8
S even civilian protesters, three terrorists and an Army jawan were killed, besides scores of youngsters wounded, in the counter-terrorist opera- tion by security forces in a vil- lage in South Kashmir’s Pulwama district on Saturday morning. The killings evoked wide- spread condemnation from both separatist and mainstream political leadership in Kashmir while authorities snapped mobile internet services in sev- eral areas of the Valley, includ- ing Srinagar. The separatists have called for three-day shut- down against the killings. Eyewitnesses said young- sters were killed after security forces opened fire on the civil- ians who were protesting against the anti-terrorist oper- ation in Kharpora Sirnoo vil- lage in Pulwama. The protesters were march- ing towards the encounter site apparently to disrupt the counter-terrorist operation to give safe passage to the holed up terrorists. The civilians’ death occurred after three local Hizbul Mujahideen terrorists were killed in an encounter in the area. An Army jawan was also killed in the operation while another injured was admitted to military hospital. The slain terrorists were identified as Adnan, alias Tahir Hizbi, a resident of Karimabad Pulwama; Bilal Ahmad, alias Hashim, a resident of Rajpora Pulwama; and a former Army man Zahoor Ahmad Thokar of Sirnoo Pulwama, who desert- ed the Army ranks last year to join Hizbul Mujahideen group. Thokar was one among senior commanders. Sources said in the initial phase of operation, two civil- ians were killed in action fol- lowing heavy violent clashes amid stone pelting with police and paramilitary forces after news spread about the killing of three terrorists in the area. Five more civilians suc- cumbed to grievous injuries while at least two dozen injured civilians were under- going treatment at various hospitals in Pulwama and Srinagar. Reports said a large num- ber of people, mostly youth, pelted stones on security forces near the encounter site at Sirnoo village. The security forces used first lobbed tear smoke shells. As the situation could not contained, they used pellets and then live ammuni- tion to quell the protests. Local sources said the forces fired indiscriminately leading to large number of injuries. A gainst the backdrop of Congress and petitioners of the Rafale case in the Supreme Court crying foul, the Centre on Saturday moved the apex court seeking correction in the Rafale judgment where a reference has been made about the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) report and Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC), saying “misinterpretation” of its note has “resulted in a contro- versy in the public domain.” In the application, the Centre said the two sentences in paragraph 25 of the judg- ment appeared to have been based on the note submitted by it along with the pricing details in a sealed cover, but indicat- ed the words used by the court lent a different meaning. The Government moved the application a day after the Opposition Congress and oth- ers raised questions on the issue and accused the Government of misleading the apex court on CAG report. While Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge, who chairs the PAC, had said no such report had come to him, peti- tioners Yashwant Sinha, Arun Shourie and Prashant Bhushan too flagged the alleged wrong- doings of the BJP led Modi Government in the matter. Kharge said he will request PAC members to summon the Attorney General and the CAG to ask them when the public auditor’s report was tabled in Parliament. The SC had on Friday dis- missed the pleas challenging the deal between India and France for 36 Rafale jets saying there was no occasion to “real- ly doubt the decision making process” warranting setting aside of the contract. T he Congress has invited leaders from across the political spectrum for the swearing-in ceremony of party stalwarts Kamal Nath and Ashok Gehlot, who would take charge as Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan respectively, on Monday. The Congress will also form its Government in Chhatisgarh on Monday but the Chief Minister candidate will be announced on Sunday morning in Raipur following which the invitations for the oath cere- mony will be extended. While the oath ceremony in Jaipur is scheduled at 10.30 am, Bhopal timing is at 1.30 pm followed by Raipur at 4.30 pm to facilitate the leaders, includ- ing Congress high command to move conveniently. After selecting Chief Ministers of Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh, Congress president Rahul Gandhi held hectic parleys with top party leaders on Saturday to decide on the top post for Chhattisgarh. Sources said Rahul met Chhattisgarh’s four potential Chief Minister can- didates — TS Singh Deo, Tamradhwaj Sahu, Bhupesh Baghel and Charan Das Mahant — at his Tughlaq Lane residence and held discussions with them. This was the third round of discussion that the Congress chief held before selecting the CM for Chhattisgarh, where the party romped home after 15 years with two-third major- ity. Congress’ central observer Mallikarjun Kharge and AICC in-charge for party affairs in Chhattisgarh PL Punia were present in the meeting. T he Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Saturday seized assets worth 20.87 crore belonging to Pradip Burman, who is Director of Dabur India Limited, for allegedly holding assets abroad in violation of provisions of Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA). In another case, the ED seized immovable property worth 10.28 crore of Shravan Gupta, Additional Managing Director, M/s Emmar MGF for holding US$ 15,40,650 in his bank account with HSBC, Switzerland under FEMA. The seizure order in Burman’s case has been issued pursuant to an investigation which prima facie revealed that the he had deposited $3.21 million in his account with the Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation (HSBC) in Zurich, according to ED offi- cials. “Burman had declared before Income Tax Authority that he had earned US$ 32,12,000 whereas he had not shown this amount in his Income Tax Returns filed in India for the period 2007-08. Income Tax Authorities have filed a prosecution complaint against Burman in the Court of Metropolitan Magistrate which is pending,” ED officials said. Investigation revealed that Burman had deposited US$ 32,12,000 with HSBC, Zurich and holding the same in con- travention of Section 4 of FEMA, 1999 and failed to repatriate the entire amount to India till date. Following the investiga- tions it was found movable assets, identified in India to the tune of 20,87,80,000 held by him in his name. The seized assets comprised 50,000 tax free Government bonds of the Housing and Urban Development Corporation (HUDCO) and the Indian Railway Finance Corporation (IRFC) , which were purchased on different dates for 5 crore, 4 crore, and 11 crore, amounting to over 20 crore. A 27-year-old woman was allegedly assaulted by her mother-in-law and over 20 women bouncers at Saket in the national Capital, police said on Saturday. The victim alleged that her mother-in-law had called woman bouncers to not let her enter the home. Following which police registered an FIR at Saket police station. The victim identified as Garima Chaudhary alleged that her husband Tejveer was also involved in the crime but when police arrived, he escaped from the back door. The victim was married to Tejveer in November 2017. T he RLSP on Saturday received a major setback with all its members in the bicameral legislature of Bihar declaring that they are still with the NDA as they accused party president Upendra Kushwaha of pursuing per- sonal interests in announcing a break-up with the NDA. Both the RLSP MLAs — Sudhanshu Shekhar and Lalan Paswan — and its lone MLC — Sanjiv Singh Shyam — made a statement to this effect at a joint press conference here. They also pitched for a ministerial berth for Shekhar, a first-term MLA and the youngest among the three. We will also approach the Election Commission with the claim that we represent the real RLSP and we enjoy the support of most workers and office- bearers in the party, Shyam said making it clear that the RLSP was heading towards a split. The RLSP has three MPs, including Kushwaha. Among the two other Lok Sabha mem- bers — Arun Kumar from Jehanabad and Ram Kumar Sharma from Sitamarhi — the former has been charting an independent course for past two years. C hief Minister Raghubar Das on Saturday left for Dubai to participate in the Industry Road Show being organised by Jharkhand Skill Development Mission Society (JSDMS) under the aegis of Government of Jharkhand on December 16-17. The road show is orgainsed with an aim to attract reputed firms to pro- vide jobs to the youth of the State ahead of the Global Skill Summit 2019 scheduled in January 2019. The road show is third in the row after Bangalore and Delhi to attract famed com- panies in the field of retail, hospitality and infrastructure. It is based on developing an employers’ net- work for generating aspirational and gain- ful employment. Also, it will help to put a strong foundation for skill development in the State and prepare a blueprint for new employment opportu- nities’ parameters. Attempts are being made to contact recruiting companies in UAE to participate in the event, said officials of JSDMS. Apart from CM Raghubar Das the show will be graced by Indian Ambassador at UAE Navdeep Suri, Development Commissioner DK Tiwari, Principal Secretary to CM Sunil Kumar Barnwal, Secretary of Higher, Technical education and skill development department Rajesh Kumar Sharma, JSDMS Director Ravi Ranjan, CEO JSDMS Amar Jha and senior officials of the State. HRD Minister of UAE gov- ernment Nashir Bin Thali Al Hamli will also take part in the event and present his views on global scenario of skill devel- opment. CM Raghubar Das will establish direct connect with recruiters, industrial part- ners and skill development experts during the programme. He will also present his views on Global Skill Summit and the emerging scenario of skill development in Jharkhand dur- ing the event. Secretary of Higher, Technical and Skill Development department, Rajesh Kumar Sharma said that the cultural setup and the ambi- ence of UAE is conducive for people of the State. He said that UAE can become a natural place for skill development train- ing for the youths of the State. The Road Show will be a unique programme in UAE, he said. During the two-day event the representatives of govern- ment of Jharkhand will also visit prominent industrial places like ICCA, Dubai, Masdar Future City. The JSDMS will also provide a view on Vision of Skill Development in Jharkhand.

)˚ˇ&ˇ ˇ ˜ ˇ ˛ ˚˝ ˜ ˇ˜ ˇ ˜ ˇ ˇ ˜ ˘ˇˆ · am, Bhopal timing is at 1.30 pm ... Banking Corporation (HSBC) in Zurich, according to ED offi-cials. ... Sharma from Sitamarhi

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Page 1: )˚ˇ&ˇ ˇ ˜ ˇ ˛ ˚˝ ˜ ˇ˜ ˇ ˜ ˇ ˇ ˜ ˘ˇˆ · am, Bhopal timing is at 1.30 pm ... Banking Corporation (HSBC) in Zurich, according to ED offi-cials. ... Sharma from Sitamarhi

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Seven civilian protesters,three terrorists and an Army

jawan were killed, besidesscores of youngsters wounded,in the counter-terrorist opera-tion by security forces in a vil-lage in South Kashmir’sPulwama district on Saturdaymorning.

The killings evoked wide-spread condemnation fromboth separatist and mainstreampolitical leadership in Kashmirwhile authorities snappedmobile internet services in sev-eral areas of the Valley, includ-ing Srinagar. The separatistshave called for three-day shut-down against the killings.

Eyewitnesses said young-sters were killed after securityforces opened fire on the civil-ians who were protestingagainst the anti-terrorist oper-ation in Kharpora Sirnoo vil-lage in Pulwama.

The protesters were march-ing towards the encounter siteapparently to disrupt thecounter-terrorist operation togive safe passage to the holedup terrorists.

The civilians’ deathoccurred after three localHizbul Mujahideen terroristswere killed in an encounter inthe area. An Army jawan wasalso killed in the operation

while another injured wasadmitted to military hospital.

The slain terrorists wereidentified as Adnan, alias TahirHizbi, a resident of KarimabadPulwama; Bilal Ahmad, aliasHashim, a resident of RajporaPulwama; and a former Armyman Zahoor Ahmad Thokar ofSirnoo Pulwama, who desert-ed the Army ranks last year tojoin Hizbul Mujahideen group.Thokar was one among seniorcommanders.

Sources said in the initialphase of operation, two civil-ians were killed in action fol-lowing heavy violent clashesamid stone pelting with policeand paramilitary forces afternews spread about the killingof three terrorists in the area.Five more civilians suc-cumbed to grievous injurieswhile at least two dozeninjured civilians were under-going treatment at varioushospitals in Pulwama and

Srinagar.Reports said a large num-

ber of people, mostly youth,pelted stones on security forcesnear the encounter site atSirnoo village. The securityforces used first lobbed tearsmoke shells. As the situationcould not contained, they usedpellets and then live ammuni-tion to quell the protests. Localsources said the forces firedindiscriminately leading tolarge number of injuries.

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Against the backdrop ofCongress and petitioners

of the Rafale case in theSupreme Court crying foul, theCentre on Saturday moved theapex court seeking correctionin the Rafale judgment wherea reference has been madeabout the Comptroller andAuditor General (CAG) reportand Parliament’s PublicAccounts Committee (PAC),saying “misinterpretation” of itsnote has “resulted in a contro-versy in the public domain.”

In the application, theCentre said the two sentencesin paragraph 25 of the judg-ment appeared to have beenbased on the note submitted byit along with the pricing detailsin a sealed cover, but indicat-ed the words used by the courtlent a different meaning.

The Government movedthe application a day after theOpposition Congress and oth-ers raised questions on the

issue and accused theGovernment of misleading theapex court on CAG report.While Congress leaderMallikarjun Kharge, who chairsthe PAC, had said no suchreport had come to him, peti-tioners Yashwant Sinha, ArunShourie and Prashant Bhushantoo flagged the alleged wrong-doings of the BJP led ModiGovernment in the matter.

Kharge said he will requestPAC members to summon theAttorney General and the CAGto ask them when the publicauditor’s report was tabled inParliament.

The SC had on Friday dis-missed the pleas challengingthe deal between India andFrance for 36 Rafale jets sayingthere was no occasion to “real-ly doubt the decision makingprocess” warranting settingaside of the contract.

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The Congress has invitedleaders from across the

political spectrum for theswearing-in ceremony of partystalwarts Kamal Nath andAshok Gehlot, who would takecharge as Chief Minister ofMadhya Pradesh and Rajasthanrespectively, on Monday. TheCongress will also form itsGovernment in Chhatisgarhon Monday but the ChiefMinister candidate will beannounced on Sunday morningin Raipur following which theinvitations for the oath cere-mony will be extended.

While the oath ceremonyin Jaipur is scheduled at 10.30am, Bhopal timing is at 1.30 pmfollowed by Raipur at 4.30 pmto facilitate the leaders, includ-ing Congress high command tomove conveniently.

After selecting ChiefMinisters of Rajasthan andMadhya Pradesh, Congresspresident Rahul Gandhi heldhectic parleys with top party

leaders on Saturday to decideon the top post forChhattisgarh. Sources saidRahul met Chhattisgarh’s fourpotential Chief Minister can-didates — TS Singh Deo,Tamradhwaj Sahu, BhupeshBaghel and Charan DasMahant — at his Tughlaq Laneresidence and held discussionswith them.

This was the third round ofdiscussion that the Congresschief held before selecting theCM for Chhattisgarh, wherethe party romped home after15 years with two-third major-ity. Congress’ central observerMallikarjun Kharge and AICCin-charge for party affairs inChhattisgarh PL Punia werepresent in the meeting.

��"�������� �;0�);+'3

The EnforcementDirectorate (ED) on

Saturday seized assets worth�20.87 crore belonging toPradip Burman, who isDirector of Dabur IndiaLimited, for allegedly holdingassets abroad in violation ofprovisions of Foreign ExchangeManagement Act (FEMA).

In another case, the EDseized immovable propertyworth �10.28 crore of ShravanGupta, Additional ManagingDirector, M/s Emmar MGF forholding US$ 15,40,650 in hisbank account with HSBC,Switzerland under FEMA.

The seizure order inBurman’s case has been issuedpursuant to an investigationwhich prima facie revealedthat the he had deposited $3.21million in his account with theHong Kong and ShanghaiBanking Corporation (HSBC)in Zurich, according to ED offi-cials.

“Burman had declaredbefore Income Tax Authoritythat he had earned US$32,12,000 whereas he had notshown this amount in hisIncome Tax Returns filed inIndia for the period 2007-08.Income Tax Authorities have

filed a prosecution complaintagainst Burman in the Court ofMetropolitan Magistrate whichis pending,” ED officials said.

Investigation revealed thatBurman had deposited US$32,12,000 with HSBC, Zurichand holding the same in con-travention of Section 4 ofFEMA, 1999 and failed torepatriate the entire amount toIndia till date.

Following the investiga-tions it was found movableassets, identified in India to thetune of �20,87,80,000 held byhim in his name. The seizedassets comprised 50,000 taxfree Government bonds of theHousing and UrbanDevelopment Corporation(HUDCO) and the IndianRailway Finance Corporation(IRFC) , which were purchasedon different dates for �5 crore,�4 crore, and �11 crore,amounting to over �20 crore.

��++��������� �;0�);+'3

A27-year-old woman wasallegedly assaulted by her

mother-in-law and over 20women bouncers at Saket inthe national Capital, policesaid on Saturday.

The victim alleged thather mother-in-law had calledwoman bouncers to not let herenter the home. Followingwhich police registered an FIRat Saket police station.

The victim identified asGarima Chaudhary alleged thather husband Tejveer was also

involved in the crime but whenpolice arrived, he escaped fromthe back door. The victim wasmarried to Tejveer inNovember 2017.

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The RLSP on Saturdayreceived a major setback

with all its members in thebicameral legislature of Bihardeclaring that they are stillwith the NDA as they accusedparty president UpendraKushwaha of pursuing per-sonal interests in announcinga break-up with the NDA.

Both the RLSP MLAs —Sudhanshu Shekhar and LalanPaswan — and its lone MLC —Sanjiv Singh Shyam — made astatement to this effect at a jointpress conference here.

They also pitched for aministerial berth for Shekhar,a first-term MLA and theyoungest among the three.

We will also approach theElection Commission with theclaim that we represent the realRLSP and we enjoy the supportof most workers and office-bearers in the party, Shyam saidmaking it clear that the RLSPwas heading towards a split.

The RLSP has three MPs,including Kushwaha. Amongthe two other Lok Sabha mem-bers — Arun Kumar fromJehanabad and Ram KumarSharma from Sitamarhi — theformer has been charting anindependent course for pasttwo years.

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Chief Minister RaghubarDas on Saturday left for

Dubai to participate in theIndustry Road Show beingorganised by Jharkhand SkillDevelopment Mission Society(JSDMS) under the aegis ofGovernment of Jharkhand onDecember 16-17. The roadshow is orgainsed with an aimto attract reputed firms to pro-vide jobs to the youth of theState ahead of the Global SkillSummit 2019 scheduled inJanuary 2019.

The road show is third in

the row afterBangalore and Delhito attract famed com-panies in the field ofretail, hospitality andinfrastructure. It isbased on developingan employers’ net-work for generatingaspirational and gain-ful employment. Also, it willhelp to put a strong foundationfor skill development in theState and prepare a blueprintfor new employment opportu-nities’ parameters. Attemptsare being made to contactrecruiting companies in UAEto participate in the event, saidofficials of JSDMS.

Apart from CM RaghubarDas the show will be graced byIndian Ambassador at UAENavdeep Suri, Development

Commissioner DKTiwari, PrincipalSecretary to CM SunilKumar Barnwal,Secretary of Higher,Technical educationand skill developmentdepartment RajeshKumar Sharma,JSDMS Director Ravi

Ranjan, CEO JSDMS Amar Jhaand senior officials of the State.

HRD Minister of UAE gov-ernment Nashir Bin Thali AlHamli will also take part in theevent and present his views onglobal scenario of skill devel-opment. CM Raghubar Daswill establish direct connectwith recruiters, industrial part-ners and skill developmentexperts during the programme.He will also present his viewson Global Skill Summit and the

emerging scenario of skilldevelopment in Jharkhand dur-ing the event.

Secretary of Higher,Technical and SkillDevelopment department,Rajesh Kumar Sharma said thatthe cultural setup and the ambi-ence of UAE is conducive forpeople of the State. He said thatUAE can become a naturalplace for skill development train-ing for the youths of the State.The Road Show will be a uniqueprogramme in UAE, he said.

During the two-day eventthe representatives of govern-ment of Jharkhand will alsovisit prominent industrialplaces like ICCA, Dubai,Masdar Future City. TheJSDMS will also provide a viewon Vision of Skill Developmentin Jharkhand.

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It looks like Circle Officer ver-sus MLA in Palamu’s

Hussainabad police station.According to SDPOHussainabad Manoj KumarMahto, Circle Officer BKDubey has lodged an FIRagainst the local MLAKushwaha Shivpujan Mehta onDEC 14. The Hussainabadpolice station has received thisFIR and has nominated one

police officer to investigate thiscase against the MLA.

About the text of the com-plaint of the FIR of the COagainst the MLA the SDPO saidthe CO has accused the MLAof using indecent languageagainst him. The CO has fur-ther alleged that he was intim-idated by the MLA. The CO hasalso accused the MLA of givingdirections (read interference) inthe judicial works of the CO.

As COs hold courts in land

dispute cases probably this COalluded to the same judicialexercises of him said sources.The MLA, who is the lone BSPMLA in this State said the COhas overstepped his limit and itwas he who spoke to him in themost indecent manner and hiswhole expression of words onphone was most blatantly inde-cent and improper. The MLAsaid he has apprised DCPalamu Shantanu KumarAgrahari of this episode

The MLA clarified thatthis alleged episode so blownout by CO was a cell phoneconversation only and no faceoff at all.

The MLA further said hewas in Delhi on Friday whenthis FIR was filed against him.He said the CO acts like a lawunto himself. He is arrogantand most negligent of his dutiescharged the MLA. The MLAraised questions about CO’sintegrity also.

SDPO Manoj KumarMahto said the entire incidenthas in its back ground oneepisode of encroachment. Somegovernment land of a cremationsite at Pachmu village underthis Hussainabad police stationhas been encroached upon by14 people.

The CO took actionagainst just one of the 14 allegedencroachers added SDPOwhich might have irked thelocal MLA.

��� 7 .'0

The court of District andSessions judge, Garhwa

today awarded life imprison-ment to a Maoist LalmuniPrajapati for killing of villagerIIshlamudddin Ansari in 2008.

The court also fined theMaoist with Rs. 20,000.According to the prosecutionon April 04, 2018 about 4 to 5Maoists had killed oneIshlamuddin Ansari over aland dispute arising in betweenthe deceased and father of theMaoist. The wife of deceasedhad lodged an FIR againstLalmuni Prajapati. The convictwas lodged in the Garhwa jailin connection with the killingof villager Ishlamuddin Ansariin Lavahi village of Meral PoliceStation on April 04,2008.

��� ' F .32 7'

Union Minister of State forCivil Aviation, Jayant

Sinha today charged Congresspresident Rahul Gandhi forlying on Rafale issue. He saidRahul was presenting wrongfacts on Rafale to take politicalgains. He said BJP debacle inthree states was not in any waythreat to party's aim to win2019 general election. He saidthe vote percentage of party gotin all the three states wasslightly lower than previouselection.

Talking to media personsin a press conference at partyoffice in Hazaribag town, hesaid people knew the fact andalso the truth that NarendraModi is an honest prime min-

ister.Sinha said in democracy,

debate and criticism is neces-sary but the way Rahul isbehaving is a not right in anyway.

According to him, Indian

government had purchasedvery advance fighter planesand regarding this deal,Supreme Court has reviewedeverything besides taking opin-ion of defence experts to airforce officials.

“The way Rahul ji is speak-ing on this issue and the way heis targeting Modiji is not rightin anyway,” he added.

The Union Minister said inChattisgarh, Rajasthan andMadhya Pradesh, there wasanti incumbency which affect-ed the vote percentage slight-ly, but he said this doesn'tmean that BJP lost its groundthere. Taking dig on oppositionhue and

cry on EVMs, he said withvictory in three states, all suchissues now disappeared.

Sinha termed oppositionalliance as "thagbandhan"claiming that it will not impactthe winning prospect of BJP in2019. He said elections in thefive states contested on localissues.

��� +$' .) 7

ML Agrawal SVM InterCollege at Sharda Nagar

in Lohardaga on Saturdayorganized a cultural show

dedicated to the martyrs whosacrificed their lives fightingagainst Pakistan in 1971 war.The show was organized tomark the eve of Vijay Divaswhich is observed onDecember 16 to commemorateIndia’s victory over Pakistan in1971.

Principal of the CollegeUttam Kumar Mukherjee light-ed the inaugural lamp beforethe picture of Bharat Mata.Addressing students he said,“We observe December 16 asVijay Divas to celebrate the vic-tory in India-Pakistan war in1971 that had given birth toBangla Desh.

Indians also pay tributes tothe martyrs of the war. ‘About3900 soldiers had died while9851 had sustained injuries inthat war. About 93000 person-nel of the Pakistani army hadthen surrendered, he said ask-ing the students to keep nationfirst in every walk of life for thetrue tributes in respect of ourmartyrs. Hindi lecturer NityBhartiya managed the stagewhile Physics lecturer KumarNirbhay Singh delivered vote ofthanks.

A group of students pre-sented several patriotic songsand dance programmes thosewere dedicated to the martyrsand the motherland.

��� 2$� .$

Unauthorised slum adjacentof Bokaro airport bound-

ary wall has put hurdles on theexpansion and developmentwork of the airport. Over 400houses (huts) along with cattleare at this unauthorised slum inSector XII of the Bokaro SteelCity’s township area.

Bokaro is to be connectedRCS (Regional ConnectivityScheme) under theGovernment of India’s flag-ship scheme UDAN. ChiefMinister Raghubar Das recent-ly laid the foundation stone forthe development of Bokaroairport.

In view of the expansionand development of BokaroAirport, the district adminis-tration recently announced tolaunch a special anti-encroach-ment drive from 3 Decemberwhich was earlier scheduled on30 November. But after therequest of the encroachers who

are still residing there, theadministration has given themtwo more days to make alter-nate arrangements.

On Wednesday (12December) over 60 per cent ofthe encroachers vacated thearea with their goods, valuablesand left their temporary struc-tures to remain as the districtadministration warned them toclear the area otherwise theywill use force to vacate the site.

But the district adminis-tration did not move that dayto remove those temporarystructures and left them aswell. Later in the night all ofthem again encroaches thepremises and started residingthere.

Admitting the illegal hous-es that come up in the areawere creating problems forexpansion of the airport, SatishChandra SDO Chas said thatall-out efforts would be madeto make the areas encroach-ment free.

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Former President of IndiaPranab Mukherjee today

called upon educated youths ofthe nation to venture intoentrepreneurship opportuni-ties rather work with multina-tional companies. Addressingstudents and dignitaries onthe 10th Foundation Day of theIndian Institute ofManagement, Ranchi here onSaturday, Mukherjee said thatthe higher education they havereceived in the country is a debtof the nation which they shouldrepay by working for country’sdevelopment.

Speaking on the occasion,Mukherjee said, “India andChina were equally exploitedbefore their independence butChina has made stupendousjump in the matter of devel-

opment. Its GDP growth ratehas been 12 per cent per yearsince last 30 to 32 years. It isonly because it has sorted outits internal problems. So whycan’t India do the same? Thereis need to take some hardsteps to bring the country inline with our neighbour.”

Appealing to the studentsMukherjee said, “The studentsof IIM Ranchi are requested toalways keep in mind that thishigh quality education theyhave received is a contributionof the nation, State and com-munity. The nation invests inits institutions and universitiesbecause students are our future.Students, in turn, have animportant responsibility, notonly for them but also for thecountry and the community.”

Stressing on the quality ofeducation the former President

said, “Education is the mainsource of empowerment andwithout empowerment, onecannot achieve social justiceand economic development.”He said that there is need toprovide research based educa-tion from the primary level.There is need to quality edu-cation to all.

“India is still lacking arobust higher education sys-tem. A large numbers of Indianstudents are going to abroadevery year to get higher edu-cation. We don’t get NobelPrize on our own. Three per-sons of Indian origin havereceived the prize but theywere living in abroad,” headded, citing examples of var-ious noteworthy teachers likeRabindranath Tagore to bringforth the point how good edu-cation should be aimed right

from the grass root level. Mukherjee ended his

speech by narrating a shortanecdote from his personallife highlighting the impor-tance of education and urgingthe students to make the bestpossible use of their calibre andthe education they are receiv-ing at such a deemed instituteto take India to newer horizonsof success while abstaining

from corruption and short-cuts.

The students of 2017-19and 2018-20 who had excelledin academics were felicitated bythe Director. The winners ofessay writing competition ofNational Education Daywerealso rewarded.

Earlier, the programmebegan with the lamp lightingceremony by Pranab

Mukherjee and Dr. ShailendraSingh, Director of IIM Ranchiaccompanied by SaraswatiVandana. The Director gave aninspiring speech encouragingthe students to strive each dayto make their alma mater andthe whole nation proud.Chairman, IIM Ranchi,Praveen Shankar Pandya,addressed the audience andalso described the illustriouscareer of Pranab Mukherjeeand his multi-faceted journeyserving as the Defence Ministerand then as the President of thenation.

To add to the celebrationsof the evening, a cultural showwas put up by the studentswhich included some melliflu-ous singing, a classical danceand a gripping dramatics acthighlighting the need for socialuplift of women.

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Jharkhand State Legal Service Authority (JHALSA)has been adjudged the best State Legal Service

Authority of eastern India.JHALSA secretary AK Rai received the award in

a function organized at Vigyan Bhawan in New Delhion Saturday. Law minister Ravi Shankar Prasad waschief guest on the occasion.

It may be stated here JHALSA was declared thebest SLSA among six states of eastern India includ-ing Odisha, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Chattisgarhand Bihar”.

In addition Mangla Dehri from Dumka hassecured the best para-legal volunteer award in EasternIndia.

Notably JHALSA has involved the panel lawyersto identify children under the sponsorship and fos-ter care under its legal services works.

Moreover, the organization distributed Rs 14crore among victims of crime and naxal and com-munal violence in the last two years.

It also composed two songs to educate tribal andmarginalized sections of population on legal issue andNALSA programmes.

It organized 100 days padyatra and cycle yatraby panel lawyers and para-legal volunteers toincrease visibility of legal services. JHALSA has alsobeen training the children in conflict with law in var-ious trades including sohrai painting, screen paint-ing and computer typing.

���! ��� ���� . �1'3

The first mechanised slaughterhouse or abattoir constructed

at Arsandey, Kanke, approximate-ly 10 Km from the State head-quarter at a hefty cost of Rs. 15.55crore is lying defunct. Irrespectiveof conducting rounds of meetingwith the poultry sellers to chalk outa plan to stop illegal sale of meatand slaughtering of animals espe-cially alongside the prominentmarkets the situation remains thesame. The abattoir was formallyinaugurated in May 2018.

Recently the Ranchi MunicipalCorporation (RMC) had issued acircular to hotels, restaurant andeatery owners to purchase meatfrom the abattoir only. Also, a drivewas proposed to put a check on theillegal poultry sellers but nothingcould change the fate of the abat-toir.

Ironically, the abattoir, whichwas expected to fulfill the dailyrequirements of the consumersincluding the need of hotels, restau-rants has been imposed with addi-tional sum of Rs. 12 lakh. “After

conducting meeting with the mem-bers of the meat sellers associationa while ago, they moved toJharkhand High Court (HC) andfiled a petition. Now, the case ispending with the court. Until,some decision is not given, theoperation of abattoir will hang inthe balance,” said RMC CityManager – Health and SanitationCell, Sandeep Kumar.

Stating about the legal clausethat restricts the sale of poultry hereand there, Kumar said that inaccordance to JharkhandMunicipal Act 2015, clause 310 (2)and (3), slaughtering of animals inopen is completely barred, while itssale at roads too is prohibited.“Closure of illegal slaughter houseand shops, operating within themunicipal periphery is the onlyway out to promote the concept of

purchasing meat from the abattoir.By far, two hearings on this hadbeen completed recently. At pre-sent, the notification issued by thecivic body stands null and void,” theCity Manager quoted.

On abattoir’s operation andmaintenance, Kumar said, “Highcost will be incurred until per dayslaughtering capacity is notincreased. The abattoir has thecapacity of slaughtering 1000 goatsper day (approx. 1000 kg meat perday) but on contrary here on dayto day basis, not even the half tar-get of slaughtering the goats isbeing achieved. Merely a few hotelowners are purchasing meat fromthe slaughter house.”

“As far as electricity bill is con-cerned, the due amount from May2018 onwards will be cleared byMTS – a Noida based agency, han-dling the operation and mainte-nance of the abattoir while the pre-vious amount will be cleared by theagency who had handled the taskof its construction. Since, ammo-nia plant is there, hence, the elec-tricity usage will be high in any cir-cumstance,” Kumar further added.

���������������� 6 (!';)�8.

In a fierce gun battle between securi-ty forces and ultras of banned outfit

CPI (Maoist) a COBRA jawan ofCRPF’s 203 battalion sustained injuriesin Jharjhara under ChakardharpurPolice Station area of the WestSinghbum district on Saturday morn-ing.

The injured jawan, P Raju was latersent to Ranchi through a helicopter.Police sources said a joint team of theCOBRA, CRPF and district policewas conducting search operations in theforest when they came under firing bythe maoists in which a jawan wasinjured.

Inspector General, Kolhan,Kuldeep Dwivedi confirmed the inci-dent and said that the ultras opened thefire, after which security forces respond-ed. Over 100 rounds of firing took placeduring the encounter.

“Several rounds of fierce encoun-ters between the naxals and the para-military forces have taken place at jun-gle. The insurgency operation jointlywith CRPF, currently going on, betweenvillages on the bordering Sonua andKhuti in Porahat block in WestSinghbhum,” said an official. . The areahas been sealed and a combing opera-

tion has been launched to flush out theMaoist guerrillas from the area.

The injured jawan, P Raju was air-lifted to Ranchi where he has been oper-ated. Meanwhile, the police and para-military forces have started friskingcommuters in the bordering areas. Atsome places common people are alsobeing interrogated by police and para-military force on suspicion. Forces havebeen deployed in strategic locations.

Police said that the security hasbeen beefed up in the area and theywere keeping strict vigil on movementof the Naxlites. “There has been a sub-stantial increase in Maoist activities inthis. We are not much concernedabout small acts of violence because

these activities can be controlled by us,but the bigger attacks are worrisome,”said a security official.

Police sources have informed thaton the basis of the leads provided by thearrested naxalite joint team of policeand paramilitary forces are raiding atdifferent places in Saranda area to nabother Maoists too.

Sources informed that the policehave decided to ensure strict vigil anddeploy additional security forces in thefringe areas. “Security has been beefedup in the area and they were keepingstrict vigil on movement of theNaxalites,” said another official.

��� . �1'3

As the New Year is round the cor-ner, the Ranchi Police has

strengthened its security arrange-ments at various picnic spots toensure hassle free revelry in the Newyear and curb untoward incidents.

Rural Superintendent of Police(SP) Ranchi, Ashutosh Shekhar, onSaturday, said, “I have visited DashamFall which is most famous picnic spotof this area a large numbers of peoplegather here for picnic. On the basis ofsome earlier instances near the fallsome people drowned in the falls whiletaking selfie as it was clearly men-tioned at various place that selfie isprohibited but people ignore it. Witha view to stop it the local committeeat the fall installed barricading at dan-gerous places and the department hasinstructed to local police satiations tokeep vigil on the dangerous places.”

Shekhar further said, “The localpolice stations have been asked tomonitor the crowd and keep a watchon suspected characters The securitywould be further beefed up on January1, the over 10,000 people visited fivewaterfalls in the rural places of the dis-trict. All the concerned police stations

have asked to continue patrollingnear the spots.”

The department has also soughtsupport of local villagers to providesafety at pinic spots

The SP said, “With the aim toprevent molestation and to providesafety for females and girls becausea large numbers of women and girlsvisit these places during the picnicseason the district police assured thatit will deploy women police force atall the spots as there are numerouscases of molestation, eve teasingoccurs at various spots. After thecompletion of ongoing village pan-chayat bypolls a numbers of womenpolice force will be deployed at var-ious picnic spots to prevent such kindof cases.”

��� . �1'3

Aday-long workshop wasorganised by the Ministry

of Housing and Urban Affairs,Government of India (GoI) inRanchi on Real EstateRegulatory Authority —RERA —‘A New Age ofTransparency andAccountability in Real Estate’on Saturday.

Speaking in the work-shop, Union Secretar y,Ministry of Housing andUrban Affairs, Durga ShankarMishra, said that for the realestate sector, the governmentintroduced RERA in 2016,bringing a historic change.Mishra said that beforeRERA, people who had thedesire of purchasing houses inthe urban areas had to faceproblems or often fall prey tofake companies and agents asthere was no monitoringagency.

“RERA has not only givengreat respite to the peoplewho buy a house but has

brought the honor and repu-tation to the people who workin real estate sector. The pop-ulation of the urban areas willdouble in the next 30 yearsand this will require a newurban space, therefore, RERAwill play an important role inthe way of development,” headded. Mishra hoped thatcorruption will be eliminatedfrom different regions in thefuture and with completetransparency. He praised theefforts of Jharkhand forimplementing PM AwaasYojana and said that the gov-ernment has done a com-mendable job in this direc-tion.

On the occasion, Minister— Department of UrbanDevelopment, Housing andPlanning, CP Singh said thatRERA will have an importantrole in the state of Jharkhand,it is necessary that it shouldbe promoted well . Also, theMinister said that if the law ismade then it should also bedecided that if any complaint

goes to RERA, it must be getresolved in stimulated time.“If the benefits are notreceived in a particular time,then there should be a provi-sion for action against thoseassociated with the agencyconcerned,” added Singh.

Secretary, Department of

Urban Development, Housingand Planning, Ajoy KumarSingh extended the gratitudetowards the Government ofIndia for organising RERAworkshop here and said thatthe act will prove helpful inestablishing transparent sys-tem in the real estate business.

The Secretary also saidthat this workshop will ben-efit not only Jharkhand but 11other states. Singh also saidthat the real estate industryhas been promoted well afterthe introduction of RERAand the Government ofJharkhand (GoI) too has

received several cases.The central government’s

Housing and Urban Affair,Economic Analyst, AnupamMishra, Special Secretary,Department of UrbanDevelopment, Housing andPlanning BPL Das, AshishSinghmar, Director –Directorate of MunicipalAdministration, State UrbanDevelopment Agency(SUDA) – Director, AmitKumar, State Chief TownPlanner Gajanan Ram, alongwith Joint Secretaries, DeputyCommissioner, DeputyDirectors , of f icials ofJharkhand UrbanInfrastructure DevelopmentCorporation Limited (JUID-COL), Officers of RanchiSmart City CorporationLimited, Officers of CityDevelopment and HousingDepartment from 12 Statesincluding the representativesof CREDAI - apex body ofPrivate Real Estate DevelopersAssociations and banks werepresent in the workshop.

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Following inspection ofHealth Secretary, Nitin

Madan Kulkarni the State-runhealth center MGM Hospital inSakchi has started taking stepsto improve situation.

Hospital DeputySuperintendent Dr NakulChaudhary said that the tenderfor repairing of air condition-ers at the intensive care unit(ICU) is nearing completion

and the repairing work wouldcommence from Monday bythe selected agency.

Nitin Madan Kulkarni hadcarried out a surprise inspec-tion at the over 500-bed hos-pital yesterday evening, hadtaken the officer to task for notrepairing the air conditioners atICU despite it lying defunctsince November. There are sixair conditioners at the ICU andall of them need some kind ofrepairs which is causing prob-lem for critical patients.

All the senior doctorshave been directed to strictlyfollow the roster for duty at theOPDs at the hospital.

The health secretary alsodirected malnutrition treat-ment center (MTC) to be con-nected with corporate units forbetter facilities to infants.Directive was also issued to thedrinking water and sanitationdepartment unit of the districtto complete installation oftubewell in the 21 schools at theearliest so that all schools in thedistrict will have drinkingwater facility by the end ofDecember. Later, in theevening, health secretary alsovisited the Sadar Hospital atKhasmahal and the day carecenter and also inspected theMGM Hospital in Sakchi.

“We are taking the ordersof the secretary and working

hard to ensure they imple-mented. The superintendenthas directed all the senior doc-tors to ensure that they sit at theOPDs during evening time tooand follow the roster for dep-utation of doctors at the vari-ous OPDs,” said Dr Chaudhary.

The MGM authorities havestarted process of re-tenderingfor selecting a new agency forhousekeeping and cleanlinesswork at the hospital. “We havealso started tender process forselection of a new agency forcleanliness and housekeeping atthe hospital premises and thenew agency would be selectedsoon. The contract for theexisting agency which hasfailed to mend its ways despiterepeated warnings will be ter-minated soon after the newagency is finalized,” said DrChaudhary.

MGM Medical College andHospital is a government hos-pital with the facility of 540beds. Everyday around 1000patients come here for treat-ment. It may be mentioned thatState Government governedMahatma Gandhi MemorialMedical College and Hospital,is an Indian medical schoolestablished in 1964. It is situ-ated in the outskirts ofJamshedpur near Dimna.

The college's hospital islocated in Sakchi.

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The 210 MW of unit no 3 ofBokaro Thermal Power

Station (BTPS) B, which haddeveloped technical snag caus-ing a power crisis in easternzone, was test synchronisedwith eastern power grid late inthe night on Friday, makinggeneration of electricity fromthe unit no 3 and its supply tothe grid, a top BTPS officialsaid on Saturday. But the 500MW unit of BTPC A plant isstill shut for nearly one and halfmonths.

According to the DVCsources presently the unit no 3of is supplying 150 MW to theeastern grid, said CE & projecthead Kamlesh Kumar.

The 500 MW unit of theplant is shut for last 45 days.The works in several parts ofthe rotator was going on butthe fault couldn't be rectifiedsince October 23.At the time of

closing the unit was runningon 450 MW, sources said.

According to the infor-mation DVC and BHEL engi-neers were involved in thework but the fault could not berectified at 500 MW unit.Sources said that the unit of500 MW would be lit up verysoon.

BTPS, a unit of DVC hadadded another 500 MW to itsexisting capacity last year.

The newly installed facili-ty has completed a successfultrial run of 72 hours and is aftergetting clearance from DVC,unit was already been put intoa commercial power genera-tion last year, sources said.

BTPS project headKamlesh Kumar said, "Allefforts are being on and hopeunit of 500 MW would be lit upon December 31while unit no3 of BTPS-B was synchro-nised on Friday evening,”added Kumar.

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Bokaro girl Khushi Bhartiwon the second prize in the

National Painting Competitionconducted by the Ministry ofPower, Government of Indiaheld at New Delhi on Fridayevening. At a grand function atVigyan Bhavan New Delhi, theLok Sabha speaker SumitraMahajan gave �50,000 chequeto Khushi for being theRunners-up besides felicitatingeleven other winners of thecompetition.

Out of 108 participantsacross the country, 12 paintingswere selected and Khushibagged the second position. Sheis a student of Class 8 at DPS,Bokaro said, “My Painting

depicted Bharat Mata with herhands engaged on harnessingsolar energy, wind energy andother sources of renewableenergy and also handling thefuture generation with moth-erhood and sustainable devel-opment.”

The competition was heldunder the national campaignon energy conservation, on 12December at NTPC, PowerManagement Institute, Noidawhere the cadets from all overthe nation put in their best tosteal attention on their canvaswhere Khushi excelled andcaught the attention of thejudges with her exemplaryvibrant colours scripted on hercanvas thus emerging asRunners-up.

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Senior Congress leader PChidambaram on Saturday

took a dig at Finance MinisterArun Jaitley for saying that theNDA Government got theRafale aircraft deal at a cheap-er price, questioning if it was so,why did it not buy sevensquadrons instead of two.

In a series of tweets,Chidambaram said Jaitley hasbeen maintaining that in theRafale deal, negotiated by theNDA Government, the price ofthe aircraft was cheaper by 9per cent or 20 per cent. “If so,why did the government buyonly 36 aircraft and not 126 air-craft,” he asked.

The former finance andhome minister said the IndianAir Force has been maintainingthat its fighter aircraft strengthis depleted and it needs at least7 squadrons (126 aircraft).“Then, why did the governmentbuy only 2 squadrons (36 air-craft),” he questioned.

Chidambaram said the air-craft maker was willing to sell126 aircraft and according tothe finance minister the priceis cheaper. “Then, why buyonly 36 aircraft? Will someoneplease solve this mystery?

“By buying only 36 aircraftwhen 126 aircraft are on offer,the Government has gravelycompromised national securi-

ty,” he said.In a relief to the Modi

Government, the SupremeCourt on Friday dismissed thepleas challenging the dealbetween India and France forpurchase of 36 Rafale jets, say-ing there was no reason to“really doubt the decision mak-ing process” warranting settingaside of the contract.

The apex court rejected thepleas seeking lodging of an FIRand the court-monitored probealleging irregularities in the�58,000-crore deal, in whichboth the countries have enteredinto an inter-governmentalagreement. A bench headed byChief Justice Ranjan Gogoidealt with “three broad areas ofconcern” raised in the petitions— the decision-makingprocess, pricing and the choiceof Indian offset partners — andsaid there was no reason forintervention by the court onthe “sensitive issue” of purchaseof 36 jets.

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Starting from Saturday, themaximum speed limit for all

vehicles plying on the YamunaExpressway connecting GreaterNoida with Agra in UttarPradesh is fixed 75 km perhour from December 15, 2018to February 15, 2019.

The decision was taken inview of number of accidentsdue to foggy weather conditionin winter. “If vehicles foundexceeding 75 km per hourspeed limit, challan will beissued,” said officials. Earlier,the maximum speed limit wasfixed 100 km per hour for carsand 60 km per hour for heav-ier vehicles.

According to officials ofYamuna Expressway, the newspeed limit will be applicablefrom Saturday. “During win-ters, the number of road acci-dents increase due to foggyweather, which decreases visi-bility on the expressway road.To avoid and curb the numberof accidents, the speed limit hasbeen revised,” said officials.

The Yamuna Expressway,besides connecting Delhi toAgra through Noida-GreaterNoida Expressway, touches1,182 villages of Gautam BudhNagar, Bulandshahar , Aligarh,Hathras (Mahamaya Nagar)and Mathura district.

According to Yamunaexpressway authority officials,the maximum speed limit of 75km per hour will also be set onthe expressway mobile app -Highway Saathi, to guide thecommuters through the jour-

ney. On exceeding the speedlimit, a message will be sent tothe driver’s phone immediate-ly. This app which waslaunched in 2017, makes dri-ving safer on the expressway.

The app alerts the com-muters about traffic snarls,accidents and public amenitiesand also send SOSs alerts incase of emergencies. The appalso integrates the digital mapof the Greater Noida-AgraExpressway. Voice-basedoption for queries is also avail-able through the app. Users canupload images of an accident oran emergency, which will beshared with the expresswaycontrol room, expresswaypatrol, and other app users inthe vicinity. This will ensurethat people using the YamunaExpressway are aware of anemerging situation, and realtime assistance will be madeavailable to the commuters inthe quickest possible time.

Apart from this, in case ofaccidents, people can contact

the toll free line, or send a mes-sage on Whatsapp. An extraarrangement of four ambu-lances and cranes, as precau-tionary measures in case ofemergencies, has also beenmade on the expressway.

A total of 4,956 accidentswere reported across theYamuna Expressway ever sinceit was inaugurated. Out ofthese, 1,161 accidents weredue to speeding while 595were due to tyre burst. Fogacross the highway caused 235accidents while 2,965 were dueto other reasons.

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Union Minister NitinGadkari on Saturday asked

private players to invest liber-ally in expressways, waterwaysand irrigation projects as wellas towards the ‘Clean GangaMission’. “Private playersshould consider investing infast-growing expressways,highways, waterways, irrigationprojects and projects under‘Clean Ganga Mission’,” roadtransport and shipping minis-ter Gadkari said on the side-lines of an event in the nation-al Capital.

The Government hadbrought down the cost of landacquisition drastically to �80lakh per km from �7.5 croreper km earlier for the devel-opment of expressways,Gadkari said adding that pri-vate players should take advan-tage of the reduced land acqui-sition and labour cost. He fur-ther said that land can even be

made available to IndianRailways for bullet train routes.

“Access controlled express-way of Delhi would reduceautomotive pollution by 60per cent in the city as the traf-fic will pass through the exter-nal ring roads without enteringDelhi. The Bengaluru-Chennaiexpressway would be opera-tional from January next yearand the 12-lane Bombay-Delhiexpressway, currently under

construction, would reducethe distance between the twometros by 120 km,” the Gadkarisaid.

He suggested the use ofmethanol and LNG as fuel toreduce the cost of logistics andadded that the Governmentintent to achieve the target ofbuilding roads at 40 kms/dayby the end of this fiscal year.Gadkari said the Governmenthad decided to use 111 rivers

for waterways and soughtindustry’s cooperation in trans-port of goods through thischannel to reduce transporta-tion cost.

Under the ‘Clean GangaMission’, about 10-15 per centof the 280 projects had beencompleted. A total of 150 bio-digester units were to beinstalled along the river toupgrade sanitary conditions.Ganga rejuvenation was now asuccess story, he said, addingthat by March-end 2019, closeto 80 per cent of the river

would be clean and in the fol-lowing year the Ganga wouldbe fully clean.

He urged the Indian indus-try to contribute to the missionthrough electronic fund trans-fer and help create employmentopportunities for the local pop-ulace. The Minister said hisMinistry will be starting thecleaning work in Yamunashortly. WAPCOS has signedan MoU with the Australiancompany Dopplemayr, havingtechnical expertise in buildingropeways, cable cars forenhancing the public trans-portation in hilly areas likeJ&K, Uttarakhand, HimachalPradesh thus positively impact-ing tourism in these states.

He said that theGovernment is collaboratingwith a Russian company for thefeasibility of introducing airboats. A pilot would betaken up on January 26, 2019on river Yamuna from Delhi toTaj Mahal.

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India and France Saturdayheld discussions on deepen-

ing bilateral strategic partner-ship through cooperation inthe Indo-Pacific region,defence, space and civil nuclearenergy sectors.

External Affairs MinisterSushma Swaraj and Frenchminister of Europe and ForeignAffairs Jean Yves Le Drian dis-cussed ways to furtherstrengthen bilateral coopera-tion.

“We had very fruitful talks.We closely looked at all theaspects of our mutual ties. Weare taking our cooperation for-ward in the Indo-Pacific region,which will not only benefitthese two countries but alsoother countries in the region,”she told reporters.

Noting that the foundationof India and France relations isbased on “mutual trust”, Swarajsaid the two countries are look-ing to strengthen their ties invarious sectors.

“Our defence relations arehistoric and we have beeninvolved in a number ofexchanges in the form of train-ing and joint exercises,” shesaid.

The External Affairs min-ister also reiterated the resolveof the two countries to jointlyfight against terrorism.

“We both are also workingin strengthening our ties inspace sector. We both are alsoleading fight against climatechange,” she said.

“Last year, our bilateraltrade was worth 9.62 billioneuro, if we both have to reachthe trade of 15 million euro by2022 we both will have towork towards further strength-ening our trade relations,” shesaid.

There will also be anexchange of 10,000 studentsbetween the two countries by2020, Swaraj said.

Her French counterpartLe Drian said the two leadersreviewed the status of theEuropean Pressurized Reactor

(EPR) project in Jaitapur,Maharashtra and adopted anaction plan to guide our workfor the coming months so as toadvance as efficiently as possi-ble towards the final decisionfor building this power plant.

“Six EPRs account for atotal capacity of almost 10GW, which is a significantcontribution to India’s aim ofproducing 40 per cent of itselectricity from non-fossil fuelsby 2030, in keeping with itscommitments made ahead ofthe Paris Climate Conference,”he said.

The Jaitapur project willalso contribute to Make inIndia as it involves transfers ofproduction, technology, jointresearch and training, Le Drianadded.

He said the discussionbetween the two leaders was“characterised as always by agreat convergence of views andshared ambition”.

“It is not by chance thatFrance and India are celebrat-ing the 20th anniversary of

their strategic partnership thisyear. It is because we attach thesame importance to multilat-eralism, respect for the rule oflaw, the same ambition to usherin a just and sustainable world,”he said.

“It is also because Indiaknows that in France it has apartner that has never failed itand on which it can count inthe future.

This holds true on thestrategic front, notably with thestrengthening of our exchangeson the Indian Ocean, whichtoday are fast developing andour shared commitment tofighting terrorism, as we mark10 years since the deadlyMumbai attacks,” Le Drian said.

“This holds true on theeconomic front: our companiesare investing and innovating inIndia under the Make in Indiaprogramme. On the fronts ofurban development and thedigital economy, our compa-nies are present and working tobuild the India – and France –of tomorrow,” he added.

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The CPI(M) has filed anintervention plea in the

pending Special Leave Petitionin the Supreme Court chal-lenging the constitutional valid-ity of Article 370 of theConstitution, which grants spe-cial status to Jammu &Kashmir.

The intervention plea isfiled through advocate-on-record Resmitha R Chandran.Senior advocate PVSurendranath will argue thematter in the apex court for theparty.

“The party is of theunequivocal opinion thatArticle 370 shall in no cir-cumstance be annulled, mod-ified or repealed. The partyopposes the relief sought in theSpecial Leave Petition,” CPI(M)leader and MLA Kulgam MYTarigami said in a statement.

“The special status guar-anteed to the State of JammuKashmir under theConstitution of India which hasassumed the permanent featureof the Constitution requiresprotection as any alterationwould be against the policy offederalism envisaged by theframers of the Constitution,” hesaid.

Jammu & Kashmir acced-ed to India in unique circum-stances and it poses a uniqueproblem which requires aunique solution, he said.

It was the only State to declare its intention to haveits own Constitution drafted by its own constituent assem-bly as far back as March 5,1948, he said.

“Federalism is a basic fea-ture and part of basic structureof the Constitution. To pro-mote fraternity among all thecitizens, assuring the dignity ofthe individual and the unityand integrity of the nation isour constitutional motto asdeclared in the preamble of ourConstitution,” he said.

Tarigami said the relativeautonomy of States on federalprinciple was a pre-conditionfor preserving and developingunity and integrity of thenation.

“Federalism also presup-poses acknowledgment of his-torical realities and specialnature and objective factorswith respect to deferent statesand their population,” he said.

Article 370 grants specialstatus to Jammu & Kashmirwhile Article 35A empowersthe state legislature to definepermanent citizens.

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ADelhi court on Saturdayextended by four days the

CBI custody of ChristianMichel, alleged middlemancharge-sheeted and arrestedin the AgustaWestland VVIPchopper case.

The 57-year-old Britishnational was produced beforeSpecial Judge Arvind Kumar.The probe agency told thejudge that Michel needs to beconfronted with various docu-ments in the case and hadsought further custody of forfive days.

It also said that the accusedwas required to be taken to thepremises of Pawan Hans IndiaLtd in Mumbai to verify hisversion of his alleged attempt-ed negotiations to buy backWG-30 helicopters, to identifythe shipper and to confront theofficials of Pawan Hans India.

The agency said that volu-minous documents have beenreceived from various countriespursuant to the ‘Letter ofRequests’ and the accused wasyet to be confronted with anumber of them.

The defence counselopposed the CBI applicationfor further remand sayingalready enough time was grant-ed to the agency and nothingincriminating was foundagainst accused.

“Keeping in view the factsand circumstances, submis-sions made by the parties, I

deem it fit to grant further fourdays PC remand of the accused.Accordingly, the accused isremanded to PC for four days,”the judge said. Michel wasarrested in the UAE and extra-dited to India on December 4.

The next day, he was pro-duced in the court whichallowed his five-day custodialinterrogation by the CBI whichwas later extended by fivemore days.

Michel is among thethree alleged middlemenbeing probed in the case bythe Enforcement Directorate(ED) and the Central Bureauof Investigation (CBI). Theothers are Guido Haschkeand Carlo Gerosa.

Both the agencies noti-fied an Interpol red cornernotice (RCN) against himafter the court issued a non-bailable warrant against him.

The CBI has alleged therewas an estimated loss of Euro

398.21 million (about �2,666crore) to the exchequer in thedeal that was signed onFebruary 8, 2010 for the sup-ply of VVIP choppers worthEuro 556.262 million.

The ED, in its charge sheetfiled against Michel in June2016, had alleged that he receivedEUR 30 million (about Rs 225crore) from AgustaWestland.

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The 15th RajasthanAssembly has at least 46

MLAs with criminal caseslodged against them comparedto 36 MLAs elected in the StateAssembly elections in 2013.

Out of the 199 members oflegislative assembly (MLAs), 46MLAs have declared criminalcases against themselves.Twenty eight MLAs havedeclared ‘serious’ criminal casesagainst them, says theAssociation for DemocraticReforms (ADR) report.

In the 2013 Assembly elec-tions, 19 MLAs had declared‘serious’ criminal cases againstthem. Parsadi Lal of Congresswho contested from Lalsotconstituency of Dausa districthas declared one charge relat-ed to murder. Four MLAs, allfrom Congress, have declaredcases related to attempt tomurder (IPC section 307).

Comparing the candidatesas per their political affiliation,25 out of 99 MLAs fromCongress, 12 out of 73 MLAsfrom BJP and two out of sixMLAs from BSP among otherregional political outfits havedeclared criminal cases againstthemselves in their affidavits,the report said.

Sixteen out of 99 MLAsfrom Congress, seven out of 73MLAs from Bharatiya JanataParty (BJP) and two out of sixMLAs from Bahujan SamajParty (BSP) have declared ‘seri-

ous’ criminal cases againstthem.

According to report, out ofthe 199 newly elected MLAs,158 are crorepatis compared to145 MLAs in the 2013 assem-bly elections.

A total of 82 out of 99MLAs from the Congress, 58 of73 MLAs from the BJP, 11 of 13Independent MLAs and five of six BSP MLAs have declared their assets worthover �1 crore.

Among the richest MLAswho have declared their totalassets in IT returns areCongress leaders ParasramMordia (172 crore) and UdaiLal Anjana (107crore), andRamkesh Meena (39 crore), anIndependent.

The candidates electedhaving fewer assets includeyoungest MLA Rajkumar Roat,Mukesh Kumar Bhakar andRamniwas Gawriya.

As per the report, 59

MLAs have declared their edu-cational qualification to bebetween 5th pass and 12thpass while 129 MLAs havedeclared having an education-al qualification of graduate orabove. There are seven MLAswho have declared themselvesto be just literate. Out of 199MLAs, 23 are women as against28 from the same gender in the2013 State polls.

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Prime Minister NarendraModi Saturday welcomed

the strengthening of tiesbetween India and France inareas such as defence, space,counter-terrorism, maritimesecurity, and civil nuclear coop-eration.

He also conveyed his con-dolences to the families of thevictims of the recent terroristattack in France’s Strasbourgand said that India stands withthe country in the fight againstterrorism.

On Tuesday, a gunmankilled four people at theChristmas market in theFrench city of Strasbourgbefore being shot dead.

Modi made these remarkswhen French Minister for

Europe and Foreign AffairsJean-Yves Le Drian called onhim.

The Prime Minister warm-ly recalled the State visit ofPresident Macron to India inMarch 2018, as well as theirrecent interaction on the side-lines of the G-20 Summit inArgentina, a statement fromthe Prime Minister’s office said.

Le Drian briefed the PrimeMinister on recent develop-ments in the bilateral relation-ship, and French perspective onregional and global issues, itsaid.

The Prime Minister wel-comed the strengthening ofbilateral ties in all spheres,including defence, space,counter-terrorism, maritimesecurity, and civil nuclear coop-eration, the statement said.

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The Congress said Saturdaythe Supreme Court, which

gave the Government relief inthe Rafale jet case, has not goneinto the pricing and technicalaspects of the aircraft and it isonly a joint Parliamentarycommittee that can probewhether there was any irregu-larity in the deal.

At a Press conference,Congress leader Kapil Sibalpointed to a part of Friday’sjudgment in which the

Supreme Court said the mate-rial placed before it shows theCentre did not disclose inParliament the pricing detailsof the fighter jet but revealed itto the Comptroller and AuditorGeneral.

The apex court also saidthe CAG report was evenexamined by the PublicAccounts Committee ofParliament.

Reacting to this, Sibal saidMallikarjun Kharge, the chair-man of PAC, has said he neverreceived any such report on

Rafale jet.“Who is responsible for

this? Who said this? It was theGovernment who said this.How did the attorney generalpass the affidavit?” he said.

He also rebuked theGovernment for not reading itsown affidavits.

“This is a very seriousmatter and there should be anaction in this case because themessage among people is thatCAG has cleared andParliament has seen the deal,which is wrong,” he said.

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Page 6: )˚ˇ&ˇ ˇ ˜ ˇ ˛ ˚˝ ˜ ˇ˜ ˇ ˜ ˇ ˇ ˜ ˘ˇˆ · am, Bhopal timing is at 1.30 pm ... Banking Corporation (HSBC) in Zurich, according to ED offi-cials. ... Sharma from Sitamarhi

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Washington: A major US-China trade deal is likely to hap-pen soon, President DonaldTrump said on Friday, assertingthat Beijing wants to make it"big and very comprehensive".

He also said China's posi-tion has been weakened by theeconomic impact of the tariffswar with America.

Earlier in the day, China

pressed on with its trade wartruce with the US andannounced that it will suspendextra tariffs added to 'Made inAmerica' cars and auto parts forthree months from January 1.

"China wants to make a bigand very comprehensive deal.It could happen, and rathersoon!" Trump tweeted.

"China just announced that

their economy is growingmuch slower than anticipatedbecause of our Trade Warwith them. They have just sus-pended US Tariff Hikes. US isdoing very well," he added.

Earlier this week, top offi-cials from the US and Chinahad a conference call on tradenegotiations.

The phone call follows upon the 90-day tariff cease-fireagreed by Trump and hisChinese counterpart Xi Jinpingat a meeting in Buenos Aires onthe sidelines of the G-20Summit.

The US-China trade con-flict stem from the Trumpadministration's demands that

China make sweeping changesto its intellectual propertypractices, rein in high-tech-nology industrial subsidies,open its markets to more for-eign competition and takesteps to cut a $375 billionAmerican goods trade surplus. PTI

!�5���*$���������������� � �6� �4�-���New Delhi: Union MinisterNitin Gadkari on Saturday askedprivate players to invest liberal-ly in expressways, waterways andirrigation projects as well astowards the 'Clean GangaMission'.

"Private players should con-sider investing in fast-growingexpressways, highways, water-ways, irrigation projects andprojects under 'Clean GangaMission'," road transport andshipping minister Gadkari saidwhile addressing the 91stAnnual General Meeting of theindustry body FICCI throughvideo conferencing.

The government hadbrought down the cost of landacquisition drastically to Rs 80lakh per km from Rs 7.5 croreper km earlier for the develop-ment of expressways, Gadkari

said adding that private playersshould take advantage of thereduced land acquisition andlabour cost.

He further said that land caneven be made available to IndianRailways for bullet train routes.

"Access controlled express-way of Delhi would reduceautomotive pollution by 60 percent in the city as the traffic willpass through the external ringroads without entering Delhi.The Bengaluru-Chennaiexpressway would be opera-tional from January next yearand the 12-lane Bombay-Delhiexpressway, currently underconstruction, would reduce thedistance between the two met-ros by 120 km," the ministersaid. He suggested the use ofmethanol and LNG as fuel toreduce the cost of logistics and

added that the governmentintent to achieve the target ofbuilding roads at 40 kms/day bythe end of this fiscal year.

Gadkari said the govern-ment had decided to use 111rivers for waterways and soughtindustry's cooperation in trans-port of goods through this chan-nel to reduce transportationcost. Under the 'Clean GangaMission', about 10-15 per centof the 280 projects had beencompleted. A total of 150 bio-digester units were to be installedalong the river to upgrade san-itary conditions.

Ganga rejuvenation wasnow a success story, he said,adding that by March-end 2019,close to 80 per cent of the riverwould be clean and in the fol-lowing year the Ganga would befully clean. PTI

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Chennai: The All India BankEmployees Association(AIBEA) which has called for anationwide strike on December26 opposing the merger of Bankof Baroda, Dena Bank andVijaya Bank, on Saturday saidthe move was unwarranted as itwould not be beneficial to theeconomy and the people atlarge.

"The merger will also affectthe interests of employees, theirjobs and job security. The movewould also affect employmentopportunities in the bankingindustry," the Association gen-eral secretary CHVenkatachalam said here.

Noting that several vil-lages were yet to receive bank-ing services, he said, "there isa huge exclusion of people.Banks need to be expanded. Noneed for consolidation".

Referring to theGovernment's contention thatthe merger would make thebanks stronger, Venkatachalamsaid, "there is no evidence tothis conclusion. Last year sixbanks were merged with SBI.But SBI (State Bank of India)has not become any bigger."

"After merger of the sixbanks with SBI, the non-per-forming assets have furthergone upto �2.25 lakh crore.Hence, it is also a wrong pre-

sumption," he said. The mergers of the banks

would "surely" result in closureof branches and would endan-ger job security, he added.

Urging the Centre to taketough measures to recover badloans, the association said the

Government was instead tryingto divert the attention and focuson resorting to bank mergers.

Claiming that the total NPAin Bank of Baroda, Dena Bankand Vijaya Bank was �80,000crore, he sought to know if thesebad loans would automaticallybe recovered if these bankswere merged.

Opposing the merger ofthese three banks, nearly 10 lakhbank employees and officerswould take part in the nation-wide srike on December 26, hesaid. PTI

Mumbai: The Reserve Bank prefers fundamental changes tosmoothen loan flow to micro-businesses through a public cred-it registry, rather than doling out forbearances, DeputyGovernor Viral Acharya said on Saturday.

The statement comes almost a month after the central board"advised" the monetary authority to consider a restructuringscheme for stressed standard assets of micro, small and medi-um enterprises borrowers up to Rs 25 crore.

The advisory was issued amid pressure from Governmentto do more to support small businesses, which have been impact-ed by the twin shocks of note-ban and GST introduction.

The poll-bound government has also been pitching for eas-ing the prompt corrective action norms, under which the RBIhas placed 11 of the 21 state-run banks, which will enable banksto lend more.

"At RBI, we are quite excited about how we can solve thecredit problems at the grassroots for micro entrepreneurs in afundamental way rather than saying that when they default wewill just give them forbearance and give them another six ornine months to pay up," he said while addressing IIT-Bombay'sannual Techfest.

Acharya, an alumni of the premier engineering institute,said RBI is putting together a public credit registry that will givebanks the entire profile, including past loan details, and also reg-ular income flows of borrowers.

This can make a lender more confident and also reduce therate of interest for a borrower as the risk assessment becomeseasier, Acharya said.

When asked about privacy concerns of such a registry,Acharya admitted that it is a "delicate" matter and advocatedan access rights design upfront rather than a lot of information

being gathered by companies.The Deputy Governor also

said in most countries whichhave a public credit registry,there exists a separate legislativeframework that focuses on crit-ical aspects including accessrights. PTI

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London-based shipping-to-retailing conglomerate

Foresight Group Internationalplans to invest $500 million inIndia across offshore drilling,shipping, port and LNG sectorsover the next five years. The fam-ily trust-owned group is commit-ted to a long term purpose andwill be making investments acrossvarious sectors in India with along-term growth perspective, acommuniqué issued by the groupmaintained on Thursday.

"India always had greatprospects in terms of the LNG andport sectors since beforeIndependence. We have previouslymade an investment of around$350 million in cyber rigs whichare working with ONGC and $30million in Pavers England brand-ed retail, Group's joint venturewith Pavers Limited UK whichwas India's number one FDI forsingle brand retail. Having thisinvestment done, India will con-tribute to upto 44 per cent ourglobal operations," Ravi KMehrotra, Founder and ExecutiveChairman, Foresight GroupInternational, said.

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CENTRAL PUBLIC WORKS DEPARTMENT NOTICE INVITING e-TENDER

The Executive Engineer, 'G' Division, CPWD, EastBlock-ll, Level-II, R.K. Puram, New Delhi-110066 on behalfof the President of India invites online percentage ratetenders from the approved and eligible contractors ofCPWD for the following work:

1. NIT No. - 37/EE/G-Divn./2018-19, Name of work:Upgradation of Kitchen in GPRA Chanakyapuri, New Delhi,dg. 2018-19. (SH: Providing & fixing modular kitchen inplace of old existing provision in 20 Nos. DI & 20 Nos.CII Flats) Estimated Cost:- Rs. 21,46,058/-, EarnestMoney: - Rs. 42,921/-, Period of completion: 03 (Three)Months. Last date and time of submission of tenderUpto 03.00 PM on 24.12.2018The tender forms and other details can be obtained fromthe website www.tenderwizard.com/CPWD. The PressNotice is also available on www.eprocure.gov.in

Page 7: )˚ˇ&ˇ ˇ ˜ ˇ ˛ ˚˝ ˜ ˇ˜ ˇ ˜ ˇ ˇ ˜ ˘ˇˆ · am, Bhopal timing is at 1.30 pm ... Banking Corporation (HSBC) in Zurich, according to ED offi-cials. ... Sharma from Sitamarhi

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After clinging on to powerfor nearly two months, Sri

Lanka’s ex-strongman MahindaRajapaksa, who was appointedPrime Minister by PresidentMaithripala Sirisena in a con-troversial move, resignedSaturday to end the politicalturmoil and pave way for thereturn of ousted premier RanilWickremesinghe.

The 73-year-old ex-presi-dent signed a letter of resigna-tion during a multi-religiousservice at his home here thatwas attended by several law-makers of United People’sFreedom Alliance (UPFA),Buddhist and other religiousleaders.

Sirisena also agreed onFriday to reinstateWickremesinghe on Sundaydespite previously insisting thathe would never reappoint himas Prime Minister.

Rajapaksa resigned aftertwo crucial Supreme Courtdecisions made the embattledformer strongman’s efforts tocling to premiership untenable.

He was appointed as PrimeMinister on October 26 by

President Sirisena in a contro-versial move after sackingWickremesinghe, whichplunged the country into anunprecedented constitutionalcrisis.

Wickremesinghe hadrefused to step down assertingthat his sacking was illegal.

Rajapaksa had sought tosecure a majority in the 225-member Parliament but failed.Sirisena then dissolvedParliament and called snapelections on January 5.

However, the SupremeCourt overturned his decisionand halted the preparations forsnap polls. The Supreme Courton Thursday unanimouslydeclared that the dissolution ofParliament by Sirisena was“illegal”.

The apex court on Fridayalso refused to stay a courtorder restraining Rajapaksa,73, from holding the office ofPrime Minister until it fullyheard the case next month.

After signing the resigna-tion letter, Rajapaksa said thatfollowing the February 10 localgovernment election, the aim ofhis party is to have a generalelection.

However, he said that hehas no intention of remainingas Prime Minister without ageneral election being held,and in order to not hamper thePresident in any way, heresigned from the position ofPrime Minister and made wayfor the President to form a newGovernment.

“The Supreme Court hasdelivered a judgement againstthe holding of the general elec-tion that had already been

declared. Since that judgementis a long and complicated doc-ument, I will study it carefullyand in due course express myviews on the constitutionalimpact it will have on thefunctioning of the parliamen-tary system of government,”Rajapaksa said.

Rajapaksa said that since ageneral election can no longerbe held, the UPFA cannotimplement any of the measuresthey had planned to take “to

prevent the country frombecoming another Greece.”

“The change of govern-ment that the people expectedhas now had to be put off. Butthe people will definitely get thechange they desire. No one canprevent that,” he said.

Wickremesinghe’s UnitedNational Party (UNP) onSaturday said that Sirisena hasagreed to reinstate him in thepost after a discussion with himover the phone on Friday.

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Defiant “Yellow vest”demonstrators gathered

on the Champs-Elysees in Parison Saturday morning for afifth and decisive weekend ofprotests despite calls by theFrench Government to stayhome. President EmmanuelMacron, facing the biggest cri-sis of his presidency,announced a series of conces-sions on Monday to defuse theexplosive “yellow vest” move-ment which swelled up fromrural and small-town Francelast month.

He is hoping the package oftax and minimum wage mea-sures, coupled with a terrorattack on Tuesday night inStrasbourg and bitter winterweather, will help bring calm tothe country after a month ofviolent clashes and disruption.

The last three Saturdayshave been marked by violentdemonstrations, but by middayon Saturday the situationappeared calm in Paris and thenumber of protesters was downamid an overwhelming show offorce from police.

Around 60 people hadbeen arrested in the capital by11:00 am (1000 GMT) com-pared with 500 at the same timelast weekend, according to fig-

ures released by the local gov-ernment.

“I’ve come to demonstratepeacefully; as soon as there’sviolence, I’m leaving,” MonaemZarhouni, a 43-year-old fatherof two, told AFP in the capitalon Saturday.

“My wife’s unemployed tooand we live on 700 euros (800dollars) a month. It’s tough,we’re always struggling,” hesaid.

“Last time, we were herefor taxes,” a 28-year-old “yellowvest” called Jeremy told AFP ashe joined a group gathering infreezing cold on the Champs-Elysees shortly after 8:00 am(0700 GMT)

“This is for the institutions:we want more direct democ-racy,” he said, adding that peo-ple needed to “shout to makethemselves heard.”

Throughout the morning,riot police played a game of cat-and-mouse with groups of pro-testers who moved around thecentre of Paris, much of whichhas been cordoned off for traffic.

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Lille (France): A driver died inBelgium near the border withFrance on Friday evening afterhitting a truck which hadslowed down due to a blockadeby “yellow vest” protesters, alocal government official said.

The death takes to seventhe number of people whohave died in incidents linkedto the anti-governmentprotests in France whichbegan on November 17 overrising petrol and diesel costs.

Most of the deaths havebeen in accidents at blockadesor barriers set up by protest-ers on roundabouts or onroads leading to motorways.

On December 1, an 80-year-old woman was fatallyinjured by a tear-gas grenadefired by police in Marseille.

AFP

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Russia wants to sit down withPentagon officials for “open

and specific” talks on allegedviolations of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces treaty, theRussian Defence Ministry saidon Saturday.

The US claims Russia isviolating the INF treaty, and onDecember 4 issued an ultima-tum that Moscow come intocompliance with the accord in60 days, or else Washington willwithdraw. Russia denies it’s inbreach of the treaty.

Russian Defence MinisterSergei Shoigu sent his coun-terpart, US Defence Secretary

James Mattis, a proposal forlaunching a dialogue threedays ago, according to a state-ment Saturday. But Russia saysit hasn’t received any officialreply from the Pentagon, whichspokesman Maj. Gen. IgorKonashenkov said proves thatthe US is unwilling to maintainprofessional dialogue withMoscow on security issues.

On Friday, the Russianmission to the UN submitted adraft resolution calling for theinternational community tosupport the INF treaty againstWashington’s threat of with-drawal, warning that a collapseof the treaty could underminenuclear arms control across the

board. Washington begansounding off on a potentialRussian violation of the INFtreaty under President BarackObama.

Under President DonaldTrump, those allegations havebeen specified and coupledwith threats of unilateral with-drawal from the landmark1987 arms agreement, whichbanned an entire class ofground-launched missiles withranges between 500 and 5,000kilometers (310-3,100 miles).

The US claims that a newRussian missile, designated byNATO as the SSC-8, operatesin ranges forbidden by theINF treaty.

Ramallah: Israeli troopsdemolished the home of aPalestinian accused of the Maykilling of a soldier on Saturday,completing a night-long incur-sion into the Palestinian-con-trolled city of Ramallah.

The raid on the West Bankcity where Palestinian presidentMahmud Abbas has his head-quarters comes as Israeli forces

search for the perpetrator of aThursday shooting that killedtwo Israeli soldiers. The incur-sion late Friday triggered clash-es with angry residents follow-ing a week of rising tensions.

Both Army and borderpolice units took part in theoperation, including membersof the commando unit in whichthe soldier was serving. AFP

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Asenior Government min-ister called on Saturday

for British MPs from all partiesto “forge a consensus” on Brexitto avoid a potentially damaging“no deal” withdrawal from theEU in March.

Work and pensions minis-ter Amber Rudd said Brexitcould succeed “if politicians arewilling to try a different wayand only if a coalition of thosewho want what’s best for thiscountry argue a little less andcompromise a little more”.

Her comments, in an arti-cle in the Daily Mail newspa-per, come after Prime MinisterTheresa May returned from anEU summit without the reas-surances she said she needed toget her Brexit deal through theHouse of Commons.

Few people now believe theagreement, forged over 17months of tough negotiationswith Brussels, will pass in a voteof MPs planned for January.

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Officials from around theworld are still working to

agree on the fine print of theParis climate accord after twoweeks of talks, even as workersdismantle sections of the con-ferenced venue around them.

Diplomats and ministersprepared for a closing meetingat noon on Saturday, a day pastthe original deadline, but suc-cess was still uncertain.

The UN talks in Katowice,Poland, are meant to provide arulebook for all signatories ofthe 2015 accord, ensure finan-cial support for poor countriesand send a signal that countriesare prepared to increase theirefforts in years to come.

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US President Donald Trumphas named his Budget

director Mick Mulvaney asinterim White House chief ofstaff, putting a halt to a chaot-ic search to who will take overone of the most importantpositions in the federalGovernment.

The US President tweetedon Friday that Mulvaney “hasdone an outstanding job” in hisadministration and would takeover from John Kelly in thenew year.

“I am pleased to announcethat Mick Mulvaney, Directorof the Office of Management &Budget, will be named ActingWhite House Chief of Staff.

<-�6��� ��8����&�������������������������8Doha: Turkey’s ForeignMinister said on Saturday hiscountry would “not give up” onfinding out the truth about themurder of Saudi journalistJamal Khashoggi inside thekingdom’s consulate inIstanbul.

“We haven’t received anynew information or outcome ofthe investigation from theSaudi side,” Mevlut Cavusoglusaid on the sidelines of a con-ference in Turkish ally Qatar.

“Turkey will not give up onthis, we will go to the end.”Earlier this month, the minis-ter said Turkey was in talks overa possible United Nationsinvestigation into the October2 murder, which has provokedglobal outrage. AFP

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Several thousand Ukrainiansrallied outside one of Kiev’s

main cathedrals Saturdayahead of a historic synodexpected to establish anOrthodox church independentfrom Russia.

Ukrainian priests were tomeet in Kiev’s 11th-centurySaint Sophia Cathedral to work towardsfounding the church, in whatKiev authorities hope will be afurther step out of Russia’sorbit.

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Afederal judge in Texas onFriday struck down the

entire Affordable Care Act,popular as Obamacare, rulingthat the health-care law’s indi-vidual coverage mandate was“unconstitutional”, handing amajor political victory to US

President Donald Trump whohas long been seeking its end.

The ruling was over a law-suit filed this year by a group ofRepublican governors and stateattorneys general. It came on theeve of the Saturday deadline forAmericans to sign up for cov-erage in the federal insuranceexchange created under the law.

In a ruling, that is likely tobe challenged and was immedi-ately opposed by the Democrats,District Court Judge ReedO’Connor ruled that the indi-vidual mandate of AffordableCare Act requiring people tohave health insurance “can nolonger be sustained as an exer-cise of Congress’s tax power”.

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Continuing her sizzling form, Indianbadminton star P V Sindhu pro-

gressed to the summit clash of theWorld Tour Finals for the second suc-cessive time but it was curtains fordebutante Sameer Verma in men's sin-gles on Saturday.

The 23-year-old Indian, who fin-ished runner-up at the last edition,staved off a strong challenge from thefighting Ratchanok Intanon ofThailand, a 2013 world champion, toemerge a 21-16, 25-23 winner in atense semifinal that clocked 54 min-utes.

Sameer, however, had to swallowa bitter pill after squandering a match

point advantage in the second game togo down 21-12, 20-22, 17-21 to AllEngland Champion and WorldChampionship Silver medallist ShiYuqi of China in the men's singles

semifinals.Sindhu came into the match with

a 3-4 record against the Thai player butshe was buoyed by her recent resultsas she has not lost to Intanon in the lasttwo years.

The Olympic Silver medallist willnow fight for the title with Japan'sNozomi Okuhara, to whom she hadlost an epic World Championshipfinal, last year.

"I was leading by 2-3 points but shetook a lead in the end and I was mak-ing simple errors and I was nervous butI managed to be patient and fought foreach point and finished on top,"Sindhu said.

I have improved I believe. I amcomparatively stronger now because

earlier I used to keep thinking after los-ing points."

"It is going to be a long match. Itis never easy as we know each othersgame and on the day we have to strate-gies and play our game. There hasalways been long rallies and we haveto be patience.

World No 6 Sindhu has lost a lotof major finals, including the RioOlympics, two World Championshipsin 2017 and 2018 and the Jakarta AsianGames, to settle for Silvers in the lasttwo years.

"I know I have won a lot of Silversbut there is no pressure, I will just playthe way I have played in the last fourmatches and if I can win this title itwould mean a lot to me."

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Skipper Virat Kohli played apivotal role with a workman-

like 82, lifting India from a dou-ble blow at the beginning ofinnings to 172 for three in thesecond Test against Australia onSaturday.

Kohli's unbeaten knock cou-pled with Ajinkya Rahane's coun-terattacking 51 helped India tonot only overcome the cheap dis-missals of Murali Vijay (0) and KL Rahul (2), but also put the vis-itors in a position from wherethey will look to dominate therest of the game.

The India captain stitched a90-run unbroken partnershipwith Rahane by stumps on thesecond day, the stand comingafter he added 74 with Adelaidehero Cheteshwar Pujara (24) forthe third wicket.

This was after Australia'stail wagged to add 49 runs totheir overnight total to finish at326. India trailed by 154 runs.

Post tea, Kohli and Pujara(24) batted in much the samemanner as they did in the firstsession. Their pace of scoring wasslow, but they batted with assur-ance until Mitchell Starc (2-42)provided the breakthrough.

It came seven overs after thetea break as Pujara glanced adelivery down leg only to becaught behind, as his 74-run part-nership with Kohli for the thirdwicket came to an end.

Rahane then joined Kohli inthe middle, and initially he faced

some issues getting used to thepace and bounce off the pitch.Unlike Pujara though, he took thebowling head on and counter-attacked with two boundaries anda six.

It set the pace for his part-nership with Kohli, who was solidat the other end, and grindingdown the Australian attack. TheIndian skipper reached his 20thTest half-century off 109 balls asIndia crossed 100 in the 43rdover.

Their 50-partnership came

off 106 balls as the duo settleddown to see off the last hourbefore stumps. They cut down onthe risks even more, only occa-sionally coming forth to play theirshots.

In doing so, Rahane reachedhis 17th Test half-century beforeend of play as the two batsmenwere sure in their shot selectionand avoided any further damageto the Indian innings.

Earlier, Kohli and Pujarahad seen India to 70 for two attea. Post lunch, India were imme-diately under the pump as JoshHazlewood (1-50) knocked overKL Rahul (2) in the third overafter resumption of play.

Rahul was in two mindsabout how to play a full deliveryaimed on the off-stump and wasbeaten all ends up as the balldestroyed his stumps.

Earlier, India were placed atsix one at lunch with Starc bowl-ing Murali Vijay for a 12- ballduck. This was after IshantSharma's 4-41 helped the visitors

bowl Australia out for 326 runsin their first innings.

Starting from overnight 277-6, Australia added 49 runs to theirtotal for the loss of four wickets.Tim Paine (38) and Pat Cummins(19) frustrated Indian bowlingand enhanced their eighth wick-et partnership to 59 runs.

But Umesh got the break-through with an over of fulldeliveries, knocking offCummin's off-stump in the105th. Two balls later, Bumrahtrapped Paine lbw and the deci-sion stayed despite a DRS reviewfrom the batsman.

Nathan Lyon (9 not out)stayed unbeaten for the thirdinnings in a row as he addedquick-fire 16 runs with MitchellStarc to push Australia to ahealthy total on a tough wicket.

Ishant then finished offthings with two wickets in twoballs, with Starc and JoshHazlewood (0) caught behindwith some acrobatic help fromRishabh Pant.

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Harendra Singh's outburst against umpiring afterIndia's quarterfinal loss to Netherlands didn't go

down well with the world body (FIH) and its PresidentNarinder Batra on Saturday hinted at a strict actionagainst the coach for his indecent behaviour.

India lost 1-2 to Netherlands in quarterfinal tocrash out of the tournament on Thursday.

Soon after the defeat, Harendra blamed poorumpiring for his side's unexpected early ouster, sayingFIH seriously need to address the issue as his side hasbeen on the receiving end of poor on-field decisionstwice this year.

But the India coach's vitriolic outburst came backto haunt him as the FIH chief said a team should begraceful in defeat and questioning umpires is againstthe spirit of the game.

"Being the FIH President I have to follow certainprotocols and I have my strong reservations against thiskind of behaviour. A sport has to be played in the rightspirit," Batra said in a press conference also attendedby FIH CEO Thierry Wiel on Saturday.

"One should be graceful whether you win or lose.Finding a fault is very easy. You should rather appre-ciate and respect. They (umpires) have only two eyes.They are doing a job, a thankless job. They will get crit-icised by anybody who loses," he added.

Harendra's job has been under the scanned eversince India failed to defend its Asian Games title inJakarta and the World Cup was his last opportunity tosave his skin.

It seems the India coach is set to lose his job withHockey India mulling to take a drastic decision on thematter after the conclusion of the World Cup.

A former chief of Hockey India, Batra, who has con-siderable influence on the national federation, furtherindicated that some radical changes are on the offingin Indian hockey.

FIH CEO Weil, too felt it was not wise to blameumpires after a defeat.

"I think the beauty of sports in principle is that youhave a winner and a loser. The day you win, you arehappy. The day you lose, you are sad, which I under-stand. Even Argentina team cried on the bench," he said.

"I would just recommend (that) and definitely sayumpires have a tough job, decision to be made with-in seconds. It (questioning umpires) is not acceptable."

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World No 4 Netherlands brokeAustralia's dream of clinchinga hat-trick of World Cup titles,

beating the two-time defending cham-pions 4-3 in sudden death in a pul-sating semi-final of men hockey'sshow-piece tournament here onSaturday.

The Dutch thus took a sweet revengeof their 1-6 loss to the Kookaburras inthe summit clash of the 2014 World Cupat the Hague.

The match went intoshoot-out after bothNetherlands and Australia werelocked 2-2 at the end of regulation60 minutes.

Glenn Schuurman (9th minute)and Seeve van Ass (20th) scored for theDutch before Tim Howard (45th) con-verted a penalty corner and EddieOckenden (60th) found the equaliser forAustralia just 26 seconds from the finalhooter.

In the shoot-off, Daniel Beale, TomCraig and Jake Whetton scored forAustralia while Jeroen Hertzberger, VanAss and Thijs van Dam were on targetfor the Dutch to take the encounter intosudden death.

But it was not to be Australia's day,as Beale's attempt was saved by Dutchgoalkeeper Pirmin Blaak afterHertberger scored to take Netherlandsto their second consecutive World Cupfinal.

Netherlands will face Olympic Silvermedallist Belgium in Sunday's summitclash after the Red Lions spankedEngland 6-0 in the other semi-final ear-lier in the day.

World No 1 Australia will look fora consolation Bronze medal when theytake on England in the third-fourth placeplay-off match on Sunday.

After sitting back initially, theDutchmen got into the groove slowlyand had the first real scoring chance inthe fourth minute through a penalty cor-ner but Mnk van der Weerden's flick waskept away by Australia goalkeeper

Andrew Charter.Netherlands kept up the pressure on

the Australian defence and minutes latertook the lead through Schuurman, whoscored from close range after being setup by Jonas de Gues' brilliant run downthe right flank.

Van Ass doubled Netherlands' leadafter his shot from right corner of thebox went into the goal following a deflec-tion from Australian Tim Howard's stick.

Trailing by two goals, the Australianscame out with purpose after the changeof ends as they attacked in numbers insearch of breakthroughs.

Australia pulled a goal back just atthe stroke of third quarter throughHoward who scored from a penalty cor-ner after their variation went wrong.

Netherlands goalkeeper Blaak had awonderful match, inflicting brilliant

saves now and then to deny theAustralians.

But the Australians did not give uphope and fought till their last breath,which resulted in getting the equaliserjust 26 seconds from full time throughOckenden and take the match intoshoot-out.

�������������� Olympic Silver medallist Belgium

created history by making their maid-en appearance in the men's hockeyWorld Cup summit clash, thrashingEngland 6-0 in a lopsided first semi-final.

Alexander Hendrickx (45th, 50thminutes) converted two penalty corners,while Tom Boon (8th), Simon Gougnard(19th), Cedric Charlier (42nd) and

Sebastien Dockier (53rd) were the othergoal scorers for the world number threeat the Kalinga Stadium.

Prior to this, the Red Lions' best per-formance in the World Cup was a fifth-place finish in the last edition of the tour-nament at The Hague, Netherlands in2014.

The Belgium players, who woreblack armbands to pay respect to theirteammate Gougnard whose fatherpassed away before the match, domi-nated possession in the first two quar-ters and created a couple of promisingchances, two of which resulted in goals.

It didn't take long for Belgium totake the lead as Boon deflected inFlorent van Aubel's measured crossfrom the left in the eighth minute.

Belgium doubled their lead in the19th minute through Gougnard, whoscored from a rebound after Hendrickx'sflick from their first penalty corner wassaved by England captain and goalkeeperGeorge Pinner.

Belgium extended their lead in the42nd minute through Charlier, whoscored with a fierce shot from a closerange.

Seconds from the end of the thirdquarter, they made it 4-0 whenHendrickx found the back of the Englishnet from his team's second penalty cor-ner.

Belgium continued to toy with theEnglish defence and pumped in twomore goals in the fourth and final quar-ter to make the last-four contest a thor-oughly one-sided affair.

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Striker Akashdeep Singh faces a possible twomatch suspension for breaching Code of

Conduct at the end of India's quarterfinal lossagainst the Netherlands.

According to a statement from the world body,the International Hockey Federation's technical del-egate had recommended Akashdeep's case toFIH's disciplinary commissioner.

As per the recommendation, Akashdeep facesa possible two match suspension at the next top FIHevent.

The striker had allegedly "used foul languageor gesture (s) that was seriously obscene and offen-sive or having a 'seriously insulting nature to anoth-er participant or any other third person at the con-clusion of India's quarter-final against theNetherlands on Thursday".

In his decision, FIH technical delegate ChristianDeckenbrock indicated that if India had still beenin the competition, he would have suspendedAkashdeep for the next two matches.

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