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R ashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) functionary Suresh ‘Bhaiyyaji’ Joshi on Sunday reminded the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) Government to fulfil its promise of constructing a grand Ram Temple at Ayodhya and demanded the Union Government to enact a legis- lation, if need be, to facilitate the construction. Thousands of people gath- ered at Ramlila Maidan in Central Delhi on Sunday for the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) rally to press for the construction of Ram Temple in Ayodhya, days before Parliament’s Winter Session commences. Addressing the VHP rally, Joshi launched a veiled attack on the Union Government saying, “Those in power today had promised to construct Ram Temple. They should lis- ten to people and fulfil the demand of temple in Ayodhya. They are aware of the senti- ments.” Without naming the BJP, Joshi added, “We are not begging for it.” Joshi reminded the BJP of its Palampur resolution on Ram Temple and said there is no other option and the Government needs to come forward showing courage for this holy work. “They had passed a reso- lution that ‘Ram Mandir Wahin Banayenge’. Now the time has come to respect that resolution. Without any hesitation, they should move ahead towards fulfilling their commitment,” Joshi said in presence of thou- sands of Lord Ram devotees, saints and religious gurus. Joshi said the judiciary has its own way, but in a democ- racy, Parliament has its own rights and the present Government should take ini- tiatives in the direction of for- mulating a law. “There is no other option. For this holy work, they need to come forward showing courage. This is the request of all Ram bhakts. We are not beg- ging. We are expressing our views. The power has a big role in respecting these sentiments. I believe that those is power will understand these sentiments and will take positive steps,” he said. Joshi said the construc- tion of Ram temple would bring “Ram Rajya” in the coun- try and till the time it gets con- structed, the movement will go on. “How long we will see lord Ram living in a temporary arrangement? This should end. There is a need for one last push. We all want to see lord Ram in the grand temple. The construction of temple will lay foundation of Ram Rajya in the country. It will decide, on which way the country will move ahead. Till the construc- tion of temple, the movement will continue,” he said amid chants of “Jai Sree Ram” and “Ram Lala Hum Aayenge, Mandir Wahi Banayenge”. “The power is not supreme but it plays an important role. Those sitting in the corridors of power need to understand the public sentiment. I believe that they are not only aware of it but are also in agreement on the issue of temple,” Joshi said. Addressing the gathering, Sadhvi Ritambhara said the Government should listen to its “own” people and pave the way for the construction of a grand Ram temple in Ayodhya. Apno ki awaz apno ko sunana chahiye aur Ram mandir ka marg prashast hona chahiye,” she said. She also took a dig at the BJP for ignoring the senti- ments of Hindus. “Those who were talking about Lord Ram are enjoying power but Lord Ram is still in tent. It’s very painful to see Lord Ram in tents. There’s no mean- ing of constructing big statues of Lord Ram unless a grand Ram temple is constructed in Ayodhya. The use of power exists in putting India’s pride in its place,” Sadhvi said. Lokesh Muni, a dharma guru of Jain communi- ty, asked the Government to bring a legislation in the Winter Session of Parliament for the construction of the temple. It may be noted that the ‘Title Suit of the Ayodhya Land Dispute case’ is pending before the Supreme Court. A massive drop in agricul- tural cultivation has led to serious concern among the stakeholders, including the Centre, against the backdrop of a recent hike in the mini- mum support prices (MSP). The Agriculture Ministry data shows that plantation area saw a decline of 27 lakh hectare during the current rabi season this year. In addition, rice cultivation area also declined by 36 per cent, mainly due to dismal performance reported from southern peninsula including Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala. The lower sowing is attrib- uted to erratic rainfall during monsoon season, deficiency of north east monsoon, low moisture in soil and five cyclonic disturbances/storms which include cyclone Daye (September 17-24); Luban (October 6-15); Titli (October 8-15); Gaja (November 10-19) and Ockhi (November 18-24). As per latest Agriculture Ministry data, as many as 414.29 lakh hectare was sown as com- pared to 441.59 lakh hectare last year, a decline of 7 per cent this year despite hike in the rabi and kharif crops of MSP. “The lowering in planta- tion area is a major concern for the Agriculture Ministry ahead of the next year Lok Sabha polls and this has happened despite hike in the MSP. The Narendra Modi Government has also expected a bumper crops in 2018-19,” said a source in the Agriculture Ministry. “Farm sector still employs 60 per cent of India’s popula- tion even though contribution of agriculture to gross domes- tic product (GDP) has fallen from 18 per cent in 2013-14 to less than 14 per cent in 2016- 17. “The bumper crops will make the Government to for- mulate pro-farmers policy,” a source said. T he Opposition parties are meeting on Monday in Delhi as part of their explorato- ry exercise to form a grand alliance to take on the BJP in the next year’s Lok Sabha polls. The meeting comes day before the start of the Winter Session of Parliament and counting of the five State Assembly polls. Except BSP chief Mayawati, who has kept everyone guess- ing, leaders of all other major Opposition parties are expect- ed to attend the meet. Telugu Desam Party (TDP) chief and Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu is coordinating the meeting and has personally met several Opposition leaders to bring them on one table. Naidu has set an example in trying to unite the Opposition by mending fences with arch-enemy Congress and forging an alliance with the grand old party in the Telangana elections. Congress president Rahul Gandhi and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar, Trinamool Congress (TMC) supremo Mamata Banerjee, National Conference (NC) chief Farooq Abdullah, Communist Party of India (Marxist) general secre- tary Sitaram Yechury and Communist Party of India (CPI) general secretary S Sudhakar Reddy are expected to attend the meeting. Samajwadi Party (SP) pres- ident Akhilesh Yadav, Mualyam Singh Yadav, are likely to attend the meet, but Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati is unlikely to take part. However sources said senior BSP leader Satish Chandra Mishra might attend it. Biju Janata Dal (BJD) president and Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik was also unlikely to be part of the meeting. Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) president M K Stalin, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) convener Arvind Kejriwal, Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader Tejashwi Yadav and Loktantrik Janata Dal (LJD) leader Sharad Yadav are also among those likely to attend the meeting. During the meeting at the Parliament House Annexe, the Opposition parties are expect- ed to discuss their responses to Government bills and issues related to the Rafale deal and farmers. F rom Monday, Indian tourists will have to shell out 200 extra to enter the main mausoleum at the Taj Mahal in Agra. The foreign tourists will have to pay 1,300. A notifica- tion in this regard has been issued on December 5 by the Archeological Survey of India under the Union Ministry of Culture. This comes after the Government had hiked the entry fee to the Unesco heritage site to 50 from 40 for the domestic visitor. The decision to charge 200 and 1,300 from domes- tic and foreign tourists respec- tively for visiting the main mausoleum has come as per the recommendation of the National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (NEERI). It had conducted a study on Taj’s load-bearing capacity and suggested imme- diate steps to reduce the num- ber of footfalls into the mau- soleum to protect its integrity. As per the new order, the tourists paying 50 will be able to visit just near the stairs of the platform and areas around the Yamuna river but will not be allowed to enter the main mausoleum. Extra ticket will be checked at the entry of the gate of the mausoleum. Culture Minister Mahesh Sharma had a few months ago had indicated imposing such tariff saying that the move aims to “preserve the Taj Mahal” and for a better crowd management. “We need to preserve the Taj Mahal for the generations to come,” Sharma had said about the increase in tariff from 40 to 50. The Supreme Court had recently directed the Uttar Pradesh Government to submit a vision document on the preservation of the monument within four weeks. A joint team of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) led by CBI Joint Director A Sai Manohar has left for the United Kingdom on Sunday to attend the court proceedings on India’s request seeking extradition of embat- tled business tycoon and for- mer Kingfisher Airlines boss Vijay Mallya. The Westminster Magistrates’ Court in London on Monday will deliver its ver- dict on whether Mallya who holds UK citizenship can be extradited to India to face charges of fraud and money laundering amounting to 9,000 crore. He is in self- imposed exile in London. Manohar will take the place of Special Director Rakesh Asthana, who had been attending the trial till now. The Government had sent Asthana on forced leave, divest- ing him of all powers after he and CBI Director Alok Verma entered in a bitter feud. Manohar is part of the SIT earlier headed by Asthana. Mallya, 62, wanted in India on alleged fraud and money laundering charges, has been on bail since his arrest on an extradition warrant in April last year. C hief Minister Raghubar Das will visit the United Arab Emirates (UAE) on December 15 to hold a road show. Informing about this the CM said on Sunday that he would be visiting the UAE with the aim of making the youth skilled in the run up of the Skill Summit scheduled to take place in the State. The CM further said, “There is a demand for skilled youths for employment in Dubai and Abu Dhabi. However, our youth is caught in the middle of middlemen, so there is a need to talk directly to the companies pro- viding employment. There will be a road show in Dubai on December 16 regarding the issue and the discussion will be held on December 17.” On January 12, the State Government will provide employment to 1 lakh youth of the State. Das appealed that the youth should come forward to make them swift and get bet- ter opportunities. J ust ahead of an important meeting scheduled to take place in Delhi on December 10 comprising parties in the anti- BJP camp, Chief Minister Raghubar Das lashed out at them terming them a club of cheaters. He took both major fac- tions of the grand alliance- Congress and JMM- on target who have been eyeing to pre- sent an alternate before the electorates during 2019 polls taking JVM, RJD and the Left parties along. Addressing a jan chaupal at Ranbahiyar village of Littipara Assembly of Gooda district, considered the strongest bas- tion of the JMM, the Chief Minister blamed the parties for running organised loot in the name of coalition since Jharkhand’s formation. “Congress has looted the State the most. Whenever any Government would take few strides they used to pull that down! Congress did this with Madhu Koda; fled away with madhu (honey) and left Koda in jail. Once again the corrupt people are coming together and forming an alliance. This grand alliance is coming up just to rob Jharkhand again. You have to be vigilant to their ten- dency,” said Raghubar Das on Sunday. He also came down heav- ily against the JMM executive president and Leader of Opposition Hemant Soren alleging him for purchasing lands at several places by vio- lating laws. “Their leaders had told you before the elections that if the BJP comes to power all the lands belonging to trib- al would be taken away? Has any of your land being taken away by the Government in four years of our regime? In fact it is the Soren family who is a resident of Gola in Ramgarh but has gone on purchasing dozens of tribal lands at Ranchi, Deoghar, Bokaro, Dumka, Sahibgunj by violating provisions of the CNT and SPT Acts. The family is the biggest land looter in the State,” alleged the CM. The CM did not stop here and pulled up the parties on the ground of dynastic politics. He termed the Congress a party of ‘mother and son’ while the arch rival JMM of ‘father and son’ in a veiled reference of Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi along with JMM’s Shibu Soren and Hemant Soren. “Congress and JMM have been running fam- ily party; one is of mother and son and another is of father and son. This is completely opposite of the BJP’s work culture where a son of a simple lady working in others’ home as domestic help can become Prime Minister of this country and a son of a labourer can become Chief Minister of the State,” said Das pitching for the sup- port. He also ridiculed Hemant Soren by terming him an igno- rant person to poverty but for- tunate to born in the home of Shibu Soren. Talking about efforts taken by the Government in improving sit- uation in the constituency and also the entire Santhal Pargana the CM said that every house- hold in the water scarce con- stituency would be getting piped drinking water through one of the biggest drinking water scheme being ever run in the State. “Single scheme worth Rs 217 crore is underway to provide piped drinking water to every home of Littipara which has not been done any- where so far. Every tribal and primitive tribe families are given LPG connection under Ujjwala. Power connection is to reach to all by December this year. Seven female farmers from Godda would be sent to Israel for training. Now Santhal Pargana would not remain just a pasture for any political party,” the CM said indicating to the JMM.Chief Minister Raghubar Das meets 'Sri-108' Satyanand ji Maharaj Swami at Brahma Vidyalaya Ashram in Pakur district on Sunday.

Transcript of # ˇˆ˙ ˝ ˛˘˚˜ ! 123.31.4 01$* +ˆ 215 +, ˘ˇˆ˙ ˇ˝˛˚˜ !ˆ #ˇ ˆ ......aims to...

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Rashtriya SwayamsevakSangh (RSS) functionary

Suresh ‘Bhaiyyaji’ Joshi onSunday reminded the NationalDemocratic Alliance (NDA)Government to fulfil itspromise of constructing agrand Ram Temple at Ayodhyaand demanded the UnionGovernment to enact a legis-lation, if need be, to facilitatethe construction.

Thousands of people gath-ered at Ramlila Maidan inCentral Delhi on Sunday forthe Vishwa Hindu Parishad(VHP) rally to press for theconstruction of Ram Temple inAyodhya, days beforeParliament’s Winter Sessioncommences.

Addressing the VHP rally,Joshi launched a veiled attackon the Union Governmentsaying, “Those in power todayhad promised to constructRam Temple. They should lis-ten to people and fulfil thedemand of temple in Ayodhya.They are aware of the senti-ments.” Without naming theBJP, Joshi added, “We are notbegging for it.”

Joshi reminded the BJP ofits Palampur resolution onRam Temple and said there isno other option and theGovernment needs to comeforward showing courage forthis holy work.

“They had passed a reso-lution that ‘Ram Mandir WahinBanayenge’. Now the time hascome to respect that resolution.Without any hesitation, theyshould move ahead towards

fulfilling their commitment,”Joshi said in presence of thou-sands of Lord Ram devotees,saints and religious gurus.

Joshi said the judiciary hasits own way, but in a democ-racy, Parliament has its ownrights and the presentGovernment should take ini-tiatives in the direction of for-mulating a law.

“There is no other option.For this holy work, they needto come forward showingcourage. This is the request ofall Ram bhakts. We are not beg-ging. We are expressing our

views. The power has a big rolein respecting these sentiments.I believe that those is power willunderstand these sentimentsand will take positive steps,” he said.

Joshi said the construc-tion of Ram temple wouldbring “Ram Rajya” in the coun-try and till the time it gets con-structed, the movement will goon. “How long we will see lordRam living in a temporaryarrangement? This should end.There is a need for one lastpush. We all want to see lordRam in the grand temple. The

construction of temple will layfoundation of Ram Rajya in thecountry. It will decide, onwhich way the country willmove ahead. Till the construc-tion of temple, the movementwill continue,” he said amidchants of “Jai Sree Ram” and“Ram Lala Hum Aayenge,Mandir Wahi Banayenge”.

“The power is not supremebut it plays an important role.Those sitting in the corridorsof power need to understandthe public sentiment. I believethat they are not only aware ofit but are also in agreement on

the issue of temple,” Joshi said.Addressing the gathering,

Sadhvi Ritambhara said theGovernment should listen to its“own” people and pave theway for the construction of agrand Ram temple in Ayodhya.“Apno ki awaz apno ko sunanachahiye aur Ram mandir kamarg prashast hona chahiye,”she said. She also took a dig atthe BJP for ignoring the senti-ments of Hindus.

“Those who were talkingabout Lord Ram are enjoyingpower but Lord Ram is still intent. It’s very painful to see Lord

Ram in tents. There’s no mean-ing of constructing big statues ofLord Ram unless a grand Ramtemple is constructed inAyodhya.

The use of power exists inputting India’s pride in its place,”Sadhvi said. Lokesh Muni, adharma guru of Jain communi-ty, asked the Government tobring a legislation in the WinterSession of Parliament for theconstruction of the temple. Itmay be noted that the ‘Title Suitof the Ayodhya Land Disputecase’ is pending before theSupreme Court.

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Amassive drop in agricul-tural cultivation has led to

serious concern among thestakeholders, including theCentre, against the backdropof a recent hike in the mini-mum support prices (MSP).The Agriculture Ministry datashows that plantation areasaw a decline of 27 lakhhectare during the currentrabi season this year.

In addition, rice cultivationarea also declined by 36 percent, mainly due to dismalperformance reported fromsouthern peninsula includingKarnataka, Tamil Nadu andKerala.

The lower sowing is attrib-uted to erratic rainfall duringmonsoon season, deficiencyof north east monsoon, lowmoisture in soil and fivecyclonic disturbances/stormswhich include cyclone Daye(September 17-24); Luban(October 6-15); Titli (October8-15); Gaja (November 10-19)and Ockhi (November 18-24).

As per latest AgricultureMinistry data, as many as 414.29

lakh hectare was sown as com-pared to 441.59 lakh hectare lastyear, a decline of 7 per cent thisyear despite hike in the rabi andkharif crops of MSP.

“The lowering in planta-tion area is a major concern forthe Agriculture Ministry aheadof the next year Lok Sabha pollsand this has happened despitehike in the MSP. The NarendraModi Government has alsoexpected a bumper crops in2018-19,” said a source in theAgriculture Ministry.

“Farm sector still employs60 per cent of India’s popula-tion even though contributionof agriculture to gross domes-tic product (GDP) has fallenfrom 18 per cent in 2013-14 toless than 14 per cent in 2016-17. “The bumper crops willmake the Government to for-mulate pro-farmers policy,” asource said.

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The Opposition parties aremeeting on Monday in

Delhi as part of their explorato-ry exercise to form a grandalliance to take on the BJP inthe next year’s Lok Sabha polls.The meeting comes day beforethe start of the Winter Sessionof Parliament and counting ofthe five State Assembly polls.Except BSP chief Mayawati,who has kept everyone guess-ing, leaders of all other majorOpposition parties are expect-ed to attend the meet.

Telugu Desam Party (TDP)chief and Andhra PradeshChief Minister N ChandrababuNaidu is coordinating themeeting and has personallymet several Opposition leadersto bring them on one table.

Naidu has set an examplein trying to unite theOpposition by mending fenceswith arch-enemy Congress andforging an alliance with thegrand old party in theTelangana elections.

Congress president RahulGandhi and UPA chairpersonSonia Gandhi, NationalistCongress Party (NCP) chief

Sharad Pawar, TrinamoolCongress (TMC) supremoMamata Banerjee, NationalConference (NC) chief FarooqAbdullah, Communist Party ofIndia (Marxist) general secre-tary Sitaram Yechury andCommunist Party of India(CPI) general secretary SSudhakar Reddy are expected to attend themeeting.

Samajwadi Party (SP) pres-ident Akhilesh Yadav, MualyamSingh Yadav, are likely to attendthe meet, but Bahujan SamajParty (BSP) chief Mayawati isunlikely to take part. Howeversources said senior BSP leaderSatish Chandra Mishra mightattend it. Biju Janata Dal (BJD)

president and Odisha ChiefMinister Naveen Patnaik wasalso unlikely to be part of themeeting.

Dravida MunnetraKazhagam (DMK) president MK Stalin, Aam Aadmi Party(AAP) convener ArvindKejriwal, Rashtriya Janata Dal(RJD) leader Tejashwi Yadavand Loktantrik Janata Dal(LJD) leader Sharad Yadav arealso among those likely toattend the meeting.

During the meeting at theParliament House Annexe, theOpposition parties are expect-ed to discuss their responses toGovernment bills and issuesrelated to the Rafale deal andfarmers.

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From Monday, Indiantourists will have to shell out

�200 extra to enter the mainmausoleum at the Taj Mahal inAgra. The foreign tourists willhave to pay �1,300. A notifica-tion in this regard has beenissued on December 5 by theArcheological Survey of Indiaunder the Union Ministry ofCulture. This comes after theGovernment had hiked theentry fee to the Unesco heritagesite to �50 from �40 for thedomestic visitor.

The decision to charge�200 and �1,300 from domes-tic and foreign tourists respec-tively for visiting the mainmausoleum has come as perthe recommendation of theNational EnvironmentalEngineering Research Institute(NEERI). It had conducted astudy on Taj’s load-bearingcapacity and suggested imme-diate steps to reduce the num-

ber of footfalls into the mau-soleum to protect its integrity.

As per the new order, thetourists paying �50 will beable to visit just near the stairsof the platform and areasaround the Yamuna river butwill not be allowed to enter themain mausoleum. Extra ticketwill be checked at the entry ofthe gate of the mausoleum.

Culture Minister MaheshSharma had a few months agohad indicated imposing suchtariff saying that the moveaims to “preserve the TajMahal” and for a better crowdmanagement.

“We need to preserve theTaj Mahal for the generationsto come,” Sharma had saidabout the increase in tarifffrom �40 to �50.

The Supreme Court hadrecently directed the UttarPradesh Government to submita vision document on thepreservation of the monumentwithin four weeks.

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Ajoint team of the CentralBureau of Investigation

(CBI) and the EnforcementDirectorate (ED) led by CBIJoint Director A Sai Manoharhas left for the United Kingdomon Sunday to attend the courtproceedings on India’s requestseeking extradition of embat-tled business tycoon and for-mer Kingfisher Airlines bossVijay Mallya.

The WestminsterMagistrates’ Court in Londonon Monday will deliver its ver-dict on whether Mallya whoholds UK citizenship can beextradited to India to facecharges of fraud and moneylaundering amounting to�9,000 crore. He is in self-imposed exile in London.

Manohar will take the

place of Special DirectorRakesh Asthana, who had been attending the trial tillnow.

The Government had sentAsthana on forced leave, divest-ing him of all powers after heand CBI Director Alok Vermaentered in a bitter feud.

Manohar is part of the SITearlier headed by Asthana.

Mallya, 62, wanted in Indiaon alleged fraud and moneylaundering charges, has beenon bail since his arrest on anextradition warrant in April last year.

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Chief Minister RaghubarDas will visit the United

Arab Emirates (UAE) onDecember 15 to hold a roadshow. Informing about this theCM said on Sunday that hewould be visiting the UAEwith the aim of making theyouth skilled in the run up ofthe Skill Summit scheduled totake place in the State.

The CM further said,“There is a demand for skilledyouths for employment inDubai and Abu Dhabi.However, our youth is caughtin the middle of middlemen,so there is a need to talkdirectly to the companies pro-viding employment.

There will be a road showin Dubai on December 16regarding the issue and thediscussion will be held onDecember 17.”

On January 12, the StateGovernment will provideemployment to 1 lakh youthof the State.

Das appealed that theyouth should come forward tomake them swift and get bet-ter opportunities.

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Just ahead of an importantmeeting scheduled to take

place in Delhi on December 10comprising parties in the anti-BJP camp, Chief MinisterRaghubar Das lashed out atthem terming them a club ofcheaters.

He took both major fac-tions of the grand alliance-Congress and JMM- on targetwho have been eyeing to pre-sent an alternate before theelectorates during 2019 pollstaking JVM, RJD and the Leftparties along.

Addressing a jan chaupal atRanbahiyar village of LittiparaAssembly of Gooda district,considered the strongest bas-tion of the JMM, the ChiefMinister blamed the parties forrunning organised loot in the

name of coalition sinceJharkhand’s formation.

“Congress has looted theState the most. Whenever anyGovernment would take fewstrides they used to pull thatdown! Congress did this withMadhu Koda; fled away withmadhu (honey) and left Kodain jail. Once again the corruptpeople are coming togetherand forming an alliance. Thisgrand alliance is coming up justto rob Jharkhand again. Youhave to be vigilant to their ten-dency,” said Raghubar Das onSunday.

He also came down heav-ily against the JMM executivepresident and Leader ofOpposition Hemant Sorenalleging him for purchasinglands at several places by vio-lating laws. “Their leaders hadtold you before the elections

that if the BJP comes to powerall the lands belonging to trib-al would be taken away? Hasany of your land being takenaway by the Government infour years of our regime? In factit is the Soren family who is aresident of Gola in Ramgarhbut has gone on purchasingdozens of tribal lands atRanchi, Deoghar, Bokaro,Dumka, Sahibgunj by violatingprovisions of the CNT and SPTActs. The family is the biggestland looter in the State,” allegedthe CM.

The CM did not stop hereand pulled up the parties on theground of dynastic politics.He termed the Congress aparty of ‘mother and son’ whilethe arch rival JMM of ‘fatherand son’ in a veiled reference ofCongress leaders Sonia Gandhiand Rahul Gandhi along with JMM’s Shibu Soren and Hemant Soren. “Congress and

JMM have been running fam-ily party; one is of mother andson and another is of father andson.

This is completely oppositeof the BJP’s work culture wherea son of a simple lady workingin others’ home as domestichelp can become PrimeMinister of this country and ason of a labourer can becomeChief Minister of the State,”said Das pitching for the sup-port. He also ridiculed HemantSoren by terming him an igno-rant person to poverty but for-tunate to born in the home ofShibu Soren. Talking aboutefforts taken by theGovernment in improving sit-uation in the constituency andalso the entire Santhal Parganathe CM said that every house-hold in the water scarce con-stituency would be getting

piped drinking water throughone of the biggest drinkingwater scheme being ever run inthe State. “Single scheme worthRs 217 crore is underway toprovide piped drinking waterto every home of Littiparawhich has not been done any-where so far. Every tribal andprimitive tribe families aregiven LPG connection underUjjwala. Power connection is toreach to all by December thisyear. Seven female farmersfrom Godda would be sent toIsrael for training.

Now Santhal Parganawould not remain just a pasturefor any political party,” theCM said indicating to theJMM.Chief Minister RaghubarDas meets 'Sri-108' Satyanandji Maharaj Swami at BrahmaVidyalaya Ashram in Pakurdistrict on Sunday.

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Page 2: # ˇˆ˙ ˝ ˛˘˚˜ ! 123.31.4 01$* +ˆ 215 +, ˘ˇˆ˙ ˇ˝˛˚˜ !ˆ #ˇ ˆ ......aims to “preserve the Taj Mahal” and for a better crowd management. “We need to preserve

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Aconsultation was organizedby the Institute for Human

Development, Eastern RegionalCentre, Ranchi in which severalpeople working on migrantissues came together todiscuss patterns, trends, issuesand policies related to migra-tion.

In recent years, Jharkhandhas witnessed increasing num-bers of outmigration accordingto several sources of data.However, exact figures are notavailable since the governmenthas still not released data fromthe 2011 Census.

This data should bereleased soon in order to get abetter so that better policiescould be made, said ProfessorRavi Srivastava, Director ofthe Centre for EmploymentStudies at the institute forHuman Development, NewDelhi.

Professor Ravi Srivastava,who was previously a memberof the National Commissionerfor Enterprises in theUnorganised Sector (NCEUS), said that there are very fewpeople working on the issue ofmigrant workers in Jharkhandwhich is surprising, given the

massive scale of migration andthe issues which migrant work-ers are facing as well as the sta-tus of implementation of poli-cies such as the interstatemigrant workers act, theUnorganised Sector WorkersSocial Security Act, theBuilding and OtherConstruction Workers Act etc.

Further, he said that thereis a difference between distressand opportunity migration andthe line is difficult to draw.However, often, migration iscaused by a combination ofboth.

Reshma of AALI (an orga-nization working for women’srights) said that there is anurgent need to differentiatebetween migration and traf-ficking.

The idea that all youngwomen who migrate are beingtrafficked has led to a curb onwomen’s autonomy and free-dom of mobility.

All migrating youngwomen are viewed as beingtrafficked and always live infear of being caught and takenaway. They can be stopped andquestioned by anyone and thattoo, in a very threatening man-ner.

Reshma added that

migrant women face a lot ofsexual harassment; however,they are unable to come for-ward and complain becausethey do not have any supportstructures.

Further, she said that thegovernment has a policy of reg-istering migrant workers atthe panchayat level but that hasnot taken off at all and hencethey are not able to avail of anyof the benefits.

Migrant women workersface a lot of sexual harassmentbut they will not complaint norwill their families talk about it.Therefore, the harassment isrampant and not comingdown.

Bhuwaneshwar Kewat ofAICCTU emphasised on thatwe need to seriously work onmigration. While the state hasseveral policies, many of thesepolicies actually are promotingmigration.

As an example, the statehas been creating dobhas (farmponds) in villages throughMGNREGA as well as otherprogrammes. However, apartfrom MGNREGA, all otherprogrammes use machines toconstruct these ponds. As aresult, employment generationdoes not take place and work-

ers are forced to migrate.Bhuwaneshwar Kewat said

that our society as well as gov-ernments have no no sensitiv-ity or empathy for migrantworkers.

When migrant workers die,there is no FIR or post-mortemeven. The organization has alist of several cases wheremigrant workers die (either onwork or off work) and theirbodies are disposed off by thecontractors.

Shamim of the Action forSocial Advancement said thatmigration is increasing becauseof failure of social protectionschemes such as NREGA. Notonly is allocation (in real terms)decreasing, but payment isbecoming highly uncertainwhich is why workers don’ thave income opportunities intheir own village.

The event also marked thejoining of Dr. Shreeranjan asthe new director of the Institutefor Human Development’sEastern Regional Centre (IHD-ERC). Dr. Shreeranjan has hadlong career in the Indian Administrative Service(IAS) and has held key posi-tions of responsibility and lead-ership in various departmentsand Ministries in both the

State Government andGovernment of India.

He was Joint Secretary inthe Ministry of Woman andChild Development and wasresponsible for policy formu-lation and implementation ofgovernment programmes per-taining to child developmentand child rights, nutrition,early childhood care and education, women empower-ment, international coopera-tion, etc.

He also served as JointSecretary and AdditionalSecretary to the Govt. of India

in the Unique IdentificationAuthority of India (UIDAI),and was also empanelled asSecretary to Government ofIndia.

He also served asChairman, Board of Revenueand Additional Chief Secretaryin Government of Meghalaya,and also as Chairman ofMeghalaya Biodiversity Board.. Prior to joining IAS, he waspart of the academia havingserved as AssistantProfessor/Lecturer in Botanyfor four years in RanchiUniversity.

���� 08(�8

Aiming to facilitate supportto students and the poor,

State-run energy major Oiland Natural Gas Corporation(ONGC)- CBM (Coal BedMethane) Development ProjectBokaro distributed books,water purifiers including othergoods as a part of its corporatesocial responsibility at Sadamunder Gomia block of the dis-trict.

“We have distributed wash-ing machine, water purifiers,bed, bed-sheets, pillows, blan-kets, buckets, mugs, sleepers, soaps among theorphans and poor residing inthe village,” informed VKGupta, Manager CSR of thecompany.

"We have also distributededucational items among thestudents (of Madarsa), he said.“Holistic development is ourmotto.

We are on the move toimproving the lives of peoplearound our operational areas,”added Gupta.

Under CSR ONGC is pro-viding funds for the welfare inthe field of education, healthand sanitation, entrepreneur-ship including others.

ONGC, CBM divisionBokaro has continuously orga-nized initiatives for the well-being of its communitiesaround its area of operations atParbatput about 35 from the district headquartersBokaro.

Now ONGC is exploring5000 cubic meter CBM gas perday from its Parbatput plant atBokaro Steel City. Now the gasis sold to a Kolkata-based firm.

At present, CBM gas isbeing supplied through cylin-ders, but soon a pipeline will belaid at Parbatpur, connectingthe wells to supply points,informed the official.

���� A�"/���$5

It was a proud moment for thenine private English medium

schools in the City when theyreceived the InternationalSchool Award (ISA) by BritishCouncil for the year 2018-21. Inan award function organised bythe British Council in NewDelhi, school principals andteachers received the three-year accreditation.

Schools from Jamshedpurthat have received the accredi-tation are Little Flower School,Jusco School South Park,Kasidih High School, DBMSKadma High School, ADLSSunshine School, J.H. TaraporeSchool, Dayanand PublicSchool, Kerala Public School,Kadma and a primary schoolBaug-E-Jamsheed School.

"It is indeed a great achieve-ment for us. This will also helpus to get global recognition. Thecomprehensive effort made bythe school administration,teaching and non-teachingstaffs and the students resultedin winning this recognition,"said official of one of the win-ning schools.

Called British CouncilInternational School Award(ISA), the accreditation schemerecognises and celebrates exem-

plary practices of internation-alism in schools. It provides aframework for cradles to devel-op an action plan and imple-ment international activitiesround the year. It also urgesschools to innovate with over-seas schools on creative teach-ing practices and real-timeglobal learning.

The schools have workedon various projects that wasdesigned for each class. Rightfrom food, costumes, dolls,environment, handicrafts, geog-raphy, education system, schoolstudents guided by their teacherco-ordinators got involved in anumber of fun filled activitieswhile applying for the pro-gramme.

Officials from British

Council informed that a total of40 schools have been so faraccreditated in Jharkhand withISA accreditation so far.

ISA was introduced inIndia in the year 2003 and near-ly 2500 schools across the coun-try have joined this excitingjourney since then.

The range of schools par-ticipating in the InternationalSchool Award varies from thewell-resourced private schoolsto government schools fromrural areas and schools for theless advantaged communities.The International SchoolAward now has a presence in 31countries worldwide. Key ben-efits of getting the InternationalSchool Award: It has a positiveimpact on not just the students,but also the teachers and schoolin entirety.It is a leadership chal-lenge and fosters team building,innovation, and project man-agement. “The InternationalSchool Award provides a sup-portive and motivational frame-work to guide your interna-tional learning activities andhelps you gain recognition foryour ongoing internationalwork. It can support schools atany stage of their internation-al journey and can be adaptedto any curriculum,” said an offi-cial.

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Deputy commissioner RaviShankar Shukla on Sunday

unveiled the statue of DrSubhash Mukhopadhyay whogave India her first test tubebaby Durga in 1978.

The DC termed the day"big" for Hazaribag as this wasthe birthplace ofMukhopadhyay. He saidMukhopadhyay story willinspire each and every gener-ation.

Born on January 16, 1931at his maternal grandfather's

house Anupam,Mukhopadhyay graduated inmedicine in 1955 and obtaineda doctorate in reproductivephysiology in 1958, both fromCalcutta, and in reproductiveendocrinology from Edinburgh(UK) in 1967.

He worked with cryobiol-ogist Dr Sumit Mukherjee andgynaecologist Dr Saroj KantiBhattacharya for the first testtube baby of the country,Durga, on October 3, 1978. Buthis work never get the recog-nition with governmentterming his claiming false mak-ing Mukhopadhyay to commit

suicide in 1981. But later in2001, his claim was acceptedinternationally.

At his home town, his hasbeen placed near Leprosydepartment and has come up atthe cost Rs.1.5 lakh contributedby NTPC.

On this occasion, Dr Sumitand Durga's father PrabhatAgarwal were also present.Sumit said he had so manymemories of Mukhopadhyaywho was having a laboratory athis house where they all usedto work. He saidMukhopadhyay was a greatman who made possible IVF in

India long back. Agarwal saidthe happiness he is now havingin his life is because ofMukhopadhyay.

He said it was really verypainful for them whenMukhopadhyay's claim wasrejected. We again remainedshocked when this talenteddoctor committed suicide in1981. I am so happy that final-ly he got respect at his home-town also, added he.

Others present on theoccassion were SajalMukherjee, physician RajatChakrabertty and NTPC GMPartha Majumdar.

���� ����

The Bhartiya Janata Party(BJP) will win all the 14

Parliamentary seats includingRajmahal, Dumka of the Statein upcoming general electionsin 2019, said BJP State presi-dent Laxman Gillua after theconcluding meeting with theparty’s Parliamentary seats in-charges in Dumka on Sunday.

Gillua further said that theparty has strengthened itsorganisational structure. Thewelfare schemes of Centraland State Government havebeen written by the new saga ofdevelopment, he added.

Praising development workdone by the Central and theState governments, He said, “Inthe last four and a half years,there have been historical ini-tiatives in the field of Vijay ValiEducation Health Sciences inthe Country and the State andthe schemes have landed on theground. The livelihood of thepoor farmers has improved.Home living, gas connectionsand rural living standards hasbeen improved. There has beena big change through PradhanMantri Awas Yojana, millionsof poor homeless families gota rugged roof.”

While appealing the party’scadre Gillua said, “The partyworkers will establish house-to-

house contact through contactvisits in all the assembly con-stituencies.” He further saidthat the party has decided toestablish house-to-house con-tact and make lakhs of new

members in all the legislativeassembly areas. In the visit,workers will also run pro-grams to create new member-ships.

Gillua called upon the

youth and women to becomeactive in BJP especially in theprogress of the nation to dis-charge his great role. Severalparty’s office bearers includingthe State vice president Aditya

Sahu, MP Sameer Oraon, BJPState general secretaryDharampal, MLA Anant Ojha,Satyendra Singh and ColonelSanjay Singh were present inthe meeting.

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An inter-ministerial centralteam to assess drought

condition has come to conclu-sion that crop damage is exten-sive in Jharkhand necessitatingthe start of relief measures forfarmers.

The team led by joint sec-retary union agriculturedepartment Aatish Chandravisited 42 villages in 20 blocksof seven districts in state dur-ing their three-day review ofthe drought condition in state.The team wanted to verify thememorandum of demandsraised by state government bystudying the situation at theground level.

In a meeting held withsenior government officialsincluding the chief secretarySudhir Tripahti on Sunday thecentral team demanded moredocuments related to droughtfrom state government. The

state government assured thatthe papers would be providedwithin two days.

“We have to look into theissues according to norms ofNDRF. We would study thedocuments of state govern-ment and submit the reportwithin 10 days,” a central teamofficer stated.

“The central team hasadmitted that crop damage isextensive and that droughtrelief needed to be given to thestate,” said the CS. He addedstate government’s demandswere based on two planksincluding providing immediaterelief to affected people andtaking steps to prevent recur-rence of the situation again.

It may be stated here thatstate government has demand-ed a sum of Rs 818 crore asdrought relief measures fromcentre.

During an interaction withthe central team before its fieldvisit the state officials statedthat among the worst affecteddistricts were Koderma,Giridih, Palamau, Garhwa,Pakud, Godda and Dumka.The officials said processes ofDrought Manual 2016 wasadopted while declaring 129blocks of 18 districts asdrought-prone. Out of 129, 93blocks have been badly affect-ed and 36 have been affectedmoderately.

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Page 3: # ˇˆ˙ ˝ ˛˘˚˜ ! 123.31.4 01$* +ˆ 215 +, ˘ˇˆ˙ ˇ˝˛˚˜ !ˆ #ˇ ˆ ......aims to “preserve the Taj Mahal” and for a better crowd management. “We need to preserve

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Coal crisis hit power genera-tion at Tenughat Thermal

Power Plant (TTPS). Followingvery little coal stock left in theyard, the administration shutdown one unit on Saturday thatresulted into 210 MW less gen-eration of power, said an official.

"If we will not get coalwithin two-three days, the sec-ond unit will also close down.Though, to meet the coalrequirement our talks are onwith the Coal India Limited(CCL). Hope the issue wouldbe resolved in next 4-5 days,"he said.

"Coal stock has been com-pletely exhausted in the yard.According to an estimate only2000 tons of coal remains in thestock so we have to shut downone unit due to lack of coal,"said Sanatan Singh MD in-charge TVNL.

“Presently we could not

speak that when this unit willbe started as we could not startproductions without havingenough stock of coal,” headded.

Notably, TVNL is the onlythermal power unit of theJharkhand government hav-ing the power productioncapacity of 420 MW (210 X 2)now producing only 180 MWper day and several parts of thedistrict are reeling under anacute power crisis.

Both units require 7,500metric tonnes of coal per dayto run in full swing. TTPS pur-chases coal from Coal India forgeneration of power but sud-denly CCL stopped the supplyof coal, sources informed. Itmight be due to huge duesagainst the purchase of Coalform CCL. Now Coal India isopted cash and carry option,which does not allow coal sup-ply on credit hits power pro-duction, sources added.

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Did you know that founderof Tata Steel Jamsetji

Nusserwanji Tata once attend-ed a lecture by philosopherThomas Carlyle in which MrCarlyle said: “The nation whichgains control of iron soonacquires the control of gold.”Inspired by these words, Tatadecided to establish India’s firststeel plant or that Tata Steelhelped shape another iconiclandmark – Calcutta’s HowrahBridge. Of the 26,500 tonnes ofsteel used to construct thecantilever bridge, 23,000 tonnesof heavy tensile steel camefrom Jamshedpur.

The one-stop for all suchinformation on Jamshedpur,and more such interesting triv-ia is Tata Steel Archives that issituated at Centre of Excellence(CFE), near Jubilee Park. It is

one of the first archives in thecountry by a private organisa-tion.

Eminent personalities likeBharat Ratna APJ Abdul Kalam(former President of India)and Kevin McCole (currently,Chief Operating Officer, UKIndia British Council) havegraced its portals.

Tata Steel Archives wasestablished to store documentssuch as letters, reports, maps

and charts of historical datapertaining to Tata Steel. Itserves as a central repositoryfor future reference.

A total of 15 lakh originaldocuments have been housedand over 1 lakh documents hashave been digitised to retrievedata at a greater speed. It is apioneering effort by Tata Steelto conserve what is in effect thehistory of the industrial devel-opment of modern India. Tata

Steel Archives is a heritagecentre that offers invaluablearchival material for referenceand research

In a city inspired by thevision of its founder JamsetjiNusserwanji Tata, dotted bylandmarks that personify theTata spirit, the 5.5 acres Centrefor Excellence is a place wherea treasure house where one canlearn about the vision of J NTata, the work of the pioneers,

contemporary art, and alsoexperience the technologicalmarvel that is Tata Steel today.

Constructed as per thevision of renowned architectHafeez Contractor, Centre forExcellence is an impressivelandmark in Jamshedpur, onthe edge of Jubilee Park onJubilee Road in NorthernTown. It has a vast gallery ofphotographs and serves as apriceless archive of information

on one of the largest conglom-erates in the world – Tata SteelGroup.

Centre for Excellence –that houses the Tata SteelArchives – has its doors opento visitors who enter as admir-ers of the Tata brand and,leave its portals, enriched withits legacy. Photographs, maps,reports, etc. contribute to 15lacs documents that are main-tained at the Archives and thishuge repository of facts hasbeen aiding research work incorporate history.

Tata Steel Archives hasbeen attracting visitors from allwalks of life. Not only thecommon folk employees,locals, students and researchersbut eminent personalities havevisited the archives.

Caption- Tata SteelArchives at Centre ofExcellence (CFE), near JubileePark in Jamshedpur

���� ����

Ongoing visit of JharkhandChief Minister Raghubar

Das in Santhal Pargana area hascompletely destroyed the holdof Jharkhand Mukti Morcha(JMM) in the region, said BJPSpokesperson Pratul Shahdeoon Sunday.

“Thousands of people aregathering in the meetings of theCM and it is gaining a huge sup-port. JMM thinks SanthalParagana as its bastion and theso called stronghold of theparty is on the verge of demo-lition” Shahdeo added.

Criticising the JMM he

said, “At present the BJP is in abetter condition than JMM inSanthal Pargana region. BJPhas seven MLAs while JMM hasonly six MLAs in the region.The Party’s has set target to win15 seats out of total 18 seats of

the region. People of the regionknow that JMM thinks sincelong time that tribal and localare vote bank.” Applaudingdevelopment work of the pre-sent State government Shahdeosaid, “The region has giventhree CMs of the State but onlyin leadership of Raghubar Dasa large numbers of developmentwork has been done. The CMhas opened AIMS medical col-lege, Airport in Deoghar, Bridgeand port on river Ganga, net ofroads, improvement of watersupply scheme and it has start-ed postal scheme for primitivetribal.”

He further said, “Once

upon a time it looked like thatSanthal Pargana was not part ofthe State but now it has beenlinked with mainstream ofdevelopment.

Some organisations haveprovided opportunities to antiIndian sources to grow but BJPwill not allow them to fulfilltheir desire.

With a conspiracy JMM hasprevented development ofSanthal Pargana and kept thepeople of the area away fromdevelopment.” Shahdeo added,People of the region will notallow using them as vote bankthey will vote for BJP on thebasis of development.

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Female elephant 'Sita' and her calfMurugan, the two of the three elephants

brought to Palamu tiger reserve(PTR) fromKarnataka way back in March this year,have now a new address! Due to cold, themother-son duo have been shifted fromtheir Kawaldah Jheel to a warmer accom-modation in Betla, leaving behind thirdcompanion 'Kaal Bhairav' who wouldstay in Palamu quila, one and a half kilo-meter away from Kawaldah Jheel.

The room was the adobe of 'Anarkali'who ruled the National Park as darling ofthe tourists for decades before leaving forher heavenly adobe. Her room is stillvacant and would now be occupied by'Sita' and 'Murugan'.

Deputy Director of north division ofPalamu tiger reserve AK Mishra who is toleave for Ranchi for his new assignmentsaid, “On the advice of the field directorPTR Dr Mohan Lal we have shifted themother 'Sita' and her calf 'Murugan' to awarmer room in Betla which was once theabode of Anarkali.

Sita and Murugan were living togeth-er at Kawaldah Jheel since their arrival herefrom Karnataka but as the mercury is dip-ping fast and nights in winter are getting

colder these two have been shifted fromthe jheel location.”

The elephants were kept under a tentto prevent them from cold wind. "Sita' wasreportedly getting restless with these over-head and her surrounding cover which sheused to tear off quite often.

Officials said Sita did a three kilometerwalk down from her Kawaldah Jheel loca-tion to Betla room.

On the day of their shifting onSaturday there appeared a big crowd of

people at Turee village in betweenKawaldah Jheel and Betla and Sita got sodisturbed and annoyed with the onlook-ers that she turned her head towards thejungle refusing to go to Betla her newabode, said Mishra.

"We asked the onlookers to go backhome and when they went back and theroad to Betla was empty from Turee toBetla then only Sita and her calf walkeddown again for their room in Betla,” saidMIshra.

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Jharkhand Congress presi-dent Ajoy Kumar landed

himself in a quandary when heleveled a charge that party’snominee at Kolebira bypollNaman Bixal Kongari wasreceiving threats fromJharkhand Party former MLAand jailed leader Enos Ekka.However Konagri outrightlydenied the claims putting hisparty chief in an embarrassingsituation.

Ajoy Kumar, also a formersupercop, calling a press con-ference on Sunday claimedbefore the media that the partycandidate and workers wereunder threat coming from theformer MLA who is serving lifesentence in a murder case afterbeing unseated by the court.

“We are getting feedbacksand complaints that murderconvict former Jharkhand PartyMLA Enos Ekka is issuingthreats to them and our candi-date right from jail over phoneso that people of the con-stituency do not come in sup-port of the party.

A delegation of theCongress party would lodgecomplaint about this to theElection Commission tomor-row and if nothing happens wewould report the matter to theElection Commission of India

in Delhi,” said the PCC chief.He went on alleging BJP’s

hand behind all this and evencharged the Jharkhand Party ofbeing a ‘B team’ of it.“Jharkhand Party’s controlroom for Kolebira is being runfrom Ranchi jail under thepatronage of the StateGovernment. Enos Ekka is get-ting all the facilities inside hiscell. This is threat to a democ-racy. The Congress demandsshifting Enos Ekka to jail situ-ated outside the State to ensurefree and fair election in theState,” Ajoy Kumar alleged.

Moreover, when askedabout the alleged threat, Kongaridenied having got any. “I havenot received any threat theparty chief is talking about. I amnot able to say anything abouthis statements,” said theCongress candidate to ThePioneer over phone. He thoughadded that the former MLA andMinister Ekka and his wifeMenon Ekka, who is a candidate

from the seat and have securedsupport of the leadingOpposition party JMM, wereindeed using money power toinfluence voters.

“They have been in powerand are using that clout toinfluence the bypoll. But I amconfident about my win becausethey have not been able toaddress issues of jal, jungle andzameen for the people of thearea which are their mainstayfor generations,” added Kongari.

Ajoy Kumar though main-tained silence over JMM’s sup-port extended to Menon Ekkawhile slamming JharkhandParty. “The byelection is theresult of the conviction hap-pened in a murder case of apara teacher. Still JharkhandParty made corrupt MenonEkka a candidate,” said AjoyKumar. Also present there werePCC spokespersons AlokDubey, Rajiv Ranjan Prasad, LalKishore Nath Sahadeo andRajesh Thakur.

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State police is on hot pursuit of CPI (Maoist)zonal commander Ravindra Ganjhu who is

invloved in arson and violence with the intention to extort money in the nameof levy.

Based on specific information about hispresence, the Lohardaga police led by SPPriyadharshi Alok on Sunday conducted anoperation under the Kisku police station arealeading to a fierce encounter with the extrem-ists.

During the search operation launched afterthe Maoists fled, police have recovered largequantity of material including codex wires andother ingredients of making explosives, walkietalkie, interceptors, bags, food grain and uten-sils from the spot.

Police claimed that one of the extremistshas also been hit by bullet during the encounter.It may be stated here that police also had anencounter with the same squad under theJowang police station area on November 30 inwhich a rifle was recovered.

Police said after the surrender of NakulYadav, Ravindra Ganjhu was trying to extendthe Maoist’s influence in Lohardaga, Lateharand Gumla districts. He was an accused inburning of trucks carrying bauxite inLohardaga in October 2017.

“He is trying to create fear among peopleand the industrialists in order to get levy fromthem. After Nakul’s surrender many peoplehave stopped giving the extortion money toMaoists,” said Alok Priyadahrshi.

Inspector general (Operation) Ashis Batrasaid police have been carrying out frequentoperation against Ganjhu and his squad, in thepast few days.

The state government has also announceda reward of Rs 10 lakh for his arrest, he said.

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The three-day JharkhandOphthalmological Society's

conference concluded onSunday where experts fromacross the nation discussed indetail about challenges,advance treatment of eyes, dis-eases including the progressbeing made in ophthalmologystream.

Technical session was heldon the theme of Retinopathy ofPre Maturity. Dr. PoonamSingh, Dr. Vijaya Jojo, Dr.Subodh, Dr. Parijat Chandra,Dr. SP Tiwari, Dr. Rakesh, Dr.Malay Kumar Divedi and Dr.Anshuman Sinha expressedtheir views. Speaker Dr. SPJakhanwal presented his viewson the scenario ofOphthalmology Practice in thecountry. Further, Dr. MohitaSharma highlighted on cornealtopography check.

In the lecture, Dr. PrashantAgnihotri said that the presentage is of Artificial Intelligence.“Artificial intelligence will beused in the medical field in thecoming times. Nowadays acomputer based on ArtificialIntelligence is being inventedwhich will be available formedical persons in the nearfuture. It works on computerbased Artificial Intelligence.There is a data feed of diseasesof thousands of patients. Forexample, when the patient ofthe diabetic retinopathy sits onthe computer, the computerdiagnoses the grade of its dia-betic retinopathy on the basisof that data bank, and thecomputer also explains whatkind of treatment the patientneeds and how much,”Agnihotri added.

During the Retina updatesession, Dr. Ravi, Dr. SubodhKumar Singh, Dr. Bibhuti PKashyap, Dr. PrashantAgnihotri, Dr. Mohita Sharma,Dr. SP Tiwari, Dr. AbhishekGupta and Dr. AnshumanSinha gave detailed informa-tion on different aspects relat-

ed to retina.Dr. Bihubti P. Kashyap said

that the person with rupturedretina must be immediatelyoperated as in such situation;there are high chances of per-son losing his or eye sights, ifnot given proper medicaltreatment. Further, Dr. MohitaSharma, Founder Secretary,Women’s OphthalmologySociety of India informed thatwe had established theWomen's OphthalmologySociety of India three years ago;its main objective is to provideequal opportunity to womenophthalmologists to expandtheir reach in their selecteddomain.

Meanwhile, Dr. SwatiTomar, Head of Rajasthan StateEye Bank said, “Blindness isone of the major health prob-lems in developing countries.According to the NationalProgram for Control ofBlindness, approximately 68million people have less than6/60 vision in at least one eye,it is estimated that there areover 12 thousand cornea-borneblindness in the country. Anestimate suggests that the num-ber of visually impaired peopleis increasing every year from 25to 30 thousand corneas in thecountry.”

“The factors responsiblefor corneal blindness vary withage. Based on the signs of ker-atoplasty in adults living in lessdeveloped countries, theimportant causes of cornealblindness are corneal scars andinactive Kyritsis for pediatricage groups in the developingworld for Keratoplasty. Themost common signs have beenreported to obtain non-trau-matic marks,” Tomar added.

“Human organ transplan-tation is one of the mostnotable successes in the histo-ry of medical science; it is theonly hope for people with dis-abilities. Organ donation isthe greatest gift that one canever make,” Tomar added stat-ed.

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The second day of JharkhandLiterary Meet–2018 filled with

exhilaration took the audiences to theworld of classic literary works, wherenoted authors, artists yet againexpounded on various issues andrevealed about their journey.

The celebrated author of childrenclassics – Ruskin Bond spoke his heartout during the conversation with theaudiences ‘Growing up with Ruskin’on Sunday. The writer who penneddown a number of books capturingthe innocence of childhood days coa-lescing it with the majestic beauty andserene environment of hillocks assert-ed that the progress of children isbased on what they read, write andunderstand in their early days onspecifically speaking about focusing onkids while writing a novel.

Bond who started jotting downhis own experiences since his earlyteenage days admitted that writing forchildren is difficult as one has to grabtheir attention in the page one itself.“Till the age of 21, I used to write onlyfor the general readers, later as timeflew, I realised that if my writing cangive pleasure to elderly people thanwhy not children. In my mid 30’s, Istarted writing for children and hasbeen enjoying doing so even now,”added Bond going down the memo-ry lane.

Further, walking to transition, thenoted writer added that through fic-

tional work attempts must be made topresent a positive view of life to chil-dren. Bond – the writer, in the pres-ence of several audiences stated thathe too grew reading nursery rhymes,children classic like Alice inWonderland, stories and essays ofCharles Dickens and so on; hence,more than orating, he likes to expresshis views through writing.

On the query, how he maintainsinnocence in his writing withoutbeing cynical, Bond thanked thealmighty for blessing him with mys-tical innocence, well-depicted in all hisliterary collections. Rusty who believesin subjective writing pointed out thatthere is no dearth of topics but dur-ing the creative process, he enjoys writ-ing for kids, taking inspiration fromhis life and surroundings.

He also spoke about his ‘DreamBook’ where he records all his dreamsby putting in writing without analysingits fact. In addition, while answeringabout his favourite literary work, col-lection or essay, Bond further stated,“A writer always aim for perfection andcannot retire. Terming any collectionof his work ‘favourite’ cannot do jus-

tice in any way. Every book of mineis favourite.”

On the popular demand of theaudiences, Bond cooked up a ‘GhostStory’ in his signature style andreceived applaud from the audiences.He advised the aspiring writers torespect the language, s/he plans towrite. Bond seemed pretty comfort-able about the adaptation of novel intofilms. Several books of Bond havebeen adapted for the visual medium- movies and telefilms.

“When sensitive filmmakers adaptyour stories, you know that they aregoing to do justice but undoubtedlythere are high chances as well wherethe essence of the story is lost whileattempting to recreate it into othermediums,” he added. The sessionconcluded with Bond sharing hisdesire to write couple of plays for the-ater, which earlier was not so domi-nant in India.

During the inaugural session –‘The Wonder Years’, writers Malay Royand Abdullah Khan discussed theirdebut novels based in this region. Theevent which concluded on a high notewitnessed the participation of RajyaSabha MP, Harivansh who interactedwith the audiences during the session‘On the importance of the Mahatma150 years after his birth’.

The session ‘EK Shaam Kavita KeNaam’ featured ace music composerNiranjan Iyengar, Hussain Haidry,Anuj Lugun, Chandramohan Kiskuand Nirmala Putul. Similarly, duringthe session ‘Yeh Kaun Chitrakar Hai’– Prakriti aur Adivasi Sahitya, writersMahadev Toppo, ChandramohanKisku, Anuj Lugun including MohuaMaji put forward their views in con-versation with Vinoy Bhushan.

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The AJSU Party warned theGovernment and sought

respectable solution to thedemands of all workers includ-ing the Para Teachers onSunday. Addressing a pressconference at the party’s head-quarters AJSU PartySpokesperson, DevsharanBhagat, said, “Through theprocess of defective appoint-ment policy in the State, thereis huge anger in youth of thestate. People who are con-stantly out in government jobsare being captured. It was saidin the meeting that all theappointments of the third andfourth classes of the stateshould be ensured at the blocklevel so that the youth ofJharkhand got their due. Thesystem is applicable in manyother states.”

Raising the party’s voice onappointment issue Bhagat said,“It has been decided underreview meeting of the Party’sCentral Working Committeeheaded by the Party’s presidentSudesh Kumar Mahto todaythat respectable honorarium to2.5 lakh workers in the State,including Para Teacher,Anganwadi Sevika Sahayika,

Sahia, Agriculture friend,MNREGA personnel be given.”

Informing future strategythe Spokesperson said, “Duringthe meeting, we have review ofthe visit of Swaraj Swabhimanstarted by the party’s onOctober 2 in leadership SudeshKumar Mahato. So far, in theorder of Swaraj SwabhimanYatra, they have gone throughabout one thousand villagesand have taken walks of 426

kilometers and have directlycommunicated with five lakhpeople. In his next inning, hehas to go to four thousand vil-lages. It has been decided that“Swaraj Swabhiman Sabha” willbe held in the capital Ranchi inthe first week of February. Inthis, people of five thousandvillages will ensure participa-tion.” He further added, “Everyside of this journey wasreviewed in the meeting of the

Working Committee. In thisvisit, in a direct dialogue withthe common people on thepeople’s participation of thelarge population of the peopleand the public questions thathave emerged between them,one thing has been specifical-ly highlighted that the impor-tance of Panch and Panchayathas diminished. Also, due tonon-political political leader-ship and non-liability bureau-

cracy, the foundation of thedemocratic system and demo-cratic image in the state is con-stantly getting weak.”

Bhagat said, “The partywill organize a youth meetingat Ranchi on January 13, on theoccasion of 156th birthanniversary of SwamiVivekananda. In this meeting,one lakh young people of thestate will participate.”

Informing about the meet-ing he said, “In the meeting,senior party leader and minis-ter ChandraprabhashChaudhary MLA RajkishorMahato, Ramchandra Sahis,Umakant Raksh, Hasan Ansari,Debasharan Bhagat, SapanSingh Deo, Sheen Akhtar,Vayalut Kachchap were main-ly present.”

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The Delhi Police has bust-ed a syndicate which was

allegedly involved in cheatingaround 350 Government offi-cials on the pretext of organ-ising Leave Travel Concession(LTC) tours in 2013. The twoaccused persons, who werearrested on Sunday, hadoffered tour packages to theirvictims; however after payingfor the packages, the com-plainants found that theywere cheated, police said.

Police probe has revealedthat about 60 complaints fromoff icials of dif ferentGovernment organisations,like the Ministry of Health,Delhi Health Department,Postal Department, AIIMS,court employees and theDelhi Police, had registeredcomplaints at the ConnaughtPlace police station againstthe alleged company INI Tour& Travel Private Limited forduping them. "Investigationwas taken up but the accusedpersons proved to be elu-sive," said a police officer.

"Two persons identified asAshwani Singh (32) andHarpat Singh, the directors ofthe alleged company has been

arrested in the case.According to police, theaccused were on the run since2013 and their whereaboutscould not be traced. A policeteam led by the Station HouseOfficer (SHO) of ConnaughtPlace Inspector Vinod Narangtraced the accused persons.On Wednesday last, AshwaniSingh was arrested fromMohan Garden in UttamNagar and during his policeremand another accusedHarpat Singh was traced fromGurugram, police said.

"According to one of thecomplainants, SurenderKumar, in 2013, a womanwho identified herself asMonika Tyagi contacted himfrom her mobile regarding atour programme for Jammu &Kashmir for Government ser-vants. She introduced herselfas the marketing executive inINI Tour & Travel PrivateLimited," DeputyCommissioner of Police (NewDelhi) Madhur Verma said.

"On her assurance thecomplainant Surender paid Rs91,000 in cash to Monika. OnJune 15, 2013, when the com-plainant visited the office ofINI Tour and Travel inConnaught Place neither thecompany nor the woman was

there," said the DCP. Policerevealed that a team fromConnaught Place police sta-tion was constituted and dur-ing the course of investiga-tion, police found that thealleged company had cheatedseveral Government employ-

ees and absconded. "Around 60 victims were

contacted to develop cluesregarding the culprits. Theteam traced the entire execu-tive staff, which were workingin the company includingMonika and they were inter-

rogated. During interroga-tion, it was revealed that fourpersons identified as AshiwiniSingh and Harpat Singh hadhired staff including twoidentif ied as Bhavesh,Mahendra Paleja, andassigned them to sell LTC

tour packages to Governmentemployees for a tour toSrinagar," DCP said.

"Two batches of tourpackages were organised bythe company. On June 12,2013, 180 passengers depart-ed from New Delhi to SriNagar through GO Airline,but on June 16, 2013, whenthe passengers reached SriNagar Airport for their returnjourney their f light hadreportedly been cancelled dueto non-payment to the airlinecompany.

In the same way 180 morepassengers reached NewDelhi Airport on June 16,2013 to start their LTC Tourfrom Delhi to Sri Nagar, theirflight was also cancelled bythe airline company due tonon-payment," he added.

"During investigation, itwas found that Ashwani wascurrently working with arenowned online tour com-pany and has five cases ofsimilar modus operandi reg-istered against him.Meanwhile, Harpat does nothave a criminal background.We are further investigatingthe matter to arrest al l the accused personsinvolved in the syndicate,"said the DCP.

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Water supply would beaffected in parts of the

national Capital on Mondayand Tuesday due to the annualprogramme for flushing ofunderground reservoir andbooster pumping station.

The areas where supplywould not be available or avail-able at low pressure are A-1Sector-5 Rohini, Rohini Sector-24 JJC, BI Block Shalimar Bagh,B-4 Lawrence Road, MayurVihar I, II & III, Pocket-HDilshad Garden, 288 MIGPocket-6 Sector-23 Rohini, A-1Sector-17 Rohini, BW BlockShalimar Bagh, ShaktiApartment Ashok Vihar, TransitCamp, Anand Vihar, AGCREnclave, Pocket-F DilshadGarden, Shastri Park, Usmanpur,Kaithwara, Bhagat Singh Colony,Brahampuri, Gautampuri,Welcome, Zafrabad, ChouhanBanger, Seelampur and adjoin-ing areas.

Delhi Jal Board has advisedresidents to store sufficient

quantity of water in advance asper their requirement. Watertankers will be available attelephone numbers 1916, 1800-117118, 23527679, 23634469,(Central Control Room),27308015 (Ashok Vihar),9650291444, 27700231(Holambi), 27915965 (Mang-olpuri), 22727812(Mandawali), 22812683,22812050, 22817228 (YamunaVihar), 22816023, 22814651,22814518 (Loni Road).

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The National Capital’sbiggest computer market —

Nehru Place and the officecomplex — Bhikaji Cama Placeboth situated in the SouthDelhi will be soon revamped tomake it more safer for thewomen as the DelhiDevelopment Authority is soongoing to start the re-designingwork by the beginning of 2019.The project once completedwould also help in decongest-ing busy Nehru Place in Southeast Delhi.

As per the project plan,direct connectivity and clearway for the movement ofpedestrians, proper space forparking illumination of darkspots and women safety will bethe major tasks in both thecomplexes.The DelhiDevelopment Authority(DDA), the owner of the twocomplexes is ready with thedetailed project plan and hasalso done with all the modali-ties of the project to invite ten-ders. The tender is expected tobe floated by end of this week.

These complexes are theone among the three com-plexes including the revampingof Vasant Lok complex whoseredevelopment was ordered bythe Housing and Urban Affairs(HUA) in the year 2017. Theconstruction work of Vasant

Lok complex has already start-ed and the remaining project ofNehru Place and Bhikaji CamaPlace is in its last stage.

As per the official, both thecomplexes will have properand direct connectivity of foot-paths, corridors, buildings,shops to the bus stop andmetro stations. The officialsaid parking space will also becreated in these complexes tode-congest the paths for thepedestrians. The already exist-ing parking lot on the OuterRing Road will be convertedinto multi-level parking to de-congest the area.

“Women safety and de-congestion is the main part ofthis project as during the sur-vey, numbers of dark spots havebeen found in both the com-plexes. Thus, illumination ofdark spots locations with highvigilance, increase of streetlights will be installed. NehruPlace has footfall but there aredark spots at many places suchas Paras cinema hall, Dhabaarea, police station and theback side of the market,” saida senior official from DDA.

After the re-designing,Bhikaji Cama Place knos asoffice complexes will also become a hang out spot forthe people RK Puram, INAmarket, Sarojini Nagar,Mohammadpur village andnearby areas as the DDA installshopping stores, eating outlets,

restaurants and other fun activ-ities to remove the desertedlook that take place after theoffice hours.

“This is a office complex sothe sunsets the entire areabecomes isolated, so in order tokeep the place happening aswell as to get a good footfall, athe entire complex includingthe outside of Hyatt residency,lights will be installed withgreen space (plantations) andrestaurants will be set up wherepeople can enjoy with theirfriends and family till 11 pm.An open air theatre is also onthe plan where people canorganise various activities suchlaunching programmes, aware-ness programmes and others,”said official. Further, escala-tors, lifts and the entire pedes-trian’s path or footpath will beconstructed in the mannerwith shelters with plants whichwill protect the people fromboth sun and rain. Arts andSculpture will also be installedto beautify the complex.

The budget of redevelop-ment of Bhikaji Cama place is�80 crore and Nehru Place willbe �180 crore. As per the offi-cials, the completion of theredevelopment of Nehru Placeis expected by mid of 2020 andBhikaji Cama Place will becompleted little earlier by endof 2019 as Nehru Place com-plex is bigger than BhikajiCama Place.

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With the arrest of fourpersons including their

kingpins Pramod (27) andMukesh Verma (24), theDelhi Police has busted agang of auto lifters andsnatchers involved in a dozencases of auto-theft andsnatching.

The duo allegedly enticedtwo others identified as 20-year-olds Kamal and Rahulinto the gang promising themeasy money and a lavishlifestyle, police said.

Police allegedly caughtthem red handed on Friday ataround 9.15 pm when theyassembled at Chhath Pujapark at Uttam Nagar to steala vehicle.

Four stolen motor cycleswere recovered from theirpossession, police said.

“The four persons werearrested by Anti-Auto TheftSquad of Dwarka district.

The kingpin of the gang Pramod and his associate Mukesh Verma were both released from jailonly last month, and soon after they again started indulging in motorcycle theft.

They had roped-in thenteenagers Rahul and Kamalinto the gang enticing themwith good money andlifesty le,” DeputyCommissioner of Police(Dwarka) Anto Alphonsestated.

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Underlining that PakistanArmy General Qamar

Javed Bajwa had broken thenews of opening KartarpurCorridor to Punjab CabinetMinister Navjot Singh Sidhueven before Imran Khan wassworn in as their PrimeMinister, Punjab Chief MinisterCapt Amarinder Singh onSunday dubbed the whole affairas a “bigger conspiracy hatchedby the Pak army”.

“The opening of KartarpurCorridor is clearly a game planof the ISI,” said the ChiefMinister, adding that a biggerconspiracy seems to have beenhatched by Pakistan Armyagainst India.

Capt Amarinder admittedthat Pakistan was attempting torevive militancy in Punjab andthus everyone should be waryof all of its overtures, no mat-ter how grand they appear tobe. “The Sidhu affair was beingunnecessarily hyped and thoseraising it had clearly failed tosee the ISI game plan,” saidCapt Amarinder, lashing out atthe Akalis for branding thePunjab Minister as stooge ofthe Pakistan Prime Minister.

At the same time, the ChiefMinister dismissed it as noth-ing more than a credit war,lambasting the Akalis and theBJP Central leadership forindulging in unwarranted con-troversy over his (ChiefMinister’s) relations with Sidhuin a bid to divert public atten-tion from the core issue ofPakistan’s continued and delib-erate perpetration of terroractivities in Punjab with the

ultimate aim of destabilizingthe border state.

Capt Amarinder said thatthe demand for opening of theKartarpur Sahib corridor waspending since partition as sev-eral holy Sikh shrines (SriNankana Sahib, Sri Panja Sahib,Dera Sahib and KartarpurSahib) had been left inPakistan. “Even former PrimeMinisters Indira Gandhi andDr Manmohan Singh hadtaken up the issue of openingthe Kartarpur corridor withPakistan. I myself had raisedthis issue with his PakistanPunjab counterpart ParvezElahi and with the thenPresident Parvez Musharrafduring his previous tenure asthe Chief Minister,” he said.

The Chief Minister saidthat Imran Khan was undoubt-edly making efforts to bringpeace, tranquility and harmo-ny with India, but at the sametime, he should also prevailupon the top brass of PakistaniArmy to ensure that killings ofour soldiers at borders arestopped immediately.

Pakistan’s history reveals

that if any Prime Ministerwants to stay in power, he hasto toe the line of the Army, saidthe Chief Minister, citing theexample of Nawaz Sharif ’sagreement with the PakistaniArmy in Dubai, which led tohis continuation as PrimeMinister. Asked on why heopted not to go to Pakistan forKartarpur Sahib corridor’sground-breaking ceremony,Capt Amarinder said that hedeclined the invite because hecould not think of going therewhile Indian soldiers and civil-ians were being killed byPakistani Army.

Warning Pakistan againstcarrying on with its nefariousdesigns, Capt Amarinder urgedit to desist from trying tofoment trouble in Punjab. Healso asked Pakistan to put animmediate end to the killing ofIndian soldiers at the borders.

“Pakistan Army GeneralQamar Javed Bajwa shouldunderstand that Punjab Policeis fully geared up to takePakistan head-on if it contin-ued to vitiate peaceful atmos-phere of the state through ter-

ror,” said Capt Amarinder.General Bajwa was sadly

mistaken in underestimatingthe unbounded capacities andcapabilities of Punjab police infacing any daunting challenge,he said while advising PalArmy Chief not to comparePunjab with 1970s and 1980swhen its police force was ameagre 16,000-17,000.

“The force now is well-equipped with high-techweapons and ammunition,along with professionally com-mitted commando battalionsand Punjab Armed Force, toeffectively tackle any challeng-ing task,” he added.

Capt Amarinder pointed tothe recent successes of thePunjab Police, including thearrest of two culprits, withindays, for the grenade attack atthe Nirankari Bhawan inAdliwal village of Amritsardistrict in connivance with ISIagents. Reiterating hisGovernment’s commitment tobreak the backbone of terror-ism, Capt Amarinder said thatno one would be allowed topush back Punjab back into

those black days of terrorism.The Chief Minister further

pointed out that the severalmilitants organisations, whichhad been active in Punjab inthe past were now completelyeliminated, and the ISI waspursuing its ulterior motive tocreate law and order problemin Punjab by exploiting the reli-gious sentiments of innocentSikh youths in Canada, USAand even in Europe, and arm-ing them with funds andweapons.

Capt Amarinder alsolashed at the ‘Sikhs For Justice’for abetting terrorism inPunjab by whipping the reli-gious sentiments of Sikhs. “Thepeople of Punjab, especially theSikhs from rural areas, wouldnot lend support to his so-called ‘referendum 2020’. TheSFJ’s claims of the KartarpurCorridor being a gift ofPakistan also had no takers inPunjab,” said the ChiefMinister.

SIDHU A LIKEABLEPERSON, BUT SHOOTSBEFORE THINKING

The Chief Minister saidthat Sidhu was a “likeable per-son” and he shared warm tieswith even Sidhu’s parents whenthe cricketer-turned-minister’sfather was Patiala DistrictCongress unit president and his(Captain’s) mother MohinderKaur was the MemberParliament from Patiala.

“I and Sidhu are not at log-gerheads as reported by themedia and I have absolutely noproblems with Sidhu whilerunning the Government.

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Chandigarh: Punjab ChiefMinister Capt AmarinderSingh on Sunday underwentsome routine medical tests atPGIMER as a follow-up on theviral illness he had suffered last

week. Doctors at PGMER saidthat all the tests were clean andthe Chief Minister was foundto be suffering from slightweakness as a result of the ear-lier bout of viral fever. All

parameters were found to benormal in the tests conductedon him, said the doctors. TheChief Minister has beenadvised rest at home for 48hours, said the doctors. PNS

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Haryana Chief MinisterManohar Lal Khattar said

that spiritual thinking generatespositive thinking and this pos-itivity inspires to move forwardin life.

“A good society can bebuilt on the basis of this posi-tivity. The Brahma KumariMission is also effectively doingthis work and spreading mes-sage of positivity through spir-itual contemplation,” the ChiefMinister said while speaking at

the annual foundation dayfunction of Brahma KumarisSonipat Retreat Centre, atSonipat.

Earlier, he inauguratedDadi Janki Auditorium in the

presence of 103 years oldRajyogini Brahma KumariDadi Janki and inauguratedthe 5th annual function of theRetreat Centre.

He said that BrahmaKumari is a spiritual thinkingand it has been showing a newpath to people belonging todifferent religions and castes.The Brahma Kumari workswith the vision of ‘Ek Ishwar-Ek Parivar’ and it considersthe entire world as one village,he added.

The Chief Minister alsosaid that lakhs of women areassociated with BrahmaKumaris and the StateGovernment has also beenworking consistently forwomen empowerment.

On the occasion,Rajyogini Brahma KumariDadi Janki expressed happi-ness after dedicating the audi-torium.

Those present on theoccasion included Member ofParliament Ramesh Kaushik,Women and ChildDevelopment Minister. KavitaJain, and other dignitaries.

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New Delhi: Niti AayogMember and agriculture poli-cy expert Ramesh Chand saidthat he is not in favour of debtwaivers as this help only a smallfraction of farmers. “Thebiggest problem with loanwaiver is that it will benefit onlya small fraction of farmers...Iam not at all in favour of loanwaiver,” Chand said.

The country recently wit-nessed agitations by farmers inkey farm States in support oftheir demands ranging fromfarm loan waiver to clearing ofdues by sugar mills and high-er prices for crops.

He also observed that inpoorer States only 10-15 percent of farmers are benefitedfrom loan waiver as few num-ber of farmers get institution-al loans in such States. Whenasked about implementation ofthe Swaminathan Commissionreport, he said Narendra Modi-

led NDA Government hasimplemented most of the rec-ommendations of theCommission.

Chand added the mini-mum support price (MSP) onvarious farm produce cannotbe raised beyond a point it isnot supported by the demandside factors as it would become too distorted and unaf-fordable for a large section of

the society.While the Swaminathan

committee has suggested theMSP should be fixed on C2(production cost definition)plus 50 per cent, theGovernment has adoptedA2+FL (actual cost plus thevalue of family labour) and a 50per cent increase over A2+FLto provide a reasonable marginto producers. PTI

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Congress president RahulGandhi has written to

Punjab Chief MinisterAmarinder Singh, urging hisGovernment in the State topass a resolution calling on theCentre to pass the Women’sReservation Bill. Rahul haswritten the letter, seeking pas-sage of a resolution urging theCentral Government to passthe Bill, to the Chief Ministersof those States where theCongress is in power. His letter comes just days before thestart of the Winter Session ofParliament.

Rahul Gandhi noted that the Rajya Sabha passed the 108th constitutionalAmendment Bill in 2010, but itlapsed after the dissolution ofthe 15th Lok Sabha in 2014.

“The Congress and severalparties have called on the PrimeMinister to ensure the passageof the Women’s ReservationBill and pledged their support.While the opponents of the Billhave cast doubts on the abilityof women to affect change, theleadership role taken by womenafter the 73rd and 73th consti-tutional amendments haveproved the detractors wrong,” hesaid in his letter.

The Bill seeks to reserveone-third of all seats for womenin the Lok Sabha and StateLegislative Assemblies.

“In order to affirm our sup-port to the passage of the Bill,it would be expedient for theState Assembly to pass a reso-lution calling for the reserva-tion of one-third of the seats inthe Lok Sabha and legislative

Assembly for women, in thenext Session,” Rahul said.

He said Mahila Congresschief Sushmita Dev had alsowritten to all party-led StateGovernments in this regard onNovember 23.

The legislative Assembliesof Odisha and Andhra Pradeshhave already taken a lead andpassed a resolution calling onthe Central Government toenact the Women’s ReservationBill, he noted.

Ahead of Parliament’sMonsoon Session, RahulGandhi had written to PrimeMinister Narendra Modi, ask-ing him to “demonstrate hiscommitment to the cause ofwomen”, and ensure the passageof the Women’s Reservation Billduring that Session.

The party also demandedpassing of a Bill protecting therights of domestic workers inupcoming Parliament Session,asserting that Central law aimedat securing descent workingconditions for them and regu-

lating of placement agencieswas the need of the hour.

Arbind Singh, Chairman ofthe All India UnorganisedWorkers Congress (AIUWC),alleged that the policy ondomestic workers envisionedby the Government was not allencompassing and lacks inaddressing core issues andrights of domestic workers.

Singh said a law aimed atsecuring descent-working con-ditions and regulating place-ment agencies was the need ofthe hour.

The comprehensive draftlaw for domestic workers look-ing at various aspects such asregulation of working condi-tion, fixation of wages, holi-days, regulation of placementagencies, and social security,has been submitted by AIUWCto the Government.

A delegation will also sub-mit a memorandum to thePrime Minster’s Office (PMO) demanding law fordomestic workers.

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The Ministry of Housingand Urban Affairs (HUA)

is examining if it can ban useof burnt-clay bricks in its con-struction projects, a moveaimed at giving a boost to envi-ronment-friendly products. Ifthe Government bans makingburnt clay bricks, it would bea big blow to brick-kiln indus-try. Earlier, the National GreenTribunal (NGT) had orderedbanning digging of earth formaking bricks and roads with-out prior environment clear-ance (EC),

According to an official,the HUA Ministry has direct-ed the Central Public WorksDepartment (CPWD) to exam-ine whether burnt clay brickscan be banned for use in itsconstruction projects.

Following the ministry’sdirections, the CPWD hassought a feedback from itsofficials concerned and askedthem to submit the same byDecember 11. “Numerousdirectives, guidelines and ruleshave been issued by variousGovernment bodies regardingclay bricks, but the situation on

the ground is not changing,”officials said. The CPWD is thelargest construction agency ofthe Centre. It mostly con-structs office buildings ofCentral Government,autonomous bodies amongothers across the country.

Officials say red clay bricksget their colour from the iron-oxide in the valuable fertile top-soil which is used to makethem. A huge amount of agri-cultural soil gets wasted andlocked-into structures as aresult of red clay bricks. “Illegalmining of soil is a huge prob-lem. The unorganised sectordoesn’t want to take the hasslesof organising and managing thesupply of better materials andprefers to “just take the soilfrom somewhere” and makebricks with it. While the organ-ised sector of AAC and CLC

blocks works professionally bymanaging the raw-materialsfor production more efficient-ly,” said officials.

“There are technologiesavailable to produce environ-ment-friendly bricks by utili-sation of waste material To givea boost to environment-friend-ly products and waste materi-al, the Ministry has directedCPWD to examine whetherburnt clay bricks can be bannedfor use in its works,” a seniorofficial said.

Traditional brick-kilnscause air pollution as they usecoal in brick-making process.In October this year, theSupreme Court-appointedEPCA pushed NCR States toensure that all brick-kilnsimplement the “zig-zag” tech-nology, as specified by theMinistry of Environment and

Forests, which can reduceemissions by 80 per cent.

Burnt clay bricks are theclassic form of brick, created bypressing wet clay into molds,then drying and firing them inkilns. This is a very old build-ing material-the type of brickfound in many of the ancientstructures of the world. Inappearance, these bricks aresolid blocks of hardened clay,usually reddish in color.

“Burnt clay bricks are typ-ically sold in four classes, withfirst-class offering the bestquality and most strength.These high-grade burnt claybricks have no noticeable flaws,but they’re also going to costmore. When these bricks areused in walls, they requireplastering or rendering withmortar. Uses for burnt claybricks include,” officials said.

New Delhi: Congress presidentRahul Gandhi on Sunday hitback at Prime MinisterNarendra Modi for comparinghim to a stuck gramophone,posting a video of the PrimeMinister in which he is seenand heard making repeatedreferences to members of theGandhi family in a medley ofhis speeches.

In a video interaction withBJP leaders in October, Modihad mocked Rahul Gandhi,saying he keeps repeating thingslike a stuck gramophone butpeople will not accept his“childish” claims and “lies”against the Government as theymake “fun” of such remarks.

Posting the video of a med-ley of Modi’s speeches withrepeated references to the

Gandhis, the Congress presi-dent tweeted, “This entertain-ing video has been presented byMr. 36! I hope you enjoy see-ing it! Please share it withyour family and friends sothat they can enjoy it too.”

The video starts withModi’s interaction with BJPworkers; he said, “There usedto be gramophone records ear-lier. At times, it would getstuck and play same wordsagain and again. There aresome people like it. One thingoccupies their mind and theykeep repeating it.”

After that, in the videoRahul posted, a medley ofModi’s addresses follow withonly repeated references tomembers of Gandhi family.

PNS

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Facing flak from the SupremeCourt which recently point-

ed out gaps in the implemen-tation of National SocialAssistance Programme(NSAP), dealing with pensionsfor elderly and other issues, theCentre has come up with adraft social audit guidelines andstandard operating procedureto strengthen and ensure itsuniformity across the States.

In a letter written recentlyto all the States, the UnionRural Development Ministryhas asked them to providefeedback on the guidelines soas to initiate social audit of the scheme in a pilot modein 22 States.

The SC while hearing acase last month had remarkedthat “prima facie” the NSAPwas a good scheme but therewere “huge gaps” in its imple-

mentation which needed to befilled, an observation which theMinistry too, during internalevaluation of the programmeprimarily found to be true.

The official in the letteradmitted that “while NSAPguidelines provides for con-ducting social audit on six-monthly basis and provisionshave been made for financingthe social audit through admin-istrative expenses allocated toeach State by the Centre, how-ever, it was observed that thispart of the Guidelines was notbeing implemented in letterand spirit.”

A bench of justices MadanB Lokur and Deepak Guptahad said that the Centre musthave a machinery to implementthe scheme so that it could beknown as to which authoritieswere doing their job properly.

The NSAP comprises ofIndira Gandhi National Old

Age Pension Scheme, IndiraGandhi National WidowPension Scheme, IndiraGandhi National DisabilityPension Scheme, NationalFamily Benefit Scheme andAnnapurna scheme.

The NSAP has a budget ofaround �9,975 crore in 2018-19and the government has allot-ted funds for pension coveringaround three crore elderly per-sons under the Indira GandhiNational Old Age PensionScheme. However, the Courtobserved that “All this is fine onpaper. It case of widows inVrindavan, I do not think any-one of them has been given anymoney. You have no idea howmany widows are there inVrindavan and in JagannathPuri. You read our judgements(in widows matter) and youwill get to know,” Justice Lokur said. Former UnionMinister and senior advocate

Ashwini Kumar, who has fileda public interest litigation (PIL) concerning old age per-sons, told the bench that num-ber of senior citizens haveincreased from 10.38 crore asper 2011 census.

Only seven states andUnion Territories were givingabout Rs. 2,000 monthly pen-sion to senior citizens, whosepopulation would increase byover 300 per cent by 2050.

To bring about uniformityin approach, the Social AuditGuidelines and StandardOperating Procedure (SOP)have been prepared to launchthe pilot in 22 states, said theletter. The PIL had said therewere a large number of agedpeople, most of whom were liv-ing in poverty, without any roofover their heads or properclothes, food and budgetaryallocation for their welfare wasalso paltry.

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The CPI (M) has cautionedits strategic ally Congress

that it will fail to defeat the BJPin the upcoming general elec-tions if it continues to peddle“soft Hindutva”. In an editori-al in the latest edition of itsmouthpiece, People’sDemocracy, the CPI (M) hasreferred to Congress presidentRahul Gandhi’s “flurry” of tem-ple visits in the poll-boundStates of Chhattisgarh, MadhyaPradesh and Rajasthan andsaid that it was a “pale echo ofthe Hindutva platforms.”

“The attempt to prove thatthe Congress was genuinelymore Hindu than the BJP wit-nessed a flurry of temple visitsby Rahul Gandhi in the threeStates... If the Congress thinksit can defeat the BJP by suchsoft Hindutva tactics, it is mis-taken,” the editorial said.Highlighting what the CPI (M)considered as Congress’ “softHindutva”, the editorial pickedon the party’s manifestos in thethree States.

It said while in MadhyaPradesh, the Congress talked of‘gaushalas’ (cow shelters) inevery panchayat, commercialsale of ‘gaumutra’ (cow urine)and building a Ram VanGaman Path Yatra, inRajasthan, they promised thesetting up of an educationboard to propagate vedic values.

“In the campaign, therewas a palpable reluctance tospeak out against the lynchingsof Muslims like the killing ofPehlu Khan,” it alleged.However, the editorial pointedout that the BJP will face elec-toral reverses in these threeStates “because the people havevoted on issues such as jobs,farmers’ distress, lack of basicamenities and corruption”.

It said various mass strug-gles offering a secular anddemocratic alternative “alonecan counter the BJP-RSS gameplan and effectively foil it”.“The mobilisation of the work-ing people... And the numerousstruggles and movements tak-ing place around the countrystand in stark contrast to thecommunal mobilisation beingundertaken on the Ram templeissue at Ayodhya,” it said.

The editorial also statedthat people’s protests haveforced the BJP to fall back onits communal rhetoric andefforts to smear the Oppositionas anti-national. “The anti-Muslim rhetoric and the Ramtemple chorus is not going tohelp the BJP to stave off thepeople’s anger against theirmisrule in the three States, nor,will it help gain any new vot-ers in Telangana,” it said.

The editorial pointed outthat the peasant mobilisation isgoing to be followed by the two-day general strike of the work-ing class of the country calledby the Central Trade Unions onJanuary 8 and 9, 2019. “All thesestreams of struggle are demand-ing a secular and democraticalternative, which alone cancounter the BJP-RSS game planand effectively foil it,” it said.

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New Delhi: The Pakistan HighCommission on Sunday said ithas issued visas to 139 Indian pilgrims to visit KatasRaj Dham, the famous Shivatemple, in the country’s Punjabprovince.

Under the framework of abilateral protocol on visits toreligious shrines, Sikh andHindu pilgrims from Indiavisit Pakistan every year. Pakistani pilgrims alsovisit India every year under theprotocol.

“Another group of Indianpilgrims, comprising 139 peo-ple, have been issued visas bythe Pakistan High Commissionto visit Shree Katas Raj Dhamin Chakwal district fromDecember 9-15,” the PakistanHigh Commission said.

Last month, Pakistan hadgranted visas to more than3,800 Sikh pilgrims to visit thecountry. Some of the pilgrimshad attended the ground-breaking ceremony of theKartarpur corridor onNovember 28 in Narowal.

The corridor will link theDarbar Sahib shrine inKartarpur in Pakistan’s Punjabprovince to Dera Baba Nanakin Gurdaspur district in India.

Earlier this month, over220 Indian pilgrims weregranted visas to visit the famousHindu temple, Shadani Darbar,in Sukkur.

Katas Raj is one of the holi-est places for the Hindu com-munity in Pakistan. The tem-ples form a complex sur-rounding a pond named Katas— which is regarded as sacredby the devotees.

Pakistan’s HighCommissioner SohailMahmood stated that theissuance of visas for yet anoth-er group of pilgrims from Indiawas consistent withGovernment’s of Pakistan’s pol-icy of promoting visits to reli-gious shrines and was a reflec-tion of its commitment tofaithfully implement the 1974Protocol, the HighCommission said in a release.

He said that Pakistanremained committed to pro-viding all possible facilitationfor the visiting pilgrims andstrengthening people-to-peopleexchanges between the twocountries. PTI

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The Indian and Russian airforces will begin a 12-day

war game in Jodhpur onMonday with an aim toenhance their operational coordination.

The exercise — Aviaindra— will be unique as the RussianAir Force will not bring itsassets and will take part in thedrill using Indian platforms,said an official of the Indian AirForce said.

The first edition of theexercise was held in 2014.

Most of the fighter jetsbeing used by the Indian AirForce is of Russian origin, andalready both the air forceshave achieved significant levels of inter-operability, saidthe official.

“In India, the pilots fromthe Russian FederationAerospace Force will fly along-side their Indian counterpartsin the IAF aircraft, which arecommon to both air forces,” thedefence ministry said in astatement.

Russia has been a majorpartner of India in the defencesector and the cooperation hasbeen steadily growing further.

In October last year, Indiaand Russia held a 10-day megawar game involving theirarmies, navies and air forces forthe first time to further rampup military ties.

The exercise Indra, whichtook place in Russia, primari-ly focused on achieving coor-dination between forces of thetwo countries in a tri-servicesintegrated theatre commandscenario.

It was for the first time,India participate in a tri-ser-vices exercise with a foreigncountry with a large scale par-ticipation by the Navy, theArmy and the Air Force.

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Soon, pharmacopoeia stan-dards for drugs/formula-

tions used under Ayurveda,Siddha, Unani (ASU) andHomoeopathic systems ofmedicine will be available at aclick of mouse. The move, afirst-of-its kind is in keepingwith the Government’s vision‘Digital India’ as well as to reachout to local manufacturers tohelp them produce quality andsafe alternate drugs whosedemand is on increase indomestic and global market.

To begin with, the websiteof Ayurveda Pharmacopoeiagiving scientific details of over700 ayurveda drugs will belaunched by Union AyushMinister Shripad Naik onDecember 13 at a symposium

to be organised by thePharmacopoeia Commissionfor Indian Medicine andHomeopathy (PCIM&H). It isan autonomous body under theMinistry with a primary man-date to develop pharma-copoeial standards for

drugs/formulations used underASU and Homoeopathic sys-tems of medicine.

“The Pharmacopoeias areofficial documents and arewidely used all over the India.These are the compendia ofquality standards to ensure theidentity, purity and strength ofthe drug imported, manufac-tured for sale, stocked or exhib-ited for sale or distributed inthe country.

“With the launch of thewebsite, these documents willbe accessible online as well,”said Dr KRC Reddy, Directorof the PCIM&H.

He further explained thatwhile demand for the herbaldrug is on rise, many manu-facturers are still unaware thatthey have to adhere the stan-dards and quality control para-

meters as given in the author-itative books, pharmacopoeiasand formularies of these med-ical system, which are differentfrom that prescribed for allo-pathic medicines.

The symposium aims todisseminate awareness amongthem about these standardsthey have to mandatorily fol-low, Dr Reddy said addingthat researchers, academicians,regulators and industry relatedto ayurveda are expected toparticipate in the event.

So far pharmacopeia of400 single molecule drugsunder Ayurveda category and300 drugs of double moleculeshas been prepared. We areworking to add on more drugsin the repository, he added.

Sancht Sharma fromAIMIL Pharma, manufacturer

of anti-diabetes herbal drugBGR-34 and Leukoskin to treatwhite patches (Luckemia) saidthat these are just some of themeasures being taken recentlyto ensure quality and safety.“These are officially acceptedlegal documents providingquality parameters for ayurve-da drugs. World is looking atayurveda with great hopes andit becomes important for us tocash in on this demand bymaintaining quality.”

The Government hasalready made it mandatory forthe industry to comply with thePharmacopoeias andFormularies prescribed in theDrugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940and Rules 1945 in the manufacturing of ASU andhomoeopathic drugs, he maintained.

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Former Union FinanceMinister Yashwant Sinha

once again attacked NarendraModi Government comparingit to Tughlaqan regime —which had also slapped aruinous demonetisation crip-pling the Indian economy—and said Mamata Banerjeewould make for a better PrimeMinister than the present

incumbent.Sinha who quit the BJP

early this year was in Kolkatato attend a programme onSunday said “Bengal is one ofthe largest States” and the elec-toral results here would beconsequential in how thingswould shape up in Delhi post2019 general elections.

Asked to comment on theTrinamool Congress chief ’schances of getting elevated to

the Prime Ministerial postSinha said insofar as the BengalChief Minister was concerned,she had all the qualities of beinga Prime Minister.

“She will make for a betterPrime Minister ,” Sinha saidadding Modi was for all prac-tical purposes running aGovernment identical to theregime run by Muhammadbin Tughlaq of the latemedieval era adding the pre-

sent government needed to bechanged. “This Governmentneeds to be changed,” he said.

Commenting on demone-tization he said “it was extreme-ly draconian and foolish actionlike the one taken byMuhammad bin Tughlaq.”Extremely “thoughtless action”as it was, “demonetization gaveenormous pain to the people ofthis country,” the former UnionMinister said.

Sinha’s statement came ona day when the Chief Ministerflew off to Delhi to take part ina meeting of all the anti-BJPopposition parties.

“As our Chief Minister hadbeen telling from the beginningthat the BJP like the Left Frontwas not invincible theAssembly election results willprove,” a senior Bengal Ministersaid adding the Chief Ministerwould hold “discussions withall the anti-BJP parties” to findout ways of an alternative gov-ernment in the Centre.

Banerjee before leaving forDelhi greeted former Congresspresident Sonia Gandhi on her72nd birthday. “I pray for yourlong life and happiness in allyou do,” Banerjee tweetedbefore leaving for the nationalCapital.

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The West Bengal Police hasfiled a suo motu com-

plaint against state BJP presi-dent Dilip Ghosh and threeother party leaders for con-ducting a public meeting inCoochbehar district on Fridaywithout requisite permission,police said.

Besides Ghosh, BJP state-in-charge Kailash Vijayvargiya,national secretary Rahul Sinhaand general secretary RajuBanerjee have been named inthe complaint registered onSaturday, a senior officer of thedistrict police said on Sunday.

“We have registered a suomotu case against four BJPleaders for holding the rallywithout proper permissionfrom the administration. Wehave started taking necessaryaction against them,” he said.

The BJP leaders have beenbooked under different sec-tions of the IPC and the PoliceAct, he said.

Ghosh, along with otherparty leaders, addressed the

rally on a private land inJhinaidanga in Coochbehardistrict after BJP's rath yatrawas put on hold, the officersaid, quoting the complaint.

When contacted, the stateBJP chief said he went to thestage to thank the people, whohad gathered at the venue inlarge numbers.

“Since a big crowd hadalready arrived at the venue, Ihad gone to the dais to thankthem for coming. In fact, I hadtold them that we will not beaddressing the rally.

“This shows their (police)intention. If they continue toact like this, it will be clear howpolice works here in the state,”Ghosh said, adding other partyleaders named in the complaintwere not present on the dais.

BJP President Amit Shahwas to kickstart the campaigntitled ‘Save Democracy Rally’from Cooch Behar district onFriday, from Kakdwip in South24 Parganas district onDecember 9, and fromTarapith temple in Birbhumdistrict on December 14.

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Union Home MinisterRajnath Singh Sunday said

ending terrorist activities wasa pre-condition for any dia-logue with Pakistan as its “dual”role is unacceptable to India.

“Promoting terrorist activ-ities and entering into a dia-logue for peace cannot runtogether,” he said, when askedby reporters to explain whyIndia is avoiding any dialoguewith Pakistan.

He said either Islamabadshould stop aiding terroristactivities or express its com-mitment against terrorism withassurance that it would notallow it to grow in Pakistan.

“If it finds difficult to con-trol terrorist activities, why it isnot seeking help from itsneighbour India?” he asked.

“If a crusade againstTaliban can start inAfghanistan with the help ofthe US , why not commence asimilar action in Pakistan? thehome minister asked.

On the outcome of electionresults in Chhattisgarh,Madhya Pradesh, Mizoram,Rajasthan and Telangana, hesaid, “Prayas to Bhartiya Janta

Party ka yahi raha hai ki hamekamyabi mile, milni bhichahiye yeh vishwas hai, pari-nam ki pratiksha kijiye (Effortsof BJP has been to win, we areconfident of that, wait for theresults)”.

He disapproved that theelection in the five states was asemi-final for the 2019 LokSabha election, adding that“final is final”.

He refused to comment oninvolvement of an army per-sonnel in Bulandshahar inci-dent on the plea that it was astate subject and the YogiAdityanath government islooking after that.

On the Ram temple issue,he said, “everybody wantsmajestic temple of Ram inAyodhya”.

Terming the culture ofIndia as the best one, Singh saidpeople feel the strength of“spiritual power” during theirvisit to India.

The Minister said, sinceLord Ram adopted values, heis worshipped, while Ravanfailed to reach even an inch ofthat level, as he neglected val-ues, even though he was moreknowledgable, wealthy andpowerful.

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Union Minister of State forHome Hansraj Ahir

Sunday called upon the CentralIndustrial Security Force(CISF) personnel to gear up toeffectively meet the emergingchallenges posed by new formsof terrorism and insurgency.

He also stressed upon theCISF's growing role in thechanging security scenario ofthe country, particularly in keyareas like VIP security, disastermanagement, protection ofgovernment buildings and avi-ation facilities.

“Keeping in mind the currentsecurity scenario in the country,wherein some anti-national ele-ments are trying to create anatmosphere of insecurity andinstability, I would like to say theCISF's role gains more impor-tance,” Ahir said at the passing-out ceremony of the 32nd batchof Assistant Commandants andthe 44nd batch of Sub- Inspectorsat the National Industrial SecurityAcademy (NISA) in Hakimpethere.

CISF personnel shouldprepare themselves to success-fully meet the emerging chal-lenges posed by new forms ofterrorism and insurgency, hesaid.

Praising the varied rolesbeing played by the CISF, theUnion minister said wheneverthe government has assignedany responsibility on the force,be it industrial security, UNpeace-keeping mission, VIPsecurity or election duty, it hasexcelled.

The force, through its ded-icated services, has gained rep-utation as the most professionalforce at national and interna-tional levels. This has beenreflected in the rising demandfor the force's services fromvarious industrial and privateorganisations, Ahir said.

He said 30 officials of theSri Lanka police underwenttraining at NISA recently, andexpressed confidence that theacademy would offer trainingto police and security agenciesof more neighbouring coun-tries and also to other nationsacross the globe.

Twenty-four AssistantCommandants and 733 Sub-Inspectors passed out of theNISA, after completion of theirbasic training.

Ahir awarded trophies tothe trainees who stood first inindoor, outdoor, firing activi-ties and also to the all-roundbest trainees.

CISF Director GeneralRajesh Ranjan and NISADirector Anjana Sinha werealso present on the occasion.

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West Bengal BJP presidentDilip Ghosh on Sunday

claimed the TMC-led stategovernment has not respond-ed to requests for a meetingover the saffron party's pro-posed 'rath yatra'.

“We had sent the letters onSaturday and had requested fora meeting. We are yet to receiveany response from the stategovernment,” Ghosh said at apress conference.

A division bench of theCalcutta High Court had onFriday directed the state's chiefsecretary, the home secretaryand the director general ofpolice (DGP) to hold a meet-ing with three representativesof the BJP by December 12, andtake a decision on the matter byDecember 14.

Ghosh claimed that asenior police officer called upparty officials on Sunday andsaid the DGP was “very busy”.

“He declined to give us anyspecific time frame withinwhich we can sit for a discus-sion with him (DGP) regard-ing the 'rath yatra' programme,”

he said.The state BJP chief said the

party had also sent letters to thehome secretary, but in vain.

“This is really unfortunatethat despite the court order, theofficials of the state governmentare not ready for discussions,”Ghosh said.

BJP national general sec-retary Kailash Vijayvargiya,who was also present at thepress conference, also sharedsimilar sentiments.

He said he had speciallycome from Delhi to talk to theDGP, but the West Bengal gov-ernment officials were behav-ing like Trinamool Congress'(TMC) cadres.

“Even if the DGP is busyon Sunday and cannot meetBJP leaders to discuss the mat-ter, he should at least give us aspecific time, be it Monday orTuesday, when he would beable to meet. Unfortunately,most of the police and gov-ernment officials behave ascadres of the TMC,” he said.

Vijayvargiya dismissedallegations that the BJP's 'rathyatra' was aimed at creatingcommunal tension in the state.���$�����������������24*��������������-(�����������*���������6���������C��������������&�-����*�����������#����' ��)�

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Seeking to strike a chordwith the minority commu-

nity, Pragatisheel SamajwadiParty Lohia (PSPL) leaderShivpal Yadav said that theRam temple should not beconstructed at the disputedsite at Ayodhya and the templecould be constructed across theSaryu river as the Uttar Pradeshgovernment had no dearth ofland.

Adopting a strident anti-BJP stance, Shivpal Yadavdemanded imposition of thePresident’s rule in the state asprohibitory orders were defiedin Ayodhya with impunity bythe Vishwa Hindu Parishad onNovember 25 where a DharmaSabha was organised to

demand the construction oftemple.

“The Ayodhya case ispending in the Supreme Court.We should either wait fororders or find consensus. TheUP government has a lot oflands and the Ram templecould be constructed across theSaryu river. There should be notalks of the temple on a dis-puted land,” Shivpal Yadavsaid.

“The political parties thesedays are wary of talking aboutthe Muslims and their issuesand the Muslims are living inconstant fear and tension overthe safety and security of theirlives and property,” said ShivpalYadav while addressing ahugely-attended ‘Jan AkroshMaharally’ on Sunday.

His brother MulayamSingh Yadav, against all expec-

tations, also attended the rally.Shivpal had a bad break-up

with the Samajwadi Party afterhe was sidelined in the party byhis nephew Akhilesh and laterhe floated PSPL. Aparna Yadav,the younger daughter-in-law ofMulayam Singh Yadav alsoattended the rally.

Elaborating the reasonsfor floating the new politicalparty, he said: “I was left withno option to chart a differentcourse as I was being contin-uously humiliated in theSamajwadi Party which hadbeen taken over by syco-phants.” He added: “I havefloated the new political partyonly after seeking the blessingsof ‘Netaji’ (Mulayam SinghYadav). I have worked withNetaji for the last 40 years andI never aspired for any positionand office and I always fol-

lowed the directives of Netaji.I only aspired for respect in theSamajwadi Party which wasdenied to me,” said ShivpalYadav.

Seeking to resurrect theforgotten idea of social justice,PSPL leader said: “SCs, OBCsand Muslims should come onone platform to dislodge theBJP government at the Centreand Uttar Pradesh and thisparty has sowed the seeds ofdissension in the society lead-ing to social tension and com-munal trouble.” The PSPLleader said: “My party standsfor peace, tranquillity anddevelopment while the soleagenda of the BJP is to drawthe caste and communal fault-lines for its narrow politicalends.”

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Prime Minister NarendraModi is expected to visit

the Kumbh Mela area andinaugurate the newly-con-structed projects in the Sangamcity and the temporary struc-tures in the Mela area onDecember 16.

The Prime Minister willalso address a public meetingin the Mela area on the day,confirmed a senior leader ofthe Bharatiya Janata Party hereon Sunday.

Modi is also slated toreview the Kumbh preparationspersonally during his visit.

However, a meeting ofsenior leaders chaired byDeputy Chief Minister KeshavPrasad Maurya will be held

here on December 11 tofinalise the preparations andother arrangements for thePrime Minister’s visit.

“The Prime Minister’s rallywill be attended by over twolakh people from nearby dis-tricts,” the BJP leaders claimed.

Modi will inaugurate pro-jects worth over �3,500 croresduring his visit. They mostlyrelate to beautification of thecity and projects in the Melaarea.

Modi will visit the Sangamcity a day after External AffairMinister Sushma Swaraj isslated to lead a foreign dele-gation of 172 countries to theKumbh Mela area to makethem aware of the facilitiesbeing provided there and giveother details of the mela.

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Life turned a full circle forKausalya on Sunday as she

got married with 27-year-oldSakthi at the Coimbatore officeof the Thanthai Periyar DravidaKazhakam (TPDK) , an outfitof Tamil chauvinists workingfor self-respect marriages andcaste-less society.

Kausalya hogged thenational limelight in March2016 when Shankar, a Dalityouth , whom she had marriedagainst the wishes of her parentswas murdered in broad day lightat Udumalpet. The killers wereallegedly hired by her parentswho belonged to the powerfulThevar community. A sessionscourt in Tirupur had sentencedher father Chinnasamy and fiveothers to death for the “honourkilling” on December 12, 2017.

Kausalya, had been seri-ously injured when she tried tosave Shankar from the murder-ers. Since her discharge from thehospital, Kausalya had joinedthe social movement to spreadmessage against honour killingsand caste based violence.

During her social work, shemet Sakthi, who was a drumartist working with TPDK forthe same causes and the duodecided to tie the nuptial knots.Sakthi is a visual communicationscience graduate . Kausalya haslaunched a movement in mem-

ory of Shankar, her slain hus-band and is actively helping chil-dren belonging to the depressedclasses to get educated. She her-self was an engineering collegestudent when she fell in lovewith Shankar. The murder ofShankar spoiled her engineeringdreams as she had to look afterher on-laws who were poor.

The marriage was solem-nised by Dravida Kazhagamleaders and the couple read outa vow in typical self respectstyle. “We, Kowsalya and Sakthi,agree in front of you all, that weare life partners.” The newlywedded couple also performeda drum recital for their nearand dear ones who were presentat the wedding. The DK lead-ers who were present during theceremony said that it was a self-respect marriage. A self-respectmarriage is one which is notperformed under the patronageof Brahmin priests.

In a rare gesture, while vow-ing to stand together to annihi-late caste and liberate women,Kowsalya and Sakthi promisedto keep their house open forlovers, who face opposition fromanybody. “We will fight togeth-er for the creation of a special actagainst caste killing. All lovers arewelcome to our house and wewill help them in whatever waywe can. We also promise that thedoors of our house will always beopen for lovers,” read their vow.

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Count down has begun forthe removal of S

Thirunavakarassar from thepost of the president of theTamil Nadu CongressCommittee following hisSaturday spat with former unionminister EVKS Elangovan.Speaking to reporters at NewDelhi, Thirunavakarassar hadsaid that he does not mind if theCongress High Commandremoves him from the post ofTNCC chief. “But I’ll neverallow Elangovan to be appoint-ed as the new chief,” he said said.

Thirunavakarassar’s reac-tion came immediately after hismeeting with former Congresspresident Sonia Gandhi in NewDelhi where he had gone to greether on her birthday. Elangovan,who too was in New Delhi, toldThe Pioneer that he does not giveany importance to whatThirunavakarassar said becauseall decisions in the Congressparty are taken by the party pres-ident. “WhetherThirunavakarassar has to beremoved from the post or a newperson has to be appointed in hisplace are matters to be decidedby the all India president of theparty. So I do not want to com-ment on his outburst,” saidElangovan.

Elangovan, a former unionminister, also said that theparty cadre in the State wereupset over the style of func-tioning of Thirunavakarassar.“Sathyamurthy Bhavan inChennai (head quarters of theTNCC) should not have been

used by him to organise meet-ings in memory of MGRamachandran, Jayalalithaaand Atal Bihari Vajpayee. If hewanted to pay respects to them,he should have done it outsidethe TNCC office. He knowswell that the Congress hasexcellent rapport with the DMKand hence should not havedone so. I questioned this andhe got angry,” said Elangovan.

MK Stalin, president,DMK called on Congressleader Sonia Gandhi at herNew Delhi office on Sunday togreet her on her birthday. Heformally invited Sonia Gandhifor the December 16 functionto be held at Chennai to unveilthe statue of former party chiefKarunanidhi. The DMK pres-ident was accompanied by hisstep sister Kanimozhi and herfriend A Raja besides TR Balu.

There are reports thatThirunavakarassar would soonbe removed from the post ofTNCC chief in the backdrop ofStalin’s meeting with SoniaGandhi. It is an open secret thatStalin does not get along withThirunavakarassar. “TheCongress High Command mayprefer someone who has goodrelations with the DMK presi-dent to head the State unit atthis time because of theupcoming Lok Sabha election,”said KA Johny, writer andcommentator. He also pointedout that the DMK seems to bein a commanding positionbecause of the strong anti-incumbency factor against theruling AIADMK and the inter-nal strife in that party.

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Security forces killed threemilitants Sunday on the

outskirts of Srinagar — thesummer capital of Jammu andKashmir — during anencounter, the Army said.

“Three terrorists have beenkilled in the Mujgund opera-tion,” an Army official said.

He said weapons have beenrecovered from the site ofencounter.

Security forces hadlaunched a cordon and searchoperation near Srinagar-Bandipora road in Mujgundarea on the outskirts of the cityhere Saturday evening.

The search operation turnedinto an encounter after the mil-itants fired on the search party.

While the encounter hadstopped during night, the secu-rity forces continued to main-tain a tight cordon in the areato stop militants from escaping.The encounter resumedSunday morning and in thegunfight, three militants werekilled, the official said.

Their identity and groupaffiliation is yet to be ascertained.

Authorities have suspend-ed mobile internet services inthe city.

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The Army jawan arrested forhis alleged involvement in

the killing of a police inspectorduring mob violence inBulandshahr was on Sundayproduced before the JudicialMagistrate, who sent him to jailfor 14 days, officials said.

The Army handed overJitendra Malik to Uttar PradeshSpecial Task Force team inMeerut late Saturday night.

Malik was interrogated bythe crime branch during theday and also questioned by theSpecial Investigation Team con-stituted by the Uttar PradeshGovernment to probe the inci-dent, the city Superintendent ofPolice (Crime) said.

He was taken to the districthospital for a medical exami-nation and later producedbefore the magistrate, who senthim to prison for two weeks,the SP said.

On December 3, a mob ofsome 400 people rampagedthrough a village inBulandshahr apparently aftercow carcasses were found in ajungle nearby. During the vio-lence, Inspector Subodh KumarSingh and a 20-year-old mandied of gunshot wounds.

Singh and his team had

gone to the area to tackle theviolence when they came underattack by the mob.

Earlier in the day, the UPgovernment transferred RaeesAkhtar, who was posted asadditional superintendent ofpolice (rural) in Bulandshahr,six days after two people diedin mob violence in the districtfollowing an alleged cowslaughter incident.

In a statement issued here,Principal Secretary (Home)Arvind Kumar said Akhtarhas been transferred to PACHeadquarters in Lucknow.

Manish Mishra, posted asadditional superintendent ofpolice at modern control room,Ghaziabad, has been made thenew ASP (rural) ofBulandshahr.

On Saturday, the UP gov-ernment transferredBulandshahr SSP KrishnaBahadur Singh to the DGPoffice in Lucknow. Kumar hadsaid the senior superintendent ofpolice will be replaced by SitapurSP Prabhakar Chaudhary.

The government has trans-ferred two other policemen ofBulandshahr district — CircleOfficer of Syana area SatyaPrakash Sharma andChingravati police chowki in-charge Suresh Kumar.

Additional DirectorGeneral, Intelligence, SBShiradkar submitted a reporton the violence Friday. Thetransfers are understood to bein line with the findings of thereport on police handling of thesituation.

Inspector Singh, who diedin the mob violence, was theinvestigating officer of theDadri lynching case fromSeptember 28, 2015 toNovember 9, 2015. However,the chargesheet was filed by adifferent IO in March, 2016.

Police have arrested nineaccused in the Bulandshahrcase but the main conspirator,Yogesh Raj, the district con-vener of Bajrang Dal, is on therun. In a video that surfacedonline on Wednesday, Raj hadclaimed innocence.

Another inquiry by a gov-ernment-constituted SIT isunderway, and the team isgoing into the details and videofootage of the incident, an offi-cial said.

Also, a magisterial probehas been ordered by the gov-ernment.

The Uttar Pradesh govern-ment has been severely criticisedby opposition leaders over lawand order and for its handling ofthe situation after the violence.

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Vice Chief of Army Staff LtGen Devraj Anbu has said

the security forces would nothesitate to launch another sur-gical strike against terrorists ifthe need to do so arises.

“The surgical strike onmilitant launchpads across theborder was a show of strengthby our armed forces and wewon’t hesitate to do it again ifthe enemy challenges us,” LtGen Anbu said in reply to aquestion by reporters on thesidelines of the Indian MilitaryAcademy’s Passing Out Parade(POP) in Dehradun onSaturday.

India conducted the surgi-cal strike on September 29,2016 across the Line of Controlas a response to a terroristattack on an Indian Army basein Uri sector of Jammu andKashmir earlier that month.Nineteen Indian soldiers diedin the attack by Pakistan-backed terrorists.

On Friday, Lt Gen (retd) DS Hooda, who was theNorthern Army commanderwhen the surgical strikes werecarried out, said the constanthype around the precision

operation was unwarranted.He, however, said it was naturalto have initial euphoria over thesuccess of the military action.

Responding to a questionfrom the audience during apanel discussion inChandigarh, Lt Gen Hoodasaid in hindsight, it wouldhave been better had “we doneit (surgical strikes) secretly”.

On the plans to givewomen combat roles in thearmed forces, Lt Gen Anbu saiddifferent aspects of the propo-sition are being examined asconditions along the borderswith Pakistan and China aredifferent from the rest of thecountry.

In July this year, Armychief Gen Bipin Rawat said theprocess to allow women incombat role, currently an exclu-sive domain of men, is movingfast and initially women will berecruited for positions in mil-itary police.

In November, he said theIndian Army is not yet ready tohave women in combat roles.He said there are several otherfields where the Army wasthinking of inducting womenand there were plans to havewomen as interpreters.

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Asub-adult tiger was founddead after getting electro-

cuted in a farm near theTadoba-Andhari Tiger Reservein Chandrapur district, a Forestdepartment official saidSunday.

Deputy Conservator ofForests (TATR) GajendraNarwane said the body of thetiger was found at around10pm Saturday in a farm inBhamdeli village in the Moharlibuffer zone of the reserve.

“It was a sub-adult collaredtiger. A post mortem was con-ducted Sunday morning. Itwas electrocuted some time inthe morning on Saturday,”Narwane told PTI.

A statement from TATRauthorities said the deceasedtiger was the offspring of thereserve’s T-7 tigress.

Officials said two persons,identified as Rishi Nannawarand Vishal Dhoke, who report-edly own the farm, have beendetained by the forest depart-ment and are being questionedover the prohibited electricfencing installed at the site.

The statement said TATRdirector N R Praveen and otherofficials, along with NationalTiger Conservation Authorityrepresentative Bandu Dhotreand veterinary doctorRavinkant Khobragade reachedthe spot Sunday morning.

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Asserting that factionalismin the Madhya Pradesh

unit of the Congress party is a“thing of the past”, senior leaderJyotiraditya Scindia saidSunday the entire State leader-ship worked as a “united front”during the Assembly polls in abid to dislodge the BJPGovernment.

Scindia, who spearheadedan energetic and spirited cam-paign for the Congress inMadhya Pradesh, said there isan “uprising for change” in thestate.

“During my campaign, Icovered over 115 constituenciesin Madhya Pradesh. There is anomnipotent energy — it is anuprising for change,” he told inan interview.

Some exit polls have givenan edge to the Congress toform a Government in thestate after remaining in oppo-sition for 15 years, while oth-ers have predicted a close fin-ish for the grand old party andthe ruling BJP. Counting ofvotes for the November 28elections to 230 assembly seatsin the state will take place onDecember 11.

“We will get a clear major-ity from the people of MadhyaPradesh,” Scindia said whileresponding to a question on theexit polls.

Asked if he considers him-self as a front-runner for thechief minister’s post in case theCongress wins the elections,Scindia said he does not want

to answer hypothetical ques-tions. The Guna MP said he hasconsistently maintained thatthe goal of the entire Congressparty has been to unseat theBJP Government in MadhyaPradesh.

“Once that is achieved, thenext step is for the party lead-ership to decide (on the chiefministerial face),” said Scindia,one of the top Congress lead-ers in the state who had wonthe Lok Sabha elections in2014 despite a huge wave infavour of the BJP.

Scindia and the stateCongress chief Kamal Nathare being seen as main con-tenders for the chief minister’spost if Congress emerges vic-torious in the state.

On whether the selectionof the chief minister by theCongress in case of a wincould leave some senior lead-ers “hard done”, Scindia said:“Not at all. One must under-stand, that we have to learnfrom our past. We have previ-ously struggled with factional-ism within the party. However,that time has passed.”

He asserted that through-out this election in MP, theentire party machinery includ-ing senior leaders and everysingle party worker, worked asa “united front”.

“Our strength, this time,has been in the unity of ourcampaign. And this will andmust continue,” the 47-year-oldleader said.

Asked if the Congress wasable to counter the narrative of

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National Conference presi-dent Farooq Abdullah

Sunday said there can be nolasting peace or sustainabledevelopment without respectfor human rights and the ruleof law.

In his message on theworld human rights day,Abdullah, the MP fromSrinagar, said basic humanrights of a man include right toeducation, right to assembly,right to profess any religionand above all right to live a dig-nified life.

“We in the NC took it uponourselves to ensure the peopleof our state all these basicrights. The ‘naya Kashmir’(new Kashmir) progressive ide-ology abounds in all the rightsand our leadership has beenstriving hard to ensure peopleall the rights,” he said.

The NC president said that“our hopes for a more just, safeand peaceful world can only beachieved when there is uni-versal respect for the inherentdignity and equal rights of allmembers of the humanbeings”.

“It was the NC that made

a common peasant master ofhis land. The revolutionarysteps like single line adminis-tration, upgradation of medicalfacilities and granting genderneutral voting rights to allhave gone a long way in ele-vating the living standards ofthe people of our state,” he said.

He said there were humanrights issues during BJP-PDPled regime in Jammu andKashmir.

“We in the NC will ensurethat all those who standmaimed and bruised are lookedafter. We owe a sense of com-mitment to people. We willwork tirelessly for all theregions of state.

The need of the hour isgranting regional and zonalautonomous councils for ele-vating the living standards ofpeople in the remote and hillyareas of our state like Chenabregion and Pir Panchal region,”he said.

Abdullah said develop-ment is a right and that need ofthe hour is to bring aboutdevelopment that is sustainableand inclusive.

He said the state’s fouryears were “lost to politicalinstability and conflict”.

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Jind: Former Haryana ChiefMinister Om PrakashChautala’s elder son AjayChautala led group on Sundaylaunched a new outfit -Jannayak Janata Party - fol-lowing a split in main opposi-tion INLD last month.

Announcement of the newparty was made at a rally atJind, considered as the politi-cal heartland of the state.The flag of the new politicaloutfit was unveiled at a well-attended rally here by AjayChautala’s wife and MLA NainaChautala along with seniorleader KC Bangar, formerchairman of the HaryanaPublic Service Commission.His two sons - Hisar MPDushyant Chautala andDigvijay Chautala - wereamong those present.

The name of the new partybegins with ‘Jannayak’, a refer-ence to former deputy primeminister Devi Lal, with variousspeakers at the rally vowing tofollow his ideals. The IndianNational Lok Dal had splitlast month following a powerstruggle between Ajay Chautalaand his younger brother AbhayChautala. Ajay Chautala isundergoing a 10-year jail termwith father Om PrakashChautala since 2013 in a teach-ers’ recruitment scam. PTI

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Page 8: # ˇˆ˙ ˝ ˛˘˚˜ ! 123.31.4 01$* +ˆ 215 +, ˘ˇˆ˙ ˇ˝˛˚˜ !ˆ #ˇ ˆ ......aims to “preserve the Taj Mahal” and for a better crowd management. “We need to preserve

Recently, this columnist foundhimself in the sunny southernPortugal, driving the latest iter-ation of German car-makerBMW’s 3-series sedan. The car-

maker has always prided itself on installingsome of the latest technologies in its car.One of the most advanced features on thisnew car was something called ‘ReverseAssist’. Now cars have had reversing cam-eras and sensors for a while, something thathas clearly removed the need for us to lookover our shoulder while driving backwards.But this was another level of automation.After driving into a dead-end road or a sit-uation that involves a difficult reverse in thecar, which incidentally is not cheap, youdo not have to overthink or manoeuvre.That is, you just keep your foot on the brakepedal and your hands off the steering wheel.The car remembers the last fifty metres ittravelled and safely reverses you back tomore or less where you started.

As the steering wheel turns by itself,you find yourself staring at awe at the cardoing this. This is despite the increasinglevels of computerisation on cars. This isnot just the computers changing gears foryou in an automatic by calculating enginespeed but monitoring driving conditions,the levels of friction on the tires and fueleconomy. The fact is that no modern car,other than the most basic ones that youbuy nowadays, has much of a physical linkbetween the pedals and the engines andsome have done away with a physical steer-ing connection as well. Much like all mod-ern commercial aircraft, ‘Fly By Wire’ carsare rapidly becoming ‘Drive By Wire’.

So why the need for a driver at all? Infact, your columnist has been in a fullyautonomous car developed by Ford. The cardrove itself around Ford’s Research andDevelopment campus in Dearborn,Michigan. This was on public roads and ittook a turn on the road where it had to cal-culate oncoming traffic. This was two yearsago, and that time many cars that are cur-rently available even in India, had added adegree of automation to themselves. Today,there are some automated cars and morewill be sold on the Indian market with closeto Level 2 automation. That is not just cruisecontrol but things like adaptive cruise con-trol and automatic land changing as well asautomatic braking in emergency situationsand lane assist. All of these means on ahighway you can drive with your hands offthe steering wheel while travelling atspeeds in excess of 100 km per hour. Yetyour car will maintain a safe distance fromthe car ahead of it, change lanes when youturn the indicator and even observe and cal-culate for vehicles in the other lane, hold-ing itself perfectly in the centre of the laneand brake automatically in case there is asudden impediment.

It can do all this even if your hands arenot strongly on the steering wheel. However,

for legal liability reasons, it doesnot allow you to keep both yourhands off the wheel. In case youdo that for over a few seconds,the pressure sensors, havingknown you have lifted yourhands off the wheel, will set offvisual and aural alarms. Legalliability is an important issueafter all; if the car is automat-ed who is liable for an accident?The driver or the car manufac-turer?The argument that the carmanufacturer is responsiblecould easily be made becausethe car does do almost every-thing itself. Therefore, fullyautonomous cars have beenonly slowly introduced on topublic streets and recent inci-dents such as a crash by anautonomous car that killed apedestrian in Arizona in theUnited States have only inten-sified scrutiny.

While the Arizona crashmight have happened to ahuman driver as well, whenev-er a new technology is intro-duced, it is under higher scruti-ny, even if it turns out to be safer.Let’s look back at another tech-nology mentioned earlier in thisarticle, the ‘Fly By Wire’ technol-ogy on commercial aircraft.When European manufacturerAirbus introduced the technol-ogy with the Airbus A320 in themid-1980s, there was actually arash of accidents of the plane inits first few years of service,including an Indian Airlinesplane in Bengaluru. But today

the A320 is the best-sellingcommercial plane in the worldwith several thousands in ser-vice, including hundreds inIndia. So autonomous tech-nology will become par for thecourse in some countries wheretraffic is more orderly.

However, what is almostcertain is that despite manufac-turers like Mercedes-Benz andVolvo introducing some ofthese automation technolo-gies on the vehicles they sell inIndia, this country stands tolose out. Nobody in their rightminds can argue that otherthan a few stretches of express-ways and may be in a coupleof cities like Chandigarh, traf-fic in India is orderly. And dri-vers, no matter what vehiclethey are operating, are in deep,passionate love with theirmobile phones. There havebeen cases of drivers video-calling while at the steering.

Traffic enforcement iswoefully poor across the coun-try, the sheer volume of vehi-cles overwhelming trafficpolice. And even if the policewant to enforce traffic rules, thecitizenry of this country mightrise up. This is notably happen-ing in Pune right now wherepolitical parties, civil societyand intellectuals are up inarms because the new trafficcommissioner wants to enforcehelmet usage for two-wheelerriders. If this was not tragic itmight have been funny.

The fact is that traffic inIndia is chaotic and it might bedecades before computersbecome smart enough to scanthrough the immense numberof variables that traffic hereentails. But even basic levels ofautomation that are currentlyavailable will likely not work inIndia. Using Volvo’s ‘City Safety’technology in India is irritatingsimply because it activateswhenever you get cut off badlyby a motorcycle driver or a cowcrosses the road blissfullyunaware. Of course, a seniorpolitician feared automationbecause it would take away jobs,but that may be years away evenin the West. Not havingautomation at all will affect jobgrowth in India. Because thistechnology will in a few yearspermeate its way down to smallcars. If India wishes to becomea world leader in cars, technol-ogy and manufacturing, it hasto work towards enablingautomation.

And that involves cleaningup traffic and the political andsocial will to do that. But wecan only hope for the impos-sible, because India’s traffic isemblematic of this country,chaotic and lawless with a lackof enforcement and bad poli-tics. So ten years from now,when India loses out in auto-mobile manufacturing, youwill know why that happened.

(The writer is ManagingDirector, The Pioneer)

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Sir — This refers to the editorial,“Careful with words” (December8). The editorial has rightly con-demned former Janata Dal(United) leader Sharad Yadav’sutterly senseless and uncivilisedremarks against Rajasthan ChiefMinister Vasundhara Raje. Whileone cannot question Yadav’santipathy against the ModiGovernment or his right to freespeech and expression, he has noright to ridicule one’s physicalbuild. His remarks are unpardon-able and unworthy of a leader.

M Ratan Via email

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Sir — This refers to the editori-al, “Careful with words”(December 8). All right-thinkingpersons will countenance thefact that our political leadersmust be wary of their parlance,words, tone and tenor whenspeaking at public event. In caseof a slip of the tongue, not onlydoes their public image take abeating but their words leave abad taste in the mouth. Of course,

a select few seek some sort of anamusement.

As regards the senior leader-ship, which includes a seasonedpolitician like Sharad Yadav, whoused derogatory remarks againstRajasthan Chief MinisterVasundhara Raje, it is beneaththeir dignity to use out-of-the-paleremarks for their political adver-saries. Moreover, with state-of-the-art technology being available in

every sphere of life today, leaderscannot blame the media withplatitudes like “I was misquoted”and “I never meant it” in lieu ofsaying a single word “sorry.”

Azhar A KhanRampur

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Sir — The Maharashtra Director

General of Police (DGP), DDPadsalgikar, who was scheduledto retire on November 30, hasnow been asked by the DevendraFadnavis-led Government to con-tinue with his post. On August31, he had been granted a three-month extension by the UnionGovernment. As a matter of fact,the State Government cannotextend the tenure of an All-IndiaService officer. Even if it is a case

of re-employment, as claimed bythe State Government, one won-ders if this is permissible at thelevel of the DGP. A three-judgeBench of the Supreme Court is atpresent hearing the matter relat-ing to police reforms in States.Maharashtra ought to haveapproached the apex court if it hadany issue against the July 3 orderof the top court which had man-dated the involvement of theUnion Public Service Commissionin the selection/extension of DGPsby State Governments.

Hemant KumarAmbala Cantt

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Sir — Debate on corruption hasbeen an ongoing process. Buthave we ever thought, who are themiddlemen? Are they the bro-kers? Yes. They have made theirpresence felt in almost all sectorsnow. But what about corporates?They have cheated the banksright under the nose of the law.They are worse than brokers.

KarthikVia email

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Page 9: # ˇˆ˙ ˝ ˛˘˚˜ ! 123.31.4 01$* +ˆ 215 +, ˘ˇˆ˙ ˇ˝˛˚˜ !ˆ #ˇ ˆ ......aims to “preserve the Taj Mahal” and for a better crowd management. “We need to preserve

The news of Prime MinisterNarendra Modi’s meeting withthe Department of Industrial

Policy and Promotion (DIPP) tobrainstorm on breaking into the top50 rankings of World Bank’s Ease ofDoing Business (EODB) reportcomes at an interesting time. Withinmonths of assuming power in 2014,the Prime Minister had announcedhis Government’s resolve to improveIndia’s EODB ranking. Over theyears, both the Finance andCommerce Ministers have reiterat-ed the Government’s commitmenttowards the same, and not withoutresults.

As India vies for the top spot inthe Foreign Direct Investment (FDI)confidence index in light of the US-China trade war, a comparisonbetween the evolving business envi-ronment of Asia’s largest economiesbecomes inevitable. The sharp rise inthe Ease of Doing Business rankingsof these two Asian behemoths comesafter a long period of stagnation andcan be credited to the persistent focuson improving the regulatory environ-

ment of the economies under theleadership of President Xi Jinpingand Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Consequently, in the 2018 Easeof Doing Business World Bankreport, India jumped 23 notches torank 77 from its earlier 100th posi-tion. China jumped a staggering 32notches to rank 46 from its earlier78th position. The hike becameeven more striking as both countrieshad stagnated in the rankings formuch of the last decade before newleaders took over the helm. India roseby 65 counts under Prime MinisterModi and China by 53 underPresident Xi.

In this year’s assessment, Chinais the second top improver (afterDjibouti) while India is the onlyeconomy (along with Djibouti) tomake it to the list of top 10 improversfor a second consecutive year. Onemight critique the Prime Minister forshowing excessive interest in thisrather straightforward metric, butaddressing administrative hurdlesand red-tapism affecting businesseslead to corresponding benefits to

other aspects of the economy as well. Nobel economics laureate Robert

Lucas had once quoted: “Once onestarts thinking about actions toaccelerate economic growth, it ishard to think about anything else.”This powerful observation aptlyexplains the Prime Minister’s focuson improving the EODB ranking.The improvement is not only a har-binger of increasing FDI, but therealso exists a strong correlationbetween the rankings and the GDPper capita income of nations.

To highlight this link, considera research published in The WallStreet Journal by John Cochrane. Itwas seen the higher a country’sDistance to Frontier Ease of DoingBusiness score, the higher was its percapita income. The Central AfricanRepublic scored a dismal 33 and hadan annual per capita income of just$328. Other scores were: India (50.3,$1,455), China (61, $7,000) and theUS (82, $53,000).

A comparison on DoingBusiness parameters: India leadsChina only under two heads: Getting

credit and protecting minorityinvestors. On the other hand, Chinaleads in the rest eight. Thanks toSEBI’s initiatives and the CompaniesAct clauses on disclosure of dividenddistribution policy, mandatory auditcommittee approval before relatedparty transactions and increasedredressal avenues, India has a nearperfect score in protecting minori-ty investors and is ranked seventh.The establishment of debt recoverytribunals reduced non-performingloans by 28 per cent and loweredrates on larger loans. Faster process-ing of debt recovery cases has cut thecost of credit.

This year in starting a business,China improved its ranking byalmost 100 spots and is now ranked28 while India, with its cumbersomeincorporation norms, holds the137th position. It has much to learnfrom China’s ‘One Window, OneForm’ and five-in-one businesslicense reforms that have reduced theduration for registering a businessfrom 22.9 to nine days. In enforcingcontracts, while China is ranked

sixth, India at 163, occupies a spotin the bottom 15 per cent of thecountries. Only an overhaul of India’scomplex judiciary processes andcontract laws can elevate it from thebottom of the pile.

In getting electricity, China hasjumped from rank 98 to 14 in a yearby introducing a mobile applicationfor customers to obtain connec-tions and resolve connectivity issues.India can incorporate similar reformsunder the umbrella of its digitalisa-tion drive. India’s worst perfor-mance is in the metric of registeringproperty, wherein China is ranked27th and India 166th. Focussedreforms to improve transparency ofinformation and reliability of infra-structure are a must.

India’s most significant jumpwas in dealing with construction per-mits (from rank 181 to 52). Forobtaining building permit, Indiaimplemented the Single WindowClearance System in Delhi and theOnline Building Permit ApprovalSystem in Mumbai.

Ease of Doing Business ranking

has proved to be an impetus for Indiato compete for a more efficient reg-ulation. Although the parametersconsidered in the ranking are neces-sary, they cannot be considered assufficient drivers of economicgrowth. Macro-economic condi-tions, like cost of labour and capital,and socio-economic factors, likepolitical stability, must also be con-sidered.

The World Bank report is not aportrayal of the national businessenvironment of the countries as itlooks only at domestic small andmedium size enterprises in the largestbusiness cities. The interpretation andimplementation of policies across thenation can vary widely. An exemplarfor India can be China’s approach toemulate the success of its ShanghaiCity Council’s Action Plan for EODBacross the country. Reforms under-taken in Delhi and Mumbai shouldbe promoted nationally. Till then, theElephant must keep its steady pace tocatch up with the slithering Dragon.

(The writer is Research Fellow,India Foundation)

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Over the past few years, there has beena sharp rise in violence against women.Recent National Crime Records Bureau(NCRB) data indicates that incidentsof rape went up by 12-15 per cent.

Further, according to the National Family HealthSurvey 2015-16 (NFHS-4), one in three marriedwomen, aged between 15 and 49 years, experiencedspousal violence (physical/emotional or sexual) and3.9 per cent faced violence during pregnancy.

Violence against Scheduled Caste girls, in par-ticular, begins at a younger age. It happens at a high-er rate than women of other castes. Data analysisby the All India Dalit Mahila Adhikar Manch fromNFHS-4 revealed that 33.2 per cent of women fromthe Scheduled Caste experience physical violencesince the age of 15, compared to 19.7 per cent inthe ‘Other’ category. The highest number ofcrimes against Scheduled Castes was assault onwomen with the intent to outrage modesty. Whilethere was a 66 per cent growth in crimes againstDalits during the period 2007-17 (National CrimeRecords Bureau), crimes faced by Dalit women werethe highest. Of the 3,172 crimes recorded, 2,541were cases of rape against Dalits. But of all womenin India, who have ever experienced any type ofphysical or sexual violence, only 14 per cent soughthelp to stop violence. Approximately 77 per centneither sought help nor told anyone about the vio-lence they experienced (NFHS-4).

So when Sumitra Devi received a frantic callfrom a neighbour seeking her help in a sexual assaultcase, she didn’t waste any time. She knew that thetime was of the essence and would need more thanjust police investigations. The sexual assault of a 13-year old girl by an upper caste boy from her villagein Kushinagar district, Uttar Pradesh, had to be han-dled with sensitivity. The mother of the survivortold Sumitra that she wanted to make a police com-plaint because she was afraid that unless she spokeout, it would increase her daughter’s vulnerabilityto sexual assaults by other high-caste boys in thevillage. She was convinced that Sumitra could helpnot just because she was part of a large women’s col-lective in the block where her village was located,but also because she was a police mitra (friend ofthe police). The advantage of being a police mitrameant that even though Sumitra belonged to aScheduled Caste, she had access to the police andthe confidence to file a complaint.

Few women want to visit a police station alonebecause of existing gender bias and patriarchal atti-tudes among the law enforcement agencies. Andif the complainant happens to be from theScheduled Caste, her chances of being heard becomeeven bleaker. This is where women’s collectives haveplayed an important role in breaking the culture ofsilence around violence against women.

A recent study by the International Centre forResearch on Women (ICRW) on the role of womencollectives in India in addressing violence againstwomen-found Self-help groups (SHGs) revealedthese were considered a ‘safe space for women todiscuss their concerns’. It found that with feministtraining and hand-holding from women’s rightsorganisations, women’s collectives had become animportant platform to articulate and address vio-lence, and emerged as a bridge between law enforce-ment agencies and survivors.

In Nebu Naurangia block in Kushinagar district,

Sumitra and her fellow women policemitras are primarily members of womencollectives formed by the Uttar Pradesh-based Rajiv Gandhi Mahila VikasPariyojana (RGMVP), a not-for-profitorganisation working to empower ruralmarginalised women. These groups havegone beyond saving and credit transac-tions associated with SGHs. The RajivGandhi Mahila Vikas Pariyojana, whichfacilitated the formation of about 100SHGs in Nebu Naurangia, has been ableto train the groups to leverage their col-lective strength to address various typesof violence against women in UttarPradesh. Thus, in Sumitra’s case, being apolice mitra and having a good rapportwith the local police, led to a promptresponse from the law enforcementagency. Quick registration of the com-plaint was followed by action against theculprits accused of sexual assault underthe Protection of Children from SexualOffences (POCSO) Act. Uttar Pradeshregistered 7,018 POCSO cases in justthree months of 2018, compared to a totalof 4,816 cases reported in the entire yearin 2016.

In Nebu Naurangia block in UttarPradesh, reporting of sexual assault andother cases of violence against womenincreased because of the presence ofwomen collectives, and in particular,police mitras. The special connect withthe local police has come about becausethere is a sizeable number of women whodouble up as police mitras even whilebeing members of SHGs. In fact, the 15-member Laxmi SHG has the distinctionof being the only all-police mitra group.The advantage here is that since SHGmembers are a closely-knit group, shar-

ing personal problems becomes easier.This is why when 30-year-old AnjaniiDevi, who had faced violence at the handsof her alcoholic husband for years, final-ly spoke out. When she shared her expe-riences with her group, the SHG blockpresident Phoolmati and police mitrashelped her file a complaint. Her husbandis behind the bars at present.

It is the desire to ensure justice thatdrives these women. They get no finan-cial remuneration for their work as policemitras. Most of the times, these policemitras spend their own money to accom-pany complainants to the local Naurangiapolice station, about 10 km away fromtheir gram panchayat. They also use theirown resources to attend the monthlymeeting held every first Wednesday of themonth at the mahila thana (women’spolice station) located 15 km away in thedistrict headquarters in Pedrona. Theidentity card given to each police mitra hasbeen signed by the Kushinagar SP. Thisgives these women greater confidence todo their work.

Trust, respect and recognition forthese police mitras have come not justfrom the community. That this band of70 women, aged between 25 and 60 years,is taken seriously is underlined by the factthat a list of all police mitras with theirphotographs and phone numbers hasbeen put up at the Nebu Naurangia blockpolice station as a part of their awarenessprogramme of resource persons availableto tackle crimes against women. Threemonths ago, a meeting between thepolice mitras and the block police officialswas held to discuss problems and how tomake access to justice smoother.

Additionally, as a collective, SHGs

have managed to get the pradhan, headof the local Government, on board. Thishas not only fostered access toGovernment schemes but also facilitatedthe police mitra’s work in making their vil-lages safer for women and girls.

The role of collectives in standing upto violence against women has becomecritical with crimes against women inUttar Pradesh on the rise. State datarevealed that in 107 days between March16 and June 30 this year, 76,416 cases ofcrime against women were reported. In2016, the number of similar cases report-ed for the entire year was 49,262. Further,17,249 cases of outraging of modesty werereported in these three months, while11,335 such cases had been reported in2016. Similarly, 21,077 abductions werereported between March and June thisyear, while there were 12,070 cases ofabduction in 2016. Over 5,600 rapes werereported in these three months in 2018,while 4,816 cases were reported in 2016.

The success of this novel policemitra initiative shows how proper train-ing, some initial hand-holding and sup-port can give courage and justice to sur-vivors. Why then can it not be scaled upto other blocks and districts in India?Women’s collectives have the power torally around survivors of violence, espe-cially in rural areas. With SHGs being theplatform to empower 100 million ruralpoor, especially women, across 600,000villages under the National RuralLivelihoods Mission, these collectivescan not only transform lives at the com-munity level, socially and financially, butalso emerge as empowered supporters ofsurvivors of violence.

(The writer is a senior journalist)

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The commerce and industryministry has sent the final

proposal of new industrial pol-icy to the Cabinet for approval,Union minister Suresh Prabhusaid.

“We have sent the finalCabinet note. We have also pre-pared an action plan for theimplementation of the policy,”Commerce and IndustryMinister Suresh Prabhu toldsaid.

The new industrial policyaims at boosting manufactur-ing sector growth, promoteforeign technology transferand attract overseas invest-ments.

The policy would havesome financial implications asthe government may provideincentives for use of frontiertechnologies like artificial intel-ligence, Internet of things, androbotics.

It aims at promotingemerging sectors and mod-

ernising existing industries. Itwill also look to reduce regu-latory hurdles, cut paper workand support emerging and newsectors. The ministry would besetting up an elaborate machin-ery including a steering com-mittee for effective implemen-tation of the policy.

As part of the policy, indus-trial health clinics could be setup to deal with sickness in themicro, small and mediumenterprises (MSMEs) whichare the backbone of the coun-trys industrial architecture.

The Department ofIndustrial Policy andPromotion (DIPP) in Augustlast year floated a draft indus-trial policy with an aim to cre-ate jobs for the next twodecades, promote foreign tech-

nology transfer and attract$100 billion FDI annually.

This will be the thirdindustrial policy after the onesreleased in 1956 and 1991. Itwill replace the industrial pol-icy of 1991 which was preparedin the backdrop of balance ofpayment crisis.

It would be outcome ori-ented actionable policy thatprovides direction and charts acourse of action for a globallycompetitive Indian industrythat leverages skill, scale andtechnology.

The development assumessignificance as India is aimingat increasing the contributionof manufacturing sector in theGDP to 25 per cent by 2020,from the current level of about16-17 per cent.

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The outcome of the contro-versial demonetisation

drive would have been “signif-icantly better” if “simple things”like introducing �2,000 cur-rency notes were avoided,banker Uday Kotak has said.

The executive vice chairmanand managing director of thefourth largest private sectorlender Kotak Mahindra Bankhas also said small businesses arein a difficult situation at presentand has welcomed the Government focus to revive the sector.

On demonetisation, he saidthe outcomes would have beendifferent if it was planned well.

“I think we would have hadsignificantly better outcomes, ifwe had just thought aboutsimple things. If you are takingout �500 and �1,000 notes, whywould you introduce �2,000notes? “Kotak asked whilespeaking at former chief eco-nomic advisor ArvindSubramanians book launchhere over the weekend.

Kotak said as part of the

“execution” strategy, it was essen-tial to ensure larger quantum ofnotes of the right denominationwere made available.

If such things were under-taken, “we would have beentalking very differently todaythan now,” he said.

But Kotak claimed that forthe financial sector, demoneti-sation has been a “huge boon”.

He said the growth infinancial savings have been“unbelievable”, which has alsoled to a challenge of risk man-agement.

On November 8, 2016,Prime Minister Narendra Modisurprised all by announcing awithdrawal of the �500 and�1,000 notes, claiming to curbblack money and fake notes.But the final numbers have dis-proved all the calculationswrong as 99.3 percent of thecancelled notes worth close to�15.8 trillion has come back tothe system.

This was immediately fol-lowed with the introduction of�2,000 note by RBI the sameevening. Later, the Centralbank has also introduced a�200 denomination notes.

On the small businessessector, he pitched for morefocus saying the sector isimpacted.

“I believe that the SME sec-tor has taken a significant amountof pain. Getting credit for themis tough even now”, he said.

He also welcomed latestGovernment moves for thesector.

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The Government has man-dated preference to be

given to domestically-manu-factured vehicles with mini-mum 65 per cent local contentin public procurement of auto-mobiles, according to an offi-cial notification.

As per the new normsnotified by the HeavyIndustries Ministry with an aimto “encourage Make in India”and to promote manufacturingand production of goods andservices locally, “preferenceshall be provided by allGovernment procuring entitiesto domestically manufacturedautomobile and automotivecomponents”.

The notification applies to

automobiles based on internalcombustion (IC) enginesincluding two and three wheel-ers, passenger vehicles and com-mercial vehicles and compo-nents or spares required for theirmanufacture and maintenance.

The percentage of localcontent required to qualify asdomestically manufacturedautomobile has been set at 65per cent, it said.

On the other hand, forauto components the percent-age of local content required toqualify as domestically manu-factured has been set at 60 percent, the notification added.

The new norms havealready come into effect andwould be reviewed after March31, 2019. They shall remainvalid till a revised notification

is issued. “The local supplier at the

time of tender, bidding orsolicitation shall provide self-certification that the itemoffered meets the minimumlocal content and shall givedetails of the location(s) atwhich the local value additionis made,” said the notification.

In cases where the pro-curement is for a value over �10crore, the local supplier shallprovide a certificate from thestatutory auditor or cost audi-tor of the company (in the caseof companies) or from a prac-tising cost accountant or prac-tising chartered accountant (inrespect of suppliers other thancompanies) giving the per-centage of local content, itadded.

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The instability in the marketthat occurred due to

demonetisation is not affectinghomebuyers anymore, now realestate sector is on the upswing,says Prasoon Chauhan, CEO,HomeKraft in his interactionwith The Pioneer. Here areexcerpts of his conversationwith Vikas Kumar.

Tell us about theHomeKraft and its functions?

HomeKraft is promotedby ATS Group and GeetambarAnand. This company has twoshareholders, one is ATS,which holds 80 % shares, andanother is HDFC Capital,which holds 20 % shares. Thisis the joint venture of these twocompanies and now we arecoming up with five more pro-jects in the next one-year. Ourfocus is on mid-income group,which starts from �40-70 Lakhand all our projects are quali-fied for PMAY (PradhanMantri Awaas Yojna). So cus-tomers are taking all benefitsunder PMAY, which includesGST, carpet Area and others.

What steps you are takingto avoid pollution at yoursites?

We are following all guide-lines under NGT in terms ofdust, pollution and all. We are

complying fully with them forour projects.

So who are your biggestcustomers?

Our biggest customers aremiddle class and lower middleclass people whose incomestarts from �50K to �1 lakh.

Effects of demonetisationin real estate sector?

I think its been two yearsso there is no effect as such

now. And customers who arebuying flats, which starts from�40 Lakh, I dont think so theyare affected by demonetisation.

What are the new tech-nologies your company is tak-ing during construction tomeet the good quality?

We are doing our con-struction from MivanTechnology for shuttering andother construction relatedactivities, we are importing

this technology. There aretwo-three benefits of this tech-nology. One is cost efficiencybecause initially infrastructuretakes huge cost, but, later-onwith repetition, costs are dras-tically minimised. Secondly, itsaves a lot of time. In addition,you dont need to do plaster thewalls from outside.

Whats the Market sce-nario?

Market scenario is good;we are getting good responsefrom the customers. OurMonthly sales are at 70-75flats.

Your ongoing projects?We only have one ongoing

project — Happy Trails —located near to Sector-10,Greater Noida West. And weare about to launch anotherprojects next year.

How Metro extension willhelp you? What are your pro-jections in terms ofMarketing?

Recently, Greater NoidaAuthority passed this propos-al. Since our project is locat-ed near the Metro Station, it ispretty easy to commute. Yes, itwill help us a lot in terms of ourselling and connectivity.

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Differences have croppedup between the Heavy

Industry Ministry and the NITIAayog over a proposal by thethink tank to levy a Feebate ontwo-wheelers to subsidise elec-tric vehicles for promotinggreen mobility.

According to sources, theministry has flagged concernsto the Aayog over the intro-duction of a Feebate especial-ly on a mass mode of transportlike two-wheelers as it couldnot only lead to a hike inprices but also practical chal-lenges associated with the col-lection of the tax once intro-duced.

“Feebate has been pro-posed by the NITI Aayog, theysay they will collect fundsthrough Feebate and use that asa subsidy for electric vehicles.We have explained to them thatthere is already a 16 per centFeebate in place as EVs attract12 per cent GST whereas theIC-engine vehicles attract 28per cent,” said a senior HeavyIndustry Ministry official.

The Heavy IndustryMinistry implements schemesand policies for the develop-ment of Indias automobile sec-tor.

“About 2 crore two-wheel-ers are sold in India every year.The NITI Aayogs calculation isthat even if you charge a Feebate

of �500 per two-wheeler, youraise about �10,000 crore.However, there is an issue ofwho will collect it as now allcesses have been subsumedunder the GST,” said the official.

An e-mail seeking com-ments from the Governmentthink-tank on Feebateremained unanswered.

The idea of Feebate, a sys-tem of charges and rebates inwhich energy-efficient or envi-ronment-friendly practices arerewarded whereas failure toadhere to such practices ispenalised, was mooted in tworeports supported by the NitiAayog in the run-up to Indiasfirst Global Mobility Summit

held in September this year.The report titled

Transforming Indias Mobilityhad suggested using the feebatemechanism to incentivise theuse of green mobility tech-nologies and identifying poten-tial mechanisms and develop aregulation for incentivisinggreen mobility technologieswith a feebate mechanism.

It had cited the example ofLondon, a city that imposescongestion charges duringweekday working hours tovehicles entering the city cen-tre.

Another report titledGoods On The Move hadobserved that applying a fee-

bate concept to urban accesswould charge trucks to enterthe city during congested peri-ods while incentivising thementer during nighttime hours,with both costs and savingslikely being passed through tothe receivers of those goods.

“Such an approach wouldnot only reduce the cost ofgoods delivery made off hours,crucial for small shops withthin margins serving customerswith limited budgets but wouldalso reduce overall congestionwithin the city both by reduc-ing traffic during peak times aswell as by reducing illegal park-ing,” said the report supportedby Niti Aayog.

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The Airports Authority ofIndia (AAI) plans to have

remote as well as mirror imageair traffic control systems as itlooks to save costs and put inplace reliable back up optionsin case of any system failures,a senior official said.

The national airports oper-ator is now in the process ofpreparing a common tenderplatform to seek entities thatcan provide remote Air TrafficControl (ATC) systems.

According to the official,the AAI is also looking to have“mirror image” control of abusy ATC tower in anotherATC tower. For example, ifthere is any failure of a systemat a busy airport then opera-tions there can be controlledfrom another place till thingsare restored, he added.

The AAI official said the

idea of remote ATC is techni-cally doable and is happeningin a few smaller airports innorthern Europe.

Since there are differentaspects in the systems beingoffered by different players, theofficial said it is now workingon having a common tenderplatform.

“We are trying to under-stand little more about tech-nology and trying to see howit can be made into a biddablepattern. It is being done inter-nally .... It is an experimentalarea and will significantly cutdown costs,” he said.

With mirror image controlalong with remote ATCs, itwould be cost saving as well ashaving a back up in case of anyfailures.

Remote towers concen-trate ATC at one central loca-tion instead of having resourcesat each single airport, whichwould help in having synergiesand savings.

Currently, airports havemanned towers to provideATC services. With remotetowers, there would be a video-based surveillance for suchservices.

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Public sector lender PunjabNational Bank (PNB) has

put up for sale two dozen non-performing assets to recoverdues of over �1,779 crore.

These 24 dud loanaccounts are majorly concen-trated in Mumbai, Delhi andKolkata zones of the bank.

Two accounts belong toChandigarh and Bhopal zoneswhile one is of Patna zone, as perthe sale notice on its website.

“We intend to place theseaccounts for sale toARCs/NBFCs/other banks/FIsetc on the terms and conditionsstipulated in the banks policy,in line with the regulatoryguidelines,” PNB said.

The bank has to makerecovery of �1,779.18 crorefrom these 24 non-performingassets (NPAs).

Among the major borrow-ers are Vandana Vidyut with anoutstanding amount of �454.02crore, Moser Baer Solar(�233.06 crore), Divine Vidyut(�132.66 crore), Visa ResourcesIndia Ltd (�115.20 crore),Allied Strips (�118.81 crore),Arshiya Northern FTWZ Ltd(�96.70 crore), Birla Surya

(�73.58 crore) and TridentTools (�68.81 crore).

The sale process is to behandled by the Stressed AssetsTargeted Resolution Action(SASTRA) Division of thebank.

The submission of finan-cial bids will be only throughe-auction method, which willtake place on the portal of thebank, it said.

The last date for evincinginterest in these accounts isDecember 10, PNB said. The e-bidding process will take placeon December 21.

PNB, hit by a massive�14,000-crore scam allegedlyperpetrated by jeweller duoNirav Modi and Mehul Choksi,has enhanced its recoverymechanism by forming theStressed Asset ManagementVertical (SAMV) and SASTRA.

The bank posted a stagger-ing loss of �4,532.35 crore forthe second quarter of the cur-rent fiscal on rising bad loans.

Its gross non-performingassets (NPAs) as a proportionof gross advances rose sharplyto 17.16 per cent (�81,250.83crore) at the end of September2018, from 13.31 per cent(�57,630.11 crore) a year ago.

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The Kolkata Port Trust onSunday received second

cape size dry bulk cargo ves-sel at Sandheads, a seniorKoPT official said.

“This is the first time thatthe entire 1.65 lakh tonnecargo in this voyage is meantfor Haldia. This vessel willoffload its entire cargo hereand not move to other eastcoast port,” Kolkata PortTrust chairman Vinit Kumaradded.

The MV Cape Mary, iscarrying coal and will offload1,00,000 tonne at sand headsand another 65,000 tonne ata new lighterage point openedby KoPT near Sagar islandwith help of floating cranes,he said.

The first cape size vessel,MV Samjohn Solidarity, lastyear with similar cargo onaccount of Adani EnterprisesLtd, called upon KoPT buthad discharged 1 lakh tonneof coal before making onwardjourney to other East coastport.

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India missed a golden oppor-tunity to implement a fully

computerised tax administra-tion system way back in the late70s as a proposal by TCS wasrejected by the then financeminister Charan Singh, claimsa new book.

Management strategist-researcher Shashank Shah hascome out with the book titled“The Tata Group: FromTorchbearers to Trailblazers”,coinciding with the completionof 150 years of The Tata Groupand the death anniversary ofJRD Tata on November 29.

According to the author,after nationalisation of banksby the Indira Gandhi govern-ment in 1969, there was declin-ing business with banks as theCentre did not want comput-ers in India.

“It believed that comput-erisation would lead to massunemployment. It is contextu-al to mention a fact that fewknow,” he claims.

Shah says that it was TCS(Tata Consultancy Services)that had developed the nowubiquitous permanent accountnumber (PAN) system for the

income tax department in 1977.“Impressed by the output,

the company was given anassignment to computerise thetotal processing of income tax.However, Charan Singh, thenFinance Minister, decreed thatthere would be no computeri-sation in the finance ministryas it could create unemploy-ment!” he writes in the book,published by Penguin RandomHouse India.

“If implemented then,India would have been farahead of several countriesthrough a fully computerisedtax administration system,”Shah claims.

It is mandatory to quotePAN on return of income, allcorrespondence with anyincome tax authority.

From January 1, 2005, ithas become mandatory toquote PAN on challans forany payments due to the I-TDepartment.

The book is replete withother little-known facts aboutThe Tata Group.

Among these is about NetajiSubhas Chandra Bose andMahatma Gandhi helping inmaintaining industrial harmonyat Tata Steel plants in the 1920s.

Between 1920 and 1924,Tata Steel, which then had thelargest industrial force any sin-gle Indian company had inthose years, witnessed threestrikes, the book says.

“At such a tumultuous time,Mahatma Gandhi arrived inJamshedpur to mediate. Alongwith eminent freedom fighterDeshbandhu Chittaranjan Dasand CF Andrews, he tried torekindle the relationshipbetween the management andthe workers,” it says.

Bose sided with the workersand battled for their rights bynegotiating a historic settlement.He became the JamshedpurLabour Associations leader andwould regularly visit Jamshedpurto engage with the workers,Shah writes.

“However, Boses involve-ment had reduced by 1932. Hewas also imprisoned by theBritish government as part ofthe freedom movement.”

The Tatas invited RajendraPrasad and Jawaharlal Nehru toarbitrate between the workersand the management.

“Their prompt arrival indi-cated the importance of TataSteel in the larger priorities ofnational leadership.”

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London: Thousands of protes-tors marched through Londonin support of Brexit on Sundayamid tight security measures inplace by Scotland Yard.

The pro-Brexit marchthrough London, dubbed the"Brexit Betrayal" march, wasmet by a counter-protest at thesame time but taking differentroutes.

The Metropolitan Policehad earlier urged protesters tokeep their demonstrationspeaceful but indicated it istaking no chances against thebackdrop of some violent clash-es during the "Yellow Vests"street protests in the neigh-bouring French city of Parisover the weekend.

"The right to protest is afundamental right in ourdemocratic society, but thisright must be balanced againstthe right of people to go abouttheir day without fear of vio-

lence, disorder or disruption,"said Met Police DeputyAssistant CommissionerLaurence Taylor.

"Experience has shown usthat when groups with con-flicting views come together itcan create tension and disorder,not just on the day itself but inthe longer term,” he said,adding that the force would"adopt a robust arrest policy onanyone who attends and isintent on violence and disor-der".

The Met Police has said itwould keep the two rival sidesapart by issuing two separateroutes for them to followthough the West End.

The conditions have beenimposed under Section 12 and14 of the UK's Public OrderAct, 1986.

Far-right group EnglishDefence League (EDL) founderTommy Robinson has joined

the pro-Brexit march called bythe anti-Europe UKIndependence Party (UKIP),with the counter-protestersincluding groups like UniteAgainst Fascism and grass-roots group Momentum rally-ing together against the "far-right extremists".

UKIP said its marchagainst the "Brexit Betrayal"would be "the largest pro-Brexit event of the year".

Some of their banners referto politicians committing "trea-son", also referring to theBritish prime minister, TheresaMay, "Treason May".

"Be there to show you wantto Dump the Deal and thatBrexit means Exit," said UKIPleader Gerard Batten, who hasangered members of his ownparty by appointing Robinsonas an adviser.

UKIP's prominent formerleader, Nigel Farage, had

stepped down from the partyrecently expressing his anger atthe party's swing towardsextreme right-wing politics.

"This march isn't aboutBrexit, it's about far-rightextremists dressing up in suitsand pretending to berespectable," said OppositionLabour Party's shadow chan-cellor John McDonnell, as hecalled on people to take to thestreets against the “poison” ofthe far-right.

Meanwhile, a rally is alsotaking place in London organ-ised by pro-EU group Best forBritain and the People's Votecampaign for another referen-dum to revisit the June 2016vote in favour of Brexit aheadof a crucial House of Commonsvote on Prime Minister May'scontroversial WithdrawalAgreement struck with theEuropean Union.

PTI

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Kano: Two soldiers were killedwhen suspected Boko Haramfighters loyal to factional leaderAbubakar Shekau attacked amilitary base in northeastNigeria, security sources toldAFP on Sunday.

The twin gun and suicideattacks happened early Saturdayevening at Gulumba village, inthe Bama district of Borno state.

The use of human bombs isa hallmark of the Shekau faction,which is known to operate in thearea.

Last month, Shekau releaseda video claiming attacks againsttroops in Gulumba.

"We lost two soldiers and

two more were injured in theattack by the Shekau faction,"said one military source.

"The terrorists came in ninegun trucks with a suicidebomber at about 5:50 pm (1650GMT) and attacked the base."

A second source said the sui-cide bomber tried to infiltrate thebase but was "neutralised" bytroops. He also said two sol-diers were killed and two otherswere injured.

"The terrorists faced stiffresistance and were forced towithdraw," he added. Neithersource wanted to be identified asthey were not authorised tospeak to the media. AFP

Paris: French Prime MinisterEdouard Philippe on Sundayvowed to "restore nationalunity" after violence during theweekend forced police to usetear gas and rubber bulletsagainst the "yellow vest"demonstrators, who protestedagainst fuel tax rises and highliving costs, leading to over1,700 arrests.

However, the violence onSaturday that was the fourthone was not on the same levelas the week earlier, the BBCreported.

Discussions with peacefulprotesters "must continue",Philippe said, adding "No taxshould jeopardise our nation-al unity. We must now rebuildthat national unity throughdialogue, through work, and bycoming together."

He said PresidentEmmanuel Macron, who manyprotesters felt should standdown, would soon "put for-ward measures to foster dia-logue".

French Interior MinisterChristophe Castaner praisedpolice, who had been deployedin force, for containing muchof the unrest.

Castaner, who warned that

the number of arrests increaseddue to the violence in Paris andsome other cities added that118 demonstrators were knownto have been injured alongwith 17 police officials.

During protests onDecember 1, 201 civilians and284 police personnel wereinjured amid scenes of urbanguerrilla tactics.

French authoritiesdeployed a huge police forceand used water cannons, teargas and, for the first time in 40years, a dozen armoured cars.

The first clashes betweenpolice and protesters occurredlast Saturday morning in theChamps Elysees, the YellowVests' main meeting point.

With a view to prevention,and following the December 1vandalism, most businesses inthe threatened areas remainedclosed, starting with the bigdepartment stores.

Also shut were the monu-ments and museums of Parislike the Eiffel Tower and theLouvre.

In addition, from the earlyhours, 36 subway stationsremained closed.

Other disturbances tookplace around the country,

including Bordeaux, Toulouse,Marseilles, Lyon and Nantes.

Demonstrations by theYellow Vests movement beganas a protest against increasedtaxes on fuel planned for 2019,a ruling that was annulled thisweek by the government.

Many still demand the res-ignation of Macron as theycontinue to demand anincrease in social spending onpensions and education, slash-ing taxes, improving infra-structure, curtailing immigra-tion and ending the privatisa-tion of public services, amongmany other issues.

In a tweet late on Saturday,Macron thanked the securityforces for their "courage andexceptional professionalism"against the "gilets jaunes" pro-testers.

The yellow vests are so-called because they have takento the streets wearing the high-visibility yellow clothing that isrequired to be carried in everyvehicle by French law.

Over the past few weeks, thesocial media movement hasmorphed from a protest over fuelprices to a leaderless spectrum ofinterest groups and differingdemands, the BBC said. IANS

Bejing: "Super-Earths" andNeptune-sized planets could beforming around young stars inmuch greater numbers thanscientists thought, a newresearch by an internationalteam of astronomers suggests.

The findings, based on asurvey of young stars in a star-forming region in the constel-lation Taurus, showed many ofthem to be surrounded bystructures that can best beexplained as traces created byinvisible, young planets in themaking.

"This is fascinating becauseit is the first time that exoplanetstatistics, which suggest thatsuper-Earths and Neptunes arethe most common type ofplanets, coincide with obser-vations of protoplanetarydisks," said lead author Feng

Long, a doctoral student atPeking University in Beijing,China.

The research, published inthe Astrophysical Journal, helpsscientists better understandhow our own solar systemcame to be.

Using the Atacama LargeMillimeter Array, or ALMA,comprising 45 radio antennasin Chile's Atacama Desert, theteam performed a survey ofyoung stars in the Taurus star-forming region, a vast cloud ofgas and dust located a modest450 light-years from Earth.

When the researchersimaged 32 stars surrounded byprotoplanetary disks, theyfound that 12 of them -- 40 percent -- have rings and gaps,structures that according to theteam's measurements and cal-

culations can be best explainedby the presence of nascentplanets.

The Neptune-sized gasplanets or so-called super-Earths -- terrestrial planets ofup to 20 Earth masses -- werefound to be the most common.Only two of the observed diskscould potentially harbour behe-moths rivalling Jupiter, thelargest planet in the solar sys-tem.

"Since most of the currentexoplanet surveys can't pene-trate the thick dust of proto-planetary disks, all exoplanets,with one exception, have beendetected in more evolved sys-tems where a disk is no longerpresent," explained PaolaPinilla, from the University ofArizona in the US. IANS

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Washington: US PresidentDonald Trump has said theWhite House Chief of StaffJohn Kelly will leave his job atthe end of the year.

Trump called Kelly "a greatguy," while speaking toreporters at White House onSaturday, Xinhua reported.

"He's been with me almosttwo years now, between twopositions," he said. "I appreci-ate his service very much."

The US President said hewould announce Kelly's suc-cessor "over the next day ortwo".

Kelly, Trump's secondChief of Staff, took over theposition from Reince Priebusin July 2017.

Before that, he was theTrump administration's firstSecretary of the Department ofHomeland Security.

IANS

Kabul: A total of 10 militants,including a Taliban key com-mander Mawlawi Nasratullah,were killed in Afghanistan'sFaryab province on Sunday, anArmy spokesperson said.

The security forces, actingupon an intelligence report,attacked a Taliban gathering inDawlat Abad district in the weehours of Sunday, killing 10 rebelson the spot, Xinhua news agencyreported.

According to the official, 15more insurgents have beenarrested in the ongoing opera-tions. Nasratullah was an impor-tant Taliban commander inFaryab province and his elimi-nation could prove to be a majorsetback to the insurgents in thearea, the official said. Militantshave not commented yet. IANS

Jerusalem: Israel's Army saidon Saturday it had locatedanother tunnel crossing into itsterritory from Lebanon, thesecond such find since launch-ing an operation to expose anddestroy alleged Hezbollah"attack tunnels".

"The IDF has located anadditional Hezbollah cross-border attack tunnel,"spokesman LieutenantColonel Jonathan Conricussaid, refusing to give details onits precise location or dimen-sions.

"The tunnel crosses intoIsrael, like the first tunnel it isnot yet operational and doesnot pose an imminent threatto Israeli communities," hesaid in a briefing with jour-nalists. AFP

Yerevan: Armenians onSunday were voting in parlia-mentary elections triggeredyears ahead of schedule byreformist leader NikolPashinyan, who is aiming tocement his political authority inthe post-Soviet country.

The 43-year-old formerjournalist became prime min-ister in May after spearheadingweeks of peaceful anti-gov-ernment rallies that oustedveteran leader Serzh Sarkisian.

He has pledged to root outendemic corruption andaddress widespread poverty,earning him supporters in theimpoverished landlockednation of about three millionpeople.

However Pashinyan'sreform drive was stalled formonths by opposition fromSarkisian's ruling party whichdominated the NationalAssembly until his calculatedresignation triggered parlia-ment's dissolution last month.

"After the elections, wewill be developing Armeniandemocracy and make an eco-nomic revolution happen,"Pashinyan told journalists aftercasting his ballot, pledging to"hold free, fair, and transparentelections."

At a polling station in cen-tral Yerevan voters expressedoptimism about the politicalchange promised by Pashinyanand venting their anger at for-mer corrupt officials.

"Thanks to the revolution,we will finally have fair elec-tions," 72-year-old pensionerParzik Avetisyan told AFP.

"I voted for the positivechange promised by Nikol(Pashinyan)," he added.

AFP

Washington: The decline ofthe Arctic sea ice cover mayhave temporarily sloweddown, despite climate changeand global warming, a NASAstudy has found.

As temperatures in theArctic have warmed at doublethe pace of the rest of the plan-et, the expanse of frozen sea-water that blankets the ArcticOcean and neighbouring seashas shrunk and thinned overthe past three decades.

The end-of-summerArctic sea ice extent has almosthalved since the early 1980s.

A recent NASA studyfound that since 1958, theArctic sea ice cover has lost onaverage around two-thirds of

its thickness and now 70 percent of the sea ice cap is madeof seasonal ice, or ice thatforms and melts within a sin-gle year.

However, at the same timethat sea ice is vanishing quick-er than it has ever beenobserved in the satellite record,it is also thickening at a fasterrate during winter.

This increase in growthrate might last for decades, anew study accepted for publi-cation in GeophysicalResearch Letters found.

This does not mean thatthe ice cover is recovering,though. It us just delaying itsdemise, researchers said.

PTI

Katowice (Poland): As thefirst week of the crucial UNclimate summit ended thisweekend, businesses, investors,local authorities, trade unionsand NGOs on Sunday calledupon the European Union tocommit to significantlyincrease the current climatecommitments by 2020, inorder to secure a successfuloutcome of the summit.

Stakeholders standingtogether as the Coalition forHigher Ambition urged theEU governments attendingthe 24th Conference of theParties to the UN FrameworkConvention on ClimateChange, known as COP24, torespond to the landmark 1.5degrees CelsiusIntergovernmental Panel onClimate Change (IPCC) report

with urgency and also scaledup ambition.

The first week of the talksdelivered limited progress ontechnical issues, but most deci-sions that are expected fromthis COP, including a com-mitment to strengthen allcountries' climate pledges by2020, are left to the ministers,who will be attending thesummit this coming week.

To stimulate progress ofthe talks, the EU needs to doits best to convince all coun-tries to support such a com-mitment.

The EU brought newambition to the negotiatingtable, but it is the increase ofthe short-term emission cutsby 2030 that will make orbreak our response to the cli-mate crisis. IANS

Rio De Janeiro: Several womenhave come forward in Brazil toaccuse an internationallyknown self-proclaimed spiritualhealer of sexually abusing themunder pretext of trying to "cure"them of depression or otherproblems.

The allegations against JoaoTeixeira de Faria, 76, betterknown as "Joao de Deus" ("Joaoof God") were made late Fridayon a program on the widelyviewed Globo Television net-work.

A Dutch choreographer

identified as Zahira LeenekeMaus and nine Brazilianwomen who remained anony-mous accused Faria of makingthem masturbate him or per-form fellatio, which he insistedwas the only way to transfer his"cleansing" energy to them.

Maus also told the programthat Faria had raped her. Theassociated O Globo newspaperlater reported that it had spo-ken to two other women whogave similar accounts of sexu-al abuse by Faria, bringing thetotal to a dozen.

All the women said theywere aged in their 30s when thealleged acts took place between2010 and early this year inFaria's "spiritual hospital" in thetown of Abadiania, close to thecapital Brasilia.

Globo's G1 news websitecited a statement from Faria'spress service saying he hadused his powers to treat thou-sands of people over the past 44years and "he vehementlyrejects (allegations of) anyimproper practice during histreatments."

Faria's reputation reachesfar beyond Brazil, with follow-ers in the United States, Europeand Australia.

Oprah Winfrey, the UStelevision celebrity and pro-ducer, visited Faria in 2013 tolook into his "miracles." Severalmedia outlets have done criti-cal investigations into Faria'sclaims of healing, and someuncovered previous allegationsof sexual abuse and otherimproprieties for which Fariahas never been prosecuted.

AFP

London: Facebook CEO mustput an end to far-right activists'fundraising on the social net-working platform, said BritishLabour leader Tom Watson,while criticising MarkZuckerberg for having a "con-tempt for social responsibility",the media reported.

According to a Guardianreport, Tommy Robinson, aBritish far-right activist withmore than 1 million followerson Facebook, has been receiv-ing financial, political andmoral support from a hiddenglobal network of US think-tanks, right-wing Australiansand Russian trolls.

Robinson, whose realname is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, has raised hundreds ofthousands of pounds throughonline donations, some via thesocial network.

Although Facebook hasdisabled Robinson's access tothe donate tool, meant to be

reserved for charities alone, butsupporters visiting Robinson'sFacebook profile continued tobe directed towards his websitewhere they could make dona-tions through a form, theBritish daily reported onSaturday.

A Facebook spokespersonconfirmed the action.

"We have removed the"Donate Now" button fromthis page. This function is onlyavailable for pages that listthemselves as a "charitableorganisation" and allows themto link to an external webpageof their choice. As this page isfor a person we have nowremoved this," the spokesper-son was quoted as saying.

Facebook is Robinson'smain social network afterTwitter suspended him forclaiming "Islam promoteskilling people" in March, thereport claimed.

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New York: Jared Kushner, US President Donald Trump's son-in-law and senior advisor, continued talks with Saudi CrownPrince Mohammed bin Salman even after the October 2 killingof journalist Jamal Khashoggi who was ambushed and dis-membered by Saudi agents in Istanbul, The New York Times saidin a report.

As the killing set off a firestorm around the world andAmerican intelligence agencies concluded that it was ordered byPrince Mohammed, Kushner became the Prince's most impor-tant defender inside the White House, The Times quotedinformed sources as saying in the report issued on Saturday.

Since the early months of the Trump administration,Kushner had been having private, informal conversations withthe Prince.

Given Kushner's political inexperience, the private exchangescould make him susceptible to Saudi manipulation, said threeformer White House officials.

In an effort to tighten practices at the White House, a newChief of Staff tried to reimpose longstanding procedures stipu-lating that National Security Council staff members should par-ticipate in all calls with foreign leaders.

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From Sacred Games to Game ofThrones, the boundaries that definepopular culture keep expanding

and have become elastic. This has givenspace to events like Comic Con tobecome a celebrational and promotion-al platform for brands.

For Amazon Prime Video, MarvelStudios, Paytm, TVS, Doritos, AXN andSony Pix, the platform is a great way tomake inroads with the millions ofyouth hooked to multiple OTTs, socialand mainstream media.

For instance, most of the merchan-dise available at the three-day fiesta andcosplayers had taken inspiration fromthe movies and TV shows that are cur-rently trending. With Marvel Studioshaving dropped its Brie Larson starringCaptain Marvel and Avengers: Endgametrailers recently and a Marvel space atthe NSIC Okhla, where Comic Con washeld this year, merchandise like Thor’s

hammer had received moreattention, according to

ComicCon IndiaFounder, Jatin

Varma.A m a z o n

Prime Video hadb r o u g h tMirzapur andJulia Roberts-s t a r r i n gHomecoming to

its experiencezone. When asked

how Mirzapur fitsinto the narrative,

Varma said, “Everything inpop culture fits into Comic Con. Any

content you see on OTT players is partof pop culture and fits in perfectly.When building a zone, these partnersbring in anything from AugmentedReality (AR), Virtual Reality (VR) tophoto booths to gauge the audience’sattention,” he said.

Also, since Game of Thrones’ lastseason will be released in April 2019merchandise from the George RRMartin series has been a hit. While DCComics had an Aquaman zone this time,since the movie is going to be releasedthis month and Mattel, famed for theirpatents Hot wheels and Barbie, had azone too.

“Cosplay remains one of the biggestdraws and this year we’re pushing forprofessional cosplayers so that we cre-ate amazing costumes. The fun elementcomes from regular people trying to cos-play and having fun with it. The themefor this year is that everyone can cosplay.Everyone who’s attending the event candress up as someone as simple as ClartKent. There are easily two to three thou-sand cosplayers across the cities wherewe conduct the event,” said he.

Varma has also brought ImageComics, the third-largest comic bookpublisher after Marvel and DC to Indiafor the first time.

“Everyone coming to Comic Conwill get their own volume 1 of Chew,which is about a US Food and DrugAdministration (FDA) agent who solvescrimes by receiving psychic impressionsfrom food, including people. They arebringing their own talent,” he said.

Weeks before the event began theirstalls had been sold, which speaks vol-umes about its popularity. Big toybrands and indie artists, equally vied forspace here.

The main highlight this time wasThe Night King, Vladimir Furdik, andonly a few had gotten to meet him. Acontest and lottery was conducted dur-ing the three days to meet him while themainstage was open to everyone.

What is pride? How does it dis-tinguish one’s choices, stylesand legacy? Designer Tarun

Tahiliani believes that pride is the hall-mark of today’s generation as a mean-ingful expression of their success. Whiletheir distinct choices define their indi-viduality, the taste of pride comes fromtheir self-earned achievements andaccomplishments.

As the designer launch-es his ready-to-wear col-lection Pride at theBlenders’ Pride FashionTour 2018, his new con-cept urges people tolove the world andtheir identity andthe blend whichthey represent.

He says, “It sig-nifies the emotionsof contemporaryIndia.”

He drawsinspiration fromthe pride that eachIndian, irrespectiveof his religious andregional identityand profession,takes when it comesto elements thatdefine the country.

He explainswhat are the newtechniques andstyles that he hasincorporated inthis new collec-tion. “We havetried a lot of newpatterns and stylesthis time. We have donemore tailoring to takeour structure of drapingto a whole new level. It isbecause the aim is to

show an interesting blend of the past andthe present and a telescope into thefuture.”

Through a showcase of 40 uniquelooks blending historical opulence withmodern interpretation, he aims to

explore and interpret the concept of‘India Modern’ through fashion bymixing East with the West.

“I have mixed the two styles anddesigned it differently taking thestyling to a more extreme vibe. I havedone new things which are devoid ofembroidery as the concept focussesat the present moment even thoughit is steeped in Indian traditions ofdraped form and techniques thatIndian craftsmen have developed overthe years with love.”

He uses VS Naipaul’s A MultipleMutinies Now metaphorically to talk

about a million ideas about India’s oldculture that has “existed for a thousandyears, has had many influences due tonumerous foreign invasions.” He saysthat the biggest global influence that wehave today is through social media andtechnology.

So how have contemporary designsfound inspiration in the Indian histo-ry?

“Unfortunately, there wasn’t a lotto find in history because it wasn’t

documented well in India. Thereare only the miniatures,which all look similar.

There was a bit of docu-mentation once the Britishers came in,

which had more to do with Maharajasand the poverty which was in the drap-ing style. However, I find a lot of inspi-ration in those drapes. This is the rea-son I also go to the Kumbh Mela wherepeople still dress the way it was years ago.And I take my inspiration from that,” hesays.

The collection employs new tailor-ing and draping in a way that is contem-porary to India and combines westernnotions of cut, silhouettes, construct andfinishing.

“The lehengas have become lighterand easier to be carried. They are volu-minous and fluffy, feminine and haveIndian beading. It carries the sensuali-ty of the Indian draping.”

He says that a blend of the Westernsilhouettes and Indian aesthetics is in thefact that Indian fashion sense has pro-vided a platform to push boundaries,“especially for people like me. I feel excit-ed about the whole idea of blendbecause I always look at the modernIndia which in itself is a huge blend.”However, the designer says that he“doesn’t care” about whether we havemanaged to change the way the Westlooks at our fashion and craft. He says,“I changed the way I looked at craft andfashion. And now other people too. Andto me that is the most important thing.”

He believes that Indians are incre-mentally becoming conscious con-sumers of everyday art. Designs todayflow into the minutest aspects of dailylife like dressing, household utility andcasual meetings. He says, “Designchanges the quality of life. However, thisdoesn’t mean that we forget the othersimpler things.”

For him, the “rich Indian heritage’of textiles has been inspiring. “I haveworked a lot with Chikankari andMaheshwaris too. I have taken inspira-tion from the cutworks from Varanasi.My current love affair is with theKanjeevaram fabrics.”

Actress Disha Patani was the show-stopper of the fashion tour in Gurugram.

As a birder, I had heard thatif you paid careful attention

to the head feathers on thedowny woodpeckers that visit-ed your bird feeders, you couldrecognise individual birds. Thisintrigued me. I tried sketchingbirds at my own feeders andfound this to be true.

I knew that researchers hadused machine learning tech-niques to recognise individualfaces in digital images with ahigh accuracy. I thought —Would it be possible to applythose techniques to identifyindividual birds?

So, I built a tool to collectdata: a type of bird feederfavoured by woodpeckers and amotion-activated camera. I setup my monitoring station in myyard and waited for the birds.

Image classificationIt’s a hot topic in the tech

world. Companies likeFacebook, Apple and Google areresearching to provide serviceslike auto-tagging of friends insocial media posts, using yourface to unlock the cellphone, andvisual search.

When I started researching,image classification researchfocussed on a technique thatlooked at image features such asedges, corners and areas of sim-ilar colour. Those approacheswere 70 per cent accurate, usingbenchmark data sets with hun-dreds of categories.

Recent research has shifted

toward the use of artificial neur-al networks, which identify theirown features proving most use-ful for classification.Convolutional neural networks,the type that we are now usingin our work with birds, aremodified in ways that weremodelled on the visual cortex.

Progress on bird IDAll the images were taken

from the same perspective, andfell into limited categories. Only15 species ever visited the feed-er. Of those, only 10 visited oftenenough to provide a useful basisfor classification. The limitednumber of images was a definitehandicap, but lesser categories

worked in our favour. It couldrecognise whether the bird in animage was a chickadee, aCarolina wren, a cardinal orother. The project achievedabout 85 per cent accuracy.Identifying birds in images is anexample of a “fine-grained clas-sification” task, that is, the algo-rithm tries to discriminatebetween objects that are onlyslightly different. Many birds atfeeders are roughly the sameshape so telling the differencebetween two species can bequite challenging.

The challenge ups whenyou try to identify individuals.For most species, it isn’t possi-ble. The woodpeckers have

strongly patterned plumage butare still largely similar.

I found that the head feath-ers of downy woodpeckersweren’t a reliable way to distin-guish between individuals,because those feathers movearound a lot. They’re used by thebirds to express irritation oralarm. However, the patterns ofspots on the folded wingsseemed to work just fine to dis-tinguish. Those wing featherswere almost always visible in ourimages, while the head patternsdepended on the angle of thebird’s head. In the end, we had2,450 pictures of eight differentwoodpeckers. When it came toidentifying individual wood-

peckers, we achieved 97 per centaccuracy. However, it needs fur-ther verification.

How can this help birds?Since many species are very

specific in their habitat needswhen it comes to breeding,wintering and migration, fine-grained data could be useful forthinking about the effects of achanging landscape. Data ondowny woodpeckers could thenbe matched with information,like land-use maps, weatherpatterns, population growth, tobetter understand the abun-dance of a local species.

Recent studies suggest thatit should be possible to train aclassifier using a much broadergroup of images, fine-tune itquickly and with computation-al demands to recognise birds.

Projects like CornellLaboratory of Ornithology’seBird are working to monitorpopulation dynamics, but thebulk of those data tends to befrom locations where people arenumerous, rather than fromlocations of specific interest toscientists. An automated mon-itoring station approach couldprovide a force multiplier forwildlife biologists concernedwith specific species or locations.This would broaden their abil-ity to gather data with minimalhuman intervention.

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SEX EDUCATION The web series is a distinctively honest andwitty look at the universally awkward com-ing-of-age experience. The dramedy deliv-ers a healthy dose of nostalgia, taking theaudience back to their high school days,with a fresh postmodern take on youngadult life, friendships, and attitudes towardssex, identity, love and everything inbetween. It is a contemporary British love-letter to the classic American high-schoolstory starring Asa Butterfield as OtisMilburn, the only child of two sex thera-pists, and actress Gillian Anderson as JeanMilburn, his mother, a larger-than-life sextherapist with no filter.The show releases on January 11, 2019 onNetflix.

BIRD BOXWhen a mysterious force decimates thepopulation, only one thing is certain — ifyou see it, you die. The survivors must nowavoid coming face to face with an entitythat takes the form of their worst fears.Searching for hope and a new beginning,a woman and her children embark on adangerous journey through the woods anddown a river to find the one place that may

offer sanctuary. To make it, they'll have tocover their eyes from the evil that chasesthem — and complete the trip blindfold-ed. Directed by Susanne Bier, the thriller starsSandra Bullock, Trevante Rhodes, JohnMalkovich. It releases on December 21 onNetflix.

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TVF’S THE VIRAL FEVER ANDGIRLYAPAGOSSIP GIRLS: Shreya Mehta,Vrushika Mehta, Meghna Kaur,Apoorva Arora, Niharika Singh andRadhika Bangia aka The Gossip Girlsbring the latest from the entertainmentworld, all under five minutes. Rightfrom ‘Who’s Dating Who?’ To ‘WhatMakes Actors Tick?!’

WHAT A PLAYER: Looking for morefrom the world of sports? Look no fur-ther, as dancer and actress SamenthaFernandes presents ‘What A Player’ fullof news and unheard trivia. Find whySachin Tendulkar was superstitiousabout his pads, and who Saina Nehwalis set to marry and much more.

STYLE WAGON: Rule the runway asactress Barkha Singh and AyeshaAdlakha spell out what’s in fashion anda lot more. Stay updated with the fash-ion trends with this show.

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The event of physical birth brings an individual into con-tact with a particular culture, community, race, religion and

nation from the very beginning of his life. As he grows in thatenvironment, his personality is moulded by various groups,influences and, in turn, he also influences these groups.Everyone indeed, has to participate in the life of these vari-ous groups because no one can live unto himself alone, cut offfrom all others. And, it is no doubt true that by relating one-self meaningfully with others one is able to enrich their life atleast upto a stage. But one thing that results from participa-tion in group life is that, gradually, man develops cultural, intel-lectual and emotional ties with, and loyalties towards, thesegroups, as a result of which one difficulty that crops up fromthese ties is that man begins to conceive humanity in this lim-ited sense and considers those who are in his group as his ownand others, who are not of this group, as aliens. He shares thesense of oneness with only a small section of people belong-ing to a community and does not have the feeling of belong-ing to the world community.

In such a state of mind, hedoes not admit to his

obligations beyond thefrontiers of rights andduties to the group.This, sooner or later,poses a problem, forman’s narrow loyal-ties create prejudiceswhich take the formof misunderstandingor ego-centric behav-iour towards othersinitially and then bick-erings and finally conflict.This then becomes thegreatest danger to peace andstability. The fact that a person or acommunity is civilised is no guarantee for stability and progressif the people are not prepared to make even a little sacrificefor the common good of all, in which their own well-being isalso ensured. So, the mantra for peace, progress and prosper-ity of all is to tune our mind to the wisdom, summed up inthe famous Sanskrit saying: Sarvay bhavantu suhkina, sarvaysantu niramaya... which means ‘Let all be happy and prosper-ous, and let all be healthy’.

Unless and until this forms the basis of our politics, econom-ics and business or industrial management, conflict, con-

frontation, tension and turmoil will always remain. But thequestion is how can we cultivate this attitude? For this, the sec-ond mantra is Vasudhaiv kutumbakam.. which means that thewhole world is our family. Without this ancient spiritual wis-dom, neither can we have peace nor can we make constantprogress.

Now this happy condition, in which man has a feeling ofbelonging to the world-family rather than a small group can

be brought about if people are soul-conscious rather than body-conscious. As a soul, one is a member of the great human fam-ily and one feels concerned for others who are not even phys-ically related to him in any way. It is through spirituality thatone can continue to belong to a particular ethnic or racial groupand yet, at the same time, go beyond all this because one willhave global, rather than provincial or narrow perspective. Itis spiritualism alone that reduces ethnocentricism and increas-es knowledge and appreciation of others and mutual respectbetween all human beings. It is this which can create stabili-ty and peace. The most urgent need at present, therefore, isfor such spiritual education that creates in man the awarenessof belonging to world-family under the Fatherhood of God.

A96-year-old khap panchayat leader admitsthat it’s time for the winds of change toblow in and that girls need to be nurtured

rather than destroyed though he knows he can-not overturn a system that had taken hold for cen-turies with just one diktat. “Let’s do small thingsto push the big change,” he says. Meanwhile, a vil-lage bard sings against female foeticide at a busysquare, encouraged by menfolk out to do theirchores. And then there’s a simple father, who was-n’t allowed to celebrate the birth of his daugh-ter, and has now turned gender campaigner. Fromthe darkest corners of Haryana, filmmakerVibha Bakshi found ordinary men taking on theextraordinary fight to change the narrative onmasculinity. She found her heroes after riddingherself of stigma, her urban myths and by livingin that community and building trust. And onceshe discovered the hidden truth, she partneredwith the United Nations to distribute the film topriority countries as part of encouraging the “Hefor She” movement.

“Unless men are part of the struggle, we willnot win our fight for equality. It’s not about himvs her or us vs them. We’re in this together. Thisisn’t a woman’s issue, it’s humanity’s issue, so we’vegot to be in this together. When we bring upexclusionist words like feminists, suddenly we findthe men are going even further and that’s so notthe point,” the Boston-based researcher and film-maker told us. It was another reason why she didnot want a celebrity attached to the projectbecause the moment you add one, the film stopsbeing the star. “The issue is the star here,” she said.

The making of the film is a story in itself asBakshi, while scouting for locales, found an adthat read, “Go for foeticide and save millions later.”Essentially that meant, kill the girl before she endsup splitting the property that only boys can layclaim to. “The boy-girl ratio in Haryana is theworst or lowest in the country today. So muchso that they are getting girls from tribal villages,from remote pockets like Bihar and Assam, tobear children. These hired brides have no legalrights because they are technically not married,there’s no paperwork. Can you believeit? She goes from the devil to thedeep blue sea. Such brides areeven exchanged with other menonce their reproductive role hasbeen fulfilled. Besides, the skewedsex ratio has forced a sense of denialand frustration among men. That iswhy Haryana also has one of thehighest rates of gangrapes in thecountry. It is a cycle. They started thekilling and now they themselves are introuble. They have no option but to healthemselves and society. I have attemptedto catch this surging story.”

Bakshi has consistently made films on stop-ping violence against women and has been laud-ed for both her features, Daughters of Mother Indiaand now Son Rise. Dealing with the sensitive issueof the Nirbhaya rape in her first, she realised thatit would be impossible to make that film if shewas not sensitive with the Delhi Police. “It wouldhave been easy for me to sensationalise and playthe blame game. I had the issue of rape, I had cops

and that was a deadly mix. But I made a respon-sible film and rather than stereotyping the cops

as apathetic, I tried to see the case from theirpoint of view and how they, too, were hedgedin while handling the case. It was the samewith Haryana. With all the notorious sta-tistics and skewed birth ratios, I could haveagain taken the sensational route but wedecided we would leave people with hopewhen we made Son Rise.”

She hopes that every man whowatches this film comes out clappinghis hands. “I really hope he claps andsays, you know what? If they can doit, I can do it. I’m going to stand up

and change the narrative. It’s in theform of documentary. No retakes, everything

was found on the ground. I opened the film withhonouring the people of Haryana, who were braveenough to break the conspiracy of silence.Everyone in Haryana helped me tell the story. UNis a tough jury to clear. So the fact that they havecleared it gives us more strength and they see apossibility of this film setting off a movement,”she said. Interestingly, the men, who are part ofthe film come from different occupations andcastes. “We went into remote villages out of theGoogle map footprint. Yet what was admirable

was that men, who had grown up in the under-belly of patriarchy only seeing biases, were ableto rise above themselves,” she said.

She chanced upon her subjects at the mostunexpected of places. Once while crossing agaushala, she could hear singing and clapping.“We followed the music and found this bard atopa bullock cart articulating the thoughts of the nowdead female foetus. Full throated, he sang, ‘Ohthe killers of daughters, I’m going to come oneday and tell the truth.’ So he’s the voice from thewomb which will assume physical birth one day.You would not believe it but there was a crowdof a 1,000 people around him, 80 per cent ofwhom were men. The bard told me that he wasquite popular and, therefore, had decided to usehis skill to spread social messages because hecould entertain and educate. I’m just giving youa single example. This man has been going fromvillage to village with his campaign. Initially, hewas doing it himself, today he’s got crowd-fund-ing going on,” she said.

Another person she met was a women’swrestling coach. He began with an academy forboys but slowly had the girls coming in. “He isnot like Mahaveer Phogat who trained girls fromhis family. He took aspirants from the neighbour-hood. He told us, ‘I have allowed girls because

truth be told, they’ve done better than the boysat competitions and so we’ve got to change.’ Stillhe was criticised by villagers, who said he haddefiled a man’s sport. The man runs a full-fledgedcommunity akhara, where you see fathers drop-ping their daughters, waiting patiently while theypractise, feeding them almonds and doing what-ever it takes for the girls to succeed. Then wecame upon a village chief who on the birth of hisdaughter gave money to the nurses. But the nurs-es said they could not accept it since it was notthe custom to celebrate a girl’s birth. If it was aboy, they would have asked for double. He toldus how on a joyous occasion, society remindedhim of his place as the father of a daughter. Hevowed to change the mindset and is now one ofthe biggest crusaders to stop gender-basedkillings,” she said.

These men risked social ostracisation andeven banishment to take up this tough fight. “It’stime now for the men to step up. Otherwise it’snever going to happen. But for that we have totry and understand their contexts too. When wewent to shoot we didn’t start filming immediate-ly. Once the relationship was established, theycompletely understood the intent and emotion.And felt they had the authorship of their story,”added the filmmaker.

For Bakshi, this was her toughest story to tellsince she was the only woman in the group. “Wewere advised to travel in one big van, just froma security point of view. But every time westopped at a motel, my character assassinationwas done on the spot. Like if something happensto her, it’s worth it. She deserves it because sheis travelling with eight men,” she said. She tooklong to break the ice, at first not making directeye contact with the men sarpanches. Threemonths later, the actual conversation started.“Then they were leading and taking me every-where,” she said.

Bakshi is still in touch with these maverickmen and hopes that with the UN partnership,their voices will get amplified. “Bas ab bohothogaya! We have seen change in Haryana of allplaces. That has made me hopeful. I have keptthe producing rights, so that the film can bescreened for the social good and not be hijackedby somebody else’s agenda. It must reach as manypeople. We are very confident that one millionpledges will be collected next year to change theway for the girl child. These men have pledgedto change the narrative in whatever way they can.For their mothers, wives, daughters or sisters orfriends,” she said.

Asked if she saw a mindset change happen-ing, Bakshi said, “I had access to the biggest andthe most influential khap leader. He told me howthe oldest member among them, a 96-year-oldpatriarch, had said that change must happen tostop foeticide and shaming offenders was the onlyway things could work. I realised that if you wantto do the right thing, it doesn’t matter what gen-eration you belong to. That leader could barelystand. But he said ‘the time is now.’ What is mostsignificant is that this change is organic and hashappened without any exposure to the outsideworld. The men have have changed because oftheir latent humanity.” .

Bakshi found that the khaps also had to takecare of their own dynamics. “There are khapswhich are regressive but this leader wanted achange. What happens is that these insular out-fits also have to work with society and if theyradically change overnight, they will be reject-ed completely. So they need to plot their movescarefully. The change has to be gradual. I hadconfessed to them how alien I thought them tobe. When we both gave an inch, we got close andby the end there was laughter,” said the filmmak-er, who has used Bollywood technicians to tellher unconventional story.

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Ever wondered what those dif-ferently shaded small plants

that wash up on the beach, whileyou’re strolling around and enjoy-ing the sea breeze, are?

Technically speaking, sea-weeds are marine microalgae. Theyare autotrophs (making their ownfood, just like plants), so all they needis sunlight and salty/brackish waterin order to thrive. In oceans, micro-scopic seaweed live suspended bybecoming base of the marine foodchains. The giant ones grow inabundant forests and look like red-woods, while their roots touch thebottom of the sea. The medium sizedseaweeds bloom on the beachesand shorelines.

Seaweeds have been knownsince ages for various uses. Owing tothe high quality and quantity of com-mercially important metabolitesproduced by them they have beenwidely used for various food andindustrial purposes. With further

exploration in the field of science, theuse of seaweeds have been expand-ed in various sectors, growing pro-fusely in the field of skincare.

Seaweeds tend to thrive very wellin very salty to very cold waters.They easily cope up with harsh UVrays and other climactic stress fac-tors. It is because of the very effica-cious metabolites secreted by them,which protect them from the high-

ly damaging stress factors. The samemetabolites have proven to showphenomenal results on skin. A fewof the most efficacious and signifi-cant ones are golden, brown andsugar seaweed.

Sugar Seaweed is used toenhance products’ ability to be a pro-tective layer against UV rays whilethe golden one enhances the skinbarrier functioning, making skinmore tough and resilient againstexternal stress factors, which can trig-ger skin ageing. Sugar seaweedactively increases Keratinocyte dif-ferentiation (which is the outer pro-tein found in the epidermis of skin,which forms a strong protectivebarrier for skin). It intensivelyincreases skin hydration and skinelasticity, thereby reducing wrinkle

depth. To some extent it can also helpin reactivation of old cells.

The actives of golden seaweedextracts are often used as global anti-ageing and skin defence ingredients.They are procured from shallowdepths of the ocean, wherein there ismagnified UV exposure and high lev-els of salt; and it thrives there, stayingperfect and resilient. For the same rea-son, it has been harvested to extractthe potent active and use in luxuriousskin care products. This active protectsthe skin’s DNA after exposure to harshUV rays and reduces skin inflamma-tion mediators. These properties arepivotal for formulating a crème thatis quintessential for a global anti-age-ing/skin regenerating products.

(The author works for a personalcare brand.)

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Union Sports MinisterRajyavardhan Singh Rathore on

Sunday launched the jersey for the sec-ond edition of Khelo India, rechris-tened as Khelo India Youth Games,which will kick start from January 9-20 in Pune.

Building on the success of theinaugural edition, the Minister along-side Khelo India stars Manu Bhaker,Jeremy Lalrinnunga, SaurabhChaudhary, Lakshya Sen, Esha Singh,Tababi Devi, and Srihari Natraj start-ed the countdown to Khelo IndiaYouth Games with an evocative"#5MinuteAur" campaign.

Scheduled to take place at ShreeShiv Chhatrapati Sports Complex inPune, the Games will see over 10,000participants from 29 states and sevenUnion Territories taking part in thetwo age categories -- under 17 andunder 21.

In its inaugural edition, KheloIndia had a strong message "KhelogeKudoge Banoge lajawaab" encouragingmore kids to play every day, it was aneffort towards changing an age-oldbelief.

Building on the core of this mes-sage through the #5MinuteAur cam-paign, the Ministry wants India toencourage kids to play for those extrafive minutes.

"The success of Khelo India School

Games is a testimony to the hungerand multitude of sporting talent inIndia. Buoyed by the terrific responsefor Khelo India School Games andwith an aim to increase participationin sports across all age groups, we havenot just added two sports this year butthe games will also be played undertwo age categories U-17 and U-21 toallow even more enthusiasts to par-ticipate and flourish," Rathore said.

"The '5 minute aur' campaign forthe Khelo India Youth Games is areflection of the immense strideswe've made and the journey that liesin front of us to make India a trulysporting nation. We hope it will inspireIndia to work towards incorporatingsports as a way of life," Rathore added.

Star India has expanded the broad-cast coverage for the second edition.The coverage of the upcoming seasonwill include live telecast in five lan-guages (Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Kannadaand English) and telecast of all 18 dis-ciplines of both age groups.

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Lionel Messi stole the show with twofree-kick goals in a blistering display as

Barcelona maintained their lead at the topof La Liga with a thumping 4-0 derby winover Catalan rivals Espanyol.

The Argentine superstar curled hometwo sensational set-pieces and set upanother goal as he and his teammatesromped to victory at the RCDE Stadiumand made sure Barca kept chasing AtleticoMadrid and Sevilla at bay.

Atleti and Sevilla had moved level on28 points with Barca on Saturday afterDiego Simeone's side defeated Alaves 3-0and the Andalusians drew 1-1 at Valencia.

However Messi made sure that ErnestoValverde's team kept their place at the topof the pile with a mesmerising displayalongside front-three partners Luis Suarezand Ousmane Dembele that left Espanyoldead and buried by half-time.

"He is extraordinary," said Valverde."The free-kicks, the chances on goal thathe creates, what he brings us and what hetake from the opponent...

"It is still very early, La Liga is verytight, but the idea is to be solid away from

home, knowing that winning isvery difficult against every team."

��+�#�1������Messi began the rout in the

17th minute with a perfectlyplaced free-kick that arched past a des-perate Diego Lopez, and followed that up

by keeping possession under intensepressure before providing the passfor Dembele from which the Frenchattacker curled in a fine second.

It was then Dembele's turn tobecome provider a minute before the

break, slipping in a super through ball thatSuarez somehow took on and squeezed

home from near the byline.Messi capped a dominant team and

individual display with his second free-kickof the night, which this time whipped pastLopez which such venom the Spanishgoalkeeper could barely move towards it.

Mouctar Diakhaby's header in secondhalf stoppage time for Valencia meantSevilla missed the opportunity to stay justa point behind Barca.

Pablo Sarabia had put the visitors intothe lead nine minutes into the second halfand Sevilla had chances to seal the pointsat the Mestalla with Ever Banega andAndre Silva hitting the post.

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Chelsea inflicted championsManchester City's first PremierLeague defeat of the season as

goals from N'Golo Kante and David Luizhanded the hosts a 2-0 win at StamfordBridge and sent Liverpool top of thetable.

Kante's goal just before half-timecame against the run of play as the vis-itors dominated the first 45 minutes, butwithout the injured Sergio Aguero,City lacked a cutting edge up front andLuiz's header 12 minutes from timesealed a huge win for Chelsea.

Liverpool are now a point clear ofCity after Mohamed Salah scored a hat-trick in a 4-0 victory at Bournemouthearlier on Saturday.

Chelsea boss Maurizio Sarrihad lost all of his previous threemeetings against City boss PepGuardiola and was growinglyincreasingly frustrated at hisside's inability to hold possessionas the visitors dominated the firsthalf.

Raheem Sterling should have scoredwhen his weak left-footed finish wasplaced too close to Kepa Arrizabalagabefore the world's most expensive goal-keeper also denied Leroy Sane from anarrow angle.

Yet, for all City's possession, the vis-itors were stung by a sucker punch justbefore half-time as Sarri's decision tofield Eden Hazard as the focal point ofthe Chelsea attack and maintain Kantein an advanced midfield role paid off.

Sarri has resisted calls to returnKante to the deep-lying midfield rolewhere he shone in winning the WorldCup with France and Premier Leaguetitles for Leicester and Chelsea at theexpense of Jorginho.

Hazard was finally fed the ball to feetinside the City box and his pass pickedout Kante, who side-footed the ball highpast Ederson.

The Brazilian goalkeeper had beena spectator before picking the ball out

his net, but was called into action againto keep his side in the game just after thebreak when he palmed away Willian'sfree-kick.

Willian wasted another good chanceon the counter-attack as having beenbehind only once before in the PremierLeague this season, City were rattled andrarely threatened to get back in the gamein the second period.

Guardiola's men may alsohave to cope without David Silvafor some of the festive season afterthe Spaniard hobbled off holdinghis hamstring.

Defending set-pieces hasoften been a rare Achilles heel forCity and it was exposed when Luiz

made the game safe by rising highest toHazard's corner and looping a headerin off the underside of the bar.

��������#������%Mauricio Pochettino Tottenham

thrust themselves back into the PremierLeague title race with a 2-0 victory atLeicester City ahead of a ChampionsLeague trip to Barcelona in midweek.

The Tottenham manager saw hisside brush the Foxes aside despiteHarry Kane and Christian Eriksen,two of his most potent players, playingonly cameo roles off the bench.

Victory in the East Midlands movedTottenham back into third, just sixpoints off the top of the Premier League.

In the absence of Kane and Eriksen,Son Heung-min came to the fore byopening the scoring with a left-footedrocket from the edge of the penalty areabefore crossing for Dele Alli to headhome Spurs' second.

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Germany beat Malaysia 5-3 to main-tain their all-win record and seal adirect quarterfinal spot, while

Pakistan suffered a 1-5 defeat against theNetherlands but still sneaked into theknock-out stages at the men's hockeyWorld Cup here on Sunday.

Germany finished on top of Pool Dwith nine points from three games, aheadof second placed the Netherlands (6points) and third-placed Pakistan (1point).

While the Germans were through tothe quarterfinals, the Netherlands andPakistan managed to qualify for the cross-overs round.

As per the format of the tournament,the top team from each of the four poolswill directly qualify for the quarterfinalswhile the second and third placed sides willplay cross-over matches against teams ofother pools for the remaining four lasteight berths.

Even though Malaysia (1 point) fin-ished on same points as Pakistan, the AsianGames Silver medallist crashed out of thetournament because of their inferior goaldifference.

The Germans joined two-time cham-pions Australia, Olympic championsArgentina and hosts India in the quarter-finals. The other four places of the last eightround will be decided from the cross-overmatches.

England play New Zealand whileFrance will be up against China in thecross-over matches on Monday, whileBelgium face Pakistan and the Netherlandswill take on Canada in the other cross-overgames on Tuesday.

In the match between the Netherlandsand Pakistan, the Dutch were by far thebetter side as they made repeated foraysinto their rival citadel.

The Netherlands scored through

Thierry Brinkman (7th minute), ValentinVerga (27th), Bob de Voogd (37th), JorritCroon (47th) and Mink van der Weerden(59th) en route to their comfortable win.

Pakistan's lone goal came from thestick of Umar Bhutta in the ninth minute.

Pakistan played catch-up hockey andlooked a disjointed unit, having no ideawhat to do with the ball when it's in theirpossession. They mostly relied on counter-attacks to surprise their higher rankedopponents but the vast gap of qualitybetween the two sides was quiet evidenton the turf.

World number 4 Netherlands startedon a bright note and secured their firstpenalty corner in the fourth minute but it

was wasted.Three minutes later, Brinkman gave

the Netherlands the lead with a field strike.But Pakistan bounced back strongly

and earned three back-to-back penalty cor-ners, from the last of which Bhutta scoredoff a rebound after Ali Mubashar's flick wassaved by Dutch goalie Pirmin Blaak.

In the second quarter, both theNetherlands and Pakistan traded a penal-ty corner each but failed to extract any-thing from the opportunities.

Three minutes from half-time, theDutch restored their lead through Vergawho scored a fine field goal after a brilliantone-two touch play with Seve van Ass.

The Netherlands started from where

they left after the change of ends andextended their lead in the 37th minute witha diving effort at the far post from deVoogd, who tapped in a pass from JeroenHertzberger.

The Dutch continued their onslaughtand secured a couple of penalty corners inquick time and from one such chance JorritCroon scored to make the scoreline 4-1 inthe European side's favour.

Van der Weerden then converted apenalty corner a minute from the finalhooter to round off the scoreline and endPakistan's agony.

Earlier in the day, Tim Herzbruch(2nd, 59th minute) and Christopher Ruhr(14th, 18th minutes) scored two goals each

while Marco Miltkau (39th) scored theother one for the world number 6Germans.

Malaysia's all three goals came frompenalty corner conversions by RazieRahim (26th, 42nd) and Nabil Noor(28th).

Both Germany and Malaysia hadtheir chances but it was the Germans whowere more precise with their finishingskills.

The Germans started brightly andraced to a 3-0 lead inside 18 minutesthrough goals from Herzbruch and Ruhr.

The Malaysians tried to make a valiantfightback and managed to reduce the mar-gin to 2-3 in the 28th minute through goals

from Rahim and Noor.But, the clinical Germans capitalised

on Malaysia's defensive errors whenMiltkau deflected in a Niklas Wellen's per-fect lay-off in the 39th minute.

The Malaysians did not give up andnarrowed down the scoreline to 3-4 whenRahim converted another penalty corner.

The Germans had the last laugh whenMiltkau scored from a counter-attackjust a minute from the final hooter to dashany hopes of a Malaysian comeback.

Both the teams had numerous scoringopportunities in the form of penalty cor-ners. While Malaysia earned as many aseight penalty corners, the Germanssecured seven in the match.

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Jaipur Pink Panthers came upwith an accomplished perfor-

mance to beat Tamil Thalaivas37-24 in the Inter ZoneChallenge Week of Vivo ProKabaddi Season 6 in Vizag.

Deepak Hooda (9 points)was the architect of their victo-ry and was ably supported byAnand Patil (5 points) andAjinkya Pawar (4 points). SunilSiddhgavali got a high five indefence for Jaipur Pink Panthers.

Tamil Thalaivas started offbrightly but faded away as theirtwo key men Ajay Thakur andManjeet Chhillar had a disap-pointing game. The victorykeeps Jaipur Pink Panthers in thehunt for a place in the playoffs.

A couple of successful raidsby both teams in the first two

minutes made the score 2-2. Itwas an evenly contested affairfor the first 11 minutes of thematch as the defence of Jaipurstood strong against the raidersof Thalaivas with the score levelat 7-7.

Jaipur Pink Panthersturned on the pressure withAnand Patil making a two-point raid in the 14th minute.Deepak Hooda's successful raidin the 16th minute led toThalaivas suffering an all out asthey trailed 9-16. Sukesh Hegdescored a raid point in the 20thminute as Tamil Thalaivas wentinto the break trailing 10-17.

Tamil Thalaivas werestruggling to keep up withPink Panthers as their two keyplayers — Ajay Thakur andManjeet Chhillar — couldn'tget going. Chhillar couldn't

score a single tackle point inalmost 30 minutes whereasThakur had just two pointsagainst his name.

For the Jaipur PinkPanthers, it was Deepak Hoodawho continued his rich vein ofform. He came into the matchas Jaipur's leading raider andwas once again a force to reck-on with.

Jaipur Pink Panthers helda seven-point advantage asthey led 23-16 after 30 minutesof play. Things took a turn forthe worse for Thalaivas as theysuffered an all out in the 34thminute to trail 18-30.

In the last five minutes ofthe match Jaipur Pink Pantherscontinued to assert theirsupremacy over TamilThalaivas and ran out com-fortable winners in the end.

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Indian bowlers once again exposed thechinks in jittery Australian batting line-upleaving the hosts tottering at 104 for 4 in

pursuit of a tough target of 323 on the fourthday of the first Test on Sunday.

With 219 runs required on a fifth daytrack, it will be an onerous job for theAustralian batsmen, who have been strugglingagainst a consistent Indian attack with theirultra defensive approach.

Ravichandran Ashwin (2/44 in 19 overs)and Mohammed Shami (2/15 in 9 overs) wereimpressive during the final session as Australialost three wickets in Marcus Harris (26),Usman Khawaja (8) and Peter Handscomb(14).

At end of play, Shaun Marsh was unbeat-en on 31 runs (92 balls) while Travis Head wasbatting on 11 not out (37 balls).

After tea, Australia had an early reprievein the 13th over when Cheteshwar Pujarafailed to latch onto a tough chance at first slipfrom opener Marcus Harris (26), then on 14not out, off Mohammed Shami (2/15).

The pacer put up an improved perfor-mance as he managed to etch out Harris' wick-et in the 17th over, caught behind.

The big blow to Australia's dim hopes ofwinning this Test came when the doggedUsman Khawaja (8) was caught in the deepoff Ashwin as he tried to clear mid-off.

The mistimed skier was caught by RohitSharma, who judged well and dived in-frontto take the catch.

Peter Handscomb (14) and Marsh thenadded 24 runs for fourth wicket in 13.2 overs.The former had a 'life' when KL Rahul didn'tlatch onto a tough chance at short leg offAshwin in the 34th over.

Three overs later the breakthrough didcome when Handscomb hit Shami straight tomidwicket and Pujara completed an easycatch.

This was after India lost five wickets for25 runs in the post lunch session to set a 323-run target. The visitors were bowled out for307 (106.5 overs) in their second inningsthanks largely to some atrocious shot selec-tion from the lower-middle order.

At tea, Australia reached 28-1 (12 overs).Aaron Finch (11), survived a loud lbw appealon zero off Ishant Sharma (0-14) on only thesecond ball of this innings. He went for DRSreview and the decision was turned becauseit was a no ball.

Ashwin though nabbed him before tea, asthe ball seemed to have brushed his glovesbefore looping up for keeper Rishabh Pant toclaim an easy catch. Replays showed that Finchhad made a mistake not going for the DRSreview as there was nothing on snickometeror hotspot.

Earlier, India only added 47 runs for theirlast five wickets after resumption of play post

lunch.Rishabh Pant (28) continued attacking

Nathan Lyon (6-122) but didn't last long as awild swing found the fielder at deep cover.

It started the Indian slide. Ashwin (5) andAjinkya Rahane (70) played uncharacteristicstrokes, indicating that a declaration was forth-coming. But India never got to that point.

Ashwin was caught pulling in the deep offMitchell Starc (3-40) while Rahane was outcaught reverse sweeping. Mohammed Shami(0) was out caught first ball, wildly swingingat Lyon.

Ishant Sharma (0) was last out as Indiawere bowled out in just 11.5 overs after lunch.Their last seven wickets cost only 73 runs.

Starting from overnight 151 for 3, Indiamade good progress through the first sessionas Pujara and Rahane ground down theAustralian attack with an 87-run partnershipfor the fourth wicket.

Pujara started on a positive note with suc-cessive fours early in the day's play. India'smain threat came from Nathan Lyon, who wasusing the rough on the pitch to trouble the

batsmen.Rahane survived an appeal for a catch in

the 74th over via DRS when replays showedthat the bat was nowhere near the ball.

India's 200 had came up in the 77th overwhile their 50-partnership came off 103 balls.Pujara reached his 20th Test half-century off140 balls.

Australia got a breakthrough with Pujaraout caught at short leg, off Lyon in the 88thover as the ball looped up.

He walked off to a standing ovation fromthe Sunday crowd, having faced 450 balls inthis match, the second-most for an Indianbatsman in a Test on Australian soil afterSachin Tendulkar (525 at Sydney, 2004).

Rohit Sharma (1) came to the crease there-after, but left quickly, caught at silly pointsmartly by Peter Handscomb as Lyon pickedup his third wicket.

Young Pant though decided to attack andtook India past 250 before lunch. At the otherend, Rahane had opened up to play pullstrokes off the pacers against the new ball andreached his 16th Test half-century off 111 balls.

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The just-retired Gautam Gambhir on Sundaycategorically rejected rumours around him

joining politics but the former India openerindicated he is open to coaching at the big stage.

The 37-year-old World Cup winnerwalked into the sunset by scoring a mem-orable hundred in his farewell RanjiTrophy match against Andhra at theFeroz Shah Kotla.

"Not at all," Gambhir said when askedif he was contesting in the next generalelections.

"There are rumours which Ihave heard as well, probably thereason is maybe I take up socialissues as well... For me Twitterwas always a platform which isvery, very important and whereI take up social issues.

"I am not that kind of acharacter where I am going tostart joking on a platform liketwitter as well. For me being acitizen of this country it is myright to take up social issues andthat probably is the reason whypeople thing I am going to joinpolitics but there is nothing ofthat sort."

He was also asked if he iskeen on taking up coaching

assignments in competitive cricket, and hesounded positive.

"One thing which excites me is action andI am sure action is not about sitting in thoseAC rooms doing commentary and stuff. I don'tknow if I am going to be as good a coach as I

have been a player," Gambhir said."I will have to evaluate whether I can be

successful as a coach. Let's see, if that comesaround and if I feel that I have the energy,passion and if I have the commitment to

do it, I will think about it."Gambhir said he is willing to helpyoung players in Delhi cricket.

"I am still a government nom-inee, hopefully I can now try andcontribute more now (since he isno longer a player). There won'tbe any conflict of interestinvolved, which is very impor-tant and there won't be any crit-icism as well because when Itook this up there were a lot ofcriticism.

"The boys need a lot ofgood things in DDCA andhopefully I am able to put thatword across the executive com-mittee and get those things

done from cricket point ofview. Apart from that, my job

is to get the best out of theboys."

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Debutant off-spinner ShivankVashisht picked up a five-wicket

haul as Delhi ended with three pointsafter a draw with Andhra on Sunday,a game that marked the end of GautamGambhir's illustrious career.

Delhi, resuming the day at 409 forseven, went on to score 433 in responseto Andhra's 390 all out for the all-important first innings lead.

Gambhir made a mark in hisfarewell game with a solid 112.However, he did not come out to baton the final day after Delhi dismissedAndhra for 130 all out in 59overs.

Set an 88-run target,Delhi managed 41 for twoin five overs with AnujRawat dismissed on whatturned out to be the finalball of the day.

Vashisht did the maximumdamage for Delhi and ended with fig-ures of 5 for 49 in 20 overs. Left-armspinner Vikash Mishra took threewickets to take his match tally to five.

With a third draw in four match-es, Delhi are yet to taste victory thisseason and face a huge task of mak-ing the knock-outs. They are placedsecond last in Group B, only ahead ofAndhra.

�������������� ��,���������0�Hosts Maharashtra took threepoints on the basis of their first inningslead after their Elite Group A game

against Mumbai ended in a draw.Maharashtra, who had taken

a first innings lead of 79, werebundled out for 254 in theirsecond essay with skipperRahul Tripathi top scoring

with 76.For Mumbai , Shivam Dubey

(3-25) and Shivam Malhotra (3-41)took three wickets each.

Mumbai, who are yet to register asingle win, were set an improbable 334-run target and ended up at 135 for 5when the match was declared drawn.

Experienced Aditya Tare remainedunbeaten on 52 in company of ShivamDubey (8 not out).

Meanwhile at Valsad, the Gujaratversus Railways game ended in a tame

draw with the visitors grabbing 3points on the basis of the first inningslead.

�����+������������-���#������0�Tamil Nadu registered theirfirst win of the season, beating Keralaby 151 runs in Elite Group 'B' matchat M A Chidambaram stadium.

The victory and six points renewedTamil Nadu's hopes after the team hadlogged only five points from fourmatches prior to the Kerala game.

Needing 369 to win their thirdmatch, Kerala were bowled out for 217despite half-centuries from SanjuSamson (91) and Sijomon Joseph(55). The two added 93 runs for thethird wicket to defy the Tamil Nadubowlers, who were on the lookout forbreakthroughs.

The partnership between Samsonand Sijomon Joseph, who showed greatresolve, raised Kerala's hopes of pullingoff a draw.

Left-arm medium-pacer TNatarajan, who was the star for thehome side in the second inningspicking up five wickets, broke throughby getting Joseph leg-before.

None of the other batsmen showedany resistance as Natarajan triggeredthe collapse and sealed an importantand much-needed win for TamilNadu.

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India T20 captain Harmanpreet Kaur and herdeputy Smriti Mandhana hit blistering half-

centuries, helping their respective sides toemphatic victories in the Women's Big BashLeague here on Sunday.

Harmanpreet struck a breezy 26-ball 56 tohelp Sydney Thunder Women pile on 192 for 4from 20 overs against Brisbane Heat Women afterelecting to bat first.

Sydney Thunders then bowled BrisbaneHeat out for 164 in 18.5 overs to register a 28-run win at the North Sydney Oval ground.

Harmanpreet, who was recently involved ina controversy surrounding the dropping of vet-eran India team-mate Mithali Raj in the semi-final of the World T20, hit six fours and threesixes in her hurricane innings. She was the top-scorer of her side.

Batting at number three, Harmanpreet hadtwo crucial partnerships, first of 41 runs for thethird wicket with Naomi Stalenberg (10) and thesecond of 53 runs for the fourth wicket with cap-

tain Alex Blackwell (33 not out).Madhana also top-scored for her side

Hobart Hurricanes Women with a 41-ball 69 tohelp her side post 196 for 6 after batting firstagainst Melbourne Stars Women at West ParkOval, Burnie.

Her innings was not as quick as that ofHarmanpreet but she hit 13 fours and dealt most-ly in boundaries.

Hobart Hurricanes later bowled MelbourneStars for 124 in 16.5 overs to record a 72-run vic-tory.

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Mushfiqur Rahim top scored with anunbeaten 55 as Bangladesh defeat-

ed West Indies by five wickets in the firstone-day international in Dhaka onSunday.

Set a modest target after three wick-ets each from Mashrafe Mortaza andMustafizur Rahman helped Bangladeshrestrict West Indies to 195-9, the hostssailed to 196-5 in 35.1 overs for a com-prehensive win to kick off the three-match series.

Mushfiqur shared 57 runs withShakib Al Hasan for the fourth wicket tosteady Bangladesh's innings after WestIndies had reduced the home side to 89-3 on a slow pitch at the Sher-e-BanglaNational Stadium.

Earlier, opener Liton Das scored 41off 57 balls with five fours for the homeside, but not before he was reprieved onfive off a no-ball by Kemar Roach.

West Indies owed their total to 43 off

59 balls by opener Shai Hope and con-tributions from lower order batsmenRoston Chase and Keemo Paul, whomade 32 and 36 runs respectively.

The visitors, who opted to bat first,had been restricted to 127-6 after 40overs despite Hope's effort, but Chase

and Paul put on 51 runs for the seventhwicket to give their bowlers somethingto fight for.

Left-arm pacer Mustafizur finishedwith 3-35 after fellow fast bowlerMashrafe grabbed 3-30 playing his 200thODI — the first Bangladeshi to do so.

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Indian assistant coach SanjayBangar on Sunday high-

lighted the lower order collapseas one of the areas the team canimprove going ahead in theTest series against Australiaand said it is now about "cross-ing the line".

The visitors lost their lastseven wickets for 73 runs, andthe last five for 25 runs, as theywere bowled out for 307 runsin the second innings of theopening Test at the AdelaideOval.

Bangar said the expecta-tion was of another 25 runsfrom the lower order, whichcollapsed as soon as RishabhPant holed out after an attack-ing innings.

"We were expecting atleast25 runs. That's an area wherewe are continuously looking toimprove. And we hope thelower order, especially 9, 10and 11 show more applicationthan they did today," he said.

"When Rishabh Pantwalked in we were 260-odd.Immediately he released thepressure and gave us thosequick 30-35 runs. Once he had

put us in that position, weexpected that with time, witha better approach and calcu-lation, tactically he could havedone better.

"But you don't want to takethe fearlessness away fromhim otherwise. Hitting againstthe turn and getting thoseboundaries are high percent-age shots. Those are the shotsthat many courageous playershave played."

When asked if Pant needsto relook at certain aspects ofhis batting, Bangar replied, "Heis a pretty mature player. He iscapable of playing both games.He has another aspect to hisgame and for somebody whois just starting his career, it isan exciting prospect to have."

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Australia have drawn inspi-ration from a miraculous

draw against Pakistan twomonths ago and will be going fora win on day five of the first Testagainst India on Monday.

Lyon has said that the dayfive wicket at the Adelaide Ovalwill still be good enough to baton, and that the hosts can presson to chase the 323-run target set by India.

Australia had pulled off a miraculous draw on the finalday in Dubai and Lyon was confident that it could be repeat-ed on Monday.

"I think the pitch has quickened up a little bit and is doinga lot less for the seamers. It's definitely spinning and they'vegot a world-class spinner. So it's going to be a great challengefor our batters out there with two left-handers, with R Ashwinspinning away," Lyon, who took 6-122 in 2nd innings said.

Usman Khawaja had scored a match-saving 141 againstPakistan on day five of the Test played in October. SkipperTim Paine too made a significant contribution, an unbeaten61, to save the game for his team.

"We just spoke about Dubai. We still believe we can winthis, and that's the best thing. We still believe we're in thisgame, it's just about coming out tomorrow (on Monday), win-ning the first ball, first over, first hour, just breaking it down,very simple," he added.

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Captain Manish Pandey led fromthe front with an unbeaten

111, firing India A to a series-clinching victory over New ZealandA in the second unofficial ODI ofthe three match series here onSunday.

For the second game in a row,India won the toss and opted tofield. George Worker (99) and WillYoung (102) steered New ZealandA to a competitive 299 for eight.

India A, who had comfortablychased down 309 in the seriesopener, made short work of the300-run target this time, gettinghome with five wickets in hand andan over to spare.

Pandey remained unbeatenwith five fours and three sixeswhile the other contributions camefrom Shreyas Iyer (59) and VijayShankar (59), who both scoredtheir second straight half-century.

The final game of the series willbe played here on Tuesday.

India A openers Shubman Gill(25) and Mayank Agarwal (25) gotstarts but failed to convert for thesecond game in a row.

Iyer and Pandey then shared a90-run stand for the third wicket toset the tone for the chase. AfterIyer's fall, Pandey stitched a 123-runstand with Shankar to ensureanother convincing victory.

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