C M Y K improve its tally by raising issues of Dalit flogging in ... Narmada project and back-to-...

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P olitical significance of Saurashtra-Kutch region in Gujarat is similar to that of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar in national politics. In the upcom- ing Assembly polls, the politi- cally active coastal region hav- ing rich cultural heritage, is expected to decide the fate of new Government in Gandhinagar. Of four regions in the poll bound State, Saurashtra-Kutch sends largest number of 54 MLAs to the State Assembly. Geographically, the region forms two-third of Gujarat’s total area. Just like Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, deep-toot- ed caste system still exists here. Here, the intensity of the ongo- ing pro-quota Patidar agitation is much higher than the other three regions - North, Central and South Gujarat. Under Narendra Modi as Gujarat Chief Minister, the BJP won three previous Assembly polls and in the process transformed Saurashtra-Kutch region. In the three polls, the BJP won around 40 seats from here and kept the Congress out of power. In the last two elections, the Congress tried hard to make a dent in the BJP vote-bank by field- ing BJP ‘rebels’ like former Chief Minister Keshubhai Patel and Patidar lead- ers. However, the oldest political party miserably failed. Even this time, the Opposition party has not left any stone unturned to improve its tally by raising issues of Dalit flogging in Una and sup- porting pro-quota agitation of Patidars. Spread across 12 districts out of 33 in the State, Patidars and Koli form around 40 per cent, the largest chunk of pop- ulation here. OBCs, Kshatriya and fishermen communities are also having decisive say over a few seats. Apart from caste factors, water, employment, prices of agriculture com- modities — cotton and groundnut are major issues here. Ever since the for- mation of Gujarat in 1960, Saurashtrians have complaint that the region has been ignored when it came to development. This discontent led to demand of separate statehood in the past. Tough condition for agri- culture in parts of Saurashtra and limited employment opportunities in the absence of major industrial development forced large number of Kathiawadis to migrate to big- ger cities like Surat, Ahmedabad and Vadodara. In the past one decade the process has slowed down with arrival of water to Narmada project and back-to- back good monsoons. Top leaders of both major parties BJP and Congress - Narendra Modi and Rahul Gandhi - held maximum rallies here in the past six months. The Congress vice-president visited all the major Hindu reli- gious places here — Dwarka, Somnath, Chotila to name a few. Unlike Modi, the Congress focused on smaller meetings in the Patidar-dominated areas during his visits. On the other hand, Modi is addressing huge rallies and asking for votes on development plank. “There has been tremen- dous industrial development after the devastating 2001 earthquake in Kutch. Arrival of Narmada water has solved drinking water problems of this parch district. Many Kutchis who migrat- ed to different places, in fact came back to their mother- land,” says Himanshu Chothani, a businessman and resident of Bhuj, headquarters of bordering Kutch district. The farmers here com- plain that even if they have bumper crop of cotton and groundnut, their plights do not change because prices of these items are always low. Kantibhai Ukani, a famer in Junagadh district, says that the State Government needed to intervene by increasing mini- mum support price (MSP). Continued on Page 4 T wo months after the sensa- tional murder of four women of Jindal family — Urmila Jindal (82), her daugh- ters Sangeeta Gupta (56), Nupur Jindal (48) and Anjali Jindal (38) — along with their security guard in East Delhi’s Mansorvar Park area on October 7, the Delhi Crime Branch on Wednesday arrest- ed five persons, including the wife and a son of the guard. “The motive behind the murders was robbery. The plan was hatched by security guard Rakesh in connivance with his son Anuj and son-in-law Vikas. During sustained interrogation, Vikas confessed to his crime. Following which Rakesh’s wife Krishna, son Anuj, and three other accomplices, Sunny, Vicky and Deepak, were arrested. Rakesh was killed by his accom- plice as they feared he may spill the beans,” said Alok Kumar, Joint Commissioner of Police (JCP), Crime. However, contradicting the line of investigation taken by the Crime Branch, a senior police officer of the Shahdara, which had conducted the investigation in the case earlier, pointed out to The Pioneer about the loopholes in the Crime Branch investiga- tion. “The biggest question mark is on the reason given for Rakesh’s murder by his son-in- law. Second confusion is about the whereabouts of the accused on the night of the crime as loca- tions of the accused persons’ mobiles don’t match with their whereabouts,” he said, claiming that the Crime Branch had made the arrest in a hurry with- out foolproof evidence. “The Crime Branch made the arrests without waiting for the fingerprints report. Continued on Page 4 Chandigarh: A panel probing allegations of overcharging against a Gurgaon hospital regarding a case in which a 7- year-old girl died of dengue has found “several irregularities” fol- lowing which the Haryana Government is planning to lodge an FIR, State Health Minister Anil Vij said on Wednesday. “In simple words, it was not a death, it was a murder,” Vij alleged at crowded press con- ference in his office here. There were many irregu- larities, unethical practices and the protocol for diagnosis and medical duties was not fol- lowed, Vij, flanked by the com- mittee members, alleged. The Haryana health department will file an FIR against the private hospital while the license of its blood bank will also be cancelled, he said. Its land lease may also be looked into, he added. PTI C iting worries over the rising trajectory of inflation in the coming days, Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Wednesday left its key policy rates unchanged on Wednesday. The central bank raised the inflation projection to 4.7 per cent at the upper end by March, while retaining growth estimates at 6.7 per cent for the current fiscal. The 6-member Monetary Policy Committee, which in a 5:1 vote chose status quo on rates in an effort to keep retail inflation within the target of 4 per cent plus or minus 200 bps, while supporting the coun- try’s growth. The RBI has increased its inflation projection by 10 basis points to 4.3-4.7 per cent in the second and the fourth quarters, from 4.2-4.6 per cent estimat- ed in the October review. Detailed reports on P10 T he rising cost of public transport including metro, and spurt in volume of vehicles and level of pollution have alarmed the Centre to think upon alternate transport sys- tem in the Delhi NCR area. Road Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari has decided to roll out 10,000 air-conditioned elec- tric buses on the city roads. He said eco-friendly and cheap public transport will reduce dependence on private vehicles and bring down pol- lution and road accidents too. As per a study, Delhi needs 11,000 public transport buses to meet its demand. The pre- sent fleet run and operated by Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) is less than 4,000. “We want to encourage pub- lic transport on electricity. This is the only answer to cheap mode of comfortable public transport and keeping Delhi NCR in the safe hands of envi- ronment,” Gadkari said. He said the Centre was already in talks with the Delhi Government and was likely to involve neig- bouring States to work on intro- duction of electric buses with participation of private parties. Talking about his partner- ing with the London Transport system, Gadkari said the aim was to reduce cost and pollu- tion particularly in the metros where numbers of vehicles have been burgeoning. India has sought help from the United Kingdom to improve upon the Urban Transport Sector through cooperation in policy planning, technology transfer and institutional organisation. “The electric bus mode will be at least 25 per cent cheaper than any mode of road public transportation in Delhi and its region. We have already been planning for river trans- port, metrino and also ropeway in some localities,” Gadkari told The Pioneer. He added that the Government is also planning to introduce vehicles that would run on bio-fuels and a small unit for production of these will come up in Delhi soon. “We will aim to reduce pri- vate vehicles. The way the number of private vehicles is increasing, we will be forced to construct one lane every three years, which will require huge expenses.” We need to improve the public transport and dis- courage people from buying vehicles,” Gadkari added. Amid growing concerns over rising pollution levels and poor traffic conditions in the city, number of registered vehi- cles in the national Capital has crossed the one-crore mark. The biggest chunk of vehicles, approximately 67,00,000, are motorcycles and scooters, and about 32,00,000 are registered cars. Several reports suggest that vehicular pollution is one of the major contributors to air pollution in the Delhi NCR. Gadkari also said that dou- ble-decker luxury buses using alternative fuel will soon ply on Delhi-Mumbai, Delhi-Jaipur, and Delhi-Ludhiana routes. He also talked about the plan to construct a separate lane for running electric trucks and buses on Delhi-Mumbai corri- dor. “The greatest advantage is that bio fuels can be manufac- tured in the country,” said the Road Transport Minister. C ongress leader and lawyer Kapil Sibal’s plea for defer- ment of the Supreme Court’s hearing in the Ram Janma- bhoomi-Babri Masjid title dis- pute till after the 2019 general elections triggered a major controversy on Wednesday. First, Sunni Waqf Board dissociated itself from Sibal’s plea, prompting Prime Minister Narendra Modi to congratulate the Muslim body and castigat- ing Sibal. But soon the All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) backed Sibal’s stand, forcing the Sunni Wakf board to fall in line. On his part, Sibal said he is not representing the Sunni board in the title dispute and appearing for other petitioners. In the morning, distancing itself from Sibal’s stand, Sunni Waqf Board member Haji Mehboob said the board was for a solution to the Ayodhya dispute at the earliest. “Yes Sibal is our lawyer but he is also related to a political party, his statement in SC yesterday was wrong, we want a solution to the issue at the earliest,” Mehboob was quoted by ANI. Modi was quick to use the Sunni leader’s reaction to tar- get Sibal and Congress. “The Sunni Waqf Board must be congratulated for their brave stand on the matter and disas- sociating themselves from the statement of Sibal,” the Prime Minister said. Then came AIMPLB def- erence of Sibal. “As the repre- sentative body, the Board endorses and confirms the said statement of the Counsels made in Court,” said AIMPLB general Secretary After this, Sunni Waqf leader and a petitioner in the dispute Haji Mehboob did an immediate flip flop. “If Jilani (Zafaryab Jilani, convener of the Babri Masjid Action Committee) is saying that what Sibal said yesterday was right, then I agree with him. Continued on Page 4 P olice used mild force on the farmers when they were found creating ruckus during a programme of Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan at Badarwas in Shivpuri district on Wednesday. By-election is scheduled in the Kolaras Assembly con- stituency, where Congress MLA Rom Singh Yadav had passed away recently. To target the farmers in the region, a Kisan Sammelan was organized at Badarwas and Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan was addressing them. At the same time, a number of farmers with their problems related to Bhavantar scheme of the State Government started creating ruckus. Sensing the situation, the police officials flung into action and used force to disperse the agitating farmers. Later, the Chief Minister told the gathering that he would remain present in the region overnight. "Since a huge gathering of farmers is present, I would stay overnight in Badarwas only and listen to the woes of every farmer," he added. Meanwhile, the Congress has criticised the State Government for cane-charging the farmers. Leader of the Opposition in the State Assembly Ajay Singh said that the Chief Minister who always claimed that he is son of a farmer has become anti-farmer. He claimed that the agita- tion of farmers at the Chief Minister's programme is an expression of anger brewing among the people against the State Government. While tweeting, senior Congress leader Jyotiraditya Scindia said that it is shameful that the farmers, who were invited to distribute cheques of Bhavantar scheme, were beaten up. A fter good rainfall at a few places in the past 24 hours more rainfall at several places is likely to occur in the next two days; harsh cold conditions would be witnessed in the next two days. Met official said that thun- dery activities and rainfall would be witnessed and after two days the cloudy weather conditions would clear and temperatures would dip mak- ing the weather conditions colder and harsher. According to the forecast a few areas of Indore, Ujjain, Bhopal and Hoshangabad divisions are likely to witness rainfall in the next 24 hours. A few areas in the Bhopal division witnessed rainfall in the past 24 hours.For the sec- ond consecutive day the city witnessed cloud cover in the early morning hours with Continued on Page 4 RNI Regn. No. MPENG/2004/13703, Regd. No. L-2/BPLON/41/2006-2008 C M Y K C M Y K

Transcript of C M Y K improve its tally by raising issues of Dalit flogging in ... Narmada project and back-to-...

Page 1: C M Y K improve its tally by raising issues of Dalit flogging in ... Narmada project and back-to- ... son Anuj and son-in-law Vikas.

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Political significance ofSaurashtra-Kutch region in

Gujarat is similar to that ofUttar Pradesh and Bihar innational politics. In the upcom-ing Assembly polls, the politi-cally active coastal region hav-ing rich cultural heritage, isexpected to decide the fate ofnew Government inGandhinagar.

Of four regions in the pollbound State, Saurashtra-Kutchsends largest number of 54MLAs to the State Assembly.Geographically, the regionforms two-third of Gujarat’stotal area. Just like UttarPradesh and Bihar, deep-toot-ed caste system still exists here.Here, the intensity of the ongo-ing pro-quota Patidar agitationis much higher than the other

three regions - North, Centraland South Gujarat.

Under Narendra Modi asGujarat Chief Minister, theBJP won three previousAssembly polls and in theprocess transformedSaurashtra-Kutch region. Inthe three polls, the BJP wonaround 40 seats from here andkept the Congress out of power.

In the last two elections,the Congress tried hard tomake a dent in the BJPvote-bank by field-ing BJP ‘rebels’ likeformer ChiefMinister KeshubhaiPatel and Patidar lead-ers. However, the oldestpolitical party miserablyfailed. Even this time, theOpposition party has not leftany stone unturned toimprove its tally by raising

issues of Dalitf logging in

Una and sup-

porting pro-quota agitation ofPatidars.

Spread across 12 districts

out of 33 in the State, Patidarsand Koli form around 40 percent, the largest chunk of pop-ulation here. OBCs, Kshatriyaand fishermen communitiesare also having decisive say over

a few seats. Apart from castefactors, water,employment, pricesof agriculture com-modities — cotton

and groundnut aremajor issues here.

Ever since the for-mation of Gujarat in 1960,Saurashtrians have complaintthat the region has been ignoredwhen it came to development.This discontent led to demandof separate statehood in thepast. Tough condition for agri-culture in parts of Saurashtraand limited employmentopportunities in the absence ofmajor industrial development

forced large number ofKathiawadis to migrate to big-ger cities like Surat, Ahmedabadand Vadodara. In the past onedecade the process has sloweddown with arrival of water toNarmada project and back-to-back good monsoons.

Top leaders of both majorparties BJP and Congress -Narendra Modi and RahulGandhi - held maximum rallieshere in the past six months.The Congress vice-presidentvisited all the major Hindu reli-gious places here — Dwarka,Somnath, Chotila to name afew. Unlike Modi, the Congressfocused on smaller meetings inthe Patidar-dominated areasduring his visits. On the otherhand, Modi is addressing hugerallies and asking for votes ondevelopment plank.

“There has been tremen-

dous industrial developmentafter the devastating 2001earthquake in Kutch.

Arrival of Narmada waterhas solved drinking waterproblems of this parch district.

Many Kutchis who migrat-ed to different places, in factcame back to their mother-land,” says HimanshuChothani, a businessman andresident of Bhuj, headquartersof bordering Kutch district.

The farmers here com-plain that even if they havebumper crop of cotton andgroundnut, their plights donot change because prices ofthese items are always low.Kantibhai Ukani, a famer inJunagadh district, says that theState Government needed tointervene by increasing mini-mum support price (MSP).

Continued on Page 4

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Two months after the sensa-tional murder of four

women of Jindal family —Urmila Jindal (82), her daugh-ters Sangeeta Gupta (56),Nupur Jindal (48) and AnjaliJindal (38) — along with theirsecurity guard in East Delhi’sMansorvar Park area onOctober 7, the Delhi CrimeBranch on Wednesday arrest-ed five persons, including thewife and a son of the guard.

“The motive behind themurders was robbery. The planwas hatched by security guardRakesh in connivance with hisson Anuj and son-in-law Vikas.During sustained interrogation,Vikas confessed to his crime.Following which Rakesh’s wife

Krishna, son Anuj, and threeother accomplices, Sunny, Vickyand Deepak, were arrested.Rakesh was killed by his accom-plice as they feared he may spillthe beans,” said Alok Kumar,Joint Commissioner of Police(JCP), Crime.

However, contradicting theline of investigation taken by theCrime Branch, a senior policeofficer of the Shahdara, whichhad conducted the investigationin the case earlier, pointed out toThe Pioneer about the loopholesin the Crime Branch investiga-tion. “The biggest question markis on the reason given forRakesh’s murder by his son-in-law. Second confusion is aboutthe whereabouts of the accusedon the night of the crime as loca-tions of the accused persons’

mobiles don’t match with theirwhereabouts,” he said, claimingthat the Crime Branch had

made the arrest in a hurry with-out foolproof evidence.

“The Crime Branch made

the arrests without waiting forthe fingerprints report.

Continued on Page 4

Chandigarh: A panel probingallegations of overchargingagainst a Gurgaon hospitalregarding a case in which a 7-year-old girl died of dengue hasfound “several irregularities” fol-lowing which the HaryanaGovernment is planning to lodgean FIR, State Health MinisterAnil Vij said on Wednesday.

“In simple words, it was nota death, it was a murder,” Vijalleged at crowded press con-ference in his office here.

There were many irregu-larities, unethical practices andthe protocol for diagnosis andmedical duties was not fol-lowed, Vij, flanked by the com-mittee members, alleged.

The Haryana healthdepartment will file an FIRagainst the private hospitalwhile the license of its bloodbank will also be cancelled, hesaid. Its land lease may also belooked into, he added.

PTI

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Citing worries over the risingtrajectory of inflation in

the coming days, Reserve Bankof India (RBI) on Wednesdayleft its key policy ratesunchanged on Wednesday. Thecentral bank raised the inflationprojection to 4.7 per cent at theupper end by March, whileretaining growth estimates at 6.7per cent for the current fiscal.

The 6-member MonetaryPolicy Committee, which in a5:1 vote chose status quo onrates in an effort to keep retailinflation within the target of 4per cent plus or minus 200 bps,while supporting the coun-try’s growth.

The RBI has increased itsinflation projection by 10 basispoints to 4.3-4.7 per cent in thesecond and the fourth quarters,from 4.2-4.6 per cent estimat-ed in the October review.

Detailed reports on P10

"�������������/0$��0&.�

The rising cost of publictransport including metro,

and spurt in volume of vehiclesand level of pollution havealarmed the Centre to thinkupon alternate transport sys-tem in the Delhi NCR area.Road Transport Minister NitinGadkari has decided to roll out10,000 air-conditioned elec-tric buses on the city roads.

He said eco-friendly andcheap public transport willreduce dependence on privatevehicles and bring down pol-lution and road accidents too.

As per a study, Delhi needs11,000 public transport busesto meet its demand. The pre-sent fleet run and operated by

Delhi Transport Corporation(DTC) is less than 4,000.

“We want to encourage pub-lic transport on electricity. Thisis the only answer to cheapmode of comfortable publictransport and keeping DelhiNCR in the safe hands of envi-ronment,” Gadkari said. He saidthe Centre was already in talkswith the Delhi Governmentand was likely to involve neig-bouring States to work on intro-duction of electric buses withparticipation of private parties.

Talking about his partner-ing with the London Transportsystem, Gadkari said the aimwas to reduce cost and pollu-tion particularly in the metroswhere numbers of vehicleshave been burgeoning. Indiahas sought help from the

United Kingdom to improveupon the Urban TransportSector through cooperation inpolicy planning, technologytransfer and institutionalorganisation.

“The electric bus modewill be at least 25 per centcheaper than any mode of roadpublic transportation in Delhiand its region. We have alreadybeen planning for river trans-port, metrino and also ropewayin some localities,” Gadkaritold The Pioneer.

He added that theGovernment is also planning tointroduce vehicles that wouldrun on bio-fuels and a smallunit for production of these willcome up in Delhi soon.

“We will aim to reduce pri-vate vehicles. The way thenumber of private vehicles isincreasing, we will be forced toconstruct one lane every threeyears, which will require hugeexpenses.” We need to improvethe public transport and dis-courage people from buying

vehicles,” Gadkari added. Amid growing concerns

over rising pollution levels andpoor traffic conditions in thecity, number of registered vehi-cles in the national Capital hascrossed the one-crore mark.

The biggest chunk of vehicles,approximately 67,00,000, aremotorcycles and scooters, andabout 32,00,000 are registeredcars. Several reports suggestthat vehicular pollution is oneof the major contributors to air

pollution in the Delhi NCR. Gadkari also said that dou-

ble-decker luxury buses usingalternative fuel will soon ply onDelhi-Mumbai, Delhi-Jaipur,and Delhi-Ludhiana routes.He also talked about the plan

to construct a separate lane forrunning electric trucks andbuses on Delhi-Mumbai corri-dor. “The greatest advantage isthat bio fuels can be manufac-tured in the country,” said theRoad Transport Minister.

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Congress leader and lawyerKapil Sibal’s plea for defer-

ment of the Supreme Court’shearing in the Ram Janma-bhoomi-Babri Masjid title dis-pute till after the 2019 generalelections triggered a majorcontroversy on Wednesday.

First, Sunni Waqf Boarddissociated itself from Sibal’splea, prompting Prime MinisterNarendra Modi to congratulatethe Muslim body and castigat-ing Sibal. But soon the All IndiaMuslim Personal Law Board(AIMPLB) backed Sibal’s stand,forcing the Sunni Wakf board tofall in line. On his part, Sibal saidhe is not representing the Sunniboard in the title dispute andappearing for other petitioners.

In the morning, distancingitself from Sibal’s stand, SunniWaqf Board member HajiMehboob said the board wasfor a solution to the Ayodhyadispute at the earliest.

“Yes Sibal is our lawyer buthe is also related to a politicalparty, his statement in SC yesterday was wrong, wewant a solution to the issue atthe earliest,” Mehboob wasquoted by ANI.

Modi was quick to use theSunni leader’s reaction to tar-get Sibal and Congress. “TheSunni Waqf Board must becongratulated for their bravestand on the matter and disas-sociating themselves from thestatement of Sibal,” the PrimeMinister said.

Then came AIMPLB def-erence of Sibal. “As the repre-sentative body, the Boardendorses and confirms the saidstatement of the Counselsmade in Court,” said AIMPLBgeneral Secretary

After this, Sunni Waqfleader and a petitioner in the

dispute Haji Mehboob did animmediate flip flop. “If Jilani(Zafaryab Jilani, convener ofthe Babri Masjid Action

Committee) is saying that whatSibal said yesterday was right,then I agree with him.

Continued on Page 4

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Police used mild force on thefarmers when they were

found creating ruckus during aprogramme of Chief MinisterShivraj Singh Chouhan atBadarwas in Shivpuri districton Wednesday.

By-election is scheduledin the Kolaras Assembly con-stituency, where CongressMLA Rom Singh Yadav hadpassed away recently.

To target the farmers in theregion, a Kisan Sammelan wasorganized at Badarwas andChief Minister Shivraj SinghChouhan was addressing them.At the same time, a number offarmers with their problemsrelated to Bhavantar scheme ofthe State Government startedcreating ruckus.

Sensing the situation, thepolice officials flung into actionand used force to disperse theagitating farmers.

Later, the Chief Minister

told the gathering that hewould remain present in theregion overnight. "Since a hugegathering of farmers is present,I would stay overnight inBadarwas only and listen to thewoes of every farmer," headded.

Meanwhile, the Congresshas criticised the StateGovernment for cane-chargingthe farmers. Leader of theOpposition in the StateAssembly Ajay Singh said thatthe Chief Minister who alwaysclaimed that he is son of afarmer has become anti-farmer.

He claimed that the agita-tion of farmers at the ChiefMinister's programme is anexpression of anger brewingamong the people against theState Government. Whiletweeting, senior Congressleader Jyotiraditya Scindia saidthat it is shameful that thefarmers, who were invited todistribute cheques of Bhavantarscheme, were beaten up.

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After good rainfall at a fewplaces in the past 24 hours

more rainfall at several placesis likely to occur in the next twodays; harsh cold conditionswould be witnessed in the nexttwo days.

Met official said that thun-dery activities and rainfallwould be witnessed and aftertwo days the cloudy weatherconditions would clear and

temperatures would dip mak-ing the weather conditionscolder and harsher. Accordingto the forecast a few areas ofIndore, Ujjain, Bhopal andHoshangabad divisions arelikely to witness rainfall in thenext 24 hours.

A few areas in the Bhopaldivision witnessed rainfall inthe past 24 hours.For the sec-ond consecutive day the citywitnessed cloud cover in theearly morning hours with

Continued on Page 4

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Page 2: C M Y K improve its tally by raising issues of Dalit flogging in ... Narmada project and back-to- ... son Anuj and son-in-law Vikas.

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Sprouts-an Akriti Preschoolof city has been ranked as

one of India’s most admiredpreschool underEducationWorld IndiaPreschool Ranking 2017-18survey. It has been selectedamong the Top 10 pre-schoolsof the country.

Besides, three preschoolsof the city Sprouts- An AkritiPre-school, New DimensionSchool and Jack and Jillschool have been ranked asMost Preferred Schools ofBhopal for year 2017-18.

Notably, EducationWorldin association with the Delhi-

based market research andOpinion Polls CompanyCentre for Forecasting andResearch Pvt. Ltd (C fore)conducted its 8th annualEducationWorld IndiaPreschool Ranking 2017-18survey. The survey was con-ducted in 16 cities to rate andrank 527 preschools foryoungest children country-wide.

There were 10 parametersover which the schools wereranked. The parametersinclude Competence of fac-ulty, Teacher welfare,Infrastructure, Individualattention to students, Valuefor money, Leadership/man-

agement quality, Parentalinvolvement, Innovativeteaching, Safety and hygieneand Facilities for special needschildren

All the parameters weregiven equal weightage except‘competence of teachers/fac-ulty’ which was given doublethe weightage. Further, specialattention was given to safetyand hygiene.

The country’s Top 10 pro-prietary and franchised pre-primaries will be felicitated atthe 8th EW Early ChildhoodEducation NationalConference scheduled forJanuary 20 at Shangri-LaHotel, Bangalore.

�������������� ).7�!&!�����#�� ���������� �6�� ��� ��������;����� ����������������� ����������=������!A��4�����&����� %������ �6�� ����������� �?���� ��������� ������������ %�����4��������������0;����� "��� ���������������� ������� �����������'���� �������6�������%�%�� �������������"����� ���������%���������� ������������ �������������� �� 6� "��������� ������ ����� ��������� %�= �� ��������������� �� � ���������������������������� ��� ������ �����%(����������� ����������"����=�����!A���4�����&����� ���� ����A�������������������� ���������6%

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�������������� ).7�!&From colourful Rajasthani

jholas to vibrant Gujurati eth-nic wears, all are available at theGandhi Shilp Bazaar 2017. Theexhibition cum sale is evokinga good response by the shopa-holics of the city.

From traditional to newtrends all are available at thehandloom exhibition cum sale.The exhibition cum sale beganfrom Monday at Bhopal Haat.

The exhibition is all abouthandicraft and handloom mate-rial in which as many as 45 selfhelp groups (SHGs) participat-ed from across the country.What is more interesting hereare the cultural events organ-ised at the venue. The shopperscan enjoy the fizzy shades of thecountry as well as watch sometalent on stage.

.Besides, ladies’ stuff is a

major part of this exotic shop-ping fair. The Hyderabadipearls with royal designs are inmuch demand in this weddingseason.

The mela also shares amajor collection of dress mate-rials, enthralling the ladies.The stalls of household deco-ration would captivate a bigcrowd at the spot. Dress mate-rials embedded with zarizardozi, lucknowi chicken, mul-berry silk and more could beexplored at the mela.

A variety of decorativeitems like rugs, carpets, imita-tion jewellery, dress materials,ladies hand-bags, metal crafts,bamboo showpieces and sculp-tures of metal are also on dis-play.

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There was music, there wasdance and there was a lot

of fun at the first ever onlyWomen’s Open Mic. Theopen mic for women washeld here on Wednesday atThe Public House Restaurantwhich saw a huge participa-tion from the ladies of thecity.

The immense talent ofyoung girls and females of thecity was a must watch for theaudience. The open mic wasorganised with a purpose toprovide a platform for femalesto showcase their talent beforethe Bhopalites.

The participants beauti-fully presented songs not onlyin English language but alsofew Bollywood tracks added

charisma in the evening. The musical performance

by young artists added muchzest in the open mic.

The audiences were seentotally engrossed in the melo-dious music performed bythe youngsters of the city.

As many as 40 perfor-mances were held on the day.There were solo dance perfor-mances on Bollywood tracksand there were solo singingmusical performances. Theperformers not only presentedthe new filmy tracks but alsosang some of the musicaltracks from Shashi Kapoor’smovies to give him a tribute.

Other than the musicalperformances, some of theparticipants recited theirpoetries, short stories, Urdushayaris and more. The ghaz-

als were another treat for thelisteners. Being a wondrouspresentation for the old songs

and ghazal lovers, the showevoked a pretty goodresponse. The music lovers

tapped their feet along as thecalm ghazals were beautiful-ly performed before them.

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On the second day ofnational seminar on ‘Rock

Art of Central India: WithSpecial Reference to MadhyaPradesh’ was organized onWednesday at IGRMS, Bhopal.

Several scholars presentedtheir papers on various aspectson rock art of the centralIndian region in relation toMadhya Pradesh. In the firstsession, a paper on Rock artsites in Chandheri Tehsil ofAshok Nagar District (MP)was presented by Yadav RakeshParasnath, the paper gave anelaboration on the newly dis-covered rock art sites of theregion describing shelters withwhite colored paintings at thesite along with Trishul likedesigns painted with whitecolour.

A presentation on thepainted shelters in Dharkundiin Madhya Pradesh was givenin her paper by MeenakshiDubey Pathak. PushpendraNandan gave a presentation onrock art of Satna Districtdescribing in detail the paint-ed shelters found in the denseforested areas of the region.Neha Singh presented a paperon the yogini Mata shelter ofsirmour region. Singh in herpaper elaborated on the sig-nificance of cultural studies bysaying that culture can bedefined as the ideas, customsand behaviour of a particularpeople or society and it can beexpressed in the form of dance,rituals, using of tools etc. Rockpaintings provide a solid plat-form to know about the cultureof early humans in the absenceof literary records.

In the evening session thepaper by SB Ota on petroglyphsof Ladakh region was the high-light and explained the meth-ods used to carve these imageson boulders in the region.Ganga Nath Jha fromJharkhand presented a paperon ethno-archaeological aspectof rock art sites in Ramgarhregion of Jharkhand.

Jha said that the traditionof Rock Art is in diminishingstage due to the dumping yardof the coal excavation area. Thepresent study also highlightsthe geographical condition ofrock art and Cultural activitiesand Art of the populationinhabiting the area.

�������������� ).7�!&

Their craze to see a freeIndia and the way they

worked towards it made theseyoung revolutionaries differentfrom all other Indians, thoughthey were just as same as us.With such an introductionbegan the play ‘GaganDamama Bajyo’.

The events from the yearof the Jallianwala Bagh mas-sacre in 1919 to the hanging ofBhagat Singh, Raj Guru andSukhdev, in 1931, the theatrebuffs of the city were takenback to the history.

The play was staged hereon Wednesday at BharatBhavan, marking the thirdday of Adi Vidrohi theatre fes-tival 2017. The fest is beingorganised by Directorate ofCulture, Madhya PradeshGovernment.

Written by Piyush Mishrait is a musical drama based onreal incidents taken from thelife of freedom fighter BhagatSingh and his contemporaries.The play was directed by HiraManiklal and was beautifullystaged by the artists of RangShrinkhla Theatre Troupe,Raipur.

It is noteworthy thatBhagat Singh is known as themost influential revolutionar-

ies of Indian Independencemovement. He born in a Sikhfamily which had earlier beeninvolved in revolutionaryactivities against the BritishRaj, as a teenager Singh stud-ied European revolutionarymovements and was attracted

to anarchist and Marxist ide-ologies.

It follows Far from want-ing to cause any bloodshed orviolence, his decision to throwa bomb in the assembly wasmotivated by the desire todraw attention to the questions

of freedom and equality. Theplay also touches on the ide-ological differences betweenBhagat Singh and MahatmaGandhi.

Bhagat Singh was involvedin several revolutionary organ-isations and activities. The

play mainly highlights hisimmense contribution andsacrifice with his friendsincluding Rajguru, Sukhdev,Chandrasekhar Azad, JatinDas, Ram Prasad Bismil,Ashfaque Ullah Khan andothers in freedom struggle.

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Page 3: C M Y K improve its tally by raising issues of Dalit flogging in ... Narmada project and back-to- ... son Anuj and son-in-law Vikas.

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Ashoka Graden police havenabbed a 26-year-old mis-

creant involved in sexuallyassaulting of a 21-year-oldnursing student in Decemberlast year; accused carried acash reward of Rs 5000 on hishead.

Police said that acting on atip off an absconding rapeaccused identified as KamtaPrakash was nabbed from ISBTbus stand inside a bus. Theaccused works with a privatefirm while the victim was pur-suing nursing course from a pri-vate college in the city.

The victim in her com-plaint stated that she was sexu-ally assaulted and exploited fromDecember 25 to 31, 2016 andlater she got pregnant and whenshe asked the accused to marryher, he fled the city and reachedChhindwara. The victimreturned to her house and whenshe was diagnosed at civil hos-pital in Chhindwara it wasfound that the seven month oldbaby died in the womb.

After the preliminary inves-

tigation the police found regis-tered a case under section 376(2)N of the IPC and started inves-tigation.

During the investigationthe police found that the accusedis hiding in Chhindwara andseveral times teams were dis-patched to nab the accused butfailed and a cash reward of Rs5000 was declared to provide thewhereabouts of the accused.

On Tuesday acting on a tipoff regarding the presence ofaccused in a bus to Chhindwaraat ISBT bus stand, he wasnabbed.

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Students who have takenadmissions for UG and PG

courses in the colleges affiliatedto Jiwaji University can correcttheir application forms them-selves.

In a press release, the uni-versity administration has saidthat through this system thosestudents who have applied onlinecan correct any mistakes in theirapplication forms. Students’ loginprovision will be made availablein the university’s website so thatstudents, themselves can makenecessary alterations in theirpersonal details.

If there is any discrepancy

in the forms the students them-selves can login and make thenecessary corrections. The stu-dents can login to the universi-ty web site and verify theirname, age, parent’s name,address, phone number etc, andmake any necessary corrections.He further said that the appli-cation number given in theapplication form will be thepassword of the login ID. Inanother development in theJiwaji University, Prof SangeetaShukla, the Vice- Chancellor haslost the chairpersonship of theCo ordination committee. Beforethis she was the chairperson ofthe co-ordination committee,on account of her seniorityamong the vice chancellors of the

state. After her reappointment as

the Jiwaji University VC, shebecame the junior most VC inthe state, hence lost her positionas the chairperson.

Prof SS Pandey, ViceChancellor of Vikram Universityhas been appointed as the newchairperson. Pandey got thisposition on account of himbeing the senior most VC in thestate.

Most of the major deci-sions related to various univer-sities in the state are taken in thiscoordination committee.

Many key decisions weretaken during the tenure ofSangeeta Shukla as the chair-person.

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The National annual con-ference of Indian associa-

tion of pathologists andmicrobiologists, Bhopal-chap-ter and the International acad-emy of Pathologists- IndianDivision commenced at theGandhi Medical College,Department of Pathology,Bhopal on Wednesday.

The five-day event is agrand academic gathering ofvarious eminent National andInternational Pathologistswhich is aimed to bringtogether leading academic sci-entists, practitioners andresearch scholars to exchangeand share their experiencesand research results about allaspects of pathology, morethan a eight hundredPathology scholars from allacross the world are partici-pating in the grand scientificgala.

The day started with theconventional lamp lighting

ritual by Dr Tejinder Singhand Dr Anita Borges whichinitiated the inaugural whichlater gave stage for the booklaunch of Dr Tejinder Singh’sfourth edition Atlas & Text ofHematology by Dr AnitaBorges and also of the Pre-conference CME booklet byDr Tejinder Singh.

Above 200 delegates reg-istered and attended the firstday of the conference in whichthree Hands-on workshopsand two CME’s took place indifferent halls as parallel ses-sions.

The workshop on‘Approach to diagnosis ofacute leukemia” enriched theboastful beginning of thegrand scientific event, con-ducted under the supervisionof renowned haematologistfrom Maulana Azad MedicalCollege Dr Tejinder Singh.The workshop started with anintroductory session on theworkshop by Dr Singh.

Thereafter, Dr Singh and

Professor Dr RK Nigam, GMCdescribed the morphologies oftwo closely related Blood can-cer types AML and ALL(Acute myeloid Leukemia andAcute lymphoid Leukemia)respectively. Afterwards DrGarima Goel, Dr Neha Singh,Dr Shivali Ahlawat and DrManupdesh Singh took variedsessions on different aspects offlow cytometry in diagnosis ofseveral forms of acuteleukemias followed by a ses-sion on ‘Cytogenetics andMolecular markers in acuteleukemia’ by Dr PrashantSharma after which Dr Singhexplained the role ofImmunohistochemistry in thediagnosis of acute leukemias.

In the workshop,Pathology scholars also hadthe opportunity to under-stand and study variousperipheral smears, bone mar-row aspirates, IHC and scatterplots of flow cytometry in asubsequent well equippedmicroscopy session.

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Chief Minister Shivraj SinghChouhan has said that play-

ers who win medals in interna-tional level sports championshipswill be given direct recruitmentin government jobs. He said thatMadhya Pradesh has decided todo something different in thefield of sports. Chouhan wasaddressing the gathering duringthe dedication of Abhinav Bindra10 metre shooting range, 25metre shooting range andadministrative building at theMadhya Pradesh ShootingAcademy. Sports and YouthWelfare Minister YashodharaRaje Scindia, Olympic GoldMedalist Abhinav Bindra,National Rifle Association ofIndia President Raninder Singhwere present on the occasion.

Chouhan said that theplayers of the state have bothtalent and capacity. If they areprovided with proper facili-ties, they can do wonders intheir field. He said that thestate’s players should representthe country in different games

in 2020 Olympics. Chouhansaid that if there is determina-tion and passion, nothing isimpossible. He called upon theplayers to move forward andreach for the sky. Chouhanreviewed the newly-construct-ed shooting range and admin-istrative building.

Gold medalist AbhinavBindra replied to queries ofplayers and trainers of variousacademies. Bindra said that ifthere is ‘match pressure’ duringthe competition, one shouldaccept it instead of runningaway from it. “Focus on thegoal and be self-confident,” he

said. He said that if during thetraining, they sense any mentalpressure, they should challengethemselves and concentrate ontheir basics and technique.Sports and Youth WelfareYashodhara Raje Scindia saidthat discipline helps in focusingon life and games.

Principal Secretary Sportsand Youth Welfare AniruddhMukherjee, Principal SecretarySK Mishra, Director Sportsand Youth Welfare UpendraJain and a large number of play-ers were present on the occa-sion.

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Commerce, Industry andEmployment and Mineral

Resources Minister RajendraShukla today met UnionMinister of Road, Transportand Highways Nitin Gadkari atNew Delhi in connection withconstruction of Rs 100 croreflyover in Rewa and urged himto approve it at the earliest.Shukla also met Commerceand Industry Minister SureshPrabhu and gave a proposal todevelop industrial clusterbetween Jabalpur-Rewa-Singrauli-Sonbhadra andVaranasi.

Shukla told UnionMinister Gadkari that the stategovernment has sent a pro-posal to the centre for con-struction of flyover in its onetime investment policy. Hetold that being divisional head-quarters and prominent city ofVindhya region, Rewa has toface excessive pressure of traf-fic. Construction of a flyovercan ease traffic and make itmore systematic. This flyoveris proposed on SammanTiraha. Union MinisterGadkari assured to take actionin this connection at the ear-liest.

Shukla gave a proposal to

Union Minister Suresh Prabhuto develop an industrial clus-ter between Jabalpur-Rewa-Singrauli-Sonbhadra-Varanasi.

He told that with the imple-mentation of this project, 40per cent area will be markedpermanently for B-construc-

tion and processing activities.Shukla urged him to announcenew national industrial corri-dor from Amritsar to Jabalpur-

Katni-Satna-Rewa-Sidhi-Singrauli-Sonbhadra andVaranasi in Kolkata NationalIndustrial Corridor.

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Abhinav Singh brought laurelsto the Campion school with

his best performance. He baggedsecond position in State leveltournament and won silvermedal in third MP State RankingTennis Tournament organised byDistrict Tennis Association

Balaghat.This is affiliated to Madhya

Pradesh Tennis Association. ThisTournament was held recently inlast couple of days back atWainganga Club Balaghat (MP).In this State Ranking LawnTennis tournament; AbhinavSingh performed his best.

Principal Fr Athnas Lakra SJ, Vice-Principal Fr Ajay Kerketta,SJ and Physical EducationDepartment HOD Johnsy Koshycongratulated to Sanjay Mishraand student Abhinav Singh forhis best performance in thistournament.

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Page 4: C M Y K improve its tally by raising issues of Dalit flogging in ... Narmada project and back-to- ... son Anuj and son-in-law Vikas.

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The Haryana Governmenthas planned to come out

with a liberal retail policynext month which comprisesof various provisions, includ-ing opening of 24X7 stores inthe State.

“Given the rising numberof middle class population,and the standards of living ofpeople heading north,Haryana has great potential forsuch stores,” said ChiefMinister Manohar Lal whileinteracting with Dubai-basedbusiness tycoons and leadersof various groups, in Dubai.

These included LandmarkGroup, NMC, Al Maya Group,Diplomats Summit, UK,Hakan Agro and NIFTEMhaving interests in such fieldsas retail, rice processing,exports, healthcare and bring-ing investments into Haryana.

The Chief Minister is lead-ing a high-level delegation toDubai to woo investors. Thedelegation includes IndustryMinister Vipul Goel, ChiefSecretary DS Dhesi andIndustry Secretary SudhirRajpal among others.

During his meeting withLandmark Group, the ChiefMinister offered help to skillits employees, and said thestate could also supply staff tothe group through a trainingprogramme.

The Haryana Governmentalso offered to organise abuyer-supplier meet for theLandmark Group in Januarywhere smaller suppliers canexhibit their products.Additionally, one-on-onemeeting with major suppliers

can be arranged with help ofthe State Government,Manohar Lal said.

The Landmark Group, thesecond largest non-food retailcompany in UAE, operatesmajor retail brands in Indiasuch as Lifestyle, Max andSplash. It has already openedsourcing office in Gurugram,and has hospitality divisionchristened Home Centre.

At his meeting with NMC,a healthcare giant, the ChiefMinister said the StateGovernment would explore

the option of settingup a medi-city in Panchkula.New hospital projects can beexplored in the districts ofRewari, Mahendergarh,Fatehabad, Dadri, Sirsa,Panipat, Kaithal, he said.

NMC operates 40 health-care facilities in the UAE andseven hospitals in India, five ofwhich are acquired and twoare greenfield. The NMC plansfor the possible acquisition ofexisting Goldfield College andSRS Hospital, added he.

Kamal Vachani, Group

Director, Al Maya Group, dis-cussed with the Chief Ministerissues related to increasingexports from Haryana toDubai. India is one of themajor exporters to the GCCwhich accounts for close to 30per cent of total exports.

Prospects of HAFEDexploring the possibility ofestablishing brand HaryanaFresh for various productsand market these through thesuper markets of the Al MayaGroup were also assessed at

the meeting. Vachani suggest-ed that he would lead a dele-gation of exporters from theUAE to Haryana to explore thepossibility of sourcing prod-ucts from small manufacturersin Haryana.

Sailesh Nathan ofDiplomats Summit, UK, whomet the Chief Minister, saidhis group was actively involvedin mobilising investmentsfrom Europe and Middle Eastinto India, and that a numberof such proposals could berouted to Haryana.

Sudhakar Tomar, HakanAgro, at his meeting with theChief Minister, discussedissues regarding rice process-ing and exports from India. Healso offered to lead a delega-tion of food processors fromthe India Middle East AgroTrade Forum to Haryana forexploring the possibility ofsourcing products/raw mate-rial from the State and mar-keting such products in theGCC Countries.

The Chief Ministerapprised the potentialinvestors of the vast opportu-

nities of investment Haryanaoffered and the land bankavailable in the state for theindustry to set up projects.Any enterprise coming toHaryana would be accorded allapprovals within 45 days forsetting up projects through theHaryana EnterprisesPromotion Centre (HEPC),said he.

During the discussionwith NIFTEM, Manohar Lal,felt the need to identify mar-ketable products based on rawmaterial available in Haryana.It was also felt that a buyer-seller meet can also be organ-ised for match-makingbetween the marketers basedin the Middle East and pro-ducers or manufacturers inHaryana.

Later the CM alsoaddressed a gathering of about70 top investors from theUAE. He urged them to investin Haryana and assured themfull support.

The State delegation hadarrived at Dubai fromChandigarh on Tuesdayevening.

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Haryana Chief MinisterManohar Lal, who is leading ahigh-level delegation to Dubai,interacted with members of theIndian community and made astrong pitch for investment inthe state. The event organizedby the Consulate General ofIndia was attended by morethan 200 persons of Indian ori-gin. Speaking on the occasion,Manohar Lal praised the effortsand the success achieved by theIndian community across the

world. While sharing details ofthe opportunities Haryanaoffered, he urged them to investin Haryana. The Chief Ministeralso chose to interact directlywith the attendees in a two-waycommunication mode, seekingtheir views on multiple issues,particularly on how Haryanacould make a pitch for drawinginvestments in the state. Issueslike quality of infrastructure,ease of doing business, socialissues came up for discussion.

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Coming as another embar-rassment for the Himachal

Pradesh police, three under-trial inmates gave the slip to thesecurity of the Model CentralJail, Kanda, on Tuesday night.

The undertrials ofNepalese origin fled the Kandajail situated at Ghanahatti inShimla on Tuesday night andthe escape came to be knownon Wednesday morning. Allthe three escapees are facingtrial in serious cases like rapeand murder.

Those who fled the jailinclude Leeladhar (22), PratapSingh(27) and Prem Bahadur

(22). Leeladhar, who hails fromSatyam district in Nepal is fac-ing a murder trial. Pratap Singhand Prem Bahadur both fromRukkam district are facingrape charges. Pratap Singh isaccused of raping a minor girl.

The accused were last seenin jail on Tuesday night butwere found missing onWednesday morning.

Sources said the prisonerscrossed the outer wall of the jailclimbing on a pipe of an under-construction building insidethe prison. The abscondersleft their foot wear in jail onlyand were apparently barefoot inthe forest area.

Two constables deputed

outside the cell of the abscond-ing prisoners have been put onsuspension for negligence induty.

Confirming the prisonbreak, Director General ofpolice, Somesh Goyal said thatan alert was issued particular-ly in Solan, Sirmaur andBilaspur districts. He said thata case had been registered atBoileau Ganj police station. Headmitted it was a case of sheer

negligence by the staff postedon night duty.

Soumya Sambasivan,Superintendent of Police,Shimla visited Kanda jail onWednesday morning and saidthat the police had launched amassive search operation tonab the escapees.

How did the prisonerscrossed the security was anissue to be investigated, saidSuprintendent of Jail, SushilKumar Thakur. He said thatnegligence on part of the secu-rity guards had come to the foreand two of them had been sus-pended. He said that the laps-es in the security were beinginvestigated.

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To increase earthquake pre-paredness capacity of the

state, the Haryana Governmenthas decided to conduct a state-level mega mock exercisesimultaneously in all the dis-tricts on December 21 in coor-dination with National DisasterManagement Authority.

The entire mega mockexercise would be video-graphed and its report wouldbe sent to SDMA which wouldfurther send it to NDMA.

“Haryana Government hasdecided to follow the recom-mendations in the Sendai frame-work and adopt globally accept-ed best practices. The SendaiFramework for Disaster RiskReduction is an internationaldocument which was adoptedby UN member states. Capacitydevelopment is a theme in all the

thematic areas for action for dis-aster management,” saidAdditional Chief Secretary andFinancial Commissioner,Revenue and DisasterManagement Department,Keshni Anand Arora.

She said that in the SendaiFramework, 2015, the capacitydevelopment includes trainingprograms, curriculum devel-opment, large-scale awarenesscreation efforts, and carryingout regular mock drills and dis-aster response exercises.

“In this direction, a statelevel mega mock exercise simul-taneously in all districts of thestate will be conducted onDecember 21, said Arora whilespeaking at an orientation con-ference with all the divisionalcommissioners, deputy com-missioners, municipal commis-sioners and senior police func-tionaries through video confer-

encing organised in run up tothe mega mock exercise here.

She directed all the deputycommissioners to make elabo-rate arrangements for the megamock exercise in their respec-tive districts and said that widepublicity of this exercise shouldbe done so as prevent the spreadof panic and other misunder-standings among the people.Apart from this, emergencyoperation centre (EOC) be setup in all districts and districtdisaster management plans beupdated for the mock exercise.

Arora also asked them toinvolve all the private hospitalsof their districts and set uprelief camps.

Speaking on this occasion,Additional Chief Secretary,Home, SS Prasad emphasizedthe need of long-term planningfor effectively dealing with thedisasters.

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Temperatures hoveredclose to the normal limits atmost places in Punjab andHaryana with Amritsar beingthe coldest in the two states, theMeT office said on Wednesday.

Amritsar recorded 4degrees Celsius, one notchbelow the normal. Bathindaand Adampur recorded 4.5degrees Celsius and 4.6 degreesCelsius, respectively, it said.However, Ludhiana and Patialaregistered temperatures abovethe normal at 10.9 degreesCelsius and 11.2 degreesCelsius. Gurdaspur recorded alow of 7.8 degrees Celsius whileHalwara’s minimum settled at8.1 degrees Celsius.

Chandigarh, the commoncapital of Punjab and Haryana,recorded a low of 11 degreesCelsius, up three notchesagainst the normal limit.

In Haryana, Hisar andSirsa were the coldest placesrecording minimum tempera-tures of 7.2 degrees Celsius and7.3 degrees Celsius respective-ly.

Ambala recorded a low of12.3 degrees Celsius, up fournotches against the normal,while Karnal’s minimum set-tled at 8.8 degrees Celsius.Narnaul recorded 10.4 degreesCelsius, Rohtak 12.5 degreesCelsius and Bhiwani 10 degreesCelsius.

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The five-day annual Konarkfestival , the Odisha

Government’s oldest and mostambitious cultural event, beinghosted at the world heritage sitehere, concluded on Tuesdayalong with the five-day annu-al International Sand ArtFestival mounted at theChandrabhaga beach. Thefocus of the festival this yearwas drawing more visitors fromforeign shores.

D e v e l o p m e n tCommissioner RBalakrishnan’s vision and time-ly intervention into the design-ing of the festival reaped hostOdisha Tourism rich dividend.The Department’s Mission-Malaysia brought more than100 visitors from Malaysia tothe tiny town.

Taking a keen interest inattracting more visitors fromabroad to OdishaGovernment’s 28-year-oldannual national dance festival,Balakrishnan had personallychaired over the artistes’ selec-

tion committee meeting andhad insisted on exploring SouthAsian countries like Malayasiathis year by featuring dancetroupes from Malayasia inorder to bring more visitors toOdisha through the festival.

Since Air Asia haslaunched direct flights betweenBhubaneswar and KualaLumpur, dancers, dance loversand tourists would love to visitKonark in larger numbers, hehad emphasized.

The festival this year invit-ed Bharatanatyam troupe of thefamed cultural institution,Temple of Fine Art, and well-known Malayasian Odishidancer Ramli Ibrahim’s troupeSutra Foundation – both fromthe capital city of KualaLumpur – that brought thelargest contingent of visitorsfrom Malayasia.

“Since the dancers came,their family members, friendsand relatives preferred to trav-el with them to Konark. For us,it was a great honour of beinginvited to a very famous Indiandance festival. So, all of us werein a celebration mood. YourGovernment’s initiative haspromoted both tourism andbond between people and cul-tures,” observed SumathiChandra, who teaches Odishiat the Temple of Fine Art.

A large number of

Malayasian visitors spent atleast five days at Konark wherehardly tourists spend thenights. They also visited Puri,Konark, Chilika andBhubaneswar that boostedmuch of our tourism, revealedtourist guide Pravas Mohantyat Konark.

The hosts, however, failedto bring the Chief Minister andthe Governor to the festivalwho used to grace the inau-gural and the closing cere-monies as a tradition of this 28-year-old festival.

The concluding eveningwitnessed Mohiniattam concertby Mumbai-based celebratedexponent Kanak Rele’s NalandaDance Research Centre fol-lowed by Odishi by OdishaGovernment owned GuruKelucharan Mohapatra OdishiResearch Centre.

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As apprehended, a break-away herd of elephants fol-

lowing their conventional cor-ridor path has strayed intoNilgiri area from Mayurbhanjdistrict end.

The Forest departmentclarified that about 80 jumbosin the group are camping in theGopalpur reserve forest underNilgiri range. These elephantswere in a herd of 95 jumboswhich was in Asanbani underBetnati range of Mayurbhanj.The pachyderms are expectedto move further to the KuldhiaSanctuary.

Range Officer NilgiriDebendranath Pradhan saidthat Nilgiri has around 10 kmlong trenches and about 26 kmsolar fencing is erected to pro-tect human habitation from theentry of jumbos. He said ade-quate manpower with tradi-tional tools was deployed in thedepredation squad.

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London mayor Sadiq Khanon Wednesday said that it’s

time the British Governmentapologised for the JallianwalaBagh massacre of April 13,1919 — a suggestion wel-comed by Punjab ChiefMinister Capt AmarinderSingh.

“It was incredibly movingto visit Jallianwala Bagh. Thetragedy in 1919 on Baisakhi isone we must never forget. It istime for the BritishGovernment to finally apolo-gise. Our thoughts are with allthose who died,” Khan wrote inthe visitor book after payingtributes at the memorial.

Later, Khan also tweeted,“I’m calling on the UKGovernment to make a full andformal apology for the mas-sacre.”

Notably, British monarchQueen Elizabeth and her hus-band Prince Phillip visitedJallianwala Bagh in October1997, but no apology for themassacre was offered.

Former British PrimeMinister David Cameroon hadalso visited the memorial inFebruary 2013, and offeredregrets over the killings butstopped short of a formal apol-ogy.

Notably, British IndianArmy soldiers, under the com-

mand of Colonel ReginaldDyer, fired machine guns intoa crowd of unarmed peacefulprotesters, along withBaishakhi pilgrims, who hadgathered in Jallianwala Bagh,Amritsar to participate inannual Baisakhi celebrationsand condemn the arrest anddeportation of two nationalleaders, Satya Pal and DrSaifuddin Kitchlew.

The soldiers blocked the“only” small passage to result-ing in the death of over thou-sand people, while the Colonialera records the death toll at379.

Welcoming LondonMayor’s reported suggestionthat the UK Governmentshould apologise forJallianwala Bagh massacre,Capt Amarinder said that hewas happy to know about theMayor’s feelings in the matter.

“The suggestion, comingfrom a British Governmentfunctionary, is good and, ifimplemented, would go a longway in further strengtheningties between India and UK,and perhaps, to some extent,assuaging the wounds ofIndians who suffered the painof the independence strug-gle,” he added.

Earlier, the two leadersmet on Tuesday night at a din-ner hosted by the ChiefMinister for the visiting dig-nitary at Amritsar.

Bhopal: A mentally ill 17-year-old youth committed suicide byhanging with the ceiling PansheelNagar under TT Nagar policestation area in the evening onTuesday. Police said that thedeceased Rohit was rushed to JPhospital after he was found hang-ing with the ceiling. The doctorsdeclared him dead on arrival.

The investigating officerNPS Baghel said that thedeceased used to work at a bar-ber’s shop and on Tuesday com-mitted suicide at his house. Theparents were at work and his sis-ter and sister-in-law were athome. The deceased went to thefirst floor where he committedsuicide.

The body was sent after thepreliminary investigation for thepost mortem and a case undersection 174 of the CrPC and hasstarted further investigation.

Meanwhile, a 27-year-old

married woman, who had sus-tained burn injuries on Sundayat her house in Barkheda underGovindpura police station area,succumbed on Tuesday night.

The deceased identified asAnita Bai sustained burn injuriesat her house and was rushed toa nearby hospital and laterreferred to Hamidia hospitalwhere she died during treatment.

Police said that during theinvestigation police found thatthe deceased sustained burninjuries through a chimney. Thedetails of the incident would beinvestigated.

After the preliminary inves-tigation the body was sent for thepost mortem and a case undersection 174 of the CrPC and hasstarted further investigation.The family members would bequestioned to reveal furtherdetails in the incident said police.

PNS

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From Page 1Sibal also tried to do the

damage control by saying henever represented the Sunniboard in the title dispute. “OurPM comments without know-ing things sometimes. AmitShah and he said I represent-ed Sunni Waqf Board. I wasnever a Sunni Waqf Boardlawyer,” he said.

He went on to add that,“Jab Bhagwan chahega, tabhiRam Mandir banega. Na hiRam Mandir Modi ji ke kehnese banega. Maamla court meinhai.”

In attacking Sibal, Modisaid he had the right to pre-sent his argument quoting allfacts and laws to save BabriMasjid. “But you dare say that

the case should not be heard till2019 elections. You want tostop the hearing of Ram tem-ple (issue) in the name of elec-tions,” Modi told a well attend-ed election rally here inAhmedabad district.

Modi said now he under-stands why the Congress keptmany issues unresolved, with-out elaborating but implyingthat it was done to derivepolitical mileage.

“Does the Waqf Boardfight elections? Are thesethoughts of delaying the hear-ing for elections that of theWaqf Board? The elections inthe country are being fought bythe Congress party. You want tokeep the issue unresolved forpolitical gain and losses in theelections?” Modi asked theCongress. He, however, noted

that the Congress has said theviews by Sibal, who representsthe Sunni Waqf Board in thecase in the Supreme Court,were his own.

Modi said he faced a sim-ilar situation during the UttarPradesh Assembly polls whenhis Government had to makeits stand clear on the con-tentious issue of ‘triple talaq’ inthe apex court.

Meanwhile, launching astinging attack on BJP,Congress chief spokesmanRandeep Surjewala on saidCongress has always main-tained a clear position on theAyodhya matter that it has tobe heard and decided by theSupreme Court. He furtherwent on to say the BJP has beenraking up the issue just to gar-ner votes.

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Page 5: C M Y K improve its tally by raising issues of Dalit flogging in ... Narmada project and back-to- ... son Anuj and son-in-law Vikas.

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In a gesture to honour the gal-lantry medal winners of the

armed forces, the Governmenthas doubled their allowance,with the recipients to get thebenefit from August this year.The last such revision ofallowances took place in 2012.The armed forces had time andagain urged the Government toincrease the allowance.

The latest directive issuedearlier this week will now see thehighest gallantry medal winnerin war, Paramvir Chakra, getting�20,000 per month from thepresent slab of �10,000. Similarly,Ashok Chakra, the highestpeacetime gallantry medal, willnow be entitled �12,000 upfrom the current �6,000.

The second highest wartime medal Mahavir Chakrawill now carry a monetaryallowance of �10,000, up from�5,000, Kirti Chakra �9,000 asagainst existing �4,500, VirChakra �7,000 up from �3,500,and Shaurya Chakra �6,000up from �3,000. Similarly, gal-lantry medal for Army calledSena Medal will have anallowance of �2,000, up from�1,000 and similar slab forVayu Sena Medal (IAF) andNau Sena Medal (Navy), offi-cials said on Wednesday.

The notification also stat-ed that the widow of a medalwinner will get this allowancetill her death. In case, theaward was conferred posthu-mously to a bachelor, his moth-er or father will get theallowance. If the awardee wasa widower, his son will get theallowance till the age of 18 orunmarried daughter as thecase may be, they said.

Meanwhile, DefenceMinister Nirmala Sitharamanon Wednesday discussed withthe officials the issue of cap of�10,000 on educationalallowance for children of mar-tyrs. This cap promulgated asper the 7th Pay Commissionrecommendations came intoforce since July this year lead-ing to disquiet among theServices. Punjab Chief Minister

Captain Amarinder Singh andMinister of State for ExternalAffairs General (retired)General VK Singh also criticisedthe cap and urged the Gover-nment to remove the ceiling.

Prior to the July order, therewas no ceiling on theGovernment funding the edu-cation of children till their grad-uation including MBBS and BTech. The Government wasfooting the Education Bill since1971. Chairman Chiefs of StaffCommittee Admiral SunilLanba also wrote a letter to theDefence Ministry on Tuesdayurging the Government toremove the cap. Apprised of thesensitivities attached to the issue,Sitharaman sought more detailsabout the issue, officials added.

There are about 3,500 chil-

dren of martyrs entitled toGovernment funding and thetotal expenditure is not morethan �4 to 5 crore a year.Army Chief General Bipin

Rawat said there was a “mis-understanding” on the issueand the Defence Minister hadassured that addressing theproblem was a priority.

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Around 6,700-km road workis pending across the coun-

try for more than four yearswith strife-torn Jammu &Kashmir topping the list with1,431.44-km works yet to becompleted under the flagshiprural road programme,Pradhan Mantri Gramin SadakYojana (PMGSY). As per rules,the works under PMGSY arerequired to be completed with-in a year, one and a half yearsand a maximum two years asthe case may be.

Odisha has been sitting on786.68 km road constructionwork for the last four years fol-lowed by Bihar (580.78 km),Himachal Pradesh (510.66 km)and Assam (501.94 km). Otherlaggard States are Jharkhand(485.75 km), West Bengal(357.69 km), Madhya Pradesh(354.34 km), Nagaland ( 333.5km), Chhatisgarh (299.47 km),Arunachal Pradesh (285.8 km)and Uttarakhand (278.95 km),according to the latest dataavailable from the UnionMinistry of Rural Development.

Similarly, a total of morethan 6,000 km of road length isyet to be completed though theywere sanctioned more than twoyears ago. Manipur at 923.47 kmpending road jobs top the list,

followed by Arunachal Pradesh(891.84 km), Bihar (624.41 km),Uttarakhand (597.69 km),Odisha (520.91 km) andMaharashtra (483.69 km), as perthe data.

Since the inception of thescheme 16 years ago, so far5,20,000-km road length hasbeen completed in the country.

A senior official from theMinistry which is overseeingthe rural road scheme saidbesides problem in land acqui-sition and delay in release of

funds, in many cases States toohave been apathetic in ensur-ing completion of works.

He said we (the RDMinistry) has asked the States totake all necessary steps for earlycompletion of these pendingroad projects by December nextyear. For roads more than fouryears old, the Ministry has askedthe States to ensure completionof all works at the earliest.

Also, despite PMGSY beingin existence for several lastyears, States like Arunachal

Pradesh, Gujarat, Jammu andKashmir, Maharashtra,Telangana and Tripura are yetto notify the rural road main-tenance policy which aimseffective monitoring and man-agement of roads in the states.

However, the 22 Stateswhich have notified the policyare Andhra Pradesh, Assam,Bihar, Chhatisgarh, Haryana,Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand,Karnataka, Kerala, MadhyaPradesh, Manipur, Mizoram,Meghalaya, Odisha, Punjab,Rajasthan, Sikkim, Tamil Nadu,Uttar Pradesh, UttarakhandWest Bengal and Nagaland, asper the data.

The PMGSY envisagesconnecting all eligible uncon-nected habitations with a pop-ulation of 500 persons andabove as per 2001 census inplain areas and 250 persons andabove as per 2001 census inspecial category States, includ-ing Northeastern States and hillStates. Besides this, the habita-tions having population of 100and above, identified by HomeMinistry as crucial are also cov-ered under this scheme.

The Government has alsolaunched the second phase ofPMGSY-II, which envisagesconsolidation of the existingrural road network to improveits overall efficiency.

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Expressing concern overpoliticisation of the

armed forces, Army ChiefGeneral Bipin Rawat saidon Wednesday the militaryshould be kept away frompolitics. Reiterating thatthe military “should besomehow” kept away frompolitics, Rawat said thenorm in the “good olddays” was never to discusswomen and politics in theforces. However, these subjectswere gradually “inching” theirway into the discourse and thisshould be avoided, the ArmyChief added.

Maintaining that thearmed forces operate in a sec-ular environment, he also saidthe armed forces should stayaway from politics and not“meddle” in it.

Making this observation,the Army Chief said linking ofpolitical entities with militaryestablishment should be avoid-ed. “Whenever (any) issue (of)linking any military establish-

ment or military personnelwhere political entity comes inthen... That is best avoided,” hesaid while speaking in a semi-nar on “Media as a force mul-tiplier in national security.”

“The military should besomehow kept out of politics.Of late, we have been seeingthat politicisation of the mili-tary has been taking place. Ithink we operate in a very sec-ular environment. We have avery vibrant democracy wherethe military should stay faraway from the polity,” he said.

In this regard, he urged themedia to understand the issuesand help the armed forces keep-

ing away from such sit-uations.

His remarkscome in the backdropof criticism of thearmed forces whenthe Army was askedto build a foot overbridge in Mumbai.Moreover, eyebrowswere also raised whenthe Army constructeda temporary pontoon

bridge during an event organ-ised by Sri Sri Ravi Shankar atthe floodplains of river Yamunain New Delhi last year. PunjabChief Minister CaptainAmarinder Singh and someother political leaders hadquestioned the deployment ofthe Army for constructing thefoot over bridge in Mumbai.

When asked about theArmy’s involvement in buildingthe over bridge in Mumbai fol-lowing a stampede two monthsback, Rawat said there is a char-ter of aid to civilians underwhich the armed forces helpout in times of crises likefloods and earthquakes.

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Just as India is mulling toscrap provisions pertaining

to the regulation of sale ofdrugs through e-portal andimplement online pharmacy asproposed in the draft Drugs(Sale and Distribution) Rules,2017, a study by the WorldHealth Organisation (WHO)has asked the nations to be cau-tious as such ‘modern pur-chasing models’ can easily cir-cumvent regulatory oversight.

In the study titled ‘Publichealth and socioeconomicimpact of substandard and fal-sified medical products’ whichwas released recently, theWHO has estimated that “1 in10 medical products circulatingin low- and middle-incomecountries is either substan-dard or falsified.” That includespills, vaccines and diagnostickits.

“We have reports from allover the globe, from countriesrich and poor, and reports onall types of products, both

innovative or generic, expen-sive or not,” Suzanne Hill, whodirects WHO’s department ofessential medicines and healthproducts had said in a state-ment here.

The findings are based on100 peer-reviewed surveys onmedicine quality from 2007 to2016 spanning across 88 coun-tries. The studies examineduse of more than 48,000 drugsand found that 10.5 percent ofthe drugs sold in developingcountries were either fake or ofpoor quality.

The WHO study has alsohighlighted in detail on the‘internet gateway’ saying thatrisk-based surveillance, whichfocuses detection resources onthe products and supply chan-nels most at risk for falsifica-tion, indicates that in somehigh-income countries, med-ical products bought over theInternet from illegal or unau-thorized websites, social mediaplatforms or smartphone appli-cations frequently fail to meetquality standards.

“Buying from the Internetis increasingly popular in mid-dle-income countries, too.Besides being convenient, buy-ing medical products over theInternet provides anonymity;that is often attractive to peo-ple wanting products relating toimpotence or to treat stigma-tised conditions.

“The inexorable growth inonline sales provides criminalswith a relatively easy entrypoint into even the best regu-lated markets. Authoritiesaround the world are workingto tackle this new challenge, butit is universally recognized to bea difficult task,” the study said.

It said that more researchis needed to determine the pro-

portion and impact of sales ofsubstandard or falsified med-ical products. The WHO obser-vation has come at a timewhen the Health Ministry hasissued the Draft Drugs (Saleand Distribution) Rules, 2017that proposes to set up an e-portal wherein all manufac-turers, stockists and retailers arerequired to register themselvesand enter data relating to saleof drugs with batch number,quantity and expiry datethrough both online and byusing mobile phones.

However, the IndianPharmaceutical Association(IPA) has been opposing theproposed move saying that thecountry’s poor IT infrastruc-ture is a major roadblock to theimplementation of e-portal.“Even cities have poor internetconnectivity. Considering this,it will be difficult for most ofthe chemists to upload thedetails of the sale on the e-por-tal,” said Kaushik Desai, generalsecretary, IPA in a letter to theHealth Ministry recently.

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Against the backdrop of theLeft parties criticising his

decision to disqualify rebelJD(U) MPs Sharad Yadav andAli Anwar, Rajya SabhaChairman M Venkaiah Naiduon Thursday sought to reject thecriticism saying justice delayedis justice denied and such mat-ters should not be left pending.

Addressing the 12th annu-al convention of CentralInformation Commission(CIC), he asked the commis-sioners to also work in suchmanner and make “sincereefforts” towards speedy dispos-al of cases registered with them.

“Yesterday, I passed anorder on disqualification with-

in three months and then I gavethe strong opinion at the endsaying such decisions should bedecided in around threemonths because the disqualifi-cations (plea) itself that have

been filed, some of them arepending for years,” Naidu said.

He said he thought hisdecision would be welcomed bythe people across the country.

“Of course, people are wel-coming but some people areasking ‘why the chairman hasgiven the order just in threemonths’,” he added.

Stressing that “justicedelayed is (justice) denied”,Naidu asked the informationcommissioners to provide“timely and correct” informa-tion to the citizens.

On December 4, Naidu dis-qualified the two JD(U) rebelsfrom the Rajya Sabha on a pleafiled by the party on September2 for their disqualification afterthey revolted against party chief

Nitish Kumar’s decision to allywith the BJP.

In his order, Naidu had saidthat disqualification of a mem-ber of legislature should bedecided by the presiding officerin about three months to thwartpolitical defections. CPI(M)general secretary SitaramYechury had questioned whathe called the “mind-boggling”speed with which the plea wasdecided by Naidu.

Naidu had said that suchapplications were dragged witha view to save the membershipof the persons, who have oth-erwise incurred disqualificationor even to save the government,which enjoys majority onlybecause of such type of persons.

New Delhi: Foreign Ministersof Russia, India and China(RIC) will meet next week forthe 15th RIC ministerial con-ference where wide-rangingdiscussions on the current sit-uation in the region, includingAfghanistan, the Middle Eastand the Korean Peninsula, willtake place. Besides, ExternalAffairs Minister Sushma Swarajwill also hold bilateral talkswith her Russian counterpartSergey Lavrov and ChineseForeign Minister Wang Yi.

This will be the secondmeeting of these three FMs inlast 10 days. The trio had recent-ly met on December 1 in Sochiin Russia for the ShanghaiCooperation Organisation meet-ing. The RIC meeting comesdays after India-Japan-Australia-US held their first quadrilateraltalks in Philippines last monthfollowing which the IndianGovernment made it clear thatit is part of various pluri-lateral,multilateral meetings with like-minded people. RIC is one

among them.“The RIC meeting is

expected to review global andregional issues of mutual inter-est as well as discuss trilateralexchanges and activities,”Ministry of External Affairssaid in a statement. Lavrov andWang Yi will also hold bilater-al meetings with Swaraj whereseveral issues pertaining tobilateral relations will come up.

It is expected Swaraj mayraise the issue of India’s mem-bership in the Nuclear SuppliersGroup with Russia and China.Besides, during the talks on ter-rorism issue pertaining to sanc-tioning of Masood Azhar by theUnited Nations SecurityCouncil’s 1267 Committee isalso likely to be talked about.India is also expected to raiseconcerns over the release of for-mer Jaish-e-Mohammad chiefHafeez Saeed. The issue of con-nectivity in the larger context isalso likely to be discussed.

Meanwhile, on Wednesday,Foreign Secretary S Jaishankarand Deputy Foreign Minister ofRussia, Sergey Ryabkov, heldconsultations on disarmament,non-proliferation and importantinternational issues. PNS

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India and France-ledInternational Solar Alliance

(ISA) on Wednesday became alegal entity after 19 countriesratified this treaty-based inter-national Government organi-sation. Besides, 46 countrieshave signed the statute for theISA which is an alliance of 121countries.

“In terms of its FrameworkAgreement, with ratification byGuinea as the 15th country on6th November 2017, the ISAwill become a treaty-based

international inter-govern-mental organisation on 6thDecember 2017,” Ministry ofNew and Renewable Energysaid in a statement.

Apart from India andFrance, Australia, Bangladesh,Comoros, Cuba, Fiji, Guinea,Ghana, Malawi, Mali, Mauritius,Nauru, Niger, Peru, Seychelles,Somalia, South Sudan, andTuvalu are the other countriesthat have ratified the ISA.

This will be the first inter-national Government organi-sation whose headquarters willbe based in India. The ISA is an

Indian initiative, jointlylaunched by Prime MinisterNarendra Modi and the thenPresident of France FrancoisHollande on November 30,2015, in Paris, on the sidelinesof COP-21, the United NationsClimate Conference. “Thealliance aims at addressingobstacles to deployment at scaleof solar energy through betterharmonisation and aggrega-tion of demand from solar richcountries lying fully or partial-ly between the Tropic of Cancerand Tropic of Capricorn,” theMinistry said.

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New Delhi: The SupremeCourt on Wednesday locked itsdecision on an issue concern-ing intense debate on whoholds control over the Capital’saffairs — Centre throughLieutenant Governor (L-G) orDelhi Government through itselected Chief Minister andCouncil of Ministers.

A five-judge Benchreserved the orders on a bunchof appeals filed by the DelhiGovernment questioning thevalidity of a Delhi High Courtdecision which vested the exec-utive control over Delhi in theL-G. The marathon argumentsin the case began on November2 and took almost a month withthe Constitution Bench sittingthree days every week.

A battery of senior advo-cates led by former SolicitorGeneral Gopal Subramanium,former Finance Minister PChidambaram, senior advocatesRajeev Dhavan, Indira Jaising

and Shekhar Naphade present-ed various facets of DelhiGovernment’s case to assertexecutive power over runningDelhi’s affairs. With the argu-ments centering around theinterpretation of Article 239AAthat deals specifically with Delhi,the counsels submitted thatDelhi has a special place underConstitution which has legisla-tive powers coupled with exec-utive power. Except for the sub-jects of law and order, police andland, the Delhi Governmentasserts full executive authority inrunning the affairs of Delhi.

For Centre, AdditionalSolicitor General (ASG)Maninder Singh argued thatthe Constitution Article 239when read as a whole with239AA gives exclusive execu-tive control with the Centre andwithout the nod of Centrethrough L-G, the DelhiGovernment cannot single-handedly take decisions. PNS

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In a major decision taken bythe Supreme Court to fill

judicial vacancies, the SupremeCourt collegium on Mondaycleared the names of 19 advo-cates for appointment as HighCourt judges in three HighCourts. In addition, the col-legium comprising ChiefJustice Dipak Misra and twosenior judges Justices JChelameswar and RanjanGogoi approved the names of25 additional judges to bemade permanent.

The decision of the col-legium which met onDecember 4 was made publicon the Supreme Court websiteon Wednesday showing thedeliberations made during themeeting. The highest lot ofadvocates selected for HighCourt judgeship came fromMadras where nine lawyersmade it to the bench followedby Calcutta and KarnatakaHCs with five each.

Senior advocateSubramonium Prasad, prac-ticing in the Supreme Court, isone of the nine namesapproved by the collegium forappointment to Madras HC.Two women lawyers also madeit in the list which includesShampa Sarkar for CalcuttaHigh Court and PT Asha forMadras High Court. If thisappointment goes through, theMadras High Court will have12 women judges, the Courtwith the highest number oflady judges.

The collegium also decid-ed not to clear the names of twolawyers — AV Radhakrishnanand B Pugalendhi for appoint-ment as Madras HC judges.

In the first case, the lawyer had crossed the maxi-mum age limit of 55 years andhence was rejected.

In the latter case, the col-legium received certain adverseinputs which could not be ver-ified and hence the appoint-ment was put on hold.

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An interesting turn of eventis expected next week in

the 1984 anti-Sikh riots caseswith the Supreme Courtexpected to deal with a reportprepared by two former apexcourt judges on the scope ofreopening 241 cases whereinvestigation was closed at theinstance of the SpecialInvestigation Team (SIT).

A Bench headed by ChiefJustice Dipak Misra onWednesday asked the counselfor the riot victims AmarjeetBedi and Additional SolicitorGeneral (ASG) Pinky Anandappearing for the Centre to bepresent in Court on December11 when the sealed cover reportof the Supervisory Committeecomprising Justice (Retd) JMPanchal and Justice (Retd) KSRadhakrishnan will be opened.The Court was hearing a PILfiled by riot victims.

The Bench, also compris-ing Justices AM Khanwilkarand DY Chandrachud, said,“It’s extremely important mat-ter and must be taken serious-

ly.” The bench said that if theSupervisory Committee rec-ommends reopening of anycase, it will direct the SIT to goby it.

“We will examine if theCommittee has found anymaterial on record to justifyreopening of investigation. Ifthey say there is something, wewill direct prosecution,” saidthe Bench.

The riot victims hadapproached the Court againstthe decision of SIT after 241cases were closed for want ofmaterial out of 250 cases. Thethree-member SIT is headed byPramod Asthana, an IPS officerof 1986 batch, along withRakesh Kapoor, a retired districtand sessions judge and KumarGyanesh, Additional DeputyCommissioner of Delhi Police.

On August 16 this year, theCourt appointed theCommittee to examine the 241cases and submit report inthree months. Nine cases arestill being investigated by theSIT while two cases are beingprobed by the Central Bureauof Investigation.

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Page 6: C M Y K improve its tally by raising issues of Dalit flogging in ... Narmada project and back-to- ... son Anuj and son-in-law Vikas.

Despite (or perhaps thanks to) itsrigid system of governance, atthe beginning of 2016, Chinahas undertaken in-depthreforms of its defence forces,

aiming at a far wider ‘integration’ and agreater jointness of the People’s LiberationArmy’s (PLA’s) different branches.

Instead of the three traditional services,China has now five ‘services’; added to thePLA’s Army, Navy and Air Force, are the PLARocket Force (formerly, the second artillery)and the Strategic Support Force (SSF), a gamechanger, according to all observers.

“While the Chinese PLA’s new SSF is acritical force for dominance in the space,cyber, and electromagnetic domains,” TheDiplomat noted a few months back, “theSSF’s function of ‘strategic support’, name-ly information support, will be equally vitalto the PLA’s capabilities to fight and winwars.” It is certainly the force to watch.

It, however, is not only about restruc-turing the commands and the militaryregions; President Xi Jinping wants also togive a boost to the Research andDevelopment (R&D) domain to catch upwith the United States in terms of newweaponry in the decades to come.

Last week, the Chinese CentralTelevision (CCTV) broadcast a TV docu-mentary in which the actual number of air-craft carriers planned by China was given.In a first stage, it will be six. The first twoski-jump takeoff mid-sized models havecome out of the dockyards. The next twoshould be conventionally-powered carri-ers with catapult take-off capabilities;probably an electromagnetic catapult.Jane’s Review reported that it will “be fit-ted onto the second of the country’sindigenously built aircraft carriers, com-monly referred to as the Type 002.” Jane’shad previously reported that the systemwas similar to the General AtomicsElectromagnetic Aircraft Launch System(EMALS) used by the United States.

The last two carriers will be nuclear-pow-ered comparable to the US Nimitz class. Inthe long-run (by 2050), China will buildanother four world-class carriers, thus giv-ing the PLA Navy 10 aircraft carriers.

On November 26, CCTV showed thefootage of a Dongfeng-41, or DF-41, Beijing’snext-generation intercontinental ballisticmissile, which could strike anywhere in theworld. It has a range of 7,500 miles and couldcarry up to 10 nuclear warheads. A Chinesemilitary expert claimed “the missile can hitevery corner of the earth” — ie the US. Thewarhead is set to be inducted in 2018.

A lot of money is also poured into theHypersonic Vehicle Technology Project;available data shows that China has starteddeveloping conceptual and experimentalhypersonic flight vehicle technologies suchas hypersonic cruise vehicles (HCV) capable

of maneuvering at Mach 5 speeds (6,150+km/h), flying in near-space altitudes. Itcould be another game changer.

Cutting-edge research, like in the field ofquantum communication (which will makecommunications un-hackable) is also under-taken by the Chinese scientists.

The Academy of Military Sciencesexplicitly asserted: “Space and cyberspaceincreasingly constitute important battle-fields. A new type of five-dimensional bat-tle-space of land, sea, air, space, andcyber is currently taking shape, which iswide in scope, hyper-dimensional, andcombines the tangible and intangible.” Thelist of new fields of research is long.

Take the long-range unmanned aerialvehicles. In 2015, media reported thedevelopment of the Shendiao (Sacred Eagleor Divine Eagle) as the PLA’s newest high-altitude, long-endurance UAV for a varietyof missions such as early warning, target-ing, Electronic Warfare (EW) and satellitecommunications. China is also working onan unmanned combat aerial vehicle namedthe ‘Black Sword’, which could one day com-pete with the best US drones.

Beijing has a medium and long-term pro-gramme which aims at transforming Chinainto an ‘innovation-oriented society’ by2020; the plan defines China’s leading-edgetechnologies. Last year, a US report explained:“China has identified certain industries andtechnology groups with the potential to pro-vide technological breakthroughs, to removetechnical obstacles across industries, and toimprove international competitiveness.”

There are other fields such as ‘intelligentperception technologies’ or ‘virtual reality

technologies’, but also ‘new materials’ such assmart materials and structures, high-temper-ature superconducting technologies, andhighly efficient energy materials technologies;and, of course, AI (Artificial Intelligence).

In a just released report, Elsa Kania at theCenter for a New American Security (CNAS)writes: “China is no longer in a position oftechnological inferiority relative to the UnitedStates but rather has become a true peer(competitor) that may have the capability toovertake the United States in AI,” she adds:“it could alter future economic and militarybalances of power.”

Beijing has also ‘megaprojects forassimilating and absorbing’ technology; animport substitution action plan in order tocreate indigenous innovations through ‘co-innovation’ and ‘re-innovation’ of foreigntechnologies. The megaprojects have anobjective of ‘assimilating and absorbing’ tohelp China to ‘develop a range of major equip-ment and key products that possess propri-etary intellectual property rights’

Xi Jinping has a Dream, the great reju-venation of Chinese nation: “It is an unstop-pable historical trend that won't be divertedby the will of any individual country or per-son,” asserts China Military Online.

Does Delhi even realise the trueobjective behind the Chinese Dream,which is to make of China a dominant, self-reliant superpower? India has ‘certainly’something to learn from the MiddleKingdom in terms of ‘dreaming’.

China has its own problems; one is therigidity of its bureaucracy functioning underthe Communist Party, but even if the presentChinese system is not congenial to innova-

tions, considering its structure and therestrictions imposed by the unique Party sys-tem, Beijing is going full steam with the most-advanced researches.

In India, the defence sector still dependsin a large measure on imports. One of the rea-sons is the lack of large-scale R&D. This is aserious problem. Take the example ofDassault Aviation; after the constructor of theRafale was selected in the Medium Multi-RoleCombat Aircraft (MMRCA) project, itexpressed some doubts about the capacity ofHindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) toabsorb French technology; without evenspeaking about ‘innovations’, HAL could not‘digest’ the French technology.

The Modi sarkar has tried to partial-ly solve the issue by introducing 50 per centoffsets that Dassault and its partners needto reinvest in India. Tremendous effortsneed to be made in the domain of‘research’, if India is serious about catch-ing up with China and the West in thedomain of ‘innovation’.

Will the Indian system able to be a top-class innovator is the real question? China,like India, suffers from bureaucratic defi-ciencies, but the leadership in Beijing hasa tremendous political will (and adequateeconomic means) to change this scenarioin the years to come; it does not seem thecase in India.

The Indian Dream has been partiallyformulated with the ‘Make in India’ scheme,but even if succeeds, it will not solve theR&D issue. It is a great pity, because theingredients (brains) are very much present.

(The writer is an expert on India-Chinarelations and an author)<

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Sir — This refers to the editorial,“Long live the king” (November 6).A record 89 sets of nominationswere filed, proposing the candida-ture of Rahul Gandhi, the scion ofthe Nehru-Gandhi family, for the topparty post. The anticipated willmost likely come to pass and RahulGandhi, in all possibility will beelected as the president of theIndian National Congress.

Whether it’s coronation or elec-tion, as Congress president, RahulGandhi will be responsible for boththe party’s successes and failures. Beit farce or comedy, the election is noteven a dress rehearsal for what liesahead. Hope Rahul Gandhi is final-ly prepared, shedding his reluctantpolitician skin. Like his mother,Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi willhave to show that he has the gravi-tas to accommodate the often con-flicting desires of party factions andshow himself to be an expert inmanaging inner party dynamics.

JS AcharyaHyderabad

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Sir — This refers to the editorial,“Long live the king” (December 6).Impartially speaking, it appearspremature to draw an analogybetween Sonia Gandhi as QueenVictoria and Rahul Gandhi asEdward as the latter has not formal-ly taken over as president of thegrand old party as yet, although itremains just a fait accompli now asthe Congress scion is the only can-didate in fray and the date for filingthe nominations for the Congresspresidency has expired.

It is true that Rahul Gandhi isentrusted with a Herculean task ofadopting a pragmatic strategy aheadof the 2019 election so that he mightprove himself worth the salt. Of late,he has succeeded in striking achord with the common people. Infact, States of Chhattisgarh,Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh andRajasthan, which are going to pollsearly next year, may come across asan electoral semi-final between theCongress, the allies and the BJP.With Rahul Gandhi at the helm,common men have pinned hopeson him. However, it is a long way togo as the saying goes Rome was notbuilt in a day.

Azhar A KhanRampur

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Sir — This refers to the editorial,“Long live the king” (November 6).With Rahul Gandhi set to take overas president of the Congress, therehas been a rising chorus within theparty. But what will change when hetakes over? It will mean no morewhimsical sabbaticals from the bat-tle ground, no more indulgence ofreal or imagined dislike of power.Politics is the pursuit of power, medi-ating between the State and the peo-ple while seeking to achieve largergoals for State, society and thenation. With great power comesresponsibility and by becoming theleader of the national Opposition,Rahul Gandhi gets his hands deepand dirty in the clay with which thenation’s history is shaped.

KS PadmanabhanChennai

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Page 7: C M Y K improve its tally by raising issues of Dalit flogging in ... Narmada project and back-to- ... son Anuj and son-in-law Vikas.

Activities in the coastal areas,such as fishing, aquacultureand agriculture, on which

tremendous number of peopledepend for their livelihoods, needto be reinvented in order to effec-tively tackle the ecological chal-lenges facing the coastal areas,besides the larger threat posed byclimate change.

According to findings by a newreport, the Marine Advantage,empowering coastal communities,safeguarding marine ecosystemsfrom the International Fund forAgricultural Development (IFAD)coastal communities and marineecosystems can benefit a lot fromclimate-smart agriculture and fish-ing practices. The IFAD report

shows that climate-smart agriculturecan also have knock-on benefits formarine ecosystems. Sustainabledevelopment in agriculture andallied sectors, including aquaculture,can reduce human pressures onmarine ecosystems, which are vul-nerable to overfishing, ocean acid-ification and coral bleaching.

Thanks to rapid climatechange, agriculture and fisheries,the backbone of food security andnutrition for coastal communities,not only in India but globally too,are under threat. Climate changeand environmental degradation incoastal areas are already affectingthe natural resource base onwhich fishing community andcoastal farmers depend for foodsecurity and livelihoods.

Future projections outline anincreasingly urgent need to helpcommunities adapt to thesechanges and protect these fragileresources. The global communityhas been working overtime tomake meaningful progress in thebattle against climate change in

order to safeguard the naturalmarine resources and this isrepresented mainly by the effortsof the United Nations.

In June this year, the UnitedNations Ocean Conference in NewYork focussed on SustainableDevelopment Goal 14 (SDG 14):Conserve and sustainably use theoceans, seas and marine resourcesfor sustainable development. Butthe achievement of SDG goal 14also depends on empoweringcoastal and island communitiesthrough environment-friendlyland-based agriculture.

The call for action is urgent andencompasses more support forsmall-scale and artisanal fisher-men in developing countries toenhance their access to marineresources and markets to improvethe socio-economic situation ofthe fishing community within thecontext of sustainable fisheriesmanagement.

The problem is manifestingitself in the unsustainable use ofnatural resources on land, which in

turn exacerbates climate threatsand results in the degradation ofmarine and coastal ecosystems.

As people struggle to cope withclimate change and exclusion fromaccess to land and critical produc-tion factors, they resort to surviv-ing on what they can access —including using means that harmthe environment. Ultimately, envi-ronmental degradation of marineand coastal resources makes it evenharder for people to access criticalecosystems services.

For instance, unsustainablefishing practices destroy corals anddeplete fish stocks, and the cuttingdown of mangroves for their woodor for land reclamation purposesmean that they are less able tobuffer impacts of cyclones andother extreme events such as sea-level rise, wave action andcoastal erosion.

What happens on land directlyimpacts what happens in oceans,and the inappropriate use ofharmful substances to fertilise andprotect crops on land results in

harmful chemical run-off intocoastal waters. Unsustainableland-based agriculture, therefore,undermines peoples’ options todiversify their livelihoods andprotect marine resources.

For small holders, thisultimately translates into evengreater food insecurity and ever-more fragile livelihoods. Giventhese challenges, the Governmentmust increase climate resilience ofcoastal farming and fishingcommunity. This can be done byreducing overfishing and byimplementing integratedecosystems approach to fisheriesand aquaculture. Theestablishment of natural resourceco-management regimes,involving community groups,fishers and fish farmers’associations can aid this initiative.

Additionally, efforts must bemade to strengthen the knowledgebase and climate change advisorycapacity of fishery andaquaculture extension workers.This will in turn help in increasing

awareness levels. Authorities mustalso invest in research to identifynew commercially viable strainsof aquaculture species tolerant oflow water quality, hightemperatures and disease.

Moreover, access to friendlyfinancial services and insurancemechanisms must be encouragedso that communities can be secureabout the future and invest inmore fuel-efficient boats andstatic fishing gear instead ofdamaging gear such as trawls.

The livelihood options incoastal areas in their forms can con-tribute to national climate commit-ments mitigation efforts and sus-tainable development. However,without appropriate measures andsuitable innovation to counter eco-logical challenges, especially climatechange, the traditional livelihoodpractices can not only damage del-icate marine ecosystems but also fallshort of the objectives to slowdown climate change.

(The writer is an environmentaljournalist)

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With work on the UnionBudget 2018 to startsoon, the defence ser-vices are prioritisingtheir allocations.

Despite the lion’s share of the annualdefence allocation amongst the threeservices, the Army is the most hard-pressed to rationalise its funds.

Given its increased or ratherbloated manpower, the changednature of warfare and annual finan-cial obligations on account of acquiredcapabilities, the Army is left with pit-tance to balance between its immedi-ate weapons’ requirement and indige-nous support systems (force multipli-ers) like the Battlefield ManagementSystem (BMS). Consequently, theBMS, though an asset for tactical oper-ations, has, to the disappointment ofthe indigenous defence industry, beenrejected by the Army brass.

At today’s prices, the BMS for theentire Army, to be provided by 2025, isto cost upwards of �50,000 crore. Beingdeveloped by two consortia — TataPower (Strategic Engineering Division)and Larsen & Toubro and BharatElectronic Limited and Rolta India —the total cost for their prototype each(meant for final selection) built underthe high-priority ‘Make’ category is�5,000 core. The Army, according toreports, was required to pay back �1,000crore over five years as development costof this project from its kitty. With theArmy having excluded the BMS from itsacquisitions list, the final decision restswith the Defence Acquisition Councilheaded by the Defence Minister.

The BMS is an excellent systemmeant to network or connect thefrontline soldiers with the comman-ders enabling both to see the devel-oping war picture in real-time. Thiswould make decision-making fasterallowing own forces to retaliate quick-er than the enemy.

It would, however, be grossly unfairto assess this development as the ModiGovernment’s spurious commitment to‘Make in India’ policy. Two issues,instead, are worth considering why theArmy felt compelled to take this dras-tic decision. For one, these are develop-ment prototypes. Once approved, thewinner BMS would enter mass produc-tion with uncertainty over final cost andtime-lines. This is not all. Since technol-ogy has a short life, the BMS would needregular upgrades to stay ahead in therace. Moreover, considering the BMS isless about hardware and more about soft-ware which gets dated, the project,expected to be completed only in 2025,would be a massive drain on the Army’sdefence allocations.

For another, since Indian companiesspend minimal on Research andDevelopment (R&D), most BMS soft-ware technologies would have been pro-cured from abroad. Procurements from

aboard always come with a price: Nocountry gives away its best technologies,and price escalation depends upon crit-icality of the requirement. To understandwhy overall indigenisation in Indiawould have a limited success, one hasonly to look at China. “According toUNESCO data, China is the secondlargest spender of absolute amounts onR&D and accounts for 20 per cent of theworld expenditure on R&D, second onlyto the US share of 30 per cent,” writeseconomist Amita Batra. This cannot besaid for India where defence manufac-tures seek early profits.

Moreover, the optimal use of theBMS would be in two tactical war sce-narios which are no longer relevant.One, when own forces are operatingin foreign lands where soldiers are vul-nerable from everywhere — the front,rear, sideways and the air. Here it iscritical that frontline combat troopsand commanders (of tanks, mecha-nised infantry and special forces) stayconnected in real time to optimise warresults. This scenario is not applicableto India since its Army operates onlyfor United Nations’ mandated peace-keeping operations.

And two, the BMS would be a crit-ical force-multiplier if the Indian Armyis able to make deep ingress insideenemy territory, namely Pakistan. Chinais a different ballgame; it has vast non-contact war capabilities in cyber, elec-tronic warfare, unmanned combat aer-ial systems and missiles. Given the high-altitude battlefield in the Himalayas, itis difficult to conceive Indian Army mak-ing deep ingress into Tibet. Thus, theBMS is essentially against Pakistan.

The BMS was conceived by the

Army a decade ago (it was approved as‘Make’ project in December 2011) whenthe war scenario with Pakistan was dif-ferent. Today, it has changed dramatical-ly with Pakistan’s acquisition of tacticalnuclear weapons and its increased inter-operability (ability to fight together) withChinese forces. It would be nigh impos-sible for the Indian Army to make deepingress inside Pakistan across the international border.

Moreover, the political leadership,conscious of the nuclear red liners,would disallow any adventurism bythe Armed Forces. In military terms,the Indian Army would adopt ‘strate-gic defence with tactical level offence’posture against Pakistan. In this case,the BMS would have minimal oper-ational utility. The Army would ratherspend its scares funds on buying long-range firepower, strengthening its airdefence network, and importantly,providing self defence weapons andprotection for soldiers.

The operational scenario in themountains and high altitude areas,where major battles are expected to befought, would have its own limitations.The war here would be restricted tobattle for each post by small Army for-mations. Major tactical battles for cap-ture of Haji Pir pass and so on, giventhe inter operability between Pakistaniand Chinese militaries, are no longerachievable. Even as the probability ofPakistan using nukes on the Line ofControl is zero, the difficult terrainand defence deployments on bothsides would rule out deep ingress.Thus, the BMS will have little opera-tional benefit here too.

Coming to the BMS prototypes,

questions have been raised about thecredibility of the ‘Make in India’ pol-icy if the project is suddenly scrapped.For all its worth, ‘Make in India’ ismeant to create jobs by absorption ofengineering skills by Indian enterpris-es. This aspect was succulentlyexplained to me by two senior exec-utives of foreign companies.

According to Abhay Paranjape ofLockheed Martin, “each company has itspropriety technologies on which yearsof research and money have been spent.It will be difficult for any company topart with such technologies withoutappropriate protection agreements.Beyond this, the company could giveIndia what could become its sovereigncapabilities. In this, India would be freeto upgrade, maintain and modify theplatform on their own.”

What if India wants state-of-art orbest technologies now and for futureupgrades? This, according to the chiefexecutive, MDBA missile systems,Antoine Bouvier, “is not possible with-out investing in R&D” — something fora variety of reasons in not done in India.

Given all this, while it would beimprudent to push the Army to re-consider the BMS, the question is whopays �5,000 crore development costincurred by the consortia. Since 80 percent cost of development projectsunder the ‘Make’ category is to beborne by the Defence Ministry (theremainder by the developer), this mat-ter ought to be resolved to restore con-fidence of the private defence indus-try. The Defence Minister shouldintervene in this matter.

(The writer is Editor, Force news magazine)

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Page 8: C M Y K improve its tally by raising issues of Dalit flogging in ... Narmada project and back-to- ... son Anuj and son-in-law Vikas.

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In a bid to boost skill devel-opment in Karnataka, the

National Skill DevelopmentCorporation (NSDC) in asso-ciation with ApnaDesh, anNGO, has launched a 'Skill onWheels' programme.

'Skill on Wheels' would bethe first of its kind outreach tar-geting 5 lakh rural youth attaluka levels through a state-of-the-art hi-tech vehicle thatwould travel across Karnataka.

The event for the launch ofthe scheme in Mysuru wasmarked with the 'NationalYouth Conference' on skilldevelopment organised at JSSCollege of Arts, Science &Commerce and attended byamong others JagatguruShivrathri DeshikendraMahaswamiji, Ananth Kumar,Union Minister for

Parliamentary affairs,Anantkumar Hegde, Ministerof State for Skill Developmentand Entrepreneurship andPratap Simha, MP Mysuru.

Launching the programme,Kumar said, "I congratulateHegde and his Ministry for this

new idea — Ideapreneurs. Wehave heard entrepreneurs butIdeapreneurs is a new word.Idepreneurship will lead toentrepreneurship which will notonly empower the Ideapreneursbut also others as it will enablethem become employers. I am

confident that Hegde will takethis "Skill on Wheels" to 100places in Karnataka."

Motivating the youth dur-ing the launch, Hegde said, "Iadvise all of you to dream asdreaming about your goal willgive you the motivation toachieve. Today it's an irony towitness people with certainset of skills and qualificationsdoing something which is total-ly opposite their skill and inter-ests. Majority of people pick upright skills on the job instead ofbeing job ready. Mere schooland college certificate won'thelp you in achieving yourgoals. Therefore, I urge you allto become Ideapreneurs andour future Entrepreneurs."

Later in the day whileinteracting with industryexperts, institutional heads andsome young entrepreneurs, theMoS said, "We want to reachout to the last mile in ruralKarnataka and take this schemeto the ground. Possibility ofopening a skill university inKarnataka based on a PPPmodel can also be explored."

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The feud over whetherKerala was properly fore-

warned about Cyclone Ockhicontinued on Wednesday, evenmore than two days after thesevere storm left Kerala-TN-Lakshadweep coasts leavingbehind a trail of death anddestruction, with the StateGovernment and the IndiaMeteorological Department(IMD) making diametricallyopposite claims.

Stating that the CentralIMD had given specific infor-mation only after the low-pressure system, that had builtup southeast of Kanyakumari,had turned into a cyclone,Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayanclaimed on Wednesday. Hesaid that there was no lapse onthe part of his Government orits agencies in dealing with thesituation after getting it.

“The information receivedon November 29 from theIndian National Centre forOcean Information Serviceshad only said that fishermenshould not venture into the sea.The Government had relayedthis to all concerned and hadgiven it to the media for publi-cation also,” Pinarayi told news-men at Thiruvananthapuramafter a Cabinet meeting.

“At 8.30 am on November30, the IMD had sent a messagesaying that the low pressuresystem 170 km away fromKanyakumari had becomeintense. Even that message hadnot contained any cyclonewarning. The advisory with

that message was only thatfishermen should not ventureinto the sea,” Pinarayi said.

The Chief Minister claimedthat the Central IMD’s specificmessage on the transformationof the low pressure systemsoutheast of Kanyakumari intoCyclone Ockhi was receivedonly at 12.00 hours onNovember 30. The State

Disaster Management Authority(DMA) had relayed this to allconcerned within five minutesbut by then most of the fisher-men had gone to sea, he said.

The Central agencies hadspecific guidelines to follow asfar as issuing warning aboutcyclones but none of these hadbeen adhered to in the case ofCyclone Ockhi with respect to

Kerala, the Chief Ministerclaimed. “There was no lapseon the part of the Government.This has already been con-firmed by the Union Ministers(who visited Kerala onSunday),” he said.

Pinarayi claimed that theGovernment had lost no timein initiating the steps stipulat-ed in the Central DMA’s guide-lines for meeting the emer-gency. “Within an hour of get-ting the warning, theGovernment had contacted theArmy, Navy, Coast Guard andforces and other agencies andall of them had launched res-cue operations immediately,” hesaid.

However, reports fromDelhi quoting top IMD officialssaid that the weather monitor-

ing and forecasting agency hadpassed specific information tothe Kerala Government 24hours before Cyclone Ockhihad reached the State Coastand that the Chief Secretaryhad been informed of this overthe phone at that time itself.

“Kerala had been informedabout the impending cyclone24 hours before it hit theregion. There is no intention toput blame on anybody. Whathas happened in the case ofKerala is that it did not have thepreparedness to meet theemergency as it did not haveprior cyclone experience,” aDelhi report quoted a top IMDofficial as saying.

Stating that such a massiverescue operation had nevertaken place in the sea off theKerala coast till now, heclaimed, the Navy, CoastGuard, Air Force and otheragencies through their well-coordinated efforts had beenable to rescue 2,600 fishermenincluding 1,130 Keralites fromthe cyclone-churned ArabianSea. “The Government thanksthe Defence forces for that,” headded.

Pinarayi is still under firefrom fishermen across Keralaand Opposition parties over hisalleged failure and that of hisGovernment in taking appro-priate and prompt measures tomeet the cyclone emergencyeven after getting prior infor-mation. The ire against him hasbeen so intense that fishermenhad physically blocked himduring his visit to a fishinghamlet on Sunday.

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The Kerala Cabinet onWednesday decided to fix

the minimum age for purchas-ing and consuming liquor 23years instead of the present 21years. It decided to send a rec-ommendation to the Governorfor promulgating an Ordinancein this regard.

The Government’s deci-sion to revise the minimum agelimit for alcohol consumptionis based on the liquor policy ofthe CPI(M)-led ruling LDFwhich was announced severalmonths ago. The front hadendorsed the liquor policy at its

meeting held on June 8 last.The LDF meet had also

recommended measures topenalise those who sold liquorto those who were below theage of 23. The Cabinetapproved this proposal also.The LDF aims to control booz-ing by promoting the principleof abstinence unlike that of theCongress-led Opposition UDF,which believes in imposingProhibition through phases.

The Government will haveto make amendments to theKerala Abkari Act for raisingthe minimum boozing agefrom 21 to 23. It will also haveto make changes to the existing

rules concerning foreign liquorsales and consumption. TheGovernment is taking theOrdinance route as theAssembly is not conveningsoon.

The June8 LDF meethad alsodecided tor e o p e nbars at hotelswith classificationof three-star andabove and theGovernment startedimplementing it in Julyby permitting reopen-ing of 77 bars. Till

then, bars were allowed tooperate only at hotels withfive-star classification in accor-dance with the policy of theprevious UDF government.

Sources in the ExciseDepartment expected a 15-percent to 20-percent drop inalcohol sale in the State oncethe Ordinance raising theminimum age limit to 23years came into force but

anti-liquor crusaders said thedecision would not have cause

any change in the patternof liquor consumption.

“It is just an eyewash,” saidan anti-liquor crusader in

Thrissur.

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Hyderabad Metro, whichbecame operational only a

week ago, has become the tar-get of the “fake news” on thesocial media as a photo of a pil-lar went viral with a false claimthat it had developed cracksand may collapse anytime.

The mischief mongersclaimed that the photo was of aPillar on the “ISB route” andasked the people to be very alert.It has evoked a strong rebuttalfrom the Hyderabad Metro RailLtd managing director NVSReddy who clarified that the pil-lar in the photo was not ofHyderabad Metro but a flyoverin the Pakistani city of Peshawar.

To further expose the mis-chief, he pointed out that therewas no Metro line on the ISBor the Indian School ofBusiness route in the Hitec city.

Pointing out that there wasno similarity between the pil-lar in the photo and the Metropillars, Reddy said, “the pillarsof Hyderabad Metro can with-stand thousands of tons of

weight and 21 types of stress-es including earthquake”.

Reddy said that the photowas more than a year old and heand the Minister for IT K TarakaRama Rao had issued clarifica-tions many times. He describedthe posts on social media a “lastditch effort to malign HyderabadMetro” by elements who werejealous of its grand success.

Officials were of the viewthat the miscreants were tryingto create panic among the peo-ple regarding the HyderabadMetro which was smoothlyand successfully operating on30 kms long stretch fromMiyapur to Nagole since itwas launched by the PrimeMinister Narendar Modi onNovember 28.

Meanwhile as part of thebeautification drive in the city,the pillars of Hyderabad Metrowere also being decorated withthe portraits of the rulers ofGolkonda and Qutub Shahidynasty. One such portrait ofMohammed Quli Qutub Shah,the founder of Hyderabad cityhas become a major attraction.

In another related devel-opment, the Hyderabad MetroRail and Uber taxi service havereached an understanding tosolve the problem of last mileconnectivity to the passengers.Deepak Reddy, general man-ager, Uber, Telangana andAndhra Pradesh said that theUber service will be available tobring the passengers to theMetro station and also dropthem back at their homes fromthe nearest Metro station.Sharing cab facility will also beavailable to such passengers.

The passengers wishing totravel by Metro trains were fac-ing a problem because of thelack of feeder service to helpthem in reaching the station. Itwas a problem for them toreach the station in their owncars or two wheelers because ofthe lack of parking facilities atthe station.

As part of the understand-ing the Uber has set up a kioskat the Miyapur station andDeepak Reddy said that simi-lar kiosks will be set up at allthe 24 stations soon.

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Bengal Chief MinisterMamata Banerjee on

Wednesday launched a blister-ing attack on the BJP for its“failure to stop farmer deathsand bring back black money”stashed away in foreign banksand “success in driving awayindustrialists” post demoneti-sation and GST reforms.

Picking up from where shehad left on Tuesday whereinshe attacked the Centre for“depriving Bengal of our gen-uine financial claims,” the ChiefMinister on Wednesday told aTrinamool Youth Congressrally about how the BJPGovernment at the Centre has“failed on its pre-electionpromise to bring back blackmoney and deposit �15 lakheach in each citizen’s accounts.”

Banerjee was speaking atthe Babri demolition anniver-

sary that her party observes as“integration day.” Attacking thesaffron outfit for “dividing peo-ple in the name of language andreligion in order to rule,” shesaid, “instead of stopping farm-ers’ deaths and bringing backblack money they are drivingaway industrialists by pursuingdraconian financial laws.”

At least 75,000 industrial-ists had fled the country shesaid swearing by the “immi-gration” records adding “ifeach person has taken awayeven �50 crore with him thenimagine how much capital hasfled from our country.”

On the BJP’s sustainedelectoral successes Banerjeesaid “the media is writing abouttheir success in UP rural elec-tions but they are not raisingthe issue of how many votesthey have lost in Gujarat. Inthat State they have lost 13 percent vote share in the town

polls but that will not be report-ed by the national mediabecause they have been boughtby the BJP.”

The Chief Minister saidunlike the media in Bengal alarge section of it had been“arm-twisted into submissionand today they are beamingwhatever the Centre wantsthem to do.” “When media iswon over the country landsinto emergency-like situation.Today India is passing througha super emergency where rightto oppose and speak has beensnatched away,” she added.

Even during theEmergency period of IndiraGandhi common people werenot lynched on the roads andtheir food habits were not dic-tated as is being done today.“Even Indira Gandhi had tolose elections after emergency.So those who are perpetuatingthis fascist rule should be awarefrom now,” she warned.

Taking on the right wingforces for “criticising me ongrounds of minority appease-ment,” Banerjee said, “can Iignore the 31 per centMuslims.” She tagged withthem other linguistic and reli-gious minorities while saying “Ihave a responsibility towardsMuslims, dalits, Sikhs,Buddhists and even Biharisand UP wallahs who feel moresecured in Bengal than in theirown States. So how can I ignoretheir interests. And for that ifsome people call it appease-ment then so be it I will go ondoing my job.”

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In a major relief to two tabloideditors — Ravi Belagere and

Anil Raju — who are facingcontempt and a jail term sen-tenced by the KarnatakaAssembly has been stayed by theKarnataka High Court onWednesday.

The single Bench judgeJustice AS Bopanna directed theState Legislative Assembly notto pursue with the privilege pro-ceedings against the editors oftwo Kannada tabloids, who hadbeen sentenced to a one-year jailterm by the House, until furtherorders.

"Since it is a constitutionalmatter, it is for the court to hearboth the parties before arrivingat a decision or passing a judge-ment," Justice AS Bopanna said.

Karnataka LegislativeAssembly while convicting twojournalists in the winter sessionhad imposed a year sentenceand �10,000 fine for allegedbreach of privilege due to cer-tain articles published by thetwo.

Earlier in June, the Assemblyhad adopted the recommenda-tions of the a privileges com-mittee to imprison and fineRavi Belagere, editor of HiBengaluru, weekly and Anil Rajuof Yelahanka Voice. The com-mittee had examined the allegeddefamatory articles against threelegislators including KB Koliwad,(now Speaker) BM Nagaraj(both member of the Congress)and BJP MLA SR Vishwanath. Inthe last session, only three MLA'sargued in favour of reconsider-ing the sentence while all theother legislators had supportedthe conviction.

The High Court in its inter-im order asked the KarnatakaAssembly not to arrest themuntil further notice. The HCthen posted the case for hearingin four weeks’ time.

The journalists had earliermoved the High Court, con-tending that the resolution sen-tencing them to the jail termwas illegal and unconstitution-al and seeking that it bequashed.

The High Court had thenadvised the parties to solve thematter amicably and disposedoff the petitions after both thejournalists said they wouldappear before the Assemblyspeaker and seek a revision ofthe resolution. Accordingly, thetwo editors visited the speaker'soffice, seeking a review of theresolution and submitted theirarguments and representationsthrough their lawyers.

Editors Guild of India (EGI)had requested the Assembly towithdraw its resolution andcalled the move a “pernicious aswell as gross misuse of thepowers and privileges”. SeniorAdvocate Shankarappa arguedfor journalists.

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The much-hyped 25thanniversary of Babri

Mosque demolition passed offpeacefully with no untowardincident reported from any-where in Uttar Pradesh asVishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP)celebrated the day as ShauryaDiwas while the Muslim organ-isations observed black day.

A report from Ayodhyasaid that several shops andbusiness establishmentsremained closed during theday. The Vishwa HinduParishad (VHP) held a pro-gramme at its headquarters,Karsevakpuram whereChairman of the RamJanmabhoomi Nyas NrityaGopal Das declared that con-struction of Ram Temple willstart from October 2018.

When told that the issue ispending in the court, he saidthat court should respect the

sentiment of the masses anddeliver a verdict so that thematter is resolved once and forall. “We respect the judiciary,and its verdict would berespected by all,” he said.

He said that a temple existsat the site, but the only issuewas construction of a grandstructure in accordance withthe demand of Hindu masses.“The Government should takethe initiative of bringing a leg-islation for allowing the con-struction of Ram temple,” theMahant said.

The VHP also organisedfunction at Madhavsabhagar inNiralanagar in Lucknow whereVHP volunteers across citycame to attend the function.“This is the last Shaurya Diwaswe are celebrating across theState. The next year we will cel-ebrate this day at RamJanmabhoomi where by thenthe construction of temple willstart,” VHP leader Devendra

Mishra said. Babri Masjid Action

Committee Chairman JaffaryabZilani said that it was a day ofsorrow for Muslims. InLucknow and FaizabadMuslims offered special prayersin Mosque. In some localitiesMuslims even closed theirshops as a mark of protest, hesaid.

Meanwhile, some Muslimshoisted a black flag atopBeniganj mosque to registeredtheir protest over the demoli-tion of the disputed structure.Meanwhile, a litigant in theAyodhya dispute, HajiMehboob, rejected Sunni WaqfBoard counsel’s stand in theSupreme Court on Tuesday.

“Kapil Sibal is our lawyerbut he is also related to a polit-ical party. His statement in theSupreme Court yesterday waswrong... we want a solution tothe issue at the earliest,” HajiMehboob said.

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Page 9: C M Y K improve its tally by raising issues of Dalit flogging in ... Narmada project and back-to- ... son Anuj and son-in-law Vikas.

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The Election Commission ofIndia’s decision to reject the

nomination paper filed by filmactor Vishal for the RK Nagarby-election scheduled forDecember 21 has stirred ahornet’s nest in Tamil Nadupolitics.

Vishal’s nomination wasinitially rejected by the ElectionCommission on Tuesday dur-ing scrutiny following deposi-tions made by two personsfrom the group of10 which hadproposed the name of the actor.Deepan and Sumathy who hadproposed the name of Vishalmet the Returning Officer onTuesday and claimed that theirsignatures in the nominationpapers were forged as theyhad not signed for the actor.

But by 8.30 pm, the actorand his team had met the elec-toral officers and had an argu-ment with them. The candidatehimself tweeted after the meet-ing that his nomination paperwas accepted. “After muchstruggle, my nomination forthe RK Nagar election is final-ly accepted. Truth always tri-umphs,” tweeted Vishal.

But the statement releasedby Velusamy,the returning offi-cer late Tuesday night saidthat he was convinced thatDeepan and Sumathy had notsigned the nomination papersand the tape of the telephonicconversation submitted by

Vishal claiming that the duowere coerced to depose beforethe returning officer was notconvincing. “I conclude that thenomination of Vishal Krishnafiled in seral number 72 isrejected upon my summaryenquiry,” said Velusamy in hisrelease late Tuesday nght.

The decision of theElection Commission has beenwidely criticised by all partiesin the State barring theAIADMK and the BJP. TheDMK working president MKStalin demanded the immedi-ate removal of the returningofficer as well as the ChiefElectoral officer of Tamil Nadu.His close aide M SubramanianMLA charged that the decisionof the Election Commission toreject Vishal’s nomination wasakin to the murder of democ-racy.

The CPI(M), the CPI andthe VCK criticised the action ofthe Election Commission. “Itlooks like as if the authoritiesin New Delhi are deciding

who should contest and winelections in Tamil Nadu,” saidR Mutharasan, CPI secretary.

The rejection of Vishal’snomination papers assume sig-nificance in the backdrop ofobservation by a section of peo-ple that he was a decoy candi-date fielded by the Oppositionto split the Telugu speakingvotes in the constituency. BothVishal and Madhusudanan areTelugu speaking candidatesand the RK Nagar constituen-cy has a considerable Teluguspeaking population.

T S Venkatesh, columnistand political observer said thestance of the opposition wasstrange. “I wonder whetherthey would have criticised theElection Commission had itrejected the nomination paperfiled by Madhusudanan, theAIADMK candidate. We alsosaw the rejection of DeepaPatrick Madhavan’s nomina-tion on Tuesday. But no onechallenged that decision,” saidVenkatesh.

The rejection of Vishal’snomination will result in RKNagar witnessing a triangularcontest betweenMadhusudanan (AIADMK),Marutha Hanesh (DMK), andTTV Dinakaran (Independentwho is the nephew of the jailedVK Sasikala). Though the BJPtoo has a candidate, he is notexpected to make any impact inthe by-election. Thursday is thelast date for withdrawal ofnomination.

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With the Telangana andAndhra Pradesh

Governments committed toprovide or increase the reserva-tion quota for various sectionsof the people in the two States,the declaration of PrimeMinister Modi that the Statescannot overrule the 50 per centcap imposed by the SupremeCourt has come as a big damp-ener and was likely to snowballinto a major controversy.

While Telangana legisla-ture has passed a Bill increas-ing the reservation for Muslimminority to 12 per cent and forthe Scheduled Tribes to 10 percent, Andhra Pradesh has alsopassed a legislation to provide5 per cent quota to the Kapusand three other castes. While incase of Telangana the imple-mentation of the decision willincrease the total quota to 62per cent, in Andhra Pradesh itwill increase to 55 per cent.

Prime Minister’s remarks

made during the election cam-paign in Gujrat in context ofthe demand of Patels for reser-vation, have caused discomfi-ture to Telangana ChiefMinister K Chandrasekhar Raowho had claimed that thePrime Minister was favorabletowards increasing the reserva-tions for Muslims and the STs.

KCR has also made an ini-tiative to make a commoncause with many other Stateswho were facing demands forreservation form various quar-ters. He was demanding pari-ty with Tamil Nadu and manyother states in the countrywho have quota much largerthan the cap of 50 per cent. Healso demanded that theincreased quota should be pro-vided constitutional safeguardby increasing it in the 9thSchedule of the Constitution.

Prime Minister’s statementhas provided fresh ammunitionto the opposition Congressand the BJP in Telangana,While BJP has been refuting

KCR’s claim that PM Modi waspositive on Muslim reservation,the Congress has launchedfresh broadside against KCR.

“This has exposed the hal-lowness and evil design of theTRS govt and CM KCR fordeliberately and willfully mis-leading the innocent Muslimswith false assurances andwhich cannot be implementedat all”, said Mohammed AliShabbir, leader of opposition inTelangana Legislative Council.He demanded the ChiefMinisters of the two Telugustates of how they wouldredeem their commitments forhiking quotas for Muslims, STsin Telangana and Kapus inAndhra Pradesh.

Charging the ChiefMinisters of the two stateswith opportunism he demand-ed that CM KCR at least wakeup now and give clarity as tohow the 12 per cent quota willbe given to Muslim and 10 percent quota to STs from the nextacademic year.

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In a major crackdown onMaoists since 2013, the com-

mandos from the State Anti-Naxal Squad (ANS) of theMaharashtra Police onWednesday morning gunneddown seven Maoists, includingfive women, in an encounternear Jhinganur village inSironcha tehsil of Gadchirolidistrict in east Maharashtra.

Confirming the develop-ment, Special InspectorGeneral of Police (Anti-NaxalOperations) Sharad Shelar saidthat the bodies of all the sevenNaxals killed in the encounterhad been recovered. Thewomen cadres killed in theencounter belonged to theSironcha dalam.

The encounter place ataround 6 am in a forest adjoin-ing Kalled village, 15 km awayfrom near Jhinganur village inSironcha tehsil of Gadchirolidistrict, when the C-60 com-mandos were carrying outcombing operation on the basisof intelligence inputs.

Tuesday’s encounter camein the backdrop of skirmisheswitnessed between the police

and Maoists in various parts ofGadchiroli district during thepast 15 days. During the skir-mishes, the Maoists had killedseven persons – comprisingfive civilians and two policemen – and injured at least fiveothers.

After the encounter, thepolice recovered arms and nax-alite propaganda material fromthe Maoists killed in theencounter.

In terms of the number ofMaoists killed in the incident,Wednesday’s encounter is sim-ilar to the one witnessed onApril 4, 2013, when the ANScommandos had killed sevenMaoists and injured severalothers in an encounter in a jun-gle near Bhatpar village inGadchiroli district of easternMaharashtra, borderingChhatisgarh.

Sources said that the C-60commandos had intensifiedtheir anti-naxalite drive basedintelligence inputs that scoresof Maoists the naxalite-infest-ed areas of Chhatisgarh haddescended in Gadchiroli dis-trict ahead of the formationweek of the People’s LiberationGuerrilla Army.

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Eight Shiv Sena activistswere detained here on

Wednesday after the Jammuand Kashmir Police thwartedtheir bid to hoist the NationalFlag at Lal Chowk in the city,an official said.

The Shiv Sena activistsarrived at Ghanta Ghar in twovehicles and were taken inpreventive custody as soon asthey alighted, a police officialsaid.

While shouting slogansagainst National ConferencePresident Farooq Abdullah,the activists said: "If FarooqAbdullah wants to come topower in Jammu and Kashmirhe should shun speaking thelanguage of the separatists."

The detained activists weretaken to the Kothibagh PoliceStation where they werereleased after completing legalformalities, the official said.

The Jammu unit of theShiv Sena had sent a specialteam to hoist the tricolour inthe heart of city followingFarooq Abdullah's remarks onP a k i s t a n - a d m i n i s t e r e dKashmir last week.

"They (Centre and BJP) aretalking about raising the flag inPoK. I ask them to go and raisethe Tricolour at Lal Chowk inSrinagar. They cannot do eventhat and they are talking aboutPoK," Abdullah had said.

Deputy Chief MinisterNirmal Singh also warned theNational Conference Presidentto desist from issuing provoca-tive statements.

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BJP chief Amit Shah onWednesday accused the

Congress of “shameful postur-ing” on Ram temple issue andhaving a “hidden agenda” ofkeeping the matter pending, asthe ruling party stepped up itsattack over Kapil Sibal’s sub-mission in the Supreme Court.

"Now that Sunni WaqfBoard has said that they don'tagree with what Kapil Sibal saidin court, it is certain that Sibalspoke in his capacity as aCongress leader, with the bless-ings of their high command.

"Shameful posturing byCongress on Ram Templeissue!" Shah said on Twitter.

Sibal, a Congress MP andlawyer, is representing theSunni Waqf Board in the legaldispute in the Supreme Court.He had on Tuesday soughtdeferment of the case until afterthe 2019 Lok Sabha polls.

There are reports that theboard has said it did not agreewith Sibal's views. The board'sclarification has made it clearthat the Congress wants todelay the hearing on the issue,Shah said later in a statement.

"Keeping the Ram Templeissue pending (in court) is ahidden agenda of the Congress.It wants to exploit the matterpolitically. The double face ofthe Congress on the issue hasbeen exposed before the mass-es," Shah said.

The BJP chief claimed thatthe opposition party had oftenused Sibal to "mislead" people.

Locked in a keen contestwith the Congress in theGujarat polls, the BJP haslatched onto Sibal's submissionto target the Congress over theemotive issue.

Prime Minister NarendraModi also attacked the oppo-sition party on the issue in hispublic meetings on Wednesday.

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Senior BJP leader YashwantSinha on Wednesday sus-

pended his three-day-long agi-tation undertaken in support offarmers in Akola district ineastern Maharashtra, after theMaharashtra Governmentaccepted all his seven majordemands.

Talking to mediapersons atAkola’s police grounds wherehe had for the past three beenstaging an agitation along withfarmers to press for their var-ious demands, Sinha said:“Chief Minister DevendraFadnavis spoke to me. He hasaccepted all the demands of thefarmers. This should not beseen as victory or defeat of anyone. But, the developmentwould benefit farmers acrossthe Maharashtra. Since all theirdemands have been accepted

by the State Government, I amsuspending my agitation”.

Fadnavis had called Sinha at11 am and discussed at lengththe farmers’ demands with thelatter. “We had a good discus-sion. The Chief Minister assuredme that he would consider pos-itively all the demands”.

Sinha, who had beendetained along with 250 farm-ers outside the Akola districtcollectorate on Mondayevening, had received supportfor his agitation from variouspolitical parties, including theShiv Sena, Nationalist CongressParty, Congress and othersmaller State parties. In addi-tion, Delhi Chief MinisterArvind Kejriwal and MamataBanerjee had also extendedhis support the former FinanceMinister’s agitation.

Tushar Gandhi, the greatgrandson of Mahatma

Gandhi, had personally metSinha at Akola on Tuesdayand extended his support tothe latter’s agitation.

The demands that thefarmers made included com-pensation to cotton farmers forlosses suffered by them becausepink bollworm attack on theircrops, action against seed com-panies manufacturing bogus Btseeds, bank officials andadministration should executeloan waivers by personallygoing to gram panchayats, 100per cent compensation for croplosses to moong, urad andsoyabean farmers, purchase ofall farm produce at minimumsupport price by NAFED, theuninterrupted power supplyto agricultural pump sets andremoval of unjust conditionsfrom the gold mortgage waiv-er scheme of the StateGovernment for farmers.

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Page 10: C M Y K improve its tally by raising issues of Dalit flogging in ... Narmada project and back-to- ... son Anuj and son-in-law Vikas.

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The Reserve Bank of India(RBI) on Wednesday leftthe key policy rate

unchanged as it raised the infla-tion projection marginally upto4.7 per cent at the upper end byMarch, while retaining growthestimates at 6.7 per cent for thecurrent fiscal.

The 6-member MonetaryPolicy Committee (MPC),which in a 5:1 vote chose status-quo on rates and kept a neutralstance, reiterated its commit-ment to keep retail inflationwithin the target of 4 per centplus or minus 200 bps, whilesupporting growth.

The RBI has increased itsinflation projection by 10 basispoints (bps) to 4.3-4.7 per centin the second and the fourthquarters, from 4.2-4.6 per cent

estimated in the October review.“The change in our inflationstance is very small. It is 10 bpscompared to the October poli-cy,” RBI Governor Urjit Patel,who heads the MPC, toldreporters after the policy reviewmeeting in Mumbai.

“In arriving at the decision,the MPC took note of the upsidepressures from food and fuelprices on the cost of living con-dition and inflation expecta-tions. Our surveys indicate thatcorporates are also strugglingwith rising input costs and high-er risks of pass-through to retailprices in the near-term,” he said.

“The MPC also expressedconcerns about the implicationsfor its inflation outlook arisingfrom a possible fiscal slippageand global financial instabilityheightening asset price volatili-ty,” he added.

The panel, however, expectsthe usual seasonal moderationin food prices and recent low-ering of tax rates by the GSTCouncil to mitigate some pres-sures, Patel said.

With the RBI’s move, thestock markets suffered for thesecond straight session onWednesday after it kept interestrates on hold but raised the infla-tion forecast, dashing mediumterm rate cut hopes and spark-ing a sell-off in banking stocks.

Benchmark Sensex slumped205 points to end at 32,597.18,while the broader Nifty finishedat 10,044.10, down 74.15 points.

On the other hand, India Incexpressed disappointment overRBI’s decision, while bankershave welcomed it, terming theRBI policy pragmatic, and say-ing the policy stance reflects theground reality well as it balances

out the higher likely growthwith a marginal uptick in infla-tion as well.

The decision to leave therepo rate unchanged at 6 per centwas supported by five MPCmembers, with governmentnominee Ravindra H Dholakiavoting for a 25 bps rate cut. Patelsaid the MPC continued with itsneutral stance and will watch theincoming data on inflation andgrowth carefully. “The neutralpolicy stance is there for a rea-

son that the whole possibilitiesare on the table and we wouldlook carefully look at both theinflation and growth data thatwill come in the comingmonths,” he said.

The RBI retained its eco-nomic growth outlook at 6.7 percent as announced in theOctober policy. Patel said theMPC decision was also condi-tioned by the recent develop-ments that augur well for growthprospects going forward. He

added that in the primary capi-tal market, resource mobilisationhas increased significantly whichwill add to the demand in theshort-run and boost the growthpotential over the medium-term.

Patel, however, said the hec-tic activity in the primary shareissuances, recent reform mea-sures by the Government, aclimb-up in the ease of doingbusiness ranking by the WorldBank, recapitalisation of state-run banks and efforts to resolvethe issue of bad assets under theprovisions of the insolvencycode bode well for the economyin the short to medium-term.

“A healthy IPO marketwill add to demand for creditin the short-run and boost thegrowth potential in the medi-um-term, ease of doing busi-ness rankings will help attractforeign direct investment and

bank recapitalisation will helpenhance allocative efficiency ofresources,” he said.

“In the view of MPC, allthese factors should help tocreate conducive financial con-ditions for nurturing highergrowth,” Patel added.

Pegging a 6.7 per centgrowth on a gross value-addedbasis, with risks evenly bal-anced, RBI Executive DirectorMichael Patra said, “It is goingto be 7 and 7.8 per cent in thethird and fourth quarters,respectively. So, we are on anuptick from now.”

Patel said the latest bankcredit data suggests that thereis already an uptick. “As theeconomy picks up, thedemand for credit will go up.There is enough supply toensure that lack of credit is noton the way in supporting

higher growth,” he said.RBI Deputy Governor Viral

Acharya said liquidity condi-tions have continued to nor-malise gradually during theyear. “The overhang of liquidi-ty surplus in the system after thenote-ban last November, whichhad touched a peak of close to�7.96 trillion (�7.96 lakh crore)at the beginning of the year, hassince come down,” he said.

Banking system liquidityhas been moving towards neu-trality as the currency in circu-lation has expanded by � 7.6 tril-lion during January 6 toNovember 24, 2017. “It isexpected that the liquidity con-dition would be marginally stillin surplus by March 2018. Giventhe trends in currency in circu-lation, it is expected that liquiditymay reach neutrality in the firsthalf of 2018," Acharya said.

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Equities suffered for the secondstraight session on

Wednesday after the ReserveBank kept interest rates on holdbut raised the inflation forecast,dashing medium term rate cuthopes and sparking a sell-off inbanking stocks.

Benchmark Sensex slumped205 points to end at 32,597.18,while the broader Nifty finishedat 10,044.10, down 74.15 points.

The six-member MonetaryPolicy Committee (MPC),headed by Reserve BankGovernor Urjit Patel, kept thepolicy rate unchanged at 6 percent on expected lines butraised the inflation forecast forthe remainder of the fiscal to4.3-4.7 per cent.

The central bank kept theeconomic growth forecastunchanged at 6.7 per cent for thefiscal ending March 31.

The 30-share index declinedby 205.26 points, or 0.63 percent, to 32,597.18 after hitting alow of 32,565.16 soon after thecentral bank announced its pol-icy decision.

The wider Nifty hit a low of10,033.35 before finishing at10,044.10, down 74.15 points or0.73 per cent. It had touched ahigh of 10,104.20 in early trade.

Interest rate-sensitivestocks took a beating, draggingthe BSE banking index downby 1.23 per cent. SBI, ICICIBank, Axis Bank, HDFC Bank,Bank of Baroda, PunjabNational Bank and Yes Bankfell by up to 2.27 per cent.

“Given that interest ratesare unlikely to reduce at least inthe near to medium term, ratesensitive stocks slid due to ris-ing oil price and concern overfiscal slippage,” said Vinod Nair,Head of Research, GeojitFinancial Services.

In sync with overall trend,the rupee too weakened to quoteat 64.55 against the dollar intra-day. Sun Pharma emerged as theworst performer among Sensexconstituents by falling 2.31 percent, while Bajaj Auto declined1.65 per cent.

MUMBAI: In order to promotedigital payments, the ReserveBank on Wednesday came outwith differentiated merchantdiscount rates (MDR) for debitcard transactions, prescribingseparate caps for small andlarge traders.

MDR is the rate charged toa merchant by a bank for pro-viding debit and credit card ser-vices. As per the latest notifi-cation, MDR charges for smallmerchants with an annualturnover of up to �20 lakh hasbeen fixed at 0.40 per cent witha cap of �200 per transaction bydebit cards through Point ofSale (PoS) machines or onlinetransactions.

For accepting paymentsvia QR (quick response) codebased transactions, the chargewill be 0.30 per cent subject toa cap of �200 per transaction.

In case the annual turnoverof a merchant is over �20 lakh,the MDR charges would be0.90 per cent with a cap of�1,000 per transaction.

If transaction is throughQR code, the charges will be0.80 per cent with a similar cap.

These directions will comeinto effect from January 1, RBIsaid, adding it would be the dutyof the banks to ensure the MDRlevied on the merchant does notexceed the prescribed cap.

RBI said rationalisation ofthe charges is being undertak-

en with a view to achieve thetwin objectives of promotingdebit card acceptance by awider set of merchants, espe-cially small traders, and ensur-ing sustainability of the busi-ness for the entities involved.

Following demonetisation,the RBI had in December lastyear capped the MDR chargesat 0.25 per cent for transactionsup to �1,000.

For transactions above�1,000 and up to �2,000, it wascapped at 0.5 per cent of thetransaction value.

Before that, the MDR wascapped 0.75 per cent for trans-action up to �2,000 and notexceeding 1 per cent for pay-ments above �2,000.

Commenting on RBI'smove, Ashwani Kumar,Chairman and ManagingDirector of Dena Bank, saidintroduction of differentiatedMDR and a cap on the absoluteamount is expected to increaseacceptance of debit card usageand “will also bring down thecost of transactions for smallmerchants”. PTI

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Corporate India onWednesday sought lower

tax and more incentives forinvestments while exporterscalled for quicker GST refundsat a meeting with FinanceMinister Arun Jaitley in the run-up to the last full-year Budget ofthe NDA government before2019 general elections.

The industry bodies sug-gested lowering the corporate taxto 18-25 per cent, from up to 30per cent at present. Theexporters, who are grapplingwith blockage of working capi-tal, pressed for exemption fromtax on export income or lowerlevies on forex earnings andfaster clearance of GST refunds.

“The Finance Minister haspromised 25 per cent corporatetax rate long back and weexpect that the FinanceMinister will fulfil his promisein this Budget,” Ficci PresidentPankaj Patel said.

The industry body alsosought support for innovation,employment generationthrough investment in theMSME and startup sector andspecific incentives for newinvestments, highlighting theneed to establish an exportzone with manufacturing facil-

ities but without any taxes orregulations.

“We have asked to reducethe corporate taxes. Across theworld, people are reducing cor-porate taxes and India is amongthe highest. We do need to cre-ate more demand and capacitiesfor private investment and if yousee today, GST has increased thetax rates,” CII President ShobanaKamineni said.

CII suggested that the roadmap for corporate tax rate forIndia should include reducing itto 18 per cent (all inclusive) atthe earliest and withdrawal ofsurcharges and cesses.

“The implementation (ofGST) and refund delays are acause of concern, so we havesuggested that if they can give usthe IGST refund also, along withthe drawback. In the US, thereis a differential tax rate for

export earnings, so we havesought a lower rate of tax onexport earnings than the normalcorporate rates,” EEPC IndiaWorking Committee MemberPK Shah said.

According to Shah, refundsof exporters to the tune of at least�60,000-70,000 crore are stuckpost GST rollout in July.

“We have asked the FinanceMinister to take the corporatetax to 25 per cent comparingwith developed and industri-alised nations. This would helpin investment and which, inturn, would increase employ-ment opportunities. Dividenddistribution tax, which is around20 per cent, should also be less-er,” said Assocham PresidentSandeep Jajodia.

“We would urge the gov-ernment to provide fiscal sup-port to units that provide addi-tional employment in the exportsector. Such a scheme will alsohelp the workers move frominformal employment to formalemployment, which is a prior-ity of the government.Incentives may be providedbased on twin criteria of growthin exports and growth in work-ers so that while export isincreased, the employmentintensive units also get a boost,”exporters’ body FIEO said.

BENGALURU: Tech giantWipro Limited is going toexpand its operations in Londonby setting up its third office inthe UK capital.

Announcing this at a pressconference on Wednesday,organised by London &Partners (L&P), Rajan Kohli,Senior Vice-President andGlobal Head of Wipro Digital,said “Our latest Wipro Digitalpod in London is a significantmilestone in our continuedgrowth journey, helping attractgreat design and engineering tal-ent to serve clients in the UnitedKingdom and Europe.”

Kohli said the additionalpresence in London would allowthe company to serve the digitalclients better.

David Slater, Director ofInternational Trade andInvestment at L&P, said Wipro isamong a host of Indian tech firmsto make significant investmentsin London.

He said the Indian tech busi-nesses are expected to create over400 new jobs in London this year.He also announced that London& Partners would set up anoffice here to explore the businesspotential for London as well asBengaluru. PTI

NEW DELHI: Infosys onWednesday said it hasapproached Sebi with an appli-cation to settle the issues arisingout of alleged disclosure lapses onthe severance package paid to itsformer CFO, Rajiv Bansal.

India's second-largest ITfirm, in a regulatory filing, saidthe settlement application madeto Sebi was neither admission ofguilt nor a denial. It, however, didnot disclose what it had proposedin the settlement application.

“The settlement applicationprocess is based on an undertak-ing that the applicant will neitheradmit nor deny the finding of factor conclusion of law,” said Infosysin the regulatory filing to the BSE.Infosys will provide an updateupon the conclusion of the con-fidential settlement process.

Settlement applications forviolation of disclosure norms typ-ically involve payment of a finan-cial penalty to avoid punishmentin case allegations were provedright at a later stage.

Infosys, under newChairman Nandan Nilekani,moved the application as part ofits attempt to settle the issues thathad cropped up during thetenure of former CEO Vishal

Sikka. The move comes withindays of Infosys naming formerCapgemini top executive SalilParekh as its new CEO.

The company said it wantsto resolve allegations around it ofnot seeking prior and separateapproval of the Nomination andRemuneration Committee andthe Audit Committee in relationto Bansal's settlement process.

The application also relatesto disclosures pertaining to theseverance agreement, cessationof payments and initiation ofarbitration under the severancepact, it added.

Infosys had agreed to payBansal a severance amount of�17.38 crore or 24 months ofsalary, but the company sus-pended payments after he got�5 crore as co-founder NRNarayana Murthy and othersobjected to the package asexcessive. PTI

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Prime Minister BenjaminNetanyahu Wednesday

refrained from commentingon US President DonaldTrump's intention to recogniseJerusalem as Israel's capital inhis first speech since the planwas confirmed.

Netanyahu, speaking at adiplomatic conference organ-ised by The Jerusalem Postnewspaper, instead focused onIsrael's security and economicties with countries globally dur-ing his 20-minutespeech.Trump's plan, to beannounced later today, has setoff alarm bells around the world.

Other Israeli ministerscommented on the plan, hail-ing it as a historic move.”I callupon other countries to followthe United States and recog-nise Jerusalem as the Jewishand undivided capital,”Education Minister NaftaliBennett, head of the far-rightJewish Home party, said at theconference.

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The expected US move torecognise Jerusalem as the

capital of Israel risks igniting a“fire” in the Middle East andwill prove a “great disaster”, theTurkish Government saidWednesday.

The recognition will“throw the region and theworld into a fire and it's notknown when it will end”,Deputy Prime Minister andgovernment spokesman BekirBozdag wrote on Twitter.

He warned that the movewas a “great disaster for every-one” that would lead the way to“turmoil, chaos and clashes”and could produce “unpleasantthings that we have notforseen”.

The recognition of the cityas Israel's capital and the mov-ing of the US embassy from TelAviv to Jerusalem -- expectedto be announced by PresidentDonald Trump later today --showed “great intolerance andmindlessness”, Bozdag said.

Bozdag added that therecognition would “destroy thepeace process”, saying that theissue of Jerusalem was the keyto peace in the Middle East andthe world.

Turkish Foreign MinisterMevlut Cavusoglu toldreporters in Brussels ahead ofmeeting US counterpart RexTillerson that the move is a“mistake” that “will not bringstability and peace but ratherchaos and instability.”

Asked whether he wouldbring the issue up withTillerson, the minister said: “Ihave already told him and I willtell him again.”

President Recep TayyipErdogan had warned Tuesdaythat the status of Jerusalem isa “red line” for Muslims andcould even prompt Turkey tocut ties with Israel.Erdogan --who regards himself as a cham-pion of the Palestinian cause --is due to hold talks later inAnkara with Jordanian KingAbdullah II who is also a strongopponent of the move.

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Police in Dallas have sharednew details about the mys-

terious death of Indian toddlerSherin Mathews, alleging thather Indian-American fosterfather bundled her “stiff andcold” body in the back of hiscar with a bag of trash and hidher corpse in a culvert.

Three-year-old Sherin wasfound dead in the culvert about1 km from her home in sub-urban Dallas on October 22 bya cadaver dog during a massivesearch for the missing toddler.

Wesley Mathews, the adop-tive father initially told policethat Sherin disappearedovernight after he ordered herto stand outside their home atabout 3 am on October 7 fornot drinking her milk. Whenhe returned to the spot, Wesleysaid she had disappeared.

After Sherin's body wasdiscovered after a search thatlasted over two weeks, hechanged his story and toldpolice that she died after chok-ing while he was forcing her todrink her milk.

Authorities in Dallas arestill waiting on scientific testingto come back, including theautopsy.New details surround-ing Sherin's death emerged

yesterday during the custodyhearing of Wesley and SiniMathews' 3- year-old biologicaldaughter, who was taken awayby US Child Protection Servicesafter Sherin's disappearance.

Richardson police detectiveJules Farmer testified thatWesley, 37, told them thatSherin died choking on milkthat he forced her to drink.

Farmer said that Wesleywas forcing her to drink milkfrom a bottle while she was inthe garage and he said that shewas standing up when shechoked.

The detective said he ques-tioned Wesley how she couldchoke while standing up.Wesley then told the detectivethat Sherin stopped breathing,but he never called emergencynumber 911 or summoned hiswife Sini, who is a nurse, forhelp.He admitted to movingher body from the home.

He reportedly turned offthe location tracking on hisphone when he is believed tohave taken Sherin's body to theculvert.

Farmer also said Sherin'sbody was “stiff and cold” whenWesley decided to dispose ofthe body.”He put Sherin in theback of the car with a sack oftrash and went to a shoppingcenter nearby,” Farmer said.

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The US House ofRepresentatives has con-

demned the “ethnic cleansing”of Rohingya Muslims andcalled on Myanmar's leadershipto end attacks on minorities inthe Rakhine state, in the stiffestcongressional criticism of thegovernment in the Buddhist-majority country.

The House passed a reso-lution yesterday, urging imme-diate restoration of humani-tarian access to the Rakhine

state where unrest has forcedover 600,000 RohingyaMuslims to flee to Bangladesh.

“This slaughter must end,and our resolution ought to senda strong message to Burmeseleaders that their commitmentto restoring democracy will bejudged by their respect for theindividual rights and freedomsof all people living withinBurma's borders, no mattertheir faith or ethnicity,” HouseDemocratic Whip Steny HHoyer said in a statement.Introduced by Congressmen

Joe Crowley and Eliot Engel, theresolution condemns the “hor-rific actions” of the military andsecurity forces and calls for animmediate cessation of vio-lence.

The resolution also urges therestoration of humanitarianaccess to the restive Rakhine state.”It also calls for Aung San SuuKyi (Myanmar's de facto leader)to exercise moral leadership,something that's needed nowmore than ever,” Engel said in hisremarks on the House flooryesterday.

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The foster parents of SherinMathews, the 3-year-old

Indian girl who was founddead under suspicious cir-cumstances in a culvert inDallas, have been denied accessto their biological daughter.

Sherin, reported missingon October 7, was found deadin the culvert about 1 km fromher home in suburban Dallason October 22 by a cadaver dogduring a massive search for themissing toddler.

She was adopted by theIndian-American couple,Wesley and Sini Mathews, froman orphanage in India lastyear. Her adoptive parents hadlost custody of their 3-year-oldbiological child after Sherinwent missing. Yesterday,a judge denied Wesley andSini access to their biologicaldaughter. The ruling resulteddue to an expert testimonyindicating that Sherin mayhave suffered abuse at thehands of her parents prior toher death.

The next hearing would bea trial that could serve to stripthe Mathews' parental rights. Adate has not yet been set.Wesley, 37 and Sini, 35, whowere attempting to keep the

visitation rights for theirdaughter, will now have towait until a former civil trialtakes place.

The state convinced thejudge that Sini and Wesleywere not fit to be parents dueto what happened to Sherinand shouldn't be able to visittheir biological daughter. Theirbiological daughter is current-ly staying with relatives.

Child Protective Services(CPS) does not have to provideservices to Wesley and Sini thatwould help them reunite withtheir biological daughter, thejudge ruled.

The couple has not lostparental rights, but they willnot receive help from the stateto regain custody of theirdaughter, the judge said.

A hearing to determine apermanent cutoff of parentalrights will likely take place in2018.

Police arrested Sini oncharges of child endangermentafter the death of Sherin.According to investigators, Sinileft Sherin home alone whileshe, her husband and their bio-logical daughter went out fordinner. The next day, Wesleyreported Sherin was missing.Her body was later found in aculvert near the family's home.

Wesley is facing more seri-ous charges of inflicting injuryto a child.

On October 7, Wesleycalled police and reportedSherin missing. He had initial-ly told police that Sherin dis-appeared overnight after heordered her to stand outside atabout 3 am for not drinking hermilk. When he returned,Wesley said she had disap-peared and that her locationwas unknown.

Wesley Mathews laterchanged his tune, saying Sherinchoked to death after he “phys-ically assisted” her as she drankher milk.

Both Sini and Wesley whoremain in detention in DallasCounty jail attended yesterday'shearing.

Last week, during the firstday of the custodial hearing,Dr Suzanne Dakil testifiedshe was worried Sherin hadbeen injured by her parentsand reported her concerns toCPS.

Dakil yesterday told thecourt that she did see the cou-ple's biological daughter onone occasion, during a physi-cal examination before sheentered foster care, and did notsee any sign of neglect orabuse.

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Iranian President HassanRouhani blasted his US coun-

terpart Donald Trump's plan torecognise Jerusalem as theIsraeli capital Wednesday, say-ing it would not be tolerated.

Rouhani also spoke withTurkish President Recep TayyipErdogan by phone, describingTrump's announcement as“wrong, illegitimate, provocativeand very dangerous”, accordingto an account posted on theIranian government's website.

He also agreed to attend aspecial summit of theOrganisation of IslamicCooperation, the main pan-Islamic body, on December13, which Erdogan called todiscuss the issue.Rouhani hadearlier been speaking at aninternational conference inTehran promoting Islamicunity and marking the anniver-sary of the birth of Islam's

Prophet Mohammed.Iran “willnot tolerate a violation ofIslamic sanctities,” he said inreference to Trump's Jerusalemannouncement.”Muslims muststand united against this majorplot.”Iran's supreme leaderAyatollah Ali Khamenei alsospoke at the event, saying theUS move was the result of“paralysis and incompe-tence”.”The Islamic world willundoubtedly stand against thisplot and the Zionists willreceive a big blow from thisaction and dear Palestine willbe liberated,” Khamenei said.

Since the 1979 Islamicrevolution, Iran's opposition toIsrael and support for thePalestinian cause has beencentral to its foreign policy.

The issue has again come tothe fore in recent weeks amidrumours that regional rival SaudiArabia has sought to build tieswith Israel in order to better facedown Iran's growing influence.

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Disregarding warnings fromleaders of the Muslim

world and the wider interna-tional community, PresidentDonald Trump was set toannounce on Wednesday thatthe United States recognizesJerusalem as Israel’s capital.

Trump, who had made acampaign promise on the sub-ject, was slated to make theannouncement at 1 p.m. ET(11.30 p.m. IST) and direct theState Department to initiatesteps to relocate the USEmbassy from Tel Aviv toJerusalem – a process that isexpected to take at least threeor four years.

“The President would saythat the US government recog-nises that Jerusalem is the cap-ital of Israel. He views this as arecognition of historic reality,”a senior administration officialtold reporters on Tuesdayevening.

That Jerusalem has beenthe capital of the Jewish peoplesince ancient times is bothhistoric reality and modernreality, the official said, point-ing out that the city has beenthe seat of nearly all of theIsraeli government, its min-istries, legislature and theSupreme Court since 1948.

Ahead of the projectedannouncement, Trump heldseparate telephone conversa-tions on Tuesday with IsraeliPrime Minister BenjaminNetanyahu, PalestinianAuthority President MahmoudAbbas, Jordan’s King Abdullah,Egyptian President AbdelFattah Al Sisi and Saudi KingSalman Bin Abdulaziz Al Saud.

Barring Netanyahu, theother leaders who received thephone calls have “joined amounting chorus of voiceswarning that unilateral USsteps on Jerusalem would deraila fledgling US-led peace effortand unleash turmoil in theregion,” Reuters reported, whilenoting that Israel, however,welcomes Trump’s decision.

A White House readout ofthe calls made just a passingmention on Jerusalem. In hisconversations, Trump “reaf-firmed his commitment toadvancing Israeli-Palestinianpeace talks”, and “underscoredthe importance of bilateral coop-eration with each partner toadvance peace efforts through-out the region”, the readout said,before adding in a single sen-tence: “The leaders also dis-cussed potential decisionsregarding Jerusalem.”

Amid the warnings fromseveral countries that Trump’smove would inflame passions

and kill all hopes for peace inWest Asia, the StateDepartment is “warningembassies around the world tobe alert for violence” in thewake of the announcement,media reports said.

Apart from leaders ofMuslim nations around Israel,US’s partners in Europe,including Britain, France andGermany, have all voiced theirstrong reservations overTrump’s unilateral move.

US officials, however,sought to quell fears over themove triggering a setback topeace efforts. “President Trumpremains committed to achiev-ing a lasting peace agreementbetween the Palestinians andIsrael, and is optimistic thatpeace can be achieved,” said theadministration official whilebriefing reporters.

In any event, not recognis-ing Jerusalem as capital of Israelhas done nothing to achievepeace for more than twodecades, the official suggested,adding that Trump believes adeal can still be achieved.

On the question of bound-aries, the official said that Trumprecognises that the boundariesof Israeli sovereignty are subjectto final status negotiations, not-ing: “This announcement doesnot change US policy over thesespecific borders.”

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We all reach critical points inour lives where our men-tal toughness is tested. It

might be because of a toxic friend orcolleague, a dead-end job, or astruggling relationship.

Whatever the challenge, youhave to be strong, see things througha new lens, and take decisive actionif you want to move through it suc-cessfully.

It sounds easy. We all want goodfriends, good jobs, and good rela-tionships.

It's hard to be mentally tough,especially when you feel stuck. Theability to break the mold and take abold new direction requires thatextra grit, daring, and spunk thatonly the mentally toughest peoplehave.

It's fascinating how mentallytough people set themselves apartfrom the crowd. Where others seeimpenetrable barriers, they see chal-lenges to overcome.

Mental toughness, like physicaltoughness, requires that you exercise.Learning to strengthen your mind,improving your concentration, andstaying calm will take some work,but you can get the basic skills youneed to stay strong of mind.

Recent studies show that peoplewho enjoy reading novels are moreeasily able to empathize with others,

a sign of a strong and well-roundedmind. If you want to work onincreasing your mental strength,read a variety of things that youenjoy.

Ever get the feeling that eachday looks a lot the same? As we getolder, our mental pathways aremore and more defined. Where eachsummer day seemed to last foreverwhen we were kids, the weeks peeloff more quickly as you age. Mentalstrength requires that you continuebuilding new neural pathways bylearning new things.

Social intelligence and wit areimportant parts of all-around men-tal health and well-being. If you can'tcarry on a conversation, work onyour social skills along with yourmental health building skills.

Have complicated conversationsinstead of gossiping. Talk aboutthings that are important to you, orthings that you've been learning.

Try to meet lots of differentkinds of people. If you're in school,don't stick to just one social group,but move around. If you're an adult,try to meet people from socio-eco-nomic situations different from yourown. Hang out with your plumber,and hang out with your doctor.

Try things that you're not sureyou'll be able to pull off. Decide thatyou're not only going to learn gui-

tar, but that you're going to learn toshred a fast solo note-for-note.Decide that you're not only going toplay chess, but that you're going tostudy openings and learn to play likea grandmaster. Keep working on atask until you're at the difficult set-ting.

Just as you can't build muscle byeating cake for three weeks straightbefore you start lifting at the gym,so too you can't gain mental strengthby goofing off and then focusingonly every now and then. Being con-sistent with brain exercise is moreimportant than the intensity of theworkout.

For lots of people, the chatter ofthe radio in the background, or thenoise of the television is part ofalmost every minute. If you have alot of white noise and static in yourlife, try replacing it with soft relax-ing music. Let yourself focus ondoing one thing only, instead of try-ing to entertain yourself while youwork.

It may sound overly simple, butone excellent way of focusing yourattention back to a task when youfind your mind wandering is toremind yourself, "Be here now."Don't think about what you're eat-ing for lunch, or what you're doinglater tonight, or what's going to hap-pen his weekend. Just be here now

and do what you're doing.Go into each task you perform

assuming that you will succeed.Having the right attitude will ensurethat your mind is focused in the rightplaces, staying clear of the negativethoughts that can drag you down.

To stay calm and positive, try tolet go of petty ego-driven thoughtsand concerns, and focus on what'smost important. Don't go looking forsomething to make you angry orfrustrated. Take things at face valueand don't over-think your interac-tions. Your boss probably isn't sin-gling you out and picking on youirrationally. Your friends probablyaren't spreading rumors about youbehind your back. Stay strong andbe confident.

Taking a bit of time in your dayto slow down and focus yourthoughts can help you build a strongand calm mind. Meditation doesn'thave to be a strange or mystical expe-rience, either. Just find a quiet placeand sit for 15-45 minutes each day.

Mentally tough people embracefailure because they know that theroad to success is paved with it. Noone ever experienced true successwithout first embracing failure. Byrevealing when you're on the wrongpath, your mistakes pave the way foryou to succeed. The biggest break-throughs typically come when you're

feeling the most frustrated and themost stuck. It's this frustration thatforces you to think differently, to lookoutside the box, and to see the solu-tion that you've been missing.

Mentally tough people knowthat where you focus your attentiondetermines your emotional state.When you fixate on the problemsthat you're facing, you create andprolong negative emotions andstress, which hinders performance.When you focus on actions to bet-ter yourself and your circumstances,you create a sense of personal effi-cacy, which produces positive emo-tions and improves performance.

Mentally tough people distancethemselves from their mistakes, butthey do so without forgetting them.By keeping their mistakes at a safedistance, yet still handy enough torefer to, they are able to adapt andadjust for future success.

And who knows? Maybe it is.But mentally tough people don'tworry about that because they don'tget caught up in things they can'tcontrol.

Instead of trying to start a rev-olution overnight, they focus theirenergy on directing the two thingsthat are completely within theirpower - their attention and theireffort.

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��'���6������'$�'� ����/ !��0����'� �-�$������ 0$��� 9�6* $���(��(��� ! �6 !��0��(����0������/!������0�&�$-� �-�� $ �-�7�.!�%�� $� !�$*�0��$&�($-���� -���(!$����$-��0&$�(� ��-$� � ��/9(����!�0�� !��0�7�<��.���+���.�#��. We have heard about protest

music alright. But haveyou heard of guerrilla jazz? Well,it’s another form of free expres-sion through rhythm and beatsand venting sentiments in anopen space. And music, as theysay, is beyond territoriality.“Guerrilla jazz lets us voice ourpolitical statements. We preachfreedom of movement in termsof cultures, traditions, radicalideas and creative liberty asmusicians. We don’t believe inborders and nationalism,”emphasised Kefaya band mem-ber Al Macsween.

All co-musicians of thisLondon-based group are immi-grants with a spirit of interna-tionalism. Their music isinspired by protest movements,ranging from theIsraeli–Palestinian conflict tothe anti-austerity movement inSpain, and many more. They callthemselves Kefaya, which inArabic means “enough.” Havinghad enough of world politics,they are currently in the coun-try, having performed at thePiano Man’s jazz festival a dayago.

Interestingly, the groupreleased a song in India last year,which was titled Nirbhaya(inspired by the 2012 Delhi gangrape case), and its proceeds wentto Kranti, a women’s rightsorganisation in Mumbai. AddedMacsween, “Music can lend sup-port to progressive movementsby influencing a large group ofpeople. If we look at the past, wecan’t say that musical move-ments have changed the world.However, they have contributedto the transformation of politi-cal identities. Thus, artistes’ rolecan’t be neglected.” They gavethem anthems, songs and helpedactivists and peaceniks spreadthe message across.

Composing tracks inspiredby movements comes with itsown set of challenges. BandmateGuliano Moderelli agreed: “Thebiggest challenge is to do justiceto it while moulding the themeaccording to our musical style.We don’t want to be pastiche, sowe work towards finding a common language of music. Itbegins with having a deep under-standing of the cause that leadsto an organic way of mixingstyles. Then, adapting the notesto key musical elements of thediverse genres we work in, wefigure out the meeting points ofstyles that may seem disconnect-ed.”

The band’s improvisation on

stage was a sheer treat for theaudience, which was witnessed atthe third edition of the celebrat-ed Giants of Jazz festival at ThePiano Man Jazz Club. The arenaresonated with awe-inspiringpowerful notes of protest music.Macsween divulged details, say-ing, “There are certain parts ofthe set that we compose andarrange. Namely, there is a start-ing and an end point but some-times we don’t necessarily knowhow we will reach from one tothe other. It’s exciting for us as aband to keep on experimentingin whichever way possible. Andwe like to keep an element of sur-prise for our audience.” Thismakes for spontaneity as theyinteract and exchange vibes withthe crowd.

So how did they manage toherd together? It all started whenAl Macsween, Guliano Moderelliand Joost Hendrickx met atLeeds College of music, London.What started as an avocationduring college soon turned intoa colossal dream with a name.The lineup kept on changingwith time. However, the current

lineup — Al Macsween (keys),Guliano Moderelli (acoustic gui-tar), Joost Hendrickx (drums)and Domenico Angarano (bassguitar) is five years old. Theirinclination towards protest musicbrought them together. The bandis influenced by the works of adiverse range of artists like MilesDavis, John Coltrane, NusratFateh Ali Khan, Zakir Hussain

and Aphex Twin.Kefaya’s versatility and exten-

sive knowledge of musical tradi-tions led to collaborations withinternationally acclaimedartistes, including Italian saxo-phonist Daniele Sepe, Britishvocalist Nicki Wells, Cuban jazzviolinist Omar Puente, Afghansinger Elaha Soroor, Italian folksinger Alessia Tondo, flamenco

singer Chico Perez and manyothers.

Asked how do collabora-tions like these enrich theircraft, Moderelli noted, “I thinkit exposes us to varied styles anddifferent approaches to music,which ultimately leads to a cre-ative exchange. We learn differ-ent artforms and genres alongthe way. There is a limit to what

one can learn from records butworking with accomplished aswell as new artistes opens up newdoors. It’s inspiring to see peo-ple work at that level of musical-ity.”

Macsween and Moderellihave collaborated with our ownmaestro Shankar Mahadevan onvarious projects. Sharing theirexperience, Macsween said, “He’sa phenomenal musician, greatimproviser and a powerful vocal-ist.” The London-based bandwill be travelling to Kolkata tocollaborate with vocalistDebashish Bhattacharya.

Moderelli is deeply influ-enced by Indian classical and folkmusic around the globe. He wasintroduced to music throughblues as an eight-year-old andwas deeply affected by jazz piano.Being jazz artists, they are notrestricted to only this particularform of art as they got exposedto an array of genres such as fla-menco, reggae, free jazz, Arabicmusic, Cuban music et al.

When asked how jazzchanged their lives, Moderelliwas quick to respond, “It openeddoors to improvisations and different styles of music such asfolk traditions which incorporateit. It got me inquisitive aboutother performance genres aswell. Jazz was the first genre Icame across musically and I feelthat it allows one to express oneself in a certain way. It pro-vides and creates music on thespot.”

Angarano’s father broughthim an album by John Coldreywhen he was a teen and it was,in his words, mind-blasting. “Itgot me hooked to jazz. It taughtme to raise a political voice andsupport the causes I believe in asan artist. Especially as an instru-mental musician. Consider amusician like John Coldrey, whowas deeply political throughouthis career without really compos-ing lyrics. He still found ways asan instrumentalist to expressnon-musical beliefs.”

Said Hendrickx, “I found acommunity with whom I sharea similar ideology with the helpof Guerrilla jazz. This genreallows creative freedom throughexperimentation and improvisa-tion on stage.” Macsween concluded, “Once you do jazz,you can’t go back.” Their impactwas closely felt as the audiencetapped feet to a plethora of instrumentalist songs —Terrhal, Indignados, Intifada,Raag Mala, Malestani, Passportand so on.

India’s Taj Mahal and the grandChola temples have made it tothe top ten of UNESCO

world heritage sites, according toa survey conducted by a leadingtravel website.

In fact, Shah Jahan’s memor-ial to his wife Mumtaz ranks onlysecond to Angkor Wat,Cambodia, which was crowned asthe most sought after heritagesite. Both Angkor and Tajretained their top two positionson the world list as well. Otherpopular heritage sites on the sur-vey include the Great Wall ofChina built by Xu Da of NorthernQi Dynasty in 1368 AD andSouth America’s Incan citadelMachu Picchu in Peru.

The survey, conducted byonline travel portal TripAdvisor,lists the heritage sites which arebest rated by travellers around theglobe. “You can find hundreds oftours and experiences to visit thismesmerising site, from a privatetour with guide and visit at sunset or sunrise, to a visit including a home-cooked meal ata local home in Agra,” was howthe travel portal described the Taj.

The Taj Mahal was designat-ed as a UNESCO world heritagesite in 1983. It is described as “thejewel of Islamic art in India and

one of the universally admiredmasterpieces of the world’s heritage.” The monument receiveseight mill ion visitors per year.

Government statistics, how-ever, show that every fourth foreign visitor to the country visits the Taj but there has beena decline in the number foreigntourists to the white marble mausoleum, widely consideredone of the world’s seven wonders.

The Great Living Chola tem-ples ranked 10th on the Asia list.They were built by kings of theChola Empire, which stretchedover all of south India. Theseinclude three great 11th and 12thcentury temples of Brihadisvaraat Thanjavur, the Brihadisvara atGangaikondacholisvaram and theAiravatesvara at Darasuram. Allof them, with their soaring sanc-tum towers or vimanas, intricaterecessed reliefs and colonnadedcomplexes testify to the brilliantachievements of the Cholas inarchitecture, sculpture, paintingand bronze casting. The traditionof temple worship and ritualsestablished and practised over a

thousand years ago, based on stillolder Agamic texts, continuesdaily, weekly and annually, as aninseparable part of the life of peo-ple. The survey takes particularnote of this continuity.

Similarly, the survey recom-mends that the best views ofAngkor Wat, a temple complexand the largest religious monu-

ment in the world, are at dawn ordusk. “When the crowds havegone and the lighting reveals itstrue majesty. One can even takea helicopter tour over this famedsite, discovering the ancient con-structions from above, and whichincludes a dinner and tradition-al dancer performance,” detailedthe survey.

Machu Picchu in Peru inSouth America has bagged thefourth spot with a five-day hikeof the Inca trail, the 15th centu-ry Inca citadel and much more onoffer.

Iguazu National Park inBrazil, Italy’s Sassi of Matera,Auschwitz Birkenau and historicKrakow in Poland, the old city ofJerusalem in Israel and the his-toric areas of Istanbul in Turkeyhave also made it to the list. Andwhile the focus is on Jerusalemnow, the survey recommends anunderground tour of the ancientpart of the city, which is filledwith shrines and attractions holyto Jews, Christians and Muslims,including the Western Wall,Temple Mount and the Church ofthe Holy Sepulchre.

As travellers, we can con-tribute our share by visiting theselocales which are a true legacyfrom the past and help to preserveand protect them.

The Silence Breakers —those who have shared

their stories about sexualassault and harassment —have been named Time mag-azine’s Person of the Year.

Numerous women havespoken out since Octoberabout sexual misconduct bydozens of high-profile men inentertainment, media, busi-ness and sports. The magazinepraised those who have given“voice to open secrets, formoving whisper networksonto social networks, forpushing us all to stop accept-ing the unacceptable.” Themagazine’s cover featuresAshley Judd, Taylor Swift andothers who say they had beenharassed.

The announcement wasmade Wednesday on NBC’sToday show, where longtimehost Matt Lauer was firedlast week amid harassmentallegations. Today hostSavannah Guthrie acknowl-edged Wednesday that thisyear’s winner hits “close tohome” and mentioned Lauerby name.

Women who spoke out,initially against Hollywoodmogul Harvey Weinstein andthen others, helped to spawnthe #MeToo movement, withmillions of people telling sto-ries of sexual misconduct onsocial media. The tweets,Instagram and Facebook postsbegan after actress-activistAlyssa Milano followed on asuggestion from a friend of afriend on Facebook and tweet-ed: “If you’ve been sexuallyharassed or assaulted write‘me too’ as a reply to thistweet.” The hashtag was tweet-ed nearly a million times in 48hours. #MeToo was actuallyfounded by activist TaranaBurke a decade ago to raiseawareness about sexual vio-lence. Milano has said shewasn’t aware of Burke’s contri-butions when she made herinitial tweet and has sincepublicly credited her.

Milano and Burkeappeared together Wednesdayon the Today show. “This isjust the start. I’ve been sayingfrom the beginning it’s not justa moment, it’s a movement,”

Burke said. “Now the workreally begins.”

“As women, we have tosupport each other and standtogether and say, ‘That’s it.We’re done. No more,’” Milanosaid. “It’s vital to me that wereally set in some actionablethings that we can do to con-tinue this momentum.”

The two runners-up wereChinese President Xi Jinpingand President Donald Trump,himself accused of sexual mis-conduct by numerous women.He has denied any wrongdo-ing. Trump, Person of theYear in 2016, had tweetedrecently that the magazinehad told him he “probably”would be honoured again if heagreed to an interview andphoto shoot. Trump addedthat he “took a pass.”

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Tata Power Delhi DistributionLimited (Tata Power-DDL),

India’s leading power distributioncompany and Confederation ofIndian Industry (CII) signed aMemorandum of Understanding(MoU) to jointly work towardsdesigning innovative energy effi-ciency solutions for the Indianindustrial sector.

The purpose of the MoU wasto pave the way for knowledgetransfer, information and experi-ence sharing, technical coopera-tion between the parties in thefield of Energy Efficiency andDemand Side Management. Oneof the major scope of work is topool up the expertise to implement energy efficiencyenhancement program for variouskind of industries on pan Indiabasis and work jointly on the pro-jects.

The MoU was signed betweenPraveer Sinha, CEO and MD, TataPower-DDL and ShreekantSomany, Chairman, CII Centre ofExcellence for Competitivenessfor SMEs, CII during the CIINational Competitiveness andCluster Summit.

On signing of the MoU,

Praveer Sinha, CEO and MD, TataPower-DDL said, “The collabora-tion with CII will provide us thenecessary impetus towards devel-oping innovative energy efficiency solutions for the IndianIndustries. The deployment ofprojects wil l lead to cost optimisation, operational effi-ciency and overall businessgrowth across the industrial spec-trum.”

Tata Power-DDL, the onlyPower Distribution company inIndia, is empanelled as Grade - 1ESCO with Bureau of EnergyEfficiency (BEE). The companyhas been conferred with theCertif icate of Merit in theElectricity DistributionCompanies (DISCOM) Sector byBEE at the National EnergyConservation Award – 2016. TataPower-DDL has also been award-ed numerous accolades for imple-menting energy-eff iciencyimprovement projects, includingthe Innovative Financing andESCO Model at National EnergyEfficiency Circle Competition2017 organised by theConfederation of Indian Industry(CII)

The institute of CompanySecretaries of India (ICSI),

a pioneer in taking various ini-tiatives towards nation build-ing has announced a 100 percent fees refund scheme formeritorious and economical-ly weaker students registeringin CS course in December2017, in its Foundation andExecutive programme.

This initiative of the ICSIduring its golden jubilee yearis to bring the meritorious stu-dents as well as economicallyweaker students who cannotafford higher education, to themainstream, by providing freeregistration to pursue highereducation course like the pres-tigious CompanySecretaryship (CS) course,

The fee refund schemewill be open for all students forthe month of December andwill be applicable for the mer-itorious students who haveattained 70 per cent marks in12th class examinations forfoundation stage and similarrefund if they attain 60 percent in Graduation for exec-utive stage and for economi-cally weaker students who

have attained 55 per centmarks in 10+2 examinationsfor foundation stage and sim-ilar refund if they attain 50 percent in Graduation for exec-utive stage. This refund shallbe through ICSI’s SEFT (Students Education FundTrust) and all subsequent ben-efits for conditional fee refundthereafter shall be given tosuch students.

This is a major step takenby the institute in promotingexcellence in CorporateGovernance including vari-ous other path breaking ini-tiatives taken by the institutefor the inclusive growth ofyouth .

CS (Dr) Shyam Agrawal,President, ICSI said thatthrough this upbeat move, theinstitute is expecting toempower the meritorious stu-dents who are economicallyweaker. He also urged themembers of the institute topropagate this initiativeamongst the prospective stu-dents to reach out to themeritorious and economical-ly deprived sections of thesociety.

After a gap of nearly 10 years KhadiManthan, a two-day workshop was

held for the Chairmen/CEOs of stateKhadi and Village Industries Boards andstate directors of Khadi and VillageIndustries Commission (KVIC).Initiating the workshop, the Minister ofState (I/C) for Micro, Small and MediumEnterprises, Giriraj Singh, laid stress ontechnological intervention for the com-prehensive growth of Khadi. “EvenMahatma Gandhi was not against it. Ifthe traditional form of Charkha can bringfreedom for the nation some eightdecades ago, the solar and eight-spindledCharkha can certainly bring out econom-ic transformation at present,” he said,adding, “It is really a matter of concernthat we don't have proper mapping forour goal for Khadi.”

Advocating for villages with completeemployment through Khadi ReformDevelopment Programme of Charkhaand Production, the minister said that thetime has come to give up the septuage-narian model of government aids system.“We need to develop the self sustainablemodel, oriented to the growth of theentrepreneurs,” he added.

The KVIC Chairman, Vinai KumarSaxena, in his welcome address, said thatwith the push given by Prime MinisterNarendra Modi, Khadi has taken a leapfrom fashion to economic transformationin the recent past. Appealing the partic-ipants to pull up their socks to ensuretangential growth of Khadi, Saxena saidthat much more can be done to attractthe corporate houses with latest designintervention. “We are committed for theeconomic independence of our arti-sans. For that, we need to enhance thewages for these jewels of India. And, onlyextensive and comprehensive marketingcan ensure their economic sustenance,”he said, adding, “We are already on thejob to develop one-spindle Charkha tosix and eight-spindle, for finer and del-icate signature fabric.”

Saxena also said that taking seriousnotes of Prime Minister’s appeal for SweetRevolution, KVIC had set a target of dis-tribution of at least one lakh bee-boxesacross the country till March 2018. “Itwill not ensure better job opportunitiesfor rural folk, rather it will also increasethe yield of different crops in the sur-rounding areas,” he said.

In this two-day symposium, theChairmen/CEOs of state Khadi andVillage Industries Boards and state direc-tors of Khadi and Village IndustriesCommission (KVIC) would share theirviews about the growth of Khadi andVillage Industries, besides discussing theproblems of this sector. They would alsocome up with the Vision 2022 documentsseparately for Khadi and VillageIndustries.

The Airports Authority of India is construct-ing a new state-of -the-art terminal build-

ing with passenger handling capacity of 4.5 mil-lion at the cost of �800 crores in order to meetthe ever increasing passenger traffic at Patna air-port. The airport was originally designed forhandling 0.7 million passengers. With thetremendous growth in aviation in the past fewyears, the airport has handled 2.11 million pas-sengers in the year 2016-17. I

The construction work for the new termi-nal building will start from April, 2018. Thisnew terminal building at Patna Airport willtake care of 2250 passengers during peak hour.

In addition to this, a new terminal build-ing at Bihita with a passenger handlingcapacity of 5 million is also planned at the totalcost of �800 crores. The work for construc-tion will commence from September, 2018.

Meanwhile, Airport Director, Patna, hastaken various steps to ease the congestion interminal building and Security Hold Area(SHA). A temporary structure with seatingcapacity of 300 passengers has been erectedoutside the terminal building. Additionalfrisking booth has been added in securitycheck which is operational during peakhours. The work for the expansion of SHA onthe first floor will be completed by March2018. It will also include an additional board-ing gate which will be operational fromFebruary 2018.

Charitable entities, in theirvaried forms and formats,

being governed by a variety oflegislations have played a keyrole in the growth and devel-opment of the nation.However, the recent allega-tions and revelations in termsof the misuse of these entitieshave been eye-openers.

The Institute of CompanySecretaries of India while real-ising the gap in governanceand understanding the needfor transparency and full dis-closure in such form of organ-isations has with the help of adedicated core group, devel-oped a code titled, the Code forCharity Governance. Theintent behind formulation ofsuch a code comprising prin-ciples, covering almost allareas of governance of suchentities is to, while strengthen-ing accountability and internalcontrol systems in such enti-ties, support the higher goalsof national governance.

The Code for CharityGovernance was recentlyreleased during the GoldenJubilee Year – 45th National

Convention of CompanySecretaries by Sadhguru,founder Isha foundation. Itcomprises a total of nine guid-ing principles. Each principleincludes a set of guidelineswhich shall support theachievement of the core prin-ciple.

CS (Dr) Shyam Agrawal,President, of the Institute ofCompany Secretaries of India(ICSI) while entrusting signif-

icance upon the role of vari-ous organisations in nationalgovernance stated that, “AtICSI, our efforts have alwaysbeen to redefine the way ourcorporate practices are under-taken, specifically with stresson improving corporate gov-ernance norms. The expecta-tions of the Prime MinisterNarendra Modi include ICSIplaying a significant role inestablishing an honest busi-

ness culture in the country by2022. Developing Code forCharity Governance is a stepahead in this regard. Thoughvoluntary in nature, theInstitute shall propagate theadoption of the code by send-ing it to all the charitable enti-ties across the nation.

While being applicableto all registered entities receiv-ing grants and donations forcarrying out charitable activ-ities for the benefit of the pub-lic at large, the objectives offorming the code include thefollowing:

�To provide for a set ofguiding principles and stan-dards for the entities estab-lished for charitable purposesirrespective of their format ofestablishment.

�To provide a set of prin-ciples to streamline the exist-ing systems and procedures inplace thereby bringing aboutdiscipline in the functioning ofcharitable entities.

�To strengthen trans-parency, accountability andthe internal control systems inthese entities.

The Soil Health Card (SHC)scheme was launched inIndia in February 2015 in

Rajasthan with the objective toprovide information on soilhealth to all 120 million farmholdings in the country. In thefirst phase (2015-2017), 100 mil-lion SHC have been distributed tofarmers so far. SHC app waslaunched for the convenience ofthe farmers. This app will bene-fit field-level workers. CelebratingWorld Soil Day, Agriculture andFarmers Welfare Minister, RadhaMohan Singh said that the objec-tive of SHC is to provide informa-tion about the soil health to 120million farm holdings in thecountry.

The Minister said that SoilHealth Card mobile app hasbeen launched to help the farm-ers. The app will benefit field-levelworkers as it will automaticallycapture GIS coordinates whileregistering details at the time ofsample collection in the field andindicate the location from wherethe sample has been collected.

This app works like otherGeo-tagging apps developed forthe Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana.The app contains farmers’ detailsincluding name, Aadhaar cardnumber, mobile number, gender,address, crop details and manymore.

The Minister added that SHCinforms farmers about nutrientsstatus of the soils along with therecommendation on appropriatedosage of nutrients to improvesoil health and fertility. A farmwill get the soil card once in everytwo years so that nutrients defi-ciency can be regularly detectedand improved. And the extensiveuse of fertilisers damages the

fields and reduces production. Heinformed that in the first phase(2015-17) 100 million SHCs havebeen distributed so far. The aimof the Ministry is to provide SHCto all 120 million farm holdingsby December, 2017. The secondphase began on May 1, 2017, andwill continue for the year 2017 to2019.

Agriculture Minister saidthat the key features of SoilHealth Card include a uniformapproach to collect samples andtest them in the laboratory, cov-ering all the land in the countryand renew SHC every two years.This scheme is being implement-

ed in collaboration with State gov-ernments. GPS based soil samplecollection has been made com-pulsory to monitor the changes insoil and to prepare a systematicdatabase to compare them withthe past years’. The Minister fur-ther said the online registrationof samples and test results areuploaded on the National Portalof the SHC. Based on the testresults, the system automaticallycalculates the recommendations.

He said that Soil Health Cardis prepared in 14 local languagesand distributed to the farmers. Heexpressed happiness over thepreparation of SHC in the local

dialect. Now the SHC can be pre-pared in local dialects such asKumaoni, Garhwali, Khasi, andGaro. He said that farmers shoulduse nutrients on their farms as perthe recommendations in the card.This will reduce the cost of pro-duction and increase the outputand income of the farmers.

He informed that the SHCportal has been linked to theIntegrated Fertiliser ManagementSystem (IFMS) and distributionof fertilizers has started in 16 dis-tricts on the basis Soil HealthCard recommendation as a pilotscheme.

On the occasion of World

Soil Day, programmes are beingorganised in all the districts at thestate level to generate awarenessabout soil health. Talking aboutthe progress of SHC distributionin Haryana, the Ministerinformed that in the first phase,the aim was to distribute SHCto 43.6 lakh farmers and so far28.92 lakh farmers have beenprovided SHC. The remainingare being distributed. To pro-mote SHC, various initiativesare being organized by stategovernments and ICAR, itsinstitutions and Krishi VigyanKendras to promote Soil HealthCard scheme.

Coming down heavily onthose officials found

indulging in corrupt prac-tices, a Railway ProtectionForce constable who wasposted at New Delhi railwaystation was placed byNorthern Railway authoritiesunder suspension and adepartmental inquiry wasinitiated against him after hewas found in possession ofexcess cash vis-à-vis theamount that he had declaredwhile reporting for duty ashis personal money. Ministerof Railways has been reiter-ating the need to upholdhonesty in all facets of rail-way working.

General Manager,Vishwesh Chaube has beenrepeatedly emphasising theneed to bring about trans-parency in the working ofNorthern Railway and hasissued directives to deal withthose indulging in malprac-tices in a very strict manner.To drive home his point, herecently conducted a sur-prise inspection of cateringarrangements in the pantry

car and reservation status ofpassengers travelling byDibrugarh Rajdhani andrandomly checked the qual-ity of food that was to beserved to passengers of thistrain.

Reacting swiftly to atweet by a rail passengerwho had complained about‘seat cornering’ by RPF, GRPand others in general coach-es of Vaishali Express atNew Delhi Railway Station,AN Mishra, Additional ChiefSecurity Commissioner/RPF/NR himself conducteda surprise check at PF num-ber 8 at the departure time ofVaishali Express. He reachedthe platform incognito so asto catch the alleged perpetra-tors of the crime red-hand-ed. CCTV footage of bothDecember 2 and 3 werescanned very closely by theabove senior officer himself.The behaviour of said con-stable whose was found to besuspicious and while he wasstill on duty at the stationwas summoned by the officer.

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With the sun finally shiningbrightly at the Feroz ShahKotla stadium for the final

day of the third Test between India andSri Lanka, the visitors produced anoth-er solid batting performance to draw thegame and thereby keep India's victorymargin in the series to 1-0. As a resultthe home team collected its ninth suc-cessive series victory on Wednesday.

Chasing a target of 410, theLankans lost only two wickets in theentire day and had reached a score of299/5 after battling for 103 overs in theirsecond innings when the two teamsdecided to bring curtains down on thegame and the series.

The star of the day for the visitorswas Dhananjaya de Silva (119 retiredhurt) with his brilliant hundred.Debutant Roshan Silva (74*) alsoplayed a major role in taking his teamto safety.

It was clear right from the begin-ning of the game that Indian bowlerswill have to work really hard to get theremaining seven wickets for victory.The pitch had hardly deteriorated andthe ball was coming on to the bat nice-ly, both against seamers and spinners.

Overnight batsmen de Silva andAngelo Matthews set out on the task ofrescuing their team after they suffereda mini-collapse towards the end of Day4. India got the early breakthrough theywanted with Jadeja getting a delivery tospin and bounce sharply, a rare occur-rence on this wicket, and picking up theprized scalp of Matthews in the 22ndover. At 35/4, the Lankan fans musthave feared another humiliation at thehands of the Indians but their captain,fresh off a career-best score in the firstinnings, brought calmness to the wick-et. Chandimal was looking in fine formagain and was dealing with both seamand spin bowlers without much diffi-culty.

De Silva, who got to his fifty in 92balls, gave his skipper good companyand the two put up a 50-run partner-ship in 89 balls.

Ravichandran Ashwin was bowlinga bit short allowing the batsmen to playhim off the back-foot most of the time.

Something special was needed tobreak this flow and it came in the formof a magnificent delivery from Jadeja

which turned sharply to beatChandimal's outside edge and clip theoff stump. Alas, it turned out to be a no-ball!

But the Indian spinners did causesome difficulty which the batsmencountered by stepping out often. Theysurvived and took their team to lunchat the score of 119/4.

After lunch, the pair used their pos-itive footwork to keep the Indianbowlers at bay until Ashwin bowled aregulation off break to whichChandimal charged and allowed theball to spin through the gap between hisbat and pad to hit the stumps.

The Lankan captain departed for36 off 90 balls after putting up a part-nership of 112 for the fifth wicket.

The wicket was achieved off a deliv-ery bowled outside the off stump — thetraditional off spinners' line — but forsome strange reason, instead of bowl-ing this, he kept bowling a straight line.

He then went round the wicket tode Silva and tried to tie him up for runs.The plan succeeded to some extent asthe batsman tried to break free andcharged down the wicket and smashedthe ball back at him where the tweak-er couldn't hold on to the difficult catch.

Apart from this half-chance, thespinners weren't causing much troubleas only the odd ball was turning.Ashwin was even going for runs.

Debutant Roshen Silva, coming in

to bat after Chandimal's wicket gavevaluable support to de Silva and the twoprevented India from making furtherinroads for a substantial time.

With the slower bowlers lookingineffective and the new ball not too far

away, Kohli decided to experiment bybringing himself and Murali Vijayinto the attack.

At this crucial juncture, Lankareceived a big blow with the centurionde Silva, who was in some physical dis-comfort and receiving treatment for it,was forced to leave the field due to mus-cle strain.

Kohli sensed an opening andbrought Ashwin and Jadeja back to cap-italize on the opportunity.

But Niroshan Dickwella, the newbatsman, and Silva remained positiveand blunted the Indian spinners attackonce again.

Therefore, Kohli had no hesitationin taking the new ball as soon as it wasavailable. The Lankans entered the finalsession with the score at 226/5 and abatsman down with injury. The spellsof Ishant and Shami with the new ballassumed great importance.

Dickwella, not able to curb hisattacking instincts, played an expansivedrive against Ishant which resulted inan edge that flew past the slip cordon.Another nick from him went throughthe gap between third slip and gully.

But Silva was looking assured at theother end and Dickwella was gettingbetter also. The Indian seamers, on theirpart, were bowling a bit wide and withthere being no great movement forthem, the Lankan batsmen seemed tobe in no great trouble.

Thus after seven overs from seam-ers, Kohli went back to Jadeja and fourovers later brought Ashwin on as well.This was the last roll of the dice for theIndians.

Ashwin looked as innocuous asbefore but Jadeja created some oppor-tunities. Twice, Wriddhiman Sahamissed a stumping opportunity offeredby Dickwella off his bowling.

Dickwella seemed to develop astrange obsession with sweeping thespinners in spite of constantly failing inthe process. Apart from this, the bats-men looked safe and with just over half-an-hour remaining in the game, Kohlidecided to settle for a draw.

India won the series but the 1-0score line is probably not what theyexpected. Virat Kohli was, unsurpris-ingly, both the man of the match andman of the series.

The biggest disappointment forIndia was the performance of the twospinners. While Jadeja (38-13-81-3) wasdoing his usual job of bowling a tightline and length and even got the oddball to turn and bounce, Ashwin (35-3-126-1) was unable to build any pres-sure. His persistence with bowlingstump to stump and also, has been hisproblem in the past, excessive experi-mentation made him quite ineffective.

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India's prolific No 3Cheteshwar Pujara defended

his bowlers and said it was thenature of the Kotla pitch thatwas responsible for the team notachieving victory.

"Overall we have bowledreally well, especially in this Testmatch considering the wicket.We were expecting this pitch todeteriorate a little more on dayfour and five but, maybe becauseof the weather, it remained a flatwicket. There wasn't much helpfor the spinners in the last twodays," Pujara told mediapersonsin the post-match conference.

He further expanded on theissue and described the lack ofsharpness from spin bowlers asa one-off occurrence.

"If you look at the numberof wickets they have taken, it'sremarkable. In this home season,they have been the most difficultspinners for any opposition.This is one-odd game wherethere wasn't much assistance. InIndia, on any other pitch on Dayfive, there will be a lot more helpfor them," the Saurashtra bats-man asserted.

India were very generouswith their slip-catching in theKotla Test. Pujara accepted theflaw but also revealed what theteam is doing about it.

"We are having a chat aboutthe slip fielding issue. There aresome players who will be therethroughout the away tours. We'llprepare those few players for thetask. We'll also discuss the issuewhen we get there. But we havealready started talking about it,"the 29-year old explained.

Looking ahead to the toughoverseas tour of South Africa onwhich the Indian team embarksin the near future, the centuri-on from the first game thought

that the experience of havingplayed in the country beforewould be useful for him andother players. "We have enoughexperience of being in SouthAfrica. I have been there a cou-ple of times. Many of the play-ers in this team were on the 2013tour. So that experience will def-initely help us. Also, our fastbowling unit is much better nowand I think fast bowlers will dothe damage," Pujara stated con-fidently.

He also took a dig at theProteas' batting line-up.

"The South African battingis not what it used to be at onetime. That will give us someadvantage."

Pujara, who was droppedfrom the Test team last year inWest Indies, seemingly becauseof his batting style, refuted theclaim that he has been asked tobat differently.

"I was always allowed to batthe way I want. The ultimategoal of any team is to win a Testmatch and when we play for theIndian team, its always aboutscoring runs and when it comesto test cricket we take it very seri-ously and we always try to winas many matches as we possiblycan. We will look to win theseries in South Africa," a smil-ing Pujara concluded by saying.

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The Indian Premier League'sGoverning Council on

Wednesday cleared the decks for MS Dhoni's return to Chennai SuperKings by allowing teams to buy backa maximum of five players at the auc-tion next year. Effectively, the IPLGoverning Council has enabled CSKand Rajasthan Royals, the two fran-chises which will make a comebackto the league in the 2018 edition afterserving a two-year suspension foralleged spot-fixing and betting, toretain the players which were on their

2015 roster.Dhoni had played for the Rising

Pune Supergiants (RPS) in the lasttwo editions but now can go back toCSK with the decision taken by theIPL Governing Council here. He wasCSK's captain at the time of its sus-pension.

"An IPL Franchise is eligible tosecure up to five players by virtue ofa combination of Player Retention(Pre Player Auction) and Right toMatch (RTM) (During the PlayerAuction)," BCCI Acting SecretaryAmitabh Choudhary said.

"The player pool available for

CSK and RR for retention/RTM willbe the players' who played for themrespectively in IPL 2015 and whowere part of RPS and Gujarat Lionssquads in IPL 2017," he added.

RTM refers to a franchise's rightto match the highest bidder for a play-er it is interested in.

CSK and Rajasthan Royals weresuspended owing to the 2013 spot-fixing scandal, which shook theleague to its core and allegedlyinvolved not just players but alsosome top officials of the two fran-chises. The IPL Governing Councilalso hiked the salary budget of the

franchises from �66 crore to �80 crorefor the next year's auction, tentative-ly set for February. For 2019 and 2020,the cap will be increased to Rs 82 and�85 crore respectively.

Regarding the the rules on retain-ing players, a total of �33 crore fromthe �80 crore purse will be deductedif three players are retained by thefranchise before the auction.

To further explain the math, thefirst player to be retained pre-auctionwill get �15 crore, the second play-er will get �11 crore and and third �seven crore. Therefore, the team thatretains all three players will go into

the auction with a reduced purse of�47 crore.

Top players such as Virat Kohli,who turned up for Royal ChallengersBangalore till this season, will mostlikely come in the �15 crore brack-et as they will be the most soughtafter by their old teams.

"The minimum spend will be 75per cent of the salary cap for each sea-son," the BCCI stated.

The minimum auction reserveprice of uncapped players has alsobeen raised with the upper limitincreased to �40 lakh from �30lakh. For the capped players, who

were earlier bracketed in the �30 lakhand �50 lakh category, the new baseprice will be �50 lakh and �75 lakhrespectively.

IPL chairman Rajiv Shukla saidall decisions were taken after reach-ing a consensus with the teams.

"Almost six out of eight teamswanted about 6 to 8 retentions. In away, we have found a middle path(with the possibility of buying backfive players through retention orRTM)," said Shukla.

He further said that auctionwill be held in the last week ofJanuary or early February.

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Pacemen Mitchell Starc andJosh Hazlewood spearheaded

Australia to a crushing 120-runwin over England to open up a 2-0 lead in the five-Test Ashes seriesin Adelaide on Wednesday.

Hazlewood snuffed outEngland's outside hopes of acome-from-behind victory whenhe dismissed captain Joe Root inthe third over of the final day ofthe first-ever day-night AshesTest.

Starc mopped up the tail tofinish with five for 88.

Holders England now facethe prospect of losing the series innext week's third Test at Perth's

WACA Ground where they havenot won a Test since 1978.

"We always had the faith in theteam and the belief," Australiaskipper Steve Smith said.

"We thought if we could comeout and bowl well this morning,hit our lengths and get one or twowickets then things can happenquickly."

While Root was battingEngland's hopes lingered of bring-ing off a record run chase of 345at Adelaide Oval.

But Hazlewood enticed a bot-tom edge and wicketkeeper TimPaine did the rest to the unre-strained glee of the Australianteam.

Root left the field on his

overnight score of 67 and with himEngland's hopes vanished.

"Disappointing. I don't thinkwe did ourselves justice," Rootsaid. "We're still massively in theseries. We showed that from theway we played yesterday.

"That has to be the benchmarkhow we approach the rest of theseries."

Nightwatchman ChrisWoakes was out to the second ballof the day, caught behind offHazlewood for five.

Woakes sought a review andwhile the 'Hot Spot' infrared imag-ing system could not find any-thing, the 'Snicko' sound-videotechnology detected an edge andthe umpire's decision was upheld.

Nathan Lyon got the wicket offellow off-spinner Moeen Ali forthe fourth time in the series, legbefore wicket as he attempted tosweep when on two.

That left England lurchingtowards defeat on 188 for sevenafter 45 minutes of play on thefinal day.

Craig Overton stayed aroundfor 39 minutes before he fell lbwto a Starc inswinger for seven withthe first delivery of the second newball. Starc had Stuart Broad caughtbehind for eight and finished offthe Test just before tea bowlingJonny Bairstow for 36.

England entered the final day178 runs from victory with sixwickets in hand after a dramatic

momentum switch on Tuesday.Australia dismissed England

for 227 on Monday but decidedagainst sending them back in tobat despite holding a 215-runfirst innings lead.

The tourists subsequently skit-tled out the Australians for 138,leaving them with a chance ofchasing down a record 354-runvictory target in the final five ses-sions of play.

Skipper Root led a spiritedEnglish fightback and relishedthe challenge of a record run chasewith a fighting unbeaten half-cen-tury. The highest winning fourthinnings at the Adelaide Ovalremains 315 for six by Australiaagainst England in 1902.

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Hosts India produced a spir-ited performance to stun

Olympic silver medallistBelgium in the shoot-out andprogress to the semifinals of theHockey World League (HWL)final after both the teams werelocked at 3-3 at the end of reg-ulation time, here onWednesday.

Warming the bench formost part of the match, goal-keeper Akash Chikte dishedout a superb performance tohand India their first win of thetournament, a win that willerase all their wrongdoing of thepool stages.

It was a great exhibition ofattacking hockey from boththe sides as the regulationtime yielded as many as sixgoals, three each from eitherside.

While Gurjant Singh (31stminute), Harmanpreet Singh(35th) and Rupinderpal Singh(46th) were the goal scorersfor India, Belgium's goalscame from the sticks of LoickLuypaert (39th, 46th) andAmaury Keusters (53rd).

But Chikte, who wasbrought into action in the47th minute, produced fourbrilliant saves in the shoot-outthat went to sudden death toseal the famous win for India.

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After playing three successivedraws, debutant Jamshedpur

FC won their first Indian SuperLeague match, defeating home teamDelhi Dynamos 1-0 at the JawaharlalNehru Stadium, here on Friday.

A solitary goal by NigerianAzuka Izu in 60th minute wasenough to seal the faith of the matchas home side never made any threat-ening claims to score.

After a dull first half where bothteams struggled to entertain thecrowd with slow football, things tooka turn for the good in the second halfafter Delhi's Pratik Choudharyfouled striker Azuka inside the box.However, the glorious chance toscore the first goal of the season forhis club was agonisingly wasted bydefender Andre Bikey. Shot-stopper

Albino Gomes make a dive to hisright to save a weak shot by theCameroonian.

But the disappointment soonturned into joy for the travelling side

as Azu Izuka headed in the first goalfrom close range. The goal resultedfrom a pin-point indirect free-kicktaken by Mehtab Hussain to theNigerian, who calmly lobbed it overthe goalkeeper.

Jamshedpur's substituteSameegh Doutie had a gloriouschance to score another goal for histeam after he ran free from the cen-tre towards Delhi's goalpost with justsubstitute goalkeeper Sukhadev Patilto beat but a delay in decision mak-ing allowed centre-back GabrielCichero to track back and blockDoutie's shot.

Earlier, Dynamos keeping mostof the ball possession (66 percent)and Jamshedpur defending deep innumbers, the first half turned out tobe a dull affair. Aware of the threatthat Delhi is capable of creating fromthe flanks, Coppell set up a defensive

4-4-2 formation which blocked thespaces for the Dynamos' wingers.

Chhangte, back in starting line-up after the last game, won a lot offree-kicks for his side as he wasfouled often. Delhi looked threat-ening from those opportunities asPaulinho delivered some accuratefree-kicks inside the box. But goodgoalkeeping by Subrata Paul and adisallowed goal because of offsidecame to Jamshedpur's rescue early inthe match.

Jamshedpur, who came into thematch looking for their first goal ofthe season, looked threatening fromthe counter-attacks they created.The best chance for them arrived in22nd minute after Memo won theball from Chhangte in the midfieldand played Bikas Jairu free on left.His cross was shot inches wide off thepost by striker Azuka Izu.

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