per cent in their living stan-dards, followed by Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, and Maharashtra. Also, seven out of the top ten most-affected hotspot dis-tricts, including Chandrapur, Nagpur,

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Alatest World Bank reporthas sounded alarm bells

over the disastrous impact ofclimate change. It says by 2050,unchecked climate changecausing higher temperaturesand poor monsoon rainfallwould diminish the living stan-dards of the half of India’spopulation, particularly farm-ers in the Central belt.

Titled “South Asia’sHotspots: The Impact ofTemperature and PrecipitationChanges on Living Standards,”the report gives detailed analy-sis of future scenario of Indiaand notes that by 2050,

Chhattisgarh and MadhyaPradesh will be the top two cli-mate hotspot States in the coun-try.

They are likely to experi-ence a decline of more than 9

per cent in their living stan-dards, followed by Rajasthan,Uttar Pradesh, andMaharashtra.

Also, seven out of the topten most-affected hotspot dis-

tricts, including Chandrapur,Nagpur, Gondiya, Wardha,Yavatmal, will belong to theVidarbha region ofMaharashtra, as per the report.

This comes as grim news

for the country’s farmers whoare already facing severe agrar-ian and financial crisis. Thereport notes that almost half ofSouth Asia’s population, includ-

ing India, now lives in vulner-able areas and will suffer fromdeclining living standards thatcould be attributed to fallingagricultural yields, lower labour

productivity or related healthimpacts. Some of these areasare already less developed, suf-fer from poor connectivity andare water stressed.

��

Backing India on its securi-ty concerns with regard to

Pakistan, the United StatesAmbassador to the UnitedNations, Nikki Haley, onThursday said the Trumpadministration has firmly toldPakistan that it cannot tolerateits Government providing asafe haven to terrorists.

Speaking at an ObserverResearch Foundation event,Haley said neither India nor theUS can afford to turn a blindeye to the regimes that produce,harbour, and support terrorists,and in this context, the US istreating Pakistan differentlythan in the past.

Haley asserted thatWashington and New Delhimust become global leaders inthe fight against terrorism.

Noting that the US andIndia have experienced the

pain of terrorism, she saidboth the countries share acommitment of defeating ter-rorists and the hate ideologythat motivates them.

“We share an urgent inter-est in eliminating the terroristnetworks that threaten us, andto keep nuclear weapons out ofthe hands of terrorists andtheir sponsors.

Both our nations lost cit-izens in the horrific Mumbaiattack a decade ago. As fellowdemocracies, the United Statesand India must be global lead-ers in the fight against terror-ism,” Haley said.

She said though in manyinstances Pakistan had been apartner of the US, but it can-not tolerate the PakistaniGovernment, or any otherGovernment, giving a safehaven to terrorists.

“We won’t tolerate it. Weare communicating this mes-sage to Pakistan more strong-ly than in the past and we hopeto see changes,” the envoyadded. According to her, Indiaand the US have expandedtheir counter-terrorism coop-eration in the past decade butthere is still scope to do more.

��

Delhiites’ activism has forcedthe Centre to shelve plans

for felling of 16,000 trees for theredevelopment of sevenGovernment colonies, includ-ing for residential complex forbureaucrats. Faced with publicprotests, the Ministry ofHousing and Urban Affairs(HUA) on Thursdayannounced to redesign thesecolonies to avoid tree cutting.

The National BuildingsConstruction Corporation

(NBCC), which is executingthe project, has already floatedan Expression of Interest for theacquisition of tree re-locationequipment and for engagingservices of trained profession-al entities in this respect.Further citizens groups will beinvited to suggest where trans-planted trees will be planted.

Under pressure from dif-ferent quarters, HUA MinisterHardeep Singh Puri onThursday held a high-levelmeeting to discuss the issuesrelating to re-development of

these Government colonies.“The NBCC/CPWD willrework the design and plans forthe remaining redevelopment ofthe seven general pool residen-tial accommodation colonies toavoid felling of trees,” theMinistry said in a statement.

Officials said that it wasalso decided to plant morethan one million trees in dif-ferent parts of the Capital.

Of these, DelhiDevelopment Authority (DDA)will plant 10 lakh half growntree; NBCC 25,000; CPWD

50,000 and Delhi Metro 20,000trees.

These will not be saplingsbut trees of 8-12 feet height.The planting of trees will becompleted in the next threemonths during the monsoonseason and the trees will com-prise of fruit-bearing, floweringand other green trees,” theHUA Ministry said.

The colonies are SarojiniNagar, Nauroji Nagar, NetajiNagar, Mohammadpur,Kasturba Nagar, Srinivaspuriand Thyagraj Nagar.

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The State Government isnow considering to intro-

duce luxury trains for achiev-ing the high-end tourism in theState.

For this, a high-level meet-ing was held between StateGovernment and Railway

Board officials under thechairmanship of ChiefSecretary AP Padhi here onThursday. Railway BoardAdditional Member SanjivGarg presented updates onvarious aspects of the propos-al of introduction of luxurytrains.

Continued on page 4

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Even as locals’ stir against theIMFA’s apathy towards

peripheral developmententered the second day atTherubali on Thursday, mem-bers of three workers’ unionsand the Zilla Adibasi Sangha,apparently at the behest of themanagement, took out a rallyfrom the IMFA plant site andmarched to district Collector’soffice at Rayagada to submit amemorandum.

The rally was taken out tocounter the protesters led byJitu Jakasika, who, according tothe marchers, is not a residentof the Therubali area. IMFAWorkers’ Union members hadan argument with RayagadaSub-Collector Prabir Nayakwhile they wanted to give amemorandum to the Collectoren masse. Nayak said not all theworkers but their representa-tives numbering four to fiveshould meet the Collector.

Continued on page 4

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Rourkela sculptorMuktikanta Biswal who

reached Delhi on Wednesdayafter 70 days of walk and metUnion Tribal Affairs MinisterJual Oram was left ratherdejected as he felt the responsefrom Oram was not veryencouraging.

Muktikanta is now camp-ing at the Jagannath temple at

New Delhi and waiting to meetPrime Minister Narendra Modito remind him of his twopromises made during his visitto Rourkela.

He said that if he does notget appointment with thePrime Minister, he will stage aprotest.

Significantly, Biswal (29),who is an idol maker by pro-fession, took a challengingdecision to walk down from

Rourkela to New Delhi toremind PM of his promises tothe Rourkelites. Accordingly, hestarted his walk from Rourkelaon April 16 and after a jour-ney of 70 days on foot, hereached New Delhi on Tuesdayand met Union Tribal AffairsMinister and Sundargarh MPJual Oram at his residence onWednesday.

But Oram reportedly told

Biswal that he should nothave come to New Delhi asboth Brahmani bridge workand super specialty hospitalwork at Rourkela havealready started.

Oram further told thathim that he is Congresssponsored as Rahul Gandhi

is supporting him. Biswalreportedly told Oram to helphim to meet Prime Minister,but the latter told him thatarranging a meeting with thePrime Minister was not in hishand.

"The response I got fromMinister Oram is really verydepressing for me. I was notexpecting such answers fromhim. Continued on page 4

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Lakhs of devotees throngedPuri on Thursday to witness

the holy bath of Lord Jagannath,Lord Balabhadra and DeviSubhadra along with Sudarshanon the Snana Mandap (bathingpandal) of the Shreemandir onthe sacred occasion of DevaSnana Purnima on JyesthaPurnima day.

In the morning, the idolswere brought out from theRatna Bedi (inner sanctum ofthe temple) to the SnanaMandap by servitors in

Pahandi, a traditional proces-sion.

As per the rituals, the servi-tors bathed the deities with 108pitchers of aromatic water. Afterthe heavy bath, it was believedthat the deities suffered fromcold and fever.

The idols were then keptaway from public view for fif-teen days at the AnansaraGhara for treatment, for whichspecific rituals would be per-formed. This period of isolationis called Anasara, which meansimproper time for worship.

The devotees will not get darshan of the lords in the temple for a period of 15 days and all the daily rituals of the tem-

ple will remain suspended dur-ing the period.

On the 16th day, the idolsin their youthful forms will bemade ready for public view. Thefirst appearance of the deitiesafter the bathing festival iscalled Netrotsaba or NabaJaubana Darshan.

The temple administrationhas issued a set of guidelines forthe servitors to be followed dur-ing the festival. No unautho-rised person will be allowed totouch the deities while theservitors will not lean on thearms of the deities.

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Only 12,500 students havemade registration for

admission into BTech coursesin the Government and privateengineering courses for the2018-19 academic session inthe State.

Out of them, 11,400 can-didates have participated in thechoice-locking process. The

number showed a decline ofinterest among the students foradmission into engineeringcourses in Odisha.

Admission is to be held foras many as 42,784 seats ateight Government and 83 pri-vate engineering colleges thisyear.

After completion of theregistration process, most of theengineering seats are expectedto remain vacant.

Last year, 13,600 studentshad registered their name foradmission into engineeringcourses and around 12,000

candidates had participated inthe choice-locking process. Atotal of 8,152 seats were filledup after the admission held intwo phases in the 2017-18 aca-demic session.

While 670 seats werevacant in the State-run engi-neering colleges, only 4,600seats out of 39,000 seats in 83private engineering collegeswere filled up last year.

The authorities think thatthe situation is going to beworset this year as compared tolast year.

While the eight

Government colleges have4,086 seats, there are 38,698seats in the 83 private colleges.With the decline of number ofstudent registration, the privateengineering colleges are likelyto be affected more than theGovernment colleges as mostof the students would prefer tobe enrolled into the courses inGovernment colleges.

However, the OdishaPrivate Engineering CollegeAssociation (OPECA) expect-ed more student enrolmentthis year compared to the pre-vious year.

The students had less timefor registering name during theOJEE counselling. More num-ber of students would makeenrolment into the coursesafter the second OJEE, saidOPECA secretary Binod Dash.

He criticised theGovernment’s decision for theprocess of admission.

After release of mock listfor first phase admission, thestudents would show greaterinterest for enrolment in theGovernment engineering col-leges instead of private colleges,he said.

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Sir,The question papers of the

BSE, Odisha Matric examina-tion, don’t give students anopportunity for creative andcritical thinking as most of thequestions are recall types whichfocus only on the knowledge ofthe students and their ability tolearn by rote.

Teaching is a goal-orient-ed activity which facilitateslearning. Learning can beassessed by using appropriateassessment tools. Questionpapers are one such assessmenttool which must be effective forthe assessment of students in allthe cognitive domains of learn-ing.

The questions must bevalid, reliable and must haveobjectivity and usability. TheGovernment of Odisha mustorganise some workshops forthe schoolteachers to capacitate

them on the manner of fram-ing question papers after giv-ing due importance to all thecognitive domains of learningstarting from the lowest level ofKnowledge, Comprehension,Application, Analysis, Synthesisand, most importantly,Evaluation. Question paper isnot just a random assemblageof questions, but it’s a highly-developed technique.

So, it should be framed insuch a way that the low achiev-ers can be differentiated fromhigh achievers. In fact, notonly in the Board exams but inschool exams too the teachersmust frame the questions insuch a way that the studentscan apply their reasoning abil-ity and application of the topicso that they are not forced to

just memorise the topics. These days students score

good percentages in theirBoard exams just by commit-ting to memory the answers tothe previous years’ questionpapers, but when it comes toquestions which demand theirreasoning and critical thinkingability then they fail miserably.This is because they have notbeen trained that way.

They are just regarded asan information-acceptingmachine; and their thinkingand reasoning ability has beendisabled.

Hence, students must begiven proper space and theopportunity right from thejunior level to develop all theareas of the cognitive domainsof learning.

K Ravi, E-237, GGPColony, Bhubaneswar-751025,Mob=9437616497

�� (9

Shree Jagannath TempleAdministration (SJTA)

Chief Administrator PradiptaKumar Mohapatra onThursday refuted reports ofalleged misbehaviour by someservitors towards PresidentRam Nath Kovind and his wifeSavita Kovind, the First Lady ofIndia, during their visit inMarch.

“No communique fromthe Rashtrapati Bhavan regard-ing misbehaviour towards thePresident and his wife hasbeen received. This mattershould end here,” saidMohapatra speaking toreporters.

However, a minute of thetemple managing committeemeeting held on March 20had revealed that the matterwas raised at the meeting anda discussion held over the inci-dent. It was also mentioned inthe minute that the RashtrapatiBhavan had expressed strongdispleasure over the behav-

iour of some servitors whilePresident Ram Nath Kovindand his wife Savita Kovindvisited the temple.

As per reports, during thevisit of President and his wifeto the temple on March 18,some servitors allegedlybrushed against the twobreaching the security protocolwhile both were having dar-shan of the deities.

This apart, a KhuntiaMekap servitor allegedly didnot make room for thePresident while he was offeringprayers in the sanctum sanc-torum, reports added.

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Chief Minister NaveenPatnaik’s Grievance Cell at

Bhubaneswar would reopenon July 2 after being closedtemporarily since April 30 inview of the intense heat waveconditions across the State, a

release of the Chief Minister’sOffice said on Thursday.

Apart from the ChiefMinister’s Grievance Cell, thegrievance cells at the districtheadquarters headed by theCollectors and SPs would alsoresume operations from July 2onwards, the release added.

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Non-resident Odia (NRO)Professor Digambar Patra

of the Department ofChemistry, AmericanUniversity of Beirut, Lebanon,has urged the State Governmentto upgrade the GovernmentAutonomous CollegeBhawanipatna (GACB) to aState (affiliated) university.

In a letter to CM NaveenPatnaik, and Union HRDMinister Prakash Javadekar andPetroleum MinisterDharmendra Pradhan, ProfPatra, who is a native ofKalahandi, cited several reasonswhy the GACB should beupgraded.

He stated that the GACBhas always kept high standardsof education practice in KBK-Kandhamal and western Odisharegion. This is well reflectedfrom the fact that the GACBwas among the (i) first 52 col-leges in India to receive PotentialCenter of Excellence (PCE) byUniversity Grant Commission(UGC), (ii) first three collegesin Odisha to get PCE status byUGC, and (iii) the first collegein KBK region to get PCErecognition.

Among the first three PCEcolleges of Odisha, other twocolleges (Ravenshaw Collegeand GM College) in the Statehave already been madeUnitary/Cluster Universities.Subsequently, KhallikoteCollege, Brahmapur, was alsoawarded PCE status and thesame college has already beenmade a university.

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PCC president NiranjanPatnaik made a scathing

attack on Chief MinisterNaveen Patnaik alleging thathis Government has completelyfailed to utilise District MineralFunds for welfare of people ofrespective districts.

Niranjan made this allega-tion in the backdrop of a whis-per in the Congress that hemaintains a soft attitudetowards the Chief Ministerand the BJD Governmentbecause his younger brotherSoumya Ranjan Patnik hasbeen sent to Rajya Sabha bygrace of the CM.

Even some Congress lead-ers have attempted to draw

attention of Rahul Gandhiregarding the matter.

The PCC chief alleged thatthe State Government has nottaken up any developmentalactivity in minerals-rich dis-tricts and it is all evident fromthe fact that 90 per cent offunds availed under the DMFhave remained unutilised.

“What is the purpose ofsuch funds, Naveen Babu-spending on welfare of peopleor keeping them as showpiecein government’s accounts? 90percent of funds under DistrictMineral Foundation areuntouched! You could’ve doneso much welfare of people inmining affected areas! You did-n’t work,” Niranjan tweeted onTuesday.

Notably, the BJD hadaccused the Centre of main-taining double standards inthe Aspirational DistrictProgramme as the latter pro-posed to utilize the DMF fordevelopment of eight such dis-tricts in the State. The rulingparty also alleged that theCentre is changing its plans onregular basis while announcingand implementing differentprogrammes.

Raising a finger at the gen-uineness of the Biju SwasthyaKalyan Yojana (BSKY) in thewake of the CM raising healthcover for women to �7 lakh, thePCC chief further alleged thatthe State Government has beenannouncing schemes withoutmaking Budgetary provisionand the BSKY is a politicalgimmick.

“We welcome pro-peopleschemes, but those should bebacked by Budgetary support,”Niranjan said.

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Nalco CMD Dr TapanKumar Chand on

Thursday said, “Contemporarytime is not the age of capital, itis the age of ideas.”

Speaking at an interna-tional seminar on ‘SkillingIndia: Need for RedefiningCommerce Education in India’organised by the UtkalUniversity here, Dr Chand saidthe consumption of steel andaluminium is expected to growthree fold by 2030 and skilledmanpower would be highlyvalued. “The pattern ofemployment is undergoing adrastic change. The skill setsneed to be realigned to meetthe demands of the industriesand cutting edge technologywill provide the competitive

edge,” he observed.Dr Chand said, “Nalco is

gearing up for its next wave ofexpansion. Over 11,000 peoplewill be recruited by Nalco in

the near future. We will short-list the candidates from theUPSC-screened list. We willnot take written test for thesecandidates since they have

already been screened by theUPSC.”

Dr Chand praised the con-tribution of the Micro, Smalland Medium Enterprises

(MSMEs) in creating employ-ment opportunities for nearly15 lakh people in Odisha, buthe opined that the MSMEs arelimited by their ability to lever-age purchasing power parityand lack of brand recognition.To address these issues, hesaid, “As a responsible motherplant in Odisha, we are readyto offer cashless model to helpthe MSME players and lendNalco’s credible brand name fortheir sustainability.”

��(9

The Puri Rotary Club held ameeting which was inau-

gurated by district governorRtn Ajay Agarwal. Assistantgovernor Jayshree Mohanty,

secretary general Shisir Mishra,president Bhakata Das, secre-tary Badri Narayan Patra werepresent.

Agarwal felicitatedBiswakarma servitor KrushnaChandra Maharana, Patanjali

Yoga Samiti volunteer PramilaSahoo, Odisha SahityaAkademi member writerBirendra Mohanty and socialworker Debashis Rath.

A souvenir was released onthe occasion.

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Adead body of a youngmarine engineer was found

in the office of a private com-pany at Buddha Nagar underthe Laxmisagar police stationhere on Thursday.

Two persons, including theyouth’s girlfriend, weredetained by the Laxmisagarpolice in connection with theincident.

The deceased was identi-fied as Baijayant PrasadMohanty, a resident of Cuttack.

“The detained duo SasmitaMohanty and her male friendChandan are being interro-gated to unearth more infor-mation in connection with theincident,” informed a policeofficial.

Sources said BaijayantMohanty was in a relationshipwith Sasmita. But the duooften bickered over trivial mat-ters and were not in goodterms.

In the meantime, Sasmitacame in contact with Chandanat her office and developed a

soft corner for him.When Baijayant came to

know about it, he approachedSasmita to apologise andresolve their dispute.

While Sasmita rejected hismove, Baijayant forced her tocontinue her relationship withhim.

Later, Sasmita andChandan hatched a conspira-cy, called Baijayant to the officeand allegedly strangulated himto death.

Further investigation intothe incident was on; and post-mortem of Baijayant’s bodywould reveal the exact cause ofthe death, police said.

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The Micro FinanceInstitutions (MFIs) are

playing a major role in direct-ly taking the banking sector'spriority sector lending to peo-ple. So they are popularisingthe Jan Dhan programme andidentifying and supporting theMUDRA beneficiaries.

Besides these, the key ele-ments of MFI operations arebringing the people to bankingfold. Financial literacy is anoth-er are where MFIs have con-

tributed significantly.These were discussed dur-

ing interaction with Presswhich organised by MicroFinance Institutions Network(MFIN) in Bhubaneswar.

The MFIN held itsNational Annual General BodyMeeting (AGM) here inBhubaneswar on Thursday toelect its new office bearers.

Nationally, the MFIs havereached a cliental base of 40millions with the loan out-standing of �48,500 crorer byMarch 31. This figure is of 47leading MFIs out of at least 80

operating across the country,the speakers said.

In Odisha, 20 leading MFIshave transacted a sum of�5,280 crore (loan disbursed)to more than 29 lakh clientsand 98 per cent of them arewomen.

The MFIs operate throughJoint Liability Group (JLG).

“We have already movedout of the stigma of demoneti-sation , where we had suffereda severe loss. Presently, wehave both opportunities andchallenges because a largenumber of leading players havegot small scale bankinglicense,”said newly electednational ssvice-president ofMFIN Dibyajyoti Patnaik.

The MFIs have registered asteady growth of 50 per cent

during last few quarters, hemaintained.

“The basic concern is tobring down Non PerformingAssets (NPA) figures which arehigh in States like Maharastra,Uttar Pradesh to some extent inMadhya Pradesh because ofagriculture loan waiver,” statedState Intervention, Head ofMFIN Achala Sabyasachi. Shefurther stressed on currentpriority of bringing the NPAsdown to one per cent.

"The MFIs largely are lend-ing for livelihood develop-ment, apart from providingloans on education, health andhousing but the priority alwayshas been on developing entre-preneurship among women,"emphasised MFIN CEO HarshSrivastav.

When asked about loancap, Srivastav said, “Though theRBI has allowed us the dis-bursement of the tune of �1lakh per client, the MFIN hasfixed a cap of Rs 80,000 andmaximum two MFIs can lendto a single client. And all isdone through Credit Bureau sothat there would not be over-lapping or multiple lending.”

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Southwestern Odisha hasbecome the land of mari-

juana and Malkangiri hasturned out to be the capital ofhemp plantations.

Marijuana or hemp organja is an evergreen shrub andcan come up well in every typeof soil. This species is not an

indigenous species of Odisha,but it is widely cultivated with-in hill forests of Odisha sincethe Naxal activities extended toeastern circles of the countryfrom the Himalayan region.This species is native to theHimalayan region, but it canadapt with any kind of soil andclimate, if propagated withproper soil working.

The marijuana is an intox-icant, which is very dangerousfor human health. It not onlydamages the human health butalso spoils the health of herbi-vores, which eat it. The bi-products of marijuana is brownsugar or other sedative drugs;which are hallucinatory inaction.

The young people are verymuch attracted to the sedativeto be relieved of stresses. Thedried leaves and flowers ofthis are very effective and havewide market right fromAfghanistan to entire theIndian sub-continent. This isalso a source of black money.

Presently, a Special

Investigation Team (SIT) head-ed by Justice Arjit Pasayatcould arrive on the conclusionthat huge black money is trans-acted through Maoists of ourcountry. It is a fact.

Not only Mao activities areconnected with this trade, butalso there are other people inour State especially within thisregion, who are associated inthe planned operations rightfrom cultivation of the hemp toharvest and trade of marijua-na.

The hemp is cultivatedwidely in the forest lands, par-ticularly in the denser parts ofthe forest tracts which caneasily escape from the notice ofthe common people. This pro-vides easy money and makessharp rise of people’s economy,particularly, who are involvedin the practices.

This unlawful economicsedative culture is going on inOdisha over last two decades ata greater scale.

The young people aremuch more interested for easy

money. The cultivations ofhemp are carried out in theencroached lands of forest like“shifting cultivations” of agri-culture in forest lands. The for-est lands are cleared by settingthe forests on fire. The soilworking is done before sowingof seeds. The seeds are sowntaking the chance of the pre-monsoon showers; just likeraising of common paddy andother agricultural crops.

Right from southern partsof Eastern- Ghat to westernparts of such hill ranges, thewhole tracts are now under cul-tivation of such narcotics. Notonly marijuana, but also theother narcotics like opium isalso said to be unlawfully cul-tivated in Angul areas byunscrupulous people.

The climate of opium isRajasthan but it can be raisedin our State, Odisha profitably.If the raising of such sedativesare not checked and controlledright form field activities, thefuture generations will bespoiled. The Government

should take this matter seri-ously.

No terrorists or antisocialgroups can exist without blackmoney. They get larger sumsthrough transactions of nar-cotic drugs and raw materialsof sedative products. It isknown to everyone.

The forest areas, especial-ly the dense hilly forests,become the safe haven for theMao activism. We may admitor not, they get black moneyregularly from different typesof contractors, mining ownersand Government employees.They do not prefer to come toplain areas to challenge theadministration to do all sorts ofvandalisms.

A few years back, it wasbrought to public informationthat, the fertilizers like ureawere not available in westernOdisha for application of thesame in the Agriculture field bythe crop growers.

The reason was that, thefertilizers were widely utilizedin ganja cultivations in hill

regions, which created short-ages of fertilizers.

The State ForestDepartment is the firstdepartment, which shouldknow first, where the ganjaencroachers are making theland preparations for cultiva-tions of ganja. It is their duty toprotect the forest lands formencroachments and cultiva-tions of contraband species.

There are three Statedepartments like ForestDepartment, PoliceDepartment and State ExciseDepartment to control thecrimes of such nature but nodepartment is serious to takepreventive, proactive and cura-tive measures for cultivationand export of such contra-band products.

Recently, the State ForestDebarment claimed, that, thetotal coverage of the denseforest lands has increased to3,068 square km of the Statedue to rehabilitation measuresof the degraded areas, whenlarge scale cultivations of ‘ganja’,

are noticed in the hilly region.How the dense forest landshave increased in our Stateunder such a situation.

As per the statement of for-est authorities, they havereached the figure throughaerial photographic surveyreport. In an aerial view figure,the cannabis shrubs and otherforests resources cannot bedistinguished. Now rampantcultivations of cash crops likecannabis and maize are goingon in hill regions of Eastern-Ghat, particularly inMalkangiri.

Forest fires are caused dueto indiscriminate cultivationsof marijuana, maize and othercash crops, besides for kenduleaves plucking. The people setfire to the forests for prepara-tion of forest floor for raisingthese plants. Such corps aregrown within the knowledge ofconcerned forest employees,including the concerned otherdepartments employees likeRevenue, Police, Excise andPanchayati Raj. If the plants of

marijuana before floweringand seeding are cut andremoved from the cultivatedareas, then the seeds of thisspecies will be rare for nextcrop year.

Now, the StateGovernment and theGovernment of India are giv-ing loans to the farmers at verylow interest rates without prop-er or adequate verifications oftenancy rights.

So the unscrupulousGovernment employees in thefield and the farmers taking theadvantage of easy loan for rais-ing cash crops need to betaken to task.

Again the local people arenow very much afraid of inti-mating any such activities dueto the Maoists. So theunscrupulous traders are get-ting wide platform to carry outtheir business.

(The writer is a formerforest officer and an environ-

mentalist. Email:[email protected]

M-9937460649 )

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The construction of a secondbridge over river Brahmani

at Balughat in Rourkela wouldbe completed by November,2020, informed NationalHighway Authority of India(NHAI) Chief GeneralManager and Regional OfficerDharmananda Sarangi in aninteraction with the reportershere on Thursday.

“The construction of thesecond bridge over Brahmaniwhich began on May 23 thisyear will be completed by

November 2020. The six-lane bridge will

have a total length of 29.1km,” said Sarangi.

He said the bridge con-struction work got delayed dueto the delay in getting forestclearance from the UnionMinistry of Environment andForest (MoEF).

He also informed thatHyderabad-based GKCProjects Ltd has bagged the firstpackage from Birmitrapur toRourkela, including the newbridge, at a cost of Rs 381.75crore.

The mega project has beenhanging fire since the UPA-IIregime. Prime MinisterNarendra Modi on April 1,2015 had publicly announced tocomplete the project soon.Union Minister for Road

Transport and NHAI NitinGadkari had laid its foundationon July 21, 2017 and announcedto start work in 15 days.

Besides the secondBrahmani bridge in Rourkela,the construction of six morebridges over this river is under-way in Bonai in Sundargarhdistrict, Barkot in Deogarhand Sarang in Dhenkanal.Construction of bridges overthe river at Jajpur Road,Jenapur and Jarka in Jajpur dis-trict would begin very soon.

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District Labour OfficerDileswar Khakha issued a

show cause notice on Tuesdayto Papu Khan, a labour con-tractor, who cheatedSubarnapur migrant workers oftheir wages totaling �6 lakh.

As per sources, two labourcontractors, Santosh Deep ofAambahali Village and PapuKhan of Kantabanji in Bolangirdistrict had taken 17 people ofsix families of Kudherkantaand Sunapali villages ofDunguripali block to Banagiriin Hydrabad for works in AASBricks.

Santosh and Papu hadpromised them to give �25,000each and gave �6,000 pereach family in advance. Thelabourers were not paid wageby the bricks owner after nine

months of working. EmployerJagan Seth sent them safely toKantabanji by train and toldthem that Papu Khan had beenalready paid �6 lakh out of�6.50 lakh towards their wage.

After reaching at home,while the labourers went toPapu’s house and asked aboutthe money, Papu got berserkand assaulted them. He alsothreatened them to kill them.

The victim workers areSubasini Deep, Arjun Deep,Sudam Barik, Sushil Nag,Gokul Nag, Rukuni Deep andJati Nag. They lodged a com-plaint with the District LabourOfficer on the matter. Whencontacted District LabourOfficer (DLO) Khakha saidPapu Khan had no labourinvoice licence and strongaction would be taken againsthim.

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Adecomposed body of a 30-year-old youth was found

from a pond at Telibhata underthe Town police station onWednesday evening.

The body was identified tobe of Abdual Bholu of DipuPara area in the town, policesaid.

The police said thedeceased left his home onTuesday and did not return.

Later, his body was found float-ing in an abandoned pond inTelibhata area by the local res-idents. Getting information,police rushed to the spot andrecovered the body and sent itfor post -mortem.

Town PS IIC Savitri Balsaid the police have sent thebody to District Headquarter

Hospital for post-mortem.After a report is received, thereason of the death can beascertained.

The family members ofthe deceased alleged that hewas murdered and thrown in tothe pond by someone.

They also demanded aprobe into the matter.

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Maoists again made theirpresence felt in the

extremist-infested district bykilling a youth after brandinghim a police informer at Jantrivillage in the Chindrakondacutoff region on Thursday.

Reports said a group ofRed rebels conducted a kanga-roo court in the village in themorning where they killed ayouth Sukra Muduli dubbinghim to be a police informer.

Sources said that thedeceased youth was earlierissued death threats by theMaoists and asked to stopworking for the police.

The incident has triggeredpanic among the locals.

Besides, they have been warnedby the ultras to refrain fromproviding information to thecops or else face the same fatelike Muduli.

It might be mentioned herethat the Chitrakonda cutoffregion remains a stronghold ofMaoists in the district.

Due to the inhospitableterrain and communicationproblems security forces arenot able to travel swiftly to takethe rebels head on.

But recently, the BSF hasset up a camp there and withthe Gurupriya bridge’s com-pletion it is expected thatpolice and security forces willfind it easier to combat theultras, opined senior policeofficials.

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The Skyy Rider Institutionhosted the nation’s biggest

skill internship “Kaushal Mela”(national-level summer skillinternship) during summerbreaks at the CenturionUniversity in which thousands

participated.Under the mission “Dream

Skill India” to train one millionof Indian students withadvanced skill training in freeof cost, the students got com-plete hands on training expe-rience in the field of advancedrobotics, aerospace, automotive

designing, apparelengineering, com-puter science andmany more.

The Skyy RiderInstitution pro-vides short-termand long-term skillcourses with cer-tificates duringsummer and win-ter breaks and

other months of the year alsoin which students can learn andgain skill on emerging tech-nologies and industrial skillrequirement and prepare them-selves for their further careers.

The students were givencertificates of participationfrom the NSDC and Skill India.

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The audience at the RabindraMandap here was mes-

merised being transported to adifferent world. The occasionwas an Odishi dance recitalunder the “Horizon” series bythe Indian Council of CulturalRelations (ICCR) in collabora-tion with the State Departmentof Culture.

Promising dancers of Srjancame up with “VinayakaSarane”, an invocatory item toLord Vinayak to do away withobstacles.

This was followed by‘Synthesis’, an amalgamation ofvaried compositions with clas-sical nuances in the tradition ofOdishi. The grace with footworks and enchanting gestureshad a lasting spell.

The Abhinaya of GuruRatikant Mohapatra portrayingthe character of Shabari fromthe text of ‘Rama CharitaManasa’ stole the show of theevening.

The devotion and emotionin delineating the character inOdishi dance recital byMohapatra was inimitable.

Then the Srjan artists pre-sented ‘Ardhanariswara’, mark-ing the fusion of Shiva, themasculine force, and Shakti, thefeminine energy.

The concluding choreog-raphy of the evening was‘Vande Mataram’, a salute toMother India.

To the thunderous

applause of the audience, thechoreography of Guru RatikantMohapatra moved one and all.

The programme com-menced with the customarylighting of lamp by OopaliOperajita, Fellow,Camegiemelon University,USA, secretary of BhubaneswarMusic Circle Khirod Pattanaikand Regional Director, ICCR-Baliarsingh Negi were present.The programme was comperedby Dr Mrutyunjaya Rath.

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District Legal ServiceAuthority (DLSA) under

the chairmanship of DistrictJudge Biswajit Das has addedyet another feather in the capof its legal awareness pro-gramme.

Entire Rayagada district iscovered under Schedule-V ofIndian Constitution and pri-marily inhabited by Adivasisand Dalits, which constitutearound 70 per cent of the dis-trict’s population.

Till date, according to offi-cial information, more than800 villages, mostly tribals, arestill inaccessible by road. In thiscontext, there is least people’sawareness on pro-people actslike POCSO, SexualHarassment at Work Place,Witch Hunting Act, DowryAct, Human Trafficking Act,MGNREGA, ST SC AtrocitiesAct, Minimum Wages Act,Inter State Migration Rules,Right to Education Act andRight to Information Act, etc.

At this juncture, the DLSAhas initiated several steps tomake the people aware onthese Acts at their door stepsthrough one-act play, skit,debate, essay writing, paintingcompetitions. All this wasdemonstrated by the partici-pating groups and individualsin Krushna Chandra NagarBhawan at Rayagada head-quarters. The programme wasinaugurated by District JudgeBiswajit Das and graced byother dignitaries like Collector

Guha Punam Tapas Kumarand SP Rahul PR.

Selected artists fromGanjam, Gajapati, Koraput,Rayagada, Nabarangapur andMalkangiri were taken in sixgroups who exhibited theirskits for twenty minutes eachon prevailing blind beliefs likesorcery-murders in the region,bride torture, human traffick-ing, insensitivity and biasestowards girl children, etc. andlegal aid available for theirredressal. Similarly crisp aware-

ness message were giventhrough debates, essays andpaintings. During the occasion,successful competitors wereadjudged by Additional SPPatitapaban Choudhury, Sub-divisional Police OfficerChandrasekhar Hota,Rayagada Sub-Collector PrabirNayak, Gunupur Sub-CollectorAmrit Ruturaj and dramaexpert Dr Narendra Mishra.

DLSA SecretaryHrushikesh Sahoo moderatedthe event.

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Five drug abusers werearrested and some drug

substances and two bikes wereseized by police here onWednesday.

The arrested were identi-fied as Biswaranjan Jena,Kamalakanta Swain, AbhisekMohanty, Shakti Prasad Swainand Soumya Ranjan Ghadei ofJagatsinghpur town and itsadjacent areas. Acting on atipoff, a team of police led byAssistant Sub-InspectorsRabindra Senapati and Jyoti

Ranjan Das raided a youth clubat Bagha Sahi here and nabbedthe accused five drug abusersred-handed. Police said one ofthe abusers, Manua Chand,managed to flee from the spot.ASI Senapati said the drugsubstances seized from thealleged users were sent fortesting to laboratory and inves-tigation was on to unearth thesource of supply of drugs andthe trading network inJagatsinghpur town.

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The State Government hasappreciated efforts of the

National Law UniversityOdisha (NLUO), Cuttack,which has been ranked thirdamong India’s best law univer-sities.

Higher EducationSecretary Bishnupada Sethihas congratulated the NLUOVice-Chancellor for the com-mendable performance andthe ranking made by the “IndiaToday”.

“This is the beginning ofour recognition at the nation-

al level. We do hope to achievemany more goals in future.

There has been immensecontribution by all my col-leagues in imparting educationand training and establishingatmosphere of healthy compe-tition,” said NLUO VC ProfSrikrishna Deva Rao.

The university, establishedby the Act of IV of 2008 of theOdisha Government, startedoffering academic programmesin 2009. It offers five-year inte-grated BA LLB (Honours) andBBA LLB(Honour), LLMand PhD pro-grammes.

The univer-sity has alsofound placeamong 60 uni-versities thatwere granted

autonomy by the UGC inMarch 2018.

The NLOU has plans tooffer Massive Open OnlineCourse (MOOC) on ‘Law andJustice in a Globalizing World’in UGC SWAYAM platformand other five courses underSWAYAM-IGNOU platform.

The university has gotimmense supports from ChiefJustice India Dipak Misra,Orissa High Court Chief JusticeVineet Saran and the OdishaGovernment.

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Rains triggered by a lowpressure would lash parts of

the State for next 12 hours, pre-dicted the Regional Office ofIndian MeteorologicalDepartment (IMD) here onThursday.

An alert to this effect wasissued for the district of Puri,Jagatsinghpur, Mayurbhanj,Baleswar, Bhadrak,Sundargarh, Nayagarh, Ganjamand Gajapati.

Fishermen were warned

by the weather office not toventure into sea because of thestrong winds.

On Thursday, it rainedintermittently in the twin citiesof Cuttack and Bhubaneswar.Rains also lashed Puri, wheredevotees were seen holdingumbrellas to witness the divinebath of Lord Jagannath and Hissiblings Lord Balabhadra andDevi Subhadra on the occasionof Snana Purnima.

On Wednesday, whiletourists had to face hardship inthe premises of the Konark

temple due to waterlogging,many parts of the twin citieswere flooded bringing miseryto the residents and the com-muters.

While it rained 64.2 mm inBhubaneswar, Cuttack received12 mm of rainfall till 8.30 amon the day. However,Bhubaneswar and its neigh-bourhood would generally havecloudy sky with moderate rainon Friday, the IMD said.

The weather office fore-casted that the rains wouldlessen from Saturday.

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As many as 17 ClassVI andIX students of the

Saraswati Sishu Vidya Mandir,Nilakantha Nagar have gotranks in the Pathani SamantaMathematics Scholarship Test2017-18.

In the Class-VI category, asmany as 12 students havescored ranks among first 16,including the Rank-I holder.Saswat Sahu scored Rank-I, Subhashree Padhy scored Rank-II, Swagat Swarup

Panigrahi scored Rank-III,Hritik Ranjan Panigrahi scoredRank-IV and Snehasis Sahuscored Rank-V.

Shyam Patra and AmitKumar Acharya scored Rank-VI, Raj Kumar Nanda scoredRank-VII, Subrat Panigrahi,Asish Kumar Swain, SibaniPurohit scored Rank-VIII andPragasmita Jena scored Rank-IX.

Similarly, in Class-IX cat-egory, five students have scored

ranks among first 14. ATosharat Patra and A ArchitaAchari scored Rank-IV, GayatriPadhy and Bhibhu PrasadMishra scored Rank-VII andAlpari Sethi scored Rank-VIII.

School managing commit-tee president Dr SrikantMahapatra, VP DrBalakrushna Choudhury, sec-retary Sudarsan Padhy andothers have congratulated thestudents.

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The Agragamee organised asharing workshop on lan-

guage development in tribalareas here.

Academicians, education-ists, officials like the DistrictEducation Officer, the DistrictProject Coordinator SSA,Additional District EducationOfficer and NGOs working inthe field of education partici-pated in the one-day event.

The educationists call for aholistic approach betweenteachers and children for bet-ter development of educationin tribal areas.

The programme has inau-gurated by DEO PurnaChandra Bariha. He empha-

sized the role of teachers indevelopment of the children.

Vidya Das shared about theAgragamee’s intervention ineducation for the development

of reading habit in18Government schools in remotepocket of Rayagada, Koraputand Nabarangpur. SoumyaRanjan Pradhan shared about

the evaluation report conduct-ed by ACER in the interventionarea.

DPC Binadini Panda saidthere is a need to change atti-

tude among the teachers for thebetterment of education andsociety. He also spoke that theteachers need to use variousmethods to create learningenvironment among the chil-dren.

Among others, DrDusmant Mohanty, ADEOAnesthesia Kerketa, SaileshGupta, Dr Chandan KumarSingh, Nilachal Mishra, DrUdaya Chandra Panda, DrNarendra Mishra, PadminiMishra spoke.

Around 80 participantsincluding BEOs, ABEOs, pop-ular teachers, language teach-ers from tribal areas,CRCCs,Teacher’s Trainers, NGOsworking in the field of educa-tion joined the events.

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From Page 1The Chief Secretary direct-

ed Tourism Secretary VishalKumar Dev to look into finan-cial, administrative, technicaland managerial aspects of theproposal and submit a feasi-bility report soon. It was opinedthat luxury trains can be intro-duced with partnership of theOTDC and the Railway Board.

It was revealed that run-ning of luxury trains havehelped the tourism sectordevelop in the States ofRajasthan, Uttar Pradesh andMaharashtra. Trains named‘Palace on Wheels’, ‘Deccan

Odyssey’, ‘Golden Chariot’ and‘Maharaja Express’ are run-ning for development oftourism in these States. Five-star hotel facilities are availablein these trains. Seven and-three-day tour packages aremade available for tourists.Volvo Buses are also madeavailable from the station pointto the tourism spot.

“The luxury trains can betermed as train cruise. Thetrains are very comfortable,”said Garg.

Each train comprises ninefacility-coaches and 12-to-13tourist coaches, each having 88

sitting capacity and About Rs2.5 crore is spent for making acoach. Tourist spots likeChandipur, Bhitarkanika,Similipal, Konark, Puri-Konarkcoasts, Balugaon, Chilika,Debrigarh and Sambalpur canbe connected with such trains.

Among others, Forests andEnvironment ACS SureshChandra Mohapatra,Commerce and TransportS e c r e t a r y - c u m - R a i l w ayCoordination CommissionerManoj Kumar Mishra, TourismDirector Nitin Bhanu DasJawale participated in the dis-cussion.

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From Page 1“I have given in writing

to the Prime Minister'sOffice for giving me anappointment to meet Modibut the PMO has told methat the process for meetingthe Prime Minister will takeat least 15 days.

I am now camping at theJagannath temple at NewDelhi and if within next threedays, I am not getting anappointment, I will stage aprotest here." Biswal added.

Significantly, Congresspresident Rahul Gandhi hadtweeted while Biswal was on hisway to New Delhi affirming his

party’s support for him.Significantly, PM Modi,

while addressing a publicmeeting on April 1, 2015, hadassured the Rourkela publicthat his Government wouldtake necessary initiative to ful-fil two much awaited demandsof Rourkela which includeupgradation of the IspatGeneral Hospital to a superspecialty hospital and con-struction of a second bridgeover the Brahmani river.

Meanwhile, after muchhue and cry, the constructionwork of the second bridgeover the Brahmani has startedrecently.

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From Page 1While IMFA Workers’

Union general secretary stat-ed that the stir has hamperedlabourers’ livelihood andthreatened to stage an agita-tion if the people sitting ondharna are not taken out, theSub-Collector was infuriatedand asked whether they havelegal permission for use ofloudspeaker, etc. RayagadaPS IIC Rabindra Patra alsostated that legal proceduresneeded to be followed beforeresorting to any kind ofprotest.

Nayak then told the

marchers to keep calm andcooperate for an amicable solu-tion.

Though the agitators, sit-ting on the dharna at the IMFAgate, alleged that not a singledemand has been fulfilled bythe company authorities with-in one month as agreed uponduring the tripartite agree-ment earlier, the IMFA man-agement refuted any such timelimit.

But it is a fact that the agi-tators, who had resorted to astrike for 18 days in April, with-drew it on the assurance of themanagement that their legiti-

mate demand would be ful-filled within 30 days.

The protesters are ques-tioning the Management on theissues of pollution, illegal landacquisition, meagre wage toworkers, etc. “We will not with-draw our stir until we have notbeen given assurance in writ-ing by the IMFA authorities,”said Jitu Jakasika.

IMFA officers said most ofthe demands are either met orin the process of being fulfilled.The mobile ambulance wouldbe operational in July and localyouths would be skilled toacquire employability.

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In this mofussil town in east-ern Uttar Pradesh, which is

known as “Gateway to hell”,Prime Minister NarendraModi on Thursday cited theteachings and couplets of SantKabir to attack Oppositionparties for their greed to grabpower and blamed them forcreating instability in the coun-try.

In the rally that could beseen as the launch of his 2019Lok Sabha campaign, Moditried to woo Dalits and thebackwards, saying hisGovernment was forgingahead on the teachings ofSaint Kabir.

He said Kabir fought tobreak the caste barriers andasked BJP workers to reach outto every person irrespective ofcaste and creed projectingparty’s image of a ‘nationalistHindutva’ party.

After paying tribute toKabir and laying the founda-tion of the Kabir Academy inMaghar, the PM said, “Those,who opposed Emergency, aretrying to form alliances withthe Congress. It showed theirlust for power and lack of prin-ciples.”

Taking a dig at those par-ties, who are promotingcasteism and chaos, Modi said,“Some political parties do notwant peace and harmony insociety. Such people are cut offfrom ground realities.

They want chaos and wantto create doubt and fear in theminds of people.

They think that by doingso, they will gain politically. Butthose parties are completelycut-off from the reality on theground,” he said.

Hitting out at theSamajwadi Party (SP) and theBahujan Samaj Party (BSP), thePM said that instead of under-standing Kabir and followinghis message of love and care,some leaders were keen to

retain their bungalows.“Those, who talk of

Samajwad and Bahujan, areonly concerned about how towrest power. They will lie andeven harm people just to cometo power,” he said.

Modi even blamedOpposition parties for oppos-ing triple talaq law. “You knowwho are trying to block ourefforts to ban Triple Talaq.

We have done a lot for thepoor. But there are forces whoare throwing spanner in ourwork. These people do notwant to see society prosper,” hesaid.

Modi also quoted Kabircouplet -- ‘Kabir khada bazaarmein, maang raha sabki khair,na kahe sae dosti, na keh sakebair, saying this can be inter-preted as BJP’s philosophy of“sabka saath, sabka vikaas”.

Modi said late formerPresident APJ Abdul Kalamalso visited Maghar 15 yearsback and expressed his con-cern about neglect of its devel-opment.”

But now we have made acommitment to develop it as a

symbol of humanity,” he said.The PM also recounted

achievement of hisGovernment, citing Ujjawalascheme, Aayushman BharatScheme, Jan Dhan yojana andconstructing toilets for thepoor.

He also recited the Kabir’scouplet”Kaal kare, so aaj kar”,saying what this Governmenthas done in four years no onehad done in 40 years.

Union Tourism andCulture Minister Dr MaheshSharma said that India wouldshowcase the rich culture ofhumanity of Sant Kabir andwould develop the area tobring it in the internationaltourism map.

Earlier, the PM visited theSant Kabir cave and unveileda plaque to mark the laying offoundation stone of the KabirAcademy. The Prime Ministeralso offered a ‘chadar’ at theSamadhisthal and then at the‘mazaar’ of Kabir. “ThisAcademy will have all facilitieslike library and classes toaccommodate all studies onKabir,” the PM said.

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Delhiites and people resid-ing in National Capital

Region (NCR) on Thursdayheaved a sigh of relief as mon-soon showers hit the city a dayahead of its scheduled arrival.

Confirming the arrival ofmonsoon in the city, the IndianMeteorological Department(IMD) Additional DirectorGeneral Mritunjay Mohapatrasaid, “It would cover the entire country in next 2-3 days.The Southwest Monsoon could cover the rest of thenation a fortnight before itsscheduled date.”

“The normal onset date formonsoon in Delhi is June 29while it usually reachesSriganganagar in westRajasthan, its last outpost in thecountry, on July 15. SouthwestMonsoon has further advancedinto some more parts ofGujarat region, most parts ofeast Rajasthan, some parts ofWest Rajasthan, entireHaryana, Chandigarh, Delhi,remaining parts of west UttarPradesh, Uttarakhand,Himachal Pradesh and Punjab,”the IMD said.

“Conditions are favourablefor further advance ofSouthwest Monsoon intoremaining parts of north

Arabian Sea, Gujarat, Rajasthanand thus the entire countryduring the next 2-3 days,” theIMD added.

This year, the monsoonreached Kerala on June 28,three days ahead of its normalonset date. It battered the western coast in the first half ofthe month.

However, after a brief lull,it made a steady advance.

The Southwest Monsoongives 70 per cent of the rain tothe country, where agriculturestill remains a major contrib-utor to the GDP.

Meanwhile , the Safdarjungobservatory, recording of whichis considered the official figure

for the city, recorded 20.4 mmrainfall till 8.30 am. It receivedtraces of rainfall till 5.30 pm.Lodhi Road, Palam, Ayanagarand Ridge received 20.8 mm,32.8 mm, 30.6 mm and 33 mmrainfall, respectively till 8.30am, the MeT said. Palam andAyanagar observatories record-ed 5.6 mm and 2.3 mm rainfall,respectively between 8.30 amand 5.30 pm. Areas underLodhi Road and Ridge did notreceive any rainfall during thistime interval, it said.

The maximum tempera-ture was recorded at 35.2degrees Celsius, two notchesbelow the season’s average. Theminimum temperature settled

at 24.2 degrees Celsius, fournotches below the season’saverage, a MeT official said.Humidity levels oscillatedbetween 100 per cent and 60per cent.

The MeT office has fore-cast cloudy skies along with alikelihood of moderate rainsand thundershowers for tomor-row. “The maximum and min-imum temperatures are expect-ed to hover around 36 degreesand 24 degrees Celsius, respec-tively,” the weatherman said.

On Wednesday, the maxi-mum temperature settled at37.5 degrees Celsius, while theminimum was recorded at 26.2degrees Celsius.

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With high crude oil prices and weakmacro-economic fundamentals, the

Indian rupee collapsed to a lifetime low of69.10 against the US dollar earlier onThursday and finally closed at Rs 68.78,while the pound sterling finished higherat Rs 90.03.

With the drastic fall of rupee, sourcessaid, a horde of sectors, including small,medium and large companies involved inimporting raw materials or those with for-eign borrowings or both, are set to seepressure in near future. “Goods and ser-vices exporters in major sectors such as IT,pharma, jwellery are likely to witness sen-timental rub-off from rupee’s depreciation,”

sources added. The low currency witnessed both the

key indices losing points. While BSESensex slumped 179.47 points to close at35,037.64, broader NSE Nifty shed 82.30points to 10,589.10 on Thursday.

With the depreciating trend of theIndian currency, experts expressed mixedresponse, saying that a weak currency andstubborn global oil prices not only poseinflationary risks to imports (net energyimporters like India), but also discourageforeign institutional investors (FIIs) intothe country and the export scenario as well.Besides, they also foresee that currencymay be weakening closer towards the 70-mark in near future.

Prathamesh Mallya, chief analyst of

Mumbai-based broking firm AngelCommodities Broking, said, “A majorselloff in the domestic equity and debt mar-kets has added downward pressure on theIndian currency. So far this year foreigninvestors have sold a combined value of $7billion in equity and debt markets.”

As far as export scenario is concerned,Federation of Indian Export Organisations(FIEO) Director General Ajay Sahai saidthe development would not provide anyadditional support to exporters as cur-rencies of other emerging economies,including China, are depreciating. “It willprovide a level-playing field to ourexporters. It will not provide a much need-ed support as India is not singled out,”Sahai added.

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The CBI has filed achargesheet against two

former chairman-cum-man-aging directors of the CanaraBank in connection with thealleged loan default of �146crore by Jatin Mehta ofWinsome Diamonds and hasalso sought a Red CornerNotice (RCN) against the bil-lionaire jeweller.

Mehta is absconding andbelieved to have got St Kittspassport, sources said. Theagency has filed thechargesheet against 21 accusedwhich includes Mehta, hiscompany, his wife besides 15public servants, CBISpokesperson Abhishek Dayalsaid.

The public servants chargesheeted by the agency includesformer CMDs AvinashChander Mahajan and SunderRajan Raman. Former execu-tive director of the bank,Archana Bhargava, has alsobeen named by the agency inits chargesheet filed in SpecialCBI court, Mumbai, he said.

The agency has alleged thecompany purchased gold fromthree bullion banks abroad —

The Bank of Nova Scotia,Standard Bank and StandardChartered Bank — on the basisof guarantees from the Indianbank. Later, this gold wasprocessed and sent to 13 buy-ers in the UAE, the CBI stated.

The company also failed tomake the payment for the goldimported on the strength ofguarantees, the agency said.

“In this regard, the com-pany has taken plea that exportproceeds have not beenreceived from foreign buyers(which) resulted in invokingthe SBLCs (guarantees) by bul-lion banks that cost wrongfulloss of �146.35 crore to CanaraBank.

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The Election Commission(EC) has asked Facebook to

examine blocking of politicaladvertisement 48-hours beforeelections in the country. Thesocial media giant has notresponded to the request as yet,but is examining.

At a June 4 meeting of thecommittee constituted by theECI to study provisions ofSection 126 of theRepresentation of the PeopleAct, 1951, a Facebook repre-sentative agreed to examineproviding a window or buttonon the Facebook page for flag-ging complaints about violationof election laws.

The representative alsoagreed to examine if the num-ber of Facebook reviewersattending to complaints againstcontents posted by users can beincreased from current 7,500persons. The number, he said,could be augmented duringelection period if the needarises.

Section 126 of the

Representation of the Peopleprohibits displaying any elec-tion matter by means, inter alia,of television or similar appa-ratus, during the period of 48-hours before the hour fixed forconclusion of poll in a con-stituency.

The official of social mediagiant at the meeting statedthat complaints can be lodgedagainst the ‘contents’ on theFacebook and these arereviewed as per the globalcommunity standards. “If con-tents are found to be violatingthe community standards, they

will be taken off,” he stated,according to the minutes of themeeting.

Action would be prompt-ly taken if a complaint wasmade by the Commission or itsmachinery about violation ofany provision of the law inregard to “contents onFacebook”. “In such cases,action will be with regard toviolation of the law and notmerely based on the globalcommunity standards. There isa policy of taking special careduring elections,” he told themeeting.

In the case of proved vio-lations, the Facebook informsthe users concerned and con-tents are removed. The cases ofremoval of contents are alsoposted on the transparencypage of Facebook. “Maintaininga safe community for people toconnect and share on Facebookis absolutely critical to us. Inour recent meeting with the EC, we explained that we reviewcontent flagged to us on basisof our global ‘CommunityStandards’ and remove it fromour platform if found in viola-tion of our policies.

“Additionally, we also reit-erated that we remove content

which is in violation of any pro-vision of the law in the coun-try,” a Facebook Indiaspokesperson said.

At the meeting, the officialwas “requested to consider thepossibility of blocking postingof election advertisements dur-ing the period of last 48- hoursand to collect details about theexpenditure part of the adver-tisements for elections,” accord-ing to the minutes.

Committee Chairman andSr Deputy ElectionCommissioner Umesh Sinhasaid the aim was to prevent vio-lations so as to ensure free andfair elections and askedFacebook to share the code ofethics/guidelines for contentsand consider some mecha-nism to forewarn the usersagainst violation of electionlaws during elections.

Besides ECI officials, thepanel includes representativesof News BroadcastersAssociation (NBA), PressCouncil of India, and Ministryof Electronics and InformationTechnology.

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The Congress on Thursdaycame out all guns blazing

against the Modi Governmentand said that it is trying to polit-ically exploit the surgical strikesby the Army against terrorlaunch pads in Pakistan-occu-pied Kashmir (PoK) in 2016.

The party reacted aftersome TV channels telecast avideo of the surgical strikes onWednesday night. TheCongress alleged that the sur-gical strikes were “shamelesslypoliticised” by the BJP for theMarch 2017 Uttar PradeshAssembly elections.

Addressing a press chiefspokesman Randeep Surjewalacharged that while on the onehand the Modi Government isseeking credit for the sacrificeand valour of the armed forces,on the other it has failed to pro-vide direction and vision todeal with Pakistan. He alsoaccused the Government ofmeting out “step-motherlytreatment” to the armed forcesby not providing them withstate-of-the-art equipment andslashing their budgetary allo-cation.

“Let the ruling dispensa-tion remember that the bloodand sacrifice of our brave sol-diers cannot become a politi-cal vote garnering tool for theModi Government and theBJP. On the one hand, theModi Government/BJP indulgein seeking credit for the sacri-fice of our soldiers and surgi-cal strikes, yet the Governmenthas utterly failed to provide thedirection, the vision and thepolicy for dealing with Pakistanand checkmating Pak-spon-

sored terrorism,” he charged. Surjewala said the “apathy”

and “incapacity” of the ModiGovernment has resulted in thesacrifice of 146 soldiers, morethan 1,600 ceasefire violationsby Pakistan and 79 terroristattacks post September 2016.

“The doublespeak of theModi Government and theBJP stands is reflected in thestep motherly treatment of ourarmed forces, both in terms ofproviding for security appara-tus as also in slashing the bud-getary allocation. Vice Chief ofArmy Staff Lt Gen. SarathChand, was forced to publiclystate that 68 per cent of allequipment is vintage,” he said.

Hailing the indomitablecourage, fortitude and spirit ofsacrifice of the armed forces, hesaid the Congress has unequiv-ocally supported them and theGovernment in conductingsurgical strikes against terror-ists in Pakistan and for takingall steps for demolishing theterror infrastructure againstthe country.

“As the Modi Governmentseeks to politicise the braveryof our soldiers and their deter-mination in conducting thesurgical strikes through ‘head-line management’, the Nationdemands answers.

“Is the Modi Governmentendangering our ‘security infra-structure’? Is the ModiGovernment guilty of puttingthe life of our soldiers in dan-ger? Is the Modi Governmentusing our ‘soldiers’ as ‘politicalfodder’ — using their sacrificefor vote garnering?,” he asked.

Surjewala also askedwhether former PrimeMinisters Atal Bihari Vajpayeeand Manmohan Singh werewrong when they used surgicalstrikes for strategic and secu-rity purposes without any chestthumping. By making publicthe videos of the strikes, has theGovernment not somehowendangered lives of armedforces participating in them asalso civilians living along theLine of Control (LoC), heasked.

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The BJP on Thursdaydescribed Congress as a

“fringe party” which is ques-tioning “surgical strikes” car-ried out against Pakistan in2016 across the border anddoubting the commitment andcourage of the forces.

Addressing a Press confer-ence, senior BJP leader andUnion Law Minister RaviShankar Prasad asked theCongress whether it doubtedthe authenticity of the video onsurgical strikes being shown inthe media and should tellwhether the strikes were aright step or not.

Prasad rejected theCongress’ allegation that theModi Government is politicis-ing the surgical strikes, sayingif the BJP wanted to drawpolitical mileage then a videopurportedly showing theArmy’s operation in PoK wouldhave been released during thepolls in States like UttarPradesh, Gujarat or Karnataka.

“Where are the electionsnow ?”, he asked. Prasad saidthe Army officers connectedwith the surgical strikes haveconfirmed the video’s authen-ticity. Attacking Congress lead-ers for making Pakistan andterrorists there happy by mak-ing comments against Armyand Army chief, the BJP leadersaid while one Congress leaderGulam Nabi Azad has goneinto a silent mode after sayingthat Army killing more civiliansthan terrorists anotherCongress leader Saif UddinSoz started making commentsinimical to the interests ofnational integrity. Soz, in his

recently released book, hasreportedly called for the inde-pendence of Kashmir.

The Congress has becomeso desperate with its repeatedlosses in elections that it hasbeen repeatedly questioningthe commitment and courageof our armed forces, Prasadclaimed.

“It is boosting the moraleof terrorists. To what extent theCongress will stoop for votes,”he said. “It is clear from itsrepeated comments that theCongress is no longer a main-stream party but a fringe play-er, a fringe party in the nation-al politics,” Prasad said.

The Minister condemnedCongress comparing a globalleader like Prime MinisterNarendra Modi with anoppressive Mughal emperorAurangzeb, calling it a new lowin Congress politics and areflection on a “desperate anddefeated Congress.”

Senior BJP leader ArunJaitley had last week comparedformer Prime Minister IndiraGandhi with German dictatorAdolf Hitler.

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The EnforcementDirectorate (ED) has filed

a chargesheet against GitanjaliGroup and its owner MehulChoksi in a money launderingcase related to Punjab NationalBank scam. The total proceedsof crime in this case is �6097.63crore.

ED filed prosecution com-plaint equivalent chargesheetbefore the Special Court inMumbai. Mehul Choksi and 13other entities, including eightindividuals and five companies,have been charged underPrevention of MoneyLaundering Act.

The agency had filed amoney laundering case againstChoksi and other on February16 on the basis of FIR regis-tered by Central Bureau ofInvestigation (CBI). It wasalleged that Choksi and otherhad committed cheating inconnivance with certain bankofficials by fraudulently gettingthe Letters of Undertaking(LoUs) and Foreign Letters ofCredit (FLCs) issued withoutfollowing prescribed proce-dure and caused a wrongfulloss to the bank.

In this case, three compa-nies of Choksi — GitanjaliGems Ltd, Gili India Ltd andNakshatra Brand Ltd — gotfraudulently issued LoUs to thetune of �3,011.39 crore andfraudulently got the credit lim-its of FLCs enhanced to thetune of �3,086.24 crore makingthat total proceeds of crime�6,097.63 crore.

During the investigation, itis revealed that funds of LoUsobtained fraudulently weresiphoned off through their

alleged overseas suppliersnamely 4C’s DiamondsDistributors Hong Kong,Shanyang Gong SI LimitedHong Kong, Asian Diamondsand Jewellery FZE, UnitedArab Emirates, GitanjaliVentures DMCC, United ArabEmirates and Abbeycrest(Thailand) Limited, Thailand.

On receipts of FLC appli-cation, bank paid enhancedfunds to overseas companies4C’s Diamond Distributors andCrown Aim Limited (bothlocated in Hong Kong) whichare actually controlled byChoksi.

In addition, there are sev-eral other dummy companiescontrolled by Choksi in Dubaiand Hong Kong which wereused for layering and rotationof such funds. These compa-nies are having directors, whowere mere employees anddummies and ultimate decisionmaking always remained withChoksi. Most of these compa-nies had no genuine businessand were only paper companiesused for rotation of funds.Proceeds of crime was alsoremitted to Gitanjali GroupCompanies in India in guise ofExport-Import transactions.

It has also been found thatthough the goods being export-ed from India were of abysmal-ly low quality but the value washighly inflated. The valuationof the export and import goodswas used to be decided byChoksi. It has come on recordthat the diamond studded jew-elry in semi finished form andof very poor quality wereexported from India to theoverseas dummy firms. Thesewere then dismantled bydummy entities and diamondsand precious stones wereremoved. The gold and silver soobtained, after removing thediamonds was melted at thelocal melting unit and con-verted into bullion. The bullionso obtained and the diamondand precious stones wereexported as raw material toIndia, completing the cycle.

“Books of Gitanjali Groupwere also manipulated by usingthird party remittance systemand fabricated debtors wereused to be created in order toenhance the drawing power forcontinuation and enhancementof credit limits,” the chargesheetstated. During probe it has alsocome into light that funds werealso diverted from Dubai toseveral overseas subsidiary ofGitanjali Group in guise of loanrepayment, loan and advances.

Choksi indirectly used thefraudulently availed funds fromLoUs and FLCs to invest in hiscompanies in India throughindividuals/companies and inone case he transferred thefunds from Eternity JewelsFZE, a shell company of Choksito Rakesh Gajera in guise ofloan. These funds were laterused to purchase the equity ofGitanjali Gems Ltd.

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The National BuildingConstruction Company

(NBCC) has sold nearly 28,000sq ft office space at Okhla in thenational Capital to BalmerLawrie & Co for �83 crore.

The office is part of thestrategically located ‘NBCCCentre’, a CommercialComplex developed by thecompany that offers world classamenities, makes it one of itskind office building in thevicinity.

The construction of thebuilding was completed.

“The profit margin avail-able to NBCC against the saiddeal will be approximately �55crore” NBCC said.

NBCC Centre comprises

three basements and groundplus 8 storeys having a totalsaleable area of approximately2,36,251 sq ft. With this sale,approximately 75 per cent ofthe commercial space at NBCCCentre stands sold.

Some of the leading com-panies which have taken upoffice space in the centre are OilIndia Ltd., Bharat DynamicsLtd., Council of Architecture,National Insurance, New IndiaAssurance and OrientalInsurance Company Ltd.

NBCC’s present areas ofoperations are categorised intothree main segments — projectmanagement consultancy(PMC), real estate and EPCcontracting. The current orderbook outstanding of the com-pany stands at �80,000 crore. ��

Union Home Ministry hasinstituted new medals in

the special operations catego-ry for meritorious officers inpolice, security and intelli-gence services.

The medals are meant forspecial operations, Intelligencecategory and will be awardedon Independence Day andRepublic Day annually.

“Union Home MinisterRajnath Singh has approved

the institution of “HomeMinister’s Special OperationMedal”. Police Officers of States& Union Territories, CentralPolice Organisations (CPOs),Central Armed Police Forces(CAPFs) and SecurityOrganisation involved inSpecial Operations will be eli-gible,” said the MHA state-ment.

“The Union HomeMinister has also institutedthree more Medals, — theAntarik Suraksha Medal,

Asadharan Aashuchan Padak,and Utkrisht & Ati-UtkrishtSeva Medal.

The Medals will be award-ed annually; while the HM’sSpecial Operation Medal andAsadharan Aashuchan Padakwill be awarded on 15th Augustcoinciding with theIndependence Day, the AntarikSuraksha Medal and Utkrisht &Ati-Utkrisht Seva Medal will beannounced on 26th January tomark the Republic Day.

The Asadharan Aashuchan

Padak will be given to officialsof Intelligence organization ofCentral and StateGovernments, Assam Rifflesand NSG.

The Antarik SurakshaMedal will be bestowed uponPolice personnel of States andcentral police forces engaged inthe operation duty rendered bythem for a tenure of every twoyears in Internal Security inJammu & Kashmir State,Maoist affected areas NorthEastern States.

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The Law Ministry hasapproached the Cabinet

Secretary for creation of an‘integrated legal division’ in allCentral Ministries to ensurethat legal advice on complexissues is not delayed and courtsare only approached as a lastresort and cases with leanchances of winning are not pur-sued.

After a push by the PrimeMinister’s Office and theCabinet Secretariat, LawSecretary Suresh Chandrawrote to the Cabinet Secretaryon Wednesday seeking cre-ation of integrated legal divi-sion on the lines of integratedfinancial division which is

already in place. “I have writ-ten to the Cabinet Secretaryyesterday. The draft proposal isfor creating ILD on the lines ofIFD in all ministries,” Chandratold a coordination committeemeeting of over 60 nodal offi-cers representing differentdepartments and ministrieswhich are part of the the LegalInformation Management andBriefing System (LIMBS).

LIMBS is an online data-base of Government-related lit-igation with details of 2.91 lakhuses. It was launched in 2016with an aim to eventually bringinformation on court caseswhere Government is a party ona single electronic platform.

According to the proposal,formulated last November, theLaw Ministry would firstincrease the strength of IndianLegal Service cadre so that itsofficers are deputed in variousministries. It also plans to setup an integrated legal divisionon the lines of integrated

finance division. The officersattached to the division wouldreport to the Department ofLegal Affairs in the LawMinistry and also get theirsalaries from it. This wouldensure their independencewhich is necessary for them tobe able to give an impartiallegal advice, a functionary said.

The move will ensure thatlegal advice required by variousMinistries is not delayed as thepresence of Law Ministry offi-cials in Ministries would cutshort the red tape. The officialswould report to their unit orgroup heads in the Law Ministrywho would also help themresolve complicated legal issues.

Law Ministry officials arealready posted in the Defenceand the Railway Ministries.

These officials would alsoensure that the Ministries inwhich they are posted approachcourts only when they are sat-isfied that litigation is the lastresort left to settle a dispute.

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Ma j l i s - e - I t t e h a d u lMuslimeen president and

Hyderabad MP AsaduddinOwaisi said that issue ofwomen’s safety highlighted bythe Thompson ReutersFoundation was a serious mat-ter and the entire countryshould ponder over it withoutdoing politics over it.

“This is a fact thatMuslims, Dalits and women arefacing a serious threat and thesituation has worsened over thelast four years”, Owaisi told themedia in Hyderabad.

He said that the reportdescribing India as the mostdangerous country for womenwas correct and Narendar Modigovernment should clarify whatit intends to do about it.

“But when you ask thePrime Minister about the safe-ty of women he says he hasbrought triple talaq bill forMuslim women. I want to tellhim every woman in the coun-try is worried and fearful todayin the country.PM shouldunderstand that we are aboveAfghanistan and Syria in rank-ing today and you are ruling forthe last four years. But he didnot listen to me in Lok Sabha”,Owaisi said.

Instead of providing secu-rity to all the women he is justtalking about interfering withSharia, he said. “Now what hewill do? This is the finding of

Reuters no body can ignore it.Will the government do

something about it or just keeptalking of Muslim women whohave rejected the triple talaqbill”.

Underlining the seriousthreat to women, Owaisi saidthat three women are rapedand ten women are assaultedevery hour in the country.“Even wife of a major is killed.So the security is not the prob-lem of only poor but also ofmiddle class and the rich. Thegovernment should do some-thing about it”.

Stressing that theMuslims, Dalits and womenwere under attack Owaisisaid, “When you talk aboutthe safety of women howabout the wife of Qasim who

was lynched to death andhow about the family mem-bers of Sameeuddin who isfighting for his life in hospi-tal, how about mother ofAklaq and the Dalit boys whowere killed and beaten up justbecause they were ridinghorse. They should also getthe safety”, he said.

Meanwhile the UttarPradesh unit president of MIMShoukat Ali and other leadersmet the families of the victimsof lynching in Hapur Theyhanded over financial help of Rs100,000 to the family of Qasimwho was brutally lynched todeath and gave Rs 50000 to thefamily of Sameeuddin who wasinjured in the same incidentand was undergoing treatmentin hospital.

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With 2019 Lok Sabha pollscoming closer, simmer-

ing discontent in ruling BJP aswell as opposing Congress partystarted surfacing in Gujaratespecially among sitting MLAsand some of the senior leadersof both the parties.

Over the past few yearscontroversies of GujaratCongress used to become pub-lic, but in the case of BJP suchsituation is unusual in PrimeMinister Narendra Modi’shome-State. Interestingly threeVadodara legislatures came outin open to voice their concernat a time when Chief MinisterVijay Rupani is on six days tourto Israel.

The MLAs from Gujarat’scultural capital Vadodara –Madhu Srivastava, Yogesh Pateland Ketan Inamdar expressedtheir anger against workings ofBJP ruled state Governmentand attitude of bureaucratstowards legislators.

Shrivastava who is havingreputation of muscleman saidthat ever since the currentGovernment took charge, offi-cials were not attending elect-ed representatives and resolvingtheir issues. The five timesMLA went on to say that offi-cials need to be ‘taught’ somelessons. Manjalpur MLA Patelsaid that legislators were havingresponsibilities to resolve peo-ple’s problems but due to callous

attitude of officials they werenot able to represent issues oftheir constituencies properly.

“State Government func-tionaries should have controlover officials. Here we feel thatofficials have become thickskinned and they even don’tcare about people’s representa-tives,” says Inamdar who isMLA from Savli constituency.The three MLAs have alsoclaimed that more number ofBJP legislators would join themin coming days.

Instantly Gujarat BJP lead-ership came into action topacify surfacing discontentamong MLAs as senior cabinetminister BhupendrasinhChudasama said that he,Deputy CM Nitin Patel andstate BJP chief Jitu Vaghaniwould sort out issues of all thethree MLAs from Vadodara.

Talking to media personsDeputy CM Patel said that theMLAs were annoyed because ofcertain officials’ behaviour andnot angry with the party. “Theyhave been call on to meet meat the state capital Gandhinagaron Friday,” he said.

Meanwhile similar situa-tion is also prevailing in rivalCongress camp too. Koli leader

and Jasadan MLA KuvarjiBavalia on Friday skippedimportant meeting of CongressMLAs called by GujaratPradesh Congress Committee(GPCC) in-charge Rajiv Satav.Bavalia is complaining contin-uously over the past six monthsto party high command overhis ignorance by the stateCongress leadership.

Sources close to him alsoinformed that he had also metBJP president Amit Shah twodays back at latter’s residence inAhmedabad. However, therehas been no confirmationabout such meetings neitherfrom the Congress MLA norfrom the state BJP leadership.Similarly Javid Pirzada ofWankaner MLA has alsoexpressed unhappiness overnot getting important place inGPCC organisation.

Earlier this week strongSaurashtra leader IndranilRajguru tendered his resigna-tion after GPCC announcedappointments of 12 new districtand city presidents. PostRajguru’s resignation, 17 coun-cillors of Rajkot MunicipalCorporation came openly in theex-MLA’s support and tenderstheir resignations too. Sourcesin the oldest political partyclaimed that more number ofMLAs and senior leaders wouldcome out openly against theGPCC leadership’s workingstyle as the 2019 Lok Sabhapolls would come closer.

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BJP president Amit Shah onThursday blew the poll bugle

calling for a second Parivartanin Bengal the “foundation ofwhich will be laid in 2019” bywinning 23 out of 42 parlia-mentary seats from the State.

Addressing a huge rally inPurulia that hit national head-lines last month — for anunprecedented saffron showin the panchayat elections andmurder of three BJP workersallegedly by the TMC cadre inthe immediate aftermath —Shah said violence, rampantcorruption and syndicate rajwere the hallmarks of theMamata Banerjee regime thatdeserved to be defeated in 2019general elections.

The BJP president said atime had come for the MamataGovernment to be thrown outof power as it thrived only oncorruption and violence.

“In the Panchayat electionswhich hardly throws anyimpact on the future of the StateGovernment 1,341 people wereinjured, 20 killed and about 2crore people were not allowedto vote by the TMC goons whogagged the voice of democracythroughout Bengal,” Shah said.

“The TMC thinks that theywill continue to remain inpower through violence. But Ithrow an open challenge tothem from this rally that thesacrifices of our workers whowere murdered by the TMC

goons will not go in vain.Their blood will show its truecolours and this Governmentwill be thrown out of power —the process of which will beginin 2019,” he thundered.

Claiming that the MamataGovernment had picked upfrom where the Marxists left by“destroying Bengal’s economyand polity even further,” Shahsaid, “when the CPI(M)Government went the Statehad a debt of �2 lakh crore, butin the past seven years that debthas gone up to �3.5 lakh crore.”

Accusing the ruling partywith misappropriation of cen-tral funds sent by the NarendraModi Government the BJPpresident said Centre had sent�3.6 lakh crore for the devel-opment of the State “but mostof that fund had been spent forthe development of theTrinamool Congress goons andthe syndicates run by it.”

Instead of the common

man it were the sand mafia, coalmafia, cattle mafia, drug cartelsand cross-border infiltratorswho were developing, he said.“The development schemes ofthe Modi Government are notreaching the people because ofthe Trinamool Governmentand the goons that control it.”

Attacking the Chief Ministerfor trying to raise a grand allianceShah said “Mamata didi is tour-ing the country to raise thegrand alliance but I will suggesther to mind her own State wherethe ground beneath her feat isslipping away fast.”

There was no industry inBengal because of the faulty pol-icy of the Mamata Governmenthe said. “After the IndependenceBengal accounted for the 25percent of the national GDPgrowth but today it has comedown to a mere 4 percent. Thisis because the entire industryhas fled the State. The onlyindustry that runs here is the

one to make bombs,” he said.Shah earlier arrived in

Kolkata on Wednesday andheld a series of meetings saidTrinamool had ruined theBengali culture which was onceenriched by the likes of SwamiVivekananda, RamakrishnaParamahansa, Tagore, BankimChandra, Sarat Chandra andSyama Prasad Mukherjee.“Today instead of RabindraSangeet you can only listen tobombs going off,” he said.

Reacting to the BJP chiefBengal Minister Firhad Hakimsaid his party was “not ready tolisten about Tagore from ajungle because these peoplepresided over Gujarat carnage.”

On the misuse of Centralgrants, State Finance MinisterAmit Mitra said, “He is lyingbecause most of the people-friendly projects have eitherbeen dropped or slashed by theCentre and we are forced to runthem with our own resources.”

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In an ideal instance of the Stateadministration getting

increasingly servile to politicalinterests instead of minding itsconstitutional obligations, theDistrict Magistrate of Purulia onThursday entered into a heatedargument with Union MinisterBabul Supriyo not only refusingto entertain his complaints butalso telling him bluntly that hewould only take instructionsfrom the State Government.

The incident took place inPurulia when vehicles boundfor the ground where BJP pres-ident Amit Shah was to addressa rally got stuck in a“Government created trafficjam.” According to sources thepolice unnecessarily blockedother roads to clog the oneleading to the rally ground.

When the Minister rushedto the spot he found the DMsimply sitting idle inside hisvehicle and not intervening.When asked to sort out themess he said, “that is not myduty, I have told the SP to takesteps.” When the Minister toldhim to accompany him to theclogged bottleneck he said hewas “not supposed to takeyour directions,” adding “I willonly take directions from theState Government.” Heatedarguments continued for quitea few minutes between thetwo.

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Throwing a hint thatCongress would be a major

player in the maha-gathbandan(grand alliance) in UttarPradesh, State Congress pres-ident Raj Babbar said that theparty is ready to sacrifice to anyextent to defeat the BJP in thecoming Lok Sabha elections inthe State. “We have done it inKarnataka and prevented BJPfrom coming to power. In theLok Sabha elections too theparty can go to any extent foran opposition unity to defeatthe BJP,” he said.

Addressing a press con-ference along with party’snational spokespersonPriyanka Chaturvedi andnational media coordinatorRohan Gupta, Babbar saidthough the party’s experimentof forging an alliance with theSamajwadi Party in assemblyelections was not good stillCongress will do anything todefeat the BJP.

Though admitting thatparty high command woulddecide on the mahagathbandanin UP Babbar said “it is up to

the party leadership to decideon the alliance and the numberof seats to be contested.” Hesaid Congress had alreadyshown its intention in theKairana Lok Sabha bypollswhere even after party’s hugesupport base no candidate wasgiven against the oppositioncandidate. This united strategyled to the defeat of the BJP.

“In Gorakhpur andPhulpur LS bypolls thoughCongress contested but when itsaw that SP was in direct fightagainst BJP , our candidateslowered their campaign foreasy run for the oppositioncandidate,” he said.

However Babbar did notgive any answer to the queriesseeking his comment on the SPand BSP leadership not readyto take Congress onboard andhad hinted to give only RaeBareli and Amethi seats tothem.

Meanwhile, PriyankaChaturvedi alleged that theYogi Adityanath government inUP, on the directions of theCentre, was trying to dilute theLand Acquisition Act, made bythe UPA government.

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Police have claimed thatPakistan based Lashkar-e-

Tayyeba (LeT) outfit hatchedconspiracy to shoot deadsenior Kashmiri journalistShujaat Bukhari and three mil-itants including a Pakistanifugitive Naveed Jatt executedthe broad day light murder inthe press enclave area of capi-tal Srinagar on June 14.

Police released pho-tographs of four personsnamed in the conspiracyincluding a Srinagar residentSheikh Sajjad Gul who lives inPakistan since March 2017.Police said a lookout noticewould be issued against Gul,who has written blogs againstBukhari, and Interpol helpwould be sought to nab him.

Addressing a press confer-ence at Police Control Roomhere, Inspector General of Police(Kashmir range) SoyamPrakash Pani said that policehave always referred to Bukhari’skilling as terror related crime.

“We have gathered tangibleevidence in the case that wouldbe produced in the charge-sheet,” he said adding the wit-nesses and documents have to beprotected.He said the case hasconspiracy part and executionpart. Pani said that Sajjad Gul isa Srinagar resident based inPakistan who started an intim-

idating campaign againstBukhari on certain social mediaplatforms like kashmirfight.wordpress.com and facebookaccount "Kadwa sach Kashmir"and twitter handle "AhmadKhalid" ahmadkhalid@313.

“These sites were spreadinghate campaign, malicious andintimidating content against theKashmiri journalist,” Pani, whowas flanked by AK Birdi, DeputyInspector general (centralKashmir) said. Birdi is headinga Special Investigation Team(SIT) probing Bukhari’s murder.

He said Gul alias AhmadKhalid has settled in Pakistan

since March 2017. Earlier, hehas been arrested by DelhiPolice in 2003 in a terror caseand Parimpora (Srinagar)police in 2016. “We have gonefor lookout notice againt Gul.He is one of the persons whocreated blogs and spread lot ofrumours in public domain. Wehave strong evidence againsthim,” Pani claimed.

He identified the militantswho executed the conspiracy asAzadAhmad Malik, a knownLeT operative from Anantnag,MuaffarAhmad of Kulgam andNaveed Jatt, a Pakistani militantwho fled from police custody

in February this year.He said Police have tangi-

ble evidence to establish thatthe whole conspiracy washatched in Pakistan by pro-scribed militant outfit Laskar-e-Toiba (LeT).

Pani said this is a high pro-file case and further detailsshall be recorded in thechargesheet against the accused.He said Police will issue look-out notice against local accusedand interpol notice throughproper channel shall be issuedagainst Pakistan based Kashmiriblogger Sajjad Gul.

Asked whether the motivebehind the conspiracy was foundpani said that this part would betaken care of in the charge sheet.

He said the role of JunaidQayoom, a local resident whowas arrested on the basis of his

presence at the shootout site, isbeing probed. Qayoom pickedup pistol of one of the two slainpolicemen guarding Bukhari.The pistol and two cellphoneshave been recovered from hispossession.

Bukhari, Editor-in-chief ofa conglomerate of newspapersincluding English daily RisingKashmir, was killed on June 14outside his office at press enclavein Srinagar. Hours after thesensational killing, policereleased CCTV grabs of theattackers, who were riding amotorcycle. While one of thesuspects concealed his identityunder helmet, another coveredhis face with a mask. The thirdrider’s face is invisible who isholding a bag reportedly carry-ing assault rifles used in theattack. A volley of fire silencedShujaat and his bodyguardssoon after they embarked ontheir SUV on the fateful evening.

Militant groups includingLeT have denied their involve-ment in the killing. “We wouldlike to call their bluff. If Indianforces are truly convinced thatthis heinous crime was com-mitted by mujahideen, thenthey should have no objectionto an independent investigationof this murder by a neutralcountry such as China orRussia,” LeT’s chief spokesmanMahmood Shah said in state-ment.

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Hailing Prime MinisterNarendra Modi for break-

ing the myth Chief MinisterYogi Adityanath said that PM’svisit to Maghar proves that thisBJP Government does notbelieve in superstitions andworks for the uplift of thesociety.

“Yogi said that by comingto Maghar Prime Minister hasbroken the myth that this placeis Gateway of hell. What SantKabir preached 500 years ago,Prime Minister Modi did it onThursday. The area will nolonger remain neglected afterPM’s visit,” Yogi said whileaddressing a public rally pay-ing tribute to Kabir and layingthe foundation of the Kabir

academy in Maghar here onThursday.

UP Chief Minister YogiAdityanath said Prime Ministerensured sabka saath sabka vikasina transparent manner and noone raise a finger at any min-ister as no one is facing a cor-ruption charge. “The last fouryear tenure of the central gov-ernment is corruption free,” hesaid. Lauding the developmentschemes being launched bythe Prime Minister he saidthat the country is galloping tothe path of development as PMhas turned India into a fastestdeveloping country of theworld.

However, the CM, blamedthe past state governments ofignoring Maghar. “ UP gov-ernment was committed to

develop the area of Kabir whichhad been ignored by the pre-vious governments,” he said.“The parties have used dalitsand weavers as the vote bankbut no one spared a thoughtabout their development,” hesaid. The BJP is eyeing theweavers’ community asthrough his address, the CMwooed the weaver communityand Vaishnava Nagas as Kabiris widely believed to be the dis-ciple of Bhakti poet-sant SwamiRamananda of Varanasi.Vaishnava Nagas have a hugepresence in Varanasi, Chandoli,Gorakhpur and Sant KabirNagar region.

UP culture ministerChoudhury Laxmi Narain wel-comed the guests while sufisingers from Madhya Pradeshand Chhattisgarh sang songbefore the PM.

Meanwhile, Yogi’s ststirreda controversy when he refusedto wear a cap offered to him atthe mazar of Sant Kabir inMaghar on Wednesday whenhe had gone there to overseepreparations for the primeminister’s visi. He was offereda fur cap by Khadim Hussain,the caretaker, which he polite-ly refused. “As per tradition Ioffered the cap to ChiefMinster Yogi Adityanath whenhe visited the mausoleum ofKabir saheb but he politelyrefused,” the Khadim said.

However, he agreed to keepthe cap, he said.

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Country’s leading entrepre-neur and BJP MP R K

Sinha said the centre shouldexempt the expenditure undercorporate social responsibility(CSR) from taxation so that allthe companies come forward todo charity works with 2 percent of their income.

Sinha said he spoke toFinance Minister Arun Jaitleyin this regard and told him thatthousands of companies, bothmedium and small, were notcoming up for charity workbecause of the fear of tax. Heeven suggested that the slab of2 percent could be increased ifit was made tax free.

Sinha was talking to mediaafter the AGM of his 44 years oldand country’s leading privatesecurity agency which has trainedmore than five lakh people andmany of them were working invarious government securityagencies and States police.

SIS Group Enterprises, wasstarted as security agency buthas grown up as a market leaderin security, cash logistics andfacility management, is the onlymultinational company of Biharwith its headquarter in Patnaand among country’s 15 gov-ernment and private enterpris-es which are biggest employers.

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Hitting out at PrimeMinister Narendra Modi

for doing politics in the nameof Sant Kabit Das, BahujanSamaj Party (BSP) presidentMayawati said that UnionGovernment was trying todivert the attention of the peo-ple after it failed to bring‘Acche din’ for them which BJPleaders had promised duringelection campaigns.

“When the Lok Sabha elec-tion is round the corner PrimeMinister has suddenly startedremembering saint Kabir Das.This shows that the BJP is try-ing to take political mileage.PM accused opposition of cre-ating instability in the countrybut can he reply whether hisspeech in Maghar was notpolitically motivated,” she ques-tioned.

Reacting to the politicallyloaded speech of Prime

Minister, the BSP chief said thatwhen BJP Government hasfailed on all fronts it has nowstarted misusing the name ofKabir and other renowned per-sonalities. This is done not justas a reverence for these saintsbut is done to cover up its laps-es,” she said in a written state-ment issued here on Thursday.

Mayawati said that PMhad publicized in a big wayabout the setting up of KabirAcademy in Maghar but he didnot elaborate as what purposewill it serve to the people.” Willthe academy solve the problemand miseries of the people ofeastern UP, which is one of themost backward regions of thestate. It seems it is is just a lol-lypop for the people,” she said.

Claiming that BSP hastaken many steps to propagatethe teachings of Saint Kabirwhen BSP was in power, theformer UP chief minister saidthat it was the BSPGovernment in the past whichnamed it as Sant Kabir Nagardistrict. “So, what ChiefMinister Yogi Adityanath saidthat no previous governmentdid anything for the region iswrong. Yes, no Governmentused Sant Kabir to gain politi-cal mileage which BJP is tryingto dom” the BSP national pres-ident said.

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MK Stalin, Leader ofOpposition in Tamil

Nadu Legislative Assembly,who is also the working presi-dent of the DMK, may be on amission to get GovernorBanwarilal Purohit transferredout of the State, but hisMadurai-based elder brotherMK Alagiri is not at allhumoured with the move.

Alagiri, despite his expul-sion from the DMK, wieldsconsiderable influence insouthern Tamil Nadu. He doesnot approve the “OperationPurohit” campaign initiatedby his younger brother.“Banwarilal Purohit is an excel-lent Governor and it is goodthat he has been appointed toTamil Nadu. He is not like con-ventional governors who spend

their time inaugurating publicfunctions and cutting ribbons”Alagiri told The Pioneer.

The former union ministerfor chemicals and fertilisers, saidhe was also for State Autonomy.“But I have not seen GovernorPurohit acting in any wayagainst the State Autonomy.Here is a person who wants thegeneral public to benefit by thewelfare measures initiated bythe Government and he shouldbe complimented for that,” saidAlagiri, addressed as AnchaNenchan (Tamil for BraveHeart) by the DMK cadre.

“You should understandthat Governor is a public ser-vant entrusted with the respon-sibility of overseeing the gov-ernance of the State. The gen-eral public is happy over thesteps initiated by the Governor.The Government officials who

come to meet me tell that theyare happy with the meetingsthey had with the Governor.These meetings were convenedby the State Government and aminister si always present dur-ing the sessions,” said Alagiri.

Though he was expelled bythe DMK leadership in 2013alleging him of anti-party activ-ities, Alagiri continues o bewhat he was before the ousterfrom the party. Hundreds ofcadres call on him on a dailybasis to inform him abouttheir grievances. He disclosedthat the DMK was in a pathet-ic situation as on date becauseof poor leadership (read Stalin).“Kalaignar (M Karunanidhi,his father) is not well andthere is a leadership vacuum. Ifthe present situation continues,I am afraid the party is in formajor trouble in the next

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Few days after a historicglobal circumnavigation

by team TARINI (team of sixIndian Navy women officer),Commander (Cdr) AbhilashTomy is all set for secondsolo circumnavigation ofglobe that too in a non-motorised sailboat. CdrTomy sailed into Les Sabelsd'Olonne in France a fewdays ago, in time for the July1 flag-off of the 30,000-mileGolden Globe Race (GGR).

Interestingly, there are 18skippers at the start line andCdr Tomy of the Indian Navyis a special invitee at the race.

Explaining about thevoyage, the Indian Navy offi-cial mentioned that the raceis being held to commemo-rate 50 years since it was heldfor the first and last time,which saw Sir Robin Knox-Johnston's successfully com-pleting the voyage in 312days, to become the firsthuman to finish solo, unas-sisted and nonstop circum-navigation of the world,adding, “The biggest chal-lenge at the GGR is to haveequipment, tools and boatwhich resembles the oneused by Sir Johntson, despitethe change in technology,”the official added.

Cdr Tomy is aiming tocomplete the race in 311 days,

one day less than SirJohntson’s timing. He will besailing in the 10-metre‘Thuriya’, whose design issimilar to Sir Johntson’s boat‘Suhaili’, which was inciden-tally manufactured in Colaba,Mumbai. “Thuriya” has beenbuilt at Goa atRatnakarDandekar’s AquariusShipyard. Cdr Tomy has sup-plies consisting of specially-prepared food items, andfresh water in the limitedspace on board. Incidentally,in the age of Global PositingSystem (GPS), the navigationwill have to be done oldinstrument - the maps.

Cdr Tomy was born atChengannacherry, Keralaand taking inspirationsfrom his father (A Navalofficer) he joined the IndianNavy. Graduated from theNaval Academy and spe-cialized as a MaritimeReconnaissance pilot andserved on board variousships and air squadrons.

Notably, in March 2009,

he volunteered to beCaption (then) nowCommodore DilipDonde's (Retd) assistantfor his solo circumnaviga-tion, Sagar Parikrama I.

And on completion ofthe project in 2010, he sailedto Cape Town and partici-pated in the Cape to Riorace from Cape Town to Riode Janeiro on 'INSVMhadei'. Abhilash skip-pered 'Mhadei'from Rio,across the Atlantic, withone crew and sailed solofrom Cape Town to Goa ona 33-day long voyage.

Interestingly, November1,2012, Cdr Tomy set sailfrom Mumbai on 'INSVMhadei'. And in the span offive months he covered23,000 nautical miles and onMarch 31,2013, he wasreceived by the President ofIndia at the Gateway ofIndia, and became the firstIndian and second Asian tocomplete a solo and non-stop circumnavigation.

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Senior backward classleader D Srinivas

appears to be on his way outfrom the ruling TelanganaRashtra Samiti and waslikely to re-join theOpposition Congress party.This looks imminent afterthe TRS president andChief Minister KChandrasekhar Rao did notgrant him an appointmentin the backdrop of a ragingcontroversy in the partyover his alleged anti-TRSand pro-BJP activities.

KCR’s daughter andTRS MP from Nizamabad KKavitha wrote a letter to heron behalf of the other lead-ers from the district seekinghis removal from the party.

D Srinivas denying anywrong-doing on his part has

refused to give any clarifi-cation saying he will do soonly to the Chief Minister.

D Srinivas who wasearlier in the Congress andserved as a Minister andthe State party presidenthad joined the TRS in2015 on an invitation fromKCR and was also mademember of Rajya Sabhaand the advisor with cab-inet rank.

The al legationsagainst D Srinivas hadstarted making roundever since his son DAravind had joined theBJP a few months ago.Many TRS leaders com-plained that he wasextending help toAravind. But Aravind hasdenied the allegation andsaid that unlike Kavithahe did not ask or need thehelp from his father.

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In a most shocking incident,a 12-seater chartered

Beechcraft aircraft crashed intoan under-construction buildingsite at the congested residentialsuburb of Ghatkopar in north-east Mumbai on Thursday,killing five persons and leavingthree others injured.

The King Air C 90 (num-ber VT-UPZ), which had beensold by the Uttar PradeshGovernment to a Mumbai-based firm UY Aviation Pvt Ltdin 2004, crashed at 1.15 pm atan under- construction site atManiklal Estate near JeevdayaLane at Ghatkopar (West).

The aircraft, which wasreportedly on a “wrong flightpath”, was less than three kmaway from Mumbai Airport’smain runway 09/27 when itcrashed.Thursday’s would havebeen a major disaster, had thepilot not shown utmost circum-spection to swerve the aircraft atthe last minute to crash into aconstruction site instead of abusy residential area. For, thereare several residential buildingsand slums next to the under-con-struction site where the ill-fatedaircraft came crushing down.

Those killed in the mishapcomprised pilot Capt P SRajput, co-pilot capt MaryaZuberi, aircraft maintenanceengineer Surabhi, technicianManish Kumar Pande and apedestrian Govind Pandit.

The three constructionworkers injured in the mishapwere identified as LavkushKumar (21), Mahesh KumarNishad (28) and PrashantMahakal (23) who were rushedto nearby BMC-run RajawadiHospital. Eyewitnesses said thatthe aircraft then hit a tree andcrashed onto the ground. Beforelong, the aircraft’s wreckagestrewn around the place was upin huge red and yellow flames.

Alerted by the local resi-dents and WhatsApp messagesthat went viral, personnel fromthe Mumbai Fire Brigade and

the Ghatkopar police stationrushed to the under-construc-tion “Jagruti” building where theaircraft had crashed. It tookmore than an hour for the firebrigade personnel to extinguishthe fire. The rescuers rushed thethree injured construction work-ers to the Rajawadi Hospital.

Officials of the AirportsAuthority of India (AAI) andDirectorate General of Civil

Aviation (DGCA) also reachedthe spot less than a couplehours after the mishap. "Theinitial investigations would bedone by DGCA after which adetailed inquiry would be doneby Aircraft AccidentInvestigation Bureau (AIIB)," asenior AAI official said.

The officials, meanwhile,recovered the Aircraft VoiceData Recorder (AVDR) –

known popularly as “blackbox” – from the mishap siteand handed it over to the civilaviation authorities. Expressinghis shock over the aircraftcrash, Civil Aviation MinisterSuresh Prabhu tweeted:“Saddened to hear the newsabout the aircraft crash inMumbai. Have directed DGCAto conduct an investigationinto the plane crash at the ear-

liest. I'm in constant touchwith on ground developments”.

Complimenting the pilot tohave shown presence of mindto avoid a big mishap, formerCivil Aviation Minister PrafulPatel tweeted: “Saddened tohear about the unfortunateincident at #ghatkopar asCharter plane crashes in anopen area. Salute to the pilotwho showed presence of mindto avoid a big mishap, savingmany lives at the cost of herown life. #RIP to all the 5 Dead.My deepest condolences”.

Uttar Pradesh’s CivilAviation Minister Nand GopalGupta extended condolences tomembers of bereaved families.“We extend our deepest andheartfelt condolence to the fam-ilies of the people who lost theirlives in the unfortunate accident.VT-UPZ was Uttar Pradesh gov-ernment aircraft till 2014 and itwas sold to UY Aviation Pvt Ltdof Mumbai in 2014. It is currentlyneither owned nor operated byUP Govt,” Gupta said.

A senior UY Aviation offi-cial said the aircraft, which hadbeen procured by his firm in2004, had been in operation forthe last 22 years. “The pilot hasflown over 5,000 hours whilethe co-pilot used to fly with JetAirways earlier, “ the officialsaid. Available informationsuggests that the ill-fated air-craft was preparing to land atMumbai Airport’s main run-way 09/27 which incidentallyclosed currently formaintenance work andthe flight operationshave been moved to thesecondary runway

M e a n w h i l e ,Maharashtra chief min-ister DevendraFadnavis visited the air-craft crash site and tookstock of the situation.CM @Dev_Fadnavisvisits private aircraftVT-UPZ crash site inGhatkopar, Mumbai toinspect relief operationsbeing carried out.

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The Tripura Governmenthas prohibited SMS and

mobile internet services acrossthe State for next 48 hours fol-lowing reports that rumoursare being mongered about pres-ence of some child lifters,which has created panic insome parts of the State.

The Tripura state Homedepartment on Thursdayissued the notification onThursday and said that theorder was issued to all the ser-vice providers of mobile andinternet companies operatingin the state. “The order was

issued to prevent the misuse ofthe media like this to disturbthe peace and tranquility of theentire state and for maintain-ing law and order situation,”said Tripura AdditionalSecretary SaradinduChoudhuri.

It may be mentioned herethat there has been reports ofincidents of attacks on peoplefound in isolated locations bythe public suspecting them tobe child lifters.

The incidents like this havealso generated serious law andorder situation in the statehaving potential threat to pub-lic safety.

TheGovernment suspectsthat social media like facebook,twitter and youtube and mes-saging systems like SMS andwhatsapp are likely to be usedfor transmission of fake infor-mation like picture, images,videos and texts have thepotential to incite violence inthe state.

The notification furthersaid that the prohibition shallbe applicable to press messagesalso and that violation of thispromulgamation will be pun-ishable under section 188 IPCand also under the relevantprovision of the IndianTelegraph Act 1885.

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The re-election of Recep TayyipErdogan has led analysts andscholars to comment on anintensified move that thisdevelopment represents

towards a worldwide transition fromdemocracy to autocracy. On Sundaywith an unprecedented 87 per centturnout, voters have given “their autocrat-ic President another unprecedented man-date…”, according to an article by DavidA Andelman, published and disseminat-ed by CNN. The article concludes thatvastly large stretches of the world aremore concerned about the basics offood, housing and personal safety. Withthese overwhelming priorities, democra-cy seems to take a backseat as peopleexpress their choice solely in favour ofseeking and securing the necessities thatwill help them survive today.

The current move towards the impo-sition of tariffs on imported goods ini-tiated by US President Donald Trump isclearly creating the conditions for acomplete reversal of open trade and glob-alisation achieved over many years of sus-tained efforts. While this could have anegative effect on the global economy,there is another aspect of serving populistobjectives and national economic inter-ests alone which could have seriousimplications for all life on this planet.

The US decision for withdrawingfrom the Paris Agreement on climatechange is, of course, an explicit movetowards reversing an Agreement reachedby the previous President of the US, butmore than that it is a retreat from theresponsibility for global action by anation which is historically responsiblefor the largest share of cumulative emis-sions of greenhouse gases (GHG).

Human-induced climate change isthe result of the large concentration ofGHGs resulting from their emissions inthe past from burning of fossil fuels anddeforestation. Climate change, there-fore, and other threats to all life on thisplanet have come into existence becausepolicies adopted by nation states have puttheir own narrow economic interestsbefore the need to protect the global com-mons. It is another matter that destruc-tion of the global commons will imposea cost on one and all from which eventhose nations which have achieved eco-nomic gains on the back of neglectingtheir environmental responsibilities willnot be able to escape.

In January 2013, a group of UN agen-cies brought out a think piece entitled“Global governance and governance ofthe global commons in the global part-nership for development beyond 2015”.This document was an effort to providea basis for initiating an informed dialogue

on a subject which was important toaddress as the world came to the end ofthe period for reaching the MillenniumDevelopment Goals.

The then Secretary General of theUN, Ban Ki-moon, rightly focused on theglobal challenges facing human societyand all living species in coming up witha process and an intellectual foundationthat resulted in the SustainableDevelopment Goals (SDGs). This reportstated, “Deepening economic globalisa-tion, and increasing migration, trade andcapital flows, and climate change andincreased activities in the global com-mons — those resource domains that donot fall within the jurisdiction of any oneparticular country, and to which allnations have access — make individualStates more susceptible to policies adopt-ed by others.”

As an example, it can be stated thatwhile the hurricane season of 2017 dev-astated large parts of the Caribbean andNorth American regions last year, theworst sufferer has been the island ofPuerto Rico which has still not recoveredfrom the devastation caused by HurricaneMaria. The lack of infrastructure andmeans in the poorest regions of the worldmake them particularly vulnerable to theimpacts of climate change and damagingthe global commons.

The UN System Task Team referredto above articulated the need for astronger UN system and a more effectivegovernance arrangement to deal with theprotection of the global commons. It

mentioned that environmental sustain-ability, the third dimension of sustainabledevelopment, is undoubtedly charac-terised by a weak global environmentalgovernance regime that is very fragment-ed. The move to a protectionist stanceand steps towards authoritarianism inevidence today clearly imply a retreatfrom collective responsibilities towardsprotecting the global commons.

Among today’s world leaders withunusual power the one who stands out withhis conviction in favour of protecting the glob-al commons is President Xi Jinping ofChina. Under Xi’s leadership protection of theenvironment has not only been given highpriority for solution of local environmentalproblems but the country has shown strongresolve in tackling climate change at the glob-al level. In fact, the Paris Agreement was facil-itated to a large extent by the joint efforts ofPresident Obama of the US, who, in his sec-ond term became pro-active on climatechange issues and President Xi of China.

By definition, global commons representthose parts of the planet that fall outsidenational jurisdictions and to which allnations have access, such that the benefitsfrom such access accrues to all. Internationallaw identifies four global commons, name-ly the High Seas, the Atmosphere, theAntarctica and the Outer Space. Humanactivities are threatening these at an alarm-ing level, resulting from increase in activitiessuch as fisheries, bioprospecting, navigation,aviation and scientific research.

More recently, the increase in the use ofplastics has been found to create unprecedent-

ed dangers to marine life and marine ecosys-tems even at locations remote from humanhabitation. Dramatic projections show thatby the middle of this century, the volume ofplastic under the ocean would exceed thequantity of fish.

In realisation of the threat that the oceanis facing from this form of pollution, we finda new resolve in some countries to cut downsignificantly on the single use of plastics. TheEuropean Union (EU), in particular, has takenthe lead in coordinated measures towardsreduction of single use plastic consumption.

Countries which have implementedpolicies of an exemplary nature, includingsome countries on the European continent,particularly in the Nordic region, have beenable to do so as a result of a high-level ofawareness on the scientific facts related todegradation of the global commons, theresulting cost and severe impacts that everysociety would have to bear and the co-ben-efits of actions to deal with the problem.

The answer lies in widespread aware-ness of the problem, the growing ease andeconomic merits inherent in feasible solu-tions and thus mobilising the youth of theworld, in particular, to take action. It is afterall their future which is at stake.Authoritarian leaders in the countrieswhere they are elected will not be able toignore the will of the people, if thisinvolves the security of their children forwhich youth must demand policies to min-imise damage to the global commons.

(The writer is former chairman,Intergovernmental Panel on ClimateChange, 2002-15)�

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Sir — This refers to the article, “Acontest between NDA and UPA”(June 27) by Kalyani Shankar. Postbreak-up with the PeoplesDemocratic Party, the NationalDemocratic Alliance seems to be ona tightrope as the Shiv Sena and theTelugu Desam Party had alreadyparted ways, making it tough for theBJP high command to ascertain theright permutation and combinationfor each of these States.

Lack of local leadership andstrong regional parties with a con-crete base might play a party spoil-er for the ruling dispensation.Dynamics of creating a politicalequilibrium is a tough task this timeas every regional party is aiming tostrengthen their condition on theirown and not by the aid of a nation-al party. The Congress is trying tomake an umbrella alliance by pro-jecting an anti-Modi narrative, asseen in the Karnataka election.

Opposition unity will be thedeciding factor for the approachingelection but will never be the onlyfactor. Winning the upcoming Stateelections of Madhya Pradesh,Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh willactually be a game changer for theBJP as the effect of these results willdefinitely get painted upon the2019 General Election.

Nischai VatsSultanpur

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Sir — This refers to the article,“Thank you. Pranab da, for the con-versation” (June 27) by ManmohanVaidya. There is no doubt that for-mer President Pranab Mukherjee is

a mature politician who knowsabout the pulse of the people andappreciates the culture of this coun-try. Mukherjee elaborated on nation-alism and patriotism in TritiyaVarsh Sangh Shiksha Varg ofRashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh(RSS), emphasising upon culturaldiversity of country.

The writer has rightly pointedout that usually, intellectuals nevertook the pain to understand the RSSstructure and functioning; nor werethey willing to hold any dialoguewith Sangh functionaries. We mustunderstand the contribution of RSSin nation-building and their cultur-al policy which are an importantcomponent of unity and integrity ina country. I congratulate the writerfor his understanding of the issue.

Jasim MohammadAligarh

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Sir — World Asteroid Day (June 30)is a global awareness movementwhere people from all walks of lifecome together to learn about aster-oids and what we can do to protectour planet. Although asteroidswould seem like mere rocks float-ing in space, they are actually objectsof great importance for astronomers,geologists, planetary scientists,among others. On evolutionaryfield, they are pristine objects fromthe dawn of the solar system. Theymaintain their original chemicalcomposition that speaks to us abouthow our solar neighbourhood waslike 4.5 billion years ago.

Jubel D’CruzMumbai

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Yours truly travels a fair bit acrossthe world, and has noticed apeculiar variety of Indian pass-

port holder. The self-loathing Indianwho takes it upon himself or herself toeducate the world of India’s ills. This israrely in front a group of Indians, butalmost always when there are foreigners in the audience, the whiterthey are the better.

Initially, I put up with this; heck, Iwill be the first to admit that I evenjoined in the conversation quite oftenbut over the past decade I find theseconversations not just irritating but pos-itively anger-inducing.

This writer will be the first to admit

that there are hundreds of systemicproblems in India and then there arethe historic wrongs that have been com-mitted on a vast number of Indianssome of which must be discussed atglobal forums. But much of the con-versations I overhear nowadays arenothing but imagined wrongs or worseall driven by a unmitigated hatred ofthe party in power or more directlyPrime Minister Narendra Modi.

The belief that badmouthing Indiais directly badmouthing the party inpower or the man in power throughcomplaining about India to a whiteaudience befuddled me.

Not to stretch the ‘I met a taxi dri-ver’ analogy particularly favoured byself-loathing Indians but there havebeen Americans, Europeans and evenChinese folks I have met recently who after hearing such a conversation ask what is the problemwith us Indians is and whether theIndian nation-state is on the verge ofcollapse.

Yes, there was a section ofNarendra Modi’s supporters who tookthe 2014 election victory as a seeming-ly cultural victory of ‘us’ over ‘them’ andit is a pity that the party has not reinedin some of the more extremist elementson the Hindu right. But there is also nodoubt that there has been even moreextreme selective outrage by so-called‘liberals’ who have come across asBrahmanical defenders of an outdated

ideology and believers in makingnoise on social media for self-servingpurposes.

Nobody wants to indulge inwhataboutery but the simple fact thatsome of these ‘liberals’ have bent overso much that their noses touch theground. Of course, the foreign readWestern media confined to the hypo-critical liberal outposts of Khan Market,Kala Ghoda and the Jaipur Literary

Festival laps up every word of negativ-ity.

In their own failing states, hearingabout India’s failures from a supposedfirst-person perspective they can neverget in China perhaps makes their read-ership feel good, forgetting the fact thatthe US elected a demagogue, theBritish voted to leave the EuropeanUnion and their populations are as suchmore nationalist/right-wing than mostIndians. But sharing stories of‘deplorables’ from across the world givesreports a fizz.

Self-loathing Indians are only toohappy to feed narratives that India-haters in the West want to build. Afavourite tactic is to flame-bait on socialmedia, saying something outrageousand then feigning hurt and threatswhen called out; such people are thetrolls too.

These are the people who had theear of the Indian state and now thattheir privileges have been taken awaythey are the very definition of ‘namak

haram’. They would happily sell out thenation for an American or British res-idency, but thanks to electoral forces inthose countries that revolted againsttheir own self-loathing individualsthat’s becoming increasingly difficult toachieve. So some ply their trade onsocial media or pretend to be comics.

The only way to deal with suchpeople is to either counter them, with-out resorting to the malice they use, orbetter still ignore them altogether.

There are problems in India and wehave to acknowledge them, and somewho take offence to any questionasked of this Government have tounderstand that. Have things changedin the past four years? Yes, they have.Have they changed as fast as someexpected? No, they haven’t. But thecourse has been set and expect the self-loathing Indian to get even louder inthe coming 11 months.

(The writer is Managing Editor,Special Projects, The Pioneer)

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The UN Human Rights Council(UNHCR) report on Kashmiris a tedious and wasted effort

of 49 pages masquerading as unbi-ased reportage. It has been rightful-ly slammed as ‘fallacious, tenden-tious and motivated’.

The timing of the release of thereport could not have been worse forits chroniclers as the very next day, theValley witnessed the coldbloodedkilling of the Editor-in-Chief of a localnewspaper, Rising Kashmir and histwo bodyguards, an abduction fol-lowed by the recovery of a bullet-rid-den body of an Indian Army soldier(hailing from Jammu & Kashmir) andthe usual pelting of stones on thevehicles of the security forces acrossthe Valley — this when theGovernment of India had unilateral-ly initiated a ceasefire of anti-terror-ist operations during Ramzan.

In a cruel twist of fate, amongstthe last retweets (attributed to hisown newspaper) that ShujaatBukhari sent was on ‘India rejectsUN report on Kashmir’! Whereas,there are two detailed sections with-in this UNHR Council report sub-titled “restriction on the right to free-dom of expression” and “reprisalsagainst human rights defenders andrestrictions on journalists” that cap-tures multiple incidents blamingthe State authorities (including per-versely, even mentioning ‘RisingKashmir’) but there is not a singlemention about the terrorists or theseparatists putting any sort of pres-sure on the media and freedom ofexpression. Ironically, the man underwhose aegis this contentious reportwas prepared, Prince Zeid bin RaadZeid al-Hussein (United NationsHigh Commissioner for HumanRights), is from within the monar-chial ‘establishment’ of Jordan.

He is not allowed to use the feu-dal prefix ‘Prince’ in the officialdomof the UN. The dynast from animperfect democracy like Jordanwas a controversial choice at the timeof appointment as his earlier votingrecord on issues during his tenure asJordan’s Ambassador to the UN wasreflective of his countries dubiousstand on blasphemy laws, defamationof religion etc that was in consonancewith the Organisation of IslamicCountries’ (OIC) position —theorganisation that also has a certainpredetermined view on Kashmir.

Prince Zeid’s subsequent overenthusiastic interventions into theaffairs of sovereign matters withoutthe know of full details had led theRussian Ambassador to the UNcomplain about him saying, “PrinceZeid is overstepping his limits fromtime to time and we’re unhappyabout it. He criticised a number ofheads of State, Government. Heshould stick to his file, which isimportant enough.”

It is believed that the UN

Secretary-General António Guterreshad to urge Prince Zeid to tone downhis enthusiasm on various issues andhis term ends this August, as he hasperhaps read the writing on the walland refused to stand for a reelection.Meanwhile, his swansong via thisKashmir report (the first ever reportof its type) has led to furious reac-tions across, especially when the titleof the report ostensibly covers threeregions — Kashmir, ‘Gilgit-Baltistan’and worse, ‘Azad Kashmir’ — andgives away a clearly biased predisposition.

The fact is that India is besetwith various socio-economic chal-lenges and often the reaction of thestate and its response to the same areeither sub-optimal or sometimesplain incorrect.

There are internal challengestoo like gender issues, minorityright issues, riparian issues, dalit andtribal rights, north-eastern integra-tion issues etc that often morph intoviolent reactions, protests and evenarmed insurgencies like the Maoistmovement.

However, these are not an outcome of a deliberate sovereign policy that wishes the diminution ofany region, sect, race or religion. Theconstitutional aspiration of India isproudly secular, democratic andunambiguous about various libertiesand rights that it seeks to provide toits citizens — that there are flaws inimplementations, inefficiencies andeven mistakes do not make

the sovereign guilty of willfullyplanned or the deliberate abuse of human rights.

Acts like the much commentedArmed Forces Special Powers Act(AFSPA) are not a privilege or enti-tlement for the security forces; theyare simply a practical necessity thatrecognises the reality of dealingwith armed terrorism.

Contrast this with having todeal with a neighbouring state thathas since its Independence, decidedto move towards Islamisation as astate definition, with a declaredhostile position on Kashmir and aninternationally acknowledged infamyas a supporter-financer-perpetratorof the terror instigator beyond itsborders. Shockingly, this HumanRights report even shies away fromusing the word terrorist or militantsto describe the macabre operativeswithin the Valley and prefers toaddress them as ‘a variety of armedgroup’.

While there is a section cap-tioned, “Abuses by armed group”, theHuman Rights report states thateven though India accuses that thesearmed groups are actively support-ed by Pakistan, it notes ‘theGovernment of Pakistan categorical-ly denies any allegation of involve-ment in stoking unrest in Indian-Administered Kashmir or of provid-ing support to armed groups oper-ating there’.

A substantially lesser wordage isspared for the section detailing the

region in the Pakistan-OccupiedKashmir (POK), and incredulouslyadvises the authorities in India to“ful ly respect the right of self-determination of the people ofKashmir as protected under interna-tional law.”

It further seeks to escalate theKashmir issue (something Pakistanhas been trying desperately in therecent past and failing) by recom-mending to the Human RightsCouncil to “the possible establish-ment of a commission of inquiry toconduct a comprehensive indepen-dent international investigation intoallegations of human rights viola-tions in Kashmir.”

The biased pontification in thisreport aside, India has plenty ofroom for improvement in its gover-nance, operational and law-makingprocesses. However, to insidiouslyattribute a sinister motive to theGovernment of India in its Kashmiragenda is, to pander to a very selec-tive view.

Surely, there are cases of excess-es committed by the security forcesand the same needs to be addressedon priority and the guilty brought tobook, as soon as possible, but suchcases are of individual or unit levelfailures and not part of a dark sov-ereign plan, as this report almostseeks to project and establish as thedefinite narrative of Kashmir.

(The writer, a military veteran, isa former Lt Governor of Andaman &Nicobar Islands, and Puducherry)

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In a major debt-reducingexercise, Reliance

Infrastructure Ltd (RelianceInfra) plans to sell its 100 percent stake in integratedMumbai power business toAdani Transmission Ltd (ATL)at an estimated Rs 18,800 crore,following an approval given itto it by the state-runMaharashtra ElectricityRegulatory Commission(MERC) to the proposed deal.

“Following the MERC’snod, the transaction is expect-ed to be closed in July 2018.MERC had concluded its hear-

ing into the matter andreserved its order on June 14,2018,” a Reliance Infraspokesperson said.

“Reliance Infra hasreceived the approval ofCompetition Commission ofIndia (CCI) and its share-hold-ers. The total considerationvalue of the deal is estimated at�18,800 crore,” the spokesper-son said.

Reliance Infra and ATLhad signed Definitive BindingAgreement for 100% stake saleof the integrated business ofgeneration, transmission anddistribution of power forMumbai in December 2017.

Reliance Infra will utilizethe proceeds of this transfor-mative transaction entirely toreduce its debt, becoming debtfree and up to �3,000 crore cashsurplus.

“This is the largest everdebt reducing exercise by anyCorporate. This monetisationis a major step in RelianceInfrastructure Ltd. deleveragingstrategy for future growth,” the

company spokesperson said.Reliance Infrastructure Ltd,

Mumbai Power business(known as Reliance Energy) isIndia’s largest private sectorintegrated power utility dis-tributing power to nearly 3 mil-lion residential, industrial andcommercial consumers in thesuburbs of Mumbai, coveringan area of 400 sq km.

It caters to a peak demandof over 1,800 MW, with annu-al revenues of Rs. 7,500 crorewith stable cash flows. Goingforward, Reliance InfrastructureLtd. will focus on upcomingopportunities in asset light EPCand Defence businesses.

Reliance Infra is one of thelargest infrastructure compa-nies, developing projectsthrough various SpecialPurpose Vehicles (SPVs) inseveral high growth sectorssuch as Power, Roads andMetro Rail in the Infrastructurespace and the Defence sector.

Reliance Infra is also a lead-ing utility company having pres-ence across the value chain ofpower businesses i.e.Generation, Transmission,Distribution and PowerTrading. Reliance InfrastructureLtd through its SPVs has exe-cuted a portfolio of infrastruc-ture projects such as a metro rail

project in Mumbai on build,own, operate and transfer(BOOT) basis; eleven road pro-jects with total length of about1,000 kms on build, operate andtransfer (BOT) basis.

Apart from providingEngineering, Procurement andConstruction (EPC) servicesfor developing power and roadprojects, Reliance Infra hasentered into the defence sector.The Maharashtra Governmenthas allotted land at Mihannear Nagpur for the develop-ment of India’s first smart cityfor the defence sector known asDhirubhai Ambani AerospacePark (DAAP).

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India’s largest port developerand part of Adani Group

APSEZ on Thursday said it hasinked a pact to acquire MarineInfrastructure Developer for�1,950 crore.

Marine InfrastructureDeveloper Private Limited(MIDPL) is the operator ofKattupalli Port. Of the�1,950 crore, Adani Ports andSpecial Economic ZoneLimited (APSEZ) will be pay-ing �1,562 crore towards set-tlement of dues of MIDPL.

“It has executed SharePurchase Agreement betweenLarsen and Toubro Limited,Marine Infrastructure DeveloperPrivate Limited, L&TShipbuilding Limited and AdaniKattupalli Port Private Limitedto acquire 97 per cent shares ofMarine Infrastructure DeveloperPrivate Limited (MIDPL).MIDPL is the developer andoperator of Kattupalli Port,”APSEZ said in a statement.

Kattupalli Port is one of themost modern ports in India,

emerging as new gateway forEXIM trade in Chennai /Bangalore region and providesa whole new dimension of ser-vices with speed and sophisti-cation, the company said.

“We are going to start ourconstruction to diversify thecargo of the port and will beadding 40 million tonne of newcapacity in next 3 years. We areconfident that with our superi-or infrastructure and efficienthandling of cargo we will be ableto reduce logistics cost of indus-tries in the region and be one of

the engines of growth,” APSEZCEO Karan Adani.MIDPL is engaged construc-tion, maintenance, develop-ment and operation ofKattupalli Port. The company islikely to complete the acquisi-tion in a week, APSEZ said.

The company in a regula-tory filing to the BSE said theacquisition will be “�1,950 croreenterprise value of which �388crore is the consideration for theacquisition of shares and the bal-ance �1,562 crore is towards set-tlement of liabilities of MIDPL”.

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Petroleum MinisterDharmendra Pradhan on

Thursday reacted cautiouslyto the US demand to stopcrude imports from Iran, say-ing the Government “will go bythe national interest”.

Oil imports from Iransurged to about 705,000 barrelsper day in May, the highestsince last October, according toindustry data, despite thethreats of fresh US sanctionsagainst Tehran after the USpresident Donald Trump hadon May 8 unilaterally withdrewfrom the nuclear deal that hispredecessor Obama had sewedup with Tehran.

In May the volume rose10.2 per cent over the previousmonth and about 45 per centover the same month last year.

While India is the secondlargest crude customer for Iran

behind China, Iran is the thirdlargest source of crude for thecountry after Iraq and SaudiArabia. It supplied 18.4 milliontonne crude in the April 2017-January 2018 period.

With around 200 millionbarrels per annum,India is thethird largest consumer of fos-sil fuels after the US and Chinaand is one of the few marketsthat has a steady demandgrowth.

“We will go by our owninterests,” Pradhan quippedcautiously when asked abouthis views on the latest USdirection to the Government tostop crude imports from Iranfrom November 4 or face eco-nomic sanctions.

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India is among the 5 countrieswhich are least vulnerable to

currency pressures amidstrengthening of the US dollar,because of low dependence onexternal capital inflows,Moody’s Investors Service saidon Thursday.

In a report on the impactof strengthening of the USdollar on other sovereigns, Moody’s said theappreciation of USD hasprompted a sharp currencydepreciation and/or a signifi-cant decline in forex reserves ina number of emerging andfrontier markets.

However, India, China,Brazil, Mexico and Russia areamong the “least vulnerable” tocurrency pressures, it said.

“Large savings channelledthrough the financial sectorallows these economies tolargely fund themselves domes-tically, thereby lowering expo-sure to volatile portfolio flows,”Moody’s said.

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To improve transparencyand credibility to the spot

price polling mechanism incommodities, Sebi has pro-posed to make it compulsoryfor exchanges to accredit anindependent polling agency

and bring such agency under itspurview.

The capital markets regu-lator has come out with a con-sultation paper on ways toenhance efficiency in thepolling methodology adoptedfor determination of spot pricefor commodities.

The availability of correct and transparent information about the spotprice of any commodity isessential for arriving at theexpected futures prices of thecommodity.

This is necessitated as anydivergence in the linkages

between the two prices couldlead to adverse impact on theprice in two markets —deriv-atives and spot, the regulatornoted.

Under the consultationpaper, Sebi has proposed tomake it compulsory forexchanges to accredit an inde-pendent polling agency forspot price polling, which cando the job independently for allthe exchanges on a specificcommodity.

“This is necessitatedbecause of the fact that the uni-verse of the polling participantsis limited and the same partic-ipants are being called manytimes in a day especially wheresame contract is listed on morethan one exchange or the sameparticipant deals in multiplecommodities.

“As a result, many a timesthese polling agents do notanswer the calls from theexchanges,” the regulator saidin the paper issued yesterday.

The Securities andExchange Board of India (Sebi)has proposed for uniformity inapproach amongst theexchanges on the process ofprice polling methodology.

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Pakistan’s former PrimeMinister Shahid Khaqan

Abbasi was on Thursday barredby an election tribunal fromcontesting the July 25 generalelection from Rawalpindi, a dayafter he was allowed to run fora seat from capital Islamabad.

Abbasi had filed nomina-tions for NA-53 Islamabad andNA-57 Rawalpindi seats.Initially, election officials hadrejected his nomination fromIslamabad but accepted his bidfrom Rawalpindi.

He had challenged his rejec-tion from the capital in a specialelection tribunal of theIslamabad High Court, where hisplea was accepted by judgeMohsin Akhtar Kayani onWednesday.

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German Chancellor AngelaMerkel warned on Thursday

that the migration challengecould determine Europe’s fate,hours ahead of a Brussels sum-mit where EU leaders are expect-ed to clash over the way forward.

“Europe has many chal-lenges but migration couldend up determining Europe’sdestiny,” she told German law-makers.

The path the EU choosescould decide if the bloc isviewed by others as a credibledefender of the values itespouses, she said.

Europe can decide to “over-come the challenge in a way thatpeople in Africa or elsewherebelieve that we are guided byour values, and that we take a

multilateral rather than a uni-lateral approach,” Merkel added.

The alternative wouldresult in a situation where “noone will believe in our valuesystem that has made us sostrong.” “That’s why the stakesare high,” said the Germanleader, who is also battling adomestic rebellion over herdecision in 2015 to openGermany’s borders to asylumseekers fleeing war and miseryin Syria, Iraq and elsewhere.

If a deal cannot be reachedbetween all 28 of the bloc,Merkel said that a compromisemust be found among “a coali-tion of the willing”.

But the guiding principle ofany accord must be multilater-al and must not put dispro-portionate weight on frontlinecountries, she stressed.

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President Xi Jinping has toldUS Defence Secretary James

Mattis that China will not con-cede “even an inch” of its terri-tory passed down from ances-tors, in an apparent reference tothe disputed South China Sea.

China is engaged in hotlycontested territorial disputes inboth the South China Sea(SCS) and the East China Sea(ECS). Beijing claims almost allof the SCS. Vietnam, thePhilippines, Malaysia, Bruneiand Taiwan have counterclaims over the vital transitroute for world trade.

The US views China’s mil-itarisation of the SCS a reasonof tension in the Sino-US ties.The US has been sending peri-odic air and naval expeditionsto assert its right of the freedomof the navigation in the areamost of which is claimed byChina.

During his meeting withMattis here on Wednesday, Xisaid China and the US shouldpromote the development ofbilateral ties based on the prin-ciple of mutual respect andwin-win cooperation.

“When we see commoninterests between China andthe US, we do not shy awayfrom differences. Our stance issteadfast and clear-cut when itcomes to China’s sovereigntyand territorial integrity,” hesaid, adding that “any inch ofterritory passed down fromancestors cannot be lost, whilewe want nothing from others.”

As an important part ofbilateral relations, Xi said, theUS and China military relationshave maintained a sound devel-opment momentum in therecent years.

“It has long been knownthat the real experts on militaryaffairs do not want to employmilitary means to solve issues,”

Xi was quoted as saying by thestate-run Xinhua news agency.

Asserting that Sino-USrelation is one of the mostimportant bilateral ties in theworld, the Chinese Presidentsaid, “The history and realitysince the establishment of bilat-eral diplomatic ties in nearly 40years have proved that thesound development of China-US ties can benefit people ofboth the countries and theworld, and is also conducive toworld and regional peace, sta-bility and prosperity.”

China and the US sharecommon interests in extensiveareas and common ground faroutweighs differences, he said.

“The Pacific Ocean is vastenough to accommodate Chinaand the US, as well as othercountries,” he said.

Xi’s comments to Mattiswas significant as the US DefenceSecretary is a strong advocate ofproactive US policy in the SouthChina Sea to contain China’sefforts to consolidate its hold byinstalling military bases on thereclaimed islands.

Mattis’ meeting with Xialso took place amid the spi-ralling tariff spat between USand China over PresidentDonald Trump’s demand torapidly reduce the USD 375 bil-lion trade deficit between thetwo countries.

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Pakistan has lifted a ban ona Sunni extremist outfit and

unblocked assets of its chief, ina surprise decision hours beforethe country was placed on the‘grey list’ by the FinancialAction Task Force for failing tocurb anti-terror financing.

The National Counter-Terrorism Authority (NACTA)yesterday issued a notificationto lift the ban on Ahl-e SunnatWal Jamaat (ASWJ) andunfreeze the assets of its chiefMaulana Ahmed Ludhianvi,the Express Tribune reported.

The notification was issuedon the recommendations of thePunjab province home depart-ment, the paper said.

Ludhianvi is the chief ofASWJ, a banned sectarianextremist group, formerlyknown as Sipah-e-Sahaba. Hebecame the group’s chief afterthe killing of his predecessor AliSher Haidri in a 2009 ambush.

In 1990s, the Sipah-e-Sahaba was actively involved ina number of high profile attackson scholars, mosques and gath-erings of the minority Shiacommunity. The groups wasbanned by the military dicta-tor General Pervez Musharrafin 2002. The group reemergedunder the name of ASWJ.

The Hague: Abu Dhabi onThursday called on Doha tostop “supporting terroristgroups and individuals” as itstrongly denied human rightsabuses against Qatari citizensbefore the UN’s top court.

The bitter Gulf crisis pit-ting Doha against its neigh-bours including the UnitedArab Emirates, Saudi Arabiaand Bahrain moved to theinternational courts yesterday,with Qatar accusing the UAE offostering an “environment ofhate” against its citizens.

But Abu Dhabi’s represen-tatives today fired back, sayingit cut relations with Qatar“because of its support for ter-rorism, its interference with theaffairs of its neighbours and itsdissemination of hate speech”.AFP

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US President Donald Trumpand his Russian counterpart

Vladimir Putin will hold theirfirst summit meeting on July 16in the Finnish capital Helsinki tomend bilateral relations, theWhite House and the Kremlinannounced on Thursday.

The summit will take placefour days after a NATO summiton July 11 and 12 in Brussels,Belgium, where Trump will meetleaders of US military allies.Trump plans to visit London tomeet British Prime MinisterTheresa May on July 13.

The two leaders “will meeton July 16, 2018, in Helsinki,Finland,” White House PressSecretary Sarah Sanders said.

“The two leaders will dis-cuss relations between theUnited States and Russia and arange of national security issues,”Sanders said in a statement.

In Moscow, the Kremlinpress service said Putin andTrump will discuss “the current

state and prospects of furtherdevelopment of Russian-USrelations and also vital issues ofthe international agenda.”

Putin and Trump held theirfirst talks on the sidelines of theG20 summit in Germany’sHamburg in July 2017. Theyhad another opportunity tohold negotiations during theAPEC summit in Vietnam inNovember 2017 but no full-fledged meeting took place.

The announcement of thedate and venue of the summitfollows a meeting betweenPresident Putin and USNational Security Adviser JohnBolton in Moscow yesterday.Putin’s adviser Yuri Ushakovhad said the two leaders willmeet in a third country.

The summit will includeone-on-one talks between thepresidents and conclude with ajoint news conference, Ushakovsaid, adding that the two lead-ers are expected to issue a jointstatement after their meeting.

“Both President Trump

and President Putin feel that it’simportant for these two lead-ers of these two criticallyimportant countries to gettogether and discuss theirmutual problems and areas ofco-operation,” Bolton said.

“It’s something that I thinkboth feel will contribute toimprovements in the US-Russiabilateral relationship and in sta-bility around the world,” headded.

President Putin said hismeeting with Bolton had raisedhopes for a full restoration ofrelations, which he admittedwere not in the best of shape.

Putin insisted Moscow hadnever sought confrontationand that, in his view, the poorstate of relations was a result offierce political confrontationinside the US itself.

Relations betweenWashington and Moscow havehit lows not seen since the ColdWar over Russia’s annexation ofCrimea as well as disagreementover the Syrian conflict.

Peshawar: For the first time inthe history of Pakistan, the179th death anniversary ofMaharaja Ranjeet Singh, theleader of the Sikh Empire, wasobserved at the historicBalahisar Fort here.

The anniversary last eveningwas largely attended by the mem-bers of the Sikh community at thefort, which now serves as theheadquarters of Frontier Corps(FC) Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa.

Singh was born inGujranwala, undivided India,on November 13, 1780 and diedon June 27, 1839 in Lahore.

Special prayers wereoffered for peace in Pakistan onthe occasion. Sikh leaderGorpal Singh said that specialpermission was sought fromInspector General of the FC forobserving the anniversary inthe fort premises. PTI

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She straddles the East-West divide with an ease that comestogether in the combination of Indian classical dance with

Western rap. And this amalgam is visible in the US bornsinger Raja Kumari’s new song I Did It which hit YouTubelast week and instantly went viral. Dedicating it to her fans,she tells us, “I created this song for my fans who wanted todance with me. I’m a dancer first, so it was exciting to cre-ate a true fusion of sounds. I always wanted to set classicaldance within hip hop beats. I feel like we achieved this.” Ifyou have missed it, then you certainly haven’t missed theAllah Duhai Hai number in Race 3.

She performs a mix of Indian ethnic dance forms andhip hop. Sung in English, she can be seen performing kathak,while the Indian taals (beats) can be heard in the back-ground.

The songwriter and rapper is best known for her col-laboration with artists including Gwen Stefani, Iggy Azalea,Fifth Harmony, Knife Party and Fall Out Boy while her solosongs on YouTube are unique. “Music has always been a hugepart of my life. I wanted to find a way to have fun every dayand music was always that escape for me”, Raja Kumari says.The West Coast hip hop and rap influence was commonground for her. She became a household name in India, espe-cially after the song City Slums (featuring Divine) which hassuccessfully amassed 7.6 million views on YouTube. “I’vehad some incredible experiences in life. I can never forgetthe feeling of performing City Slums for the first time at NH-7. It was the first time I stepped on stage in India and expe-riencing the love of the people was an incredible feeling,”she adds.

What makes her songs stand out is the ways she blendsgenres. Mixing the music traditions of two different coun-tries also helps in bridging the gap between them. She says,“I believe I am the bridge. I want to open the door for cul-tural exchange and want to see an Indian person impact-ing pop culture worldwide.” She is very passionate aboutmusic and was nominated for a Grammy award in 2015.

Though she grew up in America, the Indian in her wasalways alive and kicking thanks to her parents. She empha-sises, “I credit my parents for raising me with a deep respectand love for my culture. They always made me proud to beIndian and made sure I knew my roots.” Unlike some NRIswho force their children to be doctors and engineers, RajaKumari’s parents were supportive of her and satisfied withwhatever made her happy. Her academic choice was pio-neering too. She studied ancient religious studies and tookcomparative religious studies in college. She has a degreein ancient Indian history and studied Sanskrit besides threeclassical dance styles. “I did my arangetrams in differentstyles. I’ve dedicated my life to study Indian culture,” sheadds.

Despite supportive parents, she did face some obstaclesat at other fronts. Surmounting them, she says, “It is alwaysdifficult to blaze your own trail. Being a woman in a male-dominated arena is a challenge but I welcome it.”

I Did It has already won millions of hearts and has gainedover 300K YouTube views and because of its uniqueness thefigures will continue to rise. Talking about her future plans,she says, “I don’t limit myself. I want to lend my voice towhatever makes to my brand. Right now, I’m in Los Angelesworking on my new EP. I love Bollywood and would loveto get more involved.”

Actor Sanjay Dutt says spend-ing days in prison broke hisego but made him a better

person. “My confinement dayshave been nothing less than aroller coaster ride. To look at thepositive side, it has taught me a lotand made me a better individual,”Sanjay said in a statement.

“Staying away from my familyand my loved ones was a challenge.During those days, I learnt how tokeep my body in perfect shape,used trash cans and mud pots inplace of weights and dumbbells. Wealso used to have a cultural func-tion every six months in jail whereI taught convicts serving out lifesentences to mouth dialogues, sing,

dance and express themselvesthrough skits. These peoplebecame my family during the

hard times and came to encourageme when I was giving up,” headded.

Sanjay, who had made a rock-ing debut in Bollywood with Rockyin 1981, put his personal life injeopardy through drug addiction,and his life took a turn for theworse when he was arrested for ille-gal possession of weapons andwas convicted.

The actor, 58, was arrested forillegal possession of arms in a caserelated to the 1993 Mumbai serialblasts, in which over 250 peoplewere killed and several hundredwere injured.

Sanjay’s fans will get to see aglimpse of his life with RajkumarHirani's film Sanju, in which

Ranbir Kapoor will be seen livinghis life. A particular scene in thetrailer had in fact shown Ranbir ina helpless state due to an overflow-ing toilet in jail. The scene hasreportedly been deleted from thefilm.

A father of three, Sanjay says thecourt battle definitely transformedhim as a person. “The time I spentin jail made me realise a lot ofthings. It broke my ego,” Sanjay said.

It was in February 2016 that

Sanjay walked out of jail complet-ing his prison-term for illegal pos-session of arms.

Recounting the moment, hesaid, “The day I was released afterthe final verdict, it was the happi-est moment of my life. I was miss-ing my father (Sunil Dutt). I wishhe was alive to see me free... hewould have been the happiest per-son. We should never forget ourfamily, they are the pillar ofstrength always.” —IANS

When one thinks of the horrorgenre, one pictures an old

haveli, creaking doors, a racingheart and jump scares. But there aremany who are moving away fromthe traditional plotlines in the genreand mixing comedy, drama andromance to it. The deviations differdepending on the culture of the landin which the movie or TV show ismade in. India, for instance, hasused the trope of a tantric cursinglead characters multiple times.

A new TV show withKarishma Tanna called QayamathKi Raat has ventured into thesame space yet again but it includeselements of romance and thriller aswell. She believes that this new TVshow, which started on June 23, isnot over-the-top dramatic and theacting is natural, which grabbedher attention and prompted her totake it up. “It has strong contentand it was being produced byBalaji which firmed up my resolveto go for it. I know this serial fallsmore in the supernatural zonebut the content is good and thecharacter is challenging. Moreover,this is unlike other serials since itis a finite one-hour show. Everyweekend, you’ll find something dif-ferent,” she says.

Tanna has previously done acameo in Naagin 3 and VivekDahiya, the male lead, has acted ina supernatural themed showKavach. The current show isinspired by South Indian horrormovies like Arundhati and theRamsay brothers. “It takes a lot ofemotions when you do a fantasythriller. You need a lot of energybecause you need to act scared.There is rain and dust. It is not a reg-ular daily soap where the girl is look-ing very pretty all the time but thereare dreamy scenes as well. I wouldlove to do shows also if the contentis good but this I chose because itdemanded a very energetic perfor-mance.”

Tanna will also be seen in theRanbir Kapoor-starrer Sanju whichreleases today and it is believed thatshe will play Madhuri Dixit in theSanjay Dutt biopic.

Briggs Automotive Company(BAC) based in Liverpool has

become the first car manufactur-er in the world to go “climate-positive,” setting a new industry

standard for climate action.Becoming climate-positive

means that BAC will con-tribute to the removal ofmore carbon dioxidefrom the atmospherethan it emits.

To deliver on itscommitment to pro-tect the environ-ment, the makerof the world-

famous Monosupercar has part-

nered with thePoseidon Foundation.Poseidon gives individ-uals, organisations andgovernments theopportunity to rebal-ance their carbonfootprint by support-

ing forestry conservation pro-jects around the world usingblockchain technology.

As the manufacturer of theworld’s only single-seater, road-legal supercar used primarily toenjoy the sport of driving in itspurest form, BAC is taking mea-sures to ensure that current andfuture customers are offered theopportunity to do their bit for theenvironment.

With immediate effect, BACwill rebalance the climate impactof its operations; namely the pro-duction and distribution of theMono supercar worldwide.

Whenever a BAC customer com-pletes a transaction — from pur-chasing to servicing a Mono —they will be offered the opportu-nity to make an additional contri-bution through Poseidon’s plat-form which goes directly towardsforest conservation. It is BAC’s aimto drive behavioural change in theautomotive sector by engaging itscustomers in climate action.

With the help of Poseidon,BAC will contribute to forestconservation projects around theworld. One such project lies inPeru’s Cordillera Azul NationalPark, which is home to 6,000 plant

species, 11 endangered largemammals and where the averagetree is over 400 years old. Effortsto conserve forests are incrediblyeffective because trees act as car-bon sponges, providing a naturalsolution to climate change.

BAC developed the firsthybrid carbon-composite wheelsand body panels made from inno-vative material graphene. Thepartnership with Poseidon seesBAC lead the car industry on anenvironmental level, too.

Ian Briggs, BAC Co-Founderand Design Director, said, “We areabsolutely delighted to team up

with Poseidon and take thisimportant step towards becominga climate-positive manufacturer.We already implement measuresthat reduce our carbon footprint;through our UK-based supplychain, using lighter weight mate-rials and a higher grade of mate-rial in a more efficient way – andworking with Poseidon will allowus to protect the environmenteven more.

“At BAC, we are totally com-mitted to embracing new technol-ogy and are devoted to designingand developing more and morecarbon-friendly products as tech-

nological advancements are made.As time goes on, BAC will worktowards producing climate-posi-tive products and setting furtherenvironmental examples in theautomotive world.”

Laszlo Giricz, founder andCEO of Poseidon, added: “Weare thrilled to be partneringwith BAC who, like us, believethat innovation is key to chang-ing the world. If we don’t domore to change global behav-iours, we will exceed the 1.5°Climit set by the Paris agreementby 2027. It is imperative that wework together to address human-ity’s carbon impact and put a haltto climate change.”

The Mayor of Liverpool JoeAnderson, who is leading a pro-gramme to cut the city’s carbonemissions by 35 per cent by 2020,said, “I’m delighted that BAC isleading the way by using this cut-ting-edge technology. I’ve nodoubt this approach will have arevolutionary impact on themotor industry and once againunderlines Liverpool’s fabulouslyrich track record for innovationand its position as one of the UK’smost progressive cities in tacklingclimate change. We are whollycommitted to supporting privatecompanies that are making a realenvironmental difference andhope this innovative partnershipbetween BAC and Poseidon is thefirst of many such projects in theregion.”

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Rouge walls mounted withblack and white photos offood make for a striking

contrast, primarily because thedelicious platters show up pureand simple without the obfus-cating palette of colours. My gazethen wanders to the sofas thatmatch the wall and bring togeth-er an effect of understated lux-ury and minimalism that far-Oriental designs are known for.The Triple8 Restaurant and Bar,a pan-Asian restaurant at AnsalPlaza, which has come up as aneating hangout, is split over twolevels — the lower one beingideal for those looking for aquick drink with friends and thefirst floor with a more plush andcomfortable set-up being justright for family get-togethers.

But there is more that makesthe restaurant well worth a visit.Chef Vivek Rana, corporateexecutive chef at the restaurant,who has worked across the globewith brands such as TamaraiLondon, Indian Accent, NewYork and the Oberoi, informs usthat there is a lot of emphasis onusing the right ingredients,which may not necessarily beexotic. “We do not believe inimporting everything, ratherthe quality is the key. Of course,we do get some ingredientsfrom abroad but in case there issomething better available here,we switch to that. Gucchi mush-rooms from Kashmir are freshand have a great taste, so we pre-fer to use those. Similarly insteadof using Szechuan pepper, thereis one which is locally availablewhich gives a punch and a greatflavour, so I include that in myChinese dishes.”

Having heard him at length,we decided to dive straight intothe dishes. The amuse bouchechanges everyday and on thenight that we dine here, it isMince corn soup withcaramelised onion andnuts. The soup is of asmooth consistencyand makes for a goodopening. The taste ofthe corn is balancedwell and does notoverpower the palate.

This is followedby Five spice goat brain,which has a crunchycovering on the outsidefor it has been batter-fried.Though I am no fan of brainas it makes me feel queasy, this

bite-sized offering is agood place to beginwith, a complex androbust bouquetcouched in a luscious,soft core.

The Herb tofu rollwith green apple relish

that follows gets theflavours just right. Moist

on the inside, crisp on theoutside, its flavour profile gets

enhanced by a sweet relish with

its refreshing kick. Next on the line are dim-

sums, both vegetarian and non-vegetarian. While the Chickendimsum in black bean chilli wasaverage, it was the vegetarianoption, the Edamame andHimalayan morels dimsum,which was a revelation and sec-onded the chef ’s claim of usingingredients on the basis of qual-ity. The flavours, though com-plex, are clean at the same time

and one can taste each of themdistinctly.

Next up is another starter, aCheese and corn spring roll. Thecombination of cheese and corn,though classic, has seldom beencompacted in a spring roll,redefining morsel snacks thatcan be had over conversations.I am quite full even though Ihave yet to sample the maincourse which consisted ofShredded chicken long beans,black bean chilli which is to beeaten with Pad Thai noodles withvegetables and Lamb shankMalacca paired with FriedMantao bun. While I like noo-dles, my choice of meat is alwaysmutton rather than chicken. But

here, I have to admit, the shred-ded chicken is the winner, fol-lowed closely on the heels by thelamb. What makes the chickenstand out is the perfect balanceof flavours where the shreds aredone just right, the beans givinga herby fullness and the blackbean chilli making for a perfectbase.

Since I was born with asweet tooth, I decide to indulgein two desserts. The Palm jaggeryice cream reminds me of Nolengur sondesh, a winter Bengalispeciality that is a favourite.But it is the more nuanced NightMarket custard bun with yuzucream and condensed milk driz-zle which is certainly the high-light of the evening and I can goback to the restaurant just forthat. The flavour of the yuzulemons in the cream is a perfectfoil for the sweetness of the con-densed milk. And combinedwith the soft and fluffy buns, itleaves the perfect aftertaste.

Walking up the narrow flight of stairs,you will find yourself getting trans-

ported to a small Irish bar with exposed brickwalls. The Tipsy Elephant, located in theheart of Connaught Place, is the quirkiestresto-bar in town. Although the décorderives much of its inspiration from afreestyle Irish bar, it stays true to its name.From the colourful elephant caricatures andgraffiti on the walls to elephant-shaped tablemats and Edison bulbs hanging down theceiling, the ambience is truly millennial.

“We named this place The TipsyElephant because happy and high are howwe want the people and the environmentto be. And the significance of an elephantis that it is the only mammal with the high-est retention capacity of liquid. Hence thename”, says Ishant, the manager of the resto-bar. He further adds that, “the 14 signaturedrinks that the bar offers among otherdrinks, are guaranteed to transport you toanother plane.”

Among the signature cocktails, welike Thandai Colada, which as the namesuggests, is a combination of thandai withPina Colada. It may sound bizarre but it’sa match made in heaven. As the FIFA WorldCup season reigns supreme, the bar offersa special cocktail menu featuring threecocktails — Don’t MESSI with me, VodkaNEYMAR dala and just RONALDO it. Don’tMESSI with me is served in a big bowl andis basically made of a Jamaican vanilla syrupwith vodka. It undeniably tastes like a boozyfruit custard.

The resto-bar deals in a variety ofcuisines — Oriental, Thai, Mediterranean,

Italian, American — served with a desitwist, catering to the Indian palate. Astempting as the food sounds on the menu,it looks like a work of art presented on aplatter. From the variety of mouth-water-ing starters, they lay out dim sums and fin-ger foods. The Prawn Hargow is sumptu-ous but the three dipping sauces — a tangysoy sauce, a fried garlic sauce and a chilligarlic sauce — do the trick. Next up are theTipsy Chicken Wings. They might sound likeany other chicken wings in the world butthey come with a surprise element, toppedwith dollops of aam-panna mayonnaise.You will be transported straight from Texasto northern India but won’t feel mis-matched.

The main course offers a sumptuousvariety of vegetarian and non-vegetariandishes like the tri-colour pizza, cottagecheese skewers with smoky hot sauce andthe chicken steak with brown/teriyakisauce. The last we like because the chick-en is succulent, not dry, and rests on a clas-sic brown sauce made with chicken broth.The buttery basil and rosemary mashedpotatoes and boiled vegetables give the veg-gie cushion that you do spoon into ratherthan tossing it aside. We sign off with adecadent hot chocolate brownie served ona hot sizzler plate topped with vanilla icecream. A timeless classic.

The Tipsy Elephant very much promis-es to keep one engaged, enveloping thewhole place with euphoric music, sump-tuous plates of food and vibrant interiors.One for familiar indulgences on a gamenight.

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Switzerland moved through tothe World Cup last 16, after

a draw over Costa Rica but willbe without captain StephanLichtsteiner because of suspen-sion.

A 93rd minute own goal bythe unfortunate keeper YannSommer from a Bryan Ruizpenalty gave the centralAmerican side a deserved 2-2draw on a night of late drama inNizhny Novgorod.

That wiped out a Swiss leadwhich had lasted only two min-utes after substitute Josep Drmicslotted home to apparently givethe Swiss an undeserved victo-ry.

Earlier Blerim Dzemaili hadthumped home in the first halfto give Switzerland the leadagainst the run-of-play in the31st minute against the teamwho finished bottom of GroupE.

That goal was cancelled outby Kendall Waston's header inthe 56th minute, the central

Americans first goal of the tour-nament.

The draw ensuredSwitzerland finished second inthe group behind Brazil.

But Switzerland will be leftcounting the cost after yellowcards for experienced defendersLichtsteiner and Fabian Schaermeans they will miss the gameagainst Sweden in SaintPetersburg on July 3.

Lichtsteiner received a yel-

low card for a late tackle onDaniel Colindres in the 37thminute.

It was the Arsenal player'ssecond yellow of the tournamentafter being booked in the open-ing game against Brazil.

He was one of three playerswho had escaped a ban goinginto the match after the contro-versial "double eagle" goal cele-brations in the fevered 2-1 vic-tory over Serbia.

Then late on Schaer alsoreceived his second yellow cardof the tournament, also rulinghim out of the Sweden match.

Switzerland took the leadwhen Dzemaili emphaticallyconverted from close range aftera fine headed knock-down byBreel Embolo.

It was the only goalSwitzerland have so far scored inthe first-half at the tournament.

The goal was harsh onCosta Rica after a frantic startsaw them go close on severaloccasions, hitting the post andbar.

Four minutes laterColindres hit the bar with a fineshot which beat the excellentSommer but hit the bar.Campbell and Oviedo also wentclose as the Costa Ricans dom-inated.

But finally they wererewarded by defender Waston'sheader from a second-half cor-ner. The goal ensured that CostaRica would not be the only teamwho did not score at this WorldCup.

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South Korean fans rejoiced onThursday and called for nation-

al service exemptions after theirteam went out of the World Cup ina blaze of glory, eliminating defend-ing champions Germany with ashock 2-0 victory.

In one of the great World Cupupsets, Kim Young-gwon and SonHeung-min both scored in injurytime to condemn footballing super-power Germany to their first open-ing-round exit in 80 years.

South Korea were pelted withtoffees, a Korean insult, when theyreturned winless from Brazil 2014and although they again leaveearly, after defeats to Mexico andSweden, they finished aboveGermany on goal difference inGroup F.

"We didn't make it to theround of 16... But we sent the worldnumber one packing," said a head-line in Seoul's major Dong-A daily.

"We are so proud of you," thenewspaper said on its front page,adding the game "shook SouthKorea upside down".

Germany went into the gameknowing that a win by two cleargoals would have seen them intothe last 16. But instead it wasSweden and Mexico who advancedafter the Scandinavians romped toa 3-0 win in the group's othermatch.

The Taeguk Warriors, semi-finalists in 2002, brought thedefending champions "down withthem", Yonhap news agency said,adding that Germany "unceremo-

niously bowed out of the tourna-ment".

South Korean social mediawere flooded by tens of thousandsof messages from fans expressingjoy and astonishment over a victorythat had seemed utterly implausi-ble before the match.

"This is far more shocking thanour advance to the semi-final at the2002 World Cup," one commentersaid.

"Who cares we won't make itto the round of 16? We defeatedGermany, the world number one!"added another.

"It was an honourable exit."Prime Minister Lee Nak-yeon

joined them, tweeting onThursday: "Reality beat our imag-ination today" and praising theSouth Korean footballers.

�" �� #91,ABA

Portugal defender Bruno Alves saidSaturday's World Cup last-16 clash

with Uruguay will be more than simplya battle between Cristiano Ronaldo andLuis Suarez.

The European champions will faceUruguay in Sochi for a place in the quar-ter-finals after finishing as runners-upbehind Spain in Group B.

Uruguay won all three of their groupmatches, beating hosts Russia 3-0 in theirlast outing, and are the only team yet toconcede a goal at the tournament.

Real Madrid forward Ronaldo hasscored four of Portugal's five goals so far,while Barcelona star Suarez netted againstSaudi Arabia and Russia.

"I don't think it will be a duelbetween Suarez and Ronaldo," Alves saidon Thursday. "It's a match between thetwo teams, Portugal and Uruguay, andwe'll do everything we can to win."

Portugal survived a late scare againstIran on Monday, as Ronaldo missed apenalty and was fortunate to escape a redcard for an elbow.

"At this stage we still believe we haveroom for improvement," Alves said.

"I think we will win, but you can't for-get you can only win if you play well andI think we'll play well." The 36-year-oldAlves is at his third World Cup, althoughthe Rangers centre-back has yet to make

an appearance in Russia."I feel that we're always highly moti-

vated. I think all of us have come here toplay and when our moment comes wewill be ready for it to help Portugal win,"he said.

"I think this Portugal team is readyfor everything. We've shown we have thechance to win and if we keep it up thisway I think we'll be successful. There aredifficult games in store for us though."

Portugal have not lost a competitivematch with Ronaldo in the side since the2014 World Cup, although they werebeaten on penalties by Chile at last year'sConfederations Cup.

Alves sounded a note of caution fol-lowing the departure of defending cham-pions Germany.

"Everybody can see that in thisWorld Cup there are no easy games,"Alves said. "Germany's fatemade it clear what can happen to anystrong team." Uruguay are hopeful JoseMaria Gimenez will return from injuryto resume his centre-back partnershipwith Atletico Madrid team-mate DiegoGodin.

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Brazil conjured the opener from noth-ing when a beautifully lofted pass fromPhilippe Coutinho found Paulinho, whoflicked the ball over Stojkovic's reach on 36minutes to make it 1-0 at the break.

Serbia repeatedly struggled to containBrazil's fleet-footed attack.

Manchester United midfielder NemanjaMatic was the next Serbian midfielder to bebooked when he fouled Manchester City starGabriel Jesus on 48 minutes.

Serbia's brightest spell came with half anhour left, only to be let down by poor fin-ishing.

Ljajic stumbled to take a return pass aftera charging run into Brazil's box and thenfired over shortly after.

Then with his defence beaten, Brazilgoalkeeper Alisson palmed a save straightat Aleksandar Mitrovic, but the Serbia for-ward could only head the ball back into thegrateful arms of the Brazilian shotstopper.

To cap Serbia's frustrations, SergejMilinkovic-Savic fired wide, then Mitrovicguided a powerful header straight at Alissonfrom a corner.

However, Brazil made sure of the winwhen Neymar swung in a free-kick and hisParis Saint-Germain team-mate Thiagocrashed home his header, unmarked at thenear post, on 68 minutes.

With one eye on the last 16, Tite tookoff Countinho with ten minutes left whileNeymar twice went close to scoring theSelecao's third late on, but the Brazil coachcan be happy with his star forward.

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Brazil eased into the World Cupknockout stages after defeatingSerbia 2-0 here, with superstar

Neymar sparkling in a win which setsup a last 16 clash against Mexico.

Paulinho put Brazil ahead with asuperb dinked finish on 36 minutesbefore Neymar swung in a cross forThiago Silva to header the Selecao's sec-ond goal with 22 minutes left inMoscow.

Having opened his Russia 2018account with the second of Brazil's twolate goals in Friday's 2-0 win over CostaRica, Neymar was again impressive onWednesday.

After the tearful emotion of SaintPetersburg, Neymar cut a more joyfulfigure after this win, blowing kisses tothe crowd as the five-time championscelebrated.

As Group E winners, Brazil willnow face Mexico in Samara on Monday,with group runners-up Switzerlandtaking on Sweden in St Petersburg onTuesday.

In the pre-match build-up Brazilcoach Tite said Neymar alone can not"shoulder the responsibility" for histeam's World Cup hopes.

However, the 26-year-old seemedcontent to carry Brazil's attack, motor-ing through Serbia's midfield andcrashing an early shot just wide of thepost.

The match at Moscow's SpartakStadium began at a ferocious tempo andBrazil left-back Marcelo was an earlycasualty, limping off after ten minutesto be replaced by Filipe Luis.

Neymar had the best chance of theopening half hour when he forcedSerbia goalkeeper Vladimir Stojkovic topalm his shot away.

Tempers frayed when Serbia mid-fielder Adem Ljajic scythed downNeymar, in full flight on the left flank,to earn a booking on 33 minutes.

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Amid a crescendo of boos and whistles as nei-ther side tried to score, Japan advanced tothe knockout round at the World Cup

because of a newly implemented tiebreaker — feweryellow cards.

The Japanese, barely playing for the final 15minutes of the match, lost to Poland 1-0 onThursday. But they still reached the round of 16because Colombia beat Senegal 1-0 in the otherGroup H match.

Both Japan and Senegal finished the groupphase with four points, had the same goal differ-ence and the same amount of goals scored.Starting at this year's tournament, disciplinaryrecords — known as fair play — were added by FIFAas a tiebreaker.

Japan had four yellow cards in their three groupmatches while Senegal had six. Both were even onpoints, goal difference, goals scored, and they tiedin their head-to-head meeting. If FIFA had notadded the fair play tiebreaker for this World Cup,a draw of lots would have determined which wouldadvance.

It's the first time since 1982 that no African teamhas advanced from the first round at the World Cup.

Poland, which had already been eliminated, gottheir goal from defender Jan Bednarek in the 59thminute. He beat his marker at the far post andvolleyed in a swerving free kick from RafalKurzawa.

When Bednarek scored, Japan were facing elim-ination. However, Colombia's goal in the 74thminute against Senegal meant Japan were in sec-ond place and would advance.

As the game continued, it barely got above walk-ing pace, prompting many inside the VolgogradArena to show their displeasure by whistling andbooing. During injury time, Japan's players softlypassed the ball among themselves, while their Polishopponents barely made an effort, content to fin-ish the tournament with a victory after two loss-es.

Japan coach Akira Nishino made six changesto the starting lineup — all four of Japan's scorersin the previous two games were left on the bench.

Poland had an early chance to take the lead in

the 32nd minute when Japan goalkeeper EijiKawashima stopped a header from Kamil Grosicki.Scampering across his goal before diving,Kawashima clawed the ball to safety just before ithad crossed the line.

Robert Lewandowski then had a chance to putPoland ahead 2-0 — a result that would haveallowed Senegal to advance — in the 74th minuteafter a swift counterattack but his effort flew overthe bar.

�� Japan will next face the winner of Group G,

either Belgium or England, on Monday in Rostov-on-Don. Colombia, which won the group with sixpoints, will play the second place team in that groupon Tuesday in Moscow.

�#��#��Here's how FIFA decides who gets to keep play-

ing when teams tie on points:a) Best goal difference;b) Most goals scored;c) Points from head-to-head games between

the teams involved;d) If more than two teams are tied, best goal

difference from matches between the teamsinvolved;

e) Most goals scored in all matches betweenthe teams concerned;

f) Fewest points deducted based on yellow andred cards received in all group matches, as follows:a 1-point deduction for a yellow card, a 3-pointdeduction for a red card issued as a result of a sec-ond yellow, a 4-point deduction for a straight red,and a 5-point deduction for a straight red issuedafter a yellow card.

The Union of European Football Associations(UEFA) has used the disciplinary points rule forseveral years, but FIFA just introduced in 2016. Thisis the first time it's been used in a World Cup.

g) Drawing of lots by FIFA.The only time FIFA has ever drawn lots to

break a tie in a World Cup group was in 1990 inItaly, when Ireland and the Netherlands tied for sec-ond place in their group. The Dutch wound upthird, but both teams had already advancedunder the 24-team format in place at the time.

� ��)1�191

Yerry Mina leapt high abovedefenders to score on a header in

the 74th minute and Colombia defeat-ed Senegal 1-0 on Thursday toadvance to the World Cup knockoutstage. Senegal became the first teamever eliminated by a new tiebreaker— number of yellow cards.

Colombia, which reached thequarterfinals four years ago in Brazil,finished atop their group and are thefourth South American team toadvance. Senegal's elimination meansall five African teams are eliminated.

Colombia are the only team inRussia to lose their opener — 2-1 toJapan — and make it to the round of16. The Colombians appeared as toregain form with a 3-0 victory overPoland. James Rodriguez, the BayernMunich star who was a substitute inthe team's opener because of a calfinjury, set up two goals in that match.

But Colombia's hopes appeared

diminished when Rodriguez wasreplace by Luis Muriel because of anapparent injury in the 31st minuteagainst Senegal. Teammate Radamel

Falcao patted him on the back sym-pathetically as he headed to the side-line.

Rodriguez returned to the team

bench in the second half, in time tosee Mina's header that gave Colombiathe lead.

Mina, 6-foot-5 (1.95 meters),leapt above a pair of Senegalesedefenders to head the ball hard off theground and off Senegal goalkeeperKhadim Ndiaye's hand, sending theenthusiastic Colombian fans atSamara Stadium into a frenzy.

Senegal kept trying to get a goalthat would have sent it to the nextround, but Colombia defended well.

Video review was used in the 18thminute when Colombia's DavinsonSanchez tackled charging forwardSadio Mane.

The referee originally gaveSenegal the penalty kick, but thereview went in Colombia's favor.

Carlos Sanchez returned to LosCafeteros after sitting a one-matchsuspension of a red card just threeminutes into the opener. Sanchezreceived criticisms and a death threat,which is being investigated by

Colombian authorities. It referencedthe murder of Colombian defenderAndres Escobar following an own-goal at the 1994 World Cup.

Senegal opened the tournament inRussia with a 2-1 victory over Polandand followed that with a disappoint-ing 2-2 draw against Japan.

Senegal's last appearance in theWorld Cup came in 2002, when theteam reached the quarterfinals.Current coach Aliou Cisse was thecaptain of that squad.

��#��Colombia midfielder Abel Aguilar

was unavailable after he was injuredand taken off the field on a stretcherin the first half against Poland. MateusUribe took his place in that match andstarted against Senegal.

Coach Jose Pekerman would notsay when or if Aguilar might returnduring the tournament, but said theleft adductor injury was not as seri-ous as feared.

�" �� @91�#@(9,�1��1�

Germany's coach Joachim Loewtoday acknowledged that far-

reaching changes were neededafter the Mannschaft's shock exitfrom the World Cup, adding thathe needs some time to consider hisfuture with the team.

"The Mannschaft did notdemonstrate what it can usuallydo," he said at Frankfurt airport asthe humiliated team arrived homeafter finishing at the bottom of thetable in the group stages.

"As coach, I bear the respon-sibility and must of course askmyself why we didn't succeed.That will require a bit of time, andwe will hold talks about it," headded.

But the coach stressed that"with the elimination, with thedeep disappointment that we haveexperienced, we now need to thinkabout which are the correct mea-sures to take".

"We need far-reaching mea-sures, we need clear changes. We'llneed to talk about how we'll dothat," he added.

After 12 golden years in charge

crowned by the 2014 World Cupwin in Brazil, Loew is under fire asa dismayed Germany question if hehas placed his faith in too manyformer stars past their prime.

The daiy FrankfurterAllgemeine Zeitung said onlyLoew's departure could giveGermany the "new start" it need-ed.

�" �� A)0A�

Antoine Griezmann lit up Euro 2016 asFrance reached the final on home soil,

but a series of stuttering performances atthe World Cup have set alarm bells ring-ing ahead of a last-16 meeting withArgentina's Lionel Messi.

The Atletico Madrid striker looked farshort of his best during the group stage,failing to complete a full 90 minutes in anyof France's first three games.

Olivier Giroud suggested Griezmannwas not at his physical peak after a longseason in which he made a combined 60appearances for club and country, culmi-nating with victory in the Europa Leaguefinal.

His teammates have rallied aroundhim, led by Paul Pogba, a player subject-ed to his own fair share of criticism inrecent months.

"Don't touch my Grizou," Pogba saidwith a smile last week. "You've forgottenthe Euro."

A tired Griezmann also made a slug-gish start at the European Championship,toiling initially before making his markwith a late goal in the 2-0 group win overAlbania.

He led the French charge from thatpoint onwards, scoring five of his six goalsin the knockout rounds to finish as thetournament's top marksman.

"Just because he didn't score in the last

match doesn't mean he's not the sameGrizou," Pogba said after the 1-0 win overPeru.

Griezmann himself admitted he washoping for more as a vastly talented Franceside attempt to fulfil their potential inRussia.

"I hope to raise my level again in thelast 16," he told French television follow-ing the turgid 0-0 draw with Denmark.

"It was the same at the Euro. It was-n't until the last 16 that I hit my stride.So we'll see. I have confidence in my

game."Griezmann's decision to pledge his

future to Atletico, despite strong interestfrom Barcelona, in a televised docu-mentary two days before France's open-ing game provoked amusement withinthe team camp.

The 27-year-old also insisted thedrawn-out episode was not a distraction,although it was unusual for an Atleticorepresentative to fly out to France'straining base for Griezmann to sign hisnew deal.

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Experiment is the buzzword asIndia prepare to take onIreland in the second and final

T20 International, aiming to strikethe perfect balance while ringing inthe changes here on Friday.

The Men in Blue got their three-month long tour of Ireland andEngland off to a fine start with a 76-run win on Wednesday.

Riding on half-centuries fromRohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan,India scored 208-5. ThereafterKuldeep Yadav and YuzvendraChahal shared seven wickets torestrict the Irish to 132-9.

It indicated that India's first-choice eleven was functioning prop-erly after a break of three months,and tuning itself for the Englandtour.

The big question is of benchstrength and chances for the likes ofKL Rahul, Dinesh Karthik andUmesh Yadav.

India will have an advantagefrom the fact that the pitch for thesecond T20I is expected to playmuch in the same fashion as onWednesday.

Both Kuldeep and Chahal wereable to garner purchase from thestrip, and Ireland skipper GaryWilson went as far as to say that it"wouldn't have mattered if they hadbowled first or second". Clearly, thegap in quality between the twosides is too far to bridge even for thisgutsy Irish side.

Barring an unimaginable upsetthen, India do have the luxury ofgoing with a batsman short andaccommodating an extra bowler.

Kohli's mantra of giving chancesto those sitting on the bench couldbe extended to the bowling line-upas well, where both Umesh Yadavand Siddarth Kaul are raring to goand longing for game time.

It is easily noticeable that theteam management is reluctant todrop both Bhuvneshwar Kumar and

Jasprit Bumrah whenever they are fitand available.

Leaving out Pandya for threefull-time pacers and two spinnersstill gives Kohli five bowling options,enabling him to leave out SureshRaina and Manish Pandey to bringin both Rahul and Karthik.

There is also the small matter ofgetting some time at the crease forhimself after Kohli got out for a two-ball duck on his first outing on thistour.

While it is too early to worryabout, it did ring in memories of histroubles in 2014 where he justcouldn't buy a run, irrespective offormats.

Irrespective of the scope of teamchanges, on the strength of their bat-ting and bowling, India will be firmfavourites going into this second

game.Fielding though is a different

matter, and the coaching staff will beexpecting a better display from theIndian players than in their first out-

ing.As many as three outfield catch-

es were dropped in the power-playovers, and a stronger opposition -like England - will definitely punishthese errors.

For Ireland, it won't simply be amatter of turning up on the day.While the 200-plus target was farbeyond their reach, they showedenough wherewithal to stick out inthe middle and attempt to compete.

Asking for an upset on Fridaywill be too much, but they remaincapable of springing a surprise ortwo on home soil. The biggestincentive for the hosts is another

chance to play against one of the topT20 sides in the world in front of afestive and raucous crowd.

�C��INDIA: Virat Kohli (c), RohitSharma, Shikhar Dhawan, KLRahul, Manish Pandey, SureshRaina, Dinesh Karthik, MS Dhoni(wk), Hardik Pandya, KuldeepYadav, Yuzvendra Chahal,Bhuvneshwar Kumar, JaspritBumrah, Umesh Yadav, SiddarthKaul.IRELAND: Gary Wilson (c & wk),Andrew Balbirnie, Peter Chase,George Dockrell , Josh Little, AndyMcBrine, Kevin O'Brien, WilliamPorterfield, Stuart Poynter, BoydRankin, James Shannon, SimiSingh, Paul Stirling, StuartThompson.

�� 1�1��

Indian captain Virat Kohliwants to "surprise the opposi-

tion" by experimenting with hismiddle order in the remainingT20s against Ireland and the sub-sequent three-match seriesagainst England.

Kohli pushed himself downthe order at six in the openingT20, which India won by 76runs. Suresh Raina came to batat three and M S Dhoni four afterthe openers Shikhar Dhawanand Rohit Sharma put up a 160-run stand.

"We have already announcedthat apart from the openingcombination we are going to doa lot of experiments in the mid-dle order. We are going to beflexible in the next few T20s. Wewill look to throw in guys whenthe situation requires them tocome in and try to surprise theopposition," said Kohli in thepost-match presentation.

"It presents the opportunityfor the batsmen who couldn't getthe opportunity to bat. The guyswho couldn't get a chance todaywill get an opportunity in thenext match. The guys had a greattime in IPL but they need to gettime in the middle here too."Kohli assured that everyone inthe squad will get a game.

"The team managementdecided to give a go to everyonein the squad. The guys are finewith this decision. We are look-ing to give everyone game-timeand want them to portray thequalities they possess becausemany guys go on tour and neverget an opportunity to play," saidthe skipper.

There was not much to com-plain either after India out-played Ireland in all depart-ments.

"The opening combinationwas excellent. The last overbowled by Ireland was terrific.Great effort by Rohit andShikhar to put us in a good posi-tion. And good strikes fromMS, Raina and Pandya in theend. Bowlers did a clinical jobtoo," Kohli added.

The Indian spin duo ofKuldeep Yadav and YuzvendraChahal started the UK tour witha bang, taking four and threewickets respectively.

Ireland captain Gary Wilsonsaid his batsmen will have to finda way to play the Indian spinnersbetter. "They are a world-classside and their lads at the topplayed beautifully. I expected itto be a good wicket, I did notexpect it to spin as it did in thesecond innings. We could havebowled spinners in the power-play," said Wilson.

�� 1�1��

It is still early days in his maiden tourof the UK but Kuldeep Yadav feels he

has adapted well to the conditions witha four-wicket haul against Ireland in theopening T20 here.

Yadav also underlined that India'seasy 76-run win over Ireland onWednesday was down to hosts' inabil-ity to play spin properly.

"The score was good so it was eas-ier as we had a target to bowl at anddefend. A spinner always tries to bowlaccording to the target. From an indi-vidual point of view, it was quite goodbecause I was bowling the way I want-ed to bowl and I used the variations welltoo," said Yadav.

Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawanscored attacking half-centuries andIndia finished with 208-5. Irelandcould only manage 132-9 in responsewith Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahalsharing seven wickets.

"They batted well against pace andgot a good start too. But they struggledagainst our spinners because theyweren't using their feet too much. Also,we vary our pace and bowl slower attimes, and perhaps they are not usedto this type of bowling. But the morethey play (against top sides), they willget better," said Yadav.

India have had two practice ses-sions and now some game time as they

continue fine-tuning for the longEngland tour.

"Conditions here seem to be nor-mal. I haven't seen too much difference(from other overseas tours). Perhapswickets are a bit slower and the ball isturning. I felt normal (in practice andin the game), and didn't feel that it has

been something new," said the spinner."The weather is a bit colder and

conditions are different from India. Butit was easy to adjust and for me it is anormal thing. After one game you can-not say how wickets will be through-out the tour. This one had a little turnand the ball was turning, but as we play

more matches on this tour, maybe thewickets in England will be different,"he added.

Irrespective of conditions or targetsset by his batsmen though, Yadav out-lined that his prime focus is always ontaking wickets.

"Every bowler has a different styleso they may bowl differently as per thesituation. However, I always think ofpicking wickets because if I try to con-trol runs, I will give away more runs.So it is important for me to take wick-ets and get breakthroughs for my teambecause I am that type of attackingbowler. My style is different," he added.

Ireland Gary Wilson chose to lookat the positives after the heavy loss tothe visitors. He also admitted that theywere not good enough against theIndian spinners.

"We didn't expect the pitch to spinlike it did in the second innings. Therespinners are very good and would havespun it in the first innings like that aswell so I don't think we can blame theconditions by any means or prepara-tion," said Wilson.

"We need to go back and need tofigure out how we will play Kuldeepand Chahal in the second game. We canonly get better (against quality spinners)with playing more game. It is coveredin FTP now as we have 65 games innext four years so we are going to playmore," he added.

�" �� >9��*�1�

Jos Buttler hit the fastest fifty by anEngland batsman in a Twenty20 inter-

national to lay the platform for a 28-runwin over Australia at Edgbaston onWednesday.

Australia, set 222 for victory, lost halftheir wickets inside nine overs to be 72for five. Aaron Finch, their captain, keptthem in the match with a fine innings of84 while sharing a sixth-wicket stand of86 with Ashton Agar.

But the run-rate required Finch tokeep going for big hits and when he holedout off Adil Rashid, Australia were 158for six in the 16th over.

Leg-spinner Rashid, the official man-of-the-match, led England's attack withthree for 27 in his maximum four oversbefore paceman Chris Jordan strucktwice in two balls to leave Australia onthe brink of defeat at 174 for eight.

Australia were bowled out for 193with two balls to spare.

Buttler, fresh from his man of theseries heroics in a 5-0 one-day interna-tional sweep of Australia, including amatch-winning 110 not out in a dramaticone-wicket victory in the series finale atOld Trafford on Sunday, was promotedto open in this one-off T20 clash.

He responded with a 22-ball fifty,including six fours and four sixes, on hisway to 61. Alex Hales made 49 after Jason

Roy (44) put on 95 for the first wicketwith Buttler.

Roy should have been out for 27when he drove left-arm spinner AshtonAgar straight to long-off only for KaneRichardson to drop a simple catch.

The next two balls saw Buttler scoopa four and smash a six. An 'inside-out' sixover extra cover off fast bowler BillyStanlake was even more audacious.

The next ball saw Buttler go to fiftywith a scooped four just beyond the reachof wicket-keeper Alex Carey.

Buttler eventually became Swepson'sfirst international wicket when he holedout in the deep, with Roy falling next overwhen he skyed Stanlake to Finch at mid-wicket.

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Star shuttlers P V Sindhu andKidambi Srikanth notched up

straight-game wins to progressto the quarterfinals but it wascurtains for Saina Nehwal in the$ 700,000 Malaysia Open worldtour super 750 tournament hereon Thursday.

Olympic and world cham-pionship Silver medallist Sindhubrushed aside the challenge ofMalaysia's Ying Ying Lee 21-8,21-14 to set up a clash withOlympic champion and formerworld no 1 Carolina Marin.The 22-year-old Indian has a 5-6 head-to-head record againstthe Spaniard.

In men's singles, fourth seedSrikanth saw off Chinese Taipei'sWang Tzu Wei 22-20, 21-12 in36 minutes to take his head-to-head count to 3-0.

The 25-year-old fromGuntur, who had briefly becomeworld no 1 in April, will clashwith France's Brice Leverdez onFriday. The Indian had beatenthe world no 22 French in threegames at All EnglandChampionship this year.

Earlier, Saina's run at theMalaysia Open ended with a

straight-game loss to Japan'sAkane Yamaguchi.

Saina, a two-timeCommonwealth Games Goldmedallist, went down 15-21,13-21 to world no 2 Yamaguchiin 36 minutes at the AxiataArena in Bukit Jalil, a suburb inKuala Lumpur.

This is Saina's sixth straightloss to the Japanese in sevenmeetings. The only time Saina

had defeated Yamaguchi was inthe 2014 China Open.

World No 3 Sindhu hardlybroke any sweat as she firstopened up a 6-4 lead and thenreeled off eight straight points tojump to 14-4.

In the second game, Sindhuagain held an 8-7 lead beforemoving to 13-7. Lee tried tomake a comeback but Sindhuwas always ahead as she com-

fortably sailed into the quarters.In the men's singles,

Srikanth zoomed to a 11-3 leadat the break after dominating theproceedings right from the start.Wang, however, didn't give upand kept breathing downSrikanth's neck to eventuallyclaw back at 20-20.

But Srikanth grabbed thetwo crucial points to pocket theopening game.

In the second game,Srikanth was ruthless as hesurged to 10-2 advantage anddespite Wang trying to step uphis attack, the Indian kept hiscomposure to seal the contestcomfortably.

Earlier in the day,Yamaguchi, who had struggled abit against Saina during their lastmeeting at the Uber Cup Final,produced a dominating show asshe led 9-2 in the first game.

Saina fought back to narrowthe gap to 10-11 but the Japaneseagain jumped to an 18-11 advan-tage and eventually secured theopening game comfortably.

In the second game,Yamaguchi again raced to an 8-2 advantage before shutting thedoor on the Indian withoutmuch ado.

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Andy Murray slipped to a 6-4, 6-4 defeat to Britishcompatriot Kyle Edmund at Eastbourne on

Wednesday to put the former world number one's par-ticipation at Wimbledonin fresh doubt.

Murray, a two-timeWimbledon champion,has slipped to 156 in theworld after only return-ing to action at Queen'slast week following 11months out with a hipinjury.

The 31-year-old lostfirst up at Queen's butwas buoyed by beatingfellow three-time majorwinner Stan Wawrinka inthe opening round atEastbourne on Monday.

Murray suffered his hip injury in the quarter-finalsat Wimbledon last year and underwent surgery inJanuary.

This year's Wimbledon gets underway on Monday."It was a bit of a tough match, mentally, playing

Andy, but I had to try to view it as another match,"Edmund, who has taken over from his mentor asnational number one, told reporters.

"I've looked up to Andy so much, and he's lookedafter me and really been good for me, so it's a bit ofa weird feeling.

"I was a bit nervous towards the end."

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per cent in their living stan-dards, followed by Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, and Maharashtra. Also, seven out of the top ten most-affected hotspot dis-tricts, including Chandrapur, Nagpur,