15
U nion Minister MJ Akbar on Sunday tried to brazen out the charges of sexual mis- conduct levelled against him by several women journalists and threatened them with legal action while giving no indica- tion of stepping down from office. Akbar described the charges against him as “false and fabricated” and gave a political twist to the whole controversy by suggesting that this was part of an “agenda” as the charges came a few months before a general election. As many as ten women journalists, who served under Akbar when he was the editor of a national daily, have nar- rated horrifying tales of sexu- al assault made on them by their boss. Soon after returning from a trip to Africa, the Minister of State for External Affairs issued a statement trash- ing the charges against him, saying accusations without evi- dence have become a “viral fever” among some sections. However, with more and more women coming out against him and the Government facing flaks, Akbar has reasons to face sleep- less nights. Dismissing Akbar’s state- ment, Congress spokesperson Priyanka Chaturvedi wondered how the BJP leader could try to hide behind the allegation of a political campaign against him. “I wonder how over a dozen women sharing their experiences can be claimed as political conspiracy? Bigger wonder is which constituency does his stepping down impact in elections? The only clear answer is that this govern- ment is actively protecting & promoting the sexual perverts,” Chaturvedi posted on Twitter. The Congress has also asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi to speak his mind on the issue. “The PM’s silence is con- spicuous. A PM who speaks on everything is silent on #MeToo. The silence raises questions on the dignity of the PM’s office. The country has been waiting for days for Modi to clear his stand on this,” Congress leader Anand Sharma said at a Press conference. Describing the allegations of misconduct made against him false and fabricated, Akbar said, these were “spiced up by innuendo and malice.” “Accusation without evi- dence has become a viral fever among some sections. Whatever be the case, now that I have returned, my lawyers will look into these wild and base- less allegations in order to decide our future course of legal action,” he said in the statement. Akbar said even journalist Priya Ramani who started this campaign with a magazine article a year ago did not accused him of doing any- thing. “She did not however name me as she knew it was an incorrect story. When asked recently why she had not named me, she replied, in a Tweet, “Never named him because he didn’t ‘do’ any- thing.” “If I didn’t do anything, where and what is the story? There is no story. “This was admitted at the very inception. But a sea of innuendo, speculation and abu- sive diatribe has been built around something that never happened. Some are total, unsubstantiated hearsay; others confirm, on the record, that I didn’t do anything. Let me note examples. Shutapa Paul states, ‘The man never laid a hand on me’,” he said. Akbar then referred to Shuma Raha and pointed out that she too said he didn’t actually ‘do’ anything. “One woman, Anju Bharti, went to the absurd extent of claiming I was partying in a swimming pool. I do not know how to swim,” he said. “Another accusation was made repeatedly by Ghazala Wahab, in an effort to damage my reputation. She claimed that she had been molested in office, 21 years ago. This is 16 years before I entered public life, and when I was in the media. The only office where I worked with her was that of The Asian Age. A part of the editorial team then worked out of a small hall. “At the time concerned, I had a very tiny cubicle, patched together by plywood and glass. Others had tables and chairs two feet away. It is utterly bizarre to believe that anything could have happened in that tiny space, and, moreover, that no one else in the vicinity would come to know, in the midst of a working day. These allegations are false, motivated and baseless,” he said. Akbar went on to add, “Wahab states that she com- plained to Veenu Sandal, who wrote features for the paper. Sandal has described Wahab’s version as nonsense, in an interview to the Indian Express. Sandal has also said she has never heard, in 20 years, any- body accusing me of any such thing.” Akbar then went on to remind that both Ramani and Wahab kept working with him even after these alleged inci- dents. “The reason why they remained silent for decades is very apparent: As Ramani has herself stated, I never did any- thing. This is the reason why no one went to the authorities for so long, because I had done nothing,” he said. Akbar ended his statement on threatening note saying, “Lies do not have legs, but they do contain poison, which can be whipped into a frenzy. This is deeply distressing. As indi- cated above, I will be taking appropriate legal action.” S even personnel of the Indian Army, including a Major General, have been sentenced to life imprisonment by a Summary General Court Martial (SGCM) for their involvement in a fake encounter that had taken place in Assam in 1994. “I am extremely happy to see that justice is finally deliv- ered in the infamous Dangari encounter case where five innocent youths were killed. The verdict of the court mar- tial yesterday once again brought to the fore the neu- trality of the Indian Army. It has proved that one must have faith in Indian judicial system, democracy and the discipline and neutrality of an institution like Indian Army,” said Jagadish Bhuyan, who has been pursu- ing the case for the last 24 years. The Army jawans from 18 Punjab Regiment had picked up nine youths and student leaders from different areas of Tinsukia district on February 18, 1994 for their alleged role in killing the general manager of a tea estate. The arrest caused widespread public out- rage. The army branded them as Ulfa militants and gunned down five of them in what has now been established as fake encounters. Four others were released in a jungle. The then All Assam Students’ Union leader Jagadish Bhuyan filed a habeas corpus petition in the Gauhati High Court the same month seeking to know the details of these youths. Based on the petition filed by Bhuyan, the Gauhati High Court ordered the Army to produce the nine at the near- est police station. Later, the Army produced five bodies at the Dholla police station. The investigation of the case was later handed over to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), which filed a chargesheet against the seven Army personnel. Continued on Page 4 T he Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) will implement a Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP) in Delhi- NCR beginning Monday as the air pollution is becoming “very poor,” an official said on Sunday. If the air quality is in “moderate to poor” category, measures like stopping garbage burning in landfills and other places and enforcing all pollu- tion control regulations in brick kilns and industries are implemented. If the air quali- ty falls in the “very poor” cat- egory, additional measures of stopping use of diesel genera- tor sets, enhancing parking fees 3-4 times and increasing frequency of metro and buses would be implemented. If the air quality falls in the “severe” category, additional measures would be imple- mented, like increasing the frequency of mechanised clean- ing of roads, sprinkling of water on roads and identifying road stretches with high dust generation, said officials. If the air quality falls to “severe plus” emergency cate- gory, then measures like stop- ping entry of trucks into Delhi (except those carrying essential commodities), stopping con- struction activities and appointment of task force to take decision on any additional steps, including closing of schools, are implemented, said the offi- cial. All out efforts will be made to clean the polluted air. Currently the air quality is in the “poor” category but the authorities have predicted that it would reach to “very poor” category in the next couple of days. In addition to GRAP, the CPCB has also deployed 41 teams across Delhi-NCR to monitor proper implementa- tion of the norms to prevent pollution at the source. Till October 11, inspec- tions were conducted by the teams across Delhi-NCR and the inspections would intensi- fy in the coming days, a CPCB official said. Meanwhile, satel- lite images from the NASA showed rampant stubble burn- ing activity in Punjab and Haryana. The NASA, on its offi- cial website, stated that burning of crop residue in Punjab and Haryana has increased signifi- cantly over the past 10 days in and near Amritsar, Ambala, Karnal, Sirsa and Hisar. The air quality in Delhi remained poor on Sunday with drop in wind speed even as authorities predicted further fall in air quality index in the coming days. The overall air quality index (AQI) recorded at 10 am on Sunday stood at 208 which falls in the “poor” cate- gory, according to the Centre- run System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting and Research (SAFAR). On Saturday, the AQI of the national Capital stood at 300. Burning of paddy straw every year during October- November and wheat straw during April in Punjab and Haryana are the major con- tributors of air pollution in Delhi-NCR, as the smoke trav- els towards the national capital. In Delhi, it mixes with fog and creates a toxic smoggy winter every year. Intensifying its drive against the alarming air pollution level in the national capital, the South Delhi Municipal Corporation deployed 62 water tankers for water sprinkling on roads to combat the dust pollution. I n a bid to wrest power in Hindi belt of Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan in the upcoming polls, the Congress is conducting an elaborate exer- cise to gauge youths’ mood, aspirations and hopes to woo them by offering them lucrative offers in the party manifesto for the three State Assembly polls. A group of dedicated profes- sionals are working on the task. Sources said the party has already started a survey to identify the qualifications of youths, degree of unemploy- ment and how their “frustra- tion” can be redressed by the grand old party. “We are con- ducting an independent survey and not based on Government data. Anything further can be worked upon only after the data collection as how they can be offered employment, re- engagements, allowances etc,” said a top AICC functionary. A team member of the manifesto committee said as per Government data while Madhya Pradesh has an employment rate of 43 per cent (40 per cent in rural and 44 in urban areas); Rajasthan has an extreme rate of 71 per cent unemploy- ment with 43 per cent urban and 77 per cent rural. In the Gujarat Assembly elections, too, the Congress had promised an unemploy- ment allowance of up to 4,000 a month for each jobless youth in the State. The Congress has been highlighting what it alleged rising unemployment and shrinking job opportuni- ties in the BJP-ruled States and the country in general in its campaigns, pubic rallies, statements etc. Rajasthan Congress has conveyed to the party High Command that in its manifesto it would like to offer a month- ly allowance of 3,500 to unem- ployed educated persons in the State. Indian Youth Congress (IYC) launched an ‘Employment Form’ under the Yuva Shakti programme and a cam- paign is already underway. “To fulfil the needs and expectations of youngsters, there will be no dearth of resources. An atmosphere will be provided where there will be opportunities, quality educa- tion and loans on easy terms. Details of educated unem- ployed will be gathered and after forming the Government, we will provide 3,500 assis- tance to them. The party will include this in the election manifesto,” said a senior leader looking after Rajasthan affair. Taking a dig at poll promis- es by the BJP, the Congress leader said, “Ours will obvi- ously not be a collection of political jumla”. Continued on Page 4 I n an effort to streamline its resources to improve opera- tional preparedness by giving up non-critical functions, the Army has closed down 15 mil- itary farms and sold 16,000 imported Frieswal cows. The cows were sold to var- ious States at a price of 1,000 each and the Army plans to sell the remaining 9,000 high-yield milch cattle shortly. Moreover, the remaining 24 military farms, a colonial legacy, will also be shortly closed down and land handed over to the local military authorities. The decision to close down the Raj era military farms set up by the British to rear milch cattle for providing dairy prod- ucts to the Armed forces was taken by the Government last year to improve teeth to tail ratio of the Army. It means more soldiers deployed for operational role than static duties like maintenance of vehicles and farms amongst others. Following the official direc- tive, the Army has so far closed down 15 farms out of total 39 located all over the country. As regards 25,000 Frieswal cows, a cross breed between Holstein- Friesian cows of Netherlands and native Indian Sahiwal breed, the Army first decided to auction the milch cattle. Each cow can yield at an aver- age more than 3,500 litres of milk per lactation and costs 1 lakh each. However, there were no takers for the cows in the auc- tion and the authorities then decided to sell each cow at a nominal price of 1,000 each to various States provided they were ready to foot the trans- portation bill. This scheme met with suc- cess and 16,000 cows were sold in the last few weeks, offi- cials said here on Saturday. While 9,000 of the sold cattle were already dispatched the remaining 7,000 will be trans- ported shortly, they added. Nagaland and West Bengal have already bought cows and some more States have evinced interest, they said. The closure of military farms is one step in restruc- turing the Army as recom- mended by the Lt General (retired)DB Shekatkar com- mittee report. The committee was con- stituted by the Defence Ministry to recommend mea- sures to enhance combat capa- bility and rebalance defence expenditure of the armed forces. The committee sub- mitted its report in December 2016. Some of the recommen- dations for implementation included optimisation of sig- nals establishments to include Radio Monitoring Companies, Corps Air Support Signal Regiments, Air Formation Signal Regiments, Composite Signal Regiments and merger of Corps Operating and Engineering Signal Regiments. Continued on Page 4 A Special Investigation Team (SIT) has been set up under the supervision of the Deputy Commissioner of Police East of Gurugram to investigate the Saturday inci- dent in which both the wife and son of Additional District Judge Shrikant were shot at by the judge’s security guard. While the wife, Ritu (38), died overnight, the 18-year-old son, Dhruv, is at a hospital, police said. They were seriously hurt after being shot from close range by Mahipal Singh, a Haryana Police Constable hailing from Bhungarka village in Mahindargarh posted with the judge for nearly two years. Detailed report on P2

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Union Minister MJ Akbaron Sunday tried to brazen

out the charges of sexual mis-conduct levelled against him byseveral women journalists andthreatened them with legalaction while giving no indica-tion of stepping down fromoffice. Akbar described thecharges against him as “falseand fabricated” and gave apolitical twist to the wholecontroversy by suggesting thatthis was part of an “agenda” asthe charges came a few monthsbefore a general election.

As many as ten womenjournalists, who served underAkbar when he was the editorof a national daily, have nar-rated horrifying tales of sexu-al assault made on them bytheir boss. Soon after returningfrom a trip to Africa, theMinister of State for ExternalAffairs issued a statement trash-ing the charges against him,saying accusations without evi-dence have become a “viralfever” among some sections.

However, with more andmore women coming outagainst him and theGovernment facing flaks,Akbar has reasons to face sleep-less nights.

Dismissing Akbar’s state-ment, Congress spokespersonPriyanka Chaturvedi wonderedhow the BJP leader could try tohide behind the allegation of apolitical campaign against him.

“I wonder how over a

dozen women sharing theirexperiences can be claimed aspolitical conspiracy? Biggerwonder is which constituencydoes his stepping down impactin elections? The only clearanswer is that this govern-ment is actively protecting &promoting the sexual perverts,”Chaturvedi posted on Twitter.

The Congress has alsoasked Prime Minister NarendraModi to speak his mind on theissue. “The PM’s silence is con-spicuous. A PM who speaks oneverything is silent on #MeToo.The silence raises questions onthe dignity of the PM’s office.The country has been waitingfor days for Modi to clear hisstand on this,” Congress leaderAnand Sharma said at a Pressconference.

Describing the allegationsof misconduct made againsthim false and fabricated, Akbarsaid, these were “spiced up by

innuendo and malice.”“Accusation without evi-

dence has become a viral feveramong some sections.Whatever be the case, now thatI have returned, my lawyers willlook into these wild and base-

less allegations in order todecide our future course oflegal action,” he said in thestatement.

Akbar said even journalistPriya Ramani who started thiscampaign with a magazine

article a year ago did notaccused him of doing any-thing. “She did not howevername me as she knew it was anincorrect story. When askedrecently why she had notnamed me, she replied, in aTweet, “Never named himbecause he didn’t ‘do’ any-thing.” “If I didn’t do anything,where and what is the story?There is no story.

“This was admitted at thevery inception. But a sea ofinnuendo, speculation and abu-sive diatribe has been builtaround something that neverhappened. Some are total,unsubstantiated hearsay; othersconfirm, on the record, that Ididn’t do anything. Let menote examples. Shutapa Paulstates, ‘The man never laid ahand on me’,” he said.

Akbar then referred toShuma Raha and pointed outthat she too said he didn’tactually ‘do’ anything. “Onewoman, Anju Bharti, went tothe absurd extent of claiming Iwas partying in a swimmingpool. I do not know how toswim,” he said.

“Another accusation wasmade repeatedly by GhazalaWahab, in an effort to damagemy reputation. She claimedthat she had been molested inoffice, 21 years ago. This is 16years before I entered publiclife, and when I was in themedia. The only office where Iworked with her was that ofThe Asian Age. A part of theeditorial team then worked

out of a small hall. “At the time concerned, I

had a very tiny cubicle, patchedtogether by plywood and glass.Others had tables and chairstwo feet away. It is utterlybizarre to believe that anythingcould have happened in thattiny space, and, moreover, thatno one else in the vicinitywould come to know, in themidst of a working day. Theseallegations are false, motivatedand baseless,” he said.

Akbar went on to add,“Wahab states that she com-plained to Veenu Sandal, whowrote features for the paper.Sandal has described Wahab’sversion as nonsense, in aninterview to the Indian Express.Sandal has also said she hasnever heard, in 20 years, any-body accusing me of any suchthing.”

Akbar then went on toremind that both Ramani andWahab kept working with himeven after these alleged inci-dents. “The reason why theyremained silent for decades isvery apparent: As Ramani hasherself stated, I never did any-thing. This is the reason why noone went to the authorities forso long, because I had donenothing,” he said.

Akbar ended his statementon threatening note saying,“Lies do not have legs, but theydo contain poison, which canbe whipped into a frenzy. Thisis deeply distressing. As indi-cated above, I will be takingappropriate legal action.”

������������ �85�7�'�

Seven personnel of the IndianArmy, including a Major

General, have been sentencedto life imprisonment by aSummary General CourtMartial (SGCM) for theirinvolvement in a fakeencounter that had taken placein Assam in 1994.

“I am extremely happy tosee that justice is finally deliv-ered in the infamous Dangariencounter case where fiveinnocent youths were killed.The verdict of the court mar-tial yesterday once againbrought to the fore the neu-trality of the Indian Army. Ithas proved that one must havefaith in Indian judicial system,democracy and the disciplineand neutrality of an institutionlike Indian Army,” said JagadishBhuyan, who has been pursu-ing the case for the last 24 years.

The Army jawans from 18Punjab Regiment had pickedup nine youths and studentleaders from different areas ofTinsukia district on February18, 1994 for their alleged rolein killing the general managerof a tea estate. The arrest

caused widespread public out-rage. The army branded themas Ulfa militants and gunneddown five of them in what hasnow been established as fakeencounters. Four others werereleased in a jungle.

The then All AssamStudents’ Union leader JagadishBhuyan filed a habeas corpuspetition in the Gauhati HighCourt the same month seekingto know the details of theseyouths. Based on the petitionfiled by Bhuyan, the GauhatiHigh Court ordered the Armyto produce the nine at the near-est police station. Later, theArmy produced five bodies atthe Dholla police station.

The investigation of thecase was later handed over tothe Central Bureau ofInvestigation (CBI), whichfiled a chargesheet against theseven Army personnel.

Continued on Page 4

������ ���� ��� �45��467�

The Central PollutionControl Board (CPCB) will

implement a Graded ResponseAction Plan (GRAP) in Delhi-NCR beginning Monday asthe air pollution is becoming“very poor,” an official said onSunday.

If the air quality is in“moderate to poor” category,measures like stopping garbageburning in landfills and otherplaces and enforcing all pollu-tion control regulations inbrick kilns and industries areimplemented. If the air quali-ty falls in the “very poor” cat-egory, additional measures ofstopping use of diesel genera-tor sets, enhancing parkingfees 3-4 times and increasingfrequency of metro and buseswould be implemented.

If the air quality falls in the“severe” category, additionalmeasures would be imple-mented, like increasing thefrequency of mechanised clean-ing of roads, sprinkling ofwater on roads and identifyingroad stretches with high dustgeneration, said officials.

If the air quality falls to“severe plus” emergency cate-gory, then measures like stop-ping entry of trucks into Delhi(except those carrying essentialcommodities), stopping con-struction activities and

appointment of task force to takedecision on any additional steps,including closing of schools,are implemented, said the offi-cial. All out efforts will be madeto clean the polluted air.

Currently the air quality isin the “poor” category but theauthorities have predicted thatit would reach to “very poor”category in the next couple ofdays. In addition to GRAP, theCPCB has also deployed 41teams across Delhi-NCR tomonitor proper implementa-tion of the norms to preventpollution at the source.

Till October 11, inspec-tions were conducted by theteams across Delhi-NCR andthe inspections would intensi-fy in the coming days, a CPCB

official said. Meanwhile, satel-lite images from the NASAshowed rampant stubble burn-ing activity in Punjab andHaryana. The NASA, on its offi-cial website, stated that burningof crop residue in Punjab andHaryana has increased signifi-cantly over the past 10 days inand near Amritsar, Ambala,Karnal, Sirsa and Hisar.

The air quality in Delhiremained poor on Sunday withdrop in wind speed even asauthorities predicted furtherfall in air quality index in thecoming days. The overall airquality index (AQI) recorded at10 am on Sunday stood at 208which falls in the “poor” cate-gory, according to the Centre-run System of Air Quality and

Weather Forecasting andResearch (SAFAR). OnSaturday, the AQI of thenational Capital stood at 300.

Burning of paddy strawevery year during October-November and wheat strawduring April in Punjab andHaryana are the major con-tributors of air pollution inDelhi-NCR, as the smoke trav-els towards the national capital.In Delhi, it mixes with fog andcreates a toxic smoggy winterevery year. Intensifying itsdrive against the alarming airpollution level in the nationalcapital, the South DelhiMunicipal Corporationdeployed 62 water tankers forwater sprinkling on roads tocombat the dust pollution.

� ����������(���� �45��467�

In a bid to wrest power inHindi belt of Madhya

Pradesh and Rajasthan in theupcoming polls, the Congressis conducting an elaborate exer-cise to gauge youths’ mood,aspirations and hopes to woothem by offering them lucrativeoffers in the party manifesto forthe three State Assembly polls.A group of dedicated profes-sionals are working on the task.

Sources said the party hasalready started a survey toidentify the qualifications ofyouths, degree of unemploy-ment and how their “frustra-tion” can be redressed by thegrand old party. “We are con-ducting an independent surveyand not based on Governmentdata. Anything further can beworked upon only after thedata collection as how they canbe offered employment, re-engagements, allowances etc,”said a top AICC functionary.

A team member of themanifesto committee said as per

Government data whileMadhya Pradesh has anemployment rate of 43per cent (40 per centin rural and 44 inurban areas);Rajasthan has an extremerate of 71 per cent unemploy-ment with 43 per cent urbanand 77 per cent rural.

In the Gujarat Assemblyelections, too, the Congresshad promised an unemploy-ment allowance of up to �4,000a month for each jobless youthin the State. The Congress hasbeen highlighting what italleged rising unemploymentand shrinking job opportuni-ties in the BJP-ruled Statesand the country in general inits campaigns, pubic rallies,statements etc.

Rajasthan Congress hasconveyed to the party HighCommand that in its manifestoit would like to offer a month-ly allowance of �3,500 to unem-ployed educated persons in

the State. Indian YouthCongress (IYC)

launched an‘Employment Form’

under the Yuva Shaktiprogramme and a cam-

paign is already underway. “To fulfil the needs and

expectations of youngsters,there will be no dearth ofresources. An atmosphere willbe provided where there will beopportunities, quality educa-tion and loans on easy terms.Details of educated unem-ployed will be gathered andafter forming the Government,we will provide �3,500 assis-tance to them.

The party will include thisin the election manifesto,” saida senior leader looking afterRajasthan affair.

Taking a dig at poll promis-es by the BJP, the Congressleader said, “Ours will obvi-ously not be a collection ofpolitical jumla”.

Continued on Page 4

������������� �45��467�

In an effort to streamline itsresources to improve opera-

tional preparedness by givingup non-critical functions, theArmy has closed down 15 mil-itary farms and sold 16,000imported Frieswal cows.

The cows were sold to var-ious States at a price of �1,000each and the Army plans to sellthe remaining 9,000 high-yieldmilch cattle shortly. Moreover,the remaining 24 militaryfarms, a colonial legacy, willalso be shortly closed down andland handed over to the localmilitary authorities.

The decision to close downthe Raj era military farms setup by the British to rear milchcattle for providing dairy prod-ucts to the Armed forces wastaken by the Government last

year to improve teeth to tailratio of the Army. It meansmore soldiers deployed foroperational role than staticduties like maintenance ofvehicles and farms amongstothers.

Following the official direc-tive, the Army has so far closed

down 15 farms out of total 39located all over the country. Asregards 25,000 Frieswal cows,a cross breed between Holstein-Friesian cows of Netherlandsand native Indian Sahiwalbreed, the Army first decidedto auction the milch cattle.Each cow can yield at an aver-

age more than 3,500 litres ofmilk per lactation and costs �1lakh each.

However, there were notakers for the cows in the auc-tion and the authorities thendecided to sell each cow at anominal price of �1,000 each tovarious States provided theywere ready to foot the trans-portation bill.

This scheme met with suc-cess and 16,000 cows weresold in the last few weeks, offi-cials said here on Saturday.While 9,000 of the sold cattlewere already dispatched theremaining 7,000 will be trans-ported shortly, they added.Nagaland and West Bengalhave already bought cows andsome more States have evincedinterest, they said.

The closure of militaryfarms is one step in restruc-

turing the Army as recom-mended by the Lt General(retired)DB Shekatkar com-mittee report.

The committee was con-stituted by the DefenceMinistry to recommend mea-sures to enhance combat capa-bility and rebalance defenceexpenditure of the armedforces. The committee sub-mitted its report in December2016.

Some of the recommen-dations for implementationincluded optimisation of sig-nals establishments to includeRadio Monitoring Companies,Corps Air Support SignalRegiments, Air FormationSignal Regiments, CompositeSignal Regiments and mergerof Corps Operating andEngineering Signal Regiments.

Continued on Page 4

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ASpecial Investigation Team(SIT) has been set up

under the supervision of theDeputy Commissioner ofPolice East of Gurugram toinvestigate the Saturday inci-dent in which both the wife andson of Additional District JudgeShrikant were shot at by thejudge’s security guard.

While the wife, Ritu (38),died overnight, the 18-year-oldson, Dhruv, is at a hospital,police said. They were seriouslyhurt after being shot fromclose range by Mahipal Singh,a Haryana Police Constablehailing from Bhungarka villagein Mahindargarh posted withthe judge for nearly two years.

Detailed report on P2

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Page 2: E’ ˆ˙ ! % ! F ˙ ˛ ! F ˙ F ./ 0˜ . ˛1’2#3 )˛%0%)01 ,)*-.ˇ/ $˛)* ˇ+ &˚1 ...€¦ · Action Plan (GRAP) in Delhi-NCR beginning Monday as the air pollution is becoming

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The sporting event aimed atpromoting Sikh culture and

tradition and creating aware-ness against obesity and drugmenace will be held in Delhi inDecember, said the president ofDelhi Sikh GurdwaraManagement Committee onSunday.

Inspired by the annualAustralian Sikh Games, thethree-day-long ‘Delhi SikhGames’ will be a mix of tradi-tional and modern sports,

including Sikh martial arts,kabaddi, arms twisting, gym-nastics and basketball, ManjitSingh GK said.

The event will be held atThyagraj stadium and othervenues on December 22-25.“The Delhi Sikh Games arebeing organised to tap thesporting talents of Sikh youthand create awareness againstobesity and drug menacebesides promoting our cul-ture,” he said.

Around 4,000 youthsdrawn from nearly 100 educa-tional institutions across Delhi-NCR will compete in the gamesand organisers will sponsorwinners for training inAustralia, he said.

He further said that freefood through langar and fruit,juice, snacks etc will be servedto all the participants andattendants for complete threedays by gurdwara volunteersand all sikh traditions will befollowed humbly and strictly.

The local Sikh communi-ty in Australia annually holdsSikh Games to promote itsculture. The Australian SikhGames 2019 will be held inMelbourne where athletes fromacross Australia as well as NewZealand, Singapore andMalaysia will take part.

New Delhi: Launching attackagainst the ruling Aam AadmiParty (AAP) Government for“misleading” people with falsepromises, Delhi Congress chiefspokesperson SharmisthaMukherjee on Sundaylaunched a booklet on allegedfailures of the Government onvarious fronts.

Mukherjee announced thatnearly three lakh party workerswill make door-to-door campa-ign to distribute these bookletswith an aim to educate peopleabout the failures of the Gov-ernment. The first phase of the“Lok Sampark Abhiyan” cam-paign would be launched by De-lhi Congress president Ajay Ma-ken and senior leader ChattarSingh on Monday. SR

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Night patrolling staff saved alife of a 38 year-old man

who was found lying injured inGovindpuri area of Delhi. Thepolice have also arrested a manwho attempted to murder him.

“Our night patrolling teamon 6 October at about 11 pmreached near Pocket 4, KalkajiExtension when they saw oneperson lying behind parked carsin an isolated dark spot. The per-son identified as Jayant Haldarwas semi-conscious and severe-

ly bleeding, having injuries onhis neck and head followingwhich he was immediatelyrushed to the AIIMS for treat-ment,” said Chinmoy Biswal,Deputy Commissioner of Police(DCP), South east district.

“On the way to hospital,the injured informed police indizzy state, that Kabir hadassaulted him. The doctors inthe hospital stated that if therewould have been delay of fivemore minutes, then it wouldhave been difficult to save thelife of the injured. Duringinvestigation, police team col-lected a broken bottle of alco-hol from the spot having bloodstains on it. Crime team wasalso called on spot, whoinspected the crime scene andfinger prints on alcohol bottlewere lifted. Finally goingthrough voter list, one personwith the name Kabir living inthe area was shortlisted,” saidthe DCP.

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Aman was crushed to deathafter he came under a

Uttar Pradesh roadways busnear Kashmiri Gate on Sunday.The driver was held on thespot.

“The deceased is identifiedas Naresh Kumar, is a residentof Meerut and was living with

his relative in Kamla Nagar Delhi for past fewmonths.

The incident occurred atNityanand Marg near KashmiriGate when Naresh was hoppingoff from the bus when the driver identified as SunilKumar suddenly acceleratedthe bus.

Naresh lost his control

and fell. He came under the bus and

got injured,” said the seniorpolice official.

“Naresh was immediately rushed to nearby hospital where he wasdeclared brought dead. Wehave registered a case and havearrested the driver,” said thesenior police official.

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Aday after wife and son of aAdditional Sessions Judge

(ADJ) were shot at by theirPersonal Security Officer(PSO) in Gurugram, HaryanaPolice chief Director General BS Sandu to avert such incidentsin future has decided to appointcounsellors across the State tokeep an eye on police person-nel suffering from mental ill-ness and disorders.

Talking to The Pioneer,DGP said “Yes, we have decid-ed to appoint such counsellorsalong with committee who willdeal with the mental illness ofthe Haryana police personneland time to time a counsellingseminar will be organised forthe personnel,”

Talking more about the

present case the DGP said it hasbeen cleared that the arrestedaccused was behind the crime.

“The motive behind theincident is not clear yet. Theaccused on police remand andwe are trying to ascertain theactual reason behind the ghast-ly act. As of now our top pri-ority to solve the case,” Sandhusaid.

“If the head constable hadany issue to perform his dutyhe should have approached tohis seniors and filed a com-plaint, he said.

“The police personnel inthe state perform their dutiesunder acute pressure. Theydidn’t get proper rests and hol-idays. Which cause serioushealth decrease and raise metaldisorder in the police person-nel,” a senior officer on the con-dition of anonymity, said.

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The Special InvestigationTeam (SIT) of Haryana

Police has been constituted toinvestigate the Saturday shoot-ing in which an AdditionalSession’s Judge wife and his sonwere attacked by the personalsecurity officer of the Judge.The incident left wife deadwhile the son is battling for hislife. Even as the highly placedsources in the Haryana Policeon condition of anonymitysaid that the head constable wasallegedly enraged as the moth-er-son duo used to pass "taunts"over his alleged conversion toChristianity.

The team will be headed bythe Deputy Commissioner ofpolice (East), Sulochna Gajrajincluding three AssistantCommissioner of police (ACP)and four inspector rank offi-

cials. Several top officials of theHaryana police visited thecrime spot on Sunday andsought detailed reports fromthe concerned officials.

The department on Sundaydismissed Mahipal, the accusedhead constable, from servicewith immediate effect underArticle 311 (2) of the constitu-tion of India.

Meanwhile, the local courton Sunday sent the 32-year-oldMahipal Singh, the former per-sonal security officer (PSO) ofadditional session’s JudgeKrishan Kant Sharma in con-nection with the case on fourdays of police remand. Theinvestigation team had soughtseven days of police remand.

Earlier on Saturday thepolice had questioned theaccused and had reportedlyindicated that he might bementally unstable. However,the police have not found anymedical history or any medi-cine from his possession and itis reportedly being assumed

that the accused is mentally sta-ble.

Highly placed sources saidthe accused head constablehad converted to Christianityaround a week before the inci-dent. The judge’s son and wifereportedly used to tauntMahipal over his change of reli-gion. Sources within the policedepartment said this is alsobeing regarded as one of thepossible reasons behind the ter-rible incident. The accusedclaimed to have visited Church,Temple and Mosque.

The SIT will find out themotive behind the incident asthroughout the day the policeofficials were unable to disclosethe mystery behind the crime.

Also, a team of a medicalboard on Sunday conductedthe autopsy of the JudgeKrishan Kant’s wife Ritu (37)who was shot in the chesttwice in the incident later onSaturday night succumbed toher injuries at the hospital.

“The cause of death of thevictim was excess bleeding andshocked. The body has beenhanded over to the family afterthe medical examination,”Doctor Deepak Mather, whoconducted the autopsy, said.

Meanwhile, the teenagedboy Dhruv (17) who was shottwice in the head and once inthe shoulder is still criticaland is on life support at theMedanta Hospital.

“We took him on remandand after the questioning, wewill be able to say anythingabout the motive behind

the crime,” SIT head Sulochna Gajraj told reporterson Sunday.

She said a preliminaryinvestigation has revealed thatthe PSO lost his cool after hewas reportedly admonishedfor not taking out the car fromthe parking. However, thepolice said that the motivebehind firing is not clear yet.

“The accused is keepingchanging his statement he toldus that he was worried and hassome tensions. The furtherquestioning into the matter ison. We are investigating thematter from all possibleangles,” the DCP, said.”There issome mystery behind the inci-dent. During the probe, we willdisclose the actual facts behindthe mystery as what was actu-ally happened before the inci-dent,” Gajraj said.

The probe team said, “Theaccused told them he has elim-inated the ‘Shaitan’ and hismother.”

Meanwhile, the DCP said

Yes, he had been speakingabout Shaitan and it seems tohis habitual word and was alsotalking about several religions.”

A case was filed against thePSO on the complaint of addi-tional session’s judge KrishanKant Sharma at Sector-50police station. “On Saturday atabout 3.30 pm while I was inthe court complex during thecourse of my duty hours, Ireceived a phone call my PSOMahipal and he told that hehad shot my wife Ritu and sonDhruv, the Judge claimed in theFirst Information Report (FIR)to the police.

Earlier on Saturday, Wifeand son of the AdditionalDistrict and Sessions Judge ofGurugram local court wereshot at and injured in full pub-lic view by their PersonalSecurity Officer at ArcadiaMarket in South City-II.

The culprit was arrestedwithin two hours of the inci-dent on the Gurugram-Faridabad Road.

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The Delhi Police has arresteda 27-year-old man for

allegedly slaughtering two cowsin a house at Nand Nagri inNational Capital. The accusedalong with his brother hadbrought four cows from UttarPradesh a day before, said Police.

“The accused is identifiedas Ubed, a resident of NandNagri. We had received a PoliceControl Room (PCR) call onSunday morning regarding theslaughtering of the cow in ahouse in Nand Nagri area fol-lowing which a team rushed tothe spot. Ubed was appre-hended from the spot whereasseeing the police his brotherfled from the spot,” said a

senior police official. “During our initial inves-

tigation it was revealed thatUbed along with his brotherhad brought four cows fromUttar Pradesh and had slaugh-tered two of them. A neighborinformed police regarding theslaughtering. We have recov-ered beef and weapon used toslaughter. Two other cows werehanded over to local municipalauthorities,” said the seniorpolice official.

“We have registered a case.Ubed brother is still abscond-ing and police team is makingefforts to nab him. Furtherinvestigation is going on,” saidDeputy Commissioner ofPolice (DCP) of north eastdistrict Atul Kumar.

Sale of immovable assets under the Securitisation and Reconstruction of Financial Assets and Enforcement of Security Interest Act, 2002* (hereinafter referred to as the Act).Notice is hereby given to the public in general and to the Borrower/s and Guarantor/s in particular that the under mentioned property mortgaged to Syndicate Bank, the possession of which had been taken by the Authorised Officer of the Bank under S. 13(4) of the Act will be sold by E- Auction as mentioned below for recovery of under mentioned dues and applicable interest charges and costs etc. as detailed below.The property described below is being sold on “AS IS WHERE IS, WHATEVER THERE IS AND WITHOUT RECOURSE BASIS” under the rule no. 8 & 9 of the Security Interest (Enforcement) Rules (hereinafter referred to as the rules) for the recovery of the dues detailed as under:

Name and address of Borrower/Guarantor Borrower-M/s Alaknanda EnterprisesProp : Mr. Vijay Bakshi1. G-662-63, Mangol Puri Village, Delhi-1100832. Flat No. 297, Pkt.-D, Sec.-B/2, Narela New DelhiGuarantor : Smt. Chanderpati W/o Shri Dharam PalR/o WZ-18/17, Budhela Village, Vikas Puri, Delhi-18

The total amount due as on 30-09-2018 Rs. 1,57,43,630/-

Description of the Immovable/Movableproperties with name of the owner/Mortgager

Properties bearing Plot No. WZ-18/17, out ofKhasra No. 22/18/17, measuring 90 Sq. Yards,Lal Dora, Village, Bodhela, Neary CommunityCentre, Vikaspuri & Oxford School Road,New Delhi-110018

Details of encumbrances over the property, asknown to the Bank

Owned / Mortgaged by: Smt. ChanderpatiW/o Shri Dharam Pal R/o WZ-18/17 BudhelaVillage, Vikaspuri, Delhi-110018

Nil

The details regarding E-Auction are mentioned below:

29.10.2018Date and time of E - AuctionReserve price of property

E-Auction Website address

Rs 50,35,000/-

https://syndicatebank.auctiontiger.net.

also on AuctiontigerMobile App

Earnest Money Deposit(EMD) to be deposited

Through DD/RTGS in A/c No. 90323020000063,

IFSC Code : SYNB0009032, Name- Kashmere

Gate Collection Account

Last date for submission of bids

Minimum Bid increment amount

Date and time of inspection of property forintending purchasers

Rs 50,3,500/-

28.10.2018 By 4.00 pm

Rs 25,000

18.10.2018 to 28.10.2018 between3 pm to 4 pm during any working day of bank

Contact details & website address of serviceprovider

M/s E-Procurement Technologies Pvt. Ltd.,A-201/208, Wall Street-II, Opp. Orient Club,Near Gujarat Collage, Ellis Bridge,Ahmedabad-380006,Contact Mr. Kushal Kothary-Mob. No. 07940005416,Toll Free No 18001035342E-mail ID : [email protected]@auctiontiger.net

Place: New Delhi Date: 10.10.2018

For The Syndicate BankAuthorised Officer

E- AUCTION SALE NOTICE UNDER SARFAESI ACT, 2002

Kashmere Gate Branch, 1529 & 1532, Church Road,

Kashmere Gate, Delhi-110006, Tel.: 011-23863993, 23861646

E-mail : [email protected]

TERMS AND CONDITIONS1. The auction sale will be online e-auctioning through website https//syndicatebank.autiontiger.net/ also on Auctiontiger Mobile App.2. The bidders are also required to go through the Bank website www.syndicatebank.in for detailed terms and conditions of e-auction sale before submitting their bids and in taking part in e-auction. 6. The intending bidders should submit the photocopies of the PAN card, ID Proof, adress proof at the time of depositing EMD and produce the Original to the Bank at the time of making payment of the balance amount of 25% of bid amount.7. Last date of submission of EMD online bids is 28.09.2018 upto 6.00 p.m.8. Successful / highest bidder shall have to deposit 25% of the sale proceeds (including Earnest Money already deposited) immediately on closure of E-Auction proceedings through the mode of payment mentioned in clause 4.9. The balance 75% of sale proceeds has to be deposited in the account mentioned above within 15 days from the date of confirmation of sale by the Secured Creditor or the Authorized Officer of any extended time. In default of payment during the said period the sale will automatically stands revoked and the entire deposit made by the bidder together with the earnest money shall be forfeited. The property will be re-sold and the defaulting bidder shall forfeit all claims to the property or any part of the sum for which the property may subsequently be sold.10. The unsuccessful bidder shall take the EMD directly from Authorized Office Immediately on closure of the e-auction sale proceedings by providing RTGS details, A/c No. and IFSC Code.11. The bidders may participate in e-auction for bidding from their place of choice. Internet connectivity shall have to be ensured by bidder himself, Bank / Service Provider shall not be held responsible for the internet connectivity, net problems, system crash down, power failure etc.12. The property is being sold on "AS IS WHERE IS, WHAT IS THERE IS AND WITHOUT ANY RECOURSE BASIS" in all respects and subject to statutory dues if any. The intending bidders should make discrete enquiry as regard to any claim, charges / encumbrances on the property, of any authority besides the Bank's charges and should satisfy themselves about the title, extent, quality and quantity of the property before submitting their bid.13. The property shall not be sold below the reserve price.14. Prospective bidders are required to obtain user id/passwerd, which is mandatory, for bidding in above E-aucting from M/s E-Procurement Technologies, Pvt. Ltd. A-201/208, Wall Street II, Opposite Orient Club, Near Gujarat College, Ellis Bridge, Ahmadabad-380006, Contact : Mr. Kushall Kothary - Mob. No. 08980690773, E-Mail : [email protected]/ Land Line 07940005416 Toll Free No 18001035342, E-mail ID : [email protected], [email protected]. Bidders are advised to go through the website http;//syndicatebank.auctiontiger.net for detailed terms and conditions for e-auction sale before submitting their bids and taking part in the E-auctiong sale proceedings and or contact the Authorized officer, Syndicate Bank, KASHMERE GATE, BRANCH, DELHI-110006 Tel No. 011-23861646, 011-23863993, Mob. No. 0996830903216. The bidder shall improve offer in multiple of Rs. 25,000/- (Rupees Twenty Five Thousand Only)17. The successful bidder shall bear all stamp duty, registration fee, incidental expenses etc. for getting the sale certificate registered. The successful bidder shall also bear all statutory dues payable to the Government, taxes and rates and out going, both existing and future relating to the property. The sale certificate will be issued only in the name of the successful bidder.18. The authorized officer reserves the right to accept or reject any bid or postpone or cancel the auction without assigning any reason and also to modify any terms and conditions of the sale without any prior notice.19. The particulars specified in the description of the property have been stated to the best of the information of the bank and the bank will not be responsible for any error, mis statement of omission.20. For inspection of the property and more particulars, Syndicate Bank, 1529 & 1530 Church Road Kashmere Gate Branch, Delhi-110006 May be Contracted ON ANY WORKING DAY BETWEEN 3 pm to 4pm from 18.10.2018 to 28.10.2018 Ph.: 011-23861646, 2386399321. The Authorized Officer/Bank will not be responsible for any charge, lien, encumbrance, property tax dues, electricity dues etc. or any other dues to the Government, local authority or anybody, in respect of the property under sale.22. The particulars specified in the Description of property have been stated to the best of information of the Bank and the Bank will not be responsible for any error, misstatement or omission.23. IMPORTANT INSTRUCTION : Bidding in the final minutes and seconds should be avoided in the bidders own interest Neither Syndicate Bank nor Service Provider will be responsible for any failure/lapse (Power Failure, Internet failure etc.) on the part of the vendor. In order to prevent such contingent situation bidders are requested to make all the necessary arrangements/alternatives such as backup power supply etc. required so that they are able to prevent such situation and continue to participate in the auction successfully. As per the new inter-operability guidelines released by the Controller of Certifying Authorities (CCA), the Secured Socket Layer (SSL) certificate for a e-procuremtn application is generated on a new algorithm, SHA2 For the same, the users have to ensure that they have Window XP (SP3)/Windows Vista/ Window 7 Installed in their respective PC/Laptop.This is also a notice to the borrower/guarantor of the above said loan about holding of this sale on the above mentioned date if their outstanding dues are not repaid in full.

Page 3: E’ ˆ˙ ! % ! F ˙ ˛ ! F ˙ F ./ 0˜ . ˛1’2#3 )˛%0%)01 ,)*-.ˇ/ $˛)* ˇ+ &˚1 ...€¦ · Action Plan (GRAP) in Delhi-NCR beginning Monday as the air pollution is becoming

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Delhi ites may have to pay 3-4 times of the parking fees

for their vehicles in comingdays if the increasing level ofpollutants in the air makes itsquality fall within the “verypoor” category. According toofficials in the backdrop ofincreasing pollution such stepsare necessary to discouragepeople from using their per-sonal vehicles and rather takepublic transport.

The air quality is dippingtowards the very poor level,with unabated stubble burningin the neighboring States andthe authorities have “pulled uptheir socks” as they are readywith their plan to implementcontingency measures.

With national capital star-ing towards a toxic future, theCentral Pollution ControlBoard (CPCB) is ready with itsGraded Response Action Plan(GRAP) that requires imple-mentation of stringent emer-gency measures to be takendepending upon the quality ofair.

The GRAP requires mea-sures like stopping garbageburning in landfill sites, strictcompliance of pollution control regulation in industriesincluding brick-kilns etc if air quality is “moderate” to“poor”.

Moreover , further strin-gent measures are called for ifthe air quality descend to the“very poor” category, that

requires additional measureslike stopping use of diesel gen-erator sets, enhancing parkingfees 3-4 times and increasingfrequency of public means oftransport that includes metroand buses.

Under “severe” category,additional measures would beimplemented that includesincreasing frequency of mech-anized cleaning of roads, sprin-kling of water on roads andidentifying road stretches withhigh dust generation.

If the air quality falls tosevere plus emergency catego-ry, then measures like stoppingentry of trucks into Delhiexcept those carrying essential

commodities, stopping con-struction activities andappointment of task force totake decision on any additional steps will be imple-mented.

The measures dependingupon the air quality will beimplemented from Monday.Currently the air quality is inthe poor category but author-ities have predicted that itwould reach the ‘very poor’ cat-egory in the next couple ofdays.

CPCB has also deployed 41teams across the Delhi NCR tomonitor proper implementa-tion of norms enforced to pre-vent pollution at the source.

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In its bid to control dust pol-lution in the city the South

Delhi Municipal Corporation(SDMC) has issued stern warn-ing to National BuildingConstruction Corporation’(NBCC) asking it to immedi-ately stop all construction anddemolition activities at PragatiMaidan or “face the music”.

SDMC has asked NBCC toimmediately stop such activi-ties or be ready for the actionunder DMC Act 1957. Thecivic body also directed NBCCto produce “sanction plan”obtained by it from the com-petent agency for working onthe aforesaid project.

SDMC Commissioner DrPuneet Kumar Goel said thatSDMC has also stared ground

level monitoring on a contin-uous basis and to ensure that acommon object to reduce pol-lution level is achieved and airquality does not deterioratesfurther. He added that SDMCis committed to strictly enforcethe directions of theEnvironmental Pollution(Prevention and Control)

Authority’ (EPCA).A communication has

been issued to stop construc-tion activities as NBCC ignoredearlier request to this regardand NGT’s guidelines, a seniorSDMC official said.

Taking serious note of thedirections of the EPCA, thecivic body has deployed 62

water tankers for sprinkling onroads. “The sprinkling of waterwas undertaken in about twodozen places including BatalaHouse to Okhla head works,Okhla SLF, and DefenceColony, Jal Vihar Lajpat Nagar,Sunder Nagar, Bhairon Marg,RK Puram Sector 1 and 4, hesaid.

The official further saidthat it has also increased thefrequency of mechanizedcleaning of roads, encourageproviding electric heaters tosecurity stall to avoid burningin open to contain the effect ofwinter, advise people affectedwith respiratory problems tostay from the polluted placesand stop the use of diesel gen-erators sets.

Meanwhile, as part of mea-sures to control pollution, thebuilding department of North

Delhi Municipal Corporationhas issued 1188 challans thisyear in which 12 challans weredone in September alone for anumber of violations in com-pliance with National GreenTribunal orders and collecteda fine of �2934900. However,SDMC has collected Rs 55,205by imposing fine on 20827 vio-lators this year. Over 950 chal-lans were issued betweenSeptember 1 and October 11under ‘Solid WasteManagement’ rule and Rs 1,68,600 collected as fine.

The Commissioner had alsochaired a high-level meetingon Friday to chalk out an actionplan to overcome the situationarising out of alarming levels ofair pollution and directed offi-cials to deploy all mechanicalroad sweepers and water tankersfor settling down the dust.

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With recent spurt in casesof snatching the nation-

al Capital has become its hubwith certain places as “hot-spots” where such crimes arerampant. Unfortunately,CCTVs installed at variouslocations have failed to ‘deter’snatchers who are still operat-ing with fearlessness. While thepolice prove to be ineffective inkeeping check such activitiesthat include chain, mobile andwallet snatching.

Snatchers usually targetold aged people, women andgirls who are considered morevulnerable as compared to oth-ers. Apart from crowded mar-ket places where incidences ofday light snatching are quitecommon, the poorly lit roads,service-lanes and by-lanes, cor-ners, dead ends, isolated placesetc. snatchers operate with“impunity”.

No single day passes with-out incidents of snatchingbeing reported and in most of

the cases related to the snatch-ing criminals are usually bike-borne and target elderly par-ticularly women and girls. Amajority of chain snatchingincidents take place duringafternoon and late eveninghours in various busy localitiesof city.

The snatchers didn’t hesi-tate to stab or shoot someonewho resists snatching or followsthem. As witnessed in twosuch incidents that occurredwithin last 10 days, in one inci-dent the snatchers shot at 28-year-old Mohit in Anand Viharwhen he was trying to grab abike-borne snatcher and inanother incident a 14-year-oldwas shot at as he was trying tostop two bike-borne snatchersfrom robbing his father.Delhites feel lack of properpolicing and improperpatrolling has resulted in therise in incidences of snatching.

“The patrol van is usuallyseen parked at a definite loca-tion for hours. They hardlymove unless someoneapproaches or they have to go

somewhere. The snatchers arealso local criminals and theyvery well know about this andhence are fearless,” said RohitYadav, a resident of MayurVihar.

Statistics shows that tillSeptember end 5034 cases ofsnatching were reported in theNational Capital. Delhi policehas claimed to workout 2565cases of snatching so far. In2017, Delhi police has regis-tered 8231 cases of snatching.

According to a seniorpolice official, these snatchersdo not have a specific patternor location where they committhe crime. “They generally

choose remote areas and loca-tions close to schools, temples,parks and residential areas.Also, many of the offenders usestolen bikes and abandon themimmediately after the crime,”said the senior police official.

“We don’t feel safe evengoing to famous market placeslike, Chandni Chowk, SarojiniNagar and Lajpat Nagar. Onething that seemed common inall was the encroached marketlanes that these lanes are hometo the snatchers. I along withmy had visited Sarojni Nagartwo months ago when oneman while passing by snatchedher bag and ran away,” saidRohit Chabbra, a resident ofGautam Nagar, near AIIMSadding that due to congestedarea it is not even possible tochase these snatchers.

A senior official in SarojiniNagar police station while talk-ing to The Pioneer said thatthough CCTV cameras areinstalled in the area they try tokeep a vigil eye on snatchersbut that CCTV doesn’t solvethe purpose as these snatchers

are aware of CCTV camera andmanage to hide and flee aftersnatching.

“Though Delhi Police hasposted beat officers at everydistrict in National Capital tokeep an insight on suspiciousperson and criminals but short-age of police personnel in theforce is another reason thatthese snatchers are active inseveral areas especially in bor-dering area where after snatch-ing these snatchers cross theborder just to avoid policeaction,” said Amrik Sharma, asocial activist and a resident inAnand Vihar area.

“Most of these snatcherseven carry weapons. Last week,two snatchers had robbed ofmy roommate when she wasreturning home from MalviyaNagar at around 10:30 pm lastweek. They had pointed knifeat her and took away wallet andher mobile phone. Since thenwe have stopped using metroand have started hiring a cabwhich make us feel more safer,”said Esha Sharma, a resident ofMalviya Nagar.

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Theme-based Durga PujaPandals are trending this

‘Navratri’, but pandal by MilaniCultural and WelfareAssociation, Mayur Vihar hasunique theme that resolvearound the filmmaker SatyajitRay and his anti-war fantasycomedy film “Goopi GyneBagha Byne.”

Showcasing paintings asbig as 9*5 feet among other car-icatures, this Durga Puja pan-dal has been designed by twoKolkata based artists.

“The Pandal will focus onthe central characters King ofGhost, Goopi Gyne, singer andBagha Byne, drum player.

This time, we have created artificial bamboo bushwith the King Ghost talking inhis inimitable style and voice.Also, we have Bengal stylepaintings in vibrant pastelshades and sketches of differ-ent characters,” said Sourabh

Goswami, Patron, MilaniCultural and WelfareAssociation.

According to MrinalBiswas, General Secretary ofthe Association the whole pan-dal has been designed byCalcutta based artists ShubraBhera and Sudip who havetaken more than two months todesign the pandal.

Highlighting the correla-tion between the theme and theoccasion, Biswas said, “If you

watch the film, the King Ghostgrants the other two maincharacters three wishes thatcompletely transforms theirlives. This year, we are alsomaking three wishes; one is tomake Yamuna pollution free,second is to make Delhi cleanand third is to make the citypolythene free.”

Adding to the information, Goswami saidthat the pandal is eco-friendlyand the polythene has notbeen used in any of the exhibitson display.

“The pandal is eco-friend-ly. The budget this time hasbeen around �36 lakh. Wehope the hard work pays andpeople like it. Every year wemake theme based pandalsand the footfall is around10,000-15,000 per day. Thistime we are expecting more,”said Goswami.

The Pandal will be open forpublic from Monday and willbe open till October 19.

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The air quality in Delhi remainedpoor on Sunday as the wind slows

down even as authorities predicted fur-ther deterioration in air quality indexof Delhi in the coming days.

The overall air quality index (AQI)recorded at 10 am Sunday stood at 208which falls in the poor category, accord-ing to Centre-run System of Air Qualityand Weather Forecasting and Research(SAFAR).On Saturday, the AQI of thenational capital stood at 300.

According to the Central PollutionControl Board (CPCB) website, AnandVihar recorded an Air Quality Index(AQI) of 261, DTU registered AQI of

207, ITO recorded AQI of 204 whileJahangirpuri recorded an AQI of 300,just one point below the very poor level.

An AQI between 0-50 is considered‘good’, 51-100 ‘satisfactory’, 101-200‘moderate’, 201-300 ‘poor’, 301-400‘very poor’, and 401-500 ‘severe’. The

PM10 level (presence of particles withdiameter less than 10 micrometers) inDelhi stood at 183 and the PM2.5 levelwas recorded at 93, according to thedata.

Authorities have predicted furtherdeterioration of air quality in the com-ing days. A slew of measures are beingtaken by the CPCB to fight pollutionduring the upcoming winter season,when the air quality in Delhi is gener-ally the worst.

Meanwhile, recent satellite imagesfrom the NASA have showed thatfarmers in Punjab and Haryana havestarted burning crop residue earlier thismonth.

The NASA, on its official website,

stated that burning crop residue inPunjab and Haryana has increasedsignificantly over the past 10 days in andnear Amritsar, Ambala, Karnal, Sirsaand Hisar.Burning of paddy strawevery year during October andNovember and wheat straw duringApril in Punjab and Haryana are themajor contributors of air pollution inDelhi-NCR, as the smoke travelstowards the national capital.

In Delhi, it mixes with fog and cre-ates a toxic smoggy winter every year.An emergency action plan will beimplemented from Monday to combatair pollution that includes restrictionsbased on the air quality of the city, saidthe CPCB.

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With the approach of win-ters coupled with the ris-

ing pollution levels, the residentsof national Capital are facinghealth hazards with some evenexperiencing irritation in eyesand breathing problems.

The cases of respiratoryproblems have reportedlyincreased by approximately 30per cent, said doctors.

Dr Atul Kakar, ViceChairman, Department ofMedicine, Sir Ganga RamHospital said that there hasbeen a 30 per cent rise in thecases of respiratory problemssuch as Asthma, bronchitis and

Chronic Obstruction AirwayDisease (COPD).

Also, there are people com-ing with complaints of irritation in their eyes, Dr VikasMaurya, senior doctor of FortisHospital, Shalimar Bagh said that there is anincrease in the patients whoalready suffer from some respi-ratory disorder.

“We see patients of COBDthroughout the year as these are

the patients who develop thedisease due to smoking.

These days there is a generalrise in patients of Asthma as inwinters or when the air becomesthick and hence they have dif-ficulty breathing. This year, dueto pollution, there is a rise inupper respiratory tract infec-tions such as common coughand cold,” said Dr Maurya.

Doctors also suggested pre-cautions can help in controllingthe situation. “People who haveto be out all day should wear agood quality mask. Apart fromthat, you can keep yourselfhydrated by keep drinking waterto cut the effects of pollution,”said Dr Maurya.

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The BJP rebel Yashwant Sinhawill not be contesting on the

AAP ticket from the New Delhiseat in the upcoming Lok-Sabhaelections due next year butwould rather campaign againstthe Modi Government acrossthe country, said Delhi AAPconvener Gopal Rai on Sunday.

Halting talks of rebel BJPleaders Yashwant Sinha andShatrughan Sinha being ropedin to contest Lok Sabha polls onits tickets, the AAP Sundayannounced Brijesh Goyal andRajpal Solanki as party’s in-charges of New Delhi and WestDelhi Parliamentary seats for the

election. The Sinhas, who arebitter critics of the Modi gov-ernment, have grown close tothe Aam Aadmi Party, extend-ing support to the party on var-ious issues and sharing platformswith its leaders, including DelhiChief Minister Arvind Kejriwal,on many occasions.

“There were talks withYashwant Sinha for him to con-test from New Delhi seat but hehas expressed willingness tocampaign against the Modi gov-ernment across the country.There were no talks aboutShatrughan Sinha being theparty candidate,” Delhi AAPconvener Gopal Rai said at apress briefing.

The party had alreadyannounced its in-charges forfive of the seven parliamentaryconstituencies in Delhi. Thecandidature of all the seven in-charges will be formalised later,Rai said. Party sources said thein-charges will be ultimately thecandidates on the respectiveseats. However, they also said“last minute” changes could takeplace as some of the in-chargeswere “too new faces” withoutmuch political experience.

The announcement of thein-charges on the remainingtwo seats in Delhi halted, for thetime being, speculation that theAAP might ally with theCongress for the 2019 election.

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Delhi Minister for ScheduledCaste/Scheduled Tribe

(SC/ST), Rajendra Pal Gautamon Sunday issued a statementdemanding action against offi-cials of the Delhi SubordinateServices Selection Board(DSSSB) over a “racist andmisogynist question” asked inan examination conducted forthe recruitment of primaryteachers.

The DSSSB examinationfor recruitment of primaryteachers was conducted onSaturday. In a statement, theminister expressed “serious

concern” on the issue and saidthat he will ask Chief SecretaryAnshu Prakash to take appro-priate action against the DSSSB.

“The purported questionwas asked in the Hindi sectionof the examination held onSaturday. It had four optionspointing to a caste-based sys-tem of the ‘BrahminicalSociety’. It is a multiple choicequestion and the answers arehighly racist and gender insen-sitive,” the minister alleged.According to the statement, theMinister said that the servicedepartment, which is under theL-G, is the governing body ofthe DSSSB.

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With aim to create aware-ness and encourage

women regarding theirempowerment, Special PoliceUnit for Women And Children(SPUWAC) of Delhi Policeparticipated in the Silver Jubileecelebration of National HumanRight Commission (NHRC)organised at Central Park,Connaught Place on Saturday.

During the function,SPUWAC team explained tech-

niques of self defence and thesalient features of Himmat Plusapp. The self defence wingalso presented through demon-stration of martial arts, includ-ing kata and fights.

“A nukkad natak was orga-nized by the team at the eventwhich highlighted crimeagainst women cell, domesticviolence act, eve teasing andwomen helpline numbers(1091,1096),” said Geeta RaniVerma, Deputy Commissionerof Police (DCP), SPUWAC

“Overall, the endeavor ofSPUWAC was to ensure thesafety and security of womenand girls of Delhi and toempower by educating themthrough self defence trainingprogramme and through

Himmat Plus app,” said theDCP. “SPUWAC has beeninstrumental in bringing a pos-itive change for safety and

security of women and girlsand making all efforts forwomen’s safety by differentmeans of spreading awareness

through campaign and gendersensitization programme indifferent spheres of Delhi,” saidthe DCP.

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The Delhi Commission forWomen has launched a

separate email address to reportcases of sexual harassmentunder the #MeToo movement.The DCW has set up a separateemail id for reporting the com-plaints [email protected]. Onecan also call 181 for any assis-tance regarding the same, theDCW said in a statement.

The commission has alsoappealed to the women of the#MeToo campaign to reportthe incidents of sexual crimesto the police and women com-missions, it said.

“This reporting will pavethe path for putting these sex-ual predators behind bars,something that should havebeen done long ago,” it added.

India’s #MeToo move-ment, which started withTanushree Dutta alleging thatactor Nana Patekar harassedher during a film shoot in 2008,has escalated sharply with

increasing numbers of womencoming forward with theircomplaints.

Giving the example ofUnion Minister M J Akbaragainst whom several womenhave come out, the DCWclaimed, “He never had to payfor his actions and all thewomen and girls he preyedupon still await justice”.

“While exposing thesesexual predators is definitely animportant first step, the com-mission believes that thesemen should be put behindbars and prosecuted for thehorrific crimes they have committed,” it said in thestatement.

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Visakhapatnam(AP): Foursuspected Maoist sympathisers,including two women were onSunday arrested in the districtin connection with the killingof two TDP leaders, includingan MLA last month, policesaid.

This comes after a womanMaoist, an accused in theshooting incident, was gunneddown by security forces in analleged encounter nearAndrapali forest on Fridayduring intense combing oper-ations.

The arrested were identi-fied as Yedala Subba Rao (45),Gemmeli Sobhan (32), YedelaEswari (34) and Korra Kamala(35),all native of DumbrigudaMandal.

Police claimed that all theaccused had worked for theOrganisation for the Protectionof Girijan Rights (OPGR) inthe past and have been pro-viding support to the Maoists.

Investigation revealed thatthe four arrested people have

shared key information withthe Maoists about themove-ments of the TDP leaders, onSeptember 21.

A day before the attack,Maoists fromNandapur andNarayanapatna area commit-tees led by Venkata RaviChaitanya alias Aruna ofNandapur Dalam came toLivitiput area and took shelterin the houses of those arrested,Superintendent of Police(Visakha Rural)Rahul DevSharma and said.

Based on the informationfrom the four, the Maoistsblocked the cars of the TDPleaders at Livitiput, while theywere on the way to a meeting,and shot them dead, theyadded.

In its major strike after along gap, outlawed CPI(Maoists) on September 23shot dead Araku MLA KidariSarveswara Rao his predecessorSiveri Soma, both ScheduledTribes, in Lippitiputta village inVisakhapatnam district. PTI

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Ending uncertainty over hercandidature, the JD(S) on

Sunday announced fieldingChief Minister H DKumaraswamy's wife AnithaKumaraswamy in the bypoll tothe Ramanagara Assembly con-stituency.

The ruling party in theState also said MadhuBangarappa, son of formerChief Minister S Bangarappa,would be the candidate from theShivamogga parliamentary seat.

Earlier, there was specula-tion that Anitha would contesteither from Ramanagara orMandya.

The Janata Dal (Secular)has still not finalised the candi-date for the Mandya Lok Sabhabypoll. The party has said thecandidature will be announcedlater.

The coalition partner ofthe JD(S), Congress, hasannounced that AnandNyamgouda, son of SidhuNyamagouda who was killed in

a road accident on May 28, willbe its candidate from theJamakhandi Assembly seat.

The party is yet to decide itscandidate for the Ballari LokSabha seat.

The bypolls to three LokSabha seats — Shivamogga,Mandya and Ballari — and thetwo assembly seats ofRamanagara and Jamakhandiwill take place on November 3.

JD(S) national secretarygeneral Danish Ali told PTI thatthe names of AnithaKumaraswamy and Bangarappawere finalised for theRamanagar and Shivamoggaseats respectively.

However, the candidate forMandya would be finalisedlater, he said.

Ali also said the JD(S)would support the Congresscandidates from Ballari andJamakhandi.

Confirming this, JD(S) Stategeneral secretary M Srikanthsaid Bangarappa would be thealliance candidate fromShivamogga. PTI

New Delhi: Days after Gangaactivist G D Agarwal passedaway, Congress presidentRahul Gandhi Sundayexpressed concern over thedeteriorating health of anoth-er person fasting for the con-servation of the river.

Sant Gopaldas, 36, hasbeen fasting for the cause forover 110 days. He began hisfast against mining in theGanga river bed first inBadrinath and had been fast-ing at Triveni and Bag ghats ofthe Ganga in Rishikesh sinceJune 24.

"Deteriorating health ofSant Gopaldas is a matter ofconcern for the nation. He has

been sitting on fast since June24 to stop mining in theGanga. Sant Gopaldas repre-sents the voice of SwamiSanand (Prof. G. D. Agarwal).This voice should remain loudand clear," Gandhi tweeted inHindi.

Gandhi had Friday hailedenvironmental activistAgarwal for his contributiontowards saving the Ganga andvowed to take his fight for-ward.

Agarwal passed away at ahospital in Rishikesh,Uttarakhand, on Thursday, 111 days after hebegan a fast for a pollution-free Ganga. PTI

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Jharkhand's own crusader against cer-vical cancer, Dr Bharti Kashyap was on

today conferred the "WomenEmpowerment Award" by the IndianMedical Association at I.M.A. House,New Delhi, for her dedicated and pio-neering work in organising health aware-ness campaigns —Cervical CancerScreening Camps— throughout the farflung and rural areas of Jharkhand, tocombat the high incidence of cervicalcancer, educating women to take bettercare of themselves and making themstrong enough to gain greater controlover all decisions affecting them.

This is the third award, bestowed bythe Indian Medical Association onJharkhand's very own crusader againstcervical cancer in women. Earlier, DrBharti Kashyap had been conferred with

the Doctor of the Year, 2017, Award andthe Med Achiever's Award, 2014, by theIndian Medical Association for hernotable contribution to her field and tothe society at large.

Statistics reveal that in India, everyhour, an average of 6.8 women die dueto cervical cancer. The statistics furthersaid that around 44.2 percent of deathsof women are due to breast and cervi-cal cancer.

A specialist in Femto Laser Assistedcataract surgery and Femto LaserBladeless Lasik surgery and currently,Chairperson of the women Doctors'Wing, IMA, Jharkhand Chapter,Dr.Bharti Kashyap has been conferredwith Nari Shakti Puraskar, 2017, by theH'ble President of India, atRashtrapatiBhawan, New Delhi inMarch 2018, for exemplary work in thefield of women empowerment.

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Shimla: Himachal PradeshChief Minister Jai Ram Thakuron Sunday alleged that the pre-vious Congress Government inthe State had left a burden ofover �46,500 crore on the exche-quer due to its financial mis-management.

The current StateGovernment has succeeded ingetting financial assistance ofabout �9,000 crore from theCentre for various developmentprojects, he said at the closingceremony of a Kabaddi andVolleyball tournament inKumarsain here.

In its nine months tenure,the BJP Government in the

State has been dedicated towardthe overall development ofHimachal Pradesh, Thakur said.

The Virbhadra Singh-ledGovernment opened educa-tional and health institutionswithout adequate budget provi-sions, he said.

"The previous dispensa-tion's financial mismanagementhad led to a burden of �46,500crore on the State exchequer," theChief Minister said.

On the occasion, Thakurannounced that the SeniorSecondary School Baragaonafter Kargil martyr SatishKumar.

He also declared �33 lakh

for the construction of differentlink roads of the area andannounced the construction ofa bus stand and a parking spaceat Kumarsain.

The Chief Minister said amodern vegetable market wouldbe constructed at Kumarsain.

He also announced �51,000from his discretionary fund tothe organisers of the tourna-ment. Earlier, the Chief Ministerinaugurated a new ITI buildingat Kumarsain.

It was completed at a cost of�7.81 crore. Thakur also visit-ed the famous Hatu MataTemple at Narkanda and per-formed Puja. PTI

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Jammu: Over 800 people of differentage groups on Sunday turned up fora marathon organised by the Army inborder district of Rajouri to promote"peace and harmony" in Jammu &Kashmir, a Defence official said.

'Rajouri Marathon 2018' saw anoverwhelming response from civiliansand defence personnel in diversifiedage categories as the participants hitthe track early in the morning, thedefence spokesperson said.

"The imperatives of health con-sciousness and Swachh BharatAbhiyan under the motto of SwacchRajouri, Swasth Rajouri aur SundarRajouri were also propagated," he said.

The official said the run wasdivided into three different cate-gories as per the length of the route.

"It was overwhelming to see thatthe youngest runner was aged justeight years old while the veterans wereled by a 61-year-old," the spokesmansaid adding, the entire town joined thecelebrations by lining up all along thedesignated route and cheered the run-ners.

A Zumba warm-up precededthe marathon as the participantsdanced to the tunes of peppy musicand carried on the enthusiasm righttill the finish line, the official said.

The grand finale was graced byscores of dignitaries from military,paramilitary, civil administration,police and political arenas who werethere to participate in the gala event,he added.

The runners were presented with

T-shirts and medals to acknowledgetheir participation.

In addition, there were numerouscash incentives as well.

The first prize in the 10 km cat-egory of �10,000 was won byMandeep and Choudhary IftekarAhmed in their respective age groups,he said.

Similarly, the first prize in five kmcategory of �5,000 was bagged byBalwinder Singh while in the three kmcategory, Manzoor Hussain andMukhtiyar Hussain came on top, headded.

The marathon furthered the senseof mutual trust and belongingbetween various strata of the societyand was a live example of unity indiversity, the official said. PTI

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From Page 1Following this, the Gauhati High Court

asked the Army to go for a court martial, whichwas challenged by the Army in the SupremeCourt.

Later, on the apex court’s instruction, theArmy started the process of holding theSummary General Court Martial (SGCM) of theencounter on July 16 and concluded theprocess on July 27. The Summary General CourtMartial on Saturday awarded life imprisonmentto Major General AK Lal, Col. Thomas Mathew,Col. RS Sibiren, Capt. Dilip Singh, Capt JagdeoSingh, Naik Albindar Singh and Naik ShivendarSingh for the fake encounter killings.

“We have waited for justice for the last 24years. We thank the witnesses who deposedbefore the Army court during the court mar-tial braving threat to their lives. We also thankthe then AASU leader Jagadish Bhuyan who hadbeen pursuing the case alone all these years,” saidDebashis Biswas, brother of late Debajit Biswas,one of the five victims of the fake encounter.

From Page 1The other proposals were

restructuring of repair echelonsin the Army to include BaseWorkshops, Advance BaseWorkshops and Static/StationWorkshops in the field Armybesides redeployment ofOrdnance echelons to includeVehicle Depots, OrdnanceDepots and Central OrdnanceDepots apart from streamlin-ing inventory control mecha-nisms.

Better utilisation of supplyand transportation echelonsand animal transport units,closure of Military Farms andArmy Postal Establishmentsin peace locations, enhance-ment in standards for recruit-ment of clerical staff and dri-vers in the Army and improv-ing the efficiency of theNational Cadet Corps(NCC)were the other recommenda-tions.

From Page 1“Our priority is to provide

quality education and employ-ment based on education toyouth,” he added. The BJP inlast Assembly elections hadpromised 15 lakh jobs in theState.

According to NationalCareer Service under theMinistry of Labour andEmployment, job-seeker regis-tration in Rajasthan was8,80,144 till June 30, 2018.The Congress’ promise of Rs3,500 as unemploymentallowance would cost aroundRs 308 crore. The party in itsmanifesto is also working large-ly for benefits in other socialsector for other backward class-es (OBCs) and weaker sectionsof society.

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An Indian-origin man basedin north-west England,

who suffers from a degenerativeeye condition, is set to becomethe first person in the UK to geta guide horse to assist him withdaily tasks once he loses hisvision completely.

Mohammed Salim Patel, ajournalist based in Blackburn atLancashire, suffers from a con-dition called RetinitisPigmentosa, due to which he isleft with a very small amount ofsight in his right eye and willeventually become totally blind.

The 24-year-old, who suf-fers from a deep-seated fear of

dogs since a scary childhoodencounter, could not rely on themore commonly used guidedogs for the blind and that ishow the concept of a miniatureguide horse came to his atten-tion.

"Digby (guide horse) is stilla baby and will be two years oldin May 2019. His training willtake around two more years, soI expect to be able to bring himhome to Blackburn once he's fin-ished his training," Patel told PTI.

"There is no rush though,as there would be for a guidedog. Digby will be able to workinto his 40s, whereas a guidedog has to retire at the age ofeight," he said.

Melbourne: High levels of leadcontamination in the blood ofchildren living in India may havea significant impact in loweringtheir IQ and increasing the risk ofother diseases, a study has found.

Researchers from MacquarieUniversity in Australia conductedthe first ever meta-analysis ofIndian blood lead levels.

They found the burden of dis-

ease to be significantly larger thanpreviously calculated, with negativeoutcomes on intellectual disabilitymeasures in children.

The research calculated thepooled mean blood lead level fromdata published between 2010 to2018 to estimate the attributabledisease burden in IQ decrementand Disability Adjusted Life Years(DALYs).

The DALY is a measure ofoverall disease burden, expressed asthe number of years lost due to illhealth, disability, and early death.

Previous studies have estimat-ed 4.6 million lead-attributedDALYs and nearly 165,000 deaths.

The new study found that thetotal could be as high as 4.9 millionDALYs, or, in other words, 4.9 mil-lion years lost due to ill-health, dis-

ability or early death as a result ofthe high blood lead levels.

At low levels, one micro-grammes per deciLitre of leadcontamination in the blood caus-es more than half a point of IQdecrement.

For children living in India,whose blood lead level contami-nation is at almost 7 microgrammesper deciLitre, the impact on IQ is

significant, said Bret Ericson ofMacquarie University.

"At a societal level, the bellcurve of IQ shifts to the left, withmore people falling into the intel-lectually disabled category, and farfewer in the gifted category. Thepotential impacts on a country'sproductivity and associated diseaseburden are, therefore, significant,"Ericson said. PTI

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Blantyre: Over 3,000 peoplehave signed a petition oppos-ing a planned statue ofMahatma Gandhi in Malawi'scommercial capital Blantyre,saying the Indian indepen-dence hero had done nothingfor the southern African coun-try.

Work on the statue begantwo months ago along a roadnamed after Gandhi. TheMalawi Government says it isbeing erected as part of a dealthat will see New Delhi con-struct a USD 10 million (8.6-million-euro) convention cen-tre in Blantyre.

"Mahatma Gandhi hasnever contributed anything toMalawi's struggle for indepen-dence and freedom," a state-

ment from the "Gandhi MustFall" group said.

"We therefore, feel that thestatue is being forced upon thepeople of Malawi and is thework of a foreign power aim-ing at promoting its imageand dominion on the unsus-pecting people of Malawi."

The petitioners claim thatGandhi, who early in his careerpractised in South Africa andfought against apartheid-erasegregation laws, was racist.

"We are not comfortablewith imperialistic and neo-colonial ideologies that seek toimpose... Foreign influencewhich deprives us of honour,"Wonderful Mkutche, a memberof the group told AFP onSaturday. AFP

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Hoshangabad (MP): BJP chief Amit Shahon Sunday accused the previous Congress-led UPA Government of discriminatingagainst Madhya Pradesh in allocation offunds.

He told a party workers' conventionhere that the UPA Government had allo-cated �1.34 lakh crore under the 13thFinance Commission, whereas theNarendra Modi Government gave the State�3.44 lakh crore as part of the 14thFinance Commission allocations.

He lashed out at Congress chief RahulGandhi for asking what the NDAGovernment has done since coming topower and claimed that the BJP would goto the public with its "account" of work.

"We go to the people with our account.The UPA had given �1.34 lakh crore to MPunder the 13th Finance Commission. Butthe Modi Government has given anamount of �3.44 lakh crore to MP underthe 14th Finance Commission," Shah said.

"If funds allocated to various schemes(in the State) are included, MadhyaPradesh has got �4.5 lakh crore from theModi Government," Shah claimed.

Taking a swipe at Gandhi, the BJP chiefsaid, "During his visit to Madhya Pradesh,Rahul baba is asking the Prime Ministerwhat his Government has done in the last

four and a half years. We do not need toanswer him."

He asked Gandhi to give an accountof the work done by "four generations" ofhis family instead of questioning the per-formance of PM Modi's Government.

"People of Madhya Pradesh are askinghim (Gandhi) to give an account of thework done by four generations of his fam-ily, including the work done by Nehru(Jawaharlal Nehru), his grandmotherIndira Gandhi, his father Rajiv Gandhi andhis mother Sonia Gandhi," Shah said.

Speaking on the Assembly polls slat-ed for November 28 in the State, Shah askedthe Congress to let the people know aboutits "face" (chief ministerial candidate).

"Rahul Gandhi should clarify aboutwhich face he is depending on in MadhyaPradesh. The election cannot be won bydepending on a raja (Digvijay Singh),maharaja (Jyotiraditya Scindia) and anindustrialist (Kamal Nath). The BJP isgoing to fight MP elections under the lead-ership of Shivraj Singh Chouhan, who hailsfrom a poor family," he said.

The BJP president also slammedRahul Gandhi on the issue of illegalimmigrants and alleged that "Rahul babaand company" were "sympathising" withthe "intruders".

"The BJP Government identified 40lakh infiltrators by creating NRC (NationalRegister of Citizens) in Assam. But Rahulbaba and company raised a hue and cry,sympathising with the intruders," Shahsaid.

Shah said the BJP Governments woulddrive "each and every infiltrator" out of thecountry after winning elections in 2018 (inMP) and 2019 (Lok Sabha).

Shah reached Bhopal Sunday eveningon a two-day visit of poll-bound MadhyaPradesh. PTI

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Continuing with its cam-paign against the

Government over the Rafaledeal, the Congress on Sundayclaimed that Prime MinisterNarendra Modi was directlyinvolved in it, adding that hehad much to hide about it.

Questioning Modi’s silenceover the deal, senior Congressleader Anand Sharma claimedthat only the Prime Ministerwas aware that the offset con-tracts would not be given toHindustan AeronauticsLimited (HAL). “It was his (Modi’s) deci-sion. Only he was privy to what he wasgoing to do,” said Sharma at AICC Pressconference.

“It was expected that the PrimeMinister would speak on this issue ofnational importance, but he continued toremain silent while making tall claimsabout his Government. The PrimeMinister has much to hide in the Rafaledeal. His silence raises fundamental ques-tions, because he is directly complicit andpersonally accountable for it,” he alleged.

Claiming that the Rafale deal was thebiggest scam in the history of the country,Sharma reiterated his party’s demand forsetting up a Joint ParliamentaryCommittee to look into it.

The former Union Minister also ques-tioned Defence Minister NirmalaSitharaman’s visit to France, during whichshe will take stock of the progress of Frenchfirm Dassault Aviation supplying 36 Rafalejets to the Indian Air Force under the�58,000-crore deal.

Sharma maintained that there was a

hike in the price of the fighteraircraft India was buying fromFrance and asserted that thePrime Minister needed to clearmany doubts about the deal

that had been raised. He said more detailsof the deal would emerge if a forensic auditof it was carried out.

The Congress has been claiming thatthe aircraft will cost significantly more thanwhat the previous United ProgressiveAlliance (UPA) Government was negoti-ating. The Opposition party has alsobeen demanding answers from the BJPParty-led National Democratic Alliance(NDA) Government as to why HAL wasnot involved in the deal as finalised dur-ing the UPA regime.

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India will soon be able to con-vert its plastic wastes into

high-grade petrol and dieselwith the help of Dehradun-based Indian Institute ofPetroleum (IIP). “The planthas been set up at Dehradunand it will be operational byJanuary next year. The plantconverts plastic into gasoline,diesel or aromatics through theuse of a combination of suit-able catalysts. It will also pro-duce LPG as a common by-product.

The IIP, a constituent lab ofthe Council of Scientific andIndustrial Research, has forthe first time in the countrydeveloped a technology to con-vert plastic waste into petrole-um products. Such a technol-ogy is so far available only inGermany, Japan and the USwhile Australia and the UK arestill working on it.

According to UnionEnvironment Minister HarshVardhan, the facility, whichwill be run on pilot basis, iscapable of converting plasticwaste into bio-diesel. Themodel will then be replicatedacross the country. The UnionMinister said that the plant hasthe capacity to convert onetonne of plastic waste into 800litres biofuel which will be ofhighest quality and it can beused in any diesel automotivevehicle. E-waste is the world’sfastest growing waste streamand India is the fourth largeste-waste producer. At presentaround 95 per cent of thewaste is processed by the infor-mal sector, using practicesharmful to their health and theenvironment.

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The role of China’sConfucius Institute, which

is overtly an intellectual insti-tution, has now come under thescanner of the Indian covertagencies, which suspect that theinstitute is exploited by Beijingworldwide for Intelligencegathering. The establishment ofone Confucius Institute centrein Mumbai University andefforts at setting up similar cen-tres in Vellore, Sulur,Coimbatore and Kolkata hassent alarm bells ringing in theIntelligence community here.

The Chinese agencies’efforts through Chinese busi-nessmen to gain access to deci-sion making levels in Indianestablishments have alsoemerged as another area ofconcern, a senior Intelligenceofficial said. Amid China’s grow-ing geopolitical ambition, theIndian Intelligence agencies areapprehending aggressiveIntelligence gathering by Bejing.

The agencies are keeping awatch on the MoUs signed withIndian universities /colleges,student exchange programmesand attempts to manipulate thepost-Dalai Lama situation intheir favour. China has report-edly sought the custody of the

17th Karmapa Ogyen TrinleyDorje from Washington.Karmapa Ogyen Trinley Dorjedeceitfully exited from India tothe US in April last year.

Karmapa is the second mostimportant leader in the TibetanBuddhism hierarchy after DalaiLama. China already has takencustody of another key TibetanBuddhist leader Panchen Lama.

Union Home Ministrysources said Home MinisterRajnath Singh is seized of thethreats emanating from Chinesepenetration in Indian educa-tional institutions and hassought a strategy to be put inplace to deal with the challenge.

The Intelligence agencieshave advised the States to keepa watch on the Chinese activi-ties and inform the Centralagencies for collation of dataand remedial action.

“The modus operandi ofthe Chinese Intelligence gath-ering apparatus globally is usingamateurs and its expatriatecommunity settled worldwidewhich is not only a big challengeto detect but also difficult toprove in a court of law. Chinais the most active nationinvolved in cyber espionagewith formidable capabilities,” anIntelligence official said.

The Chinese intelligence

agencies are also known to bedifferent from their counter-parts in US and Russia where-in Beijing exploits its soft powerfor espionage activities underthe cover of legitimate activities.Notably, China indulges in intel-ligence gathering through aca-demics and scholars, businesspeople and Intelligence opera-tives under official cover ofdiplomats, defence attaches andjournalists, another official said.

India and China share acomplicated relationship due tothe lack of delineation of India-China boundary, lack of clari-fication of the Line of ActualControl, Beijing’s concern aboutpresence of the 14th Dalai LamaTenzin Gyatso in India and NewDelhi’s concerns regarding post-Dalai Lama scenario.

The relationship is furthercomplicated by Chinese supportto Northeastern insurgentgroups, increased Chinese inter-est in the Indian Ocean Regionand the China-PakistanEconomic Corridor (CPEC, apart of BRI) which passesthrough Pakistan-occupiedKashmir and growing Chineseinfluence in India’s neighbour-hood especially Nepal,Bangladesh, Myanmar, SriLanka and Maldives, added theofficial.

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Cash starved IndianRailways has proposed that

Railway Protection Force (RPF)be given the responsibility ofsecuring the premises of allupcoming metro stations in thecountry. Presently Metro prop-erty is being managed by theelite Central Industrial SecurityForce (CISF).

The railway board has writ-ten to the Ministry of Housingand Urban Affairs saying thatthe RPF which is alreadyguarding the Kolkata Metro bemade in charge of security forthe new metros in Lucknow,Nagpur, Chennai, Pune,Ahmedabad, Bangalore,Indore, Bhopal and Hyderabad.

“Having a single dedicatedforce for the Metro Railway isadvantageous since the staff canbe trained in the safety andsecurity requirements of themetro. The RPF has specialisedtraining because it is alreadysecuring sub-urban stationsfor years,” a senior railwayofficial said.

The official also pointedout that the move will also becost effective. The CISF charges�1.84 lakh annually per jawanfor securing metro premises,

while the RPF charges only�78,000 per jawan yearly.

Also, as the RPF is entrust-ed with the responsibility ofprotection and security of rail-way property, passenger areaand has the power to arrest,investigate and prosecute crim-inals, it would be able to usethem at stations as well.

“The RPF with only 900staffers is managing Kolkatametro which has a footfall ofabout five to six lakh com-muters daily. They have boththe expertise and the experi-ence to manage and securemass transport system likeRailways, so they are equippedto deal with metros,” the offi-cial said. The RPF has a sanc-tioned strength of 74,456 per-sonnel

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The Government’s top thinktank, Niti Ayog has

favoured imposing a “greencess” from tourists to arrest theenvironmental degradationcaused by the rising footfalls inthe Indian Himalayan region.

The Niti Ayog proposal inits recent ‘Report of WorkingGroup II Sustainable Tourismin the Indian HimalayanRegion (IHR)’ follows obser-vation that the region annual-ly records about 100 milliontourists and the number isexpected to increase to 240 mil-lion by 2025, putting hugepressure on resources.

The ‘green cess’ will helpboost revenue services as wellas ensure sustainable develop-ment of the region that stretch-es about 2,400 km across thenorthern border of India, cov-ering an area of about 500,000sq km, as per the report. It alsosuggested payments for envi-ronmental services (PES) suchas charging entrance fees fromtourists and services sector as along term solution within the

tourism industry.Arunachal Pradesh, Assam,

Himachal Pradesh , Jammu &Kashmir , Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim,Tripura, Uttarakhand and WestBengal are the part of the IHR.

The report notes thatthough all mountain states havedeveloped tourism/eco-tourismpolicies and master plans butnot all of them address chal-lenges such as climate change,inadequate solid waste man-agement, air pollution, degra-dation of watersheds and watersources and loss of natural

resources and biodiversity andharness opportunities thatchange brings.

Also, sustainable aspects oftourism development in theIHR, such as carrying capaci-ty of potential destinations, donot find enough resonance inplanning long-term invest-ments.

The think tank also notedthat the movement of Indiantourists is increasingly becom-ing individualistic as standardsof living have gone up and peo-ple travel to IHR landscapes asand when they want. “As aresult, traffic congestion and airand noise pollution, over-booked hotels, non-availabilityof parking places, and localwater and energy security arebecoming recurrent problems,even in smaller towns such asDharamsala.

“Even trials of controlmechanisms to restrict thenumber of visitors to very frag-ile sites (e.g. Rohtang Pass fromKulluManali or AmarnathYatra), have not yielded desiredresults as people find alternativeroutes and means to reach such

sites. “Even Sikkim, which has

good experience with eco-tourism, is increasingly chal-lenged by mass tourism,” as perVikram Singh Gaur from NITIAayog and Dr. Rajan Kotrufrom International Centre forIntegrated MountainDevelopment( ICIMOD), thelead authors of the report.Among other contributors wereAshok K Jain ( NITI Aayog),Sejal Worah (WWF India) andMridula Tangirala (Tata Trust).

Not only the panel hasfavoured ‘tourism tax’ as beingimposed by many countrieslike Bhutan as sources of rev-enue, it also suggested PESschemes that offer financialincentives for locals to providea wide range of ecosystem ser-vices untouched by normalmarket transactions.

The panel has also calledfor carrying out tourism devel-opment management ofDestination Carrying Capacityas the destinations have theirown limited natural and her-itage resources and infra-structure.

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Launched in 2016, thenational project to convert

disability certificates (DCs)into e-Unique DisabilityIdentity cards (UDIDs) thataims to ensure Persons withdisabilities (PwDs) avail allthe Government benefits likepension irrespective of theirdomicile status is moving at asnail’s pace in almost all theStates.

Data available as onOctober 9, 2018, from theUnion Social Justice andEmpowerment Ministry showsthat a miniscule percentage ie7 per cent of the total 1.44crore PWDs having DCs havebeen issued the UDID cards.

The laggard States areDelhi, West Bengal, TamilNadu, Kerala, Punjab,Telangana, Karnataka,Jharkhand, Bihar and almostall the Northeastern Stateswhich have either not startedor taking their own time inissuing the UDIDs. (See Box)These States have sizeable pop-ulation of PwDs.

However, five States-fourBJP-ruled — Chhattisgarh,

Rajasthan, Odisha, Gujarat,Madhya Pradesh have com-paratively fared better, reach-ing the double digit enrol-ment with Rajasthan leadingthe pack. Rajasthan has issuedUDID cards to 61% of itsPwDs population, followed byMadhya Pradesh (42%),Chhattisgarh (26%). Gujarat

and Odisha are limping at15% and 17% respectively.

With an 18-digit UDIDnumber, the card is designed toreduce the duplicate and fakeentries and ensure that bene-fits such as admission, employ-ment and pensions reach thedeserving beneficiaries. Butthe cards have not reached

majority of the beneficiariesdue to lack of awareness andupdated data, admitted an offi-cial from the Ministry.

Clearly, the sector doesnot seem to be the priority forthe States. The official point-ed out that, in fact the PwDspopulation could be severaltimes higher, firstly because of

the widening of disability cat-egories from seven to 21 as perthe new Disability Actannounced in 2016. Also, justless than 20-25% PwDs actu-ally get the DCs.

Also, many families don’tacknowledge their presencewhile people and children suf-fering from involuntary bodymovements, Down’s Syndromeand multiple disabilities do nothave an Aadhaar card, amandatory document to getthe UDID.

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Home Minister Rajnath Singhwill celebrate Dussehra and

perform ‘shastra puja’ in Bikaneralong the highly sensitive Indo-Pak border with BSF jawans.During the two-day visit, theHome Minister will arrive inBikaner on October 18, stay thenight at the BOP, before cele-brating the festival with thejawans on October 19, saidHome Ministry officials.

Singh is expected to reviewthe situation on the border andassess the progress in variousinfrastructure projects. He willattend a ‘Bada Khana’ (feast withthe jawans) and address thesecurity personnel, they said.

The 3,323-km-long Indo-Pak border is considered to behighly sensitive. Even though theborder in Rajasthan is peaceful,the border guarding forces of thetwo countries often engaged inmassive firing in Jammu &Kashmir, leading to loss ofhuman lives and properties.Last year, the Home Ministerhad celebrated Dussehra atJoshimath in Uttarakhand alongthe Sino-Indian border withITBP jawans.

Jaipur: Six new cases of Zikavirus were detected in JaipurSunday, taking the total numberof infected people to 61, aRajasthan health departmentofficial said.

The figures were issuedafter a review meeting chairedby Additional Chief Secretary(ACS) medical and health,Veenu Gupta.

Of the infected people, 11are pregnant women, a sourcein the Union Health Ministrysaid.

The Centre will review theoutbreak of Zika in the capitalcity of Rajasthan on Monday,the source said.

“Forty-five out of the total60 patients are healthy aftertreatment,” the Rajasthan health

department official said. Most of the cases which havebeen reported are from ShastriNagar area here where foggingand other anti-larvae activitiesare being carried out to preventthe spread of the virus.

Till Saturday, door-to-doorsurvey at 76,000 households wasconducted in Shastri Nagar andmosquito larvae was found and

quarantined in nearly 64,000households, the officer said.

The state health depart-ment has also issued an advisoryfor pregnant women stayingoutside the affected area to notvisit Shastri Nagar.

The virus, transmittedthrough the aedes aegypti mos-quito, causes fever, skin rashes,conjunctivitis, muscle and joint

pain. It is harmful to pregnantwomen, as it can lead to micro-cephaly, a condition in which ababy’s head is significantlysmaller than expected, in new-born children.

In India, the first outbreakwas reported in Ahmedabad inJanuary 2017 and the second inTamil Nadu’s Krishnagiri dis-trict in July that year.

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New Delhi: In a rare instance,the Supreme Court has cometo the rescue of a man belong-ing to the Scheduled Castecategory whose services wereterminated twice by the UttarPradesh Government owingto a dispute over his caste cer-tificate.

The top court, held thatthe subsequent change in lawdoes not have the effect ofreversing all the decisionsmade prior to the fresh viewtaken by a court of law.

The Supreme Court in2013 had upheld an AllahabadHigh Court order by whichVijay Shankar was reinstatedto service with all conse-quential benefits, holding himas a member of SC categoryafter state government hadwithdrawn its appeal follow-ing a lengthy hearing.

The Uttar Pradesh gov-ernment, however, in 2015again dismissed him fromservice, saying a larger benchof the high court has taken adifferent view and his castedoes not fal l under theSchedule Caste category.

Shankar, who belongs tothe ‘Kasera’ community, asub-caste of ‘Shilpkars’ whichis a SC category notified underthe Constitution, challengedthe decision once again beforethe Allahabad High Court, butit dismissed his plea sayingthat the law has now beenchanged by a larger bench ofthe top court.

A bench of justices S ABobde and L Nageswara Raosaid the high court in its judg-ment, dated August 12,2015,has completely “misappreciat-ed and misapplied the law”.

“The difference between asuperior court reversing adecision, which is in appealbefore itself, and overrulingthe view is well known,” itsaid.

The apex court directedthe Uttar Pradesh govern-ment to immediately releasethe withheld pension andother retirement benefits ofShankar, who superannuatedfrom the post of assistantprosecution officer during hissecond termination period.

The court, while allowingthe appeal of Shankar, setaside the high court order ofAugust 2015, rejecting hisplea and his dismissal order ofJune 15, 2015.

“If a point is settled inter-parties and there is a subse-quent change in the lawbecause the court takes a dif-ferent view, the change in a

law does not have the effect ofunsettling the rights settledearlier.

“The subsequent changein a law does not have theeffect of reversing all the deci-sions made prior to the freshview,” the bench said.

It said in the present case,Shankar’s rights were settledby the earlier high courtjudgment of December 23,2011, which was upheld whenthe appeal of the state gov-ernment was dismissed aswithdrawn by the apex court.

The apex court said itwas not permissible for theprincipal secretary, homedepartment, to rely upon thesubsequent contrary decisionand dismiss the appellant(Shankar) from service again.

The ordeal of Shankar,who joined the service in 1991as assistant prosection officer,started when he was termi-nated on May 21, 2007, by thestate government on theground that he has obtainedthe job by submitting a forgedScheduled Caste certificate.

It was found that Shankar’scaste was recorded as ‘Kasera’in his school certificate, whichaccording to the state govern-ment was not a SC category.

Shankar, first challengedhis dismissal order before theUttar Pradesh State PublicServices Tribunal, whichgranted him relief by settingaside the punishment orderand reinstated him with allconsequential service benefitsand continuity in service.

The tribunal alsoobserved that ‘Kasera’ is a sub-caste of ‘Shilpkar’ as per a gov-ernment order datedDecember 12,1950. It saidthere are 26 sub castes of‘Shilpkar’ and that ‘Kasera’ wasone of them.

Thus, ‘Kasera’ being a sub-caste of ‘Shilpkar’ comes underthe category of ScheduledCaste, the tribunal said.

Aggrieved by the tri-bunal’s order, the UttarPradesh government movedthe Allahabad High Courtthat on December 23, 2011,upheld the tribunal’s order,saying the caste of his parentsas per the National CitizenRegister, was found to be‘Shilpkar’, which is aScheduled Caste.

The State Government,then moved the apex courtwhere after a lengthy hearing,the appeal was withdrawnand the order of the highcourt reinstating Shankar wasupheld. PTI

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There is an Indian solutionfor beach erosion, the fall-

out of global warming and cli-mate change. Scientists of theNational Institute of OceanTechnology (under theMinistry of Earth Sciences)have reconstructed a beachwhich fell victim to erosionover the years.

“It was a beach nourish-ment programme. ThePuducherry coastline, one ofthe scenic and serene beach-es, had lost much of its surfacecharm and area due to sea ero-sion over a period of time. Wewere contacted by theGovernment of the Unionterritory when it became acause of concern and thatwas how NIOT entered thescene,” Dr M Atmanand,director, NIOT, told The Pioneer.

Scientists led by Dr M VRamana Murthy, projectdirector, undertook a study ofthe coastline with satellitepictures and field data andused it to run models which

revealed the intensity of theerosion.

The engineering mindsof the institute felt that a

“new” beach could be builtwith the introduction of sub-

merged dyke using steel cais-son (a giant structure made of900 tonnes of steel which issubmerged into the sea) andallowing the beach to grow byitself.

“This submerged struc-ture, which is at a distance ofabout 100 metres from theshore, reduced the wave activ-ity by working as a breakwa-ter and allowed free move-ment of the sand towards theshore,” explained Dr Murthy.

The pilot project saw thebeach gaining an extent of 60meters and this led to themajor venture. The sanddredged from the port wasused for “nourishment” For thecomplete restoration, anotherdyke at the south side is beingworked.

The steel caisson built bythe NIOT is of 60 meterlong, 50 meter wide and hasan elevation of 2.5 metre. Itacted as an artificial reef andwas lowered into the sea onAugust 2018.

“As a consequence, thesandy beach started to restoreof the south side of the beachand is still growing. It is

expected to grow to the extentof the expectations to restoreas looked on old days, so as towalk along the coast,” saidKiran Bedi, the LieutenantGovernor, Puducherry.

Bedi, who is monitoringthe project to restore thebeach has expressed herdesire to have the restorationof the entire stretch whichwas swallowed by the sea. DrAtmanand is of the view thatit was possible and NIOTcould take up the project soon.

The submerged dyke ven-ture could be extended to otherparts of the country for restor-ing and reconstructing thebeaches which vanished due toerosion. The process devel-oped by the NIOT could be theideal beautification programmefor Mother India, the countrywas looking for, feels scientistsof NIOT.

“It all depends on factorslike topography, speed of thewind and some more geo-graphical features. We are con-fident of resolving the issue ofbeach erosion,” said DrAtmanand.

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The bitter memory of theNagerbazar blast that left

two persons, including a child,dead less than a fortnight agostill fresh in the mind, theBengal Government hasthrown an unprecedentedsecurity net across DurgaPuja-bound Kolkata, policesources said.

With the pandal hoppersalready cramming the roadsfrom Dwitiya (second day ofthe 10-day-long celebrations)the administration has mademassive police bandobastdeploying 8000-strong policeforce across the city.

This figure is in addition toseveral thousand civic volun-teers and private security oper-ations, sources said. “Our offi-cers to the rank of DeputyCommissioners will personal-ly man vital positions in northand South Kolkata,” said asenior official, adding that thepolice officers will be deployedin three shifts.

The first shift will workfrom 8 am to 4 pm. The sec-

ond shift will work from 4 pmto 12 in the midnight and thethird shift will be deployedfrom 12 to 8 am, officials saidadding about 800 police pick-ets have been put up in placesnear important Durga PujaPandals l ike Ahiritola,Bagbazar, Md Ali Park,College Square, Sealdah inthe North and EkdaliaEvergreen, BallygungeCultural, Tridhara Sanmilani,Deshapriya Park, SuruchiSangha, Chetla Agrani etc.

“We have deployed 25 divi-sional mobiles and 46 watchtowers at important locations,”said a Deputy Commissioneradding 74 additional CCTVcameras have been installed atvarious locations. “This is inaddition to the existing ones,”he said adding the CCTV feedwill be monitored round theclock by the police officials inthe control room.”

The Government was notwilling to take chances duringthe Durga Pujas, said a seniorIAS officer adding these PujasKolkata is likely to witnessmore than 30 million crowd

spread across 5-6 days.“In order to make pandal

hopping during the Pujas safer,secure and trouble-free wehave set up 27 trauma careambulances that will movearound the city to tackle emer-gencies” he said adding ninemissing person’s squads willalso be deployed to help peo-ple find their children whooften are lost in the crowd.This year the police expectsabout 20 lakh people to visitKolkata from distant districtsand states.

Immersion of Durga idolswill take place from VijayDushmi which falls on October19. Some select clubs will how-ever be required to take part inthe Durga Carnival to be orga-nized at historic Red Road onOctober 23.

A brainchild of ChiefMinister Mamata Banerjeeabout 100 clubs will march pastthe Red Road a la the RepublicDay Parade with guests andrevelers enjoying the occasionfrom the galleries raised on thetwo sides. Durga Carnivalbecame a huge success in 2017.

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Bimal Shah, formerTransport Minister in the

BJP-run Keshubhai PatelGovernment who has beenside-lined for almost onedecade, may join theOpposition Congress partyafter the Diwali.

Sources in the Congressparty said that Shah has putsome condition in order tojoin the Opposition partythat includes ticket for theLok Sabha seat in CentralGujarat. Even in the rulingBJP many believe that the ex-MLA from Kapadvanj assem-bly constituency would jointhe Congress.

He was elected to the Stateassembly from Kapadvanj seat inKheda district in 1998 and 2002,and had served as Minister ofState for Transport in 1998.Although in 2007 assembly polls,BJP won with thumping major-ity, but Shah lost measurably andsince then his role in the rulingparty reduced gradually.

In order to keep his sink-ing political career afloat, the57-year-old political leadercontested from Kapadvanj asan independent candidateafter the saffron party ignoredhim. He however couldn’tmake his mark as an inde-

pendent candidate as he couldsecure mearly 47,000 votesand stood third.

Sources in BJP said thatbecause of Shah, BJP lostKapadvanj seat as division ofvotes helped the Congress can-didate Kalabhai Dabhi to winthe seat by defeating BJP can-didate Kanubhai Dabhi withmargin of 27,000 votes.

Despite Shah’s denial to jointhe Opposition party in nearfuture, a senior leader in GujaratPradesh Congress Committee(GPCC) said that very shortlyShah would meet Congresspresident Rahul Gandhi.Meanwhile Shah is maintainingthat he would let media know ifany such development wouldtake place. In case Shah wouldjoin Congress, he may contestfrom Kheda Lok SabhaConstituency as the oppositionparty didn’t have powerful leaderin the constituency to take onthe saffron brigade.

With Lok Sabha pollscoming closer, political migra-tion from one party to anoth-er would start not only inGujarat but across the coun-try. Being a home-state of thePrime Minister, Congressparty is trying hard to makemajor dent in PM Modi’s bas-tion as in the 2014 Lok Sabhapolls BJP won all 26 seats.

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Thiruvananthapuram: Thepeople of Kerala, the Statewhich has an envious record inseveral human developmentindicators, have largely beenfound to be unaware of pre-cautionary measures and emer-gency kits to be used at timesof disasters with two-thirds ofrespondents of a survey plead-ing ignorance.

The findings in the State-wide survey held just over twomonths after the State wasdevastated by unprecedentedfloods of a century haveprompted the organiser, KeralaState Literacy Mission (KLSM),to pitch for a "disaster man-agement literacy programme".

The State is known for itshigh literacy, lowest infantmortality and highest lifeexpectancy rates among others.

Yet according to the survey,66.77 per cent of people, cut-ting across cities and villages,were unaware of precautionarymeasures and emergency kitsto be used at times of disasters.

The detailed report of thesurvey-How and What theFlood-Affected Kerala Thinks-carried out by the KLSM, was

released by Chief MinisterPinarayi Vijayan at a functionhere on Saturday.

At least 20.02 per cent ofpeople, who took part in thesurvey, had not even heardabout climate change, thoughit is one of the most discussedtopics globally, it says.

Only 43.74 per cent ofpeople were aware of differentforms of natural disasters suchas drought, flood and earth-quake, while just 8.43 per centknew that cyclone is a form ofdisaster, the report said.

The initiative, carried outwith the support of about50,000 students pursuing themission's equivalency pro-grammes on October 2, coveredover 2.91 lakh households in allthe 14 districts of the State.

Besides men and women,the survey covered over 35transgenders also, the missionsources said.

At least 66.77 per cent ofpeople were unaware aboutthe emergency survival kitsthat can be used during thetime of disasters, the surveyreport said.

Director of Literacy

Mission P S Sreekala said itwas also interesting to notethat 41.86 per cent of peopledid not have an idea about theprecautionary measures to betaken during the time ofemergencies.

Carried out as part of therebuilding initiatives of theState Government post theAugust deluge, the survey wasaimed at assessing the public'sscientific knowledge on climatechange, disaster managementand environment-friendlylifestyle, she said.

Based on the report, theLiteracy Mission has submitteda set of recommendations tothe Government.

One of the major propos-als was to introduce a disastermanagement literacy programme in the State,Sreekala said. Disaster man-agement, emergency pre-paredness and climate changeshould be made part of thepublic education system, shesaid. Floods and rains hadclaimed at least 493 lives andleft a trail of destruction dur-ing this year's South WestMonsoon in Kerala. PTI

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Afruit seller injured in abomb blast in West

Bengal's Dum Dum area diedat a Government hospital hereon Sunday, police said.

"The injured Ajit Halder(38), who had a fruit stall inDum Dum's Nagerbazar, suc-cumbed to his injuries atSSKM Hospital on Sunday," thepolice said.

With this, the toll has risento two.

An eight-year-old boy waskilled and nine others, includ-ing Halder, injured in a sock-et bomb blast in front of amult i-storeyed bui lding in Nagerbazar area onOctober 2.

The blast that had takenplace near Halder's fruit shopseverely damaged at least twoshops and shattered the win-dow panes of an adjacentmulti-storeyed building.

The State's CriminalInvestigation Department isprobing the blast.

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As Bengal's biggest festivalDurga Puja nears, the

Opposition BJP in the State isleaving no stone unturned touse the mega platform to reachout to the masses and hasdecided to set up nearly 3,000bookstalls displaying books onthe party’s ideology outsidepandals in the State, partyleaders said.

In addition to books onBJP's ideology, those on PrimeMinister Narendra Modi andthe works of Jan Sangh icons —Deen Dayal Upadhyay andShyama Prasad Mookherjee— would be put up on displayin these stalls.

Besides, literature onNational Register of Citizens(NRC) and Citizenship(Amendment) Bill would beexhibited to make people awareof the contentious issues.

"This year, we had receivedrequisitions for nearly 3,000bookstalls from across the state.We hope to come up withstalls outside various puja mar-quees," BJP State general sec-retary Sayantan Basu told PTI.

According to State BJPpresident Dilip Ghosh, thenumber of stalls coming up thisDurga Puja is the highest in thehistory of the State BJP.

"Earlier, our party organi-sation was not so strong that

we could afford to set up stallsoutside puja pandals. Butthings have changed and moreand more people are gettingconnected with our party,"Ghosh said.

The BJP aims to highlightthe NRC issue in Assam as welland how its updation exerciseearlier this year was carried outto benefit the northeasternState as well as the country.

The complete draft NRCwas published in July this yearwith 2.9 crore names in whichover 40 lakh people were leftout from the document, tout-ed to be a proof of Assameseidentity.

"We will use this (plat-form) to propagate aboutNRC in Assam and how it isdone for the benefit of thatstate and country, contrary tothe propaganda of the TMC.We will also issue articles onviolence and misrule of TMCGovernment and the devel-opmental work done by theNarendra Modi Governmentin the last four-and-halfyears," he said.

According to party sources,the State leadership has beenbuoyed by its performance inthe last Panchayat polls andnow wants to do even better inthe next Lok Sabha polls byreaching out to the people ofthe State.

The BJP had emerged as

the number two in West Bengalafter TMC in the three-tierlocal bodies' polls recently,leaving behind CPI(M) and theCongress.

Prime Minister NarendraModi and BJP president AmitShah have on several occasionssaid that West Bengal is a pri-ority State for the party in thecoming parliamentary poll.

Shah recently set a target ofwinning 22 of the 42 LokSabha seats in West Bengal forhis party workers.

The BJP leadership appre-hends it would be deniedpermission for setting upbookstalls under "instruc-tions of TMC leaders inrespective areas".

For years, various politicalparties including the CPI(M)have been setting up stalls inthe State to promote theirbooks and literature outsidePuja pandals as a public rela-tions exercise.

After the Left Front wasvoted out of power in 2011, theTMC has been promotingparty mouthpiece "JagoBangla" outside puja pandals inthe State. "For us, Durga Pujais integral part of Bengali cul-ture, heritage and history. Welook up to it as a festival,unlike the BJP which tries touse religion to create rift amongthe masses," TMC SecretaryGeneral Partha Chatterjee said.

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A15-year-old boy was killedand four of his family

members were injured in asnowstorm in the higherreaches of Poonch district inJammu & Kashmir, a policeofficial said Sunday.

Over 150 sheep and goatsalso perished in the snow-storm which swept the highaltitude Hill Kaka area in Pir

Panjal yesterday, trapping aBakerwal family from Rajouridistrict, the official said.

He said the family com-prising five members wasundertaking the bi-annualmigration from central'sKashmir's Budgam to theirRajouri home town whenthey got stuck in the stormwhile crossing Choti Margnear Hill Kaka.

After getting information about the incident, a police

party with some villagersfrom Bafliaz reached theremote area and recovered thebody of Usman Ali (15), aresident of Androte area ofRajouri, the official said.

Four other family members- Mohammad Aslam, his wifeBano Bi, Nazir Ahmad andMohammad Yousuf - were res-cued with injuries to their feetand shifted to a hospital inSrinagar.

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Jammu: Pilgrims heading forthe Vaishno Devi shrine will getfree insurance cover of �5 lakh.

This was decided onSaturday at a meeting of theShri Mata Vaishno Devi ShrineBoard (MVDSB) chaired byJammu & Kashmir GovernorSatya Pal Malik.

The Board has approvedenhancement of free accidentinsurance cover for pilgrims vis-iting the shrine to �5 lakhbesides free treatment to trau-ma victims. The Governor isalso the Chairman of the Board.The spokesman added that theinsurance cover shall be inaddition to the accidental coveravailable to each pilgrim oncehe or she collects the yatra slipand commences the journey.

"It is pertinent to mentionthat premium on providinginsurance cover to the pilgrimsis borne by the Board and theinsurance cover has beenupgraded after a gap of eightyears", the spokesman added.

The meeting also reviewedthe functioning of the Shri

Mata Vaishno Devi NarayanaSuper Speciality Hospital.

"The Board ... approved amedical support policy for thetreatment of victims of traumaunder its social support initiativeat the super speciality hospital.

"The beneficiaries willinclude public trauma victimsof road accidents, landslides orshooting stone incidents andsuch calamities from sur-rounding areas of the shrinereferred to the hospital byDeputy Commissioners.

"The medical assistancewould be provided in all suchcases by the Board till the sta-bilization of the patient up toa ceiling of �2 lakh as a good-will gesture.

"The Board also decided tocreate a new medical unit atBhairon temple at an estimat-ed cost of �1 crore keeping inview futuristic requirements,"spokesman said. Each yearover two crore pilgrims visitthe shrine situated on theTrikuta hills in Reasi district ofJammu region. IANS

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Goa Chief MinisterManohar Parrikar arrived

in his home State Sunday after-noon from New Delhi, wherehe was undergoing treatmentat the AIIMS for pancreatic ail-ment.

Parrikar, 62, was flown inin a special flight and latertaken to his private residenceat Dona Paula, near here, in anambulance.

The flight landed around2.35 pm at the State's Dabolimairport and the ambulancewas brought out from the gateof the naval enclave INSHansa, which is a part of theNavy-run airport.

Earlier, Parrikar was onSunday morning dischargedfrom the AIIMS.

According to sources inthe AIIMS, he was in themorning shifted to theIntensive Care Unit (ICU) fora while after his conditiondeteriorated. But later, theadministration decided to dis-charge him.

The state-run GoaMedical College and Hospitalnear here has made elaboratearrangements at his privateresidence with a team of doc-tors on standby to take care ofhis health.

Parrikar was admitted tothe AIIMS on September 15.

On Friday, Parrikar metGoa BJP's core committeemembers and ministers fromcoalition partners at AIIMS todiscuss ways to ensure hisGovernment functions nor-mally during his absence fromoffice due to ill health.

Leaders of the ruling BJP

and its allies, who met Parrikarseparately, had ruled out anychange in leadership in thecoastal State.

The core committee is theBJP's key decision-makingbody in Goa, comprisingsenior leaders like Parrikar,Union Minister Shripad Naikand party State chief VinayTendulkar, among others.

Parrikar has been ailingsince mid-February and hasbeen treated at different hos-pitals including those in Goa,Mumbai and the US.

"I got the news that he iscoming back but I can't believe

that he is returning. His healthis improving and he wasexpected to stay at the AIIMSfor a few more days," theBharatiya Janata Party (BJP)leader said.

Naik dismissed any possi-bility of dissolution of the GoaAssembly and expressed con-fidence that the Parrikar-ledgovernment will complete itsfive-year term.

Questions over the stabil-ity of the Goa government havebeen raised by the OppositionCongress because of Parrikar'sillness.

In the 40-member GoaAssembly, the Parrikar-led gov-ernment has the support of 23MLAs.

These comprise 14 BJPMLAs, three each from theGoa Forward Party and theMaharashtrawadi GomantakParty (MGP) as well as threeIndependents.

The Opposition Congressis the single largest party inthe state Assembly with 16 MLAs.

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Ailing Goa Chief MinisterManohar Parrikar should

have stayed back at the AIIMSin New Delhi and nursedhimself back to health insteadof returning to the State, aMinister said here on Sunday.

Speaking to the mediaahead of Parrikar's arrival inGoa, Union Minister of Statefor AYUSH Shripad Naik said:"I have got the news. I still can-not believe it. I met him daybefore yesterday. His health hasimproved over last 15 days butI feel he should stay there fora few days more".

Naik also said that it wasimperative that Parrikar takesadequate rest as part of hishealing process after beingtreated for advanced pancreat-ic cancer.

"After he returns, I willmeet and speak to him. Hemust have returned (to Goa)because the last chemothera-py must have been adminis-tered. He can take future treat-ment in Goa."

Parrikar was admitted tothe All India Institute ofMedical Sciences last month.

The former DefenceMinister has been in and out ofhospitals in Goa, Mumbai,New York and now Delhi forthe last seven months.

On Friday, Parrikar alsoheld a meeting of his cabinetministers and senior BJP stateexecutive committee membersat AIIMS.

The opposition Congresshas been demanding Parrikar'sresignation on account of hisprolonged illness and absencefrom office.

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Gujarat Chief Minister VijayRupani will formally invite

Uttar Pradesh Chief MinisterYogi Adityanath to attend thefunction to unveil the Statue ofUnity, deemed to be the talleststatue, at Kavedia in Gujarat.

The Gujarat Chief Ministerand a 14-member delegationaccompanying him will meetthe UP Chief Minister at hisofficial residence here onMonday morning.

Rupani has arrived inLucknow with his team andwill have a series of meetings,including an interaction withthe Gujarati samaj in the statecapital. He will also address themedia to give details of the stat-ue of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel.He is expected to return toGujarat on Monday evening.

Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel’s

statue, named as the Statue ofUnity, will be unveiled byPrime Minister Narendra Modion October 31.During themeeting, both the ChiefMinisters and their officialswould discuss various issues,

including attacks on northIndians in Gujarat after a rapeincident.

Earlier, the UP ChiefMinister had expressed hisconcern over the security ofnorth Indians living in Gujaratafter the violence.

The Chief Minister is alsolikely to reiterate his request forland for construction of UttarPradesh Bhawan at Ek BharatShresht Bharat complex whichwill come up near the Statue ofUnity.

Yogi had earlier written aletter to Rupani demandingland for construction of UPBhawan. In his letter onSeptember 12, 2018, the UPChief Minister had sought landaround the Statue of Unity.

“If Gujarat governmentgives land, the UP govern-ment will build a bhawan forthe benefit of the people ofUttar Pradesh who visitGujarat,” he said. Yogi furtherwrote: “This is a great pro-posal of the Gujarat govern-ment to allow various StateGovernments to build theirown bhawans at Ek BharatShresht Bharat complex. Thisinitiative is commendable.”

The Statue of Unity whenunveiled will be the tallest stat-ue of the world. It is being builtat a cost of �2,989 crore. Thework for this project began inDecember 2015.

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This will be a Kumbh of adifferent kind in which

farmers and agricultural sci-entists from across the countrywill brainstorm for three daysin the State Capital fromOctober 26 to search avenuesfor increasing the income of thefarming community.

The agri-meet — KrishiKumbh-2018 — will also beattended by Haryana andJharkhand as partner States.

Chief Secretary AnupChandra Pandey said that UttarPradesh had already organisedUP Investors’ Summit 2018and MSME conclave — OneDistrict One Product

Summit— and the KrishiKumbh would be the thirdimportant summit that willgive a boost to all the three sec-tors, particularly ODOP.

The aim is to promotemodern agricultural techniquesand diversification of cropswhich in turn help the farmersto double their income. Over100,000 farmers, scientists,experts and entrepreneurs areexpected to take part in thisthree-day event.

Manish Sharma, a seniorofficial looking after the prepa-rations for Krishi Kumbh, saidthat this event would include allaspects of rural economy, suchas agriculture, horticulture,dairy, pisciculture, bee-keeping,

food processing, animal hus-bandry and farm implementsto provide a holistic picture tofarmers for increasing theirincome.

The summit seeks to intro-duce farmers to the evolvingdynamics of farming so thatthey may increase their earn-ings by tapping the vast poten-tial in agriculture and postharvest management of crops,he said.

Sharma said that theBharatiya Janata Party govern-ment always advocated diver-sification in the farm sector asChief Minister Yogi Adityanathbelieved that in present day sce-nario, diversification in farmsector would lead to better

profits to farmers. The Chief Minister advo-

cates that farmers should takeup vegetable growing, fruitproduction, horticulture, pis-ciculture and dairy develop-ment other than conventionalfarming.

In a recent meeting with adelegation of AsianDevelopment Bank, the ChiefMinister had said: “It is a ben-eficial effort to enhance agri-cultural production. Experts inthis field should be roped in forwide ranging deliberations.This will also help the govern-ment in fulfilling PrimeMinister Narendra Modi’sdream to double the income offarmers by 2022.”

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Lucknow: Apparently in a bidto identify its prospective vot-ers rather early in the run-upto the 2019 Lok Sabha elec-tions, the BJP has embarked on'Booth Chalo Abhiyaan' (let’sgo to the polling booth) in theState. UP BJP leaders are also ofthe view that the campaign mayhelp the party to identify the"unauthorised voters" includingRohingyas and those fromBangladesh. The Booth ChaloAbhiyaan started on October 5and continued till October 10,UP BJP spokesperson ManishShukla said. Elaborating aboutthe campaign, Shukla said.

"The Booth Chalo Abhiyaanrevolves primarily on three issues- youngsters turning 18 onJanuary 1, 2019 should be madevoters, names of all the unau-thorised persons (includingRohingyas and others who haveillegally entered India) be delet-ed from the voters list and cor-rection of names of voters in thevoter list be carried out ." PTI

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Goa Forward vice-presidentTrajano D'Mello resigned

from the party after accusingthe BJP-led Government ofbrazenly backing the fish mafiain the State, adding to thestate's political turbulence.

Even as the BJP-led coali-tion in Goa battles to stayafloat amid Chief MinisterManohar Parrikar's prolongedillness, a past ghost of a for-malin-in-fish controversycontinues to dog the govern-ment, especially BJP ally GoaForward.

On Sunday, D'Melloresigned from the party, claim-ing that the Government wasbacking the fish mafia whichuses formalin, a carcinogenicpreservative used to preservecadavers, to preserve fish soldin the state's fish markets.

"I would like to state thatif fighting for justice for anupright officer who is men-tally tortured is anti-party

activity, I would prefer tofight for the injustice metedout to an officer who has alert-ed and saved the trustingGoan from the deadly can-cerous poisoning of ourbrethren," D'Mello said in hisFacebook post on Sunday.

D'Mello was referring tothe targeting of the whistle-blower Food and DrugsAdministration official IvaFernandes, who exposed theformalin-use scandal and hasnow complained to the HumanRights Commission claimingharassment by her seniors aftershe conducted the raid in July.

The controversy involvinguse of formalin in fish eruptedin July this year, Fernandesfound traces of formalin in fishbeing sold in Goa during a raid.

The BJP-led coalitionGovernment, of which GoaForward is a part, has been onthe backfoot ever since, afterseveral of its Ministers wereaccused of allegedly protectingfish-traders who were alleged-ly importing formalin-lacedfish consignments into Goafrom Andhra Pradesh, TamilNadu and Karnataka.

D'Mello, who had beenserved a show cause notice byGoa Forward for his critique ofthe party last week, also saidquestioned the party leadershipabout its silence against theharassment of Fernandes.

"If Goa Forward, whichforms one fourth of the statecabinet with its three Ministers,cannot insist on a crackdownon those who poison fish con-sumed by the people of Goa,then who can?" D'Mello said.

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Afire broke out at the Obrathermal power plant, a sub-

sidiary of Uttar Pradesh ThermalPower Generation CorporationLimited, leading to the closure ofits 200 MW power units onSunday morning.

The Obra thermal powerplant, situated on the border ofUttar Pradesh, MadhyaPradesh, Bihar and Jharkhand,supplies power mostly to UP.Due to the fire, power genera-tion was stopped at Obra andthis disrupted power supply insome parts of the State.

Official sources said herethat the fire started from theswitch gear in the cable yardaround 5 in the morning andthe fire spread to nearby areaswithin an hour.

About 12 fire-tenders wererushed to the spot to douse theflames. Due to the fire, unitnumbers 9, 10, 11, 12 and 13 ofthe power plant generatingaround 200 megawatt (MW)electricity were shut down.

Senior officials of the UPThermal Power GenerationCorporation Limited along withdistrict authorities rushed to thespot. Sonebhadra’s DistrictMagistrate Amit Kumar Singhsaid the units had been shutdown and the employees hadbeen evacuated. He said no onewas injured in the fire.

Official sources said theloss due to the fire could be inseveral crore of rupees. Theyalso said that the losses wouldhave been much higher had thefire not been brought undercontrol immediately and theentire Obra thermal powerplant, which generates 800MW of power, would have tobe shut down leading to majorpower crisis in the State.

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Jaipur: Terming Congress as a"divided house", RajasthanChief Minister VasundharaRaje Sunday exuded confi-dence that the BJP would formthe next Government both inthe Centre and the State.

The Chief Minister ridiculedthe Congress saying its variousleaders have already becomeChief Ministers and started form-ing their cabinets even before thestate assembly elections.

"The BJP has the unity anduniformity while the Congresshas several faces and is a divid-ed house. Various Congressleaders have already becomeChief Ministers and formedtheir cabinets even before theelections but the BJP workerswould clear their misunder-standing in the upcomingassembly elections," she said.

Raje made the remarksSunday during a meeting of theparty workers at Ranakpur inPali district.

The meeting was attended

by the BJP workers from 31assembly constituencies,including those from Bikaner,Churu, Hanumangarh,Jodhpur and Sriganganagar.The workers submitted to theChief Minister their writtensuggestions in sealed envelopes.

Raje said the workers havethe right to claim tickets fromthe party, but their targetsshould be to ensure that "lotus"blooms in the State again.

The Chief Minister alsosought to ridicule the Congress'"optimism" over the traditionof the state having the BJP andthe Congress Governmentsalternatively since 1990 andsaid had it been so, theCongress would not have ruledthe State for 50 years.

Raje exuded confidence thather party will form Governmentsboth in the State and the Centreunder the leadership of PrimeMinister Narendra Modi andBJP chief Amit Shah.

PTI

Srinagar: Jammu & KashmirGovernor Satya Pal MalikSunday said the State's youthwere the most important stake-holders in the peace processand it was essential to engagethem regularly and effectively.

The Governor said thisduring an interactive session —'Kashmir Youth Dialogue' —organised by the JammuKashmir Youth Alliance atSher-i-Kashmir InternationalConference Centre (SKICC)here.

Malik said it was importantthat the youth were givenmomentum in right directionto channelise their creative,intellectual and innovativeenergies and talents in a pro-ductive manner.

Conveying the commit-ment of Prime MinisterNarendra Modi to ensure freeand fair elections in the state,he said the students are torch-bearers for emerging societiesand urged them to partake inthe democratic process as lead-ers and participants to shapethe new future for the state.

Malik assured full supportof the State and Central admin-istration for the overall devel-opment of the youth.

The Governor also partic-ipated in one-on-one interac-tion with the youth during thesession, in which the youth putforth their grievances and con-cerns on a variety of subjects.

"To provide youth withproper launch platforms, therehave been talks to host IPLmatches in Kashmir, besidesholding matches where localplayers are provided opportu-nities to compete with playersof national and internationalrepute," he said.

On the concerns withregard to the education sector,Malik said he will ensure thatuniversities and other highereducational institutions willprepare and adhere to an aca-demic calendar, clear back-logs, besides ensuring timelyconduct of examination anddeclaration of results.

PTI

Thiruvananthapuram: Amidcontinuing protests on theSabarimala issue, a templebody which manages the LordAyyappa shrine on Sundayinvited stakeholders for a meet-ing to discuss 'various aspects',including preparations for theannual pilgrimage season,beginning next month.

As Various Hindu outfitsand Lord Ayyappa devoteeshave been staging protests overthe last few days all over Keralaagainst implementation of theSupreme Court order, permit-ting women of all age groupsinto the shrine, the call for talksis considered an attempt for aconsensus.

The TravancoreDevaswom Board has invitedtantries (temple priests),Pandalam royals and devoteegroups to the meeting.

TDB president APadmakumar said the meetingis scheduled to be held onOctober 16 at its headquartershere.

Besides the Tazhamontantri family and the Pandalamroyals,various stakeholders ofthe Sabarimala shrine,includ-ing Ayyappa Seva Sangam,Ayyappa Seva Samajam, tantrimahamandalam and Yoga

Kshema Sabah would be invit-ed for the talks, he said.

"TDB has no prejudiceover any matter related toSabriamala...Let them comeand share their views. We willtake a suitable decision on allaspects regarding the templeafter that," Padmakumar toldreporters.

The members of thePadalam royal family andtazhamon tantries later said acollective decision would betaken soon on whether toattend the TDB meet or not.The three-month-long annual'Mandalam-Makaravilakku'pilgrimage season of theSabarimala Temple will beginon November 17.

Meanwhile, various devo-tee groups and Hindu outfitstook out protest marches indifferent places across thestate, demanding that thesanctity of the temple ritualsbe protected.

The BJP-led NDA's 'LongMarch', which started last weekfrom Pandalam in protestagainst the CPI(M)-led LDFGovernment's decision toimplement the top court orderwithout going for a review,reached the capital city Sunday.

Actor-turned-MP Suresh

Gopi flagged off the rally hereat Alamkode. "Each BJP work-er will fight till his final dropof blood is shed to protect thesanctity of the centuries old tra-dition of Sabarimala" partystate president P S SreedharanPillai said addressing the rally.

The march, which crisscrossed the southern districtsof the State, would concludebefore the State Secretariat,the administrative hub here,Monday. Hundreds of activistsof Antarashtriya HinduParishad (AHP) also took outa rally here, urging the Stateand Union Governments toaddress the concerns of devo-tees of Lord Ayyappa.

AHP president PravinTogadia called for a hartal inthe State on October 18 if theLeft Government implementsthe apex court order.

"We demand that the stateGovernment file a review peti-tion in the Supreme Court.Tillthat petition is pending, theyshould not implement thecourt order," he said addressingthe rally.

If the State fails to do so,the AHP would announce ahartal in Kerala on October 17,10 pm to October 18, he said.

PTI

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Durga Puja revellers for an aer-ial view of the festival here andits adjoining areas has beenarranged by the Tripura RoadTransport Corporation(TRTC). "We are offering theride for three days on Saptami,Navami and Dashami and theduration of the ride will be for25 minutes," TRTC ChairmanDeepak Majumder toldreporters here Sunday.

An eight-seater chopper hasbeen allotted for the ride and 16tickets will be issued every dayfrom the Krishnanagar busdepot from tomorrow,Majujmder said adding the priceof the tickets would be �1700 perhead. PTI

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Aschool principal was hackedto death on Sunday by a six-

member gang in front of 20 stu-dents, for whom he was holdinga special class, police said.

Ranganath (60), principalof the Havanur Public Schoolin suburban Agrahara

Dasarahalli, was holding class-es for 10th standard studentswhen the gang barged into theclassroom and hacked him todeath, they said. They later fledin the car in which they cameto the school, police said.

One of the gang memberswas nabbed later fromMahalaxmi Layout area here,

based on a tip off.The man suffered a leg

injury when police fired athim after he attacked them. Hewas later taken to a hospital andtreated.

Police suspect a land dis-pute relating to the schoolbuilding to be the reasonbehind the killing.

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Mumbai: The Maharashtragovernment has decided toallow online sale and homedelivery of liquor in the state,saying it could curb the casesof drunken driving.

"We want to curb theinstances of drunken driving.Allowing home delivery ofliquor will help in this," Excise

Minister ChandrashekharBawankule told PTI on Sunday.

He did not elaborate as towhen the decision would comeinto effect.Speaking on thecondition of anonymity, asenior official in the excisedepartment said increasing therevenue was also a prime objec-tive behind the decision. PTI

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Defence procurement has alwaysbeen in the vortex of politics inIndia as the Opposition seeks tofind chinks in such deals. Everyoneremembers the Swedish Bofors

Guns which, according to many experts, wonIndia the Kargil War with Pakistan but hadrocked the boat of the Rajiv GandhiGovernment. Politics for electoral benefits pre-cedes national security concerns when itcomes to smelling corruption in defence deals.

To acquire power is the primary concernof the Opposition and for this reason, theCongress had made a big hue and cry over thesigning of Government-to-Government agree-ment between France and India in April 2015during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visitto France for the purchase of 36 Rafale aircraftat the cost of 7.8 million Euro, which approx-imately would cost around �58,000 crore.

Congress president Rahul Gandhi hasdirectly blamed the Prime Minister forindulging in “crony capitalism” and his entireparty is in hyper mode to garner public opin-ion on this matter. The party has also filed aPublic Interest Litigation in the SupremeCourt, which came up for hearing on October10. The Court has sought details of the deci-sion-making process that resulted in the awardof Rafale jet purchase to the French firm,Dassault Aviation in a sealed cover. The three-member Bench, headed by Chief Justice ofIndia, Ranjan Gogoi, made it clear that it is notexpressing any opinion on the suitability of theRafale aircraft, but wants to be satisfied aboutthe legitimacy of the decision-making process.

Cacophony on the Rafale deal has cast acloud on the country’s defence preparedness andour enemies are having a hearty laugh over ourbickering. The country has already suffered dur-ing the past 15 years in defence preparedness.The Congress was in power for 10 years and itselfhas much explaining to do about its inaction.

It is, however, of utmost interest to reviewthe parameters available in the public domainwith a focus on India’s defence needs. The AirForce is awfully short of multi-purpose aircraftto meet external threats from two fronts. Asagainst the requirement of 44 Squadrons, it hasonly 32 Squadrons (half of these squadrons areof vintage Mig 21, Jaguar and Mig 27, which

are more than 40 to 55 years old) to guard theIndian skies. Never ending controversies indefence purchases meant that our forces couldnever get the weapons to its full strength.

First, criticism from the Congress. The verynext day after the deal was signed in April 2015,the Congress spokesperson raised the questionof its cost and asked for making public thedetails of the agreement. He also questioned theescalation of cost of a single aircraft from �715crore to �1,600 crore. The party blamed theModi Government for bypassing the procure-ment procedure and smelled a rat over the sign-ing of an agreement between Dassault, the man-ufacturer of Rafale, and the Anil Ambani-ledReliance defence firm for implementing the 50per cent offset clause. The interview of former

French President François Hollande to aFrench TV, about the Indian Governmentproposing the name of Reliance Defence for theoffset clause, only added fuel to the fire and gavethe Opposition another handle to beat theGovernment with.

The Government has stoutly rejected the alle-gations and questioned the rationale of compar-ing the two different base year prices even as itinsisted that it got significantly better terms thanthose quoted in the original bid under the UPA,with a total saving of more than 1,600 millionEuros (350 million Euros on the cost of aircraftwith a further reported saving on weapons, alliedmaintenance and training package amounting toa around 1,300 million Euros or �12,600 crore).

However, a cost breakdown of Rafale in theoriginal bid under UPA and in the 36 aircraftin the Government-to-Government deal willnever be available in the public domain due tothe secrecy clause between the twoGovernments. The Government’s stand hasbeen strongly supported by the serving AirChief as well as his predecessor as they said thatthe two prices cannot be compared as these arebeing fully loaded with India-specific high-endtechnology. Former Defence Minister SharadPawar, too, has opined that he cannot level accu-sation unless he gets the proof.

Now let us examine it from the perspectiveof informed citizens. The Rafale aircraft was

selected by the then UPA Government in 2012over its other rivals. However, negotiations withDassault dragged on over disagreements onwarranty for aircraft to be produced byHindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL). India want-ed Dassault to ensure the quality of aircraft pro-duced by HAL but Dassault refused to do so.The other cause of difference was HALdemanding three times the manpower daysthan offered by Dassault.

In January 2014, Dassault informed that thecost of each aircraft had increased by 120 mil-lion dollar (�756 crore). There was no furtheraction by the then UPA Government and inMay 2014, the NDA dispensation took over.Soon thereafter, the Air Force seriously flaggedthe issue of replacing its ageing fleets before newDefence Minister Manohar Parrikar. This ulti-mately led to the signing of the Rafale deal asa Government-to-Government venture duringthe Prime Minister’s France visit in April 2015.The deal was thus an emergency response tothe demand of the Air Force. The twin-engineRafale combat jet is designed as a multi-rolefighter for air-to-air and air-to-ground attackand is nuclear-capable. Its on-board electron-ic warfare systems can also perform reconnais-sance and radar jamming roles.

If our leaders continue to be at each other’sthroat then no Government can finalise the dealeven in the next 50 years. There is also a catch

in Hollande’s remarks. When asked by theFrench media about the conflict of interestinvolving former President’s partner Julie Gaye(whose film was funded by Anil Ambani) hetook a diversionary tactics to escape. In inter-national arms deals, firms do lobbying andReliance must have been in touch with Dassaultwhich should be none of our business. The airon this has been cleared by Dassault and theFrench Government. It is a fact that the coun-try’s enemies will try to derail this deal throughclandestine planting of false reports directed atthe doors of opposition leaders and in dinnergossips. Hence, the Government should serious-ly plan to develop a robust defence industry withprivate sector participation and encourage for-eign investment with private players.

As for HAL, it has taken almost 33 yearsto develop ‘Tejas’. They will now face compe-tition from private sector in the long-termwhich in effect is an opportunity for them. NowReliance, Tata and Adani, all new in thedefence sector, have forged alliances with for-eign arms manufacturers and people shouldwelcome this trend. The 50 percent offset clausein this deal should be used to develop thedefence infrastructure in the country. Let us endthe saga of mathematics of incompetence indefence procurement where incompetenceplus incompetence equals incompetence.

(The writer is a retired civil servant)

��������������Sir — This refers to the 50-word edit,“Martyr to Ganga” (October 13). Thepassing away of eminent environmen-talist-professor GD Agrawal is sadden-ing. He will be remembered for his sig-nificant contribution towards rejuve-nating the Ganga river, which remainedthe hallmark of his career. Agrawal, wasfasting unto death for the last 111 daysto save the holy river. His demandsincluded the closure of all hydel pro-jects that cause irreversible damage tothe river, thereby obstructing its flow.

While Agrawal was not the lone

crusader for the Ganga’s cause his con-tribution will remain unparalleled. Hehas left behind a large number of grassroot environmentalist whom he men-tored during his life time. They will,perhaps, carry forward his legacy.

Ramesh G JethwaniBangalore

������� ���������Sir — This refers to the article,“Chronicle of a death foretold”(October 13) by Hiranmay Karlekar.The UN’s special report on climatechange precisely extols the impendingcatastrophe in the disguise of global

warming. It is high time for countriesall over the world to introspect and joinhands together to save our saviour iemother earth. Otherwise, the day maynot be too far when humanity may haveto beg for its own existence.

Sudeepa Gandhe Kurukshetra

���� ����������Sir — This refers to the article,“#MeToo movement: A spark or fire?”(October 12) by Ajoy Kumar. It isshameful that despite the presence oflaws aimed at women’s security and aGovernment at the helm that boasts of

women empowerment, the womenhad to take recourse to social mediato make their voices heard about whatthey went through. The move must notend with just naming and shaming.Those accused must pay for their acts.

KshitijVia email

���������������� ��������Sir — This refers to the article, “#MeToomovement: A spark or fire?” (October12) by Ajoy Kumar. The #MeToo move-ment has been empowering women tostep forward and take a stand againsttheir oppressors. Shaming the men and

making them a subject of public scruti-ny might be a very effective tool againstpowerful people at a time when the judi-cial system has not been effective.

However, to ensure that this does-n’t lead to a situation where, once youare accused on social media, you are‘guilty unless proven innocent’, a com-prehensive system for booking the cul-prits and delivering brisk justice to theaffected is needed.

MA SiddiquiLucknow

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It is going beyond boundaries andtolerance level now. She (Kangana Ranaut)

is misusing the #MeToo movement. —Vikas Bahl’s ex-wife

RICHA DUBEY

Another ex-wife to her ex-husband’srescue. Why do they leave their holier-than-

thou husbands in the first place? —Actor

KANGANA RANAUT

The current state of Indianeducation system is acause of concern on var-ious fronts. It is very clear-ly visible in most learned

narrations on education. It is indeedintriguing, and even amazing, thatthe real concern is not new — it ispractically the same as it was artic-ulated by Swami Vivekananda overa 100 years ago: “Education whichdoes not help the common mass ofpeople to equip themselves for thestruggle for life, which does not bringout strengthen and character, a spir-it of philanthropy, and the courageof a lion — is it worth the name? Realeducation is that which enables oneto stand on one’s own legs.”

That the current education sys-tem is weak on this front is univer-sally known. It needs new insightsand ideas. Every effort undertaken toreform the education sector — be iteducation policy, programmes,implementation strategy or articula-tion of outcomes — can deriveimmense benefit from the vision andphilosophy of Swami Vivekananda.

Rabindranath Tagore once toldFrench writer Romain Rolland: “Ifyou want to know India, studyVivekananda. In him everything ispositive and nothing negative.” Eventoday, if someone wishes to under-stand the Indian tradition of knowl-edge quest, its systems of creating,generating, disseminating and util-ising knowledge, there would be nobetter resource and support than toread Vivekananda on what all he saidabout education, its goals, objectives,relationship to the growth of civili-sations, human advancement andwelfare of the people.

It would also indicate how andwhy the Indian civilisation advancedfar ahead of others in comprehend-ing the basics of human existence onplanet Earth; queries on/before lifeand after life! Their contemplationwas deep enough to let them inter-nalise spirituality, human values andwhat could be the best and satisfyingfor any human being during hissojourn on earth. No one other thanSwami Vivekananda has articulatedwith such a deep understanding therise and downfall of India, the sub-

jugation of its history, culture and her-itage as a result of planned efforts todestabilise its time-tested tradition-al yet dynamic education system.Swami was active in a period char-acterised by rampant poverty, hunger,demoralisation of a slave nation, andpeople resigned to their fate.

The British had successfullyachieved an attitudinal transfor-mation amongst the English-educat-ed Indian elite who were over-whelmed by the superiority of theWest in every aspect, right fromknowledge to culture to social sys-tems! When Swami Vivekanandaappeared on the scene, people werehesitant to even talk about indepen-dence. India needed someone togive a wakeup call; let people realisewho they are; what they were miss-ing; how they have been deprivednot only of their material affluencebut also of the sense of pride in theirculture and heritage. Most impor-tantly, how their minds have beenmade to drift away from their ownpeople, people who were reduced tolive in inhuman conditions, who hadlost the will to resist injustice andhumiliation. If resurgence was everconceivable, it needed a messiahwho knew India and Indians!

And knowing India was no easytask in view of the country’s diver-sity of every conceivable variety inmen and material, spiritual and reli-gious pursuits and systems of gover-nance and delivering justice. Swamijitravelled across the nook and cornerof the country, and what he saw, con-vinced him about the inherent unityof the Indian nation and its people.He also realised how India could playa leading role on the global stage inefforts to create a world of socialcohesion and human dignity.

A well-known instance of com-prehending and then connectingIndia is that of Adi Sankaracharya.He realised the need to travel around,and in his short sojourn on the plan-et Earth, he established shrines thatstrengthened the unity of minds ofthe people and also of the regions andplaces. One can also recall anotherexample how Gopal KrishnaGokhale had advised MohandasKaramchand Gandhi to ‘know India’before beginning work in India afterall the name and fame he hadalready earned in South Africa. Hedutifully travelled every nook andcorner of the country and developedan understanding that could not bematched by any of his political asso-ciates in freedom struggle.

Swami Vivekananda was quick

to realise the cause of the decline ofa great number of people whoclaimed to be the ‘children of immor-tality; Amritasya Putrah!’ They hadalready understood that “all this thatis changeful in this ephemeral worldmust be enveloped by the lord”! Thequery, in spite of all this and muchmore about national degradation,was answered by Swamiji. Attitudeto false superiority played the mostprominent role in the downfall of thechildren of god. While on the onehand, India boosted of Taxila, attract-ing learners from 60 nations, its socialstructure gradually declined, even ajourney on seas was declared sinfuland invited heavy penalties.

How can any system, socialstructure or a civilisation, maintainits dynamism if it isolates itself fromthe world outside? In 1894,Vivekananda said in his book, TheComplete Works of SwamiVivekananda, “To my mind, theone great cause of the downfall andthe degeneration coming was thebuilding of a wall of custom — whosefoundation was hatred of others —round the nation, and the real aimof which in ancient times was to pre-vent the Hindu from coming in con-

tact with the surrounding Buddhistnations”. In the same piece he offeredthe solution: “Give and take is the law,and if India wants to raise herselfonce more, it is absolutely necessarythat she brings out her treasures andthrows them broadcast among thenations of the earth, and in return beready to receive what others have togive us. Expansion is life, contractionis death.”

Finally, in this very piece heexhorted: “We must mix with all theraces of the Earth.” The lamp that waslit by Swami has spread its light acrossthe nation, across the communitiesand the entire world now realises andrelishes India’s global presence. Butmere travel around and outside,opening up the sea shores and air-ports alone is only one initial step. Italone is not sufficient to give Indianstheir due on the global stage.

If India is to stand up with itshead high in the global communi-ty, it has to prepare its young gen-erations, who are self-assured, con-fident, proud of their heritage, his-tory and motherland, and are keento prove that they are not inferiorto anyone. It must make thembelieve that they all have the capa-

bility and potential to lead a glob-al renaissance.

For a committed researcher andexplorer, knowledge pursuit is apious task. Indian culture and tra-dition links it to the individual’s urgeto gain better understanding of theforces of nature, and utilise thatknowledge for the welfare of the peo-ple, humanity and that, too, withoutany distinction or selfish motive. Heprays for one and all — men andwomen of all religions and faiths, ofall colours and creeds. No distinc-tion, every soul being divine.

The rishis and munis, saints andsages — they all created knowledgeand disseminated it for the ‘humanwelfare’. Things have changed in themodern world and India and Indiansare no longer exceptions. Now,knowledge quest is often pursuedwith the sole commercial consider-ations getting a patent earlier thanothers and takeover the market!Historical interventions impededIndian knowledge traditions, andtoday, we are just copying the trendsof much-glamourised globalisation.

However, as we are passingthrough an era of weakening of sin-cere, committed and selfless pursuitsof new knowledge, a course correc-tion is urgently needed. Essentially,it amounts to broadening of thevision of knowledge quest that Indiamust articulate in the current-dayidiom, accept and implement.

How to proceed to comprehendthis change was so lucidly elaborat-ed by Swami Vivekananda: “Everyoneborn in this world has a bent, a direc-tion towards which he must go,through which he must live, and whatis true of the individual equally trueof the race. Each race, similarly, hasa peculiar bent, each race has a pecu-liar raison d’etre, each race has a pecu-liar mission to fill in the life of theworld. Each race has to make its ownresult, to fulfil its own mission.Political greatness or military poweris never the mission of our race; itnever was and, mark my word, itnever will be. But there has been theother mission given to us, which isto conserve, to preserve, to accumu-late, as it were, into a dynamo, all thespiritual energy of the race, and thatconcentrated energy is to pour forthin a deluge on the world whenevercircumstances are propitious.” CanIndia not build the edifice of its neweducation for resurgent India on thisoutstanding postulate?

(The writer is the IndianRepresentative on the Executive Boardof UNESCO)

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India, for the first time, organised the GlobalMobility Summit on September 6, 2018.Needless to say, it was a mega show, very

well attended by global CEOs which adequate-ly demonstrated the importance of Indian mar-ket in the contemporary auto world. Kudos tothe event management skill of the NITI Aayog.Indeed, magnificent but what perplexed mostanalysts assessing the outcome of this impres-sive show was that there was no policy decla-ration, leave alone lack of any firm commit-ment from Original Equipment Manufacturers(OEMs) to invest in India.

Even the much awaited FAME-II decla-ration was missing. Instead, debate wasdominated by the only concern about subsi-dies for electric vehicles which presumablycan result in import substitution of crude oil;albeit with import of expensive electric vehi-cle (EV) parts like lithium ion batteries,motors and electronics for the singularobjective of reducing pollution. This is real-ly surprising as these imported parts consti-tute more than 65-70 per cent of the value ofan electric vehicle and in 2017, the import ofelectronic parts alone was around $47 billion,third highest after oil and gems. The Indianauto industry is competitive in traditionalengine and transmission parts that constituteapproximately 40 per cent of its turnover.

In 2017-18, India exported auto compo-nents worth �90,571 crore while imports thatincluded 27 per cent from China stood at�106,672 crore. Hence, there is a justified worrythat policy push for electric vehicles withoutaddressing the issue of existing auto compo-nent industry and the local manufacturing ofEV parts may only end up increasing the netimport bill, worsening the current accountdeficit situation in the short to medium term.

However, shift to electric vehicles is apromising long-term solution to reducedependence of the transport sector in India onfossil fuel. And without initial Governmentsupport, there will not be enough demand tojustify any investments for manufacturing ofEV parts in India. Hence, this seems to be aclassic chicken and egg story. It is essential forour policy makers to find a viable approachto overcome this dilemma.

The import implications of advance bat-teries for EVs is even more serious than elec-tronic parts import as batteries constitutealmost 55-60 per cent of the total value of anelectric vehicle. Hence, it is obvious that weneed to try quickly to facilitate the manufac-turing of advance batteries in India. For this,aggregation of demand from other applicationssuch as renewable energy storage, energy backup for telecom towers, defence requirements,and home applications, among others, areneeded where Government incentives can help.However, this in itself will not be enough giventhe fact that China, which has the globallylargest and fully integrated battery manufac-turing industry, will attain 73 per cent of theglobal market share by 2021. Hence, at theglobal stage, access to latest battery andprocess technology and secured raw materi-als supply are essential for these investmentsto be viable. Moreover, even if we start today,it will take at least three to four years for theseplants to go on line. So, can India afford to carryon with a business-as-usual approach in theintervening period? The answer is clearly no.

Some analysts propose that a cess be leviedon all fossil fuels vehicles which can be usedto incentivise electric vehicles, thereby result-ing in demand generation which will in turnlead to efficient manufacturing eco-system cre-ated in the country. To my mind, this is myopic,over simplistic approach and clearly fails toaddress many fundamental questions.

For instance, what are the costs and ben-efits of such an approach? Is this the optimalpathway for creating viable demand for EVparts manufacturing? Does it not mean tax-ing the Indian industry to create demand forimports from China? Does this approach sup-port other technology options that substantive-

ly help in fossil fuel substitution as well as high-er fuel efficiency? It must be clearly under-stood that through electric mobility what weare fundamentally attempting to do is to reducefossil fuel consumption and, hence, reduce pol-lution too. Therefore, the answer to these ques-tions warrants that in addition to securing siz-able battery manufacturing in the country, atwo-pronged approach is needed.

First, all technologies that either help sub-stitute liquid fossil fuel consumption like bio-fuels, CNG, LNG etc or technologies that givefairly high fuel efficiencies like hybrid electricvehicles, need to be encouraged by a transpar-ent policy framework. Taxation policy (GST)based on oil consumed by the vehicle ie car-bon taxation is one such powerful transpar-ent policy tool that will encourage auto com-panies to adopt such technologies very quick-ly. This has already been adopted by manyother countries, including Thailand.

Second, full range of electric vehicle tech-nologies, including electric hybrid technolo-gies, should be supported in the transitionphase since they use the same parts (batter-ies, motors, and electronics) and, thus, can helpin creating demand for EV parts, thereby lead-ing to faster localisation. By being technolo-gy agnostic we can rapidly replace millions ofpetrol/diesel vehicles by these technologies sothat the vehicles of today are cleaner and con-sume lesser fuel for the next 15 odd years asthey ply on Indian roads before being replacedby electric vehicles. Hence, clarity of thoughtwith ‘India first’ approach based on pragma-tism must take primacy in policy making overhype and emotional pitch.

(The writer is former secretary toGovernment of India and former vice chancel-lor of the Indian Institute of Foreign Trade)

Auto sector: Hype over reality

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Indigenous edifice for new educationAs we pass through an era that is witnessing weakening of sincere, committed and selfless pursuit of new knowledge,

a course correction is needed. Who else can guide us better in this endeavour than Swami Vivekananda?

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If it wasn’t enough that the beginning of crop stubbleburning my farmers looking to clear their field for thenext sowing cycle in the adjoining States of Haryanaand Punjab combined with rising construction, road-side and vehicular pollution has left residents of theCapital wheezing and coughing, now comes news thatthe El Nino weather phenomenon will make the com-ing winter in Delhi warmer. From the frying pan intothe fire about sums it up.

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COMMENT & ANALYSIS

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The CEO of SpotOn, aBangalore-based logistics firm,Abhik Mitra talked to ThePioneer. Here are excerpts ofhis interview taken by VikasKumar:

Recently you developedPiece Level Tracking Systemto track products being deliv-ered. How does it work?

The technology that weuse for tracking a consignmentor boxes/pieces within a con-signment is a combination oftrack and trace system whichis supported by Piece LevelTracking System. Piece LevelTracking means the box of aconsignment can be tracked. Aconsignment may be from saya auto spare parts to a distrib-utor. He may be sending oneconsignment box. But in thatone consignment note therecould be 10 boxes. so we cantrack each box in that con-signment. The technology hasbeen developed in house. Whatit helps us to do and the cus-tomer to do is know exactlywhere his shipment is, in

which vehicle it is and inwhich hub or service centre itis.

Purpose of this technologyis visibility for the customerand control for SpotOn; so thatwe know where every shipmentis. And we can move the ship-ment fast enough and correct-ly so that we make an accuratedelivery.

You are going to provideair services in 2019 acrossIndia. What are your plans toprovide the same to neigh-bouring countries in particu-lar and world in general? Andwhy are you coming up withair services after long sevenyears of establishment of yourcompany?

The air services that we arestarting in April 2019, forwhich the work has alreadystarted in building the IT plat-form and building the infra-structure that we need is some-thing we are going to do fordomestic air cargo. Where theproduct will be available to ourexisting customers and B2B

customers. We believe thiscould have happened a littleearlier but as you know therewas a transaction was going on.Our earlier investors were exist-ing and new investors werecoming in so as a result of thatwe just delayed the wholeprocess by a period of around6-8 months.

We started planningprocess for this about a year agowhen we knew the newinvestors were coming onboard. And now we have start-ed work so that we can launchthe product by April

What are the challengeslogistics sectors is facing dueto rising fuel prices? Tell ushow hard is it to run opera-tions during such volatilemarket conditions?

Of course it is hard.. havingsaid that the stability of networkis never compromised, becauseservice is most important thing.We typically get a pass throughto our venders who compensateus for higher prices, and we alsoget compensated by our cus-tomers. Yes there is a time lagbut while it is challenging butit is not that challenging that

can affect our business.

Is logistics industry facingany hurdles due toGovernment rules and regu-lations? What suggestionswould you like to give to theGovernment so that logisticssector easily can comply withthe regulations?

Not really. The GST hasbeen a very positive step for us.E-Way bill has been positive. Ofcourse the implementation andexecution takes a little bit oftime. And the Governmenthas been listening to us interms of our situations; espe-cially under the express indus-try because as an express indus-try we do not move from onepick up point to one deliverypoint. We move through hubsand spokes. And obviouslylarge number of e-way billsneed to be made, which aremade using technology asmanually it is impossible to dothat and I don’t think there areany negatives. These are posi-tives.

Obviously continued

investment in infrastructure,will help the industry. Theability to move through tolls (Iunderstand the need for tolls)- but if trucks could move fasterthrough toll booths faster thanwhat happens now it wouldimprove the speed and pre-dictability of the network.

Did the recent truckunion’s strike hamper youroperations?

Yes of course it did, becauseour trucks were stopped andheld back at different places.Loads were in the trucks.Customers did not get the ser-vice they should have got.Couple of the trucks was alsoattacked. Fortunately we didn’tlose anything. A strike doesimpact the industry.

In an express network- forus a network is like a loop. Atruck leaves Delhi to Mumbaiand there are 2 en-route afterthat. The truck which has leftfrom Delhi needs to reachMumbai and go back. If thisloop is broken it certainly takestime to settle down.

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The Central Governmenthas invited proposals from

interested air operators for theinternational version of its‘Udan’ (Ude Desk Ka AamNagrik) scheme as it seeks toenhance air connectivity fromIndia to select overseas desti-nations.

This is despite the domes-tic format of the scheme failingto yield desired results withalmost half of the routesapproved in the first phase ofthe bidding for the scheme stillto be launched.

National airports opera-tor AAI, which has been man-dated to implement the inter-national version of the Udanscheme, has invited “e-pro-posals (bids) from interna-tional bidders for selection ofairlines under the InternationalAir Connectivity Scheme, IACS

Udan,” according to a notice ina leading English daily.

The Government, in itsbid to make flying more afford-able for masses, had in October2016 announced the Udanscheme with airfares capped at�2,500 for a one-hour journeythrough subsidised ticket ratesand to provide air connectivi-ty to smaller towns.

In the subsequent devel-opments, five airlines weremandated to fly on 128 region-al routes in the first phase of thebidding in March 2017, and 15airlines on 325 regional routes,including those having chopperoperations, in the second phasein January this year.

The Airports Authority ofIndia (AAI) is also the imple-menting agency for the domes-tic format of the regional con-nectivity scheme.

The bids could be submit-ted to the AAI by November22, according to the noticeinviting e-proposals.

The AAI has invited thebids on behalf of the civil avi-ation ministry and the AssamGovernment, as per the notice.

The Central Governmenthad in August unveiled a draftscheme for extending theUDAN scheme to internation-al circuits, with state govern-ments identifying routes for theoperations.

The draft International AirConnectivity (IAC) schemeenvisages to increase the inter-national ticketing to 20 crore by2027.

As per the draft, thescheme is to be made opera-tional only for states whichdemonstrate their commit-ment to implement and pro-vide the requisite support forpromoting operations underthe scheme.

The BJP-ruled Assam hadlast year offered to provide Rs100 crore as viability gap fund-ing towards extension of thescheme for international airconnectivity from the statecapital Guwahati.

According to the draftscheme, State Governmentswill identify the routes to beconnected, and airline opera-tors will assess demand on theidentified routes and submitproposals for providing con-nectivity.

Operations under thescheme will be permittedthrough fixed-wing aircraftonly with more than 70 seats.

The scheme has proposedto set up an International AirConnectivity Fund (IACF) —dedicated for providing subsidysupport under the scheme. Itwill be created through thecontributions of StateGovernments.

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Bank credit rose by 12.51 percent to �89.82 lakh crore in

the fortnight ended September28, while the deposits grew by8.07 per cent to �117.99 lakhcrore, according the RBI data.

In the year-ago fortnight,advances stood at �79.83 lakhcrore, while the deposits at�109.17 lakh crore.

In the fortnight endedSeptember 14, bank credit hadrisenby 13.46 per cent to �87.98lakh crore, while the depositsgrew by 8.58 per cent to�115.70 lakh crore.

In August this year, non-food credit rose by 12.4 per

cent, as against an increase of5.5 per cent in the year-agomonth, the RBI data showed.

Advancesto industry roseby 1.9 per cent in August,against a contraction of 0.3 percent in August 2017.

Bank loans toagricultureand allied activities were up by6.6 per cent, compared with anincrease of 6.5 per cent in thesame month last year.

Credit to the services sec-tor expanded by 26.7 percent, against 5 per cent lastyear.

Personal loans rose by 18.2per cent in August 2018, com-pared with 15.7 per cent inAugust 2017.

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Quarterly earnings fromblue-chips like Infosys and

RIL as well as movement of therupee and crude oil prices willdictate the market trend in theholiday-shortened week ahead,say experts. “Currently, broad-er markets look attractive whileinvestors may seek more clar-ity from upcoming quarterlyresults. The continuity of thistrend largely depends on sta-bility on bond yields and INR.

“However, worries aboutUS Fed rate hike, US-Chinatrade dispute and politicaluncertainties in India onaccount of upcoming stateelections may impact senti-ment in the short-term,” saidVinod Nair, Head ofResearch, Geojit FinancialServices.

“Companies like Infosys,Federal Bank, ACC, Relianceare to announce their resultsthis week,” said Prateek Jain,Director, Hem Securities. Overthe last week, the BSE 30-share Sensex gained 356.59points to close at 34,733.58 onFriday.

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State Trading Corporation(STC) may soon get relief

from the Government in termsof bank guarantee of �2,500crore to help the companyresolve the liquidity problem,sources said.

The commerce ministryhas approved the proposal andsent that to the finance min-istry for final approval.

“There is also a plan torestructure loans of STC as thecompany is facing financialhardship,” the sources said.

The firm is also in theprocess of preparing a plan tosell its non-core assets to raisefunds.

The move assume signifi-cance as there was a proposalof the commerce ministry fora merger of STC and anotherstate-owned trading firmMMTC.

STC has posted 88.44 percent fall in standalone net prof-it to �1.46 crore during April-June 2018-19, on account ofpoor income.

The company, while releas-

ing its unaudited financialresult for the quarter endedJune 30, 2018 in August, hadstated that it has appointedfinancial advisor for restruc-turing of existing loans and forraising additional loans.

It had also proposed toraise additional working capi-tal funds against its properties.

“Therefore, the Companyhas approached its lenderbanks for an appropriate reso-lution plan with the objectiveto make the operations of thecompany viable and sustain-able. The lender banks haveformed Joint Lender Forum tofinalise the reconstructionplan,” it had said.

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The Government may not gofor another round of

import duty hike on any moreitems and could take othermeasures to contain the impactof rupee slide on currentaccount deficit (CAD), an offi-cial said.

The Government, within aspan of two weeks, has hikedimport duty on a host of house-hold items like refrigerators andair conditioners, and telecomand communications systemproducts as it looked to cutimport of non-essential items.

“Further hike in importduty on non essential goods isnot likely,” the official said.

In the latest round of dutyhike effective October 12, theFinance Ministry increased thelevy of import of base station,IP Radios, soft switches and

Voice over Internet Protocol(VoIP) equipments, and opti-cal transport equipments,among others, to up to 20 percent.

The import duty on mobilephones have been spared in therecent duty hike as the levy hasalready been raised earlier.

“This round of duty hikewas suggested by the Ministryof Electronics and IT (MeiTY),after discussion with Ministryof Commerce and Industry. Wehave gone ahead with their sug-gestion,” the official added.

Indian rupee had toucheda historic low of 74.50 to a dol-lar on October 11. It laterrecovered and ended October12 trading session at 73.57 to adollar as global crude priceseased. The rupee has depreci-ated about 13 per cent since thebeginning of 2018.

“We expect the rupee torise from here. No more importcurbs would be needed at themoment. Rather we shouldlook at ways to check depen-dence on petrol, diesel,” anoth-er official said.

The Government, effec-tive September 27, had doubledduties on import of 19 items,including air conditioners,household refrigerators andwashing machines (less than 10kg), to 20 per cent. The cost ofimport of these items was�86,000 crore in 2017-18 fiscal.

Following a meeting byPrime Minister NarendraModi, the Government had onSeptember 14 announced thatthe centre would impose curbson import of non-essentialitems to contain the wideningCAD and check the rupee fall.

To address the issue ofexpanding CAD, theGovernment will take neces-sary steps to cut down non-essential imports and increaseexports. The commodities ofwhich imports will be cutdown will be decided afterconsultations with concernedministries and will be WTO-compliant,” Finance MinisterArun Jaitley had then said.

Earlier in the day, a financeministry official had said moresteps will be taken to checkCAD and hoped that the rupeewould appreciate.

“Rupee, Balance ofPayments, CAD are the mainworries, we have strategy inplace to tackle situation. Wewill take action at opportunetime on these issues,” the offi-cial said.

The CAD widened to 2.4per cent of the GDP in the firstquarter of 2018-19.

Large trade deficit andrupee decline against the USdollar are putting pressure onthe CAD, and these steps arelikely to have a positive impacton the external sector.

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The Government has askedCoal India Ltd and its sub-

sidiaries to prioritise coal sup-ply to State power producerslike NTPC, leaving privateelectricity plants in a lurch,multiple sources said.

The Coal Ministry hasdirected CIL to prioritise thecoal supply to select central andState Government-ownedpower houses under the pretextof building coal stocks at theseplants.

Following this, all sub-sidiaries of Coal India likeSouth Eastern Coalfields Ltd(SECL) have been directed tosupply coal to state power gen-erators such as NTPC.

This has come at the costof private power producers,who are running out of feed-stock used to produce elec-tricity.

Sources in private produc-ers say rationally Coal Indiashould give first priority tothose plants having criticalcoal stocks. Next should comeplants facing supplies belowcontractual obligations andthen to most efficient plants,irrespective of ownership.

Preferential and priority

distribution should not be lim-ited to public sector, they said,adding that private powerplants should not be discrimi-nated against.

As per the sources, follow-ing the instruction from coalministry, Coal India has its sub-sidiaries like SECL to supply 25rakes per day of coal to NTPC’sKorba, Mouda and Bhilaipower plants and such otherstate power plants.

Mahanadi Coalfields Ltd(MCL) has also accorded pri-ority supplies to central publicsector plants and WCL hasbeen verbally instructed tosupply coal to only Mahagenco(formerly known asMaharashtra State ElectricityBoard) plants.

As a result, SECL inOctober increased the sup-plies to state and central gen-erating companies from anaverage 10 rakes per day(40,000 tonnes) to 17 rakes perday (68,000 tonnes) whereasfor private power plants it hasreduced from an average 10rakes per day to only 6 rakesper day (24000 Tons).

Private power generatorsfeel such priority supply only tostate and central PSU electric-ity generating companies is

discriminatory.This discrimination based

on ownership of assets putsinto question the sanctity of levelplaying field and ease of doingbusiness besides being bad in theeyes of law and equity, they said.

The move comes just whenthe festive season has startedwhen power demand goes up.Also, Madhya Pradesh,Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh,Mizoram and Telangana will goto polls this year.

Also, power tariff in spotmarket have hit a record highpast few days. In last week ofSeptember, spot electricityprice touched nine year high of�14.25 per unit and swelled fur-ther to �18.20 in the first weekof October on Indian EnergyExchange.

This spark in power tariffwas attributed to inadequatecoal supplies from Coal India,the sources said.

While domestic coal pro-duction during April-September has risen to 256 mil-lion tonnes from 232 milliontonnes in the year ago period,increased power demand hasmeant that coal imports havealso risen to 119 million tonnesfrom 105 million tonnes inApril-September 2017.

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As many as 74 Indian com-panies have generated

annual revenues of 11 billioneuros and employed nearly23,300 people in Germany, arecent survey said.

According to a survey titled‘Indian Investment inGermany: Update 2018’ con-ducted by EY, Indo GermanChamber of Commerce andCII, four dominant sectorsaccounted for almost 95 percent of the revenue generatedby Indian companies inGermany, as well as 89 per centof the 23,300 people employed.

“Out of the total number ofmore than 213 Indian sub-sidiaries operating in Germany,nearly 74 Indian companieseach with annual turnover ofmore than 10 million eurosgenerated combined annualrevenues of around 11 billioneuros,” the report said.

The four dominant sectorsinclude automotives, metals andmetal-processing, chemicals andpharmaceuticals and profession-al, scientific and technical services.

“The top 10 Indian compa-

nies alone account for more than74 per cent of all revenues gen-erated by Indian companies andemploy around 59 per cent of thisgroup’s total workforce,” it said.

The report noted thatexcellent infrastructure,favourable R&D and innova-tion conditions as well as ahighly skilled labour forcecomprise top-rated businessenvironment factors by Indianinvestors in the 2018 update.

“In addition, the opportu-nity to access European marketpost Brexit is an important fac-tor for Indian investors,” it said.

The study noted that Indianinvestors viewed the quality ofliving at affordable prices verypositively. “The quality of edu-cation, which is offered for freeby the Government, makesGermany an attractive locationfor relevant research and devel-opment activities.

“Also, the security stan-dards, personally and for finan-cial investments, qualifyGermany to be a perfect desti-nation for Indians, who intendto diversify risks investing theirprivate wealth in the FederalRepublic,” the report added.

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Union Minister Smriti Iraniwill Tuesday inaugurate

India International Silk Fair(IISF), a three-day event whereover 108 exhibitors of silk andblended silk will display theirproduce here.

“The fair will give a plat-form to exporters to displaytheir products and to overseasbuyers an opportunity to placeorders and source their mer-chandise,” the textiles ministrysaid.

“The IISF-2018 is expect-ed to generate business of over$20 million for the small andmedium enterprises (SMEs)engaged in producing silk andblended silk garments, fabrics,accessories and floor covering,”it added.

Over 218 buyers from var-ious countries will participatein the fair. Artisans fromJammu & Kashmir and north-east will showcase their unique

products from their regionwhich will be an added attrac-tion for buyers.

India is the second largestproducer of silk in the world.The country’s silk industry isagriculture based and labourintensive and provides gainfulemployment to around 8 mil-lion artisans and weavers inrural areas.

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Saudi Arabia warned onSunday it will respond to

any “threats” against it as itsstock market plunged followingPresident Donald Trump’swarning of “severe punish-ment” over the disappearanceof Washington Post contributorJamal Khashoggi.

Trump made a point of vis-iting the kingdom on his firstoverseas trip as President andhas touted arms sales to SaudiArabia. But both the WhiteHouse and the kingdom areunder mounting pressure asconcern grows over the fate ofthe veteran journalist, whohasn’t been seen since heentered the Saudi Consulate inIstanbul on October 2.

Already, international busi-ness leaders are pulling out ofthe kingdom’s upcominginvestment forum, a high-pro-file event known as “Davos inthe Desert.”

“The kingdom affirms itstotal rejection of any threatsand attempts to undermine it,whether by threatening toimpose economic sanctions,using political pressures orrepeating false accusations,”the statement published by the

state-run Saudi Press Agencyread. “The kingdom alsoaffirms that if it receives anyaction, it will respond withgreater action, and that thekingdom’s economy has aninfluential and vital role in theglobal economy.”

The statement from theworld’s top oil exporter cameafter the Tadawul exchange inRiyadh dropped by 7 per centat one point during the week’sfirst day of trading, with 182 ofits 186 listed stocks showing

losses by the early afternoon.The market clawed back someof the losses, closing down 3.5per cent for the day.

Turkish officials say theyfear Saudi agents killed and dis-membered Khashoggi after heentered the consulate, sayingthey have audio and videorecordings of it that they havenot released. The kingdom hascalled the allegations “baseless,”but has offered no evidence thewriter ever left the consulate.

In an interview to be aired

Sunday, Trump told CBS’ “60Minutes” that the consequencesof Saudi Arabia being involvedwould be “severe.”

“There’s something reallyterrible and disgusting aboutthat, if that was the case, sowe’re going to have to see,”Trump said. “We’re going to getto the bottom of it and therewill be severe punishment.”

However, Trump in thesame interview said: “As of thismoment, they deny it and theydeny it vehemently. Could it bethem? Yes.”

Other stock exchanges inthe Mideast saw far less volatil-ity Sunday. US markets havebeen rattled by rising interestrates, signs of a slowdown inthe global economy and theUS-China trade dispute.

Saudi Crown PrinceMohammed bin Salman hasaggressively pitched the king-dom as a destination for foreigninvestment. But Khashoggi’sdisappearance, and suspicionshe may have been targetedover his criticism of the crownprince, have led several busi-ness leaders and media outletsto back out of an upcominghigh-profile investment con-ference in Riyadh.

Trump also said “we would

be punishing ourselves” bycanceling arms sales to SaudiArabia, which his administra-tion touted on his first overseas trip.

The sale is a “tremendousorder for our companies,” andif the kingdom doesn’t buy itsweaponry from the UnitedStates, they will buy it from oth-ers, he said. Trump said hewould meet with Khashoggi’s family.

American lawmakers inboth parties have been morecritical of Saudi Arabia, withseveral suggesting officials inthe kingdom could be sanc-tioned if they were found to beinvolved in Khashoggi’s disap-pearance and alleged killing.

Khashoggi, who was con-sidered close to the Saudi royalfamily, had become a critic of thecurrent government and PrinceMohammed, the 33-year-oldheir apparent who has shown lit-tle tolerance for criticism.

As a contributor to thePost, Khashoggi has writtenextensively about Saudi Arabia,including criticism of its war inYemen, its recent diplomaticspat with Canada and its arrestof women’s rights activists afterthe lifting of a ban on womendriving.

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Istanbul: Turkey accused SaudiArabia of failing to cooperatewith a probe into the disappearance of a journalistinside its Istanbul consulate, asUS President Donald Trumpthreatened “severe punish-ment” if it turns out he was killed.

Comments by TurkishForeign Minister MevlutCavusoglu represented a hard-ening of Ankara’s hitherto cir-cumspect tone over the case ofSaudi journalist JamalKhashoggi, who has not beenseen since he stepped inside theconsulate on October 2.

Turkish officials have saidthey believe Khashoggi waskilled inside the consulate andlurid claims have been leakedto media that he was torturedand even dismembered, whileTrump has also struck a pes-simistic tone about the missingjournalist’s fate.

Saudi Arabia insists

Khashoggi, a Washington Postcontributor whose writingshave been critical of powerfulCrown Prince Mohammed binSalman, left the building safe-ly but has yet to offer visual evi-dence of this.

The outcry surroundinghis disappearance threatens tonot just harm brittle Turkey-Saudi relations but also alarmthe kingdom’s supporters in theWest and tarnish the reformdrive spearheaded by thecrown prince.

“We’re going to get to thebottom of it and there will besevere punishment,” Trumptold CBS’s “60 Minutes,”according to an extract of an interview that wasreleased on Saturday.

“As of this moment, they(Saudi) deny it and they denyit vehemently. Could it bethem? Yes,” Trump said in theinterview, which was conduct-ed on Thursday. AP

Taft (US): Investigators say aparty in South Texas to mark atoddler’s first birthday erupted in gunfire, leaving fourmen dead and a fifth manwounded. The Texas Depar-tment of Public Safety says theshooting happened shortlyafter 5 pm in Taft, 19 kms northof Corpus Christi. Sgt NathanBrandley says an altercationerupted between two familiesattending party and escalatedinto deadly shooting.

Brandley said the wound-ed man was airlifted to aCorpus Christi hospital. Hiscondition wasn’t clear. Brandleysaid two suspects are on theloose. No identities or otherdetails have been released. AP

Washington: US PresidentDonald Trump said in an inter-view airing on Sunday thatDefence Secretary Jim Mattis“could be” leaving, referring tohim as “sort of a Democrat.”

Mattis, seen as one of thesteadiest but also more inde-pendent members of Trump’scabinet, has served as a low-profile counterweight to thepresident in his often abrasivetreatment of US allies.

In an interview, Trumpwas asked whether he wantedMattis to leave. “It could be thathe is. I think he’s sort of aDemocrat, if you want to knowthe truth,” Trump said, accord-ing to an excerpt released byCBS. “But General Mattis is agood guy. We get along verywell. He may leave. I mean, atsome point, everybody leaves.”

Trump said he had lunch

with Mattis two days earlierand Mattis, a retired Marinefour-star general, had not toldhim that he was leaving.

The exchange on Mattiscame after Trump alluded toupcoming changes in his cab-inet, which last week saw thesurprise resignation of NikkiHaley, the US ambassador tothe United Nations.

“I’m changing thingsaround. And I’m entitled to. Ihave people now on standbythat will be phenomenal.They’ll come into the admin-istration, they’ll be phenome-nal,” Trump said.

“I think we have a greatcabinet. There’re some peoplethat I’m not happy with. I havesome people that I’m notthrilled with. And I have otherpeople that I’m beyond thrilledwith,” he said. AFP

Tehran: Iran’s President boast-ed Sunday the US has lostagainst the Islamic republic’s“righteousness and wisdom”by walking out of the landmarknuclear deal. “Everyone knowsthat America has lost legallyand politically by giving up onits international obligations andthat we have achieved victory,”

said President Hassan Rouhaniin a speech at the University ofTehran to mark the beginningof the school year.

“There are but a few coun-tries in the world that would callthe US withdrawal from theJCPOA a good move,” headded. “Those that are cautiousexpress disappointment, those

that are more frank say it wasa mistake, and the outspokensay it was illegal.” Washingtonpulled out of the 2015 nucleardeal between Iran and six worldpowers in May and is reimpos-ing punishing sanctions on thecountry, hoping to pressureTehran into what Trump callsa “better deal”. AFP

Islamabad: Pakistan is ready toshare details of the debt relatedto the China-Pakistan EconomicCorridor (CPEC) with the IMF,Finance Minister Asad Umarhas said while rejecting the US’view that China-funded projectswere to blame for the cash-strapped country’s current eco-nomic woes.

Speaking to the media hereon his return from Indonesiawhere he requestedInternational Monetary Fund’sManaging Director ChristineLagarde for a bailout package forPakistan, Umar said the deci-sion to approach the globallender was taken after consul-tations with friendly countries.

The IMF team, Umar said,was scheduled to arrive inPakistan on November 7 to

negotiate the programme, like-ly to span over a three-yearperiod. He said Pakistan’s cur-rent year debt repayments wereabout $9 billion but obviouslyit would not entirely be avail-able from the IMF.

Lagarde has made it clearthat the IMF would requireabsolute transparency onPakistan’s debts, includingthose owned by China underthe $50 billion CPEC.

Umar, however, rejectedthe US State Department’s state-ment, suggesting that the debtaccrued on the CPEC projectswas to blame for Pakistan’scurrent economic crisis. TheCPEC is a network of infra-structure projects that are cur-rently under constructionthroughout Pakistan that will

connect China’s Xinjiangprovince with Gwadar port inPakistan’s Balochistan province.It is the part of ChinesePresident Xi Jinping’s ambitiousBelt and Road initiative.

The US said the hugeChinese debt was responsiblefor the economic challenges inPakistan, adding it will reviewIslamabad’s bailout plea to theIMF from all angles, includingthe country’s debt position.

“We understand thatPakistan has formally request-ed assistance from the IMF. In

all cases, we examine that close-ly from all angles of it, includ-ing Pakistan’s debt position, inevaluating any type of loanprogramme,” State Departmentspokesperson Heather Nauerthad said, adding this is some-thing the US has been trackingfairly closely. Responding to aquestion, Nauert said; “Thesecretary (of state MikePompeo) had spoken aboutthis a few months back, I know,in some interviews not that longago. I think part of the reasonthat Pakistan found itself in thissituation is Chinese debt, andthe fact that there is debt thatgovernments have incurred thatthey maybe thought wouldn’t beso tough to bail themselves outof, but has become increasing-ly tough.” PTI

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President Donald Trump hassaid he wants people with

merit to enter the United States,a move that can help technol-ogy professionals from coun-tries such as India. “I’m verytough at the borders. We’vebeen very tough at the borders.People have to come into ourcountry legally, not illegally.Legally. And I want them tocome in on merit,” Trump toldreporters at the White House.

Responding to a series ofquestion on illegal immigra-tion, the president reiteratedthat he wants people based onmerit, a move that can helptechnology professionals fromcountries such as India.

“What I want is merit. I

want a lot of people to come in.We have great car companiesentering our country again.This hasn’t happened for 35years. We have companies likeFoxconn going to Wisconsinwith a massive, massive plant,”he said.

“We need people comingin, but we want them to comein on merit. We want peoplethat are going to help us. It’svery important,” Trump said.Observing that immigration isnot tricky to him, he insistedthat the administration and theCongress have to do the rightthing whether there’s an elec-tion or not.

He opposed the chainmigration policy and said, “Ifthat’s a bad policy, then guesswhat, a lot of bad things are

going to happen. But a lot ofpeople agree with me. I wouldsay a vast majority of our coun-try agrees. They don’t wantcriminals coming into ourcountry. They don’t want peo-ple that they don’t want in the

country that aren’t going to helpus as a country. They don’t wantthese people coming in. So wehave a very strong policy.”

“The one thing that reallyhas changed over the last cou-ple of years since I’ve beenPresident — our country isdoing so well, even with realinterest — not with false inter-est rates. Zero interest.Anybody can do well withzero interest. We’re the hottestcountry in the world, eco-nomically, by far. You take alook at us compared to China,compared to everybody else,we’re the hottest country in theworld. A lot of people are try-ing to come in. Our bordersecurity, our ICE, our lawenforcement is doing anincredible job,” he said.

London: Britain and the US areconsidering boycotting a majorinternational conference in SaudiArabia after the disappearance ofSaudi journalist JamalKhashoggi, the BBC reported onSunday. Khashoggi, a critic of the Saudi Government,vanished on October 2 after vis-iting its consulate in Istanbul,triggering tensions betweenRiyadh and Ankara.

The authorities in Istanbulbelieve he was murdered there bySaudi agents. Saudi Arabia hasrejected the allegations as “lies”.Several sponsors and mediagroups have decided to pull outof this month’s investment con-ference in Riyadh, dubbed Davosin the Desert, as a result of con-cerns over Khashoggi’s fate.

Diplomatic sources saidboth US Treasury SecretarySteve Mnuchin and UKInternational Trade SecretaryLiam Fox might not attend theevent, being hosted by the king-dom’s Crown Prince Mohamedbin Salman to promote hisreform agenda. IANS

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Given a choice between giv-ing birth on land or sea ice,

Pacific walrus mothers mostoften choose ice.

Likewise, they prefer seaice for molting, mating, nurs-ing and resting between divesfor food. Trouble is, as the cen-tury progresses, there’s going to

be far less ice around.How well walruses cope

with less sea ice is at the heartof a legal fight over whetherwalruses should be listed as athreatened species, giving theman added protection againsthuman encroachments.

The federal governmentin 2008 listed polar bears as athreatened species because of

diminished sea ice brought onby climate warming. That yearthe Center for BiologicalDiversity petitioned to do thesame for walruses.

However, the U.S. Fish andWildlife Service concluded inOctober 2017 that walrusesare adapting and no one hasproven that they “need” sea ice.

“It is unknown whetherPacific walruses can give birth,conduct their nursing duringimmediate post-natal care peri-od, or complete courtship onland,” said Justice Departmentlawyers in defending the deci-sion.

A federal judge in Alaskawill hear the center’s lawsuitchallenging the government’sdecision not to list the walrusas threatened. There is nocourt date set for the lawsuit.

Pacific walrus males grow

to 12 feet (3.7 meters) long andup to 4,000 pounds (1,815kilograms) — more than anaverage midsize sedan. Femalesreach half that weight. Walrusesdive and use sensitive whiskersto find clams and snails in dimlight on the sea floor.

Historically hunted forivory tusks, meat and blubber,walruses since 1972 have beenshielded by the MarineMammal Protection Act. OnlyAlaska Native subsistencehunters may legally kill them.

An Endangered SpeciesAct listing would require theU.S. Fish and Wildlife Serviceto designate critical habitat forwalruses and plan for theirrecovery. Federal agencies,before issuing permits fordevelopment such as offshoredrilling, would be required toensure walruses and their habi-

tat would not be jeopardized.Inaccessibility protected

walruses for decades, but arapid decline in summer sea icehas made them vulnerable.

In the Chukchi Seabetween Alaska and Russia,where Pacific walrus femalesand juveniles spend their sum-mer, ice could be absent duringthat season by 2060 or sooner,according to the Fish andWildlife Service.

Since 1981, an area morethan double the size of Texas —610,000 square miles (1.58 mil-lion square kilometers) — hasbecome unavailable to Arcticmarine mammals by summer’send, according to the NationalSnow and Ice Data Center.

By late August, as sea icerecedes beyond the shallowcontinental shelf, female wal-ruses and their calves face a

choice: Stay on ice over watertoo deep to reach the oceanfloor for feeding — or comeashore for rest periods, wherethe smallest animals can becrushed in stampedes triggeredby a hunter, airplane or bear.

More open water alreadyhas meant more ship traffic.Walruses also could find morehumans in their habitat with areversal of U.S. policy on Arctic

offshore drilling. FormerPresident Barack Obama per-manently withdrew mostArctic waters from lease sales,but President Donald Trump inApril 2017 announced he wasreversing Obama, a decisionbeing challenged in court. Theadministration’s proposed five-year offshore leasing planincludes sales in the ChukchiSea.

Karachi: An auto rickshaw dri-ver got the scare of his life whenhe received a call from Pakistan’stop investigation agency whichsought an explanation fromhim about a whopping Rs 300crore worth of transactionsmade to his account. The driver,identified as MuhammadRasheed, who lives in Karachicame to know about the hugetransactions in his account whenthe Federal Investigating Agency (FIA) summoned himfor an explanation.

“I got a call from the FIAoffice and they told me toshow up for questioning. I wasso scared as I didn’t know whathad happened,” Rasheed said.“When I went to the FIA officethey showed me the record ofmy bank account,” he said.

“The FIA officials told methat transactions of some 300crore rupees were made throughmy salary bank account whichI had opened back in 2005 whenI was working for a private com-pany as a driver,” Rasheed said.Rasheed said he had quit job justafter a month to start his ownwork. “Three hundred crorerupees is a dream. I have nevereven seen Rs 1 lakh in my life,”he lamented. PTI

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How do you preserve thememory of home? By

reconstructing the sights ofchildhood in varying gradi-ents, like a child would sort outa messed up up jig-saw puzzle,or probably by recalling yourold toys and and clothes thatyou’ve outgrown physicallybut still adore.

Internationally-acclaimeddesigner Rahul Mishra’s collec-tion on the third day of theLotus Make-up India FashionWeek looked back in time.

“My true motivation wasmy home and childhoodwhich in turn was inspired bymy three-year-old daughter,”said Mishra. Opening thefloodgates of memory, his col-lection, titled, Gossamer,brought back the “1980s incolour” and was aimed at“exploring an intimate rela-tionship with the things of my

childhood — the chequeredwhite and blue lungis that theweavers wore, my grandmoth-er’s Maheshwari sarees, the pil-low covers, the white curtainsand the table cloth with Darazwork, a craft that is dying now.”

There were long shrugsand jackets in Maheshwarisilks that had Madras checkspattern, which used to bepopular in the 80s and the 90s.The waist and knee-length

blazers with floral and leafmotifs gave the garments avibe of spring. The jackets, ifstyled with either a denim oreven a skirt, would look equal-ly gracious. There were longskirts and one-strap longdresses with striped patterns.Precisely, Mishra’s collectionset an example of wearableand very sustainable fashion,that is light-weighted, much-loved and instantly worthfalling for.

He points towards one hisdesigns worn by a modelwith its special element beingthat “it has only four stitch-es so as to make the wholegarment wrap around thebody in such a way that itlooks both like a dress as wellas a jacket to be worn over adress.” Well, there’s yet anoth-er element in the garmentthat will make one applaud thedesigner’s creativity instantly— that it is made from onecloth without any cuts orwastage. The chequereddesign pattern indeed makesone go back to the weaverswho wore such lungis withblue checks and whitestripes.

“Gossamer is also thevery thin thread that spi-

ders produce to make theirwebs. I have perceived them asthe threads of memorythrough which we weave thiscollection,” said Mishra, aboutthe significance of the title ofhis collection.

As he talked about the fab-rics, he said, “Taking the craftof Chikankari and Daraz, Iwanted to elevate them toluxury fashion. Because mem-ory is a luxury, after all.”

He applauded the crafts-manship, “The Maheshwaritextiles in the collection withtheir blue and white checks arean ode to the memory of a vil-lage, from where around 75per cent of the weavers come.The work gives them a chanceto improve their lot’s conditionas well. And, it makes me growas a designer working withthem. The fine cotton was

woven in West Bengal. Thetextile creation very much

relates to the collection’stheme — memory and

relation.”Mishra recently

also presented awide range of col-

lection made offabrics likeC h a n d e r i s ,

Banarasis andMaheshwaris athis debut at theParis Fashion

Week.'����1�'���$�4!"��

Ace choreographer Prabhudeva directedVashmalle, a fun dance number for Thugs

Of Hindostan that will see the duo dance theirheart out after getting drunk. The film will seeof the biggest icons of Hindi cinema AmitabhBachchan and Aamir Khan for the first timeon big screen. They’ve even danced togetherin the film.

Vijay Krishna Acharya, director of Thugsof Hindostan says, “It is amazing that we couldwrite a suitable moment in the film that seesthese two icons of Indian cinema shake a legwith each other and the song will stand outbecause of their infectious energy and cama-raderie. The sequence will show them gettingdrunk during the celebrations and thenbreaking out to dance on this high energynumber. It is a priceless moment.”

Sukhwinder Singh and Vishal Dadlanihave sung this number while celebrated lyri-cist Amitabh Bhattacharya has penned thelyrics. Ace music composers Ajay-Atul havecreated this track.

The film is releasing this Diwali.

The fan following of veteran legendslike Raj Kapoor, Nargis Hema

Malini and Mithun among the Russianpublic was as massive as India, if notmore. On the other hand, throughbooks and Russian classical films,there’s a lot that even India has learntand admired about the Russian filmindustry. The ties between the thenUSSR and India have been linkedclosely to the cultural exchange betweenthe two nations for years.

Exchanges like these continue tomerge various cultural habits of both thecountries even today. Initiatives likeRussian Film Days, by the RussianFederation bring a range of Russian clas-sics and contemporary films to revitalisethe relations and strength-en linkages between thetwo nations.

As the fourth editionof the film festival beginin three major cities —Delhi, Mumbai and Pune— Russian actresses andRussian Ambassador toIndia inaugurated thethree-day festival onFriday at the RussianFederation Centre. Hesaid, “Generations ofRussians have experi-enced emotions throughRaj Kapoor’s films.” Thefirst day saw the worldpremiere of the Russianfilm The Last Trial, star-ring Anna Churina, AlisaGrebenshchikova, amongothers, who were also present at theinauguration. Among the others at theevent were Galina Lemesheva, generalproducer of Russian Film Days inIndia, TV presenter, editor-in-chief ofThe Hollywood Reporter, Russian edi-tion, actress Valentina Mazunina, ArtemTkachenko, and Vladimir Poluektov,press secretary.

Lemesheva highlighted the impor-tance of the festival, saying that it isimportant for a better understandingbetween two nations and their cultures.She said, “People’s knowledge of theRussian culture might only be based onbooks and old classical films. But whatis currently happening in Russia canonly be found in contemporary movies.”

As the festival showcasesaround seven Russian films,the question arises that on

what criteria are these chosen? There arethree broad ideas. “The film The LastTrial is one of the highest grosser at thebox office and that’s why it was chosen.The second basis is new idea and exper-imental. Gogol, the film was originallyshot as a serial but the producersdecided to first make it as a film and andthen bring it as a TV series. The thirdis the variation, where we want to bringa variety of movies and hence, we bringdifferent genres like animation, come-dy, war, blockbusters.” She said that theyare trying to bring out the newest andthe best movies, for example, the filmThe Last Warrior.

While the current Indian filmindustry has been high on realism andare more inclined towards sports films,or biopics these days, the Russian filmsveer towards patriotism. “For example,the film, Spaceworkers, shows one bigcountry where two heroes work for thenation and a woman who saves all thehostages,” she said

She believed that the Russian filmindustry has evolved to a great extentover the years as compared. “After thefall of the Soviet Union, we have had ahuge gap in the progress. In Russia, wemostly shot commercial movies whichwere not produced with very good qual-

ity, but now the landscapehas changed. Now, for thepast seven-10 years, wehave been trying to screenour films at every place inthe world because they areworth showing and are ofgood quality like theRussian classics. Now weare using our knowledgeof the past to headtowards a better future.

Russians have alwaysadmired Indian actorsand Anna Churina told usthat one of her favouritesis actor Shah Rukh Khan.

Representing his filmGogol, which was muchloved in Russia, ArtemTkachenko said that it

was not his first visit to Indiaand that he “loved coming here, its cul-ture and wants to keep coming back tothe country.”

Highlighting the significance of thefilm festival, he said that the festivalenables them to come to India withouthaving any political tensions where theydo not have to answer any serious ques-tions. Here “we just have to answerabout the characters we play in our filmsand about how the character hasevolved.”

Among the films that will be shownare among a wide range of genres — asports drama, Ice, cosmic drama,Spacewalkers, cinema series, Gogol:The Beginning, comedy, Well, HelloThere Oksana Sokolova, fairytale, TheLast Warrior and animation series,Sheep and Wolves.

(The festival ends today.)

Rights, for centuries hasbeen nothing more thanan empty word for the

LGBTQ+ community. Theyhave been denied basic rightslike Right to Dignity, PersonalLiberty, Health, Education, andeven the Freedom of Expression.The Keshav Suri Foundationwhich aims to work towards theupliftment of the marginalisedLGBTQ+ community, is a stepin that direction.

While the Supreme Court’shistoric verdict might havedecriminalised homosexualityand paved the way for same-sexcouples to legally cohabit andconduct their personal affairswithout fear of persecution butit did not automatically translateinto a seamless transition toequality for the lesbian gaybisexual transgender queer(LBGTQ) community. For whileit has opened the doors for sev-eral changes to be introduced tomarriage, medical, adoption andinheritance laws for same-sexcouples but legal experts saysthat even though the judgementwas historic, same-sex couplesstill have an uphill task ahead ofthem. The verdict is indicative ofconsequential revolutionarychanges, but these don’t followautomatically. The governmentnow needs to act on this andframe laws to allow same-sexmarriages or adoption byLBGTQ couples.

Advocate Neeha Nagpal,who is a practicing lawyer at theSupreme Court for over 10years, says, “Although the onusis on the government to formu-late legislation permittingLGBTQ couples to marry, adoptand inherit their spouse’s prop-erty, this verdict lays down thelegal basis for the formulation ofsuch legislation. At the sametime, individuals who face dis-crimination because of theirsexual orientation can nowcount on the Judiciary.” The fact that we can be proud ofthe country today, is because ofthe Supreme Court’s verdict

which has finally put an end toall the worthless conversations.Now is the time to have a con-versation about how to moveforward, become more inclusiveand equal because one thing isto change the law and the otheris to change what’s in people’smind. Advocate Saurabh Kripal says,“Once this judgement stands thetest of time and people accept thehomosexual relationships, Ithink it’ll become a new normaland once it becomes normalthen we can ask for somethinga bit more abnormal which willthen again become a normal.Don’t push the pace of changebecause everyone knows slowand steady always wins the race.I think there’s a inherent humandesire to push as much they pos-sibly can but remember wemust distinguish between thepolitical space and the judicialspace. We need to give time inorder to get what we desire.” “I strongly feel employment andmedical are the major issuewhich we have to fight for. Ifyour partner falls ill and youaren’t married you might not beable to take a combined medicalpolicy. For this you need to havea positive action which willhappen but will take time.Nevertheless you need extrarights to bring everyone up,equal and in power. The onlysolution is to go back to court,and I think the court is ready toface it. The court has laid downthe judgement which is a verybroad in framework. Now it willthink beyond 377,” adds he.

Keshav Suri, executive direc-tor of The Lalit Suri HospitalityGroup, who launched the foun-dation is excited about theendeavour and he says, “We areglad that Section 377 has beenread down. However, we havemerely scratched the surface.Building on the success of the ItGets Better campaign, theKeshav Suri Foundation willillustrate how it can get improvein the Indian context. The foun-

dation aims to provide employ-able skills to the community andsensitise organisations on incor-porating more diverse and inclu-sive practices. The idea at thefoundation is to give individualattention to all members. Eachstory is different and every per-son has baggage. Counsellorswill evaluate each individual,basis of their story. They willthen be helped to achieve a skillset best suited to their person-ality in order to earn a livelihoodand lead a life of dignity. Rolemodels from the LGBTQ+ com-munity will also interact withmembers. This is being plannedto help lift the self-esteem andmorale of all. These efforts areall centred around one goal —usher the community into main-stream society by putting an endof discrimination.”

The motto of the foundationis to embrace, empower, andmainstream the community. It isbuilding a discrimination freeplatform, enabling communitymembers to share their storiesand stigmas - physical, emotion-al or mental.

Alex Mathew, better knownas Maya the drag queen whoouted himself as a gay man inOctober 2014 says, “Things gotbetter after I met Keshav Suri,who has changed my life com-pletely. Because of him, I’m nowcurrently working as a PR andmarketing executive at The Lalit

Ashok Bangalore. Laxmi Narayan Tripathi, a trans-gender rights activist, facedmany difficulties and challengesin life. But things improved forher when she had the guts to say‘NO’ to the abusive behaviour ofpeople towards her and whenshe found her husband in AnjaliGopalan. Laxmi says, “Anjali hastaught me to speak my mind. Iwas like an animal in a cagewhere trans community mem-ber said, ‘Oh she’s divine’ butnormal people treated me like apiece of waste. The day I got toknow the reason of their hatredtowards me, people loved me somuch that they hated me. It gotbetter when I was exposed to thisdifferent world (LGBTQ com-munity). When there were wasa controversy about me being abad woman, I said good girls goto heaven whereas bad girls goeverywhere. I have the power togo everywhere.” Satyashri Sharmila who hailsfrom Ramanathapuram districtin Tamil Nadu is India’s firsttransgender woman to enroll asa lawyer in the TN bar council.She says that, “Change is the onlyconstant and it begins fromhome. The family must startaccepting their child for whothey are. When you have supportfrom your parents and your fam-ily you can fight all the battles.I’m so glad that Keshav has hismother by his side all the timesupporting him and he’s soblessed to have a mother like her.If I had someone like her, trustme, my journey would havebeen so much easier. Family isthe first frontier.”In response, Jyotsna Suri, chair-person and managing director ofBharat Hotels Limited andmother of Keshav says, “Its theprimary point. Unless parentsdon’t support their children, weare not going to make a change.It’s not the politicians, not eventhe judiciary, it is we the peopleof India who have to make thatdifference. Judiciary has done it’spart by decriminalising. Wehave to begin from home.”

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Bhagavad Gita — the song of spirit or the divine song is one of thegreatest contributions India has made to the world, and is ranked

as one of the greatest repository of wisdom since ages. For centuriespeople have been daily reading and teaching the message of the Gitawith great devotion and it has been the guiding post for many seek-ers of truth who wish to know in detail about the existence of soul,god and karma. There have been numerous interpretations, commen-taries and expositions on the verses of the Gita. Still most people seeit in a literal sense, because they believe that the conquest of evil wasachieved by a bloody war between two armies and the good men wonbecause they were fighting for dharma or righteousness and becauseGod was supporting them. However, there are clear references in theGita towards another kind of war. There are numerous verses pertain-ing to the subtle war against vices such as lust, anger, greed, attach-ment etc.

In the Gita, God tells Arjuna that by means of this war gates ofheaven will open and that if anyone dies fighting this war he will goto the heaven. It is further clarified in the Gita as to who is entitled togo to heaven. When the righteousness in man gets to the highest lim-its of perfection, it is only thenthat man attains the highest andpurest heaven. Hence, the war issymbolic of the spiritual endeav-our to conquer all vices and makeoneself pure. It is further said thatin this war within the humanmind, one must conquer lust andanger. Violence is born fromanger so how can God promoteviolence on one hand and exhortus to conquer anger? Even theword warrior refers to a personwho battles the vices or Maya withthe weapons of spiritual knowl-edge and yoga. A yogi is the onewho stabilises his mind on Godand conquers all forms of Maya orvices. Such a person is brave,courageous and a powerful soul.His power comes not from any martial skills of warfare but spiritualknowledge and true love for God. So then why does the Gita put somuch emphasis on violence and war? The word war implies strongaction and decisiveness. Human souls are sleeping in a deep slumberof spiritual ignorance and even though they are living in subjugationof vices, they continue to be indolent and carry on their passive exis-tence. Thus, when we realise that we are in a battlefield and are at war,we cannot be apathetic and careless in our thoughts, decisions andactions and we cannot go on ignorantly indulging in vices, because ina battlefield one has to be constantly attentive, alert and active. A war-rior has to be skillful, agile and intelligent. He cannot afford to makemistakes or be sluggish. In a war there are only two responses — fightor flight. Hence, the realisation that vices are the soul’s enemies andhave to be conquered will bring out the qualities of courage and willgive power to fight this war within our mind. However, there are manywho choose to take flight or to escape from vices by renouncing activelife and worldly duties. They believe that is the only way to free thesoul from the vicious grip of lust, greed and attachment. But the Gitaespouses the path of karmayoga — which entails living in the worldand yet transcending its vices. Hence, by practising true spiritual knowl-edge, being in yoga with the Supreme and by imbibing divine virtues,a karmayogi is able to manifest the highest level of perfection and gainvictory over all vices. Moreover, such a spiritual endeavour happenson a war-footing at a time when the forces of evil and chaos are at theirpeak in the world i.e. at the end of Kaliyuga. Hence the war againstvices is described as the great war of Mahabharata. It is at this timethat Supreme being Himself is awakening humans from their deep igno-rance and empowering them through knowledge and yoga to gain vic-tory over vicious tendencies. In this way He is preparing humans toopen the gates of heaven.

(The writer is a spiritual educator.)

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At a time when India hasmanaged to increase its for-est cover to over 20 per cent

of its geographical area, foresthealth continues to show signs ofstrain. Regeneration is either inad-equate or absent in about 45 percent of all forest area and about 95per cent of all forest plots invento-ried show some signs of degrada-tion, according to the report,“Strengthening Forest FireManagement in India”, jointly pre-pared by the Ministry ofEnvironment, Forest, and ClimateChange (MoEFCC) and the WorldBank. The report discusses policieson forest fire prevention and man-agement (FFPM) at the national,state and local levels. It providesrecommendations on five broadthemes – policy, institutions andcapacity, community engagement,technology, and data and informa-tion and looks at national andinternational best practices inFFPM.

According to the FifthAssessment Report of theIntergovernmental Panel onClimate Change, the annual carbonemissions from forest fires global-ly range between 2.5 billion to 4.0billion tons of CO2, adding largevolumes of greenhouse gases to theatmosphere.

The report was released by Dr.Harsh Vardhan, Minister ofEnvironment, Forest and ClimateChange. “Forest fire managementis part of our long-term vision forsustainable forest management. Itis also crucial for sustainingprogress towards our global pledgeof creating additional sinks of 2.5billion to 3 billion tons worth ofCO2 stored in its forests by 2030,”

he said. “The new study will pro-vide critical inputs for the prepa-ration of Government of India’sNational Action Plan on Forest FirePrevention and Management,” headded. Just 20 districts (mostlylocated in the Northeast) accountsfor over 40 per cent of all forest firesdetected between 2003 and 2016.Similarly, the top-20 districts(mainly in Central India) accountfor about 48 per cent of the totalfire-affected area, while havingjust 12 per cent of the country’s for-est cover in the year 2000 and 7 percent of its land area.

“Forest fires are a challengeacross many countries. They leadto the loss of lives and livelihoodsfor people directly dependent onforest produce. This report discuss-es policies on forest fire preventionand management and underscoresthe need for better fire preventionpractices and a well-equipped andtrained workforce to fight fires,”said Junaid Ahmad, World BankCountry Director in India. “We aredelighted to have this opportuni-ty to work with the MoEFCC onthis important agenda, and tocontribute towards informing itsNational Action Plan on Forest Fire

Prevention and Management inIndia.”

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Today many states in India aretrying out innovative solutions forfire prevention and management.Madhya Pradesh was the first stateto develop an SMS-based system toalert field staff about active forestfires in their area. Odisha has pio-neered the use of fire suppressionequipment and states likeMizoram, Tripura and MP haveeffectively involved the communi-ty in preventing forest fires. Statescan learn from each other’s expe-riences to make these systemsmore effective. “We recommendthat a formal mechanism forknowledge sharing between statesshould be established so that states

can learn from each other,” noteUrvashi Narain, lead economist,and Pyush Dogra, senior environ-mental specialist, World Bank,and lead authors of the report.

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While India has made greatstrides in the use of technology fordetecting forest fires, there is stilla need to strengthen fire preven-tion practices and to build a well-equipped and trained workforce tofight fires. Investments in moderntechnologies for fire detection,investing in adequate fire sup-pression and safety equipment,while at the same time working tobuild capacity across the rank offorest officers and improvingaccountability will help the forestdepartment deliver on this man-date, the report says. Rather thanprescribing specific fire-suppres-sion tools to be used in all states,states be encouraged to experi-ment, and best practices be scaledup, where appropriate. There is alsoan urgent need to fill vacancies forfield staff, particularly in fire-prone areas, and to make adequateand reliable funding available, the

report adds.

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Recognizing the fact that peo-ple will continue to use forest fire,and that some fire is desirable,engaging with the communitiesthat depend on forests and involv-ing them in the decision-makingprocess is therefore vital, as isimproving coordination with theother agencies that are involved inmanaging forests and respondingto forest fires, such as disaster man-agement agencies, the report says.It also suggests that the NationalFFPM Action Plan should delin-eate the roles and responsibilitiesof the MoEFCC, state forest depart-ments, communities, and disasteragencies.

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Lastly, there is a need to sup-port forest fire managementthrough improved data, andresearch to fill critical knowledgegaps. A national forest fire infor-mation database, bringing togeth-er satellite-based remote sensingdata, and field-reported data, willbe instrumental for assessinglonger-term trends across statesand regions and for planning fireprevention and response. Also,defining a national research agen-da for fire management and pro-vision of funding opportunities forscientific research would help toestablish formal cooperationbetween members of the researchcommunity and the forest depart-ment.

India has the third-largest higher education-al system in the world. In 2016, there were799 universities and 39,071 colleges spreadacross the country. The growth of highereducation in India over a little more than halfa century has been even more staggering.Between 1950 and 2014, the number of uni-versities in India increased by 34 times. This quantitative explosion in higher edu-cation institutions has not been matched bythe quality of the education they provide. Tobecome such a leader, India needs to devel-op a world class higher education system.

Two years ago, the Narendra Modiadministration attempted to put some focuson quality in higher education with its intro-duction of draft regulations for a new ini-tiative called the UGC (Declaration ofGovernment Educational Institutions asWorld Class Institutions) Guidelines, 2016.By 2018, when the first six institutions werenamed under this initiative, they were des-ignated as Institutions of Eminence asopposed to world class institutions. This isto elevate the status of these institutions. Butenhancing the capacity of a few institutions,thus possibly enabling them to be rated a lit-tle higher in the world rankings of highereducation institutions, does nothing for themany.

That’s not to say that India does not needworld class institutions of higher education.India needs a world class higher educationsystem. It is one where the student is thefocus rather than the institution. It compris-

es certified and caring institutions thathave the resources required and the core mis-sion of ensuring that students/customersacquire the knowledge/skills/abilities and dis-positions that they need to achieve their indi-vidual goals and to maximise their contri-bution to society. The current system hasbeen almost exactly the opposite of that. Theemphasis has been on a few institutions andindividuals rather than embracing andaddressing the needs of the whole.

There are many steps that must be takento change this. They include:

- Increase public financing: The feder-

al and state governments currently providelimited funding for higher education. As aresult, over 70 per cent of the higher edu-cation institutions are operated by the pri-vate sector. These institutions are not wellregulated and are of highly variable quality.Public sector financing could be used to sup-port existing public institutions and toestablish new ones in regions in which thereare limited higher educational opportunities.

- Enhance the infrastructure: Collegesand universities throughout India haveinadequate physical settings, lack equipment,and suffer from a shortage of competent

teachers. Ensuring that each higher educa-tional institution is infrastructurally sound,establishes the proper environment forlearning and growth.

- Expand access to and participation inhigher education: The enrollment in high-er education is approximately 15 per cent ofthe eligible population. This needs to bemuch higher to be considered and tobecome a developed or developing country.It also needs to be representative of the entirepopulation.

- Enforce standards and requirementsappropriately: The announced replacementof the UGC with the Higher EducationCommission of India (HECI) created con-siderable debate. The essential questionregardless of whether there is an UGC orHECI, is the proper data being collected andused to monitor performance and ensureaccountability for each institution in thehigher education system?

- Place an emphasis on vocational edu-cation: The higher education system mustmeet the needs of potential employers andprospective employees. Currently, there is amismatch.

There are many other steps that must betaken, such as addressing politicians control-ling many educational institutions but theremust be only one mindset. That mindsetmust be that the country’s higher educationsystem must be restructured, redesigned, andrenewed to benefit all Indians.

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The "new" Novak Djokovicwarned that he was gunning forRafael Nadal's world number

one ranking after winning theShanghai Masters with a 6-3, 6-4 vic-tory over Borna Coric on Sunday.

The 14-time Grand Slam cham-pion has been imperious all week andbarely offered a sniff to the 19th-rankedCroatian, a good friend and sometime-training partner.

The end when it inevitably arrivedwas anti-climactic, with the Serb win-ning the championship point after avideo review.

Djokovic buried his head in hishand at the absurdity of it.

The 31-year-old will leapfrogRoger Federer into second in theworld when the rankings are releasedon Monday but will not stop there asthe season reaches its climax.

Spanish great Nadal, who was notin Shanghai or Beijing last weekbecause of a knee injury, will be just 215points ahead of Djokovic in the raceto finish as year-end number one.

"I could not ask for a better sce-nario," Djokovic, who last sat atop therankings two years ago, said of his latesurge to the summit of men's tennis.

"I am very close now to Nadal inthe rankings and put myself in a goodposition for the last period of the year."

Red-hot Djokovic has now beenvictorious in 18 ATP matches in a rowand in recent months wonWimbledon, the Cincinnati Masters,the US Open and now Shanghai for afourth time.

It is all a far cry from just fivemonths ago, when Djokovic fell to22nd in the world as he struggled fol-lowing elbow surgery in February.

He missed the second half of 2017with elbow and off-court issues, butsaid he had adapted his game since theoperation.

Djokovic, who has been particu-larly dominant on his serve, not drop-ping one service game in Shanghai,said: "I think you're seeing the newNovak.

"I don't need to describe him, that'sall I can say.

"I had to reinvent myself and find,you know, (a) proper formula for suc-cess.

"I found it and I'm just trying tohold on to it as long as I can."

Asked by AFP if he had a messagefor the under-pressure Nadal, theSerb smiled: "I will leave that up to yourcreative spirit of journalism."

The 32-year-old Nadal couldreturn from his latest injury for theParis Masters, which starts at the endof this month.

Djokovic said he could playVienna or Basel, the week before

Paris, in an effort to further rein in hisrankings rival.

����� ��(���&�The 21-year-old Coric said that he

had no complaints about losing to "oneof the best in the history of tennis".

In what was the biggest match ofhis life, he wore heavy strapping on onethigh and has been troubled by a stiffneck that saw him ponder pulling outbefore the tournament.

But he refused to blame those fordefeat to the man he considers some-thing of an idol.

"He was the much better player onthe court. I was playing good, really, Iwas really happy how I played," he said.

"I felt even if I was serving a littlebit better, he'd still return my serves,so there is nothing I can do."

Coric, the 13th seed, was chasingonly the third title of his career anddefeated top seed Federer in thesemi-finals to underline his richpromise.

He also dispensed of three-timeGrand Slam winner and Federer's fel-low Swiss Stan Wawrinka in his open-ing match.

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Second-seeded Caroline Garciawon her first tournament of the

year with a 7-6 (7), 6-3 win overtop-seeded Karolina Pliskova inthe Tianjin Open on Sunday.

It was the 16th-rankedGarcia's first title since she wonback-to-back trophies at theWuhan and Beijing tournamentsin Asia just over a year ago.

The Frenchwoman's two titlesat the end of last season earned hera spot into the year-end WTAFinals in Singapore. This year, thevictory in Tianjin is not enough toput Garcia into a second consec-utive year-end final appearance.

Pliskova's failure to take thetitle also kept her from confirm-ing a berth in the WTA Finals.

Currently in eighth place inthe race to Singapore, the Czechwill have to wait out the resultsfrom next week's tournaments inLuxembourg and Moscow to seeif she qualifies for one of the threeremaining spots. Pliskova is sched-uled to play in Moscow.

American Sloane Stephens,Ukrainian Elena Svitolina andDutchwoman Kiki Bertens arethe other remaining contenders forSingapore.

Garcia was down 1-5 in thefirst set tiebreaker before sherebounded. She saved a set pointfor Pliskova at 5-6 to go on to winthe hour-long first set.

In the second set, Garciaraced to a 5-0 lead, and firstserved for the match at 5-1, buthad to wait for her victory to come

three games later. She secured thetitle with her sixth ace of thematch.

���"��$����$������� ������ ������ Ukrainian teenDayana Yastremska won her maid-en WTA title by upsetting sixth-seeded Wang Qiang of China 6-2,6-1 in 65 minutes at the HongKong Open on Sunday.

The 18-year-old was playingin her first career WTA final inonly her 11th career appearance inthe WTA tournament main draw.

Yastremska is the sixth teenag-er to advance to a WTA final in2018 and the second to win a title.Serbian teen Olga Danilovic wonthe Moscow River Cup earlier inthe year.

Prior to arriving in HongKong, Yastermska held a 3-10record in WTA-level matches thisseason. Her best previous resultwas reaching the 2017 Istanbulquarterfinals.

The victory, in which sheposted 33 winners to 21 unforcederrors, will move the 102nd-ranked Yastremska to a new careerhigh ranking in the top 80 whenthe next rankings are released onMonday.

Yastremska's win preventedthe 24th-ranked Wang from win-ning her third career title. Earlierthis fall she won the Nanchang andGuangzhou trophies.

Wang, who was playing in herfifth consecutive tour semifinal,will move up to a career-high No23 ranking despite failing to lift thetitle.

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Liverpool defender Virgil van Dijk led theNetherlands to a crushing 3-0 win over

Germany in the Nations League to ramp upthe pressure on German coach JoachimLoew.

A first-half header by Dutch skipper VanDijk gave the hosts the lead in Amsterdam.

With the German defence in disarray, lategoals from Memphis Depay and Liverpool'sGeorginio Wijnaldum sealed the win on agolden night for the Oranje at Amsterdam'sJohan Cruyff Arena on Saturday.

This is the first time the Dutch have beat-en Germany for 16 years and the compre-hensive defeat leaves Loew under increasingpressure to resign after 12 years in charge.

These are dark days for the Germans, stillreeling from their woeful World Cup displaywhen they crashed out early after finishingbottom of their group.

Defeat in Loew's 168th internationalmeans Germany are once again last — thistime bottom of Group One in the NationsLeague.

Van Dijk opened the scoring with a well-taken header after Ryan Babel had headedagainst the crossbar on 30 minutes.

Depay then compounded Germany'smisery by stroking home a pass fromQuincy Promes three minutes from time afterthe pair got in behind the defence.

Depay then hit the Germany crossbarmoments before Wijnaldum netted Holland'sthird goal just before the final whistle.

Germany now face world championsFrance in Paris on Tuesday and Loew can ill

afford another heavy defeat.Earlier Saturday, Munich-based news-

paper, the Sueddeutsche Zeitung, revealedthere is a release clause in Loew's contract,which runs until 2022, allowing either partyto end the agreement prematurely.

Loew had promised an improved per-formance from the Germans.

Yet again, his senior players let him downas the Bayern Munich axis of Manuel Neuer,Jerome Boateng, Mats Hummels and ThomasMueller struggled.

Loew pulled a surprise before kick-off bystarting Manchester City starlet Leroy Saneon the bench.

Schalke striker Mark Uth made his debutup front with RB Leipzig winger TimoWerner and Mueller on the flanks.

Loew opted for a 4-3-3 formation, just

like his opposite number Ronald Koemanwho started with Besiktas' Babel, Lyon'sDepay and Eindhoven striker StevenBergwijn up front.

Uth and Werner both forced chancesearly on to keep Jasper Cillessen, Holland'sBarcelona goalkeeper, busy.

The Dutch went ahead after 30 minuteswhen Babel out-jumped Germany midfielderJoshua Kimmich to the ball, headed onto thepost and Van Dijk pounced on the rebound.

Germany had their chances as Muellerand then his replacement Sane, who came onfor the last half an hour, both fired wide withthe goal at their mercy.

Having broken the German defence inthe final 10 minutes, Depay hit the net, thenthe crossbar before Wijnaldum swept in theirthird goal just before the final whistle.

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Lionel Messi "is not a leader," saidDiego Maradona of the current

Argentina talisman in an interview inMexico.

"It's useless to try and make a leaderout of someone who goes to the bath-room 20 times before a game,"Maradona said on Fox Sports.

"Before speaking to the coach andplayers he will be on the PlayStation.Then, on the field, he wants to be theleader," Maradona said as he answeredquestions in a stumbling voice, some-times seeming to contradict himself.

"He is the best in the world alongwith Cristiano [Ronaldo]," Maradonasaid. "But he's not a leader."

Maradona, who led Argentina tovictory in the 1986, said Messi, who wasagain unable to emulate that feat inRussia this summer was expected to be"the saviour of the fatherland."

"Let's stop making a god out ofMessi. Messi is Messi for Barcelona, butplaying in an Argentina shirt he isanother Messi."

Maradona, who is in Mexicocoaching second-division Sinaloa, saidthat if he was Argentina coach he would"not call on Messi" before adding"never say never."

"You have to take the leadershipaway for him to be the Messi we wanthim to be," Maradona said.

Messi, who is 31, has not played forArgentina in three low-key friendliessince a 4-3 loss to eventual championsFrance in the first knock-out round atthe World Cup, but has not officiallyretired from the national team.

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The Indian men's and women'steams advanced to the final of

hockey 5s competition in theYouth Olympics after registeringemphatic wins over their respec-tive opponents here.

India defeated hostsArgentina 3-1 in the men's semi-final match on Saturday while thewomen's team beat China 3-0 intheir last-four match.

The Indian menface Malaysia in thesummit clash whiletheir women counter-parts take on hostsArgentina in the final.

This is the first timeIndia is taking part in ahockey competition inthe Youth Olympics.The country did not feature in theearlier two editions.

Hockey 5s, the five-a-sideversion, is played on a pitchsmaller than the normal 11-play-er game and it was introduced in

the 2014 Singapore YouthOlympics.

In the men's semifi-nal match, SudeepChirmako (12th and 18th

minute) and Rahul KumarRajbhar (3th) scored for Indiawhile captain Facundo Zaratefound the target for Argentina.

India took the lead throughRahul Kumar but Argentina were

quick to equalise as they scoredthrough Facundo Zarate in the4th minute.

In the second period, Indiamaintained pressure and bene-fited from it as they took the leadin the 12th minute throughSudeep Chirmako who produceda fine finish to swing the matchin India's favour.

Indian attackers also created

chances and were successful againin the 18th minute as SudeepChirmako scored his second goalof the match to give a two-goaladvantage for his side.

In the women's semifinal,India outplayed their Chineseopponents with goals comingfrom Mumtaz Khan (1st minute),Reet (5th) and Lalremsiami(13th).

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Indian wrestler Simran settled for a Silver in women's freestyle 43 kg cat-egory competition after she lost to Emily Shilson of United States in the

final bout here.Simran, who had won a 40kg class Bronze in the 2017 Cadet World

Championships, lost 6-11 as theAmerican registered a 'victory by points'to clinch the Gold on Saturday night.

Simran conceded a 2-9 lead toShilson in the first period and that vir-tually sealed her fate.

The Indian produced a better showin the second period by scoring fourpoints as against two by his Americanopponent but that proved to be too lit-tle, too late to have any impact on theresult of the bout.

Shilson is the Gold medallist in 43kgin the 2018 Cadet World Championships.

This is India's fifth Silver along withthree Gold in the ongoing YouthOlympics. The medals won by shuttlerLakshya Sen (Gold), shooter ManuBhaker (Silver) and judoka Tababi Devi(Silver) in mixed team events are notcounted in the country's total medal tally as they had paired with athletesof other countries.

The other Indian in the wrestling competition, Mansi finished eighthafter losing her classification match to Imbabi Ahmed of Egypt who receiveda 'victory by fall' decision.

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Thierry Henry has "everything" needed tobecome a good manager, France coach

and former international teammate DidierDeschamps said of the newly-named Monacocoach.

"Thierry's ready," Deschamps told TF1."He has everything" to be a good coach.

"He's throwing himself into an exciting,exhilarating project where he'll have to takeresponsibility. It'll be up to him to take thereins."

Former Arsenal star Henry was namedMonaco coach on Saturday, his first job in clubmanagement after leaving his position withthe Belgian national team.

The 41-year-old French World Cup win-ner, who had been working as an assistant toBelgium coach Roberto Martinez since 2016,returns to the club where he began his pro-fessional career.

Henry, who has signed a contract withMonaco until June 2021, said it was "fate" thathe had returned to the Principality.

Henry replaces Leonardo Jardim, who in2017 guided Monaco to their first Ligue 1 titlesince 2000. He was sacked on Thursday aftera string of poor results left Monaco in the rel-egation places.

The former striker will be joined by JoaoCarlos Valado Tralhao, under-23 coach atBenfica, and Patrick Kwame Ampadu, coachat Arsenal's academy and father of Chelseaplayer Ethan Ampadu.

Henry graduated from Monaco's youthsystem and made his debut for the club in1994.

He notably scored seven goals in the 1997-98 Champions League as the Monaco teamof the time, then coached by Arsene Wenger,reached the semi-finals, where they lost toJuventus.

"It is with great pride that I am delight-ed to announce that I have accepted the posi-tion to become the manager of AS MonacoFC," he said on Twitter.

"I'm incredibly excited to be given thisopportunity but now the hard work mustbegin. Can't wait."

Deschamps, who captained the Franceteam featuring Henry that won the 1998World Cup and Euro 2000, also started hiscoaching career at Monaco, back in 2001.

"The first season was very complicated,"he said, wishing Henry "lots of courage andbig success".

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Aclinical India completed one of themost ruthless clean sweeps inrecent times, demolishing a listless

West Indies by 10 wickets in the secondTest, inside three days, to clinch the series2-0 on Sunday.

Umesh Yadav's maiden 10-wickethaul (6/88 and 4/45) on a decent trackwas the highlight as India reached themeagre victory target of 72 in 16.1overs, courtesy unbeaten partnershipbetween openers Prithvi Shaw (33) andKL Rahul (33).

While any Test series victory is wel-come, it hardly was an ideal preparationfor the big away-series against Australia,starting December 4 in Adelaide.

West Indies were back to their worstdespite showing signs of fight in the firstinnings as they couldn't last two full ses-sions and were bowled out for 127 in only46.1 in their second innings.

Out of the four innings in thisseries, West Indies couldn't cross the 200-run mark thrice which was a testimonyto their plight during the series.

For India, it was their 10th series winat home since their last defeat againstEngland way back in 2012.

Virat Kohli's side did an encore of2013 series which India won by an iden-tical margin in that year's most lopsidedcontest with Sachin Tendulkar's farewelltaking limelight.

The second innings started withYadav on split hat-trick but KraiggBrathwaite (0) survived one deliverybefore gliding one into Rishabh Pant'sgloves.

Kieran Powell (6) edged one offRavichandran Ashwin to Ajinkya Rahanein the slips.

Shai Hope (28) hit three delightfulboundaries off Umesh while ShimronHetmeyer (17) was trying to be moreassertive against spinners in their 39-runstand.

However, a rush of blood sawHetmeyer give Kuldeep Yadav the chargeonly to be caught by Cheteshwar Pujaraat point.

From 45 for 3, there was not muchresistance as Hope was snapped when heplayed a Ravindra Jadeja delivery for theturn to give Rahane his second catch.

West Indies' biggest hope RostonChase (6) got a sharp inswinger whileShane Dowrich (0) played on withUmesh getting his ninth wicket of thematch.

The wicket had its share of wear andtear but it wasn't a difficult track where

surviving would be an arduoustask. Yet, it was another instance oflack of application from the WestIndies batsmen with openerBrathwaite and young Hetmeyerplaying atrocious shots.

Jason Holder (19) and SunilAmbris (38) added 38 runs for theseventh wicket but once Holderedged one to Pant off Jadeja, anychances of match going to fourthday slowly disappeared.

However, West Indies hadstarted off well by dismissing Indiafor 367, keeping the first inningslead down to a mere 56 runs.

In the process, they deniedRishabh Pant (92) and AjinkyaRahane (80) from reaching theirhundreds.

In a space of 16.1 overs, Indialost five wickets for 25 runs tomove from a comfortable 314 for 4 to 339for 9 before Ravichandran Ashwin (35,83 balls) made a useful contribution.

West Indies captain Jason Holder

(5/56 in 23 overs) used the second newball to good effect as he completed hisfifth five-wicket haul in Test cricket.Shannon Gabriel after erratic perfor-

mance on Saturday came backwell to take 3/107 in 20.4 overs.

Holder first got one to rearup from back of length to shat-ter Rahane's dreams of a 10thTest hundred. The Indian vice-captain was caught at gully for80 off 183 balls to give the oppo-sition captain his third wicket.His innings had seven bound-aries.

Rahane-Pant duo added152 runs for the fifth wicket andonce the visitors got the break-through, the floodgates open.

Pant (92), who added sevenmore runs to his overnightscore, got a short ball fromShannon Gabriel, which hepushed at only to be caught byShimron Hetmeyer at coverpoint.

In two consecutive Tests, Pant hasbeen dismissed for identical scores of 92.This time he played 134 balls hitting 11boundaries and two sixes.

For the record, during the WestIndies second innings, the new SG Testball had to be changed twice inside 12overs.

On Saturday, Mohammed Siraj andHanuma Vihari were released to playVijay Hazare quarter-finals for theirrespective teams Hyderabad and Andhra.

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India captain Virat Kohli has no issues with the team'sbowlers but wants his batsmen to replicate their home

form when they travel to Australia next month.While the bowlers have done the job for India, both

home and away of late, batsmen have let the team downtime and again.

After hammering Windies, Kohli said the batsmenmust keep delivering to compliment the good work ofthe bowlers.

"I'm really happy to see these guys fit and hungry.It's up to the batsmen to do the rest of the job. I thinkthis game was tougher for the batsmen. This first inningswas more challenging than the last one (in Rajkot)," saidKohli at the post-match presentation.

Compared to Rajkot, the batsmen had it tougheragainst the West Indies pace attack comprising JasonHolder and Shanon Gabriel. India were put under a lit-tle bit of pressure in their first innings before RishabhPant and Ajinkya Rahane steadied the ship with a 152-run partnership.

"Jinx has been batting really well, he got runs inNottingham and we won the Test. He wanted runsunder the belt. His partnership with Pant is somethingwe want to see more of," said Kohli.

He was also all praise for Umesh Yadav, who becameonly the third Indian pacer to take 10 wickets in a Testat home. Ahead of the Australia series, he has given aselection headache to the team.

"If you look at the three new guys (Vihari inEngland, Shaw and Pant) who've come in, they'vegrabbed their opportunities. I think all these things area big positive. But from this Test I want to single outUmesh.

West Indies captain Jason Holder conceded that theembarrassing back-to-back three-day defeats againstIndia is "difficult to digest", considering pitches werebatsman-friendly.

"Honestly, it's hard to take it. I am trying to under-stand the reasons why it is happening. It's a case wherewe all need to put our heads together — the manage-ment, the selectors and the players. The onus must beon the players and we must be responsible for ouractions," said Holder.

Asked about the positives, the skipper termedRoston Chase and Sherman Lewis' performance.

"It's a tough series and we didn't play our best crick-et. We look back in the last two years and we have somegood results. India is No 1 team in the world and weexpected to be pushed by them. They're quality crick-et side, especially in their own backyard. We all saw somepositive performances from Roston Chase. I thoughtSherman was awesome."

He admitted that batting has been an issue for themfor quite some time now.

"You can look and honestly say we didn't put enoughruns on the board. Quite for some time now, we've beenrelatively inconsistent and that has really let us downin the recent past. We haven't been getting the runs we'vebeen looking for. We have heavily relied on middle andlower half which is not ideal. So we need to rectify atthe top. The guys in the top five have to put hands upand come to the party," he said.

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India coach Ravi Shastri saw in PrithviShaw's batting, glimpses of two of the

greatest batsmen of modern era and a non-conformist who redefined batsmanship.

An overwhelmed Shastri on Sunday, inone breath, mentioned the names of threelegends — Sachin Tendulkar, Brian Laraand Virender Sehwag — while trying todescribe the 18-year-old Shaw who accu-mulated big runs in his first brush with top-flight international cricket.

"He (Shaw) is born to play cricket. He'sbeen playing since the age of eight in themaidans of Mumbai. You can see all that hard-work showing. He's a spectator's delight. There'sa bit of Sachin there, a bit of Viru in him and whenhe walks - there's a bit of Lara as well," Shastri said.

"If he can keep his head on his shoulders andkeep the work ethic, he has a bright future."

Shastri was speaking after India completed a2-0 series sweep over the West Indies with a 10-wicket victory here.

Opener Shaw flayed the Caribbean attack dur-ing his 52-ball-70 on the second day of the sec-ond Test to give India a flying start, days after hit-ting a century on debut

Even skipper Virat Kohli gushed about the 18-year-old.

"The guy (has) grabbed his chance beautifully.He looks like someone who can get you off to akind of start you require. Making a mark in the

first series that you play, from that point of view,it is great to have a guy who is so fearless. And heis not reckless, he is very confident about hisgame," he said.

"You might feel that he will nick one now andthen but he hardly nicks the ball. That we saw inEngland as well. He was batting in the nets, real-ly attacking but was in control. But that kind ofrare control against new ball is a great thing tohave. Any of us weren't even 10 percent of whatwhen he is at 18 or 19," added the captain.

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Captain Gautam Gambhir smashed 104 off 72balls after left-arm pacer Kulwant Khejroliya

ran through the Haryana batting with a hat-trickto set-up a five-wicket win, sending Delhi into thesemifinals of the Vijay Hazare Trophy here onSunday.

Batting first, Haryana were all out for 229 withKhejroliya collecting six wickets for 31 runs in 10overs, his career-best performance in List A crick-et. Navdeep Saini, with figures of three for 39, wasa good foil for Khejroliya.

Birthday boy Gambhir then ensured histeam cantered with a whirlwind knock compris-ing 16 fours. In the end, Delhi got home with 64balls to spare and five wickets in hand. The othermajor contribution from the bat came from DhruvShorey (50 off 85).

Chasing 230, Umukt Chand (15) and Gambhirgave a good start, putting on 54 runs for first wick-et before the former was caught by C N Saini offArun Chaprana.

The skipper was at his furious best againstYuzuvendra Chahal, smashing him for three con-secutive boundaries in the 16th over.

Gambhir and Shorey then put together a 118-run partnership as Delhi cruised towards the tar-get.

After Gambhir was caught by Nitin Saini offRahul Tewatia, Nitish Rana (37 off 28) nearly fer-ried the team to victory post, before getting out.

Earlier, Chaitnaya Bishnoi top-scored forHaryana with 85 off 117 balls with six boundariesand two sixes, while Pramod Chandila struck 59off 88 balls with three boundaries and a six.

In the other quarterfinal, Mumbai sailed intothe semifinals after comprehensively beatingBihar by nine wickets.

Bihar were skittled out for 69 runs in 28.2 overswith Mumbai riding high on the back of TusharDeshpande's five-wicket haul.

He finished with figures of five for 23 in nineovers. Deshpande was ably supported by ShamsMulani who bagged three wickets after conced-ing 18 runs in 8.2 overs.

Opting to bat, Deshpande wreaked havoc byremoving the top three batsmen — VikramRanjan, Vijay Bharati and Babul Kumar — leav-ing Bihar struggling at 29 for three.

No Bihar batsmen reached double figures,except M D Rahmatullah (18) and Babul Kumar(16). Mumbai chased down a paltry 70-run tar-get in 12.3 overs as openers Akhil Herwadkar (24)and star India player Rohit Sharma (33 not out)shared a 53-run stand.

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Senior batsman Azhar Aliadmitted Pakistan will be

under pressure of expectations inthe second Test against Australiastarting in Abu Dhabi fromTuesday.

Pakistan dominated much ofthe first Test in Dubai but failedto get the last two wickets asAustralia finished at 362-8.

Set a daunting 462 runsAustralia's fightback was led byopener Usman Khawaja's 141,ably assisted by Travis Head (72)and skipper Tim Paine (61 notout).

"I can't say if the pressure willbe more on Pakistan or Australiabut we are the home side andobviously people expect us to winand so there is pressure," saidAzhar on Sunday.

"However, having said thatthese are favourable conditions forus and we have to make the mostof it.

"Pressure is always different inevery match and obviously this isa decider. Being the home teamwe have to win it and we will enterthe field thinking that. We willlook to play positive cricket andhopefully the result will go ourway."

Pakistan will be forced tomake a change after regular open-er Imam-ul-Haq fractured hisfinger in the first Test and wasruled out, opening an option tobring Azhar as opener.

The 33-year-old held theopening spot since the Oval Testin England in August 2016 andstruck a triple century against theWest Indies in Dubai and a dou-ble hundred against Australia inMelbourne — both in 2016.

He went to his customarynumber three position for the twoTests against Sri Lanka last yearand in last week's first Test againstAustralia.

Pakistan can also bring inlimited over specialist FakharZaman to play his first Test,despite a poor form in the AsiaCup scoring only 56 runs in fivematches with two ducks.

Azhar said he will do itagainst for his team.

"When playing for Pakistanone has to be ready for every-thing," said Azhar. "I have alwaysbelieved in that and whatever theteam management decides or thecaptain decides, I will be ready todo that." Azhar admitted Pakistanplayers were disappointed at notwinning the first Test.

"We are not disheartened but,yes, disappointed, obviously afterdominating the Test matchthroughout and then not winningit," said Azhar, a veteran of 66Tests.

"Unfortunately we couldn'twin but I think we also have togive credit to the Australians aswell as they showed resilience andkept fighting till the end." Azharsaid he remains focused despitenot in the best of form, managingonly 95 runs in the last four Tests.

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