in this field of work. The gap is amplified when it comes to work related to labour as most women come from poor economic background with little or no education and skills. ‘Gender gap in payment and bias in the construction industry is confusing because women are very few in the construction workforce, and most of them are unskilled and untrained, but are forced to join the labour force because of economic constraints, which means we are contributing to the family’s income’, Aliya, a labourer, told Eastern Mirror. Most women, she said, are employed for menial work and paid lesser than men, even if they work from dawn to dusk. Aaliya said women are mostly unskilled and have different needs and challenges compared to male workers. ‘As if that was not enough, we are paid less, discriminated on the grounds that we ar