...Ahead of the year-end Assembly elections in three States and general election next year, caste...

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A head of the year-end Assembly elections in three States and general election next year, caste politics of a differ- ent kind is raising its head. This time upper castes are joining hands with the OBC to express their resentment over the restoration of the stringent provisions of the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989. While several upper castes and OBC outfits, pri- marily based in Madhya Pradesh, have given a Bharat bandh call on September 6, the Congress is openly playing the Brahmin card. This is the first time in the post-Mandal era that upper castes and OBC are coming together in a big way on a caste- based issue. The political par- ties have kept away from the protest in view of its sensitive nature and out of the fear that it could antagonise their Dalit constituency. But at ground level, upper castes and OBC are ganging up against the Modi Government for restoring the SC/ST Act after it was diluted by the Supreme Court. While the Congress has not come in favour of the bandh call or the upper caste and OBC protest, it is wooing the Brahmins, who are in the fore- front of the ongoing movement against the SC/ST Act. A day after MP Congress president Kamal Nath promised cow shelter in each district of MP, Randeep Singh Surjewala said, “Brahmin DNA is in the Congress blood.” This comes at a time when Congress chief Rahul Gandhi is visiting Mansarovar. This is interpret- ed as an attempt by the Congress to play the soft “Hindutva” card, something Rahul practised successfully in Gujarat and Karnataka Assembly polls. The MP Government has imposed Section 144 in five districts of the State ahead of the proposed nationwide bandh by several outfits to protest against the SC/ST Amendment Bill passed in Parliament last month. The bandh call has been given by around 30-35 organ- isations on social media. Section 144 has been imposed in Gwalior (city), Bhind, Shivpuri, Guna and Ashok Nagar districts. On Tuesday, members of Khatriya Mahasabha, Gujjar Mahasabha, Parshuram Sena and other organisations gathered against the amendment to the atroci- ties Act at a Swabhiman Sammelan held in Gwalior. However, it is Surejewala’s brazen overture to the Brahmins that gives away the Congress strategy for the upcoming polls. The Congress seems to have sensed that the Brahmins have got a raw deal under the BJP, which made Rajputs as Chief Minister of politically important Uttar Pradesh and neighbouring Uttarakhand. Similarly, while veteran Kalraj Mishra was dropped from the Council of Ministers on age criteria. So far he has not been accommodat- ed as Governor as was being speculated. The BJP has been pushed on the defensive and several party leaders have come out in open to express their apprehensions and concerns over the repercussion of the upper caste unrest. “It is a pity that my party did not listen to me when I said (including on Twitter) that the BJP should accept the SC ver- dict on the SC&ST Act, that there was no need to make immediate arrest but must do so within a week if prima facie evidence is there,” Subramanian Swamy tweeted. Senior BJP leader and MP from Deoria Kalraj Mishra has also called for a relook at the SC/ST Act and its provisions. “It is the responsibility of all political parties, including that in power, that the provisions of the Act should be re-looked into,” he said. Party’s MLA from Ballia Surendra Singh too joined the chorus and said, “This Act is misused to frame innocent people. If political parties are so keen to impress the Dalits then why not make a Dalit PM for next 10 years.” BJP Rajya Sabha member from Rajasthan Harshwardhan Singh Dungarpur has called for revision of the entire reserva- tion system and said the recent amendment of the SC/ST Act to bring back the stringent provisions has come as setback to some sections of society. Surjewala, who attended the State-level Brahmin semi- nar on Monday, said, “One of my colleagues asked why is a Brahmin conference being held using Rahul Gandhi’s photo and under the Congress party flag and the Tricolour? I said that I will respond to this from this platform one day. Indian National Congress is that party, my friends, in whose blood Brahmin Samaj’s DNA is pre- sent.” Surjewala also promised that the Congress would pro- vide 10 per cent reservation to the poor, set up Brahmin Kalyan Board, and offer 100 crore soft loan at 4 per cent interest and scholarships to needy Brahmin youths for set- ting up business and students to pursue higher education. After the Modi Government restored the tough provisions of the SC/ST Act, which were quashed by the Supreme Court, political par- ties welcomed the decisions for obvious reasons, but social media saw angry reactions from the upper caste people. Slowly and steadily, the resent- ment has spread and now caste outfits are indirectly backed by Opposition parties. In MP, the upper caste mobilisation against the BJP over the SC/ST Act has culmi- nated in the call of Bharat bandh. The resentment among the upper castes and OBC against the SC/ST Act has seen violent protests during the last few days in Morena, Bhind, Gwalior, Mandsaur and Neemuch. The protesters have especially targeting legislators, demanding that the SC verdict should be resorted. Some upper caste supporters also threw shoes at Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan at a rally two days ago. T he Tamil Nadu Government on Wednesday faced a major embarrassment as sleuths of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) swooped down on the residences of Health Minister C Vijay Bhaskar, State police chief TK Rajendran and high- profile former Commissioner of Chennai Police S George, former Minister BV Ramana and many others in connection with the gutkha scam. The raids, which began at 7 am simultaneously at 40 locations in Chennai and else- where in Tamil Nadu, are being led by sleuths from New Delhi. The residence of Vijaya Bhaskar had been raided by the Income-Tax Department in April 2017 and details of large cash transactions were seized. Wednesday’s CBI raids are in connection with the inves- tigation into the alleged pay- offs running to 40 crore allegedly made by the manu- facturers of MDM Gutkha to political leaders, Ministers, police officials and bureaucrats to facilitate the sale of gutkha in Tamil Nadu. The State had banned the production and sale of gutkha during J Jayalalithaa as Chief Minister. A s many as 1.76 crore poul- try, 46,000 milch cows and 20,000 goats were washed away in the recent floods in Kerala. The Home Ministry data shows the flood has ravaged a whop- ping 5.54 lakh acre (2,24,374 hectare) of agricultural land in Kerala, Karnataka, Assam, West Bengal and Uttar Pradesh. The Home Ministry data has not included the crops affect- ed in Uttrakhand, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Bihar and several North-eastern States due to flood. According to data, hun- dreds of farms and cattle sheds were decimated and the liveli- hoods of thousands of dairy farmers were destroyed. Kerala lost 57,024.31 hectare of crops in Kannur, Kollam, Kasaragod, Alappuzha, Thrissur, Kozhikode, Palakad, Malappuram, Pathanamthitta, Ernakulam, Kottayam, Idukki, Thiruvananthapuram and Wayanad districts. Besides affecting cash crops such as pepper, coffee, the devastating floods washed away vegetables, medicinal plants and horticulture crops and hundreds of acres of paddy in the State. The deluge in Kerala has had a cascading effect on the cage fish farming and commercially valuable fish such as Pearl Spot, Sea Bass and Red Snapperwere. Officials of the Kerala Agriculture Department said the department was able to res- cue at least 50,000 cattle and house them in relief shelters across eight districts. “These cattle had been left behind by their fleeing owners when the water levels rose. There is also widespread fear about a break- out of communicable cattle diseases. There is a huge scarci- ty of roughage, including straw and green fodder,” said officials. Kerala has an estimated six lakh milch cattle requiring nearly 600 tonnes of feed, but pro- duces just 30 per cent locally. After Kerala, it is Uttar Pradesh which lost more crops during flood. As per the Ministry’s data, 50,873 hectare of crops in 23 districts includ- ing Faizabad, Farrukhabad, Bijnor, Kanpur Dehat, Kanpur Nagar, Gonda, Barabanki, Behraich, Lakhimpur Kheri, Sitapur, Pilibhit, Mau, Kushinagar, Basti, Azamgarh, Badaun, Ballia, Balrampur and Moradabad have been dam- aged. As many as 3,000 animals are affected here. T he Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs and the Delhi Metro on Wednesday rubbished as “misleading and falsification of facts” a report by Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) which claimed ridership of Delhi Metro is falling and is the sec- ond most unaffordable Metro system in the world. Union Housing and Urban Affairs Minister Hardeep Singh Puri contended that Delhi Metro’s passenger flow has gone up while Delhi Metro MD Mangu Singh cited the examples of other metros like Lucknow, Chennal and Kochi that have higher fares than Delhi Metro. Speaking at a function organised by CPWD, Minister Puri said if there is a possibil- ity that Metro ridership is not realising its “potential”, it is because Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal is not giving approval for Metro’s phase-IV project. “I have a story going on today that Metro ridership has fallen, which is complete falsi- fication of facts. Metro rider- ship has gone up to two lakh and it is going up. If there is a possibility that Metro ridership is not realising its potential, it is because Arvind Kejriwal is not giving me approval for Metro phase-IV ,” Puri said. In February 2016, the AAP Government had given its in- principle approval for the con- struction work of the phase IV project, but the Delhi Cabinet is yet to take final decision on it. The CSE in its report said DMRC is the second most unaffordable Metro system in the world in terms of percent- age of income spent for using it while asserting the Delhi Metro has received nearly 32% less than the number of daily passengers it had hoped to serve this year. Reacting to the report, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said he is “very sad” that such an impor- tant means of transport has become out of reach of com- mon man while asserting that all those who have given up Metro are now contributing to Delhi’s pollution by using road transport. T he Gujarat CID officials arrested sacked IPS officer Sanjiv Bhatt on Wednesday from his residence in Ahmedabad in connection with two-decade-old case of alleged abduction and framing a Rajasthan-based lawyer in a crime related to narcotics. In 1996, a Rajasthan-based lawyer Sumer Singh Rajpurohit was allegedly abducted and framed in a narcotics case on the instruction of Bhatt (when he was Banaskantha SP) from a hotel in north Gujarat town Palanpur. Subsequently, Rajpurohit had filed a case against Bhatt and several others in Pali, Rajasthan. In connection with the case, the Gujarat High Court had ordered to form a CID SIT. The SIT found that Bhatt had framed Rajpurohit by filing false case. F inance Minister Arun Jaitley on Wednesday termed Congress president Rahul Gandhi’s allegations in Rafale deal as “ignoramus”, saying other Congress leaders are also parroting the allegations to “satisfy the ego of an ‘ill- informed gentleman.” Addressing the media on Wednesday evening after the Cabinet meeting, Jaitley reit- erated that the price of the Rafale Jet negotiated by the NDA is nine per cent lesser than the UPA’s deal and claimed that it is 20 per cent lesser considering “weapon- to-weapon” attached to the jet. “This is a Government-to- Government deal and no pri- vate party is involved. All 36 planes straight away come from France and not even a screw is fitted in India. It is the foreign supplier prerogative to engage their Indian partners. Many Indian private firms will ben- efit as we wanted the state-of- the-art technology of foreign players are shared here. Be it Tata, Mahendra and even HAL, they all will get work from for- eign players. It is the Congress style that buys from abroad without technology transfer. They are the one who took bribes in Defence deals which is well documented in the case of Bofors,” Jaitley said coun- tering the allegations raised by the Congress. Slamming Rahul Gandhi without naming him, Jaitley added, “What can we say when the ‘gentleman’ from the dynasty is ignorant of the fact and repeating the same thing. It is proved that in dynastic par- ties ignorance is contagious. The party leaders have no options but to satisfy the ego of the ill-informed gentleman. Let the contagious problem remain with the Congress. Leaders like Abshishek Singhvi and all are repeating what he says.” Earlier in the morning, National Security Adviser Ajit Doval and Defence Secretary Sanjay Mitra briefed the Union Council of Ministers on the fighter aircraft deal with France in a bid to provide the leaders with facts to counter the allegations being levelled against it. Sources said the NSA and Mitra National made a detailed pre- sentation on various aspects of the deal in the meeting, which lasted more than two-and-a- half hours. T he administration sounded high alert in the State cap- ital and state in the wake of September 6 ‘Bharat Bandh’ call given by groups of general and OBC categories protesting against the SC/ST Protection Act. Both BJP and Congress had in Parliament supported the amendment Bill, imple- menting SC/ ST Act in its original form. The State government and police have made adequate arrangements to maintain law and order in the state. The ‘bandh’ which would impact the normal life has been further augmented by decision of petrol pump asso- ciation which has decided to remain shut till 4 pm on Thursday. The association took the decision to avert any unto- ward action. The groups have threat- ened government of dire con- sequences if amendment made in SC/ST Act is not revoked which was passed in the par- liament last month. Sensing that protest might turn violent scheduled progammes have been can- celled by people’s representa- tives like Minister of Sports Yashodhara Raje Scindia, Minister for Renewable Energy Narayan Singh Kushwaha, Minister of State for Women and Child Welfare Department Lalita Yadav and BJP MLA Gwalior (rural) Bharat Singh Kushwaha. IG (Law and Order) Makrand Deuskar said that 6000 newly inducted police personnel and 34 battalions on the field government is not let- ting any stone unturned to con- tain the protest for which gov- ernment has received alarming alerts. Inspector of General of Police Bhopal Jaideep Prasad said that around 4000 police personnel would be deployed during the ‘bandh’. The section 144 of the CrPC would not be imposed in the state capital as the law and order situations could be handled. The representatives of gen- eral category officials and employees have been contact- ed and discussions were held for their cooperation and sup- port. Meetings with local rep- resentatives were held to gain support during the ‘bandh’ and maintain peace during the ‘bandh’, he added. Gwalior (City), Bhind, Shivpuri, Guna and Ashok Nagar have been imposed with section 144. Schools in Bhind and Morena would remain close during the strike on Thursday. Taking the past experience of ‘protests’ by Dalit groups agi- tating against diluting SC/ ST Act which turned violent tak- ing 10 lives on April 2, this year. The protest in the month of April that had turned violent and other protest in which heavy loss of property and few lives were lost have made the government and administra- tion to remain on toes. C M Y K C M Y K RNI Regn. No. MPENG/2004/13703, Regd. No. L-2/BPLON/41/2006-2008

Transcript of ...Ahead of the year-end Assembly elections in three States and general election next year, caste...

Page 1: ...Ahead of the year-end Assembly elections in three States and general election next year, caste politics of a differ-ent kind is raising its head. This time upper castes are joinin

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Ahead of the year-endAssembly elections in three

States and general election nextyear, caste politics of a differ-ent kind is raising its head.

This time upper castes arejoining hands with the OBC toexpress their resentment overthe restoration of the stringentprovisions of the SC/ST(Prevention of Atrocities) Act,1989. While several uppercastes and OBC outfits, pri-marily based in MadhyaPradesh, have given a Bharatbandh call on September 6, theCongress is openly playing theBrahmin card.

This is the first time in thepost-Mandal era that uppercastes and OBC are comingtogether in a big way on a caste-based issue. The political par-ties have kept away from theprotest in view of its sensitivenature and out of the fear thatit could antagonise their Dalitconstituency. But at groundlevel, upper castes and OBC areganging up against the ModiGovernment for restoring theSC/ST Act after it was diluted

by the Supreme Court.While the Congress has not

come in favour of the bandhcall or the upper caste and OBCprotest, it is wooing theBrahmins, who are in the fore-front of the ongoing movementagainst the SC/ST Act. A dayafter MP Congress presidentKamal Nath promised cowshelter in each district of MP,Randeep Singh Surjewala said,“Brahmin DNA is in theCongress blood.” This comes ata time when Congress chiefRahul Gandhi is visitingMansarovar. This is interpret-ed as an attempt by theCongress to play the soft“Hindutva” card, somethingRahul practised successfullyin Gujarat and KarnatakaAssembly polls.

The MP Government hasimposed Section 144 in fivedistricts of the State ahead ofthe proposed nationwidebandh by several outfits toprotest against the SC/STAmendment Bill passed inParliament last month.

The bandh call has beengiven by around 30-35 organ-isations on social media.

Section 144 has been imposedin Gwalior (city), Bhind,Shivpuri, Guna and AshokNagar districts. On Tuesday,members of KhatriyaMahasabha, Gujjar Mahasabha,Parshuram Sena and otherorganisations gathered against

the amendment to the atroci-ties Act at a SwabhimanSammelan held in Gwalior.

However, it is Surejewala’sbrazen overture to theBrahmins that gives away theCongress strategy for theupcoming polls. The Congress

seems to have sensed that theBrahmins have got a raw dealunder the BJP, which madeRajputs as Chief Minister ofpolitically important UttarPradesh and neighbouringUttarakhand. Similarly, whileveteran Kalraj Mishra was

dropped from the Council ofMinisters on age criteria. So farhe has not been accommodat-ed as Governor as was beingspeculated. The BJP has beenpushed on the defensive andseveral party leaders have comeout in open to express theirapprehensions and concernsover the repercussion of theupper caste unrest.

“It is a pity that my partydid not listen to me when I said(including on Twitter) that theBJP should accept the SC ver-dict on the SC&ST Act, thatthere was no need to makeimmediate arrest but must doso within a week if prima facieevidence is there,” SubramanianSwamy tweeted.

Senior BJP leader and MPfrom Deoria Kalraj Mishra hasalso called for a relook at theSC/ST Act and its provisions.“It is the responsibility of allpolitical parties, including thatin power, that the provisions ofthe Act should be re-lookedinto,” he said.

Party’s MLA from BalliaSurendra Singh too joined thechorus and said, “This Act ismisused to frame innocent

people. If political parties are sokeen to impress the Dalits thenwhy not make a Dalit PM fornext 10 years.”

BJP Rajya Sabha memberfrom Rajasthan HarshwardhanSingh Dungarpur has called forrevision of the entire reserva-tion system and said the recentamendment of the SC/ST Actto bring back the stringentprovisions has come as setbackto some sections of society.

Surjewala, who attendedthe State-level Brahmin semi-nar on Monday, said, “One ofmy colleagues asked why is aBrahmin conference being heldusing Rahul Gandhi’s photoand under the Congress partyflag and the Tricolour? I saidthat I will respond to this fromthis platform one day. IndianNational Congress is that party,my friends, in whose bloodBrahmin Samaj’s DNA is pre-sent.”

Surjewala also promisedthat the Congress would pro-vide 10 per cent reservation tothe poor, set up BrahminKalyan Board, and offer �100crore soft loan at 4 per centinterest and scholarships to

needy Brahmin youths for set-ting up business and studentsto pursue higher education.

After the ModiGovernment restored the toughprovisions of the SC/ST Act,which were quashed by theSupreme Court, political par-ties welcomed the decisions forobvious reasons, but socialmedia saw angry reactionsfrom the upper caste people.Slowly and steadily, the resent-ment has spread and now casteoutfits are indirectly backed byOpposition parties.

In MP, the upper castemobilisation against the BJPover the SC/ST Act has culmi-nated in the call of Bharatbandh. The resentment amongthe upper castes and OBCagainst the SC/ST Act has seenviolent protests during the lastfew days in Morena, Bhind,Gwalior, Mandsaur andNeemuch. The protesters haveespecially targeting legislators,demanding that the SC verdictshould be resorted. Some uppercaste supporters also threwshoes at Chief Minister ShivrajSingh Chouhan at a rally twodays ago.

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The Tamil NaduGovernment on

Wednesday faced a majorembarrassment as sleuths of theCentral Bureau of Investigation(CBI) swooped down on theresidences of Health MinisterC Vijay Bhaskar, State policechief TK Rajendran and high-profile former Commissionerof Chennai Police S George,former Minister BV Ramanaand many others in connectionwith the gutkha scam.

The raids, which began at7 am simultaneously at 40locations in Chennai and else-where in Tamil Nadu, are

being led by sleuths from NewDelhi.

The residence of VijayaBhaskar had been raided by theIncome-Tax Department inApril 2017 and details of largecash transactions were seized.

Wednesday’s CBI raids arein connection with the inves-tigation into the alleged pay-offs running to �40 croreallegedly made by the manu-facturers of MDM Gutkha topolitical leaders, Ministers,police officials and bureaucratsto facilitate the sale of gutkhain Tamil Nadu. The State hadbanned the production andsale of gutkha during JJayalalithaa as Chief Minister.

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As many as 1.76 crore poul-try, 46,000 milch cows and

20,000 goats were washed awayin the recent floods in Kerala.The Home Ministry data showsthe flood has ravaged a whop-ping 5.54 lakh acre (2,24,374hectare) of agricultural land inKerala, Karnataka, Assam,West Bengal and Uttar Pradesh.The Home Ministry data hasnot included the crops affect-ed in Uttrakhand, MadhyaPradesh, Rajasthan, Bihar andseveral North-eastern Statesdue to flood.

According to data, hun-dreds of farms and cattle shedswere decimated and the liveli-hoods of thousands of dairyfarmers were destroyed. Keralalost 57,024.31 hectare of cropsin Kannur, Kollam, Kasaragod,Alappuzha, Thrissur,Kozhikode, Palakad,Malappuram, Pathanamthitta,Ernakulam, Kottayam, Idukki,Thiruvananthapuram andWayanad districts.

Besides affecting cashcrops such as pepper, coffee,the devastating floods washedaway vegetables, medicinalplants and horticulture cropsand hundreds of acres of paddyin the State. The deluge inKerala has had a cascadingeffect on the cage fish farmingand commercially valuable fishsuch as Pearl Spot, Sea Bass andRed Snapperwere.

Officials of the KeralaAgriculture Department saidthe department was able to res-cue at least 50,000 cattle andhouse them in relief sheltersacross eight districts. “Thesecattle had been left behind bytheir fleeing owners when thewater levels rose. There is alsowidespread fear about a break-out of communicable cattle

diseases. There is a huge scarci-ty of roughage, including strawand green fodder,” said officials.Kerala has an estimated six lakhmilch cattle requiring nearly600 tonnes of feed, but pro-duces just 30 per cent locally.

After Kerala, it is UttarPradesh which lost more cropsduring flood. As per theMinistry’s data, 50,873 hectareof crops in 23 districts includ-ing Faizabad, Farrukhabad,Bijnor, Kanpur Dehat, KanpurNagar, Gonda, Barabanki,Behraich, Lakhimpur Kheri,Sitapur, Pilibhit, Mau,Kushinagar, Basti, Azamgarh,Badaun, Ballia, Balrampur andMoradabad have been dam-aged.

As many as 3,000 animalsare affected here.

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The Ministry of Housingand Urban Affairs and the

Delhi Metro on Wednesdayrubbished as “misleading andfalsification of facts” a report byCentre for Science andEnvironment (CSE) whichclaimed ridership of DelhiMetro is falling and is the sec-ond most unaffordable Metrosystem in the world. UnionHousing and Urban AffairsMinister Hardeep Singh Puricontended that Delhi Metro’spassenger flow has gone upwhile Delhi Metro MD ManguSingh cited the examples ofother metros like Lucknow,Chennal and Kochi that havehigher fares than Delhi Metro.

Speaking at a functionorganised by CPWD, MinisterPuri said if there is a possibil-ity that Metro ridership is notrealising its “potential”, it isbecause Delhi Chief MinisterArvind Kejriwal is not givingapproval for Metro’s phase-IVproject.

“I have a story going ontoday that Metro ridership hasfallen, which is complete falsi-fication of facts. Metro rider-

ship has gone up to two lakhand it is going up. If there is apossibility that Metro ridershipis not realising its potential, itis because Arvind Kejriwal isnot giving me approval forMetro phase-IV ,” Puri said.

In February 2016, the AAPGovernment had given its in-principle approval for the con-struction work of the phase IV

project, but the Delhi Cabinetis yet to take final decision onit. The CSE in its report saidDMRC is the second mostunaffordable Metro system inthe world in terms of percent-age of income spent for usingit while asserting the DelhiMetro has received nearly 32%less than the number of dailypassengers it had hoped to

serve this year. Reacting to thereport, Delhi Chief MinisterArvind Kejriwal said he is“very sad” that such an impor-tant means of transport hasbecome out of reach of com-mon man while asserting thatall those who have given upMetro are now contributing toDelhi’s pollution by using roadtransport.

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The Gujarat CID officialsarrested sacked IPS officer

Sanjiv Bhatt on Wednesdayfrom his residence inAhmedabad in connectionwith two-decade-old case ofalleged abduction and framinga Rajasthan-based lawyer in acrime related to narcotics.

In 1996, a Rajasthan-basedlawyer Sumer Singh Rajpurohitwas allegedly abducted andframed in a narcotics case onthe instruction of Bhatt (whenhe was Banaskantha SP) froma hotel in north Gujarat townPalanpur.

Subsequently, Rajpurohithad filed a case against Bhattand several others in Pali,Rajasthan.

In connection with thecase, the Gujarat High Courthad ordered to form a CID SIT.The SIT found that Bhatt hadframed Rajpurohit by filingfalse case.

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Finance Minister Arun Jaitleyon Wednesday termed

Congress president RahulGandhi’s allegations in Rafaledeal as “ignoramus”, sayingother Congress leaders are alsoparroting the allegations to“satisfy the ego of an ‘ill-informed gentleman.”

Addressing the media onWednesday evening after theCabinet meeting, Jaitley reit-erated that the price of theRafale Jet negotiated by theNDA is nine per cent lesserthan the UPA’s deal andclaimed that it is 20 per centlesser considering “weapon-to-weapon” attached to the jet.

“This is a Government-to-Government deal and no pri-vate party is involved. All 36planes straight away come fromFrance and not even a screw isfitted in India. It is the foreignsupplier prerogative to engagetheir Indian partners. ManyIndian private firms will ben-efit as we wanted the state-of-the-art technology of foreignplayers are shared here. Be it

Tata, Mahendra and even HAL,they all will get work from for-eign players. It is the Congressstyle that buys from abroadwithout technology transfer.They are the one who tookbribes in Defence deals whichis well documented in the caseof Bofors,” Jaitley said coun-tering the allegations raised bythe Congress.

Slamming Rahul Gandhiwithout naming him, Jaitleyadded, “What can we say whenthe ‘gentleman’ from thedynasty is ignorant of the factand repeating the same thing.It is proved that in dynastic par-ties ignorance is contagious.The party leaders have nooptions but to satisfy the ego of

the ill-informed gentleman. Letthe contagious problem remainwith the Congress. Leaders likeAbshishek Singhvi and all arerepeating what he says.”

Earlier in the morning,National Security Adviser AjitDoval and Defence SecretarySanjay Mitra briefed theUnion Council of Ministerson the fighter aircraft dealwith France in a bid to providethe leaders with facts tocounter the allegations beinglevelled against it. Sourcessaid the NSA and MitraNational made a detailed pre-sentation on various aspects ofthe deal in the meeting, whichlasted more than two-and-a-half hours.

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The administration soundedhigh alert in the State cap-

ital and state in the wake ofSeptember 6 ‘Bharat Bandh’ callgiven by groups of general andOBC categories protestingagainst the SC/ST ProtectionAct. Both BJP and Congresshad in Parliament supportedthe amendment Bill, imple-menting SC/ ST Act in itsoriginal form.

The State government andpolice have made adequatearrangements to maintain lawand order in the state.

The ‘bandh’ which wouldimpact the normal life hasbeen further augmented bydecision of petrol pump asso-ciation which has decided toremain shut till 4 pm onThursday. The association tookthe decision to avert any unto-ward action.

The groups have threat-ened government of dire con-sequences if amendment madein SC/ST Act is not revoked

which was passed in the par-liament last month.

Sensing that protest mightturn violent scheduledprogammes have been can-celled by people’s representa-tives like Minister of SportsYashodhara Raje Scindia,Minister for Renewable EnergyNarayan Singh Kushwaha,Minister of State for Womenand Child Welfare DepartmentLalita Yadav and BJP MLAGwalior (rural) Bharat SinghKushwaha.

IG (Law and Order)Makrand Deuskar said that6000 newly inducted policepersonnel and 34 battalions onthe field government is not let-ting any stone unturned to con-tain the protest for which gov-ernment has received alarmingalerts.

Inspector of General ofPolice Bhopal Jaideep Prasadsaid that around 4000 policepersonnel would be deployedduring the ‘bandh’. The section144 of the CrPC would not beimposed in the state capital as

the law and order situationscould be handled.

The representatives of gen-eral category officials andemployees have been contact-ed and discussions were heldfor their cooperation and sup-port. Meetings with local rep-resentatives were held to gainsupport during the ‘bandh’and maintain peace during the‘bandh’, he added.

Gwalior (City), Bhind,Shivpuri, Guna and AshokNagar have been imposed withsection 144. Schools in Bhindand Morena would remainclose during the strike onThursday.

Taking the past experienceof ‘protests’ by Dalit groups agi-tating against diluting SC/ STAct which turned violent tak-ing 10 lives on April 2, this year.

The protest in the month ofApril that had turned violentand other protest in whichheavy loss of property and fewlives were lost have made thegovernment and administra-tion to remain on toes.

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Under the museum series‘Exhibit of the Month’ of

Indira Gandhi RashtriyaManav Sangrahalaya, a tradi-tional object is displayed in theappearance for a whole month.

The exhibit for the monthof September is- ‘Varpu’, aMetal Vessel from Kerala, is ondisplay in the indoor exhibitionbuilding- Veethi Sankul. The'exhibit of the month' has beeninaugurated by Ashokan,Chairman, United MalayaleeAssociation, Bhopal.

Prof Sarit KumarChaudhuri, Director, IGRMS,Dilip Singh (Joint Director,IGRMS), Anil, Vice Chairmanand SR Pillai, Secretary, UnitedMalayalee Association, Bhopaland renowned people presenton this occasion. This exhibitof the month' has been com-piled by Rakesh Bhatt, Assistant

Keeper. He said that the aim ofthe museum is to connectcommunities, by which thecontinuity of culture will con-tinue.

In the year 1991, during thefield work collected objectVarpu is a traditional bronzevessel of Kerala and it hasmanifold uses. The containhandles on either side for easylifting. This circular, wide,shallow and thick vessel occu-pies a prominent in the socio-cultural sphere and religiouspractices of the people of thisregion. The Moosaris are of sixcategories and the Kammalasare the traditional metal smithsof Kerala. They trace their ori-gin to Vishawakarma, the deityof all craftsmanship. Varpu ismade by means of the lost waxprocess of casting.

Commonly used for serv-ing foods, Varpu is also applic-able for small scale cooking. In

Hindu Puja, Varpu is widelyused in temples for Abhishekapurposes, decorative purposes.By filling withwater, floats offlowers are prepared for grandwelcome ceremonies at theentrance and also used as aninterior décor element.

Meanwhile, under theactivities of Official Languagein Indira Gandhi RashtriyaManav Sangrahalaya organ-ised ‘Unicode Typing Test’,where employees participatedenthusiastically.

The programme was coor-dinated by Mohd Rehan andRavindra Gupta. On this occa-sion, they said, “Unicodeenables a single software prod-uct or a single website to be tar-geted across multiple plat-forms, languages and countrieswithout re-engineering. Itallows data to be transportedthrough many different systemswithout error.”

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Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Wednesday per-formed bhoomi-pujan of the Binjalwada Lift Irrigation

Scheme worth � 745 crore at Bhikangaon in Khargone district.He said that this is the first scheme of Nimad region in whichno farmer’s land will be taken over.

Lift irrigation facility will be made available through theBinjalwada Lift Irrigation Scheme for 50,164 hectare agriculturalland of 129 villages. The entire water distribution will be madethrough pipes under the scheme. The farmers will get 20 meterwater pressure up to each 2.50 hectare area. With this, the farm-ers will be able to irrigate with the help of the new techniquesof modern agriculture that is the fountain and drip method.

This innovative effort has been made on the initiative of theChief Minister to make Narmada water available to farmers set-tled in the heights of Narmada Valley through canal irrigation.Through this scheme, water will be lifted and taken to 120.50metre height in two phases. Under the scheme, main canal IDof Indira Sagar project will be released from 57.85 kms to 17.80cubic meter water per second.

Minister of State for Agriculture Balkrishna Patidar, MPNandkumar Chouhan and Subhash Patel, MLA Jhuma Solanki,local public representatives and a large number of farmers andvillagers were present at the bhoomi-pujan ceremony.

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Chief Minister Shivraj SinghChouhan while addressing

the Madhya Pradesh NijiChikitsak Mahapanchayat 2018of Non-Allopathic Doctorshere on Tuesday, announcedfor starting two-year diplomaand one year certificate coursefor them under the MedicalEducation Department. Alongwith this, he also madeannouncement for formationof Jan Swasthya Board andformation of a committeeunder the Chairmanship ofHealth Minister.

Chouhan said that the JanSwasthya Board will solve theproblems of Non-Allopathicdoctors.

They will get themselvesregistered in Para MedicalCouncil. He further mentioned

that it will be taken into con-sideration that they should beauthorized to write allopathicprescription.

A committee will be con-stituted under theChairmanship of Public HealthMinister.

This committee will givesuggestions to make their pro-fession more respectable.

He clearly stated thateverything possible in theirinterest will be done.

A statutory frameworkshould be prepared for non-allopathic methods. Keeping inview the shortage of doctors, athought should be given to useservices of non-allopathic doc-tors.

Besides, Chouhan men-tioned that native (Desi) med-ical methods have their ownimportance.

They should be saved. Desimedical methods provide com-plete treatment.

He stated that the trend ofallopathy constantly enhancedover the period of time.

This method is progressingbecause of continuous researchand the native medical meth-ods lagged behind.

Efforts should be made tomake it more effective anduseful by conducting researchin these methods.

Chouhan said that com-mon man have complete trustin doctors.

The contribution of non-allopathic doctors is significantin building new MadhyaPradesh.

The role of non-allopathicdoctors will be important tofurther strengthen medical ser-vices of the state.

���������������� )�-.��

The Minister for Financeand Commercial Tax Jayant

Malaiya released a magazinefocusing Goods and ServicesTax (GST) in Bhopal today.The provisions made under theGST have been incorporated insimple language in the maga-zine.

On this occasion, theAdditional Chief SecretaryCommercial Tax ManojShrivastava said that GST hasbeen considered as a big trans-formation in the field of coun-try’s economy. By amalgamat-ing various kinds of taxes of thecountry, the procedure hasbeen simplified in the form ofGST.

He further mentioned thatit will help benefitting tax pay-

ers and tax collectors signifi-cantly, if discussions about theGST will be held further insimple language in the society.While discussing about theactivities undertaken duringthe last one year under the GST,the Additional Chief Secretarymentioned that over 1400workshops were already con-ducted in the entire state for theconvenience of businessmen.

He expressed a hope thatincrease in revenue as estimat-ed by the government could beensured, when the officers-employees of the union andstate government would worktogether with better coordina-tion at a single platform. Healso apprised about the tax sys-tem prevailing in the Europeancountries.

The Central Chief

Commissioner, GST HemantBhatt said that the GST hasaccomplished the objective ofone nation and one tax. He fur-ther stated that procedure ofGST has been made flexible.Keeping in view the conve-nience of the common manand businessmen, constantamendments are being made inthis system. Return file form ofGST is being simplified.

The Editor of the magazineSK Sharma mentioned thatthis magazine has been pub-lished with an objective toapprise common man andbusinessmen with the provi-sions of GST in simple lan-guage. The Tax Consultant RSMaheshwari stressed on needfor public awareness to imple-ment GST in more effectivemanner.

���������������� )�-.��

Aplay based on a serioussocial issue HIV AIDS

'Shifa' was staged at AntarangHall, Bharat Bhavan here onWednesday.

The play marked the con-clusion of theatre fest'Aadranjali'.

Theatre festival 'Aadranjali'was organised in the memoryof legendary playwright of thecountry BV Karanth.

The five day theatre festi-val was all about plays direct-ed by platerights who hadworked with BV Karanth.

Play Shifa was all aboutHIV AIDS.

Directed by Teekam Joshithe play raised a really seriousissue that should be talkedabout.

The play was performed bythe artists of Flying FeatherArts Association, New Delhi.

The play talks about peo-ple who are suffering withHIV virus.

It highlighted about howpeople behave with HIV posi-

tive patients. The society does not accept

them and makes them feelunwanted.

The story of the playrevolves around a characternamed Sanjeev.

Sanjeev was among thosepeople who used to make funof HIV positive patients.

Sanjeev never showed loveand care towards them. Besideshe used to make thier funwithout understanding theintensity of the issue.

He had to pay for this act.One day when Sanjeev went tothe doctor he found out that heis HIV positive.

Shocked Sanjeev was sorryfor what he did. Niw Sanjeevset out in a journey where heis looking for people who areHIV positive.

On his journey he meettwo girls named Chhaya andBarkha. He listens to thier sto-ries of being HIV positive andtells his.

This story narrationformed rest of the story of theplay.

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The shopaholics of the cityexplored the fizzy shades of

the country at the RajasthanExhibition 2018 is exhibiting awide range of cotton at the ArtGallery, 10 no market. Theexhibition began from Tuesday.

The artists from States likeRajasthan, Jharkhand, Kolkata,Madhya Pradesh, West Bengaland Bihar too have brought thespecial and rare products oftheir region. From the tradi-tional chanderi to the ethnicmadhubani all is creatingattraction for the shopaholics.

There is an array of colour-ful kurtis, suits in varioushandloom materials includingMaheshwari and Chanderi.Moreover, the stoles which arein trend these days are alsoavailable in the same material.The most capturing part of theexhibition is the kota silk ofRajasthan.

Especially the college stu-dents were more captivatedtowards these traditional yettrendy handbags. Bed sheets,cushions, door mats and moreare captivating the interest ofthe people.

The hand embroidered sarifrom Gujarat is addingenchantment among theshopaholics. Besides, theMadhubani art printed on sarisand suits is captivating.

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The Bhopal Branch of theInstitute of Chartered

Accountants of India orga-nized a Teacher's Day pro-gramme for CA students. Thetheme of the programme was“My Principal, My Guru, MyStrength”.

The programme was inau-gurated by CA AbhishekGupta, Chairman of the BhopalBranch. CA Anup Shrivastava,CICASA Chairman Bhopalbranch has given the welcomeaddress and explains about theimportance of Teachers day.

CA Khemisha Soni,Central council member hasexpresses views on the impor-tance of relationship Guru andShisya. CA Nilesh Gupta,CICASA Chairman of CentralIndia Regional Council of ICAIalso address the students.

The programme conduct-ed by Priyanka Rijhwani,Secretary of, CISACA Bhopalbranch. During the programmeCA S. Krishnan also addressthe students and express hisviews on the three years of arti-cleship and the relationshipbetween CA principal and stu-dents has become Guru(Teacher) and shishya (stu-dent). In these years studentshave learned and gained lot ofprofessional & practical knowl-edge and know about the CAprofession.

The Board of Studies ofICAI will be celebratingTeachers’ Day on September 5,2018 in a big way across thecountry to build a strongTeacher and Student relation-ship amongst the Principaland his/ her Articled Student.Principal is the most importantteacher as mentor for CA

Student. The Principal not only

acquaints Articles with thepractical side of the CATraining but hand holdshim/her in each step of his pro-fessional career. On this occa-sion an Essay competition andPoetry competition has alsobeen organised. About 25 stu-dents has participated in thecompetition. The branch levelwinners will participate at theNational level Competition tobe held at New Delhi.

CA Mayank Agarwal, ViceChairman of the branch alongwith the CICASA ManagingCommittee member ShubhamRai, Yashi Gupta, PalakMaheshwari and Shobhit Jainand Ragini Agarwal also par-ticipated in the programme. Inthe program CA members andstudents CA participated inlarge numbers.

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Marking the first day ofDinesh Thakur Memorial

Theatre Festival, Hindi playTotto Chan was staged for the25th time in city.

The play was staged atShaheed Bhavan auditorium onWednesday. It was a brilliantday to showcase the relation-ship between a student and herteacher, as the day markedTeacher's Day as well.

The story of a Japanese girland her special relationshipwith her teacher during WorldWar II is all about the playTotto Chan.

The play was splendidlyperformed by the artists ofVihaan Drama Works. Theplay was directed by SourabhAnant. The play is based on aJapanese novel ‘Medogiwa noTotto Chan’ written by TetsukoKuroyanagi. It was first pub-lished in year 1981 in Japaneselanguage. The novel is an auto-biography of Tetsuko whenshe was a school girl. After itgot published, it became thebest seller in Japan. In this storyTetsuko has mentioned abouther school Tomoe which isnothing but old train.

The colourful performancewas a visual delight for theBhopal theatre lovers. Fromcostumes to make-up and theperformance of the artistseverything was loved by theaudience. The play was impact-ful and beautifully staged withvibrant lighting designs andintelligent direction.

The play begins with TottoChan’s mother coming to knowof her daughter's expulsionfrom public school. Her moth-er realizes that what TottoChan needs is a school wheremore freedom of expression ispermitted. Thus, she takesTotto Chan to meet the head-master of the new school, Mr.Kobayashi. From that momenta friendship is formed betweenmaster and pupil.

It described Mr. Kobayashias a man who understands chil-dren and strives to developtheir qualities.

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The students beautifully spread the charm of their talent onstage during dance competition during Youth Festival 2018.It was a day full of scintillating performances by the students

for the students. The college students witnessed the sparklingshades of talent at one platform. The Youth Festival held at AnandVihar College for Women marked a colourful day for the stu-dents on Wednesday.

Marking the day full with various events the students active-ly participated in different competitions. The students had a galatime during the Youth Festival with the dance and music per-formances. The students were overwhelmed to watch the danceskills of other students under the event group dance and werealso astonished to see the innovative ideas that created the enjoy-able atmosphere during the performances.

During the group dance performances, the students presenteddances in the most innovative styles. The colourful costumes,heavy make-up and wonderful presentation marked their per-formances.

Similarly, the students showcase their immense talent in clas-sical dance performances. Kathak, Manipuri, Bharatnatyam alldance forms were presented beautifully on stage.

Besides, rangoli competition was all about colours blendedwith terrific talent. The participants created different styles anddesigns of rangoli leaving the spectators overwhelmed.

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Page 3: ...Ahead of the year-end Assembly elections in three States and general election next year, caste politics of a differ-ent kind is raising its head. This time upper castes are joinin

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Governor Anandiben Patelhas said that education is

a life-long process which beginsfrom the mother’s womb. Anexample of this is Abhimanyufrom the Mahabharata. Awoman must read good books,think good thoughts and havenutritious food when she ispregnant. This was said byPatel at the state-level Teacher’sFelicitation Ceremony held onthe occasion of Teacher’s Dayon Wednesday. She also felici-tated 44 outstanding teachers ofthe state with shawl-shriphaland mementos at the felicita-tion ceremony.

The Governor said thatthe teachers must teach stu-dents lessons on morality andgive them good culture. Habitsof maintaining cleanliness andsaving should be developed inchildren since childhood. Thishelps them become good citi-

zens. Children should be takenon visits to tourist sites in thestate and the country toenhance their geographical andhistorical knowledge. Sportsand painting material should bemade available in schools.

She further said that theteachers should pay attention tothe smallest mistakes of chil-dren, only then can educationbe improved. The Governorsaid that ‘Gyan’ and ‘Guru’ are

incomparable, precious andinvaluable. Apart from themother, teachers are the oneswho are capable to give theright direction to the thoughtsof children, the maximumeffect of which is seen through-out life. She said that the char-acter and progress of a nationand students depends on teach-ers. Teachers help us becomeresponsible and good humanbeings.

School Education MinisterVijay Shah told the teachersthat if they fulfilled theirresponsibilities honestly, thenew generations to come willdefinitely make the nationproud in the world. He said thatthe state government’s aim is totake education to new heights.Minister of State for SchoolEducation Deepak Joshi saidthat teachers are builders of thenation. Felicitation of teachersis the topmost priority. It is intheir leadership that we will be

successful in building a goldenMadhya Pradesh.

General AdministrationMinister Lalsingh Arya saidthat the country will moveforward under the guidance ofskillful teachers. PrincipalSecretary School EducationDipti Mukherji gave the wel-come address. CommissionerPublic Instructions JaishreeKiyawat proposed the vote ofthanks.

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Teacher’s Day was celebrat-ed here on Wednesday by

the Campionites with full zealand enthusiasm at CampionSchool, Arera Colony, Bhopal.

The programme com-menced with lighting of thelamp by Chief Guests andGuests of honour Principal FrAthnas Lakra SJ, Superior andManager Fr Christdhari kujurSJ, along with vice Principal FrAmritlal Toppo SJ,Headmistress Sister LilyD’Souza AC, Bursar Fr Ashokalong with Sr Cresentia HC,Sister Chitra AC and SeniorTeacher and SchoolManagement MemberMahendra Kothari.

The day programme start-ed with giving a tribute toSarvapalli Radhakrishnan withWelcome Song & PrayerService Song “Lord I lift youron high”, “God bless you teach-ers” by Primary & secondarystudents. Greeting song “Wecare for you teachers” was sungby the students of the Primary

Section.The Student’s Rock Band

Group just rocked the stagewith their performance inOrchestra. Filler Beat Boxingand A true Comedy Skit“Chuho ki Dawat“written byRabindranath Tagore was oneof the major attractions of theday. Girls’ students presenttheir dance on the song“Ghumar” whereas studentsfrom IXth class, XIth and XIIthpresents their dance in differ-ent Bollywood songs and style.Fusion dance and Hip-Hopdance, Jugalbandi betweenTabla and Rock band was awe-some. Students showcased theirability with accuracy flexibili-ty and good coordination.Scintillating programmes bystudents marked the Teachers’Day celebrations, organised atschool Lots of cultural pro-gramme was presented by stu-dents.

The school managementalso felicitated the seniorteacher Hemlata Deshmukhfrom Secondary Section; hon-oured through a Memento

given by Principal Fr AthnasLakra SJ, for her contributionin the field of education inCampion school from lasttwenty five 25 years of services.

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Madhya Pradesh policeWednesday rounded up a

retired employee of the Army'sCentral Ordnance Depot(COD) here for allegedly sup-plying spare parts of weapons toa man who was recently caughtwith an AK 47 rifle in Bihar.

Superintendent of PoliceAmit Singh said police suspectthat the former armourer wasin contact with some workingas well as retired COD per-sonnel involved in illicit armsbusiness. "We have picked upPurshottam Lal, a retiredarmourer (repairer of weapons)of the COD. We are question-ing him after his name croppedup during the interrogation ofImran Alam, from whose pos-

session AK 47 rifles were recov-ered in Bihar," Singh added.

The SP said Lal retiredfrom the COD in 2008.However, Singh declined toreveal the modus operandi ofthe accused saying it wouldnegatively impact the probe.

The police suspect that theretired employee of the COD

used to supply spare parts ofjunked weapons to Imran andother persons involved in ille-gal gun manufacturing andsmuggling, sources in thepolice department said.

The COD junks the armsafter they are of no use to theIndian Army. Such scrap is offi-cially auctioned, they added.

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The Congress alleged hugeirregularities in the Madhya

Pradesh Government's sub-sidised power supply and billwaiver schemes on Wednesday,demanding a CBI probe.

"Huge irregularities havebeen found in the SambalYojana (power bill waiverscheme). Several ineligible per-sons were given benefit. Wedemand a CBI inquiry intothis scam," said state Congressmedia cell chief Shobha Ozahere. Ministers, BJP MLAs andcorporators were responsiblefor the alleged scam, Ozaalleged. Under the subsidisedpower supply scheme, registeredlabourers from the unorganisedsector and Below Poverty Line(BPL) families get electricity at

� 200 per month. Under the billwaiver scheme, outstandingpower dues as of June 1, 2018 of

poor households are to bewaived fully. Congress MediaCell's vice president Bhupendra

Gupta alleged that some bene-ficiaries were found to be own-ing cars and living in bungalows.

"Congress workers havechecked out the addresses ofsuch beneficiaries in Sagar andIndore cities," he said. "Ourinvestigation found that a powerbill of � 1.77 lakh of a family liv-ing in one-room house waswaived. How can a family livingin one-room house can con-sume power worth lakhs?" heasked. Congress leaders alsoreleased a list of such allegedlyfraudulent beneficiaries. StateBJP spokesperson RajnishAgrawal dismissed the allega-tions. "These are baseless alle-gations. Congress should notpoliticise welfare schemes forthe poor. These schemes wereintroduced to provide basicamenities to the deprived sec-tions of society. Congress shouldthink constructively about thesewelfare schemes," he said.

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Chief Minister NaveenPatnaik on Wednesday

wrote a letter to Union LawMinister Ravi Shankar Prasadrequesting him to take an earlydecision regarding establish-ment of permanent Benches ofthe Orissa High Court in thewestern and southern regionsof the State.

“There is adequate justifi-cation for establishment ofpermanent Benches of OrissaHigh Court in the westernand southern parts of Odishaand the criteria laid down byJustice Jaswant SinghCommission are also substantially met. TheParliament has the prerogative

to establish such benches inexercise of its power underEntry-78 of the Union List,”Patnaik said in the letter.

The Chief Minister alsostated in the letter that therehave been persistent demandsfrom the people of theseregions for setting up perma-nent Benches of the HighCourt to mitigate the inconve-nience faced by the litigants.

He also assured the UnionMinister that the StateGovernment will provide ade-quate resources for establish-ment of the benches.

An early decision regardingthe same by the Government ofIndia will fulfill the aspirationsof the people of these regions,stated Patnaik.

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The demand for estab-lishment of a perma-

nent Bench of the OrissaHigh Court in the westernpart of the State has onceagain gained momentum asmembers of the SambalpurDistrict Bar Associationresorted to a dharna at NelsonMandela Chhak here onWednesday.

The association also decid-

ed to boycott work in all courtsin the district from the day tillSeptember 20, the concludingday of the monsoon session of

the Odisha LegislativeAssembly.

This apart, the lawyers’sit-in protest would takeplace from 10 am to 5 pmeveryday till September 20,a member of the associationsaid.

The lawyers’ bodythreatened to shut down

offices of the district Collector,RDC, Registrar, RTO andElection Commission as part oftheir stir.

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Around 50 residents ofSidhamahavir area of Puri

sent a letter to Prime MinisterNarendra Modi demanding anover-bridge on the level cross-ing near Sidhamahavir rail gateof the Puri-Konark NationalHighway.

Under a banner ofSidhamahavir Rail Over-bridgeConstruction SteeringCommittee, the residents hand-ed over a letter to PuriCollector Jyoti Prakash Das onMonday informing plights ona daily basis while crossing therail gate.

They sent copies of letter toRailway Minister Piyush Goyal,Union Surface Transport andWaterways Minister NitinGadkari, Chief MinisterNaveen Patnaik, Chief GeneralManager, East Coast Railways,Rajiv Vishnoi and theDivisional Railway Manager(DRM) Khorda.

In the letter, their con-cerns were over long jams ofthousands of people, includingbuses, taxies and commercialvehicles, at both sides of levelcrossing during the train hours.

They cited that the levelcrossing is on the main roadfrom Puri to Konark,Nimapara, Gop and Kakatpurarea which is the second biggestconnecting route toBhubaneswar, Cuttack andother parts of State. Every day,nearly 2 lakh people use theroad, but halt for hours whenthe gate is closed, the letterinformed.

They also cited it is touristsand commercial vehicles, reg-ular buses, cars and bikes whichsuffer inordinate delays duringthe crossing of trains throughthe level crossing. They told thepeople of Puri are worst suf-ferers as they have to halt 30 to40 times daily before the gatesince the rail line remains busyalways. During the Rath Yatra

and other festi-vals, it is impos-sible to getthrough due to alogjam at bothsides as the gateis closed forhours due tomore numbers oftrains, informedthe letter.

“It is a veryold demand ofPuri people toconstruct a fly-

over on the level crossing,which remains off for hoursdaily. People entering and exit-ing Puri suffer traffic jam atlevel crossing. Demands havebeen made several times in thepast for an over bridge,” saidSteering Committee coordi-nator Swadhina Kumar Panda.

He informed that in 2015Nabakalebar Yatra, nearly Rs100 crore was sanctioned forthe over bridge and compen-sation to land losers for eviction, but that was notimplemented for unknown reasons. He charged that it is alocal politician, who not onlyopposed the over bridge for eviction of houses, but alsohelped sending back funds unused for his vote bankpolitics.

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Three persons died and fiveothers sustained injuries

after a car hit a scooter on theCuttack-Paradip road nearPathuriagada in Jagatsinghpurdistrict on Wednesday.

Reports said the mishaptook place at around 1 pmwhen the speeding car with sixto seven persons onboard hitthe two-wheeler.

The car then overturned and skidded offthe road under the impact ofthe collision.

A resident of Badapalahere, Parakhita Satpathy , hisson and their relative, who weretravelling by the scooter, diedon the spot.

On the other hand, fiveoccupants of the car got injuredin the accident. Three of themsustained critical injuries andwere rushed to the Kujanghospital.

They were later shifted tothe SCB Medical CollegeHospital in Cuttack as theircondition deteriorated.

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The Supreme Court hasdeferred its hearing of the

case on Puri Shreemandirreforms after amicus curiaeGopal Subramaniam soughtfour-week time to submit his report.

Subramaniam has askedfor more time to examine thePuri Srimandir and give areport to the apex court, said

Counsel of the petitionerSubhransu Padhi.

The apex court’s hearingwas scheduled to be held onWednesday.

The Supreme Court, afterhearing the case on June 8 andJuly 5 had directed the ShreeJagannath TempleAdministration (SJTA) forimplementation of 12 propos-als as a part of disciplinaryreforms in the PuriShreemandir.

However, the servitors’bodies and the SJTA are yet toreach a consensus on three pro-posals such as abolition of

hereditary appointment ofservitors, prohibition of col-lection of donations forAnnadan Atika by servitorsand amendment of the ShriJagannath Temple Act, 1954.The servitors’ bodies arestaunchly opposing the threereforms though they haveagreed to the other proposals.

Meanwhile, a three-mem-ber expert committee consti-tuted by the State governmentrecently held a public hearingon the different issues regard-ing reforms and suggested pro-posals on smooth darshan ofthe devotees.

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AICC secretary Mastan Valihere claimed that the Modi

Government was paying a very high price for Rafale jets in comparison to theUPA Government and accusedthe PM of compromising every defence procurementprocedure.

Demanding a probe by aJoint Parliamentary Committee(JPC) in to the Jet deal withFrance, Vali said the intentionbehind awarding the contractto manufacture the jets a com-pany owned by industrialist likeAnil Ambani is clear.

“Ambani is in debt of Rs45,000 crore and hasn’t evermanufactured a jet. But hewas chosen for the contract

instead of a Governmentundertaking like HAL whichhas been manufacturing planesfor 70 years,” said Vali pointingout the nepotism and corrup-tion in the Rafale deal.

He said that people shouldconsider why a jet that wasworth Rs 520 crore has beenbought for Rs 1,600 crore andwho has been benefited fromsuch a deal. He also claimedthat the Central Governmentcan’t hide the price of Rafalejets and demanded that the dealshould be investigated by theCAG and the PAC.

Jharsugada MLA NabaKishore Das and PCC gener-al secretaries Laxman Meher,Raj Kishore Sarangi, treasurerKC Patel and DCC presidentGR Panda were present.

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The Manav AdhikarSuraksha Manch’s in its

58th phase of the Ghanta Yatra(cymbal beating rally) hasdemanded that the HealthMinister take stringent actionagainst the doctors who areflouting the rules of the ‘NidanScheme’ and who are absentduring the work hours.

The members alleged that

an Associate Professorof the MKCH MedicalCollege HospitalSurgery Departmentis flouting the provi-sions of the schemeand is forcing patientsto go a private hospi-tal for diagnostic ser-vices.

It might be men-tioned that the StateGovernment is imple-menting the ‘NidanScheme’ to providethe diagnostic ser-

vices including the MRI, CTScan, X-Ray and others free ofcost to all patients in the pub-lic health facilities.

They also alleged that fivedoctors have been appointed inthe Blood Bank but are remain-ing absent most of the time andrunning their own business intheir own private hospitals.They also alleged that the doc-tors are looting lakhs of rupeesin name of salaries even if theyare not present in duty hours.

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Bharatiya Janata PartyNational president and

Rajya Sabha member AmitShah after arrival at SwamiVivekananda Airport slightlychanged is programme. Hepaid courtesy call Kabir PanthReligious head and GuruPrakash Muni Naam Saheb athis residence at Katora Talab,Raipur on Wednesday. It is alsothe part of‘Sampark forSamarthan’campaign bythe BJP con-tacting thep r o m i n e n tpersonalitiesfor extendingsupport to theparty.

T h e

meeting extended for around15 minutes. Chief MinisterRaman Singh, BJP state presi-dent Dharamlal Kaushik andAgriculture ministerBrijmohan Agrawal were pre-sent.Amit Shah sought bless-ings from Prakashmuni NaamSaheb for fourth round of winto form the government.

Prakash Muni talking tothe media after the meetingsaid that people are more aware

a b o u tt h e i rpoliticalp r e f e r -ence andw o u l dnot bem u c hi n f l u -e n c e dover myappeal.

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BJP national president andMember of Parliament

Amit Shah and Chief MinisterRaman Singh jointly laid foun-dation stones and performed'bhoomipujan' of 94 develop-mental works worth Rs 828crore at Kurrubhat Dongergarhdistrict Rajnandgaon onWednesday. Amit Shah gavegreen signal to ambulance, firebrigade and police vehicle byinaugurating 112 Helpline inRajnandgaon and Kabirdhamdistricts.

Both leaders jointly dedi-cated 41 development worksworth Rs 735 crore and laid thefoundation stones of 53 worksworth Rs 93 crore. They dis-tributed relief materials andcheques worth Rs 30 crore tomore than 60,000 beneficiariesof various social welfareschemes of the StateGovernment.

The dedicated worksinclude Rs 139 crore worthKhairagarh-Dongergarh-Tumdibod road, Rs 109 croreworth Sukhanala barrage, aroad linking Dhamdha-

Sohada-Jhorathrai-Atharia-Khairagarh laid at a cost of Rs92 crore. They also dedicatedroads linking Motipur-Sukuldihan-Musra-Achouli-Dongergarh and also Chichola-Chhuria-Kallubanjari laid at acost of Rs 61 crore each.

They performed thebhoomipujan of several devel-opment works including Rs 38crore Uparwah-Mohadi road,Pharmacy College buildingworth Rs 6.29 crore to be builtat Rajnandgaon, road linkingBadgaon-Charbata-Naadiya tobe laid at a cost of Rs 5.30 crore,and major bridge onDhardhara canal linkingDongergarh-Bortalab.

Raman Singh and Amit

Shah jointly dis-tributed tiffins to10000 MGNRE-GA workers, Rs16 crore bonusand footwear to24,000 tendupatta collectors.They also gaveaway cycles to onethousand benefi-ciaries, E-Rickshaws to 50beneficiaries, and

relief materials to many per-sons. They also distributedhouse sanction letters underthe Prime Minister HousingProject, cooking gas cylindersunder the Újjwala' project andmotorized tri-cycles to differ-ently able persons.

Panchayat and RuralDevelopment Minister AjayChandrakar, Public WorksMinister and District In-charge Minister RajeshMunat, MPs Ms. Saroj Pande,Abhishek Singh, MLASarojini Banjare, formerAssembly Speaker DharamlalKaushik, several minister,MLAs, people's representa-tives and large number of vil-lagers were also present.

���������������� �.2

Padmashree and notedsatirist of the region, Dr

Surendra Dubey formally

joined the Bharatiya JanataParty (BJP) on Wednesday.

He was given party's mem-bership by BJP national presi-dent Amit Shah and ChiefMinister Raman Singh at holytown of Dongargarh inRajnandgaon district.

Dubey was accordedPadmashree award by theCentral Government in the year

2010 and was also felicitatedwith ‘Kaka Hathrasi Award’ inthe year 2008. Born at Bemetara,Dubey was brought up in Durg.He has dedicated his life to

enrichment of the Chhattisgarhipoetry and satire.

He was also known for hisefforts for inclusion ofChhattisgarh dialect to EightSchedule for according it a sta-tus of language.

Dubey has represented thestate in various national andinternational forums andbrought laurels to the state.

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Kamla Nagar police havebooked three youths for

attacking a 24-year-old youthwith sharp-edged weaponsnear Nehru Nagar Square latein the night on Tuesday.

Police said that the victimAtul Kuzoor was attacked bythree miscreants during Dahi-Handi programme duringJanmasthami festival late in thenight on Monday and wasrushed to Hajela hospital wherehis condition is reportedly sta-ble.

SHO of Kamla Nagarpolice Madan Mohan Malviyasaid that Atul was attacked bythree miscreants at around 3 inthe night on Tuesday. Theaccused were minors. The vic-tim regained conscious onTuesday and is reportedly sta-ble.

Victim’s father PhilmonKuzoor is Sub Inspector post-ed with Ratibad police. Furtherinvestigation has been started,

he added.The victim lost conscious

after he was attacked andregained conscious on Tuesday.

In his complaint the victimstated that he was at the pro-gramme venue when theaccused came and entered intoverbal spate and when hestopped them he was attackedwith a sharp edged weapon inhis stomach.

Panic prevailed in the areaafter the attack and police wereinformed by the locals. On thereceipt of the information apolice team reached the spotbut the accused managed toescape the spot and are stillabsconding.

After the preliminaryinvestigation police have reg-istered a case under section307, 294 and 34 of the IPC andhave started further investiga-tion.

Police said that familymembers and aides of theaccused would be questionedin the further investigation.

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Ranchi: Governor DroupadiMurmu today assured thatthe Government will takeappropriate steps to solveissues of Divyang sportsper-sons after CM led delegation’sreturn to the State from China.

A delegation of Divyangsportspersons met the

Governor here on Wednesday,where she felicitated memberMukesh Kanchanm, who wasa part of the disabled cricketmatch series between Indiaand Sri Lanka recently.

A charter of demandsfrom disabled sports and janUthan committee was alsopresented to the Governoron the occasion. Kanchan saidthat the dialogues were verypositive. PNS

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Page 5: ...Ahead of the year-end Assembly elections in three States and general election next year, caste politics of a differ-ent kind is raising its head. This time upper castes are joinin

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As the Modi Governmentrace against time to achieve

the targets of making the coun-try Open-Defecation Free(ODF) by 2019 under its ambi-tious Swachchh BharatMission, a huge backlog ofdefunct toilets is proving aheadache to it. The latestGovernment data shows thattill July this year, just half of thetotal 53,24,794 defunct toiletsacross the States have beenmade operational under theCentral f lagship scheme,Swachchh BharatMission(SBM).

Prime Minister NarendraModi had launched the SBMwith much fanfare in 2014.

However, while construc-tion of new toilets is moving atthe satisfactory pace, it is not sowith the defunct toilets in theabsence of water and adequatedrainage system. Senior offi-cials in the Union Water andSanitation Ministry, a nodalbody for implementing theSBM in the rural areas said thatas per the statistics, still,53,24,794 loos are yet to bemade usable.

There are at least 1,11,730villages which have defunct

loos which are now being usedas stores or other purpose.Most of these toilets were con-structed under the NirmalBharat scheme during the UPAGovernment and becamedefunct over the years due tothe Government’s short slight-ness. Under the SBM, the ModiGovernment has doled outfunds to make these defuncttoilets workable.

However, the States seemsnot to be keen in this regard.Among poor performers Statesare Uttar Pradesh (26 per centconversion), Jharkhand(49 percent), Bihar(18 per cent),Arunanchal Pradesh(22 percent). In contrast, States likeWest Bengal and Maharashtrahave performed better byrepairing the defunct loos at afaster pace to make them func-tional. (See Box)

Sources in the Ministry

say that the num-ber could be onthe higher side asin some villages itwas found thatnewly construct-ed toilets underthe flagship pro-gramme wererarely used due tovarious reasons

pertaining to the quality of con-struction and scarcity of water.This was pointed by aParliamentary panel too in itsreport submitted in Parliamentin March. Taking cognisance ofthe situation, the panel hasasked the Government toensure that the constructedtoilets are safe and sustainableso that they can be utilised fora long period of time.

A panel of the Niti Ayogtoo had too recently notedthat the main challenge inachieving ODF status byOctober 2, 2019 is reviving thedysfunctional toilets by pro-viding adequate funds. TheGovernment on its part, toensure availability of fund forconversion of the toilets fromdysfunctional to the usableone has given wide options tothe States

To meet the financial

need, the Government in 2014set up SBK to facilitate chan-nelisation of philanthropiccontributions and CorporateSocial Responsibility (CSR)funds. The fund for the pur-pose (to make the defunct toi-lets usable, World Bank fund-ing to States have beenapproved. Also, the States havebeen given option to use funds

being provided under theMGNREGA, Member ofParliament Local AreaDevelopment Scheme(MPLADS), State FinanceCommission under ProvidingCore Civic Services andDistrict Mining Fund for anydistrict affected by mining-related operations,” the officialadded.

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The Group of Ministers(GoM), headed by Home

Minister Rajnath Singh, dis-cussed on Wednesday the rec-ommendations of the secre-taries panel set up to suggestways to check incidents ofmob lynching.

One of the key recom-mendations of the committeeof secretaries, headed by UnionHome Secretary Rajiv Gauba,is to put to task country headsof the social media platformssites. This was the first meetingof the GoM and the Ministerswere briefed about the recom-mendations of the committee,a Home Ministry official said.

The panel is also believedto have recommended tight-ening of law by inserting claus-es in the Indian Penal Code andthe Code of CriminalProcedure through parliamen-tary approval. The GoM isexpected to hold further meet-ings over the next few weeks tofinalise its recommendationsand would subsequently thesame to Prime MinisterNarendra Modi for a finaldecision, the official said.

The members of the GoM

are External Affairs MinisterSushma Swaraj, TransportMinister Nitin Gadkari, LawMinister Ravi Shankar Prasadand Social Justice and

Empowerment MinisterThawar Chand Gehlot. TheGoM and the committee of sec-retaries were set up after near-ly 40 people were lynched innine States in the past one year.In July, the Home Ministry hadissued advisories to States andunion territories followingSupreme Court’s directives tocheck incidents of lynching.

The Centre had also askedthem to appoint an officer ineach district at the level ofSuperintendent of Police, set upa special task force to gatherintelligence, and closely mon-itor social media to preventmob attacks on suspicion ofbeing child-lifters or cattlesmugglers.

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Thousands of farmers andworkers affiliated to Left-

wing outfits took out a protestmarch in the national CapitalWednesday, demanding imple-mentation of remunerativeprices for farm produce, loanwaiver, labour laws and a min-imum wage of �18,000 amonth.

The ‘Mazdoor KishanSangharsh Rally’ — beingorganised jointly by the Centreof Indian Trade Unions(CITU), All India Kisan Sabha(AIKS) and All-IndiaAgricultural Workers’ Union(AIAWU) — began from theRamlila Maidan amidst rainsand passed through variousroads to culminate at theParliament Street.

Carrying red flags, themarchers raised slogans againstthe policies of the BJPGovernment and also assailedthe ruling party’s “communaland divisive” agenda.

AIKS general secretaryHannan Mollah, alleged theGovernment has not doneanything for farmers since itcame to power. “For the last

four years, this BJPGovernment has fooled us. Ithas never done anything forthe farmers. We have alwaysdemanded that theGovernment should give farm-ers remunerative price as perthe recommendations of theSwaminathan Committee. Wehave asked for the minimumwage for the workers whichshould be not less than �18,000per month,” he said.

He alleged thatGovernment has ignored theirdemands. “Now it is high time.We will continue our struggle

till our demands are met,”Mollah told the gathering. Theleaders warned that they wouldcontinue their struggle till they“change the CentralGovernment”.

“Workers and farmerscoming together has enthusedthe other sections of the soci-ety. Now the Youth Federationhas decided to organise a rallyon November 3 protestingagainst unemployment in thecountry. Before that, they willhold a 24-hour dharna in frontof all Central Governmentoffices in all districts,” said

Tapan Sen, the general secretaryof Centre of Indian TradeUnions (CITU).

He said that after the dhar-na, all other farmers organisa-tions will come together, holda long march and come toDelhi on November 30. “Tradeunions will also hold a two-daystrike by the end of the year,”he said.

“So, we will continue ourstruggle throughout the year. Inthis process of struggle, peoplewill gradually understand theirno. 1 enemy and accordinglythey will decided what to do inthe coming elections,” Sen said.

The rally was also sup-ported by artists, academi-cians and left-wing intellectu-als who came in support offarmers and workers anddemanded the Centre accepttheir demands.

Meanwhile, traffic wasaffected in the Lutyens’ Delhidue to the rally. The DelhiTraffic Police tweeted updateson the march. The ParliamentStreet, Janpath and KG Margwere closed for traffic move-ment which led to congestionon the alternate routes, thepolice said.

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On the occasion of Teachers’Day, Vice-President, M

Venkaiah Naidu, and HumanResources DevelopmentMinister, Prakash Javadekar,felicitated 45 teachers fromacross the country with theNational Award (2017) fortheir contribution in improvingthe quality of school educa-tion.Vice President MVenkaiah Naidu on Wednesdaymade a strong pitch for impart-ing school education in moth-er tongue throughout the coun-try. He also said history booksshould have chapters on localpersonalities and eminentIndians who have made thecountry proud through theirdeeds.

Lauding the teachers whoreceived accolades at the event,Naidu said “It is because ofteachers like you that our sys-tem of education is movingsteadily towards greater heightsof excellence. The governmenthas not only recognised you asindividuals but has also show-cased what can be actuallyachieved with competence,commitment, and collabora-

tion. The countries of the worldhad recognised India as a worldteacher or Vishwa Guru. Inmany ways, this stream ofintellectual pursuits and knowl-edge creation has continuedover the last two millennia.”

While technology hasmade rapid inroads into theeducation sector, he said itcannot replace the teacher whoonly can mould the studentsinto good citizens. He saidchildren who see Googleshould also apply their mind,adding “Google can neverreplace guru”.

“I would like to advice thegovernment, not only the cen-tral government but the stategovernment as well that educ-tion must basically be in the

mother tongue” he said.Naidu, however, made it

clear that he was not againstEnglish medium schools whilehe sought to dispel the impres-sion that only students passingout from these schools cansucceed in life.

He gave examples of him-self, Prime Minister NarendraModi and some chief ministerswho rose from humble back-ground to occupy constitu-tional posts.

Talking about historicalfigures and social reformerssuch as Mahatma Phule,Narayana Guru, MVisvesvaraya and Kabir, theVice President said historylessons should focus on themand not British rulers who

“looted” the nation and “ourmind”. He also slammed thoseopposing the inclusion of localhistory in textbooks.

Human ResourceDevelopment Minister PrakashJavedkar listed various initia-tives launched by his ministryunder the ambitious ‘SamagraShiksha Abhiyan’ to impartquality education. The initia-tives include upgradation ofKasturba Gandhi Vidyalayasfrom class VIII to class XII andgiving annual grants to 15 lakhgovernment schools for libraryand sports facilities. Theselection of the teachers for thenational awards was conduct-ed under a revised guidelinethis year, says a statement. Thenumber of awardees wasbrought down to just 45 fromabout 300 awardees.

Majority of the teachersawarded today used IT appli-cation in making learninginteresting for students, it said,adding some of them evendeveloped learning-based apps.The nominated teachers hadgiven a presentation last monthbefore an independent jurycomprising a senior educa-tionist.

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The Supreme Court onWednesday dismissed a plea

seeking to ban a book for alleged-ly depicting Hindu women visit-ing temples in a derogatory man-ner, saying “creative voices can-not be stifled or silenced” asdemocracy permits free exchangeof ideas unlike a totalitarianregime.

A bench headed by ChiefJustice Dipak Misra refused toban any further publication andcirculation of novel ‘Meesha’ andsaid it was “perilous” to obstructfree speech, expression, creativi-

ty and imagination as it led tointellectual repression of literaryfreedom.

The bench, also comprisingJustices A M Khanwilkar and DY Chandrachud, said, “A writershould have free play with words,like a painter has with colours.The passion of imagination can-not be directed.

True it is, the final publicationmust not run counter to law, butthe application of the rigours oflaw has to also remain alive to thevarious aspects that have beenaccepted by the authorities of theCourt.

“The craftsmanship of a

writer deserves respect by accep-tation of the concept of objectiveperceptibility.”

Justice Misra, who wrote the30-page verdict, said “we are notliving in a totalitarian regime butin a democratic nation which per-mits free exchange of ideas andliberty of thought and expression.”

“Ideas have wings. If thewings of free flow of ideas andimagination are clipped, no workof art can be created. The cultureof banning books directly impactsthe free flow of ideas and is anaffront to the freedom of speech,thought and expression,” thebench said.

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The Supreme Court on Wednesdaydeferred till further orders the com-

mencement of the process of receivingclaims and objections for the NationalRegister of Citizens (NRC) in Assam andsought the Centre’s response on the sug-gestion that any one of the 10 documents canbe used by claimants to prove legacy.

A bench of justices Ranjan Gogoi and RF Nariman perused the report of Assam’sNRC coordinator Prateek Hajela and said itwas agreeable to his suggestions that any oneof the 10 of a total 15 documents providedin List-A of the claim form can be used bythe claimants to prove legacy.

The bench also expressed reservationover sharing with the Centre the copy of theNRC Coordinator’s report on the modalitiesfor receiving claims from those excluded indraft NRC, saying though the Government

of India was “extremely interested”, the court“has to strike a balance”.

The top court deferred till furtherorders the commencement of the process ofreceiving claims and objections for theNational Register of Citizens (NRC) inAssam.

Attorney General K K Venugopal,appearing for Centre, said a copy of thereport should be given to them as“Government of India is extremely interestedin it”.

To this, the bench said “the Governmentof India may be interested but we need tobalance it.”

As Venugopal persisted with his demandfor a copy of report saying “If I can see it,then only I can file my response to it”, thebench said “Not at this stage. We will put thelist of documents which can be relied uponin our orders. You can see the order and filethe response”.

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As Congress and ruling BJPare engaged in a slugfest

over the Rafale fighter jet deal,the Supreme Court onWednesday agreed to hear nextweek a plea seeking a stay on thedeal. IAF Vice Chief AirMarshal S B Deo said it is a“beautiful aircraft” and will giveIndia “unprecedented” combatcapabilities. He also said thosequestioning the deal have tounderstand the procurementnorms and said they do not haveadequate information aboutprocedures. Deputy Chief ofIAF R Nambiar said the aircraftwas getting discussed for“wrong reasons.”

A bench of Chief JusticeDipak Misra and Justices A MKhanwilkar and D YChandrachud considered thesubmissions of advocate M LSharma that his plea be listed forurgent hearing. In his petition,Sharma has alleged discrepan-cies in the fighter jet deal withFrance and sought a stay on it.

Sharma has claimed in hisplea that the inter-governmentagreement to buy 36 Rafalefighter jets must be quashed asit was an “outcome of corrup-tion” and not ratified byParliament under Article 253(Parliament has power to makeany law for implementing anyinter-government agreement)of the Constitution.

The petition has also soughtFIR and prosecution of PrimeMinister Narendra Modi, for-mer Defence Minister and pre-sent Goa Chief MinisterManohar Parrikar, businesstycoon Anil Ambani andFrench armament firm Dassault

with recovery of amount.A similar plea was filed in

the apex court in March thisyear seeking an independentprobe into the Rafale deal anddisclosure of the cost involvedin the deal before Parliament.The plea, filed by Congressleader Tehseen S Poonawalla,had sought issuance of a direc-tion against the Centre as to whythe Union Cabinet’s approvalwas not sought as part of theDefence ProcurementProcedure (DPP) before signingthe procurement deal withFrance on September 23, 2016.

Congress has upped theante regarding the �58,000 croreGovernment to Governmentdeal with France alleging wrongdoing. Asked about these alle-gations, IAF Vice Chief Deo toldmedia persons on the sidelinesof a seminar “all discussions onthe deal” were taking place aspeople do not have adequateinformation about the pro-curement procedure.

“We are waiting for the air-craft to come. It is a beautifulaircraft. It is a very capable air-craft. It is a capability that weneed quickly,” when asked aboutthe ongoing controversy sur-rounding the Rafale deal. Healso said “they should readDefence ProcurementProcedure (DPP) and offsetpolicy.”

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The Union Cabinet onWednesday decided to

make the Pradhan Mantri JanDhan Yojana (PMJDY) anopen-ended scheme and addedmore incentives to encouragepeople to open bank accounts.Briefing reporters about theCabinet decision, FinanceMinister Arun Jaitley said asthe scheme has been a “runwaysuccess”, the Government hasdecided to make it an open-ended scheme, meaning that itwill continue indefinitely.

The PMJDY was launched

in August 2014 for a period offour years as a national missionfor financial inclusion to ensureaccess of financial services likebank accounts, insurance andpensions to the masses.

To make the scheme moreattractive, the Government hasdecided to double the overdraftfacility from �5,000 to �10,000,the Minister said.

Jaitley further said that32.41 crore accounts have beenopened under the scheme andas much �81,200 crore hasbeen deposited in them so far.Jaitley said 53 per cent of thePMJDY account holders arewomen, while 83 per cent ofthe accounts are seeded withAadhaar and 59 percent of theaccount holders are from ruraland semi-urban areas.

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The Supreme Court is likelyto pronounce on Thursday

its much-awaited verdict on aclutch of petitions seekingdecriminalisation of a 158-year-old colonial law underSection 377 of the IPC whichcriminalises consensual gaysex.

A five-judge constitutionbench headed by Chief JusticeDipak Misra had reserved itsverdict on July 17 after hearingvarious stakeholders for fourdays, including gay rightsactivists.

Besides the CJI, the benchalso comprised Justices R FNariman, A M Khanwilkar, DY Chandrachud and InduMalhotra.

The apex court had assert-ed that courts cannot wait for

a “majoritarian Government”to decide on enacting, amend-ing or striking down a law if itviolates fundamental rights.

It had made clear that itmay not strike down the lawcompletely and deal with it tothe extent it relates to consen-sual acts between two adults.

“If Section 377 of the IPCgoes away entirely, there will beanarchy. We are solely on con-sensual acts between man-man,man-woman. Consent is the ful-crum here. You cannot imposeyour sexual orientation on oth-ers without their consent,” thetop court had said while allay-ing apprehensions of thoseopposed to the decriminalisa-tion of the penal provision.

“We would not wait for themajoritarian government toenact, amend or not to enactany law to deal with violations

of fundamental rights,” thebench had said while reservingits verdict.

Section 377 refers to‘unnatural offences’ and sayswhoever voluntarily has carnalintercourse against the order ofnature with any man, womanor animal, shall be punishedwith imprisonment for life, orwith imprisonment of eitherdescription for a term whichmay extend to 10 years, andshall also be liable to pay a fine.

The Centre, which had ini-tially sought adjournment forfiling its response to the peti-tions, had later left to the wis-dom of the court the issue oflegality of the penal provisionon the aspects of criminalisingconsensual unnatural sexbetween two consenting adults.

It had said that the otheraspects of the penal provision

dealing with minors and ani-mals should be allowed toremain in the statute book.

The apex court heard thewrit petitions filed by dancerNavtej Jauhar, journalist SunilMehra, chef Ritu Dalmia, hote-liers Aman Nath and KeshavSuri and business executiveAyesha Kapur and 20 formerand current students of theIITs. They have sought decrim-inalisation of consensual sexbetween two consenting adultsof the same sex by declaringsection 377 of IPC as illegal andunconstitutional.

The issue was first raised byNGO Naaz Foundation, whichhad in 2001 approached theDelhi High Court which had in2009 decriminalised sexbetween consenting adults ofthe same gender by holding thepenal provision as “illegal”.

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Words have meanings so let’s be carefulwww.dailypioneer.com

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It’s time for a bit of navel-gazing beforeelection season is truly upon us. Is itpossible for professional media, and weuse the term in a platform-agnosticsense, to achieve a consensus on nomen-

clature and terminology used in reportage ofand commentary on competing narratives andadversarial contemporary discourse? That thisis a desirable outcome, even a primary philo-sophical good, ought to be evident to anyoneinterested in the contestation of ideas in a civil,or at least non-violent, manner. But to entera caveat at the outset, and narrow the con-stituency addressed for a practicable, work-able solution as opposed to merely theoreti-cal neatness, it may be more productive tofocus the endeavour on players in print media(and their digital arms).

Not, we hasten to add, because of eitheran aesthetic or normative bias against

Television and Online media platforms butbecause both of them are not part of anyextant independent regulatory architecture. Ofcourse, responsible newspaper television net-works and Online portals do self-regulate asthey should, just as Print does, and that is asine qua non for the very existence of publicinterest journalism, even an extension of thesocial contract between the people and thepowers-that-be.

But Print is the only section of non-Government media in India which is subjectto both content (editorial) and corporate(commercial) regulatory mechanisms inde-pendent of exclusively peer-reviewed ones. Towit, the Press Council of India (PCI), Registrarof Newspapers in India (RNI), Directorate ofAudi Visual Publicity (DAVP), Cabinet noteof 1955 governing the ownership and activ-ities of news agencies operating in the coun-try and its 2002 amendment allowing limit-ed FDI et.al.

Now, this is not to suggest in any wayeither that the current composition, function-ing and power of the above bodies is ideal orthat there are no specific laws which apply tosatellite news television which has at least fivemajor Government departments —Information and Broadcasting, InformationTechnology, Finance, Home and CorporateAffairs — to deal with on the commercial-

operational side for ownership/investmentrules and uplink-downlink permissions, et cetera. (Cable television is in a grey area andhas a host of issues that need resolving beforethe long-delayed complete roll out of Direct-To-Home or DTH services.)

But the fact which needs to be underlinedis that on the content regulation aspect fornews television, it is essentially self-regulationand industry peer bodies which are the finalarbiters apart from the occasional advisoriesfrom the Information and BroadcastingMinistry albeit without any structured processwith rules laid down for transparent interac-tion, while Print has an extensive, arguablyexcessively intrusive, framework in which ithas to operate. Exclusively digital profession-al media which is currently outside thepurview of any independent regulatory frame-work obviously does not even come into playfor the purpose of this discussion. And socialmedia is a different species altogether and wemake no comment on it whatsoever here.

The above is only a limited, broad strokesoverview of the Indian professional mediascene to provide the context in which we canadvance our suggestion for nomenclaturalnormality, to begin with in Print.

We will use three examples of nomencla-ture frequently used in media reportage andcommentary, randomly selected, to make our

case. The immediate provocation for thiseffort is the advisory issued by theInformation and Broadcasting Ministry, inci-dentally not suo moto but based on an orderof the Nagpur Bench of Bombay High Court,which has asked media outlets to refrain fromusing the term ‘Dalit’ and stick to theConstitutionally kosher Scheduled Castesand/or Scheduled Tribes. This is perfectlyacceptable and sensible as long as it is limit-ed to when used in a descriptive sense for thesubject group. However, it should not includeto mean the word Dalit can or should be‘banned’ either in reportage or commentary.

For example, there are many for whom theword carries ideological resonance and theymay choose to assert their normative prefer-ence by using the word to describe the sub-ject group whether in a book, article or tele-vision discussion. That is their right. But pro-fessional media outlets which may have theirown views/editorial line for or against suchterminology which is representative of a par-ticular ideological stand can always througheven very basic style guides ensure that it isrepresented as a choice made by the contrib-utor in his/her comment and is not theConstitutionally kosher terminology. Inreportage, it is even easier to do — always useSC/ST unless in direct quotes attributable tothe person making the statement whether at

a public meeting or in a book and choosingto use ‘Dalit’.

Next, let’s take a dekko at the causal useof the phrases ‘extreme Right-wing’ and‘ultra Left-wing’. It is not only a rather deriv-ative discourse but also swallowing whole ofboth the knowledge claims of the Western sec-ularised Christian discourse in the social sci-ences apart from being breathtakingly con-text-free historically. Our suggestion: Aslong as there is no violence indulged in, pro-moted, or supported/normalised in words,actions or logistics against State institutions,individuals or class/caste/other groups, allorganisations of an extreme ideological per-suasion drawing inspiration from the erst-while Chairman of the Communist Party ofChina can safely be termed Maoist, which initself is no crime. With the same conditions,the term for extreme socially conservativeIndic dharmic organisations could beRevanchist. And the term for extreme theo-logically-cum-social ly conser vativeAbrahamic-religions based advocacy/interestgroups should consistently be prefixed withChristian, Muslim and so on. If and whenthere is an overlap or alliance of the above,the nomenclature could get interesting! Butthe bottom line is all individual members ofthe above groups are Indian citizens andunless violent they have a right to exist, even

if at times in cloud cuckoo land. The third nomenclatural notion is simplic-

ity itself. Any individual and/or group whochallenges the monopoly over violence by theIndian state may fairly be described as a ter-rorist if a direct participant or terror sympa-thiser if s/he is demonstrably so. Of course,eternal vigil is required to ensure our stateinstrumentalities follow due process but thereis neither any justification nor equivalence tobe drawn. Oh, and ‘Militant’, ‘Separatist’ andthe like are meaningless terms if the state hasmonopoly over violence and the territorialintegrity of India is inviolable which are sure-ly unexceptionable notions.

A lot of the above may be seen even bythose simpatico to the argument beingadvanced as making a mountain out ofnuances or even mere nomenclatural nitpick-ing. Critics of such our argument, on the otherhand, are likely to discern evil sophistry withan agenda in such an essay. Our purpose willbe served if it makes all think about the issueand come up with their own argument whichis slightly more intellectually engaging thanchalta hai or let sleeping dogs lie. Nation-build-ing in India which began in the ‘modern’ sensepost-1947 is a work in progress and the wordswe use to define our positions will inform thekind of nation we will eventually become.

(The writer is Consulting Editor, The Pioneer)

��������������Sir — Unprecedented floods in Keralalast month taught the world a numberof lessons. One thing is for sure thateven though India has different Statesand Union Territories, they stand unit-ed in the hour of need. Even globalcommunities and the entire worldplunged into helping the beleagueredState of Kerala.

Numerous NGOs, social organisa-tions and even individuals rushed to theheavily flooded Kerala for rescue andrelief operations. Undoubtedly, thethree wings of the Armed Forces — the

Army, Navy and Air Force — as alsothe Coast Guard played a vital role incarrying out rescue operations. It is insuch situations that the world gets tosee the entire world come together tofight for a cause.

Hansraj BhatMumbai

� �������� ���������Sir — The official numbers of out-of-school children in India are either out-of-date or contradictory. According tothe 2011 Census, the number of out-of-school children between 5-17 agegroup was four to eight crore.

However, according to a survey com-missioned by the Ministry of HumanResource Development in 2014, thenumber of out-of-school children in6-13 age group was 60-64 lakh. Thisis gross underestimation. It is quiteunlikely that the number of out-of-school children came down so dras-tically from 2011-2014.

But recently their number reachedto around four to five crore. All suchcontradictory reports paint a bad pic-ture for education in our country. It’sa request that the Ministry of HumanResource Development must pay atten-tion towards childrens’ education, oth-

erwise India’s literacy rate, which isalready poor, will suffer a massive blow.

Najmul HudaMumbai

��� ����������Sir — This refers to the article, “Generalconcern in Pakistan” (September 4) byNadeem Paracha. The article gives avivid account of the Army’s role inPakistan. But what is more interestingis that the first two British ArmyChiefs in the Pakistan Army dissuad-ed Pakistan Governor General MAJinnah from an invasion of Kashmir bythe Pakistan Army. This exposes Jinnah

and his ill-intentions about Kashmir inparticular and truncated India in gen-eral. It is indeed unfortunate thatmany Indians, including top leaders ofthe BJP, praised Jinnah, who should infact, be classed along with mass mur-derers like Adolf Hitler, Joseph Stalinand later Mao Tse Tung. This provesthat Jinnah’s August 11, 1947, speechwas a mere eye-wash to hoodwink theinternational community.

SC PandaBhubaneswar

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Opposition party leaders, includingDigvijaya Singh and Jairam Ramesh, must

be questioned for their alleged Naxal links. —BJP spokesperson

SAMBIT PATRA

If I am guilty, I challenge the Union and theState Government to arrest me. First, they

termed me anti-national and now a Naxalite.— Congress leader

DIGVIJAYA SINGH

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Get your maths right. Inthe evolving arithmeticand calculus of India-US relations, two plustwo could add up to

more than just four. The ‘123moment’, crystallised in the trans-formational civil nuclear deal, isnow already more than a decadeold. The defining partnership of the21st century, as Barack Obamachristened it famously, is now itch-ing for a new “Trump-et” andseems poised to move into a high-er ‘456’ orbit at the inaugural 2+2dialogue between Foreign andDefence Ministers of the two coun-tries in New Delhi today(September 6).

Great expectations: The mes-saging from both sides is distinct-ly upbeat on the eve of the 2+2dialogue: Washington has alreadylaid out an ambitious agenda tooperationalise India’s status as theUS’ major defence partner.Officials and US-friendly strategygurus in New Delhi are trying tomint a new idiom of special rela-tionship and point out that the UShas 2+2 dialogue only with clos-est allies, like Japan and Australia.In their view, the decision to hold2+2 dialogue is in itself a big take-away as it reflects the growingstrategic importance India and theUS attach to each other.

What’s on the table? What itall adds up to is that there are hugeexpectations and high stakes asIndia’s External Affairs MinisterSushma Swaraj and DefenceMinister Nirmala Sitharaman sitdown for talks with theirAmerican counterparts, Secretaryof State Mike Pompeo andDefence Secretary James Mattis inNew Delhi this week.

Taking an informed long view,what can be realistically expectedfrom the much-trumpeted 2+2talks? First and foremost, the 2+2dialogue will cement India’s statusas the US’ leading strategic andsecurity partner in the region. TheUS has already signalled risingimportance of India by elevatingit to Strategic Trade Authorisation-

1 (STA-1) list, the third Asiancountry in this exclusive club,besides Japan and South Korea.The STA-1 status follows from the‘123 deal’ and enables seamlesssale and transfer of high-enddefence trade and cutting-edgetechnologies to India by cuttingthrough bureaucratic labyrinth.

Defence, the next big fron-tier: Second, a slew of concretesteps and initiatives will beunveiled to operationalise India’sstatus as the US’ major defencepartner, which was granted duringthe Obama regime and was re-aff irmed by the TrumpAdministration, marking a conti-nuity in robust bipartisan strate-gic consensus in Washington topromote India’s rise as a majorglobal power.

Defence-related deliverablescould include a hotline betweenIndian and US Ministers fordefence and foreign affairs,enhanced collaboration in defenceinnovations and posting of anIndian Navy liaison officer at theUS Naval Forces CentralCommand (NAVCENT) inBahrain. The 2+2 dialogue willalso mark an upgrade of the USstatus as a pre-eminent source ofweaponry for India, with theplanned procurement of a host ofhigh-end platforms estimated tobe around five to eight billion dol-lars. These include, among others,the procurement of 24 MRHs(multi-role helicopters) and theUS National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile System-II (NASAMS-II), which will protect the NationalCapital from a nuclear strike.

To COMCASA or not: Tofructify the promise of value-added defence partnership, the USis pushing India hard to sign theCommunications, Compatibilityand Security Agreement (COM-CASA), which will enhance inter-operability between the militariesand military systems of India andthe US.

The draft text is ready for sign-ing and awaits the Cabinet’sapproval. The overarching concernin India is to ensure that the pactis not misused for spying onIndia, or in any way which willcompromise the country’s sover-eignty and vital security interests.The US side considers these appre-hensions as misplaced and hastried to reassure their Indianinterlocutors that foundational

agreements like COMCASA areunderpinned by trust. However,given that the elections are only afew months away, one is not surewhether the Narendra ModiGovernment will take the plunge,at least for now, as it could provideextra fodder to the Oppositionparties and critics to sharpentheir attack on the alleged erosionof India’s strategic autonomy. Insuch a situation, the signing ofCOMCASA looks unlikely at the2+2 dialogue; at best, there couldbe in principle approval to the cru-cial pact.

Navigating the Indo-Pacific:Third, the 2+2 dialogue is expect-ed to clarify and enhance thescope of India-US collaboration inthe Indo-Pacific through variousplurilateral and multilateraloptions, including the quadrilat-eral dialogue of democracies. Thedecision to rename the US PacificCommand as US Indo-PacificCommand, and a vigorous defenceof the use of “Indo-Pacific” phraseinstead of “Asia Pacific” by thepowers that be in Washingtonunderline that India is pivotal toshaping a free, open and inclusiveIndo-Pacific.

In his defining address at the

Shangri-La Dialogue in Singaporeon June 1, Prime Minister Modipitched robustly for an inclusiveIndo-Pacific. Both India and UShave officially denied China con-tainment as the driving forcebehind their enhanced Indo-Pacificcollaboration, but a sceptical Beijingwill be closely scanning the 2+2 dia-logue, with a touch of paranoia.

Elephants in the room: Goingforward, the 2+2 dialogue will notbe just about India and the US. Infact, there will be four elephantsin the room at the 2+2 talks inNew Delhi. The world will bemetaphorically on the table, butone can expect special focus on thefour countries — China, Russia,Iran and Pakistan —which havebeen problematic countries for theUS, posing a different set of chal-lenges for India.

On Pakistan, Trump, for all hisfamed unpredictability, has gonemuch beyond his predecessors tomount unprecedented pressureon Rawalpindi to curb cross-bor-der terrorism. Just ahead of the 2+2 dialogue, the US suspended$300 million military aid forPakistan. As Pompeo arrives inNew Delhi after a tr ip toIslamabad, India will be closely lis-

tening in to what he says aboutPakistan’s new Prime MinisterImran Khan and his views on rela-tions with India and terrorism.

Creative diplomacy will betested in finding a way aroundcontinuous issues involving theThird countries. There are barelya couple of months to go beforethe November 4 deadline for theUS sanctions and zero imports ofIranian oil kicks in. Given Iran’scriticality to India’s energy secu-rity and the strategic significanceof the relationship, India is hop-ing that the US will be more real-istic and provide at least a limit-ed waiver to India for importingIranian oil. India is also expectingthe US to ring-fence the Chabaharport from the sanctions on strate-gic grounds as the port tran-scends commerce and is critical tostability in Afghanistan.

Similarly, India will expectthe US to make an exception forIndia to allow it to purchaseRussian S-400 system to bolster itsdeterrence. In tricky and fraughtsituations like these, diplomacyhas to live up to its calling as theart of the possible.

The road ahead: Probably,there will be no public announce-ments on these sensitive issues butone only hopes that the ‘456’vision of the India-US partnershipcan inspire Washington and NewDelhi to find a middle way aroundthese challenging issues in thelong-term interest of nurturingand elevating this mutuallyempowering partnership of the21st century to the next level.

In the end, the 456 phase ofIndia-US relations will be under-pinned by a concord of liberaldemocratic values and a conver-gence between strategic interestsof the US and India’s global aspi-rations. In mapping the wayahead, India and the US will haveto focus on twinning of the Indianand American dreams by acceler-ating people-driven engagementand forging an enduring innova-tion-focused partnership in areasof education, science, technology,clean energy and public health thatvisibly impact the lives of ordinarypeople. It’s only by taking peoplealong that two plus two will addup to more than four.

(The writer is Editor-in-Chiefof India and World magazine, anda commentator on internationalaffairs)

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KG Subramanyan, who left for the here-after in 2016 at the age of 92, was anartist working with multiple media,

besides being a scholar, teacher and intellec-tual who also wrote verse, sometimes reflect-ing a deep angst and, more often, with histongue in his cheek and wit — sometimesacerbic — on his sleeve. His fame, as is wide-ly known, rests on his art which constitut-ed a massive, varied and evolving corpus —drawings, paintings, terracotta sculptures —reflecting his deep insights into the humancondition under an over-arching moraluniverse marked by an eternal conflictbetween benevolent and malevolent forces,which also raged within individuals.

His art mirrored not only the states ofvulnerability, helplessness, submission anddefeat — as well as those of strength, rebel-liousness, determination and triumph — intowhich the conflict led human beings, but thelatter’s search for pleasure, joy and happinessdistilled from events of quotidian life. Insharp contrast to the puritanical abhorrenceof the human body, he depicted it in itsdiverse manifestations from the beautiful tothe ugly as well as its many postures inducedby emotions within, which were also reflect-ed in facial countenances, particularly theexpression in the eyes.

One sees all this in his artwork featur-ing in the exhibition titled “Women Seenand Remembered: Drawings by KGSubramanyam (1953-2016)” staged byArt Heritage and spread out in two spaces— Shridharani Gallery and Art Heritage— at the Triveni Kala Sangam in Delhi.Curated and designed by Amal Allana,director of Art Heritage, the exhibitioncomprises approximately 250 works fromthe Seagull Foundation for the Arts andThe Alkazi Collection of Art. Of these, theones from the former will go back to it atthe end of the show.

The exhibition has a special significancein terms of Subramanyan’s work as womenseemed to have been the main focus of his

creativity, accounting for more than 50 percent of his drawings and sketches.Understandably, his perception and repre-sentation of them have been evolving, a phe-nomenon clearly discernible in the chrono-logically-arranged exhibits spread overroughly six decades — which also depict thedynamics of their changing relationship withtheir male-dominated environment. Thus,from the pliant, submissive and domesticat-ed beings depicted through the slumped anddrooping postures of their bodies in the1950s, they are transformed in the 1970s intoan unabashedly flirtatious individuals awareof their selves and proudly displaying theirblossoming sensuality with scarcely-con-cealed sexual undertones.

One sees another change in the 1980sand 1990s when women appear wearing,or preparing to wear, masks. One wonderswhether it was to meet on even terms menwho are also seen wearing masks. Or werethese meant to be devices to show to dif-ferent people the aspects of one’s self thatone wanted to show them? The tendencyis global and extends to the deeper exer-cise of changing one’s face itself. It will be

interesting to recall here the following linesfrom TS Eliot’s The Love Song of J. AlfredPrufrok: “There will be time, there will betime/ To prepare a face to meet the facesthat you meet;/ There will be time to mur-der and create,/ And time for all the worksand days of hands/ That lift and drop aquestion on your plate..”

The idea of preparing a face or wear-ing a mask to meet faces and masks indi-cates an autonomy of intent and signifies acertain coming of age, a certain desire andability to negotiate with the world on one’sown terms. Post-2000, the woman is depict-ed as a shaper of event, destinies and dis-course. She is Durga the goddess with 10arms, each holding a weapon, who slaysMahishasura, the Buffalo Demon. Durga,is also a manifestation of Parvati, wife ofLord Siva, who also appears in other formssuch as Uma, Gauri, Bhairavi, Ambika andKali, the latter an awe-inspiring presence inblack in the Hindu pantheon who rules overTime, Change, Power and Destruction.

Subramanyan showed women as hav-ing the same strengths and attributes as god-desses by depicting them in close proxim-ity of the latter. Viewing the progressiveunfolding of his presentation of women andtheir growing self-awareness, assertivenessand consciousness of their sensuality, onewonders whether this was a result of hisencounter with the movement for genderjustice and women’s bodily integrity thatemerged and grew in strength over the sameperiod. This writer has not encountered anywriting on the subject. He must, however,have been familiar at least with its broadcontours — given his focus on women andresponsiveness to the social and politicalcurrents of his time. The latter aspect of hisconcerns was manifest in the display of hispolitical works in the exhibition “Seekinga Poetry of the Real” (also curated by AmalAllana) by Art Heritage in collaborationwith The Seagull Foundation for the Arts”in 2017, the 40th anniversary year of thefounding of Art Heritage in Delhi in 1977by Ebrahim and Roshen Alkazi.

Taken together, the two exhibitionsprovide an informed and enlightening viewof the works of a master creator whose pass-ing has left a void that will continue to bedeeply felt.

(The writer is Consultant Editor, ThePioneer, and an author)

KG Subramanyan and his women

2+2=more than sum of its parts At the 2+2 dialogue, India and the US will have to focus on twinning of Indian and American dreams by accelerating

people-driven engagement and forging an enduring innovation-focused partnership in areas that affects the lives of people

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Caution: Watch out for the ever-vigilant Twitterati. Whatcan be termed as a social media boo-boo, ActressAnushka Sharma is getting dissed for probably using aniPhone to click a photo while promoting Google’s Pixel2XL. Her twitter tag read: Twitter via iPhone. Given thebig money paid out for endorsement deals, Anushka willbe praying Google decides to let this oops moment pass.

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COMMENT & ANALYSIS

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Page 7: ...Ahead of the year-end Assembly elections in three States and general election next year, caste politics of a differ-ent kind is raising its head. This time upper castes are joinin

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In an unusual move, TelanganaChief Minister K

Chandrasekhar Rao has con-vened a meeting of the StateCabinet early on Thursdaymorning leading to speculationsthat it may pass a resolution dis-solving the State Assembly topave the way for early elections.

Sources said that theCabinet will meet at 6:45 am atPragati Bhavan, the camp officeof the Chief Minister. ChiefMinister has already asked allthe Ministers to be available inHyderabad city and those trav-elling in their districts arerushing back.

Chief Minister who was inhis farm house in Medak dis-trict for the last two days hasalso returned home.

In another indication thatthe KCR has made up his mindto go ahead with the early elec-tions, he will be kicking off hiselection campaign with “Praja

Aseerwada Sabha” (people’sblessings meeting) at Husnabadon Friday. TRS has decided toorganize a whopping hundredsuch meetings over the next 50days. The party was planning tomobilise one lakh people to themeeting at Husnabad which wasalso the starting point of his suc-cessful poll campaign in 2014.

TRS sources said that theChief Minister chose the venueand the time to launch thecampaign as he found the daywas auspicious.

While the TRS leadersappear to be gung-ho on theirleader having his way onadvancing the Assembly elec-tions to December, the finaldecision will rest in the handsof the Central ElectionCommission. The experts saythat once the Assembly is dis-solved on the recommendationof the Council of Ministers, itwill be up to the CEC to holdthe elections any time withinsix months. The present House

has the life till month of June.State Chief Electoral Officer

Rajath Kumar who held a meet-ing with the representatives ofall the major political parties inHyderabad on Wednesday saidthat talk of early polls in the statewas only speculation. “If theHouse is dissolved the decisionof the timing of the elections willbe in the hands of the electioncommission and we will go byits decision”, he said.

The electoral revision waspart of the regular preparationfor the elections and the meet-ing with the political partieswas part of the process, he said.

The opposition partiesraised the issue of deletion of21 lakh voters from the elec-toral rolls in the state.

Meanwhile in a surprisemove the Telangana stateCongress committee presidenttoday released the electionmanifesto to send a messagethat his party was fully readyfor early elections.

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In a direct message to theDMK leadership on

Wednesday, MK Alagiri, elderson of the late MKarunanidhi, former partypresident and five-time ChiefMinister of Tamil Nadu, madeit clear that he could not beignored anymore as he com-manded a big following in theDravidian major.

“All I want from the DMKleadership was the reinstate-ment of me and my followerswho were expelled from theparty at the instance of MKStalin,” Alagiri told a TV newschannel just before the com-mencement of the rally. Herepeated his charge that thegeneral council of the DMKthat elected Stalin, his youngerbrother, as party chief, was afake entity.

“The general council thatmet on August 28 to electStalin as president was consti-tuted by Stalin jam-packing it

with his henchmen. But thecadre is with me,” said Alagiri,who had hitherto confined hisactivities to southern TamilNadu. The rally held onWednesday was Alagiri’s firstforay into Chennai, consideredas a forte of Stalin.

He also said that his latefather had wanted his rein-

statement into the DMK. “Butby 2016, he fell ill and was fullyunder the control of Stalin.Whenever I met my father, hehad told me that he wanted meback in the party and would dothe needful for the same. ButStalin did not allow him to doanything,” said Alagiri.

The Madurai strongman

reiterated his stance that hewould not do anything to harmthe DMK and would be a loyalparty worker like he had been inthe past. “But I want the DMKleadership to take me and myassociates into the party,” he said.Wednesday’s rally is seen by vet-eran DMK observers as Alagiri’solive branch to the DMK lead-ership. “The fact that Alagiricould organise a rally like this inChennai speaks volumes abouthis organisational skill. Stalincould ignore Alagiri at his ownperil especially in the backdropof the two assembly by-electionsto be held at Thiruvarur andThirupprankundram shortly,”said Ravindran Duraisamy, lead-ing political commentator whohas close ties with theKarunanidhi clan.

The RK Nagar bye-electionheld early this year saw theDMK finishing a poor third andforfeiting its security, a develop-ment unheard of duringKarunanidhi’s lifetime. “Stalinhas to answer for the R K Nagarfiasco. If he fails to win at least

one of the by-polls, then therewould be lot of fireworks in theDMK,” said Duraisamy.

The DMK leadership hadbeen cautious while reacting toAlagiri’s statements. DuraiMurugan, treasurer, and a closeassociate of Stalin, feignedignorance when asked aboutAlagiri’s rally. A second rungleader, Ravi, who went toChennai airport on Tuesday toreceive Alagiri was ousted fromthe party without issuing anyshow-cause notice. “If this isthe case, they may have to expelall the party activists in south-ern Tamil Nadu,” said Alagiri.

The rebel leader was accom-panied by his son Dhaya andpoestess daughter Kayalvizhiduring Wednesday’s rally. Mostof the participants inWednesday’s rally were fromMadurai and other southernregions of the State and wereidentifiable because of their dis-tinct appearance as most ofthem are farmers, casual employ-ees, farm workers and ordinaryvillagers.

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The LDF Government inKerala and the State

Commission for Women (SCW)have refused to intervene in theissue pertaining to the chargethat PK Sasi, MLA of the CPI(M)from Shoranur, Palakkad, hadtried to sexually abuse a womanleader of the party’s youth out-fit, DYFI. The Oppositiontermed the attitude of theGovernment and SCW as proofof double standard in the dis-pensation of justice underMarxist rule.

“There is nothing for theGovernment to do in this,”said Industries Minister andCPI(M) central committeemember EP Jayarajan, consid-ered as the man who speaks forthe LDF Government in theabsence of Chief MinisterPinarayi Vijayan, by pointingout that the young woman hadlodged her complaint againstSasi with the CPI(M) leadershipand not with the police.

“There is no situation thatwarrants suo moto initiation ofa case by the commission,” washow Women’s Commissionchairperson MC Josephine, also

a member of the CPI(M)’s cen-tral committee, reacted whenasked whether the commissionwould intervene in the issue.“We can register a case only ifwe get a complaint. We have notgot any complaint,” she said.

Though the CPI(M) lead-ership had received the youngwoman’s complaint against Sasion August 14, it has not both-ered to hand it over to thepolice or to demand an expla-nation from the legislator so far.The young woman, a member

of the DYFI’s Palakkad districtcommittee, has not lodged anycomplaint with the police.

State CPI(M) secretaryKodiyeri Balakrishnan hasalready made it clear that theparty would not report thematter to the police by saying,“This is a complaint that hasbeen lodged with the party. TheCPI(M) knows how to handlea complaint it receives. If itwas a complaint for thepolice, (the woman) wouldhave lodged it with them.”

In her complaint, theDYFI leader had accused Sasi,also a member of the CPI(M)’sdistrict committee and districtsecretariat in Palakkad, oftrying to abuse her sexually atthe party’s Mannarkad areacommittee office. She alsocharged him with continuingthe harassment for over ayear and with making lewdremarks to her over the phone.

The young woman had

lodged her complaint threeweeks ago with partyPolitbureau member BrindaKarat, Kodiyeri Balakrishnanand some prominent leadersin the party’s State secretari-at. As there was no action, shee-mailed complaint onMonday to general secretarySitaram Yechury, who haspublicly acknowledged it.

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The CPI(M) on Wednesdaysuspended a young leader,

RL Jeevanlal, accused of tryingto sexually abuse a womanleader of the party’s youthoutfit, DYFI, from primarymembership for a year. He hasalso been removed from theposition of joint secretary ofthe DYFI’s Block Committee inIrinjalakuda, Thrissur district.

The party has not madeany official announcementabout the decision but leaderssaid action had been takenagainst him. The CPI(M) wasforced to take action after theyoung woman leader lodged a

complaint on Tuesday nightwith Famous Varghese, DeputySuperintendent of Police(DySP), Irinjalakuda, on thebasis of which a case was reg-istered against Jeevanlal.

The DySP later transferredthe case to the nearby KatturPolice Station, where the com-plainant’s statement wasrecorded on Wednesday. TheCPI(M) was forced to takeaction in this matter alsobecause it has already beenpushed into the defensive overthe charge against party MLAPK Sasi that he had tried tosexually abuse a woman DYFIleader at Mannarkad,Palakkad.

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Page 8: ...Ahead of the year-end Assembly elections in three States and general election next year, caste politics of a differ-ent kind is raising its head. This time upper castes are joinin

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Two days after the sepa-ratists in Kashmir called for

boycott of the municipal andpanchayat elections, main-stream National Conferencealso decided to stay away fromthe polls.

The National Conferenceon Wednesday announced itsboycott of the upcoming elec-tions announced by theGovernor’s Administration tobe held around October-December this year.

The party sought clarifica-tion from the CentralGovernment about the protec-tion of Article 35A in and out-side the courts.

National Conference pres-ident Dr Farooq Abdullah afterchairing the party’s core groupmeeting at its party headquar-ters at “Nawa-i-Subh” Complexin Srinagar, told reporters thathis party won’t contest theupcoming panchayat andmunicipal elections as the sit-uation was not conducive forthe elections.

Earlier, the NC core groupmeeting had a detailed discus-sion about the prevailing situ-ation in the State with particu-lar reference to Article 35A ofthe Constitution. The meetingfelt that any tinkering withArticle 35A has disastrousconsequences not only for theState but for the entire country.

The core group said that therole of the Central Governmentand the Governor’sAdministration vis-a-vis Article

35A in the Supreme Court clear-ly goes against the wishes andaspirations of the people of theState.

The party alleged thatannouncement of municipal andpanchayat polls by Governor’sAdministration was taken hasti-ly without taking into consider-ation the prevailing situationcreated in view of unnecessaryattempts to fiddle with Article 35A. NC vice-president OmarAbdullah in a tweet said, “It isnow for the Central govern-ment to clarify whether itstands with regard to Art 35A.It is not enough to use pan-chayat & municipal electionssimply to delay proceedings inthe court”.

PDP president MehboobaMufti in a tweet also criticizedthe Central government’s posi-tion taken at the Apex Court vis-a-vis bunch of petitions seekingabrogation of Article 35A.

She said, “The Central gov-

ernment’s plea in the SupremeCourt to link decision on 35Awith panchayat and urban bod-ies elections, was a disastrousidea, which has further alienat-ed the people and complicatedthe situation on ground”.

Pertinently, “Joint ResistanceLeadership”, an amalgam of sep-aratist political parties, com-prising of Syed Ali Geelani,Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and YasinMalik has already called forboycott of these elections in theState.

Recently, the Leadership hadissued hard hitting statementagainst the conduct of electionsand all the mainstream politicalparties alleging them to be“Collaborators of Indian Union”.The leadership has urged peopleto boycott the upcoming munic-ipal elections with the spirit ofdenying recognition to NationalConference, PDP and othermainstream political parties who,they said, “are collaborating withGovernment of India just tostrengthen the roots of occupa-tion in Jammu & Kashmir.”

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Asecond body was retrievedfrom underneath the

debris of the Majherhat bridge,a part of which collapsed onTuesday instantly killing oneand injuring 26, two of themcritically, while two more per-sons had remained tracelesseven till 30 hours after the acci-dent.

As large parts of south-eastern Kolkata and adjoiningsections of South 24-Parganasincluding Diamond Harbourand neighbouring industrialbelts plummeted into untoldtraffic jam Chief MinisterMamata Banerjee who was inDarjeeling, on Wednesday flewback to Kolkata and drovestraight to the accident sitefrom the airport to take stockof the situation.

Though she would not fixblame on any particular insti-tution, “keeping all the anglesof investigation open,” Banerjeesaid the piling works carried onby the Metro Railways a fewyards away could be a plausi-ble cause as it was shaking thenearby areas “like it is duringearthquakes.”

Banerjee who had called an“emergency meeting” onWednesday noon to find outthe next course of action hadentrusted a team headed byChief Secretary to inquire intothe reasons of collapse. Sheasked the departments to findout alternative routes.

Sources in the PWD said awarning bell about the deteri-orating health of the 54 year-old-bridge had been soundedabout two years ago and eventenders were called for itsrepair as many as six timessince 2017.

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Two persons died and sev-eral others were missing

after the machine boat theywere travelling in capsized inBrahmaputra river nearAssam’s Capital town Guwahatitoday. Chief MinisterSarbananda Sonowal ordered ahigh-level inquiry into thetragic incident.

The tragic incident tookplace when the machine boatcarrying about 40 passengersand seven motorcycles was onits way from Fancy Bazaar inGuwahati to MadhyamKhanda ghat in NorthGuwahati, around 1 pm, today.The engine of the boat failednear Aswaklanta island and theboat hit some concrete polesunder the water, which wereconstructed as part of a watersupply project.

“The boat damaged badlydue to the impact and capsizedwith the passengers. Some ofthe people swum across to thebanks,” said officials of theNational Disaster Rescue Force(NDRF) who started rescueoperation immediately alongwith SDRF officials.

“We have so far rescued15 persons and recovered twobodies. As of now the statusis that several peopleremained missing.

“We are told that therewere about 40 passengers inthe boat,” said the NDRF officials.

Assam’s Additional ChiefSecretary Jishnu Baruah hasbeen named by the ChiefMinister to conduct the inves-tigation into the incident.

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Aspecial NationalInvestigation Agency

(NIA) court on Wednesdaydeferred the framing of chargesagainst Lt Col Prasad ShrikantPurohit and other accused per-sons in the 2008 Malegaonblasts case.

A day after the BombayHigh Court directed the specialNIA court to consider the applic-ability of the Unlawful ActivitiesPrevention Act (UAPA) againstPurohit before framing thecharges against him, the specialNIA court Judge Vinod Padalkarpostponed the framing ofcharges against him and otheraccused in the blasts case.

After the lawyers of Purohitand former Major RameshUpadhyay raised the issue andurged the court to decide on theUAPA applicability issue beforeframing charges against them,the Judge adjourned the matterand said he would hear argu-ments from all the accused onthis from Monday next.

While refusing to stay theframing of charges againstPurohit in the 2008 Malegaonblasts case, a HC bench ofJustices Mridula Bhatkar andSandeep Shinde had onTuesday ordered that beforeframing of charges against himin the case, the special NIAcourt consider and decide on

Purohit’s objection to the sanc-tion granted by theMaharashtra government inJanuary 2009 for his prosecu-tion under section 45 (2) ofUAPA.

“Since the Supreme Courthas directed to expedite thetrial before the Special Court,it may not be appropriate tostay the trial.

“However, before framingthe charge, the Special Courtis bound to consider the orderpassed by the Supreme Courton 20/04/2018 and to consid-er and decide the objection tosanction under Section 45 (2)of the Unlawful Activities(Prevention) Act, 1967 takenby the defence after affordinga reasonable opportunity ofhearing to the parties andthen proceed further,” the HCbench ruled in Purohit’s case.

The high court had passedthis order while hearing anapplication filed by Purohitseeking quashing of the orderpassed by Judge VinodPadalkar of the special NIACourt rejecting his applica-tion for framing of chargesagainst him in the 2008Malegaon blasts case.

On December 27, 2017, aSpecial NIA court had droppedcharges under the stringentMaharashtra Control ofOrganised Crime Act(MCOCA) against SadhviPragya Singh Thakur, Lt ColPrasad Purohit and five otherkey accused in the much-dis-cussed case.

However, Additional

Sessions Judge SD Tekale hadrejected the applications of keyaccused Sadhvi Pragya,Purohit, Sameer Kulkarni,Ramesh Upadhyay andSudhakar Dwivedi for dis-charge from the case.

The seven accused againstwhom MOCCA charges weredropped, but continue to facecharges under UnlawfulActivities Prevention Act(UAPA) are: Sadhvi Pragya,Purohit, Dwivedi, Major(Retd) Ramesh Upadhyay,Sameer Kulkarni, SudhakarChatur vedi and AjayRahirkar.

Two other accused RakeshDhawde and Jagdish Mhatrewill be tried under only underthe Arms Act.

The Judge had, however,discharged three accusedPravin Takalki, Shyamlal Sahuand Shivnarayan Kalsangrafrom the 2008 Malegaon blastscase.

Sadhvi Prag ya andPurohit were among the 11persons charge-sheeted bythe ATS on January 20, 2009,in connection with 2008Malegaon blasts.

It may be recalled that animprovised explosive keptunder the seat of a LMLFreedom motor-bicycle hadexploded between BhikkuChowk and Anjuman Chowk,near Noorani Masjid, atMalegaon in northMaharashtra, on the night ofSeptember 29, 2008, leavingsix persons dead and injuring101 others.

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The Coffee Board, underthe Ministry of Commerce

and Industry, launched a num-ber of mobile phone applica-tions for the benefit of all rel-evant stakeholders across thesector eco-system. The initia-tives were launched by SureshPrabhu, Minister of Commerce& Industry, Government ofIndia, in the presence of AnupWadhawan, IAS, CommerceSecretary.

One of the applicationslaunched, by the CommerceMinister, included CoffeeMobile App ‘Coffee Connect’developed by Coffee Board inassociation with NationalInstitute for SmartGovernment(NISG) developedby WINIT.

This application will pro-vide field functionarieswithrelevant information using acombination of digitisationtechnologies like geo-taggingetc. They will have informationincluding plantation details(location etc.) as well as plantmaterial, age, production,Infrastructures, machineryavailable, etc.

The solution will help inimproving the efficiency ofthe field functionaries, trans-parency in the activities of theextension officers and in sub-sidy disbursement and realtime report generation.

The “Coffee KrishiTharanga” will be pilot testedin the Chikmagalur and Hassandistricts of Karnataka Statecovering 30,000 farmers duringthe first year.

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NHPC Limited, India’s pre-mier hydropower compa-

ny has established a new ‘PowerTrading Cell’ at its CorporateOffice at Faridabad. The cellwas inaugurated by Balraj Joshi,CMD, NHPC in the presenceof Ratish Kumar, Director(Projects), NK Jain, Director(Personnel), MK Mittal,Director (Finance), JanardanChoudhary, Director(Technical), Ved Prakash, CVOand other senior officers ofNHPC on August 30, 2018.The new fully equipped PowerTrading Cell will enable NHPCto operate its trading businessin the Power Exchange (IndianEnergy Exchange) for trade ofpower on a 24 x 7 basis. NHPChas already been grantedCategory-I license for interstatetrading in Electricity through-out India by CERC. NHPC hasalso obtained trade member-ship in Indian EnergyExchange.

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Continuing its downwardtrend, the Indian Rupee fall

for the sixth straight session onWednesday, hitting yet anoth-er closing low of 71.75, down17 paise against the US cur-rency as surging oil prices andweak trend in emerging mar-ket currencies weighed on sen-timents.

Intra-day, the domesticunit plummeted to a unprec-dented low of 71.97 a dollarbefore finding some respite,staging some recovery towardsthe tail-end.

The battered rupee haslost 165 paise in the last sixtrading sessions.

However, the Reserve Bankswung into action to put a floorunder the sliding currency andstave off a full-blown melt-down.

Worsening global tradingconditions against the backdrop of escalating trade warsand rising global oil priceslargely caused panic amongforex traders.

Most emerging market cur-rencies came under pressure,tumbling to new record lows.

Heavy sell-off in localequities also weighed on theforeign exchange front. Thehome currency Wednesdayopened higher by 18 paise at71.40 a dollar.

The bond yield curve,however, softened to 8.05%.

Besides twin deficits phe-nomenon, the domestic econ-omy faces a set of risks at thisjuncture, a forex dealer warned.

India is vulnerable tolarge scale capital flight if theuncertainty persist and maysee investors make their wayback into developed marketsdue to rising interest rates inthe US and other majoreconomies.

Any further sharp erosionin the rupee would lead to awave of corporate bankruptciesand rating impact on thesecompanies as they have keptmost of their foreign currencyexposures unhedged largelybettting on rupee stability, headded.

Meanwhile, crude pricesextended their losses, slidingtowards US $77 a barrel, as atropical storm hitting the USGulf coast weakened, offsettingsupport from forecasts of lower

US inventories and sanctionsagainst Iran.

Benchmark Brent crudeoil is trading at US $77.33 abarrel in early Asian trade.

At the inter-bank foreignexchange (forex) market, therupee resumed higher at 71.40against overnight close of 71.58on fresh bouts of dollar sellingby state-run banks.

It strengthened to 71.37 adollar in late morning dealsbefore collapsing to historiclows on panic dollar buying.

After hitting a fresh recordlow of 71.97, the rupee managedto pull back early steep lossesbefore ending at 71.75, showinga fall of 17 paise, or 0.24%.

The Financial BenchmarksIndia private limited (FBIL),meanwhile, fixed the referencerate for the dollar at 71.7533and for the euro at 83.1310.

Globally, the US dollarrose broadly as concerns grewthat US President DonaldTrump may soon ramp up atrade war with Beijing byimposing tariffs on moreChinese imports.

Against a basket of othercurrencies, the dollar index isup at 95.38.

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Toyota Kirloskar Motor onWednesday announced the

recall of Prius hybrid vehiclesin India to inspect faultyengine wire harness that cancause fire, as part of a globalrecall by its parent firm.

The company is imple-menting this recall in India toinspect engine wire harnessand correct, if required, Priusvehicles manufactured betweenJune 2015 to May 2018, thecompany said in a statement.

“Toyota dealers will informthe affected customers soon.Currently ten vehicles may beaffected in India,” it added.

Globally, Toyota Motorannounced recall of over amillion units of its Prius and C-

HR compact crossover vehiclesdue to risk of fire because offaulty engine wire harness.

About 1.03 million vehiclesbuilt between June 2015 andMay 2018 will be recalled forsafety checks, the Toyota said.The affected models includePrius, Prius PHV and C-HR.

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Benchmark Sensex spiralledlower for the sixth straight

session on Wednesday as aweak rupee and widespreadselloff in emerging marketassets dented risk appetite.

The BSE Sensex tumbled139.61 points to end at an overtwo-week low of 38,018.31,while the wider NSE Niftyslipped 43.35 points to11,476.95.

The Sensex has now lost878.32 points in six sessions —its longest string of losses in sixmonths.

Global stocks declined asrenewed trade war concernsand macro headwinds inTurkey, Argentina and otheremerging markets took a toll oninvestor confidence.

On the domestic front, therupee crashed to a fresh recordlow of 71.96 against the US dol-lar in intra-day trade on theback of rising bond yields.

Market sentiment was fur-ther dampened after a month-ly survey showed that India’sservices sector activity fell inAugust from July’s 21-monthpeak as new business ordersdeclined.

The seasonally adjustedNikkei India Services BusinessActivity Index fell from July’speak of 54.2 to 51.5 in Augustowing to weakest growth innew work in three months.

The 30-share Sensex, afteropening a shade higher andadvancing to 38,250.61 in earlytrade, quickly slipped below the38,000-mark.

It touched a low of37,774.42 during the day,before finally ending at anover two-week low of 38,018.31— down 139.61 points or 0.37per cent.

The 50-issue NSE Niftytoo cracked below the 10,400-mark and hit a low of 11,393.85before finishing 43.35 points, or0.38 per cent down at11,476.95.

Meanwhile, domestic insti-tutional investors (DIIs) netsold shares worth �21.41 crore,while foreign portfolioinvestors (FPIs) bought sharesto the tune of �32.64 crore onTuesday, provisional datashowed.

“Global headwinds cou-pled with risk arising onaccount of surging oil pricesand weak trend in EM curren-cies dragged the market.

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Falling for the sixth straightsession, the BSE Sensex

shed about 140 points onWednesday to close at an overtwo-week low of 38,018.31 asinvestor sentiment remainedbearish amid a plunging rupeeand weak global cues.

The rupee crashed to afresh record low of 71.96against the US dollar in intra-day trade on the back of risingbond yields and crisis inemerging market currencies.

Market sentiment was fur-ther dampened after a month-ly survey showed that India’sservices sector activity fell inAugust from July’s 21-monthpeak as new business ordersdeclined.

The seasonally adjustedNikkei India Ser vicesBusiness Activity Index fellfrom July’s peak of 54.2 to51.5 in August owing to weak-est growth in new work inthree months.

The 30-share Sensex, afteropening a shade higher andadvancing to 38,250.61 in earlytrade, quickly slipped below the38,000-mark.

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The US Chamber ofCommerce Wednesday

said the upcoming ‘2+2 dia-logue’ between India and theUS will deepen trade ties andhelp achieve the USD 500-bil-lion bilateral trade volume tar-get by 2025.

Secretary of State MikePompeo and Defence SecretaryJim Mattis from the US will beholding the first 2+2 dialoguewith defence minister NirmalaSitharaman and external affairsminister Sushma SwarajThursday.

“You can’t do defence with-out economic strength and the2+2 will set the groundwork forsomething that will not onlyimprove our defence ties butwill clearly take us towards theUSD 500 billion (target),” saidThomas J Donohue, presidentand chief executive officer, USChamber of Commerce.

“Security goes hand inhand with prosperity. Efforts tostrengthen our security tieswill help us as we work to tight-en our economic ties,” he saidspeaking at a US-IndiaBusiness Council event.

He said after some diffi-

culties, the trade ties betweenthe two countries are in a stateof “jog”, at USD 125 billionnow, but there is a need forthem to “sprint”.

“There is a general agree-ment in the US government thatour relationship is a significantpriority... India is at the centreof the administration’s vision forseizing opportunities in Asiaand truly worldwide,” he added.

The dialogue in New Delhiwill only act as a “further con-firmation” of the same tomor-row, he said.

According to news reports,trade is not on the agenda forthe 2+2 dialogue, even thoughthere may be some mention onthe ties.

Donohue said this is thefirst of its kind engagement forIndia; inclusion of India in aselect list of countries likeJapan, South Korea andAustralia with whom the US ishaving such a dialogue makesthe intentions very evident.

He said it is time for estab-lishing a trade agreementbetween the two countries andpointed out that such a pactwill particularly help the star-tups thrive in the innovationeconomy of the future.

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Page 10: ...Ahead of the year-end Assembly elections in three States and general election next year, caste politics of a differ-ent kind is raising its head. This time upper castes are joinin

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US Secretary of State MikePompeo met Pakistan’s new

Prime Minister Imran Khan onWednesday and discussed waysto “reset” bilateral ties strainedover the issue of Islamabad’ssupport to the terror outfitsactive in the region and theblockage of $300 million in mil-itary aid to the country.

Pompeo, the former CIAchief who is making his firstvisit to Pakistan as the topAmerican diplomat, told Khanthat he was “pleased” with hismeeting with Foreign MinisterShah Mahmood Qureshi earli-er in the day. Khan andPompeo discussed Afghanpeace process and blockage of$300 million in CoalitionSupport Fund (CSF) amongother matters of mutual inter-ests during a meeting whichwas also attended by ArmyChief General Qamar JavedBajwa, the Express Tribunereported, citing sources.

“I’m a born optimist. Asportsman always is an opti-mist. He steps on the field andhe thinks he’s going to win,”Khan said, referring to effortsby the US and Pakistan toimprove their ties which hasnose-dived in recent months.

This is the US’ first high-

level dialogue with Pakistansince the new Government ofPrime Minister Khan assumedoffice after the July 25 electionsand comes days after theTrump administration can-celled $300 million in militaryaid to Islamabad for not doingenough against terror groupsactive on its soil.

Pompeo, who along withUS Joint Chief of StaffChairman General JosephDunford had arrived on anofficial visit to Pakistan, earli-er met Qureshi and discussed“bilateral, regional and inter-national issues” during theircrucial talks, in a bid to resetthe strained ties on basis of“mutual trust and respect”.

Seoul: A high-level SouthKorean delegation met withKim Jong Un in Pyongyang onWednesday, as Seoul plans anew summit with the NorthKorean leader to break a dead-lock in denuclearisation talks.

The South’s PresidentMoon Jae-in’s special envoyChung Eui-yong, who is lead-ing the five-member delega-tion, earlier said he would dis-cuss ways to “completely denu-clearise” the Korean peninsu-la and establish “lasting peace”.

His delegation “met withChairman Kim Jong Un anddelivered a personal letter(from Moon) and exchangedopinions”, a presidential officespokesman in Seoul said.

The delegation flew back toSeoul after attending a dinnerbanquet but Chung and otherofficials declined to speak tothe media. AFP

London: British prosecutors onWednesday charged twoRussian nationals, described asofficers from the Russian mil-itary intelligence service GRU,with the attempted murder offormer spy Sergei Skripal andhis daughter with a deadlynerve agent in the UK earlierthis year.

There was “sufficient evi-dence” to charge two Russiannationals, Scotland Yard said.

The suspects, named asAlexander Petrov and RuslanBoshirov, believed to be in

their 40s and using the namesas aliases, Scotland Yard andthe Crown Prosecution Service(CPS) said in a statement.

In an update to the Houseof Commons, British PrimeMinister Theresa May pointedthe finger of blame directly atthe Russian Government. Shesaid: “Based on a body of intel-ligence, the Government hasconcluded that the two indi-viduals named by the policeand CPS are officers from theRussian military intelligenceservice, also known as the

GRU. “The GRU is a highly dis-ciplined organisation with awell-established chain of com-mand. So this was not a rogueoperation. It was almost cer-tainly also approved outside theGRU at a senior level of theRussian state,” the British PrimeMinister said.

The 66-year-old formerRussian double agent and hisdaughter Yulia, 33, were foundunconscious on a shoppingcentre bench in the southernEnglish town of Salisbury onMarch 4. PTI

Washington: NASA is set to launch a sounding rocket that willtake short journey to the Earth’s atmosphere to catch a glimpseof the Sun with X-ray vision.

The Focusing Optics X-ray Solar Imager (FOXSI) missionis set to take its third flight from the New Mexico on September7. FOXSI is a sounding rocket mission.

Derived from the nautical term ‘to sound,’ meaning to measure, sounding rockets make brief 15-minute journeysabove Earth’s atmosphere for a peek at space before falling backto the ground.

Smaller, cheaper and faster to develop than large-scale satel-lite missions, sounding rockets offer a way for scientists to testtheir latest ideas and instruments. PTI

Washington: With the UnitedNations warning of a potential“bloodbath” in Syria’s Idlibprovince, the US has warnedPresident Bashar al-Assad itwould respond “swiftly andappropriately” if he uses chem-ical weapons against his ownpeople. As Syrian troopsmassed near NW region ofnearly three million people, thelast major rebel stronghold,renewed Russian airstrikeskilled at least nine civilians,according to violence monitor.

Nikki Haley, US ambas-sador to the UN, said theUNSC would meet on Friday todiscuss the precarious situationin the province. AFP

United Nations: PresidentDonald Trump plans to chair akey meeting of the UN SecurityCouncil this month to discussIran’s alleged violations of inter-national law, US envoy to theUN Nikki Haley has said.

Indian-origin Haley, whoassumed the Presidency of theSecurity Council for the monthof September, told reportershere on Tuesday that Trumpintends to chair a meeting ofthe 15-nation UN body on Iranon September 26.

The US move aims to putfurther pressure on Tehranover its alleged violations of theUNSC’s resolutions, afterWashington pulled out of thelandmark Iran nuclear deal inMay. The Trump administra-tion says the Obama-era dealfailed to put enough pressureon Iranian regime to halt itsnuclear weapons and ballisticmissile programme.

The US has sought to buildup international pressure onIran after reimposing toughand unilateral sanctions onAugust 7 and setting aNovember 5 deadline for halt-ing Iran’s oil exports.

The 73rd session of the UNGeneral Assembly is set tostart from September 18 inNew York. Trump is expectedto attend the session at the endof the month during high-level week which will begin onSeptember 24, with a meetingon global peace. PTI

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Beijing: Chinese President Xi Jinping has congratulatedPakistan’s newly-elected President Arif Alvi, saying that the strate-gic significance of the bilateral ties is “more prominent underthe current circumstances” and both sides should support eachother “more staunchly”.

“In recent years, with the joint efforts made by both sides,mutual political trust is stronger, and the construction of theChina-Pakistan economic corridor (CPEC) is fruitful, which hasnot only benefited the two countries and the two peoples, butmade positive contribution to peace and development in theregion,” Xi said in his message on Tuesday.

PTI

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Washington: The US hasroped in veteran diplomatZalmay Khalilzad to bring theAfghan Taliban to the negoti-ating table and help Americawith the reconciliation effortsin the war-torn country.

Khalilzad, 67, Afghan-bornformer US ambassador inKabul, is well known in theregion and is highly respectedacross communities and stake-holders in the country.

The latest move,announced by Secretary ofState Mike Pompeo, is expect-

ed to give a big boost to the rec-onciliation efforts in the war-ravaged country.

Talking to reporters travel-ling with him hours beforelanding in Pakistan, Pompeoannounced that Khalilzad hasbeen named as a special advis-er on seeking reconciliation inAfghanistan. “Khalilzad is goingto join the State Departmentteam to assist us on the recon-ciliation effort, so he will comeon and be State Department’slead person for that purpose,”Pompeo said. PTI

C M Y K

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Manika Batra, who created history bybecoming the first Indian female paddler

to win an Asian Games medal, is now planningto work overtime in order to improve her reflex-es and agility and come close to matching herAsian counterparts by the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

Manika, who built on her CommonwealthGames (CWG) high by winning a Bronze withveteran Achanta Sharath Kamal in the mixeddoubles category in table tennis, was no matchfor Wang Manyu of China in the pre-quarter-finals of the women's singles.

Though it was the best-ever outing for thecountry in the sport at the Asian Games, withthe men's team also bagging Bronze, Manika saidshe has her eyes set on a podium finish at theOlympics in two years' time and for that sheneeds to catch up with the mighty Chinese andother strong Asian players.

"I gave my hundred percent against WangManyu, but I realised I have to improve a lot tobeat them. I will prepare well for the comingtournaments," Manika said.

"As a team we are in a good shape right now.In singles we have to improve a lot, especially

when we play with Asians. Their reflexes are sogood. Personally, I have to improve my reflex-es and agility to match them.

"So I will work on that till the Olympics andtry to match them there," said Manika, whoshowed signs of ending Singaporean suprema-cy in the discipline by choking out Mengyu Yuin straight sets to clinch a historic first-ever Goldmedal in women's singles of the CWG earlierthis year.

The 23-year old bagged four medals at the2018 Commonwealth Games as India finished

with a rich haul of eight.Besides her game, Manika also aims to break

into the top-40 rankings. Currently, the Delhigirl is ranked World No 56.

"Personally, my goal would be to break intotop 30 or 40. I am 56 right now, so I have toimprove that. To improve my rankings, I haveto play many tournaments abroad, so I ampreparing for that as well."

Manika, who will take part in the BelgiumOpen, starting from September 23, and theSwedish Open, from November 15, also revealedthat she has plans to play for a European clubnext year but it's too early to speak on that, sheadded.

On her and Kamal's Bronze medal winningperformance in the semifinals of the mixed dou-bles match where they ended up with Bronze,Manika said she never wanted to come backempty-handed from Jakarta.

"It was not difficult, but, of course, since allAsians come together at the Asian Games, thechallenge is stiffer as compared toCommonwealth Games. In my mind, it wasthere that it would be difficult... but when Ireached Jakarta, I thought that I had to do some-thing here, I had to beat someone," she said.

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Brimming with confi-dence after winning a

Silver at the Asian Games,India's 400m hurdlerDharun Ayyasamy has sethis eyes on winning amedal at the AsianChampionships next year.

"My next immediatetarget is to win a medal atAsian championship. Idon't know what medal itwould be but I'm confi-dent of returning with amedal. Also there isWorld Championship(also in Qatar) and I wantto do well in that also,"said Dharun who hadclocked 48.96 seconds inJakarta.

"I am targeting 48.50next year. If I can do thatand keep improving andproduce 48.2 or 48.1 in2020 Olympics, it will begood enough to get into

the final. In track andfield, getting into the finalis a big achievement. Sothat is the target now," the21-year-old said.

Talking about hisAsian Games Si lver,Dharun said: "After qual-ification round I felt con-fident. I was in secondposition. Before the final,I was targeting theBronze. I knew beatingthe Qatar runner will bedifficult and also therewas a Japanese who wouldrun below 49 sec, butduring the race I had a lotof energy and I managedto get Silver."

Dharun, who repre-sented his state in kho-kho before switching toathletics, burst onto thenational scene when hewon the 400m hurdlesGold at the 2016 SouthAsian Games in Guwahatiwith a time of 50.54 sec-

onds. He was a part of theRio Olympics 4x400 relayteam.

His journey to AsianGames Silver has been atough one.

"After the Olympics, Iwas injured for a year. Itwas a shin bone injuryand then six months I hadto go through rehabilita-tion. It was difficult tomake a comeback," said

Dharun.Ahead of the Asian

Games in May, Dharunwas in Poland for a five-week training exposuretour but he injured him-self there.

"After reachingPoland, I had a hamstringinjury after a week. I tookrest for 10 days but therewas still pain when I stat-ed training. So I told my

coach that I need to take20 days rest and ranstraight in competition,"said Dharun, who createda new meet record at theNational Inter-StateAthletics Championshipin June in Guwahati.

Dharun, who hadbroken Joseph Abraham's400m hurdles nationalrecord with a timing of49.45 sec at theFederation Cup in March,also went for a trainingcamp in Czech Republic.

"Czech Republic wasgood for me as there wastraining and competitionalso. And European coun-tries are suitable. Wecould work hard andrecover also. I ran in 4-5competition and executeda few things. That expe-rience was good for me. Itboosted my confidenceas I went from AsianGames," he said.

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Asian Games Gold medallistJinson Johnson, says he wouldnot compete in 800m now and

focus just on 1500m since he con-siders himself a medal contender atthe Tokyo Olympics in the event.

Johnson was favourite to winboth 800m and 1500m but compatri-ot Manjeet Singh pipped him in athrilling finish in Jakarta.

However Johnson clocked 3:44.72to win the 1500m Gold medal.

''If you are focussing on theOlympics, there is no point compet-ing in both 800m and 1500m. I havespoken to my coaches and havedecided that my focus will be on1500m for Tokyo Olympics. I believeI will be a medal contender in Tokyo,''Johnson said on the sidelines of thefelicitation ceremony by the IndianArmy.

Olympics is a completely differ-ent ball game compared to Asiad butwhat makes Johnson confident is thetiming.

''Look at the medallists at the RioOlympics. The Gold medallist(Mathew Centrowitz of US) clocked3:50.00. Now look at my timing at theAsian Games. It is 3:44.72.

''So, in 1500m, It's not just aboutthe timing. The middle distance run-ning is all about strategy. You don'thave to necessarily create world recordto win Olympic Gold. Like my per-sonal best is 3:37.00 which is also a

national record,'' Johnson explained.He is currently training at the

national camp under Jayesh Bhatiaand will be leaving for CzechInvitational Championship onThursday.

''The event is on September 8 and9. I would be leaving on Thursday.Apart from myself, there is Neeraj, PUChithra, Arpinder Singh and SudhaSingh taking part,'' informed Johnson.

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ning boxer Amit Panghal onWednesday said that he mightundergo strength training in theUSA with the Indian Army's assis-tance to prepare his jump to the 52kgcategory for a shot at an Olympicmedal.

The 22-year-old won the 49kgcategory Gold earlier this month,making him only the eighth Indian

boxer ever with an Asiad Gold to hiscredit.

But amid widespread speculationthat the 49kg category will be axedfrom the Olympics to accommodate

more women's divisions, Panghal hasdecided to jump to the higherweight.

''Asian Games was my last com-petition in the 49kg category. Now

my entire focus will be on TokyoOlympics and for that I am switch-ing to 52kg category. The challengeof increasing the weight isn't thatgreat. The bigger challenge is to getadjusted to new weight,'' Panghalsaid.

''I have been told that I might besent to the United States for a spe-cial strength training programme. Istill don't know the details. TheArmy is going to sponsor my trip butdetails will be chalked out only aftertalking to the Boxing Federation ofIndia. Our coaches Santiago sir(Nieva) and (CA) Kuttappa sir willaccompany me,'' the diminutiveNaib Subedar, who is also aCommonwealth Games Silver-medallist, said. ''I am fully awareabout the challenges of a higherweight category. The height of theopponents will increase and thepower in the punches will be greater.But I am ready for the new chal-lenge,'' Panghal said.

However, unlike his senior VikasKrishan, who is set to turn profes-sional after a third successive Asiadmedal, Panghal has no such plans asof now.

''The Indian Army has helped mea lot in my journey so far. Whetherit's coaching facilities or other train-ing needs, we just need to tell themand everything is taken care of.When I don't train at NIS Patiala, Iam training at the Army SportsInstitute in Pune,'' he said.

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India's top singles player Yuki Bhambri and AsianGames Gold-medallist Divij Sharan have pulled

out of the Davis Cup World Group Play-off tieagainst Serbia dueto injuries whileSumit Nagal hasrefused to join theteam as a stand-bydue to prior com-mitments.

Sharan, whowon the men's dou-bles Gold withRohan Bopanna inPalembang, has suf-fered a tear in hisshoulder and Bhambri's knee injury flared up atthe US Open, where he lost in the first round toFrenchman Pierre-Hugues Herbert.

Saketh Myneni, who was a reserve in the six-man squad, will now be a playing member,replacing Bhambri.

N Sriram Balaji has replaced Sharan while tal-ented Pune player Arjun Kadhe will now travel toKraljevo as a reserve player for the September 14-16 tie.

"They have pulled out due to injuries. Divij hadundergone an MRI in the US and he said it revealeda minor tear which will require at least three weeksto heal. Yuki also has a knee issue," AITA selectioncommittee chairman S P Misra said.

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Ashique Kuruniyan andLalianzuala Chhangte struck

on either side of the break asdefending champions India com-fortably beat Sri Lanka 2-0 intheir opening encounter of theSAFF Cup football tournament onWednesday.

India started the game on ahigh tempo and Ashique showedhis intention within a couple ofminutes when he latched the firstattack from the left flank.

India, fielding the youngestteam in the competition, maderepeated inroads but the Islanderskept them at bay until the 36thminute when Ashique sped past hismarker and slotted it past a divingkeeper for his first internationalgoal.

India came close to doublingthe lead a number of times but forChhangte's narrow miss and a

number of acrobatic saves by theSri Lankan goalkeeper.

After the change of ends, India

scored within a couple of minutes.The trajectory of Chhangte's crossfrom the wide left was misread by

the Sri Lankan goalie and it hand-ed India a 2-0 lead.

Chhangte, by that time, hadchanged flanks and looked moreeffective down the left, the Islandershaving a torrid time to keep himin check.

Nikhil Poojary, who had a sea-son-long injury lay-off, was intro-duced after the hour-mark andtried his luck off a corner off aAniruddh Thapa corner but itsailed over the crossbar.

Farukh Chowdhury and sub-stitute Manvir Singh also had theirchances but were unable to cash indespite staying in advantageouspositions.

First, Farukh's shot hit the hor-izontal in the 75th minute andManvir failed to connect therebound, which would have beena sure shot third goal.

India now take on Maldives intheir next group league match onSunday.

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France star AntoineGriezmann insists he

deserves to be on the podiumfor this year's Ballon d'Or afterwinning the World Cup andmajor silverware with AtleticoMadrid.

Griezmann came third in2016 in the voting behindCristiano Ronaldo and LionelMessi for the most prestigiousindividual award in football,despite not winning anything.

That year was agonising forthe forward as he lost the Euro2016 final with France and theChampions League final withAtletico.

But this season fortune hassmiled on Griezmann, whostarred in France's triumphantWorld Cup winning campaignin Russia after an impressiveyear at Atletico, who won theEuropa League and UEFA SuperCup.

"Comparing 2016 and thisyear, for me I have to be in thetop three," the 27-year-old toldFrench sports daily L'Equipe.

"In 2016, I lost two finalsand was in the top three. Thistime I have won three finals."

Asked if not winning itwould be unfair, Griezmannreplied: "Not unfair, but I wouldwonder what more I could do.I have won three trophies, stoodout at decisive moments, but itis not me who votes."

Ronaldo and Messi havedominated the Ballon d'Or overthe last decade and thePortuguese superstar will be acontender again this year afterwinning the Champions Leaguewith Real Madrid.

But Griezmann, who reject-ed a move to join Messi atBarcelona in the close season,admits ending their strangleholdover the award would be special.

"I think about it, especiallythe closer I get to it. The Ballond'Or is a prestigious award, andit is the highest you can go as aplayer. There are trophies inyour league, in the World Cup,the Euro, but it's not the same,"he said.

However, there are signsthat Griezmann's glorious 2018on the field might not beenough.

UEFA gave their award forthe best player of last season toLuka Modric, skipper of theCroatia side that reached theWorld Cup final and aChampions League winner withReal.

And Griezmann was omit-ted, along with the rest of hisFrance team-mates, from thefinal three nominees for FIFA'splayer of the year award.

The finalists for that prizeare Modric, Ronaldo andMohamed Salah, the same threewho made up the podium forUEFA's award.

/��)$����2����2���� �1$��������4�Luis Suarez believesPaul Pogba should be challeng-ing for more trophies than he isat Manchester United and wouldalways be welcome at Barcelona.

Pogba has endured a turbu-lent two years since returning toOld Trafford for a then world-record fee of 105 million euros($121.7) and his relationshipwith coach Jose Mourinho hasbecome strained.

The 25-year-old rediscov-ered his best form away from hisclub, for France in the summer,when he inspired Les Bleus toWorld Cup glory in Russia,beating Uruguay and Suarez onthe way.

But since Alex Fergusonretired in 2013, United havefailed to go close in either thePremier League or ChampionsLeague, while Barca have wonthree La Ligas in that time andthe Champions League once.

"Pogba is an elite playerwho has won everything and wealways want to have the best,"Suarez told RAC1 on Tuesday.

"He is a player that has a lotof quality and who is one of thekey players at United, and Ithink he would like to competefor more than he is competingfor now.

"But that's how it is, hedoes not belong to Barcelona buthe will always be welcome."

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Backbiting is something that seemsto follow us everywhere. Evensince school, we have found our-

selves becoming a victim to this repul-sive act and unfortunately, little changedsince we stepped into the professionallife. People find immense pleasure insaying bad stuff about us behind ourbacks, just because they are jealous ofus or because they are getting bored andhave nothing better to do.

If you are one of the many victimsof backbiting, there are a few really sim-ply ways to handle the person or peo-ple slandering you.

If you hear a friend saying some-thing behind your back, you are unableto continue being a "normal" friend. Youhave a choice to try to mend the rela-tionship or go your own way.

Whatever you do, lying or pretend-ing will only hurt you in long run. Don'tsay anything that is not true or cover upthe truth (unless the truth is hurting theother person for no reason). You canconfront the person if you want but beprepared to face denial.

Do not accuse as you can tell themwhat you feel, but don't tell them howthey are or what kind of a friend theyare (or are not). It is MUCH more pow-erful to tell a friend that "you hurt myfeelings when you said..." than it is to say,"you are a horrible friend for saying ..."They cannot argue with the way you feel,but they will become more defensiveand hurtful to you (both at that momentand in the future) if you begin to accuse.All this does bring anger to you whenyou come to know that your friendreacted in a manner which was not

acceptable to you, but staying calm isprobably the best for you( mentally andphysically)

One of the best ways to handle back-biters is to simply ignore them. The veryfact that they are saying bad things aboutyou behind your back goes to prove thatthey do not respect you very much andtherefore feel no shame in gossipingabout you or being jealous of you. Whilegossip is a form of social entertainmentthat goes bigger and uglier with the pas-sage of time, jealousy is something thatis strong since the very first day.Someone may be finding it extremelyhard to digest your success and there-fore takes out his frustration by target-ing your reputation. Since both the gos-sipers and jealous people do not respectyou, it is best to ignore them. Do notgive them the satisfaction by showingany signs of distress or anger.

If the backbiting is making animpact on your personal or profession-al life, it is extremely important for youto put a stop to it. Identify the personwho is slandering you and confront him.Ask him why they are saying bad thingsabout you behind your back. Keepyour cool as it will encourage them totalk. Once you hear about the problem,sort it out in a civilised manner. You mayhave done something in the past to hurtthat person and therefore he may besimply taking revenge. Sort out the issueand return to a slander-free life.

You can make the slandering stop byletting the backbiter know that youknow what they are up to and showthrough your actions that you have for-given them. Extend a hand of friendship

to them once they stop the slandering,or simply ask them out for coffee. Bethere for them when they need somesort of help and always talk politely tothem. If the backbiter is making noeffort in hiding their hatred for you,then simply maintain a distance and iftalking to them cannot be avoided, doso with respect.

Make a group resolution to refrainfrom gossiping. Any time words are spo-ken that may direct the conversation togossip, remind one another to stop andchange the subject. Your friend mighthave a hilarious story to tell, but it won’tbe worth the consequences.

If you find yourself complaining toyour friends about a particular individ-ual a lot, interact with that person as lit-tle as possible. Have a tactless colleaguethat you can’t bear having lunch with?Make arrangements to eat lunch withother people instead.

If you must talk about someone elsein his or her absence, share only goodnews

If you sense that the conversation isheading toward gossip, try to change the

subject. If that fails, it might be a goodtime for you to excuse yourself from theconversation.

We all have that one friend who isthe source of the juiciest gossip andwould gladly tell you all that he or sheknows. If you find yourself constantlyjoining in, try your best to avoid thisperson in the future. If this friend glad-ly shares stories about people you know,chances are that they gossip about you,too.

It’s only natural to want to rant aftera negative experience. Rather than talk-ing to a friend who wouldn’t know whatto do anyway, write down your experi-ence or blog about it privately. You’ll feelbetter and you get to keep your resolu-tion to stop gossiping.

If you’ve been dragged into a situ-ation where gossip is taking place, trysaying something good about the sub-ject, or find rational reasons why he orshe may have acted that way. However,if you don’t have anything good to saythen it is wise to say nothing at all.

Instead of responding to gossipwith more negativity, put a positive spinon it. Remember that it doesn’t reflectwell on you when you gossip. Like thefriend who is the source of the juiciestgossip, people may lose their trust in youif they suspect that you gossip aboutthem, too.

Finally, put yourself in the shoes ofthe subjects of gossip. Imagine how theywould feel knowing that they’re beingtalked about. If you don’t like being thesubject of nasty gossip, then it’s best notto indulge in it yourself. After all, it mayjust come back to bite you.

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When you walk into the Dhan Millcompound through a tightly con-

trolled gate that keeps taxis out, you knowthat you’re walking into an exclusivespace. The OddBird Theatre is at the endof a lane and you can almost miss it.Located right next to a cafe, inside the the-atre you see a small lobby that leads up toan open floor space. On this evening, thetheatre was decked up for the third sea-son of the World’s Most ExperimentalBartender competition.

Six small island tables were person-alised by each team to represent their con-cept. The bartenders from across India hadteamed up with a chef, musician, photog-rapher, designer, perfumer and illusion-ist. The bartenders came from across thecountry. The competition sought to pushthem beyond flair, in which they use bartools like cocktail shakes, liquor bottles totake the simple shake and stir to juggling,flipping and manipulating flaming liquor.It is as thrilling for the customer lookingon as for the person performing. But thisis not just flair bartending. It is about cre-ating a multi-sensory theatre of experiencewoven around the essence of yourfavourite potion.

“This is about experimenting and cre-ating an experience for the consumerbeyond the glug. For example, a comedi-an makes a joke about a drink you haveordered, somebody could sing a songaround it or a chef could prepare an icecream out of the drink and create a zanycocktail. This competition was supposedto push the boundaries of what a whiskyor a cocktail can do. In different countries,they have different kinds of collaborators,from a barber to a shoemaker to a design-er to a painter. Last time, when I went toTaiwan I saw people making edible artusing whisky. The winner from India willbe competing at a global stage and thewinner there performs globally,” saysAngad Singh Gandhi, India brand ambas-sador of Glenfiddich.

The first team used perfumes withcocktails to overpower the senses. Theirtake on the speyside scotch was in puttingtogether a scented cocktail. “A perfume-based cocktail has never been attemptedbefore,” said mixologist Soumyadipta andperfumer Rajiv Sheth. Each cocktail isbased on a fragrance, which is perfect fora certain time of the day. We also metKrsna Mehta, the designer, whose teamwanted to honour Kerala, so their decorand presentation included banana leavesand flowers laid out in the shape of ahouseboat. A visual display also accom-panied Anushka Menon and Ami Shroff ’scocktail. Menon, a photographer, strungup a series of polaroid shots to show theprocess of making the drink they present-ed. Another duo, Chef Saby Gorai andmixologist Sanchayan Jana, both from east

India, infused their drink with their cul-ture. They used a herb called roselle, whichis easily available in that part of the coun-try. “He wanted to do this butter-washedvanilla whisky, for which we used whitebutter. My journey took me throughAssam and the Northeast where Rosellegrows very wildly. I have been using it forjam, chutney and preserves. It’s 100 percent organic and edible. It belongs to therose family, has a sour taste and can beused as a breakfast brew. So I said why nottry a roselle bitter out of it?” which themixologist did. “It’s bright red and we’ll topthe drink with the Glenfiddich deermade with butter. We might rim the glasswith roselle sugar to balance the sournessof the herb,” Gorai said. They garnishedthe deer with a paintbrush since Jana is theartiste in this space and dusted withroselle. The winning duo, musician SonamKalra and Rohan Matmary, said that it waseasy and smooth like whisky working witheach other. Their cocktail, Zaara, anUrdu word meaning “particle,” revolvedaround the message that regardless of itsproportion in the recipe, each ingredient

is equally important to create the right bal-ance. The cocktail was a heady mix ofGlenfiddich 12-year-old, infused withcranberry, tiny tangerines, egg white andsage infusion, hibiscus, and rhubarbwhich resonated well with the fruity andfloral notes of the single malt whisky. Themixologist mixed these seemingly dis-parate elements together, just as Sonamharmoniously blended beautiful melodieswith poetry.

“Rohan took inspiration from the kindof music that I make and I make musicwith a message. I have created the SufiGospel Project, which is an attempt to takethe voices of many diverse faiths and tryand create one universal voice,” Kalra said.The message was that you can find yourtruth anywhere, a temple, a church, amosque or a shrine and each truth isequally valid.

The competition is a push towards akind of bartending that is nascent at themoment and is an offshoot from flair bar-tending, which has been around since the1990s. It is about combining showmanshipand mixology together.

There is very little that one can drama-tise when the subject of a film is as

gritty and gut-wrenching as that ofPaltan. Not known to many, India andChina had a standoff in Nathu La in 1967,which is the longest stretch of border thatour country has with China. It started onSeptember 11, 1967 after the People’sLiberation Army (PLA) attacked Indianposts. The intense fight lasted for fourdays and the Indians held their groundand this clash happened years beforeDoklam.

The film took several years in themaking because the director and produc-er JP Dutta had undertaken extensiveresearch about the clashes in Nathu La.With this film, Dutta is coming back after12 years and completing a trilogy of warmovies that began with Border and wasfollowed up by LOC Kargil.

The veteran believes that makingpatriotic films comes with responsibilitysince one can’t make it look jingoistic. “Ifyou’re not realistic and tackling a subjectthat did happen then you are dabbling insomething you shouldn’t. Patriotism infilms is something that is, without disre-spect to contemporaries and juniors,forced,” he said.

He believed not much has changedbetween India and China when it cameto territorial claims. “The Sino-India sit-uation remains the same now as 1962; itstill claims Ladakh and ArunachalPradesh. They haven’t changed theirstance at all. When a single Indian min-ister lands in Tawang, China creates sucha hue and cry. At the end of the day, weare getting upset because ArunachalPradesh is part of our country. It belongsto India and yet we have to take permis-sion to go there. As long as they keepclaiming one part of our country, the sit-uation won’t change,” he said. However,the director doesn’t believe that Indianeeds to turn aggressor to assert control.He claimed that our country is a libera-tor and loves peace. “We have alwaysdefended because of invasions. Now thatwe have our freedom, we are one peopleand one nation we should try and keepit together. Look at Vietnam, when asuperpower like America could lose to thesmall country we should remember thatthe spirit matters,” he said.

Asked why he continues to make warmovies, he said, “I want to tell people tohave that spirit then we can take on anypower. We’ll never be slaves again and Imake these movies to give the ArmedForces respect and their due and make

them immortal.” To bring authenticity to the pic-

turisation of a war, real guns and bul-lets were used. The shooting was donemostly in Ladakh and instead of juniorartists real soldiers of the Indian army canbe seen in the film. The film stars JackieShroff, who was also in Border, Arjun

Rampal, Sonu Sood, Gurmeet Choudharyand Harshvardhan Rane. All of theactors unanimously said that to work ina war film, JP Dutta is the best person withthe knowledge and experience.

“The minute you have live ammuni-tion on you, your body language andresponsibility changes and that translateswell on screen,” said Rampal. He plays LtCol. Rai Singh, a Mahavir Chakra hero.Rampal talked about his military past; hispaternal and maternal grandfathers werein the forces and he has grown up seeingthe austerity of an army life. “I drew influ-ence from my grandparents for thisrole,” he said. An exchange programbetween the Indian and British forces had

been instated before the Indian indepen-dence and it was continued post 1947 aswell. “Both Lt. Col. Rai Singh and mymaternal grandfather had been part of theprogram. I figured that both would bekind of similar, in terms of being greatstrategists, well-read and have good con-trol over their unit. Rai Singh leads fromthe front and doesn’t sit in the bunkerslike officers,” he said.

Choudhary, who also has links to thearmy, recollected his past, “My father wasin the army. I have studied in an armyschool. I have seen my father in a uniformand how grand it looks. I lived in armyquarters and knew a lot about the armedforces before taking on the film. If not foran actor, I would have been in the army.I really wanted to be an actor though, andran away to Mumbai despite clearing thephysical part of the entrance exam for thearmy.”

According to Sood, an actor’s filmog-raphy is not complete until they play anarmy officer. “I was cast for LOC Kargilbut unfortunately I couldn’t do it thenbecause I was shooting for another film.Then I got another call from JP sir sev-eral years later when he was casting forPaltan and he said we’re doing the filmtogether,” the actor, who plays MajorBhishan Singh, said. The fitness enthu-siast said that he woke up during the earlyhours to go for a run in Ladakh whileshooting and the actors would work outtogether. He said there was no gym in thehotel initially. There were just two dumb-bells and he asked for a gym to be set up.By the end of the two months, the hotelstaff had also been converted into avidgym lovers. “I’m glad we could pass thefitness mantra to them as well andinstalled a gym where there was nonebefore,” he said.

Rane, who made his Bollywooddebut with Sanam Teri Kasam, too is arunaway to Mumbai, who made it big.“I’m playing the character of MajorHarbhajan Singh and he’s an intense per-son because of the violence he witnessedin 1962. My character is the only one from18 Rajput, the rest are from Grenadiersregiment. His character is just and right-eous. There is a dwar in Nathu La com-memorating him and he’s a MahavirChakra awardee. I met his niece and shewas very happy with my performance,” hesaid.

“I grew up in an army cantonmentarea in Gwalior and my grandfather wasa Colonel with the Grenadiers. I didn’t getto know him since he had passed awayearly but I used to interact with the rem-nants, his clothes, pictures, badges andrifles. I used to hear stories through mygrandmother and I finally got to interactwith the soldiers one-on-one. There is noother job on this planet that puts your lifein danger. They showed us their bulletwounds and scars as easily as we show asmall scratch. Despite the danger, they goback to the border areas and I salute themand their families,” he added.

Rane, who replaced AbhishekBachchan in the film and signed a three-film contract with Dutta, had an interest-ing story about co-star Shroff. “He likedmy shirt that I had bought from the mil-itary store so I bought one for him tooafter the end of the shoot for the day. Thenext morning, when I went up to him inthe morning, he was sitting in only redbriefs and soaking in the sun. I gave himthe shirt and he gave me his Ray bans,which I had liked, but without me ask-ing for it,” he said.

What happens when someof the most opinionatedfeminist minds come

together to discuss about genderinjustice and women empower-ment? A plethora of questions getlined up on the fore to raise cer-tain issues on women’s rights andgender equality.

The first roundtable sessionon ‘The Power of Women,’ fea-tured Bollywood actors KanganaRanaut and Gul Panag, SwatiMaliwal, chairperson of Delhicommission for women, and fash-ion designer-turned-politicianShaina NC. Together, they dis-cussed how to strike a balancewhile wearing different kinds ofhats on the path of womenempowerment.

Kangana, who has alwaysbeen vocal, not just in her choic-es but even in the characters sheportrays, used the platform todrive change. She says, “We arestill struggling as women withexceptionally primitive things likeequal pay for equal work. It isquite shameful that we still haveto fight for it. The right to movefreely and without judgement is

again another primitive thingthat the women of our society arestruggling with. That’s not how itshould be, these issues must bepointed out and spoken about. Wemust make sure that they areresolved with proper enforce-ment of laws. The society is in abad shape, I must say.” She added,“Women are absolutely beautifuland if the feminine ceases toexist, the world will turn ugly. It’simportant for women to get sup-port from every sphere and notjust one.”

In a recent research byMckinsey, it’s been indicated thatequal participation in the workforce by women and men wouldadd up to 28 trillion dollars or 26per cent to the annual global GDPby 2025. However, to achievegender equality we have to urgent-ly focus on eliminating the manyroot causes of discrimination andviolence that still curtail womenrights.

Where does our society standin terms of vulgarity? “I think weare really in a bad situation. Everyday, four rape cases happen in thiscountry. In Delhi, which is also

called the rape capital of theworld, six rape cases happen bru-tally no matter the age. It’s so hor-rifying. It is really sad that despitebeing the chairperson of Delhicommission for women, anddespite writing, appealing, meet-ing politicians and going to thecourt, I couldn’t find out the

solution. Finally, I had to sit on a10-day hunger strike and now thegovernment has come up with anordinance, which has become alaw, that says at least in the cases

of rape of children the accused willbe given death penalty within sixmonths. Yet, we do have a longway to go. The solution is toimplement the existing laws, thatensure strict action taken againstthe crime, so that there can be jus-tice,” says Maliwal. Panag put theonus of change in society on theyouth and said it was their respon-sibility to fight the forces of patri-archy, which can be seen in sim-ple gestures of forcing women tocompete against each other.

In memory of Mother Teresa,on the UN International Day ofCharity, the second edition of theXIN Philanthropy Conference2018 was hosted by the privatecharity fund, Alibaba Foundationand UCWeb (UC). According to

the global company, technologycan help lower the barrier for eachindividual to participate in it andunleash “The Power of Small” todrive big change for public welfare.

“As the world’s first internetcompany that integrates charityinto its core strategy Alibaba’s phil-anthropy is without a border.That’s why we brought this con-ference to India. This is also thefirst time our internet plus phil-anthropy model has set its foot onthe global path,” said ShunyanZhu, president of UC.

Robin Raina, chairman andCEO of Ebix Inc. and the founderof the Robin Raina Foundation,took inspiration from the Chinesecompany and added that trans-parency has to be a part of phil-

anthropy today. “First and foremost, the way

of doing charity is through atechnological intensive way. It’sreally important to get the mes-sage to the audience across theworld to maximise the reach.The second most essential part ofit is doing it in a transparent wayso that nobody could questionyou,” he said. To him, transperan-cy means being able to trackevery single penny, every donationthrough the medium of the inter-net. “If we have such advancedtechniques today, why not use itfor betterment and reformed prac-tices? If technology is fused withtransperancy in an intensive man-ner, nothing could beat the act ofphilanthropy and charity,” he said.

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Aeroflot recently celebrated its 60 yearsof regular air service between the

Indian and Russian capitals. The airline start-ed its India operations with one weekly flightfrom Delhi to Moscow. In view of theincrease in demand and interest among theIndian travellers for Russia, the airlineincreased its frequency in the spring of 2016to two daily flights between Delhi andMoscow.Kidisyuk Sergey explains that an average of500 seats is available on the two daily flightsbetween Delhi and Moscow. He said,“During the summer time, the traffic fromIndia to Russia is significantly higher. Indiantravellers are showing more and more inter-

est in our product and prefer Aeroflot to notjust to fly between the two capitals but also

beyond Moscow to a larger network of interna-tional destinations of our airline.”

Given its size and potential as well as positive legacyof bilateral ties with Russia, India remains a priority

market for Russia's largest airline. Sergey elaborates,“Taking into consideration that India is a huge country

and the demand is growing, we shall consider beginningoperations to new destinations in India soon. Currently we

do not have any code-share agreements with the Indian car-riers but we have partnered with Air India and Jet Airways.

We are looking at collaborating with our new interline part-ner Vistara as well.” The general manager pointed out that the

airline is working with renowned Indian travel agencies andhas a big agency network.

It is important to note that Aeroflot’s fleet is one of the youngestin the world with an average age of the fleet at four years. The

fleet consists of Airbus A320, B737, Airbus A330, B777 and SukhoiSuperJets-100 aircraft. As of August 1, Aeroflot includes 245 pas-senger aircraft. The year 2017 was a record-setting one for theMoscow-Delhi route where the airline carried almost 290,000 pas-

sengers, a 50 per cent year-on-year increase.The Moscow-Delhi route is strategically important for Aeroflot

as it aims to further grow transit traffic between Europe andAsia. Sergey added, “Passengers choose Russia's leading air-

line to travel from Delhi to destinations in Russia andEurope. Among Aeroflot's competitive advantages are ourcompetitive fares, high-quality service and convenient

transit via the airline’s hub at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo air-port.” The Aeroflot transit passengers connecting between India andEurope enjoy the shortest air-time and award-winning service.

Finding and balancing thesymphony among differ-

ences is life. The moreaccommodating the socialstructure is, the more peace-ful life is. T21 in Down Lanesby Utpal Kant Mishra is abook about this symphonyand zest for life amongstdifferences. The centraltheme adopted in the book isof a difference that has asevere impact and delvesinto the tests humanityundergoes all the time.

T21 in Down Lanes is anarrative of a chromosomal‘anomaly’ which though is anatural phenomenon, but isconsidered a disability with-in the socio-economic set up.A ‘typical’ human has 46chromosomes andthe protagonist ofT21 in Downs Lane,Jay Siddhartha Roy,has one extra chro-mosome. He has 47.This natural mark-up is named‘Trisomy 21’ or the‘Down Syndrome.’

“Life has myriaddifferences and mostof them are invisible.The world where welive in is our home, for thetime being, and in our viva-cious home, no two person isthe same. To me; this is theprelude to all the stories. Inthe literary world, these sto-ries are also differentiated into genres. But mostly thecharacters and the themesremain the same,” saysMishra.

Scouting for a story, theyoung journalist in Aashimacomes across Jay, the ‘differ-ently different’ son of Ayeshaand Siddhartha Roy, whohas just passed his gradua-tion with a first-class. Ashimaencounters Jay’s mother, aworried yet strong and deter-mined woman and a diary ofhis father that reveals thepain, trials and tribulations ofthe entire family. Jay’s wistful-

ness combined with hisfather’s diary entries has theability to pull the level-head-ed Aashima into a vortex ofemotions so strong that sheembarks on a mission toseek unconditional psycho-logical acceptance for T21people from the ‘typicals.’The story has a hint ofromance and also helps onelook at the brighter side oflife. It has a message for thesubjects and the parents ofthe ones with the extra chro-mosome.

A story of struggle, dis-enchantment, determinationand success, the book claimsto be a mirror to the society’sattitude towards those whoare different. Written in an

intense and infor-mative manner,the book gives usan insight intoTrisomy 21, thecondition, caus-es, effects andproblems associ-ated with thesame but do notend at that. Thesolution to theproblem is also

spelt out in a subtle yet,effective manner. “Care toread it and understand it,I'm sure you’ll find that youtoo can be the solution,spending neither your timenor money, but by simplychanging your outlook andattitude towards the T21human beings,” says Mishra.

This book is high on fac-tual value. When you areover with the story and areinterested to know more,there is an InformationBooklet at the end for yourreference.

This is probably the firstfiction by any Indian authorwhich deals with such a sub-ject. The author has treadedan unknown path and youare sure going to walkthrough the ‘Downs Lane’once you start reading it.

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The Minister of State forCommunications (I/C) andRailways (I/C), Manoj Sinha,

believes that education is an ongoingprocess and everyone needs a teacherat various stages of their lives. Eventhough multiple search engines haveemerged as providers of informationand facts, they cannot replace the roleplayed by a mentor. He was speakingat the Teacher's Day celebrations at theNational Institute of Open Schooling(NIOS) in Noida.

Sinha said, “NIOS is doing a greatjob in providing relevant and holisticeducation to all. The institute has to belauded for its efforts in reaching out tothe grassroots to educate the under-privileged and the economically weak,which had to drop out of schools. Youhave set a unique model of flexible

access to quality school education andskill development. Today, the face ofeducation is changing. With technolog-ical advancement, teaching methodsalso have to be adapted and it is com-mendable that NIOS has managed totrain more than 15 lakh teachers to beupdated and equipped to teach well. Itis important for students to understandwhat they are studying and what pur-pose it will serve them in the largerobjective of nation building.”

The celebratory event was gracedby V R Mehta, the former vice chan-cellor of Delhi University as the guestof honour. According to Mehta, edu-cation should foster analysis and

encourage students to develop theirindependent identities. He said,“Knowledge should not be confusedwith wisdom which helps to distinguishbetween right and wrong. The mind-set has to change to allow innovations

and experiments and an enquiryapproach has to be encouraged amongyoung minds.”

The NIOS chairman, C B Sharma,cited Prime Minister Narendra Modi’scomments to use satellites for long dis-

tance education and explained howNIOS has pioneered in achieving thisgoal. “The Swayam Prabha is a groupof 32 DTH channels devoted to tele-casting high-quality educational pro-grammes round the clock. This allowsstudents to choose the time of theirconvenience to learn whatever they areinterested in. We are launching a newchannel for students with hearingimpairment where the courses will betaught in sign language. This is toensure that no child is left out from thepurview of knowledge.

We have reached the army bunkerswith courses for the army personnelwho wish to continue studying; to har-ness the potential of the handloomindustry, we have developed courses forweavers to ensure that vocational tal-ent is not lost.”

The event also showcased a shortdocumentary detailing many otherinitiatives of the institute for the audi-ence. NIOS also honored its variousteachers for their contribution in dis-tinctive fields on the occasion ofTeacher's Day among dance perfor-mances presented by the students.

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Defending champion RafaelNadal survived an epic USOpen quarter-final confronta-

tion to defeat battling ninth seedDominic Thiem 0-6, 6-4, 7-5, 6-7(4/7), 7-6 (7/5) and reach the semi-finals for the seventh time.

In a gripping 4-hour 49-minutecontest which concluded at 2:04 am onWednesday, world number one Nadalwon through to keep his bid for afourth title in New York and 18thGrand Slam crown on track.

However, the 32-year-old was for-tunate to triumph on another hot andhumid night at Flushing Meadows, 24hours after Roger Federer had beendumped out of the tournament byJohn Millman.

After suffering a first set 'bagel',Nadal had to battle back from breaksin the third and fourth sets before see-ing off the first top 20 player he hadfaced at the US Open since 2013.

"I suffered, that's the right word,"said Nadal after playing his longestever match at the tournament.

"I said to Dominic I am sorry. He'sa great guy, a close friend who willhave many more opportunities to winthe big titles."

Nadal had defeated Thiem in theRoland Garros final in June but thiswas their first meeting away from aclay court.

"He has a great attitude and is agreat fighter," added Nadal.

In a dramatic final set, Nadal sawfive break points come and go beforeThiem went long with a smash on thefirst match point.

It was his 58th unforced error ona night when he sent down 18 aces andfired 74 winners.

The semi-final will pit Nadalagainst third seed Juan Martin delPotro for the second successive GrandSlam.

At Wimbledon, Nadal came backfrom two sets to one down to win infive in a quarter-final which stretchedto almost five hours.

Thiem broke three times in a 24-minute first set on Tuesday, handingNadal just his third 'bagel' at a GrandSlam.

The top seed won just sevenpoints in the opener.

"I told myself 'wake up'," saidNadal.

Nadal recovered from being bro-ken as he served for the second set in

the ninth game with an immediatebreak back to level the contest.

Thiem then grabbed a 4-3 lead inthe third which he stretched to 5-3 butthen it was his turn to crack as Nadal

raced away with three games to claima two sets to one lead.

Thiem was 4-2 ahead in the fourthset before he was again reeled in andhe was two points from defeat in the

12th game.But he took the tiebreaker before

Nadal just proved the steadier of thetwo in the final set decider.

Del Potro reached the semi-finalsfor the third time, defeating John Isner6-7 (5/7), 6-3, 7-6 (7/4), 6-2 and end-ing American hopes of a first men'schampion at the event since 2003.

Del Potro dropped his first set ofthe tournament against 11th seedIsner, who was playing in his maidenquarter-final at his home Slam.

Despite that, the 29-year-old wasnever broken in the 3 hour 31 minutematch where Isner unleashed 26 acesbut was undone by 52 unforced errorscompared to Del Potro's 14.

"To reach the semi-final again herein New York in my favourite tourna-ment is very special to me," said DelPotro after his eighth win over Isnerin 12 meetings.

"To play John in these kind ofmatches, it's like an epic.

"We fought the whole match andI survived with my serve which waskey."

Del Potro admitted the 33-degreetemperatures proved a real challengewith the 10-minute heat rule allowingthe players a welcome respite after thethird set.

"I had a shower, lay onthe table and I didn't want tocome back again. It was too

hot toplay tennis,"he joked.

Isner saidhe needed tochange hisshirt 11times.

I s n e rpaid tributeto Del Potro.

" H e ' smaybe play-ing some ofthe best ten-nis ever rightnow for him,"said theAmerican.

Wednesday'squarter-finals will see two-time cham-pion Novak Djokovic face Millman,the world number 55.

Marin Cilic will face Kei Nishikoriin a repeat of the 2014 final won by thegiant Croat.

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Six-time champion Serena Williams shook offa sluggish start to power past eighth-seed-

ed Karolina Pliskova 6-4, 6-3 and into the USOpen semi-finals.

The US superstar, chasing a record-equalling 24th major title, surrendered an earlybreak to Pliskova, but she roared back with astreak of eight straight games to put away theopening set and take a 4-0 lead in the secondagainst the woman who beat her in the semi-finals at Flushing Meadows in 2016.

"I just wanted to play better," Williams saidof her mindset as she trailed 3-1 in the first onTuesday.

"I was thinking, you know, I can play bet-ter, so that was the good news."

Williams did indeed cut down on theerrors, and came up with the big serves whenshe needed them.

She finished the match with 13 aces andwill take on Anastasija Sevastova for a place in

the final after the 19th-seeded Latviantoppled defending champion SloaneStephens 6-2, 6-3.

Pliskova, who managed to convertjust two of 12 break point chances in the

contest, said Williams was simply too good inthe important moments.

"She hit all first serves on the break points,which is always a little bit tougher to return,"Pliskova said.

"The second set, she was just mixing theserve. She was going a lot of wide. Not muchthat I could do on the break points."

"I really feel like right now I'm playing freebecause I was having a baby this time last year,so I have nothing to prove," said Williams, whois seeking her first major title since her daugh-ter Olympia was born on September 1 of 2017.

With a win she would break out of a tie withChris Evert for most US Open titles, and equalMargaret Court's all-time record for GrandSlams.

��������/�������������)FWorld number three Stephens, refused to

blame the punishing afternoon heat andhumidity for her lapses against Sevastova,including an inability to convert any of sevenbreak chances in the opening set.

"When you don't play big points well, thematch can get away from you," she said.

"Mentally, physically, I just wasn't con-

necting."After taking a 4-1 lead in the second set,

Sevastova admitted she had flash backs to lastyear's quarter-finals, when an 83rd-rankedStephens rallied from a break down in the thirdto upset Sevastova in a tiebreaker.

Indeed Stephens fought back to narrow thegap to 4-3, but Sevastova grabbed another breakwith a well-timed drop shot for a 5-3 lead andsealed the victory on her third match pointwhen a weary Sephens put a backhand into thenet.

"I lost my nerves a little bit," Sevastovaadmitted.

"I think she lost also her nerves a little bit,it's normal. It's for semi-finals of US Open."

The defeats of Stephens and Pliskovacompleted the exodus of top 10 seeds, althoughPliskova noted that Williams' 17th seeding —nine spots above her world ranking as she con-tinues her post-baby comeback — was notreflective of her true abilities.

"She's 17, but she's not a player whichshould be 17," Pliskova said.

The semi-final lineup will be completed onWednesday when Carla Suarez Navarro takeson 2017 runner-up Madison Keys and Japan'sNaomi Osaka faces Lesia Tsurenko.

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India have lost the Test series inEngland but coach Ravi Shastri insists

that the current lot is travelling betterthan the teams of the last 15-20 years.

India lost by 62 runs in the fourthTest at Southampton to go 1-3 down inthe five-match series.

"As hard as our guys tried, Englandwere one-up on us there. Nothing to takeaway (from them), the endeavour of thisteam is to travel well, compete and win.If you look at the last three years, we havewon nine matches overseas and threeseries (against West Indies and twice inSri Lanka)," said Shastri here onWednesday.

"I can't see any other Indian team inthe last 15-20 years that has had the samerun in such a short time, and you havehad some great players playing in thoseseries. So the promise is there, and it'sjust about getting tougher mentally.

"You have got to hurt when you losematches because that's when you lookwithin and come out with the right kindof answers to combat such situations andget past the finishing line. One day youwill if you believe," said Shastri.

The head coach underlined theneed to grow mentally tougher in orderto cross the finishing line and win Testseries in overseas conditions, somethingVirat Kohli had stressed on after the loss

at Southampton."I think you have got to get tough

mentally. We have run teams closeoverseas and we have been competed.But now it's not about competing (anylonger). We have to win games from hereonwards. Now the endeavour is tounderstand where you made the mis-takes, take it head on and try to correctit.

"The scoreline says 3-1, which

means India, have lost the series. Whatthe scoreline doesn't say that India couldhave been 3-1 or it could have been 2-2, and my teams knows it. They wouldhave been hurt and rightly so after thelast game. But this is a team that will notthrow in the towel," he said ahead of thefifth and final Test starting here onFriday.

Talking about what the batsmen cando to improve and cross the finish line,he said, "I think shot selection left a lotto be desired. We blew away a very goodposition straight away after tea on daytwo (in Southampton). That's an areawhere you can tighten, and be aware ofwhat the team needs. Being aware of thematch situation will be a big help. I thinkthat was crucial more than anything else.

"I thought at 180-4, there was a def-inite chance of a 75-80-run lead, and thatwould have been crucial. So that hurts.Edgbaston could have gone either waybecause we had our share of luck as well.At one time England were in the driver'sseat; we managed to come back. Butthere was a stage where you could havebeen really ahead of the game, after thejob the bowlers did on day one."

Shastri said that Moeen Ali was thekey difference between the two sides, andhe bowled better than R Ashwin, hittingthe rough patches more than the Indianoff-spinner. While it looks increasinglylikely that Ashwin will miss out on the

fifth Test, the coach said that the spin-ner was fully fit when picked in thefourth Test and that Ali simply bowledbetter.

"Ashwin was fit. You have to givecredit to Moeen Ali there on the last day.To be honest, he bowled magnificently.I think it's straightforward (differencebetween them) - very simple, veryobvious, it was there for everyone to see.Moeen hit those patches more thanAshwin, as simple as that," said Shastri.

He also complimented CheteshwarPujara for his first innings' hundred andsaid that while conditions have beentough for batsmen, they need to find away to stay in the middle.

"You obviously need the top orderto give you a start but if you look at bothsides its not been easy for the top order.The bowling has been good, reallygood, and it's been a challenge and it ishow you overcome that challenge.

"In the prevailing situation, thekind of pitches we're playing on, theamount of movement there is with theDukes ball - it's challenging for the bats-men. It's not just us; even batsmen fromthe other side have struggled. When youare set, you need to capitalize."

Talking about Pujara's knock, hesaid: "Pujara's was an absolutely khadoos(stubborn/strict) innings."

When asked about Hardik Pandya'sability to bat number six, and the need

for flexibility in bowling attack, the coachreplied, "When you're young, you've gotto be thrown into the deep end. You'vegot to persevere and see, if it works orit doesn't work. If it doesn't work,there'll be another option.

"But you have to give that opportu-nity when you think there is that talentthere. And stick with that. You alwayshave to be flexible. You can't be rigid inyour thinking. You've got to be flexible,you've got to see the conditions, see whatconditions will be like day after tomor-row. And then take the call (on playingfour bowlers)."

Shastri also paid a rich tribute to theformer England skipper who debutedagainst India at Nagpur in 2006.

"I saw his first Test match, saw himgetting a hundred in Nagpur. He's beenone of England's greatest cricketers - noquestion. He always came across a men-tally tough bloke, real tough cookie. Asfar as I am concerned, there were timesin his career when he batted where he didlook the master chef.

"He might not go down as one of thebest-looking, fluent batsmen, but myword he was effective. Playing in theseconditions for that length of time, wherethe ball does move and it's a chal-lenge for an opening batsman —I think he's been simply out-standing. Good luck to him (forthe future)," Shastri signed off.

����� �-��-�

England opener Alastair Cook says hedecided to call it quits since he had lost

the mental edge with which he managedall his tasks with ease.

The fifth and final Test begins at theOval on Friday, and with the hostsalready 3-1 up, it will be the last inter-national match of Cook's 12-year-longcareer.

"I've always had that mentaledge, I have always been mentallyincredibly tough and had that edgeto everything I have done but thatedge had kind of gone. The thing Ihad found easy before was not quitethere and to me that was the biggestthing," Cook said.

Asked about the decision to calltime on his long career, Cook replied,"It's hard to put into words but therehave been signs in my mind over the lastsix months. I told Joe Root before thegame (in Southampton) and then TrevorBayliss during the game. In this day and ageit's very difficult to keep anything quiet. Ifit were 2-2 I'd have kept my mouth shut."

"When you get asked questions (fromthe media) it's hard to constantly lie. I'vebeen pretty good at it! But there's certainstuff when you're asked questions you

know you're not being true to yourself.There might be a bit of fuss aboutit and if it were 2-2 I'd have kept my

mouth shut.""At Southampton, I was a cou-

ple of beers in which I needed tobe otherwise I would have criedmore than I actually did. I managedto hold it together. At the end of thegame I just said 'this might be goodnews for some and sad for othersbut it's time. I've done my bit and ifpicked the next game will be my last

one.' That's kind of all I said. There wasa bit of silence, Moeen Ali said some-thing, we all laughed and everyone goton with it. We had a nice evening in thechanging room.

Cook also led England in 59 Testsand 92 ODIs. He termed the Ashes winin Australia (under Andrew Strauss) in

2010-11 and the 2-1 series' win in Indiaunder his leadership (in 2012) as the high-lights of his record-breaking career.

����� )�����2 2

India A collapsed to 163 all out on a turning track asleft-arm spinner Jon Holland took a six-wicket haul to

set up a 98-run victory for Australia A in the first unof-ficial Test at the Chinnaswamy stadium hereonWednesday.

Holland bagged nine wickets in the match, surpass-ing his previous best of 8 for 68 in the longer format ofthe game. In the second innings, he bagged six wicketsfor 81 runs.

Australia A made a brilliant comeback in the matchafter they had been skittled out for 243 after thedevastating bowling performance by pacer

Mohammed Siraj, who ended up with a career-best fig-ures of 8 for 59 in the first innings.

The visitors then restricted India A to 274all out in their first innings with Michael Neser

and Holland, sharing seven wickets amongthemselves.

Though conceding 31 runs lead, Australiadid well to post 292 all out in their second

innings, setting a 262-run target, after Travis Headmade a crucial 87 on a wearing track.

Resuming at overnight 63 for 2 on fourth andfinal day's play, India A lost wickets at regular

intervals before they folded their secondinnings at 163.

Opener Mayank Agarwal, who wasbatting at overnight score of 25, scored

a plucky 80. He was the only batsmanwho weathered Australian attack ledby Holland.

At 106 for three after AnkitBawne's departure (25), India A lostthree quick wickets, including SrikarBharat and Krishnappa Gowtham's,who failed to open their accounts.

Holland and Brendan Doggettran through the lower order bats-men by sharing four wickets amongthemselves, as India A slumpedfrom 126 for 6 to 163 all out.

India A coach Rahul Dravidsaid that inform batsman AnkitBawne's wicket was probably the

turning point of the game."May be, Ankit's wicket could

have been the turning point. It was unfortunate that theway he got out. If Mayank and Bawne had batted a bitlonger. So who knows," he told reporters at the post-matchpress conference.

Dravid also felt the team's batting could have beenbetter as except Mayank Agarwal and Ankit Bawne, noother batsmen managed to cope up with the turning ballon a deteriorating pitch.

"It was not an easy wicket to bat on. Ankit (91 in firstinnings) and Mayank (80 in second innings) showed howto get runs. Unfortunately, not more than a couple of ourguys did that. But overall, it was a good challenge andlearning experience for our players," Dravid said.

����� �����-��

Divyansh Singh Panwar andShreya Agarwal netted a Bronze

in the 10m air rifle mixed team juniorevent but India's senior shootersdrew a blank on day four of the ISSFWorld Championships here.

Divyansh and Shreya first tookthe fifth and final qualification spotamong 42 teams with a score of 834.4and then shot a combined 435 in thefinals to fetch the third place onWednesday.

Another Indian pairing ofElavenil Valarivan and HridayHazarika finished 13th with a scoreof 829.5 in the same event.

India now have three Gold, threeSilver and three Bronze medals afterfour days of competition at the pres-tigious International Shooting SportFederation (ISSF) tournament.

It is already their best ever show-ing and the country is currentlyplaced joint third in the medal stand-

ings behind hosts Korea, Russia andChina.

However, junior medal couldnot hide the disappointing show ofthe senior shooters.

The championship is the firstqualifying event for the 2020 OlympicGames in Tokyo and for the secondday in a row, India failed to fetch anyquota place.

In the men's 50m Rifle Pronecompetition, Chain Singh finished14th with a score of 623.9, followed

by the Asian Games Silver-medallistSanjeev Rajput at a distant 48thposition with a 620.0 against hisname.

The team of Singh, Rajput andGagan Narang finished 15th with acombined score of 1856.1.

In the women's 50m Rifle Prone,Tejaswini Sawant was the best-placedIndian at 28th with a score of 617.4.

Anjum Moudgil, who fetched aquota place in the women's 10m airrifle event on Monday, finished 33rdwith a score of 616.5.

In the junior 10m Air Pistol forwomen, Abhidnya Patil took the13th spot with a score of 568. Patilcombined with Saurabh Chaudharyfor the 10m air pistol mixed teamBronze on Tuesday.

Anjum and Apurvi Chandelaare so far the only Indian shooters tosecure quota places for the Olympicsby winning a Silver and finishingfourth respectively in the women's10m air rifle event.

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