ˆ ˝ ˚!#$% $˙)$) * #$%& ’( % 86 % 13 2% 4%5%%1 %1%6 8 ˘ˇˆ˙ ˇ˝˛˚˜ !ˆ … · 2019. 3....

16
T he Centre is expected to make a host of populist announcements in the Budget Session of Parliament starting on Thursday during which the Opposition is likely to corner it on a range of issues, includ- ing the contentious Rafale fighter jet deal and alleged agrarian distress. Against the backdrop of speculation that the Modi Government would present full Budget, the Finance Ministry clarified the Government will present an interim Budget. Finance Minister Piyush Goyal will present the interim Budget on Friday. Goyal has been given additional charge of the Finance Ministry as Arun Jaitley has gone to the US for treatment. Jaitley as the Finance Minister has presented five Budgets. As per practice, a Vote-on- Account or approval for essen- tial Government spending for a limited period is taken in an election year and a full-fledged Budget presented by the new Government. Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan on Wednesday said all parties have assured their coop- eration in smooth functioning of the House and urged the members to raise issues of national importance. Mahajan chaired an all-party meeting, which was attended by leaders of various parties. Addressing the media after the meeting, Mahajan said, “All parties have assured their cooperation in smooth func- tioning of the House. Members from various parties have suggested that there should be debate on farmers’ issues.” Talking about the Budget Session being the last sitting of the 16th Lok Sabha, Mahajan suggested that members should make it a fruitful Session by raising issues of national importance. In total, there will be 10 sittings of the House in this Session, Mahajan said, adding she will try to ensure that maximum business is transacted. When asked about the Budget, the Speaker said it is up to the Government if it wants to bring an interim Budget or Vote-on-Account. The all-party meeting was attended by Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister Narendra Singh Tomar and both Ministers of State for Parliamentary Affairs Vijay Goel and Arjun Ram Meghwal. Congress leader in the Lok Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge, RJD’s Jay Prakash Narayan Yadav, SP’s Dharmendra Yadav and BJD’s Bhartruhari Mahtab were among those present. The Session, which will end on February 13 and will be last one of the present Government, will begin with an address by President Ram Nath Kovind to a joint sitting of the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha. The Government will make efforts to pass con- tentious Bills on citizenship and triple talaq, even as Opposition to these proposed legislations has denied them the parlia- mentary approval so far . Some BJP allies like the JD(U) have also expressed their reservations to these Bills. The Government is keen on the passage of the Citizenship Amendment Bill, which seeks to grant persecut- ed minorities, including Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains and Christians, from a few neighbouring countries Indian citizenship. The triple talaq Bill pro- poses jail term for Muslim men for practising instant divorce. The Representation of the People Act (Amendment) Bill 2017, which will allow NRIs to cast their vote in Indian polls through proxies, and the National Medical Council are also on the Government’s agen- da. These key Bills are struck in the Rajya Sabha, where the Government lacks numbers. The Citizenship Amendment Bill is stuck in the Rajya Sabha amid the Opposition demanding that the Government drop Bangladesh from the list of nations from where the refugees would be eligible to apply for citizenship. I n a bid to put pressure on the Modi Government, the Dharm Sansad held in Prayagraj for over three days has decided to begin Ram Mandir march from Prayagraj to Ayodhya to lay foundation stone of the proposed Ram temple on February 21. The massive congrega- tion of sadhus that was called by top seer of Dwarka Peeth Shankaracharya Swaroopanand Saraswati to discuss the Ram Mandir issue announced on Wednesday that the foundation stone of Ram Mandir will be laid on February 21 and the movement of Ram Mandir will not stop now. Addressing sadhus, Swaroopanand said that 500 seers along with him would be marching to Ayodhya on February 21, and “will lay the foundation stone” of a grand Ram temple. Swaroopanand, who is considered among the four topmost seers of the nation, said the time has come for the final push to achieve the goal of the Ram Janmabhoomi movement. “Even if I have to face the bullet, I will go to Ayodhya and lay the foundation stone,” he said while addressing the sec- ond day of the Dharma Sansad. Swaroopanand exhorted that every Hindu should bring four bricks for Ram Mandir at Ayodhya on February 21. The Dharma Sansand also passed a resolution condemning the Modi Government and the BJP for delaying the construc- tion of the temple. At the meeting, sadhus hit out at the Modi Government and its ideological mentor RSS for hijacking the Ram Mandir issue. The development comes a day before Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP pres- ident Amit Shah’s visit to Kumbh. The announcement comes at a time when the clamour for early construction of Ram Mandir has reached a crescen- do before 2019 Lok Sabha polls. Ahead of the Lok Sabha election, the Narendra Modi Government is facing heat for not having fulfilled its promise of constructing the Ram tem- ple in Ayodhya. Swaroopanand said the sants and those mobilised for the effort would not be deterred by arrests or any other kind of obstacles. “Hindus across the country should step forward if front-runners are stopped,” Swaroopanand said. The confluence also issued a challenge to the monopoly of the RSS, when its leaders declared from stage that not Sangh but Swaroopanand was the spiritual leader of Hindus across country. The RSS and the VHP, in coordination with Ram Janm Bhoomi Nyas or Trust, have been spearheading the Ayodhya Mandir campaign for the last three decade. The decision came a day after the Government approached the Supreme Court for permission to restore the “excess” land surrounding the disputed portion in Ayodhya to Ram Janambhoomi Nyas. The Government sought direction for releasing to the Nyas 67 acres, which it had acquired about two-and-a-half decades back, leaving untouched 0.313 acres of dis- puted land. I n a major embarrassment for ICICI Bank, an independent enquiry has indicted former CEO Chanda Kochhar for vio- lating various regulations, and the lender has decided to stop all unpaid retirement benefits and also recover bonuses paid to her since 2009. The leading private sector lender, which had given a clean chit to Kochhar in the Videocon loan matter, will also treat her resignation as “Termination for Cause”. Reacting to the develop- ment, Kochhar said she is “dis- appointed, hurt and shocked” by ICICI Bank decision. Kochhar said she served the ICICI group for 34 long years “with all my dedication and hard work” and the bank’s latest decision has caused her “immense hurt and pain”. The latest development comes days after the CBI filed an FIR naming Kochhar and others in the alleged quid pro quo in extending 3,250- crore loan to Videocon Group. An independent enquiry panel led by Justice (Retd) BN Srikrishna observed that Kochhar violated bank policies and other rules and regulations. D espite erratic monsoon and drought like situation in several parts of the country, production of tomato, onion and potato has been on the rise in the country. As per latest Agriculture Ministry data, India’s horticulture production is estimated to rise by 1 per cent to record 314.67 million tonne in 2018-19 on higher area. Based on the information received from different States and Union territories, the Agriculture Ministry on Wednesday released the final estimates for 2017-18 and the first advance estimates for 2018-19 of area and production of horticulture crops. As per the final estimates of 2017-18, horticulture produc- tion stood at record 311.7 MT, 3.7 per cent higher than the pre- vious year and 10 per cent higher than the past five years’ average production. Area under coverage rose to 25.87 million hectare from 25.43 million hectare. As per data, the onion production is estimated around 23.62 million tonne this year as against 23.26 million tonne in 2017-18. The potato production is estimated at 52.58 million tonne as against 51.31 million tonne last year. Tomato pro- duction is expected to be around 20.51 million tonne as against 19.76 million tonne last year. Currently, 25.87 million hectare is under horticulture crops in the country. Between 2001-02 and 2016-17, India’s potato pro- duction has practically dou- bled, from an estimated 24.46 million tonne (mt) to 48.61 mt. In case of tomatoes, it has tripled (from 7.46 mt to 20.71 mt), and for onions, quadru- pled (from 5.25 mt to 22.43 mt). Also, the country’s total fruits and vegetable output of 271.09 million tonne last year almost equalled that of food grain (cereals plus pulses) at 275.68 million tonne. Due to record production of horticulture crops, prices of onion, tomato and potato are under control across the coun- try. Sources in the Ministry said the record production will help the Government to keep veg- etables and fruits prices under control in the election year. But the record productions of toma- to, potato and onion has brought relief to the common man but it has hit hard to the farmers as they failed to get their cost of the produce. At the retail market, onion, potato and tomato is being sold at 10-15 a kg due to high- er productions across the coun- try. At some places in Madhya Pradesh and Punjab, farmers thrown potato on the roads as the whole sale price reduced to 1 a kg. The data shows, veg- etables output pegged at 187474000 million tonne as it is sown on 10436000 hectare. Fruit is estimated to be sown at 65,30000 hectare and its output is pegged at 96,754000 million tonne in 2018-19. T he Election Commission of India (ECI) has not received any official or unoffi- cial information about con- ducting the Lok Sabha and State elections simultaneously in the concerned States, chief election commissioner Sunil Arora said on Wednesday. “I have only heard about simultaneous Lok Sabha and legislative assembly elections from you (the media). The ECI is not aware of any such devel- opment,” said Arora. Speculations were rife that the next Lok Sabha and leg- islative assembly elections will be conducted simultaneously after the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) led NDA Government proposed the same. Many BJP leaders had mooted the ‘One Nation, One Election’ idea, while most of the opposition parties called it unfeasible. Arora, who was in Ranchi along with six other members of the ECI since Tuesday, did a recce of the preparedness for elections in Jharkhand. They met representatives of political parties, top officials of law enforcement agencies, senior bureaucrats and Income Tax officials during their visit. In response to opposition parties’ unanimous demand of transferring officials, who were serving a post for over three years and would be involved in conducting the elections, Arora said, “We have asked the chief secretary to take necessary steps about transfer of officials as per the ECI guidelines.” The Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) will be used for the first time during elections in Jharkhand this year, he said, adding that the voters in the state will also be able to use the c-VIGIL App for the first time during the upcoming polls. The App helps citizens file complaints against model code violation by political parties. The App was used during elec- tions in the five states last year. Arora said that he has also asked the law enforcement agencies to investigate the pending model code violation cases from the past and take necessary actions. The ECI has asked the state to have at least one booth, entirely run by woman volun- teers, in each of the 81 assem- bly constituencies during the polls. The numbers, he said, must be gradually increased. Replying to a query, Arora said that an EVM machine can- not be tampered, it can only malfunction in worst case. Talking about the law and order situation in the state, he said that the number of Left Wing Extremism-hit districts in Jharkhand has reduced and the law enforcement agencies were doing a good job. “We had a meeting with top police officials and asked them to ensure peaceful polls,” said Arora. At least 18 of 24 districts in Jharkhand are affected by LWE menace. These insur- gants are always on the lookout to sabotage poll proceedings during elections, therefore fool- proof security during polls assumes great importance in the state. Arora said that the ECI has also decided to have polling booths easily accessible by vot- ers in the interiors. Polling booths in the interiors are often clubbed, and voters have to travel long distances to cast their votes. C hief Minister Raghubar Das hailed the contribution of Rani Mistry and Jal Sahiya in attaining Government’s Swachhta goal. He said that the trained women masons (Rani Mistry) and Jal Sahiyas have helped the State in attaining ‘Open defecation free’ (ODF) status. Replying to the query posed by Jharkhand Vikas Morcha - Prajatantrik (JVM-P), MLA Pradeep Yadav in the assembly on Wednesday Das said, “I thank the contribution of Rani Mistry and Jal Sahiya in helping the state achieve ODF tag. In 2014, only 18 percent toi- lets were constructed, but due to sincere effort of these two voluntary outfits around 99 percent toilets have been con- structed now.” The State Government, to achieve its sanitation target under Swachh Bharat Mission, had given mason training to women for constructing toilets in rural areas. Jal Sahiya are women volunteers who were earlier engaged in water con- servation, but later included in Swachh Bharat Mission. Yadav along with other opposition members in ques- tion hour, made a mockery of government claim of declaring Jharkhand as complete ODF. Chief Minister upset with opposition members’ interven- tion, lambasted the opposition asking them not to make fun of state’s effort in ODF. The CM said, “The state being declared ODF is our way of paying homage to Mahatma Gandhi on his death anniver- sary.” The Government accept- ed that there are some short- comings as there were reports of faulty construction of toilets, but the main aim was to create awareness among people about Swachhta and the Government is happy that people, especial- ly women, have understood the Swachhta message. Earlier, Yadav in the ques- tion hour, pointed out that the State Government, to make state ODF had constructed 40 lakh toilets, but majority of these are unused and the vil- lagers are using them to keep cattle. He also alleged large scale corruption in the construction work of toilets, and a lack of proper monitoring system for the same. Replying to lawmaker grievances, water resources, drinking water & sanitation minister Chandra Prakash Choudhary said, “As per the directive of Swachh Bharat Mission there is regular moni- toring of ODF villages. As per the directive, a village has to be verified within 90 days and then again within six months of being declared as ODF.” The Minister said that apart from the SBM directive, mon- itoring and verification is also done by national annual rural sanitation survey and a third party survey by an independent agency. The Minister claimed that apart from above agencies engaged in monitoring the san- itation work, the Jharkhand State Livelihood Promotion Society (JSLPS) too will carry out monitoring and verification of declared ODF villages in the coming days.

Transcript of ˆ ˝ ˚!#$% $˙)$) * #$%& ’( % 86 % 13 2% 4%5%%1 %1%6 8 ˘ˇˆ˙ ˇ˝˛˚˜ !ˆ … · 2019. 3....

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The Centre is expected tomake a host of populist

announcements in the BudgetSession of Parliament startingon Thursday during which theOpposition is likely to cornerit on a range of issues, includ-ing the contentious Rafalefighter jet deal and allegedagrarian distress.

Against the backdrop ofspeculation that the ModiGovernment would presentfull Budget, the FinanceMinistry clarified theGovernment will present aninterim Budget.

Finance Minister PiyushGoyal will present the interimBudget on Friday. Goyal hasbeen given additional charge ofthe Finance Ministry as ArunJaitley has gone to the US fortreatment. Jaitley as the FinanceMinister has presented fiveBudgets.

As per practice, a Vote-on-Account or approval for essen-tial Government spending fora limited period is taken in anelection year and a full-fledgedBudget presented by the newGovernment.

Lok Sabha Speaker SumitraMahajan on Wednesday said allparties have assured their coop-eration in smooth functioningof the House and urged themembers to raise issues ofnational importance. Mahajanchaired an all-party meeting,which was attended by leadersof various parties.

Addressing the media afterthe meeting, Mahajan said,“All parties have assured their

cooperation in smooth func-tioning of the House.

Members from variousparties have suggested thatthere should be debate onfarmers’ issues.”

Talking about the BudgetSession being the last sitting ofthe 16th Lok Sabha, Mahajansuggested that members shouldmake it a fruitful Session byraising issues of nationalimportance. In total, there willbe 10 sittings of the House inthis Session, Mahajan said,adding she will try to ensurethat maximum business istransacted.

When asked about theBudget, the Speaker said it is upto the Government if it wantsto bring an interim Budget or

Vote-on-Account.The all-party meeting was

attended by UnionParliamentary Affairs MinisterNarendra Singh Tomar andboth Ministers of State forParliamentary AffairsVijay Goel and Arjun Ram

Meghwal. Congress leader inthe Lok Sabha MallikarjunKharge, RJD’s Jay PrakashNarayan Yadav, SP’sDharmendra Yadav and BJD’sBhartruhari Mahtab wereamong those present.

The Session, which willend on February 13 and will belast one of the presentGovernment, will begin withan address by President RamNath Kovind to a joint sittingof the Lok Sabha and the Rajya

Sabha. The Government willmake efforts to pass con-tentious Bills on citizenship andtriple talaq, even as Oppositionto these proposed legislationshas denied them the parlia-mentary approval so far

. Some BJP allies like theJD(U) have also expressed their reservations to these Bills.

The Government is keenon the passage of theCitizenship Amendment Bill,which seeks to grant persecut-ed minorities, includingHindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jainsand Christians, from a fewneighbouring countries Indiancitizenship.

The triple talaq Bill pro-poses jail term for Muslim

men for practising instantdivorce.

The Representation of thePeople Act (Amendment) Bill2017, which will allow NRIs tocast their vote in Indian pollsthrough proxies, and theNational Medical Council arealso on the Government’s agen-da. These key Bills are struck in the Rajya Sabha,where the Government lacksnumbers.

The CitizenshipAmendment Bill is stuck in theRajya Sabha amid theOpposition demanding thatthe Government dropBangladesh from the list ofnations from where therefugees would be eligible toapply for citizenship.

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In a bid to put pressure on theModi Government, the

Dharm Sansad held inPrayagraj for over three dayshas decided to begin RamMandir march from Prayagrajto Ayodhya to lay foundationstone of the proposed Ramtemple on February 21.

The massive congrega-tion of sadhus that was calledby top seer of Dwarka PeethShankaracharya SwaroopanandSaraswati to discuss the RamMandir issue announced onWednesday that the foundationstone of Ram Mandir will belaid on February 21 and themovement of Ram Mandir willnot stop now.

Addressing sadhus,Swaroopanand said that 500seers along with him would bemarching to Ayodhya onFebruary 21, and “will lay thefoundation stone” of a grandRam temple. Swaroopanand,who is considered among thefour topmost seers of thenation, said the time has comefor the final push to achieve thegoal of the Ram Janmabhoomimovement.

“Even if I have to face thebullet, I will go to Ayodhya and

lay the foundation stone,” hesaid while addressing the sec-ond day of the Dharma Sansad.

Swaroopanand exhortedthat every Hindu should bringfour bricks for Ram Mandir atAyodhya on February 21. TheDharma Sansand also passed aresolution condemning theModi Government and theBJP for delaying the construc-tion of the temple.

At the meeting, sadhus hitout at the Modi Governmentand its ideological mentor RSSfor hijacking the Ram Mandirissue. The development comesa day before Prime MinisterNarendra Modi and BJP pres-ident Amit Shah’s visit toKumbh.

The announcement comesat a time when the clamour forearly construction of RamMandir has reached a crescen-do before 2019 Lok Sabhapolls.

Ahead of the Lok Sabhaelection, the Narendra ModiGovernment is facing heat fornot having fulfilled its promiseof constructing the Ram tem-ple in Ayodhya.

Swaroopanand said the

sants and those mobilised forthe effort would not bedeterred by arrests or any otherkind of obstacles. “Hindusacross the country should stepforward if front-runners arestopped,” Swaroopanand said.

The confluence also issueda challenge to the monopoly ofthe RSS, when its leadersdeclared from stage that notSangh but Swaroopanand wasthe spiritual leader of Hindusacross country.

The RSS and the VHP, incoordination with Ram JanmBhoomi Nyas or Trust, havebeen spearheading theAyodhya Mandir campaign forthe last three decade.

The decision came a dayafter the Governmentapproached the Supreme Courtfor permission to restore the“excess” land surrounding thedisputed portion in Ayodhya toRam Janambhoomi Nyas.

The Government soughtdirection for releasing to theNyas 67 acres, which it hadacquired about two-and-a-halfdecades back, leavinguntouched 0.313 acres of dis-puted land.

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In a major embarrassment forICICI Bank, an independent

enquiry has indicted formerCEO Chanda Kochhar for vio-lating various regulations, andthe lender has decided to stopall unpaid retirement benefitsand also recover bonuses paidto her since 2009.

The leading private sectorlender, which had given a cleanchit to Kochhar in theVideocon loan matter, will alsotreat her resignation as“Termination for Cause”.

Reacting to the develop-ment, Kochhar said she is “dis-appointed, hurt and shocked”by ICICI Bank decision.Kochhar said she served theICICI group for 34 long years “with all my dedicationand hard work” and the bank’slatest decision has caused her“immense hurt and pain”.

The latest developmentcomes days after the CBI filedan FIR naming Kochhar and others in the alleged quidpro quo in extending �3,250-crore loan to Videocon Group.

An independent enquirypanel led by Justice (Retd) BNSrikrishna observed thatKochhar violated bank policies and other rules andregulations.

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Despite erratic monsoon anddrought like situation in

several parts of the country,production of tomato, onionand potato has been on the risein the country. As per latestAgriculture Ministry data,India’s horticulture productionis estimated to rise by 1 per centto record 314.67 million tonnein 2018-19 on higher area.

Based on the informationreceived from different Statesand Union territories, theAgriculture Ministry onWednesday released the finalestimates for 2017-18 and thefirst advance estimates for2018-19 of area and productionof horticulture crops.

As per the final estimates of2017-18, horticulture produc-tion stood at record 311.7 MT,3.7 per cent higher than the pre-vious year and 10 per centhigher than the past five years’average production. Area undercoverage rose to 25.87 millionhectare from 25.43 millionhectare. As per data, the onionproduction is estimated around23.62 million tonne this year asagainst 23.26 million tonne in2017-18. The potato productionis estimated at 52.58 milliontonne as against 51.31 milliontonne last year. Tomato pro-

duction is expected to bearound 20.51 million tonne asagainst 19.76 million tonne lastyear. Currently, 25.87 millionhectare is under horticulturecrops in the country.

Between 2001-02 and2016-17, India’s potato pro-duction has practically dou-bled, from an estimated 24.46million tonne (mt) to 48.61 mt.In case of tomatoes, it hastripled (from 7.46 mt to 20.71mt), and for onions, quadru-pled (from 5.25 mt to 22.43mt). Also, the country’s totalfruits and vegetable output of271.09 million tonne last yearalmost equalled that of foodgrain (cereals plus pulses) at275.68 million tonne.

Due to record production ofhorticulture crops, prices ofonion, tomato and potato areunder control across the coun-try. Sources in the Ministry said

the record production will helpthe Government to keep veg-etables and fruits prices undercontrol in the election year. Butthe record productions of toma-to, potato and onion hasbrought relief to the commonman but it has hit hard to thefarmers as they failed to get theircost of the produce.

At the retail market, onion,potato and tomato is beingsold at �10-15 a kg due to high-er productions across the coun-try. At some places in MadhyaPradesh and Punjab, farmersthrown potato on the roads asthe whole sale price reduced to�1 a kg. The data shows, veg-etables output pegged at187474000 million tonne as itis sown on 10436000 hectare.Fruit is estimated to be sown at65,30000 hectare and its outputis pegged at 96,754000 milliontonne in 2018-19.

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The Election Commission ofIndia (ECI) has not

received any official or unoffi-cial information about con-ducting the Lok Sabha andState elections simultaneouslyin the concerned States, chiefelection commissioner SunilArora said on Wednesday.

“I have only heard aboutsimultaneous Lok Sabha andlegislative assembly electionsfrom you (the media). The ECIis not aware of any such devel-opment,” said Arora.

Speculations were rife thatthe next Lok Sabha and leg-islative assembly elections willbe conducted simultaneously

after the Bharatiya Janata Party(BJP) led NDA Governmentproposed the same. Many BJPleaders had mooted the ‘OneNation, One Election’ idea,while most of the oppositionparties called it unfeasible.

Arora, who was in Ranchialong with six other membersof the ECI since Tuesday, did arecce of the preparedness forelections in Jharkhand. Theymet representatives of politicalparties, top officials of lawenforcement agencies, seniorbureaucrats and Income Taxofficials during their visit.

In response to oppositionparties’ unanimous demand oftransferring officials, who wereserving a post for over three

years and would be involved inconducting the elections, Arorasaid, “We have asked the chief

secretary to take necessarysteps about transfer of officialsas per the ECI guidelines.”

The Voter Verifiable PaperAudit Trail (VVPAT) will beused for the first time duringelections in Jharkhand thisyear, he said, adding that thevoters in the state will also beable to use the c-VIGIL App forthe first time during theupcoming polls.

The App helps citizens filecomplaints against model codeviolation by political parties.The App was used during elec-tions in the five states lastyear.

Arora said that he has alsoasked the law enforcementagencies to investigate the

pending model code violationcases from the past and takenecessary actions.

The ECI has asked thestate to have at least one booth,entirely run by woman volun-teers, in each of the 81 assem-bly constituencies during thepolls. The numbers, he said,must be gradually increased.

Replying to a query, Arorasaid that an EVM machine can-not be tampered, it can onlymalfunction in worst case.

Talking about the law andorder situation in the state, hesaid that the number of LeftWing Extremism-hit districtsin Jharkhand has reduced andthe law enforcement agencieswere doing a good job.

“We had a meeting withtop police officials and askedthem to ensure peaceful polls,”said Arora.

At least 18 of 24 districtsin Jharkhand are affected byLWE menace. These insur-gants are always on the lookoutto sabotage poll proceedingsduring elections, therefore fool-proof security during pollsassumes great importance inthe state.

Arora said that the ECI hasalso decided to have pollingbooths easily accessible by vot-ers in the interiors. Pollingbooths in the interiors areoften clubbed, and voters haveto travel long distances to casttheir votes.

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Chief Minister Raghubar Dashailed the contribution of

Rani Mistry and Jal Sahiya inattaining Government’sSwachhta goal. He said that thetrained women masons (RaniMistry) and Jal Sahiyas havehelped the State in attaining‘Open defecation free’ (ODF)status.

Replying to the queryposed by Jharkhand VikasMorcha - Prajatantrik (JVM-P),MLA Pradeep Yadav in theassembly on Wednesday Dassaid, “I thank the contributionof Rani Mistry and Jal Sahiya inhelping the state achieve ODFtag. In 2014, only 18 percent toi-lets were constructed, but dueto sincere effort of these twovoluntary outfits around 99percent toilets have been con-structed now.”

The State Government, toachieve its sanitation targetunder Swachh Bharat Mission,had given mason training towomen for constructing toiletsin rural areas. Jal Sahiya arewomen volunteers who wereearlier engaged in water con-servation, but later included inSwachh Bharat Mission.

Yadav along with otheropposition members in ques-tion hour, made a mockery ofgovernment claim of declaringJharkhand as complete ODF.Chief Minister upset withopposition members’ interven-tion, lambasted the oppositionasking them not to make fun of

state’s effort in ODF.The CM said, “The state

being declared ODF is our wayof paying homage to MahatmaGandhi on his death anniver-sary.” The Government accept-ed that there are some short-comings as there were reportsof faulty construction of toilets,but the main aim was to createawareness among people aboutSwachhta and the Governmentis happy that people, especial-ly women, have understoodthe Swachhta message.

Earlier, Yadav in the ques-tion hour, pointed out that theState Government, to makestate ODF had constructed 40lakh toilets, but majority ofthese are unused and the vil-lagers are using them to keepcattle. He also alleged large scalecorruption in the constructionwork of toilets, and a lack of

proper monitoring system forthe same.

Replying to lawmakergrievances, water resources,drinking water & sanitationminister Chandra PrakashChoudhary said, “As per thedirective of Swachh BharatMission there is regular moni-toring of ODF villages. As perthe directive, a village has to beverified within 90 days and thenagain within six months ofbeing declared as ODF.”

The Minister said that apartfrom the SBM directive, mon-itoring and verification is alsodone by national annual ruralsanitation survey and a thirdparty survey by an independentagency.

The Minister claimed thatapart from above agenciesengaged in monitoring the san-itation work, the JharkhandState Livelihood PromotionSociety (JSLPS) too will carryout monitoring and verification

of declared ODF villages in thecoming days.

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Prime Minister NarendraModi will lay the founda-

tion stone for JamshedpurWomen’s University (JWU) onFebruary 3, online fromJammu. Jamshedpur Women’sCollege (JWC) is being deckedup for the occasion.

Recently, the PMO repre-sentative met the HigherEducation and TechnicalDepartment representative,Kolhan University VC and

Jamshedpur Women’s College(JWC) principal to reviewpreparations for the foundationlaying ceremony.

The PMO representativealso inspected the JWC groundwhere a huge tent is beingerected to accommodate 1,500students and 300 guests. Hetook stock of the internet con-nectivity and technical facilitiesbeing provided for the foun-dation laying ceremony.Jharkhand Governor DroupadiMurmu and Chief Minister Raghubar Das are expected to be present during the occasion. HRD representative and

official of Rashtriya UchchatarSiksha Abhiyaan (RUSA) DrShambhu Dayal Singh, KolhanUniversity VC Prof Dr ShuklaMahanty, NEP directorRanjana Mishra and JWC prin-cipal Dr Purnima Kumar werealso present during the inspec-tion. The PMO representativeheld discussions with theseofficials on many points relat-ed to the foundation laying cer-emony for which the tender hasbeen finalized.

The foundation laying cer-

emony of JamshedpurWomen’s University by PrimeMinister Narendra Modi onlinefrom Jammu will be a majorevent and will entail a cost ofRs 38 lakh.

JWC principal DrPurnima Kumar also chaired ameeting of the Board of Studieswhere a decision was taken toopen a centre for Khadi andVillage Industries Commission(KVIC) and Jharkhand KhadiGramudyog Ayog and com-mence a six month tailoring

course.The Commission has

already provided 25 machinesto the College for the purpose.The JWC administration hasincluded this tailoring course inthe Skill Development syllabus.

Dr Purnima Kumar statedin the meeting that the tailor-ing course to be introduced willprove be highly beneficial toskill development. It would bea certificate course, she added.The fee for the course would bemade available on the website.

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As many as 29 bovines wereseized from six mini

trucks, which were interceptedby local Jaridih police in Bermoblock of Bokaro district, earlymorning on Wednesday.

This is the first incident ofseizure of a large number ofcows being transported in vehi-cles from Bermo.

Talking to The Pioneer,officer-in-charge of Jaridihpolice station Rupesh KumarDubey said, “The six minitrucks were loaded with cows,buffalos and calves. Thesetrucks were reportedly plyingfrom Bihar towards WestBengal.”

He said that by the time thepolice reached the spot, the dri-vers and handymen of thevehicle were taken into custody.

"The cow-laden vehicleswere seized on the suspicion ofbovine theft," Dubey said andadded, “The arrested personshave submitted some docu-ments which we are investi-

gating.”There were seven cows,

four calves, 13 buffalo and fivebuffalo calves loaded on thetruck and there was also anoticeable violation ofPrevention of Cruelty toAnimals Act, the OC informed.

"Prima facie, it has beenfound the cows were purchasedfrom another place of Biharborder and shipped to WestBengal from where they wereagain to be sold to a thirdparty," Dubey said.

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Opposition parties inJharkhand have unani-

mously asked the ElectionCommission of India (ECI) totransfer all State officials –serv-ing a particular position for overthree years and directly or indi-rectly involved in conductingelections—in a bid to ensurefair polling during the upcomingLok Sabha polls.

The parties floated their con-cerns during a closed door meet-ing with a five-member teamfrom the ECI in a Ranchi hotelon Wednesday.

“There are many officialswho are loyal to the ruling gov-ernment. It won’t be fair to conduct electionsunder the supervision of such loyalists, so wehave asked the ECI to transfer any official hold-ing a particular position for over three years,”said Congress’ Lohardaga legislator SukhdeoBhagat.

The ECI team met political parties separatelyand noted down their concerns. Sources said thata maximum of three representatives from eachpolitical party were allowed to meet the ECIteam.

The opposition parties also demanded a sin-gle window system to simplify campaigning forthe elections. Till now, the parties had to sepa-rately seek permissions for vehicles, sound andvenue. The single window system, they said, willallow an easy, one-step solution to their cam-paigning needs.

Besides Bhagat, Jharkhand Mukti Morcha(JMM) spokesperson Vinod Pandey andRashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) spokesperson ManojKumar met the ECI team with their respectiveparty’s demands. Ruling Bharatiya Janata Party(BJP) legislator Radha Krishna Kishore repre-sented the BJP in a separate meeting with theECI team.

The BJP requested the ECI not to clubpolling booths as it causes inconvenience to vot-ers from the far off villages. It also claimed that

the elections will be more peaceful this timesince the NDA government has eradicated leftwing extremism from many areas of Jharkhand.

The opposition parties expressed concernover possible malfunction of EVM machines andasked the ECI to put the EVM machines underscanner. The visiting ECI team, however,assured that Voter Verified Paper Audit Trail(VVPAT) will be used during the polls, so therewas no question of EVM tampering or mal-function, sources said.

The opposition parties asked the ECI toincrease the expenditure submission deadline ofeach candidate from 30 days to 60 days, saidManoj Kumar of RJD. He added that the RJDhas separately requested the ECI to conduct theelection in one phase.

The last Lok Sabha election for the 14 con-stituencies in Jharkhand was conducted in threephases. The ruling BJP won 12 of 14 seats andJMM bagged the remaining two in the 2014polls.

Jharkhand Vikas Morcha-Prajatantrik(JVM-P) requested the ECI to put a scanner onthe use of black money during elections by thebigger political parties.

Meanwhile, the Communist Party of India(Marxist) has demanded public holiday on theday of polling.

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The first planetarium of theState is all set to come up

within the next two monthsnear Science City, Chiraundi inRanchi.

The civil work of the pro-ject worth Rs. 26 crore isalmost completed and the workof installation of machines is inprocess.

Executive Director ofJharkhand Science, Technologyand Innovation Council(JSTIC), which is responsiblefor the construction of theplanetarium, GSP Gupta said,“The diameter of the planetar-ium is 15 metres having a 160seating capacity. The domehas already been constructedand electrification work is com-plete.”

The agreement for con-struction of the planetariumwas signed between the gov-ernment of Jharkhand andCreative Museum DesignerWorks, a Government of India

agency under National Councilof Science Museum (NCSM)on February 2, 2014.

“The construction workwas supposed to be completedwithin 36 months but it gotdelayed due to several rea-sons, including the fact thatmost of the equipment to beinstalled is to be brought infrom outside the nation,” Guptasaid.

He added, “NCSM recent-ly had a meeting with thehigher and technical educationsecretary and assured that theplanetarium would be handedover by March this year.”

Apart from the one inRanchi, two more planetariumsare set to come up, one inDumka and another inDeoghar, both in the next sixmonths.

The planetarium inDumka, which is being con-structed with a budget of Rs. 30crore will have a diameter of 15metres and a seating capacity of160.“This is going to be ahybrid planetarium instead ofa regular one. The traditionalplanetarium is more sciencebased, while the hybrid plane-tarium has more aestheticeffect and is more pleasing forthe eyes of viewers,” Gupta said.

The agreement for con-struction of the project was

signed in June 2015 and it wassupposed to be completed bymid 2018, however, the projectis running a year late.

The third and a smallerplanetarium is all set to comeup at Nandan Hill in Deogharin another six months. The 55seater planetarium with 8.5mts diameter is being con-structed with the budget of Rs.8.5 crore.

“The planetariums willserve two purposes, educa-tional and tourism. The con-cept of council is edutainment,which is providing educationthrough entertainment and aplanetarium is the best way todo it,” Gupta said.

He added, “As Ranchi is theState Capital and Dumka andDeoghar both witness hugetourist footfall due to twomajor temples Basukinath andBaba Dham, along with havingnumerous other tourist spots,the planetarium would be anadded attraction for the visi-tors.”

����� ����

In a bid to promote silk andhandicraft products in the

state, Jharkhand Silk Textileand Handicraft DevelopmentCorporation, popularly knownas Jharcraft, launched its thirdemporium in the state capitalon Wednesday.

Inaugurating the empori-um, DevelopmentCommissioner, DK Tiwarypraised this initiative ofJharcraft. “It will provide jobsto a number of artisans livingin the remotest areas of thestate and help boost their econ-omy. This will also provide abigger marketing platform tothe handcrafted products of

artisans of the state,” he said.Tiwary walked through

various sections of the store,purchasing a few items forhimself. He said that all theproducts are beautifully madeand of very good in quality.“The prices are very reasonableand the store can cater to awide section of the society,” hesaid.

The new emporium holdsa huge variety of item rightfrom apparels for men andwomen, furniture and homefurnishing items to home décoritems. Apart from Tussar Silkproducts which are the spe-cialty of the state, the store isalso offering a wide range ofhome décor items based on

Dokra art form and bambooproducts.

While talking to thePioneer, Managing Director(MD) of Jharcraft, DipankarPanda said, “This is thirdemporium in the State capital.The other two emporiums aredoing a good business.Jharcraft was established in2006 with the objective ofboosting silk production andsupporting sericulturists,weavers and artisans. Theorganization implemented gov-ernment-funded schemes topromote tasar, handloom andhandicrafts in the state.”

“Jharcraft’s first empori-um was launched in September2007 at MG Road in Ranchi.

There has been no lookingback since. Silk productionhas jumped to 1,025 metrictonnes (MT) in 2012-13 from90 MT in 2006. We are expect-ing the silk production to riseto 2600 MT this year,” headded.

Panda said that around25,000 artisans are workingwith the corporation, under 25designers.

The corporation is runningits outlets both in Jharkhand aswell as at national level. “InJharkhand the outlets are in

Dhanbad and Hazaribag andtwo more are coming up inJamshedpur and Bokaro. Thisapart, Jharcraft has outlets inDelhi, Kolkata, Ahmadabad,Pune, Mumbai andBengaluru,” he said.

The store is offering a 15%inaugural discount for oneweek on various items includ-ing Tussar silk sarees, dupatta,salwar suit, shirts, kurtasamong apparels and also onhome furnishing items likeblankets, pillows and otherhome décor items.

�11�� ��1� � ����

If all goes well, three siblingsliving in a shelter home of

Ranchi will soon get a newfamily to take care of themunder the foster care scheme.

Foster care is a schemeunder which children below 18years of age are linked with afamily which can take care ofthe and provide them a home-ly environment on a temporarybasis. Seema Sharma, protec-tion officer, non institutionalcare said, “The home verifica-tion of the family selected tofoster the three siblings hasbeen done and one final step ofcommunity verification isremaining. If we are satisfiedwith the family, the three sib-lings of 8 years, 6 years and 5years of age, will be given tothem for a short period.”

The foster care programmeand sponsorship scheme, bothwere introduced in the state inApril 2018. While the fostercare provides a temporaryhome for a child living in a shel-ter home, the sponsorship pro-gramme offers financial assis-tance of Rs. 2000 per month tothe family of any child who isfrom extremely poor back-

ground and cannot afford pro-viding basic necessity to thechild.

However, till date only onechild has been sent to fostercare and one is linked with thesponsorship scheme.

Member of child welfarecommittee (CWC), RanchiSrikant Kumar said, “Both theschemes are very beneficial forthe growth and development ofchildren but there seems to bea huge lack of awareness regard-ing them. The number of appli-cations coming in for foster careor adoption is very less.”

Sharma informed that tilldate CWC Ranchi has receivedonly six applications for fostercare of which two familieswere found suitable, and 15applications for sponsorship.

Talking about how the lifeof a nine year old boy changedafter he was given in for fosterto a family in October 2018,Sharma said, “The boy is veryhappy and seem to have adjust-ed with the new family. He isbeing homeschooled right nowand would be enrolled in agood school by foster parentsin April this year. The child isproduced at CWC every monthand we also go on a regular visitto his house.”

Under foster care scheme,a child is given to a family fora period of three months whichis extended quarterly; depend-ing on how well the child is

adjusted and taken care of. “Ifan orphan child is given for fos-ter care and he or she lives withthe same family for five years,the family will get a preferencein adoption process of thatchild,” Sharma said.

Srikant Kumar said thatthere is a need to spread aware-ness regarding both theschemes as they are very muchimportant for the overall devel-opment of the child. “It isalways better that a child liveswith a family in a homelyenvironment than living in ashelter home.”

Talking about the varioussteps being taken for spreadingawareness regarding the twoschemes, Kumar said, “Anadvertisement was published inlocal papers inviting applica-tions for foster scheme by thedistrict child protection officer.Such advertisements shouldbe issued more often and peo-ple should also be reached outthrough radios.”

CWC also organises train-ing sessions for Anganwadiworkers in the city to spreadawareness regarding the twoschemes. “There are around354 anganwadi workers inRanchi city area and we aretraining them twice a monthregarding the two schemes sothat they can reach out to suchfamilies needing sponsorshipor willing to take in a fosterchild,” Kumar said.

����� ����

In a unique agitation againstliquor sale in the State,

Jharkhand Pradesh MahilaCongress (JPMC) pastedposters of Prime MinisterNarendra Modi and ChiefMinister Raghubar Das on theliquor shops of city onWednesday.

Led by JPMS presidentGunjan Singh, a numbers ofwomen workers of the partypasted photos of the PM andCM, at various shops includingthose at Kishorganj, Gadikhanaand Dhurwa.

Speaking on the issueSingh said, “The photos of thePM and the CM can be seen inthe Government offices so they should also be put up atthe Government run liquorshops.”

She added, “Sale of alcohol

during the BJP Governmenthas led to increase in crime inthe state, especially againstwomen. The governmentshould prohibit liquor sell inthe State otherwise JPMC willtake the agitation on a largescale.” Demanding ban onliquor sale, city JPMC presi-dent, Vinita Pathak said thatopen selling of liquor hasfrightened women immensely.

����� ����

Gearing up for the upcominggeneral elections, the

Bhartiya Janata Party’s (BJP) willhold cluster meeting atChandwa block of Latehar dis-trict, 80 kilometer away fromthe State capital on February 2.The party has prepared an elec-tion strategy to hold meetingsin five clusters, one in each divi-sion of the State.

A numbers of BJP leadersincluding the State Spokes per-son Pratul Shahdeo, MemberState Working CommitteeManoj Vajpayee and FormerDistrict president LalKaushalnath Shahdeo visitedthe venue on Wednesday toinspect the preparation for themeeting. While addressing apress meet at Chandwa Shahdeo

said on Wednesday, “The partyis expecting more than 20,000workers to attend the meeting.Through this interactive sessionChief Minister, Raghubar Daswill communicate with theground level workers of theDivision to form strategy for theelections. All the block levelworkers have been given theduty to complete the prepara-tion.”

Addressing the gathering ofleaders, Shahdeo said, “Throughthis meeting the party willannounce victory of threeLokshbaha seats under the clus-ter. The State level leaders of theparty will visit every booth ofthe cluster to ensure that themeeting is successful.”

Shahdeo also appealed tothe youths to participate inhuge numbers.

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Delhi Public School groupemerged as overall cham-

pions in Prabhat Khabar quizcontest finale organised atMayuri Auditorium at CMPDI

on Wednesday.The last round was played

by 12 teams, six in senior andsix in junior category.

While DPS Bokaroemerged the winner in seniorcategory followed by LoyolaJamshedpur and NTTFGolmuri Jamshedpur, DPSRanchi bagged the first position in junior category fol-lowed by DPS Bokaro andLittle Flower SchoolJamshedpur on second andthird position.

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Several trains were delayed on theHowrah-Tatanagar and Chaibasa-

RajKharsawan sections of South EasternRailway (SER) following a ‘rail roko’ agi-tation by the activists of All India HoLanguage Action Committee (AIHLC), atribal outfit demanding the Centre toinclude Ho language in the EighthSchedule of the Constitution.

The agitation took place at Salgajhuri,8 Kms away from Tatanagar railway sta-tion and Chaibasa railway station, 70 Kmsfrom here. Members of the tribal outfitwith banners and placards and raising slo-gans against the Centre started gatheringat Salgajhuri from as early as 6 am onWednesday.

The Steel Superfast Express which leftTatanagar railway station on its righttime at 6.15 am got stuck in the agitationat Salgajhuri. The agitators squatted on therailway tracks preventing the train to move.The train was stopped for about one-and-half- hours from 6.25 am to 7.45 am beforeit left for its onward journey.

The New Delhi-BhubaneswarSampark Kranti Express was detained atthe Tatanagar railway station for over one-and-half-hour after the train reached at6.20 am. The train left for Bhubaneshwar

at 8 am.The Puri-New Delhi Purushottam

Superfast Express was also detained forover one hour at Salgaghuri. The train wasdelayed by about one-and-half-hour whenit reached Tatanagar. The schedule time ofarrival of the Delhi-bound PurushottamExpress at Tatanagar is 6.35 am whereasthe train came here today at 8 am.

Movement of trains was also hit in theChaibasa and Rajkharsawan route. TheBarbil-Tata Passenger which travels viaChaibasa-Rajkharsawan route was delayedby one hour when the train reachedTatanagar Wednesday. The schedule arrivaltime of the passenger train in 9.50 am butthe train came at 10.50 am.

Policemen including Railway

Protection Force (RPF) and GovernmentRailway Police ( GRP) were deployed atboth the places of agitation. Tatanagar sta-tion director H K Balmuchu said normaltrain services were restored in both the sec-tions after 8 pm.

The agitators alleged that despite theassurance of inclusion of ‘Ho’ dialect in the8th Schedule, the government has failedto fulfil the demand. They resorted to therail roko agitation to press for theirdemand. Ho language, which is written inWarang Chiti script, is the mother tongueof nearly 10 lakh tribal people living inOdisha and Jharkhand. After Santali,which has already been included, Ho is thesecond most widely spoken tribal languagein the State.

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Teams of electricity depart-ment officials conducted

raids at several locations in theurban and rural area of Chason Wednesday and lodged FIRagainst 15 people for stealingelectricity at the local police sta-tions. A fine of over Rs. onelakh was also imposed againstthe defaulters.

All the defaulters werefound using illegal power con-nections. “They were usingelectricity without taking offi-cial connections in their hous-es,” said S Laha, AssistantElectrical Engineer, Bokaro.

“During raids, we haveinteracted with the people andgot the feedback that, mostpeople understand that stealingelectricity is illegal, yet powertheft continues not only inBokaro but across the country,”he said.

“Theft of electricity is acrime, punishable by fines andor imprisonment. Despite ourconsistent raids, power theftincidents are still coming tolight in Bokaro as people havestarted opting for new ways forstealing power,” he added.

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Bokaro Steel Plant (BSL)won the gold medal in All

India Corporate ManagementOlympiad organized by AllIndia Management Association(IMA) at New Delhi.

Representing BSL in theOlympiad, SW KispottaDeputy Manager (OxygenPlant) and Deputy Manager(MRD) Anand Raj’s team wonthe gold medal, informed aBSL’s Public Relation Official.

On returning to Bokaro,

members of the winning teammet Pawan Kumar Singh, CEOof BSL and shared their expe-riences.

In this national levelCorporate ManagementOlympiad based on businessquiz teams from 25 reputedcompanies across the countrylike IOCL, NTPC, Tata Steel,GEL, POSCO and SBI partic-ipated. CEO congratulatedKispotta and Anand Raj ontheir achievements and felici-tated them in a programmeheld at BSL’s Auditorium.

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The police are yet to make abreakthrough in abduction case

of Nilamber Pitamber University’scontract engineer. The victim,Sammi Kumar, was taken in captiv-ity by criminals on the GarhwaShahpur road on Monday night andwas released the next day morning.

Sources in the police said that thecrime was committed by professionalcriminals who used an SUV withfake registration number for com-mitting the crime.

SP Indrajeet Mahatha said thaton police verification of the regis-tration number it turned out to bethat of a two wheeler. He said thecrime was no spur of the moment buta planned one, as can be understoodby the fact that the criminals usedfake number plate. Speaking aboutthe modus operandi of the criminals,SP said, “The criminals were trailingbehind the car of the NPU person-nel right from Garhwa, from wherefour employees of NPU had left forDaltonganj after attending a marriagefunction, on the night of Monday.”

The NPU officials informed thepolice that they were intercepted bycriminals who behaved like securi-ty personnel on search mission.They took position on both sides ofthe car and asked the occupants tostep down.

One version is that the criminalsfirst wanted all lights in the car to beswitched off. The criminals wereintelligent enough not to addressthemselves by any name.

Mahatha said that the criminalsbrought their vehicle up to SadikManzil chowk as can be seen in thecctv footage and then the vehicletook a turn towards Shahpur. “Thiswas done to distract the police. Thepolice is trying to nab the criminals,”he said. VC of NPU, SN Singh, reg-istrar Rakesh Kumar and computercentre in charge MK Deepakremained with the four till the policetook the statement of Sammi kumaron Tuesday morning.

Sammi Kumar was brutally beat-en up and the criminals attempted tostrangulate him which lead to Kumarhaving complaints of difficulty inswallowing food or water.

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The EnforcementDirectorate (ED) has issued

a showcause notice to popularPakistani singer Rahat FatehAli Khan, his manager andIndian associates for dealing inforeign currency equivalent to�2.61 crore in alleged violationof Foreign ExchangeManagement Act (FEMA).

“A Show Cause Notice forthe contraventions of….Foreign ExchangeManagement Act, 1999(FEMA)…. and ForeignExchange Management(Export and import of curren-cy) Regulations, 2000 for anamount of approximately �2.61crores have been issued toRahat Ali Khan and MaroofAli, both Pakistani nationals forillegal dealings in foreignexchange and other localIndians for their involvementin supplying of the foreigncurrency unauthorisedly,” theED said in a statement onWednesday.

ED initiated investigationunder the provisions of FEMAon the basis of seizure of for-

eign currency by Directorate ofRevenue Intelligence (DRI).Investigation revealed thatsinger Rahat Ali Khan hadengaged Late ChitreshShrivastava as Global EventManager, who used to collectpayments on his behalf forvarious shows performed byhim in India.

The ED said major part ofthese payments was received incash. These cash was illegallyconverted into USD throughunauthorised sources byShrivastava and the same washanded over to Rahat Ali Khan,the ED said.

In this manner, Rahat AliKhan had illegally received$3,40,000 in India throughunauthorized sources with thehelp of his Event Manager andwith the support of his man-

ager he had illegally taken out$2,25,000 out of India beforebeing intercepted by DRI, theED added.

The notice under FEMAwas issued after the probe inthe 2011 case was completedrecently.

Khan, who is popular forhis renditions in India andPakistan, has been asked toreply to the notice within 45days, along with others, agencyofficials said.

The ED initiated a FEMAinvestigation against Khan andhis associates in 2014 after theDRI, in 2011, intercepted himand his manager, Maroof AliKhan, at the Indira GandhiInternational Airport (IGIA)here for allegedly carrying anundeclared amount of USD1.24 lakh and some otherinstruments in foreign cur-rency.

The ED, which is the cen-tral agency to probe such forexcontraventions under theFEMA, took over the case afterthis interception.

As part of the probe, Khanwas grilled in connection withthe case.

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The Navy has signed anagreement with public sec-

tor Goa Shipyard Limited(GSL) for construction of twostealth frigates with Russiancollaboration. The expectedcost of the two ships is about500 million dollars. An inter-governmental agreementbetween Russia and India wasinked in October last year forfour stealth frigates. While twowill be built here as part of‘Make in India programme,’Russia will build the other twoat Yantar Shipyard inKaliningrad and are expectedto be delivered to the IndianNavy by 2022-23.

Giving details of the con-tract inked on Wednesday,Navy officials said here thescheduled delivery of the Indiamade ships is June 2026 andDecember 2026 respectively.The Follow-on P 1135.6 seriesof frigates, customised to meet

the Indian Navy’s specificrequirements, are potent plat-forms, with a mission span cov-ering the entire spectrum ofNaval warfare; Air, Surface andSub-surface.

The ships will be equippedto operate in littoral and bluewaters; both as a single unit andas consorts of a naval task force.Advanced features of stealthinclude a special hull design, tolimit radar cross-section, lowelectromagnetic, infrared andunder water noise signatures.The ships will carry highlysophisticated and state-of-art

weapon systems and sensors.To support these ships throughtheir life cycle, the Indian Navyhas put in place requisite infra-structures for training andmaintenance.

Importantly, in line withthe government’s ‘Make inIndia’ initiative, these shipsbeing constructed at GSL willmake these platforms thelargest number of ships of aclass in service showcasingindigenous equipment such assonar system, Brahmos missilesystem and CombatManagement System.

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Vice Admiral G AshokKumar on Wednesday

assumed charge as Vice Chiefof the Naval Staff after theincumbent Vice Admiral AjitKumar took charge as chief ofthe Western Command. Theincoming Vice Chief,an alum-nus of Sainik School,Amaravathi Nagar andNational Defence Academy(NDA), Khadakvasla, Pune,was commissioned into theExecutive Branch of the IndianNavy in July 1982.

He has held various chal-lenging Staff and Commandassignments during his careerspanning more than threedecades.

After having completed hisspecialisation in Navigationand Direction at Kochi in 1989,he served as the NavigatingOfficer of Indian Naval Ships

Beas, Nilgiri, Ranvir andVikrant. The new Vice Chief ’sother sea tenures includeCommanding Officer of INSKulish and Ranvir, andExecutive Officer onboard INSBrahmaputra.

Among his shore tenures,the important ones includeStaff officer (Ops/ND) atIndian Naval Work-up team,Head of Training Team (Navy)at Defence Services StaffCollege, Wellington, DefenceAdvisor at the HighCommission of India inSingapore and the Chief StaffOfficer (Operations) of theWestern Naval Command.

He is a graduate of DefenceServices Staff College,Wellington and has attendedthe Army Higher CommandCourse at Mhow as well as theExpeditionary OperationsCourse at Quantico, Virginia,USA, the Navy said here.

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Ailing Goa Chief MinisterManohar Parrikar on

Wednesday slammed Congresspresident Rahul Gandhi forstooping too low for his pettypolitical gains even as he assert-ed that there was no mentionof Rafale fighter plane issueduring his five-minute meetingwhen the Opposition partychief came calling him at GoaAssembly complex at Panaji.

In a letter to Rahul, askedthe Congress chief to put outthe truth and not to use his visitto an ailing person to “feedpolitical opportunism”. TheGoa Chief Minister who isrecovering from his illness saidthe Congress leader has usedhis visit for “petty politicalgains”.

His letter came a day afterRahul targeted Prime MinisterNarendra Modi over the con-troversial Rafale deal, claimingthat Parrikar, who is a formerDefence Minister, had clearlystated that he has nothing to dowith the ‘new deal’.

“Friends, the ex-DefenceMinister Mr Parrikar clearlystated that he has nothing to dowith the new deal that wasorchestrated by Narendra Modito benefit Anil Ambani,” theCongress leader told a booth-level party workers meeting inKochi. His comments hadcome hours after he metParrikar at the Goa Assemblycomplex in Panaji.

In his letter, Parrikar saidhe feels “let down that you haveused this visit for your pettypolitical gains. In the five min-utes you spent with me, neitherdid you mention anythingabout Rafale, not did we discussanything about/related to it.”

The Rafale fighter jet dealwith France has generated agreat deal of political heat withCongress trying to turn tableson the Modi-Government,accusing it of favouring a busi-ness tycoon and ignoringclaims of public Sector UnitHAL for the offset deals. TheCongress has also accused of

the Government of payinghigher prices for the fighter jetsthan what was arrived at dur-ing the UPA regime.

As against Congress accu-sations, Supreme Court had lastyear given a clean chit to thegovernment on the issue. AsLok Sabha polls are barely

three-months away, Rafale hasbecome a political footballwith both the parties seeking toscore points over each other.

Parrikar was DefenceMinister when the Rafale dealwas under process and beforehe was moved to Goa as itsChief Minister. Congress and

Rahul have alleged thatParrikar was in possession ofthe information that could nailthe Modi-Government’s allegedwrong doing in the Rafale deal.BJP has in turn sought todescribe Rahul as a habitual liarwho is deliberately refusing tosee the true facts of the deal.

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Launching a fresh attack onPrime Minister Narendra

Modi over the Rafale jet deal,Congress president RahulGandhi on Wednesday allegedthat he “sold” the Indian AirForce and “stole” opportunitiesof the youth by giving away�30,000 crore to his “friend”and businessman Anil Ambani.

Addressing the concludingsession of the Youth Congressnationwide public outreachcampaign ‘Yuva Kranti Yatra’,Rahul said no one will be ableto suppress the truth about the“Rafale scam” and it will comeout finally. The government aswell as Ambani have stronglydenied any wrongdoing in theRafale deal.

“The entire country knowsthat Mr Modi stole opportuni-ties of the youth to give Rs30,000 crore to Anil Ambani.No one can suppress the truthabout Rafale, it will come outitself,” he said. “You have soldthe Indian Air Force,” healleged, targeting Modi over theRafale deal. He said the primeminister spoke for one and ahalf hours in Parliament butwhen asked questions onRafale, he could not look in theeye and kept looking else-where. “The prime minister istrying to hide the truth,” RahulGandhi also alleged.

“You (Modi) cannot sleepin the night. When you sleep,you see the picture of AnilAmbani, you see the picture ofRafale jet, you see the pictureof IAF martyrs... This is hap-pening due to the Congress andyouth Congress workers whohave shown you the truth. Theentire country knows that youhave played with the future ofthe youth,” he alleged.

He also said the Congresswill not be on the backfoot andwill instead play on the front-foot. “Modi has to face the pub-lic in 2019,” he said. AttackingModi, he said, “The primeminister has worked on divid-ing the country, burnt theNortheast, Kashmir, made peo-ple fight in Haryana,Maharashtra, Karnataka andKerala.”

“2014 taught us a lessonthat we should not be arrogant

and have humility... We did thatand now the atmosphere ischanging,” he said. Accordingto Rahul, the Congress hastaken a historic step and decid-ed on giving people right tominimum income. “All poorpeople will get benefit directlyinto their accounts and therewill be no middlemen.” He alsosaid the Congress is “notagainst industrialists butagainst crony capitalists likeModi’s friends”, he said.

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Prime Minister NarendraModi-led high powered

Selection Committee forappointment of the CBIDirector will meet on Friday topick the new chief of theCentral probe agency.

Besides Modi, Chief Justiceof India Ranjan Gogoi andsenior Congressman andLeader of Opposition in theLok Sabha Mallikarjun Khargeare members of the SelectionCommittee.

The last meeting of thepanel took place on January 24but it remained “inconclusive”.

“The next meeting of thepanel on selection of the CBIchief will take place onFebruary 1 at around 6 PM,”Kharge told reporters onWednesday.

In the last meeting, Khargehad sought details of dossiersof all the eligible officers for the

post. The Government hadthen presented a list of about 80officers empanelled with theCentre in the rank of DirectorGeneral without detailing theirexperience profile. Among theofficers with prior CBI experi-ence shortlisted for considera-tion by the panel include JaveedAhmed (12 and a half yearsexperience/UP cadre), HCAwasthi (10 years, UP cadre),OP Galhotra (10 years,Rajasthan cadre) and YC Modi(9 years, Assam-Meghalaya

cadre). Other officers with fiveyears experience in CBI includeRahnikant Mishra (UP cadre),Rakesh Asthana (Gujaratcadre), SS Deshwal (Haryanacadre), VK Johri (MadhyaPradesh), Rajesh Ranjan (Biharcadre)and Arun Kumar (UPcadre).

If the panel decides on thebasis of prior experience inCBI, one of these officers couldhead the CBI that workingunder an interim chiefNageswara Rao.

����� ��������

The Supreme Court onWednesday said it would

“come down heavily” on KartiChidambaram, son of formerFinance Minister PChidambaram, if he did notcooperate during probe intoINX Media and Aircel Maxiscases, but allowed him to trav-el abroad after depositing �10crore as security.

“Don’t play around withthe law,” the apex court warnedKarti.

Directing him to give anundertaking that he wouldabide by the conditions, thecourt asked Karti to appearbefore the EnforcementDirectorate (ED) on March 5,6, 7 and 12 for the questioning.

“You (Karti) can go wher-ever you want to, you can dowhatever you want, but don’tplay around with the law. Ifthere is an iota of non-cooper-ation, we will come down heav-ily,” a bench headed by ChiefJustice Ranjan Gogoi said.

“You go wherever you wantto go, between February 10 and

26 but you must cooperatewith the investigation. You hadnot been cooperating withinvestigations. We have lot tosay but would not say for now,”said the bench, which alsocomprised Justices DeepakGupta and Sanjiv Khanna.

Solicitor General TusharMehta, appearing for ED, saidthe agency would requireKarti’s presence on four datesin March for investigations inthe cases and asked the apexcourt to impose conditions asdone in past to ensure that he

comes back to India.The Bench took note of the

submissions and asked Karti tofile an undertaking to thateffect besides depositing �10crore as security with theSecretary General of the apexcourt which would be returnedto him after he comes back toIndia.

When his lawyer referredto the issue of �10 crore secu-rity, the CJI asked, “Do youwant a zero to be added”.

Karti has sought permis-sion to travel abroad twicefrom February 10 to 26 andagain from March 23 to 31.

����� ��������

The Supreme Court onWednesday came out with

a new mechanism of automat-ic listing of fresh cases withinthree to seven days in a bid todo away with the system ofmentioning of matters forurgent listing every day.

Chief Justice of IndiaRanjan Gogoi had on January23 said the apex court wasdevising a mechanism to doaway with the process of men-tioning of pleas and to ensureautomatic listing of fresh casesfor hearing soon after beingfiled.

“Fresh matters verified onFriday in the post lunch ses-sion, Saturday, Monday andTuesday in the pre-lunch ses-sion i.E upto 1 pm shall be list-ed on Friday in the same weekand those verified on Tuesdayin the post lunch session,Wednesday, Thursday andFriday in the pre-lunch sessioni.E upto 1 PM be listed onMonday in the next week,”said a circular issued onWednesday by the apex court.

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The SupremeCourt on

W e d n e s d a yq u e s t i o n e dbanned cricketerS Sreesanth fornot immediately bringing it tothe notice of BCCI that he wasbeing approached for allegedspot-fixing during the IndianPremier League (IPL) match in2013.

The apex court observedthat conduct of Sreesanth, whois facing life ban for his allegedinvolvement in the sensation-al spot-fixing scandal, in theentire episode was “not good”.

Sreesanth, who was dis-charged by a trial court in 2015in a criminal case related toalleged spot-fixing, told abench of Justices AshokBhushan and KM Joseph thatlife ban imposed on him by theBoard of Control for Cricket inIndia (BCCI) was harsh andthere was no evidence to sub-stantiate the claim that he wasindulged in any illegality

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Thiruvananthapuram: The TravancoreDevaswom Board that manages the LordAyyappa shrine at Sabarimala has sought finan-cial aid from the State Government for the tem-ple following drastic fall in revenue during thejust concluded Mandala-Makaravillaku festival.

Board sources said the final amount to besought from the Government was yet to bearrived yet, but they were keeping their fingerscrossed and hoping at least �250 crore would beset apart for the development of Sabarimala inthe State Budget, which is to be presentedThursday.

The August floods and the recent massiveprotests by right wing activists and devotees overthe women entry issue at the temple had led toa revenue dip of �100 crore in Hundi collectionsand 'prasadam' sales this year.

Right wing outfits had also allegedly askeddevotees not to make any money offerings athundis in temples managed by the TDB as a markof protest against the stand taken by the CPI(M)-led LDF Government to implement the SupremeCourt verdict allowing women of all age groupsto offer prayers at the hill shrine. PTI

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Social activist Anna Hazarebegan a hunger strike on

Wednesday over "non-fulfil-ment" of assurances by theCentre and the MaharashtraGovernment on the appoint-ment of Lokpal and passage ofthe Lokayukta Act in the State.

Hazare offered prayers atthe Padmavati Temple in hisvillage Ralegan Siddhi inAhmednagar district ofMaharashtra in the morning.He then went in a procession,accompanied by students,youths and farmers, to theYadavbaba Temple and sat nearit to begin his hunger strike.

The anti-corruption cru-

sader told that he welcomed theMaharashtra Cabinet's deci-sion to bring the office of StateChief Minister under the juris-diction of Lokayukta.

"However, the strike willcontinue till the Governmentfulfils promises they madebefore coming to power aboutpassage of Lokayukta Act,appointment of Lokpal and totackle farmers' issues," he said.

As a routine procedure,doctors conducted a basichealth check-up of Hazare, aclose aide of the activist said.

"Hazare has now begun hisfast as he is disappointed withthe State Government for notappointing the Lokayukta," headded.

Surat: Prime Minister NarendraModi on Wednesday stressedthe need for a full-majorityGovernment at the Centre, say-ing "hung Parliaments" stalledthe country's progress in lastthree decades.

Addressing a gathering here,he also defended theGovernment's demonetisationmove, saying it brought downprices of houses and made themaffordable for the young gener-ation by checking black moneyin the real estate sector.

"As you all know, India wit-nessed instability for 30 yearsdue to hung parliaments, as noparty received a majority. Thishad stalled the country's devel-opment. And the country evenregressed on some parametersdue to that situation," Modisaid. "We are progressing todaybecause the people applied theirwisdom in casting votes (in2014 elections). Their voteseradicated that 30-year-old ill-

ness called hung parliamentand helped form a full majori-ty Government at the Centre,"the Prime Minister said.

"You can ask me what I havedone and I can give you answersbecause you voted for us unan-imously. We have done what wehave done because of the man-date we got. If we were a coali-tion Government, then we couldhave given many reasons for notfunctioning properly," he said.

Modi was speaking after lay-ing foundation stone for exten-sion of the terminal building ofSurat Airport. The PrimeMinister said his Government inthe last four and a half years con-structed 1.30 crore houses, asagainst 25 lakh houses builtunder the previous UPA Govt.

"Just compare those 25 lakhhouses with 1.30 crore. If theprevious Governments had todo the work we have done so far,they would have needed anoth-er 25 years," Modi said. PTI

Agartala: Opposition CPI(M) on Tuesdayaccused the Hindu Jagaran Mancha, a right winggroup, of forcibly reconverting 98 peoplebelonging to 23 tribal families to Hinduism ear-lier this month by making a threat that it canput them behind bars.

The Mancha, however, denied the allega-tion.

These 98 people, mostly tea garden work-ers hailing from Bihar and Jharkhand, live atRanchi Tilla in Unakoti district, about 190 kmfrom here.

The Mancha had said these people had beenlured into Christianity in 2010 after the tea gar-den they had been working was closed down.

Jiten Chowdhury, president of UpajatiGanamukti Parishad, CPI(M)'s tribal wing, saidhe visited Ranchi Tilla on January 25 to find outthe truth behind the reconversion.

"I found out that the Hindu JagaranMancha has forced them to be reconverted toHinduism. They said they were Christians ear-lier and were very happy," Chowdhury toldreporters here.

A general diary has been registered withKailashahar police station on December 23 stat-ing that someone had lost his livestock, he saidadding that four members of these people werearrested in this connection but later got bail.

"The Vishwa Hindu Parishad and theHindu Jagaran Mancha took this opportunity.They threatened them to put them behind barsand forced them to be reconverted toHinduism," Chowdhury alleged.

The Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) was alsoassociated with the reconversion programmethat took place at Kailashahar district onJanuary 20.

"They (the reconverted people) were verydisappointed by the incident. A fear psychosisprevails there. Many of the villagers broke intotears before me," Chowdhury said. PTI

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Aday after Amit Shah madeobjectionable remarks

against Mamata Banerjee froma public rally in East Midnapore,linking her paintings to chit fundproceeds, the Chief Minister onWednesday returned fire ques-tioning the BJP president andPrime Minister Narendra Modi’ssense of civility in dealing withOpposition politicians while theruling Trinamool Congressdashed off a defamation noticeto the saffron boss seeking pub-lic apology for bringing TMCsupremo to disrepute.

“I have no links with chitfunds. No one can show anychit fund money coming to myaccount. I can openly challengeModi babu to prove that Ihave links with chit fund or elseface the consequence. We havealready sent a notice to him(Amit Shah) and are preparingfor a defamation case” for what

he said on Tuesday, Banerjeetold in a meeting.

She said the Prime Ministerand Shah were “oafish in theirconduct and lacked basic cour-tesy in dealing with others,”adding peddling lies were theirmain political business.

On Shah’s allegations thatthe Hindus could not organiseDurga Pujas and Sarswati Pujasfearlessly in Bengal, Banerjeesaid “I call upon them to provetheir remarks. If they cannotprove their charges they willquit politics or I will,” Banerjeethundered rejecting the BJPpresident’s claims that she wasaping the Central schemes andselling them in her own namein Bengal to garner votes.

“We started Kanyashri and

similar schemes way back in2013 whereas their Beti bachao,beti padhao came much, muchlater and here they are claim-ing that I am copying theirschemes. This is absolute lieand they are selling lies only,”Banerjee said. IncidentallyBanerjee had already receiveinternational awards for herschemes like Kanyashree.

Meanwhile Bengal Ministerand State Mahila TrinamoolCongress president ChandrimaBhattacharya dashed off adefamation notice to Shah call-ing upon “you to either proveyour statements and/or forth-with withdraw the same andapologise before the public asotherwise it would be a con-straint on our bar to take appro-priate legal steps against you forwhich you would be heldresponsible.” With electionsnearing and 42 Lok Sabha seatsof Bengal going high on stakesthe rival parties have upped theante even as the BJP has fixedits target on 23 seats whileBanerjee going on record say-ing she will not let the BJP takeeven one seat from the State.

Kanpur: In a dig at the pro-posed 'mahagathbandhan' ofthe Opposition parties for notdisclosing its prime ministerialcandidate, BJP president AmitShah on Wednesday said therewill be a new Prime Ministerevery day of the week if thegrand alliance comes to power.

"The Opposition shouldspell out who its prime minis-terial candidate is," Shah saidaddressing a meeting of BJP'sbooth-level workers here aheadof the upcoming Lok Sabhaelections.

"If the 'gathbandhan' takesshape, Mayawati will be thePrime Minister on Monday,Akhilesh Yadav on Tuesday,Mamata (Banerjee) onWednesday, Sharad Pawar onThursday, Deve Gowda onFriday and (MK) Stalin on

Saturday and Sunday will be aholiday," he said.

"They are out to bring achange and do not have aleader," he added.

"The BJP has four Bs —'Badhta Bharat' and 'BantaBharat'. Those who are form-ing an alliance have four Bs —'bua' (aunt), 'bhatija' (nephew),'bhai' (brother) and 'behen' (sis-ter)," Shah said, accusing theOpposition parties of dynasticpolitics.

"Their Government cannottake the country ahead. Wewant that a strong Governmentis formed under Modiji, whilethey want a 'majboor' (helpless)Government. Only Modiji canprovide a 'mazboot' (strong)Government," he asserted.

The BJP president exhort-ed the workers to ensure a for-

midable victory for the party inthe parliamentary polls.

"It is also important for thecountry that BJP wins theseelections..The win should besuch that it shakes theOpposition parties," Shah said.

He also lashed out at theCongress and said none of theparty's leaders had the right toraise the Ram Janmabhoomiissue. "I have come to tell thepeople of Uttar Pradesh thatBJP is committed to ensure thata grand temple is made at theRam Janmabhoomi," Shah said.

"The Congress Governmenthad acquired 42 acres of land ofthe Ram JanmabhoomiNyas...Nyas has asked that it bereturned...We hope that theissue is resolved at the earliestand Lord Ram is installed in allhis grandeur," he said. PTI

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Chennai is in mourning,though silently, For George

Fernandez, the firebrandsocialist leader who badefarewell to this world earlyTuesday morning. Chennaiwas a home away from homefor the departed soul. And heis one of those rare politiciansin the country who could walk

into Veda Nilayam (residenceof former Chief Minister andAIADMK supremoJayalalithaa) and Gopalapuram(the residence of DMK patri-arch Karunanidhi) and wouldbe welcomed with the samewarmth.

The former DefenceMinister did not speak Tamil.But that did not come in hisway in establishing a strongbond with Karunanidhi.

When Karunanidhi was arrest-ed by the JayalalithaaGovernment and put behindthe bars in the central prisonat Chennai in 2001, GeorgeFernandez was the first non-DMK leader to call on him andexpress the solidarity of theNDA with the DMK chief.

During the short- livedNDA-I Government (1998-1999), George Fernandez wasa regular visitor to Chennai topacify the short temperedJayalalithaa, because theVajpayee Government sur-vived on the life support sys-tem by name AIADMK.Jayalalithaa was a woman in ahurry those days. TheKarunanidhi Governmentwhich came to power in 1996had registered many cases ofcorruption against her andhad constituted many specialcourts to fast track the cases.

Jayalalithaa had only one

demand to make to the Centre.Get the KarunanidhiGovernment dismissed underArticle 356 of the Constitutionand appoint a Governor whowould be pliable to the moodsof her. While the VajpayeeGovernment sat over herdemands, Amma turned furi-ous. George Fernandez’s mis-sion was to keep her in goodhumour.

All TV channels and polit-ical reporters would stand out-side Veda Nilayam for GeorgeFernadez to come out aftermeeting the lady of the house.“Well, you know she is thechairperson of the NDA andcould not attend our last meet-ing in New Delhi because shewas not well. Since I am theconvenor, it is my responsibil-ity to brief her about what tran-spired in the meeting and alsoto solicit her comments on var-ious issues,” George will tellreporters with a smiling face.

What was unique aboutGeorge Fernandez was hisuncombed hair and trade markkurta-pyjama (of course un-ironed). And he always traveledin a battered Ambassador carwhile all visitors to VedaNilayam used to commute inswanky high end cars.

Chennai was dear toFernandez because it was herehe lived in hiding when the

police was after him during theinternal emergency.Nonagenarian journalist andformer member of the CPI(M)Kunhanandan Nair, who wasthe Berlin correspondent of“Blitz” has a lot to speak abouthis old friend George. “GeorgeFernandez was a close friend ofWilly Brandt, formerChancellor of West Germany.Both Brandt and George weremembers of SocialistInternational of which the for-mer was the president. Georgespent many days in Germanywhen the police of IndiraGandhi was after him. Brandthad a special affection forGeorge because of his revolu-tionary nature,” rememberedNair.

The fate of the first NDAGovernment under Vajpayeewas sealed the day GeorgeFernandez told the BJP lead-ership that enough was enoughwith Jayalalithaa. Though afirebrand socialist, George wasan excellent communicatorand negotiator. He had that tal-ent to keep even the mostquarrelsome partners in goodhumour. It is said that when hefound it impossible to carry onwith the likes of certain lead-ers in the AIADMK, he isreported to have told the thenPrime Minister Vajpayee tosay bye to Amma.

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The Maratha Light Infantry(Jangi Paltan) on

Wednesday celebrated the com-pletion of 250 glorious yearssince its raising in Pune wayback in 1768.

The third oldest battalion ofthe Indian Army was raised onAugust 4, 1768 as 2nd BombaySepoys. In recognition of thesustained operational perfor-mance and victories in the bat-tlefield, the battalion was con-ferred with the Nom de Guerre‘Jangi Paltan’ in 1788.

The Battalion, in the 250years of its glorious history, hasbeen awarded 15 battle honours,six theatre honours and oneChief of Army Staff unit citationincluding one Victoria Crossearned by Sepoy NamdeoJadhav during crossing of theSenio River, in April 1945.

To commemorate this his-toric milestone and to celebratethe glory and service to thenation a ceremonial parade wasorganised in Pune onWednesday which was reviewedby the senior most serving offi-cer of the battalion, LieutenantGeneral Ashok Ambre, AtiVishist Seva Medal Bar, SenaMedal, Quartermaster General.

The Veer Naris (widows)and next of kin of the martyrsof the battalion were felicitated

during the event to commem-orate their supreme sacrifice inservice to the Nation.

A wreath laying ceremonywas organised as a solemnmemorial service in the honourof the gallant martyrs who laiddown their lives for the glory ofthe battalion. In addition, a spe-cial first day cover by the ArmyPostal Service was released,while numerous in-house eventswere also organised on theoccasion.

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Agartala: A tribal leader ofTripura, Rajeswar Debbarma,has resigned from the BJP forits "failure" to implement pollpromises, made during 2018Assembly election, for thedevelopment of the indige-nous people of the State.

Debbarma also demandedscrapping of the Citizenship(Amendment) Bill-2016 as itposed a threat to the indige-nous people of Tripura.

He submitted his resigna-tion to party president of theState unit, Biplab Kumar Deb,on Tuesday.

Deb is also the ChiefMinister of Tripura and is cur-rently out of the State.

"I am quite unhappy withthe performance of the BJP-led NDA Government in theState as it is ignoring theindigenous people of Tripura.Not a single poll pledge, the

party had made before lastyear's Assembly election, hasbeen implemented," Debbarmasaid.

Debbarma, a former MLAof the Indigenous NationalistParty of Twipra (INPT), aregional tribal party, hadjoined the BJP before theAssembly election in Tripuralast year.

"The BJP gave a clearassurance in its vision docu-ment before the last electionthat more power would begranted to tribal council, whichwould be named as 'TipralandState Council' but the partydid not look into the matter.

"Recently the UnionCabinet announced its decisionto upgrade the tribal councilinto a territorial council, whichwill not fulfil the aspirations ofthe indigenous people of theState," he said. PTI

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Tiruvannamalai(TN): Asmany as 15 minor girls havebeen rescued from a home inTiruvannamalai district fol-lowing complaints of sexualabuse against their in-charge,who has since been arrestedunder the Protection ofChildren from Sexual Offences(POCSO) Act.

According to police, offi-cials led by the DistrictCollector KS Kandasamy visit-ed the home last night andsealed the premises, after theissue came to light when someof the inmates informedauthorities about the allegedsexual abuse by the accusedduring a recent safety cam-paign.

The home in-chargereportedly made them watchpornographic content beforeabusing them.

The issue came to lightduring a recent campaignundertaken by the authoritiesto ensure the safety of inmatesin such homes in the district,where some of the girlsrevealed the alleged sexualabuse in writing.

The rescued children havesince been shifted to a govern-ment facility and further probewas on in the case, policeadded. PTI

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Guwahati: The chief of theNational Democratic Front ofBodoland (NDFB), RanjanDaimary, and nine other mem-bers of the outfit were sentencedto life imprisonment by a CBIspecial court on Wednesday inthe 2008 Assam serial blastscase that had claimed 88 lives.

Amid tight security oncourt premises, CBI SpecialJudge Aparesh Chakrabortypronounced the quantum ofpunishment for Daimary,George Bodo, B Tharai, RajuSarkar, Anchai Bodo, IndraBrahma, Loko Basumatary,Khargeswar Basumatary, AjayBasumatary and Rajen Goyary.

Three other convicts —Prabhat Bodo, JayantiBasumatary and MathuraBrahma — will be releasedafter they pay a fine imposed bythe court.

The CBI court has orderedthe release of Nilim Daimaryand Mridul Goyary in the caseas they have already servedtheir sentence.

As he was being whiskedaway by the police, the NDFBchief told reporters that he

would appeal to a higher courtagainst his conviction.

"Bodoland will be createdas we continue to serve our jailsentence," he added.

His supporters, who hadgathered near the court sincemorning, shouted slogans infavour of a separate Bodoland.

Daimary and 14 otherswere convicted on Mondayunder various sections of theIPC.

The NDFB chief 's bail wascancelled immediately after his

conviction and arrested, whilethe others were already in judi-cial custody.

Nine serial blasts were trig-gered by the NDFB on October30, 2008 — three each inGuwahati and Kokrajhar, two inBarpeta and one in Bongaigaon— killing 88 people and injur-ing 540 others.

The CBI had taken over thecase from Assam Police andhad filed two charge sheets,naming 22 accused — seven ofthem still absconding. PTI

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Guwahati: An organisation ofBodo women on Wednesdayexpressed hope that the lifesentence awarded to NationalDemocratic Front of Bodoland(NDFB) chief Ranjan Daimarywould not derail its ongoingpeace talks with theGovernment.

Ranjan Daimary and nineothers were sentenced to lifeimprisonment by a CBI specialcourt on Wednesday in the2008 Assam serial blast casethat had claimed 88 lives.

"We appeal to theGovernment that there is stilltime and that they give pri-ority to peace process toensure that it is not derailed,"Bodo Womens' Justice Forumpresident Anjali Daimari, alsosister of Ranjan Daimary,said.

How can the organisationcarry on with the peace processwhen its president is in jail toserve a life term, AnjaliDaimari asked.

The NDFB is under aceasefire agreement with theAssam and Union Governmentsince May 2005. PTI

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Union Skill DevelopmentMinister Ananth Kumar

Hegde is once again in thenews. He questioned RahulGandhi as to how he couldclaim to be a Brahmin when heis born to a Christian mother.Addressing a BJP function atSirsi in Karnataka onWednesday, he questionedRahul Gandhi’s parents andtheir origin. He said, “He(Rahul) does not know thiscountry, he has not clue aboutreligion. Look how they lie. Afather who is Muslim, a moth-er Christian and the son is sup-posed to be Brahmin. How isthat even possible?.”

“We can understand suchissues but that empty headedman does not know or under-stand. You will not find such ahybrid specimen in any labora-tory across the world.”, he added.

Ananth Kumar Hegde, whois known for his controversialstatements has been attackingMuslims and the Congressrecently attacked the KarnatakaCongress President, DineshGundu Rao for marrying aMuslim woman. Dinesh GunduRao’s wife Tabu Rao, who is ahome maker, called his state-

ment as hitting below the belt.Speaking about the statementTabu said, “This is not the firsttime that such statement hasbeen made and it is embarrass-ing.”

He further added attackingRahul Gandhi “You'll find sucha specimen in the Congress lab-oratory in this country wherethe father and son are of two dif-ferent types. Even if you lie, itshould be in a way you can con-vince people. It just a matter oftwo or three months for them.There will be reports of masssuicides. Just two or threemonths more. They will all gointo their homes. Rahul Gandhiwill probably go to Columbia.”

Karnataka Congress hasdemanded the resignation ofUnion Minister Anant KumarHegde and questioned PrimeMinister Narendra Modi for notsacking him from the ministryso far in a tweet.

Ananth Kumar Hegde, nostranger to controversy, hadalso made provocative state-ments like if a hand touches aHindu woman, his hands wouldbe cut off. Condemning thewomen who entered Sabrimalashrine, he said that if thesewomen entered Kodagu, theywould be buried there.

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Vijayendra Saraswathi, thereigning Sankaracharya of

the Kanchi Mutt atKancheepuram reminded thebelievers of Sanathana Dharmato be alert against all sorts ofonslaughts on the belief and tra-ditions. Inaugurating the 10thedition of the Hindu Spiritualand services Fair at Chennai lateon Tuesday evening, the Seerpointed out that Hinduism wasfacing one of the severest testsit had faced.

“The Hindu religion grewby learning and acquiring ofknowledge through the studyof Vedas and Upanishads.Nobody has propagatedHinduism anywhere in theworld. What the gurus didwas to clarify the doubts of theseekers of truth whoapproached them for guid-ance,” said the sanyasin whowas anointed head of theKanchi Mutt following thedemise of Jayendra Saraswathi.

He said times havechanged and the practitionersof Hinduism should take stepsto peacefully propagate thebeauty of the religion. “Wemight have survived the tests oftime in the past. But we maynot be able to survive the com-petition by others who have

well defined objectives andmissions. All of us have to beon our guards and tell theworld that we are always com-mitted to service,” saidVijayendra Saraswathi.

Swasthi SreeDhavalakeerthi Swami, thehead of the Thirunalai Mutt,decried the decrease in thenumber of children enrollingfor learning in Veda Patasalas(schools for learning Vedas).“The adoption of western cul-ture by the Hindu communi-ty has resulted in the reduc-tion of children. Parents optfor one-chid norm and this isthe reason for the non-avail-ability of children in VedaPatasalas,” said the Swamiwho exhorted the Hindu par-ents to have at least three chil-dren. “One child for the fam-ily, one for the nation and onefor spirituality. That should bethe guiding spirit,” said themonk.

The HSSF which will con-clude on February has show-cased through 400 stalls someof the spiritual and philan-thropic services undertakenby the Hindu society. “Whenwe launched the HSSF in 2009,we had just four or five stalls.Now the number has crossedthe 400 mark,” said SGurumurthy, the brain behindthe event.

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In a shocking incident, anangry under-trial hurled slip-

pers at a Magistrate in a courtroom at Bhiwandi inMaharashtra's Thane districton Wednesday, after he wasconvicted by the court in ahouse-breaking and theft case.

The incident took place,within minutes after MagistrateJS Pathan held under-trialAshraf Ansari (22) guilty of theoffence, convicted him andsentenced him for house-breaking and theft that he hadcommitted some time in 2017.

Fortunately, the slippersswung by Ansari did not hit theMagistrate, as the latter duckedin time.

Immediately after the con-viction, the Magistrate ruledthat the accused would have toundergo another six monthsimprisonment for his crime, atwhich Ansari protested andhurled his slippers at theMagistrate.

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Adding fuel to the electionfury in Tamil Nadu would

be the severe water shortagestaring at the State. The IndianMeteorological Departmenthas said that the rainfallreceived by Tamil Nadu duringthe North East Monsoon for2018-2019 was less than 24 percent of the normal rainfall andthis point towards drought .

An official of the IMD alsowarned that Tamil Nadu wouldbe facing a severe water scarci-ty than what it had to bear in2017. Since the rainfall was lessthis year, the four reservoirswhich provide water to Chennaicity have almost dried up. Allthe four reservoirs have waterto feed the city for just less than

a month, according to an offi-cial of the Metro Water, theagency in charge of the waterrequirements of the Metropolis.

It may sound strange but theTamil Nadu Government hasturned a blind eye towards thisreality, said TKS Elangovan,MP and senior DMK leader.Chief Minister EdappadiPalaniswamy submitted a mem-orandum to Prime MinisterNarendra Modi on Sunday list-ing 16 demands. “While thechief minister has demandedBharat Ratna for C N Annaduraiand J Jayalalithaa as the top pri-orities, he has avoided men-tioning about the water scarci-ty staring at the State,” Elangovantold The Pioneer.

Other than demanding thescrapping of the permissiongiven by the Central WaterCommission to Karnataka toprepare the detailed projectreport of the Mekedattu reser-voir which the latter wants tobuild across Cauvery River andthe permission to Kerala to goahead with the survey for con-

structing a new dam in place ofthe 125 year old MullaperiyarDam, the memorandum byPalaniswamy is silent aboutthe inter linking of peninsularIndian rivers to resolve thewater scarcity faced by TamilNadu, pointed out Elangovan.

He said though the need ofthe hour was to take steps toincrease the availability of waterin Cauvery, the Chief Ministerhas failed to make the Centretake up the issue. According toElangovan, this could be doneby inter linking the Netravatiand Cauvery rivers. G KishorBabu, editor, World Focus,pointed out that the Centrecould easily take up the interlinking of Netravati andCauvery. “It is a win-win situa-tion for all. Currently morethan 100 TMC Ft (ThousandMillion Cubic Feet) water fromNetravati is wasted into Arabiansea. If this water is diverted toCauvery, both Karnatakla andTamil Nadu stand to gain a lot,”said Babu who has been writingabout it for quite many years.

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China is very fond of Silk Roads. In2013, a year after Xi Jinping wasanointed Emperor of the MiddleKingdom, he initiated a Belt andRoad Initiative (BRI). Since then,

the Chinese diplomacy has been tirelesslypromoting the mega project to link the coun-try to its neighbours as well as to Central Asia,Africa and Europe. Beijing’s latest promotion-al move has been to confer the Silk RoadSuper Ambassador Awards to theAmbassadors of Pakistan, the Maldives, SriLanka, Malta and Bosnia-Herzegovina.

Pakistani Ambassador to China,Masood Khalid, told The Global Times:“Our cooperation is very broad and isexpanding, so we are happy. We are con-fident that as we move forward, we will seemore tangible progress in our cooperation.”

One may think that the BRI hasopened new avenues between the peopleof China and Pakistan and that the routebetween Gilgit and Xinjiang is wide openedto Pakistanis to trade with China. But it isnot the case — the BRI seems to be just astate-to-state affair, without any concern forthe ‘people’ from both sides. To give anexample, a few weeks ago, Reuters reported:“Pakistani businessmen, whose wives and chil-dren are trapped in China’s restive Xinjiang,are travelling to Beijing to lobby with theirEmbassy, with hopes that the south Asiannation’s new Government will pressure its allyfor their release.”

Deutsche Welle of Germany explained:“Due to Xinjiang’s proximity to Gilgit-Baltistan, the residents of the two areas haveshared long historical, cultural and fami-ly ties. Many Uighurs are married to theGilgit-Baltistan locals and vice versa.” Thepretext for closing down the border isChina’s suspicion about the alleged asso-ciation of Uighurs with Islamist extremists.China’s Silk Roads are clearly not for thecommon man, though Nepal, too, isspeaking of Xi’s project in laudatory terms.

On January 9, Jameson LamudhaliLayi, the Nepali Consul General in Lhasa(Tibet), told the website China TibetOnline: “I’m really looking forward that theQinghai-Tibet Railway would reach the cityof Kyirong on the China-Nepalese border,which will connect Kathmandu, the capi-tal of Nepal, with many cities in China,including Lhasa. …This will be very ben-eficial and very important to our country.”

The Chinese official website continued:“As the ongoing friendship and collabora-tions between China and Nepal continueto develop, the extension of the Lhasa-Shigatse Railway is also a project people ofboth countries are looking forward to.”

Everybody does see it this way; UddhabP Pyakurel, an Assistant Professor in theSchool of Arts in Kathmandu, wrote a well-researched paper pointing to the historicaland proximate relationship between Nepaland Tibet before China came into the pic-ture. The scholar analyses how this relation-

ship has changed from a striv-ing one to “a stage that is onlyformal and rhetoric.” He saidthat the opening of theRasuwagadi (Kyirong) borderhas been welcomed byKathmandu “as if China hasshown a great sympathy forNepalis.” Pyakurel then assert-ed: “But evidences show that theChinese proposal to strengthenactivities through Kyirong bor-der was just to avoid negativeimpressions about China inNepal.” Another landport wherelocal trade was taking place hasrecently been closed, though “itis reported that the Chinese offi-cials keep promising to open itbut do not confirm when theywould open the customs points.”

The scholar accused Chinaof progressively eliminating“both the local trade carried onby the inhabitants of the Nepal-Tibet border and the tradition-al transportation trans-borderpasturage-usage system underwhich pastures on both sides ofthe boundary were used at dif-ferent times of the year byNepali and Tibetan herdsmen.”

Pyakurel gave a detailedaccount of the successive treatiessince 1956, which made it moreand more difficult for localtraders to deal with Tibet …whilethe state-to-state businessbloomed. This comes at a timewhen China is opening anotherport with Nepal: The new corri-dor lies dangerously close to thestrategic State of Sikkim.

Kimathanka is one of the

smallest and remotest hamletsin the North-eastern district ofSankhuwasabha of easternNepal; the village is strategical-ly located as it lies at the bor-der with Tibet (China). TheKathmandu Post affirmed thatit is “a crucial strategic locationfor Nepal as the country strivesto increase its connectivity withthe northern neighbour.”

In April 2018, Nepal’sForeign Minister, PradeepGyawali, visited Beijing, wherehe met Vice President of China,Wang Qishan, and his Chinesecounterpart Wang Yi. He spokeof “expediting past agreements,developing trans-Himalayanmulti-dimensional transportnetworks and building a China-Nepal-India economic corri-dor.” Gyawali said that China isNepal’s genuine friend and atrusted ally: “We should buildon the excellent roots of civili-sational, geographical and cul-tural affinities to further con-nect our countries and societiesin order to achieve commonprosperity in the trans-Himalayan region.”

Once the new corridor isopened, it will have seriousstrategic implications for Indiaas it will open via Birarnagar, anew strategic and unwantedgate to India through Kishanganjand Siliguri. Here, too, no peo-ple-to-people exchange.

As the visit of ChinesePresident Xi Jinping to India isannounced for February orMarch, it could be an occasion

for the Government to questionhim about the new corridor andremind him about Demchok, thelast Ladakhi village on the roadto western Tibet.

For centuries, Demchokwitnessed caravans fromKashmir, Ladakh or CentralAsia bringing goods (deliciousapricots among others) to theRoof of the World. Ironically,‘The Agreement on Trade andIntercourse between TibetRegion of China and India’,remembered as the PanchsheelAgreement, signed on April 28,1954, literally killed the age-oldborder trade.

Suddenly, the People’sLiberation Army (PLA), whichhad taken control over theplateau, stopped Ladakhi tradersfrom selling their goods in Tibet;it marked the end of one of themost flourishing Silk Roads.There was a reason for it, Chinawas building a road across theAksai Chin, an Indian territory,and the PLA did not want wit-nesses to the construction.

If Beijing is serious abouttrans-boundary trade, it hasno option but to re-open the oldtraditional routes, be it theKhunjerab Pass with Pakistan,the passes between Nepal andTibet or the old routes like theDemchok caravan road. But isChina ready to do this? Let ushope that Mr Modi will at leastask President Xi Jinping.

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Sir — While addressing a booth-level party workers’ meeting nearMarine Drive in Kochi, Congresspresident Rahul Gandhi assuredthat if his party is voted to powerin the next general election, as afirst step, the Congress would passthe Women’s Reservation Bill inParliament. Rahul also soundedthe poll bugle in Kerala, unleash-ing a broadside against the ModiGovernment and the PinarayiGovernment in the State.

To the excitement of thecommon man, he promised aminimum income scheme for thepoor. Taking a dig at the BJPGovernment, he said that PrimeMinister Modi wasted the coun-try’s precious five years. He addedthat the Prime Minister provid-ed maximum income genera-tion opportunities to 15 of hisindustrialist friends.

A character analysis of bothModi and Rahul will reveal thatwhile the former is conservativein his outlook, the latter is high-ly progressive. Something con-structive for this mighty nationcan be expected out of him.

TK Nandanan Chennai

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Sir — With the general electionjust a few months away, politi-cal parties look greedy forpower. They are busy makingludicrous promises and hyper-bolic assurances to the electorateto secure votes. Declarations ofany exciting, attractive and allur-ing schemes by them are, in fact,

unrealistic and impractical. In the same vein, Congress

president Rahul Gandhi hasannounced a populist policy ofuniversal basic income for thepoor if his party comes to powerwithout assuring any plausibleprogramme for national devel-opment. Rahul’s declaration ofthe welfare scheme is preposter-ous to say the least. Did notIndira Gandhi and her son,

Rajiv Gandhi, lunch the GaribiHatao programme in 1971 tolure the voters? The said planwas never implemented. Now,Rahul has made a similar pro-nouncement. The Congressnever makes any references ofconstructive programmes fornation-building or nationaldevelopment.

Nimai Charan SwainBhubaneswar

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Sir — With the passing away ofGeorge Fernandes, India has losta very sincere politician whohad dedicated his entire life forthe cause of the nation. Fernandeswill be remembered for the hon-est and simple life he led. Besidesbeing a simple person, he wastruly a great leader.

Jubel D’Cruz Mumbai

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Sir — Congress chief RahulGandhi’s plan of minimumincome for the poor may be wellintentioned but where will he findthe resources to provide such anincome? Instead of announcing afreebie culture that no Indian cit-izen would want, Rahul, if votedto power at all, should focus onhelping an individual stand onhis/her own feet instead of keep-ing him ‘poor’ to avail of an‘income guarantee’.

SumitVia email

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While travelling across cen-tral India, especial lythrough the Western

Ghats, one will not fail to observethe clear-cut changes made to thetopography of the region. The lush,green forests and the tree canopyhave all steadily declined in the lastfew years. Vegetation has given wayto more dusty, dry-looking land thatseems to exist throughout the year.The meandering forest streamsthat once used to punctuate the ver-dant forests have all dried up alongwith the forest cover. As the Indianhinterland shows some changesthat are in tune with worsening cli-mate change, the world itself is real-ising that a much larger problem —thanks to rapid climate change —

is knocking on the door, which isthe issue of rapid desertification.

As greening and afforestationmeasures have proved to be anuphill task, desertification is fastmaking an already difficult battleeven tougher. This aspect was verymuch evident during the recent 17thSession of the Committee for theReview of the Implementation(CRIC17) of the United Nation’sConvention to CombatDesertif ication (UNCCD) inGuyana. The gathering understoodthe need for emergency steps to stopdesertification that now grips almostall countries around the world.

The preliminary assessmentreport circulated by the Secretariatof the UNCCD found that in the first15 years of the millennium, 20 percent of the world’s productive andhealthy land was degraded. Thisseemingly low-level threat has nowcornered 169 countries in its grip,leading to rapid land degradationand impacting nearly 3.2 billionpeople economically. The assess-ment was made on the basis of data

submitted by 135 countries. InOctober, 2015, after the world adopt-ed the Sustainable DevelopmentGoals (SDGs), the 12th Conferenceof parties to UNCCD endorsed theSDG target 15.3. Under this targetlies a new concept called land degra-dation neutrality, according to which,countries are attempting to halt landdegradation through desertification.

One of the crucial aspects tocontaining desertification is tounderstand the speed and area ofconcentration of the deserted landand the factors that trigger thesame. Moreover, besides adverselyimpacting the people economical-ly, degraded lands and soils pose asevere threat to the provision ofecosystem services and economicdevelopment globally. Given thegravity of the problem, in the lastfour years alone, 82 countries,including India, have committed tostop land degradation by 2030.But without an adequate plan forland governance, education,demography and land use planning,this ambitious target seems difficult

to be achieved.In order to attain meaningful

progress in controlling desertifica-tion, instead of treating the symp-toms of land degradation, Indiamust focus on the causes. The imme-diate cause that typically triggersdesertification is the loss of prima-ry vegetation. Most lands fall prey tomining and other unnatural activities which result in the removal of vegetation due to humanactivities.

Sustained lack of green covercauses a dry land to develop an aridnature and eventually results inwhat can be termed as the “death ofthe topsoil.” This renders re-growthof any greenery almost impossibleand leaves the land degraded.

Then there are also other fac-tors that drive the disappearance ofthe green cover such as drought, cli-matic shifts, tillage for agriculture,overgrazing and deforestation forfuel or construction materials.Vegetation plays a major role indetermining the biological compo-sition of the soil.

Studies have shown that inmany environments, the rate oferosion and run-off decreases expo-nentially with increased vegetationcover. Unprotected, dry soil surfacesblow away with the wind or arewashed off by flash floods, therebyleaving infertile lower soil layers thatbake in the sun and become unpro-ductive hardpan, which is an aptenvironment for desertification.

In fact, according to many sci-entists, one of the most commoncauses for desertification is over-grazing or excessive consumptionof vegetation by the cattle. The sci-entific community also concurswith this contention. Interestingly,facts show that there is a naturalcause for the existence of desert inthe place, which is now the Saharadesert. A natural climate cycle thatcaused a lack of water in this areafrom time to time, coupled withovergrazing by the local population,slowly converted the Sahara savan-na to the Sahara desert.Precipitation factors were aided byclimate change that also caused the

acceleration and led to the forma-tion of deserts.

India must recognise the pat-terns and perceive the threats thatdry lands in various parts of thecountry face. Due to the lack of nat-ural water sources, or drying up ofthe same, coupled with the problemof overgrazing, Indian lands arefaced with the danger of becomingdegraded and may eventually bedeserted.

The first step to prevent thesame will be to ensure that satellitedata is employed to create a detaileddatabase that categorises the landsand identifies those that are on theedge of becoming deserts.Emergency measures of replenish-ing the groundwater table, stoppinganthropogenic activities andrefreshing the green cover can beimmediate solutions. Land is pre-cious and in short supply thanks topopulation explosion. To lose thelittle land to deserts would be a truemisfortune for India.

(The writer is an environmentaljournalist)

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The inordinate and repeated delays inthe hearing of the Ayodhya disputeare indeed excessive for anyone’spatience. But if one is helpless for thetime being, should not solace be

sought in the restoration of a desecrated placeof worship of comparable importance?

“The first authentic contemporary recordof Mathura that we find in existing literatureis dated the year 1017 AD when it was sackedby Mahmud of Ghazni in his ninth invasion ofIndia. The original source of informationabout Mahmud’s campaigns is the TurikhYamini of al-Utbi, who himself was the secre-tary to the Sultan,” wrote FS Growse of theBengal Civil Service, who was the Magistrateof Mathura in the 1870s, in his memoirs firstpublished in 1882.

“The Sultan obtained by this victory 185 fineelephants besides other booty.” In Mathura, “hesaw a building of exquisite structure, which theinhabitants declared to be the handiwork not ofmen but of Genius.” In the middle of the city wasa temple, larger and finer than the rest, to whichneither painting nor description could do jus-tice. The Sultan thus wrote regarding it: “If any-one wished to construct a building equal to it,we would not be able to do so without expend-ing a hundred million dinars and the work wouldoccupy 200 years; even though the most able andexperienced workmen were employed.”

Grouse went on to say: “The city was givenup to plunder for 20 days. Among the spoils aresaid to have been five great idols of pure goldwith eyes of rubies and adornments of otherprecious stones, together with a vast numberof smaller silver images which, when brokenup, formed a load for more than a 100 camels.The total value of the spoils has been estimat-ed at �3 million; while the number of Hinduscarried away into captivity exceeded 5,000.” Butlet no one think that this was the first and lastof Mathura’s misery.

Tarikh-i-Daudi of Abdullah (a writer in thereign of Jahangir), spoke of Sultan SikandarLodi (1488-1516 AD), one of the most able andaccomplished of all the occupants of the Delhithrone: “He was so zealous a Musulman thathe destroyed many places of worship of the infi-dels. He entirely ruined the shrines of Mathura,that mine of heathenism, and turned their prin-cipal temples into saráes (inns) and colleges.Their stone images were given to the butchersto serve them as meat-weights.” The climax ofwanton destruction was, however, attained byAurangzeb who also tried to destroy even theancient name of the city by changing it toIslamabad.

In February of the same year, during the fastof Ramzan, Aurangzeb had descended in per-son on Mathura. The temple specially markedout for destruction was the one built during thereign of Jahangir at the cost of �33 lakh by BirSinh Deva Bundela of Urcha. Beyond all doubtthis was the last of the famous shrines of KesavaDeva. To judge from the language of theauthor of the Mausir, “Its demolition wasregarded as a death blow to Hinduism.” Hewrote in the following triumphant strain: “In ashort time, with the help of numerous workmen,

this seat of error was utterly brokendown. Glory be to God that so diffi-cult an undertaking has been success-fully accomplished in the present aus-picious reign, wherein so many densof heathenism and idolatry have beendestroyed! Seeing the power of Islamand the efficacy of true religion, theproud Rajas felt their breath burningin their throats and became as dumbas picture on a wall. The idols, largeand small alike, all adorned withcostly jewels, were carried away fromthe heathen shrine and taken to Agra,where they were buried under the stepsof Nawab Kudsia Begam’s mosque, sothat people might trample upon themforever.” It was from this event thatMathura was called Islamabad.

Normal reasoning must have beenalien to Mahmud of Ghazni; althoughhis forefathers must have been Hinduor Buddhist or pagan (there was noIslam until the 7th century). Do youthink that the misfortunes of theAfghan people, especially since theSoviet invasion in December 1978, arethe bhagya resulting from the karmasof iconoclasts like Mahmud? He wasnot the only bloodthirsty invader.There were a series of them fromAfghanistan. The last big vandal wasAhmad Shah Abdali of the 18th cen-tury. What was perpetrated atMathura is unthinkable in any contextof civilisation.

You will experience it better whenyou read what a British Christian hadto say. As a Hindu, all that the authorwill say is that no one is more wide-ly adored among us than Shri Krishna.

From Jammu in the north toKanyakumari in the south, fromDwarka in the west to Imphal in theeast, there are innumerable Krishnaworshippers. Moreover, there is noHindu who would not be an adorer ofthis son of Mathura. He gave theBhagavad Gita to us. Even today, everyHindu swears by it before answeringin any court, just as Christians andMuslims swear by the Bible and theQuran respectively.

If there be any one book fromwhich a Hindu wishes to understandhis/her faith, it is the Gita. In fact,everyone, at least in India, understandswhat Shri Krishna means to the Hindupsyche. Just as Shri Rama exemplifiesthe uncompromising idealist, Krishnapersonifies the comprehensive realist.When a Hindu has a problem, he won-ders what Kesava would have done tosolve it with his genius for tactics andstrategy. If he wishes to celebrate a fes-tival, he thinks of Giridhar Gopal. Ifhe dreams of frolic, he sees Gopinath.If he looks for love, he cannot but helpdream of Radheshyam.

Today, Balkrishna is worshippedin a little room which appears like aservant’s quarter attached to the backof the idgah. Pathos can be experi-enced by any visitor, whether a devo-tee or otherwise. The mound of earthbehind this quarter and below theidgah in all probability contains rem-nants of the original mandir.

To go back to Aurangzeb, over twocenturies after the desecration, Growsefelt that: “Of all the sacred places inIndia, none enjoys a greater popular-

ity than the capital of Braj, the holy cityof Mathura. For nine months in theyear, festival follows upon festival inrapid succession and the ghats andtemples are daily thronged with newtroops of way-worn pilgrims. So greatis the sanctity of the spot that its pan-egyrists do not hesitate to declare thata single day spent at Mathura is moremeritorious than a lifetime passed atBenaras. All this celebrity is due to thefact of it being the birthplace of thedemi-god Krishna.”

In his chapter titled, ‘The BrajMandal, the Ban Yatra and the Holy’Growse puts it: “Not only the city ofMathura, but with it, the whole of thewestern half of the district has a spe-cial interest of its own as the birthplaceand abiding home of VaishnavaHinduism. It is about 42 miles in lengthwith an average breadth of 30 miles andis intersected throughout by the riverJamuna. In the neighbourhood areGokul and Brindaban, where the divinebrothers Krishna and Balaram grazedtheir herds.” He continues: “Almostevery spot is traditionally connectedwith some event in the life of Krishnaor of his mythical mistress Radha.”

To paraphrase WilliamShakespeare, not all the scents ofArabia would suffice to wash away thesins of Ghazni and Alamgir at Mathura.And since it is not possible to claimback what was destroyed long ago, thereturn of the idgah and the shuddhi ofthe Krishna janmabhoomi or the birth-place of Krishna is the only alternative.

(The writer is a well-known colum-nist and an author)

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Extending its upward trend,gold prices Wednesday

rose by �320 and crossed the�34,000 mark per 10 gram atthe bullion market here mir-roring firm trend overseas,according to All India SarafaAssociation.

The yellow metal rose by�320 to �34,070 per 10 gram.

Following gold, silver toorose by �330 to �41,330 per kgon increased offtake by indus-trial units and coin makers.

Traders said, with uncer-tainty looming over the trade-talks outcome between US-China amid launching ofcriminal proceedings againstthe Chinese telecom giantHuawei by Washington,investors resorted to safehaven buying, which pushed

up gold prices.Globally, gold rose to

$1,314.76 an ounce and silvertraded higher at $15.96 anounce in New York.

In previous two days, goldprices rose by �450.

In the national capital,gold of 99.9 per cent and 99.5per cent purities climbed �320each to �34,070 and �33,920per 10 gram, respectively.

Similarly, sovereign goldadvanced by �200 to �25,900per piece of eight gram.

Silver ready rose by �330to �41,330 per kg and week-ly-based delivery by �361 to�40,434 per kg.

Silver coins, too, were ingood demand and tradedhigher by �1,000 at �79,000for buying and �80,000 forselling of 100 pieces, respec-tively.

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Equity benchmarks Sensexand Nifty on Wednesday

ended flat as cautious investorsrefrained from taking any posi-tions in view of upcoming keyevents like F&O expiry, US Fedpolicy outcome and upcomingUnion Budget.

The BSE Sensex endedmarginally lower by 1.25 pointsand the NSE Nifty closed witha negligible loss of 0.4 point.

Heavyweights ICICI Bankand Tata Steel — both risingover 5 per cent — saved the dayfor the Sensex.

Also, mixed trading pat-tern in global shares as US-China trade talks kicked offearlier in the day made domes-tic investors even more cau-tious.

“While investors are grap-pling with a plethora of wor-ries, from trade talks, the Fedmeetings and the budget, mar-kets continue to stay resilient.All eyes turn to the budget laterthis week,” according to ana-lysts.

Investors will be interestedin understanding the con-sumption boost that can beexpected from budgetary reliefpackages and in particular, theplan for financing the measuresas well as impact on borrowingcosts, they said.

After opening over 200points higher, the 30-shareSensex swung 359 points to

finally settle 1.25 points lowerat 35,591.25.

Similarly, the broader NSENifty ended 0.40 points downat 10,651.80.

Sectorally, metal and bank-ing stocks rallied the most,while FMCG and realty stockscame under selling pressure.

Broader indices, however,outperformed benchmarkindices with BSE Smallcapindex jumping 0.78 per centand BSE Midcap index rising0.22 per cent.

On a net basis, foreignportfolio investors (FPIs) soldshares worth a net of �354.36crore Tuesday, while domesticinstitutional investors (DIIs)were net buyers to the tune ofRs 81.27 crore, provisionaldata available with BSEshowed.

Global investor sentimentwas mixed as American andChinese negotiators startedtwo days of high-level talksaimed at settling a six-monthtrade war that has weakenedboth sides, shaken financialmarkets and clouded the out-look for the global economy.

Domestic investors turnedcautious ahead of futures andoptions expiry of January seriescontracts and the upcominginterim budget, to be held onFriday.

Market is also awaiting theoutcome of the US FederalReserve's meeting later in theday, they added.

Among the Sensex pack,ICICI Bank rallied 6.05 percent ahead of its quarterlyearning scheduled for releaselater in the day.

Shares of Tata Steel soared5.14 per cent after S&P GlobalRatings said the company'splan to sell majority stake in itsSoutheast Asia business willhelp the company reduce debtby about 3 per cent withoutimpacting its business position.

Axis Bank shares alsojumped 4.56 per cent after thethird largest private sectorlender Axis Bank reported a 131per cent surge in net income forthe December quarter.

Other gainers include HCLTech, Bajaj Finance, SBI, L&T,Coal India and Vedanta, gain-ing up to 2.82 per cent.

On the other hand, BajajAuto, Kotak Bank, HDFC, YesBank, Sun Pharma, BhartiAirtel, ITC, RIL, HDFC Bank,HUL, ONGC and Sun Pharmawere the top losers, sheddingup to 2.65 per cent.

Elsewhere in Asia, HongKong's Hang Seng rose 0.40 percent and Korea's Kospi surged1.05 per cent; while ShanghaiComposite Index shed 0.07per cent and Japan's Nikkeislipped 0.52 per cent.

In the eurozone,Frankfurt's DAX slipped 0.21per cent, while Paris CAC 40rose 0.53 per cent in late morn-ing deals. While, London'sFTSE jumped 0.94 per cent.

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Detained autot y c o o n

Carlos Ghosnbelieves his arrestand the chargesagainst him arethe result of a“plot and trea-son” at his for-mer employerNissan, he toldthe Nikkei news-p a p e rWednesday.

The Japanesebusiness dailyquoted Ghosn assaying he had“no doubt” thatthe chargesagainst him weremotivated by Nissan executivesopposed to greater integrationof the firm with its Frenchalliance partner Renault.

This is the first press inter-view Ghosn has given sincehis stunning arrest onNovember 19 and it was con-ducted in the Tokyo detentioncentre where he has lan-guished ever since.

The 64-year-old has beendenied bail several times, withthe court considering him aflight risk and concerned thathe could attempt to destroy evi-dence.

But he again stressed thathe “won't flee. I will defend(myself)”, according to the

Nikkei.“All the evidence is with

Nissan and Nissan forbids allemployees to talk to me,” headded.

Even his own lawyer hassaid it is unlikely he will bereleased before a trial, whichcould take up to six months toorganise given the complexityof the case.

Ghosn faces three separatecharges, all of which he denies.

He stands accused ofunder-reporting his incomebetween 2010 and 2015 to thetune of five billion yen (USD 46billion) and continuing to do sofor a further three years.

He also stands accused of

a complex scheme to try to passoff personal foreign exchangelosses to Nissan and usingcompany funds to reimburse aSaudi contact who stumped upcollateral for him.

The executive, once fetedfor his turnaround of the strug-gling Nissan, has been removedas chairman of the Japanesefirm as well as of MitsubishiMotors. He resigned as chair-man and chief executive ofFrench company Renault.

He told the Nikkei thatthere was a plan to “integrate”the three companies but insist-ed it was intended to ensurethere would be “autonomyunder one holding company.”

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Contrary to the widely-voiced concerns, a report

has showed that although theprivate sector will wait for theoutcome of the forthcomingelections, 2019 may finally seethe revival of investments.

Private sector investmentshave been picking up in sectorslike chemicals and electricalequipment, coupled with anincrease in capacity utilisa-tion, says the economists atHDFC Bank, adding thoughthese are not large capex andwe are not yet there to call it asa full-blown revival.”

“As the popular narrativeseems to suggest, investmentsare not all a government-ledstory anymore. Private invest-ments are also showing signs ofgenuine traction, across anumber of sectors like electri-cal equipment and chemicals,”said the report Wednesday.

The pick-up is not “full-throttle”, the report admitted,but hoped that 2019 may wellbe the “year of investments,finally”.

It can be noted that in thepast few years, governmenthas led in investments across

sectors as private sector waslargely dormant. The increasein capacity utilisation ratesinto the 70 percent range hadincreased expectations of arevival in investments, butsome analysts had opinedthat the private sector willwait for the outcome of theelections.

The report said gross fixedcapital formation, which is anindicator of total investments inthe economy, grew at 12.2 per-cent in 2018-19 according tothe first advance estimate bythe CSO, and is the highest ratesince the 2008 financial crisisand much higher than theaverage 5.4 percent achieved inthe last five fiscals.

The share of private invest-ments to nominal GDP hasalso increased to 12 percent in2016-17 from 10.8 percent in2014-15, it said.

The report also pointed outto a rise in production of cap-ital goods, pick up in capacityutilisation which has touched80 percent mark in some sec-tors and rise in credit growthto illustrate the increasingimportance of private sectoractivity when it comes toinvestments.

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Adistrict consumer forumhere has directed Reliance

General Insurance to payaround �18 lakh as reimburse-ment for a car stolen in 2015,while finding it guilty of "defi-ciency of service" for rejectingthe claim.

The District ConsumerDisputes Redressal Forumasked the insurance companyto pay �17,99,975 to a Delhiresident Satish Kumar Singhalwithin 30 days.

"It is a clear cut case of defi-ciency in service on the part ofOpposite Party (RelianceGeneral Insurance)," a benchcomprising President A S Yadavand member H C Suri said.

The forum further direct-ed the insurance company topay compensation of �10,000and �5,000 as litigation charges.

According to the com-plaint, the man had purchaseda Pajero Sports car which he gotinsured at regular intervals. Itwas insured with RelianceGeneral Insurance from 2015to 2016.

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Realme, an Indian smart-phone brand, on

Wednesday launched RealmeC1. The smartphone will beavailable with 2GBRAM+32GB ROM and 3GBRAM+32GB ROM variants,priced at �7499 and �8499respectively. Both the vari-ants of Realme C1 (2019) willbe sold as FlipkartUniquefrom February 5, 2019.

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Now, businesses supplyinggoods worth more than

�50,000 will have option toinclude details of e-way billsgenerated while filing the finalmonthly sales return underGSTR-1, a move aimed at curb-ing tax evasion by reportingdifferent sets of supplies data.

Matching of invoices of e-way bills with the sales shownin GSTR-1 will help taxmen inassessing whether the supplieshave been accurately shown insales return and GST paid onthe same, tax experts said.

“To avoid double data entry,GSTN has provided a facility totaxpayers, where month's e-way bill data is shown in format,which is required by a taxpay-er to fill up the Form GSTR-1.The taxpayer can import data inhis GSTR-1 form or import thesame and use it with GSTR-1offline tool to create his GSTR-1 Return Form,” GST Networksaid.

Touted as an anti-evasionmeasure, e-way bill system wasrolled out on April 1, 2018, formoving goods worth over Rs50,000 from one state to anoth-

er. The same for intra or with-in the state movement wasrolled out in a phased mannerfrom April 15, 2018.

Following this, it has cometo investigative officers' noticethat some transporters aredoing multiple trips by gener-ating only a single e-way bill ornot reflecting e-way bill invoic-es while filing GSTR-1. It hasalso come to the notice thatcertain e-way bill is not beinggenerated even as supplies arebeing made.

While generating e-waybill, details of supplier, receiv-er and other invoice details likenumber, date, goods, quantity,HSN code etc are provided bythe taxpayer on e-way BillPortal. This data is now trans-ferred to GST portal, GSTN,which has developed the tech-nology backbone for Goodsand Services Tax (GST), said.

“With this facility, taxpay-er will not be required to enterdata in his Form GSTR-1 for allinvoices for which he has gen-erated e-way bill. This willavoid double data entry by tax-payers. This facility will helptaxpayer to fill up their FormGSTR-1 in less time.

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Ahead of the loomingFebruary 1 deadline for

switchover to the new broad-casting regime, telecom reg-ulator Trai has asked DTHoperators to honour pre-paidcommitment on ongoinglong-duration packs, if cus-tomer wishes to continuewith them.

The advisory being sentout to operators assumes sig-nificance as the deadline formigration to the new tariffregime for broadcasting andcable services is just hours

away and there have beenreports that some DTH play-ers are nudging customerswith long duration packs, tochoose channels under thenew framework, withoutoffering them the option tocontinue with their plan.

Telecom Regulator yAuthority of India (Trai)Chairman RS Sharma toldPTI that there is no change inFebruary 1 deadline formigration to the new tariffregime for broadcasting andcable services.

Sharma said he is “confi-dent” of a smooth switchover

on the stipulated day withoutany inconvenience to cus-tomers.

“Where customers havealready exercised their choiceand decided to move to thenew framework, if they havelong or short duration packs,it (the payment made) willget adjusted. In those caseswhere people have not yetmigrated and they have along or short duration planalready on, the regulationclearly states that customershave the choice to continuewith it, till the plan expires,”Sharma said.

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State-owned Oil India Ltd (OIL)on Wednesday said it has

raised $550 million debt throughan overseas bonds issue. The issuecarries 5.12 per cent fixed rate andis of 10-year tenor, the companysaid in a statement here.

"The transaction was thefirst 10-year issuance out ofIndia for a corporate issuersince March 2018 and thelargest 10-year issuance of anIndian investment grade issuerin the Reg S only market sinceJanuary 2017," it said.

The issue, OIL said, wasoversubscribed more than 4.5times and had response frommost of the prime investors inAsia, Europe and the MiddleEast.

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State-run power giant NTPC posted a�2,385.41-crore net profit in the December2018 quarter, almost flat as compared tothe year-ago period, mainly on account ofhigher fuel and borrowing costs. The com-pany’s standalone net profit was �2,360.81crore in the corresponding period of theprevious fiscal, the statement said. Its totalincome during the third quarter was�24,308.01 crore, a rise of 15.27 per centcompared with �21,087.84 crore a year ago.During the nine months up to December2018 also, the company’s net profit wasnearly flat at �7,399.57 crore, comparedwith �7,417.58 crore in the year-ago peri-od. During the April-December 2018,NTPC’s total income was �69,633.95crore, an increase of 13.06 per cent asagainst �61,590.12 crore in the year-agoperiod. The company has reported a netprofit of �10,343.17 crore for 2017-18 withtotal income of �85,207.95 crore

Meanwhile, the company board in itsmeeting on Wednesday decided to payinterim dividend at a rate of 35.8 per cent(�3.58 per share) on the face value of paid-up equity shares of �10 each for the finan-cial year 2018-19. The dividend will bepaid on February 14. The board also rec-ommended to issue bonus shares in theratio of 1:5 subject to the shareholders’approval.

��&��������3���(�����,+��&����J)State-owned Indian Oil Corp (IOC)

on Wednesday reported 91 per centplunge in December quarter net profit afterit suffered inventory losses due to fallingoil prices. The company logged a profit of�716.82 crore, or �0.76 per share, in thethird quarter of 2018-19 financial year,showing a decline of 90.9 per cent year-on-

year. In the year-ago period, the profitstood at �7,883.22 crore, the company saidin a regulatory filing. The turnover rose to�1.6 lakh crore from �1.32 lakh crore. Asinternational oil prices slipped from a four-year high recorded in the early part ofOctober, the company accounted forinventory losses as the value of fuel it heldslumped. IOC said domestic fuel sales wereup 3 per cent to 21.5 million tonne (MT)while its refineries turned almost 19 MTof crude oil into fuel in the quarter. Thisis compared with 18.23 MT crudethroughput in October-December 2017.

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Housing Finance on Wednesdayreported 25.5 per cent jump in Decemberquarter profit at �596.31 crore, mainly dueto higher interest income. The company’sprofit was �475.1 crore during the thirdquarter of 2017-18. As per a stockexchange filing, the company’s totalincome stood at �4,439.21 crore in thereported quarter. Interest income increasedto �4,414.15 crore from �3,586.74 crore inthe year-ago period. Total expenses toowidened to �3,579.62 crore from �2,907.90crore in the third quarter of 2017-18.

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Bajaj Auto on Wednesday reported20.49 per cent increase in consolidated netprofit at �1,220.77 crore for Decemberquarter 2018-19, on account of higher salesvolume. The company had posted a netprofit of �1,013.16 crore in the same quar-ter of 2017-18. Total income during thereported quarter went up 19.49 per centto �7,879.34 crore as against �6,595.22crore in the year-ago period, Bajaj Autosaid in a BSE filing. Total sales volume

stood at 12,59,828 units, up 26 per cent asagainst 10,01,469 units in the same quar-ter of 2017-18, it said. The company’sdomestic motorcycle sales in the thirdquarter stood at 6,44,093 units comparedto 4,66,431 units in the year-ago period.The Pune-based company said totalexports were at 5,24,717 units in thereported quarter as compared to 4,24,915units in the same period last year, anincrease of 23 per cent.

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Jubilant FoodWorks on Wednesdayreported 46.16 per cent jump in standalonenet profit at �96.5 crore for the quarterended December 31, 2018, helped byincrease in same-store sales growth ofDomino’s Pizza. The company had post-ed a net profit of �66.02 crore duringOctober-December quarter previousfinancial year.

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JSW Energy’s consolidated net prof-it nearly trebled to �147.08 crore for quar-ter ended on December 31, 2018 comparedto the year ago period, mainly on accountof higher revenues. The company’s con-solidated net profit in the quarter endedDecember 31, 2017 was �50.55 crore, JSWEnergy said in a regulatory filing. The totalincome of the company during the quar-ter under review stood at �2,491.79 croreup from �2,081.14 crore in the year-agoperiod. During April to December periodof the current fiscal, the company’s net prof-it was �678.70 crore compared to �564.96crore in the corresponding period last year.Total income during the nine month peri-od was �7,487.40 crore up from �6,634.88crore year-ago. New Delhi|PTI

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Sebi has proposed a new setof framework for REITsand InvITs in order to

provide flexibility to the issuersin terms of fund raising andincreasing the access of theseinvestment vehicles toinvestors.

Under the proposal, min-imum allotment and trading lotfor publicly issued REITs (RealEstate Investment Trusts) andInvITs (InfrastructureInvestment Trusts) will bereduced. Besides, it has beenproposed that the leveragelimit for InvITs will beincreased from existing 49 percent to 70 per cent.

Sebi had notified REITsRegulations in 2014, allowingsetting up and listing of suchtrusts which are very popularin some advanced markets.However, till date, as many asthree InvITs have issued andlisted their units raising about�10,000 crore and one REIT isin the process of making a pub-lic offer.

Despite various relaxationsgiven by the markets regulator,these investment vehicles havefailed to attract investors.

Accordingly, the Securitiesand Exchange Board of India(Sebi) has come out with freshconsultation paper to amendregulations pertaining to REITs

and InvITs and sought com-ments from public till February18. The final norms will be putin place after taking views of allthe stakeholders.

These proposals are aimedat providing flexibility to theissuers in terms of fund raisingand increasing the access ofthese investment vehicles toinvestors. “At the time of ini-tial/follow-on issue, the mini-mum application and allotmentlot shall be of 100 units and thevalue of one such lot shall bewithin the range of �15,000-20,000,” the proposal noted.

After initial listing, a trad-ing lot should also be of 100units, it added. Currently, in thecase of a REIT issue, the min-imum subscription from anyinvestor in an initial offer andfollow-on public offer is not lessthan �2 lakh, while the same is�10 lakh in case of InvIT.

Further, the prescribed trad-ing lot for the purpose of trad-ing of units of the REIT on thestock exchange is �1 lakh, whilethe same is �5 lakh for InvIT.

The trading lot for existingpublicly issued and listed unitsshould be reduced by the stockexchange within a period of sixmonths from the date of noti-fication of the regulations.

Further, it has been pro-posed that the leverage limit forInvITs should be increased fromexisting 49 per cent to 70 per

cent. The enhanced limit will beavailable specifically for acqui-sition of new infrastructureassets. Such InvITs which areincreasing their leverage beyond49 per cent will have to makeadditional disclosures aboutfinancial results on quarterlybasis along with specific detailsof debt service coverage ratiosand interest service coverageratios and quarterly valuation ofassets, as per the proposal.

To enable unlisted private-ly placed InvITs, Sebi has pro-posed a separate frameworkthat includes that the numberof investors in such InvITsshould be as determined by theissuer including the extent ofinvestment by a single investor.

Among other proposalsare the minimum investmentby an investor should not beless than �1 crore; leverageshould be determined by theissuer after consultation withinvestor and listing of units ofsuch InvITs on recognisedstock exchanges should not bepermitted.

Existing privately placedlisted InvITs may choose tomigrate to the proposed frame-work for private unlistedInvITs, if they obtain theapproval of more than 90 percent of their unitholders byvalue and exit may be provid-ed to dissenting unitholders,Sebi said.

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RPP Infra ProjectsWednesday said it has

received three new ordersworth �252.9 crore in thedomestic market.

“The company hassecured an order worth �194.7crore from the Tiruppur CityMunicipal Corporation forconstruction of 12 elevatedservice reservoirs. The projectis expected to be completedwithin 36 months,” RPP InfraProjects said in a regulatory filing.

RPP Infra said it has alsoreceived a letter of intent (LoI)from state-owned BharatHeavy Electricals Ltd (BHEL)worth �40.2 crore in Tuticorin,Tamil Nadu, for the fabricationand erection of structural steelfor their power house, to becompleted within 24 months.

The company said thethird order is a letter of accep-tance (LoA) for its bid tobuild a storm water drain forthe Thoothukudi Smart Cityin Tamil Nadu, worth �18crore.

RPP Infra said its orderbook at the end of first half ofthis fiscal stood at �1,500crore.

Shares of RPP Infra weretrading 2.05 per cent higher at�119.50 apiece on BSE.

Script Open High Low LTPRCOM 12.20 12.30 11.37 11.53DHFL 167.10 169.70 153.50 161.60IBULHSGFIN 723.55 728.85 659.75 674.00YESBANK 210.00 213.55 198.50 199.40AXISBANK 687.90 703.00 684.00 690.90SUZLON 4.98 5.04 4.92 4.98HEG 2100.00 2172.05 1980.00 2171.10ICICIBANK 351.00 368.05 351.00 365.25JUBLFOOD 1210.55 1238.50 1176.35 1198.75GRAPHITE 483.10 514.15 482.40 514.15ZEEL 379.80 391.45 374.00 389.25BAJFINANCE 2572.20 2623.00 2547.05 2596.35TATASTEEL 445.00 471.20 445.00 467.60RELIANCE 1215.00 1224.90 1190.55 1194.80BAJAJ-AUTO 2594.00 2651.45 2483.95 2498.85ADANIPORTS 348.10 349.70 336.40 338.35STAR 492.00 511.75 471.00 475.35BANKBARODA 116.65 118.20 112.40 113.65DISHTV 22.00 24.55 21.05 24.10JETAIRWAYS 242.55 246.00 235.05 242.15PEL 2141.05 2152.00 2001.05 2074.05HDFC 1929.80 1929.80 1870.10 1885.50JPASSOCIAT 6.41 6.53 6.36 6.41GODREJCP 740.00 741.30 682.90 694.90IFCI 14.00 14.06 13.46 13.62LT 1283.00 1309.00 1281.00 1295.30HDFCBANK 2076.00 2076.00 2028.00 2032.55SBIN 280.80 290.00 280.40 287.50IOC 137.35 138.00 132.70 134.65ASHOKLEY 82.50 83.00 80.65 80.90HCLTECH 1015.00 1034.75 1002.55 1017.10ITC 280.00 280.30 273.75 274.80

JINDALSTEL 130.00 132.85 127.25 129.95GAIL 324.80 327.55 320.00 321.85SUNPHARMA 425.00 426.30 416.00 417.60BANKINDIA 98.25 100.35 95.65 99.20TCS 1983.15 1983.95 1955.10 1977.85PHILIPCARB 156.50 168.55 156.50 166.05EXIDEIND 219.90 224.45 218.25 222.40ADANIPOWER 43.45 45.30 42.95 44.40MARUTI 6541.00 6582.00 6509.80 6528.25INFY 727.35 734.65 720.60 724.85JSWENERGY 65.15 69.95 64.60 67.90FORCEMOT 1351.95 1499.00 1335.00 1446.05VEDL 193.45 196.25 192.25 194.05JSWSTEEL 271.25 273.75 262.45 268.20HINDPETRO 235.50 235.50 226.90 231.20GRANULES 94.40 95.55 91.00 92.40TATAMOTORS 174.50 176.70 173.15 174.30LINDEINDIA 515.00 519.25 458.50 477.95KOTAKBANK 1255.00 1256.00 1217.00 1221.50STRTECH 252.65 258.80 248.20 252.80RELCAPITAL 201.00 203.00 196.25 197.90ONGC 142.00 142.00 138.95 139.60SPARC 163.50 165.00 156.90 157.50TATACOMM 492.65 511.05 486.15 489.55HEROMOTOCO 2655.00 2655.00 2595.00 2608.80IBVENTURES 333.55 341.10 310.00 317.75ESCORTS 651.00 662.35 642.50 656.95WIPRO 360.00 367.45 358.45 362.50COALINDIA 223.00 227.40 220.70 225.45CANBK 249.00 251.85 245.35 249.55PTC 79.25 79.25 72.30 75.05DLF 166.95 166.95 160.20 164.35L&TFH 132.60 133.20 129.30 132.50UNIONBANK 80.65 81.80 79.50 81.00JISLJALEQS 58.90 59.20 58.00 58.55ASIANPAINT 1394.00 1415.00 1373.50 1388.75BEML 805.00 805.00 785.00 795.00LICHSGFIN 453.85 454.65 430.00 434.15PCJEWELLER 74.25 74.75 71.90 73.20RECLTD 123.20 125.60 122.30 125.05SPICEJET 80.05 80.70 79.60 80.20NMDC 92.20 96.35 92.20 96.10CEATLTD 1115.00 1115.00 1073.35 1085.45MOTHERSUMI 143.00 143.60 139.80 141.50M&M 672.00 680.00 670.80 678.25INFIBEAM 39.50 40.95 38.25 38.65BAJAJFINSV 6260.00 6367.00 6210.00 6243.55HDFCLIFE 361.00 372.00 358.55 370.75HINDUNILVR 1754.00 1760.10 1726.30 1730.10RELINFRA 269.00 271.05 263.50 268.95PNB 77.90 78.30 76.70 77.20TATAPOWER 71.45 71.70 67.75 68.05MGL 930.10 931.35 902.60 910.60RADICO 408.00 421.40 405.00 416.55

IDFCFIRSTB 46.50 46.60 44.50 44.70DCMSHRIRAM 311.50 339.00 311.50 327.65AVANTI 309.05 320.65 309.05 316.40ORIENTBANK 96.00 96.75 93.60 95.25NCC 81.50 81.90 79.80 80.40INFRATEL 297.95 299.05 286.05 289.90IBREALEST 74.00 75.40 72.40 73.90FEDERALBNK 86.05 87.20 84.65 86.45MPHASIS 984.40 1015.00 979.15 1005.45GNFC 320.00 326.80 318.60 325.25ABFRL 204.25 210.85 204.00 208.30JUSTDIAL 472.95 477.40 460.85 468.50EICHERMOT 18925.00 19095.00 18780.00 18896.00AJANTPHARM 1093.70 1108.00 1066.40 1089.55BEL 82.00 84.60 82.00 84.00NBCC 58.40 60.20 57.85 60.05SWANENERGY 99.70 99.70 96.30 96.95SUNTV 532.00 541.00 526.20 533.65DMART 1390.00 1399.30 1365.00 1371.55PIDILITIND 1106.00 1113.90 1069.20 1107.35MINDTREE 910.90 917.50 885.35 890.15BHARTIARTL 309.90 312.65 300.00 303.35GRASIM 747.50 747.50 718.00 725.35INDIACEM 84.00 85.45 81.15 84.50RAIN 113.90 118.20 110.65 117.80VINATIORGA 1560.00 1647.10 1550.00 1575.00INDUSINDBK 1465.30 1489.95 1459.95 1475.75BPCL 344.45 345.55 337.05 343.45BHEL 65.25 65.25 63.75 63.95JAICORPLTD 98.65 101.30 98.50 99.80AUROPHARMA 763.00 782.90 763.00 778.40IDEA 31.25 31.40 30.20 30.45WOCKPHARMA 450.65 450.65 440.45 443.75BANDHANBNK 416.80 416.80 405.10 407.20DABUR 427.70 432.00 424.05 430.85SAIL 46.20 47.80 46.20 47.30LTTS 1638.00 1646.00 1617.05 1621.20INDIANB 229.00 231.40 223.00 227.85KRBL 311.00 338.80 306.00 335.25EDELWEISS 155.75 155.95 152.70 154.85ULTRACEMCO 3448.30 3460.00 3369.10 3437.65SRTRANSFIN 1028.00 1036.45 1003.45 1014.85BIOCON 654.00 654.45 643.70 646.80PERSISTENT 588.70 608.50 585.00 602.45CADILAHC 322.00 325.65 314.45 319.05PFC 100.80 101.85 99.65 100.75JSLHISAR 78.80 82.05 77.85 80.50UPL 760.95 771.75 756.40 765.80VIPIND 451.05 477.30 451.05 473.55HINDALCO 201.00 206.50 201.00 205.45HFCL 21.35 22.90 21.35 22.70TATAELXSI 899.50 899.50 866.80 878.65CIPLA 504.95 506.75 498.00 505.80DELTACORP 227.45 228.40 224.35 225.70MANPASAND 77.00 78.25 75.00 75.55NTPC 139.05 140.25 138.35 138.80NATIONALUM 60.65 60.70 59.80 60.05OIL 171.50 171.80 166.15 167.30BOMDYEING 107.85 110.90 106.40 106.90EQUITAS 118.35 119.25 115.60 118.75ITI 100.20 102.25 99.60 100.35SUNTECK 331.45 342.20 328.85 332.60PFIZER 2940.00 3010.00 2906.50 2995.30APOLLOTYRE 204.00 206.45 201.00 203.25AMARAJABAT 759.00 766.05 746.55 749.95PETRONET 224.10 228.50 224.05 224.95RAJESHEXPO 648.00 648.00 591.35 614.10COLPAL 1281.95 1289.35 1264.00 1272.10RAMCOCEM 572.15 597.50 564.30 591.55SYNDIBANK 35.05 37.70 35.05 36.40KEC 238.00 247.80 238.00 246.05HEXAWARE 323.00 328.00 317.50 322.25RBLBANK 559.90 563.50 551.35 562.00ACC 1360.30 1393.30 1339.00 1387.25ABCAPITAL 83.00 84.10 82.10 82.50TECHM 731.85 733.00 713.70 715.90CGPOWER 37.60 38.05 36.60 37.40UJJIVAN 277.00 283.40 274.00 279.30COROMANDEL 442.00 450.00 441.55 447.00TVSMOTOR 495.00 499.45 486.20 491.75CHOLAFIN 1110.00 1140.00 1091.45 1132.30M&MFIN 406.30 406.85 398.45 404.40VGUARD 200.95 208.25 199.90 206.80GRUH 217.00 217.35 210.95 212.20BHARATFORG 490.00 491.00 471.00 475.60TITAN 966.50 973.85 959.90 966.45CONCOR 648.15 667.80 638.40 660.45IDBI 56.70 56.70 53.90 54.40CENTURYTEX 800.00 805.45 783.90 798.90KEI 350.00 364.95 346.05 361.15SUNDRMFAST 507.05 532.35 505.00 529.40LTI 1712.00 1736.90 1697.80 1730.35ICICIPRULI 295.00 296.00 290.50 292.15CHAMBLFERT 166.00 170.75 165.00 169.55MANAPPURAM 91.20 91.75 90.00 91.15AARTIIND 1566.00 1605.00 1557.10 1599.15RAYMOND 759.70 773.85 751.40 763.15ALBK 43.90 45.25 43.80 44.90SOUTHBANK 13.55 13.55 13.10 13.20LUPIN 860.00 872.00 860.00 863.10AMBUJACEM 201.00 205.25 198.55 204.20SUVEN 194.70 198.40 191.85 193.45BALKRISIND 816.00 819.20 802.00 812.75RPOWER 27.05 27.10 26.45 26.60FSL 47.35 47.70 46.35 46.80IGL 272.00 279.90 266.15 278.35INTELLECT 196.90 196.90 184.50 187.20ICICIGI 833.00 860.00 827.75 853.55BAJAJELEC 433.90 462.45 424.50 455.30

NIITTECH 1306.25 1316.10 1275.00 1284.65VOLTAS 542.00 544.70 532.90 540.85RCF 61.95 62.55 61.65 62.00TV18BRDCST 33.10 33.30 32.35 32.70TATAGLOBAL 204.50 206.40 202.00 204.15PAGEIND 22945.00 23169.95 22635.15 23101.45BATAINDIA 1111.20 1118.00 1081.05 1103.85GREAVESCOT 121.60 121.60 117.50 120.60CASTROLIND 165.00 165.00 161.85 163.10INDIGO 1180.20 1181.20 1168.55 1176.00SHANKARA 393.90 410.20 375.10 399.20HAVELLS 703.00 706.70 696.00 702.65MCX 708.05 721.10 708.00 714.25MEGH 52.25 54.55 52.05 54.05KAJARIACER 531.95 541.45 529.60 533.95DRREDDY 2665.00 2679.00 2639.00 2664.85DCBBANK 175.80 178.15 174.10 177.40FCONSUMER 39.45 40.25 39.00 40.00IRB 150.25 150.25 143.25 145.30POWERGRID 185.75 187.85 183.85 187.05JAMNAAUTO 53.45 55.80 53.40 55.30MFSL 412.55 420.60 407.55 418.15HSCL 119.00 119.00 113.60 115.10SIEMENS 1014.10 1019.80 1000.00 1013.10NAUKRI 1716.00 1717.40 1663.05 1697.05APLLTD 599.00 609.75 599.00 601.35OMAXE 212.65 213.00 210.45 211.85CROMPTON 216.80 221.20 212.85 215.70BERGEPAINT 313.40 320.45 309.10 317.10TATAMTRDVR 90.45 91.65 89.80 90.45INDHOTEL 135.55 135.55 132.50 133.20JUBILANT 708.55 719.45 701.10 704.70KSCL 578.10 599.90 574.50 596.55WELCORP 109.95 110.35 103.15 104.60CUMMINSIND 790.00 801.05 781.65 800.00LALPATHLAB 1015.00 1077.65 1015.00 1066.25PNBHOUSING 910.70 934.85 897.00 931.50J&KBANK 40.90 41.60 40.35 41.25GMRINFRA 15.60 15.75 15.30 15.50GSFC 95.85 95.85 94.30 94.70MERCK 3130.05 3269.30 3100.00 3250.20VENKYS 2066.90 2080.00 2042.00 2063.80IDFC 39.30 39.65 38.50 38.60ABB 1256.80 1281.40 1241.10 1263.90CYIENT 596.50 618.40 596.50 611.20TATACHEM 676.00 681.00 667.00 678.75ADANITRANS 215.95 217.40 210.00 214.10DEEPAKFERT 115.80 115.85 112.75 113.75ADANIGREEN 35.05 38.00 33.95 37.40MUTHOOTFIN 499.00 503.90 491.90 500.50SREINFRA 30.15 30.45 29.25 29.80DIVISLAB 1505.00 1515.00 1492.30 1503.35HSIL 230.00 243.90 229.00 240.45WELSPUNIND 59.45 60.10 58.85 59.70MARICO 366.00 369.35 361.60 364.80JKTYRE 92.55 94.05 91.25 92.15MRPL 67.65 68.60 67.05 68.10ENGINERSIN 114.00 115.70 114.00 114.70TRIDENT 65.75 66.90 65.15 66.50PARAGMILK 212.35 213.50 209.00 212.00CHENNPETRO 241.15 243.80 237.50 241.95APOLLOHOSP 1300.00 1324.20 1298.50 1315.65TATACOFFEE 88.15 89.70 87.20 89.05OBEROIRLTY 443.40 443.40 432.00 434.50BBTC 1213.00 1228.55 1192.15 1197.55GODREJIND 512.70 512.70 490.45 494.15DBL 331.00 334.95 323.90 327.25BLISSGVS 147.00 151.45 147.00 148.90HUDCO 41.50 41.95 40.95 41.70WESTLIFE 363.20 381.40 363.20 374.65BHARATFIN 930.00 941.40 917.70 932.65GSPL 175.50 178.95 174.15 177.65KTKBANK 118.75 119.20 116.65 118.05DCAL 211.55 212.60 203.20 205.85TORNTPHARM 1883.90 1883.90 1841.05 1851.55GLENMARK 641.85 644.05 630.40 638.60GPPL 89.00 89.55 85.55 86.00GUJFLUORO 845.70 858.35 845.65 850.30RALLIS 161.65 162.60 160.00 161.80BRITANNIA 3201.55 3220.80 3182.80 3206.95NATCOPHARM* 666.60 688.00 666.00 677.30ATUL 3437.00 3545.00 3437.00 3500.70HINDZINC 262.00 263.15 259.95 261.85FRETAIL 434.00 434.00 420.10 423.45TATAMETALI 607.00 615.00 595.00 604.60ADVENZYMES 160.15 164.40 157.05 162.10GODREJPROP 751.25 752.65 742.10 745.45SRF 2032.00 2042.50 2009.15 2034.85UBL 1430.00 1445.90 1414.40 1428.25EMAMILTD 398.10 423.15 398.10 413.65ASTRAL 1079.00 1144.95 1079.00 1123.85WHIRLPOOL 1479.55 1490.20 1463.50 1488.25HATSUN 665.10 683.45 642.70 652.10OFSS 3748.50 3785.10 3719.20 3758.30REPCOHOME 398.20 400.85 393.85 397.75GODREJAGRO 489.80 497.25 487.05 488.50FORTIS 134.30 136.00 134.30 134.95NAVINFLUOR 615.00 630.00 612.30 625.40CAPPL 320.95 338.10 318.00 331.55NOCIL 144.00 147.00 144.00 146.15TORNTPOWER 246.00 249.90 244.60 246.50SBILIFE 607.15 615.50 597.00 599.45GESHIP 283.35 304.40 282.40 301.30COFFEEDAY 269.25 269.80 266.50 267.65ZENSARTECH 221.95 222.80 220.35 221.85PRSMJOHNSN 73.25 73.95 68.65 69.90GHCL 246.00 249.40 242.65 245.90GODFRYPHLP 943.00 943.00 924.75 935.05SONATSOFTW 317.65 325.15 315.65 320.90

NAVKARCORP 44.30 48.20 44.00 47.15HERITGFOOD 479.00 493.50 467.00 482.20MAHINDCIE 230.00 234.90 227.00 229.30CANFINHOME 249.05 253.55 246.60 252.00NHPC 24.30 24.70 24.15 24.50VBL 790.00 819.00 784.15 811.45MAHABANK 13.71 14.83 13.70 14.11NESTLEIND 11394.90 11444.70 11290.00 11394.15NILKAMAL 1248.05 1307.85 1248.00 1301.35NIACL 179.00 183.40 172.00 173.60KANSAINER 425.00 438.00 423.60 434.10ISEC 199.30 201.85 197.00 198.30AUBANK 589.85 593.05 582.30 587.25JYOTHYLAB 183.25 184.90 180.20 184.35TRENT 340.00 356.00 337.75 352.15MMTC 26.75 26.75 26.00 26.35HINDCOPPER 45.80 46.20 45.40 45.90BOSCHLTD 18699.00 18699.00 18220.00 18527.95MOIL 157.00 160.00 155.90 158.05PVR 1614.50 1614.50 1594.45 1599.80LEMONTREE 71.00 71.00 67.55 68.10EIHOTEL 180.90 181.65 178.00 179.90TEAMLEASE 2523.75 2624.95 2507.55 2587.80JINDALSAW 82.50 82.60 82.05 82.20LAOPALA 212.95 221.95 212.70 216.15LAKSHVILAS 68.70 69.25 65.65 66.20SANOFI 6399.65 6523.60 6311.00 6435.05MINDAIND 279.55 282.25 276.30 278.85CUB 190.90 194.50 190.00 194.10EIDPARRY 202.95 205.55 200.10 201.65GLAXO 1404.45 1440.00 1394.00 1422.85GUJGAS 127.10 129.40 125.00 127.80NBVENTURES 109.30 110.00 106.50 107.10SCI 40.80 41.85 40.60 40.70BASF 1352.40 1358.00 1339.25 1350.70GDL 98.50 102.95 98.50 99.65JMFINANCIL 77.90 78.50 76.80 77.35VIJAYABANK 45.25 46.30 44.15 44.85TATAINVEST 822.00 835.00 822.00 832.95SOBHA 471.50 471.50 459.00 462.35GUJALKALI 482.60 493.30 480.60 489.50ENDURANCE 1121.00 1134.05 1113.30 1128.90WABAG 294.70 298.20 292.60 296.05TAKE 136.55 141.10 136.55 138.60ASTERDM 156.05 156.05 152.25 153.95HAL 727.00 730.00 712.70 719.70DENABANK 12.80 12.90 12.50 12.60SADBHAV 193.80 203.25 191.00 202.10BAJAJHLDNG 2881.80 2883.00 2840.55 2850.05SHREECEM 15350.10 15556.50 15172.20 15449.95GSKCONS 7189.00 7245.00 7171.00 7200.30FINCABLES 418.90 422.00 413.00 417.55SUPREMEIND 1005.70 1010.50 992.85 999.90PHOENIXLTD 590.75 607.00 575.60 600.45SYNGENE 560.50 567.85 556.55 565.30SCHNEIDER 88.00 94.35 87.40 91.70ESSELPRO 105.65 109.80 105.50 107.75FINOLEXIND 529.00 532.55 516.30 522.60CENTURYPLY 165.10 167.05 164.00 165.15PRESTIGE 201.75 203.50 196.95 201.70KALPATPOWR 360.20 363.00 352.00 360.40ASHOKA 122.95 124.35 116.20 120.30TEJASNET 175.70 180.50 175.70 178.15CORPBANK 26.15 26.80 25.85 26.10SHK 158.00 167.00 155.95 166.10APLAPOLLO 1095.50 1115.00 1095.50 1105.85EVEREADY 210.65 217.00 210.00 214.05GICRE 251.00 251.00 242.00 242.75SOMANYCERA 335.50 348.05 335.50 338.55NLCINDIA 67.00 67.95 66.25 66.55TIMKEN 534.10 570.00 534.05 566.15KIOCL 140.00 140.00 132.20 135.20GICHSGFIN 228.15 238.00 227.00 236.95BIRLACORPN 486.60 501.25 486.00 490.60GULFOILLUB 877.95 904.95 877.95 899.30COCHINSHIP 358.75 363.05 358.05 361.10IEX 157.15 161.30 155.80 159.40SYMPHONY 1185.90 1189.05 1120.00 1143.30JSL 26.75 27.45 26.50 27.25MRF 61530.00 62130.95 61100.00 61221.00ITDCEM 119.80 119.95 114.65 116.40JAGRAN 104.60 105.50 101.60 102.75CARERATING 1015.05 1024.20 1000.50 1011.65SJVN 25.45 25.85 25.20 25.35ALLCARGO 105.80 109.90 105.30 106.20UCOBANK 19.25 19.25 18.70 18.80ANDHRABANK 26.05 26.25 25.80 25.95SUDARSCHEM 316.60 319.60 312.05 315.15

INOXLEISUR 247.05 254.05 247.05 252.40MAHLOG 500.20 505.00 485.00 496.80AEGISLOG 190.00 191.45 186.45 189.45VMART 2411.00 2510.00 2411.00 2509.45SUPPETRO 186.00 199.70 186.00 197.45BAJAJCON 348.65 357.25 345.00 353.00MHRIL 201.90 208.95 201.90 207.20SUPRAJIT 192.45 199.00 187.50 195.95CENTRALBK 31.40 31.85 31.10 31.35THYROCARE 543.55 543.55 530.20 541.15CARBORUNIV 355.00 355.35 350.50 351.80GRINDWELL 547.10 565.00 538.45 556.80TIMETECHNO 95.25 97.50 95.25 96.00JBCHEPHARM 308.65 311.00 305.00 309.40BDL 258.95 262.05 256.00 259.30UFLEX 246.00 254.00 246.00 250.80PIIND 855.00 856.00 839.95 842.70RNAM 140.60 142.20 138.20 139.35TIINDIA 343.80 347.50 335.05 338.30BLUESTARCO 604.35 604.35 593.70 599.85GAYAPROJ 169.00 170.00 166.25 167.15NETWORK18 38.00 38.00 36.25 36.35QUESS 641.65 645.50 640.20 643.30THERMAX 1111.00 1115.00 1100.00 1106.25SHARDACROP 310.00 316.00 310.00 315.05FDC 164.85 170.00 164.00 166.80HEIDELBERG 143.00 146.80 142.90 146.45SHOPERSTOP 501.35 515.00 501.35 507.90RELAXO 726.20 739.85 716.05 720.20IFBIND 830.00 830.00 779.85 823.70DEEPAKNI 211.05 211.30 207.70 209.70MAHLIFE 398.55 398.55 387.45 391.15IOB 13.56 13.66 13.42 13.58LUXIND 1210.00 1240.80 1202.00 1208.50ORIENTCEM 70.00 71.45 68.00 70.70SIS 758.00 785.00 750.00 751.55MAXINDIA 85.00 86.60 85.00 85.90KNRCON 208.50 208.50 203.90 205.50ABBOTINDIA 8060.00 8070.00 7999.95 8014.75GALAXYSURF 1127.00 1137.95 1085.55 1118.75ASTRAZEN 1581.90 1621.00 1555.00 1596.00THOMASCOOK 210.15 220.00 210.15 217.20ERIS 671.05 671.05 640.05 645.05SUNCLAYLTD 2911.00 2948.00 2896.40 2946.65IPCALAB 777.40 784.30 773.85 782.90GREENPLY 130.65 130.90 128.55 130.05CRISIL 1649.95 1672.35 1630.00 1642.80ALKEM 1900.50 1902.45 1860.90 1870.60DHANUKA 410.25 419.90 410.25 417.90CENTRUM 31.00 31.95 30.90 31.05MOTILALOFS 640.50 641.10 631.00 636.80CCL 272.20 274.05 266.00 267.45FORBESCO 1966.95 1998.00 1960.95 1985.65DBCORP 167.50 171.90 166.00 169.50TVSSRICHAK 2320.05 2348.00 2300.00 2326.10RATNAMANI 857.20 908.50 850.00 893.40IBULISL 302.95 302.95 302.95 302.95GEPIL 803.45 803.45 775.00 781.60NAVNETEDUL 111.60 111.60 107.10 107.70REDINGTON 72.30 73.60 72.05 72.95CERA 2540.00 2540.00 2464.25 2483.40GMDCLTD 86.65 87.60 86.05 86.90ITDC 277.10 285.50 276.10 279.80HIMATSEIDE 206.25 206.55 204.05 204.60NH 182.00 190.95 182.00 186.60INDOSTAR 319.00 322.05 316.00 317.15TTKPRESTIG 7611.15 7671.05 7510.00 7541.85ISGEC 4810.05 4863.70 4755.10 4794.75GET&D 298.80 298.80 290.00 293.80ZYDUSWELL 1286.70 1295.35 1273.60 1284.05NESCO 445.00 445.00 436.95 438.85PGHH 9853.40 9969.00 9800.00 9933.35INOXWIND 67.60 68.85 66.90 67.40JKCEMENT 699.55 712.75 699.15 708.20APARINDS 620.00 622.50 612.70 615.05PNCINFRA 144.20 144.20 140.30 141.95LAURUSLABS 359.50 367.50 357.00 361.05GILLETTE 6545.40 6545.40 6454.95 6480.55JKLAKSHMI 296.70 300.15 296.70 299.60SCHAEFFLER 5276.65 5320.00 5252.00 5285.00WABCOINDIA 6268.30 6300.00 6220.70 6261.05ASAHIINDIA 257.25 257.25 255.00 255.00JCHAC 1740.00 1785.00 1692.50 1729.95KPRMILL 537.10 547.70 528.65 530.50TNPL 230.50 234.95 226.50 230.203MINDIA 20100.05 20232.90 20066.00 20152.75FLFL 420.90 421.55 409.35 414.15HONAUT 21108.00 21108.00 20810.90 20901.00SHRIRAMCIT 1691.15 1740.00 1685.05 1734.20LAXMIMACH 5335.05 5335.05 5280.00 5298.60AIAENG 1601.05 1645.00 1601.05 1632.00SHILPAMED 382.00 383.00 374.95 376.80MINDACORP 140.25 141.85 137.05 139.40SKFINDIA 1927.00 1930.00 1919.00 1927.95BLUEDART 2974.50 3024.50 2934.50 3003.15ELGIEQUIP 235.75 240.20 234.45 239.10BAYERCROP 4328.90 4355.00 4295.85 4345.85TRITURBINE 107.20 107.50 105.10 105.70BALMLAWRIE 187.00 187.75 186.00 186.95VTL 1060.30 1082.75 1060.30 1075.60SOLARINDS 991.85 1001.50 985.00 998.60ECLERX 1040.00 1052.90 1027.00 1051.50AKZOINDIA 1725.05 1730.10 1720.15 1725.20TIFHL 447.00 447.00 438.20 439.05MONSANTO 2585.00 2596.90 2571.00 2572.20MAGMA 99.00 100.70 98.00 99.00STARCEMENT 92.05 92.90 90.15 92.00SFL 1311.00 1311.00 1268.00 1272.85TVTODAY 349.05 351.10 349.00 349.80

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SCRIP OPEN HIgh LOW LTP CHANGENIFTY 50 10702.25 10710.20 10612.85 10651.80 -0.40ICICIBANK 351.00 368.60 351.00 368.40 21.55TATASTEEL 446.70 471.40 446.70 468.70 24.90AXISBANK 687.05 703.35 683.75 691.00 30.25HINDALCO 200.40 206.25 200.40 205.35 5.80HCLTECH 1018.00 1035.00 1001.50 1016.20 27.75ZEEL 380.00 391.65 374.10 387.15 9.75SBIN 281.20 289.40 280.25 287.35 6.75BAJFINANCE 2580.00 2623.70 2546.00 2575.00 59.45UPL 763.10 770.00 755.30 770.00 9.70WIPRO 359.00 367.65 358.00 363.05 3.65LT 1284.30 1309.00 1281.00 1291.10 13.05VEDL 192.90 196.45 192.15 194.45 1.80ULTRACEMCO 3420.00 3467.30 3365.00 3441.10 31.45TATAMOTORS 174.30 176.75 173.30 174.90 1.30COALINDIA 222.00 228.00 220.55 224.15 1.60M&M 671.90 680.00 670.30 674.30 4.65POWERGRID 185.10 187.90 183.40 186.80 1.20MARUTI 6559.00 6588.00 6508.00 6565.00 38.05INDUSINDBK 1465.90 1490.00 1458.00 1470.00 8.15EICHERMOT 18900.00 19094.90 18800.00 18925.00 47.75NTPC 139.40 140.40 138.10 138.80 0.30TCS 1979.60 1989.50 1954.65 1984.15 1.40CIPLA 504.95 507.10 497.70 504.25 -0.80TITAN 966.10 974.95 960.05 964.55 -1.55ASIANPAINT 1394.00 1416.80 1372.10 1390.70 -2.60BAJAJFINSV 6295.00 6368.80 6200.35 6212.10 -20.95DRREDDY 2655.05 2680.00 2637.45 2654.65 -11.80GAIL 325.00 327.60 319.90 322.00 -1.60INFY 727.90 734.80 721.10 724.30 -3.60JSWSTEEL 271.50 273.45 262.20 269.00 -1.95HEROMOTOCO 2627.00 2650.00 2591.60 2610.00 -23.30ONGC 141.45 141.50 138.50 139.50 -1.55HDFCBANK 2057.25 2057.25 2028.00 2033.50 -24.10RELIANCE 1215.00 1225.00 1191.10 1195.75 -14.90SUNPHARMA 424.00 426.00 416.20 417.00 -5.40GRASIM 739.00 741.00 718.00 724.10 -9.40ITC 280.10 280.20 274.20 274.70 -3.75BPCL 344.50 344.80 336.50 340.20 -4.70BHARTIARTL 309.00 312.90 300.10 303.00 -4.85HINDUNILVR 1760.00 1760.75 1728.10 1729.00 -27.70YESBANK 211.00 212.00 198.30 199.35 -3.55TECHM 732.00 733.40 711.75 717.20 -14.30HINDPETRO 234.60 235.40 226.85 230.50 -4.80HDFC 1924.60 1929.30 1869.50 1878.90 -43.40IOC 137.15 138.00 132.65 134.10 -3.25INFRATEL 296.25 299.60 286.05 289.95 -7.40KOTAKBANK 1255.00 1255.50 1217.80 1219.00 -32.40BAJAJ-AUTO 2571.00 2653.35 2485.00 2492.00 -75.65ADANIPORTS 349.05 349.05 335.60 338.00 -11.25IBULHSGFIN 721.55 728.00 659.60 665.00 -33.60

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SCRIP OPEN HIgh LOW LTP CHANGENIFTY NEXT 50 26499.20 26506.65 26264.60 26396.15 -2.65NMDC 92.40 96.50 92.30 96.10 4.05ICICIGI 830.00 865.00 826.55 857.95 26.25HDFCLIFE 362.30 372.00 358.00 370.50 10.20BEL 82.35 84.65 82.00 83.95 2.10CONCOR 647.00 664.60 638.00 658.40 15.55AMBUJACEM 201.85 205.80 198.50 205.70 4.85SAIL 46.55 47.85 46.50 47.30 1.10BOSCHLTD 18449.00 18580.00 18194.75 18550.00 378.05AUROPHARMA 764.00 781.00 764.00 778.00 15.10ACC 1369.50 1395.00 1339.40 1385.00 25.35DABUR 425.55 432.45 424.35 430.90 7.75HINDZINC 260.00 263.30 259.50 262.40 2.80BRITANNIA 3197.00 3222.00 3180.10 3212.00 31.95PETRONET 225.10 228.90 224.15 225.10 2.05LUPIN 861.00 872.50 861.00 868.00 7.35L&TFH 132.05 133.45 129.25 132.05 1.05OFSS 3746.40 3795.00 3717.75 3775.00 26.75COLPAL 1269.15 1291.40 1267.05 1272.20 8.45PGHH 9930.00 9945.00 9766.05 9945.00 52.40HAVELLS 704.90 708.15 696.00 704.50 3.55SIEMENS 1019.00 1020.55 999.00 1016.00 4.05ABB 1260.20 1288.70 1243.00 1262.00 3.10NHPC 24.65 24.70 24.05 24.50 0.05PIDILITIND 1100.00 1118.00 1072.15 1107.70 1.85MARICO 367.40 370.15 361.60 365.80 0.30BIOCON 650.00 654.65 643.55 648.50 0.30SHREECEM 15460.00 15590.25 15175.30 15448.00 -8.35MOTHERSUMI 143.00 143.75 139.75 141.90 -0.35SUNTV 530.20 541.15 525.40 531.55 -1.90BANKBARODA 116.50 118.30 112.30 113.30 -0.45DLF 166.00 166.40 160.05 163.95 -0.95BHEL 64.95 64.95 63.60 64.00 -0.40INDIGO 1188.30 1188.55 1168.00 1175.55 -9.10ABCAPITAL 82.80 83.90 82.00 82.05 -0.65DMART 1389.00 1397.00 1365.00 1373.50 -11.05CADILAHC 321.00 325.90 314.40 319.00 -2.70IDEA 30.90 31.40 30.20 30.40 -0.30ICICIPRULI 294.00 295.45 291.00 291.45 -2.95SBILIFE 607.00 616.40 596.00 599.95 -6.15MCDOWELL-N 555.80 558.40 544.30 546.80 -5.65MRF 62384.00 62384.00 61150.00 61224.90 -643.25GICRE 243.75 248.00 241.00 241.20 -2.55BANDHANBNK 415.00 415.00 404.00 405.00 -4.60NIACL 178.20 179.95 173.00 174.50 -2.10SRTRANSFIN 1025.00 1036.60 1002.60 1012.85 -13.75OIL 170.95 171.80 165.10 167.20 -3.10ASHOKLEY 82.50 83.05 80.70 80.80 -1.50PEL 2156.00 2166.00 2001.00 2067.00 -57.40LICHSGFIN 455.30 455.55 429.60 434.00 -18.50GODREJCP 739.20 739.20 683.30 696.00 -55.20

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President Donald Trump isinsisting that congression-

al negotiators working on acompromise border securitydeal include money for hisproposed wall between Mexicoand the southern US border.

Trump tweeted that if thenegotiators, scheduled to holdtheir first meeting Wednesday,aren’t “discussing or contem-plating a Wall or PhysicalBarrier, they are Wasting theirtime!”

Trump’s insistence on awall led to an impasse withDemocrats that resulted in a35-day partial Governmentshutdown.

On Friday, Trump agreedto a temporary deal reopeningthe government while nego-tiators work toward a longer-term border security deal.

Democrats have beenadamant against a wall. Inrecent days, Trump hasappeared to retreat from usingthe word. On Tuesday, GOPRep.

Kevin McCarthy, the

minority leader, suggested that“barrier” was “the same thing”as a wall.

Negotiators are facing aFebruary 15 deadline to reacha compromise.

Capitol Hill negotiators arehopeful of an agreement as theyofficially kick off talks on ahomeland security spendingbill that has been trapped in astalemate over PresidentDonald Trump’s long-stalledborder wall.

The impasse led to thenation’s longest governmentshutdown.

Left on their own, the sea-

soned House and Senate law-makers say they could easilyreach a border security deal asthey have for two years in arow. But whether Trump wouldsign it is another matter.

Trump has grown impa-tient, and his demands on hisUS-Mexico border wall areinsistent even thoughDemocrats took back theHouse. Democrats remainunited against Trump’s visionfor a massive wall project, yetsome are signaling a willing-ness to deal in the wake of the35-day partial Governmentshutdown.

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President Donald Trump islashing out after top US

national security officials toldCongress that North Korea isunlikely to dismantle its nucleararsenal as promised.

Trump tweeted on Wednesday that the relationship with North Korea“is the best it has ever been withthe US.”

He points to a halt innuclear and missile tests byNorth Korea, the return ofsome US service members’remains and the release ofAmericans once detained thereas signs of progress.

Still, National IntelligenceDirector Dan Coats told Congress on Tuesday that intelligence informationdoesn’t support the idea that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un (kim jawng oon)will get rid of his nuclearweapons.

Kim committed to denu-clearization after meeting withTrump last year. A secondTrump-Kim meeting is expect-ed in February.

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British MPs have voted toreject a chaotic ‘no-deal’

Brexit, but backed embattledPrime Minister Theresa May’sbid to renegotiate the divorceagreement already struck withthe EU, setting up a new show-down with the powerful blocwhich ruled out any more con-cessions. In a series of votes onTuesday, lawmakers rejected ano-deal Brexit by 318 votes to310, undermining the MayGovernment’s argument thatBritain would be willing to crashout of the 28-member EU with-out an agreement on March 29.

However, the vote is notlegally binding — meaning itshowed the view of the House ofCommons but does nothing tochange the Brexit date in lessthan two months.

Conservative Party MPCaroline Spelman and LabourMP Jack Dromey had tabled anamendment to try to prevent acrash-out exit of the UK fromthe EU. With just 59 days to gountil Britain leaves the EU, MPsalso voted in favour of anamendment backed by the gov-ernment to seek “alternativearrangements” to the contro-versial Irish backstop, whichseeks to avert a hard borderbetween Britain and Irelandafter Brexit.

May had said she was back-ing the amendment to re-open

negotiations in Brussels with an“emphatic message” of whatBritish MPs want.

The amendment tabled byTory MP Graham Brady passedby 317 votes to 301 - a majori-ty of 16, which effectively callson May to renegotiate her Brexitdeal with the EU and find analternative to the controversialIrish backstop.

“We will now take this man-date forward and seek to obtainlegally binding changes to theWithdrawal Agreement thatdeal with concerns on the back-stop while guaranteeing noreturn to a hard border betweenNorthern Ireland and Ireland.My colleagues and I will talk tothe EU about how we addressthe House’s views,” May said ina statement after the vote.

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European leaders movedquickly on Tuesday to

reject an attempt by Britain’sPrime Minister Theresa May tore-open talks on the Brexitdivorce deal, as British law-makers voted to demandchanges.

When May signed thewithdrawal agreement inNovember, both she and theother 27 EU leaders hailed it asthe only way to avoid Britaincrashing out of the bloc onMarch 29 without a plan.

But the embattled Britishpremier failed to sell the agree-ment to her own Parliament,

which on Tuesday voted tosend her back to demand thatthe deal be stripped of the“Irish backstop”, a clause cre-ated to keep the border openwith Ireland.

May’s call got short shriftfrom EU Council presidentDonald Tusk, who called roundthe other 27 EU capitals tocoordinate a response andissued a firm statement rulingout renegotiation.

“We continue to urge theUK Government to clarify itsintentions with respect to thenext steps as soon as possible,”Tusk’s spokesman said.

“The WithdrawalAgreement is and remains the

best and only way to ensure anorderly withdrawal of theUnited Kingdom from theEuropean Union.

“The backstop is part of theWithdrawal Agreement, andthe Withdrawal Agreement isnot open for renegotiation.”

Nevertheless, thespokesman repeated the long-standing EU position that theother members could find away of tweaking a politicaldeclaration that was issuedwith the withdrawal deal.

If Britain makes a “rea-soned request” to extend theBrexit deadline beyond March29, this could be arranged if theother 27 leaders agree.

“If the UK’s intentions forthe future partnership were toevolve, the EU would be pre-pared to reconsider its offer andadjust the content and the levelof ambition of the political dec-laration,” he said.

This is a restatement ofBrussels’ offer to May that, ifshe is willing to reverse heropposition to Britain remain-ing in the EU customs union,then a broad trade deal couldbe possible. This in turn wouldmake the backstop irrelevant,since it would only be invokedto prevent the return of a hardborder between EU memberIreland and the British provinceof Northern Ireland.

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Over 90 members of hard-line religious parities have

been arrested from differentparts of Pakistan’s Punjabprovince for holding demon-strations against the SupremeCourt’s decision to reject areview plea against the acquit-tal of Christian woman AasiaBibi in a blasphemy case.

Punjab Police spokesper-son Nabila Ghazanfar said thatmost arrests have been madefrom Lahore, Gujranwala andRalwapindi.

“Police have arrested morethan 90 activists of differentreligious parties mostlyTehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan(TLP) on Tuesday andWednesday for creating lawand order situation,” Ghazanfartold PTI on Wednesday.

She said three protests were

held in Lahore, one each inGujranwala and Rawalpindibut ‘timely action’ by policethwarted them and arrested theparticipants.

Bibi, 47, is finally a freewoman after all the legalimpediments in her way cameto an end on Tuesday, when theapex court threw out a petitionseeking to review its verdict ofacquitting the victim of a blas-phemy charge.

“On merit, this review peti-tion is dismissed,” pronouncedChief Justice Asif Saeed Khosaafter hearing out for almost 90minutes advocate ChaudhryGhulam Mustafa who repre-sented the petitioner QariMuhammad Salam, the prayerleader who had lodged theoriginal FIR against Aasia Bibiin 2009.

On October 31, the SCreversed the judgements of theLahore High Court as well asthe trial court, thus settingaside the conviction and thedeath sentence awarded toBibi.

The apex court’s decisionin October last to overturn herconviction sparked nationwideviolent protests and deaththreats from hardline Islamist groups. The protestssubsided when theGovernment allowed the pro-testers to file a review petitionagainst Bibi’s acquittal.

Later, a nationwide crackdown had been carried out against the TLP andall of its central leadershipincluding its chief KhadimHussain Rizvi had been putbehind bars.

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The FBI has said it is investigating Chinese eco-

nomic espionage in nearly all ofits 56 field offices in America,highlighting the depth of thethreat to the US.

FBI Director Christopher Wray told this tomembers of the Senate select Committee onIntelligence during aCongressional hearing onworldwide threat assessment.

“I think China writ large isthe most significant counterintelligence threat weface. We have economic espi-onage investigations, for example—that’s just one piece of it—in virtually everyone of our 56 field offices,”Wray said.

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Great theatre is about chal-lenging how we think andencouraging us to fantasise

about a world we aspire for,’ saidWilliam Dafoe once.

Through interactive sessions,innumerous plays, and a range ofcultural events, Bharat RangMahotsav is back in the city to dojust that, to the great delight of the-atre connoisseurs.

As the National School ofDrama (NSD) gears to launch thefestival, it talks about how this edi-tion with bring a diverse range ofproductions comprising of 111shows and allied events like theDirectors’ Meet, Living Legend,and Master Class.

The festival, this year, cele-brates the 150th birth anniversaryof Mahatma Gandhi, by stagingfour important plays on the life,philosophy and principles of Bapu.

Arjun Deo Charan, actingchairman, NSD society, said, “It isan honour to celebrate the 150thanniversary of the father of thenation.”

The festival acts as a host to 69Indian and 15 international playsacross India. There would be awide range of productions byeminent theatre practitioners —nine folk ones, five plays by diplo-ma students of NSD, one produc-tion from the theatre school’sSikkim centre, three plays by theNSD repertory and five invitee

plays.One of the important perfor-

mances at the inaugural, as Charanhighlighted, will be the 50-minutelong Karanth Ke Rang, showcasinga medley of songs composed bythe Kannada and Hindi theatrestalwart, B V Karanth.

The 21 days-long festival willhost around 89 plays in severalIndian languages — 25 in Hindi,16 in Bengali, five in Kannada, twoin Marathi, two in Odia, two inGujarati, two in Manipuri, three inEnglish, two in Assamese, two inMalayalam and one each inMaithili, Telugu, Nepali, andSanskrit each, including 15 foreignplays. It also stages eight folk per-formances.

There will be internationalproductions from countries likeBangladesh, Poland, Russia, SriLanka, the Czech Republic, Italy,Nepal, Romania, and Singapore aswell as non-verbal performances.

While the festival celebratestheatre and performing art in allits forms, there will also be certaindiscussions on various themesrevolving around theatre like, ‘Ismodern theatre inclusive?’ Therewill also be sessions dedicated to‘Notion of state and representation’,‘Unrepresented form’, and ‘Non-governmental curating and fund-ing policy.’

Suresh Sharma, director, NSDalso highlighted the ‘Theatre

Bazar’ that will a provide space toa motley of stalls offering variousculinary delights and nukkadnataks or street plays.

Well, this bazar also holds aplace for students from dramaticsocieties of around 50 colleges ofDelhi, representing the youthforum.

He said that theatre is one ofthe oldest and strongest media toconvey human emotions in amanner that defies “temporalboundaries.”

Talking about how the bestplays have been selected from ahuge number of entries, he said,“We have made a lot of efforts tobring a selection of quality plays,choosing the best out of 960 sub-missions. There are nine folk per-formances being presented as wellas invitee plays and productions inregional languages. We have triedto accommodate as many youngtheatre enthusiasts since the insti-tution aims to foster the growth ofyoung talents through the festival.”

Charan believed that theatregives a chance to celebrate andvisualise a world that we only“imagine” and hence, it shouldreach as many people as it can.

He added, “We have spread thefestival across the country so thattheatre could reach more people.”

(The festival begins tomorrowand will go on till February 21across India.)

Violence penetrates all areas ofsociety, whether we know it or

not. “There’s a cycle of brutalityand counter-violence going on inthe world, even little things sparkoff,” says the journalist-turned-film director Svati ChakravartyBhatkal.

After a successful season ofSatyamev Jayate, Svati made a doc-umentary, Rubaru Roshni, pro-duced by Aamir Khan, based onreal-life incidents from the pastdecades.

Svati shared, “After SatyamevJayate I was thinking about whatI wanted to do next. I had turned50, and had a deep desire tomake a meaningful contributionto society. In 2015 I came acrossstories in newspaper and wantedto investigate further.”

She told, “There are threeimpactful stories of forgiveness.Three families, who lost theirloved ones, and still took a step toforgive those responsible for it.The first part is The Orphan andthe Convict, which talks about thebroad daylight murder of politi-cian Rajiv Maken. The second partis The Farmer and the Nun, a storyof Sister Rani Maria, who waskilled brutally in a bus in Madhya

Pradesh. And third, The Terrorand The Mom, the story of KiaScherr, who lost her husband anddaughter in the 26/11 terrorattack.”

Svati explained how shethought of the title, she said there’sa couplet of Rumi’s — “The woundis where the light enters.” It com-pletely summed up the essence ofthe film. She shared it with Aamirand told him that she wanted tokeep it as a title. The actor instant-ly agreed and said we’ll call itRubaru Roshini. “It was a perfectfit,” she said.

Svati said she didn’t need toconvince the people to talk in frontof the camera for the film as theprocess was “organic” and built ona relationship. She comfortedthem first by giving them propertime which in turn helped her gaintheir confidence.

“There wasn’t a need of con-vincing. Initially, I was just curi-ous to know about their experi-ences. I had told them I want toshoot all that they say, but I don’tknow how will it look like. A rela-tionship began and things start-ed to develop gradually. I wantedthe characters to be real andtried keeping the stories in the

way they are. It’s completelyunscripted,” she said.

However, it was her initialshow that helped her to learn theropes of the craft. “The showSatyamev Jayate emphasised forme a better understanding of theaudio-visual medium andequipped me with basic skills. Iwas a novice to the televisionworld and couldn’t even operatea simple video camera. I receiveda better knowledge and trainingby working on the show for fouryears. It indeed made me confi-dent when I planned RubaruRoshni.”

The director did not chart outa course for herself. With somehard work and determination,things started to fall into place.“I’ve followed the pathways thatlife has tried to take me towards.I constantly keep making effortsuntil the output is worthwhile. Idon’t think about what genre ormedium it is that I am working in.I don’t know about the evolutionbit, but I’ve had a lot of fun learn-ing new things and new skillsevery couple of years. Not stick-ing to a specific medium has actu-ally allowed me to enjoy the free-dom of being fluid.”

There was a time when voices were raised for the universal adultfranchise by women to attain the right to vote. They did get

the right eventually. However, the battle wasn’t over.A recent survey by Change.org, which talked about challenges

that women face in politics, revealed that crimes against womenrank as top election issue among women.

The survey also revealed public opinion, which is stronglyin favour of more women candidates in politics. The survey, titled#SheVotes, showed a strong wave among both men and womenwho responded that they would prefer to vote for women can-didates they felt were equally qualified.

The respondents also felt that women were grossly under-represented in the Parliament despite public opinion thatwomen are “more likely to hear and connect with social issues.”

The online survey, that was conducted among 20,000Change.org users across the nation, brought together two politi-cians — Sushmita Dev, president, Mahila Congress, and ShwetaShalini, spokesperson from BJP — to talk about how challeng-ing women’s roles in politics are.

Dev said, “Women’s role in politics — as elected representa-tives and as voters — has to be valued. Women are natural lead-ers. We are trying to implement 33 per cent reservation for women

in all Congress-ruled states tocreate more opportunities.”

Shalini said, “An equi-table democracy is not justone in which women haveequal rights to elect, it is theone in which they have equalopportunities to be elected.The tide is turning in favourof more women’s representa-tion in politics. We cannotignore it.”

Nida Hasan, countrydirector, Change.org, said,“The survey finds thatwomen want to directly

engage with politicians but are still uncomfortable with in-per-son meetings. They prefer digital petitions as a significant wayof connecting with their elected representatives. The survey alsoshows that gender issues will play an important role in the upcom-ing General Elections.”

Of the 20,000 respondents, 4,000 were women and around16,000 were men.

�����&������������Among a list of 40 issues, people chose the ones that, accord-

ing to them, are most likely to likely to impact the GeneralElections. The top ones were gender issues, environment, men-tal health and freedom.

On a hierarchy of one to five, the top gender issues that womenwant to be addressed are — Crimes against women; freedom ofchoice of religion, education and marriage for women; menstru-al hygiene; girl child education and maternal health and infantmortality. As per the survey, women ranked gender issues muchhigher than men. Among all issues, where crimes against womenranked one among women, while men ranked it as the 15th.

While 31 per cent women ranked marital rape as 25th amongall issues that they want to hear more about, 16 per cent menranked it as 37th.

Women ranked freedom of choice for women in religion, edu-cation, marriage, etc, at 11th (40 per cent). Among men, it rankedat 27 (23 per cent). Female workforce participation stood at 20thrank among 33 per cent of women, while it ranked 31 for 21 percent of men.

While men wanted to hear more about corruption, infrastruc-ture and roads, employment and job creation.

While among other issues, 34 per cent women wanted men-tal health and around 20 per cent were men who stood for theissue. Around 32 per cent women and 23 per cent men wantedreligious freedom. Environmental issues, waste disposal, air pol-lution and forest conservation also mattered the most to therespondents.

�����.��������As per the research, around 17 per cent women opposite 21.9

per cent men vote a candidate based on his/her track record.Majority of respondents would vote for an equally-qualified femalecandidate over her male counterpart (56.64 per cent).

It also showed that people want to play a bigger role in thedemocracy that goes beyond just casting their vote. Around 57.53per cent of respondents wanted to be able to provide public inputsof policy-making via public consultations and meetings (offline),and 55.76 per cent wanted to participate through digital petitions(online).

However, it showed that women are less likely to go for per-sonal meetings with elected representatives and preferred moredigital petitions (28.21 per cent) for public decision-making.

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SS Rajamouli is known fordirecting 11 consecutive

hits at the box office in 18years. Top three national net-works are trying to acquire thesatellite and digital rights of#RRR, his new venture starring Jr NTR and RamCharan. The team of #RRRhas reportedly quoted a priceof �250 crore and thus sur-passed the record of 2.0. The

makers are not ready compro-mise on anything lesser. Forthe record, Rajnikanth andShankar’s film, set a recordwhere the satellite and digitalrights were sold for approxi-mately 170 crore.

Rajamouli’s career graphmakes most people believethat irrespective of what hemakes, it will be a hit.Baahubali: The Beginning and

The Conclusion reinforced this. The first 10-day schedule

of the film with 10 days wasfinished in November. Thesecond schedule of the filmstarted on January 21.

It is also reported thatRRR will be made in more thanfour different languages, and isexpected to shatter the recordsfor holding the highest amountof satellite and digital rights.

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The Apollo Hospitals EnterpriseLimited has opened the Apollo Proton

Cancer Centre (APCC), giving cancerpatients access to a specialised form ofradiotherapy that is extremely precise indestroying cancer cells. The APCC wasrecently inaugurated in Chennai by theVice President of India, Venkaiah Naidu,in the presence of the Chief Minister ofTamil Nadu, Edappadi K Palaniswami andthe Chairman of the Apollo HospitalsGroup, Dr Prathap C Reddy.

Opening a new frontier in cancer care,the 150-bed APCC is an integrated can-cer hospital in Chennai, providing world-class 360 degree comprehensive cancercare. The APCC will offer patientsadvanced multi-room proton therapywith cutting-edge pencil-beam scanningtechnology that provides the highestdegree of precision.

The clinical advantages of proton ther-apy as compared to conventional radia-tion therapy are many, with more than200,000 patients successfully treatedworldwide. The proton beam therapytakes the fight to cancer with increasedprecision and greater dose delivery at theprecise site of the cancer, minimising dam-age to healthy tissue, better quality of lifeand a higher cure rate. This ultimatelyleads to better results with fewer short andlong-term side effects.

The Vice President of India comment-ed, “Cancer is a leading cause of death

worldwide and is a major cause of mor-tality in India. My heartiest congratula-tions to Dr Prathap C Reddy and theApollo Hospital Group on the launch oftheir first proton cancer therapy centrethat will serve patients not just in India,but also our neighbours in Southeast Asia.This pioneering treatment also marks anew milestone in the medical journey ofour country.”

The Chief Minister of Tamil Naduadded that, Tamil Nadu has always been

in the forefront when it comes to health-care. With the opening of the APCC, thestate shall continue to offer the best to thepatients.

The chairman of the Atomic EnergyRegulatory Board (AERB), G NageswaraRao said, “AERB appreciates the efforts ofApollo Hospital for establishing the stateof art proton therapy’ facility, the first-of-a-kind in Southeast Asia. The AERBearnestly hopes this most advanced APCCwill conquer the dreaded cancer disease

at affordable cost in a safe manner.” Speaking at the launch, Dr Reddy said,

“Today is a red letter day in the history ofhealthcare in India. The launch of theApollo Proton Cancer Centre puts Indiaon the global map for the best and the lat-est in cancer treatment, and will give newhope to cancer patients not just in India,but across Southeast Asia, the Middle Eastand Africa, i.e., countries that compriseover 40 per cent of the world’s population.It is pertinent to note that even a firstworld country like the UK, launched aProton Beam centre just last month, inDecember 2018, making our achievementin bringing this best and latest medicaltechnology to India, truly praiseworthy.It is with a sense of pride that we dedicatethe Apollo Proton Cancer Centre to thehealth of the nation.”

Proton therapy is effective againstmany kinds of cancer, but is particularlyeffective in challenging cancer sites includ-ing tumours affecting the eye and brain,tumours close to the brain stem, spinalcord or other vital organs, head and neckcancers, deep seated abdominal andpelvic cancers, recurrent cancers andpaediatric cancers, where children andyoung adults are at a particular risk of last-ing damage to organs that are still grow-ing. The proton therapy also helps in sit-uations where treatment options are lim-ited or conventional radiotherapy presentsan unacceptable risk to the patient.

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In keeping with the highest tra-ditions of ultimate bravery

and self sacrifice for the sake ofthe motherland, this time too, thebrave hearts of the CentralArmed Police Forces (CRPF)have been bestowed with asmany as 47 gallantry medals. Itincludes two Kirti Chakras, oneSahurya Chakra, threePresident's Police Medal forGallantry and 41 Police Medalsfor Gallantry. This is a reiterationof the supreme sacrifice andpatriotic fervor of the personnelof the CRPF, which happens tobe the highest decorated Forceamong all the in the country.

The two Kirti Chakraawardees namely SaheedConstable Pradip Kumar Panda,132 Bn, Saheed ConstableRajendra Kumar Nain, 130 Bnand one Shaurya Chakra awardeeZile Singh, AssistantCommandant, had shown exem-plary bravery in the deadly fiday-een attack on the CRPF camp atLethpora in the Awantipura dis-

trict of south Kashmir onDecember 30, 2017. The over 36hours long grueling effort of the

valiant men of CRPF in neutral-ising the three militants hadalso witnessed the martyrdom of

five brave hearts including thetwo Kirti Chakra awardees andinjuries to two other gallant menof the Force. These three mainarchitects of the daring operationalong with the other brave menof the Force had succeeded notonly in eliminating all the threemilitants but also in saving thelives of their fellow mates and thefamily members of Force person-nel living in the residential quar-ters inside the camp.

The gallant men of CRPFhad another close brush with thefidayeens on August 26, 2017when three terrorists barged intothe premises of the DistrictPolice Line, Pulwama in the weehours. The treacherous fidayeenattack was effectively foiled by theForce personnel in a more than

20 hour long, well planned anddeftly executed operation, lead-ing to the elimination of all thethree militants. The incidentwas witness to the raw courageand rare commitment of bravehearts like Saheed constableMohd. Yaseen Tali of 115 Bn,Saheed constable Borase DineshDipak of 25 Bn and Saheed con-stable Jaswant Singh of 183 Bn,all of whom chose to put thecause of the motherland over andabove their own personal safetyand attained martyrdom.

Because of their supremesacrifice these bravehearts of theForce were awarded with theprestigious President's PoliceMedal for Gallantry posthu-mously. These three brave menof CRPF are the only ones to bebestowed with the President'sPolice Medals for Gallantry. Outof 146 personnel selected forPolice medals for Gallantry,CRPF tops the list with as manyas 41 brave hearts receiving theprestigious recognition.

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Blessed with pristine beaches andbreathtaking natural beauty,Seychelles has a lot more to offer to

the young adventure seekers. Topping it upwith visa-on-arrival that is free of cost fortourists, and direct flights from India, thisparadise destination makes for a great get-away with your loved ones. If Seychelles ison your bucket list, here are just a few rea-sons to go ahead and visit this paradisia-cal islands this year.

������.��.�����<�&���For those who like less crowded beaches,must visit Seychelles to enjoy some privatemoments on the world’s most photographedbeach—Anse Source D’Argent on the LaDigue Island, or visit the Anse Lazio on thePraslin Island, which is widely acclaimedto be the world’s most beautiful beach onearth. Once can also enjoy motorisedwater sports like jet-ski and parasailing onthe Beau Vallon, the longest beach on theMahé Island or go sailing, snorkelling, div-ing, surfing, kayaking and paddle boardingon any of the other beaches. Island hopping,whether by boat, plane or helicopter, is rec-ommended to experience the diverse char-acter of each island.

�0�1����������(��2���2��1(Indulge in snorkeling or scuba diving toexperience a kaleidoscope of marine life.Spot turtles, spectacular coral reefs, nudi-branchs, variety of fish, and if you are lucky,you can also swim alongside a 40-foot longWhale Shark. The ones who are lessadventurous can go diving or discover themarvelous underwater world through aglass bottom boat or a semi submersible ves-sel.

��(�1.����������Seychelles islands are home to 13 speciesand 17 subspecies of birdlife that can be dis-covered only here, making the islands a par-adise for avid bird watchers, naturalists,ornithologists and eco-tourists. Go onmountain hikes and nature trails to spot theSeychelles national bird—‘Black Parrot’, therarest Jellyfish Tree, the famous ‘BlackParadise Flycatcher’, the world’s smallestfrog, the largest nut ‘Coco-de-mer’, or theIndian Ocean’s only flightless bird amongother seabird colonies in the world. One ofthe largest tortoises in the world—Aldabra

Giant Tortoise, can be spotted here, espe-cially on the Curieuse Island.

��10��(���2��(From signature treatments of the dedicat-ed spas offering, relaxing massages withexotic herbal oils, scrubs, detox baths, wrapsand invigorating wet-treatments, yoga andmeditation, to a full range of beauty and

grooming services, the spas in Seychellesare the mantra for complete renewal ofmind, body and soul.

��1�������1�&1�(�1�&&���The food setting in Seychelles is a mix ofa number of cuisines. The French settlersbrought the French cuisine while theimmigrants from China and India, addedtheir Asian flavors to the Creole cuisine. youcan sample some tasty dishes like the GingerCrab and Filet Coral Fish served in a pas-sion fruit sauce in Mahé. The palm-heartsalad, served with curry leaves and truffles,is also a unique speciality of Seychelles.Another must try is a local beer manufac-tured on the island called Seybrew, and thepopular Takamaka Rum infused withinteresting flavours.

����(��������&�����&�1���13�����1Seychelles’ culture is a reflection of the har-monious fusion of ethnic diversity. TheSeychelles International Carnival ofVictoria, also called as the ‘Creole Festive,’is a three day-long event, generally held inthe month of October on the Mahé Islandevery year. With participation from 30countries around the world, visit the islandduring this period to witnesses a fun-filledparade where different countries showcasetheir cultures through song, dance and acro-bats.

�������11�����(���Seychelles offers interesting nightlife optionswhich include clubs in the Victoria andEden Island region, and casinos in theVictoria and Beau Vallon region of Mahé.Most of the large hotels have public bars thatoften host entertainment programmes oflocal dance.

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Manchester City's Premier League title challenge was rockedby a stunning 2-1 defeat at Newcastle, while Manchester

United's late escape preserved Ole Gunner Solskjaer's unbeat-en start in a dramatic 2-2 draw with Burnley on Tuesday.

City needed a win at St James' Park to close the gap on lead-ers Liverpool to one point ahead of the Reds' clash withLeicester.

But Pep Guardiola's 100th league game as City managerproved an evening to forget for the champions.

Second-placed City's loss means Liverpool, chasing theirfirst English title since 1990, can move seven points clear witha win over Leicester.

It was a remarkable result given City took just 24 secondsto open the scoring.

Raheem Sterling crossed to David Silva and the City mid-fielder bravely headed it back as he collided with Newcastlegoalkeeper Martin Dubravka.

Aguero pounced on the loose ball to poke home from closerange for his 17th goal of the season.

But City lost their rhythm after that and was punished whenSalomon Rondon equalised for Newcastle in the 66th minutefrom Isaac Hayden's header.

There was worse to come for City in the 80th minute.Fernandinho's foul on Sean Longstaff gave Matt Ritchie the

chance to score from the penalty spot and the Newcastle mid-fielder fired his effort low into the net.

"It wasn't our best. We started with a goal but we didn'thave the rhythm to impose our game," Guardiola said.

It was City's first defeat since a loss at Leicester onDecember 26, ending a run of eight successive wins in all com-petitions.

Of City's title chances, Guardiola said: "It is difficult. Wehave a chance to do it but we need to win our games. Theadvantage is not there but we need to continue."

Solskjaer had overseen eight straight victories in all com-petitions — including six in the league — since replacing thesacked Jose Mourinho in December.

He lost that perfect streak, but still finished impressed byUnited's never-say-die spirit at Old Trafford.

Ashley Barnes put Burnley ahead in the 51st minute andChris Wood struck in the 81st minute to double their lead.

But former United star Solskjaer, serving as interim bossuntil the end of the season after temporarily leaving Norway'sMolde, has had the midas touch.

And in the 87th minute Jeff Hendrick dragged back JesseLingard to concede a penalty that was converted by Paul Pogba.

United poured forward and Victor Lindelof snatched theequaliser in the last seconds.

"The comeback was brilliant. The players have been askedhow they would react if they went behind, so the way we foughtback was fantastic," Solskjaer said.

Cardiff paid an emotional tribute to Emiliano Sala followingthe striker's disappearance, but Arsenal ran out 2-1 winnersat the Emirates Stadium.

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His penchant for hitting double hun-dreds is universally acknowledgedand skipper Rohit Sharma will be

eager to make his 200th appearance for Indiaa memorable one with a solid performanceagainst a below-par New Zealand in thefourth ODI here on Thursday.

With the series already sealed, Rohit,who has a good record as stand-in captainand has three double hundreds in ODIs tohis credit, would aim to tighten the noosearound New Zealand in what could beanother batting friendly track at SeddonPark.

A 4-0 lead will be India's biggest serieswin (across formats) in their 52 years of tour-ing New Zealand having first visited thecountry back in 1967.

For India, the two remaining matchesgive the side an ideal platform to once againtest the bench strength and give the youngermen a feel of match situations.

The status of Mahendra Singh Dhoni'shamstring injury is not known but accord-ing to team sources, there is nothing muchto worry about. A decision on Dhoni's avail-ability will be taken before the toss onThursday.

In case Dhoni is available and the teammanagement avoids tinkering with thecombination, he will walk in as ViratKohli's replacement. Kohli has been restedfor the remainder of the tour.

However, if the visitors opt for a like-for-like replacement, then Indian fans couldget a glimpse of the immensely talentedShubman Gill in the senior team jersey.

Billed as one for the future, manyexperts have found a striking similarity inthe 19-year-old Gill's strokes with the onesthat Kohli plays effortlessly.

"I wasn't even 10 percent of what he(Shubman) is, when I was 19," Kohli had saidafter India's series win in Mount Maunganui.

Following Kohli's effusive praise, Shastriand Sharma might just give Gill a go and

check if he can also be an option at No 4,where Ambati Rayudu has done a decent,if not spectacular, job so far.

In case both Gill and Dhoni are includ-ed, Dinesh Karthik could well be rested.

The bowling department also looks set-tled with Kuldeep Yadav (8 wickets in 3games) and Yuzvendra Chahal (6 wickets in3 games) accounting for 14 wickets so farin the series.

But Mohammed Shami, who has wontwo Man of the Match awards, could begiven some rest as he has been playing non-stop since the start of the Australia Testseries.

In case Shami is rested, Khaleel Ahmed

or Mohammed Siraj could be given anoth-er chance to stake their claim for the reservepacer's slot available in the World Cup squad.

For New Zealand, everything seems tohave gone haywire since the start of the seriesand skipper Kane Williamson has agreedthat they have been completely outplayed byIndia.

Their biggest problem has been theinability to read Kuldeep and Chahal, whohave inflicted the maximum damage on thehome team. Shami has also been pretty lethalin his first spell.

Williamson has got starts but has notbeen able to convert them with scores of 64,20 and 28 so far.

Martin Guptill, an otherwise dangerousplayer, has also not been able to survive thenew ball.

Tom Latham and Ross Taylor have per-formed occasionally but none has beenimpactful consistently enough to change thecomplexion of the game.

In the bowling department, the inci-sive Trent Boult has lacked support andLockie Ferguson is far from a finishedproduct. His was considered a USP buthas been his biggest weakness in theseries.

Seamer Doug Bracewell and leg-spinner Ish Sodhi have also beenmediocre, which makes the job of the

'Black Caps' tougher in the last two games.With all-rounder Jimmy Neesham

added to the squad, he could well featurein the playing XI as the home team seekssome consolation from the humiliationthat they have encountered so far.

�2����� ����3����*+New Zealand picked two uncapped

players in all-rounder Daryl Mitchell andpacer Blair Tickner for the three-matchT20 International series against Indiastarting on February 6.

Regular skipper Kane Williamson onWednesday was named captain of the 14-strong squad after skipping the one-offT20 against Sri Lanka.

"Doug Bracewell, brought in as areplacement for the injured JimmyNeesham ahead of the most recent T20against Sri Lanka, has retained his placein the squad," New Zealand Cricket saidin a statement.

Mitchell and Tickner have beenrewarded for their good performances inNew Zealand's domestic T20 league -- theSuper Smash.

Mitchell scored a 23-ball 61 forNorthern Knights against Central Stagsrecently and was also in good form forNew Zealand A in one-day cricket.

Tickner will be part of the Kiwi squadfor the final T20I as a replacement forLockie Ferguson, who is there for the firsttwo matches.

The three-match series will be dou-ble-headers alongside women's matchesbetween the two sides on the same pitch.

New Zealand Squad: KaneWilliamson (c), Doug Bracewell, Colin deGrandhomme, Lockie Ferguson (games1 & 2), Martin Guptill, Scott Kuggeleijn,Daryl Mitchell, Colin Munro, MitchellSantner, Tim Seifert (wk), Ish Sodhi, TimSouthee, Ross Taylor, Blair Tickner (game3).

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Indian team's young brigade includ-ing Shubman Gill and Khaleel

Ahmed says the high fitness levelsmaintained by seniors like ViratKohli and Rohit Sharma have inspiredthem to match their lofty standards.

Chinaman bowler Kuldeep Yadav,who has been with the Indian teamfor close to two years, also echoed theviews of Gill and Ahmed.

While talking to teammateYuzvendra Chahal in a short interac-tive programme uploaded on bcci.Tv,Kuldeep credited the team's strict fit-ness programme for his rapid growthin international cricket.

"It's not like that I work out a lot.I like to follow a good fitness regimewhich is being given to us. So far ithas been very helpful to us," Kuldeepsaid.

"Our seniors like Rohit bhai,Virat bhai motivate youngsters like usa lot. When they do so, we too feelthat we need give our best (on beingfit)," he added.

Left-arm pacer Ahmed said thatfollowing a strict fitness regime is keyfor a cricketer to be match-readywhenever required.

"Anytime you can get a chance toplay in a match, so you have to main-tain yourself. You need to keep your-self fit every time," Ahmed said.

"Workout needs to be a habit, thesame way like you brush your teetheveryday. If you maintain your bodythen only you can last longer as a play-er," he said.

Young right-handed batsman Gilladded: "We maintain ourselves by fol-lowing the schedule which is beinggiven to us. I am feeling good to bepart of the team."

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