16
A day after the BJP sealed its seat-sharing deal with Janata Dal(U) and the LJP in Bihar, the Congress revived its alliance with the NCP in Maharashtra on Monday. Away from the political manoeuver- ing of the BJP and the Congress, TRS supremo and Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao kept up his effort to float a Front excluding both these major players as he engaged with his West Bengal counterpart and TMC chief Mamata Banerjee. Both the Congress and the NCP had contested the last Lok Sabha polls together but went separately in the Assembly polls held a few months later. “In Maharashtra, the NCP and the Congress will togeth- er contest the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, along with the Peasants and Workers Party of India (PWI). Till now, we have decided seat-sharing on 40 seats, still eight are left. If any consensus is not reached on remaining eight seats then the final decision will be taken by the two party chiefs in New Delhi,” tweeted NCP president Sharad Pawar. AICC sources in Delhi said the performance of the two parties in the in the 2014 Assembly polls has been the basis of the seat-sharing arrangment as then the Congress had won 61 seats, while the NCP 41. “Our talks for seat-sharing with alliance partners have come to the final stage, which needs to be approved by the party leadership. The other minor issues that are left over sharing of seats will be resolved by Congress president Rahul Gandhi and NCP chief Sharad Pawar,” said Congress leader Ashok Chavan. In the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, the Congress had fielded 27 candidates in Maharashtra, while the NCP had contested on 21 seats. The Lok Sabha seats that are yet to be agreed upon includes Ahmednagar, Ratnagiri-Sindhudurg, Aurangabad, Yavatmal, Nashik, Nandurbar, and one in Mumbai which the Samajwadi Party is desiring to contest in case the SP-BSP and Congress alliance takes place in Uttar Pradesh. A senior Congress leader said the NCP was keen to con- test from Pune and Jalna Lok Sabha seats, which are from the Congress quota but said the NCP has now agreed to with- draw its demand. Though the Congress is yet to decide its candidate from Pune, party insiders said a senior Shiv Sena leader, who is likely to defect, is being con- sidered the party candidate from Jalna Lok Sabha con- stituency. State BJP president Raosaheb Danve is a four-time MP from this constituency. Both the Congress and the NCP have also agreed to share three seats with other allies — Hatkanangale in Kolhapur for the Raju Shetti-led Swabhimani Paksha, Amravati in Vidarbha for the Rajendra Gawai-led Republican Party of India (RPI) and Akola for the Prakash Ambedkar-led Bharip Bahujan Mahasangh (BBM). The SP has also been demanding one seat in Mumbai. Meanwhile, K Chandrashekhar Rao on Monday met Mamata Banerjee at Nabanna (Bengal State sec- retariat) in Kolkata where the two leaders engaged in a “pro- ductive discussion” over the possibilities of stitching togeth- er a viable Federal Front ahead of the 2019 general elections. Rao, who had just before the Assembly elections in his State, said his discussions with Mamata was quite encourag- ing. “After meeting Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaikji, I have come to meet Mamata didi. Here we have a fruitful discussion. We shared the matters of mutual interest and national interest,” said KCR, adding the topics of dis- cussion were “usual,” as they veered around “issues that are likely to crop up when two national leaders meet. We dis- cussed certain issues that are crucial for the nation.” On whether he still want- ed a non-BJP, non-Congress Government at the Centre and whether he still was working towards that end, Rao said, “That is the mission of KCR. I will continue to give my efforts. This (a Federal Front) is not a small thing to do. Dialogues are going on and they will continue.” On the future of the con- tinuing dialogues, he said, “We will give you good news soon. Our talks will continue and we will come out with a concrete plan. We are discussing things. I will continue with my efforts,” he said. KCR is likely to meet SP chief Akhilesh Yadav and Bahujan Samaj Party supremo Mayawati in Delhi. Rao is expected to stay in Delhi for a few days during which he is also likely to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi and some senior Union Ministers. Continued on Page 4 A s Delhi continues to choke with air quality slipping to “severe” in the last few days, the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB)-led task force on Monday recommended clo- sure of all factories situated in the six industrial hotspots — Mundka, Narela, Faridabad, Wazirpur, Faridabad and Sahibabad — till Wednesday. The ban will also cover con- struction activities in Delhi, Faridabad, Gurugram, Ghaziabad and Noida till December 26. The move aims to give respite to residents from the increasing air-pollution level in the city. But it will also leave thousands of daily wagers employed with the industrial units and construction centres high and dry in the absence of any work in these areas. Addressing a Press confer- ence, Union Environment Secretary CK Mishra said that Delhi’s air quality remained in the “severe” level for the third consecutive day on Monday as wind speed and other meteo- rological factors remained “highly unfavourable” for dis- persion of pollutants. He, how- ever, hoped that the anti-pol- lution measures will help the pollution level to go down. The Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP) task force that includes Government offi- cials and environment, health and weather experts, advised the Environment Pollution Control Authority to intensify ground actions as suggested in a meeting chaired by Member Secretary (CPCB). The details of the meeting were shared by CBCB Chairman SPS Parihar to reporters here. Traffic police has been sug- gested to ensure smooth traf- fic flow in areas with high traf- fic. The police department is strictly advised to ensure that non-destined heavy duty vehi- cles travel through eastern and western peripheral express- ways. Concerned authorities are expected to take stringent action against illegal indus- tries. The residents have been advised to avoid all physical activities outdoors and shift the same indoors, said Parihar. The official said that since November 1, they have received around 7,600 com- plaints related to violation against norms with regard to pollution, construction activi- ties and stubble and waste burning. Action has been taken in 70 per cent complaints. Talking about anti-pollu- tion measures, he said the pol- lution watchdog has slapped fine of 1 crore each on three oil companies for their failure to install anti-pollution “vapour recovery” systems at fuel sta- tions. Vapour recovery device is an instrument to capture dis- placed vapours that emerge from inside a vehicle’s fuel tank during filling. “We have also issued notice to SDMC and EDMC for failing to check pollution in their areas,” he added. The authorities have swung into action as Delhi’s air qual- ity remained in the severe cat- egory for the third consecutive day on Monday and the city faced its highest pollution level since Diwali. While the CPCB data showed the overall air quality index (AQI) at “severe” level of 448, the Centre-run System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting (SAFAR) showed an AQI of 468. Continued on Page 4 D ays after hike in “one time parking fee charges” in the national Capital, Delhi Transport Minister Kailash Gahlot on Monday withdrew the order of a 18-fold hike in one-time parking charges for cars and annual fees for com- mercial vehicles from January 1. The order issued by the Transport Minister cited that the December 21 order “appears to be irregular for many reasons”. Gahlot tweeted, “Transport department has been directed to withdraw the order dated 21.12.2018 regarding increase in parking charges in South/East/North Delhi Municipal Corporations. Owners of commercial/non commercial vehicles need not deposit the enhanced parking fees till the matter has been examined afresh.” He said in the previous order the revised charges were not notified by the Union Urban Affairs Ministry that has administrative control over the municipal corporations. Also, no opinion was sought from the Law Department of the Delhi Government. “Union Urban Affairs Ministry, being the adminis- trative department for MCDs, ought to have notified the revised charges in the first instance. For instance Transport Department is only a collection agent on behalf of the corporations. Secondly there is no reference to the parking lots under the control the New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) and the Delhi Cantonment Board,” said Gahlot in the order. The December 21 order was issued on behalf of then Transport Commissioner Varsha Joshi on her last work- ing day at the department. She is currently holding the charge of the North Delhi Municipal Corporation Commissioner. The order had raised the one-time parking charges of cars from existing 4,000 to up to 75,000 based on price of the vehicles. The annual parking charges of commercial vehicles like buses were also raised from existing 6,000 to 75,000. The order further said, “The opinion of the Law department ought to have been taken before issuing this order. Also, department could not have issued this order without placing the file before the Minister (Transport).” Earlier in the day, a dele- gation of State Transport Authority Operators Ekta Manch met the Transport Minister demanding with- drawal of the hike. “We will continue to strug- gle for the demand for com- plete withdrawal of the annu- al parking charges,” Delhi Taxi Tourist Transporters Association president Sanjay Samrat said, adding a demon- stration will be held in the national Capital on December 27 to demand complete lifting of annual parking charges for commercial vehicles. F inance Minister Arun Jaitley on Monday hinted at fur- ther rationalisation of GST by merging the 12 and 18 per cent slabs, while criticising the Congress for oppressing the country with a high indirect tax rate of 31 per cent. With an increase in rev- enue, India will eventually have a standard goods and services tax (GST) rate between 12-18 per cent for commonly used goods. This would be in addi- tion to 0 per cent and 5 per cent for essential items and a high- er rate for luxury, sin and demerit goods. In a Facebook post titled “Eighteen Months of GST”, Jaitley said, of the 1,216 com- modities which are used at pre- sent, broadly 183 are not taxed, 308 at 5 per cent, 178 at 12 per cent and 517 at 18 per cent. “The 28 per cent slab is now a dying slab,” he said. Currently, 28 items, including luxury and sin goods, auto parts, dishwashers, air condi- tioners (ACs) and cement remain in the highest slab of 28 per cent. “With the GST transfor- mation completed, we are close to completing the first set of rates of rationalisation i.e. phas- ing out the 28 per cent slab except in luxury and sin goods,” he said. GST was rolled out on July 1, 2017. A future road map could be to work towards a sin- gle standard rate instead of two standard rates of 12 per cent and 18 per cent, he said. Jaitley’s FB post on P10 I n a setback to the BJP, the Supreme Court on Monday refused its plea for an urgent hearing against a Calcutta High Court order not allowing its Rath Yatra in West Bengal. The BJP had challenged last Friday’s order of the Division Bench of the High Court which had set aside the order of a single judge allowing the yatra. The party approached the Supreme Court seeking permission to hold the campaign “Save Democracy Rally”, which would cover 42 parliamentary constituencies in the State ahead of the 2019 general elections. Meanwhile, in West Bengal BJP workers were arrested and many of them were injured when police resorted to lath- icharge on a saffron crowd staging a civil disobedience rally at Basirhat in North 24 Parganas. The police lath- icharged the crowd after stones were pelted at them injuring some men on duty, sources said. Continued on Page 4 A t least eight people died in a pile-up due to dense fog on Rohtak-Rewari national highway in Haryana’s Jhajjar district on Monday, police said. Around 10 vehicles were involved in the crash. It was dif- ficult to pinpoint which vehi- cle had hit the other first. An SUV was sandwiched between two trucks, with sev- eral vehicles following closely behind. Eight people, including seven women, travelling in the SUV were killed and 10 others injured, said Seema, SHO of Jhajjar city. The deceased, aged between 30-60, belonged to Kirodh village of the district. They were among the 10 peo- ple in the vehicle and were heading for Delhi’s Najafgarh area to condole the death of a relative, the inspector said. The injured were admitted to hospital in Jhajjar town, from where two of them were referred to another hospital in Rohtak, the SHO added. The district deputy com- missioner has constituted a seven-member committee, headed by the sub-divisional magistrate, to find out the exact reason behind the acci- dent. “The committee will sub- mit a detailed investigation report within two days, along with solution/suggestion for rectification of the accident- prone spot,” an order issued by the deputy commissioner added. A n anti-corruption court in Pakistan on Monday sen- tenced ousted premier Nawaz Sharif to seven years in jail in the Al-Azizia Steel Mills graft case but acquitted him in the Flagship Investments case, con- cluding a series of three court cases against the Sharif family in the high-profile Panama Papers case. Three cases — Avenfield properties case, Flagship invest- ment case and Al-Azizia steel mills case — were launched against the Sharif family by the National Accountability Bureau on September 8, 2017, follow- ing a judgment by the Pakistan Supreme Court that disquali- fied Sharif in the Panama Papers case in July last year. Accountability Court II Judge Muhammad Arshad Malik Monday announced the short verdict in the two cor- ruption cases against the Sharif family, after reserving the deci- sion on December 19. Judge Malik said there was concrete evidence against the 68-year-old former premier in the Al-Azizia case, and that he was unable to give the trail of the money used to set up the Al-Azizia steel mills in Saudi Arabia by his family in 2001 and later on the Hill Metal Establishment also in Saudi Arabia. The court sentenced Sharif to seven years in jail and imposed a $2.5 million and 1.5 million pounds fine on him. The court also ordered to seize the Al-Azizia and Hill Metal properties. Judge Malik, however, said that there was no case against Sharif in the Flagship case. Sharif, who was present in the court, was immediately taken into custody. His lawyer requested the judge that the PML-N quaid (supreme) be shifted to Kot Lakhpat Jail in Lahore instead of Adiala Jail. The request was granted. The verdict was announced almost immedi- ately after Sharif arrived in the courtroom. He has the option to challenge the verdict against him. Sharif was also disquali- fied for 10 years from holding any public office. Continued on Page 4 A nother bid by two women in their forties to trek to the hill shrine of Lord Ayyappa in Sabarimala was foiled on Monday by protesting devotees, a day after a similar effort by a group of 11 women failed. The attempt by the two women — Bindu (42), a CPI(ML) activist from Koyilandy in Kozhikode dis- trict, and Kanakadurga (44), said to be a civil supplies employee from Angadipuram in Malappuram — came after 11 women activists of a Chennai-based outfit were pre- vented from reaching the shrine and chased away by devotees chanting Ayyappa mantras on Sunday. Detailed report on P6

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Page 1: ˇ0 12# . 11. % -./0ˆ# ˘ˇˆ˙ ˇ˝˛˚˜ !ˆ #ˇ ˆ˝#˜˘$!#%%#˜˛ˆ˙ %#˙...Delhi,” tweeted NCP president Sharad Pawar. AICC sources in Delhi said the performance of the two

��� ��������������

Aday after the BJP sealed itsseat-sharing deal with

Janata Dal(U) and the LJP inBihar, the Congress revived itsalliance with the NCP inMaharashtra on Monday. Awayfrom the political manoeuver-ing of the BJP and theCongress, TRS supremo andTelangana Chief Minister KChandrasekhar Rao kept up hiseffort to float a Front excludingboth these major players as heengaged with his West Bengalcounterpart and TMC chiefMamata Banerjee.

Both the Congress and theNCP had contested the last LokSabha polls together but wentseparately in the Assemblypolls held a few months later.

“In Maharashtra, the NCPand the Congress will togeth-er contest the 2019 Lok Sabhaelections, along with thePeasants and Workers Party ofIndia (PWI). Till now, we havedecided seat-sharing on 40seats, still eight are left. If anyconsensus is not reached onremaining eight seats then thefinal decision will be taken bythe two party chiefs in NewDelhi,” tweeted NCP presidentSharad Pawar.

AICC sources in Delhi saidthe performance of the twoparties in the in the 2014Assembly polls has been thebasis of the seat-sharingarrangment as then theCongress had won 61 seats,while the NCP 41.

“Our talks for seat-sharingwith alliance partners havecome to the final stage, which

needs to be approved by theparty leadership. The otherminor issues that are left oversharing of seats will be resolvedby Congress president RahulGandhi and NCP chief SharadPawar,” said Congress leaderAshok Chavan.

In the 2014 Lok Sabhaelections, the Congress hadfielded 27 candidates inMaharashtra, while the NCPhad contested on 21 seats.

The Lok Sabha seats thatare yet to be agreed uponincludes Ahmednagar,R a t n a g i r i - S i n d h u d u r g ,Aurangabad, Yavatmal, Nashik,Nandurbar, and one inMumbai which the SamajwadiParty is desiring to contest incase the SP-BSP and Congressalliance takes place in UttarPradesh.

A senior Congress leadersaid the NCP was keen to con-test from Pune and Jalna LokSabha seats, which are from theCongress quota but said theNCP has now agreed to with-

draw its demand. Though the Congress is yet

to decide its candidate fromPune, party insiders said asenior Shiv Sena leader, who islikely to defect, is being con-sidered the party candidatefrom Jalna Lok Sabha con-stituency. State BJP presidentRaosaheb Danve is a four-timeMP from this constituency.

Both the Congress and theNCP have also agreed to sharethree seats with other allies —Hatkanangale in Kolhapur forthe Raju Shetti-led SwabhimaniPaksha, Amravati in Vidarbha

for the Rajendra Gawai-ledRepublican Party of India (RPI)and Akola for the PrakashAmbedkar-led Bharip BahujanMahasangh (BBM). The SPhas also been demanding oneseat in Mumbai.

Meanwhile, KChandrashekhar Rao onMonday met Mamata Banerjeeat Nabanna (Bengal State sec-retariat) in Kolkata where thetwo leaders engaged in a “pro-ductive discussion” over thepossibilities of stitching togeth-er a viable Federal Front aheadof the 2019 general elections.

Rao, who had just before theAssembly elections in his State,said his discussions withMamata was quite encourag-ing.

“After meeting OdishaChief Minister NaveenPatnaikji, I have come to meetMamata didi. Here we have afruitful discussion. We sharedthe matters of mutual interestand national interest,” saidKCR, adding the topics of dis-cussion were “usual,” as theyveered around “issues that arelikely to crop up when twonational leaders meet. We dis-cussed certain issues that arecrucial for the nation.”

On whether he still want-ed a non-BJP, non-CongressGovernment at the Centre andwhether he still was workingtowards that end, Rao said,“That is the mission of KCR. Iwill continue to give my efforts.This (a Federal Front) is not asmall thing to do. Dialogues aregoing on and they will continue.”

On the future of the con-tinuing dialogues, he said, “Wewill give you good news soon.Our talks will continue and wewill come out with a concreteplan. We are discussing things.I will continue with my efforts,”he said. KCR is likely to meetSP chief Akhilesh Yadav andBahujan Samaj Party supremoMayawati in Delhi.

Rao is expected to stay inDelhi for a few days duringwhich he is also likely to meetPrime Minister Narendra Modiand some senior UnionMinisters.

Continued on Page 4

���������������� ��� ��

As Delhi continues to chokewith air quality slipping to

“severe” in the last few days, theCentral Pollution ControlBoard (CPCB)-led task forceon Monday recommended clo-sure of all factories situated inthe six industrial hotspots —Mundka, Narela, Faridabad,Wazirpur, Faridabad andSahibabad — till Wednesday.The ban will also cover con-struction activities in Delhi,Faridabad, Gurugram,Ghaziabad and Noida tillDecember 26.

The move aims to giverespite to residents from theincreasing air-pollution level inthe city. But it will also leavethousands of daily wagersemployed with the industrialunits and construction centreshigh and dry in the absence ofany work in these areas.

Addressing a Press confer-ence, Union EnvironmentSecretary CK Mishra said thatDelhi’s air quality remained inthe “severe” level for the thirdconsecutive day on Monday aswind speed and other meteo-rological factors remained“highly unfavourable” for dis-

persion of pollutants. He, how-ever, hoped that the anti-pol-lution measures will help thepollution level to go down.

The Graded ResponseAction Plan (GRAP) task forcethat includes Government offi-cials and environment, healthand weather experts, advisedthe Environment PollutionControl Authority to intensifyground actions as suggested ina meeting chaired by MemberSecretary (CPCB). The detailsof the meeting were shared byCBCB Chairman SPS Pariharto reporters here.

Traffic police has been sug-gested to ensure smooth traf-fic flow in areas with high traf-fic. The police department isstrictly advised to ensure thatnon-destined heavy duty vehi-cles travel through eastern andwestern peripheral express-ways. Concerned authoritiesare expected to take stringentaction against illegal indus-tries. The residents have beenadvised to avoid all physicalactivities outdoors and shift thesame indoors, said Parihar.

The official said that sinceNovember 1, they havereceived around 7,600 com-plaints related to violation

against norms with regard topollution, construction activi-ties and stubble and wasteburning. Action has been takenin 70 per cent complaints.

Talking about anti-pollu-tion measures, he said the pol-lution watchdog has slappedfine of �1 crore each on threeoil companies for their failureto install anti-pollution “vapourrecovery” systems at fuel sta-tions. Vapour recovery deviceis an instrument to capture dis-placed vapours that emergefrom inside a vehicle’s fueltank during filling. “We havealso issued notice to SDMCand EDMC for failing to checkpollution in their areas,” headded.

The authorities have swunginto action as Delhi’s air qual-ity remained in the severe cat-egory for the third consecutiveday on Monday and the cityfaced its highest pollution levelsince Diwali.

While the CPCB datashowed the overall air qualityindex (AQI) at “severe” level of448, the Centre-run System ofAir Quality and WeatherForecasting (SAFAR) showedan AQI of 468.

Continued on Page 4

����������� � ��� ���

Days after hike in “one timeparking fee charges” in

the national Capital, DelhiTransport Minister KailashGahlot on Monday withdrewthe order of a 18-fold hike inone-time parking charges forcars and annual fees for com-mercial vehicles from January1. The order issued by theTransport Minister cited thatthe December 21 order“appears to be irregular formany reasons”.

Gahlot tweeted, “Transportdepartment has been directedto withdraw the order dated21.12.2018 regarding increasein parking charges inSouth/East/North DelhiMunicipal Corporations.Owners of commercial/noncommercial vehicles need notdeposit the enhanced parkingfees till the matter has beenexamined afresh.”

He said in the previousorder the revised charges werenot notified by the UnionUrban Affairs Ministry that hasadministrative control over themunicipal corporations. Also,no opinion was sought fromthe Law Department of theDelhi Government.

“Union Urban AffairsMinistry, being the adminis-trative department for MCDs,ought to have notified the

revised charges in the firstinstance. For instanceTransport Department is onlya collection agent on behalf ofthe corporations. Secondlythere is no reference to theparking lots under the controlthe New Delhi MunicipalCouncil (NDMC) and theDelhi Cantonment Board,” saidGahlot in the order.

The December 21 orderwas issued on behalf of thenTransport CommissionerVarsha Joshi on her last work-ing day at the department. Sheis currently holding the chargeof the North Delhi Municipal

Corporation Commissioner.The order had raised the

one-time parking charges ofcars from existing �4,000 to upto �75,000 based on price of thevehicles. The annual parkingcharges of commercial vehicleslike buses were also raisedfrom existing �6,000 to�75,000.

The order further said,“The opinion of the Lawdepartment ought to have beentaken before issuing this order.Also, department could nothave issued this order withoutplacing the file before theMinister (Transport).”

Earlier in the day, a dele-gation of State TransportAuthority Operators EktaManch met the TransportMinister demanding with-drawal of the hike.

“We will continue to strug-gle for the demand for com-plete withdrawal of the annu-al parking charges,” Delhi TaxiTourist TransportersAssociation president SanjaySamrat said, adding a demon-stration will be held in thenational Capital on December27 to demand complete liftingof annual parking charges forcommercial vehicles.

���� � ��� ��

Finance Minister Arun Jaitleyon Monday hinted at fur-

ther rationalisation of GST bymerging the 12 and 18 per centslabs, while criticising theCongress for oppressing thecountry with a high indirect taxrate of 31 per cent.

With an increase in rev-enue, India will eventually havea standard goods and servicestax (GST) rate between 12-18per cent for commonly usedgoods. This would be in addi-tion to 0 per cent and 5 per centfor essential items and a high-er rate for luxury, sin anddemerit goods.

In a Facebook post titled“Eighteen Months of GST”,Jaitley said, of the 1,216 com-modities which are used at pre-

sent, broadly 183 are not taxed,308 at 5 per cent, 178 at 12 percent and 517 at 18 per cent.

“The 28 per cent slab isnow a dying slab,” he said.Currently, 28 items, includingluxury and sin goods, autoparts, dishwashers, air condi-tioners (ACs) and cementremain in the highest slab of 28per cent.

“With the GST transfor-mation completed, we are closeto completing the first set ofrates of rationalisation i.e. phas-ing out the 28 per cent slabexcept in luxury and sin goods,”he said. GST was rolled out onJuly 1, 2017. A future road mapcould be to work towards a sin-gle standard rate instead of twostandard rates of 12 per centand 18 per cent, he said.

Jaitley’s FB post on P10

���� � ��� ��

In a setback to the BJP, theSupreme Court on Monday

refused its plea for an urgenthearing against a Calcutta HighCourt order not allowing itsRath Yatra in West Bengal.

The BJP had challengedlast Friday’s order of theDivision Bench of the HighCourt which had set aside theorder of a single judge allowingthe yatra. The partyapproached the Supreme Courtseeking permission to hold thecampaign “Save DemocracyRally”, which would cover 42parliamentary constituenciesin the State ahead of the 2019general elections.

Meanwhile, in West BengalBJP workers were arrested and

many of them were injuredwhen police resorted to lath-icharge on a saffron crowdstaging a civil disobediencerally at Basirhat in North 24Parganas. The police lath-icharged the crowd after stoneswere pelted at them injuringsome men on duty, sourcessaid.

Continued on Page 4

���� ��������

At least eight people died ina pile-up due to dense fog

on Rohtak-Rewari nationalhighway in Haryana’s Jhajjardistrict on Monday, police said.Around 10 vehicles wereinvolved in the crash. It was dif-ficult to pinpoint which vehi-cle had hit the other first.

An SUV was sandwichedbetween two trucks, with sev-eral vehicles following closelybehind. Eight people, includingseven women, travelling in theSUV were killed and 10 othersinjured, said Seema, SHO ofJhajjar city.

The deceased, agedbetween 30-60, belonged toKirodh village of the district.They were among the 10 peo-

ple in the vehicle and wereheading for Delhi’s Najafgarharea to condole the death of arelative, the inspector said.

The injured were admittedto hospital in Jhajjar town,from where two of them werereferred to another hospital inRohtak, the SHO added.

The district deputy com-missioner has constituted aseven-member committee,headed by the sub-divisionalmagistrate, to find out theexact reason behind the acci-dent. “The committee will sub-mit a detailed investigationreport within two days, alongwith solution/suggestion forrectification of the accident-prone spot,” an order issued bythe deputy commissioneradded.

���� ��������

An anti-corruption court inPakistan on Monday sen-

tenced ousted premier NawazSharif to seven years in jail inthe Al-Azizia Steel Mills graftcase but acquitted him in theFlagship Investments case, con-cluding a series of three courtcases against the Sharif familyin the high-profile PanamaPapers case.

Three cases — Avenfieldproperties case, Flagship invest-ment case and Al-Azizia steelmills case — were launchedagainst the Sharif family by theNational Accountability Bureauon September 8, 2017, follow-ing a judgment by the PakistanSupreme Court that disquali-fied Sharif in the PanamaPapers case in July last year.

Accountability Court IIJudge Muhammad ArshadMalik Monday announced theshort verdict in the two cor-ruption cases against the Shariffamily, after reserving the deci-sion on December 19.

Judge Malik said there wasconcrete evidence against the68-year-old former premier inthe Al-Azizia case, and that hewas unable to give the trail ofthe money used to set up the

Al-Azizia steel mills in SaudiArabia by his family in 2001and later on the Hill MetalEstablishment also in SaudiArabia.

The court sentenced Sharifto seven years in jail andimposed a $2.5 million and 1.5million pounds fine on him.The court also ordered to seizethe Al-Azizia and Hill Metalproperties.

Judge Malik, however, saidthat there was no case againstSharif in the Flagship case.

Sharif, who was present in

the court, was immediatelytaken into custody. His lawyerrequested the judge that thePML-N quaid (supreme) beshifted to Kot Lakhpat Jail inLahore instead of Adiala Jail.The request was granted.

The verdict wasannounced almost immedi-ately after Sharif arrived in thecourtroom. He has the optionto challenge the verdict againsthim. Sharif was also disquali-fied for 10 years from holdingany public office.

Continued on Page 4

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Another bid by two womenin their forties to trek to the

hill shrine of Lord Ayyappa inSabarimala was foiled onMonday by protesting devotees,a day after a similar effort by agroup of 11 women failed.

The attempt by the twowomen — Bindu (42), aCPI(ML) activist fromKoyilandy in Kozhikode dis-trict, and Kanakadurga (44),said to be a civil suppliesemployee from Angadipuramin Malappuram — came after11 women activists of aChennai-based outfit were pre-vented from reaching theshrine and chased away bydevotees chanting Ayyappamantras on Sunday.

Detailed report on P6

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The family members of theGanga crusader Gopal Das

who went missing fromGovernment Doon MedicalCollege (GDMC) Hospital onDecember 5 are planning to

meet the Congress presidentRahul Gandhi.

Notably, Rahul Gandhi hadexpressed concern in Octoberover the deteriorating health ofthe Ganga activist fromHaryana who had been onfasting, demanding unimped-ed flow of Ganga.

The near ones of theascetic-turned Ganga activistsaid that they are going to meetGandhi soon to convey to himthe anguish they have been suf-fering from since Das went

missing from the hospital. They said that if the

Congress president pressuresthe state government the latterwould be forced to disclose thewhereabouts of Das who hadmysteriously disappeared fromthe premier government-runhospital of the state.

Meanwhile, the father ofthe missing activist ShamsherSingh and his motherShakuntala Devi came to MatriSadan ashram in Jagjeetpuron Monday.

Demanding her son to begiven back to them, Shakuntalasaid that she had withdrawnher fasting stir on Saturday onbeing assured by the adminis-tration of her son being tracedsoon.

“I was on fasting at TriveniGhat for 10 days. On Saturday,SDM Rishikesh came to meand requested me to end fast-ing while assuring that my sonwould be traced soon. But heremain untraced till date,” shesaid. However, the missing

activist’s father said that he hadnot believed in the assurancesof the district administration.“I knew their assurances werefalse,” he said grimly.

He further said that whilethe administration said that hisson left the hospital of hisown accord they were unable toshow the footage of the closecircuit cameras to buttress theirpoint. “I have no trust left in thegovernment and the districtadministration,” he said indignantly.

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Organised under the bannerof Haridwar Nagrik

Manch, the Ganga Mahotsavconcluded on Monday withmessage on the importance ofsaving environment andGanga. A string of cultural pro-grammes were staged by thestudents of several schools incourse of which they gave thecall for saving trees, conserv-ing environment and protect-ing the holy river from pollu-tants. On the concluding day ofthe festival, a national level KaviSammelan was held duringwhich the eminent poetHariom Pawar along withothers left a spell on the gath-

ering through recitation ofpoems.

The four- day culturalextravaganza came to an end atPrem Nagar Ashram on theday with a clear message to thepeople, said the organisers.Hariom Pawar touched theheart of the people while recit-ing his Veer Ras poems onKargil war with the ambienceleft suffused with a strongstrain of nationalism andempathy for the jawans who arelaying down their lives inces-santly to protect the borders ofthe country. A teenagerSanyukt Arya recited the verseof Hariom Pawar and calledhimself a disciple of the poet.

After the mahotsav con-

cluded, Jagdeesh Lal Pahwa,the chairman of HaridwarNagrik Manch, said that fivepeople from Haridwar havebeen awarded with ‘HaridwarRatna’ honour during theGanga festival. Murari Lal Jainand Guru Prasad Saxena havebeen awarded posthumouslyfor their contribution to thesociety, in general, and welfareof Haridwar, in particular,while the environment- friend-ly industrialist Sandeep Jain,the former state woman com-missioner Santosh Chauhan,environmentalist Prof B DJoshi from Gurukul KangriUniversity and Inder MohanBarthwal who are known forpromoting of sports have been

bestowed with the honour.President of Haridwar

Nagrik Manch S K Batra sanga verse on Ganga where he saidthat mere calling Ganga ‘moth-er’ is not enough and left thepeople introspective. RavindraSaini from Roorkee had givenhis poetic message on theimperative of environmentconservation which deeplymoved those gathered, headded.

Students from DAVHaridwar, DPS Ranipur andMount Litera gave dance per-formances on the same themeof the exalted stature of theriver Ganga and the impor-tance of conserving environ-ment by every means.

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Cold wave condition, sweep-ing across Uttarakhand,

has sent the people to shiver, aday before the Christmas.

As per the weather forecastissued by the regional meteo-rological department onMonday, the climate wouldremain generally dry and thesky would be mostly clear topartly cloudy. Mist might formin several areas in the plains andthe consequently visibility islikely to drop substantially par-ticularly in the morning hours.

Things in Dehradun arealso the same with the peoplechoosing to remain indoorsunder the piles of woollensafter the day ends and the duskdescends. The people say thatonly respite during this freez-ing cold is left in the heat the

sun bestows during the day.“But the day is now ending fastand once the sun sets the shiv-ering starts. We are bracing upfor more freezing days as themercury will sink further dur-

ing the end of this month,” saida senior citizen living near theRajpur Road.

However, on the other sideof things, the Christmas andNew Year near, the tourists and

the trekkers have been throng-ing the high-altitude placescradled in the Garhwal to enjoythe chilled winter in theirhordes. Popular spots like Auliin Chamoli district and

Chopta in Rudraprayag districtare now brimming with theinflow of the tourists who arestreaming in from far-off placesto enjoy the nature’s bounty andsnowfall in the higher reachesof the Himalayas. “We areexulted as we hope to enjoy asnowy Christmas at Choptafor the first time. We have beenenjoying the chilling cold forthe past two days we havebeen here. The trekking routesare still under a thick layer ofsnow. Snow changing into iceat many places, there is a pos-sibility of slip. The hills and theslopes are all white now. We arestumbling on the snow as weare not habituated to trudge onsuch snowy places.

However, we do not mindthe repeated fall. We are enjoy-ing this too,” said a touristNarendra Sigh Rawat. He fur-

ther said that they had ascend-ed to Tungnath and evenChandrashila. “These placeslook celestial against the whiteymarvel of nature,” heexclaimed.

As per the weather forecastissued for Tuesday, the climatewould be generally dry in thestate, though clouds mightcover the sky partly. InDehradun, dense fog/ mist islikely to form in the plainareas in the early morninghours on the day and the skywould be partly cloudy.

Meanwhile, the mercury inDehradun continues to settle inthe neighbourhood of 5 degreeCelsius while the maximum islikely to hover around 21degree Celsius on Tuesday.The Met officers said that themercury is likely to sink furtherin the coming few days.

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The state education andSanskrit education minister

Arvind Pandey discussed withSwami Ramdev and AcharyaBalkrishna on the develop-ment and implementation ofthe new curriculum on Sanskriteducation in the State atPatanjali Yog Peeth on Tuesday.

In the meeting, SwamiRamdev told the minister andsenior officers of educationand Sanskrit education depart-ment that there is an urgentneed to develop world -classinstitutions for Sanskrit edu-cation. Calling Sanskrit a wayof life which is very scientific,Ramdev said that the ancientlanguage is not a mere languageof rituals. Highlighting a needfor excellent and model teach-ers of Sanskrit, he said that a

new generation of Sanskritteachers should be developedby catering to the requirementof Sanskrit education. Ramdevalso assured full support ofPatanjali Yog Peeth for thisendeavour.

Acharya Balkrishna saidthat the coordination ofSanskrit education with themainstream school education isimportant. He said thatSanskrit education departmenthas set up a curriculum com-mittee and it has also done theground work required. He saidthat the curriculum would nowbe developed and refined.

Education minister ArvindPandey said that Sanskrit is thesecond language of the stateand its base in Uttarakhanddates back to the ancient times.He said he has given order foreffective time- bound imple-

mentation of the revised cur-riculum to the departmentofficials.

In the meeting, it wasdecided that a meeting of cur-riculum headed by the secre-tary Sanskrit education wouldbe held on December 27 andthe work of incorporatingimprovement in the curricu-lum would be completed beforeJanuary 1, 2019. On the day, apresentation of the curriculumwould be made at the secre-tariat during which SwamiRamdev would also be present.The changed curriculum wouldbe implemented from the nextacademic session.

On February 10, 2019, theSanskrit education departmentwould organise a mega con-clave on Sanskrit in collabora-tion with PatanjaliVidhyapeeth.

The meeting was attendedamong others by the secretarySanskrit education IndudharBaudai, pro vice- chancellor ofPatanjali University MahavirAgarwal, director Sanskrit edu-cation R K Kunwar and addi-tional directors- R K Uniyal,Virendra Singh Rawat and AjayNaudiyal.

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Acting on the order fromPatiala House Court Delhi,

the court commissioner andadvocate raided the premises ofa SIIDCUL- based companywhich was allegedly manufac-turing duplicate products of afamous food brand.

The production unit hasbeen sealed and the packagingmaterials have been seized.With no response receivedfrom the manufacturer, thenotice had been slapped fol-lowing which the raid waslaunched, informed the author-ities.

It is learnt that acting onthe written order from DelhiPatiala House Court, the courtcommissioner SandeeepMessey and advocates KuldeepSingh and Nitin Sharma raid-ed the premises of the com-pany -Akash Yog HealthProduct Private Ltd-and seizedthe products and packagingmaterials of Gavya Lotus foodsalong with machinery meantfor manufacturing the same.

Later, speaking to ThePioneer, the advocate KuldeepSingh said, “The action hasbeen taken following the com-plaint by the client Lotus Foods.The proprietor Pankaj Agarwallodged complaint with us. Afterreceiving orders from the court,we sent a notice to the

company. But as no response was

received the whole productionunit has been sealed.” If any-thing is produced now in thepremises it would be consid-ered as contempt of court andaction would follow, addedKuldeep.

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Governor Baby Rani Maurya and the chiefminister Trivendra Singh Rawat have greet-

ed the people of the state on the occasion ofChristmas slated to be celebrated on Tuesday.In her message, the Governor wished for theprosperity of the people. She said that theChristmas festival gives the message of love,

mutual brotherhood and humanity to the soci-ety. She hoped that the festival would bring hap-piness in everyone’s life.

On the occasion of Christmas, the CM con-veyed his best wishes to the people of the stateand the Christian community, in particular. Inhis message issued on the occasion, he said thatthere is universal relevance of the holy words ofthe Lord Jesus Christ even in the modern soci-ety to establish moral values, world peace anddignity of human life. “The festival of Christmasreminds us of the principles and teachings of theLord Jesus Christ who presented an example ofworking in the society for equality, harmony, loveand peace,” he said. CM further said in his mes-sage that the festival of Christmas is a celebra-tion of sharing the spirit and happiness of broth-erhood. There has been the great tradition to cel-ebrate all the festivals in Uttarakhand, hestressed and added that celebrated for the birthof Jesus Christ, the festival offers a message tofollow his ideals of sacrifice, service, love andcompassion, principles which are eternally rel-evant everywhere, irrespective of time and coun-try. It is a day to vow to adhere to the princi-ples embodied by Lord Jesus Christ, he said.

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Everyone needs to come forward to pre-serve and promote the traditional

handicrafts, folk arts and musical instru-ments, especially drums.

Artistes playing musical instrumentsin Uttarakhand will also be encouraged bythe state government. Chief ministerTrivendra Singh Rawat said this during hisvisit to the national handloom expoorganised by the Uttarakhand Handloomand Handicrafts Development Council atParade Ground here on Monday.

He said that it was a matter of happi-ness that even the new generation and theeducated people are also taking interest intraditional folk arts and with this we willbe able to preserve our heritage and folkart. He said that the national handloomexpo is a platform through which womenself-help groups, cooperative societies,craftsmen and weavers of remote areas ofthe state are able to connect their productswith big market. This type of event pro-

vides the participating weavers and othercraftsmen an opportunity to share expe-riences.

The chief minister also honouredMadhu Gupta, Dinesh Lal, Murty Mistryand Raghuveer Singh Khati with theCrafts Ratna Award for outstanding workin the field of handicrafts, wood art andtraditional art. It is worth mentioning here

that the national handloom expo is beingorganised in the state for last 12 years. Inthis year's national handloom expo, 150stalls of 15 states have been set up, out ofwhich 45 stalls are from Uttarakhand.

MLA Khajan Das, principal secretaryManisha Panwar, Industries directorSudhir Chandra Nautiyal and others wereamong those present on the occasion.

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In these times the study andpropagation of the Vedas and

the knowledge they containhas become all the more impor-tant. The Vidhan Sabha Speakerand Rishikesh MLA, PremChand Agrawal said this at theinauguration of a national Vedaconference in Vikasnagar onMonday.

Speaking on the occasion,Agrawal said that the spiritual,religious and scientific impor-tance of the Vedas should bepresented before the masses inthis modern era. He appreciat-ed the fact that Pundits andscholars will recite from the fourVedas for world peace and har-mony during the two-daynational meet.

He further said that theVedas encompass knowledgeabout god, universe, astrology,mathematics, chemicals, med-icine, nature, geography, reli-gious rules, history and mostother subjects. The solution toall problems encountered inmodern society is there in theVedas.

He said, “Today we are fac-

ing problems like deterioratingenvironment, misbehaviourwith women and domestic dis-turbances. The reason for this isthe lack of knowledge enshrinedin the Vedas. The knowledge ofenvironmental conservation,women empowerment anddomestic accord is given inVedic mantras. For establishinga positive society, attemptsshould be made on a largescale to spread this knowledgeamong the masses,” he said.

The minister of state forhigher education, Dhan SinghRawat, Vikasnagar municipalcouncil chairperson ShantiJwatha, chief organiser of theevent Sunil Painyuli,Uttarakhand SanskritVishwavidyalay vice chancellorPiyush Kant Dikshit and otherswere also present on the occa-sion.

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Expressing deep grief at thedemise of the Pauri burn

victim, leader of opposition inthe Vidhan Sabha andHaldwani MLA, IndiraHridayesh stressed that thestrictest action should be takenagainst the man guilty of sucha heinous crime.

Talking to media personshere on Monday, Hridayeshsaid that such incidents have noplace in a civilised society.Stern laws should be made inorder to prevent such crimes.Further, there is also the needfor counselling the youth sothat they comprehend the actu-al repercussions of such inci-dents. Both the Centre andState should enact strict laws totackle with such crimes andcases pertaining to the sameshould be tried in fast-trackcourt, she said.

On the state governmentstating that developmentalworks undertaken in Gairsain

during the term of the previousCongress-led State governmentwould be probed into, she saidthat the government was wel-come to investigate the works.However, the StateGovernment should also becareful that in the name of theprobe the construction worksthere should not be stalled. Shestressed that the opposition hasno objection to the probe butsaid that like the probe in to thenational highway 74 scam hasnot been completed yet, thegovernment should not stalldevelopmental works inGairsain by constituting such aprobe.

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Aday after the Pauri burn vic-tim died at a hospital in

Delhi, the Uttarakhand Congressspokesperson Garima Dasaunisaid that the nonchalant attitudeof Trivendra Singh Rawat gov-ernment towards atrocities,molestation and rape has result-ed in one woman falling victimof rape every 16 hours.

Expressing anguish on thedeath of the Pauri burn victimwho was set ablaze by her stalk-er, she said that number of suchincidents against women in thestate has been seeing a spikesince BJP formed the govern-ment in the State. “It is unfor-tunate that the Government iskeeping quiet,” she said. Takinga swipe at the state government,

Dasauni affirmed that theUttarakhand owes its existenceto the women power. “Thepeople of the state would notthus tolerate the neglect andhumiliation being inflicted onthe women here,” she said.

In a scathing attack on thewomen BJP leaders of the state,she said she wondered overwhere the leaders who aggres-sively hit the roads againstNirbhaya incident are now.

Referring to the ghastlycrime in Pauri, she said that thestate government shouldensure that the culprit is givenan exemplary punishment.

“Besides, necessary help shouldbe provided to the family of thedeceased girl,” she said.

She further said that thestudents should be taughtabout the punitive provisionsenshrined in the Constitutioninvolving heinous crime againstthe women and such chaptershould be incorporated in thecurriculum. Dasauni also high-lighted a need to sensitize thepeople and also the studentsabout the spiralling crimesbeing perpetrated against thewomen in the state.

Taking cudgels at the stategovernment for the risingnumber of crime against thewomen, she said that the gov-ernment seems to have slippedinto somnolence, allowing thecriminals to commit crimes attheir sweet will. Dassauni but-tressed her point by citing thefact that that post of the chair-person of the state womencommission has been lyingvacant for long with the stategovernment sleeping over it.

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The birth anniversary offormer Prime Minister,

Late Atal Bihari Vajpayee onDecember 25 is celebratedacross the nation as SushasanDiwas (Good GovernanceDay). From this year, the StateGovernment has decided topresent the Chief Minister’sExcellence and GoodGovernance Award toGovernment employees whohave performed commend-ably in the field of good gov-ernance. A total of 48 gov-ernment employees workingin different capacities havebeen chosen for the awardsthis time. These employeeswere chosen for the award ingroup and individual cate-gories based on the recom-mendations of the selectioncommittee chaired by the chiefsecretary Utpal Kumar Singh.They will be presented theawards on the eve of RepublicDay. Congratulating all theselected government employ-ees, the chief ministerTrivendra Singh Rawat exhort-ed all to work with dedicationin the interests of the state andpublic. The chief minister saidthat it is only through goodgovernance that better servicescan be provided to the citizensin the State and nation. Onlywhen all the employees at allthe levels work diligently will

development every person inthe state, he said.

The additional chief sec-retary (chief minister) RadhaRaturi said that the decision toselect government employeesfor this award was taken for thefirst time on the directions ofthe chief minister to develop apositive atmosphere and facil-itate better services to all citi-zens in the state. Those chosenfor the award include officialsworking as district magistrate,chief development officer,additional district magistrate,sub divisional magistrate,municipal commissioner, divi-sional forest officer, executiveofficer, block development offi-cer, doctor, engineers ofpotable water- electricity, pub-lic works and irrigation depart-ments, those in the police,State Disaster Response Force(SDRF) and Paryavaran Mitra(sanitation workers) amongothers. Four awards will bepresented in the group cate-gory for works done com-mendably with team spirit.Some of the officials involvedin the investors summit, inter-national Yoga day programme,Kedarnath reconstruction andKosi river rejuvenation will bepresented the award.

The aim of constitutingthe awards is to encourage thework of those who contributeto effective, transparent andcorruption-free governance.

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The 18- year- old burn vic-tim of Pauri was given a

teary farewell during her cre-mation near her ancestral vil-lage on Monday. The girl hadsuccumbed to her injuries afterbattling for life for seven daysat Safardarjung Hospital inNew Delhi on Sunday. A largenumber of locals and relativesof the victim attended thefuneral which was held on thebank of Nayar river near theancestral village of the victim.The uncle of the victim lit thefuneral pyre. Meanwhile stu-dents in Pauri and other townsheld protest meetings on theday where anguish on the bar-baric crime was vented.

Taking cognizance of theincident, the State Commissionfor Protection of Child Rights(SCPCR) directed the district

legal services authority ( DLSA)of Pauri to ensure that free legalhelp is provided to the familymembers of Pauri burn victim intheir legal battle. In an order, theunder-secretary SCPCR, KaminiGupta said that necessary actionshould be taken to provide com-pensation to the victim’s familyfrom the Nirbhaya fund.

The incident had occurredin Pauri on December 16 as the

girl, a resident of Peepli villagelocated in Kapolsyun Patti ofPauri, had been set ablaze bya stalker when she was return-ing home from her college. The

accused, a taxi driver, hadallegedly dragged her to theroadside where he tried to sex-ually assault her. On resis-tance, he had reportedly

doused her with petrol and sether on fire. The girl had beenrushed to the district hospitalPauri and Srinagar MedicalCollege Hospital before beingadmitted at AIIMS Rishikeshwith around 80 percent burns.Later, she had been air lifted toSafdarjung Hospital in NewDelhi following instructionfrom the chief ministerTrivendra Singh Rawat.

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Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawatlaunched the trailer of “72 Hours- Martyr

Who Never Died”, a film based on the life ofmartyr Jaswant Singh Rawat here on Monday.He said that Mahavir Chakra recipient JaswantSingh Rawat during the war with China in 1962showed indomitable courage and valour andstopped 300 Chinese soldiers single handedly.He said that it was due to brave persons likeJaswant Singh that Uttarakhand is known as“Veerbhoomi” and brave soldiers always remainimmortal.

The CM further said that the State govern-ment is working on mission mode to encourageproduction and shooting of films in Uttarakhand.Famous film directors like Mahesh Bhatt and Raj

Kumar Santoshi among others are planning toshoot their films in Uttarakhand. Tehri MP MalaRajya Laxmi Shah, film unit members and oth-ers were present on the occasion.

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The State Finance ministerPrakash Pant chaired a

review meeting regarding theannouncements made in the2018-19 budget speech. He saidthat work on proposals submit-ted by the departments shouldbe completed on time to ensurecent per cent benefit to theintended beneficiaries.Discussing in detail the depart-mental schemes, he reviewed thebenefit to be facilitated throughexecution of the same. He direct-ed officials to immediately pre-sent the utilisation certificate tothe Central Government forthe budget used so far underCentrally funded schemes sothat the remaining fund isreleased soon. He further direct-ed officials to ensure that thework target is achieved beforethe end of the financial year.

The tourism secretaryDilip Jawalkar informed theminister about progress in theSwami Vivekanand interna-tional convention centre andwellness city in Rishikesh. Hefurther informed that a pro-posal will soon be presented inthe cabinet for further simpli-fication of the home stay poli-cy. Under the long term schemefor developing 13 new touristdestination in the 13 districts,he said that Rs 13 crore hasbeen received for the purposeof which Rs 50 lakh has beenreleased to each district.

The industries deputydirector informed that in thestart-up scheme till December19, 128 start ups had receivedrecognition from theCentral/State government.

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Dehradun: In a major relief tothe state government and thepeople of Uttarakhand, theIndian Medical Association(IMA) has suspended its lock-out call of all private hospitalsand clinics based in the statefrom Tuesday. The IMA sus-pended its agitation following ameeting with the state chiefminister Trivendra Singh Rawaton Monday evening.

Informing about the sus-pension of their agitation, thegeneral secretary IMA, Dr D DChaudhury said while talking toThe Pioneer that the CM hasassured of changes being madein the Clinical Establishment Act.He, however, added that the IMAhas only suspended its agitationfor the time being. “If the assur-ances are not fulfilled the doctorswould resume protest,” hewarned.

The private doctors of thestate spearheaded byUttarakhand chapter of IMA areup in arms against the provisionsof the Clinical Establishment Act.They are pressuring the stategovernment to bring in a moreacceptable Uttarakhand Healthcare Establishment Act. On thecall given by the IMA, many clin-ical establishments, includingprivate hospitals, stopped givingadmission to new patients fromMonday. The IMA had threat-ened that it would enforce acomplete shutdown at all the pri-

vate hospitals and clinics fromTuesday. In an attempt to thawthe ice between IMA and thestate government, senior BJPleader Munna Singh Chauhantook a delegation of IMA for ameeting with the secretary med-ical health Nitesh Jha on Mondaymorning. The meeting, howev-er, remained inconclusive.

The IMA had recently sub-mitted an exhaustive draft doc-ument of the UttarakhandHealthcare Establishments Actwhich, according to it, shouldreplace the more stringentClinical Establishment Act andsubmitted it to the state admin-istration.

It would be recalled that theUttarakhand High Court (HC)in a recent landmark judgmenthad directed the state govern-ment to seal all such hospitalsand clinics not registered underClinical Establishment Act.Acting on the order, the stateadministration had tightenedits grip on the private hospitals,an action which infuriated theIMA.

IMA is of the firm view thatthe act should not be passed inits present form. It has suggest-ed that Uttarakhand govern-ment should follow the Haryanamodel of the act where all theclinical establishments havingless than 50 beds are exemptedfrom the stringent provisions ofthe act. PNS

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In view of the state govern-ment’s decision to enforce

provisions of Essential ServicesMaintenance Act (ESMA)which prohibits strikes in thehealth services, the associationof the government doctors saidthat it would take the final callon the proposed strike soon.

Following the threat ofstrike given by the ProvincialMedical Health Services(PMHS)- the mighty associa-tion of the doctors of the statehealth services, the state gov-ernment swung into action onSunday and decided to enforceESMA in the health depart-ment.

Talking to The Pioneer, thepresident PMHS, Dr D P Joshisaid that association is not in

the least perturbed by theESMA threat the state govern-ment is dangling about. “Weare bothered about the servicesto the patients. I am now inDelhi and on my return, we willdiscuss the issue in the work-ing committee of the associa-tion and take the final call onthe proposed strike,” he said.

Notably, PMHS is demand-ing the pending demand ofuniform implementation ofDynamic Assured CareerProgression (DACP) scheme beaccepted without further delay.The doctors further are for thetransfer order of general sec-retary of PMHS be revoked.They are also vociferous onmeetings of DepartmentalPromotion Committee ( DPC)be held twice a year. The PMHSis also demanding vehicleallowance be given to the doc-tors.

On the call given byPMHS, all the doctors of statehealth services registered theirprotest by donning black armbands over the past one week.

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From Page 1On Monday, Delhi’s air

quality was recorded at 448which falls in the ‘severe’ cate-gory, the CPCB said. Thirtyareas in the city recorded‘severe’ air quality while it was‘very poor’ in five areas, it said.

In the adjoining areas,Noida recorded the worst airquality with an AQI of 464.Faridabad and Ghaziabad alsorecorded ‘severe’ air qualityand Gurugram recorded verypoor air quality, the datashowed.

The overall PM2.5 level --fine particulate matter in the airwith a diameter of less than 2.5micrometer -- was recorded at407 and the PM10 level at 581here, the CPCB said.

The national Capitalrecorded its second highestpollution level of the year onSunday with an AQI of 450.According to the SAFAR, theoverall air quality in Delhi isexpected to remain in severerange until Tuesday.

“Recovery got delayedmainly due to slowing of windspeed leading to persistence offog which rapidly multipliedfiner particles leading to rapidincrease in PM2.5 and evenPM1 (fine particulate matter inthe air with a diameter of lessthan 1 micrometer),” theSAFAR said.

“Improvement is expectedfrom late Tuesday evening onlywhen radiation fog get dissi-pated with sufficient sunshine,”

it said.According to the Indian

Institute of TropicalMeteorology (IITM), the airquality is likely to improve onTuesday, but will remain in theupper end of the ‘very poor tosevere’ category.

“The wind speed and ven-tilation index are highlyunfavourable for dispersion ofpollutants,” it said. Ventilationindex is the speed at which pol-lutants can get dispersed. Aventilation index lower than6000 sqm/second, with averagewind speed less than 10 kmph,is unfavourable for dispersionof pollutants. The index was4500 sqm/second on Monday,the IITM said.

In a health advisory, the

SAFAR asked Delhiites not torely on common dust masks forprotection. The agency hasadvised people to avoid alloutdoor activities, such as tak-ing walks.

“If the room has windows,close them, if the air condi-tioner provides a fresh airintake option then choose it,avoid burning anything such aswood, candle or even anincense stick,” it said.

The advisory also recom-mended frequent wet moppingand using masks known as N-95 or P-100 respirators only foroutdoor activities. “Do not relyon dust masks for protection,”the advisory added.

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Jammu: Pakistani troopsMonday resorted to indiscrim-inate firing along the LoC inRajouri district of Jammu andKashmir, prompting authori-ties to close all schools as a pre-cautionary measure, the policesaid.

The unprovoked and intensefiring and shelling from across the

border started in Keri, Lam,Pukharni and Peer Badaser areasof Noushera sector at around 9.30am and continued intermittentlyfor over five hours, a senior policeofficer said.

The authorities ordered theclosure of all schools within five-km radius for the safety andsecurity of the students and to

avoid any untoward incident, headded.

Army personnel guardingthe Line of Control (LoC) retal-iated effectively to silence thePakistani guns, the officer said,adding there was no immediatereport of any casualty.

He said the latest incidentsparked panic among the borderresidents but there was no reportof migration from the area.

There was a lull in the fir-ing after 2.30 pm but the secu-rity forces are keeping tight vigiland patrolling has also beenintensified to scuttle anyattempt by terrorists to infiltrateby taking advantage of the fir-ing, the officer said further. PTI

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Banihal (J&K): An Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP)personnel was killed and 34others, including three officersof the paramilitary force, wereinjured Monday when a buscarrying them skidded off theroad and fell into a gorge alongthe Jammu-Srinagar NationalHighway, police said.

Nine of the injured per-sons, including a sub-inspector,two assistant sub-inspectorsand a civilian driver, were air-lifted to the GovernmentMedical College (GMC) hos-pital here for specialised treat-ment, a police officer said.

He said the vehicle was car-rying ITBP personnel,deployed in Rambun districtfor recent panchayat electionsand was part of a Jammu-bound convoy.

The accident occurred nearKhuni Nallah in Ramban dis-trict around 8.45 am, he added.

Trees prevented the busfrom falling further down in

the gorge and the rescuerscomprising of Army, policeand local volunteers immedi-ately reached the accident siteand evacuated the victims, theofficer said.

He said an ITBP personnelidentified as Mohammad Aliwas declared brought deadwhile 34 others, including thedriver and conductor of thevehicle, were rescued in aninjured condition and shifted tothe Ramban district hospital.

Besides the nine criticallyinjured persons, who were air-lifted from accident site, twomore wounded ITBP person-nel were shifted to the GMC byroad, the officer said.

He said the ITBP columnwas deployed in Budgam dis-trict of central Kashmir inconnection with the recentlyheld panchayat polls and thepersonnel were returning totheir base outside the statewhen the accident occurred.PTI

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From Page 1The disqualification will go into effect

following his release from jail after servingthe seven-year sentence.

In July, 2018 Sharif, his daughterMaryam and his son-in-law Captain (retd.)M Safdar were sentenced to 11 years, eightyears and one year respectively in prisonin the Avenfield properties case related totheir purchase of four luxury flats inLondon through corrupt practices.However, the three were bailed out by theIslamabad High Court in September.

The apex court set the deadline forDecember 24 to wrap up the remaining twocorruption cases against the Sharif family.The three-time former prime minister hasmaintained that the cases against him wereinitiated on the basis of allegations levelledby his political rivals and the report of ajoint investigation team in the PanamaPapers case was biased.

In an emergency meeting after the ver-dict, the NAB decided to challenge Sharif ’sacquittal in the Flagship case in the high court.The Supreme Court initially set six monthdeadline to conclude the three cases but it wassubsequently increase around eight times onthe request of the accountability court.

A long series of court cases in whichthe Sharif family have fought accusationsof money laundering, tax evasion and hid-

ing offshore assets culminated in Monday’sjudgment. Since September 2017, Sharif hasappeared before the accountability courtssome 165 times.

Commenting on the verdict, Sharif saidthat his conscience was clear as he wasnever involved in any kind of corruption.

“I was never involved in misuseof authority and corruption so my con-science is at peace,” he said.

His daughter Maryam broke months-long silence and took to twitter to criticizethe judgment as “vengeance”. “Punishmentto the same man for the fourth time. (Thiswas) blind revenge’s last hiccup but victo-ry is Nawaz Sharif ’s, thank God,” she tweet-ed in Urdu.

“...These verdicts will vanish, what willremain is Nawaz Sharif ’s honesty and theopponents’ burden of tyrannies becausegovernment, power and privileges arethere to end. It does not take long for tidesto turn. Remember, when tyranny cross-es limits, it ends,” she said.

She accused Prime Minister ImranKhan’s party of conspiring against herfather, claiming that “the government offi-cials head to work each day thinking ‘whatdo I have to do against Nawaz Shariftoday?’” “We will protest against the ver-dict and overcome it,” former premier andsenior PML-N leader Shahid Khaqan

Abbasi said.He said the deposed premier should

have been acquitted in both cases as the topaccountability watchdog had no evidenceagainst the Sharif family. Security wasbeefed up around the court, with heavycontingents of police and Rangers deployedaround the building and along roads lead-ing to the court.

A large number of Sharif ’s PakistanMuslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) sup-porters and senior party leaders, includingAbbasi, were present outside the court toshow their support for the party’s supremeleader. Following the verdict announce-ment, PML-N supporters clashed withsecurity personnel. Tear gas and baton-charge was used to disperse the protesters.

Meanwhile, legal expert Shah Khawarsaid that acquittal of Sharif in one case andconviction in the other will go in his favour.“The two cases are connected as in bothcases money trail was required. So Sharif ’slawyer will use it at appeal level,” he said.

The court also issued permanentarrest warrants of Sharif ’s two sons —Hasan and Hussain. Both are co-accusedin all three cases but they were declaredabsconders for failing to appear before thecourt even for a single time. The courtdecided to hear their cases separately oncethey returned back.

From Page 1“The police beat our work-

ers mercilessly and arrestedmany of them though stoneswere not pelted by them. Thestones were actually pelted bysome outsiders that the policeadministration should find out,”Bengal BJP president DilipGhosh said.

Such small incidents werenot out of ordinary and it wasbeyond the strength of theleadership to control such largecrowds, Ghosh said apparent-ly not doing any good to hisparty’s case seeking judicialpermission for triple RathYatras that have been denied bythe State.

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Himachal Forest andTransport Minister and

the Chairman of WinterCarnival Manali, GovindSingh Thakur on Mondaysaid the famous winter carni-val of Kullu district will be cel-ebrated from January 2 to 6.

A day before the Carnival,Beas Aarti Pooja will be heldin which more than 5000 peo-ple will take part, said theminister. He said, the Kardarsof deities of the valley andother people will perform thispooja.

On this occasion thetableaux of local deity MaaHadimba will be displayedwhich will be the major attrac-tion for the people andtourists as well. GovindThakur said more than 5000people wil l sing VandeMataram simultaneously onMall road Manali. All womenwill be dressed in traditionalkullu attire so that the richculture and tradition of thevalley could be promoted.

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In order to enable the peopleto pay their respects,

Rashtriya Smriti Sthal, whereformer Prime Minister AtalBihari Vajpayee was crematedwith full State honours onAugust 17, has been developedas a Samadhi named as “SadaivAtal”. The Samadhi will bededicated to the nation onDecember 25, on the occasionof his 94th birthday anniver-sary. The Samadhi is spread ona 1.5-acre of land.

With the construction ofSadaiv Atal, the BJP in a waywould get its own ‘Rajghat’. Thememorials of former primeministers Jawaharlal Nehru,Indira Gandhi and Rajiv

Gandhi have been the iconicrallying points for theCongress.

The BJP has had no suchplace to converge in the capi-tal. In Vajpayee’s final restingplace, the BJP would get thefirst samadhi at the RashtriyaSmriti Sthal for any of its lead-ers.

The Samadhi has beencompleted by CPWD at a totalcost of Rs. 10.51 Crores with-out felling of a single tree. Theentire cost of construction ofthe Samadhi has been borne bythe Atal Smriti Nyas Society.

Officials of Ministry ofHousing and Urban Affairs(HUA) said that the centralSamadhi platform comprises ofnine square black polished

granite solid stone blocks,capped with a ‘diya’ in the cen-ter. The number nine holdssignificance and represents thenavarasas, navaratras and nav-agrahas.

“ The placement of thenine square Samadhi is in a cir-cular lotus shaped pattern.The nine-square platform isaccessed in four cardinal direc-tions by pathways made inwhite composite tiles so thatthe floor does not get heated.

The Samadhi is enclosedby nine bas-relief walls whichhave inscriptions of the prose/poetry of Vajpayee which canbe read by the visitor while tak-ing a pradakshina on the outercircular path,” officials added.

Interestingly, the govern-

ment led by Atal BihariVajpayee had decided againstconversion of official bunga-lows in Lutyens Delhi ofnational leaders into memori-als. A Cabinet note in the year2000 had taken a decision tothat effect.

The Modi Cabinet, inOctober 2014, also decidednot to convert the official bun-galows into memorials.

The decision was takenweeks after former UnionMinister Ajit Singh demandedthat his 12, Tuglaq Road bun-galow be converted into amemorial in the name of hisfather and former PrimeMinister Choudhary CharanSingh.

Officials said that to con-

struct a Samadhi, a society —“Atal Smriti Nyas Society” (reg-istered under the SocietiesRegistration Act XXI of 1860)formed by eminent persons.The founding members of theSociety include Lok Sabhaspeaker Sumitra Mahajan,senior BJP leaders LaljiTandon, OP Kohli, VajubhaiRudabhai Vala, Vijay KumarMalhotra, Ram Lal and RamBahadur Rai.

In 2013, the UPAGovernment had decided todevelop the Rashtriya SmritiSthal as the common site forperforming last rites of nation-al leaders such as past andincumbent Presidents, Vice-Presidents, Prime Ministersand others.

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Two public interest litiga-tions (PIL) were filed on

Monday in the Supreme Courtagainst the Government’s noti-fication authorising 10 Centralagencies to intercept, monitorand decrypt any computer system.

Advocates Manohar LalSharma and Amit Sahni filedseparate pleas seeking to quashthe Government’s December 20notification that empowers 10central probe and snoop agen-cies for computer interceptionand analysis.

Both the petitionersclaimed the notification was“unconstitutional” and the“blanket surveillance” bad inlaw.

The 10 agencies notifiedunder the new order are theIntelligence Bureau, NarcoticsControl Bureau, Enforcement

Directorate, the Central Boardof Direct Taxes (for Income TaxDepartment), Directorate ofRevenue Intelligence, CentralBureau of Investigation,National Investigation Agency,the Research and AnalysisWing, Directorate of SignalIntelligence (in service areas ofJ-K, North East and Assam)and Delhi Police commission-er.

Sharma sought urgent list-ing of his plea but his requestwas declined by the apex courtregistry and he was told thepetition would come up forhearing in the normal course.

Sahni, in his plea filedthrough advocate Preeti Singh,claimed the December 20 noti-fication was liable to be setaside according to the mandateof the right to privacy judge-ment delivered by a nine-judgeConstitution bench of the topcourt.

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Remembering the long yearsthat former Prime Minister

Atal Bihari Vaypayee spent onOpposition benches, PrimeMinister Narrendra Modi onMonday took a jibe at theCongress saying that power isoxygen for certain people andthey become restless even outof power for two or five years.

Releasing a �100 com-memorative coin in the mem-ory of Vajpayee on the eve ofhis 94th birth anniversary,Modi said the former PMalways committed every secondof his life for welfare of the people.

“Today’s political landscapeis such that if someone has tostay out of power even for twoor five years, they become rest-less,” he told the gathering.

“For some people, power isoxygen...They can’t live withoutit. A long part of Atalji’s careerwas spent in the oppositionbenches but he spoke aboutnational interest and nevercompromised on the ideologyof the party,” the PrimeMinister’s Office (PMO) addedon Twitter while quoting thePrime Minister’s speech.

Vajpayee’s long-time asso-

ciate and BJP veteran LKAdvani, Lok Sabha SpeakerSumitra Mahajan, FinanceMinister Arun Jaitley and BJPpresident Amit Shah were alsopresent at the event. DiscussingVajpayee’s political journey,Modi said he always kept thenation and democracy beforehimself and the party.

“Atal-ji wanted democracyto be supreme. He built the JanaSangh. But when the timecame to rescue our democracy,he and others went to theJanata Party. Likewise, whenthe choice was betweenremaining in power or com-

prising on ideology, he leftJanata Party and formed theBJP,” Modi said.

The party which “Atal-jibuilt brick by brick” is nowamong the largest political par-ties in the world, the primeminister said, adding thatVajpayee had sown the seeds ofthe lotus (the BJP symbol) inthe country.

“When he spoke, thenation spoke... When he spoke,the nation listened. Atal-ji’svoice was not only voice of theBJP, it was an expression of thecommon man’s aspirations,”he said., narrating Vajpayee’s

oratory skills. The mind, Modiasserted, is not ready to believethat Vajpayee is no longer alive.

“Though he was away frompublic glare for nearly a decadedue to ill health, the way peo-ple gave him a farewell on hisdemise showed the mark hehad created in people’s minds,”Modi said. The former primeminister died in August thisyear at the age of 93 followingprolonged illness.

Modi said he would go toVajpayee’s memorial onTuesday to reiterate his com-mitment to the ideology andpath shown by the statesman.

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The Congress on Mondayaccused the Modi

Government of opening an‘extra constitutional detectiveagency’ to ‘snoop us’, ‘steal ourdata’ and ‘clamp down on free-dom’. It also alleged that a“systematic and systemicground work is being laid bythe present regime to convertIndia into a ‘nanny state’”.

The party demanded thatthe Government withdraw theDecember 20 order, thatallowed Central agencies mon-itor computer data and to placethese Draft Amendments inpublic domain for public con-sultation “so that India is savedfrom becoming a Police State”.

AICC spokespersonAbhishek Manu Singhvi said,“Modi Government is seekingto amend ‘The IntermediaryRules, 2011’ governed under the‘Information Technology Act,2000. The Intermediary Rules,

2011’provide immunity foronline platforms, InternetService Providers (ISPs) — big,large, and small — for the con-tent which is transmitted andpublished by end users. Thisallows these conduits of infor-mation to facilitate a core func-tion of ‘free expression’ and pre-vents them from throttlingcontent or overbroad censor-ship, thus securing our privacy.

“Modi Government seemsto be seeking major technicalchanges in such platforms asthat use encryption. With therequirement of traceability ofend-to-end, the platform willeither need to be substantiallyaltered or completely doneaway with,” said Singhvi.

“In a nutshell either end toend encryption platforms will

be dead leading to exposure ofthe data, calls, messages ofordinary people toGovernment monitoring orthe platforms will just need tobe adapted at the whims andfancies of the ModiGovernment. This is the perfectrecipe to ensure a ‘Nanny State’!Modiji’s ‘Gujarat Model’ ofSnooping has now reachedhumongous proportions,’’ hesaid.

Terming the alleged moveby the Government as oneseeking to undermine legiti-mate speech by requiringonline platforms to becomepro-active arbiters and judgesof legality (not their own termsof use which is a contractbetween the user and a plat-form), Singhvi said ,’’this colos-sally violates legal foundations,principles of natural justiceand treats ‘Everyone asCriminal’. It also shifts theduty of the state to a privateparty.’’

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The Narcotics ControlBureau (NCB) is working

on a proposal to map the entirecountry for availability of illic-it drugs, identify the maincentres along with the relatedactivities so that specific strate-gies to counter menace can beput in place.

A scientific data analysis isalso proposed to be used toplan an effective strategy tocounter the flow of drugs. Theagency plans to reach out to thevulnerable segments and influ-encers like the youth and in-charges of educational institu-tions to get into the root of theproblem.

Campuses of the universi-ties and educational institutionsare considered to be one of themajor points for consumptionof the contraband drugs and aneffective strategy to check theconsumption pattern has tofactor in the educational hubs,sources said.

A mechanism could helptrack the drug peddling chan-nels and profiling the end userswho could subsequently besubjected to de-addiction

efforts, they said, the proposalis being worked out in collab-oration with the Union HomeMinistry.

Sources said the proposalemerged as an actionable rec-ommendation from the DGPsconference earlier this year.

At present, the NCB’s pri-mary counter-narcotics focusareas include surveillance andenforcement at import pointsand land borders besides pre-ventive and interdiction effortsalong the known drug routes.

Other focus areas includecontrol measures at exportpoints, such as air-passengerterminals, cargo terminals andforeign post offices.

To achieve these tasks, theagency has emphasizedimproved co-ordinationbetween the various drug lawenforcement agencies for iden-tification and eradication ofillicit cultivation and the wildgrowth of cannabis and theopium poppy.

It also seeks to strengthenthe intelligence apparatus toimprove the collection, colla-tion, analysis and dissemina-tion of operational intelligence.

The NCB has already been

coordinating with variousnational and internationalenforcement agencies includingthe Directorate of RevenueIntelligence for interdiction ofnarcotic drugs and psy-chotropic substances.

Over the years, the NCBhas also stressed on the need tohave a mechanism forincreased international co-operation, both in operationaland long term intelligence aswell as in investigations andmutual legal assistance.

While the DRI seized26,785 kg of ganja in 2017-18as compared to 16,197 kg in theprevious year, the NCB alsointercepted thousands of kgs ofthe contraband during the yeareven as the agency is compil-ing the data of seizures fromvarious States.

Officials suspect a portionof the contraband ultimatelyreaches the campuses besideshotels and lodges especially inthe tourist places and anexhaustive mapping of theareas besides coordinationamong the various agenciescould lead to better results inchoking the supply lines of thedrugs, officials added.

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The BJP on Monday termedCongress farm loan waiv-

er in five States a hoax and saidthe latter was asking national-ized banks to bear the burdenthus incurred.

Addressing a Press con-ference here, Union Ministerand senior BJP leader PrakashJavadekar alleged that goingback on promises was not anew habit for the Congress. Hesaid there was no loan waiversof farmers’ debt in five statesof Karnataka , Punjab, MadhyaPradesh, Chhattisgarh andRajasthan. In Karnataka thetotal debt is �45,000 crore buteven �75 crore is not allottedin the budget. KarnatakaGovernment, he claimed hasasked nationalized banks tobear the burden of farm debtwhich banks have refused say-ing it was a public moneywhich could not be used forwaving off loans.

Javadekar said the formsmeant to be filled to get loanwaver have 52 conditions andeven 15 per cent of farmerswere not illegible for it. Heclaimed 397 farmers havecommitted suicide inKarnataka in last six monthsunder the Congress-JD(S) rule.

Similarly, the BJP leadersaid Punjab has a debt of

�90,000 crore but the sanc-tioned amount in the budgetwas only �3,000 crore.Congress has “fooled” farmersin the five States, saidJavadekar. “The Congress isanti-farmers. It has duped

ryots in the name of waivingtheir loans,” he said.

To aggravate the prob-lems of the farmers, Banks, hesaid are demanding farmerspay-back their debts and havebeen served notices by banks.

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New Delhi: The BJP is of the view that the Supreme Courtshould hear the Ram temple land dispute case on a daily basisto deliver an early judgement, Union Minister PrakashJavadekar said on Monday. “Our wish is that there should bea daily hearing on that matter so that we have an early judge-ment,” he said responding to a question on the issue. PNS

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Acrucial trilateral meeting ofofficials from India,

Afghanistan and Iran on thes t r a t e g i c a l l y - i mp o r t a ntChabahar port was held onMonday during which theyagreed on the routes for tradeand transit corridors betweenthe three countries.

The first meeting of the fol-low-up committee for imple-mentation of the trilateralChabahar agreement betweenIndia, Afghanistan and Iran atthe level of Joint Secretary orDirector General was held inthe Iranian port city ofChabahar, the Ministry ofExternal Affairs (MEA) said.

On the occasion, India

Ports Global Limited companyopened its office and took overoperations at the ShaheedBehesti port at Chabahar.

“Positive and constructivediscussions were held betweenthe three sides on full opera-

tionalisation of the TrilateralTransit Agreement for inter-national transit and transportthrough the Chabahar Port.They agreed on the routes forthe trade and transit corridorsbetween the three countries,”the MEA said.

It was agreed to finalise atthe earliest, the protocol to har-monise transit, roads, customs,and consular matters.

During the meeting, it wasagreed to allow cargo move-ment at Chabahar usingTransports InternationauxRoutiers Convention provi-sions, the MEA said.

It was decided to hold anevent to promote and popu-larise the potential of Chabaharon February 26, 2019.

A study would also be ini-tiated for determining mea-sures to make the route attrac-tive, decrease logistic costs andpave the way for smooth oper-ationalisation of the ChabaharAgreement.

The next Follow-upCommittee meeting, followedby the second CoordinationCouncil Meeting at the level ofsecretaries or deputy ministers,will held in India.

In May 2016, India, Iranand Afghanistan inked a pactwhich entailed establishment ofTransit and Transport Corridoramong the three countriesusing Chabahar Port as one ofthe regional hubs for sea trans-portation in Iran, besidesmulti-modal transport of goods

and passengers across the threenations.

The port in the Sistan-Balochistan province on theenergy-rich nation’s southerncoast is easily accessible fromIndia’s western coast and isincreasingly seen as a counterto Pakistan’s Gwadar Port,which is being developed withChinese investment and islocated at distance of around 80km from Chabahar.

The Chabahar Port is con-sidered a gateway to goldenopportunities for trade byIndia, Iran and Afghanistanwith central Asian countriesbesides ramping up tradeamong the three countries afterPakistan denied transit accessto India.

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Sabarimala: Another bid bytwo women in their forties totrek to the hill shrine of LordAyyappa here was foiled onMonday by protesting devotees,a day after a similar effort by agroup of 11 women failed.

The attempt by the twowomen — Bindu (42), aCPI(ML) activist fromKoyilandy in Kozhikode dis-trict, and Kanakadurga (44),said to be a civil suppliesemployee from Angadipuramin Malappuram — came after11 women activists of aChennai-based outfit were pre-vented from reaching the shrineand chased away by devoteeschanting Ayyappa mantras onSunday.

A case has been registeredagainst 150 people for riotingand causing obstruction, policesaid. Though the police at firstgave them protection and triedto take them to the templedespite protests, they soonrealised that it was dangerousand advised them to abandontheir plans. The two women,who reached Pamba at around4 am, faced massive protestsfrom devotees at Apachimeduand Marakootam, about onekm from 'Sannidhanam' (tem-ple complex), as they werebeing escorted by police.

Ayyappa devotees surged inlarge numbers to the narrowpathway while the women werebeing escorted, and there was aminor scuffle with police forover an hour. Police tried toevict the pilgrims who shouted"go back" and chanted Ayyappamantras and a tense situationprevailed with the restive devo-tees showing no signs of back-ing off.

Seeing the growing numberof protesters, including young

children, and to prevent the sit-uation from getting out ofhand, the women were advisedto return by the police.

Though both women, whohad trekked about 4.5 km, ini-tially insisted they would offerprayers at the shrine,Kanakadurga complained ofuneasiness shortly thereafterand fainted and had to berushed to Pamba hospital,police said.

Bindu was also taken to thehospital. Both were later shift-ed to the Kottayam medical col-lege hospital. A cameraman ofa Malayalam TV channel wasinjured in a the scuffle between

media personnel and policewhen the former tried to talk tothe two women when theywere being moved to the hos-pital.

Bindu told reporters thatboth were fine and there wereno health issues and it was onlya ploy by police to shift them tothe hospital to prevent themfrom reaching Sannidhanam.

While Industries MinisterEP Jayarajan insisted that theGovernment would not takeany stand which will destroy thepeace in Sabarimala,Opposition Congress hit out atthe Left Government, saying itwas playing a "double game".

"The protestors are behav-ing like Taliban militants,"Jayarajan said.

Attacking the StateGovernment, Opposition leaderRamesh Chennithala said itwas playing a "double game."

"What was witnessed inSabarimala on Sunday andMonday is a drama, which is aninsult to Kerala, police andpeople of the State," he said.

Senior Congress leader andformer Chief MinisterOommen Chandy said theGovernment's interest was toput up a "women's wall" fromKasaragode toThiruvananthapuram,

Flood relief and rehabilita-tion, Sabarimala pilgrimageseason are not matters whichare of any concern of theGovernment, he told reporters.

Chief Minister PinarayiVijayan, earlier this month,had announced that the'Women's Wall' would beformed on January 1 from thenorthern district of Kasaragodeto the southern most district ofThiruvananthapuram "to

demonstrate the secular andprogressive mindset of thestate".

BJP State president P SSreedharan Pillai said the partywas waging a 'Dharma Yudh'(religious war) and until theGovernment protects the faithof Hindus, the protests wouldcontinue. CPI(M) veteran V SAchuthanandan wanted theGovernment to arrest thosewho protested in front of thehouses of the two women.

Earlier, Bindu told reportersthat the government shouldimplement the September 28Supreme Court verdict andthey be allowed to go to theshrine.

The women said they hadnot asked for any police pro-tection. "The Supreme Courthas given a verdict. So it is thegovernment's duty to help usclimb the hills," they said.

Some BJP workers raisedslogans at Thiruvanathapuramrailway station against threewomen activists of "Manithi"who were returning to TamilNadu this afternoon.

The three had come toThiruvanathauram reportedlyto meet the Chief Minister, aday after 11-members of theoutfit unsuccessfully tried tomake it to the Ayyappa shrineon Sunday.

However, since Vijayan wasaway at Kozhikode, the meet-ing did not take place, officialsources said. Since the topcourt verdict, no women in the10-50 age group, who are tra-ditionally barred from enteringthe shrine, have been able toenter the 'sannidhanam' andoffer worship to the presidingdeity Lord Ayyappa, who is a"Naishtika Brahmachari"(perennial celibate). PTI

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Patna: In a remark that couldtrigger fresh speculation aboutrift within RJD national presi-dent Lalu Prasad’s family, hiselder son Tej Pratap Yadav onMonday made it clear that hewould not shy away fromassuming the leadership of theparty if given a chance.

Yadav was responding toqueries from journalists at theRJD State headquarters here,after beginning a daily 'JantaDurbar' programme.

He had a week ago declaredthat he would henceforth takeactive interest in the partyaffairs.

Why not, Yadav shot backwhen asked if he was ready totake over the reins of the partyif the need arose. He also has-tened to add The leadershipvests with the people and I amhere to serve them.

The RJD MLA and formerBihar Minister had been in aprolonged state of reclusionafter filing a petition seekingdivorce from his wife of sixmonths as he has been miffedover the refusal of his family toback his decision.

He was last week allotted abungalow by the Nitish KumarGovernment about a kilometreaway from the residence of hismother Rabri Devi, where hisfather also used to live prior tohis imprisonment in a fodderscam case, as he was reported-ly reluctant to live with his fam-ily members.

After announcing the com-mencement of his daily 'JantaDurbar' programme at the par-tys Veerchand Patel Marg officeon Twitter, Prasad spent close

to four hours inside the cham-ber that had been reserved forhis father, sitting on his chair,listening to grievances of partysupporters.

Responding to queries ofjournalists afterwards, he said"The Janta Durbar has beenstarted at the party headquar-ters but I will be similarly hold-ing such darbars at variousplaces including at my assem-bly constituency Mahua. I donot wish to cause inconve-nience to our supporters livingaway from Patna.

There are speculations thatthe mercurial elder son of Lalu-Rabri has been feeling uneasywith the growing clout ofyounger but more savvy broth-er Tejashwi Yadav, who hasemerged as the partys de factoleader in the absence of theirfather.

Notably after their simul-taneous electoral debut in the2015 assembly polls Tej Pratapwas awarded with a cabinetberth but Tejashwi was appoint-ed the Deputy Chief Minister.

After the party lost powerbecause of Chief Minister NitishKumars exit from the rulingalliance, Tejashwi was desig-nated the leader of Oppositionin the State Assembly. PTI

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Bengaluru: JD(S) supremo andformer Prime Minister HDDeve Gowda on Monday dis-missed any threat to the rulingcoalition headed by his son HDKumaraswamy after the recentCabinet rejig.

The Government was sta-ble and the alliance will effi-ciently fight the 2019 Lok Sabhapolls, he told reporters.

"Nothing willhappen...Why do you havedoubts? It is all your (media)creation," Gowda said inresponse to a question abouttroubles for the coalitionGovernment after the Ministryexpansion and reshuffle onSaturday.

Pointing out that there aresenior leaders and high com-mand in the Congress to resolveall issues, he said "don't worry,the coalition Government willwork efficiently."

"We (alliance partners) willfight efficiently during parlia-ment polls, there are noissues...I'm saying there is notrouble for coalitionGovernment," Gowda added.

Kumaraswamy on Saturdayhad expanded his six-month-old Cabinet, inducting eightmembers from the Congress inthe much-awaited exercise,while dropping two Ministers.

The rejig was marked byrumblings of dissidence, asmany senior Congress MLAswere upset over their exclusion.

The JD(S) was not part ofthis round of Cabinet expansion.

Asked when JD(S) will fillvacant slots under its quota, theparty patriarch said "JD(S) is asmall party and whatever weget, it is great for us, we don'thave any dispute."After therecent cabinet expansion,Kumaraswamy Cabinet'sstrength now stands at 32. PTI

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Jaipur: Seeking to balance casteand regional factors, theRajasthan Cabinet was onMonday expanded with as manyas 23 Ministers — 13 Cabinetand 10 Ministers of State —being sworn in, a week afterChief Minister Ashok Gehlotand Deputy Chief MinisterSachin Pilot took oath,

Eighteen legislators includingSubhash Garg of RLD are firsttime Ministers, while the otherfive have held ministerial postsearlier, as efforts were made tohave a mix of young faces andexperienced legislators from bothGehlot and Pilot camps.

The Cabinet includes onewoman, Mamta Bhupesh, and aMuslim face, Saleh Mohammad.

Portfolios of the Ministersare yet to be allotted.

Pilot said the formation ofthe Cabinet reflects a balancebetween age and experience,caste and different geographicalregions.

"It is a balanced Cabinet. Wehave a lot of people who are beinggiven chance for the first time andalso some who got experience inearlier Congress Governments.So it is a balance between geo-graphical regions, different com-munities, and between experi-ence and age," Pilot told PTI.

"It is a forward looking,fully charged energetic Cabinet.We have added 23 Ministers toour existing strength and theGovernment is fully equipped todeal with the challenges andexpectations people have fromus,” he said.

Of the 23 newly inducted

Ministers, Shanti KumarDhariwal, Master Bhanwar LalMeghwal, Pramod Jain Bhayaand Parsadi Lal Meena wereMinisters in former CongressGovernment (2008-13) whileBD Kalla was the Minister inCongress Government (1998-2003).

Both these Governmentswere led by Ashok Gehlot, whohas now become the chief min-ister of the State for a third time.

Apart from the member ofthe erstwhile royal family ofBharatpur and influential Jatleader of eastern RajasthanVishvendra Singh, HarishChoudhary, Lalchand Katariaand Govind Singh Dotasara areJat leaders who have found aplace in the Council ofMinisters. PTI

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Agartala: High alert will besounded along the interna-tional border in Tripura, hoursbefore the Bangladesh generalelection, as the BSF steps upefforts to avert any "untowardsituation" in the poll-boundcountry, a senior official saidhere on Monday.

Tripura shares 856-km-long border with the neigh-bouring country.

Bangladesh is set to go topolls on December 30. Pittedagainst the Sheikh Hasina-ledruling Awami League (AL)and its various allies is theBangladesh Nationalist Party(BNP) which had boycotted thelast parliamentary elections.

Security has already beenbeefed up in the border areasin Tripura to check infiltrationbids, the senior Border SecurityForce (BSF) official said.

"Our main objective is tocheck influx of anti-social ele-ments. We will ensure that lawand order is maintained along

the border to avoid any unpleas-ant situation in poll-boundBangladesh," said AK Yadav, theofficiating Inspector General(IG) of BSF, Tripura Frontier.

Talking to reporters, Yadavclaimed that militancy hasbeen largely contained inTripura owing to persistentefforts by security forces overthe past few years.

"Law enforcement agen-cies of Bangladesh have alsoadopted a zero tolerance atti-tude to anti-Indian activities ontheir soil and our joint effortshave paid off well," he said.

The IG, however, cau-tioned against militant activi-ty in the border areas, given thefact that Bangladesh lawenforcement agencies havedemolished their hideouts inthe past few months.

"The militants oftenbefriend local people or try andmake inroads into the countrywith the help of their relativesresiding here," he said. PTI

Muzaffarnagar (UP): The SpecialInvestigation Team probing the2013 Muzaffarnagar riots is yet toget the permission of UttarPradesh Government to prosecutethe accused, which include severalMLAs and MPs, in around 20 riotscases.

According to sources in theSpecial Investigation Team (SIT),the State Government has notresponded to the investigativeagency's request of initiating legalproceedings against the accusedunder IPC Section 153(A)(offence committed in place ofworship) since the last five years.

The SIT had sought permis-sion from the State Governmentto prosecute the accused forallegedly making hate speechesduring the riots in about 20 cases,including the Kutba mass killing,they said.

The police had registeredcases against BJP MLA UmeshMalik, BJP MP Bhartendu Singh,Hindutva leader Sadhvi Prachiamong others over their allegedrole in the riots.

It is alleged that the accusedparticipated in a 'mahapanchayat'at Nagla Mandor and incited vio-lence through their speeches dur-ing the riots. PTI

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Taking a cue from Congresspresident Rahul Gandhi

and indirectly calling PrimeMinister Narendra Modi“Chowkidar Chor hain”, a bel-ligerent Shiv Sena presidentUddhav Thackeray on Mondaywarned the Government on theRam Mandir issue, saying thatHindus would teach the BJP alesson if it did not wake upfrom its slumber and keep itspromise of building the Ramtemple at Ayodhya.

Invoking the “Jai Jawan,Jai Kisan” slogan, Uddhavcharged that the ModiGovernment had cheated sol-diers through the Rafale scamand had taken the farmers fora royal ride through the cropinsurance scam. “When wetalk Jai Jawan, we see scam inthe purchase of Rafake air-craft. When we talk about JaiKisan, we have in front of uscrop insurance scam.(Journalist-tuned-activist) PSainath has said that the cropinsurance scam is of the samemagnitude as the Rafale scam.

That being the case, do youexpect us to back theGovernment that committedsins, merely on the Hindutvaissue?,” the Sena presidentasked.

Addressing a huge publicrally in the temple town ofPhandarpur in westernMaharashtra, Uddhav casti-gated the Modi Governmentat the Centre and BJPGovernment in the State on ahost of issues, including RamMandir, Rafale and cropinsurance scams, the BJP sur-rendering to Nitish Kumarand Ram Vilas Paswan, thePrime Minister’s promise todouble the agriculturalincome, failure to extend relief

to drought-affected farmers inthe State, snooping notifica-tion efforts to bring in unde-clared emergency in the coun-try, failure to protect cow,violence on the issue of cowprotection and the DevendraFadnavis Government’s failureto implement the �35,000crore farm loan waiverscheme.

Uddhav made an indirectpassing reference to“Chowkidar Chor hain”, whenhe spoke about the severedrought prevailing inMaharashtra. “I had recentlygone to a village in Beed dis-trict where I saw a tree eatenaway by insects. I could noteven recognise it was a lemontree, till an old farmer told meabout it. This was the first timeI was seeing such a sick lemontree. The old man told me thatthere was a time we would use lemon juice to insects but the same lemon tree hasbeen eaten away by insects.Such things do happen incountry where these chowki-dars have turned thieves inthese strange days”.

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leader Nirupam Sen, whosetenure as West Bengal’sIndustry Minister saw rapidindustrial growth in the Statebut also the exit of the TataNano project after violentprotests, died here on Mondayafter a prolonged illness, fami-ly sources said. He was 72.

The former politburomember of the party is survivedby wife, a son and a daughter.

Sen passed away at 5.10 amfollowing a cardiac arrest, hos-pital sources said.

West Bengal Chief MinisterMamata Banerjee, who hadspearheaded the anti-landacquisition movement inSingur, and CPI(M) generalsecretary Sitaram Yechury con-doled the death of the Marxistleader.

The state government hasannounced a half-day holidayin educational institutions andoffices on Monday as a mark ofrespect to the departed leader.

The former state Commerceand Industry minister was on lifesupport system after his healthcondition deteriorated in earlyDecember and had been criticalsince then. PTI

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Muzaffarnagar: An accused in the 2013Muzaffarnagar riots was found deadunder mysterious circumstances atSikheda village here, police said onMonday.

Sodan Singh's body was found onSunday evening hanging from the ceil-ing of a room, which housed a tube well,they said.

The body was sent for postmortemand the matter is being investigated,police said.

Singh's son has lodged a complaint

at the local police station and allegedthat his 60-year-old father was mur-dered, they said.

Based on the complaint, a case wasregistered against Anup, Rajesh, SunilKumar and Ramgopal, police said.

The communal clashes inMuzaffarnagar and adjoining areas inAugust and September 2013 hadclaimed more than 60 lives while over40,000 people were displaced.

Singh was also named as an accusedin a sexual harassment case.

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Maharashtra may emerge asthe first State in the coun-

try where the constituents of‘Mahagathbandhan’ will form agrand Opposition alliance totake on the BJP in the forth-coming Lok Sabha polls.

The leaders of theOpposition Congress and NCP,which are the two main parties,said on Monday that they hadarrived at a broad consensus onthe sharing of seats for the LokSabha polls.

“We (NCP, Congress andother allies) have held discussions on seat sharing.The alliance is being firmed

up,” NCP president SharadPawar said.

Maharashtra’s ChiefMinister and senior Congressleader Prithviraj Chavan saidthat the talks over the formationof a grand Opposition alliancewere in final stages. "We areworking on it (the formation ofan alliance). We have had sev-eral meetings. We would be hav-ing a few more meetings in thecoming days. We expect to for-malise the alliance soon," he said.

Apart from the Congressand NCP, the other constituentsinclude include Peasants andWorkers’ Party and HitendraThakur-led Bahujan VikasAghadi.

Chavan also said that thetalks were also on with PrakashAmbedkar-led BharipaBahujan Mahasangh (BBM)"We want that they should bewith us," he said.

What is coming in the wayof the BBM agreeing to be apart of the grand Oppositionfront is its alliance withAsauddin Owaisi led All IndiaMajlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen(AIMIM). The two parties hadcontested the TelanganaAssembly elections in alliancewith the K ChandrasekharRao-led TRS. Rao has beenrooting for forming a non-Congress, non-BJP front for theLok Sabha polls.

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Lucknow: Union Minister Ravi ShankarPrasad appealed to the Supreme Courton Monday to fast-track the hearing ofthe Ayodhya title suit, stressing if it canhappen in the Sabrimala issue why canit not be done to resolve this long pend-ing matter.

The Union Minister for law andJustice was speaking at the inaugurationof the 15th National Conference of AkhilBharatiya Adhivakta Parishad here.

He said, "I appeal to the SupremeCourt, in my personal capacity, to hearthe Ram Janmbhoomi issue at a fast-track court for a prompt disposal of thecase".

"When the Supreme Court can giveits verdict on the Sabrimala Temple casepromptly, why is the Ram Janmbhoomiissue pending for the past 70 years," he

said.Supreme Court Justice M R Shah,

Chief Justice of the Allahabad HighCourt Govind Mathur were amongothers present at the event.

The minister also said "why shouldwe worship Babar".

Showing a copy of the Constitution,he said, "There is a mention of Ram,Krishna as well as Akbar but there is nomention of Babar... But if we talk aboutsuch things in the country, a differentkind of controversy is raised."

He also talked about bringing an allIndia judicial services system forappointment of judges in future.

He appealed to the members of theAdhivakta Parishad to ensure that thecases related to the poor and needy peo-ple are heard promptly. PTI

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Banihal (J&K): The PDP on Monday sufferedanother setback when its senior leader and for-mer bureaucrat Bashir Ahmad Runyalannounced his decision to quit the party.

Runyal, a former IAS officer who wasRamban district president and State secretaryof the PDP, had joined the party prior to the2014 Assembly polls after his retirement and hadunsuccessfully contested the elections fromBanihal constituency.

"I have tendered my resignation from thebasic membership of the party and I am fight-ing the upcoming assembly elections as an inde-pendent candidate," he told reporters here.

Runyal was accompanied by BJP leaderShowkat Javaid Daing who also announced hisresignation from the basic membership of thesaffron party.

"We have decided to join hands in the larg-er interest of the development of our area whichwas ignored by the previous PDP-BJPGovernment," he said.

Daing had also unsuccessfully contested thelast Assembly elections on BJP ticket fromBanihal constituency which was won byCongress candidate Vikar Rasool Wani. PTI

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Shillong: Authorities in Meghalaya's EastJaintia Hills district on Monday temporarilysuspended operations to rescue 15 minerstrapped in a 370-foot-deep illegal coal mine inKsan area of Lumthari village since December13.

The exercise will resume once more pow-erful pumps are made available to districtauthorities, district Deputy Commissioner, FM Dopth, told PTI.

The miners were trapped in the illegal pitafter water from nearby Lytein River gushedinto the mine.

About 20 miners on December 13 enteredthe quarry owned by Krip Chullet. After reach-ing the bottom of the pit, they entered hori-zontal manholes, often termed as 'rat-holes', aseach just about fits one person.

Five persons were able to climb out of theflooded mine, leaving the others behind.

"We have temporarily suspended pumpingof water out of the mine as the exercise did notyield any positive result. The water level has notsubsided," Dopth said.

NDRF assistant commandant S K Singhsaid the current water level in the mine shaftis about 70 feet. PTI

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Mathura (UP): Former VHP presidentVishnu Hari Dalmia, one of the threemajor exponents of the RamJanmabhoomi agitation, has been admit-ted to the ICU in a Delhi hospital.

Dalmia has been kept in the ICU inApollo Hospital, Kapil Sharma, secretaryof the Shri Krishna Janmasthan SevaSansthan, said.

The nonagenarian is the trustee ofthe Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Nyas andmember of Kendriya MargdarshakMandal, Sharma said.

With veteran VHP leaders AshokSinghal and Giriraj Kishore, Dalmiaplayed a major role in the agitation.

The Babri mosque was demolishedon December 6, 1992, by 'kar sevaks',who had converged as part of the move-ment by the BJP and Hindu outfits for

a Ram temple atthe disputed site.

The SupremeCourt is scheduledto take up a batchof petitions forhearing in theR a mJanmabhoomi-Babri Masjid titledispute case onJanuary 4.

The bench is likely to constitute athree-judge bench for hearing as many as14 appeals filed against the 2010Allahabad High Court judgement, deliv-ered in four civil suits, that the 2.77-acreland be partitioned equally among threeparties — the Sunni Waqf Board, NirmohiAkhara and the Ram Lalla. PTI

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Page 8: ˇ0 12# . 11. % -./0ˆ# ˘ˇˆ˙ ˇ˝˛˚˜ !ˆ #ˇ ˆ˝#˜˘$!#%%#˜˛ˆ˙ %#˙...Delhi,” tweeted NCP president Sharad Pawar. AICC sources in Delhi said the performance of the two

When a scientist, whobasked for decades in theglory of a technologythat ‘rescued’ India fromstarvation, says that the

green revolution was a failure and theclaims made for generation nextGenetically Modified (GM) crops areutterly bogus, the shock waves are like-ly to resonate for a long t ime.Unsurprisingly, “modern technologies forsustainable food and nutrition security”by geneticist PC Kesavan and agriculturescientist MS Swaminathan (CurrentScience, Vol. 115, No. 10, November 25,2018), has set the cat among the pigeons.

Given the sharp rebuttal by angry sci-entists, the article merits scrutiny.Kesavan-Swaminathan state that none ofthe modern technologies, aimed atboosting food production, including theGreen Revolution of the 1960s, is sustain-able because of “adverse environmentaland social impacts”. The Bt and HT (her-bicide-tolerant) crops are highly unsus-tainable, cause environmental damage,exhibit “genotoxic effects” and havefailed to achieve “the original objectiveof reducing the need for chemical pes-ticides”. Swaminathan claims he warnedabout the ecological consequences of theGreen Revolution at the Indian ScienceCongress, Varanasi, in 1968. This is hard-ly known even today and does notmatch his public positions, especially thepromotion of GM crops, in recent years.

The gene-based Green Revolutionreduced the height of wheat and rice cropswithout altering the length of the grain-bearing panicle, hoping that these dwarfand semi-dwarf plants could uptake highlevels of chemical fertilisers and water,and produce greater number of heavygrains. This high-input technology ofinorganic chemical fertilisers, chemicalpesticides and fungicides needed copiousirrigation with groundwater drawn withthousands of pumps (electricity wasgiven free). Some of these high-yieldingvarieties were grown continuously overlarge areas, displacing several locallyadapted varieties and landraces, leadingto loss of biodiversity, while being moresusceptible to pests and diseases withpotential for widespread failure.

Kesavan-Swaminathan claim it “wasalready known that chemical inputsexert deleterious effects on soil andwater”, which constitute the ecologicalfoundations of sustainable agriculture.Given the extent of soil and water degra-dation, and the explosion of health epi-demics among the population, we needa White Paper on which authorities knowabout the ill-effects of chemical agricul-ture and let it be extended all over thecountry, barring the hill regions. In theWest, private companies are being suedfor suppressing data that exposed the poi-

sonous effects of glyphosate;India must also fix responsi-bility. Swaminathan says hewarned that the GreenRevolution was showing‘yield fatigue’ by the late1980s and reached peakdecline by the mid-1990s.

Modern biotechnologyusing recombinant DNA (r-DNA) allows genes fromwidely different species to be‘inserted’ into another species.This is so undesirable andfraught with danger that oneis astonished it never raisedmoral qualms with scientistsworldwide. As Kesavan-Swaminathan now admit, theproblem with genetic engi-neering is that all molecularand cellular events triggeredby the process are not yetunderstood. As the cost of GEseed, like Bt cotton, andinputs, are exorbitant com-pared to non-GE seeds, smalland marginal farmers cannotwithstand financial losses ifcrops fail for any reason.

GE organisms have shownmany ‘unintended’ effects, rais-ing health safety concerns.Calgene Company’s ‘FlavrSavr’ tomato, the first GE foodcrop in the US, was withdrawnin barely two years in the late1990s after stomach lesionsdeveloped in experimentalrats. GE failed in L-tryptophan,causing the deaths of 37 peo-ple and paralysis in about

1,500 people. Hence, Kesavan-Swaminathan insist that “theassumption of ‘substantialequivalence’ to give marketapproval to genetically modi-fied (GM) crops is whollyunscientific and extremelydangerous”. Ironically, all argu-ments in favour of commercialcultivation of GM Mustard reston equivalence.

The duo debunk claimsthat hybrid Bt-cotton has ledto an unprecedented increasein India’s cotton production.According to Keshav Kranthi,former Director, CentralInstitute for Cotton Research,Nagpur, from 2008 onwards,Bt-cotton yield stagnated ataround 500 kg/ha and may belower at present, despite largeincreases in the area underBt-cotton cultivation. Pestresistance to Bollgard II wasalready evident in 2008 andsecondary pests are a seriousconcern. As Kranthi observes:“Bt-cotton was supposed tohave conferred two majorbenefits to cotton production:(a) high yields due to effectiveprotection of bolls from boll-worm damage and (b) reduc-tion in insecticides recom-mended on bollworm control.Official data show that noneof these promises was kept inthe past ten years in India”.

The Union of India in itscounter affidavit in the DelhiHigh Court (in WPCC No.

12069 of 2015), correlatedfarmer suicides with failure ofBt-cotton. Simultaneously,leading American cotton sci-entists, Gutierrez and co-work-ers, showed that farmers’annual suicide rates in rainfedareas are directly related toincreases in Bt-cotton adop-tion (ie costs). Indian dataestablishes the failure of Bt-cotton due to rising resis-tance, hybrid policy and sec-ondary pests.

Blaming Monsanto is notenough. Why did StateGovernments allow poorfarmers to incur debt fromprivate money-lenders (notcovered by loan waivers) andgrow high-input food and/orcash crops in rainfed areas?The failure of these crops trig-gered farmer suicides yearafter year, yet no State agricul-ture Ministry ever told poorfarmers to grow hardy cropsand practice sustainable agri-culture. In irrigated areas,farmers were not educatedabout the soil and water pol-lution caused by chemicalfertilisers and pesticides.

The Supreme Court-appointed Technical ExpertCommittee had recommend-ed a total ban on HT-crops.Given the failure of Bt-cottonand rising health concernswith Bt-crops, Kesavan-Swaminathan support the banon commercialisation of Bt-

brinjal, imposed by JairamRamesh, then Union Ministerfor Environment , Forestsand Climate Change. TwoParliamentar y StandingCommittees (of 2012 and2017) concluded that regula-tors failed to uphold rigorousand independent test proto-cols for GMOs and conflictsof interests hampered properregulation.

All HT-crops of corn, soyand cotton are resistant toroundup, whose active ingre-dient is the herbicideglyphosate, which was classi-fied as a group 2A carcinogenby the World HealthOrganisation’s InternationalAgency for Research onCancer, in 2015. Today,Argentina suffers significantbirth defects and cancers inHT-soy regions. After theCalifornia Supreme Court’sverdict on Roundup’s link tocancer, Kesavan-Swaminathanadvocate that Deepak Pental’sHT-mustard hybrid DMH-11,tolerant to glufosinate, must bebanned as the genotoxic glu-fosinate is as hazardous asglyphosate. They add thatIndia has several mustard vari-eties and hybrids that out-yieldDMH-11. This is what activistshave consistently argued.

(The writer is SeniorFellow, Nehru MemorialMuseum and Library; theviews expressed are personal)#�%�������)�����#��*%)#+

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Sir — It has been more than fourmonths that the President ofIndia, on August 11, accordedhis assent to the Criminal Law(Amendment) Act, 2018, aspassed by both Houses ofParliament. It is, thus, now dulyan Act of Parliament.

This Act, inter alia, amends,rather strengthens the penalprovisions as regards the offenceof rape of women below 16 and12 years of age. It also amendsSection 376(1) by increasingthe minimum term of imprison-ment to 10 years as againstseven years hitherto ie beforeApril 21, 2018, when this law gotpromulgated as an Ordinance bythe President of India.

But unfortunately, till date,no law-maker has even takennote of a glaring discrepancyexisting in Section 376(1) of theIndian Penal Code, which laysdown that “Whoever, except inthe cases provided for in sub-section (2), commits rape, shallbe punished with rigorousimprisonment of either descrip-tion for a term”.

Hemanth KumarHaryana

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Sir — This refers to the editori-al, “Snooping silently” (December24). Raising the spectre of anOrwellian state and triggering apolitical storm, it is unfortunatethat the Centre has named nineCentral agencies and the Delhipolice as those authorised tointercept, monitor and decrypt

information transmitted by orstored in any computer.

Of course, the Governmentand the BJP have claimed that thisis only a routine gazette notifica-tion of a legal provision that cameinto force since 2009, highlight-ing that the clause was brought inby the UPA. The Government’sdefence that it has basically mod-ified an earlier order to the sameeffect is a weak one. The language

of this order allows any of theseagencies to demand access to datastored in computers of any kind.Since the previous rule wasframed in 2009, there has beenconsiderable clarity on the statusof privacy in India’sConstitutional scheme of things.

The Supreme Court hadruled, in a unanimous, nine-bench finding in August 2017,that the right to privacy is a fun-

damental right, dismissing theGovernment’s plea that theConstitution does not offer sucha right.

JS AcharyaHyderabad

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Sir — For Christians, Jesus Christis the messenger of god. As wecelebrate Christmas not onlyChristians but even non-Christians remember, with duereverence, the son of god, whosuffered the terribly painful deathon the Cross to deliver humani-ty. The spread of love and peaceamong mankind is the suprememessage of Christmas.

Most people know thatChristians celebrate Christmas asthe birthday of Jesus Christ, butthis day means much more. Itmeans having fun with yourfamily, spending time with them,seeing beautiful Christmas lights,decorating the Christmas tree,spending time in prayers and eat-ing rich food and sweets.

Jubel D’CruzMumbai

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The State of Jammu & Kashmir is pass-ing through a very crucial phase.While Government agencies are work-ing diligently to restore normalcy in theState, vested interests, which include

pro-Pakistan sympathisers and soft separatists, aredetermined to ensure that the State remains in tur-moil. The modus operandi adopted by spoilers isto build a situation that alienates people and givesrise to an anti-Government mindset. In otherwords, an anti-Government perception is builtamong the public to promote their narrative ofthe Government being anti-Kashmiris. In such ascenario, media has an important role to play. Themanner in which an event is presented to theKashmiris and the nation at large, helps build per-ceptions to a large extent.

Let’s have a look at the recent Pulwama inci-dent which once again was an ugly attempt byspoilers to derail the process set in by theGovernor’s Administration to win over the youthand restore normalcy in trouble-torn southKashmir. Most media headlines read: ‘Seven civil-ians, three militants, one jawan killed in Pulwamagunfight.’ The vernacular Press crossed all limitsand chose to highlight National Conference leaderOmar Abdullah’s tweet, who described the inci-dent as a “massacre.” Local Kashmiri media, too,did not lag behind in arousing passions.

Both, technically and grammatically, there isnothing much wrong in the quoted headlines. Butfactually, it appears to be incorrect and wordedinappropriately. The same headlines should haveactually read: ‘Seven stone-pelters, three terror-ists killed and one jawan attained martyrdom inPulwama encounter.’ The usage of correct termi-nology helps build correct perceptions. Themedia needs to realise this. The second is a mat-ter of fact headline and portrays a better imageof the security forces who undertake these oper-ations as duty and service to their nation.

Terrorists are enemies of the nation and thosewho assist them are their sympathisers. Theydeserve no leniency. The nation needs to recog-nise the sacrifices made by soldiers and shouldbe indebted to the forces who are involved in anti-terror operations — be it in Kashmir, the North-East or in the Maoist heartland. It is time that themainstream leadership in Kashmir and the civilsociety start investing in the return of normalcy.It appears to be difficult because there arenumerous vested interests involved whose exis-tence, politically or otherwise, depends onKashmir remaining a melting pot.

But the majority, who has only been suffer-ing and has gained nothing from the ongoing tur-moil, is yearning for peace. At least for their sake,the need to change mindsets and give peace achance is essential. Kashmiris have been exploit-ed to the hilt by these power brokers who havegiven nothing to them except false and brokenpromises. The effect of the turmoil is equally beingfelt by other two regions of the State wheredemand for trifurcation is gaining momentum butit is not in the nation’s interest.

Rather than pacifying the public and preach-ing restraint, leaders, who have occupied the high-est chair in the State, issue provocative statements.Nothing could have been more ill-timed than thistweet of a former Chief Minister: “Protests

around encounter sites are now thenorm, not the exception. Why are weunable to learn how to handle them bet-ter?” Indirectly, the leader tried justi-fying the stone-pelting on our securi-ty forces and blamed them for not beingable to handle stone-pelting mobs whoare blood thirsty.

Another former Chief Ministertweeted, “No country can win a war bykilling its own people.” Even withoutgoing through the facts, this leaderblamed the Indian nation for the civil-ian causalities that occurred because theso-called ‘civilians’, who were actuallyfriends and sympathisers of the trappedterrorists, were hurling stone missilesat the soldiers. They were preparing toreturn to their barracks after a success-ful encounter with no collateral dam-age. In the bargain, they lost one of theircomrades who made the supreme sac-rifice to ensure that Kashmiri awam isnot troubled by the terrorists.

Rather than being indebted to themartyr and his family, these goonsdared to not only attack the jawans withstones, but also had the audacity toclimb on their vehicles and snatch thebodies of terrorists. How then can oursecurity forces be blamed for the civil-ian causalities? Human rights are uni-versal and applicable to everybody,including the soldiers.

Another tweet of the same ChiefMinister read: “South Kashmir has beenreeling under fear for the last sixmonths.” As if prior to that, when theleader was at the helm, south Kashmirwas a heaven. What does the leaderwant to convey? If at all south Kashmiris reeling under fear, it is due to the bar-baric jihadi terror unleashed by the ter-rorists, duly financed and supported byPakistan. Does the leader want southKashmir to be handed over on a plat-ter to the jihadis? Or does the leader

want the security forces to kill the ter-rorists and eliminate the terror supportnetwork? Was no lesson learnt from theunsuccessful experimentation of givingamnesty to stone-pelters who wereeventually recycled to strengthen theterror network? Why should terroristsbe referred to as militants? There is adistinct difference between a militantand a terrorist. What cause are these ter-rorists fighting for except furtheringPakistan’s agenda of “bleeding Indiathrough thousand cuts?” There is quin-tessential evidence to prove that whatis going on in Kashmir is not militan-cy but Pakistan-sponsored proxy war.

The entire terror infrastructureand network has the support ofPakistan, including arming, equippingand financing. Unfortunately, even theofficial handouts issued by the StateGovernment use the word ‘militant’and not ‘terrorist’, for reasons bestknown to the police and bureaucrat-ic machinery of the State. Hopefully,the Governor will take note of thisanomaly and issue directives for itsrectification.

It is a fact that civilians are sup-posed to be civilised. Certainly thoseusing stone-pelting to kill security per-sonnel deliberately cannot claim to becivilised. The truth is that there werethree heavily armed terrorists andseven lightly armed terrorists. All ofthem were killed in a mandated mil-itary operation conducted by thesecurity forces in an area declared“disturbed” by a competent civilianauthority.

All of them died of their own willand security forces cannot be heldresponsible or blamed for the same. Thethree heavily armed terrorists couldhave surrendered when appealed by thepolice and lived thereafter. They chosenot to do so out of their own will.

The seven should have used dis-cretion and stayed away from theencounter site. A thorough scrutiny oftheir call history revealed that theywere summoned to reach the site afterthe encounter began and that theycame from different places. Theywere not essentially locals. They weresummoned as part of an escape strat-egy, which TA soldier-turned-terror-ist Gowhar Thokar, had mastered andsuccessfully escaped from the securi-ty forces’ cordon on numerous occa-sions previously.

How can the jawan, who laiddown his life for the motherland, beclubbed with the terrorists, the nation’straitors and referred to as ‘killed’? Letnobody in this country harbour anydoubt that the martyrdom of jawans inthe line of duty cannot be belittled byusing wrong terminology. The jawans(term used for all ranks includingofficers) are not killed but they willing-ly die for a cause, which is neither hispersonal agenda nor his ideology. Helays down his life unflinchingly fornamak, naam and nishan and hiscountry without caring for his family.He is a martyr and deserves to bereferred to as such. There is no greatersacrifice known to man than to laydown one’s life in defence of the nation.A nation that fails to honour its mar-tyrs is bound to fail. In the words ofNapoleon Bonaparte, “It is the cause,not the death, that makes the martyr.”

Discretion is better part of valour.Insensitivity needs to be replacedwith apathy and care. Proper selectionand use of correct terminology willcertainly help the nation win the bat-tle of perceptions.

(The author is a Jammu-basedpolitical commentator and strategicanalyst. The views expressed are entire-ly personal)

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As we celebrate the birth anniver-sary of Mahamana MadanMohan Malaviya today — a

freedom fighter and a great son ofmother India who was born on this dayin 1861 — we must also rememberabout his phenomenal contributionand his vision for higher education ofthis country. Besides being a great edu-cationist, Malaviya was a socialreformer, who founded the BHU.

While the formation of the BHUholds the foremost expression of hisvision par excellence, his ideas on edu-cation remain highly relevant in thepresent scenario. The higher educationsystem as it exists today is marred byadministrative corruption, nepotismand promotion of vested interests, fail-ing institutional integrity and qualityresearch, managing cost and crumblinginfrastructure, poor student-faculty

ratio and apathy for talent. All of thesehave come at the cost of underminingnation-building efforts and the failureto respond and take along the palpa-ble amount of youth energy, driven bya sense of confidence and aspiration.

To put it on factual terms, a formerIndian Ambassador to the US told thiswriter: “Almost close to six billion dol-lar is the amount spent by Indians onlyon tuition fees at universities in the US”,emphasising on the importance ofhigher education among the presentgeneration. Faced with new challengesof ‘fiscal prudence’, the country’s high-er education sector reflects a sense ofdisillusionment. Contrarily, Malaviyadreamt of establishing an ‘ideal scheme’for the higher education that would actas a ‘foundational block’ for the creationof an inclusive, accessible, equitable anddiverse knowledge society. For him, allof this was above parochial interests.

Malaviya conceived a uniquemodel of education based on the val-ues of integration, harmony and peace,deriving from our rich cultural heritageand combining the same with science,reason and an inquisitive mind, muchlike the way he shaped and formed theBHU. This is very well expressed in the

motto of this pioneering institution,which suggests: “The end of all knowl-edge is the attainment of immortality.”For Malaviya, the essence of our edu-cation system must be “openness andacceptance” of noble thoughts from alldirections, and also sending out its ownmessage to the outer world.

Knowledge remains the biggestsource for balance of power in contem-porary times. In the past, India hasalways been recognised as an epitomeof ‘civilisational wisdom’, but at a timewhen the system is faced with seriouschallenges, Malaviya’s vision for edu-cation finds much relevance and con-templation today for both our leader-ship and educationists. The same wasechoed at the 2009 World Conferenceon Higher Education which noted that,“Higher education must pursue thegoals of equity, relevance and qualitysimultaneously.”

Malaviya emphasised that as thesystem fails to insulate itself from thechallenges of marketisation and glob-alisation, collective efforts must be putto protect our indigenous knowledge,tradition, culture and values. In searchof the new, we must not fall prey tocomplete Westernisation. Rather, we

must build a system combining tradi-tional wisdom with modern innova-tive thinking and scientific rationalitywith spiritualism. He believed thatIndia’s spiritual traditions, given its lib-eral and non-conformist beliefs, willalways attract philosophers, scholarsand educationist. As the urban-basedmiddle class look for inner peace, it hasmade deep inroads into the newly afflu-ent society. Rabindranath Tagore noted:“Is not the East the mother of spiritu-al humanity and does not the Westquite often turn their faces to thatserene mother, the East?”

Being a great votary of protectingvernacular languages and accessiblepublic education, Malaviya alwayswarned against the modern educationsystem becoming subservient to theforces of market and privatisation. Asour current system of education is facedwith financial crunch, Malaviya laidemphasis on higher public spending oneducation. Interestingly, while Chinaspends almost four per cent of its GDPon education, India remains muchbelow at 2.7 per cent of its GDP, as perlatest financial estimates.

For Malaviya, good education andcritical learning were the noble ways

towards self-realisation ie salvation ormoksha, which is considered as thesupreme duty for Hindus. He believedthat religion and education were inter-dependent and existed in harmonywith each other. The relation betweenboth, he argued, was going through anew change. In pursuit of serving thehumanity, it shall be build on the foun-dations of social charity, higher moral-ity and greater public good.

While addressing the second ses-sion of the Congress in Kolkata in 1886,Malaviya emphasised that to revi-talise our motherland, we need toimpart our young minds with educa-tion founded on Indian ideals, whichmust be combined with the richness ofscience and learning from the West.

Malaviya believed that thedemands of modern industry wouldmake it essential for India to intro-duce an extensive system of techni-cal and industrial education. The cen-trality of skill-based technical educa-tion was at the core of his educationscheme. His educational policy wasenvisioned on multi-disciplinaryresearch-based academic model. Forhim, modern universities were like‘power houses’, taking the young

minds away from misery, ignoranceand darkness to new levels of devel-opment and empowerment.

Malaviya very well understoodthe problem of unemployment andits relation with quality of education.Hence, his vision outlined the role fordeveloping the mind even with aver-age intelligence, based on impartingnew skills, technological tools andvocational training. For him, theframework of modern higher educa-tion should always address andrespond, keeping in mind societaltrends, nature of economy and demo-graphic composition.

In the present age, driven by con-sumerism and capitalism, Malaviya’svision of education, establishing it asthe most honoured value againstwealth, must form the guiding force toformulate and execute educationalpolicies. Nations that fail to learnfrom the vision of its great leaders aremost likely to remain in non-viable fan-tasy for long in the future. By carryingforward Malaviya’s vision and mission,we can surely pay tribute to him.

(The writer holds PhD from EastAsian Studies, JNU and teaches at theUniversity of Delhi)

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The Goods and Services Taxwas implemented w.e.f. 1st

July, 2017. It hasn't completedeighteen months of imple-mentation as yet. The GST hasbeen at the receiving end of alot of ill-informed and moti-vated criticism. What hasbeen its real performance?

The Pre-GST regimeIndia had the worst indi-

rect tax system anywhere in theworld. Both the Centre and theState Government were entitledto levy a set of taxes. Therewere seventeen taxes levied.An entrepreneur, therefore,faced seventeen inspectors,seventeen returns and seven-teen assessments. The rate oftaxation were exorbitantly high.The standard rate of VAT andexcise was 14.5% and 12.5%respectively. To this could beadded the CST and the cas-cading effect of tax on tax. Thestandard rate thus became 31%on a large number of com-modities. The assessees hadonly two options — either topay a high rate of tax or evadeit. Tax evasion was prevalent

to a large extent.India comprisedof multiple mar-kets. Each Statewas a separatemarket becausethe rate of taxcould be differ-ent. Interstatesales becameinherently inef-ficient becausetrucks had towait for hoursand days at theState borders.

The GST impact on 1stJuly, 2017

From the date of its imple-mentation, the GST changedthe situation radically. Allseventeen taxes were com-bined into one. The whole ofIndia became one market. Theinterstate barriers disappeared.Entry into the cities becameopen with abolition of theentry tax. States were chargingan entertainment tax rangingfrom 35% to 110%. This camedown radically. 235 items werebeing charged at either 31% taxor even higher. All except 10such items were brought downimmediately to 28%. The 10such items were brought downto even a lower rate i.e.18%.Multiple slabs were fixed tran-siently in order to ensure thetax of no commodity goes upradically. This contained theinflation impact. Mostaamaadmi items were placed inthe zero or 5% tax bracket.Returns became online; assess-ments will be online; multipleinspectors had disappeared.The States were guaranteedthat for the first five years theywill be ensured a 14% annual

revenue increase. The revenue trendsA frequently made com-

ment has been that the revenuepositon has been disappointing.The comment is based on aninadequate understanding ofboth the targets and the rev-enue increase. The targets setfor the State in the GST regimeis unprecedently high. Eventhough GST commenced on1st July, 2017, the base year forrevenue increase has been cal-culated is 2015-16. For eachyear a 14% increase is guaran-teed. Thus, even when 18months have not been fin-ished since the launch of GST,on this day every State has atarget of improving its revenuewith three 14% increases com-pounded annually over thebase year of 2015-16. This isclose to a 50% being reached inthe second year itself. It isalmost an unachievable target.Yet six States have alreadyachieved it, another seven arewithin a striking distance ofachieving it and only eighteenare still more than 10% awayfrom achieving it. By thethird, fourth and fifth year, asin the case of VAT, the abilityto increase revenues and clos-

ing the gap will substantiallyincrease. Those States whichdo not achieve the target of14% are paid out of the com-pensation cess. The require-ment of compensation cess inthe second year is expected tobe much lower than the firstyear. This increase in the taxcollection has to be factoredkeeping in mind the significantrate reduction which has takenplace in the GST. The reduc-tion in monetary termsamounts to about Rs.80000crores per year.Notwithstanding the substan-tial tax reduction, the GSTcollection in the first sixmonths of this year has showna significant improvement ascompared to the first year.The average monthly tax col-lected in the first year wasRs.89700 crore as compared toRs.97100 crore per month inthe second year.

The rate rationalisationWe were faced with a situ-

ation with a large number ofcommodities being taxed heav-ily in the pre-GST regime.The Congress legacy of indirecttax was a 31% tax. We tran-siently put them in the 28%slab. As the revenues kept

increasing, we started bringingdown the rates. Most of thecommodities have seen taxreduced. Today, barring tobac-co products, luxury vehicles,molasses, air-conditioners, aer-ated water, large TVs, and dishwashers, all 28 items have beentransferred from 28% slab to18% and 12% slab. Onlycement and auto parts areitems of common use whichremain in 28% slab. Our nextpriority will be to transfercement into a lower slab. Allother building materials havealready been transferred from28% to 18% and 12%. The sunis setting on the 28% slab.

Of the 1216 commoditieswhich are used, broadly 183 aretaxed at zero rate, 308 at 5%,178 at 12% and 517 at 18%.The 28% slab is now a dyingslab. Restaurants are beinglevied a tax compounded underthe composition of turnover at5%. Assessees with turnoverupto Rs.20 lakhs are exemptedfrom tax payment.Assesseesupto Rs.1 croreturnover can get a compositionby paying 1% tax. The com-position scheme for small ser-vice tax assessees is under con-sideration. Cinema tickets taxbetween 35% to 110% has beenbrought down to 12% and18%. The GST has helped incontrolling inflation. Evasionhas also come down.

The net effectLower rate of taxes,

increased tax base, higher col-lections, easy for trade and leastinterface in assessments with asignificant part of the tax ratio-nalisation over, the growthpercentage in the years to comewill increase. The transfor-mation has been done over a

period of 18 months. Anyabrupt transformation couldhave been either detrimental torevenue or to trade.

The GST CouncilThe GST Council has had

31 meetings. It is India's firstexperiment with the federalinstitution. It is a body that hasbehaved with utmost respon-sibility. Several thousand deci-sions, including legislativedrafting, rules drafting, notifi-cations, fixing initial rates andrationalising rates have all beentaken unanimously with con-sensus. The political noise out-side is inconsistent with theharmony inside the Council.

A personal thought withregard to the future road map

With the GST transforma-tion completed, we are close tocompleting the first set of rate ofrationalisation i.e. phasing out the28% slab except in luxury and singoods. A future road map couldwell be to work towards a singlestandard rate instead of twostandard rates of 12% and 18%.It could be a rate at some mid-point between the two.Obviously, this will take somereasonable time when the tax willrise significantly. The countryshould eventually have a GSTwhich will have only slabs of zero,5% and standard rate with luxu-ry and sin goods as an exception.

Epilogue Those who oppressed India

with a 31% indirect tax andconsistently belittled the GSTmust seriously introspect.Irresponsible politics and irre-sponsible economics is only arace to the bottom.

(The writer is UnionFinance Minister, Governmentof India. Views expressed in thearticle are personal.)

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Welcoming the move bythe GST Council to put

private security services underthe Reverse ChargeMechanism for charging ofGST, the Central Associationof Private Security Industry(CAPSI) Chairman KunwarVikram Singh has written toPrime Minister NarendraModi thanking him for pro-viding much-needed relief tolakhs of private security agen-cies.

"I have the honour toexpress our sincere gratitudeto you and the Ministry ofFinance for taking a decisionto bring Private SecurityServices under the ReverseCharge Mechanism for themanagement of the GST. Thishistoric decision will have farreaching positive impact onthe business growth of morethan 22,000 Private SecurityAgencies and 85-lakh work-force enjoying gainfulemployment in these estab-lishments. Your decision hasaverted the total collapse ofthe Private Security Industrywhich was getting throttleddue to GST," Singh said in hisletter to the Prime Minister.

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The rupee on Monday recov-ered by 4 paise to close at

70.14 against the US currency,aided by weak crude oil pricesand the dollar's losses in glob-al markets due to politicaluncertainty in the US.

Crude oil prices remainedbelow the $55 per barrel mark,strengthening the rupee senti-ment, a forex dealer said.

The dollar was weakagainst major currencies inglobal markets which support-ed the local currency, the deal-er said.

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HFCL awarded overseascontracts worth �148

crores by Larsen & Toubro(L&T) to set upTelecommunication Systemsfor Mauritius Metro Express &Dhaka Metro Mass RapidTransit System Projects

Himachal FuturisticCommunications Limited(HFCL) announced that it hasbeen awarded two contractstotalling �148 crores by L&T toexecute theT e l e c o m m u n i c a t i o nSystemsprojectsfor theMauritius Metro ExpressProject and for the DhakaMetro Mass Rapid TransitSystem.

The Mauritius MetroExpress Project is along a 26kmroute that will connectCurepipe to ImmigrationSquare in the capitalPort Louisand will feature 19 stations. TheDhaka Metro Mass RapidTransit System Project is alonga 20 km route and is an ele-vated metro rail system with 16Stations and a MaintenanceDepot, connecting Uttara andMotijheel.

The scope of work forHFCL includes,Design,Manufacturing, Supply,Installation, Execution, Testingand Commissioning andTraining for Communication

Network, Control &Monitoring (C&M)Systemwhich includesOperation Management &Control System (OMCS), VoiceCommunication System(VCS), Emergency HelpTelephony System (EHTS),Master Clock System (MCS),Closed Circuit Television(CCTV), PassengerInformation Display Signs(PIDS), Public Address System(PAS), Passenger InformationKiosks (PIK), Electronic AccessControl System (EACS) andSpares.

These overseas projects arethe first of their kind whichhave been awarded to HFCL,and are a recognition of itscapability in designing, inte-grating, installing and com-missioning complex systems intelecommunications for

Railways andMetros thathave to be exe-cuted withinwel l -def inedtime lines andmeet stringentoperating con-ditions. It hasbeen theendeavour ofthe Companyto expand itsbusiness out-reach beyondIndia and these

projects will provide a footholdto access similar markets over-seas.

Mahendra Nahata,Managing Director of theCompany said "TheCompany'sexperience from the threeongoing similar projects beingexecuted by it for AlstomServices India Private Limited,L&T Railways StrategicBusiness Unit, and ChinaRailway Signal &Communication for turnkeytelecommunication systemsonthe Eastern and WesternDedicated Freight CorridorsofDedicated Freight CorridorCorporation of India Limited(DFCCIL)will certainly helpthe Company in executing theMauritius Metro ExpressProject and the Dhaka MetroProject efficiently."

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Airports Authority of India(AAI) being the sole Air

Navigation Service (ANS)provider and operator ofAirports across the country isconsistently honoring the 2030Agenda for SustainableDevelopment. By implement-ing cost effective carbon miti-gation action to conserve envi-ronment and reduce its adverseimpact on the society and thelarger ecosystem, AAI is com-

mitted towards the reduction ofGreen House Gas (GHG).

The policy includes aframework to reduce emissionsand develop a Carbon Footprintmapping for the airport's ownemissions which are under itscontrol. In line with national aswell as global climate changeinitiatives, AAI has initiatedGHG management program atfour of these airports with anobjective of ensuring sustain-able development of the avia-tion industry.

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��� ��� Cranberries are often referred to as a ‘superfood.’ Half a cup of cranberries contains only 25 calories.

Cranberries are higher in antioxidants than other fruits andberries. They’re also lower in sugar than many other fruits, withonly four grams of natural sugar per cup.

The nutrients in cranberries have been linked to a lowerrisk of urinary tract infections, prevention of certain types ofcancer, improved immunefunction, and decreased bloodpressure. Research hasshown that the nutrientsin cranberries can helpslow tumourprogression, and thatthey can have apositive impact onprostate, liver, breast,ovarian, and colon cancers. Cranberries are highin Vitamin C, Vitamin E and also contain vitamin K,manganese, and a large array of phytonutrients. These arenaturally occurring plant chemicals that help to protect thebody from harmful free radicals. Continuous consumption ofcranberries can slow down the aging process because this fruitis rich in antioxidants.

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Recently, samples ofraw food liftedacross Chennai

have tested positive forcolistin-resistant bacteria,conforming to a global trend.Antibiotic-resistant bacteria are hiding infood and not just meat. This includeseverything from tomatoes to apples. Ofthe samples tested in the study, about46.4% were found to harbour the highly-resistant bacteria. Eating such contaminat-ed food every day can cause resistant bac-teria to invade the human gut. This willrender the host resistant to the powerfulantibiotic Colistin in case of an infection.

Colistin is called ‘holy water’ in thepractice of medicine. It is often the lastresort for patients who are extremely sick.Resistance to colistin is already an issuein clinical practice and there are estab-lished food origins in India.

Tips from Heart Care Foundation ofIndia

�Practice rational use of drugs antibi-otics

�Use when needed�Avoid broad spectrum antibiotics

without appropriate diagnosis�Prevent infections with the use of

vaccination and by improving basichygiene like hand hygiene and infectioncontrol techniques and sanitation inhealthcare as well as in the community

�Food industry must stop usingantibiotics routinely to promote growthand prevent disease in healthy animals toprevent the spread of antibiotic resistance.

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Why is it that somepeople feel the chillsand others don’t? Has

it something to do with thekind of food they eat? When wewere kids, my mother wouldalways make us eat certainkind of foods and veg-etables in winters.That helped us tokeep warm evenwhen we wereplaying out inthe cold.Here’s whatone can doand eat to keepwarm this win-ter season.

Eat root veggies.While children may notopen to eating carrots or whiteradish, cook vegetables withpotatoes. This will help to pro-vide the much-needed energy.

Use as much ginger as youcan — in tea or while cooking.

Use ginger freely. Using cinna-mon, saffron, clove and nutmegare good choices as well.However, it is important to usethese pieces in moderation asmany people have a sensitivestomach or are even allergic to

them. Check for anyallergies before

using these.Use sesame

oil on thebody. As atoddler, wewere given abody massagewith this oil.

Use the oilbefore taking a

shower. If you feelextra cold, rub the oil on

the feet before going to sleep.There is a reason why

amla juice and muraba areavailable during winters. Eatplenty of it to keep warm.

Finally, winter chills are here. Ifone is to believe the

weatherman, there are colderdays ahead.

ROSHANI DEVI shares homeremedies that can keep the

body warm

Adiscussion in the surgicaladvancements in the field ofrenal transplant was organised at

the Department of Urology and RenalTransplantion at Max Hospital, Saket.The conference — MaxTransplant-Surgicon 2018 —focused on managing intra-operative complications byshowcasing a live surgery.

The programme wasdesigned for knowledge andexperience sharing by variouseminent speakers on the latesttrends and treatment options for man-agement of renal ailments.

New emerging modalities in renaltransplant were discussed on transplantsurgery in multiple vessels, organ distri-bution in deceased donor — legal issues,complication in cadaver transplant, under-standing ABO incompatible renal trans-plant, role of newer immunosuppressants

and operation in difficult access for AVF.Live demonstration of laparoscopic

donor nephrectomy and robotic kidneytransplantation were the highlights.

“In the last few years, there have beenadvances in renal replacement and

organ support in terms of inno-vation and technology. Robot-assisted renal transplantationhas become useful as it resultsin quicker recovery, less painand smaller scar with quicker

healing. Unlike regular surgeriesfor kidney transplantation where

the patient receives the kidney througha larger muscle cutting process, roboticsurgery is conducted with only a smallincision and involves no cutting of mus-cle. Blood loss during surgery and scopefor human error are also minimised,” DrAnant Kumar, chairman, Urology, RenalTransplant, Robotics and Uro-Oncology,Max Super Speciality Hospital, Saket, said.

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���/�1'%)��#!$�+��)�#��Winters have begun and managing Diabetes can be an added

challenge for the Diabetic patient as, over the months of coldweather, diabetic patient’s blood glucose levels creep up much high-er than summer. Then changes in diet and exercise and the stressof the holidays can make managing blood sugar even more chal-lenging. However, with a few precautionary measures, you can getthrough the Diabetes with ease. These tips will help you to keepblood glucose levels under control during a cold snap.

�Keep testing your blood: The cold weather can leave you withcold hands which can make blood testing measurement moredifficult. Despite that, regular testing is a must as it will ensureto catch any highs, or lows, and keep your sugar levels under con-trol. If your hands are cold, try warming them up on a heateror with a towel or thick clothing over it, before doing your test.

�Keep your activity levels up: Freezing temperatures combinedwith holidays can make it difficult to exercise and stick to a healthymeal plan, and depression can threaten to derail your motiva-tion. Even just a little physical activity each day can help yourglucose levels in a number of supporting ways.

If the cold outside restricts your exercising, spend some ener-gy inside the home. Dancing, jumping, indoor aerobics, yoga,climbing the stairs and even a bit of household work will all getyour muscles working.

�Keep an eye on your diet: Colder weather can upset your dietin a number of ways. Normally, people tend to eat more duringthe winter. Your body may ask for more calories to fuel itselfagainst the cold, this is a natural response from the body. So just

make sure you don't overeat andstick to right foods.

�Keep illness at bay: Becomingill makes diabetes harder tocontrol. Prevent illnesses bykeeping yourself warm, eathealthily and keep a watch overyour sugar levels for any risingtrends in sugar levels.

�Keep the depression out inthe cold: Cold, unpleasantweather, a lack of sunlight andother day to day life’s worries canall contribute to a drop in moodover the colder months. If you

can keep to as much of the advice above, you’ll be in a good posi-tion to keep the winter blues at a greater distance. Having a dis-cussion with family and friends can make a real difference toyour mood.

�Proper foot care during winter: Keep your feet dry. When itcomes to your feet, rain, snow and slushy weather have some-thing in common that can cause dampness. Moisture that gath-ers between your socks and your feet and toes can form bacte-ria and that can lead to an infection. Use a moisturiser daily tokeep dry skin from itching or cracking. But, don’t moisturisebetween the toes-that could encourage a fungal infection.

�Avoid direct heat to your feet: The best way for people withdiabetes to minimise dryness and the chance of burning theirfeet is to keep direct heat away from that area.

�Beware of the flu: Diabetic patients are vulnerable to flu dur-ing winter. Catching a flu gets your body stressed which leadsto an increase in blood sugar level. Hence, this winter, keep your-self healthy by maintaining proper hygiene before eating or touch-ing anything so that the germs doesn’t get entered in your nerves.

�Stay hydrated: It is very essential to stay hydrated, both insideand outside during winter as cold weather makes your skin dryand dehydration can lead to a rise in blood glucose levels. Applymedicated moisturiser on doctor’s advice to keep your skin moist.

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New research has indicated that labels onpackaged foods such as nutrition facts,“low-sodium” or “fat-free” as well as calo-

rie counts on restaurant menus, have, to someextent, encouraged healthier eating choices in peo-ple. It also found that labelling reduced consumers’intake of calories by 6.6 per cent, total fat by 10.6per cent, and other unhealthy food options by 13per cent. Labelling also increased consumers’ veg-etable consumption by 13.5 per cent.

Obesity is on the rise in India, particularlyamong children. Overweight and obese childrenare predisposed to lifestyle diseases later in life.It is, thus, important to encourage healthy eat-ing habits at a younger age. A change in foodlabeling policy may discourage the public fromchoosing such food products not only for them-selves, but most importantly for their children.

Speaking about this, Padma Shri awardee,Dr KK Aggarwal, president, HCFI, said: “Thehealth ministry has made it mandatory for somemedicines to have a red vertical line on theirstrips to sensitise the public to the fact that thesemedicines are meant to be consumed only withthe doctor’s prescription. Along these lines, pack-ages of all food products that contain high lev-els of sugar, calories, salt and saturated fatsshould also carry a ‘red dot’ or a ‘red arrow point-ing upwards’ on the food label, which carries thenutritional content of that particular foodproduct as a symbol warning the consumer thatthe food product contains unhealthy amountsof fats, sugar and salt. This will perhaps encour-age people to opt for healthier alternatives.”

One example to understand food labelscould be: any food label which end with ‘ose’ issugar. Some examples are glucose, maltose,sucrose, fructose and galactose.

Adding further, Dr Aggarwal, said: “For peo-ple with diabetes, obesity and metabolic syn-dromes, eating sugar needs to be restricted.Therefore, every patient must know the foodlabels where sugar is present. Most people con-fuse sugar with glucose. Malta contains maltose,table sugar contains sucrose, fruits contain fruc-tose, and glucose available in the pharmacy con-tains glucose. If eaten in excess, all forms of sugarcan increase blood sugar in the body. They alsocan cause insulin resistance if the sugar is takenin the form of refined sugar or is rapidlyabsorbable form.”

������������Na in label means salt� ‘ose’ in a label means sugar (fructose, glucoseand maltose)�The top contents in the label contains the max-imum contents of that substance�Check both the serving size and the numberof servings found in a package or container�Foods containing 5 per cent of the daily value(DV) or less of a nutrient are low in that nutri-ent, and those that contain 20 per cent of theDV or more are high in that nutrient�Avoid foods that list multiple types of sugarsnear the beginning of the list. When choosingproducts containing grains, opt for those thatcontain a whole grain near the beginning of thelist rather than refined grains� Food labels can also help you become morefamiliar with standard serving sizes and helpwith portion control. Measure out one servingof a food at a time, so you can become familiarwith what that looks like

CHECK YOURFOOD LABEL

It is the season, of spendingtime with family and friendswhile indulging in feast andfestivities. Festive meals tendto be rich in fats, sugar and

carbohydrates. The sluggishnessone feels after indulging inChristmas feast (also known aspostprandial somnolence) is dueto consumption of foods thathave a high glycemic index.

Such foods quickly increaseblood sugar, which can induce aninsulin rush and thus make youfeel sleepy. While in most people,such an insulin spike would leadto a food coma, in people who arediabetic, serious health complica-tions can occur.

Here are a few things one cando to prepare a Christmas mealthat would be light on your heartwithout compromising on thetaste:

!"#�!$%�&�'(&)"It is better to avoid fried food

as much as possible, but whenrequired use MUFA rich oils to fryor sauté the food. MUFA, meaningMonounsaturated fatty acids, aremore heart friendly. MUFA rich oilssuch as peanut oil, mustard oil,canola oil, among others, help incontrolling high blood pressurewhich is a risk factor for many heartdiseases. They have also proven tobe helpful in preventing oxidationof bad cholesterol ‘LDL’, therebyreducing arterial inflammation.

%**+�##,-(.(!��#%)The best way to avoid over-con-

sumption of fatty foods is to balanceyour meal out with green vegetables.These can be in the form of sautéedvegetables or eating a variety of sal-ads. Since vegetables are rich in fibre,they can induce satiety which will

help you feel ‘full’ and thus, avoidover-eating. Incorporating nut suchas cashews, almonds, walnuts, andothers can also provide you withhealthy fats and good nutrition.

#%-"�%))#�/�(/(�-&(,"Another way to limit your

food intake is to reduce the pro-portion of your meal. The diningtable is always groaning under theweight of scrumptious Christmastreats which are hard to resist.Instead of abstaining fromindulging in the delectable foods,choose to eat everything but insmaller proportions. This way,you can indulge without over-eat-ing.

�#*!�#"%)- "!+%�&,-%0#Be vigilant in limiting the

amount of salt and sugar intakeduring this festive season. Reducing

the amount of salt in your diet helpsto decrease blood pressure whichreduces the risk of cardiovasculardiseases. Similarly, have controlover how much sugar you are con-suming to avoid a ‘sugar rush’.Increased consumption of sugar isalso associated with increased riskof heart disease. Use jaggery ormolasses instead of refined sugar.

#%-+((*�#%-Meat is rich in proteins but red

meats such as beef, pork andlamb have more saturated fats ascompared to chicken and fish.These saturated fats can increasethe risk of heart disease and car-diac arrest. On the other hand, fishis rich in Omega-3 fatty acids,which helps to reduce the risk ofheart failure.

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Post Christmas or New Year celebration,begin a damage control cleansing toease up the digestive issues, foggy brain,

bloating, bad breath and lethargy — all signsof a severely taxed body. Follow these sim-ple steps:

�Switch from coffee to green tea: Cut downon endless cups of coffee to give your livera chance to rest from clearing out all that caf-feine every day. Switch to green tea. It is okayto drink green tea if you are a caffeine addict,as green tea contains only a fraction of thecaffeine of black tea and coffee. Plus, they area delicious energy & mood booster.�Cut down on sugar: Too much sugar sup-presses the immune system making usmore susceptible to colds and flu. So, for awhile, cut down on desserts and sweeten upinstead with fresh fruits which contain nat-ural fruit sugars and all important nutrientssuch as Vitamin C which is crucial for stavingoff winter time bugs.�Keep yourself hydrated: Had your fill ofrich fatty and salty foods and alcohol? Yourbody is definitely severely dehydrated by now,so up your water intake. Have at least sevento 10 glasses of water each day (warm it a bitand have, if cold temperature is a deterrent).Water is an amazing detox tool. It helps dilutetoxins and waste products for their easydrainage from our body system, regulates andmaintain our body temperature, and alsohelps to clear excessive fats from our blood-

streams. Try this herbal concoction: boilsome cumin, coriander and fennel in waterand then sip through the day; this will wasup your tired stomach.�Eat plenty of fibre: Include brown rice,fresh fruits and vegetables. Spirulina and sea-weed are excellent detoxifying foods. Eat lotsof cruciferous vegetables, especially broccoli,cabbage, and cauliflower, as they are rich inglucosinolates, precursors to sulforaphane,a liver-friendly phytochemical that stimulatesdetoxifiction enzymes, helping to neutralizecancer-causing chemicals�Take Vitamin C: This helps the body pro-duce glutathione, a liver compound that dri-ves away toxins. Go for oranges, mausmbi,amla, strawberries, broccoli and guava.Incorporate lemon juice into your diet as itsacidic properties are great for cleansing thebody and it strengthens the liver.�Have probiotics: Probiotics will helpboost the good bacteria and restore healthydigestion. �Get moving: Lack of exercise makes ourcirculation sluggish, which results in a buildup of toxins. Even gentle exercise gets the cir-culation going, so wrap up warm and try a30 minutes walk at least twice a week. Yogais another wonderful way to gently detox.Also, learn to breathe right and deeply as thisallows oxygen to circulate more completelythrough the system.

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As many as 65 top US uni-versities, including

Harvard and MIT, have chal-lenged the Trump administra-tion in a court against its newstringent visa policy for foreignstudents, warning that the new‘backdating’ rule will have adetrimental effect on America’shigher education system.

The new policy announcedby the Trump administration inAugust places restrictions onoverstaying a visa.

Under longstanding immi-gration policies, when an indi-vidual is no longer authorisedto remain in the US — such aswhen a visa expires — a peri-od of “unlawful presence”begins. After six months ofunlawful presence, an individ-ual can be forced to return to

their country of origin and sub-ject to a three year bar from theUS.

Prior to the August policychange, individuals only beganto accrue unlawful presence theday after the governmentissued an official determinationthat the visa holder was “out ofstatus”.

With the new rules, theDepartment of HomelandSecurity (DHS) can set retroac-tive start dates for unlawfulpresence that begin the dayafter an individual’s degreeprogramme is complete or theday after a person’s visa expires.

The top institutions,including Harvard, MIT,Cornell, Yale, and Princetonsigned onto an amicus brieffiled Monday, arguing that thenew rule puts visa-holding stu-dents in a position to make

“tough choices”.These institutions argue

that the new policy’s use of a“backdated unlawful-presenceclock” will render tens of thou-sands of F, J and M categoriesof visa holders subject to threeand 10-year re-entry bars with-out any opportunity to cure.

According to the NationalAssociation of Foreign StudentAdvisors (NAFSA), interna-tional students contributedUSD 39 billion to the US econ-omy during the 2017-2018 aca-demic year.

The same study found theeconomic activity of foreignstudents supported over455,000 American jobs.

The 65 institutions andone higher education systemBoard, mostly member insti-tutions of the Presidents’Alliance on Higher Education

and Immigration, signed thebrief which urges the federalcourt to grant them motion fora preliminary injunction.

The brief explains that thenew ‘backdating’ rule intro-duces considerable uncertain-ty into the calculation of unlaw-ful presence and needlesslyexposes international studentsto devastating reentry bans.

“The new rule will harminternational students andscholars, as well as institutionswhich host them,” it said.

It notes the new backdatingrule by US Citizenship andImmigration Services will like-ly result in fewer internationalstudents, scholars and instruc-tors contributing to the com-munities.

The brief supports GuilfordCollege, et al in its lawsuitagainst US Secretary of

Homeland Security KirstjenM Nielsen et al. It was filed inthe US District Court for theMiddle District of NorthCarolina.

“International students andscholars are vital members ofour campus communities andimportant contributors to ournation,” said John J DeGioia,Georgetown UniversityPresident and Presidents’Alliance Steering CommitteeMember.

“The talents, perspectives,insights and passion to serveour world that they bring ourcampus communities benefitsour nation and contributes tothe common good that we allshare,” he said.

The brief argues that a 10per cent rise in the ratio of for-eign graduate students to totalgraduate students results in a

5.1 per cent increase in patentgrants.

International students andscholars also continue to con-tribute to the US economybeyond their periods of enrol-ment.

For example, in a study ofAmerican startup companiesvalued at USD 1 billion ormore, it was found that nearlyone quarter of such business-es had a founder who first cameto the United States as aninternational student, it said.

The backdating rule intro-duces significant uncertaintyand punishes students for rea-sons that are frequently beyondthe students’ control.

In some cases, studentsand exchange visitors can fallout-of-status due to unwittingclerical and technical errors,often of someone else’s making,

the brief said.In many cases, the infrac-

tion will not be discovered (ordetermined, as the F, M, and Jregulations are not always clearand may be subject to varyinginterpretations) until the indi-vidual reapplies for anotherimmigration benefit, such as anoptional practical trainingallowance or an H-1B visa, itsaid.

“A ban, in turn, could havedevastating immediate conse-quences for a student’s courseof study and would outright barthe student from reentering theUS for any reason — even forbusiness purposes, or to see achild — for a period of year,” the brief said, adding that the new rule will diminish US’ ability to competefor international students andscholars.

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Both sides in the long-running fight over

funding President DonaldTrump’s US-Mexico border wallappear to have moved towardeach other, but a shutdown ofone-fourth of the federalGovernment entered Christmaswithout a clear resolution insight.

In fact, a top White Houseofficial warned the shutdowncould stretch into January.

Acting White House chief ofstaff Mick Mulvaney, who is alsothe budget director, said he waswaiting to hear from SenateDemocratic leader ChuckSchumer of New York about acounteroffer the White Housepresented Schumer over theweekend. Mulvaney would onlysay the offer was betweenTrump’s $5.7 billion request and$1.3 billion Democrats haveoffered.

“We moved off of the fiveand we hope they move up fromtheir 1.3,” Mulvaney said lessthan a day after a senior admin-istration official insisted thatCongress would have to cave into Trump’s demand for

the shutdown to end, high-lighting Trump’s unpredictablenegotiating style.Schumer’soffice said the parties remained“very far apart.”

Sen. DickDurbin, D-Ill.,argued forincreased use oft e c h n o l o g yalong the bor-der instead of“some medievalwall.” Askedwhether he’swilling to offermore money aslong as it is notspent on a wall,D u r b i nr e s p o n d e d :“Absolutely.”

A stale-mate over thewall led partsof theGovernment toshut downSaturday afterfunding forn u m e r o u sdepartmentsand agenciesexpired. Theclosure affects

hundreds of thousands of federalworkers across the country andwas expected to last at leastthrough Thursday, when theHouse and Senate meet again.

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The death toll from a vol-cano-triggered tsunami in

Indonesia has risen to 281, withmore than 1,000 peopleinjured, the national disasteragency said on Monday, as thedesperate search for survivorsramped up.

“The number of victimsand damage will continue torise,” said agency spokesmanSutopo Purwo Nugroho.

Hundreds of buildingswere destroyed by the wave,which slammed into the coastof southern Sumatra and thewestern tip of Java about 9:30pm (1430 GMT) on Saturdayafter a volcano known as the“child” of Krakatoa erupted.

According to Indonesia’sgeological agency, AnakKrakatoa had been showingsigns of heightened activity fordays, spewing plumes of ash thousands of metres into theair. The vast archipelago nationis one of the most disaster-prone nations on Earth due toits position straddling the so-called Pacific Ring of Fire,where tectonic plates collide.

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The order to withdrawAmerican troops from

Syria has been signed, the USmilitary said on Sunday, afterPresident Donald Trump andhis Turkish counterpart agreedto prevent a power vacuum inthe wake of the controversialmove.

The announcement thatUS troops would leave thecivil war-racked country —where they have been deployedto assist in the multinationalfight against the Islamic State(IS) jihadist group — shockedglobal partners and Americanpoliticians alike.

“The execute order forSyria has been signed,” a USmilitary spokesperson told AFPwhen asked about the with-drawal order, without provid-ing further details.

Turkey was a rare ally thatlauded Trump’s momentousdecision on Syria, a countrywhere it will now have a freerrein to target US-allied Kurdishfighters who have played amajor role in the war against ISbut are deemed terrorists byAnkara.

Trump and PresidentRecep Tayyip Erdogan spokeby telephone on Sunday and“agreed to ensure coordinationbetween their countries’ mili-

tary, diplomatic and other officials to avoid a power vac-uum which could result following any abuse of thewithdrawal and transition phase in Syria,” theTurkish presidency said in astatement.

Late Sunday, Trump tweet-ed that Erdogan had assuredhim that any remaining ISfighters in Syria will be elimi-nated.

“President @RT_Erdoganof Turkey has very stronglyinformed me that he will erad-icate whatever is left of ISIS inSyria,” Trump said in a Tweetaround midnight Sunday, usinganother acronym for thejihadist group.

Repeating a pattern ofadmiring comments towardsglobal strongmen, Trumpadded that Erdogan “is a manwho can do it.”

The US president concluded: “Our troops are coming home!” Hours earlier, Trump had tweetedthat he and Erdogan “dis-cussed (IS), our mutualinvolvement in Syria, & the slow & highly coordinat-ed pullout of US troops fromthe area.”

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ASri Lanka Governmentspokesman says plans for a

new budget will be presentednext February after the parlia-ment approved a 1.77-trillion-rupee ($9.39 billion) stopgapmeasure to cover Governmentexpenditures over the first fourmonths of 2019, averting a Go-vernment shutdown January 1.

Sri Lanka had been engulfedin a political crisis since lateOctober after PresidentMaithripala Sirisena sacked thecountry’s prime minister, RanilWickremesinghe, and cabinet.

The country did not have afunctioning government fornearly two months. Sirisenareplaced Wickremesinghe withformer President MahindaRajapaksa, who lost two confi-dence votes in parliament.

The country faced the riskof being unable to use state fundsfrom Jan. 1 and potentiallydefault on a foreign debt repay-ment of $1 billion due onJanuary 10.

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Bangladesh will seal off refugee campshousing about one million Rohingya

Muslims for three days around the coun-try’s tense general election this week,officials said on Monday.

Rohingya living in the southeast-ern border district of Cox’s Bazar willnot be allowed out of their settlementsfrom Saturday.

The election is Sunday with PrimeMinister Sheikh Hasina, who earnedinternational praise for accepting therefugees who fled a military crackdownin Myanmar, seeking a record fourthterm.

The Election Commission orderedauthorities in Cox’s Bazar to preventrefugees being exploited during electioncampaigning, Bangladesh refugee com-missioner Mohammad Abul Kalamsaid.

“This is a security measure. Theembargo also applies to NGO workers.They cannot go inside the campsunless it is an emergency,” he told AFP.

Police said extra roadblocks wouldbe set up around the camps.

Over 720,000 Rohingya Muslims fled what the UN called eth-nic cleansing in Myanmar’s Rakhinestate after August 2017. There werealready nearly 300,000 refugees in the

overcrowded camps.More than 450 police will be

deployed in the camps alongside bor-der guards and community police, aspokesman said.

Thousands of troops were also puton law and order duties across thecountry Monday amid escalating pollviolence, said a military statement.

Media reports said some 30,000soldiers were joining more than 20,000paramilitary forces already deployed.

At least six people have been killedin the election violence while theopposition Bangladesh NationalistParty (BNP) says at least 152 of its can-didates have been attacked.

The BNP meanwhile criticisedBangladesh star cricketer MashrafeMortaza for being a candidate for theruling Awami League.

One-day international captainMashrafe is now campaigning afterleading Bangladesh to a series win overWest Indies this month.

The BNP said though that Mashrafte could not be a candidate when he earns public moneyas a cricketer.

“We welcome youngsters like himjoining politics. But the law cannot bedifferent for a superstar and a layman,”opposition spokesman Rizvi Ahmedtold AFP.

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His directorial career includes National Awardwinning film Paan Singh Tomar and Saheb Biwi

Aur Gangster and his acting prowess was capturedbrilliantly in projects like Manjhi - The MountainMan and Gangs of Wasseypur.

Actor-writer-director Tigmanshu Dhulia, whois now playing the role of Shah Rukh Khan’s fatherin Zero, feels that even big budget films need a goodscript now.

He also emphasised that after 1960s the respectfor a content writer went down significantly and thatmust change now.

“Big budget films have started to face this chal-lenge of just being big budget and loaded with stars.But even big budget films need a good script now.Look at Thugs of Hindostan. The stars delivered whatthey promised because the first day collections werephenomenal. So people went to see AmitabhBachchan and Aamir Khan, but from the second daythe collections sank,” he said.

“So, whether it’s a big budget film or not, con-tent is the king. The audience is smart and the typeof things that are coming up online has given a goodexposure to the audience to quality content,”Timangshu added.

“I think after 1960s the respect for a contentwriter went down significantly and that must changenow,” Dhulia said, when asked that how oneshould take care of both commercial imperatives andcreative ambition in today’s time of filmmaking?

He was present at a grand scale theatrical playof Mahabharata from the point of view of Gandhari,Kunti and Draupadi, by students of Mount LiteraSchool International. Following its inquiry-basedlearning methodology, the play aimed to imbueIndian values in the students and showcase humanfrailties, character flaws and highlight follies of thegreat and good of society.

Having grown up in Allahabad in Uttar Pradesh,the filmmaker says he tries to incorporate his small-town experience in his cinematic presentation. Hisfilms including Haasil, Charas and Shagird, thoughdid an average business at the box- office, but is stillalive in the minds of movie-goers inspite of havingno big stars in it.

When asked if Indian cinema was moving awayfrom the fascination of Khan era with new faces tak-ing the lead, he said cinema is now addressing a larg-er audience.

“Earlier, multiplexes were present only in bigcities, but we see them now in smaller towns as well.Hence cinema is also addressing characters fromsmall towns. Look at Ayushmann Khurrana andRajkummar Rao — their characters are from smalltowns,” he said.

“The Khans of the industry typically played glam-orous roles and not these roles. Also, these smallertowns are contributing significantly to the revenueshence that is also another reason these characters

from small towns are considered,” said Dhulia.Directed by Anand L. Rai, Zero was released on

Friday and got a mixed reaction at the box-office withsome critics calling the narrative weak, while sometagging the film as best coming from King Khan. Thefilm also stars Anushka Sharma, Katrina Kaif,Mohammed Zeeshan Ayub, Abhay Deol, SheebaChaddha and Bijendra Kala.

So what made Dhulia say yes to the film and howwas it working with Shah Rukh?

“Shah Rukh and I worked together during Dil Sefor which I had written the dialogues. Our friend-ship goes way back. In terms of Zero, there were twoor three reasons for me to take it up. One — The rolewas really different and unique and not like what Iplayed in ‘Gangs of Wasseypur, he said.

“Second, Anand L. Rai is a dear friend who wasmaking this technically heavy film with special effects.I was curious to see how he was making the film andlearn more on the sets. And third, one is always exit-ed to work with Shah Rukh,” he said.

Dhulia, who feeds his creative hunger throughnewspaper, books, travel and meeting new people,can see the future of entertainment moving to web.

“Most content would move to the web and thecinema theatres would only see big movies likeBaahubali playing,” he said.

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Agroup of people are standingand chatting around a cornershop in Lucknow. Out ofnowhere a gangsters strolls in,takes out a gun and shoots a

person. Can you imagine the scene? Nowplace yourself in the centre of the situa-tion. What would be your reaction?This is exactly what happened withsome people in the city of Nawabsrecently.

Director Bhav Dhulia’s new webseries, Rangbaaz, starring Aahana Kumraand Saqib Saleem in lead roles, placedordinary people at the centre of the actionduring one of the scenes. “We set it upwithout telling Saqib that there were peo-ple from the real public standing around.He just had to come to shoot a person. Iwanted to catch the real reaction of thepeople but,” he laughs, “he spoilt eventhat. There were many re-takes and bythen the people obviously understoodthat it was a fictional scene.”

Rangbaaz is a term, often used inparts of Uttar Pradesh, especially Kanpurand Lucknow, used for cunning or slypeople. When Bhav describes his idea ofa rangbaaz, he says that it is the journeyand a love story of a man in his 20s whois responsible for more than 20 murders.“It is the real-life story of Shiv PrakashShukla (Saqib’s character’s name) who wasthe talk of the town in the 90s. He wasone of the first gangsters to be involvedwith the state politics and power gamesin the state where he was in touch withseveral politicians and police officers. Thiswas unprecedented as nobody had ear-lier done something like that. A task forcewas made for the first time to catch agangster like him. It is also a story abouthis transition as the 90s saw the liberal-isation and globalisation in the country.It is a very fascinating period that way.Indians saw cable TV for the first timethen. Things started becoming easilyaccessible to some extent. So it is abouthow he was influenced by and in turninfluenced the political and liberal land-scape,” says he.

Saqib, known for his roles in films likeMujhse Fraandship Karoge, HawaHawaai, Mere Dad ki Maruti, and more,the most recent one being Dil Junglee andRace 3, plays a gangster in the series whichis set in the backdrop of politics and crimein Lucknow in the 1990s.

If you ask Saqib how he transitionedto such an intense role after playing whatis referred to as a “chocolate hero”, he says

that it was all about changing his conven-tional understanding of a hero.

He says, “I have never done a rolesimilar to this one. Even when I did Race3, it was on a very different track, I wasthe bad guy there. When this role cameto me, I saw it as a great opportunity espe-cially because of the web space doing sowell in the industry today. So I decidedto walk out of my comfort zone. I felt kiab Hero-Hero bohot khel liya. You get

influenced by what others are doing too.I observed that everybody is playing char-acters today, especially ‘flawed’ ones. Irealised, why such roles would always belarger-than-life characters. The fact thatI wanted to step out of my comfort zonewas the most important thing here forme.”

He believes that the role had givenhim a chance to grow on a personal level.“Earlier, I wasn’t even thinking before act-

ing. I was just playing roles withoutunderstanding them. To play such a per-son who came from Gorakhpur was real-ly important for my personal growth.Here I didn’t have to just stand there, talk,keep my hair in place and look like ahandsome hero. I had to move ahead andsimply act no matter how I looked,’ headds.

Saqib narrates how he attained anunderstanding of the character he played,since it is inspired from real life. He says,“If Bhav had let me play the kind of gang-ster I understood, I would have only beenabusing and shooting people. But therewere a thousand other things which hadto be done with subtlety.”

He tells us that Bhav would keepinsisting on “‘Less is more. Even if you areangry you don’t have to show it.’ Ilaughed when I heard him say this. I actu-ally came here after doing Race 3,” helaughs to add, “It was a film where youhave to look like a hero in every frameor even walk in slow motion every time.Here, I had to understand what my direc-tor wanted and then fit in that. Soeverything was a challenge for me, espe-cially since I come from a school ofthought that if I remove my shirt as anactor, my six-pack abs should be visible.And when there was a scene where I actu-ally had to remove my shirt, I asked himif I could wear a vest, since I don’t havethem. (Laughs). But I didn’t have to playa stereotype here.”

For Aahana, who is from Lucknow,fitting into the character was not a greatchallenge since the set up was familiar.She laughs to say that when she first heardthat the web show would be set inLucknow, she instantly agreed. Adding,“It was a great story. There were somethings that I have actually seen before. Ihad taken stories and character referencesfrom my family itself.”

She says that she has known the belt,especially in the 90s, since that was thetime when she spent her childhoodthere. It was her family background thatgave her a better understanding of awoman in that time and what conse-quences she had to go through when peo-ple caught her or got to know about herrelationship with someone, given theprevalent gender restrictions.

She tells us what she found was themost intriguing thing about her role andthe story, “Most of my scenes were shotseparately from Saqib as it was more ofa telephonic relationship than physical or

the one where meetings were involved. Ithought that I have never done a role likethis. I was instantly attracted to it. Plus,I knew the dialect and the style of com-munication in that city. It was quicker topick up the style.”

The only challenge, as she describes,was that she never cued any scene withSaqib, it was all done separately.

While talking about how the relation-ships have evolved today, both the leadactors believe that things have becomeway easier today.

Aahana says, “There’s only one reasonwhy relationships are losing theirendurance — things getting easier andthose that can be manipulated.”

Saqib recalls the time when he was ateenager to say that since there were nomobile phones at that time, they used land-lines to call their partners. “And even then,they had to look for an appropriate timewhen their parents were not around. Theyhad to first give two to three missed callsto the other person to give an indication.Today, in the whatsapp age, you don’t getone reply and the relationship is called off.How easy, right?” he says.

Aahana, who has worked for five sep-arate media — TV, cinema, digital, livesports anchoring and theatre — says thatthe most challenging one was to anchorlive. The Lipstick Under my Burkha actress,who undertook this during Pro Kabbadi,says that there were many complex stepsthat were involved including spontaneityand pre-researching. “Before being actu-ally present on the field, I had to be pre-pared with all the information about theplayers and their previous records. I wasstrictly instructed to not even once ques-tion them about ‘how did the match go?’I had to study all of it myself to actuallyask them relevant questions.”

There was yet another factor. “Thecoordinator who was from Yorkshire hada hard-to-get accent. I had to constantlykeep listening to what he was sayingthrough micro phones and then ask ques-tions accordingly and he would oftenchange the questions at the last minute.There were 20,000 people in the stadiumand you can’t make a mistake because it’sall live,” she adds.

For her, it’s always important to seekout something and respect people for beingwhat they are since as an actor, “one alwayshas to step into someone else’s shoes inorder to know them and portray them bet-ter.”

(The web show airs on ZEE 5.)

Welcome trends for 2019As the ‘Living Coral’ has

been declared as the year for2019 by the Pantone ColourInstitute, we are bound to wit-ness a series of interior innova-tion that will be a reflection ofthis color trend. The shadeexudes positivity and vibrancewith a subtle undertone of fem-ininity, and as a result, we will seemany interesting combinationssuch as coral paired with grey,beige, white and other neutralshades to highlight happy under-tones.

In 2019, we will also see therise of eco-friendly and sus-tainable trends for interiors,thus pro-environment fabricsand innovations will be a hugetrend. Right from cotton andorganic fibres such as jute, silk,and hemp — the idea of sustain-ability will impact lifestyle choic-es. Eco-friendly furniture for ahome like cane, hand-loommade organic cotton upholsteryand bedspreads, jute rugs andsilk curtains will come in handyto style your home. The idea toreduce our carbon footprints willalso see an upsurge in recycledproducts that will not only makeyour house more beautiful butwill also make have an impact onthe well-being of the planet.The focus will be on well-litrooms with natural light andbright colour combinations forliving rooms.

One can include additionalprops like indoor plants, classicwood furniture and artworks toempty spaces to add a personaltouch. Speaking of wood finish-es for interiors, some of the bigtrends in this segment for thecoming seasons are the her-ringbone, chevron, and geomet-ric patterns. The criss-crosschevron pattern on floors withthe herringbone adds a sophis-ticated look and gives a luxeappeal to your home. If you like

a modern touch, go for geomet-ric decor items that create a sub-tle contrast with your interior.One can also use patterned rugsand arty highlights to balance thesymmetry of the room.

Say goodbye to trends of 2018While trends in interiors

keep changing every season, abig shift in interiors will betoward discarding of ‘fast furni-ture’. Just like fast fashion, wetend to buy interior goods thatlook good for a while but fadeout too quickly. Finally, it is timeto say goodbye to them foreveras the next big change points atsustainable options. Harsh andbold lighting like big, uglychandeliers that consume a lotof electricity will be officiallyout. Emphasis will be on LEDlights, minimalistic bulbdesigns, quirky antique stylelamps and of course, naturallight that will brighten up yourdecor.

Complex patterns such asdense damask are totally goingto be out of style, especially forwallpapers, furniture and cur-tains because if everything issimple then why bother addingcomplicated designs that matchnothing. Similarly, it’s time tosay goodbye to prehistoric ideassuch as window valances thatmatch curtains and furniturebecause the idea is to open upand not get restricted in space.

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Devika Daulat Singh ofPhotoink stands apartamongst gallery persona inDelhi. She has a quiet sophis-tication far-removed from

other profit-pursuing self-proclaimedcurators. At Photoink the finale for 2018is a historic legacy which belongs to VivanSundaram, the nephew of Amrita Shergil.“These are letters and archival materialfound in an old trunk,” says Devika as shesupervises the show’s display. Wakefulnessand the Dream State: A Self-Study byUmrao Singh Sher-Gil consists of pho-tographs, drawings and scholia (grammat-ical, critical, or explanatory comments,either original or extracted from pre-exist-ing commentaries, which are inserted onthe margin of the manuscript of anancient author) from the Sher-Gil Archivesis a delight to behold.

Album of archival imagesThere are small black and white

images, typed rumination and letters andreflections from the enigmatic UmraoSingh Sher-Gil’s photographic archive. Hewas a man with the physique that is bothenviable and perfect and his notes tell usabout his practice of abstinence, his per-sonal fears and his love for his family mem-bers. Indeed once you look closely at hisnotes as well as the images of Shergil, thatare riveting, you know this archive is analbum that echoes a parallel legacy.When you study the private nature of itscontents you realise that unconsciouslyUmrao Shergil was every bit a mini-his-torian in the manner in which he con-structed an archive that speaks of a mod-ern proto-postcolonial subject in which thepersonal and the private both become ele-giac emblems.

Shergil’s photographic universeThe Amrita images have about them

a haunting gravitas as well as a forlorn,

despondent grace that tells us that herfather’s photographic universe began andended with members of his immediatefamily.

The images tell us also that Umrao wasa princely individual who was both arecluse as well as a fastidious eccentric. Hewas happy clicking self portraits in an agewhen the world hadn’t heard of such anexercise. Obviously he loved dressing up,kept an impeccable home and seemed tobe very much in love with his own imageas well as his mirror.

The book on Umrao Shergil publishedby Photoink tells us that the hundreds ofphotographs that he took of his familyform an extraordinary record of the lifeand world of an Indo-European family, and

are a valuable document in the archives ofmodernity — in the large sense of thatterm.

Amrita’s allureTwo images of Amrita call for scruti-

ny — the artist at her easel, Simla, India,1937 and Amrita wearing a zari sari Simla,1936.

The image which shows Amritamomentarily turning away from her easel,paintbrushes in hand suggests a hint ofrestlessness that shades into somethingmore melancholy than in the more formal-ly posed portraits.

Amrita is always impeccably andexquisitely draped, but appears sometimeswistful, sometimes elusively withdrawn,

but nevertheless undeniably beautiful.Clad in a zari sari, she is the epitome ofgrace.

In his essay Deepak Ananth wrote,“Was it (melancholy) due to a growingsense of isolation that had crept upon herin the years prior to her sudden death in1941? (The artist alludes to her intellec-tual solitude in some of her letters.) Andyet the pictures she painted at the timehardly indicate a failure of artistic nerve.On the contrary, they suggest that she waspoised to become a truly major artist. Butthat promise was to remain unfulfilled.”

Umrao a pioneerAfter reading and studying the prints

you know that Umrao Shergil deserves to

be feted in history, to be seen as a pioneer-ing figure of Indian photography, anauteur. He had followed Amrita’s self-trans-formations, probably as beguiled as shewas, by the face she presented to the world.And yet many of the photographs takenin the late 1930s disclose a lingering dis-quiet in her expression. By figuring so cen-trally in her father’s photographic art,Amrita Sher-Gil helped forge a record ofa hybrid culture, one that was nourishedby both East and West yet managed totranscend both.

And one wistfully remembers Amrita’swords. “How can one feel the beauty of aform, the intensity or the subtlety of acolour, the quality of a line, unless she isa sensualist of the eyes?”

Grammy-nominated Indian-American songwriter-rap-per Raja Kumari, who lent

her voice to the title track of SalmanKhan-starrer Race 3 and HusnParcham in Shah Rukh Khan’s Zero,feels that things are evolving forIndians in US when it comes tocross-cultural collaborations andterms it a “brown renaissance.”

In one of her previous inter-views, Kumari mentioned thatIndian classical training helped herunderstand hip-hop mathemati-cally. However she also said that itdidn't really have a huge platform

in America so have things changednow especially with so many crosscultural musical collaborations hap-pening?

“Things are evolving in the US.I like to call it the “brown renais-sance” Indians are more relevant inso many fields, especially entertain-ment. It’s exciting to be a part of thatwave and really influence the cul-ture,” she said on the sidelines ofRED FM’s Riders Music Festivalwhere she performed recently.

Kumari is best known for hercollaboration with notable artistsincluding Gwen Stefani, Iggy

Azalea, Fifth Harmony and Fall OutBoy. She was also nominated for aGrammy award in February 2015and featuring on BBC AsianNetwork programme BobbyFriction on July 5, 2016.

Talking about her growth planand how she balanced being bothIndian and American with herperformances, she said, “My parentsalways valued the arts so I alwaysimmersed in classical dance andmusic. American music was myrebellion, my escape. I think learn-ing to navigate both worlds withauthenticity has helped me become

the artist I am today.”So was India always in your

mind to make a big impression?“India has always been impor-

tant to me. If my own people don’tknow me, then how can I representour culture worldwide? TouringIndia has been the greatest gift. Ihave learned so much about myselfand you can really hear that on myupcoming album BloodLine,” shesaid.

Her first big placement was IggyAzalea’s Change Your Life and shealso wrote six songs for GwenStefani album, This Is What theTruth Feels Like, which debutednumber one on the Billboard Top200 chart.

Talking about the initial days,she said, “Sometimes it looks like anovernight success, but countlesshours were spent learning andpracticing my craft. It’s been soincredible to have commercial suc-cess with artists that I admire andlove.”

And she feels much more ener-gised now.

“I feel energised and ready togive my new music to the world.Shook was a personal triumph forme. Releasing that record started anew journey for me and I'm excit-ed to share that with all of you,” saidKumari.

This year the Riders MusicFestival (RMF) showcased a perfectline-up of contemporary musicianswith different genres of music atJawaharlal Nehru Stadium, here.From Nucleya’s high octane gig,Lucky Ali’s husky Bollywood charmto Mame Khan’s folk music, theevent saw over 20 thousand bikingand music enthusiasts. Adding jazzto the line-up, was Shirley Setia’sfilmy vocals with Divine’s new-agerapping and some soulful musicwith Bhuvam Bham.

Kumari released her new singleShook at the festival. “The singlereally inspired me to level up,” shesaid. G'(#�

The bittersweet, nostalgic story of three friendswhose love life revolved around handwritten let-ters, bicycles, and meetings — agreed to after

much prodding by peers — with equally shy girls nextdoor, formed the storyline of the play Prem Kabootar.It was staged recently as a part of an ongoing theatrefestival and successfully transported the viewers to abygone era.

Performed at the Shri Ram Centre for PerformingArts (SRCPA) as a part of the eight-day Panna BharatRam Theatre Festival, Prem Kabootar is a light-heart-ed play written by thespian-filmmaker Manav Kaul.

Kaul was nominated at the 63rd Filmfare awardsfor best supporting actor for 2017 film Tumhari Sulu.

The two-hour comedy, peppered with momentsof uproarious laughter by the spectators, might be sim-ple and without too many plot twists, but that is exact-ly what made it relatable.

The characters, sporting high-waisted bell-bot-toms, shiny shirts and haircuts inspired by whatBollywood figures got photographed in that month,take us a few decades back.

When Saleem, the tailor receives his first letterfrom his sweetheart Meenakshi; or when Suneel, anardent follower of Hindi films, agrees to write a loveletter on behalf of his tea-seller friend Raju, only tofind the writer inside him, it brought forth many mem-ories that most of the audience found buried withinthemselves.

The dreamy love affair, in an age with no datingapps, takes one to the “era of school days, teenage loveaffairs, romance in the air and enthusiastically follow-ing the heroes, heroines and even the story-lines ofHindi Cinema.”

“There was no social media, but there were feel-ings. If you had to say something to someone, you hadto go to their house, pursue for weeks or say it throughfriends. The human feelings of love and desire are stillthe same today,” the play’s director Sameep Singh, anNSD graduate and currently the repertory chief inSRCPA said.

Asked how he adapted Kaul’s story for the prosce-nium, Singh said, “Kaul did write it as a story, but evenwhile dramatising, I’ve tried to retain its flavour. Thereare additions to scenes, for instance Kaul wrote just aline in the dream sequence saying ‘I saw her in mydreams’, but I’ve developed it fully as a scene.”

The theatre festival gained traction on just its sec-

ond day, after Prem Kabootar and another powerfulplay Tughlaq written by Girish Karnad and directedby K. Madavane.

Also lined up are plays Arsenic and Old Lace, Dadu,Kala Suraj Safed Sayee, Poem of an Ending (based onShesher Kobita by Rabindranath Tagore). The week-long theatrical retreat will end on Friday with Agni aurBarkha.

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Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has said the fact hisside top the Premier League table heading into the

busy holiday period counts for little.The Anfield club are four points clear at the sum-

mit going into their Boxing Day clash at home toNewcastle, with champions Manchester City second andTottenham Hotspur six points adrift in third place.

Liverpool, however, have not won the English titlein the Premier League era -- their last domesticChampionship crown came back in 1990.

And with Tottenham having hammered Everton,Liverpool's local rivals, 6-2 on Sunday, Klopp does notexpect to have things all his own way during the rest ofthe season.

"You (the media) make these stories about who isin and who is out," said Klopp.

"I saw the game against Everton who playedabsolutely more than okay and then they (Spurs) hit pret-ty much everything and it was really impressive howTottenham did.

"The same will happen to Arsenal and Chelsea. Nodecision is made, why should it be? Nobody should feelsafe, no one should feel out of the race. It is not a timeto think about it.

"For me they (Tottenham) were never out so whyshould people be surprised they are now in? A lot ofteams are in whatever you call the title race and that ishow it should be."

The German added: "That is maybe only the dif-ference to last year when pretty much nobody was in anymore at this time and that is good for all supporters outthere.

"Being unbeaten in the league until December is notsomething I had too often in my life. We did really wellso far, and we have to do even better from now on. That'sthe challenge for us." Liverpool fans know only too wellthat being top at Christmas is no guarantee of the league

title.There may have only been two occasions in the past

10 years where the team top on December 25 failed towin the Premier League but in both instances it wasLiverpool, in 2008 and 2014, who could not completethe job.

Only James Milner among Liverpool's current squadknows what it's like to win the Premier League, havingbeen a member of Manchester City's victorious squadsin 2012 and 2014.

But Klopp, who won the Bundesliga title withBorussia Dortmund in 2011 and 2012, insisted: "I knowthat all players who have won the title, at one time it wastheir first time.

"You don't know what is more important, is it expe-rience, potential, attitude, desire or joy, being completelyfresh having never had it before? "Experience is alwaysgood if you are young enough to use it. We have to useall experience from the last games, especially from thelast season, and that's much more important.

"Character is always very important but with theseboys there is no doubt about that because we achievedalready in the past big things: finals, good positions inthe league."

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The Indian football team'sfortunes in the upcoming

Asian Cup will depend a lot onits opening match againstThailand and it should go all outto get a result, feels former play-er Renedy Singh.

"We have to go all-outagainst Thailand in the firstmatch. Do not think about UAE,do not think about Bahrain. Justgo after the result in the firstgame," Renedy, who was a keymember of the Indian team thatplayed in the 2011 Asian Cup inDoha, said.

"Only after the match we candecide on the next course ofaction. If they can get a resultagainst China, we should beable to do the same againstThailand," the former midfield-er told the official website of theAll India Football Federation.

The Asian Cup is being heldin four venues of the United ArabEmirates from January 5 toFebruary 1. India has beenclubbed with Thailand, Bahrainand hosts UAE in Group A. Indiaplay Thailand on January 6,UAE on January 10 and Bahrainon January 14.

When India played last timein the Asian Cup in 2011, theteam lost all their group match-es (against Australia, South Koreaand Bahrain). Skipper SunilChhetri is the only current play-er to feature in that team.

Renedy, a dead ball special-ist of the Indian team then, saidthat Chhetri has been leading thecurrent side by example.

"There are many playerswho have been doing well recent-ly. But for me, Sunil sets the bestexample. He has done so wellconsistently over the past fewyears. He may not be growingyounger, but most significantly,he's not just there to support. Heis there to lead by example," the39-year-old Renedy said.

He also feels that Chhetri hasimproved a lot as a dead-ballplayer and disclosed how the cur-

rent skipper became one of theset piece takers in the team.

"It's good to see that Sunilhas improved as a dead-ballplayer. Back in our days, he neverused to take free-kicks -- it waseither me or Steven Dias,"Renedy recollected.

"But then one fine day, hewalked up to me and said,'Renedy-bhai, you can't takeboth free-kicks and penalties. Iwant to chip in too. So wedecided that Sunil will takepenalties, and we would contin-ue taking the free-kicks," saidRenedy who also had captainedthe Indian team on a few occa-sions.

"But he did not stay contentwith the penalties. Rather, heimproved himself as a free-kicktaker. In fact, he has scored frommany free-kicks since then."

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Left-arm spinner Vikas Mishra yetagain tormented Madhya Pradeshbatsmen with a six-wicket haul as

Delhi thumped the visitors by nine wick-ets for their first victory of the ongoing sea-son, here on Monday.

The 25-year-old Mishra, who hadtaken six wickets in the first innings as well,finished with career-best match figures of12 for 71 to help Delhi bundle out MadhyaPradesh for just 157 run in 64.3 overs onthe third day of their Elite Group B fixture.

The hosts needed to score just 29 runswithout losing wicket to claim the win witha bonus point but lost opener KunalChandela (6) two runs short of the targetto settle for six points.

Hiten Dalal (15) and Dhruv Shoreycompleted the win in 6.4 overs. Delhi willnext take on Bengal in an away match fromDecember 30.

"At the start of the season I was bowl-ing a bit faster and after talking to coachMithun Manhas, I started bowling slow-er. This created confusion in batsman'smind whether to come forward or play onbackfoot," Mishra said on his 12 wickethaul.

The visitors resumed at seven for noneand their inexperienced openers --Aryaman Birla (32) and Anand Bais (46)-- put up a fighting 83-run stand but once

left-arm pacer Kulwant Khejroliya snaredthe former, it opened the floodgates.

The MP batsmen again struggled tocounter the guile of Mishra, who ranthrough the middle order.

Not only Mishra (6/30), but the visit-ing batsmen also struggled to counter off-spinner Shivam Sharma (3/52) as the twospinners shared nine wickets betweenthem.

Rajat Patidar (21), captain NamanOjha (22) and Yash Dubey (15) got startsbut the kind of fight MP needed was nowhere to be seen or rather the wilyMishra made the rival batsmen dance tohis tunes.

After dismissing Ojha and Dubey,Mishra trampled the lower-order alongwith spin colleague Shivam, who claimedthe last wicket in Avesh Khan (6).

"The pitch wasn't great to start with butlocal curator did a splendid job that

match went till tea on third day. At the startit looked like it could finish in two days,"MP captain Naman Ojha.

"We should have taken thelead when Delhi were 36 for 5.But save Avesh Khan, othersdidn't take wickets. Avesh isnow ready to play for India ashe has pace as well as varia-tions," added Ojha.

��� �����$� ��������$� ���Shreyas Iyer blitzed his way to83 of just 60 balls after Mumbai pressedon for a much-needed outright victoryafter taking the first innings lead over tabletoppers Saurashtra.

Iyer slammed seven sixes, three ofthem off successive balls from left-armspinner Dharmendra Jadeja before per-ishing to the fourth ball while trying fora fourth maximum hit.

Mumbai ended day three of the four-day Elite Group A match by making 175

for five in their second innings, anoverall lead of 221 going into the

final day Tuesday.Iyer, who looked out for

runs from the first ball hefaced after coming to the creaseat 20 for one, also struck 5 fours

and got involved in a rapid-firefourth wicket stand of 74 in 57

balls with all rounder Shivam Dubewho made a brisk 29-ball 39 with the helpof three sixes and as many fours.

Earlier, resuming at the overnight 213for five chasing Mumbai's first innings totalof 394, Saurashtra were bowled out for 348,with 12 minutes left for tea.

Meanwhile at Raipur, Chhattisgarhwere in a good position to score an out-right win over Maharashtra, who ended thethird day at 172 for 3 in their second

innings, still trailing by 51 runs.After bundling out Maharashtra for

239 in their first innings, Chhattisgarhsecured the crucial first innings lead byposting 462 in their first essay.

At Nagpur, hosts Vidarbha posted ahefty 485 in their first essay and overhauledGujarat's first innings score of 321.

Veteran Wasim Jaffer slammed 126and there were crucial contributions by themiddle order batsmen for the hosts.Gujarat ended the penultimate day At 22for 1, still trailing by 142 runs.

At Shivamoga, Railways needed 318runs to win against hosts Karnataka, withnine wickets in hand.

$��$����$��$�'��>�Uttar Pradesh defeated Tripuraby an inninngs and 384 runs in their EliteGroup C game.

Uttar Pradesh, who were in commandright since the beginning of the four-daygame, posted a convincing win with a dayto spare.

After posting a mammoth 552/7 intheir first innings, courtesy a double hun-dred by Priyam Garg and hundreds byRinku Singh and skipper Aksh Deep

Nath, their bowlers ensured that the bats-men need not bat again.

Resuming at the overnight score of33/4, Tripura's first innings folded up at108 in just 44 overs.

Apart from skipper and wicket-keep-er Smit Patel (47) no other batsmendelivered for the visitors.

For the hosts, leggie Zeeshan Ansari(3-33), Saurabh Kumar (2-9), AnkitRajpoot (2-42) shared the wickets.

Meanwhile at Guwahati, Goa neededanother 52 runs for an outright winagainst Assam and have four wickets inhand.

Their hopes depend on Amit Vermaand Lakshay Garg, who are unbeaten on62 and 57, respectively.

At Jammu, Odisha would aim to go foran outright win as Jammu and Kashmir are76 runs ahead with just three wicketsremaining and an entire day's play left.

At Jaipur, visitors Haryana ended thethird day at 244/3, but still are trailingRajasthan by 128 runs.

Rajasthan secured the first-inningslead after posting a massive 490/6 declaredwith Robin Bist remaining unbeaten on150.

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India's number one singles player PrajneshGunneswaran, who is coming off a suc-

cessful season during which he won twoChallenger titles, said 2018 was his best yearand the aim is to "ideally be in the top 50".

"2018 has been my best season. I'm look-ing to have a better 2019. I have given myselfa good platform to push and I hope that hap-pens," the 29-year old left-hander, ranked107 in the ATP rankings (as of Dec 24), said.

The Chennai player, who has overcomeinjuries to fight his way back into the cir-cuit, said the priority was to stay in the top100.

"I mean being inside the top 100, pos-sibly if I do well there is a chance to be inthe top 50 in the world. But I am more inter-ested in making sure I improve enough tobe able to compete in the Tour level, in theTour events.

"... And as I long I am inside the top 100,then I have done a decent job of keeping myranking and my level. But the goal would

ideally be to get around 50," Prajnesh saidon the sidelines of a TNTA event to honourpast and present players from Tamil Naduon Sunday night.

Asked whether he intended to play moreTour events in 2019, he said initially hewould participate in some Challengers andsome Tour events and later take a calldepending on how well he does in them.

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Arsenal midfielder HenrikhMkhitaryan will be out of action for

at least six weeks because of a foot injury,the Premier League side revealed ontheir website on Tuesday.

Mkhitaryan fractured themetatarsal in his right foot in lastWednesday's Carabao Cup defeat byTottenham and was replaced at half-time. He missed the win against Burnleyat the weekend.

Arsenal said the Armenian play-maker is "expected to return to fulltraining in six weeks".

Mkhitaryan has been a regularunder Unai Emery and has scored fourPremier League goals this season.

The 29-year-old will miss key leaguegames against Liverpool, Chelsea andManchester City as Arsenal continuetheir pursuit of a top-four place.

Mkhitaryan arrived at the EmiratesStadium almost a year ago as part of theswap deal that took Alexis Sanchez toManchester United.

=������������GRafael Benitez believes it will be

"another miracle" if his Newcastle sideretain their Premier League status.

"We have to be realistic and under-stand that we will be in the bottom halfduring the whole season," said Benitezahead of the Boxing Day clash away tohis former side Liverpool who are

looking to cement their lead at the topof the table.

"For me, it is almost clear and if wecan be better than three teams, it willbe another miracle.

"It was a miracle last year. Peoplewere thinking, 'Oh, you finished 10th...',but with a couple fewer wins, we couldhave been in the bottom five, so it wasa miracle.

"If we do the same this year withteams spending even more money thanlast year, it will be a miracle."

He added: "I know what is comingnow and I know where we are. You cansee the team — the team is trying a lotof things, but still it's not enoughsometimes to get the points, and it willbe like that.

"If we are under pressure and we feelthis pressure, we will not be better, wecan make more mistakes," explainedBenitez.

Newcastle are currently five pointsabove the bottom three heading into thebusy holiday period after last weekend'sgoalless draw with Fulham.

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Indian vice-captain Ajinkya Rahane was onMonday confidence personified, saying hisrhythm and counter-attacking mindset could

help him rack up not just a ton but a double at theBoxing Day Test.

Rahane has hit two fifties in his 164 runs fromthe first two Tests but a three-figure score has elud-ed him since scoring a century against Sri Lankain Colombo last year.

"I am sure it will come in this match. The wayI am batting, from Adelaide to Perth, the mind-set I was in to counter attack and the rhythm I wasbatting in, maybe 100 or even 200 can come," saidthe 30-year-old.

"I think it is more important for me not tothink about it. I have to continue batting the wayI am. I can read the situation a bit better and if Ican play like that it will be better for the team.Personal milestones can be achieved later as well.

"I am really happy (to return here for BoxingDay Test). We all know how big it is and to comehere at 1-1 is really good. We had our chances inPerth but it is important to stay in the present rightnow and give our best starting from December 26."

Rahane said the batting unit needs to step upand support the bowlers if they are to win con-sistently overseas.

India lost 1-2 to South Africa before sufferinga 1-4 defeat against England this year, mainly dueto the batting line-up's failure to produce consis-tent performances.

"As a batting unit we must support thebowlers. Since South Africa tour Indian bowlersconsistently got opposition out twice. If we bat-ters play well and support our bowling unit resultswill be different," Rahane told reporters onMonday.

"Yes we played some good cricket but right nowit is important to start well and giving your bestin each and every session, because the game canchange in a session. We need some good battingin these two Tests and I am sure the batsmen willtake this responsibility," he added.

Coach Ravi Shastri on Sunday stressed on theopportunity to secure the four-Test series afterbeing placed 1-1 with two matches still to play.

Rahane said that it is important to learn fromthe past, but more important to take the next twoTests session by session.

"I do believe in momentum especially whileplaying cricket. We had some great chances todominate the Perth Test and result would havebeen different.

"In Test cricket you have to grab small littleopportunities. From now on it's two match seriesfor us. We got nice break after second Test, whichwas so necessary. We are starting afresh," he said.

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Mahendra Singh Dhoni was on Monday broughtback to India's T20 squad to ensure he gets

"enough game-time" before the ODI World Cup butthe young Rishabh Pant was axed from the 50-overside for the upcoming series against Australia andNew Zealand.

While Dhoni's inclusion in the shortest formatcame as a surprise after he was dropped for theAustralia leg just last month, Pant's omission is anindication that he is currently not in the team man-agement's 2019 World Cup radar as a first XI play-er.

The convenor of selection committee, AmitabhChaudhary, refused to comment on the matter buta source privy to the development justified the 37-year-old Dhoni's selection.

"Since there are only eight ODIs (three againstAustralia and five against New Zealand), selectorswant to give MS as much game time as possible(before the World Cup). Three T20Is means 11 inter-national matches through the next one month," aBCCI official said.

Pant, on the other hand, will come back to playfive ODIs against England Lions in India fromJanuary 23.

The 16-member squad for the twin ODI seriesagainst Australia (starting January 12) and NewZealand (starting January 23) is pretty much the coreteam for the World Cup in England that starts May30. The three T20 Internationals against the Kiwisare lined up from February 6.

The selection committee's decision to bring backDhoni is set to raise a few eyebrows as the logic givenbefore the Australia T20s was that he was not goingto be in the scheme of things for the T20 World Cupin Australia in 2020. The former captain is alreadyretired from the Test format.

"That's the reason Rishabh is a part of T20 squad.Also now with Kedar (Jadhav) and Hardik (Pandya)are fit and Kedar being an off break bowler, it willbe difficult for the team management to fit inRishabh in playing XI in the World Cup unless some-one gets injured. Already Dinesh Karthik and KLRahul are there in case MS gets injured," he added.

Interestingly, skipper Virat Kohli, when askedabout Dhoni's T20 omission in November, had stat-ed that the veteran had offered to give up the for-mat so that Pant could be groomed for the job.

"...He (Dhoni) just feels that in the T20 format,someone like Rishabh can get more chances," Kohlihad said last month.

From the last T20 squad, Shreyas Iyer andManish Pandey have been dropped as Hardikexpectedly made a comeback and Kedar was alsoincluded to give him more game time.

The squad is also an indicator that till the WorldCup, all doors are closed for Test vice-captainAjinkya Rahane and premier spinner R Ashwin.

The other senior bowler Ravindra Jadeja,however after a good show in the Asia Cup, is inthe mix with first choice wrist spinner KuldeepYadav and Yuzvendra Chahal. Left-arm pacerKhaleel Ahmed has impressed the team manage-ment enough and if all goes well, will surely boardthe UK-bound flight.

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Rahane has scored two half-centuries in theseries — 70 in the second innings at Adelaide and50 in the first innings at Perth — and said his visu-alisation has really helped him counterattack theopponents.

"Batting at 4 or 5, sometimes you have tothink 1-2 steps ahead of the game and think ofthe counter attack. So visualization helps me inthat," he said.

"It comes naturally because I am an attack-ing batsman ... Reading the situation is reallyimportant because we all know the Australianattack can come really hard at us. The best optionto go in the middle and putting them on the back-foot.

"Counter-attacking in Perth was completelymy own decision. The way I was visualizing I wasthinking about what are the important shots onthat particular wicket. You have to take that riskand you have to be brave to take that call becauseit can go either way," he said.

The second Test witnessed frequent heatedexchanges between Kohli and Australian captainTim Paine.

Rahane said the banter has been enjoyable inthis series and makes for compelling entertain-ment.

"It is important to stay that way (not cross theline with banter) because it helps keep Test crick-et alive," he said.

"Whatever happened on the field was reallygood and competitive and hopefully all enjoyedthat. For us it is important to stay focused. Youcan sledge but also at the same time stay focusedand be competitive."