16
A day after it was left high and dry by the Samajwadi Party (SP) and the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) forging an alliance, the Congress on Sunday announced it will con- test all the 80 Lok Sabha seats in Uttar Pradesh on its own strength. However, the Congress has kept the doors of a possible alliance open saying the Congress would accom- modate any secular force capa- ble of taking on the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party in the Lok Sabha election. The Congress has not been in power in Uttar Pradesh since the Babri Masjid demo- lition in 1992. The State has been governed alternately by Mayawati and Akhilesh Yadav’s Samajwadi Party. But the Congress plan to contest the bulk of Lok Sabha seats is expected to cut into the votes of the alliance. It is also expected to irk Mayawati and Akhilesh, who have lent sup- port to the Congress Governments in Madhya Pradesh. After a brainstorming ses- sion with senior party leaders, Congress general secretary and incharge of UP Ghulam Nabi Azad, said, “There was a demand from the party rank and file for contesting the elec- tions alone in UP, which had been accepted by the leader- ship and now the party will contest the elections with full strength.” Announcing that the Congress is ready to accom- modate some secular political parties in their alliance in UP, it said that very soon the lead- ership will start selecting the candidates and party presi- dent Rahul Gandhi will address public rallies at different parts of the State. Addressing a Press confer- ence here on Sunday Ghulam Nabi Azad said, “The Congress will contest on all the 80 Lok Sabha seats in Uttar Pradesh, and defeat the BJP.” Azad also expressed hope that the Congress will double its tally of seats, which it had secured in the 2009 Lok Sabha elections. During the 2009 Lok Sabha elections, the Congress had bagged 21 seats. To a question whether his party will not forge a coalition with any political party, Azad said, “If any political party is willing to join hands, and the Congress feels that it can fight the BJP, then it will be definitely be accommodated.” On the Congress being left out of the SP-BSP alliance, the Congress general secretary said: “We wanted that Congress should have been a part of the grand alliance (against the BJP) in UP. But, if someone does not want to walk along, then noth- ing could be done.” On the post-poll alliance with the SP and BSP, Azad said that at the national level, the Congress welcomes all the secular regional parties. Replying to another ques- tion on SP-BSP alliance, Azad said, “The Congress workers are not at all disappointed on being left out of the alliance. On the contrary, they are say- ing that the party would have had to contest on 25 Lok Sabha seats, but now they would be contesting on all the 80 seats of the State.” On possibilities of an alliance with the Rashtriya Lok Dal, Azad said that he would not like to speak to the media on this issue. Announcing that very soon party president Rahul Gandhi will launch rallies at different places in the State on support of the party candidates, Azad, who is the Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha, said that some regional parties can too join them in the State thus predicting the inclusion of Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) in their fold. Claiming that there is issue of leadership among the anti-BJP parties and the issue of the next Prime Minister will be decided after the elec- tions. On Saturday, BSP chief Mayawati and SP president Akhilesh Singh Yadav announced their parties would contest 38 seats each and leave out two seats — Amethi and Rae Bareily — for the Congress. Mayawati said her party never gained from an alliance with the Congress and held it responsible for the plight of backward castes. “We do not gain from an alliance with the Congress, whereas the vote transfer is per- fect in an SP-BSP tie-up,” Mayawati had said. Drawing a parallel between the Congress and the BJP, she had said while the former had imposed Emergency in the country, the latter was respon- sible for the current state of “undeclared Emergency”. Azad on Sunday accused the BJP of dividing the coun- try for power and claimed that the saffron party had failed to fulfil any of its poll promises. “The coming Lok Sabha election is a battle to unite India and safeguard the democratic values,” he said. Attacking Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Congress leader said, “Modi is not con- cerned about the country, he is bothered about his own chair. One of the biggest scams has taken place during the tenure of this Government. The Government has not gone for a probe. Not going for a probe does not mean that the scam has not been committed.” Stating that the Congress had always put the country before everything else, he cited the examples of the party sac- rificing power in Jammu and Kashmir to strengthen Sheikh Abdullah and how it had sac- rificed power to put an end to terrorism in Mizoram. “The Congress has been fighting for the rights of the poor, farmers, backward castes and Dalits since even before Independence and after Independence, it is following the same ideology,” he said. On the possibilities of an alliance with the Ajit Singh-led Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD), Azad said he would not like to speak to the media about it. I n a clear indication that the BJP is now ready to accom- modate leaders in 75-year age category in important posi- tions, the party on Sunday appointed senior legislator Gulab Chand Kataria as the Leader of Opposition in the Rajasthan Assembly. The 74- year-old Kataria was also select- ed as the leader of the BJP leg- islature party while seven-time MLA Rajendra Rathore was chosen as his deputy. Former Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje, who has now been completely marginalised in the BJP scheme of things, proposed the name of Kataria as the leader of BJP legislature party, which was seconded by the party MLAs unanimously. “There was only one pro- posal for the post,” the party’s national general secretary Arun Singh told reporters after the meeting. He said Rathore was chosen as the deputy leader by Kataria. Kataria’s elevation shows that the BJP has decided to downsize Raje, who is not on the best terms with the Central leaders. Though Raje herself proposed the name of Kataria, it’s well known that Kataria has been her nemesis in the Rajasthan politics for a long time. Kataria will also be the pro- tem speaker to conduct the first meeting of the newly elected Assembly. He is an eight-time MLA and was Home Minister in the former Vasundhara Raje Government. Kataria was first elected as MLA in 1977, then in 1980. He has won all Assembly elections since 1993, remaining a mem- ber of the House. Governor Kalyan Singh will administer him oath of office on Monday. Rathore has earlier served as the Parliamentary Affairs Minister in the State. Union HRD Minister and party’s poll incharge in the State Prakash Javadekar, national spokesperson Sudhanshu Trivedi and party’s State president Madan Lal Saini were present in the meeting. T he Rajasthan police on Friday night arrested an Army jawan posted in Jaisalmer after he was alleged- ly honey-trapped by a Pakistan- based ISI operative whom he met on the Facebook. The jawan has been accused of passing crucial information to the Pakistani agent. The Pakistani agent under the assumed name of Anika Chopra claimed to be an Army Captain of the Military Nursing Corps and in her profile picture she is seen wearing a green saree with a pretty smile on her face. Fifty more jawans are under the scanner of intelli- gence agencies. The honey trapping incident comes even as the intelligence agencies had in the past flagged con- cerns over such tactics of the ISI. Sepoy Somveer Singh, posted with an armoured unit in Jaisalmer, was arrested after he was caught sharing sensitive information and pictures of his location and army exercises with the Pakistani agent. It was clear to both military intelligence and to Rajasthan Anti Terrorism Squad (ATS) that Chopra was a Pakistani agent who had honey-trapped not just Singh many other fellow soldiers as well. Singh who is married claimed that he did not know of Chopra’s antecedents till she started blackmailing him. Singh had met Anika on Facebook in 2016 shortly after being commissioned into the Army. Singh, who hails from Rohtak, was flattered when a lady officer approached him with a friend request. The relationship between the two soon turned so inti- mate that Singh is said to have even made up his mind to divorce his wife and marry Anika. Oblivious from the sur- veillance on him, Singh was being tracked by the MI after regular phone calls on his number were being received from a Jammu number and continued for months, trigger- ing alarm bells in the covert agency. Subsequent tracking of Singh’s Facebook chats revealed that Anika was operating from Pakistan. S heila Dikshit, the three-time Chief Minister who ran the national Capital for 15 con- secutive years till getting a major drubbing in the 2013 Assembly election at the hands of Arvind Kejriwal, has come out of the political hibernation to head the Delhi unit of the Congress. Famous for not mincing her words, the veteran Congress leader believes her party will bounce back to power on its own strength, and is dead against stitching up any pre-poll alliance, ruling out any truck with the Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in Delhi for the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections. In an interview to The Pioneer’s Swarn Kumar Anand and Asad, Dikshit said Congress’ prospects are bright as people are growing weary of non-Congress Governments. Excerpts: For almost three years, you have been away from active politics. Now the Congress has entrusted you with an important task of steering the Delhi unit of the party. How do you feel? “I am related to Delhi in a very special way. I was educat- ed and brought up here. I have spent my entire political career here. So for me it is a come- back. Whatever I can do for my party and to Delhi, I will be very happy to do it. I didn’t seek it (the Delhi Congress chief post), I got it. And I didn’t reject it; in fact, I welcomed it.” Now, as head of the Delhi Congress, what future do you envision for the party in the Capital, say after one year, in 2020 Assembly polls? “You see, the future of the Congress is bright. In Delhi, one of the competitors is the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP). But it is a small party, and it has won just by making false promises to the people: free power, free water, etc. We have lost two elections to them. But I am certain that the Congress will make a comeback in Delhi, because even now people still remember 15 years of the Congress rule. As time goes by, they are remembering it more.” In the last two Assembly elections in Delhi, the BJP almost retained its vote per- centage, but the AAP ate into the Congress’ votes, and dent- ed its prospects. But recently, speculation about alliance with the AAP has been doing the rounds. And in fact, this is one of the covert reasons for Ajay Maken’s resignation from State unit chief post. What is your take on alliance? “I am not for any kind of alliance with the AAP at all. As a party we have lost one or two elections. But it doesn’t matter; as recently we won four elec- tions and I am sure we will make a comeback. It (Congress) is a tradi- tional old party of the country. We should not be discouraged by defeats by the AAP. We will pick up momentum on our own, without any alliance.” Despite opinion polls giv- ing the Congress a good chance in UP Assembly elections, you refused to accept CM candidature. Did you see the writing on wall that the party will not do well? “It was not about seeing the writing on the wall. I had taken a time out from active politics as I was the Governor of Kerala, and when I came back from there (to UP) I thought it was not the right time for me to enter active pol- itics. It was party’s decision to send me there. Yes, there was some assumption that the party will project me as CM candidate, but once they decided to go for alliance with the SP, I bowed down to that. We were doing good on our own, but the col- lective will of the party had to be honoured.” What makes you so con- fident that voters will again support the Congress? What is your plan? “We are going to come out with a policy, an all India policy. The immediate target is the Lok Sabha polls, not the city election. Right now, I am very enthused with the fact that peo- ple are showing confidence in the Congress. I have seen it in the last two days as there has been long queues here (her residence). This shows that people are again turning back to the Congress as they don’t have good experience with non- Congress Governments.” T he controversy surrounding the unceremonious removal of Alok Verma as CBI director by the Prime Minister- led panel refuses to die down. Justice AK Sikri, who backed Modi for removing Verma, on Sunday evening declined a plum post-retirement London posting even as the Congress sought “immediate removal” of the chief vigilance commis- sioner, alleging the Government had made him act like a “puppet” to “escape a probe” into the Rafale deal. After The Print portal reported that the Government has suggested to post Justice Sikri as member of London- based Commonwealth Secretariat Arbitral Tribunal (CSAT) after his retirement in March 6, 2019, social media was flooded with scandalous comments questioning the credibility of Justice Sikri for supporting Prime Minister for removing Verma as the CBI director within 24 hours of being reinstated by the Supreme Court. Retired Justice AK Patnaik’s revelations that the no corruption charges were found against Verma was also being flagged in the social media. Justice Sikri’s plum London tribunal posting was for five years and as per the rules of tri- bunal, the judges were allowed extension of another five years also. India is a member of this Tribunal and Sikri will be expected to be the president of this Tribunal by rotation of the posts among the member countries in the Commonwealth. In the evening, stung by the criticism, Justice Sikri, who enjoys a high reputation as an uncompressing judge, wrote to Law Ministry that he is declining this post retirement job in London. Meanwhile, attacking the CVC, the Congress demanded his immediate sacking. “We seek the removal, the depar- ture, the exit of the collabora- tor for violating the Constitution -- the CVC (chief vigilance commissioner). He must go. It is irrelevant whether he resigns or is sacked, but he must go,” Congress spokesper- son Abhishek Manu Singhvi said at AICC Press confer- ence. The Congress alleged that CVC KV Chowdary is being made to “act like a puppet” to avoid any probe into the Rafale case. “Till now, we have been told that only the CBI was the ‘caged parrot’ but we are now seeing a new ‘vigilant’ slave of the Government, a collabora- tor for violating the constitu- tion of the Central Vigilance Commission,” the Congress spokesperson alleged, taking a swipe at the Modi Government. “The CVC has been acting like an ambassador for Asthana (CBI Special Director Rakesh Asthana), lobbying for Asthana, and acting as an agent and messenger for the Government, to do their hatch- et jobs,” Singhvi alleged. P rime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday attacked the previous Congress Government for its inability to bring Kartarpur Sahib under India during partition. Releasing a commemora- tive coin as part of the 350th birth anniversary celebrations of 10th Sikh guru Guru Gobind Singh, Modi also came down on the Congress for the 1984 riots that took place following the assassination of the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. Referring to the Kartapur Sahib corridor, he said now devotees do not have to look at the shrine in Pakistan using binoculars and they could visit the place without visa using the corridor. A civil surgeon posted in Ujjain district hospital has been removed after a video purportedly showing him inti- mated with a nurse in an oper- ation theatre went viral on social media. District Collector Shashank Mishra told that the doctor has been removed from his post for the behaviour not expected from an officer. The undated clip purport- edly shows the civil surgeon (CS) kissing a woman in an operation theatre. "I have removed him from the post of civil surgeon of the district hospital," Ujjain district col- lector Shashank Mishra said, adding that he has also issued a notice seeking the senior doctor's explanation. The civil surgeon has been replaced with Dr PN Verma, he said. To a query, the Collector said he was waiting for reply of the civil surgeon who has been on leave for past two days. When contacted, District Chief Medical and Health Officer (DCMHO) Dr Mohan Malviya said Divisional Commissioner is expected to order an enquiry into the incident. Official sources said the woman seen in the video is a nurse with the district hospital while the operation theatre is believed to be the one in the same hospital. Dr Malviya refused to comment when asked if the clip was shot in the operation theatre. Local police said they have not received any complaint so far. RNI Regn. No. MPENG/2004/13703, Regd. No. L-2/BPLON/41/2006-2008

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Aday after it was left highand dry by the Samajwadi

Party (SP) and the BahujanSamaj Party (BSP) forging analliance, the Congress onSunday announced it will con-test all the 80 Lok Sabha seatsin Uttar Pradesh on its ownstrength. However, theCongress has kept the doors ofa possible alliance open sayingthe Congress would accom-modate any secular force capa-ble of taking on the rulingBharatiya Janata Party in theLok Sabha election.

The Congress has not beenin power in Uttar Pradeshsince the Babri Masjid demo-lition in 1992. The State hasbeen governed alternately byMayawati and Akhilesh Yadav’sSamajwadi Party.

But the Congress plan tocontest the bulk of Lok Sabhaseats is expected to cut into thevotes of the alliance. It is alsoexpected to irk Mayawati andAkhilesh, who have lent sup-port to the CongressGovernments in MadhyaPradesh.

After a brainstorming ses-sion with senior party leaders,Congress general secretary andincharge of UP Ghulam NabiAzad, said, “There was ademand from the party rankand file for contesting the elec-tions alone in UP, which hadbeen accepted by the leader-ship and now the party willcontest the elections with fullstrength.”

Announcing that theCongress is ready to accom-

modate some secular politicalparties in their alliance in UP,it said that very soon the lead-ership will start selecting thecandidates and party presi-dent Rahul Gandhi will addresspublic rallies at different partsof the State.

Addressing a Press confer-ence here on Sunday GhulamNabi Azad said, “The Congresswill contest on all the 80 LokSabha seats in Uttar Pradesh,and defeat the BJP.” Azad alsoexpressed hope that the

Congress will double its tally ofseats, which it had secured inthe 2009 Lok Sabha elections.During the 2009 Lok Sabhaelections, the Congress hadbagged 21 seats.

To a question whether hisparty will not forge a coalitionwith any political party, Azadsaid, “If any political party iswilling to join hands, and theCongress feels that it can fightthe BJP, then it will be definitelybe accommodated.”

On the Congress being left

out of the SP-BSP alliance, theCongress general secretarysaid: “We wanted that Congressshould have been a part of thegrand alliance (against the BJP)in UP. But, if someone does notwant to walk along, then noth-ing could be done.” On thepost-poll alliance with the SPand BSP, Azad said that at thenational level, the Congresswelcomes all the secularregional parties.

Replying to another ques-tion on SP-BSP alliance, Azad

said, “The Congress workersare not at all disappointed onbeing left out of the alliance.On the contrary, they are say-ing that the party would havehad to contest on 25 Lok Sabhaseats, but now they would becontesting on all the 80 seats ofthe State.” On possibilities of analliance with the Rashtriya LokDal, Azad said that he wouldnot like to speak to the mediaon this issue.

Announcing that verysoon party president RahulGandhi will launch rallies atdifferent places in the State onsupport of the party candidates,Azad, who is the Leader of theOpposition in the Rajya Sabha,said that some regional partiescan too join them in the Statethus predicting the inclusion ofRashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) intheir fold. Claiming that thereis issue of leadership among theanti-BJP parties and the issueof the next Prime Ministerwill be decided after the elec-tions.

On Saturday, BSP chiefMayawati and SP presidentAkhilesh Singh Yadavannounced their parties wouldcontest 38 seats each and leaveout two seats — Amethi andRae Bareily — for the Congress.Mayawati said her party nevergained from an alliance withthe Congress and held itresponsible for the plight ofbackward castes.

“We do not gain from analliance with the Congress,whereas the vote transfer is per-fect in an SP-BSP tie-up,”Mayawati had said.

Drawing a parallel between

the Congress and the BJP, shehad said while the former hadimposed Emergency in thecountry, the latter was respon-sible for the current state of“undeclared Emergency”.

Azad on Sunday accusedthe BJP of dividing the coun-try for power and claimed thatthe saffron party had failed tofulfil any of its poll promises.

“The coming Lok Sabhaelection is a battle to unite Indiaand safeguard the democraticvalues,” he said.

Attacking Prime MinisterNarendra Modi, the Congressleader said, “Modi is not con-cerned about the country, he isbothered about his own chair.One of the biggest scams hastaken place during the tenureof this Government. TheGovernment has not gone fora probe. Not going for a probedoes not mean that the scamhas not been committed.”

Stating that the Congresshad always put the countrybefore everything else, he citedthe examples of the party sac-rificing power in Jammu andKashmir to strengthen SheikhAbdullah and how it had sac-rificed power to put an end toterrorism in Mizoram.

“The Congress has beenfighting for the rights of thepoor, farmers, backward castesand Dalits since even beforeIndependence and afterIndependence, it is followingthe same ideology,” he said.

On the possibilities of analliance with the Ajit Singh-ledRashtriya Lok Dal (RLD), Azadsaid he would not like to speakto the media about it.

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In a clear indication that theBJP is now ready to accom-

modate leaders in 75-year agecategory in important posi-tions, the party on Sundayappointed senior legislatorGulab Chand Kataria as theLeader of Opposition in theRajasthan Assembly. The 74-year-old Kataria was also select-ed as the leader of the BJP leg-islature party while seven-timeMLA Rajendra Rathore waschosen as his deputy.

Former Chief MinisterVasundhara Raje, who has nowbeen completely marginalisedin the BJP scheme of things,proposed the name of Katariaas the leader of BJP legislatureparty, which was seconded bythe party MLAs unanimously.

“There was only one pro-posal for the post,” the party’snational general secretary ArunSingh told reporters after themeeting. He said Rathore waschosen as the deputy leader byKataria.

Kataria’s elevation showsthat the BJP has decided todownsize Raje, who is not onthe best terms with the Centralleaders. Though Raje herselfproposed the name of Kataria,it’s well known that Kataria hasbeen her nemesis in theRajasthan politics for a longtime.

Kataria will also be the pro-tem speaker to conduct the firstmeeting of the newly electedAssembly. He is an eight-timeMLA and was Home Minister

in the former Vasundhara RajeGovernment.

Kataria was first elected asMLA in 1977, then in 1980. Hehas won all Assembly electionssince 1993, remaining a mem-ber of the House. GovernorKalyan Singh will administerhim oath of office on Monday.

Rathore has earlier servedas the Parliamentary AffairsMinister in the State.

Union HRD Minister andparty’s poll incharge in theState Prakash Javadekar,national spokespersonSudhanshu Trivedi and party’sState president Madan Lal Sainiwere present in the meeting.

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The Rajasthan police onFriday night arrested an

Army jawan posted inJaisalmer after he was alleged-ly honey-trapped by a Pakistan-based ISI operative whom hemet on the Facebook.

The jawan has beenaccused of passing crucialinformation to the Pakistaniagent.

The Pakistani agent underthe assumed name of AnikaChopra claimed to be an ArmyCaptain of the Military NursingCorps and in her profile pictureshe is seen wearing a greensaree with a pretty smile on herface. Fifty more jawans areunder the scanner of intelli-gence agencies. The honeytrapping incident comes evenas the intelligence agencieshad in the past flagged con-cerns over such tactics of theISI. Sepoy Somveer Singh,posted with an armoured unitin Jaisalmer, was arrested afterhe was caught sharing sensitiveinformation and pictures of hislocation and army exerciseswith the Pakistani agent.

It was clear to both militaryintelligence and to Rajasthan

Anti Terrorism Squad (ATS)that Chopra was a Pakistani agent who hadhoney-trapped not just Singhmany other fellow soldiers aswell. Singh who is marriedclaimed that he did not knowof Chopra’s antecedents till shestarted blackmailing him.

Singh had met Anika onFacebook in 2016 shortly afterbeing commissioned into theArmy.

Singh, who hails fromRohtak, was flattered when alady officer approached himwith a friend request.

The relationship betweenthe two soon turned so inti-mate that Singh is said to haveeven made up his mind todivorce his wife and marryAnika.

Oblivious from the sur-veillance on him, Singh wasbeing tracked by the MI afterregular phone calls on hisnumber were being receivedfrom a Jammu number andcontinued for months, trigger-ing alarm bells in the covertagency.

Subsequent tracking ofSingh’s Facebook chats revealedthat Anika was operating fromPakistan.

Sheila Dikshit, the three-timeChief Minister who ran the

national Capital for 15 con-secutive years till getting amajor drubbing in the 2013Assembly election at the handsof Arvind Kejriwal, has comeout of the political hibernationto head the Delhi unit of theCongress.

Famous for not mincingher words, the veteranCongress leader believes herparty will bounce back topower on its own strength, andis dead against stitching up anypre-poll alliance, ruling outany truck with the Kejriwal-ledAam Aadmi Party (AAP) inDelhi for the forthcoming LokSabha elections. In an interviewto The Pioneer’s Swarn KumarAnand and Asad, Dikshit saidCongress’ prospects are brightas people are growing weary ofnon-Congress Governments.

Excerpts: For almost three years,

you have been away fromactive politics. Now theCongress has entrusted youwith an important task ofsteering the Delhi unit of theparty. How do you feel?

“I am related to Delhi in avery special way. I was educat-ed and brought up here. I havespent my entire political careerhere. So for me it is a come-back. Whatever I can do for myparty and to Delhi, I will bevery happy to do it. I didn’t seekit (the Delhi Congress chiefpost), I got it. And I didn’t rejectit; in fact, I welcomed it.”

Now, as head of the DelhiCongress, what future do youenvision for the party in theCapital, say after one year, in2020 Assembly polls?

“You see, the future of theCongress is bright. In Delhi,

one of the competitors is theAam Aadmi Party (AAP). Butit is a small party, and it haswon just by making false

promises to the people: freepower, free water, etc. We havelost two elections to them. ButI am certain that the Congress

will make a comeback in Delhi,because even now people stillremember 15 years of theCongress rule. As time goes by,they are remembering it more.”

In the last two Assemblyelections in Delhi, the BJPalmost retained its vote per-centage, but the AAP ate intothe Congress’ votes, and dent-ed its prospects. But recently,speculation about alliancewith the AAP has been doingthe rounds. And in fact, thisis one of the covert reasons forAjay Maken’s resignationfrom State unit chief post.What is your take on alliance?

“I am not for any kind ofalliance with the AAP at all. Asa party we have lost one or twoelections. But it doesn’t matter;as recently we won four elec-tions and I am sure we willmake a comeback.

It (Congress) is a tradi-

tional old party of the country.We should not be discouragedby defeats by the AAP. We willpick up momentum on ourown, without any alliance.”

Despite opinion polls giv-ing the Congress a good chance in UP Assemblyelections, you refused toaccept CM candidature. Didyou see the writing on wall that the party will not dowell?

“It was not about seeing thewriting on the wall. I hadtaken a time out from activepolitics as I was the Governorof Kerala, and when I cameback from there (to UP) Ithought it was not the righttime for me to enter active pol-itics. It was party’s decision tosend me there.

Yes, there was someassumption that the party willproject me as CM candidate,

but once they decided to go foralliance with the SP, I boweddown to that. We were doinggood on our own, but the col-lective will of the party had tobe honoured.”

What makes you so con-fident that voters will againsupport the Congress? Whatis your plan?

“We are going to comeout with a policy, an all Indiapolicy. The immediate target isthe Lok Sabha polls, not the cityelection. Right now, I am veryenthused with the fact that peo-ple are showing confidence inthe Congress.

I have seen it in the last twodays as there has been longqueues here (her residence).This shows that people areagain turning back to theCongress as they don’t havegood experience with non-Congress Governments.”

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The controversy surroundingthe unceremonious

removal of Alok Verma as CBIdirector by the Prime Minister-led panel refuses to die down.Justice AK Sikri, who backedModi for removing Verma, onSunday evening declined aplum post-retirement Londonposting even as the Congresssought “immediate removal” ofthe chief vigilance commis-sioner, alleging theGovernment had made him actlike a “puppet” to “escape aprobe” into the Rafale deal.

After The Print portalreported that the Governmenthas suggested to post JusticeSikri as member of London-based CommonwealthSecretariat Arbitral Tribunal(CSAT) after his retirement inMarch 6, 2019, social mediawas flooded with scandalous

comments questioning thecredibility of Justice Sikri forsupporting Prime Minister forremoving Verma as the CBIdirector within 24 hours ofbeing reinstated by theSupreme Court.

Retired Justice AKPatnaik’s revelations that the nocorruption charges were foundagainst Verma was also beingflagged in the social media.

Justice Sikri’s plum Londontribunal posting was for fiveyears and as per the rules of tri-bunal, the judges were allowedextension of another five yearsalso.

India is a member of thisTribunal and Sikri will beexpected to be the president ofthis Tribunal by rotation of theposts among the membercountries in theCommonwealth.

In the evening, stung by thecriticism, Justice Sikri, whoenjoys a high reputation as anuncompressing judge, wroteto Law Ministry that he isdeclining this post retirementjob in London.

Meanwhile, attacking theCVC, the Congress demandedhis immediate sacking. “We

seek the removal, the depar-ture, the exit of the collabora-tor for violating theConstitution -- the CVC (chiefvigilance commissioner). Hemust go. It is irrelevant whetherhe resigns or is sacked, but hemust go,” Congress spokesper-son Abhishek Manu Singhvisaid at AICC Press confer-ence.

The Congress alleged thatCVC KV Chowdary is beingmade to “act like a puppet” toavoid any probe into the Rafalecase.

“Till now, we have beentold that only the CBI was the‘caged parrot’ but we are nowseeing a new ‘vigilant’ slave ofthe Government, a collabora-tor for violating the constitu-tion of the Central VigilanceCommission,” the Congressspokesperson alleged, taking aswipe at the ModiGovernment.

“The CVC has been actinglike an ambassador for Asthana(CBI Special Director RakeshAsthana), lobbying forAsthana, and acting as an agentand messenger for theGovernment, to do their hatch-et jobs,” Singhvi alleged.

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Prime Minister NarendraModi on Sunday attacked

the previous CongressGovernment for its inability tobring Kartarpur Sahib underIndia during partition.

Releasing a commemora-tive coin as part of the 350thbirth anniversary celebrationsof 10th Sikh guru Guru Gobind

Singh, Modi also came downon the Congress for the 1984riots that took place following the assassination ofthe then Prime Minister IndiraGandhi. Referring to theKartapur Sahib corridor, hesaid now devotees do not haveto look at the shrine in Pakistanusing binoculars and theycould visit the place withoutvisa using the corridor.

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Acivil surgeon posted inUjjain district hospital has

been removed after a videopurportedly showing him inti-mated with a nurse in an oper-ation theatre went viral onsocial media. District CollectorShashank Mishra told that thedoctor has been removed fromhis post for the behaviour notexpected from an officer.

The undated clip purport-edly shows the civil surgeon(CS) kissing a woman in anoperation theatre. "I haveremoved him from the post ofcivil surgeon of the districthospital," Ujjain district col-lector Shashank Mishra said,adding that he has also issueda notice seeking the seniordoctor's explanation.

The civil surgeon has beenreplaced with Dr PN Verma, hesaid. To a query, the Collectorsaid he was waiting for reply ofthe civil surgeon who has beenon leave for past two days.When contacted, District ChiefMedical and Health Officer(DCMHO) Dr Mohan Malviyasaid Divisional Commissioneris expected to order an enquiryinto the incident.

Official sources said thewoman seen in the video is anurse with the district hospitalwhile the operation theatre isbelieved to be the one in thesame hospital. Dr Malviyarefused to comment whenasked if the clip was shot in theoperation theatre. Local policesaid they have not received anycomplaint so far.

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The JAH Group of Hospitals,the largest hospital group in

the Gwalior Chambal Divisionhas appealed to the public,especially the social organisa-tions and business communi-ty to lend a hand to improvethe situation in the hospital.

Dr Ashok Mishra, theSuperintendent of the hospital,has called for community par-ticipation so that the health sys-tem in the hospital can beimproved. According to theMedical Superintendent, thefocus of the public participationis to strengthen the health caresystem in the various depart-ments.

Speaking to the media per-sons, Dr Mishra said that theprimary focus will be the OPDsection where more than thou-sand patients from variouscorners of the division comeevery day. He added that thereis a shortage of proper furniturefor the doctors and patients tosit; whatever furniture is there

is old and unusable. He askedthe public to come forward anddonate furniture for the OPD.

Dr Mishra further saidthat the Indian MedicalAssociation has alreadypledged to donate to theMadhav Dispensary furniturevalued at �25,000.00. He alsoasked the public not to donatemoney in cash but to providethe necessary items, like fur-niture, blankets, bed sheets,light fittings, carpets etc. Headded that if the donors so wishthe can have their namesimprinted on the items theydonate.

Dr Mishra further saidthat the city has more than fivehundred social organisationsand various clubs. He opinedthat even if half of them comeforward with a helping hand,most of the problems in thehospital can be solved.

The MedicalSuperintendent further saidthat anyone who wishes todonate any material to thehospital can contact him on7999656804.

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During an hour long dramaat the Toll Barrier situated

in Panihar, a village nearGwalior, the manager andanother employee of the Tollwere brutally beaten up beforebeing abducted by a Dhabaowner and his sons.

The incident occurred yes-terday night when the tollemployee asked the passengerof a jeep for the toll fee. Theowner of the jeep, one KalyanSingh Solanki who owns adhaba got aggrieved at this andshouted at the toll employees.He threatened to kill theemployees and hurled abuses atthem before fleeing from there.

Around midnight Solankireturned with his three sons,Jayant Solanki, SatyendraSolanki, Pushpendra Solankiand two other people and bru-tally beat up the employee andthe manager. After creatingscenes of terror for about onehour, the goons took away themanager and one employee,named Vipin and kept themcaptive at the dhaba.

On being alerted aboutthe incident, the GhatigaonSDOP, Praveen Astana alongwith police force raided thedhaba and rescued the captivesbefore taking them to the near-by hospital.

Meanwhile, Solanki andhis three sons ran off after see-ing the police. According tosources in the police various,police parties have been sentout to catch them. At the timeof filing this report, one mis-creant, named Sonu Yadav hasbeen arrested. The police haveregistered cases under varioussections pertaining to armedassault, abduction and attemptto murder.

���>>����������� �-���#

Arushi organised ‘The 13thCar Rally for the Blind’

here on Sunday. DilipSuryawanshi, MD DilipBuildcon and Sarit KumarChoudhary from IGRMS werepresent as the Chief Guest andflagged off the first vehiclewhich was driven byAruneshwar Singhdeo andnavigator Kamal Bhamore andstarted the rally from DB Mall,MP Nagar, Bhopal.

Many other guests, volun-teers of Arushi and staff werealso present. The Rally was sup-ported by Amway, Directorateof Sports and Youth Welfare,LIC, IGRMS, MP Tourism,Indian Oil Corporation andAquarius.

The rally moved throughclear roads from DB Mall toParyawas Bhawan, MP Nagar,Arera Hills, Jail Road, RavindraBhawan, Professors Colony,Bharat Bhawan, Boat Club andended at IGRMS. Enroute werecheck points to ensure, no-onedrives fast, and all traffic ruleswere strictly followed.

The rally where the vehiclewas driven by a sighted personand the navigator was a blindperson, the route map in Braillewas given to them on the spot.The navigators for the rally

were from all over MadhyaPradesh. The rally coveredaround 30 kms distance with-in the Bhopal Municipal limits.The route of the rally wasmanaged by EventManagement Group-Genius.

Throughout the route, allroad safety norms and speedlimits were strictly followed astold by the event managerNeeraj Gulati from Genius-aCreative group who was thecreator of the Route of the rally.This time a quiz was alsoadded with questions aboutArushi which was to be solvedafter the completion of the rally.Arushi transcribed the routemap in Braille.

Competitors finishing with

minimum penalty points weredeclared the winners, as therewas one penalty point for eachminute delay and 5 penaltypoints on entering one minuteearly at the check points. Theprize distribution programmewas organised at Indira GandhiRashtriya Manav Sangrahalaya.SK Chaudhary, Director ManavSangrahalaya, BL Das, RegionalManager CorporateCommunications, JitendraRaje, Managing DirectorEPCO, Shakti Singh fromAmway and Rohit Trivedi fromArushi were present for givingthe prizes to the winners.

The winners were-Shraddha Jhunjhunwala wasadjudged first in Car No; 36

with navigator Priyesh Gupta �10,000), Rahul Choudhary inCar No; 24 with navigatorRamkaran Yadav and PoojaJaiswal in Car No;) with navi-gator Mamta Prajapati stoodsecond with cash prize of�6,000 and Reba Rai in Car No;17 with navigator PremdasHariyale was third in the com-petition and received prize of�4,000 cash.

There were cash prizes byAmway and trophies for firstthree winners by FortuneBuilders and Daikin CoolingSolutions and gifts to all navi-gators by IGRMS. Total 50vehicles participated in therally. The navigators were from30 districts of Madhya Pradesh.There were special prizes forparticipants was completed therally with minimum penaltypoints. A running trophy in thename of Late Rakesh Sharmawho was the regular and mostenthusiast participant was alsogiven to Ravi Gupta.

Out of the 50 participantsonly 10 completed the rallywith all Passage and TimeControl Points. Everyone wassuper excited after the com-pletion of the rally and enjoyeda lot. All participants weregiven Mementos, certificatesand other prizes. BhumikaBirthare was the host of theevent.

���>>����������� �-���#

The second day of Bhopal lit-erature and art Festival

brings fervour of literature andart in campus of BharatBhavan. The first session wasfocused on books of tree expertand conservator PradeepKrishen. Former foresterNishikant Yadav was present asa panelist in the session.

Veteran journalist and for-est lover Abhilash Khandekarwas the moderator of the ses-sion. Khandekar said aboutbooks of Pradeep Krishen thatthere are not many books ontrees, but book written byPradeep is well illustrated witha lot of knowledge. Answeringquestions of AbhilashKhandekar, Pradeep said,“When I was writing the book,my intention was to write abook for those who do notknow about botany. I wanted tomake it fun for common peo-ple. Trees are very amazing andthey can even predict theweather.”

A tree cannot afford mis-calculation as they have toripe food before rain so thatthey can spread seeds forforestation. Krishen alsostressed on the need of plant-

ing native trees. He said that theaim of forestry as practised bythe Britishers was to make for-est productive. The key prin-ciple was to remove those treeswhich are not productive andgrow other trees with financialbenefits. This affects ecologybadly.

If you plant trees which are

adaptable to local ecology yousave a lot of energy and nutri-tion. No one try to understandthis fact. India is home to some-thing like 3,400 native trees. Ifyou compare that, England has17 native trees. We use only 50native trees in our parks out ofmore than 3000 native treesavailable.

Meera Dass introducedaudience from the topic. ErwinNeumayer said that Indian rockarts are very special and Bhopalis a centre of most evolved rockart. There are so many siteswhich are 5000 years old. It isreally special place, but at thesame time, it is very difficult tomanage. Cities are expanding

and the rocks are used in build-ing construction material and Ifear that someday, someonemay use one of the art pieces inconstructing building. Duringhis presentation, he explainedimportant about rock art shel-ters of India.

In this interesting discus-sion, Christopher spoke abouthow he got fascinated towardswriting on Indian mythology. Healso spoke about sound energy.Christopher said that only Indiadoesn’t have mythological sto-ries, but there are a lot of manysuch stories from around theworld which are based on peo-ple and things, with which wecan identify with. He said thatwe have rakshasas mentioned inour stories, who are very iden-tical with dinosaurs, becausethey are mentioned as hugeand dangerous creatures.

The next session was a can-did discussion by the youngauthor, AnujTiwari, on hisfourth book, I Tagged Her In MyHeart. The moderator of the ses-sion was Richa Sinha. On beingasked about his book and theinspiration, Anuj quoted, “Ihave taken excerpts from myown life, be it the scene withmother in the kitchen or thescenes set in the Mumbai.”

���>>���������� �-���#

The State Bankof India (SBI)

here on Sundaylaunched its sec-ond edition ofannual f lagshipprogramme ‘SBIGreen Marathon’to promote sus-tainability. CVenkat Nageswar,D M D( I n t e r n a t i o n a lBanking Group),SBI and RajeshKumar, CGM,Bhopal Circle, SBI,flagged off the eventthat witnessed near-ly 3000 enthusiasticrunners in Bhopal.

Indian Wicketkeeper bats-man Naman Ojha and SubedarGurpreet Singh, Indian sportsshooter and Arjuna Awardwinner also graced the event.The Sunday morning in theTatya Tope Stadium observedparticipants from across thecity running 5, 10, 21 Kmsmarathon, pledging for agreener future.

Senior officials of the bank

also contributed to the ‘Run forGreen’ theme and ran themarathon along with otherparticipants. All the runnerswere given organic t-shirts topromote clean and green cityand their bibs consisted ofseeds for tree plantation postMarathon.

SBI in the next 2 months isalso rolling out its greenmarathon in Chennai,Bhubaneshwar, Chandigarh,

Ahmedabad, Patna and Jaipurwith seven marathon events gotconcluded in New DelhiLucknow, Hyderabad, Mumbai,Bengaluru, Trivandrum andGuwahati in the last threemonths.

SBI General Insurance isthe health partner for SBI GreenMarathon, whereas SBI Life, SBIMutual Funds and SBI Card arealso significantly contributing tothis zero waste event.

���>>����������� �-���#

The event of colours and artGramRang concluded with

a lot of fervor at GandhiBhavan here on Sunday.

The day began withFashion Show on the theme"Bharat ki Santan" which wasbeing judged by SharadhaChaturvedi who is a very wellknown fashion designer, alongwith Neha Saiyad and SwarnLata.

They congratulated the teamfor their good efforts and amaz-ing concept of Gramrang.Various titles were given to theparticipants of Fashion Show as‘Mastani Chaal’, ‘Muskan kiChamkan’ and many more.

Something for everyone andeverywhere GramRang a festivalof folk, color, arts, tradition andculture has marked its concep-tual beginning to bridge the gapbetween the Rural and Urban.Ekta Parishad, Youth and LandAsia, Manav Jeevan Vikas Samiti,Katni have worked together tobring out an event theGramrang.

Ekta Parishad and ManavJeevan Vikas Samiti have beenworking for the development ofvillages for the past severalyears. Gramrang which is aneffort, providing a platform bymaking available a market to allthe farmers and craftsmen,where all the goods and prod-ucts can get fair prices alongwith the celebrations of BaBapu 150, in remembrance ofMahatma Gandhi and KasturbaGandhi and National YouthDay on January 12.

Various local stall thatincludes Manual labour work,Bamboo Jewellery, Khadhicloths, various books on thetopic of peace and non violence,stall named Khadiji, AliveKatni, Ekta, Sanchi and manymore. The evening of the eventwas taken by various dance andsinging performances.

A dance performance wasgiven by Pragya Tiwari on thesong Goomar. Many local songand folk were being performedby Katiya Nritya from Betul.

The overall event had a verygood learning and experience foreach one of them on the journey.

Gramrang an initiative ofANSH and Ekta Parished has agreat impact on everyone.ANSH is an youth organisation,which provides platform to theyouth to showcase the hiddentalent.

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Jehangriabad police havenabbed a 33-year-old drug

peddler and recovered drugsworth �20,000 from his pos-session near Berkhedi area latein the night on Saturday;accused was wanted and washaving a reward of �3000 of hishead.

Police said that acting ona tip-off regarding a man car-rying drugs was nabbed nearBerkhedi and when he wassearched, Cannabis was recov-ered from his possession. The

accused was identified as SonuJoshi a resident of Jehangirabadwho failed to provide details ofthe drugs recovered from hispossession. He was nabbedwhile trying to sell drugs. Thedrugs would be worth �20,000.

Police said that the detailsof procurement and delivery ofthe drugs would be searched inthe further investigation.

After the initial investiga-tion, police have registered acase under sections 8 and 20 ofthe NDPS Act. The policefound that the source of the

drugs and their scheduleddelivery to the customer in thecity and nearby areas would beprobed.

The accused has beenbooked for more than 34 cases.Sonu is on the watchlist ofcriminals of Jehangirabadpolice and has been booked forseveral offences

He was absconding in acase of assault, threatening oflife and extortion registered byJehangirabad police last year.Police said that nexus has to beunearthed and accompliceshave to be searched.

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Manisha Keer, the talentedplayer of the Madhya

Pradesh State ShootingAcademy, bagged a gold medalwhile continuing her brilliantperformance in the Khelo IndiaYouth Games. Manisha Keerearned this medal withAcademy's player Anwar Khanalong with 35 points in the TrapMix Event.

Delhi finished second with32 points and Maharashtra'splayer finished third with 30points. This is the second goldmedal of Manisha Keer in theIndia Youth Games. Prior tothis, Manisha Kwwr has alsowon a gold medal to MadhyaPradesh in the Trap WomenIndividual event.

Besides, in the India YouthGames, the shooting academy'splayer Harshit Binjwa andJabalpur's Shreya Agarwal pairput the bronze medal inMadhya Pradesh at the Under-21 class 10 meter air rifle mixevent.

In the Youth Games,Indore's player Kanya Nayarhas also given a bronze medalto Madhya Pradesh atSwimming 200 meters mid-dayevent. This is his second bronzemedal. Prior to this, Kanya wona bronze medal in the 400m

individual midfield race.Similarly, state weightliftingplayer Kanha Tyagi got 96kilograms of weight and Judoplayer Rohit Kosta gave onebronze medal in MadhyaPradesh for one hundred kilo-grams.

Director Sports and YouthWelfare SL Thoussen congrat-ulated Manisha's brilliant per-formance in the world cham-pionship. The sports directorsaid that an international levelshooting academy has been setup in the capital, throughwhich the sports players of thestate are being provided worldclass sports facilities.

It is noteworthy thatManisha is trained under theguidance of Madhya PradeshShooting Academy TechnicalAdvisor and Chief CoachMansher Singh.

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Important documents andfurniture were gutted in short

circuit borne fire which brokeat Bhopal MunicipalCorporation (BMC) Zoneoffice in Mangalwara late in theevening on Sunday.

The fire which erupted inthe evening soon turned mas-sive. The documents in theroom of zone chairman weredamaged in the fire whichbroke at around 8 pm. The fireerupted at office of Zone num-ber 4 which is situated atMangalwara.

Soon after the fire brokefire brigade was informed andon the receipt of the informa-tion fire tender vehicles werepressed into service.

Fire fighters told that thefire broke out due to short cir-cuit in the room of Zone officelocated at the second floor ofthe building which was con-trolled and pacified before itcould spread to other nearbybuildings.

The fire tenders took morethan two hours to pacify thefire. The loss and other detailswould be provided BMC offi-cials.

The fire was later dousedby around one dozen fire fight-ing vehicles were pressed intoservice on recipient of infor-

mation.The fire caused damage to

the furniture only and no offi-cial papers or any other docu-ment related to wards weredamaged in the fire claimedBMC employee.

Ward officer Amit Tiwariit was short circuit borne firebut no other damage was doneexcept for the furniture in theoffice of zone chairman SanjeevGupta. The area which usual-ly remains crowded in week-days was deserted due toSunday and made the rescuework easy.

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A35-year-old man wasrobbed of �25,000 in cash

by two bike-borne miscreantsby attacking him with sharpedged weapon nearGovindpura electricity officelate in the evening on Saturday.

According to police, thevictim Dinesh Sahu of AshokaGarden was on his way tohome after work at around 7 inthe evening.

The victim works as asalesman of private telecomcompany and after collectionof payment for SIM cards andrecharge vouchers, when he

reached near MPSEBGovindpura, he was attackedby two miscreants who tried torob him and when he resisted,they attacked him with sharpedged weapon injuring him inhis hand.

The victim managed toescape and approached theMP Nagar police and lodgedcomplaint. He stated that hesells SIM cards and rechargevouchers at mobile shops inBhopal and nearby areas and isassigned to collect money forthe same later. On Saturday ataround 7 pm when he was onhis way to home after collec-tion in Anna Nagarh, he was

waylaid by two masked mis-creants riding a black colourPulsar bike without registra-tion number and after stoppingtheir vehicle in-front of hisbike, they started beating himand one of them snatched bagcarrying �25,000 cash, SIMcards and recharge vouchersfrom him and when heopposed, one of the miscreantattacked him injuring victim inhis hand.

Based on complaint, policehave registered a case undersection 392 of the IPC. TheCCTV footages of camerasinstalled near the spot wouldbe investigated.

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In order to maintain the phys-ical fitness along with men-

tal fitness Bhopal branch ofICAI organised premier leaguecricket tournament (tennisball) for its member at Ankurground Bhopal on Saturdayand Sunday.

The tournament is Bat,Ball and Masti. In the tennisball cricket tournament, morethan 120 CharteredAccountants participated.Aruneshwar Singh Deo,Chairman, Sports PromoterGroup inaugurated the eventon Saturday and concludedhere on Sunday. MLA AlokSanjar was present on theoccasion. He appreciated

chartered accountants on theirmultiple abilities to performwith computers and bat too.

Tournament had somespecial features including 1female player and one seniorplayer above 40 was manda-tory to partiipate in everyteam.

There is a new concept ofmagic over in which runsscored by bat shall be doubledwhile in case of any wicketwhen shall be subtracted by 5runs. If player scores 40 runs,then he shall be declaredretired.

There were as many asEight Teams who participatedin the tournament. DISA-11won the championship bydefeating ICDS-11. Man of the

Tournament title went to CAKrishnendra Kochar, CAGovind Rinwa was awarded asBest bowler of the tourna-ment, CA Rishi Loya wasawarded as best Batsman of

the tournament, CA AbhishekJain was awarded as bestFielder of the tournamentwhile CA Jayshree Dewani asbest female player of the tour-nament.

This is the first time everthat a closed tournament inBhopal has been held in whichsuch a large number of CAparticipated. MLA AlokSanjar felicitated the winners.

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The Bhopalites witnessedPunjabi tadka under

Uttaradhikar series. The tradi-tional music and dance per-formance of Punjabi culturewas beautifully presented onSunday at Madhya PradeshState Tribal Museum.

The evening was adornedwith Punjabi Folk Dance andMusic. To begin with theevening, the Punjabi folkdance took over the floor.Notably, Mohammad Irshadand Punjabi Folk Art CentrePatiala gave a splendid per-formance before theBhopalites.

The presentation startedwith Sameer Mahi singing'Hallah hoo' with his fellowartists. After this, Nishat Bano,with fellow artists, performedMere Aala Jat. After this,Nishat Bano presented 'SuhareChere Walia' and 'Surma' infront of the audience.

Artists presented songssuch as 'Mundri' and 'Jugni'.Nishat Bano at the end of his

presentation, singing a num-ber of songs centered on thefestival of Lohri and DullaBhatt, wrapped up his pre-sentation.

Lohri is a famous festivalof north India. It is celebratedone day before MakarSankranti. Lohri is also linkedto a story of Dulla Bhatti.

In the midst of singingperformances, the artists alsopresented an enchanting danceperformance with the dancesperformed on the festivals,festivals and rituals of Punjab.In which the Bhangra andGidda remain prominent.

In this presentation, NishatBano along with 15 artistspresented the performance.During singing and folk danceperformances, Pragati Singh,Jagtar Singh, Pamma, Sandeep,Gagandeep, Harpreet Kaurand Ishaan danced the dancewith their dance skills.

Sameer Mahi accompa-nied Nishat Bano in thesinging, Fakirya on the drum,Bobby on tabla, Vinay on thekeyboard and Harman accom-panied on the octopad.

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Claiming that matters offaith donot come under the

purview of courts, the VishwaHindu Parishad (VHP) onSunday reiterated that theCentre should enact a law forconstruction of Ram temple inAyodhya.

While talking to mediapersons here on Sunday, VHPinternational president VishnuSadashiv Kokje also said asolution to the Ayodhya disputethrough court procedures wasnot in sight at the moment,given the prevailing scenario.

Kokje further said the mat-ters related to religious faithdonot come under the juris-

diction of courts which are runby laws. That is why, we wantthat the Central Governmentshould get a law enacted for theconstruction of a grand Ramtemple soon.

“We have a hunch that inthe coming days, the Ayodhyadispute will linger on in theSupreme Court as in the past,"Kokje, a former judge of theHigh Court of MadhyaPradesh and Rajasthan, added.

He further said that nocourt can decide whether LordRam was born in Ayodhya ornot. That is why, from thebeginning, we have beendemanding a law to constructthe Ram temple, otherwisethe issue will linger on till eter-

nity.Kokje added that the VHP

would hold talks with spiritu-

al leaders to chalk out a strat-egy on the Ram temple issueat the "Dharam Sansad" to be

held at the Prayagraj Kumbhbetween January 31 andFebruary 1.

The VHP internationalchief also alleged that theCongress's "vote-bank poli-tics" was responsible for cre-ating hassles in the construc-tion of the Ram temple.

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A13-year-old girl wasmolested by a 22-year-old

youth while victim was playingnear her home at Berasia in theafternoon on Saturday.

According to the police, thevictim was cycling near herhouse when the accusedJitendra Rajput obstructed herway and took her to a seclud-ed place where he tried tomolest her. The victim raisedalert after which locals and herfather rushed to her rescue. Theaccused was nabbed and hand-ed over to the police. Thepolice have started investiga-tion and registered case ofmolestation.

Meanwhile, a 15-year-oldgirl was molested by 34-year-old man at Qazi Camp underHanumanganj police stationarea on Saturday; accused wasfriend of victim’s father andused to harass her for long, saidpolice.

Police said that the minorvictim lives at Qazi Camp withher parents was molested andharassed by Nafees Khan of thesame area and frustrated overthe constant teasing by the

accused, the victim lodged acomplaint with theHanumanganj police.

The victim lives at homealong with her step-motherand father. The accused used tovisit the home frequently andwould tease and molest herwhich the victim faced forpast few months and recentlyshe reported the act to the hermother after which they lodgeda complaint with the police.

In her complaint the victimstated that on Saturday whenshe was at home accusedarrived and started to molesther. Based on the complaintpolice have registered a case ofmolestation against the accusedand started to search for theaccused. Police suspect that theaccused has crime record andhas been booked for molesta-tion which would be investi-gated.

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Valuables worth �50,000were burgled from

Treasure Apartment underJehangirabad police stationarea on Friday.

According to the police,the victim Rehan Khan alongwith his wife had gone to hisrelatives’ place on January 10and when they returned onSaturday they found that thevaluables were missing.

A complaint was made bythe vict im with theJehangirabad police and inthe complaint the victim hadclaimed that on his return hefound that the locks werebroken and on entering thehouse was found ransacked.The victim claimed that Rs42000 cash and goods werefound burgled. In the bur-glar y loss was around�50,000.

In the burglary the almi-rah which was having thevaluables was targeted and theother valuables were not dis-turbed. The lock of the almi-rah was found broken and thecash which was kept werefound burgled.

The police have regis-tered a case under sections

457 and 380 of the IPC andhave started further investi-gation.

Meanwhile, two womenwho created ruckus andraised allegations against doc-tor and staff of Sanjeevani andDay Care hospital underShahjehanabad police stationare still at large; the twocould be spotted tearing theirclothes in the CCTV footage.

Shahjehanabad policehave started investigation onthe complaint of the hospitalstaff. In the CCTV footages itcould be spotted that thewomen have torn their clotheson their own while theythreatened Dr Arvind Joshiand other staff of raising com-plaint of rape against them.

Police said that one of theaccused Neelofar was operat-ed for kidney stone and latershe was reported with infec-tion and referred to Chirayuand on the next day she cameback to demand refund andwhen the hospital refused theycreated ruckus and threat-ened to lodge complaint.

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Bhopal: Minister for PublicRelations PC Sharma said thatthe personality of Savitri BaiPhule is always inspirational forwomen community. He wasaddressing the Savitri Bai PhuleJyanti Samaroh held at HindiBhavan, Bhopal.

Sharma further mentionedthat works being carried out byJyotiba Phule in the field ofsocial reforms and for eradi-cation of untouchability are stilluseful for the society. Sharmaalso described the ideals ofJyotiba Phule as relevant forsocial development.

On this occasion, Sharmahonoured women for theirremarkable works in the fieldof politics, education, socialworks, sports and arts etc.Eminent citizens and people inlarge number were present onthe occasion.

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Minister for PublicRelations PC Sharma

unveiled bust of the Iron Manof India Sardar Vallabh BhaiPatel at Jawahar Chowk,Bhopal today. He alsolaunched a website of thePatidar community on theoccasion.

Sharma said that contri-bution of Sardar Vallabh Bhai

Patel in building United Indiais incomparable.

He also played an impor-tant role in the freedommovement of the country andthis can never be forgotten.

He stated that effortsmade by the Iron Man ofIndia to make the unity of thecountry everlasting will alwaysbe remembered.

On this occasion, PRMinister Sharma honoured

Prakash Patidar, who hasmade the ‘Statue of Unity’ andMahi Patidar, whose namehas been registered in theGuinness Book of WorldRecord for tattoo making.President of Gujarati SamajSanjay Patel, Former MandiPresident Bhagidar Patidar,Corporators and eminentmembers of the communitywere present in the pro-gramme.

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The Congress party in factwill achieve the target of

winning all 11 Lok Sabha seatsin Chhattisagrh set by BJP,commented Chief MinisterBhupesh Baghel while citingclaims of former ChiefMinister and BJP's NationalVice President Raman Singhtargetting to winning all the 11Lok Sabha seats in state in theupcoming polls.

Baghel while speaking ata Convention of SwarnkarSamaj here on Sunday saidthat BJP's National PresidentAmit Shah had earlier set atarget of 65 plus seats for theparty for recently held assem-bly polls but the target wasachieved by the Congressparty instead of them, he said.

“And now when they(BJP) are setting the target ofwinning 11 Lok Sabha seats,the Congress will achieve thetarget rather than BJP, hesaid.

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The Bharatiya Janata Party’simmediate goal is to win all

11 Lok Sabha seats inChhattisgarh in the upcoming

polls, former Chief MinisterRaman Singh said on Sunday.

On his arrival at the SwamiVivekananda Airport here afterbeing appointed BJP’s NationalVice President, the former

Chief Minister said the respon-sibility of Leader of Oppositionwas given to the State BJPPresident so soon the selectionof party’s new State Presidentis expected.”

“At present I am MLAand as MLA, I will be fulfillingmy responsibility handed overby party organization”, he said.

Notably, BJP is likely tohold the State- level Core

Committee meeting onJanuary 16 in Raipur. Newlyappointed National VicePresident of the party RamanSingh is likely to preside overthe meeting.

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Followed bycomplaint

from formerHome Ministerand senior BJPl e g i s l a t o r ,N a n k i r a mKanwar, theS t a t eG ove r n me nthad orderedprobe againstsenior IPS offi-cer MukeshGupta.

Director General (Jails),Girdhari Nayak would be head-ing the probe Committee.

The Committee will sub-mit its report within twomonths.

Notably, Kanwar duringrecently concluded assembly

session was called on by ChiefMinister Bhupesh Baghelwhere he (Kanwar) handedover a seven-page detailedcomplaint to Chief Ministeragainst the police official anddemanded impartial probe intothe matter.

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With changein political

scenario afterBahujan SamajParty-SamajwadiParty alliance inUttar Pradesh,Janata CongressC h h a t t i s g a r h(JCC) Jogi (J)Supremo Ajit Jogiwould be in NewDelhi for two daysstarting Mondaywhere he will also meet BSP Supremo Mayawati.

Jogi, who is actually going for regularmedical check-ups at Medanta Hospital inNoida, will also meet Mayawati on Tuesdaywhich would also be the occasion of birthdayof BSP Supremo and a decision regarding con-tinuing the current alliance in Lok Sabha polls

too could be taken in the meeting, JCC (J)sources said.

Although JCC (J) was benefitted with thealliance with BSP in recently held assembly pollsin the state, Mayawati was reportedly not sat-isfied with the performance of her own partycandidates in the polls.

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Devotees in Ranchi andJamshedpur lined up at

Gurudwaras on Sunday toimmerse themselves in thecolours of devotion on theoccasion of 352nd 'ParkashParab', the birth anniversary of10th Sikh guru, Guru GobindSingh.

Born in Patna, onDecember 22, 1666, GuruGobind Singh was the son ofGuru Tegh Bahadur, who devot-ed his life to protect religiousfreedom. To protect the peoplefrom being oppressed, GuruGobind Singh established the'Khalsa Panth' in the year 1699.

The devotees participated inspecial prayer ceremonies. Freelangars (holy kitchen) were alsoarranged and prasad (holy food)was distributed to mark theoccasion.

Speaking on the occasion,Punjabi-Hindu BiradariSpokesperson, Annu Chawlasaid, “Guru Gobind Singhinspired people with his knowl-edge of philosophy, his princi-ples, and bravery.”

He added, “On this day,devotees participate in religiouscelebrations and prayersandseek the blessings of GuruGobind Singh. People sharesweets and cold drinks (most-ly sherbet) among the adults andchildren, during the proces-sion.”

At all most all the gurud-

waras in Jamshedpur, recitations

of sacred Gurubani Keertans(holy hymns) by renowned Sikhpreachers of the city to inculcatethe values of Guru GobindSingh among the devotees onthe occasion were held.

A religious procession wastaken out from KitadihGurudwara under the aegis ofCentral GurudwaraPrabandhak Committee

(CGPC), the apex body of Sikhs

in Jamshedpur. The processionwould culminate at SakchiGurudwara in the evening aftermoving through various areas.

"We are celebrating the'Prakash Utsav' Guru GobindSingh's birth anniversary, thetenth guru of Sikhs with happi-ness and fervour. Like every yearwe are taking out a religiousprocession and chanting prayers

to celebrate the birth anniver-

sary of our revered Guru," saidGiani Iqbal Singh, a Sikh leader.

The devotees also chantednumerous prayers while walk-ing along the chariot.

In daredevil acts to depictvictory over evil, Sikh martialart forms like the 'Gatka' werealso performed by trained pro-fessionals. Guru Gobind Singhwas the last of the ten Gurus, the

one who transformed the Sikh

faith. In 1699 he created theKhalsa (Pure), a community ofthe faithful who wore visiblesymbols of their faith andtrained as warriors. Today theKhalsa comprises all practicingSikhs.

A two-day congregationhas been organised at SakchiGurudwara in which the par-ticipants of religious procession

would be felicitated based on

their performances.Meanwhile, Tusu, a tribal

festival, was also observed acrossthe state on Sunday.

Speaking about the festival,Kurumali Language Councilpresident, Raja Ram Mahtosaid, “The unmarried girls makestatue of Tusu and worship it.The festival celebrates respectfor women.”

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������� �����5����� ��� 5�������� �� ������Bhubaneswar: Tension ran high on Sunday after a minor stu-dent of a state-run tribal residential school in Odisha'sKandhamal district delivered a baby girl in her hostel, officialssaid. The Kandhamal district administration took action againstnine persons in connection with the incident.

The 14-year-old girl, a student of Class 8, delivered the babyin the school hostel on Saturday night, Kandhamal DistrictWelfare Officer (DWO) Charulata Mallick said.

The school is run by the SC (scheduled caste) and ST (sched-uled tribe) development department of Odisha. IANS

Page 5:  · Bhopal: >> ˙ ˝-˚˜#- ˝ # ˛# ˘ ˛ ˛ ˘ , - ˘ ˛ * ˘ ˝

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Only 73 judges out of the670 judges serving in var-

ious High Courts are women,the Government has informeda Parliamentary Committee. AtPresent 26 Judges comprisingSupreme Court is having onlythree women judges. TheGovernment also pointed outthat against the sanctionedstrength of 1,079 judges as onMarch 23, 2018, only 670judges are working in 24 HighCourts of the country, leaving409 vacancies.

“There are 73 womenjudges working in differentHigh Courts as on March 23,2018, which in percentageterms is 10.89 per cent of theworking strength,” the depart-ment of Justice in the LawMinistry informed the depart-ment-related StandingCommittee on Law andPersonnel.

Responding to the con-cerns of the Parliamentarypanel on inadequate represen-tation of women and peoplefrom marginalised communi-ties, the ministry said theCentre had been requestingchief justices of High Courtsthat while sending proposalsfor appointment of judges,

“due consideration” be given to“suitable candidates” belongingto scheduled castes, scheduledtribes and other backwardclasses, minorities and women.

“This is being done toensure a fair representation ofdifferent sections of the societyin the higher judiciary,” theGovernment said. It, however,made it clear that there was noproposal to amend Articles124 and 217 of the Constitutionto allow reservation in thehigher judiciary.

“The committee feels thata timeline of six weeks given toChief Minister/Governor maybe reduced to expedite theprocess of appointment ofjudges. It also feels since there

is no proposal to raise theretirement age of judges inhigher judiciary by theGovernment, unnecessarydelay in recruitment of judgesshould be avoided at any cost,”it said.

As of now, Governors andChief Ministers are given sixweeks to recommend propos-al received from the chief jus-tice of the High Court toappoint a candidate as a judge.

There were 24 High Courtswhen the committee had pre-pared its report.

From January 1, the num-ber of high courts have gone upto 25 with Andhra Pradesh andTelangana getting separateHigh Courts.

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The Government will con-struct 44 strategic roads

along the border with Chinaand over 2,100 km of axial andlateral roads in Punjab andRajasthan, abutting Pakistan, aCPWD document shows.

According to an annualreport (2018-19) released ear-lier this month by the CentralPublic Works Department, theagency has been asked to con-struct 44 “strategically impor-tant” roads along the India-China border to ensure quickmobilisation of troops in caseof a conflict.

The nearly 4,000-km-longLine of Actual Control (LAC)between India and Chinatouches areas from Jammu &Kashmir to Arunachal PradeshThe report comes at a timeChina is giving a priority toprojects along its India borders.

Last year, Indian andChinese troops engaged in aface-off at the Doklam tri-junction after the neighbouringcountry had begun building aroad in the area. The standoffended on August 28 followinga mutual agreement underwhich China stopped con-struction of the road and India

withdrew troops. The reportstated that these 44 strategicallyroads along the India-Chinaborder will be constructed at acost of nearly �21,000 crore.

“The CPWD has beenentrusted with construction of44 strategically important roadsalong the Indo-China Borderspanning 5 states of J&K,Himachal Pradesh,Uttarakhand, Sikkim andArunachal Pradesh,” the reportstated.

“The total Cost of work asper DPRs (Detailed ProjectReports) is �21,040 crores(approx.),” the report stated Itsaid the process of approval ofDPRs by the CabinetCommittee on Security (CCS),headed by Prime MinisterNarendra Modi, is underway.

The CPWD report alsostated that lateral and axialroads measuring over 2,100kilometers will be built with acost of around �5,400 crore inRajasthan and Punjab along theIndo-Pakistan border. TheDPRs for this project are underpreparation in CPWD, whichis a major construction agencyof the Central Government.

“A total of 945 km of later-al roads and 533 km of axialroads lie in Rajasthan (tentative

cost �3,700 crores) and 482 kmof lateral roads and 219 km ofaxial roads in Punjab (tentativecost �1,750 crores),” it stated.

The road projects will

secure the vast and remote bor-der areas of Rajasthan andPunjab, it stated. India’s borderwith Pakistan runs throughfour States — Jammu and

Kashmir (1,225 km, whichincludes 740 km of Line ofControl), Rajasthan (1,037km), Punjab (553 km) andGujarat (508 km).

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Terror is rising in India asthe country slipped to 7th

rank in 2018 from 8th rank inthe previous year, according tothe 2018 Global TerrorismIndex of the prestigiousInstitute for Economics &Peace.

Iraq figures at the top in thelist followed by Afghanistan,Nigeria, Syria, Pakistan andSomalia which stands at thesixth position, all in the “veryhigh” category in terms ofimpact. Yemen, Egypt andPhillippines are the three othernations in the world’s top ter-ror hit countries of the worldwhich are in the “high” impactcategory.

Total deaths in India due toterrorism since 2001 have been8,123 and the CommunistParty of India (Maoist) remainsthe most potent terror groupresponsible for most number ofdeaths followed by Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Tayyaba andJaish-e-Mohammad. WhileUnited Nations has bannedthe JeM, the global body’sefforts to ban the Pakistani out-fit’s chief Maulana MasoodAzhar have been repeatedlyblocked by China.

“China’s move is morecurious in view of the fact thatits operatives are increasinglytargeting Chinese assets in theChina-Pakistan EconomicCorridor. The JeM leadershipfeels China is aiding Pakistanin anti-Islamic activities bypressurizing it to take actionagainst jehadis in CPEC. Jehadis considered holy and Islamicby the terror group,” counter-terrorism expert Dr RiturajMate told The Pioneer.

Police and military per-sonnel figure at the top in termsof attacks by target category fol-lowed by private citizens andproperty, Government and

business. This implies that the terror

groups have devised strategiesto hit the uniformed personneleven as the police and militaryare yet to devise effectivecounter strategies to deal withthe terrorists.

“The deadliest group inIndia is the country’s CPI(Maoist). Maoists were respon-sible for 205 deaths and 190 ter-

ror incidentsin India, or 53 percent of the deaths in 2017. TheMaoists…directly opposePrime Minister NarendraModi’s administration and thenationalist Bharatiya JanataParty (BJP). Maoist assailantsfrequently stage attacks againstthe Central Reserve PoliceForce (CRPF) and other armedforces throughout the country’snorthern and central territo-ries,” says the report.

The north Indian state ofJammu and and Kashmir hadthe most deaths in 2017, with102 deaths committed by fivedifferent terror groups, mostnotably LeT, JeM and HizbulMujahideen.

The CPI (Maoist) also fig-ures at the 8th position in theIndex of top 10 perpetratorsorganisations that staged 1416major attacks between 1970 to2011 killing 1889 people.

Other groups in the cate-gory include Irish RepublicanArmy, Revolutionary ArmedForces of Columbia, Talibanand Liberation Tigers of TamilEeelam (LTTE) among others.

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The Centre’s ambitious planto set up 750-bed AIIMS-

like institute at HimachalPradesh’s Bilaspur district hashit a roadblock with a Centralpanel of the UnionEnvironment Ministry ques-tioning the need for diverting40 acres of forest land for itsconstruction, of which atl easteight acres of forest patch hasbeen allocated for dumpingsites.

While the StateGovernment has sought 40acres of forest land, it hasalready provided 59.724 acresof non-forest land for the pro-ject to be spread over 100acres of area.

The project worth �1,351crore will have a medical col-lege with an intake capacity of100 seats and a nursing collegewith 60 seats, 20 specialty andsuper specialty departmentsincluding 15 operation theatres

to be completed in 48 months.Prime Minister Narendra Modihad laid its foundation stone inOctober 2017 at Bilaspur, thenative town of Union HealthMinister JP Nadda.

However, the Forest

Advisory Committee (FAC) ofthe Ministry in its meeting onDecember 19, 2018 deferredthe proposal asking theHimachal PradeshGovernment to justify need fordiverting such a huge patch of

green land. It also expressed itsreservations over the projectproponent’s plan to use eightacres of forest area for twodumping sites (4.5 hactres and3.5 hactres areas respectively).Sources in the Union

Environment Ministry saidthat the proposed area hasaround 8430 trees, of whichmajority are likely to be felled.

The proposal will now bediscussed by the FAC in ameeting on January 15, 2019.Interestingly, the StateGovernment has proposedcompensatory afforestation inthe forest land itself in lieu ofthe forest land it is seeking forthe construction of the project.

However, officials from theState Government have justi-fied their move, claiming thatthere is no non-forest govern-ment land available in the dis-trict Bilaspur as all governmentland or land over which gov-ernment has proprietary rights,has been classified as forestland. “As such, no non-forestland is available for raisingcompensatory afforestation inlieu of the forest land proposedfor the construction of theproject,” an official argued.Consequently, compensatory

afforestation has been pro-posed over the forest land, hesaid.

Regarding use of forestland for dumping site, the offi-cial said that as majority of thenon-forest land is existing onthe hill side i.e. above theNational Highway which iscrossing the proposed site inthe middle, it is not possible todevelop dumping sites on theupper side of the non-forestland.

Moreover, the slope of thenon-forest site is not suitablefor a dumping site, the officialpointed out.

The AIIMS-like institutesare being developed by theCentre across the States underPradhan Mantri SwasthyaSuraksha Yojna (PMSSY) withan aim to correct regionalimbalances in the availability ofaffordable healthcare servicesand also to augment facilitiesfor quality medical educationin the country.

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AParliamentary panel hasslammed the Union Ayush

Ministry for adopting lack-adaisical approach in takingconcrete action against default-ers in order to ensure effectiveregulation of the alternate tra-ditional medicines ofAyurveda, Siddha, Unani andHomeopathy (ASU&H). It haspitched in for a new stringentlaw to strictly deal withunscrupulous herbal drugmanufacturers for misleadingand duping innocent patientsand playing with their lives.

The panel headed by RajyaSabha MP Ram Gopal Yadavwas of the view that merelyissuing show cause notices,departmental action etc wasnot sufficient to check themenace of spurious drugs ofASU&H.

In its report submitted toParliament, the panel said,“Despite repeated recommen-dations of the Committee tohave stringent measures totackle the problem of failedsamples, the Ministry (Ayush)seems not to have done any-thing in this regard. TheCommittee takes serious noteof the lackadaisical approach ofthe Ministry in not takingconcrete action against default-ers in order to ensure effectiveregulation of ASU&H drugs.

“The Committee wouldlike to emphasize that sucherring manufacturers need tobe brought to book and dealtwith strictly for misleadingand duping innocent patientsand playing with their lives.

“The Committee, accord-ingly, recommends to theMinistry to lay down stringentregulations which can act as adeterrent for erring manufac-turers.”

The panel emphasised thatthe Ministry must focus onincreasing the credibility of

AYUSH systems by promotingscientific research and uphold-ing strict quality control ofAYUSH drugs. The panel alsocalled for increased funds toatleast 5 per cent of the totalHealth Budget of the HealthMinistry to help boost thepotential of the Ayush sector.

The Ministry last year in awritten reply in Lok Sabhahad stated that increasing num-ber of misleading advertise-ments of AYUSH products arebeing reported in recent years.

About 809 complaints ofadvertisements pertaining toAYUSH and herbal medi-cines/products have beenreceived during the periodfrom April, 2015 to March,2018. Advertising StandardsCouncil of India (ASCI), withwhom Ministry has signed aMoU for suo moto monitoringof AYUSH advertisementsappearing in the media, report-ed 732 complaints fromJanuary 20th, 2017 to January19, 2018.

The Ayush Ministry inDecember last year had issuednotification prohibiting themanufacturers and agents ofASU &H drugs to not floatadvertisements related to anydrug that are used for diagno-sis, cure, mitigation, treatmentor prevention of any diseases ordisorders without validatingfrom the competent authorities.

As per the notification,the manufacturers of thesedrugs have to apply for theUnique Identification Numberfor the publication of adver-tisements. They will not beallowed to publish advertise-ments within the period ofthree months from the date ofapplication of this notifica-tion.

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The EnforcementDirectorate has arrested an

ex-manager of a Maharashtra-based cooperative society forhis alleged involvement inlaundering crores of fundsusing the overseas hawalaroute.

The agency saidMachindra Khade was arrest-ed by it under the Preventionof Money Laundering Act(PMLA) for his “involvementin facilitating illegal cashdeposits in various bankaccounts of the society whichwere subsequently layered andthen fraudulently remitted toHong Kong by submission offake import documents in theguise of import of diamond”. Itsaid the accused was formermanager of Renukamata Multi-State Cooperative Urban CreditSociety.

The agency had begunprobing the cooperative societybased in Ahmednagar districtof Maharashtra on the basis ofan FIR filed by the State police.

The EnforcementDirectorate (ED) said its probefound that Khade “opened andoperated” multiple bankaccounts in the name of per-sons/company which wereused for depositing huge cashin the society’s account main-tained with banks having corebanking and Real Time GrossSettlement (RTGS) facility.

“In this way, the beneficia-ries’ transactions were suc-cessfully camouflaged as theRTGS/NEFT transactions

would invariably reflect thename of the cooperative soci-ety. Khade was instrumental incontacting people and pursuingthem in opening bank accountsfor monetary consideration,” italleged.

The agency claimed Khadeobtained the signatures ofaccount holders on blankRTGS slips that he kept in hiscustody.

“As and when there was ademand, the accused wouldtake out these blank RTGSslips and fill the amount andbeneficiary details in the slips.He used to take commission of�50 per one lakh of such trans-actions which involved depositof cash till the stage of RTGS,”the ED charged.

“In this manner, funds of�120 crore were deposited inthese accounts and then trans-ferred through RTGS/NEFT todifferent shell companies andfinally out of India to HongKong-based companies on thestrength of forged bills of entry,”it said.

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North Indian vegetarianmeals will be served to

Pravasi Bharatiya Divas dele-gates travelling to Delhi fromAllahabad on board specialtrains on January 24 afterattending the Kumbh Mela inthe Uttar Pradesh city.

A high-level committeeconsisting of officials from theMinistry of External Affairs,the Uttar Pradesh Governmentand the railways made thisdecision.

The Government has con-stituted the committee todecide on the logistics aroundthe Pravasi Bharatiya Divasbeing held at Varanasi, repre-sented in the Lok Sabha byPrime Minister NarendraModi, from January 21-23.

After the Pravasi BharatiyaDivas events, the Indian dias-pora will travel to Allahabad byroad to attend the KumbhMela and on January 24. Theywill be ferried to Delhi in spe-cial trains to attend theRepublic Day parade.

“We are offering northIndian vegetarian foods to thedelegates. We decided to keepit simple and give them a tasteof the local food. So, we have

kept fruits like Allahabadiamrud (guava), gajar ka halwaand other north Indian food inthe menu,” said AshwiniSrivastava, the IRCTC ChiefRegional Manager, Lucknow.

The Railways will providetwo meals to the delegates -dinner on January 24 andbreakfast the next day.

Sources privy to the planssaid the option of serving con-tinental or ready-to-eat mealswas explored but the commit-tee preferred giving India’sglobal citizens a taste of localdishes.

The menu for dinner willinclude north Indian stapleslike paneer masala, mixed veg-etables, daal, rice and paran-

thas, topped with choice ofgajar ka halwa, chiki and gulabjamuns for dessert.

They will be servedAllahabadi amruds (guava’sfrom Allahabad) for breakfastalong with a choice of Poha,Upama -- and another SouthIndian dish.

They will also get bread,butter and eggs for breakfast ondemand once they have leftAllahabad. However, delegateswho want eggs with theirbreads have to order them bydinner time on January 24.

The railways is preparingaround 3,000 meals for the del-egates which will be kept warmon insulated trays on board,Srivastava said. They will beserved in pre-sealed cardboardpackages with holding spacefor each item.

As part of the special treat-ment planned by the railways,linen provided to the guestswill be brand new — fleeceblankets and beddings whichhave been procured especial-ly for the delegates by theAllahabad division of railways,along with the towels and nap-kins which will be of betterquality than those providedusually. Sanitisers will be keptin abundance in the coaches.

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Defence Minister NirmalaSitharaman on Sunday

reached Portblair on a two-dayvisit to Andaman and NicobarIslands where she will witnessa joint military drill involvingthe Army, the Air Force, theNavy and the Coast Guard,officials said.

Sitharaman will witnessthree exercises — general sur-vival exercise, amphibious drilland a joint drill, an official said.

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Page 6:  · Bhopal: >> ˙ ˝-˚˜#- ˝ # ˛# ˘ ˛ ˛ ˘ , - ˘ ˛ * ˘ ˝

The former Marine CorpsGeneral, James Norman Mattis,had acquired mythic and cult-like folklore while still in the‘uniform’. The image had got

caricaturised into monikers like ‘MadDog’ and ‘Warrior Monk’, with many trueand even fabricated bravado attributed tothe chronic bachelor. The Marine Corps-inspired ‘Oorah’ battle-rattle personalityhad led to popular memes like “was oncebitten by a Black Mamba — the BlackMamba died instantly,” “fear of spiders iscalled arachnophobia, fear of tight spacesis called claustrophobia — fear of Mattisis called logic” and “Saint Mattis ofQuantico, patron saint of chaos.” Impressedwith the legendary warrior’s popular per-sona, Donald Trump had described himan “a true general’s general” and inductedhim as his Secretary of Defence. Theappointment was in line with the alpha-muscularity of Trump’s ‘America First’ andJames Mattis became the second man afterGeorge Marshal to get a waiver thatrequires a seven-year cooling off periodbefore assuming Secretary of Defence.

Behind the image lurked the wisdomof 44 years of combat service in the GulfWars and Afghanistan, which culminatedin the four-star General with responsibil-ities like the command of Marine CorpsCombat Development Command, USJoint Forces Command and US CentralCommand overseeing operations in Iraq,Afghanistan, Yemen, Syria and Iran.Besides his operational heroics, he wasknown to be a voracious reader and stu-dent of military history with a personallibrary of over 7,000 books. The accom-panying experience, maturity and gravitashad in recent times led to the more bal-anced perception as the only ‘grown-up’ leftin the fast depleting administration ofDonald Trump.

He was often seen assuaging, nuanc-ing and balancing the more intemperateand outrageous statements made by the USPresident. The straight-speaking former-combatant remained insulated from thewhimsicalities that typified Trump, andunlike the President, Mattis stood up forhis fellow-combatant Senator John McCainin describing his passing away in a mov-ing way: “We have lost a man who stead-fastly represented the best ideals of ourcountry. As a Naval Officer and defiantprisoner of war, John McCain stood withhis brothers-in-arms until they returnedhome together.”

The mass exodus of top officials fromthe Trump Administration has so farincluded Secretary of State, Director CIA,Director FBI, Secretary of Interior,Secretary Homeland Security, two WhiteHouse Chiefs of Staff, two NationalSecurity Advisors, three Deputy NationalSecurity Advisors, Homeland SecurityAdvisor, White House Chief Strategist,

Senior Counselor to thePresident, three Attorney-Generals and countless othersto record the highest turnoverratio of over 60 per cent amongthe White House positions.The latest to join the bandwag-on is Mattis, owing to a veryfamiliar reason of irreconcil-ability with the outlandishapproach of Trump.

In a tellingly drafted resig-nation letter, James Mattis hasalluded to the “sharp differ-ences” and suggested to thePresident to appoint someone,“whose views are better alignedwith yours.” A clear note of dis-sent, frustration and resigna-tion rides on the back ofPresident Trump’s suddenannouncement to withdrawUS troops from Syria — some-thing that the professionalsensibilities of James Mattiswould have militated against.

Despite the ostensiblebravado, Mattis is also believedto have disagreed with thePresident on the hasty decisionto withdraw from the Iraniannuclear deal. The prevailingsituation harks back to thefamous anonymous op-ed inthe Washington Post, attributedto a senior official, who speakson behalf of those who work inthe Trump administration bynoting, “The root of the prob-lem is the President’s amoral-ity. Anyone who works withhim knows he is not mooredto any discernible first princi-ples that guide his decision-

making.” This rings eerily truein the curious case of therevolving-door in the WhiteHouse, this time by JamesMattis. The piece had capturedthe impetuosity and pettinessthat had to be managed in theWhite House, as the staff wasworking to insulate their oper-ations from his whims.Obviously, the situation andequation would have reacheda point of no-return, as JamesMattis slammed DonaldTrump’s boorish rants andfickleness in treating allies andenemies alike by stating: “Myviews on treating allies withrespect and also being clear-eyed about both malign actorsand strategic competitors arestrongly held and informed byover four decades of immer-sion in these issues.”

James Mattis’ resignationhas re-triggered the whispersof the uncontrollable and reck-less decisions emanating fromthe White House. Trump isperennially on the short fusewith the media which asksprobing questions, and nowwith the exit of the only per-son who could raise contrari-an views from within the sys-tem, the most important officein the world is dangerouslybereft of specialist alternativesand sagely views.

The clash between the twowas in the offing with BobWoodward’s bestselling book,Fear, depicting an irate JamesMattis freezing Trump’s wild

plan to assassinate SyrianPresident Bashar al-Assad andapparently telling some peoplethat the President had a poli-cy understanding of a 10-11year-old. A few months ago theUS President had rued aboutMattis saying, “I think he’s sortof a Democrat, if you want toknow the truth.” However, it isnow becoming increasinglydifficult for even Trump’s ownRepublican Party to defend hisdecisions and the usually ret-icent Senate majority leaderinsisted that the Presidentmust now select “a leader whoshares Secretary Mattis’ under-standing of these vital princi-ples and his total commit-ment to America’s servicemembers.”

James Mattis will exit withthe grace, sobriety and digni-ty that come naturally to war-riors, as the daughter of fellow-combatant and fellow-Republican, John McCain, hadsaid for her father (whilst con-textualising Trump): “We gath-er here to mourn the passingof American greatness. Thereal thing, not cheap rhetoricfrom men who will nevercome near the sacrifice hegave so willingly. Nor theopportunistic appropriationof those who live lives of com-fort and privilege while he suf-fered and served.”

(The writer, a military vet-eran, is a former Lt Governorof Andaman & Nicobar Islandsand Puducherry)

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Sir — The Goods and ServicesTax (GST) Council’s decision toraise the threshold limit forexemption from registration andpayment of GST to �40 lakh andthe turnover limit for eligibilityto enter the composition schemeto �1.5 crore is welcome, thoughit may be seen as a move to gar-ner votes from small business-men in the 2019 general elec-tion.

The relief, though, shouldapply uniformly across thenation. As high inflation stillpersists, it is the right time thatthe income tax exemption limitof �2.5 lakh (and �3 lakh forsenior citizens) is raised.

Mahesh KapasiNew Delhi

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Sir — This refers to the editor-ial, “Career suicide” (January10). In India, cricketers arehero-worshipped by the youth.If not for the Board of Controlfor Cricket in India’s own codeof conduct, at least for the sakeof millions of fans, they must

learn how to behave in publicspaces. It was shocking to learnthat cricketers Hardik Pandyaand KL Rahul could have madesuch uncouth remarks on apopular talk show.

Their obtuse, sexist andmisogynistic comments werecrass, to say the least. Bothneeded to pay for the disreputebrought to the sport. Hence, theBoard of Control for Cricket in

India’s decision to send themhome is in the right direction.

Along with facing a lot ofcriticism of their misbehaviour,the duo may not be part of theongoing three-match ODI seriesand also miss the upcoming lim-ited-over series in New Zealand,this month. One must bear theconsequences of his actions.

Bal GovindNoida

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Sir — This refers to the editor-ial, “Career suicide” (January10). While the cricketers may beat fault for having made somecrude remarks on a talk show,what about the celebrated hostof the talk show in question?Could he not have stopped therecording when things took an

ugly turn? Isn’t the show hostequally responsible for throwingsuch personal questions aboutone’s sexual preferences and air-ing it on national television?

Sumit Via email

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Sir — This refers to the editor-ial, “Career suicide” (January11). Being public figures, HardikPandya and KL Rahul need tomaintain proper behaviour.Maturity is essential both onand off the field. What theythink about women is their per-sonal call, they need not sharesuch awkward perspectivesopenly on national television.

No doubt Hardik is a talent-ed cricketer, who has the poten-tial to drum up Indian battingrecords, but such vulgar statement has disheartenedmany. Although he apologisedafter a public outcry, HardikPandya must learn what to speakand when.

Kirti WadhawanKanpur

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Page 7:  · Bhopal: >> ˙ ˝-˚˜#- ˝ # ˛# ˘ ˛ ˛ ˘ , - ˘ ˛ * ˘ ˝

There’s no need to practisebleeding, as the soldiers say,but the British Government

didn’t get the message. On January7, it paid 89 truck-drivers £550 each($700) to simulate the immense traf-fic jam that will happen in Kent ifBritain crashes out of the EuropeanUnion (EU) without a deal at the endof March.

The drivers had to bring theirvehicles to Manston, a disussedWorld War Two-vintage airfield inKent, where the Government isplanning to park 4,000 big trucks ifa ‘no-deal Brexit’ on March 29 leadsto new customs checks on trucksheading for Europe. Every extra twominutes’ delay at customs, say theexperts, would mean another 15 km

of trucks backed up on the roadsleading to the cross-Channel termi-nals. So the drivers parked theirtrucks on the airfield, then drovedown to the port in convoy while thetraffic-control experts counted thevehicles. This wasn’t the 10,000-truck gridlock jamming the roadsthat might happen in late March, itwas a single file of 89 trucks drivingsedately along an uncrowded road.It looked like an exercise in futility,a Potemkin traffic-jam.

Yet it did have a rational purpose— a political purpose. It was beingstaged to persuade the British pub-lic, and especially the BritishParliament that Prime MinisterTheresa May’s ConservativeGovernment really will take the UKout of the EU without any deal ifParliament does not accept her deal.May’s deal is almost universally dis-liked. The Remainers hate it becausethey don’t want to leave the EU at all,and the Brexit hardliners in her ownparty hate it because it keeps Britaintoo closely tied to the EU. Nevermind the details — they are almost

theological — but the upshot is thatMay cannot get Parliament to passthe exit deal she made with the EU,which would at least keep the tradeflowing. She just doesn’t have thevotes. And she can’t get the EU toamend the deal either.

The opposition to her deal inParliament is so strong that she can-celled a scheduled vote on it amonth ago because she was boundto lose it. She is now committed toholding the vote on January 15 — butshe still doesn’t have the votes. So she

is threatening to jump off a bridge,and take everybody else with her, ifthey don’t back her deal. It hasbecome a game of chicken. The cha-rade in Kent is part of a governmentshow-and-tell campaign to prove thatshe really means it. So are the pre-dictions that the chaos at theChannel ports will be so bad thatBritain will have to charter planes tobring scarce medicines in, and thatsupermarket shelves will be bare(Britain imports 30 per cent of itsfood from the EU), and that zombies

will rule the streets. (I made that oneup, but you get the picture.)

The problem is that nobodybelieves her. May has manipulatedthe parliamentary rules and sched-ules to make it appear that there areno legal alternatives except her dealor a catastrophic no-deal Brexit, butshe just doesn’t convince as a suicidebomber. Indeed, there was a vote inParliament last week that blocked theGovernment’s ability to make taxchanges connected with a no-dealBrexit without Parliament’s “explic-it consent.” That doesn’t actuallymean that it cannot happen, unfor-tunately. Parliament can block herdeal but unless it can agree on someother course of action, Brexit hap-pens automatically — without adeal. And that really would be nasty.

How nasty? William Hague, aformer leader of the ConservativeParty, summed it up well in the DailyTelegraph: “I don’t know what willfollow a rejection of [May’s] deal...aconstitutional shambles, a second ref-erendum shambles, a no-deal exitshambles, a Corbyn [Labour

Government] shambles. I just knowthat it will be an abysmal shambles.

“People who say that the deal isthe worst of all worlds haven’t under-stood how bad things might get,”Hague concluded. As May herselfadmits, a no-deal Brexit is “unchart-ed territory.”

So what will really happen whenParliament starts voting later thismonth? There will almost certainlybe more than one vote, as the 650members of the House of Commons,no longer constrained by party loy-alty — it’s too important for that —swing this way and that. But theremay not be a majority for any spe-cific course of action, in which caseParliament will probably end up vot-ing for a second referendum. Mayhas sworn that she will never allowthat, because it would be a betrayalof the 52 per cent who voted ‘Leave’in the first referendum in June2016. But in the end she probablywill allow it, because she is not a sui-cide bomber.

(The writer is an independentjournalist)

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An amendment to the Right to EducationAct (RTE-2009) passed earlier by theLok Sabha in 2018 has also been passedby the Rajya Sabha on January 3, 2019.Under this act, the no-detention poli-

cy up to class VIII has been modified. The amend-ed Act leaves it to the State Governments to eithercontinue with it as mandated in the original Act,or ask the schools to conduct examinations at theend of Classes V and VIII, as was practised beforethe RTE Act. It also stipulates that to avoid failuresand detention, if a child is unsuccessful in the ClassV exams, he would be given remedial inputs by theschool and examined again. Only if one does notsucceed the second time, he would not be sent tonext higher class, as he may find himself in a moreprecarious situation than being detained in the sameclass. The RTE Act was made operational on April1, 2010, and the nation was assured that its totalimplementation would be achieved before March31, 2013. People rarely trust such tall proclamationsfrom the Government’s side, and once again, theirapprehensions proved right.

Nothing changed visibly in creating a learningenvironment in sarkari schools; their downwardslide in credibility and public acceptability contin-ued virtually unchecked. Even now if the norms pre-scribed in the Act are genuinely scrutinised,around 90 per cent of these schools will have to bede-recognised. It speaks volumes of how shabbilythe Act was implemented even during the much-hyped three-year deadline for full implementation.It became evident to everyone, even during the firstthree years of its implementation, that teachersbecame increasingly indifferent and consequentlythere was a visible decline in learner attainment atprimary and elementary levels.

Such observations came from all sides, theteachers’ accountability vanished rather complete-ly. The district and block level education officers,who were expected to keep some semblance ofsupervision and monitoring of schools, andexhort teachers to give ‘good’ results, had no suchobligation before them as the results were known:All pass and no fail. Children were happy and par-ents, mostly from weaker sections, could not ini-tially comprehend the implications of their wardsgetting promoted to higher classes without acquir-ing the requisite learning. In practical terms, suchchildren were being pushed into the dark alleys ofignorance and helplessness as they were neitherin a position to pass Class VIII exams or cope withlearning in the secondary stage. All this createdconsiderable disquiet when more and more chil-dren began dropping out.

The RTE Act had another interesting stipu-lation that stated that the year-end examinationswould be replaced by the Continuous andComprehensive Evaluation (CCE), which was tobe regularly conducted by the teacher, its outcomeanalysed and parents were also taken into confi-dence whenever and wherever found necessary.Further, it was to be utilised to provide remedialteaching to children found deficient in their learn-er attainments. The idea of CCE is based on soundpedagogical principles. However, its implementa-tion requires certain optimal inputs of infrastruc-ture and professional readiness. As most of theschools were deficient on both of these counts, theimplementation of CCE was, right from the begin-

ning, an impossible proposition. CCErequires professionally trained teacherswho must work within the framework ofa well-thought-out and acceptedteacher-taught ratio. It requires teacherswho are competent, committed and will-ing to perform their duties with devotion,and are not frequently burdened by non-academic tasks.

With over 10 lakh vacant posts ofschool teachers in government schoolsand almost an equal number of ad hocteachers working on pittance of an hon-orarium under debilitating pressure andstress of uncertainty of their jobs, theimplementation of CCE was a non-starter in a majority of the governmentschools. No teacher, howsoever commit-ted and competent, could conduct CCEin a teacher-taught ratio of one to 50, oreven two to 150. Further, school teachersare assigned non-academic tasks like elec-tion duties, counting of cattle heads, vac-cinations and anything that requires cap-tive manpower. For district officers,teachers are the most pliable and obedi-ent set of people equipped to perform suchdistracting assignments.

The implementation of the RTE Actwas announced with much fanfare in2010. Dadabhai Naoroji had pleaded forelementary education for all children. In1911, Gopal Krishna Gokhale had moveda Bill and resolution in the CentralLegislature (1910-12) to the same effect.It was, as expected, rejected.Implementation of the century-old aspi-ration could become a legal reality onlyin 2010. Who does not recall the empha-sis Mahatma Gandhi laid on education forall? In 2010, the recommendation onCCE, too, was presented as if it was a hugeinnovative and historic recommendationbeing made for the first time, which wasunfortunately not so. The KothariCommission (1964-66) had made com-prehensive commendations on examina-tion reforms.

JP Naik, illustrious educationist andSecretary of the Kothari Commission,

summarised the recommendations onexamination reforms in his book TheEducation Commission and After, pub-lished in 1979. After incisively scrutinis-ing the implementation of theCommission Report and the NationalPolicy on Education of 1968, he writes:“The Commission suggested that weshould move in the direction of abolish-ing external examinations and replacingthem by a system of continuous internalevaluation; that remuneration to exam-iners (which is the vested interest whichtends to perpetuate the system) should beabolished; that more frequent periodicalassessment should be introduced toreduce the importance of the final exter-nal tests and examination techniqueimproved; that the certificate at the endof school examinations should simply statethe performance of the candidate with-out any declaration of having passed orfailed; and that a system of complete inter-nal assessment of students, which is notmixed with external examination results,be developed.” These recommendationswere of far-reaching consequences andhad the potential to give the impetus toeducation system.

Scrutinise the strength of anotherrecommendation: “Examinations, espe-cially public examinations, should bemade more objective and reliable.Evaluation should enable the teacher tosee the effectiveness of his instruction andenable the pupils to judge the results oftheir learning efforts. It should thus actas an instrument of improving both theteaching and learning processes, includ-ing the content of courses and methodof teaching.” Obviously, these recommen-dations included acceptance of the CCE.JP Naik lamented that “very little prac-tical effect has been given to these rec-ommendations” and that in spite of awell-established unreliability of externalexaminations, we continue to dependrather solely on them.

Over the years, conditions havebecome more and more unfavourable for

implementing the CCE. Teacher shortageand absenteeism, inadequate infrastruc-ture and an uninviting environment inschools, lethargic approach to regularteacher recruitment and general deterio-ration could be cited as some of the con-tributors. It was necessary in 2010 to haveanalysed the existing scenario beforeannouncing a three-year time frame, noexams and introduction of CCE. Non-comprehension of the ground level real-ity in the same year has once again delayedthe universalisation of education by at leastanother decade.

People’s apprehension is that withchanges introduced in the RTE Act in2019, dropout rates would increase.One must remember that enrollmentfigures are no guarantee of attendancein schools. There are several factorsthat led to dropout rates but the sud-den rise at the entrance to secondarylevel is also being attributed to thenon-learning module up to ClassVIII, and then suddenly confrontingexternal examination.

As the amended Act gives freedomto every State to take its own decision onno-detention policy, it would be very inter-esting to study and analyse which modelworks better. Meanwhile, other factors thatcould help improve quality of educationdeserve greater attention. Some includeappointing regular teachers, giving in-ser-vice education to serving teachers, stop-ping the practice of appointing ad hocteachers on small remuneration andabove all, setting teacher training institu-tions in order.

New evaluation procedures have tobe introduced taking cognisance of theavailability of Information andCommunications Technology (ICT),emergence of fresh sources of learning andthe advent of new methods and practiceof teaching. Every effort needs to be madeto help children enjoy their childhood.That is the key to quality learning.

(The writer is the Indian Representativeon the Executive Board of UNESCO)

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With no let-up in the grow-ing friction between the

ruling saffron alliance partnersahead of the Lok Sabha polls,Shiv Sena president UddhavThackeray on Sunday hit out atBJP president Amit Shah, say-ing that no party should con-sider the Sena as “weak” andthat “no one is either born yetor will ever take birth who candefeat my party”.

Addressing a conference ofthe Sena’s Sthaniya LokadhikarSamiti (SLS) Mahasangh here,Uddhav also ridiculed theCentre's decision to keep theannual income limit of Rs 8lakh for reservations for eco-nomically weaker sectionsunder the general category andwondered if the Modi govern-ment would simultaneouslyraise the basic income taxexemption limit to the samelevel.

In a rhetorical rebuff toShah’s recent statement that ifthe Sena preferred to go it alonein the Lok Sabha polls, it faceddefeat at the hands of the BJP,Uddhav said: “Some people aretalking about defeating theShiv Sena. I should tell them:

no one is either born yet or willever take birth who can defeatthe Shiv Sena. No one shouldconsider us weak. So manywaves have come and gone. Weare never scared of high or lowtides. We defeat the waves. It isthe Shiv Sena wave that is onnow”.

Uddhav was referring toShah’s dig at the Shiv Sena andsubsequent exhortation to hisparty workers -- made at Laturrecently -- to prepare them-selves to go it alone in the LokSabha polls. “Yuti hogi tohsaathi ko jeetayenge, nahin tohpatak denge… ( If we contestthe elections together, we willensure victory for their candi-dates, otherwise we willtrounce them),” the BJP presi-

dent had said.Alluding to the new Rs 8

lakh as the annual incomelimit for reservations for eco-nomically weaker sectionsunder the general category,Uddhav said: “On one handyou consider all those whoseannual income is below Rs 8lakh as economically back-ward class. On the other hand,you keep Rs 2.5 lakh as thebasic income tax exemptionlimit. I would like to know ifthe Modi government will doaway income tax for all thoseearning less than Rs 8 lakh ayear. If Modi does this, we willnot hesitate in accepting thatModi has a chest of not just 56inches but he has chest of 256inches”.

Slamming the Modi gov-ernment for its failure to keepits promises made during the2014 polls, Uddhav said: “Somepeople fail to deliver on theirpromises. But, they never fallshort when it comes to havinga dig at others. Mere promiseswon’t help matters. It is not thequestion of victory or defeatbut what is importance is con-fidence. Once you lose confi-dence, you will not win anywar”. He went onto lampoon

the BJP leaders for raising theissues like the caste of LordHanuman or other Gods.

However, justifying theSena’s decision to Ram Mandiran issue in the polls, Uddhavsingled out Prime MinisterNarendra Modi for attack onthe Mandir issue. “Here’s themost powerful man in thisworld and who is considered byhis party workers as the rein-carnation of Maha Vishnu.But, he says he cannot build thetemple at this juncture. If thatis the case, why is the BJP mak-ing Ram Mandir an issue in thepolls. Modi should realise thatthe Sena and BJP had cometogether on the Hindutvaplank. As far as Shiv Sena isconcerned, we want RamMandir”.

Daring Bihar chief minis-ter Nitish Kumar and LokJanshati Party to come clean onthe Ram Mandir issue, Uddhavasked the BJP leadership tobring all its constituents on oneplatform and seek clarificationfrom them if all them wantedRam temple or not.

“You people are comingtogether on a common mini-mum programme. DepositingRs 15 lakh in the bank accounts

of people was a jumla. AchheDin was a jumla. Is RamMandir promise also a jumla.The BJP should clarify. Mereaccusing the Congress of cre-ating hurdles on the RamMandir temple issue won’thelp. The Ram Mandir issuewas before the court even ear-lier. Then why was the BJPseeking votes in the name ofRam Mandir?,” Uddhav asked.

Uddhav’s remarks are areiteration of the Sena’s standthat his party would go it alonein the Lok Sabha polls.

While interacting withparty workers at Latur inMarathwada region, Shah hadsaid last week that even with-out an alliance with the ShivSena, the BJP would win atleast 40 out of 48 seats in thestate.

It may be recalled that inthe 2014 Lok Sabha polls whichthe two saffron parties had con-tested as an alliance, the BJPand Shiv Sena had contested 26and 22 seats respectively in thestate.

The two parties had put upa spectacular performance inthe polls by together winning40 seats (BJP-22 and Sena-18seats) out of total 48 seats.

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The Trinamool Congress onSunday hit back at Prime

Minister Narendra Modi for hisremarks that people have tochose between a 'majboor'(helpless) or a 'majboot'(strong) Government in thegeneral elections, and said the2019 Lok Sabha polls would bea fight between dictatorshipand democracy.

Criticising Modi for hisassertion at the BJP nationalconvention in New Delhi onSaturday, senior TMC leaderAbhishek Banerjee wonderedwhether the saffron party-ledNDA government from 1999-2004 or various coalition gov-ernments that it was a part ofwere "majboot" or "majboor".

"I want to ask themwhether the BJP-led NDA gov-ernment of Atal BihariVajpayee from 1999-2004 was

a strong government or a help-less one? I would like to askthem whether the governmentsthey had formed in Kashmirwith the PDP or in the northeastern states, were strong orhelpless," Banerjee said.

The national president ofAll India Trinamool YouthCongress and the nephew ofWest Bengal Chief MinisterMamata Banerjee, was speak-ing at a rally here.

"The upcoming Lok Sabhaelections will be fight betweenan authoritarian rule, and fightto save democracy and consti-tution of this country," he said.

At the BJP national con-vention, the prime minister hadsaid that the opposition partieswere coming together as theywanted to form a "majboor"government to promote nepo-tism and corruption, whereasthe saffron party wanted a"majboot" dispensation for anall-round development of thecountry. Several allies havedeserted the BJP-led NDA inthe last four-and-a-half-years,the TMC MP said.

"The BJP should stop lec-turing us and others on dynastypolitics when several top lead-ers of their party have sons anddaughters as MPs and MLAs...The TMC doesn't believe indynasty politics. Those who areefficient get elected," he added.

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AGovernment medical offi-cer and his aide were

nabbed by the ACB Sunday inMaharashtra's Parbhani dis-trict for allegedly accepting Rs8,000 in bribe for conducting asurgery on an elderly woman,an official said.

Dr Gajanan Kale, theMedical Officer with theParbhani district hospital, hadallegedly demanded the moneyto insert a rod in one of the leg'sof the woman who had metwith an accident, the Anti-Corruption Bureau official said.

Consequently, the son ofthe woman approached thelocal ACB unit in Parbhani,around 500 kms from here, fol-lowing which a trap was set.The official said Dr Kale, whois an MS in Orthopaedics,

asked the complainant to handover the money to his aidePandurnag Dukre (27), a pri-vate person when the ACBteam nabbed them this morn-ing. Further investigation isunderway.

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Defence Minister NirmalaSitharaman Sunday

reached Portblair on a two-dayvisit to Andaman and NicobarIslands where she will witnessa joint military drill involvingthe Army, the Air Force, theNavy and the Coast Guard,officials said.

Sitharaman will witnessthree exercises -- general sur-vival exercise, amphibious drilland a joint drill, an official said.

Andaman and Nicobar isalso the armed forces' tri-ser-vice command.

At least two drills will seeparticipation of the threearmed forces, the officialadded. "Smt @nsitharamanarrives in Port Blair to overseea major joint excercise involv-ing the @adgpi , @indiannavy

, @IAF_MCC and@IndiaCoastGuard during her2 day visit," the defence minis-ter's official handle tweeted.

Andaman and Nicobararchipelago is straddled strate-gically near the mouth of theMalacca Straits.

The Malacca Straits isalso an important Sea Lane ofCommunication and used bythe navies of several coun-tries, including China whichhas been stepping up its mili-tary infrastructure in theIndian Ocean Region.

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Karnataka Water ResourceMinister DK Shivakumar

Sunday said the BJP's‘Operation Lotus’ to topple theState’s coalition Governmentwas for real, alleging that threeCongress MLAs were campingin a hotel in Mumbai in the“company of some BJP leaders”.

“Horse trading is going onin the State. Three of our MLAsare in Mumbai in a hotel withsome BJP MLAs and leaders.We are aware of what has tran-spired there and how much hasbeen offered to them,” he said.

Operation Lotus is a refer-ence to the BJP allegedly luringseveral opposition MLAs todefect to ensure stability of itsthen-government headed by BS Yeddyurappa in Karnataka in2008.

Shivakumar, who hadearned the reputation of beinga “trouble-shooter” in theCongress for bailing out the

party from many crises in thepast, accused Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy of being"lenient" towards the BJP.

"Our chief minister is bitlenient towards the BJP. By'lenient', I mean he is notexposing the facts he knows.All the MLAs have conveyed tothe chief minister about theongoing conspiracies. They

have also told Siddaramaiahabout it. "The chief minister isadopting a policy of wait andwatch. If I was in his place, Iwould have exposed it within24 hours," Shivakumar said.

The minister said formerchief minister Siddaramaiahand Congress state presidentDinesh Gundu Rao were awareof the development.

Shivakumar, however,exuded confidence that theBJP would not succeed in itsattempt. "You have been sayingthat a 'kranti' (revolution) mayhappen after Makar Sankranti.Let us see. It is not so easy

because there is already anti-defection law in place, but weare aware of what you are hint-ing at," he said in an apparentreference to the oppositionBJP in the state. The waterresources minister also won-dered why the income taxdepartment and the anti-cor-ruption bureau failed to initi-ate any action on a complaintby Dinesh Gundu Rao on thematter.

"We do not know whatprogress these two agencieshave made so far, but sitting onthe complaint by a politicalparty is not good," he said.Many Congress MLAs in thesouthern state have allegedthat they were approached bythe BJP leaders to quit theirparty and join them. The saf-fron party has trashed thecharges, saying the coalitionpartners were hiding theirshortcomings and internalstrife by making false accusa-tions at the opposition.

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RJD national president LaluPrasad launched a veiled

attack on the BJP on Sunday byissuing a "humble appeal" to thepeople of the country to be onguard against hate politics,rumour mongering and falsepropaganda to divide the youthahead of the Lok Sabha polls.

The ailing former Biharchief minister, who is servingsentences in fodder scam casesand is currently lodged in aRanchi hospital, shared hisviews on the political situationprevailing in the country on hisofficial Twitter handle.

"It is a humble appeal to thepeople of the country thatelections are round the cornerand those practising hate pol-itics will provoke the youth andyour children to sacrifice theirlives by raising false alarms, giv-ing rise to misconceptions and

spreading rumours," Prasadwrote on the microbloggingwebsite.

The Rashtriya Janata Dal(RJD) supremo has been awayfrom active politics sinceDecember 2017, when he wasconvicted in the Deoghar trea-sury case, which was followed

by convictions in two morefodder scam cases.

He has, however, beensharing his views on his Twitterhandle. "While your childrenwould be slaying each otherand wasting their lives in thename of cow and cow dung, thekids of the hypocritical jumle-

baaz would be busy studying inesteemed schools and collegesand securing their ownfutures," Prasad said.

"Therefore, all parents andguardians are requested to beon guard themselves, besidesguarding their children againstrumour mongering sanghs(organisations) and their falsepropaganda. A beginning hasbeen made by them in UP andBihar," the RJD supremoadded.

Prasad's remarks came inthe backdrop of mob violenceand cow vigilantism reportedin many parts of the Hindiheartland, often spurred byfake social media messagescirculated by people withalleged links to Sangh Parivaroutfits.

A staunch opponent of theruling Bharatiya Janata Party(BJP) and the Sangh Parivar,Prasad had endeared himself to

the minorities when as thechief minister of Bihar, he hadordered the arrest of BJP vet-eran LK Advani during his"rath yatra" in 1990.

He had also succeeded inweaning away the minoritiesfrom the Congress during the15 years when the state wasruled by him and subsequent-ly by his wife Rabri Devi, aperiod which saw virtually nomajor communal incidents,despite an overall soaring crimegraph.

Now an ally of theCongress, the RJD is miffed atthe quota for the economical-ly backward sections broughtby the Narendra Modi gov-ernment at the Centre.

The party has held that itis a step in the direction ofdiluting affirmative action forthe socially and educationallybackward segments of the society.

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Senior BJP leader and UnionMinister Nitin Gadkari said

on Sunday that politiciansshould not interfere in fieldsother than own and let peoplein the fields like literature andeducation deal with their spe-cialised tasks.

Known for speaking hismind, Gadkari made a tellingcomment to this effect at theconcluding session of an AllIndia Marathi Literary conclaveheld at Yavatmal in easternMaharashtra, which was marredby a major controversy over therevocation of the invitationextended to English litterateurNayantara Sahgal for the inau-guration of the meet.

The controversy saw AkhilBharatiya Marathi SahityaMahamandal (ABMSM)President Shripad Joshi resignfrom his post in protest, twodays ahead of the conclave.

Appreciating the organisers’decision to invite Vaishali Yede,widow of a distressed farmerwho committed suicide, in placeof Sahgal in the wake of con-troversy of invitation to the cel-

ebrated writer, Gadkari spoke onthe freedom of expressionenjoyed by the writers andhanded out a piece of advice tofellow politicians.

“Politicians should not inter-fere in the fields other than theirown. They should let people inthe fields of literature, universi-ties and educational institutionsto do their job... There could nothave been a better decision thanto invite Vaishali Yede who maynot have written anything buthas seen so much in life,” theUnion Minister said.

Gadkari lamented that pol-itics had become power play andnot a state craft or a means tobring about economical trans-formation or changes in society.

“Politics has today becomea means enjoy and go afterpower. Politicians should realisepolitics is not running after

power but bring about eco-nomic transformation andchanges in the society. Thepoliticians should know theirlimits and they should not med-dle in fields other than own,” theBJP leader said.

“During the emergency, thespeeches by noted Marathi writ-ers like P L Deshpande andDurga Bhagwat drew morecrowds than politicians. But,after the emergency they wentback to the field of literature andnever approached any politicalparty for positions for power likeRajya Sabha membership,”Gadkari said, alluding to therespect enjoyed by the writers inthe society.

Gadkari’s comment shouldbe seen in the context of thedecision taken on January 6 bythe 92nd Akhil BharatiyaMaratahi Sahitya Sammelan torevoke the invitation to Englishlitterateur Nayantara Sahgal toinaugurate the conclave on theostensible ground that it hadreceived threats that there wouldbe disruptions in the proceed-ings if she attended the three-dayconference that was scheduled tobegin on January 11.

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Bengal intelligentsia and thenon-BJP Opposition parties

of the State have stronglydenounced the heckling ofBangla poet SrijataBandopadhyay at a Silcharhotel by a group rowdiesallegedly sent by the saffronpoliticians.

Coming down heavily onthe BJP and Banjrangdal forcreating an atmosphere of com-munal hatred and disharmonyin India Bengal MinisterChandrima Bhattacharya said,“such incidents are not onlyunfortunate but also con-demnable. We do not allowsuch things in Bengal.”

Accusing the BJP andBajrangdal for Saturday’s inci-dent the Minister said “the BJPhas paid the price of such divi-sive politics in Rajasthan, MPand Chhattisgarh. Now theywill see the consequence of dis-turbing communal harmony inother parts of the country too.”

CPI(M) general secretarySitaram Yechury too con-demned the incident saying“the incident aned many oth-ers like that taking place in therecent past prove that theIndia is passing through daysworse than that ofEmergency,” adding “such fas-cist attacks” were in fact a pre-lude to attack on the veryessence of the Constitution ofIndia.”

Congress MP PradipBhattacharya said, “if suchpre-orchestrated attacks onBengali intellectuals are notstopped then one is afraid

this feeling of hatred mighttravel to other States and thenit will be very difficult forthem (BJP) to control it.”

Srijato was on Saturdaygheraoed and allegedly heck-led at a literary function atSilchar and had to be rescuedby the police.

“Some people raided thevenue in the hotel where I wasstaying and was to attend a lit-erary programme. They wereprotesting against one of mypoems written three years ago.I was holed up in the hotelwhich was vandalised any-way. Subsequently I was res-

cued by the police and had tofly back,” the poet said addinghow “gradually the right tofreedom of expression andthe space to talk is shrinkingin India. Thankfully we live inBengal where the people canatleast talk.”

Senior dramataistRudraprasad Sengupta said“if similar situations continuedthen one cannot but say thatbad days are ahead of us.”Writer Shirshendu Mukherjeesaid such incidents demandedcountry-wide protests.

Meanwhile, anotherBengali poetess MandakrantaSen on Sunday reported howshe was being ‘badmouthed’by some senior State BJP lead-ers including State BJP presi-dent Dilip Ghosh.

The poetess she even hadreceived threats of gang-rapefrom some people on the Net.The State BJP president how-ever denied reports of speak-ing against her and invited herto file a case against him.

Hyderabad: Vice President MVenkaiah Naidu on the eve ofMakar Sankranti urged theyouth to understand the richand diverse traditions of Indianfestivals and called for pro-tecting, promoting and enrich-ing “our exceptional” cultureand folk art forms. Speakingafter inaugurating the fourthInternational Kite Festival andsecond International SweetFestival at Parade Ground inSecunderabad Sunday, Naidusaid festivals are occasions forsocial bonding and inculcate aspirit of communal harmonyand national integrity. "Theysymbolise renewal, rejuvena-tion, and revival of our tradi-tions and heritage and bring ina sense of togetherness, unity,love, and brotherhood intoday's fast-paced world,"Naidu was quoted as saying inan official release.

"We witness the comingtogether of families and com-munities during such festivals.They are also occasions forsocial bonding," he said.Calling the harvest festivalMakar Sankranti a celebrationof life and vitality, Naidu saidit holds great historical and reli-gious significance.

It is the festival of the sungod who is often regarded asthe symbol divinity and wis-dom and those who celebratethis occasion of thanksgivingand merrymaking revel inanticipation and joy, he said.

The vice president alsotried his hand at kite-flying andsaid it was a tremendous expe-rience which transcends age,class, and community.

Observing that kite-mak-ing was an art form, the vicepresident said it required skill,precision, devotion, and inven-tiveness.

As many as 42 profession-al kite fliers from abroad and 60from India are participating inthe Kite Festival. PTI

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Union Minister Ram VilasPaswan’s estranged daugh-

ter Asha on Sunday staged a sit-in here along with RJD womenactivists to protest her father’s‘angootha chhap’ jibe alleged-ly targeted at party leader RabriDevi.

Paswan had at a Press con-ference on Friday attacked theOpposition Rashtriya JanataDal (RJD) for opposing theNDA-led Government’s Bill toprovide 10 per cent reservationfor the economically backwardin general category.

“They (RJD) believe inmerely raising slogans andmaking ‘angootha chhap’ (illit-erate person) the ChiefMinister,” he had said, withoutnaming anybody.

Asha, who is Paswan’sdaughter from his first mar-riage, had on Saturdaydemanded an apology fromhim. His remarks were seen asa reference to the events of 1997when RJD chief Lalu Prasadhad to step down as Bihar ChiefMinister as he faced arrest inthe fodder scam cases and hiswife, Rabri Devi, who has lit-tle formal education, wasappointed as his successor.

Married to Arun Sadhu,who is the state president of theRJDs SC/ST cell, Asharefrained from storming theheadquarters of Paswan's LokJanshakti Party (LJP) here,which she had threatened to doon Saturday. Instead, she stagedthe sit-in at Gardanibagh, bare-ly a kilometer away from theLJP headquarters. She wasjoined by women RJD activists,who carried placards and raisedslogans demanding that theUnion minister "apologise" and"take his words back"Talking toreporters at a different location,Sadhu reiterated that his wifewould like to contest the

upcoming Lok Sabha pollsfrom Hajipur seat, which isconsidered Paswan's pocketborough, "if the RJD gives hera ticket". Paswan has declaredthat he will not be contestingfrom the seat in the upcominggeneral elections and wouldtake the Rajya Sabha route toenter Parliament.

Speculations are rife thatone of Paswan's close familymembers may be given theticket in his place.

"Ram Vilas Paswan hastalked a lot about 'neeti' (poli-cy) and 'neeyat' (intention)and has failed on both counts.Having learnt the ropes underthe tutelage of socialists likeLohia, JP and Karpoori Thakur,he ended up sitting in the lapof the BJP-RSS combine,"Sadhu said. "My fight withhim is, however, not personal,but political," he said. "I treathim with the same respectwhich I have for my father. If Imeet him on any social occa-sion, I will greet him by touch-ing his feet," he added.

The RJD leader allegedthat Paswan and his son,Chirag Paswan, sought votes inthe name of Dalits but turnedtheir backs on the depressedclasses when it came to fight-ing for their rights.

Chirag, who is an MP fromJamui and heads the LJP's par-liamentary board, is Paswan'sson from his second marriage.

Asked if Asha would stillcontest from Hajipur if theNDA fields Chirag from theseat, Sadhu replied in the affir-mative. "Relationship does notmatter in political battlefield,"he said. When reportersapproached Chirag at the air-port here, he said, "This is nota political matter but a disputeconcerning my family and Ihave never been comfortabletalking about personal mattersin public."

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The Travancore DevaswomBoard, which manages the

temple shrine at Sabarimala inKerala, said it was all set for theannual ‘Makaravilakku’ festivalon Monday.

TDB president APadmakumar Sunday metmedia after the evaluationmeeting of the Board and saidall arrangements for the festi-val have been completed atSabarimala.

“Thiruvabharanam (sacredjewels of the deity) will reach

‘pathinettampadi’ (holy 18steps) at 6 pm on January 14.At 6.30 pm, the ‘deeparad-hana’ (worship with lamps)will take place with the Lordadorning the jewels. All facili-ties for the devotees to witnessthe 'Makaravilakku' and'Makarajyothi' are in place," hesaid.

'Makarajyothi' is a starwhich is worshipped by pil-grims on Makara Sankranti onJanuary 14 every year.

It is the star Sirius locatedin Canis Major constellation.

It is believed that LordAyyappa asserts himself as theMakarajyothi to bless his devo-tees. The flame appears on thePonnambalamedu hill which isaround 8 km from the shrine.

The lighting of the lamp bythe Kerala government with thesupport of the TravancoreDevosom Board and forestdepartment, at

Ponnamabalamedu, is the con-tinuation of the practice fol-lowed by tribal families wholived near the hilltop.

Padmakumar also said thestate health department andpolice at Sabarimala and near-by areas were ready to deal withany untoward incident.

"The temple will close onJanuary 20. Only the membersof the royal family of Pandalamare allowed on that day. The lastday for other devotees isJanuary 19," he said.

However, compared to lastyear, Sabarimala has witnessed

a lean crowd for the annual fes-tival this time. Devoteesare apprehensive over chancesof violent protests in case anymore women of menstrual ageattempt to trek the hill duringthe festival.

Owing to the earlier vio-lence witnessed at the hilltopshrine over the issue of entry ofwomen, the police havestrengthened security atSabarimala, Pampa and its basecamp at Nilackal.

Meanwhile, the three-member monitoring commit-tee appointed by the KeralaHigh Court, comprising formerHigh Court Justices P RRaman, S Sirijagan andAdditional Director General ofPolice A Hemachandran,inspected Nilackal, Pampa andSannidhanam.

They expressed satisfac-tion over the facilities arrangedfor the devotees.

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After the potential part-ners of a Rainbow

Alliance to be led by his partycold shouldered his proposalto project Congress presidentRahul Gandhi as the primeministerial candidate for the2019 Lok Sabha election,MK Stalin, the DMK chief ison a mission to mobilise vil-lagers in Tamil Nadu to ensurethey vote for his party.

The DMK president is busywith Ooratchi Sabai ( a kind ofGram Sabha) where he visitsvillages and interacts with vil-lagers, especially women.

Stalin has been enthused bythe response he received dur-ing the Namukku Naame (WeFor Ourselves) campaign heheld prior to the 2016Assembly election by touringall the 234 assembly con-stituencies in which he met thevoters and discussed with themtheir grievances.

Though the DMK couldnot cross the magic figure of118 to form the government,the party finished the contestwith 88 seats, a commendableperformance despite the factthat the party’s then presidentM Karunanidhi did not cam-paign because of advanced age.

This time, Stalin is the starcampaigner for the DMK asthere are no charismatic lead-ers in the party.

He may be depending onhis son Udhayanidhi Stalinwho is waiting in the wings totake the plunge into activepolitics. But how farUdhayanidhi’s popularity as afilm star would help the DMKto win the election is notknown.

Stalin’s focus during theinteraction with the villagers isthe “all- round failure of theAIADMK government and theanti-Tamil Nadu and anti-sec-ular Narendra Modi govern-ment at the Centre”.

Stalin said he would pre-pare the election manifesto ofthe DMK for the Lok Sabhaelection by incorporating theissue highlighted by the vil-lagers. The Gram Sabha meet-ings are drawing good crowd,especially women who pourout their grievances to theDMK chief.

Chief Minister EdappadiPalaniswamy was quick topoint out the fallacy behindStalin’s claim that he wouldaddress all issues concerningthe villagers.

“Stalin was the minister forlocal administration and ruraldevelopment during 2006 to2011. Had he taken the troubleof visiting the villages thosedays, we would not have facedthis much issues,” Palaniswamytold a public meeting onSaturday.

The chief minister saidthere were many villages in theState which do not have anysanitation or drinking watersupply schemes.

“These issues could haveaddressed by Stalin had hebeen serious in his words,”said Palaniswamy. He also lam-basted the DMK chief for hislocus standi to address the vil-lagers.

“He is a product of dynastyand family politics.Karunanidhi was the partypresident for 50 years and he

was succeeded by son Stalin.Karunandhi has also promot-ed his other children M KLagiri and Kanimozhi besidesgrand nephew DayanidhiMaran. Now Stalin is groomingUdhayanidhi to be his succes-sor. AIADMK is the onlydemocratic party in TamilNadu and you have seen anordinary villager being swornin as chief minister,” saidPalaniswamy.

Political commentators inTamil Nadu are not impressedby Stalin’s mass contact pro-gramme.

“He is lucky that there areno powerful second rung lead-ers in the DMK to challengehim. These kind of pro-grammes are not new in TamilNadu,” said G Satyamurty, vet-eran columnist. He said situ-ations may undergo big changein the State as the election fevercatches up in days to come. “Itis not going to be a cake walkfor the DMK or the AIADMKas Jayalalithaa and Karunanidhiare not there this time,” saidSatyamurty.

The line-up for 2019 LokSabha election is far from overas there is discontentmentamong some of the partieswhich have declared their alle-giance to the DMK. TheAIADMK knows well that theycannot repeat the dream run ithad in 2014 election.

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Top Al-Badr commanderZeenat-ul-Islam was among

the two militants killed in anencounter with security forces inKulgam district of Jammu andKashmir, police said on Sunday.

“The two terrorists killedin the Katpora encounter havebeen identified as Zeenat-ul-Islam and Shakeel AhmadDar. Both were involved inseveral terror crimes,” a policeofficial said.

Islam, a category A++ mil-itant, was a top commanderwho had switched over to Al-Badr from Hizbul Mujahideenin November last year follow-ing consensus between the twooutfits to strengthen the Al-Badr, he said.

The official said securityforces launched a cordon andsearch operation in Katporaarea of Yaripora in southKashmir's Kulgam districtSaturday evening after receiv-ing specific information aboutthe presence of militants there.

He said as the forces wereconducting the searches, themilitants fired upon them.

As per policy, the militantswere given an opportunity tosurrender, but they continuedto fire upon the forces, the offi-cial said.

The forces retaliated, ensu-ing an encounter in which twothe militants were killed, hesaid. Meanwhile, a policespokesman said both the killedmilitants were affiliated withAl-Badr and were wanted bythe law for "their complicity ina series of terror crimes includ-ing attack on security estab-lishments and civilian atroci-ties". "Islam, according to policerecords had a long history ofterror crime records since 2006when he got affiliated with Al-Badr and was later arrested," hesaid.

The spokesman said afterIslam was released, he again gotrecycled in 2016 and subse-quently affiliated with HM andthen recently joined the Al-Badr outfit in Shopian District.

"Consequently, he becamethe chief of the said outfit.Several terror crime cases wereregistered against him. He wasalso involved in a weaponsnatching case at TukrooShopian. Similarly, ShakeelAhmad Dar was also involvedin terror related crimes aswell," the spokesman said.

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Filmmaker Rajkumar Hiranihas been accused of sexual

assault by a woman whoworked with him on his 2017film Sanju.

Hirani has categoricallydenied the allegations. Hislawyer Anand Desai termed theallegations “false, mischievous,scandalous, motivated anddefamatory”.

In an article on HuffPostIndia, the woman, who callsherself as “an assistant”, allegedthat Hirani sexually abusedher more than once betweenMarch and September 2018.

She gave details of her alle-gations in an email datedNovember 3, 2018, to Hirani’slongtime collaborator andSanju co-producer VidhuVinod Chopra.

The woman said that on

April 9, 2018, the director firstpassed a sexually suggestiveremark to her and later sexu-ally assaulted her in his homeoffice.

“I remember forming thesewords on my lips — ‘Sir, this iswrong. Because of this powerstructure. You being theabsolute power and me beinga mere assistant, a nobody. Iwill never be able to expressmyself to you’,” she wrote of theApril 9 incident in the email toChopra, as quoted by HuffPostIndia.

The woman said thatHirani was a father figure toher. “My mind, body and heartwere grossly violated that night

and for the next 6 months,” theemail read.

Chopra’s wife, film criticAnupama Chopra, who is adirector at Vinod Chopra FilmsPvt Ltd, Sanju scriptwriterAbhijat Joshi and filmmakerShelly Chopra, Vidhu Vinod’ssister, were also marked on theemail. The complainant latertold HuffPost India that she was“intimidated by Hirani”, whowas her reporting superior atthe time.

She said she maintained afacade of normalcy regardingHirani’s behaviour as sheneeded to hold on to her jobas her father was sufferingfrom a terminal illness. “I hadno choice but to be polite tohim. It was unbearable but thereason I endured it all, until Icouldn’t, was because I didn’twant my job to be taken awayfrom me, and work to bequestioned. Ever.” She said: “Iwas worried that if I left mid-way, it would be impossible tofind another job in this indus-try if he were to speak badlyabout my work. Because ifHirani said I wasn’t good,everybody would listen. My

future would be in jeopardy.” Anupama Chopra had

confirmed that the womanhad shared an account with her,and that Vinod Chopra Films(VCF) has since set up a com-mittee to address complaints ofsexual harassment. “I haveoffered my full support andrecommended that she take thecomplaint to a legal body or aneutral party since we cannotbe arbitrators or judges onthis. We also offered to set upan ICC at VCF (which we haveset up since then) even thougha VCF ICC could not havetaken up the case since she wasan RHF (Rajkumar HiraniFilms) employee at the time.These are two separate com-panies,” she said in an emaildated December 5, 2018.

Anupama said the womantold her she needed time tothink about how to take thingsforward.

She added, “I did not wantin any way to pressurise her orsteer her in any direction. AsVinod and I told her then, shehas our full support and we arefully respectful of whateverdecision she has taken.”

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Transport fuel rates werehiked for the fifth time this

month and saw their steepestrise on Sunday, amid globalcrude oil rates continuing toclimb handsomely followingthe implementation of outputcuts by oil producers fromJanuary 1.

State-run oil marketingcompanies increased petrolrates by 49-60 paise per litreon Sunday, while diesel priceswere raised by 59-75 paiseacross the four major metros.

As per data from Indian

Oil Corp, petrol price in theDelhi was increased to �69.75per litre on Sunday, while inKolkata, Mumbai andChennai, the fuel cost �71.87,�75.39 and �72.40 per litre,respectively.

Similarly, the price ofdiesel went up on Sunday inthe national capital to �63.69per litre.

In Kolkata, Mumbai andChennai, diesel sold at �65.46,�66.66 and �67.26 a litre,respectively.

With petroleum productsbeing outside the GST regime,prices vary as a result of local

taxes. As per the country’s

dynamic pricing mechanism,the domestic fuel pricesdepend upon internationalfuel prices on a 15-day averageand the value of the rupee.

Following the implemen-tation of production cuts bythe Organisation of PetroleumExporting Countries (OPEC)and non-OPEC producers,global crude rates have beenhardening and the UK Brentcrude closed over the weekendat nearly $62 a barrel after hav-ing fallen below $50 lastmonth.

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The Reserve Bank remaineda net seller of dollars in

November 2018, as it sold $644million of the greenback on anet basis in the spot market,according to the latest datafrom the Central bank.

As against this, inNovember 2017, the Centralbank had purchased $2.570 bil-lion from the spot market andsold $1.706 billion, while in thereporting month, the monetaryauthority bought $3.127 billionfrom the spot market, and sold$3.771 billion, show the data.

The rupee had a better runin the past fiscal, while it wasone of the worst among itsemerging market peers thisfiscal year, which explains thereasons for the RBI interven-tion in the forex market.

In October 2018 also, theRBI was a net seller of dollars,after it purchased $945 millionand sold $8.149 billion of theUS currency in the spot market.

Normally, the central banksells dollars to contain rupeevolatility as it does not officiallyset a price level for the rupee,which is only partly fully float-ing as the country does notallow full capital account con-vertibility.

In first five months of thisfiscal year, the central bank hassold a whopping $34 billion asthe rupee was on a roller-coaster, plumbing a low of 74

to the American unit.Between April and

November 2108, the centralbank has net sold $26.51 billionof dollars in the spot market.This compares with a net pur-chase of $18.017 billion madein the same period in 2017.

The RBI has, so far,remained a net-seller of the UScurrency in the current fiscal.

In FY18, the apex bank hadnet purchased $33.689 billionfrom the spot market, taking itstotal dollar purchase to $52.068billion, while selling $18.379billion, this helped the countryfor the first time scale a life-time peak of $426.028 billionfor the week to April 13, 2018in forex reserves. But sincethen, the forex kitty has beenfluctuating and mostly sliding.

In the forward dollar mar-ket, the outstanding net forwardsales at the end of November2018 was $1.924 billion, com-pared to sale of $2.888 billionin October, show the RBI data.

In the week to January 4,2109, the forex kitty swelled by$2.68 billion to a tad over$396 billion, making the weekthe best in terms of accretionin the past 12 months period.

Overall reserves hadincreased by $116.4 million to$393.404 billion in the previousreporting week. In the report-ing week, foreign currencyassets, a major component ofoverall reserves,rose $2.215billion to $370.292 billion.

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The Government has re-promulgated an ordinance

to amend the companies law tofurther improve the ease ofdoing business as well as ensurebetter compliance levels.

Since the Bill to makeamendments to the CompaniesAct, 2013, is pending in theRajya Sabha, the ordinancehas been re-promulgated.

The Lok Sabha passed theBill on January 4.

The Companies(Amendment) Ordinance,2019, was issued on Saturday,according to the official gazette.

To amend the CompaniesAct, the Government had firstissued the ordinance inNovember and the same wouldhave ceased to be operationalfrom January 21.

The amendments wouldhelp reduce the burden onspecial courts and bringdown applicable penalties forsmall companies, among oth-ers.

The ordinance has amend-ed 16 sections of the Act so asto modify the punishmentsfrom fine to monetary penal-ties to lessen the burden on theSpecial Courts.

Besides enhancing thejurisdiction of RegionalDirector for compoundingoffences, the amended provi-sions empower the centralGovernment to allow certaincompanies to have a differentfinancial year instead of beingdetermined by the NationalCompany Law Tribunal.

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Meeting the fiscal deficittarget of 3.3 per cent of

GDP for the current fiscalcould be a challenge for thegovernment, given the shortfallin GST collections, risingexpenditure and slowing fac-tory output, say experts.

Moreover, some populistannouncements by the gov-ernment to woo voters ahead ofgeneral elections would makethe task of achieving the fiscaldeficit target even more daunt-ing.

Some of the experts havealready projected that the fis-cal deficit could rise to 3.5 percent of the GDP, more than thebudget estimate of 3.3 per centof the GDP for the current fis-cal.

The Government’s fiscaldeficit touched 114.8 per centof the full-year estimates at theend of November.

The Government had bud-geted fiscal deficit of �6.24lakh crore, or 3.3 per cent of theGDP, for FY19. Fiscal deficit forApril-November stood at �7.16lakh crore, or 114.8 per cent ofthe target. It is slightly morethan the 112 per cent record-ed in the same period last fis-cal.

The pressure onGovernment finances is main-ly arising from indirect taxes

and non-tax revenue side - par-ticularly disinvestment.

“As a result of revenueshortfalls from GST collec-tions, lower excise duty andbelow target disinvestmentreceipts, we expect the centralgovernment fiscal deficit targetto slip to about 3.4 per cent ofGDP.

“Increased expenditure onsubsidies or income transfers tofarmers would make achievingthe budgeted fiscal deficit tar-get even more challenging,particularly given these revenueconstraints,” Moody’s InvestorsService Vice President,Sovereign Risk Group WilliamFoster.

Increased expenditure onfarm loan waivers or otherforms of subsidies would weighfurther on Governmentfinances, he added.

Experts also feel that devi-ation from the targeted num-ber for the second consecutiveyear in a row may not go wellwith the rating agencies.

As per India Ratings andResearch, the slippage in cen-tral government’s fiscal deficitin 2018-19 is likely to be�39,900 crore.

“Fiscal deficit in FY19 isestimated to be �6.67 trillion asagainst the budgeted �6.24 tril-lion [FY18 (revised estimate):�5.92 trillion]. This translatesinto fiscal deficit/GDP of 3.5

per cent for FY19 compared tothe budgeted estimate of 3.3 percent. This means that FY19 willbe the third consecutive year inwhich fiscal deficit/GDP will be3.5 per cent,” it said.

Crisil Chief Economist D KJoshi also pointed out thatthere is pressure on fiscal deficiteven though there is somerelief from crude oil front.

“If the revenue doesn’tmatch the expenditure, it wouldbe a challenge to meet fiscaldeficit target,” Joshi said.

Slowdown in revenue col-lection, moderation in factoryoutput and tight liquidity situ-ation are putting pressure onfiscal deficit, L&T FinancialServices group chief economistRupa Rege Nitsure said.

Industrial output growthdropped to a 17-month low of0.5 per cent in November onaccount of contraction in man-ufacturing sector, particularlyconsumer and capital goods.

Multi-lateral fundingagency Asian DevelopmentBank (ADB) reposed faith ingovernment’s commitment tomeet the fiscal deficit target forthe current fiscal.

“I think a clear frameworkis there and mandate givenunder the Fiscal Responsibilityand Budget Management Act.We don’t have any doubt overit,” ADB Country DirectorKenichi Yokoyama said.

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State-run power producerNTPC Ltd has sought more

coal from Coal India sub-sidiary Northern CoalfieldsLtd (NCL) under the FlexiUtilisation of Domestic Coalscheme, a top official has said.

NTPC Chairman andManaging Director GurdeepSingh has urged NCL to extendits support further to theupcounty power stations ofNTPC including MaudaThermal Power Station (TPS)in Maharashtra under the FlexiUtilization of Domestic Coalscheme, a NCL official said.

Singh was on a visit thisweekend to Nigahi Coal mineof NCL that feeds coal toNTPC’s Vindhyachal SuperThermal Power Station (STPS)— Indias largest thermal powerstation.

Mauda supercritcal thermalpower station has a capacity of2,320 MW (500 MW x 2 and660 MW x 2). However, thepower station is presently oper-ating at nearly half its capacityalthough NTPC is hopeful ofmaking use of its full capacityby the end of this fiscal.

As on December 31, 2018,the plant had utilised just 1,160MW out of the total 2,320 MW

capacity.NCL is already supplying

2.5 Lakh tonnes of coal permonth to NTPC Mauda STPSunder the Flexi Utilization ofDomestic Coal scheme, NCLofficials said.

NTPC was in talks withCentral Coalfields Limited(CCL), besides NCL, to meetthe desired demand of coal,company officials had saidduring an investor’s conferencecall recently.

Presently, NTPC Moudawas receiving coal fromWestern Coalfields Limited(WCL) and South EasternCoalfields Limited (SECL).

NCL has Fuel SupplyAgreement (FSA) with three ofthe NTPC pit-head thermalpower stations — VindhyachalSTPS, Singrauli STPS andRihand STPS.

The Flexi Utilisation ofDomestic Coal scheme envis-ages that all the long term coallinkages of individual StateGenerating Stations shall beclubbed. Similarly, coal linkagesof individual CentralGenerating Stations (CGS)shall also be clubbed andassigned to the company own-ing the CGS, to enable efficientcoal utilization amongst enduse generating stations.

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In a consumer-friendly mea-sure, the revenue depart-

ment is planning to make itmandatory for compositiondealers and service providers todeclare their GST registrationstatus in invoices to ensure thatthey do not charge any tax frombuyers.

The measure, once imple-mented, would check the wide-spread practice of compositiondealers of charging GST frompurchasers and not depositingit with the exchequer, an offi-cial said.

The revenue department isalso planning to launch a cam-paign to educate consumersthat the dealers opting forcomposition scheme are notrequired to charge the goodsand services tax (GST) frompurchasers, the official said.

Under the GST composi-tion scheme, traders and man-ufacturers are required to payonly 1 per cent GST on goodswhich otherwise attract a high-er levy of either 5, 12 or 18 percent. Such dealers are also notpermitted to charge GST fromthe purchaser.

Of the 1.17 crore busi-

nesses registered under GST,about 20 lakh have opted forcomposition scheme.

“It has come to the noticeof the Government that a largenumber of composition deal-ers are levying GST at higherrates and not depositing itwith the Government,” theofficial said.

According to the proposalbeing considered by theCentral Board of Indirect Taxesand Customs (CBIC), busi-nesses will have to mandatori-ly mention in the invoice gen-erated by them that they arecomposition dealers and,hence, are not required tocharge GST.

“Simultaneously, we willeducate consumers that they

should not pay GST while buy-ing goods from compositionscheme dealers,” the officialsaid.

To ease compliance burdenfor small businesses, the GSTlaw provides for compositionscheme under which tradersand manufacturers with anannual turnover of up to �1crore can pay 1 per cent GST.This threshold will increase to�1.5 crore from April 1.

Also the GST Council,headed by Arun Jaitley andcomprising State Ministers, inits meeting on January 10 per-mitted service provider andthose dealing in both goodsand services with a turnover of�50 lakh to opt for compositionscheme.

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Indians are at risk when it comesto home safety as 64% people

are not equipped to handle homesafety threats such as burglaries,robberies, among others. This isaccording to Godrej LocksS ‘HarGhar Surakshit 2018 Report:India’s Safety Paradox – HomeSafety Vs Digital Safety’, con-ducted by Research Now.

This report was released asa part of #HarGharSurakshit, anationwide campaign by GodrejLocks to promote home safetyacross Indian homes. GodrejLocks ‘Har Ghar Surakshit 2018Report: India’s Safety Paradox —Home Safety vs digital safety’focus on people’s perception ofhome safety in the digital age.

Homes in India are not justa place to stay but are also con-sidered as safe abodes for fam-ilies. Indians store their impor-tant documents and credentialsat home, along with money, jew-ellery, and other valuables.There is a lot to protect, butIndians seem to be laggingbehind in upgrading even theprimary source of protection oftheir homes i.e. locks as only40% Indians change their locksin 2-3 years and 20% havenever changed it.

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Incense industry in DelhiNCR has witnessed 15% -

20% growth in the last 5 yearsand it has evolved into avibrant production and trad-ing hub. Unlike other parts ofIndia, Incense industry inDelhi and North India is dri-ven by many variants of dhoopbatti and agarbathi. There is anincreased demand for con-temporary variants of popularfragrances like Rose, Jasmine,Sandalwood and Mogra.

Northern states likeJammu, Punjab, and Himachalhave preference for wet dhoopbatti, while parts of Delhi, UP,Chandigarh have fondness for

both dry dhoop batti andagarbathi. With the changingtrends and evolving demand,the incense industry is allgeared to witness a significantgrowth of 20%-25% in next 5years, reports AIAMA.

Over the years, Delhi NCRregion has become a key agar-bathi manufacturing hub thatcaters to the demand ofNorthern markets like Punjab,Haryana, Uttar Pradesh,Jammu and parts of Rajasthanand Madhya Pradesh. It hasalso become a centre forexport of Puja items includinga considerable quantity ofagarbathi to key markets inGulf, Europe, and Africaregion.

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The National Company LawTribunal (NCLT) has

admitted the insolvency pleaagainst Parsvnath LandmarkDevelopers, filed by three of itsflat builders, for inordinatedelay and non-refund of theirpayment.

The tribunal has alsoappointed Yash Jeet Basrar, aninterim resolution professional(RP), to run the corporate insol-vency resolution process ofParsvnath Landmark Developers,a subsidiary of real estate firm ForParsvnath Developers.

A two-member bench ofthe NCLT headed by PresidentJustice M M Kumar has direct-ed all the personnel “connect-ed with the corporate debtor(Parsvnath LandmarkDevelopers), erstwhile direc-tors, promoters or any otherperson associated with themanagement of the corporatedebtor” to extend every assis-tance and cooperation to theRP in managing the affairs ofthe company.

The tribunal has alsodirected that “in case there is

any violation committed by theex-management or any taint-ed/illegal transaction by ex-directors or anyone else theInterim ResolutionProfess iona l /Res olut ionProfessional would be at liber-ty to make appropriate appli-cation” before it for passing anappropriate order.

It has also directed theRegistrar of Companies to update“the status of ‘corporate debtor’and specific mention regardingadmission of this petition mustbe notified” on its portal.

Tribunal direction cameover a petition filed by AlkaAgarwal and two others, whohad booked flat at La Tropicanaproject of Parsvnath LandmarkDevelopers at Khyber Pass inDelhi for a consideration of�10.93 crore.

According to the flat buyeragreement executed betweenthe parties on October 1, 2009,Parsvnath LandmarkDevelopers was to hand overthe possession within 36months from the date of com-mencement of constructionwith grace period of sixmonths.

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Given the rising challenge tothe free trade, Commerce

and Industry Minister SureshPrabhu said Sunday that whilethe aim is to open up more forfree trade and make WTOmore efficient, the governmentis also keen to work on bilateraltrade with more nations.

"One of the big challengesbefore the world is protection-ism. We as a country are sup-porting open trade with all thecountries....But we also want todevelop bilateral trade agree-ments with many countries.For each of the geographies weare keen to have free tradeagreements with the countriesin Latin America, Africa,Southeast Asia," he said, addingthat New Delhi already hastrade pacts with ASEAN andsome other countries.

Addressing a CII event,he also said there has been anongoing discussion with SriLanka for a ComprehensiveEconomic PartnershipAgreement (CEPA).

For countries in Africa likeAngola, he said such associa-

tion can be in the form of tech-nical assistance, financial assis-tance and a trade agreementwhich will not initially have anyambitious targets but will be awin-win for both the parties.

Prabhu, who is also theCivil Aviation Minister, said theUnited Arab Emirates andSaudi Arabia have decided touse India as a base for theirfood security.

"This is happening at aninteresting time because we justhad made a policy for agricul-ture exports which has identi-fied food items that can beexported," he said.

He informed that this yearthe country would be produc-ing 290 million tonnes of farmproduce as per advance esti-mates, and 305-310 million

tonnes of horticultural items."In the export policy, we

have decided to remove allrestrictions on organic prod-ucts and processed products.Both the UAE and Saudi wantto invest in both organic as wellas food processing industries.This will be a win-win situationfor the UAE, Saudi, and otherGCC countries but also for us,particularly for our farmers,who want better prices to theirproduce," he said.

Saudi Arabia has said it canmake investment in logistics,food parks and make sector-specific investment in foodprocessing, Prabhu said.

The farm export policywill go a long way in reducingwastage, the minister said.

On the Udan policy, hesaid the government willannounce its phase III in thenext few days, which will alsofocus on air cargo. On January15, the government will beannouncing the first air cargopolicy, Prabhu added.

The UAE and Saudi Arabiaare keen to invest in all theseinfrastructure initiatives, hesaid.

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US Secretary of State MikePompeo arrived in Qatar

on Sunday pushing for an endto a diplomatic rift betweenWashington’s Gulf allies on thelatest leg of his Middle Easttour.

The top US diplomat’s visitto the small, energy-rich Gulfstate comes amid a more than18-month-old dispute pittingRiyadh and its allies againstDoha.

“It is time for old rivalriesto end for the sake of thegreater good of the region,”Pompeo said on Thursday inCairo, where he laid out theMiddle East strategy of USPresident Donald Trump’sadminstration.

The secretary of state trav-elled to Doha from Abu Dhabi,where he met with CrownPrince Mohammed bin Zayedon Saturday.

Pompeo is later expected tohead to Riyadh, where all eyeswill be on a possible meetingwith Crown PrinceMohammed bin Salman.

The visit comes just threemonths after the murder ofSaudi journalist JamalKhashoggi in his country’sIstanbul consulate.

Saudi Arabia, the UAE,Bahrain and Egypt — all USallies — cut ties with Qatar inJune 2017, accusing it of sup-porting terrorist groups andseeking closer ties to Saudiarch-rival Iran.

Qatar — also a US ally —denies the allegations andaccuses the countries of seek-ing regime change.

Washington, which at firstappeared to back the boycott,has so far been unsuccessful intrying to get the countries to setaside their differences in orderto focus on Washington’sregional priority — the fightagainst Iran.

Attempts at mediation havestalled, as highlighted by therecent resignation of US envoyAnthony Zinni — who quitbecause of an apparent “lack ofwill” on behalf of “regionalleaders” for regional reconcil-iation.

For Washington, turningthe page on the crisis is essen-tial for the successful launch ofthe Strategic Alliance of theMiddle East (MESA), which isa NATO-style security pactthat includes Gulf countries aswell as Egypt and Jordan.

“Today, we ask each ofthose countries to take thenext step and help us solidify

MESA,” Pompeo said in Cairo.But the task is not going to

be easy.“It is complicated to put

together, make no mistakeabout it, because we’re talkingabout a complex agreementamong a number of nationswhere we’re asking for signifi-cant commitments from them,”Pompeo told reporters in AbuDhabi on Saturday.

“But I believe that there isa path forward where there’s aset of common understand-ings.”

In Doha, Pompeo isexpected to meet with severalsenior government leaders,including Qatari ForeignMinister Sheikh Mohammedbin Abdulrahman al-Thani.

The two are expected tohold a joint press conference onSunday.

Qatar’s relationship withIran is complicated as it sharesthe world’s largest natural gasfield with Tehran.

Gas has been responsiblefor transforming Qatar into oneof the richest countries in theworld, since it first beganexporting liquefied natural gaslittle more than 20 years ago.

It has also agreed toincrease gas production sincethe beginning of the crisis.

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It just needs to be sorted,” said23-year-old Adam Green, a

frustrated Leave voter in Brexit-backing Sunderland, wherepatience with parliamentarydelays over Britain’s departureis wearing thin.

The former shipbuildingcity in northeast England,where the Nissan carmakerplant is now the lifeblood,played a starring role inBritain’s seismic decision toleave the European Union.

The city’s 61 per cent votein favour of leaving in the2016 referendum signalledearly on where the nation washeading on the night of June23, 2016 and celebrations at thecount were beamed world-wide.

Now, as MPs prepare forTuesday’s decision on whetheror not to back the divorce dealstruck between London andBrussels, voters in Sunderlandare urging them to get on withit and get Britain out.

The years of wranglingsince the referendum over how,or even if, Britain leaves havecertainly dampened the highspirits of that 2016 June night.

“It’s become an absolutejoke,” said Green, who is unem-ployed for medical reasons, as

he stood outside the Bridgesmain shopping centre.

“It’s disrespecting my votecompletely. Myself and mywhole family voted for us tocome out,” he said.

“The MPs need to get theirheads down and get us out.

“I just want it over anddone with because I’m sick ofhearing about Brexit,” headded.

The University ofSunderland campus was builtin the 1990s on the site of for-mer shipyards that once dom-inated the banks of the RiverWear in this working-class cityof 275,000 people.

Sunderland was a coaltrading port, had its own col-lieries, was a glassmaking cen-tre and boasted a major brew-ery.

The heavy industry haslargely evaporated, though thedocks are still going and ships’horns echo amongst the cranes.

Besides its current car-making prowess, Sunderland’spride now rests on its footballteam.

Despite two straight rele-gations to the third-tier LeagueOne, the Black Cats still drawhuge crowds to games at their49,000-seater Stadium of Light,built on the site of a disusedcoal mine.

On match days, the stadi-um roar drifts throughoutSunderland’s streets.

“Sunderland is a city wherepeople feel quite rooted, with astrong sense of community,”said Peter Hayes, the universi-ty’s senior lecturer in politics.

“That perhaps makes themfeel a little bit less cosmopoli-tan,” he told AFP.

“There’s a kind of anti-elitefeeling in Sunderland,” he said,explaining the Leave vote --which went against Japaneseautomaker Nissan’s preference.

“If we leave the EU on badterms, there are very seriouseconomic problems thatSunderland is going to face,” headded, saying that if Nissanshifted production to Europe,it would be a “disaster”.

Britain’s largest car factoryemploys more than 7,000workers and builds 500,000vehicles per year, includingthe Juke, Qashqai and electricLeaf models.

Some 55 per cent areexported tariff-free to the EU.

Stephen O’Brien, a citycouncillor for the pro-EUopposition Liberal Democrats,said a no-deal Brexit’s effect on the city’s manufacturingwould be “more devastatingthan losing the pits and theboat industry”.

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Twenty-one workers werekilled after a roof collapsed

at a coal mine in northwesternChina, State media reported onSunday.

Eighty-seven people wereworking underground in theLijiagou coal mine in theShaanxi Province at the time ofthe accident on Saturday after-noon, state-run Xinhua newsagency reported.

Initial reports said that 19people were killed while 66others airlifted to safety.Rescuers found two more bod-ies of trapped miners onSunday, the report said.

The cause of the accident atthe site, run by Baiji Mining, isstill under investigation.

Though the number ofdeaths has reduced at coalmines in recent years, miningaccidents are common inChina, the world’s largest coalproducer.

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The decade-long Palestiniansplit looks set to deepen in

the coming months, with pres-ident Mahmud Abbas poised totake multiple measures againstGaza to squeeze its Islamistrulers Hamas.

The moves raise concernsof more suffering for Gaza’s twomillion residents, already underan Israeli blockade and facingsevere electricity shortages,while a cornered Hamas couldrenew violence against Israel.

Analysts say the measureswill also widen the gap betweenHamas-run Gaza and the occu-pied West Bank, where Abbas’sgovernment has limited self-rule.

Hamas and Abbas’s secularFatah party have been at log-gerheads since the Islamistsseized control of Gaza fromAbbas’s forces in a near civil warin 2007, a year after sweeping-ing parliamentary elections.

Hamas has since foughtthree bloody wars with Israeland fears of a fourth remain.

Multiple reconciliationattempts between thePalestinian factions have failedbut Egypt thought it had madea breakthrough in late 2017when the two sides agreed toeventually share power.

As part of that agreementHamas withdrew from bordercrossings between Gaza andEgypt and Israel, allowing theFatah-dominated PalestinianAuthority to return and theEgyptian border to be reopenedregularly. The reconciliationagreement has since collapsedacrimoniously.

On Sunday, the PAannounced it would withdrawfrom the Egyptian border cross-ing, creating a dilemma forCairo about whether to leave itopen with Hamas in control.

So far they have indicatedthey will.

Senior officials close to

Abbas say he is looking for othermeasures to punish Hamas.

Among these could beremoving staff from the cross-ings between Israel and Gaza -- making it hard for the Jewishstate to allow anything into theterritory without dealing direct-ly with Hamas, which it andmany other countries label a ter-rorist organisation.

They could also includecutting salaries to families ofHamas prisoners or rescindingPalestinian passports for Hamasemployees.

Abbas has also pledged todissolve the Hamas-dominatedPalestinian parliament, whichthough it hasn’t met since the2007 split is still nominally thebasis for new laws.

“Very important decisionsagainst Hamas are being dis-cussed,” a senior official said oncondition of anonymity.

It follows a series of arrestsof those affiliated with Fatah inGaza, according to Abbas allies.

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There doesn’t seem to bemuch love in the air in

Washington these days, as along and bitter Governmentshutdown drags on with no endin sight.

But couples whose mar-riage plans were thwarted bythe partial shutdown have got-ten a break, thanks to theaction of Mayor Muriel Bowserand city council.

The city’s Marriage Bureau,part of the US capital’s federallyfunded court system, had beendeemed “nonessential” andshuttered as part of the thornystandoff between PresidentDonald Trump and congres-sional Democrats.

But on Friday, Bowsersigned an emergency measureauthorising city officials to val-idate marriages in the absenceof the Marriage Bureau, whichclosed when the budget stand-off began on December 22.

“They can shut down theUS government, but they can-not shut down love in theDistrict of Columbia,” CityCouncil member BrandonTodd said when he introducedthe measure.

Titled the Let Our VowsEndure Emergency

Amendment Act, or LOVEact, the law is valid for 90 daysand will spare future brides likeClaire O’Rourke from findingthemselves in Kafkaesque sit-uations.

“Practically, we couldn’tsign all the legal certificatesduring the shutdown withouthaving a marriage licence,”O’Rourke, a Washingtonianwho was preparing to wedfiance Sam Bockenhauer, toldAFP.

“So we were going to havea wonderful party, of course,but couldn’t be legally marriedin DC until we got our mar-riage license.”

Some couples, like DanPollock and DanielleGeanacopoulos, had no time tospare.

They managed to get theirwedding licence on December27, just two days before theirscheduled wedding.

“By the time we figured outwe couldn’t get a licence, wewere running out of timebefore friends and family werecoming to Washington to cel-ebrate with us,” Geanacopoulossaid.

“So we focused on thereally important thing — cel-ebrating — and decided tofigure out the rest later.”

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Yemeni rebels on Sundayboycotted a meeting

chaired by the head of a UN-led ceasefire monitoring teamin the flashpoint city ofHodeida, accusing him of pur-suing “other agendas”.

Retired Dutch generalPatrick Cammaert is leading ajoint committee, whichincludes both government andrebel representatives, taskedwith overseeing a truce in theRed Sea port city and the with-drawal of both parties.

Huthi rebel negotiatorMohammed Abdelsalam saidCammaert “steered from thecourse of the agreement byimplementing other agendas”.

“If (UN envoy to YemenMartin) Griffiths does notaddress the issue, it is going tobe difficult to discuss any othermatter,” he said on Twitterwithout elaborating.

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US President Donald Trumphas denied reports

that he did not share details ofsome his meetings with his Russian counterpartVladimir Putin, saying that hewould not mind releasing thosedetails.

“Well, I would (releasedetails of the conversationswith Putin)… I am not keep-ing anything under wraps,”Trump told Fox news in an interview following a report by the Washington Postthat claimed he has concealed details of his face-to-face encounters with Putinfrom senior officials in admin-

istration.“I don’t care. I mean I had

a conversation like every pres-ident does, you sit with thepresident of various countries.We had a great conversation.We were talking about Israeland securing Israel and lots ofother things and it was a greatconversation. I’m not keepinganything under wraps. I could-n’t care less,” he said.

“Why not release the con-versation that you had withPresident Putin in Helsinkialong with some other stuff?”he was asked by Fox News fol-lowing the damaging report byThe Washington Post.

Trump described the newsreport as “ridiculous”.

“The Washington Post isalmost as bad as probably asbad as The New York Times.

I have a one-on-one meet-ing with Putin like I do withevery other leader and I hadmany one-on-ones. Nobodyever says anything about it,” hesaid.

“I meet with everyleader…individually. I meetwith (Prime MinisterNarendra) Modi. I meet with(Shinzo) Abe (of Japan), I meetwith them. Nobody says any-thing. But, I meet with Putin,they make a big deal. Anybodycould have listened to thatmeeting. That meeting is openfor grabs,” Trump said, denyingthe Post report.

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Greece’s Defence Minister,who is head of the main

coalition partner of PrimeMinister Alexis Tsipras,announced his resignation onSunday ahead of an upcomingparliamentary vote to end a27-year name dispute withMacedonia.

“The Macedonia issuedoes not allow me not to sac-rif ice my post,” PanosKammenos said after a meet-ing with Tsipras.

“I thanked the prime min-ister for the cooperation and Iexplained to him that for thisnational issue we cannot con-tinue,” he said, adding that his

Independent Greeks party(ANEL) “is pulling out of thegovernment”.

The nationalist ANELsupports the Tsipras adminis-tration with its seven law-makers and has six ministersand junior ministers in thegovernment.

Kammenos had threat-ened to pull out of theGovernment when the name deal comes to a vote inAthens from the moment Tsipras signed theagreement with MacedonianPrime Minister Zoran Zaev inJune.

However some of hisANEL party’s MPs remainambivalent. Macedonian law-

makers voted late on Friday torename their country theRepublic of North Macedoniabut the agreement now needsbacking from the Greek par-liament to come into effect.

For the Greeks,Macedonia is the name of ahistory-rich northern provincethat was the cradle ofAlexander the Great’s ancientempire.

“Within ten days, in any case as soon as the(Macedonia parliamentaryvote) result is notified to usand if we see that everythingis in order, we will vote (toapprove) the PrespesAgreement,” Tsipras told OpenTV earlier this week.

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China’s Chang’e-4 lunarrover, which is exploring

the dark side of the moon, willmeasure the freezing nighttemperature, scientists said onSunday.

Chang’e-4, named after aChinese moon goddess andcomprising a lander and arover, touched down on thedark side of the moon onJanuary 3, the first-ever softlanding on the far side of themoon by any country.

It was a giant leap for cos-mic exploration and a majorboost to the Communistnation’s quest to become a

space superpower.Since the moon’s revolution

cycle is the same as its rotationcycle, the same side alwaysfaces the Earth. The other face,most of which cannot be seenfrom the Earth, is called the farside or the “dark side” of themoon, not because it is dark,but because most of it isuncharted.

A lunar day equals 14 dayson the Earth, and a lunar nightis the same length.Temperatures vary enormous-ly between day and night onthe moon.

Scientists estimate that thehighest temperature during theday might reach 127 degrees

Celsius, while the lowest atnight could fall to minus 183degrees Celsius.

In 2013, China launchedChang’e-3, the country’s firstspacecraft to soft-land on themoon. The scientific instru-ments on its lander are stilloperating after more than 60lunar nights in the past fiveyears, state-run Xinhua newsagency reported.

“It was a success, butChang’e-3 was designedaccording to foreign tempera-ture data,” Zhang He, the exec-utive director of the Chang’e-4probe project from the ChinaAcademy of Space Technology(CAST), told Xinhua.

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Iran’s Foreign Ministry sum-moned Poland’s top diplo-

mat in the country to protest itsdecision to host what it called an“anti-Iranian” summit, a spo-kesman said on Sunday. Poland’scharge d’affaires was summonedto “protest the anti-Iranian so-called peace and security con-ference,” said foreign ministryspokesman Bahram Ghasemi onhis Telegram channel.

He was told “this is a hostileact by the United States againstIran and Poland is expected torefrain from going along withthe US in holding this confer-

ence,” Ghasemi added.The summit was announced

last week by US Secretary of StateMike Pompeo, who said dozensof countries would participate.They will “focus on Middle Eaststability and peace and freedomand security here in this region,and that includes an importantelement of making sure that Iranis not a destabilising influence,”he told Fox News.

Poland’s representative inIran, Wojciech Unolt, reported-ly said the conference, to be heldFebruary 13-14 in Warsaw, wasnot anti-Iranian and that Polanddid not share recent remarks bythe US against Iran.

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Assailing President DonaldTrump for “a crisis of lead-

ership,” former Obama Cabinetmember Julian Castro joined the2020 presidential race onSaturday as the rush ofDemocrats making early movesto challenge the incumbentaccelerates, while anticipationgrows around bigger names stillconsidering a White House run.

Castro, who could end upbeing the only Latino in what isshaping up to be a crowdedDemocratic field, made immi-gration a centerpiece of hisannouncement in his hometownof San Antonio, less than 200miles from the U.S.-Mexicoborder.

Two days after the presidentvisited the border to promote hispromised wall, Castro mockedTrump for claiming that the U.S.Faces an “invasion” from its allyto the south. “He called it a nati-onal security crisis,” Castro said.“Well, there is a crisis today.

It’s a crisis of leadership.Donald Trump has failed touphold the values of our greatnation.”

Castro, the 44-year-oldgrandson of a Mexican immi-grant, said he was running forpresident “because it’s time fornew leadership, because it’s timefor new energy and it’s time fora new commitment to makesure that the opportunities thatI’ve had are available to everyAmerican.”

He made the announce-ment as a government shutdowndrags into the longest in U.S.History, and as the field of 2020contenders widens.

Castro was San Antonio’smayor for five year and U.S.Housing secretary in PresidentBarack Obama’s second term.He became the second Dem-ocrat to formally enter race, afterformer Maryland Rep. JohnDelaney. Sen. Elizabeth Warrenof Massachusetts has also start-ed an exploratory committee forpresident, and four otherDemocratic senators are takingsteady steps toward running.Hawaii Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, thefirst Hindu elected to Congress,said this week she is planning abid, too.

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Agroup organising anti-gov-ernment protests across

Sudan vowed to stage newdemonstrations on Sunday,including for the first time inthe war-torn region of Darfur.

Protests that erupted inthe provinces on December 19after the government tripledthe price of bread have esca-lated into nationwide anti-gov-ernment rallies, with demon-strators calling for PresidentOmar al-Bashir to resign.

Authorities say at least 24people have died in theprotests, while rights groupHuman Rights Watch has putthe death toll at 40, includingchildren and medical staff.

On Sunday, protest organ-isers called for demonstrations

in the capital Khartoum andother towns including Madani,Kosti and Dongola as part ofwhat they have called a “Weekof Uprising”. They also urgedprotests in Niyala and El-Fasher in Darfur, the first suchrallies to be called in the region.

“The people of Niyala andEl-Fasher, we call on you togather in downtown like othertowns and villages who are call-ing on President Bashir to stepdown,” the SudaneseProfessionals’ Association saidin a joint statement with analliance of opposition groups.

Darfur, a region the size ofFrance, has been torn by vio-lence since 2003 when ethnicminority rebels took up armsagainst Khartoum, accusing itof economic and political mar-ginalisation.

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Aheartbreaking loss after a stunningwin denting their confidence,India will still be fired up by the

prospect of a maiden knock-out roundberth when they take on Bahrain in theirfinal Asian Cup group league match hereon Monday.

A draw against the West Asian side,currently ranked 113, will be enough forIndia (ranked 97) to qualify for the roundof 16 for the first time in the continent'sshowpiece event after failed attempts in1984 and 2011.

Monday's match at the SharjahStadium, which may turn out to be thebiggest night of Indian football after itsachievements during the Golden Years(1951 to 64), is also significant as talis-manic skipper Sunil Chhetri will equalformer captain Bhaichung Bhutia's recordof highest appearances for the country at107 each.

India had finished runners-up in the1964 edition in Israel but that tournamentwas played in a round-robin format com-prising four countries with the winnersbeing decided on the basis of points col-lected in the league. There was not a sin-gle knock-out match in that edition.

But even a defeat on Monday maystill see India (3 points from 2 matches)through to the knock-out rounds as oneof the four third-placed teams if hostsUnited Arab Emirates (4 from 2 match-es) beat Thailand (3 from 2 matches) inAl Ain in the other Group A match to beplayed simultaneously.

Four third-placed sides from the sixgroups of four team each will alsoadvance to the knock-out rounds, alongwith the top two countries.

Under the competition rules of theAsian Cup, if two teams end their groupstage engagements on equal points, theranking will be decided first on the basisof head to head result.

So, if both Thailand and India losetheir matches on Monday, India will endat third as they have defeated the 'WarElephants' 4-1 in their opening match.

But the Stephen Constantine sidecannot lose to Bahrain — to whom India

lost 2-5 in the 2011 Asian Cup — by abig margin as goal difference will get thefirst preference while deciding whichteam makes it to the Round of 16 amongthird place sides of equal points.

In Groups C and D, two bottom-placed teams have not yet opened theiraccounts after playing two matches eachand they have minus goal difference asagainst India's plus one.

Courtesy, the stunning win againstThailand has shown that India are nolonger an 'also ran' side and the secondmatch against the UAE -- though lost 0-2 -- strengthened the thought that thisside can hold onto their own without fearand take the game to the opposition,unlike the teams of the past.

Luck also eluded India in the match

against UAE as the woodwork deniedthem on two occasions while AshiqueKuruniyan and Chhetri had the goal-keeper at their mercy but failed to beathim. India had more shots at oppositiongoal though UAE had the overwhelmingpossession.

Constantine has built India into acompact and largely defensive unit whichtries to score on the counter. The teamlargely maintained it shape and intensi-ty in the first two matches againstThailand and UAE.

The lack of creativity in the midfieldas compared to other top sides was, how-ever, evident and a lot will depend onChhetri, who has become the highestIndian goal scorer in the Asian Cup (withfour strikes) as well as second highest

international goal scorer (67 from 106matches) among active players.

India may again deploy a defensiveapproach and hit on the counter againsta physical Bahrain as they need just adraw while it is a must-win for the WestAsian side as they are with just one pointfrom two matches after their 0-1 loss toThailand.

The Thais defended deep in the firsthalf against Bahrain and hit on thecounter and the 'War Elephants' were ableto get a second half goal. So, it is notbeyond India's reach to get a favourableresult against Bahrain.

Constantine fielded the same start-ing eleven in both against Thailand andUAE in a 4-4-2 formation and it will haveto be seen whether he does the sameagainst Bahrain. The central defenderduo of Sandesh Jhingan and AnasEdathodika largely marshalled the back-line well so far but there were periods oflack of understanding between themwhich led to the two goals by UAE.

The head coach is unlikely to makechanges at the heart of the defence as wellas in the upfront duo of Chhetri andKuruniyan. However, Constantine maytry out Balwant Singh at some point intime considering the physicality of theBahrain side.

Jeje Lapekhlua has been the preferredforward for Constantine to come in assubstitute.

Rowlin Borges is an option forPranoy Halder in the role of a defensivemidfielder while attacking midfielderAnirudha Thapa was a bit subduedagainst UAE. Right winger Udanta Singhwas brilliant in the match againstThailand as he was involved in three goalsand he was denied by the crossbaragainst UAE as well.

Historically, India have won justone match against Bahrain in sevenmatches played so far between the twocountries. That win (2-0) had come in aninternational friendly in Bahrain inOctober, 1979 with striker Shabir Aliscoring both the goals.

Bahrain have won on five occasionswin while one match had ended in adraw.

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The odds are stacked against India buta confident head coach Stephen

Constantine says his players have it inthem to qualify for the next round of theAFC Asian Cup by beating Bahrain, hereon Monday.

The Group A is currently balancedon a knife's edge, with all four teams stillstanding a chance to qualify for theRound of 16.

While hosts UAE lead the proceed-ings with four points from two games,India and Thailand are close behind withthree points each.

The 'Blue Tigers' are ahead of the'War Elephants' by virtue of a betterhead-to-head record, while Bahrain liesbottom with one point.

A win for India will be enough todirectly seal a berth in the next round,although, with four best third placedteams from the six groups also advanc-ing to the Round of 16, a draw will alsosee India through.

So far, India and Bahrain havefaced each other seven times. WhileBahrain have won five times, India havejust managed a solitary win, with theother match ending in a draw. In fact,the last time that the two teams squaredoff was in the 2011 AFC Asian Cup inQatar where India lost 2-5.

Constantine says his side can scripthistory.

"I have said it before that we canqualify from this group. That is ourobjective right now," said Constantine on

the eve of the match."I don't believe in records. There are

a lot of factors that come into play. Whenwas the last time we played them? Wasit the same team? What were the cir-cumstances? Everything's always chang-ing," said Constantine.

"If we win, we don't have to worryabout anyone else. So we'll focus on our-selves and see what happens from there.It's an important game for us. Obviously,we want to do well and get the threepoints.

"I'm not sure whether we can call it'do-or-die'. That's a bit too dramatic, Ithink," Constantine said.

The India coach had words of praisefor the opponents.

"They defend very well and are verywell organised. I'm sure that it will be dif-ficult. But we have shown that we canscore against good teams. I'm sure wecan score tomorrow as well," he main-tained.

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Antoine Griezmann cameto the rescue again as

Atletico Madrid kept the pres-sure on Barcelona at the top ofLa Liga on Sunday by edgingpast Levante.

Griezmann has now scoredall of Atletico's last six goalsand this latest one, from thepenalty spot, proved the dif-ference in a cagey contest at theWanda Metropolitano.

A 1-0 victory for DiegoSimeone's side cuts the gapfrom five points to two behindBarca, who will restore theiradvantage with a win overEibar later on Sunday.

Levante, who have not wonin the league since December3, stay 11th.

Atletico had 19 shots and,unusually for them, dominat-ed possession but they contin-ue to rely on Griezmann'sexcellent scoring run forpoints.

"We all pull the cart in dif-ficult moments," Griezmannsaid. "I cannot do anythingwithout my team-mates."

But, in their last five games,it is the Frenchman's goalsthat have earned wins overLevante, Real Valladolid andEspanyol, while sparing themdefeats away to Sevilla andGirona.

Griezmann was persistentin expressing his desire to win

the Ballon d'Or in Decemberbut since the prize went to RealMadrid's Luka Modric, he hashit seven goals in seven games.Perhaps a sharpening of focushas done him good too.

He could have scored earlybut feathered Angel Correa'scross wide while Koke thoughthe had, tucking Vitolo's passneatly into the corner, only forVAR to find a foul in thebuild-up.

In between, Stefan Savicsustained a thigh injury andwas replaced by Jose Gimenez,who has himself only recentlyreturned from a calf problem,with this his first leagueappearance since December 8.

After a nervy start, Levantebegan to frustrate their oppo-nents, whose poor decision-making in the final third had

Simeone flailing on the touch-line.

It seemed likely the pres-sure would pay, however, and12 minutes into the second halfso it proved, as ThomasPartey's cutback struck thehand of Nikola Vukcevic, whohad slid to block but left hisarm outstretched behind hisback. Griezmann banged thepenalty into the roof of the net.

Atletico could have made itmore comfortable late on butVitolo's shot whistled past thepost, Partey powered over andThomas Lemar found the angletoo tight. One was just enough.

In the other matches of theday Villarreal lost to Getafe 1-2, Athletic Club managed tobeat Sevilla FC 2-0 with thehelp of Inaki Williams’ stellarperformance who did a brace.

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Maurizio Sarri warned his Chelseastars to improve their mentali-

ty after Willian's sublime strike sealeda hard-fought 2-1 win over strugglingNewcastle on Saturday.

Sarri's side took the lead throughPedro's early goal, but Ciaran Clarksnatched a shock equaliser before half-time.

With Chelsea fans beginning tolose patience at their team's latestspluttering home display, Willian lift-ed the mood in the nick of time withhis superb second-half curler.

Fourth-placed Chelsea have wonfive of their last seven league match-es and sit six points clear of fifth-placed Arsenal, who lost at West Hamearlier on Saturday.

But, while Chelsea remain in con-trol of the race to qualify for theChampions League, this was a farfrom convincing performance.

Labouring to beat third-bottomNewcastle showed how far Chelseahave to go to bridge the gap in classto leaders Liverpool and championsManchester City.

Sarri also revealed he has toldChelsea's hierarchy he needs a newmidfielder to replace Cesc Fabregas,who joined Monaco on Friday.

"Jorginho was in trouble and onthe bench there wasn't a player for thatposition. I need an option for thatposition," he sad.

"The club knows very well myopinion. It depends on the club deci-sion. I cannot do anything more."

Another winter of discontent isbrewing for Newcastle, wo have wononly once in their last nine leaguegames.

The Magpies' 18 points is theirlowest tally after 22 matches of a top-flight season since they were relegat-ed in 1988-89.

Tuesday's 1-0 defeat againstTottenham in the League Cup semi-final first leg was the latest display ofattacking impotence from misfiringChelsea, who had failed to score intheir last two home league games.

But it took only nine minutes forthe Blues to go in front as Newcastle's

five-man defence was carved openwith ease.

A fine long pass from Chelseadefender David Luiz caught Clark flat-footed.

Pedro timed his run behind Clarkperfectly and held off the centre-back'sweak attempt to recover as he lofteda delicate chip over Newcastle keep-er Martin Dubravka for his seventhgoal of the season.

Chelsea dominated possessionin the first half-hour, but they switchedoff at the back as Newcastle almostsnatched an equaliser.

������> �>���Salomon Rondon flicked a head-

er towards Ayoze Perez and he accel-erated away from Antonio Rudiger,only to shoot woefully wide with justKepa Arrizabalaga to beat.

It was a warning that Sarri's menfailed to heed and in the 40th minuteNewcastle were level.

Matt Ritchie curled over an out-swinging corner and Clark muscledpast Luiz to power a superb headerpast Kepa from 12 yards.

Once again, Sarri stubbornlystuck to his experiment with EdenHazard as Chelsea's central strikerdespite the Belgian star's dislike of thetactic. With frustration mounting, amisplaced pass by Jorginho triggeredangry moans from Chelsea fans, whobooed the team off at half-time.

The atmosphere was on the vergeof turning even more toxic untilWillian came to the rescue in the 57thminute. Teed up by Hazard at lastmaking an incisive burst, Willian cutback inside two Newcastle defenderson the left side of the area before curl-ing a finish into the far corner.

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Pep Guardiola's rejuvenatedManchester City face a potentially

tricky challenge at home toWolverhampton Wanderers onMonday as they continue theirPremier League title defence.

But the early days of 2019 sug-gest their uncharacteristic Decembercollapse is firmly behind them.

The final month of last year sawCity lose successive league games,against relatively modest opposi-tion in both Crystal Palace andLeicester City, following an end totheir unbeaten domestic start to thecampaign earlier at the beginning ofDecember.

But a victory over leadersLiverpool to kick off New Year com-pletely rejuvenated the mood at theEtihad Stadium after City had beendenied the services of injured play-maker Kevin De Bruyne for most ofthe first half of the campaign.

And two stunning cup victoriesin the space of four days -- albeitagainst lower league clubs

Rotherham and Burton Albion --suggested the clinical, cutting edgethat characterised City's play duringlast season's record-breaking title-winning campaign was back.

Championship side Rotherhamwere swept aside 7-0 at the Etihad,with third division Burton sufferingan even more painful fate in a lop-sided first leg of League Cup semi-final, when City scored nine goalswithout reply.

That latter victory not only all butassured City of a place in the finalagainst Tottenham or Chelsea nextmonth but also indicated thedemanding Guardiola will not tol-erate any let-up in his quest to addmore silverware to the club's trophycabinet.

3���� ������9���It was a mood reflected by De

Bruyne against Rotherham when heshowed visible dissatisfaction atbeing brought off after an hour, eventhough City were already leading byfive goals.

Some reports even suggested De

Bruyne refused to return to the benchto watch the remainder of the match,remaining, instead, in the City dress-ing room.

"No, I didn't speak with him,"

said City manager Guardiola curtly,when asked if he had addressed DeBruyne's reaction to being replaced.But given the Belgian has started justone league game so far this campaign,

he is likely to be chomping at the bitto play from the kick-off againstWolves.

Sergio Aguero, too, has returnedafter being absent since the Liverpoolwin due to illness and inspirationalclub captain and defender VincentKompany is another player winninghis battle to be fit for Monday'smatch.

The general picture suggeststhat, having weathered a brief loss ofform, City have not only returned totheir clinical best but also have anumber of key players hitting fitnessat the right time, as Guardiola insistshis squad can maintain their chasefor honours on four fronts.

Meanwhile second-placed Citywill want to close the seven-point gapat the top of the table created byLiverpool's 1-0 win away to Brightonon Saturday when they face Wolves.

However Nuno Espirito Santo'sside held City to a creditable 1-1 drawearlier in the season at Molineux anddrew 1-1 at the Etihad in last season'sLeague Cup when they were still aChampionship club.

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There are different forms of harass-ment of women and girls. One ofthe forms ‘Eve-teasing’ is witnessed

usually in streets and public places andcan take many forms. It could be wolf-whistles or lewd jokes. It could be star-ing. Or, it could be more serious, likemaking vulgar suggestions to a girl,groping or stalking her. In all forms, itcauses varying levels of discomfort to thevictim. Eve teasing is an unpleasant or akind of harrasment used is the main rea-son of rapes and eve teasing

The eve teasing is an action of per-version like touching, rubbing, groping,staring, pinching, slapping, many otheracts can be added to this compendium.Eve teasing is a crime committed againstwomen everyday but the criminals are notpunished and they continue violating awomen’s privacy assuming they have aright to do so. It is an offence everywoman faces in her life and not just onceand ignores the offence and accepts it asa price she has to pay for being a woman.Since not much importance is accordedto the offence and the offenders are notpunished, it encourages them to contin-ue their behaviour and even escalate it toomore heinous offences like assault andrape as they know they can get away withit.

We often see couples at every picnicspots trying to get too close and for whichthey always search for isolated places. Thiscan be a little dangerous for these indi-viduals as they are out of the other peo-ple sight and seeing which the wholegroup of men get chance to take advan-tage of such situations when nobody isaround.

Since the man alone gets physicallyweak in front of them, in such case, thewoman is sexually and brutally harassed.So, you should be searching for placeswith some people around to prevent thesekind of incidents.

Often girls go out alone for works orsome other purpose. But molesters/teasersare always in this chance to take dueadvantage of the situation. So as far aspossible either stay in groups or havesome elder male with you. You feel safein groups as being an individual girl youbecome an easy target of molesters. Havemale friends in the group if possiblewhenever hanging out in public places asit will help to reduce any risky incidents.

In spite of being a girl, many at timesyou go loud in public. You should alwayskeep in mind that wherever you are youshould be well behaved. Do not try tograb any unknown boys’ attentionthrough your attitude. Even if you are ingroup having fun, do not be loud orinvolve in any fights with others as thatmay lead to girls being getting molestedby the other group male members forrevenge purpose.

This shuts down your image alongwith your dignity. So just be decent andcalm in public places.

Carrying small safety weapons withyou not only makes you feel safe but willeven help to avoid any kind of harassingsituation. Whenever you feel that some-body is trying to touch you or unneces-sarily trying to get close to you just takeout the bottle and spray it in his eyes andshowing the knife can make the peoplearound you aware of the situation and cancome for your help. Such kinds of tech-

niques act as a part of self defence andwhich will not only make the teasers learna lesson but will also give some strengthto the other girls for future of how theycan protect themselves and fight againstthe harassers.

Be it a boy or a girl, both often go outfor late night parties. But as it is said nightis always a sinister, so you should avoidgoing out at night if you are beingaccompanied by a female companion.

Girls, do not wear short attractivedresses and avoid drinking alcohol. If youare working then, avoid taking publictransports or lifts from unknown people.

If you are travelling alone then, avoidpassing through isolated places and takeroutes with people and cops around. Ifpossible try not to go out at nights as itgets difficult to get any help if somethingwrong happens.

The brave ones will confront the eveteasers and even slap them occasionallyor whack their umbrellas at them.However most women prefer to go theirway swallowing their feelings of pride andembarrassment, not because they are

scared to hit out, but because they areafraid of the consequences. There is thefear that the perpetrator of the crime willcome the next day with reinforcements,or worse still the perpetrator might fol-low them home and try to accost themwhen they are alone.

We heard about incidents where girlswalking on the road are either kidnappedor suddenly surrounded by group of men.

So, always be alert when you walk onthe road, if you find any person followingyou for a long time or if somebody is try-ing to come near you then just stop and tryto show as if you are calling the police orshout and call somebody for help.

This will make him little frightenedand he may not try to come near you andrun. And if any boy or man is trying topass cheap comments on you while walk-ing just be bold and try to answer himback in any way you can so that he learnsa good lesson for future.

We have heard about number ofcases where a person who tries to take astep against molestation himself gets indanger.

Either he is brutally hit or get killed.In such situations, it gets difficulty for awoman to help herself in between the hun-gry beasts. Thus, it should be necessaryfor every girl to have some training of selfdefense to protect herself.

It even provides you the strength andcourage to protect other women in dan-ger. Engage yourself in some taikwondo,judo or karate training to bring out the gutsytalent and prove yourself. In this way youwill also be able to save not only yours butother girls life as well which will even teachthose non-humans the lesson of their life.

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So many books, so little time. This isthe feeling one gets when one entersthe New Delhi World Book Fair. One

feels practically submerged in a sea —which promises to make you travel far —without having to move so much as aninch.

While the nine-day fair saw a num-ber of publication houses, authors andpoets and readers participating in liter-ary dialogues, the eighth day of the fairsaw several book releases. One of themwas controversial author TaslimaNasreen’s Besharam. The book is a sequelto her bestselling novel Lajja.

However, the 2019 edition alsograbbed eyeballs of not only book loversbut also of some casual onlookers as well.

��������=��While 2018’s theme for the fair was

environmental issues, this year it focussedon books for ‘Readers with special needs.’The theme’s idea was to emphasise onmore inclusive learning and readingthrough visual, verbal, silent-tactille andintegrated Braille books for the different-ly-abled. It explored various issues anddimensions of producing, creating anddisseminating content for readers.

One of the major highlights of thetheme presentation was the ‘We CareInternational Disability Film Festival.’ Thefestival featured over 45 documentariesfrom 27 different nations — India,Canada, US, South Africa, Egypt, Ghana,Hong Kong and several European coun-

tries — during the nine-day fair. Itmostly featured achievements and suc-cesses of people with special needsaround the globe.

The pavilion also included an exhi-bition curated specially by the All IndiaConfederation of the Blind (AICB) for theattendees to learn about how differentinstruments can be used by persons withspecial needs.

�����C���3�������������Taking the centre-stage, a corner at

the foreign pavilion featured books andsessions from United Arab Emirates. Itcurated a number of literary talks andartistic activities by Sharjah also witness-ing traditional Emirati performances byits National Band. The activities focussedon the shared cultural connect betweenthe Arab world and India.

Books from different countries arethe best references to learn about a newculture and society. Another projectfrom Sharjah showcased around 57Arabic books that will be translated and

soon made available in Hindi. The pro-ject aimed to facilitate a better under-standing of Arabic literary style, cultureand writing.

Many UAE and Indian publishershighlighted the need to give young read-ers myriad options and bring forth thecommon challenges they face acrossgeographic borders rather than just try-ing to transmit values through books.

The foreign pavilion also featuredcultural dialogues and books from 20countries including Canada, Spain,Germany, France, Italy, Egypt, Poland,Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Abu Dhabi, China,Japan, Iran, Kenya, Mexico, Saudi Arabia,

Sharjah, Singapore, and USA, among oth-ers. One of the special features were thestalls by United Nations Educational,Scientific and Cultural Organisation(UNESCO).

����������������We all know about various estab-

lished publishing houses that cater to ourbookworm mindsets. However, book-stores situated at corners of the city offerthe best experience. Similar was the caseat the fair.

At hall number 12, a book stallnamed Kapoor & Sons had put on salesome vintage and antique books that areno longer available in print. The stall wasalmost a hallowed space for avid readersand even historians. It featured maga-zines, whose published dates hailed backto the 1980s and 90s. It exhibited bookslike Lenin: Letters from Afar, Leo Tolstoy’sChildhood in their vintage covers, pagesof which had started to decay because oftheir age. There were some books, whosepublication highlighted an era evenbefore the retro — 1950s. One of the bestfeatures of the stall were the antiqueMarvel comics with stories of The MightyThor, Iron Man, Powerpuff Girls,Superman, Avengers The Dark Knight,among others that today celebrated their30th anniversaries.

Other stalls featured book houses thathad put on sale the books by weight orby quantity.

There was yet another stall —Navrang Printers — that grabbed sev-eral eyeballs as it showcased a book onPrime Minister Narendra Modi, whichwas carved in his shape and size. Thelife-sized book titled Narendra Modi- EkSakaratmak Soch, was a compilation ofhis quotes from his Mann ki Baat pro-grammes. The publisher and author,Apurva Shah said, “The book seems tobe just a cut out when they look at itfrom afar, but when we tell them that it’sa book, they find the concept very inter-esting. People get amazed.”

�������� ����3 ���������� ����

However, while there were specialattractions, the nine-day fair also facedsome major challenges.

The venue — Pragati Maidan —itself seemed to pose a major problemfor the visitors as well as booksellers andpublishers. Due to construction and ren-ovation held at the venue, the shortageof space was felt acutely. As comparedto its previous editions, the place hadsqueezed to half of its 40,000 squaremetres with lesser number of stallspacked into small and enclosed spaces.The number of publishers participatinghad also gone down from 800 to 600.The stalls saw a sharp decrease frommore than around 2,500 to about only1,300.

Many publishers claimed that theyhave not received the best accommoda-tion or location that “they had wanted.”

(The fair ended yesterday.)

Many of the hottest new gadgetsare also the nosiest ones.

There was a recent showcase forcameras that featured devices tolivestream the living room, bath-room mirrors that offer beauty tipsand gizmos that track the heartbeatsof unborn children. All will collectsome kind of data about their users,whether photos or monitor read-ings; how well they’ll protect it andwhat exactly they plan do with it arethe important and often unan-swered questions.

These features can be useful —or at least fun — but they all openthe door for companies and theirworkers to peek into your privatelife. Just this week, The Interceptreported that Ring, a security-cam-era company owned by Amazon,gave a variety of employees andexecutives access to recorded andsometimes live video footage fromcustomers’ homes.

Our data-driven age now forcesyou to weigh the usefulness of asmart mirror against the risk thatstrangers might be watching you inyour bathroom. Even if a companyhas your privacy in mind, things cango wrong: Hackers can break in andaccess sensitive data, or your exmight hold onto a video feed longafter you’ve broken up.

“It’s not like all these technolo-gies are inherently bad,” saysFranziska Roesner, a University ofWashington computer security andprivacy researcher.

But she said the industry is stilltrying to figure out the right balancebetween providing useful servicesand protecting people’s privacy inthe process.

=3���>��3�Like other security devices,

Ring cameras can be mounted out-side the front door or inside thehome; a phone app lets you seewho’s there. But the Intercept saidthe Amazon-owned company wasalso allowing some high-level engi-neers in the U.S. to view customers’video feeds, while others in theUkraine office could view anddownload any customer video file.

In a statement, Ring said someAmazon employees have access tovideos that are publicly sharedthrough the company’s Neighborsapp, which aims to create a networkof security cameras in an area.Ring also says employees get addi-tional video from users who consentto such sharing.

At CES, Ring announced aninternet-connected video doorbellthat fits into the peepholes in apart-ment or dorm-room doors. Thoughit doesn’t appear Ring uses facialrecognition yet, records show thatAmazon recently filed a patentapplication for a facial-recognitionsystem involving home securitycameras.

=�9������=�������It’s one thing to put cameras in

our own homes, but Alarm.comwants us to also put them in otherpeople’s houses.

Alarm’s Wellcam is for caretak-

ers to watch from afar and is most-ly designed to check in on aging rel-atives. Someone who lives else-where can use a smartphone to“peek in” anytime, says SteveChazin, vice president of products.The notion of placing a camera insomeone else’s living room mightfeel unsettling.

Wellcam says video streamingisn’t started until someone activatesit from a phone and then it stops assoon as the person turns it off.Chazin says such cameras are“becoming more acceptable becauseloved ones want to know that theones they care about are safe.”

Just be sure you trust whomyou’re giving access to. You can’tturn off the camera unless youunplug it.

����������������French company CareOS show-

cased a smart mirror that lets you“try on” different hairstyles. Facialrecognition helps the mirror’s cam-era know which person in a house-hold is there, while augmented-real-ity technology overlays your actu-al image with animation on how youmight look.

CareOS expects hotels andsalons to buy the $20,000 Artemis

mirror - making it more importantthat personal data is protected.

“We know we don’t want thewhole world to know about what’sgoing on in the bathroom,” co-founder Chloe Szulzinger said.

The mirror doesn’t need aninternet connection to work, shesaid. The company says it will abideby Europe’s stronger privacy rules,which took effect in May, regardlessof where a customer lives.Customers can choose to sharetheir information with CareOS, butonly after they’ve explicitly agreedto how it will be used.

The same applies for the busi-nesses that buy and install the mir-ror. Customers can choose to sharesome information — such as pho-tos of the hair cut they got last timethey visited a salon — but the busi-nesses can’t access anything storedin user profiles unless users specif-ically allow them to.

��3��3���Some gadgets, meanwhile, are

gathering intimate information.Yo Sperm sells an iPhone attach-

ment that tests and tracks spermquality. To protect privacy, the com-pany recommends that users turntheir phones to airplane mode whenusing the test. The company saysdata stays on the phone, within theapp, though there’s a button for shar-ing details with a doctor.

Owlet, meanwhile, plans to sella wearable device that sits over awoman’s pregnant belly and tracksfetal heartbeats. The company’s pri-vacy policy says personal data getscollected. And users can choose toshare heartbeat information withresearchers studying stillbirths.

Though such data can be useful,Forrester analyst Fatemeh Khatibloowarns that these devices aren’t reg-ulated or governed by U.S. privacylaw. She warns that companies couldpotentially sell data to insurancecompanies who could find, forinstance, that someone was drink-ing caffeine during a pregnancy —potentially raising health risks andpolicy premiums.

(The CES showcase was held atLas Vegas.) <��

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Criminal psychologists say that a person commits acrime in a moment of high tension, irresistible

temptation, uncontrollable passion, deep infatuation,extreme provocation or utter frustration or in answerto an undying call of conviction or conscience. So,according to them if he/she could withstand the pres-sure of these conditions of restlessness for even a cou-ple of minutes or perhaps, even for a few seconds, he/shewould perhaps have been out of the crime zone and befree from any charge of a cognisable offence.Considering it from another perspective, it could be saidthat if a man’s rational sense, his self-respect, his con-trol over the emotions, his sober judgement, his noblesentiments and his spiritual or ethical sense had not for-saken him, then, perhaps, the blinding storm of neg-ative forces would have subsided and subdued and hewould have refrained from the actually committing thecrime. This in turn would have saved him/her from thetraumatic experience that often follows a crime.

Once a gory crime has been committed, the gen-tle spirit of a person has to go through a humiliatingand excruciating experience even before he is jailed forthe criminal offence or is punished under the relevantact for his civil offence. Not only does he feel depressedand carry a heavy burden on his chest but he is unableto face himself.

While the act ofcrime and the pun-ishment impliesbusiness as usual,there is an importantquestion which nogovernment or judi-ciary seriously andassiduously address-es. The question thatlingers relates to thestate of mind of aperson before hecommits the crimeand after the act. It iscommon knowledge

that the forces that goad a person to commit any crimeare none other than the maddening feelings of anger,consuming fires of hatred, jealousy, rivalry, vengeanceor enmity, expanded greed, aroused strong passion,inflated or injured ego, surge of emotional attachmentor grave fear of the unknown. We cannot reduce crimeor have a lawful society until and unless we have great-ly reduced or fully removed these negative traits fromthe minds of the citizens. It is to tackle these tenden-cies that the society has enacted legislation, set up judi-ciary and jails. But is that the solution? Are we nearerour goal? Are we any closer to a society which is freeof crime?

It is unfortunate that pre-natal and post-natalaspects of crime have never been adequately dealt withby our society. What is actually required are measuresthat increase the psychological and spiritual immuni-ty of the citizens to situations of stress and strain or totempests of greed, ego and passions. This cannot bedone except by spiritual education, guidance and med-itation. The latter can burn the hidden roots of anger,hatred and other negative and criminal tendencies ina person. It should also be practiced in jails as well sothat after a transgression, the person can be reformedand be normal again. The over-all expenditure and themanpower and effort required for this will be far lessthan is involved in keeping the wheels of law oiled andmoving.

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Employees are considered the mostcritical component of an organi-sation’s success. However, in

today’s era where business organisationsare on a transformation spree to go dig-ital, neither the qualified nor theskilled, only those who are adaptableto the relentless change can survive theevolution.

As stated in a recent report on ‘TheFuture of Jobs’ by the World EconomicForum, by 2020, on an average, morethan one third of the desired core skillsets will be comprised of skills that arenot yet considered crucial to the jobsof today.

So as an employee, how does onelearn new skills and make sure thattheir current skill set stays relevant aswell? Simply by recognising the threatof becoming obsolete, emphasising onlearning, and relearning things toremain up-to-date by constantlyupgrading one’s skills. But, unlearningold skills is far more difficult than learn-ing new ones, yet it’s vital. Thus, to nav-

igate this inevitable reskilling proce-dure, here are few steps that can helpin keeping your skills relevant in thisfast changing world.

������� ���@���9��?�Get more proficient with what

you already know to ensure that you arethe best at your existing role. You wouldalso need to stay up-to-date with newdevelopments within your field apartfrom improving on your core strengthareas. This will help you in staying pre-pared for situations when you get achance to display your best perfor-mance in a dynamic work environ-ment. It will also ensure your value andrelevance in a competitive workplace.

�@���3��� ���?�����Staying in the same hierarchy of

work with just the existing skills will notaccomplish anything. It is necessary tolearn adjacent skills and proficienciesat a domain level, and at an industry-level, to extend your expertise. This will

enable you to go beyond doing well inyour existing field of work. Get in touchwith the human resources staff at yourcurrent organisation to understandthe most preferred skills for your pro-fession and your current role, thenwork towards building these skills intandem with your existing core com-petencies.

��?�������Once the skills have been identi-

fied, make sure you grab every oppor-tunity of equipping yourself with themthrough certifications that can addvalue to your professional profile, sem-inars, talks and other kinds of exposure.Although companies roll out many on-job skilling opportunities for theemployees, the latter can also invest inrelevant online courses and acquire cer-tifications to stay ahead of the curve.

�����3����?�����There are many edu-tech plat-

forms and software providers thatoffer technology workshops or onlineprogramming tutorials. This will enableyou to get in touch with experts fromdifferent organisations who will provideyou many useful professional sugges-tions in terms of the most on-demandskills in your profession and quick tipsand tricks on getting better at theseskills. Make use of every such chance.

�3������������������9���Learning to use a new technology

can be an extremely daunting task.The best way to make the first moveis to start using it. This practice willmake you proficient in those newtechnologies and adapt to them bet-ter for any professional endeavours inthe future. Volunteering to take onprojects that employ those new tech-nologies and skills at work is yetanother way to develop the skillsyou’re keen on developing. The even-tual goal should be to acquire a pro-motion or pay raise in the existing jobor land a new job with the newlyacquired skills so that you neverhave to feel worried about your pro-fessional future.

The future belongs to those whoare willing to step out of their com-fort zones to learn new things andtechnologies that can add value to allthe concerned stakeholders, cus-tomers, employers and obviously,you.

So what are you waiting for? Getcracking on your new skills already.

For every parent, their children’s health andwell-being is one of the foremost priorities.

While we are witnessing a rapid growth in thenumber of people insuring themselves and theirloved ones in India, there is another interest-ing trend that’s emerging. It’s about pet parentsinsuring their pets. The movement is fuelled bythe behaviour shift from being a “pet owner”to being a “pet parent” and considering how petsbring happiness to a home with their uncondi-tional affection and companionship, it’sundoubtedly an appreciable shift. Pet parentstoday want to make sure that if anything goeswrong with their pets health, they should be ina situation to manage finances so that their petscan avail the best possible treatment and live ahealthier life.

Although in its nascent stages, growthopportunities for the pet insurance segment areendless. One of the major reasons is the expo-nential increase in the number of pets across thecountry. This is evident in the report titled ‘IndiaPet Food Market Forecast and Opportunities2019,’ which has estimated the worth of Indianpet care market at USD 1.22 billion. With anannual CAGR of 35 per cent, Indian pet caremarket is the fastest growing industry global-ly.

Soaring medical costs are also among themajor reasons behind a rise in the demand forpet insurance policies. Since around 85 per centof the pets in India are dogs, most of the insur-ance policies cater to them. Other pets that canbe insured includes sheep, fish, elephants,horses, and siamese cats.

As per the current regulations by InsuranceRegulatory and Development Authority (IRDA)that approves these plans, there are threemajor types of pet insurance covers that can beavailed — lifetime cover, time-limited cover, andmoney-limited cover. While lifetime covercaters to all the expenses related to long-termor chronic illnesses like arthritis and eczemaalong with entitling pet parents to a specific sumof money every year, time-limited covers areusually cheaper and provide financial protec-tion for a specific period, thereby coming inhandy during an injury or a sudden disease.Money-limited covers, on the other hand,have no specific time limit and provide mon-etary benefit for every condition that falls underthe purview of pet insurance coverage.

There are several benefits associated withpet insurance, which has made availing it anecessity among pet parents in recent times.

Firstly, the premium to be paid is very low, vary-ing between 3-5 per cent of the amountinsured, depending upon factors such as healthcondition and market value. Additionally,depending upon the nature of the policyscheme, these cover issues including treatmentexpenses, illnesses contracted while the policyis in effect, accident while travelling, loss ortheft, accidental poisoning, and incapacitation.Furthermore, certain schemes also cover acci-dental death and any liabilities such as when apet attacks or damages a third party or prop-erty. Permanent total disablement also gets cov-ered in certain cases, although one may not geta 100 per cent claim for the same.

Since every coin has a flipside, there aresome cons that lead to a hesitation among petparents. First — while pet insurance policies canbe bought online, the formalities require phys-ical presence of pets and their parents, followedby an extensive process. It begins with a healthcertification from a qualified veterinarian so asto ascertain whether the pet is suffering fromany ailment before issuing of the insurance pol-icy. Further, a detailed pedigree record and akennel club record need to be submitted alongwith the health certificate. Dogs are alsorequired to be suitably identified by breed, age,nose print, and tattooing, in order to have a cer-tificate issued.

Moreover, these policies do not cover deathdue to rabies, viral hepatitis, distemper, lep-tospirosis, viral enteritis. The exclusions alsoinclude injuries or illnesses arising out ofunskillful handling or those that were contract-ed prior to taking the policy.

While there are both pros and cons to it, petinsurance acts as a safety net for the pet andhelps in getting them immediate medical atten-tion and protection without having to shell outa huge amount of money unexpectedly.Moreover, availing pet insurance is the least thatcan be done in return of the unconditional lovethat they give us. Therefore, with an increasingawareness and consideration among the pet par-ent community, pet insurance has become asteadily flourishing segment in the Indian petcare industry.

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Roger Federer and NovakDjokovic are both gunning fora record seventh Australian

Open crown from Monday, but AndyMurray will make his last appearancein Melbourne as the era of the "BigFour" draws to a close.

Number one Djokovic and thirdseed Federer face a stern challengefrom the likes of youthful forceAlexander Zverev, seeded four, whois still looking for a first major tocement his place as torch-bearer forthe next generation.

But Murray dropped a pre-GrandSlam bombshell, breaking down dur-ing a tear-filled press conference ashe revealed chronic hip pain meanshe will retire after Wimbledon — ifhe can carry on that long.

And question marks remain overthe fitness of world number twoRafael Nadal who pulled out of hisBrisbane warm-up but arrived inMelbourne professing he was "fullyfit" and promising to unleash aremodelled serve.

It all means the era of the "BigFour" is almost over after a season inwhich Federer — who opens his titledefence against Denis Istomin onMonday — rolled back the years onRod Laver Arena to lift an emotion-al 20th Grand Slam.

It put him on a par with othersix-time Australian Open winnersDjokovic and Roy Emerson —although the Australian great's vic-tories all came before the Open era.

By contrast, the 31-year-oldDjokovic endured a miserable earlyMelbourne exit in 2018, followed byelbow surgery and a string of disap-pointing results that saw him dropoutside the top 20.

But since winning a fourthWimbledon in July, the Serb roseinexorably back to number one bylosing only three further matches —one of which was to Zverev at theATP Finals.

Djokovic won his third US Openin September to put him on 14Grand Slams — three behind Nadaland six behind Federer.

And Djokovic said Sunday hewas delighted to be back inMelbourne where his rise to greatnessall began in 2008 with his firstGrand Slam win.

"It was my first major trophy, thatobviously served as a great spring-board for my career," Djokovic saidas he prepared to open his assault ona seventh crown against AmericanMitchell Krueger on Tuesday.

"It opened a lot of doors for me.It allowed me to believe in myself thatI can actually win the biggest tour-naments in the world, challenge thebest players in the world." - Nadal'feels good' -

Federer, now 37, remains thechief threat to the Serb and he

sounded a warning Sunday."I'm playing good tennis. I'm

confident that I think it needs a goodperformance by my opponent prob-ably to beat me," said the Swiss mas-ter, who warmed for Melbournewith victory in Perth's HopmanCup.

Second-ranked Nadal, 32, pulledout of Brisbane with a thigh strainalthough he returned for an exhibi-tion in Sydney and insisted at theweekend his fitness woes werebehind him.

"I feel good. If I am not feelinggood, I will not be here," he saidbefore revealing he had remodelledhis serve.

"There are always things toimprove," said the Spaniard, whofaces Australian wildcard JamesDuckworth on Monday.

Djokovic picked young gunsZverev of Germany, Borna Coric ofCroatia, Karen Khachanov of Russiaand Greece's Stefano Tsitsipas as keythreats to the top three.

"It's just a matter of time whenwe will see some of them competingin the last stages of Grand Slams,"said Djokovic.

Zverev, 21, starts the AustralianOpen full of confidence after animpressive warm-up to reach thefinal of Perth's mixed teams HopmanCup, despite his terrible record atGrand Slams.

He has never got beyond thethird round in Melbourne and facesSlovenia's Aljaz Bedene in his open-er on Tuesday.

Last year, seeded four, he crashedout in the last 32 to South Korea'sChung Hyeon and has only reachedone quarter-final in 14 major appear-ances.

Home fans will look to newSydney champion and 27th seed Alexde Minaur, who faces Portugal'sPedro Sousa on Monday, and thetemperamental Nick Kyrgios.

Kyrgios has a tough openingmatch against former world numberthree Milos Raonic and then a pos-sible clash with former AustralianOpen champion Stan Wawrinka inround two.

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Ageless Roger Federer saidSunday he was in a confi-

dent mood and warned hisrivals he was "playing good ten-nis" as he aims for a third suc-cessive Australian Open title.

The Swiss master enjoyed asuccessful Hopman Cup warm-up in Perth and knows that ateven the grand old age of 37 hehas a great chance of a recordseventh Melbourne crown and21st major victory.

"I'm playing good tennis.I'm confident that I think itneeds a good performance bymy opponent probably to beatme," said the third seed, whoopens his defence againstUzbekistan's Denis Istomin inMonday's night match on RodLaver Arena.

A buoyant Federer revealedhe had enjoyed a successfulbreak coming into the 2019season.

"Throughout my career, I'vebeen very lucky that in the off-seasons I never had any set-backs," he told reporters atMelbourne Park.

"What I can say is the off-season was great for me. I thinkmaybe it showed a little bit at theHopman Cup already. Again,look, I'm playing tomorrow.We'll see how it's going to be herein Melbourne." Federer's first-

round opponent Istomin causeda massive upset in Melbournetwo years ago when he knockedout defending champion NovakDjokovic in the second round,outlasting the Serb over five sets.

"I think the focus really is onthose early rounds, especiallytomorrow," said Federer.

"I know what Denis did toNovak. I watched basically theentire game a couple years agowhen he beat Novak here.

������9��"I've had some tough ones

against him in the past. He canplay well in fast courts, and that'swhat it's going to be a little bithere as well," added the worldnumber three, who has won allsix previous encounters againstIstomin.

"Depending on how youmatch up with your opponent,who is going to win the bigpoints, the margins are so slimnowadays that I'm just notthinking too far ahead.

"I don't think I shouldbecause I think that would be amistake. I hope I can put myselfin contention as the tournamentgoes deeper, but we'll see."Federer has skipped theEuropean clay court season inrecent years as he tries to man-age his workload to extend aremarkable career, which showsno signs of slowing.

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Tamil Nadu all-rounder VijayShankar on Sunday replaced the

suspended Hardik Pandya for India'songoing ODI series in Australia whilerising star Shubman Gill received hismaiden call-up to the national teamfor the New Zealand tour beginningon January 23.

Shankar is a like-for-like replace-ment for Pandya while Gill replacesRahul in the squad for the five ODIsand three T20s in New Zealand.Both Pandya and Rahul have beensuspended pending inquiry for theircontroversial comments on womenduring a TV show.

"With KL Rahul and HardikPandya set to return from Australia,the All-India Senior SelectionCommittee has decided to send all-rounder Vijay Shankar & batsmanShubman Gill as replacements," saidthe BCCI in a statement issued late lastnight.

"Vijay Shankar will join the teambefore the start of the 2nd ODI inAdelaide. He will be a part of thesquad for the ODI series in Australiaand the tour to New Zealand.Shubman Gill has been picked for theODI & T20I series in New Zealand,"it added.

The inclusion of the highly-ratedGill in the Indian team was a matterof time but he has got his big breaksooner than he expected.

His KKR captain Dinesh Karthikand more recently senior Punjabteammate Yuvraj Singh has already

predicted a long India career for Gill.Yuvraj called Gill a "very special tal-ent" on the sidelines of a Ranji Trophygame in Kolkata last week.

"He is a young guy whose battingI like to watch. He is very exciting. Heshould serve India for a long time butthat will also depend on how well heis looked after," said Yuvraj.

Mayank Agarwal, who did well inhis debut Test series in Australia, wasin line to replace his Karnataka team-mate Rahul but it has been learnt thathe is nursing a niggle. "Initially, the selectors had pickedMayank Agarwal for K L Rahul andVijay Shankar for Pandya but it hasbeen learnt that Agarwal is nursing aniggle.

"That is why the team manage-ment has asked for only one replace-ment in Australia and that is Shankar.And Gill is being rewarded for hisgood show in Ranji Trophy and A-tours," a source close to the selectioncommittee said.

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onsidered the 'next big thing' in Indiancricket, Shubman Gill has broken into

the national team sooner than he expect-ed and says there can't be a better placeto start his international career than NewZealand, where he was named player ofU-19 World Cup, 12 months ago.

The last one year has seen the 19-year-old opener take giant strides.

The Mohali-based cricketer has fol-lowed his U-19 captain Prithvi Shaw tomake the Indian team, albeit in the short-er formats, after a 'dream' 2018 when hebagged a lucrative IPL contract follow-ing a stellar World Cup and made 790runs in 10 innings at 98.75 in Punjab'slatest Ranji Trophy campaign.

He was also part of the RahulDravid India A side that toured NewZealand last month.

"It is a big advantage (to be pickedfor the New Zealand tour). I played wellthere in the U-19 World Cup and nowagain I have got the opportunity," Gillsaid on Sunday after getting the news ofhis life, late last night.

" As I have done well there, I can saythat there isn't much adjustment need-ed in the technique. If I get an oppor-tunity, I will have just need to handle thepressure that comes with playing forIndia. Mentally, it will be different forsure but I am ready."

He is a supremely gifted and confi-dent cricketer but the occasion got thebetter of him when he was informedabout his selection.

"It was late in the night. My heartstarted beating faster. The messages

started pouring in and I rushed to tell myfather. It was a special moment," said Gill.

Gill knew his time would come,something he had expressed to PTI aftera fruitful campaign in the DeodharTrophy in October, shortly after Shaw'ssensational Test debut.

Even senior Punjab teammateYuvraj Singh and his IPL captain DineshKarthik, who was amongst the first fewto congratulate Gill, knew it was only amatter of time before he reaches thebiggest stage and that would probablyhappen after the World Cup in May-July.

But Gill has got the selectors' nodwell before the ICC mega event inEngland as he replaces the suspended KL Rahul in the limited overs squad forthe New Zealand tour, beginningJanuary 23. The Indian top-order is wellsettled at the moment but Gill can stillget to play during the five ODIs andthree T20s against the Black Caps.

"The call was unexpected but Iunderstand the circumstances in whichI have been picked. I have a pretty settarget in mind. I have done well at allthe levels I have played in so far and thathas given me the belief that I can alsoexcel in international cricket," said Gill,who is known to pace his innings bril-liantly.

The last one year has been "amaz-ing" for Gill but he attributes his Indiacall-up to years of hard work.

"At this time last year we went forthe World Cup and now I have got anIndia call-up. Yes, last one year has beengreat but I would see this as a result ofwork put in by me ever since I startedplaying the game."

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Quinton de Kock made a free-flowing century at No. 7 and

equaled his career-best score asSouth Africa turned the screw onPakistan on Sunday by setting thetourists 381 to win the final test andavoid a series whitewash.

Pakistan's batsmen respondedwith signs of the fight that's beenmissing for most of a one-sidedseries so far, reaching 153-3 atstumps on the third day of the fast-moving third test. That reduced theequation to 228 more runs need-ed with seven wickets in hand.

Asad Shafiq was 48 not out off47 balls and approaching thedaunting challenge with an attack-ing mindset.

Babar Azam, one of Pakistan'sbest batsmen this series, was set-tling in on 17 not out.

The scale of the challenge forPakistan was still significant.

The tourists need to make thesecond-highest fourth-inningsscore ever at the Wanderers inJohannesburg to avoid losing theseries 3-0. There have only beenthree fourth-innings totals of 300or more in more than 60 years of

test cricket at the Wanderers.South Africa holds the recordwith its 450-7 against India inDecember 2013 and Pakistan'swould be the next best scoreshould it chase successfully.

With two days of the test stillto play, surviving for a draw is anunlikely proposition. It's all or

nothing for Pakistan.Earlier, de Kock hit 129 from

just 138 balls with 18 fours and asix as he and Hashim Amla (71)put on 102 and dug South Africaout of trouble in its secondinnings.

They were largely responsiblefor setting Pakistan the big target.

De Kock arrived with SouthAfrica on 93-5 and in a precariousposition and departed at 302-8with his team in complete control.South Africa, which resumed theday on 135-5, was eventually allout for 303.

Pakistan's batsmen came outfighting, though, with Shafiq espe-cially pugnacious to crack eightfours and combine in an unbroken49-run stand with Babar.

They kept Pakistan's hopes oftaking something from the seriesalive for at least one more day.

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Indian batsman and part timeoff-spinner Ambati Rayudu

has been reported with a suspectbowling action during the firstODI against Australia in Sydney,the ICC said on Sunday.

Rayudu bowled only twoovers in the game on Saturday,conceding 13 runs.

"The match officials' report,which was handed over to theIndia team management, citedconcerns about the legality of the33-year-old off-spinner's bowlingaction," said the ICC in a state-ment.

However, Rayudu can stillbowl if the need arises.

"Rayudu's bowling actionwill now be scrutinised furtherunder the ICC process relating to

suspected illegal bowling actionsreported in Tests, ODIs andT20Is.

"He is required to undergotesting within 14 days, and, dur-ing this period, Rayudu is per-mitted to continue bowling ininternational cricket until theresults of the testing are known,"the statement added.

Rayudu has only bowled20.1 overs in his 46-ODI oldcareer, taking three wickets at anaverage of 41.33 and economyrate of 6.14. He has not bowledin the six T20s he has featured in.

He also had a forgettableouting with the bat on Saturdayand was out for a second-ballduck.

Rayudu had retired fromfirst-class cricket in November tofocus on the limited overs game.

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