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RAIPUR | WEDNESDAY | FEBRUARY 26, 2020chhattisgarh 02

STAFF REPORTER n RAIPUR

The joint opposition of BJP,Janta Congress

Chhattisgarh (Jogi) andBahujan Samaj Party mem-bers on Tuesday created chaosin the House on paddy pro-curement issues leading toadjournment twice on the sec-ond day of budget session ofChhattisgarh State Assembly.

Later all oppositionmembers entered well of theHouse to be automatically sus-pended. Speaker after lunchwithdrew the suspension.

The Opposition memberswearing black dresses,demanded procurement ofpaddy of remaining registeredfarmers of the state and ofthose farmers having issuedthe token.

Speaker meanwhile readthe adjournment motionbrought by 18 oppositionmembers. BJP MLA AjayChandrakar speaking on itsought one line reply fromChief Minister ongovernment’s stand, will it

procure paddy or not.Leader of Opposition

Dharamlal Kaushik mentionedabout the condition ofagitating farmers across the

state. He also sought apologyfrom minister for callingagitating farmers ‘touts’.

Agriculture ministerRavindra Choubey said

adjournment motion has beenaccepted for discussion, soopposition should allow andparticipate in open discussion.Food and civil supplies

minister Amarjeet Bhagatstood to reply, but bothOpposition and treasurybenches continued sloganeer-ing leading to adjournment.

Dharamjeet Singh onresumption of House saidreply of food minister hasbeen received, the statementshould come from ChiefMinister. Treasury benchesstated that Oppositionmembers are running awayfrom discussion. By timeBaghel had left the House.

Opposition and treasurybenches continued with slo-ganeering while Oppositionmembers in protest thenentered the well of theHouse. The House wasadjourned for second timetill lunch. After the Houseresumed, Chief Ministertabled the supplementarybudget which will be takenup for discussion later.Speaker then adjourned theHouse for the day afterrevoking the suspension ofOpposition members.

Budget session of C’garh Assembly

Oppn creates din over paddySTAFF REPORTER nRAIPUR

Chhattisgarh ChiefMinister Bhupesh

Baghel announced to nameSurguja Medical Collegeafter late Devendra KumariSinghdeo on Tuesday.

He made the announce-ment while the State Assemblywas paying rich tributes to lateDevendra Kumari Singhdeo,former minister of undividedMadhya Pradesh and motherof Panchayat and ruraldevelopment Minister T. S.Singhdeo.

Assembly Speaker DrCharandas Mahant said evenafter hailing from aristocrat-ic family, she served thecommon man with simplici-ty. Chief Minister BhupeshBaghel said her demise was ashock and painful andcreated a void which cannotbe filled.

Setting aside royallifestyle, which she couldafford, she preferred to sharepain and joy of commonpeople of Surguja with moth-erly love. She had built theCongress organisation as anable organiser in Sarguja.

Leader of OppositionDharamlal Kaushik said amother has been lost, whichis the biggest pain ofanyone's life as she cannot be

replaced. Her demise hadcreated blankness in bothpolitical and social life.

Former chief ministerRaman Singh said her popu-larity can be gauged fromfact that people from acrossthe country arrived to paytributes to her at Ambikapur.

BJP MLA AjayChandrakar said her story isof Rajpath to Janpath as shepreferred to serve the peopleand winning hearts of all.

JCC-J memberDharamjeet Singh, BSP MLAKeshav Chandra, BrijmohanAgrawal, Food ministerAmarjeet Bhagat, Arun Voraand others also paid tributes.

Parliamentary affairsminister Ravindra Choubeysuggested to nameAmbikapur Medical Collegeafter her.

The House thenobserved two minutessilence in her memory.

Surguja Medical College tobe named after DevendraKumari Singhdeo

Opposition legislators staged a sit-in demonstration in front of Mahatma Gandhistatue in Assembly premises on the paddy procurement issue.

STAFF REPORTER nRAIPUR

Chhattisgarh ChiefMinister Bhupesh Baghel

on Tuesday informed the leg-islative Assembly that thestate is facing a debt burdenof around `58,000 crore.

In a written reply to aquestion raised by BJP MLAand former minister AjayChandrakar, Baghel informedthat the state has loans to thetune of `57,848 crore, whichwere taken from variousfinancial institutions.

From the time theCongress came to power inthe state in December 2018, aloan of `17,729 crore hasbeen drawn till date.

"From December 1, 2018to January 31 this year, thestate has taken a loan of`17,729 crore," the chiefminister informed.

Market loans were drawnthrough the Reserve Bank ofIndia and loans fromNABARD's rural infrastruc-ture development fund, AsianDevelopment Bank/WorldBank were taken for infra-structure and other develop-ment works in the state, thechief minister said.

During the aforemen-tioned period, a market loan of`16,400 crore was takenthrough the RBI, `934.38 crorefrom NABARD and `394.74crore from ADB/World Bank,he stated in the reply.

Chhattisgarh reels under`58,000 cr debt burden


Chief Minister BhupeshBaghel will chair a cabi-

net meeting in Satrenga areaof Korba district on February29 at 1pm.

Situated 30km fromKorba District Headquartersnear Hasdeo Bango, Satrengawill be developed as adven-ture and water sportstourism spot.

A floating dam has beenconstructed in Satrenga. TheBango dam being built onHasdeo River in Korba dis-trict is one of the biggest andthe first multi-purpose waterprojects of Chhattisgarh.

It is one of the largestdams of central India. In thisdam surrounded by hills,there is a small island whichfurther adds to the beauty of

this place.Chhattisgarh govern-

ment has chalked out projectfor developing Satrenga,Buka and Golden Island, sit-uated at the bank of HasdeoBango, as tourist spots. Theseplaces will be developed asadventure tourism and watertourism destination.

Many kinds of herbalmedicines are found in forestregion of Satrenga, which areused for herbal treatment andmedicine. This village has amagnificent 1400-year-old Saltree. Near Satrenga, famouswaterfall of Devpahri is situat-ed. Scenic beauty of MahadevHills is mesmerizing.

Chhattisgarh govern-ment is making consistentefforts to promote tourism inthe state.

For the first time in

Chhattisgarh, ‘HasdeoCruise and Adventure SportsSociety Korba’ has beenconstituted with theobjective to strategicallypromote water sports andadventure sports in the stateand to provide employmentopportunities to locals.

In the same sequence, 11locals of Satrenga are beingprovided training to operatemotor boats along withsafety-related training. Soonvarious activities such asboating, speed boating,floating restaurant, open airauditorium and resort etcwill be started here.

Cruise and floatingcottages are beingconstructed for tourists, andvarious adventure and watersports activities will also bestarted soon.

Scenic Satrenga to host Cabinet meet on Feb 29


Election Commission of Indiahas issued the programme to

fill the vacant seats for RajyaSabha as part of the biennial elec-tions.

Two seats for Rajya Sabhafrom Chhattisgarh are fallingvacant on April 9, 2020. Themembers are Ranvijay PratapSingh Judev and Motilal Vora.

As per the schedule, the noti-fication will be issued on March6, the last date for filing of nomi-nation is March 13. The scrutinyof nomination papers will beheld on March 16. The candi-dates can withdraw their candi-dature by March 18. The pollingwill be held on March 26 from

9.00 am to 4.00 pm. Counting ofvotes will be held on the sameday at 5.00 pm.

The term of office of 55members of the Rajya Sabhaelected from 17 states is due toexpire on their retirement inApril 2020.

In Chhattisgarh, Congressparty is having 69 members againstBJP’s 14 seats, it would be toughsituation to send any BJP memberwhile there will be a long list ofaspirants from the Congress. Partysources stated that Motilal Vora’sname will be retained or not, willdepend on party high command’sstand. He has the record of beingone of the longest serving RajyaSabha members from the state.

Elections for RS seatsfrom C’garh on Mar 26


Power bill of `1901.57crore is pending from

the power companies ofneighbouring Telanganastate. The ChhattisgarhState Power DistributionCompany Limited (CSPD-CL) is selling them powerat the rate of `4.66 per unit.

Information regardingthe same was given byChief Minister BhupeshBaghel in a written reply toa question asked by BJP

legislator ShivratanSharma in theChhattisgarh stateassembly on Tuesday.

The Chief Ministerfurther informed that thestate government had tilldate not compensatedCSPDCL for the power billworth `2256.70 croreagainst free power supplyto farmers for their agri-culture water pumps. Thepending bill was of theperiod of past ten yearsthat is 2008-09 to 2018-19,he informed.

Power bill of over `1900 crpending from Telanganapower companies


Ruling Congress and theBJP on Tuesday traded

charges over paddy procure-ment issue and farmersprotest happening in differentparts of the state.

Meanwhile, farmers’protest in Kawardha enteredthird day on Tuesday. Theyhave blocked the NationalHighway Number 30 thatconnects Kawardha townfrom Raipur, Bilaspur,Rajnandgaon and Jabalpur.

Long queues of trucksrunning to several kilometerswas seen at Chilfi Ghati astruck drivers struggled forfood and other utilities.

In the meantime, Chief

Minister Bhupesh Baghelclaimed the protest inKawardha was sponsored byopposition BJP and particular-ly former CM Raman Singh.

“BJP and Raman Singhdo not have issues in theirhands so to find politicalgrounds they are sponsoringthe protests particularly inKawardha,” Baghel allegedwhile talking to reporters inthe state legislative assembly

complex on the second day ofthe budget session.

He claimed that duringBJP regime, state used to pur-chase over 70 percent ofpaddy from the farmers. Buthis government has pur-chased paddy from more than90 percent farmers in state.

“They want to run awayfrom debate in the house sodespite bringing adjournmentmotion they (BJP) are run-

ning away from discussion,”Baghel stated.

Meanwhile, reacting overChief Minister’s statementformer CM Raman Singh saidthat more than 1 lakh farmersin the state are still waiting tosell their paddy.

“The government shouldat least purchase paddy fromthose farmers who have beenissued tokens,” he toldreporters.

DRG jawan injuredin IED blastBIJAPUR: A District ReserveGurad (DRG) jawan wasinjured on Tuesday when apressure bomb, laid byNaxals, went off in insur-gency-hit Bijapur district,police said.

The incident took placenear Tamodi village underGangaloor police station areawhen a team of DRG hadlaunched operation fromDantewada district along theborder of the two districts, asenior police official said.

While the patrolling teamwas cordoning off the forest,a DRG jawan inadvertentlystepped over the pressureIED connection triggeringthe blast causing serious leginjuries, he said.

The injured wasevacuated from the forest andairlifted to Raipur fortreatment, he said, addingthat search operation wasunderway in the area.


Gajendra Singh Shekhawat,Union minister for Jal

Shakti dedicated the newbuilding of Rajiv GandhiNational Ground WaterTraining and ResearchInstitute (RGNGWTRI), Tuta,Atal Nagar, Nava Raipur onTuesday.

He also released the coffeetable book and annual reportof the institute and planted atree.

MP Sunil Soni andUpendra Prasad Singh (IAS)secretary, water resources,river development and Gangarejuvenation department,Ministry of Jal Shakti,Government of India, CentralGround Water Board chair-

man G.C. Pati, Rajiv GandhiNational Ground WaterTraining and ResearchInstitute member Sunil Kumaraddressed the gathering.

The institute has beenproviding training related toground water. Around 1180

training sessions wereorganised in which around80,600 professionalsunderwent training. They aremainly scientists, groundwater specialists, members ofn o n - g o v e r n m e n torganisations and villagers.


Intensive Mass DrugAdministration (MDA) drive is

on in the state to control the infes-tation from lymphatic filariasis.

The drive was initiated onFebruary 24 as 10th phase ofNational De-worming Day andwill continue till February 29.

Health Minister T.S. Singhdeoinaugurated the state’s MDA drive inSarguja headquarters Ambikapur.

The administration of drugunder MDA not only controlsfilariasis but also treats worms inintestine. Thus this also helps tack-ling malnutrition among children.

The drive will cover all the28 districts of the state and thebasic objective of the drive is toadminister albendazole tablet to1.13 crore children, adolescentboys and girls aged from 1-19

years. The government alsoplans to reach out to 56384schools and 52474 Anganwadicenters under the drive.

Deworming MDA drivelaunched against filariasis

BJP, Congress trade chargesover farmers’ demonstration

RGNGWTRI’s newbuilding inaugurated

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US President Donald Trumpsaid here on Tuesday he

discussed the issue of religiousfreedom at a great length withPrime Minister NarendraModi, but there was no talk onthe Delhi violence or theCitizenship (Amendment) Act,(CAA).

On the Kashmir issue, theUS President said “it is a thornin many sides” and added“every story has two sides.”Trump said he is a good friendof both Modi and PakistanPrime Minister Imran Khanand repeated his offer to helpresolve the Kashmir issue if heis asked. He also talked aboutAfghanistan pullout, H1B visa,and a whole range of issueswith Modi.

Making these points at aPress conference, Trump saidhe discussed the issue of reli-gious freedom with the PrimeMinister during his compre-hensive talks and that theIndian leader wants people tohave this freedom.

Describing Modi as a “ter-rific” leader and India as a“tremendous country,” Trumpsaid, “We did talk about reli-gious freedom. Prime MinisterModi wants people to have reli-gious freedom in India...If youlook back, India has workedhard for religious freedom.”

However, when asked if hediscussed the violent incidentshere during his visit, he saidthat he did not discuss indi-vidual attacks with Modi and“that is up to India”.

Asked about his positionon the CAA, the Presidentsaid, “I don’t want to discussthat, I want to leave that toIndia. I hope they will do theright thing for the people ofIndia.”

Trump, who held talks

with Modi on the second andthe last day of his visit, saidthese were great and fantastictwo days. “I’m gonna be not atall controversial because...Idon’t want to blow the two daysplus two days of travel on oneanswer, one little answer, likeJohn will ask me one simplequestion and you will blow itout and that will be the end ofthe trip. You won’t even talkabout the trip. So I will be veryconservative in my answers ifyou don’t mind,” Trump said.

Describing the Kashmir

issue as a “big problem”between India and Pakistan, hesaid it is “a thorn in a lot ofpeople’s sides” and reiteratedhis offer to mediate betweenthe two countries to ease thetension.

“If anything I can do tomediate, I will do,” he said,adding that Pakistan figured inhis talks with Modi. “I havegood equation with PakistanPM Imran Khan. They areworking to control cross-bor-der terrorism,” he said.

The US President alsotalked with Modi about hiscountry’s peace deal with theTaliban, and said that India willlike to see it happen.

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Shoot at site” orders havebeen issued by the Delhi

Police to rein in the rioters afternorth-east Delhi continued toburn on Tuesday, with themobs armed with sticks androds roamed the streets, pelt-ing stones, vandalising shopsand threatening whosoevercame in their way.

For the third consecutiveday, Gokulpuri, the denselypopulated area witnessed large-scale rioting as mobs damagedtwo fire tenders and raisedincendiary slogans in strife-torn Maujpur and set a bike onfire. Streets in many parts of thearea were littered with stones,bricks and burnt tyres, a mutetestimony to the spiraling vio-lence and bloodshed that tookon a communal colour onMonday. Such scenes were notseen in the national Capital fordecades as frenzied mobsthrashed people on the road inMaujpur and also vented theirire on e-rickshaws and othervehicles. Many journalists wereheckled and told to go back. Ajournalist working with a localchannel was shot at while someother scribes were injured.

Even as the Delhi Policeundertook steps to quell thecontinuing violence in severalareas of north-east Delhi onTuesday, incidents of arsoncontinued on Tuesday eveningin the Chandbagh area. Riotersset afire shops and pelted stonesin a fresh wave of violence evenas the police used tear gas todisperse the crowds.Paramilitary forces have beendeployed to bring the situationunder control.

Since Monday, 13 people,including Delhi Police HeadConstable Ratan Lal, have diedwhile around 200 people havebeen injured, including 56police personnel, in the clash-es between pro and anti-CAAgroups at Jafrabad, Maujpur,

Chandbagh, Khureji Khas andBhajanpura. Three firemen alsoreceived injuries while dousingflames in the area. Police hasregistered 11 FIRs.

Union Home MinisterAmit Shah convened a meetingwith Delhi LieutenantGovernor Anil Baijal, ChiefMinister Arvind Kejriwal,Delhi Police chief AmulyaPatnaik to address the issue.

Following the clashes,schools were shut and fearfulresidents stayed indoors asrestless crowds roamed thestreets, seemingly unmindful ofprohibitory orders restrictingthe assembly of more thanfour people. Meanwhile, thepleas relating to the north-eastDelhi violence, which hasclaimed 10 lives, reached theSupreme Court and the DelhiHigh Court on Tuesday andthey are likely to be heard onWednesday.

Mandeep Randhawa, Delhi

Police spokesperson said thesituation in north-east Delhi isunder control, even as severalparts of the national Capitalcontinued to reel under vio-lence.

“11 FIRs have been regis-tered in connection with theviolence. We are responding toincidents involving anti-socialelements. Sufficient force hasbeen deployed in north-eastDelhi. The Rapid Action Force(RAF) and Central ReservePolice Force (CRPF) have alsobeen deployed,” Randhawasaid, adding that senior policeofficers are monitoring the sit-uation.

Among those killed wasVinod Kumar, a resident ofGhonda who was brought deadto hospital and whose body isat the morgue of the JagParvesh Hospital. Also killedwas Mohammad Furkan fromKardampuri, near Jafrabad,who got married in 2014 and

has two children. His brother,Mohammed Imran, overcomewith grief, said they were bothin the handicrafts business.

“He had gone to get somefood for his children. Someonetold me he had been shot. Icouldn’t believe it as I had methim barely an hour earlier. Ikept calling him... I then rushedto GTB Hospital where I wastold that he is dead. My worldhas crashed around me,” he toldreporters, sobbing inconsolablyoutside the hospital.

Mohammed Imran blamedBJP leader Kapil Mishra’s tweet,giving Delhi Police an ultima-tum to clear the streets of pro-testers and saying people wouldbe quiet only until US PresidentDonald Trump is in India.

Meanwhile, the DelhiPolice on Tuesday appealed toresidents of city to maintainpeace and harmony in thenational Capital.

Continued on Page 4

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India’s national capital, Delhi,heads the list of the most pol-

luted Capital cities of the worldwith an average of 98.6Particulate Matter (PM 2.5)concentration, as per the WorldAir Quality Report released onTuesday by the Swiss-basedagency AirVisual. Delhi’s satel-lite town Ghaziabad tops thelist of the most polluted region-al cities (110 PM).

The report noted that 21 ofthe world’s 30 cities with theworst air pollution are in India.

Overall, India ranked fifthon the list of 98 countries inPM 2.5 concentration. In con-trast, the neighbouring

Bangladesh topped the listamong the most polluted coun-try per person, followed byPakistan, Mongolia andAfghanistan.

PM 2.5 microscopic parti-cles which are smaller than 2.5micrometers in diameter areconsidered particularly harm-ful as they are small enough toenter deep into the lungs and

cardiovascular system.PM 2.5 includes pollutants

such as sulfate, nitrates andblack carbon. Exposure to suchparticles has been linked tolung and heart disorders andcan impair cognitive andimmune functions.

The report indicated thatclimate change and air pollu-tion are linked and that “urgentaction” was needed to fightgreenhouse gas emissions.

However, the fact thatnational air pollution in Indiadecreased by 20 per cent from2018 to 2019, with 98 per centof cities experiencing of vary-ing levels of improvement cameas a silver line.

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The US First Lady, MelaniaTrump, who visited a Delhi

Government school onTuesday to have first-handexperience of the unique“Happiness Curriculum”, vir-tually turned herself into astudent by joining the school-children in the class activities.

Along with the students,Melania participated in medi-tation, storytelling and otherrelaxing activities at SarvodayaCo-Educational SeniorSecondary School at Moti Baghin South Delhi.

Melania was surprised tosee the inquisitiveness of thecurious kindergarten studentswho asked her many questions,like “How big is America?” “Isit very far?” “Which is your

favourite cartoon?” Later the US First Lady

said the “HappinessCurriculum” is inspiring andhas set a “healthy and positive”example for educators.

Excited students dressed intraditional attire welcomedMelania at the school that wasdecked up with floral garlands.She was all smiles as she joinedthe students in three class-rooms, where she was briefedby the teachers. Melania inter-acted with the children, beforeenjoying boisterous dance per-formances by the youngsters.

After lighting the ceremo-nial lamp, the First Lady tooka tour of the school, heading toa reading room for class 4 stu-dents where she attended a sto-rytelling session.

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Delhi Chief Minister ArvindKejriwal on Tuesday said

the meeting with Union HomeMinister Amit Shah was posi-tive and all parties have stressedon restoring peace in thenational Capital.

Talking to the media afterthe meeting, Kejriwal said,“Meeting with HM Amit Shahwas positive and it was decid-ed that all parties will take stepsto restore peace. The police aredoing their bit and HM hasassured that whatever force isneeded, will be provided”.

The Home Minister onTuesday held a meeting to dis-cuss the prevailing situation inthe national Capital after vio-lence in north-east Delhi overthe CAA left 13 people, includ-ing a head constable, dead.

Delhi’s Lieutenant

Governor Anil Baijal, Kejriwal,Commissioner of PoliceAmulya Patnaik, Congressleader Subhash Chopra, BJP’sManoj Tiwari and RamvirBidhuri attended the meeting.

“The Army will also be

deployed in the violence-affect-ed areas if needed. But every-body has decided to rise abovetheir party politics and worktowards reinstating peace in thecity,” he said.

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India and the US on Tuesdaydecided to take their strong

ties to comprehensive globalpartnership level with focus onincreasing bilateral defenceand security cooperationbesides energy security aftertalks between Prime MinisterNarendra Modi and visiting USPresident Donald Trump here.While Modi described the rela-tionships as “one of the mostimportant partnerships,”Trump said the two countrieshave made “wonderful deal”.

India signed a three billiondollar deal for procuring fromthe USA naval multi-role heli-copters and Apache attack heli-copters for the Army. The twosides also inked three MoUs inthe fields of mental health, safe-ty of medical products andenergy.

Describing India-US rela-tions as “one of the mostimportant partnerships” of the21st century, Modi said increas-ing the bilateral defence andsecurity cooperation is a verykey aspect of this relationship.He also announced that the twocountries decided to have com-prehensive global partnership,giving a strong fillip to strate-gic ties.

Addressing the media at ajoint Press meet after his one onone talk with Trump coveringentire range of issues, includ-ing defence, security, trade and

energy, the Prime Ministersaid the unprecedented andhistoric welcome given toTrump in India will be remem-bered. He also said the relationsbetween the two countries arenot merely confined toGovernments but are people-driven.

Trump announced that thetwo countries have finaliseddefence deals worth $3 billionand asserted that their focuswas on having a comprehensivetrade deal.

The relations between thetwo countries have never beenas good as they are now, Trumpsaid, adding that the countrieshave made “wonderful deal”.

Modi said as far as bilater-al trade is concerned, therehave been positive talksbetween the two commerceMinisters.

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The Union Ministry ofHome Affairs (MHA) on

Tuesday appointed SNShrivastava, a 1985 batchIndian Police Service (IPS)officer of the Arunachal, Goa,Mizoram and Union Territories(AGMUT) cadre, as the SpecialCommissioner of Police Lawand Order in Delhi as the sit-uation in the national Capitalremained grim on Tuesday.

Shrivastava, posted asCPRF DG (Training), has beenasked to join his new duties inDelhi immediately. He handledvolatile situation in J&K.

Shrivastava will take overas the Delhi PoliceCommissioner on February29, when his batchmate andcurrent chief Amulya Patnaikwill retire.

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New Delhi: A heated exchangetook place between the USpresident and CNN journalistJim Acosta at a Press confer-ence here on Tuesday afterDonald Trump raised ques-tions over the integrity of theTV network.

Trump also spoke of an‘apology’ CNN reportedlymade recently for reportingfalse information. Acosta shotback, “Mr President, I thinkthat our record on deliveringthe truth is a lot better thanyours sometimes, if you don’tmind me stating.”

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Malda: At least 500 peoplewere taken ill due to sus-pected food poisoning inthe Hamidpur area of WestBengal 's Malda distr ict ,health of f icia ls said onTuesday.

Seventy persons amongthose taken ill were hospi-talised at Bangitola ruralhospital on Sunday afterthey started vomiting andexperienced stomach ache,said Koushik Mistri, health

of f i c ia l of Ka l iachak 2block.

Most of the patientsadmitted to the hospitalwere from Sibutola, Sripur,Tinghoria and Jogoltola vil-lages, he said. PTI

Washington: Democratic pres-idential front-runner SenatorBernie Sanders on Mondayslammed President DonaldTrump for selling weapons toIndia, saying that the US shouldinstead partner with New Delhito fight climate change to savethe planet.

Sanders, who has won theNevada and New Hampshireprimaries and tied in Iowa,made the comments afterTrump, who is on a two-dayvisit to India, on Mondayannounced that the US will signdefence trade deals worth USD3 billion with India.

In an address at a massive"Namaste Trump" rally atMotera stadium inAhmedabad, Trumpannounced that deals to sellstate-of-the-art military heli-copters and other equipmentworth over USD 3 billion willbe sealed with India on Tuesday.

“Instead of selling $3 billionin weapons to enrich Raytheon,Boeing and Lockheed, theUnited States should be part-nering with India to fight cli-mate change,” Sanders said in atweet, the first by a Democraticpresidential candidate onTrump's India visit.

“We can work together tocut air pollution, create goodrenewable energy jobs, andsave our planet,” he said.

However, a former WhiteHouse official defended theUS' decision to sell arms andweapons to India.

PTI

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To ensure that people living inthe hilly regions of Ladakh

do not have to shiver in thebone-chilling cold as tempera-ture falls as low as -20 degree C,plans are afoot to install eco-friendly solar-powered PCM(Phase Change Material) inte-grated space heating system bythe next winters in tourists shel-ters, homes and schools.

A decision was taken inthis regard recently here at ameeting between the repre-sentatives from UT Ladakhand Department of Science

and Technology (DST) underthe Union Ministry of Scienceand Technology which hashelped designed the system.

"The developed system hasthe potential to meet the needsof space heating in residentialschools, tourist shelters and fora large number of houses inLadakh. The Ladakh govern-ment is also keen to utilise inno-vations in clean energy needs forthe people of Ladakh," saidUmang Narula, advisor to Lt.Governor of Ladakh in Delhi, ata meeting where the decision forinstallation was taken.

Prof Ashutosh Sharma,

Secretary, DST said that meetingwater requirement along withspace heating solutions is animportant niche area whichrequires to be pursued further.These innovation revolve aroundthe needs of the people, headded. The system, which works24×7 to maintain the room tem-perature in the range of 15-20°Cthroughout the day and night,developed by Pluss AdvancedTechnologies, Gurugram, andthe prototypes tested at theIndian Institute of Technology,Mandi, Himachal Pradesh canbe a sustainable clean energysource for hill areas.

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From Page 1“President Trump and I

have agreed that our teams willgive a legal shape to the under-standing that our CommerceMinisters have reached. Wehave also agreed to start nego-tiations for a big trade deal. Wehope that it will yield goodresults in mutual interest,” thePrime Minister said.

Asserting that the cooper-ation between India and the USwas based on their commondemocratic values, he said thiscooperation for rule basedinternational order, especiallyin Indo-Pacific and globalcommons.

“Both of us agree on theimportance of sustainable andtransparent financing in thedevelopment of connectivityinfrastructure in the world.Our mutual understanding isnot only in each other’s but theworld’s interest,” Modi said,adding that the two countrieshave decided to take Indo-USties to the comprehensive glob-al partnership level.

The Prime Minister said,“increasing defence and secu-rity cooperation between two

countries is a very key aspect ofthe strategic partnershipbetween India and the US. Wealso agreed on new mechanismto contain drug trafficking.” Healso noted that he had metTrump five times in last eightmonths.

Modi said both leadersheld a constructive discussionon every important aspect ofthe partnership between thetwo countries, be it defence andsecurity, energy strategic part-nership, cooperation in tech-nology, global connectivity,trade relations or people topeople ties. Both sides alsoagreed on having a new mech-anism to tackle serious con-cerns like drug trafficking,narco terrorism and otherorganised crimes, he added.

India and the US are com-mitted to openness, and fairand balanced trade, and thebilateral trade between themhas seen growth in doubledigit in the last three years, thePrime Minister said.

Talking about defence andstrategic ties between the twocountries, Trump said the USis looking forward to providingIndia with some of the best andmost feared military equipmenton the planet.

From Page 1“In the last two days some

incidents of stone pelting, arsonand damage to property haveoccurred in some pockets ofnorth-east Delhi. Delhi Police ismaking all earnest efforts, includ-ing deployment of reinforce-ment and involving respectablecitizens of the area, to restore thenormalcy,” said a senior policeofficial.

“Therefore, it is appealed toall citizens of Delhi to co-oper-ate with Delhi Police in main-taining peace and harmony inthe city. They are also advised notto lend an ear to rumour mon-gers and unverified messagesbeing circulated on Social Media.It is also urged that social mediaplatforms should be used withresponsibility. Public cooperationis solicited in maintaining peace,”said the senior police official.

A resident in Maujpur saidthat this is the first time in 35years -- possibly since the 1984anti-Sikh riots -- that he has seena situation such as this. “The areahad always remained peaceful,”he said. Five stations on theDelhi Metro’s Pink Line wereclosed for the second consecu-tive day on Tuesday in the wakeof the trouble. Amit Sharma, theDeputy Commissioner of Police(DCP), Shahdara, underwent anoperation on Monday night forthe head injury sustained dur-ing the clashes. A delegationcomprising members of theJamia Coordination Committee,Jawaharlal Nehru UnionStudents’ Union, Pinjra Tod,met senior police officials anddeputy Chief Minister ManishSisodia late on Monday night toraise concerns about the situation.

From Page 1Of the world’s top 30 most polluted cities during 2019, 21

are located in India, 27 in South Asia, and all the top 30 citiesare within greater Asia. The global air quality information andtech company had gleaned data for the report from on the groundmonitoring stations that measure levels of fine particulate mat-ter, known as PM 2.5, per cubic meter.

Citing reports that 90 per cent of the global populationbreathes air exceeding World Health Organization (WHO) expo-sure targets, the report indicated that air pollution is estimatedto contribute to seven million premature deaths annually.

“Regionally, South Asia, Southeast Asia, and the Western Asiacarry the highest burden of fine particulate matter (PM2.5) pol-lution overall,” the report indicated, adding that only six of the355 cities in the region meet WHO targets.

“2019 air quality data shows clear indications that climatechange can directly increase the risk of exposure to air pollu-tion, through increased frequency and intensity of forest firesand sandstorms,” it said.

The report also talked about India’s launch of the country’sfirst National Clean Air Programme (NCAP) which aims toreduce PM 2.5 and the bigger particulate PM 10 air pollutionin 102 cities by 20-30% by 2024 compared to 2017 levels.

BOXMost polluted 21 Indian cities in the order of ranking

Ghaziabad, Delhi, Noida, Gurugram, Greater Noida,Bandhwari, Lucknow, Bulandshahr, Muzaffarnagar, Baghpat, Jind,Faridabad, Coraut, Bhiwadi, Patna, Palwal, Muzaffarpur, Hisar,Kutail, Jodhpur and Moradabad.

From Page 1Kejriwal said that a num-

ber of measures are being takento stop the violence spreadingin Delhi. The Chief Ministerheld a meeting with the MLAsand senior officials at his resi-dence and instructions weregiven to take all necessarysteps to establish peace.

“The violence that haserupted in the North-EastDelhi since a few days is a mat-ter of grave concern for all of

us. I want to appeal to the peo-ple of Delhi, to maintain peaceand harmony. All of the prob-lems can be resolved withpeaceful discourse on the mat-ter,” he said.

“I met with the MLAs ofthe affected areas. Hospitalauthorities in the area havebeen alerted and instructionshave been provided to them sothat the injured people can getproper treatment. Fire depart-ment has been instructed to

coordinate with the police, sothat they can reach the affect-ed areas in time. All the MLAsare worried about the insuffi-cient strength of the police per-sonnel. Also, police officials areunable to act on the situationunless they get orders from thesenior officials”, he said.

“The MLAs of the borderareas have also noted that mis-creants are entering the bordersin huge numbers.

The borders need to besealed and preventive arrests ofthe miscreants need to bemade,” he said.

From Page 1The First Lady, who

donned a white embroideredshirt-dress paired with a redbelt, visited an activity class-room for kindergarten stu-dents where she sat among thechildren who were engaged indrawing, clay modelling andplaying with building blocks.

'How big is America', 'Is itvery far', 'What do you do asthe First Lady', 'What is yourfavourite cartoon" were amongthe few questions asked by thecurious kindergarten students.

Melania then headed to theplayground to observe a yogasession where students wereperforming 'surya namaskar'(Sun salutation). The First Ladyalso meditated with class 4 stu-dents in their "happiness class"."Iam feeling very relaxed," shesaid after the brief meditation aspart of "mindfulness" activity ofthe 'Happiness Class'.

The 'Happiness Class' wasstarted by the Aam AadmiParty government in DelhiGovernment schools in 2018.As part of the programme, stu-dents are taught various activ-ities, including meditation,street plays, basic obedienceand aims to reduce anxiety andstress levels among children.

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Tehran: Iran’s Deputy HealthMinister confirmed on Tuesdaythat he has tested positive for thenew coronavirus, amid a major out-break in the Islamic republic.

Iraj Harirchi coughed occa-sionally and wiped sweat from hisbrow repeatedly during a newsconference in Tehran on Mondaywith Government spokesman AliRabiei. At the time, he denied a law-maker’s claim that 50 people haddied from the virus in the Shiiteshrine city of Qom, saying hewould resign if the number provedaccurate.

In a video broadcast on statetelevision, the Deputy Minister puton a brave face as he admitted hewas infected.

“I too have been infected withcoronavirus,” Harirchi said in thevideo apparently shot by himself.

“I had a fever as of last night andmy preliminary test was positivearound midnight,” he said.

“I’ve isolated myself in a placesince. A few minutes ago, I was toldthat my test was final, and now I amstarting medication.

“I wanted to tell you that... Wewill definitely be victorious againstthis virus in the next few weeks,”Harirchi declared.

But he warned Iranians to becareful as the “virus does not dis-criminate” and infects anyone,regardless of their standing.Following news of Harirchi’s infec-tion, Government spokesman Rabiei,who stood by his side on Monday,

appeared at another news conferenceon Tuesday with the country’s indus-tries minister and other officials. Aprominent Iranian reformist politi-cian, Mahmoud Sadeghi, alsoannounced he had tested positive forthe virus. “My coronavirus test waspositive. I send this message but Idon’t have much hope of stayingalive,” Sadeghi said in a tweet.

He used the occasion to call onthe judiciary to provide prisonleave time to those detained overpolitical and security charges so that“they can go through this epidem-ic with their families”.

Iran confirmed three moredeaths and 34 new infections onTuesday, taking the country’s over-all death toll to 15 and infectiontally to 95. AFP

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Seoul: The novel coronavirus out-break in South Korea is “verygrave”, President Moon Jae-in saidTuesday as he visited its epicentreand the country’s total number ofcases approached 1,000.

The Korea Centers for DiseaseControl and Prevention (KCDC)confirmed 144 new infections,taking the tally to 977, the largestnational total anywhere outsideChina, where the virus firstemerged. Scores of events havebeen cancelled or postponed as theoutbreak has spread in the world’s12th-largest economy, from K-pop

concerts to the start of the K-league football season, with casu-alties on Tuesday including par-liamentary sessions and the WorldTeam Table Tennis championships.

More than 80 percent of theinfections have been in SouthKorea’s fourth-largest city Daeguand neighbouring NorthGyeongsang province.

“The situation is very grave,”President Moon Jae-in said on avisit to Daegu, wearing the uni-form of a government emergencyofficial and vowing full govern-ment support. AFP

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Massachusetts: The drugmakerModerna has shipped a potentialcoronavirus vaccine for humans toGovernment researchers for testing.

Shares of the biotech compa-ny soared early Tuesday, a day afterthe company said it sent vials to theNational Institute of Allergy andInfectious Diseases for early-stagetesting in the US. More than 80,000people have been infected global-ly from the viral outbreak thatbegan late last year in China. AP

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Washington: The White Houseplans to spend a total of $2.5 billionfighting the deadly new coronavirusas infections mushroom around theglobe, US media reported Monday.

In a request to Congress,President Donald Trump’s admin-istration asked for $1.8 billion inemergency spending, according toThe Washington Post.

The request was for $1.25 bil-lion in new funding for theDepartment of Health and HumanServices, as well as the transfer of

an additional $535 million origi-nally set aside to fight Ebola.

The White House said itexpected to draw additional moneyfrom other agencies throughoutthe government, as well as from there-prioritization of Health andHuman Services funding, for atotal of $2.5 billion. The funds willbe spent on areas such as labora-tory tests, quarantine, vaccineresearch and development as wellas supporting affected states, TheWashington Post said. AFP

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Cairo: Hosni Mubarak, theEgyptian leader who was theautocratic face of stability inthe Middle East for nearly 30years before being forced frompower in an Arab Springuprising, died Tuesday, state-run TV announced. He was91.

Mubarak was a stalwartU.S. Ally, a bulwark againstIslamic militancy andguardian of Egypt’s peace withIsrael. But to the hundreds ofthousands of young Egyptianswho rallied for 18 days ofunprecedented street protestsin Cairo’s Tahrir Square andelsewhere in 2011, Mubarakwas a latter-day pharaoh anda symbol of autocratic misrule.

His overthrow, however,plunged the country into yearsof chaos and uncertainty, and

set up a power strugglebetween the military and theMuslim Brotherhood groupthat he had long outlawed.Some two and a half yearsafter his ouster, Abdel Fattahel-Sissi led the military over-throw of Egypt’s first freelyelected president and rolledback freedoms gained in the2011 uprising.

State TV said Mubarakdied at a Cairo hospital wherehe had undergone an unspec-ified surgery. The report saidhe had health complicationsbut offered no other details.One of his sons, Alaa,announced over the weekendthat the former president wasin an intensive care afterundergoing surgery. AP

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Islamabad: Qatar on Tuesday invited Pakistanto attend the signing of the landmark peace dealbetween the US and the Afghan Taliban in Dohaon Saturday.

Qatar’s ambassador to Pakistan Saqr binMubarak, on behalf of the Qatari ForeignMinister, extended an invitation to Foreign

Minister Shah MahmoodQureshi on Tuesday, state-runRadio Pakistan reported.

Qureshi welcomed thepeace deal between the US andthe Taliban, saying Pakistan hadalways held the view that therewas no military solution to theAfghan conflict.

He said Pakistan and Qatarhave played a “pivotal role” infurthering the Afghan reconcil-iation process. Qureshi alsoexpressed the confidence thatthe peace deal will lead to intraAfghan dialogue. PTI

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Brussels: European Unionministers are set to approve atough mandate for its negoti-ations with the UnitedKingdom on a free trade dealin the wake of Britain’s depar-ture last month from the bloc.

EU negotiator MichelBarnier has said that the EU iswilling to offer the UK the besttrade relations possible butonly if London commits to alevel playing field on every-thing from state aid to envi-ronmental standards. Britainhas already rejected this, claim-ing the ability to diverge fromEU rules was essential in itsBrexit drive.

What’s more, the UK wantsto get a deal by the end of theyear on the kind of trade agree-ment that usually takes manyyears to negotiate.

“The time pressure isimmense. The interests arehuge. It will be very hardwork — a tough road ahead,”said Dutch Foreign MinisterStef Blok. AP

�7��##'�3��$+��$��$)��"�'�7;�'�� Istanbul: President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said

on Tuesday there was no agreement yet for theleaders of Turkey, Russia, France and Germanyto hold a summit over the escalating violence innorthern Syria.

The Kremlin indicated a two-way meetingbetween Turkey’s Erdogan and Russian PresidentVladimir Putin was also not on the cards.

Erdogan on Saturday had announced hewould hold a four-party summit with Putin,France’s Emmanuel Macron and GermanChancellor Angela Merkel on March 5.

But he told reporters Tuesday in a televisedpress conference before travelling to Azerbaijan“there is no full agreement” on holding the meet-ing. The Turkish leader on Tuesday said he mightinstead hold face-to-face talks with Putin onMarch 5, either in Istanbul or in Ankara.

Russia and Turkey have over the last yearsbeen working in close coordination to end theconflict in Syria but strains have soared in recentweeks over the escalating violence in the Syrianprovince of Idlib. The tensions are seen as thebiggest threat to Ankara-Moscow ties sinceTurkey shot down a Russian warplane over Syriain November 2015. In Moscow, Putin’s spokesmanDmitry Peskov denied that a bilateral meetingbetween Erdogan and the Russian leader wasplanned. “We are not talking about bilateral con-tacts. But the possibility of a meeting in a mul-tilateral format is being worked out,” he toldreporters. AFP

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Hong Kong: The new coronavirus has hand-ed Beijing an unexpected gift — an end toHong Kong’s pro-democracy rallies. But forprotesters like Sam it is a chance to rest upbefore going back on the streets.

“A lot of us, especially frontliners, needa little bit of a break,” said the high-school stu-dent, who is hunkering down in his tiny apart-ment doing school work and playing videogames after months manning umbrella shieldwalls and dodging tear gas in battles with riotpolice.

“Only after this break did I notice how badI was doing (mentally),” said Sam, whodeclined to use his real name for fear of beingarrested. “That being said, I’m as motivatedas ever to get back on the streets continuefighting.” For the Chinese Government — andits unelected proxy leaders in Hong Kong —the end of the financial hub’s huge rallies thatengulfed the city for seven months straight hasbeen a rare spot of good fortune in an oth-erwise grim start to the year. AFP

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Washington: Democrats take the stage for adebate in South Carolina on Tuesday in whatcould be the final opportunity for Joe Bidenand the party’s other presidential candidatesto halt Bernie Sanders’ drive to the nomina-tion.

The 78-year-old senator from Vermont isin pole position heading into South Carolina’sDemocratic primary on Saturday.

Sanders finished in a virtual tie with for-mer South Bend, Indiana, mayor PeteButtigieg in the first nominating contest, inIowa, and then went on to win in the nextstates to vote -- New Hampshire and Nevada.

Seven candidates will take part in thedebate beginning at 8:00 pm in Charleston,South Carolina, on Tuesday night (0100 GMTWednesday), the 10th debate of the campaigncycle.

Besides Sanders, Biden and Buttigieg,Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren,Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar, mediamagnate Michael Bloomberg and billionaireTom Steyer will also be on the stage. AFP

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On the first anniversary ofBalakot, which is today,challenges of managingcross-border air strikes areworth recalling. Prevention

of high-stake military action — initiationor retaliation — from escalation is thechallenge. Recent air, drone and missilestrikes in the subcontinent and West Asiademonstrate diminishing appetite for warand conflict. Whenever a conflictual inci-dent has occurred, the immediate aim hasbeen to de-escalate. Uri, Doklam, Balakotand the targetted assassination of IranianGeneral Qassem Soleimani demonstrat-ed marked preference for containmentand defusion rather than confrontationor escalation. A classic case of theabsence of escalation control occurredduring the 1965 Indo-Pakistan warwhere both sides played tit-for-tat.

Pakistan launched OperationGibraltar, attacking by infiltrating Jammu& Kashmir. India retaliated at Hajipir andKishanganga bulge in Pakistan-occupiedKashmir (PoK). Pakistan responded inChhamb-Jauriyan. Pressed against thewall in Chhamb, India called in itsIndian Air Force (IAF) and crossed theInternational Border (IB) in Sialkot andLahore sectors, taking the war into thePunjab plains. Rawalpindi had believedits war would be confined to Jammu &Kashmir.

Now compare India’s surgical strikesin Uri and Balakot with the US dronestrike against Soleimani. Language andvocabulary employed following theseincidents make it clear that both the ini-tiator and the responder aimed at de-esca-lation. Both the US and India have triedto alter the behaviour of Iran andPakistan respectively, making both endtheir use of terrorism as instruments ofState policy. In retaliation to the acts ofterrorism, neither has wanted escalationafter they initiated pre-emptive strikes oracted in anticipatory self-defence — a ter-minology used by India and the US.Although India’s air strike in Balakot wasin retaliation to the Pulwama suicideattack, it was presented as pre-emptiveaction to ward off imminent terroristattacks. The US drone strike on Soleimaniwas portrayed as revenge for earlierIranian attacks on American interests andits allies in the Gulf region as also to pre-vent future attacks. As India wanted noescalation, it stated upfront that airattacks targetted the terrorist bases andthat no further action was planned. Theread-out was similar to pre-emptiveattacks in 2016 against terrorist launchpads as reprisal for Uri. By completelydenying Indian attacks, Pakistan absolveditself of any response.

But in reaction to Balakot, where theIAF struck for the first time insidePakistan after the 1971 war and not in

PoK, a Pakistani retaliation wasinevitable. It came swiftly thenext day when a package of F-16scrossed the Line of Control(LoC) and dropped their payloadin Nowshera in a void, not onIndian military installations toobviate escalation. But Indianfighter jets scrambled, and in thedogfight, India claimed shootingdown of a F-16 while Pakistanshot down a MiG 21 Bison, tak-ing its pilot hostage. Contentwith retribution but intent on de-escalation, Pakistan agreed toreturn the pilot, though underUS pressure. Pakistan’sannouncement of the release ofthe pilot and India’s declarationthat there would be no responseto the Nowshera foray hastenedthe process of de-escalation .

Now compare Balakot withthe US drone strike that elimi-nated Soleimani. Washingtonexplained the operation as antic-ipatory self-defence. In order todeter wider conflict and asym-metric retaliation by Iran, the UScounselled proportionateresponse even as Tehran put abounty of $80 million on USPresident Donald Trump’s head.Iran’s Foreign Minister JavadZarif said: “The US’ act of inter-national terrorism targetting andassassinating Gen Soleimani isextremely dangerous and foolishescalation. The US bears respon-sibility for all the consequences

of its rogue adventurism.” Iran’ssupreme leader, AyatollahKhamenei, promised revenge,which came through 12 preci-sion-guided missile strikesagainst two US bases in Iraq,which were programmed tocause no harm to its soldiers andassets (like Pakistan bombing inNowshera) to minimise scope forescalation despite Trump’s high-octane warnings for reprisals.

Retribution delivered, Zarifsaid: “Action taken in self-defence under Article 51 of theUN Charter has been conclud-ed. We do not seek escalation orwar.” Like Pakistan’s retaliatorystrikes after Balakot caused noharm to India, Iranian missileswere sanitised to avoid escala-tion. Trump chose to step backand imposed only additionalsanctions on Iran. For con-sumption of domestic audience,the Pakistan Air Force claimedcausing huge damage inNowshera.

Similarly, Iran fed its peoplethe fake news that 80 US terror-ists had been killed in revengeattacks. At the same time, it wasable to demonstrate the impres-sive capability of its missiles,which were fired for the first timeoutside Iran in Iraq after theIran-Iraq war. Neither the US norIran targetted each other’s terri-tory. The US was deterred fromescalation by the threat of

stepped up asymmetric Iranianresponse against more than70,000 American troops in theregion scattered over US bases in10 allied countries.

While in India-Pakistan con-flicts the nuclear bomb was a fac-tor for deterrence, in the US-Iranfight it was not. Prime MinisterNarendra Modi had claimed dur-ing an election rally after Balakotthat he had a couple of missilesready for launch in case theIndian pilot was not released.

Although both the groundand air strikes launched acrossthe LoC/IB were in the after-math of the terrorist attacks inUri and Pulwama in Jammu &Kashmir, New Delhi did notinvoke Article 51 and the rightto self-defence to retaliate.Instead, it utilised the principleof pre-emption to thwart immi-nent attacks in both cases.Arguably between pre-emptiveaction and anticipatory self-defence, the latter is moreacceptable in international law.

While the US invoked antic-ipatory self-defence in eliminat-ing Soleimani, Iran used the rightto self-defence in attackingAmerican bases. The problemarises while responding to non-State actors like India did inresponse to Jaish-e-Mohammedattacks in Uri and Pulwama. Itspecifically targetted terroristlaunch pads/training bases in

Pakistan, the country support-ing/sponsoring terrorist groupsand on whose soil they werelocated. The UN Charter coversonly armed attacks by one Stateagainst another State underArticle 51 that covers self-defenceprovision. In the US-Iran case,America attacked a terroristentity in a third country, Iraq,and Iran, too, responded in Iraq.

Restraint and de-escalationhave ensured that the imminentthreat of war in West Asia haspassed, though tensions remain.But another Pulwama or Uri willset alarm bells ringing again. Onassuming charge, Army chiefGen MM Naravane warnedPakistan of pre-emptive strikesto deter cross-border terrorism.For military action, pre-emptiveor in anticipatory self-defence tobe salutary, it has to be execut-ed periodically against terroristsbases like what the Israelis do:Mowing the grass in Gaza. Butcomparing Gaza withPoK/Pakistan will be wrong.Surgical air and ground strikes— even after the induction ofRafale — will not be the newnormal as they were made out bythe BJP during election rallies.

(The writer, a retired MajorGeneral, was Commander IPKFSouth, Sri Lanka and foundermember of the Defence PlanningStaff, currently the IntegratedDefence Staff.)

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Sir — During his visit to India,US President Donald Trumphad to face some awkwardmoments as he mispronouncedseveral Indian words, especiallythe names of some of the Indiangreats. While addressing a crowdof more than 100,00 people at theMotera cricket stadium, he madea mention of two great cricketplayers in the world, SachinTendulkar and Virat Kohli, butstruggled to pronounce theirnames right. He called Sachin as“Soo-chin” and Virat Kohli as“Virot Kolee.” Agreed, there aremany names and indeed wordsthat are difficult to pronouncebut not these two surely.

Moreover, if a name is diffi-cult to pronounce, then a pre-apology, “I’m not sure if I amgoing to pronounce this correct-ly” is always a good option.Since it was obvious that Trumpwas reading the names syllable bysyllable, he should have apolo-gised later. If an Indian politicianhad introduced him as President“Tramp” instead, it would havebeen a diplomatic incident.

Dennis FitzgeraldAustralia

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Sir — This refers to the editori-al, “Fatty Indians” (February25). The wide variety of region-

al and traditional cuisines avail-able in India has no parallel inthe world. But with it comes abig disclaimer: As Indians con-sume high amounts of junk andoily food, they tend to sacrifice

their health in the process. If aculture of food indulgence hasgained prominence in metrocities, it is due to the sedentarylifestyle people lead here. Yes,there has been a growing aware-

ness about health issues but westill have a long way to go.Overall, Indians need a changeof behaviour and lifestyle. Andthis should start right from theschools. Parents must givehealthy food to their children.Consumption of unhealthy fooditems results in obesity, diabetesand heart problems. In can-teens, sale of junk food must bebanned. The menu must includeidli, dhokla and lassi, which arehealthier and cheaper options.

Bal GovindNoida

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Sir — With protests betweengroups supporting and opposingthe Citizenship Amendment Act(CAA) becoming violent, theGovernment seems to be at a lossto find any solution. This willonly widen the divide further.Statements by leaders of variousparties have added fuel to the fire.Leaders must show restraint andsit together to remove misgivings.

SomyaVia email

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Despite intensive lobbying by Islamabad andcosmetic measures to convince the FinancialAction Task Force (FATF) to take it off the

grey list in which it was placed in June 2018, the inter-national watchdog has once again placed Pakistanin the said list with a stern warning to be preparedto be placed in the blacklist if it does not completethe full action plan by June.

This was not the first time that Pakistan wasbeing named and clubbed with countries likeEthiopia, Serbia, Sri Lanka, Syria, Trinidad andTobago, Tunisia and Yemen. It had been similarlyshamed in the past in 2008 and then again from 2012to 2015. In June 2018, Pakistan was given an actionplan, to be completed by October 2019, or face therisk of being blacklisted, the ultimate death knell forits shattered economy. The FATF’s reasoning isPakistan’s “structural deficiencies” in anti-moneylaundering (AML) activities and combating financ-ing of terrorism (CFT). However, Pakistan failed toimplement the action plan to be able to negotiatean exit from the grey list. At the same time it suc-cessfully averted being Blacklisted with the supportof China, Malaysia and Turkey and was given addi-tional time to comply.

To understand the charter of FATF and whyPakistan is on its target list, it is necessary to under-stand the terms money laundering and terror financ-ing. In simple terms, laundering pertains to disguis-ing cash earned from a crime as funds earnedthrough legitimate sources. The crime could be cor-ruption, drug trafficking, fake currency, fraud or taxevasion. Terrorist financing involves collection offunds to support acts of terror or terrorist organi-sations. The key difference between the two is that,in money laundering, the source of funds has to bea crime. In the financing of terrorism, money maycome from perfectly legitimate sources, such as dona-tions from citizens, but the purpose has to be acrime. Pakistan has been charged with both and isaccused of supporting terror groups like theHaqqani Network, Jaish-e-Mohammad, Lashkar-e-Toiba. Hizbul Mujahideen and the Taliban.

However, Islamabad denies this and plays thevictim card. It quotes the Global Terrorism Index,2017 by the Institute of Economics and Peace thatranks Pakistan as the fifth country most affected byterrorism, after Iraq, Afghanistan, Nigeria and Syria.Pakistan’s leadership feels that its placement in thegrey list is far more political than financial. Nothingcan be farther from the truth since Islamabad’s roleas a fountainhead of terror has been exposed to theworld on numerous occasions. Pakistan today isknown the world over for not only producing glob-al terrorists but also harbouring, training and financ-ing various jihadi organisations, particularly thoseinvolved in cross-border terror against India andAfghanistan. Ever since its placement in the grey list,Pakistan has been seeing it as an attempt by the USAto put pressure on it to “do more” on issues relatedto terrorism, as had been openly demanded by theUS President Donald Trump. Pakistan is also con-vinced that if the US can have it placed on the greylist, it can also make it easy for it to exit the list, ifIslamabad is somehow able to contribute toAmerican interests in the region. While it has beenmaking cosmetic attempts to institute measures asper the plan of action suggested by the FATF, it hasbeen concentrating more on lobbying and diploma-cy to convince the US and other members throughit, to remove it from the list of “not so good guys.”

In the absence of any visible and concrete mea-sures to mend “structural deficiencies” in AML andCTF, it was widely believed that Pakistan would beblacklisted during its October 2019 plenary at theend of the 15-month notice. Due to its burgeoningdebt and shattered economy Pakistan could ill-afford

it. Pakistan was shocked when the FATFAsia-Pacific Group put it in the Blacklistin its meeting held in August 2019, whenits members found that the country wasnon-compliant on 32 out of 40 parame-ters. Islamabad put its diplomatic machin-ery in action to garner the crucial threevotes needed to prevent it from beingblacklisted. With China in the chair,Pakistan felt assured of one vote. However,after Beijing agreed to list Masood Azharas a global terrorist, it was widely believedthat it would behave more maturely. Butin the end China’s huge investment inPakistan and the strategic relationshipbetween the two nations tilted the balancein Islamabad’s favour. Ultimately, it suc-ceeded in garnering the necessary threevotes and continue in the grey list.Though it noted that Pakistan hadaddressed only five out of the 27 tasksgiven to it for AML and CTF, it askedIslamabad to act swiftly and complete thefull action plan by February.

Since terrorism is an instrument ofPakistan’s national policy and the realpower centre in the country is its Armywhich uses cross-border terrorism as partof its military strategy, it is well-nighimpossible for that country to divorce itselffrom terrorism. It once again doubled itslobbying and diplomatic efforts. PrimeMinister Imran Khan dashed to thefriendly member countries and the USAto garner support. This time it found theUS to be more amenable than before, sinceit needed Pakistan’s assistance inAfghanistan and Iran. With China and theUS on its side, Pakistan took a few mea-sures including the arrest of Hafiz Saeedand custody of Azhar Masood. It got a shotin the arm when, during its three-dayreview meeting held in Beijing in January,the FATF noted that Pakistan had takensatisfactory steps against terror groups. Itevaluated Islamabad’s compliance effortsin relation to AML and CTF as satisfac-tory. Member countries like the US, UK,Japan, Australia and New Zealand did notraise any concern this time. Pakistan’sgame plan of successful lobbying at the

cost of compliance was bearing fruit. Thelogic was simple. It was an election yearin the USA and Trump needed Pakistan’sassistance. This appeared to have shapedthe US’ stance to go soft on Pakistan dur-ing the February plenary in Paris. Itaccordingly convinced its allies andPakistan, which was at one time facing theprospect of being blacklisted at the end ofthe October plenary, now began dream-ing of an exit from the grey list also.

India, which knew the ground reali-ty well as it has been the worst sufferer ofPak-sponsored terrorism, includingmoney laundering and financing of theseparatist movement in Kashmir, got arude shock, as it was hoping that Pakistanwould definitely be blacklisted. Havingunderstood the US’ game plan, Indiabegan to act swiftly to minimise the dan-ger by ensuring that Pakistan did not getoff the grey list till its compliance was fullyconfirmed. New Delhi began to exert itsinfluence to ensure that Pakistan wasunable to garner the support of 15-16member nations needed to remove it fromthe grey list. It provided dossiers and suf-ficient evidence to the FATF of Pakistan’scontinued involvement in money launder-ing and terror financing. India was appre-hensive that any such decision by the anti-terror body would provide oxygen to ter-rorist groups, leading to increase in ter-rorist activities in Jammu and Kashmirand Punjab, where Pakistan is desperate-ly trying to revive militancy.

India keenly participated in the FATFplenary held in Paris which culminated onFebruary 21. In order to ease the pressureon itself from the anti-terror body,Pakistan sentenced Hafiz Saeed for twoterror crimes with the sentence to run con-currently a week before the plenary.While the US expressed satisfaction,India questioned Pakistan’s intent bypointing out the timing of the sentenceand the fact that it was subject to appealin the higher court. India also raised ques-tions about Azhar Masood, Lakhvi andDawood Ibrahim, who continue to enjoythe patronage of the Pakistani

Government and roam freely. India alsoexposed Pakistan’s lie that Azhar Masoodwas “missing” by providing evidence thathe was under Pakistan military’s safe cus-tody at Bhawalpur.

Another area of concern for NewDelhi was the fake Indian currency rack-et being run by Pakistan, as its prime inter-est is to promote espionage, destabilise theeconomy and finance terror. Hence, Indiacontinued to insist on complete compli-ance with the FATF action plan.

While Pakistan will aim to exit thegrey list at the earliest, India must contin-ue to press for total compliance. Despite,the FATF observing that Pakistan hadlargely addressed 14 of 27 action items,with varying levels of progress made onthe rest of the plan, it decided to keep iton the grey list till June.

India is certainly disappointed withthe outcome and Pakistan will take satis-faction from the fact that it has succeed-ed in avoiding being on the Blacklist. Butone thing is certain, its strategy of lobby-ing at the cost of action has suffered amajor setback and it has failed yet again.It will continue on the FATF grey list withits resultant repercussions. India can heavea sigh of relief for now since Pakistan isunlikely to openly support and promotecross-border terror as long as the swordof FATF continues to hang over its head.However it would continue to fuel unrestand back terrorism clandestinely.

India not only needs to keep its eyesand ears open but simultaneously up thediplomatic offensive against Pakistan toexpose it to the international communi-ty. The risk of being blacklisted in Junemay restrain Pakistan to some extent butthe prospect of continued support fromChina, Turkey and Malaysia along withtacit support from the US will encourageit to yet again depend more on lobbyingthan action. In the ultimate analysis, Indiawill have to sort out cross-border terrorfrom Pakistan on its own.

(The author is a military veteran, polit-ical commentator, columnist, security andstrategic analyst)

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The Union Cabinet’s approvalof the Medical Termination ofPregnancy (Amendment) Bill,

2020, in January set the stage for asmall though belated step forward.Since this is only the second timethat the MTP Act is being amend-ed in its 49 years of existence, thenews managed to create quite abuzz. Initial reports suggested thatthe gestational limit for abortion hadbeen increased from 20 to 24 weeks,for all women, which was wel-comed by many. However, the fine

print reinforces the view that theincrease in gestational limit is onlyfor “special categories of women”(vulnerable women including sur-vivors of rape, victims of incest, dif-ferently-abled, minors and so on).The move to remove the upper ges-tation limit in cases of substantialfetal abnormalities is indeed wel-come, but it comes with a rider.Medical Boards — whose composi-tion, functions and other details willbe prescribed subsequently in Rulesunder the Act — will decide ifwomen can have an abortion on thisground. It moves the decision-making from the woman and herdoctor to a medical board compris-ing multiple members, thereby legit-imising third-party authorisation,which was never the intention of theoriginal MTP Act. Subjectingwomen to multiple medical check-ups and assessment by an unfamil-iar board in no way advances their

rights and surely does not seem tokeep their interests at the centre.

The MTP Act guaranteeswomen confidentiality, an aspectvalued greatly by women who seekabortion care. Under the Act, thename and other particulars of thewomen terminating a pregnancycan be shared only if ordered by thecourts. The Cabinet-approvedamendments include a clause, “thename and other particulars of awoman whose pregnancy has beenterminated shall not be revealed,except to a person authorised in anylaw for the time being in force.” Thiscould be problematic for manywomen, especially vulnerable ones.Over the years, we have seen barri-ers to abortion care increase due toconflation of the MTP Act with Pre-Conception and Pre-NatalDiagnostic Techniques Act andProtection of Children from SexualOffences (POCSO) Act. The pro-

posed amendment could enableofficials implementing these twoActs and even the Drugs andCosmetics Act (which governs med-ical abortion drugs) to seek infor-mation on women seeking termina-tion of pregnancy from doctors andchemists, compromising client con-fidentiality and putting them at risk.

For any legislation or policy tobe hailed as landmark or progres-sive, it should benefit a vast major-ity of the target audience it is meantto serve or it should be expandingthe boundaries on the issue it seeksto address. The proposed amend-ments fail this test miserably. Forthe overwhelming majority of theestimated 15.6 million women (over99 per cent) who seek to terminatetheir pregnancy every year, theamendment does not change any-thing. Even for the small numberof women who will benefit, theamendments do not go far enough.

Many countries, both developed andunderdeveloped, including somein the subcontinent already have amuch liberal abortion law.

There are countries where ges-tational limits are higher or wherethere is no limit prescribed andabortion is a woman’s right. InIndia it is still a conditional right.The proposal requiring the opinionof just one provider up to 20 weeks’gestation is indeed useful for womenwho seek termination in the secondtrimester, as opposed to the currentrequirement of opinions of twoproviders.

To summarise, the proposedamendments addresses, to someextent, only the tip of the iceberg.For the vast majority of women whoneed to terminate a pregnancy, theamendments will not make any dif-ference. It is unlikely to make anydent in maternal mortality andmorbidity due to unsafe abortions.

Even when compared to the draftMTP Amendment Bill, 2014, devel-oped after wide ranging consultationwith a number of experts and stake-holders, the proposed amendmentsseem inadequate.

In its current form, the MTPAmendment Bill, 2020, cannot byany stretch of imagination betermed as progressive, women-cen-tric or advancing women’s rights andagency. The full draft of the Bill isyet to be circulated widely and hope-fully there are no more nasty sur-prises in store.

The intention of theGovernment seems to be right butthe execution seems to fall short.Hopefully some of the issues can beaddressed when the Rules under theAct are framed.

Given the advances in medicaltechnology, the current discourse onwomen’s rights and available evi-dence, it is an opportune time to

make the MTP Act truly women-centric. Women’s health and rightsin general and abortion in particu-lar, are increasingly under threatglobally. A great opportunity existsfor India to take a leadership role insetting the global agenda.

This would require theGovernment to review what is pro-posed and overhaul the amend-ments, so that a contemporaryMTP Act, which serves the needs ofwomen and advances their rights, istabled in the Parliament. If thisopportunity is not grabbed, we willbe failing 50 per cent of our popu-lation. Will Indian women have towait for another two decades toexercise full control over their bod-ies?

(The writer is CEO, Foundationfor Reproductive Health ServicesIndia and CAG Member-PratigyaCampaign for Gender Equality andSafe Abortion)

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Patna: Ruckus prevailed in theBihar Assembly on Tuesday asBJP members strongly objectedto the Opposition describing theamended citizenship act as “kalakanoon”, leading to briefadjournment of House proceedings.

Trouble erupted during the

debate on the adjournmentmotion on CAA-NPR-NRC,which was moved by Leader ofthe Opposition Tejashwi Yadavand others and approved bySpeaker Vijay KumarChaudhary after initial objec-tion raised by ParliamentaryAffairs minister Shravan Kumar.

Opposition members wereon their feet no sooner than theHouse assembled for the day,demanding a debate on themotion and Kumar said itshould be taken up at an appro-priate time and not during theQuestion Hour.

However, Yadav pointedout that at aspecial sessionconvened lastmonth, ChiefM i n i s t e rNitish Kumarhad given anassurance thatthe issue willbe debatedduring “thenext session”.Chaudhar ysaid that sincethe budgetwas to be pre-sented around2 pm andboth the trea-sury and theopp o s i t i onwere in agree-

ment that a debate could beheld, he was approving theadjournment motion.

However, chants of ‘kalakanoon’ (black law) were madefrom the opposition side whenKumar began replying to theadjournment motion.

This was strongly objectedto by BJP ministers like NandKishore Yadav and Vijay KumarSinha, who countered the oppo-sition with the question “doesParliament pass a black law?”

Heated exchanges ensuedand members from both sidestrooped into the well forcingadjournment of House pro-ceedings for 15 minutes.

PTI

Patna: Bihar Chief MinisterNitish Kumar on Tuesday reit-erated his Opposition to “addi-tional clauses” inserted in theNational Population Register(NPR) forms and said that theState Government has writtento the Centre urging that thesebe dropped.

Replying to a debate on anadjournment motion moved byLeader of Opposition TejashwiYadav and others, Kumar toldthe Assembly that there shouldbe “no confusion” regardinghow the NPR exercise would becarried out in the state and thatnobody would be asked to fur-nish information like places ofbirth of parents.

Reading out the text of theletter to the Centre, Kumar saidit has also been proposed by theBihar government that “trans-genders” be included in thegender column.

A strong opponent of theNational Register for Citizensdespite alliance with the BJP,Kumar, however, disapprovedof “hauva” (bogey) of the NRCbeing raised by the oppositiondespite PM Modi’s categoricalstatement that a countrywideimplementation was not on theanvil.

He also sought to makelight of the virulent oppositionby leaders of the RJD and theCongress to the CAA, readingout from the parliamentaryproceedings of 2003 to under-score that leaders such as for-mer prime ministerManmohan Singh, formerpresident Pranab Mukherjeeand RJD supremo Lalu Prasadhad been in favour of fast-tracking of grant of citizenshipto refugees from the neigh-bouring countries. PTI

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Jammu: Two civilians wereinjured when Pakistan Armyshelled forward posts and civil-ians areas along the Line ofControl in Jammu andKashmir’s Poonch district onTuesday, officials said.

The shelling and firing hastriggered panic in border areasin the district, they said.

Pakistani troops lobbedmortars and fired from smallarms targeting Kirni, Qasbaand Shahpura areas along theLoC, the officials said, addingtwo civilians suffered injuriesdue to splinters.

On Friday last, at leastseven residential buildings weredamaged in heavy Pakistanishelling along the LoC inShahpur, Dokri and Qasbaareas in Poonch.

The Indian Army gave abefitting response to silence thePakistani guns, the officialssaid. PTI

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Expressing concern over theincidents of arson and vio-

lence in Delhi, West BengalChief Minister MamataBanerjee on Tuesday appealedto people to maintain calm andpeace. Banerjee also said thatshe was keeping a watch on thesituation in the national capital.

When asked to commenton why the violence could notbe nipped in the bud the ChiefMinister apparently avoidedcontroversy saying she like-most other peace-loving citi-zens of the country wantedpeace andharmony to prevail.

“We the people of Indiawant peace and deserve it,”Chief Minister said saying, “weare really concerned about whatis going on. We arewatching thesituation as it evolves … Weappeal to the people of all sec-tions to work for peace and

maintain peace and communalharmony asviolence lead tonowhere and all peace-lovingcitizens of the country wantspeace and harmony,” Banerjeewhose party TrinamoolCongress has been at logger-heads with the BJP-ruledCentre on more issues than onesaid.

Meanwhile amid threatsfrom the saffron outfit of tak-ing the Trinamool Governmentto court, the Kolkata Police hasgranted permission for UnionHome Minister and senior BJPleader Amit Shah’s meeting inKolkata.

The meeting is scheduledto take place at Sahid Minar onMarch one and is expected towitness more than a lakh-strong crowd.

This is the second suchmeeting after the BJP roaredback to power in last year’sParliamentary elections.

Chennai: ChiefMinister KPalaniswami onTuesday urged PrimeMinister NarendraModi to take steps toconfirm all the 6,028Hajj applications rec-ommended by TamilNadu for this year’spilgrimage. The TamilNadu State HajjCommittee hasreceived 6,028 appli-cations for Hajj 2020,including seveninfants, against thestate’s quota of 3,736allotted by the Hajj Committeeof India, the Chief Minister said.

As regards the remainingpilgrims, they “are hopeful thatall their Hajj applications willget confirmed for Hajj 2020,” hesaid in a letter to the PrimeMinister.

“A good number of vacan-cies are expected to be availablesince many States have not

utilised their full quota due tomany reasons including can-cellations,” he pointed out.

“I request you sir, toinstruct the Ministry ofMinority Affairs to confirm allthe 6,028 Hajj applications rec-ommended by the Tamil NaduState Hajj Committee for Hajj2020,” the Chief Minister said.

PTI

Mumbai: The famed 220-year-old Siddhivinayak Temple willcontribute �5 crore towards theMaharashtra government’srecently-launched �10 ‘ShivBhojan Thali’, a top temple offi-cial said here on Tuesday.

“A unanimous decision tothis effect has been taken by thetemple management today todonate the amount to the CM tobe utilised for the ‘Shiv Bhojan’scheme for the poor,” ShreeSiddhivinayak Ganapati TempleTrust (SSGTT) Chairman andfilm actor Aadesh Bandekarsaid here.

He added that the templeauthorities were impressed bythe welfare scheme intended togive a wholesome meal costing�10 per person to people all overthe state and hence decided tocontribute its mite to the initia-tive. “The proposal will now goto the state Law & Judiciarydepartment for approval andthen to the Government. Wehope to make a contribution tothe Government at an earlydate,” Bandekar said.

The pet scheme of ChiefMinister Uddhav Thackeray,‘Shiva Bhojan’ thali was launchedon January 26, and has become extremely popular among the

poor masses with daily sales ofmore than 15,000 plates ataround 140 distribution centresin the state in the pilot project.

IANS

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Kendrapara: The population ofendangered dolphins has comedown by more than half inOdisha’s Bhitarkanika NationalPark and nearby Gahirmathaseawaters, Forest officials said.

Only 62 dolphins werespotted during the latest head-count of these aquatic speciesthis year, down from 126 foundduring last year, they said.

The dolphin census reportwas released on Monday.

The forest officials spottedonly 62 dolphins during thecensus conducted this year onJanuary 19, while last year itwas 126, Deputy Conservatorof Forest (WildlifeManagement) Pradipta KumarSahoo said.

In the 2018 census, 307dolphins were spotted. Itdropped to 126 in 2019 and thisyear only 62 were spotted, he

said.The drop in the population

of dolphins, accorded endan-gered status in the InternationalUnion for the Conservation ofNatures (IUCN) Red List, hasapparently assumed alarmingproportion, officials said.

Conservationists are wor-ried about the decline in dol-phin population inBhitarkanika National Parkand its nearby areas.

Bhitarkanika National Parkis spread over 145 square km inKendrapara district. PTI

Thiruvananthapuram: Thelimit on Daily collection oftoddy from coconut trees forsale in shops and licence fee ofbars and breweries in Keralahave been increased by theState Government on Tuesday.

The State Cabinet approvedthe new liquor policy for theyear 2020-21 and recommend-ed an increase in the collectionof toddy per tree from 1.5 litresto two litres.

“The decision to increasethe daily collection of toddy hasbeen taken by the cabinet as perthe recommendation of theLalithambika Committee,” anofficial press release said here.

The LalithambikaCommittee was set up by theState Government to study mat-ters related to the toddy indus-try. As part of its efforts to dis-courage liquor consumption inthe State, the Left Governmentdecided to increase the annuallicence fees of bars and brew-eries from �28 lakh to �30 lakh.

“There will be a change inthe licence fee of bars. As per thenew liquor policy, the licence feeof foreign liquor-3 bars will behiked to �30 lakh from �28lakh,” the release said.

“Licence fee of FL-4 A(club) will be increased to �20lakh from �15 lakh. The fee ofFL-7 (airport lounge) will behiked to �two lakh from �onelakh,” it said. PTI

Agra: A ceremonial silver “keyof Agra” was planned to be pre-sented to US President DonaldTrump during his visit to thehistoric city on Monday but itcould not be gifted to him dueto security constraints, MayorNaveen Jain said.

The 12-inch key, made ofsilver, weighs 600 g and has cop-per engravings of Taj Mahal andthe name of the city, he said.

“As a mayor of the city, onbehalf of the people of Agra, Iwanted to present PresidentTrump the ‘key of Agra’ on hisarrival here. But due to securi-ty constraints I could not enterthe Kheria airbase where he wasreceived by the state’s CM andgovernor. We really wanted togift him this ceremonial key but

could not,” Jain told PTI.Nonetheless, it is a matter of

great pride that the world’smost powerful leader visitedAgra and saw the iconic TajMahal, the pride of India, hesaid.

And indeed, Trump maynot have been able to receive the‘key of Agra’ but he and his fam-ily unlocked the beauty of Agraby visiting the celebrated mon-ument of love, the famed 17thcentury mausoleum built byMughal Emperor Shah Jahan.

The US President and FirstLady Melania Trump were givena special tour of the heritagecomplex, as the couple enteredbeautifully carved doors andgateways during their visit, withthe guide virtually transporting

them to the Mughal-era withthe fascinating stories behindthe Taj.

The mayor said it is a tra-ditional gesture to welcome ahigh-profile guest or a head ofstate with a ceremonial key.

“We hand over a ‘key ofAgra’ to the guest symbolicallyto open the ‘door of Agra’ andenter the city. Many guests havebeen shown that gesture in thepast,” Jain said.

In 2000, the then presidentBill Clinton also was to be pre-sented with a ceremonial key ofAgra.

Baby Rani Maurya, currentGovernor of Uttarakhand wasthe mayor of Agra at that time,he said.

“The key is 12-inch long

and weighs 600 grams. It has theimpression of Taj Mahal on itand ‘Welcome to Agra’ engravedon it. We got it designed inDelhi,” Jain said.

The city administration hadmade massive arrangement forTrump’s short visit in Agra onMonday evening, giving Agra amakeover in a very short spanof time.

The city administrationsought to present the “best faceof Agra” to Trump.

Streets were spruced up,walls beautified with thematicpaintings and the lawns of theiconic Taj Mahal bedecked withshimmering flowers for wel-coming the US President.Trump was accompanied by hiswife, daughter Ivanka and son-

in-law Jared Kushner, alongwith his delegation.

At many places, artworksgreeting Trump were made byartists and water was beingsprayed regularly to ensurethere was no dust.

Victorian-style lamppostswere installed in many areas toimprove the aesthetic look of thecity, especially along the nearly13-km route that was taken bythe US President’s convoy.

Trump arrived in Agra onMonday evening around 4:30pm after jointly attending withPrime Minister NarendraModi, the mega ‘NamasteTrump’ event at the newly-builtMotera cricket stadium inAhmedabad.

PTI

Hyderabad: An attempt by theCPI to hold a Demonstrationhere protesting PresidentDonald Trump’s visit to Indiawas foiled by the police onTuesday.

Senior CPI leaders KNarayana and Telangana unitsecretary Chada Venkat Reddywere among 55 people takeninto preventive custody fromdifferent places in the city whenthey attempted to proceed to theUS Consulate for the protest.

Some of those detainedraised slogans “Go back Trump”while being taken in policevans.

“A total of 55 of them weretaken into preventive custodyfrom different places in thecity and police foiled theirattempts to hold protests,”Deputy Commissioner of Police(North Zone) KalmeshwarShingenavar told PTI.

Cases were registered underrelevant sections of IPC andCrPC for blocking roads andobstructing police from per-forming their duties, he saidadding no permission had beenobtained for the protest.

CPI general secretary DRaja had asked all party units as

well as civil society groups andother political parties to uniteand protest “vehemently”against Trump’s visit. Securitywas beefed up for the USConsulate, which provides visaand consular services to peoplein Telangana, Andhra Pradeshand Odisha. PTI

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The Maharashtra BJP onTuesday staged dharnas in

various parts of the State inprotest against the Shiv Sena-led MVA Government’s “effi-cient”administration and tocondemn the increasing atroc-ities against women.

On the second day of theongoing Budget Session of theMaharashtra Legislature, StateBJP president Chandrkant Patiland the leader of theOpposition in the AssemblyDevendra Fadnavis led theprotests held at the AzadMaidan in South Mumbaiagainst the Uddhav ThackerayGovernment for its “failures”on various fronts and increas-ing atrocities against women.

In a statement released byit in the evening, the State BJPclaimed that it held protests in355 places across the State.

“The MVA governmenthas done away all welfare pro-grammes introduced by theprevious BJP-led government.The government which wasformed by disrespecting themandate of the people, hastaken the farmers for a ride.The MVA Government has

not given assistance even onerupee more than what wasannounced by the previousDevendra Fadnavis for farmersaffected by the unseasonalrains,” a party statement said.

“Ever since the MVAGovernment assumed theoffice, there is an increase in theatrocities on women. To reg-ister our protest against theGovernment, we staged today’sprotest as had been decided atthe state party convention heldat Navi Mumbai recently,” thestatement added.

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Slamming the BJP for theongoing violence in Delhi,

Maharashtra’s NCP presidentJayant Patil on Tuesday saidthat the people in the countryexpected “development model”from the BJP and not “Gujaratriot model” and hoped that thepeople in the Governmentwould take steps to ensure

against a repeat of 2002 in thenational capital.

In a strong statementissued against the ruling BJP atthe Centre for ongoing riotsover CAA, Patil — who is alsothe State Water ResourcesMinister — said: “At a timewhen the President of theUnited States Donald Trump ison a visit to India, violence haserupted in the national capital.

After the violence, there istension all over Delhi”.

“In yesterday’s violence,eight persons, including a headconstable of the Delhi police,have so far been killed, whilemany were injured. Section144 of IPC ( unlawfulAssembly) has been clamped.Whatever happening in thenational capital is dangerous,”the State NCP president said.

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Thane: An offence has beenregistered against a doctor forallegedly raping a 23-year-oldwoman at Bhiwandi town inMaharashtra’s Thane district,police said on Tuesday.

The incident took place onFebruary 15 when RamkunwarSingh, a Kalyan-based doctor,took the victim to show a flatin Bhiwandi and allegedlyraped her there, assistant policeinspector Deepak Bhoi said.

The victim, who is anemployee of a private firmlodged a complaint with theBhiwandi taluka police sta-tion, where a case under sec-tion 376 (rape) was registeredon Monday, he said.

A man-hunt has

b e e n

launchedfor the

a c c u s e dwho is abscond-

ing, the officialadded. PTI

Pune: A “godman” was arrest-ed for allegedly raping awoman and molesting her foursisters, including two minors,on the pretext of conducting aritual to help them conceiveand find a “hidden treasure” intheir house in Pimpri-Chindwad, police said onTuesday.

According to the com-plaint lodged on Monday, thealleged abuse took placebetween January and February2019, a senior official said.

The accused SomnathChavan (32) told the 22-year-old complainant that someonehad performed black magic onher family to prevent the sistersfrom conceiving, she said.

“Chavan also told themthat one of the sisters was indanger and he could save herby conducting a ritual andwould also help them find ahidden treasure in their house,”she said.

The accused also allegedlydemanded Rs 3 lakh to conductthe “special ritual”, the officialsaid.

As per preliminary infor-mation, the accused allegedlyraped the complainant andmolested her sisters from timeto time, she said.

The accused even threat-ened to kill the victims’ parentsif they complained about theabuse, the official said, addingthat Chavan even had a fakewedding with one of the vic-tims.

The accused has beenarrested under relevant sec-tions of the Indian PenalCode, Protection of Childrenfrom Sexual Offences Act(POCSO) and MaharashtraPrevention and Eradication ofHuman Sacrifice and otherInhuman, Evil and AghoriPractices and Black Magic Actof 2013. PTI

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US President Donald Trumpon Tuesday wooed Indian

industry leaders to invest morein America, promising toreduce more regulations in hiscountry as he looked for over-seas investment to boost theeconomy there.

Speaking at a high-profileCEO round-table whichincluded captains of the Indianindustry such as RelianceIndustries Chairman MukeshAmbani, Mahindra GroupChairman Anand Mahindra,Tata Sons Chairman NChandrasekaran and AdityaBirla Group Chairman KumarMangalam Birla, Trump reas-sured that regulations “willonly get better” for investmentin the US.

The Indian industry lead-ers apprised the US President

of their ongoing respectivebusinesses and investments inthe country.

“I want to thank you all.

Congratulations on your suc-cess. Hope you come to theUnited States and invest morebillions because I view it not as

billions, I view it as jobs. Wehave great people...,” he told thegathering. When pointed outthat businesses still have to go

through regulatory challenges— especially administrativeand in the legislative environ-ment — in the US, Trump said,“Some of the regulations youhave to go through are statu-tory process ... We are going tocut lot more regulations ... A lotof them will be cut and you willsee a big difference and it willonly get better.”

Stressing on the need forcompanies of the US and Indiato invest in each other’s coun-try, Trump said Governmentscan only aid in creating jobsand it is the private industrythat actually creates jobs.

Stating that he has beenworking closely with PrimeMinister Narendra Modi,Trump said, “We create jobshere, and he creates jobs overthere through yourselves.”

On Modi, he said,“Somebody said he is such a

nice man and I said well he isactually he is a very tough manbut he is a nice man. He isdoing a fantastic job.”

During the interaction, hesaid a trade deal with India isin the works but did not shareany details.

“It has been an honour tobe here,” he said on visitingIndia. “We just did a lot of busi-ness with India where they willbuy helicopters worth USD 3billion.” Claiming that he isgoing to win the coming USpresidential elections that willcause the markets to boom, hesaid his government has donea lot for the economy, health-care and military.

Trump reiterated thatunder his leadership the USeconomy has grown and has“never been as good as it hasbeen” but has been held back bythe upcoming elections.

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New Delhi: US oil supplies toIndia have jumped ten-fold to2,50,000 barrels per day (bpd)in the last two years in signs ofgrowing energy ties betweenthe two nations.

Speaking at a businessmeeting alongside USPresident Donald Trump, USEnergy Secretary DanBrouillette said India import-ed 25,000 barrels per day ofcrude oil from the UnitedStates in 2017.

“In the last two years, wehave seen a remarkable offtakein the US oil and gas by India,from 25,000 bpd in 2017 to250,000 bpd now, a 10-foldincrease and we expect it to bebetter from here,” he said.

Trump remarked that ener-gy trade is “going up very veryrapidly”.

“Thank you very muchDan. Really great job,” he said.

The US is India’s sixth-largest oil supplier.

India began importingcrude oil from the US in 2017 asit looked to diversify its importbasket beyond the OPECnations. It bought 1.9 milliontonnes (38,000 bpd) of crude oilfrom the US in 2017-18 andanother 6.2 million tonnes(1,24,000 bpd) in 2018-19.

In the first six months ofthe current fiscal (2019-20), theUS supplied 5.4 million tonnes(MT) of crude oil to India.

Speaking at a separateIndo-US business summit,India’s Oil MinisterDharmendra Pradhan said theUS emerging as the 6th largestsource for crude oil imports forIndia is a development. PTI

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India and the US have movedto the next level of engage-

ment having “almost closed”the final contours of limitedtrade package, and will comeup with a comprehensive tradedeal going forward, CommerceMinister Piyush Goyal said onTuesday.

Goyal was participating inthe ‘US-India Forum: Partnersfor Growth’ conference here.

“On the economic front,having almost closed the lastcontours of the limited tradedeal and with the announce-ment of a much larger tradedeal in the offing, we havemoved to a new level of engage-ment,” Goyal said.

The minister said theengagement will help both

sides on different fronts. WhileIndia will benefit by engagingwith new technology, the USwill gain by India becoming abig source for talent.

Sharing the government’svision, the minister said ourgoal is that by 2022, every fam-ily should have own homewith 24 hours electricity, clean cooking gas,access to internet, and goodschool and health care aroundthe home.

To reach the goal of mak-ing India a USD 5 trillioneconomy, Prime MinisterNarendra Modi has had exten-sive consultations with 80 min-istries, entire council of minis-ters and senior bureaucracy tobring in the interconnectbetween different thoughtprocesses, he said.

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Amid the ongoing AGR cri-sis, Tata Sons Chairman N

Chandrasekaran on Tuesdaymet Communications MinisterRavi Shankar Prasad, even asan official said the telecomministry is prepared to issue anotice to Tatas for paying onlypart of its dues as full and finalsettlement.

Emerging from the meet-ing which lasted for over 30minutes, Chandrasekarandeclined to comment on thedetails of his discussion.

The crucial meeting comesat a time when the governmentis looking to issue a detailednotice to Tatas for paying only�2,197 crore as full and finalsettlement against govern-ment’s calculation of �14,000crore.

A senior government offi-cial said that the telecomdepartment is not convincedwith the company’s dues assess-ment.

A notice will be sent to thecompany in a day or two ques-tioning the company’s AGRcalculation.

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Retail opportunities at trans-port hubs like airports,

railways, metro, highways areexpected to grow to $21.6 bil-lion by 2030, according to asurvey by property consultantKnight Frank. As per the sur-vey, this growth is attributableto a healthy growth in passen-ger traffic as well as transportinfrastructure in the country.

It noted that the total retailopportunity across varioustransport hubs in India, such asairports, highways and bus sta-tions, metro , railways, willgrow manifold in new decade.

“India is going through aninfrastructure revolution. Thegovernment’s focus on devel-oping and modernising thetransport modes including air-ports, railway stations, metro

and highways is opening upunprecedented opportunitiesfor the organised retail segmentin the country,” Knight FrankIndia Chairman and MDShishir Baijal said. As per thesurvey, the current size of tran-sit retail in India is estimated at$2.2 billion and is expected togrow to$21.6 billion by 2030.

“While the retailing poten-tial is best tapped at airports, itis still at a nascent stage forother modes like metros, rail-ways, highways and bus sta-tions. A large part of the retailopportunity at transit hubs iscurrently untapped due to lackof retail infrastructure at thesenodes,” the survey noted.

The large retail potentialtranslates into lease rentalopportunity of $1 billion,which is estimated to grow to$3.2 billion by 2030.

Mumbai: A collection of 112lots of prized assets belongingto absconder diamantaire NiravModi shall be put up for liveand online auctions startinghere on February 27, officials

said. These assets were seizedby the Enforcement Directorate(ED) and the auction is anattempt to recover a part of thedues Modi owes to variousbanks. IANS

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Liverpool earned a record-equalling 18th consecutivePremier League win as the

runaway leaders came from behindto beat West Ham 3-2 thanks toSadio Mane’s late strike on Monday.

Jurgen Klopp’s side were in dan-ger of dropping Premier Leaguepoints for the first time since theirdraw at Manchester United onOctober 20 after falling behind in thesecond half at Anfield.

Georginio Wijnaldum putLiverpool ahead early on but IssaDiop equalised soon after.

Pablo Fornals gave strugglingWest Ham a stunning lead, butLukasz Fabianski’s woeful blunderallowed Mohamed Salah to equalisewith his 19th goal of the season.

Mane completed the fightbackwith nine minutes left as Liverpoolmoved 22 points clear of secondplaced Manchester City.

The Reds’ dramatic escapeensured they equalled ManchesterCity’s English top-flight record of 18consecutive league wins set betweenAugust and December 2017.

“I never thought it would be bro-ken or equalled. We did it and I can-not believe it happened to be hon-est,” Klopp said of the record.

“Whatever will happen this sea-son is an effort of all of us. So far, sogood.”

Their 21st successive leaguevictory at Anfield also equalledtheir own English top-flight recordfor consecutive home wins, set byBill Shankly’s team between

January and December 1972.Liverpool need four victories

from their final 11 games to guar-antee a first English title since 1990.

They are unbeaten in their last44 league matches, just five short ofArsenal’s all-time Englishrecord of 49.

“You see City playingand this is the team inworld football that areable to win all their othergames. We have to keepwinning,” Klopp said.

“It is not about shin-ing but the hardest work.As long as the boys are ready towork hard I am not concerned.”

Klopp’s men found themselvesin the rare position of coming off adefeat, for only the third time in allcompetitions this season, afterTuesday’s 1-0 Champions Leaguelast 16 first leg loss at AtleticoMadrid.

And third bottom West Hamgave them all they could handle ina thrilling clash that suggestedLiverpool are not invincible just yet

as they try to emulate Arsenal’sunbeaten 2003-04 top-flight cam-paign.

‘YOU HAVE TO SQUEEZE IT’“We scored a wonderful first

goal. But then we weren’t good insecond ball situations. We lost a lit-tle bit of patience,” Klopp said.

“You have to squeeze it and that’swhat we did to get the three points.It is so special.”

Liverpool took the lead in theninth minute when Trent Alexander-Arnold showed great agility to whipa cross from an acute angle into thesix-yard box, where Wijnaldumstooped to head past Fabianski’sweak attempted save.

The Reds had kept a clean-sheetin 10 of their last 11 league match-es, but they were guilty of switchingoff for once as West Ham grabbedthe equaliser three minutes later.

Robert Snodgrass’s corner curledtowards Diop and the defender rosehigher than Joe Gomez to beat slowto react Liverpool keeper AlissonBecker with a powerful header.

Having turned the title raceinto a procession, there was a distinctlack of edge about Liverpool, whowere also hampered by the absenceof their tireless captain JordanHenderson due to a hamstringinjury.

Sensing an unexpected oppor-tunity, West Ham mounted an inci-

sive raid that brought them animprobable lead in the 54thminute.

Mark Noble found DeclanRice on the right and hequickly swivelled to whip in across that substitute Fornalsswept home from eight yards.

That was the signal forLiverpool to finally wake from

their slumber.Liverpool’s pressure was reward-

ed in the 68th minute with a hugehelping hand from Fabianski asSalah’s shot from Andy Robertson’scross somehow squirmed throughhis legs into the net.

West Ham were unable to stemthe tide and when Alexander-Arnoldshot goalwards in the 81st minute,Mane tapped into the empty net togive the Reds another landmarkmoment in an incredible season.

�!��

Zinedine Zidane said onTuesday he cannot be sure

that Eden Hazard will playagain this season after theBelgian suffered another footinjury last weekend.

Hazard came off duringMadrid’s defeat by Levante onSaturday after making only hissecond start following almostthree months out with a frac-ture in the same foot.

Madrid confirmed anoth-er fracture was revealed dur-ing tests on Sunday andZidane has cast doubt onwhether Hazard will returnthis term.

“I don't know if he willneed an operation, it's not myarea," said Zidane in a pressconference before Madrid'sChampions League first legagainst Manchester City at theSantiago Bernabeu today.

�!��

Upcoming matches inItalian Serie A and

the Europa League willbe played behind closeddoors to combat thespread of coronavirus,the Italian sports minis-ter announced onMonday evening.

"Following thedemands of the sportsworld and knowing thatthe ban on sportingevents open to the pub-lic remains in force in sixregions of northern Italy,we have agreed to theholding of matchesbehind closed doors,"said Sports MinisterVincenzo Spadafora aftera meeting of the Councilof Ministers.

Inter Milan them-selves announced theirEuropa League match

with Ludogorets onThursday would beplayed with no fans pre-sent.

"In agreement withUEFA, the Lombardyregional health authori-ties and Milan city coun-cil, our return game withLudogorets will beplayed behind closeddoors," an Inter state-ment said.

The sports ministerdid not specify whichSerie A matches at theweekend would beincluded in the ban.

There are six gamesin the regions he men-tioned, including theclash on Sunday eveningbetween leader Juventusand third-place Inter.

Italy reported its sev-enth death from thevirus on Monday and ithas the most confirmed

cases in Europe.Eleven towns — 10

in Lombardy and one inneighbouring Veneto —are under lockdown,with some 50,000 resi-dents prohibited fromleaving.

Napoli's ChampionsLeague match againstBarcelona on Tuesday isnot at risk.

The alternative tobanning fans is to post-pone games and GabrieleGravina, the president ofthe Italian FootballLeague made clear earli-er in the day that he wasopposed to thats.

"We have made anofficial request to HealthMinister RobertoSperanza to have thisgame played behindclosed doors," Gravinatold the press. "Weexpect a quick response,but we have been toldthat the outcome will bepositive."

Other sports werealso hit with the ItalianOlympic Committee(CONI) confirming thatin line with governmentinstructions, all events inthe Lombardy andVeneto regions wouldbe postponed.

Regional authoritieshave ordered gatheringspots, such as bars,restaurants, cinemas anddiscos to close.

�*�� #��

Olympic championAbhinav Bindra says

Indian shooters have the"potential" to win multiplemedals, including gold, at theupcoming Tokyo Games.

The 37-year-old Bindraremains India's only individ-ual gold medallist at Olympicsbut heading into the nextGames, he is extremely hope-ful of welcoming new entrantsinto what has so far been a"lonely club".

"Going into the OlympicGames we have he the poten-tial to win multiple goldmedals, a realistic shot at win-ning medals at the Olympics,"Bindra said.

The number of Olympicquotas in shooting currentlystands at a record 15 after ahighly successful 2019 thatsaw Indians top all the Rifle-Pistol World Cups and the sea-son-ending World Cup Finals.

This was after they drew ablank at the 2016 RioOlympics, following whichradical changes were recom-mended by a committee, head-ed by Bindra himself.

Taking into account theIndian shooters' incredibleperformance in recent years,Bindra is optimistic of return-ing from Tokyo with a richhaul.

"There are chances ofcoming back with a good haul.I have my fingers crossed," hesaid.

Indian shooting's bestshow at the Olympics remainsthe two medals won at Londonin 2012, but if the exploits inrecent months are anything togo by, the country can easilyemulate or better that inTokyo.

Bindra is also veryimpressed by the young shoot-ers' ability to compete at thehighest level with suchremarkable consistency.

In terms of overall medalswon in 2019, the tally stood at21 Gold, six Silver and threeBronze.

At the 2008 BeijingOlympics, Bindra made histo-ry by winning a Gold medal inthe 10m air rifle event andended India's excruciating waitfor an individual gold medal atthe Summer Games.

It was also the country'sfirst Olympic yellow metalsince 1980 when its men'shockey team returned homeafter finishing top of the podi-um.

�*�� #��

Indian men's hockey teamvice captain Harmanpreet

Singh on Tuesday said itneeds to play consistentlythroughout the durationof a game going into thisyear's Tokyo Olympics.

With less than 150 daysto go for the start of TokyoOlympics, Harmanpreetsaid the team needs towork upon in some areas.

"We have paid a pricein these matches for slow-ing down or dropping thetempo in between quarters.This is an area of concernin the lead up to theOlympic Games,"Harmanpreet said.

"Also coach (GrahamReid) believes we can dobetter in terms of circlepenetration, tackling out-side the circle and not con-cede too many penalty cor-ners. A long camp will def-

initely help focus on thesecritical points," the drag-flicker said.

India made a dreamdream start in their maid-en Pro League campaignwith 5-1 and 3-3 (3-1) winsover the Netherlands. Theteam then won 2-1 and lost2-3 against world champi-ons Belgium, followed by 3-4 defeat and 2-2 (3-1) vic-tory against Australia.

"Good results againstworld's top 3 teams is nodoubt a big morale boostbut there are a lot of areasthat still concerns us.

"When the team metafter the double-headeragainst Australia, it wasdecided that we will go backto basics when we meet fora four-week long nationalcamp," said Harmanpreet.

Meanwhile, the Indian

women's team vice-captainSavita said the team's recenttour to New Zealand was abig learning experience intheir preparation.

"As we are getting clos-er, there is a lot of excite-ment as well as anxiousnessto tick off all the boxes toensure we are best pre-pared and our recent tourin New Zealand was quitea learning experience," saidthe ace goalkeeper.

"While our on-goingcamp has been aboutimproving our fitness,speed, goal-shooting, tap-ping the ball and tackling,we have also tried to playwith different combina-tions that are effective in theattacking midfield and for-ward-line. There is a greatsense of competition with-in the team to prove our-selves and this is helping inbuilding competitivenessand improving as a unit.”

�*�� #��

The AITA selection committee on Tuesday decidedto keep veteran Leander Paes in the five-member

playing squad for the upcoming Davis Cup tie againstCroatia, making Divij Sharan the reserve member.

The All India Tennis Association (AITA) had to sendits final squad to the International Tennis Federation(ITF) by Tuesday.

The national federation had initially announced asix-member squad for the Qualifiers tie, scheduled tobe held in Zagreb on the hard courts on March 6-7.Croatia is the top-seeded team in the 24-team Qualifiers.

The 12 winners will qualify for the year-end DavisCup Finals while the losing sides will be placed in theWorld Group I.

"We have sent our final team to the ITF today.Captain Rohit Rajpal had a chat with all the players beforedeciding on who is going to be the reserve player. Hespoke to Divij as well, conveying that he will be the sixthmember of the travelling side," said an AITA source.

Sumit Nagal, Prajnesh Gunneswaran and RamkumarRamanathan are the singles players in the squad whilePaes and Rohan Bopanna will do the doubles duty.

Bopanna had skipped the last tie against Pakistanciting an injury, while Sharan was busy with his wed-ding reception at that time.

Paes and Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan had played in thattie, held in Nur Sultan, Kazakhstan.

"We have kept our options open. Coach Zeeshan andI will try all the combinations. Divij remains in the mix,"non-playing captain Rajpal told PTI.

"Paes has done well this season. He beat Divij in Puneduring the Tata Open Maharashtra and also reached thefinal of the Bengaluru Open Challenger. So he is in goodform. Also, 2020 is his last season, he deserves highestrespect for serving the country for 30 years. Divij alsofelt the same. The team is on the same page," Rajpaladded.

It will be the only second time that India and Croatiawill clash in Davis Cup. The last time the two teams met,India had won 3-2 in New Delhi in 1995 with Paes win-ning both his singles and doubles with MaheshBhupathi.

Croatia have two top-50 singles players in their ranksin Borna Coric (ranked 26) and Marin Cilic (ranked 36).

Cilic did not play in the Finals, held in November2019, and Croatia exited after losing group matches toSpain and Russia.

It will be interesting to see if Cilic is named in thesquad for the tie against India.

�� 6(�< Ace players SauravGhosal and Joshna Chinappa willlead the Indian men's and women'ssquads for the 20th Asian TeamSquash Championships to be heldin Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia fromMarch 25 to 29.

While Ghosal is a 13-timenational champion and currentworld No 13, Chinappa has wonthe national title 18 times and sheis ranked 12th in the world.

The other members of thesquad announced by the SquashRackets Federation of India (SRFI)include Abhishek Pradhan,Harinder Pal Sandhu and AbhaySingh in the men's section, andTanvi Khanna, Sunayna Kuruvillaand Sanya Vats in the women's cat-egory.

The selection was the based onthe players' performance in therecently-concluded 77th NationalChampionship.

Keeping the Asian Games andCommonwealth Games 2022 inmind, the SRFI has appointedDavid Palmer to be an 'event-based' coach for the Indian seniorteam.

Palmer is a former worldchampion and a nine-time CWGmedallist (the most by any squashplayer). He will be in Chennai fromMarch 16 and will fly out with theteam for the championship.

The costs for Palmer will beborne by the SRFI, the federationsaid in a statement.

The Sports Authority of India(SAI) and Sports Ministry are yetto approve the concept of a short-term 'event-based' coach forsquash.

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"And I don't know if hisseason is over, I don't know butI hope not."

Hazard joined Madrid for100 million euros from Chelsealast summer but has endured anightmare first year in Spain.

He sustained a thigh injuryin training the day before thestart of the season and aftercoming back in September,took time to regain form andfitness.

Hazard appeared to befinding his rhythm only tosuffer his first fracture inNovember, before his latestset-back last weekend.He hasmade only 15 appearances forhis club this season, scoring onegoal.

"I can see he's not happy,"said Zidane. "It's important hestays positive but of course it'sdifficult. It's a bad moment, itwon't be easy and he will feellike this for a while."

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Indian captain Virat Kohli hasexhorted his batsmen to shunultra-defensive approach heading

into the must-win second Test againstNew Zealand, saying it “never paysoff ” on overseas tours.

“I think the language we use as abatting unit, that has to be correct. Idon’t think being cautious or wary willhelp because you might stop playingyour shots,” Kohli said after the loss.

In the second innings, the tech-nically sound Cheteshwar Pujara con-sumed 81 balls for his 11 runs andHanuma Vihari made 15 off 79, as thebatting unit failed to generate anymomentum.

Pujara, at one point, went 28 ballswithout a run, forcing MayankAgarwal into playing loose shots andperish.

Not running the singles and wait-ing for a good ball that has “your wick-et” written all over it is unacceptableto the India skipper.

“You will start doubting that ifeven singles are not coming in thoseconditions, what will you do? You arejust waiting for when that good ballwill come and you will be dismissed.

“(If) you have that acceptance thatit’s ok if you are out to a good ball, atleast I don’t think that way,” said Kohli,making his stand clear on what hethought about the approach of someplayers.

The skipper, who is known to takethe attack back to the oppositioncamp, wants some of his batsmen tofollow his leads.

“If I see a situation, if it is a greenwicket, then I try to play counter-attacking cricket so that I can take theteam forward.

“If you don’t succeed, then youhave to accept that your thinking wascorrect, you tried but if it didn’t comeoff, fair enough. There is no harm inaccepting that.

“But I don’t think a cautiousapproach ever pays off, especially awayfrom home,” the skipper was clear inhis thought process.

He again stressed on the mentalaspect of Test cricket where clarity ofmind, at times, becomes more impor-tant than the technical nuances of bat-ting.

“If we start thinking too muchabout the conditions, then you won’t

be able to focus on your batting. Whenyou are not playing in your (home)conditions, the game becomes moremental.

“We can sometimes get into toomany technical discussions. But ifyour mind is clear, then any conditionlooks easy.

“Then it doesn't seem as if a lot

is happening with the ball or that thebowling attack is tough. We will fol-low the same positive frame of mindwe have been in.

“We were not able to execute inthis game but when we do so, weknow what we can achieve,” the con-fident skipper said ahead of theChristchurch challenge.

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New Zealand coach GaryStead on Tuesday said he

was a bit surprised by India’sabject surrender in the first Testbut is expecting a strong come-back in Christchurch.

“It was a bit of a surprise butit was also due to the pressure weput on those guys for long peri-ods of time. You get Trent andTim to operate in our conditionsand both were outstanding,”Stead told reporters on Tuesday.

“Trent’s freshness after beingout for eight weeks added spark.”

The head coach also had asubtle warning for the Indianteam, saying touring NewZealand could be as tough asplaying in some of the othercountries.

“We want teams to believethat it is as tough in NewZealand as it is playing anywhereelse in the world. That’s a pridething.”

Getting Ajinkya Rahanecheaply on the fourth morningwas the clincher for Stead.After that, he knew that NewZealand would wrap it upquickly.

“Guess picked up wickets atcritical times in the match. Wegot Rahane out and it was thecatalyst of the belief,” he said.

India captain Virat Kohlihad expressed a desire for his

batsmen to come out with apositive approach, and Steadfeels that a world class side likeIndia would like to dominatethe proceedings.

“I expect Indian batsmentrying to dominate more andthat will be a challenge for ourbowlers because a world classside like India will come backhard.”

Neil Wagner is back for thesecond Test after the birth ofhis first child and there is a pos-sibility that the home team willgo in with four specialist seam-ers in bowling friendly condi-tions at the Hagley Oval.

“That’s always good selec-tion dilemma to have as NeilWagner is coming back. KyleJamieson made most of hisdebut in the outstanding man-ner that he played. Neil will beback (in the eleven) with uswithout a doubt,” Stead said.

Asked if left-arm spinnerAjaz Patel will be droppedfrom the XI, Stead didn’t wantto spell it out in as manywords, even though that's animminent possibility.

“We will always considerthat (four seamers plus Colinde Grandhomme) as an optionafter looking at the wicket. Idon’t want to make assump-tions but yes, wicket at Hagley(Christchurch) has a wee bit init also.

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Former New Zealand all-rounderCraig McMillan on Tuesday said

Indian batsmen “throwing theirhands at the ball like they do inIndia” will not work here.

“They didn’t make any adjust-ments in the way they played, theythrew their hands at the ball likethey do in India,” he told RadioSport.

“When the ball doesn’t bounceabove knee high you can get awaywith some of those shots - in NewZealand you don't.”

McMillan lauded New Zealand’sveteran seam-bowling duo of TimSouthee and Trent Boult.

“When the ball’s swinging, and

it did for most of that WellingtonTest, Boult and Southee are genius-es,” he said.

He rated it “a terrific perfor-mance” from the Black Caps.

“I haven’t seen India, the num-ber one Test side in the world, dis-mantled like they were over thosefour days in Wellington,” he said.

New Zealand’s drubbing of Indiawas hailed as one of the best in BlackCaps' history by the media here.

“Rare are the Tests in which theBlack Caps beat the world’s numberone Test side,” the New ZealandHerald wrote.

“To do so against a team whohad won seven straight Tests, eachby a massive margin, makes it evenmore impressive.”

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˘ ˇˆ˙˙˝ ˛ˇ˚ - The Pioneer...2020/02/26 · Chhattisgarh govern-ment is making consistent efforts to promote tourism in the state. For the first time in Chhattisgarh, ‘Hasdeo