16
T he four convicts of Nirbhaya gangrape and murder case will not be hanged on January 22 as one of the con- victs Mukesh Kumar moved the trial court pleading that his mercy petition is pending before the President of India. The Delhi Government and prison authorities on Wednesday told a Bench of Justices Manmohan and Sangita Dhingra Sehgal in the Delhi High Court that under the prison rules, if death sen- tence has been awarded to more than one person in a case and if only one of them moves a mercy plea, the execution of the others too has to be post- poned till the plea is decided. However, in a related but significant development, the High Court (HC) refused to stay the death warrant issued against the convicts Akshaya Thakur, Mukesh Kumar, Vinay Sharma and Pawan Gupta by the trial court on January 7. The Delhi HC came down heavily upon the Delhi Government for sitting over the case for a year and doing noth- ing in issuing notice on the mercy plea of the convicts. The HC also pulled up the Delhi Government and Delhi prison authorities for the delay on their part in informing the con- victs that they can move mercy pleas before the President. The Bench said the notice ought to have been issued after the apex court’s May 5, 2017 judgement, instead it was issued on October 29, 2019 and December 18, 2019. After the HC observation, the Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia sought to clear the air and said, “The Delhi Government has recommended rejecting the mercy plea filed by Mukesh, and forwarded it to the Lieutenant Governor (L-G) at lightning speed”. Incidentally, convicts Vinay and Mukesh have already exhausted curative petition remedy and two others — Pawan and Akshay — are yet to move the Supreme Court (SC) with this plea. The Bench said, “Then your rule is bad if you cannot take action till all the co-con- victs have moved a mercy plea. It seems there has been non- application of mind (while framing the rules). The system is suffering from cancer.” The court declined to interfere with the trial court’s January 7 order as sought by Mukesh, who contended that the order issuing death warrant be set aside as being un-exe- cutable as he has moved a mercy plea before the President. The HC further said there is no error in the trial court’s decision as on that date, none of the convicts had moved a curative petition or a mercy plea. The Bench said if the con- vict wanted the date of execu- tion to be set aside based on a subsequent event — moving of mercy plea — then “he must approach the court that passed the order.” The Bench said it is of the opinion that once the SC dis- missed his criminal appeal, review plea and curative peti- tion and confirmed his death sentence, he cannot challenge the January 7 death warrant before the HC as the order did nothing but carry the apex court’s decision to its logical conclusion. Following the HC’s stand, senior advocate Rebecca John and advocate Vrinda Grover, appearing for Mukesh, said they will withdraw the petition and move the sessions court bringing to its attention the subsequent developments. Granting them the liberty to move the trial court, the bench disposed of the plea. During the hearing, the Bench said challenging the January 7 order before it amounted to playing one court against another. It said the petitioner ought to have brought the subse- quent events to the notice of the trial court or ought to have moved the apex court, which had finally confirmed the death sentence and also dismissed his curative petition. “We feel this is a stratagem devised on how to prolong the matter, since you had time since May 5, 2017, when the apex court dismissed their appeals, to move a mercy plea or file a review or curative peti- tion. Why did you wait till now? What restrained you from doing so? What prevent- ed you?” said the Bench. “The intent of the law is to give you reasonable amount of time to approach the court. Your time started ticking from May 5, 2017. Even after October 29, 2019 (when first notice was sent to the convicts informing them they can move mercy plea), you did nothing. You can- not wait for the co-convicts pleas to be decided, to move the courts,” the bench said. J amia Millia Islamia admin- istration on Wednesday said the institution will move a court for registration of First Information Report (FIR) against the Delhi Police crack- down on the campus on December 15. The decision to move court was taken at an Executive Council meeting and as per the official. Jamia Vice Chancellor Najma Akhtar on Tuesday met Delhi Police Commissioner Amulya Patnaik and urged him to lodge an FIR against the Delhi Police. On Monday, after Jamia students gheraoed the V-C office demanding the university to file an FIR against the Delhi Police, Akhtar had said the uni- versity administration will explore the possibility of mov- ing court for an FIR against police “brutality” on the campus. Earlier, the university had already followed all possible steps for the registration of FIR. It has given its complaint to SHO Jamia Nagar. A Delhi court on Wednesday granted bail to Bhim Army chief Chandrashekhar Azad who has been accused of incit- ing people during an anti- CAA protest at Jama Masjid here on December 20, while restraining him from visiting Delhi for four weeks. The court further directed him not to hold any dharna in the national Capital till the elec- tions here and said “the nation cannot be exposed to anarchy”. Additional Sessions Judge Kamini Lau granted the relief to Azad on furnishing a bail bond of 25,000 with two sureties of like amount. The court also said that before going to Saharanpur if Azad wants to go anywhere, including Jama Masjid in Delhi in 24 hours, police will escort him there. “There is no material in the form of CCTV footage or audio recordings to prima facie show the direct involve- ment of the accused with the alleged violence and it was admitted by the police that the CCTV T he Prime Minister’s resi- dence is expected to shift from 7 Lok Kalyan Marg to South Block, closer to the Prime Minister’s Office and it will come up on 15 acre under the proposed revamp plan of Central Vista in New Delhi. Similarly, the proposed building of new Parliament is to be a triangular design on 9.5 acre, close to the existing Parliament building. The Vice- President’s house and Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts (IGNCA) at Man Singh Road is likely to be shifted. The architecture firm HCP Design, which bagged the bid to finalise detailed project report, made a detailed pre- sentation before the Union Housing and Urban Affairs Ministry on Wednesday. In its presentation, it stated the PM’s new residence has been pro- posed on 15 acre land on Dara Shikoh Marg (formerly known as Dalhousie Road) near South Block. Sources said the use of this land has been changed. This would also help in easing traffic in the area as VIP move- ments cause inconvenience to people. Similarly, the proposed building of new Parliament will come up on 9.5 acre. The building would be inside the present Parliament complex. The new Lok Sabha will provide seating space for 900- 1200 members. According to the plan, the seating area of MPs in the proposed building will also be more than the existing place. The existing Parliament building will remain the same, and offices of Ministers and MPs will be in a new building. The Government will construct 10 eight-storey buildings on Rajpath to accommodate offices of various ministries, which would be built after demolish- ing a few major buildings. Sources said plan to shift the IGNCA, however, is yet to be finalised by the Union Housing and Urban Affairs Ministry. The sources said all cul- tural institutions will be relo- cated near Jamnagar House, adding that the Government has also planned to set up a state-of-the art National Centre for Performing Arts there. Under the plan, the pro- posed buildings will not be taller than 42-metre-high India Gate to maintain uniformity of structures. The Vice-President’s residence is set to move next to Rashtrapati Bhavan from the existing location, Maulana Azad Road. Vigyan Bhavan is to be demolished and will make way for a modern con- ference hall. However, no her- itage buildings will be demol- ished. The common Central Secretariat will comprise eight buildings, four on each side of Central Vista. Each building will have eight floors, which will house various Ministries. Under the project, several sub- ways will be constructed to ensure movement of pedestri- ans around common Central Secretariat, which will also be connected through Yellow and Violet line of the Delhi Metro. Union Housing and Urban Affairs Minister Hardeep Singh Puri and its Secretary Durga Shankar Mishra were also pre- sent during presentation. The plan involves restruc- turing the Central Vista in a move that will include a com- mon Secretariat, a new Parliament complex, and a redesigned Rajpath, while also razing a dozen Government offices. The plan, which is being handled by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, involves having a new Parliament by India’s 75th Independence Day in 2022, and the entire project is slated to be finished by 2024. The plan, estimated to cost about 12,000 crore, includes razing buildings such as Shastri Bhawan, Udyog Bhawan and Krishi Bhawan that house important Government Ministries to build a common Secretariat for roughly 70,000 Central Government employ- ees who are located in 30 buildings. The Delhi Development Authority (DDA) has recently changed the land use of over 100 acre in Luytens’ Delhi for this purpose. C hina has demanded dis- cussion on Kashmir during a closed-door meeting of the UN Security Council in New York on Wednesday, but the request is likely to be rejected as other member countries of the global organisation are set to oppose it. The current move by China is third such attempt since August when the special status granted to Jammu & Kashmir under Article 370 of the Constitution was scrapped by the Government, and the state was bifurcated into two Union Territories. French diplomatic sources said France has noted the request of a UNSC member to raise the Kashmir issue once again in the powerful body and it is going to oppose it like it did on a previous occasion. The closed-door meeting of the UNSC has been called to discuss an issue relating to Mali, an African country and China has made a request to discuss the Kashmir issue under the agenda of “Any Other Business Points”. Asserting that France’s position has not changed and it is very clear that the Kashmir issue must be settled bilateral- ly (between India and Pakistan), French sources said this has been stated on sever- al occasions, and it will con- tinued to be reiterated to part- ners in the UN Security Council. This is the third time, China, Pakistan’s ‘all-weather ally’, has demanded discussion on the Kashmir issue. In August, China pushed for a UNSC meeting on Kashmir after the government scrapped J&K’s special status. However, the meeting did not yielded desired results for China as the member-states maintained that India’s move was an internal issue. A s many as 26 Ministers of the Narendra Modi Government will visit Jammu & Kashmir between January 18 and 24 and hold a series of meet- ings to create awareness about the Center’s welfare schemes and development plans. Senior Ministers Ravi Shankar Prasad, Piyush Goyal, Smriti Irani, Jitendra Singh, Thawar Chand Gehlot and many Ministers handling infra- structure, education, agricul- ture and animal husbandry, civil aviation, urban develop- ment and power will visit the Union territory and hold as many 51 meeting as part of the Centre’s strategy to usher in an era of peace and development in the region. In Srinagar alone, eight such meetings are planned to engage with public where Union Ministers will explain t Centre’s plans for the Union Territory. Union Ministers Giriraj Sinhg, General VK Singh, Hardeep Singh Puri, Kiren Rijiju, RK Singh, Arjun Muda, Mahendra Nath Pandey, Anurag Thakur, G Kishen Reddy, V Muraleedharan, Pratap Sarangi, Arjun Ram Meghwal, Pralhad Joshi and Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank are part of the list of 36 Union Ministers. Minister of State for Home G Kishen Reddy has written a letter to Jammu & Kashmir Chief Secretary BVR Subrahmanyam, informing about the visit of the Ministers. In his letter, Reddy said Home Minister Shah has desired that all members of the Union Council of Ministers pay a visit to Jammu & Kashmir, with the objective of disseminating information about the importance of the Centre’s policies for the over- all development of the Union Territory and its people along with the steps taken by the Government particularly in the past five months after the abrogation of Article 370 pro- visions and bifurcation of erst- while State. The schedule for the visit of the Ministers will also be discussed and finalised at a meeting of the Union Council of Ministers on January 17. C hief Minister Kamal Nath here on Wednesday said that he would soon conduct a workshop for the officials of Madhya Pradesh cadre so that they could have better under- standing towards work. While talking to media per- sons here, Nath said that the offi- cials in Madhya Pradesh do not have better understanding towards managing budget allo- cation towards their respective departments. For the purpose, special workshops would soon be conducted for the officials by inviting subject experts, he added. He informed that there are different ways to properly util- ising the budget and funds allo- cated to the departments. The officials should effectively to deal with the situation, Nath said. Regarding implementing Commissioner system of administration in Indore and Bhopal, Nath stated that this is on least priority of his agenda, because it is not going to affect common people and the poor of the society. He further said that he had talk with officials in Maharashtra, and did not good feedback. Let the time come and then, the government would decide on it, he said. Similarly, he said that he has never good at deciding public- ity of his own or the govern- ment. "I donot pay any attention towards the publicity. It is only with the department or those associated with uniting such a campaign, which are engaged in the work. I donot believe in pub- lishing my photograph in news- papers," Nath added. Notably, right before the assembly elections Nath used to ridicule the previous Government as ‘Vigyapan Wali Sarkar’ (Government of adver- tisements). Even after forming the Government in Madhya Pradesh, the Chief Minister time and again asserted that he did not believe in advertising the Government schemes. RNI Regn. No. MPENG/2004/13703, Regd. No. L-2/BPLON/41/2006-2008

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The four convicts ofNirbhaya gangrape and

murder case will not be hangedon January 22 as one of the con-victs Mukesh Kumar moved thetrial court pleading that hismercy petition is pendingbefore the President of India.

The Delhi Governmentand prison authorities onWednesday told a Bench ofJustices Manmohan andSangita Dhingra Sehgal in theDelhi High Court that underthe prison rules, if death sen-tence has been awarded tomore than one person in a caseand if only one of them movesa mercy plea, the execution ofthe others too has to be post-poned till the plea is decided.

However, in a related butsignificant development, theHigh Court (HC) refused tostay the death warrant issuedagainst the convicts AkshayaThakur, Mukesh Kumar, VinaySharma and Pawan Gupta bythe trial court on January 7.

The Delhi HC came downheavily upon the DelhiGovernment for sitting over thecase for a year and doing noth-ing in issuing notice on themercy plea of the convicts. TheHC also pulled up the DelhiGovernment and Delhi prisonauthorities for the delay ontheir part in informing the con-victs that they can move mercypleas before the President.

The Bench said the noticeought to have been issued afterthe apex court’s May 5, 2017judgement, instead it was

issued on October 29, 2019 andDecember 18, 2019.

After the HC observation,the Delhi Deputy ChiefMinister Manish Sisodiasought to clear the air and said,“The Delhi Government hasrecommended rejecting themercy plea filed by Mukesh,and forwarded it to theLieutenant Governor (L-G) atlightning speed”.

Incidentally, convicts Vinayand Mukesh have alreadyexhausted curative petitionremedy and two others —Pawan and Akshay — are yet to

move the Supreme Court (SC)with this plea.

The Bench said, “Thenyour rule is bad if you cannottake action till all the co-con-victs have moved a mercy plea.It seems there has been non-application of mind (whileframing the rules). The systemis suffering from cancer.”

The court declined tointerfere with the trial court’sJanuary 7 order as sought byMukesh, who contended thatthe order issuing death warrantbe set aside as being un-exe-cutable as he has moved a

mercy plea before thePresident.

The HC further said thereis no error in the trial court’sdecision as on that date, noneof the convicts had moved acurative petition or a mercyplea. The Bench said if the con-vict wanted the date of execu-tion to be set aside based on asubsequent event — moving ofmercy plea — then “he mustapproach the court that passedthe order.”

The Bench said it is of theopinion that once the SC dis-missed his criminal appeal,review plea and curative peti-tion and confirmed his deathsentence, he cannot challengethe January 7 death warrantbefore the HC as the order didnothing but carry the apexcourt’s decision to its logical

conclusion.Following the HC’s stand,

senior advocate Rebecca Johnand advocate Vrinda Grover,appearing for Mukesh, saidthey will withdraw the petitionand move the sessions courtbringing to its attention thesubsequent developments.Granting them the liberty tomove the trial court, the benchdisposed of the plea.

During the hearing, theBench said challenging theJanuary 7 order before itamounted to playing one courtagainst another.

It said the petitioner oughtto have brought the subse-quent events to the notice of thetrial court or ought to havemoved the apex court, whichhad finally confirmed the deathsentence and also dismissed his

curative petition.“We feel this is a stratagem

devised on how to prolong thematter, since you had timesince May 5, 2017, when theapex court dismissed theirappeals, to move a mercy pleaor file a review or curative peti-tion. Why did you wait tillnow? What restrained youfrom doing so? What prevent-ed you?” said the Bench.

“The intent of the law is togive you reasonable amount oftime to approach the court.Your time started ticking fromMay 5, 2017. Even after October29, 2019 (when first notice wassent to the convicts informingthem they can move mercyplea), you did nothing. You can-not wait for the co-convictspleas to be decided, to move thecourts,” the bench said.

������������ �8��289"*

Jamia Millia Islamia admin-istration on Wednesday said

the institution will move acourt for registration of FirstInformation Report (FIR)against the Delhi Police crack-down on the campus onDecember 15. The decision tomove court was taken at anExecutive Council meeting andas per the official.

Jamia Vice ChancellorNajma Akhtar on Tuesday metDelhi Police CommissionerAmulya Patnaik and urgedhim to lodge an FIR against theDelhi Police.

On Monday, after Jamiastudents gheraoed the V-Coffice demanding the universityto file an FIR against the DelhiPolice, Akhtar had said the uni-versity administration willexplore the possibility of mov-ing court for an FIR againstpolice “brutality” on the campus.

Earlier, the university hadalready followed all possiblesteps for the registration of FIR.It has given its complaint toSHO Jamia Nagar.

� �� �8��289"*

ADelhi court on Wednesdaygranted bail to Bhim Army

chief Chandrashekhar Azadwho has been accused of incit-ing people during an anti-CAA protest at Jama Masjidhere on December 20, whilerestraining him from visitingDelhi for four weeks.

The court further directedhim not to hold any dharna inthe national Capital till the elec-tions here and said “the nationcannot be exposed to anarchy”.

Additional Sessions JudgeKamini Lau granted the reliefto Azad on furnishing a bailbond of �25,000 with twosureties of like amount.

The court also said thatbefore going to Saharanpur ifAzad wants to go anywhere,including Jama Masjid in Delhiin 24 hours, police will escorthim there.

“There is no material inthe form of CCTV footage oraudio recordings to primafacie show the direct involve-ment of the accused with thealleged violence and it wasadmitted by the police that theCCTV

�� ���������� �8��289"*

The Prime Minister’s resi-dence is expected to shift

from 7 Lok Kalyan Marg toSouth Block, closer to thePrime Minister’s Office and itwill come up on 15 acre underthe proposed revamp plan ofCentral Vista in New Delhi.

Similarly, the proposedbuilding of new Parliament isto be a triangular design on 9.5acre, close to the existingParliament building. The Vice-President’s house and IndiraGandhi National Centre for theArts (IGNCA) at Man SinghRoad is likely to be shifted.

The architecture firm HCPDesign, which bagged the bidto finalise detailed projectreport, made a detailed pre-sentation before the UnionHousing and Urban AffairsMinistry on Wednesday. In its

presentation, it stated the PM’snew residence has been pro-posed on 15 acre land on DaraShikoh Marg (formerly knownas Dalhousie Road) near SouthBlock. Sources said the use ofthis land has been changed.This would also help in easingtraffic in the area as VIP move-ments cause inconvenience topeople.

Similarly, the proposedbuilding of new Parliamentwill come up on 9.5 acre. Thebuilding would be inside thepresent Parliament complex.

The new Lok Sabha willprovide seating space for 900-1200 members. According tothe plan, the seating area of MPsin the proposed building willalso be more than the existingplace. The existing Parliamentbuilding will remain the same,and offices of Ministers andMPs will be in a new building.

The Government will construct10 eight-storey buildings onRajpath to accommodate officesof various ministries, whichwould be built after demolish-ing a few major buildings.Sources said plan to shift theIGNCA, however, is yet to befinalised by the Union Housingand Urban Affairs Ministry.

The sources said all cul-tural institutions will be relo-cated near Jamnagar House,adding that the Governmenthas also planned to set up astate-of-the art National Centrefor Performing Arts there.

Under the plan, the pro-posed buildings will not betaller than 42-metre-high IndiaGate to maintain uniformity ofstructures. The Vice-President’sresidence is set to move next toRashtrapati Bhavan from theexisting location, MaulanaAzad Road. Vigyan Bhavan is

to be demolished and willmake way for a modern con-ference hall. However, no her-itage buildings will be demol-ished. The common CentralSecretariat will comprise eightbuildings, four on each side ofCentral Vista. Each buildingwill have eight floors, whichwill house various Ministries.Under the project, several sub-ways will be constructed toensure movement of pedestri-ans around common CentralSecretariat, which will also beconnected through Yellow andViolet line of the Delhi Metro.

Union Housing and UrbanAffairs Minister Hardeep SinghPuri and its Secretary DurgaShankar Mishra were also pre-sent during presentation.

The plan involves restruc-turing the Central Vista in amove that will include a com-mon Secretariat, a new

Parliament complex, and aredesigned Rajpath, while alsorazing a dozen Governmentoffices. The plan, which isbeing handled by the Ministryof Housing and Urban Affairs,involves having a newParliament by India’s 75thIndependence Day in 2022,and the entire project is slatedto be finished by 2024. Theplan, estimated to cost about�12,000 crore, includes razingbuildings such as ShastriBhawan, Udyog Bhawan andKrishi Bhawan that houseimportant GovernmentMinistries to build a commonSecretariat for roughly 70,000Central Government employ-ees who are located in 30buildings. The DelhiDevelopment Authority (DDA)has recently changed the landuse of over 100 acre in Luytens’Delhi for this purpose.

� �� �8��289"*

China has demanded dis-cussion on Kashmir during

a closed-door meeting of theUN Security Council in NewYork on Wednesday, but therequest is likely to be rejectedas other member countries ofthe global organisation are setto oppose it.

The current move byChina is third such attemptsince August when the specialstatus granted to Jammu &Kashmir under Article 370 ofthe Constitution was scrappedby the Government, and thestate was bifurcated into twoUnion Territories.

French diplomatic sourcessaid France has noted therequest of a UNSC member toraise the Kashmir issue onceagain in the powerful body andit is going to oppose it like it didon a previous occasion.

The closed-door meetingof the UNSC has been called todiscuss an issue relating to

Mali, an African country andChina has made a request todiscuss the Kashmir issueunder the agenda of “AnyOther Business Points”.

Asserting that France’sposition has not changed andit is very clear that the Kashmirissue must be settled bilateral-ly (between India andPakistan), French sources saidthis has been stated on sever-al occasions, and it will con-tinued to be reiterated to part-ners in the UN SecurityCouncil.

This is the third time,China, Pakistan’s ‘all-weatherally’, has demanded discussionon the Kashmir issue.

In August, China pushedfor a UNSC meeting onKashmir after the governmentscrapped J&K’s special status.However, the meeting did notyielded desired results forChina as the member-statesmaintained that India’s movewas an internal issue.

������������� �������������������������������� ����������������������������������������������������� ����������������������� ���

�������������������������������� ��������������������������������

����� �8��289"*

As many as 26 Ministers ofthe Narendra Modi

Government will visit Jammu &Kashmir between January 18and 24 and hold a series of meet-ings to create awareness aboutthe Center’s welfare schemes anddevelopment plans.

Senior Ministers RaviShankar Prasad, Piyush Goyal,Smriti Irani, Jitendra Singh,Thawar Chand Gehlot andmany Ministers handling infra-structure, education, agricul-ture and animal husbandry,civil aviation, urban develop-ment and power will visit theUnion territory and hold asmany 51 meeting as part of theCentre’s strategy to usher in anera of peace and developmentin the region.

In Srinagar alone, eightsuch meetings are planned toengage with public whereUnion Ministers will explain tCentre’s plans for the UnionTerritory.

Union Ministers GirirajSinhg, General VK Singh,Hardeep Singh Puri, KirenRijiju, RK Singh, Arjun Muda,Mahendra Nath Pandey,Anurag Thakur, G Kishen

Reddy, V Muraleedharan,Pratap Sarangi, Arjun RamMeghwal, Pralhad Joshi andRamesh Pokhriyal Nishankare part of the list of 36 UnionMinisters.

Minister of State for HomeG Kishen Reddy has written aletter to Jammu & KashmirChief Secretary BVRSubrahmanyam, informingabout the visit of the Ministers.

In his letter, Reddy saidHome Minister Shah hasdesired that all members of theUnion Council of Ministerspay a visit to Jammu &

Kashmir, with the objective ofdisseminating informationabout the importance of theCentre’s policies for the over-all development of the UnionTerritory and its people alongwith the steps taken by theGovernment particularly inthe past five months after theabrogation of Article 370 pro-visions and bifurcation of erst-while State.

The schedule for the visitof the Ministers will also bediscussed and finalised at ameeting of the Union Councilof Ministers on January 17.

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Chief Minister Kamal Nathhere on Wednesday said

that he would soon conduct aworkshop for the officials ofMadhya Pradesh cadre so thatthey could have better under-standing towards work.

While talking to media per-sons here, Nath said that the offi-cials in Madhya Pradesh do nothave better understandingtowards managing budget allo-cation towards their respectivedepartments. For the purpose,special workshops would soonbe conducted for the officials byinviting subject experts, headded.

He informed that there aredifferent ways to properly util-ising the budget and funds allo-cated to the departments. Theofficials should effectively todeal with the situation, Nathsaid.

Regarding implementingCommissioner system ofadministration in Indore andBhopal, Nath stated that this is

on least priority of his agenda,because it is not going to affectcommon people and the poor ofthe society. He further said thathe had talk with officials inMaharashtra, and did not goodfeedback. Let the time come andthen, the government woulddecide on it, he said.

Similarly, he said that he hasnever good at deciding public-ity of his own or the govern-ment. "I donot pay any attentiontowards the publicity. It is onlywith the department or thoseassociated with uniting such acampaign, which are engaged inthe work. I donot believe in pub-lishing my photograph in news-papers," Nath added.

Notably, right before theassembly elections Nath used toridicule the previousGovernment as ‘Vigyapan WaliSarkar’ (Government of adver-tisements). Even after formingthe Government in MadhyaPradesh, the Chief Ministertime and again asserted that hedid not believe in advertising theGovernment schemes.

��������������� ����������������������

���������� ��� ������������������� ��� ��������! RNI Regn. No. MPENG/2004/13703, Regd. No. L-2/BPLON/41/2006-2008

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Chief Minister Kamal Nathtold the Collectors to take

strictest action against Mafiaand take action according tothe normal procedure in caseof violation of MunicipalCorporation and Municipality’srules by the general public. Hefurther mentioned that onlythose individuals, who areinvolved in extortion and com-mit crimes in organised man-ner, come under the category ofmafia.

He directed the Collectorsthat they should relieve officersand employees, who have beentransferred within 3 days,whether their relievers havejoined or not. Kamal Nathissued directives to the GeneralAdministration department tomonitor this system. KamalNath gave these directives tothe Collectors andCommissioners during a videoconferencing of ‘Jan Adhikar’programme held at Mantralayatoday.

The Chief Minister saidthat complaints have beenreceived that food grains lessthan the average quality arebeing distributed from the fair

price shops. Ensure peopleshould get quality food grainsfrom these shops. He asked thecollectors to make arrange-ments for procurement in time.Kamal Nath said that a list ofcases of encroachment done onGovernment land for farmingor any other use should be pre-pared and presented within amonth. Pay attention to preventblack marketing of fertiliser atany cost.

The Chief Minister askedto prepare a list of all those eli-gible farmers, who have notbeen able to fill loan waiversforms in time. Nath asked topay attention also on the puri-ty of medicines while contin-uing the ‘Shuddh ke liye Yuddh’campaign.

The Chief Minister hasgiven instructions to be strictin cases of cheating of membersin cooperative housing soci-eties. He said that not a for-mality of filing an FIR againstthe erring committees shouldbe done only but they shouldbe punished.

Nath directed the ChiefSecretary to hold a meeting onall the erring housing societiesand strict action should betaken against them.

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Army Day was celebratedwith great fanfare and

gusto by Sudharshan ChakraCorps at Dronachal, Bhopal, on15 January 2020. The day beganwith a solemn wreath layingceremony at the SudharshanChakra War Memorial byLieutenant General YogendraDimri, AVSM, VSM, GeneralOfficer CommandingSudharshan Chakra Corps.The ceremony was attended bya large number of officers andjawans of the Corps.

The evening was dedicatedto the citizens of Bhopal whothronged in large numbers towitness the Army DayCelebrations at Yodhasthal,Bhopal. Yodhasthal, a promi-nent tourist attraction ofBhopal which is now also hometo a Mig-23 fighter aircraft, wasall decked up for the event.

The event was organised atPrerna Stambh, dedicated tothe gallantry award winners ofMadhya Pradesh.

The programme ensuedwith a performance by thePipe Band. A welcome songwas followed by a march pastand a number of other martialtunes as well as patriotic

songs enthralled the audience.

Other highlights of theevent included Taekwondomartial arts display and a musi-cal bonanza by students of

Army Public School.The event at Bhopal was

organised at Prerna Stambh topay homage to martyrs andmotivate the youth who hadassembled at Yodhasthal. TheMig-23 and other artifactsespecially drew large footfalls of

civilians who found it fasci-nating to be acquainted withthe aircraft as well as variousother military equipment andweapons. The event invokedpatriotic fervour and confi-dence towards the ArmdForces of the country.

Army Day is celebratedon 15 January every year, tocommemorate Field MarshalKM Cariappa’s taking over asthe first Commander-in-Chiefof the Indian Army fromGeneral Sir Francis Butcher in1949.

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The players of MadhyaPradesh continue to per-

form brilliantly at the KheloIndia Youth Games. The play-ers of Madhya Pradesh StateShooting Academy won agold medal in the match playedon Wednesday.

Madhya Pradesh won thismedal in a shotgun shootingmixed trap event.

At the Khelo India YouthGames, Madhya Pradesh play-ers have given a total of 27medals including 10 gold, 8 sil-ver and 9 bronze to MadhyaPradesh. Madhya Pradesh is inthe top ten with these medalsand holds the seventh positionin the medal table.

Madhya Pradesh StateShooting Academy playersAkash Kushwaha and Neeruscored 45 out of 50 in the finalmatch of the Under-21 Men'sMixed Trap event in ShotgunShooting under Khelo IndiaYouth Games today and earnedMadhya Pradesh gold Got amedal. Haryana players fin-ished second with 39 points.Whereas in the match playedfor third place, Delhi players got39 points and defeatedMaharashtra to take third place.

Players representingMadhya Pradesh in the KheloIndia Youth Games held inGuwahati from January 9 to 22are Gymnastics, Kabaddi,Football, Basketball, Shooting,Athletics, Cycling, Wrestling,Tirdanji, Judo, Table Tennis,Law Ball, Boxing, Weightlifting,Tennis, swimming and bad-minton will showcase talent insports.

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Nazeerbad policehas booked a 29-

year-old man for sex-ually exploiting a 26-year-old girl for oneyear. The police haveregistered a case afterthe victim lodged a complainton Tuesday.

Police said that the victimwas sexually assaulted by theaccused who later started to livewith her on the pretext ofmarrying her.

According to the police, thegirl was sexually assaulted byKhilan Rai who had a live-inrelationship with her after shehad deserted her husband whoused to harass her after havingliquor. The husband was ahabitual drinker.

The victim married around6 years ago in Gudhali villageand two years ago, she divorcedher and started to live with hermother in Nazeerabad. Aftershe started to live at her moth-er’s house, she came into con-tact with the accused KhilanRai who used to live in thesame locality. The accuseddeveloped relationship andsexually assaulted her and later

offered the victim for live-inrelationship and sexuallyexploited her at his house onthe pretext of marrying her forover a year.

Two months ago, whenthe victim reported their rela-tionship to her mother, shetried to arrange marriage butthe accused refused and laterwhen she approached Khilanfor marriage, he escaped fromhis house and village.

Police registered a case ofrape against the accused andlater, he was arrested. The pastcrime record of the accusedwould be searched in the fur-ther investigation.

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Minister for MineralResources, Pradeep

Jaiswal, said that now, NewSand Policy will bring trans-parency in sand trade and ille-gal sand mining will be com-pletely curbed. Jaiswal wasaddressing the programmeheld in Bhopal to distributesanction letters to the success-ful bidders of 37 districts.

The Minister Jaiswal saidthat sand mining will now bedone only under fair and envi-ronmental rules. He said that200 sand mines will startimmediately.

The remaining mines willstart in the coming one andhalf month to ensure pre-scribed standards by followingthe rules. The MineralResources Minister informedthat the state government willget revenue of about �1,400crore under the new sand pol-icy. He further said that along

with the focus on environ-ment, full attention has beenpaid on the interests of citizensunder the new sand miningpolicy.

The Chairman of SEIAA,Rakesh Shrivastava assuredthe successful bidders that

after submission of applica-tion, environmental certifi-cates will be issued soon andproceedings for transfer will becarried out. Chief ScientistSanjeev Sachdeva briefed thebidders about the rules andregulation. Secretary Mining

Narendra Singh Parmar andExecutive Director of MineralDevelopment CorporationDilip Kumar informed thebidders about the process.

The Director Geology andMining Vineet Austin wasalso present at the programme.

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On the instructions of theChief Minister Kamal

Nath, Minister for Health,Tulsiram Silawat, and Ministerfor Tribal Welfare and MinisterDistrict In-Charge ShahdolOmkar Singh Markam visitedShahdol District Hospital andsought detailed informationin connection with the untime-ly death of 6 children.

The Health Ministerinstructed for immediateremoval of Shahdol's ChiefMedical and Health Officeralong with the Civil Surgeonfrom their present responsibil-ities. After conducting anenquiry in the incident of chil-dren’s death, other necessaryaction will also be taken. Theysaid that Kamal Nath has takenserious note of the Shahdolincident. They have beeninstructed to take stringentaction against negligent offi-cers.

The Minister for HealthShri Silawat said that under theguidance of all the DivisionalCommissioners, the Child CareUnits and related medical unitsset up in the hospital for thetreatment of children will beinspected after the formation ofspecial teams. Teams willinclude concerned DistrictCollector, Civil Surgeon,CMHO along with expert.These teams will gather infor-mation about the facilitiesavailable at the hospital and

conduct study how these facil-ities could be made better.After the study, teams will pre-sent a report before the StateGovernment.

Minister Duo directed tomake proper medical and san-itation arrangements at thewards of the district hospitalwithin three days. Besides,they also gave instructions forthe installation of RO at thehospital to ensure pure drink-ing water for patients. Silawatand Markam also interactedwith the patients and theirfamilies and sought informa-tion about the facilities beinggiven to them at the hospital.

Before proceeding forShahdol, in a review meetingheld in Bhopal, the HealthMinister Silawat gatheredinformation about the func-tioning of units for the treat-ment of children across thestate and directed for preparinga detailed report.

He also told to informabout the necessary resourcesavailable at the child care unitsof district hospitals and theirusefulness.

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Unable to pay borrowedmoney, a 29-year-old youth

committed suicide by hangingwith the ceiling at his house inJP Nagar locality under GautamNagar police station area onTuesday.

Police said that the deceased,Naved alias Nabbu Khan, com-mitted suicide at his house. Thedeceased used to work at amedical store in TT Nagar areaand in suicide note, he hadmentioned that he was not ableto repay the borrowed money.

In the initial investigation,the family members found thatthe deceased remained in hisroom till afternoon and when hefailed to wake up, the door wasbroken only to find him hang-ing.

Body was sent for the postmortem. The police have regis-tered a case under section 174 ofthe CrPC.

Meanwhile, a 56-year-oldman committed suicide by hang-ing with the ceiling at RajeevNagar under MP Nagar policestation late in the night area onTuesday.

The police said that thedeceased Rajkumar Jain wasfound hanging with the ceilingand declared dead when rushedto a nearby hospital.

After the preliminary inves-tigation the police have registereda case under section 174 of theCrPC and started further inves-tigation. Police said that the rea-son would be investigated andthe statements of the familymembers would be recorded.

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AHindi play 'Madhyantar',portraying the intense rela-

tionship of a husband andwife, was staged at ShaheedBhavan. The play was per-formed on Wednesday, mark-ing the last day KalarangTheatre Festival.

The play is written byJayawardhan and was directedby Santosh Panicker.

The lead charaters of theplay are Keshav and Kanika,who are husband and wife.Keshav is a teacher of actingand direction in a privatedrama school. Their marriedlife was going well untill Keshavwas disabled in an accident,due to which he was firedfrom his job.

In such a situation, Kanikahas to work to bear the expens-es of the house. Apart frombeing handicapped in the acci-dent, it is later learned thatKeshav can no longer becomea father.

Due to these issues, Keshavfalls into depression and direct-ly affects his married life.Keshav realises that Kanika is

breaking the inner wall of notbeing a mother.

One day Keshav asksKanika to marry his friend.Kanika's patience breaks downon this matter and she con-vinces Keshav of the true

meaning of relationships. Hestates that the significance ofthe relationship between manand woman is in faith and ded-ication to each other, not intrivial human disorders likeselfishness.

Kanika with the mere fan-tasy of separating from Keshav,explains her with love thatthere can be 'timeout' in life,not in relationships. The playwas beautifully performedbefore the audience.

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Miscreants targeted a houseat Ruchi Lifescape and

escaped with valuables worth �80,000 on Wednesday. Misrodpolice have started investiga-tion.

Police said that the victimRahul Chaturvedi, along withhis family, had gone to AgraUttar Pradesh on January 11

and when he returned onWednesday, valuables werefound burgled.

The victim claimed that agold chain and four pairs of sil-ver anklets and � 20,000 cashwere burgled. The victim hasclaimed that the total loss in theburglary is around Rs 80000.

Based on the complaint, thepolice have registered a caseunder section 457 and 380 of

the IPC and have started furtherinvestigation.

Meanwhile, Bajarai policehave nabbed two miscreantsand recovered stolen valuablesworth �70,000 from GaramGaddha area on Tuesday. Theywere also involved in stealingfrom different part of the StateCapital.

According to the police,acting on a tip off, two persons

who were waiting with goodsfor selling were nabbed andwhen they were asked regardingthe valuables, they failed toprovide the documents andconfessed that the valuableswere stolen.

The nabbed accused wereidentified as Shaoib and Rameshwho confessed that the valuableswere burgled from differentparts of the State Capital.

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Bajaria police has arrestedtwo miscreants for duping

a 35-year-old Krishna Nagarresident to the tune of �12.5lakh in the name of facilitatingjob in railways. Police claimedthat gang members have madecrores through fraud.

Police nabbed SudhirDohare and Rajesh Dohare ina car carrying forms and doc-uments related to jobs in rail-ways.

The main accused, identi-fied as Sudhir Dohare, used towork with police and was sus-pended in the year 2009 afterhe was found involved in cheat-ing victims in the name of facil-itating jobs.

On Tuesday, Sudhir

Dohare and Rajesh Doharewere nabbed carrying few rail-way application form envelops.They confessed documentsrelated to forms related to jobsin railways, other documentsrelated to recruitment in rail-ways, printer laptops, and sealstamps at his house in AvantikaColony at Lalghati.

Other accused identified asAmit alias Pintu Markandewho has been booked for overtwo dozen crimes was used bythe accused to circulate moneyon interest. Santosh Guha,Santosh Halwai and ManikMaathe are other gang mem-bers who are absconding andwould be nabbed.

Police said that the victimGopal Singh Thakur was dupedby the accused Sudhir to the

tune of �12.5 lakh for facilitat-ing job at senior level in rail-ways.

In his complaint victimstated that he met Sudhir lastyear which was facilitated byone of his friend. After themeeting Sudhir lured the vic-tim that he could facilitate jobat �14 lakh and Sudheer agreed.On October 8, 2019 he paid �12.5 lakh but accused failed tofacilitate job for him and neverreturned his money.

The accused used to charge�15 lakh for Ticket Collectorand �25 lakh for AssistantStation Manager. Half of theamount was taken in advance.The police have registered acase under sections 420, 467,468 and 471 of the IPC andstarted further investigation.

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State Government has sus-pended principal of a

Government high school inRatlam district after notebookscarrying pictures of VeerSavarkar were distributed forfree among the students. TheBJP has strongly condemnedthe action.

The Ujjain divisional com-missioner had issued suspen-sion orders of principal RNKairawat on Tuesday. However,the Government action has notonly anguished locals but thestudents of the Governmentschool on Wednesday staged aprotest against action on theirschool principal.

Locals claimed that on Nov4, a volunteer organisation VeerSavarkar Hitarth JankalyanSamiti had distributed thesenotebooks among the students.The study material had pictureof Savarkar on the cover besidesphotographs of NGO’s office-bearers.

A complaint was lodgedagainst the same afterwards, butthe action was initiated onTuesday.

After the volunteer organ-isation had uploaded the pic-tures of the said event on socialmedia, a fan group of theCongress party had intimatedparty IT Cell in Bhopal follow-ing which a complaint waslodged with the Ratlam collec-tor.

The collector had directedthe district education officer toprobe into the allegations. Onbeing asked about the distribu-tion of said notebooks, theprincipal had replied that thesaid distribution was done for

student welfare. Each studentwas given two notebooks each.

However, the DEO recom-mended action against the prin-cipal saying the said event wasorganised without permissionfrom the department of SchoolEducation.

Flaying administrativeaction on Kairawat, severalemployees’ union too havebacked the principal sayingvarious NGOs distribute dif-ferent items among the studentsand such an action would intim-idate government teachers.

Minister of SchoolEducation PrabhuramChaudhary told the media thatit was principal’s duty to mon-itor what was offered to the stu-dents.

Meanwhile, former ChiefMinister Shivraj Singh Chouhanin a tweet said that hatred toVeer Savarkar has blindedKamal Nath government that’swhy his government was insult-ing great personalities. It’s sad-dening to see a principal hon-oured by the President of Indiain the past has been suspendedlike this.

Notably, Kairawat ‘s schoolis famous for offering cent percent results in high schools inlast few days and he was felici-tated by former PresidentPratibha Patil for his excellentacademic record in year 2010.

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State Capital witnessed fogcover in the early morning

hours which remained till noonon Wednesday. Visibilitydipped to less than 50 metresafter State Capital witnessedfoggy conditions in the morn-ing.

Met official said that thecold weather conditions wouldprevail in the next 2-3 days.Extreme cold conditions arelikely to prevail after the weath-er conditions would clear.

The pattern of dip in thetemperature has stopped andfoggy conditions have beenwitnessed at several places.Light showers for brief periodswere witnessed at Bhopal,Sagar, Ujjain and Rewa divi-sions in the past 24 hours.

The forecast claims that

Gwalior, Chambal, Sagar divi-sions and Neemuch, Mandsaur,Vidisha, Raisen, Rajgarh, Rewaand Satna are likely to witnessthundery activities and lightshowers in the next 24 hours.

The State Capital wouldwitness day and night temper-ature at 22 and 14 degreeCelsius. Warning of thunderlightening and moderate anddense fog conditions has beenissued by Met department.

The warning of thunderlightening has been issued forGwalior, Chambal and Sagardivisions and Vidisha, Raisen,Rajgarh, Rewa and Satna dis-tricts.

Foggy conditions would bewitnessed in Gwalior,Chambal, Sagar divisions andBhopal, Shajapur, Rajgarh,Agar, Rewa and Satna.

The temperatures have

witnessed increase onWednesday. The night tem-peratures witnessed increase asnight temperatures have beenrecorded over 12 degreeCelsius in most of the parts ofthe state.

Fog prevailed in the morn-ing hours creating intense coldconditions in the state capitalwhich later went normal in theafternoon.

In the past 24 hours, rain-fall which was recorded atseveral places on Monday hasnot been witnessed. Nowgongrecorded 1 cm of rainfall in thepast 24 hours.

The lowest night temper-ature was witnessed at 9 degreeCelsius in Betul. Bhopal,Ujjain, Gwalior, Sagar andChambal divisions witnessedfog making visibility very lowto level.

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Aweeklong event DinmanSamaroh will begin from

Thursday at Bharat Bhavan. It is noteworthy that the

Dinman Samaroh based onyouth creativity has been heldfrom January 16 to 23. In thiseight-day ceremony, activitieslike singing, playing, dancing,discussion, story recitation,poetry recitation, art exhibi-tion, theatrical performanceswill be held.

On the inaugural day,Saraswati Veena performancewill be held. It will be per-formed by artists NikhilRamesh Bakre, Surabhar,Devvrat Mishra and GeetaNawale.

On the same evening, audi-ences will witness have a tigal-bandi of tabla, pakhavaj, mri-dangam, in which RamendraSingh, Gyaneshwar Deshmukhand K.P. Arjun Sundaram willgive sponteneous performance.

After this the performances ofthe other days will be accom-panied by singing and jugal-bandi, with the statements ofyoung and senior writers on thesubject of 'the end of the com-position process'.

Theatrical performanceswill be held in the concludingdays of the ceremony i.e. fromJanuary 21 to 23. The entry ofthe audience in theatrical per-formances was Rs. 50 / - will befrom the ticket. Apart from the-atrical performances, the entryof art lovers has been kept freein all the performances ofDinman.

The mega event is beingorganised to give opportunityto the creativity of the young-sters, the combination of dailyperformances will be full ofdiversity, including various artdisciplines.

In this ceremony, contem-porary youth creativity can beunderstood deeply after listen-ing to the voices, acting, artwork of the youngsters.

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The National LataMangeshkar Award, will

be conferred on eminent play-back singer Suman Kalyanpurand noted music directorKuldeep Singh.

It is worth mentioning thatthe award of the year 2017 willbe given to Suman Kalyanpurin the field of singing and theaward will be given to Kuldeepin the field of music directionfor the year 2018.

Under the National LataMangeshkar Award, cashaward of �2 lakh, momentowill be presented. The selec-tion committee meeting ofthis honor was held inMumbai in the past, whichincluded senior playbacksinger Suresh Wadkar, notedfilm journalist and editor ofMadhuri magazine VinodTiwari, film journalist SumantMishra.

Notably, Suman

Kalyanpur was born on 28January 1937. He has beenactive in the field of playbacksinging for more than fiftyyears. He has sung backgroundin many excellent films includ-ing Baat Ek Raat Ki, Dil EkMandir, Dil Hi Toh Hai,Saanjh and Savera, where hesang in many films like Aara.He has sung songs in Hindi,Marathi and other languages??along with all the best play-back singers and music direc-tors of his time.

Similarly, music directorand composer Kuldeep Singhhas made his mark in musicdirection in films like Ankushand Saath Saath. You haveshown deep talent in the musi-cal combination of manymelodious songs, these includeDistance, Train to Pakistan,Yeh Meri Family and more.

Both artists will be felici-tated with this prestigiousawards at a glorious event tobe held in Indore in the firstweek of February.

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Besides mutual allegations,Electronic Voting Machine

(EVM) is one common issuewhich has come up in MadhyaPradesh politics wheneverthere is any election aroundand same is the case ahead ofurban local body polls due inthe Central Indian State innear future.

While the urban bodieselections are scheduled in nextfew months, the rulingCongress now wants thesepolls to be carried out throughballot papers.

The Opposition BJP wasalso quick to slam the rulingparty for demanding phaseout of voting machines whichwere used in Assembly pollswhen Congress returned topower.

The reason behind raisingthe demand is that the localbody polls recently heldthrough ballot papers in neigh-bouring Chhattisgarh garneredsizable success.

Meanwhile it is not thefirst time EVMs have croppedup as bone of contention forthe BJP and Congress inMadhya Pradesh as theCongress party was extremelycritical of EVMs ahead ofassembly polls in 2018 and alsoblamed the EVMs for massive

defeats of its candidates inLok Sabha polls where theparty ended up winning a loneseat out of 29 seats. Several los-ing candidates of the Congressparty had moved the HighCourt pointing fingers atEVMs over possible tamper-ing.

In this regard, a delegationof Congress party led by organ-isational vice presidentChandra Prabhash Shekhar,had called on the State ElectionCommissioner BP Singh inBhopal on Tuesday conveyinga demand for forthcomingpolls through paper ballots.

Later, talking to mediapersons, Shekhar told thatthough the last local bodypolls were held through EVMsbut the experience of thesemachines used in assemblyand parliamentary polls wasnot satisfactory so theCongress workers and leadersacross the state are of the viewthat ballot papers should beused for upcoming polls.

For obvious reasons, theopposition BJP has hit back atCongress party over thedemand.

“A government electedthrough EVMs should firstresign and then should seeklocal body polls through paperballots,” BJP spokespersonRajneesh Agrawal said.

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The media on Wednesdaywitnessed a bizarre friend-

ship between BJP general sec-retary Kailash Vijayvargiya andRajya Sabha MP Digvijay Singhas they met in Indore on theoccasion of Makar Sankranti.

Both the senior leadersnot only embraced each otherwith big smiles but also greet-ed each other by exchangingMalwi pagdis (headgears) witheach other.

Notably, both the leadershad started their politicalcareers in Indore spendingtheir formative years in com-mercial capital of MadhyaPradesh before making it big inIndian politics.

Both are known to weartheir hearts on their sleeves andnever held back at makingtheir views public even on themost contentious issues. Theyalso never hesitate to hurl seri-ous allegations on each othertime and again.

On Wednesday, it was adifferent scene when the twosenior leaders met in Indore onWednesday during the visit ofa central team which was mon-itoring a smart road built in thecity recently.

Much to the surprise of

many, in no time bothembraced each other into atight hug sporting big smiles.Singh also offered coffee toVijayvargiya who immediatelyaccepted it.

The senior leaders had cof-fee and laughed their hearts outon old memories. Later, whenthe visiting dignitaries wereoffered Malwi pagdis (tradi-tional headgear), Digvijayaoffered his pagdi toVijayvargiya who also returnedthe favour within seconds.

As the cordial meet set therumours abuzz, Vijayvargiyaspeaking to the media called ita courtesy meeting addingMadhya Pradesh has this tra-dition of difference of opinionbut leaders enjoying cordialrelations.

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Senior Bharatiya Janta Party(BJP) leader Vijay Goel on

Wednesday said the AamAadmi Party's (AAP) list ofcandidates for the DelhiAssembly election contradictedChief Minister ArvindKejriwal's assertion that cor-ruption, crime, character andcommunalism were non-nego-tiable for him.

Goel claimed that manycandidates in the list announcedby the AAP on Tuesday hadcases against them undercharges of corruption, violence,rape, rioting and other criminaloffences.

"There are many instancesdepicting the characters of thecandidates of AAP which claimto be doing politics of purityand transparency. AAP hasagain given ticket to formerLaw Minister Jitender Tomarfrom Tri Nagar whose lawdegree was fake," said Goel.

"A supporter of ShariatLaw Sohaib Iqbal has beengiven ticket from Matia Mahaland who is facing 30 variouscases and also involved in com-munal politics, violence andissuing anti Hindu statements.MLA Amantullah Khan is onestep ahead who had openly saidto the Muslims that if CAA isimplemented then their Namaz,Loud Speaker and Burka will bebanned, such persons whoinstigated riot has been giventicket," Goel alleged.

"Abdul Rehman, anotherAAP candidate is accused of

''$� ����������������������� ��(���� instigating riot in Seelampurhas also been given ticket.Durgesh Pathak was found tohave link with Khalistani ter-rorist. Minister Satyender Jainand MLA Akhilesh Pati

Tripathi who have beeninvolved in many cases of cor-ruption are among the candi-dates of AAP. Somnath Bharti,Dinesh Mohania, PrakashJarwal who have been involved

in serious crimes againstwomen have found their placein the list of candidates of AAPwhich has been claiming to pro-vide security to women," saidGoel.

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Haryana Chief Minister Manohar LalKhattar is closely monitoring the

Antyodaya Saral project and has issuedstrict directions to every nodal officer totimely deliver the services being givenunder the Project and also ensure timelydisposal of public grievances, ProjectDirector, Chief Minister’s GoodGovernance Associates, Rakesh Guptasaid on Wednesday.

Presiding over a meeting with NodalOfficers of Antyodaya Saral Project here,Gupta directed that the grievances andcomplaints received on Antyodaya Portalshould be solved at the earliest else depart-mental action can be taken against the offi-cials who are negligent in their work.

He said that the Chief Minister willhold a review meeting over the same afterevery three months.

Taking stern action for showing lack-adaisical attitude in the delivery of citizen-centric services at Antyodaya SaralKendras, the Project Director has soughtan explanation from Tehsildar, Aasand,Ramesh Kumar.

Taking cognizance of a complaintrelated to the creation of SC certificatereported on Antyodaya Saral portal, Guptadirected to inquire about the matter andfix the responsibility of the officer andemployee concerned.

In the meeting, it was also directed toissue show cause notice to the NodalOfficer of Sports and Youth AffairsDepartment for his absenteeism.

Gupta also directed Transport,Women, and Child Development, HaryanaShahari Vikas Pradhikaran, AgricultureDepartment to improve their functioningimmediately.

He also directed the departments totake prompt action on tickets coming onthe E-ticketing system of the Antyodayaportal.

The official was appraised that till datemore than 78 lakh applications have beenreceived for more than 525 schemes andservices of various departments on theAntyodaya Saral portal.

On average, more than 5 lakh appli-cations are being received in a month.Apart from this, more than 1 lakh 20 thou-sand calls have been received on thehelpline number of the Antyodaya Saralportal.

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Over 12 people daily losetheir lives in accidents on

Punjab roads, revealed the lat-est statistics. Even when deathfigures due to accidents haveseen a declining trend, mostdeaths (86 percent) are those ofmales in the 25 to 35 agegroup and 14 percent are thoseof females in Punjab.

The figures were shared byPunjab’s Traffic Adviser DrNavdeep Asija in a road safetyevent where hundreds of peo-ple joined the road safety cam-paign at Chandigarh Group ofColleges (CGC), Landran onWednesday.

ADGP Traffic Dr SSChauhan stressed on the needto change the traffic culture tobring down fatalities in acci-

dents. “Across the country, 415people are daily killed in roadaccidents, which is much morethan lives lost on account ofterrorism across nation,” hesaid.

Chauhan stressed that theJapanese have set an exampleby following the traffic cultureand not breaking the rules.“Over 70 percent families inurban areas and 50 percent inrural have been left below

poverty line after having losttheir bread-earners in acci-dents,” he said.

Arrive Safe NGO presidentHarman Singh Sidhu said: “Aswe enter the final year of theUN Decade of Action for RoadSafety 2011-2020, we have notbeen able to curtail the risinggraph of fatalities forget aboutachieving the target of reduc-ing them by 50 percent becauseof unsafe roads.”

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Employees hired throughoutsourcing in municipal-

ities, municipal councils andmunicipal corporations will begiven honorarium throughReal-Time Gross Settlement(RTGS) in their bank accountsso that corruption can becurbed. Haryana Urban LocalBodies Minister Anil Vij saidon Wednesday.

"The attendance of suchemployees will be based on theAadhaar card so that the actu-al number of employees canalso be ascertained," Vij said ina statement, adding that CLUfacility in the state will be

made available on the onlineportal and minimum two agen-cies will examine the con-struction works being carriedout by the department. "If itsreport is found to be wrong,punitive action will be takenagainst the officials concernedand the contractors," he said.

The Urban Bodies Ministersaid that orders have beengiven to apply biometric atten-dance of all employees workingin municipalities, municipalcouncils, and municipal cor-porations.

Vij also directed to set upa Movement Register for theemployees so that the employ-ees can leave the office duringworking hours. He said that hewill soon review all these worksby visiting various municipal-ities, municipal council andmunicipal corporation offices.

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Punjab opposition partieson Wednesday upped the

ante against the governmentover the hike in electricity tar-iffs with the AAP demandingthe "scrapping" of power pur-chase agreements while theSAD sought a CBI probe intoit.

Power tariffs in Punjabwere increased by 36 paise aunit from January 1 for domes-tic consumers on account ofcoal-washing charges.

A delegation of the AamAadmi Party led by Leader ofOpposition Harpal SinghCheema met Speaker Rana KPSingh, urging him to allowthem move a private member''sbill against the hike during thetwo-day assembly session start-ing January 16.

They claimed that thepower purchase agreements(PPAs) signed by the previousSAD-BJP government led tothe hike in tariffs.

The delegation submitted acall attention motion to thespeaker, seeking the termina-tion of the PPAs.Sunam MLAAman Arora accused the

Congress-led regime of havingfailed to "scrap" the PPAs withprivate power plants despitepromising it before 2017assembly polls.

"Until anti-people agree-ments are not tweaked, peoplewould continue to face highpower tariffs," he said.

"Due to these agreements,the state would have to coughup a whopping � 70,000 croreeven if private thermal plantsdo not produce a single unit ofpower," claimed Arora.

Meanwhile, leaders of theShiromani Akali Dal metPunjab Governor V P SinghBadnore, urging him to directthe Congress-led state govern-ment to recommend a CBI

probe into the alleged � 4,100crore "scam".SAD chief SukhbirSingh Badal alleged that thestate suffered a loss of � 4,100crore due to "willful connivanceand large-scale corruption" byCongress leaders, ministers,higher officials and privatepower companies.

Sukhbir alleged that thestate had "deliberately lost"important cases in the courtafter "hefty amounts were takenby certain persons from privatecompanies".He said this wasachieved by concealing impor-tant information from thecourts and misrepresentingfacts to benefit private players.

Earlier, the SAD hadaccused the state government ofnot pursuing the case against therelease of coal-washing chargesto private plants appropriately inthe Supreme Court and hadasserted that it was during theirregime that Punjab StateElectricity RegulatoryCorporation and the AppellateTribunal for Electricity hadruled in the favour of state-owned power utility.Throughcoal washing, impurities like ash,soil and rock are removed from coal.

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The Chairman of CommonMinimum Programme

(CMP) Committee of the BJP-JJP government in Haryana,Anil Vij on Wednesday saidthat the second meeting of theCommittee will be held onJanuary 23.

The announcement comesin the backdrop of the attackmounted by leaders ofOpposition parties, Congressand Indian National Lok Dalon the failure of theGovernment to come out withits common minimum pro-gramme.

Former chief minister andleader of opposition in theassembly Bhupinder SinghHooda alleged that coalitiongovernment in the State isdirectionless in the absence ofcommon minimum pro-gramme.

The first meeting of theCMP was held on November

28. After the meeting, Vij hadsaid that the manifestos ofboth parities BJP and JJP werediscussed in the first meeting.Many promises of both the par-ties –BJP and JJP are similar.

Proposals have been sent tothe departments to remove thefinancial and legal hurdles inthe implementation of mani-festos of both the parties.

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Aman, who confessed ofkilling two women over the

last 10 years on live TV, wasarrested by Chandigarh Police onmid-show from a news channelstudio on Tuesday evening.

In a dramatic turn of events,31-year old Maninder Singh, anaccused of killing his womanfriend at a Chandigarh’s hotel onJanuary 1, appeared in the officeof a local TV channel and con-fessed to the crime on live tele-vision.

He confessed killing 27-year old Sarabjeet Kaur, a nurseas he suspected she was in a rela-tionship with someone else.

Sarabjeet’s body was foundin a room at Hotel Sky in theIndustrial Area, Phase II here onJanuary 1. A case of murder wasregistered at the Sector 31 policestation.

She had checked into thehotel with Maninder Singh, whowas out on bail after convictionin another murder case in Karnalin 2010.

After the murder on January1, Maninder Singh was abscond-ing for the past two weeks andhad reached the office of the localnews channel, hardly 50 metresfrom the hotel where the crimetook place, and confessed oncamera. Maninder was bookedunder Section 302 (murder) ofthe Indian Penal Code.

As soon as police got theinformation, they rushed to theoffice of news channel in theIndustrial Area here and arrest-ed Maninder Singh while theprogramme was still being tele-cast from the TVstudio.Maninder Singh, a formermurder convict and currently outon bail, also confessed about hiscrime committed in Karnal in2010.

Before his arrest, Manindertold the news channel that hekilled Sarabjit Kaur because shewas having an affair with her sis-ter-in-law's brother.

Maninder used to work as adriver at a factory in theIndustrial Area, Phase 1, tillabout three months

back.Notably, Sarabjit, a residentof Kakra village in Sangrur dis-trict, was found lying on the bedwith her throat slit, at Hotel Skyon the afternoon of January 1.She had checked into the hotelwith Maninder on December 30.

He had left the hotel a fewhours later after checking in andwas absconding sincethen.Confessing his previouscrime, Maninder told the newschannel that he had also killedRenu in Karnal. She was alsohaving an affair with a man fromUttar Pradesh, he had said.

Haryana Police had arrest-ed Maninder for killing awoman, with whom he had arelationship, in Karnal back in2010.

He was convicted by a trialcourt, but he later got bail fromthe Punjab and Haryana HighCourt. Police said that aftercommitting the crime onJanuary 1, Maninder had beenon the move, staying in variousplaces including Ludhiana,Patiala, Jalandhar among othersto avert arrest.

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The initiative taken byHaryana Chief Minister

Manohar Lal to promoteHaryanvi culture and Haryanvifilms in Bollywood has start-ed getting positive results,popular faces of Haryanvifilms, Yashpal Sharma andMita Vasisht said onWednesday.

Talking to Reporters afterevaluating the screening of 22Haryanvi and Non-Haryanvifilms at Panchkula, YashpalSharma said that for the devel-opment of Haryanvi and non-Haryanvi Cinema and to cre-ate a film friendly environ-ment in the State, for the firsttime, the State Governmenthad implemented the HaryanaFilm Policy.

He said the Policy aims atdevelopment of film industryin Haryana and making avail-able suitable environment for

the development of cinemaand exploring abundant pos-sibilities existing in the Stateand tapping them properlyfor film making.

He said that it is a com-mendable step that under thispolicy, the other languagefilms, shooting of which isbeing done in Haryana isgiven the same economicincentive as the Haryanvifilms.

Sharma also praisedDirector Information, PublicRelations and LanguagesDepartment, PC Meena, forsitting with them during the

screening of the movies. Hesaid that his presence reflectsthe seriousness of the StateGovernment towards pro-moting the Film Policy.

Director Information,Public Relations andLanguages Department, PCMeena, Member of GoverningCouncil, formed underHaryana Film Policy, HarishKataria, Joint Director,Information, Public Relationsand Languages Department,Ved Prakash, producers, direc-tors and actors of these fea-tured films were also presenton the occasion.

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BJP’s Rajya Sabha MPMahesh Poddar on

Wednesday said that there isnothing new or objectionablein the citizenship amendmentact, but the defeated and deject-ed Opposition is trying todestabilise Modi Governmentand the country. Poddar wasspeaking at a function organ-ised at FJCCI attended by intel-lectuals, entrepreneurs, busi-nessmen. Ranchi MP SanjaySeth also spoke on the occa-sion.

Seth claimed thatOpposition is protesting ModiGovernment schemes and poli-cies as the PM has successful-ly solved several problemspending for decades one afterthe other. As the Oppositiondoes not have any issue against

Modi Government, there is anattempt to disturb social fabricof country by spreading con-fusion over the citizenship law.He clarified that CAA is a law

related to granting citizenshipof India to minorities fromthree neighbouring countriesand there is no question ofsnatching anyone citizenship.

Poddar said that throughthe CAA, the ModiGovernment is correcting themistakes of CongressGovernments. He said that ifthe Congress had not dividedthe country on the basis of reli-gion at the time ofIndependence, there wouldhave been no need to bring thisbill.

“During the partition,there was an agreementbetween Jawaharlal Nehru andMohammad Liaquat Ali ofPakistan, which said that inboth the Countries, minoritieswill be given protection, Indiaseriously followed on this frontgiving protection to minoritieswhile Pakistan never followedit,” added Poddar.

“The purpose of this bill isto give citizenship to suchminorities who have been

harassed from other countries.We are not taking away any oftheir rights from any Muslim.But if any Muslim of these threecountries (Afghanistan,Pakistan, Bangladesh) appliesfor citizenship on the basis ofour law, then we will considerit,” added Poddar.

Poddar said that accordingto the 2016 report of the UnitedNations High Commissionerfor Refugees, there are morethan two lakh refugees in India.In 1947, the number of minori-ties in Pakistan was 23per centand in 2011 it was reduced to3.7per cent.

In 1947, the number ofminorities in Bangladesh was22per cent and in 2011 it camedown to 7.8per cent. On theother hand, India had 84percent Hindus in 1951 and in2011 they came down to 79per

cent whereas the number ofmajority there has increased inthe rest of the countries.

In 1951, the number ofMuslims in India was 9.8 percent and today the number ofMuslims is 14.23 per cent.

The strange situation isthat the Congress whichalways advocated giving citi-zenship in India to non-M u s l i mminorities tortured in neigh-boring countries, is todayopposing CAA for vote bankpolitics.

In 2003, the HomeMinistry committee of theParliament recommended thatreligious minorities fromneighboring countries begiven asylum in India, andspecifically excluded theMuslim community as major-ity in these countries.

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AJSU Party has decided to sitin the Opposition and

mount pressure on theGovernment to address groundissues affecting the rural mass-es of Jharkhand, partyspokesperson DeosharanBhagat said on Wednesday,adding that his party will be onits own in the JharkhandAssembly and not unite withany other bigger party.

“Uniting with other partiesis not an option. JVM(Jharkhand Vikas Morcha) maymerge with the BJP (BharatiyaJanata Party), but it is not in our

nature to merge with a strongerforce in the Assembly after con-testing elections against it,”Bhagat said.

The AJSU Party – an oldally of the BJP and partner inalmost all the Governmentsformed in the State till date –went to polls on its own inJharkhand last year.

While it fielded candidatesin at least 52 Assembly con-stituencies, the party managedto win only two seats – Silli andGomia.

However, the party ChiefSudesh Mahto managed to pulloff a win in Silli after a seriesof losses since 2009.

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Iran on Wednesday said that it wasinterested in diplomacy but not in

negotiating with the US and that thekilling of its General Qasem Soleimanishowed ignorance and arrogance ofAmerica. Iran’s Foreign MinisterJavad Zarif also pointed out how 430cities in India witnessed protestsagainst the killing.

Zarif met Prime MinisterNarendra Modi and National SecurityAdvisor(NSA) Ajit Doval besidesRussian Foreign Minister and apprisedthem of the situation in the Gulfregion.

“PM reiterated India’s continuedcommitment to developing strongand friendly relations with Iran. Hethanked Iranian leadership for theprogress in Chabahar project, includ-ing through designating it as SpecialEconomic Zone,” a PMO statementsaid.

“The Foreign Minister shared hisperspectives on the recent develop-ments in the region. The PrimeMinister mentioned India’s stronginterest in peace, security and stabil-ity in the region,” the PMO added.

In a related development, ExternalAffairs Minister S Jaishankar referredhere to tensions between the US andIran and said they are two individu-alistic countries and what finally hap-pens will depend on the playersinvolved. He made this observationwhile addressing the ongoing RaisinaDialogue. Ministers and diplomatsfrom several countries including Iranand Russia are attending the meet ongeo-politics.

Making his country’s positionclear, Zarif said at the event “Iran isinterested in diplomacy. We are notinterested in negotiating with the US.US did not keep its commitmentsunder the nuclear deal. We had a USdeal and US broke it. If we have aTrump deal, how long will it last?”

He also said “We need to createhope in the region. We have to get ridof despair,” adding Iran incurred hun-dreds of billions of dollars in damagesbecause of current tensions.

Pointing out that Soleimani was

the single biggest threat to ISIS and hiskilling was now being celebrated by theterror group and US President DonaldTrump.

He also said India can play a rolein de-escalating tensions in the Gulfregion as New Delhi is an importantplayer. India has so far maintainedthat it would like the situation to de-escalate as soon as possible and thecountry has been in touch with keyplayers, including Iran, United ArabEmirates, Oman and Qatar, as it hasimportant interests in the region.

Signifying New Delhi’s growinginfluence in the region, the Iranianminister also met Doval and gave hima firsthand account of the situationprevailing in the Gulf region, sourcessaid adding the overall security sce-nario figured prominently in the talks,they said.

The deliberations between themcome amid the global focus on Iranand the US over the confrontationbetween the two countries followingthe killing of Soleimani. Meanwhile,Zarif also met his Russian counterpartSergey Lavrov and the two leaders dis-cussed the evolving situation in theGulf. Jaishankar said India’s way is notto be disruptive and it is more of adecider than an abstainer. In remarks

that come at a time several countrieshave called for a greater Indian role inthe Indo-Pacific, the minister also saidit is not the India way to be mercan-tilist.

Discussing ties with China, he saidit is vital for neighbours to reachunderstanding on crucial issues.“Neither India nor China can getIndia-China relations wrong. Ourrelationship is unique. Each countryhas gone up in the world simultane-ously. It is necessary that the twocountries find equilibrium,” Jaishankarsaid. Stating that India is a “prisonerof its past image” and must get over it,the external affairs minister said “it isnot the India way to be disruptive. Itis not the India way to be mercantilist.It is the India way to be more of adecider and not an abstainer. I wouldpick on climate change. India owes itto itself and to the world to be a justpower.”

On India pulling out of RegionalComprehensive Economic Partnership(RCEP), he said the onus was on coun-tries which were part of it. “WhereRCEP is concerned, we have to lookat cost and benefit. We will evaluateRCEP on its economic and trademerit. We have not closed our mindto it,” Jaishankar said.

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In the first such initiative, theGovernment will collect data on

households headed by a transgenderand members living in the family.

Census officers will be seeking spe-cific information based on 31 questionsfrom every household during thehouselisting and housing census exer-cise scheduled from April 1 toSeptember 30, Home Ministry officialssaid on Wednesday.

Under the head “sex of the head ofthe household”, there will be sub-options viz male, female and trans-gender, the officials said.

“It is for the first time that infor-

mation on households headed by atransgender is being collected. In ear-lier census, there used to be a column

for male and female only,” an officersaid.

Besides, there will be collection of

data on “ownership status of the cen-sus house” -- whether it is owned orrented, the officials said.

Information will be sought onbuilding number (municipal or localauthority or census number), censushouse number, predominant materialof the floor, wall and roof of the cen-sus house, use of census house, condi-tion of the census house, householdnumber and total number of personsnormally residing in the household,according to a notification issued by thethe Registrar General and CensusCommissioner.

The numerators will ask whetherthe head of the household belongs toa Scheduled Caste or Scheduled Tribe

or ‘Other’ category, it said.Questions related to main source

of lighting, whether the family has“access to latrine”, “type of latrine”,“waste water outlet”, “availability ofbathing facility”, “availability of kitchenand LPG/PNG connection” and “mainfuel used for cooking” will also be askedby the enumerators, the notificationsaid. The 2021 census will be conductedthrough a mobile phone application,moving away from the traditional penand paper.

The census will have its referencedate as March 1, 2021, but for snow-bound Jammu and Kashmir, HimachalPradesh and Uttarakhand it will beOctober 1, 2020.

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The Indian MedicalAssociation (IMA), an apex

body representating over 3.5lakh doctors in the country haswritten to Prime MinisterNarendra Modi seeking clarifi-cation if he in a meeting recent-ly warned the pharma firms ofbribing doctors and breachingethical market practices. TheIndian Pharmaceutical Alliance(IPA) has, however, outrightlyrejected the allegations, statingthat no such matter was dis-cussed in the meeting held onJanuary 1.

Citing media reports thatModi in a recent interactionwith the top pharmaceuticalcompanies had warned themagainst bribing doctors withwomen, foreign trips and gad-gets,” the IMA in its lettertitled ‘Deny or Prove orApologise’, has sought a clari-fication from the “office of thePrime Minister if such a meet-ing ever happened” and that“such a statement was made bythe Prime Minister”.

In response to the IMAallegations, the IPA tweetedthat “There was no discussionon alleged bribes being givenby pharma companies to doc-tors as being reported in media.Meeting was constructive onewhere discussion was limited toinitiatives to boost industry.News reports to contrary arebaseless.”

The Prime Minister hadconvened meeting with health-care industry on January 1. Itwas attended by industry lead-ers including Satish Reddy (DrReddy’s), Ajay Piramal(PiramalGroup), DilipShanghvi (Sun Pharma), DrHabil Khorakiwala(Wockhardt) &others, the IPAtweeted.

On the other hand, theIMA letter read, “IMAdemands to know that if theGovernment had details of thecompanies involved in supply-ing woman to doctors why itchose to invite them for ameeting rather than initiate acriminal proceedings.Moreover, it is imperative onthe PMO now to release thenames of doctors convicted orotherwise as well.”

“The state medical councilsshould initiate appropriateaction if the doctors have been

convicted on moral turpitude.” The letter signed by IMA

President and GeneralSecretary Dr Ranjan Sharmaand Dr RV Asokan respective-ly also demanded “details of thecompanies involved in supply-ing women to doctors” whilenoting that “the governmentwill not be able to prove theseallegations”. In fact, it allegedthat the purpose (of taking upsuch issues) seems to divert theattention from unresolvedissues regarding heal of thepeople and the medical educa-tion in the country.

It enlisted various issuessuch as government’s flagshiphealth scheme AyushmaanBharat, calling it a non-starterin the private hospitals and wasoperating more in the govern-ment hospitals where the treat-ment was anyways free. Also,“there is no investment eitherin infrastructure or humanresources. Violence on doctorshas increased. TheGovernment has failed to pro-vide security thedoctors….hence the IMA hasreasons to believe that suchcrude tactics is to divert theattention of the people from thereal issues in health sector,” saidthe letter.

New Delhi: The Congress-ledChhattisgarh Government movedthe Supreme Court on Wednesdayseeking the UPA-1 era NationalInvestigation Agency (NIA) Act bedeclared unconstitutional and arbi-trary on the ground that it affects theState’s sovereignty and confers unbri-dled power on the Centre.

The then Manmohan SinghGovernment had come out with thelaw in the aftermath of the November26, 2008, Mumbai attack, whenCongress leader P Chidambaram wasthe Union Home Minister.

The legislation provides NIAconcurrent jurisdiction to probe ter-ror attacks in any part of the coun-try without any specific permissionfrom states and in the last onedecade it has been involved in theinvestigation of all such cases.

The Chhattisgarh governmenthas filed the original suit underArticle 131 of the Constitution whichempowers a state to move theSupreme Court directly in matters ofdispute with the Centre or any otherState. It is the first state to challengethe Act.

The move comes a day after theKerala government challenged theCitizenship Amendment Act underthe same Article 131.

The filing of petition assumesimportance as the Bhupesh Baghelled Congress government in the statehas challenged the law on the groundthat it was for the police to investi-gate scheduled offences in the State.

It also assumes significance as thestate government is challenging thelaw passed by Parliament whenCongress led the centralGovernment. PTI

New Delhi: A woman, whohad filed a case against an IPSofficer accusing him of rapingher, on Wednesday tendered anunconditional apology to theSupreme Court for makingthe wrong statement that shewas hit by a car and he wasresponsible for it.

She had alleged that shewas struck by a car on October17, 2019 and clearly expressedher suspicion that the officer, of

West Bengal cadre, was guiltyfor it. The top court had, how-ever, noted that she was not hitby a car but by a ‘thela’ or cartand said it “prima facie meansthat the allegations in hersworn statement before thisCourt were not truthful”.

During Wednesday’s pro-ceedings, the woman appearedbefore a bench of Chief JusticeS A Bobde and Justices B RGavai and Surya Kant.

The court noted her pres-ence and said, “The petition-er...Has appeared before usand tendered an uncondition-al apology. It seems that she hasbeen mentally disturbed andresorted to psychiatric care.

“In the circumstances ofthe case, we accept her uncon-ditional apology and dischargethe notice issued to her videorder dated December 10,2019. The suo motu ContemptPetition stands closed accord-ingly,” the Bench said. PTI

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Army Chief General MMNaravane on Wednesday said

abrogation of Article 370 givingspecial status to Jammu &Kashmir last year was historic andlandmark and said the move hasdisrupted proxy war by “our”western neighbour(Pakistan).

“Repealing of special powersunder Article 370 is a landmarkstep. This is a major step in inte-grating Jammu & Kashmir into therest of the country,” he said whileaddressing the force on the 72ndArmy Day parade at Cariappaparade ground.

Observing that the situationon the Line of Control (LoC) islinked to the situation in Kashmir,he said the move has disrupted theproxy war by ‘our” neighbour.Insisting that the armed forceshave zero tolerance against ter-rorism, the Army Chie also said“we have many options to counterthose who promote terrorism andwe will not hesitate to use them.”

He said the country had toface some security challenges lastyear and said the armed forces notonly countered proxy war butother situations. “Whether it isLoC (Line of Control) or LAC(Line of Actual Control), we haveensured security with activenessand strength,” Naravane said,adding the situation at northern

borders (China border) is rela-tively peaceful.

Mentioning his visit toSiachen last week, the Army Chiefsaid he was extremely happy to see

all the ranks brimming with con-fidence at the post. “In last fewdays, some of our soldiersachieved martyrdom due toavalanche. We will always remem-

ber their sacrifice,” he noted. Dhanush and K-Vajra gun

systems were showcased for thefirst time in the Army parade.Besides Naravane, IAF chief RKSBhadauria, Navy Chief AdmiralKarambir Singh and Chief ofDefence Staff General Bipin Rawatwere present on the occasion.

Army’s Captain Tania Shergil,the first woman Parade Adjutant,led all-men contingents at theCariappa Parade Ground here.She is a fourth generation armyofficer and is serving in the Corpsof Signals after getting commis-sioned in 2017..

Her father was in the 101medium artillery regiment, grand-father was in 14th ArmouredRegiment (Scinde Horse) andgreat grandfather in the SikhRegiment.

The Army Day is celebratedon January 15 every year to markLt General K M Cariappa takingover as commander-in-chief of theIndian Army in 1949 fromGeneral Francis Butcher, the lastBritish commander-in-chief ofIndia.

Prime Minister NarendraModi greeted army personnel onthe Army Day, saying they are thepride of India. “The Indian Armyis the pride of Mother India. Onthe occasion of Army Day, I salutethe indomitable courage, valour ofall the soldiers of the country,” hewrote on Twitter.

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The Congress on Wednesdayalleged that the �45,000-

crore submarine project 75-I isunder a cloud of suspicionowing to allegations offavouritism, crony capitalism,violations of ‘DefenceProcurement Procedure, 2016’and an alleged overruling ofIndian Navy and its‘Empowered Committee’ by

Modi Government. Congress chief spokesper-

son Randeep Singh Surjewalasaid, “The Government is flout-ing norms and the defence pro-curement procedure 2016(DPP-2016) in awarding thecontract to the Adani-HSLjoint venture”.

The party alleged five com-panies - L & T, Reliance Naval& Engineering, theG ove r n m e nt - c ont ro l l e dMazgaon Dock Shipbuilders,

HSL and Adani-HSL JV —replied to the expressions ofinterest (EoIs) invited by theGovernment for building thesubmarines.

“The empowered commit-tee of the Navy, whose head iscontroller of warship acquisi-tion, short-listed L&T andMazgaon Dock Shipbuilders,but the Government is pres-surising it to include the Adani-HSL JV. The meeting for thesame is on Friday,” Surjewala

alleged.Alleging that the Adanis

have zero experience and haveflouted the project norms, theCongress leader said as till thefinal closure of EoIs onSeptember 11, 2019, there wasno official joint venture.

On September 28, thecompanies announced forma-tion of the joint venture, he saidreferring to certain mediareports.

“According to rules, the

joint venture has to get clear-ance from the Ministry ofDefence. But it had not beentaken at the time submittingthe EOI. The “credit rating’’ hasalso been lowered to benefit theAdani JV. The norms say everyentity bidding for a contractabove �1,000 crore should becategorised as “A” but in thiscase it has been diluted to“BBB,” alleged Jaiveer Shergill,Congress spokesperson, citinga HSL Press statement.

New Delhi: In a scathing reporton the way the 1984 anti-Sikhriots cases were handled by thepolice, administration and evenjudiciary, a Supreme Courtappointed SIT has said there wasno intention of punishing theculprits and acquittals were“handed over by judges” to theaccused in a “routine manner”.

The report of the SIT, head-ed by retired Delhi High Courtjudge Justice S N Dhingra, hassaid that “whole efforts” of policeand administration “seem tohave been to hush up the crim-inal cases concerning riots”.

The cases were registered togive “clean chit” to certain per-sons, it said.

The report, which was sub-mitted in the apex court, dealtwith 186 anti-Sikh riots casesreferred to the SIT which was setup by the top court on January11, 2018 to supervise furtherprobe into these cases in which

closure reports were filed earli-er.

It said the basic reason forthese crimes remaining unpun-ished and culprits getting scot-free was lack of interest shownby the police and the authoritiesin handling these cases as per lawor to proceed with the intentionof punishing those involved.

The report is also critical ofthe way these cases were handledby trial courts here and said: “Itis not understood how the courtsproceeded with trial of severalcrimes of rioting, murders, arson,looting having taken place at dif-ferent locations, different timesand even different dates togeth-er.”

The SIT has recommendedexploring possibility of filingappeals, along with applicationfor condonation of delay, againstthe trial court orders of acquit-tals in some of these cases.

“Acquittals were handed

over by judges to accused of 1984riots in a routine manner,” thereport said. “None of the judge-ments on record show that thejudges were alive to the situationof 1984 riots and were alive to thefact that for delay in lodging FIRsand statement of witnesses, thevictims were not responsible”.

It said that due to protract-ed trial in these cases, the victimsand witnesses were so tired ofcoming to the courts time andagain that most of them hadgiven up and those who had notgiven up, the courts refused togive credibility to their testimo-ny on grounds, including delayin lodging of FIR and in record-ing evidence.

The report said the scrutinyof files reveals evidence ofinvolvement of the then inspec-tor Survir Singh Tyagi, thenSHO of Kalyan Puri police sta-tion, in a conspiracy with rioters.

PTI

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The just-concluded presidential andlegislative elections in Taiwanmight remain a turning point inthe life of not only the island butthe entire region. President Tsai

Ing-wen of the Democratic Progressive Party(DPP) defeated Han Kuo-yu from China-friendly Kuomintang by more than 2.5 mil-lion votes (57.1 per cent for Tsai and 38.6 percent for Han). The former became the first-ever candidate to capture more than eight mil-lion votes. James Soong Chu-yu, chairman ofthe People First Party (PFP) close to Chinaperformed poorly with only 4.2 per cent ofthe votes. More than 14 million (out of 19 mil-lion eligible voters) participated in the vote,which also saw the DPP retain its majority inthe legislature, winning 61 out of 113 seats.

Many observers saw this as a slap in theface of China and its President Xi Jinping. Theproblem for Beijing is that this is a seconddebacle in a row — in November 2019, theHong Kong District Council elections wereheld for 18 seats when a record 71 per centof the electorate had voted. The election wasviewed by many as a referendum on pro-democracy protests that continued for sixmonths. The results came as a jolt forBeijing; the Communist regime had neverexpected a “tsunami” in favour of the pro-democracy movement, which took control of17 of the18 district councils.

At first, it looked as if Beijing did notknow how to react. According to The SouthChina Morning Post: “Xinhua waited [twodays] to release a two-paragraph news reporton the polls. It only stated that the electionstook place and 18 districts produced results.”The next day, the People’s Daily went on talk-ing about the history of US intervention inforeign elections. In the weeks preceding theelections, the Global Times repeatedly claimedthat a “silent majority” in Hong Kong was con-demning the protests.

An important common factor, thecountry’s mobilising youth, has been point-ed out by Juang Wen-jong, professor of pub-lic policy and management at Shih HsinUniversity in The South China Morning Post:“Young people — or those between 20 and39 — were the key to the weekend’s electionsas they made up at least 6.6 million of theeligible voters in Taiwan… They helped bol-ster the turnout rate, which helped increaseboth the vote for Tsai and her party.”

Many considered the Taiwan’s presiden-tial election to be a proxy contest about itsnational identity. This probably explainswhy Beijing was not amused. What has madematters worse for China is that many coun-tries sent congratulatory messages to the newTaiwanese President. “China cried foul,claiming that their actions violated the ‘one-China’ principle,” wrote the Taiwan News.

The Taiwanese Ministry of ForeignAffairs (MoFA) had announced that officialsfrom some 60 countries had greeted Tsai viaphone call and email. It included US Secretaryof State Mike Pompeo and Japanese Foreign

Minister Toshimitsu Motegi. “Ina released statement, Pompeocongratulated Tsai on her well-deserved win and praisedTaiwanese voters for demon-strating the spirit of democracy.”

The word “democracy”makes China see red. China’sForeign Ministry spokespersonGeng Shuang spoke of electionsin “Taiwan region of China” andasserted that it was a “sub-national affair in China.” Headded that Beijing deplores andfirmly opposes “those countries”which violate the “one-Chinaprinciple” by “offering the con-gratulations and lodged solemnrepresentations.”

Geng declared that Beijingopposes any official relationsbetween “the Taiwan region”and countries that have diplomat-ic ties with China. He asked thesecountries to deal with the issue“properly and with caution toavoid sending the wrong messageto Taiwan’s independence forces.”

Beijing’s Taiwan AffairsOffice (TAO) released a commu-niqué asking Taipei to adhere tothe “1992 consensus” betweenChina and Taiwan. MaXiaoguang, the TAO spokesman,said: “Our political policy towardsTaiwan is clear and consistent. Weadhere to the basic principles ofpeaceful reunification; one coun-try, two systems and one China.”We will resolutely safeguardChina’s sovereignty and territo-rial integrity, resolutely opposeany plot or act of “Taiwan inde-pendence” and resolutely pro-

mote the interests and “well-being of Taiwan compatriots.”

At the same time, Xinhuablamed Tsai and the DPP ofusing “dirty tactics such ascheating, repression and intim-idation to get votes.” The officialnews agency claimed that itexposes “their selfish, greedy andevil nature.” In a Chinese lan-guage op-ed, Xinhua evenaccused Tsai of “buying votesand blamed the election resultson external dark forces.”

The “dark forces” are obvi-ously the “West”, which hassinned for “inventing” democra-cy (incidentally, is it the Westwhich “invented” the “evil”democracy? Serious historiansbelieve that elected village coun-cils existed in India centuriesbefore it was introduced inAncient Greece).

The “two slaps” show theweakness of the Chinese regime,which depends too much on“propaganda” and “influence”to bully its neighbours —whether “Chinese ones” likeHong Kong or Taiwan or foreignones such as Australia, Vietnamor the Philippines.

Once again, the billions ofdollars used to change the mindof the voters did not help Beijing.To the contrary, it looks as if it hadthe reverse effect and this maynot change in the near future.Beijing is facing a dead endwithout even realising it.

Chinese leaders are unfortu-nately incapable of changingtheir tactics. Chinese Foreign

Minister Wang Yi, who wasrecently in India to discuss theboundary issue with the NationalSecurity Advisor, went on thesame old track. In Zimbabweduring an African tour, Wangaffirmed that Tsai’s win would notstop Taiwan’s reunification withthe mainland: “A local election onthe Taiwan island will [not]shake [China’s determination]despite erroneous words andactions by some Western politi-cians… The rejuvenation of theChinese nation and the reunifi-cation across the [Taiwan] straitis inevitable. Going against thetrend is bound to reach a deadend. Anyone separating thenation will stink for 10,000 years.”

Well, the human spirit forfreedom and the aspiration tochoose one’s own destiny is alsodifficult to suppress or extinguish.It is true not only for Hong Kongor Taiwan but places like Tibetand Xinjiang, too.

According to the officialTibet Daily, on January 12, thelegislative branch of the TibetanAutonomous Region voted infavour of new regulations to“strengthen ethnic unity” inTibet. Four years ago, similarrules were introduced inXinjiang. It was later used to jus-tify crackdowns on the MuslimUygur minority. But once again,it is not easy to tame the humanspirit and change the hearts ofthe masses. Beijing will have tolearn one day.

(The writer is an expert onIndia-China relations)

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Sir — This refers to the editori-al, “God of carnage” (January 13).In its order, the Supreme Courtreasserted that access to the inter-net is a fundamental right and anindefinite shutdown of the facil-ity is unconstitutional. This mayhave come as a shock to the BJPbut it is a great relief for the peo-ple of Kashmir as well as for allthe peace-loving citizens of India.

The apex court’s observa-tions that the repeated impositionof Section 144 in Kashmir wouldamount to “abuse of power” andthat the right to life should besecured in the best possible man-ner has come at a time when theentire nation is witnessing wide-spread agitations against theCitizenship Amendment Act(CAA) and the implementation ofthe National Register of Citizens(NPR) by civil society. The judg-ment, authored by the judge NVRamana, quoted the openingsentence of Charles Dickens’snovel, A Tale of Two Cities — “Itwas the best of times, it was theworst of times...” — at the begin-ning. This seems to aptly describethe present circumstances inIndia, where in spite of many

obstacles, ordinary citizens arespeaking up.

However, while the court’sruling is heartening, one wishesthat it had not taken five longmonths — since August 2019,when Article 370 was abrogated,

Opposition leaders have beenput in jail, the movement ofcivilians has been restricted andnormal life brought to a grindinghalt — for such a judgment to bepassed. The apex court musthave been aware of the situation

in the Kashmir Valley. If only ithad taken up the matter as a suomotu case, the common manmight have been spared a lot ofundue misery.

Tharcius S FernandoChennai

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Sir — The city of Melbourne,Australia, just recorded the worstair quality in the world.Melbourne has previously beenlisted as the “most liveable city inthe world” on several occasions.This air quality decline is a con-sequence of the fires in EasternVictoria and is obviously a minornuisance compared to the disas-ters of the fires themselves.

This smoke will hopefullyblow away in the next few daysbut the question will remain:What can we do to prevent thisfrom happening again? This issueis not just limited to Melbournebut there are a number of citiesaround the world where breath-ing is a health risk.

As a planet, we need to lookat the legacy we are leavingbehind and find a way to stop andhopefully repair the damage wehave caused. This should startwith looking at climate changeand pollution in general. There isno Planet B.

Dennis FitzgeraldMelbourne

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The curbs imposed in the erstwhile State ofJammu & Kashmir (J&K) after the Centre’sabrogation of provisions of Article 370 of

the Constitution of India were challenged and aplea was filed in the Supreme Court (SC). Theapex court, in a recent judgment held that dis-agreement does not justify destabilisation andpower under Section 144 of the CriminalProcedure Code (CrPC) — restricting five ormore people from gathering at one place — can-not be used to curb legitimate expression ofdemocratic rights.

The apex court also observed that, “Libertyand security are always at loggerheads. It is thecourt’s job to ensure that the citizens are provid-ed all rights and security.” It further held thatSection 144 of the CrPC is a remedial and pre-ventive measure and must be subject to the testof proportionality. Any order must adhere to theprinciple of proportionality and would be sub-ject to judicial review.

Of late, we have witnessed that across thecountry, and not just in Kashmir, Section 144 isbeing invoked indiscriminately to contain legit-imate protests against the National Register ofCitizens (NRC) and the Citizenship AmendmentAct (CAA), by the State police machinery andby the powers that be. Once Section 144 isimposed in any area, all civilians are barred fromcarrying weapons of any kind, including sticks,sharp-edged metallic objects or firearms inpublic places and only the police and other secu-rity personnel are allowed to carry weapons inareas under Section 144. More importantly, vio-lation of Section 144 is liable for punishment ofup to three years in jail.

As prevention of a crime or riot is the dutyof the administration, the power conferredunder Section 144 is absolute in terms of main-taining law and order. In some cases theMagistrate or the officer concerned may perceivea threat based on the material evidence available,which is invariably disclosed in the order.

However, it cannot be presumed that therewould be a breach of peace merely because thereis a protest. Hence, if there is no material evidenceavailable for invocation of Section 144, such anorder is in violation of Article 19 (1) of the coun-try’s Constitution and therefore it would amountto infringement of the basic fundamental rightof freedom of expression. Hence, Section 144 can-not be invoked with an intention to prevent apeaceful demonstration.

Section 144(1) contemplates that in caseswhere — in the opinion of a District Magistrate,a Sub-Divisional Magistrate or any other exec-utive Magistrate specially empowered by the StateGovernment in this behalf — there is a sufficientground for proceeding under the said Section andimmediate prevention or speedy remedy isdesirable, such a Magistrate may, by a writtenorder, stating the material facts of the case andserved in the manner provided under Section 134,direct any person to abstain from a certain Act.

The Magistrate is also empowered to take acertain order with respect to certain property inhis/her possession or under his/her management,if he/she considers that such a direction is like-ly to prevent, or tends to prevent, obstruction,annoyance or injury to any person lawfullyemployed or danger to human life, health or safe-

ty or a disturbance of public tranquil-lity or a riot or an affray.

Sub-Section 2 contemplates that anex-parte order can be passed in case ofemergency and Sub-Section 3 specifiesthat such an order may be directed toa particular individual or to personsresiding in a particular place or area orto the public generally or visiting a par-ticular place.

A reading of the aforesaid ordershows that the Magistrate or any offi-cer passing an order under Section141(1) of the CrPC has to state mater-ial facts and also his consideration thatsuch an order would prevent distur-bance of public tranquility. The empha-sis is on the likelihood of breach of pub-lic peace. Though the Code of CriminalProcedure, 1973 repeals the Code ofCriminal Procedure Code, 1898 (ActNumber V of 1898), Section 144 of theold code was retained in the new code.

Freedom of expression is an indis-pensable component in a democraticsociety. Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, in hishistorical resolution containing aimsand objects of the Constitution to beenacted by the Constituent Assembly,said, “The Constitution should guaran-tee and secure to all the people of Indiaamong others, freedom of thought andexpression.”

Article 19(1) of the Constitution isa segment of Part III of the Constitutionwhich pertains to fundamental rightsunder which all citizens shall have aright to freedom of speech and expres-sion, to assemble peacefully and formassociations. Any infringement of sucha right would constitute violation of fun-damental rights available to the citizens.

Article 19 (2) empowers the State tomake any law imposing a reasonablerestriction on the exercise of such aright. When Section 144 is invoked, itmay amount to a reasonable restrictionimposed under Article 19(2) of theConstitution. But if the mandatoryrequirements under Section 144 are notcomplied with i.e., existence of realthreat of breach of tranquility, the veryinvocation of Section 144 is in violationof Article 19(1) of the Constitution.

The Supreme Court, in the MadhuLimaye case, while examining thescope of Section 144 of CrPC of the oldcode vis-à-vis Article 19 of theConstitution, had held that the powerextends to making an order, which iseither prohibitory or mandatory innature and the urgency “is the only cri-teria that can justify the order under thesaid Section.”

The urgency should have a nexuswith the likelihood of breach of tran-quility. The Magistrate has to pass anorder reflecting his objective consider-ation. The apex court also held that thepower under Section 144 is not flow-ing from the administration but is apower to be used in a judicial mannerand it should stand further judicialscrutiny.

The apex court, in the RamlilaMaidan incident, had emphasised thatthe degree of threat involved for invok-ing the provision should be a real threatto public peace and tranquillity. Theprovision cannot be invoked merely onimaginary or mere likely possibility. Thematerial facts that are to be stated in theorder should disclose that there is a realthreat to peace or else the Magistrate or

any officer does not have any power toinvoke the said provision.

Similarly, the court in the State ofKarnataka Vs Gowri Narayana Ambigacase held that the freedom of speech andexpression must be broadly consideredto include the freedom to circulate viewsby word of mouth, in writing or audio,video instrumentalities. This means thata gathering of a group of people rais-ing slogans falls within the ambit ofArticle 19(1) of the Constitution.

In the Baldev Singh Gandhi Vs.State of Punjab case, the top court heldthat situations may arise where respon-sible persons or those who hold elect-ed offices feel that it is their duty to crit-icise the law promulgated as unconsti-tutional and against public interestand invite people to come forward for discussion and the same is protect-ed by Article 19(1) (a) of theConstitution.

While invoking Section 144, theMagistrate or any other officer shouldbe conscious of the fundamental rightof a citizen under Article 19(1) of theConstitution. The Magistrate has torarely invoke such a provision in ademocratic society which always takesinto its fold healthy dissent. It cannotbe invoked arbitrarily only with anintention to prevent a peaceful demon-stration. If so, the same constitutes abuseof power. Therefore, the State policemachinery henceforth has to be con-scious of the aforesaid law laid downand should not indiscriminately invokeSection 144 to prevent a legitimatepeaceful protest.

(The writer is Advocate, High Courtsof Andhra Pradesh and Telangana)

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The impact of climate change isusually seen in relation to theadverse cumulative conse-

quences witnessed around the worldin the form of rising temperatures,extreme weather events and spi-ralling green house gas emissions.But seldom are the consequences ofclimate change whittled down to theindividual level to understand thespecific impact it has on the quality,prosperity and health of the individ-ual. A dynamic per capita climatechange impact index can help nationsnarrow down on particular areaswhere human beings are sufferingthe most due to climate change. Thisanalysis can be taken to more inter-

esting levels when one can dissect theper capita impact of climate changeon the basis of demographics such asgender, occupation, geographicallocation and so on.

The assessment of the cost of cli-mate change is always generalised.However, given the scale climatechange is reaching in these times itis becoming crucial to quantify thesame and understand how eachindividual in the country is dealingwith the effects of climate change. Insimple terms, how many are adapt-ing to it and more importantly howmany are succumbing to it.

Another important aspect is toalso find out who are the highest percapita generators of climate changein the form of nations, who are gen-erating the maximum per capitagreen house gas emissions.

A well-researched study on thesedimensions will yield irrefutableevidence that some people in thisworld are paying the price for thehigh levels of carbon emissionsbeing generated by somebody else.

In fact, given that not all peoplein the world are equally responsible

for climate change, some sections ofenvironmental scientists are alreadyterming this as a climate relatedinequality. This new aspect needsmore research and studies so that theexact responsibility is fixed on thenations and people who emit morecarbon per person but preach to oth-

ers about how to achieve a cleanerenvironment. Global environmentalevents such as the COP25 must focuson subjects of climate-relatedinequality in order to provide somemuch-needed relief and concessionsto those individuals across the worldwho are suffering the most due to cli-mate change and are doing the leastto precipitate it. This will help in pro-viding some much-needed achieve-ment for the event.

For a nation like India, the util-ity of a per capita impact of climatechange index for the populationwill have immeasurable benefits.The wide spectrum of people withvarious levels of economic classstructure continue to suffer due to aplethora of problems, some man-made and some caused by climatechange. The index can help in iden-tifying and segregating those issuesand problems that have been causeddue to environmental degradationand climate change.

This is crucial, because it is onlywhen the problem and its source isidentified that it can be solved. Suchan index must dwell upon a wide

angle of costs being paid by an indi-vidual and a family. This could besocial costs, health related issues orfinancial costs. Based on the index,the Government can then announcemore meaningful policies andschemes that can alleviate the prob-lems of the affected people.

The Government can then pro-vide them relief and rehabilitationagainst the effects of climate change.This would possibly be the first of itskind initiative in the world where aGovernment provided relief and aidto an individual who suffered due tocarbon emissions and lost his healthor livelihood and became economi-cally-challenged.

The rehabilitation of climatechange-affected people is a veryimportant aspect of adaptation.Though fighting for reduction ofgreen house gas emissions, carbonfootprint and encouraging sustain-able energy development are criticalfor climate change mitigation, allthese measures do little for those whohave already fallen victim to the dev-astating effects of global warmingand environmental degradation. This

negates the humanitarian approach,which mandates that as humans wemust first care for the fallen who wereunable to escape the harmful impactsof climate change and lost every-thing. This approach will bring backhumanity into the fight against cli-mate change.

India — given its tropical loca-tion and not being part of the usualset of nations having a traditionallyhigh level of carbon emissions — isin an ideal position to set the ballrolling and start an exhaustiveresearch-backed national index onthe per capita impact of climatechange. This can encourage othernations in the southern hemisphereto follow suit. Before long, the worldwill have a clear demarcationbetween the emitters of green housegases and those who are paying theprice for it. This will alter the sym-metry in inter-nation climate change-related discussions and give develop-ing nations a much-needed moralhigh ground to put forth their caseconvincingly.

(The writer is an environmentaljournalist)

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Rajasthan Governor KalrajMishra on Wednesday said

politics without principles,work without morality and lifewithout character are equiva-lent to sins.

During an event related tothe 150th birth anniversarycelebrations of the Father of theNation, Mishra said MahatmaGandhi had a strong sense ofIndianness and his philosophywas 'Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam'(whole world is one family).

“He was a brave man andnon-violence was his principle.Politics without principles,work without morality, lifewithout character and human-ity without science are equiv-

alent to sins,” Mishra said.Gandhi’s grandson

Rajmohan Gandhi whileaddressing the gathering saidthat Mahatma was fearless. Hewas a priest of non-violence.

He was always ready to goto jail and take a bullet. He saidthat he always spread friend-ship and worked to eliminatehatred.

Mishra also urged the peo-ple to perform their funda-mental duties to play an activerole in the development of thenation.

On this occasion, theGovernor got about 1,000 chil-dren of 30 schools of the city toread the Preamble andFundamental Duties of theConstitution.

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Jammu: The old and naturalcave of Vaishno Devi shrine inTrikuta hills opened fromWednesday for pilgrims to payobeisance, officials said.

The old cave is openedonly during January andFebruary when rush is veryless, while for rest of themonths, the pilgrims had topass through newly-construct-ed caves to reach to the sanc-tum sanctorum.

Every year, the natural caveis opened for pilgrims afterMakar Sankranti, an officialsaid.

“The cave has been openedfor the visiting pilgrims for dar-

shan now,” Shri Mata VaishnoDevi Shrine Board chief exec-utive officer Ramesh Kumarsaid.

To avoid any inconve-nience to the pilgrims, thesub-divisional magistrate hasbeen authorised to regulate

the darshan through old caveafter considering the rush andcongestion, the official said.

The CEO said normallypilgrims are allowed from thenatural cave when the daily pil-grimage comes below the10,000 mark. PTI

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Rajinikanth, the leadingsuper star of Tamil

moviedom, made his first polit-ical statement on Tuesdayevening since he announced hisintention to launch a politicaloutfit on December 31, 2017.

Addressing the readers andstaff of Tuglaq, Tamil’s leadingsocio-political magazinelaunched by late “Cho”Ramaswamy, Rajnikanthdeclared that Tuglaq was themagazine read by the intelli-gentsia in Tamil Nadu. “Thosewho read Murasoli (the mouth-piece of DMK of which lateKarunanidhi was the editor)are known as DMK activistswhile the readers of Tuglaq areknown as the intelligentsia,”said Rajinikanth while deliver-

ing the keynote address in themeeting held in connectionwith the 50th anniversary ofthe magazine.

The Tuglaq annual meetingis considered as the State’smost important cultural eventand sets the political agenda ofTamil Nadu for the next year.Rajinikanth pointed out thateven late Karunanidhi was anardent reader of the magazineTuglaq.

He also said that he wouldnot make any politicalannouncement or observationconsidering the solemnity ofthe occasion. M VenkiahNaidu, vice president was thechief guest and was presentwhen Rajinikanth made theannouncement.

It may be remembered thatRajinikanth was lampoonedby Murasoli daily for his polit-

ical dreams. The DMK mouth-piece had declared in anunsigned article in October2018 that the party does notwelcome Rajnikanth’s inten-tion to launch a political out-fit. But the DMK is yet to tellanything against the othersuper star Kamal Haasan wholaunched his political partyMakkal Neethi Meiam.

Though Rajinikanth hadnot reacted to the article at thattime, he chose the venue ofTuglaq to tell the people of theState that his respect and

regards were with “Cho”, whohas been his close friend formore than three decades. ChoRamaswamy had told his read-ers many time in the past thatRajinikanth is the ideal personto be the Chief Minister ofTamil Nadu.

S Gurumurthy, leadingchartered accountant, who isthe chief editor of Thuglaqsince the passing away of ChoRamaswamy, reiterated hisstance that Rajnikanth’s entryinto political arena would marka tectonic shift in TamilNadu. “The situation is sameas that of 1977 when TamilNadu was fed up with the kindof politics played by the DMKand its first family. It was at thatjuncture that MGRamachandran entered thescene and politics was not thesame afterwards.

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Sagar Island (WB): Over 31 lakhpilgrims from different parts ofthe country, and neighbouring Bangladesh andNepal, on Wednesday took holydip at the confluence of thesacred Ganga and the Bay ofBengal on the occasion of 'MakarSankranti'.

Around 40 lakh people havecongregated here for the pil-grimage, “breaking all previousrecords”, a senior state govern-ment official said.

“Till noon, more than 31 lakhpeople have taken dips in the holywaters. The final count couldeven exceed this figure,” he said.Every year on Makar Sankranti,lakhs of Hindus flock to theSagar Island in West Bengal'sSouth 24 Parganas district to take

the holy dip and offer prayers atthe Kapil Muni temple.

“Last year, we had a recordnumber of 20 lakh pilgrims vis-iting the island.

This year, that record hasbeen broken. It was peaceful andthe pilgrims have also appreciat-ed our arrangements,” the officialsaid.

Security has been beefed up inthe island, around 100 km fromKolkata, and Chief MinisterMamata Banerjee is monitoringthe situation, officials said.

Besides deploying senior offi-cers, around 10,000 police per-sonnel and civic volunteers havebeen posted for the gathering —the Ganga Sagar Mela.

Security officials are alsokeeping a watch on the waters and

patrolling is being done, theysaid. Drones and around 1,000CCTV cameras have been put touse, and several watch towers setup. The West Bengal Government,for the first time this year, is usingan air ambulance at the SagarIsland, officials said. Pilgrims alsotook dips at several ghats in otherparts of West Bengal, including inKolkata and Howrah.

Amid tight security, thou-sands of people participated inthe rituals at Babughat, Doi ghat,Baje Kadamtala ghat, Saradamanighat, Ratanbabur ghat, Bagbazarghat and Kumartuli ghat, all onthe banks of the Hooghly river inKolkata, they said.

In the districts as well, thou-sands of people took dips atsunrise. PTI

Banda: A four-year-old Dalitgirl was allegedly raped byman at a village in UttarPradesh's Banda district, policesaid on Wednesday.

The incident took place onTuesday when the girl wastaken to the secluded place bya man named JagdevKhushwaha (23) and wasraped, they said.

The girl later narrated theincident to her family, wholodged an FIR in this connec-tion.

The accused has beenarrested, the police added. PTI

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Union Defence MinisterRajnath Singh would inau-

gurate the induction ceremonyof SU-30 fighter squadron atthe Air Force Station inThanjavur in Tamil Nadu, AirMarshal Amit Tiwari said onWednesday.

At a press meet here, AirMarshal Tiwari said this wouldbe the second frontline fightersquadron of the Indian AirForce (IAF) to be based inSouth.

The induction ceremonywould take place on January 20and the fighters would have themost potent platform capableof long reach and multi-role

capabilities, he said.The maritime strike

squadron inducted in the IAFis also armed with the indige-nous Brahmos missile, the AirMarshal Tiwari, Air OfficerC o m m a n d i n g - i n - C h i e f ,Southern Air Command, said.

The IAF had earlierannounced the resurrection ofthe 222 SquadronTheTigersharkson January 1 withthe Sukhois.

The squadron was origi-nally raised on September 15,1969 with another Sukhoifighter, the SU-7, and laterwith the MiG-27 ground-attackaircraft.

The newly resurrected 222Squadron would be opera-

tionalised with Brahmos-equipped Sukhoi-30 air supe-riority fighter with twin engine,the officials said.

“The Indian Ocean Region(IOR) which is a central mar-itime spread, bordering threecontinents, has an importantrole to play in regional peace,security and prosperity.

The IAF is an intrinsical-ly strategic force and is set toextend the reach into the vastIOR,” Tiwari said.

The 'Tigersharks', equippedwith formidable, state-of- the-art air superiority fighter air-craft, which are armed with 2.5ton air-launched BrahMos mis-sile of 300 km range, have thecapability to strike from largestand-off ranges on any targetat sea or on land with pin-pointaccuracy by day or night and inall weather conditions.

The capability of the mis-sile, coupled with superlativeperformance of the Su-30 MKI,is set to change the paradigmof maritime surveillance, secu-rity and strike in the region.

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Chitrakoot (UP): A 42-year-old man drowned at Baruadam here when he was allegedly trying to dispose ofthe body of his wife, whom hehad killed, officials said onWednesday.

Bharat Diwakar, a localSamajwadi Party leader, hadkilled his wife on Tuesday night and was takingthe body in a boat which cap-sized in the dam's reservoir,Superintendent of Police AnkitMittal.

A boatman, Ram Sevak,informed police about the inci-dent. Police is trying to recov-er the bodies. PTI

Lucknow: Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanathon Wednesday performed rituals as head priest ofGorakhnath temple in Gorakhpur on the occasion ofMakar Sankranti. The 'Peethadhishwar' offered khichdito Baba Gorakhnath for happiness, prosperity and peacein the country as soon as the temple gates were openedat 3.00 am.

As per the tradition, the khichdi sent by the king ofNepal was offered soon after, the UP Government said ina statement.

After this, the devotees who visited the temple in lakhs,also offered the khichdi (rice-dal) to the Baba Gorakhnath.

The Chief Minister spent his time among devoteesand urged them to take laiya-til as 'prasad,' the release said.

Later in the afternoon, he joined community mealwith thousands of people. The Khichdi Mela that is organ-ised at the temple premises on the occasion of MakarSankranti, continues for about a month and attracts devo-tees from all over north India. The devotees also come fromfar-flung areas of Nepal. PTI

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A'Khairiyat' (welfare) team of theArmy posted in a north Kashmir vil-

lage rescued a woman with pregnancy-related complications by carrying her formany kilometres in waist-deep snow andensured that she reached hospital in timeto give birth to a healthy baby.

The team received a call on Tuesdayfrom a distraught Riyaz Mir, a residentof Dard Pora village near Tangmarg areaof Baramulla in north Kashmir, saying hiswife was in labour and the family wasunable to take her to hospital because ofheavy snowfall, an Army sourcesaid.

The woman, Shamima, had devel-oped severe pregnancy-related compli-cations due to which both her and the

unborn baby's lives were in danger. Following the call, the base com-

mander located at Uplona village lost notime and trekked nearly five kilometresalong with a resident medical officer toreach the family, the source said.

The entire Army unit swung intoaction and three teams wereimmediately formed — one cleared theroad for the pregnant woman's move-ment, the second cleared the snow till thehelipad and the third cleared the road tillKanispora, connecting the area with thedistrict headquarters in Baramulla, thearmy official said.

Over 100 men from the army and 25civilians were engaged in the six-houroperation which involved the foot patroltaking the woman on a stretcher toUplona through waist-deep snow.

Lucknow: Hitting out at BSP chiefMayawati for saying both BJP andCongress are “two sides of the samecoin”, the saffron party on Wednesdaysaid she had supported theManmohan Singh Government atthe Centre.

Mayawati at a press conference onher 64th birthday accused the BJP andthe Congress of playing “dirty politics”and alleged that the BJP-led centralGovernment follows the pattern of theprevious Congress dispensation,which was punished for its wrong-doing.

Terming both parties “two sidesof the same coin”, the Bahujan SamajParty (BSP) chief said the Congressdoes not have the moral right to crit-icise the BJP.

“You (Mayawati) had extendedsupport to the Manmohan SinghGovernment for 10 years. In the

State, you had taken the support of theCongress,” BJP leader and UttarPradesh Minister Shrikant Sharmasaid.

The basic difference between theBJP and the Congress is that “ourGovernment bothers about pro-poorwelfare schemes reaching the poor.The Government of which you hadbeen a part...Instead of reaching thepoor, reached the homes of those inpower, especially the Congress,through the back door”, he said.

Mayawati told reporters thatunder the current regime, poverty,unemployment, anarchy, violence andtension have exceeded that during thetenure of the Congress at theCentre.

She also alleged that the amend-ments to the citizenship law werebrought without taking others intoconfidence. PTI

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Jammu: The RailwayProtection Force (RPF) res-cued 16,457 children fromrailway stations and trainsacross the country during2019, a senior official said onWednesday.

Majority of the rescuedminor boys and girls had runaway from there homeswhile others had been kid-napped, left behind at train sta-tions or were being trafficked.

As many as 446 childrenwere rescued from the clutch-es of 68 human traffickers whowere arrested, the RPF said.

“RPF is committed to servethe nation and humanity insaving lives,” Director Generalof the force, Arun Kumar toldPTI.

Of the total rescued chil-

dren, 13,025 were runaways,1,294 were left behind in trainsor at railway stations, 1,091were missing, 252 were desti-tute children, 133 were streetkids, 108 were mentally chal-lenged, 89 had been kidnappedand 13 had fallen down fromtrains, they said.

The force also saved 495people including 260 malesand 235 females from grave

mishaps last year, they said,adding that several RPF per-sonnel lost their lives in theprocess.

One such instance ofsupreme sacrifice wasreported on April 21 last yearwhen a 50-year-old RPFconstable Jagbir Singh Ranawho was deployed near railtrack between Adarshnagar

and Ajadpur laid down his lifewhile saving a woman andthree children from comingunder the wheels of an oncom-ing train, the force said.

Similarly, in September lastyear, RPF jawan ShivcharanGurjar of Western Railwayswhile on train escort duty, savedthe lives of 9 people trapped infloods without caring for hisown life, they said. PTI

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Ajoint team of securityforces on Wednesday

gunned down a dreadedterrorist of HizbulMujahideen in a fierce gunfight at village Tantna of Gundanatehsil in Doda district.

Sharing details of the oper-ation DGP, Dilbagh Singh, saidthe dreaded terrorist killed inthe operation has been identi-fied as Haroon Abbas aliasMoin-un-Islam S/o Gh. AbbasWani R/o Furqanabad Ghat.

Singh said Haroon wasactive in the area for a longtime and was trying to revivemilitancy in the region with thehelp of Kashmir based terror-

ists. DGP said, Haroon Abbashad joined the HizbulMujahidin outfit in the year2018 and was operating in thearea of Kishtwar/Doda alongwith other terrorists.

He was a part of the groupof terrorists of HizbulMujahideen who were involvedin the killing of PariharBrothers in 2018, weaponsnatching from Daleep KumarPSO, of DC Kishtwar in 2019

and the killing of RSS func-tionary Chanderkant andhis PSO in 2019.

DGP claimed, with thekilling of Haroon andkilling of Osama and hisassociates three monthsback, most of the perpe-trators behind the cases of

terror attacks on innocent civil-ians in Kishtwar and weaponsnatching in that area havebeen eliminated.

A huge quantity of armsand ammunition including 01-AK 47 rifle, 03-Magazines 01-Chinese Grenade, 01- RadioSet and ammunition of AK47was recovered.

The search for another ter-rorist hiding in the area is inprogress, he added.

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Dibrugarh: Assam Chief MinisterSarbananda Sonowal was shown blackflags by All Assam Students' Union(AASU) activists protesting against theCitizenship Amendment Act (CAA) inDibrugarh district on Wednesday.

The Chief Minister had landed atDibrugarh airport and was on the way tohis hometown Chabua in the district tocelebrate 'Bhogali Bihu' harvest festivalwith his family when a group of AASUactivists rushed towards his convoy inMohanbari Tiniali area, waving black flagsand raising slogans against him and theAct. The protesters were heard shouting'Sarbananda, Go Back', 'SonowalMurdabad', 'CAA aami na maanu' (We donot accept CAA) and 'Jai Aai Asom' (Glory

to Mother Assam).Police overpowered the protestors

and prevented them from reaching theconvoy.This is the second incidentin a fortnight of anti-CAA agitators showing black flags to the ChiefMinister.

Activists of the AASU and the AsomJatiyatabadi Yuva Chhatra Parishad(AJYCP) had shown black flags to Sonowalat several places in Nalbari and Barpetadistricts when the Chief Minister was trav-elling by road from Guwahati to theashram of religious preacher Krishnaguruin Barpeta on January 1.

Earlier in the day, AASU activistsburnt a 50-feet tall effigy of Sonowal inDibrugarh town. PTI

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Jallikattu, the annual bulltaming event that is slated to

be held in several parts ofTamil Nadu took off to acolourful start here onWednesday on the occasion ofPongal, in which over 700 bullsand about 750 participantstook part.

As the feisty bulls, oneafter the other started racingtowards the lengthy sportingarena from the entrance,known as 'vadivasal,' youngmen waiting with bated breathstrained every nerve to latch onto the hump of the animals.

"Don't touch the horns,""many men don't chase oneanimal," "allow the bull to go;it has won," were among theinstructions that reverberated

in the arena for the partici-pants.

The Jallikattu atAvaniapuram held here todaymarks the start of the once ayear bull taming sport in manyrural and semi-urban regionsof Tamil Nadu.

Similar events will be heldat Palamedu tomorrow and inAlanganallur on January 17

and these are among the huge-ly popular bull taming contestsin the State.

If the participant manageto hang on over the hump ofthe bull for a determined dis-tance, he is declared a winnerand if not, the animal emergesthe victor.

In each round, about 60 to70 participants with colour

coded T-shirts and shorts tookpart.

Festivity marked the eventand scores of spectators fromthe gallery craned their necksto have a glimpse of deter-mined men trying to get thebetter of the animals in a mat-ter of seconds as soon as theywere released into the arena.

A huge number of specta-tors, including many foreigntourists with cameras, wereglued to the event.

Keenly watching the game,organisers quickly declared -over the public address system-if the animal or the man wasthe winner and the prize.

The sporting arena wasbarricaded from the galleriesand enclosures marked forspectators.

Speaking to PTI, an offi-cial said medical examinationof both the men and animalsdecided their participation.

Some participants found tobe under the influence of alco-hol and restless animals weredisallowed, he said.

The official said over 35men were injured, includingparticipants, spectators, andsome bull owners and a sectionof them were sent to a govern-ment hospital for treatment.

However, no bull wasinjured, he added. Elaboratesecurity arrangements weremade and access to medicalfacilities were on standby.

The event was held underthe supervision of a panel, ledby a retired judge.

Three men who success-fully held on to a high numberof animals — between 10 and15 bulls — were awarded thefirst three prizes. Also, otherswho dominated fewer or a sin-gle animal successfully weregiven a variety of prizes includ-ing vessels and silver coins.

Lucknow: BSP chief Mayawation Wednesday urged theCentre to withdraw the amend-ed citizenship law and seekconsensus to bring in a newone.

She accused the BharatiyaJanata Party-led Government atthe Centre of not taking othersinto confidence before bringingin the Citizen Amendment Bill(CAB). “That's why, there is anin outcry the country,"Mayawati told reporters at apress conference here on her64th birthday.

“The BSP had been repeat-edly urging the Centre to firstsend the CAB to the Standing

Committee, so that it becomesan absolutely correct law," shesaid.

Accusing the Centre ofstubbornness, she said theCitizenship Amendment Act(CAA) at first glance appears tobe divisive and unconstitu-tional.

Mayawati accused the BJPand the Opposition Congressof playing “dirty politics”,prompting a strong reactionfrom the ruling party whichreminded her that the BSPhad supported ManmohanSingh's Congress Governmentat the Centre.

"For the past some time,

political parties are accusingeach other of spreading lies andindulging in dirty politics, inwhich the BJP and theCongress are ahead of the oth-ers,” the BSP chief said.

“Our party does notindulge in dirty politics on thebasis of lies. I am saying thistoday as on the foundation dayof the Congress last month, itwas said that barring theCongress, other oppositionparties in UP are not raisingtheir voice against the NRC andthe CAA," she said, also refer-ring to the criticism of theNational Register of Citizens. PTI

Patna: Bihar Chief MinisterNitish Kumar on Wednesdayrefused to comment on the(Amendment) Act urgingjournalists not to ask him questions on the auspiciousMakar Sankranti day on issuesabout which people may have dif-ferent opinions that may lead tosquabbles.

Kumar, who also heads theJanata Dal (United), made thiscomment with a broad smileplaying on his lips and both hishands joined together in responseto frantic queries from scribes ata feast organised to mark theMakar Sankranti festival.

"Do not rake up the issues onan auspicious day, about whichpeople may have different opin-

ions and expression which maylead to squabbles", the ChiefMinister said while he was treat-ing himself to curd, flattened rice,jaggery and 'tilkut' (a sweetmeatmade of sesame).

Requesting the journalists toenjoy the feast and write aboutthe state-wide human chainscheduled on January 19 instead,he said, "I urge you to take partin it as well".

The Chief Minister wasflanked by top leaders of theNDA and seated next to him washis deputy and senior BJP leaderSushil Kumar Modi.

They were at the residence ofstate JD(U) president and RajyaSabha member VashishthaNarayan Singh, whose annual

'dahi-chura' feast has become amuch-anticipated event since ithad provided clues in the past fewyears about dissidents from otherpolitical groups willing to join theruling party.

All eyes were, therefore, onRJD MLA Faraz Fatami when hearrived at Singh's residence.

Fatami said, "I have comehere upon invitation as a matterof courtesy and no politicalmeaning should be attached to it."On the CAA-NRC controversy,he said the Bihar Chief Ministerhas already made things veryclear on the floor of the Assemblyand after that there is no need forstretching things further.

Kumar on Monday had saida country-wide implementation

of National Register of Citizenswas "needless" and had "no jus-tification".

Asked about RJD leaderTejashwi Yadav's Statewide touragainst the contentious measuresfrom Thursday, Fatami said, "Ithink the honourable leader ofthe opposition should do arethink".

Fatami's father Mohd AshrafFatami, a former Union Minister,had snapped his ties with the RJDahead of the Lok Sabha polls lastyear when he took exception toTejashwi Yadav ordering his sus-pension from the party after hefiled his nomination papers fromMadhubani after being deniedticket on his home turf ofDarbhanga. PTI

Panaji: Goa Forward Party (GFP)leader Ashma Sayed said onWednesday that she had resigned asvice-chairman of the State MinoritiesFinance and DevelopmentCorporation to protest against theCitizenship (Amendment) Act(CAA).

The GFP was part of the BJP-ledGoa government till July 2019 whenits ministers were dropped from thePramod Sawant-led cabinet.

The party is still part of theNational Democratic Alliance(NDA). Sayed, who heads the GFP'swomen wing, announced her deci-sion on Twitter.

"I have resigned as vice chair-man, Goa State Minorities Financeand Development Corporation as amark of protest against #CAA," shetweeted. The CAA, which cameinto effect on January 10, grantsIndian citizenship to non-Muslimrefugees who migrated to Indiafrom Afghanistan, Pakistan andBangladesh before 2015 on accountof religious persecution.

Massive protests have eruptedagainst the CAA since its passage byParliament in December last year.

The GFP has been opposed tothe amended Act. PTI

Guwahati: People celebratingharvest festival 'Bhogali Bihu',also called 'Magh Bihu', in Assamon Wednesday burnt copies ofthe Citizenship Amendment Act(CAA) in bonfires of 'Mejis' lit onthe occasion.

Protests against the Act havebeen raging in the state since itwas passed in the Parliament inDecember last year.

The 'Mejis' (structures madeof bamboo, hay and wood) werelit before sunrise and home-made 'larus' (a type of sweet) and'pithas' (rice cakes) offered to thealmighty.

Organisations protesting theCAA such as the All AssamStudents' Union (AASU), AsomJatiyatabadi Yuva ChatraParishad (AJYCP), KrishakMukti Sangram Samiti (KMSS),Assam Nagarik Mancha andcivil society members had givena call to burn the copies of theAct during the festival.

AASU activists burnt copiesof the Act outside their officesacross the state and students ofthe Cotton University, prominentadvocate Arup Borobora andcivil society members AjitBhuyan and Haidar Hussain also

did the same.The Act was also the theme

of several 'Bhelaghars', temporaryhay structures where communi-ty feasts 'Uruka' were held on theeve of the 'Rongali Bihu', onTuesday.

Two such 'Bhelaghars' inNagaon district stood out.A'Bhelaghar' in Kekuragaon inAmsoi area of the district depict-ed a woman holding a contain-er over her head. Organisers saidthe woman was depicted as'Mother Assam' and the con-tainer the "burden" of illegalBangladeshi immigrants. PTI

Mumbai: The Shiv Sena onWednesday questionned its formerally BJP's "separate yardsticks" of"freedom of expression" on the JNUviolence and the controversial bookcomparing Prime Minister NarendraModi with Chhatrapati ShivajiMaharaj.

In an editorial in the party'sMarathi mouthpiece "Saamana", theruling party demanded that UnionHome Ministry issue orders to filecases against those who makederogatory comments on Hindutvaideologue VD Savarkar, anddemanded Bharat Ratna for him.

The book "Aaj Ke Shivaji,Narendra Modi", written by DelhiBJP leader Jay Bhagwan Goyal, hastriggered a political storm inMaharashtra, where the 17thCentury founder of the Maratha

empire is a reverred historical figure."When a hardly known BJP

worker publishes a book, the BJPdefends him on the grounds of free-dom of expression, but it conve-niently forgets the same principle inthe case of students of the JNU whoare fighting for the same," the Senasaid. After the January 5 attack onJNU students, the Sena had said thatwhat Prime Minister Narendra Modiand Union Home Minister AmitShah wanted was happening.

The Sena, which has demandedthat the book be banned, wonderedwhy the BJP has not yet expelledGoyal from the party.

"We want this issue to be settledat once but the author of the bookseems to be firm on rewriting it,which clearly means the issue is stillnot over," the Sena said. PTI

Bengaluru: The much awaitedexpansion of Karnataka Cabinet islikely to get delayed, with ChiefMinister BS Yediyurappa onWednesday stating that it will bedone after BJP national PresidentAmit Shah's visit to the State onJanuary 18.

As the Chief Minister is sched-uled to travel to Davos to attendthe World Economic Forum meet,the very next day- January 19, theMinistry expansion exercise islikely to take place only after hisreturn.

"On January 19, I will have togo to Davos, where I will take partin an investors meet and comeback on January 23," Yediyurappasaid.

Speaking to reporters inShikaripura, he said, "Amit Shahis coming to state on January 18,after discussing with him at the

earliest I will expand the cabinet."Shah will be here to address

a huge rally at Hubballion January18 aspart of the BJP's nationwideoutreach programme to createawareness among the people aboutthe Citizenship Amendment Act.The Chief Minister, who is anxiously waiting for the BJP highcommand's nod to expand hisministry, amid intense lobbying bythe aspirants, had recentlyexpressed his wish to complete theexercise before Davos visit, if hegets clearance from Amit Shah.

Disqualified legislators whogot re-elected during theDecember 5 bypolls on BJP tick-et, and are all set to becomeMinisters too had exerted pressureon Yediyurappa to expand theCabinet before the foreign visit.

According to party sources,

though Yediyurappa had plans tovisit New Delhi to get clearancefrom the high command, he didnot get appointment from theparty leadership for the same.

Yediyurappa along with UnionMinisters Piyush Goyal andMansukh Mandaviya as well aschief ministers — AmarinderSingh (Punjab) and Kamal Nath(Madhya Pradesh) are amongthose expected join over 100Indian CEOs in the Swiss skiresort town of Davos later thismonth for the WEF's 50th annu-al meeting.

As the Chief Minister hasalready made it clear that 11 of thedisqualified JDS-Congress MLAswho got re-elected in the bypollson BJP tickets will be made min-isters, lobbying has been on with-in the party for the remainingministerial berths. PTI

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The Goa Congress on Wednesdaydemanded resignation of Chief

Minister Pramod Sawant, claimingthat he has "failed" to address keyissues like non-resumption of themining industry, unemployment andslowdown in tourism sector in theState.

Talking to reporters here, GoaPradesh Congress Committee chiefGirish Chodankar alleged that theBJP-led State Government was "insen-sitive" towards issues raised by theOpposition due to which there wasdiscontent among people.

Chodankar said his party hasbeen raising various issues, like non-resumption of mining operations,"unprecedented" unemployment Goa,which he claimed was highest in thecountry, slowdown of the tourismindustry and concerns over the state'sfinancial situation.

The State Government has failedto come up with a proper response toall these problems, he said.

"It is unfortunate that the chiefminister and his Government havebecome insensitive. Even if you raisesensitive issues, they are notaddressed. We condemn theGovernment's inaction. People areunhappy with the Government,"Chodankar said.

"If Chief Minister Pramod Sawantcannot handle affairs of the State, thenhe should step down from the postwithout wasting any more time," hesaid.

In a democratic set up,theGovernment is accountable topeople. Hence, the State Governmenthas to respond to issues raised by themain opposition party, Chodankarsaid. The Congress leader furtherclaimed that frustration was mount-ing among the youth, who were tak-ing law and order in their hands. PTI

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No one can stop Dilip Ghosh fromgun down anti-nationals. The

Bengal BJP president has stuck to hisstand.

“Contemptuously” dismissingOpposition queries as to whether“such statements are manifestations ofNazi mindset,” Ghosh on Wednesdayconfirmed: “I had given a well-thoughtout statement the other day,” adding“anti-nationals who destroy publicproperty deserve to be shot like dogs.And I will again say that we will shootat them when we come to power ifthey don’t stop destroying nationalproperty.”

When reminded how the Left,Congress and the Trinamool Congress

have openly criticized him for har-bouring such “Nazi mindset,” Ghoshrecalled how “scores of brilliant stu-dents belonging to naxalite groupswere shot dead by the police during theSiddhartha Shankar Ray Governmentin 1970s… Often these naxal activistswere first released from jails and thenshot dead from behind as they walkedback to freedom… Was it a legal act?”

He then asked “how about thecommunists shooting dead 6 ForwardBloc members and eliminating therefugees in Marich Jhampi Islands?’reminding as well how “MamataBanerjee’s police shot dead 11 Gorkhasin Darjeeling Hills.”

If those acts were legal then “howmy suggestion of shooting like dogsthe anti-national elements — who

destroy and torch public properties asthey did by setting trains afire whileprotesting against the CitizenshipAmendment Act— become illegal,” headded saying, “while the Assam andUttar Pradesh Governments exhibit-ed the right intent by shooting anti-nationals the Trinamool Congressnot even filed an FIR or arrest anyone,or charged lathis, let alone openingfire.

This was done with an eye on thevote-bank politics which they havebeen pursuing since their inception.”

Ghosh had on Sunday told acrowd at Nadia that when the BJPwould come to power it would shootanti-nationals dead like dogs as it didin Assam, Karnataka and UttarPradesh kicking off a storm of criti-

cism and leading his party colleagueand Union Minister Babul Supriyo todisapprove of his statement as a “per-sonal view.”

Ghosh’s reiteration of the sameview on Sunday and sudden silence ofSupriyo clearly indicated on whoseside the BJP high command was, theTMC leadership said. “Without thepermission of the top leadership theydo not speak.

So you have to understand fromwhere Dilip Ghosh is getting hisstrength to speak all that non-sense.”Meanwhile in a related developmentGhosh on Sunday trained his guns atthe Bengal civil society for makingsymnbolic statements: vowing not toshow “documents” apparently for ver-ification on CAA.

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Revenue Department usingits data analytics has dis-

covered a fraud in GST refundswith as many as 1,200exporters, who have haveclaimed Rs 350 crore refunds,are now untraceable.

The department has rea-sons to consider that nefariouselements among the customsbroker community may beconnected with these frauds,involving fictitious entities,existing only in virtual spacethrough identity thefts withfake and morphed documents,according to sources.

The detection of fraud hasresulted in saving the exche-quer over Rs 350 crore ofrefunds, they added.

Central Board of IndirectTaxes and Customs has oblig-ated customs brokers undertheir licensing conditions toindependently verifying theKYC of exporters, the sourcesnoted. However, going by thecases detected in recentmonths, at least 50 customsbrokers have been found tohave dealt by and large withsuch exporter entities which areuntraceable at their registeredaddresses and such custom

brokers are also under thelens, the sources said. As inves-tigators probe deeper, newermodus operandi are surfacing,they said, adding that a com-pany by the name of SSRExport was investigated and ledto discovering a fraudulentrefund claim of Rs 9.88 crore.

As per the investigation,the firm was ostensibly export-ing readymade garments to anspecial economic zone (SEZ).

Now, with newer tech-niques of data analytics-basedrisk management being avail-able to officers, the taxpayerwas selected for physical scruti-ny and found non-existent athis declared address, theynoted.

Using a web of fake invoic-ing of over Rs 847 crore, thefirm created a fraudulent cred-it of Rs 195 crore and investi-gations led to discoveringuntraceable suppliers.

Department of Revenue iscarrying out continuous riskevaluation of exporters with thehelp of predictive modelling,the sources said, adding regu-lar strategy meetings are beingheld at a very high level by theRevenue Secretary himself withdata analytic experts, state andcentre tax investigators.

Over 800 entities have beeninterdicted during the last fivemonths while exporting over-valued merchandise of Rs 1,500crore to claim fake IGSTrefunds have been suspendedin these cases.

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Concerned over rise inimports in the 'others' cat-

egory, Commerce and IndustryMinister Piyush Goyal onWednesday asked thoseimporters to seek HSN or tar-iff code within 30 days from theforeign trade office, failingwhich the government wouldimpose strong restrictions ontheir inbound shipments.

In trade parlance, everyproduct is categorised under anHSN code (HarmonisedSystem of Nomenclature). Ithelps in systematic classifica-tion of goods across the globe.

Goyal said India is facing"big" problem in the country'simports of a category called"others" and in that category, allsorts of stuff is being import-ed into the country .

Citing an analysis, he saidone out of the four productsbeing imported in India isunder this category.

Out of over USD 500 bil-lion worth of imports in 2018-19, the 'others' categoryaccounted for over USD 100billion.

"I will follow the Germanmodel," he said adding he

would wait for response fromimporters for next 30 days andthereafter, "I will restrict theimport of any product whichgoes in the others category".

He said that importers willhave to approach the ministryto take a special licence for thatimport without which "youcannot import any product inthe others category".

He said this at the CII'sNational Standards Conclave.

"Today, I would like togive a final announcement thatI appeal to everybody who isimporting any product or ser-vices into the country, pleasecategorise your product into arespective HSN code underwhich it falls," he said.

Goyal asked the importersto approach their nearestDGFT (Directorate General ofForeign Trade) immediately.

"We will start the process tocreate a separate HSN code ifit is not fitting into any exist-ing code or amend the existingcode...

Very soon, I shall be com-ing out with serious conse-quences. The consequencescould be a higher duty onproducts which come underothers category," he added. ����� �8��289"*

In its endeavour to attractIndian tourist inflow,

Singapore's One Faber Grouphas initiated talks with banks,credit card firms and airlines tooffer lucrative deals. The grouphas appointed ISA Tourism asits India market representativetasked with increasing itstourist volume.

One Faber Group seniorexecutive Patrick Lee said thatIndia figures among the topthree markets for Singapore. Hesaid following the shutdown ofJet Airways, traffic on theIndia-Singapore route had seensome impact, but this drop was being fast com-pensated by new flightslaunched by IndiGo, GoAirand Vistara.

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India's exports dropped 1.8per cent to USD 27.36 billion

in December 2019, the fifthstraight month of contraction,on account of a significant fallin shipments of plastic, gemsand jewellery, leather productsand chemicals.

Imports too fell for the sev-enth consecutive months,down 8.83 per cent at USD38.61 billion in December 2019-- helping narrow the tradedeficit to USD 11.25 billion,showed the government datareleased on Wednesday.

Gold imports shrunk byabout 4 per cent to USD 2.46billion during the month underreview.

The trade deficit was USD14.49 billion in December2018.

Of the 30 key sectors, asmany as 18 segments showednegative growth in exportsduring the month.

Shipments of plastic, gemsand jewellery, leather products,chemicals, carpet, petroleumand engineering goods con-tracted by 18.14 per cent, 7.55per cent, 5.26 per cent, 4.5 percent, 4 per cent, 3.6 per cent,0.57 per cent, respectively inDecember 2019.

The country's outboundshipments have remained sub-dued so far this year. It mayhave a bearing on the overalleconomic growth, which fell to

over six-year low of 5 per centin the first quarter of the cur-rent fiscal.

Industrial output declineddue to poor performance bymanufacturing, power genera-tion and mining sectors.

The outbound shipmentscontracted by 0.34 per cent inNovember last year and 1.11per cent in October.

In December last year, oilimports declined by 0.83 percent to USD 10.69, and non-oilimports fell by 11.56 per centto USD 27.92 billion.

Cumulatively, duringApril-December 2019, exportswere down 1.96 per cent toUSD 239.29 billion whileimports contracted by 8.9 percent to USD 357.39 billion.

Trade deficit during theperiod narrowed to USD118.10 billion as against USD148.23 billion in April-December 2018-19.

Meanwhile, an RBI releaseshowed that services export forNovember 2019 stood at aboutUSD 18 billion while importswere at USD 11.5 billion.

Commenting on the fig-ures, Apparel Export

Promotion Council of India(AEPC) Chairman A Sakthivelsaid the government supportwill help the industry to furtherpush the exports.

"Rebate of State andCentral Taxes and LeviesScheme (RoSCTL) andMerchandise Export fromIndia scheme will five a muchneeded support to apparelsand made ups sector," he said.

Federation of IndianExport Organisations (FIEO)President Sharad Kumar Sarafsaid that global and domesticfactors have again led to declinein exports.

The currency volatilitybesides fluctuation in com-modities prices including thatof crude have led to thedecrease in exports of petrole-um, which is a major con-stituent of exports.

"Domestic issues includinguncertainty over MEIS was amajor cause of concern asexporters' claim for over fivemonths are still pending, whichhas completely wiped out theirliquidity and has kept them indoldrums with regard to final-ising new contracts," Saraf said.

� �� �8��289"*

The CompetitionCommission of India has

ordered a probe against AsianPaints for allegedly hinderingthe entry of JSW Paints byvirtue of its dominance in themarket for manufacture andsale of decorative paints.

The order came after JSWPaints filed a complaint alleg-ing that Asian Paints threat-ened various dealers inKarnataka, Telangana andTamil Nadu from dealing withJSW Paints.

"The Commission is of theview that evidence provided byJSW Paints is prima-facie suf-ficient to indicate that AsianPaints has denied access to thedistribution channels in the rel-evant market to JSW Paints bythreatening and coercing suchdealers through variousmeans," the fair trade regulatorsaid.

It added that Asian Paints,"prima-facie", appears to be incontravention of provisions ofthe Competition Act.

Commenting on theCompetition Commission'sorder, Asian Paints in a regu-latory filing to the exchangessaid, "The company is currentlyexamining the order and willtake appropriate legal recourseand will extend full cooperation

to CCI in the matter."JSW Paints, in its com-

plaint, alleged that the dealersfaced punitive action at thehands of Asian Paints if theycontinued to deal with JSWPaints. It was also alleged thatAsian Paints threatened thedealers to discontinue theirsupplies, and disallowed dis-cretionary discounts, amongothers.

These restraints appear tobe in the nature of exclusivesupply agreement and refusal todeal, JSW Paints alleged.

Besides, JSW Paints statedthat Asian Paints has alwaysmaintained the highest marketshare and there have been nonew players in the relevantmarket in the past 10 years.

The regulator noted thatdenial of market access is a"severe form of abuse of dom-inant position".

"In the facts of the presentcase, the Commission notes

that the alleged conduct ofAsian Paints of threateningand pressurising dealers ashighlighted by JSW Paintsprima-facie brings out thatAsian Paints has attempted toprevent JSW Paints in estab-lishing a presence in the rele-vant market," CCI said.

It also said "the allegedrestrictions on dealers not todeal with JSW Paints or anyother company manufacturingpaints can create barriers forsuppliers of paints, who com-pete with these suppliersbesides not allowing the ben-efit of better prices to the con-sumers."

Accordingly, theCompetition Commission ofIndia (CCI) in its order passedon Wednesday directed thedirector general "to completethe investigation and submitthe investigation report with-in a period of 60 days from thereceipt of this order".

� �� �8��289"*

Google has acquiredAppSheet, a no-code appli-

cation development platform,for an undisclosed amount.

With this acquisition, cus-tomers will be able to develop rich-er applications at scale that lever-age not only Google Sheets andForms which are already popular

with customers, but other topGoogle technologies like Android,Maps and Google Analytics,Google said in a blogpost.

"This acquisition helpsenterprises empower millionsof citizen developers to moreeasily create and extend appli-cations without the need forprofessional coding skills," itadded.

� �� �8��289"*

Markets regulator Sebi hasrejected Axis Bank's plea

to allow the lender to invoke thepledge on shares in the KarvyStock Broking Ltd (KSBL) mat-ter. Axis Bank, later in a state-ment, said it has filed an appealbefore the Securities AppellateTribunal (SAT) against theorder passed by Sebi.

"The SAT has today(Wednesday) granted interimrelief to Axis Bank by directingstatus quo to be maintained onthe Sebi order till further hear-ing of the matter," the bank'sspokesperson said.

The Sebi order comes afterthe SAT on December 20 askedSebi to pass an order by January15, 2020 in the case. The tri-bunal had modified its earlierdirective passed on December17, wherein it had asked themarkets watchdog to pass anorder within 15 days in the case.

Axis Bank had moved SATseeking the shares pledged byKSBL to the lender beunfrozen, so that it can invokethe pledges. The move hadcome following a Sebi directiveto the National Securities

Depository Ltd (NSDL) inNovember that prevented AxisBank from accessing the secu-rities pledged with the lenderby KSBL. KSBL owed Rs 81crore to the bank which wasgiven in the form of overdraftagainst shares.

As per the data provided byNSE, securities pledged byKSBL in favour of Axis Bankbelonged to its fully paid as wellas partly or unpaid clients.The value of securities belong-ing to fully paid client is Rs171.74 crore and the value ofsecurities of other than fullypaid clients is Rs 13.69 crore.

Regarding pledging ofsecurities of fully paid clients,Sebi said a stock broker has noauthority to pledge the securi-ties of its fully paid clients. If abroker pledges securities of itsfully paid clients, it amounts tomisappropriation of clients'securities.

"Even if securities belong-ing to fully paid clients arepledged by the stock broker,such pledge does not pass anytitle to the pledgee, as thestock broker in such case him-self/itself does not possess anytitle/right over such securities.

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The world's two dominanteconomic powers, the

United States and China, arepoised to sign a trade truce onWednesday, letting businessesaround the globe breathe a sighof relief. After a nearly two-yearbattle, the signing could giveUS President Donald Trump anelection-year boost as well.Still, tariffs on hundreds of bil-lions of dollars in importsremain in place, leaving manyAmericans to foot the bill.

The "phase one" agree-ment -- which includes pledgesfrom China to beef up pur-chases of American crops andother exports -- also comes justas Trump faces an impeach-ment trial in the US Senate, giv-ing him a victory to trumpet atleast in the short term.

The easing of US-Chinatrade frictions has boosted stockmarkets worldwide in recentweeks, as it takes the threat ofnew tariffs off the table for now.And Treasury Secretary StevenMnuchin said Trump's negoti-ating stance led to a "fullyenforceable deal" which couldbring additional tariffs.

If China fails to abide bythe agreement, "the presidenthas the ability to put on addi-tional tariffs," Mnuchin said onCNBC Wednesday as part of amedia blitz promoting the newpact. However, the most diffi-cult issues remain to be dealtwith in "phase two" negotia-tions, including massive subsi-dies for state industry andforced technology transfer.

� �� �8��289"*

Bharti Airtel has raised USD3 billion through QIP and

FCCB route, completing a mas-sive fund raising exercise forthe firm, which has to pay bil-lions of dollars in statutorydues. Post the $2 billionQualified InstitutionalPlacement (QIP) issue, theholding of promoter and pro-moter group will come down to58.98 per cent as against 62.70per cent, Bharti Airtel said ina statement.

"The company...Will issue32,35,95,505 equity shares offace value of �5 per equity shareat a price of �445 which impliesa discount of 1.57 per cent onthe SEBI (Securities andExchange Board of India) deter-mined floor price of �452.09per equity share," the statementsaid. The offer saw participationby marquee global and Indianinvestors, it added.

The transaction is thelargest ever dual tranche equi-ty and FCCB offering in AsiaPacific, largest QIP ever by aprivate sector issuer in India,and largest FCCB offering froman India issuer in the last 12years, the company added.

� �� �8��289"*

Highways sector allocationis expected to swell by

about �10,000 crore in theBudget for the next fiscal, a source said onWednesday.

India has an ambitioushighways building programmeand under Bharatmala, theRoad Transport and HighwaysMinistry has identified stretch-es for development of about26,200 km length of econom-ic corridors, 8,000 km of intercorridors, 7,500 km of feederroutes, 5,300 km border andinternational connectivityroads, 4,100 km coastal andport connectivity roads and1,900 km expressways in nearfuture.

"We expect the budgetaryallocation for the highwayssector to increase by �8,000-10,000 crore," the source said.

����� �8��:��/

Wall Street stocks edgedhigher early Wednesday

ahead of the signing of the US-China trade accord and asmarkets digested mixed earn-ings reports.

Investors have welcomedthe trade deal as a sign of mel-lowing tensions between thetwo economic superpowers,but some analysts noteinvestors have largely priced inthe positive news, which couldlimit further gains.

About 15 minutes intotrading, the Dow JonesIndustrial Average was up 0.2per cent at 29,000.03, above itsall-time closing high.

The broad-based S&P 500also added 0.2 per cent to3,289.44, as did the tech-richNasdaq Composite Index,which stood at 9,271.71.

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Tehran (Iran): Iran's presidentwarned on Wednesday thatEuropean soldiers in the Mideast"could be in danger" after threenations challenged Tehran overbreaking the limits of its nucleardeal.

Tehran's top diplomatmeanwhile acknowledged thatIranians "were lied to" for daysfollowing the Islamic Republic'saccidental shootdown of aUkrainian jetliner that killed 176people.

President Hassan Rouhani'sremarks in a televised Cabinetmeeting represent the first directthreat he's made to Europe astensions remain high betweenTehran and Washington overPresident Donald Trump with-drawing the US from the deal inMay 2018.

Iranian Foreign MinisterMohammad Javad Zarif 'sadmission, which came at a

summit in New Delhi onWednesday, represents the firsttime an Iranian official referredto earlier claims from Tehranthat a technical malfunctiondowned the UkraineInternational Airlines flight as alie.

The shootdown — and sub-sequent days of denials that amissile had downed it —sparked days of angry protests inthe country.

The current tensionsbetween Iran and the USreached fever-pitch two weeksago with the American dronestrike in Baghdad that killed thepowerful Revolutionary GuardGeneral Qassem Soleimani.

The general had led Iranianproxy forces abroad, includingthose blame for deadly roadsidebomb attacks on US troops inIraq.

Iran retaliated with a ballis-

tic missile strike targeting Iraqimilitary bases housing US forcesearly last Wednesday, just beforean anti-aircraft battery shotdown the Ukrainian airlinertaking off from Tehran's ImamKhomeini International Airport.

Amid all of this, Britain,France and Germanylaunched the so-called "dis-pute mechanism" pertainingto Iran's 2015 nuclear dealwith world powers.

Speaking before his Cabinet,Rouhani showed a rarely seenlevel of anger in his wide-rang-ing remarks Wednesday.

"Today, the American sol-dier is in danger, tomorrow theEuropean soldier could be indanger," Rouhani said.

"We want you to leave thisregion but not with war. Wewant you to go wisely. It is toyour own benefit." Rouhani didnot elaborate. AP

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Tehran: Iran's President onWednesday warning thatEuropean soldiers deployed inthe Mideast “may be in danger”after Britain, France andGermany challenged Tehranover breaking limits of its 2015nuclear deal.

President Hassan Rouhanimade the comment during atelevised Cabinet meeting.

It comes after the nationsstarted a dispute process overIran breaking limits from theaccord.

It marks the first time

Rouhani has threatened Europeamid tensions with the US,which unilaterally withdrewfrom the deal in May 2018under President DonaldTrump. AP

3����$��.(�B������������������������������������� Tehran: President Hassan

Rouhani appealed onWednesday for "unity" andflagged the need for radicalchanges to the way Iran is run,after a wave of angry protestsover the accidental downing ofa Ukrainian airliner.

The Kiev-bound Boeing737 was shot down last week ina catastrophic error shortly aftertakeoff from Tehran, killing all176 passengers and crew onboard. Iran had for days deniedclaims based on US intelligencethat the plane had been downedby a missile, triggering fourdays of demonstrations as wellas international calls for a fulland transparent investigation.

One week on from the dis-aster, Rouhani called for "nation-al unity" in an address broadcastlive on state television.

"If there was a delay" by thearmed forces to release infor-mation about the air disaster, "letthem apologise," he said.

Rouhani also called for a fullexplanation of what happened inthe air disaster, which camehours after Iran's military fireda wave of missiles at US troopsstationed in Iraq. The missileattack was launched in retalia-tion for a US drone that killedIran's most prominent general,Qasem Soleimani, who headedthe Revolutionary Guards' for-eign operations arm. AFP

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Kiev: Ukraine has asked Iran tohand over the black box flightrecorders of a Ukrainian pas-senger plane that crashed afterbeing hit by an Iranian missile,prosecutors said onWednesday.

The Office of the GeneralProsecutor said it it wouldtake "all measures" to proper-ly decode the black boxes and"preserve evidence in the inves-tigation of the accident".

The Ukraine InternationalAirlines Boeing 737, whichhad been bound for Kiev,slammed into a field shortlyafter taking off from Tehran lastWednesday, killing all 176 peo-ple on board.

The downing of the planecame hours after Tehran hadlaunched a barrage of missilesat bases housing Americantroops in Iraq, in retaliation forthe killing of commanderQasem Soleimani in a US strike.

Iran initially deniedWestern claims that the airlin-er had been downed by a mis-sile but eventually concededthat the plane had been acci-dentally shot down.

The Ukrainian prosecu-tor's office said the country hadsent "a request for legal assis-tance linked to the handover tothe Ukrainian law enforce-ment agencies of the UkraineInternational Airlines Boeing737 flight recorders". AFP

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Tehran: Iranian state-run media say the Britishambassador to Iran has left the country after beingarrested and briefly detained.

The state-run IRNA news agency saysRobert Macaire left after being given priornotice. The report did not elaborate.

Macaire had been held after attending a can-dlelight vigil Saturday in Tehran over Iran shoot-ing down a Ukrainian jetliner, killing 176 peo-ple.

The vigil quickly turned into an anti-gov-ernment protests and Macaire left shortly after,only to be arrested by police.

Iran's president warned Wednesday thatEuropean soldiers in the Mideast “could be indanger” after three nations challenged Tehran overbreaking the limits of its nuclear deal. AP

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Taipei: China must rethink itshardline stance towards Taiwan,President Tsai Ing-wen said onWednesday, as she warned theisland was already independentand that any invasion would be"very costly" for Beijing.

Tsai won a second term overthe weekend with a record 8.2million votes, an outcome thatwas seen as a forceful rebuke ofChina's ongoing campaign toisolate the self-ruled island.

China's leadership hadmade no secret of its desire to seeTsai turfed out because she andher party refuse to acknowledgetheir view that the island is partof a "one China".

Beijing regards Taiwan as itsterritory and has vowed to oneday seize it, by force if necessary— especially if it declares inde-pendence.

But in her first interviewsince Saturday's re-election, Tsaitold the BBC there was no needto formally announce indepen-

dence because the island alreadyruns itself.

"We don't have a need todeclare ourselves an indepen-dent state," she said in the inter-view, which aired onWednesday.

"We are an independentcountry already and we callourselves the Republic of China,Taiwan." Modern Taiwan hasbeen run separately from themainland for the last 70 years.

For decades, it was a dicta-torship under Chiang Kai-shek'snationalists following their 1949defeat to the communists inChina's civil war.

But since the 1980s, it hasmorphed into one of Asia'smost progressive democracies,although it is only diplomaticallyrecognised by a dwindling hand-ful of countries. Polls showgrowing numbers of Taiwanesereject the idea that the islandshould be part of the Chinesemainland. AFP

4��#���@� ���������������?�4���#��������� Washington: The House of

Representatives is expected to trans-mit articles of impeachment againstDonald Trump to the Senate onWednesday, setting the stage for a trialnext week that will decide whether the45th US president is forced fromoffice.

After a weeks-long standoff overrules and witnesses, House SpeakerNancy Pelosi and Senate MajorityLeader Mitch McConnell announcedTuesday that what will be only thethird presidential impeachment trialwas now ready to move forward.

Pelosi is expected to sign the arti-cles of impeachment at around 5:00pm (2200 GMT) before they are thenceremoniously transferred from theHouse and travel through the US capi-tol's main hallways before beingdelivered to the Secretary of theSenate.

That ceremony will follow anannouncement by Pelosi on whichDemocratic lawmakers will lead theprosecution case against Trump in theSenate, expected to begin nextTuesday.

Trump was impeached in

December by the Democrat-con-trolled House on charges of abuse ofpower and obstruction of Congress.

But his conviction in the Senateis highly unlikely as the president'sRepublican Party has a 53-47 major-ity. A two-thirds majority to approvehis guilt is needed if he is to beremoved from office at the end of atrial expected to last two weeks.Although the trial itself is unlikely tostart until next week, Supreme CourtChief Justice John Roberts could besworn in to preside over the processon either Thursday or Friday. AFP

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Washington: US PresidentDonald Trump's formernational security advisorMichael Flynn asked a judge on

Tuesday for permission towithdraw his guilty plea in theRussia election interferenceprobe.

In a big reversal, Flynn'slawyers argued that prosecutorsviolated a plea agreement thathe struck with them becausethey demanded he give falsetestimony.

Flynn, a retired US Armylieutenant general, lasted only22 days in the job in the earlydays of the Trump's adminis-tration.

He was being investigatedfor his contacts with Russianswhen he was removed andeventually pleaded guilty tolying to the FBI. AFP

�����,������������ ��������������������������'�������� � Washington: House Democrats have released

a trove of documents they obtained from LevParnas, a close associate of President DonaldTrump's personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani,including a handwritten note that mentionsasking Ukraine's president to investigate “theBiden case.”

The documents, obtained as part of theimpeachment investigation, show Parnas com-municating with Giuliani before the removalof Marie Yovanovitch, who was the U.S.Ambassador to Ukraine.

A man named Robert F. Hyde disparagedYovanovitch in messages to Parnas and gavehim updates on her location and cell phoneuse, raising questions about possible surveil-lance.

Democrats released the files Tuesday asthey prepared to send articles of impeachmentto the Senate for Trump's trial. The documentsadd new context to their charges that Trumppressured Ukraine to investigate Democrats ashe withheld military aid. AP

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Nigel Farage, a prominentBrexiteer and leader of

the Brexit Party, on Wednesdayannounced that his 'LeaveMeans Leave' campaign groupwill host a celebration atParliament Square in Londonto mark Britain's exit from theEuropean Union (EU) onJanuary 31.

Farage said the group is planning a 100,000 poundsparty on Brexit Day and calledon the British public to sign upto be a part of the celebrations.

“Leave Means Leave havebeen given approval to hold anevent in Parliament Square on31st January,” he said in aTwitter statement.

“Great news! It is a bigmoment in the history of thisnation to celebrate. Registernow,” he said.

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Moscow: The Tass news agency reports thatRussian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedevsubmitted his resignation to President VladimirPutin on Wednesday.

Russian news agencies said Putin thankedMedvedev for his service but noted that theprime minister's Cabinet failed to fulfill all theobjectives set for it. Russian media said Putinplans to name Medvedev as deputy of the pres-idential Security Council. Medvedev, a longtimeclose associate of Putin's, has served as Russia'sPM since 2012. He spent four years before thatas president in 2008-2012. Putin asked the mem-ber's of Medvedev's Cabinet to keep workinguntil a new Cabinet is formed. Medvedev's res-ignation followed Putin's annual state of thenation address earlier Wednesday. During hisspeech, the Russian leader proposed amendingthe constitution to increase the powers of PMsand Cabinet members. AP

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World champion P V Sindhuadvanced to the second round

of the Indonesia Master with a hard-earned victory over Japan’s Aya Ohoribut defending champion SainaNehwal suffered a shock exit from theSuper 500 tournament, here onWednesday.

It was also curtains for worldchampionships Bronze medallist BSai Praneeth, Kidambi Srikanth andSourabh Verma.

The fifth seed Sindhu clawedback from a game down to notch upa 14-21, 21-15, 21-11 victory overOhori.

Sindhu has never lost to theworld No.20 Japanese in their 10meetings so far. Ohori had lost to theIndian last week in the second roundof the Malaysia Masters.

The 24-year-old will take onJapan’s Sayaka Takahashi, who defeat-ed Saina, in the second round.

Saina, who won this tournamentlast year before going through a leanpatch, lost 21-19, 13-21, 5-21 toTakahashi in a gruelling 50-minutecontest.

The London Olympics Bronzemedallist had reached the quarterfi-nals of the Malaysia Masters last week.

World No.12 Srikanth went downto local favourite Shesar HirenRhustavito 21-18, 12-21, 14-21 in amatch that lasted one hour and threeminutes.

This was Srikanth’s second con-secutive opening-round defeat thisseason. He had earlier also made afirst-round exit from the Malaysia

Masters.Praneeth, who like Srikanth had

also been ousted in the openinground of the Malaysia Masters, lostto the eighth seeded Chinese Shi YuQi 21-16, 18-21, 10-21. Sourabh lost21-17, 15-21, 10-21 to China’s Lu

Guang Zu.In the mixed doubles, Pranaav

Jerry Chopra and Sikki Reddy wentdown in straight games to the SouthKorean combination of Ko SungHyun and Eom Hye Won 8-21, 14-21.

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Badminton world number one KentoMomota arrived in Japan on

Wednesday after being released froma Malaysian hospital following a carcrash that killed his driver and left himwith minor injuries.

The 25-year-old Japanese, whowalked past waiting journalists with-out making a statement, faces twomonths out after suffering cuts to hisface and multiple bruises when thevehicle carrying him to Kuala LumpurInternational Airport crashed in theearly hours of Monday.

Earlier in the day, he was dis-charged from hospital in Malaysia, andboarded a plane wearing a dark cap andface mask.

An assistant coach, physiotherapist,and badminton official also sufferedminor injuries in the highway crash,seen as a blow to Momota’s prepara-tions for this year’s Tokyo Olympicswhere he will attempt to win gold onhome soil to complete a full set of majortitles.

The accident occurred just hoursafter he began his 2020 season in styleon Sunday with victory over Denmark'sViktor Axelsen in Kuala Lumpur.Momota had been in Putrajaya publichospital outside the capital KualaLumpur since Monday.

He will now aim to return to actionat the All England Championships onMarch 11, the secretary general ofJapan’s Badminton Association KinjiZeniya told AFP on Tuesday.

Momota, who won a record 11titles last year, had “extraordinaryenthusiasm towards the Olympics”this year in Tokyo, added Zeniya, buturged the gold medal favourite to taketime to recuperate fully.

“I hope he will do his best with-out pushing and rushing himself toohard and without being impatient,”said Zeniya.

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Quique Setien is chargedwith leading Barcelona to

glory on three fronts this seasonafter being appointed as ErnestoValverde’s successor.

Barca are top of La Liga andinto the Champions League last16, while they begin their tilt atthe Copa del Rey against Ibizanext week.

However, club presidentJosep Maria Bartomeu said onTuesday that Setien had beenbrought in to give the team amid-season boost and there areseveral improvements to bemade.

Here, AFP Sport looks atsome of the challenges facing thenew Camp Nou coach.

��������������Barcelona have already con-

ceded 23 league goals, which isthe same record as RealValladolid in 14th and almosttwice as many as both Real andAtletico Madrid.

Their problem has beenless about individual mis-takes—although therehave been a few of those —as a vulnerability to paceon the counter-attack.

Teams have had successhitting Barca on the breakand Sergio Busquets has toooften been exposed in frontof the back four.

With Gerard Pique turn-ing 33 next month and SamuelUmtiti still struggling for fitness,there may be a need for signingsin the summer.

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After joining for 120 million

euros ($135 million) fromAtletico Madrid last summer,expectations for Griezmannwere high, especially after thefailed pursuit of Neymar.

But the Frenchman hasshown only glimpses of his bestso far in a Barca shirt, in partbecause he is yet to be playedconsistently in his favouriteposition.

To fit Lionel Messi and LuisSuarez into the front three,Valverde deployed Griezmannon the left and in that way, Setienmay have had the problemsolved for him.

Suarez’s four-month absencewith a knee injury could meanGriezmann finally gets his wishto play down the middle.

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Valverde and his teamnever seemed fully to recoverfrom dramatic ChampionsLeague collapses against Romaand Liverpool in the last twoseasons.

At Anfield, Barcelona’splayers looked paralysed by thefear of a repeat of what hadhappened the year before andPique admitted the memoriesquickly came rushing back.

Those weaknesses, includ-ing a susceptibility to conced-ing in streaks and a vulnerabil-ity under pressure, have oftenresurfaced this season.

In November, Barcashipped three goals in sevensecond-half minutes to lose toLevante while the two lategoals conceded against Atleticolast Thursday proved the finalstraw for Valverde.

Setien will have to finallycure his players of their men-

tal block.

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Setien is a purist and hisappointment should come as arelief to those fans, and perhapsplayers, who had grown tired ofstodgy performances underValverde.

Nostalgia for the free-flow-ing football played by PepGuardiola’s crop weighs heavy.

Yet the likes of Messi,Griezmann, OusmaneDembele, Frenkie de Jong,Arthur Melo and Jordi Albamean there is still no shortageof creative talent in the squadand Setien should enjoy match-ing them with his own attack-ing beliefs.

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Setien has a reputation forgiving youngsters an opportu-nity and he will be reunitedwith Junior Firpo, whom Barcabought after Setien helped himflourish at Betis.

But Firpo struggled foropportunities under Valverde,who seemed reluctant to givesome of La Masia’s talents anyconsistent minutes in the firstteam.

Ansu Fati has faded fromview after exploding onto thescene at the start of the seasonwhile Riqui Puig’s progress hasstalled and Carles Alena andJuan Miranda have been sentout on loan.

Making the first team atBarcelona is a formidable taskbut the potential would appearto be there in the academy, ifSetien is brave enough to findit.

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Romelu Lukaku scored afterjust 21 seconds as he

bagged a brace in a 4-1 thump-ing of Cagliari that fired InterMilan into the last eight of theItalian Cup, while Lazio andNapoli are set for a quarter-final clash after easing past sec-ond-tier opposition.

Belgian Lukaku has lookeda player reborn since moving toItaly and his double took hishot streak to six goals in his lastfour appearances in all compe-titions, with his Serie A tallystanding at 14 in 19 games.

The 26-year-old lashedhome his opener with thematch barely underway andthen, after Borja Valero hadmade it 2-0 in the 22 minute,headed home his side's thirdfrom Nicolo Barella’s cornerjust three minutes after thebreak as Antonio Conte's sideran riot at the San Siro.

Their were nerves amongthe home fans when ChristianOliva pulled one back for theSardinians in the 73rd minutewith a fierce drive, but AndreaRanocchia headed in CristianoBiraghi’s corner to seal thewin.

The victory helped Interbounce back after lettingJuventus take top spot in SerieA with a 1-1 home draw withAtalanta at the weekend, andthe return of Alexis Sanchezafter an injury lay-off will alsoboost coach Conte.

Inter will face eitherAtalanta or Fiorentina, whoface off on Wednesday after-noon, in the next round.

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quarters by Lazio and Napoli,who both cruised through withcomfortable wins over second-tier sides Cremonese andPerugia to set up a mouth-watering last eight tie witheach other.

Holders Lazio, who are ona club-record run of 10 straight

wins in Serie A and well in thetitle discussion, made shortwork of Cremonese in theireasy 4-0 victory in Rome.

The hosts were ahead inless than 10 minutes in front ofa sparse crowd at the StadioOlimpico thanks to Patric, whotapped home the opener afterCremonese stopper MichaelAgazzi palmed the ball to himin the box, and the tie was doneand dusted 16 minutes laterwhen Marco Parolo bundledhome the second from a Jonycross.

Simone Inzaghi made eightchanges from the side thatbeat Napoli 1-0 at the weekendbut kept Saturday's goalscorerCiro Immobile, who took histally to 23 in all competitionsfrom the penalty spot 12 min-utes after the break.

The impressive Jony turnedprovider again for the goalthat rounded off the scoring,his fizzing cross from a set-piece being met with Bastos'bullet header in the finalminute.

Troubled Napoli mean-while are languishing in 11th inSerie A after winning just oneleague game since mid-October but eased into thequarters with a 2-0 win overPerugia thanks to two LorenzoInsigne penalties.

Insigne struck the openinggoal from the spot on 26 min-utes after Mexico's HirvingLozano went down inside thearea under a challenge fromMardochee Nzita.

The Italy internationaladded a second when PietroIemmello handled at a corner,with a penalty awarded follow-ing a VAR review.

Napoli goalkeeper DavidOspina, whose blunder provedcostly in their league loss atLazio, then saved an Iemmellopenalty before half-time follow-ing another VAR intervention.

Juventus host Udinese andAC Milan take on SPAL onWednesday, and Roma travel toParma on Thursday.

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Feliciano Lopez, playing his second match ofthe day, knocked top seed and world num-

ber 12 Fabio Fognini out of the ATP AucklandClassic on Wednesday to advance to the quar-ter-finals.

Third-seed Karen Khachanov was also elim-inated, losing to Australian John Millmanwhile the second and fourth seeds, DenisShapovalov and John Isner, went through to thefinal eight.

The 38-year-old Lopez, the oldest player inthe tournament and one of several players forcedto double up following the rain disruption theprevious day, played three sets in each match andspent four hours 25 minutes on court.

He began the day beating Pablo Andujar 3-

6, 7-6 (7/4), 6-4 and after a three-hour rest, hecame from behind to beat Fognini 3-6, 6-4, 6-3.

The 61st ranked Lopez believes the raindelay did him a favour.

Lopez will face Poland’s Hubert Hurkacz inthe quarter-finals after the sixth-seed put awayMikael Ymer of Sweden 6-2, 7-6 (7/2).

While Lopez found two matches beneficial,two other players required to play twice lost inthe second round.

Italian Marco Cecchinato, who won athree-hour marathon against Leonardo Mayerin which the second set tie-break went to 20-18, was then beaten by Frenchman UgoHumbert 6-1, 6-4 Andreas Seppi of Italy beatseventh seed Adrian Mannarino (FRA x7) inthree sets before going down to Kyle Edmund6-3, 7-6 (7/4).

Edmund will play two-time Aucklandchampion Isner in the quarter-finals afterIsner, who had a first-round bye, opened hiscampaign with a three-set win over defendingtitleholder Tennys Sandgren.

Tournament fourth-seed Isner won 7-6(7/3), 6-7 (1/7), 6-3, pulling away in the decid-ing set with the first service break of the matchwhen Sandgren faltered at 2-2.

Until then, the pair had only been separat-ed by tie breaks with Isner taking their previ-ous encounter in Stockholm two years ago inthree tie-break sets.

In an all-Canada affair, Shapovalov beatVasek Pospisil 6-4, 7-6 (7/2) while Millmandropped the first set against Khachanov beforerecovering to win 4-6, 6-3, 6-3.

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Angelique Kerber’s prepara-tions for the opening Grand

Slam of the year were dealt ablow Wednesday when she wasforced to retire from theAdelaide International with backpain.

The German, a formerworld number one who won theAustralian Open in 2016, pulledout when behind 6-3, 2-0 in hersecond-round clash withUkraine’s Dayana Yastremska.

The ninth seed began show-ing serious signs of the backproblem early in the second setthen stopped after two points inthe third game on her own serve,

calling for the trainer.A medical evaluation on

court ended with the 31-year-oldworld number 18 calling it quitsagainst her teenaged opponent.

Yastremska kept calm dur-ing the delay, reading what shecalled “secret” notes.

“I didn’t want to lose focus,”said the world number 24, whohas won three titles over the pasttwo seasons.

On other courts, CroatDonna Vekic rallied past MariaSakkari of Greece 2-6, 7-5, 6-1,winning in two hours and over-coming six aces while breakingfour times. She moved into aquarter-final against Yastremska.

In the men’s draw, RussianAndrey Rublev, who the QatarOpen at the weekend, began hisAustralian adventure by beatingAmerican Sam Querrey 6-3, 6-3 to move into a last eight clashagainst Britain’s Dan Evans.

Rublev, who missed sixweeks in 2019 with a wristinjury, improved to a perfect 5-0 for the season.

The Russian did not let adelayed flight from Doha disrupthis on-site training in Adelaide,with the third seed ready to goagainst Querrey.

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Divij Sharan and his partnerArtem Sitak shocked top

seeds John Peers and MichaelVenus in two close sets to moveto the quarterfinals of the ATPASB Classic, here onWednesday.

The Indo-Kiwi pair edgedout the Australian-Kiwi pair 7-6 (4) 7-6(3) in the openinground of the USD 610,010 hardcourt tournament, the last inrun up to the Australian Open,season’s first Grand Slam.

Left-handed Sharan andSitak next face Sander Gilleand Joran Vliegen, who got awalk over from Leonardo Mayerand Joao Sousa.

Also moving to the last-eight stage were third seedsRohan Bopanna from India andFinland's Henri Kontinen, whobeat wild card entrantsCameron Norrie and RhettPurcell 6-4, 6-2.

They are now up againstLuke Bambridge and BenMcLachlan.

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Tottenham edged into the FACup fourth round as

Giovani Lo Celso bagged a raregoal in their 2-1 win overMiddlesbrough, while much-maligned Newcastle strikerJoelinton scored for the firsttime since August in a victoryagainst Rochdale on Tuesday.

Jose Mourinho’s side almostkilled off second-tierMiddlesbrough within the first15 minutes of the third roundreplay at the TottenhamHotspur Stadium.

Lo Celso, on loan from RealBetis, got Tottenham up andrunning with only his secondgoal of the season and his firstsince a Champions Leaguestrike against Red Star Belgradein November.

It was an encouragingmoment for the Argentine mid-fielder, who has endured a dif-ficult season in north London.

Tottenham needed a LucasMoura equaliser at theRiverside Stadium to avoid a

shock exit in the 1-1 draw atMiddlesbrough earlier thismonth.

But Mourinho still madefive changes from last weekend’sdefeat against Liverpool, withChristian Eriksen, linked witha January move to Inter Milan,starting despite the Dane’s formbeing affected by the transfertalk.

A gift from Middlesbroughkeeper Tomas Mejias helpedTottenham open the scoring inthe second minute.

Mejias tried to play a quickball out and ended up passingstraight to Lo Celso, who ranacross the area before firing intothe bottom corner.

Tottenham’s second camewhen Argentina winger ErikLamela sliced through theMiddlesbrough defence beforeslotting home in the 15thminute.

Saville got one back forMiddlesbrough in the 83rdminute as Tottenham surviveda tense finale to earn a trip toSouthampton.

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For a wonderful morning,have a wonderful cup of tea.A perfect start for our day, wemust have a hot and fresh

cup of tea. We always give lots ofimportance to tea and in fact, wealso prefer it first to serve ourguests. A cup of tea is all what weneed to refresh our mood, get rideoff tensions and tiredness. We givelots of importance to tea in our dailylife. In fact, almost 80% people of theworld drinks tea. Whenever wework, we take break from time totime to have tea for relaxation. Teais an aromatic beverage. Most of usare addicted to this drinks. We haveit to relax, refresh, relieve, and acti-vate our body. Each of us has ourown purpose of having it.

For centuries, problems ofmankind have been solved over acup of tea. Whether they wereproblems between nations, amongstbusinesses, even in families, betweenhusbands and wives, tea has beenthe soothing balm that helped theirsolution. The simple act of pouringa cup of tea is, in itself, an ice-break-er; providing pleasurable anticipa-tion of the goodness that is to fol-low.

Research has found that theantioxidants in green and black teaare much greater than the levelsfound in fruits and vegetables. As ageneral rule, it is said that two cupsof tea are equivalent to five portionsof fruit or vegetables, in antioxidantcapacity.

Tea was originally a medicineand later grew into the popular bev-erage it is today. Its protectivehealth benefits cannot be stressedenough as modern man has also dis-covered its potency of antioxidants.The benefits of tea include reducingthe impact of stress, of protecting usfrom every chronic disease, fromAlzheimer’s Disease, Parkinson’sDisease, its ability to strengthen theimmune system, to fight cholesterol,and the naturally stimulating func-tion of L-Theanine – are essential fora 21st century lifestyle.

A cup of tea is very muchimportant in our daily life whetherto sip it or to serve our guests. Thereare many different ways to make teaand tea is promoted for having avariety of positive health benefits.There are varieties of tea like greentea, ginger tea, black tea, lemon tea,milk tea and much more. Each teahas its own benefits and tastes. Aperfect Tea Cup makes the teatastier. It is believed that whatserves best tastes best. Tea is impor-tant for refreshing mood or forrelaxation and for that, you canmake green tea, lemon tea or blacktea and can enjoy the tea in a ceram-ic tea cup.

Tea has Fluorides and tanninsthat drive the plaque away, havingginger tea may help you to get relieffrom sore throat. Having herbal teacan be very good to rid of the earlycold attack. Teas like Echinacea,peppermint and chamomile would

do wonders against the cold if youcombine all these together to makea brewing hot cup of tea. If taken 2to 4 times a day, it may just do thetrick. It also helps in reducing yourbad cholesterol. Enjoy the taste of teain a beautiful ceramic tea cup andeven serve your guests too. A teamust be always drink in a ceramicware as it is heat resistant and thiswill help you to enjoy the hot andfresh tea without burning your

hands and lip. A beautiful cupalways arise the interest of a personto sip the tea from it, and when youserve your guests into this, they notenjoy tea but also admires yourchoice and compliments for it.Ceramic tea cups are the best to sipand serve tea and even it is ideal forgifting purpose for special occasionslike Diwali, Holi, Navratra, Birthday,Anniversary, New Year, Christmasetc. Tea is important and the cup tooas a perfect Tea Cup makes the teatastier.

Inflammation has been linkedto everything from diabetes to cog-nitive decline. In fact, it has beenimplicated as the root of almost allchronic diseases. The antioxidantpolyphenols in tea are powerfulinflammation fighters. In fact, theEGCG in green tea is as much as 100times more potent than the antiox-idant power of vitamin C.

Research has shown that tea canbe beneficial for those with inflam-matory bowel disease as well asother inflammation-driven diseases.

Green tea may help reducecomplications from diabetes.Diabetes is a worldwide health con-cern, with significant risks of com-plications, early death, and poorerquality of life. Research shows teacan improve insulin sensitivity, pro-tect pancreatic cells from furtherdamage, and decrease inflammation,all benefiting those at risk for oralready diagnosed with diabetes.

Regular tea consumption may

lower the risk of getting Alzheimer'sdisease and other neurodegenerativediseases. While the exact causes ofAlzheimer's are still unclear andthere is no cure, research confirmsthat green and black tea drinkingimproves cognitive scores amongthose with dementia andAlzheimer's disease.

Additionally, it can boost mem-ory and increase attention span toprevent cognitive decline. The com-bination of caffeine and L-theaninein tea has been shown to improvereaction time, visual processing,memory, and concentration. It evenchanges the way your brain isorganised for more efficient infor-mation processing.

Not all drinks are good for youmouth (looking at you, sugarysodas and juices!). But teas can actu-ally improve oral health. Tea con-tains fluoride and can improve bac-terial populations in the mouth. Thisreduces the risk of periodontal dis-ease, cavities, and possibly even oralcancer. So even if you skimp onflossing here and there, you can stillfeel good about your oral health ifyou are sipping tea.

This one might surprise you.While it was previously thought thattea (and coffee) promoted dehydra-tion by acting like a diuretic andcausing the body to lose more fluid,recent research finds that up to sixto eight cups of tea a day is just ashydrating as the same amount ofwater.

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Upping its game from 15 last year,Netflix dominated the 2020Oscar nominations by snagging

24 total nods, the most of any other stu-dio. The Irishman led the way with 10nominations, while Marriage Story gotsix.

Then there were others as well TheTwo Popes, the documentary AmericanFactory and the animated series I LostMy Body which ensured that the Netflixjuggernaut beat its closest competitorSony, which earned 20 nominations intotal.

Netflix also beat Disney, whoseblockbuster hit Frozen II was not nom-inated in the animated category, whichshocked fans and critics alike.

The OTT has been upping its gameand spent a record $15 billion on orig-inal film and TV content in 2019. TheIrishman is the platform’s biggest bet,with reported production costs north of$160 million though it scored only onewin at this year’s Golden Globes despite17 nominations.

Another notable trend in the 2020Oscar nomination was the lack of diver-sity. Actor Issa Rae was ready with herquip, as if she had predicted the Oscarnominations. “Congratulations to thosemen,” she said dryly, as the best direc-tor nominees — yes, five men — wereannounced.

Rae’s expertly thrown commentechoed through social media asobservers took stock of what was, yetagain, a pretty bad day for diversity andinclusion in Hollywood. Not only werethere no female nominees in directingfor the 87th time in Oscar history — adirect snub to Greta Gerwig, director ofthe acclaimed Little Women, as well asseveral other worthy candidates. Therewas also only one person of colour,Cynthia Erivo, among the 20 actingnominees.

Those slights overshadowed thehappier news across all categories, arecord 62 women (about a third of nom-inees) made the cut. They also had peo-ple asking: Why is this happening again,when diversity has been on the frontburner for years now, and the academyhas taken steps to overhaul its over-whelmingly white, male membership?And what will it take to accomplish realchange? “So here we are again,” saidStacy L Smith, director of the USCAnnenberg Inclusion Initiative at theUniversity of Southern California, of thenominations. She said the results wereparticularly frustrating because 2019 wasa breakout year for female directors.“They were out in strong numbers. Thiswas the year of the highest percentageof female directors that we’ve seen. Andyet they’re not allowed to be lauded bythese cultural institutions for theirdirecting prowess,” she said.

In terms of race and ethnicity, therewas disappointment that only Erivo’snomination for Harriet prevented anentirely white slate in all four categories— a scenario that first happened in 2015,resulting in the #OscarsSoWhite hash-tag and again in 2016. The Academysought thereafter to diversify ranks.Since 2015, the group’s overall femalemembership has grown from 25 to 32per cent and overall membership of peo-ple of colour has doubled from eight to16 per cent.

Erivo, a double nominee for both,best actress and best original song, saidin an interview from Japan that shehoped this year would be a “steppingstone to opening the doors” to honour-ing the work of a more diverse group ofartists. She paid special tribute to “somuch good work specifically by women”like Gerwig and other female directorswho were overlooked.

Gil Robertson, president of theAfrican American Film CriticsAssociation, said he wished the actingnominations had been more diverse, buthe felt hopeful they were more of a blipthan a slide backwards. “I think we’re

making strides in the right direction,” hesaid.

Among the most glaring snubs wasthat of Jennifer Lopez, who had beenseen as a sure-shot nominee for a sup-porting actress role for playing a strip-per in Hustlers. In the lead actress cat-egory, Awkwafina, who a week ago wona Golden Globe, was denied a nod forher role in The Farewell. She would havebecome just the second Asian Americannominated for best actress (the first,1936 nominee Merle Oberon, hid herSouth Asian heritage). The omission wasa reflection of the difficulty AsianAmericans in Hollywood have longhad in cracking the acting categories inparticular.

“It’s been a long, slow battle,” saidChris Tashima, an actor-director and amember of the Academy Asians ActionCommittee, an informal group of Asianand Pacific Islander members of theAcademy. “We’ve been very muchabsent. We’ve been trying to createopportunities for years. But you can’teven get nominated if you don’t get theroles.” Tashima added, though, thatprogress is happening, albeit slowly —with television leading the way in termsof new opportunities. “It’s night and dayfrom five years ago,” he said.

Smith said: “Research globally sug-gests that when people think “manager,”they think male. We found the exactsame thing with directors...The research

is very clear. Women aren’t being con-sidered for top leadership positions, andwhen they are, they are often criticisedmore sharply. We’re seeing that playingout right now in the awards process.”

Coming to the less controversialones, there is Randy Newman who wontwo Oscars for best original song in thepast — If I Didn’t Have You fromMonsters, Inc and We Belong Togetherfrom Toy Story 3. It is a double nomi-nee this year. He’s up for best originalscore with Marriage Story and best orig-inal song with I Can’t Let You ThrowYourself Away from Toy Story 4, whichis also up for best animated feature film.

Frozen 2 didn’t make it in the ani-mated category, but the Lopez’s songfrom the film, Into the Unknown, is

nominated for best original song. Erivo follows in the footsteps of

Lady Gaga and Mary J Blige — starswho were nominated for both act-

ing and music trophies in the sameyear at the Academy Awards. Erivoshares her best original song nominationfor Stand Up from Harriet with JoshuahBrian Campbell and the bid brings hercloser to EGOT (Emmy, Grammy, Oscar,and Tony Awards) status since she’salready won an Emmy, Grammy andTony for her work in Broadway’s TheColor Purple.

However, Beyoncé’s Spirit from TheLion King didn’t roar loud enough. Thesong didn’t earn a nomination for bestoriginal song, though Randy Newman,Elton John and the husband-wife duoKristen Anderson-Lopez and RobertLopez have a shot at winning anotherOscar for songwriting.

The five nominees for best originalsong are Diane Warren, earning her 11thbid with no wins and Cynthia Erivo, whoalso picked up a nomination for bestactress for Harriet.

Warren could finally win an Oscarwith her 11th try: She’s nominated forI’m Standing with You from the Christiandrama Breakthrough. The song is per-formed by the film’s star, This Is Us actorChrissy Metz.

Nominees for best original scoreinclude Alexandre Desplat for LittleWomen, Thomas Newman for 1917,John Williams for Star Wars: The Riseof Skywalker and Hildur Guðnadóttir forJoker. If Guðnadóttir wins, she could thefirst woman to do so since Anne Dudleypicked up best original score for The FullMonty at the 1998 academy awards.

Apart from all this the nominationfor a Brazilian documentary about theimpeachment of then President DilmaRousseff has laid bare the polarisationof Latin America’s largest democracy. InThe Edge of Democracy, 36-year-oldfilmmaker Petra Costa uses her person-al story to argue that Brazil’s democra-cy is at risk after the abrupt end to thegovernment led by the leftist workers’party between 2003 and 2016.

Leftists argue the accusation of fis-cal manipulation of the budget againstDilma Vana Rousseff, the formerBrazilian President, is not a crime andnot an impeachable offense. Right-wingers insist that is the case, and someof them argue there were enough prob-lems in her administration to do awaywith it anyway.

The other films nominated for bestdocumentary are American Factory,The Cave, For Sama and Honeyland.

Here are the reactions from some ofthe nominees for the academy awards:

“Ultimately, I’ve been fortunateenough to get to work with some greatfilmmakers. It has always been the dri-ving force. First, of course, the story andcharacter, from an actor’s perspective. Ifeel like we see films through the eyesof the director. (It is) The director’smedium. I’ve been able to work withsome amazing directors. Quentin(Tarantino) is in the lineage of one of thebest of our times. It’s amazing to be apart of this film that’s a celebration of ouractors and the countless people behindthe scenes,” — Leonardo DiCaprio,nominated for best actor for his role inOnce Upon a Time ... in Hollywood,which was nominated in just about everycategory including best film, directingand supporting actor and screenplay.

“It makes me feel very, very, veryyoung.” — Antonio Banderas, aboutbeing a first-time nominee at the age of59. He earned the best actor nominationfor his role in Pain and Glory.

“I feel a little giddy. It’s so crazy. I wason a plane to Japan, so I found out aftereveryone else did. I was able to log intoWifi and suddenly my phone startedgoing crazy, with all the messages com-ing in. I had to recalibrate my entirebrain...I don’t think I expected any of it.To actually have realised it is just adream. I actually had a dream wherethere were no nominations.” — CynthiaErivo, a double nominee for her actingand singing in Harriet.

Once my uncles came around tothe idea of manufacturing, a

confident, Yeh bhi kar lenge (Wecan do this too), pledge resound-ed around the Munjal residenceand workplace. It was, of course,easier said than done.’ The linesfrom Sunil Kant Munjal’s book TheMaking of HERO: Four Brothers,Two Wheels and a Revolution thatShaped India in more ways thanone sum up the can-do attitude ofthe business family. Unveiledrecently by former Prime MinisterDr Manmohan Singh, it traces thejourney of how Munjal brotherscreated the business empire afterlosing everything amid the brutal-ity of Partition.

The panel discussion organ-ised by the publisher, HarperCollins, had the likes of SanjivGoenka, Venu Srinivasan, Ajay SShriram along with the author andwas moderated by Dr PrannoyRoy. They discussed how familybusinesses sustain, survive andgrow over the passage of years andchange in generations. Munjal,who is the youngest son of Herogroup founder Brijmohan LallMunjal, and chairman of Heroenterprise, said, “The way a fam-ily uses the given resources actu-ally determines the future of itsgrowth. If a child sees his eldersdoing certain things, it becomes anindividual’s second nature, morethan even a habit, especially whenit concerns family businesses.Hence, the tradition continues. Wehave to appreciate every littlething that goes into the makingand growth of family businesses.For instance, I observed how myfather wouldn’t let anybody else

pick up his office bag. He alwaysdid it himself since he felt that itwas his work. So there are these lit-tle things that add up and becomea big idea.”

Talking about how buildingfamily relationships boost busi-nesses, Ajay S Shriram, chairmanand director, DCM Shriram, said,“When it reaches the fifth gener-ation, a lot of it has alreadychanged. So trust and passing onthe legacy the right way is very cru-cial for a family business to grow.There are certain families forwhom money becomes god. Andat that moment, the family needsto stop and think, look after itself

and restructure its plans, otherwiseit will get shattered into pieces. It’snot always possible that businessprofits also lead to personal gains.”

Venu Srinivasan, chairman ofthe TVS Group, added that pass-ing on the right values to futuregenerations is crucial in helpingfamily businesses grow.“Maintaining families and grandbusinesses together isn’t as easy.There are also some families whosend off their children abroad toget the right exposure before theycompletely get into the business.This not only helps them acquirethe right skill set but they are alsoable to pitch modern and innova-

tive business ideas which theseniors might not have thought of.”

Moving further, the panel alsodelved into the long-standingdebate on merit versus inheritance.Munjal pointed out, “Inheritanceis not just limited to businesses orpoliticians. It is there in every pro-fession. Be it lawyers, doctors,actors, engineers, and even jour-nalists, to some extent. And this isbecause the conversation aboutthat particular profession or workgoes on long after one has reachedhome. For instance, parents oftencome home and relate incidentsfrom their workplace to their chil-dren. As I said, the youngsters learn

what they see. Looking at theirelders, the children tend to followthe same track. And many a times,there are cases when the childdoesn’t want to follow the mostcommon family profession or doessomething of his/her own. Butthere’s no hard and fast rule that abusinessman’s son would be abusinessman too or a doctor’sdaughter would be a doctor too.The familial bond often deter-mines the child’s preference but notalways.”

The three business leadersshared personal anecdotes on howtheir fathers and uncles advisedthem to approach work. Shriram

said, “I had a habit of going to myfather’s factories since a very youngage. For my father, work was wor-ship. He always taught me that pro-fessional relationships are verycrucial, be it between the dealerand the customer or the employ-er and the employee. You shouldalways work in a way that youcould create a win-win situation forboth. Otherwise, it wouldn’t work.”

While Srinivasan pointedtowards maintaining trust withemployees, customers and family,Munjal said that one learning hepaid the most attention to has beento never look at anybody as beingsenior or junior since one cannever guess a person’s potential.“Good ideas can come from any-where and at anytime. Just keepthat in mind.”

Discussing about what thethree expected from the UnionBudget 2020, Shriram said,“There needs to be a special lawfor the development of the agri-cultural sector as it is suffering alot. The policies are not movingin terms of governance or interms of coordination with thestates. A GST kind of system isneeded to get all the agri minis-ters involved in its implementa-tion.” Srinivasan said, “One of themost important issues that needattention is job creation. Themost fundamental developmentdrive will come from a goodemployment level.” On the otherhand, Munjal said, “I would liketo see a slippage in the fiscaldeficit and that slippage movingtowards the betterment of theinfrastructure sector in India.”

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Who says there cannot be a hole in the sky, a stonehurts you guys. This phrase is a reflection on a

social worker in Ghaziabad, who has been constantlyworking on grass root level, away from the glare of pub-licity for the last thirty years. We are talking about KKSharma, who after retiring as the vice president of ShriRam Group started social services.

Currently, under his supervision, OPD service isbeing operated in five dispensaries where hundreds ofeconomically backward people are treated on a regu-lar basis. The special thing is that two of these dispen-saries are mobile, this means that they can go to areaswhere there is a lack of health services. Out of these,three dispensaries are running permanently inSanjaynagar Sector 23, Nandagram and Shahpur.Sharma had obtained MBA, LLB and a master’sdegree in social service. There is Polytechnic Centeron Meerut Road for the economically-backward girlstoo, who are not able to pursue higher studies becauseof financial constraints. It has been running for the lastseveral years where 120 daughters are trained and nur-tured every year. Not only this, overwhelmed by theslogan of Modi’s Beti Padhao, Beti Bachao, his team isalso offering martial arts training in many governmentschools of the city. Out of this, some of the girls haveeven won various medals in several state and nation-al level competitions.

Sharma also provides free legal aid. Apart from this,they have also constructed toilets in governmentschools. His next mission is to repair the deteriorat-ing environment of the city, for which he has alreadystarted working.

He is certainly making a difference through freehealthcare, employment generation, education and self-defense training. This will make more and more stu-dents self-reliant.

The last day of the WorldBook Fair saw a huge rush

of young and old crowdthronging the fair grounds tobuy their favourite books asthe 28th edition of this festi-val came to an end. The nine-day fair saw a footfall of morethan ten lakh people in the fairgrounds. Amidst all this rush,many programmes were alsoheld at Pragati Maidan.

On the concluding day, aplay in Maithili language, EkMuthia, written by Dr UshaKiran Khan was performed byPrakash Jha and his group.The play revolves aroundestablishment of GandhiAshram at Darbhanga in 1919.The programme was organ-ised by Maithili MachaanandNational Book Trust, India.

A discussion on the book,Diabetes with Delight,authored by Dr Anoop Mishrawas also organised byBloomsbury Publishing at theauthor’s corner. Moderated byPraveen Mishra, the otherspeakers on the were AlokMehta, Satyadev Pachauri andSuman Kumar. Alok Mehtaremarked that this book is aprimer which contains all theinformation that any patient ofdiabetes will ever need. DrAnoop Mishra said that he hastried to fill the gaps and voidsof the problem of diabetes thatpeople face by providing extrainformation that will help inrarest situations.

A discussion on“Historical and Mythological

Fiction” was organised byReadomania. Moderated byDipankar Mukherjee, theother panelists on the occasionincluded Sutapa Basu andPranab Mullick, well knownauthors of historical andmythological fiction. Talkingabout her book Padmavati,Sutapa said she did extensiveresearch on the queen ofChittorgarh. She further saidthat Padmavati’s thoughts andteachings are immortal.Pranav Mullick focusing onhis book From Kanha toKrishna, said that LordKrishna took a form of ahuman being and destinedhis journey to kill Kansa. Headded that he has beenentrapped by many mytholog-ical loops and queries andlooks forward to writing moreexciting books.

A session on “Women’s

writing” was also organised.The discussion focussed onthe emergence of feminism inIndia. The speakers talkedabout the struggles thatwomen face while makingimportant decisions in theirlives. On this occasion, womenwriters, Dr Harshali Singh,Anupama Jain and TriptiSharan interacted with thevisitors and shared their viewson women writings.

A storytelling session on“The Little Girl” was organisedat the Children’s Pavilion.Vikas Dave and Manjri Shuklainteracted with the childrenand narrated interesting sto-ries. Through them, they triedto highlight the struggles thata girl child often faces.

A skit on “PradushankiSamasya,” was organised byChetna India. The event beganwith Rishabh, a student affil-

iated to Chetna India singinga traditional folk song, whilePulkit Jain narrated a story.The play revolved around theinitiatives that can be taken toreduce pollution, for example,by not burning the materialsthat causes pollution. Yashpalrecited a poem, giving themessage of planting trees.

Props are interesting, soare the stories. Hence NidhiKundra from Jiwan Booksmade both of them cometogether in a storytelling ses-sion at the Children’s Pavilion.She called upon children fromthe audience to play the char-acters of a story. The maskedkids portrayed the characterswell and made the sessionenjoyable for the rest of thekids too.

A young poets’ meet wasorganised by Rajiv GandhiFoundation and Wonderroom.

Pratul Vashist said that chil-dren can express their viewsand thoughts through poems.Young kids expressed them-selves by reading out poemson childhood, stars, natureand other various topics.

A book release pro-gramme was organised byIndian Institute of AdvancedStudies at the Lekhak Manch.Seven books including BanarsiThumri ki Parampara MeinThumri Gaikaon kiChaunotiyan Aur Uplabhdiya,by Jyoti Singh; Approach toConservation and RestorationSpecific Focus on CulturalHeritage of Shimla by SomyaSharma; Al-Kindi and HisCreation by Vijay ShankarSharma, Himalayan Languageby J C Sharma among others,were released on the occasion.The release was followed bydiscussion.

In a clear indication of achievingsignificant progress, Jammu and

Kashmir has shown considerableimprovement in public healthparameters against the correspond-ing national average for the last fewyears.

According to the recentlyreleased state wise fact sheet byNational Health Systems ResourceCentre (NHSRC) on the basis ofNational Sample SurveyOrganization (NSSO) 75th roundreport, J&K has significantlyimproved its performance in out-patient care, in-patient care, childbirth, Antenatal Care (ANC), PostNatal Care (PNC) by utilising itsexisting Public Health Facilities andOut Of Pocket Expenditure(OOPE).

As per the highlights of thereport, all women in Jammu andKashmir are availing AntenatalCare Services (ANC), out of which

80 to 92 per cent services are beingprovided by public health facilities,which is higher than the nationalaverage. The trend of availing PostNatal Care (PNC) has alsoincreased from 81 to 99 per centand there is significant increase inutilisation of public health facilitiesfor availing PNC services from 60to 97 percent since 2014.

Over 96 per cent Inpatient

Department (IPD) care in ruralareas of J&K is provided by publichealth facilities, which is highestagainst the country’s average of 85percent.

In 2016, according to the datareleased by the Registrar Generalof India custodian of census data,Jammu and Kashmir has sur-passed Kerala with the highest lifeexpectancy in India for all ages,

barring life expectancy at birth.Pointing towards good health seek-ing behaviour, J&K has emerged asone of the top performers in termsof the utilisation of the Publichealth facilities, as 80 per cent peo-ple avail OPD services from there,especially in rural areas, showinga 15 to 30 per cent increase in OPDcases in the last few years. “Homedeliveries and private sector deliv-eries have significantly decreasedsince 2014 with only 10 to 15 per-cent taking place in private healthfacilities,” the report stated.

According to the report, theOut Of Pocket Expenditure(OOPE) per OPD patient in pub-lic and private facilities has signif-icantly decreased in both rural andurban areas since 2014, besides thepercentage of diagnostic and drugexpenditure as a proportion ofIPD medical expenditure has alsodecreased.

For tackling the issue ofOOPE and fulfilling the commit-ment to make the healthcare ser-vices cashless in public healthfacilities, J&K government isimplementing various interven-tions in mission mode, likestreamlining the procurement ofdrugs and consumables, imple-mentation of Pradhan Mantri JanArogya Yojana through publicand empanelled private hospitalsfor providing cashless IPD servicesto the golden card holders andoperationalisation of health andwellness centres under AyushmanBharat, free drug and diagnosticinitiatives, Janani Shishu SurakshaKaryakram, Rashtriya BalSwasthya Karyakram, RevisedNational Tuberculosis ControlProgram, Biomedical EquipmentManagement and MaintenanceProgram and National PradhanMantri Dialysis Programme.

Admission in Jawahar NavodayaVidyalayas is done in sixth grade

through selection test every year. Vacantseats in classes IX & XI are filledthrough lateral entry. For admission to48,000 seats in Class VI, 3046506 can-didates, including 46.19 per cent girls,19.05 per cent SC, 29.23 per cent ST and83.91 per cent rural candidates have reg-istered through online mode. Applicantseat ratio for the current session is 63:1.Admission test in respect of summerbound JNVs was conducted in 8,252centres covering 561 districts smooth-ly on Saturday. This is one of thebiggest examinations conducted forthe selection of students, predomi-nantly from rural areas.

As per the admission policy, 75 percent of the seats in a district are filledby candidates selected from rural areasat block level and remaining seats arefilled from open merit of the district.Reservation of seats in favour of childrenbelonging to SC and ST is provided inproportion to their population in the

district concerned, provided that in nodistrict, such reservation will be less thanthe national average (15 per cent for SCand 7.5 per cent for ST) but subject tomaximum of 50 per cent for both thecategories (SC& ST) taken together.Minimum 33 per cent of the total seatsare filled by girls.There is a provision forreservation for Divyang children as perGOI norms.The NVS system has suc-cessfully served the purpose of deprivedsection of the population. At present 40per cent students are girls. In case of SCand ST, it is presently 44 per cent of totalstrength. Last year 93 per cent ofadmitted candidates were rural students.

� How will the MSME DevelopmentPolicy help tourism in the state? Willit encourage homestays which wouldalso increase accommodation facilitiesfor tourists?

In India MSMEs, with a growth of13.9 per cent, were the largest job cre-ators as compared to all the other sec-tors during the last four years. In thissegment, it was the hospitality andtourism sectors which were the high-est contributors. In developing countriestourism is a contributor to small scaleenterprises thus lifting the standards ofliving as well as acting as a catalyst forcommunity development.

Homestays, a concept whichinvolves the local community, aims toencourage households to earn anincome from tourism directly. We haveseen that a majority of local people areusually eager to be involved in activi-ties related to tourism and would liketo take a leading role as entrepreneursand workers at all levels.

Homestays can provide a reliableincome for host families while also sup-porting local accommodation providersby offering extra beds in locations wherehotels may be in short supply. They pro-vide viable alternative livelihood andrepresent a definite link between pro-tecting the local environment and eco-nomic benefits that eco-tourism canbring, helping to pave the way for fur-ther conservation and sustainable man-agement initiatives.�How does ecotourism benefit thestate by protecting forest and support-ing economic growth simultaneous-ly?

Ecotourism is a more sensitiveform of travel which incorporatesecologically sustainable activities, sup-ports conservation measures andinvolves local communities in tourism.It helps in protecting the environment,brings about poverty alleviation andleads to overall socio-economic devel-opment as locals are made aware of theimportance of conservation and pro-tection of environment for their ownbenefit. It can also go a long way insupporting wildlife conservationefforts. In Madhya Pradesh, our focuson eco-tourism is to help provide jobsfor local people (thereby reducingmigration to larger cities) and createa market for locally produced items.

We are making efforts to encour-age cultural sensitivity of visitors byenhancing guest-host interactions.Undoubtedly, eco-tourism can enhancewildlife conservation by involvingtribals and forest-dwellers and encour-aging them to become a part of theindustry. This would bring about amore equitable sharing of benefits

while helping to conserve natural,cultural and built resources which inturn, would maintain the quality of lifein the area. The most important aspectof eco-tourism is that it balances sus-tainable economic development andbiodiversity conservation, thereby pos-itively affecting environmental, socialand economic components of thecommunity.

� What are the new initiatives by thegovernment to create world classinfrastructure to attract high-endtourists?

Madhya Pradesh is already a well-known destination among domestictravellers in India because of thefamous Khajuraho temple complexand the various spiritual destinationsthat are a part of the pilgrimage cir-cuit. Our effort now is to showcase thestate as a treasure trove of wildlife, her-itage, culture and cuisine. With thelargest tiger population in the coun-try, we are promoting jungle safaris notonly in India but also to a very keen

and excited international market. Ourlesser-known but equally breath-tak-ing tourist offerings such as Orchha,Mandu, Maheshwar and Chanderiare being showcased effectively aslocations where one can get a glimpseof the “real India”, the hinterland. Wehave launched several festivals such asJalmahotsav, Namaste Orchha andMandu Utsav which highlight the dif-ferent facets of the destination. At thesame time, we are also keen to depictthe state as a global “Foodie” destina-tion with the exquisite offerings ofBhopali cuisine and Indore’s bustlingstreet food scene. We have seen a greatdeal of interest in the luxury junglelodges which are located inBandhavgarh, Pench and Kanha fromexperienced and well-heeled trav-ellers from India and abroad whofound the jungle safari experience inMadhya Pradesh comparable, if notbetter than those in the Africansafaris. Our effort is to ensure that wecontinue to improve the tourists’experience in every aspect — fromincreased air connectivity to improvedon-ground transport with better way-side amenities, knowledgeable guidesand ensuring greater security andcomfort of tourists visiting the state.

�What are the steps being taken toencourage adventure and culturetourism in the state?

Madhya Pradesh has a hugeuntapped potential for both adventureand culture tourism in addition tobeing a huge attraction for wildlife andheritage lovers. The varied topographyof this huge state includes hills, rivers,large forest areas and lakes whichmakes it an ideal location for under-taking both soft and hard adventureactivities. Trekking can be undertak-en in Kanha, Pachmarhi andAmartantak. The gushing waters of theBetwa river offer a challenge to eventhe most intrepid river-rafter. Rockclimbing is gaining momentum in thePachmarhi range while mountaineer-ing is becoming more popular in theMaikal region with its dense andunexplored jungles.

The culture of the state is ancientand deep-rooted and therefore ourofferings are immense — rangingfrom textile and handicraft to tribal artand music/ dance. Our efforts arefocussed on bringing attention to theage-old handloom weaves of Chanderi

and Maheshwar (fabrics which areglobally popular today), block print-ing techniques such as Bagh andNandna, tribal art such as Gondpaintings, dhokra and jute craft amongmany others. We have several musicand dance festivals which are conduct-ed throughout the year such as theGwalior Samaroh, Hridaya Drishyamand Khajuraho Dance Festival, allaimed at popularising these art formsacross the world.

�What are the opportunities for filmtourism given that there are beauti-ful locations across the state?

The popularity of Madhya Pradeshas a destination for film shooting hasgrown progressively over the years.The backdrop of Khajuraho andSanchi, the jungles of Kanha andBandhavgarh, the forts and monu-ments of Gwalior, Orchha and Mandu,the culture of Bhopal, Indore, Jabalpurand Gwalior offer filmmakers themost diverse filmmaking experiences.Various Bollywood films from DilipKumar’s Aan (1952) to more recentPadman, Stree, Sui Dhaga, were shotat some of the most exquisite locationsin Madhya Pradesh. From 1952 tilldate more than 75 Bollywood movieshave been shot in Madhya Pradesh.

The state is a perfect combinationof natural settings, ancient heritage,huge water bodies and a helpfuladministration which are a filmmak-er’s delight and make it the most pre-ferred destination. A key factor whichhas led many filmmakers and actorsto trust MP for shoots is the supportextended by the local authorities ingranting permissions and access tovarious heritage and protected struc-tures. Besides the scenic locations,filmmakers unanimously agree thatthey are heartened by the supportextended by the locals. As the teamstravel with a lot of equipment fromMumbai and Delhi, they look for sup-port from the local artistes too. SinceBhopal and Indore have a very activetheatre scene, artistes can offer thesupport that filmmakers seek.

The state government also offerscapital investment subsidy for expen-diture on creating infrastructure ofpermanent nature and installation ofequipment for film studio and filmproduction. If the shooting crew optsfor an accommodation at MPSTDChotel, they can avail a discount of upto 40 per cent in lodging tariff.Madhya Pradesh Tourism is the nodalagency to assist the film producers forprocuring various clearances andpermissions extending complete sup-port and encouragement to the filmfraternity.

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DG K Natarajan, PTM, TM,Director General, Indian

Coast Guard, is hosting a sevenmember delegation of theJapan Coast Guard led byAdmiral Takahiro Okushima,Commandant, Japan CoastGuard in India till January 17.

A High Level Meeting(HLM) between the two coastguards was held at theirHeadquarters on Tuesdayunder the provisions of theMemorandum of Cooperation(MoC) signed between thetwo agencies in 2006. TheHLM focussed on augmentingthe operational level interac-tion and capacity building inareas of Search and Rescue,Pollution Response andMaritime Law Enforcement.Newer areas of cooperation,

HNS, chemical spills responseand training on specialisedfield of ICG operation werediscussed.

Relations between the twocoast guards go back a longway with ICG ships calling onports in Japan for profession-al interactions since 2000. Thismeeting and visit is in contin-uation of the efforts by the gov-ernments of the two countriesto enhance cooperation in thefield of combating transnation-al maritime crime enhancingnational security.

During the meeting, bothsides agreed to strengthen themutual cooperation in accor-dance with the provisions of

the MoC. Sharing of best man-agement practices and contin-uation of personnel exchangewere also agreed upon.

Japan Coast Guard ShipEchigo arrived Chennai onMonday to participate in thejoint exercise that is scheduledtoday. Director General IndianCoast Guard and theCommandant Japan CoastGuard will be travelling toChennai to oversee the jointexercise.

The meeting was signifi-cant in providing added impe-tus to the already existingprofessional relationshipbetween the Coast Guards ofthe countries.

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India’s swashbuckling openerRohit Sharma was on Wednesdaynamed the ICC’s ‘2019 ODI

Cricketer of the Year’ for his incred-ible run of form, while English all-rounder Ben Stokes walked awaywith the overall honours.

Indian skipper Virat Kohli wasnamed captain of both the ICC’s Testand ODI teams of the year besideswinning the ‘Spirit of Cricket’ awardfor his gesture of trying to stop thefans from booing Steve Smith dur-ing a World Cup match. Smith wasreturning to international cricketfrom a one-year suspension for ball-tampering at that time.

England’s World Cup-winningall-rounder Stokes got the biggestprize — the ‘Sir Garfield SobersTrophy’ for Player of the Year, whileAustralia fast bowler Pat Cumminswas named the Test Player of theYear.

India seamer Deepak Chaharwon the T20 InternationalPerformance of the Year, Australia’sMarnus Labuschagne was named asEmerging Cricketer of the Year,while Scotland’s Kyle Coetzer wasdeclared the Associate Cricketer ofthe Year.

The 32-year-old Rohit hit a pur-ple patch in the World Cup amass-ing 648 runs in nine games at an aver-age of 81.00 with five hundreds anda half-century. In the UnitedKingdom, he became the first bats-man in World Cup history to scorefive centuries in a single edition.

Rohit looked forward to carryinghis form in the coming year, after anaggregate of 1409 runs from 28matches with seven hundreds in theODI format.

“It is great to be recognised in thisfashion. We are very happy with theway we performed as a team in 2019.We could have done better but wehave a lot of positives and a lot to lookforward to in 2020,” Rohit said.

India captain Kohli was sur-prised to win the Spirit of CricketAward and explained his reasons forbacking Smith the way he did.

“It is part of camaraderie thatsportsmen must have with eachother,” Kohli said.

“That moment was purelyunderstanding an individual’s situ-

ation. I don’t think a guy who is com-ing out of a situation like that needsto be taken advantage of,” he recalled.

“You can sledge, can have havebanter on the field, you say things tothe opposition in wanting to beatthem. But booing someone is not inthe spirit of any sport, I don’tendorse it.”

Chahar said his haul of six forseven against Bangladesh in Nagpur,which included a hat-trick, wouldalways be cherished by him.

“Taking six wickets concedingonly seven runs was a dream perfor-mance for me and will alwaysremain close to my heart,” Chaharsaid.

Cummins grabbed 59 wickets in12 Test matches during the periodand finished the year as the top-ranked bowler in the Test rankings.

“It’s a tremendous honour to beconsidered the best player of last year

and one which was certainly unex-pected. I owe much to my team,team-mates and all those involved inAustralian cricket for what was areally successful year for the team,”he said.

Stokes was rewarded after afabulous 12 months that saw himplay a decisive role in England’s dra-matic victory at the World Cup finalalong with a host of other memo-rable performances, including anepic Ashes hundred.

“This award is testament to myteammates and the support staff thathave been there every step of the way.Fundamentally, without the supportof these individuals, we would neverachieved our objective of lifting amajor trophy,” he said.

Labuschagne was an easy win-ner of the Emerging Player awardafter scoring 1,104 runs in 11 Tests,which saw him zoom in the ICCTest Player Rankings from 110 at thestart of the year to fourth by the endof the year.

England umpire RichardIllingworth became the seventhperson to win the David ShepherdTrophy for Umpire of the Year.

���������� ���������Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy for

Best Cricketer of the Year - BenStokes (England)

Test Cricketer of the Year - PatCummins (Australia)

ODI Cricketer of the Year -Rohit Sharma (India)

T20I Performance of the Year -Deepak Chahar (India, 6-7 vBangladesh)

Emerging Cricketer of the Year- Marnus Labuschagne (Australia)

Associate Cricketer of the Year- Kyle Coetzer (Scotland)

Spirit of Cricket Award - ViratKohli stopping the fans booingSteve Smith at the Oval

David Shepherd Trophy forUmpire of the Year - RichardIllingworth.

� �� 25��*

India skipper and batting mainstay Virat Kohli wason Wednesday named captain of the International

Cricket Council’s ODI and Test teams of the year,capping off a memorable season for the world No.1.

Apart from Kohli, there were four otherIndians who were picked in the ICC’s Test and ODITeams of the Year.

While the Test team featured double-centuri-on Mayank Agarwal, opener Rohit Sharma, speed-ster Mohammed Shami and left-arm spinnerKuldeep Yadav found a place in the ODI side.

Kohli enjoyed a tremendous run in both theformats in 2019. The 31-year-old hit his seventh Testdouble hundred on the way to a career-best unbeat-en 254 against South Africa in October last year.

It was a breakthrough year for opener Agarwal,who smashed two double tons, one century andwent beyond the fifty-run mark twice. He hit acareer-best score of 243 against Bangladesh inNovember.

Limited overs vice-captain Rohit had a splen-did ODI World Cup campaign, slamming a recordfive hundreds and a half century in the UnitedKingdom.

Kuldeep, too, enjoyed a memorable year as hejoined the golden list of bowlers with two hat-tricks.The chinaman claimed his second ODI hat-trickof his career against the West Indies last month.

In the absence of Indian pace spearheadJasprit Bumrah, Shami rose to the occasion mak-ing the best in the business hop, skip and jump withhis pace, swing and bounce through the season. Hescalped 42 wickets in 21 ODIs over the last 12months.

��������������.���ODI Team of the Year (in batting order): Rohit

Sharma, Shai Hope, Virat Kohli (captain), BabarAzam, Kane Williamson, Ben Stokes, Jos Buttler(wicketkeeper), Mitchell Starc, Trent Boult,Mohammed Shami, Kuldeep Yadav

Test Team of the Year (in battingorder): Mayank Agarwal, Tom Latham,Marnus Labuschagne, Virat Kohli (cap-tain), Steve Smith, Ben Stokes, BJWatling (wicketkeeper), Pat Cummins,Mitchell Starc, Neil Wagner, NathanLyon.

� �� #5#��*

Swashbuckling Australianopener David Warner says

he was surprised by the york-ers and bouncers of India'space spearhead Jasprit Bumrahin the ODI series-opener here.

Warner, who remainedunbeaten on 128 in his team’s10-wicket win against India atthe Wankhede Stadium, negat-ed Bumrah’s challenge well onTuesday.

Asked how he prepares forbowlers like Bumrah and chi-naman Kuldeep Yadav, Warner,one of the best left-handers in

the world, said it was all aboutkeeping still.

“It’s about being nice andstill. I can’t imagine someonelike Brett Lee running in fromalmost the boundary and justsort of staggering in there andall of a sudden bowl 150kmph,it takes a while to get used toand that’s great skill fromBumrah.

“His (Bumrah’s) bouncerssurprise you, his yorkers sur-prise you and then when hebowls the change-up it’s very,very difficult, it’s like whenLasith Malinga at his prime, hebowled 140kmph and swung

them.“... But you knew you were

going to get a yorker or abouncer but it was how are yougoing to play that and that’swhat’s so unique,” addedWarner.

Saying that he findsKuldeep’s bowling a fractionslower, he admitted that pick-ing chinaman bowlers was dif-ficult.

“And with Kuldeep (Yadav),he’s got great change-ups aswell. I find that he’s bowling afraction slower these days, quitedifferent to Rashid Khan whobowls at 100kmph, under lightsI think left-arm chinamans arevery difficult to pick,” he added.

� ��#5#��*

Regular India openerShikhar Dhawan says

he is ready to bat anywhereafter skipper Virat Kohli’smove to drop himselfdown at No. 4 to accom-modate him and K LRahul backfired in thefirst ODI against Australia.

The visitors crushedIndia by 10 wickets in thefirst of the three-matchseries, chasing down a256-run target with plen-ty to spare here onTuesday.

“If they ask me to batat No.3, of course I’ll do it.Anything for my country,for sure,” Dhawan saidafter the game in which KL Rahul came in at thecritical position.

“You have to be men-tally strong, all the boys arementally strong, that’s whythey’ve been playing inter-

national cricket and it’spart of the journey, some-times you’ve to switchnumbers as well.”

The senior player saidit was completely the cap-tain’s decision to drophimself down at No.4 fromhis usual No.3 slot.

“See that is a captain’schoice, KL is batting well,he did well in the last seriesand he played really well.

“I feel it is the captain’schoice where he wants toplay and he has doneamazing at No. 3, maybeI feel, he will think aboutit to go at number threeagain,” he said.

After the game, Kohlisaid he might have torethink his plans goinginto the second and thirdODIs.

Dhawan blamed theloss of four wickets in themiddle overs for the maul-ing.

David Warner andAaron Finch slammedunbeaten tons to powerthe visitors to a convinc-ing win at the WankhedeStadium.

“We handled thosefirst 10-15 overs very nice-ly. We lost four wickets ina go, that is where thegame changed for us, thenwe were behind and thenwe were trying to cover it,so that is where we wentwrong,” said Dhawan,who made 74 off 91 balls,said.

Australia pulledthings back to bowl India

out for 255 and Warner(128 not out) and Finch(110) then did the rest.

India lost five quickwickets after Dhawan andK L Rahul (47) added 121for the second wicket.

“K L (Rahul) got out.That time we planned toaccelerate and those fourwickets we lost, that’swhere we lost the momen-tum. We were targeting300 runs but we ended upscoring less runs. In bowl-ing, we could not takeearly wickets. They out-played us,” admittedDhawan.

� �� �8��289"*

Young opener PrithviShaw will join the

India A squad in NewZealand in the next 48hours, having recoveredfrom the shoulder injuryhe sustained during aRanji Trophy game lastweek.

Unlike recent times,Prithvi’s rehabilitationprogramme was han-dled by the NationalCricket Academy (NCA)which has cleared hisreturn to competitivecricket.

“Prithvi Shaw willleave for New Zealandeither on Thursday orlatest by Friday. He hasbeen declared fully fit,” asenior BCCI source toldPTI on Wednesday.

The 20-year-old

return to competitivefold will give the nation-al selectors an opportu-nity to consider him forthe two Tests againstNew Zealand.

A source said bothPrithviu and ShubhmanGill will now competefor the slot of reserveopener in Indian Testteam.

“Shubman becamethe reserve openerbecause Prithvi was serv-ing doping ban. He wasahead of Shubman if wego by pecking order. Hewas not out of the teambecause of poor form butdue to injuries and someoff-field reasons. Now healong with Shubman willbe fighting for thereserve opener’s slot,” asource privy to selec-tion matters said.

����� ���&�89*4��8&"

Rival captains Faf du Plessisand Joe Root were united

in their praise of World Playerof the Year Ben Stokes aheadof the third Test betweenSouth Africa and Englandstarting at St George's Park onThursday.

Stokes, man of the matchwhen England levelled thefour-match series with a 189-run win in the second Test in

Cape Town, was namedthe world’s best player bythe International CricketCouncil on Tuesday. Heis likely to be a keyplayer in a pivotalmatch in the series.

“It was very well-deserved,” said SouthAfrican captain DuPlessis. “He’s had afantastic seasonwhere he played big

moments really well.That’s when you really want tojudge cricketers, when it real-

ly matters, and that’s why hehas been so successful overthe last year. He’s single-hand-edly won so many games forEngland.”

Du Plessis said Stokeshad already made a mark onthe current series. “He playsa big role, whether his teamdoes well or not. For us, he isguy that we need to keep quietbecause he’s that sort of play-er that takes the game awayfrom you when he gets in,similar to what Quinton deKock does for us.”

Unlike wicketkeeper DeKock, Stokes offers a strongbowling option. “He’s got a bigtank,” said Du Plessis.

“England captain JoeRoot added: “It’s hard to sayany more superlatives. It’s theright decision, obviously. Itcouldn't really be anyone elsethe way he’s performed allyear, across the formats.

“It’s just been fantastic tobe a part of the same team.He’s affected games across all

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Mumbai: Rishabh Pantwas on Wednesday ruledout of India’s second ODIagainst Australia onFriday as the young wick-et-keeper batsman hasnot yet recovered fromthe concussion he suf-fered during the series-opener.

While team reachedRajkot on Wednesday,Pant is set to travel toBengaluru for rehabilita-tion following the stan-dard concussion proto-cols.

Pant is the first inter-national from the coun-try, who has been ruled

out after ICC put the con-cussion protocols inplace.

“He (Pant) is ruledout of the 2nd ODI. Hisavailability for the finalODI will be based onhow he responds duringthe rehabilitation proto-col,” BCCI said in a state-ment.

“He is stable and allhis scan reports are clear.He has been dischargedfrom the hospital andwill head to NCA,Bengaluru to undergohis rehabilitation proto-col," the release furtherstated. ���

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)��-��#� ����-��������������$ ��three formats. In myopinion he’s definitelythe number one player inthe world at themoment.”

Both captains saidthey were debating thefinal make-up of theirteams.

Du Plessis said fastbowler Dane Patersoncould make his debut ona pitch where reverseswing could be a factor.He said Paterson’s style ofbowling could make himdangerous in the expect-ed conditions - butadded that it was a diffi-cult choice, which wouldmean leaving out an all-rounder, probablyDwaine Pretorius, or left-arm spinner KeshavMaharaj.

He said weather con-ditions could play a rolein the final decision. “It’sbeen hot the last fewdays. You need hot and

dry weather for reverseswing but there’s talk ofsome rain on days threeand four so that couldaffect it.”

Root said JofraArcher and Mark Woodwould be assessed afterWednesday’s final prac-tice.

Unlike Du Plessis,Root said he was notcontemplating going intothe match without a spinbowler. “I’m pretty happywith the balance of ourteam,” he said.

That would leaveroom for only one ofArcher and Wood toreplace the injured JamesAnderson - or the steadyChris Woakes if therewere doubts about boththe speedsters. “We needto use today’s session tomake sure going into afive-day game that theycan stand up to it,” saidRoot.0���������!( ������� �������������� �� ������

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