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A midst showers of petals and raising of slogans, newly-appointed Congress general secretary Priyanka Vadra Gandhi, donned in white with light green design kurta, finally made official entry into the politics by holding a grand 20-km road-show here on Monday, being seen as launch of the party’s campaign in the State. A huge crowd in which general public outnumbered the Congressmen turned up to get a glimpse of Priyanka, who was accompanied by Congress president, Rahul Gandhi and Jyotiraditya Scindia. Priyanka just ‘smiled’ and waved all through the route to acknowledge the greeting from public and workers who turned out in large number to catch a glimpse of her. Standing atop the flower- bedecked rath, Rahul held a cardboard cut-out of Rafale jet and showed it to the crowd reminding them about the cor- ruption of the BJP-led Government at the Centre. The Congress workers raised anti-BJP and anti-Modi slo- gans. In a short speech Rahul said the Congress will bat on front foot and will not rest till the Government with Congress ideology is formed in UP As Priyanka’s cavalcade rolled through the streets of Lucknow, the Capital of polit- ically crucial Uttar Pradesh, Congress workers showered rose petals and threw marigold garlands at her, celebrating the much-awaited political debut. Immediately after the 25-km journey began, supporters began taking vantage points through the route to click pho- tographs. Congress workers had been busy making arrange- ments for the roadshow since early morning. They were seen distributing food packets, tea and water to passersby. Patriotic songs were played on loudspeakers, elevating the mood of supporters. Some posters showed Priyanka as Goddess Durga on a lion. “Maa Durga ka roop behen Priyankaji (sister Priyanka is Maa Durga’s incarnation),” read a poster. Another highlighted her resemblance with her grandmother Indira Gandhi. Congress workers were seen wearing T-shirts with photographs of Priyanaka. Members of “Priyanka Sena,” a little-known organisation of her supporters, were also seen during the roadshow. “With the Priyanka Sena at the Nehru Bhawan, Lucknow it is almost celebration here,” tweeted Sushmita Dev, presi- dent of All India Mahila Congress. She attached a pho- tograph of her with members of the outfit. One of the ban- ners on the vehicle read, “Aagai Priyanka. Baj gaya danka. Brashtachar ki ab Jalegi Lanka.” Rahul and Priyanka, also had a tea at famous tea stall in Lalbagh. At Hazratganj cross- ing, all the leaders garlanded the statues of Mahatama Gandhi, Sardar Vallabh Bhai Patel and Dr BR Ambedkar before proceeding to UPCC. At Transport Nagar metro station, Amethi leaders dis- played placards to welcome the trio — Priyanka, Rahul and Sci- ndia. One of the ice-cream vendors, threw an ice-cream cone towards Priyanka which she caught and handed over to Rahul. In a rare visual, Priyanka was seen on the front of the bus top while his brother stood behind her. Later all the three leaders — Priyanka, Rahul and Scindia were standing in the front while other UP leaders were in the back behind the security personnel. With slogan of Priyanka, Rahul zindabad, the Congressmen were beating drums on the entire way to wel- come their leader. O verseas winged guests arrived in less number as compared to the last year in India. The Bird Count Index (BCI) was “low” this (season) year with 247 different species against 268 in the year 2017 due to adverse weather condi- tion and low visibility. However, there is still good news for the ornithologists as Hume’s Short Toed, Syke’s Lark (Flats), Greater White Fronted Goose, Cinnamon Bittern, Painted Sandgrouse (Asola), Pacific Golden Plover, Tri Coloured Munia, Black Throated Thrush, Variable Wheatear, Curlew, Red Headed Bunting, Short Eared Owl (Khadar at North Delhi), Black-Headed Cuckooshrike (Mangaar Baani) Brown Shrike (Sultanpur), Tickell’s Blue Flycatcher (Mangaar), Dove, Orphean Warbler (Dhigal), Mallard 9 and Water Rail, Bengal Bushlark (Dhanauri), Jungle Prinia (Vasant Vihar Aravali), Verditer Flycatcher (Garhimandu), all special migratory species were sighted in different places across the country. Of all the migratory birds, “Blue Rock Pigeon” was among the most abundant species seen all over the country. Dr Faiyaz A Khudsar, ornithologist, and professor in Delhi University, Environmental Department, said, “There is no drastic change in number. The count is low mainly due to local cli- mate conditions, “Smog, pol- lution and forest cover, these are the factors pivotal during bird watching/ bird count,” said Dr Khudsar, adding, “The number seems to be underes- timated due to heavy smog which led to little poor visibil- ity as well as sighting of birds.” According to Nikhil Daveskar, founder of Delhi Bird and organiser of the event, in National Capital Region (NCR), the highest number of species spotted at Dighal in Haryana, followed by Sultanpur outskirts and Sungerpur in northwest Delhi. Around 35 teams com- prising 4,000 - 5,000 individu- als including birders, forest guards and school students attended the event. “Such was the enthusiasm and dedication that one of the teams walked for at least 19 km that day for the count,” said Daveskar. In overall annual bird count, Rock Pigeon 610, Plum-Headed Parakeet 556, Northern Shoveler 508, Eurasian Coot 501, Gadwall 405, Green-Winged Teal 405, Northern Pintail 355, House Sparrow 352, House Crow 341 and Eurasian Moorhen 324 were registered. The Big Bird Day is an annual affair of bird watching and counting. The event was started by Delhi Bird in 2004. It may be recalled that in 2013, the Big Bird Day was organised on a pan-India level with over 160 teams compris- ing over 1,000 birders. In 2017, six international teams, includ- ing from Singapore and Dubai, participated in the Big Bird Day. According to the data, at least 359 bird species were recorded from across India this time, with the teams from Hyderabad spotting the maximum number. Delhi Development Authority biodiversity parks also participated in the bird count, so was the Yamuna Biodiversity Park phase I and Phase II. Long-Legged Buzzard, Taiga Flycatcher, Lesser Flameback, Red-Throated Flycatcher, Barn owl, Sirkeer Malkoha were sighted. K arnataka Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy on Monday set up a SIT probe into the controversial audio clip showing BJP chief B S Yeddyurappa in a purported conversation to “poach” on a JD (S) MLA in his alleged attempt to topple the Congress-JDS Government. Amid turmoil in the State Assembly over the audio tape, Speaker Ramesh Kumar made an emotional appeal to the Chief Minister to constitute a Special Investigation Team to probe the episode since the Speaker’s name also figures in the tape. “Constitute an SIT to estab- lish the truth. Give me relief in 15 days,” a visibly anguished Kumar told Kumaraswamy, after members empathised with the Speaker, saying he was known for his integrity and dignity of his office should be protected. Responding to the BJP members, who demanded that the probe be limited to the charge against the Speaker so that the SIT was not misused for ‘political vengeance,’ the Speaker told Kumaraswamy that “this (SIT) should not lead to a witch-hunt. The probe should be only to establish the truth.” Kumar said in the conver- sation “one person induces another ....Says we have already booked the speaker for 50 crore... About 50 crore having paid to the Speaker to accept the resignation of MLAs (of the ruling coalition).” On Friday, Kumaraswamy had released the audio clip in which Yeddyurappa is pur- portedly trying to lure a JD(S) MLA for destabilising the coalition Government. Kumaraswamy had said during the purported conv- ersation there was a mention of about a “50 crore offer to book” the Speaker to give a rul- ing in favour of MLAs who might resign to help the BJP bring down his Government. The Speaker said he had received the audio clip and a letter from the Chief Minister on Friday and he was not sure whose voice it contained. T here is good news for thou- sands of MBBS interns asso- ciated with various private med- ical colleges across the country. Taking up their long pending demand, the Medical Council of India’s Board of Governors (BOG) is planning to make it mandatory for all private med- ical colleges to pay them stipend at part with what is offered to interns of State-run institutions. The stipend to all Government medical students is paid for one-year period of their compulsory internship after completion of their four-year and six-month academic course. During the internship, students assist in running the medical col- leges and hospitals. However, interns in private medical colleges are either denied stipend or paid a paltry sum. T he the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) report on Rafale jet fighter deal, which has generated a massive political controversy, was sub- mitted to President Ram Nath Kovind on Monday. Now, the Government is scheduled to table it in Parliament on Tuesday, sources said. The CAG report will be tabled on Tuesday, a day before the end of the present Lok Sabha session. This is the last Session of the 16th Lok Sabha as the general elections are due in April-May. The Rafale issue was raised before the Supreme Court, which did not find any substance in the allegations. Detailed report on P10 O n a day Priyanka Gandhi Vadra was making her debut visit to Uttar Pradesh as Congress general secretary, her husband Robert Vadra on Monday said she was a “perfect wife” and “the best mother” to their children and now the time had come to hand her to the people of India. “Please keep her safe,” Vadra said, doffing his hat to his “best friend” over the years and warning her against the prevailing “vin- dictive and vicious” political atmosphere. M Nageswara Rao on Monday admitted that as an interim chief of the CBI he committed "mistake" in transferring former Joint Director AK Sharma and apologised to the Supreme Court, saying he had no inten- tion to circumvent its orders. Rao, who filed an affidavit in response to a contempt notice issued to him on February 7, said he was pray- ing for an unconditional and unqualified apology by the apex court. "I sincerely realise my mis- take and while tendering my unqualified and uncondition- al apology, I specially state I have not wilfully violated the order of this court as I cannot even dream of violating or cir- cumventing order of this court,” Rao said in the affi- davit. C hhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel has hit back at Finance Minister Arun Jaitley a day after the latter tweeted that ‘Congress aligned with the Maoist in the recent Chhattisgarh elections’. Baghel described Jaitley’s tweet an insult to the people of Chhattisgarh as well as of democracy. Commercial Tax (Excise) and Industries Minister Kawasi Lakhma, a popular tribal face of Bastar region, too slammed the powerful Union Minister and sought his apology. Jaitley on Sunday had tweeted, “The Congress aligned with the Maoist in the recent Chhattisgarh elections. Rahul Gandhi stood shoulder to shoulder with the ‘Tukde Tukde’ gang at the Jawaharlal Nehru University. The Congress was in the forefront of defending the urban nax- als in court.” Baghel totally disap- proved the tweet. In a set of two tweets, addressing Jaitley as ‘Blog Minister Jaitley’ wrote, “Would have heard the name of Jheeram? Did you forget the ‘Supari killing’ just before election with cooperation of naxalites in 2013? The Naxalites had killed all the leaders after ask- ing names from each one. Mahendra Bhaiya, Nandu Bhaiya and Vidhya Bhiaya along with 31 Congress lead- ers were martyred.” The second tweet adds, “.. and you are raising awful, absurd and unfounded alle- gations of nexus with nax- alites? The nexus of Congress is with State farmers, tribe, women and youth, under- stand? Please do not belittle the great people and democ- racy of Chhattisgarh. Rest Get Well Soon..” It was tagged to the official twitter handle of Arun Jaitley. Meanwhile, Commercial Tax (Excise) and Industries Minister Kawasi Lakhma dis- senting on the tweet said such a statement by Union Minister is an insult to the tribes of State. RNI Regn. No. CHHENG/2012/42718, Postal Reg. No. - RYP DN/34/2013-2015

Transcript of ˇˇ ˘ ! ’* # ˇ’˘ $-./0 %&˛’ ( !1’,2/$/!(+(*2%/4 (2/0’,3 ˘ˇˆ ... · One of the...

Page 1: ˇˇ ˘ ! ’* # ˇ’˘ $-./0 %&˛’ ( !1’,2/$/!(+(*2%/4 (2/0’,3 ˘ˇˆ ... · One of the ice-cream vendors, threw an ice-cream cone towards Priyanka which she caught and handed

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Amidst showers of petalsand raising of slogans,

newly-appointed Congressgeneral secretary PriyankaVadra Gandhi, donned in whitewith light green design kurta,finally made official entry intothe politics by holding a grand20-km road-show here onMonday, being seen as launchof the party’s campaign in theState.

A huge crowd in whichgeneral public outnumberedthe Congressmen turned up toget a glimpse of Priyanka, whowas accompanied by Congresspresident, Rahul Gandhi andJyotiraditya Scindia.

Priyanka just ‘smiled’ andwaved all through the route toacknowledge the greeting from

public and workers who turnedout in large number to catch aglimpse of her.

Standing atop the flower-bedecked rath, Rahul held acardboard cut-out of Rafale jetand showed it to the crowdreminding them about the cor-ruption of the BJP-ledGovernment at the Centre.The Congress workers raised

anti-BJP and anti-Modi slo-gans.

In a short speech Rahulsaid the Congress will bat onfront foot and will not rest tillthe Government with Congressideology is formed in UP

As Priyanka’s cavalcaderolled through the streets ofLucknow, the Capital of polit-ically crucial Uttar Pradesh,

Congress workers showeredrose petals and threw marigoldgarlands at her, celebrating themuch-awaited political debut.Immediately after the 25-kmjourney began, supportersbegan taking vantage pointsthrough the route to click pho-tographs. Congress workershad been busy making arrange-ments for the roadshow sinceearly morning. They were seendistributing food packets, teaand water to passersby.Patriotic songs were played onloudspeakers, elevating themood of supporters. Someposters showed Priyanka asGoddess Durga on a lion.

“Maa Durga ka roop behenPriyankaji (sister Priyanka isMaa Durga’s incarnation),” reada poster. Another highlightedher resemblance with her

grandmother Indira Gandhi.Congress workers were

seen wearing T-shirts withphotographs of Priyanaka.Members of “Priyanka Sena,” alittle-known organisation ofher supporters, were also seenduring the roadshow.

“With the Priyanka Sena atthe Nehru Bhawan, Lucknow itis almost celebration here,”tweeted Sushmita Dev, presi-dent of All India MahilaCongress. She attached a pho-tograph of her with membersof the outfit. One of the ban-ners on the vehicle read, “AagaiPriyanka. Baj gaya danka.Brashtachar ki ab Jalegi Lanka.”

Rahul and Priyanka, alsohad a tea at famous tea stall inLalbagh. At Hazratganj cross-ing, all the leaders garlandedthe statues of MahatamaGandhi, Sardar Vallabh BhaiPatel and Dr BR Ambedkarbefore proceeding to UPCC.

At Transport Nagar metrostation, Amethi leaders dis-played placards to welcome thetrio — Priyanka, Rahul and Sci-ndia. One of the ice-cream vendors, threw an ice-creamcone towards Priyanka whichshe caught and handed over toRahul.

In a rare visual, Priyankawas seen on the front of thebus top while his brother stoodbehind her. Later all the threeleaders — Priyanka, Rahul andScindia were standing in thefront while other UP leaderswere in the back behind thesecurity personnel.

With slogan of Priyanka,Rahul zindabad, theCongressmen were beatingdrums on the entire way to wel-come their leader.

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Overseas winged guestsarrived in less number as

compared to the last year inIndia. The Bird Count Index(BCI) was “low” this (season)year with 247 different speciesagainst 268 in the year 2017due to adverse weather condi-tion and low visibility.

However, there is still goodnews for the ornithologists asHume’s Short Toed, Syke’s Lark(Flats), Greater White FrontedGoose, Cinnamon Bittern,Painted Sandgrouse (Asola),Pacific Golden Plover, TriColoured Munia, Black ThroatedThrush, Variable Wheatear,Curlew, Red Headed Bunting,Short Eared Owl (Khadar atNorth Delhi), Black-HeadedCuckooshrike (Mangaar Baani)Brown Shrike (Sultanpur),

Tickell’s Blue Flycatcher(Mangaar), Dove, OrpheanWarbler (Dhigal), Mallard 9 andWater Rail, Bengal Bushlark(Dhanauri), Jungle Prinia(Vasant Vihar Aravali), VerditerFlycatcher (Garhimandu), allspecial migratory species weresighted in different places acrossthe country.

Of all the migratory birds,“Blue Rock Pigeon” was amongthe most abundant species seenall over the country.

Dr Faiyaz A Khudsar,ornithologist, and professor inDelhi University,Environmental Department,said, “There is no drasticchange in number. The countis low mainly due to local cli-mate conditions, “Smog, pol-lution and forest cover, theseare the factors pivotal duringbird watching/ bird count,”

said Dr Khudsar, adding, “Thenumber seems to be underes-timated due to heavy smogwhich led to little poor visibil-ity as well as sighting of birds.”

According to NikhilDaveskar, founder of DelhiBird and organiser of the event,in National Capital Region(NCR), the highest number ofspecies spotted at Dighal in

Haryana, followed by Sultanpuroutskirts and Sungerpur innorthwest Delhi.

Around 35 teams com-prising 4,000 - 5,000 individu-als including birders, forestguards and school studentsattended the event. “Such wasthe enthusiasm and dedicationthat one of the teams walkedfor at least 19 km that day for

the count,” said Daveskar.In overall annual bird count,

Rock Pigeon 610, Plum-HeadedParakeet 556, Northern Shoveler508, Eurasian Coot 501, Gadwall405, Green-Winged Teal 405,Northern Pintail 355, HouseSparrow 352, House Crow 341and Eurasian Moorhen 324were registered.

The Big Bird Day is anannual affair of bird watching

and counting. The event wasstarted by Delhi Bird in 2004.

It may be recalled that in2013, the Big Bird Day wasorganised on a pan-India levelwith over 160 teams compris-ing over 1,000 birders. In 2017,six international teams, includ-ing from Singapore and Dubai,participated in the Big Bird Day.According to the data, at least359 bird species were recordedfrom across India this time,with the teams from Hyderabadspotting the maximum number.

Delhi DevelopmentAuthority biodiversity parksalso participated in the birdcount, so was the YamunaBiodiversity Park phase I andPhase II. Long-Legged Buzzard,Taiga Flycatcher, LesserFlameback, Red-ThroatedFlycatcher, Barn owl, SirkeerMalkoha were sighted.

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Karnataka Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy on

Monday set up a SIT probe intothe controversial audio clipshowing BJP chief B SYeddyurappa in a purportedconversation to “poach” on a JD(S) MLA in his alleged attemptto topple the Congress-JDSGovernment.

Amid turmoil in the StateAssembly over the audio tape,Speaker Ramesh Kumar madean emotional appeal to theChief Minister to constitute aSpecial Investigation Team toprobe the episode since theSpeaker’s name also figures inthe tape.

“Constitute an SIT to estab-lish the truth. Give me relief in15 days,” a visibly anguishedKumar told Kumaraswamy, aftermembers empathised with theSpeaker, saying he was knownfor his integrity and dignity of

his office should be protected.Responding to the BJP

members, who demanded thatthe probe be limited to thecharge against the Speaker sothat the SIT was not misusedfor ‘political vengeance,’ theSpeaker told Kumaraswamythat “this (SIT) should not leadto a witch-hunt. The probeshould be only to establish the

truth.” Kumar said in the conver-

sation “one person inducesanother ....Says we have alreadybooked the speaker for �50crore... About �50 crore havingpaid to the Speaker to acceptthe resignation of MLAs (of theruling coalition).”

On Friday, Kumaraswamyhad released the audio clip inwhich Yeddyurappa is pur-portedly trying to lure a JD(S)MLA for destabilising thecoalition Government.

Kumaraswamy had saidduring the purported conv-ersation there was a mention ofabout a “�50 crore offer tobook” the Speaker to give a rul-ing in favour of MLAs whomight resign to help the BJPbring down his Government.

The Speaker said he hadreceived the audio clip and aletter from the Chief Ministeron Friday and he was not surewhose voice it contained.

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There is good news for thou-sands of MBBS interns asso-

ciated with various private med-ical colleges across the country.Taking up their long pendingdemand, the Medical Councilof India’s Board of Governors(BOG) is planning to make itmandatory for all private med-ical colleges to pay them stipendat part with what is offered tointerns of State-run institutions.

The stipend to allGovernment medical students ispaid for one-year period of theircompulsory internship aftercompletion of their four-year andsix-month academic course.During the internship, studentsassist in running the medical col-leges and hospitals.

However, interns in privatemedical colleges are eitherdenied stipend or paid a paltrysum.

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The the Comptroller andAuditor General (CAG)

report on Rafale jet fighter deal,which has generated a massivepolitical controversy, was sub-mitted to President Ram NathKovind on Monday. Now, theGovernment is scheduled totable it in Parliament onTuesday, sources said.

The CAG report will betabled on Tuesday, a day beforethe end of the present LokSabha session. This is the lastSession of the 16th Lok Sabha asthe general elections are due inApril-May. The Rafale issue wasraised before the SupremeCourt, which did not find anysubstance in the allegations.

Detailed report on P10

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On a day Priyanka Gandhi Vadra was making her debut visitto Uttar Pradesh as Congress general secretary, her husband

Robert Vadra on Monday said she was a “perfect wife” and “thebest mother” to their children and now the time had come tohand her to the people of India.

“Please keep her safe,” Vadra said, doffing his hat to his “bestfriend” over the years and warning her against the prevailing “vin-dictive and vicious” political atmosphere.

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MNageswara Rao onMonday admitted that

as an interim chief of the CBIhe committed "mistake" intransferring former JointDirector AK Sharma andapologised to the SupremeCourt, saying he had no inten-tion to circumvent its orders.

Rao, who filed an affidavitin response to a contemptnotice issued to him onFebruary 7, said he was pray-ing for an unconditional andunqualified apology by theapex court.

"I sincerely realise my mis-take and while tendering myunqualified and uncondition-al apology, I specially state Ihave not wilfully violated theorder of this court as I cannoteven dream of violating or cir-cumventing order of thiscourt,” Rao said in the affi-davit.

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Chhattisgarh ChiefMinister Bhupesh Baghel

has hit back at FinanceMinister Arun Jaitley a dayafter the latter tweeted that‘Congress aligned with theMaoist in the recent

Chhattisgarh elections’.Baghel described Jaitley’s

tweet an insult to the peopleof Chhattisgarh as well as ofdemocracy.

Commercial Tax (Excise)and Industr ies MinisterKawasi Lakhma, a populartribal face of Bastar region,

too slammed the powerfulUnion Minister and soughthis apology.

Jaitley on Sunday hadtweeted, “ The Congressaligned with the Maoist in therecent Chhattisgarh elections.Rahul Gandhi stood shoulderto shoulder with the ‘TukdeTukde’ gang at the JawaharlalNehru University. TheCongress was in the forefrontof defending the urban nax-als in court.”

Baghel total ly disap-proved the tweet. In a set oftwo tweets, addressing Jaitleyas ‘Blog Minister Jaitley’wrote, “Would have heardthe name of Jheeram? Didyou forget the ‘Supari killing’just before election withcooperation of naxalites in2013? The Naxalites hadkilled all the leaders after ask-ing names from each one.Mahendra Bhaiya, NanduBhaiya and Vidhya Bhiayaalong with 31 Congress lead-ers were martyred.”

The second tweet adds, “..and you are raising awful,absurd and unfounded alle-gations of nexus with nax-alites? The nexus of Congressis with State farmers, tribe,women and youth, under-stand? Please do not belittlethe great people and democ-racy of Chhattisgarh. RestGet Well Soon..” It was taggedto the official twitter handleof Arun Jaitley.

Meanwhile, CommercialTax (Excise) and IndustriesMinister Kawasi Lakhma dis-senting on the tweet saidsuch a statement by UnionMinister is an insult to thetribes of State.

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Union Home Ministry onMonday designated Dera

Baba Nanak land post inPunjab’s Gurdaspur district,which will be the exit andentry point for visitingKartarpur Sahib Gurdwara inPakistan, as an authorisedimmigration checkpoint. In anotification, the HomeMinistry said anyone with validtravel documents can exit orenter through the post.

“In pursuance of sub-rule(b) of rule 3 of the Passport(Entry into India) Rules, 1950,the Central Government here-by designates Dera Baba NanakLand Check Post of District

Gurdaspur, Punjab State as anauthorised Immigration CheckPost for entry into/exit fromIndia with valid travel docu-ments for all classes of passen-gers,” the notification stated.

Kartarpur is located in

Shakargarh in Narowal dis-trict of Pakistan’s Punjab. GuruNanak Dev, the founder ofSikhism, had spent more than18 years of his life there. TheKartarpur Sahib Gurdwara islocated on the banks of theRavi river, about three-fourkm from the border inPakistan.

The much-awaited corri-dor will connect the KartarpurGurdwara with Dera BabaNanak shrine in India’sGurdaspur district and facili-tate visa-free movement ofIndian Sikh pilgrims, who willhave to just obtain a permit tovisit Kartarpur Sahib, whichwas established in 1522 byGuru Nanak Dev.

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The alleged horse trading inthe JD(S)-Congress-led

Karnataka figured in the LokSabha on Monday as theCongress cited a purportedaudio clip of BS Yeddyurappa toaccuse the BJP of trying to lureruling coalition MLAs, a chargerejected by Union Minister andsenior BJP leader SadanandaGowda who claimed that therewere differences within the StateGovernment and “fake activities’were enacted to save ChiefMinister’s chair.

The issue derailed the LokSabha proceedings from theword go and the Question Hourwas adjourned for about 50minutes due to Congress andJD(S) protests over alleged

horse trading in Karnataka.TDP members also joined

them demanding “justice” forAndhra Pradesh.

As the house resumed the issue of alleged horse trading in Karnataka wasbrought up by the Congress cit-ing a purported audio clip of BSYeddyurappa to accuse the BJPof trying to lure ruling coalitionMLAs, a refuted by SadanandaGowda.

Congress members, includ-ing Sonia Gandhi, staged awalkout from the House overthe issue but returned a few min-utes later. Congress leader in theHouse Mallikarjun Kharge levelled allegations ofhorse trading against the BJP leadership and also men-tioned Yeddyurappa’s purport-

ed audio clip in which he isallegedly seeking to win over anMLA of the ruling Congress-JD(S) coalition in the state.

Kharge, an MP from thestate, claimed that there are ref-erences that the Speaker of thestate assembly and even a judge“could be managed”.

BJP members from the state,including Sadananda Gowda,objected to Kharge’s remarks.

Former prime minister andJD(S) leader HD Deve Gowdasaid that “things like ‘OperationKamala’ should not happen inthe country”.

‘Operation Kamala’ is a ref-erence to BJP allegedly winningover MLAs from rival parties.

Refuting the allegations,Minister for Statistics SadanandaGowda said there is already

infighting between the Congressand the JD(S) in Karnataka andthat both parties are doing “fakeactivities”.

Gowda claimed that thetwo parties were doing suchthings to save the chair of H DKumaraswamy.

“All things uttered (here)...Are false and far from truth,”Gowda said. Briefly , Congressmembers trooped into the Welldisplaying placards with themessage ‘Operation Kamala.Death of Democracy’ written onsome of them.

TDP members were also inthe Well as they sought to raise issues related to Andhra Pradesh. Despite repeat-ed requests from SpeakerSumitra Mahajan, theyremained in the Well.

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In what could be a pointer tothe popularity of the

newly appointed general secre-tary of Congress PriyankaGandhi Vadra, the twitteratifollowed her on the Twitter infrenzy with the follower basetouching nearly one lakh with-in hours of her joining the socialmedia platform on Mondaymorning.

Priyanka joined Twitter ataround 10 AM on Monday andby late evening she had clocked a followers’ base of over95,000.

Priyanka went on to followseven Congress leaders includ-ing her brother and party chiefRahul Gandhi, Ahmed Patel,Sachin Pilot, JyotiradtiyaSCindia, Congress chiefspokesman Randeep Surjewalaand twityter handle of All IndiaCongress.

“Smt Priyanka Gandhi

Vadra is now on Twitter. Youmay follow her at @priyanka-gandhi,” a tweet from theCongress’ official Twitter handlesaid. Interestingly till late in theevening she didn’t post even atweet.

In comparison, RahulGandhi who joined themicroblogging site in April 2015 now follows 206twitterati while being followedby 8.4 million. The twitterhandle of Congress which existssince February 2013 has 4.8 fol-lowers. Prime MinisterNarendra Modi, however, stilltops the list of Indians with 45.4million followers on his Twitter handle since January 2009 whohimself follows 2125 twitterati

till date. Priyanka, 47, was also the

favorite for media on Mondaytoo with round the clock of theRoadshow coverage in Lucknowalong with Rahul and her coun-terpart for Western UPJyotiraditya Scindia.

Besides her husband RobertVadra too went on to sayPriyanka was a “perfect wife”and “the best mother” to theirchildren and now the time hadcome to hand her to the peopleof India.

“There is a very vindictiveand vicious political atmosphere... But I know, it’s herduty to serve the people and nowwe hand her to the people ofIndia. Please keep her safe,”said Vadra in a social mediapost. Vadra is under a probe bythe Enforcement Directorateand was questioned for three consecutive days last weekin connection with a probe intoallegations of money launderingto purchase assets abroad.

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Zakia Jafri, wife of slain MP Ehsan Jafri, told the

Supreme Court Monday that her plea challenging SIT’s clean chit to Narendra Modi, thethen Chief Minister of Gujarat, in the 2002 post-Godhra riots be heard after theLok Sabha polls.

There is “no urgency in thematter” and it can be heard inJuly after the general election,she told the top court.

A bench of Justices AMKhanwilkar and Ajay Rastogiconsidered the submission fordeferment by senior advocateKapil Sibal, appearing for Jafriand listed the matter for hearingin July.

“At the request of senioradvocate Kapil Sibal, for the peti-tioners, hearing is deferred. Liston a non-miscellaneous day inJuly, 2019, as requested,” thebench said.

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Advocating that BJP shouldbe run with the contribu-

tions of the party workers andnot by money bags, buildersand contractors, party presi-dent Amit Shah on Mondayasked two party workers fromeach booth to contribute�1000. However, he went on tosay that this kind of fundingalone would not be suffice inthe current scenario.

Addressing a party event‘Samarpan Divas’ marking the51st death anniversary of its ide-ologue Deen Dayal Upadhyay, Shah said the BJP should takeup the responsibility of guidingother parties on the path of pro-bity. Two workers from eachbooth in the country shouldcontribute �1,000 through theNaMo app, he said.

“BJP workers should say with pride that we run this party from our money andno industrialist, contractor,

money bag or builder can runit,” Shah said.

He, however, added that asparty president he cannot saythe BJP can fund all its organ-isational and election expens-es from its workers’ contribu-tions. “This is not possibletoday,” he said.

“If means are not pure,then our goals cannot be

attained in a good way. If theparty has to be kept pure... Ifthe party starts running fromthe money of money bags,builders, contractors, thosewith black money, then it willmalign our means to realiseour goals,” he said.

There should be a publicdiscussion on how electionexpenses can be brought down

and how to bring probity inpoll funding, he said, express-ing confidence that such anexercise will begin under theBJP’s leadership.

The Modi government, heasserted, has taken steps toclamp down on the influenceof black money in politics bylimiting cash donations to�2,000, said the BJP leader.

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Well aware of the demandsto preserve the cultural

and identity of the rare DardAryans tribe—believed to bethe original descendants of‘pure Aryan race’— from theJammu & Kashmir’s lowerLadakh region, the UnionTribal Ministry which hasalready received representa-tions just recently from thecommunity still awaits for a for-mal communication from theJammu & KashmirGovernment to act on the issue.

The Tribal Ministry’s non-chalant attitude comes even asthe Union Culture Ministry hasalready shared with it the con-cerns of the artists from theDard Aryans community whoat an event held here hadexpressed apprehensions thatmodernisation, migration, andreligious conversion, etc threat-en their existence.

What’s worst, the tribe isconsidered “threatened” due totheir depleting numbers,which, at present, is around4,000.

However, the TribalMinistry has preferred to waitfor the State Government toinitiate step in this direction .Said Jaswantsinh Bhabhor,Minister of State for TribalAffairs in a written reply inRajya Sabha, recently that,“Dard Aryan’ is not among thelist of notified Schedule Tribes.The Ministry of Tribal Affairshas not formally received anycharter of demands from theconcerned State Governmentfor seeking financial help forpreservation of cultural her-itage of ‘Dard Aryans.”

However, he admitted that

a delegation of artists from thecommunity had presented acharter of demands regardingpreservation of their cultureand other grievances to theMinister of State of TribalAffairs.

While maintaining that “asinformed by the Ministry ofCulture, during the Seminar onDard Aryans at IGNCA from16-21 January, 2019, artistsfrom Dard Aryan Communityraised the issues that due tomodernization, migration, andreligious conversion, etc., theirtraditions and culture are atthreat,” the Minister main-

tained that “however, no formalcommunication has beenreceived by MoTA from theconcerned State in this regard.”

To showcase their culture,the Indira Gandhi NationalCentre for Arts (IGNCA) hadorganised Dard Aryan Festival(Aryan Utsav) last month.Virendra Bangroo, an INGCAscholar and curator of theexhibition showcasing theirculture and coordinator of theArya Utsav too felt that thecommunity was being ignored.“So far, the Government hasnot been able to do anythingfor this community. Its policiesand programmes are yet toreach them. Not many peoplein the country know about thisrich colorful legacy, whichtoday stand threatened.”

On its behalf, the IGNCAhas also taken up various ini-tiatives to preserve culturalheritage of the Dard Aryansincluding assistance in settingup a few museums in Leh,Laddakh, Kargil, etc., with thehelp of local community.

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Accusing the Congress ofbetraying the nation by

opposing Government poli-cies for the poor and farmers,Finance Minister Piyush Goyalon Monday said the people willnever forgive it. While replyingto the debate on InterimBudget in Lok Sabha, Goyalsaid that the Modi Governmenthad taken a lot of initiatives inthe past four-and-half years forthe benefit of poor, farmers andmiddle class and the 2019-20Interim Budget was a contin-uation of that.

The Interim Budget waslater passed by Lok Sabha byvoice vote, amid walk-out bythe Congress, NCP and CPI-M.Referring to the PM KisanSamman Nidhi under whichsmall farmers will be providedRs 6,000 financial assistance

every year, Goyal said thatthose living in palaces willnever understand the impor-tance of �2,000 every fourmonths and hence they “belit-tle” the scheme.

“This Government haschanged the working style fol-lowed by the Congress. We aremoving towards an honest sys-tem,” he said, adding theGovernment will take harshsteps against fake companiesbut will do everything to pro-tect the honest ones.

Attacking the Governmentand Prime Minister NarendraModi, Congress leaderVeerappa Moily said every dataon government’s claims are“fudging” in statistics. If theGDP is growing at 7.5 per cent,“can it be without creatingjobs,” he said, adding accordingto latest NSSO estimate, thecountry’s unemployment stoodat a 45-year high. There is a“job crisis”, which they are notprepared to accept, Moily said.

Citing various data, Moilyalleged that the government hassignificantly reduced the bud-get for different programmesincluding for welfare of farm-

ers and women. “Now Rafaelwill fail and Rahul will win,” hesaid, alleging the ruling gov-ernment has no respect forParliament and Constitution.

“After demonetisation, �2lakh crore worth of GDP waslost, industrial output andMSMEs suffered and now thegovernment will pay for the sincommitted against poor people…40 per cent of Mudra funds are lying idle, Mudra loans are leading to rising NPAs. In five years ofthis Government, NPAs haverisen from �2 lakh crore to �12lakh crore. If you give thenanother five years, then thepublic sector banks will bewiped out or liquidated,” saidMoily.

Biju Janata Dal MPBhartruhari Mahtab on allegedthat the Government has“restrained” the StandingCommittee on Finance chair-man from sharing with thepanel members three reportson black money.

He said the FinanceMinistry has also refused tomake them public under Rightto Information (RTI) citingbreach of privilege of theHouse. Pointing to VeerappaMoily (Cong), who is the chair-man of Standing Committee onFinance, Mehatab said evenMoily has been restrained fromsharing information with themembers of the committeeand questioned the motivebehind it.

Lauding the government’sperformance on the economicfront, Union Minister JayantSinha said tax to GDP ratiorose and the fear of “tax ter-rorism” was gone during itstenure. After demonetisation,the tax compliance increasedduring 2017-18, the Minister ofState in the Civil AviationMinistry said while interveningduring the debate.

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Vice President M VenkaiahNaidu Monday called upon

all nations to collaborate andcooperate in an unparalleledmanner to ensure sustainabledevelopment even as heexpressed concern over theimpact of climate change ondeveloping countries. Naiduwas speaking at the inaugura-tion of the three-day WorldSustainable DevelopmentSummit 2019 here.

“The immediate impact ofclimate change was felt more bydeveloping countries because ofhigher dependence on climaticvariables, especially when itcomes to agriculture, and theirlimited capacities to adapt, hesaid.

Naidu said climate changeand global warming threatenlives and livelihoods of billions

and upsets the delicate balanceof nature. It is in its recognitionthat India is trying its best toinclude the paradigm of sus-tainability and environmentalconservation in all its develop-ment endeavours,” he said.

Sharing the opinion of thevice president, Union MinisterHarsh Vardhan said the issue ofclimate change was among thebiggest challenges which needsto be addressed collectively.

“Climate change and envi-ronmental problems areamongst the biggest challengestoday. It goes without saying thatthese issues need to beaddressed collectively by all ofus before it is too late,” Vardhan,the Union Minister for envi-ronment, forests and climatechange, said at the summit

organised by The Energy andResources Institute (TERI).

The Ministry ofEnvironment also collaboratedwith TERI to set up a resourceefficiency cell at the event.

Speaking about the collab-oration, the Minister said,“Anticipating increased demandfor raw materials in the future,it is vital to institute the best inresource efficiency as an efforttoward decoupling economicgrowth and human wellbeingfrom ever-increasing con-sumption of natural resources.”

“The cell will enable inter-ministerial and inter-depart-mental synergy in promotingmaterial resource efficiency inIndia while helping frame theblueprint of the integratedresource efficiency policy forIndia,” he said.

The Vice-President, in hiskey address at the event, empha-sised on the importance of sus-tainable agriculture as a part ofsustainable development andsaid more efficient systems ofirrigation with “more crop perdrop” mantra should be used.

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Congress General SecretaryPriyanka Gandhi’s hus-

band Robert Vadra and hismother will be quizzed by theEnforcement Directorate at theagency’s Jaipur office in con-nection with a money laun-dering probe relating to theBikaner land scam.

Last week, Vadra was ques-tioned thrice in connectionwith a separate money laun-dering case relating to illegalassets abroad.

Vadra with his motherMaureen are likely to appearbefore the ED at about 10 AMat the agency’s zonal office inJaipur on Tuesday. The duoreached Jaipur on Monday.

Earlier, the Rajasthan HighCourt had asked Vadra and hismother to cooperate with theagency after they approachedthe court seeking directionsthat no coercive action is takenagainst them by the agency.

The Investigating Officer(IO) of the case will record thestatement of Vadra and hismother under the Preventionof Money Laundering Act(PMLA).

The agency has grilledVadra last week for nearly 24hours over three sessions in thenational capital in the illegalassets case.

In the Bikaner land scamcase, the ED had summonedVadra thrice but he failed toappear and later approachedthe Rajasthan High Courtwhich directed him to cooper-ate with the probe.

The agency had registereda criminal case under provi-sions of PMLA in connectionwith the land deal in 2015, tak-ing cognisance of a clutch of

FIRs and chargesheets filed bythe Rajasthan police after thetehsildar of Bikaner com-plained about alleged forgery inthe allotment of land in the dis-trict, considered sensitive dueto its proximity to the Indo-Pakborder. However, Vadra’s namedoes not appear in the ED FIRwhich mentioned someRajasthan government officialsand the “land mafia”.

The ED is likely to grillVadra about the operations ofa firm -- Skylight HospitalityPvt Limited -- allegedly linkedto him, which had purchased

land in the area. The is alsoexpected to confront Vadrawith the statements of thosesaid to be linked to him,sources said.

In the past, the ED had alsoraided the premises of peoplelinked to Vadra includingMahesh Nagar who is con-nected to Skylight Hospitality.In December 2017, the ED hadarrested Ashok Kumar, a closeassociate of Nagar, and anoth-er person, Jaiprakash Bagarwa.The agency had searched thepremises of both Kumar andNagar in April 2017.

Nagar was the “authorisedrepresentative” of SkylightHospitality in four cases of landpurchase in Bikaner. Kumar, onthe other hand, had purchasedland in the same area, using the“power of attorney” of others.

The ED probe in the caseis related to the purchase of aland measuring 275 bighaallegedly by the companylinked to Vadra in Bikaner’sKolayat area a few years ago.

Vadra had earlier deniedany wrongdoing in connectionwith the case and the Congressclaiming political vendetta forthe probe.

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chhattisgarh 03RAIPUR | TUESDAY | FEBRUARY 12, 2019

Prajapita Brahma Kumaris Ishwariya Vishwa Vidyalaya felicitates Chhattisgarh ChiefMinister Bhupesh Baghel on Monday at its Raipur centre- Shanti Sarovar.

Former international cricketer Harbhajan Singh called on Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel at his official residenceon Monday. Singh extended greetings to Baghel, gifted a bat with his signature. Chief Minister also felicitatedHarbhajan with a memento. Sports and Youth Welfare Minister Umesh Patel was also present on the occasion.

STAFF REPORTER n RAIPUR

As many as 15 legislators of the opposi-tion parties including three from for-

mer chief minister Ajit Jogi’s outfit, weresuspended for the day from the stateassembly on Monday as they trooped intowell of the House accusing the newCongress government of trying to settlepolitical vendetta.

As soon as the Zero Hour startedopposition members BrijmohanAgrawal, Shivratan Sharma and AjayChandrakar demanded from theSpeaker to accept their adjournmentmotion regarding the political vendettaby the state government and demandeddiscussions over it because it was ofimmediate importance.

Speaker, Charandas Mahant later gave apoint of order that the matter had beenraised in the House and he had listened to itand if government finds it appropriate itcould give reply on it on Tuesday. “Therewould also be discussions of financialdemands during which they can raise thisissue”, he ruled.

But the opposition members wereadamant for immediate discussion andstarted raising slogans against the state gov-ernment. They charged ‘monocracy’ andblamed political vendetta by the govern-ment.

Amid chaos the House was adjournedfor five minutes. When the House reassem-bled the opposition MLAs were continued

on their feet and this time the Chairadjourned the House till 3 p.m.

Later too when the opposition mem-bers refused to stop shouting, Speaker sus-pended 12 BJP MLAs and 3 JCC (J) MLAsfor creating chaos and stalling the assemblyproceedings by entering into the well of theHouse and also adjourned the House forthe day.

Even after the opposition memberscontinued raising slogans after their sus-pension alleging ‘murder of democracy’, theChair thereafter instructed the suspendedmembers to leave the House to which theBJP MLAs, led by leader of OppositionDharamlal Kaushik went outside andstaged a sit-in in-front of MahatmaGandhi's statue.

ANKIT MISHRA nRAIPUR

When it comes toBastar region of

Chhattisgarh thepopular thoughtstands -it is a mineralrich insurgency-rid-dled region which ishome to extremepoverty-hit tribalpopulation, however,few persons likeAnup Ranjan Pandeyknows that here existsan entire universe oftribal music and cul-ture which hasremained untouchedfor decades.

Pandey is thefounder of a uniqueband- Bastar Bandwhich plays tribalsymphonies throughthe traditional tribalmusical instrument.

Recognizing hisefforts towardspreservation of tribalmusic art and culture,Anup was awardedwith Padma Shriaward for year 2018.

Hailing fromKosa village in JanjgirChampa district ofChhattisgarh, Anup had alengthy discussion about hiswork and Bastar Band with ThePioneer.

“Bastar is the land of gods.Tribal people have large num-bers of deities with a differentkind of musical rhythm, beatand tone dedicated to each deity.For different occasions in tribalculture, they have a different setof music or song,” Anup said.

He explained, ``The beautyof their (Bastar tribal people)music is while being in a gram-matical form it is not boundedby the grammar. It is free in itsown way but at the same time, itfollows a discipline. The disci-pline of freedom,’’.

Sharing the idea behindBastar Band he informed, ``afternumerous visits and years ofworking with tribal artists fromBastar, I stumbled upon this vastmusical universe of Bastar thatleft me spellbound. It attractedme so much that I decided thatthis gem should be introducedto the outer world,”.

“I have been working withTribal artists for over two

decades. We used to performtogether on different stages anddifferent names, however, it wasonly in 2008 at Jorethang Maghefestival held in Sikkim, BastarBand with about 40 to 45 artistsperformed out of Chhattisgarh.Our performance was widelyappreciated since then there hasbeen no looking back,’’ he said.

“Today also I believe thisband is in trial phase, we are stillin the process of self-discovery,performing and learning,” headded.

Expressing deep concernabout the current situation (vio-lent leftist movement) in Bastarhe said if you have to under-stand tribal people then you willhave to understand their way oflife, food, medicine, voice,music, poetry and their philoso-phy. “Tribal people draw theirinspiration from their soil, theirmountains, birds, waterfall andnature. On the name of develop-ment, if they are being displacedfrom their land robbed of theirtradition, then it is high time wewill have to talk to them and re-calibrate the developmentaccordingly,” Anup suggested.

Oppn creates ruckus in Asslyalleging political vendetta12 BJP and 3 JCC (J) members suspended, sit-in near Gandhi statue

The man who exploredunheard melodioussymphonies of Bastar

1737 Majratolas yetto get electrifiedRAIPUR: As many as 1737Majratolas in the state are yet to getelectrified, informed ChiefMinister Bhupesh Baghel in thestate assembly in response to aquestion of Congress legislatorMohan Markam.

In the written reply toMarkam’s query in which he askedhow many villages and habitats instate are still deprived from elec-tricity, Baghel informed the Housethat as per the information tillDecember 31, 2008 though all thevillages are electrified but still elec-tricity had not reached the 1737Majratolas and habitats of these19,567 villages in the state.

He however further said that itwould not be possible to set anydeadline for getting these habitatselectrified because of their difficultgeographical locations and securityreasons. These habitats are situatedin remote areas of Sukma, Bijapurand Kanker districts, he added.

Pandey is the founder ofa unique band- BastarBand which plays tribalsymphonies through thetraditional tribal musical

instrument.

STAFF REPORTER nRAIPUR

Opposition BJP mem-bers staged a walk out

from the state assembly onMonday alleging state gov-ernment of stopping thesanctioned works of previ-ous Raman Singh govern-ment.

The issue was raisedduring the Question Hourby the Leader of OppositionDharamlal Kaushik.

Replying to his query,Chief Minister BhupeshBaghel informed the Housethat the instruction fromfinance department to start

new work was nil.“Sanctioned works arebeing reviewed and workswould be approved on pri-ority basis”, he informed.

Former chief ministerRaman Singh asserted inthe House that the newlyformed government hadalso stalled the worksapproved by legislators ofBastar which wereapproved in the meetings ofBastar DevelopmentAuthority.

BJP legislator ShivratanSharma pointing out thatworks of Public HealthEngineering was also not

approved, said “If the workswere not resumed beforecode of conduct if enforcedthere would be lots of prob-lems including of drinkingwater in coming summersall over the state and espe-cially in remote regions ofBastar” Replying to theirobjections, Baghel saidthere were such absurdprojects like that of Skywalkand after all what he coulddo. Chaos marred theHouse thereafter and dis-satisfied with the answer ofgovernment, the oppositionmembers later staged walkout.

STAFF REPORTER nRAIPUR

Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghelinformed Chhattisgarh state

assembly on Monday that the previ-ous BJP regime had spent Rs 29 croreon hiring choppers for the policedepartment between August 2016-December 2018.

“This was an example of sheerextravagance, this amount could hadbeen enough to purchase the newchopper rather than hiring it, thechief minister further said whileresponding to a supplementary ques-tion of Congress legislator MohanMarkam.

Baghel while answering to thequery of Congress legislator fromDurg (City) Assembly constituencyArun Vora during Question Hourinformed the House that DhillonAviation, New Delhi, Pawan Hans,

Delhi, India Fly Safety Aviation(IFSAL), New Delhi, Global VectraHelicorp, New Delhi and ThumbiAviations Thiruvanathapuram werethe bidders for the contract of chop-per for the police department of state.

In which the Dhillon Aviation PvtLimited New Delhi succeeded in get-

ting the tender as the other failed tofulfill the terms and conditions of thetender floated.

The Chief Minister, furtheraccepting that the case was of extrav-agance, assured the House that thenew government would contemplateof reviewing the matter.

Oppn stages walkout over stalling ofsanctioned works

STAFF REPORTER nRAIPUR

As part of a call made byBar Council of India for

nationwide strike onFebruary 12, Raipur BarCouncil organised a rally andsubmitted a 10-point memo-randum of demandsaddressed to Prime MinisterNarendra Modi which washanded over to RaipurCollector on Monday.

Sanjay Sharma,Chhattisgarh State BarCouncil vice chairman when

contacted said, “The demandsare insurance coverage of Rs10 lakh to advocates and fam-ily (dependent), free medicalfacilities/mediclaim at bestIndian and foreign countriesbased hospitals for which spe-cial card be provided, provid-ing Rs 10,000 as stipend permonth for new entrants in theprofession till 5 years, provid-ing Rs 50,000 per month asfamily pension for old/pooradvocates on untimely death,bringing Lawyers ProtectionAct, facilities of building forall bar associations, residence,

sitting arrangement, library,e-library and comfort stationsfor women advocates.”

The other demands areinterest free home loan,library, vehicle and construc-tion of residence at cheaperrate, changes in Legal ServiceAuthority Act, appointmentof senior lawyers in line ofretired judge/judicial officersto different Authority,Commission, Forum, and Rs50 lakh ex-gratia in case anylawyer is killed in accident,murdered or dies of disease ifbelow 65 years”.

BJP government had spentRs 29 cr for hiring chopper

Abhishek dedicatesescalator atRajnandgaon rly stnRAJNANDGAON: Continuous devel-opmental works were undertaken atRajnandgaon Railway station for lastfive year and now it is ‘A’ grade station.In coming years more works will start,said Rajnandgaon Member ofParliament Abhishek Singh on Sunday.

He was addressing the dedicationceremony of escalator at Railway stationinstalled at cost of Rs 1.32 crore.

“Now Rajnandgaon railway stationhas got halts for five express trains. TheRailway godown at Rajnandgaon rail-way station is being shifted to Parrinalaat cost of Rs 40 crore. This will pave wayfor expansion of Platform No 1,” heremarked.

“New foot over bridge is under con-struction and a provision of lift hasbeen made in different platforms with itto facilitate elders, differently able andill passengers,” Member of Parliamentsaid.

Nagpur Railway DivisionDivisional Railway Manager ShobhnaBandyopadhyay and others were pres-ent on the occasion.

Raipur Bar Council stages protest, submits memorandum

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Chandigarh: Punjab movedanother step forward for resolv-ing the �31,000 crore foodaccount legacy issue as the15th finance commission onMonday formally notified theconstitution of the committeeto look into the issue.

The Finance Commission’schairman NK Singh’s approvalto the issuance of the notifica-tion came within a fortnight ofthe Commission’s visit toPunjab. Commission had hadthen announced to set up apanel headed by its memberand NITI Aayog member ProfRamesh Chand, besides therepresentatives of the state gov-ernment, Union FinanceMinistry, among others under-lining that “legacy debt”, cou-pled with enormous interestover it, was the major point ofconcern for Punjab.

Welcoming the develop-ment, Chief Minister CaptAmarinder Singh expressedthe hope that it would lead toearly resolution of the issue

related to the legacy debt of�30,584 crore, “which is threat-ening to cascade into a majorfiscal crisis for the state”.

The committee, which hasbeen asked to submit its reportwithin six weeks, compriseUnion Secretary Food andPublic Distribution Ravi Kant,Union Additional SecretaryDepartment of Expenditure,Ministry of Finance RajeevRanjan, Additional SecretaryDepartment of FinancialServices Minister of FinanceRavi Mittal and Punjab ChiefSecretary Karan Avtar Singh.Commission’s joint secretaryRavi Kota would be the panel’smember secretary.

As per the notification,the Committee has been man-dated to look into all aspects ofthe legacy debt of PunjabGovernment arising out ofaccumulated CCL (Food CreditGap) with reference to FoodCorporation of India orDepartment of Food andPublic Distribution. PNS

� ��� !1�,0'3�21

With Haryana’s main oppo-sition party, Indian

National Lok Dal, beinglikened to a ‘sinking ship’ by itspolitical opponents, formerChief Minister and INLD chiefOm Parkash Chautala onMonday began his statewidetour to revive the party andinfuse energy in party cadreahead of ensuing Lok Sabhapolls.

After the split and forma-tion of its splinter group—Jannayak Janta Party (JJP)—thepopularity graph of the INLDis already declining and thehumiliating defeat of the partyin Jind bypolls has triggeredmany unfortunate politicaldevelopments for it.

While Bahujan Samaj Partyhas snapped ties with the INLDand joined hands withLoktantra Suraksha Party (LSP)of BJP rebel MP Raj KumarSaini, many party leaders aresaid to be exploring option of

joining other political outfits inthe state.

Also, the INLD is nowdesperately looking for analliance partner to contest theupcoming general polls inHaryana.

INLD’s chief OP Chautalaon Monday hinted at goingwith the ruling BJP but the BJPleaders have already rejectedhis proposal. The seniorChautala is currently out ofTihar jail on a three-week fur-lough and set to take astatewide tour to meet partyleaders and workers to keep hisflock together besides strength-ening the party ahead of theupcoming polls.

Hisar MP DushyantChautala, who is grandson ofOP Chautala has already float-ed a new political outfit JJP fol-lowing a power struggle inINLD between brothers AbhayChautala and Ajay Chautala.

INLD’s chief OP Chautalaelder son- Ajay Singh Chautala-is patron of the JJP while his

two sons – Hisar MP Dushyantand Digvijay -- are spearhead-ing the party in the absence ofAjay, who is serving a 10-yearjail term in connection with theteachers recruitment scam inHaryana. Aware of the after-effects of party’s split and JJP’sgrowing popularity in the state,the senior Chautala has alreadybegun organizational changesin state INLD unit. Talking tomediapersons in Kurukshetraon Monday, he hinted at form-ing an alliance with the BJP.

When asked about the BSPending the ten-month oldalliance with the INLD lastweek, Chautala said that thealliance forms and breaks dur-ing the time of election.

On being asked whetherthe INLD will form an alliancewith the BJP or any otherparty in the state, he said thatthe INLD will form an alliancewith the party of same ideolo-gy. If the BJP or any other partyapproaches us, we will explorethe option, he said.

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Virtually the lastsitting before the

parliamentary polls,Punjab Vidhan Sabhais all set to turn into asession of blowingone’s own trumpetand running the rivalsdown by the politicalbigwigs.

With the Statealready switching intoan active poll-mode,the legislators, cuttingacross the party lines,are all set to use thefloor of the House asa “stage” for election-eering during the 10-day budget sessionstarting from Tuesday.

The session,which would concludeon February 21, wouldbegin with the gover-nor’s address onTuesday morning,through which theCongress-led StateGovernment wouldcongratulate itselfwhile listing itsachievements regard-ing farm loan waiver,controlling drugs, pro-viding employmentand job fairs, its recentdecision to releasedearness allowance toemployees despitefinancial crunch,enhanced investmentin the state, amongother things.

At the same time,the Congress would

pinpoint the “apa-thetic attitude” of theBJP-led CentralGovernment towardsPunjab.

On the otherhand, the oppositionparties — AamAadmi Party,Shiromani Akali Dal,Bharatiya Janta Party,and Lok Insaaf Party— would leave nostone unturned totake on the rulingregime, especially fornot fulfilling itspromises despitebeing two years inpower in Punjab.

Among the issuesthat are expected tofind mention duringthe session wouldinclude teachers’ reg-ularisation, unabatedfarmers’ suicide,unsuccessful loanwaiver scheme,mounting unemploy-ment, employees’issues, besides others.

The FinanceMinister ManpreetBadal would presentthe Congress govern-ment’s third budgeton February 18,which is likely tomake some signifi-cant announcements,largely focussing onparty’s pre-pollpromises.

It may be men-tioned here that thestate’s financial situa-tion continues toremain precarious in

view of low revenuemobilisations and ris-ing committed liabil-ities, coupled with thetotal debt estimated tobe Rs 2.10 lakh crore.

In fact, the 15thFinance Commissionduring its recent visitto the state, hadexpressed concernover Punjab’s risingoutstanding debt tothe Gross StateDomestic Product(GSDP) ratio, declin-ing tax revenues. Ithad also took note ofthe situation wherestate’s gross borrow-ings were “not evenenough” to meet itsexpenditure onrepayment of princi-pal and interest pay-ment, leaving littlescope for spending ondevelopmental works.

“Punjab is suffer-ing on all parameters.Health and educationfacilities are in a mess.Social welfare schemeare not being imple-mented and the gov-ernment is evenproposing to privatiserural healthcare ser-vices. Even the cropdamage compensationis not being paid to thefarmers. Investmentinto the State hasbecome zero withinvestor confidencecoming down to an alltime low. Even theordinary youth has nofaith in the govern-

ment and is shunningthe so-called job fairswhich have also turnedout to be a big scam,”said the formerFinance Minister andSAD MLA ParminderSingh Dhindsa.

Apart from that, itwould be interestingto see whetherBholath MLASukhpal Singh Khaira,who was elected onAAP ticket, wouldattend the session.

Notably, Khairahas been avoiding theSpeaker Rana KPSingh’s show-causenotice asking why heshouldn’t be disquali-fied from theAssembly. Khaira has,in fact, instructed hisstaff to “not accept”any notice or letterfrom the VidhanSabha to evade initia-tion of any proceed-ings against his dis-qualification from theHouse.

Suspended byAAP, Khaira hadresigned from theparty on January 6and went on to floathis own party —Punjabi Ekta Party.However, he had notresigned as MLA andhad dared the AAP toget him disqualified.

AAP, on the otherhand, had requestedthe Speaker to dis-qualify Khaira as hewas “no more AAP

member”.Speaker had

issued first notice,issued under theTenth Schedule of theConstitution, onJanuary 21 to Khairaasking him to replywithin 15 days ofreceiving it. Thenotice had beenissued after oneHarsimran Singh, aresident of Bholathconstituency andAAP MLA HarpalSingh Cheema ask-ing the Speaker,through their repre-sentations, for Khaira’sdisqualification.

Cheema hadargued that Khairahad voluntarily givenup AAP’s member-ship and floated hisown political outfit.

SAD DEMANDSTO EXTEND SES-SION TO 21 WORK-ING DAYS

SAD on Mondayasked the VidhanSabha Speaker RanaKP Singh to hold athree-week operativebudget session so thatburning issues of theState includingu n p r e c e d e n t e dincrease in farmers’suicides, failure toimplement Ghar GharNaukri yojna, dis-crimination againstDalits, manhandlingof women teachers,not releasing DA to

state employees andincreased tax burdenon people could bediscussed threadbarein the interest of pub-lic welfare.

The demand wasmade by party delega-tion including formerministers BikramSingh Majithia, DaljitSingh Cheema andMLA NK Sharmasubmitting a letterdemanding the pre-sent seven-day bud-get session be extend-ed to 21 operative days.

The partyrequested the Speakerto ensure that theCongress party didnot ride roughshodover the aspirations ofthe common man andensure all publicissues were allowedto the raised in theforthcoming budgetsession.

The delegationalso demanded anurgent discussion onthe violenceunleashed on womenteachers who wereholding a peacefulprotest on Sunday atPatiala. Majithiademanded immedi-ate registration ofcriminal cases againstthe police officialsresponsible for this,adding that no elect-ed government couldbehave in such a man-ner with teachers whohad been entrusted

with the responsibili-ty of moulding futuregenerations.

“A detailed dis-cussion is alsorequired on theoppression unleashedon the common manduring elections tolocal bodies and pan-chayats. Corruptionunleashed byCongress legislatorsincluding creation ofsand and liquormafias and completebreakdown of the lawand order machinerywitnessed by largescale robberies,dacoities and targetedkillings also need tobe discussed on thefloor of the house,” hesaid.

AAP TO TAKEON CAPT GOVTON PEOPLE-CEN-TRIC ISSUES

The principalopposition party, AAP,has declared to bringthe Capt AmarinderSingh-led Governmenton its knees over thepublic-centric issuesin the budget session.

“AAP leaderswould remind CaptAmarinder for lying tothe people of the statemaking false promisesto them ahead of theAssembly elections,”said AAP MLA andthe Leader ofOpposition (LoP) inVidhan Sabha.

He said that allsections of the peoplewere suffering underthe mis-governance ofthe government, leav-ing them with nooption but to taking tothe streets to stageprotest for their gen-uine issues.

“Capt Amarinderhad made tall promis-es to the people,including farmers,daily wage earners, theyouth, prior to theelections to do a pre-cious little to amelio-rating their lot once theparty was voted topower. It is a matter ofsurprise that even aftertwo years of power,the government hasfailed to live up to thepeoples’ aspirations,”he said.

Cheema said thatAAP would raise theissues related to farm-ers and farm labourers,Punjabi language,transport mafia, trade,education, womenempowerment, Dalit,MNREGA, health,travel agents, drugs,law and order, youthand employment.

“Apart from this,the issues related toSSSB test pass candi-dates, 2500 pensionannounced by CaptAmarinder, Rs 51,000Shagun to girls andhigher rates of elec-tricity will also beraised,” said Cheema.

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The terror of elephants hasbeen haunting Bishenpur

village and other adjoiningvillages during the sugarcaneseason. On Sunday mid-night, a herd of jumbosstrayed into the village, ram-paged through the sugarcanefields and feasted on the sug-arcanes and potatoes grownover the fields. The farmersalleged that the elephantsgoing on the rampage havedestroyed crops standing onseveral hectares of the fields.It is also learnt that the readyto harvest sugarcanes standingon the fields goad the pachy-derms to raid the fields andmake a feast on them. Thefarmers said that they smellthe sugarcane from a distance

and raid the agricultural landin herds. “We are suffering thecrop damage caused by themarauding elephants as theforest officers choose to lookthe other way,” a farmer whoseland was raided alleged.

Small farmers living onthe fringe of Rajaji TigerReserve have been fightingthe menace for years as theelephants invade their landsand destroy their crops atregular intervals. They saidthat the pachyderms maketheir ways in the fields withstanding crops and feast onthem unhindered.

“During the small hoursof Sunday, the herd of ele-phants entered Bishenpurvillage and destroyed theharvest-ready crops sown bythe villagers,” said a villager

Fakir Ali. “The forest officershardly do the nightpatrolling. Besides, there isnot adequate l ight ingarrangements on the bound-aries of RTR and Haridwarforest division which makesit easy for the elephants toget into the villages,” he saidwhi le speaking to ThePioneer.

Ali further said, “We andour crops are insecure thanksto the marauding elephants.As per our experiences, theelephants come and raid thefields of Bishenpur, Misserpur,Kurkawala, Bandarpur,Majahidpur, Teliwala andPherupur villages nearlydaily."

It is also alleged by thefarmers that the forest guardsare not doing night patrollingregularly.

“The patrolling doneby forest guards is not reg-ular which is resulting inthe rampant movement ofthe wild animals in thearea. Add to it the defunctfencing light and our vul-nerability is complete. Wedemand the defunct lightsbe replaced at the earliest,”said the head of GramPanchayat Sukhna.

Quizzed over the mat-ter, the forest rangerHaridwar range AjaySharma said, “The forestteam is regularly patrollingthe forest beats. We havewritten to the higher offi-cials regarding the fencingproblem and it would befixed soon. Barbed wirehas already been placed atmost of the forest bound-aries lying close to resi-dential areas.”

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The Congress has decided toprotest against Prime

Minister Narendra Modi’sUttarakhand visit on February14. The party has planned togherao him on the day of hisarrival in the State.

In a statement issued tothe media on Monday, theUttarakhand PradeshCongress Committee presi-dent Pritam Singh stated thatto protest against the PrimeMinister not keeping hispromises, the Congress work-ers will protest against hisvisit and gherao him atRudrapur in Udham SinghNagar on February 14. Hefurther said that about 150persons in total had died fromconsumption of spuriousliquor in Haridwar district ofUttarakhand and Saharanpurdistrict of neighbouring UttarPradesh.

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The Saudi authorities doesnot know what happened

to the corpse of JamalKhashoggi, a senior Ministerhas said, amid reports that thedismembered body of the dis-sident journalist was “dis-solved” after his brutal murderinside the Kingdom’s consulatein Turkey.

Saudi Arabia has admittedthat Khashoggi’s killing onOctober 2 in Istanbul was pre-meditated and carried out by agroup of men in the inner cir-cle of Crown PrinceMohammed bin Salman. TheWashington Post, for whichKhashoggi used to write, hasreported that the CentralIntelligence Agency has con-cluded that Salman “ordered”the killing. But Riyadh deniesthat the crown prince had anyinvolvement in the killing of59-year-old Khashoggi, whowas once a Saudi governmentinsider, but had gone into self-

imposed exile in the US. Hehad become an outspoken crit-ic of the country’s powerfulCrown Prince Salman.

The dissident journalistwas dismembered after hismurder in October in the Saudiconsulate in Istanbul but hisremains have yet to be located.

On Sunday, the Saudi min-ister of state for foreign affairs,Adel al-Jubeir, said the gov-ernment does not know whereKhashoggi’s body is.

When asked where

Khashoggi’s body is, he toldCBS News, “We don’t know.”

He said they have asked thesuspects that there are “a num-ber of possibilities” and “thisinvestigation is ongoing”.

“I would expect eventual-ly that we would find thetruth.” Khashoggi’s murder wasa “horrific crime” and a “huge,huge mistake,” Jubeir said butinsinuated that there has beenan unfair focus on this specif-ic case driven, in part, by pol-itics.

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China hit back on Monday atTurkish criticism over its

treatment of Uighurs anddenied Ankara’s claim that arenowned poet from theMuslim minority had died incustody, calling it an “absurdlie”.

Turkey’s Foreign Ministryhad released a statement onSaturday severely criticisingChina’s mass detentions of itsTurkic-speaking Uighurs, andclaiming that poet AbdurehimHeyit had died serving aneight-year Chinese prison sen-tence imposed as punishmentover “one of his songs”.

But China on Sundayreleased a video showing aman who identified himself asHeyit and saying that he wasalive and well.

“China has made solemnrepresentations toward Turkey.We hope the relevant Turkishpersons can distinguishbetween right and wrong andcorrect their mistakes,” ForeignMinistry spokeswoman HuaChunying said during a dailypress briefing. She called theTurkish statement “vile” andurged Ankara to withdraw its“false accusations”.

“I saw his (Heyit’s) videoonline yesterday, showing thathe is not only alive but also veryhealthy,” she said.

A UN panel of experts hassaid that nearly one millionUighurs and other Turkic-speaking minorities had beenherded into “re-educationcamps” in China’s northwesternXinjiang region, where most ofthe country’s more than 10 mil-lion Uighurs live.

Turkey had said China’streatment of Uighurs was “agreat embarrassment for

humanity” — perhaps thestrongest condemnation yetfrom a Muslim country.

The Muslim world hasbeen conspicuously quiet onthe Uighur issue, possibly toavoid Chinese diplomatic oreconomic retaliation.

The plight of China’sUighurs is closely followed inTurkey due to shared linguis-tic, cultural and religious linksand the presence of tens ofthousands of ethnic Uighursthere.

In its statement onSaturday, Turkey did not sayhow it had learned that Heyitdied, but said the “tragedy hasfurther reinforced the reac-tion of the Turkish public opin-ion towards (the) serioushuman rights violations” inXinjiang.

But state-controlled ChinaRadio International (CRI)released a 26-second video onits Turkish service on Sunday.

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Tehran: Iran’s President onMonday blasted a US “con-spiracy” against the country asvast crowds marked 40 yearssince the Islamic revolution ata time of heightened tensionswith Washington.

“The presence of peopletoday on the streets all overIslamic Iran... Means that theenemy will never reach its evilobjectives,” President HassanRouhani told those throngingTehran’s Azadi (Freedom)square. Chador-clad women,

militia members in camou-flage fatigues and ordinary cit-izens marched through thecapital in freezing rain to markthe day in February 1979 thatAyatollah Ruhollah Khomeiniended millenia of royal rule.

Life-size replicas ofIranian-made cruise and bal-listic missiles lined the route ina statement of defiance afterWashington last year reim-posed sanctions after pullingout of a deal on Tehran’snuclear programme. AFP

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The US sailed two warshipsclose to the disputed islands

in the South China Sea onMonday to challenge China’sexcessive maritime claim,according to a media reportwhich said the move is certainto draw the ire of Beijing.

The guided-missiledestroyers USS Spruance andUSS Preble sailed within 12nautical miles of the SpratlyIslands as part of what the USNavy calls a “freedom of nav-igation operation,” CNN reported.

The move likely to angerBeijing at a time when the USand China ton are locked in atrade war and are negotiatinga deal ahead of a March 1 dead-line when US tariffs on $200billion worth of Chineseimports are expected toincrease to 25 per cent from 10per cent.

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Thai Princess Ubolratanawas on Monday formally

disqualified for running forprime minister, ending herbrief and ill-fated politicalunion with a party allied to thepowerful Shinawatra clan, justdays after a stern royal com-mand rebuking her candidacywas issued by her brother, theking.

Uncertainty and conjecturehave coursed through Thailandsince Friday when the ThaiRaksa Chart party made theexplosive announcement ofPrincess Ubolratana, KingMaha Vajiralongkorn’s eldersister, as their candidate for pre-mier after the March 24 election.

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Malaysian former premierNajib Razak’s trial over

the 1MDB mega-scandal waspostponed on Monday to allowan appeal to be heard, in thelatest blow to slow-movingefforts to bring the disgracedpolitician to justice.

Najib had been due to goon trial on Tuesday for the firsttime over allegations he wasinvolved in the looting ofMalaysian sovereign wealthfund 1MDB in a fraud thatstretched around the world.

But his lawyers filed anapplication for the trial to bedelayed pending an appeal ona technicality related to thetransfer of charges betweendifferent courts. The court ofAppeal on Monday agreed tothe postponement to allow forthe appeal to be heard, VSithambaram, a criminallawyer on the prosecutionteam, told AFP.

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Syrian fighters backed byartillery fire from a US-led

coalition battled a fierce jihadistfightback on Monday as theypushed to retake a last morselof territory from the IslamicState group.

Mushrooming black cloudsrose over the embattled jihadistholdout in eastern Syria, asmissiles and a warplanestreaked through the sky.

More than four years afterthe extremists declared a“caliphate” across large parts ofSyria and neighbouring Iraq,several offensives have whittledthat proto-state down to a tinyholdout.

Caracas: Opposition leaderJuan Guaido, recognised bysome 50 countries asVenezuela’s interim President,has warned the military thatblocking humanitarian aidfrom entering the country is a“crime against humanity.”

The warning came onSunday as international aidhas taken center stage in a testof wills between Guaido andPresident Nicolas Maduro inwhich Venezuela’s armed forcesare seen as the pivotal player.

Medicine and food sent bythe United States has beenblocked for three days on theborder in Cucuta, Colombiaafter Venezuelan soldiers closeda bridge linking the two coun-tries. On the Venezuelan sideof the border, dozens of doctorsprotested Sunday demandingthe aid be allowed in — includ-ing surgeon Jose Luis Mateusde la Riva, who accusedMaduro of sinking Venezuelanmedicine back to the “medievalera.” AFP

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Refugee footballer Hakeemal-Araibi will not be sent

back to Bahrain after Thailanddropped extradition proceed-ings against him at the Gulfstate’s request, a prosecutorsaid on Monday, ending a two-month detention ordeal thatstirred global outcry.

Araibi, 25, a formerBahraini national youth teamplayer, was granted refugeestatus in Australia after fleeingcharges in the oil-rich kingdomconnected to Arab Springprotests. But he was stopped atBangkok’s main airport atBahrain’s request on November27 as he arrived in Thailand forhis honeymoon.

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As a singing star, the matchlessKL Saigal was at the pinnacleof his career in 1944 when a

relatively unknown, handsomeyoung boy, who was just 20 years old,took the country by storm. TalatMahmood was picked up by HMVfrom Lucknow, brought to Calcuttaand was given a break through anon-film ghazal disc, Tasveer Teri DilMera Behla Na Sakegi. This sensa-tional debut disc was an instant hitand remains so for connoisseurs tilldate, even after over 60 years.

Mahmood was never a chal-lenger to Saigal as both had a differ-ent style of singing altogether. Butafter the untimely demise of Saigalin 1947, one can say that Mahmoodemerged as a worthy successor to

him. If it was Saigal who popularisedthe ghazals in the thirties and forties,took them to the common man andvirtually resurrected Ghalib — thefifties belonged to Talat Mahmood.

After independence, the focus ofthe Hindi film industry shifted fromCalcutta (now Kolkata) to Bombay(now Mumbai). Mahmood, whoused to sing in Bangla just as as TapanKumar, also shifted to Bombay in1949. His voice having already pre-ceded him, he did not face the diffi-culty of establishing himself. But onealways needed a mentor in the filmindustry. Anil Biswas, the doyen ofHindi film music, having realised therare qualities of vibrato in Mahmood’svoice, took him under his wings andperfected his style for ghazals, givinghim the necessary poise and balance.

His first big banner was ShahidLatif and Ismat Chughtai’s Arzoo(1950), where he sang for DilipKumar ‘Ae Dil Mujhe Aisi Jagah LeChal...’ The film was based on EmilyBronte’s classic, Wuthering Heightswith Kamini Kaushal in the lead.Though real life stories of the lead

pair’s romance were also a contrib-utory factor to the success of the film,what one remembers till today isMahmood’s soulful rendering andthe way inner feelings of the screenpersona had been brought out.

Tarana of 1951 was yet anothermusical hit by Anil Biswas that fea-tured Dilip Kumar and Madhubalatogether for the first time.Mahmood’s ghazal, ‘Seene MeinSulagte Hain Armaan’ became aninstant hit. Giving one hit songafter another, Mahmood’s dreamrun continued as the voice of DilipKumar, for whom he sang in Shikast(1951), Daag (1952), ‘Ae mere dilkahin aur chal’ and ‘Shame gham kikasam aaj….’ in Footpath (1953) and‘Ye hawa yeh raat ye chandni’ inSangdil (1952).

Those days, Dilip Kumar wasknown as the tragedy king andMahmood was able to capture sen-sitivity and portrayed the melancholyin his moods to perfection. Thecrowning glory was Devdas (1955),where he sang for Dilip Kumar twovery difficult compositions, ‘Mitwa

Lagi Re Yeh Kaisi...’ and the almostsoliloquy-like ‘Kis Ko Khabar Thi’...In both, he was able to bring out theessence of longing, helplessness,loneliness and frustration as neverbefore. Mahmood’s success storyalso had a confutation.

The then top music director,Naushad, brought him to sing forDilip Kumar ‘Mera jeevan saathibichhad gaya’ in Babul (1951) butdespite his memorable rendition, hebroke off with him on a trivial issue.It was only in 1968, after a gap of 17years, that Naushad called Mahmoodto sing once again for Dilip Kumarin Aadmi (1968).

Mahmood’s absence offered anopportunity to Mohammed Rafi. Thisperiod saw the consolidation of theNaushad-Mohammad Rafi relation-ship, with Mahmood going out ofBaiju Bawra (1952). But he continuedto dominate the early 50s as Rafi wasyet to establish himself fully. Even theduo, Shankar Jaikishan, who had a dif-ferent style, used him for Dev Anandin Patita (1953) for the memorablesong, ‘Hain Sab Se Madhur Woh Geet...’

A few years later, Mahmood was againvirtually resurrected by them throughthe film, Roop Ki Rani Choron Ka Raja(1993), where he sang for Dev Anand,‘Tum To Dil Ke Taar Chhed Kar...’

An immensely talented singer,with dashing good looks, Mahmoodhad a huge fan following, particular-ly amongst the fairer sex. He tried hishand at acting, too, as after Saigal,there was no first rate singer-actor. Hedid try to fill the gap but could not suc-ceed. Out of the 17 films he acted in,noted among them were Aaram(1951) with Dev Anand andMadhubala, Ek Gaon Ki Kahani(1957) with Mala Sinha, Sone KiChidiya (1958) and Waaris (1969).

Mahmood’s vocal charisma wassuch that he, at times, gave a complexto others but himself remained a scenestealer. Taxi driver (1954) is remem-bered more for his song, ‘Jayen ToJayen Kahan...’ than any othersequence or song memories of Sujata.The 1959 Bimal Roy classic mayhave receded but for the song on tele-phone — ‘Jalte Hein Jiske Liye..’. Onemay have entirely forgotten about Sone

Ki Chidiya but Mahmood serenadingand imploring Nutan in a boat singing,‘Pyaar Par Bas To Nahin Hai...’ pennedby Sahir Ludhianvi remains evergreen.

Known by several epithets, theghazal king, the velvet voice, thesilken touch, Talat Mahmood, a finegentleman, exuded ‘Lucknawi nazakat’from every pore. His unique styleremains unmatched till date. We havehad clones of great singers likeMohammed Rafi and Kishore Kumarbut none has even tried coming any-where near Mahmood.

Despite his limited range,Mahmood represented a generation ofsingers, who have stood for traditionsand values of Indian classical music.They are now fading away and may beforgotten entirely, unless revived. Thegolden period of Hindi film music isa part of our cultural heritage andsurely needs to be preserved and cher-ished. Let us attempt to do that on the95th birth anniversary of Mahmoodon February 24.

(The writer is a retired Delhi PoliceCommissioner and former Governor ofMeghalaya and Uttarakhand)

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The recent Bill, reserving 10 per centquota for the economically weakersections (EWS) among the uppercastes has been intensively debatedover its utility, propriety and

Constitutionality but discussions have round-ly ignored the group that has once again beengiven the short shrift in prioritising the poli-cy of reservation. The obvious reference hereis to the Women’s Reservation Bill or theConstitution (108th Amendment) Bill of 2008,which seeks to reserve 33 per cent of the seatsin Parliament and all State legislativeAssemblies for women. Although the Bill waspassed by the Rajya Sabha in 2010, it is still nota law as the Lok Sabha is yet to ratify it.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had in its2014 election manifesto promised to ensure itspassage as part of its commitment towardswomen’s empowerment and welfare. In fact, ina chapter titled, ‘Women — The NationBuilders’, the BJP’s manifesto had highlightedthe crucial role of women in the developmentof society and growth of the nation. It hadclaimed that one of its first tasks on assumingpower would be to ensure one-third seatswould be reserved for the women in bothParliament and Assemblies. This commit-ment, forgotten through almost the entiretenure of the Modi Government, has ostensi-bly lost out to political exigency and the needto appease a significant section of the electorateahead of a ‘do-or-die’ election.

While the jury is still out on the actual ben-efits of any reservation policy for intended ben-eficiaries, there is widespread consensus thatan affirmative action to empower women, polit-ically, does yield desirable results. And thereis data to back this belief. With less than 12 percent representation in Parliament, as comparedto a corresponding global average of 22.4 percent, Indian women trail their counterparts inmany parts of the world.

While Nordic nations lead the way with anaverage of 41.5 per cent, as many as 42 coun-tries in the world have 30 per cent or morewomen MPs. Among these, Sweden leads theway with 50 per cent reservation for women.It is not a mere coincidence that these nationsare symbols of not only economic prosperitybut also progressive social policies. Many oth-ers such as Rwanda (30 per cent), Nepal (28 percent), Pakistan (20 per cent) and Bangladesh(13 per cent) have quotas for women inParliament. Even sub-Saharan Africa has anaverage female representation of 22.6 per centin Parliament.

Research published by the United NationsUniversity World Institute for DevelopmentEconomics Research (UNU-WIDER) in May,2018, found that Assembly constituencies inIndia helmed by women representatives showsignificantly higher economic growth thanthose under men. Based on data for 4,265 StateAssembly constituencies across four electioncycles spanning the period 1992-2012, theauthors of the study found that women legis-lators in India enhance economic perfor-mance in their constituencies by about 1.8 per-centage points per year, more than their male

counterparts. The study also noted women’sefficiency in creating vital infrastructure,especially because they are less likely than mento succumb to corruption, temptation for self-aggrandisement and criminal tendencies.

These figures are substantiated by anoth-er 2017 research study by Guilhem Cassan,University of Namur, Belgium, and LoreVandewalle, The Graduate Institute ofInternational and Development Studies,Geneva. Using two data sets collected by theNational Council of Applied EconomicResearch (NCAER), the 2005-06 edition of theRural Economic and Demographic Survey(REDS) and the 2011-12 edition of the IndiaHuman Development Survey (IHDS), Cassanand Vandewalle document gender norms invariations across castes and how mandatedpolitical reservations for women lead to path-breaking changes in their lives.

The REDS data from rural India, whichlists respondents’ preferences for public goodssuch as water, sanitation, roads and electric-ity, shows that gender quotas enable womento rise to the position of president in grampanchayats — 95.4 per cent of the presidentsin gram panchayats reserved for womenwere female. The IHDS data, on the otherhand, provides quantitative evidence ofrestricted mobility and stricter gender normsamong high-caste women, underscoring theneed for policy to bring more women into thepolitical mainstream.

In an Employment Policy Paper of 2017 onMGNREGA and its impact on women, the ILO,too, highlighted the gender dynamics of affir-mative policies. Using both waves of IHDS data(2004-05 and 2011-12), it shows that work pro-visions under MGNREGA have helped shiftsocial and economic outcomes in favour ofrural women engaged in wage labour, therebycontributing to transformative equality.

Coming back to the quota Bill for the eco-

nomically backward upper castes, unlike gen-der-based findings, there is no substantive evi-dence that preferential treatment based onfinancial status has the desired effects. Whileassessing the redistributive effects of affirma-tive action on poverty in 2010, which they claimis the first such study, Aimee Chin and NishithPrakash of the National Bureau of EconomicResearch aver that policies aimed at improv-ing socio-economic outcomes for poor sectionsare not only highly controversial but also incon-clusive in indicating any real benefits. “Itremains an open question whether affirmativeaction policies successfully reduce poverty,”they concluded.

Significantly, a major roadblock in puttingthe new quota into effect on the ground couldbe the legal tangle. In the 1992 Indra Sawhneyjudgement by the Supreme Court, a majority(six) of the nine judges on the Bench averredthat economic criteria cannot be exclusivelyused for deciding on reservation. The courtconsequently barred such reservations basedon poverty alone, arguing that social and edu-cational backwardness should also be addressedto counter the historic injustice faced by sev-eral generations of the country’s population —here again women literally fit the Bill.

Irrespective of its eventual denouement andfate on the legal front, it is clear that the hasti-ly drafted quota Bill, which arguably has littledata to support, has the weight of the ModiGovernment behind it; whereas the long-pend-ing women’s reservation Bill, which is rootedin extensive research, remains the orphan thatnobody wants to adopt. Does this indicateanother opportunity lost, both for redemptionof past neglect and for improving the metricsof performance in a nation riddled with low-performance outcomes?

(The writer is, Editor at the NationalCouncil of Applied Economic Research. Viewsexpressed here are personal)

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Extolling her as a mother,Prime Minister Narendra

Modi on Monday said cow hasbeen an important part ofIndia’s tradition and cultureand his government has takenseveral steps to improve thehealth of cattle.

Addressing a gatheringafter his first visit to VrindavanChandrodaya Mandir, hepraised the people of Mathura-Vrindavan, saying ‘gau sewa’ isa tradition in the area, drawingloud cheers from his audience.They also raised slogans like‘gau mata ki jai’ during the

speech.Modi stressed his govern-

ment has created a “securitycover” to ensure good heath ofchildren and mothers duringthe past 55 month of his rule.

“But there is another moth-er, who has been nourishing usfor ages. I want to express mygratitude to her from the landof Gokul. That mother is ‘gaumaa’. We cannot repay the debtof cow’s (gau mata’s) milk.Cow is an important element ofIndia’s tradition and culture,” hesaid.

He said his Governmenthas started the Rashtriya GokulMission to improve the health

of cattle. In the Union Budget,Modi said, his government alsotook a decision to establish theRashtriya Kamdhenu Aayogwith an allocation of Rs 500crore for taking care of cows.

Alluding to Lord Krishna’slegendary childhood duringhis nearly 30-minute speech atthe Mandir campus, the primeminister said, ‘gau mata’ nour-ished ‘Bal Gopal’ through milk.

“Cows have been animportant part of our cultureand tradition (Gai hamari san-skriti aur paramaopra ka ahamhissa rahi hai). And also animportant element of the ruraleconomy,” he said.

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Muzaffarnagar: Over 100 cowswere reported to have died insome villages in the districtover two days following whichan inquiry was ordered in the incident, officials said on Friday.

The cows died in pasturesand were suspected to haveeither eaten poisonous grass orconsumed polluted water, SubDivisional Magistrate VijayKumar said. He said an inquiryhas been ordered into the inci-dent and a team of revenue

department along with veteri-narians had gone to the areaswhere the bovines died toascertain the cause.

The cows were brought tothe pastures from shelterhomes. PTI

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Moradabad (UP): HomeMinister Rajnath Singh onMonday praised PrimeMinister Narendra Modi as a“cure” for problems facing thecountry and asserted he will bevoted back to power in the LokSabha election that must beheld by May.

Singh said the prime min-ister worked for the poor, farm-ers and weaker sections ofsociety during the past four anda half years of his tenure.

Addressing an event inMoradabad, he cited severalCentral Government schemes— such as Ujjwala Yojana ofproviding free LPG connec-tions to poor households andAyushman Bharat health careprogramme — to make hispoint.

“Chowkidar chor nahi,chowkidar pure hai. Next PMsure hai, problem ke liye curehai,” Singh said, using the wordCongress president RahulGandhi has used to attackModi on the Rafale jet deal.

Singh’s statement inEnglish meant: “The watchmanis not a thief, he is a pure man.”“He is sure to be the next PM,he is a cure for problems.”

The Congress has beenalleging that the 2015 Rafaledeal to purchase 36 fighter

jets from France was compro-mised by corruption.

Gandhi has repeatedlyalleged Modi helped industri-alists in getting defence con-tracts related to the deal.

On Monday, the homeminister responded to the alle-gations, saying the defence dealstrengthened the Indian AirForce, which had been demand-ing fighter jets for 30 years.

The Prime Ministerfinalised the Rafale deal tostrengthen India’s security, headded.

Citing former prime min-ister Atal Bihari Vajpayee,Singh said he tested nuclearbombs in 1998 without caringabout the warnings and threatsfrom world powers and it wasthis courage that made India anuclear weapons State.

He also recalled India’s vic-tory during the Kargil warwith Pakistan.

Criticising the SP-BSPalliance in Uttar Pradesh for theLok Saba election, he said it isan “alliance of corruption”.

He said the Oppositionparties have lost moral author-ity and are criticising everyone— from the Prime Minister, tothe president and theGovernors — who is goingagainst them. PTI

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The normal life was affectedin Kashmir Valley due to

shutdown on separatists’ call tomark the death anniversary ofJKLF founder MuhammadMaqbool Bhat who was sent togallows in Tihar jail onFebruary 11, 1984.

Maqbool Bhat hailing fromNorth Kashmir’s Trehgam vil-lage of Kupwara district, washanged inside Delhi’s Tiharjail for “masterminding thehijacking of Indian AirlinesPassenger Airliner “Ganga” toLahore Pakistan in 1971 andalso role in the kidnapping andsubsequent murder of Indiandiplomat Ravinder Mhatre onFebruary 3, 1984, inBirmingham London. Bhat laysburied inside the jail precinctswhile his family has beendemanding his mortal remains.

The JRL comprising ofSyed Ali Geelani, MirwaizUmar Farooq and Yasin Malikhave called for a valley-wideshutdown and staging protestsagainst his execution whilereiterating demand for thereturn of his mortal remains.

Shops, business establish-ments, fuel stations are shut inSrinagar while public transport

is off the roads. Scanty privatevehicles are plying on city roadsalong-with ambulances andemergency services vehicles.

The shutdown has alsoaffected attendance in govern-ment and semi governmentoffices in Srinagar and otherareas in Valley.

Reports of the shutdownwere also received from otherdistrict headquarters of theValley.

Heavy deployment ofpolice and paramilitary forceshas been made at law andorder sensitive places inSrinagar, south Kashmir andKupwara. The authorities haveimposed restrictions inSrinagar’s sensitive areas andalso in Bhat’s native areaTrehgam to prevent protests

and maintain law and order.The train services between

north Kashmir’s Baramulla andBanihal in Jammu provincehave been suspended as a pre-cautionary measure in view ofshutdown call and also due totense situation arising out ofkilling of five Hizb andLashkar-e-Tayyeba (LeT) mil-itants in Kelam Devsar Kulgamin south Kashmir.

Authorities placed MirwaizUmer Farooq under housedetention at his Nigeen resi-dence on the Srinagar outskirts.

Syed Ali Geelani continuedto remain in house detention athis Hyderpora residence since2010. Yasin Malik has alreadybeen put in preventive policedetention in Srinagar policestation.

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Jammu: Pakistani troops onMonday targeted forward postsand villages along the Line ofControl (LoC) in Poonch dis-trict of Jammu & Kashmir,prompting “strong and effec-tive” retaliation by the IndianArmy, officials said.

The exchange of firebetween the two sides contin-ued for nearly seven hours,causing panic among the locals,the officials said.

They said Pakistani troopsviolated the ceasefire by resort-ing to unprovoked firing fromlight and heavy weapons inKerni sector around 8.15 am.

Indian troops guarding theLoC, retaliated effectively andthe cross-border firing betweenthe two sides continued till 3pm, the officials said, addingthere was no immediate reportof any casualty on this side.

PTI

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Jaipur/Dholpur: The stale-mate between the protestingGujjar community and theRajasthan Government overquota in jobs and educationcontinued on the fourth con-secutive day on Monday, as agi-tators blocked roads and rail-

way tracks.Protesters, led by Kirori

Singh Bainsla, have been squat-ting on railway tracks in SawaiMadhopur district since Fridayevening, demanding five percent reservation for the Gujjar,Raika-Rebari, Gadia Luhar,Banjara and the Gadaria com-munities. The sit-in has affect-ed the movement of over 300trains through the region so far.

On Monday, members of

the community blocked theAgra-Jaipur Highway in Dausa,Jaipur-Kota Highway in Tonkand a few other roads inKarauli and Sawai Madhopurdistricts. They also blockedthe NH-11 and continued theirblockade from previous days atother places.

However, there was no vio-lence and the agitation waslargely peaceful. The Hindoli-Uniyara National Highway was

also blocked by protesters inBundi district near Topa village.

“Protestors blocked theAgra-Jaipur highway atSikandar in Dausa, Jaipur-KotaHighway at Banas pulia in Tonkand other roads in Karauli andSawai Madhopur districts onMonday. The situation is peace-ful and there is no report of anyviolence so far,” DirectorGeneral of Police (Law andOrder) ML Lathar said. PTI

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Bengal Chief MinisterMamata Banerjee has

extended her solidarity withher Andhra Pradesh counter-part Chandrababu Naidu andis likely to fly to Delhi to par-ticipate in the February 13mega rally, being staged by theAam Admi Party (AAP)against the Narendra ModiGovernment in Delhi.

Even as she extended hersolidarity with Naidu, a seniorTrinamool Congress leader onMonday quoting the Chief

Minister, said his party chiefhad “expressed her supporttowards Chandrababu Naidu’shunger strike.

She asked party leaderDerek O’Brien to visit Naidujiat the venue of the hungerstrike and rub shoulder witheach other,” adding theOpposition parties stood unit-ed in the fight against theModi Government.

The AP Chief Ministerhad early this month visitedBanerjee’s dharna stage inKolkata where she was holdinga sit-in against the Centre’s

highhandedness by unleashingthe CBI to conduct raids at the house of KolkataCommissioner of Police RajivKumar.

The senior IPS officer wascurrently in Shilong where hewas being questioned for thepast couple of days by a CBIteam from Kolkata along withformer TMC MP Kunal Ghosh.

Banerjee is likely to stayback in the national Capital tillFebruary 14, party sources saidadding during her stay in Delhishe would meet the leaders ofall the Opposition parties.

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Thalassery: In a setback to theruling CPI(M) in Kerala, theCBI on Monday slapped mur-der and conspiracy chargesagainst party strongman PJayarajan in a case relating tothe murder of a 22-year-oldMuslim Students Federationactivist in 2012.

The supplementary chargesheet, filed in a sessions courthere, has also charged partyMLA TV Rajesh in the con-spiracy related to the killing.

The CBI has chargedJayarajan with murder and con-spiracy under Sections 302 and120B of the Indian Penal Code,court sources said.

According to the prosecu-tion, Shukoor, a worker of theyouth wing of the Indian UnionMuslim League (IUML), waskilled on February 20, 2012, forattacking a convoy in whichJayarajan and Rajesh were trav-elling. The prosecution alsoalleged that Shukoor was caughtand interrogated for over twohours by a mob and his photowas circulated via mobile toconfirm his presence in thecrowd which attacked theCPI(M) convoy.

The CPI(M) Kannur dis-trict committee, however, saidthat the charge against Jayarajanwas the latest example of “mis-using” the CBI to target polit-ical opponents. PTI

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Apowerful ‘New India’ can-not be built if its children

are not healthy, Prime MinisterNarendra Modi on Mondaysaid and emphasised that hisGovernment has put emphasison nourishment, vaccinationand sanitation to realise thenew paradigm.

In his address, at an eventin Vrindavan, he also assertedthat ‘Sabka Sath Sabka Vikas’ isthe “road to ‘New India’”. Indiahad faced long period of colo-nial rule and abject poverty,and country’s children were theworst hit, he said.

“Just like a solid foundationstone is necessary for con-structing a strong building,for a ‘New India’, having nour-ished and healthy children isalso necessary. If childhoodgets weakened, then growthwill get weakened,” Modi said.

After the event in the mainpavilion, where thousands ofchildren, parents and teachershad assembled to hear himspeak, the Prime Minister,served meal to a group ofunderprivileged schoolchild-ren and praised the efforts of anNGO towards eradicatinghunger from the country.

The event was organised tomark the serving of the 3rd bil-lionth meal by the AkshayaPatra Foundation, a Bengaluru-based NGO which work withthe Government on mid-daymeal scheme.

“Now, in the past 55months, we have laid emphasis

on health, particularly of chil-dren and mothers. We haveworked with commitment andprovided a ‘security cover’(‘surakhsa kawach’) as far as theirhealth is concerned,” he said.

He added organisationslike Akshaya Patra are helpingin “strengthening that securi-ty cover”. Modi said the foun-dation for healthy ‘New India’is being laid through nourish-ment, vaccination and sanita-tion. The PM also enumeratedthe achievements of hisGovernments since it assumedoffice in 2014 and also spelt outthe roadmap ahead.

“As part of MissionIndradhanush, 3.4 crore chil-dren have been vaccinated.And 90 lakh pregnant womanhave also been covered underthe scheme. And, the way theprogram has progressed, thetarget of reaching completevaccination does not seem far,”the PM said.

Mission Indradhanush isbeing praised abroad also, hesaid, adding, a noted medicaljournal recently also picked itas “one of the world’s 12 bestpractices”. Modi said AkshayaPatra’s efforts best illustratethe journey from ‘I’ to ‘We’.

“When ‘I’ becomes ‘We’,then we go beyond ourselvesand think about the society. Wethen expand the horizons ofour thinking. ‘We’ gives moreimportance to our country,our culture than our individualself,” he said.

“The feeling of being ‘We’is ancient. And, ‘New India’ is

only strengthening these cul-tural values of India,” Modi said.

Chief Minister YogiAdityanath said, Akshaya Patrawill be given the responsibility to“serve mid-day meals in 10 newdistricts and to open its kitchensin another 6 new areas”. He alsoexpressed his appreciation forAkshaya Patra for serving safe,hygienic meals to pilgrims atKumbh Mela in Prayagraj.

Praising the NGO, Modisaid, “may your faith in servingremains undiminished. ‘SabkaSaath Sabka Vikas is the roadto ‘New India’.

Madhu Pandit Dasa,Chairman, Akshaya PatraFoundation said, to build‘Poshit Bharat, Shikshit Bharat,’(Nourished India, EducatedIndia) it is essential that everychild is provided with a nutri-tious diet, a fulfilling education,and a bright future.

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Ahmedabad: The InternationalAssociation of PoliceAcademies (INTERPA) presi-dent Yilmaz Colak on Mondayexpressed concerns over grow-ing use of internet by terroristsfor radicalisation and secretcommunication.

Colak, who heads TurkishNational Police Academy, saidterrorists are also trying inter-net to infiltrate variousGovernment organisations likepolice and judiciary to carryforward their ill designs.

“Terrorist organisations useinternet for radicalisation,threats and intimidation. They

also use it for secretly com-municating their plans,” saidColak. He was speaking at thethree-day 8th INTERPA con-ference on “Cyber Securityand Combating Cyber Crime”,which was inaugurated at theGujarat Forensic ScienceUniversity in Gandhinagar byChief Minister Vijay Rupani.

Colak said cyber crimeslikes syohoning off money,child pornography etc. Are the“extension” of the criminalbehaviour. These crimes exist-ed in the past when internetwas not around, he added.

PTI

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BJP president Amit Shah onTuesday will launch the

nationwide “Mera ParivarBhajpa Parivar” voter outreachcampaign for the Lok Sabha elections from here inGujarat.

He will unfurl the partyflag at his residence inAhmedabad as part of thecampaign, the party said in astatement Monday.

The BJP intends to hoistthe party flag at the houses ofvoters under this mass outreachdrive.

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Non-Resident Indians whomarry an Indian citizen or

a fellow NRI abroad have tocompulsorily register theirmarriages within 30 days orface the prospects of theirpassports being impounded oreven revoked, according to abill introduced in Rajya Sabhaon Monday.

The Registration ofMarriage of Non-ResidentIndian Bill, 2019 also allowscourts to attach movable andimmovable properties of NRIswho are declared “proclaimedoffenders” for failing to appearbefore law. The draft law also

allows courts to send sum-monses and warrants to theaccused through a specially des-ignated website to be hosted bythe Ministry of External Affairs.

The Bill was introduced byExternal Affairs MinisterSushma Swaraj in the UpperHouse. The Bill comes againstthe backdrop of cases of Indianwomen being trapped in“fraudulent marriages” withnon-resident Indians.

According to the Bill, ThePassport Act and the Code ofCriminal Procedure will beamended to allow passportauthorities to revoke orimpound passport or traveldocuments of the accused, and

allow courts to attach theirproperties.

The Bill states that if anNRI marries an Indian citizenhere, the marriage has to beregistered as per local laws. Ifthe marriage takes placeabroad, it has to be registeredwith designated officers to beappointed in foreign coun-tries. An NRI is an Indian cit-

izen who resides outside India.The proposed law will be

applicable to NRIs marryingIndian women within or evenoutside India, the Bill states.Swaraj had recently said thatMEA receives hundreds ofcomplaints about NRI menabandoning their wives in for-eign lands, and husbands sub-jecting their wives to mentaland physical abuse.

According to MEA dataavailable in the form ofParliamentary questions, 3,328complaints were receivedbetween January, 2015 andNovember, 2017 from Indianwomen who have been desert-ed by their NRI husbands.

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Reiterating that the Congresswould go it alone in Uttar

Pradesh and fight all otherforces on the front foot to forma Government, Congress pres-ident Rahul Gandhi on Mondaycalled on the grassroot partyworkers to get ready for the elec-toral battle and spread the mes-sage that “Chowkidar chor hai”.

“I have all respect forMayawati and Akhikesh Yadavbut our fight will be from ourown platform and on our ide-ology. I want to make it clearthat there will be no compro-mise with the two parties onthe electoral front and we willgo it alone and fight (the elec-toral battle) on our own”, Rahulasserted, boosting the morale ofparty workers and at the sametime making it clear that bothPriyanka Gandhi Vadra andJyotiraditya Scindia will not sitsilent till the Congress formsthe next Government in UP.

“Congress will fight withfull force on its own ideologyto change the politics of UP andthe country,” he said.

Rahul said the party wouldpromote the ground levelworkers, adding that leaders who travelled by helo-copters would not be promot-ed at any cost.

Interestingly, the people aswell as the Congress workerswere a little upset as during the5-hour roadshow, at the streetcorner meetings or at the conclusion of the programme,,neither Priyanka Gandhi Vadra

nor any other Congress leader spoke.

Addressing party workersat UPCC office at the end of theroadshow, Rahul Gandhiattacked Prime MinisterNarendra Modi on Rafale deal,and even asked the crowd torepeat his “chowkidar chorhai” (guard is the thief) barb.

Calling upon the party’sgrassroot workers to strength-en Congress base at the village,

Rahul said people should beinformed about the corruptionrampant in Bharatiya JanataParty Government and how a“chowkidar” had become a“chor”. He alleged that thePrime Minister had “stolen”money from UP and otherstates to benefit industrialistAnil Ambani.

The Government andAmbani’s Reliance Group havedenied the allegations levelledagainst them by the Congressand other Opposition parties.

During Rahul’s entireaddress, Priyanka kept smilingalong with her colleagueJyotriyadiya Scindia and UPCongress president Raj Babbar.

Earlier, during the road-show, Rahul Gandhi declaredthat the party would play on thefront foot in UP with the aimof forming a Government ofCongress ideology in the State.

In his short but pointedspeeches at Lalbagh and thenat Hazratganj, Rahul said thatthough the Congress targetwas Lok Sabha elections, butthe main aim was to form aGovernment in UP.

Patna: Poll strategist-turned-politician Prashant Kishor onMonday said Congress gener-al secretary Priyanka GandhiVadra might not be able to“turn things around” for herparty in the few months left forthe Lok Sabha polls.

The Janata Dal (United)national vice president, how-ever, said she was a big nameand a popular face, who couldemerge as a force to reckonwith in the long run.

Kishor’s remarks came onthe day when Priyanka madeher political debut with herarrival in Lucknow, where shewill meet senior Congress lead-ers and party office bearers overthe next three days.

She arrived at the Lucknowairport to a rousing receptionby party leaders and workerswho showered rose petals andthrew marigold garlands ather as her cavalcade slowlymade its way through the cityduring a roadshow. Askedwhether he saw Priyankaemerging as a rival to Congresspresident and her brotherRahul Gandhi, Kishor repliedin the negative.

“Rahul Gandhi is the partypresident while Priyanka Vadra

is among the many nationalgeneral secretaries, but herentry will have an impact in thelong run,” he said.

“I had, on record, wel-comed her induction into theparty. I felt that her active par-ticipation could have helpedthe Congress in Uttar PradeshAssembly polls. But now it is adifferent context,” he said.

“Nobody has a magicwand. I do not think she will beable to turn things around forthe Congress in the two-threemonths that are left for the LokSabha polls. But she is a bigname and a popular face. In thelong run, yes she would emergeas a challenge (to the NDA),”Kishor told reporters here.

Responding to a questionabout the ‘mahagathbandhan’(grand alliance) in Bihar, ofwhich the Congress is a part,the JD(U) leader said any coali-tion comprising of five or moreparties may appear strong, butits chances of achieving elec-toral success are not very high.

“But, if the ‘mahagath-bandhan’ manages to do well, itwould serve as a learning expe-rience for all of us,” Kishor said.

Besides Congress, the‘mahagathbandhan’ also com-prises Rashtriya Janata Dal(RJD), Rashtriya Lok SamtaParty (RSLP), HindustaniAwam Morcha (HAM) andVikasheel Insaan Party (VIP).

PTI

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Coimbatore: Chinnathambi,the wild elephant that has beenin the news for destroyingcrops much to the concern offarmers, on Monday found asupporter in the All IndiaMuslim League.

The AIML has petitionedthe district Collector to sparethe animal as it protected theWestern Ghats from encroach-ers who have destroyed theflora and fauna of the forests.

The petition saidChinnathambi should bebrought back to Thadagam onthe outskirts of the city fromwhere the elephant was translocated to Varagaliyar,about 150 km from here, afterit ran amok.

The forest department offi-cials were monitoring the ele-phant’s movement and engagedin driving it to the jungle areas,the police said. PTI

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With the State politics heat-ing up in the wake of

Krishnaganj TrinamoolCongress MLA SatyabrataBiswas’ murder, party MPAbhishek Banerjee made cir-cuitous reference of BJP lead-ership warning “those who arebehind the murder will not bespared and soon they will beshoved behind the bar.”

Stopping short of namingBJP leader Mukul Roy againstwhom the police have alreadyfiled an FIR in the case,Banerjee, also the nephew ofChief Minister MamataBanerjee on Monday said “Ihave personally taken up thecase and will take to its logicalend. The planners of the mur-der will be definitely pun-ished,” even as large number ofTMC supporters from theMatua community blockadedtrains at various places in Nadiaand North 24 Parganas.

“They have not only mur-dered an MLA who was one ofthe most dedicated workers of the party but also they havemurdered democracy here,” he said.

Biswas was a young leader

of the Matua community con-stituting about 3 million votersimpacting about 3-4 parlia-mentary seats in the two dis-tricts. With the near demise ofthe Left Front as the sole con-troller of the Matua vote bank,both the BJP and the TMChave of late aggressivelyengaged each other for thepriced Matua pie.

Banerjee who visited thearea said, “no one should thinkthat taking refuge in Delhiwould save him after commit-ting such heinous crime. Iassure you that this person will be grabbed by the collarand pushed behind the bar byhis neck.”

Biswas a youth leader andan effective organiser was onSaturday shot dead from pointblank range while he was vis-iting a Saraswati Puja pandal atMajdia village about 10 kmfrom his home in Nadia districtbordering Bangladesh.

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Imphal: Six women sustainedinjuries when the police firedtear gas shells and smokebombs at a marketplace here todisperse protesters, who hadenforced a road blockadedemanding withdrawal of the Citizenship Bill, accord-ing to a vendors’ association atthe market.

There was, however, noimmediate official confirma-tion about the incident.

Shantidevi, the president ofan association of women ven-dors at Khwairamband markethere, claimed that the police onSunday used force on the agi-tators, who had been protest-ing peacefully.

The women vendors at themarket here had put up posters

and banners and set up tents,blocking roads, to press fortheir demand, she said.

Prohibitory orders undersection 144 of CrPc have beenimposed in the area in the wakeof agitations against the con-tentious bill.

Shantidevi said the policetried to pull down the tents andtear apart the posters and ban-ners that sought the uncondi-tional revocation of the Bill.

The women, however,refused to cow down, followingwhich a clash broke outbetween the two sides, shesaid.

“The security officers firedtear gas shells and smokebombs, which left six womeninjured. The situation turned

uglier when they tried to takeone of the injured women intocustody and the agitators hadto thwart the attempt,”Shantidevi claimed.

The injured women werethen taken to Regional Instituteof Medical Sciences (RIIMS),she added.

Criticising the use of“excessive force”, Y Dillipkumar,the convenor of ManipurPeoples Against CitizenshipAmendment Bill (MANPAC),said the women were “protest-ing in a democratic manner”.

“The assault on the womenvendors indicates that the StateGovernment is acting underthe command of the UnionGovernment,” he said. PTI

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Mumbai: A repeat offenderwas on Monday sentenced to10 years in jail by a POCSOcourt here for raping an eight-year-old girl in suburbanVakola area here in 2013.

Aiyaz Ansari (38) wasfound guilty under section 376(rape), 363 (kidnapping) and506 (criminal intimidation) ofthe Indian Penal Code as wellas relevant provisions of theProtection of Children fromSexual Offences (POCSO) Actby Additional Sessions JudgeBV Kale.

The judge also fined him�65,000, additional public pros-ecutor Rakesh Tiwari said. PTI

Kohima: Normal life wasaffected in Nagaland onMonday during a 10-hourbandh called by civil societyorganisations in protest againstthe Citizenship (Amendment)Bill, 2016.

Schools and marketsremained closed, vehicles wereoff the roads and people stayedindoors during the bandh

which began at 6 AM.The BJP is a constituent of

the National DemocraticPeoples Party-led PeoplesDemocratic Alliance (PDA)Government in the State.

The bandh has been calledby the Nagaland Gaon BurhasFederation (NGBF). To imple-ment the bandh, a JointCoordination Committee of

civil organisations, tribal bod-ies and indigenous citizens wasformed on February 6.

The shutdown has beencalled in pursuance of a reso-lution adopted at a consultativemeeting, called by the NGBF, atDimapur on February 6.

The meeting had unani-mously resolved to oppose thebill.

The opposition NagaPeoples Front (NPF) hasextended its support to thebandh.

The Nagaland Cabinet hasalso rejected the Citizenship(Amendment) Bill which waspassed in the Lok Sabha onJanuary 8.

“This mass agitation is nec-essary as the bill will have

adverse impacts on the peopleof the state,” the committee saidin a release.

The bill, being vehementlyopposed in the Northeast, waspassed in Lok Sabha on January8 and the Centre has said it willtry to get the Rajya Sabha nodin this Budget Session.

The bill seeks to provideIndian citizenship to Hindus,

Jains, Christians, Sikhs,Buddhists and Parsis fromBangladesh, Pakistan andAfghanistan after six years ofresidence in India even if theydo not possess any document.

The mass agitation, hasalso been called against the“lackadaisical attitude” of theCentre on the seven-decade-oldNaga issue, the release said. PTI

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Agartala: Two senior CPI(M)leaders were attacked by mis-creants in two different placesin Tripura, police said onMonday.

CPI(M) MLA and formerminister Ratan Bhowmick was attacked by miscreants in Gomati district on Mondaywhile the convoy of DeputyLeader of the Opposition in Tripura Assembly, BadalChowdhury was attacked by miscreants in South Tripura district on Sunday,police said.

Chowdhury in a press con-ference here on Mondayalleged that both he andBhowmick were attacked bygoons of the BJP.

BJP Tripura unitSpokesperson NabenduBhattacharya denied the allegations of Chowdhury.

He said BJP workers were not involved in the attack on Chowdhury andBhowmick. PTI

-��<�=�������� ������� ����22���� ���������������Lucknow: Alleging that laxity

on the part of the Uttar PradeshGovernment led to a largenumber of deaths after con-sumption of spurious liquor,opposition members onMonday created ruckus in theAssembly and demanded Chief Minister Yogi Adityanathto resign.

The uproar by Oppositionmembers — over the hoochtragedies in Saharanpur andKushinagar districts last week— led to adjournment of theentire Question Hour.

As soon as the House met,opposition SP, BSP andCongress members tried toraise the matter terming it oneof utmost importance.

SP and BSP memberstrooped into the Well of theHouse, raising anti-govern-ment slogans.

Parliamentary AffairsMinister Suresh KumarKhanna said the StateGovernment has taken sternaction in the matter and thoseinvolved will not be spared.

The Opposition membersalso raised slogans “CM istifado” (CM should resign).

Speaker Hriday NarainDixit repeatedly pleaded withthe angry Opposition membersto resume their seats, but theydid not relent.

He then adjourned theHouse for 30 minutes and laterextended the adjournment till12.20 pm as a result of whichthe entire Question Hour waswashed out.

CLP leader Ajay KumarLallu, later talking to reporters,demanded a CBI probe in thematter and said the CM shouldtake moral responsibility ofthe incident and resign.

The State Government onSunday night announced aprobe by a special investigationteam (SIT) into the twintragedies. An officialspokesperson said the SIT hasbeen constituted to make an in-depth inquiry into the tragediesin the two districts.

The five-member SIT hasbeen specifically asked to findwhether there was any con-spiracy behind the tragedies inwhich more than 40 peopledied. It has also been asked toreview past incidents and sub-mit its report, suggesting mea-sures to stop recurrence ofsuch incidents, within 10 days.

PTI

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I, Kumari Basanti W/o Sh.Krishna Nand R/o E-75,Sector-20, Noida (U.P.) havechanged my name to NeemaBatgali after marriage for allpurposes.

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The National Company LawAppellate Tribunal

(NCLAT) on Monday allowed22 companies of crisis-hitIL&FS group, which were clas-sified in green category basedon their financial health, to ser-vice their debt obligations.

Besides, a two-memberbench headed by Justice S JMukhopadhaya approvedappointment of formerSupreme Court judge Justice DK Jain to supervise resolutionprocess of crisis-hit IL&FS andits group companies.

The appellate tribunal alsolifted moratorium and allowed133 IL&FS firms incorporatedoutside India to continue withthe resolution process.

“We allow the boards (ofthe green companies) to permitthem to service debt obligationsas per schedule,” said NCLAT.

The NCLAT’s directioncame during the hearing overgovernment’s plan for the res-olution of IL&FS group com-panies.

IL&FS group companiesare classified into three groups— Green, Amber and Red,based on their respective finan-cial positions.

The companies fallingunder green categories willcontinue to meet their payment

obligation. While, the compa-nies which can not meet theirobligations but can meet onlyoperational payment obliga-tions to senior secured finan-cial creditors are classified asthe amber category.

And in the red category arethose entities which can notmeet their payment obliga-tions towards even seniorsecured financial creditors.

In an affidavit filed beforethe NCLAT, the Governmentinformed former SupremeCourt judge Justice D K Jainhas agreed to supervise the res-olution process of the IL&FSgroup companies.

As per the terms and agree-ment, Justice Jain will get amonthly remuneration of �10lakh per month and �2.5 lakh persitting, besides other expenses,which would be paid by IL&FS.

During the hearing, SolicitorGeneral of India Tushar Mehtaappearing for the Ministry ofCorporate Affairs submitted a listof 302 subsidiaries of IL&FS,which are jointly controlled enti-ties, group companies and asso-ciates forming part of IL&FSgroup companies.

Out of 302 companies, 169companies are incorporated inIndia and the remaining 133 areincorporated outside India, headded. He further informed theNCLAT that out of 169 domestic

companies, classification processunder Green, Amber and Red cat-egories has been completed for 69firms as on February 9, 2019.

Out of 69, the Governmenthas marked 22 companiesunder Green, 10 in Amber andrest 38 in Red category.

Mehta sought permissionfrom the appellate tribunal toallow the ‘Green entities’ to ser-vice their debt obligations asper scheduled repayment, towhich the NCLAT agreed.

However, over Amber andRed category, the appellate tri-bunal said that it would passany order after hearing them innext hearing on March 12.

“We want to know from thegovernment and IL&FS as howthey intend to resolve all enti-ties particularly in ‘amber’ and‘red’ group entities. Whetherthey would form a Committeeof Creditor as normally done inthe company insolvency reso-lution process,” said the tribunal.

It also said that moratori-um against them “can not con-tinue for an indefinite period”.

During the hearing, seniorlenders such as Indusind Bank,L&T Finance and Aditya Birla& Capital Fund opposed thegovernment’s plea to make theAmber and Red companies tomake payment necessary onlyto maintain and preserve theirgoing concern status.

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The Parliamentary panel onInformation Technology

has summoned the head ofmicroblogging site Twitter toappear before it on February25, the committee’s chairmanAnurag Thakur said onMonday.

Committee members tooka serious note about theTwitter CEO Jack Dorsey notappearing before it on Monday.While representatives fromTwitter’s India office reachedthe meeting venue here, theywere not called in for deliber-ations by the panel, accordingto sources.

The panel decided to callTwitter officials against thebackdrop of growing con-cerns about safeguarding cit-izens’ data privacy and possi-bility that social media couldbe used to interfere in elec-tions.

Ahead of the Lok Sabhaelections, the Government hasbeen warning social mediaplatforms of strong action ifany attempt was made to influ-ence the country’s electoralprocess through undesirablemeans.

On Saturday, Twitter in astatement had cited “shortnotice of the hearing” for itsCEO Dorsey not being able toattend the Monday meeting.

The committee’s chairmanand BJP MP Thakur Mondaysaid Twitter head and other

representatives have been“summoned” to appear beforethe panel on February 25.

There was no immediatecomment from Twitter.

The panel was scheduled tohear the views of the repre-sentatives of Ministry ofElectronics and IT and Twitteron ‘Safeguarding citizens rightson social/ online news mediaplatforms’.

Senior officials from the ITministry were present at themeeting here on Monday.

Earlier scheduled forFebruary 7, the meeting waspostponed to Monday to givemore time to Twitter CEO andother senior officials to makethemselves available, sourcessaid last week.

On Monday, sources saidthe panel would be meetingnext on February 26. The headsof social media platforms likeFacebook might also be askedto appear before it on February26 but a final call is yet to betaken, they added.

Facing heat over allegationsof political bias in the country,Twitter last week said it wascommitted to remain unbi-ased and that its product as wellas policies are never based onpolitical ideology.

The Government has beentaking a strong view of misuseof social media platforms andis also proposing to amend ITrules to curb fake news andincrease accountability of suchapps.

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Bankrupt RelianceCommunications on

Monday said it will develop a132-acre land parcel on the out-skirts of the city as a fintechcentre. The 132-acre land par-cel called Dhirubhai AmbaniKnowledge City (DAKC) in thesatellite city of Navi Mumbaiused to serve as a corporatenerve centre for the company,which filed for insolvency ear-lier this month.

In the past, chairman AnilAmbani had claimed that theplot had a development poten-tial of �25,000 crore.

In a statement Monday,the company said its wholly-owned subsidiary RelianceRealty will be developing whatit claimed as Maharashtra’sfirst ‘smart fintech centre’.

It has received the go-ahead from the MaharashtraIndustrial DevelopmentCorporation and theDepartment of InformationTechnology to develop the landunder the State’s fintech policy,the statement said.

As per the fintech policy,the plot will have totalsaleable/leasable area of over 30million square feet, it said,claiming that the space avail-able is double the size of theBandra Kurla Complex busi-ness district in the island city.

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Haldiram’s MD AshishAggarwal ‘s HR Bakers

tie-up with the French bakerybrand Brioche Doree. He hasentered into master franchiseagreement with the brand.

Ashish Agarwal, a fourth-generation member ofHaldiram’s promoter family,through individual entity HRBakers will lead this venturewith world’s second largestbakery chain.

Aggarwal has alreadyinvested around �4-5 crore inthe brand and said that HRBakers is open to exploringmore synergistic tie-ups withother brands.

These outlets could belocated in the National CapitalRegion and other markets.

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The Government is sched-uled to table the CAG

report on Rafale jet fighter deal,which has generated a massivepolitical controversy, inParliament on Tuesday, sourcessaid.

The Government’s deci-sion to buy 36 Rafale fighter jetsfrom French company Dassaulthas become a controversialpolitical issue, with the mainopposition party Congress lev-elling allegations of corruptionand impropriety, and the rul-ing dispensation defending themove.

The CAG report will betabled on Tuesday, a day beforethe end of the present LokSabha session. This is the lastsession of the 16th Lok Sabhaas the general elections are duein April-May.

Former Minister and

senior Congress leader KapilSibal on Sunday alleged conflictof interest and asked theComptroller and AuditorGeneral (CAG) Rajiv Mehrishito recuse himself from auditingthe deal as he was the financesecretary when the deal wasnegotiated.

Union Minister ArunJaitley, however, rebutted theclaims of Sibal saying that theCongress was casting asper-sions on the institution of CAGbased on “falsehood”.

“Another attack on theinstitution of CAG by the‘Institution wreckers’ based onfalsehood. After ten years inGovernment former UPA min-isters still don’t know thatFinance Secretary is only a des-ignation given to the seniormost secretary in the FinanceMinistry,” Jaitley said a series oftweets Sunday.

Sibal said Mehrishi wasthe finance secretary fromOctober 24, 2014 to August 30,

2015 and in between PrimeMinister Narendra Modi wentto Paris on April 10, 2015 andannounced the signing of theRafale deal.

“...Finance Ministry playsan important role in thesenegotiations...Now it is clearthat the Rafale deal happenedunder Rajiv Mehrishi. Now heis CAG. We met him twice onSeptember 19 and October 4,2018. We told him about thescam. We told him that the dealshould be probed because it iscorrupt. But how can he initi-ate a probe against himself,”Sibal had said.

The Rafale issue was evenraised before the SupremeCourt, which did not findany substance in the allega-tions.

However, the issue hascontinued to rock Parliamentwith Congress President RahulGandhi directly accusing thePrime Minister of benefitingindustrialist Anil Ambani.

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The rupee strengthened by13 paise to close at 71.18

against the US dollar onMonday on easing crude oilprices, even as the greenbackstrengthened vis-a-vis othermajor currencies.

This is the fifth successivesession of gain for the domes-tic currency, during which ithas climbed 62 paise.

At the Interbank ForeignExchange (forex) Monday, therupee opened on a firm noteat 71.24. It gained further tohit a high of 71.09 and finallysettled for the day at 71.18, up13 paise over its last close.

On Friday, the rupee hadended 14 paise higher at 71.31against the US dollar.

Easing crude price was amajor factor that boosted therupee sentiments. Brent crude,the global oil benchmark, wastrading at $61.94 per barrel,down by 0.26 per cent.

“The Indian rupee appre-ciated for fifth straight day.INR is the best performingemerging market currencyover last one week,” said Sunil

Sharma, Chief InvestmentOfficer, Sanctum WealthManagement.

Forex traders attributedthe US dollar movement torenewed concerns over ongo-ing US-China trade talks andglobal economic recovery.

“The dollar index attract-ed the safe haven investmenton mounting concerns overUS China trade talks andglobal economic recovery. Thedollar edged upwards to anew high for 2019, as theslowdown in the Euro zoneshowed signs of raising morepolitical instability,” said V KSharma, Head PCG & CapitalMarkets Strategy, HDFCSecurities.

The dollar index, whichgauges the greenback’sstrength against a basket of sixcurrencies, rose 0.10 per centto 96.73.

Meanwhile, foreign port-folio investors (FPIs) boughtshares worth a net �843.73crore, and domestic institu-tional investors (DIIs) soldshares to the tune of �960.04crore Friday, provisional datashowed.

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The 15th FinanceCommission has notified

the committee to examine andresolve the food account of�31,000 crore which theCongress government inher-ited from previous SAD-BJPregime.

Commission chairman NK Singh gave approval to theissuance of the notification forthe constitution of the com-mittee on Monday, an officialrelease of Punjab Governmentsaid.

The Chief MinisterAmarinder Singh while wel-coming the move, expressedthe hope that it would lead toearly resolution of the issuerelated to the legacy debt of�30,584 crore, which wasthreatening to cascade into amajor fiscal crisis for thestate.

The committee, to be ledby Member 15th FinanceCommission and MemberNITI Aayog Ramesh Chand,

has been asked to submit itsreport within six weeks.

The Committee has beenmandated to look into allaspects of the food accountlegacy debt of Punjab govern-ment arising out of accumu-lated CCL (Cash Credit Limit)gap with reference to FoodCorporation ofIndia/Department of Foodand Public Distribution.

On current accumulationof CCL gap, the Committeehas been asked to examine

the current issues relatedto the CCL Gap in order toascertain the root causes forsuch gap. It would also rec-ommend appropriate mea-sures to overcome the causesidentified, so as to ensure theCCL gap does not exist in thesuccessive procurement sea-sons.

On January 30, the 15thFinance Commission, duringPunjab visit, had announcedthe formation of a committeeto find ways to settle the foodaccount of �31,000 crore.

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The energy minister of theUnited Arab Emirates said

on Monday supply anddemand in the oil marketshould balance out in the firstquarter of 2019, followingweeks of output cuts.

“My expectation is that wewill see the balance during thefirst quarter unless somethinghappens,” Suheil al-Mazroueitold the three-day WorldGovernment Summit inDubai.

“We are removing enoughoil to correct the market,”Mazrouei said.

OPEC cartel countries andother major oil producers in

January began implementing adeal to cut output by 1.2 mil-lion barrels per day to shore upsagging prices.

Based on provisional fig-ures of production levels inJanuary, most oil producingnations were complying to thecuts, Mazrouei said.

The oil market, however,remains highly volatile andprices hover just above $60 abarrel after recovering from aslow as $50 a barrel.

That figure remains farbelow the $85 a barrel oil hit inearly October before beginningto slide.

Mazrouei said producerswere “doing our best” to sta-bilise the market.

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FFormer India pacer AmitBhandari, who is chairman ofthe DDCA senior selection

committee, was on Monday assault-ed by a group of unidentified men,led by a disgruntled Under-23 play-er, during the Delhi senior team'spractice game at the St Stephen'sground.

The senior team is gearing upfor Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy(National Twenty20 tournament),starting February 21.

Anuj Dheda, who was notselected in the state team, attackedBhandari, who sustained head andear injuries and was taken to SantParamanand Hospital at Civil Linesby his colleague Sukhvinder Singh.

The goons along with the play-er in question fled before the copscould reach the spot but was laterarrested.

"At around 1.15 pm today at StStephen ground where trials weregoing on, one person Anuj Dheda,who was not selected, came and

asked about his rejection andslapped Bhandari. Some 10-15 moreboys came and hit him," NupurPrasad, Deputy Commissioner ofPolice (north) said.

"Based on the complaint, a casehas been registered and the accusedand his brother Naresh were arrest-ed," the DCP said.

Dedha's name featured in theinitial 79-member list, released bythe DDCA in November for the U-23 trials. As per the probables list hisdate of birth is November 22, 1995.

Delhi & Districts CricketAssociation (DDCA) presidentRajat Sharma said that guilty willnot be spared.

"I have personally spoken to theDelhi Police Commissioner AmulyaPatnaik. The guilty will not gounpunished. We will register anFIR," Sharma said.

Sharma, who went to meetBhandari at the hospital said, "Heis much shaken and it is natural.The doctors have advised that heshould be kept under observationfor 24 hours as a precautionary

measure.""The goons were pressurising

him to select a player, who hadfailed to get into the U-23 team onmerit. Bhandari claimed that theone man also threatened him witha revolver. This is shameful that an

honest selector was being prevent-ed from performing his duties. Ihave been told that one person hasbeen detained for questioning,"Sharma, who is also a well-knownjournalist, informed.

Delhi's senior team manager

Shankar Saini narrated the incident."I was having my meal along

with a colleague inside the tent andBhandari along with other selectors

and senior team coach MithunManhas was watching the SyedMushtaq Ali Trophy probables playa trial game.

"A couple of men first came andwent up to Bhandari. There was aheated exchange between Bhandariand the two men. They left andbefore we could gather ourthoughts, suddenly some 15 menarmed with hockey sticks, rods andcycle chains came charging," Sainisaid.

"When the other senior teamplayers attending the trials alongwith us rushed to save Bhandari,they started threatening us and oneof them said, "Don't get into this orelse we will shoot you."

"They attacked Bhandari withhockey sticks and rods as he triedto run away and he sustained headinjury," the former Delhi seameradded.

According to an eye witness,Dedha and his accomplices chasedBhandari in front of the senior teamplayers as the former India pacerran for his life.

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Rest of India captain AjinkyaRahane will be hoping to

keep himself in the mix forWorld Cup selection as heleads a formidable Rest ofIndia against Ranji Trophychampions Vidarbha in theIrani Cup starting Tuesday.

For Vidarbha, the aim willbe to do an encore of the 2017-18 season where they wonboth Ranji Trophy and IraniCup.

However it will be easiersaid than done against a Restof India batting line-up thatboasts of currentTest vice-captainRahane, openerMayank Agarwal,the dashing Shreyas Iyer andthe dogged Hanuma Vihari inits ranks.

Rahane, who played threeList A matches against

England Lions with two half-centuries to his credit, is fight-ing for the reserve opener's

slot.For Agarwal,

Iyer and Vihari, itwill be good game

time as they would have littlemotivation considering theyare not in the scheme of thingsas far as World Cup is con-cerned.

For Vidarbha, this Ranjiseason has been more of teamwork than individual bril-liance. And their coachChandrakant Pandit wouldbe keen that his boys carry onthis trend in the Irani Cup eventhough senior pacer UmeshYadav will be missing due to aniggle.

Umesh has been advisedrest and is expected to be

replaced by Yash Thakur.However all the other

prominent names including41-year-old Wasim Jaffer, left-arm spinner Aditya Sarwate,wicket-keeper batsmanAkshay Wadkar and seamerRajneesh Gurbani will comeout all guns blazing.

They will have their taskcut out against Rest line-upwhich is more batting heavywith another talented domes-tic performer AnmolpreetSingh and India A regularIshan Kishan to complementthe senior internationals.

The bowling is slightly onthe weaker side with AnkitRajpoot of UP, Rajasthan'sTanveer ul Haq and Kerala'sSandeep Warrier being thenew ball bowlers. The spindepartment will be led bySaurashtra's DharmendraJadeja and off-spinnerKrishnappa Gowtham.

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India's badminton queens SainaNehwal and PV Sindhu will reignite

their on-field rivalry at home turf for thecoveted women's singles title at the 83rdedition of the Senior NationalBadminton Championships whichbegins with the qualifiers on Tuesday.

Sindhu and Saina will undoubtedlybe the biggest attraction with some bignames including last edition's finalists,Kidambi Srikanth and HS Prannoy giv-ing the tournament a miss due to fitnessissues.

The duo, finalists at the last edition,have been India's biggest achievers overthe years, including last season.

Saina had the last laugh in the lastedition of the tournament against Sindhuand she went on to get the better off hercompatriot at Gold Coast final as wellfor her second CWG Gold.

Another summit clash is likely onthe cards for the celebrated shuttlers andthey would look to outdo each otherahead of the All England championshipearly next month.

Defending champion Saina, whomade a good start to the new BWF sea-son with a title triumph at the IndonesiaMasters, will look to conquer theNationals for the fourth time, whileSindhu too would hope to lift the tro-phy for a third time.

According to the tournament rules,the top 8 players, ranked below 50 in theBWF World Rankings as on January 18in both men's and women's singles, willstart directly from the pre-quarter-

finals on completion of the Super Drawon February 14.

If any slot is left vacant then playerswith top BAI Rankings' will be consid-ered to fill up rest of the top 8, who willget a direct entry into the pre-quarters.

In women singles, besides Sindhuand Saina, Shriyanshi Pardeshi, AshmitaChaliha, Kanika Kanwal, ArunaPrabhudesai, Sai Uttejitha Rao Ch andAakarshi Kashyap will get direct entriesinto the pre-quarters.

In men's singles, Sameer Verma, BSai Praneeth and Parupalli Kashyap willbe joined by SaarLorLux Open winnerSubhankar Dey, Ansal Yadav, ChiragSen, Bodhit Joshi and Kartik Jindal in thepre-quarterfinals.

The youngsters will benefit due tothe withdrawal of Prannoy and Srikanth.In their absence, a fit-again Sameer, for-mer champions Sai Praneeth andKashyap will be the top stars in men'ssingles.

The top three seeds in men's singlesare 2015 champion Sameer, 2014 win-ner Sai Praneeth and 2012 winnerKashyap.

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Talented wrist spinner Kuldeep Yadav hasmoved up a notch to grab a career-best second

position in the latest ICC T20 International rank-ings, where India maintained its second positionbehind Pakistan despite dropping two rankingpoints.

Kuldeep scalped two for 26 in the finalT20I against New Zealand, which his side lostby four runs to go 2-1 down in the series.

The 24-year-old accounted for well-setopeners Tim Seifert and Colin Munro in theonly match he played during the series andreaped immediate dividends. He is now sec-ond only to Rashid Khan in the table.

There is no other Indian bowler in thetop-10. Kuldeep's spin bowling partnerYuzvendra Chahal after an indifferentseries, dropped six places to be 17thwhile Bhuvneshwar Kumar main-tained his 18th rank.

In the batsmen's list, Rohit Sharma swappedthree places with KL Rahul,who didn't feature in the

recently-concluded series.The batting chart is

headed by talented Pakistanibatsman Babar Azam.

Rohit is seventh as per lat-est rankings while Rahul has

slipped to 10th place. Rohit's open-ing partner Dhawan has gained a place tobe 11th. Left-arm spinner Krunal Pandyawas another spinner to move up as headvanced 39 places to a career-best58th.

For New Zealand, Kane Williamson(up one place to 12th), Ross Taylor (upseven places to 51st) and Tim Seifert (up87 places to a career-best 83rd) amongbatsmen and Tim Southee (up sevenplaces to 30th) among bowlers aresome notable gainers.

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Liverpool's transformation this season into PremierLeague title contenders reflects how much they have

improved, says midfielder Georginio Wijnaldum.The 28-year-old Dutch international, who scored a

superb goal in Saturday's 3-0 victory over Bournemouthdespite suffering from a stomach upset, admitted two suc-cessive draws had been a set-back as the club chases a firstleague title since 1990.

But he added that gar-nering 65 points at this stageof the season exceeded theirexpectations when the cam-paign got underway.

"We had two draws in arow and that didn't feel thatgood," said Wijnaldum.

"But if we had been toldthat at the beginning (of theseason) you will have thiskind of points (65) everyonewould have taken it.

"It could be better butwe must appreciate where we stand.

"You can see the improvement. You could see at thebeginning of the season we improved. We just have to keepit going."

Liverpool is not involved in next weekend's FA Cup,meaning they return to action in the Champions League athome to Bayern Munich on February 19.

Wijnaldum, who cost Liverpool 28 million when hesigned from Newcastle in 2016, is optimistic they can copewith competing on two fronts.

"We have to see how it is going to work. I think we canplay both," he said.

"You never know but a lot of times it goes well. Last sea-son the Champions League went well and we dropped a lotof points in the league.

����� ��,!1/+(/2

Cesar Azpilicueta has apologised toChelsea fans after their humiliat-

ing 6-0 defeat by Manchester City,describing it as one of the lowestpoints in his professional career.

Maurizio Sarri's team crashed totheir heaviest loss since 1991 as thePremier League champions ran riot atthe Etihad Stadium on Sunday.

The heavy defeat saw Chelsea slipbelow Arsenal to sixth in the table ongoals scored and raised further ques-tions over the future of Sarri.

"It's difficult to find the words todescribe my feeling after the game,"defender Azpilicueta, who was given atorrid time by two-goal City wingerRaheem Sterling, told the club's web-site.

"It is one of the worst nights in mycareer. It's very frustrating, it's very dis-appointing.

"When you lose 6-0 everyone hasto accept they didn't play well. The onlything I can say to the fans is 'sorry',because it's not acceptable, and I feelsorry for all of them."

It was Chelsea's third defeat in fourPremier League games, coming after a2-0 loss at Arsenal and a 4-0 thrashingby Bournemouth. The only relief dur-ing that period was a 5-0 victory overbottom side Huddersfield.

Sterling struck early at the Etihadbefore Sergio Aguero hit a quickfiredouble and Ilkay Gundogan made it 4-0 just after the midway point of the first

half.Argentine striker Aguero complet-

ed his hat-trick with a second-halfpenalty before Sterling scored again lateto complete the rout.

It could even have been worse forChelsea as Aguero missed a goodearly chance and also hit the bar.

Azpilicueta, who conceded thepenalty for Aguero's third goal, said:"We have lost big games in the firstminutes and we are conceding a lot ofgoals. We cannot accept that.

"We knew we had one of the bestteams in front of us and we knew itwould be tough."

"When we won against them atStamford Bridge it was because weplayed a very good game all together.This time it was not the case. To losein this way is very disappointing,"added the 29-year-old Spanish interna-tional.

����� 32-+ '+ /(

Mark Wood answered West Indianpace with fearsome heat of his

own as the fast bowler claimed his firstfive-wicket innings haul in Tests and putEngland in control on the second dayof the third and final Test in St Luciaon Sunday.

Playing his first match of the series,Wood tore through the heart of thehome side's batting to finish with fivefor 41 as the West Indies, replying toEngland's first innings total of 277,crashed from 57 without loss in mid-afternoon to 154 all out an hour beforethe close of play.

A day which saw 16 wickets tum-ble ended with the tourists' opening pairof Rory Burns and Keaton Jenningssafely navigating ten overs to be 19without loss at stumps, an overall leadof 142 runs going into day three as theyseek the consolation of victory follow-ing heavy defeats in the first twomatches of the series.

Wood's raw speed unsettled theWest Indies middle-order batsmenafter Moeen Ali ended another half-century opening partnership byaccounting for stand-in captain KraiggBrathwaite and partner John Campbelloff consecutive deliveries.

Ali supported Wood's hostility atthe other end with subtle variations tofinish with figures of four for 36.

However it was the introduction ofWood, who came on as the fourth

bowler in the England armoury, whichhad the greatest impact on an eventfulday.

He dismissed Shai Hope andRoston Chase off successive deliveries,both taken at gully, in his opening overand added the scalp of ShimronHetmyer, caught at the second attemptby England captain Joe Root at first slip,off the final delivery of the afternoonsession.

Darren Bravo perished shortlyafter the resumption to another Rootslip catch and the delighted fast bowlerreturned after some resistance fromShane Dowrich (38) to polish off theinnings and complete the five-wickethaul when he yorked last man Shannon

Gabriel.At the start of the day, England's

batsmen collapsed to the West Indianfast bowlers yet again, this time oper-ating effectively with the second newball, as the visitors lost six wickets for45 runs to be dismissed just beforelunch.

Wicketless on the first day when anunbroken fifth-wicket partnership of124 between Jos Buttler and Ben Stokeslifted the tourists to 231 for four,Kemar Roach stole the spotlight inscything through the middle and lowerorder to finish with figures of four for48. He now has 17 wickets in series.

It was Gabriel though who madethe first strike of the morning bybowling Jos Buttler on his overnightscore of 67 with just one run added tothe total.

That was the trigger for the slideand a reinvigorated Roach quickly gotinvolved by dismissing Stokes for theinnings topscore of 79 when theattacking left-hander miscued anattempted pull and wicketkeeperDowrich sprinted 30 metres to back-ward square-leg in clinging on to asuperb diving catch.

Jonny Bairstow laboured for 33deliveries in managing just two runsbefore Roach breached the right-han-der's defence while last man JamesAnderson proved easy prey for therampant bowler, fending his seconddelivery into the waiting hands ofKeemo Paul at third slip.

����� -,0-,

Hugo Lloris has warned thatTottenham must improve if

they are to have any chanceagainst Borussia Dortmund inthe Champions League onWednesday after a patchy displayagainst Leicester.

The 31-year-old Frenchgoalkeeper — who captained hiscountry to World Cup glory lastyear — kept out Jamie Vardy'ssecond-half penalty and made anumber of other important savesas Spurs won 3-1 at Wembley toremain on the fringes of thePremier League title race.

Although the scoreline sug-gests an easy win for MauricioPochettino's men, who are inthird place in the PremierLeague, five points behindManchester City and Liverpool,Leicester looked dangerous andhad 20 shots at goal.

"Leicester played in a fantas-tic way and I think we won thegame thanks to our spirit and

character," said Spurs captainLloris ahead of the first leg oftheir last-16 Champions Leaguetie on Wednesday.

"Without that, we could notwin this game. I think we needto improve the team perfor-mance. We won but against abigger side we couldn't have wonthat type of game. It's up to us."

Spurs beat Borussia

Dortmund twice in last season'sgroup stage but the Germanleague leaders are a differentproposition this campaign fivepoints ahead of Bayern Munichat the top of the table.

"They play fantastic football,"Lloris said. "They have so manyfantastic players and I'm not sur-prised they're top of the leaguein Germany.

���� %�2�!1'�

Pakistan has no other waythan raising the standard of

its game if it has to force super-power India to resume bilater-al cricketing ties, feels the newPCB dispensation.

India and Pakistan havenot played a full bilateral seriessince 2007 owing to tense rela-tions between the neighbouringcountries. Pakistan CricketBoard (PCB) has shown eager-ness to resume cricketing rela-tions but the BCCI has main-tained that the Indian govern-ment calls the shots in the case.

"I think when (Pakistanbecome a top team) that hap-pens, it can create a situationwhere India asks us to play abilateral series," new PCB MDWasim Khan said in a mediainteraction in Lahore.

In the absence of bilateralseries, both teams have only metin ICC and Asian CricketCouncil multilateral events,most recently in the Asia Cupheld in the UAE last September.

In 2012, Pakistan did go toIndia for a short tour but it didnot play Tests.

Ehsan Mani, who tookcharge as PCB Chairman lastAugust, has already said thatPakistan would not beg India toplay.

Mani supported WasimKhan's contention, saying thatif the PCB can take the country'scricket to a level where it isamong the top three teams inthe world, than India will comeon their own to "play with us".

"It's sad that we are not play-ing against them but life contin-ues. We need to move forwardand carry on. We can't wait for-ever to play India. Our focus isto develop Pakistan cricket andget our team and players a lot ofsuccess at the internationallevel," Khan said after takingcharge last week.

He also conceded that hedidn't see any immediatechances of revival of Indo-Pakties but things could changeafter the general elections inIndia.

Mani added that Pakistanhad not given up hope of bilat-eral ties being revived andwould keep on trying to get theBCCI to the table and movethings.

"But we are not going to seesolutions anytime soon. We willhave to wait and see how thingsgo after their elections. So nopoint of engaging them now."

Both Mani and Khan feltthat Pakistan's failed attempt toget BCCI to compensate it fornot honouring an MoU with theICC's Disputes ResolutionCommittee had not soured rela-tions.

The Chairman disclosedthat the Board's total expenseson the compensation case,which it lost to BCCI, wereabout two million dollarsincluding legal fees of thelawyers.

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Paris Saint-Germain fans were nodoubt brimming with confidenceabout facing Manchester United

when the Champions League draw wasmade nearly two months ago.

Neymar, Edinson Cavani and KylianMbappe were scoring with ease, MarcoVerratti was pulling the strings in mid-field, and the club had secured impres-sive back-to-back wins against Liverpooland Red Star Belgrade to qualify for thelast 16 at Napoli's expense.

United was struggling under then-coach Jose Mourinho, and creativeplayers like Paul Pogba were not suitedto his gritty and tactically stiflingapproach.

Now the tables have been turned,and injury-hit PSG's trip to Old Trafford

has taken on a daunting dimension.United is unbeaten since Ole GunnarSolskjaer took charge and Pogba, sounhappy under Mourinho, can't stopsmiling. Or scoring.

Pogba got one of France's goals inthe World Cup final win against Croatialast year, and always had an eye for goalwhen playing for Juventus.

Even more so now. He netted twicein Saturday's 3-0 win at Fulham and has11 league goals so far.

CONTRASTING FORTUNESWhile Saturday afternoon was good

for United, Saturday evening proved tobe awful for PSG.

In a matter of hours, the complex-ion of Tuesday's game changed even fur-ther. Already missing Neymar becauseof a right foot injury, the French cham-

pion lost two more players.Cavani, PSG's all-time leading scor-

er, damaged a tendon in his right hip inthe 1-0 win against Bordeaux, andgoal-scoring right-back ThomasMeunier sustained a mild concussion.These injuries follow on from midfield-er Marco Verratti's sprained ankle threeweeks ago.

Facing a pumped-up and revitalizedUnited lineup at Old Trafford wouldhave been difficult enough with every-one fit, but PSG coach Thomas Tuchelhas problems in every position exceptgoalkeeper. There, at least, he has thereassuring presence of Italy greatGianluigi Buffon.

But Tuchel is missing two of his bestthree forwards, and he isn't even sure ifVerratti will be ready for a game of suchintensity having played only 58 minutes

against Bordeaux on his return frominjury.

QUESTIONABLE CHOICESCircumstances and

choices, not justinjuries, have made foran increasingly diffi-cult situation at PSG.

The problems inmidfield, for example,

could have been resolved farearlier by bringing Adrien Rabiot back intothe side.

But Tuchel has been told that Rabiot— who is in a disagreement with sport-ing director Antero Henrique — is not tobe selected because of a contract wranglethat has dragged on .

With Neymar and Cavani out itmeans that Mbappe, the French league's17-goal top scorer, is certain to start at cen-ter forward.

While United's shaky defense will fearfacing another of France's World Cup stars,they may be less worried about his strikepartner. If Tuchel goes with a 4-4-2 for-mation that is likely going to include theineffective Eric-Maxim Choupo-Moting.

Tuchel could be tempted to innovateby using Julian Draxler in a 4-5-1, with theGermany winger effectively operating asa playmaker behind Mbappe. But Draxler'sversatility suits Tuchel elsewhere and hecould be chosen in central midfield,

especially if Verratti does not start.

COPING IN DEFENSEUnited's attack is brimming withconfidence.

PSG's defense must cope withspeed, skill and power when facinginternationals Marcus Rashford,Anthony Martial and RomeluLukaku.

Stopping the midfield supplyline to them, or to Chile star Alexis

Sanchez if he is selected, is vital. Tuchel,therefore, needs strong holding midfield-ers against Pogba, Ander Herrera andNemanja Matic — an impressive trioblending strength, tenacity and tech-nique.

It might mean moving defenderMarquinhos into the center of midfield,alongside Verratti, Draxler or the recent-ly-signed Leandro Paredes.

Yet picking Marquinhos woulddeprive PSG of its best and most consis-tent center half. Tuchel may have nochoice, especially considering Paredeshas played only three games for the club— two as substitute — since joining fromZenit St Petersburg.

It's all potentially confusing for Tuchel.But while Tuchel has mitigating cir-

cumstances, he was hired to reach at leastthe semifinals of the competition, afterUnai Emery and Laurent Blanc were firedfor their perceived failures in Europe.

����� �' ��-�

Lionel Messi was shortof fitness and

Barcelona lacked spark asa goalless draw away toAthletic Bilbao on Sunday offeredfresh hope to their rivals in thetitle race.

A thigh injury had limitedMessi to 27 minutes againstReal Madrid on Wednesdayand while he played the full match atSan Mames, Barca's assistant coach JonAspiazu had admitted before kick-offhe was not yet 100 per cent.

In all likelihood, he stayed onbecause his team needed him butMessi was not at his best and neitherwere Barcelona, who would evenhave lost had it not been for MarcAndre ter Stegen's stunning late saveto deny Inaki Williams.

The draw makes it three games with-out a win for La Liga's leaders, whoseadvantage is still six points but now withReal Madrid their closest challengers, afterthey beat Atletico on Saturday.

That was Real's fifth league victory on

the bounce and just as they havegained momentum, Barca appearsto be losing theirs, at a crucial junc-ture, with more stern tests tocome.

After Real Valladolid athome next weekend,Ernesto Valverde's sidetravel to Lyon in theChampions League andSevilla in the league.They then face two

Clasicos in four days,one in the Copa del Rey, andboth at the Santiago Bernabeu.

Injuries have not helped.Messi was picked but notfully recovered whileOusmane Dembele was fitenough only for the bench,

having shaken off an ankleinjury.

The struggling PhilippeCoutinho retained his placealongside Luis Suarez and Messiup front but Arturo Vidal came

in for the injured Arthur Meloand Nelson Semedo started at leftback, with Jordi Alba suspended.

����� �' �,�

Cristiano Ronaldo headed in his 18thleague goal this season as Juventus

bounced back from last week's stalemateto soar to an 11-point lead in Serie A onSunday with a 3-0 win at Sassuolo.

Ronaldo proved decisive, scoringafter 70 minutes as Sami Khedira foundthe net first in Modena with fellowGerman Emre Can slotting in the thirdfour minutes from time.

The Serie A champions had beenheld by Parma last week despite thePortugese forward's double.

Now they have left second-placedNapoli trailing after Carlo Ancelotti'sside were held to a goalless draw atFiorentina on Saturday.

Paulo Dybala again started on thebench coming on late for the champi-ons, to help set up the third goal, withcoach Massimiliano Allegri saying heneeded to find the right balance.

"Ronaldo and Dybala can cer-tainly play together and they will do,but we need everyone to work hardin order to keep the team balanced,"said Allegri.

"It all depends on who you areplaying against. Sassuolo have a strongmidfield, so I had to balance my team

that way today."Players are disappointed,

but every now and then sitting onthe bench is necessary to rechargebatteries and rediscover the rightmental toughness."

Juventus broke through afterSassuolo goalkeeper Andrea Consiglirushed out to parry a Ronaldo shot leav-

ing the way clear for Khedira to turn inthe rebound after 23 minutes.

Consigli denied FedericoBernardeschi just before the break witha Khedira header flying wide.

But Portuguese star Ronaldojumped highest after 70 minutes to meetPjanic's corner for his fourth goal in hislast three league games to bring his tallyto 20 goals for Juventus in all competi-tions.

The 34-year-old celebrated by mim-icking Dybala's 'mask' goal celebration.Argentine Dybala came off the benchseven minutes from time along with Canand was involved in the buildup for thefinal goal with Ronaldo proving theassist.

At San Siro, AC Milan beat Cagliari3-0, with new signings Lucas Paquetaand Krzysztof Piatek both scoring.

Cagliari defender Luca Ceppitelligave the hosts their first with an unfor-tunate own goal after 12 minutes.

Brazilian Paqueta volleyed in thesecond after 22 minutes with Polish for-ward Piatek again finding the net after62 for his fourth goal in all competitions.Paqueta dedicated his first goal in Italyto the ten victims of the fire that rippedthrough buildings at Rio club Flamengo,where he started his career.

����� ��2'+�

Romania reached the Fed Cupsemi-finals for the first time on

Sunday with a 3-2 win over defend-ing champions Czech Republic asIrina-Camelia Begu and MonicaNiculescu stunned Wimbledon andFrench Open winners BarboraKrejcikova and Katerina Siniakovain a marathon doubles decider.

Begu and Niculescu triumphed6-7 (2/7), 6-4, 6-4 in a thrilling rub-ber in Ostrava which lasted justseven minutes short of three hours.

Krejcikova and Siniakova, theworld's leading pair, trailed a breakearly in the final set before hittingback to 4-4. But the Romanian pairbroke straight back for 5-4 beforeBegu, ranked at 35 in doubles,served out the tie.

The result ended the 10-timechampions Czechs' hopes of makingthe Fed Cup semi-finals for an 11thsuccessive year and representedtheir first home defeat in a decade.

Earlier, Simona Halep won thebattle of the former world numberones with an epic 6-4, 5-7, 6-4 tri-umph over Karolina Pliskova, theCzechs' highest-ranked player in theabsence of world number three

Petra Kvitova."I am happy to have won against

such a tough oppo-nent," said Halep afterwinning her secondsingles of the week-end.

"It was my best and biggest winin the Fed Cup."

Siniakova, who won both hersingles rubbers in the 2018 final tri-umph over the United States, pulledthe Czechs level by seeing offMihaela Buzarnescu 6-4, 6-2.

French Open champion Halephad said that winning a first FedCup for Romania was now the toppriority on her "bucket list" havingfinally broken her Grand Slamdrought in Paris last year.

Romania will now travel toFrance in April's semi-finals whilethe other last-four clash sees Belarusup against Australia.

In Liege, Caroline Garciacrowned her comeback from a two-year Fed Cup exile by leadingFrance past Belgium and into afourth semi-final in five years.

French number one Garciabrushed aside Belgium's top playerElise Mertens 6-2, 6-3 to follow heropening day three-set win overAlison Van Uytvanck. Her win gavetwo-time champions France an

unassailable 3-0 lead in thetie before Belgium grabbeda consolation point in thedead doubles rubber.

Belarus coasted into the semi-finals when world number nineAryna Sabalenka defeated LauraSiegemund 6-1, 6-1 for an unassail-able 3-0 lead over Germany inBraunschweig.

The semi-finals take place onthe weekend of April 20-21.

���� ,/.�0/ 1'

Reaping rewards of his consistent per-formance, Prajnesh Gunneswaran

on Monday broke into men's singles top-100 for the first time in his career with ajump of six places that took him to 97.

Prajnesh is only third Indian playerto break into the top-100 barrier in thepast decade after Somdev Devvarmanand Yuki Bhambri.

The gritty left-hander, who had a bril-liant 2018 season, reached the semifinalsof the ATP Chennai Challenger last weekto ensure his entry into the coveted brack-et.

"It's a good milestone for me. I haveworked very hard to get here hopefullyit be first of many (targets) this season. Ihave set a lot of goals and would like toget those. It's a good start to the year,could have been better but I will take this,"Prajnesh said.

If Prajnesh can maintain his rankinside top-100, it will secure him entryinto Grand Slam singles main draws.

In recent times, only Yuki managedto make the top-100 grade. The immense-ly talented Yuki has been unfortunatewith injuries that halted his progress.Every time he entered the top-100, it was

followed by a long injury break.He is now placed 156 behind

Ramkumar Ramanathan, who rose to 128with a jump of five places. At numberfour, is Saketh Myneni (255, +5) and fol-lowing him is another talent from theSouth Sasi Kumar Mukund, who jumped22 places to reach career-best 271.

In the doubles, Rohan Bopannastayed put at 37 and was followed by hispartner Divij Sharan (39, +1), LeanderPaes (75, +7), Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan(77, +2) and Purav Raja (100, +3).

In the WTA charts, Ankita Rainacontinues to be country's top singles play-er at number 165 after climbing threeplaces in the ladder and was followed byKarman Kaur Thandi, who dropped aplace to 211.

� � � 0*��'�

Pacer Pat Cummins andwomen's wicket-keeper

Alyssa Healy claimed the majorhonours at the 2019 AustralianCricket Awards announced onMonday.

Healy received the BelindaClark Award, as well as the ODIand T20I Player of the Yearawards while Cummins was therecipient of the much-covetedAllan Border Medal.

The Australian wicket-keeper was the standout candi-date after a sensational yearacross formats.

In March, she hit her firstODI hundred, but it was inNovember's ICC Women'sWorld T20 that she truly cameto the fore.

Healy was pivotal inAustralia's successful campaign,hitting 225 runs at an averageof 56.25 to be crowned thePlayer of the Tournament.

Cummins was the recipientof the Allan Border Medal, theaward which recognizes

achievements across all threeformats. Much of Cummins'excellence came in the Testarena, with the fast bowler col-lecting 36 wickets in 8 match-es across the voting periodfrom January 9, 2018 to January7, 2019.

Most recently, Cumminswas in superb form forAustralia in their 2-0 Test serieswin over Sri Lanka, the first Testat the Gabba seeing him collectmatch figures of 10/62. Theseries also saw Cumminsnamed one of Australia's vice-captains.

For his sterling perfor-mances with the red-ball,Nathan Lyon was crowned theTest Player of the Year, return-ing 49 wickets across the vot-ing period.

Marcus Stoinis was recog-nised as Australia's men's ODIPlayer of the Year having estab-lished himself as a regularmember of the 50-over side,while Glenn Maxwell was giventhe T20 Player of the Yearaward for the second time.

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