Memorial awards instituted for 2017 ULB protest victims

 Diphupar Naga Students’ Union vies to make it an annual affair

[caption id="attachment_229963" align="aligncenter" width="565"] Dr. T Lima Jamir, convenor (3rd from left) along with DNSU president and other members of the organising committee posing for a photograph at DNSU office, Diphupar village on Jan. 25,2016.[/caption] Eastern Mirror Desk Dimapur, Jan. 25: The Diphupar Naga Students’ Union (DNSU) will be organising the first memorial awards function of late Bendangsungsang Longkumer and Khriesavizo Metha (B&K memorial awards), the two youth who were killed when police opened fire during a protest against the Urban Local Body (ULB) elections in Dimapur two years ago. This was announced at a press conference on Friday at the DNSU office in Diphupar village, Dimapur. Convenor of the organising committee Dr. T Lima Jamir said that the award function will be held in honour of late Bendang and Avizo, who had sacrificed their lives fighting to safeguard the rights of the Nagas during the ULB elections in 2017. “The two lost their lives but it was not in vain; they died not only for Diphupar village but for Nagaland,” Jamir said, adding that there was a solemn memorial ceremony for the two deceased in the previous year but this year, the DNSU wanted the whole state to know about the cause. The convenor said that the DNSU along with supporting bodies like to make the memorial award a yearly event. “If the government can help in funding this memorial for the two martyrs and make it a yearly event, it would be really good,” said Jamir. DNSU President Pitovi Achumi stated that the award would comprise of two categories - academic excellence award and acknowledgement award. “The academic award would be awarded to 20 students hailing from Diphupar village who make it to the top 20 positions in HSLC, HSSLC, and NBSE examinations,” Achumi informed, adding that the reason to restrict the academic awards to the students from Diphupar as Avizo Metha was also the president of a students’ union in the village (Diphupar). The acknowledgement award on the other hand would be for the whole of Nagaland, and would comprise of 11 sub-categories, namely music award, sports award, literature award, humanitarian award, entrepreneur award, promoter award, green award, young achiever award, art award, educationist award, and special mention award, Achumi informed. “The acknowledgement awards will be presented to people based on their contributions in their respective fields,” said Achumi. DNSU informed that all civil societies in and around Dimapur and apex organisations from different parts of Nagaland have been invited to the award function while adding that the ceremony is open for all. The award ceremony is scheduled to be held on Jan. 31, 5 pm at the Diphupar local ground, Diphupar village.