˜ 1 1-/23-45 -/ ˜ !˙˝˙˙#$%&˜’(˝˛ ˆ )*+˝,%, -%. ˘ˇ ˇ ˆ cles their father had sent...

16
D espite the winter chill, poll temperature have began to shoot up as cricketer-turned- politician Navjot Singh Sidhu on Sunday joined the Congress, and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav and Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi are likely to meet in the next couple of days to finalise an electoral pact for the UP Assembly election. Punjab is witnessing a three-cornered contest among the BJP-SAD, the Congress, and the AAP. The Congress is out of power in Punjab for the past 10 years and is making efforts to wrest the State from the SAD-BJP combine, while the AAP too has emerged a fierce contender for power. Sidhu, who joined the Congress after meeting Rahul Gandhi, is likely to contest from Amritsar East Assembly seat, party leaders said. Sidhu had resigned from the Rajya Sabha and quit the BJP follow- ing which his wife Navjot Kaur joined the Congress on November 28, 2016. Punjab Congress chief Amarinder Singh had said sometime back that Sidhu joining the party was only a matter of time. After Sidhu's formal entry into the B J P, Congress spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala said in a statement, "Known for straight-talk, ide- ological commitment to the cause of nationalism as also wit and humour, we are certain that the Congress will be immensely strengthened in Punjab and elsewhere with the entry of Sidhu." Sidhu was earlier a mem- ber of the Lok Sabha from Amritsar and was apparently not happy when in the last Lok Sabha polls he was replaced by Arun Jaitley, who was defeated by Amarinder Singh. BJP's ally Akali Dal, which has had frosty ties with Sidhu, was quick to hit out at the for- mer Amritsar MP, saying he has joined the Congress "party and family" which had "attacked Darbar Sahib" (Golden Temple). Punjab's Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Badal asked why Sidhu had come to the State "20 days before the (LS) elections" and said that he should come clean on the "bar- gain" with the Congress. "U left BJP saying @akali_dal_ did not let U enter Punjab. Where were you since last ten months? Come clean and tell Punjabis (sic)," Sukhbir tweeted. The SAD chief also targeted Amarinder, asking him if he has been replaced by Sidhu as the Chief Ministerial candidate. "Please clear the air, Are you in favour of making Navjot Sidhu the face of the Punjab Congress as done by Rahul Gandhi recently?," he asked. Amarinder, meanwhile, spoke to Sidhu on phone to welcome him into the party fold, saying it was "great news" and his joining would further strengthen the Congress in Punjab in the run-up to the State Assembly elections. After quitting the Rajya Sabha, Sidhu was in touch with the AAP, led by Delhi Chief Minister ArvindKejriwal, but it did not materialise. Congress sources said that now that Sidhu episode is over, the party will focus on Uttar Pradesh. He said that there might be confusion if any of the warring Samajwadi Party fac- tions get the "cycle" symbol, but it is certain that Akhilesh fac- tion of the Samajwadi Party and the Congress will contest Uttar Pradesh election as alliance partners. Continued on Page 2 A psychopathic paedophile, identified as Sunil Rastogi (38), a tailor by profession, was arrested by the Delhi Police on Saturday for allegedly rap- ing minor girls and molesting others last week, police said on Sunday. Police said Rastogi, a resident of Rudrapur in Uttarakhand, used to visit Delhi twice a month only to lure minor girls for sexual assault. He used to trap girls by per- suading them to accompany him to collect clothes and arti- cles their father had sent for them. He then used to take his victims to isolated places, where he outraged their modesty. Sunil behaved like a mani- ac. He used to wear the same clothes while committing the offences, added police. The accused, a father of three girls and two sons, has committed offences on more than 10 minor girls in Delhi, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand, said the police. When victims cried or shouted for help, Sunil would run away from the scene of crime, said a police officer tasked with the investigation. Deputy Commissioner of Police, East district, Ombir Singh Bishnoi said, “We launched investigations after we registered three FIRs against unknown persons under Sections of rape and abduction at the New Ashok Nagar police station. We filed the FIRs on the statements of three minor girls — all of whom aged between 9 and 10 years. Sunil used to target the minor girls when they were on their way home from school. It is really worrying and parents should caution their children not to talk to strangers when they are alone." The DCP added that the first case of rape of a child was registered on December 13 last and the cases of abductions and molestations were Continued on Page 2 W ith jawans taking to the social media to highlight their grievances against senior officers, Army Chief General Bipin Rawat on Sunday warned them of disciplinary action for resorting to such means of communication as their act affected the morale of those guarding the frontiers of the country. He asked aggrieved sol- diers to contact him directly if their issue was not addressed properly. Giving this stern message, he said a mechanism for redressal of complaints through proper channels existed in the Army and "if any jawan has any grievance, he has been provid- ed with the proper forum to resolve his issue and maintain a balance. If you are not satis- fied with the action, then you can contact me directly." "Aapne jo karwai ki hai aap iske liye apradhjanak hain, aur saza ke haqdaar ho sakte hain (You are violating rules by your act and you could be pun- ished for that)," he said, refer- ring to instances of jawans using the social media. "It (airing of grievances on social media) has (negative) impact on the brave jawans who are serving the country along the border," the Chief said while addressing the troops on the occasion of 69th Army Day. Taking cognisance of this issue, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar said he had discussed it with the Army Chief, adding there was a need for having an informal redres- sal system to look into the sol- diers' problems. The Minister also said he was looking into the matter. Continued on Page 2 I n a shocking incident at least nine pilgrims, including a woman, died in a stampede at the yearly Ganga Sagar Mela on Sunday around 6 pm, police said. The pilgrims, who had gathered at the river banks to take a holy dip, were rushing to board the mainland-bound vessels to reach Kolkata, the South 24 Parganas District magistrate said, adding heavy rush caused suffocation deaths. Navy divers had been pressed into service to find out whether any of the victims had fallen to their death in the Buri Ganga River. Lakhs of people assemble at Ganga Sagar to take a holy dip at the con- fluence of Ganga and the Sea — Bay of Bengal — on Makar Sankranti. “It seems that the pilgrims were rushing to catch the ves- sels ahead of the high tide so that they could cross the river on time to reach Kolkata,” a senior official said. The State Government immediately announced 2 lakh for the kin of the dead and 50,000 for the injured, sources at State secretariat said. This year about 16 lakh people had taken the holy dip at Ganga Sagar — historically considered one of the most dif- ficult pilgrimages — on the occasion of Makar Sankranti, said Bengal Public Health and Rural Engineering Minister Subroto Mukherjee, who supervised the fair. T he Supreme Court might have banned the sport of Jallikattu but rural Tamil Nadu is reverberating with the echo of the charging bulls and play- ers engaged in bouts with them for the prize money. Upset over the Government for detaining nearly 150 people from different villages famous for Jallikattu, people in south- ern Tamil Nadu held the sport in many places openly defying the Supreme Court's ban. All shops remained closed while houses hoisted black flags in Madurai's Palamedu and Alanganallur villages, described as Jallikattu's Wimbledon. Though police tried to detain more persons and prevent the holding of sport, villagers con- tinued to outsmart the police in holding the events. "We had Manja Virattu, (a crude form of Jallikattu) in various places across the State," said GK Nagaraj, president of Kongunadu Jananayaga Katchi, a political outfit based in south- west Tamil Nadu. Nagaraj said his organisa- tion is hosting a big Jallikattu event at Azhagumalai in Tir- uppur district, which would see ten thoroughbred bulls chal- lenging the village "gladiators". "We are not bothered about any ban. The event will be there on Tuesday morning," said a defiant sounding Nagaraj. The tweet by BJP leader Dr Subramanian Swamy warning that holding Jallikaatu in vio- lation of the Supreme Court ban could lead to the imposi- tion of President's Rule had Continued on Page 2 T he joint teams of State Police and CRPF’s CoBRA battalions have cordoned off the Budha Pahad area in Latehar district of the State bordering Chhattisgarh. After the fierce encounter with CPI (Maoist) Central Committee member Arvind Jee’s squad on Friday the security forces are running continuous search operations and have recovered huge cache of arms, ammunitions and items used by the Maoists. The forces, during search operations on January 14 and 15 found blood stains at many places confirming injury of the rebels during the encounter. A bunker, said to be the hideout of Arvind Jee and a bathroom was also found during the operations. “The hill is 900 metre high, one third of which comes in Jharkhand. Despite that they have left the whole area with booby trap, we have been successful in destroying their bunker and recovering their stuff. Those who were there must be hiding somewhere. There are several caves and other places and IEDs are planted everywhere. We are trying to get the area clear for a long battle. We do not want any unnecessary casualty. These operations will contin- ue till we clear the area com- pletely,” said ADG (Operations) and State Police spokesperson RK Mallick. “There is a permanent camp of CPI (Maoist) in the area and if we become suc- cessful in arresting senior Maoists, we will bring them to public….CM Raghubar Das is in Chhattisgarh today. He is scheduled to discuss the issue with his counterpart at Raipur. We will also talk to Chhattisgarh Police and try to clean the whole area,” said Mallick. The security forces have recovered 465 detonators, 95 IEDs, 65 grenades, 12 crude bombs, 20 Kg explosives, 3 Kg potassium, 17 Kg sulfur pow- der, booby 1 kg trap/nylon rope, 250 metre cordex, 116 ammunition, 20 pitthu, 27 black uniform, 5 martyr memorial, 5 banners, 200 kg ration, 1 generator, 100 litres of diesel, 1300 metre wire, 80 bulb, utensils for 40-50 per- sons, 4 wireless sets, 1 radio, 1 solar plate, 1 compass, 1 table lamp, 50 packet mos- quito coils, naxal literature and medicines. Meanwhile, CM Raghubar Das visited Chhattisgarh today and dis- cussed cross border Naxalism with CM Raman Singh. The CMs discussed strengthening of vigilance system in the bordering areas of the States. Singh said that Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand share long borders. Therefore, coordi- nation of security forces of both the States would ensure a strong vigilance and moni- toring system. Das also stressed on bet- ter coordination of forces and deployment of security per- sonnel in sensitive areas to tame Naxalism in both the states. He also called for quick exchange of information regarding Maoists to curb infiltration of the rebels in the States from either side.

Transcript of ˜ 1 1-/23-45 -/ ˜ !˙˝˙˙#$%&˜’(˝˛ ˆ )*+˝,%, -%. ˘ˇ ˇ ˆ cles their father had sent...

Page 1: ˜ 1 1-/23-45 -/ ˜ !˙˝˙˙#$%&˜’(˝˛ ˆ )*+˝,%, -%. ˘ˇ ˇ ˆ cles their father had sent for them. He then used to take his victims to isolated places, where he outraged their

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Despite the winter chill, polltemperature have began to

shoot up as cricketer-turned-politician Navjot Singh Sidhuon Sunday joined the Congress,and Uttar Pradesh ChiefMinister Akhilesh Yadav andCongress vice-president RahulGandhi are likely to meet in thenext couple of days to finalisean electoral pact for the UPAssembly election.

Punjab is witnessing athree-cornered contest amongthe BJP-SAD, the Congress,and the AAP. The Congress isout of power in Punjab for thepast 10 years and is makingefforts to wrest the State fromthe SAD-BJP combine, whilethe AAP too has emerged afierce contender for power.

Sidhu, who joined theCongress after meeting RahulGandhi, is likely to contestfrom Amritsar East Assemblyseat, party leaders said. Sidhuhad resigned from the RajyaSabha and quit the BJP follow-ing which his wife Navjot Kaurjoined the Congress onNovember 28, 2016. Punjab

Congress chief AmarinderSingh had said sometime backthat Sidhu joining the party wasonly a matter of time.

After Sidhu's formal entryinto the BJP, Congressspokesperson Randeep SinghSurjewala said in a statement,"Known for straight-talk, ide-ological commitment to thecause of nationalism as also witand humour, we are certainthat the Congress will beimmensely strengthened inPunjab and elsewhere with theentry of Sidhu."

Sidhu was earlier a mem-ber of the Lok Sabha fromAmritsar and was apparentlynot happy when in the last LokSabha polls he was replaced byArun Jaitley, who was defeatedby Amarinder Singh.

BJP's ally Akali Dal, whichhas had frosty ties with Sidhu,was quick to hit out at the for-mer Amritsar MP, saying he hasjoined the Congress "party andfamily" which had "attackedDarbar Sahib" (Golden

Temple). Punjab's Deputy ChiefMinister Sukhbir Badal askedwhy Sidhu had come to theState "20 days before the (LS)elections" and said that heshould come clean on the "bar-gain" with the Congress.

"U left BJP saying@akali_dal_ did not let U enterPunjab. Where were you sincelast ten months? Come cleanand tell Punjabis (sic)," Sukhbirtweeted. The SAD chief alsotargeted Amarinder, askinghim if he has been replaced bySidhu as the Chief Ministerialcandidate.

"Please clear the air, Areyou in favour of making NavjotSidhu the face of the PunjabCongress as done by RahulGandhi recently?," he asked.

Amarinder, meanwhile,spoke to Sidhu on phone towelcome him into the partyfold, saying it was "great news"and his joining would furtherstrengthen the Congress inPunjab in the run-up to theState Assembly elections.

After quitting the RajyaSabha, Sidhu was in touchwith the AAP, led by DelhiChief Minister ArvindKejriwal,but it did not materialise.

Congress sources said thatnow that Sidhu episode is over,the party will focus on UttarPradesh. He said that theremight be confusion if any of thewarring Samajwadi Party fac-tions get the "cycle" symbol, butit is certain that Akhilesh fac-tion of the Samajwadi Partyand the Congress will contestUttar Pradesh election asalliance partners.

Continued on Page 2

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Apsychopathic paedophile,identified as Sunil Rastogi

(38), a tailor by profession,was arrested by the Delhi Policeon Saturday for allegedly rap-ing minor girls and molestingothers last week, police said onSunday. Police said Rastogi, aresident of Rudrapur inUttarakhand, used to visit Delhitwice a month only to lureminor girls for sexual assault.

He used to trap girls by per-suading them to accompanyhim to collect clothes and arti-cles their father had sent forthem. He then used to take hisvictims to isolated places, wherehe outraged their modesty.

Sunil behaved like a mani-ac. He used to wear the sameclothes while committing theoffences, added police.

The accused, a father ofthree girls and two sons, hascommitted offences on morethan 10 minor girls in Delhi,Uttar Pradesh andUttarakhand, said the police.

When victims cried orshouted for help, Sunil wouldrun away from the scene ofcrime, said a police officer

tasked with the investigation.Deputy Commissioner of

Police, East district, OmbirSingh Bishnoi said, “Welaunched investigations after weregistered three FIRs againstunknown persons underSections of rape and abductionat the New Ashok Nagar policestation. We filed the FIRs on thestatements of three minor girls— all of whom aged between 9and 10 years.

Sunil used to target theminor girls when they were ontheir way home from school. Itis really worrying and parentsshould caution their childrennot to talk to strangers whenthey are alone."

The DCP added that thefirst case of rape of a child wasregistered on December 13last and the cases of abductionsand molestations were

Continued on Page 2

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With jawans taking to thesocial media to highlight

their grievances against seniorofficers, Army Chief GeneralBipin Rawat on Sunday warnedthem of disciplinary action forresorting to such means ofcommunication as their actaffected the morale of thoseguarding the frontiers of thecountry.

He asked aggrieved sol-diers to contact him directly iftheir issue was not addressedproperly.

Giving this stern message,he said a mechanism forredressal of complaints through

proper channels existed in theArmy and "if any jawan has anygrievance, he has been provid-ed with the proper forum toresolve his issue and maintaina balance. If you are not satis-fied with the action, then youcan contact me directly."

"Aapne jo karwai ki hai aapiske liye apradhjanak hain, aursaza ke haqdaar ho sakte hain(You are violating rules byyour act and you could be pun-ished for that)," he said, refer-ring to instances of jawansusing the social media.

"It (airing of grievances onsocial media) has (negative)impact on the brave jawanswho are serving the countryalong the border," the Chiefsaid while addressing thetroops on the occasion of 69thArmy Day.

Taking cognisance of thisissue, Defence MinisterManohar Parrikar said he haddiscussed it with the ArmyChief, adding there was a needfor having an informal redres-sal system to look into the sol-diers' problems. The Ministeralso said he was looking intothe matter.

Continued on Page 2

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In a shocking incident at leastnine pilgrims, including a

woman, died in a stampede atthe yearly Ganga Sagar Mela onSunday around 6 pm, policesaid.

The pilgrims, who hadgathered at the river banks totake a holy dip, were rushing toboard the mainland-boundvessels to reach Kolkata, theSouth 24 Parganas Districtmagistrate said, adding heavyrush caused suffocation deaths.

Navy divers had beenpressed into service to find outwhether any of the victimshad fallen to their death in theBuri Ganga River. Lakhs ofpeople assemble at Ganga Sagarto take a holy dip at the con-fluence of Ganga and the Sea —Bay of Bengal — on MakarSankranti.

“It seems that the pilgrimswere rushing to catch the ves-sels ahead of the high tide sothat they could cross the riveron time to reach Kolkata,” asenior official said.

The State Governmentimmediately announced �2lakh for the kin of the dead and�50,000 for the injured, sources

at State secretariat said.This year about 16 lakh

people had taken the holy dipat Ganga Sagar — historicallyconsidered one of the most dif-ficult pilgrimages — on theoccasion of Makar Sankranti,said Bengal Public Health andRural Engineering MinisterSubroto Mukherjee, whosupervised the fair.

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The Supreme Court mighthave banned the sport of

Jallikattu but rural Tamil Naduis reverberating with the echoof the charging bulls and play-ers engaged in bouts with themfor the prize money. Upsetover the Government fordetaining nearly 150 peoplefrom different villages famousfor Jallikattu, people in south-ern Tamil Nadu held the sportin many places openly defyingthe Supreme Court's ban.

All shops remained closedwhile houses hoisted black flagsin Madurai's Palamedu andAlanganallur villages, describedas Jallikattu's Wimbledon.Though police tried to detainmore persons and prevent theholding of sport, villagers con-tinued to outsmart the police inholding the events. "We hadManja Virattu, (a crude form ofJallikattu) in various placesacross the State," said GKNagaraj, president ofKongunadu Jananayaga Katchi,a political outfit based in south-west Tamil Nadu.

Nagaraj said his organisa-tion is hosting a big Jallikattuevent at Azhagumalai in Tir-uppur district, which would seeten thoroughbred bulls chal-lenging the village "gladiators".

"We are not bothered aboutany ban. The event will be thereon Tuesday morning," said adefiant sounding Nagaraj.

The tweet by BJP leader DrSubramanian Swamy warningthat holding Jallikaatu in vio-lation of the Supreme Courtban could lead to the imposi-tion of President's Rule had

Continued on Page 2

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The joint teams of StatePolice and CRPF’s CoBRA

battalions have cordoned offthe Budha Pahad area inLatehar district of the Statebordering Chhatt isgarh.After the fierce encounterwith CPI (Maoist) CentralCommittee member Arvind

Jee’s squad on Friday thesecurity forces are runningcontinuous search operationsand have recovered hugecache of arms, ammunitionsand items used by theMaoists.

The forces, during searchoperations on January 14 and15 found blood stains at manyplaces confirming injury ofthe rebels during theencounter.

A bunker, said to be thehideout of Arvind Jee and abathroom was also foundduring the operations.

“The hill is 900 metrehigh, one third of whichcomes in Jharkhand. Despitethat they have left the wholearea with booby trap, we havebeen successful in destroyingtheir bunker and recovering

their stuff. Those who were there

must be hiding somewhere.There are several caves andother places and IEDs areplanted everywhere. We aretrying to get the area clear fora long battle. We do not wantany unnecessary casualty.These operations will contin-ue till we clear the area com-pletely,” said ADG(Operations) and State Policespokesperson RK Mallick.

“There is a permanentcamp of CPI (Maoist) in thearea and if we become suc-cessful in arresting seniorMaoists, we will bring them topublic….CM Raghubar Das isin Chhattisgarh today. He isscheduled to discuss the issuewith his counterpart atRaipur.

We wil l a lso ta lk toChhattisgarh Police and try toclean the whole area,” saidMallick.

The security forces haverecovered 465 detonators, 95IEDs, 65 grenades, 12 crudebombs, 20 Kg explosives, 3 Kgpotassium, 17 Kg sulfur pow-der, booby 1 kg trap/nylonrope, 250 metre cordex, 116ammunition, 20 pitthu, 27black uniform, 5 martyrmemorial, 5 banners, 200 kgration, 1 generator, 100 litresof diesel, 1300 metre wire, 80bulb, utensils for 40-50 per-sons, 4 wireless sets, 1 radio,1 solar plate, 1 compass, 1table lamp, 50 packet mos-quito coils, naxal literatureand medicines.

Meanwhile, CMRaghubar Das visited

Chhattisgarh today and dis-cussed cross border Naxalismwith CM Raman Singh. TheCMs discussed strengtheningof vigilance system in thebordering areas of the States.Singh said that Chhattisgarhand Jharkhand share longborders. Therefore, coordi-nation of security forces ofboth the States would ensurea strong vigilance and moni-toring system.

Das also stressed on bet-ter coordination of forces anddeployment of security per-sonnel in sensitive areas totame Naxalism in both thestates.

He also called for quickexchange of informationregarding Maoists to curbinfiltration of the rebels in theStates from either side.

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Page 2: ˜ 1 1-/23-45 -/ ˜ !˙˝˙˙#$%&˜’(˝˛ ˆ )*+˝,%, -%. ˘ˇ ˇ ˆ cles their father had sent for them. He then used to take his victims to isolated places, where he outraged their

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Tata Power-led TPSDI (TataPower Skill Development

Institute) reiterating its com-mitment on National YouthDay, successfully managed totrain more than 11,000 youthacross the nation.

TPSDI has set up fourtraining hubs in four locationsin the country leveraging thefacilities of Tata Power whichincludes Shahad - Mumbai,Maharashtra, Trombay -Mumbai, Maharashtra,Maithon - Dhanbad,Jharkhand and Mundra -Kutch, Gujarat.

The institute providesmodular training courses that

are purposefully designed to bemarket driven and employ-ment oriented across a widerange of skills especially in thePower and allied sectors, toaddress the skill gap challengefaced by Indian Power Sector.TPSDI also focuses on otherdimensions of skill building,such as - numerical ability, sci-ence, basic IT, industry orien-tation, communication, softskills & personality develop-ment, and work ethics, andplaces special emphasis onSafety, Health & Environmentconsidering the sector's spe-cific need. The institute inFY16-17 trained over 9000people through modular skilldevelopment approach.

Speaking on the achieve-ment, Anil Sardana, CEO &managing director, Tata Power,said, “TPSDI was set up withan endeavor to provide train-ing for youths towards employ-ability and we are delighted tosee the progress in this veryshort time. Skill developmentis an essential ingredient forIndia's future economic growthas the country transforms itselfinto an internationally com-petitive economy. On NationalYouth Day, it is our commit-ment to work in line withPrime Minister’s vision toequip youth with relevantemployable skills and makeIndia the skill capital of theworld”.

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From Page 1Sources said that Akhilesh

and Rahul are set to meet dur-ing this week to decide thenumber of seats both partieswill contest. The Congress islikely to get between 70 and 80seats, sources said.

Sources said Akhilesh's wifeand Kannauj MP Dimple Yadavand Congress' star campaignerPriyanka Gandhi are engaged inbackdoor negotiations.

Decision to rope in DimpleYadav and Priyanka for cam-paigning has larger politicalconnotations. Priyanka has starvalue and is known for hersharp political sense and abili-ty to connect with voters withease. The Congress has beenurging her for a larger role inpolitics, but she has chosen tolimit herself to family bastionsof Rae Bareli and Amethi so far.

Prashant Kishore, thestrategist hired by the Congressto revive this grand old party inUttar Pradesh, had plans to usePriyanka's star value in the elec-tions. On the other hand,Dimple Yadav fits the portraitof an ideal wife and "bahu" inIndian politics.

Her entry into politics wasa disaster. She lost the by-elec-tion to Raj Babbar, the presentUP president of the Congress,

but agreed to contest the nextLok Sabha election on insis-tence of her husband.

During her husband'stenure, she remained invisiblemost of the time but when itcame to issues like womenand children she advocatedGovernment's participation inmitigating their sufferings.Dimple is chairman UPMalnutrition EradicationMission and forced her hus-band to adopt a village inSrawasti district, home to max-imum number of malnour-ished children in UP.

Once the message of pos-sible alliance between the SPand the Congress has seepeddown, hoardings have come upin Allahabad with pictures ofPriyanka Gandhi and DimpleYadav. One of the posters read,"Mahilaon ka bajega danka(Women will call the shots)."

Another hoarding withpictures of Priyanka andDimple said, "Juhutte vaado sedilayo nizaat, Uttar Pradesh kakaro vikas."

Earlier posters have comeup in Allahabad demandingbigger role for Priyanaka inUttar Pradesh. One of thehoardings that time had read:"Priyanka laao, deshbachchao."

From Page 1Rawat's warning about dis-

ciplinary action came daysafter Lance Naik Yagya PratapSingh of Rajput Regiment post-ed a video on the social mediacriticising the exploitation ofsoldiers deputed as 'sahayaks' ofthe officers.

Singh's video was amongsta spate of such social mediamessages, including a BorderSecurity Force (BSF) and aCentral Reserve Police Force(CRPF) personnel, airing suchcomplaints. These messagewent viral prompting the PrimeMinister's Office (PMO) seek-ing an explanation from theHome Ministry.

On Friday last, Rawat hadsaid, "The social media is adouble-edged weapon whichcan be used favourably but canalso be detrimental." He hadalso announced setting up of"suggestion-cum-grievance"boxes to enable the com-plainant to approach himdirectly.

These boxes will beinstalled at the ArmyHeadquarters and commandheadquarters all over the coun-try. Later on, such boxes willalso be set up at lower forma-tions, Rawat said during hisannual Press conference onFriday.

He had also assured thatthe identity of the complainantwill not be revealed to avoidharassment by seniors addingthe effort was to ensure that therank and file of the Army hasconfidence in senior leadershipin resolving their problems.

Denying claims that com-munication lines between thetroops and officers had brokendown leading to trust deficitand jawans resorting to thesocial media, Rawat main-tained the communication sys-tem was working well and theArmy had an "excellent" griev-ance redressal system. He askedthe aggrieved soldiers shoulduse it rather than indirectlycommunicating their woes.

Drawing flak for 'sahayak'or 'buddy system' even after theParliamentary StandingCommittee on Defence someyears back criticised this systemas it led to ill-treatment of sol-diers, who are combatants,

Rawat defended the system. He, however, said the

Army has given a proposal tothe Government to stop thisarrangement in peace and sta-tic locations. The IAF andNavy had stopped this systembut the Army has so far resist-ed any attempt to do away withit.

Apart from the socialmedia issue, Rawat in hisaddress to the troops said whileIndia sought peace on Line ofControl (LOC), cease fire vio-lations or untoward incidentspropagated by Pakistan will beresponded to by force.

The Army Chief also saidin the last few months of 2016,the security situation in Jammuand Kashmir turned veryvolatile.

"I understand that ourcompetitors are aware of ourstrengths. While being alwaysready, our policy is to takeaction at any place and anytime. Our efforts to restorepeace on the border must notbe viewed as our weakness," hesaid, while warning those whotry disrupt peace through ter-ror activities.

He also brought out thatConfidence Building Measureswere being further strength-ened along the Line of ActualControl(LAC) with China toreduce tensions and said despitetransgressions on the LAC, thearmies on both sides haveimproved mutual co-ordination.

Earlier, he inspected theparade at Field MarshalCariappa Parade Ground here.The Army Chief also presentedSena Medal to wife of Siachenbraveheart Lance NaikHanamanthappa Koppad, whosurvived miraculously for sixdays last year under huge ice-and-snow debris after anavalanche hit his post before los-ing life to multiple organ failure

Army Day is celebratedevery year on January 15 tomark the taking over of com-mand of the Indian Army bythe first Indian Commander-in-Chief, Lt-Gen (Later FieldMarshal) K M Cariappa on thisday in 1948. He took over thereins of the Indian Army fromLt-Gen Sir Francis Butcher,the last British Commander-in-Chief.

From Page 1some effect this time

around. It is interesting to notethat the deployment of heavyposse of policemen in villageswere a fall out of the senior BJPleader's tweet.

Sources in Special Branchpolice said VK Sasikala, generalsecretary, AIADMK, had askedthe Government (read ChiefMinister O Panneerselvam) toensure that no untoward inci-dents occur across the State inconnection with Jallikattu. "Lastyear we did not see this kind ofpolice deployment anywhere inthe State and Jallikattu eventswere held as usual despite thecourt ban," said Deepak, ownerof Jallikattu bulls fromAlanganallur.

From Page 1registered on January 10.

Thereafter, a team wasformed under the supervisionof Inspector CR Meena, SHOof New Ashok Nagar police sta-tion, and under the overallsupervision of Rahul Alwal,Assistant Commissioner ofPolice, Kalyanpuri.

During the investigation,CCTV footage of camerasinstalled near the places ofincidents was obtained andsome images of the accusedwere developed and theaccused was arrested onSaturday on the basis of secretInformation.

During interrogation, Sunilconfessed to the offences. Healso admitted that he has com-mitted the similar offenceswith many minor girls in thearea of New Ashok NagarDelhi, Ghaziabad UP, andRudrapur in Uttarakhand.

Many cases, including drugabuse, molestation and theftwere registered against theaccused at various police sta-tions in RudraPur, Delhi andGhaziabad, said the DCP,adding he has been sent to judi-cial custody. "The SHO ofRudrapur police station hasbeen asked to come to Delhi totake custody of Rastogi in con-nection to the cases registeredagainst him in Rudrapur," saidthe DCP.

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Punjab’s former Chief Minister SurjitSingh Barnala was cremated with

full State honours on Sunday at hisnative village Barnala.

His son and ex-MLA GaganjitSingh and grandson Samarpratap Singhjointly lit the pyre.

Once the bugle sounded, a pall ofsilence descended at the cremationground before police personnel firedshots in air as a mark of respect to thedeparted leader.

Several people had gathered to payhomage and bid a tearful adieu toBarnala with many turning up at theirresidence to pay their last respects to theleader.

Barnala took over reins of the Statein the difficult period when militancywas at its peak in the mid-80s. He diedat Chandigarh at the age of 91.

Barnala, who served as ChiefMinister from 1985 to 1987, was admit-ted to the Post-Graduate Institute ofMedical Education and Research(PGIMER) Chandigarh.

A moderate leader of the Akali Dal,he became Chief Minister after theRajiv-Longowal accord to usher inpeace in the troubled state was reachedin the summer of 1985. As Governor ofTamil Nadu, Barnala had famouslyrefused to recommend dismissal of theDMK Government in 1991 when thelate Chandrashekhar was the PrimeMinister for a short time.

When he was transferred to Bihar

following his refusal, he chose to resignas Governor.

He had also served as Governor ofUttarakhand, Andhra Pradesh, andAndaman and Nicobar Islands.

Barnala was Agriculture Minister atthe Centre in the Moraji Desai

Government and Chemicals andFertilisers Minister in the Atal BihariVajpayee Cabinet.

Prominent among those present onthe occasion included Punjab CabinetMinister Tota Singh, Aam Aadmi Party(AAP) MLA from Delhi Naresh Yadav,

Congress MLA Kewal Dhillon,Uttrakhand Forest Minister DineshAggrawal, Punjab Haj Committee for-mer chairman Aslaq Mohammad Khan.

Former Punjab Chief MinisterRajinder Kaur Bhattal also visited thefamily of Barnala earlier in the day.

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In a bid to facilitate andensure uniform regional and

sustainable development acrossthe State, Haryana Governmenthas formulated IndustrialInfrastructure DevelopmentScheme for development ofinfrastructure.

The State Government hasdecided to provide fiscal incen-tives to assist dispersal of indus-try to the industrially backwardareas and infrastructure-ledgeographical dispersal drivenby mega projects and industri-al corridors, said a spokesmanof the Industries andCommerce Department.

The scheme has been intro-duced for providing adequatewidth of road connectivity withthe nearest State or NationalHighway, water and indepen-dent power feeder or sub-sta-tion up to the premises orperiphery of mega project, andidentified service enterprise.

These will also be provid-ed to thrust rural clusters andrural functional clusters setup in ‘C’ and ‘D’ categoryblocks, Defence projects set upin ‘B’, ‘C’ and ‘D’ categoryblocks and industrial estatesdeveloped by private develop-ers in C’ and ‘D’ categoryblocks. A yearly budgetaryprovision of Rs 100 crore wouldbe made for the purpose, said

the spokesman.Under the scheme, various

categories of organisationswould be eligible for creatinginfrastructure in respect ofroad, independent power feed-er and water supply.

These include MegaProject and Ultra MegaProjects, Mega ServiceEnterprises, Promoter, SPV ofThrust Rural Cluster or RuralFunctional Cluster and Privatedevelopers of the IndustrialEstates, he said.

The spokesman said megaprojects involve fixed capitalinvestment of over Rs 100 croreand above, or generation ofdirect employment to morethan 200 people in ‘D’ catego-ry blocks, and fixed capitalinvestment of over Rs 100 croreor generating direct employ-ment for more than 500 peoplein ‘B’ a ‘C’ category blocks.

The projects undertakingexpansion or diversificationwith same criteria of invest-ment and employment wouldalso be treated as mega pro-jects. Besides, projects relatedto industrial sector, other sec-tor projects, including health,education, skill development,

research and development,logistics, testing labs, exhibitioncentres and power sector wouldalso qualify as mega projectssubject to fulfilling the statedcriteria, he said.

The spokesman said megaservice enterprises wouldinclude health care, education(skill development, raining-cum-incubation centres), IT,logistics, warehousing (cargohandling service etc.), bulkcourier services, Industrial RDLabs, equipment maintenanceand repair, environmentalserves (sewage/refuse disposal),entertainment parks except cin-ema halls having investment inbuilding and equipment morethan Rs 100 crore in ‘B’, ‘C’ and‘D’ category blocks.

The thrust rural clusterwould be a cluster for devel-opment of agro, food process-ing and textile sector by agroup of industries or individ-ual unit using local raw-mate-rial and resulting in value addi-tion to the farmers in ‘B’, ‘C’and ‘D’ category blocks.

The spokesman added thatas per the eligibility criteria,mega project should haveobtained change of land use or

no objection certificate, ifapplicable, and the developershould have obtained license inrespect of industrial estate.The mega project would be eli-gible to apply after making 50per cent investment of thetotal project cost whereas thedeveloper would be eligible toapply after making 50 per centinvestment of the total cost ofinternal infrastructure devel-opment, he added.

The Haryana State Industrialand Infrastructure DevelopmentCorporation (HSIIDC) would bethe state implementing agency orany agency appointed by the gov-ernment to carry out all theindustrial infrastructure relateddevelopment works under thescheme.

Promoter or SPV of vari-ous clusters, promoter of themega project and developer ofprivate industrial estate wouldapply online on the portal ofthe Industries and CommerceDepartment for creation ofinfrastructure up to the premis-es of the project or industrialestate on the prescribed appli-cation form, he added.

The State Government hasconstituted a committee underthe chairmanship ofAdministrative Secretary,Industries and CommerceDepartment, which would bethe competent authority tosanction the project.

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The deadly H5N1 virus hasbeen detected in the State

capital as blood samples ofdead crows have tested posi-tive for the avian influenza.The samples had been sent tothe National Institute of HighSecurity Animal Diseases(NIHSAD), Bhopal.

An estimated 53 crowshad dropped dead inBhubaneswar in last twoweeks, following which bloodsamples of some crows andpoultry were sent to the NIH-SAD for H5N1 test.

However, chicken sampletest reports have not come yet,and no case of suspecteddeath of chickens has beenfound. So, denizens ofBhubaneswar can eat chickenand egg without any hesita-tion, informed an official ofFisheries and AnimalResources DevelopmentDepartment (FARDD).

According to a senior

FARDD official, blood sam-ples of dead crows were sentfrom Panposh in Sundargarhdistrict , Saliasahi inBhubaneswar and Ward-2 ofBaripada confirmed bird flu(H5N1) virus.

The Housing and UrbanDevelopment Department hasissued a notification to takeprecautionary measures afterbird flu was confirmed inSundargarh, Bhubaneswarand Baripada.

The department hasdirected to burn the carcass-es of crows and cranes foundin the State and to administer

preventive vaccine to poultry.Besides, it has asked to

send blood samples of crowsand cranes to the AnimalDisease Research Institute atPhulnakhara on the outskirtsof Bhubaneswar. “No chick-en has been detected with birdflu in Bhubaneswar, and wehave not received death caseof any chicken in the city,” saida city veterinary officer.

“We are administeringpreventive vaccine to chickensas a precautionary measure,and till date 5,000 chickenshave been vaccinated,” headded.

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The Commissioneratepolice late on Saturday

night foiled a dacoity bid atCDA Sector-6 here and arrest-ed three criminals.

According to reports, thecriminals broke into the officeof a private gold financingcompany Muthoot Finance atCDA Sector-6 under theMarkat Nagar police limits.

However, a PCR vanpatrolling in the area detectedthe suspicious activity ataround 2 am. The cops man-aged to nab three of the gangmembers.

“Some dacoits attemptedto enter into the financecompany office. We are inves-tigating into the matter,”Cuttack DCP Sanjiv Arorasaid.

While three criminalswere apprehended, police sus-pected two to three morepersons might have managedto flee the spot. Firearms andbullets were seized from thepossession of the arrested.

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Political scenario for KolabiraZilla Parishad seat under

Jharsuguda district is gettinghot by the day.

While other parties arebusy in selecting candidatesfor the seat, the BJP hasdeclared the name ofBinodini Naik of Phalakpadaas the nominee for the seat.

Congress candidates haverepeatedly won from thisseat. Congress won three

times from three seat, whileBJD once. During 1997 elec-tion, Bhanisankar Naik waselected from Congress.

Similarly in 2002, MiniTandkar from Congress, in2007 Jagabandhu Kisan fromBJD and in 2012 RenukaKansrali from Congress wonfrom the seat. Further, theelected candidates from thisseat got Zilla Parishad pres-ident post twice. BJD ishopeful of better perfor-mance this time.

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The Congress declarednames of eight candidates

for Zilla Parishad seats in sixblocks of Subarnapur districthere on Friday.

Former district Congresspresident Ashok Pujari, PCCcoordinator SomrendraMishra, former MLAAchyutananda Biswal, someblock presidents and aBalangir district leader held ameeting at Panth Nivas andfinalised the names.

Meanwhile, Congressworkers expressed resent-ments as the tickets were dis-tributed in the absence of

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DCC president Shankar Dasand senior leaders like formerMLA Binod Patra, PCC mem-ber Jitendra Pattnayak andformer district youth presidentGouri Shankar Mohapatra.With this, a feud in districtCongress has come to thefore.

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Odisha has been selected forthe Best Performing State

Award for extending support increating awareness on oil andgas conservation.

Union Petroleum andNatural Gas MinisterDharmendra Pradhan wouldpresent the award to the Stateat the inaugural ceremony ofSakshyam (SanrakhyanKshamta Mahotsav) to be heldat the Sirifort Stadium onJanuary 16.

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In a bid to bridge the gapbetween police and public,

Ranchi Police on Sundaylaunched one of its mostambitious programmes -‘Police Aapke Dwar’ whereboth police and the publictogether will try to strength-en security situation in dif-ferent localities of the StateCapital. Addressing a gather-ing of Police personnel andPolice Mitra at AryabhattaAuditorium in Ranchi onSunday, DGP DK Pandey saidthat the day will prove to bea landmark in the field ofsecurity for Jharkhand andRanchi Police.

“The motive of this pro-gramme is to connectMohalla Committees with

Police, to understand them,give them respite from theirproblems whether it is relat-ed to the security, health orother things……they willnote it down and convey theproblem to Police ControlRoom and PCR will respondto it quickly. If the matter isnot related to Police, it will beconveyed to the concerneddepartment,” said the DGP. AWhattsApp group is alsobeing formed involvingMohalla Committees, BeatOfficers, Police Stations andSenior Police Officials toenable regular give and take ofmessages among them, headded.

“Efforts are also beingmade to provide letter boxesin different localities so thatpeople who do not want to getconnected throughWhattsApp group may alsoconvey their messages thoughthese letter boxes which willbe duly responded by the

police officials,” said the DGP.Police, according to DGP,

will go to each and every

locality so that they may feelsafe and secure. The initiativehas already been taken in 20

different localities of the Statecapital on Sunday with theinauguration of ‘Police Aapke

Dwar’ programme. SSP Kuldeep Dwivedi said

that it was an ambitious pro-

ject for Ranchi Police underwhich police and publictogether will try to solve theirproblems for which ShaktiCommandos and BeatOfficers have been trained tobefriend with Mohal laCommittees so that terrorcould be created among crim-inals.

“Women ShaktiCommandos will providesecurity to School, Collegeand other girls for which 47Beat Officers, 40 ShaktiCommandos and 10 WomenPolice Officials have beengiven training for three days,”said the SSP. They have beentold how to behave friendlywith the common man andalso the tricks to solve theirproblems as the time demandsa change in the working ofpolice force, said the SSP.

The SSP further said thatMohalla Community will beformed in each of the locali-ties connecting beat officers

and Shakti Commandos to itand DSP rank official willkeep an eye over it.

“Till date MohallaCommittees have been formedin the areas coming under 16police Stations where CCTVcameras will also be installedas per requirement,” said theDwivedi.

Each Mohalla Samiti willconsist of 4 to 15 members init and will be monitored by aDSP level officer. MohallaSamities will also try to deputeChowkidars in their localities.

The DGP also felicitatedconstables worked well intheir fileds and a demo onShakti App was also present-ed during the programme.

ADG (Operations) RKMallick, IG (CID) SampatMeena, IG (STF) RK Dhan,Ranchi University ViceChancellor Ramesh KumarPandey and other seniorpolice officials was presentduring the programme.

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Even after six months ofcase being registered

against them, former BJPchief Tala Marandi and hisson Munna Marandi alongwith other four accused per-sons are still at large. A com-plaint was lodged with theJudicial Magistrate (FirstClass) in Godda by theBiarizor Block Development-cum-Child MarriageProhibition Officer follow-ing a preliminary investiga-tion that Munna married aminor girl on June 27.

“Legally, all the accusedpersons in this case areabsconding and may bearrested as and when they arespotted. Meanwhile, a super-vision reports in this case isstill pending, following whichstern action may be takenagainst them,” said a police

official requesting anonymi-ty.

FIR in the case was regis-tered on July 1, following acivil suit was instituted underSections 9, 10 and 11 of ChildMarriage Prevention Actagainst Munna, Tala Marandiand the minor’s father for theJune 27 wedding.

Now, Tala and his sonMunna may face arrests asGodda Court declined theirpetition seeking anticipatorybail application in the case onJanuary 5.

Earlier, Munna Marandiwas accused of sexuallyexploiting a minor girl onfalse promises of marryingthe girl. The minor girl onJune 23 lodged a complaint inthe local court of Godda dis-trict alleging that Munna hadsexually exploited her.

According to reports,Munna was scheduled to

marry one Mamata Hansdabut she refused to marry himjust a day before the sched-uled marriage following thecomplaint of sexual exploita-tion by the girl. Munna thenRitu Baski, who, as per herschool records is just 11 yearsold and studies in class 6.

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Looking at the present weath-er condition, the Ranchi

district administration hasdecided to suspend classes ofprimary sections of all privateand Government schools tillJanuary 17. Classes up to stan-dard five will remain suspend-ed in all the schools function-ing across the district. Thedecision has been taken afterthe Meteorological departmentissued warning of cold waveinfluencing the weather con-dition adversely at present,said, Ranchi DEO, RatanKumar Mahavar.

Cold wave like conditionwill continue for another 48hours with the mercury leveldipping down further as perthe prediction made by METDepartment, Ranchi centre onSunday. For the next two-day,the MET department has

issued warning of rainfall atisolated parts of Jharkhand asstrong western disturbances isseverely influencing the weath-er condition. On Sunday, atRanchi maximum tempera-ture was registered 23.2 degree

Celsius while minimum 5.1degree Celsius was recorded.

“Cloudy sky has changedthe weather condition and tem-perature will drop further to 2-3 degree Celsius in comingdays. The condition is likely to

remain same across the Statefor another 48 hours. Strongwestern disturbances (WD)are creating this situation.Shallow fog prevailed at isolat-ed parts of Jharkhand,” said,Director, MET Ranchi Centre,

BK Mondal.On Sunday very light rain

with thunderstorm occurred atfew places across Jharkhand.Highest maximum tempera-ture, 23.6 degree Celsius wasrecorded at Jamshedpur where-as Bokaro and Ranchi districtsregistered lowest minimumtemperature, 05.1 degreeCelsius. According to experts,there are less chances of gettingrespite from cold waves in thecoming days.

As per the present weath-er condition, cloudy sky anddrizzle will continue at regularintervals in Jharkhand tillJanuary end. Unrestrainedwind from northwestern partshas aggravated the windy affectthat will continue for anotherfew days. Minimum tempera-ture dipping down in night tofour degree Celsius or even lowwill continue for another weekas per the MET experts.

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Amidst rhyming drum beatsand finest artistic expres-

sions on locally flavoured craftworks from across the country,the upcoming 31st SurajkundInternational Crafts Mela-2017is going to witness a spectacularJharkhand which might nothave appeared anywhere before.The State which has been cho-sen as the Theme State this yearfor Mela which is organised inthe first fortnight of Februaryevery year, artisans and folks ofthe State have been working dayin and day out to colour the Melain the finest colours and essenceof Jharkhand.

“It is for the first time in thehistory of Surajkund Mela thatJharkhand has been chosen asTheme State, and we are tryingour best to showcase an impec-cable Jharkhand for millions ofvisitors, thousands of them hap-pen to be foreign tourists everyyear. The premise, boundarywalls, all three platforms –Chhoti Choupal, Badi Choupaland open air theatre, hoardings,signage and everything wherethere is any possibility to portrayone thing of the State or theother, we are planning to portraythe State in best possible ways,”said Secretary of the Jharkhand

wing of PHD Chamber ofCommerce and Industries JNSingh. Notably, PHD Chamberhas been assigned to createTheme Jharkhand in the Mela.

The Surajkund Mela show-cases richness and diversity of thehandicrafts, handlooms and cul-tural fabric of India. SurajkundMela Authority and HaryanaTourism organises this largestcrafts Mela in the world in asso-ciation with Union Ministries ofTourism, Textiles, Culture andExternal Affairs. Every eveningof the fortnight witnesses one ofthe finest cultural performances,

primarily folk one during entireMela period. The Mela is takenas the preservation of the her-itage crafts in an era of machinemade cheap imitations of tradi-tional arts and culture in thecountry.

“As many as 60 groups offolk dance forms of the State and50-60 artisans of different craftproducts will be participatingfrom the State in the Mela whereEgypt has been chosen as ThemeCountry. Though there is no for-mal competition in between, weare also preparing hard keepingin mind that Egyptian artisan-

ship is among the finest in theworld. We have already sent twoof the best local painters to por-tray Jharkhand on boundarywalls there in Surajkund,” saidSingh.

The Mela is international-ly acclaimed for celebration ofunique diversity of Indian tra-ditions and culture in a ‘creat-ed to represent Indian ruralethos’ manner. The Mela hasgrabbed top-notch in show-casing some of the most exquis-ite handlooms and handicraftsof India to the world in last threedecades.

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The Ranchi district adminis-tration will actively involve

school principals in anti-tobac-co campaign besides the nodalofficials of tobacco control unitto curb the sale of intoxicatingproducts within the peripheralof school premises. Followingthe orders of Supreme Court(SC) and taking a stringentaction to restrain the sale oftobacco products within a 100-yard radius from educationalinstitution setups functioning inState Capital, school principalswill now enforce fines on shop-keepers violating the set rules.

“Not many people are famil-

iar that even school principalshave the right to impose and col-lect fines from shopkeepers whosale tobacco products within aradius of their school premises.This year through rigorousdrive, school principals will beapproached and involved in theproject. As per the set norms,school principals have beengiven legal right to collect finefrom the shopkeepers sellinggutkas and other intoxicatingproducts,” said, Ranchi DC,Manoj Kumar.

“As per the norms, �500 toRs. 600 is the penalty amountthat is imposed on the shop-keepers who are keeping tobac-co products for sale with themnear educational institutionsetups. This time, under themassive drive school principalswill be given challans for col-lecting fines. Meeting regardingthis will be conducted soon. ByMarch 2017, we will clear allsuch shops set within the pre-scribed radius of campus

premises selling intoxicatingproducts,” added Kumar.

School principals will bemade aware about the narcoticsguidelines, various legal chal-lenges, health issues in the meet-ing to combat this heinousactivity stated Kumar. Recently,Director, Secondary Education,

Manish Ranjan issued a com-muniqué stating that sale ofintoxicating products must beimmediately banned within theset radius of schools and col-leges. Penalty of � 200 on a per-son will be imposed immedi-ately for infringing the guide-lines, the letter stated.

According to Section 6 ofthe Cigarettes and OtherTobacco Products (Prohibitionof Advertisement andRegulation of Trade andCommerce, Production, Supplyand Distribution) Act, 2003(COTPA), sale of cigarettes andother tobacco products within a

100-yard radius of educationalinstitutions is illegal. Similarly,the State’s Excise Departmentbans the sale of liquor within aradius of 100 meters from edu-cational institutions.

In addition, the amendedJuvenile Justice (JJ) Act impos-es stringent penalty for all thoseshopkeepers selling cigarettes,beedi and chewable tobacco tominors. Under the provisions ofclause 77 and 78 of the JJ (Careand Protection of Children)Act, 2015, a jail term of sevenyears and a fine of Rs. 1 lakh pro-visions have been made forthose violating the norms.

Earlier neither the schoolmanagement nor district admin-istration was following the banorders that were enforced by thecentral government after aSupreme Court order in 2001 asa result sale of tobacco productsis on rise and the intoxicatingproducts are recklessly beingsold out to youngsters breachingthe set guidelines.

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In a major fire mishap, prop-erties worth over �2 lakh

were gutted at a general storeat Kagalnagar market in Sonarion Sunday morning. Thoughthe fire was triggered in broaddaylight, the cause could not beascertained.

The shopkeeper, NiranjanKumar in the beginningclaimed that the cause of firemight be an electrical short cir-cuit, but later after inspectingthe gutted shop he claimed thatthe fire might be a handywork of some anti-social ele-ments.

The incident came to light,when a man who was buyinggoods at the general store, he

noticed smoke coming outfrom the opposite place of thecash-counter. Soon the man,informed the shop-keeperabout the smoke, but by thattime the shop-keeper couldunderstand anything, a flamewas visible.

In a split of second theflames engulfed the store. Soonthe shop-keepers and people inthe neighbourhood joined indousing the fire and pouredmore water on the fire. In themeantime, someone informedthe Sonari police. In the next10 minutes a fire-tenderarrived at the shop and dousedthe fire by carrying out fire-fight for about the next onehour.

A sub-inspector of police,SN Mahto from Sonari policestation rushed to the spotbefore the fire-brigade hadcome and asked the owners ofthe shops adjoining the generalstores to keep inflammableitems away from their shop inview of the razing fire. But

soon the fire-tender hadarrived from the Golmuri fire-station and started dousing thefire.

The shop-keeper, NiranjanKumar said the might havebeen set by someone. "Though,I had guessed that it might bean electrical short circuit but Ifound no clue. Then only itstruck me that someone mighthave triggered the fire inten-tionally," claimed Kumar.

Officer-in-charge, SonariAmis Hussein said the shop-keeper is yet to give a statementto the police about the reasonbehind the fire and also theextent of loss incurred due tothe fire.

"As per our investigation,the fire must have been trig-gered due to the electricalshort-circuit. The loss of prop-erties would be around of ��2lakh," said the officer-in-charge, adding that the matterwill be further clear when theshop-keeper will give a state-ment to this regard.

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Jamshedpur Women's Collegeis all set to organise a seven-

day national workshop on waysto learn the new researchmethodologies in commerceand management.

The constituentautonomous college of KolhanUniversity will organise theseven-day workshop fromJanuary 21 to 27 for studentsand scholars to help them learnthe new research methodolo-gies in the areas of commerceand management.

Shukla Mahanty, principal,Jamshedpur Women's Collegesaid that research has been animportant part of education.Through the workshop theywant students, teachers andeven scholars to learn the toolsand techniques that is beingimplemented for research.

The workshop is spon-sored by the University GrantsCommission (UGC), NewDelhi and will be organisedwithin the college premises.The inaugural session will beattended by N.G. Goswami,advisor, management, CSIR-NML, S.N.L. Das, faculty mem-

ber, Ranchi University andFather Oswald Mascarenhas,faculty member, XLRI.

Various sessions onresearch, understanding ofresearch data, concept ofhypothesis testing and samplesize determination, intellectu-al property rights and othertopics will be discussed byvarious academicians includingPrabal K. Sen and P. Venugopal,faculty members of XLRI.

" It is a very important ini-tiative taken by our college. Theworkshop is not just meant foracademia but also students. Wewant to promote research basedtempor amongst students.Usually students do not take upresearch but we want to pro-mote in colleges and this wouldbe one of the major steps," saidDeepa sharan, dean,Department of Commerce,Jamshedpur Women's College.

It may be noted thatJamshedpur Women's Collegewas established in 1952 withaim to provide the women ofJamshedpur a platform toshape their careers and lives.With time were the demands ofthe society and the nationgrew and changed.

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Technical support of Palamupolice saw the recovery of a

looted Chhattisgarh truck inrecord time of a day. The inci-dent occurred at the odd hourof 1 O’clock of January 13 onNH 75 at Kadhvan. The police,braving the cold winter, swunginto action within hours of theloot. The driver of the truck hadbeen made captive, thrashedand abandoned on NH 75 withhands tied up.

Giving the details, DSPHeeralal Ravi said, ‘An emptytruck was looted by 5 atKadhwan. The looters were 5 innumbers. They beat up thetruck driver Imtiaz and heldhim tied down on NH 75 andsped away with the lootedtruck’.

Ravi said the truck driverused his common sense, tookhelp at night from other vehicledriver and reached Parwa whereis our police station. Here Imtiazsaw the police board with tele-phone numbers and he startedgiving rings to a couple of policeofficers said Ravi.

DSP added the police offi-cials who got his call respond-ed positively and kept hismorale high telling him that his

truck would be found out.The police officials first

informed DSP Ravi at nightwho got woke up SP PalamuIndrajeet Mahatha and at nightitself a raid team was constitut-ed with DSP Ravi as its head.

Ravi told the Pioneer ‘ Thetruck was fitted with GPS. It wasa big relief to us. We started trac-ing it’.

He said DGP’s office inRanchi too got on this casealerting all police stations fallingon NH 75 to be in trackingmood and finally the Mandarpolice in Ranchi located thislooted truck at Mandar andthen Palamu police reachedMandar and recovered the loot-ed GPS fitted Chhatisgarh truck.

Ravi said ‘ One can imag-ine the biting cold on the nightand day of January 13 buteveryone of us was determinedto crack this case and the GPSfitted in the truck helped us torecover it fast’.

The 5 looters had amongthem a driver too who hadtaken away this truck with 4 ofhis other accomplices said Ravi.

The five arrested and jailedon Sunday are Jai Ram, NirmalBurma, Afzal Ansari Seraj andKrishna Thakur.

The five come from three

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The District Superintendentof Education (DSE),

Ranchi, has issued instructionsto all the private schools func-tioning across the Capital Cityto submit the details of alladmitted BPL children at theirrespective schools by Januaryend.

The step is taken to ensurethe authenticity in admissionprocedure where a large num-ber of private schools claim toadmit deprived kids followingthe guidelines of Right toEducation (RTE) norms, 2009every year.

“January 25 is the last datefor submitting the applica-tion forms at respective privateschools. All schools have beeninstructed to compile thedetails of all BPL childrenadmitted this academic year. Alist of approximately 314 BPLstudents was submitted at DSEoffice in 2016. As per therecords, private schoolsreceived around 600 applica-tion forms last year whereas in2015 as many as 350 applica-tion forms were received,”said, Ranchi DSE, ShivendraKumar.

“Separate applicationforms with 12 clauses havebeen given to school manage-

ments. Earlier, school man-agements never used to submitdetails on time that createdhurdle is monitoring the ratioof BPL kids admitted at vari-ous private schools and inmaintaining the record ofaccomplishment. Norms havebeen modified for privateschools as well,” added Kumar.

On the other hand, sever-al private schools in Ranchihave begun the exercise ofadmitting BPL kids in theirrespective cradles, “Admissionnotices have been put outsidethe school gate. Every year, theschool management receivesgood number of applicantsfrom BPL category. In 2015,we had admitted 10 BPL kidswhile in 2016 eight childrengot admission here,” said,Principal, SurendranathCentenary School, SamitaSinha.

State CBSE Coordinatorand Guru Nanak SchoolPrincipal, Manohar Lal, said,“Admission forms at presentare being given to BPL kids.Soon, the scrutiny processwill get complete for admittingthem as per the instructions.Out of 50 seats at preparatorylevel, this year 12 seats arereserved for deprived kids.”

The RTE Act envisagesthat all poor children must be

given free and compulsoryeducation within their neigh-borhood or within a set radius.However, it can be relaxedwith the consent of schoolprincipals. Meanwhile, theState government has clearedthe reimbursement fees meantfor the BPL students, saidDSE. The State cabinet hadapproved the state HRDdepartment’s proposal torefund private schools Rs 425per month per BPL studentadmitted under the RTE Act.

“Funds will be releasedsoon and will be reimbursedaccordingly to all the privateschools imparting education topoor kids. Approximately, 70per cent amount has beenretrieved for the purpose,”added, Kumar.

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Ranchi University VC Dr. RKPandey and college princi-

pals have claimed that all recordsof the hostellers are being main-tained to provide safe environ-ment to college-goers as strictnorms are followed while admit-ting students at hostels to pre-vent any untoward incident.The Governor on Tuesday hadasked all the VCs to check thegrowing violence on campuspremises by keeping the prop-er track record of hostellers.

In the absence of stringentrules, hostels functioning underdifferent affiliated and con-stituent colleges need properguidelines in order to combatindiscipline and growing violentbehavior of students at collegesto provide safe learning envi-ronment to all.

After introducing moralvalue education in universitycurriculum to ensure that all thecollege goers get well versed withthe practical details of behavioralapproach to curb unruly behav-ior on campus premises. TheGovernor while conducting thereview meeting with the Vice-Chancellors (VCs) has asked all

the VCs to keep a tab on activ-ities of students and pay specialattention towards the function-ing of hostels by deputing war-dens and hostel superinten-dents at each hostel.

“All the hostels under RUare functioning under properguidelines and norms underthe strict supervision of hostelwardens. We have receivedfunds from the State govern-ment and soon renovation pro-cedure will be carried out at PGgirls’ hostel. We also conductreview meetings regularly toknow about its functioning andabout the students’ activitieswho are accommodated there.The varsity will send commu-niqué to the colleges soon tomonitor the functioning of hos-tels more strictly,” said, RU VC,

Dr. RK Pandey.RU, at present, runs two

hostels separately. There is a sep-arate provision for hostel facil-ities at Ranchi College andRanchi Women’s College thatfunctions on the campuspremises. Other student hostelsfunctioning in State Capital areunder the jurisdiction of WelfareDepartment and functions inde-pendently.

Women’s College that hasthe provision for two hostels atArts Block to accommodategirls from outside Ranchi hasstringent norms as well. “Atpresent, approximately 300girls reside in both the hostels.Both the hostels functionunder the strict surveillance ofwardens and faculty membershere.

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The State of Jharkhand isrisked by mining and exca-

vation activity. A NationalInstitute of DisasterManagement report notifies 9districts in the State, namely,Latehar, Ramgarh, Dhanbad,Lohardagga, Giridih, E. & W.Singhbhum, Koderma as majorhazard affected districts. NIDMreport of 2012 says, “The Statehas 38% of India’s mineralreserves in general. Some of theunits such as Iron & Steel, cop-per etc have the potential ofgenerating even gaseous emis-sion viz. SO2, NOX etc.Emission of fugitive dust inhuge quantities due to mining,transportation and coal burn-ing activities deteriorates theambient air quality. Apart fromthe air pollution the otherenvironmental impact of themineral based Industries iswater pollution.”

Recent happenings inLalmatia , Godda (2016) isprobably a pathetic failurewhich could have prevented ifrisk assessment were conduct-ed regularly. Given various

reports, there is reason tobelieve that in near futureRamgarh, Bokaro, Dhandbad,Godda and other areas. Actionof these companies is posingcontinuous threat to life ofthousands which are princi-pally Geodynamic in Nature.Against the backdrop of GoddaIncident, response to it may beapt to raise a concern.

First we need to know,how we plan to fight thisupcoming disaster arising outof manmade activities disturb-ing land stability in large partof the State. Is there an annu-

al safety review exercise inpractice? What are theTechnical and AdministrativeFall out observed by suchexperts/committees for ECLMines at Godda? Otherwise ifthere is no such system Can weexpect Ministry of CorporateAffairs to come up withComparative Safety andSustainability Status of ProjectAffected Villages by corporateaction across the country.There are so many commercialand Industry brochures avail-able regarding sustainabilitypractices. However, we need an

annual status report of mineswith Safety ratings by a Centralagency preferably, DGMS.

The CSR Loophole:It often becomes an irony

that some of the corporateorganizations conduct EyeCamp, Foot Ball Competitionor Free Medical camp usingCSR Fund for greater visibili-ty and publicity, while life risk-ing challenges of safe rehabil-itation of affected economical-ly disadvantaged familiesremains under attended. Wealso observed that there is noformal provision of Panchayetsof Project Affected Villages indemanding and shaping CSRWork. Neither there is anyprovision of Social audit of CSRactivities. Till the time theseprovisions are made mandato-ry, CSR would continue toremain within the realm ofcharity Event missing the pur-pose.

As many report has point-ed out that stability of land isa problem because of unscien-tific mining in Jharkhand. Lawmakers may think to pull in atleast 1% of CSR amount tocarry out scientific Survey,

land filling and rehabilitationoperation as mandatorythrough Gram Panchayets onannual basis. CSR work ofMining Companies andIndustries should be broughtunder the purview of SocialAudit in Project affected vil-lages and Social Audit reportwith specific comment on sat-isfactory /unsatisfactory shallbe made mandatory for allmines & Industry.

At this point we should

probably ask specific questionsregarding h percentage of CSRspending has been spent inProject affected Villages ofJharkhand by Eastern CoalFields, Central Coal Fields,SAIL & ONGC in FY 2016-17?What has been the percentagespending of Eastern CoalFields, Central Coal Fields,SAIL & ONGC Jharkhandoperation in Mines Safety &Disaster Mitigation? Whataction is being taken by the

concerned authorities to ensurethat ECL incident is not repeat-ed in other locations? It may beappropriate to bring in a bill orDepartmental notification toensure participation ofPanchayets safe guarding localpeople’s interest in Mines leas-ing and assessment process.

Some strategies suggestedby Disaster managementExperts of NIDM & UNDP atvarious points to prevent MinesHazard includes Development

of technology for effective sur-face blanketing, Development oftechnology for sealing large firearea through surface boreholes,& developments in pressurebalancing technology for firecontrol Development of tech-nology for measuring Barrierthickness and modeling of waterlogged areas. Design and devel-opment of Safety Chamber,Development of technology forlocating trapped miners, SMPbased on Risk AssessmentIntegrated Emergency ResponseSystems has been proposed inliterature. It’s time to bring themin practice. CSR Funds may beput into good use to ensure andimprove Geological Stabilityand Environmental sustainabil-ity of People in the projectaffected villages through par-ticipatory Panchayeti Raj Actionrather than anything else.

(The author is a DevelopmentPractitioner and ManagementConsultant based at Ranchi,Jharkhand. He holds a Mastersdegree in Applied Geology fromJadavpur University and a PostGraduate Diploma from Instituteof Rural Management Anand.Photo from internet resources.)

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Suspected CPI-Maoist rebelsshot dead two villagers at

Tiringa village under Goelkerathana area in West Singhbhumdistrict late last night. Those

killed were identified asSuresh Bhuiyan (25) and JitenLomga (15), both residents ofTiringa village. SP, WestSinghbhum, Anish Gupta saidthey have recovered both thebodies from the Tiringa vil-

lage today and have started acombing operation inGoelkera jungle against therebels. He, however, couldnot give the reason behind thetwin murders at the Goelkeravillage.

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Heightened cold wave withthe dipping mercury vir-

tually paralysed the normal lifeacross the Bokaro district.Reeling under cold conditionsSaturday was recorded as thecoldest day by the Metdepartment. It issued an alertand said the chill will contin-ue in the coming days.

“Temperature has dippedto as low as two degrees Celsiusin few parts of the Bokaro andGiridih districts while in theother parts its recorded lowbetween 5-6 degrees Celsius.Today’s maximum temperaturewas recorded at 22 degreesCelsius”, added the official.

Dipping mercury with thebone-penetrating cold wavesthrown life out of gear not onlyfor the human beings but forthe animals too.

The school going studentsand daily wage earners arefinding the very hard time. Thedistrict administration hasordered change of timings ofschools, and sought completecompliance with the directive.

Bokaro DC RaiMahimapat Ray said that theschools have been asked toopen at 9.00 am and wind up

by 2.00 pm. A reassessment ofthe school timings would bedone by the district adminis-tration based on the weatherconditions prevailing in thecoming days, he said.

Blankets were already dis-tributed among the poor whilebone fires are arranged atprominent nooks and cornersacross the district to beat thecold during nights, said Rai.

Though, in the lack ofbonfire armaments on streets,people are compiled to collectgarbage, plastics, poly bagsand waste material in everynooks and corner to lit to pre-vent them from shivering coldand chattering teeth.

Meanwhile, foggy weath-er has affected railway and busservices too while attendancein offices has declined in many

parts of the district. As fogengulfed most of the partsvisibility reduced to even lessthan 20 metres especially inhilly terrains. “The cold waveis likely to continue for a fewmore days”, said a met official.

The ongoing cold wavesmay hits the vegetation andmay harm to the standingrabi crop worth of lakhs iftemperature goes below 4degree Celsius and continuesfor more than 12 hours, saidAnil Singh Scientist(Agriculture) of Krishi VigyanKendra Bokaro.

“Rabi crops, includingmustard and its varieties, andleafy vegetables in severalhectares of cultivable land maywilt in the pricing cold if suchcondition continues for moredays”, he added.

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Page 5: ˜ 1 1-/23-45 -/ ˜ !˙˝˙˙#$%&˜’(˝˛ ˆ )*+˝,%, -%. ˘ˇ ˇ ˆ cles their father had sent for them. He then used to take his victims to isolated places, where he outraged their

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While cold conditions are expectedto extend further in most parts of

the country till the next week, cycloniccirculation and western disturbances,over North and Central India willbring brief respite from the prevailingcold due to cloud cover and sporadicrain during the next 2-3 days. The hillsof Jammu & Kashmir and upper reach-es of Himachal are engulfed in snowcover.

According to India MeteorologicalDepartment (IMD), the temperaturewill rise to normal or above normal overnorthwest India between January 22 andJanuary 26, said IMD.

The scientists explained that anupper air cyclonic circulation lies overcentral Pakistan, its neighbourhood anda few places in the north. As a result ofthis, Punjab and Haryana, includingChandigarh are likely to get rain orremain cloudy during the next 24hours. Along with this, the western dis-

turbance has approached over Jammuand Kashmir which has increased thecloud cover over Northern plains,including Delhi - NCR. According toSkymet, country’s private weather fore-caster, this will change the wind patternto warm and humid south easterlies. Allthese will provide some temporary

respite from the biting cold. Parts of Madhya Pradesh and

adjoining areas of Central India also gotsome respite from the severe cold dueto moisture in the atmosphere, said theIMD sources. While light showers orthundershowers may occur at isolatedplaces over Jabalpur and Shahdol divi-

sions, weather is expected to remain dryover rest of Madhya Pradesh in next 24hours. Certain parts of the State includ-ing Chambal and Jabalpur divisions,may get shallow fog. The minimumtemperature however increased byabout 3 degrees Celsius - 4 degreesCelsius in Bhopal, as per IMD.

According to Skymet, the hilly ter-rains of Jammu, Himachal Pradesh,Uttarakhand and around are under agrip of fresh snow fall and rains due tothe brewing Western Disturbance in theregion. With this, a prolonged spell ofrain and snow is likely over all the threeStates. The intensity of the weatheractivity would be scattered and light ini-tially.

Meanwhile, IMD claimed in itsstatement on climate of India, 2016, thatthe year was the warmest on recordsince its documentations began in1901. The weather conditions in 2016were in line with warmer than normalclimate observed globally for this peri-od, the statement said.

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Amid controversy overPrime Minister Narendra

Modi’s replacing Gandhi fromthe Khadi and VillageIndustries Commission diariesand calendars, the KVIC hasgot a booster doze of a �47 crorder from the Oil and NaturalGas Commission (ONGC).

This is the largest singleorder the KVIC has receivedduring the recent past.

The ONGC usually dis-tributes annual bonuses to itsemployees in the form of cash,but this year it has signed anagreement with the KVIC forproviding gift vouchers in placeof bonus.

Chairman of KVIC VKSaxena said that his negotia-tions have led to ONGC decid-ing to reward its employees inkind, at a value that is overthree-fold higher than the cashvalue. Under the scheme, theONGC will provide Khadivouchers worth �10,000 each toits regular employees and�5,000 each to its non-regularemployees. The KVIC willallow an additional 35 per centincentive on these vouchers,thus enhancing the value ofONGC bonus to 135 per centof its cash value for its staff.These Khadi vouchers can beused by ONGC staff over aperiod of 2 months. TheONGC has 34,236 regularemployees and 1,063 non-reg-

ular employees.The KVIC will get �35

Crore payment from ONGCdue to this initiative.

Considering 35per centadditional supplement byKVIC the total sale of KVICproducts will be about �47crores over a period of 2months in which 22 per cent,i.e �10 crore will be the wages.Saxena said that the artisansattached to this special salesdrive will be given an addi-tional 5 per cent reward direct-ly in their accounts throughDBT.

The KVIC will providebest quality Khadi productsthrough 16 special exhibitionswithin the ONGC premises.The KVIC has also decided thatthe local Khadi Institutionsand PMEGP units of the rele-vant area will be roped in toshowcase their best products inthese exhibitions, therebyspreading the benefits to localartisans. Efforts would also bemade to ensure that 70-80 percent of the sale would be ofreadymade garments, with spe-cial focus on women and chil-dren of the employees.

The first such exhibitionswill start from January 16,

2017 from Mehsana in Gujaratand will cover ONGC loca-tions at Ahmadabad, Baroda,Ankleshwar, Hazira, andCambay Basin up to February14, 2017 . The ONGC hashighest numbers of employeesi.e 11,081 in Gujarat.

Besides the tripartite ben-efit - sales to KVIC, value formoney for employees and staffgoodwill to ONGC- the agree-ment a unique model to helpin the sustainable developmentof rural artisanal communities.Apart from higher productiv-ity, the rural communities willalso earn more and sustain abetter quality of life. The KVIC,though this unique partnershipwill also generate 6.50 Lakhsextra man days for its Khadiartisans, increasing employ-ment opportunities.

Hailed in both the businessand social circles as a uniqueexperiment of multi level sus-tainable development, thescheme highlights a model ofsocio-economic rewards forthe producer and the con-sumer alike. Saxena alsoexplained that the schemeembodies the Prime Minister’soften repeated principle -‘Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas’.

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BJP on Sunday strong-ly criticised BSP

leader Mayawati for mak-ing “baseless allegations”of “a planned conspiracy”after EnforcementDirectorate’s “crackdown”on her brother and hisbank accounts.

“BJP dismisses all theallegations levelled by Mayawati. Instead of crit-icising the Prime Minister, she should respectthe law and provide the proof if her brother isinnocent... If he is innocent, he would be freeotherwise he had to face the law,” BJP NationalSecretary Shrikant Sharma said.

“Mayawati’s allegation is baseless as case onher brother was registered during Congressregime and investigation is going on,” Sharmasaid.

Sharma alleged that the BSP leader only col-lects money in the name of dalits and has noconcerned for them as “over 1,100 dalits werekilled and over 30,000 cases of dalits’ harassmentcame to light” when she was in power.

He said because of Mayawati’s “despotismand hands in gloves with criminals”, she was dis-

missed by peoplein 2012 polls inthe State.

“People nowknow the under-standing betweenthe SP and BSP ofruling the Statea l t e r n at i v e l y.Mayawati neverraises voicesagainst Akhilesh

Government because of her connivance but onlycriticise the Centre,” he said.

Sharma charged Maywati with not allow-ing poor to come out of their poverty.

In contrast, he said Prime Minister NarendraModi is continuously working towards the upliftof the poor and villagers . The BJP leader saidthe BJP will fight the polls in Uttar Pradesh ondevelopment and good governance.

Earlier, referring to ED’s probe into herbrother Anand Kumar and his bank accounts,Mayawati had alleged that under a “planned con-spiracy”, money deposited in the banks by herparty and some members of her family in a rou-tine manner, was being highlighted by BJP andthe central Government in the media as if it wasrelated to black money.

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Aday after slippers withMahatma Gandhi’s image

surfaced on Amazon’s UnitedStates of America website,Department of EconomicAffairs Secretary ShaktikantaDas, asked the e-commercegroup to desist from being`flippant’ about Indian sym-bols and icons. Das also cau-tioned Amazon against indif-ference.

The DEA Secretary’swarning came shortlyafter Ministry of ExternalAffairs (MEA) tookup the matter withAmazon inWashington.On Saturday,M E ASpokeprsonV i k a sSwarup saidthat IndianAmbassadorin Washingtonwas asked toconvey to Amazonthat while providing aplatform for third party ven-dors, they should respectIndian sensitivities and senti-ments.

The information aboutGandhi slippers were given bya person on Twitter whotagged External AffairsMinister Sushma Swaraj.

While Amazon US has

withdrawn the prod-uct after outrage

there are sever-al other itemsstill availableon the web-site that canhurt Indiansensitivities.A casual

search onAmazon US

website threwup results like --

Indian National FlagPet ID tag for dogs and cats,Indian Flag Team LogoWomen’s Fashion Bikini SetBeach Wear, Indian flag tow-els, Indian Flag sneakershoelace decorator etc.Amazon India had recentlyexpressed regret over door-mats having Indian flag on itswebsite.

&'���,%�������������Finding it odd that Swaraj Abhiyan, the party

recently formed by activist-lawyer PrashantBhushan, has sought an independent probeinto the politically-sensitive Augusta Westlandchopper scam, Attorney General MukulRohatgi argued that a political party has nobusiness to file aPIL. A lawyerwho was appear-ing for one of theparties in the caser e m i n d e dRohatgi that the plea toprobe 2G scam was broughtto Court by SubramanianSwamy, a senior BJP member. The A-G whowas at a loss for words found timely help fromthe bench. Justice Dipak Misra said, “The A-G will agree that Swamy is an individual andnot a political party.”

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Since there will be no separate rail budget,the officers at Rail Bhawan are quite a

relieved lot now. For years, months before thepresentation of Rail Budget the corridors ofRail Bhawan used to be a happening place.Railways so far, in the word of Prime MinisterNarendra Modi, used to be a `political tool’where political leaders and Parliamentarianslined up with their demands at the second floorof the Rail Bhawan where top guns the rail-ways- the Ministers, Chairman, BoardMembers, and Private Secretaries have theiroffices. Most of the demands used to be forstoppages of trains in their constituencies. Theround-the-clock kitchen services during thedrafting of the Rail Budget, is also a thing ofthe past. The only unhappy lot seems to bethe lower staff who used to get overtime perksfor almost two months.

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Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s decision togrants �2 lakh each to the next of kin of

those killed in Patna boat tragedy and �50,000for those seriously injured, is yet

another indication of thegrowing bonhomie between

the PM and Bihar ChiefMinister Nitish Kumar. The

political import of the PM’sgesture will not be lost on

Bihar `watchers’ sinceModi heaped fulsome praise

on Kumarduring his

recent visit to Bihar toattend to Guru GobindSingh’s Prakash parv inPatna. An invitation bythe Janata Dal (U) toBihar BJP leader SushilKumar Modi attend the`makar shankranti’ lunchhas also let tongues wagging. ButRJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav is unfazed by thesigns of the warmth between the JD (U) andBJP and insists that all is well with the Bihar’smahagatbhandan of JD(U), RJD and Congress.

���������The newly-appointed Army Chief General

Bipin Rawat faced a bar-rage of uncomfortable ques-tions last week on the issueof jawans taking to socialmedia to air their griev-ances against senior officers.Addressing his maid-en news conference,Rawat answered thequeries on this sen-sitive matter in a calm manner and evendefended ‘sahayak’ system. Even after nine-ty minutes when the journalists persisted withthe questioning, the Chief fended off thejournos with a smile, “please ask the ques-tions during the sumptuous lunch.”

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Many powerful people as well as babusand top cops are eager to see the out-

come of the high-level selection committee’smeeting on Monday to select the CBIDirector. The committee will consist ofPrime Minisiter , Chief Justice of India andOpposition leader. The “bookies” in thepower corridor are betting on Delhi PoliceCommissioner Alok Verma and MaharashtraDGP Satish Mathur.

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Russian Embassy’s Christmas Party inJanuary is always the

most awaited event of theyear in diplomatic cir-cles. First , you get tosee the entire diplo-matic corps minustheir formal loungesuits since it’s a fancydress show. Secondly, every-one dances to the music by Russian Jazz bandStilyagi. This year it also played popular Hindifilm numbers - Goron ki na kaalon ki, duniyahai dilwalon ki (from Disco Dancer), and, Surajdooba hua (Roy). While masks and gownsremained the popular dress choice of guests,demonetization seemed to be the dominanttheme as many of participants covered them-selves with new Rs 500 and Rs 2000 notes whilesome wore Paytm placards.

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Election season is on and film and actors arein demand from political parties. While

some of the big ones are refusing to take sides,others are not so cagey about joining the pollbandwagon. Actor Arjun Ram Pal has alreadyvolunteered to campaign for the BJP while‘Dada’ Jackie Shroff is set to follow his foot-steps. Amar Singh is also expected to use hispull with ‘Bollywood’ to back SP candidatesof Mulayam Singh Yadav. Stars may also cam-paign for the Congress which already has for-mer actor Raj Babbar as the State president inUttar Pradesh and TV Personality NavjotSingh Sidhu as a prominent leader of the partyin Punjab.

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The Central InformationCommission has asked

Union Home Ministry andDepartment of Justice to releasethe complaints and actionsand file noting regarding thecomplaints received againstformer Chief Justice KGBalakrishnan and his relativeson illegal wealth amassment. Ina recent Order, InformationCommissioner SridharAcharyulu said that HomeMinistry had to furnish thedetails by February 28 andDepartment of Justice has toprovide these by January 31.

Noted RTI activist SubhashAgrawal was for the past fiveyears pursuing this matter andall the Government depart-ments were rejecting his peti-tion, citing the matter wasrelated to the communicationsof a person who was ChiefJustice of India. Agarwal’s con-tention was all the complaintsand communications betweenvarious Government depart-ments started only afterBalakrishnan left the office andhence can’t too the protectionsprovided to judiciary’s com-munications with Government.

The complaints againstformer Chief Justice and fam-ily members for misusing theposition were filed by notedlawyer Prashant Bhushan seek-

ing probe into alleged dispro-portionate asset amassed by theformer CJI. The SupremeCourt had sought details fromvarious departments on thiscase. After Bhushan’s case, sev-eral RTIs were filed by manypersons to know the details andfile noting on these communi-cations, but the Governmentdepartments refused to enter-tain them claiming these wereprivileged communications.

At one point, Department ofJustice said that as Balakrishnanbecame head of NationalHuman Rights Commission, allthe files regarding him were sentto Home Ministry. Balakrishnanretired from Chief Justice poston May 2010 and SupremeCourt ton May 2012 asked theGovernment to take final deci-sion on the complaints filed byPrashant Bhushan’s -led NGO,Committee on JudicialAccountability and Reforms(CJAR). The main demand inthe complaint was forPresidential Reference againstBalakrishnan for initiatingprobes.

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Senior Central Ministers,along with security officials,

on Sunday reviewed the pre-vailing situation in Manipurwhere a 75-day-long econom-ic blockade on national high-ways has crippled normal life.

Home Minister RajnathSingh, Defence MinisterManohar Parrikar, FinanceMinister Arun Jaitley, ArmyChief General Bipin Rawat,Home Secretary Rajiv Mehrishiand other top officials closet-ed for an hour to discuss thesituation in the Northeasternstate.

Attorney General MukulRohatgi was also present in themeeting, leading to specula-tions of Central Governmentmulling some legal action. TheMinisters and top officials dis-cussed how to reopen theblocked National Highway 2,the lifeline of landlockedManipur, and restore normal-cy, official sources said.

The top priority of thecentral Government is now toreopen NH-2 which connects

Manipur from Assam throughNagaland. While the otherhighway, (NH-37), is reopened,the Centre wants to reopen theNH-2 too as early as possible,the sources said.

Assembly election inManipur is scheduled forMarch 4 and 8 and around20,000 Central security per-sonnel have been sent to thenortheastern state keeping inview the security situation inthe wake of violence followingthe economic blockadeimposed by the Union NagaCouncil (UNC) on theNational Highways sinceNovember 1.

The UNC has imposed theeconomic blockade on NH-2(Imphal-Dimapur) and NH-37(Imphal-Jiribam) that serve aslifelines for the landlockedManipur. While NH-37 waspartially reopened, there is notraffic movement on NH-2.

In a stern message, theCentre had told the ManipurGovernment last month that itcannot escape responsibilityfor the “humanitarian crisis”arising out of the economic

blockade by a Naga group andmust work to end it, whilemaking it clear that nobody willbe allowed to take politicaladvantage of the situation.

Home Minister Singh hadwritten twice to Chief MinisterO Ibobi Singh asking him toensure reopening of the high-way but it did not yield anyresult. Minister of State forHome Kiren Rijiju too had vis-ited the Congress-ruledManipur as a central emissarybut the highway has notreopened yet.

Rijiju had said it was com-pletely unacceptable to havesuch blockades in which thou-sands of people were sufferingand both the Central andManipur Government willwork together to end it. “TheState Government has not beenable to end the blockade. Itmust end as soon as possible aslaw and order is the responsi-bility of the State Government.Nobody will be allowed totake political advantage out ofa humanitarian crisis wherecommon people are suffering,”he had said.

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Page 6: ˜ 1 1-/23-45 -/ ˜ !˙˝˙˙#$%&˜’(˝˛ ˆ )*+˝,%, -%. ˘ˇ ˇ ˆ cles their father had sent for them. He then used to take his victims to isolated places, where he outraged their

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For many families the auspi-cious day of Makar Sankranti

in Bihar, also known as Lohriand Pongal in other parts of thecountry, turned out to be disas-trous as they lost their near anddear ones who met watery gravein Ganga on Saturday evening.According to official figure, 24people died in the boat tragedybut there was still no word fromthe official quarters as to whowas responsible for the criminalnegligence that led to the over-crowding of a country boat andits capsize midstream.

An FIR has been registeredwith the Sonepur police stationin Saran district of north Biharagainst the organiser of a fair inthe Ganga diara area, a boatmanand some unknown persons. Butthe survivors and others whowatched the tragedy from eitherbank of the river put the blameon the Bihar Government’stourism department which hadorganised the four-day kite fes-tival on the island and most ofthe people drowned were return-ing from there.

Apart from the kite festival,one Disneyland fair was alsobeing held at the same placewhich was organised by privateentertainment company. TheSaran administration which reg-istered the FIR, alleged that per-mission from the Saran admin-istration had not been taken bythe organisers of the Disneylandfair nor the tourism depart-ment duly informed it about theholding of the kite festival.However, the tourism depart-ment has not been named in theFIR.

The Government orderedan inquiry to be conducted bydisaster management principalsecretary Pratyaya Amrit, PatnaDIG Shalin and DM SanjayKumar Agrawal. An ex gratia ofRs 4 lakh for each victim was alsoannounced.

Colourful half page ads werepublished in local newspaperswith the photograph of ChiefMinister Nitish Kumar about thekite festival from January 14 to17 inviting people to come andalso promised free cruise servicefor their visit. Hours before thetragedy, principal secretary of

tourism department Harjot Kaurwas seen there trying to fly kitesand helping children gleefully.

Contrary to the promise offree ferrying service, the peoplewere not provided cruise andafter the sunset when theyreached the river bank there wasno cruise there. Finding no wayout they scrambled to board amotorised country boat. Asagainst the capacity of 30 peoplemore than 60 boarded it andwhen it reached midstream itwent out of control and balance.Meanwhile, water started seep-ing in the boat leading to panic

and in the melee it capsized.Commandant of the NDRF

Vijay Sinha said, “The capsizedboat has been retrieved and it isnot damaged. Altogether 24bodies have been extricated andour search and rescue operationis still going on.” Till late Saturdaynight 20 bodies had been fishedout while four more bodies weretaken out on Sunday.

Even though no one fromthe Government side came to sayanything on the tragedy, RJDsupremo Lalu Prasad said thatarrangement for theGovernment event were far from

satisfactory and administrationshowed no alertness. “CM islooking into the matter andaction will be taken against thepersons responsible for thistragedy,” he said.

This fatal incident happenedonly ten after the successfulorganisation of the PrakashUtsav in Patna and no untowardincident happened. Questionsare raised that the sameGovernment and same localadministration made elaboratearrangements only ten days backfor half a million visitors why itcould not manage a small event?

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Men, please move out.Women have taken over

the responsibility of guardingthe country’s ExclusiveEconomic Zone along the EastCoast as well as the sensitiveInternational MaritimeBoundary Line.

It was the Defence Ministrywhich released the news of anall-lady-crew taking off fromthe Coast Guard Station atChennai in the last week ofDecember in a Dornier aircrafton a reconnaissance mission toscan the coast line and EEZranging from south ofVishakapattinam to

Kanyakumari in Tamil Nadu.Though women pilots fly-

ing civilian aircraft is common,this is the first time an all-lady-crew was deployed in this sec-tor for a surveillance mission.The region is infamous forsmuggling, poaching andhuman trafficking.

While DeputyCommandants Akshi andSunita Venugopal flew theDornier, Deputy CommandantPriyanka Tyagi scanned theentire area within 700 nauticalmiles with state-of-the- art hi-tech instruments in the aircraft.The task given to these threeyoung brave, bold and beauti-ful officers of the Indian CoastGuard was to look out for any

kind of illegal activities,whether there were any fishingboats or ships in distress andwhether there were any poach-ing from the country’s exclusiveeconomic zone, a treasurehouse of exotic marine life.

The team of aviators itselfwas an integrated India withHaryanvi Akshi, Kochi-bornSunita and Priyanka fromMeerut in UP donning variousroles in this unique mission.For the entire duration of theirflight, India’s security estab-lishment (which include theCoast Guard station at Chennaiand the Indian Navy’s controlroom in the Naval HeadQuarters New Delhi) saw andheard the movements in Bay ofBengal through the eyes andears of these three youngwomen.

“It is always an awesomeexperience. But we never feltthat we were an all-women-crew. It is part of our job. Thecrew composition changes ona daily basis as there are near-ly 20 pilots here,” said Sunita,who was in command of theflight.

Sunita, hailing from a fam-ily of defence officers said shehad no other ambition in lifeexcept donning the role of apilot to guard the country ofher birth. I cannot think of anyother profession than this job,”said the mother of a two andhalf year old boy.

The region they flew overis known for its fragile envi-ronmental system and also asa zone vulnerable to poachingof the exotic marine wealth ofthe country. “Our brief includesreporting about maritime safe-ty and security, offshore secu-rity, saving human lives andassisting fishermen in distress,”said Priyanka Tyagi, a mathe-matics graduate-turned-aviator.

Priyanka, hailing from arural family (her father is afarmer), pointed out that shehas logged 1500 hours of flying.“We are all experienced avia-tors. Why this mission becameunique was because of the all-lady- crew. Otherwise we haveour daily assignments of recon-naissance missions,” saidPriyanka who joined CoastGuard in 2009. “It is an amaz-

ing experience each time we flyover the Bay of Bengal. Thereare no landmarks and the nav-igation is done based on instru-ments and sensors,” said theaviator with dreamy eyes.

Sunita, a graduate in liter-ature, turned poetical whenasked about her experience.“The aircraft does not knowwhether the crew is composedof man or woman. We allundergo the same kind oftraining and perform the sametasks,” said Sunita.

She turned poetical whenasked about flying over Bay ofBengal. “Thrilling andenthralling. I could see some ofthe most beautiful and unex-plored islands and islets alongthe Andhra Pradesh coast.Each mission in this regionrejuvenates the mind andbody,” said Sunita who does notmiss a chance to watch therivers Narmada and Godavarijoin the Bay of Bengal.

The three ladies wereunanimous in their reply thatthey love their job as aviatorsas it was engaging, adventurousand challenging.

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Deputy Commissioner ofPolice from Aurangabad

Nisar Tamboli was rushed toJaslok Hospital on Sunday,after he collapsed near HeeraPanna Shopping Centre at HajiAli in south Mumbai, whileparticipating in 14th edition ofthe Standard CharteredMumbai Marathon-2017.

For ty-seven-year-oldTambli, who is otherwise fitwith no history of diabetes orhypertension, slumped on theground all of a sudden and fellunconscious. He was runningthe full 42 km Mumbaimarathon, when he collapsedmidway to the finishing line.

After he was rushed to thenearby Jaslok Hospital, Tamboliappeared disoriented and hada short memory loss.

Apprehending a cardiacarrest, the doctors attendinghim admitted him at the hos-pital’s Intensive Care Unit.However, tests revealed that hehad not suffered any cardiacarrest as was being feared.

Tamboli, who was earlierMumbai police spokesperson,regained his orientation, afterhe was administered intra-venous fluids. The doctorsattending on Tamoli attributed

his sudden collapse to excessdehydration caused by lack ofadequate intake of water by himduring the last couple of days.

"With the memory of aleading Mumbai doctor losinghis life due to a heart attackwhilst training for theMarathon still fresh in ourminds, we have to be extreme-ly vigilant and alert in man-aging all such cases,” Dr. ShoaibPadaria, senior cardiologist atJaslok hospital, said.

“He will be under obser-

vation at the ICU for the next24 hours,” Dr Padaria added.

Meanwhile, more than42,000 people participated inthe Mumbai Marathon andfour other associate races heldacross the metropolis.

In a related development,Tanzania’s Alphonce Simbuand Kenya’s Bornes Kituremerged first and second in the42 km marathon, clocking thein 2:09:32 and 2:29:02 respec-tively to take home first prizecheques of USD$42,000.

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Seven days after a group ofinfiltrators had reportedly

sneaked inside the Indian ter-ritory before targeting theGeneral Reserve EngineerForce (GREF) camp in Battalvillage of Akhnoor in whichthree civilian labourers werekilled and another one wasinjured, the joint team of secu-rity forces were struggling totrace their footprints as they(terrorists) had vanished fromthe scene of action withoutfacing any resistance.

So far the security forceshave recovered a blanket anda single glove, few kilometresaway from the GREF camp,besides empty packets ofcream biscuits and snacks,with markings of Made inPakistan from the dense forestarea.

The recoveries had raisedhopes of security forces aboutthe possibility of tracking theseterrorists but at the same timethese terrorists had managedto give them a slip by remain-ing at large. Role ofOverground workers givingthem shelter also cannot beruled out as it is difficult forthese terrorists to survive inthe absence of any local sup-port and other logistics.

“We have not called off thechase, we are still combing thearea and keeping a close watch

on the movement of suspect-ed people in and aroundcamps of security forces in thearea to prevent similar strike,”a senior police officer who ledone of the foot patrols in thedense jungle on January 13told The Pioneer. The searchoperation was launched in thewee hours and continued tilllate evening on Friday.

The security forces havebeen sending long range footpatrols in the area to trackdown the movement of heav-ily armed infiltrators. TheArmy is maintaining an outercordon to prevent them fromretreating back inside thePakistan territory.

They feel the statementmade by the Pakistan basedLeT Chief Hafiz Sayeed overthe recent terror strike onGREF is a deliberate one tomislead the Indian securityforces. Sayeed had recentlyclaimed that the terroristswho had carried out the strike

on GREF camp had returnedsafely.

Meanwhile, fresh infiltra-tion bid by a group of fiveinfiltrators along theInternational border in Sambasector of Jammu frontier iskeeping three tier securitygrid on its tenterhooks.

BSF jawans deployed inthe front line of defence hadmanaged to neutralise one ofthe guides of the heavilyarmed infiltrators late Fridaynight while five others arebelieved to have retreated backinside the Pak territory.

On Saturday, as seniorBSF authorities from JammuFrontier rushed to the spot toassess the ground situation,they ordered local BSF officersto beef up their defences andincrease frequency of footpatrolling in the forward areasto keep a strict vigil on themovement of the suspectedinfiltrators.

After taking note of thelatest intelligence agencyreports, senior BSF officersalso advised the local policeofficers to increase the vigilalong the border routes andactivate their village defencecommittees as part of theannual drill to maintain tightvigil on the movement of anti-national elements in the runup to the Republic day cele-brations.

Security along the outer

periphery of the various secu-rity camps and police stationshas been enhanced to preventany infiltrator from executingthe terror plot.

The police is also entrust-ed with the responsibility ofexposing the network of theover ground workers to ensurethe infiltrators do not get shel-ter in the border areas beforelaunching the strike.

The highway patrol partiesof the State police have beentasked with the job of keepinga close watch on movement ofthe vehicles coming from bor-der areas to ensure anti-nation-al elements do not gain easyaccess to the National Highwaywhere a large number of secu-rity camps are located.

DIG Dharmendra Pareekhwhile interacting with themedia on Saturday claimed theBSF troops are maintainingtight vigil along theInternational Border and car-rying out thorough patrollingalong the vulnerable routesincluding water bodies tradi-tionally used by the infiltratorsto sneak inside the IndianTerritory. He said, “The area isvery sensitive and we havebeen receiving regular inputsfrom the intelligence agenciesthat small group of terroristsare waiting across the borderto sneak inside the Indianterritory to carry out terrorstrikes.”

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Shiv Sena’s youth wing pres-ident Aditya Thackeray

escaped unhurt on Sundayafternoon, after a speeding carjumped a traffic signal andrammed into his BMW carfrom front side at Kalangarjunction, near his residence atBandra in north-west Mumbai.

Tw e nt y - s i x - y e a r- o l dAditya, son of Shiv Sena chiefUddhav Thackeray, was behindthe wheel, when a Maruti Altojumped the traffic signal andhit his vehicle.

While the bonnet ofAditya’s car was damaged, theright hand doors of the car thatcollided with the Yuva Sena

chief ’s vehicle suffered a majordent because of the impact ofthe mishap.

“Thank you for your con-cern and calls. I met with anaccident being hit by a speed-ing car that jumped a signal atKalanagar junction.…Everyone is safe and sound.The car that jumped the signalis fine too. Thank you for theprayers and good wishes thatkeep us safe,” social media-savvy Aditya tweeted.

Meanwhile, the police gavea clean chit to Aditya and reg-istered a case against the driverof the vehicle that rammed intohis car. The erring driverreportedly took responsibilityfor the mishap.

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At least eight passengershad a narrow escape on

Sunday afternoon, as fire brokeout in a BrihanmumbaiMunicipal Corporation(BMC)-run BEST bus atAndheri’s Chakala locality innorth Mumbai.

The bus number 396 wason its way from Mulund innorth-east Mumbai toAndheri when its enginecaught fire and the blazespread to the entire vehicle.

Soon after the fireengulfed the bus, at least eightpassengers sitting in the bus atthat time ran out of the vehicle.

Before long, an explosionwas heard from the burningbus and the vehicle was guttedin the fire. A Maruti car whichwas moving next to the buswas also destroyed in theblaze.

The fire brigade personnelarrived on the scene soonafterwards and extinguishedthe blaze. However, the bushad been gutted by then.

“Since today being aSunday, there was not much ofa rush in the bus. There werejust seven to eight passengersinside the bus at the time ofmishap. All the passengersran out of the bus soon afterfire was noticed in the bus,” aneyewitness said.

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Page 7: ˜ 1 1-/23-45 -/ ˜ !˙˝˙˙#$%&˜’(˝˛ ˆ )*+˝,%, -%. ˘ˇ ˇ ˆ cles their father had sent for them. He then used to take his victims to isolated places, where he outraged their

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ABidhananagar court onSunday sent Bengal BJP

vice president JayprakashMajumdar to three days policecustody amid clamours ofpolitical victimisation of saf-fron leadership by the MamataBanerjee Government.

The Court order comes aday after he was arrested by thelocal police for defraudingexaminees of the State-heldTeachers’ Eligibility Test exam-inations held in 2014.

Majumdar a vocal face inState BJP who was arrestedafter eight hours marathongrilling by the Bidhannagarpolice was sent to police cus-tody by the Bidhannagar addi-tional Chief Judicial Magistratenotwithstanding the prosecu-tion demand for 7-day policeremand.

He was arrested underSections 420(cheating),406(criminal breach of trust),506(threat to cause death orgrievous hurt).

Majumdar was arrestedfollowing a complaint filed byone Arup Ratan Roy whoclaimed that the BJP leaderwho was then in the CongressParty had taken �7.20 lakhfrom him assuring him of judi-cial help in the apex court andHigh Court.

The development camedays after Chief MinisterMamata Banerjee threatened ofretaliatory steps in “equal mea-sures” when the CBI arrestedsenior Trinamool leader andMP Sudip Bandopadhyay forhis involvement in the multi-crore Rose valley chit fund case.

“They are also running aGovernment in Delhi and weare also a Government hereand both have their respectivejurisdictions to act. So as theyhave acted in a vindictive man-ner we can also do the same”Banerjee had thundered thenalleging Bandopadhyay’s arrestwas linked to her party’s activerole in the anti-demonetisationcampaign alongside theCongress.

Roy’s complaint lodged inAugust 2016 said that when hewas then leading a protestdharna against large-scaleirregularities in the TET examsMajumdar approached himand demanded the money sothat he could arrange for legalhelp.

“I collected the moneyfrom the other aspirants andpaid him the same but when nohelp came and when repeatedrequests to Mr Majumdar toreturn the money met withthreats I filed a complaint withthe police,” said the com-plainant.

However denying reportsof having accepted any moneyfrom the aspirants Majumdarsaid Saturday’s police actionwas the result of a vindictivepolitics played by theTrinamool.

“The person who has filedthe complaint is an imposterand was not even a candidatein the exams. His name was notthere in the merit list. So howcan he file a complaint notbeing a party to the proceed-ings,” he said wondering “whythe police are acting after fivemonths after the complaintwas lodged.”

Senior BJP leader RahulSinha said the arrest was a bigdemonstration of vindictivepolitics as “everyone knowswhy this step has been taken.”The CBI which arrested SudipBandopadhyay was investigat-ing the case upon a SupremeCourt order and “JayprakashMajumdar was arrested fol-lowing an order by theTrinamool Congress,” he main-tained.

State BJP president DilipGhosh said “though MrMajumdar was then in theCongress and though he has toprove his own innocence thereason behind his arrest isclear before everyone. They(Trinamool Government) arealso trying to frame me in amurder case.”

The case relates to themuch touted and controversialTET examinations held by theState Government in 2014 inwhich about 20 lakh aspirantsappeared. Merely one percentof the total number of candi-dates qualified in the examsamid complains of large-scaleirregularities leading to lawsuits both in Calcutta HighCourt and Supreme Court.

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The National InvestigationAgency (NIA) has learned

that over 30 people from Keralaincluding the 22 who had gonemissing from the State duringthe May-June period last yearare undergoing terror trainingat the camps of the Islamic State(ISIS) in Nangarhar province ineastern Afghanistan whereOsama bin Laden had report-edly planned Al Qaeda’s strikesagainst the US.

The NIA has so far been ofthe belief that the 22 Keralitesincluding six women and threechildren who had gone missingunder mysterious circumstanceswere in ISIS camps in Syria butit has now received informationfrom Intelligence agencies thatthey and about 12 otherKeralites who had left Indiamuch earlier to join the globalterror force are in the IslamicState camps in tribal areas nearJalalabad, capital of Nangarhar.

Intelligence agencies in

Afghanistan have informedtheir Indian counterparts thatnearly 3,000 recruits from var-ious countries are undergoingISIS training in these camps.Following this, the INA hassought the help of the Interpoland the Afghan agencies forcollecting further details aboutthe Keralites there. Reportsquoting NIA sources said thatsome important developmentscould be expected in this regardin this week itself.

The NIA has been trackingthe digital footprints of theKeralite recruits of the ISIS andsources said that the agencyhad credible information onthe locations of the campswhere they were living andtraining. At home, the NIA’sinvestigations are said to havesucceeded to a great extent infinding the details of the escapeof Keralites into ISIS territories.

The agency has alsolearned that Sajeer AbdullaMangalachery alias Sameer Aliof Kozhikode, considered to the

chief recruiting agent of theISIS in Kerala, is undergoingtraining along with the otherKeralites in one of these campsin Nangarhar. The investigatorshave already traced the point oforigin of his Facebook postcalling for Jihad in Kerala tothese areas.

The information the NIAhas received on the campswhere the missing Keralites areundergoing training gives cre-dence to reports that the ISIS,after losing Iraqi strongholdsMosul and Raqqa, is currently

in the process of shifting itsbase into Afghanistan.Intelligence agencies are of theopinion that new recruits intothe terror force are being sentto Nangarhar as part of effortsin this direction.

The NIA has been workinghard to trace the missingKeralites since September last.Subahani Haja Moideen (31),the ISIS’s key Indian recruiterwho was arrested from TamilNadu last October, had con-fessed to the agency that over60 Indians, including the 22

Keralites who had gone miss-ing, had joined the global ter-ror group. He had also said thathe himself had been at battleservice for the terror force inMosul for a monthly pay ofUS$ 100.

Keralites woke up to themagnitude of the ISIS’s pene-tration into the State in July lastafter reports came out about themysterious disappearance of 22persons, including six womenand three children, fromPadanna and Thrikkaripur inKasaragod district and Yakkarain Palakkad district.

All the men and women inthe group were young and heldhigh qualifications in medi-cine, engineering and businessmanagement. It is believed thatall arrangements for their secretmigration to Islamic State ter-ritory were made by AbdulRashid Abdullah ofThrikkaripur. The Agencybelieves that most of them hadreached Afghanistan throughAbdu Dhabi and Dubai.

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Adelay in the Supreme Courtdelivering the judgement

on the petition challenging theban on Jallikattu, the ruralsport of Tamil Nadu, is beingprojected by the OppositionDMK and its allies as an effortby the “Brahminical” BJP to saf-fronise the southern State.“Anti-Tamil RSS-BJP get out ofTamil Nadu”, read the placardscarried by thousands of demon-strators who took out proces-sion all over Tamil Nadu onFriday demanding the revival ofthe sport banned by the apexcourt in May 2014.

The highlight of the rallieswas the anti-Centre tirade

echoed throughout the Statethough the RSS and the BJP donot have any role in banningthe bull sport. MK Stalin, theDMK vice president, who inau-gurated a State-wide agitationat Chennai on Friday againstthe ban on Jallikatu alleged thatthe Narendra Modi-led UnionGovernment was anti-Tamiland anti-Tamil Nadu.

“The Prime Minister hasenough time to meet film starslike Gautami, Nagarjuna,SalmanKhan, Aamir Khan and SharukhKhan. But he does not have aminute to spare for the MPsfrom Tamil Nadu who wantedto meet him to inform himabout serious issues hauntingthe State,” charged Stalin. He saidthe Union Government could

have circumvented the SupremeCourt ban on Jallikattu by pro-mulgating an Ordinance. “Thepresent Government at theCentre has issued 22 Ordinanceson various issues. Why can’t theyissue an Ordinance forJallikattu?” he asked.

He was joined in the agi-tation by leaders of theC ongress .Though theC o n g r e s shas beencampaign-ing with the DMK against theBJP Government at the Centredemanding the lifting of theban on Jallikattu, a perusal ofrecent records by The Pioneerthrew out some interestinginformation.

The Congress which iscriticising the Narendra ModiGovernment for the ban onJallikattu, had in its manifestofor the Tamil Nadu AssemblyElection in May 2016 haddeclared that it would ban theJallikattu. “The party supportsthe ban on Jallikattu,” said the

Congress manifesto.“Tamil Nadu Assembly

elections 2016: Congress releas-es manifesto, promises ban onJallikattu”, the dailies had car-ried banner headlined reportsthe day after the manifesto wasreleased by Mukul Wasnik,AICC general secretary.

Former PM ManmohanSingh, in a let-ter to NGJay a s i m h a ,m a n a g i n gd i r e c t o r ,

Humane Society International, aNGO based in Secunderabadhad said that he was for banningthe bull fight. “The HumaneSociety Internationale India hasa worthy objective and certain-ly we have to work to discouragebullfights which provide a cruelform of entertainment. I wishyou all success in achieving yourobjective,” said ManmohanSingh in his letter datedDecember 15, 2015.

Referring to Stalin’s allega-tion that the Narendra ModiGovernment was against Tamil

Nadu, KT Raghavan, BJPspokesman, said this was aderogatory statement. “The BJP’smanifesto for the 2016 Assemblyelection is clear in this regard. Itis in the public domain. We hadassured the people that theparty would strive hard for get-ting the ban on Jallikattuannulled ,” said Raghavan.

He said the Jallikattu seasonis spread over the January-Maymonths and it is not a one-dayaffair. “These demonstrationsare much ado about nothing.One cannot pressurise the apexcourt to deliver the verdict asper one’s convenience,” he said.

Aanand Venkat, RSS leaderin Chennai, said the Sanghremained neutral on theJallikattu issue. “But we arecommitted in preserving thenative Indian breeds of cowsand bulls. There is a conspira-cy to finish off the nativeIndian breeds to help the inter-national companies to markettheir breeds and other para-phernalia. We are against it,”said Venkat.

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With fingers crossed, boththe faction of the

Samajwadi Party are waiting forthe ‘verdict of the ElectionCommission on the partyname and election symbol to bedeclared on Monday.

Leaders of both the fac-tions led by Mulayam SinghYadav and his son ChiefMinister Akhilesh Yadav had aquite day on Sunday. Both metthe party leaders and theirsupporters and discussed thealternative options in case theparty’s election symbol isfreezed by the EC.

SP is celebrating the silverjubilee year as the party wasestablished in October 1992.This is also the golden jubileeyear of Mulayam Singh Yadav,completing 50 years in publiclife as he was elected to the UPAssembly for the first time in1967 from Jaswant Nagarassembly constituency inEtawah district.

Both the factions of theparty have huge stake in theelection symbol cycle of theparty. Several lakh cycles weredistributed by the State labourdepartment during the last fiveyear tenure of the AkhileshYadav Government and over3,000 km of cycle track wereconstructed across the Stateduring the same period.

Akhilesh during his entireregime had promoted bicycle asa brand of the State and him-self cycled from time to time topromote this eco-friendlytransport system and his party’selection symbol.

The patriarch of the SPMulayam Singh Yadav onSunday met Shivpal Yadav andsome other leaders at his resi-dence to chalk out strategy forthe UP polls, Akhilesh on theother hand too was closet withhis close confidants at his offi-cial residence on the eve of theEC’s verdict. Mulayam whiletalking to some of the leadersat his residence asked them tonot to be perturbed by the ECsverdict and they should go totheir respective constituenciesand work for the party,

Sources said that Mulayamalso expressed his displeasure

over the Akhilesh factions moveto hire the Rajya Sabha MP ofthe Congress Kapil Sibal toplead its case against him beforethe election commission.

Mulayam Singh is reportedto have told a senior leader thatthe SP had supported KapilSibbal during the Rajya Sabhaelections held in June last yearand the same person was fight-ing the SP. Mulayam also said hewas trying to save the party butAkhilesh seems to have littleinterest in the future of the party.

The SP patriarch is alsoreported to have expressed hisreservations over the move ofthe Akhilesh camp to enterinto a pre poll alliance with theCongress. The party sourcessaid Mulayam Singh said that hewas against pre poll alliance withany comfortable and confidentof victory of his candidates andrather than going for an alliance.

Mulayam Singh alsoassured the leaders that everyeligible person will be consid-ered for the party ticket in thisassembly polls and directed

Shivpal Yadav, who was alsothere to complete the candi-dates list by Sunday evening.Mulayam camp had alreadyannounced 397 candidates witharound 170 candidates com-mon with the Akhilesh group.Akilesh has also announced thelist of 237 candidates so far.

On the other hand, LokDal President Sunil Singh, hasoffered Mulayam to take overhis party, which was formed byformer Prime Minister lateChoudhury Charan Singh. Theelection symbol of Lok Dal isfarmer ploughing the field.This option is under consider-ation of Mulayam faction if thecycle symbol is freezed by theEC. Similarly, the Akhilesh fac-tion is also considering to gofor motorcycle symbol.

Though there are usual rantsof the bravado from both theMulayam and Akhilesh camps,the contours of the real politic aregradually sinking in particular-ly on those who are in the raceof contesting the elections andwhose name figure in both thelist announced by MulayamSingh and CM Akhilesh Yadav.The Election commission willissue the notification for the firstphase of the Assembly electionsin UP on January 17 where 73Assembly seats in Western UPwill go to polls on February 4.

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Lucknow: The ongoing familyfeud in Samajwadi Party foundmention in the advertisement inBharatiya Janata Party calling thefight between Mulayam SinghYadav and Akhilesh Yadav as‘drama’ drawing ire from SPleaders who called this com-mercial a sadist face of BJP.

On Sunday people woke upto see headline ad in all leadingnewspapers which read: Baapbete ke drame hazaar-nahichaahiye aisee sarkar. In thesame advertisement the BJPhas issued a toll free number.When one dials it one gets tohear a recorded message ofparty State president KeshavPrasad Maurya who thanks lis-tener for connecting with ‘Mannki baat’. There is an option for thelistener to get his views record-ed as what he wants in UP.

Sources said a video has also

been made on going familyfeud and would be released inelectronic media shortly. “I haveno idea about video it would bereleased from the Central head-quarter in Delhi,” a senior leadertold The Pioneer.

The BJP’s advertisement onSP family feud is seen as nega-tive campaign. “We admit thereis some problem in our family.Does it look nice for a partywhich talks about Hindu sanskarto make fun of this family cri-sis,” SP leader RajendraChaudhry said. “This shows theBJP leadership has a sadistmindset and it wants to humil-iate others,” he said.

The BJP strategists say thatthey have started their campaignby highlighting negatives of SPand BSP so that people couldknow how much damage theseparties have done to UP. ����������$�������������������������������'�����%��������� �"#

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NOTICE INVITING e-TENDERS(1) The Executive Engineer (E), PWD DHC& ND/CENTRAL, Ground floor, MSO Bldg,New Delhi(Telephone-23310844) on behalfof President of India re-invites ONLINE itemrate bids from the O.E.M. or their authorizeddealer of Refex/Mafron/Dupont/Floron,Provided they meet Eligibility Criteria, asstipulated in the NIT:- for the followingwork (s):- which shall be received by E-Tendering.N/W:- MOEI & Fans and RMO Electrical andMechanical services installed at Delhi High Court,New Delhi. (SH:- Supply of Refrigerant Gas).NIT No: 367 /EE(E)/PWD DHC &ND/Central/2016-17Estimated Cost : Rs. 553150/-Earnest Money: Rs. 11063/- & period of com-pletion*Fifteen Days (15 Days), Last Dateand time submission of Tender upto 3:00PM on 18-01-2017The tender forms and other details can beobtained from the website:http://govtprocurement.delhi.gov.in atTender I.D. NO. 2017_PWD_121414_1(2) The Executive Engineer (E) PWD DHC& ND/CENTRAL, Ground floor MSO Bldg,IP Estate, New Delhi-110002 (Telephone no.23310844) on behalf of President of Indiainvites ONLINE item rate bids from theapproved and eligible contractors registeredwith CPWD in appropriate composite cate-gory or those of appropriates list of MES,BSNL and other state Govt. Department deal-ing with buildings and Roads and other expe-rienced non registered contractors, who sat-isfy the criteria of execution of similarworks, Provided they meet Eligibility Criteria,as stipulated in the NIT:- of the following work(s):- which shall be received by E-TenderingN/W:- RMO Strom Water Pumping Setsand HT, LT Panel & DG Sets, Subway andFOBs on Delhi PWD Road under PWDDHC& ND/Central, New Delhi. (SH:-Routine maintenance & operation of DGSets and Storm Water Pump Sets.)NIT No: 380/EE(E)/PWD DHC & ND/Central/2016-17Estimated Cost : Rs. 2990505/-Earnest Money: Rs. 59810/- & period of com-pletion Five Months (150 Days), Last Dateand time submission of Tender upto 3:00PM on 18-01-2017The tender forms and other details can beobtained from the website:http://govtprocurement.delhi.gov.in at

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Page 8: ˜ 1 1-/23-45 -/ ˜ !˙˝˙˙#$%&˜’(˝˛ ˆ )*+˝,%, -%. ˘ˇ ˇ ˆ cles their father had sent for them. He then used to take his victims to isolated places, where he outraged their

Reports from the filmworld claim that theAamir Khan-starrerDangal has grossed thelargest ticket sale for the

first three weeks since its release, at�350 crore. Imagine how muchmore would have been collected bynewspapers and other media hadthey charged every viewer/readerfor all the daily diet of the politicaldangal (wrestling) going on in sev-eral States, political parties and theirGovernments since the last month!

Thanks to these reports ofwrangling and back-stabbing, pol-itics seems to entertain as much as,if not more than, what AamirKhan and other film producers andtheir imaginative plot-makers canoffer. The variety is nationwide andwith new actors on the prowl.

In Kerala, you thought therecently come-to-power Marxistswould be a paragon of virtue, as cor-ruption charges against the thenincumbent Congress-ledGovernment was the main cause ofthe latter’s defeat. But no, you aremistaken. Right now, Marxistvirtues have been overtaken by thecapitalist equations that say bloodis thicker than water.

One Marxist Minister has beenforced to resign as she has beencaught appointing her relatives injuicy positions in public sectorundertakings (PSUs) under herMinistry. A court probing a mur-der case has ordered that anotherMarxist Minister be included as aprime accused in that particularevent that happened before hisparty’s Government came to powerjust a few months ago.

Kerala’s ruling Marxists areriven by mutual accusations even asChief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan hassucceeded in cutting to size nona-genarian former leader and formerChief Minister VS Achuthanandanwithin the party hierarchy. For amore comprehensive view, read theKerala dailies or view the local chan-nels of the State.

Such ‘capitalist virtues’ likecorruption, nepotism, backstab-bing are allegedly dug out by theUnion Government agencies withequal ferocity in Kolkata too. TheState Government of theTrinamool Congress was voted fora second time to power because itsopposition to the incidents ofMarxists-in-power, who were for35 years at a stretch ruling WestBengal, was still fresh in theminds of the Bengali electorate.

But right now it is theTrinamool big fish whom theCentral Bureau of Investigation(CBI) and other vigilance agenciesare holding. Chief Minister Mamata

Banerjee is a fighter to her bonesand the political world in the coun-try had admired her determinationto get the Marxists out of the StateGovernment. With the shadow ofcorruption in the State over chitfunds scams falling on the respect-ed leaders of the TMC now inGovernment, Banerjee seeks tosecure her and her party’s image bydiverting the public anger againstdifferent Ministers of herGovernment, towards the incum-bent Union Government.

As if in a break in the traditionof leadership of regional partiespassing on from father to son, in themost important election battle-field of Uttar Pradesh, it is father ver-sus the son in the current rulingSamajwadi Party. Reporters with alife-time of political coverage behindthem, are also perplexed as fatherand son (and uncles and moreuncles) change positions and state-ments every second hour.

The BJP, all set to conquer,should be laughing away when itsrivals are keen to offer the State toit, so to say, on a platter. Analysts saythat for the young Chief Minister,the ‘young’ Congress vice presidentRahul Gandhi is good company to

lure the young voters in the State. The young-young combination

rather than a young-old combinehad the son chosen to follow thefather. Behind this drama beingplayed out in the Samajwadi Partyfor public edification or entertain-ment (take your pick), the long-timeking-maker in the crafty AmarSingh, is playing second fiddle.

You have much to entertainfurther south back again. First, thelong months of hospitalisation ofthe popular icon and ChiefMinister J Jayalalithaa, who alsoheaded her party as general sec-retary. You saw the AIADMKcadres and loyalists holding longprayer sessions invoking the godsto save their iconic leader.

Who would succeed her atthe head of the party and theGovernment? There were noimmediate claimants as she wasa spinster (like Mamata Banerjee).Her constant companion, SasikalaNatarajan, was the party’s choice.No one from the party’s leader-ship was fit for the job, though aparty leader finally became theChief Minister.

Emotion rather than politicalexperience and work in a political

party is the decideratum. Whynot? What was Rajiv Gandhi’spolitical experience when, frombeing a commercial pilot he waspitch-forked into prime minister-ship overnight (a three year job asparty general secretary in betweenis too short for political training)?It was because he was his motherIndira Gandhi’s son.

In Tamil Nadu, too, you can’tignore relations. Jayalalithaa’s rela-tions have just emerged and theirclaim is been projected. Whatevermight be the result of the powerstruggle, there is likely to be moredangal shows in the State’s politics.

For, in the rival DMK also, aspatriarch M Karunanidhi is mov-ing into his sunset years, it is theyounger son Stalin, who has beencrowned for succession by thepatriarch himself. How far theolder son who can follow onlyTamil, will take it lying down,remains to be seen.

The showcasing of struggles forpower is common in all democra-cies, but the final decision comesfrom political cadres and voters. Itis largely in our country that polit-ical families rule from generation togeneration, with the Nehru-Gandhis showing the way for suc-cessive generations.

To recall, even JawaharlalNehru was at the Congress’stop, courtesy his charismaticand rich father Motilal Nehru,who pleaded with MahatmaGandhi to let a young Jawaharlalpreside over Lahore meet of theCongress, though he was a newentrant into the party. TheNehru-Gandhi (Parsi Gandhiand not Gujarati bania Gandhi)family rule began thus.

If in the initial many genera-tions in politics, parties grow (orshrink) as if they are family prop-erties, the fighting spirit that poli-tics must encourage among cadresto earn their spur is flattened, andlow-level loyalties take its place. Itis the old monarchy, not a democ-racy, that emerges. Leaders seek towin support through offer of free-bies and juicy jobs to loyalists.

It is worth a clinical study as tohow family loyalties in politics andnot perception of quality leadershipcapabilities led to glass ceilings inall walks of life, how birth patternedIndia’s political journey anddepressed the fighting spirit amongthe common people. Politics as afamily dangal may be a great enter-tainment, but is surely not good forthe health of our democracy.

(The writer is former RajyaSabha member from the BJP andDelhi-based political and social analyst):

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Sir — This refers to the article,“My Lords, this is judicial adven-turism” (Big Story, January 13)by Abraham Thomas. Judges,who back freedom of speech ofthe likes of Kanhaiya Kumar orsections of the media who workagainst national interests, cannottake away the common people’sopinion from outside of thecourts. People have their ownviews. Prashant Bhushan, theactivist-lawyer, who was party toso-called Sahara-Birla diariescase, openly questioned the apexcourt’s verdict on the issue. Thatis contempt of court, not thepeople’s differing opinion orarticles that criticise verdictson merit. People who are notparty to any case need to bebrave to display their honestopinions so that judicial reformscan be done with transparency.

Premolal Via email

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Sir — This refers to the contro-versy over the photograph ofPrime Minister Narendra Modion calendars and diaries of theKhadi and Village Industries

Commission (KVIC) for 2017. Itis noteworthy that each of the12-page calendars of theGovernment of India also has aphotograph of the PrimeMinister in different poses.Otherwise also, daily newspaperadvertisements of the UnionGovernment and even someState regimes carry photographsof the Prime Minister. All this isa result of a Supreme Court ver-dict which, initially allowingphotos of President, PrimeMinister and Chief Justice ofIndia in Government advertise-ments, relaxed the rule toinclude photographs of UnionCabinet Ministers, StateGovernors, Chief Ministers andMinisters in States too.

It is noteworthy that thethen Chief Justice of India PSathasivam had set a healthytrend by not allowing his pho-tograph in Government adver-tisements. The Supreme Courtshould suo motu review its order.

SC AgrawalDelhi

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Sir — The Supreme Court hastaken a decision to ban thesport, Jallikattu, in Tamil Nadu.But the DMK working president

and Opposition leader in theState, MK Stalin, has trained hisguns on Prime MinisterNarendra Modi on the issue.Stalin wants a CentralOrdinance to hold the sport andcalls for the AIADMK to pressthe Centre for it.

But what can the PrimeMinister do when the apex courthas banned the cruel practice ofbull-fight? Does the DMK wantthe Prime Minister to face con-tempt of court charges?

Also parties opposeOrdinances, calling them againstthe federal spirit of theConstitution and an attempt bythe Centre to stifle their rights.But they demand an Ordinancewhen it suits them.

KV SeetharamaiahHassan

���������� ������Sir — Jallikattu may be consid-ered cruel by animal rightsactivists and other like-mindedpeople, but its cultural link to theState cannot be ignored. A solu-tion has to take care of both theangles and not be arbitrary.

V RamaChennai

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Page 9: ˜ 1 1-/23-45 -/ ˜ !˙˝˙˙#$%&˜’(˝˛ ˆ )*+˝,%, -%. ˘ˇ ˇ ˆ cles their father had sent for them. He then used to take his victims to isolated places, where he outraged their

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The liberals, media, Leftists,socialists and also intellec-tuals have been a part of

the establishment in India untila change of regime happened in2014. It started with formerPrime Minister Jawaharlal Nehruselectively entrusting them withthe position of eminence in allGovernment-sponsored educa-tional and research institutionsand foreign junkets. This policycontinued throughout successiveCongress regime for about 60years. However, Prime MinisterNarendra Modi has given thema nudge. The monopoly over allwisdom that they commandedhas been challenged.

They are now scared thattheir control and dominance ofeconomic and political prescrip-tions would not hold sway andthey would no longer be able tostifle contrary views. The Modi-baiters perceive the actions of thePrime Minister through the fil-ter of their immense dislike for

him and have the followinggrievances to speak about:

� That he has blood on hishand for the Gujarat violencet.But the country’s highest courthas exonerated him completely.

�� That he is communal.But there has been no other com-munal riot in Gujarat during hischief ministership and general-ly speaking, there have been lesssuch incidents in BJP-ruledStates.

��That he is authoritarian.As a matter of fact, PrimeMinister Modi is less authoritar-ian as compared to JawaharlalNehru, Indira Gandhi or RajivGandhi. A critical media, inde-pendent judiciary, human rightsbodies and a vibrant Parliamentare now thriving in India.

Moreover, demonetisationcan’t be criticised as anti-choiceand authoritarian because it hasbeen rolled out to serve a socialcause like the nationalisation ofbanks. We have seen that in

external relations too. PrimeMinister Modi has not onlybeen most accommodative, butforceful as well, as his diplomat-ic dealings with Pakistan prove.

��That he is pro-rich andhas ties with Sahara, Adani etc:But the Supreme Court hasfound no substance in theseallegations. What is more sig-nificant is that Modi’s policy of‘Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas’ isabsolutely non-discriminatoryvis-à-vis policies of other par-ties. For example, poverty alle-viation, which is essentiallytargeted at the poor.

These programmes arebased on a concept of dividedpolity, and despite good inten-tions, they end up aggravating fis-sures. Prime Minister Modi hasreplaced this by a philosophy ofsabka vikas which is essentiallyharmonic in its spirit.

Secularists also accuse thePrime Minister of courting theHindu right organisations, which

includes the RashtriyaSwayamsevak Sangh (RSS).

The Left-liberal attitudetowards the RSS has been uncan-nily similar to the old brahman-ical fear of pollution, as if, the veryname of the RSS, is defining.

But we should note that theRSS and other allied organisa-tions are known for their largescale social service. The reliefwork undertaken by them dur-ing rain and flood in Chennaiand Uttarakhandavalanche/earthquake in recenttimes have been outstanding tosay the least.

Prime Minister Modi is alsocriticised for being open to theIndian viewpoint. These Modi-baiters are mostly Wastern-edu-cated. They also hate to believethat a totally Indian viewpoint,which inevitably is different fromthe Western perspective, is worthlistening to. They are so Westernoriented in their approach thatthey think a contra view is

bound to be reactionary. Rabindranath Tagore, in an

insightful essay titled, ‘TheHistory of Bharatavarsha’, bit-terly complained about this in1903: “Our real ties are with theBharatavarsha that lies outsideour textbooks. It appears as ifwe are nobody in India; as ifthose who came from outsidealone matter.”

He was echoed in 1942 byscholar and statesman KMMunshi: “Most of our historiesof India deal with certainevents and periods not fromthe Indian point of view, butfrom that of some source towhich they are partial andwhich by its very nature isloaded against India.”

Finally, the hatred from thepoliticians in the Opposition isaccentuated because PrimeMinister Modi is graduallywinning away their pasture ofclass and caste discrimina-tion/disgruntlement through

his programme, ‘Sabka Saath,Sabka Vikas’.

Prime Minister Modi hasraised expectations of all sec-tions of society, irrespective ofcaste, class and religion, andthere is every chance thatvote-banks of opposition par-ties will get eroded.

Actually, Modi is on to along-term experiment inIndia. He and his Governmentaim to re-engineer humansouls and minds as much associo-economic realities. Themost significant change Indianeeds is a transformation to acorruption free and a commit-ted society. A society thatvalues integrity and efficien-cy at every level.

Success and failure in thisgrand effort cannot be mea-sured through the convention-al terms of Western culturedtechno-intellectuals.

(The writer is a commenta-tor on contemporary issues)

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Recently, vandals desecratedat least 20 Hindu idols andthree temples in Jamaibazar area in Tungipara ofGopalganj district of

Bangladesh. Coincidentally, Tungiparais the spot where the Father of theNation, Bangabandhu Sheikh MujiburRahman is resting, whose daughterSheikh Hasina, is today, the PrimeMinister of Bangladesh, who is gen-erally perceived to be secular and pro-minority.

Despite this, if the Hindus contin-ue to incur the wrath of the funda-mentalist majority community, it’s adiscouraging trend, not only becauseHasina has a massive Hindu vote-bank returning her to power eachtime, but also because the Hindus’safety and security remains a criticalconcern with long-term implications,possibly adversely affecting India.

Other than this, the Tungiparaincident of excesses on Hindus, fromSeptember 27, 2016, onwards, therehave been consistent attacks on themand their temples. During Kali puja,in Habiganj district, many idols ofgodesses were smashed. There werereports of grabbing of Hindu proper-ty through the notorious ShahadatVahini, terrorising the minority com-munity, forcing them to abandontheir estates and flee to India.

It would appear from the patternprevailing in Bangladesh today, that theHindus are at the receiving end. Beingtargeted time and again, in terms oflosing their immovable property at thehands of the Islamic unscrupulous anti-Hindu elements, forced conversions,destruction of Hindu places of worship

and disparaging anti-Hindu rhetoricresonating at various fora.

Most recent such activity was seenat Chittagong on January 7, when thePir of Chormonai, Amir Mufti SyedMohammad Rezaul Karim, whileaddressing a mammoth gathering ofzealots, came down heavily on Hindupractices, including justifying cowslaughter and beef eating. He accusedthe Hasina Government of imposingwhat he described the Hindu syllabusfor the Muslims’ curriculum.

Maintaining his acerbic anti-Hindupitch, the Pir also came down heavilyon Rabindranath Tagore for his “pro-Hindu” education policies. The tenorof Pir’s anti -Hindu oration seemedhighly inflammatory.

If there is no backlash by theHindus, as a reaction to this fiery out-burst, it’s only because they are numer-ically less and bereft of any musclepower and political support.

In this context, it merits underlin-ing that the Pir of Chormonai is veryclose to Chairman of the Jatiya Partyand former Bangladesh PresidentHussain Muhammad Ershad. Ershadhas not given up his political ambi-tions, and continues to court Hasinato remain in the proximity of corri-dors of power.

He has also been regularly sendingovertures to India for support. Ershadis not a freedom-fighter, and during theliberation struggle of 1970-1971, heremained in Pakistan.

He was back in Bangladesh only in1973, manipulated to become theArmy Chief, then the Chief MartialLaw Administrator, and subsequentlythe President of the country.

During his presidentship, in thewake of attempts to bring down theBabri masjid, Ershad allowed anti-Indiaforces to violently target Indian facil-ities in Bangladesh, including places ofworship, offices of Indian Airlines,India Information Centre etc.

By the prevailing happenings, itseems, anti-Hindu agenda is on theanvil and the Pir and other like-mind-ed forces are warming up to provokethe secular segment in Bangladesh tolie dormant.

Importantly, the Pir’s recent pres-ence and address in Chittagong is,perhaps, a maiden one. Earlier, sim-ilar congregations were regularlyaddressed by a pro-Pakistan, anti-India and anti Hindu Jamaat-e-Islami(JeI) leader Delwar Hossain Sayeedi.Sayeedi is now undergoing a life sen-tence on charges of collaboratingwith occupation forces (Pakistan)during the liberation war.

The Pir has obviously taken overthe role of Sayeedi. And he enjoys thetacit support of Ershad. Nexus is clearand unholy. In a different vein, the Piralso sympathised with the Rohingyascalling for a steadfast pan-Islamicunity to fight the anti-Islamic forces.The hint was obviously to the Hindusand to India.

Hasina has established her creden-tials to fight terror and we are notic-ing extermination of Islamic terroristsin Bangladesh at regular intervals. Shehas done well in getting Bangladesh ridof Indian militants once sheltered onthe Bangladesh soil. Her intentions tofight fundamentalism and terror arenot in doubt.

Yet, she needs to rally secular

forces within, to combat and silencethe voices of those trying to sow seedsof communal discord and intimidateHindus to reel under a sense of fearand insecurity.

Skeptics feel, a large section of theruling Awami League are in hand inglove with the anti-Hindu elements todrive them away. Such misgivingsmust be dispelled and by visible action.

Abul Barkat, a noted economist,while addressing a seminar inRajshahi sometime back, stated thaton an average, 632 Hindus leftBangladesh each day over a period of49 years (1964-2013).

In 1947, the Hindu population inBangladesh was 30 per cent. From1991, a pattern saw steady decline inthe number of Hindus and today, itstands at a dismal nine per cent.

On the whole, the Hindus are indeep sense of insecurity and uncertain-ty. Their plight calls for urgent redres-sal involving political wisdom, soundinsight and mature judgement.

The Hindus have colossal contri-bution to their credit in liberatingBangladesh as a free nation, buildingthe country with progressive and sec-ular ideals, enriching literature and cul-ture with their Muslim brethren.

This contribution may not berecognised by the Islamic and regres-sive forces, but protection to Hindusand their religious places remains astate responsibility. Hasina must ensurethis sooner than later.

(The writer is a retired IPS officer,security analyst and Bangladesh watcher. He is a senior fellow with theIndia Police Foundation. Viewsexpressed are personal)

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��%�������Economic AffairsSecretary Shaktikanta Dastoday asked Amazon todesist from being flippantabout Indian symbols andicons, cautioning it that“indifference will be at yourown peril”.

“Amazon, better behave.Desist from being flippantabout Indian symbols &icons. Indifference will be atyour own peril,” Das said ina tweet.

In another tweet howev-er he added: “Comment onAmazon was as a citizen ofIndia as I felt strongly aboutit. Nothing more should beread into it.”

Last week, after a strongprotest by India overAmazon selling doormatsdepicting Indian flag, the e-retail giant removed theoffensive article from itsCanadian website.

A sp okesman forAmazon based at its head-quarters in Seattle had toldThe Washington Post thatthe doormat was no longerfor sale on its website.

After the Indian flagincident, External AffairsMinister Sushma Swaraj hadreceived several complaintsof Amazon selling flip-flopswith Mahatma Gandhi’simage.

Some Twitter users havetagged Swaraj in their tweetscomplaining that the beachsandals with Gandhi’s imagewere being sold on the

Amazon US site.When asked, Ministry of

Externa l Af fai rsSpokesperson Vikas Swarupdid not specifically mentionthe issue, saying, “As a followup to the matter regardingthe sale of doormats with theIndian flag on Amazon, ourAmbassador in Washingtonhas been instructed to con-

vey to Amazon that whileproviding a platform forthird party vendors, theyshould respect Indian sensi-tivities and sentiments.”Inthe third tweet, Das said:“Remain committed to eco-nomic reforms, ease of doingbusiness & open trade.Sometimes get touchy whenour icons are involved.” ��

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Property market, long con-sidered a black money safe

haven, seems to have taken abig hit from demonetisation,with developers seeing theirsales drop by about 50 per centin the last three months andnow pinning their hopes onbuyers coming to market with‘white money’.

The genuine buyers in theresidential market, on the otherhand, appear to be holdingback their purchase plans onhopes that the interest rateswould fall further and theproperty prices would plungepost demonetisation, whichsome see as a ‘cleansing’ of asector infested with illicit funds.

As per the industry data,the secondary or resale market,where maximum black moneytypically gets parked, has beenworst-affected as transactionsalmost dried up, barring someinterest in marque properties,due to paucity of cash afterscrapping of old �500 and�1,000 notes.

The registration of prop-erties also saw a decline. In theprocess, developers are esti-mated to have incurred a rev-enue loss of �22,600 crorebecause of the cash ban whilestate governments suffered anotional loss on stamp duty of�1,200 crore, as per property

consultant Knight Frank India.Top officials of several

developers across the country-- from Chennai to Kolkata,from Hyderabad to Pune andMumbai to Bengaluru andentire national capital region -- admitted that the markettook a big hit post demoneti-sation though they foresee sig-nificant long-term gains,expecting all future deals to bethrough banking channels.

However, many developersand property consultants alsosaid it is too early to say thatblack money has been com-pletely eliminated from thesector though it has becomeexceedingly difficult to executecash transactions as of now.

They feel that demonetisa-tion, along with the new realestate regulatory Act and theBenami Properties Act, wouldhelp in eradicating the practiceof parking black money in realestate to a great extent andimprove the industry’s image.

States are yet to reviseguidance values or circle ratespost demonetisation, but mayhave to soon consider loweringthe rates to reflect market sen-timent.

“Property sale, in both pri-mary and secondary markets,were affected duringNovember-December due todemonetisation as consumerspostponed their buying deci-

sions not only in real estate butacross all the sectors,” realtors’apex body CREDAI PresidentGetamber Anand told the newsagency.

Sales in the primary mar-ket have started to improve,with banks lowering interestrates on home loans, hesaid, adding that it will takesome time for revival in thesecondary market where buy-ers need to reengineer invest-ment strategy.

Top developer DLF’s CEORajeev Talwar said the realeffect of demonetisation will bethat secondary sales wouldalso become like primary salesand transactions will happenthrough banking channels.

“Real estate will becometotally transparent,” headded.According to KnightFrank, which tracks prima-ryresidential market of eightbig cities, housing sales fell by44 per cent during October-December 2016 at nearly41,000 units compared with theyear-ago period while newlaunches dropped by 61 percent.

The Delhi-NCR market,which was already facingdemand slowdown and hugedelays in project completion,saw maximum fall in housingsales during October-December at 53 per cent.

Mumbai saw 50 per cent

decline in fourth quarter sales,Bengaluru 45 per cent,Ahmedabad 43 per cent,Hyderabad 40 per cent, Pune35 per cent, Chennai 31 percent and Kolkata 20 per cent.

The fall could have beensteeper but for high festivesales in October, days beforethe demonetisation was effect-ed.

“The Indian Government’sdemonetisation move onNovember 8 brought the mar-ket to a complete standstill.Against this backdrop, devel-opers refrained from announc-ing any new launches and buy-ers turned extremely cautiousbefore committing on pur-chases,” the Knight Frank India

report said.Bengaluru-based Sobha,

the only company to havereported its sales bookings forthe October-December quarterso far, said that its sales book-ings fell by 22 per cent at�373.2 crore against �478.3crore in the year-ago period.

On the impact on the sec-ondary market, Knight Frank’sSamantak Das said: “Resalemarket is under tremendouspressure after the demonetisa-tion move. Besides, traction forsome marque properties, therewere hardly any transactions,”he said.

“It will take 2-3 quarters forthe resale market to witnesssome uptick in sales. The deals

will be much more transparentnow.”

Asked whether blackmoney in realty will be com-pletely eliminated post notesban, CBRE Chairman (India-South East Asia) AnshumanMagazine said: “While it is stilltoo early to gauge the fullimpact of the demonetisationdrive, we believe that it is a boldstep towards bringing in trans-parency into the sector andboosting consumer sentimentand investments in sector.”

JLL India’s newly-appoint-ed Country Head Ramesh Nairfeels that it cannot be said withcertainty that the problem ofblack money has been com-pletely eliminated from thesector.

“Cash was seen to beinvolved in certain segments ofluxury housing and with small-er developers as also with thesecondary housing market.New measures have made itdifficult to undertake cash-driven transactions and there isa greater acceptance of under-taking clean transactions,” hesaid.

Cushman & Wakefieldnoted that the property sectorhas been a safe haven for unac-counted money due to theunorganised nature of theindustry and transactions inthe secondary housing marketand land deals had a high

component of cash involved.However, it said that “since

the Government announceddemonetisation, cash paymentsin such kind of transactionshave been eliminated to a largeextent. The difficulty in mak-ing cash payments has result-ed in slow sales, especially forthose developers who reliedheavily on cash transactions”.According to developers andproperty consultants, housingsales were impacted adverselyduring November-Decemberbut the leasing of commercialspaces remained unaffected.

Stating that demonetisa-tion has propelled Indiatowards a digital economy,Tata Housing MD and CEOBrotin Banerjee said: “Thiswill further enhance the man-ner in which real estate istransacted – cleaner and moretransparent transactions in theindustry, helping both devel-opers and consumers.”

Low interest rate wouldgive the real estate sector aboost by escalating sentimentand demand over time, headded.

Mumbai-based realty firmHiranandani Group CMDNiranjan Hiranandani said thesecondary market would beimpacted. “They will have tomigrate to a system wherecheque payments will comprisea large component, if not fully,

of their dealings.”SARE Home MD Vineet

Relia said that there has beena decline in property registra-tions post-demonetisation.“State governments are con-sidering revision in the guide-line values to control theimpact and Delhi Governmenthas already formed committeesto rationalise the circle rate,” headded.

Bengaluru’s leading devel-oper Puravankara’s MD AshishPuravankara said demonetisa-tion would have a positiveimpact on real estate over time.

“This move alters themacros of the economy due tohigher liquidity, resulting inlower inflation and cost ofborrowing. This would lead tointerest rate sensitive sectorslike real estate to expand itsgrowth through high sale vol-umes, in a totally new envi-ronment,” he added.

On black money, BrigadeGroup’s CEO (Residential) OmAhuja said, “Black money to agreat extent was limited tounorganised sector and plotteddevelopments. With demon-etisation, both these sectors areimpacted along with re-sale.”

Ahuja said the organisedplayers deal only throughcheques and the percentage ofdigital payments would alsodouble in coming months fromthe current 15 per cent.

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Finance Minister ArunJaitley may address the

transient pain of demonetisa-tion by cutting corporate taxrates when he presents theBudget for 2017-18 in just overtwo weeks time.

Jait ley in his secondBudget speech in February2015 had announced phasingout of tax incentives witheffect from April 1, 2017 andreducing the corporate taxrate from 30 per cent to 25 percent.

In a survey by DeloitteTouche Tohmatsu India LLP,commissioned on Budgetexpectations of India Inc, 53per cent of the respondentsexpect the corporate tax rate tobe reduced this time.

“Given the strict measures

taken by the Government incurbing black money, it maybe the appropriate time toreduce the tax rate,” Deloittenoted.

Corporate tax accountedfor a little less than a fifth (19per cent) of the Government’sreceipts last fiscal whereasincome tax receipts account-ed for just 14 per cent of totalreceipts.

“Since the demonetisationannouncement, one of themajor concerns has beenaround the deceleration ofthe growth momentum in theeconomy emanating from adecline in demand. This con-cern resonates in survey aswell because 80 per cent ofrespondents think theGovernment would unveilmeasures to counteract thenegative impact on demand,”

it said.Deloitte further said, 40

per cent of the respondentsagree that complete phase-out of tax incentives is a goodmeasure and will reduce liti-gation.

An equal number of par-ticipants believe profit-linkedtax incentives should contin-ue for growth sectors likeinfrastructure.

Interestingly, 15 per centof the respondents agree thatinstead of phasing out incen-tives for infrastructure sector,it should continue in the formof investment-linked taxincentive.

“Considering that sometax incentives will continue,one of the most eligible sectorsis the infrastructure sectorsince the higher tax cost willimpact the common man,” it

said.A majority of respondents

(66 per cent) think that thegains from demonetisationare likely to be focused ondevelopment expenditure so asto boost investment demandin he economy.

As much as 26 per cent ofthem are of view that thegains will be spread evenlyacross major expenditure areasas the government possiblytries to limit the fallout on var-ious sectors, Deloitte saidadding a 6 per cent think thatthe government can go in forincreasing subsidy expendi-ture.

“Therefore, the industryclearly continues to hope forpolicy measures that strength-en the pace of structuralreforms,” it said. On theimpact of demonetisation on

real estate industry, the surveysaid, there may be a phase ofdepressed demand, but thelow-cost and affordable seg-ment will be the driver ofgrowth.

“When additional fundscome back in the system,mortgage rates will reduceand with the benefits offeredby the government, low-costand affordable housing will beback in demand,” it said.

Deloitte said tax regime isone of the significant consid-erations for multinationalcompanies to set up theirbusiness in a particular taxjurisdiction.

About 43 per cent respon-dents reinforce this sentiment,giving more than 20 per centweightage to the attractivenessof tax jurisdictions for carry-ing business. Very few respon-

dents (4 per cent) gave lessthan 10 per cent weightage.

Among measures toachieve ease of doing business,the survey respondents placedhigher weightage on tax ratereduction (35 per cent), fol-lowed by dispute preventionmeasures (23 per cent) andeffective dispute resolutionmechanism (16 per cent).

Co-operative tax assess-ment mechanism and improve-ment in taxpayer service werethe other two important mea-sures pointed out by the respon-dents.

“Surprisingly, easier appli-cation of foreign tax creditrules and burden of DividendDistribution Tax (DDT) did notappear to weigh higher on themind of the respondents,” itsaid.

On expectations of recov-

ery in global economy, Deloittesaid of late, some positive newshas come from developedeconomies which seems to havegenerated somewhat of an opti-mistic outlook in the markets.

About 66 per cent of theparticipants feel the globaleconomy is likely to witness arecovery in growth rates in FY2016-17 while 21 per cent thinkthat it is unlikely to be the case.

“It is important to note thatthere are still numerous macrorisks like rising trade tensions,oil prices as well as an increas-ing environment of uncertain-ty in the global markets, thatpose challenge to any mean-ingful recovery,” it said.

About 46 per cent of therespondents said the impact oftax administration improve-ment measures like no routinefiling of appeal cases by the rev-

enue, risk-based audit selectionand electronic refund transferswere significant.

On General AntiAvoidance Rules (GAAR),which was introduced for thefirst time through Finance Act2013 but its implementationdeferred to Arpil 1, 2017, onlya 37 per cent said their organ-isations were ready for itsimplementation while the otherwere either not prepared at allor unsure about their pre-paredness.

“In view of an array ofreforms such as demonetisa-tion, Goods and Services Tax,country by country reportingregarding transfer pricing infor-mation, etc, the governmentmay consider providing moretime to the industry to deal withGAAR,” Deloitte said.

51���������� ��������8����%�� )�����

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��%��������Amazon.In will cre-ate well over 7,500 temporaryjobs for its upcoming sale, andthese positions will mostly be inlogistics to ensure smooth deliv-eries.

Amazon.In will host its‘Great Indian Sale’ betweenJanuary 20-22, 2017.

“We have opened morethan 7,500 seasonal roles for ourupcoming Great Indian Sale.These roles will be available at27 Fulfilment Centres, over 100delivery stations and close to 15sort centres across the country,”Amazon India Vice President –India Customer FulfilmentAkhil Saxena told the newsagency.

He added that throughoutthe year, Amazon.In generatesthousands of seasonal jobopportunities, as well as oppor-tunities for long term careerdevelopment.

“Recruitment for seasonalroles is now underway and will

be trained for the upcomingsale. We are excited to welcomethese new personnel,” he said.

Locked in an intense battlefor leadership in the Indian e-commerce market with localrivals like Flipkart and Snapdeal,Amazon.In has aggressivelyinvested in expanding its infra-structure and delivery capabil-ities.

The company has investedin six new Fulfilment Centres(FCs) last year, taking the totalnumber of operational FCs to 27in 10 states.

“The infrastructure thathas been built helps thousandsof sellers reach millions of newcustomers across the country.It has also enabled Amazon.Into offer faster and quickerdelivery of products to morepin codes,” he said.

The US-based Amazonhas committed investmentsworth over $5 billion for itsIndia operations. ��

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Ruing that the debate oncorruption against the

backdrop of demonetisationis a throwback to “bad olddays” of rich versus poor dis-course under Indira Gandhi,CII President NaushadForbes said wealth and dis-honesty should be delinkedand we should be respectfulof “honest riches”.

In an interview to thenews agency, he said the cor-ruption debate post currencyrecall has turned into the‘rich versus poor’ narrative.

“I think that’s wrong. Itshould not be seen as a richversus poor debate. It shouldbe seen as a honest versus dis-honest debate. And the hon-est-dishonest debate is notrich-poor,” he said.

The association betweenrichness and dishonesty is“very troubling” and a throw-back to the days of the 1970sunder Indira Gandhi, he said.

Forbes said that Indiahas moved a long way in thelast 25 years from the timeswhen there was an emphasisonly on rhetoric to an empha-sis on new economy, andcautioned that it should notgo back to 1970s.

“There is this associa-tion, that we sometimesheard, made between rich-ness and dishonesty which isvery troubling. It is a throw-back to bad old days of IndiraGandhi... And the economythat we have moved to in the

last 25 years, we should notgo back. So the rich and dis-honest, these two wordsshould be delinked,” he said.

Rubbishing the con-tention that rich people aremore dishonest than thepoor, he said, “We should beequally respectful of honestriches, as we are of poverty.”

Asked what theGovernment should do todisassociate itself from thisdebate, Forbes said, “Fromthe Government point ofview, what people in policyand politics say, they shouldalso be respectful of wealthand recognise that this issomething people shouldaspire for.”

Asked why he calls it athrowback to 1970s, he saidin those days Governmentwas not too impressed withthe business class.

“In the bad old days of70s there was this generalperception that richness was

bad, industr ia l is ts werecrooked... These generalisa-tions. We have moved awayfrom this feeling in last 25years and we shouldn’t lose it.

“So, this rhetoric thatsomehow associates richnesswith dishonesty is very dam-aging to the country, weshouldn’t go back to the badold days of 70s,” he said.

He said to disassociatefrom this viewpoint, industryhas to emphasise that theremight be a crooked industri-alist, but a typical industrial-ist is not dishonest.

“The typical industrialistis an industrialist who isworking in a honest way tocontribute to the economyand should be respected forthe wealth that results. Thatwealth in itself is somethingto respect when it is obtainedhonestly. That message issomething that we have towork hard on as an industry,”Forbes said.

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About 44 airports across thecountry have “high poten-

tial” for operations under theambitious Regional ConnectivityScheme (RCS) for civil aviation,UDAN, according to a reportbrought out by apex industrybody FICCI has said.

“Based on the geographical,operational and commercialparameters, 44 out of the 414underserved and unserved air-ports have high potential underRCS.

“We have also identifiedaround 370 potential destinationsfor the shortlisted airports,including metros, state capitalsand important commercial,industrial and tourism centres,”said the FICCI report, broughtout in concert with global pro-fessional service companyKPMG.

Uttar Pradesh has four highpotential RCS destinations, threeeach in Maharashtra, Rajasthan,West Bengal, Assam, two each inArunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya,Bihar, Karnataka, HimachalPradesh, Gujarat, Chhattisgarhand one each in Andhra Pradesh,Telangana, Tamil Nadu, Odisha,J&K, Puducherry, Lakshadweep,Daman and Diu, Haryana,Madhya Pradesh Jharkhand andUttarakhand.

“So far 22 states have joinedthe RCS and we have identified30 airports where operationscould be started immediately,”Union Civil Aviation SecretaryRajiv Nayan Choubey told thenews agency.

RCS, or UDAN ((Ude Desh

Ka Aam Naagrik), was intro-duced as part of the NationalCivil Aviation Policy 2016 andwas formally launched inOctober last. It provides anopportunity to take flying to themasses by way of fiscal incentives,infrastructure support and mon-etary subsidies (viability gapfunding).

Noting that RCS was a goodscheme, Regional Director ofInternational Civil AviationOrganisation Arun Mishra, how-ever, said India did not have thewherewithal right now for RCSto become successful.

“They are trying to build thewherewithal but it will take sometime,” he said. “We have to becareful about creating theenabling conditions for thisscheme to become successful.One of the most importantthings is the right size of aircraftthat you need.”

He said a plan was requiredto induct smaller aircraft forRCS operations.

“Many of the airports (iden-tified for RCS) do not have bigrunways, so they can’t take reg-ular aircraft. We need to inductsmaller aircraft for short runwaysfor short takeoffs and landings.

“Those aircraft are not avail-able in our country,” Mishra, whoearlier served as Director Generalof Civil Aviation, pointed out.Also, Mishra said, there wasshortage of pilots andcrew.

“Small aircraft need spe-cialised crew. We need a specialinitiative from the Governmentto build that up. Pilots and engi-neers can’t come overnight. Weneed to train them,” he added.

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Page 11: ˜ 1 1-/23-45 -/ ˜ !˙˝˙˙#$%&˜’(˝˛ ˆ )*+˝,%, -%. ˘ˇ ˇ ˆ cles their father had sent for them. He then used to take his victims to isolated places, where he outraged their

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The Finance Ministry islikely to finalise capi-

tal infusion plan for pub-lic sector banks (PSBs)this week based on therequest of various lenderswhich have been impactedby demonetisation amidrising bad loans.

Final touches are beinggiven based on the feed-back from all banks andthe plan should be readyby this week, sources said.

The capital infusionw o u l d b e m o r e t h a n�25,000 crore announcedin the earlier Budget andthe addit ional require-ment would reflect in thef i n a l b a t c h o fSupplementar y Demandfor Grants to be presentedin the upcoming Budgetsession, they said.

Saddled with r i s ingb a d l o ans , b an k s h avealready made a case for

higher capita l infus ionand it is reflected in theirdemand sent to the min-istry, sources added.

Besides, their normalbusiness has hit duringthe demonetisation peri-od.

The government hasalready announced fundinfusion of �22,915 crore,out of the �25,000 croreearmarked for 13 PSBs forthe current fiscal. Of this,75 per cent has alreadybeen released to them.

The first tranche wasannounced with the objec-tive of enhancing theirlending operat ions andenabl ing them to raisem ore m on e y f rom t h emarket.

The capital infusion

exercise for the currentf i s c a l i s b a s e d o n a nassessment of the com-pounded annual growthr ate ( C AG R ) of c re d i tgrowth for the last fiveyears, banks’ own projec-tions of credit growth andan objective assessment ofthe potential for growth ofeach PSB, the ministr yhad said.

Under Indradhanushroadmap announced lastyear, the government willinfuse �70,000 crore instate banks over four yearswhile they will have toraise a further �1.1 lakhcrore from the markets tomeet their capital require-ment in line with globalrisk norms Basel-III.

In line with the blue-pr int , PSBs are to ge t�25,000 crore in each fis-cal, 2015-16 and 2016-17.B e s i d e s , �1 0 , 0 0 0 c roreeach would be infused in2017-18 and 2018-19.

�������������������������������� ���,�>�����4������$?=:::�� ��%� ������ National Stock

Exchange (NSE) is likely to startthe interview process this weekfor the post of ManagingDirector and CEO, for which 8-10 candidates are in seriouscontention.

More than 90 persons haveapplied for the position which fellvacant after the sudden resigna-tion of Chitra Ramkrishna inDecember.

Sources said the interviewprocess is expected to start thisweek and there are around 8-10candidates in serious contentionfor the top post at the country’slargest bourse.

Those believed to be con-sidered include former chief ofanother stock exchange and thecurrent Chief of a commoditybourse, sources said, addingthat the probable candidatesinclude even those who didn’tapply for the job on their ownbut were considered possiblysuitable by the search panel onits own.

Leading commodity bourseMCX’s MD and CEO MrugankParanjape however denied hav-ing even applied for the post.“Mrugank Paranjape is not in the

race for NSE’s MD & CEO. MCXvehemently denies this,” an MCXspokesperson said in a statement.

NSE has received over 90applications for the top job andmost of the applicants are frombanks and financial institutions.

Rival bourse BSE’sManaging Director and CEOAshishkumar Chauhan is notamong those considered for thetop job at NSE, contrary towhat was being speculated, andhe did not even apply, accordingto sources.

NSE interim MD and CEOJ Ravichandran did not applyand it was his personal choice,they added.

A four-member searchpanel comprising public inter-est directors at NSE -- DineshKanabar and T V Mohandas Pai-- industrialist Anand Mahindraand former RBI Deputy

Governor Usha Thorat are look-ing for a suitable candidate.Consultancy Egon Zehnder hasbeen appointed to help with thehiring process.

The filling up of the toppost is being closely watched byinvestors as NSE is preparing foran initial public offer which isexpected to be one of the biggestin recent times. In a surprisemove, Ramkrishna, onDecember 2, quit with imme-diate effect presumably over dif-ferences with some board mem-bers.

The exit of 52-year-oldRamkrishna also came at atime when NSE has been infocus over a new regulatoryframework for high frequencytrades and co-location facilities,which some believe give undueadvantage to some brokers andtraders. ��

��;����������������� �������������1��<��;*������$

5#6 $#72D As the NewDelhi World B ook Faircomes to a close on Sunday,the nine-day long event wasan “excellent” experiencewith leading publishinghouses making significantprofit on sales compared toprevious years.

Vimal Kumar, GeneralManager at Speaking Tigersaid they had “unexpectedsales”, despite facing severaltechnical glitches in theaftermath of demonetisa-tion.

“Due to demonetisationwe faced several problemssince many a times cardmachines didn’t work due tolack of signals. But, it hasbeen an excellent experi-ence, rather unexpectedsales for Speaking Tiger.Our sales have almost dou-bled this year,” he said.

Some of the top sellers atthe stall included ‘Himalaya:Adventures, Meditations,Life’ edited by Ruskin Bondand Namita Gokhale, and‘Murderer in Mahim’ byJerry Pinto among others.

For Penguin India ,which saw a hike of nearly20 per cent in business fromlast year’s fair, the eventbeing moved ahead by amont h f rom t he usua l

Febr uar y, has worke dfavourably.

“The book fair used tobe held in February until acouple of years ago and thismove into January has actu-ally helped the sales due toextended winter break inschools, festivals, etc. Thereis a carnival like atmosphereat the Pragat i Maidan,”Nandan Jha, Vice president,Pro duc t and Sa les atPenguin Random HouseIndia, told the news agency.

Al l t ime ch i ldrenfavourites like ‘Diary of aWimpy Kid’, Roald Dahl,‘Tintin Series’ and SudhaMurty, books by SalmanRushdie, classics, and booksby Bollywood celebritiesincluding Karan Johar’sautobiog raphy, ‘AnUnsuitable Boy’ and TwinkleKhanna’s ‘Mrs Funnybones’were major business makersfor the publishing house.

Other top sellers includ-ed b o oks by DevduttPattanaik , Y C assandraClare, Elif Shafak, ElonMusk, ‘The Fault in OurStars’, ‘Inner Engineering’and Paulo Coelho’s ‘The Spy’.

Har p er C ol l ins a l soasserted that the turnoutwas better compared to lastyear with titles by Paulo

Coelho, Agatha Christie,Nadia Hasmi and SidneySheldon fetching impressivebusiness and customerskeeping credit/debit cardshandy.

“There has been a goodturnout in comparison tolast year. The sales haveincreased around 15 per centthis year for us. Popularinternational titles have beena major draw.

“Even Khushwant Singh,Arvind Adiga and RishiKapoor’s ‘Khulam Khulla’were in large demand. Wedidn’t see any ef fect ofdemonetisation since peopleeasily did digital payments,”Vikas Sharma, Head of KeyAccounts at Harper Collins,said. Pan MacmMillan’s stallat the fair was thronged byvisitors looking for the latestBooker Prize winning “TheSellout” by Paul Beatty,besides ‘Truth About Trump’by Michael D’antonio andbooks by Jefferey Archer.

“The crowd is muchmore this time and we haveseen around 20 pet centincrease in our sales. Wedid not face any problem dueto demonet isat ion andeverything was managedquite well,” Ratna Joshi, Headof Market ing at Pan

Macmillan, said.Their children range

‘Priddy’ for toddlers (0-5years) and books from theDisney series, particularly‘Frozen’ were picked up inhuge numbers.

Demonetisation seemsto have worked in favour ofBloomsbury, that sold bookslike ‘Harry Potter series’,‘Driven: The Virat KohliStory’ by Vijay Lokapallyand ‘Silk Route’ by PeterFrankopan, witnessing a “35per cent” increase in salesfrom last year.

“We all had a conceptionthat sales won’t be as high aslast year but it’s been theother way round. From outearlier experiences at bookfairs, we have had customerswalking away because of lim-ited cash or unavailability ofchange, but this year bothpublishers and customerswere already prepared fordigital payments and saleswere not affected,” YogeshSharma, Vice President, Salesand Market ing atBloomsbury, said.

Organised by NationalBook Trust in associationwith India Trade PromotionOrganisation, the fair thatbegan on January 7, come toa close on Sunday. ��

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������� The fastest growingmajor economy in the world,India, has also become a populardestination in the Asia-Pacificregion for expat entrepreneurs toset up a business, according to asurvey.

“India is a popular destinationfor expat entrepreneurs. Morethan one in 10 (11 per cent) expatsin the country moved here to setup a business, more than twice theaverage of 5 per cent across Asia-Pacific,” according to HSBC’s‘Expat Explorer Survey’.

The survey also revealed thatIndia draws more expat entrepre-neurs than countries in the MiddleEast, such as Bahrain (7 per cent)and the UAE (5 per cent).

The 2016 Expat Explorer sur-vey was conducted among 26,871expats in over 100 countriesthrough an online questionnairein March, April and May 2016.

In comparison to other coun-tries in the region, India also hasthe highest proportion of expats onan international secondment orassignment, it said.

A third (33 per cent) of expatsin India have been relocated to thecountry by their employer, morethan in regional financial hubssuch as Hong Kong (26 per cent)and Singapore (22 per cent), andabove the Asia-Pacific average of17 per cent, it added.

Nearly two-thirds (64 percent) of expats are confident of theIndian economy, above the expat

average of 52 per cent across Asia-Pacific, it said.

More than half (53 per cent)of expats in India also have con-fidence in the political stability ofthe country, above the regionalaverage of 48 per cent.

Expats in India are able to savemore, with 44 per cent saying thatliving here have accelerated theirprogress towards making long-term savings and investments,compared with 39 per cent acrossthe region.

The average annual expatincome in India is $145,057 ascompared to the global average of$97,419, it said.

“The survey shows thatmany Asian expats work abroadprimarily to improve earnings,career prospects and quality oflife. Some move overseas tostudy and take up a new chal-lenge,” HSBC’s Head - RetailBanking and WealthManagement, India, SRamakrishnan said.ssful expatcareer, with Switzerland,Germany, Sweden, Norway,Austria and the UK being amongthe top 10 countries for thoselooking to progress their careerabroad and benefit from greatworking conditions, the surveyrevealed.

For the second year in a row,Switzerland was ranked the bestall-round destination for a careerabroad.

The country combines the

best earning prospects with agood work-life balance and anexcellent work culture, the sur-vey said. The average annualexpat income in Switzerland is$188,275, almost twice the glob-al average of $97,419.

Additionally, 69 per cent ofexpats in Switzerland see animprovement in their work-lifebalance and 61 per cent say thework culture is better than intheir home country.

While European destina-tions do well in the careersleague table, there are countriesto suit every expat career ambi-tion.

Expats looking for the bestemployment package considerthe Middle East, where 91 percent of expats receive at least onebenefit as part of their contract,compared with the global aver-age of 67 per cent.

In the UAE, 56 per cent ofexpats receive an accommoda-tion allowance and 75 per centreceive health benefits. InBahrain, 65 per cent of expatsreceive an annual allowance fortrips home. When it comes tocareer development, Hong Kongand Singapore come out on top.

The majority of expats inboth countries (68 per cent inHong Kong and 62 per cent inSingapore) agree it is a good placefor expats to progress their career,compared with the global aver-age of 43 per cent. ��

��� 5#6$#72

France has appreciated demon-etisation in India, terming it as

a “bold” decision which “showshow determined” Prime MinisterNarendra Modi is to combat taxevasion, corruption and blackmoney.

French Minister for ForeignAffairs and InternationalDevelopment Jean-Marc Ayraultalso hailed the “significantreforms” undertaken by Modi toattract foreign investments, say-ing “they are in the right direc-tion”.

Appreciating the ‘Make inIndia’ initiative, he told the newsagency in an interview that France“wishes to be a major partner,thanks to its experience, expertiseand recognised technologies”.

At the same time, he said“joint efforts” should be madebetween the European Union andIndia to reduce trade barriers andpitched for reforms in India withregard to easing the import-export regime and improving thepredictability and stability of reg-ulations.

“I am impressed by the bold-ness of this decision. It shows howdetermined Prime Minister Modiis to combat tax evasion, corrup-tion and black money. It’s also ameasure aimed at modernizingthe economy by accelerating thetransition to a digital economy,”Ayrault, who was here on a four-day visit, said when his views weresought on demonetisation.

“We are following thesedevelopments with keen interest,”he added.

He said “The Indian econo-my is full of promise for entre-preneurs and we trust theGovernment’s resolve to support

the country’s economic develop-ment.”

The French Minister, whowas here primarily to attendVibrant Gujarat, said the bilater-al economic ties “are being cease-lessly strengthened”.

Pointing out that Frenchcompanies have a very strongpresence in India, he said they“invest, innovate and make inIndia”.

About 1000 French entitiesare spread all over the Indian ter-ritory, employing almost 3,50,000skilled workers, and the generalfeeling is that this is a land “fullof opportunities”, he said.

However, bilateral traderemains at a “more modest level”,which is also due to French com-panies fully adopting the ‘Makein India’ policy.

“But we must continue ourjoint efforts, between theEuropean Union and India, toreduce trade barriers,” hesaid.Reminding that the EU, ofwhich France is a member, isIndia’s top exports destination,Ayrault said, “It will remain so

despite Brexit”.The French Minister said

Modi has undertaken “significantreforms” to attract foreign invest-ments, and “they are in the rightdirection”.

These efforts, he said, “areyielding fruit, with FDIs spi-ralling over the past few years”.

He said France, which isone of India’s main foreigninvestors, intends to play a majorrole in these developments.

“Our companies are fullyaware of the prospects open tothem in a vast variety of fast-expanding sectors, like renewableenergy or sustainable urbandevelopment, which PrimeMinister Modi has declared to bea priority, and in which our com-panies have great expertise andcan offer innovative technology,”he said.

He noted that French com-panies already account for 10 percent of India’s installed solarcapacity.

With regard to ease of doingbusiness in India, Ayrault said,“What’s sure is that the Indian

market is attractive for our com-panies, which are gearing up forsuccess. They are in India for thelong haul.”

He said the French compa-nies continued their investmentsregardless of the global eco-nomic situation. “And they inno-vate in India. They have thusshown that they can prepare forthe future and are confident ofIndia’s future,” he said, adding thereforms “have played and areplaying a very positive role in thisrespect.”

There are “other areas inwhich reforms could be pursued,for example, with regard to eas-ing the import-export regime, orimproving the predictability andstability of regulations,” the min-ister said.

On ‘Make in India’, he saidthe French companies have “fullyincorporated” it in their policyand wish to make the most of theopportunities it presents.

“There are so many won-derful examples of success,” hesaid.

He named Renault, saying ithas become the top Europeanmanufacturer in the Indian mar-ket with the Kwid.

Referring to Decathlon, hesaid the sports goods manufac-turer and distributor has opened50 outlets all over India.

Alstom Transport, he said,will invest in a plant in Bihar forbuilding 800 electric locomo-tives.

“In the course of my trip, Ihave met many of our compa-nies, dynamic and innovativeenterprises that have all reiter-ated the same view - India is fullof opportunities, and our com-panies are ready to seize them,”he said.

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��%� ������ India’s oil con-sumption is expected to 7-8per cent this year, outpacingChina’s demand growth forthe third consecutive year, asimpact of demonetisation islikely to be short-lived,according to Platts.

LPG and transport fuelsdemand will rise, while newp etro chemica l projec tswould a boon for naphthademand.

“The dramatic rise inIndia’s oil demand shows nosigns of faltering... The coun-try will remain a driver ofAsian growth in 2017,” PlattsAnalytics said in a note.

The cash crunch follow-ing move to demonetise 86per cent of currency isexpected to “temporarilydamp en the countr y ’sappetite for oil products inthe first quarter, or maybe alittle longer,” it said.

“But gains in oil demandthat the country is set toachieve from the ‘Make inIndia’ initiative -- whichaims to raise the share ofmanufacturing in GDP overthe next few years -- willmore than offset the negativeeffects of demonetisation,”Platts quoted analysts as say-ing.

The Government’s cleanfuel drive, sharp anticipatedgrowth in transport demandand air travel, and the coun-try’s insatiable growth forpetrochemicals will act as aboon for petrol, jet fuel,LPG and naphtha, helpingoil products to post close to

double-digit growth in 2017-- similar to that seen lastyear -- if not higher.

“For the third year in arow, India’s oi l demandgrowth will outpace China’sdemand growth,” PlattsAnalytics said, adding that itwas expected to grow atabout 7 per cent to 4.13 mil-lion barrels per day in 2017,compared with 3 per cent inChinese oil demand to 11.5million bpd.

“While growth funda-mentals for oil in Indiaremain high, slower growthin the initial months of 2017because of demonetisationmight pull down the overalloil demand growth in 2017to a shade below 2016 levelsof 9 per cent,” it said.

H2 2017 oil demand willsee limited impact fromdemonetisation as the initialeconomic impact peters outand government spending,particularly on infrastruc-ture, rises from increased taxcollection.

If implemented correctly,demonetisation will lead to a

jump in private investmentand more public spending onwelfare measures, Platts said.

Since coming to power in2014, the BJP-led govern-ment has undertaken a seriesof initiatives to help boostLPG penetration across thecountry.

It has aggressively pushedto expand the LPG dealershipnetwork in the country, whileit has urged the more afflu-ent class to give up LPGsubsidies and pass those sav-ings to the economicallypoorer sections of society.

L P G d e m an d w a sexpected to grow by about10.5 per cent year on year in2017, compared with anestimated 11 per cent in2016.

D i e s e l d e m an d i sexpected to grow by about4.5-5 per cent in 2017,slightly lower than 2016 lev-els, as demonetisation hadaffected rural incomes.

But naphtha demand isexpected to show double-digit growth. ��

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British Prime Minister TheresaMay is expected to lay out her

cards on the UK’s Brexit strate-gy in a much-anticipated speechon Tuesday, with her commentseven likely to cause some tur-bulence in the currency markets.

The Sunday Telegraphquoted a Downing Street sourceto say that May had “gone for thefull works”.

“People will know when shesaid ‘Brexit means Brexit’ she real-ly meant it,” said the source,described as “familiar with theprime minister’s thinking”.

May is widely expected tosay that the UK could pull outof the European Union (EU) sin-gle market and the customsunion in order to regain controlof immigration and end thejurisdiction of the EuropeanCourt of Justice in its negotiationsover the country’s exit from the28-member economic bloc.

She will use the speech to anaudience of diplomats atLancaster House in London onTuesday to call on “remain” sup-porters to get behind theGovernment. Her comments islikely to cause some turbulencein the currency markets.

An excerpt of the speechreads: “We need to get on andmake Brexit happen. We needto put an end to the divisionand the language associatedwith it — leaver and remain-er and all the accompanyinginsults — and unite to make asuccess of Brexit and build atruly global Britain.

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nies are likely to reportsequentially flat EBITDAgrowth in 3QFY17, impact-ed by pricing pressure andhigher R&D expenditure, areport said.

“We expect our pharmauniverse to report sequen-tially flat EBITDA growth in3QFY17, largely led by pric-ing pressure and higherR&D expenditure. Also,increased US regulatoryscrutiny is resulting in high-er remediation expenses andde-risking of key products.This, in turn, should weighdown on operating mar-gins,” brokerage firm MotilalOswal said in a report.

In its expected quarter-ly performance summary,the report said that the toppharma companies areexpected to report 0.7 percent Q-o-Q sales growth atRs 38,137 crore inDecember 2016 quarter. TheEBDITA may see marginaldecline of 0.6 per cent at Rs9,245 crore in Decemberquarter.

After a strong 1HFY17,the domestic pharma busi-ness is expected to faceheadwinds from seasonalweaknesses and demoneti-sation. Although the chron-ic segment may benefit at themargin due to demonetisa-tion, the acute segment maysee some impact in the near-term, the report said. ��

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With barely five days to go for his inau-guration as the 45th President of the

United States, Donald Trump has waded intoanother controversy by locking horns withcivil rights icon and senior Democratic law-maker John Lewis after he questioned thelegitimacy of the presidential election.

In a series of Twitter posts, Trumplambasted the 76-year-old civil rightsleader as an “all talk, no action” lawmak-er who ought to “focus on the burning andcrime-infested inner-cities of the US”instead of “falsely complaining about theelection results”.

Trump’s counter-offensive came soonafter Lewis’s explosive comments in aninterview to NBC News, remarking: “Idon’t see this president-elect as a legitimatepresident…I think the Russians partici-pated in helping this man get elected. Andthey helped destroy the candidacy ofHillary Clinton.”

The Trump attack on the black leaderwho was one of the top organisers of the1963 March on Washington was expect-ed to give a fillip to the anti-Trump protestsplanned for the grand inaugural on Friday.

Eighteen Democratic lawmakers,including Lewis, have announced theirintention to boycott the Trump’s inaugu-ration thus far. One of them,Representative Barbara Lee fromCalifornia said she wouldn’t endorse apresident defined by “racism, sexism,xenophobia and bigotry”.

“Congressman John Lewis shouldspend more time on fixing and helping hisdistrict, which is in horrible shape andfalling apart,” Trump said in one of thetweets, adding: “All talk, talk, talk — noaction or results. Sad!”

A close associate of the late MartinLuther King, Lewis had suffered a skullfracture while leading a civil rights marchin Selma, Alabama back in 1965. SeveralDemocratic lawmakers and someRepublicans as well came out in his sup-port and they included the newly-electedIndian-African-American Senator KamalaHarris from California.

“John Lewis is an icon of the CivilRights Movement who is fearless in thepursuit of justice and equality. He deservesbetter than this,” Harris tweeted. TheNAACP (National Association for theAdvancement of Coloured People)demanded an apology from Trump.

Trump’s comment seemed ill-timed,coming as it did virtually on the eve ofMartin Luther King Day. About 2,000 pro-testers, mostly African-Americans,marched to the King Memorial in

Washington on Saturday, pledging tofight for minority rights and protection ofPresident Barack Obama’s signature health-care law, which Trump and CongressionalRepublicans have vowed to dismantle.

Separately, immigrant groups heldrallies in 50 cities across the US, includ-ing New York, Los Angeles and Miami onSaturday in what was projected as the firstmajor mobilisation of the movement forimmigrant rights since the Trump election.“There’s a deep sense of fear and worry inimmigrant communities. At the sametime, there is no way we will go back toliving in the shadows,” Cristina Jimenez,Executive Director of United We Dream,a national organisation, told the LosAngeles Times.

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Protesters have gathered tosupport immigrant rights at

rallies around the US,denouncing President-electDonald Trump for his anti-immigrant rhetoric and hispledges to build a wall on theUS-Mexican border and tocrack down on Muslims enter-ing the country.

"We are not going to allowDonald Trump to bury theStatue of Liberty," Sen ChrisVan Hollen, a MarylandDemocrat, told a standing-room-only crowd at historicAfrican-American church indowntown Washington duringone of dozens of rallies aroundthe nation yesterday. "We are anation for all people, regardlessof religion, regardless of back-ground, regardless of who youlove."

In Chicago, more than 1,000people poured into a teachers'union hall to support immigrantrights and implore one anotherto fight for those rights againstwhat they fear will be a hostileTrump administration.

Ron Taylor, pastor of aChicago area Disciples forChrist Church and executivedirector of the United Congressof Community and ReligiousOrganisations, told the audi-

ence there, "Regardless of whathappens in the coming days weknow that good will conquerevil and we want to say to eachand every one of you, you arenot alone."

The protests mark the lat-est chapter in a movementthat has evolved since 2006,when more than a millionpeople took to the streets toprotest a Republican-backedimmigration bill that wouldhave made it a crime to be inthe country illegally.

The crowds this weekend atrallies or cultural events inWashington, Chicago, LosAngeles, San Jose, California,and elsewhere, are expected tobe nowhere near as big as then.Yesterday's events took place as

thousands were expected at a"We Shall Not Be Moved"march and rally in Washingtonahead of Monday's MartinLuther King Jr Day holiday.

Yet the line to enterMetropolitan AME Church inWashington stretched nearly acity block. People attendingincluded immigrants who lackpermission to be in the coun-try and their relatives and sup-porters. Also present wereelected officials, clergy andrepresentatives of labor andwomen's groups.

Participants carried signswith messages including "ResistTrump's Hate" and "Tu, Yo,Todos Somos America," whichtranslates to "You, me, we all areAmerica."

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London: Britain's PrinceWilliam is getting ready toquit his part-time job as an airambulance rescue pilot tobecome a full-time royal.

The second-in-line toBritain's throne will leave his jobwith the East Anglian AirAmbulance this summer,according to The Sunday Times.

The 34-year-old Duke ofCambridge and wife Kate, theDuchess of Cambridge, willalso make Kensington Palace inLondon their permanent basefrom later this year when theirson Prince George starts school.

Their daughter, PrincessCharlotte, is also expected toattend a London nursery.

The move follows monthsof discussion within the royalfamily, who are said to havebeen "very supportive" ofWilliam's decision.

A royal source told thenewspaper there had been "nopressure from above" to increaseWilliam's workload but "heknew there would come a pointwhere this would be his life forever more. He has always beena lot less reluctant than peoplethink to take on more work andthis phase of his life."

William had recentlyrejected suggestions he was areluctant Royal, insisting hetook his responsibilities "veryseriously".

He said: "If you're not care-ful, duty can weigh you downa awful lot at an early age."PTI

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A15-year-old Muslim girlin the US has claimed she

was evicted from a school busby a driver twice because of herhijab, prompting her family todemand an apology from theschool district.

Janna Bakeer, a girl whoattends Timpview HighSchool in Provo City, Utah,tried to ride a bus home whenthe bus driver used the bus'sintercom system and said,"Hey you with the blue hairthingie, get off the bus, youdon't belong here," accordingRandall Spencer, the family'slawyer.

"It's (hijab) a part of who Iam and where I come from anda part of my religion. Every day,I match my hijab with my out-fits," Bakeer was quoted assaying by ABC News affiliateWBND-LD.

"...The bus driver, she gother speaker and I was wearinga blue scarf. And she's like,'Hey, you with that blue thing,you don't ride this bus and I've

never seen you ride it so getoff '," Bakeer said of the incidentthat took place last month.

She said she felt humiliat-ed and started to cry as she gotoff the bus. "I was just reallyembarrassed how everybodywas staring."

The family said they talkedwith the school to get thingsworked out for the next timeshe needed to ride the bus,which happened last Friday.

"I asked her politely, 'CanI please ride the bus today?' andshe (driver) just put her armand blocked the walkway to thebus," Bakeer said.

"I absolutely believe that itwas discrimination," said thefamily's attorney Spencer.

"The bus driver didn't evenknow Janna's name, we don'tthink, and could not havechecked or known she was noton the list to ride the bus,"Spencer was quoted as sayingthe Daily Herald.

"All the bus driver knew isthat she didn't know her beforeand she is a Muslim wearing ahijab," he said.

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China on Sunday made itclear that the ‘One China’

policy is "non-negotiable" and“no one can change it”, in astrong rebuttal to President-elect Donald Trump's plan touse American policy on Taiwanas a bargaining chip.

Chinese Foreign Ministryspokesman Lu Kang said the'One China' policy is the polit-ical foundation of bilateral tiesand "is non-negotiable", fol-lowing Trump's statement thatthe policy on Taiwan is up fornegotiation and that he is notfully committed to it.

"Everything is under nego-tiation, including One China,"Trump told the Wall StreetJournal on Friday, questioningthe decades-old-policy fol-lowed by Washington in itsrelations with Beijing.

It must be pointed out thatthere is but 'One China' in theworld, and that Taiwan is aninalienable part of China, Lusaid in a statement.

The Government of thePeople's Republic of China isthe only legitimate govern-ment representing China,"which is an internationallyrecognised fact and no one canchange it," Lu said.

"We urge the relevant partyin the United States to realisethe high sensitivity of theTaiwan issue and abide bycommitments made by previ-ous US governments to theOne China policy and theprinciples of the three jointcommuniques," he said withoutdirectly referring to Trump.

Lu urged the US side toproperly deal with the Taiwanissue so as to avoid undermin-ing the healthy and steadydevelopment of bilateral tiesand cooperation in major areas,state-run Xinhua news agencyreported.

Since his election, Trumphas riled China by holding tele-phone talks with TaiwanesePresident Tsai-Ing-wen, whoherself is toeing a hardlineagainst Beijing.

China on the other hand ispressuring over 20 countriesmainly in Latin America andAfrica to not have diplomaticties with Taipei.

Recently China prevailedover tiny African island SaoTome and Principe to break offdiplomatic ties with Taiwan,which in turn accused Beijingof offering big loans to enticethe small countries to moveaway from Taipei.

Nigeria also broke off alldiplomatic relations withTaiwan after the visit ofChinese Foreign Minster WangYi few days ago.

Besides a showdown on'One China' policy after Trumptakes over, Beijing also appre-hends a trade war as the USPresidential-elect wants tobring about a parity of bilater-al trade, which is heavily infavour of China.

China's exports to the UStotal to about USD 500 billionagainst USD 100 billion ofAmerican exports to theChinese mainland.

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Tehran: US "hostility" to Iran isgrowing day by day despiteTehran's nuclear deal, a seniorIranian official said on Sunday,ahead of the first anniversary ofthe historic accord.

"The United States has donewhatever it can to slow downIran's progress" after the deal,said Deputy Foreign MinisterAbbas Araghchi, the chiefIranian negotiator in the agree-ment that took effect on January16 last year.

"In the last 12 months, wehave witnessed delays and thedisrespecting of promises by theUS and some countries. Theirhostility increases by the day,"Araghchi told reporters.

The agreement betweenTehran and six world powers sawa range of international sanctionslifted in exchange for limits onIran's nuclear programme.

Iran has seen a rise in oil

exports and increased invest-ment in manufacturing since itcame into force.

But Iranian officials haveaccused Washington of failing toabide by the deal, includingwith a raft of other sanctionsrelated to non-nuclear issuesthat have helped deter majorWestern banks from returning toIran. US President-elect DonaldTrump vowed during last year'scampaign to tear up the agree-ment, considered a key victoryfor President Barack Obama.

Araghchi said it made littledifference who was in the WhiteHouse as international lawrequired Washington to imple-ment the deal.

"Whether its Obama orTrump, the US president is com-mitted to cancelling laws that areagainst it," Araghchi said, addingthat there would be no furtherdiscussions with US officials.AFP

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Jerusalem: Israeli Prime MinisterBenjamin Netanyahu on Sundaydismissed as ‘futile’ an interna-tional conference in Paris seek-ing to revive the moribundIsraeli-Palestinian peace process.

"The conference conveningtoday in Paris is a futile confer-ence," he told ministers at thestart of a weekly cabinet meet-ing in Jerusalem.

"It was coordinated betweenthe French and the Palestinianswith the aim of imposing uponIsrael conditions that are incom-patible with our national needs,"he said.

Netanyahu's governmenthas bitterly opposed the confer-ence, saying only direct talkswith the Palestinians can end thelong-running conflict. ThePalestinians have welcomed themultilateral approach, sayingyears of negotiations with theIsraelis have not ended theoccupation of the West Bank.

The conference is being heldwithout either the Israelis or thePalestinians, but Palestinian pres-

ident Mahmud Abbas will meetFrench President FrancoisHollande in the coming weeks tobe briefed on the outcome,French diplomats said.

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An Iraqi military spokesmansays Government troops

have fully liberated the sprawl-ing complex of MosulUniversity, a major step in themassive operation to retake theIslamic State-held city of Mosul.

The spokesman of the JointMilitary Command, Brig GenYahya Rasool, declared onSunday that the campus wasunder the full control of Iraqispecial forces, officially knownas the Counter TerrorismService, who raised the Iraqiflag over its buildings.

Iraqi forces entered theuniversity grounds Friday andmanaged to secure more thanhalf of the campus the next day

amid stiff resistance from ISmilitants, who mainly deployedsniper and mortar fire to slowdown the advancing troops.

Today's progress is the lat-est in a string of swift territo-rial gains in recent weeks by theUS-backed Iraqi military.

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Bahrain on Sunday executedthree men found guilty of

killing three policemen, sparkingviolent protests and stoking ten-sions between the country's Shiamajority and its Sunni rulers.

The three Shia men facedthe firing squad, six days after acourt upheld their death sen-tences over a bomb attack inMarch 2014, the prosecutor'soffice said in a statement carriedby BNA state news agency.

Bahrain, which has beenruled by the Al-Khalifa dynastyfor more than two centuries, hasa majority Shia population whichhas long complained of margin-alisation.

It has been rocked by spo-

radic unrest since March 2011when security forces brutallycrushed an Arab Spring-inspireduprising demanding reformsand a constitutional monarchy.

The announcement of theexecutions triggered protests inShia villages, where demonstra-tors blocked roads with burningtyres and police retaliated by fir-

ing tear gas, according to postson social media.

Pictures shared online byactivists also showed relatives ofthose executed weeping overtheir deaths.

Authorities in Bahrain donot permit international newsagencies to cover events inde-pendently.

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Dubai: Saudi Arabia says a sol-dier has been killed by cross-border fire from Yemen amidthe kingdom's campaignagainst Zaydi Shia rebels there.

The Interior Ministryannounced early today the sol-dier's death in the kingdom'sNajran region as a result ofshelling and intensive fire yes-terday afternoon.

The war in Yemen began in2014 after the Ansarallah rebelsalso known as Houthis andtheir allies seized Yemen's cap-ital, Sanaa. In March 2015, aSaudi-led coalition of Arabcountries began a military cam-paign against the Houthi forces.It said its mission served in partas a counterbalance to Iran'sinfluence following its nucleardeal with world powers.AP

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Philippine President RodrigoDuterte has threatened to

impose martial rule to prose-cute his deadly war on drugs,three decades after the nationshed dictatorship with afamous "People Power" revolt.

"If I wanted to, and it (theillegal drugs problem) willdeteriorate into something real-ly very virulent, I will declaremartial law if I wanted to. Noone will be able to stop me,"Duterte said in a speech lastnight.

The 71-year-old formerstate prosecutor said the aimwould be "to preserve theFilipino people and the youthof this land".

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Muslim villagers in westernMyanmar's troubled

Rakhine State say they hopepositive change will result froma UN envoy's visit to the region,where soldiers are accused ofwidespread abuses of minori-ty Muslims, including murder,rape and the burning of thou-sands of homes.

UN Special Rapporteur onHuman Rights Yanghee Leeconcluded a three-day visitSunday to probe the situationin northern Rakhine, where anarmy crackdown has driven anestimated 65,000 Muslim eth-nic Rohingya to flee across theborder to Bangladesh in thepast three months.

Lee is on a 12-day visit toMyanmar to assess the rightssituation.

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Pope Francis is demandingthat "every possible mea-

sure" be taken to protect youngrefugees as he marks thechurch's World Day ofMigrants a day after the latestMediterranean migrant ship-wreck.

Italy's coast guard says onlyfour people survived the sink-ing of a migrant ship off Libya'scoast yesterday. An estimated100 people were aboard andonly eight bodies have beenrecovered. Search and recoveryefforts continued today.

In his today noon blessing,Francis recalled that the themeof this year's migrant day mes-sage concerned the vulnerabil-ity of young migrants, "ouryoung brothers" whom oftenflee home alone and face "somany dangers."

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Israel's Yad Vashem Holocaustmemorial says researchers

excavating the remains of oneof the most notorious Nazideath camps have uncovered apendant that appears identicalto one belonging to AnneFrank.

Yad Vashem says onSunday it has ascertained thependant belonged to KarolineCohn, a Jewish girl who per-ished at Sobibor and may haveknown the famous diarist. LikeFrank, Cohn was born inFrankfurt in 1929. Researchersare trying to confirm whetherthey were related.

The Israel AntiquitiesAuthority has been conductingexcavations at the former campin Poland since 2007 and hasalready uncovered the gaschamber foundations and theoriginal train platform.

More than 250,000 Jewswere killed in Sobibor, one ofthe most vivid examples of theNazi "Final Solution" to eradi-cate European Jewry.

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�������������� �-3�The iPhone did not exist 10 years ago. Steve Jobs

announced the iPhone for the very first time on Jan 92007 and Apple was a new entrant into the crowdedmobile phone market. It is fascinating to go back in timeand look at the features of the 1st iPhone. It had only2G connectivity and there was no app store.Fast for-ward to 2017, theiPhone is one of themost popularsmartphones in theworld. The compa-ny has since soldover a billioniPhones and alsopaid out over 50billion dollars to app developers.The iPhone reshapedthe entire mobile industry and had a massive impacton the technology industry as well. It is going to beinteresting to see what Apple’s plans are for the 10thyear of the iPhone.

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Nokia is making a comeback into the smartphonemarket in an all new avatar. The Nokia brand is beingrevived by a Finnish company HMD Global which isexpected to launch feature phones, smartphones andmore devices under the Nokia brand. The companyannounced a couple of feature phones in December and

it also announced asmartphone — Nokia 6for the China market.Features include a 5.5inch Full HD display,Snapdragon 430processor, 4GB ofRAM and 64GB ofstorage. There is a16MP camera on theback and an 8MP self-

ie camera. The phone runs on Android 7.0 and alsosupports Dolby Atmos audio. The Nokia 6 will go onsale in China later this month for �17000 approximate-ly and we can expect the new Nokia phones to hit Indianshores in the near future.

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Faraday Future FF91 a forthcoming futuristicElectric car, packs enough power to do 0-97 kmphin just 2.39 seconds. Keyless entry will be possiblethrough facial recognition of the driver. The car packsover 10 HD cameras, 13 radars and 12 ultrasonic sen-sors for safety and self driving. There are no rear view

mirrors but the cameras and sensors give you a wideview of the surroundings. You don’t have to worryabout parking the car as it features a Driverless Valetmode.

��� ������ � ��.������7Wearables and smartglasses we have

seen till now have been bulky and notvery comfortable to use. The ODG R8and R9 aim to change this for the betterbring high performance computing toeyewear and you can easily access movies,sports, gaming, navigation in front ofyour eyes.

��%����������" LG has made their TVs so thin that you can mount

them on a wall with magnets. The LG SignatureWallpaper TVs feature an OLED panel and areextremely thin and light and also very expensive. Thereis a single wire connecting the TV to the sound barwhich houses the brain of the TV.

Have you started repeating thesame jacket and scarf ensem-ble already? We thought so.

Staying warm certainly does notmean you have to refrain from stay-ing chic. And that was the clear mes-sage delivered as a result of our style-stalking attempt on the Capital’sstreets.

If you are a Delhiite, we are sureyou must have visited these marketsor atleast must have heard yourfriends boasting about their coolfinds from Sarojini or Janpath atthrow away prices. And if youhaven’t heard about these markets,you are living under a rock. High-end stores aren’t always the solutionas those price tags aren’t always wal-let friendly. To overcome your caseof fashion brain freeze, take a cuefrom these choices for combattingthe cold weather in style.

����� � ��������Bomber all the way

Bomber or quilted jackets arethe winter staple. With the ‘not-so-cold but not-so-warm’ weather inDelhi, people like to wear a jacketthat is not too heavy and not toolight. Add punk to your wardrobewith a jacket with a strong person-ality, a super stylish piece: thebomber jacket.Go fur-tastic

To avoid PETA’s ire and still staywarm this winter, go for faux fur.The faux fur jacket is back, and thisseason, it’s looking cooler than ever.Snuggle-up

Earmuffs are a must for winterespecially if you travel by publictransport. Don’t leave your ears outin the cold this winter. These ear-muffs are not only completelyadorable, but also give you a breakfrom the basic beanie.Shoe game

Boots are the quintessential

winter wear. Add a bit of sexy toevery step with a pair of knee-highboots. If you find leather boots tootedious, go for a pair of uggs.The classics

The outerwear you will want towear all season long. Go high fash-ion with a classic trench or a pea-coat to fight the chilly wind.

�������� �Bargain, like you do for any localmarket. Ten to 15 shops sell theexact same thing at different prices,so don’t be scared to walk away froma shop if the price does not fit yourbudget�The vendors give you your pur-chases in super thin plastic bagswhich tear within minutes. So carrya backpack or a tote bag or a cou-ple of bags (depending on howmuch you’re going to shop) to storeyour purchases in�Wear comfortable shoes, as youwill be walking quite a lot

Happy Shopping!

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With the Hindi teleseri-als churning the usual

saasbahu related kitchen pol-itics and supernatural storiesto the audience, Life OK iscoming up with a male cen-tric show, Gulam. It is thejourney of Rangeela, whoensures to fulfil any wish ofhis master Chaudhuri Veer,even if it means giving up hisown life. Starring ParamSingh as Ghulaam andVikkas Manaktala as his mas-ter, Chaudhari Veer, the showwill premiere on 16thJanuary.

“Ghulaam will showcasethe darker side ofBerahampur, where tyrannyis the only mercy and howRangeela, a slave brain-washed to obey its laws andhis master’s; serving his everyneed and want. Berahampuris the crime capital of Indiaand Rangeela is a puppet inits system of lawlessness.

Never a decision maker,Rangeela serves only onemission to follow his master’sorders that are louder thanhis own voice,” said Vikkas

Manaktala, who is playingthe parallel lead, Veer. Hefurther compared the gulaamwith a lion and added, “The

story revolves around thequestion: A lion whose fero-ciousness has been longtamed, however will he

remain tamed forever or willhe roar to set free?” So, whatmade him choose this pro-ject? “I take up work only ifit excites me and Ghulam isfull of energy. In fact, I wasthe first actor to be cast in theshow, which was aroundeight months back.”

Param Singh, who willbe seen as the protagonist, isall set to play an anti-hero.Commenting on the bigchallenge that lies ahead,Param Singh said, “Fromboy- next-door to an anti-hero with intense actionsequence has been extreme-ly challenging.”

“My source of inspira-tions is one and only AamirKhan and the co-incidencebeing, my character name isRangeela and the show nameis Ghulaam, both so strong-ly linked to him. So I havesome very big shoes to fit in,”he added.

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The Russian Embassy celebrated the tradi-tional masquerade ball on January 13 at

the embassy of Russia in New Delhi.This tradition of celebrating New Year

— a custom dictated by theRussian Orthodox Church inaccordance with the old Julian

calendar — was started at theRussian Embassy few years ago.

The carnival spirit yet againdrew numerous friends of Russia inthe Embassy hall. The celebrationwas joined by more than 800 guests

- diplomats, artists, designers, journal-ists, bloggers, university teachers, RussianEmbassy workers and their familiesposted in India.

The ball was flavoured by the perfor-mance of Moscow band Stilyagi (TheTeddy Boys), who performed three setsof Russian and Western popular, rock-n-roll and jazz hits as well as three songsin Hindi.

The event gave the start to a year-long celebrations of 70th jubilee sincethe establishment of Russian-Indian

diplomatic relations. The Christmas and New Year celebra-

tions ended with fantastic fireworks onthe Embassy’s lawns.

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Most of us speak withwords and listen to them.

Words are sounds that conveyideas. For example, whensomeone says elephant, it mayimmediately conjure up inour mind an image of the ani-mal that we have come toknow as an elephant. However,for someone who does notspeak English, the word willfail to bring any image tohis/her mind. Hence whileeither speaking or listening, itis of no use to get lost in words themselves; instead, weneed to focus on the meanings behind them and on theideas they are conveying.

Psychologists and behavioural experts say that ourmind is like a parachute and it works best when it’s open.It is also like a canvas upon which we can consciouslycreate our life. The mind has tremendous power over ourbody and it directs everything in our body. Accordingto medical experts, 70 per cent of our diseases can beavoided by making our mind positive.

If our mind is closed, then it means we are holdingon to something or we are wrapped around and busy withsome thought, image, idea, concept, memory of belief thatis on our mind. On the other hand, an open mind is likea window with the curtains drawn back as a result ofwhich light can get in and light can go out. Remember!you have a mind but you are not your mind. Out of thelight of your consciousness you emerge the faculty ofmind as the arena of creation. The most common mis-take is to lose your self in what is on your mind, some-times consciously or more often unconsciously, and devel-op a false sense of ‘I’ which in simple words is describedas ego. This is the moment when you cease to be a mas-ter of your mind. The feelings which then arise from thismental state, will always be uncomfortable and unnat-ural because you are acting against your true nature,which is free of attachment to anything on the mind.

From the day we are born to the day that we die, 99per cent of us learn, practice and perfect such a mistake,not realising, it is sole reason why we are unhappy, dis-content and peaceless. All of this can be clearly experi-enced and seen in the practice of meditation and in theprocess of reflection and contemplation. If you contem-plate and reflect a little more, if you meditate with someregularity then you will start to see this as the root of allyour emotional discomforts, the source of all your suf-fering the origin of all your stress, which is infact quitegood though because it would give you a chance to dosomething and better yourself.

But this doing is not between you and the world outthere, not between you and other people, it’s between youand your mind. It should be realised that our freedomand our happiness is impossible until we stop living inour mind and losing our self in what is on our mind.

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Shombit Sengupta smiles with child-likeglee. Beginning his journey from a slum-like

refugee colony in Kolkata, the artist has takenart to a whole new imaginative level. Creatingbrands and logos for globally renowned corpo-rate houses, and now a French national,Shombit never allowed his creativity to be muz-zled by the charm of the corporate world.Gesturism art, comprising his own unique styleof paintings and disorder installations, still fig-ures as his first love.

He has recently painted Renault’s Kwid car.The art car was on display at Désordre, an exhi-bition by Sen, in Mumbai in November, lastyear. About his transition from an artist to abrand designer and then back to the world ofart Shombit says that fine arts gives one the skillof proportion, drawing, a sense of colour andhow to look at the world in a very different per-spective. Applied art teaches more on layout,typography, illustration and photography. Butit does not teach about consumer behaviour orthe socio economic trend of society.

“The key element of a brand is it’s name.It is what people recall and the name is whatpeople buy. So I spent huge time to get the gripof four fundamental architecture of Westerntypography; Antique, Didot, Elzavir and Times.I always had good control of drawing the humananatomy which helped me a lot to practice andapply the typography. I have created more than2000 brands in different parts of the world, andmost of the typography was done by hand,which helped in retaining the brand’s authen-ticity,” he says.

An international creative business strate-gy consultant he is the founder of ShiningConsultant, situated in the rive droit of Paris.“The brands, I have created, brought phenom-enal commercal success to my clients. InEurope, US, Argentina, Japan, China andIndia, there are people who regularly use at leastone or two brands designed by me in theireveryday life. I have invented a certain non-con-formist way of looking at Western and globalconsumers by studying their life from their toi-let, kitchen, bedroom and living room. I alwaystried to portray the social cauldron at the topmanagement table,” he says.

Born in 1954 in Kolkota, when the poor-rich divide was highly pronounced in India’seconomy Shombit had to start working at anyoung age to support his family. His father wasa leader of the Communist party and mothera rural primary school teacher. He says:

“Poverty should not destroy your emotion andhygienic sense. That is what I learned from mymother. I arrived in Paris in November 1973,when I was 19, in a tourist visa and with justeight dollars in hand,” he says on his journeyfrom Kolkota to Paris.

For the first three years he was a sweeper

in a lithography print shop near Paris. All thefamous artists used to come there to make theirlithographs.

He continues: “They even bought my paint-ings. Then I entered into the design business.Later, I realised that only design will not takeme far and understood that marketing in cor-

porate houses uses very statistical analytical jar-gon, whereas consumers connect with a brandin an artistic and social aspect, of course witha quality product. To create a brand that sellsmore lies in understanding social trends andblending that with artistic, non-conformiststyle.”

He believes that the way art has been nur-tured by the French people is phenomenal: “Thelatest was the invitation from Renault in Paris.They invited me to paint an art car for the firsttime in the world on their India made Kwid.Renault exhibited the art car in a glass jewel boxin front of ICIA gallery in Kala Ghoda,Mumbai, where my exhibition was going on.Then they shifted the car to my solo exhibitionin the Painters’ Village of Barbizon, France inDecember 2016.”

He says that his art is extremely Westernstyle but he wanted to get out from theCartesian system of Western society. He repre-sents two things of India; the inclusiveness ofhuman society and the non-conformist appli-cation of colour with absolute freedom. “Indianart can be divided into two. One is the typicalancient pattern centric collective artists’ workwhich existed for centuries and the other is theart that follows the Western school. The younggeneration of contemporary Indian art is morepowerful, thought driven and original.”

An author who has written five books thereare constraints for him to write. “You are notallowed to make mistakes when you write,” hechuckles. For the past two years Shombit hasconducted exhibitions in Paris, Milan,Tokyo,Austria, Barbizon and Mumbai. He is planningmore shows in France, Italy, US, India, Chinaand Japan. “I am working extensively with myGesturism Art and désordre installations tonourish my desire to explore the imaginationof the world and diverse human society,” hesigns off.

Delhi has the glitzy India ArtFair, Mumbai has its multicul-tural Kala Ghoda Arts Festival,

Kerala has the world-class Kochi-Muziris Biennale, Bengluru has ArtBengaluru and Kolkata has a month-long CIMA Awards. Though the fes-tival focuses on visual arts, in its sec-ond edition, cinema and music havejoined the roster.

Bringing together multiple disci-plines of art like paintings, sculpture,photography, cinema, music andvideo on the same platform, a month-long CIMA Awards: The KolkataArt Festival will begin next month.Organised by Kolkata-based CIMAart gallery, the festival will have mul-tiple components including the bien-nial CIMA Awards function and aseries of exhibitions on multidiscipli-nary projects, workshops and semi-nars. “In the second edition of theCIMA awards we are planning ameeting of minds from different dis-ciplines. We are partnering with dif-ferent agencies and inviting other gal-leries also within West Bengal andoutside,” said Rakhi Sarkar, CIMAdirector. “In the course of my sever-al years of being in this art world, Ifelt deeply disturbed that art wasbeing dominated by the metropolitancities. But outside of that, somehowIndian artists never really got a plat-form,” Rakhi added.

In cinema, one can notice aninteresting capsule of experimentalfilms. When asked how cinema isaffecting art in today’s context, Rakhisaid, “The boundaries are emergingand therefore, the visual arts are alsoincluding architecture and design inthe art festival. Also we have tried tomake it multidisciplinary by placingvisual arts in context of other arts.” Alarge exhibition of visual art is expect-ed to travel from Germany and willbe showcased to coincide with theCIMA Awards show. “People will getto see contemporary art, not seen thatoften. The German artists are plan-ning an exhibition of 42 works of artfrom different disciplines with atheme of migration,” said Rakhi.CIMA is also getting in touch with

agencies to work in the field of cin-ema, performance art and experimen-tal music. “Music and cinema are twoinclusions in the art festival. Wewant new sounds and experimentalmusic. The events will be spread overdifferent venues in the city. Besides artexhibits, the whole month will alsohave directors of leading museums,scholars and art historians participat-ing in discussions. School childrenacross the city are working on theconcept of ‘connecting history:Kolkata and the world’. They all are

working on various mediums. IITKharagpur has already started aseries of workshops with internation-al participation,” shared Rakhi.

She stressed that it will be a ‘trans-parent system’ and the members ofjury are individuals known for theirexcellence in various fields of visualarts and are from other disciplines aswell such as literature, music, and cin-ema. It will take a few years to finetune the project for it involves thewhole country and is meant only forIndian residents.

“We hope to get a good response.We hope to discover new artists. Wereckoned that there is a lot of talentin smaller towns and semi urbanareas,” said Rakhi.

The curator and director, in a bidto catch hold of people who are notserious art lovers, is trying to rollsome popular faces for the festival.“Last year it was just the CimaAwards show and this year we haveadded a lot of content through a fourday international symposium. It is aninternational symposium where peo-ple from Take Modern to MOMA,New York will be participating.Besides around 10-15 people arecoming from across the world to par-ticipate in this platform. We have alsotried to give it a slightly multidisci-plinary dimension where there will befilm stars, theatre personality and alsoa London based historian and authorSunil Khilnani. He will be talkingabout what is history after all. Thisinteraction will give depth to the pro-ject.”

In terms of timing and position-ing, The Kolkata Art Festival is beingaligned with other art festivals “fromJaipur Lit Fest to India Art Fair toKochi Biennale to Kala Ghoda” sothat is all in the same circuit and “oneflows into the other”.

Rakhi believes this creative artpath is going to increase footfalls forthe festival. “We have asked many ofour international delegates to visitKochi and then visit Kolkata or viceversa. This whole creative part of artis helping the art traffic within India.”

About young artist and Indianartist in global market, she said,“While we were working for CIMA,one thing we realised is that there aremany young artist from the smallertowns, semi urban areas, who have noaccess to the city galleries. Many ofthem are not even being projectedproperly.

This is the main idea behindCIMA Awards, to reach the unreach-able. About the global market, oneneeds to gain experience for that andI believe CIMA is providing one suchplatform.”

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Skipper Virat Kohli smashed amajestic 122 while Kedar Jadhavconjured up a career-best 120

before India's lower middle-orderheld nerves to pull off an incrediblethree-wicket win over England in thefirst ODI, here on Sunday.

Kohli and Jadhav rattled up a sen-sational 200-run partnership for thefifth wicket to set up the platform afterEngland set the hosts a stiff 351-runtarget. Chips were down for India afterlosing four wickets for just 63 runs butKohli and Jadhav scripted a comebackwith their gritty batting as MahendraSingh Dhoni (6) and Yuvraj Singh (15)could not contribute much in the chase.

India required 60 runs from the last10 overs after the fall of both Kohli andJadhav but Hardik Pandya ensured thattheir good work does not go waste withhis responsible unbeaten 40-runinnings. Pandya saw Ravindra Jadejalosing his wicket in the 45th over butthe young all-rounder kept his cool tosteer India to the finish line. He hit asix off Adil Rashid to level the scoresand R Ashwin finished it in style, ham-mering Moeen Ali into the stands inthe first ball of the 49th over.

India have taken a 1-0 lead in thethree-match series with the nextmatch scheduled in Cuttack onJanuary 19.

England had feasted on a listlessIndian bowling to pile up 350 forseven, their highest total in ODIsagainst India with Joe Root (78),opener Jason Roy (73) and Ben Stokes(62) striking half-centuries.

The score bettered the 338 foreight made by England in the tiedencounter of the 2011 World Cup inBengaluru but today's effort provedinsufficient.

It was a new chapter for India withKohli leading the side after beingdeclared leader of the team in all threeformats but the hosts had forgettablefirst 60 overs as they conceded 350runs and lost quick wickets.

KL Rahul (8), Shikhar Dhawan (1)and comeback-man Yuvraj were backin the pavillion and soon Dhonijoined them to leave India reeling at

63 for four.From here Kohli and Jadhav not

only restructured the innings, they putIndia within the touching distance ofwin. Kohli's 122 came off just 105 ballswith eight shots the fence and five overthe ropes. It was Indian captain's27th ODI hundred.

Jadhav, who was cramping heav-ily in the later part of his innings, com-pleted his hundred in 65 balls, whichwas fifth fastest hundred by an Indian.Overall he took 76 balls for 120 whichhad 12 fours and four sixes.

India lost Jadeja in the 45th overbut there was no more drama withPandya staying till the end. His 40came off 37 with three fours and six.

Earlier, England paced theirinnings well with Roy being the earlyaggressor with a 61-ball 73, inclusive

of 12 fours, that was built upon byRoot, who stroked his way to 78 in 95balls. Captain Eoin Morgan (28) andJos Buttler (31) got the starts withoutconverting them into a bigger score atthe Maharashtra Cricket AssociationStadium in Gahunje.

For India, Hardik Pandya (2/46)and Jasprit Bumrah - who was takenfor 79 runs — finished with two wick-ets each. The most impressive bowlerwas left-arm spinner Ravindra Jadeja,who not only applied the skids onEngland early on but also emergedwith economic figures of 1 for 50.

Jadeja's Test spin twinRavichandran Ashwin was unimpres-sive and gave away 63 runs in eightovers without a wicket to his name.

Speedster Umesh Yadav wasslammed for 63 runs runs in seven

overs for a lone wicket late in theinnings. England began on a brisk noteagainst the Indian medium pace attackwith openers Roy and Alex Hales look-ing comfortable.

Decision Review System (DRS),being used in a 50-over bilateral seriesin India, was called upon as early asthe third over of the game when Roywas given out caught behind off Yadavand got a reprieve through technolo-gy. The in-form aggressive openerthrived on the early escape as he drovethe medium pacers when they over-pitched. After the 13th over Ashwinwas brought on from the other endand should have had Roy, on 71,dropped off a top-edged reverse-sweep by Yadav at third man.

Luckily for India the drop did notprove too expensive as Jadeja got the

batsman stumped by Dhoni in the nextover to snap the second-wicket standafter the addition of 69 runs at 108.

When the slog overs began, thescore had advanced to 235 for fourwith Root well-entrenched on 76 andpoised for a final assault on thebowlers. But his hopes were dashed byBumrah who deceived him with aslower ball and had him caught atlong-on by Pandya.

But, left-handed Stokes used hisbat like a sledgehammer to smack fivesixes and two fours on his way to 62off just 40 balls after reaching 50 in 33balls. The last 10 overs of the inningsbrought England 115 runs, including65 in the final five to leave India toscore at an asking rate of 7.02 to winthe game and go 1-0 up in the three-match rubber.

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New Zealand captured three wickets beforestumps on the fourth day of the first cricket test

against Bangladesh Sunday to send the tourists intothe final day with a lead of 122 and seven secondinnings wickets in hand.

After making all the running in the match fromthe opening day, Bangladesh ended the fourth dayat 66-3 after establishing a 56-run lead on the firstinnings.

The tourists also lost opener Imrul Kayes, whoretired hurt on 24 and was carried from the stadi-um on a stretcher after suffering an injury while run-ning between wickets. The injury blighted a day inwhich Kayes had taken five catches as a stand-in forhis injured captain Mushfiqur Rahim — a record for

a substitute wicketkeeper.The last hour of play on Sunday undermined

some of the earlier work that Bangladesh had doneto edge ahead of New Zealand.

It first reached 595-8 in its first innings - its sec-ond-highest total in test matches and its highest intests outside Bangladesh - then with a novice attackit dismissed New Zealand for 539 to gain a small firstinnings lead on a pitch at the Basin Reserve whichhas shown no signs of deteriorating over four days.

Opener Tamim Iqbal was out for 24 in the 14thover, bowled by spinner Mitchell Santner, then Kayessuffered his injury and was assisted from the fieldby paramedics. Mahmudullah suffered the misfor-tune of being caught down the leg side by wicket-keeper B.J. Watling from the bowling of NeilWagner two overs before stumps then nightwatch-man Mehedi Hasan (1) threw his wicket away whenhe was run out on the last ball of the day.

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Australia on Sunday named a spin-heavy 16-man squad with four

specialist slow bowlers in it for theirfour-match Test tour of India inFebruary-March.

Uncapped leg-spinner MitchellSwepson was named in the team toboost the spin contingent while all-rounder Glenn Maxwell made a Testcomeback after more than two years.

The squad, to be led by SteveSmith, includes six specialist batsmen,four spinners, three pace bowlers, twoall-rounders and a wicket-keeper.

The Test series against top-rankedIndia begins on February 23 in Pune,followed by matches in Bangalore(March 4-8), Ranchi (March 16-20) andDharamsala (March 25-29).

With the inclusion of only threefast-bowlers in the squad, the NationalSelection Panel will reassess the fastbowling stocks after the second Test inBangalore, Cricket Australia said.

Australia have not won a Testmatch in India since 2004, and the four-Test series is expected to be a stern testfor skipper Smith and his team.

Speaking on the make-up of thesquad, interim national selector Trevor

Hohns said the panel chose an addi-tional spin bowler to allow as manyoptions as possible.

"We don't know what pitch condi-tions we will come up against in eachof the venues but wanted to have flex-ibility and options available to us,"Hohns said.

"We know India is an incrediblytough place to tour and have success in,with most International teams strug-gling to adapt to the conditions, but wehave chosen a squad which we believe

will work really hard in its endeavoursto perform well and give a goodaccount of itself in the sub-continent,"he said. "We expect all of the youngplayers chosen to benefit immenselyfrom the experience."

Queenslander Swepson, 23, joinslead spinner Nathan Lyon and left-armorthodox Ashton Agar and SteveO'Keefe. Swepson, whose cause hasbeen championed by legendary ShaneWarne, is the only member of the squadyet to play Test cricket.

"Mitchell (Swepson)is an excitingyoung leg-spinner that has comethrough the pathway system. We feel hehas a lot of potential and want to seehim take his opportunity in conditionsthat should suit him should he get achance," said Hohns.

"Ashton is a good left-arm ortho-dox spinner who can be very excitingwith the bat and also fields extremelywell. He provides us with a great all-round package."

Victoria's Maxwell and WestAustralia's Mitchell Marsh made up theall-rounders in the side. Maxwell lastplayed in a Test in October-November2014.

"We know Glenn plays very wellagainst spin and has a lot of experience

playing in India. We think his abilitywith the bat, coupled with his handy off-spin will complement the bowling unitif required," Hohns said.

Mitchell Marsh returned to thesquad after being axed early in the homesummer, and will provide a valuableextra seam-bowling option in a squadfeaturing only three specialist fast menin Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood andJackson Bird.

His stronger bowling won him aplace ahead of batting all-rounderHilton Cartwright, who had played inAustralia's most recent Test in Sydneyagainst Pakistan.

"We consider Mitchell (Marsh) asa bowling all-rounder and should wedecide to play a two pace and two spinbowling attack it is important to havethat third seam bowling option if con-ditions suit," Hohns said.

Shaun Marsh also returned after aninjury earlier this summer as the sixthspecialist batsman in the squad, along-side the five -- Smith, David Warner,Usman Khawaja, Matthew Renshawand Peter Handscomb -- who played inthe Sydney Test, while wicketkeeperMatthew Wade was retained despitestruggling for impact with the bat inTests since his recall this summer.

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Stand-in captain MohammadHafeez led Pakistan to its

first victory on the tour ofAustralia with a six-wicket winin the second one-day interna-tional of the five-match series onSunday.

Hafeez, leading Pakistan inthe absence of injured captainAzhar Ali, carried Pakistan to221-4 off 47.4 overs with a 72-run knock to level the series 1-1.

Left-arm fast bowlersMohammad Amir took 3-47and Junaid Khan made a come-back to international cricketwith an opening burst of twowickets to dismiss Australia for220 in 48.2 overs.

Hafeez was standing in ascaptain after Azhar injured hisright hamstring in Pakistan's92-run defeat at Brisbane andwas unavailable for theMelbourne match.

"The boys did a great job forus, especially Amir, Imad andJunaid as the ball was not com-ing onto the bat," Hafeez said.Shoaib Malik — one of the threereplacements Pakistan madefrom the first ODI — shared 53-

run stand with Asad Shafiq (13)to make sure Hafeez's effortwasn't in vain and Pakistanrecorded its first ODI win againstAustralia at the MelbourneCricket Ground since 1985.

Hafeez was also a late inclu-sion as the 16th player in thePakistan's ODI squad after hecleared his illegal bowling actionand was primarily included in thesquad for his offspin bowling.

Australia had its chancesbut couldn't grasp the twoopportunities provided byHafeez. Captain Steve Smithmissed a two-handed sitter ofHafeez in Mitchel Starc's first

over before Pakistan could havebegun its run-chase as SharjeelKhan (29) then grafted a 68-runopening stand with Hafeez.

Hafeez was again missed atshort cover by a leaping PatCummins just after he flickedStarc to the square leg boundaryand raised his half century off 81balls.

Babar Azam (34) also addeda further 72 runs with Hafeez toease the run-chase before bothwere caught by Josh Hazlewoodin successive overs in the spaceof two runs. Azam sliced a catchoff Starc and Faulkner hadHafeez caught at mid-on.

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Delhi Sultans ended theirdisastrous Pro WrestlingLeague (PWL) campaignwith a thrilling 4-3 victoryover Uttar Pradesh Dangalin an inconsequential tiebetween the bottom-placedteams at the KD JadhavIndoor Stadium here onSunday.

Delhi thus registeredtheir only win of this year'sPWL, finishing with a meretwo points form their fiveleague matches.

UP ended up at the lastspot -- just below Delhi --having lost all their fivematches.

UP won the toss anddecided to block the 75 kgWomen's category, as Delhi'sforeign import AlinaMakhynia sat out. DelhiCaptain Sakshi Malik choseto block the 97 kg Men's cat-egory as both the Men'sand Women's heaviestweight categories wereblocked for the evening.

The opening bout sawUP's Tariel Gaphrindashvililose to Delhi's Parveen Rana7-12 in the 74 kg men's cat-egory.

UP's star wrestler andgold medallist in the 2014Commonwealth Games,Babita Phogat pipped heryounger sister SangeetaPhogat 6-4 in the 53 kgsomen's category to equalise1-1.

Andrey Kviatkovskimade it 2-1 for UP as he won16-0 by virtue of TechnicalSuperiority over SurjeetGrewal, who replacedinjured Bajrang Punia forthe match.

Kviatkovski finishedthings inside the first minutewith a death grip, effectinga takedown first and com-bining it with a series ofrollovers.

Delhi levelled 2-2 soonas three-time Olympicmedallist Mariya Stadnikoutmuscled UP captainElitsa Yankova 11-1 in the 48kg Women's category.

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Page 16: ˜ 1 1-/23-45 -/ ˜ !˙˝˙˙#$%&˜’(˝˛ ˆ )*+˝,%, -%. ˘ˇ ˇ ˆ cles their father had sent for them. He then used to take his victims to isolated places, where he outraged their

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Andy Murray sets out on Mondayto end a record run of AustralianOpen final defeats as his great rival

Novak Djokovic vies to become the tour-nament's greatest champion of all-time.

World number one Murray is look-ing to avoid becoming the first man inthe post-1968 Open era to lose six GrandSlam finals at the same major.

His coach Ivan Lendl lost five finalsat the US Open before he broke throughin New York in 1985.

Murray, who opens his campaignwith a match against Ukraine's IllyaMarchenko on Rod Laver Arena, sayshe's in a better position this time to final-ly break through for his maidenAustralian Open. "I obviously feel pret-ty confident after the way the last sea-son finished," Murray said.

"I do love it here. I love the condi-tions. I have played really well here overthe years, and I just haven't managed toget over the final hurdle. But I think I'min a decent position to do it. I think Ihave a chance to win here."

Murray is coming off a magnificent2016 which included a secondWimbledon crown, a successful Olympictitle defence and knocking Djokovic offthe top spot to become world numberone for the first time.

Murray is drawn to meet Japanesefifth seed Nishikori or Swiss legendRoger Federer in the quarters and 2014winner Wawrinka in the semis.

He has Lendl back in his team andis conscious he has to keep improvingto keep his rivals at bay to hold on to theworld's top ranking.

>���������� �"The reality is, in sport, that things

keep moving on, the game will get bet-ter. I'll obviously get older, the youngguys will continue to improve, and alsoNovak and Roger (Federer) and Stan(Wawrinka) and Rafa (Nadal) and all theguys at the top are still going to be want-ing to get there," he said.

"So that's why having someone likeIvan on my team who has been in thatposition before and knows what that's likehas been important. I need to continueto improve. I need to keep working hard."

Murray knows that Djokovic will begunning for him in the year's firstGrand Slam where he has a fantasticrecord of six finals and six victories goingback to 2008.

The 12-time Grand Slam championcan take outright ownership of therecord for Australian titles if he wins fora seventh time in Melbourne.

The Serb is currently tied withAustralia's Roy Emerson on six Australian

titles. "One of the reasons I'm here is totry to win every match that I play, andeventually the title," Djokovic said.

Djokovic faces a potential banana-skin in the first round against experi-enced Spaniard Fernando Verdasco.

Verdasco, ranked 40, has beatenDjokovic four times in their 13 encoun-ters and the Serb had to save five matchpoints in beating him earlier this monthin the semi-finals in Doha.

Should Djokovic get off to a winningstart he is seeded to face BrisbaneInternational winner Grigor Dimitrov inthe fourth round, powerful Austrianeighth seed Dominic Thiem in thequarters and Canada's big-serving thirdseed Milos Raonic in the semi-finals.

Outside the top two, the main hopesrest with reigning US Open championStan Wawrinka, who won in Melbournein 2014, Raonic and Japanese hope Kei

Nishikori.Grand Slam warriors Federer and

Nadal should also be in the mix, but theylack match time and their rankings haveslipped. Seventeen-time Grand Slamgreat Federer, who at 17 is out of the top10 for the first time since late 2002, is eas-ing his way back after six months outwith a knee injury, while 14-time GrandSlam winner Nadal is coming off anoth-er injury-hit season.

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Serena Williams has vowed to make life difficult for top seed Angelique Kerber and a hostof dangerous players out to derail her at the Australian Open, warning she is in Melbourne

to win. The American gets her quest for an Open-era record 23rd Grand Slam title under-way in a difficult first-round clash against Switzerland's Belinda Bencic in forecast swel-tering heat on Tuesday.

It will be one the few matches she has played after a four-month lay-off.But the 35-year-old, seeded two, is in fighting mood despite being bundled out in the

second round of her only warm-up tournament, the Auckland Classic."I didn't come here to lose in the first round, or the second round, or at all," she said

on Saturday. "If I can play the way I've been practising, it will be fine."I've been spending so much time on the court. It feels really good to be back, just hit-

ting on Rod Laver (Arena), hitting on all the stadiums, it's a good feeling. I love it here."If she gets past Bencic, Williams could then encounter either in-form BritonJohanna Konta, who won this week's Sydney International, or sixth seed

Dominika Cibulkova in the quarter-finals.And then there's Germany's Kerber,

who is scheduled to meet her in the finalas the newly-engaged Williams looks to bet-ter Steffi Graf 's 22 Grand Slam singles titlesby winning her seventh Australian crown.

Kerber stunned the tennis great atMelbourne Park last year, upsetting her in the

decider for her first major title before laterreplacing her as the world number one.

That win sparked a memorable season forKerber, who followed it up by claiming the US Open,

where Williams crashed in the semi-finals and has bare-ly played since.

Kerber gets her campaign started againstUkraine's Lesia Tsurenko on a Mondayevening centre court clash.

But she has not had a good start to 2017,falling to Ukraine's Elina Svitolina in the

Brisbane International quarter-finals, then slump-ing out in round two of the Sydney Internationalto Russian teenager Darya Kasatkina.Despite this, she is confident of finding her best

form over the next fortnight."For me, I'm expecting the same as I was

expecting the years before -- going out there try-ing my best, fighting till the last point," she said.

"This is always how I'm playing, how I am.This will not be changing."

�������������Aside from Kerber, Polish world number

three Agnieszka Radwanska, who lost toWilliams in last year's semi-finals, Romanianpocket-rocket Simona Halep and Spain'sGarbine Muguruza all pose a threat.

The form players are British ninth seedKonta and Brisbane International winnerKarolina Pliskova, ranked five.

Konta, who made the semis last year andwas named the WTA's most improved play-

er for 2016, has blossomed and is encour-aged by winning in Sydney.

Czech Republic's Pliskova is anoth-er dangerous floater but like Konta is tak-

ing nothing for granted despite her stellarearly season efforts.

"I would definitely not take me as a favourite of this tournament," said the tall 24-year-old, who won the girl's singles title at Melbourne Park in 2010.

Several notable players are missing, including two-time Wimbledon champion PetraKvitova who was injured by a knife-wielding intruder at her home in the Czech Republiclast month. Also out on maternity leave is two-time Australian Open winner VictoriaAzarenka, along with five-time major champion Maria Sharapova, who is suspended untilApril after failing a drugs test at last year's tournament.

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Murray usurped Novak Djokovic forthe No 1 ranking after a stunning fin-

ish to 2016, when he won Wimbledon andthe Olympic gold medal at Rio de Janeiroand added titles in Beijing, Shanghai,Vienna and Paris. He clinched the year-ending No 1 ranking bywinning the ATP Finals.He became the firstBritish man to reach No1 in the ATP rankings,the second-oldest playerto debut at No 1. He seta record for most timebetween first gaining No2 and No 1 rankings - 7years and 82 days, afterseven stints at No 2.After setting so many marks for Britishmen, one still eludes him: an AustralianOpen title. He has lost 5 finals in the last7 years at Melbourne Park, including 4 toDjokovic ('16, '15, '13, '11). He reunitedwith coach Ivan Lendl in June last year.

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Nobody has won more AustralianOpen titles than Djokovic, who

made his Grand Slam breakthroughby winning the 2008 final as the No3 seed. He Won three in a row from2011-'13 and the last two - bothagainst Murray. He excels on thehard courts at the Australian Open,where he is aiming to be the firstman to win seven singles crowns andbreak a tie with Roy Emerson, whowon his home title in 1961 and from1963-67. He reached six consecutivemajor finals, winning five, from the2015 Australian to winning hismaiden French Open title last year.He lost in the third round atWimbledon to Sam Querrey, thenwas beaten by Stan Wawrinka in theUS Open final. He Spent 122 con-secutive weeks at No 1 before beingreplaced by Murray on Nov. 7. Hebeat Murray in the final at Doha to

open the season.

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The long-time No 2 even in hishome country, Wawrinka won his

maiden Grand Slam title at MelbournePark in 2014, when he beat Nadal tobecome the oldest first-time majorwinner since Goran Ivanisevic in2001. He has learnedhow to peak when itcounts, beating theWorld No 1 in thefinals at theAustralian Open, theFrench Open (againstDjokovic in 2015)and the US Open(Djokovic, last year).According to theATP, he is 0-20 in other rounds andtournaments against the No 1 player.He broke the Djokovic-Murray run ofmajors when he won at the US Openlast year, becoming the oldest men'schampion at Flushing Meadows sinceKen Rosewall in 1970.

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She had a breakout year in 2016 by win-ning her first Grand Slam singles

title at Melbourne, beating SerenaWilliams in the final, but lost toSerena in the Wimbledon final andwon a silver medal at the RioOlympics and then captured hersecond major after beating KarolinaPliskova in the US Open final. Shemade seven finals and officiallyovertook Williams for the No 1 rankingon the Monday after the US Openended, but was assured of the top rank-ing when Pliskova beat Serena in thesemifinals in New York. She was aunanimous selection for WTA Playerof the Year. She began 2017 by los-ing to Elina Svitolina in the quarterfi-nals at the Brisbane International, thenwas beaten 7-6 (5), 6-2 in her first matchat the Sydney International by 26th-ranked Daria Kasatkina.

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Melbourne Park markedRadwanska's best

Grand Slam performancelast year, losing in the semi-finals to Serena Williams instraight sets. She lost in thefourth round at the othermajors. She won two of herthree tournaments in 2016in China - at Shenzhen theweek before the AustralianOpen and at Beijing inOctober. One of her nick-names is "The Magician" because of her shot-making ability, and she won the WTA Shot ofthe Year for the fourth year in a row in 2016.The shot came against Monica Niculescu atIndian Wells in March, when Radwanska ranall over the court during a rally before loopingan around-the-post winner past her startled opponent.

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Tanzania's Alphonce Simbu won the men's elitefull marathon event while Kenya's Bornes

Kitur bagged the women's title at the StandardChartered Mumbai Marathon here on Sunday.

Simbu clocked two hours, nine minutes and32 seconds to clinch the gold medal. Kenya'sJoshua Kirkorir took the second spot with a timeof 2:09:50 in a tough competition.

Kirkorir's compatriot Eliud Barbgetuny camethird as he completed the distance in 2:10:39.

Till 30 kms, the race was neck to neckbetween the three top finishers. However, in thelast stages, Simbu surged ahead and eventuallywon the race.

The full marathon was flagged off from theiconic Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus in SouthMumbai at 7.20 AM by a host of dignitaries.

In the women's category, Kenya's BornesKitur won in the elite category with a time of

02:29:02. Ethiopia's Chaltu Tafa came secondas she clocked 2:33:03 while her compatriotTigist Girma bagged the bronze medal. Girmaclocked 02:33:19.

Again in the women's section, the top threerunners were fighting hard and at 21 km mark,all of them recorded a timing of 1:14:03. Kitureventually moved ahead of the other two tobecome victorious at the end.

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Pep Guardiola endured theheaviest league defeat of his

coaching career as ManchesterCity was thrashed 4-0 byEverton in the Premier Leagueon Sunday to plummet furtherout of title contention.

Two weeks after a 1-0 lossat Liverpool, City had moremisery on Merseyside followinggoals by Romelu Lukaku, KevinMirallas, 18-year-old midfield-er Tom Davies and 19-year-olddebutant Ademola Lookman.

City has now lost three ofits last four matches away, withthe latest setback for Guardiolacoming at the hands of a teammanaged by his formerBarcelona teammate, RonaldKoeman.

The team had dropped outof the top four - into fifth place- following wins for Tottenhamand Arsenal on Saturday, and isnow 10 points behind first-

placed Chelsea."It is awful for my players,"

Guardiola said."I said to the players 'be pos-

itive' because they have madefantastic things in this season."

The title is looking out ofreach for City now, though, justwhen things appeared to belooking up after a 5-0 win atWest Ham in the FA Cup lastweek.

It was another poor defen-sive display, summed up ininjury time when John Stones -a former Everton player - triedto clear the ball for a throw-inonly to see it ricochet offEverton defender SeamusColeman to set up Lookman.

Signed from Charlton thismonth and on as a late substi-tute for his Everton debut,Lookman completed City's mis-ery by shooting through Bravo'slegs.

"Pep Guardiola knows it isa project at Manchester City,"Koeman said.

"Of course, maybe theyexpected better results and adefeat like this is really strongbut Pep has the experience toturn it around. I don't doubt it."

"The consequence of thegame is an example of manythat has happened this season,"Guardiola said. "In football,you sometimes don't need to domany things to score."

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It was always going to be difficult for Williamsto match her stellar 2015

after winning the AustralianOpen, French Open andWimbledon before losing inthe US Open semifinals,falling just two matches shortof the calendar Grand Slam.She had an off-year by herstandards in 2016, winningonly two titles, but one ofthem was her 22nd Grand

Slam singles title, whichshe got at Wimbledon,equaling Steffi Graf 's Open-era record. Sheended the year without the No 1 spot for

the first time since 2012. The newly-engaged(to Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian)Williams opened the year at the ASB Classicin wind-swept Auckland with a surprise sec-ond-round loss in three sets to fellow AmericanMadison Brengle.

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