˘ˇˆ ˙ ˝ ˘ˇ ˇ ˆ ˚ ˆ ˘ˇ ˇ ˆ˘ ! "! # The agreements were$ ! % $ & ’ ( ˆ$ ˆ˘ ˆ )...

16
I n a sensational revelation that ignited an instant war of words between the ruling BJP and Opposition Congress on Thursday, incarcerated Lashkar-e-Tayyeba (LeT) oper- ative David Coleman Headley told a special court that Ishrat Jehan, who was killed in an encounter with the Gujarat Police in 2004, was a member of LeT and indirectly suggest- ed that she could have been a suicide bomber. In the light of the revela- tions the BJP sought an apol- ogy from the Congress leader- ship for deliberately “targeting” and indulging in “politics of revenge” against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Amit Shah over Ishrat Jehan’s killing and “politicising” a seri- ous issue pertaining to nation- al security. Meanwhile, in a couple of other revelations made on the third day of his deposition before the court of Additional Sessions Judge GA Sanap, Headley identified LeT opera- tive Abdul Aziz as one of the persons involved in the attack on the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) in Bengaluru in December, 2005 and said that he had surveyed four sites to zero in on the landing spot for terrorists arriving from Pakistan. Headley, who was deposing via video-conferenc from the United States in the trial of key conspirator of the Mumbai attacks case Zabiuddin Ansari alias Abu Jundal, revealed that he had received money from both the LeT and Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) of Pakistan while carrying out reconnais- sance for the 26/11 attacks and that Al Qaeda had appre- ciated his work. He told the court that he knew Ilyas Kashmiri, who was once con- sidered to be a possible suc- cessor of Osama bin Laden. While responding to a series of queries posed by Special Public Prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam on a “botched-up” terror oper- ation in Gujarat in 2004, Headley confirmed the name of Ishrat Jehan as the female LeT member who was killed in a “shoot-out with the police”. This is not the first time that Headley has made a rev- elation that Ishrat was a mem- ber of the LeT. He had made a similar statement before the National Investigation Agency (NIA) team, which had visited the US in October 2010 to quiz him. The main difference this time around is that he has made this revela- tion before a court. Related reports on P5 W ith concerns over global econo- my and mounting huge bad loans, bear hug tightens, experienced a bloody carnage on Dalal Street on Thursday. The rout was so deep that the benchmark Sensex’s crash shocked the market by falling 807 points to drop below 23,000-mark, almost sinking to its lowest level in 21 months as eighth biggest single-day fall and wiped off over 3 lakh crore from the wealth of panic-stricken investors. NSE’s Nifty also saw its biggest fall in six months to end at the same 21-month low of 6,976.35. Following such sharp fall in equities amid foreign capital outflows, the Rupee too plummeted by 45 paise on the same day to end at an over 29- month low of 68.30 a dollar on fresh demand for the US currency from banks and importers. Reasoning mixed factors for the fall of the market, the bank stocks were the most hit, while investors continued to desert state-run lenders with stocks plunging by up to 11 per cent amid concerns over mounting bad loans and disappointing earnings reported by respective banks. In fact, the Sensex closed by 807.07 points down at 22,951.83 — a new low for the index during the cur- rent NDA regime and the lowest since May 8, 2014 — when the Lok Sabha elections were underway that saw BJP-led alliance sweeping to power. However, the Government is at face-saving mode, saying the fall in market benchmarks this year has been just about 10 per cent as against much higher declines in other markets and the Sensex has come off more than 23 per cent from its all-time peak of over 30,000, scaled nearly a year ago on March 4, 2015. Trying to calm jittery investors, Economic Affairs Secretary Shaktikanta Das, however has claimed that the decline in stock markets in India is not as bad as in some other countries and the Government is pre- pared to deal with challenges ema- nating from global developments. L ance Naik Hanumanthappa Koppad’s grim battle for life ended on Thursday morn- ing at the Army Research and Referral Hospital (R&R) as he succumbed to multi-organ fail- ure. The braveheart was on ventilator support since Tuesday when he was airlifted from Siachen glacier. He slipped into a deep coma on Wednesday. Koppad, 33, was found alive under more than 35 feet of ice and snow by Army and Indian Air Force rescue teams on Monday, six days after an ice wall collapsed on the pre-fab- ricated cabin at the Sonam post located at a height of 19,600 feet on February 3, burying ten soldiers. While Koppad survived, nine other soldiers could not make it. The Army was unable to bring the bodies of the nine sol- diers to New Delhi on Thursday as a blizzard at the world’s highest battlefield has made it impossible for heli- copters to fly. If the weather permits, their bodies will be brought to the national Capital on Friday. All the soldiers were from the Madras Regiment. An air pocket inside the post helped Koppad survive in temperatures hovering at minus 30 degrees Celsius till the res- cue teams reached him. G haziabad Police has launched a massive opera- tion to trace a 24-year-old woman executive working for online shopping portal Snapdeal who is believed to have been kidnapped while returning home after finishing her shift at 8.30 pm on Wednesday. Police are also looking for two men and the driver of an auto-rick- shaw allegedly involved in the abduction of the woman. The executive, identified as Dipti Sarna who works at Snapdeal’s Gurgaon office, usu- ally took the Delhi Metro up to Vaishali Station in Ghaziabad, and from there, an auto-rickshaw to her house in Kavi Nagar, that is at a distance of around eight kms from the station. On Wednesday night, Dipti left the Vaishali Station around 8.30 pm, took a shared auto- rickshaw in which a woman and two men were already sit- ting and phoned her father Narendra Sarna to tell him that she was on her way home. The auto-rickshaw had travelled a distance of three to four km when the two male passengers forced the woman co-passenger sitting alongside Dipti to get down near Mohan Nagar intersection and the dri- ver turned the auto-rickshaw in the wrong direction. Sensing trouble, Dipti called her father to inform him about the situation but her cellphone was allegedly snatched from her in the middle of the con- versation and switched off. When repeated attempts by her family to contact Dipti failed, her father reached the local police station with some politicians and informed the Ghaziabad Police about his daughter’s abduction. “Dipti had taken a shared auto-rickshaw from Vaishali Metro Station on Wednesday night to her house in Kavi Nagar area. Near the Mohan Nagar intersection, a woman passenger travelling with Dipti was forced to get off by two male passengers and then the driver fled with the victim. We have registered her father’s com- plaint under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code and sev- eral police teams have been put on the job to trace her where- abouts and that of the auto-rick- shaw driver and the two men with him,” said Salman Taj Patil, the Superintendent of Police (City). I n order to give strong base to their comprehensive strategic partnership, India and the United Arab Emirates on Thursday signed seven agree- ments in the areas of cyber security, renewable energy, investment in infrastructure, space cooperation, insurance, culture and skill development. The agreements were signed following a meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan at the Prime Minister’s residence. The talks between two leaders also covered ways to contain radicalism, step- ping up counter-terrorism cooperation and dealing with the ISIS. Besides, Food Secrurity, maritime security, oil trade were some other issues that were discussed. During the meeting, Al Nahyan praised the contribution of Indian com- munity in the UAE. The two countries will issue a joint statement on Friday. Earlier, Al Nahyan was accorded a ceremonial wel- come in the forecourt of the Rashtrapati Bhavan. The Prime Minister, Home Minister Rajnath Singh and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley were pre- sent on the occasion. “An exceptional tete-a-tete. PM meets the Crown Prince for a restricted meeting at 7RCR before talks in the evening,” Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Vikas Swarup tweeted. Al Nahyan, is also the Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE armed forces, will travel to Mumbai on Friday to met the business heads of India and UAE and discuss ways to improve trade and investment between two countries. Two agreements, on cur- rency swapping and one between Dubai Economic Council and Export Import Bank of India will be signed in Mumbai on Friday. T he elite counter-terror force National Security Guard (NSG) is revisiting its Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) in the wake of the Pathankot airbase terror attack. Apart from other things, the force will revise the strategy to handle bodies of slain terrorists. Revision of the SOPs comes following the death of Lt-Col Niranjan Kumar after the NSG neutralised all the terrorists during Pathankot operation. According to the prevalent SOPs for sanitising bodies of killed terrorist, a commando with a bomb suit is supposed to approach the body and fix a hook to it attached with long rope. With the help of the rope, the body is moved left and right, and if there is a booby trap it explodes in the process. In the Pathankot operation, all the SOPs relating to han- dling of bodies of slain terror- ists were followed, the body was turned left and right with a long rope and it was presumed that there is no IED. “However, there was a grenade concealed tightly inside a pouch. The pin of the grenade had already been removed by the terrorists. As soon as the pouch was opened, the grenade went off claiming Lt-Col Niranjan Kumar’s life,” NSG Director General RC Tayal told The Pioneer on the sidelines of an international seminar on Improvised Explosive Device which was attended by experts and law enforcement agencies from 13 countries. Tayal emphasised that Lt- Col Kumar followed the laid down SOPs but “the incident happened as the terrorists also keep on changing their tactics to outsmart us.” “We keep updating all procedures but there is always scope for improvement. We are taking measures so that incident like the one in which Lt-Col Kumar was martyred does not repeat,” he said. O dd-even scheme is set to make a comeback on April 15 this year after the Board examinations are over. The scheme will last for 16 days this time and will end on April 30. Unlike last time, however, schools will remain open dur- ing Odd-Even 2.0, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said on Thursday. While the Government is planning to review the penal- ty amount for odd-even viola- tions, all the 26 exemptions that were announced for the first edition of the scheme will stay this time as well, Kejriwal said. The Government is also planning to hire 500 retired Defence personnel to enforce the scheme as pressing SDMs for the same last time had led to halting of work in their offices. The Government claimed that it has arrived at the deci- sion after an “extensive feed- back” from the public gathered through e-mail, Interactive Voice Response (IVR), website responses and mohalla sabhas. According to the survey, a vast majority of people want- ed the scheme to be imple- mented as early as February 14, the day when AAP completes one year in power.

Transcript of ˘ˇˆ ˙ ˝ ˘ˇ ˇ ˆ ˚ ˆ ˘ˇ ˇ ˆ˘ ! "! # The agreements were$ ! % $ & ’ ( ˆ$ ˆ˘ ˆ )...

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In a sensational revelationthat ignited an instant war of

words between the ruling BJPand Opposition Congress onThursday, incarceratedLashkar-e-Tayyeba (LeT) oper-ative David Coleman Headleytold a special court that IshratJehan, who was killed in anencounter with the GujaratPolice in 2004, was a memberof LeT and indirectly suggest-ed that she could have been asuicide bomber.

In the light of the revela-tions the BJP sought an apol-ogy from the Congress leader-ship for deliberately “targeting”and indulging in “politics ofrevenge” against PrimeMinister Narendra Modi andAmit Shah over Ishrat Jehan’skilling and “politicising” a seri-ous issue pertaining to nation-al security.

Meanwhile, in a couple ofother revelations made on thethird day of his depositionbefore the court of AdditionalSessions Judge GA Sanap,Headley identified LeT opera-tive Abdul Aziz as one of thepersons involved in the attackon the Indian Institute ofScience (IISc) in Bengaluru inDecember, 2005 and said thathe had surveyed four sites tozero in on the landing spot forterrorists arriving fromPakistan.

Headley, who was deposing

via video-conferenc from theUnited States in the trial of keyconspirator of the Mumbaiattacks case Zabiuddin Ansarialias Abu Jundal, revealed thathe had received money fromboth the LeT and Inter-ServicesIntelligence (ISI) of Pakistanwhile carrying out reconnais-sance for the 26/11 attacksand that Al Qaeda had appre-ciated his work. He told thecourt that he knew IlyasKashmiri, who was once con-sidered to be a possible suc-cessor of Osama bin Laden.

While responding to a seriesof queries posed by SpecialPublic Prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam

on a “botched-up” terror oper-ation in Gujarat in 2004,Headley confirmed the name ofIshrat Jehan as the female LeTmember who was killed in a“shoot-out with the police”.

This is not the first timethat Headley has made a rev-elation that Ishrat was a mem-ber of the LeT. He had madea similar statement beforethe National InvestigationAgency (NIA) team, whichhad visited the US in October2010 to quiz him. The maindifference this time around isthat he has made this revela-tion before a court.

Related reports on P5

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With concerns over global econo-my and mounting huge bad

loans, bear hug tightens, experienceda bloody carnage on Dalal Street onThursday. The rout was so deep that thebenchmark Sensex’s crash shockedthe market by falling 807 points to dropbelow 23,000-mark, almost sinking toits lowest level in 21 months as eighthbiggest single-day fall and wiped offover �3 lakh crore from the wealth ofpanic-stricken investors. NSE’s Niftyalso saw its biggest fall in six monthsto end at the same 21-month low of6,976.35. Following such sharp fall inequities amid foreign capital outflows,the Rupee too plummeted by 45 paiseon the same day to end at an over 29-month low of 68.30 a dollar on freshdemand for the US currency frombanks and importers.

Reasoning mixed factors for thefall of the market, the bank stocks werethe most hit, while investors continuedto desert state-run lenders with stocksplunging by up to 11 per cent amidconcerns over mounting bad loans anddisappointing earnings reported byrespective banks.

In fact, the Sensex closed by807.07 points down at 22,951.83 — anew low for the index during the cur-rent NDA regime and the lowest sinceMay 8, 2014 — when the Lok Sabhaelections were underway that sawBJP-led alliance sweeping to power.

However, the Government is at

face-saving mode, saying the fall inmarket benchmarks this year has beenjust about 10 per cent as against muchhigher declines in other markets andthe Sensex has come off more than 23per cent from its all-time peak of over30,000, scaled nearly a year ago onMarch 4, 2015.

Trying to calm jittery investors,Economic Affairs SecretaryShaktikanta Das, however has claimedthat the decline in stock markets inIndia is not as bad as in some othercountries and the Government is pre-pared to deal with challenges ema-nating from global developments.

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Lance Naik HanumanthappaKoppad’s grim battle for

life ended on Thursday morn-ing at the Army Research andReferral Hospital (R&R) as hesuccumbed to multi-organ fail-ure. The braveheart was onventilator support sinceTuesday when he was airliftedfrom Siachen glacier. Heslipped into a deep coma onWednesday.

Koppad, 33, was foundalive under more than 35 feetof ice and snow by Army andIndian Air Force rescue teamson Monday, six days after an icewall collapsed on the pre-fab-ricated cabin at the Sonam

post located at a height of19,600 feet on February 3,burying ten soldiers. WhileKoppad survived, nine othersoldiers could not make it.

The Army was unable tobring the bodies of the nine sol-diers to New Delhi onThursday as a blizzard at theworld’s highest battlefield hasmade it impossible for heli-copters to fly. If the weatherpermits, their bodies will bebrought to the national Capitalon Friday. All the soldiers werefrom the Madras Regiment.

An air pocket inside thepost helped Koppad survive intemperatures hovering at minus30 degrees Celsius till the res-cue teams reached him.

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Ghaziabad Police haslaunched a massive opera-

tion to trace a 24-year-oldwoman executive working foronline shopping portal Snapdealwho is believed to have beenkidnapped while returninghome after finishing her shift at8.30 pm on Wednesday. Policeare also looking for two menand the driver of an auto-rick-shaw allegedly involved in theabduction of the woman.

The executive, identified asDipti Sarna who works atSnapdeal’s Gurgaon office, usu-ally took the Delhi Metro up toVaishali Station in Ghaziabad,and from there, an auto-rickshawto her house in Kavi Nagar, that

is at a distance of around eightkms from the station.

On Wednesday night, Diptileft the Vaishali Station around8.30 pm, took a shared auto-rickshaw in which a womanand two men were already sit-ting and phoned her fatherNarendra Sarna to tell him thatshe was on her way home.

The auto-rickshaw hadtravelled a distance of three tofour km when the two malepassengers forced the womanco-passenger sitting alongsideDipti to get down near MohanNagar intersection and the dri-ver turned the auto-rickshaw in

the wrong direction. Sensing trouble, Dipti called

her father to inform him aboutthe situation but her cellphonewas allegedly snatched fromher in the middle of the con-versation and switched off.

When repeated attempts byher family to contact Diptifailed, her father reached thelocal police station with somepoliticians and informed theGhaziabad Police about hisdaughter’s abduction.

“Dipti had taken a sharedauto-rickshaw from VaishaliMetro Station on Wednesdaynight to her house in KaviNagar area. Near the MohanNagar intersection, a womanpassenger travelling with Diptiwas forced to get off by two malepassengers and then the driverfled with the victim. We haveregistered her father’s com-plaint under relevant sections ofthe Indian Penal Code and sev-eral police teams have been puton the job to trace her where-abouts and that of the auto-rick-shaw driver and the two menwith him,” said Salman TajPatil, the Superintendent ofPolice (City).

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In order to give strong base totheir comprehensive strategic

partnership, India and theUnited Arab Emirates onThursday signed seven agree-ments in the areas of cybersecurity, renewable energy,investment in infrastructure,space cooperation, insurance,culture and skill development.

The agreements weresigned following a meetingbetween Prime MinisterNarendra Modi and CrownPrince of Abu Dhabi SheikhMohammed bin Zayed AlNahyan at the Prime Minister’s

residence. The talks betweentwo leaders also covered waysto contain radicalism, step-ping up counter-terrorismcooperation and dealing withthe ISIS. Besides, FoodSecrurity, maritime security, oiltrade were some other issuesthat were discussed. During themeeting, Al Nahyan praised thecontribution of Indian com-munity in the UAE.

The two countries willissue a joint statement onFriday. Earlier, Al Nahyan wasaccorded a ceremonial wel-come in the forecourt of theRashtrapati Bhavan. The PrimeMinister, Home MinisterRajnath Singh and FinanceMinister Arun Jaitley were pre-sent on the occasion.

“An exceptional tete-a-tete.PM meets the Crown Princefor a restricted meeting at7RCR before talks in theevening,” Ministry of ExternalAffairs spokesperson VikasSwarup tweeted.

Al Nahyan, is also theDeputy Supreme Commanderof the UAE armed forces, willtravel to Mumbai on Friday tomet the business heads of Indiaand UAE and discuss ways toimprove trade and investmentbetween two countries.

Two agreements, on cur-rency swapping and onebetween Dubai EconomicCouncil and Export ImportBank of India will be signed inMumbai on Friday.

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The elite counter-terror forceNational Security Guard

(NSG) is revisiting its StandardOperating Procedures (SOPs)in the wake of the Pathankotairbase terror attack. Apartfrom other things, the force willrevise the strategy to handlebodies of slain terrorists.

Revision of the SOPs comesfollowing the death of Lt-ColNiranjan Kumar after the NSGneutralised all the terroristsduring Pathankot operation.

According to the prevalentSOPs for sanitising bodies ofkilled terrorist, a commandowith a bomb suitis supposed toapproach thebody and fix ahook to it attachedwith long rope.With the help ofthe rope, the bodyis moved left andright, and if there

is a booby trap it explodes inthe process.

In the Pathankot operation,all the SOPs relating to han-dling of bodies of slain terror-ists were followed, the body wasturned left and right with a longrope and it was presumed thatthere is no IED. “However,there was a grenade concealedtightly inside a pouch. The pinof the grenade had alreadybeen removed by the terrorists.As soon as the pouch wasopened, the grenade went offclaiming Lt-Col NiranjanKumar’s life,” NSG DirectorGeneral RC Tayal told ThePioneer on the sidelines of aninternational seminar onImprovised Explosive Devicewhich was attended by expertsand law enforcement agenciesfrom 13 countries.

Tayal emphasised that Lt-Col Kumar followed the laiddown SOPs but “the incidenthappened as the terrorists alsokeep on changing their tactics

to outsmart us.” “We keep updating

all procedures but thereis always scope forimprovement. We aretaking measures so thatincident like the one inwhich Lt-Col Kumarwas martyred does notrepeat,” he said.

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Odd-even scheme is set tomake a comeback on April

15 this year after the Boardexaminations are over. Thescheme will last for 16 days thistime and will end on April 30.Unlike last time, however,schools will remain open dur-ing Odd-Even 2.0, Delhi ChiefMinister Arvind Kejriwal saidon Thursday.

While the Government isplanning to review the penal-ty amount for odd-even viola-tions, all the 26 exemptionsthat were announced for thefirst edition of the schemewill stay this time as well,Kejriwal said. The Governmentis also planning to hire 500retired Defence personnel toenforce the scheme as pressing

SDMs for the same last timehad led to halting of work intheir offices.

The Government claimedthat it has arrived at the deci-sion after an “extensive feed-back” from the public gatheredthrough e-mail, InteractiveVoice Response (IVR), websiteresponses and mohalla sabhas.According to the survey, avast majority of people want-ed the scheme to be imple-mented as early as February 14,the day when AAP completesone year in power.

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���� ?�57"6�5A�

Haryana Chief MinisterManohar Lal on Thursday

said that to provide adequatewater for drinking and irrigationpurposes in southern Haryana,especially in Loharu and Bahalareas of district Bhiwani, wherewater table is depleting, projectscosting Rs 143 crore have beenstarted with the assistance ofNABARD. Addressing a ‘VikasYatra Rally’ at Bahal in Bhiwani,he said these projects would stre-ngthen the lift irrigation systemof canals and minors in the area.

He said that there is also aplan to spend Rs 133 crore forensuring irrigation water uptoevery tail end. Under a plan toensure irrigation water to everyfield, he said that Rs 600 crore

would be spent during this year.The Chief Minister also

announced projects costing Rs166 crore for development ofLoharu assembly constituency.He announced to fulfill the 148demands of the area put forth bythe organizers of the rally.

Giving example of Israel,which has been carrying out cul-tivation with the use of less water,the Chief Minister said that ava-ilability of water would be ens-ured in areas like Loharu by pro-moting methods like drip irri-gation and sprinkler irrigation.

On the occasion, he paidtributes to founder of BJP, Dee-ndayal Upadhyaya and said thatFebruary 11 is his martyrdomday. He also paid homage tothose soldiers who had lost theirlives in Siachen glacier recently.

���� ?�57"6�5A�

Punjab Congress will not allowAAP convener and Delhi

Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwalto visit Punjab if the party doesnot change its agenda for Punjab for coming Assemblyelections, party MP Ravnit SinghBittu said on Thursday.

Reacting sharply to therecent agenda of AAP, Bittu,MP from Ludhiana, saidKejriwal should not play withfire by instigating the senti-ments of the people of thestate. "This is a very dangerousstyle of politics being done by

AAP. This is a very sensitivestate and Punjab has alreadypaid very big price for playingwith the emotions of the peo-ple," he said.

Bittu said, "Punjab congresswill not allow him to enterPunjab if AAP does not diverthimself from this anti- nationalagenda. I will lead the protest tostop him along with the 35000families of those who are affect-ed by terrorism. His cavalcadewont be allowed to enter eitherfrom Rajpura or Shambhu," theCongress MP added.

Kejriwal is likely to visitPunjab from February 20 for ab-

out 5 days during which he willmeet the families of farmers whocommitted suicide due to debt.

"Kejriwal is expected to visitPunjab on February 20 and willbe in the state for 4-5 days," AamAadmi Party's national organi-sation-building head, DurgeshPathak said.

"He will visit villages anddistricts of the state and meetfamilies of debt-ridden farmerswho have ended their lives.Kejriwal will also meet the fam-ilies which are victims of drugmenace," senior AAP leaderand in-charge of Punjab Affairs,Sanjay Singh said.

����� ����� ?�57"6�5A�

Amonth after the terroristattack on Air force station

in Pathankot, the ParliamentaryStanding Committee on HomeAffairs has started gathering thefact on the incident. The par-liamentary committee will notonly look into the lapses butalso suggest precautionary mea-sures required to be adopted.

Led by the Congress MP, PBattacharya, the committeehas visited Pathankot Air baseand other border areas likeDera Baba Nanak, Paharpur,Narot Jaimal Singh on theIndo-Pak border on Thursday.The committee is scheduled tomeet Punjab Director Generalof Police Suresh Arora andAdditional Chief Secretary(Home) Jagpal Singh Sandhu inAmritsar on Friday.

The committee comprises

of 31 MPs in which 10 MPs arefrom Rajya Sabha and 21 arefrom Lok Sabha. Punjab MPPrem Singh Chandumajra,Avinash Rai Khanna andChandigarh MP Kirron Kherare also members of theParliamentary committee. Thecommittee is expected to tableits report before the parliamentwhere the reasons and sugges-tions put forth by committeewill be analyzed by both thehouses of Parliament.

The committee in the pastthree days has gone throughthe border area extensivelyand it has also deliberatedwith the BSF authorities. BSFauthorities are learnt to haveapprised the committee ofthe problems that the securi-ty personnel face while guard-ing the border areas, wheresome of the terrains are con-siderably tough to guard

because of the inhuman con-ditions there.

The issue of better coordi-nation between different forceslike Army, BSF and state policehas also been deliberated up onby the committee members.

Punjab MP Chandumajrasaid, "We were told that duringwinters the visibility dropsconsiderably. The terrain isalso difficult near the borderareas we visited. We felt ourforces must be equipped withmodern technology and equip-ment. Besides, greater coordi-nation should be there betweenPunjab police, Army and BSFto defeat the nefarious designsof the enemy".

Chandumajra also saidthey found there was scope forimproving the road infra-structure, especially as theseroads have to bear the load ofheavy traffic through the year.

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Punjab Congress ChiefAmarinder Singh on

Thursday asked if the Centrecan "write off the bad debts ofcorporates worth �1.14 lakhcrore", why can't it take simi-lar step for farmers.

Amarinder was referring tothe reported move of theGovernment of India to writeoff the bad debts to the tune of�1.14 lakh crore owed by cor-porates across the country.

He asked why can't similarrelief be provided to farmers"whose loans are far less andwho are not wilful defaulterseither."

The Amritsar MP said hewondered why Chief MinisterParkash Singh Badal was nottaking up the case with his"friendly Government" at theCentre in which his daughter-in-law (Harsimrat Kaur) was aMinister. He was interactingwith the farmers during a pro-

gramme here. The formerChief Minister pointed outhow farmers were resorting tosuicides for their inability torepay their loans which inmost of the cases are just abouta few lakhs of rupees only. Heasked Badal "to pursue thecase with the Central Gover-nment and not just be satisfiedwith his daughter-in-law Harsi-mrat Kaur being a Minister."

���� ?�57"6�5A�

To give impetus to floricul-ture, Punjab Chief Minister

Parkash Singh Badal onThursday announced a slew ofmeasures, including a proposalto grant 50 per cent subsidy onprotected cultivation of flowers.

Badal approved a proposalto grant the subsidy on the totalcost of additional infrastructureunder the protected cultivationof flowers, herbs and salads.

The CM directed theAdditional Chief Secretary(Development) to prepare acomprehensive plan for set-ting up of cold chain in theclusters under protected cul-tivation, a spokesperson forthe CMO said here.

He also decided to establisha market intelligence wing in thehorticulture department to studyadvanced planning and mar-keting support to be given tofarmers for the production of

flowers and horticulture crops.The Mandi Board has also

been asked to provide adequatespace to the flower producers formarketing their produce in thenew air conditioned fruits andvegetables market at Mohali.

The CM approved 24-hourpower supply on AgriculturePower (AP) tariff to the flowerproducers undertaking pro-tected cultivation (green/nethouses) without charging any basic expenses.

���� 5%A6�C5A

Preparing for the next year’sAssembly polls, Punjab

Deputy Chief Minister SukhbirSingh Badal on Thursday saidShiromani Akali Dal will giveadequate representation to youthand some fresh faces in 2017Assembly polls will be fielded.

He said performance ofeach legislator would be eval-uated for winability and deci-sion would be taken after hold-ing consultations with people ofconstituency represented bythe legislator concerned.

Interacting with media-persons after paying obeisanceat Sri Harmandir Sahib alongwith Union Minister HarsimratKaur Badal, the president ofSAD said 2017 general elec-tions would be contested ondevelopment plank and hisparty would form Governmentfor the third consecutive time.

On Khadoor Sahib bypoll,the Deputy CM said it isunprecedented and for firsttime that opposition partiesincluding Congress and noviceAAP have shown their back toelectoral fight.

Taking a dig, he said crush-ing defeat in Talwandi SaboAssembly bypoll made AAPand Congress ran away fromelectoral field with AAP forfeit-ing even its deposit. Badal saidthat Congress and AAP have lostconfidence in capabilities of

their cadres. He termed AAPgood for entertainment pur-pose while commenting uponGurpreet Ghuggi’s joining AAP.

On a question about tour-ing of villages by PunjabCongress Chief CaptAmarinder Singh under ‘PaggriBachao’ campaign for farmers,the Deputy CM said as Captainhad himself declared that thisis going to be his last election,it is a golden chance for him totour villages which he couldn’tdo during his tenure as CM.

“If Captain is serious abouthis initiative then he shouldcultivate habit of waking upearly like Chief Minister ParkashSingh Badal, venture amongpeople and listen to their griev-ances and address them,” he said.

Talking about developmentof Amritsar, Sukhbir said theholy city would be given a beau-tified look by completing all pro-jects by November this year.

Chandigarh: Aam AadmiParty (AAP) on Thursdayexpressed shock and concernover seven people succumbingto swine flu in Punjab in thelast four days taking the deathtoll due to the disease to 31.

AAP Punjab convenerSucha Singh Chhotepur crit-icised the Parkash SinghBadal Government for itsnonchalant attitude for nottaking timely remedial mea-sures to check the onslaughtof the swine flu.

He said an advisory mustbe issued to Government andprivate hospitals to provideimmediate treatment topatients suspected to be infect-ed with the virus without con-ducting tests. PNS

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���� ?�57"6�5A�

The hope of return of 21Indian youths stranded

in Saudi Arabia has bright-ened with the External AffairsMinistry initiating the processof preparing their passport tobring them home. These 21youths all from Sangrur dis-trict of Punjab have beenstuck in Saudi Arabia forquite some time.

Aam Aadmi Party MPBhagwant Mann, who hadbeen instrumental in takingup the issue of their release,said all these men will bebrought back to India in acouple of days. Mann met theauthorities in External AffairsMinistry on Thursday andhad facilitated telephonic con-tact between the strandedyouth and the officials.

These youngsters hadbeen caught there withoutpassports as they had lost thedocument at the hands oftravel agents who had sentthem abroad. Parents of someof the youngsters had pro-vided copies of their passportto the Ministry and on thebasis of their documents, theMinistry is getting fresh pass-ports prepared for theseyoungsters.

Expressing hope of theirearly return, Mann said that8 of these men are stuck atone place and 13 on the other.He said that the IndianEmbassy in Saudi Arab hasbeen asked to get in touch with all these young-sters and Government ofIndia has been making allefforts to bring them back atthe earliest.

���� ?�57"6�5A�

The Director, Health andFamily Welfare, Punjab has

suspended president of ClericalStaff Association BhupenderKumar Peepat, following alle-gations of sexual harassmentleveled against him.

Two women clerks work-ing at the sector 34 basedheadquarter of the departmenthad leveled charges of sexualharassment against Bhupender.

Two women employeeshad lodged a complaint withChandigarh police a few daysback. On Thursday morning,the women employees gatheredoutside the office of theDirector Dr Harinderpal SinghBali and demanded immediateaction against the accusedBhupender. Dr Bali had offeredto transfer Bhupender out tosome other office but the staff

did not give in.Talking about the incident,

Dr Bali said said the accusedemployee has been put undersuspension and the complaintof the women employees hasbeen forwarded to the sexualharassment committee. DrAparampaar Kaur is the chair-person of the sexual harass-ment committee of the depart-ment and the next actionwould be taken on the reportof the committee.

���� ?�57"6�5A�

Punjab Government is allset to organise State level

functions for launching theStatewide disbursement ofenhanced old age pension tothe beneficiaries on February18, Rahul Tiwari, Secretary,Information and PublicRelations, said while chairingthe meeting of all the nodalofficers from various districtsto review the preparedness ofthe districts in this regard.

Tiwari said the PunjabGovernment has already dou-bled the old age pension byenhancing it from �250 to�500. He said that to kick startthe scheme two State levelfunctions one at Mohali and

one at Jalandhar would beorganised, where PunjabChief Minister Parkash SinghBadal and Deputy ChiefMinister Sukhbir Singh Badalwould be the chief guestrespectively.

He said similar functionswould be organised in other22 districts and 95 satellitefunctions in all the assemblyconstituencies.

Tiwari instructed the offi-cers to ensure the smoothconduction of these func-tions and to further ensurethat the enhanced old agepensions is disbursed to thebeneficiaries every month inhassle f ree manner. He also directed them to send thecompliance report by 10th of

every month. Prominent amongst other

who were present in the meet-ing included Senu Duggal,Director Information andPublic Relations, Punjab andother officials.

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���� 789�"8'�6

In the light of Pakistan-American terrorist David

Headley’s deposition that IshratJahan, killed in an encounter inGujarat in 2004, was a “LeToperative”, the BJP on Thursdaysought an apology from theCongress leadership for delib-erately “targeting” andindulging in “politics ofrevenge” against NarendraModi and Amit Shah over herkilling and “politicising” a seri-ous issue of national security.

Congress head SoniaGandhi and her deputy RahulGandhi must apologise to thenation for “the conspiracy” todefame those investigating thecase, said BJP national secre-tary Srikant Sharma whileaddressing a Press conferencehere on Thursday.

“The Lashker-e-Tayyeba(LeT) agent Ishrat wasdescribed as martyr andGujarat Crime Branch,Intelligence Bureau and CBIwere defamed by the thenCongress Government,” saidSharma while seeking apologyfrom the Congress top leaders.

He said police personnelwho fought terrorists riskingtheir lives were put behind barsby the then “conspiratorialUPA Government.”

“Headley’s deposition thatshe was a LeT’s suicide bomberhas unmasked those who dopolitics over terrorism. We donot expect any morality fromthe Congress. But if Sonia andher son Rahul, who is a cham-pion in politics of conspiracy,have any shame left, then theymust apologise to the nation.

“They should apologise tothe police personnel’ familieswho had to suffer after they

were put in jail for killingthese terrorists in encounter.The Congress and its allieslinked terrorists with religion tomask their corrupt gover-nance,” Sharma said.

The BJP leader alleged thatthe Congress always practiced“politics of appeasement andvote bank”.

The BJP leader also point-ed to the comments of Congressleaders questioning the BatlaHouse encounter and their allu-sion to RSS hand in 26/11Mumbai attacks to attack theOpposition party. “It hasbecome clear that the Congressplayed with national security. Itis height of hate politics,” he said.

The BJP cited a number ofdevelopments during the UPA’stenure, including “contradicto-ry” affidavits filed in court overIshrat case and NIA’s reporteddecision to omit Headley’s state-ment to it in which he alleged-ly said that she was an LeT ter-rorist, to argue that Congressused her killing to target Modiand Shah, then a GujaratMinister and now party chief.

Somebody had stated shewas a college-going girl andsomebody else said she was amartyr and all these people

have been unmasked now,Sharma said. He claimed thatIshrat and her associates wereon a mission to kill Modi andattack religious places.

BJP spokespersonShahnawaz Hussain alsoattacked the “secular brigade”and took a dig at Bihar ChiefMinister Nitish Kumar forusing Ishrat’s killing as an issueduring then Bihar polls byterming her a “Bihar ki beti”.

Another party spokesperson

Nalin Kohli noted that LeT hadportrayed her as a “martyr” onits website but “Governmentagencies at that time were put atwar with each other and attemptswere made at fixing individuals...Instead of finding the truth”.

Meanwhile Minister ofState for Home Affairs KirenRijiju welcomed Headley’s rev-

elations. “Whatever revelationshave come, all are good for theGovernment of India, securityagencies and prosecution,” hetold reporters.

“His (Headley) revelationsare giving right direction to theinvestigating agencies and pros-ecution. It is good for all of us,”said Rijiju.

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���� 789�"8'�6

The Centre on Thursday setthe target of eliminating

malaria by 2030 after neigh-bouring countries like SriLanka and Nepal reported nodeaths due to the vector-bornedisease in the past severalyears. Launching the NationalFramework for MalariaElimination (2016-2030),Union Health Minister JPNadda said 70 per cent ofmalaria cases and 69 per centof malaria deaths among SouthEast Asian Region countriesoccur in India.

“We are committed toachieving the target of elimi-nation of malaria by 2030which will require huge finan-cial resources. We will effec-tively work with the develop-ment partners and civil society,"

Nadda said.“The objective of the

framework is to reduce theincidence ofmalaria toless than onecase per1,000 popu-lation peryear in allstates andUTs by 2024.We wouldask all stategovernments to include malar-ia eradication programme intheir policy matters,” he said.

Quoting statistics, Naddasaid more than 80 per cent ofthe country's population live in'malaria transmission high-risk areas’ of around 200 dis-tricts covering States likeAndhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh,Gujarat, Jharkhand, Karnataka,

Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra,Odisha, West Bengal and theseven northeastern States.

“ A tpresent,80 percent ofmalariais preva-l e n ta m o n g20 percent ofthe peo-

ple classified as ‘high risk’,although approximately 82 percent of the country’s populationlive in malaria transmissionrisk areas,” he said.

Under the framework formalaria elimination, the coun-try has been divided into threecategories on the basis of annu-al parasite incidences and keyinterventions have been iden-

tified to achieve the goal, theUnion Minister added.

Sri Lanka has reported nomalaria deaths in the last onedecade, while in Nepal nodeath due to the vector-bornedisease took place since 2012.

BP Sharma, HealthSecretary said eliminatingMalaria will result in cuttingdown on expenditure on dis-eases control programme, andwill help in reducing out-of-pocket expenditure too. He alsoadded that the India has sturdyhealth systems with trainedmanpower, and the learningfrom the Polio and Eliminationof Maternal and NeonatalTetanus will help in eliminatingMalaria too. He said that whilediagnostic kits and medicinesare available everywhere, thedelivery mechanism has to bestreamlined for better outcomes.

���� 789�"8'�6

The National Green Tribunal(NGT) on Thursday issued

notices to the Art of LivingFoundation of Sri SriRavishankar, for causing allegeddamage to the environmentfor hosting the upcomingWorld Culture Festival.Preparations are on for the fes-tival along the banks of theYamuna, for which the organ-isers have obtained clearancefrom both the Centre and State.

The three-day festival willbegin from March 11 in EastDelhi to mark the celebrationof 35 years of The Art ofLiving. It is expected to be inau-gurated by Prime MinisterNarendra Modi. Sri LankanPresident Maithripala Sirisenaand former Pakistan PrimeMinister Yousuf Raza Gilani arealso likely to participate.

The green panel headed byNGT Chairperson JusticeSwatanter Kumar has soughtresponse from Governmentagencies in this regard. It hasdirected Delhi Development

Authority (DDA) to submit allthe documents on the basis ofwhich permission for the eventwas granted to the foundation.It has also sought a statusreport which has to be pre-pared by the DDA along withan IIT Professor AK Gosain .

The Bench was hearing apetition by Manoj Mishra fromthe organisation called, “Savethe Yamuna Abhiyaan”. Hispetition alleged damage to theenvironment and the river bed,contending that theGovernment should not havegiven permission despite a banby the NGT.

The plea noted that theconstruction entails the erec-

tion of nearly 7 acre stage thatwill host over 35 lakh specta-tors by the river to the organ-isers. This will also involvedumping of huge amount ofdebris , garbage and clearing ofthe flood plains.

In his plea, Mishra hassought imposition of exem-plary fine on government agen-cies and the Foundation fordamaging the environmentand their non-compliance ofthe orders of the Tribunal.

The organisers informedthe Tribunal that all the struc-tures being put up for the festi-val are temporary and all carewill be taken to protect theenvironment. It further said thefoundation has done a lot ofwork to clean rivers and are com-mitted to continuing this work.

Meanwhile, in a detailedjudgment last year, NGT hadprohibited any constructionactivity in the demarcated floodplains of Yamuna and asked itsPrincipal Committee to iden-tify structures which fall on theflood plain and recommendtheir demolition.

��������������789�"8'�6

The Supreme Court onThursday asked States and

Union Territories to considerformulating a scheme to awarda compensation of at least �10lakh to victims of rape who arephysically handicapped.

The court’s thoughtfulconsideration towards rapevictims belonging to the hand-icapped category came on acase from Chhattisgarh wherethe judges were moved by theplight of a 37-year-old visual-ly impaired woman, who wasraped while she was 18 by herbrother’s friend, who hadpromised to marry her.

Confirming the verdict ofthe trial court and High Courtpunishing the accused Tekanwith seven years’ rigorousimprisonment, the Bench ofJustices MY Eqbal and ArunMishra directed the State to payher a sum of �8,000 per monthtill her lifetime. The courtordered this amount in the spe-cial facts of the case.

Simultaneously, the Bencheven asked States and UTs toframe suitable scheme underSection 357A of CriminalProcedure Code (CrPC) bywhich rape victims who are

physically handicapped could begiven a substantial compensa-tion to the tune of �10 lakh asframed by the Goa Government.

The direction of the courtsaid, “All the States and UnionTerritories shall make all endeav-our to formulate a uniformscheme for providing victimcompensation in respect ofrape/sexual exploitation withthe physically handicappedwomen as required under thelaw taking into consideration thescheme framed by State of Goafor rape victim compensation.”

The ChhattisgarhGovernment, through advo-cate Atul Jha, was willing to offer�25,000 to the rape victim as perthe Victim CompensationScheme framed under Section357A. Another sum of �20,000

was earmarked for her rehabil-itation. This lump sum amountwas meant to be one time.

But the court treated the caseof blind victim on a differentfooting. Following the incident,she had aborted the pregnancyon account of the sexual assault.She never got married and withnobody to look after her, she sur-vived on a meager handicap pen-sion of �300 every month.

While Goa was an excep-tion, all States and UTs had nouniform compensation schemewith some States like Odishaand West Bengal paying a one-time compensation of �20,000.The Bench said, “No amount ofmoney can erase the traumaand grief the victim suffers.This aid can be crucial withaftermath of crime.”

���� 789�"8'�6

The Director General ofNational Security Guard,

RC Tayal, on Thursday saidthere were two heavily-armedterrorists hiding inside thePathankot IAF base, apart fromthe four killed, even as it refut-ed reports about confusion incommand, saying the elite forcetakes “complete control” of thesituation when deployed forcounter-terror operations any-where in the country.

“According to us, there werefour plus two (terrorists). But, itis for the investigating agency...Itis for the NIA to investigate andcome up with factual details,”NSG Director General RC Tayaltold reporters on the sidelines ofan international seminar on themenace of Improvised ExplosiveDevices (IEDs) organised by theparamilitary here.

Emphasising that terrorists“came over” from Pakistan,the National Security Guardchief asserted that his striketeams had been fired uponfrom inside an airmen barrackwhich they were about to enter.

The January 2 attack nearthe technical area of the airbasewhere fighter jets and attackhelicopters are parked, had leftseven security personnel dead.

Security forces had recov-ered four bodies of terroristsand there has been speculationabout the possibility of someothers getting killed in thebarrack that was blown up byNSG using heavy explosives.

Tayal said he had “basis”for this assertion.

“NSG teams reached theairmen barrack. The com-mandos knocked but the doorwas closed from inside...We putsome wall radar and got indi-cation that someone is inside.A grenade was lobbed frominside in which five comman-

dos got injuries and one gotserious injuries,” he said.

“According to us, weaponswere with them (two terrorists)as we were getting firing frominside. Besides weapons, theywere carrying large quantity ofexplosives too,” the DG furthersaid when asked about theforces’ logic to arrive at a def-inite number of two more ter-rorists being holed up.

The DG, however, said noneof his ‘black cat’ commandos sawthe hiding terrorists as contin-uous firing was taking place.

“Only thing we got to knowwas when we went to place the'through wall radar’ we heard avoice inside saying that NSG hascome. The radar gives indicationif there is any movement inside.It does not indicate exactly ifthere is a human being, but itindicates movement,” he said.

Tayal also refuted allega-tions of lack of coordinationamong agencies like IndianAir Force, Army, Punjab policeand the NSG which were onground to combat the attack,asserting the elite force was infull command.

“Let me clarify, the NSGstandard operating procedureis very clear. It is that if NSG isdeployed at a place where ter-rorist incident takes place, it isNSG that controls the situation.There is no confusion about it.

“There was absolutely noconfusion about the chain ofcommand. All the agencies wereworking with a good synergy.The Central Government candeploy NSG suo motu or onrequest of the state governmentbut the fact remains that onceNSG is deployed to control a sit-uation, the NSG is given com-plete control over that situationand not the whole area,” he said.

The NSG DG said theyreceived pistol fire from insidethe airmen barrack and as theywere wanting to clear the build-ing after evacuating some IAFsecurity men present there, theyfound there was something “sus-picious” on the ground floor.

Officials supervising theoperation said there were asmany as 57 explosions in thatbuilding which indicates therewas heavy ammunition in thecomplex which is just meant forhousing IAF personnel.

The radar indicated thatpeople present inside hadstacked up ‘charpoys’ and almi-rahs against the gate in order toprevent any entry.

Tayal said while they were“not sure” on the exact numberof terrorists who had sneakedinto the IAF base, there weresome indications that showedthat they entered the campus bycutting concertina wires placedfor periphery security.

New Delhi: The SupremeCourt on Thursday criticallyexamined a decision ofArunachal Pradesh GovernorJP Rajkhowa ordering mainte-nance of the party-wise posi-tion of MLAs in the Assemblyand said he had “no role toplay” in it, as the anti-defectionaspect fell under the domain ofthe Speaker.

“How can the Governortake away the constitutionalpowers of the Speaker to dis-qualify lawmakers on thegrounds of defection?

“The Governor may havesome role in the functioning ofthe Assembly, but he has norole to play in issues prescribedin the Tenth Schedule (anti-defection provision) of theConstitution,” a five-judgeConstitution Bench headed byJustice JS Khehar said.

Observing that democracywas part of the basic structureof the Constitution, the Benchsaid, hence, any “undemocra-tic” decision would be open tojudicial review.

PTI

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The Congress has dismissedthe BJP’s demand for an

apology by Congress presidentSonia Gandhi in the wake ofDavid Headley’s claim thatIshrat Jahan was an LeT oper-ative, insisting that the “funda-mental question” was whethershe and her accomplices werekilled in a “fake” encounter.

“If BJP wants to stand withthose who have been accused bythe CBI in a Gujarat High Courtmonitored process that theywere accused or complicit in thefake encounter, they can go andstand with them in a court of law.There is nothing which stops theBJP from doing that. We are nota banana Republic, we are acountry based on the rule of lawand the rule of law does not per-mit fake encounters,” AICCspokesman Manish Tewari said.

He was responding to aquestion about the BJP attack onGandhis in the wake ofHeadley’s statement that IshratJahan was an LeT operative.Tewari said there are two sepa-rate and distinct issues which areinvolved — the first is whetherIshrat Jahan and her accompliceswere LeT operatives or not.

“In the light of DavidHeadley’s statement, if theGovernment wants to investigatethe matter further with regard totheir credentials, there isabsolutely nothing which is stop-ping the Government. But thefundamental question remained

whether Ishrat Jahan and heraccomplices were killed in a fakeencounter,” said the spokesman.

He said the MetropolitanCourt in Ahmedabad first cameto the conclusion that this wasa “staged encounter — in otherwords — a fake encounter.”Subsequently, the matter went tothe Gujarat High Court and fortwo years, the Gujarat HighCourt monitored the CBI inves-tigation and the agency came tothe conclusion that theencounter was indeed fake andthey have filed charge-sheetsagainst the accused in an appro-priate court of law, he said.

“So, therefore, if theGovernment or the BJP wants touse Headley’ testimony to justi-fy an encounter which a courtmonitored investigation hasfound to be fake, then, I amafraid, neither the law and norjurisprudence allows it. If a per-son is a ‘terrorist’, he needs to bearrested, he needs to be tried, heneeds to be brought to justice likeAfzal Guru was brought to jus-tice or Ajmal Kasab was broughtto justice. But to try and justifya fake encounter, I am afraid, issomething which the law doesnot permit,” he added.

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Mumbai: Seizing on Pakistani-American terrorist DavidColeman Headley’s claim thatIshrat Jahan was an “LeT oper-ative”, Shiv Sena on Thursdaysaid all those who had support-ed her should now be bookedand action taken against them.

“Headley has only repeat-ed what he had first said inChicago. At that time, somepeople made her (Ishrat) aJhansi ki rani and consideredher a martyr. At that time wehad said that these people willfall flat on their faces and thesame thing has happened,”Sena MP Sanjay Raut said.

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In a big setback to the KeralaCPI(M), the High Court on

Thursday rejected the antici-patory bail plea of its top leaderP Jayarajan in the case pertain-ing to the brutal murder of RSSleader Manoj of Elanthodath in2014. Jayarajan, Kannur districtsecretary of the CPI(M), is the25th accused in the case.

The CBI, which is investi-gating the case, may arrestJayarajan (63) any momentnow. The CPI(M) leader’soptions are now limited toundergoing arrest, surrender-ing before a court and appeal-ing against the High Courtorder. Jayarajan is presentlyunder treatment at a hospital inThalassery, Kannur for report-ed heart problems.

The CPI(M), which arguesthat Jayarajan had no role in themurder and that the CBI is act-ing as per the diktats of the RSSleadership, said it would fight thecase legally and politically.Jayarajan is also a key accused inthe case pertaining to the mur-der of an NDF activist,Muhammad Fazal, the probe ofwhich has now been handed overto the CBI by the High Court.

A division bench of theHigh Court comprising JusticesKT Sankaran and KPJyotheendranath on Thursdaydismissed the Marxist leader’sbail application by acceptingalmost all the arguments pre-sented by the CBI. The politi-cal position of the accusedwas of no importance as lawwas equally applicable to all, thecourt observed.

The most important aspectof the case on which the divi-sion bench agreed with theinvestigating agency was per-haps the imposition of chargesunder the UAPA against

Jayarajan. The District andSessions Court in Thalasseryhad earlier rejected his bailapplication three times follow-ing which he had approachedthe High Court.

Stating that it was con-vinced about the role ofJayarajan in the murder ofManoj after examining thecase diary, the division benchsaid UAPA was absolutelymaintainable in the case,prima facie. It said the criteri-on for imposing provisions ofUAPA in a case was not thenumber of people killed but itsterror nature.

Observing that the murderof Manoj was brutal and pre-planned, the court agreed withthe CBI’s contention thatJayarajan was the only personwho harboured personal enmi-ty towards Manoj and PVikraman, first accused in thecase who was in the forefrontof attack against the victim, washis close associate.

The CBI had the otherday told the court that Jayarajanhad masterminded the murder,organised the killers and pro-vided shelter for them. It hadalso informed the court aboutthe inevitability of Jayarajan’sarrest and the necessity ofquestioning him in custody.The court in its Thursday orderallowed the agency to go aheadwith its procedures in the case.

State CPI(M) secretaryKodiyeri Balakrishnan allegedthat the CBI had namedJayarajan as an accused as aresult of the pressures RSSSarsanghchalak MohanBhagwat and BJP presidentAmit Shah exerted on the CBIthrough the CentralGovernment. “Also, Kerala’sCongress-led Government andthe CBI have joined handsagainst the CPI(M),” he said.

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After short-lived hope thevillage Betador in

Dharwad district of Karnatakamourned the sad demise ofLance Naik HanamanthappaKoppad as he passed away onThursday after battling for lifesince his miraculous survival inSiachen. Chief MinisterSiddaramaiah led the State inpaying homage to the brave-heart from Karnataka.

Siddaramaiah, who wasaddressing a rally in Bengalurufor the February 13 HebbalAssembly segment bypolls, paidhis homage to the brave soldierby observing two minutes ofsilence and said he had sacrificed

his life for the country.The CM said he has already

spoken to officials at KarnatakaBhavan in Delhi and askedthem to provide all assistance toHanamanthappa’s family,including making arrangementsfor a special flight to bring themback to the State.

Siddaramaiah said ex-gra-tia will be announced to fam-ilies of all three soldiers’ fromthe State — Mahesh fromMysuru, Nagesh from Hassanand Hanamanthappa, who diedin the Siachen “tragedy”.

As the tragic news ofHanamanthappa’s demisebroke, a large number of rela-tives, friends, villagers andmedia contingent gathered near

his home at Betadur village inKundagol taluk of Dharwaddistrict in north Karnataka.

While Mahadevi,Hanamanthappa’s wife alongwith his daughter and close rel-atives are in Delhi, the otherfamily members in the villagewere inconsolable.

“We are deeply painedbecause we thought he willrecover in one or two days andcome back. We prayed to allGods... But I think God could-n’t hear us.... The family is shat-tered....” said Hanamanthappa’sfriend Manjunath weepinginconsolably.

“Whole Betadur isimmersed in grief...; All of usvillagers prayed to Godsbelonging to every religion forhis recovery, don’t know whyGod couldn’t hear our prayer,”a villager said.

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The Left Front has finallydecided to ally with the

Congress in its bid “to over-throw the demonic rule ofMamata Banerjee in Bengal,”but wants the Congress to makea formal move in this regard.

Irrespective of what theCPI(M) politburo decides nextweek in Delhi the Bengal unitof the CPI(M) is going by thedecisions taken at the Kolkataplenum held late last year andattended by the topmost lead-ers of the party, sources said.

“We have no problems tohold talks with the Congress ifthey are interested to make anelectoral understanding”Biman Bose CPI(M) politburomember on Thursday said aftera Front meeting in Kolkata.

“As the decisions in theCongress Party are taken bytheir high command theymust make their stand clearbefore we take a final decisionon the issue of alliance,” Bosesaid adding some other partieshad also written to the Leftleadership for an alliance andthat the Front was expectingthe same from the Congress ifan alliance had to crystalise inthe State.

“Let them first sit with us”he said. “If they do not sit withus how can we have a dialoguewith them?” Bose asked. Hehowever gave a circuitousreply to posers as to whetherthe Left would approach theCongress if it did not make thefirst move.

“That question does notapply now as what their State-

level leaders does not matter.What matters is what theirhigh command thinks aboutthe alliance.” Incidentally,dropping enough indicationsthat the Congress also hadalliance in its mind its vicepresident Rahul Gandhi wouldnot attack the CPI(M) whileaddressing his rallies in Kerala.He rather concentrated hisattacks against the BJP.

Meanwhile former ChiefMinister BuddhadebBhattacharjee who is also aformer politburo memberwas quoted as saying “theBengal party knows how totackle its situations and howto deal with such issues”when he was asked aboutefforts made by the PrakashKarat lobby in Delhi to spikethe alliance in Bengal.

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The Kerala BJP’s pre-pollState march, Vimochana

Yatra (Liberation March), con-cluded on Thursday atThiruvananthapuram with acall by senior leader and UnionHome Minister Rajnath Singhto Keralites to liberate God’sOwn Country from the clutch-es of the Congress-led UDFand CPI(M)-headed LDFwhich had been ruling theState through an alleged pact ofcorruption.

“Now that the VimochanaYatra has reached a grand con-clusion, I want to say onething. Kerala will see its liber-ation from the UDF and LDFtomorrow if not today andthat liberation will comethrough the BJP,” Rajnath Singhsaid while inaugurating a rally

held at the PoojappuraGrounds inThiruvananthapuram as part ofthe conclusion of the march.

“Whenever I come toKerala, the main discussion inpublic forums here is on cor-ruption,” the Minister saidreferring to the current con-troversies over the infamoussolar and bar bribery scams.‘But look at the 20-month ruleof the Narendra ModiGovernment. Has anybodybeen able to raise even a singlecharge of corruption against itso far?” he asked.

“Some people are worriedthat an alternative to UDF andLDF is impossible. Some timeback, there were people whoused to feel that there was noalternative to the Congress inthe national level. But that hasbeen proved wrong. If the BJP

activists continue their spirit-ed work, a third alternative ofthe BJP will become a realityhere also. So march ahead,”Singh said.

Enumerating the severalschemes initiated by the ModiGovernment for the welfare ofthe farmers, poor and othersections and for economic andindustrial development, theHome Minister said, “The slo-gan Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikasis not just a slogan for the BJPbut it is our ideology and itreflects our commitment.”

“There should not be evena speck of fear in the minds ofany Indian but everybodyshould feel confident. That iswhy the NDA Government is socarefully implementing all theseschemes… Everybody is speak-ing of global economic slow-down but we can proudly saythat if there is one country thatis on the path of rapid economicgrowth, it is India,” he said.

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Blaming the Union and the UP Government,Congress chief Sonia Gandhi expressed her

deep concern over the pitiable plight of the farm-ers. She raised issues related to problems of farm-ers including non-payment of compensation forloss of produce and no work under MGNREGA.

Gandhi reached Rae Bareli on her two-dayvisit to her Parliamentary constituency onThursday morning and interacted directly withthe farmers at Dighia village of Amawa block.

The Congress chief met several villagers atDighia and Satanpur villages and gave a patienthearing to their problems.

After an hour, Sonia reached Rae Bareli andwent to the official residence of DistrictMagistrate Surya Pal Gautam to express her con-dolence on the death of his wife. Thereafter she

went to the residence of eminent poet MunnawarRana and condoled the death of his mother.

Gandhi also went to the home of freedomfighter Indrasan Singh, who died recently andexpressed her condolences. Thereafter, she vis-ited the residence of District Congress generalsecretary Nirmal Shukla to condole his moth-er’s death.

After the courtesy visits, she reached BhuaMau guest house for lunch. In the evening, SoniaGanhdi interacted with different Congressunits of the district. The Congress president alsoreviewed the progress of Railway Coach Factory(RCF) presented by its General Manager AlokDave at the guest house.

On Friday, Sonia Gandhi will hold a ‘JanataDurbar’ at the guest house and meet locals. Latershe will visit some villages to inspect develop-mental works and later leave for New Delhi.

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The winter season showedup in Kashmir on Thursday

with its trademark chill andwetness as snowfall began inmost parts of the Valley to enda hazardous dry spell spanningtwo months.

In capital Srinagar, thesnowfall began in the afternoonfollowing a gentle morningdrizzle that set stage for thewhite flakes to descend. By thetime, plains began wearing awhite drape, a thick layer ofnow accumulated at Pahalgamand Kokernag in South andGulmarg in north Kashmir.

For tour operators, thesnowfall came at right time —three days ahead of Valentine’sDay when many newly-mar-ried couples have booked hotelsin Srinagar and Gulmarg. Theweatherman has predicted rainand snowfall for two days.

This year, the snowfall keptpeople waiting for a longerspan. The harshest spell ofwinter, known as Chillai Kalanthat begins on December 21 for40 days till January 31, wasbowled out for a duck by the“changes in weather system”.On the contrary, the ChillaiKalan, known for its ferociouschill, saw more sunny days and

temperatures remained most-ly above the freezing point.This was against the norm ofbone-chilling wave that evenfreezes lakes and springs andblocks water-supply pipes.

Interestingly, the snowfallbegan in Chillai Khurd, the 20-day spell of less-intense winterbetween February 1 and 20.Reports said several areas in thehigher reaches of Kashmirregion received moderate to

heavy snowfall. Beyond theperiphery of Kashmir Valley,the snowfall has also beenreported in the tourist resort ofPatnitop, Nathatop, upper hillsof Mata Vaishnodevi caveshrine, Kishtwar and Dodasince last night.

The snowfall has come asa big relief for local populationespecially the farming com-munity in villages. The delay insnowfall was causing worry to

farmers who were foreseeing adrought-like situation in theabsence of heavy snowfall.

“Though snowfall in ChillaiKalan lasts for a longer periodbecause of crystallisation due tohard chill, the February snow isbetter than having no snowfallat all. I am hopeful the glaciershave received enough snowfallto sustain agriculture and suf-fice our domestic water require-ment during the summer

months”, said MuhammadAmin, a cleric from southKashmir.

The authorities announcedto stop vehicular movement onthe vital 300-kilometerSrinagar-Jammu NationalHighway around 3 pm whencontinuous snowfall turned theroad stretches slippery. Officialsin at Police Control Room inSrinagar said that due to rainand snowfall in Qazigund andRamban areas, the traffic move-ment on both sides wasstopped. Earlier, vehicles wereencouraged to slowly pass thetreacherous area before theroad was declared closed.

The historic Mughal Roadconnecting Kashmir Valleywith Rajouri and Srinagar-LehNational Highway havealready been closed due toheavy snowfall. These roadsincluding some inter-districtroads remain buried underthick layers of snow untilearly spring.

The Governor administra-tion has alerted men andmachinery to avert any even-tuality due to inclement weath-er. The people living in theupper reaches have beenadvised against venturing outin the wake of threats due tosnow avalanches.

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Amid the Opposition partiesallegation of rising crime in

Bihar and unabated murders,Chief Minister Nitish Kumaron Thursday held a high levelmeeting on law and orderwhich was attended by all thetop brass of police and HomeDepartment.

In less than three monthstime this is the third meetingon law and order convened bythe CM after his swearing-in ashead of the MahagathbandhanGovernment in November last.Bihar has witnessed suddenspurt of organised crime dur-ing the past three months inwhich engineers, traders andpolitical activists were gunneddown and police have not beenable to arrest the main culprits.

The Thursday meetingwhich lasted for about threehours mainly discussed theorganised crime, general lawand order situation, nature ofcrime, strengthening of thepolice network and simplifica-tion of the rules to address thepublic complaints. On the firstMonday of this month, when

CM resumed his janata darbar,over one thousand peopleturned up mostly with com-plaints related to police andNitish had to listen for overnine hours.

Director General of PolicePK Thakur after emergingfrom the meeting said thatlaw and order situation wasthreadbare discussed and theCM issued necessary direc-tives to the top police and homedepartment officials. He saidthe meeting will continue onFriday too.

For the past about threemonths the Opposition partieshave fired salvos at the NitishGovernment for its ‘failure’ tocheck crime and alleged thatcriminals were going scot freedue to their political clouts, anallegation stoutly denied byCM and RJD supremo LaluPrasad. The LJP even demand-

ed imposition of President’srule in Bihar following themurder of its leader BaijanthiSingh last week.

Reacting to LJP MP ChiragPaswan’s criticism that nobodyfrom the Government or fromthe ruling parties visited thebereaved family of its slainleader Baijnathi Singh, mur-dered on February 5, DeputyCM Tejashwi Prasad Yadavtersely remarked, “I don’t visitany person who had criminalbackground even if he belongsto my party. Baijnathi wasaccused in 20 criminal cases asper police records.”

Finance Minister and RJDleader Abdul Bari Siddiquisaid, “Crime graph in otherStates ruled by the BJP is high-er. Those who accuse of badlaw and order in Bihar shouldtell if anything wrong happenedto them.”

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Patna: An FIR has been regis-tered against Anirudh Prasadalias Sadhu Yadav, estrangedbrother-in-law of RJD presi-dent Lalu Yadav, for allegedlydemanding extortion from abuilder, charge he has denied as“baseless”.

An FIR was registered inKotwali police station hereagainst Sadhu Yadav last night onthe complaint filed by managerof builder Anil Singh, SSP ManuMaharaj said on Thursday.

He was booked under sec-tion 387 of IPC (putting personin fear of death or of grievoushurt in order to commit extor-tion), the Kotwali PS SHORamesh Kumar Singh said.

The complainant hasalleged that Sadhu Yadav tele-phoned the builder and sought�50 lakh as extortion.

While the SSP said policeare investigating the matterSadhu has denied the charge.

“It’s a baseless allegation. Ihad telephoned the builder in

good faith on request of a per-son who had booked a flat withhim but not got it (the flat),”Sadhu told PTI.

Sadhu Yadav, a former LokSabha member fromGopalganj, was known for hisstrong arm tactics during thepast RJD rule in the state. LaluPrasad and his wife Rabri Devihave severed relations withhim long back.

RJD spokesman and MLARamanuj Prasad said the partyhas nothing to do with SadhuYadav who is no longer itsmember. PTI

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Normal life remained affect-ed in Kashmir on third

consecutive day following sep-aratists’ call to commemoratedeath anniversary of JKLFfounder Muhammad MaqboolBhat and Parliament attackconvict Afzal Guru who wereboth executed in Delhi’s TiharJail in February month of 1984and 2013 respectively.

Shops, business establish-ments and private offices andtuition centers remained closedand public transport was off theroads. Many private vehicleswere plying on roads and theattendance in Governmentoffices was affected.

The shutdown was calledby both factions of HurriyatConference, JKLF and pro-Pakistan militant outfit HizbulMujahideen to observe 32ndanniversary of JKLF founderMaqbool Bhat, who was exe-cuted in Tihar jail on February11, 1984 for his involvementin the murder of an intelli-gence officer.

Militants in 1990 shot deathNeil Kanth Ganjoo, a districtjudge who had pronounceddeath sentence against Bhat.

Bhat, like Parliament attackconvict Afzal Guru, who was put

to gallows on February 9, 2013,was secretly buried in thepremises of Tihar Jail. Their rel-atives and separatist groupsdemand return of the mortalremains. Even as mainstreamPeople’s Democratic Party(PDP) and Nationa;l Conference(NC) also supported thedemand, this year they chose toremain silent on the issue.

The authorities placedrestrictions in areas underseven police stations inSrinagar district besides othermajor towns to stem publicprotests and maintain law andorder. Restrictions were alsoimposed in north Kashmir’sSopore and Baramulla townsand Bhat’s native villageTrehgam where his step-moth-er Shahmali lives. The author-ities put several separatist lead-ers under house-detentionwhile JKLF Chairman YasinMalik, who was taken intocustody on February 9, hasbeen remanded to judicial cus-tody for a week.

The authorities hadannounced to suspend trainservices between Baramullaand Banihal town due to thelaw and order situation.

Police said there was noreport of any untoward inci-dent from any quarter of Valley.

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Aday after it received asevere jolt by the defection

of its floor leader in the StateAssembly E Dayakar Rao to theruling Telangana RashtraSamiti, the Opposition TeluguDesam Party on Thursdaynominated A Revanth Reddy asits new leader in the Assembly.

In the new flood of exodusfrom the party, TDP lost twomore MLAs in Telangana EDayaka Rao and T PrakashGoud to the TRS. Dayaka Rao’sdefection was specially a debil-itating blow as he was thesenior most TDP leader inTelugu and a key confidant ofparty’s national president NChandrababu Naidu.

Taken aback by the devel-opment Chandrababu Naiduon Thursday addressed a letterto Telangana Assembly SpeakerMadhusudhan Chary informingthat Dayakar Rao was sus-pended by the party because ofhis anti-party activities. He inti-mated that A Revanth Reddywill be the new leader of TeluguDesam Party in the Assembly.

Revanth Reddy, party’sworking president in Telanganawas known for his confronta-

tionist approach towards theruling TRS, was also at logger-heads with E Dayakar Rao.

The news of Dayakar Raoswitching over his loyalties tothe TRS was in the air eversince the TRS came to power in2014 but it could not material-ize as other leaders in rulingaprty resisted it.

However after the TRS com-pletely wiped out the Oppositionspecially the TDP in GHMCelections, a fresh round of defec-

tions have begun from the TDP.KP Vivekananda, a TDP legisla-tor from Qutubullahpur inHyderabad joined the TRS onTuesday. Next day Dayakar Raoand Prakash Goud met theChief Minister K ChandrasekharRao at his camp office andjoined the TRS.

Speculations are rife thatgiven his seniority, DayakarRao will be rewarded with acabinet berth. Earlier also manydefectors from the TDP were

given important positions in thecabinet. They include T SrinivasYadav who became commercialtaxes Minister. A non legislatorTummala Nageshwara Rao whocame from TDP was also madea Minister. Another top TDPleader Kadiam Srihari whojoined TRS before the electionswas made deputy ChiefMinister.

With the latest defectionsthe Chief Minister KChandrasekhar Rao has suc-ceeded in almost wiping outthe TDP from the State. Nineof the 15 TDP MLAs in theState have so far joined the TRSand efforts were on to lure eventhe remaining members to ful-fill the legal requirement of themerger of the TDP legislatorparty in the TDP.

“I am joining the TRS toensure development of myconstituency as well as theentire Telangana State”,Dayakar Rao said adding thatthe TDP had no future in thestate as Naidu had lost interestin the party. He also blamedRevanth Reddy for his decisionwondering why he was beinggiven so much importance inthe party. He predicted that twoor three more TDP MLAs willjoin the TRS.

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Telangana Rashtra Samiti onThursday bagged the cov-

eted posts of Mayor and deputyMayor of Hyderabad as both itscandidates Bontu Rammohanand Baba Fasihuddin were elect-ed unanimously.

With 99 of the 150 seats ofGreater Hyderabad MunicipalCorporation in its bag and thesecond larges party Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (MIM)extending support, the TRShad a cake walk in the electionsto the two posts held on Friday.

With only one nominationeach being filed for the posts of

Mayor and Deputy Mayor, thepresiding officer and Hyderabaddistrict collector Rahul Bojjaannounced the election of boththe nominees unanimously.

Deputy Chief MinisterMahmood Ali and HomeMinister N Narasimha Reddywere among the notables pre-sent in the Council Hall on theoccasion of elections of Mayorand Deputy Mayor.

The Opposition partiesTDP, Congress and BJP, reducedto the strength of 1, 2 and fourthey had no role in the electionof the two key posts.

Earlier, the TRS finalised itscandidates and chalked out its

strategy at a meeting of the partycorporators.

33 year Bonta Rammohan,elected from Charalapally divi-sion is known as a staunch loy-alist of the Chief Minister KChandrasekhar Rao. He wasactive in the TRS and Telanganamovement from his studentdays. Presently a lawyer,Rammohan was pursuing PhD.

Baba Fasihuddin is also youa leader from young generationand he represents Borabandadivision in GHMC. Fasihuddin,a campo follower of KCR’sdaughter K Kavita had enteredTRS as a student leader andalways remained with the party.

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The Government of Indiahas launched a majorprogramme on smartcities. With urbanisa-tion growing at a rapid

rate in the country, and the prospectof almost half our population liv-ing in towns and cities by 2030, thedesign of cities, their infrastructureand governance systems acquiregreat importance. While most ofour towns and cities have grownhaphazardly, we have opportunitiesfor ensuring that new urban habi-tat that we design and constructutilises new knowledge and tech-nologies, by which appropriateamenities are available to all the res-idents in every location as well asin a manner that it is cost effectiveand friendly to the environment.Cities generally have a large ecolog-ical footprint, and if all the econom-ic activities within a town or city aremeasured in quantitative terms fortheir ecological impacts, it would befound that the impacts of produc-tion and consumption activities inurban areas expand to a substantialdistance beyond urban limits. Forinstance, raw materials, food andother supplies have to be pro-duced elsewhere a wide area andtravel a long distance to meet thedemands of towns and cities. Thismeans that impacts, including pol-lution associated with these activ-ities,are not confined to urbanlocations, but spreads out over alarge area of land elsewhere. Beforethe Olympic Games were held inLondon in 2012, the city had car-ried out just such an exercise toassess what London’s ecologicalfootprint was in terms of the areathat it impacts on. This was esti-mated at an order of magnitudeabove the size of London itself.

One issue that would be para-mount in the design of new citiesas well as in the refurbishment ofold towns and cities is the impor-tance of integrating the impacts ofclimate change on future plans.Cities will need to be designed in amanner that makes them climateresilient. In simple terms, the infra-structure and systems in a citywould have to enable adaptationmeasures being facilitated, by whichthey are able to reduce the risksfrom climate change impacts forboth life as well as property. In sev-eral parts of the world adaptationmeasures have been taken in handthrough clear-cut plans and insti-tutional arrangements. Some ofwhat is being done in other coun-tries is briefly summarised below.

In Africa, most Governmentsare initiating governance systems foradaptation. Disaster risk manage-ment, adjustments in technologies

and infrastructure, ecosystem-basedapproaches, basic public healthmeasures, and livelihood diversifi-cation are reducing vulnerability,though efforts tend to be isolated.

In Europe, the adaptation pol-icy has been developed across alllevels of Government, with someadaptation planning integratedinto coastal and water manage-ment, into environmental protec-tion and land planning, and intodisaster risk management.

In Asia, adaptation is beingfacilitated through mainstreamingclimate adaptation action into sub-national development planning,early warning systems (such as forcyclones and coastal flooding),integrated water resources manage-ment, agro-forestry, and coastal re-forestation of mangroves.

In Australasia, planning for sealevel rise, and in southern Australiafor reduced water availability, isbecoming adopted widely. Planningfor sea level rise has evolved con-siderably over the past two decadesand shows a diversity of approach-es, although its implementationremains piecemeal.

In North America,Governments are engaging in incre-mental adaptation assessment andplanning, particularly at the munic-ipal level. Some proactive adapta-

tion is occurring to protect longer-term investments in energy andpublic infrastructure.

In Central and South America,ecosystem-based adaptation includ-ing protected areas, conservationagreements, and community man-agement of natural areas is occur-ring. Resilient crop varieties, climateforecasts, and integrated waterresources management are beingadopted within the agriculturalsector in some areas, but these havemajor implications for urban andsuburban living as well.

Resilience can be defined as thecapacity of social, economic andenvironment systems to cope witha hazardous event or trend or dis-turbance, responding or re-organ-ising in ways that maintain theiressential function, identity andstructure, while also maintainingthe capacity for adaptation, learn-ing and transformation. In the caseof urban location, adaptation andconsequently climate resiliencewould need to focus on impactssuch as sea level rise, higher tem-peratures, greater frequency andoccurrence of heat waves as well asextreme precipitation events, whichhave implications for drainage facil-ities and management of water.Since climate change will get moreserious over time, it is important for

those responsible for design ofcities to evaluate future impacts ofclimate change, and build inresilience factors at an early stage.Smart cities, being supported by theGovernment of India, would needto make sure that smart measuresincorporate climate resilience as anessential component of urban devel-opment plans for the future.

A large number of cities arelocated in coastal areas. Due to sealevel rise projected throughout the21st century and beyond, coastalsystems and low-lying areas willincreasingly experience adverseimpacts such as submergence,coastal flooding, and coastal ero-sion. The population and assets pro-jected to be exposed to coastal risksas well as human pressures oncoastal ecosystems will increase sig-nificantly in the coming decadesdue to population growth, econom-ic development, and urbanisation.The relative costs of coastal adap-tation vary strongly among andwithin regions and countries for the21st century. Some low-lying devel-oping countries and small islandstates are expected to face very highimpacts that, in some cases, couldhave associated damage and adap-tation costs of several percentagepoints of GDP.

One particular impact of cli-mate change which is going to affectalmost every region of the worldinvolves the increase in frequencyand intensity of extreme precipita-tion events. The recent floods thattook place in Chennai and the 2005calamity with flooding thatoccurred in Mumbai are occur-rences which will increase in thefuture. Damage to natural ecosys-tems, such as wetlands, in urbanareas, increases the risks attendanton such flooding. In the case ofMumbai, inadequate drainage wasan important factor in the long peri-od for which the water stood acrossthe city and the depth that led toexcessive damage and destruction.Similarly, heat waves are on theincrease and will become muchmore common in the future.Hence, buildings would need to bedesigned efficiently, such that thedemand for air-conditioning isminimised. TERI has been at theforefront on designing and con-structing energy efficient buildings,whereby demand for energy in anew building can be reduced by asmuch as 45 per cent.

The concept of Smart Citiesprovides India with an opportuni-ty to ensure efficient use of resourcesin buildings, and the incorporationof climate change considerations.

(The writer is executive vicechairman, TERI)�

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Sir — This refers to the editor-ial, “Retaining advantage”(February 10). Unfortunate andtragic are small words todescribe the heart-breaking inci-dent where nine Indian sol-diers lost their lives in a Siachenavalanche. It is indeed sad thatwhile not a single bullet has beenfired in this region for more thana decade, our soldiers lose theirlives due to the threat posed byour hostile neighbour.

Hopefully, this incident willmake our Government takenotice of the fact that our sol-diers not only deserve the bestof military gear, but there oughtto be a scheme where these sol-diers, who are posted at hostileterrains like Siachen, be com-pensated well for the tenurethey are posted there. It is theleast we can do for them, as theyput their lives at stake every sec-ond of the day.

Bal GovindNoida

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Sir — This refers to the editori-al, “Pakistan nailed again”(February 9). David Headley’s

confessions have just confirmedwhat was already known to us.However, his testimony will pro-vide evidence for the trail of AbuJundal, whose case is pendingbefore a Mumbai court. The caseis now in the safe hands of spe-cial public prosecutor Mr UjjwalNikam, and he should now beable to secure capital punishmentfor Jundal as he did in the case ofAjmal Kasab.

PN SaxenaVia email

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Sir — This refers to the editori-al, “Uncertainty bad for J&K”(February 9). The editorial hasrightly underlined the fact thatprolonged delay in Governmentformation in Jammu & Kashmiris unhealthy for the border State.

Peoples Democratic Partypresident Mehbooba Mufti hasshown a reluctance to continuewith the historic alliance that wasforged by her father. She hasinsisted on confidence-buildingmeasures and has demandedfresh assurances from the BJP.

Ms Mehbooba Mufti is notrealising that her posture impliesthat her alliance partner, the BJP,and the Modi Government, werenot cooperative, but were causing

problems for the smooth workingof the coalition Government.

In fact, Prime MinisterNarendra Modi, during his fre-quent visits to the State andmeetings with her father, had fullybacked the Mufti’s Governmentwith economic and political assis-tance. She is aware that a freshpoll will not help her.

It will be wiser for her to sortout the problems, if any, with theBJP leadership, to hasten theprocess of Government formationwithout any further delay.

M RatanVia email

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Sir — The demise of formerNepalese Prime Minister SushilKoirala is saddening not only forNepal, but also for India. Koiralawas very close to India as he spent15 years in exile here. He was agreat statesman, a man of peace,a mass leader and a moderate fig-ure in the impoverished country’sunsettled politics. With hisknowledge and wisdom, he guid-ed the polity of Nepal.

Ramesh G Jethwani Bangalore

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When he landed ajob as a juniordiplomat in theRussian embassyin New Delhi as a

20-something, Mr Alexander MKadakin must not have imaginedthat the embassy would become hishome for the next nearly fourdecades, with only a few intermis-sions, and that he would eventual-ly head it as the Ambassador.During this period, he witnessedthe glory of the Soviet era; saw thedisintegration of the only super-power after the US before hiseyes; and watched the creation ofa new Russia, now much reducedin size and changed in shape butstill formidable in geo-politics.

And yes, along the way helearnt Hindi, dared to hum quite afew classic Bollywood songs of thefifties rather effortlessly, and mas-tered the art of understanding themachinations of Lutyens’ Delhi. MrKadakin was the continuity in themidst of cataclysmic changes hiscountry underwent.

With all this, it’s no surprisethat he bats for India as much as hedoes for Russia. If millions ofIndians sang “Sar pe lal topeerusee, phir bhi dil hai Hindustani”,his heart, which he proudly says is“half-Indian”, must have swelledwith pride at the India-Russiahyphenation. Such is his affectionthat, during the annual OrthodoxChristmas party at the Russianembassy in January, he dressed upin a sherwani and safaa.

Now, in his sixties, Mr Kadakinhas seen it all and met every polit-ical person of importance in India,from Swaran Singh to IndiraGandhi to Rajiv Gandhi to AtalBihari Vajpayee to Narendra Modi,striking deep bonds with many ofthem. His love for Hindi films sawhim interact with, naturally, RajKapoor, Shashi Kapoor and otherglittering personalities. All of thisdid not stop him from honing hisdiplomatic skills which, in the

changing geo-political scenario,has ensured that the traditionalIndia-Russia friendship remainedon a firm footing.

“I came here on my first post-ing in August 1971 as a probationer.This is my fourth posting and thesecond as Ambassador. In between,I had four years of interludes inNepal and Sweden. But all through,even when I was there, I was close-ly connected with India. When inRussia, I was interpreting intoHindi for any summit or visit by theleader of the country and was anadvisor and an expert of the dele-gation”, Mr Kadakin smilingly says.

He has been a full rankAmbassador since 1994. Thismakes him one of the most seniorAmbassadors in his circle. The firstposting as an Ambassador to Indiawas from 1999 to 2004, and the sec-

ond one began in 2009. Here, heshares his views on India-Russia“bonding”, strategic partnership,and areas that need attention.

Bilateral relationship:Terming Prime Minister NarendraModi's visit to Moscow last year as“highly satisfying”, Mr Kadakinfeels that quick decision-makingability of the Prime Ministerdeserves credit. “The results haveexceeded all our expectations. Theone-on-one meeting between MrModi and President Vladimir Putinshowed good chemistry in the per-sonal relationship. Both are precisegentlemen who do not waste timeon idle talk, are practical andresult-oriented.”

India-Russia strategic part-nership: Away from public glare,a lot of movement is happening incivil nuclear, defence and strategic

areas. In the civil nuclear sector,Russia is handling six plants inKudankulam and will add sixmore in Andhra Pradesh. “We willnow be setting up another six plantsof the same capacity but ofadvanced version in AndhraPradesh”, he informs. ComparingRussia’s civil nuclear cooperationwith other countries, Mr Kadakintakes pride in saying that while noteven a nail has been driven in anyof the projects by other countries,Russia was moving fast in its pro-jects. “Issues like nuclear liability,insurance or fuel tracking have notprevented Russia from going aheadon its civil nuclear projects”, hepoints out.

In the defence and security sec-tor, Mr Kadakin mentions talks onthe purchase of S-400 Russianmissiles for Indian air defence, leas-

ing another nuclear submarinefrom Russia, the sale of Kamov Ka226 and Mi-35 helicopters, and ser-vice centres for the Sukhoi fleet inIndia. “We do not feel jealous whenIndia acquires military hardwarefrom other countries for its strate-gic needs. India is a superpower inthe making and we have workedwith the country in military, indus-try and scientific areas to see it asstrong as it is today. Name a coun-try which would rent a nuclear sub-marine to India; name anothercountry which would refurbish andreconstruct an aircraft carrier formodern-day needs, he challenges.

India-Pakistan-Russia issue:On Russia’s decision to sell Russiafour Mi-35 attack helicopters toPakistan, Mr Kadakin says India’sneedn’t worry. Russia will not takeeven “one millimetre or an inch ofaction” that is detrimental to its“old and strategic partnership”with India.

He adds, “Pakistan has con-flicting forces. While the civilianside wants good relations withIndia, the ISI and the PakistanArmy do not want peaceful rela-tions with India. Whenever talksare scheduled, there is a terrorattack. It has become a pattern.Russia is working with Pakistan toprevent cross-border terror attackson India. We have tried to influ-ence Pakistan to check trans-bor-der terrorism and have spent a lotof energy in this direction. Wewant Pakistan to play a moreproactive role in fighting terror-ism”, he states.

India-China: Russia is happywith India’s improved relationswith China. “It took us 40 yearsto sort out our border issue withChina. One needs a lot of patiencewith the Chinese. It is good thatboth India and China have decid-ed not to allow territorial prob-lems to come in the way andimprove relations in other areas.We bless the talks”, Mr Kadakinhappily remarks.

In a swift move, the BJP hasreached out to its asserting allieswith party president Amit Shah

assuring them that the party was keento follow the coalition dharma. Thedamage control exercise this weekahead of the crucial Budget sessionof Parliament has somewhat molli-fied the allies who were irked with theBJP’s ‘arrogant’ behaviour.

Although the party is not new tocoalitions, the NDA of the 2014 is dif-ferent from the NDA of the 1998. Forthe first time the BJP has come topower at the Centre on its ownstrength but held on to its allies, someof them small parties. It isnothing unusual for alliancepartners to feel neglected attimes. This happened withthe NDA earlier. Even at theState-level, allies like theShiv Sena feel sidelined. TheUPA too had this problemwith its junior partners.

The BJP has four majorpartners to contend with inthe present dispensation.They are the Akali Dal(Punjab), Shiv Sena(Maharashtra), PeoplesDemocratic Party (Jammu &Kashmir) and Telugu DesamParty (Andhra Pradesh).The BJP is the junior partnerin Andhra Pradesh, Jammu& Kashmir and Punjab ,while it hasovertaken the Sena in Maharashtra.The PDP has been keeping the BJPwaiting over Government formationin J&K after the Mufti’s death.

What is making the allies feelalienated? The pre-Budget sessionmeeting of the NDA partners calledby Parliamentary Affairs Minister MVenkaiah Naidu, which was attend-ed by Mr Amit Shah on Monday,gave a clear indication in this regard.While the PDP skipped the meeting,other leaders including TDP chief NChandrababu Naidu and Akali Dalleader and Punjab Deputy ChiefMinister Sukhbir Badal attended it.

The meeting was primarily for bet-ter floor coordination to face theopposition onslaught during theensuing Budget Session. The inclu-sion of the NDA allies at the parlia-mentary strategy meet shows that theGovernment needs their cooperationin showing a united face. In the ear-lier sessions, NDA allies had strucka few discordant notes on issues likethe land acquisition Bill.

Why are the partners assertingthemselves? There is a context to this.After the Bihar defeat, the allies havebecome emboldened to speak out.While the BJP may not need their

support in the Lok Sabha, it needsthem in the Rajya Sabha. Also, themajor allies are directly trying toexpand their own base while the BJPtoo has its own plans, which can onlybe at the cost of its allies. Theyounger leaders have emerged in allthese parties and there is no Vajpayeeor Advani to deal with them. Aboveall, the BJP has not opened individ-ual channels with these allies.

In the NDA strategy meeting, theShiv Sena, the Akali Dal and theTelugu Desam Party suggested thatthey be taken on board on importantissues. Their major grouse was lackof communication.

Mr Badal bluntly conveyed to theBJP leadership that the party couldno longer take allies for granted. TheAkali-BJP relationship has been onthe slide. The Punjab Assembly elec-tion is scheduled for the next year anda section in the BJP wants to go italone, fearing anti-incumbency.While the Akali Dal gets the Sikhvotes and holds sway in the ruralareas, the BJP gets the Hindu andbania votes mostly in the urban areas.Punjab has been asking for a specialpackage to overcome the financialcrisis but the Centre has not accept-ed this demand.

The Shiv Sena, touted asa ‘natural partner’ and along-time ally, not only fullyendorsed Mr Badal but alsoadded to the list of woes,pointing out that the BJP’sapproach for the past 20months had been to under-mine its allies. Mr SanjayRaut of the Sena is reportedto have remarked caustical-ly, “Sometimes, we have dif-ficulty understandingwhether or not this is ourGovernment.” The Sena-BJP relationship has sourednot only only at the nation-al level but also at the Statelevel. The two are trying toedge out each other and

often indulge in public spats.Mr Naidu also had similar com-

plaints but he talked of bigger issueslike the BJP strengthening its allies.Much is at stake for Mr Naidu as heneeds a financial package for build-ing his new capital in Amaravati.

Perhaps startled by the out-bursts of allies, Mr Amit Shah hasswung into action. He managed to doquick damage control and assure bet-ter coordination. The result is thatthe BJP has decided to create somemechanism by which there will bebetter coordination and its allies willbe given detailed notes on theGovernment’s policy initiatives.

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Given the acrid natureof the ongoing polit-ical debate in the US,

the notion of the grandilo-quent American Dream isreaching a summationpoint. Questions are beingraised about its efficacy,and the grandiloquentAmerican Dream hasacquired a new definition ofraising of meaningful clam-or and protest.

The notion of being agreat nation, with the dri-ving dictum of ManifestDestiny, is an intrinsic partof the American foundingmyth and lore. The found-ing fathers such as ThomasJefferson, James Madison,John Jay and AlexanderHamilton blazed a trail forthe realisation of the quin-tessence of the Americanway since the American warof Independence.

Gordon S Wood, anavid historian, has stressedupon the triplet theme ofrhetoric, the agrarian natureof the American Republicand the high moral perch ofthe American republic.

The Calvinist self-doubtwas ingrained in the evan-gelical zeal of the develop-mental trajectory of UnitedStates, which was recentlyreflected in the statementsof Presidential hopeful TedCruz. The self-doubt trendserves as a central pillar ofthe American experiment inthe New World which leavesroom for the country to bet-ter its past performance.

Thus, stringent criti-cism has emerged as thepivot of the New Dream,wherein domestic stableshave to be cleaned before abombastic Mr Donald

Trump or an ecclesiastical-ly-ordained Ted Cruz skimsthrough the Republican pri-maries. Mr Cruz’s visage ofa new evangelist might dothe trick for him. Thesevalues are of immense sig-nificance for the Americannation and the world atlarge, with several ridersattached to how they areinterpreted globally.

Coming back to theAmerican Dream, the twinideals of opportunity andfreedom has been inscribedin the nation’s political dis-course. Yet, Ms AshleyParker writes in The NewYork Times that, “Some 23per cent of the voters at theNew Hampshire Primaryare free floaters as beingundecided about thePresidential candidates.”

It has also been recent-ly asserted that someAmericans cannot affordthe American Dream ofplenty and pelf . TheCanadian real estate hub,The Red Pin, said that notmany average workers canafford a house, car, anddecent health and educa-tion, including in severalWestern nations. The studyfound that the averageAmericans cannot equatethemselves with citizens inOman and Saudi Arabia.

Yet, CNBC reported that63 per cent of Americansbelieve that they are livingthe American Dream. TheAllstate-Heartland Monitorpoll ref lects the beliefamong American citizensthat it is their talent, hard-work and steadfastednessof purpose which invigo-rates them to attempt new frontiers.

Additionally, the pollalso observed that, “Almosthalf, or 45 per cent, of thosepolled rated their personalfinancial situation as excel-lent or good, which was athree-year high. However,54 percent said their per-sonal financial situation wasonly fair or poor.”

Apart from the tangiblesof the Dream, critics haveinterpreted that theAmerican Dream as envis-aged by the Foundingfathers is only about bom-bast, popular morality andrhetoric of terms and lan-guage. The criticism goesfurther to assert that theseare hazy and larger-than-lifeideals, only good to bedebated in university class-rooms and during Superbowl screenings. Theprotests in US and abroadreflect the growing moralangst of Americans as theyinvolve themselves more ingovernance issues.

The idea of theSpiderman biopic rings truefor the American nation. Thefamous quote from the film— “With great power comesgreat responsibility” — istrue for the US as well.Despite recent losses and acrippling recession, theUnited States still wields con-siderable weight, and theAmerican Dream lives ondespite domestic and globalchallenges — such as differ-ent perspectives on Americanarmed interventions in for-eign shores and the nation’sovert entrepreneurial zealand the manner in which itmanifests globally.

(The writer teaches atthe Indian Institute of PublicAdministration, New Delhi)

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Government on Thursdaysought to assure investors

that India has a “fortress” likebalance sheet and is well pre-pared to deal with the impactof global economic turbulencein the wake of market tankingover 800 points.

Minister of State forFinance Jayant Sinha alsoasked investors to take a longterm view on equities, withoutgetting swayed by short termvolatilities, saying that he him-self has been investing instocks for 30 years.

“India is doing very well,we have a resilient economy.Economic fundamentals arerock solid, we have a fortressbalance sheet. As a country weare very well prepared for anyvolatility or any turbulence inthe global economy,” he said.

Talking to reporters on thesidelines of a ICAI event here,Sinha said that bouts of volatil-ity plague stock markets everyfew years and sometimes everyyear as globally investors read-just their portfolios.

“I have been investing inthis market for 30 years...Obviously there will be timesin the capital markets whencapitals will flow in and out asit is happening around theworld. During that time ourinvestors should think longterm, they should recognisethe underlying attractive andfundamentals and adjust theirinvestment strategies,” he said.

Sinha said the long termtrend in equity marketsaround the world has beenpositive and upwards.

“All investors should take

a long term view, they shouldhold on while the market goesthrough its gyrations and theyshould maintain sound invest-ment strategies and be pre-pared for this volatility...Investors should think longterm, they should recognisestrength and fundamentals ofIndian economy,” he said.

The stock market hasfallen in four consecutivetrading sessions. The BSESensex on Thursday plunged

807 points to sett le at22,951.83-- its biggest fall insix months.

The Sensex has come offover 23 per cent from its all-time peak of 30,024 recordednearly a year ago on March 4while the total investors’wealth has come down byclose to �20 lakh crore sincethen.

Sinha said people are look-ing at India as a beacon ofhope and haven of stability

amid turbulence in globaleconomy.

“Every few years in the globaleconomy, some sudden shock cre-ates tremendous turbulence andthat reduces the prospects ofgrowth going forward. In these tur-bulent times, India as a haven of sta-bility, India as a beacon of growthand India, as a moral for the worldin terms of democratic countrywhere we are working together toimprove life of citizens, becomesshining example,” he added.

������� The carnage in thestock market on Thursdaymade Dalal Street investorspoorer by over �3 lakh crore,where the benchmark Sensextumbled by more than 800points, amid a massive sell-offin banking shares and worriesover global economic slow-down.

The Sensex on Thursdayclosed 807.07 points down at22,951.83 points -- the lowestclosing level for the index sinceMay 8, 2014.

Intra-day, it slumped849.78 points to 22,909.1 -- its52-week low.

This was also the fourthstraight session of losses for theindex which has fallen by 1,665points.

Following the extremeweakness in stocks, the marketcapitalisation (m-cap) of BSE-listed firms plunged by �3.18lakh crore to �86,30,930 crore.

So far this year, the marketvaluation of BSE-listed com-panies has come down sharplyby �14 lakh crore from�1,00,37,734 crore onDecember 31, 2015.

“Markets fell steeply on

the back of continuing concernsabout a global slowdown andconsequent impact on the

financial sector.“Quarterly results declared

over the past few days have also

not met up to the muted expec-tations and that also impactedsentiments,” said Dipen Shah,

Senior Vice-President & Headof Private Client GroupResearch, Kotak Securities.

Going ahead, global con-cerns will remain at centre-stage and will likely dictate

market sentiments, he added.Following Thursday’s fall,

the Sensex has come off over 23

per cent from its all-time peakof 30,024 points recorded onMarch 4, 2015.

It was a sea of red at the BSESensex, where 28 out of the 30-bluechip scrips suffered losses.

Adani Ports, BHEL, TataMotors, ONGC, Mahindra &Mahindra and Tata Steel werethe top losers.

Cipla and Dr Reddys Lab,however, ended with mild gains.

“Bears tightenedtheir grip across the globe.Relentless selling in the stockmarket is coming from redemp-tion pressures, crude slumpingto multi-year lows, depreciatingrupee against dollar and disap-pointing earnings,” said GauravJain, Director, Hem Securities.

At the BSE, 2,359 stocksdeclined, while only 324advanced. The prices of 96stocks remained unchanged.

“The colour of the day wasred as the selling rout of theprevious 3 sessions intensifiedtoday, pushing key bench-mark indices in India to tradeat 21 month lows,” saidShreyash Devalkar, FundManager – Equities, BNPParibas Mutual Fund. ���

!����%��������"��������������#��������%���������"���������� Investors continuedto desert State -run lenderswith stocks plunging by up to 11per cent on Thursday amidconcerns over mounting badloans and disappointing earn-ings reported by them.

Shares of Oriental Bank ofCommerce dipped 11.06 percent on the BSE, followed byUnited Bank of India 7.61 percent, Allahabad Bank 6.94 percent, Bank of India 5.96 per cent,Central Bank of India 4.06 percent, Indian Overseas Bank4.01 per cent, PNB 4 per cent,Union Bank of India 3.26 percent, SBI 2.99 per cent and DenaBank 2.08 per cent.

Consequently, the BSE bankindex fell by 3.81 per cent to endat 15,889.92.

Some of these banks hadfallen by over 12 per cent yes-terday also.

State-run OBC onThursday reported a net loss of

�424.6 crore for the third quar-ter ended December 31, due tosignificant jump in bad loans.The bank had earned a net prof-it of �19.56 crore in the samequarter last year.

Gross NPAs as a percentageto total advances rose signifi-cantly to 7.75 per cent from 5.43per cent in the same quarter yearago.

Public sector United Bankof India reported 59.31 per centdecline in net profit to �17 crorefor the December quarter.

The bank had posted a netprofit of �41.78 crore in the thirdquarter of the previous fiscal.

Bank of India reported a netloss of �1,505.58 crore for thethird quarter ended December31, on account of higher provi-sioning for bad loans.

The bank had a net profitof �1,733.80 crore in theOctober-December quarter ofthe last fiscal.

Gross non-performingassets of the bank as a percent-age of total advances rose to9.18 per cent during the quar-ter as against 4.07 per cent lastfiscal.

State-owned Union Bankof India reported 74 per centdecline in net profit at �78.5crore for the third quarter of thecurrent fiscal.

The bank had posted netprofit of �302.42 crore for thethird quarter of last fiscal,2014-15.

Gross NPAs as a percent-age to total advances rose sig-nificantly to 7.05 per cent from5.08 per cent in the same quar-ter a year ago.

State Bank of India posted67 per cent decline in consoli-dated profit to � 1,259.49 crorefor the third quarter endedDecember 31, 2015-16, onaccount of higher provisioningfor bad loans. ���

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World stock marketsslumped on Thursday,

gripped by yet another fiercesell-off after a warning byFederal Reserve boss JanetYellen over the global econo-my, while oil fell close to 12-year lows.

New York’s Dow JonesIndustrial Average sankovernight as Yellen alsoappeared to play down thechances of another US inter-est rate hike any time soon.

The news sparked arenewed sell-off in Asia on Thursday with Hong Kongstocks tumbling as investorsalso played catch-up after athree-day break for theChinese New Year.

The intense selling spilledover into Europe, with Athensshedding six per cent andMilan diving five per cent in

morning deals, while Paris lostalmost four per cent.

Frankfurt and Madridstocks shed more than threepercent, while London dipped2.7 per cent.

“The Fed chair inspired awave of panic late in theAmerican session that has fedthrough Asia and turned upon Europe’s doorstep,”Spreadex analyst Connor

Campbell told AFP.He added that “a lack of

sufficient dovishness pairedwith gloomy comments on theglobal outlook” had reignitedinvestors’ recession fears.

In commodity markets,New York crude oil collapsedclose to a 12-year low under-neath $27 per barrel, plaguedalso by chronic oversupply.

Sentiment soured furtheras Australian mining giant RioTinto posted an annual netloss of $866 million andblamed the “highly challeng-ing environment” as com-modity prices plunge andChina’s economic slowdownbites.

Dealers continued theirflight to safe investments thathas played out across tradingfloors from Asia to theAmericas this week as theyfret about a possible globalrecession.

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��! �����Trying to soothethe nerves of jittery investors,Finance Ministry on Thursdaysaid the Indian economy isdoing well and the perfor-mance of domestic stock mar-kets is not as bad as that ofother nations.

Attributing the plunge inthe stock markets to global fac-tors, Economic AffairsSecretary Shaktikanta Das saidthat Government was preparedto deal with the challenges andstressed that 7.6 per cent GDPgrowth projected by the CSOfor the current fiscal was “note-worthy and very significant”.

“Over the last few days theNSE and BSE have experi-enced a lot of volatility. Thedecline in our markets is com-parable to rest of the world...India is not an exception, butit is better off than many othermarkets,” he said.

His comments failed how-ever to calm the stock markets

which posted huge losses dur-ing the course of the day.

The benchmark BSESensex plunged over 807 pointson sustained selling by fundsand retail investors amid weakAsian cues. The 30-share indexclosed 3.40 per cent down at22,951.83 points. Similar loss-es were witnessed in the NSENifty.

Das on his part assured theinvestors that “Government iskeeping a very close watch oninternational and global devel-opment and Government isprepared to deal with all thesechallenges”.

He further said thatGovernment would revise theinterest rates for small savingsschemes in a day or two toalign them with the marketrates. The interest rates on girlchild and senior citizenschemes, however, will not berevised.

The interest rates on small

savings schemes will now berevised every quarter insteadof annually, he added. Dassaid that since January, Niftyand BSE have witnessedabout10 per cent decline (sinceFebruary 10, 2016) “but if youcompare with other markets -- Japan lost 21 per cent, S&P500 of US 10.35 per cent,Hong Kong 14 per cent,Singapore 12 per cent, UK 10per cent and Shanghai 28 percent.”

He added that amid theglobal turmoil, 7.6 per centgrowth rate for the current fis-cal was not bad although theagriculture sector would con-tinue to remain a challenge.

“Given this kind of volatil-ity and turmoil prevailing allover the world in the globaleconomy, the growth forecastfor the current year at 7.6 percent is definitely noteworthyand very significant,” headded. ���

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�������Stressing that clean-er balancesheets will lead tofuture loan growth for banks,RBI chief Raghuram Rajan onThursday said a “deep surgery”is must for the clean-up thatwould require an “anaesthetic”in the form of recognisingNPAs on their books.

Seeking to soothe the nervesof the banks hit hard by theRBI’s diktat to clean up theirbooks by March 2017, theReserve Bank Governor alsosaid there won’t be a repeat ofthe asset quality review (AQR)that has hit the banks’ bot-tomlines -- which incidental-ly has resulted in a steep stockfall and a huge erosion ofinvestors’ wealth.

“We do not envisage asequence of the AQRs,” Rajantold bankers at a conferenceorganised by industry body CIIhere this evening.

Using a medical jargon toimpress upon the need forsuch a review, Rajan said a“deep surgery” is needed toclean up and the process ofrecognising the NPA is akin toan “anaesthetic” needed for theprocedure.

Acknowledging that theAQR, under which the RBI hasasked banks to recognise sometop defaulting accounts asnon-performing ones and pro-vide for them, has had a debil-itating impact on banks’ num-bers and their stocks, Rajanadmitted that the earnings ofState-run banks do not look“pretty”.

While the Sensex has losta little over 6 per cent sincemid-January 15 when banksstarted declaring Q3 numbers,the sectoral BSE Bankexplunged close to 8 per centduring the same period.

If the fall continues, the

market capitalisation of mid-sized private sector bank KotakMahindra will be soon behigher than that of the largestpublic sector bank SBI. KotakMahindra Bank on Thursdayclosed the day with a marketcap of �115,296.24 crore, whilethat of SBI was �117,375.5crore.

The RBI embarked on theAQR exercise from last Apriland while it had concerns onthe world economy, it did notknow of the markets gettinginto turmoil as they have now,he said, defending the move toundertake the AQR.

“We knew at that timethat the global economy wouldcontinue to be weak but notthat markets would be in tur-moil as of today. Nevertheless,this simply reinforces our beliefthat we needed to act when wehave to,” Rajan said.

Almost all the majorlenders in the system havereported a sharp increase inasset quality stress and height-ened provisioning as a result ofthe AQR, under which bankshave been reportedly asked torecognise stressed accounts byMarch end.

Critics say this will resultin deserving sections of theeconomy being deprived of themuch needed credit in a situ-ation like the current one filledwith economic gloom.

“While the profitability ofsome banks may be impairedin the short-run, the system,once cleaned, will be able tosupport economic growth ina sustainable and profitableway,” Rajan added. Invokingthe mantra which he gave asan academic while dealingwith NPA stress, Rajan said,“To the question of whatcomes first, clean up orgrowth, I think the answer isunambiguously ‘Clean up’.”

In support of the effica-cy of his argument, he citedthe divergence in sectoralcredit growths of the State-run lenders having a largerstressed accounts and theprivate sector ones withcleaner balance sheets.

Comparing the non-food credit growth, agri-lending and industrial lend-ing , R ajan sa id , “L oangrowth in private sectorbanks was at least 10 per-centage points higher thanpublic sector banks.”

Reiterating the targetspelled out earlier, Rajansaid, “Our intent is to haveclean and fully provisionedbank balancesheets by March2017” and the regulatory for-bearance will only postponethe “day of reckoning”. ���

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������� Country’s largestlender State Bank of India(SBI) on Thursday reported amassive 67 per cent fall inconsolidated net profit at�1,259.49 crore in the quarterto December, joining its peersin cleaning up the book, andclassified loans worth �20,692crore as having turned bad.

SBI also warned of morepains in the March quarter tomeet the Reserve Bank diktatto clean the books by the endof the fiscal year as the bankhas only provided for abouthalf of the accounts that arestressful.

The SBI Group had post-ed a profit-after-tax of�3,828.20 crore in the thirdquarter of the last fiscal.

On a standalone basis, thebank’s net profit dropped amassive 61.67 per cent to�1,115 crore from �2,910 croredue to increase in bad loansand the resultant higher pro-visioning.

However, in absoluteterms the gross non-perform-ing asset rose only 20 basispoints to 5.10 per cent from4.90 per cent, while net NPArose just 9 basis points to 2.89per cent.

But total provisions rose31 per cent to �8,483 crorefrom �6,477 crore. Net loanloss provision was up 58.93per cent to �7,645 crore from�4,810 crore.

“We have been saying thatthere are a few large accountswhere workouts are happen-ing and if they happened thenthings should be alright and ifnot, then we need to probablyclassify them as NPAs. In thisquarter many of these havebeen classified as NPAs,” SBIChairman ArundhatiBhattacharya told reportershere. ���

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��! �����Government will revise interestrates for small savings schemes in a day or twoso as to align them with market rates, but keepthem unchanged for the girl child and seniorcitizens, Economic Affairs Secretar yShaktikanta Das said on Thursday.

“The decisions have been taken and exec-utive order and notification would be issuedin a day or two. Broadly the underlying phi-losophy of small savings rate changes is tomake the rate more frequently market aligned,make it as closely market aligned as possible,”he said.

Small savings rates are l inked toGovernment Securities’ and readjusted everyyear, he said, adding that now they will be aadjusted on quarterly basis.

The new rates would be applicable fromApril 1, 2016, he added.

“First effect of these changes will take placefrom 1st of April. They will be reset from 1stApril,” he said.

Smalls saving schemes include Post OfficeMonthly Income Scheme (MIS), PPF, PostOffice fixed Deposit Scheme, Senior CitizensSavings Scheme, Post Office Savings Account

and Sukanya Samriddhi Accounts.“At the same time, taking into considera-

tion the interest of small savers and someimportant social sector measures of theGovernment, the rates under the girl childscheme, the senior citizen scheme...They willcontinue as it is. They will have quarterlyadjustments but whatever spreads they haveover the G-Sec rates will not be altered,” he said.

Similarly all long term savings over 5 yearswill continue to have the spread, he said, addingthat at the shorter end of the curve the efforthas been such that the reduction in rates ispassed on and given effect to the system. “Thatis whatever policy rates are being announcedby the Reserve Bank, the small savings rate willalso pass it on. But at the long end of the curvethe spread will be protected. Government hastaken into consideration the interest of smallsavers and the need to also encourage long termsavers,” Das said.

Asked if the banks would pass on the ben-efit of the rate cut to customers, Das said RBIhas cut policy rate by about 125 basis pointssince January last year while banks havepassed on only 70 basis points. ���

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Wipro on Thursday said it will acquireHealthPlan Services for $460 million (about

�3,150 crore), a move that will help the country'sthird-largest software services firm strengthen itsposition in the US health insurance market. Wiproto acquire HealthPlan Services from Water StreetHealthcare

Partners, a strategic investor focused exclu-sively on the health care industry, the Indian soft-ware major said in a statement. As part ofthe agreement, Wipro will acquire 100 percent of HealthPlan Services' shares for apurchase consideration of $460 million,it added. Headquartered in Florida, US,HealthPlan is a leading independenttechnology and Business Process as aService (BPaaS) provider in the US healthinsurance market.

HealthPlan Services employs over 2,000 asso-ciates. It offers technology platforms to healthinsurance companies (payers) in the individual,group and ancillary markets. It connects its payerclients to over 40 public exchanges and over 150private exchanges in the US.

“By partnering with HealthPlan Services,Wipro gains the competitive, first-mover advan-tage in the high growth public and privateexchange space for individual, group and ancillarymarkets. This partnership also strengthens Wipro's

payer portfolio,” Wipro said in a statement.Wipro's clients currently include over 100 US pay-ers, healthcare providers, and public health agen-cies, it added. The Patient Protection andAffordable Care Act has dramatically altered thehealth insurance landscape in the US.

The post-reform individual market is grow-ing at a fast pace and is expected to continue togrow in coming years. “The partnership withHealthPlan Services positions Wipro to participatein the shift of the US health insurance industry

towards a consumer-centric business model,”Wipro Senior Vice President and Head -Healthcare Life Sciences and Services,Jeffrey Heenan Jalil said.

The acquisition strengthens Wipro's posi-tion in the health insurance exchange market

while offering synergies with its presence in themanaged medicare and commercial group insurance

markets, he added. The addition also complementsWipro in claims processing and back office services.

“This is a strategic move for us. This willhelp us lower the cost of healthcare and trans-form the quality of the member experience,” hesaid. This transaction, subject to customaryclosing conditions and regulatory approvals, islikely to be completed in next 60 to 90 days.Finance solutions accounted for 26.2 per centof Wipro's revenues in the October-December2015 quarter, while healthcare, life sciences andservices contributed 12 per cent.

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Beverages giant Coca-Cola isset to launch a new 'juice

with fizz’ drink, more than ayear after Prime MinisterNarendra Modi had asked themultinational cola giants to addfruit juices to their drinks tohelp Indian farmers increasesales. Coca-Cola India will belaunching what it termed as itslatest innovation - a juice withfizz product formulation -- atthe Make in India Week to beheld during February 13-18 inMumbai.

“The idea of this product isrooted in Prime Minister'svision for the food processingsector and the role that the bev-erage industry can play in min-imising fruit wastage to benefitIndian farmers,” said the com-pany in a letter sent to the FoodProcessing Ministry.

In September 2014, Modihad asked multinational colagiants PepsiCo and Coca-Colato help Indian farmers inincreasing their fruit sales byadding fresh fruit juices to theirfizzy drinks. Modi had said that

as millions of people buy Pepsiand Coke the companies couldput 5 per cent natural juice intheir drinks and it would helpfarmers make a lot of moneyand not throw their fruits away.Coca-Cola said its new productis a formulation that contains10.4 per cent juice concentrateprocured from local farms andpulp processors.

“The launch of this productgives us a sense of satisfaction,since it was a significant R&Dchallenge to begin with,” thecompany added. The juice withfizz formulation poses chal-lenges of product stability andpreservation. It also needheightened level of microbio-logical safety and stability.

Also, most of the fruitsgrown in India are of 'table use'varieties and not of processingvarieties. This probably is alsoone of the reasons for low fruitprocessing in India. Baringmango, litchi and small quan-tities of other tropical fruits likeguava, the Indian non-alco-holic beverage industry usesmostly imported fruit pulp forproducts, the company added.

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Social networking giantFacebook on Thursday pulled

the plug on its controversy-rid-den 'Free Basics' programme inIndia, days after telecom regula-tor Trai barred operators fromcharging discriminatory ratesfor Internet access based oncontent. “Free Basics is no longeravailable to people in India,” aFacebook spokesperson said.

The service was offered inIndia in partnership withReliance Communications andwas earlier known asInternet.Org. While there was noreply from RCom to repeatedqueries in this regard, sourcessaid it takes up to 48 hours to stopsuch a service as several websiteswere involved as partners.

Telecom Minister Ravi ShankarPrasad has also slammed FreeBasics saying such differentialpricing modes are ‘plainly notacceptable’ and Internet shouldnot become a monopoly of few.

After months long consul-tation process, triggered by thenet neutrality debate, TelecomRegulatory Authority of India(Trai) earlier this week barredoperators from charging differ-ent rates for data access, dealinga blow to Free Basics and othersuch plans like Airtel Zero.

While Facebook had pro-moted Free Basics as a pro-gramme aimed at providingbasic Internet access to peoplein partnership with telecomoperators, critics slammed theservice saying it violated theprinciple of net neutrality.

5������������ �"�5�������������$� �NEW DELHI: Gold prices

soared further by �215 to�28,800 per 10 grams at the bul-lion market on Thurdsday on afirming trend overseas amidincreased buying by jewellers tomeet the ongoing wedding sea-son demand.

At 18-month high, it is thelongest winning streak for theyellow metal this year. Moreover,a weaker rupee against the dol-lar that made the import costlier,led to the rise in gold prices. Therupee was quoting lower by 30paise to 68.15 against the dollar(intra-day) at the forex markettoday.

Silver, however, met withresistance at prevailing levelsand eased by �130 to �37,100 perkg. Bullion traders said a firm-ing global trend where goldjumped to the highest level ineight months. PNS

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NEW DELHI: State-run Bank ofIndia on Thursday said its Boardhas approved plans to raise up to�10,000 crore, at an appropriatetime, by way of raising freshequity shares. “The Board ofDirectors of the bank. At itsmeeting held, have approvedthe capital plan for raising of upto 82 crore fresh equityshares.“Tier-I and tier-II capitalby issue of bonds/ preferenceshares for an amount of �10,000crore at an appropriate timesubject to all necessaryapprovals,” the bank said. PNS

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MUMBAI: Reserve Bank's recentreview of top defaulters hasrevealed that the asset qualityproblem is largely due to gover-nance issues at state-run banks aswell as borrowers and theGovernment cannot be blamedfor the mess, Deputy Governor SSMundra said on Thursday. “Onething has come out quite clearly,that the issues that we are seeinghave not much to do with theownership of the banks. It is morea governance issue than an own-ership issue,” Mudra said at abanking conference organised by

industry lobby CII. While thereare external factors which haveaffected asset quality, internalones are also as important and‘governance deficit’ is a big issue,he said, adding bank boards needto put in place risk managementpractices as per their appetite.

The comments come amidstrising criticism by ex-public sec-tor bankers and Government offi-cials following a series of reportssaying that between 2012-13 and2014-15, 27 public sector bankshave written off loans worth awhopping �1.14 trillion. PTI

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State-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC)on Thursday reported its lowest quarterly prof-

it in more than 15 years as it took one-time impair-ment charge on reserves due to slump in oil prices.Net profit of �1,286 crore in October-Decemberwas 64 per cent lower than �3,571 crore in thesame period a year ago, ONGC Chairmanand Managing Director Dinesh K Sarraf toldreporters.

With oil prices slumping to 12-yearlow, it wrote down the value of reserves itholds by �3,994 crore. The write- down is calledimpairment. “It wasn't a bad quarter but for theimpairment, we consciously took, to keep our bal-ance sheet clean,” he said adding but for the write-off the net profit would have been �3,898 crore.

Revenue was down 2.3 per cent to �18,547

crore on falling oil prices, he said. ONGC realised$44.34 per barrel in the third quarter, down from$50.56 a barrel net realisation in the same perioda year ago. Unlike last fiscal, the company did nothave to pay any fuel subsidy in October-Decemberas the government decided to make good all of thelosses that state-owned fuel retailers incurred onselling kerosene and LPG at sub-market rates.

Previously, ONGC as well as Oil India Ltd hadto make good a certain part of the losses. Sarrafsaid crude oil production in the third quar-ter was marginally down at 6.52 million tons

from 6.61 million tons a year ago while gas out-put fell 4 per cent to 5.77 billion cubic meters.

“The company has assessed the indications ofsignificant impairment as at December 31, 2015due to fall in crude oil prices in the internationalmarket, and accordingly the company has testedits Cash Generating Units for the impairment.”

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North Korea on Thursdayordered a military takeover

of a factory park that had beenthe last major symbol of coop-eration with South Korea, sayingSeoul’s earlier suspension ofoperations at the jointly run facil-ity as punishment for the North’srecent rocket launch was a “dan-gerous declaration of war.”

North Korea said it wasresponding to Seoul’s shutdownorder by immediately deportingthe hundreds of S Koreans whowork at the complex just acrossthe world’s most heavily armedborder in the city of Kaesong,pulling out the tens of thousandsof North Korean employees andfreezing all S Korean assets.

The North also said it was

shutting down two crucial cross-border communication hotlines.

An immediate worry inSeoul was whether all SouthKorean workers would beallowed to leave. Some analystsspeculated that the North wouldhold onto some to get all the

wages owed N Korean workers.The moves raised the stakes

in a standoff that began withNorth Korea’s nuclear test lastmonth, followed by a long-rangerocket launch on Sunday thatoutsiders see as a banned test ofballistic missile technology.

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Dubbing Pakistan a “duplic-itous partner” with ties to

an anti-American militantgroup, top US Senator BobCorker has made it clear that hewould block the Obama admin-istration’s proposed sale of eightnew F-16 jets to Islamabad.

Corker, who chairs theSenate Foreign RelationsCommittee, has written toSecretary of State John Kerrylisting his concerns overPakistan continuing to providea safe haven to leaders of theHaqqani network that has beenattacking US-trained securityforces in Afghanistan, TheWall Street Journal reported onThursday.

In his letter, Corker is said

to have spoken about Pakistan’s“immensely problematic” activ-ities, contributing to theimpression that it is a “duplic-itous partner, moving side-ways rather than forward inresolving regional challenges”.

Republican Corker, whosent the letter on Tuesday afterhis recent visit to Afghanistan,has been quoted by WSJ as say-ing in an interview that he doesnot want US taxpayer dollarsgoing to support Pakistan’s F-16 acquisitions.

“While we’re spendingtremendous amounts of USdollars and certainly tremen-dous sacrifice in our men andwomen in uniform and byother agencies, they (Pakistan)are working simultaneously todestabilize Afghanistan,”Corker commented.

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Scientists have developed anartificial intelligence software

for drones to autonomouslyrecognise and navigate throughcomplex environments, and helpquickly rescue people lost inforests and mountain areas.

The advance means dronescould soon be used in parallelwith rescue teams to accelerate thesearch for people lost in the wild,researchers said. Every year, thou-sands of people lose their way inforests and mountain areas.Drones can effectively comple-ment the work of rescue servicesteams, researchers said.

Since they are inexpensive

and can be rapidly deployed inlarge numbers, they substantiallyreduce the response time and therisk of injury to missing personsand rescue teams alike.

Researchers, including thosefrom the Dalle Molle Institute forArtificial Intelligence and theUniversity of Zurich developed a

software that allows drones toautonomously detect and followforest paths.

“While drones flying at highaltitudes are already being usedcommercially, drones cannot yetfly autonomously in complexenvironments, such as denseforests,” said Davide Scaramuzzafrom the University of Zurich.

“In these environments, anylittle error may result in a crash,and robots need a powerful brainin order to make sense of thecomplex world around them,”Scaramuzza said.

The drone observes the envi-ronment through a pair of smallcameras, similar to those used insmartphones.

Moscow: Russia is ready to discuss the possibilityof a ceasefire in Syria, deputy foreign ministerGennady Gatilov said on Thursday as foreignministers gathered in Munich in a bid to restartpeace talks. “We are ready to discuss the modal-ities of a ceasefire,” Gatilov told journalists inMoscow, quoted by TASS state news agency. “Thatis what we will talk about in Munich.”

International talks to end the five-yearcivil war that has killed more than 260,000people broke down earlier this month amidaccusations from the West and Syrian regimeopponents that Russia’s air strikes in Aleppowere targeting opposition groups and civilians.

The talks were temporarily suspendeduntil February 25, but Gatilov said Thursday thatthey could “possibly start earlier. AFP

Lahore: A court here on Thursday gave two weeks’ timeto a petitioner to inform it under which law Pakistancould seek return of the famed Koh-i-Noor diamondfrom Britain that India has been trying to get from theUK for years.

Petitioner Barrister Javed Iqbal Jaffrey told theLahore High Court that Koh-i-Noor diamond was“Pakistan asset” as it is in “illegal possession” of Britain.

“The British Govt had refused to hand over the dia-mond to India. Now Pakistan should lay claim on it asit is first entitled to have it. It is the Pakistani Govt’s dutyto bring it back,” he said.

During the hearing of the case, Lahore High CourtJustice Khalid Mahmood Khan asked the petitioner togive reference of the law under which the Pakistani Govtcould seek the return of the diamond from the BritishGovernment.

The court is hearing the maintainability of the case.It directed the federal and Punjab law officers to appearon next hearing on February 25 and give argumentsabout its maintainability. PTI

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Two female suicide bombers onThurday killed at least 58 at a camp

for people made homeless by BokoHaram’s Islamist insurgency in north-east Nigeria, emergency services, in thelatest violence to hit the remote region.

The attack happened in Dikwa,some 90 kilometres from the Bornostate capital, Maiduguri, on Wednesdaymorning and is believed to be a reprisalfor a military strike on Boko Haramstrongholds in the area last week.

It will again raise security fearsabout the safety of internally dis-placed people (IDPs) and put pressureon the government, which maintainsit has the upper hand against theinsurgents and is pushing for thereturn of civilians caught up in theviolence.

Nigeria’s Vice-President YemiOsinbajo, deputising for PresidentMuhammadu Buhari who has been onholiday, described it as “regrettable thatthe heartless terrorists chose tounleash their wickedness on peoplewho were taking refuge from previousacts of destruction in their homes”.

He promised those behind theattack would be hunted down andordered that “formidable security inand around the IDP camps in thecountry be beefed up and renewedmeasures put in place to guard againstfuture occurrences”.

The head of the Borno StateEmergency Management Agency,Satomi Ahmed, earlier told AFP 35bodies were recovered from the camp,which houses some 53,600 people, with78 injured.

He later said the other dead hadbeen buried locally, leading to therevised toll.

“From what we gathered three femalesuicide bombers disguised as IDPsarrived at IDP camp at about 6.30 localtime ,” he said.

“Two of them detonated theirexplosives. The third one refused to setoff hers when she realised her parentsand siblings were in the camp. She sur-rendered herself to the authorities.”

Ahmed said the woman told themilitary why she refused to detonateher explosives and warned them of fur-ther attacks to come in the remoteregion.

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Cairo: At least 70 people wereinjured on Thursday when aspeeding train overturned inthe Upper Egyptian city ofBeni Suef, officials said.

The train, which was coming from Aswan toCairo, was derailed and two of its compartments over-turned near el-Shennaweyavillage in Beni Suef, securityofficials said.

More than 40 ambulanceswere rushed to the place of acci-dent. The injured were taken tothe hospital, they added.

Deputy health ministerGamal El-Gohary said 69 peo-ple were wounded in the crashand sent to three local hospi-tals in the region. He said therelatively slow speed the trainwas travelling at reduced themagnitude of the crash.

No deaths have beenreported until now, they said. AFP

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The Republican presidentialfield has narrowed further

with two more contenders, NewJersey Governor Chris Christieand former Hewlett-PackardCEO Carly Fiorina, dropping outof the White House race in thewake of poor performances inthe primaries in Iowa and NewHampshire.

At its peak, the Republicanfield was crowded with 17 pres-idential hopefuls, includingIndian American Bobby Jindal.It’s now down to seven --Billionaire Donald Trump,Senators Ted Cruz and MarcoRubio, former Florida GovernorJeb Bush, Ohio Governor JohnKasich, retired neurosurgeonBen Carson and former VirginiaGovernor Jim Gilmore.

Unable to find traction ina race that has come to bedominated by Trump and acouple of other players, candi-

dates without a realistic chancehave been trooping out inrecent weeks.

Immediately after the Iowaresults last week, three aspirantsdropped out (Senator RandPaul, former Senator RickSantorum and former ArkansasGovernor Mike Huckabee),followed by Christie andFiorina, the only woman in thepack, after the New Hampshireoutcome.

Five others had quit therace before the primaries.They included Jindal,Wisconsin Governor ScottWalker, former TexasGovernor Rick Perry andSenator Lindsey Graham.

After the ensuing SouthCarolina and Nevada pri-maries later this month, andthe Super Tuesday contests innearly a dozen States onMarch 1, some more maypull out of the race, leaving itto three or four aspirants tofight it out.

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Monterrey: Fifty-two inmateswere killed and 12 injured in abrutal fight between two rivalfactions at a prison in northernMexico on Thursday, the StateGovernor said.

Nuevo Leon Gov JaimeRodriguez told a news confer-ence the fight involved a faction

led by a member of the infamousZetas drug cartel.

Rescue workers could beseen bringing injured inmatesfrom the Topo Chico prison inMonterrey, at least some withburns. The riot broke out just sixdays before Pope Francis isscheduled to visit anotherMexican prison, in the bordercity of Ciudad Juarez inChihuahua state.

Images broadcast by MilenioTelevision showed flames leap-ing from the prison, with acrowd of people bundled againstthe cold gathered outside the

prison. Some shook and kickedat the prison gates, demandingto be allowed in.

The fire appeared to havebeen extinguished by shortlyafter sunrise. Witnesses said thefire broke out at about 12.30 amlocal time amid shouts andsounds of explosions.

A thick cloud of smokerose, apparently from inmatesburning mattresses. Mexico’sNational Human RightsCommission reported in 2013that the country’s prison systemis plagued by violence and casesof inmate control. AP

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ISIS has released a new graph-ic video purportedly showing

a four-year-old British boyblowing up a car and killingthree people, accused of spyingin Syria for the West.

The boy has spent almost allhis life in the clutches of ISIS afterhis mother Grace Dare, who wasborn in London, converted toIslam and fled to Syria in 2012and married Swedish extremistfighter Abu Bakr, who is believedto have been killed since.

The boy, identified as IsaDare by his grandfather Henry

Dare, had also appeared inanother propaganda video byISIS a month ago, theIndependent reported.

In the latest video, the childdressed in ISIS’s trademarkcamouflage clothing and a blackheadband, is apparently shownwith his hand on the detonator.

The three prisoners,dressed in orange, are then seentied up in the car before the boypresses the detonator.

A masked man with aBritish accent standing near tothe boy also threatens PrimeMinister David Cameron in aspeech.

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Enough of celebrating the‘only day of your love’ bygifting your beloved a

packet of chocolates or raisinga toast in a fine dining hotel.For some, that may sound asthe perfect way to thank Cupidbut for many of us, this seemslike an ordinary way to spendthe day in the most clichedway. If you are the adventuroustype and over with the idea ofcelebrating the day in the mostusual way, then read on. Wehave some interesting andunconventional ways to tell notthe world but the most specialperson in your life to feelimportant and loved.

It is not necessary for thatperson to be the one that youtake as your life partner but itcan be anyone. It can be yourparents, friends and even yourpets. You read it right, peopleare celebrating V-Day withtheir pets as well.

����������They love you like nobody

else does. They will love youwhen everyone in the worldhas turned their backs againstyou. This is the reason whyDarveys.com has come up witha special way where you cancelebrate your Valentine withyour pet. No worries if youdon’t have a valentine thisyear, as you can make it amemorable day for your pet.You can explore colourfulessentials for your pets fromRalph Lauren, Juicy Couture

and many more from theonline store. Nakul Bajaj, CEOof the company, said, “Peopleare close to their pets andthat’s a truth. The idea of thisparticular collection camefrom the thought that some-times we do not involve themin our plans as much. This isa great way to not just spendtime with them but also lettingthem know that you are therefor them too.”

����������Every year, we all try to

look for ideas that would makethe day not only interesting butwill also last in our memories.But, the only thing that we allcan think of is an elaboratecandle light dinner with anexquisite champagne endingon a musical note. Enough ofthe same idea again and again.How about taking her on a pri-vate aircarft to a destination ofyour own choice and leaveeverything on the crew tomake it special for you. ThisValentine, make the choice tocelebrate your journey togeth-er and f ly private withImperial Air. Choose your des-tination, timing and aircraft!The rest will be taken care of.“The idea was to provide aninternational service experi-ence in the country. Also, ourtarget was to fly to placeswhere other commercial planescan’t and to provide cus-tomised travel experience,” saidManav Singh, founder of

Imperial Air. He added, “Ourcharges depend on the numberof hours, starting from �60,000to �2,00,000 per hour depend-ing on the type of jet. Also, ourcharges may vary dependingon the customisation and ser-vices used. We have collabo-rated with top notch brandsfrom food to interiors to makethe journey experience opu-lent.”

����� �!Earlier, a bold declaration of

love meant getting your lover’sname tattooed. But times havechanged and so have people’spreferences. Vikas Malani,owner of BodyCanvas has seenhis customers’ preference chang-ing as they are moving on tomore meaningful symbols anddesigns. “They no longer lookfor stereotypical tattoos likethey used to before. Now peo-ple are looking for symbols likethe flower of life and sacreddesigns which have a lot ofmeaning,” said Malani whorecently inked an infinity bandon three friends.

“Valentine’s Day is just notabout your partner, it also cel-ebrates the love you have foryour friends and family. That iswhy we at BodyCanvas offer a50 per cent discount for twopeople who get the same sametattoo done. It has to be thesame design and the discount ison the second tatoo,” he added.

But, with time, we all haverealised that the idea of celebrat-ing Valentine’s Day has actuallyvanished. While talking to ourfriends, we got to know thatmany of them are skipping toeven acknowledge that it is a spe-cial day. For others, they are theones who say that they will pre-fer to sit at home than celebart-ing V-Day, but make plans onthe very last moment. Accordingto Nearbuy, over 60 per centpeople make Valentine’s Dayplans last minute.

Imagine spending a weekend (asfancy as it may sound) in nitro-

gen science labs or magical floatingmarkets or learning to play theukelele. Add to that the joy of doingall of these crazy stuff with yourfamily. You can do all this, andmuch more, at the much awaitedU/A Festival that kicks off fromtomorrow at the National Stadium.

You can scream your lungs outwith Farhan Akhtar’s concert or letheavy-weight comedians like AbishMathew, Tanmay Bhat (of AIBfame) and Biswa Kalyan Rath(Pretentious Movie Reviews) tickleyour funny-bones. “There’s no ded-icated outdoor festival experiencefor families. We wanted to build afestival that caters to people of allages, where you can bring your kidsand parents. Usually, the choicesfamilies have are restricted to malls.This will be a fun, safe proper fes-tival experience for them,” saidVijay Nair CEO, Only Much Louder(creators of the festival).

Speaking on the idea of the fes-tival, Mathew said, “Just like thename suggests, it’s a universallyaccepted festival that’s meant for“family viewing.” It’s unique becausein this festival you don’t have toleave anyone at home to enjoy ashow.”

Anubhav Pal, on the otherplans to talk to kids through one ofhis workshops. “ I hope to speak tokids about what annoys them abouttheir parents. And I hope to speakto parents about what annoys themabout their kids. The idea is young,progressive, and is everything newIndia should be, and I am proud tobe associated with it. Also I reallythink families are important forcomedy. I don’t think comedyshould be only about bad languageand shock.”

Here are six major attractionsthat you can expect at the festival

The Big Stage: Catch Farhanlive, Florida based internationalYouTube sensations Boyce Avenueand Tanmay Bhat from All IndiaBakchod, Abish Mathew and manymore to make you laugh out loud-er. Each of these artists will performspecial sets that they don’t usuallyplay at other live events.

Creator’s Corner: A carefully-picked list of workshops in variousfields including music, technology,art, science, and logic. Assemble asolar-powered miniature car, try

paper marbling, learn to play aukulele, print 3-D structures, andexperiment with illusionist’s tricks.

U/A Lab: The one lab whereyou don’t need to balance equations.Check out the Nitrogen-led scienceexperiments and a fantastical bio-luminescent interactive installa-tion here.

The Playground: Walk theslackline, create spin art, dabblewith poi play, paint your bestfriend’s face and capture the mem-ory with some cool pictures at thephoto booth.

The Magical Floating Market:The never-seen-before MagicalFloating Market has weird, peculiar,spectral and other-worldly creatureshosting stalls and trying to sellthings that you will never manageto get your hands on otherwise –from bottled charms to dragonscales – they have a range of bizarrethings on offer. There’s no moneyaccepted here. Be ready to tradeyour laughter or your dreams forthese unique items. “It is actually atheatrical experience with a 20member cast. The idea is to createa unique and unexpected immer-sive show. We have worked withCrow Productions on this, whohelped create this magical experi-ence within the festival space. Themarket has characters you’d thinkhave walked out of your favouritefantasy book as a child, and each ofthem are here to trade all sorts ofcharms,” said Nair.

Food and Flea Bazaar: Thebazaar will feature independentartists, DIY makers, entrepreneurs,people with dreams and great foodand finds. From caramel popcornand cotton candy to a chef ’s spreadto pretty trinkets, you will getthem all here.

���How much did the role of BegumHazrat take out of you?

I don’t think I can say that. It wasfun. There was so much else happen-ing at the same time and it was a shortassociation because I came in at thelast minute. It felt like I just enteredand the film production was over.

���Abhishek Kapoor (director) men-tioned that when he first conceptu-alised the script, he had you in mindbut Rekha was roped in. Were youcaught up with other projects?

No I wasn’t. I had the time but Iguess the project went in a differ-

ent way. I’ve realised that it is agood thing to come in at a laterstage, complete you work with-in a limited period (20 days forFitoor) and you’re done.

�Twenty days must’ve beenvery intense.

Nai aisa kuch nai tha.Abhishek had a very clear imagi-nation of this character. I remem-ber when he called me for the role

three years ago, he was very partic-ular about what he wanted. For

example, the red hair.

�Any metaphor attached to it?When you watch the film, you’ll

understand. This was something hedid not budge over. I had only twodays to get into the film and it was

spent entirely on colouring myhair. He had everything plannedout and had been working and liv-

ing with the character for so long.

�Did the director give you a greaterroom to interpret?

He had no choice (laughs). Whenyou stand in front of the camera, it isonly the actor who does the talking.

�How complex was it for you? Youhad just played Ghazala in Haider...

It was very complex. Abhishekwanted the character to be done in avery different manner which I under-stood. Ghazala was ambiguous butBegum is not. There were so manyshades to this character and of course,the director had much to do with thatsince it wasn’t one-dimensional.

There are so many things goingon in Begum’s head so you see themadness as well.

�You didn’t shoot in Kashmir?I shot in Poland and it was one of

the most beautiful places. We were ina place some two hours away from thecity of Krakow. We shot in an oldpalace that is no longer in use and wewere the only ones there. We shot andstayed at the same place.

�Of late, many B-town actors areseen making appearances inHollywood. You did The Namesake11 years ago. Om Puri and IrrfanKhan, too, have been part of manyHollywood projects for long. Doesthe sudden hype irk you?

Nothing about other peoplebothers me. What bothers me iswhat I’m doing and where I put myenergy in. Rest everything is allblurred.

�How is your writing coming along?I’ve not written for a long time. In

fact, I travelled so much and was alsocarrying my book everywhere but itdidn’t come to me. The most I wrotewas in Kashmir while filming forHaider but not after that. I have alsobeen so preoccupied with work thatI haven’t really had time for myself.I’ll make sure that I take out timeand get into the habit of writing.

�Maybe work on a film script? There are so many scripts.

�Why aren’t they gettingmade?

It is a vicious circle. Unlessan established actor does not sayyes to a film, it will be difficult tomake. There are many factors. Thefinancier will only spend money ifthere is a a popular actor involved.Even the studio would want a popu-lar actor and vice versa.

�How was it interacting with yourtwo co-actors? Where there work-shops?

I had very less time with bothof them (Katrina Kaif and AdityaRoy Kapur). Whatever interactiontook place between us was sim-ply amazing. It’s their love storyand they have very complicatedroles. The whole story is compli-cated and complex. The scenesbetween all of us are very beau-tiful. I hope our chemistryworks on screen.

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While the idea of a candle lightdinner is passe for many of

us, there are some die hard ‘in love’souls’ who cannot but do the con-ventional but extraordinary, over-the-top romance to makeValentines Day perfect for theirloved ones. Keeping the thought inmind, our fine dining restaurants intop hotels in the city have curatedspecial menus as well as packagesfor their patrons. We bring to yousome of the most famous andexquisite meals to look forward to.

� �����5��������Make this Valentine’s Day count

with a luxurious dining experienceat Varq, the modern Indian restau-rant at The Taj Mahal Hotel, NewDelhi. A four-course menu hasbeen specially crafted to offer youan unmatched culinary experiencealong with a candlelit set-up, a fluteof champagne and a personalisedphotographs presented in a frame.All this, with a special discount of20 per cent on a selective menuof signature therapies at TheSpa, for a couple, on February13, 14 or 15. There is also anoption to choose door-to-door pick up and drop in achauffeur driven wagon (atan additional amount of�10,500 for four hours, plus�4,000 taxes per person).

As the lit up façade of thehotel adorns the skyline of thecity you can take your dear oneat the breathtaking terrace gardensetting of Birnan. Pamper yourloved one to a perfected platter ofcharcoal dishes paired with finesundowners and a spectacular viewof the setting sun. A four-coursegrill menu with a magnificent out-door setting and flute of cham-pagne. All this along with athoughtfully created forest essentialhamper and a selection of heartshaped chocolates.

��������� ����A specially crafted menu by

Master chef Zhang featuring thesignature peking duck, dumpling,noodle, chop and wok and dessertawaits you at The China Kitchen atHyatt Regency, New Delhi. Nonalcoholic package starts from�3,300, Moet Brut Champagnepackage starts from �5,000.

Step into their TK’s OrientalGrill for a cozy Valentines date andenjoy a sumptuous array of starterson the buffet, while rest is cookedin front of you, showcasing the bestof teppanyaki delight. Sushi, sashi-mi, and tempura favorites are just

the beginning, of a superbmenu to tempt the adventurous.

��#������Celebrate that crazy little thing

called love at the WelcomHotelSheraton, New Delhi. Indulge inromance and serenade your sweet-heart on a special Valentine’s Daybrunch or dinner with free flowing-premium spirits and some foot tap-ping music at Pan Asian, Dakshinor Delhi Pavilion. Immortalise themoments at the photo booth orleave little notes of love for eachother from the ‘Tree of Love’. Doyou need better ways to celebrateyour love?

Delhi Pavilion: Valentineinspired buffet brunch with freeflowing premium spirits such asChivas, Absolute and Jacob’s Creekalong with a lively band �5,000(plus taxes per couple).

“Love is in the air, and whatbetter way to celebrate your specialmoments than by sharing a special-ly crafted eight-course menu atPan-Asian. With shades of red, pinkand other mushy hues interspersedwith food, we have curated aneight course menu for the lovebirdsin the city. Our focus is not juston the food but also the spe-cial moments you spend witheach other on this day.Therefore we have createdsmaller portions with extralove, so you get to spendmore time with your specialsomeone. Add free-flowing pre-mium spirits to the combinationand we a love potion like no other.We also have a live DJ belting outsome amorous numbers during theevening which is sure to get the cou-ples on the floor,” said executive souschef Pan Asian, Vaibhav Bhargava,WelcomHotel Sheraton, New Delhi.

�����!��������You can not only indulge in

sumptous meals cooked by chefs butcan also participate in workshopswith their pastry chef on your spe-cial request. But if you wish toindulge on a themed brunch then LeMeridien Gurgaon would not disap-point you. Enjoy their special V-Daythemed brunch with unlimited alco-hol at just �4,950 per couple, all daydining world cuisine restaurant.That is not all — your day will bemade special with a live Jazz perfor-mance and a spread of over 200 spe-cial dishes.

There was never an iota of déjà vu forhim even after donning the familiarlooking apron and stirring up a meal

in the same environs. For the affable ChefAlessandro Sandrolini coming back to theplace he has been associated with beforebrought new experiences.

It was almost seven years back when hefirst joined La Piazza as chef de cuisine aftera brief stint in Tuscany. It comes full circlefor him as he returns to the kitchen wherehe loves to roll his sleeves up and show hisculinary skills off. As a celebratory gestureLa Piazza held a special five course dinnercomplimented with, well, of course, some ofthe best wines from Antinori.

The sumptuous course began withParmesan crème brulee, topped with whitetruffle oil paired with Luna Argenta, a brutsparkling wine working as an aperi-tif. Then came our soup in theform of Asparagus Veloute withcaramelized onion which wasserved with Vila Antinoribianco, a still fruity wine. Itwas now the turn of Ricottawith semi dried tomato andorganic greens which wewashed off with Blackstonechardonnay, this being morefull and heavy bodied than theprevious white wine.

After this we hadMushroom stuffed tortellinismeared in brown butter saucewith Bertani valpolicella tosavour our palate which was thefirst red for the evening. For themains we had Braised baby fen-nel, parmesan scented potatomash and sautéed mushroomserved with La Braccesca. For the

dessert, chef served us with whitechocolate mousse in chocolateshell marinated with strawberryand rum sauce.

La Piazza with its ‘trattoria’appeal plays with your senses in theright way. Being one of the leg-endary places to relish Italian foodit has stood the test of time since itsinception. Speaking on what theinspiration was behind the menu,

Chef told us each dish was thought ofkeeping the modern casual essence of

the restaurant in mind. “The concept of La Piazza is more of a

casual dining experience so we wantedsomething which is a bit more modern thanfancy. The entire menu served was new. Wewanted to make our guests feel at ease byserving them dishes which are not too toughto understand and at the same time delec-table too.” said Chef Alessandro Sandrolini.

Commenting on why he chose to pairwines from Antinori sommelier Viraj Sawantsaid, “Well Antinori happens to be the old-est in Tuscany showcasing their differentlandmarks. They don’t just make expensivewines but also make wines which define andrepresent themselves.”

Elaborating on what sets La Piazzaapart from the rest of the places in the cityoffering Italian food he stated that it is theauthenticity of the place that matters a lot.“La Piazza is a historical place which datesback to almost 20 years. There are not manyplaces where you get an Italian cooking upauthentic food for you. When there’s noinfluence of any other country on the food,that’s when you have the best authentic foodand for that having a native chef is reallyimportant,” shared Sandrolini.

Talking about the Californian BlackstoneChardonnay which he paired up with mush-rooms he said, “I thought a wine with moreof an American oak with vanilla butterscotchand toffee characters would be more acceptable by more people rather than aFrench one which gives the smokiness to thewine that’s why I chose something fromCalifornia.”

The chef who hails from Tuscany start-ed his culinary career in the kitchens ofSilverio in Bologna, Italy and has perfectedhis Italian culinary skills in many Italianrestaurants before making a mark in India.

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The star-studded shootingsquad was expectedly on tar-get, while the track-and-field

athletes continued their golden runas India held on firmly to the top spotby remaining way ahead of compe-tition on sixth day of the 12th SouthAsian Games here on Thursday.

Hitting a double century ofmedals, the Indian contingent hasso far garnered 237 medals, includ-ing 139 gold, 78 silver and 20bronze. Consistent at the secondposition are the Sri Lankans with151 medals — 25 gold, 50 silver and76 bronze in all.

India dominated the shootingranges grabbing all the five goldmedals on offer. However, Olympicbronze-medallist Gagan Naranghad to be content with a silver inmen's individual 50m rifle proneevent on the second day of theshooting competitions.

'Gold finger' Samaresh Jungrolled back the years as he won thegold in men's individual 25m cen-ter fire pistol.

Narang, who won a bronze in10m air rifle in 2012 Olympics, wasleading till the fifth series butcould not sustain it till theend. Chain Singh shot atotal of 184.1, while Naranghad 183.1.

Later, the Indian teamcomprising Chain Singh, Narangand Surendra Singh Rathod, wonthe gold in 50m rifle prone eventwith a total score of 1871.5.

In men's 25m center fire pistol,Jung beat the likes of Pemba Tamangand Vijay Kumar to win the gold.Jung shot a total of 580 points toclinch the gold in a tough field.

Indians swept the indi-vidual event of women's

50m rifle prone event whilealso winning the team gold. KuheliGanguly bagged the gold with a totalscore of 619.9, while Lajja Gauswamiand Anuja Jung grabbed the silverand bronze with 608.2 and 607.5points, respectively.

The trio of Ganguly, Gauswamiand Jung then took the gold in theteam event, leaving the silver and

bronze for Pakistan and Sri Lanka,respectively.

It was not any different on thetennis courts where India bagged theremaining two Gold medals on offerto cap a memorable cleansweep.

Ramkumar Ramanathan beatcompatriot Saketh Myneni 7-5, 6-3 in the men's singles final toclinch gold on the concluding dayof the tennis event.

In the women's doubles final,

also an all-Indian affair, the duo ofPrarthana Thombre andSharrmadaa Baluuishika took thegold after defeating the pair ofRishika Sunkara and Natasha Palha7-5, 2-6, 10-4 in the final.

Indians won all the gold and sil-ver medals on offer in five events —men's and women's singles, men'sand women's doubles and mixeddoubles. Remarkably, finals of thefive events were all-Indian affairs.

There was slight disappoint-ment on the football field thoughwhere the defending championIndian women's team was held toyet another goalless draw, this timeby a resilient Nepal who thus con-firmed their final berth for a sec-ond successive time. India (fivepoints) face Bangladesh (six) inwhat will be the last match for bothnations on Saturday to decidewhich team will face Nepal in thefinl on February 15.

��������!��,,�� India ruled the roost on track

and field by winning 11 gold medalsout of 12 on offer with javelin throw-er Suman Devi coming up with thebest show on the third and penul-timate day of athletics competition.

Suman Devi (women's javelin),Renjith Maheswary (men's triplejump), Om Prakash Karhana(men's shot put), P U Chitra(women's 1500m), Ajoy KumarSaroj (men's 1500m), Jauna Murmu(women's 400m hurdles), DharunAyyasamy (men's 400m hurdles), LSurya (women's 10,000m), SrabaniNanda (women's 200m) and men'sand women's 4x400 relay teamswon gold for India in a show ofoverwhelming dominance.

India also won seven silverand one bronze. Sri Lanka were leftwith just one gold medal withSuranjaya de Silva finishing first inmen's 200m race.

India have so far won 26 gold,22 silver and eight bronze medalsin three days.

Suman, who won the women'sjavelin event and her effort of59.45m was a mere eight centime-tre outside Annu Rani's nationalrecord of 59.53m.

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Delhi Waveriders’ home miseryfinally ended after they came away

with a comfortable 7-4 victory overdefending champions Ranchi Rayshere on Thursday.

Mandeep Singh and TalvinderSingh were the stars of the day for thehosts as their double strikes were vitalin Waveriders ending their three matchlosing streak at home.

Delhi started the game on front footand their positive start paid off.Mandeep got on the end of a JustinReid-Ross's pass on seventh minute tomake it 2-0 for the hosts.

Just five minutes, later the home sideincreased their advantage. From apenalty corner, Talvinder made noerrors in converting it to give the hometeam a comfortable 3-0 lead.

On either side of their secondstrike, Delhi needed their shot stopper— Devon Manchester — to be at hisfull best and he did just that by mak-ing two incredible saves to keep thescore at 3-0.

The second quarter was no differ-ent as the hosts kept on pressing hardand struck for the third time in the 19thminute with yet another field goalthrough Talvinder gave the hosts a mas-sive 5-0 lead.

But, yet again, Delhi neededManchester's help as Ranchi pressedhard at the end of first half to have three

consecutive penalty corners justmoments before the break. The keeperlived up to the expectation to maintainthe hosts lead.

Ranchi eventually found a wayback into the game and who other thantheir captain fantastic — Ashley Jackson— to do it for the defending champions.Jackson scored through a field goal aftercollecting a pass from Barry Middletonto make it 5-2 on 35 minutes.

However, Mandeep put the resultbeyond doubt for the home team withyet another field goal to make it 7-2 on42nd minute.

Ranchi did reduce the deficit in the50th minute through a field goal fromTrent Mitton to make it 7-4. But, Delhiheld their nerves in the closing stagesto end their four game losing streak.

With this win Waveriders move tothe fifth place in the table with 22 pointsfrom nine games, while Ranchi Rays stilllead the tally with 27 points.

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Puneri Paltan began theirhome campaign by hold-

ing runaway leaders PatnaPirates 30-30 in an exciting tieof the third season of the StarSports Pro Kabaddi.

The result gives threepoints each to both. The clashsaw a battle within a battlebetween Pardeep Narwal andManjit Chhillar. Pardeepemerged on top as he finishedthe match with 11 raid points.

After an intense battle,Ajay Thakur went in for thepenultimate raid for his team.He was tagged by SureshKumar and the umpire gaveboth of them out for going offthe court. But Manjit felt oth-erwise. The review yieldedthem 2 vital points and moreimportantly Ajay was declaredto be safe. That made it 30-30and it stayed so finally.

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Unimpressive in their three groupmatches, India would look to

make amends and turn the tables onarch-rivals Pakistan when the twosides face each other in the summitclash of men's hockey in the 12thSouth Asian Games here on Friday.

India, fielding a second stringteam in the Games with a lot ofjunior players in it, have been strug-gling to find their form as a unit.They had beaten minnowsBangladesh and Sri Lanka but lostto Pakistan 1-2 in the group match.

With most of senior playersfeaturing in the lucrative HockeyIndia League, India have very fewexperienced players with the excep-tion of captain Mandeep Antil andGurbaj Singh.

India have to make a vastimprovement to their gameonFriday if they want to stop Pakistanfrom winning their third title on thetrot in the Games.

Pakistan had beaten India in boththe 2004 and 2010 finals, respective-ly. India won the gold in 1995.

India began with a 4-1 win overlowly Bangladesh before taking onPakistan. In the match againstPakistan, India's defensive weaknesswas evident. The young Indiandefenders gave a lot of space to thePakistani attackers, while the homeside could string together very fewgoal-scoring moves and eventuallylost the match.

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Not too affected by India'ssurprise loss to Sri Lanka

in the first T20, Team DirectorRavi Shastri on Thursday saidthe "endeavour" is to try outvarious combinations by givingeveryone opportunities aheadof World T20 next month.

Shocked by an inexperi-enced Sri Lankan side on agreen wicket in the first matchat Pune, India would aim toregain their winning touchand keep the three-matchseries alive when they take onthe island nation in the secondT20 international here today.

"Ideal scenario would be togive most of the guys who arepart of the World Cup squad arun. That will be the endeavourbut you will have to see what theconditions are, what the state ofthe series is and accordinglydecide," Shastri said.

The former captain said heis focussed on the World T20and not thinking about thepossibility of becoming a fulltime coach of the Indian team.

"I don't know. We havetime till World Cup we will seeafter that," Shastri said when hewas asked about the full timecoaching job, adding, "As I hadsaid time and time again we livein the present. Focus should betill the WC. We are employedby BCCI and they will judge theperformance. My job is to takecare of the Indian team."

Asked about the criticismof the pitch following the firstgame, he said, "If the pitch isgood we say it's good. If thepitch does a lot we will say, itdoes a lot. Why should we be

scared of saying what we feel?It's very clear that it did a lit-tle too much but we shouldhave adapted well.

"No excuses for losing thematch but we should havescored 140, it would have beena good competitive score onthat surface."

He felt consistency is not aproblem with the current team.

"It's a confident side, theyplayed some very good crick-et in the last 18 months or twoyears, they played excellentcricket and that's why you seethe results. If we lack consisten-cy we wouldn't have becomenumber 1 in Tests, number 2 inT20," Shastri said.

"The cricket we played inAustralia and then we camestraight here and there were only4-5 days gap. The pitch in firstT20 was different from what weget in the sub- continent. Therewas a little bit for the bowlers,it turned, it seamed, there wasbounce, it was two-paced. So itwasn't easy because when youcome with the flow of Australia,you could see, the batsmen fal-tered. But no excuses and as Isaid instead of 180, 140 mighthave been just good enough."

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Shocked by an inexperienced SriLankan side on a green wicket inthe first match, India would aim

to regain its winning touch and keepthe series alive when they take on theisland nation in the second Twenty20cricket international, here today.

Indians were taken aback bywhat skipper Mahendra Singh haddescribed the Pune track as"English". Now that Dhoni will beplaying in his own backyard beforehis home fans, he can hope to get atypical sub-continent wicket at aground, which is hosting its first everTwenty20 International.

India have not lost a game out ofthree One-dayers played here andruns in the vicinity of 300 have beenscored in three innings. One matchagainst Australia had no result. Butlargely, a high-scoring game can beexpected at JSCA InternationalStadium Complex.

But there are concerns aboutunder-prepared outfield where thefielders are expected to have a toughtime. The JSCA officials have arguedthat they got less time to prepare theground and as a result many roughpatches can be seen on the baldsand-based outfield.

Sri Lanka, with many inexperi-enced players in the side, have noth-ing to lose and will go all out to sealthe series. However, the job is easi-er said than done since the Indianbatsmen are in good form and willbe difficult to contain on a battingtrack.

The Sri Lankan pace trio of —Kasun Rajitha, DushmanthaChameera and Dasun Shanaka —made a good impression on a livelytrack but they will be tested inRanchi.

In Australia, where India won 3-0, the Indian middle and lowerorder hardly got a chance to bat,courtesy supreme form of the top-order batsmen.

But the collapse in Pune, wherebatsmen did not respect the condi-tions and went for unmindful strokeson a seaming track, brought all

batsmen to the crease.R Ashwin showed that by being

little patient, India could have post-ed at least a fighting if not a defend-able total on the board.

With World Twenty20 roundthe corner, Dhoni would want hisbatsmen to respond to the conditionsmindfully whether in India or inAsia Cup, preceding the big event,

where they will enter as favourites. And more than anything,

Dhoni's own form is somethingwhich would be playing in his mind.The remaining two matches in this

series and the subsequent Asia Cupis where he can get his mojo backbefore the World Twenty20.

His image as one of the best fin-ishers of the game has taken a beat-ing with repeated failures and for set-ting things right, his home groundis an ideal platform.

It will be good for India ifDhoni, Ravindra Jadeja, Yuvraj Singhand Hardik Pandya get more oversunder their belt before the WorldCup.

Dhoni would also like to givepacers Ashish Nehra and JaspritBumrah more opportunities and itwil l be interesting to see ifBhuvneshwar Kumar gets a game.With Ashwin doing a reasonablygood job, Harbhajan Singh mayhave to sit out again.

T20 is a format where evensmall nations can topple establishedcricket forces since one or two goodovers — in either bowling or batting— can change the match situationquickly. And that makes it interest-ing to watch.Live on Star Sports from 7:30pm

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The West Indies set up a title clash withIndia in the ICC U-19 Cricket World Cup

final after getting the better of Bangladesh bythree wickets in the second semifinal matchhere on Thursday.

The West Indies, who had reached thefinal when the tournament was last staged inBangladesh in 2004, will face an undefeatedIndian side for the title here on Sunday.

The West Indies broke the Bangladeshihearts with a thrilling victo-ry over the hosts as Man ofthe Match Shamar Springerfollowed his two for 36 with an unbeaten 62.

Having bundled out Bangladesh for 226,West Indies reached 230 for seven in 48.4overs. Opting to bat on a misty morning,Bangladesh lost openers Pinak Ghosh and SaifHassan by the seventh over to be reeling at27 for two. It slipped further to 88 for fourafter star batsman Nazmul Hossain was dis-missed for 11 and Joyraz Sheik fell for 35.

However, Bangladesh skipper MehidyHasan top-scored with 60, reviving theinnings with a 85-run stand for the sixth wick-et with Mohammad Saifuddin (36), after halfthe side had been dismissed for 113 runs.

Mehidy hit seven boundaries in Saifuddin'scompany before both the batsmen fell off suc-cessive deliveries by seamer Keemo Paul.

Mosabbek Hossain denied the bowler ahat-trick, but Paul finished with impressive fig-ures of three for 20 from just three overs.Springer and Holder took two wickets apiece.

The West Indies lost wickets regularly tokeep Bangladesh in the hunt but half-cen-turies from Springer and skipper ShimronHetmyer helped the Caribbeans record amemorable victory in the end. Gidron Pope

provided the West Indiesa swashbuckling start bytaking 14 off the first over

bowled by Mehidy before racing to 38 off 25balls, which included five fours and a six.

Hetmyer took 16 deliveries to get off themark before making a 59-ball 60 to lift histeam to 147 for three in the 28th over. WestIndies moved to 177 for four, needing just 50more runs in 13 overs, when left-arm spin-ner Saleh Ahmed turned the game aroundwith two wickets in the 38th over.

Brief scoresBangladesh: 226 (Hasan 60, Saifuddin 36;Paul 3/20, Springer 2/36) lose to WestIndies: 230/7 (Springer 62*, Hetmyer 60;Ahmed 3/37).

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The Pakistan Cricket Board(PCB) on Thursday said its

government will decide over thenational team's participation innext month's WT20, to be held inIndia, within this week.

"We expect the government todecide on the matter within thisweek. We are well prepared in casethe government gives permission forthe team to travel to India. The visaapplications for the players and sup-port staff have been processed, whichis part of standard procedure," PCB'smedia director Amjad Hussain said.

The PCB had earlier proposedto play at a neutralvenue in case itsgovernment does-n't allow the teamto travel to India.

"The questionof playing at a neu-tral venue doesn'tarise at themoment. First weneed to wait forgovt nod to go toIndia," he said.

Pakistan arescheduled to playtheir tournament opener in Kolkataon March 16, following which theyare scheduled to play hosts India inon March 19.

Asked about the travel plans ofthe Pakistani team once it is grant-ed permission and the possibility ofthe players entering India by foot viaWagah border, Hussain added:"Considering the volatile security sit-uation in Pakistan, we can't revealanything on the logistics. That infor-mation is always kept under wraps".

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