16
T he trial court on Tuesday permitted the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to interro- gate and arrest, if necessary, for- mer Finance Minister Chidambaram in the INX Media bribery case. Armed with the order, the ED is expected to take Chidambaram in its custody on Wednesday. After this development, even if Chidambaram’s bail petition in the Supreme Court in the CBI case is favourably disposed, he might end up spending Diwali behind bars. Trial court judge Ajay Kumar Kuhar on Tuesday evening passed the order allow- ing the ED to interrogate Chidambaram in Tihar jail on Wednesday and arrest him if necessary. The court said three ED officials can interrogate Chidambaram on Wednesday after 8.30 am and asked the jail superintendent to make arrangements in this regard. The former Finance Minister’s judicial custody in the INX Media corruption case, which was filed by the CBI, ends on October 17. Since his arrest on August 21, he has till Tuesday spent 54 days in custody — both of the CBI as well as judicial — in nine spells. After the court passed the order, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta and Special Public Prosecutor Amit Mahajan, appearing for the ED, sought permission to question Chidambaram in some space available on Rouse Avenue court premises. The court, however, said, “It’s not in the dignity of this person that you interrogate and arrest him here in public view.” The court also rejected Chidamabram’s peti- tion against the production warrant. Chidambaram on Tuesday sought bail from the Supreme Court in the INX Media cor- ruption case saying the CBI wants to keep him in custody to humiliate him. The court will hear on Wednesday the arguments of Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, representing the CBI. Citing his attempts to meet to two crucial witnesses, the agency reiterated that Chidambaram should not be given bail. Justice R Banumathi headed Bench will resume hearing on this petition on Wednesday morning and the ED is expected to make arrest early in the morning. After the trial court’s per- mission to the ED, Chidambaram’s bail petition in the apex court has literally became useless. The ED will get maximum 15 days custody of Chidamabaram following which he may be remanded in judicial custody till he gets bail in the ED’s case. Senior advocates Kapil Sibal and Abhishek Manu Singhvi, appearing for Chidambaram, told a 3-judge bench headed by Justice R Banumathi that there were no allegations against their party colleague or his family mem- bers of having ever tried to approach or influence any wit- ness in the case. Sibal told the Bench, also comprising justices AS Bopanna and Hrishikesh Roy, that Chidambaram is in cus- tody for last 55 days and the Delhi High Court had rejected his bail plea in a “strange way”. Chidambaram, 74, was arrested by the CBI on August 21 and is lodged in Tihar jail under judicial custody in the corruption case. The CBI had registered an FIR on May 15, 2017 alleging irregularities in a Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) clearance granted to the INX Media group for receiving overseas funds of 305 crore in 2007 during Chidambaram’s tenure as the Finance Minister. Thereafter, the ED lodged a money-laundering case in this regard in 2017. Chidambaram moved the top court challenging the Delhi High Court’s September 30 verdict denying him bail in the INX Media case lodged by the CBI. Sibal told the Bench on Tuesday that earlier the ED had argued before the apex court that they want custodial inter- rogation of Chidambaram, but later they opposed his applica- tion filed in the trial court to surrender in the money laun- dering case. “Bail should be granted to him (Chidambaram). They (CBI) want to keep me in jail to humiliate him,” Sibal argued before the apex court. A nother senior Minister from the earlier UPA Government landed in trouble on Tuesday as the Enforcement Directorate (ED) summoned Praful Patel for questioning on October 18 in connection with an alleged property deal between him and Hajra Iqbal, the wife of late Iqbal Mirchi, an erstwhile close aide of Karachi- based underworld don Dawood Ibrahim. As it readied itself to arrest former Union Minister P Chidambaram on Wednesday for custodial interrogation in the INX Media case, the ED prepared the ground for the questioning of former Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel on allegations of quid pro quo in a property deal with late Iqbal Mirchi’s wife Hajra. Official sources said that at its office in Mumbai on October 18, the ED would record Patel’s statement under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) in connection with a deal between a real estate company promot- ed by him, his wife and late Mirchi’s wife. The ED documents have revealed that Millennium Developers Pvt Limited, a company promoted by Patel and his wife, constructed Ceejay House and transferred its third and fourth floors to Mirchi’s wife Hajra Iqbal in 2007 “towards beneficial inter- est of Mirchi in the land on which the structure is built”. Patel and his wife own a sig- nificant number of shares in Millennium Developers Private Limited. However, Patel dismissed the case, saying, “It is an old case and since I am on election tour, I am not privy to the doc- uments. But I can tell you that the allegations against me are false and unsubstantiated.” Talking to mediapersons here, he said, “Documents may have been leaked to media. Obviously, you are in posses- sion of some papers which may have never been brought to my attention.” The ED is investigating several property deals, includ- ing Ceejay House at Worli in south-central Mumbai, which was reportedly owned by Mirchi’s first wife Hajra Memon. Ceejay House is con- structed on a plot allegedly owned by Iqbal Mirchi. The ED’s contention is that Patel redeveloped Ceejay House in 2005. The ED considers the property as “proceeds of crime”. The ED’s move to question to Patel comes in the wake of the grilling of Mukhtar Memon, an alleged key person who handles various properties of Mirchi in Mumbai. Memon is the brother-in-law of Mirchi. In his interaction with the media, Patel said that the mat- ter was under investigation and the issue is if the “person at Ceejay House is linked with me”. The building, according to Patel, was there in 1970. “After my father’s death, there was dis- pute in the family among 21 co- owners. The Mumbai High Court was asked in 1978 to take charge and look after the prop- erty,” Patel said. According to the list of Mirchi’s properties located in India and the UK, Ceejay House was constructed in 2006-07 as a joint venture (JV) between Mirchi and Millenium Developers Pvt Ltd. The ED probe has revealed Mirchi had bought/developed several properties in India and abroad from the proceeds of crime generated through var- ious illegal offences. The NCP is seeing the action against its leader as “political vendetta” in the run up to the Maharashtra Assembly polls. T he bestowal of “Bharat Ratna” upon social reform- ers Jyotiba Phule, Savitribai Phhule, and freedom fighter Veer Savarkar, creation of one crore jobs in five years, making Maharashtra “drought-free” in five years and 5 lakh crore investment in infrastructure sector are among the promis- es made by the ruling BJP in its manifesto for the State Assembly polls. In its manifesto “Sankalp Patra” released three days after its ally Shiv Sena released its manifesto “Vachan Patra”, the BJP has also promised houses to all the homeless in the State by 2022, pure drinking water to each household, to set up a grid for Marathwada to solve water problem in the region and to provide job opportunities to one crore women by bringing them under “Mahila Bachat Ghatak” scheme. Releasing “Sankalp Patra” along with the party’s working president JP Nadda, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said, “On our return to power in the State, we will recom- mend to the Centre a propos- al to bestow ‘Bharat Ratna’ upon social reformers Jyotiba Phule, Savitribai Phhule, and freedom fighter Veer Savarkar. These three great leaders deserved to be honoured with Bharat Ratna as they spent their whole lives for social activities. The Shiv Sena has also for some time been demanding bestowal of Bharart Ratna upon Veer Savarkar.” The promise to bestow Bharat Ratna upon the Phule couple and Veer Savarkar is being seen as a move to attract Dalit and Hindu votes. “The focus of our mani- festo is three-fold — to address drought, increase availability of water and employment,” the CM said. The project to link various rivers, uninterrupted power supply, education, economic development, health, agricul- ture, social welfare, air trans- port, port development, water supply for irrigation and rural development are the BJP’s other focus areas. In its “Sankalp Patra”, the BJP also promised to seek financial assistance from the Centre to invest to the tune of 1 lakh crore on infrastructural facilities, to generate solar ener- gy in next five years that is enough to supply electricity to farmers for 12 hours in a day and to set up a solar power grid. In a first of its kind imita- tive, the BJP has promised to set up an independent author- ity to repair all kinds of roads. The ruling party said it would connect the entire Maharashtra by internet through Bharat Net and Maha Net. “We will register all kinds of labourers at one place and bring them under the ambit of the social security... We will undertake a special rehabilita- tion programme for the retired soldiers, families of martyred soldiers and officials who died during the call of duty,” the BJP manifesto said. A fter women commuters, two-wheelers have been exempted from the odd-even scheme which will be rolled out from November 4 to 15, Transport Department offi- cials said on Tuesday, adding that the penalty for the scheme violation has been hiked from 2,000 to 4,000. Unlike last year, the private CNG vehicles will not be exempted from the car rationing scheme this year. “The Delhi Government will engage 2,000 private buses during the odd-even period to bear the the additional load at 50 per kilometre. We have also met with Uber and are going to meet other cab operators and strictly warned them for not indulging in indiscriminate surge pricing. Uber has com- mitted to us that they will not permit more than 1.5 times the regular fare during the period,” Transport Minister Gahlot said. Besides, the Government will deploy civil defense employees to make commuters aware about the scheme. According to the scheme, vehicles will ply on the road on alternate days as per the last digit of their number plates. Vehicles with number plate ending with even numbers: 2, 4, 6, 8 and 0 will ply on “even” dates, while vehicles with odd numbers 1,3,5,7,9 will play on “odd” dates. Earlier, on Saturday, the AAP Government had exempted women from the odd-even scheme. “Keeping the security of women in mind, we have decided to exempt women from odd-even scheme. All women driving cars or and those with women drivers car- rying children below the age of 12 will be exempted,” Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had said earlier. T he Reserve Bank of India has not printed a single 2,000 note from April 1 onward this year. The move is seen an attempt to curb stock- piling of black money. The RBI confirmed this in response to an RTI reply in which it said that soon after the demonitisation, the Central bank printed 3,542.991 million 2,000 notes to match with the demand after the existing 1,000 and 500 notes were cancelled in October 2016. As per the RTI reply, the volume of printing of 2,000 notes came down drastically in the following year as the bank went in fast gear to print cur- rency notes of other denomi- nations. In 2017-18, only 111.507 million notes were produced, which was further reduced to 46.690 million notes 2018-19, said the RBI. Earlier, the RBI had refut- ed the reports of withdrawal of 2,000 notes but many experts feel that the stopping produc- tion in the financial year will lead to withdrawal of the high value note in near future. Continued on Page 4 T he police on Tuesday detained a small group of women led by daughter and sis- ter of National Conference president and sitting Member Parliament Farooq Abdullah in Srinagar when they tried to stage an “unathorised” sit-in protest against the abrogation of Article 370 and bifurcation of State into two Union Territories. Farooq Abdullah’s sister Suraiya Mattoo, his daughter Safiya Khan, former J&K High Court chief justice Bashir Ahmad Khan’s wife Professor Hawa Khan and others were detained by the police from Pratap Park area. The women arrived at the busy Lal Chowk area on Tuesday morning wearing black arm badges and holding several placards. Safiya Khan was seen car- rying a banner reading “Kashmiri brides not for sale”, apparently implying to the statement made by some BJP leaders of Haryana and UP after the abrogation of Article 370. Other protesters were seen holding placards which demanded the release of detainees and restoration of civil liberties. As they started assembling inside the Pratap Park, women cops, along with paramilitary forces, prevented them from staging sit-in dharna. The cops also demanded them to pro- duce permission letter, if any, issued by the office of District Magistrate. When these women refused to call off the dharna, women cops pushed them inside the police vans before escorting them to the nearest police station. In a written statement, these women said, “We the women of Kashmir disapprove the unilateral decision taken by the Government of India to revoke Article 370 and 35A and downgrade and split the State of Jammu & Kashmir. We feel betrayed, humiliated and vio- lated as people.” “We demand immediate release of detainees. We express our outrage against the nation- al media for their false and mis- leading coverage of ground realties in Kashmir,” reads the statement. Meanwhile SMS services were withdrawan by the State administration barely hours after the postpaid mobile phone services were restored across the Valley on Monday. The decision was taken after review of the prevailing secu- rity situation arising after the killing of a truck driver hailing from Rajasthan by a group of terrorists in Shopian late on Monday evening.

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Page 1: 2 ( 0 1)˙ ˝%23˜ 0 0 ˆ 3 .4 ˇ1 ˙˜! ( ˚52 -˘2 ˚ / #˝˙92 -9 ... · Tushar Mehta, representing the CBI. Citing his attempts to ... Chidambaram should not be given bail. Justice

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The trial court on Tuesdaypermitted the Enforcement

Directorate (ED) to interro-gate and arrest, if necessary, for-mer Finance MinisterChidambaram in the INXMedia bribery case. Armedwith the order, the ED isexpected to take Chidambaramin its custody on Wednesday.

After this development,even if Chidambaram’s bailpetition in the Supreme Courtin the CBI case is favourablydisposed, he might end upspending Diwali behind bars.

Trial court judge AjayKumar Kuhar on Tuesdayevening passed the order allow-ing the ED to interrogateChidambaram in Tihar jail onWednesday and arrest him ifnecessary. The court said threeED officials can interrogateChidambaram on Wednesdayafter 8.30 am and asked the jailsuperintendent to makearrangements in this regard.

The former FinanceMinister’s judicial custody inthe INX Media corruptioncase, which was filed by theCBI, ends on October 17. Sincehis arrest on August 21, he hastill Tuesday spent 54 days incustody — both of the CBI aswell as judicial — in ninespells.

After the court passed theorder, Solicitor General TusharMehta and Special PublicProsecutor Amit Mahajan,appearing for the ED, soughtpermission to question

Chidambaram in some spaceavailable on Rouse Avenuecourt premises. The court,however, said, “It’s not in thedignity of this person that youinterrogate and arrest him herein public view.” The court alsorejected Chidamabram’s peti-tion against the productionwarrant.

Chidambaram on Tuesdaysought bail from the SupremeCourt in the INX Media cor-ruption case saying the CBIwants to keep him in custodyto humiliate him. The court

will hear on Wednesday thearguments of Solicitor GeneralTushar Mehta, representingthe CBI. Citing his attempts tomeet to two crucial witnesses,the agency reiterated thatChidambaram should not begiven bail. Justice R Banumathiheaded Bench will resumehearing on this petition onWednesday morning and theED is expected to make arrestearly in the morning.

After the trial court’s per-mission to the ED,Chidambaram’s bail petition in

the apex court has literallybecame useless. The ED will getmaximum 15 days custody ofChidamabaram followingwhich he may be remanded injudicial custody till he gets bailin the ED’s case.

Senior advocates KapilSibal and Abhishek ManuSinghvi, appearing forChidambaram, told a 3-judgebench headed by Justice RBanumathi that there were noallegations against their partycolleague or his family mem-bers of having ever tried to

approach or influence any wit-ness in the case.

Sibal told the Bench, alsocomprising justices ASBopanna and Hrishikesh Roy,that Chidambaram is in cus-tody for last 55 days and theDelhi High Court had rejectedhis bail plea in a “strange way”.

Chidambaram, 74, wasarrested by the CBI on August21 and is lodged in Tihar jailunder judicial custody in thecorruption case.

The CBI had registered anFIR on May 15, 2017 allegingirregularities in a ForeignInvestment Promotion Board(FIPB) clearance granted to theINX Media group for receivingoverseas funds of �305 crore in2007 during Chidambaram’stenure as the Finance Minister.

Thereafter, the ED lodgeda money-laundering case inthis regard in 2017.

Chidambaram moved thetop court challenging the DelhiHigh Court’s September 30verdict denying him bail in the INX Media case lodged bythe CBI.

Sibal told the Bench onTuesday that earlier the ED hadargued before the apex courtthat they want custodial inter-rogation of Chidambaram, butlater they opposed his applica-tion filed in the trial court tosurrender in the money laun-dering case.

“Bail should be granted tohim (Chidambaram). They(CBI) want to keep me in jailto humiliate him,” Sibal arguedbefore the apex court.

��� � �������� �/�.�#

Another senior Ministerfrom the earlier UPA

Government landed in troubleon Tuesday as the EnforcementDirectorate (ED) summonedPraful Patel for questioning onOctober 18 in connection withan alleged property dealbetween him and Hajra Iqbal,the wife of late Iqbal Mirchi, anerstwhile close aide of Karachi-based underworld donDawood Ibrahim.

As it readied itself to arrestformer Union Minister PChidambaram on Wednesdayfor custodial interrogation inthe INX Media case, the EDprepared the ground for thequestioning of former CivilAviation Minister Praful Patelon allegations of quid pro quoin a property deal with lateIqbal Mirchi’s wife Hajra.

Official sources said that atits office in Mumbai onOctober 18, the ED wouldrecord Patel’s statement underthe Prevention of MoneyLaundering Act (PMLA) inconnection with a deal betweena real estate company promot-ed by him, his wife and lateMirchi’s wife.

The ED documents haverevealed that Millennium

Developers Pvt Limited, acompany promoted by Pateland his wife, constructedCeejay House and transferredits third and fourth floors toMirchi’s wife Hajra Iqbal in2007 “towards beneficial inter-est of Mirchi in the land onwhich the structure is built”.Patel and his wife own a sig-nificant number of shares inMillennium Developers PrivateLimited.

However, Patel dismissedthe case, saying, “It is an oldcase and since I am on electiontour, I am not privy to the doc-uments. But I can tell you thatthe allegations against me arefalse and unsubstantiated.”

Talking to mediapersonshere, he said, “Documents mayhave been leaked to media.Obviously, you are in posses-sion of some papers whichmay have never been broughtto my attention.”

The ED is investigatingseveral property deals, includ-ing Ceejay House at Worli insouth-central Mumbai, which

was reportedly owned byMirchi’s first wife HajraMemon. Ceejay House is con-structed on a plot allegedlyowned by Iqbal Mirchi. TheED’s contention is that Patelredeveloped Ceejay House in2005. The ED considers theproperty as “proceeds of crime”.

The ED’s move to questionto Patel comes in the wake ofthe grilling of MukhtarMemon, an alleged key personwho handles various propertiesof Mirchi in Mumbai. Memonis the brother-in-law of Mirchi.

In his interaction with themedia, Patel said that the mat-ter was under investigationand the issue is if the “personat Ceejay House is linked withme”. The building, according toPatel, was there in 1970. “Aftermy father’s death, there was dis-pute in the family among 21 co-owners. The Mumbai HighCourt was asked in 1978 to takecharge and look after the prop-erty,” Patel said.

According to the list ofMirchi’s properties located inIndia and the UK, CeejayHouse was constructed in2006-07 as a joint venture (JV)between Mirchi and MilleniumDevelopers Pvt Ltd.

The ED probe has revealedMirchi had bought/developedseveral properties in India andabroad from the proceeds ofcrime generated through var-ious illegal offences.

The NCP is seeing theaction against its leader as“political vendetta” in the runup to the MaharashtraAssembly polls.

��� � �������� �/�.�#

The bestowal of “BharatRatna” upon social reform-

ers Jyotiba Phule, SavitribaiPhhule, and freedom fighterVeer Savarkar, creation of onecrore jobs in five years, makingMaharashtra “drought-free” infive years and �5 lakh croreinvestment in infrastructuresector are among the promis-es made by the ruling BJP in itsmanifesto for the StateAssembly polls.

In its manifesto “SankalpPatra” released three days afterits ally Shiv Sena released itsmanifesto “Vachan Patra”, theBJP has also promised housesto all the homeless in the Stateby 2022, pure drinking water toeach household, to set up a gridfor Marathwada to solve waterproblem in the region and toprovide job opportunities toone crore women by bringingthem under “Mahila BachatGhatak” scheme.

Releasing “Sankalp Patra”along with the party’s workingpresident JP Nadda, ChiefMinister Devendra Fadnavissaid, “On our return to powerin the State, we will recom-mend to the Centre a propos-al to bestow ‘Bharat Ratna’upon social reformers Jyotiba

Phule, Savitribai Phhule, andfreedom fighter Veer Savarkar.These three great leadersdeserved to be honoured withBharat Ratna as they spenttheir whole lives for socialactivities. The Shiv Sena hasalso for some time beendemanding bestowal of BharartRatna upon Veer Savarkar.”

The promise to bestowBharat Ratna upon the Phulecouple and Veer Savarkar isbeing seen as a move to attractDalit and Hindu votes.

“The focus of our mani-festo is three-fold — to addressdrought, increase availability ofwater and employment,” the

CM said.The project to link various

rivers, uninterrupted powersupply, education, economicdevelopment, health, agricul-ture, social welfare, air trans-port, port development, watersupply for irrigation and ruraldevelopment are the BJP’s otherfocus areas.

In its “Sankalp Patra”, theBJP also promised to seekfinancial assistance from theCentre to invest to the tune of�1 lakh crore on infrastructuralfacilities, to generate solar ener-gy in next five years that isenough to supply electricity tofarmers for 12 hours in a day

and to set up a solar power grid.In a first of its kind imita-

tive, the BJP has promised toset up an independent author-ity to repair all kinds of roads.The ruling party said it wouldconnect the entire Maharashtraby internet through Bharat Netand Maha Net.

“We will register all kindsof labourers at one place andbring them under the ambit ofthe social security... We willundertake a special rehabilita-tion programme for the retiredsoldiers, families of martyredsoldiers and officials who diedduring the call of duty,” the BJPmanifesto said.

����� ��� �� �� �231245#

After women commuters,two-wheelers have been

exempted from the odd-evenscheme which will be rolled outfrom November 4 to 15,Transport Department offi-cials said on Tuesday, addingthat the penalty for the schemeviolation has been hiked from�2,000 to �4,000.

Unlike last year, the privateCNG vehicles will not beexempted from the carrationing scheme this year.

“The Delhi Governmentwill engage 2,000 private busesduring the odd-even period tobear the the additional load at�50 per kilometre. We have alsomet with Uber and are going tomeet other cab operators andstrictly warned them for notindulging in indiscriminatesurge pricing. Uber has com-mitted to us that they will notpermit more than 1.5 times theregular fare during the period,”Transport Minister Gahlot said.

Besides, the Governmentwill deploy civil defenseemployees to make commutersaware about the scheme.

According to the scheme,vehicles will ply on the road onalternate days as per the lastdigit of their number plates.Vehicles with number plateending with even numbers: 2,4, 6, 8 and 0 will ply on “even”dates, while vehicles with oddnumbers 1,3,5,7,9 will play on“odd” dates.

Earlier, on Saturday, theAAP Government hadexempted women from theodd-even scheme.

“Keeping the security ofwomen in mind, we havedecided to exempt womenfrom odd-even scheme. Allwomen driving cars or andthose with women drivers car-rying children below the age of12 will be exempted,” DelhiChief Minister Arvind Kejriwalhad said earlier.

���� �231245#

The Reserve Bank of Indiahas not printed a single

�2,000 note from April 1onward this year. The move isseen an attempt to curb stock-piling of black money.

The RBI confirmed this inresponse to an RTI reply inwhich it said that soon after thedemonitisation, the Centralbank printed 3,542.991 million�2,000 notes to match with thedemand after the existing�1,000 and �500 notes werecancelled in October 2016.

As per the RTI reply, thevolume of printing of �2,000notes came down drastically inthe following year as the bank

went in fast gear to print cur-rency notes of other denomi-nations. In 2017-18, only111.507 million notes wereproduced, which was furtherreduced to 46.690 million notes2018-19, said the RBI.

Earlier, the RBI had refut-ed the reports of withdrawal of�2,000 notes but many expertsfeel that the stopping produc-tion in the financial year willlead to withdrawal of the highvalue note in near future.

Continued on Page 4

������,����� ��� 6���/

The police on Tuesdaydetained a small group of

women led by daughter and sis-ter of National Conferencepresident and sitting MemberParliament Farooq Abdullah inSrinagar when they tried tostage an “unathorised” sit-inprotest against the abrogationof Article 370 and bifurcationof State into two UnionTerritories.

Farooq Abdullah’s sisterSuraiya Mattoo, his daughterSafiya Khan, former J&K HighCourt chief justice BashirAhmad Khan’s wife Professor

Hawa Khan and others weredetained by the police fromPratap Park area.

The women arrived at thebusy Lal Chowk area onTuesday morning wearing

black arm badges and holdingseveral placards.

Safiya Khan was seen car-

rying a banner reading“Kashmiri brides not for sale”,apparently implying to thestatement made by some BJPleaders of Haryana and UPafter the abrogation of Article370. Other protesters were seenholding placards whichdemanded the release ofdetainees and restoration ofcivil liberties.

As they started assemblinginside the Pratap Park, womencops, along with paramilitaryforces, prevented them fromstaging sit-in dharna. The copsalso demanded them to pro-duce permission letter, if any,issued by the office of DistrictMagistrate.

When these womenrefused to call off the dharna,women cops pushed theminside the police vans beforeescorting them to the nearestpolice station.

In a written statement,these women said, “We the

women of Kashmir disapprovethe unilateral decision taken bythe Government of India torevoke Article 370 and 35A anddowngrade and split the Stateof Jammu & Kashmir. We feelbetrayed, humiliated and vio-lated as people.”

“We demand immediaterelease of detainees. We expressour outrage against the nation-al media for their false and mis-leading coverage of groundrealties in Kashmir,” reads thestatement.

Meanwhile SMS serviceswere withdrawan by the Stateadministration barely hoursafter the postpaid mobilephone services were restoredacross the Valley on Monday.The decision was taken afterreview of the prevailing secu-rity situation arising after thekilling of a truck driver hailingfrom Rajasthan by a group ofterrorists in Shopian late onMonday evening.

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In a major relief to the taxiand auto-rickshaw owners,

the Delhi Government hasdecided to waive fitness feesand will reduce all othercharges such as fitness penal-ty fee, duplicate registrationcertificates (RC) permit andothers by more than threetimes from existing �2,000 to�500. The new rates will beimplemented fromNovember1.

Announcing the modifi-cations in the Motor VehicleAct , Delhi Transport MinisterKailash Gahlot said, "Fee inrespect of grant as well asrenewal of permit is containedin Rule 59(1)(b) and (c) ofDelhi Motor Vehicle Rules,1993 which is �1,500/- (for DL-IT, DL-1Y & DL-1N and�2,000/- (for DL-1Z & DL-1RX). It has been decided toreduce this fee to �500/- for all

taxis. An amendment would berequired to be made in Rule59(1) (b) & (c) to give effect tothis proposal."

In August, theGovernment had waived thefitness test fee and significant-ly scaled down various othercharges, including penaltiesfor autos.

He also said, with theimplementation of this schemethere will be no GPS and SIMcharges for taxis and auto rick-shaws. Modifies charges will beapplicable from 1st November.

Delhi Cabinet chaired byChief Minister Arvind Kejriwal

has also approved the modifi-cations in the MV act and gavenod to make it effective fromfirst of November.

Once the modificationswill be implemented, thecharges for late fitness penaltyfees for taxis will be reducedfrom �1,000 to �500, registra-tion and re-registration vehiclefee has been reduced from1,000 to 300, transfer of own-ership and duplicate RC from�500 to 100.

Besides, other fees such asPS Tracking Charges (Presentlybeing charged @�100/- permonth plus GST) charged fromthe Light Motor Vehicle (Taxi)owners/drivers and the sameshall be paid by TransportDepartment. Further, PresentlySIM is being procured byowner from open market. Nowit is proposed that the sameshall be provided by DIMTSfree of cost in parity with TSR(Auto)," said an official.

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Sharing National Aeronauticsand Space Administration

(NASA)'s image of latest inci-dents of stubble burning inneighbouring States —Haryana, Punjab and Pakistan,Delhi Environment MinisterKailash Gehlot has written toUnion Minister of Science andTechnology and Earth Sciences(MoES) Dr Harsh Vardhan toshare MoES's data so that DelhiGovernment can study aboutthe total contribution of bio-mass burning in escalating pol-lution in Delhi and its adjoin-ing areas to curb air pollution.

Evidently, Delhi's air qual-ity was put under 'very poor'category on the third consecu-tive day while System of AirQuality and WeatherForecasting And Research(SAFAR)'s forecast said that airquality in the city will remain'poor' for the next three days.

The stubble burning activ-ity in Haryana, Panjab andnearby border regions haveshown a slight increasing trendover the last 24 hours.

Citing stubble burningactivities a major reason, Gehlotsaid pollution in Delhi, espe-cially winter months, has alwaysremained a cause of concern forthe Delhi Government."Various steps have been takenduring the last years which haveyielded positive results, I amhappy to inform you that pol-lution level in Delhi has comedown by 25 per cent as com-pared to the previous years," let-ter stated.

"As you are aware stubbleburning in neighboring states ofDelhi during the month ofNovember has always con-tributed significantly to thehigher PM 2.5 level in Delhi,"Gehlot wrote to Dr Vardhan.

Quoting SAFAR's observa-tion on crop burning in

Haryana and Punjab, Gehlotsaid. "Stubble burning con-tribute six percent in Delhi's airand as SAFAR has the technol-ogy to monitor the pollutioncaused by the burning of cropresidue, we a request to MoEsshare the data," he said.

Meanwhile, SAFAR alsocited slow surface winds as pri-mary reasons for low dispersionof pollutants, SAFAR said thatthe overall air quality of Delhiis in the higher end of the poorcategory and touched very poorcategory on Monday night fora brief period, as PM 2.5 the leadpollutant, had spiked.

SAFAR in its forecast stat-ed, "The surface winds are slowand variable with wind direc-tion at the surface and transportheight (the first one-kilometerboundary layer) are south-southwesterly. Which is notquite favorable for the efficienttransport of the fire plumetowards Delhi".

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In the wake of the rising pollution in thenational Capital, civic agencies in Delhi

have started a series of measures to com-bat air pollution. All the three corporationshave intensified mechanical road sweepingand deployed water sprinkles in largenumbers to settle down dust which is con-sidered one of the major pollutants.

The South Delhi MunicipalCorporation (SDMC) and North DelhiCorporation (NMC) have deployed 152water sprinklers to settle down dust.SDMC has issued 660 challans under'Solid Waste Management' (SWM) rule ofNational Green Tribunal (NGT) for vari-ous violations and collected a fine of Rs 23,76,100.

The North Corporation has deployed18 mechanical road sweepers for cleaningroads. It has also issued 887 challans thisyear to owners of various properties forcontributing dust pollution and realised �17lakh for the same.

Talking about other pollution controlmeasures, a senior SDMC official said thataction is being taken against burning ofsolid waste, garbage, dry leaves, plastic, andrubber. Besides, areas under SDMC juris-diction are being regularly checked to mon-itor construction activities, he said, adding

that apart from this, the civic body will alsoconstitute three teams in each zone to checkburning of leaves and other related viola-tion as part of the measures.

In Central zone, f ive water sprinkles have been deployed and during 1st Oct 2019 to 12th October 2019around 112 challans were issued for underSWM by laws and construction and air pol-lution under NGT Act resulting in anamount of �5,000 as fine, he said, addingthat more than 111 sites have been inspect-ed to check burning of garbage and dryleaves.

The official further said that inNajafgarh zone, nine water sprinkles havebeen deployed and one water sprinkle isalso deployed for the areas around air pol-lution hot spot at Dwarka Sector 8. Besides,it has deployed total of 24 water sprinklesin all its four zones.

The air quality turned "very poor" withthe overall Average Air Quality Index(AQI) touching 318 micro grams percubic (μgm-3) on Tuesday. The measureswere taken to curb air pollution in the viewof Graded Response Action Plan to curbair pollution in Delhi-NCR came into forceon Tuesday, rolling out stricter measuresdepending on the need to discourage pri-vate vehicles on roads, stop entry oftrucks, use of diesel generators, and clos-ing brick kilns and stone crushers.

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Lieutenant-Governor (L-G)Anil Baijal on Tuesday

approved 'online module' tosanction building plan for up to500 sqm for low-risk residentialbuildings under 'UnifiedBuilding Bye Laws 2021'. Withthe move, the residents of thenational Capital are no longerneeded to visit offices of thecivic agencies to submit theirapplications for building plan.The building plan is in the formof digitally signed letter whichcan be downloaded by theapplicant or the architectthrough online mode also.

Further, a Memorandum ofUnderstanding (MoU) was alsosigned between IIIT-Delhi andMunicipal Corporations toidentify right technology solu-tions in improving citizen ser-vice delivery, providing researchbased inputs for adoption of themodern technology, simplifying

the existing processes, min-imising human interface byautomating the frontend andbackend processes and identi-fying and implementingArtificial Intelligence (AI) basedsolutions in municipal functionsto improve services delivery tothe citizens. The L-G advisedthe municipal corporations to

strive for modernising theiroperation using technology fordifferent municipal functionslike waste disposal, parkingmanagement, property tax col-lection, town planning, etc.

Baijal said that by rein-venting and modernising theirsystems using latest technology,corporations would be able to

provide better civic services tothe citizens of Delhi. At thesame time students or faculty ofIIIT-Delhi will get to solveproblems of citizens by workingout technical solutions. This willbe a perfect example of symbi-otic relationship, he added. Headvised the corporations tominimise human interface by

automating processeswherever possible todeliver citizen centricservices in line withPrime Minister's clarion

call to promote digital deliveryof services — 'MaximumGovernment, MinimumGovernance'.

The construction permitscan be applied on line by using'Common Application' formand no personal interactionwith the MCD offices and offi-cers concerned will be requiredin any case, a senior SDMC offi-cial said.

"The SDMC has developeda dash board to provide the lat-est status of each case in orderto make sure that the things aremoving in the right direction,hence, there is no scope of anydelay. Even all payments can bemade on line and calculationscan also be done with the helpof on line calculator," he added.

The initiative led by SDMCin order to ensure the trans-parency and more ease to thepublic for issuance of con-struction permits by the threeMunicipal Corporation of Delhiunder ease of doing business hasfurther been strengthened andsuitably eased. Commissioner ofSDMC Gyanesh Bharti, saidthat at present about 1491 archi-

tects are assigned to look afterthe process. Residents will gettheir plan sanctioned same day,the official said.

Under this portal the build-ing sanction plan process hasbeen simplified and made com-pletely online with integratedpayment gateways for issuanceof sanction of building plans,Bharti said, adding that thisprocess does not require anyphysical interface of MCD andthe registered Architects will beable to generate their sanctionautomatically through the sys-tem by completing the requisiteformalities online and digitallysigning the sanction letters.

The official furtherinformed that in this system, allthe inputs submitted by the reg-istered architect will be checkedautomatically by the softwarebased Rule engine of the system,which has been made in linewith the building bye-laws,Master Plan 2021 and relevantActs. Earlier the permittedlimit for building sanction planon self certification was 105 sqmwhich now has been extendedup to 500 sqm.

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While Graded ResponseAction Plan (GRAP) has

been initiated in Delhi-National Capital Region (NCR)to minimise the impact of pol-lutants, Environment PollutionControl Authority (EPCA)chairperson, Sunita Narain saidillegal godowns, each span-ning across more than twoacre have come up on agricul-tural land in Bahadurgarh dis-trict of Haryana, adjoiningAsia's largest wholesale junkmarket in Delhi's Tikri Kalan.They burn plastic in the openwhich causes pollution.

"Plastic segregation andrecycling are important for thecity. The Delhi DevelopmentAuthority (DDA) has given landfor it at Tikri Kalan and RamkyEnviro Engineers Limited liftsthe waste that cannot be recycledfor controlled burning in waste-to-energy plants," Narain said.

The problem is that it isoverflowing outside Tikri. Thereare illegal segregation units thatburn the waste that cannot berecycled. Internal factors likevehicular emission and con-struction dust both contribute inpollution, Delhi Governmentshould also work on these fac-tors, Narain said.

"Incidents of external bio-mass burning cannot be ignored.These are exacerbating pollutionin Delhi-NCR. But the fact islocal sources of pollution aremassive. Biomass burning iscontributing 10 per cent, whichmeans local sources account

for the rest 90 per cent of the pol-lution. Uttar Pradesh, Harayanaand Delhi are all to blame,"Narain said.

Notably, as Delhi's air qual-ity has deteriorated and anti- airpollution measures kicked fromTuesday, EPCA has assertedthat local source of pollution inDelhi, Uttar Pardesh andHaryana are the primary reasonsfor poor air quality that plaguesthe national capital every win-ter. Stack (chimney) and dustpollution as well as open burn-ing of plastic and rubber scrapare a major cause for concern,member of the EnvironmentPollution (Prevention andControl) Authority (EPCA)Narain said .

While Chief MinisterArvind Kejriwal has blamedstubble burning in the neigh-bouring states for deteriorationof air quality in the city, SAFAR,the ministry of earth science's airquality and weather forecastservice, has said the share ofstubble burning in the PM 2.5concentrations in Delhi hasremained less than 10 percent sofar. Narain said stack and dustpollution as well as open burn-ing of plastic and rubber scrapare a major cause for concern.

This year, GRAP will wit-ness the return of Delhi gov-ernment's odd-even carrationing scheme fromNovember 4 and the extensionof the ban on diesel gen-sets toNCR cities of Gurgaon,Ghaziabad, Noida, GreaterNoida, Faridabad, Sonepat,Panipat and Bahadurgarh.

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Ahead of the upcoming Delhi Assemblyelections, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind

Kejriwal will launch "AK" mobile app onWednesday to stay in touch with the party vol-unteers across the country.

AAP senior leader Gopal Rai said thatKejriwal will also hold closed-door meetingswith Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) volunteers indifferent parts of the city besides addressinga series of jansabhas in Delhi.

"Last month, we did 'Jan Samvaad' cam-paign across Delhi. As part of preparations forDelhi assembly election, chief minister willinteract with party volunteers in Delhi fromtomorrow," he said.

Addressing media persons, AAP nation-

al spokesperson Dr Ajoy Kumar slammed theBJP for the increasing numbers of crimes inDelhi. "The number of crimes is increasingday by day in the city.

Accusing the BJP for being apathetictowards public safety and security, he said theBJP has never even raised any question on thelaw and order situation of Delhi in theParliament. BJP leaders have also never metthe Police Commissioner of Delhi on the issueof law and order, he added.

Kumar said that nearly 700 police wereinvolved in solving the snatching incident ofPM's niece but they do nothing about the othersuch cases. On the other hand, police have reg-istered cases against 52 AAP MLAs, he said,adding that a total of 140 cases were registeredagainst AAP and 70 were dropped later.

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In yet another case of snatch-ing, a metropolitan magis-

trate's mobile phone wassnatched by two bike-bornemen in North Delhi's KamalaNagar area on Monday night.

According to a seniorpolice official, the incidenttook place on Monday ataround 8 pm when the victimwas speaking on his phone;two bike-borne assailantssnatched his phone and fledfrom the spot.

"The magistrate theninformed the police about theincident following which apolice team was immediatelysent to the crime scene. Thepolice team after recording the

statement of the magistratelodged a case under sections356 (assault or criminal forcein attempt to commit theft ofproperty carried by a person)and 379 (punishment fortheft) has been registered atthe Civil Lines police sta-tion," said the senior policeofficial.

"Police teams have beenformed who are analysing theCCTV footage of nearby areasto nab the accused," said thesenior police official.

There has been a suddenincrease in the snatching casesin the recent past. The DelhiPolice have claimed that theyhave managed to curb cases ofsnatching and more than4,000 criminals have been putbehind the bars.

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Prime Minister NarendraModi on Tuesday accused

Congress leaders of spreadingrumours abroad over the recentnullification of Article 370 andurged voters to punish theopposition party for this in theupcoming Assembly polls.

Addressing a public meet-ing, Modi repeated dared theCongress again to openlydeclare that it will reverse hisGovernment's decision to nullify Article 370 if it is votedto power.

“Some leaders of theCongress have been spreadingrumours about this decision inthe country and in the world”.

“You can abuse Modi asmuch as you can and evenimport abuses from Bangkok,Thailand, Vietnam or fromwherever you want. I have noproblem if you speak againstModi. But they should stopbackstabbing India, which is on

the path of progress,” he added,in a barb directed at theCongress.

The Prime Ministeraddressed meetings in CharkhiDadri and Kurukshetra'sThanesar town on his secondvisit in two days to the state thatgoes to the polls on October 21.

Modi said there was a feel-ing in Haryana and the rest ofthe country that J&K needed tobe pulled out of the spiral ofviolence.“I want to ask the peo-ple of Haryana. Do you acceptthe decision on the abrogationof Article 370?” he said.

He said the decision wastaken in national interest and

the whole country is standing byJammu & Kashmir and Ladakh.

Charkhi Dadri, where thefirst meeting of the day tookplace, has a sizeable presence ofpeople serving in the armedforces, as well as ex-servicemen.

He asked people at theCharkhi Dadri meeting if theysupported the Congress onArticle 370, the now nullifiedconstitutional provision thatgave special status to J&K.

“Do you agree with theCongress's stand, whether theyare speaking right for the coun-try,” he said.

“Should they not be pun-ished severely? Would you dothat on October 21?” he asked,predicting that Haryana wouldgive the opposition party a“befitting reply”.Modi said thepeople of the state have decid-ed to put their stamp on theBJP Government's “clean andtransparent administration”.

"The people of Haryanahave decided to bring the BJPback to power," Modi said.

The Bharatiya Janata Partycandidate in Charkhi Dadri iswrestler Babita Phogat, whosestruggle and that of her coach-father is featured in the hit film‘Dangal'.Modi said when hemet President Xi Jinping at theirinformal summit recently, theChinese leader told him that hehad watched Dangal. “He alsotold me that he saw in themovie what wonders daughterswere capable of doing," thePrime Minister said.

He said the Centre's “BetiBachao Beti Padhao” campaignfor the girl child would not havebeen effective without the sup-port of Haryana's villages.

“People in Haryana say‘Mahre choree choron say kamhain kay (are our daughters anyless than the sons). This voicehas come from the villages ofHaryana, and when this voicetakes the shape of a campaign,the world is forced to say thatdaughters of India are‘dhaakad',” Modi said in a ref-erence to the movie.

��#��$��� �#������������69:���+Karachi:The halt in the supplyof cheaper anti-rabies vaccinefrom India and China has ledto an acute shortage of the life-saving drug in Pakistan's Sindhprovince as it grapples withincreasing incidents of dogbites, an official said.

Naseem Salahuddin,Director of the Rabies FreeKarachi Programme, said thatthere is a big difference in theprice of the vaccine importedfrom India as compared to theone purchased from othercountries.

The vaccine imported fromIndia costs �1,000 (USD 6)whereas the drug importedfrom Europe costs a whopping�70,000 (USD 446), the officialsaid, adding that this life-sav-ing drug is only available in thegovernment hospitals in thecountry.

The shortage or absence ofthe anti-rabies vaccine hasbeen witnessed in government

hospitals in the Sindh province,including its capital Karachi asimports of the vaccine fromIndia has stopped in recentmonths, while its import fromChina has been suspended.

It is not clear whetherPakistan stopped the import ofthe anti-rabies vaccine fromIndia due to bilateral tensionsafter New Delhi scrappedJammu & Kashmir's special sta-tus in August.

There has been an increasein the number of stray dogs onthe streets of Karachi in recentmonths, while in the past

weeks, some 130 cases of dogbites have been reported fromdifferent parts of the province.

On Monday night, at least12 people, including a policesub-inspector, in Karachi wereadmitted to hospital after apack of stray dogs attackedthem.

According to mediareports, over USD 36 million ofanti-rabies and anti-venomvaccines have been importedby Pakistan from India in thelast 16 months due to lack ofmanufacturing capacity in thecountry. PTI

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United Nations: India haswarned of the inherent dangersin "nuclear brinkmanship" pur-sued by countries as a cover forcross-border terrorism, daysafter Pakistan Prime Ministerdrummed up hysteria over apossible nuclear war in SouthAsia after New Delhi revokedthe special status of Jammu &Kashmir.

Noting that the globalsecurity situation is in a flux,Ambassador Pankaj Sharma,Permanent Representative ofIndia to the Conference onDisarmament (CD), said thatas a responsible nuclear power,India's nuclear doctrine con-tinues to stress a policy ofcredible minimum deterrencewith a posture of no-first useand non-use against non-nuclear weapon States.

He made the comments onMonday at the General Debateof the First Committee, whichdeals with disarmament, glob-al challenges and threats topeace that affect the interna-tional community.

"The global security situa-tion is in a flux. There is con-cern over the demise of someof the landmark disarmamenttreaties and agreements and thelowering of the nuclear thresh-old and the inherent dangers innuclear brinkmanship, pur-sued by countries as a cover forcross-border terrorism," hesaid.

Sharma's comments camedays after Pakistan PrimeMinister Imran Khan deliveredhis maiden speech at the UNGeneral Debate and in his

almost 50-minute address,devoted half of his time to India& Kashmir, drumming up hys-teria over nuclear war.In astrong reply, India had saidKhan's "threat of unleashingnuclear devastation qualifies asbrinkmanship, not statesman-ship."

Pakistan has been trying tointernationalise the Kashmirissue after India withdrew thespecial status of Jammu &Kashmir on August 5, but NewDelhi has asserted the abroga-tion of Article 370 was its"internal matter" and has askedIslamabad to accept the reali-ty.

India has also said thatthere is no scope for any thirdparty mediation on theKashmir issue.

Sharma asserted that thedisarmament machinery hasnot lived up to expectations, asevident in the deadlock in theCD for over two decades andthe inability of United NationsDisarmament Commission tohold its substantive sessionthis year.

"Yet, there is hope andoptimism due to our underly-ing belief in the value of dia-logue and cooperation," headded.

The Conference onDisarmament had failed in itsefforts throughout the year toadopt a Programme of Work,he said, adding that this was theresult of the lack of political willand "fissiparous tendencies"and could not be attributed toany shortcomings in the rulesof procedure.

"We need to preserve theCD as the sole disarmamentnegotiating forum and get backto substantive work as per itsmandate. India stands ready towork with fellow members onall the core items on CD'sagenda," Sharma said, under-scoring India's commitmentto the goal of universal, non-discriminatory and verifiablenuclear disarmament.NewDelhi has also called for com-plete elimination of nuclearweapons through a step by stepprocess, as outlined in theWorking Paper on NuclearDisarmament submitted to theUN General Assembly in 2006.

He said India would like toreiterate its call to undertakethe steps outlined in theWorking Paper, includingnegotiation in the CD of aComprehensive NuclearWeapons Convention.

As in previous years, Indiawill be tabling four draft res-olutions; namely 'Conventionon the Prohibition of the Useof Nuclear Weapons' ,'Reducing Nuclear Danger','Measures to PreventTerrorists from AcquiringWeapons of Mass Destruction'and 'Role of Science andTechnology in the context ofInternational Security andDisarmament'.

Sharma noted that withoutdiminishing the priority Indiaattaches to disarmament, NewDelhi supports the immediatecommencement of negotia-tions in the CD of a FissileMaterial Cut-off Treaty(FMCT). PTI

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New Delhi: In more troublefor the Congress in Delhi, a sec-tion of local party leaders haslaunched a signature campaignagainst appointment of any"outsider" to head the unit,amid talks of former cricketerKirti Azad being considered forthe post.

Further, in the continuinginfighting within the party,another section of party lead-ers has launched a separate sig-nature campaign for removal ofAICC in-charge of Delhi unitPC Chacko.

"Kiriti Azad's name recent-ly figured as the new presidentof Delhi Congress which is notacceptable to majority of localleaders and workers," one ofDelhi Congress leaders spear-heading the campaign said.

Both the camps are tryingto collect the maximum num-ber of signatures from localleaders and office bearers

before sending it to Congresspresident Sonia Gandhi laterthis week.

The former cricketer andBJP MP joined the Congress inFebruary this year.

"Azad was considered afrontrunner among the prob-ables whose name was beingconsidered by the Congresshigh command to fill the postof Delhi Congress chief," theparty leader said.

The leaders involved inthe signature campaign againstthe possibility of appointmentof Azad, claimed that an out-sider like him will mean "dis-aster" for the Delhi Congress asit is going to face Assemblypolls in next few months.

"An outsider will first haveto understand the party beforebeing able to lead it with sup-port of all leaders and workers.By the time, he will be in sad-dle, the elections will be already

over," he said.The name of the new pres-

ident of Delhi Congress was tobe announced earlier this weekbut the decision was held aftera controversy erupted over for-mer MP Sandip Dikshit's letterto Chacko.

Sandip, son of formerDelhi Congress presidentSheila Dikshit, and his sup-porters accused Chacko of"leaking" his personal letter tomedia.

Sources said Sandip's letterheld Chacko responsible for thedeath of Sheila Dikshit, withwhom he had serious differ-ences over the functioning ofthe party.

Chacko rubbished thecharges, saying he had for-warded Sandip's letter toGandhi. The disciplinary com-mittee of the Congress is look-ing into the incident.

Meanwhile, followers of

Sandip Dikshit have launcheda "Chacko Hatao, CongressBachao" campaign, seekingremoval of the AICC in-chargeof Delhi Congress.

"We will submit a letterdemanding Chacko's removalwith the signatures of all theleaders and workers supportingit to the Congress president innext 1-2 days," said one leaderassociated with the signaturecampaign.

A senior Delhi Congressleader close to Chacko rub-bished the signature campaignas an attempt by "vested inter-ests" to settle "political score"against Chacko.

Recently, Chacko had saidthat he has communicated hiswillingness to be relieved of theresponsibility of the AICC in-charge of Delhi Congress, say-ing he wanted to focus attention on his home stateKerala. PTI

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Kabul, Oct 15 (PTI) Indiaon Tuesday handed over thesecond pair of Mi-24V heli-copters to war-tornAfghanistan, boosting thecapability of the Afghan forces.

The helicopters were offi-cially handed over by IndianAmbassador Vinay Kumar toAfghanistan's acting DefenceMinister Asadullah Khalid at aceremony held at the militaryairport in Kabul.

"Vinay Kumar, IndianAmbassador @vkumar1969handed over the 2nd pair ofMi-24V helicopters to AfgMinDef Asadullah Khalid at a

ceremony today," the IndianEmbassy in Kabul tweeted.

These helicopters are areplacement for the four attackhelicopters previously gifted byIndia to Afghanistan in 2015and 2016.The combat perfor-mance and offensive firepowerthat the helicopters provide willincrease the effectiveness andefficiency of the Afghan AirForce (AAF) in ensuring thatthe ANDSF maintain an agileand robust Counter-Terrorismcapability.Kumar congratulatedthe AAF on the Mi-24Vinduction and wished themsuccess. PTI

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Dubai: A Dubai-based Indianbusinessman has bought one-way tickets for 13 foreign prisoners, including fromPakistan, Bangladesh, Chinaand Afghanistan to returnhome after they were releasedfrom prison here, a mediareport said on Tuesday.

Joginder Singh Salaria, thechairman and managing director of Pehal InternationalTransport and founder of PehalCharitable Trust (PCTHumanity) purchased one-wayflight tickets in coordinationwith Dubai Police authoritiesfor the prisoners who werereleased from a jail on Monday, the Khaleej Timesreported.

The prisoners are fromPakistan, Bangladesh, Uganda,

Afghanistan, Nigeria, China,and Ethiopia, it said. PTI

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From Page1Recently National

Investigation Agency andIntelligence Bureau reported toGovernment about the ten-dency of hoarding the `2,000notes for illegal purposes. Theagencies reported that the highvalue notes, especially `2,000notes will defeat the purpose ofGovernment envisaged in thedemonetisation citing manycases of seizure of such notesduring raids.

The Income TaxDepartment and FinancialIntelligence Unit also reportedto the authorities that in theirraids majority of the notesseized are �2,000 notes, urgingfor the controlling the circula-tion of the high value notes pre-ferred by those involved in taxevasion and financial crimes.

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The Lok Sabha Secretariathas sought suggestions

from MPs on changes neededin the present structure ofParliament and the scale ofrenovation required in the newscheme of things whereGovernment is set to remodeland develop the whole area inand around it, to be complet-ed by 2022.

The suggestions weresought in a letter sent to theLok Sabha members onOctober 11. According to theplan, the Government wouldalso redevelop the 3 km-stretchof the Central Vista spanningfrom Rashtrapati Bhavan toIndia Gate.

The letter said, "... There isactive consideration regardingeither renovation of the exist-ing Parliament building orconstruction of altogether anew Parliament building with-in the given premises."

It sought suggestions fromthe members to "rectify thedrawbacks or faulty features"causing inconvenience in theirday-to-day functioning in theexisting building.

They have also been askedto suggest features or facilitieswhich should be provided inthe new building to make it"foolproof ".

The Lok Sabha MPs haveto email their suggestions with-in a week. They have also beenadvised against sending in hardcopies of their responses.

The idea to either constructa new Parliament building or torenovate the present structure,which is over 90 years old, hasbeen floating since UPA 1.The idea was given a fresh pushunder the present Government.

It is also said that the pre-sent dispensation would seek toadd new structures to the exist-ing Parliament building, roundin shape, to make it 'Vastufriendly'.

According to sources in theUnion Housing and UrbanAffairs Ministry, five Indianarchitectural firms have sub-mitted bids for the project to beexecuted by the Central Public

Works Department.Describing the whole exer-

cise as a " dream project" ofPrime Minister NarendraModi, Union Housing andUrban Affairs Minister,Hardeep Singh Puri has maintained that not a singletree will be cut while the rede-velopment takes place until2022.

A committee of expertswill now evaluate the technicalproposals submitted by thefirms. Financial proposals ofonly those bidders whose tech-nical proposals qualify will beopened. As of now there is noestimate as to how much wouldit cost to undertake the entireproject in the area which is thenerve-centre of the powerstructure that controls thecountry.

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Putting further pressure onVIP squatters, the Lok

Sabha Housing Committeechairman CR Patil on Tuesdayissued directions to cut elec-tricity, water and gas supply inthe accommodation illegallyoccupied by MPs. The com-mittee, chaired by BJP MP CRPatil, decided to approachDelhi Police to ensure that theex-MPs vacate the accommo-dation allotted to them inLutyens Delhi.

According to the rules,former MPs have to vacatetheir bungalows within onemonth of dissolution of theprevious Lok Sabha. As manyas over three dozen formerMPs are overstaying in theirbungalows and flats. Despiteseveral notices, they have notvacated their accommodations.

On May 25, President RamNath Kovind dissolved the 16thLok Sabha with immediate effecton the recommendation of theUnion Cabinet after the ModiGovernment was formed for asecond term. With these formerMPs not vacating their bunga-lows, the newly-elected mem-bers of parliament have beenstaying in transit accommoda-tion such as their respective Stateguest houses or the WesternCourt, sources said.The panelhas been unable to allot housesto the MPs despite their repeated requests, they added.

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Amit Shah will demit hispost as BJP president by

the year end and is likely to bereplaced by a new one withworking president JP Naddaexpected to succeed him.

Shah, who is holding the cru-cial portfolio of Union HomeMinistry, would only be stressinghis party's dictum of one-man-one-post by demitting the post ofthe party president once organ-isational polls are completed byDecember. In an interview to anews channel, he said that thenew president would take over byDecember and rejected thenotion that he would remain the"super power" running he partyfrom behind the scene.

"BJP is not the Congressparty and nobody can run itfrom behind the scenes," he saidsaying it will be run as per itsconstitution.Nadda, who isalready appointed party's work-ing president, is expected to takecharge from Shah in December.

To another question, hedenied that his party was look-ing at former cricket captainSourav Ganguly as the face ofthe party in West Bengal. Herejected any involvement in theelection of the next BCCI chiefand that there was any deal withGanguly, who was elected ascricket body's Chief.

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With the BJP inMaharashtra calling for

Bharat Ratna award forHindutva idealogue V DSavarkar, the Congress onTuesday said that if theGovernment considers it on the150th birth anniversary ofMahatma Gandhi, then "Godsave this country".

The opposition party'sresponse came after the elec-tion manifesto of MaharashtraBJP, released on Tuesday, saidthe party will ask the NDAGovernment at the Centre toconfer India's highest civilianaward on Savarkar.

"In a country whereMahatma Gandhi is beingmade to commit suicide inexaminations, anything is pos-sible," Congress spokespersonManish Tewari said at a pressconference, referring to therow over a question in theinternal assessment examina-tion of some schools in Gujarat.

Savarkar had faced criminaltrial in the murder of MahatmaGandhi, Tewari said, adding thathe was later acquitted.

The Congress spokesper-son cited an article whichclaimed that the KapurCommission concluded thatfacts pointed towards a "con-spiracy to murder by Savarakarand his group" in MahatmaGandhi's case.

"If on the 150th birthanniversary of MahatmaGandhi, this Government con-siders any such thing (givingBharat Ratna to Savarkar), thenall I want to say is that God savethis country," Tewari said.

Asked if there was a con-tradiction between the recentpraise for Gandhi by RSS ChiefMohan Bhagwat and thedemand for Bharat Ratna forSavarkar, Tewari alleged that itwas a coordinated and wellthought out strategy "that onone hand keep praisingMahatma Gandhi and on theother hand make such ademand".

"But if what has been writ-ten in the article about the con-clusions of the KapurCommission is correct, thenthe Government should seri-ously think that on MahatmaGandhi's 150th birth anniver-sary, is this step appropriate," hesaid.

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The Ministry of Food andConsumers Affairs on

Tuesday reviewed the sky-rocketing of retail prices ofessential food items and veg-etables. It was informed thatonion prices have stabilised andshowing declining trend withthe arrival of kharif (summersown) crops.

The 18th meeting of thegroup constituted for moni-toring cartelisation, hoarding,speculative trading etc withrespect to essential food itemssuch as pulses, onion, tomatoand oilseeds was held under thechairmanship of Secretary,Consumer Affairs, Avinash KSrivastava. Representativesfrom Ministry of Agriculture,Intelligence Bureau, DelhiPolice, NAFED, DirectorGeneral of Foreign Trade,Ministry of External Affairs,Delhi Government attendedthe meeting. The Ministry hasalso advised the Ministry ofCommerce to extend theimport licensing deadline forpulses from October 31 toNovember 30 in view of theexpected delayed arrivals.

Retail prices of onion andtomatoes have been ruling highin the country due to supplyconstraints. Tomato pricesreached up to �80 per kg whileonion was costing �60 per kglast week. The representatives

briefed the group about theprevailing scenario with respectto essential food items.

"It was informed by repre-sentatives of agriculture sectorthat arrivals of Kharif onionshave started and prices havesince shown stable to decliningtrend." The group decided thatappropriate policy interven-tions might be recommendedat the appropriate time to aug-ment availability of pulsesacross the nation.

"All the Chief Secretarieswill be advised again to holdregular meetings with whole-salers, traders, importers,exporters etc. Of onions, puls-es, edible oils & oilseeds etc atstate and district levels espe-cially during the festive seasonup to December, 2019," thestatement said.

The Committee of Police ofNCR States should hold regu-lar meetings under the chair-manship of a senior DelhiPolice officer to keep watch onhoarding of stock by the tradersnear the State borders of Delhiand take suitable action againstthem.

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The abrogation of specialstatus to Jammu & Kashmir

under Article 370 is a "decisivebattle" waged by the NarendraModi Government to end yearsof Pakistan-sponsored proxywar and terrorism, and it willbring long-lasting peace inJammu & Kashmir, UnionHome Minister Amit Shah saidat an event of counter-terrorbody NSG's garrison atManesar (Gurugram).

Speaking at the 35thRaising Day celebrations ofNSG as the Chief Guest here,Shah said the recent decision torepeal special provisions in J &K will help "completely eradi-cate" Pakistan-supported ter-rorism from the KashmirValley.

The Minister asserted thathis government is firm on thepolicy of "zero tolerance" onterrorism and to defeat all itsforms.

The National SecurityGuard (NSG) is an importantinstrument to achieve this goal,he said.

"I believe that with theabrogation of Article 370 byPM Narendra Modi, we haveinitiated a decisive battleagainst years of proxy war andterror acts perpetrated by ourneighbour (Pakistan) and thisstep will ensure long-lastingpeace in Kashmir and theregion," Shah said.

India has been facing ter-rorism for many years andthere would be very few coun-tries across the globe who havewaged such a long battle againstterrorism. Terrorism is a curseon any civilised society and thebiggest impediment to devel-opment, he said.

"Hence our Government isfirm on continuing the zero tol-erance policy on terrorism andensuring victory on terroralways," Shah added.

The recent big step ofrepealing Article 370 taken byModi is aimed at completelyeradicating terrorism fromKashmir and to safeguard thecountry from this scourge,Shah said.

Shah also lauded the elitecommando force saying it hasimpressed the world with itscapability to counter any terrorattack as he recounted its stel-lar operations at Akshardhamtemple in Gujarat and the26/11 attacks in Mumbai in2008.

"This inspires confidencein the minds of the citizens thatthey are in safe hands," headded.

� ������9#����� �231245#

Indian Scientists have warnedthat a Jamun berries and

seed-eater wasp, scientificallyknown as ‘A. kerrichi’ is fastspreading its wings, threaten-ing to inflict losses on Jamuntree growers.

Commonly found, ever-green Jamun is an economi-cally important tree in India,which also has medicinalproperties. Its berries andseeds are much sought afterfor their antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, anti-microbialand free-radical-scavengingproperties.

However, the tiny but apotential pest of Jamun, A ker-richi, an eulohid seed borerwhich was reported from theagricultural fields in Pune wayback in 1957, has been recent-ly found seriously damagingthe berries in Jamun trees (SCumini) in fields inKarnataka's rural Bangalurutoo.

The result of the studyconducted by the scientistsfrom ICAR-Indian Institute ofHorticultural Research, coun-try's leading institute inBangaluru is published in thelatest journal of the Current

Science.The scientists have called

for spraying botanical pesti-cides as heavy infestation ofjamun fruits by the wasp ren-ders the berries unmarketableand hence loss to the farmers

The authors of the studynoted that A kerrichi was ini-tially reported from Pune,Maharashtra in 1957. "Besidesthis, no reports that highlightthe economic importance andnature of damage of thiseulophid seed borer in Jamunare available, possibly due to itslimited distribution/occurrenceand pestilence.

"However, in the recentpast, several incidences of Akerrichi attacking S. cuminifruits causing extensive croploss have been noticed in farm-ers' fields in rural Bengaluru,"says the study that providesexperimental details of thecritical fruit stages that aresusceptible to the pest for plan-ning management interventions.

"In Jamun both whole fruitas well as seed are economicallyimportant. Considering thevast damage it can cause andthe ability to build up in hugenumbers (85 per fruit) in over-

lapping generations, A ker-richi can become a major prob-lem to Jamun growers. Further,larval feeding affects seed via-bility and rate of germination.As the critical stage for infes-tation is G2, application ofsafe botanical pesticides at thisstage may help reduce seedborer infestation," said the scientists.

They had randomly col-lected A kerrichi infestedjamun fruits in different developmental stages from theinfested trees. The collectedfruits were separated into fivegroups, namely G1-G5 basedon their size, colour and hard-ness. Observations on fruitdiameter, length, mesocarpthickness and seed diameterfrom all the phenological stages(G1-G5) were made andrecorded daily.

It was noted that heavyinfestation of jamun fruits by Akerrichi had rendered the fruitsunmarketable.

The scientists included P DKamala Jayanthi, BR JayanthiMala and AnjanaSubramoniam(Division ofEntomology and Nematology)and A Rekha (Division of Fruit Crops) from theBangaluru based institute.

���� �231245#

The Indian Council ofAgricultural Research

(ICAR) has developed diag-nostic kits to detect and control'Japanese Encephalitis' (JE)and 'bluetongue' diseases inanimals. These diagnostic kitshave been developed by theIndian Veterinary ResearchInstitute (IVRI) under theICAR. Japanese Encephalitisvirus spreads from pig tohuman.

Talking about JE ELISA kitfor swine, ICAR DirectorGeneral Trilochan Mohapatra,said JE is a re-emerging viralzoonotic disease leading todeath of children every year inthe country." India is import-ing one diagnostic kit for thisvirus at Rs 1,200-1500. Now,ICAR-IVRI have developedthis kit for just Rs 180-200,"Mohapatra said. Earlier thisyear, more than 100 childrendied in Bihar's Muzaffarpurdue to an outbreak of acute encephalitis syndrome(AES).

This diagnostic kit hasbeen developed as per the 100-day programme of the premi-um research institute, the DGsaid.The Government andICAR would now worktowards making this kit avail-able in village and block levels,he said.Talking about the sec-ond kit to diagnose 'blue-tongue', Mohapatra said thedisease is found in cattle andgoats and is even cause ofdeath of these animals.

"We are the first country inthe world to develop a diag-nostic kit for bluetongue dis-ease," he said, adding that it canalso provide export opportu-nities in long-term.

Mohapatra, who is alsothe secretary of Department ofAgricultural Research andEducation, said the two kitswould help in controlling thesediseases at very early stageand prevent them from spreading. The disease is wide-spread among sheep, goats,cattle, buffaloes and camels inthe country and is even causeof death of these animals.

New Delhi: The SupremeCourt on Tuesday quashed theDelhi High Court's interimorder restraining the IncomeTax (IT) department from tak-ing any action against VVIPchopper scam accused GautamKhaitan, against whom a sep-arate black money launderingcase has been lodged, saying itwas "not sustainable in law".

The apex court set aside theMay 16 order of the high courtwhich had also said that theblack money law cannot beallowed to operate with retro-spective effect from July 1, 2015.

A three-judge bench head-ed by Justice Arun Mishraasked the high court to decidethe petition pending before iton its own merits and unin-fluenced by the observations ofthe top court.

The bench, also comprisingjustices M R Shah and B RGavai, said that the scheme ofthe Black Money Act is to"provide stringent measures forcurbing the menace of blackmoney" and various offenceshave been defined and stringentpunishments have been pro-

vided under the law."It would further be rele-

vant to note that sub--section(3) of section 1 of the BlackMoney Act, itself provides thatsave as otherwise provided inthis Act, it shall come into forceon 1st day of July, 2015. A con-joint reading of the various pro-visions would reveal that theassessing officer can chargethe taxes only from the assess-ment year commencing on orafter April 1, 2016. However,the value of the said asset hasto be as per its valuation in theprevious year," the bench notedin its 13-page verdict.

"As such, we find that thehigh court was not right inholding that, by the notifica-tion/order impugned beforeit, the penal provisions weremade retrospectively applica-ble," the bench said.

It noted that the BlackMoney (Undisclosed ForeignIncome and Assets) andImposition of Tax Act, 2015was passed by the Parliamenton May 11, 2015 and it hadreceived Presidential assent onMay 26, 2015. PTI

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ACongress delegation onTuesday met Chief

Election Commissioner SunilArora and raised the issue ofincome tax raids on some of itsemployees last week. Theyalleged that the tax departmentis behaving like a "departmentof BJP".

The delegation comprisingformer ministers AnandSharma, Kapil Sibal, ManishTiwari and Pranav Jha allegedthat the party was prevented touse its designated bank accountto fund its candidates in theassembly polls in Maharashtraand Haryana. The Congressleaders alleged that the CentralBoard of Direct Taxes (CBDT)officials raiding the oppositionacross the country withoutdocument and warrants.

After the meeting,Congress leader Kapil Sibalsaid "The position is such thatpeople of CBDT have been sit-ting at the homes of ouremployees from Friday toSunday. There is no warrantand no papers. What is this?We know that they are misus-ing ED and other agencies. Ifthis is not an attack on democ-racy then what is it?" TheCongress has demanded to thepoll body to intervene in thematter as their account havebeen paralysed.

"The Congress is required

to transfer, whatever funds ithas, to its candidates inMaharashtra and in Haryana,in their designated bankaccounts by cheque, that iswhat the elections require andwe have been prevented fromdoing that and that is illegali-ty and we have conveyed to theEC that they should inter-vene," Sibal said.

The Congress leader saidthat they have seen it happen-ing in the last elections, it ishappening now brazenly. "Indiacannot be converted into a statewhere democracy is under per-petual seize and the Tax depart-ment of the Government can-not become a department ofthe ruling party, the BJP," Sibaladded.

Party leader AnandSharma said "They have (EC)has the constitutional mandateto ensure free and fair elections.There cannot be targeting usingand abusing. For three daysCongress party's accounts sec-tion was totally paralysed.Whatever meagre funds theCongress party has at its dis-posal considering the BJP is theworld's richest political party."

New Delhi: Army Chief GenBipin Rawat on Tuesdaypitched for greater inclusion ofindigenous technology in thearmed forces and asserted thatIndia will fight and win thenext war with home-grownsolutions.

In his address at the 41stDRDO Directors Conference,he also said the development ofweaponry and other systemsshould be done keeping "futurewarfare" in mind."And, if weare looking at contours of futurewarfare, it may not necessarilybe contact warfare. So, there isrealm of non-contact warfare.We need to start looking atdevelopment of cyberspace,space, laser, electronic warfareand robotics. And, along withthat Artificial Intelligence (AI),"Rawat said."And, if we do notstart thinking on it now, it willbe too late," he said.He praisedthe Defence Research andDevelopment Organisation(DRDO) for its achievements inthe last few decades and saidIndia is making great strides inresearch and development. "Weare confident the services willgreatly benefit from it," he said.

"India is one of the largestimporters of weapons andammunition, and after 70 yearsof Independence, it is not a veryproud statement to make. But inthe past few years, it is changing.DRDO is striving to ensure ourrequirements of services are metwith home-grown solutions,"Rawat said. PTI

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In order to provide bettertravel opportunities to

passengers who travel dailyfrom neighbouring cities mainly to earn livelihood andeducation purposes theRailways has initiated nine new‘Sewa Services’ spread acrosseight States of India.

Minister of Railways PiyushGoyal, Union Minister ofPetroleum & Natural GasDharmendra Pradhan, UnionMinister for Health and FamilyWelfare Dr Harsh Vardhan,MoS Railway Suresh C Angadiand Meenakshi Lekhi, flaggedoff the inaugural run of Delhi— Shamli train service in a cer-emony held at New DelhiRailway station on Tuesday.

Indian Railways has alwaysstrived to provide convenientand comfortable service to itsusers.

To provide better travelopportunities to passengerswho have to travel to neighboring towns and citiesmainly for livelihood and edu-cation purposes the Railwayshas initiated nine new SewaServices spread across eightstates of India. These daily or sixdays a week short distance ser-vices will be a boon to the daily

passengers. According to the statement,

“Inaugural runs of train servicesin the other six states were alsoinitiated with the flagging off bythe dignitaries being receivedthrough video conferencing inthe respective venues.

Speaking on the occasionGoyal said that based on thehub and spoke concept thesetrains will provide better railconnectivity between smallerand satellite towns and impor-tant cities. “Railway is workingon how to be an effective engineof growth in the country. The

common passengers will great-ly benefit from these services,”he said.

He also shared thatRailways is not going to use any

new assets in these trains, withefficient planning and byenhancing operational capabilities the lie-over rakes oftrains are to be used for shortservices during the long stationed time between twoservices.

This will not only increasetrips but also earn revenuefrom the otherwise stationedcoaches, he added. Dr HarshVardhan appreciated the workbeing done in all areas with aspecial mention of the up-gra-dation of stations in theNational Capital Region.

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Twenty days after givingbirth to her first child, a 27

year young mother was killedin heavy mortar shelling inNoona Bandi area of Shahpuralong the Line of Control inPoonch on late Tuesday after-noon.

According to groundreports, “27-year-old ShamimAkhtar w/o Mohd Maqsoodwas standing in front of herkitchen when she was directlyhit by a mortar shell around3.45 p.m”. Due to impact of theblast, her head was reportedlyblown off, local villagers in theforward area, claimed.

Her 20-day-old son,miraculously escaped anygrievous injury, as she hadkept him on the floor inside thekitchen.

As heavy shelling contin-ued in the forward areas,another couple hailing fromQasba village of Poonch sectorreceived injuries and wasrushed to the nearby hospital.The injured were identified as

Mnzoor Hussain and NaseemaAkhtar.

Meanwhile, large numberof children remained strandedfor several hours inside a localschool (seminary) run by SainMiran Baksh Educational Trustin Shahpur area of Poonch.

In the wake of intenseshelling, which started earlyTuesday morning around 9.00a.m the children could not berescued. Local villagers andsome parents, later in the after-noon managed to organise twoambulances and ferried chil-dren from the forward area tosafer locations. “None of thechild received injuries duringheavy mortar shelling”,official

sources said.Defence PRO in

Jammu, Lt-ColDevender Anand said,“Pakistan army initi-ated ceasefire viola-tion in Qasba andKirni sectors at about9.30 a.m. by firingsmall arms and mor-tars”. He said, “theIndian Army retaliat-

ed befittingly”. Late afternoon, the Pak

Army also targeted forwardareas of Shahpur and Karmarain the forward areas forcing thelocal residents to stay indoors.

The local villagers ofShahpur—Upper and Lower,Gountrian and Islamabad inPoonch appealed to the districtauthorities to expedite work onbunkers in the area to ensuresafety of school going childrenand local villagers.

A Local villager, ShabirRathore claimed, “these vil-lagers were regularly targetedby the Pakistan army but so farwork on bunker constructionhas not started in the area”.

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Aw e e ka f t e r

much politi-cal hullabaloothe policehave finallyarrested amason forbrutally mur-dering aJiaganj schoolteacher, his pregnant wife and an eight-year-old son.

The mason called PratikBehera had killed the trio outof personal grudge whenvictim Bandhu Paul refused togive him a receipt of �24,000which he had taken from himfor some insurance policy, heisknown to have confessed tothe police.

“There was grudge andthere was a financial angle,”Murshidabad SP Mukesh saidadding the triple murder hadtaken place in a matter offive

minutes.Earlier the police had

claimed that the victim an RSSworker also dealt in some kindof chit fund business in whichhe used to acceptmonetary deposits from the

people. The mason was one of

such depositors who deposited�24,000 with him but failed toprocure any receipt for theamount.

When Paul refused toprovide with any receipt analtercation followed and themason killed the threesome.

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The National Conference(NC) on Tuesday

condemned the arrest of partypresident Farooq Abdullah’ssister and daughter during aprotest in Srinagar, saying suchmeasures would further alien-ate the people and delayrestoration of normalcy in thevalley.

It sought the immediaterevocation of detention ofpolitical leaders and commoncitizens, including Abdullah’skin.

The police on Tuesdayarrested half-a-dozen womenactivists during a march toprotest the abrogation of pro-visions of Article 370 andbifurcation of Jammu andKashmir into UnionTerritories.

Abdullah’s sister Suraiyaand his daughter Safiya, whowere leading a group of womenactivists, were first detainedand later arrested by the police.

The NC said such harshmeasures would further alien-ate the people and delayrestoration of normalcy in

Kashmir, which was reelingunder “fear psychosis and asense of insecurity” among thepeople.

“Being kin of former ChiefMinisters should not entailpolitical victimisation, leadingto curtailment of liberty andfreedom of movement andspeech,” senior NC leaders saidin a joint statement, issued

from party headquarters Sher-e-Kashmir Bhavan here.

The National Conferenceleaders expressed regret overthe continued detention ofpolitical leaders and commoncitizens, saying the situationhad touched the lowest depthsand even the liberty of relativesof those in public life was under severethreat. “The detention ofSuraiya Mattoo and SafiyaAbdullah Khan, respectivelysister and daughter of Abdullahand the aunt and sister ofOmar Abdullah, reflect thesad state of affairs the State isin for the past over 70 days,” thestatement said.

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Rajasthan Deputy Chief Ministerand State Congress president

Sachin Pilot on Tuesday saidMandawa and Khinwsar Assemblybypolls will be the test of the workdone by his party Government andclaimed it will win both the seatswith “huge” margins.

The bypolls were necessitatedafter Khinwsar (Nagaur) MLAHanuman Beniwal and Mandava(Jhunjhunu) MLA Narendra Kumar(BJP) were elected to Lok Sabha inMay this year.

“The bypolls are the test of thework of the Government and we areprepared for that. We will win theseats with huge margin. When theCongress was in opposition for fiveyears, we won all bypolls and thistime, we are in the Government andthere is no reason for not winningthe bypolls,” Pilot told reporters here.

“The State Government’s firstand foremost priority is to make the

life of people better. We ought to dowhatever is possible to help peopleat personal, social and administra-tive level,” he said.

Pilot said it is important forevery public representative to stayconnected with people.

While Congress has fielded for-mer MLAs Rita Chaudhary inMandawa and Harendra Mirdha inKhimsar, the BJP has given ticket toSushila Sigra in Mandawa and iscontesting the bypolls in alliancewith MP Hanuman Beniwal’sRashtriya Loktantrik Party (RLP) onKhimsar where Beniwal’s brotherNarayan Beniwal is the alliancecandidate.

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The Uttar Pradesh Government is doingaway with 25,000 home guards, saying

the State cannot afford the new allowancesthe Supreme Court has asked it to pay.

The daily allowance for the homeguards is now �672, up from the �500before the court order in July.

The Government said this would havecost the State an extra expenditure of �10to �12 crore every month.

It, therefore, decided not to deployhome guards meant for security at policestations and traffic signals. The homeguards are not permanent employees andare recruited on a casual basis.

Officials said a large number weretaken on in April. The Supreme Court inJuly, however, meant a hike in the cost ofdeploying them.

According to an order issued byAdditional Director General (ADG) BPJogdand, “The decision not to deploy25,000 home guards was taken on August28 this year in a meeting chaired by theUttar Pradesh chief secretary.”

The home guards were deployedthrough a government order dated April

3.Home Guards do not have any fixed

monthly salary and are paid based on thenumber of days of duty. Till now they havebeen expected to work for 25 days but thegovernment decreased it to 15 days.

Uttar Pradesh Director General ofPolice OP Singh said this step has beentaken due to the extra financial burden onthe police department following theSupreme Court order and it is a temporaryone. “After the Supreme Court order, thepolice department would have had to bearthe extra burden of �10 to �12 crore permonth. This decision of not giving post-ings is a temporary one, and if and whenrequired they will be called for duty,” theDGP said.

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Former President APJ AbdulKalam was remembered

here on his 88th birth anniver-sary with the late scientist’sfamily and the district admin-istration paying tributes at hismemorial here.

The leader’s memorial atPekarumbu was dazzling withelectrical lights and floralarrangements, as there was asteady stream of visitors includ-ing school children who paidhomage to the former president.

Ramanathapuram districtcollector K Veera Raghava Raopaid floral tributes at thememorial while Kalam’s rela-tives led by his elder brother

Muthu MuhammadMeera Maraikkayarheld special prayers.

School childrenalso paid floral trib-utes and took apledge to followKalam’s ideals.

An AmericanIndians Association,

as part of honouring the lateleader’s services, presented aprize for Global Peace, whichwas handed over toMaraikkayar.

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Alleging that Central probeagencies have become

puppets in the BJP’s hands,Congress general secretary KCVenugopal said on Tuesdaythat these agencies were mis-used against party leadersahead of polls.

Venugopal was reacting tothe arrest of Congress MLA DK Shivakumar in a moneylaundering case by the Enforcement Directorate(ED).

“Whenever there are elec-tions round the corner, thedrama of I-T and ED raids arestaged. These agencies havebecome a puppet in the handsof BJP,” Venugopal toldreporters after a meeting withthe party’s election observersfor the December 5 rpt 5Assembly bypolls.

Opposition leader and for-mer Chief MinisterSiddaramaiah, state Congresspresident Dinesh Gundu Raoand senior party functionariesattended the meeting.

Elections are due in 15constituencies after the resig-nation and subsequent dis-qualification of 17 MLAs, com-prising 14 Congress MLAs andthree JD(S) MLAs.

Another Congress MLAand former Deputy ChiefMinister G Parameshwara isunder the Income Tax scanner for alleged irreg-ularities pertainingto medicalseats in the Siddharth Group ofInstitutions linked to him.

IT officials also recentlyraided Jalappa Group ofInstitutions related to Congressleader Jalappa’s son.

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The ruling TrinamoolCongress on Tuesday refut-

ed claims of Bengal GovernorJagdeep Dhankhar that he was“humiliated” by the StateGovernment during the DurgaPuja carnival which was host-ed by Chief Minister MamataBanerjee.

The Governor earlier saidthat he felt humiliated as he wasnot only not given a seat on themain dais meant for the ChiefMinister and her Cabinet butalso he was not shown for amoment in the television in theentire three hours of the car-nival.

An emotional Governorsaid he “felt insulted at the car-nival. I am deeply hurt and dis-turbed. The insult was not tome but to every people ofWest Bengal. They will neverdigest such as insult. I ama servant of the people of WestBengal. Nothing can deter mefrom performing my

constitutional duties,” with his voice literally trem-bling.

“Speaking out of myinjured heart” the Governorsaid “for four hours or more Iwas there and your press coverage was totally blackedout...This is unheard of. Youwill never find it anywhere else.Someone told me it was reminiscent of the Emergency.”

He further said “I will bethere despite the insult becauseI have to recognize the talent ofthe people of West Bengal. Ihave to suffer for them, I willsuffer. If I have to suffer moreinsults, more affronts...Thisbad taste in my mouth has beencreated by people who perhapsdo not have the mindset andthe large heart that people ofWest Bengal have...I appreciatethis discourteous approach bythe government for the firstservant. I'm sure they'll dosoul searching and makeamends.”’

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Congress leader RahulGandhi on Tuesday called

Prime Minister Narendra Modia “loudspeaker” of certainindustrialists, and said his strategy was like that of a pick-pocket who diverts attention tosteal.

On campaign trail inVidarbha for October 21Maharashtra Assembly elec-tions, he also targeted the Modigovernment for “waiving” cor-porate tax.

Addressing a rally inYavatmal district, Gandhi saidthe Prime Minister speaks ofthe moon mission and abro-gation of Article 370 in Jammuand Kashmir, but is silent onissues such as farmers’ plightand lack of jobs.

“The Goods and ServicesTax (GST) and demonetisationbroke the back of small andmedium enterprises, farmers,labourers and poor people. As

long as the Modi Governmentis in power, the issue of joblessness will continue tohaunt the country. The prob-lem of joblessness will grow inthe next six months,” heclaimed.

Criticising theGovernment’s decision to“waive” (slash the rates of)corporate tax, Gandhi saidsuch benefits were extended tocertain industrialists, but not tothe poor.

The Congress leader alsoalleged that the UnionGovernment was planning toprivatise National assets such asports, coal mines, and publicsector units such as Air India.

“Modi is the loudspeaker of(industrialists) Adani andAmbani. Just like a pickpock-et, who diverts attention of peo-ple before stealing, his (Modi’s)only job is to divert your atten-tion so that he can pass yourmoney to a select few indus-trialists,” Gandhi said.

While the MahatmaGandhi National RuralEmployment Guarantee Act(MNREGA), Right to Food,land acquisition and laws fortribals were being amended,amendment to the GST act wasnot acceptable to theGovernment, he said.

“When the poor persongets money, he starts purchas-ing, when the demand increas-es, manufacturing gets a boost,”he said, adding that the NYAYminimum income scheme,proposed by the Congressbefore the

Lok Sabha elections, would

have jump-started the econo-my.

The annual budget ofMNREGA is �35,000 croreand the Modi Governmentcut corporate tax worth �1.25lakh crore in a single day,Gandhi said.

Referring to DefenceMinister Rajnath Singh’s Francevisit, he said the latter did apuja of the Rafale fighter jet(while taking symbolic deliv-ery of the first aircraft). “But�35,000 crore were stolen fromthe jet deal. The media will notwrite about this because it isbeing controlled by industrial-

ists. Your money is given to the

media so that they publiciseModi,” he alleged.

Maharashtra has theopportunity to solve all theseproblems by voting for theCongress and NCP, he said.

“We will install a govern-ment which will work for thepoor, farmers, labourers, andsmall and medium businesses,”he added. At a rally at Arvi inWardha district, Gandhiaccused the Modi Governmentof weakening all pro-poorschemes of the UPA regime,including the MNREGA, RTIAct, Right to Food and the landacquisition bill.”BJP made funof MNREGA which had givena boost to the economy,” hesaid.

The GST’s purpose was tofinish off small and mediumbusinesses, the Congress leaderclaimed.”Don’t let this happenin Maharashtra. Let’s stop thishere,” he said.

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The All India CongressCommittee women’s wing

president Sushmita Deb calledthe BJP manifesto released onTuesday for the MaharashtraAssembly polls as a repetitionof old promises.

Creation of one crore jobsin the next five years, providing houses for all by2022 and ushering in USD 1trillion economy are the keypromises made in the rulingBJP’s “sankalp patra”.

“It is a classic case of rep-etition of old promises. Thereason is simple. Promises of2014 remain unfulfilled. Thisexplains why after five years,BJP-Shiv Sena Governmenthas no concrete achievement toshowcase,” she said at a pressconference here.

Deb said agriculture sectorhad worsened, unemploymenthad risen sharply, crimes

against women had seen asevere spike and promise ofclean drinking water remainunfulfilled.

While the BJP-SenaGovernment promised dou-ble-digit growth in agricul-ture, the actual rate was a mea-gre 0.4 per cent, which had ledto eight farmers committingsuicide every day, she claimed. “The BJP’s manifestopromises one crore jobs overthe next five years. This is yetanother jumla given sharp risein unemployment which hastripled under this Government.In fact every third young per-son in urban areas is today job-less,” Deb said. She said 2000factories had shut down andMaharashtra was no longerthe preferred destination andlagged behind Uttar Pradeshand Jharkhand in ease of doingof business.

Crime against women wererising sharply, including a 300

per cent increase in cases ofabduction besides 11 rapes reg-istered every day, Deb stated,adding that the DevendraFadnavis government had notused a single rupee from theNirbhaya Fund.

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Nationalist Congress Party(NCP) MLC Ramrao

Wadkute and former partyMLA Bappu Pathare joinedthe BJP on Tuesday, ahead ofthe next week’s MaharashtraAssembly polls.

Wadkute, a prominentDhangar (shepherd) commu-nity leader from Marathwadaregion, was appointed memberof the Maharashtra Legislative Council in June2014 from the governor’squota.

He submitted his resigna-tion on Monday evening toLegislative Council ChairmanRamraje Nimbalkar who

immediately accepted it.Pathare is a former MLA fromPune.

Both Wadkute andPathare were inducted into theBJP in Mumbai on Tuesday inthe presence of the party’sworking president J P Nadda. Wadkute, a native ofParbhani district inMarathwada, was earlier chair-man of the PunyashlokAhilyadevi Sheli-MendhiVikas Mahamandal (Goat andSheep Rearing DevelopmentCorporation) before

being appointed as the MLC.

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AIMIM presidentAsaduddin Owaisi has said

Bharat is “not a Hindu Rashtra”and they will also not let itbecome so.

His comments came afterRSS chief Mohan Bhagwat lastweek said the Sangh is firm onits vision that “Bharat is aHindu Rashtra”.

Addressing an electionrally on Monday night inKalyan town of Maharashtra’sThane district for party candi-date Aiaz Moulavi, Owaisi said a section of soci-ety wants to paint the entirecountry in one colour, but “wesee Hindustan in multiplecolours, it is the beauty ofHindustan”.

“Bharat is not a HinduRashtra, and Inshallah, we willnot allow it to become so,” hesaid.

Alleging that the Shiv Senawas against the green colour, hesaid, “Change your spectaclesand you will see the greencolour in the National flagalso.”

He said Bharat is uniquebecause of itssecularism andpluralism. There is no othercountry in the world as Bharat and “we are proudof it”. “I want to tell those in theRSS that we are not living hereon your sympathy. If youwant to measure the index ofmy happiness or sorrow, youand we should see what theConstitution has given to us,”Owaisi said.

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Slamming the BJP for moot-ing Bharat Ratna award for

V D Savarkar, Communist Partyof India general secretary DRaja on Tuesday said the rulingparty may even propose thehonour for Mahatma Gandhi’skiller Nathuram Godse.

The election manifesto ofMaharashtra BJP, released onTuesday said the party will askthe NDA Government at theCentre to confer India’s high-est civilian award on VinayakDamodar Savarkar, popularlyknown as Veer Savarkar.

“This is biggest irony of ourtimes that while we are all cel-ebrating the birth centenary ofGandhiji, the BJP is seekingBharat Ratna to Savarkar, whowas an accused in his assassi-nation case,” Raja told PTI here.

“The day may not be far offfor BJP to demand Bharat Ratnato Gandhiji’s assassin NathuramGodse. This is part of theiragenda,” the CPI leader said.

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Opposition parties inMaharashtra have alleged

that some trees located on thecampus of Sir Parshuram (SP)College in Pune were choppedon Monday for Prime MinisterNarendra Modi’s October 17rally, which will be held on thecollege ground.

The college authorities onTuesday denied the allegationsaying only certain brancheshanging dangerously were cutfor the safety of students whoplay there, which has nothingto do with the PM’s event.

NCP MP Vandana Chavanalleged some ‘subabul’ treesaround the ground, where therally will be held, were felled bythe college administration.

“As per the informationwith us, trees were cut from thestems which is unacceptable,”alleged Chavan.

She demanded stringentaction against those responsi-ble for the “cruel act”.

Maharashtra Navnirman

Sena (MNS) leader Rupali Patilalso said the trees were hacked.

“They have cut the treesbecause they believed that thetrees would prove hindrancefor the PM rally,” she claimed.

However, Pune BJP unitpresident Madhuri Misal, oneof the trustees of ShikshanPrasarak Mandali (SPM) whichruns the SP College, refuted theallegations saying chopping oftrees had no connection withthe PM’s programme.

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In what came as a snub to theShiv Sena, the Maharashtra

Swabhiman Party (MSP), head-ed by former Chief MinisterNarayan Rane, merged with theruling BJP, in the presence ofChief Minister DevendraFadnavis.

Undeterred by the stiffresistance from its ally ShivSena to the entry of Rane andhis two sons, the ruling BJPwent ahead and allowed theMSP’s merger with it at an elec-tion rally organised for SrRane’s son Nitesh and the BJPcandidate at KankavliAssembly constituency inSindhudurg district.

While Nitesh had joinedthe BJP and filed his nomination from his new partyearly this month, Sr Rane, hisanother son and former MPNilesh and their supporters formally enteredthe BJP.

Speaking at Nitesh’s cam-paign rally, Chief MinisterFadnavis heaped praise on SrRane saying: “Narayan Ranehas a special place inMaharashtra politics. He iswell-versed in many subjects.In way, he has been a part of theBJP ever since he went toRajya Sabha early last yearwith the BJP’s support”.

“All were waiting for this(merger) for a long time. It has

finally happened today. There is hardly any com-

petition here. The BJP willbenefit hugely with the Ranes’entry to the party,” Fadnavissaid.

Meanwhile, the Shiv Senaleadership has not taken kind-ly to the MSP’s merger with theBJP. Sena President UddhavThackeray, who will be campaigning in Kankavliand Savantwadi constituen-cies, is expected to spell out hisstand on the MSP’s merger withthe BJP. On its part, the

Sena – notwithstanding itsalliance with Sr Rane — has putup its candidate against NiteshRane. In ssence, the fight wouldbe between the Sena and BJP in

Kankavli constituency.Fadnavis said that Nitesh

would win the Assembly pollswith a thumping margin. He,however, advised Nitesh,known for his losing his coolon some pretext or the other, torestrain himself and learn toremain calm.

There had been specula-tion in the State political circlesthat he would join the BJPalong with his two son Niteshand Nilesh. His entry to the BJPwas being resisted by its ally Shiv Sena for a verylong.

He had earlier announcedthat he would join the BJP on October 2. Rane made anannouncement about merging

the MSP with the BJP, whilecampaigning for his party can-didate Rajan Teli. “The BJP isgetting strong in Konkanregion. My son Nitesh and hissupporters joined the BJP ear-lier. I will merge my party withthe BJP in the presence ofchief minister DevendraFadnavis on October 15,” hesaid.

Having been associatedwith the Shiv Sena since earlyseventies, Rane had emerged asa senior leader in the party andwas made the chief minister ofMaharashtra, a post he heldbetween February 1, 1999 andOctober 17, 1999 when theSena-BJP alliance was rulingthe State.

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Former Prime Minister of India IKGujral was one of the most schol-arly and well-read leaders we havehad. At a public function organisedby this writer, he mentioned that the

battle of Panipat took place at that locationonly because it was the southernmost loca-tion, which had an open area suitable forwarfare. According to him, right from theKhyber Pass to Panipat, the entire terrain washeavily forested where conventional warfareof that period was not possible.

A recent news report mentioned that theGovernment is planning to build a 1,400kilometre-long “great green wall” of India.If this project receives official sanction andis backed by innovative institutional arrange-ments for its implementation, it would marka remarkable step forward in greeningIndia because we, as a nation, have failed toseize the importance of greening our degrad-ed and deforested land.

The Green India mission was one of theeight key missions included in the NationalAction Plan on Climate Change. The pur-pose of this operation was to protect, enhanceand restore India’s decreasing forest cover andact on the growing extent of climate changethrough a combination of mitigation andadaptation measures. Unfortunately, the mis-sion has been grossly under-funded. Areport by the Parliamentary Committee, titled,‘Performance of the National Action Plan onClimate Change (NAPCC) pertaining toMinistry of Environment, Forest & ClimateChange (MoEFCC)’, quotes MoEFCC as stat-ing that the “budget allocation of �47.80 crorefor FY 2017-18 is grossly insufficient. Thecommitted liability of FY 2015-16 and 2016-17 is �89.53 crore, which is more than the bud-get allocation of FY 2017-18.”

Expansion of population and encroach-ments by humans on forest land and the habi-tat of other species have not only reduced for-est cover since independence but has also ledto poor forest density even in those areas,which are regarded as forest land. The pro-posed “green wall” of India is planned to estab-lish a green belt from Porbandar to Panipatand would help restore degraded landthrough afforestation, particularly along theAravalli hill range, which covers Gujarat,Rajasthan, Haryana and Delhi.

It is well-known that the Aravallis havebeen heavily degraded in several areas, par-ticularly in Haryana, as a result of the nexusbetween politicians and the builders’ lobby.The establishment of the “green wall” wouldprovide an effective barrier for dust comingfrom the deserts in Western India andPakistan. It is now well-established that dustfrom deserts can travel large distances as hasbeen seen with dust from Saudi Arabia trav-elling to northern parts of Europe. This writerhas always advised officials in the Middle East,including a former Saudi Oil Minister,“Please convert your oil wealth to soil health.”

Recently, the Conference of the Parties(COP 14) of the United Nations Convention

to Combat Desertification(UNCCD) was held in India andas a follow-up to that event, Indiacan and should set an example forother countries that are threat-ened with desertification.

The UNCCD is an agree-ment to combat desertificationand mitigate the effects ofdrought, based on long-termstrategies and national pro-grammes, supported by interna-tional cooperation and partner-ship arrangements. It was in2006 that in order to gather sup-port for the convention, the UNdeclared that year as the“International Year of Desertsand Desertification.”

The convention has thus farbeen ratified by 190 States andthe European Union (EU).However, on March 28, 2013,Canada became the first coun-try to withdraw from it butreversed this arrangement onMarch 21, 2017.

In hosting COP14 of theconvention, India made a majorimpact on this expanding prob-lem in different countries of theworld. Prime Minister NarendraModi in his address to this con-ference stated: “I call upon theleadership of UNCCD to createa global water action agenda,which is central to land degra-dation neutrality strategy.”

The IntergovernmentalPanel on Climate Change (IPCC)recently published a specialreport on climate change, deser-tification, land degradation, sus-tainable land management, foodsecurity and greenhouse gas

fluxes in terrestrial ecosystems.The report states, “The level ofrisk posed by climate changedepends both on the level ofwarming and on how population,consumption, production, tech-nological development and landmanagement patterns evolve.Pathways with higher demandfor food, feed and water, moreresource-intensive consumptionand production and more limit-ed technological improvementsin agriculture yields result inhigher risks from water scarcityin drylands, land degradation,and food insecurity.”

It further states: “Many activ-ities for combating desertificationcan contribute to climate changeadaptation with mitigation co-benefits as well as to halting bio-diversity loss with sustainabledevelopment co-benefits to soci-ety...Preventing desertification ispreferable to attempting to restoredegraded land due to the poten-tial for residual risks and mal-adaptive outcomes.”

The UN system, as is wide-ly known, is currently under-funded and is actually facing aserious crisis. For several yearsnow, there has been a growingrealisation that the UN systemneeds to be restructured andreformed, starting, of course,with the composition of thepermanent members of theSecurity Council, of which Indiashould have been admitted as amember years ago.

In the case of the UNFramework Convention onClimate Change (UNFCCC),

the Convention on BiologicalDiversity (CBD) and theUNCCD, there are distinct over-laps. Clearly, actions under oneconvention would have implica-tions for the other two. The dri-vers of change underlying thesethree conventions are common,namely the increase in humansociety’s ecological footprint asGandhiji had warned us aboutall his life. It is to be consideredwhether a comprehensive con-vention, which covers climatechange, loss of biodiversity anddesertification, may be far moreeffective than fragmentedactions being taken under eachof these conventions.

As far as India is con-cerned, the advance of deserti-fication has negative implica-tions for the country as a whole.To that extent, therefore, the“great green wall”, which isbeing considered, would be anexcellent initiative. However,just as in the case of acid rain inNorth America, which crossesnational boundaries and, there-fore, required a regional solu-tion, it would be important forSouth Asian nations to cooper-ate on activities, which involvesimilar initiatives in Pakistan,Afghanistan and Bangladeshas well. Given that naturerespects no political bound-aries, we need to promote com-mon solutions to problems thatare regional in nature. Terrorismshould give way to terra-ism.

(The writer is former chair-man, Intergovernmental Panelon Climate Change, 2002-15)

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Sir — A large number of climatestrikes have recently eruptedaround the world, directing atten-tion to issues such as climatechange and global warming. It isalso interesting to note that manyindigenous tribes have been pray-ing for the protection of theAmazon rainforest as thousands ofwildfires continue to destroy it.People often turn to prayer in dif-ficult times. Such prayers notonly lead to positive results butalso strengthen relationshipsamong people. The prayers for theAmazon and the protests haveattracted the attention of the glob-al population. One hopes that suchadmirable activities continue toinspire people around the world.

P SenthilVia email

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Sir — Economists have foreverbeen negotiating between thetwin poles of wealth and pover-ty. In 1776, Adam Smith postu-lated that the existence of eco-nomic prosperity, more than thepersistence of poverty, must be

paid attention to. An eon wasspent on identifying the condi-tions necessary for wealth cre-ation. Then an era was spent onthe distribution of incomebetween capital and labour.

Finally, Nobel Prize-winningeconomist Angus Deaton delvedinto the cause, spread and mea-surement of poverty. But lookslike Indian-American economistAbhijit Banerjee has analysed

the problem with poverty with anexperimental approach. The ran-domised controlled field trials(RCTs) adopted by him hashelped find out what works andwhat doesn’t to fight poverty.

The traditional way of measur-ing wealth on account of the coun-try’s Gross Domestic Product(GDP) is misleading. It probablyfurther skews the distribution ofwealth and accentuates income dis-

parity. We have journeyed longfrom exploring the creation ofwealth to the distribution of incometo now Nobel prize winner AbhijitBanerjee’s treatise on poverty.

Strangely, it is seen that deep-er the democratic mores, as it is inthe US, the sharper has been theturn to the right wing ideology ofwealth inequality. It may takeages for the socio-economists,much less the Governments, to

move away from a trite GDP toeven grasp the concept of creationand distribution of happiness.

R Narayanan Navi Mumbai

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Sir — This refers to the editorial,“Bangla pride” (October 15). Theappointment of former cricketteam captain Sourav Ganguly asthe head of the Board of Controlfor Cricket in India (BCCI) is wel-come. In fact, he may just be theperson the cricket administrationneeds right now to set thingsright. It’s good to learn that on hispriority list are first class players,who are the foundation for astrong pool of talent for the nation-al team. Other issues like theabsence of an Indian umpire in theelite panel of ICC and reducing thegulf between women and men incricket should be given impor-tance. Ganguly must also ensurethat financial management in theBCCI becomes more transparent.He has his task cut out.

Bal GovindNoida

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Page 9: 2 ( 0 1)˙ ˝%23˜ 0 0 ˆ 3 .4 ˇ1 ˙˜! ( ˚52 -˘2 ˚ / #˝˙92 -9 ... · Tushar Mehta, representing the CBI. Citing his attempts to ... Chidambaram should not be given bail. Justice

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Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’sannouncement on offering free publictransport to women has sparked off a

debate across the country about the financial per-formance and pricing of public transport. As citiesacross the world struggle to keep the Mass RapidTransit System (MRTS) and other modes of pub-lic transport financially viable, scholars and oper-ators alike are trying to arrive at an economical-ly sound formula for operations.

According to an estimate by the DelhiTransport Corporation and the Delhi Metro,women constitute around 30 to 35 per cent pas-sengers in both buses and the trains. This comesto about 14 lakh women per day on the busesand 800,000 women per day on the metro. TheDelhi Government is assuming that the schemewill see a rise of 50 per cent in female ridership,resulting in a decrease in the number of vehicleson the city’s roads and improved safety for thosevulnerable sections who cannot afford publictransport otherwise.

Impact studies in cities that have experiment-ed with a free public transport policy indicate tan-gible benefits such as higher ridership, less traf-fic congestion, better air quality, savings on print-ing, ticket-punching technology and the peopleengaged in ticket sales. Free public transportpromises intangible benefits, too, such as astronger democracy, higher citizen participation,better liveability and a vibrant economy.

However, it is easier said than done. Cities likeTallinn in Estonia and Châteauroux and Aubagnein France experimented with free public trans-port in the past and achieved positive results fora while. Sustaining the results beyond a few years,however, proved to be a problem. Also, while thecombined effect of free service and happier com-muters can significantly increase ridership, pub-lic transport can also experience a rebound effect,resulting in crowding and poor service quality dueto a large demand response. Such a response canresult in a higher tax burden for the transportagency.

The key to operating a free public transportis to identify alternate sources of revenue tofinance it. Sustaining a free transport policy in thelong-term, especially during times of economicvolatility, can be highly strenuous. The city ofChâteaurouxin, France could generate returns onpublic transport in 2003, 2004, 2005 and 2007.However, 2008 onwards, the returns declined. Thecity of Hasselt in Belgium had to wind up its freepublic transport policy after a few years as theGovernment could no longer support its financ-ing.

So, the big question is, can Indian cities affordfree transport for their citizens, given the burgeon-ing population of the country?

Cities in India face a severe shortage of pub-lic transport. City peripheries and low-incomeneighbourhoods often remain unserved and evenif a network of buses and local trains and so onexists, the frequency of service is low, renderingit ineffective. Free or otherwise, the absence ofpublic transport results in last-mile connectivi-ty problems for the poor. Addressing the inade-quacies of the country’s public transport networkwill require huge capital investments and consid-ering the amount of expenditure it entails, it could

be too much of a burden on the StateGovernments to then generate funds for operat-ing expenses.

However, the good news is that, though itappears impossible at present, there are solutionsworth exploring. Given that State Governmentsare finding it difficult to provide even partial sup-port in the form of subsidies and grants to pub-lic transport agencies, relying on budgetary sup-port to fund a free transport policy seems verydifficult at present. Running free public transportmay or may not be possible but every city musthave at least an affordable transport system. Thereare a few strategies for long-term funding andcost-cutting that could be explored for achievingthis.

Cross-utility subsidy: Although it’s not verypopular in the country, cross-utility financing isprevalent in many parts of the world, includingEurope and North America.

There are many ways to enforce a cross-util-ity subsidy like imposing a levy on utility use orcross-subsidising a loss-making utility by a prof-it-making one. The loss-making transport depart-ment of the Brihanmumbai Electric Supply &Transport (BEST), for instance, was, for a longtime, cross-subsidised by revenues generated bythe profitable electricity department. If imple-mented in a prudent manner, cross-utility sub-sidy can offer a long-term solution for fundingpublic transport.

Targetted subsidy: Grants often fail to ben-efit the desired user groups. So, the solution liesin introducing selective subsidisation for careful-ly identified beneficiaries. It is a difficult thing topull off but one can take heart from the fact thatover 10 million customers in India gave up theirLiquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) subsidy inresponse to the Government’s plea. If people aremade aware about the purpose of a subsidy, therewill be many who will give it up if they don’trequire it. At any rate, the Government shouldexplore targetted subsidies to offer affordable pub-

lic transport to the needy and the vulnerable. Dedicated transport fund: Many experts

have emphasised the need to exempt public bustransport corporations from the motor vehicle tax.For many bus corporations, the operational loss-es are almost equal to what they pay as motor vehi-cle tax. While there is a sound rationale behindtaxing vehicles that generate huge negative exter-nalities like emissions and congestion, imposinga similar tax on public buses is draconian. On a“per passenger kilometre” basis, public transportis more efficient and causes lower emission andcongestion than private vehicles. Moreover, thetax gets directly passed on to the commuters aspart of the fares they pay. Foregoing the tax willalso make fares more affordable and improve thefinancial accessibility of public transport.

New performance indicators: There is alsoa need to develop new performance indicators forevaluating public transport corporations. Theseindicators must mainstream social and environ-mental goals. Currently, public transport opera-tions in the country are guided primarily by finan-cial parameters like earnings and cost-per-kilo-metre. Now, more emphasis needs to be placedon the intangible socio-economic benefits suchas time savings, improved productivity, lower con-gestion and improved livelihood opportunitiesthat public transport enables. Changing the waypublic transport corporations are assessed will alsochange the manner in which they operate and thegoals they prioritise in service delivery.

While financial performance is critical foroperating public transport, increasing the fare isnot the best solution. The approach to the prob-lem will change once it is realised that the objec-tive of operating public transport is not to gen-erate revenue but to offer affordable services tocitizens. The need of the hour is to find innova-tive solutions to make public transport affordablefor all.

(The writer is Area Convenor, Centre forSustainable Mobility, TERI)

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How would the late Sena chiefBal Thackeray have reacted tothe idea of his grandson

Aditya entering electoral politicswhen the Thackeray clan hadscrupulously kept out of it fordecades? He would have chuckled.

So far, the family has run a pow-erful political party in Maharashtrawithout contesting elections. Theyoungest Thackeray, Aditya breaksthat tradition in the forthcomingMaharashtra Assembly elections bycontesting from the Worli seat inMumbai.

Balasaheb had once told me hehad taken three decisions — hewould not contest elections, would

not write his autobiography andwould not take any Government postand he had stuck to them till the endof his life.

After the first Shiv Sena-Bharatiya Janata Party Government(BJP) was formed in 1995, Balasaheboften quipped that he ruled theState via “remote control.” Balasaheb’sson Uddhav Thackeray surprisinglynot only kept the party alive but alsofollowed the “remote control” poli-cy of his father.

However, the 29-year-old Adityais different in this sense and he rep-resents the aspirationalMaharashtrian youth. His image-makers are trying to project him asa suave, English-speaking Senaleader. Nine years ago, Balasahebhimself introduced his grandson tothe political world in October 2010and also named Aditya the head ofthe party’s newly-created youth wing.

The timing is perfect for theThackeray scion to make his electoraldebut, with the BJP-Sena alliancepoised to win the Assembly polls thismonth.

Aditya stated the obvious in aninterview recently, “I chose this elec-tion because I thought this was theright time.” There is a vacuum in theyouth leadership in Maharashtra,which he hopes to fill.

As a child, Aditya used to trav-el with his father and grandfather andbecame interested in politics fromthen on. “If you have to do some-thing good for society, politics is theway. I have been thinking of my jour-ney for the last five years. We did sev-eral agitations. How to serveMaharashtra better, Shiv Sena style?I have always thought that I shouldjoin my party legislators”, says Aditya.

Prior to this electoral contest, hehad undertaken a Jan Ashirwad

yatra in July to thank the voters forthe 2019 success but his real inten-tion was to gauge the public moodfor his own debut.

The young Thackeray repre-sents the changing political sce-nario and also the evolving cultureof the Sena. Much has changedsince the days of Balasaheb. Theparty’s clout in Maharashtra politicshas certainly diminished. Politics haschanged, the voters have changedand the Sena, too, has become ajunior partner in the coalition, ascompared to the earlier days ofdominating the Sena-BJP alliance.

Aditya is experimenting with adifferent kind of politics, trying tochange the old narrative. The Sena’simage has been that of a muscularpolitical party and he would have tochange this if he wants to succeed.The Sena is no more a rabble-rous-ing party.

In the past it used to launch agi-tations against the South Indians,Gujaratis, Biharis and Muslims.Today, in a bid to woo non-Maharashtrian voters, his campaign

has multi-lingual posters. He doesnot mention religion or Hindutvaand instead prefers to raise bread andbutter issues like employment anddevelopment.

He talks about the ban on plas-tic, beach cleaning and the environ-ment. Aditya is more cosmopolitan,modern and open to new-age elec-toral politics. He is accused of beingcomfortable with the Page 3 set buthe is also trying to appeal to the ordi-nary youth.

Second, Aditya is emulating hisgrandfather by building a baseamong the youth. The seniorThackeray had a devoted youth fol-lowing all his life. As long as he wasalive, every Vijayadasami day, thou-sands of youth had attended hismeeting at the Shivaji Park. Now,Aditya is targeting the millennial vot-ers. He is being projected as a sen-sitive, modern, young leader, who isflexible and open to new ideas.

Third, it was the family’s consid-ered decision to support Aditya’s elec-toral plunge. Bal Thackeray couldrun the Government through remote

control. Uddhav, too, managed to dothat but Aditya, encouraged by hismother Reshmi, believes that thedays of “remote control governance”are over and one needs to be in thesystem.

Above all, the Sena wants tostrengthen itself on the ground fear-ing that the BJP might subsume theparty. The family feels that thejunior Thackeray’s presence in thenext Cabinet would give them somecontrol.

Aditya is poised to win theWorli seat, if Dame Luck smiles athim, he might even become theDeputy Chief Minister. ThoughUddhav says now, “The first step inpolitics doesn’t mean that you haveto become the Chief Minister of theState. He has just entered politics, thisis just the beginning.” He would pushfor his son when the time comes.

Aditya wants to prove that he isnot just another son of a powerfulpolitical family but a grassrootsleader in his own right. TheAssembly contest will be his acid test.

(The writer is a senior journalist)

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In the gloomy global eco-nomic picture painted by

the International MonetaryFund (IMF), India retains itsrank as the world’s fastest-growing major economy, tyingwith China, with a projectedgrowth rate of 6.1 per cent forthe current fiscal year, despitean almost one per cent cut inthe forecast.

However, the IMF’s WorldEconomic Outlook (WEO)released on Tuesday projectedIndia’s economy to pick up andgrow by 7 per cent in the 2020fiscal year.

The WEO cut India’s

growth rate by 0.9 per centfrom the 7 per cent made inJuly and by 1.2 percent fromthe 7.3 per cent in April.

In contrast to the darkview of the economy withinIndia, when viewed globally,the nation’s picture seemsbrighter despite the cuts.

The world economy is pro-jected to grow only 3 per centthis year and 3.4 per cent nextyear amid a “synchronisedslowdown”, according to theWEO.

Explaining the cut ingrowth projection for India, theWEO said: “India’s economydecelerated further in the sec-ond quarter, held back by sec-

tor-specific weaknesses in theautomobile sector and realestate as well as lingeringuncertainty about the health ofnon-bank financial compa-nies.”

It added that “corporateand environmental regulatoryuncertainty” were other factorsthat weighed on demand.

IMF’s projected growthrate of 6.1 per cent for 2019-20is consistent with the IndianMonetary Policy Committee’sforecast.

About the international

scenario, IMF’s ChiefEconomist Gita Gopinathwrote in the foreword to theWEO: “The global economy isin a synchronized slowdown,with growth for 2019 down-graded again — to 3 per cent— its slowest pace since theglobal financial crisis (in 2007-08). This is a serious climbdown from 3.8 percent in 2017,when the world was in a syn-chronised upswing.”

WEO projected China’seconomic growth to slow downto 5.8 per cent next year.

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The global economy is in a“synchronised slowdown”

amidst growing trade barriersand heightened geopoliticaltensions, the IMF warned onTuesday as it downgraded the2019 growth rate to three percent, the slowest pace since theglobal financial crisis.

“This is a serious climb-down from 3.8 per cent in2017, when the world was in asynchronised upswing,” Indian-American Gita Gopinath, chiefeconomist of the InternationalMonetary Fund (IMF) said in the foreword tothe latest World EconomicOutlook.

“With a synchronisedslowdown and uncertain recov-

ery, the global outlook remainsprecarious. At 3 per centgrowth, there is no room forpolicy mistakes and an urgentneed for policymakers to cooperatively deescalate tradeand geopolitical tensions,” she said.

Besides supporting growth,such actions can also helpcatalyse needed cooperativesolutions to improve the glob-al trading system, Gopinathsaid.

Released ahead of theannual meeting of the IMF andWorld Bank, Gopinath in theWorld Economic Outlook saidthat this subdued growth is aconsequence of rising tradebarriers; and elevated uncer-tainty surrounding trade andgeopolitics.

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The jewellery industry islooking at a dark Dhanteras

and Diwali as it expects sales todecline at least 30 per cent overlast year in spite of the ongo-ing price corrections.

The industry’s only hope isin falling prices, which hadscaled a record of �4,000 agram last month, to get betterfootfalls. Currently, the metal istrading at around �3,800 to agram.

In 2018, the industry man-aged to close with flat sales over2017 Diwali season.

“Gold prices have soared to�40,000 per 10 gram lastmonth, just in the beginning ofthe festival season and stillremains high. This has furtherdampened the already weakconsumer sentiment.

“But if prices continue tocorrect during this week theremay be some improvement inretail demand. However, theoverall business will still be 30percent lower than last year,”All-India Gem & JewelleryDomestic Council chairmanAnantha Padmanaban told PTIon Tuesday.

World Gold Council man-

aging director for IndiaSomasundaram PR said thisDiwali is not going to be veryshiny following very high pricesand already poor consumersentiment dented by the deep-ening all-round gloom in theeconomy with every key indi-cators contracting or plungingmonth after month for nearly

a year.“Buying is still happening

at the very high-end, but bulkof purchases, that is the low-to-mid range, are affected badly.Looking at the current trend wemay have to revise the overall2019 demand target, whichwas earlier predicted at 750-850tonne,” he said.

Somasundaram saidimports were much higherthan demand over severalquarters since Q1 of 2017, butJuly and August saw importsplunging 60 per cent, reflectingthe already weak trade sentiment.

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India’s exports remained inthe negative zone for the sec-

ond consecutive month inSeptember contracting by 6.57per cent to $26 billion mainlyon account of significant dip inshipments of petroleum, engi-neering, gems & jewellery andleather products.

Imports too declined by13.85 per cent to $36.89 billionin September, narrowing thetrade deficit to a seven-monthlow of $10.86 billion, accordingto the government datareleased on Friday.

Gold imports plunged62.49 per cent to $1.36 billionin the month. Imports during

the month slipped the mostafter August 2016, wheninbound shipments had con-tracted by 14 per cent. Thetrade deficit stood at $14.95 bil-lion in September 2018.

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Mumbai: India’s services exportsrose by 10.4 per cent to $18.24billion in August in the currentfinancial year, data from ReserveBank showed on Tuesday.

The services exports orreceipts were $16.53 billion inthe same month of 2018. PTI

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Indian equities continuedtheir winning run for a third

session in a row on Tuesday aspositive news on the US-Chinatrade deal front and consumerdemand revival hopes in theupcoming festive seasonenthused investors.

The BSE benchmarkSensex rallied around 421points during the day but paredsome gains towards the fag-endof the session and settled291.62 points, or 0.76 per cent,higher at 38,506.09 — a two-week high for the index.

Similarly, the broader NSE

Nifty rose over 87 points, or0.77 per cent, to settle at11,428.30.

The market rally was main-ly driven by auto and metalstocks.

Top gainers in the Sensexpack were Vedanta, M&M,ONGC, Hero MotoCorp,Maruti Suzuki and HUL risingup to 3.79 per cent.

On the other hand, BhartiAirtel, Infosys, Tata Motors,HCL Tech, Tech Mahindraand Bajaj Finance fell as muchas 2.53 per cent.

Of the 30 scrips on theSensex, 24 shares closed withgains and 6 with losses.

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Istanbul: President RecepTayyip Erdogan said Tuesdaythat Turkey’s operation againstKurdish militants in northernSyria would not stop until“our objectives have beenachieved”.

Turkey is in the seventh

day of its assault against theSyrian Kurdish People’sProtection Units (YPG), whichit sees as a “terrorist” off-shootof Kurdish insurgents in itsown territory.

“God willing, we willquickly secure the region

stretching from Manbij to ourborder with Iraq and ensurethat, in the first stage, one mil-lion, and then two millionSyrian refugees return to theirhomes of their own free will,”Erdogan said in a televisedspeech in Baku, where he wasattending a regional confer-ence.

He said 1,000 square-kilo-metres of Syrian territory hadso far been “liberated from theseparatist terrorist organisa-tion”.

Turkey plans to establish asafe zone stretching acrossnorthern Syria, to which it canrepatriate many of the 3.6 mil-lion refugees that it is hostingfrom the Syrian conflict. AFP

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Washington: ProtestingTurkey’s military offensive innortheast Syria, US PresidentDonald Trump has announcedsanctions against Turkish offi-cials, raising of steel tariffsand ending negotiations on a$100 billion trade deal.

Trump has signed an exec-utive order that empowers hisadministration to slap sanc-tions on Turkey.

The treasury departmenthas already placed TurkishDefence Minister Hulusi Akar,Interior Minister SuleymanSoylu and Energy MinisterFatih Donmez on its sanctionslist, while Trump in a letter toSpeaker Nancy Pelosi of the USHouse of Representatives hasdeclared the Turkey issue anational emergency.

On Wednesday, Ankaralaunched a cross-border assaulton Kurdish fighters after the USdecided to withdraw troopsfrom Syria, a move criticised bythe Republicans, with someterming it a “betrayal” of theKurds.

“This (executive) order willenable the US to impose pow-erful additional sanctions onthose who may be involved inserious human rights abuses,obstructing a ceasefire, pre-venting displaced persons fromreturning home, forcibly repa-triating refugees or threateningthe peace, security or stabilityin Syria,” Trump said in astatement.

Turkey’s military offensiveis endangering civilians andthreatening peace, security andstability in the region, he said,adding that he has been per-fectly clear with his Turkishcounterpart that his action isprecipitating a humanitariancrisis and setting conditions forpossible war crimes. PTI

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Tal Tamr (Syria): Kurdishforces held out in a key bordertown Tuesday seven days intoa deadly Turkish invasion ofnortheastern Syria that hascaused mass displacement andreshaped the political map.

The United States slappedsanctions on its NATO ally in a bid to stop an assault that its own troop withdrawalfrom the area triggered butAnkara showed no sign ofrelenting.

Using a dense network oftunnels, berms and trenches,Kurdish fighters from theSyrian Democratic Forces(SDF) have been mounting adesperate defence of Ras al-Ain. AFP

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Beijing: China on Tuesdaycalled on Turkey to stop itsmilitary action in northernSyria and “return to thecorrect way of political resolution”, with Ankara’soperation against Kurdishmilitants in its seventh day.

Turkey launched anassault last week against the Syrian Kurdish People’sProtection Units (YPG),which it sees as a “terrorist” offshoot ofKurdish insurgents in itsown territory. AFP

!�����#���=��'�-�������$������-��������� -�� Doha: Qatar defended its close

ally Turkey’s controversial oper-ation against Kurdish forces innorthern Syria on Tuesday, say-ing Ankara had acted against an“imminent threat”. Turkey hashelped Qatar weather the effectsof a two-year regional eco-nomic embargo led by Riyadhover claims of support for Iranand Islamist extremism, deniedby Doha. But Ankara has facedwidespread condemnation forits deadly incursion, with theUS imposing sanctions onprominent Turkish leaderswhile France and Germanyhave halted arms sales. AFP

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Kabul: Hundreds of peoplewere killed or wounded in vio-lence related to Afghanistan’srecent presidential election sea-son as the Taliban sought toundermine the democraticprocess, a UN agency said onTuesday.

The United NationsAssistance Mission inAfghanistan (UNAMA)reported that 85 people werekilled and another 373 wound-ed in election violence duringthe period from June 8 toSeptember 30.

On polling day alone, 28

civilians were killed and 249injured. Children accountedfor more than one-third of thevictims.

Despite the high toll,Afghan security forces saidelection day was a successbecause the Taliban failed topull off any large-scale attacksthat stole the headlines.

The majority of Talibanattacks involved the use ofrockets, grenades and mor-tars, as well as homemadebombs planted near pollingcentres, including schools, thereport found. AFP

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Human Rights Watchwarned European coun-

tries on Tuesday against trans-ferring foreign jihadist sus-pects from prisons in war-torn northeastern Syria to Iraq.

The New York-basedwatchdog expressed concernthat some countries with sig-nificant contingents of prison-ers in Syria were seeking tomove them across the border.

A Turkish invasion of areascontrolled by Kurdish forceshas sparked deep concern inEurope about the potential formass breakouts by members ofthe Islamic State group.

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Hong Kong: Hong Kong’sleader said on Tuesday that “it’stotally irresponsible andunfounded” to suggest thesemi-autonomous Chinese ter-ritory is becoming a policestate as her Government grap-ples with protests now in theirfifth month.

Carrie Lam has defendedHong Kong’s 30,000-strongpolice force, now widely detest-ed by protesters for its riot-con-trol methods and nearly 2,600arrests.

Responding to criticismfrom visiting US Senators, Lam

also said that she challengesevery politician to ask them-selves what they would do iffaced by the scale of violenceseen in Hong Kong.

The protests started in Juneover a contested extradition billthat would have allowed somecriminal suspects to be sent fortrial in mainland China andhave snowballed into an anti-government, anti-police andanti-China movement.

The protests have increas-ingly ended in violence betweenhardcore demonstrators andpolice. Police on Monday said

a homemade, remote-con-trolled bomb intended to “killor to harm” riot control officerswas detonated as they deployedagainst renewed violence inHong Kong over the weekend.Police say the device explodednot far from a police vehicle, butno one was injured.

An 18-year-old was toappear in court Tuesday facinga charge of intentional wound-ing for a slashing attack Sundaywith a sharp blade, described asa box cutter by Hong Kongmedia, that cut a police officer’sneck and severed a nerve. AP

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Luxembourg: EU Brexit nego-tiator Michel Barnier said onTuesday that a deal with Britaincould be reached this week, butwarned more tough talks are stillneeded.

British and EU officials areracing to reach a deal on Britain’sexit terms before a summit ofEU leaders starting on Thursday,as Prime Minister Boris Johnsonseeks to fulfil his vow to takeBritain out on October 31.

As he arrived inLuxembourg to brief the other27 EU states on the state of the

closed-door talks, Barnier strucka cautiously upbeat note.

“This work has been intenseall along the weekend and yes-terday because even if the agree-ment will be difficult — moreand more difficult to be frank —it’s still possible this week,”Barnier told reporters.

“Obviously any agreementmust work for everyone — thewhole of the United Kingdomand the whole of the EuropeanUnion. Let me add also that it ishigh time to turn good inten-tions into legal text.” AFP

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Jakarta: Indonesian policesaid they have arrested morethan two dozen suspectedmilitants after members of anetwork linked to theIslamic State (IS) group triedto assassinate a GovernmentMinister.

The world’s biggestMuslim majority nation ison high alert ahead ofPresident Joko Widodo’s sec-ond-term inauguration onSunday, with some 27,000troops expected to bedeployed in the capitalJakarta. AFP

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Page 13: 2 ( 0 1)˙ ˝%23˜ 0 0 ˆ 3 .4 ˇ1 ˙˜! ( ˚52 -˘2 ˚ / #˝˙92 -9 ... · Tushar Mehta, representing the CBI. Citing his attempts to ... Chidambaram should not be given bail. Justice

MBA in Information TechnologyBusiness Management is anextensive course with spe-

cialised streams, designed to inculcateand amplify the necessary skills with-in students, which will help themunderstand the business requirementsand devise potential technology solu-tions for the successful execution of thesame. The programme aims at devel-oping professionals with excellent lead-ership, management and entrepre-neurship qualities. MBA in IT BusinessManagement is a two-year post-grad-uate programme. It is one of the mostadvanced courses present in the edu-cation world today.

MBA (ITBM) trains the students tolead their organisations with proficiencyand with caliber. This course gives theman opportunity to transform themselvesinto multifaceted experts in theInformation Security industry. MBA(ITBM) has an extremely comprehen-sive scope as it offers various speciali-sations to the students and lets themselect the field they would like toexplore. This opens a plethora of pro-fessional doors for a fresh graduate toenter. The specialisation streams ofMBA (ITBM) include systems, infor-mation security management, soft-ware solutions management, IT infra-structure management & data science.

The systems specialisation providesinsights, knowledge, and practice on thevital amalgamation of business andtechnology, and builds the mastery itdemands to manage and balance both.This programme focuses on equippingtech into business processes through theapplication of innovative strategies.The industry-centric course contentcovers all the essential aspects, includ-ing enterprise resource planning, ser-vice-oriented architecture, require-ments engineering, enterprise perfor-mance management, six sigma forprocess optimisation and more. Thecareer prospects in this specialisationinclude functional consultancy, require-ments engineering, process optimisa-tion, business development, ERP plan-ning and implementation, businessanalysis, quality management and busi-ness process management.

Information Security Managementspecialisation emphasises on the man-agement of risks associated with oper-ating systems, databases, applications,routers and firewalls and others inorganisations that are evolving andexpanding each day. Alleviating theserisks on each level has become anabsolute necessity of a growing business.The Information Security Managementspecialisation aims at developing pro-fessionals who are capable of under-standing information workflows andthe risks associated with them so thatthey can form strategies for an infor-mation secured business environment.Prospective career profiles for thisspecialisation are information riskmanagement, IT security consulting, ITadvisory services, information securi-ty audit, identity and access manage-ment, BCM & ISMS implementation,HIPAA auditing and implementation,

compliance and due diligence, IT pro-ject advisory.

Software Solutions Managementspecialisation teaches students the artand process of fetching effective solu-tions to the problems concerning thebusiness of an organisation. They learnabout management information sys-tems, principles of marketing, finance,HRM, data warehousing & the conceptsrelated to business intelligence. MBASSM students comprehend how to han-

dle technology, along with possessingstandard managerial skills. They alsogain knowledge about different anddiverse domains like manufacturing orlogistics and banking or finance.prospective career profiles for this spe-cialisation are IT sales and marketing,business process analysis, softwaresolution development, quality verifi-cation, enterprise solutions architecture,techno-functional consultancy, softwarearchitecture and devops.

IT Infrastructure Managementspecialisation gives students a detailedoverview of emerging technologieslike unified communications, enter-prise-wide networks, and next-gener-ation intelligent network solutions,which are needed collectively to fulfillthe growing needs and demands of anorganisation. Professionals who canplan, design, deploy and monitor largeand complex networks, it is a distinc-tive role that demands a strong under-standing of business and technologicaldomains.

Prospective career profiles for ITinfrastructure management are networksecurity and audit, data centre man-agement, IT advisory services, networkinfrastructure sales, IT infrastructuremanagement services, BCP/DR con-sultant, business development IMS, net-work solution and design, infrastruc-ture project management.

Data Science specialisation willprovide intensive training to build therequired skillsets for a successful careerin the big data & business analyticsindustry. Students of this specialisationwill procure the skill needed to offercustomised solutions for the contem-porary data problems surfacing in thebusiness sphere. Prospective careerprofiles for this specialisation are bigdata analysis, market analyst, behavioralanalytics, social network & sentimentanalysis, business development, busi-ness process analysis, consumer ana-lytics, business process management,business analytics.

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With the aim of creating strong strategiesand roadmaps to make school exami-

nations less stressful, the NorthwestAccreditation Commission, USA (NWAC)hosted a conference titled De-stressingExamination organised by Council of Boardsof School Education in India (COBSE) lastweek. The conference was inaugurated by for-mer UGC Chairman Professor Ved Prakash.The event gave special focus on De-StressingExamination on the lines of Draft NationalEducation Policy 2019.

Director General of National TestingAgency (NTA) Vineet Joshi also attended theconference and spoke about the importanceof coordination among all the boards and NTA,

to enable proper verification of students at theapplication stage of exams conducted byNTA.

Dr Sanyam Bhardwaj, Controller ofExaminations, CBSE gave a detailed presen-tation on the way CBSE is bringing about achange in the evaluation and examinationprocess to reduce the stress.

“The biggest challenge in front of educa-tors today is to come up with a curriculum thathas a futuristic orientation. The educationboards do not only have the responsibility ofcertifying students, but they also have theresponsibility to prepare the children fortomorrow’s world. Students must not be edu-cated on age-old patterns rather they shouldbe made future-ready,” Ved Prakash said on theoccasion.

Around 1000 students fromover 10 schools visited the

Techno Blizz, an open house andscience and technology exhibi-tion at the Department ofElectronics and InstrumentationEngineering (EIE) at Tech Parkin SRM Institute of Science andTechnology, KattankulathurCampus.

A total of around 14 labswere set up with various kinds ofinstruments, prototypes andequipment to help studentsunderstand the intricacies ofelectronics and instrumentationengineering. A few of these dis-

plays were developed by the stu-dents and faculty of the EIEDepartment.

This Techno Blizz was donein collaboration with IndiraGandhi Centre for AtomicResearch (IGCAR), Kalpakkam.

A team of scientists and engi-neers from the Nuclear ResearchCentre displayed scientific mod-els and explained to students thebasic functioning of the center.Speaking about the Open House,Head of the Department, Dr AVimala Joseph said: “The two-day event provided informationabout the department andSRMIST at large. The childrenalso got hands-on experience andinsight into the different aspectsof Electronic andInstrumentation engineeringthrough orientation and workingmodels.”

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The 28th IEEE Conferenceon Robot and Human

Interactive Communication(RO-MAN 2019), whichkicked off on Monday here,hosts a series of technical talks,special sessions, workshops,tutorials exhibitions and awardsfunction during the four-day-long event. With the theme“Responsible Robotics and AIfor the Real World” — expertsand delegates underlined theimportance of developingresponsible technology in anera where robotics and AI are

intruding various aspects of oursocial as well as private lives.

The four-day conferencefrom October 14-17, 2019brings in all dimensions ofresearch and development inRobotics and AI.

This is the first time IEEERo-MAN Conference is takingplace in the Indian subconti-nent. The idea is to connect theIndian and international com-munities in the fast-growingsector of Robotics & AI. Nearly205 high-quality papers arebeing presented in 25 oral ses-sions and one poster sessionspread over four days.

Qualifying for the interview ofUPSC engineering services,

which is the final stage of selectionhas always been a dream for its aspi-rants. Everyone wants to performtheir best at this stage. Afterall, theselected candidates are among the0.5 per cent who manage to crackthe IES examination. Nearly 1 lakhstudents compete for around 600vacancies every year for differentengineering branches.While thewritten test evaluates the technicalknowledge of the candidates, the IESinterview gauges their personalitycombined with their field-relatedknowledge. The interview also triesto bring out qualities like intuitivepowers, spontaneity, practicality,soft skills, leadership qualities, con-fidence level and team spirit of thefinalists. That said, it is the 200marks and a set of rigorous ques-tions that ultimately decides the fateof those 0.5 per cent candidateswhether they can manage to getthrough one of the most sought-afterengineering recruitment examina-tions. Sounds gruelling? Fret not! Allyou need is a well-defined plan andsome extra efforts to tackle all yourapprehensions and give your bestshot. Here is a list of preparation tipsand tricks for the upcoming IESinterview:

Pay attention while filling theDetailed Application Form (DAF):

Prior to your interview, the mostcrucial thing is to fill the DAF verycarefully. Because, a lion’s share ofthe interview questions will bebased on your own profile such asyour previous job experience, hob-bies, your hometown, college andothers. You cannot afford to gowrong while answering those ques-tions and stick to the informationwhile you are talking at the inter-view.

Focus on current affairs: Thecandidate must stay updated withthe latest national and internation-al affairs. So flip through the news-

papers, surf the current affairs blogsand news pieces and take quizzes asmuch as possible.

Keeping the knowledge aboutyour subjects and the final year col-lege project in place: The interviewboard pays a lot of attention to acandidate’s technical and subjectknow-how. So make sure you getyour basic concepts right and pre-pare two/three of your favouritetechnical subjects and their practi-cal applications as you will be askedquestions about your understandingof the subjects

Emphasise on the tricky ques-

tions: The interviewer might askquestions related to your state/cityand its historical importance, yourhobbies, your weaknesses, the rea-son behind joining IES and muchmore. These questions should beanswered tactically to avoid creatingany negative impression on thepanel. For instance, while talkingabout your weaknesses, direct youranswers smartly towards yourstrengths.

Never create answers: Not sureabout your answer to a particularquestion? Say it clearly to the inter-viewer. Never try to say anythingnegative or create answers to some-thing you are not sure about. It willonly create a negative impact andconfusion.

Groom yourself well on the D-day: We all must have heard the say-ing, the First impression is the lastimpression. So, make sure you areformally dressed and well-groomedfor the interview as this will createa lasting impression on the inter-viewer from the time you enter theinterview room.

Remember, it is the selection dayso give your best shot at the inter-view with patience, confidence andclarity. This will increase yourchances of getting through theinterview with utmost success.

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Knowledge is believed to be tran-scending international bound-

aries overcoming regional barriersmore widely and quicker than everbefore. People along with their chil-dren are travelling the globe pro-viding the young ones an enhancedexposure to experiences and moreopportunities to learn new things.Educators believe that there is a needto scout for more innovative ways forchildren to gain relevant knowledgeand skills in an easy and impactfulway.

Experiential education is onesuch well-structured methodology oflearning. It enables children toorganise their pattern of thought andtransform it into action more effec-tively. It helps them understandtheir existing environment and bebetter prepared to deal with real-lifescenarios, as they grow older. Beinga parent or guardian, one wouldobserve that when children returnfrom school they are more likely toinitiate discussion about what alltranspired that day rather than shar-ing what was actually taught in theclassroom. Such is the power of anexperience that allows more reten-tion and can leave an ever-lastingimpact on a child’s mind, over andabove any traditional method oflearning.

The benefits of experientiallearning are embedded deep within

the core of a child’s learning process.This methodology helps breakdowncomplex knowledge into simplercontent that is engaging and quick tolearn. As we know, in a traditionalclassroom setup the dominant modeof learning is listening, however, inan experience based environmentlearning goes beyond the classroomand forces a child to use cognitiveabilities in combination with phys-ical skills to take a desired action.This brings out various aspects of achild’s personality to the forefrontand helps them recognise their skillsand interests in unique ways.

When a child is rewarded fortaking a particular action, it encour-ages them to further undertakethose tasks repeatedly, thereforebecoming better with each play.

Experiential education starts

with a basic visit organised by theschool to a Museum, voluntarywork in the local community, or pro-ject oriented visits to National parksand so forth. These experienceswere widely used across the globe asa part of the curriculum to makereal-life scenarios informative andfun for children.

Later we saw that there truly wasa need for more engaging means oflearning for children. This gave riseto digitalisation of classrooms, edu-cational toys, show events, and edu-tainment or theme-based parks withnewer attractions. To complementthese means, technologies likerecorded audio headsets, audiobooks, simulated games can also beused to give on-ground learning anew dimension altogether.

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In a professional world of cut-throat com-petition and performance-based assess-ments, soft skills might appear to be an

understated requirement. However, one can-not do without them. A candidate might beprogrammer, an engineer, a writer or a salesperson, but he is first a human being with anemotional quotient. Human skills are techni-cally not considered a part of professional tal-ent; yet even the best professional talent isfutile without essential soft skills. You mightbe the best developer in the organisation, butif you are insincere, unable to communicatewell with the team, lack the ability to collab-orate and fail to maintain a good equation withyour clients, your technical ability or hard skillsis going to get you only so far.

Increasingly, organisations are realisingthat without the necessary human skills, pro-fessional talent too has its limitations. If anemployee lacks technical skills, training andexperience can help improve it. However,when it comes to attitude and aptitude, theseare soft skills that can’t be taught or ingrained.

Why soft skills matter?Between two employees who are equally

good at their work, which one will you chooseto service a client? One who is approachable,doesn’t lose patience easily, communicatesseamlessly and greets everyone with a smileor the one who often turns irritable?

It is not difficult to understand why softskills are important than hard skills. Soft skillsinclude a series of personality traits that enablean individual better navigate his environmentand handle difficult situations with grace.These human traits include social and com-munication skills, sincerity towards commit-ment, emotional intelligence, negotiation,conflict resolution as well as people to peo-ple skills. Empathy, patience, flexibility, tol-erance and an ability to communicate in dif-ficult situations without arousing tempers arevery important skill sets.

Can soft skills be quantified?It is difficult to quantify or judge soft skills

in an individual at the time of recruiting. Therearen’t many tests to judge skills like commu-nication or even sincerity. However, if youaccord the due important to soft skills, thereare subtle ways in which you can assess theseduring recruitment.

This includes keeping a close eye on theway the individual communicates, the sincerityand maturity he displays throughout theprocess. If a candidate takes more than a weekin responding to your requirement of sub-mitting some documents, you get gauge a lack-adaisical attitude behind it. Also important is

to watch for the written communicationwith the candidate that gives a fair idea aboutthe maturity of expression and sensibility ofthought of the individual.

As a recruiter, nobody wants to be flood-ed with resumes from a job portals listing non-human or mechanical skills like years of expe-rience, this degree or that course. What I amlooking for are the people who are activelysearching jobs in the job position offered andare able to show some passion towards it. Thisis why we have tried to design innovativeTalent Boards that display list more than justthe technical skills of an individual.

Our algorithms do not just rank candidateprofiles based on a series of technical skill testsbut also try to extract exceptional insights intoa candidate’s skills, attitude, pro-activeness andsincerity by analysing the smart data behindthe candidate’s activity on the algorithm.Combining the human element with data cre-ates a smart data pool of talent that is muchmore representative of a candidate's skill setthan a simple resume is.

As there arises a greater shift in organi-sational attitudes towards analysing soft skillsduring recruitment, we will witness a greaterproliferation of similar algorithms and psy-chometric tests that lay equal value on quan-tifying soft skills and aptitude. We will alsohave more organisations investing in buildingsoft skills among their employees through psy-chological skill training and team buildingactivities.

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The Faculty ofEngineering at theUniversity of

Strathclyde, Glasgow has anumber of scholarshipsavailable for new self-funded,international (non-EU) feepaying students with excel-lent academic qualificationsfor the MSc in CivilEngineering with Industryprogramme starting inJanuary 2020.

Value: Up to £3,000Duration: One yearEligibility: The scholar-

ship is available for applica-tion to all self-funded, newinternational (non-EU) feepaying students holding anoffer of study for the MSc inCivil Engineering withIndustry. You must start yourfull-time MSc in January2020. One will need a mini-mum of a 2:1 (or equivalent)in your undergraduate degreeto be considered.

For more information -https://www.strath.ac.uk/studywithus/scholarships/engi-neeringscholarships/faculty-ofengineeringexcellence. Onecan contact: [email protected]

Application deadline:The last date to apply isJanuary 17, 2020.

Fully Funded Doctoral

Scholarships administratedby the Central EuropeanUniversity in Hungary.

The educational programis open for outstanding inter-national students, who wantto study doctoral degreecoursework for the academicyear 2020/21.

Award: Up to �1,350Eligibility: To be consid-

ered for this grant, applicantsmust have a master’s degree(or equivalent) in a relatedfield from a recognised uni-versity or institution of high-er education, or provide doc-umentation indicating thatthey will earn such a degreebefore enrollment in a CEUdoctoral course of study.

Supporting Documents:Academic writing submis-sion, letters ofRecommendation, academicrecords, and curriculum vitaeor resume must be submitted.

AdmissionRequirements: For admis-sion, candidates must have amaster’s degree (or equiva-lent) in a related field from arecognized university orinstitution of higher educa-tion. LanguageRequirement: You shouldcheck all the English lan-guage requirements whenyou come to study at CentralEuropean University.

How to apply: Onlineapplication system for thegrant.

Application deadline:The last date to apply isJanuary 30, 2020.

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The banking and financialservices have always beenthe most preferred

employment sector for the beststudents across the world. Over10 international banks likeGoldman Sachs, JP Morganand American Express and 30-plus Indian banks like ICICI,Yes, Axis, IDBI, Kotak, HDFCand Citi are regularly seenscouting for talent at Indiancampuses. The tradition of IIMsshows that top students havealways had a bias towards work-ing in the banking sector.

A Deloitte survey onPopularity of working in Bankingconducted in 2013 found thatstudents seeking banking jobsare motivated by learning andearning prospects of bankingsector. Top factors that areattached to banking sector jobswhich make it a career of choiceare:

� ����� �K���-�'������We are living in the knowl-

edge society and the real talentof today values continuouslearning and development.Inherently, finance and bankingare information driven indus-tries. People working here arealways learning and dealing

with new and innovative prac-tices that make the jobs inter-esting for them. Also, being apeople oriented sector, banksput a lot of emphasis on devel-oping professional skills of itspeople. This makes it the fore-most reason why banking sec-tors attracts the best talentacross the world.

��������'�� �� ��The huge capital norms

and the backup of central banksmake banking and financialservice companies very strongand stable.

The fact that they are deal-ing with the public money givesthem a lot of Government pro-tection. Strong regulations blockthe entry of non- serious orweak players in the sectors.These factors put together makebanking jobs a lot more secureand stable.

������ �� ��� ����A student who once

becomes a banker is able to reapbenefits for his entire career. Abanking job of a few years in thebeginning of an individual’scareer makes it a good careerreference for the future.Experience as a banker helps a

candidate both professionallyand socially.

� ��� �Bankers or anyone else

dealing with money have alwayscommanded a higher socialstatus in all cultures and soci-eties, since time memorial. Theprestige that is attached with abanking job both global and

rural. The respect and prestigeof being a banker is therefore astrong intrinsic reason for a lotof talented candidates to seek abanking career.

!����!�''�#��������JThe banking sector is grow-

ing and so are the opportunitiestherein. There is no one size fitsall profile in banking. Banksoffering different types of ser-vices recruit candidates withvarying skillsets. The role of aclerk in a fully computerisedbranch has already becomeredundant.

Most people are recruited inoffice profile and are requiredto have specialised domainknowledge. The curriculumand pedagogy is carefullydesigned to prepare our stu-dents for these profiles. Duringthe course of study, the corpo-rate relations department helpsa student in identifying themost suitable profile accordingto their strengths and aptitude.

!�� ��!�''�#��!� ,JThere are many categories

of Banking Financial Servicesand Insurance companies inIndia where one can work likeWealth Management, Bank &

NBFC, Asset Management,Fintech, Brokerage, Insurance,Accounting & Taxation, andRating Agencies.

Students have many desig-nations like Trade FinanceManager, Trade Desk Manager,NRI Banking Officer, FinancialPlanning, Service Delivery offi-cer, Relationship Manager,Management Trainee, BusinessBanker, Credit officer, ForexOfficer, Credit Analyst, RiskAnalyst and OperationsExecutive to name a few.

�� ���� ���� ��� The average salary of a

fresher in BFSI sector is �2-�2.5lakh per annum, with three-fiveyears of experience can earn �5-�6 lakh per annum and with 10-plus years experience one canget �10 lakh per annum.

The trends show that aftermaking a ground hold for abouttwo-three years in bankingindustry people tend to growfaster in this sector.

It is notable that good stu-dents are usually forward look-ing and prefer jobs which givethem higher future growth thanimmediate salary.

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Even as Board of Control forCricket in India presidentdesignate Sourav Ganguly

returned to Kolkata amid a grandwelcome the former Cricket Indiacaptain said there was no politicsto be read into his getting nom-inated as the boss of Indiancricket.

Soon after landing at theNSI Airport the cricketing south-paw said, “there was no politicalpressure on me; neither is thereany political deal,” behind his get-ting the priced post. When askedas to whether he saw a shinningpolitical future ahead of himparticularly after the 2021 BengalAssembly elections, he remainednon-committal saying “there wasno talk with anyone on my polit-ical future.”

Incidentally hours beforebeing tipped off to be the firstcricketer to become a BCCI pres-ident Ganguly had a brief meet-ing with Home Minister AmitShah which many critic saw as aprelude to his becoming theBoard president.

On whether there was anyoffer from any political bench for

him he said “there is nothingwrong if any politician wantsgood people to join politics.There is nothing wrong if MrAmit Shah or Mamata Didi wantgood people to join their parties.”

On his future chemistry withBCCI secretary designate JayShah he said “Jay and I have beenvery good friends.

Both of us are young andboth of us have experience andboth of us want to do somethingfor the Indian cricket. So it willbe a great inning for both of us.There will not be lack of any

effort … whether I will be suc-cessful or not I can’t say but I cansay that I will work to the best ofmy capability for the cause ofIndian cricket.”

Dwelling on his priorities asthe BCCI chief he said “my firstpriority is the whole lot of firstclass cricketers. It is this pool ofcricketers from where the toppayers emerge. But the remaininglot of first class cricketers getsvery little for them. So it will bemy first priority to do somethingfor them. We will work collective-ly and change their lives.”

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Injured India opener SmritiMandhana has lost her

number one status after beingtoppled by New Zealand’sAmy Satterthwaite in the bat-ting chart of the latest ICCODI rankings.

Mandhana, who has 755points, slipped to the numbertwo spot after she missedIndia’s recently concludedODI series against SouthAfrica due to injury.

The 23-year-old suffereda fracture in her right toe afterbeing struck by a ball duringa net session before the startof the ODI series againstSouth Africa which India won3-0.

Among others batters,skipper Mithali Raj moveddown to the seventh spotwhile her Harmanpreet Kaurrose in the rankings to theoccupy the 17th place.

In the bowlers’ rankings,Jhulan Goswami, ShikhaPandey and Poonam Yadavmoved down to be placedsixth, eighth and ninth respec-tively.

Among the all-rounders,Deepti Sharma has moveddown to the third place whileShikha Pandey broke into thetop 10.

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The demoralising defeats atthe hands of India in the

first two Tests has forced SouthAfrican paceman KagisoRabada to think if his side canbe put under more pressure.

India’s top-order fired inunison to bury South Africaunder a mountain of runs inboth the Tests, where theyamassed 500 and 600 in the firstinnings in Visakhapatnam andPune.

“We’ve been put underimmense pressure. I don’t knowif we can be put more pressurethan that,” Rabada toldreporters.

The 24-old year old pace-man acknowledged that notonly Indian batsmen but theirbowlers also outsmarted them.

It’s been a long time whenSouth Africa took 20 wickets in

a Test match and Rabada, whois South Africa’s leading seam-er, only has four wickets fromtwo matches in this series.

“They got the ball toreverse and they bowled well asa collective. Their whole attackput pressure on us in every sin-gle aspect. Their spinnersbowled well and when the ballwas reversing their seamerscould exploit that. We didn’treally get the ball to reverse andthat’s a major weapon of ours,”he explained.

Rabada is hoping that thisphase will be over soon.

“It’s never nice to lose,especially in the manner we’relosing right now but we’regoing through a transition peri-od. Our team is fresh andyoung, so the best thing we cando is look at where we canimprove and remember ourstrengths and build on them.”

��9���L� Phil Simmons hasreturned to take charge of theWest Indies three years afterbeing dismissed in controver-sial circumstances, CricketWest Indies has announced.

In a statement CWI said onMonday that Simmons wouldbe head coach for the next fouryears. He led the Windies to the2016 Twenty20 World Cupbefore being booted out amidtensions with his paymasters.

“Bringing Phil Simmonsback is not just righting a pastwrong, but I am confidentthat CWI has chosen the right

man for the job at the righttime,” said CWI presidentRicky Skerritt.

Former West Indies all-rounder Simmons, 56, wassacked in September 2016 for“differences in culture andstrategic approach” betweenwith the cricket hierarchydespite their remarkable T20World Cup triumph.

Simmons’ success in theT20 arena however was notmirrored in Test cricket.During his reign the WestIndies won only one of 14Tests. PTI

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Former India captain SouravGanguly, who is set to be the

new BCCI president, wants theVirat Kohli-led national team toreverse the trend of losing theknock-out games in ICC events.

“India are a good team. Iknow they have not won a bigtournament. But they play well inbig tournaments except the semi-finals and the final. Hopefully,Virat can change it around. He isa champion player,” Gangulytold reporters here on Tuesday.

India have not won an ICCevent since the 2013 ChampionsTrophy. The team finished run-ner-up in the 2017 ChampionsTrophy final after losing toPakistan.

In the World Cup earlier thisyear, India were one of thefavourites to win the title butended up losing the semifinal toNew Zealand.

Page 16: 2 ( 0 1)˙ ˝%23˜ 0 0 ˆ 3 .4 ˇ1 ˙˜! ( ˚52 -˘2 ˚ / #˝˙92 -9 ... · Tushar Mehta, representing the CBI. Citing his attempts to ... Chidambaram should not be given bail. Justice

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England manager GarethSouthgate said his side made

a statement by deciding tocomplete a 6-0 Euro 2020 qual-ifying win over Bulgaria afterthe match was twice halted byracist chanting.

The visitors led 2-0 throughearly goals from MarcusRashford and Ross Barkleywhen play was first stopped andan announcement made tosupporters that the game couldbe suspended if offensive chant-ing continued.

Once restarted, Englandquickly made it 3-0 throughBarkley before a second stop-page as Croatian referee IvanBebek held discussions withplayers and coaching staff fromboth sides.

Raheem Sterling then net-ted twice either side of half-timebefore Harry Kane rounded offthe scoring to take England tothe brink of qualification.

“We know it is an unaccept-able situation,” Southgate toldBritish broadcaster ITV.

“I think we’ve managed tomake two statements really bywinning the game, but also wehave raised the awareness ofeverybody to the situation.

“The game was stoppedtwice and I know for some peo-ple that won’t be enough, but Ithink we were as a group onboard with that process.”

In a statement, The EnglishFootball Association said theirplayers “were subjected toabhorrent racist chanting” andcalled on UEFA to investigateimmediately.

Tyrone Mings was one ofthose targeted on his Englanddebut. The Aston Villa defend-er believed that stopping thegame did have the desiredeffect of reducing racist abusein the second half.

“The correct steps that weretaken definitely helped,” saidMings.

“We made the decision athalf-time to come out and playthe game which we thought was

the right decision. If anythingelse happened, we would havetaken appropriate action.”

A comprehensive victorywas the perfect riposte forSouthgate’s men to their shock2-1 defeat at the Czech Republicon Friday and opens up athree-point lead at the top ofGroup A.

However, the focus wasagain on the stands as anotherEngland match blighted byracism from opposition fans.

After several English play-ers suffered racist abuse in aqualifier away to Montenegro inMarch, Southgate had preparedhis side to follow UEFA’s three-step protocol for reportingracist incidents that can lead tomatches being abandoned.

A section of 5,000 seats atthe Vasil Levski NationalStadium was already closed forthe game after racist incidentsduring games against Kosovoand the Czech Republic inJune.

“I have to say the officialswere onto everything veryquickly,” added Southgate.

“We reported everythingimmediately when we heardthings, we had constant com-munication with the fourthofficial and the referee.”

On the field, Southgate’sdecision to make five changesfrom the side beaten in Pragueon Friday was fully vindicated.

Rashford was one of thoserecalled put his Manchester

United woes behind him bysmashing the opener into theroof of the net after just sevenminutes before Barkley tappedhome a second at the back post.

The first stage of UEFA’sprotocol followed as the gamewas temporarily stopped and awarning played over the loud-speaker in both Bulgarian andEnglish that the match could besuspended after monkey chantswere aimed at England players.

That warning was notheeded as after Barkley headedhome Kane’s cross, there was asecond, longer stoppage in play.

A number of Bulgarianultras were then ejected fromthe stadium.

When play did got backunderway there were six min-utes of stoppage time added andthe visitors used it to increasetheir advantage when Kanecrossed for Sterling to this timeapply an easy finish.

Southgate’s men could havescored plenty more in the sec-ond-half against the dispiritedhosts on a terrible night allround for Bulgarian football.

Sterling’s second arrivedmidway through the second-half with Kane again the creatorbefore the England captainfinally got on the scoresheethimself five minutes from time.

England now need just apoint from their final two qual-ifiers against Montenegro andKosovo next month to sealtheir place at next year’s Euros.

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World Champion PV Sindhu made an

impressive start to hercampaign at the DenmarkOpen, claiming a straight-game win over Indonesia’sGregoria Mariska Tunjung in thewomen’s singles competition hereon Tuesday.

Fifth seed Sindhu, who hadmade early exits in China andKorea, got back her bearing as sheovercame former World JuniorChampion Gregoria 22-20, 21-18in 38 minutes to keep her 5-0record intact against theIndonesian.

The Olympic Silver medallistwill now face Korea’s An Se Youngnext.

World Championships Bronzemedallist B Sai Praneeth also madeit to the second round beating thelegendary Lin Dan 21-14, 21-17 ina 35-minute opening round clash.

The Hyderabad shuttler is like-ly to meet world No 1 and two-timeworld champion Kento Momota ofJapan next. He had lost to Momotaat the World Championships inBasel, Switzerland.

Thailand Open championsSatwiksairaj Rankireddy andChirag Shetty also made a goodstart to their men’s doubles cam-paign, beating Korean pair of KimGi Jung and Lee Yong Dae 24-22,21-11 in 39 minutes.

Former CommonwealthGames champion ParupalliKashyap, who had reached thesemifinals at Korea Open, failed tocross the opening round after los-ing 13-21, 12-21 to Thailand’sSitthikom Thammasin in the men’ssingles.

National champion SourabhVerma, who had clinched theHyderabad Open and VietnamOpen this year, also made an earlyexit after going down 21-19, 11-21,17-21 to Mark Caljouw of theNetherlands.

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Amaiden BWF World tour title push-ing him closer to top 50, Dutch

Open champion Lakshya Sen says he willlook to put up a good show in theremainder of the season to break into theworld’s top 30.

The 18-year-old on Sunday clinchedhis maiden BWF World Tour title bywinning the Dutch Open title, beatingYusuke Onodera of Japan 15-21, 21-14,21-15 in the summit clash.

“This is the biggest title of my careerso far. I have reached quarters and asemifinals in the past, so it is good tofinally win a super 100 tournament. Itwill boost my ranking and give me achance to play the super 500 tourna-ments,” Lakshya, who rose to world No52 this week said.

“At the beginning of the year, my tar-get was to reach the top 50 and after thiswin I would be close to that. I still havefew events left in the year. If I can do wellthere, I can go further up. Hope I canbreak into top 30 early next year.”

Lakshya will play the SaarlorluxOpen Super 100 (Oct 29-Nov 3) next,before participating in two InternationalChallenge events at the Irish Open(November 13-16) and Scottish Open(Nov 21-24). He will also play the SyedModi International Super 300 (Nov 26-Dec 1).

It was an impressive week for theteen shuttler, who displayed superbtemperament and skills to outwit hisopponents.

“The first round against Nhat(Nguyen) was tough, the second matchwas okay but again playing (Ygor)Coelho was difficult. I had played himbefore so I was ready for a big match,”said the 2018 Asian Junior Champion.

“The finals was also a long matchand I am happy how I performed over-all in the week,” he said.

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Alast-gasp Adil Khan headersaved the blushes for India,who played their worst game

of the campaign, as the home sideplayed out a 1-1 draw againstBangladesh in their World Cupqualifiers match here on Tuesday.

Saad Uddin gave Bangladeshthe lead in the 42nd minute and thevisitors looked like going backhome with all the three points in theGroup E match of World Cupqualifying second round match.

Adil Khan, however, ensuredthat India at least secure a pointfrom the home match as he rosehighest to nod home a BrandonFernandes corner kick in the 88thminute. A defeat at home wouldhave severely dented India’s hopesof advancing in the next round.

India had lost to Oman 1-2 intheir opening match before holdingAsian champions Qatar to a goal-

less draw in their previous match.They now have two points

from three matches, whileBangladesh stay at the bottom withone point from three games.

Bangladesh were the moreorganised and penetrating side asthey put up a spirited show againstIndia who were backed by a full-capacity crowd at the SaltlakeStadium.

Inspirational captain SunilChhetri was not at his best as alsogoalkeeper Gurpreet Singh Sandhuwho kept at bay the maraudingQataris in the memorable drawngame in Doha.

Gurpreet misjudged the flightof the ball to let in the Bangladesh’sgoal to the stunning silence of thepacked 65,000-plus crowd.

It was Rahul Bheke who con-ceded a freekick on the left andBangladesh captain Jamal Bhuyancurled it in to the far post whereGurpreet missed the flight com-

pletely and Saad Uddin finished itwith a diving header.

Ranked 83 places below India,Bangladesh looked more threaten-ing and could have easily doubledthe lead in the 54th minute whenthe right winger MohammadIbrahim’s shot hit the crosspiece.

India woke up from their slum-ber only late in the second half,making a flurry of chances but thenBangladesh defence gave a goodaccount of themselves with Ibrahimmaking a goal-line clearance fromAnas Edathodika’s header.

In the 88th minute, Adil Khanequalised, a minute after Chhetri’sshot was deflected. Brandon set itup with an accurate corner and Adilfound it near the post to find thegoal.

The Igor Stimac-coached sidepaced up their attack but it was toolittle too late then as Bangladeshproved a point, opening theiraccount in Group E.

Earlier in the first-half, Indiahad their share of chances. One suchchance was in the 18th minutewhen Bheke’s powerful headerzoomed over the crosspiece.

India had their first shot on tar-get in the fifth minute when ManvirSingh floated in a long-ball withAshique Kuruniyan leaving it forChhetri but the Indian captainvolleyed it straight to theBangladeshi goalkeeper AshrafulIslam Rana.

Bangladesh also looked to pen-etrate early and came close in the31st minute when Adil Khan madea mess of a back pass as BiploAhmed took the control of the ballbut thankfully Anas Edathodikaaverted the danger.

The 104-ranked India thus areyet to win against Bangladesh since1999 when the Blue Tigers had won1-0 in the SAFF Games.

Bangladesh stay unbeaten fromthree matches against India.

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Indian football head coach Igor Stimac onTuesday rued his players’ inability to score goals

as his side settled for a 1-1 draw against Bangladesh.India missed their star defender Sandesh

Jhingan sorely as a judgmental error from GurpreetSingh Sandhu saw Bangladesh go 1-0 up.

“Our scoring incapability was the reason whywe didn’t win. We conceded very silly goal. We can’texpect to win the game if you concede such a goal.Their goalkeeper was my man-of-the-match,”Stimac told reporters in the post-match mediainteraction.

“We deserved to win this game. We pusheduntil the end and created enough chances to winthe game. But our scoring was not good enough.

“I’m not happy with first 45 minutes. Our play-ers in the back were not passing well. When youplay against a team like Bangladesh who put morein defence you need to pass well from behind,” theCroatian said.

Stimac, however, refused to blame any player.“Sometimes you have a great day, sometime youhave mistakes in making judgment. We are not hereblaming anyone. I defend my players with my heart.

“Today we dominated for 90 minutes andproved we can change our game in regard to oppo-nents. This team is rising up.”

India played in front of 65,000 fans at theSaltlake Stadium and the Croatian World Cuppersaid he would remember this forever.

“This was amazing day for indian football,many of them will never forget the ambience, thesupport they received in Kolkata. I had many bignames in my career. I will remember this as as oneof the biggest ones,” the 52-year-old said.

“It was a very exciting match. All the peoplewho came could enjoy the beauty of football.”

Bangaldesh head coach Jamie Day hailed hisside’s performance and said they frustrated India.

“I thought we played exceptionally well. Wefrustrated India. Boys stuck to the game plan.

Disappointed that we conceded in the end. Wenever expected to win coming here and playin front of 70,000 people. I am pleased toget a point,” said Day.

“India had a lot of possession. We hadto play differently and frustrate them. Ifyour shape is good, then your are hardto beat. Indian had 80 per cent posses-

sion but did not create many chances. Wehad to defend in numbers today and

counter attack with pace, had to frustratethem. That was the plan. It caused India a bit

of problem.”He said he was disappointed not to have

secured three points from the match but at thesame happy to have got a point from an away game.

“We are 83 places behind India so getting apoint against such a country is great. It is actual-ly bigger than India’s draw against Qatar as the dif-ference is higher in our rankings.”

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Ukraine beat Portugal 2-1 onMonday to clinch a place at

Euro 2020 despite CristianoRonaldo scoring his 700th careergoal.

Roman Yaremchuk andAndriy Yarmolenko put Ukrainetwo goals up after 27 minutes.

Although Ronaldo scored hislandmark goal from the penaltyspot in the 72nd minute andTaras Stepanenko was sent off,Ukraine held on to secure firstplace in Group B.

Ukraine join already qualifiedPoland, Russia, Italy and Belgiumat next summer’s finals, while sec-ond-placed Portugal, who areeight points behind Ukraine, haveSerbia just a point behind themwith two matches remaning afterthey beat Lithuania 2-1.

“There are days like these,when the ball just doesn’t wantto go in,” said Portuguese mid-fielder Danilo. “No need to dothe maths now: we just needto win the next two gamesto reach Euro 2020.”

Yaremchuk pouncedfrom close range inthe sixth minute. Thecentre for wardreacted fastestafter RuiPatricio dived toparr y SerhiyK r y v t s o v ’ sheader from acorner, and pokethe ball across theline.

Ya r m o l e n k oadded the secondwhen outpaced thePortuguese defence to finish aswift counter attack with a low,

crisp first-time shot.Portugal dominated

the second half andfinally achieved ab r e a k t h r o u g hwhen Stepanenkoblocked a shotwith his arm,receiving hismarching ordersbefore Ronaldoblasted home thepenalty to make it700 goals for cluband country.

The goal was his95th for Portugal.

The 34-year-old is now just 14goals behind the all-time inter-

national record of 109 held byformer Iran striker Ali Daei.

While the exact num-ber of goals scored bysome of the game’s leg-ends is the subject ofdebate, Ronaldo isagreed to be the sixthplayer to reach 700after Austrian Josef

Bican, Brazil iansRomario and Pele,Hungarian Ferenc Puskasand German Gerd Muller.

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