16
T he Uttar Pradesh Police’s Special Task Force (STF) on Thursday arrested three mem- bers of a Noida-based fraud company which cheated 7 lakh people of over 3,700 crore in one of the biggest online trad- ing scams. The STF has frozen an account having 500 crore in Canara Bank’s Ghaziabad Branch. The accused firm, Ablaze Info Solutions Limited, cheat- ed gullible people on the pretext of providing digital marketing solutions. STF Senior Superintendent of Police Amit Pathak said, “The number of victims by this bogus company has crossed over 7 lakh people who have been duped of their hard earned money to the tune of a whopping 3,700 crore and the number may increase as the investigation is going on.” Company owner Abhinav Mittal of Ghaziabad and two of his accomplices — Shridhar Prasad of Noida, and Mahesh Dayal of Mathura district — have been arrested, said the SSP. The gang members had devised a unique modus operandi. They used to entice the unsuspecting investors to earn huge profit with a deposit of 50,000 to 60,000 in exchange of linking them to social trade business portals. The glib talkers trapped the clients who hoped to reap hefty dividends on their deposits, Pathak added. The gang was busted after some people who felt cheated lodged a complaint against the company situated at Noida Sector 63 and Surajpur police stations in Greater Noida, fol- lowing which investigation was taken up, the SSP said. The proprietors of Ablaze Info Solutions Limited promised for a good return of investment under the name of “Earn 5 per click”. They used to trap people to sign up for their social trade website claim- ing themselves as social media exchange websites. The invest- ment ranged from 5,750 to 57,500 in the company’s account. Once the money was invested into the account of the company, they used to provide a username and password to the investors and allowed them access to the website. They won the confidence of the investors by transferring money into their accounts after every click by them, said a police official involved in the probe. Investors were asked to click on a particular numbers of links on daily basis and they transferred money in their accounts on the basis of num- ber of clicks. The catch was that they coaxed people in roping in oth- ers to join this lucrative scheme. The company initial- ly rewarded those with Continued on Page 4 I n a big relief to Maran broth- ers, the 2G Court on Thursday discharged all the accused in the Aircel-Maxis case blaming the CBI for stick- ing to “speculation and sur- mises.” The order pronounced by Special Judge OP Saini is a big snub for the CBI for regis- tering a case against former Telecom Minister Dayanidhi Maran on the allegation of Aircel promoter Sivasankaran that he was arm-twisted by the Minister to sell Aircel to Malaysian company Maxis. The Marans brothers were also discharged from the Enforcement Directorate charge in alleged money laun- dering case. As per the order, the attachment of 745-crore worth properties of SUN TV by the ED also stands canceled. However, the order would not have any effect on the two accused, Malaysian nationals Ralph Marshall and T Ananda Krishnan, as the court has already segregated the trial against them from that of Maran brothers and others. The CBI filed the FIR at the fag-end of 2011 against Maran brothers and filed chargesheet against them in August 2014. The CBI also gave the details of violations committed by then Finance Minister P Chidambaram in granting Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) clearance in 2006 to the Aircel-Maxis deal but the agency did not finish the probe. The CBI had filed a chargesheet against the Maran brothers, Ralph Marshall, T Ananda Krishnan, M/s Sun Direct TV (P) Ltd, M/s Astro All Asia Networks Plc, UK, M/s Maxis Communications Berhad, Malaysia, M/s South Asia Entertainment Holdings Ltd, Malaysia and then Additional Secretary (Telecom) J S Sarma who died during the course of the probe. Besides Maran brothers, the court discharged two com- panies — M/s Sun Direct TV (P) Ltd (SDTPL) and M/s South Asia Entertainment Holdings Ltd. During arguments on framing of charges, Special Public Prosecutor Anand Grover had claimed that Dayanidhi had “pressurised” Chennai-based telecom pro- moter C Sivasankaran to sell his stakes in Aircel and two sub- sidiary firms to Malaysian firm Maxis Group in 2006. The charge was strongly refuted by Dayanidhi Maran. All the accused had denied allegations against them made by the investigating agencies and had moved bail pleas. In the money laundering case, ED had chargesheeted the Maran brothers, Kalanithi’s wife Kavery, Managing Director of South Asia FM Ltd (SAFL) K Shanmugam, SAFL and Sun Direct TV Pvt Ltd (SDTPL) under provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). The court had on September 24, 2016 issued open warrants of arrest against Krishnan and Marshall on CBI’s plea stating that sum- mons issued to them could not be served. Previous month, Supreme Court has ordered DoT to attach the Spectrum of Aircel, if the Malaysian owners are not coming to 2G Court in two weeks. On Friday, the Supreme Court is hearing this matter along with BJP leader Subramanian Swamy’s petition that the CBI has not filed chargesheet against Chidambaram for the FIPB violations in the deal. In the Discharge Order, Special Judge Saini observed that many offi- cers did many delays in the file in the Aircel licence, except then Telecom Secretary Nripendra Mishra, who is cur- rently Principal Secretary to Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The Court said Misra took firm stand and due dili- gence while other officers took doubtful stands on files. “In contrast to these officers there is a Secretary Nirpendra Mishra who performed his duties with due diligence and confidence and never shied away from recording his views on file,” said the Order. “In view of the above dis- cussion I am satisfied that the entire case is based on the misreading of the official files, contradictory statements of the witnesses as well as speculations and surmises of Sivasankaran,” said the Order, giving clean chit to Maran brothers for armtwist- ing the Aircel owner to sell his company to Maxis. K ept out of the list of cam- paigners for the first and second phases of Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls, Varun Gandhi, Murli Manohar Joshi and Vinay Katiyar are back in the BJP’s list of star campaigners submitted to the Election Commission on Thursday. The list, which includes top party leaders like Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP president Amit Shah among 40 others, is meant for the third and fourth phases of the elections scheduled for February 19 and 23. If no new list is submitted, then it will be valid for all remaining phases. Varun’s mother and Union Minister Maneka Gandhi, who had figured among the top campaigners for the first two phases, is not in the new list which includes Union Ministers Rajnath Singh, Kalraj Mishra, Smriti Irani, Uma Bharti and Arun Jaitley besides State leaders. It also includes Yogi Adityanath, comedian Continued on Page 4 New Delhi: The voluntary retirement plea of BSF jawan Tej Bahadur Yadav, whose post on social media about ‘sub- standard’ food triggered a con- troversy, has been rejected on grounds that a Court of Inquiry on his allegations is pending as also disciplinary charges against him. The move by the Border Security Force (BSF) has not been seen kindly by Yadav’s family which alleged that the trooper was being “threatened and tortured mentally”. Rejecting Yadav’s Voluntary Retirement Scheme (VRS) plea, BSF said it has been “cancelled pending the Court of Inquiry (CoI) and finalisation of its recommendations”. “Cancellation of VRS was communicated to constable Continued on Page 4 M egastar Amitabh Bachchan and legendary singer Lata Mangeshkar along with Tibetan spiritual leader Dalai Lama have lauded 'Namami Devi Narmade - Sewa Yatra', the ongoing awareness campaign in Madhya Pradesh to conserve river Narmada. Bachchan, Mangeshkar and Dalai Lama have written letters to Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan prais- ing the State Government's Narmada campaign. Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan said that they have congratulated him over phone too for this campaign. Chouhan was addressing the Jan-Sanvad held at village Singaji of Khandwa district. Chouhan said that merg- ing Narmada water in Kshipra has brought happiness in the lives of farmers of Malwa region. Also millions of devo- tees who had participated in Simhastha-2016 held at Ujjain were fortunate to take a dip in Kshipra river beside Narmada river. Chouhan lauded the cooperation of Jan Abhiyan Parishad in Narmada Seva Yatra. He said that all the mem- bers of the Cabinet will par- ticipate in the yatra on the occasion of Narmada Jayanti on February 3. BJP State chief Nandkumar Singh Chouhan said that this yatra does not belong to any religion or party. Yatra is transformed into a wide public movement now. Wahabi Religious Head Merchant lauded the efforts of the Chief Minister Chouhan for success of Narmada Seva Yatra. He said that 193 coun- tries of the United Nations have supported this agenda of river conservation. Merchant has termed the yatra as a praiseworthy effort. Jan-Sanvad was also addressed by Religious Head Khwaja Iftikhar Ahmed. He appealed to the people present on the occasion to make this campaign of river conserva- tion successful. T he Congress has alleged that the BJP Government in Madhya Pradesh is trying to "cover up" a grave crime against tribal women where- in police personnel were allegedly involved and demanded an immediate judi- cial probe into the incident. All India Mahila Congress president Shobha Oza while talking to media persons here on Thursday said, "On January 25, some policemen stormed into the Bhutia vil- lage under Dhar district and committed the offence against four tribal women. They came into the village at around 6 am and in the garb of arresting some criminals attacked four women, raped them and also looted bikes and tractors." Slamming Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan for trying to "cover up" the inci- dent, Oza said, "We do not have faith in Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh and Prime Minister Narendra Modi also as during Vyapam and other cases in the past they tried to protect the Chief Minister. Hence we will approach the National Commission for Women and also the National Human Rights Commission." Madhya Pradesh Congress Committee (MPCC) president Arun Yadav said, "We want a judi- cial probe." Some of the vic- tim women were also parad- ed before the media in the Parliament premises." Yadav also alleged, "It is sad, we tried to take up the issue with the State Commission for Women and also the DGP but nothing moved". "Even FIR was lodged with great reluctance and instead of registering the name of the cop who com- mitted the crime despite writ- ten complaints from the vic- tims, the FIR has been lodged against unknown persons," he said, adding moreover there was no FIR lodged yet on the loot of motor bikes and tractors. Continued on Page 4 RNI Regn. No. MPENG/2004/13703, Regd. No. L-2/BPLON/41/2006-2008 7 C M Y K C M Y K

C M Y K - The Pioneer wife Kavery, Managing Director of South Asia FM Ltd (SAFL) K Shanmugam, SAFL and Sun Direct TV Pvt Ltd (SDTPL) under provisions of the Prevention of Money

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Page 1: C M Y K - The Pioneer wife Kavery, Managing Director of South Asia FM Ltd (SAFL) K Shanmugam, SAFL and Sun Direct TV Pvt Ltd (SDTPL) under provisions of the Prevention of Money

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The Uttar Pradesh Police’sSpecial Task Force (STF) on

Thursday arrested three mem-bers of a Noida-based fraudcompany which cheated 7 lakhpeople of over �3,700 crore inone of the biggest online trad-ing scams. The STF has frozenan account having �500 crorein Canara Bank’s GhaziabadBranch.

The accused firm, AblazeInfo Solutions Limited, cheat-ed gullible people on the pretextof providing digital marketingsolutions. STF SeniorSuperintendent of Police AmitPathak said, “The number ofvictims by this bogus companyhas crossed over 7 lakh peoplewho have been duped of theirhard earned money to the tuneof a whopping �3,700 crore andthe number may increase as theinvestigation is going on.”

Company owner AbhinavMittal of Ghaziabad and two ofhis accomplices — ShridharPrasad of Noida, and MaheshDayal of Mathura district —have been arrested, said the SSP.

The gang members haddevised a unique modusoperandi. They used to enticethe unsuspecting investors toearn huge profit with a depositof �50,000 to �60,000 inexchange of linking them tosocial trade business portals.The glib talkers trapped theclients who hoped to reaphefty dividends on theirdeposits, Pathak added.

The gang was busted aftersome people who felt cheatedlodged a complaint against thecompany situated at NoidaSector 63 and Surajpur policestations in Greater Noida, fol-lowing which investigation wastaken up, the SSP said.

The proprietors of AblazeInfo Solutions Limited

promised for a good return ofinvestment under the name of“Earn �5 per click”. They usedto trap people to sign up fortheir social trade website claim-ing themselves as social mediaexchange websites. The invest-ment ranged from �5,750 to�57,500 in the company’saccount.

Once the money wasinvested into the account of thecompany, they used to providea username and password tothe investors and allowed themaccess to the website. They wonthe confidence of the investorsby transferring money intotheir accounts after every clickby them, said a police officialinvolved in the probe.

Investors were asked toclick on a particular numbersof links on daily basis and theytransferred money in theiraccounts on the basis of num-ber of clicks.

The catch was that they

coaxed people in roping in oth-ers to join this lucrativescheme. The company initial-ly rewarded those with

Continued on Page 4

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In a big relief to Maran broth-ers, the 2G Court on

Thursday discharged all theaccused in the Aircel-Maxiscase blaming the CBI for stick-ing to “speculation and sur-mises.” The order pronouncedby Special Judge OP Saini is abig snub for the CBI for regis-tering a case against formerTelecom Minister DayanidhiMaran on the allegation ofAircel promoter Sivasankaranthat he was arm-twisted by theMinister to sell Aircel toMalaysian company Maxis.

The Marans brothers werealso discharged from theEnforcement Directoratecharge in alleged money laun-dering case. As per the order,the attachment of �745-croreworth properties of SUN TV bythe ED also stands canceled.However, the order would nothave any effect on the twoaccused, Malaysian nationalsRalph Marshall and T AnandaKrishnan, as the court hasalready segregated the trialagainst them from that ofMaran brothers and others.

The CBI filed the FIR at thefag-end of 2011 against Maranbrothers and filed chargesheetagainst them in August 2014.The CBI also gave the details ofviolations committed by thenFinance Minister P

Chidambaram in grantingForeign Investment PromotionBoard (FIPB) clearance in 2006to the Aircel-Maxis deal but theagency did not finish the probe.

The CBI had filed achargesheet against the Maranbrothers, Ralph Marshall, TAnanda Krishnan, M/s SunDirect TV (P) Ltd, M/s AstroAll Asia Networks Plc, UK, M/sMaxis CommunicationsBerhad, Malaysia, M/s SouthAsia Entertainment HoldingsLtd, Malaysia and thenAdditional Secretary (Telecom)J S Sarma who died during thecourse of the probe.

Besides Maran brothers,the court discharged two com-panies — M/s Sun Direct TV(P) Ltd (SDTPL) and M/s SouthAsia Entertainment HoldingsLtd. During arguments onframing of charges, SpecialPublic Prosecutor AnandGrover had claimed thatDayanidhi had “pressurised”Chennai-based telecom pro-moter C Sivasankaran to sell hisstakes in Aircel and two sub-sidiary firms to Malaysian firmMaxis Group in 2006.

The charge was stronglyrefuted by Dayanidhi Maran.All the accused had deniedallegations against them madeby the investigating agenciesand had moved bail pleas. Inthe money laundering case,ED had chargesheeted theMaran brothers, Kalanithi’swife Kavery, ManagingDirector of South Asia FM Ltd(SAFL) K Shanmugam, SAFLand Sun Direct TV Pvt Ltd(SDTPL) under provisions ofthe Prevention of MoneyLaundering Act (PMLA).

The court had onSeptember 24, 2016 issuedopen warrants of arrest againstKrishnan and Marshall onCBI’s plea stating that sum-mons issued to them could notbe served. Previous month,Supreme Court has orderedDoT to attach the Spectrum ofAircel, if the Malaysian ownersare not coming to 2G Court intwo weeks.

On Friday, the SupremeCourt is hearing this matteralong with BJP leaderSubramanian Swamy’s petitionthat the CBI has not filed

chargesheet againstChidambaram for the FIPBviolations in the deal. In theDischarge Order, Special JudgeSaini observed that many offi-cers did many delays in the filein the Aircel licence, exceptthen Telecom SecretaryNripendra Mishra, who is cur-rently Principal Secretary toPrime Minister NarendraModi. The Court said Misratook firm stand and due dili-gence while other officers tookdoubtful stands on files.

“In contrast to these officersthere is a Secretary NirpendraMishra who performed hisduties with due diligence andconfidence and never shiedaway from recording his viewson file,” said the Order.

“In view of the above dis-cussion I am satisfied that theentire case is based on themisreading of the official files,contradictory statements of thewitnesses as well as speculationsand surmises of Sivasankaran,”said the Order, giving clean chitto Maran brothers for armtwist-ing the Aircel owner to sell hiscompany to Maxis.

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Kept out of the list of cam-paigners for the first and

second phases of Uttar PradeshAssembly polls, Varun Gandhi,Murli Manohar Joshi andVinay Katiyar are back in theBJP’s list of star campaignerssubmitted to the ElectionCommission on Thursday.

The list, which includes topparty leaders like PrimeMinister Narendra Modi andBJP president Amit Shahamong 40 others, is meant forthe third and fourth phases ofthe elections scheduled forFebruary 19 and 23. If no newlist is submitted, then it will bevalid for all remaining phases.

Varun’s mother and UnionMinister Maneka Gandhi, whohad figured among the topcampaigners for the first twophases, is not in the new listwhich includes UnionMinisters Rajnath Singh, KalrajMishra, Smriti Irani, UmaBharti and Arun Jaitley besidesState leaders. It also includesYogi Adityanath, comedian

Continued on Page 4

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New Delhi: The voluntaryretirement plea of BSF jawanTej Bahadur Yadav, whose poston social media about ‘sub-standard’ food triggered a con-troversy, has been rejected ongrounds that a Court of Inquiryon his allegations is pending asalso disciplinary chargesagainst him.

The move by the BorderSecurity Force (BSF) has notbeen seen kindly by Yadav’sfamily which alleged that thetrooper was being “threatenedand tortured mentally”.

Rejecting Yadav’sVoluntary Retirement Scheme(VRS) plea, BSF said it has been“cancelled pending the Court ofInquiry (CoI) and finalisationof its recommendations”.

“Cancellation of VRS wascommunicated to constable

Continued on Page 4

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Megastar AmitabhBachchan and legendary

singer Lata Mangeshkar alongwith Tibetan spiritual leaderDalai Lama have lauded'Namami Devi Narmade -Sewa Yatra', the ongoingawareness campaign inMadhya Pradesh to conserveriver Narmada.

Bachchan, Mangeshkarand Dalai Lama have writtenletters to Chief MinisterShivraj Singh Chouhan prais-ing the State Government'sNarmada campaign.

Chief Minister ShivrajSingh Chouhan said that theyhave congratulated him overphone too for this campaign.

Chouhan was addressingthe Jan-Sanvad held at villageSingaji of Khandwa district.

Chouhan said that merg-ing Narmada water in Kshipra

has brought happiness in thelives of farmers of Malwaregion. Also millions of devo-tees who had participated inSimhastha-2016 held at Ujjainwere fortunate to take a dip inKshipra r iver beside Narmada river.

Chouhan lauded thecooperation of Jan AbhiyanParishad in Narmada Seva Yatra.

He said that all the mem-

bers of the Cabinet will par-ticipate in the yatra on theoccasion of Narmada Jayantion February 3. BJP State chiefNandkumar Singh Chouhansaid that this yatra does notbelong to any religion orparty. Yatra is transformedinto a wide public movementnow.

Wahabi Religious HeadMerchant lauded the efforts ofthe Chief Minister Chouhanfor success of Narmada SevaYatra. He said that 193 coun-tries of the United Nationshave supported this agenda ofriver conservation. Merchanthas termed the yatra as apraiseworthy effort.

Jan-Sanvad was alsoaddressed by Religious HeadKhwaja Iftikhar Ahmed. Heappealed to the people presenton the occasion to make thiscampaign of river conserva-tion successful.

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The Congress has allegedthat the BJP Government

in Madhya Pradesh is tryingto "cover up" a grave crimeagainst tribal women where-in police personnel wereal legedly involved anddemanded an immediate judi-cial probe into the incident.

All India Mahila Congresspresident Shobha Oza whiletalking to media persons hereon Thursday said, "OnJanuary 25, some policemenstormed into the Bhutia vil-lage under Dhar district andcommitted the offence againstfour tribal women. They cameinto the village at around 6 amand in the garb of arrestingsome criminals attacked fourwomen, raped them and alsolooted bikes and tractors."

Slamming MadhyaPradesh Chief MinisterShivraj Singh Chouhan fortrying to "cover up" the inci-dent, Oza said, "We do nothave faith in Union HomeMinister Rajnath Singh andPrime Minister Narendra

Modi also as during Vyapamand other cases in the pastthey tried to protect the ChiefMinister. Hence we willapproach the NationalCommission for Women andalso the National HumanRights Commission."

Madhya PradeshCongress Committee(MPCC) president ArunYadav said, "We want a judi-cial probe." Some of the vic-tim women were also parad-ed before the media in theParliament premises." Yadavalso alleged, "It is sad, we triedto take up the issue with theState Commission for Womenand also the DGP but nothing moved".

"Even FIR was lodgedwith great reluctance andinstead of registering thename of the cop who com-mitted the crime despite writ-ten complaints from the vic-tims, the FIR has been lodgedagainst unknown persons,"he said, adding moreoverthere was no FIR lodged yeton the loot of motor bikes andtractors.

Continued on Page 4

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Page 2: C M Y K - The Pioneer wife Kavery, Managing Director of South Asia FM Ltd (SAFL) K Shanmugam, SAFL and Sun Direct TV Pvt Ltd (SDTPL) under provisions of the Prevention of Money

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Chhavi Bhardwaj, IAS(Commissioner, Bhopal

Municipal Corporation,Bhopal) inaugurated a newexhibition ‘Kalamkaari’ on thefamous art of Andhra Pradeshat Rockart Heritage ExhibitionHall of Indira GandhiRashtriya Manav Sangrahalayais mounting. Prior to inaugu-ration Prof Sarit KumarChaudhuri, Director, IGRMSwelcomed Bhardwaj.

On this occasion, theCommissioner said, “Thisexhibition is a milestone inreviving our ancient art andgenerat ing awarenessamongst the new generationof this heritage.” She furthersaid, “Many of these formssensitive, rhythms and an

inherent balance whichimmediately attracts the con-noisseurs and laymen.”

The exhibition has focus

on richness and variety ofKalamkari traditions in orderto provide larger picture of thisage old living art tradition of

India. This exhibition is an out-come of workshop camp prod-ucts organised in collaborationwith IGRMS, Bhopal anddepartment of Archaeologyand Museums of AndhraPradesh at Victoria JubileeMuseum in Vijayawada.Figurative drawings sometimesdescribe a single episode oftenthe whole sweep of great epic.

They throb with life,drawn from memory, in strongoutline of black, the coloursobtained from vegetable dyes,reflect the mellow ambience oftemple interiors. TheSrikalahasti form takes inspi-ration from religion and tem-ples, concentrating on Hindumythology, deities and epics.Exclusively done with the helpof vegetable dyes and addedmaterials acting as mordents,

the Kalamkari differs fromother traditional art formslike phad, Madhubani etc.,due to the use of mellowcolour schemes.

A bamboo or date palmstick pointed at one endwith a bundle of fine hairattached to the pointed endis used as a Kalam.

Every region in India hasdeveloped its own distinct styleof expression on canvas.However, these two towns –Machhlipatnam in districtKrishna and Srikalahasti in dis-trict Chitoor create uniquenature and universal appeal.Block printing fabrics are purecotton, with natural dyes in tra-ditional methods that have notchanged over the centuries andstill sustain the charm and gloryof this great living art tradition.

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Fuelled over an old enmity, a23-year-old youth was

attacked with a sharp-edgedweapon at Bagh Farhat Afzaunder Aishbagh police station onWednesday.

According to the police, aninjured youth who was attackedby miscreants was rushed to anearby hospital where his con-dition is reportedly stable. Policewere informed and on the receiptof the information a police teamreached the spot and startedinvestigation.

In the initial investigationthe injured youth was identifiedas Akbar Khan and in his com-plaint he told the police that inthe afternoon on Wednesday themiscreant Farhan arrived andstarted abusing him to which heopposed and later he attacked thevictim in his stomach and

escaped the spot. The victimworks as a labour at marble stoneshop near Jhinsi while the detailsof the accused are yet to be ascer-tained. Before the accusedescaped the spot he threatenedthe victim of life. Police said thatthe injured youth is undergoingtreatment at Hamidia hospitaland his condition is reportedlystable. Based on the complaintafter the preliminary investiga-tion the police have registered acase under section 294, 506 and307 of the IPC and started fur-ther investigation.

The search for the attackerhas been started. The details ofthe accused would be searchedin the investigation which couldhelp in tracking and nabbinghim. During the investigationpolice have searched for thecrime record of the accused andhave questioned his family andacquaintances.

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Gandhi Nagar police havenabbed two gamblers

from Mapple Tree Colonyaccepting bets on the ongoingT20 cricket matches late in thenight on Tuesday; policerecovered 13 mobile phones,one laptop, one TV set, bettingslips and �4,000 cash fromtheir possession.

Acting on a tip off regard-ing betting on the ongoingT20 cricket matches betweenIndia and England, a policeteam rushed to the spot andnabbed two persons involved inbetting while one personescaped the spot.

The nabbed miscreantswere identified as PremDadlani (25) and Hero Golaniwhile Sheelu Wadhwani wentabsconding and is still at large.

During the house was raid-ed one of the accused managedto escape and it was found thatthe accused who escaped was

the mastermind behind thebetting racket.

After the preliminaryinvestigation the police haveregistered a case under sec-tion 3 and 4 of the GamblingAct and started further inves-tigation. Police said that elec-tronic goods and �4,000 wererecovered from the house.

The total recovery isaround �1 lakh. Betting slipsrecovered from the househave transactions of lakhs ofrupees which would be investigated.

The call detail of themobile phones would besearched which could help inunearthing the betting nexusoperating in the city.

Police said that involve-ment of the accused in the bet-ting would be investigated andaction against those who haveplaced bets with the accused.The police have started searchfor the third accused who wentabsconding and is still at large.

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Telesphore Cardinal Toppo,Archbishop of Ranchi

exhorted to encounter God indaily life situations and tocommunicate the rich expe-rience with all people, duringthe Holy Eucharist, the thirdday of the 29th PlenaryAssembly of the Conferenceof Catholic Bishops ofIndia(CCBI) on Thursday

Ref lect ing upon theencounter of Simeon andAnna with child Jesus on thefeast of the ‘Presentation ofthe Lord’, Cardinal Toppoasked, ‘Do we find joy in ourdai ly opportunit ies toencounter God? Or are wecontent just with r itual observance?”

He added, “We easily getenergised with crowd pullingcelebrations and get deviated

by modern gadgets, but fail tolive a life of deep encounterwith Christ.”

He further said, “We needto reflect collectively on theimportance of such encoun-ters in our life as shepherds ofthe Church while we focus onfamily ministry which isfounded on the bedrock ofencounters.”

Looking forward to thefuture he further added that“The astonishment receivedin the encounter will be for-tified for being a light to allpeople. Rebuild church to bethe light to all peoples is agreat challenge.”

Archbishop Leo Cornelioin his address said about theprogressive relationship exist-ing within the State: “Beingthe political power centre ofthe State of Madhya Pradesh,the church in Bhopal has

maintained a reasonably goodrelation with the politicalheads and Government officials.”

He appreciated thehealthy relationship, co-oper-ation and unity of differentreligionsin the city.

“The peaceful atmosphereof the city needs a specialmention. The fast progressingcapital city of Bhopal hashelped the growth of theChurch,” he said.

Archbishop Leo Cornelioinformed the gathering: “theMadhya Pradesh ChiefMinister Shivraj SinghChouhan, has taken initiativeto invite Christians and cele-brate Christmas for the lastfive consecutive years.”

Today was specially keptapart to reflect upon the biennialreport and future scope of vari-ous commissions of CCBI.

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Wetland conservation ispossible with people’s

cooperation. Result expectedfrom the efforts of Union andState Government is not pos-sible without people’s partici-pation. This was said by theChief Guest, AdditionalSecretary of UnionEnvironment and ForestMinistry Amita Prasad inNational Workshop held atEnvironmental Planning andCoordination Organisation(EPCO) campus on the occa-sion of World Wetland Day.She appealed to the partici-pants to make possible andeffective efforts to conservewetlands. Wetlands (Lakes,Reservoirs, Ponds etc.) arevery important for life and theymust be saved from pollutionand encroachment.

Amita Prasad further men-tioned that wetlands play an

important role in the life ofhuman beings and animals.Lives of several animals, birds,plants and human beings aredependent on wetlands. It isalso important for increasingground water level. It is a

responsibility of every individ-ual to contribute necessarily forwetlands conservation. She saidthat public awareness should begenerated utilising all means ofpublicity. There are rules,experts and workers at present,

the only need isto accelerate pacein the work.

Prasad men-tioned thatWorld WetlandDay is beingobserved inaround 170countries of theworld. Shepraised theefforts undertak-en by MadhyaPradesh govern-ment in this field.Moreover, shealso lauded theefforts made bythe StateGovernment to

improve the water quality ofKshipra river during the occa-sion of Simhastha.

Principal Secretary UrbanDevelopment, Housing andEnvironment of MadhyaPradesh Shri Malay Shrivastava

said that all round efforts arebeing made by the StateGovernment to conserve wet-lands. ‘Namami Devi Narmade’campaign is not of the countrybut is a unique and effectiveeffort of the world. Massesand various organisations arelinking with the campaign attheir own will. The campaignis moving ahead successfullywith people’s participation. Hefurther mentioned that thisyatra will cover 16 cities inaround six months.

Various competitions andprogrammes were organisedduring the week on WorldWetland Day. Winners of paint-ing and photography competi-tions were awarded by theguests. The guests saw andadmire the paintings preparedby the children and photographsdisplayed in the exhibition.Experts and workers came fromvarious states of the countrytook part in the workshop.

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The recommendations ofMadhya Pradesh Human

Rights Commission (MPHRC)proved fruitful for the familiesof two sanitation employeeswho died while cleaning themanhole of sever line as theUrban Administration andDevelopment (UAD) depart-ment in compliance ofCommission’s recommenda-tions instructed ShivpuriMunicipality to pay compen-sation of �10 lakh each to thefamilies of deceased.

Two sanitation employeesof Shivpuri Municipality diedwhile cleaning sever linemanhole and the MPHRCtaking cognizance of the inci-dence recommended UAD toprovide compensation of � 10lakh each to the families ofdeceased workers within amonth. The UAD in compli-ance of Commission’s rec-ommendation issued ordersto the Shivpuri Municipalityto withdraw �20 lakh andmake payment.

The Commission has said

in its recommendations that bynot providing protectivedevices to these employees therights of their living have beenviolated under the ‘Prohibitionof Employment as ManualScavengers and theirRehabilitation Act 2013.’

The commission made rec-ommendations under section18 C of the Human RightsProtection Act 1993 to thePrincipal Secretary UAD anddue to the readiness action ofthe UAD department the fam-ilies of the deceased could getthe compensation.

The Commission has alsomade some other recommen-dations in this connectioncompliance of that is pending.

It was told that safety devicesof all 44 types should be pro-vided to the manual scavengeremployees under sections 4 and5 Prohibition of Employmentas Manual Scavengers and theirRehabilitation Act, 2013. It ismandatory under the act toprovide safety devices of alltypes to manual scavengingemployees. Besides, theCommission instructed thatthe CEOs of the municipalities,municipal corporation com-missioners and the executiveengineers of the PHED shouldbe made aware with sections 3to 8 of the Manual Scavengersand their Rehabilitation Act,2013. The compliance of theserecommendations is pending.

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The rowers of MadhyaPradesh exhibited a great

show emerging as overall cham-pions at 35th National RowingChampionship bagging 12medals including two goldmedals, seven silver medalsand three bronze medals.

The grand finale of 35thNational RowingChampionship concluded atWater Sports Centre, Bhopalon Thursday.

The rowers of MadhyaPradesh shone at the nation-al championship with baggingfive silver medals. Securingfive silver medals rowers fromMadhya Pradesh emerged asoverall champions.

While the rowers fromOrissa secured second posi-tion with seven medals and15 points. Rowers fromKarnataka secured thirdposition with 12 points andfour medals.

Under the championship,semi-final and final races of

500 meter were held. Therowers from Chandigarhsecured f irst posit ion.Madhya Pradesh andAndaman and Nicobar Islandsecured second and thirdpositions respectively.

In women’s pair eventSona Keer and Rukmanibagged silver medals. Whilein female coxless 4 event row-ers from Madhya PradeshManisha Patel, RamanjeetKaur, KM Geeta and KarunaDevi won a silver medal.

In men’s single scullchampionship SC VishakhatChandra from MadhyaPradesh won a silver medal.Under same category rowersfrom Karnataka and rowers ofAll India Police secured firstand third posit ion respectively.

In men’s pair event rowersfrom Madhya PradeshVishwajeet Sandhev andBhanupratap Singh baggedsilver medal. Under sameevent rowers of All IndiaPolice secured first position

and rowers from Maharashtrasecured third position.

In men’s coxless 4 eventrowers from Madhya PradeshAnkit, Rohit Kumar, AmanRathore, and Manas Sharmawon silver medal. The win-ners were felicitated withtrophies and medals at anaward ceremony.

President of RowingFederation of India RajlaxmiSingh Deo conferred the win-ners with medals. She con-gratulated the winners andappreciated the support ofSports and Youth WelfareDepartment.

While addressing theaward ceremony, RajlaxmiSingh Deo said that a nation-al training camp for rowingwill be organised in Bhopal.The camp will be organisedwith for the preparation ofnational games.

Minister of Sports andyouth Welfare YashodharaRaje Scindia also congratu-lated the winners on theirphenomenal success.

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In the much-awaited T-20World Cup for the blind, held

at Holkar stadium here onThursday, India inflicted a crush-ing defeat on England by win-ning the match with 10 wickets.Electing to bat first, England in20 overs scored 158 runs.

In reply to this competitivetotal, Indian batsmen notchedthe victory in just 11 overs withbrilliant half centuries byGanesh and Sukhram whoscored 78 and 67 runs respec-tively. Ganesh was declaredman of the match. ChiefMinister Shivraj SinghChouhan congratulated Indiancricket team for the Blind for

this brilliant victory.Thousands of school stu-

dents from various city schoolswho had been especiallybrought to the stadium on theinitiative of Indore collector PNarhari enjoyed every moment

of the game and greeted Indianteam with tumultuous clappingas and when the Indian play-ers scored boundaries andsixes. Department of socialjustice, education departmentand the district administrationalong with a social worker DrAnil Bhandari had played keyrole in organising this impor-tant T 20 world cup matchbetween India and England.

Earlier the match hadbeen inaugurated by IndoreMayor Malini Gaud, whilestate minister Gopal Bhargavwas the chief guest at theaward presentation ceremony.The district administrationhad made arrangement forfree entry in this match.

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Chief Minister Shivraj SinghChouhan has said that there

is need to increase number ofcadets in the National CadetCorps (NCC) to prepare disci-plined, patriots and conscien-tious citizens for the State andthe country. State Governmentis working on a work plan forthis along with the NationalCadet Corps Directorate.

Chouhan was addressing afelicitation ceremony organisedfor National Cadet Corps cadetsat the CM House here onThursday. These cadets partici-pated in the Republic Day camp2017 and secured the fifth posi-tion at the All India level. 118cadets chosen by the MadhyaPradesh and Chhattisgarh

National Cadet CorpsDirectorate include cadets fromthe two States of MadhyaPradesh and Chhattisgarh. The

Chief Minister presented theCM flag and trophy to Raipurgroup for acquiring the first posi-tion in all activities.

The Chief Ministersaid that the Governmentwill meet the expensesincurred on the educationof talented and bright chil-dren. He said that brightstudents should get theopportunity to exhibittheir talents. Students learnthe lesson of patriotismthrough the NCC andNational Service Scheme.They work to shape thefuture. He said that daugh-ters should also activelytake part in the NCCwholeheartedly. They havebeen given 33 per centreservation in

Government services.The Chief Minister felici-

tated cadets who stood first invarious activities. He also felic-

itated Saroj Boriwal, BalikaCadet Anudeshak, AirSquadron cadet SunidhiChouhan, Naval Squadroncadet Varun Goswami and Rand Squadron cadet Anil Jainfor best performance. This yearthe Junior FIFA Football WorldCup-2017 is being organised inIndia. Keeping this in mind, theChief Minister presented thecadets with one football each toencourage the game of football.

It is noteworthy that therehas been widespread expansionof NCC in the state in whichthere are 80,000 cadets out ofwhich 53,000 are boys and26,000 are girls. NCC activitiesare being carried out in 558schools and 299 colleges.

NCC cadets have obtainedsignificant achievements in

the year 2016-17. They baggedthe fifth position in the NewDelhi Republic Day camp,sixth position in the NauSainik camp, eighth positionin the Vayu Sainik camp andfifth position in the nationalgames. In order to familiarisethe general public with thebenefits of cashless transac-tions, 72,000 cadets taughtnearly 7 lakhs citizens how tomake cashless transactions.

Cadets gave a melodiouspresentation of a group songand stunning dance perfor-mance on the occasion. NCCAdditional Director GeneralMajor General AK Sapra,Commissioner HigherEducation MB Ojha andSadhana Singh Chouhan wasalso present.

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��44���������� &4(!,%

Bhopalites can have 'Punya'by visit ing Narmada

Parikrama Park situated inAshoka Garden in case of notbeing able to carry out com-plete Parikrama of the holyriver. Minister of State forCooperatives (independentcharge) Vishwas Sarang onThursday visited NarmadaParikrama Park during three-day Narmada JayantiMahotsava. The park hasbeen developed on Sarang'sinitiative.

Sarang said that as part of'Namami Devi Narmade' - SevaYatra launched by the ChiefMinister Shivraj SinghChouhan for Narmada riverconservation and environmentprotection, NarmadaMahotsava has been startedfrom this year for creatingawareness.

This function will be heldon Narmada Jayanti. He saidthat the festival is well relevantfor Narela area because everyhouse in the entire area getNarmada water.

He said that once the area

used to get water supply oncein 21 days.

To get rid of the severewater crisis, he had promisedto bring Narmada water toevery house. He said that thisis now our duty to express grat-itude towards motherNarmada, as it provides uswater. Along with this, con-tribute to conservation ofNarmada river and protectenvironment.

Sarang said that Narmadawater is being collected doorto door during the festivalstarting from February.

For this, people are beinggiven message for water con-servation, environment pro-tection by taking out sub-Yatras in all 17 wards ofNarela area. Sarang said thatit will culminate on February3 at 6 pm at NarmadaParikrama Park.

The collected water will beflowed in Narmada Parikramareplica. People from everyhouse will participate inNarmada Aarti with lamps litand ‘Narmadashtak’ recite.Noted Bhajan singer SanjoBaghel will recite Bhajans.

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ABritish NGO ‘Bridge’ work-ing in the field of school

education has expressed inter-est for cooperation to bringqualitative improvement in pri-mary education in MadhyaPradesh. Minister for SchoolEducation Kunwar Vijay Shahhad participated in theEducation World Forum held atLondon a few days ago. He wasaccompanied by Director StateEducation Centre Lokesh Jatav.It may be mentioned that forumis a council of education min-isters of the world, where delib-erations are made on works andreforms in the field of educa-tion. Education Ministers of 80countries took part in the worldforum meeting.

Bridge has shown interestto run few primary schools ofthe state on Private-PublicPartnership (PPP) model.Under the model, arrange-

ments of teachers and othermanagement works in theselected schools will be under-taken by the NGO. Minister

Kunwar Shah went toCambridge University duringhis tour of London. He con-versed with people linked to

the education field and stu-dents during his visit.

Besides, Kunwar Shah vis-ited Hackney Institute. Beside

school studies, children areprovided training on variousskills like electronic equip-ments repairing, hospitalityand nursing etc. in the institute.This training facilitates childrento get employment in future.Moreover, Kunwar Shah visit-ed Office of the Indian HighCommissioner and participat-ed in Republic Day programme.

Training is being impartedto the teachers of English lan-guage of various districts ofUjjain division and Sehore dis-trict by the British Council.Over 7, 500 teachers have beenimparted training till now. TheSchool Education departmentof the state has started 219 pri-mary and 235 middle schoolsof English medium in the state.Around 11,000 students arepursuing studies throughEnglish medium in theseschools. Also deliberation inthis regard took place in theWorld Forum meeting.

�������*��������%�������/�����4� � ��������������������������'�������*����������&���'���5������������� �������������

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Indore MunicipalCorporation (IMC) has

decided to measure all theproperties in the city.

IMC revenue in-chargeSuraj Kairo informed onThursday that the Mayor andMLA Malini Gaud haveissued directives for the mea-surement of the propertiesbesides instructing to attachand seize properties for recov-ery of revenue.

Kairo further said that incompliance of Mayor’s direc-tives IMC commissionerManish Singh issued orders toall the assistant revenue offi-cers that they should issuedminimum one propertyattachment orders daily fol-lowing rules and regulationsagainst the property ownershaving pending outstandingbesides doing the measure-ment of the properties locat-ed in the city under their area.

In compliance of MayorGaud and commissionerSingh’s orders deputy com-missioner Pratap SinghSolanki and his team didmeasurement of Deshraj NJain Girls Hostel in that resi-dential tax of 3075 square feetwas being deposited whereasthe vigilance team found thatthe property was of 9482square feet and it was beingused commercially.

An disorder of 6407square feet was found and thetaxes were calculated for it.Five times penalty of the taxwas levied that came to�2,40,245 besides surcharge of�15,477 was added to it mak-ing the total property tax to�3,58,200.

Notice was issued to theproperty owner.In anothercase Vijay s/o Shantilal Mehtahaving property in schemenumber 54 was depositingresidential tax of 7132 squarefeet whereas the vigilanceteam after measuring theproperty found it that it is of13133 square feet and therewas disorder of 6001 squarefeet, taxes were calculatedand with five times penaltyand surcharge tax was calcu-lated at �4,39,551 according-ly notice was issued to theproperty owner.

Similar action was takenby other officials in otherparts of the city and action wastaken against the defaulters.

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Chhola Mandir police havenabbed six persons

involved in exchanging oldnotes on commission fromBhanpur and Govindpura areason Thursday and recovered oldnotes of �34 lakh from theirpossession on Wednesday.

According to the police,acting of tip off regardingcarrying of old notes six per-sons were nabbed and noteswere recovered from theirpossession.

The nabbed accused wereidentified as Jitendra Pal Singh(52), Ankit Agrawal (35), AnupMaheshwari (38), HemantGadwal (45), Gagan Sharma(32) and Sanjay Ingle (41).

SHO of Chhola Mandirpolice station Sudesh Tiwarisaid that the nabbed miscre-ants used to exchange oldnotes for a commission of 40per cent.

Anup Maheshwari andHemant Gadwal were nabbedfrom Govindpura area.

Jitendra Pal Singh, AnkitAgrawal , Gagan Sharma andSanjay Ingle were nabbed fromBhanpura area.

From Jitendra Singh policerecovered discontinued notesof �4 lakh, from Ankit policehave recovered old notes of

�10 lakh, from Gagan oldnotes of �1 lakh and fromSanjay police have recoveredold notes of �1 lakh.

From Anup police haverecovered old notes of �10lakh and from Hemant policehave recovered old notes of �8 lakh.

Jitendra owns Foodishrestaurant in MP Nagar, Ankit

owns Poonam Garments inItwara, Gagan works as DishDTH distributor and Sanjayworks as cable operator.

Anup and Hemant works ascontractor with PWD. Acting ona tip-off regarding miscreantscarrying bulk cash of old cur-rency notes the police havecaught them from Bhanpuraand Govindpura areas.

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Govindpura police havenabbed a 32-year-old man

for allegedly killing a 28-year-old woman who went missingin the month of June 2016 fromBankura in West Bengal.

According to the police,the accused identified as UdayDas of Saket Nagar was nabbedafter father of missing womanAkansha, Devendra KumarSharma lodged a complaintwith the police in West Bengaland based on the mobilephone location the accusedwas nabbed.

SHO of Govindpura policeDinesh Singh Chouhan saidthat the accused confessed thathe had killed the deceased inthe month of December 2016and later buried her at hishouse and cemented the placewhere she was buried.

Uday confessed that hecame into contact with thedeceased on Facebook andlater she came to live with himin the year 2016. He killedAkansha in the month ofDecember 2016.

Police said that the parentsof the deceased grew suspi-cious after they found that the

she used to contact onlythrough chats and neveranswered their phone calls.Based on their complaintwhen police tracked thedeceased they found themobile phone location inSaket Nagar and later with thehelp of Govindpura police theaccused was nabbed andreached the spot where thedeceased was buried.

The two were in live-inrelationship but the accusedhad confessed that he marriedthe deceased which would beinvestigated. The two used tolive at Uday’s house in SaketNagar. The deceased was a res-ident of Bakura in West Bengal.

Till the filing of the reportthe police officials were yet toexhume the body from theplace, the accused claimed tohave buried the deceased.

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Showcasing different shadesof human nature a Hindi

play ‘Kenchuli’ was staged atShaheed Bhavan auditorium onThursday.

Directed by Abhay Dubey,the play was performed by theartists of Nilesh Tiwari memo-rial and welfare association.

The story of the playrevolves around a poor youngboy named Radhe. Radhe is anorphan and lives in a village.

After his parents died, hismiser relatives take him to citywith an evil intention. Radhe isan innocent boy and his rela-tives misbehave with him.

To them he is a ‘nobody’but a mere servant in theirhouse. Radhe finds no way outto stop all the mercilessness ofhis relatives. In the entirehouse, only Deen Dayalbehaves nicely with him.

On the other hand, theirmaid Basanti falls in lovewith Radhe. The twist ensuesin the play when Radhe dis-

covers that his grandfather hasleft a treasure for him. NowRadhe is declared to be a richman as the entire property ofhis grandfather belongs to him.

Hearing this, the entireDeen Dayal family changestheir behavior with Radhe.Now he is being treated like aking. But Radhe had otherplans for his future. Radhemarried Basanti and leaves

Deen Dayal’s house forever.Talking about the play,

director Abhay Dubey said,“This play showcases a humannature. Every human being isselfish and cruel like a snake.”

The play ended with asocial message. The artistswonderfully performed theplay justifying each character.The play was much enjoyed bythe audience.6�����!����������������������������������������������������������������-�����"��������� �������� ������������

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Page 4: C M Y K - The Pioneer wife Kavery, Managing Director of South Asia FM Ltd (SAFL) K Shanmugam, SAFL and Sun Direct TV Pvt Ltd (SDTPL) under provisions of the Prevention of Money

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An incident of a youth,who met with an accident,

died without getting any gold-en hour treatment as peoplesurrounding him were justbusy taking videos and photosfrom their cell phones. Thisinhuman incident reportedfrom a north Karnataka townKoppal where Anwar Ali (15),cyclist, died after beingknocked down by a State RoadTransport bus on Wednesdayon not getting the ‘golden

hour’ treatment.In this incident caught on

camera, the boy lay bleedingwith an agonising pain forabout 25 minutes before he wasrushed to a hospital nearby.

According to an eyewitness,though a large number of peoplegathered at the spot none of themcame forward to shift him to hos-pital. The onlookers busy wererecording the accident on theirmobile. Even before the ambu-lance came, Ali had breathed hislast, due to profuse bleeding.

The video footage of this

horrible incident has gone viral insocial media and TV channelsexposed the inhuman attitude ofthe people who are crazy inrecording incidents.

The video footage shows thevictim lying in a pool of bloodcrying for help, while someonegives him water.

Locals complain that thespot where the incident tookplace is an accident-prone areaand authorities have not takenaction despite repeated inci-dents there. Police have regis-tered a case in this regard.

Ali, who was rushed to hos-pital by an ambulance, suc-cumbed to his injuries around1:30 pm, said Ali’s brother Riaz.

“No one came to his help.They were making video andclicking pictures. If someone hadcared, and my brother couldhave been saved. More than 15to 20 minutes were wastedthere,” he added. Recently, in asimilar incident, a 38-year-oldpolice officer deprived of time-ly medical help by onlookerssuccumbed to injuries followingan accident in Mysuru.

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It’s the first week of Februaryand the much-touted plan of

the New Delhi MunicipalCouncil (NDMC) to proscribethe entry of private vehicles inthe Inner and Middle Circles ofConnaught Place (CP) fromFebruary 1 is yet to take off.However, enraged by the ill-planned and advised moveof the NDMC thatthreatens to destroytheir businesses,CP traders havedecided to hold ameeting andlaunch a silentprotest againstthe authorities onFriday.

The traders areupset as they have beentold in no uncertain terms bythe NDMC top brass that thecouncil will not entertain theirpleas regarding the car bandiand they are free to approachthe courts to seek redressal.

A senior member of theNew Delhi Traders Association(NDTA) said on Thursday thatthey have no other option butto launch a silent protestagainst the NDMC’s move.

Adding another twist in thetale is the Delhi Traffic Police’slack of a concrete plan for man-aging traffic in the event of thecar ban.

A senior police officer toldThe Pioneer that they have notsubmitted any traffic plan tothe NDMC as yet because thecouncil is yet to provide themwith the details of the carbandi project.

“We can only devise a traf-

fic plan for streamlining trafficin this part of the city once theysubmit the details of the carbandi initiative to us,” he said.

The NDTA also allegedthat the council was not keep-ing traders in the loop regard-ing its pedestrianisation plans.

Manoj Mohan Aggarwal,former president of NDTAsaid that the council has no

clear-cut plan and is try-ing to impose this

impractical ideawithout puttingmuch thoughtinto it. “Earlier,the NDMCC h a i r m a nassured us that

the council willkeep us informed

about any develop-ment as the traders are

major stakeholders.But the situation has

reversed now. We are not beinginvolved or asked to presentour views on this before thecouncil takes the final decisionto implement car bandi. Theyare also not sharing any ideasregarding the pedestrianisa-tion plan,” said Aggarwal.

“How will they managethe traffic? The council shouldshare the traffic plan with ustoo,” said a NDTA member.

A NDTA member tweeted,“Instead of creating a bizarrepolicy, manage the traffic wellto decongest CP!” @tweet-ndmc @dtptraffic #savecon-naughtplace.

Moreover, several ques-tions are being raised on thetransport facility being pro-vided to visitors from the park-ing lots to the Inner and Middle

Circle. The traders, who have

already started their protest onthe social media, want theNDMC to tell them how manybattery operated buses theyhave for the customers.

According to the sourcesin the Delhi Transport divi-sion, there is a solitary e-busthat will be pressed into ser-vice to ferry visitors.

The traders are also unhap-py about the fact that customerswill have to use a bus to reachthe car-free areas and feel thatthis will dissuade well-heeledpeople from shopping at CP.

“The idea will not work.Customers will not like toboard a bus or e-rickshawwhile wearing jewellery andcarrying expensive phones,electronics and other priceyitems,” said a trader.

The desperate traders haveeven tried to reach out to DelhiChief Minister Arvind Kejriwalthrough Twitter. “ConnaughtPlace is a trade area. It needsregulation of traffic and strictenforcement against violators!@ArvindKejriwal #SaveCP,” atrader tweeted. Another trad-er tweeted, “MOUD &NDMCforcing us to go through withthe pedestrianisation of #cpLivelihood of 50k+traders andemployees at stake!@ArvindKejriwal.”

Tagging the Ministry ofUrban Development (MoUD)and NDMC, a trader reactedon twitter, “ @Moud_India@tweetndmc First let’s get Civicand then #pedestrianise a thriv-ing trade area like #con-naughtplace We are not Europeor America.”

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From page 1Raju Shrivastava and

Hema Malini. The seven-phase polls in UP will be heldon February 11, 15, 19, 23, 27,March 4 and 8.

Varun, who representsthe BJP in Lok Sabha fromSultanpur, was conspicuousby his absence in the party’s`Parivartan Yatras’ across theState.

The MP has been onlyfocusing on “farmers anddevelopmental issues” in hisconstituency.

Interestingly, the first listhad the name of former leaderof Opposit ion in UPAssembly and senior BSPleader Swami Prasad Maurya,who switched sides from theBSP to the BJP recently.

The party has also listedLJP leader and seniorMinister Ram Vilas Paswan tocampaign for it.

From Page 1Yadav on January 30

evening only,” BSF said in astatement while making it clearthat he “has not been arrested”as alleged by the family.

Yadav’s wife claimed thather husband had called her onThursday morning andclaimed that he was beingthreatened and harassed andthat he has been put underarrest.

Officials in the force said asper the laid down procedureunder a CoI, all witnesses in acase are questioned by theprobe team till the investigationis completed even as the troop-er is also facing charges ofindiscipline on various countsand hence in such a case theprivilege of granting a VRS toan employee is disallowed.

A video shot by Yadav hadsurfaced last month in whichhe complained about the qual-ity of food and after it had goneviral, it triggered a flurry of

reactions with the PMO alsoseeking a detailed factual reporton it from the Union HomeMinistry and BSF.

The ministry had informedPMO that BSF has maintainedthat there was no shortage ofrations at any post and thatsecurity the personnel deployedalong the borders never com-plained about food.

The border guarding forcehad also came out with freshguidelines for maintaining highquality of food for its person-nel after the video went viral.

Yadav, wearing camouflageuniform and carrying a rifle inthe video, claimed that whilethe government procuresessentials for them, the higher-ups and officers “sell theseoff ” in an “illegal” manner inthe market and the personnelhave to suffer.

He had also posted othervideos in which he claimed thatthe quality of food served wasnot good.

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From Page 1additional money who linked more people into the scheme. The investors were in for a shock after the initial windfall as the profits that they were earn-

ing gradually stopped. The bonus was reduced to a trickle and then it stopped totally.STF was flooded with complaints and the number started to increase by every passing day.

Preliminary Enquiry (PE) by the police found that those behind this were running a web portalnamed as trade.biz.

“We managed to track around �500 crore that was illegally parked into a bank account andwe asked the concerned bank to freeze the company’s bank accounts,” the SSP added.

“There is a need to educate people to that they should not be lured into such type of schemes.It is also a lesson for the people to that there is no free and easy online money making systemthat is legitimate and available on the Internet. They should not fall prey to such fraudsters. Thereis no dearth of such fraud companies, “ said the SSP.

According to a senior officer, Social Trade Biz have similar companies with different namesand websites such as FreeHub – freehub.com, Int Maart – intmaart.com, Social Trade – social-trade.biz, 3W – 3w.com and many other websites. The three have been booked under the IPC420/406 and further investigations are going on.

From Page 1Endorsing them, Kantilal Bhuria, Congress MP, said, "We will raise the issue in both Houses

of Parliament and try to build up a pressure on the Central Government to act quickly andfirmly against such wrong doers". Oza took a dig at Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister and said,"Chouhan claims he is the Mama (maternal uncle) of the people of the State, but in realityhe is totally in different to the attacks on women and, especially, tribal women he is behav-ing like Kans Mama."

����� �4,��+:,;4

National Bank forAgriculture and Rural

Development (NABARD) hassanctioned �157 crore loan tothe Haryana Government forimplementation of a projectfor augmentation of drinkingwater supply scheme in 84 vil-lages of districts Palwal andFaridabad.

A NABARD spokesmanhere said that the project isaimed at providing potabledrinking water in selectedvillages in blocks Prithla,Palwal and Ballabhgarh fromYamuna flood plain by con-structing ranney wells anddeep tubewells.

He said that in the presentscheme, water supply to theaffected villages would beaugmented by constructingranney wells. The project islikely to benefit 3,06,814 per-sons.

The official also said thatthe loan had been sanctionedunder the 22nd tranche ofRural InfrastructureDevelopment Fund (RIDF).

With this sanction, thecumulative RIDF assistanceextended by NABARD to theHaryana government underRIDF, since its inception in1995-96, has reached �5,794crore. Assistance has been pro-vided for 4,269 projects in var-ious sectors such as irrigation,rural connectivity, water sup-ply, solar power, anganwadis,girls? toilet blocks and veteri-nary hospitals and dispen-saries, he added.

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Haryana Government onTuesday approved a poli-

cy on purchase of land volun-tarily offered to governmentfor development projects.

The State Cabinet, whichmet under the chairmanshipof Chief Minister ManoharLal approved the policy whichis aimed at preventing distresssales of land by farmers andat involving the land ownersin decision making whilelocating the sites of develop-ment projects in Haryana.

Considering the existingproblems in acquisition ofland for development pro-jects, the State Governmenthas introduced this policy.The State Governmentintends to achieve the objec-tives by establishing a mech-anism whereby a farmerbefore considering distresssale is assured of approachingthe Government as a poten-tial buyer for its projects, andthe Government can elicit ifsome land owners would beso keen about the benefits ofa particular project that theywould be willing to sell theirland to government for it, saidan official spokesman.

Under this policy, anonline portal shall be createdwhere any land owner may atany time make an offer to sellhis land. The applicant wouldhave to enclose relevant landrecords and quote the expect-ed rate while submitting

online application.The concerned

Departments shall examinethe offer and decide whetherit meets any of their presentor future requirements forpublic projects. Any depart-ment desirous of proceedingwith the purchase shall seekthrough the portal any betteroffer that anyone in the vicin-ity of the area may like tomake within two weeks.Thereafter, the departmentshall approach the Committeeof Secretaries, headed byChief Secretary, for scrutinyof their proposal alongwiththe details of the offer, saidthe spokesman.

Upon clearance by theCommittee, the departmentshall put up the case foreffecting the purchase to HighPowered Land PurchaseCommittee at the finallynegotiated rate. After thefinalization of the purchase,the letter of intent shall beissued by the department tothe applicants to completethe sale transaction. The pay-ment shall be released to theapplicant at the time of reg-istration and possession shallbe taken by the departmentimmediately.

The High Powered LandPurchase Committee will beheaded by the Revenue andDisaster ManagementMinister and have Ministersof Finance, Town andCountry Planning and UrbanEstates, Public Works

(Building and Roads),Industries and Developmentand Panchayats as Members.

In another decision tocut short delays and repeatedlit igation in KhasraGirdawari, Mutat ions,Partition and demarcationrevenue cases, the cabinethas amended the Punjab LandRevenue Act, 1887.

The amendment wouldminimize delay and avoidcontinuous litigation so as torestrict remand only by theFirst Appellate Authority andalso insertion of provision ofno appeal against the interimorder. There will be only oneappeal and no further secondappeal in revision and theappellate court will be boundto pass final order instead ofremanding the case.

The cabinet also approvedthe proposal of the RevenueDepartment to amend thePunjab Security of LandTenures Act, 1953. Theamendment will ensure leaseof agriculture land to the pri-vate sector on long term basis,in such a way that the farm-ers/land owners are not alien-ated from their ownershiprights. It will also encouragefood processing sector.

The spokesman said thatthese amendments will alsopromote agricultural effi-ciency by removing the fear ofland owners and the landwould be put to optimum useby increasing land under cul-tivation.

The cabinet also approvedthe policy regarding higherstudies for in-ser viceVeterinary Doctors of AnimalHusbandry and DairyingDepartment. The decision tohave such a policy was takendue to advancement of tech-nology and its fast adoption inthe field which is hampereddue to shortage of specialistsin various streams includingpolyclinic, semen collectioncentres, training institute,vaccine production instituteand disease diagnostics labo-ratories of the Department.

Har yana formsCommittee for retirement age

Haryana Government isconsidering to raise retirementage of its employees from 58to 60 years. During the cabinetmeeting, a three-member com-mittee under Finance MinisterCapt. Abhimanyu has beenconstituted to study differentaspects of raising the retirementage. The Committee will sub-mit its report within onemonth. The State Governmentmight also re-employ thosewho have retired, but are lessthan 60 years of age.

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The cabinet approvedamendments in the HaryanaValue Added Tax Rules toprovide for new tax range ofRohtak and re-distribute thedistricts in the ranges, whichhave now increased to five.The State Government has

also approved the proposal toexempt bio diesel from levy ofValue Added Tax. By exempt-ing bio diesel from levy ofVAT, the State Governmentwould bear a financial impli-cation of �1.5 lakh to �2 lakh.

Bio diesel being a usefulalternative of diesel and alsogood for environment, pro-moting its use would result inlesser requirement of crudeoil and thereby saving foreignexchange on imports of crudeoil, the spokesman said.

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The next session of theHaryana Legislative Assemblywill meet at Haryana VidhanSabha, here on February 27.The budget session has beenconvened earlier in view ofUnion Cabinet budget whichhas been presented onFebruary 1, instead of usualdate February 28.

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Haryana Government hascreated two new revenue divi-sions namely Karnal andFaridabad thus raising thetotal number of such divisionsto six.

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Haryana Government hasplanned to set up Mass RapidTransport System (MRTS)between Gurugram andManesar. The State

Government would standguarantee for a loan of Rs 876crore to be taken by HaryanaState Industr ia l andInfrastructure DevelopmentCorporation (HSIIDC) fromHUDCO to acquire 365 acresof land for the MRTS project.The project is of great strate-gic importance and JapanInternational CooperationAgency (JICA) has commit-ted in-principle to provide �16,000 crore for the project.

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To conduct a centralizedcombined counseling foradmission to Post Graduate(PG) courses like MD, MS,MDS and PG Diploma in allthe medical and dental insti-tutions including those underprivate and deemed universi-ties, and to rationalize the feecharged by private anddeemed universities in thestate, the cabinet hasapproved a draft ordinance toamend the Haryana PrivateHealth Sciences EducationalInstitutions (Regulation ofAdmission, Fixation of Feeand Maintenance ofEducational Standards) Act,2012.

Henceforth, all admis-sions will be on the basis ofUG NEET/PG NEET throughthe process of centralizedcombined counseling con-ducted by the StateGovernment.

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Punjab Congress chief CaptAmarinder Singh on

Thursday launched the laststep of his poll campaignfrom Kotakpura as hepromised to bring back theinnocent Sikh youths lan-guishing in jails around thecountry. At the same time, heattacked AAP, which he saidcould throw the State backinto violence and mayhem.

Capt Amarinder, address-ing a rally, canvassed for localparty candidate HarnirpalSingh Kuku and promisedcancellation of all false FIRsagainst Sikh youths lodged inprisons around the countryand said they would bebrought back to Punjab.

Punjab was brought out ofthe throes of terrorism withgreat difficulty but with AAP’sentry, the threat of violent dis-ruptions and revival of ter-rorism has come back to hauntthe people of the state, he said.

Warning AAP leaderArvind Kejriwal, he said thatthe “extreme left-right ideo-logical mix” of AAP and the“dirty politics” being played bythe Delhi Chief Minister wouldlead to the dormant Khalistanielements once again becomingactive, thus throwing the stateinto violence and mayhem.

The trend started by AAPwas extremely dangerous forPunjab, he said, referring to

AAP leader Manish Sisodia'sremarks when asked to com-ment on Kejriwal's stay at aKCF commando's house.

“What have they beendoing for the past two and ahalf years,” he asked, addingthat such “inexperiencedleaders” could not be allowedto take over the reins of a sen-sitive border state like Punjab.

Kejriwal's only motive isto grab power without anyconcern for the consequencesof his deeds, a l legedAmarinder, cautioning thepeople against being taken inby the AAP leader's "falsepromises and propaganda".

AAP and its leaders cannotbe trusted, he claimed, addingthat as many as 17 party MLAsin Delhi had some or the othercase against them, and even theAAP candidate for Kotkapura,Kultar Singh, had four casespending against him.

Capt Amarinder decriedthe “pathetic conditions” intowhich Punjab had beenplunged by the Badal-led SAD-BJP Government, saying therehad been an all-round declineunder their rule. Predicting atotal rout of both, the Akalisand the AAP, he said SAD willnot get more than 10 seats inthese assembly polls.

Promising to bring backthe lost smiles of the peopleof the state, he reiterated hispromise of farm loan waiverand revival of industry.

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In fresh guidelines, theElection Commission of

India has banned all electron-ic media advertisement, includ-ing the bulk SMS, IVRS andsocial media for broadcastingduring the last 48 hours endingwith poll, that is starting from5 pm of February 2, 2017, to 5pm of February 4, 2017.

The amended guidelineswere issued in continuationwith the instructions issuedearlier regarding the last 48hours ending with the on-going campaign for the PunjabAssembly Elections, scheduledfor February 4.

Punjab Chief ElectoralOfficer Punjab VK Singh saidthat all the advertisement for

the prospect of the candidatesor the political party during thelast 48 hours will be restricted.

“As per the renewed guide-lines, all electronic mediaadvertisement, including thebulk SMS, IVRS and socialmedia have been completelybanned for broadcasting dur-ing the last 48 hours endingwith poll,” he said.

Singh said that all printmedia advertisement to bepublished during last 48 hourshave got to be certified by statelevel media certification andmonitoring committee(MCMC), if it is general partypropaganda for the entire State.

“If this is for the prospectsof the candidate, the districtlevel MCMC would certify thesame,” he added.

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Cutting across the partylines, veterans in the Rajya

Sabha on Thursday expressedconcern over students of coach-ing centres committing suicidedue to pressure and stress ofexaminations. Among otherissues a plea to confer BharatRatna on former ChiefMinister late Jayalalithaa andbacklog of vacancies of teach-ers in varsities were alsoflagged.

The day started withTrinamool Congress(TMC)leader Derek O’ Brien alleging‘political vendetta’ by theGovernment against the party’sleaders following protestagainst demonetisation. WhenDeputy Chairman PJ Kurienrefused the TMC leader tomove a motion, the TMC lead-ers staged a walk out to regis-ter their protest.

Raising the issue, O’ Brienalleged that TMC leader in LokSabha Sudip Bandyopadhyaywas arrested after the TMCopposed demonetisation andclaimed that the same couldhappen with members of other15-16 Opposition political par-ties. His party colleagueSukhendu Sekhar Roy said asthe Government indulged in“witch-hunting,” the party waswalking out.

Rejecting the charge,

Minister of State forParliamentary Affairs MukhtarAbbas Naqvi said theGovernment had nothing to dowith it and the law was takingits own course. Bandopadhyayand another TMC Lok Sabhamember Tapas Pal were arrest-ed by the CBI in connectionwith the Rose Valley chit fundscam.

Highlighting the issue ofsuicides, Viplove Thakur(Congress) said students werein stress due to pressure by

coaching centres includingthose in Kota to score highmarks in entrance examina-tions for medical colleges andIndian Institute ofTechnology(IIT). She also saidparents were also responsiblefor their wards taking theextreme step.

Expressing concern overdeaths, Thakur urged theGovernment to have a mecha-nism to review the pattern fol-lowed by these centres whilecoaching and called for a law in

this regard adding reports indi-cated that nearly 100 youngmen and women had commit-ted suicide. Members from allparties associated with her.

Even PJ Kurien said theissue raised by the member wasa serious matter and added thatthe parents also put psycho-logical pressure on students.He asked the Government totake note of the sentiments ofthe House. Minister for UrbanDevelopment M VenkaiahNaidu said he will inform the

concerned Minister about themembers’ concern over theissue.

Minister for HumanResource Development(HRD)Prakash Javadekar assured themembers that majority ofvacancies of teachers in uni-versities all over the countrywill be filled within this year.This assurance came duringquestion hour when severalmembers asked theGovernment to address thisissue urgently as it affected thefuture of students.

AIADMK asked theGovernment to confer India’shighest civilian honour BharatRatna to former Tamil NaduChief Minister Jayalalithaaposthumously for her “exem-plary” public service of over 32years and also recommend hername for the Nobel Prize. Ademand for installing the laterleader’s statue in Parliamentcomplex was also raised.

Kanimozhi (DMK) raisedthe issue of oil spill after a col-lision between two oil tankerson the seas near the EnnorePort, Chennai. She allegedthere was lack of trained per-sons to deal with such a situa-tion and various wings of theGovernment were not coordi-nating properly to clear the oilspill which has resulting indestruction of marine life in thearea, including turtles.

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Days after two Kashmirisportspersons were denied

US visa, the US Embassy in NewDelhi clarified that it has noth-ing to do with President DonaldTrump’s order to restrict entry ofMuslims but was part of a stan-dard process

“We have seen reports aboutthe denial of US visas to the twoKashmiri sports persons. The USEmbassy in Delhi has categori-cally denied that it has any link-age to the Executive Order. Wehave also been told that it was astandard adjudication based onthe merits of the case,” Ministryof External Affairs spokespersonVikas Swarup said on Thursday.

Meanwhile, IndianGovernment has managed tosecure release of five Indiannationals belonging to frompolice custody in Togo. “Thesepersons-Anthony Godwin,Navin Niravath Gopi, TharunBabu, Nithin Babu and ShajiAbdulla Kutty-who had been inprison since 2013 were releasedby a Presidential pardon, onaccount of the persistent effortsof MEA and our HighCommission in Accra. EAMhad also raised the issue with theTogolese leadership,” Swaupadded.

He said the Indian HighCommissioner in Accra alsospoke to the Indian nationalsafter their release. “They are ingood health and are looking for-ward to re-unite with their fam-ilies in India. All of the Indiannationals are thankful toGovernment of India for persis-tent efforts to secure their release,Swarup said.

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In a sharp response toPakistan Interior Ministry’s

statement asking New Delhi toprovide concrete evidenceagainst Jamaat-ud-Dawa chiefHafiz Saeed for his allegedinvolvement in terror attacksin India, the Ministry ofExternal Affairs on Thursdaysaid that all evidence is withPak and all that is needed is apolitical will to act against theterrorist.

“Let us be very clear. Theentire conspiracy in theMumbai terror attack casewas hatched in Pakistan. All the terrorists came fromPakistan. All the planning wasdone in Pakistan. All the support was rendered fromPakistan. So, all the evidenceto implicate the mastermind ofthe Mumbai terror attack is already available in Pakistan.In fact, Hafiz Saeed has himself confessed to masterminding multiple actsof terror directed at India. So,the so-called concrete evi-

dence that Pakistani estab-lishment is looking for isalready available in Pakistan.All they need is to find the req-uisite political will,”Spokesperson for MEA, VikasSwarup, said.

Union Minister JitendraSingh further said that NewDelhi has been providing evi-dence at different levels and itis time for action from the Pakside now. He added that thelonger Pakistan stays in denialmode about its citizensinvolvement in cross borderterrorism, the more it risks itsown security.

“The entire world nowacknowledges and realises thatfrom time to time India hasbeen providing a series of evi-dence at different levels.Therefore, there is hardly anyevidence required. The longerPakistan prefers to stay indenial mode, they must realise,the powers that be inIslamabad, the more they aregoing to risk their own secu-rity,” Singh said.

He added that Pakistan isthe epicentre of terrorism inthe entire region, particularlyin the Indian sub-continent,apart from being hub of gross

human rights violations.Pakistan’s Interior

Ministry spokesperson saidon Wednesday that if India isserious about its allegationsagainst Saeed then it shouldcome up with concrete evi-dence against him which issustainable in court of law inPakistan or anywhere in theworld.

He added that merely cast-ing aspersions and levelingallegations without any cor-roborating evidence wouldnot help the cause of peace inthe region.

Saeed and four other JuDleaders-Abdullah Ubaid, ZafarIqbal, Abdur Rehman Abidand Qazi Kashif Niaz-were putunder house arrest after anorder was issued by PunjabProvince's Interior Ministry inpursuance to a directive fromthe Federal Interior Ministryon January 27. However, Indiasaid that only a credible crack-down on the Mumbai terrorattack mastermind would beproof of Islamabad's sincerityagainst terrorism.

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Former Finance Minister PChidambaram on Thursday

termed the Budget for 2017-18a “damp squib” though hepraised the Finance MinisterArun Jaitley for adopting a “toneof moderation” after the“demonetisation debacle”.

“Our conclusion, on readingall the Budget documents, wasthat the exercise has turned outto be a damp squib. But, there area few positives, which we arehappy with. The most importantpositive is that the Governmentseems chastened after the deba-cle of demonetisation and hasnot done anything reckless ordisruptive,” Chidambaram atthe Congress Press briefing.

Complimenting Jaitley, theCongress leader said, “It is obvi-ous that demonetisation and itsinevitable consequences havedemoralised the Government.

They have retreated fromreforms and have no answers tothe severe challenges faced by theeconomy. There is nothing in thebudget that points to measuresto revive flagging growth.”

The former finance Ministeralso said that the Governmenthas not used the opportunity topush through bold reforms,revive aggregate demand andgrowth, and devise new strategies

for job creation.On the GDP, Chidambaran

termed it a puzzle. “What is thecorrect nominal GDP numberfor 2016-17? According to lastyear’s budget documents, thenominal GDP for 2016-17 wasestimated at �1,50,65,010 crore.According to the CSO’s Pressrelease dated January 6, 2017, theAdvance Estimate is �151,92,588crore. According to the budget

presented by Jaitley the RevisedEstimate is �150,75,429 crore.Which number should webelieve,” Chidambaram stated.

Chidamabaram also men-tioned that Government hascruelly neglected sections of thepeople most affected by demon-etisation like farmers, farm work-ers, manual labourers, the self-employed, artisans and micro,small and medium businessper-sons. “They lost crores of rupeesin the form of wages, incomesand capital. There is absolutelynothing in the Budget for thesesections. We had demandedthat the Government offer themcompensation in some form.The Government seems to betotally oblivious to the plight ofthe farming community. The FMhas not even uttered the phrase‘Minimum Support Price’ in hisspeech. The farming communi-ty has been totally cheated by theBudget,” said the former FM.

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The Opposition on Thursdayaccused the Centre of “fail-

ing” on all fronts particularly intackling black money, demon-etisation, handling of Kashmir,terrorism and fake currency.The Government countered itsaying the “metamorphosis ofIndia is happening now”.

Leader of OppositionGhulam Nabi Azad said in theRajya Sabha that theGovernment has imposed an“undeclared emergency” in thecountry and any criticism isbeing suppressed. Participatingin a debate on Motion of Thanksto the President's address, Azadsaid, “2016 has been a year ofdepression, recession, regres-sion and suppression.”

Members of otherOpposition parties likeSamajwadi Party and TrinamoolCongress also attacked theGovernment over demonetisa-tion, State of the economy andother aspects of governance.

From the ruling side,Minister for Law and JusticeRavi Shankar Prasad said dur-ing the previous Congress rule,the country had seen wide-spread corruption and theeconomy had been left in a direcondition.

In his speech Prasad show-ered full some praise on Modiand listed out various initiativesof the Prime Minister likeSwachh Bharat and Start-UpIndia to emphasise that thecountry was being taken on thepath of development. He said theGovernment is being guided byfour principles-banking theunbanked, funding the unfund-ed, securing the unsecured,pensioning the unpensioned.

Emphasising that “ThisGovernment is for change", hesaid a “metamorphosis of Indiais happening now” as commonpeople are being recognisedalong with their contribution,quality and accomplishment.

While targeting theCongress which ruled the

country for most of the pre-Independence period, Prasadsaid a lot of people had workedfor building the nation and "itis our job to honestly respecttheir work, their sacrifice" eventhough "their thinking andideology may be different."

About the government'sassertion that demonetisationwas to target black money, theLeader of Opposition referredto a number of instances wherecrores of rupees in new cur-rency were seized across thecountry. He also criticised theGovernment over printing ofsome new notes without thepicture of Mahatma Gandhiand some even printed only onone side.

On Kashmir affairs, hesaid the situation has worsenedand the government has failedto curb infiltration. Despitedoubling security forces, thereis no improvement in the situ-ation in J&K.

Noting that theGovernment has been express-ing concern over the situationin the valley, Azad said, "Mereexpressing concern is not thejob of the Government. Itshould come out with concretesolutions.”

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Since declared income by politicalparties forms only a fraction of the

money power floating during elec-tions, the Association of DemocraticReforms (ADR), a non-profit electionwatchdog, on Thursday termed the�2,000 cap on cash donations pro-posed in the Union Budget as ‘flawed’.

Terming the proposed reforms as“inconsequential” as political funding will continue to remain opaque, theADR said in a statement that the pro-posal to cap cash donations wasflawed on three counts-accountabil-ity, disclosure and political will.

A day after the Government pro-posed a slew of measures to makepolitical funding more transparent,ADR said complete transparency inthe finances of political parties hasstill not been adopted in the Budget2017-18.

In a move aimed at promotingtransparency in political funding,Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitleyin his Budget speech had announcedcapping of cash donation from a sin-gle source to political parties at�2,000 apart from the proposal tointroduce electoral bonds. As regardsto accountability, the Budget does notpromise scrutiny of income declaredby political parties from varioussources and the corresponding mea-sures of penalisation without whichthe electoral reforms will remainincomplete, said ADR, which hasbeen pitching for scrutiny of accountsof political parties by a body approvedby the Comptroller and AuditorGeneral or the Election Commission.

On disclosure, the Budget does not propose that details of allthose who donate above �2,000 bemade available to the Income-Tax

department and/or an external body auditing the accounts of polit-ical parties. “Even if the donors makedonations by cheque/demand draft orelectronic transfer, unless their com-plete information is available foraudit scrutiny, the sources of dona-tions below �20,000 to political par-ties will continue to stay hidden,” itadded.

ADR said there was lack of polit-ical will in disclosing real income, andthat political parties were “entitled toreceive donations in cheque or digi-tal mode” even before it was proposedin the Union Budget and, hence, theoption of accepting donations inonly such forms that can be traced toa donor always existed.

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The Election Commission has barred the polit-ical parties and candidates in Punjab and Goa

from publishing advertisement in newspapers onFebruary 3 and 4 of this month without its priorapproval. The Commission has asked them to getpre-certified the advertisements from the MediaCertification and Monitoring Committee (MCMC)

at the State and district levels beforetheir publication.

The order comes in view of the Assembly elec-tions scheduled in Punjab and Goa on February 4.The campaigning for the Assembly elections inPunjab and Goa ended on Thursday.

The Commission has also issued a detailedguideline to the District Election Officers inPunjab to ensure prohibition 48 hours before theend of Assembly polls in the State. Punjab ChiefElectoral Officer VK Singh said prohibition will startat 5 pm Thursday and will continue till 5 pm onSaturday.

The Commission has also directed newspaperorganisations of Goa and Punjab to not publish anyadvertisement in print media that has not been pre-certified by MCMC. It issued an order to the State-level MCMC committees to ensure that the deci-sion in such cases is taken “expeditiously.”

The Commission in its order stated thatinstances of “offending” and “misleading” adver-tisements published in the print media in the pasthave been brought to its notice, adding such adver-tisements in the last stages of elections “vitiate” theelection.

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The Government onThursday notified a set of

‘progressive’ new rules to regu-late the �30,000-crore medicaldevice industry, fulfilling itslongstanding demand to treat itdifferently from the drugs andpharmaceuticals sector.

The Medical Device Rules2017 categorise devices intofour groups depending on therisks associated with the deviceand has introduces a system of'Third Party ConformityAssessment and Certification'through notified bodies with anaim to bring in the “highestdegree of professionalism” inregulation of medical devices.

The notification came a dayafter Finance Minister ArunJaitley, while presenting Budget2017-18, said that new rulesregarding medical devices willbe formulated which will inter-nationally harmonise and attractinvestments into this sector.

“This will reduce the cost ofsuch devices,” he had said.

A senior health official saidthat the new Rules are in con-

formity with GlobalHarmonisation Task Force(GHTF) framework and con-form to best international prac-tices. Only 15 categories ofmedical devices are, at present,regulated as drugs and to thatextent, the current regulatorypractices in India were not fullygeared to meet the require-ments of medical devices sectorin the country.

The new rules seek toremove regulatory bottlenecks toMake in India, facilitate ease ofdoing business while ensuringavailability of better medicaldevices for patient care andsafety, the official added.

Medical devices will, under

the new rules, be classified as perGHTF practice, based on asso-ciated risks, into Class A (lowrisk), Class B (low moderaterisk), Class C (moderate highrisk) and Class D (high risk).

The notified bodies whichwill be accredited by theNational Accreditation Boardfor Certification Bodies(NABCB) will undertake verifi-cation and assessment of qual-ity management system of med-ical device manufacturers ofClass A and Class B categoryand may, on as required basis, becalled upon to render assis-tance for regulation of Class Cand D medical devices also, saidthe official.

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The Railway Ministry and anItalian company on Thursday

entered into an agreement fortechnical cooperation particular-ly in the area of safety operations,the main thrust of Indian Railwaysfollowing a recent spate of acci-dents.

Ferrovie Dello Stato ItalianeGroup (FS Group), an ItalianGovernment Company managingthe Italian railway sector, signeda MoU for technical cooperationin rail sector especially in issue ofsafety in train operations.

The agreement was signed byRailway Board ExecutiveDirector/Safety (coordination)Vinod Kumar and CEO of Italy FSGroup Renato Mazzoncini.

“The cooperation areas iden-tified includes safety audit ofIndian Railways and measuresrequired for enhancing safety intrain operation, Assessment andcertification of advanced tech-nology based safety products andsystems to Safety Integrity Level(SIL4), Training and competencydevelopment with focus of safety,Modern trends in Maintenanceand diagnostic etc,” said a railwayofficial.

The India-Italy rail agree-ment comes in the backdrop ofemphasis given by RailwayMinister Suresh Prabhu on safe-ty in railway operation. He hasdirected Railway Board to col-laborate with the internationalexperts on this subject and iden-tify the best practices in this field.

Officials said, the FS Group,with its technical and manageri-al railway expertise, is widelyrecognised at international leveland is one of the most advanced

worldwide players in design andrealisation of High Speed andConventional Lines, SafetySystems, Certification, Trainingand Operation and Maintenance.

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Page 6: C M Y K - The Pioneer wife Kavery, Managing Director of South Asia FM Ltd (SAFL) K Shanmugam, SAFL and Sun Direct TV Pvt Ltd (SDTPL) under provisions of the Prevention of Money

With all the uproarsurrounding USP r e s i d e n tDonald Trump’stravel ban on cit-

izens from several Muslim-major-ity nations, it might come as ashock to many that Canada, oneof the few Western nations will-ing to accept thousands of Syrianrefugees — and apparently veryhappily — would suffer a terror-ist attack. Even more so that it wasone targeting the country’sMuslim population.

Yet the cheery, sometimesfawning coverage from abroad ofJustin Trudeau’s first year asPrime Minister masks two truthsabout Canada that mark it out asnot that different from the rest ofthe western world.

The first is that, just likeBritain, the US, and most ofwestern Europe, Canada is adivided society. The fault linesruns along the old divisions ofconservative and liberal, and thenew ones of open and closed.

Before Trudeau, Canada wasdominated for nine years by theConservative Party of StephenHarper. It was a new movementthat brought together the “redtories” of the ProgressiveConservatives and the Texas-style nationalist conservatism ofthe Canadian Alliance.

Big oil, climate change scep-ticism, immigration reform,armed interventions abroad,and the promotion of a schoolhistory curriculum focusing onCanadian military victories maynot sound like “Canadian val-ues” to admiring foreigners, butthey won Harper three electionsin a row.

The 2015 federal election, inwhich Harper was ousted, was,by Canadian standards, quitenasty. The most contentiouspoint was the Conservatives sud-denly making a burqa ban anelection issue. Realising he wassliding in the polls and with theeconomy struggling with lowcommodity prices, Harperturned to a “get the base out”strategy of promoting conserva-tive “Canadian values” and focus-ing on the foreign terror threat.

It backfired, but it nonethe-less highlighted that a large pro-portion of Canadian society,especially in the PrairieProvinces and the former indus-trial powerhouses of southernOntario and Cape Breton, hasmore in common with Trump’sforgotten men and women thanwith Trudeau’s “country strong,not in spite of our differences,

but because of them”.Indeed, during the neigh-

bouring US election, it was notunusual to see Canadians open-ly wearing Trump 2016 t-shirtsaround town.

Trudeau’s remarkable turn-around of the Liberal Party fromthird place irrelevance to outrightmajority was, thanks to first pastthe post and a three-party system,achieved with just 39 per cent ofthe popular vote. TheConservatives won 31 per cent.Those fractures still exist, nomatter how well they are disguisedby the media-savvy foreign pop-ularity of the current government.

The second truth is thatQuebec, ever the troublesomechild of Canadian confederation,has its own inner cultural con-flicts. The Province is home toone of the world’s largest trulybilingual cities in the shape ofthe highly multiculturalMontreal, but its capital, QuebecCity — three hours fromMontreal by road — is 95 percent French-speaking and 90 percent Catholic.

Quebec has a complicatedcultural heritage. Part colonial

oppressors, part coloniallyoppressed, it has a heritage ofpre-revolution French statismbut is adherent to Napoleoniccivil law in an English speaking,common law using federation.On top of this comes a highlysecular tradition secured by the“quiet revolution” of the 1960safter three centuries of Catholicdomination of the State. It is ahodgepodge society of compet-ing cultural, religious, linguistic,and political interests.

And divisions that are rifewithin Canada are all the morestark and complex in Quebec.Like the rest of the country, itneeds immigrants. Yet, obsessedwith maintaining its “unique cul-tural identity” it places onerouslanguage requirements on them,and calls are frequently made tocut the total number permitted.The Coalition Avenir Quebec(CAQ), an upstart centre-rightparty, demands a 20 per cent cutin immigration levels.

In 2014, and again in 2016,the Province fought bitter culturewars over a new “charter of val-ues” that would ban those with“ostentatious religious symbols”

from receiving or administeringpublic services. Supposedly aimedat all religions, informationalposters accompanying the cam-paign appeared to explicitly tar-get muslims. In February 2015, aQuebec judge refused to hear awoman’s case in court until sheremoved her hijab, although thejudge was later rebuked by theQuebec Superior Court.

Canada, and Quebec all themore so, is suffering the samedivisive and corrosive argumentsover national identity, immigra-tion, secularism, radical Islam,and terrorism as Britain, the US,and the European Union. Itshould come as no surprise ifCanada succumbs to the sameinternal violence.

In the charismatic Trudeau ithas found a way of promoting aliberal and open approach tothese challenges. But it wasn'talways this way and it may notcontinue to be so.

Those who believe in theCanadian brand of liberalismcan only hope that its compassionand defiance can overcome thislatest challenge.

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Sir — This refers to the editori-al, “The feel-great Budget”(February 2). Given the heavyusage of economical terms andverbose construction of sen-tences, the Union Budget usual-ly elicits unenthusiastic reactionsfrom the common man.

The political parties, there-fore, feel obliged to respondtepidly and criticise this sacreddocument in every way possible.That India stands out as a brightspot in the world economy,despite tumultuous internation-al developments and radicaldomestic policy actions, showsthat its macro-economic stabili-ty continues to be the foundationof economic success.

The historic merger of theRailway Budget with the gener-al Budget, without compromis-ing the functional autonomy ofthe former, is bound to bring therailways to the centre-stage ofGovernment’s fiscal policy. Bydoing away with the plan andnon-plan classif ication of expenditure, the FinanceMinister has lived up to hispromise of facilitating optimalutilisation of resources.

Shreyans Jain Delhi

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Sir — This refers to the editorial,“Looking inward on H1-B”(February 2). As feared, the TrumpAdministration has indicated thatit will not only squeeze the immi-gration programme, but will alsochange rules for H1-B visa so as topromote local talent in the US.

This is a sad development asnot only Indian IT companies havebeen sending talent to work withUS companies, but Indian studentstoo go to the US in hordes for bet-ter education and career. TheTrump Administration must notforget that this labour cost is farcheaper than what a US workerwould get, so it is a win-win situ-ation for both.

Bal Govind Noida

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Sir — This refers to the article,“Seems, lives just don’t matter”(January 31) by Kushan Mitra. It ishorrifying that the number of roadaccidents in India has astronomi-cally been increasing since 2001 —from 80,900 in 2001 to 1,41,526 in2014 — a 75 per cent jump!

Interestingly, a recent studyindicated that a country’s corrup-

tion level determines the numberof road accidents. India’s poorstanding in CorruptionPerceptions Index (76th) is, there-fore, manifesting in the numberof road tragedies. Corruption canmake us behave like cannibals!

Sujit DeKolkata

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Sir — US President DonaldTrump’s decision to halt immigra-tion from seven Muslim countriesis cruel, but from the point ofnational security, steps taken bythe new President seems appro-priate. Trump has also made itclear that he would unite allcivilised countries to fight againstterrorism and eliminate extrem-ist force from the world.

This is welcome as it will con-tain terrorist violence escalatingin different parts of the world,including India, which is vic-timised frequently. It is, thereforetime for all civilised global com-munity to be united and fightagainst rising terrorism and itbrooks no delay.

Nimai Charan SwainBhubaneswar

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Politically, Uttar Pradesh has gen-erally been inscrutable. At leastsince the last two decades or so,after the Congress lost bothseats and credibility across the

State, and made way for a long spell of ruleby regional parties. Once the BJP tooceded ground after a euphoric high in theBabri mosque demolition days, punditsbelieved the complication of predictingelectoral results had eased somewhat.They were proved wrong because voters,in a State where even the rickshaw-puller can give a political commentator arun for his money, have kept shifting theirallegiance. One Assembly it is theSamajwadi Party (SP) and the next it is theBahujan Samaj Party (BSP).

The forthcoming poll has added to thewoes of pollsters, commentators and thepublic alike. From a bipolar contest that it

has been for years now, it is now triangu-lar. The saving grace is that there is nofourth contestant; the Congress would havebeen one, had it not developed cold feet andaligned with the SP. Then the fight wouldhave been truly spectacular. But theCongress’s high command cannot be fault-ed for bowing and scraping and reconcil-ing to being a secondary or even a bit play-er. Had it not tied its fortunes with that ofthe SP, it would have been as humiliated asit was in the State in the 2014 Lok Sabhapoll, when just Sonia Gandhi and RahulGandhi won. This does not mean that bylatching on to Akhilesh Yadav’s SP, it hassaved itself from certain death. Destiny hasalready decided. If Akhilesh Yadav sinks,so will the Congress. If he floats, there isno certainty that the Congress too will. Thisis, after all, an unequal alliance.

People are talking of a Congress-SPcoalition for the 2019 Lok Sabha election.There’s no harm in leaders of two partiesthinking of joyous things. What a wonder-ful pair they make: Rahul Gandhi andAkhilesh Yadav. The second led his partyto victory in 2012 and the first helmed hisparty to successive defeats across the coun-try, taking it to a new, record low, in the2014 Lok Sabha election. The first has

failed to make a mark even in UttarPradesh, let alone all of the country. Thesecond has won accolades from across thepublic spectrum for at least being sincereabout developmental politics. The first hasthe party’s top position for the asking,though there are enough people wonder-ing if he deserves the honour. The secondhad to fight bitterly to gain control over hisparty, engaging acrimoniously with evenhis father and uncle — two leaders whowere in the forefront of establishing the SP.But the alliance can break as quickly as ithas been formed if March 11 brings sadnews. Meanwhile, if father and son can-not see eye to eye, can Rahul and Akhilesh?

Both the BSP and the BJP have sensedan opportunity with a fragmented SP busymore in projecting a united front thanfighting the battle of its life — and for itslife. They are readying for the kill.Mayawati and Amit Shah are burning themidnight oil, tweaking the caste arithmeticand micro-managing booth-level activitieson poll dates. Mayawati will not have for-gotten the humiliation of 2014, when herparty was wiped off, failing to win a sin-gle seat. Even the Congress won more! Herspecial venom, therefore, has been reservedfor the BJP and its senior leaders (Narendra

Modi the wave that swept the elephantaway, and Amit Shah the strategist whomade a mockery of her painstakingly craft-ed ‘social engineering’ effort).

This is the best chance for the BJP tomake a comeback. Two and a half years ago,out of the blue, its fortunes changed. Brutusis not everyman’s hero, but Shakespeareattributed to him a deeply philosophicalcomment: “There is a tide in the affairs ofmen. Which, taken at the flood, leads onto fortune.” For the BJP, the tide came inMay 2014. Can it be taken at the flood andwill it thereafter lead on to fortune?

The BJP does not have a chief minis-terial face. Thus, the onus is on Modi todeliver, yet again. He is not a superman, buthe has to keep performing like one. Oncein a while he has the right to fail, yes? Butnot this time — in Uttar Pradesh, no. Biharwas a setback, and it’s not an experience thatthe party is looking forward to repeat.

A triangular contest, if it’s reallyclose, can lead to a hung House. Thatwill then trigger a new wave of realign-ment politics. Until then, however,leaders will be waving their hands tocrowds to say they have arrived. Someof that waving could well be seen as theirfarewell gesture, come March 11. �

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Politics in the country has strangedimensions. But in Uttar Pradesh,there are truly strange bedfellows.Or else, how can one explain theCongress being given political

resuscitation by the followers of an ideology(read Samajwadi Party) which scripted itswaterloo and packed it off to its long hiber-nation in Uttar Pradesh’s realpolitic?

It was in 1989, when Samajwadi Party(SP) founder Mulayam Singh Yadav becamethe first non-Congress Chief Minister of theState, representing the Janata Dal (Socialist),albeit with the Congress crutch, to keep theburgeoning BJP at bay. Ironically, 27 yearslater, Mulayam Singh Yadav’s son, AkhileshYadav, undid what his father did. He joinedhands with the Congress, thereby ensuringthe revival of the latter in State politics.

The nascent marriage of convenience hadbeen on the cards since young turk AkhileshYadav got embroiled with his uncle andMulayam Singh Yadav confidant ShivpalYadav over a slew of issues that underlineda basic difference of opinion among the oldand the new guards.

After a series of unsasvoury expulsions ofleaders, including of party general secretaryRam Gopal Yadav and even the Chief Minister,the two factions came up with respective lists

of candidates for the imminent election. By the time the internecine feud was

finally disposed off by the ElectionCommission of India, which recognisedAkhilesh Yadav as the SP leader, the youngChief Minister had analysed that his battlewithin had just begun.

With the Assembly election round thecorner, Akhilesh Yadav knew he would haveto fight severe internal dissension as ShivpalYadav had considerable clout in the party’sstructural brass-tacks. The taste of being inpower being so addictive, Akhilesh Yadavreached out to the Congress for an alliancewhich was suited to and in the interest of bothparties — more for the latter.

By getting the Congress on board,Akhilesh Yadav was, in fact, making a gam-ble with calculated risks to spread a strongmessage to the Muslim community. Duringhis near-five-year tenure, Akhilesh Yadav hasbeen rather measured in speaking onMuslim issues.

The Chief Minister had to face flak afterthe Muzaffarnagar riots when hundreds andthousands of Muslims were forced to live inrefugee camps. The common refrain amongthe community was that the AkhileshGovernment did precious little and almostfailed to safeguard their interests. At the heightof the family feud, Mulayam Singh Yadav,while baring his heart to a group of Muslimsympathisers, went to the extent of termingAkhilesh Yadav as “anti-Muslim” for failingto oversee the community’s interests.

Tom-tomming his Government’s devel-opment works and opportunity to the youththrough a media blitzkrieg, Akhilesh Yadavchose to strategise, to dispel this image. Andwhy not; his outfit could not do without thesizeable Muslim votes. With the SP usually

branded as pro-Muslim by its rivals in theState, Akhilesh Yadav planned to useCongress’s acceptability among the minor-ity community at the national level to senda strong message that the SP, underhim, was still sympathetic towardsthe community.

The stitching of alliance withthe ‘like-minded’ Congresswould further assuage theMuslim sentiments, and inthe process, strengthenMulayam Singh Yadav’swinning combine ofMuslim-Yadav votes.

On the other hand, forthe Congress, the alliancewas like a win-win offer. Theparty has been out of powerfor the last 27 years in UttarPradesh, its various wingshave little cohesion, andmore importantly, workersand leaders were in a stateof frustration without anysolution in sight.

But in case the exper-iment goes kaput, thennaturally, the two partieswill part ways. TheCongress might not endup losing anythingpolitically or electoral-ly, except that its prideof being the oldestparty, which buckleddown for its revival,might be eroded alittle. But in politics,such embarrass-ments are forgotten easily. �

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Much has been talked about theminority votes being the decid-

ing factor in Uttar Pradesh. Previousvoting patterns show that minoritiesseldom vote en bloc. The only commonfactor is that their vote differs on a seat-to-seat basis and is primarily used byany party which can defeat the BJP.

The race for luring the minoritieshas necessitated alliances and mergers— all for the sake of minorities. Ofcourse, the target is the hot seat. Justimagine, political parties, which wereonce dead against one another, sudden-ly warm up before the election and areready to forget past bitterness in thename of ‘welfare of the Muslims’.

While political parties have workedout their permutations and combina-tions, the minorities too have set theiragenda. The community is now think-ing and re-thinking their decisionsince they are well aware of the designsof politicians who soon forget abouttheir promises, once elected to power.The electorate has learnt lessons andhave their own bargain. And why not?

Ostensibly, the need for Muslimrepresentation in allotment of seats wasfelt by all parties this year, except, ofcourse, the BJP, because for the firsttime in its electoral history, UttarPradesh did not send a single MuslimMP to the Lok Sabha in 2014.

Paradoxically, this was when theLegislative Assembly had the highestMuslim representation — 63 wereelected in 2012. This time around,Muslim leaders and opinion-makerswanted to maintain political represen-tation at the State level. And for this,they required non-BJP parties to dowell. For, the BJP rarely, if at all, givestickets to the Muslims.

With most of the seats in UttarPradesh set to witness multi-corneredcontests, there is a tug-of-war amongnon-BJP parties to win confidence ofthe Muslim community which has avote share of around 20 per cent.

Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) supre-mo Mayawati is trying to get maximumbenefit out of it by fielding 100 Muslimscandidates, latest being mafia-donMukhtar Ansari and his clan. Perhaps,she took the lead not only in announc-ing her list of candidates, but alsoensured that she fielded the maximumnumber of Muslims.

The Ansari’s controversial outfit,the Quami Ekta Dal (QED), had onlyrecently merged with the SP, but thishad virtually driven a wedge within theruling SP as Akhilesh Yadav was deadagainst the “deal” initiated by hischachaji, senior SP leader ShivpalYadav. The inevitable happened andsoon enough, the deal was snapped andwent in favour of the BSP. Mayawati,who had all along accused the SP ofprotecting criminals, suddenly compro-mised her ideologies as she opted forthe QED and signed the deal.

The SP too has fielded a number ofMuslims candidates and even theRashtriya Lok Dal, which is contestingon its own, for the first time since lastdecade, has fielded 12 members of theminority community out of total 73.The Congress-SP alliance could haveproved a formidable force in UttarPradesh, but there is confusion due tomultiplicity of candidates.

A section of the Muslims are angrywith Akhilesh Yadav who refused tovisit Muzaffarnagar during the riots andleft rehabilitation work to the officials.

“It has been three-and-a-half yearssince the riots took place but not a sin-gle accused has been jailed. Whyshould we trust the Chief Minister andhis party?” questioned Asif Ansari, ayoung graduate from Lucknow.

However, the SP has given a largerepresentation to Muslims and theparty is hopeful to get their support onseats where it is in alliance with theCongress because the grand old partyis still the only option for members ofthe minority community at the centre.

The split in the SP, which has per-colated down to the ground, reports of

SP supremo Mulayam Singh Yadavbeing sidelined in his own party andnow allegations of Akhilesh Yadavbeing ‘anti-Muslim’, have added to theconfusion among Muslims in theregion. Things could swing in favourof the alliance if Mulayam Yadavagrees to campaign because he enjoysmore goodwill among Muslims thanhis son. However, that seems unlike-ly since the senior Yadav is still sulk-ing over the SP-Congress alliance. �

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Acontroversial sect, thathelped the Congress to

sweep Malwa in 2007 with itsbacking and paved way for theSAD-BJP coalition to createhistory in State politics byforming consecutiveGovernment in 2012 with itstacit support, may prove to bea game changer — not only forSAD-BJP combine, but also forthe Congress and Aam AadmiParty (AAP).

The buzz among the sup-porters is that after gettingsupport from the Dera SachaSauda, the ruling SAD-BJPcombine — facing a stronganti-incumbency wave inthe State — could actu-ally revive its politicalfortunes in February 4elections, particularlyin the Malwa belt, hav-ing 69 seats.

The Dera, headedby controversial self-styled godmanGurmeet Ram RahimSingh, has its presencein the Malwa regionthat has the maximum69 of the 117 Assembly

segments. Of these, the Derahas a major influence on at least40 constituencies, especiallyamong Dalit Sikhs.

The development is signif-icant as the Dera has the powerto sway a section of voters infavour of the ruling combine.Reading between the lines, theCongress believed that supportto SAD-BJP would mean hurting AAP’s pollprospects in Malwa where theparty is doing well. Dera has itsstronghold in the south Malwa,area close to sect headquartersin neighbouring Haryana’sSirsa district, where the AAP isbelieved to be leading.

The Congress believed that

Dera’s support to the combinewould not only counterbal-ance AAP’s support-base inthese districts, but may alsodivert AAP’s Dera votestowards SAD, and SAD’s Sikhvotes towards other parties, pri-marily the Congress.

The Congress camp isalready upbeat after the latestsurveys coming in its favourshowing the party is forming thenext Government in the State.

During previous polls,Dera’s ‘silence’ had dividedvotes between the two tradi-tional players with the regiongiving a fractured mandate. Butin 2007, it has openly declared its support to the

Congress that helped theparty wining Malwa.

One the reasonsbehind Congress party’shigh score of 37 in Malwaduring 2007 polls wasDera’s open support, justlike it has announced thistime for SAD-BJP com-bine. The Congress,though, managed to dowell in Malwa in 2007, itwas routed in both Doabaand Majha that resulted itin its defeat.

GOA MANIPURUTTARPRADESH

UTTARAKHANDPUNJAB

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Unlike 2012, when the fightbetween the two alliances

led by then incumbent, butedgy, tainted Congress and aconfident and surcharged BJPwas a black and white affair, theFebruary 4 polls, with all itsshades of grey, presents a muchmore challenging affair, bothfor voters as well as the con-testing political parties.

While the ruling BJP is

contesting in 36 seats, whosepoll campaign has been shep-herded by Defence MinisterManohar Parrikar faces rebel-lion from disgruntled MLAsand a spurned RSS cadre, theCongress campaign has beenmarked by its trademarksquabbles and a lackluster cam-paign for the 37 seats it hasfielded candidates in.

The third player, a debu-tante in Goa, the Aam AadmiParty, is contesting 39 seats, put

together an innovative cam-paign, but appeared to lack akiller punch.

But it is the fourth element,an alliance between theMaharashtrawadi GomantakParty, Goa Suraksha Manch -mentored by former Goa RSSchief Subhash Velingkar andthe Shiv Sena which are con-testing 26, five and three seatsrespectively, which couldemerge as a deciding factor inthe final analysis.

All the three parties in thealliance have their eyes set onthe traditionally BJP’s Hindumajority votebank and theirability to corner the Hindu vote(Hindus account for nearly 65per cent of the State’s popula-tion), could eventually deter-mine the number of votes andseats in the BJP’s kitty.

“The RSS cadre in Goa willnot vote for the BJP for sure. TheBJP has betrayed our culture andthe region’s languages in favourof English and Goans will notforgive them for it,” Velingkar,who is also the convener of the

alliance told The Pioneer.Velingkar was sacked from hisRSS position, for his criticism ofParrikar and the State BJP, whichhe has accused of backingEnglish as the medium ofinstruction in the State’s prima-ry medium schools.

Defence Minister ManoharParrikar, who throughout thecampaign refused to commentvis a vis Velingkar’s accusations,has however downplayedclaims that the RSS is not withthe BJP, in a bid to shore up theparty cadre’s morale.

“The Sangh in Goa is withus,” he said.

“We are confident of win-ning a two thirds majority inthese elections,” Parrikar alsosaid, adding that the partywould not need alliance part-ners after the results areannounced on March 11.

The Congress however pre-sents a different analysis, whichit claims is rooted in the poorperformance of the state BJPGovernment and the allegationsof corruption levelled against it.

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Being the last day of cam-paigning for Punjab polls,

the two bigwigs — CaptAmarinder Singh, chief min-isterial candidate of theCongress and Shiromani AkaliDal president Sukhbir Badal— had a hectic day out.

‘Punjab da Captain’Amarinder Singh and DeputyChief Minister Sukhbir SinghBadal made last-ditch effortsto win the hearts and minds ofvoters in day-long election-eering on Thursday.

From roadshows to publicmeetings, the last day of can-vassing kept the two politicalheavyweights busy as theystuck to their usual schedulebut mainly focusing on LambiAssembly constituency, whichis witnessing the biggest polit-ical battle ever in PunjabAssembly polls.

It is for the first time in his-tory that a former CM(Amarinder) is pitted against theincumbent and five-time ChiefMinister (Parkash Singh Badal)in the Badals bastion, Lambi.

The former Chief MinsterCapt Amarinder and DeputyCM Sukhbir, who had been los-ing sleep over the high-octaneAssembly polls, did not miss outany opportunity to hit out ateach even and dismissing AamAadmi Party as “outsiders”.

While Capt Amarinder hadCongress’ vice president RahulGandhi accompanying him dur-ing the last leg of campaigningat Lambi, the junior Badal tookmatters in his own hands, lead-ing the high-decibel campaignand massive show of strength inthe constituency for his father.

Sukhbir also chose to con-fine himself to Lambi on the lastday of campaigning whileCapt Amarinder also cam-paigned in Kotkapura earlier in

the day, before drawing the cur-tain on the Congress campaign.

Accompanied with RahulGandhi, Punjab Congresschief and party’s ChiefMinisterial candidate, Capt.Amarinder continued histirade against Badals and AAPconvener Arvind Kejriwal.

Coming down heavily onthe Badals and Kejriwal forallegedly pushing Punjab intoa quagmire of violence andunrest, Amarinder eventhreatened to put senior Badalin jail if found complicit in theBargari sacrilege incident.

Amarinder, who is locked inanother big electoral battle on hishome turf against Akali candi-date former Army chief JJ Singhfrom Patiala Urban, alsoannounced a time-bound agen-da for the implementation of theCongress manifesto in the State.

Seeking voters’ support athis final election rally at

Mansingh Stadium in Lambi,Capt. Amarinder urged peopleto teach the Chief Minister thelesson of his life, along with alesson to all future ChiefMinisters not to play with the sentiments and livesof the people through their mafias and communalpolarisation.

Touching upon the con-troversial SYL constructionissue between neighboringHaryana and PunjabGovernments, CaptAmarinder also vowed not toallow SYL construction at anycost, saying he was prepared togo to jail rather than let a sin-gle drop of water leave theparched state of Punjab.

Accosting by thousands oftwo wheelers and cars, Sukhbir,on the other hand, held a mas-sive roadshow during thecourse of which he visitedmore than 25 villages in Lambi.

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Located between Beas andthe Sutlej, Doaba derived its

name from a Persian word,which means “land of tworivers”. Anyone hoping to forma Government in Punjab has towade through its deep politicalwaters before emerging victo-rious. This time too, Doaba hasthe capacity of turning the tide.

With a share of just 23seats, the Dalit-dominatedDoaba region has played a cru-cial role in electing theGovernment during previouspolls. This election might beno different with the Congressand (AAP) facing maximumdissidence in the region, whileincidents of Dalit atrocitiesand demonetisation may harmSAD-BJP combine’s prospects.

The fertile region, havinga strong NRI and Dalit pres-ence, covers the Kapurthala,Jalandhar, Nawanshahr andHoshiarpur districts. Here,Scheduled Castes form more

than 35

per cent of the population. Thearea is called the ‘NRI Hub ofPunjab’ due to large scalemigration of a significant per-centage of Doabias.

Since 2007, the Congresshas failed to score big in theregion. It was party’s poorperformance in Doaba dur-ing 2007 polls that despitesweeping Malwa region, bag-ging 37 out of 65 seats, theparty had to face defeat. Theparty had to satisfy with justfour seats, while SAD bagged13 and BJP 11.

2012 was no different asthe Congress could only man-age to improve its tally by twoseats, against SAD’s 11 andBJP’s one. As its tally in Malwatoo faced a dip, it again had tosit in the opposition.

Anti-incumbency factoragainst the Congress at theCentre was much strongerthan against the ruling SAD-BJP combine in the State.Besides, the delay inannouncement of candidatesand resultant dissidence

among the party cadre provedfatal for the party.

In spite of treading cau-tiously, the Congress is facinghuge rebellion in the region thistime too. The party’s officialnominees are facing rebel can-didates in Banga, Nakodar, andGarhshankar. Though party hasmanaged to control the rebels tosome extent and has shown thedoor to about two dozen of dis-senters, some constituenciesare most hit, including Banga.

The party replaced sittingMLA and prominent Dalitleader Tarlochan Singh Soond,who, too, threw his hat in thefray against the Congress’ offi-cial nominee Satnam SinghKainth. Making things bad forthe party, AAP’s candidateHarjot Kaur is getting massivesupport. Similar to Congress,AAP too is facing dissidence inthe region. The expulsion of itsformer State convener SuchaSingh Chhotepur, on thecharges of alleged corruption, isproving a major spoilsport forthe party.

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Page 9: C M Y K - The Pioneer wife Kavery, Managing Director of South Asia FM Ltd (SAFL) K Shanmugam, SAFL and Sun Direct TV Pvt Ltd (SDTPL) under provisions of the Prevention of Money

GOA MANIPURUTTARPRADESH

UTTARAKHANDPUNJAB

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The commutation of deathsentence by the President to

four convicts of Bara massacreof 1992 in Gaya district meansvery little for Nanhe Lal Mochi,Veer Kuar Paswan, KrishnaMochi and Dharmendra Singhexcept that they will not go togallows.

The order of PresidentPranab Mukherjee on theirmercy petitions in the lastweek of December last has noclarity whether they would bestep out of the BhagalpurCentral jail or continue to lan-guish there till their death.This confusion prevailed in thecontext of a Supreme Courtverdict which said life sentencemeans stay behind bars till last.

The family members, ofone of them Krishna Mochi,are anything but enthused oncommutation. His wifeChandramani responded, “Jailme jina kya jina (life in jail isno life).” One of their son AjayMochi said he was so poor thatit was not possible for him tovisit his father in Bhagalpur jail.He would feel a little happy ifhis father was transferred toGaya jail where he could visitonce in a while. All sons anddaughters of Krishna Mochihave been married in hisabsence.

The Peoples” Union forDemocratic Rights (PUDR),which constantly fought for therelease of these prisoners ondeath row, termed the com-mutation of death penalty to

these four as justice half done.Gautam Naulakha of PUDRurged the Nitish KumarGovernment to intervene inthis case and pressurize theCentre for the unconditionalrelease of the four elderly menand also do something fortheir rehabilitation.

“The four prisoners willcontinue to languish in jailindefinitely in the absence ofany clarity on the terms ofcommutation. They were sen-tenced to death in 2001 by aTADA designated court in anextremely biased trial and thesentence was upheld by theSupreme Court in 2002. Theirmercy petitions were filed in2003 which never reached theauthorities for over ten yearsand the commutation of theirsentences after inordinate delaycomes in the wake of them hav-ing served over two decades injail and 15 years under theshadow of death,” said PUDRsecretaries Anushka Singh andCijo Joy.

The commutation withoutrelease at this point in responseto call for mercy thereforeinadvertently sentences them toan endless ordeal of prison lifeto which they have alreadybeen subjected for a long time.

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In a scaring incident a lion in the BannerghattaBiological Park near IT city Bengaluru has tried

to attack a safari car by putting his paw on the carsent every one tizzy. The video of this incident whichwent viral shot by the driver of another official safarivan has shown where the lion put its paw on theback and the lioness was in the front of the carpreparing to attack.

The video shows the lion is seen stalking thevehicle before putting his paws on top of the car asaudibly anxious visitors watch the drama unfold.

According to director of the park SanthoshKumar the driver of the car was at fault for stop-ping next to the lion and have since removed themember of staff from his duties at the park. He saidthe driver has been relived from the safari duty andsaid the attack took place on January 28 or 29. Thedriver is clearly at fault.

He said, “He should never have stopped the car,which he probably did to please the visitors. We’veremoved him from safari duty.”

He added, “We are planning to send a propos-al to the State Government to remove small vehi-cles like this and retain only safari buses. This will ensure safety of animals as well as that ofvisitors.”

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The January 28 oil spillage off Chennai’sKamarajar Port following a collision

between two ships has gone out of controland has emerged as a severe man-made-dis-aster in recent times. Livelihood of hundredsof thousands of fishermen along theChennai coast has been affected because ofthe oil leak. The accident has claimed thelives of 21 Olive Ridely turtles which are onthe verge of extinction.

The spillage has gone out of control inspite of efforts by various agencies to checkthe spread of the leaked oil. According toIndian National Centre for OceanInformation Services (Hyderabad) which ismonitoring the situation, the spilled oil hasspread to almost 34 km and is likely to spreadfurther due to wave speed and ocean current.

The spill occurred on January 28 whenthe ship BW Maple (Isle of Man flagged ves-sel) which was leaving Kamarajar Port inChennai collided with MT DawnKanchipuram (India flagged vessel) a ship thatwas entering the Port from the high seas.

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As many as three Pakistaniboats found abandoned

around three kilometers fromSir Creek area of the Kutchcoast during patrolling of theBSF personnel.

Two boats were found onWednesday later evening andone more boat found during thewee hours on Thursday wellinside the Indian territorialwaters. According to an officialspokesman of the BSF, nothingincriminating was found in theabandoned single engine fishingboats except some fishing relat-ed materials and some utensils.

The BSF believed that see-

ing the BSF patrol party, thefishermen in the boats musthave disappeared taking advan-tage of the darkness, Creek,nallah and mangrove areas.The seized boats have beenbrought to Koteswar port forfurther investigation, thespokesman said.

Following the seizure ofPakistani fishing boats, securi-ty agencies in Gujarat havebeen alerted and randomchecking of vehicles initiated inthe bordering areas. Evenpatrolling along the borderingareas including marine bound-aries along the neighbouringPakistan have been intensi-fied.

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Violence continued inNagaland capital Kohima

on Thursday after thousands ofpeople came out to the streetsprotesting against the killing oftwo youth on Tuesday night inDimapur in police firing evenas the state government hasrestricted mobile internet andcurfew have been imposed inKohima, Dimapur, Longlengand adjoining areas to stopspread of violence.

Thousands of protestersgathered on the streets of state’scapital Kohima since todaymorning with the coffins of thebody of the two youths killedin police firing and startedshouting slogans against theChief Minister TR Zeliang ledNagaland Peoples’ Front (NPF) government anddemanded the resignation ofthe Chief Minister and hiscabinet colleagues.

The mob, which wasbacked by different tribalHohos (apex bodies) also set adeadline of 4 pm for the ChiefMinister and his cabinet col-leagues for tendering their res-ignation. The mob turned vio-lent after expiry of the 4 pmdeadline for resignation and seton fire the municipal council’s office in Kohima. Several vehicles plying on theroads have also been van-dalised by the mob.

“The situation is broughtunder control now. Adequateforces have been deployed todeal with the situation. Thestate police forces are beinghelped by the Assam Riflescompanies. The mob had seton fire the municipal council’soffice but we have doused thefire now,” said Nagaland DGPLL Doungel while talking toThe Pioneer.

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In a daring attack heavilyarmed terrorists on Thursday

afternoon fired at least threeunder barrel grenades on BSFtroops deployed along theInternational border withPakistan in Samba sector ofJammu frontier.

The BSF troops escapedunhurt and retaliated the heavyvolume of fire from automaticweapons forcing the terroriststo retreat inside Pak territory.

This is the first major ter-ror strike along theInternational border withPakistan in year 2017.

According to BSFspokesman in Jammu, “at about3.30 p.m a group of terroristsresorted to heavy attack on BSFtroops deployed on duty

mound and fired 3 under bar-rel grenades taking advantageof the undulating terrain andthick wild growth.The firing ofgrenades was followed by fir-ing on the BSF posts usingautomatic weapons.

Following the exchange offire the entire stretch of 194 kmlong International border wasalerted between Pahadpur inKathua to Kanachak sector inAkhnoor.

The local commanderswere directed to maintain strictvigil along the vulnerableroutes to foil fresh infiltrationbid. The local police authoritiesalong the border areas also setup security check points alongthe roads leading to JammuPathankot national highwayto prevent any infiltration bidfrom across the border.

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Widespread resentment hascontinued to brew

among party workers overselection of candidates in theBharatiya Janata Party which issetting its eyes on Manipur inpursuit of achieving a“Congress-mukt” North-Eastin State elections to be held onMarch 4 and 8.

A section of BJP workershas even staged protest in frontof the party office at NityaipatChuthek in Imphal.Condemning BJP TicketCommittee, they demanded“just’ selection of candidate.Some party leaders expressedsurprise over party ticket toNational Investigation Agency-chargesheeted person for hisalleged link with terroristorganisation in Manipur.

They claimed that Salam JoySingh, who has been fieldedfrom Wangoi Assembly con-stituency, was chargesheeted bythe NIA in January 2013 undersection 19 and 39 of unlawfulactivities Prevention Act 1967.

According to the NIAchargesheet, Singh, an ex-MPfrom Wangoi constituency hasbeen an active sympathiser ofthe KCP (MTF) a militantorganisation in Manipur and hevoluntarity harboured the cadresof KCP, including chairman ofthe terrorist outfit N PriyoKumar Singh alias Kesho Meitei,they said. Singh was on bail afterhe was arrested by NIA team onOctober 10, 2013, they added.

The Manipur Police hadaccused Singh of flouting VIPsecurity guidelines and forcinghis bodyguards to surrendertheir weapons to militants inJuly 22, 2007 when he wasMLA from the NCP.

The party leaders ques-tioned how a nationalist partylike BJP could ignore suchgrave anti-national charge

against Singh when the partydecided its candidates.

Though party claimed thatcandidates were selected basedon winnability after meticulouscalculation by the committee,

a party leader on condition ofanonymity questioned partyticket to Th Satyabrata Singhfor Yaiskul Assembly con-stituency. Satyabrata who con-tested as independent candi-

date had got just 2,133 votesand emerged last fourth in theassembly election 2012.

Satyabrata pipped nation-al vice president of BJP MahilaMorcha A Sarda, HanjabamJayadeva Sharma, who lost thelast Assembly election by amargin of just 325 votes, NHelendro and HareshwarGoswami in the race for BJPticket in Yaiskul AC.

Some of the party workershave claimed that the TicketCommittee has totally disre-garded the hard works anddedications of some of itsworkers and allotted party tick-ets to new members.

BJP Thoubal AC Mandalmember Leishangthem Thajaalleged that there was corrup-tion over selection of candidate.“The selection of a non-quali-fied person as a candidateproves it,” she added.

They demanded that BJPcentral leaders review the list ofcandidates and allot party tick-ets to only the deserving andhard-working candidates withclean image.

Muzaffarnagar: Uttar Pradesh ChiefMinister Akhilesh Yadav said the BJP-led NDA Government at the Centrehas failed to fulfil its promise of‘achchhe din’ in the Budget.

Addressing an election rally, hesaid the Narendra Modi Government’sdecision of demonetisation of highvalue �1,000/500 currency notes hasaffected the people from all section ofsociety, and also damaged the finan-cial condition of the country.

“The BJP Government at theCentre has failed to fulfil the promiseand the people are facing ‘bure din’ (baddays) instead of ‘achche din’,” he said.

About the electoral alliancebetween Samajwadi Party and theCongress, he said SP’s cycle (partysymbol) will now gain momentum andalliance would get more than 300 seatsin the Assembly polls.

Akhilesh also addressed poll ral-lies in Khatuli, Budhana and Kairanaand made an appealed to support thealliance candidates for development ofUttar Pradesh.

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The high-profileVikasnagar con-stituency inDehradun is wit-nessing tough

fight betweenNavprabhat, the

incumbent MLAand Cabinet Minister

for Transport in theHarish Rawat

Government andMunna SinghChauhan, State BJPspokesperson.

Though BJP is con-vinced of victory, how-

ever, things on the groundare hinting at a cliffhanger

with the possibility of one oftwo main contenders just

scraping through.In the first Assembly election

in the State in 2002, Navprabhat, theCongress candidate, won by a wafer-thin margin of mere 58 votes whenhe defeated Uttarakhand Janwadi

Party’s Munna Singh Chauhan.Navprabhat polled 8,971 votes whileChauhan secured 8,913 votes.

However, wheels of fortunesturned drastically in the next elec-tion 2007 when Chauhan con-testing on a BJP ticket trouncedNavprabhat with an impressivemargin of 5,156 votes. Chauhanpolled 29,297 votes whileNavprabhat was contended with24,141 votes.

Chauhan resigned from theseat to contest the Lok Sabha elec-tion from Tehri constituency as aBahujan Samaj Party candidateafter quitting BJP in 2009, neces-sitating a by-poll on the same seatthe same year. In the by-election,Kuldeep Kumar of BJP defeatedCongress candidate Navprabhat by594 votes. Kuldeep polled 24,934votes while Navprabhat was con-tended with 24,338 votes. Ladyluck proved quirky again in the2012 election when Navprabhatdefeated BJP’s Kuldeep Kumar by9,857 votes. Navprabhat polled 32,742 votes while Kuldeep was con-tended with 22, 885 votes.

As per the Vikasnagar return-ing officer, 10 more candidates arein the fray from the constituencybesides Chauhan and Navprabhat.The constituency has 1, 08, 567voters- 57, 749 males and 50,814females. There are 135 polling cen-tres - 27 in urban and 108 in ruralareas- set up in the constituencyfor the February 15election.

Chauhan told The Pioneerthat resigning from BJP in 2009 asthe party’s lawmaker fromVikasnagar was a mistake. “I quitafter some differences cropped up.I contested the Parliamentary elec-tion from Tehri as BSP candidate.I lost to the then Congress stalwartVijay Bahuguna,” he said.

Citing development of Asanbarrage/wetland with the financialassistance from Asian DevelopmentBank, he further said he was instru-mental in the finding of the rockedicts of the emperor Ashoka andthe site where an Ashwamedh Yagnawas held during the Maharabhartaera as he prevailed over the ASI toreinvent the hoary history hiddenunder the debris of time.

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Page 10: C M Y K - The Pioneer wife Kavery, Managing Director of South Asia FM Ltd (SAFL) K Shanmugam, SAFL and Sun Direct TV Pvt Ltd (SDTPL) under provisions of the Prevention of Money

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����#� ����In a significantmove to check blackmoney,Income Tax Departmentcan now scrutinise incometax returns of previous 10years if any search leadst h e m t o u n d i s c l o s e ddeposits or property ofover �50 lakh.

The present ceiling forscrutiny of past returns ofincome is six years.

In the Budget for 2017-18, Finance Minister ArunJait ley has proposed toincrease the scrutiny peri-od to 10 years.

“What we have saidnow is (that) if during asearch we find there is anyasset or income worth over�50 lakh which is not dis-closed and is older thanfour years, then we can goback to 10 years,” CBDTChairman Sushil Chandrasaid at a post-Budget sem-inar here.

According to the mem-orandum to the FinanceBill 2017, the amendmentto the Income Tax Act willtake effect from April 1,2017. This means that thebooks of accounts of anassessee can be reopenedby taxmen back till 2007.

The amendment seeksto check tax evasion where“tangible evidences” in theform of undisclosed invest-ment in assets are found

during a search or seizureoperation.

The tax returns can beopened only when undis-closed income and asset ofo v e r �5 0 l a k h a r eu n e a r t h e d i n a s e a rc hoperation and not meresurvey by the tax depart-ment.

The amendment to theI-T Act empowers tax offi-cials to issue notices tosuch assessees up to the1 0 t h a s s e s s m e n t y e a r,beyond the sixth assess-ment year already provid-ed for in the I-T Act.

As per the amendment,notices can be issued ifthe assessing officer has inhis possession books ofaccounts or other docu-ments or evidence whichreveal that the income thathas escaped assessmentamounts to �50 lakh ormore in a year or in aggre-gate of four assessmentyears.

The notices can alsobe issued if the incomewhich escaped assessmentis in the form of assets.

“The amended provi-sion of Section 153A shallapply where search underSection 132 is initiated orrequisition under Section132A is made on or afterApril 1, 2017,” the memo-randum said.

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����#� ����As the Income TaxDepartment uses Big Data tocatch evaders, it is asking tax-payers to verify online thedeposits they made in theiraccounts post demonetisationand respond to queries of anymismatch.

The department is usingdata analytics for comparison ofdeposits made after theNovember 8 decision to scraphigh-value banknotes withinformation in its database toidentify taxpayers whose cashtransactions do not appear to bein line with the tax-paying pro-file.

With a view to avoidingundue harassment, it has nowenabled online verification ofthese transactions to reducecompliance cost for the taxpay-ers while optimising itsresources.

To help taxpayers, it hasnow brought out a user guide.

The information on cashdeposits is now available foronline verification “in the e-fil-ing window of the PAN holder(after log in) athttps://incometaxindiaefil-

ing.Gov.In”, the user guide said.The cash deposited in an

assessee’s account can be verifiedusing the link ‘CashTransactions 2016’ under ‘com-pliance’ section of the website.“The details of transactionsrelated to cash deposits during9th November to 30thDecember 2016 will be dis-played,” it said.

The taxpayer needs to con-firm that the bank accountrelates to his PAN. In case theaccount does not relate to thePAN, a suitable option can beselected and information will goto the tax department.

If the account belongs to thePAN holder but the value ofdeposit is incorrect, a correctentry can be submitted online.

The website also providesfor the taxpayer to explain thesource of cash deposit digitallywithout visiting the income taxoffice, it said.

The user guide says the tax-payer is required to give detailsif cash is claimed to be with-drawn from the bank account.Details should also be men-tioned if the cash is received

from other persons in the formof cash sales, loan, gift or dona-tions.

In case the cash is claimedto be out of receipts exemptfrom tax (agricultural incomeetc but excluding cases of giftand donation), further detailscan be provided under remarks.

“If receipts exempt from taxare not in line with the taxpay-er profile or other availableinformation, the case may beselected for verification based onrisk criteria,” the user guide said.

If cash is claimed to be outof earlier income or savings, fur-ther details can be providedunder remarks. If this informa-tion is not in line with the tax-payer profile or other availableinformation, the case may beselected for verification based onrisk criteria.

The Tax Department willselect some cases for verifica-tion based on risk criteria. “Ifthe case is selected for verifi-cation, request for additionalinformation and its responsewill also be communicateddigitally (either by e-mail orSMS),” the guide said. �

'#���"������� � ��#"��� ����($���&����"� �� �"� �������!�

���� #� ��� � With a viewto expedite tax assess-m e n t s , t h e r e v e n u edepartment proposes tomake it mandator y fort a x p ay e r s t o f i l e I - Treturns as wel l as revisedreturns by March end ofthe assessment year (AY).

T h e d e p ar t m e nt , i nt h e m e m o r a n d u m t oFinance Bi l l 2017 , hasalso proposed a fee fordelayed f i l ing of incometax returns. In case ofp e o p l e w h o s e t o t a lincome does not exceed�5 lakh, �1,000 fee wouldbe charged.

If the income exceeds�5 lakh, a fee of �5,000shal l be payable i f thereturn is f i led af ter Julyb u t o n o r b e f o r e

D e c e m b e r 3 1 o f t h eAssessment Year (AY). Afee of �10,000 shal l bepayable i f ITR is f i ledafter December.

“In order to expeditea s s e s s m e n t s o f t h eDepartment, it is cr it icalthat the returns for ana s s e s s m e n t y e a r a l s ofreeze by the end of thea s s e s s m e n t y e a r. I t i shence proposed to amendthe provisions of sub-sec-tion (5) of sect ion 139 toprovide that the t ime forf u r n i s h i n g o f r e v i s e dreturn shal l be avai lableup to the end of the rel-evant assessment year orbefore the complet ion ofassessment, whichever isearl ier,” said the memo-randum to the Finance

Bil l 2017.This effectively means

that people f i l ing IncomeTax returns have to f i le itwith the department byMarch end of the assess-ment year i .E return forf iscal 2017-18 has to bef i led by March 2019.

C B D T C h a i r p e r s o nS u s h i l C h a n d r a s a i d :“ Today we have 1 crorepeople below �2.5 lakhincome filing tax returns.So i f they are f i l ing ITR,w e w a n t t h e m t o f i l ereturns on t ime. So nowtimely f i l ing of ITR ismandator y.”

So far assesses werepermitted to file delayedincome tax returns oneyear after the completionof the assessment year. �

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���� #� ���� Investments bystate-run firms under thePower Ministry have beenbudgeted slightly lower by 8.3per cent at �62,600.37 crore in2017-18 compared to the bud-get estimates of this fiscal.

The Government had esti-mated an expenditure of�68,256.80 crore by these cen-tral public sector undertak-ings, including NTPC, NHPC,PGCIL and NEEPCO, in thisfiscal but it was revised downto �67,532.04 crore in thebudget presented yesterday inthe Lok Sabha by FinanceMinister Arun Jaitley.

According to the expen-diture budget, the govern-ment had budgeted �30,000crore investment by powergiant NTPC for the current fis-cal which has been reducedslightly to �28,000 crore fornext fiscal.Similarly, invest-

ment by state-run hydropower generator NHPC ispegged at �3,089.36 crore for2017-18, lower than revisedbudget estimates of �3,103.25crore.

For Damodar Vally Corp,the investment has been bud-geted at �2,167.15 crore fornext fiscal against revised esti-mate of �1,362.54 crore in thebudget presented yesterday.Last budget had pegged theexpenditure at �3,302.67 crore.

However, the investmentby North Eastern Electric

Power Company (NEEPCO)has been pegged at �1,561.25crore for next fiscal againstrevised estimate of �1,741.79crore.

Similarly, the investmentby Satluj Jal Vidut Nigam Ltdhas also been increased to�1,068 crore for next fiscalfrom �1000 crore provided inBudget of last year which waslater revised to �600 crore.

In case of Tehri HydroDevelopment Corp, the invest-ment is budgeted at �1,714.61crore next fiscal, higher than�1,439.37 crore provided forthis fiscal, which was revisedto �1,724.46 crore.

The investment in PowerGrid Corp has also beenincreased to �25,000 crore fornext fiscal from �22,500 croreprovided for this fiscal, whichwas later revised to �24,000crore. �

���� #� ���� With the Budgetproposing to withdraw long-term capital gains tax exemp-tion if shares were purchasedwithout paying STT, venturecapital and private equityinvestors want clarity fromthe Government to keep theirinvestment in unlisted firmsand the ESOPs exempted.

While the new provision ismainly aimed at checking mis-use of this exemption for taxevasion through ‘sham trans-actions’ in stock market, it alsoprovides for continued exemp-tion for “genuine cases” whereSTT could not have been paidlike in acquisition of shares inIPOs, FPOs, bonus or rightsissue of shares by listed firmsby non residents.

However, there is no men-tion of ESOPs or purchase ofshares in unlisted companiesby PE or VC investors whotypically seek to sell theirshares post listing and there-fore STT (SecuritiesTransaction Tax) may not havebeen charged at the time ofpurchase of shares or grant ofESOPs.

The investors and thestart-ups, where a trend isprevalent for grant of ESOPsand investment by PEs and

VCs much before listing, fearthat the proposed amendmentto rules governing tax exemp-tions for long-term capitalgains could potentially place anonerous tax burden on suchtransactions.

Therefore, they want clar-ity of application of new rules.Currently, the income arisingfrom transfer of long-termcapital asset, being equity shareof a company or a unit of anequity-oriented fund, isexempt from tax.

Eminent charteredaccountant S Ravi said theannouncement of allowingLTCG exemption for incomearising on transfer of equityshares acquired or on afterOctober 1, 2004 only if theacquisition of shares is charge-able to STT would curb eva-sion of capital gains viainvestment in spurious com-panies.

“It is expected that theFinance Ministry would pro-vide clarifications shortly toexclude genuine transactionssuch as FDI, ESOPs, IPOS,bonus issues which do notattract STT on acquisition,”said Ravi, who is managingpartner of Ravi Rajan & Coand an independent director

on the board of public limitedcompanies.

“However, till the mattergets clarified, the tool ofESOPs/sweat equity which wasutilized to motivate employeesin start-ups stands destabi-lized on account of taxationconcerns.

“Besides, many corporatehouses using the method ofgifting listed shares for effec-tive tax planning as well as PEinvestors having received pref-erential allotment of shares inoff-market transaction mayface the burden of taxation inthe financial year 2017-18,” headded.

There is apprehension thatany sale of employee stockownership plans (ESOPs)might also attract long-term

capital gains tax as STT wasnot paid when the ESOPs wereissued. ESOPs granted before2004 might also be taxed if notnotified.

The long-term capitalgains from sale of unlistedshares in the hands of non-res-idents attract a tax of 10 percent.

“With a view to preventingthis abuse, it is proposed toamend section 10(38) to providethat exemption under this sec-tion for income arising on trans-fer of equity shares acquired oron after October 1, 2004, shallbe available only if the acquisi-tion of shares is chargeable toSTT,” said the memorandum tothe Finance Bill 2017.

However, to protect theexemption for genuine cases

where STT could not have beenpaid like acquisition of share inIPO, FPO, bonus or right issueby a listed company acquisitionby a non-resident, it has beenproposed “to notify transfers forwhich the condition of charge-ability to STT on acquisitionwould not be applicable”.

This amendment will takeeffect from the assessment year2018-19.

IVCA President RajatTandon said, “It is not clear ifVC/PE investments in unlistedshares will suffer higher rates ofLTCG taxation when sold afterthe IPO event”.

“An unintended conse-quence of this rule is to poten-tially place an onerous tax bur-den on ESOPs -- which repre-sent the most powerful wealthcreation instrument that cash-strapped start-ups use to moti-vate employees -- when theirshares are sold post-listing,” headded.

IVCA intends to initiate adialogue with Finance Ministryon this matter and ensure thatthe exclusion notification cov-ers all transactions related toSebi-registered VC/PE funds,such as Domestic VentureCapital Funds (DVCFs) andAIFs, Tandon said.

���� #� ���� Investment outlayfor state-owned Bharat SancharNigam Ltd has been reduced to�4,300 crore for 2017-18, com-pared to the Budget Estimate of�7,317 crore for the current fis-cal.

The expenditure estimatefor the telecom PSU in therevised estimates for 2016-17 hasbeen lowered to �4,800 crore.

However, the outlay forBharat Broadband Network Ltd(BharatNet), aimed at providingbroadband connectivity in grampanchayats in the country, hasbeen stepped up to �11,033crore for the next fiscal.

The outlay for Bharat Net inthe Budget Estimate for 2016-17was about �9,418 crore but theactual expenditure, as per therevised estimate, is likely to be�7,366.34 crore.

The total outlay for all tele-com PSUs, which includes oth-ers like TCIL and CDOT, standsat �15,435.75 crore for FY18,higher than the revised estimateof �11,783.27 crore but lowerthan the budget estimate of�16,895.70 crore for this fiscal.

Budget 2017-18 has alsoprovided for a grant of �200crore for the ailing Indian

Telephone Industries, accordingto the expenditure budget.

The provision for BharatNet project pertains to creationof telecom infrastructurerequired for providing broad-band connectivity to gram pan-chayats and facilitating non-discriminatory access to serviceproviders, for provision ofbroadband services in ruralareas, it said.

Amongst the telecom pub-lic enterprises, investment out-lay for Centre for Developmentof Telematics would be Rs 120crore for the coming financialyear, and over �35 crore forTelecommunications ConsultantIndia Ltd.

Meanwhile, Governmenthas slashed revenue expecta-

tion from the telecom sector by55 per cent to �44,342.2 crorefor 2017-18.

In the receipt estimates, theGovernment has pegged rev-enue from communications at�44,342.2 crore, whichincludes “licence fees fromTelecom Services Providers”and “one time entry fees fromnew operators”.

In 2016-17, theGovernment had estimatedrevenue of �98,994.93 crorefrom telecom sector, whichincluded about �64,000 crorefrom spectrum auction and therest from licence fees andother charges.

It may be recalled that theDepartment of Telecom hadplaced for auction airwavesworth �5.66 lakh crore inOctober 2016, which fetchedtotal bids worth about just�65,789 crore.

Government receivedaround �32,400 crore as par-tial payment from successfulbidders in spectrum auctionand rest f rom non-taxcharges. Overall, the telecomsector fetched revenue of�78,715.01 crore forGovernment in 2016-17. �

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Days af ter Nat iona lCompany Law Tribunal

refused relief, ousted TataSons chairman Cyrus Mistryon Thursday moved theAppellate Tribunal seekingstay on the shareholdermeeting of the Tata Group’sholding company, called onFebruar y 6 to seek hisremoval.

The National CompanyLaw Appel late Tr ibunal(NCLAT) has listed the peti-tion for hearing tomorrow,according to the quasi-judi-cial body’s agenda listing.

Two investment firmsbacked by the Mistry hasmoved the NCLAT throughtheir law firm ‘Jaitley andBakshi’.

On Januar y 31 , t heMumbai bench of National

C ompany L aw Tr ibunal(NCLT) had refused to granta stay on February 6 EGM.

“This issue was alreadydecided in the last hearingwhen the contempt petitionfiled by two Mistry familycompanies was dismissed.There are no roadblocks forTata Sons to hold the EGM.It can go ahead with theforthcoming EGM,” had saida division bench of NCLTcompris ing BSV PrasadKumar (Member-Judicial)

and V Nal las enapat hy(Member-Technical).

On January 18, NCLThad dismissed contempt pleafiled by Mistry group com-panies alleging violation ofNCLT directives in takingsteps to remove Mistry fromthe Board of Tata Sons.

However, while dismiss-ing contempt plea, NCLThad allowed Mistry compa-nies to file an affidavit onthe issue of Tata Sons hold-ing EGM on February 6.

����#� ���� �In a shot in thearm for Reliance Jio, telecomregulator TRAI on Thursdaygave a clean chit to the bil-lionaire Mukesh Ambani-runfirm’s free voice calling anddata plan on its mobile ser-vices, saying the scheme is nota violation of the regulatoryguidelines on promotionaloffers.

In a letter to incumbentoperators Bharti Airtel andIdea Cellular, TRAI said Jio’sHappy New Year Offer has notbeen found to be violative ofthe principles of non-dis-crimination, inter-connect rulecompliance and non-preda-tion.

TRAI further said that itsexamination had revealed thatthe Happy New Year Offerlaunched by Reliance Jio onDecember 4, 2016 is distinctfrom its earlier Welcome Offer

and cannot be treated as anextension of earlier promo-tional offer as the benefitsunder both sets of promotionaloffers differ.

The Happy New YearOffer, TRAI said, gives anopening and closing date with-in the prescribed limit of 90days and the eligibility condi-tions.

In the offer, there is a dif-ferent data limit and provisionfor getting a higher speedafter prescribed payment oncethe data limit is exhausted.

India’s largest mobileoperator Bharti Airtel and itssmaller rival Idea Cellular hadmoved telecom tribunalTDSAT against the regulatorfor allowing the MukeshAmbani-led telecom ventureto continue free promotion-al offer beyond the stipulat-ed 90 days. �

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New York: US First LadyMelania Trump and her 10-year-old son Barron may neverpermanently move to theWhite House, according to amedia report.

Donald Trump, 70, andhis wife Melania announced inNovember that the First Ladywould relocate from New YorkCity to Washington DC oncetheir son Barron finishes up theschool year. But a family insid-er has told the Us Weekly thatmay not happen.

"They will reevaluate towardthe end of the school year if theywill keep this arrangement or ifMelania and Barron will moveto Washington," the source wasquoted as saying.

"They could go either wayright now. They will ultimate-ly do what's best for Barron,"the source said.

Though living apart isunprecedented for a Presidentand First Lady, it suits thefiercely independent Trump,the report said. PTI

Washington: The Trumpadministration has no plans tocome out with an executiveorder on H-1B visas, a promi-nent Indian-American donorand supporter of the USPresident claimed onWednesday, contradictingmedia reports that have gen-erated anxiety in India.

"There will be a need ofmore H-1B visas. The numberof people on H-1B from Indiais certainly going to increase,"Chicago-based Shalabh 'Shalli'Kumar, head of the RepublicanHindu Coalition, told reportersat a news conference.

Responding to a volley ofquestions, Kumar claimed thatcontrary to the reports in themedia, there is no executiveorder being worked upon by theWhite House on H-1B visa.

For the American economyto grow, IT would have to playan important role.

"As such I visualise need of

more IT workers in the US," hesaid, adding that the US hashuge shortage of IT workerswhich can be filled up only byIndian IT professionals.

Of the view that the Trumpadministration would be work-ing to ensure that there is nofraud and abuse of H-1B visas,Kumar said he believes that theWhite House would work toeliminate country-quotatowards allocation of greencards for legal permanent res-idents.

"This would be of greathelp to Indian IT profession-als," he said, adding that thecurrent wait time for Indians toget a green card could be asmany as 35 years.

According to reports,President Donald Trump maysoon crack down on US tem-porary work visas including theH-1B and L-1 visas that areused widely by Indian techcompanies.

The H-1B visa is a non-immigrant visa that allows USfirms to employ foreign work-ers in speciality occupationsthat require theoretical or tech-nical expertise in specialisedfields. The technology compa-nies depend on it to hire tensof thousands of employeeseach year.

During his campaign,Trump had promised toincrease oversight of our H-1Band L-1 visa programmes.

Supporting the executiveorders of Trump on immigra-tion and visa ban, Kumar saidhe would prefer this to beexpanded to other countrieslike Pakistan.

Kumar said the US gov-ernment is currently reviewingthe list of countries, and ifPakistan does not start co-operating with the US, there isvery high probability of it beingincluded in the list of visa bancountries. PTI

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President Donald Trump hasurged the Senate's

Republican leader to resort tothe "nuclear option" of scrap-ping longstanding chamberrules if needed to confirmSupreme Court nominee NeilGorsuch, an aggressive openingto what's shaping up as a fero-cious clash over the future ofthe High Court.

At the White House a dayafter nominating Gorsuch,Trump endorsed a scenariothat would involve majorityRepublicans unilaterallychanging Senate rules overthe objections of theDemocratic minority.

It could come into play ifDemocrats try to blockGorsuch's confirmation with afilibuster, as the liberal base isdemanding, and would allowthe GOP to confirm Gorsuchwith a simple majority insteadof the 60 votes now needed.

Washington: President DonaldTrump threatened in a phone callwith his Mexican counterpart tosend US troops to stop "badhombres down there" unless theMexican military does more tocontrol them, according to anexcerpt of a transcript of the con-versation obtained by TheAssociated Press.

The excerpt of the call didnot detail who exactly Trumpconsidered "bad hombres," nordid it make clear the tone andcontext of the remark, made ina Friday morning phone callbetween the leaders. It also didnot contain Mexican PresidentEnrique Pena Nieto's response.

Still, the excerpt offers arare and striking look at howthe new president is conduct-ing diplomacy behind closeddoors. Trump's remarks suggesthe is using the same tough andblunt talk with world leadersthat he used to rally crowds onthe campaign trail. AP

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Kuwait City: Kuwait has sus-pended the issuance of visas fornationals of Syria, Iraq,Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iran.

After US President DonaldTrump's executive order ban-ning seven Muslim-majoritycountries last Friday, theKuwaiti Government has toldwould-be migrants from thefive banned nations to notapply for visas, as it is worriedabout the possible migration ofradical Islamic terrorists,Sputnik International reported.

Under the executive ordersigned by Trump, refugeesfrom all over the world will bedenied US entry for 120 dayswhile all immigration fromso-called "countries with ter-rorism concerns" will be sus-pended for 90 days. The coun-

tries included in the US ban areIraq, Syria, Iran, Sudan, Libya,Somalia and Yemen.

Kuwait was the only nationto prohibit the entry of Syriannationals prior to Trump's exec-utive action. Kuwait City pre-viously issued a suspension ofvisas for all Syrians in 2011.

A group of militantsbombed a Shia mosque in2015, killing 27 Kuwaiti nation-als. A 2016 survey conductedby Expat Insider ranked Kuwaitone of the worst nations in theworld for expatriates, primar-ily due to its strict cultural laws.

As a member of the GulfCooperation Council (GCC),Kuwait has become embroiledin escalated tensions betweenthe GCC and Iran. Washingtonhas been a guarantor of GCCsecurity since the early 1990s,according to a CongressionalResearch Service brief. IANS

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Beijing: China has reportedlytested a new version of a missilethat can carry up to 10 nuclearwarheads, signalling a majorshift in its nuclear capability asBeijing gears up for a possiblemilitary showdown with theUS under Trump Presidency.

The flight test of the DF-5Cmissile was carried out lastmonth using 10 multiple inde-pendently targetable reentryvehicles, or MIRVs, theWashington Free Beaconreported.

The test of the inert war-heads was monitored closely byUS intelligence agencies, saidtwo officials familiar withreports of the missile test.

The Dongfeng-5C missile,carrying 10 dummy warheads,was launched from the TaiyuanSpace Launch Centre in Shanxiprovince, and flew to a desert inwestern China, the report said.

The missile is a new vari-

ant of the DF-5, an interconti-nental ballistic missile that firstwent into service in the early1980's. "The [DefenceDepartment] routinely moni-tors Chinese military develop-ments and accounts for PLAcapabilities in our defenceplans," Pentagon spokesmanCommander Gary Ross wasquoted as saying by the report.

For decades, the US has putthe estimated number of war-heads in China's nuclear arse-nal at about 250.

But the report suggestedthat the latest test with 10 war-heads meant the actual numbercould be larger. China alsobegan adding warheads toolder DF-5 missiles in Februarylast year, according to US intel-ligence agencies.

US defence officials havepreviously warned that China'srapid development of long-range ballistic missiles, coupled

with a lack of transparencyabout its nuclear capabilities,could bring uncertainty to sta-bility in the region.

The timing of the test coin-cided with the election ofDonald Trump as US Presidentwho signalled a tougher stanceagainst China over a range ofissues, from the trade deficit toBeijing's military build-up inthe disputed South China Sea.

Chinese military expertfrom an institute affiliated withthe People's Liberation Army,(PLA) said a new test wouldnot have been aimed at Trump.

"The test of a nuclear mis-sile requires permission fromthe highest level – the CentralMilitary Commission. It takesat least one year for the militaryto get the approval and to pre-pare for it," the Hong Kong-based South China MorningPost quoted unnamed expert assaying. PTI

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London: Britain moved onestep closer to a final separationfrom the EU as members of theUK Parliament voted over-whelmingly in favour of allow-ing the Government to beginBrexit negotiations.

Members of the House ofCommons voted onWednesday by 498 to 114 toadvance the bill that would givePrime Minister Theresa Maythe authority to invoke Article50 of the Lisbon Treaty — theformal process of leaving theEU.

The bill now faces furtherscrutiny in the Commons andthe House of Lords before itcan become law.

Earlier, May had confirmedthat she will be publishing aWhite Paper on her Brexitstrategy.

In response to a query byConservative MP Maria Miller,May told the House ofCommons: "I can inform myRight Hon Friend and theHouse that that White Paperwill be published tomorrow(Thursday)".

Under pressure from theOpposition and some of herown rebel MPs, the BritishPM had announced last weekthat she would be publishing aWhite Paper on the negotiatingplans for Britain's exit from theEU in due course.

"The White Paper willreflect the plan already set outby the Prime Minister in herBrexit speech," a DowningStreet spokesperson toldreporters at a briefing onWednesday morning.

PTI

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Washington/Canberra: Thefirst phone call between DonaldTrump and Australian PrimeMinister Malcolm Turnbull hasturned out to be a diplomaticdisaster after the US Presidentwent public to describe anObama-era agreement withAustralia to accept over 1,200refugees a "dumb deal."

The Washington Postreported that Trump calledthe conversation with Turnbull"the worst by far" of his callswith world leaders that day, andcut it short after 25 minutes.

During Trump's call withTurnbull last Saturday, the USPresident objected to an agree-ment over America receivingrefugees, the CNN reported.

The disagreement came asthe two leaders discussed anagreement, reached under theObama administration, for theUS to accept over 1,200refugees from Australia whoare living in offshore detentioncentres on the Pacific nationsof Nauru and Papua NewGuinea. PTI

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Washington: PresidentDonald Trump's national secu-rity adviser has said the admin-istration is putting Iran "onnotice" after it tested a ballis-tic missile, allegedly in viola-tion of a UN resolution.

"As of today, we are offi-cially putting Iran on notice,"Michael Flynn said, signallinga tougher stance against theIslamic country than the pre-vious Obama dispensation.

In a statement that canhave far-reaching implicationsin the Middle East, Flynn saidrecent Iranian actions, includ-ing the "provocative" ballisticmissile launch on Sunday andan attack against a Saudi navalvessel conducted by Iran-sup-ported Houthi militants,"underscore what should havebeen clear to the internation-al community all along aboutIran's destabilising behaviour"across the region.

Flynn said these are justthe latest of a series of incidentsin the past six months inwhich Houthi forces that Iran

has trained and armed havestruck Emirati and Saudi ves-sels, and threatened US andallied vessels transiting theRed Sea.

The adviser said that theballistic missile launch, thefirst by Iran since Trumpbecome president, is in con-travention of UN SecurityCouncil Resolution 2231.

The resolution calls uponIran not to undertake anyactivity related to ballistic mis-siles designed to be capable ofdelivering nuclear weapons,including launches using suchballistic missile technology.

According to reports,Iran's missile test occurred ata well-known site outsideSemnan, about 225 km east ofTehran. The Khorramshahrmedium-range ballistic missileflew 600 miles before explod-ing, in a failed test of a reen-try vehicle.

In these and other similaractivities, Iran continues tothreaten US friends and allies inthe region, Flynn said. PTI

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New York: A 38-year-old hijab-wearing cop has sued the NewYork Police Department, sayingthat fellow officers bullied herby calling "terrorist, Taliban"and while others tried to tearthe headscarf off her head,media report said on Thursday.

Danielle Alamrani whojoined the department in 2006,was converted to Islam a yearlater. She started gettingharassed, bullied — and evenbeat up — when she beganwearing a hijab to work in2008, according to a new law-suit.

Once she started going towork in head garb, Alamrani'sfellow officers retaliated bycalling her names like "terror-ist" and "Taliban" and tellingher "that she should not be apolice officer," claimed in a law-suit filed in Manhattan feder-al court. PTI

Islamabad: In a sharp reactionto India's demand for "crediblecrackdown" on Mumbai attackmastermind Hafiz Saeed,Pakistan on Thursday said Indiashould look at its own "involve-ment" in fomenting militancyon Pakistani soil before point-ing fingers at others.

India had reacted cau-tiously to Saeed's detention,saying only a "credible crack-down" on terror outfits, includ-ing Saeed's, will provePakistan's sincerity as suchactions had been taken against

the 26/11 mastermind in thepast too.

Foreign Office SpokesmanNafees Zakari, at his weeklybriefing, was asked to commenton the Indian reaction toPakistan's action against Saeed.

Zakaria said he had readthe Indian reaction and sharplyadded that India should look atits own role in militancy inPakistan than pointing a fingerat Islamabad.

"India itself has beeninvolved in terrorist activities inPakistan," he said. PTI

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India captain Virat Kohli says he is ben-efitting from the immense experience

of Mahendra Singh Dhoni in taking deci-sions in the limited overs format, whichis relatively new for him in terms of lead-ership.

India claimed the T20 series 2-1 aftera comprehensive 75-run win in the thirdand final T20, on Wednesday night.

"Although I have captained in the Testformat for a while, ODI and T20 gamesmove very fast. So to take advice from aperson (Dhoni) who has captained theside at this level for so long and under-stands the game really well is never a badidea in crucial situations," Kohli said.

The young captain disclosed that hewanted Hardik Pandya to bowl after star-performer Yuzvendra Chahal's quotawas over but was advised by Dhoni andAshish Nehra to hand the ball to JaspritBumrah, who scalped two wickets in threeballs to finish the game.

"Bringing on Bumrah right after thatover from Chahal, I was thinking of giv-ing (Hardik) Pandya another over instead.(Dhoni and Nehra) suggested that let's notwait till the 19th over and instead bringon the main bowlers. So these things real-ly help when you are a new captain in thelimited-overs format.

"But again, I am not new to captain-cy, but there has to be a balance betweenunderstanding the skills needed to leadin shorter formats. MS has been helpinga lot on that front."

Kohli said the Indian team, which hasmany yougsters, has made a very fastprogress.

"We got the results we wanted.Obviously winning all three series feelsreally, really good right now because we'reup against a top-quality side. We under-stand that and to come on top after theend of all three series is a great feeling alto-gether knowing that we didn't have thatmuch experience in our teams.

"The Test team is almost as good asnew. Even in the one-day circuit, we have3-4 experienced guys, but rest of the guyswho stepped up are all youngsters, whichis, I think, is a massive, massive boost forIndian cricket," he said.

Kohli said the biggest takeaway forwinning all three series for the team wasthe "youngsters were hungry to winmatches for the team instead focusing onindividual performances."

Kohli said wickets in the middle oversby spinner Yajuvendra Chahal made thejob easy for them.

"If we don't get wickets in middleovers any total is chaseable in Bengaluru.No total looks far-fetched and any battinglineup in the world can explode in theend. So, key today was to take wickets inmiddle overs and Chahal did a good jobto take those wickets," he said.

Kohli also said that England's battingcollapse will not hamper English players'chances in IPL auction. The visitors lost

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Adisappointed England cap-tain Eoin Morgan has

labelled the team's batting per-formance as their worst in a"couple of years" after the visitorswitnessed a dramatic collapse tonot only lose the third and finalT20 International against Indiabut also the series.

Needing 203 to win thematch, and the series, Englandwere were right on course at 119for the loss of two wickets in the14th over before losing eightwickets in a span of eight runs tobe bowled out for 127 midwaythrough the 17th over.

Young leg-spinnerYuzvendra Chahal was the archi-tect of India's win by returning

with third best figures in T20cricket with stats of six for 25, thebest by an Indian.

"It was very disappointing.For maybe 60 per cent of thegame we were competitive andright in amongst it, but fell awayterribly towards the end. Wecommitted a cardinal sin of los-ing two inform players in oneover and allowed India to builda little bit of pressure and weweren't up to it at all," Morgansaid at the post-match pressconference on Wednesday afterlosing the series-deciding thirdT20I by 75 runs at the MChinnaswamy Stadium here.

Comfortably batting at 40 off21 balls, Morgan was the first ofthose two wickets to go downand then another set batsman Joe

Root (42 from 37 balls) followedin the next delivery from Chahal.

Morgan said bating has beenEngland's strong point for quitesome time now but feels in thisseries the bowlers have outper-formed the batsmen.

"No, I can't (put a finger onwhy the collapse happened). Wehaven't produced a batting per-formance as bad as that in a cou-ple of years. We pride ourselveson our batting, it has been ourstrong point for a long time butin this series our bowlers haveoutperformed our batsmen," hesaid.

"I thought we (me and Root)were going quite well. Majorityof the runs at this ground arealways scored in the last 10overs. I think we needed 110 off

the last 10 with eight wickets inhands. A better performancefrom either me or Joe - a 70 or80 from me or him could havemade a huge difference," headded.

"(But) Hat's off to India,they really played well and put inperformances worthy of winningthe series," Morgan said.

Morgan said it was disap-pointing they could not rotatethe strike quite often to tackle thepressure of an ever

"The one thing you do wantto do is rotate the strike. It actu-ally gets your eye in, you get towatch the ball from both ends.It's disappointing that we didn'tdo that. It might have taken a bitof smarter cricket to wrestleback momentum," the English

skipper said.Talking about the limited

overs rubber against India,Morgan said losing the ODIseries was more painful than theT20 series.

"In the ODIs, it was onlyabout 15-20 runs between win-ning and losing the series.Probably that hurts us morethan losing this (T200 series," hesaid.

"Looking at the perfor-mances in the ODIs, we werepotentially worth of winningthe series. In the T20 series,probably the last game hurt usmore. The game got away fromus, we should have won. Todaywe underperformed and weweren't good enough," Morganadded.

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Centuries from Faf du Plessis andDavid Miller helped South

Africa thrash Sri Lanka by 121 runsin their second one-day interna-tional at Kingsmead on Wednesdaynight.

Du Plessis' steady 105 was com-plemented by Miller's unbeaten117 from 98 balls, which saw SouthAfrica post 307 for six on a dry sur-face that took turn from early in thematch.

"It's hard to single out whichhad a better knock, because theywere both match-winning innings,"de Villiers said in a television inter-view.

"I thought it was a 10 out of 10batting performance." In reply, SriLanka was bowled out for 186inside 38 overs, as left-arm seamerWayne Parnell struck twice upfront and spinners Imran Tahir andJP Duminy also took two wicketsapiece.

The result gave South Africa its11th straight win on home soil, aswell as a 2-0 lead in the five-matchseries.

It did find itself under pressureearly on when it was put in to batand slumped to 108 for four, but Du

Plessis and Miller added 117 for thefifth wicket at a good rate.

Du Plessis was fortunate to bedropped on 63 at slip off the bowl-ing of Lakshan Sandakan early inthe partnership, but made the mostof that break as he brought up his

seventh ODI century.The right-hander fell with eight

overs remaining as he attempted toclear long-on, but Miller wasdropped the very next ball andcashed in as he added a further 50runs to his score from just 27 balls.

The left-hander went to hisfourth one-day century at the startof the final over, and then hit twomore sixes to finish with six maxi-mums from the innings.

Although Sri Lanka startedbrightly in reply to South Africa'simposing total, with NiroshanDickwella (25) and Upul Tharanga(26) taking the attack to the hosts,Parnell dismissed both openers inthe space of four deliveries.

Kusal Mendis (20) and DineshChandimal (36) also offered hope,but were equally responsible forthrowing away promising starts.

Once they were dismissed, SriLanka's hopes evaporated andDuminy and Tahir ran through thetail.

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Ranchi Rays defeated table toppers Dabang Mumbai 7-3 in the 12th match of the Coal India Hockey India

League at the AstroTurf Hockey Stadium here on Thursday.Skipper Florian Fuchs (second minute), Affan

Yousuf (51st minute) were the goal scorers for Mumbai,while Ashley Jackson (5th and 49th) and MohammadAmir Khan (16th minute) and Imran Khan (57thminute) scored for the hosts who came into the matchwinless in the last two matches.

Both teams started the match at a frenetic pace, attack-ing each other constantly, as a result the 12th match ofthe league saw two field goals in the first five minutes ofthe game.

The opening goal was scored by Mumbai's Fuchs inthe second minute. After a few fumbles, the ball landedin front of him in the circle and he reverse hit the ballinto the net to give his team a 2-0 lead.

Almost immediately, Ranchi Rays, who were play-ing the match without their star player Christopher Ruhrequalled the scoreline.

Skipper Jackson found the back of the net when histeam needed it the most. The seasoned Britain playerdeflected Manpreet Singh's free hit into the net to bringback his team into the contest.

�+6�$��?/,9$92�0,/-?�(,+5�-6+9$%����� ������2����������������*�)������6������������������������������������

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Virat Kohli maintained his top spot in the lat-est ICC rankings of T20 batsmen while India

have gained a spot by virtue of their series winagainst England to climb to the second spot in theteam rankings.

Kohli leads number-two ranked Aaron Finchof Australia by 28 points, while Glenn Maxwell ofAustralia is third.

Kohli is ranked second in Tests and third inODIs which makes him the only Indian batsmanin top five across all formats.

Jasprit Bumrah also maintained his secondposition in the bowlers' table with a four-point dif-ference between him and Imran Tahir.Ravichandran Ashwin is 8th in the list while AshishNehra is 24th.

England's Joe Root and India wrist-spinnerYuzvendra Chahal have made impressive gains afterrankings released today following the three-matchseries, which concluded yesterday.

Root finished as the leading run-scorer in theseries with 126 runs for which he has beenrewarded with a two-place jump putting him in fifthposition.

Among Indian batsmen, next best is KLRahul, who gained 15 places to be at 15th.

India's Yuzvendra Chahal, who took six for 25in the series decider — the third-best figures in theshortest format of the game to date — has rocket-ed 92 places to claim 86th position.

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eight wickets for as many runs to suf-fer a dramatic slide in the match.

"I don't think the collapse isgoing to hamper anyone's chances ofbeing picked in the IPL. It alldepends, which team wants who,who provides better balance towhichever franchise they could playfor. As I said a lot of them are goingto be up for grabs. I can assure youthat," he told reporters after thematch here at Chinnaswamy stadi-um.

Unlike earlier years when

England players were not availablein large numbers at the lucrative IPLauction, the scenario will be differ-ent this time, England Captain EoinMorgan had said at Cuttack recent-

ly.Morgan hoped a lot of English

players would be available for theauction and hopefully, they would bepicked up and playing the majority

of the games.The auctioning for the 10th

edition is scheduled to be held heresoon and would be the final oneunder the 10-year contract.

As many as 140 cricketers,including 44 overseas cricketershave been retained by eight IPL fran-chises.

The window for retention ofplayers closed on December 15 andseven teams except KKR (KolkataKnight Riders) have retained morethan 20 players.

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Indian spinner YuzvendraChahal, star performer in

third Twenty20 with a six-wicket haul, says he wasrewarded for his consistentoutside off stump line.

Chahal returned third bestfigures in T20 cricket withstats of six for 25, the best byan Indian.

"When Joe Root andMorgan were going great guns,I planned to bowl to them onthe off side after discussing itwith Mahi (Dhoni) and Viratbhai, because hitting becomesdifficult by maintaining thatline," he told reporters at thepost-match press conference.

Chahal's superlative per-formance won him the Man-of-the Match award.

"When England werebowling, the ball was turning alot and gripping and also com-ing off the pitch slowly.Therefore, I planned to bowlfuller to Billings and JasonRoy with the new ball becausethey are good batsmen. Then Iwatched Mishy (Mishra) bhai

— he was getting turn andvarying the pace of the ball,which I adopted. That helpedme get wickets," he said.

India captain Virat Kohlihad also singled out him forspecial praise.

"We have lot of spinnersavailable in middle overs, whoare wicket-taking bowlers -who are not just run-contain-ing bowlers. That is why Iwould back someone likeChahal, and that is why in IPL,I play him in most of thegames. He never says no tobowl at any situation and thatis why he ends up taking morewickets," Kohli said.

Chahal said his aim was toget at least three wickets evenif he went for 40 runs in thestipulated four overs because heknew bowlers would go forruns for the ground is smaller.

"I have not played thatmany matches for India, butwhenever I play in Bengaluru,I feel it is like my home. I havetaken wickets here. I would liketo continue with this kind ofperformance in the upcomingdomestic and IPL matches."

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Depending on the kind of relation-ship you share with your partner,the problems in the relationship

too could be just as unique. But, almostalways, all problems in a relationship caneasily be placed into certain well-definedcategories.

At some point or other, these prob-lems have a way of creeping into yourromance. Keep an eye on these issues, andunderstand how to overcome them, andyou'll see how easy it can be to eliminateall the frustrations you experience in arelationship.

Remember this: You cannot stopproblems from cropping up in a relation-ship no matter how perfect the relation-ship is. What you can do, instead, is elim-inate the frustration as soon as younotice them.

We are all changing all the time, in ourpreferences and the way we look at life. Donot assume you know everything abouteach other or your romance will start tostagnate, or one of you will start to con-fide in some other person who seems toshow better understanding.

Firstly, do you trust your partnerenough to feel comfortable with he/shegoing out for dinner with someone else?If you don't, perhaps, you're insecure oryour relationship is still too fragile.

And secondly, do you trust yourpartner's decisions? Do you think yourpartner is capable of making importantdecisions for the both of you? If you can't

trust your partner with life altering deci-sions, it's obvious that you don't respectyour partner or their opinions. Andthat's never a good sign in a long termrelationship.

You need to learn to have faith in eachother and in the relationship. Instead ofletting negativity build inside the relation-ship, learn to enjoy each other's success-es. After all, your partner is your betterhalf, and any accomplishments of theirsare your accomplishments too, isn't it?

Love at first sight and infatuation canlast several months. And it does a goodjob of making any differences in a relation-ship. As perfect as two people may be,sometimes, they may just not be perfectfor each other.

Anyone in a relationship for longenough will know just how importantmoney or the lack of it really is. If yourfriends earn a lot more than you or yourpartner, it'll end up frustrating both of you.And, on the other hand, if both of youearn a lot more than your friends, there'llbe a lot of love and happiness in your lives.

It's a stupid fact of life. But our ownhappiness is extremely dependent on theway others perceive us. If you're havingdifficulties in your relationship because ofmoney, perhaps it's time to change yourfriends and see the difference.

You may be in a relationship, but thatdoesn't change who you are. And that'swhere the problem starts. As individuals,we evolve and change all the time. You're

not the person you were last year, and youwon't be the person you are now next year.

And just like you, your partner too ischanging constantly. And every now andthen, you and your partner may experi-ence changes that will pull both of youapart from each other. And soon enough,both of you may have nothing in com-mon. Spend enough time with eachother and try to evolve together in a sim-ilar direction. Talk about your beliefs andyour interests with each other and it'llhelp both of you grow together along thesame path.

Do both of you have enough time tospend with each other? These days,time is a luxury that most lovers can'tafford. When you start spending toomuch time away from each other, it's onlya matter of time before one of you startsasking the big question, "Do I need mypartner in my life anymore?"

Don't drift away so far that both ofyou don't need to be with each other any-more. Find ways to indulge in excitinghobbies or spend evenings going out ona coffee or ice cream date. They make forgreat conversations and it'll bring both ofyou closer too.

Now this is contradictory to the ear-lier problem in relationships. But it's stillsomething to watch out for. Too much ofa good thing can turn out to be bad too.When you're in a relationship, spendingtime with each other is very important.But at the same time, spending time away

from each other is crucial too.By spending too much time togeth-

er, you'd subconsciously feel isolatedfrom the rest of the world. And when thathappens, you'd crave for any attentionfrom other interesting people just to feelbetter about yourself and your ability tocommunicate.

This is the biggest problem in a rela-tionship, and one that's hardest to over-come. Falling in love is easy. When thesexual excitement and the enthusiasmfade away, what do you have to hold bothof you together? A relationship shouldnever be based on sex alone. It needs com-patibility and understanding, and it def-initely needs dependability. Staying in loveforever is not easy, but with a little effort,it can give meaning to your life.

Criticism is staging the problem in arelationship as a character flaw in a part-ner. The opposite: they point a finger atthemselves and they really have a verygentle way of starting up the discussion,minimizing the problem and talkingabout what they feel and what theyneed.

Reaction to criticism takes two forms:counterattacking or acting like an inno-cent victim and whining. The positivepeople accepted the criticism, or eventook responsibility for part of the prob-lem. They said, "Talk to me, I want to hearhow you feel about this."

Contempt is talking down to theirpartner. It predicts relationship break-up.

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The sustenance of bands comes from the real-isation of staying true to their roots, from

going back and forth over time to see what theyrepresent. In 2002, when a group of fourBangaloreans — Vasu Dixit, Abhinanth Kumar,Arjun and Pavan Kumar — for whom music rep-resented universality, formed Swarathma, inde-pendent music wasn’t work. “That was a timewhen indie music was not even a proper genre,let alone be popular,” said Vasu Dixit, vocalist andrhythm guitarist in Swarathma.

Fifteen years hence, Swarathma has evolvedin its musical output; they’re a few hundred gigsand a couple of albums old. In a few days, the bandwill be performing at the Udaipur World MusicFestival. “Since the time we started to now, theindependent scene has well and truly surged. Withso many music festivals across the country, inter-esting collaborations and bands not having todepend on a music label to release tracks, there’sbeen a sea change of trends,” he added.

The band has an undeniably unique sound,combining Indian folk music with western rock.The lead vocalist believed that since all the mem-bers of the band come from different backgroundof music, the mix of all that makes for unique‘Swarathma sound’. “Swarathma has varied musi-cal influences to an extent where we rarely listento common artists. On a personal level, I listento different styles of western music and someamount of fusion-based music every once in awhile. Bands that highly influence me are Muse,Dave Matthews Band, Karnivool, Slash feat. MylesKennedy and The Conspirators and Chickenfoot.Similarly, other members also have their influ-ence. So when we sit together for creating a track,we travel all the genres and the amalgamation ofall those different sounds helps us create our finaltrack,” he added.

Swarathma makes music for their personaljoy ultimately, unlike films, where the beats andtunes are attuned for particular reasons and to

impress an audience. “This makes more sensewhen we call ourselves independent. We’reexpressing our feelings more organically,” elab-orated Vasu.

Swarathma has been in the music industryfor a long time and is well established now. Talkingabout the changes the band witnessed in termsof struggle, tolerance towards unique sounds andevolving techniques of record studios, Vasu said,“The truth about ‘struggle’ is that it doesn't end.Initial struggles give way to ‘established' struggles,if there exists such a term. But the important thingis not to take it negatively. We just kept jammingand playing the gigs that came our way. Yes, wedid work really hard, but we never really saw it

as a struggle. There was a strong belief in the kindof music we were making and that saw us through.Regarding the tolerance towards unique soundsand evolving techniques of record studios, thingshave changed a lot. It is not just the music indus-try that is welcoming different genres but also theaudiences. They love when any band or artisteexperiments with the usual music and presentsto them something they didn’t expect. They areappreciative that way. And of course the technol-ogy has become so advanced that I don’t even haveto move out to some place for recording mymusic. I can sit in my bedroom, record stuff andeven share it with anyone I want.”

He, however, believed that because of all theadvancements, the artiste to artiste interaction hastaken a backstage. “Earlier, the artistes use to goout and meet other people and know more thingsand had ample of experience before creating anytrack. All of that can easily be heard in that artiste’strack too. That is not the case now. I feel if tech-nology has given us something, in return it hastaken a lot.” Swarathma, meanwhile has also beenknown for their inclination to perform forsocial causes. One such moving incident recent-ly, was when an interpreter on stage, through sign-language, represented their lyrics to a different-ly-abled audience and the crowd responded tothem with joy. “I have always believed that musicand art are the two things which are capable ofadding positive value in the society. So throughour music we try and speak of the topics whichneed people’s attention. And since we are luckyenough that our voice is heard by many, then whynot make them hear something they really shouldlisten to,” he said.

Vasu shared that his dream collaboration willbe with all the folk artistes in the world. “It is notabout one folk art from India or anywhere else.I want to collaborate with all the folk artistes inthe world if possible. That’s my dream,” he signed off.

The ‘Compact SUV’ is a segment that was born in Indiafairly recently and if the Ford EcoSport and Vitara Brezza

are any indication, this segment has been extremely success-ful on the sales charts. Their rivals though were caught out;as both those cars are below four meters in length they ben-efit from the excise benefits that larger cars do not. SoHyundai, Toyota and Volkswagen all raised their small cars,slapped on some plastic cladding and started selling themas the i20 Active, Etios Cross and Polo Cross respectively.But they haven’t matched the sales success of their rivals.

After spending almost two months and close to 2000 kilo-meters living with the i20 Active, it makes you wonder why.Hyundai’s i20 has been a stellar sales success for over sevenyears now, the first generation i20 was never expected to bethe sales success, even by Hyundai given the tepid sales oftheir last ‘large’ hatchback, the Getz. Yet, the i20 consistent-ly sells over 10,000 units a month and while Hyundai doesnot distinguish between sales of the regular Elite i20 and thei20 Active, it is difficult to gauge sales but a cursory lookaround the roads of the capital indicate that there are a lotmore regular i20’s compared to the Active.

So is the Active not very good then? Actually no, becauseit is for the most part a standard second-generation i20 whichis a very good car. It is however an i20 that rides on slight-ly larger tyres and has slightly more — 20 millimeters ofground clearance. It has the same engines and the S variantof the i20 Active is equipped similarly to the ‘Sportz’ vari-ant of the Elite i20. Inside, other than the rather strange two-tone interiors which have a strange blueish-grey contrast slabof plastic, there is no mistaking that you are sitting in aHyundai.

Usually raising a car does one very simple thing, it rais-

es the centre-of-gravity of the car. Those who drove earliergenerations of utility vehicles would know how those vehi-cles were susceptible to rolling, heck, earlier generations ofHyundai’s think early Accent’s and Santro’s felt uncomfort-able. While the Active is not as dynamic as the Elite, thereis no palpable sensation of discomfort if you turn in aggres-sively.

But the plus point of the car is that it really rides wellover rougher roads. Many neighbourhood roads across Delhiare being repaired right now ahead of the municipal elec-tions and the i20 Active happily drives over really bad patch-es of road. Indeed, driving around on the i20 Active was apleasure when dealing with bad roads, it may not have thecomfort of a larger SUV such as the Creta, but its compactsize means it doesn’t take up extra space. Think of this as asmall car plus.

It also has a reversing camera (on the S variant andupwards) integrated into the electronic rear mirror whichis an useful feature. What it doesn’t have is a bit puzzlingthough, no rear wiper and no automatic climate control. Andwhile it is a small car plus, the additional you pay for the plus.It (the S variant we tested) costs �70,000 more than the Sportzspec of the Elite i20 and �20,000 more than the fully-loadedi20 Asta and while bad roads are a persistent problem in someparts of the country, most roads are in fairly decent shape.And I guess buyers see that, does it make sense to shuck outextra over the plain-jane i20 for the Active? Maybe not. It

is however a car you can comfort-ably live with.

Treating electric wires as if theywere yarn is the first thing

which catches our eyes. It is awoven map tracing the routes ofcontract workers, indenturedlabourers, asylum seekers, refugeesand other migrants across the plan-et. The wires act as both conduitsand barriers, simultaneously refer-ring to global networks of commu-nication and commerce as well as tobarbed wires or fences. “The workhighlights the inherent contradictionin celebrating an increasing connect-ed world while stringent immigra-tion laws, closed borders and prej-udice face individuals seeking totransgress geographic boundaries,”says the artist Reena Saini Kallat.From within the woven web res-onates a mixture of high-voltageelectric currents, deep-sea ambientnoise, slow electric pulses, the humof engages phone tones, a mechan-ical drone, factory sirens, ship hornsand migratory bird calls. Thesesounds awaken the map, trans-forming the cartographic work intoa dynamic entity.

Moving ahead, another instal-lation ‘Liberating the soul’ occupiesthe space just outside the exhibitionhall. It portrays different aspects ofhuman life through structures andalso addresses the question of exis-tential choice: whether we do awaywith human qualities and becomemachines in the process of worship-ping machines or we connect withour primordial origin mother natureas a child is born of and get nour-

ished by its mother. As an artist, Iperceive every human being as a freesoul. But the soul that is natural-ly free is subject to existentialclaustrophobia under the pressureof social constraints and of courseunder the shackles of one’s ownfrantic pursuit of material objec-tives,” explains the artist NarayanChandra Sinha.

Art cars are cool, aren’t they?They surprise us. They entertainus. They engage us. A compulsiveattention-seeker cannot imaginehaving a more reliable ally. At thewheel of an art car, one knows hecan draw in an hour as manypairs of admiring eyes as thekil l ingly handsomeNarcissus drew in hislifetime. Continuingtheir long and sub-stantial engagementwith contemporaryarts, BMW showcasedthe Sandro Chai, artcar. The work reflectedthe cultural and histori-cal development of art, design andtechnology.

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Breaking away from the typical way ofwearing towering heels to accentuate theirsvelte figures, models yesterday chose to

walk barefoot at the ongoing Lakmé FashionWeek Summer/Resort 2017.

Over 15 models for the first show titled‘Reincarnation’ presented collections on daytwo of the fashion gala at the Reliance JioGarden for labels Wandering Whites andJambudweep.

The models ditched their stilettos and

walked barefoot to flaunt the exuberant collec-tion of accessories and clothes made of stones,industrial waste products, scrap metal from cityjunkyard and rubber tyres.

Talking about the barefoot walk, GauriPathare of Wandering Whites said, “Becausemy collection of accessories was very earthy...Ihave kept it very natural... I really wanted themodels to go barefoot to feel the earth.”

The collaborative show of six labels alsoincluded I Was A Sari, The Stitching Project

and Kurio, which saw a wide variety of silhou-ettes like deconstructed saris, gowns, longskirts, short dresses, kimono style dresses,palazzos, long kurtas, jackets in a wide rangeof hues.

The entire collection saw a wide variety ofaccessories like neck pieces, bags, rings andbangles made out of recycled waste.

The colour palettes for the six labelsincluded indigo, ivory, pink, red, black and blue.

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You might think Pa Pa Yaderives its name from thefruit but it doesn’t. Pa Pa Ya

actually stands for “high energyfood” in Japan. Perched on thefourth floor of the gleaming SelectCitywalk is this dimly-lit bistro thatoozes glamour with its crimson-walled interiors. But once the foodbegins to arrive at your table, there’slittle else that will concern you.

All the dishes we sampled hadbeen plated like edible art. As we set-tled in our table, we were greetedwith a palate cleanser, amuse bouche,basil-infused cube of watermelonimmersed in lemon grass and chillifoam, interestingly served in largeshells. With our appetite abundant-ly whetted, the in-house staff rec-ommended a few cocktails. Thewinner was U-isuki-sho, the bour-bon, watermelon and kaffir limeblending surprisingly well together.

To begin with, we tried theRoasted aubergine demerara goutie— a slightly crisp-skinned dim sumwith a filling of delicious aubergines.Served with Cantonese chilli, it hadus asking for more. Following itcame the har gao (minced prawndumpling) in green curry, which lenta twist to the flavour. We must com-pliment the chef for making sure thatthe dumpling did not disintegratewhen cut with a knife despite thegooey goodness of the sauce drip-ping from its fringes.

With Bito-no-ne chado (a vodka-based cocktail mixed with in-housebeetroot syrup, lemon ginger tea anddehydrated orange) came the famousNigiri sushi tree, vinegared ricepressed around slivers of raw fish,perched on faux tree branches, withdiffering flavours of goodness,

There were some very talentedpeople at the bar, for this was one ofthe few places where we loved thecocktails. We tried the Fuku sour(vodka with in-house melon liqueur,sour mix and edible raw mango)which was served with a candy in a

cat-shaped box. The server told usthat cats and green colour are con-sidered lucky in Japan and so thedrink is prepared keeping that inmind.

We loved the Hauled chikingogigui paozu, the lightly fermentedbao complementing the Korean-style chicken stuffing perfectly.Another expert dish, must say.

For the main course, wehad the familiar LambRendang curry, theIndonesian slowcooked curry thatwas comfortingwith its touch ofsweetness andthe meat fallingoff the bone,absorbent and heavy.Cooking Rendanginvolves pounding andgrinding ingredientsas well as slow cook-ing, and so is time-consuming andrequires patience. Themeat pieces are slowly

cooked in coconut milk and spicesuntil almost all the liquid is gone,allowing the meat to absorb thecondiments. The cooking processchanges from boiling to frying as theliquid evaporates. The slow cookingprocess allows the meat to absorb allthe spices and become tender. Truethere is technology, but for the bestflavour, tradition is best and Pa PaYa respects it when required.

Moving on to the sweet treats wetried the Chocolate ball of fire. Thiswas a smooth chocolate domestuffed with Bailey’s cream cheeseand vanilla ice cream, served on abed of coffee cream and chocolatecrunchies. It made for quite a visu-al treat when the blue flamesenveloped the chocolate ball whichmelted away slowly but steadily.Definitely a star attraction at Pa PaYa.

Just what you expect from a mas-sive restaurant group venture, Pa PaYa won us over with its bites. Theservice was good and the food wasa feast for the eyes as much as it wasfor the tastebuds.

Situated in rather deserted Star mall in sector30 Gurgaon, Ninkasi’s grandeur is worth

admiring. It’s huge we must say. As we enteredthe place, to our right was the magnificent brew-ery and the big beer tanks. The seating is arrangedin semi-circle and each seat has a view of the city.The centre is dedicated to performance area whichis commendable as you can spot the band fromany place you are seated.

But what aroused our curiosity was the nameof the brewery. We were later told that it is namedafter Sumerian Goddess of brewing. Must say thebrews were ‘heavenly’ too. Out of the five brewsthat the place offers — Belgium Wheat, AmericanLight Lager, Ninkasi Special, German Rye andCider — we went for a mug of Belgium Wheatand Cider. The traditional Belgian styled beer waspale, slightly clouded and perfectly brewed,revealing a hint of lightly spiced coriander andoranges. The Cider, on the other hand, was a spe-cial brew fermented with champagne yeast.

Cometh the food! The menu is broadlydivided into Indian, European and pan-Asian.The Indian section majorly comprised NorthIndian fare such as shorba, tandoori platters,kebabs and tikaas. A few dishes from other partsof India such as Mangalorean Pepper Fry,Malabar Fish Curry, Goan Prawn Curry andLaal Maas from Rajasthan also didn’t let usdown.

Portions at Ninkasi are enormous, and aremade for sharing. We got ourselves a recom-mended tandoori vegetarian and non-vegetar-ian platter, and totally fell for the succulentchicken tikka, the tender seekh and well-roast-ed broccoli tikka. The dishes were well mari-nated with spices and tasted just fine. We chasedthis with the Dal ki Pakodi Chat. The spicedmoong dal pakodi was served with salad andgreen chutney. The pakodis were crunchy, tadspicy yet made for a good snack.

Next came the mains. Our table was soonoccupied by Dal Makhani, Laal Maas andbreads. The classic black lentils were lessgreasy when compared to the fancy ‘DalMakhani’ and were mildly spiced making it suit-

able for all. The laal maas however didn’t hadthe Rajasthani spice to it as much as we expect-ed. The meat had enough juice but the dish over-all lacked the kick. Full but still a wee bit greedy,we also sampled the Paneer Lababdar. This hada thick, slightly sweet gravy with small cubes ofsoft cottage cheese. It again was not too rich andwas prepared in a simple manner with lesscream.

All in all, with the grand setting and heav-enly brews, the place greets you with good foodand ambiance.

The name Chor Bizarre might suggest trickery but there’sno such sleight of hand at this restaurant. The interiors are

maverick like its name and the food is completely authentic.While the restaurant serves cuisine from Kashmir to Kerala,it has brought the lesser known Dogri and Ladakhi cuisinesat a promotional festival.

With piped film songs that fill the restaurant, ExecutiveChef Rajiv Kumar Malhotra kicked off the food excursion withkachalu ki chaat, a Dogri speciality made up of ground pota-to and yam. Fried in ghee and lightly spiced, the chaat instant-ly pepped us up. It was followed by kaladi kulcha. “This is oneof the most easily cooked Ladakhi items. It looks like a burg-er and it only requires some bun, cow/buffalo cheese andcoriander sauce,” informed the chef. Indeed, it was a simpledish bursting with organic flavours. The cheese melted in themouth which is preserved over seasons. “We brought the cheeseall the way from Ladakh,” added the chef.

Moving ahead, we were served the lamb keema curry, nochillies. Benevolently, the waiters vanished in a puff of smoketo leave us alone with the food. The lamb pulled apart withno resistance and the home-made noodles soaked in spicy plumgravy made each bite soft and easy.

After the soup, comfort and laziness began their post-pran-dial creep and we almost sank into our velvet-upholsteredchairs. And the chef returned grinning from ear to ear soonafter the appetiser was polished off. This time it was khattameat on our plate. A common Ladakhi and Dogri dish, it issoaked in ghee and amchoor powder that lend it an unusual,edgy kick.

As Ladakhi food has much in common with Tibetan food,piping hot momos filled

with cabbage, carrotand onion served

in a smallsteamer bas-

ket, foundtheir way toour plate.These fluffys t e a m e dpotlis ares o m e t h i n gthe people of

the north eatcan’t do without.

The non-vegetarianspread was impressive

with the usual suspects for thefilling but it was the vegetarian dumplings that got our tongueswagging.

Miniature antiques restored to glory caught our attentionas we waited for chu-tagir, which means “water bread.” It wasa bow-tie noodle stew made with carrots and potatoes, and abland serving of potato gravy, with rice and paneer masala. Thislip-smacking delicacy mainly contained glass noodles swim-ming around with vegetables and chicken pieces. A comfortmeal-in-a-bowl, it is had during extreme winter.

We rounded off the meal with phating, sun- dried apricotsstewed in apricot syrup and served with vanilla ice cream. Wesavoured the rich aroma of vanilla even before the first scoop.It was a frozen treat and our food excursion ended with a sweetnote.The menu is curated by His Highness King JigmedNamgyal, Her Highness Rani Spalzes Namgyal of Ladakh andNeha Prasada (author of the book Dining with the Maharajas).

The equally homey and cosywith understated European

elegance, the Italian characterof the place is pronouncedwell in its décor, an unmistak-able mark of Andrea Pauro,evident in the spaces he touch-es. But the Italian food mavenswould definitely itch to thinkabout the need for Amici'sreplacement. Well as they say,go by the spirit of the time andwe have it, Andrea's Eatery, aglobal-cuisine bistro dishingout world favourites inspired bythe owner's travels far andacross the continents.

But a longing for thefavourites always rings in,probably why the man chosethe same place, floor and eventhe corner. Cookbooks, toma-to cans set against the closely-packed tables add enoughhygge to the space. The menuruns into multiple pages, it'smore of a travelogue withinteresting narratives andmight make you forget yourhunger. But we do make ourchoices, starting off with VietCong Banh Trang, rice paperrolls stuffed with silken tofu,refreshing to the last bite.These came coupled withpiquant Nuoc Cham dip. Nextwas Shish Taouk, hunks ofsucculent chicken roasted toperfection served with aioli andtahina dip and some smokypeppers rounding off the plat-ter with enough colour.

The bruschetta came inthree variants - avocado andpico de gallo was a tad brack-ish, the pear and goat cheese

one could very well be servedas a dessert, mozzarella andtomatoes was as average as theycome. The next served wasGado Gado salad, we decidedto get it pre-mixed with egg.The blanched veggies, thechewiness of buckwheat in theform of soba noodles, chickenpoached in coconut milk andhome-style peanut dip. Thiswas everything we expected.Chicken krapaw was next, aThai staple, stirfried with

basil, runner beans, served withsticky jasmine rice bringing outa string of strong flavours. Fromthe sea we decided to go for seabass, nicely pan-seared, thesound of the crust could beheard well, mustard and leekcream with burnt garlic babyspinach sending a mild punch tothe palate. Arriving last was tianof vegetables, gratinated withgremolata, the zest from thelemon could be a bit bitter for afew palates. But that can betaken care of with the sweet-ness of Baba au rhum,spongy little delightnicely soaked inrum and tastingbetter than manyin the city. Orsettle for ZuppaIngles, a distantcousin of trifleanother goodafters. If you wish totaste the goodness ofthe world in your neigh-bourhood, then this is theplace to be. You might setsome travel goals for yourself too.

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All eyes will be on veteranLeander Paes, who is the on thecusp of a historic world record

in perhaps his last appearance in DavisCup, as India clash with relativelyweaker New Zealand in theAsia/Oceania Group I tie, here fromon Friday.

The 18-time Grand Slam cham-pion, who is all set to take part in his55th Davis Cup tie, is tied with Italy'sNicola Pietrangeli on 42 doubles winsin doubles. A win on Saturday willmake him the most successful doublesplayer ever in Davis Cup history.

Paes, however, will have to teamup with last-minute inclusion and hisLondon Olympics doubles partnerVishnu Vardhan, after original choiceSaketh Myneni failed to recover froma foot injury sustained during lastmonth's Chennai Open.

"Myneni's injury is not okay yet,"said Anand Amritraj, who is leadingthe side for one last time, at a press con-ference after the draw for the tie, whichwill be first in Pune after 43 years.

Paes and national hard courtchampion Vardhan will clash with theKiwi pair of Artem Sitak and MichaelVenus on day two of the tie.

Vardhan was given a call-up afterthree people spoke to India's top dou-bles player Rohan Bopanna, team cap-tain Anand Amritraj said at themedia conference after the draw.

"Three people spoke to him. I didnot. I don't know exactly what hap-pened," said Amritraj.

Paes, asked on the subject, said hewanted to give a call to Bopanna yes-terday but was stopped from doing so.

"I was the first to suggest ofmaking a call to Rohan but I was toldnot to make the call," said Paes whopartnered Bopanna at the Rio Gamesbut crashed out in the first round.

He, however, refused to divulgewho prevented him from doing so.

Yuki Bhambri, ranked 368, willopen India's campaign against NewZealand's number one player FinnTearney, ranked 414, whileRamkumar Ramanathan (206) willtake on Jose Statham (417) in the sec-ond singles.

On paper, due to higher rankingsand the advantage of playing at home,India appear to hold a clear edge overthe Kiwis against whom they have a5-3 win-loss record, with all thedefeats occurring in the 1970s.

India have not lost to NewZealand since 1978 when the Kiwis,then spearheaded by Onny Parun, hadbeaten them 4-1 in New Delhi in theEastern Zone semi final.

But they can ill afford to take NewZealand lightly especially consideringthat the visitors had proved a toughnut to crack in their own backyard inChristchurch in July, 2015, in the Asia-Oceania Group I semi-final, whichteam captain Anand Amritraj con-

ceded had happened."Their doubles team is stronger

but we cannot take their singles play-ers light. When we met the last timewe did that and we were down 1-2,"recalled Amritraj.

India trailed New Zealand 1-2when Somdev Devvarman droppedthe opening singles against MichaelVenus and the doubles combine ofMyneni and Rohan Bopanna lost toSitak and Marcus Daniell after YukiBhambri had won his first singles rub-ber against Statham.

On the final day in reverse singlesBhambri and Devvarman rose to theoccasion to win their rubbers againstVenus and Daniell respectively to pull

off a come-from-behind win.Paes did not take part in that tie

and also missed India's earlier 5-0clean sweep over New Zealand inChandigarh in 2012.

But his was the big presence in theprevious three victories over NewZealand in 2004, 2003 and 2002when he played in singles and doubles(with Mahesh Bhupathi).

Amritraj was happy that Bhambriwill take the court first for India.

"I am happy to have Yuki first andthen Ramkumar," said Amritraj whoconceded it was difficult to fill in forthe injured Myneni especially in dou-bles at the eleventh hour.

"Luckily Vishnu was in

Hyderabad after he did not get his visato go and play in Kazakhstan and hewas ready to play."

Vardhan said he got a call firstfrom Paes and then Zeeshan. "I hadreturned home after working in thegym and got a call first from Leanderand then Zeeshan. I readily agreed asFutures and other ITF events comeregularly while playing for the coun-try is something special," said Vishnu.

#@����,��������� ��#��� ��������� Novak Djokovic and NickKyrgios hope the Davis Cup heals thewounds of their painful AustralianOpen exits this weekend when theywill be the only two men in the top15 taking part.

World number one Andy Murrayhas opted out of Britain's trans-Atlantic trip to Ottawa where Canadawill be without fourth-ranked MilosRaonic for the World Group opener.

Meanwhile, Australian Openchampion Roger Federer and worldnumber three Stan Wawrinka missSwitzerland's tie in the United States.

Rafael Nadal, the runner-up toFederer in Melbourne, will sit outSpain's match in Croatia, who will bemissing Marin Cilic, while Japan andFrance meet in Tokyo with KeiNishikori, Gael Monfils and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga on the sidelines.

Tomas Berdych is out of theCzech Republic team to face Australiain Melbourne while David Goffinskips Belgium's short hop to Germany.

Just as worryingly for the 117-year-old tournament is Juan Martin delPotro sitting out defending championsArgentina's home tie against Italy.

Despite seeing all of his GrandSlam rivals take a breather, worldnumber two Djokovic — stunned inthe second round in Melbourne byunheralded Denis Istomin for his ear-liest exit at a major in nine years —is relishing leading 2010 championsSerbia against Russia in Nis.

Without Federer and Wawrinka,Switzerland will look to HenriLaaksonen and 35-year-old MarcoChiudinelli, both outside the top100, to shock their American hosts ledby Jack Sock, John Isner and SamQuerrey, all in the top 30.

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He might be at the twilightof his career and forced to

play with a new partner at theeleventh hour, but veteran ten-nis star Leander Paes continuedto wear his heart on his sleeve,saying he will put his best footforward during the Davis Cupencounter between India andNew Zealand starting here onFriday. "I will put my best footforward for my country, no mat-ter what it is. I feel sorry forSaket (Myneni). No athletewants to be injured coming intosuch an important event," saidPaes about the last-minutechange in the squad that will seehim partnering VishnuVardhan.

"Saket is one hell of a ten-nis player and a great guy. Thelast time we played againstSpain, I really enjoyed playingwith him. He came up to meyesterday and said he was verysorry for what happened. We allwish him a speedy recovery. Heis one of the pillars of the team.We hope he is back," said the 43-year-old Cup veteran who is onedoubles win away from over-taking Italian Nicola Pietrangeli.

Asked about him being onthe cusp of setting a new Cuprecord, Paes said it was not onlyimportant to him but also to theentire nation. "Record is impor-tant to the country (too). Iplayed my first Davis Cup tie onFebruary 2 in 1990 with (cur-rent team coach) Zeeshan Ali.Now it is 27 years that I havebeen playing. The reason I playDavis Cup is because I love toplay for the people, for the flagand equally importantly for theteam. I have to give a shout outto Yuki (Bhambri). 'I believeYuki you were asked whetheryou could play singles as well asdoubles' and Yuki said 'if itsrequired after my Friday matchI will come forward and play.' Iam very proud of Yuki. It speaksvery highly of him," said Paes.

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Manchester City's players looked like theycould score at will in their latest big win

over West Ham. Manchester United couldn't even manage

one goal against Hull.On an evening of contrasting fortunes in the

Premier League for the Manchester giants'expensive strikeforces, City thrashed West Ham4-0 away to close the gap on its rivals forChampions League qualification and United washeld 0-0 by a team that started the game in lastplace. City was the only member of the top sixto win in the midweek round of fixtures andmoved level on points with fourth-place Liverpool,with 15 games left this season. United is in sixthplace, four points adrift of the top four.

While Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Paul Pogbawere getting frustrated at Old Trafford, GabrielJesus was leading City's dismantling of WestHam on his first start for the team after beingpicked ahead of Sergio Aguero in what couldbe seen as a nod to the future.

Gabriel Jesus was joined on the scoresheetby Kevin De Bruyne, David Silva and YayaToure, whose penalty kept up his perfectrecord in 11 attempts from the spot for City.

United was denied by a mixture of poor fin-ishing and superb goalkeeping by EldinJakupovic, whose saves from Juan Mata and PaulPogba stood out. This was United's ninth draw,matching Middlesbrough's league-high tally.

Jakupovic showed some brilliant reactions forhis saves off Pogba, one in each half, and lowdown from substitute Mata, although Ibrahimovic

was left unimpressed by the Hull goalkeeper. "Idid not see any chances where it was difficult forthe goalkeeper," the Swedish striker said, "... somesaves he made for the cameras."

�����#�������Former Chelsea midfielder Frank Lampard

says he is retiring from soccer and will study tobecome a coach. The 38-year-old Lampardmade the announcement on Facebook onThursday, saying he turned down "a number ofexciting offers to continue playing at home andabroad ... to begin the next chapter in my life."

Lampard made 106 appearances forEngland's national team and scored a club-record211 goals for Chelsea from 2001-14. He alsoplayed for West Ham and Manchester City beforemoving to New York City FC for the final 18months of his career.

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Luis Suarez and Lionel Messi did the damageagain for Barcelona, scoring superb first-half

goals as the defending championwon 2-1 at Atletico Madrid in thefirst leg of their Copa del Reysemifinal on Wednesday.

Suarez scored after a runfrom almost the halfway line inthe seventh minute, and Messiadded to the lead with a power-ful shot from outside the area inthe 33rd.

France striker AntoineGriezmann pulled a goal back forAtletico with a 59th-minute head-er, and the hosts pressured for therest of the match at a packedVicente Calderon Stadium.

But Barcelona held on for awin that puts it in a good positionto reach the Copa final for thefourth straight season after nextweek's second leg at Camp Nou.It has won the trophy three times in the last fiveseasons.

"In the end we could have sealed it with

another goal, but we also could have concededone," Barcelona coach Luis Enrique said ofAtletico. "I'm satisfied with the result."

Celta Vigo hosts Alaves in the first leg of theother semifinal on Thursday. Celtaeliminated Real Madrid in the quar-terfinals.

Barcelona's first goal came afterGriezmann lost possession, allowingSuarez to start his remarkable run.The Uruguay striker brilliantlycleared defender Stefan Savic withone touch to open a clear pathtoward the goal and outran the otherdefenders before finding the net witha low strike from inside the area.

"They scored two great goals,there was nothing we could do,"Atletico defender Juanfran Torressaid.

Messi scored his 11th goal in 12matches with an unstoppable left-foot drive from just outside the box,hitting a mid-height shot that struckthe left post before going in.

"Messi is always decisive for us, and evermore so in big matches like this one," LuisEnrique said.

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