0 ()*+ ,- $ˇ++2ˆ 1+*,44+.@ 24ˇˆ2ˇ2+ 5%˘6ˇ+$B, ˘ˇˆ˙...for placement before the next ......

16
P rime Minister Narendra Modi has indicated that the Government is contem- plating to bring 99 per cent of goods at or under the 18 per cent Goods and Services Tax (GST) slab, while restricting the remaining one per cent of lux- ury items, like aircraft, expen- sive vehicles, liquor and ciga- rettes, to a GST slab above 18 per cent. “I would like to tell you one important thing that we are heading towards a situation wherein we intend to bring 99 per cent of goods at or below the 18 per cent GST slab. We intend to restrict the remaining one per cent of luxury items like the purchase of aircraft, expensive vehicles, liquor and cigarettes to above 18 per cent. Our intention is to make GST as simple as possible. I have already made this suggestion for placement before the next GST Council meeting,” Modi said while addressing the Republic TV summit in Mumbai on Tuesday. The Prime Minister said the GST system has more or less been established in the country and his Government is committed to make the GST conducive to the needs of the common man. “In 2014, 65 lakh entre- preneurs had registered them- selves for the payment of taxes. However, ever since the intro- duction of GST, 55 lakh more entrepreneurs have come under the taxation net,” said the Prime Minister. Alluding to the economic progress made by the country on various fronts, Modi said there was only two mobile manufacturing companies in the country in 2014, the num- ber has now crossed 120 com- panies. Citing another example of “Surging India”, the Prime Minister said as many as 450 aircraft were operational in the country since Independence, but airline com- panies placed orders for pur- chase of a staggering 1,000 aircraft during the last one year itself Modi said auto-rickshaw drivers, vegetable vendors and tea sellers currently use BHIM App and carry debit cards in their pockets. “The country has already tested a Made-in-India engine-less train running at 180 kmph, while the National Waterways has become a real- ity with a ship sailing on the Ganga from Bengal to Benares,” Modi said. “Could anyone think four years ago that India would launch 100 satellites at one go? We are moving ahead with the Gaganyaan Mission. The Gaganyaan Mission of ISRO is intended to take an Indian astronaut into space by 2022,” he said. On the steps taken by his Government to bring eco- nomic offenders, both based within the country and abroad, to justice, Modi made a special mention of the Insolvency & Bankruptcy Code, 2016 and the Fugitive Economic Offenders Act, 2018, and said the new leg- islations are helping prosecute those who had escaped the clutches of law. He said the eco- nomic fugitives and bank loan defaulters would not be spared. “Our national interest now guides India’s foreign policy. India’s voice is being heard at international forums,” he said. During the course of his day-long visit to Maharashtra, the Prime Minister laid foun- dation stone for upcoming first-ever Metro Corridors in Thane district, launched a housing scheme of 90,000 homes and also performed “bhoomi puja” for Pune Metro Rail Phase-3. After performing ground- breaking ceremony for two metro rail corridors at Kalyan in the neighbouring Thane district, the Prime Minister said by 2024 Mumbai would have 275-km long metro line. Later, while laying the foundation stone for the 8,000-crore Pune Metro-III corridor, Modi said during the past four-and-half years, the Government had constantly laid stress on infrastructure, speed of connectivity through highways, railways, airways, waterways. “No one in the country, whether in villages or cities, wants to remain insulated from the ‘development highway’ which drives the Government to focus on developing and expanding the infrastructure network in the country,” he said. Continued on Page 4 B uoyed by the just conclud- ed electoral success, Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday vowed to fight for the interest of farmers and said he and other Opposition leaders will not let Prime Minister Narendra Modi sleep until all farm loans are waived, prompting the ruling BJP to describe the Congress president’s remarks as lowest in the country’s public discourse. Speaking on the Parliament premises, Rahul also raised the issue of alleged corruption in the Rafale fighter jet deal and accused the BJP of running away from a debate in Parliament. “We will force a JPC on the Rafale issue. Why are they running away from a debate in Parliament,” he said. Rahul said the Government has turned a blind eye to the loans given to 15 top industrialists of the country, including Reliance’s Anil Ambani, but made no effort to alleviate the woes of the farm- ers in the last four years. “We promised to waive loans in 10 days. In two States (Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh), we did it with- in six hours and we would do it in the third State very soon,” Rahul said talking to the media outside Parliament. He was referring to the Congress’ promises made ahead of the Assembly polls and waiving loans on Monday. Reacting to the Gandhi scion’s onslaught on Modi, the BJP said nothing better can be expected from Rahul, whose party ensured that Indians did not sleep during its 60 years of rule due to rampant corrup- tion. Hitting out at Rahul, Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said he should come to Parliament and debate the Rafale issue there. “Friends I am given to understand that Rahul Gandhi today said that he will not allow Prime Minister Narendra Modi to sleep. This is a new low in the public discourse of the country,” Prasad said. Continued on Page 4 C ongress veteran Sajjan Kumar on Tuesday resigned from the primary membership of the party citing his conviction in a 1984 anti- Sikh riots case. In a letter to Congress president Rahul Gandhi, the former Member of Parliament said his resignation should be accepted with imme- diate effect, AICC sources said. “I tender my resignation with immediate effect from the primary membership of the Indian National Congress in the wake of the judgment of the honourable High Court of Delhi against me,” Kumar said in the letter to Rahul on Monday. The Delhi High Court on Monday sentenced Kumar to imprisonment for life, the first conviction of a politician in the anti-Sikh riots in 1984 in which more than 2,700 people were killed. Continued on Page 4 A lmost two months after 23 Asiatic lions died in Gujarat’s Gir forest following an outbreak of canine distemper virus (CDV), the State lost three more big cats on Monday midnight when they were mowed down by a goods train in Amreli district. Since September, the country has lost 35 lions, including cubs in and around the Gir forest, the only abode of the endangered predators. The rail incident occurred near Borala village in Savarkundla taluka when a pride of six lions was walking along the railway track passing from the village, which is locat- ed near the Gir Forest. The ani- mals were sub-adults in the age group of 1.5-2 years. “A goods train, headed to Pipavav port from Botad, hit three of six lions of the pride during midnight, which led to the death of two lions and a lioness,” said Chief Conservator of Forests, Junagadh wildlife circle, DT Vasavada. He said an enquiry has been ordered by the Gujarat Forest Department. “We will enquire if the train was moving at a high speed which could have led to this unfortunate incident. We will also probe whether the for- est staff or the lion trackers were at fault in discharging their duties. Stringent action will be taken against the guilty,” he added. Continued on Page 4 C able TV consumers will have to shell out more from December 29. As per new directives of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, a consumer will have to pay to choose individual channels, which they want to see. Consumer will need to pay individually for each channel. In other word, current package of cable TV consumers will go ineffective from December 29 and they will have to renew their package under the new tariff regime. According to cable opera- tors, under the new tariff regime, a cable TV consumer’s monthly bill will go up to 400 or 450 per month. If he or she is opting for premium bou- quets, the bill will be over 600-700 per month. Presently, there are 30 crore households in the country. Nearly 19 crore households have TV connections. It is estimated that at least 10 crore have connections provided through cable TV network. Currently, consumers pay a monthly bill of 250-350 for a cable TV connection, which includes sports and regional channels depending on the localities. As per the new tariff struc- ture, a consumer will have to pay up to 130 (plus taxes) for first set of 100 channels, which will be mostly free-to-air (FTA) channels. As of now, Multiple System Operators or MSOs offer you a bundled package of channels. The MSOs such as Tata Sky or DishTV, Airtel, Hathway, SITI, DIGI Cable (INDIA), INDUSIND, DEN, DDC network choose random channels into a package, and offer it to consumers. According to cable TV operators, all the broadcasters have also come up with their own MRP of their channels. The first type of category is “free & cheap” channel package or “basic pack” which will be priced at around 150-200 by most cable players. This “basic pack” will be made out of “free” channels like B4U, Dabang and PTC, supple- mented by the “1-rupee-chan- nels” from big broadcasters like Star, Zee and Sony. Continued on Page 4 A t time when the presence of birds is considered a sign of wildlife opulence for any nation, the northern States of India are awaiting the arrival of migratory birds into their habi- tat. Ornithologists working on birds’ navigation have found that since 2017 the arrival of winged guests into the Indian territory has been delayed by at least three months. The delay in arrival of migratory birds has been ascribed to climate change, claimed ornithologists of Delhi University. This means that due to rel- atively more conducive weath- er climate patterns in Russia and other cold countries, migratory birds preferred to stay put in the homeland between August and November. “It is pivotal to understand the behaviour and overseas journeys of the birds. Their early arrival is always a good sign because they play crucial role in the balance of ecology and in large perspective the economy,” an ornithologist said, adding, “The pattern has changed significantly. Earlier they arrived in August or max- imum by September. However, this year is different.” Sharing more interesting facts about the migration route to breeding areas, a Delhi University Professor said the migration route is extended from Narurzum wetlands in northern Kazakhstan, before diverging southwest to the Caspian Sea and southeast to India on journeys that navigate seven nations. “The migration route of these birds takes them over Russia, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan and then to the Gangetic basin of north- ern India; much of the journey is hazardous and through dif- ficult terrains,” the ornitholo- gist explained. However, he added a large number of birds have diverted to Rajasthan. When asked about the rea- son, he said good amount of rains in northwestern region is pivotal factor in diverting migratory birds. Continued on Page 4 A fter farm loan waiver announced by newly- elected Congress Governments in Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, the BJP-led Governments of Assam and Gujarat too have decided to write off farm loans and electricity bills of rural users respectively. The BJP-led Government in Gujarat announced it will waive electricity bills of con- nection holders in rural areas to the tune of 650 crore. The Assam Government approved 600-crore farm loan waiver which it said will ben- efit around eight lakh farmers of the State. The decision was taken at a Cabinet meeting held on Monday night. According to the Assam Government scheme, it will write off 25 per cent loan of farmers up to a maximum of 25,000, State Government spokesperson and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Chandra Mohan Patowary said. The waiver will be for all the loans taken through Kisan Credit Card (KCC) and from PSU banks, he said. The MP Government had declared to waive individual loan of up to 2 lakh taken by farmers. The Assam Government has also sanctioned an interest relief scheme which will enable around 19 lakh farmers to take loans at zero interest from the next financial year, said the Assam Parliamentary Affairs Minister. “The debt relief scheme for farmers will waive 25 per cent of all loans taken till now. The benefit will be up to a maximum of 25,000. This scheme will immediately ben- efit around eight lakh farmers,” he said. Due to these schemes there will be an additional bur- den of 600 crore on the State exchequer this fiscal. “For the next fiscal, we will have to do budgetary provision for the schemes,” Patowary said. The Cabinet also approved subsidy up to 10,000 to incentivise farmers if they take loan from KCC. Continued on Page 4

Transcript of 0 ()*+ ,- $ˇ++2ˆ 1+*,44+.@ 24ˇˆ2ˇ2+ 5%˘6ˇ+$B, ˘ˇˆ˙...for placement before the next ......

Page 1: 0 ()*+ ,- $ˇ++2ˆ 1+*,44+.@ 24ˇˆ2ˇ2+ 5%˘6ˇ+$B, ˘ˇˆ˙...for placement before the next ... anti-Sikh riots in 1984 in which more than 2,700 people were ... “free & cheap”

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Prime Minister NarendraModi has indicated that

the Government is contem-plating to bring 99 per cent ofgoods at or under the 18 percent Goods and Services Tax(GST) slab, while restricting theremaining one per cent of lux-ury items, like aircraft, expen-sive vehicles, liquor and ciga-rettes, to a GST slab above 18per cent.

“I would like to tell you oneimportant thing that we areheading towards a situationwherein we intend to bring 99per cent of goods at or belowthe 18 per cent GST slab. Weintend to restrict the remainingone per cent of luxury itemslike the purchase of aircraft,expensive vehicles, liquor andcigarettes to above 18 per cent.Our intention is to make GSTas simple as possible. I havealready made this suggestionfor placement before the nextGST Council meeting,” Modisaid while addressing theRepublic TV summit inMumbai on Tuesday.

The Prime Minister saidthe GST system has more orless been established in thecountry and his Government iscommitted to make the GSTconducive to the needs of thecommon man.

“In 2014, 65 lakh entre-preneurs had registered them-selves for the payment of taxes.However, ever since the intro-duction of GST, 55 lakh moreentrepreneurs have come underthe taxation net,” said the PrimeMinister.

Alluding to the economicprogress made by the countryon various fronts, Modi saidthere was only two mobilemanufacturing companies inthe country in 2014, the num-ber has now crossed 120 com-panies.

Citing another example of“Surging India”, the PrimeMinister said as many as 450aircraft were operational inthe country sinceIndependence, but airline com-panies placed orders for pur-

chase of a staggering 1,000aircraft during the last oneyear itself

Modi said auto-rickshawdrivers, vegetable vendors andtea sellers currently use BHIMApp and carry debit cards intheir pockets. “The country hasalready tested a Made-in-Indiaengine-less train running at 180kmph, while the NationalWaterways has become a real-ity with a ship sailing on theGanga from Bengal to Benares,”Modi said.

“Could anyone think fouryears ago that India wouldlaunch 100 satellites at one go?We are moving ahead with theGaganyaan Mission. TheGaganyaan Mission of ISRO isintended to take an Indianastronaut into space by 2022,”he said.

On the steps taken by hisGovernment to bring eco-nomic offenders, both basedwithin the country and abroad,to justice, Modi made a specialmention of the Insolvency &

Bankruptcy Code, 2016 and theFugitive Economic OffendersAct, 2018, and said the new leg-islations are helping prosecutethose who had escaped theclutches of law. He said the eco-nomic fugitives and bank loandefaulters would not be spared.

“Our national interest nowguides India’s foreign policy.India’s voice is being heard atinternational forums,” he said.

During the course of hisday-long visit to Maharashtra,the Prime Minister laid foun-dation stone for upcomingfirst-ever Metro Corridors inThane district, launched ahousing scheme of 90,000homes and also performed“bhoomi puja” for Pune MetroRail Phase-3.

After performing ground-breaking ceremony for twometro rail corridors at Kalyanin the neighbouring Thanedistrict, the Prime Ministersaid by 2024 Mumbai wouldhave 275-km long metro line.

Later, while laying thefoundation stone for the�8,000-crore Pune Metro-IIIcorridor, Modi said during thepast four-and-half years, theGovernment had constantlylaid stress on infrastructure,speed of connectivity throughhighways, railways, airways,waterways.

“No one in the country,whether in villages or cities,wants to remain insulated fromthe ‘development highway’which drives the Governmentto focus on developing andexpanding the infrastructurenetwork in the country,” he said.

Continued on Page 4

�� �� �23��245�

Buoyed by the just conclud-ed electoral success,

Congress president RahulGandhi on Tuesday vowed tofight for the interest of farmersand said he and otherOpposition leaders will not letPrime Minister Narendra Modisleep until all farm loans arewaived, prompting the rulingBJP to describe the Congresspresident’s remarks as lowest inthe country’s public discourse.

Speaking on the Parliamentpremises, Rahul also raisedthe issue of alleged corruptionin the Rafale fighter jet deal andaccused the BJP of runningaway from a debate inParliament. “We will force aJPC on the Rafale issue. Whyare they running away from adebate in Parliament,” he said.

Rahul said theGovernment has turned a blindeye to the loans given to 15 topindustrialists of the country,including Reliance’s AnilAmbani, but made no effort toalleviate the woes of the farm-ers in the last four years.

“We promised to waiveloans in 10 days. In two States(Madhya Pradesh andChhattisgarh), we did it with-in six hours and we would doit in the third State very soon,”

Rahul said talking to the mediaoutside Parliament. He wasreferring to the Congress’promises made ahead of theAssembly polls and waivingloans on Monday.

Reacting to the Gandhiscion’s onslaught on Modi, theBJP said nothing better can beexpected from Rahul, whoseparty ensured that Indians didnot sleep during its 60 years ofrule due to rampant corrup-

tion. Hitting out at Rahul,Union Minister Ravi ShankarPrasad said he should come toParliament and debate theRafale issue there.

“Friends I am given tounderstand that Rahul Gandhitoday said that he will not allowPrime Minister Narendra Modito sleep. This is a new low inthe public discourse of thecountry,” Prasad said.

Continued on Page 4

�� �� �23��245�

Congress veteran SajjanKumar on Tuesday

resigned from the primarymembership of the party citinghis conviction in a 1984 anti-Sikh riots case. In a letter toCongress president RahulGandhi, the former Member ofParliament said his resignationshould be accepted with imme-diate effect, AICC sources said.

“I tender my resignationwith immediate effect fromthe primary membership of theIndian National Congress inthe wake of the judgment of thehonourable High Court ofDelhi against me,” Kumar saidin the letter to Rahul on

Monday. The Delhi High Court on

Monday sentenced Kumar toimprisonment for life, the firstconviction of a politician in theanti-Sikh riots in 1984 in whichmore than 2,700 people werekilled.

Continued on Page 4

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Almost two months after 23Asiatic lions died in

Gujarat’s Gir forest following anoutbreak of canine distempervirus (CDV), the State lostthree more big cats on Mondaymidnight when they weremowed down by a goods trainin Amreli district. SinceSeptember, the country haslost 35 lions, including cubs inand around the Gir forest, theonly abode of the endangeredpredators.

The rail incident occurrednear Borala village inSavarkundla taluka when apride of six lions was walkingalong the railway track passingfrom the village, which is locat-ed near the Gir Forest. The ani-

mals were sub-adults in the agegroup of 1.5-2 years.

“A goods train, headed toPipavav port from Botad, hitthree of six lions of the prideduring midnight, which led tothe death of two lions and alioness,” said Chief Conservatorof Forests, Junagadh wildlifecircle, DT Vasavada. He said anenquiry has been ordered bythe Gujarat Forest Department.

“We will enquire if thetrain was moving at a highspeed which could have led tothis unfortunate incident. Wewill also probe whether the for-est staff or the lion trackerswere at fault in dischargingtheir duties. Stringent actionwill be taken against the guilty,”he added.

Continued on Page 4

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Cable TV consumers willhave to shell out more

from December 29. As pernew directives of the TelecomRegulatory Authority of India,a consumer will have to pay tochoose individual channels,which they want to see.Consumer will need to payindividually for each channel.In other word, current packageof cable TV consumers will goineffective from December 29and they will have to renewtheir package under the newtariff regime.

According to cable opera-tors, under the new tariffregime, a cable TV consumer’smonthly bill will go up to �400or �450 per month. If he or sheis opting for premium bou-quets, the bill will be over�600-700 per month.

Presently, there are 30 crorehouseholds in the country.Nearly 19 crore householdshave TV connections. It isestimated that at least 10 crorehave connections providedthrough cable TV network.

Currently, consumers paya monthly bill of �250-350 fora cable TV connection, whichincludes sports and regionalchannels depending on the

localities.As per the new tariff struc-

ture, a consumer will have topay up to �130 (plus taxes) forfirst set of 100 channels, whichwill be mostly free-to-air (FTA)channels. As of now, MultipleSystem Operators or MSOsoffer you a bundled package ofchannels. The MSOs such asTata Sky or DishTV, Airtel,Hathway, SITI, DIGI Cable(INDIA), INDUSIND, DEN,DDC network choose randomchannels into a package, andoffer it to consumers.

According to cable TVoperators, all the broadcastershave also come up with theirown MRP of their channels.

The first type of category is“free & cheap” channel packageor “basic pack” which will bepriced at around �150-200 bymost cable players. This “basicpack” will be made out of“free” channels like B4U,Dabang and PTC, supple-mented by the “1-rupee-chan-nels” from big broadcasterslike Star, Zee and Sony.

Continued on Page 4

�� � ��������23��245�

At time when the presenceof birds is considered a sign

of wildlife opulence for anynation, the northern States ofIndia are awaiting the arrival ofmigratory birds into their habi-tat. Ornithologists working onbirds’ navigation have foundthat since 2017 the arrival ofwinged guests into the Indianterritory has been delayed by atleast three months.

The delay in arrival ofmigratory birds has beenascribed to climate change,claimed ornithologists of DelhiUniversity.

This means that due to rel-atively more conducive weath-er climate patterns in Russiaand other cold countries,

migratory birds preferred tostay put in the homelandbetween August andNovember.

“It is pivotal to understandthe behaviour and overseasjourneys of the birds. Theirearly arrival is always a goodsign because they play crucialrole in the balance of ecologyand in large perspective theeconomy,” an ornithologistsaid, adding, “The pattern haschanged significantly. Earlierthey arrived in August or max-imum by September. However,this year is different.”

Sharing more interestingfacts about the migration routeto breeding areas, a DelhiUniversity Professor said themigration route is extendedfrom Narurzum wetlands in

northern Kazakhstan, beforediverging southwest to theCaspian Sea and southeast toIndia on journeys that navigateseven nations. “The migrationroute of these birds takes themover Russia, Kazakhstan,Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan,Afghanistan, Pakistan and thento the Gangetic basin of north-ern India; much of the journeyis hazardous and through dif-ficult terrains,” the ornitholo-gist explained.

However, he added a largenumber of birds have divertedto Rajasthan.

When asked about the rea-son, he said good amount ofrains in northwestern region ispivotal factor in divertingmigratory birds.

Continued on Page 4

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After farm loan waiverannounced by newly-

elected CongressGovernments in MadhyaPradesh and Chhattisgarh, theBJP-led Governments ofAssam and Gujarat too havedecided to write off farm loansand electricity bills of ruralusers respectively.

The BJP-led Governmentin Gujarat announced it willwaive electricity bills of con-nection holders in rural areasto the tune of �650 crore.

The Assam Governmentapproved �600-crore farm loanwaiver which it said will ben-efit around eight lakh farmersof the State. The decision wastaken at a Cabinet meetingheld on Monday night.

According to the AssamGovernment scheme, it willwrite off 25 per cent loan offarmers up to a maximum of�25,000, State Governmentspokesperson andParliamentary Affairs MinisterChandra Mohan Patowarysaid. The waiver will be for allthe loans taken through Kisan

Credit Card (KCC) and fromPSU banks, he said.

The MP Government haddeclared to waive individualloan of up to �2 lakh taken byfarmers.

The Assam Governmenthas also sanctioned an interestrelief scheme which will enablearound 19 lakh farmers to takeloans at zero interest from thenext financial year, said theAssam Parliamentary AffairsMinister.

“The debt relief schemefor farmers will waive 25 percent of all loans taken tillnow. The benefit will be up toa maximum of �25,000. Thisscheme will immediately ben-efit around eight lakh farmers,”he said.

Due to these schemesthere will be an additional bur-den of �600 crore on the Stateexchequer this fiscal. “For thenext fiscal, we will have to dobudgetary provision for theschemes,” Patowary said.

The Cabinet also approvedsubsidy up to �10,000 toincentivise farmers if they takeloan from KCC.

Continued on Page 4

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With the party left nursingits wounds following the

urban local body poll debaclein its redoubt, factionalism hascome to fore in the districtBharatiya Janata Party (BJP)roost. The allegation runs thatthe district BJP general secre-tary Vikas Tiwari and thesenior BJP leaderChandrashekhar Kurl are nowat daggers drawn. With the for-mer having allegedly threat-ened to kill the latter for thehumiliating defeat of the saf-fron candidate Anu Kakkar,Chandrashekhar has lodgedcomplaint in Bahadrabadpolice station on Tuesday.However, a case was yet to belodged till the time of filing thisreport.

Speaking to The Pioneer,Chandrashekhar Kurl said thatVikas Tiwari had called him atraitor during a marriage func-tion and said that the party hadsuffered the debacle because ofhis and some others going all-

out to spite the poll prospectsof the party. As he had tried tomake him hold fire, Tiwari hadthreatened to kill him, Kurlalleged. Besides, Tiwari hadtried to beat him at the mar-riage function and he had beensaved by the people presentover there, the BJP leaderalleged, adding that at least acouple of people had been wit-ness to the incident.

Quizzed over the matter,the district party presidentJaipal Singh Chauhan sought toplay it down and said that it wasa personal issue without anyconnection with the party. “Icannot intervene. Let themfight it out in the court,” he said.

However, observers saythat police are not acting on thecomplaint under pressure fromthe BJP’s Haridwar satrap andCabinet Minister MadanKaushik and others close tohim.

Kurl said that in the run-upto the civic body elections,Madan Kaushik had asked himto work for the party. “I toldhim about the arrogance withwhich Vikas Tiwari was treat-ing the party leaders like me.But he was not serious aboutmy complaint. Hence, theparty’s debacle in its citadel,” he

said.Some saffron insiders con-

fided that Vikas Tiwari isknown to ill-behave with theparty leaders and activists andalso the common people. “Heis inclined to lose his temper atthe slightest provocation. Heabused an elderly person whilecampaigning for Anu Kakkarfor ULB polls. His haughtinesshas come up for discussionmany a time in the party circles.But he remains unchanged andthe party brass continues to belenient,” says a party insider.

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Once again the wranglingbetween the MLA from

Rural Haridwar SwamiYateeshwaranand and the loy-alists of the Cabinet MinisterMadan Kaushik has surfacedover the appointment of thedean of GurukulMahavidyalaya at Jwalapur.The tension which erupted onMonday continued on Tuesdayas both the factions resolved tocling to their respective stanceon the matter. Following thecomplaint lodged by YashpalSaini, known as a staunch sup-porter of Madan Kaushik andthe acting dean of the institute,the police have been deployedin the college campus.

Tension had come up whenSwami Yateeshwaranand foist-ed his aide Balwant SinghChauhan on the chair of thedean of GurukulMahavidyalaya.

He had taken Chauhan tothe institute’s premises,opened the lock of the office

and seated him on the dean'schair. Meanwhile, the sup-porters of the other group hadgathered and torched theMLA’s effigy while abusinghim for his arbitrary action.

Speaking to the Pioneer,the Sabha Pradhan ofGurukul Yogendra SinghChauhan said that SwamiYateeshwaranand had no rightto appoint anyone after hehad been thrown out of thecollege’s governing body.

The police came to bedeployed in the campus fol-lowing sloganeering and ten-sion running between thetwo groups. Dubbing hisexpulsion from the college’sGoverning body as immoraland unlawful, SwamiYateeshwaranand said that hehad appointed the dean whileexercising his right.

Tension over the dean’schair deepened on Tuesdaywhen Yashpal Saini, the exist-

ing dean, lodged a complaintat Kankhal police stationagainst Yateeshwaranand andsaid that he had arbitrarilyanointed another person asthe dean in violation of therules. “The dignity of theinstitution being under threat,stern action must be takenagainst the MLA,” Sainidemanded.

Sabha Pradhan YogendraSingh Chauhan said thatYateeshwaranand had been

expelled on June 30. “Duringthe meeting held on July 1, aunanimous decision of scrap-ping the posts of vice-chan-cellor and registrar was taken.Yateeshwaranand was thrownout of the governing body ofthe college. The matter hasbeen pending in the HighCourt. Now after what hashappened police must act onthe complaint,” he added.

Asked to comment onthe matter, Balwant SinghChauhan said that he hadremained associated with thecollege since 1984. “I havebeen asked to act as the offi-ciating dean till the new officebearer comes to take up thepost,” he said.

Defending his appoint-ment, he further said that ithad been done as per therules. “The appointment islawful as Yateeshwaranandstill holds the post of sabhamantri. I am feeling hon-oured to be bestowed with theresponsibility of an old insti-tution.

The charges made againstme are absolutely baselessand motivated. However, weare ready to have dissentresolved through discussion.Tension should end at the ear-liest,” he added.

The police station in-charge of Kankhal Hari OmRaj Chauhan said that probeinto the matter has been start-ed.

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In the city of templesRishkesh, two mega events

were organised to mark theGeeta Jayanti on Tuesday.Considered as the appearanceday of Bhagavad Gita-thesacred scripture of the Hindus-, it is celebrated on the ShuklaEkadashi, 11th day of the wax-ing moon of Margashirshamonth which started aroundnoon on Tuesday.

Speaking on the occasion,Sadhwi Bhgawati of ParmarthNiketan said, “Bhagavad Gitais the essence of all scriptures.One may spend years andyears and yet one may not getinto the deep meaning of a sin-gle chapter of the peerlessverse. However, with the graceof God, one may grasp the gist

of the Gita in a moment,” shesaid.

Dwelling more on thetimeless greatness of the Gita,she said that the more onerecites the mantra enshrined inthe scriptures, the clearer thesolution to the life’s crisisbecomes. “It is not esotericteaching, exclusive, race ortime specific. The mystery ofthe Gita is open to one and all.It changes every person whoembarks on unravelling themystery of Gita with devotionand sincerity. This is universal,not meant exclusively for theHindus. It is eternally relevantand transcends time and itsbackground set in theKurukshetra battleground.Herein lies the eternal appealof the Gita,” the Sadhwi said.

Gita recitation contestswere held by Geeta Bhawan onthe day with students’ partic-ipation in a large number.

The manager of Geeta

Bhawan Gaurishankar Mohtasaid while talking to ThePioneer that the literature pub-lished by the Geeta Press is stillavailable at throwaway prices.“They are gems of spiritual lit-erature in the form of com-mentaries by hanuman PrasadPoddar, Goenka, SwamiRamsukhdass and other emi-nent saints of the century,” hesaid.

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The people acrossUttarakhand are now reel-

ing under the cold turningmore biting each passing day.Dehradun is also under thegrip of the chilling winternowadays, as the minimumtemperature has plummeted tofive degree Celsius on Tuesday.The weathermen say that itwould further dip in the com-ing days, sending the people toshiver.

Though the Met officialsare yet to confirm the possi-bility of Mussoorie/ landour/Dhanaulty enjoying a whiteChristmas things are, howev-er, brightening up with theprogressive dip in the mer-cury. As per the Met officers,it might snow in the placeswith altitude of 2500 metersand above from December 23while the queen of hillsMussoorie and the lake cityNainital might record freshsnowfall from December 28.

Meteorological centreofficers said that while gener-ally dry weather would prevailacross the State the sky mightremain overcast for a certainperiod of the day onWednesday.

Mist might enshroud alarge swathe of the plainareas of the Himalayan Statein the early morning hours.In Dehradun, too, fog mightform during the early morn-ing hours on the day as perthe weather forecast issuedby the regional Met centre.

The maximum tempera-ture and minimum temper-

atures were recorded 23.9degree Celsius (two notchesabove the normal), and 5.3degree Celsius, (two notchesbelow the normal) respec-

t ively in Dehradun onTuesday.

In Pantnagar, the mini-mum temperatures hovered 3degree Celsius, while it was3.3 in Mukteshwar and 4.6in New Tehri.

The Met official furthersaid that fog is likely to

engulf some parts of plains ofUttarakhand, especially inDehradun, Haridwar andUdham Singh Nagar dis-tricts.

Meanwhile, in Dehradun,the day was mostly sunny tothe relief of the people nowreeling under the biting cold.“We are now bracing up formore freezing cold in thecoming days as per theweather forecast,” said a col-lege student from Dalanwala.

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Chief Minister TrivendraSingh Rawat has said

that the CentralGovernment has given in-principle approval to linkcollection of Pirul (dry pineneedles) with MNREGA. Itwill be available toUttarakhand as a project. Inthe State, now Pirul will behelpful in dealing with theunemployment problemand enhancing income gen-eration. About 143 itemscan be prepared from Pirul.Schemes related to it willalso be linked with cooper-atives, said Rawat.

While addressing thenewly elected chairpersonsand vice chairpersons ofdistrict cooperative banks

a n dB h e s h a jSangh atCM resi-dence lateon Mondaye ve n i ng ,

the ChiefMinister saidthat Pirul canbe a major fac-tor of finan-

cial strength in the State. In this regard, few days

back, he had requested theUnion Rural DevelopmentMinister to link the Pirulcollection work withMNREGA. Now, theCentral Government hasgiven its nod in principle.This will also prove to be agame changer for the Statein tackling unemploymentand enhancing income ofthe people.

Rawat said that alongwith bringing change inrural life, cooperative is amajor medium forstrengthening the ruraleconomy. Efforts should bemade to provide maximumamount of funds for variousself employment pro-grammes. With low rates of

interest, it can also lead toa change in the society.

For this, people associ-ated with cooperatives willhave to go to the generalpublic and also informthem about the schemes.People associated withcooperatives should analysethe situation of those peo-ple who had taken loansunder the Pandit DeendayalUpadhyay Sahakarita KisanKalyan Yojana to ascertainhow much they benefitted.Under this scheme, threelakh people have been givenloans till date.

He said that in theState, clusters of trout fishfarming and Angora woolshould be established.

Minister of State forCooperatives, Dhan SinghRawat said that consistentefforts are being made toconnect cooperatives withthe people. Focus is alsobeing laid on making thecooperatives corruption-free, he stressed.

The cooperatives sec-retary R MeenakshiSundaram and other offi-cials concerned were alsopresent.

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Angered over themajority of the stu-

dents flunking the prac-tical examination, the stu-dents of first year MBBScourse of GovernmentDoon Medical College (GDMC) have been stag-ing a sit-in at the collegesince Monday evening.

The students areparticularly peeved withthe head of the depart-ment (HoD) of Anatomyof the college, Dr S KAgarwal as 40 out of 52students have failed thepractical examinationheld on the subject ofAnatomy. One studentsitting on the dharnasaid that the HoDAnatomy had openlytold the students that hewould see to it that all

the students flunkedthe practical exami-nations.

On Tuesday,many parents of the

agitating students alsojoined their wards in theprotest. A mother of anagitating student said,“It is a mystery as to whythe students are scoringlow marks in practicalexamination of one par-ticular subject while theyare scoring high in othersubjects. It is not that ithas happened this year.The trend has been goingon over the past threeyears. However, this year,the students’ patiencehas run out and quitenaturally so,” she said.

Quizzed over thematter, the officiatingprincipal of the college,Dr Navin Thapliyal saidthat he has asked the stu-dents to submit theirwritten representation.“But they are yet to do so.I along with other staffmembers am in regular

touch with the agitatingstudents. We have askedthem to withdraw theagitation. But they arerefusing to heed ourplea,” he said.

Queried over theallegation of a teacherdeliberately making thestudents to score low inthe practical exam, hesaid that no professorcould have deliberatelyfailed the students. “Theexaminations are takenby the university and sothe university would berequested to review theresult. The studentsshould keep patience tillthe review is made,’’ hesaid.

Meanwhile, the vice-chancellor of HNBMedical University, DrHem Chandra has con-stituted an inquiry toinvestigate the matter.On the report of theinquiry committee, theuniversity would takeaction further action, theuniversity sources said.

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Experts from various IndianStates will be attending the

first national level Veda con-ference to be held at Vikasnagaron December 24-25.

Addressing the media atthe Press Club, Martand Ved-Vigyan Anusandhan Sansthanhead Sunil Painyuli said thatmore than 200 scholars of thefour Vedas from 16 States of thenation will be attending thetwo-day conference. The spir-itual, scientific and cultural

aspects of knowledge in theVedas have become all themore important in the presenttimes, he said. The two dayconference will focus on thestudy and dissemination of theVedas. Pandits and scholarsfrom across India will deliber-ate on research and also chantthe Vedas for peace and har-mony in the world. VidhanSabha speaker and RishikeshMLA, Prem Chand Agrawalwill be the chief guest on theinaugural day which will alsobe attended by Minister ofState, Dhan Singh Rawat.Cabinet Ministers PrakashPant, Arvind Pande and TehriMP Mala Rajya Laxmi Shahwill be attending the event onits concluding day, addedPainyuli.

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The young lady from Pauriwho was severely burnt by

an assailant will be taken to theSafdarjung hospital in Delhi byair-ambulance. The ChiefMinister Trivendra Singh Rawatsaid this after visiting the AllIndia Institute of MedicalSciences (AIIMS) Rishikesh toenquire about her condition onTuesday.

Visiting AIIMS and seekinginformation about her conditionfrom doctors, the Chief Ministersaid that she will be taken to theSafdarjung hospital for better

treatment. In Safdarjung hos-pital, necessary arrangementshave been ensured for the treat-ment of the victim. All expens-es on the treatment of the vic-tim will be borne by the StateGovernment, added Rawat.

The Chief Minister furthersaid that the person who had setthe student ablaze after dousingher with petrol has been arrest-ed by the police and action asper law is being taken againsthim. Describing the incident astragic, he wished the victim aspeedy recovery. Along with theChief Minister, the State’sFinance and ParliamentaryAffairs Minister Prakash pantalso inquired about the victim’shealth. The Vidhan Sabhaspeaker and Rishikesh MLAPrem Chand Agrawal also vis-

ited AIIMS to inquire about thehealth of the victim.

It is pertinent to mentionhere that on Sunday, a BSc stu-dent in Pauri was stalked by aman when she was returninghome. The accused-a taxi dri-ver dragged her to roadsidewhere he tried to sexuallyassault her. On meeting withresistance, he poured petrolover her and set her on fire. Thegirl was later taken to the Pauridistrict hospital from whereshe was referred to Srinagarmedical college hospital.

Due to the seriousness ofher condition, she was referredfrom Srinagar to a higher cen-tre and brought to AIIMSRishikesh. The police laterarrested the accused ManojSingh.

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The objective behind theformation of Uttarakhand

has been nullified by theUttarakhand Government’sdecision to incorporate changesin Uttar Pradesh ZamidariAbolition Act 1950 to facilitateoutsiders to purchase unre-stricted amount of land in thestate, said All India CongressCommittee (AICC) generalsecretary and former ChiefMinister Harish Rawat whileaddressing the media personshere on Tuesday.

Launching a blisteringattack on the StateGovernment, the Congress vet-eran said that the culture andthe environment of the State isbeing threatened by thechanges made in sections 143and 154 of UP, ZA Act 1950.Former CM urged the legisla-tors to cut across the party linesand demand repeal of thechanges in the act passed in theAssembly recently, given thesubsequent dangers staring thestate in the face.

Rawat also took a swipe atthe BJP-helmed StateGovernment on the matter ofjob reservation for the state-hood activists. “By abolishingthe horizontal reservation forthe statehood activists in thegovernment jobs after theGovernor returned the bill forthe same, the BJP Government

has revealed its mind. There isno room for doubt that it isagainst providing jobs to thestatehood activists,” he said.

The charismatic Congressleader further raked up theemotive Gairsain issue andsaid that all the constructionactivity initiated at Gairsain hasstopped. “We set up a GairsainRoad Tunnel and infrastructureauthority to boost infrastruc-ture development at Gairsain.However, the presentGovernment has abruptlywound up all such develop-mental activities, making itsintentions clear. The work onbuilding up the secretariat andother buildings has alsostopped. BJP is now mired inintra-party bickering overGairsain. They are playing pol-itics while the place is being leftout in the cold,’’ he said.

The former CM who is alsoa member of CongressWorking Committee (CWC)said that ongoing probe inNational Highway (NH)-74scam has resulted in cessationof arbitration work due towhich farmers have been fac-ing problems and developmentof the state is being affected. Hesuggested that as the districtmagistrates are evading dis-charging arbitration duties, a‘State Arbitration Authority’should be set up so that thearbitration works are not affect-ed.

Rawat also charged thestate government for remainingantipathetic towards theunemployed youth of the State.He said that the employmentgeneration aspect of Mahatma

Gandhi National RuralEmployment Guarantee Act (MNREGA) has been suspend-ed and it has been turned intocontractual activity. Rawat fur-ther alleged that the presentgovernment has stopped theprocess of appointments on thevacant posts in theGovernment. “We filled up16000 posts and started theprocess to fill 14000 more, butnow this government has halt-ed the process. The High Court( HC) has given its verdict infavour of UPNL workers butthe state government is chal-lenging it in the Supreme Courtto scuttle the move,’’ hequipped.

The former CM alsoslammed the State Governmentfor revoking the formula the

Congress Government haddevised for regularising guestteachers.

Rawat also went ballistic onthe BJP Government for ignor-ing the plight of the sugarcanefarmers. “Sugar mills are sittingover payments to the tune of �360 crore due to the sugarcanegrowers. The Government hasnot declared the purchase priceof sugarcane yet and the pur-chase centres have also notbeen set up.

Under such circumstances,the sugarcane would remainstanding in the farms and sow-ing of wheat would also bedelayed,’’ he said.

Rawat threatened that if theproblem of sugarcane farmersis not solved he would beforced to start an agitation.

On Rafale deal, he said thatbasic questions like escalatedprice of aircraft, choice ofReliance as offset partner andpurchase of less number ofplanes are still unanswered.

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Expressing deep anguish overthe heinous incident of a

girl being set ablaze by a manin Pauri district, Harish Rawatsaid that it would have beenbetter had the girl been airlift-ed to New Delhi promptly. Hesaid that the AIIMS Rishikeshwhere she is at present beingtreated does not have therequired facility for treatingburn injuries.

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The internal rift in the StateCongress became clear on

Tuesday when the former ChiefMinister and AICC generalsecretary Harish Rawat arrivedat Rajiv Bhawan, the State con-gress headquarters, with nonefrom the camp loyal to the StateCongress president PritamSingh and the leader of theOpposition Indira Hridayeshbeing present.

Rawat was accompanied byDharchula MLA HarishDhami, Kedarnath MLAManoj Rawat, Congressspokesperson Garima Dasauniand many of his staunch sup-porters.

However, the senior Stateleaders were conspicuous bytheir absence at the time whenthe AICC general secretaryand the former CM was seat-ed in the State party office.Notably, he comes but rarelynow to the State party office.

During his interaction withthe media, Rawat could nothave fully concealed his dis-pleasure on the manner inwhich the State Congress isfunctioning now. “I thought itprudent to lodge my protest onsome very important issueswhich I think are not beingaddressed to appropriately,’’ hesaid.

When asked whether thepresent leadership of the partyis not effectively raising theseissues, Rawat, known for hiswitty repartees, said, “I amjust preparing the pitch for oth-ers to bat on. I am in the roleof a curator who preparespitch.’’

The Congress stalwartrefused to be drawn into therow triggered by the recentexpulsion of some of his sup-porters from the party butadded that the party should notforget those who had stood bythe party during its hard times.

In response to a question,he claimed that there is no fac-tionalism in the state Congress.

The internal politics ofCongress in Uttarakhandremains on the boil in the after-math of the not-so-good per-formance in the recently con-cluded urban local body polls.The leaders of the two factionsblamed each other for the poorpoll show. Things were furtheraggravated after some partyleaders, including Harish Rawatloyalists Maruti Shah andKhajan Pandey, were expelledfrom the party for a period ofsix years on the charge of anti-party activities.

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To boost the electrificationof every household cam-

paign, ‘Saubhagya Raths’ wereflagged off from different partsof the state on Tuesday. Thesecretary Power, Radhika Jhasaid that all the applicants havebeen provided with the powerconnections under SaubhagyaYojana by November 30.

She said that the schemeis in progress at present andthose families which are leftout should immediatelymake a call on toll free num-ber 1912 of UttarakhandPower Corporation Limited (UPCL) for getting powerconnection.

On the orders of Jha, theSaubhag ya R aths whichwould cover the remoteareas of the state to provideinformation about theSaubhagya scheme werelaunched in all the districts

on Tuesday. The Raths were flagged

off by public representatives,district magistrates and offi-

cials of power department. InDehradun, Mussoorie MLA,Ganesh Joshi flagged off therath while in Vikasnagar,

MLA Munna Singh Chauhanwas present during the flag-ging-of f ceremony ofSaubhagya Rath.

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The association of the sec-retariat employees have

threatened that they wouldbe forced to start an agitationif their demands are ignoredfurther. The president of theassociation Deepak Joshi saidthat a delegation of associa-tion would meet the chiefsecretary, additional chiefsecretary ( Personnel) andACS to the Chief Minister onDecember 19 to put forwardtheir pending issues. He saidthat a major agitation wouldbe launched if their demandsare not accepted.

The association of the

secretar iat employeesdemands that the vacant pro-motional posts of secretariatemployees should be filled byDepartmental PromotionalCommittee ( DPC) withoutdelay.

The secretariat workersalso want increased promo-tional avenues. They furtherwant that the process of allot-

ment of Government quar-ters should be made trans-parent. The association isalso irked over a fourfoldhike in house maintenancefees.

The secretariat workersare demanding all the work-ers who joined duties afterthe year 2005 be given ben-efit of old pension scheme.

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In what may be viewed as amajor development, the State

Government has received $120 million additional financeapproval from the World Bankfor the Disaster RecoveryProject. A memorandum ofunderstanding to this effect wassigned between UttarakhandGovernment and World Bankin the national capital onTuesday.

In the sequence ofUttarakhand Disaster RecoveryProject (UDRP) starting with $250 million financial require-ment, World Bank has agreedto provide additional financingof $ 120 million.

With this extra funding,mainly training facilities of theState Disaster Response Force(SDRF) and construction ofbattalion headquarters at JollyGrant, construction of ultra-modern Uttarakhand StateDisaster Management

Authority building, construc-tion of 64 bridges to improveconnectivity in Uttarakhand,slope security work on 15 high-ly sensitive land slide zones andsafety work at five places onriver banks will be done. Allthese works are proposed to becompleted in the next threeyears.

The preparations for theproject were started one yearago on the instructions ofChief Minister Trivendra SinghRawat. The work of preparingfew DPRs has been done underUDRP. Through medium ofPMU, PIU and Regional PIU,the implementation of the pro-ject work will be done in coor-dination with the Public WorksDepartment, IrrigationDepartment and PoliceDepartment under USDMA.The monitoring of the projectwill be done by a high levelcommittee set up under thechairmanship of the chief sec-retary.

Initial human resource andregional PIU for the project hasbeen set up and 30 per cent ofthe contract has been done asper the guidelines of theDepartment of EconomicAffairs.

In the programme organ-ised in New Delhi on Tuesday,Uttarakhand’s disaster man-agement secretary Amit SinghNegi, additional secretary SavinBansal along with officials ofthe Centre and World Bankwere present.

Notably, after the 2013 dis-aster in Uttarakhand, theDisaster Management hadreceived assistance of $ 250million for UDRP from theWorld Bank and $ 200 millionassistance from the AsianDevelopment Bank fromUttarakhand EmergencyAssistance Project (UEAP).UEAP has been successfullycompleted in October 2017and the UDRP is likely to becompleted by June 2019.

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Additional chief secretaryOm Prakash appeared

before the High Court singlebench of justice Sharad KumarSharma. While informing thecourt that as per its earlierorders lecturers on contracthad been regularised, he alsoapologised for the delay in thesame.

As per the case details,Dehradun resident RajendraSingh and five others had fileda contempt petition in the highcourt. They stated that in June2018, the HC division benchhad ordered that they be regu-larised on lecturer posts in thegovernment polytechnic.However, the technical educa-tion secretary neither regu-larised them nor provided min-

imum pay grade to them. Whenthe state filed a special leavepetition against the HC order inthe Supreme Court it was direct-ed to file a review petition in theHC.

However, as no order waspassed in the review petition,Singh and others filed a con-tempt petition. The single benchhad earlier issued a contemptnotice to the senior

bureaucrat.

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In a petition seeking quashingof FIR lodged against televi-

sion news channel chief execu-tive officer Umesh Sharma in analleged sting operation, the highcourt of Uttarakhand has soughtreplies from the State govern-ment and other respondents.

Hearing the petition, the divi-sion bench of justice SudhanshuDhulia and justice RavindraMaithani sought replies withinthree weeks from the state gov-ernment, the complainant

Ayush Gaur, chief ministerTrivendra Singh Rawat’s broth-er, his acquaintance SanjayGupta, Dehradun senior super-intendent of police and investi-gating officer in the case.

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The Nainital winter carnivalwill be organised in

Nainital from December 20 to22 by the Uttarakhand TourismDevelopment Board with thecooperation of the districtadministration. Yatch and boatdecoration competition, foodfestival and trekking will beamong the main attractions ofthe carnival.

Further, Pandav Nritya,

Choliya dance, Nanda Devitableau along with perfor-mances by noted folk artisteswill also feature during thethree-day festival.

The State’s Tourism andCulture minister SatpalMaharaj informed that Nainitalhas had a tradition of wintercarnival. While it publiciseswinter tourism on the onehand, it also encourages folkculture and art.

Such events enable localartistes to establish their iden-tity while providing entertain-ment to the tourists and thegeneral public. This is the rea-son why the UTDB is consis-tently encouraging such events,

he said.The Tourism secretary

Dilip Jawalkar said that Nainitalis one of the nationally andinternationally important des-tinations in the state. Touristsfrom across India and abroadvisit this place to enjoy natureand boating. Through eventslike winter carnival, the localart, culture and food are pub-licised among the visitors whilethe tourism business alsoreceives a boost.

The district tourism officerof Nainital, Arvind Gaurinformed that the food festivalwhich involves local hotels willalso be one of the attractions ofthe winter carnival. The social

campaign for cleanliness will belinked to the trek up to Chinapeak to send a message ofadventure tourism and envi-ronmental conservation.Various cultural programmesincluding dance, music, songand drama will be held duringthe three-day fest, he added.

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Page 4: 0 ()*+ ,- $ˇ++2ˆ 1+*,44+.@ 24ˇˆ2ˇ2+ 5%˘6ˇ+$B, ˘ˇˆ˙...for placement before the next ... anti-Sikh riots in 1984 in which more than 2,700 people were ... “free & cheap”

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The 2G Court on Tuesdaydeferred the hearing on

cognizance of the Aircel-Maxiscase chargesheet to January 11due to CBI's failure to providesanction for prosecutionagainst five officers, who areco-accused of former FinanceMinister P Chidambaram.Judge OP Saini also extendedinterim protection given TOChidambaram and son Karti,though Special PublicProsecutor Tushar Mehta reit-erated for custodial interroga-tion of the duo citing "somenew documents" emergingduring the probe.

CBI had on November 26promised to the court to pro-duce pending five sanctionssoon while providing sanctionto prosecute Chidambaram.The five officers co-accusedwith Chidambaram are formerfinance secretaries Ashok Jhaand Ashok Chawla and twoserving IAS officers KumarSanjay Krishnan and DeepakKumar Singh and Ram Saran,retired under secretary in theFinance Ministry.

The sanctions for prose-cution against these five officershave to be obtained fromFinance Ministry. CBI earliertold the Judge that they havesubmitted to Government aweek before filing chargesheeton July 19.

From Page 1An aide of Kumar said he

does not want the party to faceany embarrassment and that iswhy decided to resign from theprimary membership of theCongress soon after the DelhiHigh Court pronounced itsjudgment in the case.

The aide clarified the 73-year-old three-time MP doesnot have a Twitter accountand comments attributed tohim in the social media plat-form were not made by him.

When asked for his reac-tion on the issue, Rahul skirt-ed a question on Kumar andalso about the apolog ydemanded by the BJP fromhim after Kumar’s convic-tion by the Delhi High Courta 1984 anti-Sikh riots case.“My position on the riots, Ihave made it very clearbefore. That is absolutelyclear, the issue is very simple,”Rahul parried the queriesfrom the media outsideParliament.

From Page 1Rahul said Modi has been

at helms of affairs as PM for last4.5 years, but has not waived asingle rupee of farmers’ loansbut promised that Congressand other Opposition partieswould join hands to end thefarmer’s miseries. He said if theModi Government does notwaive farm loans, Congressguarantees to waive the same ifvoted to power in 2019. He saida united Opposition will exert“such pressure on Modi thatnot a single farmer will be leftout”.

When asked aboutGovernment’s claim on the“typo” in the affidavit given tothe Supreme Court on theRafale issue, Rahul quippedthere will be many more typoscoming now from theGovernment side.

“A number of typo errorswill come out now. This is justa beginning of typo errors, nowone after the other typo errors

will come, on JPC issue, onRafale issue, on farmers, ondemonetisation, you will startseeing typo errors. Basically,what is happening is thatmoney of people of India isbeing stolen, of farmers, ofsmall shopkeepers. I considerdemonetisation as the biggestscam of the world. The purposeof note ban was to snatchmoney of the poor and give tothe friends of NarendraModi…,” Rahul claimed.

Referring to Rahul address-ing the issue of farmer distressand saying that the Congressand other Opposition partieswill ensure that all farm loansare waived, Prasad declared itwas just drama. The Congress,he said, had been in power forabout 60 of the last 70 years.“What have they done forfarmers? They are doing justdrama now,” he said.

Daring the Congress andits chief to show “courage” anddiscuss the fighter jet deal “eyeto eye” in the House, Prasadsaid, “Don’t run away from thedebate.” He added that theCongress was fleeing a debateon the issue because it hadmany skeletons from defencedeals in its cupboard.

From Page 1“There will be interest relief

scheme of up to four per centfor farmers. There will be inter-est relief from the StateGovernment so that farmersget crop loan at zero interestfrom next financial year,”Patowary said adding thataround 19 lakh farmers acrossthe State are expected to takethe benefit of it.

Meanwhile, the BJP-ledGovernment in Gujaratannounced on Tuesday it willwaive electricity bills of con-nection holders in rural areasto the tune of �650 crore.

“Total 6.22 lakh connectionholders in rural areas across the

State will be benefited with thiswaiver to the tune of �650 crorepending electricity bills,”Gujarat’s Energy MinisterSaurabh Patel said.

The Minister said theseconnections were cut off due topower theft and non-paymentof bills. “These are domestic,agricultural as well as com-mercial connections,” Patelsaid.

The Congress and Patidarquota agitation leader HardikPatel have been demandingloan waiver for farmers inPrime Minister Modi’s homeState for some time now, cor-nering the Vijay Rupani-ledGovernment in Gujarat.

From page 1Sources said that forest

staff had been tackling the restthree members of the lionpride to ensure that they donot come near the tracks insearch of the missing threesub-adults.

According to the 2015 cen-sus, Gir has 523 lions, includ-ing 109 male, 201 female, 73sub-adults, and 140 cubs. SinceSeptember, 35 lions have died:Some due to natural cause,many others fell prey to CDVand Protozoa infections andduring territorial fights.

Gir (east) forest divisionfalls under Junagadh wildlifecircle. Boarala is a village locat-ed in Savarkundla taluka ofAmreli district. It is adjacent toChandgadh and Liliya whereAsiatic lions have settled inreserve forest and thickets inprivate revenue land.

The railway tracks onwhich the accident took placeconnect Pipava port on seacoat in Rajula taluka of Amrelidistrict to Surendranagar junc-tion. The busy broad-gaugerailway tracks are owned byPipavav Railway CorporationLimited (PRCL), a joint ven-ture between Indian Railwaysand Gujarat Pipavav PortLimited, a private firm whichowns and operate the Pipavaport. The Pipavav port is oneof the biggest ports of Gujarat

in terms of handling con-tainerised cargo. The railwayline has the capacity to handle21 trains every day.

Around six Asiatic lionsdied after being hit by movinggoods train in Rajula range ofAmreli social forestry divi-sion and Savarkundla rangebetween 2014 and 2015. Afterthe fatalities, the forest depart-ment had erected chain-linkedfencing on either side of thetrack over a stretch of around10-km from near the Pipavavport onward to Rajula town.However, fencing is not therein Borala where the latest inci-dent took place, said the offi-cials.

Asiatic lions are an endan-gered species and their onlywild population in the world issurviving in Gir forest andother protected areas spreadacross Junagadh, Gir Somnath,Amreli and Bhavnagar dis-tricts in Saurashtra region ofGujarat State. Their populationwas estimated to be 523 dur-ing the lion census conductedin 2015. Of this, 174 wasrecorded in Amreli districtalone. The carnivores havesettled in Liliya and Krakacharea of Amreli district for thelast 15 years as their populationgrew in protected forest areas.Being territorial animals, thebig cats looked for abodesoutside.

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From Page 1“If your travel from Kargil

to Kanyakumar or Kutchh toKamrup, you will realise thespeed at which developmentworks are underway. Whateveris happening is because of theGovernment’s commitment,the aspirations of the localpeople, farmers, labourers, pro-fessionals,” Modi averred.

“We are concentrating onintegration of next generationinfrastructure and transportfrom villages to cities today.With this aim, the Centre andthe Maharashtra Governmentare strengthening the infra-structure in the State,” thePrime Minister said.

Describing the Hinjewadi-Shivajinagar Metro corridoras a “special” project, thePrime Minister said it is thefirst project approved under theGovernment’s new Metro RailPolicy for the country. “TheMetro Rail Policy is ‘reform ori-ented’ by ensuring the metrotrains are linked with feeders,buses, new walkways, pathwaysdeveloped simultaneously,”Modi said.

From Page 1"The revival of wetland is

required if we want to seewinged guests in Delhi andNational Capital Region," hesaid.

Meanwhile, against allodds, there is some good newsfor Delhiites as rare species ofmigratory birds — RedPochard beak has been spot-ted in Yamuna biodiversitypark.

Dr Faiyaz Khudsar,Scientist in the Environmentdepartment, Delhi University,said December month hasrecorded good number ofmigratory birds. "We haverecorded 1,000 birds of ten dif-ferent species of migratorybirds such as NorthernShoveler, Common Pochard,"Dr Khudsar added.

It is important to mentionhere that in a recent bird countsin Delhi recorded 251 species

of birds in Delhi-NCR. Thesespecies were found inNajafgarh, Sultanpur,Bhindawas, Dhighal, OkhlaBird Sanctuary and Yamunafloodplains.

As per the findings, thisyear 15 birds were spottedwhich were missing last year,however, 21 species were notspotted which was spotted lastyear.

Najafgarh Jheel is a favor-able wetland where bird watch-ers may spot hundreds ofspecies of birds, including largeflocks of greater flamingo,common shelduck, osprey, pel-ican, duck and goose.

Importantly, Stoliczka'sbuschat, listed in the vulnera-ble category by Internationalconversation of Nature(IUCN), has been spotted onlyat a few places in the past,including Hisar and some areasof Rajasthan and Kutch.

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The pro-Khalistan outfit —Sikhs for Justice — on

Tuesday sought support fromPakistan to “liberate” Punjabfrom India. Irate, PunjabChief Minister CaptAmarinder stated that it hasexposed SFJ’s “nefariousdesigns” and nexus with thePakistani Army and its intel-ligence Inter-Services intelli-gence (ISI).

Capt Amarinder, in ahard-hitting reaction to thestatement of SFJ’s legal advi-sor Gurpatwant Singh Pannu,said that the cat is now welland truly out of the bag, andthe truth of the deep-rootedconnection between SJF andPakistani Army is out in theopen.

The statement has nailedSJF’s lies that it was a peace-ful movement to buildmomentum for a referendumon a separate state ofKhalistan, said the ChiefMinister, adding that it ismore than evident now thatthe organisation, with the fullsupport and backing of PakArmy and ISI, is striving tofoment trouble in IndianPunjab.

Through his statement,Pannu has made clear hisintentions of going all out toforce the secession of Punjabfrom India, with the backingof Pak Army and ISI, said theChief Minister, rubbishingSFJ’s claims to the contrary.

The Chief Minister hasalso taken strong exception toSFJ’s plans to hold the‘Kartarpur Sahib Convention

– 2019’, coinciding with theauspicious occasion of the550th birth anniversary cele-brations of Guru Nanak Dev.

“This has lent credence tohis fears that Pakistan’s deci-sion to open the KartarpurCorridor was an ISI game-plan to help forces inimical toIndia, including SFJ. It has alsoonce again proved that the PakGovernment had always been,and continues to remain, apuppet regime, working atthe behest of the Army there,”he added.

Capt Amarinder said thatthe whole affair is a biggerconspiracy by the Pak Army,which is persistently trying torevive militancy in Punjab.

Punjab, and the IndianArmy, are well prepared tocounter any such plans of theneighbouring country, he reit-erated.

“Punjab is today much

better equipped than it was inthe 80s and 90s when Pak-backed terrorism had sweptthe state,” he said, warningIslamabad against extendingany further support to SFJ or

other such outfits that arebent on disturbing the state’shard-earned peace.

The Pak Army would dowell to remember the igno-minious defeats it had sufferedat the hands of the IndianArmy on every occasion it hadtried to take on the might of

the latter, right from the 1965and 1971 wars to the morerecent Kargil battle, warnedCapt Amarinder.

Asserting that he was all infavour of Kartarpur Corridorto fulfil the long-pending aspi-rations of the Sikh communi-ty in India, the Chief Ministersaid that it was the misuse ofthe initiative that he wasopposed to.

“If Pakistan PrimeMinister Imran Khan is trulyin favour of opening the doorsfor long-lasting peace withIndia through this corridor, heshould not only unequivocal-ly condemn the SFJ state-ment but should also ensurethat Pak soil is not used by theanti-India outfit to furtherits campaign,” said CaptAmarinder, urging the Pakleader to put a stop to theKartarpur Sahib Convention-2019 plans.

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As many as 18,000 studentsrecited 18 shalokas of 18

chapters of the Bhagvad Gitatogether during the concludingday of International GitaMahotsav 2018 at Kurukshetraon Tuesday.

Not on ly t h i s , 1 0 8Br a h m i ns a l s o re c i t e dSrimad Bhagvad Gita Paathat Jyotisar.

Union External AffairsMinister Sushma Swaraj,O disha G over nor Prof .Ganeshi Lal, Yoga GuruSw am i R am d e v am ongother dignitaries were pre-sent on the occasion.

Sushma Swaraj, whilespeaking as chief guest inthe 'Vaishvik Gita PaathKaryakram' organized onTuesday said that everyyouth would have to be them e s s e nge r o f S r i m a d

Bhagvad Gita for the wel-fare of the world. For this,every youth would have toadopt the message of atleast two shalokas of theGita in their lives everyday, she said.

The Union Minister saidthat Srimad Bhagvad Gita isthe biggest philosophicaltext as this is only textwhich shows the way of liv-ing the life and paves wayfor solving all problems inthe world. Each shaloka inthe Gita makes a personcultured, she said.

Swaraj said that as theresult of the efforts of theChief Minister Manohar

Lal, Gita Jayanti is beingcelebrated as InternationalGita Mahotsav from lastt h re e ye ar s w h i c h h a sbrought Kurukshetra onwor l d m ap. T h eInternational Gita Mahotsavis being celebrated not onlyin Kurukshetra, but in eachdistrict of the state also, shesaid.

Odisha Governor, Prof.Ganeshi Lal said that Gita isinspirational for youth,senior citizens and soldiersalike. He added that SrimadBhagvad Gita inspires us toperform act ion withoutworrying about results.

Gita Manishi SwamiGyananand Maharaj, YogaGuru Swami Ramdev andSwami Chidanand MuniMaharaj also spoke on thisoccasion.

The International GitaMahotsav at Kurukshetraw a s org an i z e d f romD e c e mb e r 1 3 t o 1 8 .Mauritius was the partnercountry and Gujarat wasthe partner state in the GitaMahotsav – 2018.

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The counting of votes for thehigh-stake civic body polls

in Haryana will be held onWednesday which is set toraise the political temperaturein the State.

The polling was held onDecember 16 for the seats ofmayor and members of allwards of five municipal corpo-rations including Hisar, Rohtak,Yamunanagar, Panipat andKarnal and of two municipalcommittees including JakhalMandi (Fatehabad) and Pundri(Kaithal).

State ElectionCommissioner, Haryana, DalipSingh on Tuesday said thatcounting of votes of thesemunicipalities shall be held onDecember 19 at 8 am at theplaces specified by the DeputyCommissioner concerned andresult will be declared imme-diately after the completion ofcounting. Singh said thatarrangements have been madefor the counting of votes.

He said that a total of 59candidates (40 male and 19female) contested the electionof the seats of Mayor and 592candidates (322 male and 270female) contested the electionfor the seats of member,Corporation from all the wardsof 5 MCs. A total of 89 candi-dates (35 male and 54 female)

contested the election of theseats of member municipalCommittee, Jakhal MandiandPundri, he said.

Ahead of next year's LokSabha and Assembly polls, pres-tige is at stake for ruling BJP,which contested the civic pollson party symbol. Chief MinisterManohar Lal Khattar and hisCabinet Colleagues had cam-paigned extensively for theparty nominees in these polls.

In a first, the mayors of thefive municipal corporationswill be elected directly. Earlier,the councillors used to elect themayor.

Also, the Haryana ElectionCommission has decided totreat 'none of the above' orNOTA option as a "fictionalcandidate" in the municipalpolls, making it a must for win-ning candidates to secure morevotes than those cast for NOTA.

While BJP contested fromall the seats of Mayor and of 107wards of MunicipalCorporations, BSP from 1 seatof Mayor i.e. Yamunanagar, CPI (M) con-tested from one seat of Mayori.e. Rohtak and INLD contest-ed the election from 3 seats ofMayor i.e. from Hisar, Panipat& Rohtak. Except the rulingBJP, no other party contestedthe election for the seats ofmember in Corporation onparty symbol.

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Both the houses ofParliament witnessed pan-

demonium on Tuesday amidststand-off between theGovernment and the Congressover the Rafale fighter jet dealissue. For their part, whileTamil Nadu parties AIADMKand DMK raised slogans overthe Cauvery dam issue, theTDP demanded special statusfor Andhra.

The Government said itwas ready for a discussion onthe Rafale issue and chargedthe Congress with runningaway from the debate after theSupreme Court verdict lastweek. Congress said in theLok Sabha it was ready for dis-cussion, but demanded forma-tion of a Joint ParliamentaryCommittee (JPC) to probe theRafale deal. Speaker SumitraMahajan said constitution ofJPC was not under herpurview.

In the Rajya Sabha, Leaderof Opposition Ghulam NabiAzad said the privilege motionmoved by the Congress shouldbe taken up alleging theGovernment misled theSupreme Court and Parliamenton the Rafale issue. He also saidthe Government has no right tocontinue and “should go.”Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu,however, said that the Chairshould be allowed to take aview.

Countering Azad, Ministerof State for ParliamentaryAffairs Vijay Goel said theGovernment was ready to dis-cuss all issues, including Rafale.

He demanded that theCongress apologise in the wakeof the apex court's refusal toorder an SIT probe in Rafaledeal and Sajjan Kumar's con-viction by the Delhi HighCourt in a 1984 anti-Sikh riotscase.

Appeals by the Lok SabhaSpeaker to allow the House tofunction went unheeded asCongress members displayedplacards and trooped into theWell demanding JPC probe. Inthe din, the National Instituteof Design (Amendment) Bill,2018 was introduced in theHouse. The Bill seeks to declarethe various NIDs as institutionsof national importance.

In the Rajya Sabha too,Naidu urged the members toallow the House to function asvarious notices on urgent mat-ters, ranging from cyclonesaffecting lives in some states toprice rise to agriculture crisis,

have been admitted for dis-cussion.

His appeal was of no availas soon after the papers werelaid by the Ministers when theproceedings for the day com-menced, AIADMK and DMKcame into the well carryingplacards and shouting sloganson the Cauvery issue. Somemembers from AndhraPradesh were also seen dis-playing placards demandingspecial status for the State.Naidu initially adjourned theHouse till 2 PM at 11.10 amand as the din continued whenthe proceedings began again,he adjourned the House for theday.

In the lower house, upsetwith the disruption, Mahajansaid the members were wellaware that this was an impor-tant session as everyone willface elections after this. Shesaid the Government was ready

for discussion, but the ruckuscontinued. Proceedings barelylasted for five minutes and itwas initially adjourned tillnoon.

As the ruckus continued,only one query related to pro-duction of garlic was taken upduring the Question Hour.

The BJP members raisedslogans demanding an apologyfrom Congress president RahulGandhi. Later, ParliamentaryAffairs Minister NarendraSingh Tomar said the Supreme

Court verdict has made thingsclear, indicating that there wasno need for a JPC on the con-troversial issue.

Unhappy with theresponse, Congress membersagain started raising slogans,following which the Housewas adjourned for the day.

When the Upper Houseresumed in the afternoon,Naidu proposed to discuss acalling attention on the situa-tion arising due to devastationcaused by cyclones Gaja andTitli in some States and theaction taken by theGovernment in this regard.

However, senior Congressleader Anand Sharma raised apoint of order claiming thatMinister of State forParliamentary Affairs hadreferred to Rahul Gandhi andit is against the rule to demandhis apology because he is mem-ber of other House. Soon after,the ruling party member againstarted raising slogans anddemanded apology fromGandhi while some of theAIADMK and DMK mem-bers trooped into the well toprotest over Cauvery issue.The Chair adjourned theHouse for the day.

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There have been irregularexpenditures in setting up

and running of new KendriyaVidyalayas for children of thoseworking in PSUs andGovernment-run institutionswith �59.67 crore due forrecovery, a ParliamentaryCommittee pointed out onTuesday.

The Kendriya VidyalayaSangathan sets up schools onrequest from PSUs and insti-tutes like IIMs and IITs on theircampus for children of employ-ees working there. Accordingto norms, the Public SectorUndertakings or the institutesare supposed to reimburse thecost of setting up and runningthe schools.

However, a report tabled in

Parliament Tuesday has point-ed out that as on March 31,2016 an amount of �59.67crore was due for 81 suchschools. Of this, 34 has beenalready been shut due to vari-ous reasons, making the pos-sibility of recovery as remote.

“The committee notes thatKVS, an autonomous bodyunder the HRD Ministry, estab-lishes and manages KV and thescheme of KV has been extend-ed to children of the employeesof PSUs and government ownedInstitutes of Higher Learning(IHL) on the condition that allrecurring and non recurringexpenditure on running theseschools would be provided bythe sponsoring agencies.

“The sponsoring authori-ties of some existing or func-tioning and closed project

Vidyalayas defaulted in pay-ment of dues resulting in recov-erable amount of �24.57 crorein the year 2003,” the panelreport said.

The committee said thatalong with the key concern ofrecovery of dues which havebeen long pending, the matterneeds to be looked at in thelarger perspective of the impor-tance of Kendriya Vidyalayasin providing education.

The Parliamentary panelhas recommended that afterasking the sponsoring author-ity to transfer the infrastruc-tural assets to KVs, the stategovernments and corporateentities in the area may berequested to contributetowards running of suchschools under their corporatesocial responsibility initiatives.

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The Government's agricul-ture schemes are “not dis-

jointed” but linked at variousstages of the farm sector. UnionAgriculture Minister RadhaMohan Singh informed theParliament that Indian agri-culture is confronted with highprice volatility and climate riskfor which adequate prepared-ness has been in place.

Due to steps taken by theGovernment, despite climaterisks, the overall crop produc-tion in the country is on theincreasing trend, he said in awritten reply to the Lok Sabha,Singh.

To reduce the dependenceof farmers on private moneylenders, Singh said that theGovernment has taken sever-al measures to increase insti-tutional credit flow and bring-ing down the interest rate onfarm loans.

Further, with a view toprovide better insurance cov-erage to crops for all stages, the

Government has launched cropinsurance scheme under which�16,967.92 crore claims wassettled during Kharif 2017, headded.

The Minister also men-tioned that the Governmenthas been “reorienting” the agri-culture sector by focusing addi-tionally on an income-centricapproach.

In another reply, Singhsaid that more than 60 per centmarkets in the country arestill selling agricultural producebelow the Minimum SupportPrice (MSP).

On the Prime MinisterFasal Bima Yojna (PMFBY),the minister informed thatafter implementation of thePMFBY since April, 2016,enrolment of non-loanee farmers for whom the schemeis voluntary, has increasedfrom 27.81 lakh in 2015-16under erstwhile schemes, to136.66 lakh in 2016-17 and to138.47 lakh in 2017-18, indi-cating acceptance of thescheme.

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As many as 1.95 crore hectare of land in 97districts of six States-Maharashtra,

Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat,Jharkhand and Rajasthan are facing droughtthis year.

According to Ministry of Agriculture, thesesix States have sought relief of �16,773 crorefrom the Centre to tackle drought situation.But Bihar, West Bengal and Uttar Pradesh havenot sought relief from the centre due to tediousprocess to get relief from the centre, officialssaid.

Odisha has also declared drought duringKharif 2018 but the State Government has notsubmitted any memorandum so far. As perIMD, 250 of the 681 districts across the coun-try have faced deficient rainfall this year.

In a reply to Bhagwanth Khuba, UnionAgriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh saidthat 26 districts of Maharashtra, 24 ofKarnataka, 18 of Jharkhand, 11 of Gujarat, 9of Andhra Pradesh and Rajasthan each havefaced drought this year and sought droughtrelief package of �16,773 crore. Memorandumsto this effect have been submitted to theMinistry. Taking note of their memorandum,the Ministry has set up inter-ministerial highlevel committee to assess the damage and rec-ommend the financial assistance from NationalDisaster Response Fund (NDRF).

New Delhi: The Union Home Ministry onTuesday informed Lok Sabha that more than5,800 NGOs in the country are receiving foreignfunding to carry various religious activities. TheMinistry also said that the Government has notreceived any proposal to extend the dates of reg-istrations regarding the National Register forCitizens (NRC) in Assam

Union minister of state for home Kiren Rijijusaid as per the Foreign Contribution(Regulation) Act, 2010, registered NGOs canreceive foreign contribution for five purposes —social, educational, religious, economic and cul-tural. “Presently 5,804 NGOs are registered forreligious purpose under the Act,” he said reply-ing a written question.

Rijiju said activities of the NGOs aimed atconversion through inducement or force eitherdirectly or indirectly, from one faith to anoth-er are prohibited under the Act. “For any suchviolations reported, action as per the FCRA, 2010is taken against the defaulting NGOs,” he said.

According to home ministry statistics, a totalof 23,176 NGOs have received �15,329.16 croreduring 2016-17. There are around 7,800 NGOswhich work for social purposes and 4,800 NGOswhich work for educational purposes. PNS

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The authorities on Mondaysealed off all roads leading

to headquarters of XV Corps inSrinagar to thwart separatistsplan to stage a protest demon-stration in the garrison areaagainst the spree of civiliankillings. Police detained twomain separatist leaders MirwaizUmar Farooq and Yasin Malikto foil their march towards thelargest cantonment in summercapital Srinagar.

The separatists had calledfor a protest demonstration infront of the office of the XVCorps Commander who com-mands the military operationsin the entire Kashmir Valley.The army had counselled thepeople against paying heed tothe separatists’ call. The pro-posed protest was part of 3-dayshutdown called by the sepa-ratists against the killing ofseven civilians in Sirnoo villageof south Kashmir’s Pulwamadistrict on Saturday. ThreeHizbul Mujahideen terroristsand an Army soldier were alsokilled in the encounter. Thelocals blamed the security

forces for “target killings.”Senior separatist leader

Mirwaiz Umar Farooq defiedpolice restrictions on his man-sion in Nigeen area of Srinagaroutskirts and led a group of hissupporters to march towardsthe cantonment area. However,he was intercepted by a largecontingent of police, mostlymasked personnel, who tookhim into brief custody after about of slogan-shouting.Before being whisked to policestation, Mirwaiz was allowedto address his supporters. Heblamed the state authorities forunleashing a reign of terror bykilling what he called innocentcivilians.

“After indiscriminatekillings, civilians are branded asover ground workers and ter-rorists which is preposterous initself, but what is worse is thatthis propaganda is used as ameans of endorsing and justi-fying the civilian killings byarmed forces. Delhi has over-played the terrorist, Pak proxyand instigators card and no oneis buying this narrative exceptsome people in India at whomit is aimed for electoral gains,”

Mirwaiz said adding the worldsees for itself the ever-growinggraph of atrocities and mas-sacres of Kashmiris who areseeking peaceful resolution ofthe Kashmir dispute.

Another separatist leaderand JKLF chairman YasinMalik also detained by policeafter he tried to march towardsBadami Bagh cantonment inSrinagar. Reports said Malikalong-with his supportersincluding several womenassembled at Gaw Kadal local-ity to begin their march.

Eyewitnesses said as soonas Malik reached near Budshahbridge a police party swung intoaction and detained him. Policefired tear gas smoke shells todisperse the crowd.

The authorities hadordered restrictions on publicmovement under Sec 144 CrPcin various parts of Srinagar dis-trict in view of Joint ResistanceLeadership (JRL) call forprotest march towards Army’sXV Corps Headquarters. Theauthorities ordered impositionof restrictions within the terri-torial jurisdiction of Khanyar,Rainawari, Nowhatta,

Safakadal, MR Gunj and RamMunshi Bagh police stations ofthe district. In addition, partialrestrictions are in force withinthe territorial jurisdiction ofMaisuma and Kralkhud policestations in the uptown city.

The normal life remainedaffected across Kashmir Valleyon third consecutive day inresponse to the JRL’s shutdowncall No untoward incident wasreported from any part ofValley.

Shops, business establish-ments and fuel stationsremained closed while publictransport was off the roads insummer capital Srinagar.However, scarce private vehi-cles besides ambulances pliedon the city roads. The atten-dance in government and semigovernment offices is alsoaffected.

Similar reports of shut-down and effect on normal lifewere received from other dis-trict headquarters in the Valley.

Heavy deployment ofpolice and paramilitary securitypersonnel was made inPulwama district and adjoiningShopian district. Train services

between Srinagar and Banihalin Jammu and connectingnorth Kashmir’s Baramulla dis-trict remained suspended forthe third day. The mobile inter-net services in Srinagar besidesPulwama and Shopian districtsare suspended as a precau-tionary measure.

The civilian killings evokedwidespread condemnationfrom both separatist as well asmainstream political partiesincluding NC, PDP, Congressand other smaller parties call-ing for halt to such killings andpolitical initiatives to resolveKashmir issue.

Governor Satya Pal Malikexpressed grief over killingsand directed security forces toadhere to Standard OperatingProcedure (SOP) during antimilitancy operations. He alsodirected divisional adminis-tration Kashmir to conductprobe into the Pulwama inci-dent. Advisor to Governor KVijay Kumar held a securityreview meeting in Srinagar onSunday and urged upon thesecurity forces to adhere toSOPs while conducting coun-terinsurgency operations.

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In a bid to give fillip to thetourism sector and enhance

economic activities in Ladakh,the Home Ministry hasapproved new tourist andtrekking routes in the ‘Land ofHigh Passes’.

The Home Ministry, in astatement, said the decision hasbeen taken buoyed by the suc-cess of many tourism initiativesannounced under the PrimeMinister’s DevelopmentPackage-2015. TheGovernment of Jammu &Kashmirhas taken yet anotherleap by proposing to open upmore tourist and trekkingroutes in Ladakh with the aimof recapturing the glory, richculture and beauty of theregion, it said. The move willgive a big boost to adventuretourism too.

The proposed new touristroutes are Merak-Lema Bend,Chushul-Kartsangla-Mahe,Durbuk-Shahikul-Tharuk-Sato, Kargyam-Parma-Erath-Chusul and Loma-Hanley.Ko r z o k - Nu r b o - S u m d o -Parangla-Kazaand and Agyam-Shayok-Durbuk are the twoother tourist routes.

The proposed new trekkingroutes include Phyang-Dokla-HunderDok-Hunder, Basgo-Ney-HunderDok-Hunder,T e m i s g a m - L a r g y a p -Panchathang-Skuru andSaspol-Saspochey-Rakurala-Skuru.

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The toll in Mumbai’s ESIShospital fire mounted to

eight on Tuesday, even as theMaharashtra Governmentorders an inquiry into thealleged negligence and lapsesleading to the mishap.

While two more injuredpersons succumbed to burnwounds, the condition of atleast 25 of the total 147 injuredpersons admitted to varioushospitals in the city wasdescribed as "critical". Many ofthe injured persons were dis-charged from various hospitalafter treatment.

Prime Minister NarendraModi, who was on a day-longvisit to Maharashtra, extendedhis condolences to the familiesof those killed in the mishap andmade anxious enquiries aboutthose injuries in the mishap.

“I have discussed the inci-dent with Chief MinisterDevendra Fadnavis. All help isbeing extended to the families ofthose killed and also to the per-sons injured in the mishap,”

Modi said, while speaking at theRepublic TV summit.

Meanwhile, Union HealthMinister JP Nadda spoke toFadnavis while Labour &Employment Minister SantoshGangwar rushed to Mumbai.

The Maharashtra govern-ment announced an ex-gratia of�10 lakh to the families of thosekilled, �2 lakh to those serious-ly injured and �1 lakh to thosewho suffered with minor injuries.

Till Monday night, six per-sons had been killed and 147others injured late on Mondayafternoon after a major firebroke out in the state govern-ment-runEmployees StateInsurance Corporation (ESIC)Kamghar Hospital at Andheri(East) in north-west Mumbai.

The fire had been noticed ataround 4 pm on Monday, nearthe operation theatre of thehospital located at Marol local-ity of Andheri (East). Beforelong, the fire spread to otherfloors stranding more 150 peo-ple in the fire-engulfed building.

As the fire spread in thebuilding, a few patients panicked

and jumped out of the fourthfloor window. They sufferedfractures.

However, within minutes ofthe fire being reported, at least12 fire tenders, 15 water tankersand other specialised equip-ment arrived on the scene to bat-tle with the blaze. The firebrigade used ladders to bringdown those trapped in the thirdand fourth floors of the hospi-tal building. The fire brigadepersonnel extinguished the blazeafter battling for three hours.

Meanwhile, informedsources said that the hospital hadfailed a fire safety audit con-ducted a fortnight ago.

Taking cognizance of thelack of adequate fire safety mea-sures at the hospital, chief min-ister Fadnavis ordered aninquiry into the circumstancesleading to the mishap and fixresponsibility for it.

Talking to media persons,Mumbai Mayor VishwanathMahadeshwar said: “Whetherthe fire audits were done or notand whether the systems were inplace or not, will be investigated".

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Releasing a coffee table book"Timeless Laxman" based

on the life and times ofrenowned cartoonist RKLaxman, Prime MinisterNarendra Modi said here onTuesday that he was happy tobe a part of the timeless jour-ney of the late cartoonist.

"I am very happy to be partof Laxman's timeless journey.I am happy that we can now getan insight into the vast treasureof Laxman's work. StudyingLaxman's works through thedecades is a nice way to under-stand sociology, and the socio-economic milieu of the times,”the Prime Minister said.

“This effort is not just forLaxman or his memory..Asmall part of Laxman liveswithin the minds of crores ofpeople. Laxman's commonman is timeless and pan-Indian. All Indians, and all gen-erations of people identify withhim, Modi said.

The coffee table book hasbeen penned by his daughter-in-law, Usha Srinivas Laxman.

It may be recalled thatLaxman — best known for hiscreation The Common Manfor his daily cartoon strip, “ YouSaid it” in The Times of Indiawhich started in 1951—passedaway at a Pune hospital onJanuary 26, 2015.

Meanwhile, a delegationrepresenting the film and enter-tainment industry, called onPrime Minister Modi inMumbai today. The delegationcomprised producers andCEOs of companies in theentertainment industry.

The delegation, comprising

among others actors AkshayKumar, Ajay Devgan, film-maker Rakesh Roshan, lyricistPrasoon Joshi, producers KaranJohar and Siddhartha RoyKapur, rooted for lower anduniform rates of GST, for theentertainment industry inIndia.

The delegation alsoexpressed its strong support ofthe Prime Minister's vision formaking India a five trillion dol-lar economy in the near future.They gave an overview of thevast growth potential of themedia and entertainmentindustry in India, and saidthat this sector is poised to con-tribute in a significant waytowards this goal.

Members of the delegationstrongly made a strong case fordeveloping Mumbai as theglobal entertainment capital,through various initiatives andproactive approaches.

On his part, Modi said thatthe Indian entertainmentindustry enjoyed immensepopularity across the worldand it was one of the key ele-ments of India's rising softpower status, globally.

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Inspired by the decades oldNational Women's Party in

the United States, a 36-year-olddoctor and social activistlaunched a woman's only partyon Tuesday to fight for issueslike reservation for women inParliament and harassment ofwomen at workplace.

The newly formed NationalWomen's Party (NWP) is beingheaded by Swetha Shetty, whosaid the party's goal was to rep-resent "women" particularlythe underprivileged who "havesuffered at the hands of system.Those who have run fromoffice to office in expectation ofsome help to make their livesbetter and got nothing" andthose who suffered fromdomestic abuse or are strug-gling against the social estab-lishment".

"The actual ground workfor National Women Partybegan in 2012. The motivebehind formation of NationalWomen Party is to get 50 percent reservation for womencandidates in Lok SabhaElection.

Even in 2018 women rightsare avoided easily and there isso much crime against womenand no significant reformationsare being considered so farhence she felt the need forwomen party," Shetty said.

"The political world inIndia has been majorly maledominated and women havealways felt excluded. The partywill attempt to eradicate thepresent challenges as there isneed for women participantswho understand the subjectmore delicately. Womenempowerment will be a fairplay to persistent paradoxes ofour times," she said.

Shetty said while she wasworking with an NGO inTelangana, she worked uponthe idea of starting a massmovement. "I wantedto make a national movement.To serve the original purposewomen need higher commit-ment from the governing body.We need higher participationin the parliament to amend thelaws for women welfare andprogress," she said.

While Shetty urged moreand more women to join theparty to be able to collectivelyrake up the issues, she did notelaborate on any plans of con-testing any elections.

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There is no plan for anyalliance with the Congress

before the Lok Sabha elec-tions, Bengal’s rulingTrinamool Congress leader-ship said on Tuesday.

When asked to commenton whether the TMC wouldfor once consider any electoralalliance with the Congress in2018 general elections seniorTMC leader and State MinisterSubroto Mukherjee said “thereis no question of any allianceat least before the elections.There will be no pre-pollalliance. Whatever tie-up thatmay be taken up for consider-ation will be after the elec-tions.”

All parties had their sepa-rate views and strategies aboutthe elections and the TMC toohad its. But on the question ofdefeating the BJP all the oppo-sition parties were thinking inone direction “that is this partyhas to be defeated,” and theTMC was of the view that “theparty which is strong in a par-ticular region should be sup-ported by the other partiesagainst the BJP.”

Incidentally Chief MinisterMamata Banerjee had alreadymade it clear that her partywould contest all the 42 LokSabha seats of the State alone.

Reacting to the issue StateOpposition Leader and

Congress veteran AbdulMannan said “question ofalliance has not come upbecause no one from theCongress has approached them(Trinamool) with an allianceproposal. In fact we havealready given our decision fora solo fight from a recent rallyin Kolkata.”

On the BJP’s proposedRath Yatra for which the StateGovernment had denied per-mission on grounds of com-munal harmony, the seniorMinister said, “permission wasdenied in order to maintainpeace,” wondering, “how theBJP will be able to manage somany people required for aYatra of the magnitude they areplanning.”

Incidentally the CalcuttaHigh Court on Tuesday asked

the State BJP for three tentativedates for the proposed RathYatra.

The Court of JusticeTapabrata Chakrabarty alsoasked the State AdvocateGeneral to submit before it thevideo recording of the meetingheld under the Court’s direc-tion between the State officialsand the BJP leadership inwhich the saffron outfit report-edly claimed that the Yatra hadno religious undertones andthat it was purely a politicalprogramme.

“The State was categori-cally told by our leaders that itis a political and not religiousYatra but still they are not giv-ing permission for it,” BJPleader JP Majumdar said. Thenext hearing for the matter willbe held on Wednesday.

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Flagging the issue of corrup-tion, Prime Minister

Narendra Modi on Tuesdaytook an indirect swipe at theOpposition Congress over itsallegations of corruption madeby against him in the Rafalescam, saying that the SupremeCourt – through its clean chitto his Government — hadgiven a “befitting reply” to thelitigants who had approachedthe court over the alleged irreg-ularities in the fighter jets pur-chase deal.

Without actually namingthe Rafale deal, Modi broke hissilence for the first time over theSupreme Court’s verdict in themuch-discussed fighter aircraftpurchase case, Modi said:“Hamare yaha ek psychologyrahi hai ki jab sarkar ke khilafaarop lagate koi adalat me jatahai, to mana jaata hai ki sarkarghalat hogi aur aarop laganewala sahi hoga. Yeh aamtaur pemanyata hai, ghotale ho, bhrash-tachar ka aarop ho, ye mansik-ta hamare man me ghar kar gayihai. Kyuki humne yahi dekha haipehle’ (It has been our psychol-ogy that whenever some goes tocourt with allegations of cor-ruption, we presume that theGovernment is in the wrongand the people making allega-tions are right. That’s we have tocome tom accept. That’s whathas been our mindset when itcomes to scams or allegations ofcorruption. Because, we haveseen these things in the past”.

“Lekin ye pehli bar hua haijab kuchh, sarkar par bhrash-tachar ka aarop lagate hue desh

ki sab se badi adalat gaye auradalat ne unhe do took jawabmila hai ki jo kaam hua hai,woh paardarshita se hua hai,imaandari se hua hai. Humaredesh me aisa bhi hoga, char saalpehle kisi ne nahi socha tha (Ithas happened for the first timethat some people moved thecountry’s highest court withallegations of corruptionagainst the Government andthe court gave a befitting replyto the litigants concerned thatwhatever work that took placehappened in a most transpar-ent and honest manner. No onewould have imagined fouryears ago that such a thing canhappen in this country)”, thePrime Minister said.

Modi also took an indirectpot shot at the Nehru Gandhifamily on the issues of theissues of extradition ofChristian Michel, the allegedmiddleman in theAgustaWestland chopper scamfrom Dubai and the life sen-tence handed to Congressleader Sajjan Kumar sentencedto life in a 1984 anti-Sikh riotscase by Delhi High Court.

“No One thought four yearsago that one day we would beable to bring Christian Michelto India to face trial in theAgustaWestland chopper scam.No One thought four years agothat one day that a Congressleader would be sentenced inthe 1984 Sikh riots case. We arethe same country. We have thesame bureaucracy. We havethe same infrastructure. Butwhat is the change in the situ-ation we are witnessing today?”Modi asked.

In his key note address atthe Republic TV summit here,Modi listed his Government’sachievements during the lastfour and a half years and saidthat the country was witness-ing the change which was astrong representation of“Surging India” wherein theGovernment was moving for-ward with “Policy-driven gov-ernance” and “Predictabletransparent policies”. “As aresult, we are constructinghighways, doubling of railwaylines twice the pace of thework executed earlier. We haveconstructed more than 100

airports and heliports in thecountry. We are completing theprojects which had remainedpending for the past 30 to 40years,” the Prime Minister said.

The Prime Minister saidthat four years ago, no onewould have imagined that Indiawould be surging towardsbecoming a five trillion dollareconomy and rising up theranks in the ease of doingbusiness from 142 in 2014 to 77in 2018. “We are moving fast toget into the under 50 bracket inthe world in terms of ease ofdoing business,” he said.

Referring to the rapid paceof infrastructure developmenttaking place in the country,Modi said that his Governmenthad – through reviews under-taken at the monthly PRAGATImeetings which he chaired –had reviewed projects worth Rs12 lakh crore which had beenpending for years on end andwas speeding up these works.

“Go to any part of thecountry, we can get to see signboards mentioning `Work inProgress’. The importance ofthese sign boards is indicativeof the fact that “India inProgress”. We are not just con-structing highways, flyovers,metros etc. But, what is hap-pening is building of a newIndia. The city (Mumbai) thatI am in today is often describedas a `city that neverstops’.Speaking from this city, Iwould like to say that `India isa country that never stops’.India has made up its mind thatneither would it stop nor wouldit slow down,” the PrimeMinister said.

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The EnforcementDirectorate while investi-

gating into illegal hawala dealsin Kolkata has bumped intotransactions that have terrorlinks, sources said.

ED sleuths who conducteda series of raids throughoutKolkata a few days ago havereportedly found strong terrorlinks of the hawala dealsprompting the NationalInvestigating Agency to jumpinto the case. The NIA willsoon take up the matter forfinding out its terror angle,sources said.

According to officials thecash collected from Kolkataand perhaps other parts ofBengal were routed to countrieslike Singapore, Dubai,Bangladesh and Nepal fromwhere they were sent to the var-ious terror outfits for carryingout militant activities in India,sources said adding about Rs1,000 crore have been siphonedout of Kolkata through hawalaroute.

A part of the hawalamoney had gone into the handsof dreaded terror outfits likeJamaat MujahideenBangladesh, sources saidadding other terror outfits havealso received money from suchtransactions.

The hawala money wasbeing transferred out ofKolkata for the past six monthsor so, sources maintained

adding whether more moneywas sent before that period wasbeing looked into.

The Tuesday’s report camein the wake of Bongaon ses-sions court awarding deathpenalty to a Lashkar e Toibaterrorist Sk Naeem a resident ofAurangabad in Maharashtra.Naeem was arrested by the BSFat the Bangladesh border in2007 along with three accom-plices. He was involved in atrain blast in Mumbai.

That parts of Bengal werebeing used by the terror outfitslike JMB came to light wayback on October 2, 2014 whena blast killed two militantswho were manufacturingexplosive devices at a house atKhagragarh in Burdwan dis-trict.

Subsequent investigationsconducted by the NIA into thecase took the lid off an elabo-rate terror network that wasactive in border districts ofNadia, Birbhum, Malda andNorth 24 Parganas. A numberof undercover JMB militantsand moles were arrested then.The JMB militants were work-ing on a plot to assassinatesome key leaders inBangladesh, it was alleged.

On whether the hawalamoney allegedly sent to someterrorist organisations had anybackward political linkage theED officials would not revealsaying the NIA would sooninvestigate into the terrorangles.

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Two days after resumingpolitical activities, Tej Pratap

Yadav, the elder son of jailedRJD chief Lalu Prasad, Tuesdaymet his father and claimed thathe was advised to “take the partyforward” by him.

The over two-hour meet-ing between Tej Pratap and hisfather took place at theRajendra Institute of MedicalSciences, where the RashtriyaJanata Dal (RJD) chief is under-going treatment for variousailments after being convictedin fodder scam cases.

The former Bihar healthminister had been keeping alow profile for several monthson account of differences withyounger brother TejashwiYadav and estrangement withhis wife of six months.

It was a long time since Imet my father. I became emo-tional. I love him. My father ismy God---Krishna, Vishnuand Mahadev, Yadav toldreporters.

He further claimed that theRJD chief had asked him “totake the party forward”, reiter-ating that he saw Tejashwi as“Arjuna” and vowed to play therole of Lord Krishna who wasthe warrior prince’s charioteerin the epic Mahabharata.

Asked about his divorcepetition, Tej Pratap refused todivulge the details, saying thematter was in court.

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The IAF on Tuesday createda record of sorts by airlift-

ing nearly 500 tons of loadfrom Chandigarh in a singlewave to airfields and dropzones in the Ladakh region aspart of winter stocking. Theregion remains cut off from therest of the country throughland route due to snow and theIAF plays a crucial role inmaintaining operational readi-ness of the army deployed onthe Line of Actual Control(LAC) facing China throughround the year logistical main-tenance.

The feat was accomplishedby a fleet of 16 fixed wing air-craft comprising C-17Globemaster, the IL-76 andAN-32. “All aircraft wereloaded and took off fromChandigarh airbase early in themorning. The entire wave wasaccomplished in little less thansix hours,” IAF said.

This was a demonstrationof the ‘rapid airlift capability’ ofthe IAF for quick responseboth during times of war andnatural disasters and theWestern Air Command (WAC)airlifted a record 463 tonnes.

The WAC is entrusted withthe air maintenance of theentire northern region of thecountry and under normaloperating circumstances airliftsclose to 3,000 tonnes of load

per month.Air Marshall NJS Dhillon,

Senior Air Staff Officer (SASO)of Western Air Commandunder whose direction theeffort was undertaken observedthat rapid air mobility is a keycomponent of modern warfare.“This assumes greater signifi-cance in short and intensewars. This is very true in India’scontext, especially when relat-ed to air mobility to airfields inthe Ladakh region,” he said.

Airlift of approximately500 tonnes, in the achievedtime frame, in a single wave,happens to be a record whichenhances the assessment ofthe Commands’ capabilitytowards rapid and heavy airlift,the IAF statement added.

Given the strategic impor-tance of Ladakh region, the IAFin the last few years has builtairfields in the inaccessibleareas to ensure uninterruptedsupply of weapons, equipmentand food to the troops postedon the LAC. They have tomarch for three to four daysfrom the nearest road head toreach some of posts on thefront.

Moreover, construction ofairfields and advanced landinggrounds(ALG) in the Ladakhregion is a tough call given theterrain and climate wherebuilding activity is restrictedonly five to six summer monthsbefore snow blocks everything.

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The Trinamool Congress onTuesday alleged that despite

promises made by PrimeMinister Narendra Modi, hisGovernment has not been ableto create job opportunities forthe youth.

Addressing a press briefing,the Trinamool’s parliamentaryparty leader in Rajya SabhaDerek O’Brien said that theGovernment was using dataselectively.

“Shifting time series, andthe selective use of data deflectsattention from the quality ofjobs that are being created andwhether they are in fact ‘newjobs’...PM Modi promised in2015 that he will turn

India into the ‘humanresource Capital of the world’.In 2018, India ranks 158/195nations on the Human CapitalIndex, just behind Sudan,”O’Brien said.

He said wages in Indiacontinue to be well below theSeventh Pay Commission andwhen adjusted for inflation,wage rates have grown in mostsectors at three per cent perannum.

“31 million Indians arewithout a job...10 per centincrease in GDP results in lessthan one per cent increase inemployment,” he said. TheTMC protested outside parlia-ment over lack of jobs for theyouths.

He said that according toLabour Ministry data, over thepast year, the National CareerService portal witnessed a 29per cent decline in the numberof advertised vacancies but a 56per cent increase in job seekers.

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Post-Doklam, the SashastraSeema Bal (SSB) has

ramped up its defences alongthe Indo-Bhutan border. It hasset up 15 Border Outpostsalong the Arunachal Pradeshborder and three outpostsalong Sikkim border besidesdeploying manpower to manthese posts.

The SSB is a designatedborder guarding force and LeadIntelligence Agency for theBhutan frontier besides theNepal border.

The BOPs and the relateddeployments have been madeon Indo-Bhutan frontier inSikkim and ArunachalPradesh, close to the Indo-China border. The BOPs havebeen constructed close to thetreacherous terrains of valleyslike Diban, Dua-Delai andLohit opposite the Tibetanplateau in China, officials said,adding all the 18 BOPs havebeen operationalised.

SSB Director GeneralSurjeet Singh Deswal said,

“Three new BOPs in Sikkimand 15 in Arunachal Pradeshwere established and they havestarted functioning this year toprovide better security andpatrolling in the areas border-ing Bhutan. The three newBOPs are in Western Sikkimwhich touches Bhutan border.”

Addressing a Press confer-ence ahead of the force’s 55thRaising Day, Deswal, however,clarified that his force hasnothing to do with the opera-tions along India-China Borderor the Doklam issue which wasbeing looked after by sisteragencies.

The 18 new BOPs areamong the 72 such posts thathave been made operationalthis year, he further said.

The strengthening of theIndo-Bhutan frontier comesmonths after the troops ofIndia and China were locked ina 73-day standoff at Doklamon the tri-junction of India-Bhutan-China--from June 16,2017. The standoff began afterthe Indian side stopped roadconstruction by China’s People’s

Liberation Army in the areathat belonged to Bhutan. Thestandoff ended on August 28last year.

Presently, 53 battalions ofSSB are deployed on the 699km Indo-Bhutan and 1,751km India-Nepal borders. TheSSB secures the frontiersthrough a network of 708 BOPsalong the two countries.

As many as 176 BOPs areoperational along the India-Bhutan border that runs alongthe states of Sikkim, ArunachalPradesh, West Bengal andAssam while 533 are alongIndia-Nepal border that runsacross the states ofUttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh,Bihar, West Bengal and Sikkim.

The SSB has also begun theprocess of transferring around1,800 non-combat personnel ofthe SSB to the IntelligenceBureau and the exercise will becompleted in the next onemonth, Deswal said.

The move is part of theCentre’s plan to bolster theIntelligence Bureau’s presencealong the borders.

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The CBI has booked twoArmy officers for alleged-

ly taking bribes of over �82 lakhfrom a civilian contractorengaged in supply of rations fortroops posted in Nagaland.

The action has been takenon a complaint from BrigadierRajiv Gautam posted at theheadquarters of the Army’s 3Corps headquartered in theNortheast.

Lt Col Amit Sharma and LtCol Sutikshan Rana, officers ofthe Army Service Corps,received bribes worth �82 lakhbetween 2012 and 2016 from asupplier of ration, according tothe complaint.

Sharma was CommandingOfficer of the ASC at Dimapurfrom July 27, 2012, to October15, 2014, while Rana held theposition from October 16,2014, to September 10, 2016.

The Army had carried outa Court of Inquiry duringwhich it was found that �82lakh were allegedly paid tothese two officers by the con-tractor Jai Prakash Singh, thecomplaint alleged.

During a seven-month-long Preliminary Enquiry, theCBI managed to establishalleged payments of �10 lakhand �3.40 lakh from Singh toSharma and Rana, respective-ly, the officials said.

The payments were madethrough bank deposits of thirdparties known or close to thefamily members of Sharmaand Rana, the officials said.

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The politically sensitive tem-ple issue figured in the

BJP’s Parliamentary Party meet-ing on Tuesday with some of themembers wanting to know thetimeline for its construction atthe disputed site at Ayodhya. Themeet also discussed Triple talaqand Rafale deal.

The meeting was held in theabsence of Prime MinisterNarendra Modi and party pres-ident Amit Shah. Union HomeMinister Rajnath Singhaddressed the meet, the secondof the current Winter Session.

BJP’s MPs from UP,Ravindra Kushwaha and HariNarayan Rajbhar, raised the tem-ple issue which is part of party’smanifesto, and were backed byother MPs when Rajnath wasaddressing the party MPs.

The Home Minister wasquoted by sources as tellingparty MPs that it was everybody’swish to see a Ram temple inAyodhya and that MPs should be

patient.RSS head Mohan Bhagwat

had recently called for the con-struction of Ram temple sayingthat its fulfillment would removeone of the main constraints inway of Hindu-Muslim rap-prochement. RSS has advocateda law to facilitate the construc-tion of the temple.

Though the BJP has agreedwith the sentiments of theseorganisations, it has so far notofficially spoken on the subject.

Supreme court which ishearing the title suit for in theRam-temple-Babri Masjid dis-pute is expected to fix time-tablefor the hearing of the trail earlynext year when Lok Sabha pollare also be due.

In the meeting Rajnathspoke about the high populari-ty of Modi and claimed that nonein the Opposition could matchit. “We are far ahead of theOpposition. Circumstances arevery good for us,” ParliamentaryAffairs Minister Narendra SinghTomar Singh quoted.

Rajnath asked MPs to work

hard to repeat the success of theBJP in the 2019 hustings.

The issue of BJP’s defeat inAssembly polls — MadhyaPradesh, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh— was, understandably, notdeliberated in the gathering.The poll set back in the Hindiheartland has come when thecrucial Lok Sabha polls are onlyfew months away and pose a bigchallenge to the leadership ofModi and Shah. The grandalliance of the Opposition whichis yet to take shape, seeks to havestate-to-state tie up against theBJP in the Lok Sabha poll.

Tomar also told newspersons that the passage of the tripletalaq bill, which stipulates jailterm for Muslim espousesaccused of giving instant divorceto their wives, in Parliament is atop priority for the Government.The Opposition has opposed tothe non-bailable warrants againsthusbands. The Government hasbrought some changes in the billstipulating bail to Muslim hus-bands by the court if consentedby the affected wives.

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Page 8: 0 ()*+ ,- $ˇ++2ˆ 1+*,44+.@ 24ˇˆ2ˇ2+ 5%˘6ˇ+$B, ˘ˇˆ˙...for placement before the next ... anti-Sikh riots in 1984 in which more than 2,700 people were ... “free & cheap”

For those who are intrepid optimists,giving Pakistan Prime MinisterImran Khan a chance to prove hecan do more to better India-Pakistanrelations is a fair bet. After all, he has

been handpicked by the Army and the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) played no small rolein installing him as the Prime Minister. Khanclaimed that Pakistan Army chief GenQamar Bajwa and he are on the same page.The Kartarpur corridor confidence buildingmeasure (CBM) is an Army-approved Khan’sfirst step awaiting an Indian response whichwill be followed by Khan’s promised addition-al steps, whatever those might be. PrimeMinister Narendra Modi compared Kartarpurwith the fall of the Berlin wall, adding:“Kartarpur will not be a corridor but a rea-son to bring people together.” The two SikhMinisters he sent were equally euphoric, espe-cially Union Minister for Food Processing,Harsimrat Kaur, who said that Kartarpur wasa perfect way to start a “new beginning.” Butspoilers are on both sides. Union ExternalAffairs Minister Sushma Swaraj was quick toguillotine hope with her famous one-liner:“Terror and talks cannot go together.”Similarly, Swaraj killed an earlier agreed meet-ing on the sidelines of UNGA of a conversa-tion between Indian and Pakistan ForeignMinisters in reaction to media outrage overbeheading of a soldier and Line of Controlviolations. Both incidents were missed oppor-tunities to test Khan’s strategic autonomyunder Bajwa’s watch.

Linked to the resumption of bilateral dia-logue is Islamabad’s yearning to hold the 19thSaarc summit, which was postponed in2016 following the Uri attack, and rejected bySwaraj citing lack of conducive environment(read Pakistan’s backing for terrorists). Thekilling of 19 soldiers in the Uri attack was notdue to any ingenious or suicidal terroristaction but was accidental, caused by the care-less storage of gas cylinders which engulfedthe tent in which they were sleeping. Duringthe Vajpayee-led NDA Government, evenafter a major terrorist attack on Parliamentin December 2001 —which led to OperationParakram — Vajpayee did not skip the 11thSaarc summit in Kathmandu in January 2002,where the then Pakistan Prime MinisterPervez Musharraf shook hands even asIndia’s armed forces were on full-scaledeployment, ready for war. India’s attemptsto isolate and punish Pakistan have seen there-energising of sub-regional groupings, likethe Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi SectoralTechnical and Economic Cooperation(Bimstec), which includes Bangladesh, India,Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Nepal andBhutan. According to a World Bank report,‘Glass Half Full: The Problem of RegionalTrade in South Asia’ (by Sanjay Kathuria), theformal trade between India and Pakistancould be $37 billion but is only $2 million dueto a variety of surmountable barriers. SouthAsia, as a region, is locked down by India-Pakistan tensions and an upswing in relationsbetween the two nations would benefit otherSaarc countries too.

In conformity with Modi’smuscular policy — surgicalstrikes et al — his Governmenthas become the first one to notengage in official dialogue withPakistan since it started in 1996.Except for the likes of ManiShankar Aiyar of uninterruptedand uninterruptible dialoguefame and Sudheendra Kulkarni,who have suffered repeatedindignities at the hands of Hindugoons, the majority of soldiers,diplomats and intellectuals are onthe side of no dialogue withPakistan as it attracts the law ofdiminishing returns, coupledwith doses of despair and frus-tration. Still, there are those whohang around in fatigued Track IIsimply because the official trackis closed. The 26/11 Mumbaiattacks, whose perpetrators havegone unpunished and are beingmainstreamed, marked the turn-ing point in the dialogue process,especially after India and Pakistancame breathlessly close to agree-ing on the four or five pointKashmir formula during the sin-gle-window Musharraf regime,which turned out to be a flash inthe pan. Ten and six years ofGenerals Musharraf and AshfaqParvez Kayan had upset the col-legium of Corps Commanders,disturbing the channel of promo-tions. The Generals agreed toreplace the era of direct withproxy rule, thereby obviatinginternational and domestic costs.This mechanism gave rise to newterminologies — electedGovernment and establishment(deep state).

While the last two electedGovernments completed their

term, their Prime Ministers wereprevented from doing so byshowing them as corrupt andincompetent, to establish theindispensability of the Army asthe ultimate custodian ofPakistan’s core values and nation-al interest. The established demo-cratic tenet of civilian-politicalcontrol of the military wasreversed to military (judicial andNAB) control of the politicalclass, which the recent electionshave commendably demonstrat-ed with the Army’s choice ofPrime Minister.

In and outside Pakistan, thequestion that is inevitably askedis about altering the behaviour ofthe military: Who will do it andhow will it be done? This is con-sidered un-doable. At one time,the Americans were the only oneswho could have achieved this butthe Army was their strategic ally.After plastering Pakistan withabuse and freezing military aid,US President Donald Trumphas been forced into seeking helpfrom the Generals for the peaceprocess in Afghanistan. TheChinese are best placed to influ-ence behavioural change but willnot oblige. Neither the US norChina will mess around with anuclear-armed Pakistan, umbil-ically tied with terrorist proxies,making Pakistan the most dan-gerous state. Cross-border jihadand terrorism will pose a peren-nial threat to India — while keep-ing alive the Kashmir dispute-which even a 100 surgical strikes(not feasible without escalation)will be unable to counter.

For Pakistan, India is an exis-tential threat, even more so after

the then Defence MinisterManohar Parrikar and NationalSecurity Advisor Ajit Dovalthreatened a counter jihad andevaporation of Balochistan ifthere was another Mumbai.Pakistan’s military is the defend-er of faith and bulwark againstIndian machinations of its furtherbreak-up following the creationof Bangladesh. Cross-border ter-rorism is Pakistan’s low-costhigh-gain revenge against India’ssplitting of Pakistan.

So, why should Gen Bajwaand Imran Khan want an on-and- off dialogue with Indiawhen status quo is suitable?Reason: To keep up the optics ofgood neighbourliness, enhanceand benefit trade relations withthe fastest growing economy,resume conversations onKashmir without necessarilyaiming to find a solution (of amothballed Kashmir) and evenseeking India’s help inAfghanistan. In short, withoutdiluting the threat from India,which dilutes its primacy incivil-military relations, cherry-pick items for talks which bene-fit Pakistan. Regulating the tap ofterrorism as Musharraf did is theprice Rawalpindi is willing to pay.Despite these calibrated contra-dictions, Khan’s wish for talkswith India will be consummatedmid-2019 after the elections.Terror and talks will then gotogether.

(The writer is a retiredMajor General of the IndianArmy and founder member ofthe Defence Planning Staff, cur-rently the revamped IntegratedDefence Staff)

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Sir — This refers to the article,“No salvation in shooting thereformist” (December 18) byBindu Dalmia. In the just-con-cluded Assembly elections tofive States, the BJP got one outof 40 seats in Mizoram, one outof 119 seats in Telangana, 15 outof 90 seats in Chhattisgarh, 73out of 199 seats in Rajasthan and109 out of 230 seats in MadhyaPradesh. Barring MadhyaPradesh, the BJP could not comeanywhere near the halfway markin the five State Assemblies.

These election results clear-ly indicate that the people didnot like the BJP’s bottom-tight-top-loose kind of policy toundertake reformation.

While measures, like demon-etisation and Goods and ServicesTax, took the water away forsmall fries, big crocodiles happi-ly survived on the land withoutwater, with help of plastic money.On the other hand, soft-dealingwith macro bank loan defaultersand the hard approach on farmloans did not go down well withthe farmers.

Sujit DeKolkata

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Sir — This refers to the article,“GST, unaddressed Hindu con-cerns blighted BJP” (December16) by Swapan Dasgupta. Withregards to Telangana andMizoram, where both the BJP andCongress lost badly, regional con-siderations played a major roleover there. As for the other Hindi

heartland States anti-incumbencyled to the BJP’s defeat.

In Madhya Pradesh, ShivrajSingh Chouhan’s impartiality,strictness and adherence to rulesannoyed the people of the Stateand even his near and dear ones.As for Chhattisgarh, Naxals, beingafraid of the BJP’s aggressiveness,threatened that the electoratecould not vote for the party.This had a questionable effect. In

Rajasthan, people were more dis-satisfied with Vasundhara Rajethan Prime Minister Modi.

While the Congress can nowrejoice over its victories, peoplewill soon get disenchanted withit. Prime Minister Modi’s poli-cies, particularly in the sectorsof Foreign Affairs, Defence andHome are remarkably fine. TheGovernment needs more time toclean up the mess created by the

UPA Government. We musthope for the better.

LR GuptaLucknow

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Sir — DMK President MKStalin’s call to the Opposition torally around Rahul Gandhi is nodoubt a big boost for theCongress president but it is tooearly to say whether the entireOpposition would stand unitedand endorse Rahul as theirprime ministerial candidate.

Electoral victories in thethree crucial northern Stateshave infused confidence in theCongress and bolstered the imageof Rahul as a leader with apotential to take Modi head-onin the Lok Sabha battle. Butgiven its organisational weaknessin electorally significant Stateslike West Bengal, Bihar, TamilNadu and Uttar Pradesh, theCongress has no option than toally with regional heavyweightsto improve its electoral prospects.

M JeyaramChennai

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The energy sector, electricity inparticular, is undergoing aphase of rapid change.

Provisional data from the CentralElectricity Authority (CEA) showedthat up to October 2018, electrici-ty supply deficit was only 0.6 percent of the total energy demand anddeficit at peak was only 0.8 per cent.This in itself is suggestive of the factthat our country has come a longway since a decade. In fact, for theentire financial year of 2018-19,CEA’s Load Generation BalanceReport anticipated 4.6 per centoverall energy surplus and 2.5 percent surplus at peak demand.However, below the surface, there isa long list of challenges alreadybeing faced and even bigger oneslooming ahead.

India’s electricity demand isprojected to more than quadrupleby 2035-36. Its demand grows con-comitant with economic develop-ment, which is aided by increasedpenetration of necessary and discre-tionary goods powered by electric-ity, rise of disposable income and

access to credit. One particularitem, air-conditioners, is of specialinterest. It has already lead to a tem-poral shift in demand patterns.The situation will only get height-ened in the future due to increasedmarket penetration of the productand growing demand for cooling,given the rising temperatures.

A further spurt in demand isexpected due to the electrificationof the transport sector that is nowalmost inevitable. Even theSaubhagya scheme is expected tounlock latent demand by bringingelectricity connection to a multitudeof homes. Planning to meet theshifting demand is of essence. Weare in a situation where we are con-strained about our choice of electric-ity generation because of the con-ditions set by global climate change.Quite rightly, therefore, theGovernment has declared its inten-tion to increase the share of renew-able energy to 40 per cent by 2030.

Efforts to incentivise renewablesare also palpable in the NationalTariff Policy 2016 and the proposed

amendments to the Electricity Act.Most industry watchers haveexpressed hope in meeting the175GW renewable target. However,certain things demand attention.The intermittency of renewables andchallenges of grid integration under-score heightened risk of curtailment,both of technical nature and mis-alignment with demand-supplyforecast. These problems will keepexacerbating as the quantum ofrenewable power available for gridinjection increases as planned.

At this point, technical chal-lenges of renewable power evacua-tion are compounded by flexibleoperations requirement of basepower plants. Immediate focus isneeded on storage that cansmoothen out intermittence ofrenewables and longer-term net-work infrastructure planning.

Notably, conventional powersources, particularly thermal, isnow at 64.1 per cent of the installedcapacity (CEA: October 2018 pro-visional figures) that is predomi-nantly coal-fed. Discussions are

already rife about the financialdebacle lurking in many of theseassets as their cost-competitive-ness vis-à-vis renewables has erod-ed and policy thrust is shifting away.This needs attention since there isno prudence in thinking that a col-lapse of investments made in thissector will not have collateral dam-age for investor sentiment in renew-able sector.

Overall, the power sector needsto demonstrate policy reliabilitydue to long-time horizon of invest-ments. Therefore, a carefully man-aged decrease in share of thermalpower needs to be staged, includinglooking at technologies, that canreduce negative impact of thesepower plants and, therefore, providecushion for managing the transition.

Well none of the challenges ingeneration can be compared towhat is brewing on the distributionside. The Ujjwal DISCOMAssurance Yojana (UDAY) contin-ues to be in a perilous economiccondition. Their tottering healthemanates from both revenue reali-

sation deficit as well as aggregatetechnical and commercial (AT&C)losses, which is about 19 per cent.As rural electrification becomesmore pervasive due to policy pre-rogatives, there is a growth of sub-sidised customers entering the frayand ultimately deepening the ongo-ing crisis.

There is also a lingering threatfrom the prospect of rooftop solarand net-metering as this increasesthe chance of net revenue from pay-ing customer base falling rapidly.Though Uday has provided a path-way for shifting the burden of loss-es, it hasn’t really come up with aroadmap to reduce the burden.

Overall, India can benefit fromforesight in planning the transitionto a sustainable generation para-digm. Planning should have placefor technology discovery, upgrada-tion of transmission and distribu-tion networks to handle load pat-terns of a new era and solutions forplugging revenue leakages.Immediate focus on research anddevelopment (R&D) in areas of local

importance, like dust sustainingsolar panels, storage solutions thatwork in extreme weather whilehopefully being less dependent onimport-oriented minerals, econom-ically meaningful solutions for dra-matic reduction in emissions formthermal power plants, and smartmetering will help alleviate thefinancial stress on DISCOMS.

That the Government isn’t obliv-ious to boosting a local ecosystem isevident in its efforts to supportlocal manufacturing in solar indus-try. The approach, however, hasbeen reliant on erecting trade barri-ers which remains a contentious andpolitically thorny strategy. One oftenthinks whether such policy decisionsfocus on attracting investments inR&D. Ultimately, what is needed isa policy environment that will pushthe country ahead on the innovationcurve and hopefully help the nationseize leadership of an industry seg-ment in the future.

(The writer is Practice Lead,Climate, Environment andSustainability, Chase India)

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Small businesses, start-ups and entrepre-neurs are some of the most importantinfluencers of economic growth because,in any economy, they represent more than90 per cent of all employers and create 60

to 80 per cent of all new jobs, annually. In 2018,there were 30.2 million small businesses in the US,which represented 99.9 per cent of all business-es in the country, employing about 58.9 millionpeople. Out of the total small business, 39 per centwere owned by women, who contributed to eightper cent of employment and generated 4.2 per centof the revenues. According to a survey byRandstad Workmonitor, entrepreneurial ambitionwas the highest in India with 83 per cent of theIndian workforce wanting to be entrepreneurs.This is even higher than the global standard of53 per cent. According to the survey, 58 per centof the respondents were willing to leave their cur-rent job to start their own venture. This is impor-tant because although big businesses may dom-inate the stock market, it’s the small businessesand startups that keep the economy moving.

Small businesses create job opportunitiesand drive the country’s economic growth insmaller geographic areas. They make the mar-ket more competitive. A local farmer, forexample, may be able to offer cheaper productsbecause he doesn’t have to spend money on ship-ping. Similarly, an agile start-up may be able toinnovate new technology faster than a bulkybureaucratic counterpart, thereby forcingchanges in thinking and behaviour.

Second, small businesses also operate local-ly. This gives them a strong preference for hiringlocal people. Big corporations often move into newterritories with a team already in place. This canimprove a city’s population but nothing drives newjob growth in a region as small businesses do.

Third, small firms have more flexibility.Anyone can start a new business. This makesthem more diverse in form, function, cultureand increases their potential as against large cor-porations. Greater the diversity in an economy,easier it is for the country to withstand toughconditions.

There are many reasons why men andwomen are turning to entrepreneurship and start-ing their own businesses. Decreasing wages,demands for more family and personal time area few reasons that propel one towards entrepre-neurship. Generally, it is seen that wages have notkept pace with the increased cost of living. Whatused to take the average income of only one work-er to support a family today can take almost two-and-a-half. In contrast, entrepreneurs have thepotential to earn more as business owners thanas employees. Because entrepreneurs are work-ing in small businesses for themselves. As theirown boss, they have the flexibility to arrange theirhours around their family schedules.

Moreover, salary raises of the employees, too,have become fewer. Companies generally tend togive performance bonuses so as to keep fixed costslow. And often, managers have to adhere to strictguidelines for standard operations procedures, ortheir bonuses are unlikely. An electronic chain cor-poration not only demands its managers to worksix days a week but it also sends inspectors intothe stores, unannounced, to deduct points for

minor infractions. On the other hand, small business

owners start as owners of their owncompany. Although they have respon-sibilities that go with being a businessowner, they can take their businesses inwhatever direction they choose. Theyalso have the ability to strive and pro-vide benefits to their employees andfamilies as well. Additionally,economies world over are witnessingunprecedented changes — the job sce-nario is changing rapidly. Many jobshave discontinued, others may notreturn. So, unemployed workers haveto find new jobs, often at much lowerpay, or undertake training and educa-tion as a new career option.

Unstable economic conditions areinducing people to start ventures tosecure their financial future. Thismakes entrepreneurship and smallbusiness ownership a viable careeroption. Although many companiesnow offer their employees flexiblehours to handle family needs, there aretimes when employees, especiallywomen — who are still the primarycare-givers of family members — facescheduling conflicts while handlingeveryday personal concerns. Therefore,many entrepreneurs opt to work fromhome so that they can be with theirfamilies, attend their children’s schoolevents, or even run errands.

Lastly, having a small business is adefinite way to escape from a job thatone dislikes or no longer finds challeng-ing or fulfilling. A recent study foundthat nearly 25 per cent of the peopledetest their jobs but remain trapped dueto financial commitments like loans,rents, payments and living expenses.

Therefore, if they cannot afford toquit a full-time job to start a business,entrepreneurs can start a small businesson the side until their business profitsenable them to quit. According to theSmall Business Administration (SBA),US, the number of part-time business-

es steadily increased since the mid-1980s and is expected to increase byabout 10 per cent each year.

Once the employees leave to set uptheir own venture, there are several rea-sons why these owners of small, home-based and micro-businesses stay insuch businesses to survive. First, smallbusiness owners network well withintheir industry, communities andbeyond by encouraging and sharingwith one another. Successful entrepre-neurs will find mentors or themselvesbe the mentor to new business owners.

Second, many people, who are intheir 50s, want to try their hand atentrepreneurship. Not only do suchpeople bring a vast array of experi-ence to their ventures, they also havea more mature approach. They aremore likely to care about theiremployees or respect them. This canfoster repeat business.

Third, entrepreneurs are notafraid to fail. Statistics reveal that ittakes an average of three businessstart-ups for an entrepreneur toachieve a successful enterprise.Entrepreneurs constantly learn frommistakes and persist until one or moreof their ventures succeed. They canrespond to challenges and quicklychange to stay competitive in the mar-ket and satisfy their customers.

Fourth, time management issues,family responsibilities and the desire formore money are just a few reasons whymen and women tend to start a small-scale venture. Because their ventures aresmall, owners can pay attention todetails that promote positive image.

Many business owners have goneon to expand their small ventures intomulti-million enterprises, especially asventure-capital investment resourcesbecame available. Others chose to staysmall so that they could serve spe-cialised and niche markets. Thus,starting smaller and growing slowlydecreases the likelihood of making

hasty and costly decisions that canlead to failures. Surveys also show thatsmall business owners generally caremore about the quality of their prod-uct and services than bigger compa-nies. They believe this is the best wayfor them to compete with large com-panies that have access to moreresources but are less personal.

Owners of small businesses striveto keep their customers satisfied toencourage repeat business. Small busi-nesses can respond flexibly to problemsand challenges as there is little hierar-chy or chain of command. Large busi-nesses may have set ways of operatingand establish procedures that are hardto change. Small businesses are often farmore flexible. They can also reach aquick decision on whether or not theycan do what is required. Also, smallbusinesses are well-positioned to intro-duce and develop new ideas. This is dueto their owners not having to report orseek approval from anyone else. Forexample, when Anita Roddick set upThe Body Shop, she developed a rangeof environment-friendly cosmetics inunsophisticated packaging. This wouldhave been frowned upon in a conven-tional cosmetics company.

Due to the small scale of operation,small businesses have lower overheadcosts. They operate in small premiseswith low heating and lighting costs, lim-ited rent and rates to pay. Low costsresult in lower prices for consumers.Small business is among the mostpowerful symbols of modern capitalismand its owners are frequently describedas virtuous, self-reliant and indepen-dent. Starting a venture is the easy partbut staying in business is the hardesttask. There are many reasons for thesuccess of small and home-based busi-nesses but the most important can besummed up in three Ds —desire, dis-cipline and determination.

(The writer is Assistant Professor,Amity University)

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Page 10: 0 ()*+ ,- $ˇ++2ˆ 1+*,44+.@ 24ˇˆ2ˇ2+ 5%˘6ˇ+$B, ˘ˇˆ˙...for placement before the next ... anti-Sikh riots in 1984 in which more than 2,700 people were ... “free & cheap”

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The Indian rupee on Tuesdayrallied by a whopping 112

paise, its best single-day gainsin over five years, to settle at70.44 against the US dollar assoftening crude oil prices easedconcerns over India’s currentaccount deficit expansion.

Besides, sustained selling ofthe American currency byexporters and banks as well asthe greenback’s weaknessagainst its key rivals globallyahead of the US Fed policydecision Wednesday alsohelped the domestic unit scalefurther heights.

The Brent crude, an inter-national benchmark, was trad-

ing 2.26 per cent lower at$58.26 per barrel, a 14-monthlow.

At the Interbank ForeignExchange (forex) market, therupee opened on a firm note at71.34 from. It gained furtherground to hit a high of 70.44,a massive climb of 112 paiseover its previous closing.

The Indian currency hadgained 34 paise to close at 71.56against the US dollar Monday.

The Tuesday’s 112 paiseascent marked the best day forthe rupee since September 19,2013, when it had surged by161 paise against the US dollar.

Forex dealers said a drop inbond yields easing liquidityconcerns in the market and

bullish trend in equities trad-ing also supported the rupee inmaintaining its upward move-ment.

The benchmark SensexTuesday wiped off early lossesto end 77 points higher at36,347 on Tuesday, the sixthconsecutive session of gains.The broader NSE Nifty edgedhigher by over 20 points to endabove the 10,900-mark.

The Financial BenchmarkIndia Private Ltd (FBIL) set thereference rate for therupee/dollar at 71.1940 and forrupee/euro at 80.7554. Thereference rate for rupee/Britishpound was fixed at 89.8829 andfor rupee/100 Japanese yen at63.21.

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While the Centre is lookingforward to add a

humungous 100 Gigawatt solarpower generating capacity by theyear 2022, the domestic produc-tion of the solar energy equip-ment has suffered badly due tothe influx of Chinese products,also affecting the Government’s‘Make In India’ initiatives.

The demand of Indiansolar manufacturers, includingseveral State-owned compa-nies, to impose anti-dumpingduty on Chinese products isstill to see light of the day evenas the recently-introducedSafeguard duty of 25 per centis considered highly inade-quate. Currently, India meetsabout 85 percent of its solarmodule demand throughimports from China while atthe same time, capacity utili-sation in the solar manufac-turing sector in the country ishardly 25 percent.

Creation of 100 GW ofsolar generation capacity willrequire a total investment ofalmost �4-5 lakh crore in thecoming years. In the presentscenario, a major chunk ofthis will be on imports.

According to the IndianSolar ManufacturersAssociation (ISMA), cheapimports from China have

flooded the market as thepower developers preferChinese panels and equipmentrather than that manufacturedin India. ISMA has petitionedthe Government to impose ananti-dumping duty on inboundshipments from China.

“To make solar energy sec-tor sustainable in the long run,the interests of the domesticmanufacturers have to be safe-guarded. Solar energy will playan important role in the dreamto bring electricity to everyhome in the country. Given theambitious size of our SolarEnergy Programme, the coun-try needs to establish a com-plete Silicon chain from sand to

solar panel. For this, planned develop-

ment of the sector, withinvolvement of all the stake-holders, is essential,” said DrNalin Shinghal, Chairman andManaging Director (CMD),Central Electronics Limited(CEL), under Ministry ofScience and Technology

CEL has recently re-ener-gised itself and turned around,after many years of losses. It hasregistered increasing profitsfor the last five consecutiveyears.

“We have wiped out theaccumulated losses and arenow looking at rapid growth inyears to come,” Shinghal told

The Pioneer. To sustain the growth of

the company, Shinghal claimedto have focused on multiplesectors including collabora-tion with DRDO labs for devel-opment of products like MissileRadomes, which are presentlyimported at very high cost.

“We are also looking atother areas of strategic impor-tance including bullet proofjackets,” Shinghal said.

CEL is also developingproducts for Smart Cities con-cepts, Solar Warehouses, SolarRailway Platform Sheds etcand also working on develop-ment of solar charging stationsfor electric Vehicles.

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The MROAssociation

Of India(MAOI) haswritten toMinistry ofCivil Aviationdrawing itsurgent attentionto the dwin-d l i n gMaintenance,Repairs & Overhaul (MRO)industry. Declaring the indus-try’s present state to be in direstraits, the Association hasappealed to the Ministry tooffer the Indian MRO indus-try at least a fair chance tocompete with foreign MROsthat enjoy a favourable importtax policy of the IndianGovernment.

The MAOI has stated thatthe lopsided tax policies haveled to 90 per cent of the MROrequirements of India beingimported; causing severe lossto the Indian MRO industryand the Government’s tax rev-enues. With the Government’stimely intervention and sup-port, the MAOI aims to con-vert today’s US $1.4 Billion ofnet import of MRO into a US$5 Billion export in the next 5years.

“The Indian MRO busi-ness has been on a gradualdecline and for the first time inits history has registered neg-ative numbers this year. Wecannot stress enough on theplight of our industry and arehoping for the Government tointervene before it’s too late. It

is estimated that the currentMRO import bill for the year2017-2018 of US $1.4 billionwill rise to US $3 billion by2023. This import driven pol-icy has lost 90,000 direct jobsto countries like Sri Lanka,Singapore, Thailand, Franceand Germany. These jobs caneasily be brought back to Indiaby correcting the fiscal taximbalance that has affected thisindustry since independence.Indian engineering is amongstthe best in the world andallowing this drain of pre-cious skill and ForEx to foreignlocations is unwarranted,” saidBharat Malkani, President,MAOI.

The Association has point-ed out to the skewed tax regimethat has been benefiting foreignplayers while putting thedomestic players at a disad-vantage. The present GST forimporting MRO services toIndia is levied at a maximum5 per cent, whereas the sameservices offered at home aretaxed at GST of 18 per cent.This makes it unviable forIndian airline carriers to evenconsider us for doing the job.

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Finance Minister Arun Jaitleyon Tuesday said the

Government did not seek res-ignation of Urjit Patel as RBIGovernor over differences onsome issues, and went on to citehow central bank heads weremade to resign under primeministers Jawaharlal Nehruand Indira Gandhi and whenYashwant Sinha was financeminister.

Defending hisGovernment’s demands fromthe Reserve Bank to addresscertain issues including liq-uidity or fund problem in cer-tain sectors, he said that thereis no threat to the autonomy ofthe central bank.

Patel, who was brought inby Prime Minister NarendraModi-Government in 2016after a second term was deniedto outspoken former IMF chiefeconomist Raghuram Rajan, ina surprise move resigned as RBIGovernor on December 11.

Many blamed the pressurebrought by the Government onthe central bank to ease lend-ing restrictions and releasemore of its capital to bolster theeconomy for Patel’s resignation.

“Sarkar ki unse koi istife kiapeksha nahi thi (TheGovernment did not seekPatel’s resignation),” Jaitley saidwhen asked about Patel’s res-ignation at ‘Agenda Aaj Tak’programme here.

The Government had citedthe never-used-before provi-sion of the RBI Act that givesit powers to issue directions tothe Governor, to get the central

bank to discuss its areas of con-cerns.

Two board meetings afterthat were “cordial” and decisionswere taken on three-four issueswhile there were also some onwhich no decision was taken, hesaid, adding the issue of paringof some of RBI’s over �9 lakhcrore reserves after deciding onan appropriate size of buffer wasdecided to be referred to anexpert committee.

While the committee wasdecided to be formed in theRBI board meeting held onNovember 19, a consensus onthe composition eluded tillPatel resigned.

Jaitley said the expert com-mittee would be announced infew days time.

“So if you are saying thatraising these issues is aninfringement on autonomy,this is wrong,” he said. Hethen went on to cite past RBIgovernors who had resigned.

“The first governor to resign(was in) 1955 when (PrimeMinister) Pt Jawaharlal Nehruwrote to Governor B Rama Rau(that) economic policy is to beframed by Government of India(and) monetary policy is to beframed by you. But your otherpolicies like credit policies haveto be in support of theGovernment’s economic poli-cies. And if are suggesting youwould resign, ‘I am unable toadvise you to the contrary’. So heresigned,” he said.

“Yashwant Sinha, whobecame the high priest of RBIautonomy, during the ChandraShekhar Government called(RBI) Governor RN Malhotra

and said I want your resigna-tion,” he added.

Former finance minister PChidambaram, Jaitley said, was“not on speaking terms withtwo Governors during histenure.”

Many central banks aroundthe world maintain 8 per centof gross assets as reserves whileconservative ones maintain at13-14 per cent. RBI maintainsit at 28 per cent, Jaitley said.

“In 2013 they said that youhave �1.46 lakh crore in excessyou give. Then no one said thatit is raiding the Reserve Bank,”he said, adding reserves releasedcan be used for infusing capi-tal in public sector banks as wellas for schemes for the benefit ofpoor.

“I don’t need these fundsfor funding fiscal deficit, or gov-ernment expenditure for thisyear till the month of May. Idon’t need even one rupee,” hesaid and cited a letter written byRajan as the chief economicadvisor of the Government in2013 to RBI asking how muchcapital did it require.

“My Government has thebest fiscal record and even thisyear we will maintain the fiscaldeficit. And therefore to main-tain fiscal deficit I don’t needthat kind of money,” he said.

On charges that the finalstraw in Patel’s strained two-year term was the appointmentof S Gurumurthy on the RBIBoard, he said when the BJPcame to power, a then RajyaSabha Member of Parliament ofthe Congress party was a mem-ber of the board of the centralbank.

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Turkish trade ministerRuhsar Pekcan Tuesday

called on Agriculture MinisterRadha Mohan Singh and dis-cussed areas for extendingcooperation under a pactsigned between the countries.

The two leaders talkedabout extending cooperationthrough greater interactionamong Government agricul-tural institutions, experts, sci-entists and agro businesses,an official statement said.

Both the countries have

agreed to prioritise the sectorsfor cooperation and also iden-tify nodal officers so thatprogress can be made on thememorandum of understand-ing (MoU) signed between thetwo countries, the statementadded.

An MoU was signedbetween India and Turkeybased on which the first meet-ing of the Steering Committeewas held in India in 2010. A

Work Plan had also been pre-pared.

In the meeting, Singhinformed that India hasachieved food security andbecome a net exporter of agri-culture commodities under theModi Government.

He further said that theGovernment has resolved todouble farmers’ income by2022 through a series offocused programmes.

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World’s largest oil exporterSaudi Arabia and richest

Indian Mukesh Ambani-runReliance Industries are dis-cussing joint investment inpetrochemicals and refineryprojects, the Saudi Oil MinisterKhalid al-Falih said.

Al-Falih, who has knownAmbani for over a decade now,travelled to Udaipur earlierthis month to attend the pre-wedding festivities of Ambani’sdaughter Isha’s marriage withAjay Piramal’s son Anand.

During that visit, he alsoheld talks with Ambani butchoose to tweet about thosediscussions only this week.

In an Arabic tweet, whichwas translated using onlinetools, Al-Falih said he wasdelighted to meet Ambani.

At the meeting “we dis-cussed opportunities for jointinvestments and cooperationin petrochemical, refiningand communications pro-jects.”

He also tweeted a picture ofthe meeting where Ambani isdressed in a business suit, a

sharp contrast to other picturesof his in traditional attire dur-ing the pre-wedding festivitiesheld on December 8 and 9.

No details of the meetingwere available from Reliance.

Reliance operates tworefineries at Jamnagar with atotal capacity of 68.2 milliontonnes per annum.

Reliance plans to expandits only-for-exports SEZ refin-ing capacity to just over 41 mil-lion tonnes from current 35.2million tonnes but does nothave any plans to set up a newrefinery in the country.

It is presently focused onexpanding petrochemical andtelecom business, industrysources said.

Crude oil is the basic rawmaterial for the manufacturingof petrochemicals.

Saudi Aramco, the world’sbiggest oil company, and itspartner Abu Dabhi NationalOil Co (ADNOC) have pickedup 50 per cent stake in aplanned USD 44-billion refin-ery in Maharashtra but the pro-ject is facing problems inacquiring land due to protestsfrom local politicians.

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National Stock Exchange ofIndia limited (NSE) has

received permission fromSecurities and ExchangeBoard of India (SEBI) tolaunch weekly options onNIFTY 50 Index.

NIFTY 50 weekly optionswill have seven consecutiveweekly expir y contracts(excluding the week wheremonthly contracts expire).On expiry of a weekly con-tract, exchange shall intro-duce next weekly contracton rolling basis. The existingthree monthly options con-tracts, three quarterly andeight semi-annual optioncontracts will also continue tobe available. The contractsshall expire on Thursday ofevery week. In case theThursday is a trading holiday,the previous trading day shallbe the expiry/last trading day.The strike interval for theweekly options will remainthe same as monthly con-

tracts.Mr. Vikram Limaye, MD

& CEO of NSE, said, “Withthe successful launch of week-ly options on the NIFTYBANK index, there wasdemand from the market par-ticipants for a similar productvariant of the NIFTY 50index. The weekly options onNIFTY 50 index provides anadditional hedging tool formarket participants to man-age the portfolio risk moreeffectively.”

NSE recently launchedweekly options in the cur-rency derivatives segment onthe USDINR currency pair. In2016, NSE had launchedweekly options in the equityderivatives segment on theNIFTY BANK Index. Bothproduct variants have seenwidespread acceptanceamongst market participants.

NSE is currently evaluat-ing readiness of market par-ticipants for the productlaunch and shall announce alaunch date shortly.

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AIPL Marketing Pvt. Ltd,popularly recognised as

AIPL ABRO has unveilednew collection namely ZorroBond, PU foam, Zorrofix,ZorroFit, and Masking Tape atACE Tech Delhi 2018, beingheld at Pragati Maidan, NewDelhi.

Apart from the productportfolio, Abro is also takingan initiative to inspire peoplewith their new campaigncalled ‘Kahani Zidd Ki’ thataims to acknowledge andshowcase the inspiring storiesfrom everyday lives of com-mon people by creating aplatform for everyone to par-ticipate. The campaign inviteseveryone to come and sharetheir ‘zidd’ with the rest of theworld and have the acknowl-edgement that is muchdeserved. These stories willhelp inspire the youth forcreating a better future andtaking India to great heights.

‘Kahani Zidd Ki’ initiativeis unveiled at Ace Tech to pro-mote inspirational stories ofcommon man of not lettinggo of their zidd or desire toachieve something from everyhurdle that came across that

dream. Also, Abro is pro-moting their ongoing cam-paign ‘Phenk Mat’, aiming tospread awareness on keepingIndia clean.

Talking about the pro-gram, Chanan Rohiwal, COOAIPL ABRO said, ‘The driveis meant to be as much edu-cational as it is a cleaningexercise. The idea is to involveschools to involve the futureof our nation to improve thecurrent public hygiene situa-tion. We believe that oncethese young minds are incul-cated with the practice ofpublic hygiene, India willhave a cleaner and brighterfuture. Phenk mat is a smallstep with huge aspirationstowards that goal. We plan totake ‘Phenk Mat’ further bysuch drives and activitiesthroughout the future.’

“As a responsible Citizenwe are with the nationwideClean India Movement, Iadmire these socially rele-vant campaigns that are sopertinent to every individual.Swachh Bharat is a simple yetpowerful idea and I would liketo request every single vehi-cle owner to go ahead andplay their role in the CleanIndia Movement, he added.”

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Indians were second-mostaffected by spam calls this

year, only behind Brazil, withtelecom firms and telemarketersmaking such pesky calls, accord-ing to a report by Truecaller.

Truecaller, in its annualreport, said India moved to thesecond position in terms ofnumber of spam calls receivedby the users, while Braziltopped the list in 2018.

It added that 6.1 per centof the overall calls received bythe Indian users in 2018 werespam calls.

However, the average spamcalls received per user in Indiadropped to 22.3 calls per userper month, a reduction of 1.5per cent as compared to theprevious year, the report said.

The users in Brazil receivedabout 37.5 spam calls a monthin 2018, compared with 20.7such calls last year, an increaseof 81 per cent.

Other countries in the top-20 tally included Chile, SouthAfrica, Mexico, Peru and the

US. The users received spamcalls from operators, financialservices and insurance tele-marketers, debt collectors, ande-commerce firms, among oth-ers, the report pointed out.

New markets to enter thelist this year included Spain,Canada, Costa Rica, Poland,Dominican Republic, andIsrael.

In India, there has been asubstantial increase of spamcalls coming from opera-tors/telecom service providersupselling various offers andbalance reminders.

“...Operators and telecomservice providers continue tobe the top spammers in Indiawith 91 per cent user callsreceived for the upselling ofvarious offers and balancereminders. This is followed byscam callers and telemarketerswho garnered 7 per cent and 2per cent, respectively,” thereport added.

The volume of “scam calls”in India doubled over the pastyear, increasing from 3 per centlast year to 7 per cent in 2018.

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! �������� ������� ���-���8�.�������� ��New Delhi: Hospitality industry veteran Kapil Chopra Tuesday unveiled

a new luxury hotel brand, The Postcard Hotel, and launched three new prop-erties in Goa under the label. Chopra, who has earlier served as the presi-dent of Oberoi Hotels and Resorts, said seven more luxury hotels under thebrand would come up at different locations like Uttarakhand and HimachalPradesh over the next 12-18 months. “Work has already started on few ofthese seven properties. We are looking to have around 50 hotels in the nextfive years,” Chopra, CEO and founder of The Postcard Hotel told PTI. Threehotels, part of the proposed seven new properties, would come up in east-ern and north eastern parts of the country in partnership with Ambuja Neotiagroup, he added. Elaborating on future plans, Chopra said he would first liketo establish the brand in India and then venture out into international loca-tions. “We plan to build a luxury hospitality company out of India. Peopleare ready to pay but there are no properties which could offer intimate andpersonalised luxury experience. The entire segment needed a disruption,”he added. The new brand would focus on hotels with 8-50 rooms so thatthe guests could have a personalised experience, Chopra said. “What I want-ed to do with The Postcard Hotel is make luxury hotels for the modern audi-ence but bring back the romance and charm of sun kissed holidays..as a strat-egy, we will either go to mountains, sea and wildlife sanctuaries,” he noted.The properties under the new brand would not have a check in or check outtime, no mini bar or breakfast hours, Chopra said “We want travel to be expe-riential and transformative. We believe guests want to stay in a place wherethe hotel does the thinking for them, where they get the simple things right,yet offer fantastic spaces for them to relax, meet like minded people and expe-rience local culture,” he added. On opening properties abroad, Chopra saidthe first hotels could come in countries like Sri Lanka and Bhutan. Chopra,who is also the chairman of the board of restaurant reservation applicationEazyDiner, said the company has received funding from Small Ventures, aventure capital firm based out of UAE. He added that the brand would pre-fer combination of strategic buy outs and long term leases for its upcomingproperties. Headquarted in Delhi, The Postcard Hotel already has 300 employ-ees on its rolls.

��C� �������� ������������(1���New Delhi: Shares of IL&FS group companies surged up to 10 per cent

on Tuesday as it announced its plan to sell equity stakes in its road assets toraise funds. IL&FS Investment Managers was trading 9.86 per cent higherat � 7.02 at 1230 hours on BSE, IL&FS Transportation Networks Ltd (ITNL)rose 5 per cent to �11.55 and IL&FS Engineering and Construction advancedas much as 4.98 per cent to �14.13. However, the benchmark BSE Sensexwas down 139 points at 36,137 during the same time. On Monday,Infrastructure Leasing & Financial Services (IL&FS) group, which sits on adebt pile of about �90,000 crore, said it will sell equity stakes in its road assetsto raise funds.

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Confident of meeting '24X7Power for All' target by

March, the government wants totake forward its reform agendafor the power sector in 2019including by providing con-sumers options to change theirservice provider even as theindustry wants immediate stepsto ease the “pains” relating tocoal shortage, financial stressand high pricing.

After 100 per cent house-hold electrification under thegovernment’s ambitious‘Saubhagya’ scheme, the next bigpolicy move for the sector couldbe the proposed electricityamendment bill that provides forseparation of carriage and con-tent business. This would helpconsumers to change their ser-vice providers for electricitysupply, just like they do for thetelecom and other services.

Under the �16,320 croreSaubhagya scheme, the govern-ment has already provided elec-tricity connections to 2.2 crorefamilies and expects to completethe task of connecting theremaining 78 lakh householdslatest by February 2019. “Thelast one year has been momen-tous for power sector in thecountry. Electricity reachedevery village this April and weare on the verge of electrifyingevery household. The whole

world is looking at India’s elec-trification journey with admi-ration,” Power Minister R KSingh told PTI.

“Now we have set ourselveson the path of ‘24X7 Power forAll’ by March 31, 2019 and thegovernment is committed totake every step to achieve thisthrough expansion andstrengthening of infrastructurefor power generation, trans-mission & distribution as alsoputting in place a robust regu-latory framework in terms ofamendments to Electricity Actand Tariff Policy,” he said.

The industry players, how-ever, also wants an urgent atten-tion on possible measures fromthe government side on tacklingvarious stress points for thesector, including those regardingtheir financial viability.Association of Power Producers(APP) Director General AshokKhurana said 2018 has been apainful year with some positivesfor the power sector.

He said rise in powerdemand across states due toaccelerated household electrifi-cation under the Saubhagyascheme and a pick-up in eco-nomic activity augurs well forthe stranded and under-utilisedpower assets. Despite manyinfirmities, the new coal alloca-tion framework, ‘Shakti’, hashelped 9 GW of operationalcapacity having power purchase

agreement access coal, he added.A High-Level Empowered

Committee (HLEC) has rec-ommended review of certainflawed provisions of Shakti, hesaid, while hoping that the gov-ernment would act fast on therecommendations and makecoal allocation framework moreequitable and ownership-neu-tral. According to the APP,whose members include AdaniPower, Essar, Tata Power, PTCIndia and Vedanta, power plantshave experienced huge coalshortages, necessitating importsand purchase from auction plat-forms, thus increasing the priceof power despite rise in coal pro-duction. The industry bodypointed out that adequate avail-ability of coal is a must toachieve the “reliable and quali-ty power upply to all” round theclock.

It suggested opening thecoal mining sector to competi-tion and appointing a coal reg-ulator to bring in transparencyand commercial discipline. Onfinancial stress of the sector,Khurana said: “RBI’s ill-con-ceived circular of February 12,prescribing stringent definitionof default and impractical time-lines without taking intoaccount the sector-specific gen-uine difficulties and that itsapplication in present form willneither help banks nor sector atlarge”.

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World’s largest oil exporter SaudiArabia and richest Indian Mukesh

Ambani-run Reliance Industries arediscussing joint investment in petro-chemicals and refinery projects, theSaudi Oil Minister Khalid al-Falih said.

Al-Falih, who has known Ambanifor over a decade now, travelled toUdaipur earlier this month to attend thepre-wedding festivities of Ambani’sdaughter Isha’s marriage with AjayPiramal’s son Anand.

During that visit, he also held talkswith Ambani but choose to tweet aboutthose discussions only this week.

In an Arabic tweet, which wastranslated using online tools, Al-Falihsaid he was delighted to meet Ambani.

At the meeting “we discussed oppor-tunities for joint investments and coop-eration in petrochemical, refining andcommunications projects”.

He also tweeted a picture of themeeting where Ambani is dressed in abusiness suit, a sharp contrast to otherpictures of his in traditional attire dur-ing the pre-wedding festivities held onDecember 8 and 9. No details of themeeting were available from Reliance.

Reliance operates two refineries atJamnagar with a total capacity of 68.2million tonnes per annum.

Reliance plans to expand its only-for-exports SEZ refining capacity to just over41 million tonnes from current 35.2 mil-lion tonnes but does not have any plansto set up a new refinery in the country.

It is presently focused on expandingpetrochemical and telecom business,industry sources said.

Crude oil is the basic raw materialfor the manufacturing of petrochemicals.

Saudi Arabia, on the other hand, iskeen to get a foothold in the world'sfastest-growing fuel market so as to geta captive customer for crude oil it pro-duces.

Saudi Aramco, the world’s biggest oilcompany, and its partner Abu DabhiNational Oil Co (ADNOC) have pickedup 50 per cent stake in a planned USD44-billion refinery in Maharashtra butthe project is facing problems in acquir-ing land due to protests from local politi-cians.

Aramco and ADNOC will togetherhold 50 per cent stake in the 60 milliontonnes per annum (MTPA) refinery andadjacent 18 MTPA petrochemical com-plex planned to be built at Ratnagiri dis-trict of Maharashtra by 2025.

The two will supply half of the crudeoil required for processing at the refin-ery.

Like other major producers, the twoare looking to lock in customers in theworld's third-largest oil consumerthrough the investment. Kuwait too islooking to invest in projects in return forgetting an assured offtake of their crudeoil.

Saudi Aramco is also keen on retail-ing fuel in India. A refinery in India canalso be a base for it to export fuel todeficit countries in Europe and theAmericas. India has a refining capacityof 247.6 million tonnes, which exceed-ed the demand of 206.2 million tonnes.

According to the InternationalEnergy Agency (IEA), this demand isexpected to reach 458 million tonnes by2040.

Script Open High Low LTPRCOM 15.78 16.05 15.55 15.78PCJEWELLER 81.40 88.55 81.15 85.95YESBANK 180.00 180.85 176.95 178.90SUZLON 5.26 5.47 5.25 5.37JETAIRWAYS 244.00 249.00 240.10 245.55SUNPHARMA 421.00 434.90 419.25 433.10STRTECH 287.00 306.70 287.00 299.25ZEEL 500.00 500.00 454.40 462.60SPICEJET 75.95 81.50 75.50 80.90INFY 694.00 694.00 675.00 676.35SBIN 288.30 294.00 287.00 292.55TATAMOTORS 174.00 177.60 173.20 174.40VENKYS 2488.00 2579.90 2470.00 2519.10INFIBEAM 49.10 50.75 48.15 49.05PNB 72.60 75.80 72.15 74.30IOC 143.35 144.90 143.05 144.60BEML 849.00 863.55 838.00 854.95RELIANCE 1122.00 1139.50 1120.80 1136.45BANDHANBNK 569.00 587.00 560.55 570.40JPASSOCIAT 7.13 7.34 7.00 7.14DELTACORP 245.00 258.70 243.15 256.90PFC 91.60 97.50 91.60 96.40ICICIBANK 358.00 362.75 354.55 362.35LT 1407.00 1430.00 1405.05 1428.40DHFL 217.30 218.70 213.20 213.90TATASTEEL 523.90 529.00 520.10 527.00VEDL 205.90 210.00 204.30 208.90UJJIVAN 242.00 255.00 236.10 250.45MARUTI 7715.00 7772.00 7654.00 7757.70BANKINDIA 88.20 92.05 87.60 91.35IBULHSGFIN 777.70 784.60 768.85 776.40KOTAKBANK 1214.80 1240.00 1214.15 1237.10RELINFRA 287.70 296.40 286.80 295.20GRAPHITE 875.00 877.70 849.00 855.55RELCAPITAL 218.00 221.20 216.50 219.70BHEL 67.90 70.15 67.30 69.85BAJFINANCE 2470.00 2538.60 2448.00 2530.30GNFC 340.00 371.00 339.85 366.90UNIONBANK 77.80 81.50 77.35 80.50CAPF 538.45 569.50 536.50 567.80HINDUNILVR 1850.00 1850.00 1833.70 1841.10IDFCBANK 39.30 41.25 39.00 41.10RCF 63.00 64.90 62.80 63.95UBL 1304.00 1382.00 1300.05 1375.95HINDPETRO 230.00 232.45 228.20 231.25BHARTIARTL 314.70 320.00 312.00 317.15DMART 1615.00 1680.80 1615.00 1666.60TCS 1999.50 2001.95 1975.10 1987.70AXISBANK 619.30 621.75 613.90 619.75M&M 756.80 772.00 752.95 770.80PHILIPCARB 206.00 213.60 205.75 207.10HDFCBANK 2129.00 2140.00 2103.00 2136.458KMILES 156.90 164.70 149.10 164.70APOLLOTYRE 234.25 241.90 233.50 235.80AVANTI 386.00 400.00 381.10 391.10JINDALSTEL 163.50 165.70 162.05 164.90CGPOWER 40.20 40.60 39.65 40.35MOTHERSUMI 165.00 173.90 165.00 172.35ITC 280.15 280.70 277.10 278.00INDIGO 1069.50 1124.75 1063.65 1107.25ASHOKA 134.40 137.70 130.10 131.50FEDERALBNK 93.00 94.00 91.25 92.20BANKBARODA 111.40 113.80 110.25 112.30RECLTD 104.75 108.35 104.00 107.80ASHOKLEY 105.50 105.70 104.10 104.75HFCL 19.55 21.30 19.40 21.05ORIENTBANK 89.20 93.70 88.70 91.90MAXINDIA 79.20 86.40 77.85 83.75ONGC 147.80 148.45 146.40 147.90L&TFH 146.90 149.80 145.80 146.90JSWSTEEL 299.90 306.90 298.50 305.40HCLTECH 970.55 988.75 960.30 985.40BPCL 352.20 357.20 349.15 353.20ELGIEQUIP 253.30 275.35 253.30 267.05CANBK 263.10 271.20 263.10 269.05COALINDIA 253.30 254.00 249.40 252.25IDEA 36.50 37.50 36.10 37.20TATAMTRDVR 95.75 97.25 94.60 95.85JUSTDIAL 495.00 499.20 485.30 493.15HINDALCO 225.50 227.00 222.60 225.40SHANKARA 554.50 573.40 537.45 573.40INTELLECT 236.25 247.50 234.00 244.05ADANIPORTS 370.00 373.70 365.30 372.70ASIANPAINT 1344.50 1358.95 1330.00 1354.45SIEMENS 963.95 983.15 959.90 980.10HEROMOTOCO 3278.00 3322.00 3246.60 3299.95JAICORPLTD 104.00 108.40 103.55 106.05HEG 3999.00 4017.55 3958.85 3986.90UPL 765.35 773.00 741.00 743.90BOMDYEING 111.90 115.10 111.50 115.10IBVENTURES 392.00 405.70 387.15 402.15BHARATFORG 519.95 526.15 516.30 520.85CADILAHC 349.00 349.00 341.60 345.35HSIL 209.00 227.80 206.35 215.80DRREDDY 2625.00 2642.90 2584.00 2638.10BEL 83.00 84.50 82.90 84.30RADICO 417.00 426.00 408.50 422.15HEXAWARE 334.00 341.00 327.95 335.80JUBLFOOD 1275.85 1293.00 1264.00 1286.55CEATLTD 1327.00 1342.60 1310.00 1331.75WOCKPHARMA 523.95 524.80 515.00 518.15PETRONET 224.90 227.50 222.35 223.65

SUNTV 574.85 592.20 570.85 588.35LTI 1754.65 1754.65 1692.75 1701.30MINDTREE 874.00 874.00 842.30 845.25POWERGRID 192.00 197.10 190.75 196.65ABB 1399.00 1399.00 1325.00 1335.90ABCAPITAL 99.15 101.75 98.85 100.75HDFC 1954.95 1958.35 1934.00 1953.15ZENSARTECH 240.00 255.00 240.00 245.20CUMMINSIND 832.00 843.05 813.75 820.00JKIL 114.05 138.65 112.80 137.45SAIL 52.50 53.25 52.00 53.10FORCEMOT 1624.70 1650.00 1615.00 1625.85AUROPHARMA 739.00 740.50 730.00 735.45BIOCON 632.00 650.00 631.35 640.65RNAVAL 15.70 15.80 15.06 15.18M&MFIN 452.00 463.05 448.00 460.85ICICIGI 890.25 922.00 890.25 912.55WIPRO 337.80 338.15 332.70 335.40EQUITAS 117.70 118.55 115.30 116.90IDBI 61.20 61.85 61.00 61.60AJANTPHARM 1100.00 1123.80 1080.10 1118.65RAIN 135.00 141.85 132.35 141.85MCX 719.55 745.35 718.70 740.60NAUKRI 1590.00 1673.85 1564.85 1577.75KWALITY 7.96 8.47 7.96 8.04INDUSINDBK 1630.00 1644.00 1610.00 1639.75ITI 94.00 95.80 93.30 94.00LUPIN 847.00 848.40 837.60 844.40BAJAJ-AUTO 2841.70 2873.40 2824.20 2841.00SRTRANSFIN 1195.00 1208.00 1179.70 1200.40WELSPUNIND 61.90 64.00 61.70 62.95INDIACEM 92.55 94.65 92.00 94.20CANFINHOME 274.00 281.00 271.90 277.95MGL 898.00 907.00 884.50 886.70VIPIND 520.10 537.05 515.65 527.20NCC 83.65 85.15 83.10 84.05TATAPOWER 77.70 78.90 77.45 78.70PNBHOUSING 961.30 990.00 943.25 949.25JINDALSAW 85.20 87.25 84.95 86.40GSFC 109.20 111.70 108.90 110.95MUTHOOTFIN 475.00 485.05 473.45 483.50ESCORTS 672.10 677.00 665.65 672.80ENGINERSIN 119.00 119.00 116.30 116.90DLF 177.80 180.80 176.50 178.05TECHM 714.95 715.00 705.00 708.35IBREALEST 83.20 84.40 82.60 83.35DBL 417.00 437.40 417.00 427.80PEL 2136.90 2190.05 2134.40 2183.15NIITTECH 1149.85 1149.85 1120.50 1126.55CHENNPETRO 275.65 291.90 273.75 289.55TATACHEM 708.00 723.45 703.00 716.90SPARC 208.00 215.00 208.00 209.40EXIDEIND 257.35 260.15 256.45 258.70EDELWEISS 186.70 194.65 185.05 192.25JISLJALEQS 66.25 66.35 64.80 65.65DABUR 443.30 445.00 437.70 443.05CIPLA 526.80 527.15 520.45 523.10FSL 51.50 51.65 50.70 51.20IFCI 13.55 14.40 13.50 14.23IDFC 39.75 41.45 39.65 41.20ADANIPOWER 52.20 52.95 51.80 52.65JUBILANT 727.95 740.40 721.05 727.50JKTYRE 95.15 98.10 95.05 97.85BLISSGVS 148.25 153.15 147.90 149.90INDIANB 236.90 244.05 235.15 243.40NBCC 52.50 53.85 52.50 53.40PTC 87.00 90.05 86.70 88.40MMTC 29.30 29.75 29.00 29.40BERGEPAINT 323.05 328.95 320.50 328.30FORTIS 137.50 138.00 135.00 136.35TITAN 933.00 937.70 928.00 932.70TORNTPOWER 258.15 262.15 254.95 255.75MPHASIS 975.65 1018.00 974.20 1004.00BATAINDIA 1089.15 1102.85 1085.00 1098.30GODREJCP 841.90 842.15 825.45 837.40JSWENERGY 70.90 73.20 70.00 72.15NMDC 95.00 95.80 94.05 95.40MANPASAND 85.95 88.00 85.00 85.95MARICO 376.00 384.00 374.65 381.95VOLTAS 567.60 571.00 559.00 561.40BALRAMCHIN 105.00 105.35 102.50 103.15BBTC 1323.70 1374.40 1323.70 1364.95HDIL 23.30 24.05 23.15 23.65HINDCOPPER 50.80 51.45 50.05 50.30IGL 263.00 264.10 258.55 260.10NTPC 146.00 148.10 145.35 147.80GLENMARK 683.00 692.65 681.75 686.80RPOWER 28.00 28.35 27.90 28.05BAJAJFINSV 6084.95 6165.00 6083.60 6149.85SBILIFE 594.00 599.90 576.45 587.35OMAXE 216.40 216.50 215.00 215.60GRASIM 843.50 856.90 833.55 853.25PIDILITIND 1192.50 1192.50 1166.00 1167.95KAJARIACER 445.05 464.00 445.05 459.35EICHERMOT 23600.00 23900.00 23373.00 23817.50HINDZINC 272.20 279.70 271.00 277.55BALKRISIND 930.95 940.50 924.80 928.30TATAELXSI 1019.05 1027.45 1009.00 1016.25HDFCLIFE 392.05 394.60 390.00 391.85DEEPAKFERT 146.00 151.00 144.00 150.20IPCALAB 798.35 798.35 775.45 780.70INDHOTEL 146.80 151.50 144.10 144.75KPIT 214.85 218.05 214.35 217.40

MEGH 61.40 62.60 60.65 62.20SUVEN 228.20 231.05 227.50 228.45NATIONALUM 64.45 65.00 64.20 64.70WHIRLPOOL 1433.85 1440.00 1398.00 1421.05KEC 300.00 306.30 298.10 302.15SREINFRA 33.15 34.15 32.65 33.90ACC 1509.00 1510.45 1490.05 1504.80LICHSGFIN 466.00 466.00 458.00 463.85AMBUJACEM 218.70 221.95 218.15 219.75ALBK 45.75 47.25 45.25 46.35RBLBANK 577.95 580.00 570.70 577.20JAMNAAUTO 62.95 64.10 62.90 63.65GAIL 356.30 357.10 350.00 354.60ICICIPRULI 320.10 321.40 314.80 315.60SYNDIBANK 34.00 35.50 33.90 35.35KANSAINER 474.65 489.00 470.90 482.50TVSMOTOR 574.70 578.00 570.00 575.80DIVISLAB 1485.00 1499.35 1476.40 1492.60MOIL 176.95 181.65 176.05 178.45FCONSUMER 48.65 48.85 47.80 48.40PFS 16.70 17.95 16.65 17.45OIL 179.15 179.70 177.35 178.75ABFRL 198.55 204.70 198.55 202.40NAVKARCORP 43.65 45.15 42.25 42.45MFSL 440.85 451.50 438.00 441.05LTTS 1636.00 1648.65 1610.00 1617.40CONCOR 660.10 664.00 650.95 660.05TV18BRDCST 35.20 36.10 35.20 35.95COCHINSHIP 380.05 386.85 380.00 385.10COLPAL 1301.30 1320.00 1291.45 1312.00

AMARAJABAT 736.90 745.00 729.45 734.65GODREJPROP 673.00 683.00 665.50 674.80SIS 772.00 772.00 740.00 746.40TORNTPHARM 1755.05 1770.00 1723.30 1730.55IRB 152.00 154.90 150.80 154.05MRPL 73.00 73.80 71.85 73.15BALMLAWRIE 206.85 206.85 200.60 201.85CYIENT 627.00 628.30 616.20 621.20KEI 380.50 388.75 379.50 384.90VMART 2545.00 2759.95 2511.00 2736.90SUNTECK 348.00 353.50 346.00 351.25GRUH 302.55 305.00 295.60 299.20TATAGLOBAL 210.00 213.45 208.80 209.80HAVELLS 701.00 703.85 694.40 702.25HUDCO 43.10 43.60 42.75 43.30BRITANNIA 3150.30 3182.50 3133.55 3168.55SOUTHBANK 15.55 15.55 15.20 15.35TEJASNET 211.55 221.00 211.25 216.35DEEPAKNI 234.80 234.80 228.90 229.55VINATIORGA 1667.70 1685.00 1620.00 1666.40APOLLOHOSP 1210.00 1230.00 1201.70 1226.40AUBANK 637.00 650.90 635.85 638.60JSLHISAR 89.35 90.40 88.45 89.35REPCOHOME 348.00 353.80 345.80 351.65ISEC 267.30 270.70 265.80 268.85MANAPPURAM 87.10 89.30 86.40 88.70RAYMOND 856.30 864.00 847.10 851.35CHAMBLFERT 142.90 147.05 142.40 144.95JSL 32.85 33.45 32.75 32.90PARAGMILK 245.20 251.85 245.20 250.15KNRCON 196.45 208.00 192.00 193.70JYOTHYLAB 190.60 196.25 189.80 194.00PAGEIND 24550.00 24799.00 24128.00 24401.40CASTROLIND 145.65 148.75 145.45 148.30CENTURYTEX 930.05 936.95 922.45 932.00ITDC 310.00 318.90 310.00 312.85BOSCHLTD 19630.00 19885.00 19515.00 19861.75KSCL 580.10 585.60 572.25 576.85SWANENERGY 101.60 103.40 100.50 101.20WABAG 264.65 273.95 262.05 268.85CENTURYPLY 183.55 183.55 174.80 177.55GODREJIND 537.20 542.00 535.15 540.05JMFINANCIL 85.15 90.00 85.15 88.65WELCORP 155.05 155.30 149.20 150.25NESTLEIND 11186.85 11279.00 11026.35 11093.40SRF 2190.90 2225.35 2190.90 2217.80SCI 43.35 45.10 43.30 43.95DISHTV 37.45 37.55 36.50 36.75GSKCONS 7744.00 7934.85 7744.00 7819.35KTKBANK 107.80 110.20 107.50 109.80OBEROIRLTY 477.60 491.00 476.95 482.95RALLIS 173.60 175.60 172.00 172.85GUJALKALI 542.20 556.00 540.50 551.05TATACOFFEE 94.90 96.50 93.75 95.95QUESS 681.40 696.85 678.90 682.70HSCL 132.85 134.60 132.85 134.00GODFRYPHLP 913.00 913.00 895.25 906.65SONATSOFTW 327.00 327.00 310.00 312.45

NILKAMAL 1553.00 1583.65 1537.00 1565.50FLFL 392.90 403.95 392.90 396.00GMRINFRA 15.80 15.85 15.55 15.65J&KBANK 35.55 36.45 35.05 36.15TEXRAIL 58.00 60.00 58.00 59.15SYNGENE 565.25 570.00 560.05 566.10RAJESHEXPO 575.00 575.00 569.00 569.45TRIDENT 64.65 66.15 64.65 65.55MAHINDCIE 247.50 249.40 246.95 247.85NLCINDIA 68.15 68.95 67.65 67.80SUPREMEIND 1140.00 1140.00 1100.00 1105.25MOTILALOFS 605.05 615.00 605.05 610.75FRETAIL 540.10 547.95 535.80 547.10ULTRACEMCO 3995.00 4013.00 3985.95 4007.80BAJAJELEC 506.15 515.00 503.00 508.20GRANULES 89.40 89.40 88.15 88.95DBCORP 170.15 175.30 168.75 174.10TATAMETALI 647.00 656.85 644.00 649.95CROMPTON 225.00 229.80 222.95 228.20PVR 1562.00 1562.00 1545.05 1556.05RAMCOCEM 640.00 647.05 635.15 641.70HIMATSEIDE 208.00 211.90 207.00 209.90NOCIL 168.60 168.60 166.90 167.30ADANITRANS 215.20 223.40 215.20 217.40TATACOMM 528.65 535.00 526.70 533.05HCC 11.21 11.56 11.21 11.38IL&FSTRANS 11.05 11.55 11.05 11.55SUNDRMFAST 525.00 534.95 521.00 525.20BHARATFIN 1024.25 1037.25 1017.00 1035.15GHCL 241.10 242.75 237.05 238.30UFLEX 269.00 271.45 268.05 269.40SOBHA 465.00 478.90 464.40 472.00TIMETECHNO 101.35 102.00 97.85 98.70GRINDWELL 526.95 541.35 526.95 537.90VGUARD 214.40 218.05 213.85 217.50ERIS 654.10 679.60 642.55 670.90SOMANYCERA 309.00 317.00 306.00 312.65NHPC 26.00 26.20 26.00 26.15HAL 784.00 795.00 773.05 782.70CARBORUNIV 356.00 368.35 356.00 367.55SYMPHONY 1152.05 1179.00 1139.50 1154.40NATCOPHARM* 704.90 713.90 701.50 704.95OFSS 3563.00 3657.85 3563.00 3648.80VIJAYABANK 44.10 44.90 44.10 44.20NAVINFLUOR 730.00 732.55 705.00 710.90DENABANK 16.40 16.60 16.25 16.45VBL 702.00 720.00 698.10 703.75EIHOTEL 196.00 197.50 192.50 194.80CARERATING 985.00 995.10 972.00 991.90INOXWIND 75.70 78.00 75.00 75.55TIMKEN 584.90 592.45 570.05 583.80TRENT 347.65 355.00 346.00 348.40DCBBANK 160.00 160.90 157.40 160.15CENTRUM 37.10 38.15 35.10 37.50GREAVESCOT 126.90 126.90 124.00 124.45INFRATEL 255.50 257.10 251.65 254.40UCOBANK 19.10 19.70 19.00 19.40ITDCEM 111.00 112.10 109.00 110.30CHOLAFIN 1221.45 1227.20 1214.10 1218.95LALPATHLAB 957.00 965.95 948.15 953.80GESHIP 342.65 348.85 340.20 343.05MRF 66686.35 67972.05 66212.30 67518.65GDL 135.00 138.90 135.00 136.20CENTRALBK 30.95 31.45 30.85 31.35PFIZER 2819.60 2882.00 2819.60 2856.80TATAINVEST 872.75 879.95 871.00 877.20DCMSHRIRAM 358.50 361.40 351.20 357.90ANDHRABANK 28.30 29.15 28.25 28.50TRITURBINE 123.55 124.95 122.60 123.45EMAMILTD 437.35 440.00 433.50 436.95GUJGAS 670.00 688.00 670.00 676.80SCHNEIDER 102.85 104.00 102.75 103.05SHK 182.70 183.90 170.00 170.90CORPBANK 27.60 28.50 27.45 27.90PERSISTENT 614.00 617.90 609.10 615.80GICRE 276.95 288.00 274.10 282.50ASTRAL 1051.00 1071.80 1050.00 1068.20UNICHEMLAB 192.05 192.05 189.00 190.05SADBHAV 195.75 203.50 194.60 195.35TAKE 135.10 137.65 135.10 136.30HEIDELBERG 158.95 160.30 158.45 159.05RNAM 165.55 169.00 165.55 168.75GLAXO 1402.20 1424.00 1391.00 1419.25PRESTIGE 207.70 211.00 205.10 206.95MHRIL 200.60 201.60 198.00 199.05STARCEMENT 106.00 106.00 103.10 105.60EIDPARRY 208.00 209.40 206.20 207.50HONAUT 23190.75 23249.40 22766.00 22907.10GSPL 175.70 177.95 175.25 176.15COROMANDEL 442.50 448.15 441.35 446.00CAPPL 391.00 391.50 375.95 387.95MAGMA 110.35 112.85 109.00 112.25AEGISLOG 192.85 194.60 190.00 190.60APLLTD 602.15 612.40 596.00 597.95MINDAIND 331.90 333.00 325.95 328.20SJVN 25.35 25.35 25.05 25.20KRBL 290.00 295.95 288.00 291.80NBVENTURES 118.65 122.50 118.65 121.75LAXMIMACH* 5725.00 5760.00 5725.00 5735.50GREENPLY 133.70 133.70 131.85 132.25GUJFLUORO 909.15 919.00 904.00 912.85APARINDS 633.00 641.85 620.00 634.00GMDCLTD 88.35 90.15 88.35 89.45

LINDEINDIA 677.00 680.10 670.00 671.90ASTERDM 153.50 153.85 146.25 149.15NH 207.00 207.00 199.00 200.35TEAMLEASE 2839.55 2911.85 2807.35 2878.55BLUEDART 3060.05 3150.00 2981.00 3051.75SANOFI 6276.35 6394.95 6217.00 6243.60ENDURANCE 1168.95 1197.20 1168.60 1176.65JAGRAN 114.65 116.20 113.40 116.00HERITGFOOD 514.70 515.00 502.00 502.80SHARDACROP 274.75 279.00 271.35 275.95ESSELPRO 108.00 110.00 106.00 107.35PGHH 9900.00 9939.80 9806.00 9867.25DHANUKA 443.00 449.90 443.00 444.95GODREJAGRO 513.00 514.50 510.00 512.15PIIND 818.75 818.75 805.25 809.50THYROCARE 550.10 561.00 545.00 556.60IEX 165.00 165.35 163.30 164.00ALKEM 1880.05 1883.55 1869.35 1873.95ZYDUSWELL 1366.00 1395.00 1362.00 1388.20GICHSGFIN 242.00 247.90 241.35 247.10MAHABANK 13.40 13.68 13.36 13.56JKLAKSHMI 279.00 281.80 276.50 279.60COFFEEDAY 265.05 274.10 264.30 269.90REDINGTON 87.00 87.45 86.10 86.35EVEREADY 189.95 190.25 188.70 189.55PHOENIXLTD 603.70 613.50 600.10 603.25JBCHEPHARM 295.00 295.45 290.00 290.50NIACL 197.15 198.70 194.20 195.60SHILPAMED 384.85 390.40 377.25 379.10GPPL 101.75 102.50 100.75 101.70NETWORK18 38.05 39.40 37.55 38.55THERMAX 1104.20 1121.35 1090.95 1110.10CCL 277.00 278.00 273.90 275.60ATUL 3400.00 3409.95 3369.10 3400.10LUXIND 1500.00 1500.60 1445.00 1456.95FINOLEXIND 528.00 533.45 520.00 529.90CUB 177.85 180.45 177.85 178.45KALPATPOWR 382.00 386.50 381.70 383.80NAVNETEDUL 107.70 111.00 107.65 110.05IFBIND 847.60 855.00 841.00 845.45KIOCL 151.70 156.40 151.00 155.75THOMASCOOK 234.55 237.50 233.00 235.95LAKSHVILAS 86.00 87.80 86.00 87.00TNPL 257.15 262.70 256.45 260.90RELAXO 710.15 735.35 710.15 723.003MINDIA 22757.45 23302.85 22575.00 22905.75VTL 1079.00 1103.35 1070.00 1095.55SOLARINDS 1038.35 1058.00 1018.05 1039.55PRSMJOHNSN 87.10 87.25 85.80 86.25IOB 14.71 15.02 14.61 14.79BIRLACORPN 600.00 610.20 590.00 598.50GEPIL 843.00 843.00 810.05 814.85AARTIIND 1430.65 1447.40 1426.45 1441.45GET&D 253.00 260.50 250.85 255.20INOXLEISUR 225.40 232.70 225.00 227.90APLAPOLLO 1269.00 1269.00 1214.00 1224.40SHREECEM 16845.00 17110.00 16825.15 17025.00AIAENG 1612.55 1640.00 1610.00 1636.30SUDARSCHEM 349.00 351.45 342.05 349.20BAJAJHLDNG 2937.15 2955.05 2917.40 2931.15BAJAJCORP 361.40 364.50 359.10 363.85ADVENZYMES 175.95 178.30 175.95 177.10ASAHIINDIA 249.50 253.00 248.60 250.20ECLERX 1097.70 1121.00 1091.05 1098.25MINDACORP 136.00 136.80 136.00 136.05ORIENTCEM 79.30 81.35 79.30 79.90ABBOTINDIA 7551.15 7557.25 7490.00 7501.85FORBESCO 2470.00 2498.50 2435.20 2441.00SKFINDIA 1920.85 1930.45 1920.85 1926.95ISGEC 5187.90 5189.80 5130.00 5134.40MONSANTO 2724.30 2724.30 2601.10 2652.70ICIL 55.25 56.80 55.25 56.40GULFOILLUB 780.50 784.30 776.00 776.30TTKPRESTIG 7748.25 7748.25 7601.00 7658.70SUPRAJIT 228.05 229.90 220.70 227.90MAHLIFE 386.65 393.30 383.10 391.10KPRMILL 577.70 578.00 567.05 573.95FINCABLES 449.65 453.60 448.50 449.05BASF 1572.00 1600.00 1562.00 1595.60LAURUSLABS 380.95 391.00 380.95 389.05ALLCARGO 106.00 107.95 106.00 107.30PNCINFRA 129.55 130.75 129.00 130.40BAYERCROP 4177.00 4317.00 4118.95 4251.00BLUESTARCO 642.10 642.10 636.90 639.90GILLETTE 6503.95 6504.00 6462.75 6498.70WABCOINDIA 6900.25 6940.00 6811.00 6855.45CERA 2362.00 2374.40 2335.05 2355.10SUPPETRO 201.40 204.85 201.00 202.60CRISIL 1599.25 1608.90 1590.00 1602.15JKCEMENT 738.75 738.75 725.30 730.30AKZOINDIA 1586.90 1596.70 1581.00 1587.95RATNAMANI 909.15 910.00 893.05 900.00TVTODAY 374.95 374.95 370.15 372.40FDC 181.40 183.60 181.40 183.10TVSSRICHAK 2502.00 2549.00 2502.00 2544.20HATSUN 618.10 618.10 613.50 614.00SCHAEFFLER 5482.95 5500.00 5420.05 5490.00LAOPALA 222.00 223.00 221.00 221.25SHOPERSTOP 508.30 516.05 508.00 513.05ENIL 595.00 595.00 588.00 589.05SUNCLAYLTD 3550.00 3569.95 3518.80 3520.00JCHAC 1830.00 1830.00 1801.00 1807.35TIFHL 517.40 517.40 517.00 517.00

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SCRIP OPEN HIgh LOW LTP CHANGENIFTY 50 10850.90 10915.40 10819.10 10908.70 20.35SUNPHARMA 421.00 434.90 418.85 432.75 11.80BAJFINANCE 2469.70 2538.20 2446.60 2533.00 58.60JSWSTEEL 299.10 306.70 298.10 306.70 6.85VEDL 204.90 210.00 204.25 209.80 4.30M&M 755.60 772.00 752.40 772.00 15.65ASIANPAINT 1338.45 1361.00 1327.55 1360.40 24.55LT 1405.00 1430.00 1405.00 1429.95 21.95SBIN 287.85 294.00 287.00 293.90 4.40POWERGRID 192.90 197.00 190.90 195.35 2.80HCLTECH 969.95 988.80 959.40 985.00 13.35IOC 143.70 145.00 143.00 144.75 1.85HINDPETRO 231.20 232.25 228.10 231.20 2.75KOTAKBANK 1214.90 1239.65 1214.00 1236.90 14.45DRREDDY 2601.80 2645.00 2582.15 2643.40 30.25ICICIBANK 356.75 362.90 354.60 362.50 4.05NTPC 146.00 148.40 145.25 147.75 1.65GRASIM 845.70 857.60 832.65 855.00 8.70BPCL 353.10 357.60 348.70 353.40 3.05BAJAJFINSV 6090.00 6165.00 6076.70 6138.50 50.70ADANIPORTS 369.00 374.35 365.00 374.35 2.95EICHERMOT 23570.00 23900.00 23343.95 23861.50 163.70RELIANCE 1123.30 1139.00 1120.50 1137.75 7.85BHARTIARTL 314.20 320.70 311.60 317.25 2.05TATASTEEL 523.00 528.40 519.60 527.00 3.00MARUTI 7710.00 7785.00 7655.00 7768.00 33.95TATAMOTORS 174.00 177.60 173.10 174.70 0.75INDUSINDBK 1627.90 1644.35 1609.00 1640.20 6.85HDFCBANK 2124.00 2139.00 2102.60 2138.10 7.90HEROMOTOCO 3275.05 3324.65 3240.00 3297.05 10.95AXISBANK 617.65 621.80 613.85 618.80 1.65HINDALCO 224.00 227.00 222.60 226.00 0.55GAIL 353.00 357.20 349.70 354.00 0.85INFRATEL 253.05 257.30 252.70 255.05 0.10CIPLA 524.00 527.00 520.05 523.60 -0.05ULTRACEMCO 3999.00 4017.10 3978.00 4008.00 -1.30COALINDIA 252.50 253.85 249.05 251.30 -0.15BAJAJ-AUTO 2840.00 2873.80 2822.05 2835.80 -5.15TITAN 932.50 938.75 930.80 932.95 -2.35TCS 1991.90 2002.00 1976.40 1987.90 -6.40HINDUNILVR 1848.90 1848.90 1833.00 1844.00 -6.70IBULHSGFIN 774.00 784.90 768.70 778.00 -3.45ONGC 147.90 148.95 146.30 147.55 -0.70ITC 279.05 280.60 277.00 278.50 -1.35HDFC 1955.00 1957.90 1932.50 1949.05 -11.30YESBANK 180.00 180.90 176.75 178.75 -2.25WIPRO 335.25 338.40 332.55 335.00 -4.60TECHM 715.00 716.55 704.20 708.60 -11.15INFY 686.50 686.50 674.55 677.00 -17.40UPL 762.00 774.10 741.00 744.50 -23.55ZEEL 498.00 498.00 454.05 459.70 -42.15

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SCRIP OPEN HIgh LOW LTP CHANGENIFTY NEXT 50 27978.20 28244.05 27896.65 28169.80 135.45INDIGO 1070.00 1124.00 1062.00 1121.00 60.90DMART 1619.00 1685.00 1616.50 1681.20 64.95MOTHERSUMI 165.10 174.00 165.05 173.80 6.10BHEL 67.65 70.15 67.30 70.00 2.30GICRE 278.00 289.45 275.05 284.60 7.75SUNTV 572.00 590.40 570.00 590.00 15.60IDEA 36.40 37.70 36.05 37.35 0.95MRF 66477.00 67998.95 66100.05 67997.75 1622.60ICICIGI 900.00 925.00 890.45 917.00 19.80SAIL 52.30 53.40 51.90 53.40 1.00OFSS 3575.00 3657.00 3560.10 3646.95 64.95HINDZINC 273.40 279.00 271.00 278.20 4.85MCDOWELL-N 639.00 647.70 627.25 646.00 10.85SIEMENS 959.95 984.55 959.05 984.00 15.80MARICO 376.00 383.95 374.55 382.60 5.75PEL 2133.75 2190.45 2131.20 2184.90 32.45SHREECEM 17008.75 17174.00 16759.45 17150.00 221.30BIOCON 634.00 641.00 633.80 640.70 6.90BOSCHLTD 19663.00 19880.00 19503.05 19860.10 198.20COLPAL 1300.00 1315.00 1290.25 1314.15 13.15NMDC 93.80 95.95 93.80 95.90 0.85AMBUJACEM 219.25 220.95 218.00 220.50 1.75SRTRANSFIN 1197.90 1208.00 1180.10 1204.00 7.75BANDHANBNK 568.00 583.70 560.00 568.05 3.60OIL 179.50 179.90 177.05 178.90 1.10BRITANNIA 3157.00 3183.00 3130.00 3182.90 19.70BEL 83.30 84.60 82.85 84.25 0.50LICHSGFIN 460.20 466.55 458.75 464.75 2.65BANKBARODA 111.10 113.90 110.00 112.35 0.55ABCAPITAL 99.25 101.70 98.65 100.00 0.45DABUR 440.80 444.95 438.00 444.30 1.90NHPC 26.10 26.25 26.00 26.20 0.10ACC 1499.80 1510.00 1490.35 1507.15 5.15PGHH 9899.00 9972.00 9822.00 9899.00 -0.10DLF 177.00 180.95 176.25 178.20 -0.10GODREJCP 840.10 842.95 825.00 841.60 -1.35LUPIN 846.35 848.50 836.80 845.70 -1.75HDFCLIFE 392.05 394.40 390.55 391.60 -1.60CONCOR 658.65 664.50 650.50 659.20 -3.00L&TFH 146.25 149.90 145.60 146.70 -0.75SBILIFE 598.00 607.15 576.35 586.35 -3.45PETRONET 223.95 227.50 223.00 223.50 -1.60HAVELLS 703.85 703.85 693.25 701.00 -5.35NIACL 197.35 198.95 194.00 195.20 -1.70ASHOKLEY 105.40 105.80 104.00 104.75 -1.25AUROPHARMA 740.00 741.50 729.40 735.00 -10.65CADILAHC 347.25 347.95 341.45 345.50 -5.50PIDILITIND 1188.00 1189.80 1165.05 1165.10 -20.20ICICIPRULI 320.95 323.45 314.20 314.75 -6.70ABB 1398.95 1398.95 1321.15 1326.80 -72.85

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Moscow: The Kremlin onTuesday rejected Washington'saccusations that Russia tried todisrupt the 2016 presidentialvote and sought to demoraliseAfrican-Americans, calling thecharges incomprehensible.

According to a new reportfor the US Senate, the prima-ry goal of Russia's InternetResearch Agency (IRA) was todeepen divisions in US societyand convince Democrat-favouring liberals — includingLatinos, youths and theLGBTQ community — not tovote.

The most extensive analy-sis yet of thousands of IRA adsand posts across social mediain 2015-2017 showed anemphasis on provoking theanger of black Americans sothat they would stay home onelection day.

For example, the IRA-cre-ated account "Blacktivist" sentout messages on theDemocratic candidate such as:"No lives matter to Hillary

Clinton. Only votes matter toHillary Clinton." AnotherIRA account, "Black Matters",posted on Facebook: "Copskill black kids. Are you surethat your son won't be thenext?" Russian PresidentVladimir Putin's spokesmanDmitry Peskov said the reportby the ComputationalPropaganda Project at OxfordUniversity and social mediaspecialists Graphika caused"nothing but incomprehen-sion."

"It voices absolutely gener-al charges and accusations andsome of them are absolutely

unclear to us," Peskov toldreporters on a conference call.

"We are reproached thatsomeone critically thinks of asituation in this or that socialsphere in the United States butit is not explained what Russiahas to do with it," he said.

He reiterated Russia's long-standing position that any suchclaims were unfounded.

"The Russian state, theRussian Government had andhas nothing to do with anyinterference, especially one thatis described in such abstractterms," Peskov added.

The IRA is believed tohave been set up by YevgenyPrigozhin, a businessman closeto Putin, as a propaganda tool.

Russia has been accused ofmanipulating the 2016 US pres-idential vote through a vastpropaganda campaign infavour of Donald Trump.

US investigators are prob-ing alleged collusion betweenRussian agents and Trump'scampaign. AFP

3�� �����B�������"���������������������5 ���� Washington: Former FBI direc-

tor James Comey lashed out atDonald Trump on Tuesday fortelling "lies" and underminingthe rule of law, and urgedRepublicans to stand up to thepresident.

"The FBI's reputation has astaken a big hit because the pres-ident of the United States, withhis acolytes, has lied about itconstantly. In the face of thoselies, a whole lot of good people...Believe that nonsense," Comeytold reporters in the halls of theUS Senate.

"People who know better,including Republican membersof this body, have to have thecourage to stand up and speakthe truth."

Comey spoke after a spurtof anti-FBI tweets from thepresident over the past weekalleged that the investigativebody abused its powers in prob-ing his former personal lawyerMichael Cohen and his formernational security advisorMichael Flynn.

Cohen and Flynn have bothbeen convicted for variouscrimes and have both offered

evidence potentially damagingto their former boss.

With Cohen, Trump tweet-ed on Sunday: "The FBI didsomething which was absolute-ly unthinkable & unheard ofuntil the Witch Hunt was ille-gally started. They BROKEINTO AN ATTORNEY'SOFFICE!" In fact the FBI had acourt order to search Cohen'soffice.

As for Flynn, Trump allegedthat he had been tricked intolying in a January 2016 inter-view with the FBI that led to hisarrest.

"So General Michael Flynn'slife can be totally destroyedwhile Shadey James Comey canLeak and Lie," Trump tweetedearlier this month.

Comey said that politicians,and especially Republicans, haveto stop remaining quiet whenTrump makes false statements.

"Republicans used tounderstand that the actions ofa president matter, the words ofa president matter, the rule oflaw matters, and the truth mat-ters. Where are thoseRepublicans today?" AFP

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Colombo: Mahinda Rajapaksaon Tuesday became Sri Lanka'smain Opposition leader inParliament, days after heresigned as Prime Ministerafter clinging on to power fornearly two months, amidst theunprecedented political tur-moil in the country.

Rajapaksa, 73, replacedveteran Tamil leader of themain Tamil party RSampanthan who held theposition from 2015.

His appointment wasannounced by Speaker KaruJayasuriya in Parliament whichmet for the first time after thereinstatement of RanilWickremesinghe as PrimeMinister that ended the 51-daypolitical standoff in the coun-try.

M A Sumanthiran of TamilNational Alliance (TNA) andRauff Hakeem of the Sri LankaMuslim Congress raised objec-tions against Rajapaksa'sappointment.

They claimed thatRajapaksa has ceased to be a

member of Parliament becausehe had joined another politicalparty recently.

Rajapaksa, by obtainingthe membership of the SriLanka People's Party (SLPP),left the United People'sFreedom Alliance (UPFA)from which he was elected toParliament in 2015.

Speaker Jayasuriya askedSumanthiran to make a writtensubmission on his complaintagainst Rajapaksa so that aselect committee could go intodetails.

On Sunday, PresidentMaithripala Sirisena, whosecontroversial actions plungedthe island nation into anunprecedented political tur-moil for nearly two months,reinstated Wickremesinghe asPrime Minister, after sackinghim on October 26 andappointing former presidentRajapaksa in his place andalso dissolving Parliament,some 20 months early.

Sirisena was left with noother option following twoseparate decisions by theSupreme Court, which nullifiedhis illegal moves.

The president said heoffered to reappointWickremesinghe as the PrimeMinister as he respects parlia-mentary traditions and democ-racy.

Ex-strongman Rajapaksaresigned from the post of primeminister on Saturday, a dayafter the apex court refused tostay another court orderrestraining him from acting asthe Prime Minister. PTI

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Kabul: An Afghan peace nego-tiations team has arrived inAbu Dhabi, an official said onTuesday, a day after talksattended by US and Talibanrepresentatives were held in thecity aimed at ending the 17-year conflict.

The team, led by chiefnegotiator Abdul SalamRahimi, "arrived in Abu Dhabito begin proximity dialoguewith the Taliban delegationand to prepare for a face-to-facemeeting between the twosides", the Afghan presidentialspokesman HaroonChakhansuri tweeted.

The 12-person team wasfirst announced in Novemberby President Ashraf Ghani aspart of a diplomatic effort tobring the Taliban to the tablefor peace talks with the gov-ernment in Kabul.

But the Taliban have notconfirmed a meeting, andissued a statement on Mondayreiterating their long-standingvow not to speak with Afghanofficials.

In a new message releasedTuesday the militants said theyhad held "preliminary talks"with the US State Department'sspecial envoy, Zalmay

Khalilzad, on Monday, with thediscussions to continue.

They also said they hadheld "extensive" meetings withofficials from Pakistan andSaudi Arabia and the UAE,repeating demands for inter-national forces to be with-drawn from Afghanistan.

Saudi Arabia, the UAEand Pakistan were the onlythree countries to recognisethe Taliban government dur-ing its five-year rule from1996-2001.

The US did not confirmdirect meetings betweenKhalilzad and the Taliban inAbu Dhabi. Late MondayWashington said meetingswere ongoing in the UAE city"to promote an intra-Afghandialogue toward ending theconflict", and that Khalilzadwas in the region.

Khalilzad "has in the pastmet, and will continue to meetwith all interested parties,including the Taliban, to sup-port a negotiated settlement tothe conflict", it continued.

The meetings are the lat-est in a flurry of diplomaticefforts as Washington seeks away out of the conflict, whichbegan with the US invasion in

2001. Khalilzad, who hasexpressed hopes for a deal to bein place before Afghaninstan'spresidential election scheduled

for April next year, has madeseveral trips to the region since his appointment inSeptember. AFP

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Islamabad: Prime Minister Imran Khan said onTuesday that Pakistan will do everything with-in its power to further the peace process inAfghanistan as talks sponsored by the countrybetween the US and the Taliban were being heldin the UAE to end the 17-year bloody conflict.

The US and the Taliban have previously meton at least two occasions in Qatar but it is thefirst time that they are holding talks outsideDoha, where the insurgent group has a politi-cal office, according to officials.

Khan highlighted the role being played byPakistan in holding the talks between the US andthe Taliban in Abu Dhabi.

He expressed his desire for peace to end thesufferings of the people of Afghanistan.

"Pakistan has helped in the dialogue betweenthe Taliban and the US in Abu Dhabi. Let us praythat this leads to peace and ends almost threedecades of suffering of the brave Afghan peo-ple," Khan said on Twitter

Khan also said "Pakistan will be doing every-thing within its power to further the peaceprocess".

Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Pakistan were theonly three nations to recognise the Taliban gov-ernment during its five-year rule from 1996-2001.

The Taliban are fighting to flush out inter-national forces and re-establish their regime inAfghanistan after their ouster in 2001. PTI

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Moscow: Russian President Vladimir Putin sug-gested on Tuesday he was open to the idea ofother countries joining a key Cold War treatylimiting mid-range nuclear arms or to startingtalks on a new agreement.

The president spoke after Washington thismonth said it would withdraw from theIntermediate-Range Nuclear Forces treaty (INF)within 60 days if Russia did not dismantle mis-siles that the US claims breach the deal.

At a Defence Ministry meeting, Putinrepeated accusations that Washington had itselfviolated the bilateral treaty and suggested othercountries join the US-Russia agreement in a bidto salvage it.

Signed in 1987 by then US presidentRonald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev, thetreaty puts no restrictions on other major mil-itary actors like China.

"Yes, indeed there are certain difficulties withthis treaty," Putin said. PTI

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Page 13: 0 ()*+ ,- $ˇ++2ˆ 1+*,44+.@ 24ˇˆ2ˇ2+ 5%˘6ˇ+$B, ˘ˇˆ˙...for placement before the next ... anti-Sikh riots in 1984 in which more than 2,700 people were ... “free & cheap”

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���� ����� The JK Lakshmipat

University has announcedadmissions for Pinnacle MBAfor the year 2019. PinnacleMBA is a two-year full-time,residential, post-graduatedegree programme, recognisedby UGC, Government of India.The programme is led by DrPramath Raj Sinha, foundingDean, ISB Hyderabad, andProf Asheesh Gupta, formerdirector, McKinsey KnowledgeCentre; MBA, IIM Calcutta.Pinnacle MBA is focused onthe holistic development offuture professional with expe-riential and project basedlearning.

Candidates aspiring for theadmission may apply online athttp://jklu.edu.in/mba_land-ingpage/

Eligibility criteria: Athree-year bachelor’s degree(10 +2 + 3 ) or equivalentdegree in any discipline fromany recognised University withat least 50 per cent marks (45per cent for SC/ST candidates)or equivalent CGPA.

Students appearing in thefinal examinations of bachelor’sdegree can also apply. Thecandidate must have appearedin CAT, MAT, ATMA, XAT,CMAT or any other nationallevel entrance test.

Selection procedure:Candidates will be first short-listed after consideration oftheir merit on the basis of scorein CAT/MAT/ CMAT/XAT/ATMA, their previous acade-mic records and preliminaryinteractions with the admis-sions team at JKLU. Shortlistedcandidates will go through tworounds of interviews withsenior leaders at JKLU.Candidates will be finallyselected through overall eval-uation of merit and the quali-ty of interactions during thepersonal interviews.

Important dates: March15, 2019.

������� �The IIHMR University,

Jaipur invites application forthree-year PhD programme indifferent areas of research.Some of them includes publichealth, pharmaceutical man-agement, health and hospitalmanagement, nursing man-agement, population and devel-opment, health economics andfinance, rural and urban health,health communication and

behavioural change, informa-tion technology in the healthsector, food security and nutri-tion and rural development.

The programme has a totalintake of 30 students (part-timeas well as full-time). The reg-istration in PhD depends onthe subject to passing qualify-ing examination which will bebased on the course work in thefirst year of the programme.

Eligibility criteria: Thecandidates should have a mas-ter’s degree or MPhil degree bythe corresponding statutoryregulatory body, with at least 55per cent marks in aggregate orits equivalent grade 'B' in theUGC 7-point scale (or anequivalent grade in a pointscale wherever grading systemis followed). Or an equivalentdegree from a foreign educa-tional Institution accreditedby an Assessment &Accreditation Agency which isapproved, recognised by anauthority, established or incor-porated under a law in itshome country.

Selection process: Theadmission process will includethree steps— screening ofapplications, IIHMR ResearchAptitude Test (IRAT) and per-sonal interview. The IIHMRUniversity will conduct a qual-ifying test after the screening ofapplications and short-listingcandidates. IRAT will be awritten test consisting of mul-tiple choice questions fromEnglish language proficiency,reasoning, basic quantitativeanalysis and research aptitude.

UGC CSIR qualified JRF &NET, SLET, GATE and TeacherFellowship holder and havepassed MPhil programme inrelevant subjects are categorieswhich will be exempted fromwriting the IRAT. A personalinterview will be conducted onthe day of IRAT or next dayafter IRAT at the IIHMRUniversity, Jaipur.

Important dates: Last dateto apply is January 25, 2019.IRAT and personal interview ison February 1 and 2, 2019

For more information, logon to www.iihmr.edu.in.

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As a part of the Ministry ofHuman Resource

Development’s f lagshipscheme of promoting inno-vations in the higher educa-tion institutes in country,The Indira Gandhi NationalOpen University (IGNOU)has set up InstitutionsInnovation Council (IIC) atthe National Centre forInnovation in DistanceEducation (NCIDE).

The IIC at IGNOU aimsat promoting idea generation,grassroots innovation, devel-ops prototype, solve problemsin the local context with a viewto generating intellectual prop-erty. The IIC, IGNOU isorganising an ‘IdeaCompetition’ or whichbonafide IGNOU studentscan submit their ideas in theprescribed proforma to thedirector, National Centre forInnovations in DistanceEducation (NCIDE) atIGNOU through email [email protected] or by post.The proforma can be down-loaded from IGNOU’s web-site — www.ignou.ac.in. Thelast date for receiving the

ideas is January 20, 2019.The selected students

from different regions will beinvited to present their workin the Festival of Ideas & theselected best three entrieswill be awarded prizes &certificates.

The selected students willbe invited to participate andpresent their ideas in theFestival of Ideas on February28, 2019 at IGNOU, MaidanGarhi, New Delhi. Further,they will be mentored andnurtured for developing abusiness plan to work on theideas. This will be a uniqueopportunity for IGNOU stu-dents to showcase their ideasand vision.

IGNOU students cansubmit their original andcreative ideas that can solveany daily life problem in anyof the fields including food,agriculture and rural devel-opment, clean energy andalternate fuel, clean waterand water management,swacchhata initiatives andwaste management, healthcare and hygiene, educationand open university systemand smart transportation andtraffic management.

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The Tech Mahindra Foundation, under its ini-tiative Tech Mahindra Smart Academy for

Healthcare, has launched a movement#MainBhiHero to create awareness around the roleof paramedical and allied healthcare professionalsin the healthcare sector. The movement aims atbridging the prevalent skill-gap in our healthcare sec-tor by creating a pool of skilled and qualified health-care professionals at the Smart Academy forHealthcare located in New Delhi, Mohali andMumbai.

The #MainBhiHero movement lays emphasis onfostering Individual Social Responsibility (ISR) moti-vating the society to guide aspiring youths towardsparamedical courses. With the #MainBhiHeromovement and the Smart Academies for Healthcare,Tech Mahindra Foundation has strengthened itsalignment to the WHO vision of “Health for All” andvarious UN Sustainable Development Goals rang-ing from quality education, gender equality anddecent work & economic growth.

CP Gurnani, MD & CEO, Tech Mahindra, said:“The #MainBhiHero movement, not only encour-ages us to further the ISR initiative and Rise for Good,but also addresses the issue of skill gap faced by theindustry today. I urge one and all to contributetowards this initiative that aims at creating a poolof skilled and qualified healthcare professionals.”

Speaking about the initiative, Dr LoveleenKacker, CEO, Tech Mahindra Foundation, says: “Atthe Tech Mahindra SMART Academies forHealthcare, we are trying to change the definitionof the word Hero. The youth come here as studentsand leaves as healthcare professionals with lifelongskills, employment, and a feeling to serve andimprove the healthcare services of our country. Nowthat’s exactly like a Hero.”

The recent proposal of the UnitedStates’ Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to give pri-

ority to advanced degree holdersfrom the US Universities for H1B visawill benefit Indian students. During2018, out of 65,000 H1B visa sanc-tioned, 74 per cent applicants werefrom India.

The H1B is a visa in theUnited States under theImmigration and NationalityAct, section 101(a) (15) (H)that allows US employers totemporarily employ foreignworkers in specialty occu-pations. A specialty occupa-tion requires the applicationof specialised knowledgeand a bachelor’s degree or theequivalent of work experience.Laws limit the number of H-1Bvisas that are issued each year.

The H1B visa is the jobvisa for studentsfrom countriesother thanUn i t e dStates.V i s a

holder will get all benefits, includingbetter pay and allowances. Moreover,they will get the opportunity toprogress towards green card and cit-izenship in future as the case may be.

Under H1Bvisa, technocrats,

scientists, doc-tors, accoun-

tants, engineers, veterinarians andteachers can work in the US. Science,technology, engineering, mathemat-ics, nursing and management aresome of the prospective sectors whichgain more H1B visas.

Recently, more and more Indianstudents have started pursuing over-seas education especially in UnitedStates. South Indian students rankmore in US when compared to stu-dents from North Indian States inthe country.

�� ���������� ����� Internationally, our graduate

programmes are undergraduateprogrammes and our post graduateprogramme will come under gradu-ate programmes. Under advanceddegree from US Universities, it can begraduate, honours, higher degree,post graduate or doctoral pro-grammes. Compared to other Asiancountries, more Indian students arepursuing advanced degree pro-grammes in United States.

Proposed rule will facilitate foradvanced degree holders from the USUniversities to get priority in gettingH1B visa up to first 20,000 level. DHSpublished the draft rule on December3 and will be finalised by December31, 2018. It will come into effect from2019 onwards.

�� �������� Students interested in the US edu-

cation after graduation from Indiarequire one-year homework for theadmission process. They can start thepreparation from final year onwards.Preparation of bio-data in two pagesand applying for passport are the pre-liminary steps for pursuing educationabroad.

The US universities offer cours-es during winter (January toFebruary) and falls (September toOctober) semesters. Indian studentscan pursue for admission during fallsemester. Students are required toclear Graduate Record Examination(GRE) and Test of English as aForeign Language (TOEFL) withbetter test scores.

Review of bio-data will createimpression about the student amongthe US universities. So, they need toprepare the bio data in an attractivemanner with a font size of 11 in TimesNew Roman. Filled-in applicationrequires a statement of purpose fromthe students and two recommenda-tion letters from referees. Referees canbe senior faculty members who canjudge about the abilities and skill ofthe students.

Initially, a student can apply forfour to five universities. Projectworks, internships, work expe-rience, extra-curricular activ-ities and publications will

get additional scores during theadmission process. Two or threeuniversities will offer admission basedon test scores.

Again, pursue them for fundingoptions like fellowship, scholarship orassistantship. Students can do parttime work up to 20 hours per weekto support their studies. Studentsaspiring for US education will getmore information from United StatesIndia Education Foundation (USIEF).

Prometric India is conductingGRE and TOEFL/ IELTS tests. Testpreparation requires minimum threemonths period. Students can take theexamination date three months aheadand start preparation. Since theexamination fee is high, it is prefer-able to appear for the examination onthe prefixed dates. Postponement ofexamination requires additional min-imum 40 dollars.

Various textbooks, apps, onlinecoaching and software’s facilitate thestudents for examination preparation.Test prep platform Kaplan offersexcellent text book series. For moredetails visit, www.prometricindia.com,www.gre.org and www.toefl.org.

Success in getting admission toUS universities depends on environ-ment, effort and direction. If the stu-dent has a keen interest, aptitude, atti-tude and goal, it is easy to get admis-sion. The right choice and involve-ment coupled with appropriate deci-sion-making process to facilitatesuccess in US education.

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The SRM University-AP, inassociation with Amara Raja

Batteries, is hosting anInternational Conference onGreen Energy Technologies forSmart Cities (GETSC-2018) at itsAmaravati campus fromDecember 19 to 21, 2018. Dr VKSaraswat, member, NITI Aayog,(National Institution for trans-forming India) will be inaugurat-ing the conference.

A series of presentations andpanel discussions will cover basicand advanced fields of research —materials & computational sci-ences, biotechnology, environ-mental science and engineering,health education and environ-ment. Equal emphasis will beplaced on practical technologiesand applications for smart citiessuch as smart grids, storage solu-tions (hydrogen production, bat-teries & energy storage technolo-gies) fuel cells & sensor technolo-gies, carbon footprint as well assmart waste management sys-tems.

The conference will be chairedby SRM AP pro VC Prof DNarayana Rao; director of TexasMaterials Institute, UT-Austin,USA Dr Arumugam Manthiram,and CTO, Amara Raja Batteries,India M Jagadish. Over 45 inter-national delegates from over 10countries and 150 delegates fromacross India will be attending.

These include distinguished aca-demics, researchers and highereducation leaders in the field ofmaterial science, renewable ener-gy and green technologies.

“One of the main problemsregarding the Smart City projectsis the issue of energy access andthe prohibitive costs thereof. Weaim to prove through this confer-ence that sustainable need not beexpensive and we need to focus onsolutions that are green and sus-tainable in our quest for energysolutions. We are bringing inglobal experts to share their workwith us,” says Dr D Narayana Rao.

SRM APs conference aims athighlighting advancements in theprincipal sciences that sustainmodern green cities, namely greenenergy, renewable energy, materi-als science, environmental sci-ence, and green technologies. Theconference will work as a bridgebetween the academic communi-ty (faculty and research students),practitioners and policymakers.

The idea is to explore ways topromote the development anduse of sustainable energy withoutdisrupting the environmental andsocial fabric of smart cities.“Putting the focus on green tech-nologies specifically designed forsmart cities is the best investmentfor the future,” Dr Jatis KumarDash, Assistant Professor, Physicsand the conference convener, says.For more details, log on tohttp://www.greenenergy2018.com/.

1�0��&������- *�'#The Skillizen Learning

Foundation, a Singapore head-quartered global socio-education-al company, has launched“International Life Skills Olympiad(ILSO)” for 2018-19. This is theworld’s first Olympiad that testsyoung citizens on life skills and willbe held online on January 27,2019.

Aimed at school children fromClass III to XII, ILSO is a globalonline test that will be based on theSkillizen Curriculum, the world’sfirst Critical Life Skills Curriculum.This curriculum follows a uniquemethod that transfers the mostpractical life skills in such a man-ner, that even an eight-year-old canplayfully master those skills.

The registration lines for ISLOis live, with a nominal registrationfee of �490. This is the firstOlympiad in which, besides schools,parents can also directly enroll theirchildren online. Home schooledchildren can also participate.

Launching the Life SkillsOlympiad, Sidharth Tripathy,founder & CEO, SkillizenOlympiad Foundation, says: “Thechildren of the 21st century need awhole range of critical Life skills toengage, manage and lead the world.When children grow-up and jointhe workforce, we often find organ-isations complaining that Indianstudents might be bright, havingpassed through one of the tough-est educational curriculums in theworld, but they are mostly not

employable. Critical Life Skills areextremely essential to convert thechildren into responsible citizensand successful individuals.”

This unique life skills test willfocus on assessing skills and com-petencies that are essential foryoung children of the 21st centu-ry to lead their personal and pro-fessional lives. The questions ofILSO 2018-19 will be based on reallife scenarios that will test theyoung students on their applicationof critical life skills like leadership,ethics, teamwork, communications,empathy, goal setting and manymore. The main prizes for the win-ners of ILSO would include freetickets to visit Harvard Universityin USA, mini iPads and Kindles.Besides the top prizes, there areassured prizes for all participants.

“Life skills are a set of skills thatenable us to lead our life to itsfullest potential; skills that we allneed to effectively manage the chal-lenges of everyday life, be it atschool, at work or in our person-al lives. Our objective is not to pre-pare the children for the nexteducational level but for the realworld. School children are alwayscomparing themselves against theirclassmates or at best with otherchildren in their own school. Whilepreparing for this test, youngminds from Class III-XII will beable to acquire new life skills andcompare their skill levels againstthe smartest children across 100plus countries,” Tripathy adds.

�� �� �23��245��

The Schneider Electric IndiaFoundation (SEIF) — the social

commitment of Schneider ElectricIndia — is set to facilitate the 12thedition of ‘Green Championship’under its ‘Conserve My Planet’ pro-gramme. ‘Conserve My Planet’ isan educational programme con-ceptualised to address the crucialenergy crisis that the world is fac-ing and to educate school childrenabout the importance of conserv-ing energy along with protectingthe environment.

In this edition, the ConserveMy Planet programme would beconducted in specific schools ofIndia spread across 10 cities name-ly Chennai, Bangalore, Hyderabad,

Jaipur, Delhi, Chandigarh Mumbai,Pune, Goa and Kolkata. All par-ticipating schools are meticulous-ly selected for the programme andstand together as a proud com-munity called the ‘Green Republic’and are termed ‘GreenAmbassadors’.

Speaking about the initiative,Venkat Garimella, VP corporatestrategy and CSR, SchneiderElectric India, said: “Conserve myenergy programme enables stu-dents to design and develop work-ing models on efficient energymanagement. In the process, theyget acquainted with the energy

conservation techniques and alsoshare their learnings with theirfamilies. This programme helps usshare the message of energy con-servation amongst a large audi-ence.”

Schneider Electric IndiaFoundation trains the GreenAmbassadors to undertake energyaudits, evaluate energy consump-tion at homes, and conduct greencertification of schools while build-ing energy-conscious communitiesaround them. This helps them toreceive industry exposure and con-tribute to hands-on projects, whileparticipating in numerous contests

and team activities such as pre-sentations, group discussions andpreparation of energy audit reportsof their campuses via interactiveclassroom sessions and uniqueoutdoor activities.

Some of the schools hostingthe Green Championship this yearinclude Ambience Public School,Delhi; Malviya Convent school,Jaipur; The Pupil Saveetha EcoSchool, Chennai; HarvestInternational School, Bangalore; StWilfred College, Mumbai; VIikhePatil School, Pune; St Peter’sResidential School, Hyderabad andCalcutta Public School, Kolkata.

�"!(������-���'!���*�"��' ��� �� �23��245��

The CL Educate Limited (CL),India’s leading education and

knowledge services provider, signs aMemorandum of Understanding(MOU) with EvueMe Selection Bot.

As per the MoU, CL Educate Ltdwill be launching a new mock inter-view product named iGuru in strate-gic partnership with EvueMeSelection Bot. This aims at helpingstudents and professionals prepare forvarious kinds of interviews for get-ting jobs or admission to study high-er education courses.

CL Educate Ltd and EvueMeSelection Bot will work in collabo-ration to use cutting-edge technolo-gy to simplify the entire interviewpreparation process, enabling stu-

dents and professionals to take mockinterviews from the comfort of theirpremises using their own devices, attheir own convenient time, with an“Interviewer on Demand”. Thismakes the interviewing process sim-ple, user-friendly and utilitarian.Further, EvueMe Selection Bot willextend its expertise in developingquestion banks relevant to everysegment of the target audience.

Talking about the initiative,Gopalakrishnan Rengan, president,marketing & Alliances at CareerLauncher, said: “In these days ofmobility and constant up-skilling, itis important for all of us profession-

als to be ahead of the curve. However,being skilled alone doesn’t preparecandidates for the various angles fromwhich recruiters evaluate prospects.Hence, the soft skill of presentingoneself as the ideal candidate for thecourse or job becomes so very impor-tant. Through our strategic partner-ship with EvueMe, we intend to offercareer support to students and pro-fessionals, so that they can confi-dently present their candidature.Even if there are any gaps in theirknowledge or presentation skills,they can use our industry-expertpanel members to iron out the sameand achieve their career dreams!”

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The University ofSheffield, UK is offering anaward of up to £3000 foroverseas undergraduate stu-dents. The scholarships of upto £3000 will be awarded as aone-off payment in recogni-tion of academic excellence tostudents starting an under-graduate degree inSeptember2019 in one of thefollowing departments —Aerospace Engineering,Automatic Control & SystemsEngineering, Bioengineering,Chemical Engineering, Civil& Structural Engineering,Electronic & ElectricalEngineering, MaterialsScience & Engineering,Mechanical Engineering,MEng Engineering.

Eligibility: Make TheUniversity of Sheffield yourfirst (firm) choice in theUCAS application process for2019 entry, Apply to study afull-time undergraduate pro-gramme in the relevantdepartment, Be classed as aninternational student fortuition fee purposes, Be takingall prerequisite subjects foryour selected degree, Not havestudied at the University ofSheffield InternationalCollege.

The university will offerthe scholarship in the form ofa cash bursary at the start ofyour course should you be eli-gible. The scholarship amount

is

depended on youracademic achievement

please email theUndergraduate AdmissionsTeam for your chosenDepartment.

For details visit:https://www.sheffield.ac.uk/faculty/engineering/study/scholar-ships.

Applications are invitedfrom students for a scholar-ship in advance training inHindustani Music. The valueof the scholarship is �7,500per month — April 2019 toMarch 2020). Send in yourapplication to [email protected] or in anenvelope marked — Citi-NCPA Scholarship for YoungMusicians to the NationalCentre for the PerformingArts, Nariman Point, Mumbai400021. The shortlisted candi-dates will be informed viaemail or telephone and berequired to appear for anaudition in Mumbai. Thedecision of selection commit-tee is final.

Eligibility: Age Limit:khayal/tabla/pakhawaj — 18to 30 years of age (March 1,2019); For dhrupad: 18 to 35years of age (March 1, 2019).Students who are beneficiariesof other scholarship/grant inthe field of music during April2019-20, are not eligible toapply. Professional musiciansincluding those with ‘A’ gradefrom AIR are not eligible toapply. Only Indian citizens areeligible to apply.

Application deadline: Itis December 31, 2018.

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The Symbiosis National AptitudeTest (SNAP) exam conducted on16th Dec 2018 in the computer-

based-test format went glitch-free. Theoverall difficulty level of the exam waslower as compared to last year’s. Sincethere were no sectional cut-offs, it madethe job of the students a lot easier — theycould focus on maximising their overallscore instead of perforce trying toimprove their sectional performances intougher sections.

SECTION WISE ANALYSIS�General English: The section had

a total of 35 questions. There were 30 nor-mal questions of 1 mark each. There were5 special questions (non-MCQ or Inputbox types where the answer had to beentered on the screen) of 2 marks each.

The RC area had two passages withfive questions each. The passages werelengthy in nature with around 750-850words.

Passage 1: A lengthy passage on‘Google tracks your movement whetheryou like it or not’ or ‘privacy taken fromCBS News’. The questions included 1 title,1 specific detail, 3 contextual reference(of a phrase)/inference based questions.

Passage 2: Another lengthy passageon ‘Tired of globalisation — Trade andPoverty’ taken from The Economist.There were four specific detail questionsand 1 vocab-based question.

Around 22-24 can be considered tobe a good number of attempts in this sec-tion.

�Quantitative Ability, DataInterpretation and Data Sufficiency: Thesection was relatively easier compared tothe last year. There were 30 questions of1 mark each (normal MCQ type). Therewere 5 special questions of 2 marks each(non-MCQ type). The section had moredoable questions and perhaps for the firsttime, Data Interpretation questions werecompletely missing. Continuing the tra-dition, there were no Data Sufficiencyquestions in this section but the samewere asked in the Logical Reasoning sec-tion. The weightage of questions fromalgebra was on the higher side.

One question appeared to not havethe correct answer options (h, c and v ofa cone). A good student could haveattempted a net of 22-24 out of 35 ques-

tions in this section by spending around35-40 minutes. However, this called fora judicious selection of the questions.

�Analytical & Logical Reasoning:The section had a reasonable number ofeasy and moderate questions.

There were 30 questions of 1 markeach (normal MCQ type). There were 5special questions of 2 marks each (non-MCQ type). Unlike last year, apart fromthe standalone ones, there were 7 ques-tions based on a caselet. Added to this,there were also some tough ones to crack.The level of the section could be peggedat a moderate level of difficulty. Out of35 questions in this section, 19 to 21would be a good number of attempts.

�General Awareness: The sectionhad 25 questions. As the name of the sec-tion suggested, there were no static GKquestions. Most of these questions werenot difficult especially for those who readnewspapers regularly. Most of the ques-tions were pertaining to events whichtook place in the last few months.

Around 12 to 14 attempts in the sec-tion in around 10-15 minutes would havebeen good for this section.

An overall score of 74-76 or aboveshould be a good score for SIBM, 70-73for SCMHRD, and 62-65 for SIBMBangalore and SIIB.

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Boostrapping builds charac-ter. There are endless waysto finance your ideas, but

there's nothing like marketing astartup with a modest budget toencourage innovation. Limitedfunds give you an excuse to flexyour creative muscle and trulyshare your vision with the world.Being an entrepreneur is riskybusiness.

We’ve all read stories of start-up companies that spent toomuch money getting off theground and crash upon takeoff.Managing your money when youhave very little coming in the dooris tricky but it’s not impossible.

Don’t rely on the same oldbanner ads and Google reviews.Instead, try these eight marketingstrategies to place the spotlight onyour business. Below are strategiesfor getting the most bang for yourbuck as an entrepreneur.

Go to startup events. Theseevents are frequented by thosewho have similar interests, andmost of these people are operat-

ing on shoestring budgets, too.Many of them are happy to intro-duce you to someone who canhelp your startup; others will bewilling to develop a quid pro quorelationship with you to get bothof your businesses off the ground.Either situation is a cost-effectivewin-win.

Take advantage of free offers.Many people shy away from freestuff; they’re afraid that takingadvantage of it implies that theydon’t have money. Instead, look atit this way: When a company isoffering something for free, theybelieve the item has value. Theywant you to experience it sobadly that they’re willing to giveyou a taste at no cost. Take themup on it. You’re helping a fellowbusinessman out, and you're sav-ing cash on your end.

Access an incubator and useother business resources.Incubators can provide you witha lot of the structure that yourentrepreneurial endeavour ismissing, but without any of the

interference that a partner com-pany might entail. They haveamazing free resources; these caninclude everything from officespace to snacks. Search for one onGoogle, or try lists of ranked start-up accelerators to find a good fit.

Track your finances. Fromthe start, you should be carefullywatching how much you spend.Cash flow is one of the easiestareas for start-ups to get ahead ofthemselves you need to turn aprofit at some point, but you’llnever know where that point is ifyou don’t track your money.

Make smart hiring deci-sions. It’s important to build thebest team possible. Your startup isyour baby. Find people who are allin, and you’ll get the most fromthem with each of their pay-checks.

Avoid burnout. Many entre-preneurs get so caught up in sav-ing money that they find it hardto balance rewarding themselveswith pumping money into thecompany. If you want to be suc-

cessful with your startup, then youshould enjoy what you’re doing.Your reward will be the excite-ment you reap from your success.That means that most of yourmoney should go into your start-up but not all of it. Set aside time(and money) to travel, visit friendsand relax. If you forget to do thesethings, it won’t matter how muchmoney your startup has — it won’thave an effective leader.

Every entrepreneur goesthrough ups and downs; it’s thenature of the beast. But strugglingto make ends meet doesn’t have tobe one of your problems. Find thebalance between fueling your jetand pulling back on the throttle.You don’t want your start-up — oryou — to crash upon takeoff. Taketime to really consider who youare, who your customers are,what you want your brand to rep-resent, and what your messageshould be. Consider this a verysimple marketing roadmap. Thenstick to it.

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Manchester United have sackedmanager Jose Mourinho after

their worst start to a season inalmost 30 years, the clubannounced on Tuesday.

The 55-year-old Portuguese'slast match in charge was the 3-1defeat by Premier League leadersLiverpool on Sunday which leftthem 19 points behind their oppo-nents.

Mourinho's sacking comes justtwo-and-a-half years into his tenureand three years and a day sinceChelsea sacked him just monthsafter he had guided them to thetitle.

Former player Michael Carrick,now a member of the coachingstaff, is expected to take charge inan interim role but United said acaretaker manager will be appoint-ed until the end of the season.

The club's worst start in theleague since 1990 means evenMourinho's ambition of reachingthe top four and a ChampionsLeague qualification spot is indanger.

Despite United reaching theChampions League knockoutstages — they face an intimidatinglast-16 tie with Paris Saint-Germain— a mix of the results, dressing-room discord and criticism of the

board's transfer policy provedpotent factors in the decision to dis-miss him.

A United source said thatMourinho had been supported inhis efforts to sign players anddescribed reports of player powerat the club as being key to the sack-ing as wide of the mark.

According to British mediareports, United will have to payMourinho 22.5 million ($ 28 mil-lion) — as the club are still in theChampions League — to sever theties.

"Manchester United announces

that manager Jose Mourinho hasleft the club with immediate effect,"a club statement said.

"The club would like to thankJose for his work during his time atManchester United and to wishhim success in the future.

"A new caretaker manager willbe appointed until the end of thecurrent season, while the club con-ducts a thorough recruitmentprocess for a new, full-time man-ager."

3��� � ������� ���� ��EIn the longer term former Real

Madrid coach Zinedine Zidane hasbeen linked to the club andTottenham Hotspur manager

Mauricio Pochettino could also bea name in the frame.

One bookmaker makesPochettino the early favourite andthe 46-year-old Argentinian is alsoformer Manchester United mid-fielder Gary Neville's favouredoption.

"They need someone whomeets the three key principles ofthat football club: the promotion ofyouth, entertaining football and towin football matches," Neville toldSky Sports News.

"People suggest he (Pochettino)hasn't won a trophy yet atTottenham but with a net spend ofminus 29 million or something overthe last four years, I'm not sure he

could have done more."I do think he is the person

who is the outstanding candidate."Mourinho's reign had started

well enough with the League Cupand the Europa League trophies butfor a club that has been championsof England 20 times, neighboursManchester City's dominance overthem in the league has hurt.

The wound went even deeperfor Mourinho as City are managedby Pep Guardiola, who got the bet-ter of him when he was in chargeat Barcelona and Mourinho was atReal Madrid.

However, despite his protesta-tions to the contrary the Unitedboard gave Mourinho plenty of

money to compete.Top-quality players such as

Belgian striker Romelu Lukaku —who he persuaded to come toUnited and not Chelsea for 75 mil-lion in 2017 — and Paul Pogba fora then world record fee of 89 mil-lion in 2016 have floundered underhis authoritarian stewardship.

Indeed it was his deterioratingrelationship with World Cup-win-ning midfielder Pogba — one ofmany to feel the lash of his tonguein public — that symbolised thedecline at the club under him.

Mourinho questioned his atti-tude while the player hit back withopen criticism of the tactics, cul-minating in him kicking his heelson the bench during the Liverpooldebacle on Sunday.

The manager's overall EPLpoints haul of 176 since hisappointment by United laggedbehind City, Liverpool, Tottenhamand Chelsea during the same peri-od.

Andy Mitten, editor of fanzineUnited We Stand, told BBC Radiothat neither the players nor the fanswould miss Mourinho.

"We've been doing polls where80 percent of fans wanted him toleave," said Mitten.

"He had a very good first sea-son, an acceptable second season,but this season has been a disaster."

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Angelo Mathews celebratedwith push-ups on the

pitch after joining KusalMendis in passing 100 onTuesday as Sri Lanka battedthe whole day without losinga wicket to give themselveshope of an unlikely first Testdraw in Wellington.

Mendis was 116 not out atstumps on day four andMathews 117, with theirrecord-breaking unbroken246-run partnership setting aSri Lankan record against NewZealand.

It was also the first time in

New Zealand that a full day'splay has been completed with-out a Test wicket falling andthe first time anywhere sinceSouth Africa achieved the featagainst Bangladesh inChittagong in 2008.

The pair's epic vigil meantthe tourists ended the day at259 for three after starting ina seemingly hopeless positionwith three wickets down forjust 20 in their second inningsafter conceding a first-inningsdeficit of 296 to New Zealand.

Sri Lanka still need a fur-ther 37 to avoid an inningsdefeat but with a flat pitchoffering nothing to New

Zealand's seam attack andrain threatening on the finalday, a draw is now a realprospect.

"Even tough it's a belter ofa wicket, the concentrationand commitment they hadwas unbelievable," bowlingcoach Rumesh Ratnayake said.

"We couldn't have askedfor anything more."

New Zealand had hopedto wrap up the match early onthe fourth day after posting animposing 578 in the firstinnings, anchored by TomLatham's unbeaten 264 —which eclipsed formerEngland captain Alastair

Cook's 244 as the highestscore by an opener carryingtheir bat in Test history.

But the home bowlersgrew increasingly frustrated bythe stubborn rearguard action,resorting to a barrage ofbouncers that failed to rattlethe batsmen.

Spinner Ajaz Patel said theBlack Caps had not playedpoorly and were still upbeatabout claiming victory on thefinal day.

"The positive thing for usis that we are the only team ina position to win the game.That's great position for us tobe in," he said.

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Unheralded architect-turned-crick-eter Varun Chakravarthy on Tuesdayfetched a sensational bid of �8.4

crore, more than 40 times his base price,before veteran Yuvraj Singh finally found abuyer at the IPL players' auction that had anunmissable Caribbean flavour to it.

Chakravarthy, with a base price of �20lakh, went to Kings XI Punjab after a bid-ding war that also involved Delhi Capitals,Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals.

KXIP, who had the maximum moneygoing into the auction, also spent big onEngland all-rounder Sam Curran, buyinghim for �7.2 crore, the most for an overseasplayer on Tuesday.

Yuvraj fans must have also heaved a sighof relief when the 37-year-old was boughtby Mumbai Indians for his base price of�1crore after going unsold initially.

"If you are wondering why this tooktime...We've just got back to senses! Welcometo Mumbai," tweeted Mumbai Indians.

Yuvraj secured a last minute deal buthis IPL fortunes have been decliningrapidly. In 2015, he fetched a record�16 crore deal with the Delhi franchisebut was picked up by KXIP at his baseof price of �2 crore last season before theteam released him.

Both uncapped and capped Indianswere in demand at the auction.Medium pacer JaydevUnadkat became a mil-lionaire once again witha �8.4 crore bid fromRajasthan Royals butthe spotlight wasfirmly onChakravarthy, the27-year-old mys-tery spinnerfrom TamilNadu whogave up a career asfreelance architect topursue cricket.

"We had to wait and seehow the bid was going (forChakravarthy). He canbowl in the Powerplay andin the death and can alsobat," said KXIP coach MikeHesson.

Chakravarthy has risento prominence owing to astrong showing in the TamilNadu Premier League. Hehas been widely credited forMadurai Panthers maiden TNPLtitle win this year.

Unadkat, on the other hand,is back in the RR fold after beingreleased at the end of the 2018 sea-

son. He had beenbought for �11.5 croreby RR earlier this year.On Tuesday, theRoyals lapped himup him after a bid-ding battle with KXI,CSK and Delhi

Capitals.B e s i d e s

Chakaravarthy, the otheruncapped players who

attracted huge amountswere 16-year-old all-rounder

Prayas Ray Barman fromBengal (�1.5 cr to RCB),Punjab wicketkeeper PrabSimran Singh (�4.8 cr to KXIP),Mumbai batsmen ShivamDube (�5 cr to RCB) and UttarPradesh batsman AkshdeepSingh (�3.6 cr to RCB) .Akshdeep was bought after he re-entered the auction pool.

With uncertainty over theavailability of Australian and

England players in a World Cup year, theteams went after the West Indians.

Out of the 20 overseas slots available, sixwere sealed by the Caribbean playersincluding Shimron Hetmyer, CarlosBrathwaite , Nicholas Pooran, OshaneThomas, Keemo Paul and SherfaneRutherford.

Royal Challengers Bangalore paid �4.2crore for Hetmyer. Kolkata Knight Riders,Rajasthan Royals and Delhi Capitals also bidfor the stylish West Indian batsman, who hada base price of �50 lakh.

His teammate Brathwaite, the star of2016 World T20, was sold to KKR for �5crore after a bidding war between the DineshKarthik-led side and Kings XI Punjab.

The all-rounder had entered the auc-tion with a base price of �75 lakh.

Another West Indian to get an attrac-tive deal was wicketkeeper NicholasPooran. The 23-year-old, who came witha base price of �75 lakh, went for �4.20crore to KXIP. He is a T20 find and is yetto play Test cricket. Delhi Capitals paid �2crore and �50 for Rutherford and Keemo

Paul while Royals bought Thomas for �1.1crore.

Amongst other Indians, spinner AxarPatel (Rs five crore), pacer Mohit Sharma(� five crore) and Mohammad Shami(�4.8 crore) were the other names to fetchbig bids.

Patel, who made his name at KXIP, wasbought by Delhi Capitals after a biddingbattle with the Punjab franchise.

Shami, who turned up for Delhi lastseason, was sold to KXIP while Mohit wentback to Chennai Super Kings after a stintwith KXIP.

Indian Test player Hanuma Vihari wassold to Delhi Capitals for ��two crore, fourtimes his base price.

Pacer Ishant Sharma, who had a baseprice of ��75 lakh, went to Delhi Capitalsfor �1.1 crore while wicketkeeperWriddhiman Saha was bought back bySunrisers Hyderabad for �1.2 crore.

The high-profile unsold players wereCheteshwar Pujara, Brendon McCullum,Shaun Marsh, Chris Woakes and DaleSteyn.

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India crumbled in the face ofAustralia's remarkable metamor-phosis and crashed to a 146-run

defeat in the second Test here onTuesday, surrendering a rare hard-earned ascendancy in a series DownUnder.

The hosts levelled the four-match series 1-1 after India werebowled out for 140 runs in 56 oversin their second innings on the fifthand final day.

Starting from overnight 112 forfive, India lost their last five wicketsfor 28 runs and it was all over with-in 65 minutes of play.

This was Australia's first Test winsince the ball-tampering scandalbroke out in South Africa earlier thisyear.

Having won the opening game by31 runs to go in front, India had beentalked up as a threat coming into thecapital of Western Australia, butthey wilted as the pace-spin duo ofMitchell Starc and Nathan Lyonworked in tandem at the OptusStadium.

Starc (3-46) and Lyon (3-39) fin-ished with three wickets apiece, whileJosh Hazlewood (2-24) and PatCummins (2-25) took a brace each.

While Starc and his pace col-leagues were expected to thrive on thelively track, it was off-spinner Lyon'sexceptional outing that gave Australiathe edge. He finished the match witheight wickets, including a five-for inthe first innings and a deserving Man-of-the-Match award.

India surely missed a trick in notplaying a specialist spinner, some-thing that was admitted by one oftheir own at the end of fourth day'splay.

Hanuma Vihari (28) and RishabhPant (30) had continued theirovernight partnership, and batted outonly six overs before the first wicketfell on this day. Overall, they added21 runs for the sixth wicket.

Vihari was the first to go, lobbinga catch off Starc to short point. Pantthen tried to play a few more attack-ing strokes, but he didn't comprehendthe situation well and was confusedwhether to farm the strike at all.

In doing so, he attacked Lyon andholed out to mid on, with PeterHandscomb taking a low divingcatch. It hastened the end for India,with Umesh Yadav (2) returning asimple catch to Starc.

Ishant Sharma (0) was caughtbehind off Cummins, and JaspritBumrah (0) hit a skier for anotherreturn catch to the pacer as Australiasealed their first Test win sinceDurban before the ball-tamperingscandal hit the headlines.

Australia had scored 326 runs intheir first innings, and India repliedwith 283 runs, thus conceding a leadof 43 runs. The hosts scored 243 runsin their second innings to post a 287-run target.

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The Indian cricket board (BCCI)on Tuesday rubbished media

reports in Australia which claimedthat captain Virat Kohli braggedabout being the best batsman in theworld while ridiculing Tim Paineduring the second Test in Perth.

The two captains were consis-tently involved in banter during thematch but both insisted that no linewas crossed. Reports in Australiaclaimed that the world's No 1 Testand ODI batsman boasted aboutbeing the best in the business dur-ing the showdowns.

The BCCI came out in supportof Kohli, saying the statementattributed to Kohli was just hearsayand he never bragged about him-self.

"It is 'assumed' that Kohli said,'I am the best player in the worldand you are just a stand-in captain'.These claims were based on hearsayand the BCCI would like to bringinto notice that no such words werespoken on the field by the Indiancaptain," BCCI said in a statement.

"The BCCI got a clarification

from the team management aboutthe incident and would like to clas-sify the reports as baseless."

With the banter reported bythe media on the last two days ofthe match, Kohli faced questions onthe issue but he said no one crossedthe line.

"As long as there is no swear-ing on the field, and there's no per-sonal attacks, the line doesn't getcrossed. That's it!. But look, in com-petitive spirit it stays on the field.I am not going to go into details butto be honest it's not of importancefor me to speak on and it's some-thing that's done," Kohli said afterIndia lost the Test by 146 runs.

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Tension flared up betweenteammates Ishant

Sharma and Ravindra Jadejaduring a mid-game break onthe fourth day of the secondTest.

Ishant and Jadeja wereengaged in a heated discus-sion before two other team-mates,including MohammedShami, separated them.

Though it did not looklike a friendly discussion, the

reason behind their argu-ment was not clear.

"It does seem pretty ani-mated," former Australiacaptain Ricky Ponting hadsaid.

"There's lots of fingerpointing. They were sepa-rated on a couple of occa-sions."

While Ishant played inthe first two Tests, Jadeja hasbeen limited to drinks dutyand substitute fielding at theOptus Stadium.

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