· Kashmir, not against Kashmir, not against the Kashmiris,” the PM added. He said the Kashmiri...

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P rime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday said India’s fight is against terrorism and not against the Kashmiris even as he vowed again to set- tle the score with Pakistan over the Pulwama attack. Have faith in the Army and in the Modi Government, he said here at a rally where he seemed to refer to the report- ed harassment of Kashmiris after the car bomb attack that killed 44 CRPF jawans. Modi accused Imran Khan of not living up to the asser- tions he made soon after becoming Pakistan’s Prime Minister, and also indirectly charged the Congress-led Government in 2008 of not acting against that country after the Mumbai terror attack. He referred to the mood of veer ras” (bravery and hero- ism) in the country after the Pulwama attack, particularly mentioning social media. “But our fight is against terrorism. Our fight is for Kashmir, not against Kashmir, not against the Kashmiris,” the PM added. He said the Kashmiri youths are also troubled by ter- rorism and are ready to fight against them. “We need to keep them with us.” He said the Kashmiri peo- ple take care of Amarnath pilgrims. “A year back, there was firing on Amarnath pil- grims and Kashmiri Muslims had lined up for donating blood and to protect lives,” he said. I n a major diplomatic victo- ry for India and a setback for Pakistan, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has invited External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj to attend the Foreign Ministers’ meet of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), set to take place in Abu Dhabi on 1-2 March - the first such invite in five decades. Swaraj will be the “Guest of Honour” at the inau- gural plenary session of the 46th meeting of OIC Foreign Ministers. The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said here on Saturday Foreign Minister of United Arab Emirates Sheikh Abdullah Bin Zayed al-Nahyan invited Swaraj as the ‘Guest of Honour’ to address the inau- gural plenary and that India was happy to accept the invitation. The move is seen as a major blow to Pakistan that has consistently opposed India’s entry into the grouping despite having the third-largest Muslim population in the world and strong relationship with West Asian and Muslim majority nations. Over the past few decades, New Delhi has had, at best, a prickly relationship with the OIC, largely because Pakistan frequently used the platform to target India on the Kashmir issue. Pakistan and its allies in the Arab world have also blocked attempts to give “Observer” status to India, which has the world’s third largest Muslim population. The OIC has usually been support- ive of Pakistan and, often sided with Islamabad on the Kashmir issue. The OIC is a 57-member grouping of Muslim majority nations. The invitation to India by the OIC comes at a time when India has been mounting diplo- matic offensive against Pakistan to isolate it internationally fol- lowing the Pulwama terror attack in which 44 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel were killed. Pakistan based Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) terrorist group claimed the responsibility of the Pulwama attack. The MEA termed the invi- tation a “welcome recogni- tion” of the presence of 185 million Muslims in India and of their contribution to its plu- ralistic ethos, and of India’s contribution to the Islamic world. Sources said it was for the first time, India has been invit- ed to OIC meeting as guest of honour. “We see this invitation as the desire of the enlightened leadership of the UAE to go beyond our rapidly growing close bilateral ties and forge a true multifaceted partnership at the multilateral and interna- tional level,” the MEA said in a release. “We see this invitation as a milestone in our comprehensive strategic partnership with the UAE. We also see this invitation as a welcome recognition of the presence of 185 million Muslims in India and of their contribu- tion to its pluralistic ethos, and of India’s contribution to the Islamic world,” it said. Meanwhile, the Congress has expressed surprise that the Modi Government was cele- brating the invitation to External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj for the OIC’s inaugural plenary, dubbing it a “misplaced euphoria” and a “futile exercise” to mislead the people of India. Senior party spokesperson Anand Sharma asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Swaraj to respect the past position of India of not attending meetings of the OIC till it is accepted as a full mem- ber, given its large Muslim population. “I am surprised at the government celebrating the invitation to External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj to address the OIC meeting in UAE. The euphoria is mis- placed and it is a futile exercise to mislead the public opinion in India,” he said. It was Qatar that first pro- posed “Observer” status for India at the OIC Foreign Ministers’ meet in 2002 in recognition of India’s signifi- cant Muslim population, but Pakistan had consistently blocked the move. Last year, Bangladesh proposed restruc- turing of the charter of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation to pave way for the inclusion of non-Muslim countries having significant Muslim population like India as an “Observer State” of the 50-year old grouping. A week after Pulwama sui- cide bombing and ahead of the Supreme Court hearing on the Constitutional validity of Article 35A likely to com- mence on Monday, the Union Home Ministry has decided to send 10,000 additional Central paramilitary forces to the Kashmir Valley at the dispos- al of the State administration. While the CRPF has been asked to urgently rush 45 com- panies, the BSF will deploy 35 companies and both the ITBP and the SSB will send 10 com- panies each to the Valley on an urgent basis. A company typi- cally has 100 personnel even as 65 battalions (65,000 person- nel) of the paramilitary forces are already deployed in Jammu & Kashmir. The BSF has been tasked for the internal security role after a gap of about 15 years as its deployment was limited to the International Border and as a second line of defence along the Line of Control where the Army is deployed along the frontiers. “We have to urgently deploy additional CAPFs (Central Armed Police Forces) in Jammu & Kashmir. It is requested to provide 100 coys (companies) (CRPF-45, BSF 35, SSB-10 & ITBP-10) to Government of J&K with immediate effect and till fur- ther orders. IG (Operations), CRPF is requested to ensure immediate movement of Forces in coordination with IG (Operations) of all Forces,” reads the Home Ministry Fax message sent on Friday to Chief Secretary of J&K, Home Secretary and Director General of Police of the State. New Delhi: Angry over the Pulwama attack in which 44 CRPF personnel were killed, traders of Azadpur mandi in Delhi and farmers of Jhabua and Mandasaur in Madhya Pradesh have stopped supply of tomatoes and other vegeta- bles to Pakistan. This has soared tomato prices there. Detailed copy on P5 Jammu: The J&K Government on Saturday launched massive crackdown on separatists and Jamaat-e-Islami activists. Nearly 150 people, mainly from the Jamaat-e-Islami, including its chief Abdul Hamid Fayaz, were detained. This was the first major crackdown on the Jamaat- e-Islami after the Pulwama terror attack. B JP General Secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya creat- ed a controversy on Saturday by referring to a Muslim MLA of the Congress in Madhya Pradesh as a beef-eater during a party event. The BJP leader, known for making controversial state- ments, was talking about party candidate Surendra Nath Singh's defeat from the Bhopal (Central) Assembly seat. Speaking at the gathering of BJP workers here, Vijayvargiya said, "Your (Singh's) loss caused me the greatest anguish. It is surprising that a nationalist Government which stopped cow slaughter was in power (in the State), but a beef-eater won against you. It is a matter of shame for all of us.” In the November 2018 elec- tions, Congress's Arif Masood defeated Singh by 14,757 votes. The Congress ended the BJP's 15- year rule in the State in the polls. Reacting to the comment, Masood said, “Vijayvargiya should produce evidence as to when I ate beef. I have never had a meal with the BJP general sec- retary. This remark only shows his frustration.” Masood claimed he had never eaten beef in his life, and he won from a seat where Hindus are in a majority. "I was elected by all sections of society while the BJP only focused on dividing people," he said. Meanwhile, State BJP spokesperson Rajnish Agrawal said he was not aware of Vijayvargiya's statement and hence could not offer any com- ment. C hief Minister Kamal Nath has said that police officers can help the deprived get jus- tice. A good police officer is also a justice giver. The Chief Minister said that the new Government is committed to keeping the morale of the police high and maximising facilities. He said that in democracy the concept of freedom, equal- ity can be practiced with limi- tation and the concept of justice can be practiced without limit. It is not necessary that justice is always delivered through courts. Justice can also be delivered by right thinking authorities. The Chief Minister was addressing a high level joint meeting of Inspector General, Deputy Inspectors General and Superintendents of Police at the police headquarters here today. The Chief Minister said that the safety of the poorest and deprived sections should be ensured through law and order. He said that the dignity of the institution of the police should stand protected and stainless along with other institutions as they draw their strength from the Constitution. The Chief Minister asked the police officers to be familiar with the new work culture of the new government. He said that the law and order is the govern- ment's top priority. He said that police officer is the face of law and order. People look forward to police officers for safety and security. There the expectations must be responded sensitively. The Chief Minister said that the poor sections yearn for jus- tice. The police force should work in the interest of the weak- er sections. The police must be aware that the people look for- ward to them for justice. He said that the police administration also represents Unity in Diversity as police offi- cers from different castes, com- munities and religions work together under the umbrage of law. Nath said that the crime scene is changing with the chang- ing of technologies being used in crime. Police officers must keep pace with it. He said that police will have to work as a team for the expected results. The Chief Minister said that the State Government has Zero Tolerance policy for preventing sale and use of narcotic items and check spread crimes involving them. Lapses in investigation of such crimes will not be tolerat- ed. Similarly, criminals involving in crimes against women and children will not be spared. Negligence in investigations of such crimes will be strictly dealt with. He instructed the police offi- cers to take strict action against the criminals RNI Regn. No. MPENG/2004/13703, Regd. No. L-2/BPLON/41/2006-2008 C M Y K C M Y K

Transcript of  · Kashmir, not against Kashmir, not against the Kashmiris,” the PM added. He said the Kashmiri...

Page 1:  · Kashmir, not against Kashmir, not against the Kashmiris,” the PM added. He said the Kashmiri youths are also troubled by ter-rorism and are ready to fight against them. “We

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Prime Minister NarendraModi on Saturday said

India’s fight is against terrorismand not against the Kashmiriseven as he vowed again to set-tle the score with Pakistanover the Pulwama attack.

Have faith in the Army andin the Modi Government, hesaid here at a rally where heseemed to refer to the report-ed harassment of Kashmirisafter the car bomb attack thatkilled 44 CRPF jawans.

Modi accused Imran Khanof not living up to the asser-tions he made soon afterbecoming Pakistan’s PrimeMinister, and also indirectlycharged the Congress-ledGovernment in 2008 of notacting against that countryafter the Mumbai terror attack.

He referred to the mood of“veer ras” (bravery and hero-ism) in the country after thePulwama attack, particularlymentioning social media.

“But our fight is againstterrorism. Our fight is forKashmir, not against Kashmir,not against the Kashmiris,”the PM added.

He said the Kashmiriyouths are also troubled by ter-rorism and are ready to fightagainst them. “We need tokeep them with us.”

He said the Kashmiri peo-ple take care of Amarnathpilgrims. “A year back, therewas firing on Amarnath pil-grims and Kashmiri Muslimshad lined up for donatingblood and to protect lives,” hesaid.

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In a major diplomatic victo-ry for India and a setback for

Pakistan, the United ArabEmirates (UAE) has invitedExternal Affairs MinisterSushma Swaraj to attend theForeign Ministers’ meet of theOrganisation of IslamicCooperation (OIC), set to takeplace in Abu Dhabi on 1-2March - the first such invite infive decades. Swaraj will be the“Guest of Honour” at the inau-gural plenary session of the46th meeting of OIC ForeignMinisters.

The Ministry of ExternalAffairs (MEA) said here onSaturday Foreign Minister ofUnited Arab Emirates SheikhAbdullah Bin Zayed al-Nahyaninvited Swaraj as the ‘Guest ofHonour’ to address the inau-gural plenary and that India washappy to accept the invitation.

The move is seen as a

major blow to Pakistan that hasconsistently opposed India’sentry into the grouping despitehaving the third-largest Muslimpopulation in the world andstrong relationship with WestAsian and Muslim majoritynations.

Over the past few decades,New Delhi has had, at best, aprickly relationship with theOIC, largely because Pakistanfrequently used the platform totarget India on the Kashmirissue. Pakistan and its allies inthe Arab world have alsoblocked attempts to give“Observer” status to India,which has the world’s thirdlargest Muslim population. TheOIC has usually been support-ive of Pakistan and, often sidedwith Islamabad on the Kashmirissue. The OIC is a 57-membergrouping of Muslim majoritynations.

The invitation to India bythe OIC comes at a time when

India has been mounting diplo-matic offensive against Pakistanto isolate it internationally fol-lowing the Pulwama terrorattack in which 44 CentralReserve Police Force (CRPF)personnel were killed. Pakistanbased Jaish-e-Mohammed(JeM) terrorist group claimedthe responsibility of thePulwama attack.

The MEA termed the invi-tation a “welcome recogni-tion” of the presence of 185

million Muslims in India andof their contribution to its plu-ralistic ethos, and of India’scontribution to the Islamicworld.

Sources said it was for thefirst time, India has been invit-ed to OIC meeting as guest ofhonour. “We see this invitationas the desire of the enlightenedleadership of the UAE to gobeyond our rapidly growingclose bilateral ties and forge atrue multifaceted partnership at

the multilateral and interna-tional level,” the MEA said ina release.

“We see this invitation as amilestone in our comprehensivestrategic partnership with theUAE. We also see this invitationas a welcome recognition of thepresence of 185 million Muslimsin India and of their contribu-tion to its pluralistic ethos, andof India’s contribution to theIslamic world,” it said.

Meanwhile, the Congresshas expressed surprise that theModi Government was cele-brating the invitation toExternal Affairs MinisterSushma Swaraj for the OIC’sinaugural plenary, dubbing it a“misplaced euphoria” and a“futile exercise” to mislead thepeople of India. Senior partyspokesperson Anand Sharmaasked Prime Minister NarendraModi and Swaraj to respect thepast position of India of notattending meetings of the OIC

till it is accepted as a full mem-ber, given its large Muslimpopulation. “I am surprised atthe government celebratingthe invitation to ExternalAffairs Minister Sushma Swarajto address the OIC meeting inUAE. The euphoria is mis-placed and it is a futile exerciseto mislead the public opinionin India,” he said.

It was Qatar that first pro-posed “Observer” status forIndia at the OIC ForeignMinisters’ meet in 2002 inrecognition of India’s signifi-cant Muslim population, butPakistan had consistentlyblocked the move. Last year,Bangladesh proposed restruc-turing of the charter of theOrganisation of IslamicCooperation to pave way forthe inclusion of non-Muslimcountries having significantMuslim population like Indiaas an “Observer State” of the50-year old grouping.

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Aweek after Pulwama sui-cide bombing and ahead of

the Supreme Court hearingon the Constitutional validityof Article 35A likely to com-mence on Monday, the UnionHome Ministry has decided tosend 10,000 additional Centralparamilitary forces to theKashmir Valley at the dispos-al of the State administration.

While the CRPF has beenasked to urgently rush 45 com-panies, the BSF will deploy 35companies and both the ITBPand the SSB will send 10 com-panies each to the Valley on anurgent basis. A company typi-cally has 100 personnel even as65 battalions (65,000 person-nel) of the paramilitary forcesare already deployed in Jammu& Kashmir.

The BSF has been taskedfor the internal security role

after a gap of about 15 years asits deployment was limited tothe International Border and asa second line of defence alongthe Line of Control where theArmy is deployed along thefrontiers.

“We have to urgentlydeploy additional CAPFs(Central Armed Police Forces)in Jammu & Kashmir. It isrequested to provide 100 coys(companies) (CRPF-45, BSF35, SSB-10 & ITBP-10) toGovernment of J&K withimmediate effect and till fur-ther orders. IG (Operations),CRPF is requested to ensureimmediate movement of Forcesin coordination with IG(Operations) of all Forces,”reads the Home Ministry Faxmessage sent on Friday toChief Secretary of J&K, HomeSecretary and Director Generalof Police of the State.

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%���&�������������������'���������New Delhi: Angry over the Pulwama attack inwhich 44 CRPF personnel were killed, tradersof Azadpur mandi in Delhi and farmers ofJhabua and Mandasaur in Madhya Pradesh havestopped supply of tomatoes and other vegeta-bles to Pakistan. This has soared tomato pricesthere. Detailed copy on P5

����������� ��������������������� ��� �� ��� �Jammu: The J&K Government on Saturdaylaunched massive crackdown on separatists andJamaat-e-Islami activists. Nearly 150 people,mainly from the Jamaat-e-Islami, including itschief Abdul Hamid Fayaz, were detained. Thiswas the first major crackdown on the Jamaat-e-Islami after the Pulwama terror attack.

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BJP General SecretaryKailash Vijayvargiya creat-

ed a controversy on Saturday byreferring to a Muslim MLA ofthe Congress in MadhyaPradesh as a beef-eater duringa party event.

The BJP leader, known formaking controversial state-ments, was talking about partycandidate Surendra NathSingh's defeat from the Bhopal(Central) Assembly seat.Speaking at the gathering ofBJP workers here, Vijayvargiyasaid, "Your (Singh's) loss causedme the greatest anguish. It issurprising that a nationalistGovernment which stoppedcow slaughter was in power (inthe State), but a beef-eater wonagainst you. It is a matter ofshame for all of us.”

In the November 2018 elec-tions, Congress's Arif Masooddefeated Singh by 14,757 votes.The Congress ended the BJP's 15-

year rule in the State in the polls.Reacting to the comment,

Masood said, “Vijayvargiyashould produce evidence as towhen I ate beef. I have never hada meal with the BJP general sec-retary. This remark only showshis frustration.”

Masood claimed he hadnever eaten beef in his life, andhe won from a seat where Hindus

are in a majority. "I was electedby all sections of society while theBJP only focused on dividingpeople," he said.

Meanwhile, State BJPspokesperson Rajnish Agrawalsaid he was not aware ofVijayvargiya's statement andhence could not offer any com-ment.

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Chief Minister Kamal Nathhas said that police officers

can help the deprived get jus-tice. A good police officer isalso a justice giver. The ChiefMinister said that the newGovernment is committed tokeeping the morale of thepolice high and maximisingfacilities.

He said that in democracythe concept of freedom, equal-ity can be practiced with limi-tation and the concept of justicecan be practiced without limit.It is not necessary that justice isalways delivered through courts.Justice can also be delivered byright thinking authorities. TheChief Minister was addressing ahigh level joint meeting ofInspector General, DeputyInspectors General andSuperintendents of Police at thepolice headquarters here today.

The Chief Minister saidthat the safety of the poorest anddeprived sections should beensured through law and order.He said that the dignity of the

institution of the police shouldstand protected and stainlessalong with other institutions asthey draw their strength fromthe Constitution.

The Chief Minister asked thepolice officers to be familiarwith the new work culture of thenew government. He said that thelaw and order is the govern-ment's top priority. He saidthat police officer is the face of lawand order. People look forwardto police officers for safety andsecurity. There the expectationsmust be responded sensitively.

The Chief Minister said thatthe poor sections yearn for jus-tice. The police force shouldwork in the interest of the weak-er sections. The police must beaware that the people look for-ward to them for justice.

He said that the policeadministration also representsUnity in Diversity as police offi-cers from different castes, com-munities and religions worktogether under the umbrage oflaw.

Nath said that the crimescene is changing with the chang-

ing of technologies being used incrime. Police officers must keeppace with it. He said that policewill have to work as a team forthe expected results.

The Chief Minister said thatthe State Government has ZeroTolerance policy for preventingsale and use of narcotic items andcheck spread crimes involvingthem. Lapses in investigation ofsuch crimes will not be tolerat-ed. Similarly, criminals involvingin crimes against women andchildren will not be spared.Negligence in investigations ofsuch crimes will be strictly dealtwith.

He instructed the police offi-cers to take strict action againstthe criminals

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Page 2:  · Kashmir, not against Kashmir, not against the Kashmiris,” the PM added. He said the Kashmiri youths are also troubled by ter-rorism and are ready to fight against them. “We

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From the age-old Sa Re Ga Ma Pa to thenewest Rising Star 3, music reality

shows have mushroomed over years.With a variety of concepts they havesuccessfully made their way into everyone’shearts and each of them promises to offersomething different and engaging. Someof them have even introduced the conceptof live singing and live voting to make itmore intewractive while some still followthe traditional path.

The mesmerising voices and theenergy of the contestants are enough tomake you fall head over heels for them.Singer-composer Amaal Malik, who isjudging Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Lil Champs feelsthat this increase in music reality showshas also increased the competition in theindustry.

“At one point of time when there wereonly about three to four reality shows inthe space, it was like a shortcut to stardombut today there are many reality shows andit is difficult to make your identity. Todayevery channel has one singing reality show.It is important to be grounded and oneshould not take their competition andtalent for granted. Being under theguidance of music experts from theindustry obviously nudges the contestantsand helps them better but at the end it isabout the hard-work they put in.Participating in a reality show definitelyhelps the contestant to be seen, it developstheir confidence and exposes them to abetter environment but I also firmlybelieve that the journey starts when youstep into the real world, struggle to makeyour songs heard and run behind musicdirectors and producers,” he tells you.

Shekhar Rajviani who have been ajudge on many shows and have closelywitnessed the evolution of music realityshows said: “From being a judge and amentor in more than 12 music realityshows, I have had the opportunity toclosely witness the journey and growth ofthis phenomenon. Originally conceivedas niche, small sized shows, singingreality programmes have grown over theyears into massive platforms for peoplefrom every walk of life to showcase theirtalent and get a chance to shine. We nowsee newer formats emerging with eachnew show, but what remains the same isthe basic foundation of what it takes tobe a good singer and performer and thatpure talent must ultimately win above allelse.”

He tells you that like any otherformat, music reality shows have to keepreinventing them to maintain the sparkand uniqueness. “Live singing hasdefinitely raised the bar in reality shows.Like any other format, this too has to keepreinventing itself and the challenge of

performing live is a great way to make thetruly superior singers stand apart from thehuge number of talented individuals thatour country boasts of,” he tells you.

Bhoomi Trivedi, who was the mentorof Love Me India (live singing reality show)feels that live singing shows are interestingbut difficult. “The best and the hardestpart of live shows is that there are noretakes and it is unfiltered. The show is foran hour but there is so much hard workand rehearsals that go into it. We have topractice for hours to perform live. Forpeople, it is just one hour of entertainmentbut for us it is hours of work. The goodthing about this trend is that contestantsget on the spot votes and everyone can seehow many votes and support a contestantis receiving,” she tells you.

Abhijeet Sawant, winner of Indian IdolSeason 1 tells you that these shows

provide a great platform for the aspiringsingers to showcase their talent. “Thesereality shows are a great platform for everysinger to come out, sing for people andgather your own audience. But after thatit all depend on the people and the pluspoint is that now the struggle has alsoreduced to an extent. Earlier the playbacksingers used to struggle for 10-11 years toget that much needed fame, this kind ofstruggle has already gone or we are justskipping this struggle and now we are ableto directly step in to somebody's studio,so this is one of the advantages we havenow,” Sawant says.

Rising Star which was the first to bringthe trend of live singing into light is backagain with its third season. The show willbe aired on Colors TV from March andwill bring ahead the unheard voices fromall over the country.

%)�(����$ ����"�� ����� ���"#(Actor Gurbani Gill agrees

to the importance ofsocial media in one’s

life, she also lays stress on thefact that one should not beaddicted to it. “Social mediashould not be taken soseriously, because it’s just onepart of your life, not yourentire life. Social media is agreat platform to connect,share and express. And, as anactor, you can influence anddraw attention to importantissues as well. Social media isa great way for an actor toconnect with people, be it fora professional or personalcause, that depends fromindividual to individual!” shesays.

She adds: “Social media isa personal choice, it may hold

significant value for someoneand may not for someone else.Unfortunately, it can become

addictive, so one must keep incheck and make healthychoices!”

The actor says that socialmedia popularity does in noway reflect the talent of anartist. “I think talent issomething that is described bythe craft of an artist. It hasnothing to do with socialmedia. Talent is independent ofsocial media popularity. Thereare a lot of underrated artistsout there also. Like I said,social media should not betaken so seriously!” she says.

Ask her what her advicewould be to her peers on socialmedia, and she says: “Stayrelaxed, express yourself andremember the younggeneration is looking up to you.I believe that actors should becareful while posting thingsbecause people try to emulateus.”

Comedy series YoungSheldon has scoredan early renewal for a

third and fourth season.CBS announced therenewal reportsvariety.com. The single-camera comedy seriesserves as a prequel to the hitmulti-cam sitcom The BigBang Theory. It follows 10-year old Sheldon Cooper,played by Iain Armitage, ashe struggles to fit in with hisfamily and classmates inEast Texas.

In addition toArmitage, the series starsZoe Perry, Lance Barber,Montana Jordan, Raegan

Revord, and Annie Potts.Jim Parsons, who originated the role of Sheldon on The Big

Bang Theory, serves as the narrator. Chuck Lorre, Steven Molaro,Parsons and Todd Spiewak executive produce via Chuck LorreProductions, Inc. in association with Warner Bros. Television.

“Thanks to Chuck Lorre’s and Steve Molaro’s outstandingcreative leadership, Young Sheldon has been a powerful performerfor the Network with an audience that towers over most of thetelevision landscape,” said Kelly Kahl, president of CBSEntertainment.

The news also comes as The Big Bang Theory prepares to airits series finale this spring, wrapping up a 12-season run on thenetwork.

“The Coopers are portrayed by an amazing cast, and we arelooking forward to having the gifted writing staff mine even moreof Sheldon's hilarious backstory and the warm family dynamicthat has made this comedy a favorite with audiences for the pasttwo seasons,” said Thom Sherman, senior executive vicepresident of programming for CBS Entertainment.

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Giving the audiences aweekend dose oflaughter with its spooky

tracks, Sony SAB’s Band BajaBandh Darwaza has kept themglued to their screens. Theupcoming episodes have yetanother mysterious girl cometo the Khurana'shaveli in orderto marry Rocky (AmitoshNagpal).

Accepting Sneha’s (AshitaZaveri) suggestion, theKhurana family posts anadvertisement in thenewspaper for a PG for theirhaunted haveli, with an ulteriormotive of getting her to marryRocky. Here comes aphotographer who clickspictures of ghosts, but holds acondition of never beingclicked by anyone. The twistarises when it is revealed thatshe herself is a ghost, with an

unfulfilled task of gettingmarried and is determined onmarrying Rocky to attainMoksh.

Will Rocky and his familycome out of this crazysituation?

Amitosh Nagpal, playingthe role of Rocky said: “Rockyhas been meeting extremelybizarre girls for marriage andthis time has a ghost whowants to marry him. Althougha tough situation for him andhis family, it is going to bringassured laughter for theaudiences as they tackle thisgirl. We all have had so muchfun shooting for the sequenceand hope our viewers enjoy ittoo.”

For more, keep watchingBand Baja Bandh Darwaza,every Saturday am Sunday 7pm only on Sony SAB.

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With a 5-star star cast, one wouldexpect the film to be great too asfar as content is concerned. But

then most of us are aware that theDhamaal franchise that dates back to2007, is more about nonsensical dramathan the story line.

Therefore, the latest movie is the seriesfrom Inder Kumar is no different. Theproblem is that in the intervening years wehave seen some great movies wherecontent has been king and the viewershave got spoilt. Realism is the key theaudience are looking for. Unfortunately,Total Dhamaal is anything but real.

Why else would Ajay Devgn all set torob crores by just sauntering in andwinging a heist by rappling down a hotelbuilding using a fire hose of all things?Why would Anil Kapoor drive through thejungle on the word of a man who doesn’teven speak Hindi? Who in their rightsenses even pays �2 lakh without lookingat the helicopter they have bought and ofthis was not crazy enough put a ceiling fan

as a rotor on the helicopter? In order to digest all this and much

more, one needs to leave one’s brainsbehind and then watch this film that hasmore downs than ups. And there are ups.First, it brings back Anil Kapoor-MadhuriDixit Nene jodi back. Sad that for mostpart of the film they are bickering, theyplay a Gujarati husband and wife.

Then there is Ajay Devgn and hisjodidar Sanjay Mishra. Devgn really needsto come out of his Singham mode and notkeep slapping people who have the samereaction that one has seen a many other ofhis films. Mishra, of course adds comicrelief with his punchlines or punch wordlike jaan and var. “Isney apni jaan apkodeydi. Ab isko apna var bana lo —jaanwar.”

Such dialogues manage to being asmile even though they maybe slapstick.Adi and Manav — Arshad Warsi and JavedJaffrey are mad as hatters as are RiteishDeshmukh and Pitobash Tripathy. Theirantics maybe be tried and tested and befamiliar they do manage to make youlaugh.

Over all, while Total Dhamaal makesno sense to those who are looking formeaningful cinema, it does manage toentertain even if in parts.

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Page 3:  · Kashmir, not against Kashmir, not against the Kashmiris,” the PM added. He said the Kashmiri youths are also troubled by ter-rorism and are ready to fight against them. “We

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Governor Anandiben Patelsaid that the help of the soci-

ety must be taken in the educa-tion and educational develop-ment of sainik families, especiallythe children of sainiks. Effortsshould be made to get financialaid by contacting financiallysound families and educationalinstitution management. Smt.Patel was addressing the 20thmeeting of the AmalgamatedSpecial Fund here today. ChiefSecretary SR Mohanty was alsopresent in the meeting.

Patel said that the sainiks areself-respecting. They will notdemand help. We will have to

make collective effort to helpthem. She told to take initiativefor mass marriage of children ofsainiks. This will give a chanceto the society to show respect forthe sainiks. She said that a bookshould be published comprisingdetails of the difficult training,risk, sacrifice of the brave soldiersand make it available to the stu-dents.

The Governor said thatevery person in the society hasa feeling of respect and gratitudetowards the sainiks. Plannedefforts must be made in thedirection of how support can besought for sainik welfare andrehabilitation.

The Governor honoured

districts which exceeded thetarget for the AmalgamatedFund collection and those whocollected one lump sum amount.Those who were honoured forcollecting the highest amountinclude Narmadapuram andBhopal division in the division-al level, Ex-servicemen WelfareCommittee in the district level,Harda, Ujjain, Alirajpur,Narsinghpur, Neemuch,Badwani, Chhindwara, Sheopur,Seoni, Gwalior, Betul, Jabalpur,Jhabua, Datia, Umaria, Dewas,Vidisha, Aagar, Shajapur,Singrauli, Indore, Sagar, Bhopal,Rajgarh, Hoshangabad,Tikamgarh, Katni, Raisen,Sehore, Dhar and Chhatarpur.

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Chief Minister Kamal Nathhas said that Panchayat

Raj has weakened in the last 15years in Madhya Pradesh.Foundation of development,Panchayat institutions will begiven the rights as per thedream of Father of the nationMahatma Gandhi and formerPrime Minister Rajiv Gandhi.

He said that the electedrepresentatives of Panchayatswill not have to run to Bhopalor make visits to the Ministersand the Ministry. They will begiven sufficient rights so thatthey themselves can developtheir villages. Nath wasaddressing the training andcapacity-building programmeof Rashtriya Gram SwarajAbhiyan three-tier PanchayatRaj representatives and self-help groups. Minister of PublicRelations and Law and LegalAffairs PC Sharma andFarmer-Welfare andAgriculture DevelopmentMinister Sachin Yadav werepresent on the occasion.

Nath said that our coun-try’s former Prime MinisterLate Rajiv Gandhi had laid thefoundation of totally empow-ering the panchayats throughthe 73rd Constitutionalamendment to realiseMahatma Gandhi’s dream ofGram Swaraj. The DigvijaySingh government had imple-mented this revolutionary

constitutional amendment inMadhya Pradesh for the firsttime in the whole country.

The Chief Minister saidthat the rural area is the heartof Madhya Pradesh. Thestrength of the economy of ourstate is based on the func-tioning of the rural areas.

The Chief Minister saidthat in the last 15 years our

district, Janpad President andSarpanch had become con-fined to being rubber stampand letter pad representatives.They did not have any right ofdevelopment of their village.Nath said that that this will nothappen now. The governmentin Madhya Pradesh will oper-ate from rural areas. “We hadpromised in our manifestothat panchayat representativeswill be totally empowered.

They will be given therights as per Gandhi Ji andRajiv Ji’s dream,” he said,adding that Rahul Gandhi haddiscussed in detail aboutstrengthening Panchayat Rajwith him. “I had told him thatthe Panchayat Secretaries whohave disappointment on theirfaces today, he will see smileon their faces the next time hewill come to Madhya Pradesh,”he added.

Nath said that the newgovernment is looking towardsstrengthening the foundationof the development of thestate. He said that empoweringthe panchayats meansstrengthening the democracy.

Our government is not a gov-ernment of the upper class.Our government is of thepoor, labourers and villagersand our goal is to empowerthem.

Panchayat and RuralDevelopment MinisterKamleshwar Patel said thatChief Minister Kamal Nathhas initiated to empower thepanchayat representatives. Hesaid that he has grantedapproval to increase theamount which the Panchayatrepresentatives got earlier toannounce development works.He said that this is a trainingand capacity building pro-gramme.

“Through this we will tellthe panchayat representativeshow to develop their villagesqualitatively,” he said,announcing that the Panch-Parmeshwar Yojana has beenchanged to Mahatma GandhiGram Swaraj Yojana. He toldPanchayat representatives tobecome participants in thedevelopment of the state underthe leadership of ChiefMinister Kamal Nath.

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AState-recognised start-upincubation centre PhD

Chamber of Commerce andVASPL Initiatives, jointlyorganised the ‘Start-upEntrepreneurship Conclave2019’ with the support ofMSME (Ministry of Micro,Small and MediumEnterprises), Bhopal.

The event organised onSaturday at Hotel Sayaji wasattended by investors and star-tups. Over 200 startups partic-ipated in Invent, shared theirgoals and achievements, andtook new insights throughpanel discussion from Experts.During this time, the clearidea of the Expert in the mat-ter of MP showed that the star-

tups here are made to walk longdistances.

On this occasion, theMSME's Principal SecretaryKC Gupta, VASPL DirectorPradeep Karambalekar werepresent along with experts ofthis field like that of YogeshKhakhre, Abhishek Gupta,Manvya Thapar, Amit Rajeand Kunal Giani.

Motivating the upcomingstartups Principal Secretary ofthe MSME KC Gupta said thatsuch events inspire theinvestors to invest in the stateand at the same time, it givesopportunity to the state's start-up to show its work.

Speaking on the occasion,VASPL Director PradeepKarambalekar said that thestartups growing in the state

have immense possibilities.For which the youth of thestate and this startup are worthappreciating. He said that thestate is full of startup energy

and have a deep desire to dosomething innovative. We arealways present for their sup-port as mentors and invest-ment gurus and being operat-

ed by them has com-plete energy to go tothe next level at start-up.

Investors acrossthe country were alsopresent at the con-clave while the hugepresence of startupsin the state was beingdiscussed at theevent. On one handwhere startups werepresent with theirpositive energy tocreate somethingnew, the investors onthe other hand gave

their energy a boost. Investorsin different cities of the coun-try, including Gujarat,Mumbai in Invent, had theirpresence registered.

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Sagar Institute of Scienceand Technology (SISTec)

Ratibad, Department ofMechanical Engineering con-cluded its two-day trainingprogramme on applied ther-modynamics and applications.

The training was spon-sored by Rajiv GandhiProudyogiki Vishwavidyalaya(RGPV) under TEQIP-III.The two day training pro-gramme was inaugurated bychief guest Prof SC Choube,State Coordinator, TEQIP,RGPV in presence of PravinSingh, Associate Professor,BUIT Bhopal, Prof.

Tanuja Sheory, Professor,IIITDM Jabalpur, Principal,SISTec-R, Jyoti Deshmukh,Sr Administrator, SISTec, BSKushwah and head of depart-ment of mechanical engi-neering, Prof Kshitij Yugbodh.

The workshop focused onthermodynamics connectingthe basic principle of heatand temperature and its rela-tion to energy and work invarious form of applications.

On the first day of train-ing, Pravin Singh enlightenedstudents on basic concepts ofengineering thermodynamicsand commonly used applica-tions whereas Tanuja shareddetails on Exergy Accountingas emerging field in the worldof thermodynamics.

The second day of train-ing witnessed presence ofAj it Par wani , AssociateProfessor, I ITRAMAhmedabad, Sunil Punjabi,Professor, Ujjain EngineeringCollege, Ujjain and RituneshKumar, Associate Professor,IIT Indore as eminent speak-ers. Parwani enlightened thestudents and faculties onprinciples of steady transientconduction heat transferwhereas Dr Sunil Punjabiconnected students to theworld of radiant heat trans-fer and its engineering appli-cations. Ritunesh Kumar,guided the s tudents onRankine cycle, modificationand application of heat intomechanica l work whi leundergoing phase change incontext to the thermal powerplants.

The training programmewas attended by over 100 stu-dents and 40 faculties of var-ious colleges and institutionsof Madhya Pradesh.

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A25-year-old youth wasattacked by four armed

miscreants with sharp-edgedweapons at Jawahar Chowkunder TT Nagar police stationarea late on Friday night.

According to the police, thevictim Mohammad Riyaz wasattacked by miscreants NamanSoni, Harshit, Lokesh andPrince after he opposed throw-ing of match stick. The injuredvictim was rushed to a JP hos-pital where he was reportedlystable.

Police said that the mis-creants were having tea whenthe victim had gone to have teawhere accused threw a matchstick which the victim opposedafter which the four started toabuse and attacked him andstabbed him with sharp edgedweapon in his stomach andescaped from the spot.

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Page 4:  · Kashmir, not against Kashmir, not against the Kashmiris,” the PM added. He said the Kashmiri youths are also troubled by ter-rorism and are ready to fight against them. “We

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The Ropar Pol i ce onSaturday claimed to have

arrested six persons andbusted a gang of highwayrobbers, led by a teenager,operating in the districts of Ambala (Har yana) , andPatiala, Mohali as well asRopar (Punjab). Police saidFour gang members are stillabsconding.

They said all six have a

total of 16 cases of robbery,dacoity and attempt to mur-der reg i s tered agains t them in these districts,where they were active forlast two years.

The accused were want-ed in 12 cases of robbery anddacoity and had, in the lasttwo years, looted Rs 21lakhs. Police has recoveredRs. 1 lakh rupees and |motorcycles from their pos-session

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Haryana chief minister Manohar Lal onSaturday flagged off the Jind Marathon-2019

organised in Jind on Saturday and also participatedin it running several kilometers along with theyouth.

Addressing the youth, he said that thismarathon is dedicated to the soldiers who weremartyred in Pulwama.

The Chief Minister said the country and thestate is moving fast on the path of developmentand the state government is making all possibleefforts for the welfare of the poor and due theseefforts the quality of life has improved for the peo-ple.

Manohar Lal gave the cash prize from Rs10,000 to Rs 50,000 to the winners.

After the marathon, the Chief Ministerredressed the grievances of people at rest houseof Public Works Department in Jind and issuednecessary directions to the concerned officers forits resolution.

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Khadoor Sahib Lok Sabhaconstituency is still in its

infancy. One of the 13 parlia-mentary constituencies inPunjab, it came into being justover a decade, and two elec-tions, back.

It has virtually been anAkali citadel ever since theconstituency was formed fol-lowing the delimitation of par-liamentary and assembly con-stituencies in 2008. Its earliername was Tarn Taran, butchanged during delimitationto Khadoor Sahib — a historicvillage where second Sikh mas-ter Guru Angad Dev lived for13 years.

The two elections parlia-mentary elections this segmenthas witnessed so far, since itschristening as Khadoor Sahib,elected Shiromani Akali Dal(SAD) candidates. SAD’s RattanSingh Ajnala bagged the seat in2009, while SAD’s Ranjit SinghBrahmpura emerged victoriousin 2014.

But here’s a catch! BothAjnala and Brahmpura havenow parted ways with the SADand floated a breakaway faction— SAD (Taksali) — comprisingveteran and Taksali (tradition-al) Akali leaders, only recently.The constituency may actuallyturn out to be a fort of rebelAkali leaders who have provedtheir mettle in the state politics.

Brahmpura, the sitting MP,is now heading SAD (Taksali),throwing open challenge tothe Badals’ led SAD, which, heclaimed, has turned into a com-pany looting people and hasdigress from its ideals.

Once known as “Majhe daJarnail”, Brahmpura has alreadyannounced not to contest elec-tion, but lead the party from thefront. In his place, he hasannounced the name of formerIndian Army chief and

Arunachal Pradesh’s formerGovernor General JJ Singh for2019 polls.

General JJ Singh, who for-ayed into politics ahead 2017state assembly polls, had unsuc-cessfully contested 2017 pollsagainst Capt Amarinder Singhfrom Patiala urban assemblyconstituency with finishingthird with just 11.10 percent ofthe total votes polled.

SAD (Taksali) has joinedhands with other splinter group,including Sukhpal Khaira’sPunjabi Ekta Party, Bainsbrothers’ Lok Insaaf Party,Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP),and Patiala MP Dr DharamvirGandhi’s Punjabi Manch, toform a mahagathbandhan(grand alliance) — PunjabDemocratic Alliance (PDA) —to contest the ensuing elections.

The presence of Taksaliswould turn the electoral battle

four-way making it difficultfor the Badals to retain the seatwhich has stayed with the pan-thic party since 1977, except1992 when it boycotted thepolls.

The reason behind the suc-cess of SAD candidates may notbe very hard to comprehend.Khadoor Sahib is an importantSikh holy center and the areahas a number of deras, babasand important gurdwaras. Nowonder, the voters have pre-ferred panthic or Akali candi-dates despite the slow pace ofdevelopment.

This election, all the polit-ical parties are all geared up tomake the most of panthic issuesto take the crown home. WhileSAD rivals are set to bring intoplay the 2015 sacrilege andrelated firing cases against theBadals-led SAD, SAD-BJPcombine would take the advan-

tage of Central Government’sdecisions regarding opening ofKartarpur corridor, wavingGST on langar items, convic-tions in 1984 anti-Sikh riotcases, among others.

The failure to solve sacri-lege cases, and alleged involve-ment of the Badals in BehbalKalan firing cases, wherein twoinnocent protestors died, hascost the Akali Dal to the extentthat after ruling the state for adecade, it has been pushed tothe distant third place with just15 seats, besides three of its ally— the BJP.

“Sacrilege issue played amajor role in Akalis’ resound-ing defeat in 2017 state elec-tions. People hold them respon-sible the series of sacrilegecases, and also for the police fir-ing on the peaceful protestorsthat killed two...A Sikh may letgo a person for killing someone,but would not at all toleratebeadbi of their guru (GuruGranth Sahib),” a state CabinetMinister said while talking withThe Pioneer off the record,adding that Congress would notleave the issue.

Congress made failedattempts to break into the AkaliDal’s citadel in the previouspolls. It fielded party’s promi-nent leader Rana Gurjit Singhin 2009 election but faced defeatat the hands of Ajnala by 32,260votes.

In 2014, party fielded amember of All India Sikh

Students’ Federation (AISSF)Harminder Singh Gill, whohad also spent a couple ofyears in detention in Jodhpur(Rajasthan) after the OperationBluestar. But even that couldnot work and Gill was made tobite the dust by a whoppingmargin of over one lakh votesby Brahmpura.

This time, Congress isstruggling to find a suitablewinnable candidate. In raceare MLA Kulbir Singh Zira’sfather Inderjit Singh Zira, MLASukhpal Bhullar’s father andformer Minister Gurchet Singh

Bhullar, besides his brotherAnoop Bhullar, former MLAJasbir Singh Dimpa, andAmritsar’s former district pres-ident Inderjit Singh Basarke.

The last time the Congresswon this constituency was in1991 when Surinder SinghKairon, the son of former ChiefMinister Partap Singh Kaironand father of former ministerand SAD leader Adesh PartapSingh Kairon, won the seat.

However, the Congress ison a strong footing in the con-stituency considering that allthe nine assembly seats arewon by its leaders. “The issueof sacrilege had done a greatdamage to the SAD’s image, andthat’s what gone went against itand in Congress’ favour duringassembly elections,” a seniorCongress leader said.

Keen on playing its panth-ic agenda to the hilt, SAD may

field its former MLA VirsaSingh Valtoha, who is a knowntraditional Akali. In fact, SADhas assigned Valtoha a job tokeep the party base intact in thesegment besides pacify the dis-gruntled elements exploringprospects in the Taksali faction.

Valtoha, who had lost 2017assembly elections from KhemKaran to Congress greenhornSukhpal Singh Bhullar, hasbeen holding meetings with theparty workers and local leadersof the constituency since long.

Besides, the SAD leader-ship is considering the name ofJagdish Kaur, the prime com-plainant in 1984 anti-Sikh riotcase, who braved all odds tofight for justice against theCongress leader Sajjan Kumarwho was convicted by the DelhiHigh Court only recently.

As Jagdish Kaur hasshowed sheer reluctance tofight polls, SAD is exploring thenames of other persons relatedwith the riot case against SajjanKumar. “If someone amongthem agrees to contest polls,SAD, which has been hit by theexit of Ajnala and Brahmpura,may make a recovery,” a SADleader maintained.

The Akali Dal is alsomulling over fielding the formerminister Aadesh Partap SinghKairon’s wife and party patri-arch Parkash Singh Badal’sdaughter Parneet Kaur from theseat.

AAP, in the absence of itscandidate in 2014 electionsBhai Baldeep Singh, who fin-ished third, is likely to consid-er its district presidentBhupinder Singh Bittu. Arenowned exponent of Indianclassical music and Gurbani kir-tan, Bhai Baldeep Singh had got1.45 lakh votes in the Akalistronghold. Currently, he hasbeen “under suspension” sinceApril 2015.

Bittu, a former

Congressman, had joined AAPin 2016. He had contested 2016Khadoor Sahib Lok Sabha by-poll as independent securing17,416 votes, and 2017 stateassembly elections as AAP can-didate bagging 28,644 votes(19.68 percent in the total votespolled).

Adding another dimensionto the contest in the con-stituency, which is consideredas the hub of panthic politics inPunjab, is the entry of Sikhhardliners in the electoral race.

The Bargari Insaaf Morcha,came into being in 2018 to seekjustice for the two Sikh youthkilled in Behbal Kalan policefiring besides punishing theculprits of sacrilege cases, hasalso thrown its hat in the ring.

The Morcha hasannounced Sikh outfit UnitedAkali Dal president MohkamSingh as its candidate fromKhadoor Sahib — sendingalarm bells ringing to all majorpolitical players.

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Khadoor Sahib Lok Sabhaconstituency, that came intoexistence after delimitation in2008, comprises nine VidhanSabha (legislative assembly)segments. Before delimitation,Kapurthala and SultanpurLodhi assembly segments werein Jalandhar, Zira assemblysegment was in Firozpur andJandiala, Patti, Khadoor Sahiband Tarn Taran assembly seg-ments were in Tarn Taran LokSabha constituencies. KhemKaran assembly segment wascreated as a part of delimitationin 2008.

Major part of the KhadoorSahib constituency was fromTarn Taran parliamentary seg-ment, which no more existafter 2008 delimitation.

A look at the electoral his-tory of the two revealed that this

segment has emerged as Akalibastion with the state’s region-al party winning six back-to-back elections since 1996.Moreover, out of total 15 elec-tions since 1952, SAD has woneight while Congress has wonsix.

%�4� ����-�2�Khadoor Sahib is primari-

ly a rural, agrarian-based Sikh-dominated seat with religionplaying a major role.

"����"�-����In 2014, Akali Dal candi-

date Ranjit Singh Brahmpura,then known as ‘Majhe daJarnail’ and second in com-mand after party patriarchParkash Singh Badal, defeatedCongress’s Harminder SinghGill with a margin of 1,00,569votes.

Brahmpura was polled4,67,332 votes (45 percent ofthe total votes polled) while Gillgot 3,66,763 (35 percent).AAP’s Bhai Baldeep Singh fin-ished third with 1,44,521 votes(14 percent) in his share. SAD(Amritsar) presidentSimarnjeet Singh Mann, who isnow with the Bargari InsaafMorcha, had finished fourthwith just 13,990 votes (1.34 per-cent).

"���������4��This constituency did not

exist between 1952 and 2008,and came into existence as apart of the implementation ofdelimitation of parliamentaryand assembly constituencies in2008. Before that, majority partwas in Tarn Taran constituen-cy.

2014: Ranjit SinghBrahmpura (SAD)2009: Rattan Singh Ajnala(SAD)2004 : Rattan Singh Ajnala(SAD) (Tarn Taran con-stituency)

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A19-year-old was sexuallyassaulted by her landlord

near Nehru Middle Schoolunder Ashoka Garden policestation area late in the evening

on Saturday.According to police, the vic-

tim along with her elder sisterand younger brother was livingin the rented home of accusedHarishankar Malviya locatedbehind Nehru School in New

Ashoka Garden and are prepar-ing for competition examination.

A complaint was lodgedwith the Ashoka Garden policestating that the accusedHarishankar works as a peon ina bank and she, her sister and

brother live at the first floor oftwo story building as tenant.

On Friday, the offender’swife and children had gone outof city to attend a marriage oftheir relative and accused wasalone at the home. The accused

had asked victim to preparedinner for him as his wife is notpresent at home.

Victim’s elder sister whoalso does a private job had goneto office at that time whereas herbrother had gone to Betul to

meet parents after which the vic-tim went to her landlord’skitchen for preparing food, theaccused intentionally switchedoff lights of kitchen after whichshe returned to her room butaccused also followed her till

room and raped her at knife-point threatening her of life.

The victim reported theincident to her elder sister andafter which they reached AshokaGarden police station and lodgedcomplaint

The police registered a caseunder sections 376 and 506 ofthe IPC has been registeredagainst the accused who wentabsconding after he found thatcase has been registered againsthim.

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Punjab Government onSaturday claimed that its

flagship ‘Punjab Ghar GharRozgar and Karobar Mission’scheme got a major boostwith more than 50,000 youthgetting placed in various pri-vate companies, besidesanother 4070 facilitated ingetting themselves identifiedfor self-employment andanother 6000 plus gettingshortlisted for private place-ments during the recentlyconcluded 4th mega job fairheld across the State.

An official spokesperson ofthe Punjab Government saidthat as many as 76 events wereorganised at 54 venues spreadover all the 22 districts fromFebruary 13 till 22.

Of the 70,752 youth inter-viewed, more than 60% youthof the state who participatedgot selected during the event,thereby registering all timehigh success.

Meanwhile, Chief MinisterCapt Amarinder Singh has

asked the Department ofEmployment Generation &Training to further intensify itsefforts to provide maximumjobs to the youth.

He also directed theauthorities to explore moreemployment and entrepre-neurship avenues to facilitatethe jobless youth for gettinggainfully employed.

The statement claimed that

of the 5.34 lakh youth facili-tated till now under the GharGhar Rozgar and KarobarMission scheme , around 0.40lac youth got jobs in the gov-ernment and 1.55 lakh withprivate sector, while 3.40 lakhhave been provided assistanceunder various self-employmentschemes since the incumbentgovernment took over inMarch 2017.

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Aday after Speaker Rana KP Singh accused him of

evading notice on the issue ofhis disqualification from thePunjab Assembly, BholathMLA Sukhpal Singh Khaira onSaturday rejected the chargeand said he will meet theSpeaker next week to receivethe notice.

"I want to clarify that I havenot received any notice. Neitherat my village home address norat Chandigarh address," theMLA claimed.

Khaira, who was oustedfrom the post of Leader ofOpposition in the PunjabAssembly last year, claimedthat he was not running awayfrom notice or any action.

"I will meet the Speakernext week to receive the notice.

I am not running away fromnotice or any action," he toldmedia here.

On Friday, the Speakerhad informed the House thatKhaira did not accept thenotice sent through registeredposts. Rana K P Singh said hewould get the notice publishedin newspapers and then woulddecide as per law.

The notice was issued toKhaira after petition filed byLeader of Opposition HarpalSingh Cheema, seeking hisdisqualification from the mem-bership of the state assembly.

Khaira resigned from theprimary membership of theAam Aadmi Party (AAP) andfloated his own outfit -- PunjabiEkta Party. However, he hadnot resigned as MLA and haddared the AAP to get him dis-qualified.

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In the All India GurunanakDev Gold Cup Women's

Hockey Tournament, theplayers of Madhya PradeshWomen's Hockey Academymade it to the finals.

The championship isbeing played in Amritsar thatbegan on February 20 and willcontinue till February 24. Inthe match, the players ofMadhya Pradesh Women'sHockey Academy defeatedRCF Kapurthala.

In the exciting semi-finalmatch played betweenRailways Coach Factor y(RCF) Kapurthala andMadhya Pradesh Women'sHockey Academy, theMadhya Pradesh Academydefeated RCF by 3 goals. Theacademy reached the final. Itis worth mentioning that bywinning hard fought interna-tional players of the teamRCF Kapurthala, MadhyaPradesh Hockey Academywon this match.

Both the teams gave atough fight to each other andtried to win the match. It wasa very exciting semi-finalmatch between both theteams.

In the semi-finals playedhere on Saturday, RCF play-er Lalaramaseemi scored inthe 15th minute andGagandeep Kaur scored apenalty shot in the 22ndminute to give the team a 2-0 lead. In response, Jyoti Pal,the Madhya Pradesh HockeyAcademy's player, scored thefirst field goal for the team inthe 30th minute to score ascore of 2-1.

After this, Kanchan Nidhimade a goal in the 36thminute and Sadhna Sangermade a goal in the 45thminute scored a field goal inthe 45th minute to give theteam a win by 3-2 points.

The final match will beplayed on Sunday, February24.

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Page 5:  · Kashmir, not against Kashmir, not against the Kashmiris,” the PM added. He said the Kashmiri youths are also troubled by ter-rorism and are ready to fight against them. “We

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Angry over Pulwama attackin which 44 Central

Reserve Poiice Force (CRPF)personnel were martyred onFebruary 14, traders ofAzadpur mandi in Delhi andfarmers of Jhabua andMandasaur in Madhya Pradeshhave stopped supply of toma-toes and other vegetables toPakistan.

This has soared tomatoprices in Lahore and othercities. As per Samma Tv ofPakistan, tomato is being soldat �180-250 a kg in Lahore andPeshawar. Currently, tomatoesin Delhi and other metros inIndia are selling at �10-20 perkg depending on the qualityand locality of the area.

According to Azadpurmandi’s Tomato TradersAssociation president AshokKaushik, Agricultural ProduceMarket Committee (APMC)

Azadpur sends 35-70 trucks oftomatoes to Pakistan daily viaSrinagar and there from Uri toMuzaffrabad in PakistanOccupied Kashmir (PoK).Similarly 60-70 trucks of toma-toes come from different partsof the country includingMadhya Pradesh to Pakistan.It is estimated that 2,500-3,000tones tomato was being export-ed to Pakistan daily.

The APMC mandis andfarmers used to supply toma-to to the traders of Srinagarwho export to Pakistan viaMuzaffrabad. Reports suggestthat tomato exported fromIndia fetch around three timesprofit in Pakistan. India andPakistan trade from two routes- the Mumbai-Karachi searoute and the Wagah landroute. There are two otherpoints - Chakan Da Bagh inPoonch and Uri -Muzaffrabad.

Kaushik said that Indiantomatoes are cheaper than

those coming from other coun-ties in Pakistan. Traders sendtomatoes at �20-30 a kg whichwas being sold at �70-90 a kgin Pakistan. Most of the Indiantomato goes to mandis inLahore, Peshawar, Quetta,Multan and Punjab region.

As per reports, Pakistan isfacing huge shortage of toma-to and other vegetables. GreenChilli are selling at �160 a kg ;Red Chilli at �300 a kg; LadyFinger at �110 a kg ; Capsicumat �110 a kg and Garlic at �150a kg in the wholesale market inLahore and Peshawar.

Besides, Azadpur mandi,farmers in other parts of thecountry have stopped tomatoexport to Pakistan. They tookthis decision in order to marktheir protest against the das-tardly attack. “As many as 5000farmers who have beenengaged in tomato cultivationin Jhabua and Mandasaur dis-trict of Madhya Pradesh have

refused to supply to Pakistan,”said Binod Pandey of All India

Kisan Mahasangh. Tomatoesexported from Madhya

Pradesh fetch �1,200-1,500 per25 kg of carat whereas the samequality sells �500-600 per caratin the country.

Pandey said that prices ofgreen chillli, garlic, lady finger,brinjal, potato also increased inseveral cities of Pakistan asIndian farmers stopped supplyof vegetables. Potato is being

sold at �50-70 a kg while brin-jal is at �110 a kg. Onion is alsobeing sold at �90 a kg.

India has been traditional-ly supplying meat, chemicals,artefacts, medicines and agri-culture products to Pakistan.Goods worth �3,482.94 crore in2018 (USD 488.5 million)were traded between business

establishments of Jammu andKashmir and Pakistan-occu-pied Kashmir (PoK) via twoLoC points of Chakan-Da-Bagh and Uri-Muzaffarabadduring last three years.

The value of items tradedby the Indian businessmen inthe State during the three-yearperiod amounted to �1,676.77crore while that by the PoKbusinessmen stood at �1,756.17crore for the same period .Items worth �2,367.82 crorewere traded via Uri and�1,065.12 crore worth tradewas conducted via Chakan-Da-Bagh crossing point in Poonchdistrict.

Taking strong economicaction against Pakistan follow-ing the Pulwama terror attack,India raised the customs dutyto 200 per cent on all goodsimported from the neighbour-ing country, including freshfruits, cement, petroleum prod-ucts and mineral ore.

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After the Supreme Courton Friday directed the

Centre to ensure safety ofKashmiris living outsideJammu & Kashmir, the UnionHome Ministry has asked allthe States and UnionTerritories to appoint nodalpolice officers to resolve prob-lems of the community andensure their safety who arebeing targeted in the after-math of the Pulwama suicidebombing.

All States and UnionTerritories have appointednodal police officers to resolveproblems of Kashmiris facingtrouble post-Pulwama, an offi-cial said.

The Union Home Ministryhas specifically asked all theStates to ensure security ofKashmiris who were reported-ly attacked in Uttarakhand,Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, WestBengal and Jammu during the

last week. The details of these nodal

police officers have been

uploaded on the MHA websitehttp://www.Mha.Gov.In.

In its advisory sent on

Friday night, the Ministry hasconveyed to the StateGovernments and Union

Territory administrations totake all necessary steps to pre-vent any act of assault, threat,intimidation, social boycottetc., against Kashmiris as wellas minorities in accordancewith the order of the SupremeCourt.

The Ministry said theCentral Government is con-cerned about the reports ofincidents of assaults andharassment against residents ofJammu and Kashmir, especial-ly students in some parts of thecountry, in the aftermath of thePulwama terror attack, whichkilled 40 CRPF jawans onFebruary 14.

In this regard, an advisorywas issued on February 16also to all State governmentsand Union Territory adminis-trations to take necessary stepsto ensure safety

and security of the peoplebelonging to Jammu andKashmir and residing in dif-ferent parts of the country.

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Senior Congress leader PChidambaram on Saturday

hit back at Union MinisterArun Jaitley for taking a swipeat the Opposition party over itsmove to rope in surgical strikearchitect DS Hooda to head anational security task force.

The former FinanceMinister said while Jaitley“debunked” the Congress, heshould have added to his com-ment that the BJP needs noadvice as it has Prime MinisterNarendra Modi. Jaitley onFriday took potshots at theCongress, saying it is “intrigu-ing” that the party which ruledIndia for half a century needsto be educated on nationalsecurity issues.

“Mr Jaitley has debunkedthe Congress for requesting

General Hooda to advise onnational security. He shouldhave added BJP needs noadvice because it has Mr Modi,”Chidambaram said in a seriesof tweets.

Lt Gen Hooda (retired)will head a Congress task forceon national security. OnSeptember 29, 2016, the Armyhad carried out the strikes onseven terrorist launch padsacross the Line of Control

(LoC) in retaliation to an attackon its base in Uri earlier thatmonth.

Hitting back at Jaitley forhis remarks, Chidambaramsaid the BJP does not needsomeone like Dr RaghuramRajan to head the ReserveBank of India, “because it hasMr Modi”.

“BJP does not need a plan-ning commission, because ithas Mr Modi. BJP does notneed a National StatisticsCommission, because it has MrModi,” he said on Twitter.

Chidambaram said that“actually, BJP does not need aCabinet, because it has MrModi.” The former FinanceMinister also said he was wait-ing to see if the Prime Ministerwill take action againstMeghalaya Governor TathagataRoy for his tweet supporting aban on Kashmiri goods.

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Union Home MinisterRajnath Singh on Saturday

appealed to the people ofArunachal Pradesh to remaincalm and maintain peace in thewake of ongoing protests incertain areas of the State againstthe proposals to grant perma-nent resident certificates to sixtribal communities.

The Home Minister alsospoke to Arunachal PradeshChief Minister Pema Khandu,who briefed him about the pre-vailing situation in the borderState. Arunachal Pradeshshares border with China andis considered sensitive due toChinese actions of granting sta-pled visas for the residents ofthe State,

“HM Shri @rajnathsinghspoke to the Chief Minister ofArunachal Pradesh Shri@PemaKhanduBJP over thephone and discussed the pre-vailing situation and ongoingprotest in certain parts of the

State,” the Home Ministrytweeted.

“HM has urged the peopleto remain calm and maintainpeace in the state,” the tweetadded. People in some parts ofArunachal Pradesh have beenprotesting after the state gov-ernment announced that itwas considering proposals toissue permanent resident cer-tificates (PRCs) to six com-munities living in Namsai andChanglang districts.

The six communities areDeoris, Sonowal Kacharis,Morans, Adivasis, Mishingsand Gorkhas. Most of thesecommunities are recognisedas Scheduled Tribes in neigh-bouring Assam.

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Firing a fresh salvo at thePrime Minister Narendra

Modi, Congress presidentRahul Gandhi Saturday allegedthat the Government “did notwant to accept” that there wasa “job crisis” in the country, andsaid the PM should hold dis-cussions with the youth toaddress the issue.

During an interaction -Shiksha: Dasha Aur Disha --with university students at theJawahar Lal Nehru Stadium, healso alleged that the country’swealth is “concentrated” in thehands of “a few people”. TheCongress chief asserted that theState must pay for a large partof education of students.

There was no immediatereaction from the Government.China is growing economical-ly, and one sees ‘Made in China’labels on so many products inthe country, Gandhi said,adding that he was “absolutelyconvinced” that India could goahead of China.

He reiterated the per hourjob figures to attack the primeminister on the issue.

“In a county of over 1.2 bil-lion people, and India is creat-ing about 450 jobs per 24hours while China is creating50,000 jobs in the same 24hours,”he said, claiming, “theseare not my figures, but of theFinance Ministry given in LokSabha”.

“Our Prime Minister does-n’t seem to think this is aproblem,” Gandhi alleged. “Weneed to first acknowledge thatthere is a problem, and then weneed to galvanise support tofight it. That is what we(Congress) believe in,” he said.

Gandhi said he has alreadychallenged Prime MinisterModi to debate with him onRafale, corruption, job andother issues.

“But has he come andinteracted with you (students)like this, taking questions fromyou,” the Congress presidentasked the students.

The Prime Minister should

interact with the youth and lis-ten to their views on the jobscenario and “say that he needsyour support to address thisissue,” Gandhi said.

He said that “the primeminister should not be tellinghis views to the youth, but lis-ten to their voices”. Respondingto another question, Gandhisaid the share of the educationsector in the Budget should beincreased.

Wealth is “concentrated” inthe hands of “a few people”, healleged, and asserted that thestate must pay for a “large partof education” of students.

Congress does not sup-port that privatisation is theway to improve the educationsystem, the party chief said.Delhi Congress chief and for-mer chief minister SheilaDikshit was also present on theoccasion. A two-minute silencewas also observed in honour ofthe CRPF jawans died in thedeadly Pulwama attack onFebruary 14 and a musicaltribute was given to them.

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Prime Minister NarendraModi on Sunday will launch

the �75,000-crore PradhanMantri Kisan Samman Nidhi(PM-KISAN) scheme inGorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh, bytransferring the first instal-ment of �2,000 each to 1.22crore small and marginal farm-ers.

The number can go up fur-ther, as names of 5-6 millionbeneficiaries are getting addedto the PM-KISAN portal in thenext 2-3 days.

However, the senior officialsaid 1.22 over one crore farm-ers from 14 states, includingUP, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu,Gujarat and Karnataka, will gettheir first instalment on Sundayand one crore more beneficia-ries, spread over 28 states andone UT, would get their instal-ment in the next 2-3 days.

These states have also beenproactive in uploading the listof beneficiaries.

Interestingly, Chhattisgarhhas listed only 86 farmersunder the scheme whileTelangana and Andhra Pradeshseeking money from the Centreas they do not want to givecredit to Modi Hovernmentahead of the Lok Sabha polls inthe coming months.

In the interim Budget2019-20, the CentralGovernment had announcedthe PM-KISAN scheme underwhich �6,000 per year will begiven in three instalments to 12crore small and marginal farm-ers holding cultivable land upto two hectares.

The scheme has beenmade effective from this fiscalitself and as a result, farmerswould get one instalmentbefore March-end.

This programme is part ofthe government’s effort toaddress farm sector distress,caused by lower sales realisa-tion on bumper production offoodgrains, oilseeds, sugar-cane, cotton and horticulturecrops.

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Ateam of CBI officials,including a woman con-

stable, was allegedly attackedon Saturday and chased awayby relatives of an accused, alsoa CBI official, that was probinga 2014 land fraud case. Theincident occurred at the resi-dence of the accused CBI offi-cial in Greater Noida.

A few CBI officials wereinjured during the scuffle withthe relatives, who forced thesleuths inside a private propertyin Sonpura village and beatthem up with sticks and barehands to help the accusedescape, the agency said in astatement issued in Delhi.

It also alleged that mobilephones, ID cards of somemembers were burnt by theattackers.

In an ongoing investigationrelated to a bribery case, a CBIteam comprising of anInspector , Sub inspector, 2constables & 1 women

Constable had gone today tovillage Sonpura Distt- GautamBudhnagar in search of SunilDutt, ASI , CBI ,who is accusedin FIR/RC 1 of 2019 of AC -2,CBI, New Delhi and to servenotice.

“The team was attacked bymembers of his extended fam-ily and others in order to helpaccused Sunil Dutt to escapefrom the place.

The team was forced insidethe premises and were beaten.It is also alleged that Mobilephone, Diary, I-Card of someteam members were burnt.The team was kept as hostageand was thrashed.

The accused Sunil Duttfled through the backdoor ofthe premises,” a CBI spokesper-

son said. He said the CBI has lodged

a complaint with local police. The local police reached

the spot and rescued the CBIteam. They were taken to hos-pital for treatment.

Based on the complaintfrom CBI, the local police hasregistered an FIR, thespokesperson added.

The Central Bureau ofInvestigation is probing a 2014case of alleged land fraud,amounting to �126 crore,linked to the YamunaExpressway IndustrialDevelopment Authority(YEIDA) .

On February 3, the agencybooked two of its officials post-ed in Ghaziabad, both of whowere probing the case, oncharges of criminal conspiracyand under the Prevention ofCorruption Act.

The accused CBI InspectorV S Rathore was arrested whileASI Sunil Dutt has beenabsconding.

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Page 6:  · Kashmir, not against Kashmir, not against the Kashmiris,” the PM added. He said the Kashmiri youths are also troubled by ter-rorism and are ready to fight against them. “We

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The Government onSaturday released the draft

national e-commerce policyproposing setting up a legal andtechnological framework forrestrictions on cross-borderdata flow and also laid out con-ditions for businesses regardingcollection or processing of sen-sitive data locally and storing itabroad.

The draft policy said theframework would be created toprovide the basis for imposingrestrictions on cross-borderdata flow from specifiedsources including data collect-ed by IoT devices installed inpublic space, and data gener-ated by users in India by vari-ous sources, including e-com-merce platforms, social media,search engines.

The 42-page draft address-es six broad issues of the e-commerce ecosystem -- data,infrastructure development, e-commerce marketplaces, regu-

latory issues, stimulatingdomestic digital economy andexport promotion through e-commerce.

“It is almost a cliche todaythat data is the new oil. Unlikein the case of oil, data flowsfreely across borders. It can bestored or processed abroadand the processor can appro-priate all the value. Therefore,India’s data should be used forthe country’s development andIndian citizens and compa-nies should get the economicbenefits from the monetisationof data,” the draft ‘National e-Commerce Policy — India’sData for India’s Development’said.

A business entity that col-lects or processes any sensitivedata in India and stores itabroad, shall be required toadhere to the certain condi-tions, according to the policydraft.

The conditions state that allsuch data stored abroad shallnot be made available to other

business entities outside India,for any purpose, even with thecustomer consent.

Further, the data shall alsonot be made available to a thirdparty for any purpose and itwould also not be shared witha foreign government, withoutthe prior permission of Indianauthorities, the draft said.

“Suitable framework will bedeveloped for sharing of com-munity data that serves largerpublic interest (subject toaddressing privacy-relatedissues) with start-ups andfirms. The larger public inter-est or public good is an evolv-ing concept. The implementa-tion of this shall be undertak-en by a ‘data authority’ to beestablished for this purpose,” it

added.The policy laid out strate-

gies to protect misuse of datawhile maintaining the spirit ofexisting regulations, it saidadding that e-commerce war-rants a framework whichextends across segments, due tothe cross-cutting nature ofissues.

On e-commerce market-place businesses, it said the pol-icy aims to invite and encour-age foreign direct investment(FDI) in the marketplacemodel “alone”, which is beingcarried out by companies likeFlpkart and Amazon.

“An e-commerce platform,in which foreign investmenthas been made, therefore, can-not exercise ownership or con-trol over the inventory sold onits platform. In this manner,foreign investment is not seenas a threat by small offlineretailers of multi-brandedproducts,” it said.

Online marketplacesshould not adopt businessmodels or strategies which arediscriminatory and whichfavour one or fewsellers/traders operating ontheir platforms over others,the draft clarifies.

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Shareholders of the belea-guered Jet Airways have

approved a proposal to converta part of company’s loans intoshares with an overwhelmingmajority. The developmentassumes significance as theapproval was required to goahead with the Bank-ledProvisional Resolution Plan(BLPRP). As part of this, pub-lic sector lenders will becomethe largest equity owners of theairline, virtually making it anationalised carrier.

According to the airline,the proposal, an attempt torelieve the financial strain onthe passenger carrier, was putforth to the shareholders at theExtraordinary General Meetingheld here on Thursday. Resultsof the vote was announced on

late Friday night. The specialresolution to allow conversionof loans into “shares or con-vertible instruments or othersecurities” was passed withover 97 per cent votes. It comesafter Jet Airways Boardapproved the BLPRP onFebruary 14.

“The BLPRP currentlyestimates a funding gap of�8,500 crore (including pro-posed repayment of aircraftdebt of �1,700 crore) to be metby appropriate mix of equityinfusion, debt restructuring,sale or sale and leaseback orrefinancing of aircraft, amongother things,” the companysaid in a regulatory filing to theBSE on February 14.

As part of a provisional res-olution plan, the airline’s Boardhas agreed to allot 11.4 croreshares at an aggregate value of

�1 to the lenders’ consortiumled by the State Bank of India,according to the airline.

Through the conversion, theBoard of Jet Airways Ltd hasapproved an action plan by itslenders to resolve a nearly �8,500crore ($1.19 billion) funding gap,which will make them the largestshareholders of India’s biggest full-service carrier. Recently, JetAirways reported �587.7 croreas standalone net loss for thethird quarter ended December31, 2018. It had reported a netprofit of �165.25 crore duringthe year-ago period.

The private carrier onJanuary 1 defaulted in payinginterest and instalments onloan repayments due to banks,following which rating agencyICRA downgraded both shortand long-term credit facilitiesof the airline.

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The UK has announced theclosure of its probe into

corruption charges againstsenior executives of Britishaerospace and defence majorRolls-Royce in India and sixother countries.

Serious Fraud Office(SFO), the UK government’sinvestigation authority, whichalso closed a long-runningprobe against pharmaceuticalgiant GlaxoSmithKline, saidin a statement on Friday thatthe cases had little chance of asuccessful prosecution andwere being closed after nearlysix years. Rolls-Royce hadbecome embroiled in allega-tions of bribery and corruption

to win business in seven coun-tries, including India,Indonesia, Thailand, Russia,Nigeria, China and Malaysia.

The SFO’s inquiry hadalready been under way foraround four years when itreached a plea deal with thecompany in 2017, which result-ed in the company paying outa fine of nearly 500 millionpound for misconduct span-ning three decades.

“After an extensive andcareful examination, I haveconcluded that there is eitherinsufficient evidence to providea realistic prospect of convictionor it is not in the public inter-est to bring a prosecution inthese cases,” SFO director LisaOsofsky said in the statement.

San Francisco: Twitter co-founder and one-time chiefexecutive Evan Williams isstepping down from the board,leaving the one-to-many mes-saging service to focus on“other projects.” Williams willdepart the Twitter board at theend of this month, according toa filing with the US Securitiesand Exchange Commission onFriday.

“It’s been an incredible 13years, and I’m proud of whatTwitter has accomplished dur-ing my time with the compa-ny,” Williams said in the filing.

“I will continue rootingfor the team as I focus my timeon other projects.” Williamsthrottled back his role in theSan Francisco-based startupeight years ago. AFP

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E-commerce giants Amazonand Walmart-backed

Flipkart Saturday said they arereviewing the draft national e-commerce policy and will sharetheir inputs on the proposals indue course of time.

The Government, onSaturday, released the draftthat proposes setting up a legaland technological frameworkfor restrictions on cross-borderdata flow and also laid out con-ditions for businesses regardingcollection or processing of sen-sitive data locally and storing itabroad.

“We appreciate theGovernment seeking consulta-tion on the draft e-commercepolicy. We are going throughthe draft, which has been justreleased for comments and

will be sharing our inputs indue course. As India’s home-grown e-commerce pioneer,Flipkart has always been at theforefront of growth of theindustry. We look forward toworking with the governmentand other stakeholders indeveloping this nascent sec-tor...” a Flipkart spokespersonsaid.

Amazon India, in an e-mailed statement, said thecompany is also currentlystudying the draft policy.

“...We will provide ourinputs during the public reviewperiod. We look forward to anenabling policy to serve over4.5 lakh sellers and a policy thatwill allow us to scale up ourlogistics network, create newjobs and infrastructure, digitisepayments and delight our cus-tomers,” the statement added.

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Market regulator Sebi hasruled that Motilal Oswal

Commodities Broker and IndiaInfoline Commodities are not“fit and proper” to act as com-modity derivative brokers inconnection with the �5,600-crore scam at the now defunctNSEL. In a regulatory filing,Motilal Oswal FinancialServices said Motilal OswalCommodities Brokers isaggrieved by the order andconsulting lawyers to explorelegal options before it.

Noting that reputation is animportant factor for consider-ation of “fit and proper” crite-ria, Sebi said the reputation ofthe two entities have been seri-ously eroded.

The rulings have comeagainst the backdrop of thepayment scam at the NationalSpot Exchange (NSEL) thatcame to light in 2013; and sub-sequently, many entities,including brokers, have comeunder the scanner of Sebi andother probe agencies.

Motilal OswalCommodities and IndiaInfoline Commodities are not“fit and proper” entities to begranted registration to operateas commodity derivatives bro-kers, according to two separateorders passed by Sebi onFebruary 22.

The regulator has rejectedthe applications datedDecember 11 and December16, 2015, filed by Motilal Oswalfor registration as commodityderivatives broker. In the caseof India Infoline Commodities,its application dated December23, 2015 has been rejected.

Both entities would ceaseto “act, directly or indirectly, ascommodity derivatives bro-kers”, as per the orders.

According to Sebi, the alle-gations against the MotilalOswal and India Infoline thatthey are not fit and proper restson twin basis.

One is the alleged violationof various laws and circularswith respect to the NSEL mat-ter, and the second is the exis-tence of various adverse obser-

vations by various courts/authorities regarding the trans-actions in paired contracts onNSEL and the association of thetwo entities with such transac-tions and with the spotexchange, it noted.

“Both sets of allegationlead to serious questions aboutthe reputation, integrity, char-acter and competence” of thetwo entities, Sebi said in theorders.

The regulator noted thatthe paired contracts could nothave been executed in suchlarge volumes, across the largenumber of clients without theactions and facilitation of thetwo brokers. This facilitation issufficient to establish theirclose association with the NSELand paired contracts. The twoentities themselves to become

the channel or instrument ofNSEL in promotion of pairedcontracts amongst its clients, itadded.

Regarding any existingclients of Motilal Oswal andIndia Infoline as commodityderivatives brokers, Sebi saidsuch clients should be allowedto withdraw or transfer theirsecurities or funds held intheir custody or withdraw anyassignment given to them with-in 45 days from the date of theorders. These things have be todone without any additionalcost to the clients.

In case of failure of anyclients to withdraw or transfertheir securities or funds with-in 45 days, the two entitiesshould shall transfer the bal-ance clients with their corre-sponding securities and fundsto another person, holding avalid certificate of registrationto carry on such activities.This has to be done within afurther period of 30 days andthat person should not bedirectly or indirectly related tothe two entities, Sebi said.

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Prime Minister NarendraModi on Sunday will launch

the �75,000-crore PradhanMantri Kisan Samman Nidhi(PM-KISAN) scheme inGorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh, bytransferring the first instal-ment of �2,000 each to over onecrore farmers, a senior agri-culture ministry official said.

Another one crore farmerswill be covered in the next 2-3days, the official said.

In the interim Budget2019-20, the central govern-ment had announced the PM-KISAN scheme under which�6,000 per year will be given in

three instalments to 12 croresmall and marginal farmersholding cultivable land up totwo hectares.

The Prime Minister in atweet said, “Tomorrow is a his-toric day! The Pradhan MantriKisan Samman Nidhi will belaunched from Gorakhpur.This is a scheme that will givewings to the aspirations ofcrores of hardworking farmers of India who feed ournation.”

He further said that“tomorrow’s launch of PMKisan Samman Nidhi demon-strates two things: NDA’s unwa-vering commitment to farmerwelfare and speedy decisionmaking — a schemeannounced on 1st February hasbecome a reality in such a shortspan. This is the new work cul-ture of New India”.

The scheme has been madeeffective from this fiscal itselfand as a result, farmers wouldget one instalment beforeMarch-end. This programme is

part of the Government’s effortto address farm sector dis-tress, caused by lower sales real-isation on bumper productionof foodgrains, oilseeds, sugar-cane, cotton and horticulturecrops.

“To provide an assuredincome support to the smalland marginal farmers, the gov-ernment is launching thePradhan Mantri KisanSamman Nidhi (PM-KISAN),”the Union agriculture Ministrysaid in an official statement onSaturday. The Ministry in itsstatement did not mention thenumber of farmers who will gettheir first instalment of �2,000on Sunday.

However, the senior officialsaid over one crore farmersfrom 14 States, including UPand Karnataka, will get theirfirst instalment on Sunday andone crore more beneficiaries,spread over 28 States and oneUT, would get their instal-ment in the next 2-3 days.

Explaining the modalities

of cash dole, the ministry saidthis income support will betransferred directly into thebank accounts of beneficiaryfarmers, in three equal instal-ments of �2,000 each.

“The Centre will transferthe amount to the bankaccount of the beneficiariesthrough State NotionalAccount. For transfer of bene-fit, district-wise beneficiaries’list has to be certified and uploaded by theStates/UTs on the PM-KISANportal of the central govern-ment,” it added.

The funds would be elec-tronically transferred to thebeneficiary’s bank account bythe Centre through StateNotional Account on a patternsimilar to MGNREGS.

“PM-KISAN would notonly provide assured supple-mental income to the most vul-nerable farmer families, butwould also meet their emergentneeds especially before theharvest season.

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Page 7:  · Kashmir, not against Kashmir, not against the Kashmiris,” the PM added. He said the Kashmiri youths are also troubled by ter-rorism and are ready to fight against them. “We

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US President Donald Trumphas described as “very

dangerous” the situationbetween India and Pakistanafter the Pulwama terrorattack, but said he can under-stand New Delhi’s desire forsomething “very strong” as ithas lost almost 50 people.

Forty CRPF personnelwere killed and five injured onFebruary 14 in one of thedeadliest terror attacks inJammu and Kashmir when asuicide bomber of Pakistan-based terror group Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) rammed avehicle carrying a huge quan-tity of explosives into their busin Pulwama district.

India launched a majordiplomatic offensive againstIslamabad after the attack andhighlighted Pakistan’s role inusing terrorism as an instru-ment of state policy.

The international commu-nity led by the US pressedPakistan to deny safe haven toterror groups operating form itssoil and bring the perpetratorsof the Pulwama attack to jus-tice.

Trump, after his meetingwith a visiting Chinese tradedelegation led by Vice PremierLiu He, told reporters in theOval Office of the WhiteHouse on Friday that “inKashmir, it’s very dangerous”.

The President referred to

the possibility of a strongresponse from India in thewake of the terrorist attack.

“India is looking at some-thing very strong. And I mean,India just lost almost 50 peo-ple with an attack. So, I couldunderstand that also,” he saidwhen asked about India’s rightto self-defence.

Responding to questionson the tense situation betweenthe two South Asian neigh-bours, Trump said the US istalking about it so does someother nations, without men-tioning them.

“We are talking and a lot ofpeople are talking. But, it is avery, very delicate balancegoing on right now. There’s a lotof problems between India andPakistan because of what justhappened,” said the USPresident.

“We’re very much involvedin that, if that’s what you’rereferring to,” he said. Trumpdescribed the current situationbetween India and Pakistan asvery dangerous.

“It’s a terrible thing goingon right now between Pakistanand India... It is a very, verybad situation and it’s a verydangerous situation betweenthe two countries. We wouldlike to see it stopped. A lot ofpeople were just killed and wewant to see it stopped,” he said.

Trump claimed that hisadministration has developeda much better relationship with

Pakistan, even after he stoppedUSD 1.3 billion in financial aidto Islamabad.

“I stopped Pakistan, theUSD 1.3 billion that we werepaying them. In the meantime,we may set up some meetingswith Pakistan.

“Pakistan was taking verystrong advantage of the UnitedStates under other presidentsand we were paying Pakistan1.3 billion a year. I ended thatpayment to Pakistan becausethey weren’t helping us in a waythat they should have. Andhonestly, we’ve developed amuch better relationship withPakistan over the last shortperiod of time than we had,”Trump said.

In the wake of thePulwama attack, US NationalSecurity Adviser John Boltontold his Indian counterpartAjit Doval last week thatAmerica supports India’s rightto self-defence as both sidesvowed to work together toensure that Pakistan ceases tobe a safe haven for JeM andother terror groups.

India has asked Pakistan totake immediate and verifiableaction against terrorists andterror groups operating fromterritories under its control.

New Delhi also announcedthe withdrawal of the MostFavoured Nation status forPakistan and hiked the customsduty by 200 per cent on goodsoriginating from Pakistan.

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Three members of PrimeMinister Theresa May’s

Cabinet warned on Saturdaythat Brexit must be delayed ifshe cannot persuade theBritish parliament to back herEU divorce deal next week.

Business minister GregClark, Work and PensionsMinister Amber Rudd and jus-tice minister David Gaukewrote an article stating theiropposition to leaving theEuropean Union on March 29with no deal.

May is currently scram-bling to secure changes to thedivorce text she struck with thebloc in November, hoping towin the support of MPs wholast month rejected the deal bya massive margin.

“If there is no breakthroughin the coming week, the balanceof opinion in parliament isclear -- that it would be better toseek to... Delay our date of depar-ture rather than crash out of theEuropean Union on March 29,”the ministers wrote in the DailyMail newspaper. They added:“Beyond the next few days, theresimply will not be time to agreea deal and complete all the nec-essary legislation before March29.” But they warned that leavingthe EU with no deal would“severely” damage the economy,weaken national security and risk

the break-up of the UK.May was in Brussels this

week for talks with EuropeanCommission president Jean-Claude Juncker, and will meetEuropean Council presidentDonald Tusk on Sunday at anEU-Arab League summit inEgypt. She has promised toupdate parliament on herefforts on Tuesday and eitherput the new deal to a fresh voteof MPs or allow them onWednesday to debate theirown ideas for the way forward.One of these is expected to bea plan to delay Brexit to avoida “no deal” scenario.

The ministers warned theirhardline Brexit-supporting col-leagues who continue to opposeMay’s Brexit deal that MPs willnot allow Britain to leave theEU with no deal by default. “Ifthat happens, they (theeurosceptics) will have no-oneto blame but themselves fordelaying Brexit,” they said.

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Pakistan InformationMinister Fawad Chaudhry

on Saturday called Indianmedia reports of the Pakistangovernment taking adminis-trative control of the head-quarters of Jaish-e-Mohammed(JeM) “fabricated”, claimingthat the facility was a madrasawhere students receive educa-tion and the action had noth-ing to do with the Kashmir sui-cide bombing.

His comments came afterthe country’s Interior Ministryon Friday announced that thePunjab province’s governmenttook administrative control ofa mosque-and-seminary com-plex in Bahawalpur area whichis believed to be the head-quarters of Masood Azhar’sJeM.

The terror group hadclaimed the February 14Kashmir suicide bombing thatkilled 40 Central Reserve PoliceForce (CRPF) troopers, height-ening tensions betweenIslamabad and New Delhi.

“ The government ofPunjab has taken over thecontrol of a campus com-prising Madrassatul Sabir andJama-e-Masjid Subhanallahin Bahawalpur, reportedlythe headquarters of JeM...and appointed an adminis-trator to manage its affairs,”the Interior Ministry had

said.However, in a video mes-

sage on social media,Chaudhry said that the Punjabprovince government tookadministrative control ofMadrassatul Sabir and Jamia-e-Masjid Subhanallah inBahawalpur in line with thedecisions taken during theNational Security Council(NSC) meeting and as part ofthe National Action Plan(NAP).

“During yesterday’s NSCmeeting, it was decided thatNAP will be fully implement-ed. Some steps were taken inthis regard yesterday and todaythe Punjab government tookadministrative control of amadrasa in Bahawalpur,” hesaid.

“This is the madrasa thatIndia was doing propagandaover and alleging that it is the

headquarters of JeM.Tomorrow, the Punjab gov-ernment will give media per-sons a tour of the madrasa soeveryone can see how it is func-tioning and see the truth forthemselves,” he added.

Stating that “around 700students are studying at themadrasa”, Chaudhry said that“this step (to take administra-tive control) has nothing to dowith the attack in Kashmir”,Geo News reported.

“NAP is our own securitydocument over which all polit-ical parties are in consensusand we are implementing it.”

Pakistan on Thursday alsobanned the 2008 Mumbaiattack mastermind HafizSaeed-led Jamat-ud-Dawa(JuD) and its charity wingFalah-e-Insaniat Foundationamid growing internationalpressure to act on terrorgroups operating from itssoil.

The UN Security Councilin a show of unanimity had onThursday named the JeM in astatement condemning in the“strongest terms” the “heinousand cowardly suicide bombing”carried out by the JeM.

The statement “under-lined the need to hold perpe-trators, organisers, financiersand sponsors of these repre-hensible acts of terrorismaccountable and bring them tojustice”

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President Donald Trumpsaid on Friday he is nomi-

nating Kelly Craft, his envoy toCanada, to be the next USambassador to the UnitedNations.

“Kelly has done an out-standing job representing ourNation and I have no doubtthat, under her leadership, ourCountry will be represented atthe highest level,” Trump saidin a pair of tweets announcinghis pick. If confirmed by the USSenate, she would fill the postthat has been vacant sinceNikki Haley, a former SouthCarolina governor and risingstar in the Republican Partywho stepped down from theUN job late last year.

Craft was nominated oneweek after Trump’s previouschoice, former Fox Newsanchor and State Departmentspokeswoman Heather Nauert,withdrew from considerationamid criticism that she lackedthe experience for one of thetop diplomatic posts.

Secretary of State MikePompeo offered quick praisefor the nominee. “AmbassadorCraft has been an outstandingadvocate for America’s nation-

al security and economic inter-ests in Canada and she isextremely well-qualified todo the same at the UnitedNations,” he said in a statement.

Craft was a major sup-porter of George W Bush, whoas president appointed her toserve as a US delegate to theUnited Nations, representingWashington at UN meetings.

The businesswoman fromKentucky, believed to be 56-years-old, has been a majorRepublican donor. She raisedeyebrows in 2017 as the newUS ambassador in Ottawa --and the first woman in thatpost -- when she said shebelieves “both sides” of climatescience.

“I think that both sideshave their own results, fromtheir studies, and I appreciateand I respect both sides of thescience,” Craft told theCanadian BroadcastingCorporation.

She is married to Joe Craft,who is president of AllianceResource Partners, whichdescribes itself as the secondlargest coal producer in theeastern United States. Joe Craftwas worth an estimated USD1.4 billion in 2012, accordingto Forbes magazine.

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Two Saudi sisters trappedin Hong Kong say chron-

ic physical abuse by malefamily members promptedthem to flee the kingdom,where they now fear theywill be forcibly returned.

The siblings are the latestexample of Saudi womenplotting their escape from theultra-conservative kingdomonly to find themselves dodg-ing officials and angry fami-ly members at every turn, asthe country battles criticismof its human rights record.The young women, aged 20and 18, found themselvesmarooned after Saudi con-sular officials allegedly inter-cepted them during astopover at the city’s airportand later revoked their pass-ports.

The pair, who have adopt-ed the aliases Reem andRawan, described a deeplyunhappy upbringing in a mid-dle-class Riyadh household.They claim they were beatenby their father when theywere young, and by theirbrothers when they got older,for small transgressions such

as waking up late for prayer.“They started to beat me... Myfather didn’t really stop them.He thinks that this is whatmakes them men,” Reem toldAFP. Even their 10-year-oldbrother participated andbegan to police the way theydressed, they say, chidingthem for removing theirniqabs when dining out.

“He was only a child buthe learned this from hisbrothers and from his fatherand from all the men aroundhim, that this is the good wayto be a man and to deal withwomen,” Reem said.

They decided to bolt forfreedom during a family hol-iday overseas, when theirpassports would be kept intheir parents’ bag instead ofa safe -- and when they wouldnot need permission from amale guardian to travelabroad. They started planningfor the trip two years ago tocoincide with Rawan’s 18thbirthday, so that she couldapply for a visitor’s visa toAustralia on her own. Theopportunity arrived lastSeptember, when the familytravelled to Sri Lanka forvacation.

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US President Donald Trumpon Friday said a trade

summit with Chinese leader XiJinping was likely to occur nextmonth, and hailed two days of“very good talks” by negotia-tors. The talks were extendedthrough Sunday as officialsrace to reach a deal ahead ofa deadline next week when USduty rates are due to risesharply.

But Trump again said hewas considering pushing backthe deadline for raising tar-iffs on more than USD 200billion in Chinese exports.“We expect to have a meetingsometime in a not too distantfuture,” he said of the meet-ing with Xi.

“Probably fairly soon in themonth of March.” Detailsremained scant about anyconcrete progress in the seven-month-old trade war, whichhas rattled the global marketsand prompted stark warningsabout the risks to the worldeconomy.

“I think there is a very, verygood chance that a deal can bemade,” Trump told reporters atthe White House on a secondday of trade negotiations withChinese officials.

“If we are doing well, Icould see extending that” dead-line for the end of the threemonth tariff truce. And Trump

said an agreement on curren-cy manipulation will be includ-ed in the trade pact. Officialsfrom Beijing also expressedoptimism about a positive out-come.

“From China, we believethat it is very likely that it willhappen,” Chinese trade envoyLiu He said, speaking throughan interpreter.

Global stock markets werehigher on expectations thetwo sides would avoid furtherdeterioration in their traderelations. Analysts say thetwo sides are likely to trumpetmutual agreements to resolvethe easier parts of the tradedispute -- increasing pur-chases of American goods,more open investment inChina and tougher protec-tions for intellectual proper-ty and proprietary technolo-gy. The harder parts coveringissues like scaling back China’sambitious industrial strategyfor global preeminence, areanother question.

Christine Lagarde, head ofthe International MonetaryFund, again warned that the

US-China trade tensions a“major risk” to world eco-nomic growth. Since July, thecountries have hit out with tar-iffs on more than $360 billionin two-way trade.

While the tariffs alone arehaving “minimal” effect onglobal trade, they are damag-ing business confidence andweighing on stock markets,Lagarde told the US radio pro-gram Marketplace onThursday.

“I cross my fingers everymorning and my toes everyevening because I hope that itis going to end up with a wayto fix the system, not break it,”she said The IMF has cut itsforecast for global growth thisyear due to the combinedimpact of the trade war.

Beijing reportedly has pro-posed an increase in its importsof US energy and agriculturalexports significantly. USAgriculture Secretary SonnyPerdue tweeted that China hascommitted to buying “an addi-tional” 10 million metric tonsof soybeans as a “show of goodfaith,” but he did not give any

details or specify the time-frame.

Still, a broader deal couldbe difficult given the USdemands for far-reachingstructural changes.

Gary Clyde Hufbauer, atrade expert at the PetersonInstitute for InternationalEconomics, said China mayhave to remove its tariffs inorder to increase purchases ofUS goods, but Trump may feelno pressure to roll back theduties he imposed last year.

“The big surprise would bea complete removal of tariffs byTrump but I’m expecting anasymmetrical removal of tariffsby China in order to get tosome of these numbers,” hesaid.

China’s retaliation has hitUS farm exports hard. The USAgriculture Department esti-mated this month that US soyexports would not turn to theirpre-trade war levels for anoth-er six years. William Reinsch,a former senior Treasury offi-cial for trade in the adminis-tration of President BillClinton, told AFP a risk forTrump is whether any agree-ment holds and the Chinesehonor their commitments.

“If it unravels and we havea string of unmet commit-ments and then US retaliationright before the election, we’rekind of right back where westarted,” he said.

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ABritish Muslim convert,dubbed Jihadi Jack, has

become the latest member ofthe Islamic State of Iraq andSyria (ISIS) terrorist group tourge the UK Government toallow him to return to thecountry, saying he is missinghome and his mother.

Jack Letts had travelled toSyria in 2014 and was later cap-tured by the Kurdish-led YPG– the group fighting againstISIS – when he fled Raqqa, thede facto capital of the terrornetwork.

The 23-year-old from thecity of Oxford was interviewedby the UK’s ITV News chan-nel this week from a prison cellin Syria, where he is being heldafter being charged by theYPG with being a member ofthe ISIS.

“I miss people mostly, Imiss my mum. Five years Ihaven’t seen my mum, twoyears I haven’t spoken to mymum. I miss pasties. And‘Doctor Who’,” he said, in ref-erence to food and TV showsfrom the UK.

“I feel British, I am British.If the UK accepted me, I wouldgo back to the UK, it’s myhome. But I don’t think that’sgoing to happen,” said Letts,who holds dual nationality

through his Canadian father.Letts said he did not know

if his Canadian passport wouldstill be valid.

His parents, John Lettsand Sarah Lane, face a trial inthe UK over claims theyfunded terrorism by sendingtheir son money. The coupledeny the charge and insisttheir son went to Syria to helprefugees.

Speaking from the jailwhere he has been held for thepast two years, Letts said he waspleased when he first heardnews of the Paris terror attacksin 2015 and blamed his reac-tion on his experiences of US-led coalition airstrikes inRaqqa.

He said when asked aboutthe Bataclan attack: “At thetime, I thought it was a goodthing. At the time we had thisidea, living in Raqqa, gettingbombed every five minutes bycoalition jets. I’ve seen childrenburnt alive. You have this ideaof ‘why shouldn’t it happen tothem?’”

But Letts said he had sincehad a change of heart and feltsympathy for the innocentpeople killed as he “realisedthat they had nothing to dowith it”.

Letts said he had lived on“the Oxford Street of Raqqa”and married an Iraqi woman

who had given birth to theirson.

The UK Home Office hasnot commented on the inter-view, which comes just daysafter an interview withShamima Begum – aBangladeshi-origin so-calledjihadi bride who had fledLondon as a 15-year-oldschoolgirl to join the ISIS in2015.

Now as a 19-year-old newmother in a Syrian refugeecamp she has made a plea tobe allowed to return to theUK. However, UK home sec-retary Sajid Javid revoked herBritish citizenship earlierthis week, a move set to belegally challenged by her fam-ily.

“In recent days the homesecretary has clearly stated thathis priority is the safety andsecurity of Britain and thepeople who live here. In orderto protect this country, he hasthe power to deprive someoneof their British citizenshipwhere it would not renderthem stateless,” a Home Officespokesperson said.

“We do not comment onindividual cases, but any deci-sions to deprive individuals oftheir citizenship are based onall available evidence and nottaken lightly,” the spokespersonsaid.

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Gwyneth Paltrow hascounter-sued a retired

doctor who is taking legalaction against the actor-entre-preneur over a 2016 skiingaccident. In documents filed incourt last month, TerrySanderson had claimed thatthe 46-year-old actor was “ski-ing out of control” when she hithim from behind, “knockinghim down hard, knocking himout” at the Deer Valley Resortin Park City, Utah in February2016.

He also alleged that DeerValley ski instructor EricChristiansen, who was accom-panying Paltrow, did not callfor help and later filed areport “falsely” accusingSanderson of causing the acci-dent. The complainant claimedhe suffered a brain injury,short-term memory loss andfour broken ribs. Sanderson isseeking in excess of USD 3.1million in damages fromPaltrow, Christiansen and theresort. The actor, however, hasfiled a countersuit against theman in which she is sharingher side of the story, EOnlinereported.

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Venezuelan security forcesfired tear gas and rubber

bullets Saturday to disperse acrowd demanding to cross theVenezuela-Colombia border,ordered closed by PresidentNicolas Maduro as tensions inthe Latin American countrysoared ahead of an oppositiondeadline to bring in humani-tarian aid.

“We want to work!” peoplechanted as they facedVenezuelan National Guardriot police blocking the cross-ing at the Urena border bridgeto Colombia, one of severalordered closed Maduro lateFriday. Meanwhile, fourNational Guard troops desert-ed their posts near the border,one greeted by a crowd ofcheering Venezuelans on theColombian side as he walkedacross. Three others smashedthrough a security barrier onthe Simon Bolivar bridge cross-ing in their jeep.

Supporters of oppositionleader Juan Guaido inColombia are planning tocross the border carrying emer-gency supplies into Venezuela.Guaido has vowed humani-tarian aid would enter his

country despite a blockade.Socialist leader Maduro has

rejected the aid, which he’s dis-missed as a show and pretext fora US invasion. Humanitarian aidhas become the centerpiece ofthe stand-off between Maduroand Guaido, the 35-year-oldleader of Venezuela’s NationalAssembly who declared himselfinterim president exactly onemonth ago Saturday. Guaidohas accused Maduro of rigginghis re-election and is demand-ing a new vote.

Venezuela is gripped by ahumanitarian crisis that hasseen poverty soar during yearsof recession. As many as300,000 Venezuelans are indire need of food and medicineafter years of shortages andmalnutrition, according toGuaido. United Nations figuresshow that some 2.7 millionpeople have fled Venezuelasince 2015 amid the crisis, andsome 5,000 Venezuelans emi-grate from their country eachday. On the eve of the face-offGuaido defied a governmentban on leaving the country andattended the “Venezuela LiveAid” concert organized byBritish billionaire RichardBranson just over the border inColombia.

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One soldier was killed and20 others wounded

Saturday in a Boko Haramrocket attack in the north east,just hours before voting beganin Nigeria’s presidential elec-tion, security sources said.

A civilian militia source inMaiduguri, capital of Bornostate, told AFP “at least 13”blasts were heard throughoutthe city at dawn, some twohours before voting opened at0700 GMT.

Residents also reportedhearing the explosions. “BokoHaram terrorists attempted toenter the city but were inter-cepted,” a security source toldAFP.

“They resorted to firingRPGs (rocket-propelledgrenades) on the city. Attemptshave been made to locate thesource of the firing.”

A second source said oneof the explosions occurred atthe headquarters of theNigerian Army 7th Division astroops were preparing to goout on operations. “One soldierwas killed and 20 were injured.There were other explosions atMaimalari barracks but therewas no casualty,” he added.

A fighter jet was seen fly-

ing over the city, and the sourcesaid troops were searching forthe source of the fire.

Three mortar shells fellinto an open rice field in theTeachers Village camp forpeople displaced by the conflictbut there were no immediatereports of casualties. But thearmy denied there had beenany attack, saying the city was“calm and peaceful”.

Borno state police com-missioner Damien Chukwuacknowledged the sound ofgunfire but said it was “forsecurity purposes”, insistingthere was “no threat to publicpeace and order”.

There have been growingfears of a major Boko Haramattack in the run-up to theelection, given the jihadists’previous pledges to disrupt thepoll. Maiduguri is the birth-place of Boko Haram and hasbeen repeatedly attacked dur-ing its nearly 10-year insur-gency that has devastated theremote region.

Voters were on Saturdaycasting their ballots in Nigeria’spresidential election, withincumbent MuhammaduBuhari, a former army gener-al who has vowed to defeat thejihadists, seeking a second termin office.

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Page 8:  · Kashmir, not against Kashmir, not against the Kashmiris,” the PM added. He said the Kashmiri youths are also troubled by ter-rorism and are ready to fight against them. “We

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Sheldon Cottrell marked his returnto the West Indies team with a

five-wicket haul as the home sidesnatched a series-levelling 26-runvictory over England in the secondone-day international of a five-matchseries at Kensington Oval inBarbados on Friday.

Dropped for thecurtain-raiser twodays earlier wherethe English canteredto a six-wicket winin a high-scoringfixture, the 29-year-old Jamaican left-arm fast bowlerreturned figures offive for 46 as thetop-ranked visitorslost their last sixwickets for 35 runs to be dismissedfor 263 in response to what looked acomparatively modest West Indiestotal of 289 for six.

Shimron Hetmyer's unbeaten104 gave a labouring West Indiesinnings late impetus when theybatted first but it looked to be in vainwith England seeming to have the

match well in control at 228 forfour in the 40th over with BenStokes and Jos Buttlerentrenched.

For all of Cottrell's heroics,it was Holder who turned thematch on its head with tenovers left. He had Stokes caughtbehind for a top score of 79 andthen removed Buttler in hisnext over.

Tom Curran, who hadreplaced Chris Woakes, lookeddesperately unlucky to beadjudged leg-before to the firstdelivery he faced.

Cottrell then tightened theWest Indies' grip with thewickets of Adil Rashid andMoeen Ali before Liam Plunkettfound Holder's bucket-likehands at long-off as he

attempted to heave CarlosBrathwaite beyond theboundary rope.

Ealier in the day it wasHetmyer's impetuousaggression which gave the WestIndies a measure ofrespectability to the final scoreafter they were put in.

His third ODI hundredoccupied 83 deliveries and wasembellished by four sixes andseven fours, the last of theboundary hits taking him to thethree-figure landmark in thefinal over bowled by Stokes.

After his hundred onWednesday anchored the WestIndies to 360 for eight, ChrisGayle was off to a slow start buteventually reached 50 beforebeing bowled by Rashid.

Mark Wood, whoimpressed with his raw pace inEngland consolation victory inthe final match of the precedingthree-Test series in St Lucia,was the most economical of thebowlers over a full ten-overallotment, conceding just 39runs and claiming the wicket ofBrathwaite in his second spell.

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Sri Lankan captain DimuthKarunaratne hailed his happy,

united team after theycompleted an historic seriestriumph against South Africa atSt George's Park in PortElizabeth on Saturday.

Oshada Fernando and KusalMendis propelled Sri Lanka toan eight-wicket win on the thirdday of the second Test, playingexactly the sort of cricket thatKarunaratne wanted.

"We told them, 'play yournormal game, if you can hit overthe fielder go for it'," saidKarunaratne after theunheralded Sri Lankans becamethe first team from Asia to wina Test series in South Africa.

Fernando (75 not out) andMendis (84 not out) attacked the

South African bowlers fromthe start of play on Saturday,taking Sri Lanka from anovernight 60 for two to thevictory target of 197 in just overtwo hours of uninhibited strokeplay.

Appointed only as an"interim" captain, Karunaratnesaid he had a simple message forhis players when he took over ata time of apparent turmoil in SriLankan cricket.

"When I started, I said to myboys, 'whatever happens youhave to keep smiling, keepenjoying. If you're not enjoyingyou don't get to a hundredpercent'."

C4&�!� ����"�:DKarunaratne praised the

contribution of his bowlers,notably the inexperienced

Vishwa Fernando and KasunRajitha, who took 12 and ninewickets respectively over thetwo matches.

"Our bowling line-up dida really good job, especially theyoungsters," he said.

Du Plessis described theseries loss as "my biggest lowas a player in the Proteasteam".

He said he was particularlydisappointed with South

Africa's batting, which sank tonew depths when they werebowled out for 138 in thesecond innings, despite SriLanka being without injuredleft-arm spinner LasithEmbuldeniya.

Sri Lanka made it fourwins in a row against SouthAfrica after winning twomatches at home last year.

Kusal Perera, whose 153not out took Sri Lanka to a

dramatic, unexpected one-wicket win in the first Test inDurban, was named man ofthe series.

Sri Lanka's series win wasone of the biggest upsets inrecent cricket history.

South Africa had wontheir previous seven series athome and had won 16 out of19 home Tests, with only twodefeats, before losing inDurban.

Sri Lanka, by contrast,had lost six and drawn one oftheir previous seven Testsbefore arriving in SouthAfrica.

South Africa had won 19of 21 previous home seriesagainst Asian opponents, withthe only exceptions beingwhen India and Pakistanshared one series each.

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India captain Virat Kohli feels that it would have been "morelogical" if his team could have played a couple of more ODIs

instead of the two T20 Internationals as a part of their World Cuppreparations.

India are playing two T20 Internationals and five ODIs againstAustralia in what will be their last international assignment beforethe opening World Cup fixture against South Africa inSouthampton on June 5.

"Probably, a couple of more ODIs would have been morebeneficial for both the teams not just us. It would have been moreideal and logical," Kohli said on the eve of the opening T20.

Even though it's a T20 game, Kohli would like to treat theseshortest format games also an extended preparation for the WorldCup.

"But look we have to utilise what's in front of us as best aspossible. And as I said we're going to look to get into the rightkind of frame of mind as a team," the skipper added.

The core team for the World Cup is set but skipper didn'trule out an exceptional performer getting a look in.

"We're more or less sorted. But through the course of the seriesyou might see something which might surprise you as a team andwhich you might want to change immediately. But those are thingsthat are upon how circumstances come in front of you," he said.

"As of now, we feel pretty balanced as a side and I don't seeany concerns or areas that we need to think about anymore.Everything is more or less sorted," world's No 1 batsman soundedquite assured.

The Indian captain marked Marcus Stoinis as the mostdangerous player in theAussie set-up.

Kohli termedAussie all-rounder as athreat for theupcoming series.Stoinis scored 533 at53.30 with a strike rateof 130.63 forMelbourne Stars in theBBL.

"If I had to singleout one player that canmake more impact,that would be Stoinis.He has come aroundreally well during theBBL and he's makingstand outperformances. You cansee he's grown inconfidence and he'sdefinitely going to be avery important playerfor them."

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Indian team will be aiming to lockin the last couple of available slotsin their England-bound World

Cup squad, when they square off withfamiliar foes Australia in a limitedovers series starting with the first T20on Sunday.

The seven-match seriescomprising two T20 Internationalsand five ODIs against a strugglingAustralian side, will be India's lastinternational assignment before themega event starting May 30 inEngland and Wales.

With all but two places sealed,Virat Kohli and Ravi Shastri will alsotreat these two T20 games as anextended audition for the WorldCup hopefuls, who are still on thewaiting list.

Skipper Kohli is back after a well-deserved three-week break and willbe keeping a keen eye on the likes ofRishabh Pant and Vijay Shankar, twoplayers who are strongly tipped tomake the elite list.

Having edged out DineshKarthik in the ODI side in the raceto the World Cup, Pant will get a fewmore chances to make a strong casefor himself.

For Vijay Shankar, it will be agreat opportunity to make his caseeven stronger in the absence ofHardik Pandya, who is out with hisrecurring lower back injury.

Shankar has shown that he couldbe explosive with the bat and thequestion will be how effective he canbe with the ball.

No one more than DineshKarthik will be more keen to makea statement as these two games willeffectively be his last chance as he hasalready been dropped from the ODIsagainst Australia.

With the return of India's No 1pacer Jasprit Bumrah, the bowlingdepartment that distinctly lackedsting against New Zealand, will bebolstered.

Bumrah is two shy of his personaltally of 50 wickets in T20I cricket, anachievement only in possession of thediscarded Ravichandran Ashwin.

While rookie leg-break bowlerMayank Markande is in the squad,India in all likelihood will go with thetested pair of Yuzvendra Chahal andKrunal Pandya, who have donereasonably well for the home team inrecent times.

However the shortest format isexactly not the one where where

India have been veryconsistent. A recent 1-2series defeat against NewZealand is a testimony.

India may be ahead 11-6 onhead-to-head in T20s but they havedrawn 1-1 their last two series againstAustralia — at home (2017) and away(2018) — with rain playingspoilsport.

It was way back in 2016 whenIndia under MS Dhoni last wonagainst Australia, a 3-0 clean sweepDown Under as this time Kohli's menwill look to settle the scores with a2-0 .

But more than that the series willbe a dress rehearsal for the WorldCup as Kohli would look like to make

a final assessmentbefore heading toWorld Cup in May.

Kohli will look tostraightway be back among the runsafter a sterling 2018 where he endedthe year with an astounding 2735runs from 38 matches across formats.

Kohli averages 61 from 13 T20Iinnings against Australia with fivehalf-centuries in those games.

The Aaron Finch-led side maynot have played T20Is since their lastseries against India three monthsback, but they are fresh from theirextended Big Bash League with sixplayers including the skipperfeaturing in the all-Melbourne finalon February 17.

Player of the Tournament D'ArcyShort played 15 BBL games thisseason for Hobart Hurricanes scoring637 runs at 53.08 average (140.61strike rate).

He was followed by competitionleading wicket-taker KaneRichardson who topped the bowlingaggregate with 24 at 17.70 (economyrate 7.75).

The dynamic left-handed openerShort will look to correct his stats onthe turning pitches and relaunch hiscareer giving them a good start.

�<$%�India: Virat Kohli (c), RohitSharma, KL Rahul, ShikharDhawan, Rishabh Pant, DineshKarthik, MS Dhoni (wk), KrunalPandya, Vijay Shankar, YuzvendraChahal, Jasprit Bumrah, UmeshYadav, Sidharth Kaul, MayankMarkande.Australia: Aaron Finch (c), D'ArcyShort, Pat Cummins, Alex Carey,Jason Behrendorff, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Peter Handscomb, UsmanKhawaja, Nathan Lyon, GlennMaxwell, Jhye Richardson, KaneRichardson, Marcus Stoinis, AshtonTurner, Adam Zampa.

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Australian captain AaronFinch on Saturday said the

limited overs series againstIndia would give the youngstersa perfect opportunity to stakea claim for two World Cupspots with the suspended duoof Steve Smith and DavidWarner racing against time torecover from injuries.

The duo suffered similarelbow injuries last month andit's not clear whether theywould be fit in time for theWorld Cup beginning May 30.

"Definitely it's a greatopportunity for the guys tocome in and really challengefor that spot. Warner obviouslyhad some elbow surgeryrecently so that'll be in the backof the mind as well," Finch saidon the eve of the openingT20.

"But if things don't go 100per cent right with their rehabor some complications with itand they're not back in time,

it's a huge, huge opportunityfor guys to step up and almostcement their place goingforward."

"With the two T20 matches(against India), it's a chance forthe guys to continue on theirBig Bash form and testthemselves against the best inthe world in their ownconditions."

The recent T20 form ofvice-captain Alex Carey andall-rounder Marcus Stoinisalso augurs well for theAustralian team.

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India captain Virat Kohli onSaturday said that his team will

"respect the decision of thegovernment" with regards toplaying Pakistan in the upcomingWorld Cup in the wake of thePulwama terror attacks where 40CRPF personnel were martyred.

There has been calls to boycottthe June 16 World Cup face-offagainst Pakistan at the Old Traffordin the aftermath of the dastardlyattack but the Indian cricket boardhas not taken a call, putting the ballin government's court.

"Our stand is simple. We stickby what the nation wants to do andwhat the BCCI decides to do andthat is basically our opinion,"skipper Kohli said.

"Whatever the governmentand the board decide, we willeventually go by that and willrespect that. So that is our stand onthis particular issue," Kohli added.

Kohli's stand is pretty similarto what chief coach Ravi Shastriechoed in an interview to atelevision channel where he saidthat the team will "accept whateverdecision that the governmenttakes."

"It's entirely left to the BCCIand the government. They knowexactly what is happening andthey will take a call. We will go bywhat they decide," Shastri toldMirror Now.

"If the government says it's thatsensitive you do not need to playthe World Cup, I will go by mygovernment," the head coachfurther said.

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6,;)7 �)08�#� �,"�8F� 7"#��H 2� Matthew Hayden,considered as one of the finestplayers of spin bowling, onSaturday shared his knowledgewith the Australian batsmen onhow to tackle slow bowlers likeYuzvendra Chahal.

Hayden, here as acommentator, was invited byold friend and current coachJustin Langer as the formeropener had long chat with theplayers during their net sessionat the stadium.

Hayden was seendemonstrating shot selection tothe players as he accompaniedthe side during their fullpractice session. He also gavetips on slip catching.

Australia have also ropedin two Indian leg spinners intheir support staff to help themout with the tricks of playingagainst the wrist spin. PTI

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Page 9:  · Kashmir, not against Kashmir, not against the Kashmiris,” the PM added. He said the Kashmiri youths are also troubled by ter-rorism and are ready to fight against them. “We

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“All the time, circumstances are not going tofavour us. We shall have to face obstacles andadversities. Fearlessness is the first virtue of ahero, the starting point of all other noble virtues.”

— MS Golwalkar

Even as Hanuman Prasad Poddar andhis Gita Press publications werereaching millions of Hindu homesand re-energising their religious iden-tity — something that, decades later,

the televised serials on Mahabharata andRamayana would achieve in their own uniqueways — a new crop of organisations and theirleaders had emerged on the national scene thatwould significantly enhance the “‘Hindunation” idea. They had aggression and unflag-ging commitment, which helped them drawhordes of supporters and sympathisers in theyears to come. Further, these leaders and theiroutfits changed the very discourse of not justthe Hindu-ness of India, but also the politicalresponse to it. During the freedom struggle,they linked the campaign to the anti-Britishrule movement, claiming that a Hindu nationcould not remain subservient to foreign rule —more so a rule which professed a faith that wasan import and not Indic in nature. Theseorganisations and their key driving forces hadalso another target — the Muslim population,which was seen as not fully aligned to the ideaof a Hindu oneness and which refused to acceptthe notion that they had a common culturallineage with their majority Hindu brethren. Ofcourse, none of these outfits accepted that theywere anti-Muslim in the same way that theywere anti-British reign, but they made it clearthat the Hindu identity superseded all otherclaims, and those few ones from other faithswho happened to back the idea were quicklyco-opted as “true nationalists”.

The foremost among these organisationswas the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).It was around the time that Gita Press wasfinding its métier that the RSS came into being.There were several reasons which facilitated itsarrival and subsequent astounding growth.Lokmanya Tilak had died in 1920, and SriAurobindo had withdrawn from revolutionarypolitics. But the spirit of their zeal and pride inbeing a Hindu lived on.

Meanwhile, the Hindu-Muslim confronta-tion had taken a serious turn with the Shuddhiversus Tabligh clash. The Arya Samaj, led bySwami Shradhanand, heralded a movement toreconvert those who had left the Hindu fold tojoin Islam but still clung on to various Hinducustoms. On the other hand, the Muslim reli-

gious leaders — the various Ulemas —launched the Tabligh drive, aimed at ensuringthat such Muslim converts were not lured backinto the Hindu fold. Both sides used provoca-tive measures and the result was a chargedcommunal environment, leading to frequentviolence. The agenda of reconversion andblocking the move needed more than individ-ual effort; an organised method had to beemployed for long-term success. Prominentleaders such as Madan Mohan Malviya, BSMoonje, and Lala Lajpat Rai strongly advocatedthe formation of a sangathan to take the causeforward. The sangathan would not just keep aneye on converts, to get them purified at the firstavailable opportunity and brought back into theHindu fold, but also work towards promotingHindu consciousness in a more strident way.

Leader after leader reminded his audiencethat the Hindus had been at the receiving endof Muslim violence because they were unpre-pared to use force if necessary (while theMuslims were always better equipped, bothmaterially and temperamentally). The 1921Malabar uprising was cited as one suchinstance. It began as a peasant rebellion againstthe British by the Mappila in the southernregion of Malabar, triggered by the Britishcrackdown on the Khilafat movement, butsoon turned into mass atrocity against theHindus by the Muslim Mappilas.

A shocked Annie Besant wrote: “Theymurdered and plundered abundantly, andkilled and drove away all Hindus who wouldnot apostate. Somewhere about a lakh of peo-ple were driven from their homes with nothingbut the clothes they had on, stripped of every-thing. Malabar has taught us what Islamic rulestill means, and we do not want to see anotherspecimen of the Khilafat Raj in India.”

The sangathan, therefore, decided toimpart physical training to its people.Interestingly, this drive attracted people fromvarious parties, such as the Congress and theHindu Mahasabha. It must be rememberedhere that the Khilafat movement had been sup-ported by Mahatma Gandhi, much to the con-cern of many Congressmen, and his standmust have contributed to the later oppositionby Hindu outfits and so-called extremists to his‘appeasement’ methods. While the Hinduorganisations, determined to ensure a non-repeat of the Malabar type incident, went aboutreframing their response, the Muslim outfitsweren’t sitting idle. The Tanzim was initiated in1923 by its leaders, most prominent amongthem being S Kitchlew. He appealed to variousMuslim organisations, charitable bodies, banks,

etc, to join hands and fund the Tanzim. Heeven launched an Urdu daily with the samename, which published anti-Hindu articles.

But for once, the reach and scale of theMuslim initiative could not match that of theHindus’ sangathan. The success of the sangath-an coupled with a burning desire to “show theMuslims their place” and aggressively promotenationalism as inherent to Hinduism, pro-pelled the formation of the RSS on thatDussehra day in 1925, though it was namedthus a few months later on Ram Navami in1926. The formation of shakhas (or branches),the inculcation of deep reverence for MotherIndia, the physical training (represented bybaton-wielding RSS workers at the trainingcamps), and the repeated reminders of beingHindu (by religion, by nationhood, by culturalhistory), were to become the RSS’s hallmark.They also drew criticism: RSS’s opponents saidthe organisation promoted violence and com-munal divide. But the die was cast — five peo-ple led by Keshav Baliram Hedgewar gottogether in Nagpur to establish the RSS, withHedgewar becoming its first head. Among thefounders was Babarao Savarkar, brother ofVinayak Damodar ‘Veer’ Savarkar.

The choice of the outfit’s name was inter-esting: It brought in nationalism and voluntari-ness but did not deem it necessary to overstateits pro-Hindu credentials in its name. Perhapsthis was because the use of the ‘Hindu’ wordcould have made it sound like the other impor-tant organisation, Hindu Mahasabha, whichalready existed. Or perhaps it had plotted amore inclusive agenda for itself, to the extent ofequating Hindu-ness with India. The new chiefinsisted on having the slogan, Bharat Mata KiJai, alongside the prayers at the end of everyshakha meeting — and this was his way ofmerging Hindu with nationhood. Whateverthe case may have been, the omission was notto in any way diminish the RSS’s pro-Hindureputation — its vision of the Hindu ideologydriving a united and free India.

����������� ��� ������������ ���� Hedgewar’s nationalistic fervour had been evi-dent in his school days when he was rusticatedfor leading a Vande Mataram movement. Laterin life, he drew inspiration from Tilak and BSMoonje, who became his guru of sorts. Moonjehad built a reputation for himself as a hardlinerwhen it came to the projection of Hindu rightsand zero-compromise with the British. Moonjehad been a strong Tilak supporter and hadsided with him during critical moments,including at the Congress party’s annual con-

ference in Surat in 1907. He founded theBhonsale Military School in Nashik to impartmilitary training to Hindu youth. Hedgewar’stask was cut out and he went about with sin-gle-minded focus. There was no time to be lost— the Hindus had to be mobilised effectively,the Muslims were to be made to understandthat they could not take the majority religionfor granted, and the British were to be pres-sured into leaving. If the RSS faltered in any ofthese steps, it would be not just the end of theorganisation but also a betrayal of the very coreideals of millions of Hindus.

Hedgewar had studied medicine and grad-uated as a doctor, and so he would often applylogic to his thought processes. According toRSS literature — there are far too many,churned out in enormous quantities by variousunits of the organisation spread across thecountry, to list them here — Hedgewar askedhimself the question: “How could the Hindus,who have had a glorious past stretching fromancient to medieval times, so abjectly surren-der to Muslim rulers, whether Turks, Afghansor Mughals? How could they then allow them-selves to be enslaved by the British?” They hadmuscle power, they had money power, theyhad intellect; what they lacked, according toHedgewar, was a sense of Hindu consciousnessand cohesion. Developing those qualities wasto become the RSS’s mandate.

Hedgewar took another key decision: Thatof keeping the RSS away from active politics. Hemust have believed that politics would lead hisorganisation to the sort of compromises that hewanted it to keep away from, at least in those ini-tial decades. He was certainly more glued to theconcept of Hindu Rashtra than Hindu Rajya,believing that the second would follow the reali-sation of the first. Thus, certain decisions hetook in that direction have been viewed by hisand the RSS’s critics today as evidence that whilethe RSS claims to be nationalistic, it had keptaway from the Independence movement.

Here is one instance: Mahatma Gandhigave a call for Satyagraha against the BritishGovernment. Gandhi himself launched the SaltSatyagraha, undertaking his Dandi Yatra. DrHedgewar decided to participate only individu-ally and not let the RSS join the freedom move-ment officially. He sent information everywherethat the Sangh will not participate in theSatyagraha. However, those wishing to partici-pate individually were not prohibited. He spentnine months in jail as a result of his role.

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Page 10:  · Kashmir, not against Kashmir, not against the Kashmiris,” the PM added. He said the Kashmiri youths are also troubled by ter-rorism and are ready to fight against them. “We

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Two years before the QuitIndia Movement waslaunched, Hedgewar

breathed his last, and his final mes-sage to the swayamsevaks was: “Isee before my eyes today a minia-ture Hindu Rashtra.” His confi-dence came from the exponentialexpansion of the RSS during hislifetime. In 1931, the organisationhad just 60 shakhas; by 1936, it had200 branches and 25,000 members;by 1939, the numbers had risen to500 and 40,000 respectively. In theyear of Hedgewar’s death, the RSShad 700 shakhas and 80,000 mem-bers. Hedgewar had thus effectivelyprepared the ground for a robustorganisation that would be capableof taking on its critics andstrengthening the discourse onHinduism and Hindutva. But whileHedgewar’s ideology and strategywere unambiguous, the argumen-tative edge and the precision need-

ed to counter rivals on an intellec-tual plane was lacking. His succes-sor, Madhav Sadashiv Golwalkar,rose to the occasion.

��������������‘Guru’ Golwalkar (he taught at theBenaras Hindu University, andthus the prefix) was an unlikelycandidate to succeed Hedgewar. Hewas not among the Sangh seniors,had an inclination towards spiritualinward-looking rather than com-munity-building, and generallykept to himself — not a good signfor a potential leader of a cadre-based organisation. But he had theadvantage of being close to thefounder-chief. Besides, one possi-ble explanation is that Hedgewarwas frustrated by the endless bick-ering among Hindu Mahasabhastalwarts... Therefore, he was keento detach the RSS from the HinduMahasabha despite their ideologi-

cal proximity and wanted a succes-sor who would effectively keep hisorganisation away from theseMahasabha leaders.

Golwalkar met this criterion,as he was not close to theMahasabha leaders. Golwalkarwas erudite and a thinker. That hewas a cut above the rest was soonto be evident in his writings andstyle of leadership. Some of hisdecisions drew the ire of national-ists of that time, and his rivals.One of these was to keep the RSSand its members away from thefreedom movement. He also heed-ed the call of the British regime,caught in the vortex of the SecondWorld War, for an end to militarydrills and wearing of military ormilitary-kind uniforms by civilianoutfits, and directed all RSSbranches to discontinue the prac-tice. His directives did create tem-porary discontent within the

organisation, but Golwalkar wasdetermined to adopt this strategyin order to avoid British ire andexpand the organisation quietly,avoiding any public controversy.

The new RSS chief ’s decisionsmust have certainly brought reliefto the British, who were none tooeager to take on the monolith thatthe RSS had become by then, andadd to their already considerabletroubles. These moves have beenanalysed in later years as evidenceof the RSS not participating in thefreedom struggle and thus helpingthe British. But Golwalkar wasclear on his motive: He had toconsolidate Hindu power, and thiscould not be done by confrontingthe Government every now andthen. He had to work silently andwait for the right occasion tostrike. Golwalkar’s outward com-pliance with Government orderswas no more than a smoke-screen

behind which to carry on secretlyor in a modified form the veryactivities that he had renounced.

The RSS chief was not againstthe Independence movement, buthe saw no merit in antagonisingthe foreign rulers to the detrimentof Hindu interests. In this, heappeared to have followed Tilak’spublic position on reforms withinHindu society, when theLokmanya publicly opposed suchreforms despite being personallyin favour of them, because hefeared the reform drive would takeattention away from the freedomstruggle. Also, in seeking to dis-continue — at least for some time— the militant drills, Golwalkarwas giving expression of his indi-vidualistic belief that the mostimportant task at hand was theintellectual and moral uplift of theHindu community in order toequip them to take on their oppo-

nents. The British were, of course,shrewd enough to realise the plan.Author Pralay Kanungo notesfrom Government records: “Their(RSS) policy is to wait until theythemselves are better preparedand the state of the country offersbetter opportunities for interven-tion... the Sangh, though not nowdangerous, might become a men-ace later in times of serious com-munal disturbances, etc.”

Two far-reaching eventsoccurred during Golwalkar’sreign: Mahatma Gandhi’s assassi-nation and the country’s Partition.The first came as a major blow tothe RSS’s image, since the impres-sion got created, which the RSSthen did little to dispel, that theoutfit was complicit in the murder— the killer Nathuram Godse hadbeen with the RSS but went overto the Hindu Mahasabha; he wasnot an RSS member at the time he

committed the crime. The RSSwas banned, for the first thoughnot the last time. Salt was rubbedon the wound when the suppos-edly pro-Hindu SardarVallabhbhai Patel took a dim viewof the activities of the Sangh; theban came during Sardar’s term asthe country’s Home Minister. Alittle over a year later, the ban waslifted after the RSS committeditself to a written Constitutionand transparency. The Partitiontook the RSS by surprise, becausethe organisation had not antici-pated the British move to quit thecountry in this manner. TheHindu outfit squarely blamedMahatma Gandhi and his “dan-gerously naive” approach to theMuslims for the resultant masskillings soon after Partition.

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An urban lifestyledemands that peoplealways be on the move.And so, it is oftenaccompanied by stress.

People often look at stress as some-thing to be avoided. It might bemore helpful if instead of avoidingstress, one understood that a lowlevel of stress is needed to excel inlife. Consider the case of a profes-sional who is required to prepare anurgent presentation for a client ina few short hours. If the profession-al does not feel some stress, he orshe will not feel motivated to cre-ate a presentation to the best of hisor her ability. So, some stress is nec-essary in life because without it,people won’t feel motivated to com-plete essential tasks.

Stress is a phenomenon of ten-sion. It’s helpful to visualise stressusing the analogy of a rubber band.Consider what a rubber band restingon the palm of a person’s hand lookslike. It is limp. However, when therubber band is stretched, it comes intoa state of tension. This can explainstress in a person’s mind. Until a per-son’s mind is not stretched, it is in astate of comfort. When the mind isstretched, it enters a state of tensioncalled stress. If an already stretchedrubber band is stretched even further,it will eventually snap. Similarly,when an already stressed mind con-tinues to accumulate greater andgreater stress, it enters a state of dis-tress. Distress can manifest itself asanxiety, panic, depression, uncontrol-lable or repressed anger, restlessness,and a number of other psychologicalsymptoms. However, before a personenters a state of distress, he or she willfirst always experience stress.

�$�������4���$�����-����As mentioned earlier, the rightamount of stress is necessary to moti-vate people. If people didn’t feel stress

and were apathetic, they would notfeel motivated to do essential work.Hence, stress is not a modern phe-nomenon. Humans living as hunter-gatherers tens of thousands of yearsago also felt stress. It was essentialbecause it motivated them to huntand survive in a perilous world.

Stress or tension is unavoidablein people’s lives. Everybody hasexperienced stress or tension. Theright amount of stress can makepeople proactive. This right amountof stress that makes people proac-tive is termed as eustress. It is goodfor people to have eustress becauseit makes them perform the neces-sary actions. Let’s say a personwalking along a country pathencounters a snake. He/she will becompelled to run because ofeustress. Similarly, a professionalwill feel compelled to create anattractive presentation to impressan important client.

�$��������%������4����������!�-�4���%��������When eustress crosses a certainthreshold, it begins to hamper a per-son’s productivity and can eventual-ly lead to distress. It helps to visualiseeustress and distress as lying onopposite sides of a spectrum. Distressmanifests itself not only psycholog-ically but also physiologically.

When someone is stressed, theirbody secretes the hormone adrena-line. Adrenaline may be released ina person’s body when they’re walk-ing along a path and are chased bya wild animal. In such a scenario,adrenaline is released creating asense of urgency allowing the personbeing chased to run as fast as theypossibly can. However, adrenalinealso increases a person’s heart rate,body sugar and hence being contin-uously stressed leads to the accumu-lation of adrenaline in the body. Itincreases the body’s heart rate andblood sugar. Thus, the accumulation

of excessive adrenaline in the bodyleads to physiological harm.

Hence, someone who is contin-uously striving to meet deadlines atwork and is under pressure at homeas well will accumulate adrenaline inhis or her body due to continuousstress. In the body of such a person,adrenaline will always be presentleading to an elevated heart rate andhigh blood sugar levels. The contin-uous presence of adrenaline in thebodies of so many young people isone reason why a larger proportionof young people suffer from diabetestoday than in earlier times. It is alsothe culprit behind the modern phe-nomenon of people in their early 20ssuffering from heart attacks.

��:����4� ���������%�"�������"������"���One of the best ways to managestress is by indulging in activities one

enjoys. This is because a person can-not be in a state of tension and plea-sure at the same time. A person caneither feel pleasure or tension. So,when someone participates in anactivity that gives them pleasure,they find that their tension dissi-pates. Hence, pleasure-giving activ-ities filter out stress.

Someone who feels pleasurewhile playing sports such as golf ortennis will be able to lower the ten-sion they feel while playing suchsports. Someone who has adrenalinecoursing through their body willallow the adrenaline to be reab-sorbed by the body when they par-ticipate in a pleasurable activity.Doing such an activity will preventmore adrenaline from being secret-ed. The term “flow,” which is oftenused in psychology, helps explainthe benefits of pleasurable activities.When someone is in a flow, they lose

track of time because they are soengrossed in the pleasure-filledactivity. When someone is in a flowbecause of participating in pleasure-giving activity one-three times aweek, stress is filtered out of theirsystem. They are able to relax men-tally as well as physically. The timespent pursuing a pleasurable activ-ity also becomes the time thatallows the body to be replenished.This allows the body to take on pro-ductive stress at a later stage.

$�������":���������-����-����� Besides taking part in pleasurableactivities, positive thinking alsohelps manage stress. Positive think-ing can be understood more con-cretely when one understands whatpsychologists have termed the “lawof ironic processing”. The law ofironic processing was by presented

by social psychologist DanielWegner. According to this law,when people try hard to subdue anemotion, it causes the same emotionto grow stronger. Hence, when wetell a friend or colleague to not besad, it actually causes the person togrow sadder. Similarly, when we tellsomeone to control stress, such aperson becomes more stressed.

So, people should not try toeliminate negativity because doingso will only cause such negativityto grow. Rather, people shouldfocus on positivity. Hence, to helpa friend or colleague control theiranger, one should not tell them notto be angry. Rather, an angry per-son should be asked to relax.“Relax” is a positive word. The lan-guage of the mind is made of feel-ings. For instance, when someoneis told not to think of a pink ele-phant, the first thing that comes totheir mind is a pink elephant.Similarly, when someone tells anangry person to not be angry, itcauses the person to become angrybecause the word angry has beenuttered. The mind’s languageunderstands the world angry andgrows angrier. This is why it’s bestto use positive words like “relax”or “calm down” to help an angryperson relax and be calm. Hence,knowing how to speak the lan-guage of the mind can help peoplelead peaceful lives.

Often, a qualified psycholo-gist is best able to guide people onhow to generate positivity andhow to eliminate negativity. Apsychologist can also help peoplebetter manage stress and helpthem recognise in which activitiesthey can get into a flow. Such helpis essential to manage stress today.It allows one to take advantage ofeustress so that a person’s life canbe productive and fulfilling yetfree of distress.

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This short novella is a racy andenjoyable read. The languagehas spark and wit emanating

from every page. Steroid infusedphrases such as “When I staggeredin, the show had already started andthe sight of coltish, long-legged,anorexic teenagers convinced methere was a white Biafra nobody hadtold me about,” describing a fashionshow, abound. Another short jabdescribes a corrupt, and it turns outlater in the book, a murderous seniorpoliceman: “He swiveled on his hip,slowly scanning the people like a cut-price Superman”.

Killing Time is a frothy tale with-out any ambition to profundity thatstarts off like an English countiesWodehouse bumble despite an acci-dental drug overdose that providesthe first ever-shifting body, and thewhiff of blackmail. It then settlesdown into a facsimile of hard-boiled1940s style Private Detective whodun-nit for the digital age. This particular-ly in the profusion of laconicBogartish imagery, and quite an edu-cation in the good life brand names.To wit: “Sheena’s body was large, richand generous, firm and soft in theright places” and, “Look Ratty’s got anew Hublot. And it’s real rose gold,worth lakhs and lakhs”.

“It’s a Tourbillion Power Reserve,dude, Ratty said, and spread out thefingers of his hand to indicate it pro-vided five days of power reserve”.

The murder and blackmail, too, iskept light and conversational, more amusical Bugsy Malone, complete withsexy siren and child actors with adulttropes, rather than that full-blownMafioso with dreams and a heart,Bugsy Seigel. The plot line is deliber-ately improbable, almost a lampooningof several echoing genres in the page-turner section, but the exuberance ofthe writing is a delight.

The author has a sneering, off-hand affection for the gaudy rich andlikes describing them in a party set-ting. “I gestured to the nearest golfcart. Delhi’s money bags hire golfcarts manned by men in white uni-forms to bring guests to the house and

drop them off at the gate during par-ties. This practice, introduced by aclassy Pakistani woman in a half hatand birdcage veil and married to ameat exporter with shady politicalconnections, was immediately adopt-ed by garment exporters, real estatedevelopers and such like, who formthe upper crust of what passes forhigh society in this town”.

Here is an excerpt on the self-same cocaine snorting beau monde:“The pusher was a fixture at thetrendiest parties, always wearing acheerful grin and pink jeans. He wasin his twenties , with the skin of ababy and the smile of an old manbored of hoarding secrets. And boredhe was too, of the inside view he hadof Delhi’s rich-ridiculous and indis-criminately libidinous. Most of the

pretty boys thought he was gay andtried to score some of the white pow-der by promising services of a lowsort. Some pretty girls who got theshakes in the morning pleaded withhim to pimp them to old men inexchange for cocaine. He never didbeing a hard man with a soft heart”.Ravi Shankar Etteth, a senior journal-ist and political cartoonist for his dayjob, is also a prolific writer of novels,churning out the last couple, quite dif-ferent from each other in content andstyle, published just months apart.

Is this one in his authentic voice,influences included? I certainly hopeso, because if his aim is to entertain thereader, this book succeeds. Etteth’s ear-lier books tended to dwell on the veryprofundity and philosophical under-pinnings this one has scrupulously

avoided. And to good effect.There is a godman of sorts in the

book, one Shamsher, who greets theprotagonist every single time by saying“By Shiva the smoky dude”. AndShamsher seems to bring out the JamesHadley Chase in Etteth: “The fight sud-denly whooshed out of me. Whateverquan the swami had with Nik, inMandy’s and Shamsher’s bowling alley Iseemed to be the main pin”. The namesof characters in the book, happy to becardboard cutouts, are a Wodehousianhoot — Coke Rao, Buffet Bhatt, BonnieJogi, a former air hostess, and CadillacPimp — “because he drove the car andalso because he was a pussy farmer”.

There is quite lot of parody:“Rudra Pratap was from Bastar orsome such place that is all forest andfull of guys with bows and poison

arrows, who will shoot any strangerwandering in their domain. Thereare also leeches, snakes and leeches.I knew this because an outdoorsygirl, an acquaintance of mine, hadonce told me”. A murder is plaincomedy: “Nik whipped out a shortknife from his overcoat pocket andburied it deep in Bhatt’s neck. Raoscreamed and threw the packets inthe air and rushed out. Meanwhile,Bhatt collapsed slowly with a gravi-tas the Titanic would have beenproud of ”. And those packets are, ofcourse, cocaine. Nik is a murderingcop, and Bhatt was an etiquetteteacher and freeloading gluttonearning Buffet for a first name.

Almost the entire book is a firstperson narrative in the voice of theprotagonist Chaitanya Seth, who goesby Charlie because: “ It is supposed tobe trendy in Delhi to have foreign-sounding names”. The hyper-tone inthe book, funny as it is, can start grat-ing on your nerves like the cannedlaughter after every gag in anAmerican sitcom. Etteth knows it canbe too much of a good thing. So, hewisely winds up the tale in just 197pages of this good looking hardback.

The Verger, a short story bySomerset Maugham stillretains a sense of freshnessand charm even though thewriter created the story more

than seven decades ago. Before I getinto talking about R Gopalakrishnan’srecently released book Crash: Lessonsfrom the Entry and Exit of CEOs, Iwould like to offer a summary ofMaugham’s short story.

It is about Albert Foreman, a vergerin a countryside. Despite being poorand illiterate, Foreman executes hisduties with perfection and is liked byeverybody. But when a new priest whohas a doctorate in theology takes overas the new parish head, Foreman iskicked out of the church. One can verywell imagine what would happen to aperson in his fifties if he/she loseshis/her job. The new priest clears Fore-man’s dues and asks him to not returnfor work from the next day. An embar-rassed Foreman comes out of thechurch and steps into the scary worldwithout as much as a clue about whathe would do next.

Struggling to find a solution, hefeels the urge to smoke a cigar. Butwhen he goes around the churchpremises in search of a shop sellingcigar, he can’t find one. And that turnsout to be a blessing in disguise. It giveshim the idea to set up a small shop sell-ing cigars, cigarettes and tobacco in thesame area. Within just two or threeyears, he makes a huge profit that opensa dozen shops in various parts of thecity. One day, when Foreman’s bankmanager comes to meet him with someinvestment advice. he finds out that theextremely rich man is illiterate! Staringat him in disbelief, the banker asks,“Anddo you mean to say that you’ve built upthis important business and amassed afortune of thirty thousand pounds with-out being able to read or write? Good

God, man, what would you be now ifyou had been able to?” This short storyalways creeps into my mind whenever Iread news articles or books about cor-porate wars or about industrial giants.

There are many characters resem-bling Foreman in our own country. Thetitan who set up India’s largest corpo-rate group was a common man withbasic educational qualifications. But, hewas blessed with farsightedness andcommon sense. He made the businessof making money an art. Where theMBAs from world class universitiesfailed, this ordinary man without anypretensions excelled and emerged as alegend in his own lifetime. There arehundreds of such real life characters inIndia whose life story could be readonly with a sense of awe.

While the likes of DhirubhaiAmbani and Dharam Pal Gulati of theMDH brand are legends and heroes ofmodern-day folklores in the corporateworld. Business management degreesfrom reputed schools have little or noth-ing to do with their journeys.

A strange trend, however, has beenthat many of the professional managerswho have emerged as celebrities in

their fields have found themselves stucksomewhere in the middle. In Crash,author R Gopalakrishnan, a formerexecutive director of Tata Sons andmany other Tata Group companies, dis-cusses the nuances of the rise and fall ofthese managers. His book is a case studyon seemingly inexplicable trends in thecorporate world. His writing style islucid and impressive. And nothing lessshould have been expected from thisauthor as he had created a sensation inthe corporate world when he had writ-ten The Case of the Bonsai Manager in2007. This was immediately after hisexit from the Tata Group.

In Crash, Gopalakrishnan does anin-depth analysis of what caused therise and the subsequent fall of about 15corporate honchos of the moderntimes. As a reader, one might initiallyfeel that one particular case studywhich he could have included in thecollection was that of Cyrus Mistry,who was appointed as chairman of TataSons in 2013. He was replaced in 2016.With his vast experience in the worldwhich makes and breaks CEOs everyday, his insights in this area would havebeen rewarding. But still, the reader

would have no complaints by the end ofthe book. The author more than com-pensates for what he seems to have‘missed out.’ He brings back LeeIacocca, the chief executive for FordMotors who resuscitated and revivedthe fortunes of the dying automobilegiant through his shrewd salesmanshipas well as street smartness. WhenIacocca wrote his memoirs (autobiogra-phy) in 1984, it turned out to be aninstant hit with more than 7 millioncopies getting sold in the first yearitself. Please understand that this hap-pened at a time when there were nopaid news systems or satellite TV chan-nels to promote the book or its author.For some, it was a status symbol thosedays to claim that they had read theIacocca book three or four times.Despite the fact that a car designed andsold during Iacocca’s tenure as directorof the company turned out to be aninstant hit (Mustang), Henry Ford II,the scion of the Ford Group had noqualms in firing him. The reason citedby Ford for removing Iacocca was inter-esting. Crash gives us some intel. Itquotes Henry Ford II as having said,“He had a lot of ability, an unfortunate-

ly his ability lies 99 per cent in sales.But it isn’t only in selling cars; it’s sell-ing everything. It’s selling himself, it’sselling an idea, selling anything — theBrooklyn Bridge, if you will. When hestarted to talk, he could talk inter-minably, and he did a good job. Now ifhe was really wound up I think at theend he forgot what he started with...”

But Iacocca’s version of the story forhis exit from the group stands entirelydifferent.“ The Fords are one ofAmerica’s last great family dynasties. Inany dynasty, the first instinct is self-protection. Anything, anything — good,bad or indifferent — that might affectthe dynasty becomes a potential prob-lem in the mind of the man who headsit. Henry has never hidden his intentionof having his son, Edsel, succeed himand he believed that I stood in the wayof those plans,” wrote Lee Iacocca’s inhis autobiography in 1984.

The book tells some equally com-pelling stories of CEOs and COOswhose journeys unfolded in India.Citigroup, Deutsche Bank, and Infosysare only some of the firms discussed.For anybody interested in the corporateworld even remotely, it’s a must read.

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Page 12:  · Kashmir, not against Kashmir, not against the Kashmiris,” the PM added. He said the Kashmiri youths are also troubled by ter-rorism and are ready to fight against them. “We

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Edward Elbee’s play “Who’s Afraidof Virginia Woolf?” initiated a

trajectory in international relations.It reflected the iota of anarchy andchaos which ensues when familiessit together for celebration of theirconditions. Is the American shut-down reflective of that kind ofpandemonium? Not exactly!“Together, we are building a safe,strong and proud America,” tweet-ed President Donald Trump in thecontext of the revolutionary socio-political and economic changesand reforms that he has beenbrought about in the Americanhomeland. The American Dream2.0 is on with the advent of the poli-cies — which are as high and pow-erful as the Trump Tower — ofPresident Trump. It is reportedthat the difference of opinionbetween the American lawmakerswith both Democrats andRepublicans changing sides, thePresident’s demand has suffered.

The American Presidentdemanded that about 5.7 billion dol-lars had to be released for the con-struction of an iconic wall of sepa-ration between the United Statesand Mexico. It is similar to theWorld War I, ZimmermanTelegram, where-in, the Germanestablishment sent a telegram to theMexican President Cavarrazo inorder to take back the border Statesof Arizona, Texas and New Mexicofrom the American homeland thusinitiating war between the US andMexico with the aim of diverting theAmerican might from Europe andBritain. Now all that is past asPresident Donald Trump hasdeclared a national emergency tobuild the wall on the shared borderbetween the US and Mexico to deterdrug traffickers and the other grimcrimes entering through a porousborder.

One national daily has report-ed: “Early in January, as the USGovernment remained partiallyshutdown over the standoff over$5.6 billion funding for DonaldTrump’s proposed wall along thecountry’s southern border, thePresident had said he announcedthat step declaring a national emer-gency on the border with Mexico

with the rationale, ‘We have an inva-sion of drugs and criminals cominginto our country’, and even though‘I didn’t need to do this, but I’d ratherdo it much faster, and I just want toget it done faster, that’s all’.” Thus,President Trump justifies the declar-ing of the emergency as the need ofthe hour as a political palliative.

The question of a shutdown canlead to the idiom that there has beena policy and implementation paral-ysis in the national establishment.The people are quick to tarnish theimage of the Government with theargument that the State is insensi-tive to the concerns of the hoi pol-loi as the Federal employees have togo forth without their pay cheques.Still, it can be safely argued thatwhen narrow and parochial parti-sanship takes its toll on the USdomestic politics, efforts have to bemade by the lawmakers to arrive ata compromise. As of now, theSenate majority leader, MitchMcConell, has met Chuck Schumer,the Senate minority leader in orderto bring about a solution to thenational quagmire. Still, theDemocrats in a politically motivat-ed parochialism have contendedthat they cannot vote for a prorat-ed funding for the wall across theMexican border. These antics havemuddied the political waters in theAmerican homeland as extremeposturing has bedeviled the debateand the discourse around the immi-gration issue and the resultant shut-down.

Early on, the US Congressagreed for a reduced amount ofmoney to be diverted for buildingthe wall on the Mexican borderwhich was turned down by theWhite House. These immigration-related clashes between the law-makers and the US President led tothe impasse and thus paved the wayfor a Federal Governmental shut-down in the month of January. TheGovernmental shutdown is not thefirst one in the American historyand the President expects theemployees to work and attend officewithout their due salaries. Thus, theAmerican scenario in the light of theimmigration debate seems to havegone sour for the unsuspecting

Government employees in theUnited States. President Trump haspraised to cheerlead his employeesas he recently tweeted, “To all ofthose people who are working sohard for their country and not get-ting paid, I say, You are great peo-ple and patriots. We must now worktogether after decades of abuse tofinally fix the criminal, humanitar-ian and drug crisis at our border. Wewill win Big.”

Thus, President Trump basks inthe light of his new policy which hasled to a difficult shutdown of theAmerican President. In a way, thebipartisan support present in the US

Congress is also a key reason whythe shutdown has come about. Theshutdown was imminent asPresident Trump alleges theDemocrats and the Democrat head,Nancy Pelosi, rejected thePresident’s offer to end the shut-down. The shutdown has alsoimpacted security at the airports.

ABC News has reported, “Theworkers at the airports populated byTSA employees have been demor-alised as workers say that once youwork hard and do not get paid forit, then it’s a non-starter. Severalcheckpoints in Houston, Miamiand New York have been shut down

due to the Government shutdownand the scenario could be muchworse if the shutdown continues tillthe beginning of February, 2019.”

Historically speaking, a shut-down occurs when the Congressdoes not agree on its annual Budgetapproval. In the normal Budgetprocess, the Congress approves anannual Budget by September and ifthat is not attainable then theCongress enacts a continuing fund-ing resolution. If these issues can’tbe agreed upon, then aGovernmental shutdown happens.About, 3,80,000 non-critical sectoremployees were sent home without

salaries in January. One impact onthe agriculture sector is that thefarmers cannot get their all impor-tant loans. In the realm of internalsecurity, the companies find it dif-ficult to verify the workers’ statusand in another related theme, therental wellbeing of dependants,elderly people and disables is ham-pered. The Council of Economicadvisors estimates that the shut-down reduces the economic growthby 0.13 per cent points. Still, onevoice contends that in February, theentry of illegal aliens has not dras-tically risen and the border delugehas not actually occurred. Thus,

President needs to justify the nation-al emergency, pronto.

President Trump on the otherhand represents a hard-nosed andmuch required strictly followedhomeland security policy. TheHouse Democrats are in a wayendangering national security.Another way open for PresidentTrump could be the re-direction ofthe Army Core of Engineers andDisaster Management Corps to thebuilding of the wall where thePresident won’t be requiring anyapproval from the Congress. Also,building the wall could raise theincome of low-skilled workers by 58cents a year. Still, some observerscontend that instead of the wall,resources could be directed towardsintelligence, clamping down onoverstaying visa-holders and invest-ing in technology. Actually, theshutdowns were introduced throughthe Congressional Budget Act of1974 and since then 21 Governmentshutdowns have occurred whichreflect a partisan approach to con-sensus building at a political leveland holds the nation to ransom.

In summation post mid-February, the threats to nationalsecurity need to be countered withjudicious alacrity and theOpposition’s activity, and it canonly amount to be retrograde innature and confrontationist in tenor.Thus, appears the nationalEmergency which has been sanc-tioned by the American President.Through the National EmergenciesAct, 1976, it can be contended thatthe Congress can curtail theEmergency powers of the Presidentand the President in a way has toperiodically report about the entirenational emergency and the powerclauses that are brought into actionand the first suit against the nation-al emergency has already been filedin the Supreme Court and PresidentTrump has already declared to con-front it headlong. National emer-gencies have been imposed so it isnot a sheer figment of first time pol-icy in the US.

(The writer teaches InternationalRelations at Indian Institute of PublicAdministration, Delhi)

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Heraclitus, the great pre-Socratic Greek philoso-

pher, is supposed to have saida couple of thousand years backthat “only change is perma-nent”. But the education systemin our country seems to beimprudently defying that dic-tum. Everything around theeducation system — technolo-gy, economy and societal val-ues — has changed, but not theeducation system. It remainsstultified, disoriented andinsensitive to society. It is likeone of the dinosaurs whichsomehow managed to surviveand remains as an oddity anddoesn’t even warrant a curios-ity. Dead, dying and decayed.

A decade back, I had awonderful opportunity to visitStanford University in the USA.I was fascinated by the vibran-cy of the place. One can easilyfeel the buzz of creativity by theblend represented by races andreligions. Stanford Universitydraws the cream from theworld, and then embellish theminto a better person, profes-sional, etc. By constantly updat-ing, the university has createda place for learning, discovery,innovation, expression and dis-course.

As an educationist, wealways wonder why there is adisenchantment among the stu-dents with studies, and most ofthe time we end up finishingthe discourse by blaming them.We need to take a pragmatic

approach. It is high time wegave it a thought what the suc-cessful universities have man-aged to offer to the students andwhat we have not. We can eas-ily spot a pattern here. Let’s lookfrom students’ perspective.

He or she has a few years tocomplete a course, there is a setsyllabus for every year; there isa timetable with in which he orshe has to suffer a monologuewithout active participation. Itis like a mass production auto-mated factory which is stuck ina rut. Come to think, even pota-to chips change in flavour andpacking from time to time.

Legendary rock group PinkFloyd could not have put itmore succinctly in their famoussong “Just another brick in thewall”, a satirical take on oldBritish education system. Yeahthat is what we are doing. Weare producing just anotherbrick for the wall, not differentfrom another.

What can we do? First, wehave to completely overhaul theeducation methodology.Present syllabuses for therespective courses have to bemade more relevant and tunedto the actual requirements.There should be enough flexi-bility in syllabuses for studentsto choose his or her topicsaccording to their inclination.In order to involve students inlearning, process of self-studyhas to be formally incorporat-ed. Students should constantly

be given assignments on topicsrelated to their courses. Theteacher related to that topicshould only be consulted ondeeper and finer points relatedto that course. The practice of

one-way mechanical bom-bardment is only currentlybeing followed in a few Asianand African countries.

But the education shouldnot only be merely restricted to

related subjects. Every studentis a reservoir of myriad talents.We should be able to providethem a platform to unleashtheir multidimensional capa-bilities. Every successful uni-

versity has a vibrant culture ofencouraging various art formssuch as drama, debates, singing,writing, poetry and so on.

On hindsight, sadly, oncewe had it all. Our founding

fathers did provide for them incurriculum but somehow allthese things gradually dwindledfrom the syllabuses.

Every college campus has aplaying ground, almost alwaysempty now. Compare that withthe fierce rivalries among sport-ing teams of western universi-ties, especially the interconti-nental rivalry between Harvardand Oxford. Sports is an equalpartner in western educationcurriculum. That is why theyget so many gold medals inOlympics.

Another aspect of educa-tion should be to develop a con-nection to the society aroundthe students. Western univer-sities encourage students forsocial and charity work. Itshould be done in such a wayhis or her work becomes a partof the overall profile. Activitieslike these go a long way inincreasing the employability ofthe students and making thema better person. Overall profileof the student should not berestricted to marks or grades insubjects but must include hob-bies, sports and social work.Concept of marksheet has to berevisited.

Moreover, society aroundthe universities too have animportant role to play. We can-not be impervious to what isgoing on around. Whereverpossible, we should offer ourservices to the universityadministration on pro bono

basis. The top universities in thewestern world evolved,strengthened and acquiredindependence mainly due tothe charities and contributionsof a few philanthropists. Thealumni too played a big role.Unfortunately, this part is con-spicuously absent in India.Some billionaires rose fromvillage schools and local col-leges, but seldom come to helpof the alma mater.

Another important factorthat keeps the top universitieson edge and motivates them toconstantly improve is the com-petition among them.Numerous education bodiesannually bring out the list of topmost universities as per theyardsticks laid out by them.

We have a high mountainto climb. We have to bridge thegap between employment andemployability. And we have noother option. This is the roadtaken by every successful uni-versity.

The great Mark Twain wasonce asked about his schooling.In a typical Twain style, heanswered, “I did go to schoolbut I never let it interfere withmy education.”

A few successful personsfrom our universities probablyfollowed his philosophy to thehilt.

(The writer is AssociateProfessor, Government HamidiaCollege, Bhopal)

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Page 13:  · Kashmir, not against Kashmir, not against the Kashmiris,” the PM added. He said the Kashmiri youths are also troubled by ter-rorism and are ready to fight against them. “We

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In a vast stretch of desert eastof Cairo, a place never beforetroubled by human hands, 36

hulking structures are risingfrom the sand. Constructionworkers weave through scaffold-ing around the imposing greybuildings while policemen inbalaclavas with assault riflesstand watch. A cold wind whipsthrough the enormous construc-tion site. The buildings will beGovernment ministries underEgyptian president Abdel Fattahel-Sisi’s plan to build a newadministrative capital city 28miles outside Cairo.

Standing at the base of whatwill be the petroleum ministry,an enthusiastic spokesman saysthat by the end of next year theentire Egyptian Government willbe operating from this site. Buteven if the buildings themselvesare finished by then, they willstill be standing alone in theempty desert, far from theEgyptian citizens they are meantto serve. It is hard to overstatethe scale of Sisi’s ambition for thenew capital or the uncertaintyover whether its final state willlive up to his grand plans.

The city, which is stillunnamed, is meant to stretchover 265 square miles — an areaslightly larger than Paris — andbe home to six million people.Around 200,000 workers are tak-ing part in construction eachday, authorities say. Its $3 billion(£2.3 billion) business district,which is being built by a Chinesestate-owned firm, will be hometo the tallest skyscraper inAfrica. Egypt has already wonpraise from the White House foropening the largest church in the

Middle East at the edge of thesite. And while Cairo greworganically on the banks of theNile over more than a thousandyears, Sisi hopes the main phaseof his new city will be completeby 2023, with the rest cominglater. The immense projectreveals both the ambitions andthe fears of Sisi’s Government,which came to power in a mili-tary coup in 2013 and has sinceruthlessly clamped down on anypolitical opposition.

The official justification is torelieve pressure on Cairo, a cityof 20 million people whichheaves under intense traffic jamsand severe air pollution. ManyCairenes applaud that goal andbelieve taking ministries out ofthe city will ease congestion.

But others suspect there is ahidden purpose to the city builtin the isolation of the desert: toprevent any possibility of massprotests like the ones whichoverthrew the Government in2011 during the Arab Spring.

“They want to split Egyptinto two: The people living agood life with them and the peo-ple suffering in the streets faraway,” said Adham el-Khadem, a24-year-old engineer.

The largest district in thenew capital will be a presidentialzone for Sisi, housing his palaceand a military base for hisrepublican guard. The presi-dent’s supporters are alreadytaking steps to change the con-

stitution so Sisi can servebeyond his term limit in 2022.

The Government says securi-ty in the “smart city” will bemanaged from the CapitalControl Centre, where Ministryof Interior agents can track citi-zens’ movements using thou-sands of cameras installed withfacial recognition software.

Michele Dunne, a seniorassociate at the CarnegieEndowment for InternationalPeace, compared the new capital

to the Green Zone in Baghdad,where Sisi “will rule indefinitelybehind a security cordon, shield-ed from the demands of thecountry’s 97 million inhabitants”.

Khaled el-Husseiny, a formerbrigadier now a spokesman forthe authority building the capi-tal, denied that the city wasmeant to isolate the Governmentfrom the public. “This is the firstand most important step in oureconomic reforms. When youmake a better economic situa-

tion it will reflect back on thecitizens and this is what willmake the country safe,” he said.He stressed that Cairo willremain Egypt’s political capital,although the Government willbe based in the new city.

Egypt’s military is deeplyinvolved in the economy underSisi, a former general, and theyare in charge at the new city. Thecompany which controls the cap-ital’s land is 51 per cent ownedby the military and the other 49

per cent is owned by theMinistry of Housing. The ArmedForces Engineering Authority isbuilding the new ministrieswhile a large hotel on the site isbeing run by a military company.Army tanks are parked through-out the site as if to underscorethe military’s role.

China is also a major player.The business district is beingfinanced by favourable loansfrom Beijing and is being builtby the China State ConstructionEngineering Corporation.Around a thousand Chinesestaff are supervising the con-struction. Chinese firms areexpected to win major contractsfor the capital’s waste manage-ment system and other tenders.The houses are being built inthe style of wealthy compoundsin Dubai or Saudi Arabia andpoor Egyptians are unlikely tobe able to move in. “The newcapital is for a certain class,” saidWalid Salem, a 38-year-old dri-ver. “I can’t afford to live there.”David Sims, author of Egypt’sDesert Dreams, doubts the pop-ulation of the new capital willever reach the promised six mil-lion, just as other new citiesbuilt over the last 50 years haveremained largely empty.

However, property is anattractive investment option forwealthier Egyptians, especiallythose who made money in theGulf. “Everyone knows that withEgypt’s inflation you’re never

going to hold your value byputting it in a bank. So you buyproperty, that’s what people do,”Sims said. Yet the scale of housebuilding at the new capital raisesquestions about whether it riskscausing a property crash, ifinvestors buy houses but areunable to find enough wealthybuyers to sell them on. “Thereare virtually no mortgages inEgypt, so there won’t be a 2008-style mortgage crash, but it couldbe quite serious if there’s a hic-cup,” Sims said. There are alsoquestions around water for thenew city. Egypt is already suffer-ing severe water shortages and byUN standards it has 40 per centless water than it needs. Thosestrains will only grow worse asthe population grows — it is dueto reach 100 million this year —and climate change becomesmore severe.

Authorities say the city willbe supplied by pipe lines fromtwo neighbouring cities and athird directly from the Nile.Water experts question the wis-dom of pumping more waterinto the middle of the desert.The long drive from centralCairo to the new capital goespast the Mohamed Ali Citadel,the medieval fortress fromwhich Mamluk and Ottomanleaders once governed Egypt.The country’s rulers left thecitadel in the late 19th centuryand relocated to a palace in theheart of downtown Cairo. Withhis new desert capital, Sisi ismoving back to that medievalmodel, taking Egypt’sGovernment back behind highwalls and far from its people.

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It will be anapt descrip-tion of Indiaof the 21stCentury — a

nation angry withitself. However,after a long time inrecent memory,overcoming thedeep political, socialand regionalchasms, the nationstands as one. Itmarks the advent of

a long overdue healing, although tragi-cally sparked by the unfortunate loss of41 central reserve police force bravehearts. The brazen and cowardly sui-cide attack on Valentine’s Day inPulwama region in South Kashmir, bythe Pakistan based UN designated ter-rorist group Jaish-e-Muhammad, hastrigged a bipartisan political unity inIndia’s darkest hour, in decades. Onerecalls late Atal Behari Vajpayee hadcalled Indira Gandhi, “Durga”, duringthe 1971 war, and thrown the supportof the entire Opposition behind her.

These are extraordinary times inIndia’s independent history, as thenation firms up resolve to wage the bat-tle for its soul. The Kashmir conflictwhich has divided the nation for 60years, has become the unifying factor,sending a strong message to Pakistanand China, that regardless of the politi-cal and ideological differences, 1.3 bil-lion hearts beat in unison.

There is little time for mourning, asthe grieving families and agitated citi-zenry demand retribution. India haswithdrawn the Most Favoured Nationstatus granted to Pakistan and briefed25 key states about the situation,including Germany, Israel, South Korea,Japan, Australia, Canada and the secu-rity council members, US, UK, France,Russia and China. The once lambastedand ridiculed PM Narendra Modi’sinternational visits have yielded thegoodwill built over the years, for Indiato capitalise. The United Nations secre-tary general Antonio Guterres alongwith a long list of member states havecondemned the heinous attack andexpressed their solidarity with India.

Having hurt by the Pakistan basedmilitary-jihadi industrial complex duringthe Afghan war, and forced to undertakeunilateral drone and military strikes inself-defence, the US has been mostscathing in deriding Pakistan. The USNational Security Adviser John Boltonassured India’s National Security AdvisorAjit Doval that India reserved the rightto self-defence, as also provisioned under

the Article 51 of the UN Charter. Itspeaks volume of India’s challengesahead, that in spite of blocking militaryand financial aid and eliminating over2,000 Taliban and Al-Qaeda cadres indrones strikes since 2004, the US failedto dismantle the military-jihadi industri-al complex that continues to thrive inPakistan. Despite harbouring 22 UN des-ignated terrorist groups, Pakistan, afterbeing abandoned by the US, has foundrefuge in its all-weather ally, China.

Although, the Pakistani PM ImranKhan has cautioned against China’s‘debt diplomacy’, Pakistan has beencompletely enslaved by China, partlydue to the altered geopolitical realitiesand also with the advent of $62 billionChina-Pakistan Economic Corridorproject. With such colossal stakes rest-ing in the CPEC, China has no inten-tion of undermining the complex, andhas supported Pakistan in the UN, byblocking the proscription of JeM leaderMaulana Masood Azhar and United

Jihad Council Chief Syed Salahuddin,by India, US, Britain, and France.

As passions run high in India, whatis required is a calm-headed leadershipwhich is courageous yet cautious, res-olute but flexible. Retribution should bebased on strategic astuteness to instilimmediate, medium and long-termimpact. For starters, the CRPF needs anurgent makeover in advanced tacticaland counter-insurgency training,resources and equipment, to iron out itsvulnerability in ‘disturbed areas’. Be itDantewada or Pulwama, it has been oneattack or one loss too many. Its inabilityto anticipate the threat on both occa-sions leaves much to be desired for inhoning its CT capabilities. As the linesbetween the border-based threats andinternal security got blurred in J&K, thedeficiencies in the para-military traininghave been exposed time and again. Thismay, unfortunately repeat, unless theCRPF becomes the 21st century state-of-art force in the real sense.

Second, Pathankot, Uri and nowPulwama have exposed the gaffes inIndia’s border management apparatus,paramilitary-JK police-military interop-erability and bureaucracy-military/paramilitary coordination.Abdul Rashid Gazi, an Afghan war vet-eran, as reports suggest, was commis-sioned by Masood Azhar to avenge thedeath of his nephews, Talha andUsman, local JeM operatives, andentered India in early December to exe-cute the plan. Ranging from the ineffec-tiveness of high definition drones, ther-mal imaging cameras to intelligencedecoding, sharing and actioning, India’sCT apparatus has many glaring holes tofill, and before too long.

Third, India must aggressively buildits case in the international fora to iso-late Pakistan by harnessing the evolvingconsensus against Islamic terrorism inthe wake of ISIS-inspired attacks inEurope, US and the western world.Tremendous goodwill generated follow-

ing PM Modi’s visits to the US, Europe,Middle East, Africa, Central Asia andthe Indo-Pacific, should be utilised topush for the long due ComprehensiveConvention on InternationalTerrorism in the United Nations.Based on a combined effort of the US,UK, France, Germany and India inJanuary last, Pakistan, currently on thegrey list, can be blacklisted by October2019, by the Financial Action TaskForce, due to meet shortly in Paris.This will squeeze Pakistan’s tatteredeconomy further. Also, if Pakistan failsto comply in its international obliga-tions to prevent terrorist financing andmoney laundering, a case can be madefor sanctions under the InternationalConvention for the Suppression of theFinancing of Terrorism.

Fourth, on the military front, asBolton advised Doval, there is a strongdefence available for a punitive strikeagainst the PoK based terrorist groups inself-defence under Article 51. The

UNGA Resolution 2625 also prohibitsstates from supporting acts of terrorism,putting them under obligation to preventsuch unlawful acts, failing which Indiacan rightfully stage a shock and aweoffensive, as and when terrorist bases andoperatives become active in PoK.

Fifth, the Raisina policy mandarinsunderstand well that it is China, which isthe sole source of Pakistan’s defiance vis-à-vis the US and India. Therefore, Indiamust diligently pursue its hyphenatedSino-Pak policy. China’s veto in the UNSanction Committee, blocking MasoodAzhar’s proscription; opposition toIndia’s entry into the Nuclear SuppliersGroup; and the Doklam standoff, arereminders that India can only ill-affordto misread the Sino-Indian Wuhan bon-homie as a change of heart on part ofBeijing. It should intensify its links withIran and Baloch nationals to escalate thecost of Gwadar Port and CPEC forChina. The Balochistan and PoK salvosfired by PM Modi in 2016 from the ram-parts of the Red Fort need to be activat-ed. Former Afghan President HamidKarzai, Afghan Ambassador to IndiaShaida Mohammad Abdali, BrahamdaghBugti and residents of PoK andBalochistan have backed PM Modi’s RedFort pronouncements. Granting asylumto Bugti immediately, India should high-light human rights violations inBalochistan at the UN Human RightCommission in Geneva, Human RightsWatch, the US State Department andEuropean Parliament.

Sixth, it is time to speed up thehydro-projects in Kashmir on theIndus system of rivers, which in duecourse will allow to withhold water andthreaten Pakistan in turning into a‘dust bowl’. Pakistan, from experienceunderstands well that internationalarbitration is time consuming, expen-sive and laborious, which wouldsqueeze it Pakistan further as well ascause civil unrest over water shortage.

Last, following the Pulwama attack,separatists’ sympathisers and status-quoists outside Kashmir have beenmarginalised by the emerging biparti-san political solidarity. The ModiGovernment must utilise it to not onlypurge the separatists with a firm hand,but also build political consensus in theParliament to establish the supremacyof India’s Constitution over Jammu andKashmir. Let us be clear, irrespective ofwho runs the Government in NewDelhi, Pakistan’s Kashmir policy willremain unchanged, and the battle forIndia’s soul and Kashmir will be won,for good, in New Delhi.

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Page 14:  · Kashmir, not against Kashmir, not against the Kashmiris,” the PM added. He said the Kashmiri youths are also troubled by ter-rorism and are ready to fight against them. “We

There can be nothing sadderand more worthy of ourconcern today than thedeadly attack on the 41CRPF personnel who died

in the Pulwama district of Jammu &Kashmir this month. The lives arelost, the sorrow of their families leftbehind is infinite, their dreams remainunfulfilled. It reminded me of mymost feared nightmare as a child,when my father — also in the armedforces at that time — would be awayin service to the security of our coun-try for days and even weeks. We didnot have phones then and there wasno way to know of his safety until theday he would return. For every CRPFpersonnel who died in the suicideattack, there is now a child or a parentwho must live this nightmare and bearthis unsurmountable loss forever.

I also wonder how long will we beconcerned about it. InternationalWomen’s Day is around the cornerand so we will soon be aflush withdiscussions about how women need toget a better deal, before we forgetabout that too altogether.

And then this is the election year.Over centuries, governance systems —whether tribes, kingdoms, or nations— were established so that we the peo-ple can freely roam, speak, act, in away that allowed other members inour collectivity to do the same as well.But instead, in a Frankensteinian turnof events, today leaders excessivelyspeak about their election manifestosor criticisms of the opposition and ourmedia is caught in a whirlwind with abottomless pit of analysis. Indeed assoon as the responsibility for thePulwama attack was claimed by thePakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed,

the issue has already spiralled in tobecoming highly politicised. How longbefore the fatherless children of themartyred CRPF officers are sidelinedto give way to the consequences of thistragedy on the elections or on India-Pakistan relations?

In my recent book, IndianInstincts, I wrote that rationality andfreedom are two sides of the samecoin. I explained that we can only berational when we think with a freemind, and when we are rational, free-dom can win. One does not really existwithout the other. A rational minddoes not work under compulsion.Once it perceives the situation, it can-not be subservient to anyone else’sorders or controls. It cannot becajoled, manipulated or forced. Ipointed out that unless our childrenare educated to be rational, indepen-dent-minded individuals who respectone another, some of us will continueto mindlessly hate and kill in the nameof history, religion, politics, while therest of us will jump from empathisingfrom one broadcasted event to thenext. Law or social or religious normscannot stop this. Only education can.

And this must be the kind ofeducation that opens up the mindwith questions rather than closes itwith answers learnt by rote; the edu-cation that teaches us to respect eachother as human beings, and not pullone another down even when scram-bling for the same resources; theeducation that asks us to think forourselves and speak our opinion, notpander to those of others.

Besides the lack of such an educa-tion, what else has made us, as a soci-ety, so inconsistent with how we feel?It might be possible that the models

we have inherited, the institutions —such as Government, media, tradeunions — that claim to represent us,are inadequate. Their overwhelmingrhetoric might have led us into believ-ing that these are the best (or perhapsonly?) ways to maintain order in oursociety today. But this might not betrue. For example, today there is anear unanimous acceptance globally— almost with a moral imperative andmissionary zeal — that all countriesmust be a democracy. But it was onlyin the latter half of the 20th Centurythat the idea of democracy was estab-lished as a form of Government. Inyear 1941, there were only 11 democ-racies in the world. In the past and inthe future, it might be possible then tohave other models of political gover-nance. Perhaps it is the frustrationwith lack of equal distribution ofresources that gives new life to oldresentments such that extremists reapthe rewards? Perhaps communities arenot being adequately heard andrespected? Perhaps we can find newways to organise ourselves?

Democracies, corporate gover-nance structures, media were original-ly designed to draw decisions aboutleadership (by vote), business, infor-mation, from the wisdom of a collec-tion of people. In sociobiology andpolitical science too we find the term‘collective intelligence’ — not socalled, but dating back to more than200 years ago. It is described as ashared or group intelligence thatemerges from the collaboration, col-lective efforts, and competition ofmany individuals that appears in con-sensus decision making.

Although ‘collective intelligence’ ishardly a new concept but the MIT

Centre for Collective Intelligence hasfamously retrieved this discipline incontemporary times. In practice it isfound in modern voting systems, acade-mic peer reviews, crowdsourcing appli-cations, social media and other meansthat draw conclusions from the intelli-gence of the masses. In fact recently, Iwas asked to join the board of advisorsof a new university in Morocco thatpropagates the philosophy of collectiveintelligence. The university aims toadvance the knowledge necessary for acollectively intelligent society.

I think the renewed (nascent)interest in this discipline is differentfrom how it was conceptualised cen-turies ago. The new version of ‘collec-tive intelligence’ stems from the disil-lusionment with the current top-downapproach that drives the agenda of themasses. It counters political, social,economic, media institutions that areorganised in hierarchical structureshaving the power, capital, informationto drive mass euphoria. According tothe contemporary avatar of ‘collectiveintelligence’, these institutions areindeed created by a collection of peo-ple, but are led by a handful.

It is, therefore, testing new organi-sation structures that are led by col-lectivity too. This would be an organi-sation structure that does not taper offinto one leader at the top. It is felt thatsuch an order of people would pauseto reflect on the issues that matter tothem, and ideally seek to solve them.This would be a structure that wouldnot easily forget the plight of the chil-dren of our martyrs. Let us see wherethis quest takes us.

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The Oscar-nominated Mexicanactor Yalitza Aparicio, who starsin the critically acclaimed film

Roma, said recently that she was proudof her indigenous roots, after a soapopera star used a racial slur to describeher. “I am proud to be an Oaxacanindigenous woman and it saddens methat there are people who do not knowthe correct meaning of words,”Aparicio, who became the first indige-nous woman to be nominated for abest actress Oscar, said in a statement.

Last Friday, a video surfaced onTwitter in which the Mexican actorSergio Goyri, 60, can be heard criticis-ing the film community for nominat-ing “A f*****g Indian who says, ‘Yes,ma’am, no, ma’am’.”

Goyri quickly apologised. “It was never my intent to offend anyone.I apologise to Yalitza, who deserves[the Oscar nomination] and muchmore,” he said in a video posted onInstagram. “For me, it is an honour to see a Mexican be nominated for an Oscar.”

Aparicio, 25, starred as a domestic

worker in director Alfonso Cuaron’sRoma, which chronicles the life of anupper-middle-class family in theMexico City neighborhood whereCuaron was raised.

The film, which was released byNetflix, has been nominated for 10Oscars at the Academy Awards, to beheld in Los Angeles on February 24.

An upcoming BBC children’s sit-com that focuses on a BritishChinese family has been

marred by accusations of racism. Agroup representing British East Asiansin the film and TV industry said itwas indefensible that the show shouldhave been developed and written withlittle input from writers and creativesfrom the community.

The CBBC series Living With the Lams is about a family that runsa restaurant in Manchester and isstill in development. Members ofBritish East Asians Working inTheatre and Screen (Beats) haveseen scripts that they say perpetuateracial stereotypes and contain a“litany of orientalist cliches”.

More than 100 Beats membershave signed an open letter to the BBCand the production company TwentyTwenty to complain that the enlistingof a Chinese writer as a cultural con-sultant had been insufficient. “We donot accept the use of cultural consul-tants as replacements for British EastAsian writers in a show where the rai-

son d’etre pivots on the lives of aBritish Chinese family,” the letter says.

It says widespread concerns aboutthe script were ignored or dismissed,and that established British East Asianwriters were told they were too inex-perienced to be involved in the show.Signatories to the letter include theactors David Yip and Jessica Henwickand the American playwright DavidHenry Hwang.

If there is a gateway to hell, a portalfrom the underworld used bydemons and witches to wreak

their evil havoc on humanity, then itcould be in a small east Midlandscave handy for both the M1 and A60.Heritage experts have revealed whatis thought to be the biggest concen-tration of apotropaic marks, or sym-bols to ward off evil or misfortune,ever found in the UK.

The markings, at Creswell Crags, a limestone gorge on theNottinghamshire/Derbyshire border,include hundreds of letters, symbolsand patterns carved, at a time when

belief in witchcraft was widespread.The scale and variety of the marksmade on the limestone walls and ceil-ing of a cave which has at its centre adeep, dark, hole, is unprecedented.

Believed to protect against witchesand curses, the marks were discoveredby chance at the site, which is alsohome to the only ice age art ever dis-covered in the UK. Paul Baker, thedirector of Creswell Heritage Trust,said the marks had been in plain sight.They had known they were there. “Butwe told people it was Victorian graffi-ti,” he said. “We had no idea. Can youimagine how stupid we felt?”

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Drivers were startled to see a hun-gry bear that got stuck in the back

of garbage truck and took a rideacross a stretch of eastern NorthCarolina. News outlets reportthat a motorist called BertieCounty 911 on Wednesdaymorning about a bearhanging off of the truckon US Route 17.Apparently, the snack-seeking bear climbedinto the trash truckduring a stop andbecame trappedafter the driversecured the nettingthat prevents garbagefrom blowing out.Sheriff John Holleysays a deputystopped the truckwith the bearperched on top justoutside ofWindsor. Thedriver, who had-n’t been aware

of the stowaway, pulled back the netand the bear ran off before the truckcontinued on to the landfill.

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Aman’s nap in the back of his carin Delaware turned into a night-

mare after the car he was sleeping inwas stolen and crashed. MusicianJustin Koerner told the News Journal

he had spent a night playing musicwith friends, went to sleep in hisvehicle and had a dream involvingsomeone jumping in his front seat.

A Newark police statementsays someone drove off in the carSunday morning and bailed afterseeing the man sleeping in the

back. Police say the car crashed.Koerner says he awoke and saw car

treads on a lawn and a destroyedbush, then realised he hadn’t beendreaming. He says police appearedready to take him away beforeanother officer said a neighbourhad security camera footage of

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Ahoy, beer lovers: A bottle from a133-year-old shipwreck may

yield yeast for a new brew in upstateNew York. Biotechnology students atthe State University of New York atCobleskill uncorked a bottle fromthe shipwrecked SS Oregon recently.Serious Brewing Company of HowesCave plans to develop a new brew if thestudents successfully extract yeast. BillFelter, of Serious Brewing, acquired thebeer from a customer who owns anassortment of artifacts recovered fromthe Oregon. The ship was en route fromLiverpool, England, to New York Citywith 852 people aboard on March 14,1886, when it collided with a schoonernear Fire Island, New York, and sank.All but one person survived. Last year,an Australian brewer produced beerfrom yeast recovered from a 220-year-old shipwreck.

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ATinder-inspired app is helpingfarmers match up potential part-

ners for their cattle. Called“Tudder” — a mix of dating appTinder and udder — it lets farm-ers swipe right on cattle they likethe look of. They are then direct-ed to a page on theSellMyLivestock website wherethey can browse more picturesand data about the animals

before deciding whether to buy.Valuable information is available onmatters like milk yield and protein con-tent, or calving potential, explainedDoug Bairner, CEO of Hectare Agritechwhich runs SellMyLivestock (SML) andGraindex, a UK-based online agritechtrading platform. “Matching livestockonline is even easier than it is to matchhumans because there’s a huge amountof data that sits behind these wonderfulanimals that predicts what their off-spring will be,” he said.

Launched just in time forValentine’s Day, the makers believerTudder is the first ever matchmakingapp for livestock. As with the humanequivalent, farmers use smartphones tofirst choose whether they are lookingfor a male or female, swiping throughphotos — right for yes and left for no

— until they find a match.Putting data at their fingertips con-

nects farmers from all over the country,making trading easier. Cattle farmer andTudder user James Bridger said it easestransport stress for animals andmay rival traditional markets.“You’ve got all this data of itsbackground and everythingwhich if you’re at a marketyou might not have had thetime to go through for everysingle random ani-mal,” he said.

“There’s nothingbetter than seeing ananimal in its home,its natural habitat,rather than puttingit on a lorry ... ifsomeone rings upand wants to comeand have a look, oreven getting it fromthe picture, it’s idealreally from thatrespect, and they’rehappier for it.”

SellMyLivestockhas listed over £50

million ($64 million) of livestock, feedand bedding to sell in the last year, dis-pelling notions that farmers are stuck inthe past, Bairner said. “Despite the restof the world’s view of farming, it’s actu-ally very technologically driven,” hesaid, citing precision spraying, automat-ed dairy units and genetic science.

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ARussian teenager hasrefitted his car to drive it

backward. The teenagershowed in a video postedon social media that he hadrefitted the car, removingwhat was underneath thehood to where the trunknormally is, and reversed

the driver’s seat. The videogot a shoutout from Elon

Musk’s verified account whosaid, in Russian, that it was“awesome.” Local police,however, were notimpressed and fined theteenager.

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Page 15:  · Kashmir, not against Kashmir, not against the Kashmiris,” the PM added. He said the Kashmiri youths are also troubled by ter-rorism and are ready to fight against them. “We

Ihave chosen the story of GoswamiTulsidas because he exemplifies what Iam trying to convey. He married

Ratnavati when he was 19. He loved herdeeply and could not bear separation fromher. One day, he had gone to the neigh-bourhood Hanuman temple, and by thetime he returned, it had already growndark. His wife had left for her father’s placefor some urgent work. Upon not findinghis wife, Tulsidas became very upset.Therefore, he decided to go to his father-in-law’s place. The night was dark and theriver, which he had to cross, was in spate.Not finding any boat, he looked for somesupport. He spotted something like a log,which actually was a dead body. Tulsidasused that as a support to swim across.

Once on the other bank, he went tohis in-law’s place. It was late in the nightand all had gone to sleep. The main doorwas locked. Tulsidas knew that his wifewas accommodated on the first floor. He

looked for a rope and finding somethingwhich resembled a rope, climbed to thefirst floor. This was no rope; it was asnake. Once on the first floor, he knockedon her door. When she opened the door,he proudly recounted how he had man-aged to reach her. Instead of appreciatinghis efforts, she remarked that suchlove/devotion should be directed towardsGod; he will obtain everything desirable.

She was only stating what is stated inthe Bhagavad Gita. With God comeseverything, be it opulence, victory,wealth, morality, etc. (18.78) We all lovesomeone or something. It is natural,because in ourselves we are incomplete.Lord Krishna has reminded us of this factwhen He states that we are His parts.(15.7) Tulsidas was not unique in lovinghis wife the way he did. Many do but thequestion to be answered is whether weare gaining what we need through suchlove. Tulsidas did not and neither does

anyone. Why? Because we are limited andso is the person we love. Don’t we accom-modate/tolerate our spouses? Yes, it is awise thing to do; we gain companionship.But is that the only goal one should have?

I also love my wife dearly. But she hasnot been able to give me what I seek sodesperately. I need perfect guidance sothat I don’t keep speculating or makingwrong choices. After all, mine or mywife’s knowledge can at best be very limit-ed. And I also don’t know the big picture,which only the omniscient God canknow. Such guidance by itself is not ade-quate in many cases. Aren’t we all quitehelpless in the ultimate sense? God, beingomnipotent, can and does provide therequired help as promised by LordKrishna in the Gita. (18.58)

I have many more requirements; I needsecurity. My peace of mind depends uponhow I feel about my future, and only Godcan ensure a secure future. My peace of

mind also depends upon spiritual practices,which keep me connected with theAlmighty. Thus, I avoid being blownaround like a boat in a raging storm. Then,do I have the mental strength to lead a suc-cessful life in this turbulent world, whichthe Lord has described as an impermanentplace of miseries? (8.15) By following God’sinstructions, I am able to muster suchstrength. This helps me go on in life fear-lessly. Don’t we need courage as a basicquality to lead a quality life? The situationhas come to a point that I am unable tomanage without God. I keep seekinganswers, help and, quite frequently, forgive-ness for bad/sinful acts done in the past,which come to fruition periodically. Goddoes not respond as frequently or exactlythe way I would wish, but that is quite satis-fying for me. I hope to continue loving myLord and benefit as a result.

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As we march along the 21st Century, the sameage-old question crops up. Is there more eviltoday than there was years ago, or decades, or

even centuries ago? Difficult to answer but we are toldthat the world has become a much better place todaythan it was earlier. And this, we learn, is a researchedopinion. By the famed researchers of even morefamous so-called world-class centres of research. Theonly problem is what this world class is all about?What are its qualities? And most importantly, whodecides this world class? That is the greatest mystery.But yes, somebody at some time, somewhere becomesworld-class. Rather, is proclaimed as world class.Whether they are liars or outliers is the question thatbegs an answer. Particularly, because once upon a timewe were told there was a big bad country, devil’s owncountry, that was branded as evil empire. With the evilempire no more in existence, the evil in the worldshould have become extinct. But it persists, statisticstrying to debunk this truth, notwithstanding. Statistics,yes, statistics is what camouflages the truth. Rather,displaces the truth, with numbers, with figures, witharguments, with logic, and lies. Disraeli had a pointwhen he described three kinds of lies — lies, damn lies,and statistics. Because statistics does not show what isthere. It shows what you want to see. And sometimeswhat someone else wants to show you. So the samethings are being seen differently. This is the fallacy ofover-indulgence in ‘statisfaction’, my coinage todescribe the feigned prosperity, the feigned happiness,the feigned development. Psychologist William Jameswas right in stating that part of what we perceivecomes from outside, but a significant part alwayscomes from within, our own mind. When this mind istrained to think in a particular way, it is constrained tosee objectively and becomes a victim of unconsciousbias. Coming back to the question of evil in this world,can we come to a conclusion? Has there been a change,because everyone is saying these days that change isthe only certainty in this otherwise uncertain world?Not easy to arrive at, but we need an objective ratherthan optimistic outlook. There lies the rub. While theobjective outlook would suggest that cow dung is cowdung, the optimistic outlook would suggest that it isfertiliser. And if you don’t see fertiliser in cow dung,you are cynical. That is what branding does. That iswhat suggestion is all about. No one wants to bebranded as a cynic, so everyone sees the fertiliser andnot the cow dung. Suggestion leads to auto suggestionand that is the cause of placebo effect. But while place-bo effects can be useful in curing headaches, to expectthat they can be a panacea for social ills like poverty israther silly. But that is what is shaping ideas, concepts,and practices in the world today. Faking has becomethe new normal and truth has taken a back seat. Theresult is that death — the one certainty of this mortalworld — is being denied, and life — the dubious illu-sion — is being overemphasised. Social media is play-ing the pivotal role in creating this mindset. So even anobituary post on Facebook can only get a ‘like’. So,falsehoods become truth, and truth is the outlier.

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For those treading the spiritu-al path, truthfulness is oneof the most important ethi-cal virtues we need to incul-cate. If we are following the

spiritual path back to God, we needto develop all aspects of truthfulness.If we are to become a pure mirror toreflect God’s light, there must not beany stain or defect in the glass. Ourthoughts, words, and deeds should beabove board. As one of the greatsaints of the past century, Sant KirpalSingh Ji, often said: “Truth is high,but higher than truth is true living.”By following truthfulness, we willmake progress and be a noble exam-ple to others searching for the wayback to God. Let us examine the vari-ous aspects of this trait and exploreways in which we can make it anintegral part of our lives.

What are the factors that willinstill in us the quality of truthful-ness? We need to realise that whilewe may sometimes hide the truthfrom others, we cannot hide it fromGod. He is all-knowing, and He iswatching us at all times. We maythink that we are too insignificantfor such an all-powerful and greatGod to worry about us, but He isaware of every living thing in cre-ation — from the tiniest blade ofgrass to the large mammals thatroam the planet. We cannot escapeHis ever-watchful eye. He is sittingwithin each living being. Knowingthat He is always with us helps usrealise that no matter what we do, nomatter what we say, and no matterwhat we think, He is aware of it. Wemay try to hide the truth from oth-ers, but He is aware of all actions.

Truthfulness involves being ableto be honest about our failings. Wemay hide our faults from others, butwe should not hide them from our-selves. Trying to ignore our failingsor trying to make excuses for ourbehaviour will not help us. No matterwhat we tell others to save our face,or to make ourselves look better thanwe are in the eyes of others, this is

not going to help our spiritual devel-opment. If we want to make our-selves fit to enter the kingdom ofGod, we have to remove our stainsand blemishes. Covering them withmake-up does not make us beautiful,for God sees us the way we really are.We need to recognise our failings,admit them to ourselves, and thenwork on weeding them out.

We may dress up and try to looknice when we visit a doctor, but weknow that when we go to him or herthe doctor is interested in our bloodpressure, our pulse, and our internalorgans, and he or she looks beyondour physical appearance. We maylook presentable when we go to ourschool and take exams, but we knowthat the teacher is interested in ourresults on the tests. Similarly, Godwants to make us fit for entry intoHis abode. We may try to cover upour faults outwardly, but He is inter-ested in our true spiritual nature. Heis looking to help us remove thecharacter traits that keep us fromrising above consciousness. He isnot concerned with our outwardshow of character. We may act politeand courteous, and we may boastabout our achievements, but Helooks beyond that. He knows ourtrue condition. He is concernedwith helping us correct those flawsthat keep us from our spiritual goal.When we colour ourselves perfect,we have allowed our mind to dupeour soul. Our poor soul goesnowhere and our mind has succeed-ed in stopping our onward journey.If we can become aware of themind’s deceptive play, we can takesteps to overcome its tricks.

If we can honestly examine our-selves and criticise ourselves as wecriticise others, we will find our faultsand correct them. Recognising ourfaults is not a time for self-flagellationor to beat up ourselves. It is notmeant for making us brood andworry. It is meant for us to see thefaults, make a resolution to change,and start improving. Worrying and

brooding and feeling guilty will nothelp. It will only waste our valuabletime and take our attention awayfrom the goal. We should admit freelyto ourselves that we have made a mis-take, realise that the mistake is a partof being human, and then make aplan to change so that we do notrepeat the mistake. We must forgiveand forget the actions of others, andwe must forgive and forget our ownactions once we recognise the mis-take and correct it.

The longer we delay being truth-ful about our mistakes, the longer wedelay our own progress. No one iswatching us but ourselves and Godwithin us. Similarly, whatever we do,we may hide from others, we mayhide from ourselves, but we cannothide those actions from God. Wemay present a beautiful face to theworld, but God will see our true con-dition and will not allow us entryinto the highest abode until webecome spotless. We must be puri-fied to reach His inner kingdom. Thesooner we realise this, the better.

So let us resolve to develop thequalities of truthfulness. Let us behonest in all our dealings. Let us ridourselves of deceit and hypocrisy. Letus earn our livelihood honestly. Andlet us be true to ourselves. We shouldhonestly recognise our true conditionso we can make the necessaryimprovements. If we can developtruthfulness, we will find that ourinner progress will take a leap, andwe will achieve our goal with greaterspeed. As an important exercise, letus observe the number of times weare untruthful each day. Note downthe various shades of untruth we’vebeen involved in during the day —lies, deceit, hypocrisy, and illegalgain. Also note the times we deceivedourselves by not recognising our ownfailings. Let us try to catch ourselvesand replace untruths with truth. Tryto reduce the number of times youare untruthful day by day. We willnote its effect on our peace of mind.

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Ayoung man in his early for-ties who had a look at one ofmy recent articles, came ask-ing the other day, “Sir, yourlatest issue suggests that

human beings are empowered to be thearchitects of their destiny. Then howcome I am not having my way in my bidto get legally separated from myestranged wife despite best of myefforts?” “It appears that you have justpicked up the headline of a particulararticle, but not cared to get to the trueimport of what has been explained infour serialised issues,” I responded.

True, you enjoy the freedom toshape your destiny. That, however,doesn’t entitle you to move to yourwhims and fancies. If you have free-dom of choice, it would not mean thatyou can just set up a shop in the mid-dle of a public road and disturb trafficflow. Remember, the living world ismade in a way where no individual canmeet even one’s existential needs byoneself. You need societal support evenfor your bare survival. In such an inter-dependent framework, the world won’tmove just to your asking. You can’tafford to conduct in a way that in anyway unsettles societal order.

It, therefore, becomes incumbentupon us to discriminate between “whatwe want” and “what is right”, before wemake any move. Otherwise, you becomevulnerable to pick up a wrong lead, evi-dently not only detrimental to collectivewell-being but even to the self. Only apurified mind, free from any precondi-tioning whatsoever, qualifies to makethe right choices in life. The paradox,however, is that invariably we are allborn with a preconditioned mindbound by predefined parameters, andnot open to look beyond for betteroptions if any available. That limits thescope of one’s vision. One, therefore,often fails to look at issues in hand inthe right perspective due, and withobvious consequences.

In so far as the man in question isconcerned, a look at his astrologicalpointers suggests that he has been a vic-tim of his own doing. Bound by habittendencies, he never cared for his wife’ssensibilities and concerns. He ratherlived in a demanding mode. With pas-sage of time, the relationship went frombad to worse. Finally, when pushed tothe wall, his wife has begun challenginghim, something very difficult for hisegotistical mind to digest. So, he is now

trying to break the relationship at anycost. He was born when fiery and mov-able sign Aries sign was rising with itslord Mars posited in another fiery signSagittarius. That primarily makes out animpulsive, aggressive, irritable, impa-tient, intolerable, touchy, and a domi-neering person. He prefers to be at thehead of everything. The lagna lord Marsplaced adverse to expansive Jupiterspeaks of his inflated ego, not open tolistening or counselling. He remainsstuck to his preconceived notions.Impulsively, he gets into an act withoutapplying proper forethought. It’s onlywhen he lands into a problem that heapplies his mind. Mars also placedadverse to its dire enemy Saturnaccounts for his bad temper, suspiciousnature, and revengeful tendencies. Mars,again, ill-disposed off to Uranus makeshim temperamental.

The Sun, ill-disposed off to Moonmakes him emotional and sensitive. Hemay get over trivial issues and stretch itbeyond due for long. This combinationalso makes him vulnerable to emotionalconflicts and thereby disharmony withthose around. Moon occupyingCapricorn sign, conjunct headless Ketu,also placed adverse to mischievousNeptune, brings in narcissist tenden-

cies. He remains stuck to his self-delu-sions and may not acknowledge truthon its first appearance. He may ratherstill prefer going by his own fancifulideas until pushed to the wall. Andwhen faced with an adverse situation,he may try to find an escape routerather than resolving it head on.

Venus, the lord of the second andseventh house, identified with his mari-tal partner is strongly placed in the sev-enth house itself. Further, Venus occu-pies the lunar constellation owned byJupiter. This implies that his wife isinherently a well-meaning and a self-respecting lady. She won’t tolerate ifever belittled. To sum up, the man ismore to be blamed for his marital tur-bulence than his wife. In the process,his child is suffering for no fault of his.Whatever be the fate of the man’s pre-sent marriage, he may not be able tohold on to any new relationship forlong, unless he works upon his fault-lines without further loss of time.

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