· Clay Shampoo & Garnier Micellar Cleansing Water), Procter & Gamble Hygiene & Health Care Ltd...

16
S uspense mounted over death of Jaish-e- Mohammad chief Maulana Masood Azhar even as the terror outfit has denied the reports and said he is alright. Indian intelligence agencies were trying to ascertain the veracity of the claims and counter-claims. Unconfirmed reports have emerged in the Indian media and social media that the JeM chief Azhar is dead. The reports claimed that Azhar was seri- ously injured during the air strike carried out by the Indian Air Force (IAF) in Balakot and succumbed to injuries. But Pakistani officials categor- ically denied reports of his being injured in the air strike. According to the inputs with the Agencies here, Azhar is facing renal problems and he had undergone a kidney trans- plant six months ago at the base hospital of Pakistan army at Bahawalpur. The kidney trans- plant on Azhar was successful and he continues to undergo medical check-ups at the army hospital there, sources said. Following a flood of mes- sages on the social media regard- ing claims of death of Azhar, the terror group issued statement, saying, “Respectful Azhar by the grace of Allah, is safe, sound and alright.” The Gulf News quoted a top Pakistani official who has also denied rumours about the death of Azhar. “All I can say is that reports in the media about Azhar’s death are not true,” a Pakistani official told The Gulf News. The Pakistani official quoted by The Gulf News said Azhar is not dead as rumours are being spread on the social media. A resident of Bahawalpur in Pakistan’s Punjab province, Azhar formed the Jaish-e- Mohammed in 2000. The 50-year-old Azhar, who was released by the NDA Government in 1999 in exchange of hostages of the hijacked Indian Airlines plane IC-814, has been accused of being the mastermind of the 2001 Parliament attack, suicide attack on Jammu & Kashmir State Assembly, attack on Pathankot IAF base and the latest Pulwama terror strike. In an interview to CNN, Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi earlier admitted that the JeM chief is in Pakistan and is “very unwell”, but said the Government can act against him only if India presents “solid” and “inalien- able” evidence that can stand in a court of law. “He is in Pakistan, accord- ing to my information. He is unwell to the extent that he can’t leave his house, because he’s really unwell,” Qureshi had claimed. The media reports claiming that JeM leader is dead are false, Geo Urdu News reported. Quoting unnamed sources close to the family of the JeM chief, the channel said Azhar is “alive”. Jaish terror group’s Balakot camp, where training was imparted to recruits to carry out suicide attacks, was target- ed by the IAF in an airstrike last week, following the Pulwama suicide bombing in which 44 CRPF personnel were mar- tyred. The Government has said that a large number of Jaish terrorists were killed in the air raid at Balakot. P rime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday launched a blistering attack on the Congress-led Opposition accusing it of focusing solely on trying to “finish” him off while he is working to quell terrorism, ensure national security, erad- icate poverty and corruption, and generate employment. Addressing an NDA rally here in the presence of his Bihar allies — including Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and Union Minister Ram Vilas Paswan — Modi came down heavily on Opposition for their skepticism over surgical strikes by the Army post the Uri ter- ror attack, and the air strikes in Balakot after the Pulwama sui- cide bombing. “Is it appropriate for these parties to speak in a language that suits Pakistan? Leaders of the neighbouring country are using it as a shield to protect themselves against the charge of promoting terrorism. They are clapping gleefully,” Modi said. On Saturday, Senior Congress leader Digvijaya Singh had asked the Centre to present evidence of the air strike on terrorist camps in Balakot. He had also “congrat- ulated” Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan for releasing IAF Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman. Before that, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had on February 28 said lives of jawans are much more valuable than electoral politics, but the nation has a right to know what actually happened at Balakot following the IAF’s air strike. The PM alleged on Sunday the Opposition parties were con- spiring against him “while I want to eliminate terror. They are conspiring to fin- ish me off.” “When the coun- try needed to speak in one voice, 21 Opposition parties gathered in Delhi to adopt a resolution condemning us. They are demanding proof from the Armed forces for their act of bravery,” he stated. Without naming Congress chief Rahul Gandhi, who has coined the slogan “Chowkidar chor hai” (the watchman is the thief), Modi said, “Those who run their political shops in the name of the poor and care for nothing except for their dynas- ties, are having problems with the chowkidar. But the chowki- dar is alert and on the job.” Modi also took a veiled dig at jailed RJD supremo Lalu Prasad, saying, “The people of Bihar have seen a lot in the name of purchase of fodder. Our Government has worked for doing away with middle- men who siphon off public money. Continued on Page 4 T he Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI) has banned 232 advertisements running in print media and TVs, including an advertise- ment in which Indian cricket Captain Virat Kohli, was endorsing a bike brand shown driving rashly and violating traffic rules, manifesting a dis- regard for safety. In another advertisement, Bollywood actress Alia Bhatt was found to endorse a sham- poo claiming to keep hair non- stop fresh for up to 72 hours which was also banned by the ASCI. A total of 389 complaints was probed by the Consumer Complaints Council (CCC) during October and November 2018. The advertisers took cor- rective action in 112 cases while 232 advertisements have been banned for violating Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) guidelines. Of these 232 advertise- ments, 95 belonged to the edu- cation sector, 53 to the health- care sector, 36 to the food and beverages sector, 23 to personal care, and 20 were from the ‘oth- ers’ category. According to ASCI, in the Hero MotoCorp Ltd (Hero Xtreme 200r) advertisement, cricketer Virat Kohli is seen driving rashly in normal traf- fic conditions. The advertise- ment portrays violation of traf- fic rules, shows dangerous practices and manifests disre- gard for safety. The advertise- ment showed speed manoeu- vrability in a manner which encourages unsafe or reckless driving which could harm the driver and general public. “In the L’Oreal advertise- ment, Bollywood actress Alia Bhat claimed, “Makeup off in just one swipe,” which was not substantiated. The claim is misleading by exaggeration, and is likely to lead to grave or widespread disappointment in the minds of consumers. The advertiser did not provide any testimonials, or any evidence of the consent of the celebrity for the product efficacy claims,” ASCI said. In the VIP natural hair colour shampoo advertisement, Bollywood actor Vivek Oberoi applying the product with his bare hands says, “Gloves ki zaroorat hi nahin. Gloves ke bina hi, isse app geele haathon mein leke safed baloon par shampoo ki tarah maasage karke sirf 15 minutes mein wash kar le. Ye aapke skin par bilkul nahin lagega, sirf aapke balon par lagega,” the claim was not substantiated with any technical test reports and is misleading by ambiguity and implication. The instructions in product leaflet mention “use gloves when required” while the pack says “can be applied with wet bare hands” are con- tradictory. Also, the claim “5 in 1 benefit i.e. application on head, moustache, beard, chest and hand” was not substanti- ated with any safety test reports. The advertisement is encour- aging unsafe practices among consumers. The banned ads are from prominent companies like Hero MotoCorp Ltd (Hero Xtreme 200r), L’Oreal India Pvt Ltd (L’Oreal Extraordinary Clay Shampoo & Garnier Micellar Cleansing Water), Procter & Gamble Hygiene & Health Care Ltd (Head & Shoulders Anti-Dandruff Shampoo), GlaxoSmithKline Asia (Sensodyne Toothpaste), Dabur India Ltd (Dabur Honitus Syrups), Continued on Page 4 I ndian Air Force Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman, who became the face of the tense military con- frontation between India and Pakistan post-Pulwama, con- veyed to the Air Force brass that he wants to return to the cockpit and resume flying as soon as possible. After his hand over on Friday night by the Pakistani authorities, the pilot has been undergoing medical treatment at a military hospital here for the last two days as part of a cooling down process. Through debriefings, the security agen- cies are seeking to know the kind of questions put forth by the Pakistani agencies during his captivity there, sources said. Varthaman told senior IAF commanders visiting him at the hospital and the doctors treat- ing him that he wants to resume duties at the earliest, officials said. On Wednesday, Varthaman became the first IAF pilot to shoot down an F- 16 fighter jet, a fourth genera- tion aircraft, during an aerial combat with the Pakistani Air Force with a second generation MiG 21 Bison fighter which is a second generation jet. This besides, the pilot of the downed F-16 fighter jet could not even eject whereas Varthaman was able to do it as soon as it was hit by the Pakistani ground forces. Continued on Page 4 R ash driving has yet again claimed a life in the nation- al Capital. Twenty-four-year-old Mohammad Afaq, a resident of Zakir Nagar in Delhi, was killed when a speeding Chevrolet Cruze driven by a 26-year-old girl allegedly hit him while he was changing the punctured tyre of a car on the roadside near the Moolchand underpass in South- east Delhi, police said on Sunday. The accused girl identified as Ananya Khurana, a resident of Lajpat Nagar-II and US edu- cated, was arrested by police on Sunday evening. An eyewitness claimed that there were two girls in the car. “The girls manage to flee in the presence of police per- sonnel, leaving their car behind,” said the eyewitness. According to Chinmoy Biswal, the Deputy Commissioner of Police, on late Saturday night Rudra Aashish Pandey, his friends Nitish and Gaurav were returning back to their home in Okhla after attending a marriage at Moti Bagh when their car’s right side front tyre got punctured. “Nitish called a mechanic and at around 1.40am, when mechanic Afaq was replacing the burst tire of their car, a speeding Chevrolet came from AIIMS side and hit him. Nitish and Gaurav also sustained injuries in the incident,” said the DCP. “The car was being driven by a girl who fled from the spot leaving her vehicle behind. Afaq was rushed to a nearby hospital where he suc- cumbed to his injuries during treatment, while Nitish and Gaurav were discharged after minor treatment,” said the DCP. Continued on Page 4 C ommuting will become easier for the people of Delhi -National Capital Region (NCR) after in a meeting on Saturday, the Uttar Pradesh (UP) Government approved the revised Detailed Project Report (DPR) of the 82 km long Delhi Ghaziabad Meerut corridor. The big day is on March 8 when Prime Minister Narendra Modi is going to lay the foun- dation stone for the inaugura- tion work of the much await- ed Delhi-Meerut-Ghaziabad Regional Rapid Transit System (RRTS) corridor, along with the inauguration of Hindon airbase and the extension of Red Line Dilshad Garden to New Bus Adda metro corridor. Detailed report on P2 A ddressing a public meeting after dedicating an ord- nance unit which will manu- facture world’s best assault rifle AK-203 and launching devel- opment projects worth over 538 crore at Korwa in Amethi on Sunday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said these modern rifles will be made in Amethi under a Russia-India joint venture. These rifles will be known as ‘made in Amethi’ and will help our jawans in encounters with naxals and terrorists, he said. “Amethi will get a new identity now,” Modi said. Modi attacked the Gandhi family for the neglect of the region and said the region suf- fered because of the apathy of one family who gave fake assur- ances of development and actu- ally did nothing. Detailed report on P6

Transcript of  · Clay Shampoo & Garnier Micellar Cleansing Water), Procter & Gamble Hygiene & Health Care Ltd...

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Suspense mounted overdeath of Jaish-e-

Mohammad chief MaulanaMasood Azhar even as theterror outfit has denied thereports and said he is alright.Indian intelligence agencieswere trying to ascertain theveracity of the claims andcounter-claims.

Unconfirmed reports haveemerged in the Indian mediaand social media that the JeMchief Azhar is dead. The reportsclaimed that Azhar was seri-ously injured during the airstrike carried out by the IndianAir Force (IAF) in Balakotand succumbed to injuries.But Pakistani officials categor-ically denied reports of hisbeing injured in the air strike.

According to the inputswith the Agencies here, Azharis facing renal problems and he

had undergone a kidney trans-plant six months ago at the basehospital of Pakistan army atBahawalpur. The kidney trans-plant on Azhar was successfuland he continues to undergomedical check-ups at the armyhospital there, sources said.

Following a flood of mes-sages on the social media regard-ing claims of death of Azhar, theterror group issued statement,saying, “Respectful Azhar by thegrace of Allah, is safe, sound andalright.” The Gulf News quoteda top Pakistani official who hasalso denied rumours about thedeath of Azhar.

“All I can say is that reportsin the media about Azhar’sdeath are not true,” a Pakistaniofficial told The Gulf News. ThePakistani official quoted byThe Gulf News said Azhar is notdead as rumours are beingspread on the social media.

A resident of Bahawalpur

in Pakistan’s Punjab province,Azhar formed the Jaish-e-Mohammed in 2000.

The 50-year-old Azhar,who was released by the NDAGovernment in 1999 inexchange of hostages of thehijacked Indian Airlines planeIC-814, has been accused ofbeing the mastermind of the2001 Parliament attack, suicide

attack on Jammu & KashmirState Assembly, attack onPathankot IAF base and the latest Pulwama terrorstrike. In an interview to CNN,Pakistan Foreign Minister ShahMehmood Qureshi earlieradmitted that the JeM chief isin Pakistan and is “very unwell”,but said the Government canact against him only if India

presents “solid” and “inalien-able” evidence that can stand ina court of law.

“He is in Pakistan, accord-ing to my information. He isunwell to the extent that hecan’t leave his house, becausehe’s really unwell,” Qureshi hadclaimed. The media reportsclaiming that JeM leader isdead are false, Geo Urdu Newsreported. Quoting unnamedsources close to the family ofthe JeM chief, the channel saidAzhar is “alive”.

Jaish terror group’s Balakotcamp, where training wasimparted to recruits to carryout suicide attacks, was target-ed by the IAF in an airstrike lastweek, following the Pulwamasuicide bombing in which 44CRPF personnel were mar-tyred. The Government hassaid that a large number of Jaishterrorists were killed in the airraid at Balakot.

������������ ��������������������� ������������� ��� ���� ������ ��������� � �� ���� ������� ����� ��� ����� �����

����� �.�9.�

Prime Minister NarendraModi on Sunday launched

a blistering attack on theCongress-led Oppositionaccusing it of focusing solely ontrying to “finish” him off whilehe is working to quell terrorism,ensure national security, erad-icate poverty and corruption,and generate employment.

Addressing an NDA rallyhere in the presence of hisBihar allies — including ChiefMinister Nitish Kumar andUnion Minister Ram VilasPaswan — Modi came downheavily on Opposition for theirskepticism over surgical strikesby the Army post the Uri ter-ror attack, and the air strikes inBalakot after the Pulwama sui-cide bombing.

“Is it appropriate for theseparties to speak in a languagethat suits Pakistan? Leaders ofthe neighbouring country areusing it as a shield to protectthemselves against the charge ofpromoting terrorism. They areclapping gleefully,” Modi said.

On Saturday, SeniorCongress leader DigvijayaSingh had asked the Centre topresent evidence of the airstrike on terrorist camps inBalakot. He had also “congrat-ulated” Pakistan PrimeMinister Imran Khan forreleasing IAF WingCommander AbhinandanVarthaman.

Before that, West BengalChief Minister MamataBanerjee had on February 28said lives of jawans are muchmore valuable than electoral

politics, but the nation has aright to know what actuallyhappened at Balakot followingthe IAF’s air strike. The PMalleged on Sunday theOpposition parties were con-spiring against him “while Iwant to eliminate terror.

They are conspiring to fin-ish me off.” “When the coun-try needed to speak in onevoice, 21 Opposition partiesgathered in Delhi to adopt aresolution condemning us.They are demanding prooffrom the Armed forces fortheir act of bravery,” he stated.

Without naming Congresschief Rahul Gandhi, who hascoined the slogan “Chowkidarchor hai” (the watchman is thethief), Modi said, “Those whorun their political shops in thename of the poor and care fornothing except for their dynas-ties, are having problems withthe chowkidar. But the chowki-dar is alert and on the job.”

Modi also took a veiled digat jailed RJD supremo LaluPrasad, saying, “The people ofBihar have seen a lot in thename of purchase of fodder.Our Government has workedfor doing away with middle-men who siphon off publicmoney.

Continued on Page 4

�����+������ 9:6�':;<)

The Advertising StandardsCouncil of India (ASCI)

has banned 232 advertisementsrunning in print media andTVs, including an advertise-ment in which Indian cricketCaptain Virat Kohli, wasendorsing a bike brand showndriving rashly and violatingtraffic rules, manifesting a dis-regard for safety.

In another advertisement,Bollywood actress Alia Bhattwas found to endorse a sham-poo claiming to keep hair non-stop fresh for up to 72 hourswhich was also banned by theASCI.

A total of 389 complaintswas probed by the Consumer

Complaints Council (CCC)during October and November2018. The advertisers took cor-rective action in 112 caseswhile 232 advertisements havebeen banned for violatingBroadcast Audience ResearchCouncil (BARC) guidelines.

Of these 232 advertise-ments, 95 belonged to the edu-cation sector, 53 to the health-care sector, 36 to the food andbeverages sector, 23 to personalcare, and 20 were from the ‘oth-ers’ category.

According to ASCI, in theHero MotoCorp Ltd (HeroXtreme 200r) advertisement,cricketer Virat Kohli is seendriving rashly in normal traf-fic conditions. The advertise-ment portrays violation of traf-

fic rules, shows dangerouspractices and manifests disre-gard for safety. The advertise-ment showed speed manoeu-vrability in a manner whichencourages unsafe or recklessdriving which could harm thedriver and general public.

“In the L’Oreal advertise-ment, Bollywood actress AliaBhat claimed, “Makeup off injust one swipe,” which was notsubstantiated. The claim ismisleading by exaggeration,and is likely to lead to grave orwidespread disappointment inthe minds of consumers. Theadvertiser did not provide anytestimonials, or any evidence ofthe consent of the celebrity forthe product efficacy claims,”ASCI said.

In the VIP natural haircolour shampoo advertisement,Bollywood actor Vivek Oberoiapplying the product with hisbare hands says, “Gloves kizaroorat hi nahin. Gloves kebina hi, isse app geele haathonmein leke safed baloon parshampoo ki tarah maasagekarke sirf 15 minutes meinwash kar le. Ye aapke skin parbilkul nahin lagega, sirf aapkebalon par lagega,” the claim wasnot substantiated with anytechnical test reports and ismisleading by ambiguity andimplication. The instructions inproduct leaflet mention “usegloves when required” whilethe pack says “can be appliedwith wet bare hands” are con-tradictory. Also, the claim “5 in

1 benefit i.e. application onhead, moustache, beard, chestand hand” was not substanti-ated with any safety test reports.The advertisement is encour-aging unsafe practices amongconsumers.

The banned ads are fromprominent companies likeHero MotoCorp Ltd (HeroXtreme 200r), L’Oreal IndiaPvt Ltd (L’Oreal ExtraordinaryClay Shampoo & GarnierMicellar Cleansing Water),Procter & Gamble Hygiene &Health Care Ltd (Head &Shoulders Anti-DandruffShampoo), GlaxoSmithKlineAsia (Sensodyne Toothpaste),Dabur India Ltd (DaburHonitus Syrups),

Continued on Page 4

���� 9:6�':;<)��

Indian Air Force WingCommander Abhinandan

Varthaman, who became theface of the tense military con-frontation between India andPakistan post-Pulwama, con-veyed to the Air Force brassthat he wants to return to thecockpit and resume flying assoon as possible.

After his hand over onFriday night by the Pakistaniauthorities, the pilot has beenundergoing medical treatmentat a military hospital here forthe last two days as part of acooling down process. Throughdebriefings, the security agen-cies are seeking to know thekind of questions put forth bythe Pakistani agencies duringhis captivity there, sources said.

Varthaman told senior IAFcommanders visiting him at thehospital and the doctors treat-

ing him that he wants toresume duties at the earliest,officials said. On Wednesday,Varthaman became the firstIAF pilot to shoot down an F-16 fighter jet, a fourth genera-tion aircraft, during an aerialcombat with the Pakistani AirForce with a second generation

MiG 21 Bison fighter which isa second generation jet. Thisbesides, the pilot of the downedF-16 fighter jet could not eveneject whereas Varthaman wasable to do it as soon as it washit by the Pakistani groundforces.

Continued on Page 4

��������������� 9:6�':;<)

Rash driving has yet againclaimed a life in the nation-

al Capital. Twenty-four-year-oldMohammad Afaq, a resident ofZakir Nagar in Delhi, was killedwhen a speeding ChevroletCruze driven by a 26-year-oldgirl allegedly hit him while hewas changing the punctured tyreof a car on the roadside near theMoolchand underpass in South-east Delhi, police said on Sunday.

The accused girl identifiedas Ananya Khurana, a residentof Lajpat Nagar-II and US edu-

cated, was arrested by police onSunday evening. An eyewitnessclaimed that there were two girlsin the car. “The girls manage toflee in the presence of police per-

sonnel, leaving their car behind,”said the eyewitness.

According to ChinmoyBiswal, the DeputyCommissioner of Police, on late

Saturday night Rudra AashishPandey, his friends Nitish andGaurav were returning back totheir home in Okhla afterattending a marriage at MotiBagh when their car’s right sidefront tyre got punctured.

“Nitish called a mechanicand at around 1.40am, whenmechanic Afaq was replacing theburst tire of their car, a speedingChevrolet came from AIIMSside and hit him. Nitish andGaurav also sustained injuries inthe incident,” said the DCP.

“The car was being drivenby a girl who fled from thespot leaving her vehiclebehind. Afaq was rushed to anearby hospital where he suc-cumbed to his injuries duringtreatment, while Nitish andGaurav were discharged afterminor treatment,” said theDCP.

Continued on Page 4

�������������� 9:6�':;<)

Commuting will becomeeasier for the people of

Delhi -National Capital Region(NCR) after in a meeting onSaturday, the Uttar Pradesh(UP) Government approvedthe revised Detailed ProjectReport (DPR) of the 82 kmlong Delhi Ghaziabad Meerutcorridor.

The big day is on March 8when Prime Minister NarendraModi is going to lay the foun-dation stone for the inaugura-tion work of the much await-ed Delhi-Meerut-GhaziabadRegional Rapid Transit System(RRTS) corridor, along with theinauguration of Hindon airbaseand the extension of Red LineDilshad Garden to New BusAdda metro corridor.

Detailed report on P2

�� ���� �������� ��� ��� ������ ��� ����� ������������������� �������������������������������� ��������������� � ���

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Addressing a public meetingafter dedicating an ord-

nance unit which will manu-facture world’s best assault rifleAK-203 and launching devel-opment projects worth over�538 crore at Korwa in Amethion Sunday, Prime MinisterNarendra Modi said thesemodern rifles will be made inAmethi under a Russia-Indiajoint venture.

These rifles will be knownas ‘made in Amethi’ and willhelp our jawans in encounterswith naxals and terrorists, hesaid. “Amethi will get a newidentity now,” Modi said.

Modi attacked the Gandhifamily for the neglect of theregion and said the region suf-fered because of the apathy ofone family who gave fake assur-ances of development and actu-ally did nothing.

Detailed report on P6

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A28-year-old woman doctorwas found dead inside a

room of Maharaja AgrasenHospital in west Delhi’s PunjabiBagh early Sunday morning.

The doctor has been iden-tified as Astha Munjal residentof Panchsheel Park in Delhi. Asyringe was found lying on thefloor near the body of AsthaMunjal who worked in the neu-rology department. The doorwas locked from inside andwas forcibly opened by guardsearly morning, police said.

According to MonikaBhardawaj, the DeputyCommissioner of Police, Westdistrict, a Police Control Room(PCR) call was received regard-ing the incident at around 5.50am following which police teamwent to the spot where thebody of Astha was found itinside the doctor’s cabin of theNeurology ICU in the first floorof the building “During initialinvestigation, it was revealed thatthe syringe was jabbed on the left arm. Her bag and mobilephone was also found near the body, the DCP said,

a d d i n gMunjal wasmarried to DrUdai Dhingraof Guru TegBahadur hos-pital inShahdara dis-trict.

����� 9:6�7':;<)

In view of delay in imple-mentation of the Centre’s

project for paperless legislativeassemblies in the country, DelhiVidhan Sabha has decided toimplement it on its own withfinancial help from the cityGovernment.

The general purposescommittee (GPC) of DelhiAssembly in its report hasopined that the project, NeVA(National e-VidhanApplication), for all theLegislatures has been “badlydelayed” and hence theAssembly should implement itfrom the funds provided by theAAP Government.

The GPC report wastabled and adopted in therecently concluded budget ses-sion of the state assembly.

“The Assembly Secretariathas sought �20 crore in thebudget estimates of 2019-20.The project will be modified tobest suit the need of the DelhiAssembly and its members,”said the report.

A Delhi AssemblySecretariat official said thegovernment has allocated therequired sum in the budget for2019-20.

The project will involveInformation and Technologydepartment of Delhi govern-ment and National InformaticsCentre (NIC), it said. As perthe report, the green gover-nance tool ‘e-Vidhan’ forpaperless Assembly was imple-mented in Himachal Pradeshwith help of NIC and UnionMinistry of InformationTechnology.

Under the project,Government of India was to provide financial assistanceto the Legislatures for implementing the Himachalmodel.

A subcommittee of theGPC had visited Himachal

Assembly in October 2015 tohave a firsthand knowledge ofthe project.

The GPC had approvedimplementation of ‘e-Vidhan’in Delhi Assembly and recom-mended adoption of Himachalmodel, said the report.

��������������� 9:6�':;<)

Providing substantial relief tothe property tax assesses,

the Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP)-ruled East Delhi MunicipalCorporation (EDMC) hasextended the last date for avail-ing an amnesty scheme for pay-ment of property tax to the endof March.

A senior EDMC officialsaid that the amnesty scheme has been extended tillthe end of March for propertyowners in east Delhi. It was tobe effective till February 28 ear-lier,” a senior EDMC officialsaid.

Under the amnestyscheme, property owners in thecity will not have to pay inter-est and penalty if they clearpending dues of the tax.

“For east Delhi, areas in focus are the unauthorised colonies andunauthorised regularisedcolonies where people do not pay property taxes.

Idea is to make this schemeserve as an incentive to bringthem under the tax net,” theofficial said.

The other two corpora-tions, the North and SouthCorporations had alreadyannounced a similar schemeearlier.

For property owners innorth Delhi, the scheme willcover defaulters who have notfiled property tax since April

2004, officials said.A senior SDMC official

said that some of the major areas which remain outof tax net are rural urban areas and urban village, addingthat with the move the corpo-ration aims to bring moreproperties under the tax net toaugment the corporation’sincome.

Elaborating it further, theofficial said that under thisscheme all property holderswill become entitled for 100 percent waiver of the amountrelating to interest, penaltyand other charges on makingup-to-date payment of out-standing dues by 31st March,2019.

“The assesses will be ben-efited with waiver of interest, penalty and other charges amount on pay-ment of their due amount ofproperty tax by 31st March 2019. This scheme willalso be applicable to the prop-erty tax assesses in villagesand unauthorised colonies,” hesaid.

“This scheme is applicableto all those who have beenavoiding payment of propertytax because of hefty amount ofinterest and penalty, hencethey will also be benefitted withscheme,” he added.

The corporations havebeen announcing similarschemes every year close to theend of a financial year.

��������������� 9:6�':;<)

Delhi Commission forWomen chairperson Swati

Maliwal requested PresidentRam Nath Kovind to stream-line the judicial process toensure hanging of the fourconvicts in the 2012 gang rape-and-murder case.

Three of the four convictsin the case, who were sentencedto death, are likely to file a cura-tive petition challenging thedeath penalty soon.

A 23-year-old paramedicstudent, who later came to beknown as Nirbhaya (fearless),was raped on the interveningnight of December 16-17, 2012inside a running bus in SouthDelhi by six persons andseverely assaulted before beingthrown out on the road. Shedied on December 29, 2012 atMount Elizabeth Hospital inSingapore.

One of the accused, RamSingh, had hanged himself inthe jail and another, a juvenile,was convicted of rape andmurder and given the maxi-mum sentence of three years’

imprisonment in a reform facil-ity.

In a letter addressed toPresident Kovind, Maliwal saidthere should be a fixed timelinewithin which the entire judicialprocess needs to be completedto avoid such cases from drag-ging on.

“If deemed fit, your hon’bleself may kindly direct the UnionGovernment to immediatelyintroduce an ordinance in thecountry that ensures that in thecases of rape, the trial is com-pleted within 3 months of thecrime and further, all appeals,review petitions and curativepetitions are disposed withinthe next three months. Thereshould be guarantee of justicewithin 6 months,” she said, inthe letter to the president.

She urged PresidentKovind to set a definite mech-anism to give justice to victimsof rape. “Further, I sincerelyhope that your hon’ble selfwill issue strict directions toexpedite the judicial process inthe case of Nirbhaya and ensurethat the convicts are hanged atthe earliest,” she said.

��������������� 9:6�':;<)

The sleuths of Delhi Police’sSpecial Cell have arrested

four Afghan Nationals forallegedly trying to smuggleheroine in national Capital.The accused were arrestedfrom Indira GandhiInternational (IGI) airport andare admitted in SafdarjangHospital where doctors haveextracted 920 grams of ‘hero-ine’ from their body. Police saidmore heroine is expected to beextracted from these accusedand it may take few more daysto excrete all the capsules ofheroin from their abdomen.

The accused have beenidentified as Abdul HaqNoorzai, Mohammad NaeimNoorzai , Mohammad EsmaelNoorzai and MohammadNasim Noorzai all residents ofFarah in Afghanistan.

According to PramodSingh Kushwaha, the DeputyCommissioner of Police(DCP), Special Cell, onFebruary 23, specific inputswere received regarding inter-

national gang indulging in smuggling of suspiciousarticles in India from abroad isactive in Delhi-NCR would bearriving at Delhi airport fol-lowing which a trap was laidand all four accused weredetained.

“All the four suspects weretaken to Safdarjung Hospitaland a written request was madefor their medical examinationto verify the suspicious mate-rial, if any, in their bodies.

The doctors prepared theMLCs of all suspects and car-ried out their X-Ray & otherexamination and found suspi-cious capsules in their body.Thereafter all suspects weregiven medical treatment forexcretion of these capsulesfrom their stomach by thedoctors,” said the DCP.

“Doctors excreted 21cylindrical capsules from sus-pect Abdul Haq Noorzai, 20cylindrical capsules excreted byMohammad Naeim Noorzai,21 cylindrical capsules excret-ed by Mohammad EsmaelNoorzai and nine cylindrical

capsules excreted byMohammad Nasim Noorzai.520 grams of Heroin recoveredfrom 71 capsules.

All the four accused are stilladmitted in SafdarjungHospital and further recoveryof capsules is expected,” said theDCP.

“During interrogation, it isrevealed that the accused hadcome to Delhi on the pretext ofmedical treatment on medicalvisa but were actually smug-gling heroin.

This Norco drug cartel isheaded by Drug lords based inKandhar, Afghanistan. Theyare using this method to smug-gle contraband on a frequentbasis to India. The accused per-sons have also stated that a con-signment of heroin was furtherto be supplied to Africannationals,’ said the DCP addingthat so far 122 capsule con-taining, 920 grams of fine qual-ity heroin has been excretedfrom their abdomen and acase under section 21/23/29 ofNDPS Act at Special Cell policestation.

��������������� 9:6�':;<)

Blaming Bharatiya JantaParty (BJP) led Centre

Government and Aam AadmiParty (AAP) ruled DelhiGovernment, Delhi Congresspresident Sheila Dixit onSunday said that both theGovernment are busy in blam-ing each other and have kept ablind eye to the problems innational Capital.

Dikshit said that despite allthe seven MPs (Members ofParliament) are from the BJP,they have done nothing toimprove the facilities in Delhi.“ Delhi is in the grip of all typesof diseases but neither theModi Government at theCentre nor the KejriwalGovernment in Delhi havedone anything to address thisserious health issue,” she said.

She said that the peoplehave now lost their faith in boththe BJP and the AAP and arelooking up to the Congress

party to bailthem out oftheir presentplight. Dixitasserted that theCongress partywill put up astandout perfor-mance in theupcoming LokSabha electionsas the peoplewant changeand looking foran alternative.

All IndiaC o n g r e s sCommittee in-charge of DelhiP C Chacko saidthat the ModiG o v e r n m e n thas ruined theeconomy of thecountry byintroducing demonetisationand Goods and Services Tax(GST).

He said that the young

unemployed people of thecountry are struggling to earntwo square meals while thefarmers are rendered jobless.

He appealed to the Congressworkers to spare no effort inbringing back the Congress inpower at the Centre.

��������������� 9:6�':;<)

In a major boost for regionalmobility in the Delhi-

National Capital Region(NCR), the Uttar PradeshGovernment has approved therevised Detailed Project Report (DPR) of the Delhi-Meerut Ghaziabad RegionalRapid Transit System (RRTS)corridor.

According to officials thePrime Minister Narendra Modiwill lay the foundation stone for the RRTS corridor with new section of the Metro (RedLine Dilshad Garden to newBus Adda) corridor on 8thMarch.

This 82 km stretch with 22stations between Delhi,Ghaziabad and Meerut. Thedistance will be covered in lessthan 60 minutes by high-speed,high-frequency, safe, reliable,comfortable and green publictransit.

The decision to approveDPR was taken in a meetingheld on Saturday. “Metro ser-vices with 12 stations on 18kms. Stretch betweenModipuram and Meerut Southstations on RRTS infrastructurewill meet the local mobilityneeds of Citizens of Meerutbesides providing efficientregional connectivity,” said aGovernment official.

The RRTS corridor willfurther have major interchangefacility with Metro Train at themost crowded place of Delhisuch Sarai Kale Khan and NewAshok Nagar.

“RRTS stations will beseamlessly integrated withother transport modes likeAirport, Railway, Metro, ISBTsetc. and will be inter-operableensuring that change of train isnot required for moving fromone RRTS corridor to another,”said the official.

The trains will be equippedwith modern features likeCCTV surveillance,Mobile/Laptop Chargingpoints, Luggage space etc.Besides, this these trains willalso have a separate BusinessClass along with the Ladiescoach.

“Further, joining city cen-tre to city centre, RRTS trainswill reduce pollution and roadcongestion taking more than

one lakh private vehicles off-road. High speed mobility willalso drive balanced socio-eco-nomic growth with increasedeconomic activities and willimprove quality of life of citi-zens,” said the official.

Delhi-Ghaziabad-MeerutRRTS corridor is first of thethree prioritized corridorsplanned for implementationin Phase-1. The other two areDelhi-Gurugram-Alwar andDelhi-Panipat Corridors.

The budget of the projectis Rs 30,274 Crores and the Pre-construction activities such asGeo-Technical investigations,Pile Load Tests, RoadWidening and DetailedEngineering have also startedrecently by National CapitalRegional TransportCorporation (NCRTC) whichis the implementing agency forthe project. Tenders for the civilconstruction have already beeninvited.

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Residents of Delhi, whoare unable to have sur-geries at any govern-

ment hospital in the city, cannow get free surgery in 48 pri-vate hospitals without havingto worry about huge bills. Thebills, for which no upper limithas been set, will be paid bythe Delhi government. "We layemphasis on health and edu-cation, there will be no dearthof funds for this scheme,"Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwalsaid.

A patient needing surgerywhich cannot be performed ata government hospital within30 days or if the hospitaldoesn't have infrastructurecan be referred to a privatehospital. The free surgery canbe conducted within a fort-night.

The patient needs to submitresidence proof with the OPDslip (containing referral toprivate hospital) to the nodalofficer of the Delhi ArogyaKosh from where he/she willget the authorization letterallowing treatment at a pri-vate hospital. The hospitaladministration will assist thepatients' family in theprocess.

The overburdened govern-

ment hospitals in Delhi can-not conduct surgeries withina fortnight even whenpatients are in a critical con-dition; some patients get asurgery date one year fromthe date of recommendation.The free surgery scheme wasmooted against this back-drop.

"A patient can choose anyof the hospitals among the 48empanelled ones for the sur-

gery," health minister Satyen-dar Jain said.

The free facility is availablefor 52 types of specified sur-geries, like heart bypass,laparoscopic gall bladder sur-gery, etc. "A revolutionarychange is taking place inDelhi's health sector. Goodhealth services and educationare no longer the privilege ofthe rich in Delhi," Kejriwalsaid.

Delhi is one of the fastestgrowing metropolis with apopulation of more than 16million.

"We also have a scheme toprovide free treatment at pri-vate hospitals to victims ofroad accidents, acid attacksand people who suffer burninjuries," said Jain. Unlikefree surgery to residents ofDelhi, the accident schemewill be open to all. The onlycondition will be that the acci-dent should have taken placein Delhi.

Deputy CM of Delhi ManishSisodia said the Delhi govern-ment is focused on health andeducation because they arethe foundation of a country.He, however, asked the doc-tors to be cautious about themisuse of the scheme.

Not only are thepeople of Delhigetting the benefit

of lowest electricity tar-iffs in Delhi and uninter-rupted power supply,they will now get com-pensation for unsched-uled power cuts, whichcan go upto Rs. 5000.

Following directionsfrom the Delhi govern-ment, the plan, has comeinto effect with the DelhiElectricity RegulatoryCommission havingrevised its rules.

Under the new rules,consumers will receiveRs. 50 per hour for firsttwo hours of unsched-uled power cuts, afterwhich it will be hiked toRs. 100 per hour.

In case of scheduledpower cuts, compensa-tion is payable after 12hours or in case the out-age extends beyond 6 pm-- whichever is earlier.

The compensation willbe adjusted against cur-

rent or future bills. Chief Minister Arvind

Kejriwal had said hisgovernment would makepower companies direct-ly responsible to the peo-ple.

"Delhi has become thefirst State in the countrywhere consumers will becompensated by powerdistribution companies(Discoms) in case ofunscheduled powercuts," said power minis-ter Satyendar Jain.

Unscheduled powercuts happen due to faultsin the system caused byoverloading. The discomsget an hour to correct it.If they can't, the newcompensation systemwill kick in.

There are three privatecompanies that supplyelectricity in Delhi —BSES Yamuna PowerLimited, BSES RajdhaniPower Limited and TataPower Delhi DistributionLimited.

Under the new rules, consumers will receive Rs 50per hour for first two hours of unscheduled powercuts, after which it will be hiked to Rs 100 per hour

Free surgeries in pvt hospitals for DelhiitesUnder this important scheme, the bills, for which no upper limit has been set, will be paid by the Delhi government

Delhiites, who cannotget surgery done atany governmenthospital, can now getfree surgery in 48private hospitalswithout worrying aboutbills

A patient needingsurgery can bereferred to a privatehospital and the Delhigovt will bear the costof the surgery

HEALING TOUCH

FIRST IN INDIA,COMPENSATIONFOR POWERCUTS IN DELHI

In case ofscheduled

power cuts,compensation ispayable after 12hours or in case

the outageextends beyond

6 pm —whichever is earlier. The

Chief Ministerhad said hisgovernmentwould make

powercompanies

directlyresponsible to

the people

Delhi Government laun-ched the "HappinessCurriculum" on 2nd

July 2018 at the hands ofspiritual leader His HolinessDalai Lama in the presence ofChief Minister Arvind Kejriw-al and Deputy Chief MinisterManish Sisodia

All the officers of DoE,HOS and approximately18,000 teachers were orient-ed about Happiness Curricu-lum from 10th July 2018 to13th July 2018 and this Cur-riculum was formally rolledout from 16th July 2018 in allgovernment schools of DoE.

The focus of HappinessCurriculum is on the holisticperspective development ofthe child and providing a plat-form for self exploration,emotional development andsocial awareness. Basically,the idea behind this new ini-tiative is to produce happyhuman beings who couldserve the society in a positivemanner.

Happiness Curriculum istaught to around eight lakhstudents from Nursery toclass VIII and this curriculumdoes not have formal exami-nations. Three handbooks forteachers have been devel-oped by the dedicated happi-ness team of teachers, coun-selors and educationists forclasses Nursery to IInd, IIIrdto Vth and VIth to VIIIthrespectively. Happiness Cur-

riculum is based on mindful-ness, activities, storytellingand interaction betweenteachers and students.

The Happiness periodstarts with mindfulness for 2-3 minutes and followed byactivity/storytelling, questionanswer session and con-cludes with 2-3 minutes ofmindfulness again. Every Sat-urday is an expression daywherein students reflect theirfeelings of gratitude.

Happiness Coordinatorshave been selected from each1024 schools of DoE andhave been trained in themonths of December 2018.Officers of DoE and DistrictHappiness Coordinators(mentor teachers of happi-ness team) visit schools reg-ularly to monitor the Happi-ness Classes and response ofthe students has been posi-tive and enthusiastic.

Delhi Government schools now haveUNIQUE ‘HAPPINESS CURRICULUM’

The students of Delhigovernment schoolshave a 45-minute'Happiness period'which includesmeditation,storytelling, questionand answer sessions,value education andmental exercises

BREATHE EASY

THE CURRICULUM HAS BEEN PRAISED BY EXPERTS FROM ALL OVER THE WORLD

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In a pot shot at the ModiGovernment for claiming

that the Organisation of IslamicCooperation (OIC)’s decisionto invite India to attend its ple-nary was a diplomatic success, the Congress has saidthe resolution on Kashmirpassed by the 57-nationsgrouping was “disturbing” hap-pening for India.

“External Affairs MinisterSushma Swaraj attended theOIC meeting in Abu Dhabi. The NDA-BJPGovernment touted it as ahuge diplomatic success forIndia that it has been invited toattend the plenary...But whathappened in Abu Dhabi isextremely disturbing for India,”Congress spokesperson ManishTewari said.

“In a resolution, the OICmember states reiterated that

Jammu & Kashmir remainsthe core dispute betweenPakistan and India and its resolution is indispensablefor the dream for peace inSouth Asia.

Tewari said the Congress would like to askPrime Minister Narendra Modi and EAM Swarajwhether this was “the diplo-matic achievement”.

Reacting to the resolution,New Delhi had on Saturdayasserted that Jammu &Kashmir is an integral part ofIndia and the issue is strictlyinternal to the country.

“As regards the resolutionson Jammu & Kashmir, ourstand is consistent and wellknown. We reaffirm thatJammu & Kashmir is an inte-gral part of India and is a mat-

ter strictly internal to India,”Raveesh Kumar, Spokespersonfor the Ministry of ExternalAffairs had said.

Swaraj had attended theinaugural plenary of the 46thsession of the Council ofForeign Ministers (CFM) ofOIC on Friday. She was the firstIndian minister to address theOIC meeting.

India’s participation camedespite strong demand byPakistan to rescind the invita-tion to Swaraj to address thegrouping which was turneddown by the host UAE, resulting in Pakistan’s ForeignMinister Shah MehmoodQureshi boycotting the plenary.

Swaraj attended the meet-ing in Abu Dhabi on March 1as the guest of honour at theinvitation extended by theForeign Minister of the UnitedArab Emirates.

���� 9:6�':;<)

President Ram Nath Kovindhas given his assent to the

Ordinance that allows volun-tary use of Aadhaar as IDproof for obtaining mobileSIM cards and opening bankaccounts. The Ordinance —necessitated because the RajyaSabha could not approve a Billafter its passage by the LokSabha — was promulgated onSaturday.

Last week, the Cabinetapproved the promulgation ofan Ordinance to give effect tochanges proposed in Aadhaarand two others legislations. Theamendments provide for stiffpenalties for violation of normsset for the use of Aadhaar andviolation of privacy.

It bans storing of core bio-metric information as well as

Aadhaar number by serviceproviders in cases of individu-als who have voluntarily offeredthe national ID as a means ofauthentication. The Ordinance

gives effect to the changes inthe Aadhaar Act such as givinga child an option to exit fromthe biometric ID programmeon attaining 18 years of age.

The amendments make itclear that anyone not offeringAadhaar cannot be denied anyservice, be it opening of abank account or obtaining amobile phone SIM card.

The changes also lay downthe procedure for offline verifi-cation of an Aadhaar numberholder and confer enhancedregulator-like power on theUnique Identification Authorityof India (UIDAI) to give direc-tions as it may consider neces-sary to any entity in the Aadhaarecosystem.

Every requesting entity towhom an authentication requestis made will have to inform theAadhaar number holder ofalternate and viable means ofidentification and will not denyany service to them for refusingto, or being unable to undergoauthentication.

The changes entail a civilpenalty of up to Rs 1 crore onentities that violate the provi-sions of the Aadhaar Act, withan additional fine of up to Rs10 lakh per day in case of con-tinuous non-compliance.

Unauthorised use of iden-tity information by a requestingentity or offline verificationseeking entity would be pun-ishable with imprisonment ofup to three years with a fine thatmay extend to Rs 10,000 or incase of a company with a fine ofup to Rs 1 lakh. The Ordinancewill omit the Section 57 of theAadhaar Act relating to the useof Aadhaar by private entities.The changes have been broughtabout through amendments inAadhaar Act, the IndianTelegraph Act and thePrevention of MoneyLaundering Act.

���� 9:6�':;<)

Union Finance MinisterArun Jaitley on Sunday

accused the Congress of creat-ing “political divide” and “hurt-ing national interest” on theissue of India’s airstrike at theterror camps in Pakistan even as he said public opinionoverwhelmingly backed theGovernment action for defending the sovereignty ofthe country.

He charged the Congress-led UPA with running a ‘terri-ble’ Government and even a‘more terrible’ Opposition andhurting India’s national interestand giving handle to Pakistan todiscredit the country.

“Statements made by theOpposition parties (after IAF’scounter terror operation inBalakot) hurt India’s nationalinterest. They give smiles toPakistan and become an instru-ment in Pakistan’s hands to dis-credit India’s operation againstterrorism,” Jaitley said in ablog, stressing that on suchoccasions the nation ought tospeak in one voice as was doneby Atal Bihari Vajpayee and JanSangh during the 1971 war.

Describing the resolutionpassed by 21 Opposition par-ties criticising the Governmentas inappropriate, he said, it gavea handle to the enemy andPakistan’s media used the state-ment as a trump card.

The Government had twice taken the leaders ofOpposition parties into confi-dence, he said.

The Finance Minister saidas against the Opposition, thepublic opinion in the countryhas overwhelmingly supportedthe Government on the issue.

Referring to the statementof former Prime Minister

Manmohan Singh, the FinanceMinister said he sought to ele-vate himself to the status of aneutral third party while rais-ing doubts about India’s rightto defend its sovereignty fromthose who want to damage itthrough terrorism.

“I was most disappointedwith a brief but a highly objec-tionable statement of the for-mer Prime Minister DrManmohan Singh,” Jaitley said.

While receiving the PVNarasimha Rao Award for thelifetime achievement, Singhhad stated that he was dis-turbed with the “Mad rush ofmutual self-destruction” by thetwo nations. Singh further saidthat poverty, ignorance anddisease were the real problemsin the two countries and thatsaner counsel on both sidesneeded to think on the issue.

Jaitley wondered that therewas no condemnation of ter-rorism in that speech of the for-mer Prime Minister.

Implicitly, he doubts India’sright to defend its sovereigntyfrom those who want to dam-

age it through terrorism, hesaid. Jaitley added, “TheCongress-led UPAGovernment from 2004 to2014 ran a terribleGovernment. From 2014 to2019, it was even a more terri-ble Opposition”.

He said West Bengal ChiefMinister Mamata Banerjeewent a step further by doubt-ing the veracity of the incidentand wanted to know the oper-ational details.

“The credibility of both theGovernment and our Air Forceis being doubted. EvenCongress leaders have raisedsimilar questions,” he said in aFacebook post titled “India’sOpposition Has A Lot toLearn.”

Jaitley emphasised that theOpposition is entitled tooppose and ask questions, butthen restrain and statesman-ship are also essential ingredi-ents of public discourse.

He hoped that India’sOpposition revisits its positionand does not let down thenation.

New Delhi: Chief ElectionCommissioner Sunil Arora willbe paying a two-day visit toJammu & Kashmir fromMonday to assess the groundsituation in the state for hold-ing the Lok Sabha andAssembly polls together.

A poll panel team led byCEC Arora would also takestock of the State’s preparednessfor the Lok Sabha polls due inApril-May, sources said.

The Election Commissionteam would hold meetingswith state administration offi-cials and political parties inSrinagar on March 4 and inJammu on March 5.

As per a Supreme Courtruling, the outer limit for hold-ing fresh polls after dissolutionof a House is six months and incase of J&K, this deadline endsin May 2019. PTI

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As many as six cities havebeen selected as “Live

Laboratories” for a project underwhich 1,000 houses will be builtusing innovative technologiesthat are low-cost, sustainable,disaster-resistant and adapted tosuit Indian conditions.

These cities are Rajkot,Ranchi, Indore, Chennai,Agartala and Lucknow. PrimeMinister Narendra Modi hasdeclared the next year, April-2019 to March, 2020 as“Construction Technology Year”.

These projects wouldreceive the regular PrimeMinister Awas Yojna (Urban)assistance of Rs 1.5 lakh fromthe state and the same amountfrom the Centre besides theinnovation grant of Rs 2.5 lakhfor each residential unit.

On the sidelines of theConstruction Technology India-

2019 (CTI-2019) Expo-cum-conference here, Housing andUrban Affairs Secretary DurgaShanker Mishra told reportersthat 54 Proven TechnologyProviders with 32 new tech-nologies from 25 countriesincluding technologies fromUSA, Finland, Australia, Spain,France, South Korea and Italywere evaluated by the Technical

Evaluation Committee (TEC) atthe exposition.

Mishra said technologyadoption will happen in not onlythese six States, but also in otherStates and Union Territories.Over the recent launch of thethird edition of the VulnerabilityAtlas of India, the official said hewould soon be writing to allStates to use its assessment

before beginning constructionactivities in their cities.

Vulnerability Atlas of Indiais a collation of the existinghazard scenario of the entirecountry.

“The conventional systemof housing construction is time-consuming as well as resource-intensive and emphasised thatthere is a need to look for newemerging, disaster-resilient,environment-friendly, cost-effective and speedy construc-tion technologies. The shift intechnology transition will alsoaddress the challenges of large-scale housing construction inminimum time and cost withoptimum use of resources andenvironment friendly practices,”HUA officials said.

The HUA Ministry saidthe conventional system ofhousing construction is time-consuming as well as resource-intensive and emphasised that

there is a need to look for newemerging, disaster-resilient,environment-friendly, cost-effective and speedy construc-tion technologies.

The technology adoption isexpected to take place not onlyin the winning States, but alsoin other States/UTs.

At the Global HousingTechnology conference, 78Potential Technology Providersfrom across the country, with 55post-prototype and 23 pre-pro-totype made their presentationsto the expert jury that includedpresentations on Robotic MobileConstruction from Mumbai to3D Printing in Constructionfrom Bangalore, fromHempcrete construction systemfrom Auroville to use of treatedBamboo for Low Cost Housingfrom Assam to presentations onCast-in-situ- monolithic Domes/Shells for various types of Habitatin Jammu & Kashmir.

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Discovery Channel is set toair a documentary series

called ‘Planet Healers’ featuring eight of India’s envi-ronment-friendly startups, whoare working towards sustain-able development, a statement released by thebroadcaster said.

The documentary series,

which will be in four parts, willbe hosted by Bollywood actorJim Sarbh and is likely to bepremiered on March 8 on thechannel at 7 pm.

The series will show thejourney of how these startupsare working out innovativetechnology-led solutions toenvironmental hazards facedby the country, the statementsaid. One of the startups, called

Farm2Energy, claims to havefound a solution to use stubbleburning which creates air pol-lution in northern India everywinter. Another startupAbsolute Water claims that itconverts 17 lakh litres ofsewage water into drinkingwater everyday, while SaahasZero Waste specialises in treat-ing and recycling waste with-out disturbing the ecosystem.

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Prayagraj Kumbh Mela 2019has been placed in the

Guinness World Records inthree sectors. These includeslargest traffic and crowd man-agement plan, the biggestpainting exercise of public sitesunder "paint my city" schemeand biggest sanitation andwaste disposal mechanism.

A statement from theGovernment said on Sundaythat a three member teamfrom Guinness World Recordshad visited the Prayagraj--famous for the confluence ofGanga, Yamuna, and Saraswatirivers-- for this purpose."Exercise at large scale wasdone before the team membersfor three days from February 28to March 3. Around 503 shut-tle buses were pressed into

service in one go for the teamon February 28 on the highway.The buses covered a stretch of3.2km in the district.

Several people participatedin painting exercise on March1 and 10 thousand workersengaged in cleaning atPrayagraj Kumbh performingtheir duties all together. Thenew record was created inview of the ongoing SwachhBharat Mission (SBM), anation-wide campaign in Indiafor the period 2014 to 2019 thataims at cleaning streets, roads,and other infrastructures incities, towns, and rural areas.

Only a single bathing fes-tival of Mahashivratri of the sixmain bathing festivals remains.Five bathing festivals of theKumbh have concluded suc-cessfully with more than 22crore pilgrims taking a holy dip,said the statement.

From Page 1“Ananya did Diploma in

make- up artist fromCalifornia, USA and hadreturned India in December2018. She was coming from air-port with her friends in her carand her parents were in anoth-er Innova car with the guestswhen the incident occurred.Father of the accused girl is inbusiness of garments in LajpatNagar. Ananya runs a start-up,”said the DCP.

“A case under section279/304 A of Indian PenalCode (IPC) at the Lajpat Nagarpolice station has been regis-tered on the statement of eye-witness Rudra Aashish Pandey.Further investigation is goingon,” the DCP added.

From Page 1My heartiest congratulations to

Nitish Kumar and (Deputy CM)Sushil Kumar Modi for pulling Biharout of the dark times.”

Addressing his first politicalrally with friend- turned-foe-turned-friend Nitish Kumar, the PrimeMinister showered praise on theBihar chief minister calling him“hard working and sophisticated”.

“There seems to be a contestamong the opposition parties led bythe Congress for hurling abuse at theChowkidar. But the people of thecountry have made up their mind.They are going to punish these par-ties once again and teach them a fewmore lessons,” Modi said.

The prime minister also assert-ed that the BJP-led government at theCentre wants to ensure that all sec-tions of the society gain access to thebest of facilities.

The NDA government is work-ing on all departments includingroadways, railways and airways toimprove infrastructure in Bihar, hesaid.

In an apparent repudiation of theallegation that the BJP was againstMuslims, Modi spoke about India’srising stock in the eyes of Islamiccountries which he said was reflect-ed in the increased quota for Haj pil-grims and Saudi Arabia agreeing tofree more than 800 migrants lodgedin its jails.

He said the presence of ExternalAffairs Minister Sushma Swaraj asthe guest of honour at the recent

Organization of Islamic Cooperationconference exemplified that.

“Such an honour was bestowedon India after five decades duringwhich mostly the Congress and itsallies were in power. Why the voiceof India was not heard in Islamicnations during that period?” Modiasked.

Referring to the recent visit ofSaudi Crown Prince Mohammedbin Salman, Modi said, “I told himthat India has a burgeoning middleclass and requested for increase inthe Haj quota of the country. As aresult, the quota has been increasedto two lakh people. Such an increasehas been made only in the case ofIndia”.

The PM also said he took upwith the crown prince the issue ofIndians languishing in Saudi Arabiaprisons for minor offences justbecause they were not familiar withthe law of that nation.

“He (Salman) sought a littletime, and later in the evening at adinner at the Rashtrapati Bhavan heasked me to have sweets. I wondered,why? He replied ‘we have decided torelease 850 Indians from jails’.”

“My government is taking careof the concerns of every section ofthe society,” Modi said.

Opposition parties have beenaccusing the BJP of pursuing an“anti-Muslim” agenda with its stresson issues like Ram temple, abroga-tion of Article, Uniform Civil Code,and introducing penal provisions forinstant triple talaq.

From Page 1Varthaman was captured by the Pakistani Army

after his ejection from MiG-21 Bison jet followingthe dogfight with the F-16 aircraft of the Pakistan AirForce.

He returned to India to a hero’s welcome onFriday night through Attari-Wagah border.

His health condition is being monitored by agroup of doctors at the Army’s Research and Referralhospital. “Efforts have been taken to ensure that hereturns to the cockpit soon,” said an official.

Varthaman has been unfazed by either the ejec-tion from the hit aircraft he was flying and custodyby an army of an adversary country, officials said.

Soon after his arrival here at 11:45 PM Friday,nearly two-and-half hours after he crossed over toIndia through the Attari-Wagah border, he was firsttaken to the Air Force Central Medical Establishment(AFCME) for medical evaluation. Later, he was takento the Army’s Research and Referral hospital.

After he was captured by the Pakistan army,Varthaman displayed poise and courage while fac-ing questions from the captors.

Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and AirChief Marshal B S Dhanoa met Varthaman separatelyon Saturday during which he apprised them about themental trauma he faced during his captivity in Pakistan.

After Indian fighters bombed terror groupJaish-e-Mohammed’s biggest training camp nearBalakot, deep inside Pakistan early Tuesday, Pakistanretaliated by attempting to target Indian militaryinstallations on Wednesday, following which the twocountries have a tensed relation. However, the IAFthwarted their plans.

India hit the JeM camp 12 days after the terroroutfit claimed responsibility for a suicide attack ona CRPF convoy in Kashmir in which 40 paramilitarymen were killed.

From Page 1ITC Ltd (Sunfeast Yippee

Powerup Masala Noodles),Pernod Ricard India (BlendersPride Music CDs), GodrejConsumer Products Ltd(GoodKnight Patches), LGWashing Machine, HindustanUnilever Ltd (Vim Anti SmellBar & Ponds Oil Control Facewash) and Motilal OswalFinancial Services Ltd amongothers, they range fromFMCGs to autos, personalaccessories to alcohol, and edu-cation to media.

In one of the banned ads,the advertisement features aman wearing a suit, holding acricket ball while the taglinereads: “It’s Never Too Early tocreate a legacy. Be Ages Ahead.”The advertisement is a surro-gate advertisement for pro-motion of a liquor product —Seagram’s Blenders Pride and ismisleading by implication.

The Netmeds advertise-ment’s claim, “Netmeds-thepharmacy with over 100 yearsof experience”, was neither sub-stantiated with supporting evi-dence of the commencement oftheir business in pharmaceuti-cals field to prove 100 years ofexperience, nor did they pro-vide any independent audit orverification certificate.

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Srinagar: Two Lashkar-e-Toiba(LeT) militants, five securityforces’ personnel, including aCRPF officer, and a civilianwere killed during a 56-hourencounter in Jammu andKashmir’s Kupwara district,police said on Sunday.

The operation at Kupwara'sBabagund area took time as thetopography of the area posed“considerable difficulties” tosecurity forces, a policespokesman said here.

Two militants were killedby the security forces in theencounter which began onFriday morning, he said.

The spokesman said thebodies of both the militantswere recovered from the site ofthe encounter.They were affil-iated to the LeT, he said.

One of the militants killedin the encounter has beenidentified as a foreigner from

Pakistan, while the identity ofthe other is being ascertained,the spokesman said.

He said a CRPF jawan,Sham Narayan Singh Yadav,who was injured in theexchange of fire on Friday,succumbed to injuries onSunday, taking the number ofsecurity forces' fatalities to five.

Two CRPF personnel –Inspector Pintu and ConstableVinod - and two policemen –Selection Grade constablesNaseer Ahmad and GhulamMustafa Barah – were killed inthe gunfight on Friday, thespokesman said.

He said one civilian,Waseem Ahmad Mir, also suf-fered bullet injury “in the near-by area” and succumbed at ahospital on Friday.

The encounter began onearly Friday morning whensecurity forces launched a search

operation in the Babagund areaof Kupwara, in north Kashmir,following information aboutpresence of militants there.

The spokesman said thetopography of the area posed“considerable difficulties” tothe security forces.

“The area where the terror-ists were hiding was very con-gested and civilians in the adjoin-ing houses had to be evacuatedto safer places away from the siteof encounter,” he said.

He said incriminatingmaterials, including arms andammunition, were recoveredfrom the site of the encounter.

Police have registered acase and the incriminatingmaterials retrieved from the sitehave been taken in the caserecords for further investiga-tion and to probe the militantscomplicity in other terror cases,the spokesman said. PTI

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The Jammu and Kashmirunit president of the

Congress, GA Mir on Sundayadvocated dialogue betweenIndia and Pakistan for resolu-tion of political issues throughpeaceful means.

He also asked PakistaniPrime Minister Imran Khan toconvert his words into actionand ensure an end to terrorismin the region.

“Both the countries (Indiaand Pakistan) need to sit on thetable and work out a solutionto the political issues political-ly,” Mir told reporters duringhis visit to forward villagesalong the Line of Control (LoC)in Poonch district.

Mir led a party delegation toareas hit by shelling by Pakistaniforces to take stock of the situa-tion. The delegation met the bor-der villagers and expressed theirsolidarity with them.

Mir said the tension alongthe borders are resulting inavoidable fatalities.

“Innocent civilians on thisside and the other side of theborder are getting killed,injured and dislocated andtheir properties are being dam-aged. What is their fault? Thepeople on the other side arepart of the state and are ourown people,” Mir said.

Referring to the recentstatements by Imran Khan thathis country does not supportterrorism, he said the groundrealities are different.

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Claiming that Amethi is atrue reflection of BJP

Government’s Slogan of ‘SabkaSaath, Sabka Vikas’ , PrimeMinister Narendra Modiattacked the Gandhi family forneglect of the region saying theregion suffered because of theapathy of one family who gavefake assurances of develop-ment but actually did nothing.

“One family is solelyresponsible for the backward-ness of Amethi as they havelaunched development pro-jects to fulfill their vested inter-ests. The glaring example is acycle factory , whose land wastransferred to a trust run by thefamily ,” the PM said withouttaking any name.

PM in an apparent refer-ence to Rahul Gandhi in hisAmethi constituency com-mented, “Some people keepgiving “made in..” speeches,But Modi walks the talk. Wehave made “Made in Amethi” areality. This factory should havecome into being 8-9 year back.But the full potential of the ini-tiative was never realised.”

“Saab ka saath and sab kavikas is our mantra. Those whovoted for us and who did not,everyone belongs to us. After 5years, I humbly say that SmritiIrani was a new face to the peo-ple in Amethi, but your love hasmade us popular and helpedSmriti Irani to develop Amethion a large scale,” he said addingthat those who voted for us andthose who did not they are allour people. Smriti Irani was yourcandidate. Though we could notwin, but we won your hearts.

Addressing a public meet-ing after dedicating theOrdinance unit which willmanufacture world’s bestassault rifle AK-203 andlaunching development pro-jects worth over Rs 538 croreshere at Korba on Sunday, Modialleged that land was taken forfood park but no industriescame up. Land was transferredin their name through theback door. Houses given toDalits in 2008 started crum-bling, he said.

“They sat on Rafale deal foryears. Now they do not want tosee the deal through due totheir benefit. They wantedtheir cut in the deal and hencewas obstructing it. But thefirst Rafale jet will be on Indiansky soon,” he said.

“They sat on Rafale foryears. We are trying to bring inthe jets and some people aretrying to object to the purchase.Supreme Court too is support-ing the government's decisionon the Rafale deal, “PM said.

The PM said: “Was not itunfair not to provide latestweapons to our forces? Thatgovernment did not botherabout our armed forces. Peopleshould be reminded how thegovernment delayed acquisi-tion of bulletproof jackets forour forces. Who were thesepeople who delayed productionof weapons and acquisition ofbulletproof jackets.”

Claiming that now Amethiwill get an international recog-nition when our forces will userifles made in Amethi. This

work should have started 8-9years ago.”Our forces had thenmade a request to the govern-ment mentioning their needs.This was the reason this facto-ry was sanctioned. Those whocannot do this much, how cansomeone trust them? Theycould not even decide on thearms to be manufactured here.They could not decide upon theland to be allotted,” PM said.

Modi thanked RussianPresident Vladimir Putin forthis joint venture. “This couldbe possible in very short timedue to him. Also thank Russianfriends associated with theproject. Some people roam allover the world and then in ral-lies, say ‘Made in Ujjain, Madein Indore’ but we have made‘Made in Amethi’ a reality,” he

added.The PM said 12 lakh farm-

ers in Amethi will be benefit-ted through the Kisan Nidhischeme.” They never tried toestablish and empower farmers.The farm loan waiver schemehas only benefited middlemen.But our Kisan Nidhi schemehas in true sense benefitedfarmers,” he said.

He said gas connection,free electricity have been madepossible because of our gov-ernment. We are trying to helpthe poor to develop and letfamilies come above the pover-ty line.

The meeting was alsoaddressed by defence ministerNirmala Sitaraman, union tex-tile minister Smriti Irani andUP CM Yogi Adityanath.

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Several police officers andsome BJP workers were

injured even as saffronactivists on Sunday clashedwith the Bengal police force atvarious points they werestopped by the administrationfrom taking out “unautho-rised” Sankalp Yatra.

Among the injured policestaff was a deputy superinten-dent of police and an inspec-tor, sources said adding thepolice had to resort to lathicharge on a BJP motorbikerally in Midnapore where thebikers refused to stop evenafter being asked to do so as“they had no permission tostage such a rally and attackedthem with stones,” a seniorBengal Minister said chargingthe BJP with “trying to fomenta communal disturbance in theState ahead of the elections.”

BJP president Amit Shahhad earlier inaugurated theYatra with an aim to tone upthe organization and spice upthe saffron cadres ahead of thecoming elections. The rulingTrinamool Congress leadersalleged “they spent hugeamount of money brininggoons from neighbouringJharkhand who attacked thepolice.”

Similar clashes erupted atGoaltore, Asansol, Durgapurwhere a police officer in-charge was injured, Balurghatand other places police said.

The BJP and the TMC hadbeen involved in a fierce turfwar in Bengal with Shah fix-ing a target of at least 23 LokSabha seats for his party in thecoming elections. Aware of thesaffron outfit’s known practiceof fanning communal dishar-mony ahead of elections ChiefMinister Mamata Banerjeehad refused permission to aBJP Rath Yatra early this yearprompting the latter to movethe Supreme Court. It howev-er failed in its objective.

Subsequently the BJP lead-ership decided to take outlimited rallies throughoutevery district to tone up itsparty men. Sunday’s rally wasan exercise in that direction,sources said.

Reacting to the police lathicharge and the clashesbetween the two sides StateBJP president Dilip Ghoshsaid “Mamata Banerjee is try-ing to stop the popular emo-tion with her police. But Iwarn both the administrationand the TMC cadres to desistfrom putting unnecessary hur-dles in the way of our politi-cal programmes failing whichthey will see more incidentslike the one that took placetoday.”

State Minister ParthoChatterjee however said “theBJP would fail in its attempt tocommunalise Bengal,” addingthe hired goons from neigh-bouring States would not beable to make their journey asuccess.

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NC chief Farooq AbdullahSunday said India and

Pakistan should start a “resultoriented” and “time bound”dialogue for the “greater good”of both the nations, especiallythe welfare of Jammu andKashmir.

Addressing a meet of partyfunctionaries here, Abdullahsaid National Conference (NC)founder and his father SheikhMohammed Abdullah was ofthe opinion that greater Indo-Pak interaction would benefitthe people of the state the most.

“Our party still deems Indo-Pak friendship essential to apeaceful sub-continent. Iimpress upon the sane voices inboth the countries to push theirrespective governments to ini-tiate a result oriented dialogueprocess for the greater good ofthe two nations,” he said.

“The bonhomie betweenthe two nuclear powerednations is the key to peace in J-K,” the former chief minister ofthe state said.

The NC took upon itself toemancipate the people of thestate from abject poverty andshackles of feudal strife under thedynamic leadership of SheikhMohammad Abdullah, he said.

“The ideals of Sher-e-Kashmir (Sheikh MohammadAbdullah) will continue toguide us for all times to come,”he said.

“Our party has been replete

with scarifies that we relent-lessly lent for our people. Wewill continue to shoulder themission of working for all thesections of society irrespectiveof region or religion in ourstate,” he added.

Urging both India andPakistan to respect the 2003ceasefire agreement and makeborders peaceful, Abdullahsaid the continuous skirmish-es between the two nationshave wrecked havoc on thelives of those living on eithersides of the border.

“Yesterday only, (a) num-ber of innocent people includ-ing children got killed in crossborder shelling on both sides ofLoC in Poonch area,” he said.

“People are being forced torelocate to safer areas resultingin large scale migration. Itstime that both nations put animmediate end to such hostil-ities along LoC and IB areas,”he added.

The member of Parliamentfrom Srinagar said peacebetween India and Pakistanwill help the sub-continentachieve a multitude of devel-opment goals in all vital sectors.

While denouncing theoption of war, the former Unionminister said both soldiers andcivilians suffer due to war.

“The consequences of warand conflict are beyondkillings. I am hopeful that thestate of affairs between both thecountries is moving towardsbetterment with each passing

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In a significant move theBengal Government entrust-

ed former Kolkata PoliceCommissioner Rajeev Kumarwith the charge of AdditionalDirector of Economic Offence.Apart from this he will alsohead the Special Task Force ofthe Kolkata Police. The 1989batch IPS officer had alreadybeen functioning as theAdditional Director General ofthe State CID.

Kumar’s new assignmentsassume importance in thebackdrop of Chief MinisterMamata Banerjee taking astance in his favour followinga botched CBI raid in thesenior IPS officer’s house whenhe was the Commissioner ofKolkata Police.

The Chief Minister stageda two-day dharna against theCentre’s alleged policy of arm-twisting the State Governmentand the opposition leaderswho dared raise a voice againstits policies. She read the CBI’smove as an attack on the con-stitutional norms and federalstructure of the country.

The CBI subsequentlygrilled the senior officer andobtained his statements in theSharada chit fund case. Kumarwas the first IPS officer who hadinvestigated the chit fund case--- as the head of the SpecialInvestigation Team --- when itfirst came to light in 2013.

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Jammu and KashmirNational Conference vice-

president Omar AbdullahSunday said the ban on theJamaat-e-Islami “is having amajor social impact” inKashmir and appealed to thegovernment to “urgentlyreview” its decision to sealschools and mosques run byit.

The central governmentput a ban on the Jamat-e-Islami Jammu and Kashmirlast week under anti-terrorlaw on grounds that it was “inclose touch” with militantoutfits and was expected to“escalate secessionist move-ment” in the state.

“The politico-religiousrole of the Jamaat (JeI) is oneaspect but there is also thesocial aspect. The recent banis having a major socialimpact which isn't being takeninto consideration,” Omarwrote on Twitter.

The former Jammu andKashmir Chief Minister saidpeople were being “turnedaway from mosques” wherethey usually congregate forprayers and schools with tensof thousands of students andemploying thousands ofteachers were being “sealed”.

“There is nothing to sug-gest (that) sealing mosqueswill improve the security envi-ronment. Sealing schools risksforcing so many young kidsout on the streets rather thanstudying to make a future for

themselves,” he said.Omar said that while the

government may take sometime to review the need to banthe organisation, “there is aneed to urgently review theban on schools and the seal-ing of mosques”.

The Kashmir Chamber ofCommerce and Industry(KCCI) also opposed the banon the Jamaat-e-Islami.

“The ban is part of aprovocative and motivatedcrusade against a particularcommunity. Political advan-tage is being extracted out ofthe prevailing hostile situationby creating deep divisionsamongst sections of the soci-ety,” a KCCI spokesman saidin a statement here.

“The onus is on the gov-ernment to start explaining tothe public the compulsionsjustifying targeting of reli-gious institutions belonging toa particular community.Sealing of residential housesand schools violates the basicprinciples of humanity anddemonstrates the desperationof people after global rejectionof their politics of hate, com-munalism and perniciousdesigned propaganda,” theKCCI spokesman said.

The ban on the Jamaatwas imposed days after theJammu and Kashmir Policehad arrested around 100cadres of the group in the statefollowing the February 14 ter-rorist attack in Pulwama, inwhich 40 CRPF personnelwere killed.

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Indicating that he was agree-able to showing some flexi-

bility in seat sharing talks forthe coming Lok Sabha pollswith ruling coalition partnerCongress, JD(S) supremo DeveGowda Sunday said his partywould not be 'rigid' in itsdemand to contest from 12 ofthe total of 28 seats.

Gowda said he had alsoasked the Congress to have asimilar mentality during theseat sharing discussions as thereshould not be any room for dif-ferences on seat sharing betweenthe parties, whose main aim wasto halt the BJP's growth.

“I have said 12 seats shouldbe given to us, but I will alsonot be rigid in saying thatthey should give us 12,” theformer Prime Minister said.

Speaking to reporters inMangaluru, he said, “By loos-ening our stand a bit... A finaldecision should be arrived at.

You (Congress) should alsohave that mentality, I have

said. Finally we will come to adecision cordially.”

Gowda said he was statingthis to bring to an end all spec-ulation and talk that differencesmay emerge within the coali-tion during discussions on seatsharing.

The JD(S) leader said hewould not be 'adamant' in hisdemand for seats as the mainfocus was to halt the BJP'sprogress and nothing shouldcause a threat to the alliance.

Congress and JD(S) leadersare likely to discuss seat shar-ing for the coming Lok Sabhapolls at the coalition coordi-nation committee meeting onMonday.

The coalition partners hadheld the first round of talks onseat sharing on February 25,during which Congress insist-ed that winnability would bethe criteria, while the JD(S)maintained its stand to contest12 seats.

As per their coalitionagreement, both Congress andJD(S) have decided to fight the

Lok Sabha polls together.However, seat sharing is

likely to be a major test for bothparties as the JD(S), which isbanking on two-third, one-third formula adopted in min-istry formation and allocationof boards and corporations, hasdemanded 12 seats out of thetotal of 28 seats.

According to sources,JD(S) is said to be keen on con-testing from Mandya, Hassan,Bangalore North, Mysuru,Chikkaballapur, Tumakuru,Chitradurga, Raichur, Bidar,Bijapur, Uttara Kannada andShivamogga.

Congress is opposed tothis and has maintained thatsharing of seats will be based on'merit'.

According to party insid-ers, the grand old party islooking at limiting the JD(S) tosix seats.

Also, there is pressure fromwithin the Congress not to cedetoo many seats to JD(S), spe-cially 10 seats where the partyhas sitting MPs.

Lucknow: The Uttar Pradeshgovernment will sign an agree-ment with the Gujarat govern-ment seeking technical supportfor the construction of a mas-sive Statue of Lord Ram inAyodhya.

A cabinet meeting chairedby Chief Minister YogiAdityanath on Saturday nightgave its approval for signing anMOU for guidance and sup-port on technical proposal,design etc, an officialspokesman said on Sunday.

The cabinet also cleared Rs200 crore for the preparation ofa detailed project report andthe acquisition of 28.28hectares of land identified forsetting up the statue by the dis-trict magistrate of Ayodhya, thespokesman said.

On the lines of Gujarat'sStatue of Unity, a chief minis-ter-headed trust would overseethe project, he said, adding ahigh-powered committee willbe set up for smooth conductof the construction work. PTI

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AParliamentary panel hasraised objection at the

Union Environment Ministry'smove of drafting the NationalForest policy 2018 without con-sulting the Union Tribal AffairsMinistry which is mandatory asper the Government of India(Allocation of Business Rules,1961).

In fact, the Union TribalAffairs Ministry has alreadyrejected the Draft NationalForest Policy (DNFP) allegingthat it disregards the role oftribals in conservation effortsand that it does not reflect theparadigm shift in forest gover-nance, management and con-servation by the enactment ofthe Forest Rights Act 2006(FRA) and the PanchayatExtension to Scheduled AreasAct, 1996 (PESA).

Furthermore, the TribalAffairs Ministry during itssubmission before theParliamentary panel led byRajya Sabha MP AnandSharma said that the proposed

policy goes against the spirit ofamendment made in GoI(Allocation of Business) Rules,1961 on March, 17th 2006whereby all matters relating tothe rights of forest dwellingScheduled Tribes on forestlands has to be brought underits purview.

The tribal and greenactivists too have slammed theEnvironment Ministry forignoring the rights of tribals inits DNFP, which the activistshave alleged "shift away fromthe goals laid down in NationalForest Policy 1988 and priori-tize production forestry." Theyhave also alleged that the pol-icy proposes the idea of publicprivate partnership in forestsector to divert the forest landsto the private players; it is alsosilent on the issue of usage ofCAMPA funds; etc.

The panel in its report 'sta-tus of forests in India' hadasked "whether the steps envis-aged in the draft National ForestPolicy, 2018 by the EnvironmentMinistry in the direction ofEssential Principles of Forest

Management and Strategy areadequate enough to safeguardthe ecological and livelihoodsecurity of our people and incontributing towards achiev-ing the national goal and eco-logical security of the country."

The Committee also ques-tioned the move commentingthat "the Ministry ofEnvironment, Forest andClimate Change on its own,should not have taken this ini-tiative to bring about this pol-icy or propose a policy withoutthe Ministry of Tribal Affairsbeing fully in agreement. Thisis very clear in the Allocationof Business Rules, 1961."

The Committee further saidin its report tabled in Parliamentrecently that, "actually no stake-holders' consultations had beenheld while preparing this draftpolicy. The Committee alsoobserved that clear cut defini-tion of forest should be includ-ed in the Draft Policy and theremust be synergy with ForestRights Act, 2006 and other rel-evant Acts which affect thetribals and other forest dwellers

predominantly dependent fortheir livelihood on the forests,"said the report.

Defending the provisionsin the DNFP 2018, however,the Director-General (Forest)and Special Secretary, said thatit aims to safeguard the eco-logical and livelihood securityof the people, of the presentand future generations as wellincreasing tree cover outsideforest among other benefits.

However, the NGOs in thesector were not convinced.

Ashoka Trust for Researchin Ecology & Environment(ATREE) submitted before thepanel that unlike the ForestPolicy of 1988 that clearly stat-ed that "ecological balance wasprimary but local needs were tobe given priority over industrialrequirements, the DNFP 2018prioritize production forestry."

Another NGO,Environment Support Groupsuggested that the policy has tobe made jointly by theEnvironment and Tribal AffairsMinistries as required underAllocation of Business Rules

1961 and also keeping the syn-ergy between the proposedpolicy and the Forest Right Act2006.

Similarly, The Energy andResources Institute (TERI) sub-mitted before the Committeethat ecological security of thenation, sustenance and liveli-hood needs of the people liv-ing in and around forest havethe first right on forest and anyeconomic derivative is subor-dinate to these objectives whilethe WWF-India stressed theneed to strengthen the imple-mentation of legal and policyinstruments.

The parliamentary panelhas now asked theEnvironment Ministry to keepin loop the Tribal AffairsMinistry and other stakehold-ers such as NGOs and localbodies before giving it a finalshape. It has also sought ade-quate safeguards for the pro-tection of vulnerable forestcommunities such as tribalsand other communities whoare dependent on the forest fortheir sustenance and survival.

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Bahujan Samaj Party presi-dent Mayawati on Sunday

accused the BJP of indulging in"petty" politics after thePulwama terror attack andclaimed people feel that thecountry's honour and securityare not in safe hands.

Mayawati also paid tributesto security force personnelkilled in the February 14Pulwama attack and other ter-ror incidents.

"The ruling BJP shouldnot have indulged in politicsafter the Pulwama terrorstrike...The worried 130-crorepeople have seen as to how theBJP could not desist fromindulging in petty politics evenat such a time and they havenow realised that country'shonour and security is not instrong and safe hands," the BSPchief said.

Mayawati also convened ameeting of senior party leadersand office bearers at the BSP'sheadquarters here.

The BSP president ,whoreturned to the state capital onlya couple of days ago after a longstay in Delhi, also called for a"strong and dependable policyfor issues concerning the safe-ty and security of the country."

Mayawati appealed to thepeople to stand with the fam-

ilies of those killed in terrorattacks and extend all possiblesupport.

She also asked the govern-mentto fulfil promises made tothem promptly.

The BSP president said it isimportant that all preparationsare made for the country's

safety, security and honour,and to ensure that no countryis able to either ignore orthreaten India.

Directing BSP workers tostrengthen the organisation upto the booth level in prepara-tion for the Lok Sabha polls andincrease the party's base, she

asked workers of the BSP andSamajwadi Party (SP) to forgetpetty differences and strength-en the alliance so as to defeatan anti-people BJP in the gen-eral elections.

The SP and BSP enteredinto an alliance recently.

"Only the BSP and SP arein a position to defeat the BJPin Uttar Pradesh," she said.

Mayawati, who held a strat-egy session with her partyleaders, said in the presentscenario, the SP-BSP coalitionhas to be careful and decide theway forward.

The SP and BSP are con-testing the parliamentary elec-tions in three states - UttarPradesh, Madhya Pradesh andUttarakhand - which accountfor 110 seats in the Lok Sabha.

Though she has not yet for-mally announced the names ofBSP candidates, the party willcontest in 38 of the 80 LokSabha seats in Uttar Pradeshand its ally SP will contest in 37seats as per the understandingreached between them.

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The Indian saree may be anobject of curiosity and

amusement for the globalcommunity because of itsunique size and how it isdraped around with perfec-tion. More than that, it hasbeen scientifically found thatthis age old attire dating backto Indus Valley Civilisation iscapable of helping the personwho wears it with positiveenergy.

Many times, we comeacross ladies wearing the cus-tomary Indian sarees execut-ing their jobs with élan andperfection. Whether it beSumitra Mahajan , theSpeaker of the Lok Sabha orSushma Swraj and NirmalaSitaraman, union ministers ,Latha Mangeshkar or AshaBhosle, India’s nightingalesor Sudha Murthy of Infosys,they stand out in their professional fieldsthanks to the positive energy they garner fromthe attire, the saree.

A team of researchers at Spiritual ScienceResearch Foundation Maharshi AdhyatmaVishwavidyalay, led by Dr Nandini Samant, amedical doctor turned scientist cum educa-tionist, have found that the nine yard sareewrapped around by women help them to gar-ner positive spiritual energy or Sattva guna.(Sattva, Raja and Tama are the very fabric of cre-ation as per Indian philosophy). In contrast,wearing the skirt has a detrimental effect.

“We found that what we wear can affect usat a spiritual level. Our studies were based onthe findings of a comparative experiment inwhich energy generated in four women in theage group of 29 to 55 years who were asked towear first a skirt and then a saree,” explainedDr Samant.

The research team that included engineersin energy sciences measured the energy gener-ated by the subjects upon wearing the skirt andsaree using the Electro somato graphic tech-nique, an instrument with which the energy lev-els could be recorded.

“The measurements found that the nine-yard saree (closely followed by the six-yard saree)is the most sattvik or spiritually beneficial femaleattire compared to other dress materials attire.The saree has a spiritual healing effect whichcould be completely understood only if we havethat sixth-sense, also known as extra sensoryperception” said Dr Samant, who headed the

research team of the MaharshiAdhyatma Vishwavidyalayunder the Sanatan Sanstha,based in Ramnadthi, Ponda,Goa.

She said that when theenergy levels of those wearingskirts and other western cos-tumes were measured, it wasfound that they emitted moreRaja-Tamoa vibrations , andled to manifestations of neg-ative energies.

Dr Samant, a doctor ofmedicine in psychiatry fromUniversity of Bombay, saidthat the conclusions from thestudies showed that spiritualvibrations of clothes dependon factors such as the type ofcloth, shape, colour, design,stitching , fit and other suchfactors. “As we wear a set ofclothes throughout the day,the vibrations they emit influ-ence our spiritual state whichin turn can affect us at thephysical, psychological and

intellectual levels. Spiritually impure or Raja-Tama predominant clothes affect us negatively.The affected gross manifestations of this couldinclude lethargy, lack of clarity of thought, a dis-turbed mind and an increase in personalitydefects. Spiritually positive clothes impart calm-ness, concentration, clarity of thought, confi-dence, vitality etc.,” says the research paper pub-lished by the SSRF which is being analysed bypeers.

Vijayashree Ramesh, a Chennai basedlawyer-cum-author, said that sh e was alwayscomfortable in the traditional nine-yard sareefollowed by the six-yard. “I do not know any sci-entific reason but I am at home in saree. I pre-fer to wear saree all the time as I find it safe,secure and of course simple,” said Ramesh.

Dr Samant said the Maharshi AdhyatmaVishwavidyalay (MAV) has also conductedresearch on dress worn by males attire and theyhave come across some interesting findingswhich would be released after review by thecommunity of scientists.

Prof B M Hegde, eminent cardiologist andchief editor of “Journal of the Science of HealingOutcomes” said the SSRF MAV findings wereimportant and should be studied further.“Energy plays a major role in our physical andmental systems. I accept the observations madeby them because we ourselves have found thatmany medical disorders could be addressed withenergy therapy,” said Prof Hegde, a former vicechancellor of the elite Kasturba Medical College,Manipal.

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Army Chief General BipinRawat Sunday visited var-

ious forward locations alongthe International border inJammu region, expressing con-fidence of thwarting any hos-tile activity.

The Chief of Army Staff(COAS) visited various forwardlocations of Samba andRatnuchak in Jammu region toreview the operational deploy-ment and preparedness, adefence spokesman said.

Gen Rawat was briefedabout the situation and pre-paredness by the GeneralOfficer Commanding, RisingStar Corps, Lt Gen J S Nain.

The Army chief also inter-acted with the troops in for-ward locations, the spokesmansaid.

Gen Rawat expressed com-plete confidence in capabilitiesof the Indian Army to thwartany nefarious design of ene-mies of the country and han-dle any situation.

The COAS also praisedthe high state of moral and pre-paredness of the troops, the

spokesman said.General Rawat arrived here

on Saturday and visited the

headquarters of White KnightCorps to review the operationalpreparedness of the forces in

the Corps Zone in view of thecurrent situation along theLine of Control (LoC) and the

International Border (IB).Northern Army

Commander Lt General RanbirSingh also accompanied him.

During the visit, the COASwas briefed and updated byGOC White Knight Corps LtGen Paramjit Singh about thecurrent operational situation,prevailing security scenarioand the preparedness of the for-mation.

This was the first visit ofthe Army chief to the regionafter India's pre-emptive strikeson Jaish-e-Mohammed's terrorcamps at Balakot in KhyberPakhtunkhwa province inPakistan.

Barring ceasefire viola-tion in Nowshera sector ofRajouri district from 12.30pm to 2.30 pm on Saturday,there were no reports of firingin the rest of the sectors since11 pm Friday.

More than 80 forward vil-lages were targeted by Pakistanin over 50 ceasefire violationsin Rajouri and Poonch districtssince Tuesday, which left fourcivilians, including three mem-bers of a family, dead and sev-eral others injured.

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Notwithstanding his differ-ences with the BJP,

Shatrughan Sinha said Sundayhe will not change his con-stituency in the coming LokSabha election "whatever thesituation", making clear hewould contest again from PatnaSahib seat irrespective of theparty decision.

"Situation kuch bhi ho,location wahi hogi (Whateverthe situation, location would besame)," Sinha told PTI on thephone from Ranchi.

The sitting Patna Sahiblawmaker has been at logger-heads with the current BJPleadership since the 2015 Biharelection, over several issues.

He has often taken a stanceat variance with the officialparty line, including on demon-

etisation and Goods andServices Tax, and shared thestage with opposition leaders atan anti-BJP rally in Kolkata inJanuary, where he was project-ed as the "star speaker".

On a recent visit toLucknow, he had held a meet-ing with Samajwadi Party chiefAkhilesh Yadav, giving rise tospeculation his wife PoonamSinha may enter active politicsfrom the Uttar Pradesh capital,currently represented in LokSabha by Home MinisterRajnath Singh.

Asked about it, the actor-turned-politician said he willneither confirm nor deny this.

"Poonam Sinha has beenbusy with social work for long.She is liked by all. People wanther to contest but whether thiswill happen or not only time willtell," Shatrughan Sinha, 72, said.

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News spread like wildfire onTuesday (February 25) morningthat the Indian Air Force (IAF)had struck at Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) terror camps

at Balakot across the LoC in the wee hours.The strike reportedly led to massive casual-ties and confusion in the ranks of terrorists.One thousand kilos of bomb, one was told,had been dropped, leading to hundreds offatalities. The triumphant mood provedinfectious and the social media exploded injubilation and jibes. Television journalists chat-tered with such conviction as though theywere reporting from the site. Even though theybehaved as “embedded journalists,” surelynone of them had been flown in an aircraftto witness the massacre. The images used werealso representative rather than actual.

Then one noticed the confusion about thelocation of Balakot. In war reporting, like inwar history, maps are as important as the text.But journalists thought it was in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, where intuitively most ter-ror camps are located. There was an exchangeof Twitter-fire between two well-knownjournalists regarding the spelling Balakot andBala Kote as there was confusion about theprecise strike location. But another journal-ist, perhaps aided by quick search onWikipedia, informed on Facebook thatBalakot is in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, meaningIndia had crossed the international border andnot just the Line of Control (LoC).

In this melee, this writer scrambled forthe official version of events. During the lastsurgical strikes of September 29, 2016, Lt GenRanbir Singh, the then Director-General ofMilitary Operations, had issued a Pressstatement hosted on the Press InformationBureau (Ministry of Information &Broadcasting) website. There was significantdifference between what Lt Gen Singh hadsaid and how the media narrated the surgi-cal strikes. But this time around, there was nosuch statement from the military and thedefence establishment.

This writer looked into the Twitter han-dles of the IAF, Raksha Mantri (official han-dle), Nirmala Sitharaman (personal handle)only to notice that there was absolute silenceon the issue. The only thing they tweeted dur-ing the day was the inauguration of theNational War Memorial by the Prime Ministerthe previous evening. In fact, the airstrike wasa non-event for Raksha Mantri, Defencespokesperson and the IAF Twitter handles onFebruary 26, 27 and 28 for reasons best knownto them. While the first two Twitter handlessprung to action again after the tri-servicePress conference on February 28 evening, theIAF Twitter handle maintained silence.

Getting back to the subject, the text of theofficial version of the strikes was finally locat-ed on the Ministry of External Affair’s web-site. Why the Foreign Secretary shouldreport an air campaign and IAF shouldobserve silence over it is puzzling. But it wasmore perplexing to find that Foreign Secretary

Vijay Gokhale’s statement madeno mention of the IAF. In fact, itdescribed the strike as “non-mil-itary pre-emptive action”, whichreminded this writer of an inno-vative Bengali recipe of the 1960s,strangely named ‘vegetarianduck-egg curry’. It does mentionBalakot but not whether it is inmainland Pakistan or PoK.

Subsequently, a string ofpictures, presumably of thedestruction wrought in Balakotdue to IAF’s bombing, went viralon social media. Little notice waspaid to the fact that the victimslooked overwhelmingly civil-ians, including women, a fact thatcontradicted the ForeignSecretary’s statement that civiliancasualties were avoided. But sub-sequently, they turned out to beold photos, capturing thedestruction caused by an earth-quake in Balakot in 2005.

Can the paradox get biggerthan this? On the one hand, theGovernment is flaunting a zero-tolerance policy towards fakenews. The heads of social mediacompanies are being summonedbefore the Standing Committeeon Information Technology. Onthe other, relevant Governmentinstitutions and Ministers in-charge maintain silence on sucha vital matter or give insufficientand puzzling versions. TheGovernment is, thus, itself help-ing unsubstantiated or fake newsto proliferate.

Some people cite compul-sions of secrecy about surgicalstrikes. One wonders what kindof secrecy is this where mediaknows more and social mediastill more about an event with-

in hours but Government insti-tutions provide little or con-fused information. GeraldVincent Bull (1928-1990), theCanadian defence engineerwho was developing a long-range artillery called ProjectBabylon “supergun” for SaddamHussein, was assassinated inBrussels in 1990. His murder,still unsolved, is widely believedto be carried out by the Israeliintelligence service, Mossad.Did the then Israeli PrimeMinister Yitzhak Shamir evenrefer to the action in public letalone taking political credit;although he might have autho-rised it in the first place?

How is it known which airbases the Miraj squadron flewout from and where was thecampaign coordinated? Eitherthe news is incorrect or sup-plied by some highly-placedsources within the IAF. Doesthat then mean that the IAF isleaking out confidential newswhile officially keeping silent onit? Is it the way to deal with mil-itary issues in a republic?

The Kargil War was a highpoint in that sense. It was India’sfirst “televised war.” Not onlywere images from the world’shighest battle theatre streamedinto our homes throughout theday, but every evening, the thenMEA spokesperson, SardarRaminder Singh Jassal, kept usabreast of the developments.Having seen that era in one’s earlyyouth, one finds this approach toinformation quite strange. OnNovember 18, 2016, a largenumber of Lok Sabha memberswanted to know about the num-

ber of camps destroyed and ter-rorists killed in the strike. TheMoS, Defence, avoided giving ananswer. Nor was any answergiven to that effect in the RajyaSabha. After that, the issue sur-prisingly went cold. TheGovernment has not given anydetails about the event till date.

Many would like to con-vert the issue of “proof ” intoone of believing and notbelieving in the Indian armedforces. A “non-believer” wouldbe immediately branded asanti-nationalist. But the issuehere is actually different. It iswhether or not citizens havethe right to know the exactposition from their electedGovernment? Is it whetherthe Government, in this era offake news, should leave suchinformation about such vitalmilitary event to the mercy ofmedia and social media?

It appears in hindsight thatSardar Baldev Singh, India’s firstDefence Minister, was charitablein his remarks. He said ourArmy, Air Force and Navy (sic)were fighting against Pakistanbacked infiltrators in Jammu &Kashmir (1947). He reportedlydid not buckle when peopleasked how could the Navy fightin mountains and valleys? He wasmerely providing some superflu-ous information, without beingeconomic with the truth. Do weneed an Official Version Act forthe Government, which has con-ventionally been governed by theOfficial Secrets Act?

(The writer is an independentresearcher. Views expressed here-in are his personal)

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Sir — This refers to the editori-al, “Now, some calm talk” (March2). Pakistan, too, like us, mustfocus within. It should give uphosting terror bases and consid-er investing in quality educationfor all, production of goods,innovative and profitable agricul-ture, industries, renewable cleanfuel (solar and hydrogen energy)and on stopping plastic usage.Above all, it should nullify terror-ist activities and the arms buyingrace urgently.

Elsewhere, people are unitingand working on the developmentof their countries peacefully.Koreans are sending united teamsto international competitions.Take, for example, China’s Beltand Road Initiative across landand maritime route or think ofthe two Germanys uniting tobreak the wall.

In every country, the com-mon man wants to simply goabout his business. While thispresumably is the case inPakistan, too, it does not preventthe country from indulging indestructive activities, all of whichis a waste of money and results inthe loss of precious lives of sol-

diers, innocent citizens and evenassets on both sides of the border.Who can solve problems betweentwo nations arising from man-made issues?

PVM Rao Secunderabad

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Sir — This refers to the editori-

al, “Now, some calm talk” (March2). The announcement on thefloor of Parliament by PakistanPrime Minister Imran Khan thathis country would release WingCommander AbhinandanVarthaman helped us heave a sighof relief. Captured by locals,Abhinandan was badly beatenbefore being rescued by an offi-cer of the Pakistan Army.

If Pakistan has seen sense in

releasing the captured Indian AirForce pilot, after it was roundlypressured by international pow-ers and even its own allies, its peo-ple should not see it as a come-down but a practical decision.India asserted that no concessionswere made for the release of thecaptured pilot, Wing CommanderAbhinandan.

KS JayatheerthaBengaluru

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Sir — This refers to the article,“De-escalate Indo-Pak ties”(March 2) M Ashraf Haidari.Certainly, terrorism and all itsingredients are an obstruction todevelopments not only in Indiaand Pakistan but they alsoadversely influence other coun-tries irrespective of their size.The world has been sufferingfrom deep-rooted militancy.Iraq, Syria, Libya andAfghanistan are good examples.

As far as Pakistan is con-cerned, its democracy is in noway trying to change the civil-ian outlook, where religioussentiments play a huge role.

Educated young peoplemust effect a shift in the per-spectives of citizens of thatcountry. Pakistan being a coun-tr y of unrest sinceIndependence, uncertainty inad-vertently affects the youth. Timeonce lost will never be returned.Only collective efforts can helpin changing perspectives.

Ramachandran NairMalappuram

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Last week’s forest fires in Karnatakamust serve as a reminder that forestmanagement in our country is inurgent need of attention. More than3,000 hectares of forest land were gut-

ted in the inferno in the Bandipur NationalPark in Mysuru district of Karnataka. TheBandipur National Park is spread over morethan 900 sq km area and bears dry deciduousforests, which are vulnerable to fires. Bandipuris one of the most vital habitats for the tigerand has the highest density area wise, almostone tiger per 7 sq km. It is home to around 80tigers besides several elephants, deer, bisonsand antelopes. It shares a contiguous landscapewith the Nagarhole National Park And TigerReserve, which in turn connects with theunique ecosystem of the Niligiri hills and ulti-mately merges with the rich forests of Kerala.

The fires are very damaging to the ecosys-tem as they kill the entire gamut of ecologi-cal capital built over thousands of years. WithIndia being most vulnerable to climate changeand hosting sensitive tropical ecosystems, it isall the more necessary for us to pay adequateand immediate attention to the prevention offorest fires. These not only cause irreparableecological damage to life-sustaining naturalresources for both humans and wild animalsbut also threaten the livelihoods of forest-dependent communities, and particularlyresults in destabilising the agriculture andwater sources.

In recent times, forest fires have become aregular phenomenon in our country. Over thelast few years, Uttarakhand and the hills in theNortheast have seen forest fires with regular fre-quency, causing severe damage to the vegeta-tion and precious bio-diversity. Similar inci-dents have been noticed in other States, too. Iffires continue ravaging our forest resources,days are not far enough when the country willbe in the vortex of social strife as the life sus-taining resources will be gradually lost and pre-cious bio-diversity may become extinct. It isessential that we draw up an actionable planto control forest fires so that remedial steps canbe taken with al l seriousness by theGovernment as well as the civil society. Forestfires are but a national calamity and must beclassified as a disaster of the highest magnitude.

The Bandipur fires were so severe thatmore than 1,000 village people and the avail-able forest guards were not able to control it.The Karnataka Chief Minister had to seek thesupport of the Defence Minister, who readilyobliged and deployed two helicopters of theIndian Air Force, who due to the availabilityof water bodies inside the park, were able tospray 30,000 litres of water to douse the fire.

There are three main reasons why suchinfernos are occurring so frequently. First, isclimatic vagaries and recalcitrant local weath-er conditions. Last year, Bandipur receivedample rains in September, which allowed thegrass to grow very tall and soon after the endof the rainy season, they became a veritable fuelload, waiting to set the forest afire.

The second reason is the culpability of the

local population, who lit the fires accidental-ly by throwing cigarette butts and sometimesdeliberately to facilitate the timber mafia. It issaid that in Bandipur, the fire was set off bygraziers. However, what contributed a greatdeal to this inferno was the sheer negligenceof the forest staff and officers of Karnataka,who failed to take timely action as per the firecontrol protocol sent to all States regularly bythe Ministry of Environment, Forest andClimate Change. In forest fire management, thebest strategy is prevention rather than fire-fighting and control. The moot point to ask is:Are the foresters of Bandipur, or for that mat-ter all over the country, prepared with a firemanagement plan? Each year, a strategy hasto be made with respect to the actual fuel load,maintenance of fire lines, burning the forestfuel load and involvement of the local popu-lation. Based on this, early warning systemsmust be prepared, vulnerable areas mappedand strategies suggested. It is also to beascertained if the Forest Survey of India’s (FSI)fire warning system reached the field officers.The FSI is well-equipped to detect the forestfires through satellite within seconds and oncea fire incident is detected, it sends SMSes tofield divisional forest officers and wildlife war-dens and other officers. Yet another cause ofa galloping blaze, which many foresters right-fully argue for, is the lack of adequate fundsto place a sound forest fire management sys-tem in place.

The Government of India, the Ministry ofEnvironment, Forest and Climate Change(MoEFCC) as also the Karnataka Governmentmust inquire into these lapses, find the realcause of fires and fix responsibility. In mostcases, the incident is forgotten after sometimewhen the matter subsides, especially in themedia. Now, the time has come that theMoEFCC must take a call and put a national

programme in place on forest fire managementand pin-point the role of officers at various lev-els, including of those who are responsible forproviding funds. Without control of forest fires,we are putting up hiccups in achieving our tar-gets for climate change. It is felt by a large num-ber of people and professionals within and out-side the forestry circles, that fires happen dueto the lackadaisical attitude of policy plannersand programme implementers.

The Compensator y Planning andManagement Authority (CAMPA) has hugefunds parked with it and a portion of it mustbe earmarked for fire prevention. TheGovernment’s Disaster Management author-ities in respective States should — in collab-oration with financial support from MoEFCC(for which CAMPA funds could be lined up),FSI and forestry research organisations —come out with a proposal to develop a three-month course for all field formulationsof the forests and other departments on fireprevention and control. For senior and mid-dle level officers, special modules of one to twoweeks duration should be created and mockdrills conducted. Similar programmes shouldbe arranged for local people and every year,District Magistrates should constitute a com-mittee for coordination in fire prevention,planning and control. All of those, whoreceive emoluments from the Government,must be duty-bound to assist the forestdepartment for fire control. At the State level,the Chief Secretary should monitor the prepa-ration at the beginning of the fire season.Incentives must be given to the local peoplefor fire prevention and punitive action mustbe taken against those who deliberately settwigs fire. It is high time that MoEFCC takesthese initiatives and the country is rid of themenace of forest and bio-diversity destruction.

(The writer is a retired civil servant)

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The chain of events following thePulwama attack has plungedthe security environment in the

Indian sub-continent to its lowestpoint since Operation Parakram.Media-led clamour for retaliatory useof force against Pakistan has been gain-ing decibels ever since. And such hasbeen the predictability of Governmentresponse in the post-truth world thatlimited use of military force wasinstantly foretold.

However, the air strikes on Jaish-e-Mohammad training camps insidePakistani territory came as a surpriseto both Pakistan as well as analysts onboth sides of the border. While Indiatermed the strikes as “non-military”and “pre-emptive”, the use of sophisti-cated terminology did not deterPakistan from carrying out retaliatory

airstrikes, which led to an Indian AirForce (IAF) pilot and his Mig-21being shot down.

Amid claims and counter-claims ofwho inflicted how much damage, thetwo nuclear powers are once again onthe verge of a full-fledged military con-flict. What is appalling is that despitethe criticality of the situation, promi-nent intelligentsia is suggesting thatIndia must seek escalation. Their argu-ment is that previous piecemeal mili-tary actions have failed to establishcredible deterrence. While precedentsmay favour this argument, there is afundamental flaw with the use ofescalation as a deliberate policy mea-sure — its propensity to spiral out ofcontrol.

Numerous externalities impactthe deviation between intended objec-tives and actual outcome of an escala-tory action. To begin with, what shouldbe the escalatory threshold? The sub-jectivity of escalatory threshold is oneof the reasons that escalation is so dif-ficult to manage and/or successfullyexploit. Escalatory threshold may besymmetric — where a threshold isviewed similarly by both parties orasymmetric — situations where a

threshold may loom large for one partybut may seem obscure to the other.Second is the anticipated response froman adversary. Generally, when one partyto a conflict crosses the escalatorythreshold, it expects the other side tofollow suit. Once again, this responsemay be symmetric, asymmetric orsometimes even absent.

For example, during World War I,when the German Army introducedgas warfare, the Allied forces respond-ed in equal measure, which kept theperceptive breach of escalatory thresh-old in balance. However, such a sym-metric response may not be availableif the prospect of equal retaliation seemsless appealing or unavailable to theother party. For example, duringOperation Desert Storm, frustrated bythe sustained air strikes of the US-ledforces, Iraq deliberately sought to esca-late the conflict by firing ballistic mis-siles at Israel. The idea was to irk thecoalition forces and draw them intowar. However, Israel did not retaliateand coalition forces refused to bedrawn into a premature full-blown war.

To sum up, achieving intended out-comes by deploying escalation as a pol-icy objective is dependent on external

factors which are beyond effective con-trol of parties to a conflict. Most of thesefactors are presumptive in nature andmay or may not exist in objective real-ity. This increases the chance of a mis-calculation exponentially and that isexactly what two nuclear-armednations cannot afford.

Even if India is certain to attainescalation dominance, it makes for lit-tle practical sense, given that stakes arehigher for India as compared toPakistan. An armed conflict at thispoint will have a multi-modal impacton India. The immediate casualtywould be the economy. Wars areexpensive. Just to add to perspective,the US federal price tag for the post9/11 wars is pegged over $5.9 trilliontill date (more than double of India’sGDP). The Indian economy is alreadyfacing headwinds from a rebound inglobal oil prices amidst a host of othermacro-economic concerns, besidesuncertainty over the upcoming gen-eral elections. While the near $3 tril-lion economy may stay resilient in theface of a limited armed conflict, anescalated conflict may lead to dimin-ished foreign investment and conse-quent economic slowdown. India is

currently jockeying, some wouldargue not particularly successfully, alimited time-frame during which itcan leverage its demographic dividendto transition into a higher-income andproductive economy.

Further, an armed conflict at thispoint will also derail the modernisa-tion of the armed forces. The much-needed force modernisation has onlyrecently started to show some form.Indian armed forces are in the processof acquiring as well as developing newplatforms and structures to boostdefence preparedness. Key amongstthese is the restructuring of theIndian Army into a leaner force bycreating integrated battle groups.Strides have also been made in cre-ating a separate command for cyberand space warfare. These reforms arecritical to the enhancement of thecombat capability of the Indianforces. China, too, is undergoing sim-ilar reforms, under which its territo-rial Army has been downsized. Aneconomically and militarily fragileIndia will not enjoy the same strate-gic advantages as it currently does,which puts at risk its membership ofthe Nuclear Suppliers Group and the

UN Security Council.The risks of an escalation gone

wrong far outweigh any perceived ben-efits. With the release of the capturedIAF pilot, India’s option to escalate hasbecome politically unviable. In thisbackdrop, non-military escalationwould be the most viable strategy.

It would be in India’s utmostinterest to maintain sustained multi-pronged pressure on Pakistan andensure that it is declared an interna-tional pariah. To begin with, Indiamust rise over the rhetoric and offi-cially treat Pakistan as a terror-spon-soring state in its foreign policy.India’s economic heft and the recentuptick in Indo-China relations postthe Wuhan summit, must also beleveraged to score a diplomatic upperhand in its initiatives to blacklist ter-rorist organisations breeding onPakistani soil. Non-military punitiveactions like weaponising the IndusWater Treaty must be duly consid-ered. Above all, India must carve outa consistent Pakistan policy as theextant mixture of hard and softapproach has far outrun its course.

(The writer is legal associate anddefence analyst, Koan Advisory Group)

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Beleaguered carrier JetAirways has groundedtwo

more of its aircraft due to non-payment of lease rentals, takingthe total number of planes onground to 23.

With the grounding of twomore planes, almost 20 per centof aircraft in the airlines fleetare now out of operations.

"An additional two aircrafthave been grounded due tonon-payment of amounts out-standing to lessors under theirrespective lease agreements,"the airline said in a filing to the

stock exchanges on Saturday.It also said that it is active-

ly "engaged" with all its aircraftlessors and regularly providesthem with updates on theefforts undertaken to improveits liquidity.

The company said it wasmaking all efforts to minimisedisruption to its network due tothe grounding of these planesand was pro-actively informingand re-accommodating itsaffected guests.

The airline also continuesto provide the required andperiodic updates to theDirectorate General of Civil

Aviation (DGCA) in thisregard, it added.

After announcing thegrounding of four of its planeson February 7 for non-paymentto lessors, the airline tookanother two aircraft out ofoperations due to similar rea-sons on February 23.

On February 27 and 28, JetAirways grounded seven and sixaircraft, respectively, due to thenon-payment of lease rentals.

Later, two aircraft weregrounded on Friday and asmany on Saturday, taking thetotal number of planes out ofoperations to 23.

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Foreign investors poured inclose to �17,220 crore on a

net basis into Indian equitiesin February this year, thehighest since November 2017,amid clarity on governmentspending plans and positivesentiments.

Foreign portfolio investorshad pumped in a net amountof around �19,728 crore intoIndian stocks in November2017.

As per the latest data fromthe depositories, foreigninvestors pumped in�1,17,899.79 crore into equi-ties and pulled out�1,00,680.17 crore inFebruary, a net investment of�11,183 crore into the stockmarket.

In the previous month(January 2019), however, for-eign portfolio investment

(FPI) outflows from equitiesstood at �5,263.85 crore.

Foreign investors haveturned into net buyers inFebruary mainly on accountof clarity on governmentspending post budget andvalue buying in several pock-ets, according to Vidya Bala,Head, Mutual Funds Researchat FundsIndia, said.

She further said thatinflows into the equity marketcan be attributed to positiveview on budget and dovishstance taken by the centralbank.

"The Reserve Bank's deci-sion to change its stance toneutral from calibrated tight-ening while cutting the reporate by 25 basis points cement-ed the belief that bringinggrowth back is on the top ofits agenda," Alok Agarwala,Head of Investment Analyticsat Bajaj Capital, said.

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In a bid to promote Bahrain asfinancial tech hub, the Middle

Eastern country is seeking par-ticipation from Indian firms tobecome a part of the growingfintech space in the region.

Bahrain provides a pletho-ra of opportunities to Indianfintech firms for open banking,blockchain, crypto assets, roboadvisory and remittances.

Financial service sector isthe second biggest contributorto the GDP behind oil and gasand the effort is to grow thesector further, BahrainEconomic Development Board(EDB) Senior Manager (busi-ness development - financialservices) Dalal Buhejji said.

"Central Bank of Bahrainhas put in the right ecosystemto support growth and inno-vation. We have seen differentnew regulations coming outrecently to support open bank-ing, crypto asset trade regula-tion and draft regulation onrobo advisory," she said.

Bahrain acts as the test bedfor innovations in financial ser-vices space as the country pro-vides many advantages includ-ing low cost of doing business,right accelerator and incubators,among others, she said, adding

some Indian companies haveapplied for sandbox.

Generally, sandbox is seenas a safe zone to test financialinnovation which sees a limit-ed rollout of new products toselect customers.

Terming India as a keymarket, Buhejji said EDB hada roadshow in Mumbai toattract fintech companies inDecember.

The EDB, the investmentpromotion arm of Bahrain,also signed a Memorandum ofUnderstanding (MoU) withthe Maharashtra governmentto provide a framework for co-operation to promote fintech intheir respective markets.

To promote startups, apublic private partnership plat-form in the name of BahrainFintech Bay has been createdthat provides physical space forfintech companies.

Established last year, it hasnow become a home for 36companies from 15 differentcountries, Bahrain Fintech BayCEO Khalid Saad said.

"India is absolutely keymarket. We do have couple ofcompanies founded by Indianentrepreneurs in Bahrain andthe other Malaysian-Indiancompany in the cryto assetspace," he said.

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Coal India isaiming to

meet the 610million tonneproduction andoff-take targetas per the pactit signed withthe CoalM i n i s t r y ,despite a pro-d u c t i o nmomentum dipin the initialmonths of thecurrent fiscal,officials said.

After thehigh produc-tion growth rateof 15 per cent inthe Apr-Junquarter ofFY19, the dryfuel miner hadattempted tomeet an inter-nal aspirationaltarget of 652MT for the yearbut things did not work out asper Coal India's plans, sourcessaid.

Coal India said the mem-orandum of understanding(MoU) target for productionand off-take is 610 MT.

Based on the trend, pro-duction could be around 590MT, an analyst tracking CoalIndia said, declining to benamed.

Coal stock at the pitheads

of the miner was at 34.76 MTat the end of February.

Mahanadi Coalfields Ltdand South Eastern CoalfieldsLtd, which were facing agita-tions, saw an uptrend in pro-duction in February, by 17 and6 per cent respectively overthe corresponding month ofthe previous year.

The two subsidiariesaccount for about half of CoalIndia's total production. But

strikes and disruptions insome of the mines thereimpacted production.

Officials said efforts werebeing made to resolve issuesbut with the election roundthe corner, they are keepingtheir fingers crossed.

Coal India's total produc-tion as on February stood at528 MT, up 6.6 per cent in thefirst 11 months of the currentfiscal. Off-take was at 548 MT

during the period.A Coal India official said

the company clocked 6.6 percent growth in productionwhich is an increase of 32.62MT in absolute terms.

Total coal off-take topower sector in the 11 monthstill February 2019 was 440.8MT, against 411.5 MT duringthe same period of the previ-ous year, registering a growthof 7.1 per cent.

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Essar Oil & Gas Explorationand Production (EOGE-

PL) has received environ-ment clearance for exploringshale gas reserves in itsRaniganj block in WestBengal, an official said.

This fol lows theGovernment's decision toallow operators freedom toexplore both conventional oiland natural gas as well as non-conventional sources likecoal-bed methane (CBM) andshale reserves within a explo-ration acreage.

Previously, companiescould explore only oil andnatural gas or CBM depend-ing on their licence for theblock.

The off icial said theexpert appraisal committee(EAC) in January 29 meetingallowed Essar to drill 20 wellsto explore shale gas in itsRaniganj CBM block.

It has been awarded anexploration lease for shalegas, CBM and hydrocarbonsin the Raniganj block.

EOGPL has got approvalto drill 20 shale wells at a costof Rs 10 crore. To start with,it will drill five wells in theblock to test the shale poten-tial.

When contacted, compa-ny Managing Director and

CEO Vilas Tawde said: "Wewill start off with collectingthe data. For this, we will needto drill the coal, identify thesweet spot and then drill hor-izontally for almost a km.Thereafter, we will analyse thecoal, the shale, the strength ofthe shale, and the requiredvolume."

"If this exploration is suc-cessful, we plan to drillaround 220-250 wells thatwill require an investment of�7,000 crore," he said.

EOGEPL has investedaround �4,000 crore in theRaniganj block, which willproduce 1.7 million standardcubic metres per of gas fromcoal seams (CBM) in the nexttwo years and ramp up to 2.5mmscmd in the next three tofour years.

With the policy for simul-taneous exploration of uncon-ventional resources in place,EOGEPL is looking into theshale prospect in the sameblocks which is in the rangeof 7.7 trillion cubic metres.

The official said the com-pany could spend up to $1 bil-lion in development of shalereserves if the explorationprogramme was successful.

Essar has already signedan agreement to sell entireproduction from RaniganjEast CBM block to state gasutililty GAIL India Ltd.

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The Railways have alwaysbeen in the forefront of

nation building by creatingbetter travel opportunities.Northern Railway has effec-tively contributed towardsPrime Minister’s “DigitalIndia” initiative under thevisionary leadership ofMinister of Railways in turn-ing many Railway stationsover the zone into platformsfor Digital inclusion by pro-viding free Wi-Fi service. Inthis regard entire Delhi-Ambala and Ambala-Chandigarh sections havebeen covered with free Wi-Fifacility at stations. RailTelCorporation of India Ltd., a‘Miniratna’ PSU underMinistry of Railways, has pro-vided the facility.

Passengers will now beable to stay connected to freeinternet at all the stations ofthese two sections. With thisall the stations in route ofDelhi Chandigarh ShatabdiExpress train are now enabledwith high speed free Wi-Fi.

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The Government hasapproved a �14,000-crore

special economic zone (SEZ)project of Adani Power inJharkhand, which will exportentire power generated toBangladesh, an official said.

The project was approvedby highest decision makingbody on SEZ — Board ofApproval — chaired by thecommerce secretary, in itsmeeting on February 25, theGovernment official said.

Adani Power (Jharkhand)Ltd has sought approval for set-ting up of sector specific SEZfor power at villages - Motia,Mali, Gaighat and adjacent vil-lages in Godda district,Jharkhand over an area of 425hectare.

It has received formalapproval for the land in pos-session of 222.68 hectare areaand in principle approval forremaining 202.32 hectare.

Two supercritical units of800 MW each would be set up

with an investment of �14,000crore which would include set-ting up of a water pipeline andpower evacuation system.

It will be ready by the endof 2022. The company hasalready signed power purchaseagreement for supply of 100 percent power generated fromthis plant to Bangladesh.

The SEZs are major exporthubs in the country as theGovernment provides severalincentives including tax bene-fits and single window clear-ance system.

The developers and unitsof these zones enjoy certainfiscal and non-fiscal incen-tives such as no licencerequirement for import, fullfreedom for subcontracting,and no routine examinationby customs authorities ofexport/import cargo. Theyalso enjoy direct and indirecttax benefits.

Exports from special eco-nomic zones grew by about 15per cent to �5.52 lakh crore in2017-18.

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China's rubber-stamp par-liament opens its annual

session on Tuesday as PresidentXi Jinping faces growing con-cerns about the slowing econ-omy, a major challenge to thecountry's pre-eminent leader.

One year after the legisla-ture abolished presidential termlimits and etched Xi's name onthe constitution, his "new era"vision of a resurgent China atthe centre of world affairs hashit unforeseen road bumps.

Economic growth is slow-ing, a festering trade war withthe United States has erodedconfidence and Xi's signatureBelt and Road global tradeinfrastructure initiative hasfaced setbacks in some coun-tries.

Bubbles of discontent haveappeared as the state haspushed deeper into the econ-omy and people's lives.

"This will be a much moredifficult situation for Xi Jinpingthan last year. Last year he wasriding high," said Hong Kong-based political analyst Willy

Lam.Premier Li Keqiang is

expected to open the NationalPeople's Congress by announc-ing a lower GDP growth fore-cast for 2019, setting the tonefor a session heavy on eco-nomic legislation and expect-ed to last two weeks.

Nearly 3,000 delegates willratify a raft of bills in a sessionexpected to last two weeks,including a foreign investmentlaw that could address someUS demands and possible taxcuts.

"Xi Jinping has been criti-cised by party members for nothandling the economy well,and failing to tackle the chal-lenges posed by DonaldTrump," said Lam.

Lam believes Xi avoidedholding a fourth plenum of theparty's Central Committee lastautumn because of his weak-ened position.

But he convened a meetingwith hundreds of provincialand ministerial leaders inBeijing in January to warnthem on the need to prevent"major risks" in politics and the

economy."We must increase our

readiness for unexpected devel-opments, take precautions, andproperly prepare for majorrisks that may arise in the eco-nomic field," Xi warned.

China reported 6.6 percent growth in 2018, the slow-est in nearly three decades.Independent analysts estimateit was worse.

Three-quarters ofprovinces have lowered annu-al growth targets for 2019.

Delegates from aroundthe country will convene forthe NPC session and theChinese People's PoliticalConsultative Conference, anadvisory body that runssimultaneously and beginsdiscussions Sunday.

"Behind closed doors NPCmembers from the provinceswill demand Xi Jinping dosomething about reviving theeconomy," Lam said, adding hewill face "angry voices".

Still Xi presides from aposition of strength with nopotential challengers on thehorizon.

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Niti Aayog has been taskedwith drawing up a list of

non-core assets of variousCPSEs, both healthy and sickones, as a first step towardsFinance Ministry's plan tomonetise such assets andunlock value to shareholders.

This is part of the overallplans of the Government to laydown procedure and mecha-nism for monetisation of non-core assets of central public sec-tor undertakings (CPSEs), whichinclude mainly land and building.

"Niti Aayog will draw upthe list of non-core assetsowned by CPSEs which can besold separately after discussionwith a consultative group com-prising officials from adminis-trative ministries, Departmentof Economic Affairs,Department of Investment andPublic Asset Management(DIPAM)," an official told PTI.

The process would takeabout six months' time, the offi-cial added.

The report of Niti Aayogwill be taken up by the alter-

native mechanism on disin-vestment, headed by FinanceMinister Arun Jaitley, followingwhich the CPSE and therespective administrative min-istry will further proceed withthe monetisation process, theofficial added.

"So far the disinvestmentprocess was confined to cor-porate level. Now, it will go onestep down and monetise non-core assets of CPSEs to unlockwealth and generate value onequity for shareholders," theofficial added.

It is pertinent to mentionhere that in 2016 Niti Aayog wasalso asked to draw up a list ofCPSEs which could go in forstrategic sale. It has alreadyidentified about 35 CPSEs whichcould go in for outright sale.

The Union Cabinet hadlast week approved laying downof institutional framework formonetisation of identified non-core assets of the CPSEs understrategic disinvestment andassets relating to immovableenemy property under the cus-tody of Custodian of EnemyProperty for India (CEPI).

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Unauthorised surchargingand high MDR charges are

some of the reasons for imped-ing growth and sustenance ofdigital payments despite allefforts to promote it, accordingto a study.

"This is, inter alia, due tothe distortionary pricing ofpayment products (i e MDR)and the continued fraudulentpractice of surcharging byacquirer banks and big mer-chants.

"Small/medium merchantson the one hand and cus-tomers on the other hand arelosing out, hindering the gov-ernment's intent of broad bas-ing digital payments," as per thestudy done by IIT Mumbai.

It is estimated that themerchants were burdened withnearly Rs 10,000 crore towardscredit card Merchant DiscountRate (MDR) in 2018 alone, itsaid, adding that this is exor-bitant in contrast with theoverall cost of Rs 3,500 croretowards debit card MDR, eventhough in value terms, creditand debit card transactionsare nearly the same — Rs 5.7lakh crore each in 2018.

The study done by AshishDas, a professor of statistics,highlighted that unauthorisedsurcharging has also burdenedthe payment system users withhuge additional costs.

"Just for the online pay-ments, it has led to extortionsby the acquirer banks and theirpayment facilitators/aggrega-tors to the tune of Rs 200 crore

in 2018 alone. This is a con-servative estimate since werestrict only to the online cred-it and debit card payments.Naive card users, oblivious ofthe set rules and regulationsthat prohibit surcharging, areignorant of the fact that it is thebanks that owe them thisfraudulently extorted money,"it said.

The study, titled 'To sur-charge or not to surcharge',said, the acquirer banks havebeen vested with the responsi-bility to protect the card andBHIM-UPI users in the coun-try from illegal incidence ofmerchant surcharging, but thefact seems otherwise.

Unfortunately, rather thanmerchants, it is banks them-selves who are causing fraud-ulent surcharging by resortingto outsourcing of their pay-

ments' services, it said.Citing an example, it said,

in the case of online transac-tions, the acquirer banks,through their payment facili-tators/aggregators, add a sur-charge amount in the finaltransaction amount.

As a consequence, theacquirer banks/payment facil-itators/aggregators expand theirbusiness and revenue at the costof card and BHIM-UPI users.

"An analogy is a situationwhere an autorickshaw has afast tempered meter, ordemands extra money to takeyou to your destination; andone doesn't know how tosmoothly get a redressal. Thisdoes not mean that not high-lighting the issue absolves theautorickshaw driver of hisfraudulent act ofcheating/extortion," it said.

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In a slashing speech packedwith braggadocio and griev-

ance, President Donald Trumpdenounced Democrats as theparty of “the socialist night-mare,” relitigated his crowdsizes back to the inaugurationand took on “sick,” ‘’lunatic”and “dirty” foes at every turn,earning him the unvarnishedadoration of cheering conser-vatives.

After a trying week oftumult and setbacks, Trumpdelivered a stemwinderSaturday that extended beyondtwo hours and hardly left himwinded.

Trump let loose againstHouse Democrats, who arebroadening their investigationsof him, predicted he would winre-election by a greater marginthan his 2016 victory, tauntedhis potential White House chal-lengers and sounded themesthat are staples of his rallies.

He complained often ofgetting “no credit” for his

achievements as he proudlydrifted “off script” at theConservative Political ActionConference.

His remarks capped a weekthat saw his nuclear summitwith North Korea’s leader col-lapse without an agreement, his

former lawyer deliver damag-ing congressional testimonyabout his character and busi-ness practices and Congresstake action to nullify his emer-gency declaration to securemoney for the border wall thatlawmakers have denied him.

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ASyrian jihadist grouplinked to Al-Qaeda killed

21 regime and allied forcesSunday near Idlib province, inone of the deadliest breaches ofa six-month-old truce deal, amonitor said.

“At dawn, 21 fighters fromthe regime forces or alliedmilitia were killed in an attackby Ansar al-Tawhid jihadists,”the Syrian Observatory forHuman Rights said. “Fivejihadists were also killed,” RamiAbdel Rahman, the director ofthe Britain-based monitoringgroup, said.

Ansar al-Tawhid has ties tothe larger Hurras al-Deengroup, which is also active inthe area. Both are consideredsemi-officials franchises of Al-Qaeda in Syria.

The area of Idlib and smallparts of the adjacent provincesof Hama and Aleppo are most-ly controlled by the rival Hayat

Tahrir al-Sham organisation.HTS is led by fighters who

formerly belonged to Al-Qaeda’s ex-affiliate in Syria. Amilitary source quoted by statenews agency SANA confirmedsoldiers had been killed andwounded in an attack on theirpositions near Idlib province.

Loyalists forces had killedsome assailants, the sourceadded without giving precisefigures. Referring to the attack,the foreign ministry said Syria“will not allow terrorists andthose who are behind them tocarry on with their attacksagainst innocent civilians andthe armed forces”.

Sunday’s deadly assault wascarried out against regime posi-tions in the village of Masasna,in the north of Hama province,the Observatory said.

“It was one of the highestcasualty figures among regimeranks since the Putin-Erdogandeal,” the Observatory’s AbdelRahman said.

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Malaysia is open to restart-ing the hunt for Flight

MH370 if firms come forwardwith credible leads and con-crete proposals, the transportminister said Sunday, five yearson from the plane’s disappear-ance.

The Malaysia Airlines jetvanished in March 2014 with239 people -- mostly fromChina -- on board, en routefrom Kuala Lumpur to Beijing.No sign of it was found in a120,000-square kilometre(46,000-square mile) IndianOcean search zone and theAustralian-led hunt, the largestin aviation history, was sus-pended in January 2017.

US exploration firm OceanInfinity mounted a fresh hunton a “no find, no fee basis” lastyear for several months, usinghi-tech drones to scour theseabed, but did not locate theplane.

Hundreds of people,

including some of the relativesof those onboard, gathered ata Kuala Lumpur shopping mallSunday to mark the anniver-sary of the jet’s disappearance.

Only a few fragments ofMH370 have been found, all ofthem on western Indian Oceanshores. Two of those pieceswere put on display Sunday forthe first time at the memorial.

There is no new searchplanned, but TransportMinister Anthony Loke said atthe event that the governmentwas open to hearing proposalsto resume the hunt. “If there areany credible leads and anyspecific proposals, especiallyfrom Ocean Infinity, we aremore than willing to look at it,”he said.

Jacquita Gonzales, whosehusband Patrick Gomes was acrew member on the flight, saidthere was “no closure until theplane is found, until we exact-ly know what happened to theaircraft and our loved ones onboard.

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Brazil’s ex-president LuizInacio Lula da Silva

returned to prison on Saturdayafter being allowed to attendthe funeral of a grandson whodied suddenly at age seven.

Early in the day, the popular leftist leader steppedout of his cell in Curitiba —where he is serving two con-current 12-year sentences forcorruption -- and then flew ina small plane to Sao Paulo,some 400 kilometres to thenortheast.

A crowd at the SaoBernardo do Campo ceme-tery in a Sao Paulo suburbgreeted Lula warmly upon hisarrival for the service, shouting“Free Lula” and “Lula, warriorfor the Brazilian people”.

Young Arthur Araujo Lulada Silva, whose father Sandrois one of Lula’s five sons, wasfelled by a sudden bout ofmeningitis.

As dozens of armed mili-tary police surrounded thearea, the crowd of supporters atthe cemetery numbered per-haps 500, including Lula’s suc-cessor Dilma Rousseff andFernando Haddad, theWorkers’ Party candidate forpresident in 2018. Hundreds ofsupporters wore the red colour

of Lula’s Workers’ Party.At the crematorium room

where close friends gatheredbefore Arthur’s open coffin —and where Lula made briefremarks — there were flowerwreaths from Lula’s politicaland trade union allies, even onefrom Venezuela’s embattledsocialist president NicolasMaduro, the daily Folha de S.Paulo reported.

As Lula left two hourslater, a grim expression on hisface, he waved briefly to sup-porters and somberly shook afew hands before being hustledaway by military police for thereturn back to jail, where hearrived some nine hours afterhis departure.

A federal court had ruledlate on Friday that the 73-year-old Lula could attend the funer-al service.

Arthur, who had twice vis-ited his grandfather in his cellin Curitiba, died on Friday ina Sao Paulo hospital.

Gleisi Hoffmann, the Workers’ Party leader, vis-ited Lula in prison after helearned of Arthur’s death andsaid the aging leftist was“downcast”. “He cried severaltimes and we tried to consolehim,” she said.

While news of Arthur’sdeath provoked sympathetic

messages on social media —including from a former polit-ical foe of Lula, the head of theNational Assembly RodrigoMaia — a son of President JairBolsonaro sparked a contro-versy by criticising Lula’srelease.

“Lula is an ordinary pris-oner,” Eduardo Bolsonaro, alawmaker in his father’s SocialLiberal Party, said on Twitter.“When a relative of anotherprisoner dies, is he escorted bythe federal police to go to theservices?” He called the tem-porary release “absurd”, adding,“It only allows a high-profilethug to pass himself off as a vic-tim.”

That remark prompted anangry social media backlash,which prompted a more con-ciliatory tweet from theyounger Bolsonaro. Politicsaside, he said, the death of achild was “dreadful”.

His father, the president,has made no comment on thematter. During his electoralcampaign in 2018, he said hehoped Lula would “rot inprison”.

Lula, who was presidentfrom 2003 to 2010, has consis-tently denied the corruptioncharges for which he was jailed,saying he was the victim ofpolitical machinations.

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Opponents and supportersof Israeli Prime Minister

Benjamin Netanyahu took tothe streets on Saturday eveningafter the country’s attorneygeneral said he intended to filegraft charges against him.

In central Tel Aviv,Netanyahu loyalists waved blueand white Israel flags and car-ried placards, reading“Netanyahu, the people

are with you” and“Netanyahu, my prime minis-ter”.

Separated from them by apolice cordon, opponentswaved signs proclaiming“Crime Minister” and “Timefor Netanyahu to Go”, an AFPphotographer said.

Police declined to give anestimate of numbers.

Under Israeli law, the pre-mier is not obliged to resignunless he is charged, convict-ed and loses all appeals -- alengthy process.

Netanyahu is running for afifth term in an April generalelection.

He said after the attorneygeneral’s Thursday announce-ment that he planned on beingprime minister for a long timeto come, despite the allegations.

In Ramle, near Tel Aviv,opposition Labour activistsprojected onto a wall of theMaasiyahu prison a giant mes-sage, reading “Netanyahu,Israel is ashamed”, a partystatement said.

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Bangladesh is cracking downon chemical warehouses in

an historic Dhaka district aweek after a fire killed 70 peo-ple in buildings used fordeodorant and plastics storage,an official said Sunday.

Five task forces led by mil-itary officers, police and officials have raided Old Dhaka buildings and cut offutilities to at least 50 buildingsin the past three days afterchemical warehouses werefound in their basement andunder floors.

The owners of the build-ings have been ordered to relo-cate the flammable chemicalsto safer places outside the cap-ital as part of the initiativelaunched on Thursday.

“We are determined therewill be no flammable chemical

warehouses in any Old Dhakaresidential area,” Dhaka’s mayorSayeed Khokon told AFP. Hesaid the drive would continueuntil April 1.

The crackdown is inresponse to a massive firewhich broke out on February21 at Chawkbazar, a 300-year-old historic Old Dhaka district,killing at least 70 people andinjuring another 50.

Fire service officials said awarehouse of deodorant andgranular plastic in one of thefive buildings that caught firefuelled the inferno, which tookmore than 12 hours to control.

The disaster recalled a June2010 fire in the nearby neigh-bourhood of Nimtoli in which123 people were killed.

Again a blaze rippedthrough residential buildingsthat doubled as chemical ware-houses.

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China’s top political adviso-ry body on Sunday started

its ten-day annual session withPresident Xi Jinping, Premier LiKeqiang and other senior lead-ers attending the opening meetbeing held here amid trade wartensions with the US and theslowdown of the world’s secondlargest economy.

The Chinese People’sPolitical ConsultativeConference (CPPCC) with over2,000 nominated membersbegan the session at the GreatHall of the People ahead of thelegislature, the National People’sCongress (NPC), raising thecurtain of a key season in thecountry’s political calendaramid trade war tensions withthe US.

The NPC, regarded as therubber stamp Parliament for itsroutine endorsements of theproposals and laws forwardedby the ruling Communist Partyof China, will begin its sessionon Tuesday.

Every year the two sessionswith over 5,000 delegates setsthe tone for China’s politicalseason in the one-party system.

The CPPCC is essentially agroup of political advisors fromdifferent backgrounds who are

tasked with conducting politi-cal consultation, putting for-ward proposals on currentaffairs, discussing the govern-ment’s work reports, and car-rying out democratic supervi-sion.

The CPPCC members rep-resenting cross sections of peo-ple including top film starslike Jackie Chan, industrialistsand academicians serve as advi-sors for government, legislativeand judicial organs and putforward proposals on majorpolitical and social issues.

During the opening meet-ing, Wang Yang, chairman ofthe National Committee of theCPPCC, delivered a report onthe work of the CPPCCNational Committee’s StandingCommittee.

Wang reviewed the com-mittee’s work, highlighting theefforts made in strengtheningand improving CPPCC work,state-run CGTN reported.

In 2018, the CPPCC con-ducted consultations focusedon the central tasks of fightingthe three critical battles againstpotential risk, poverty, and pol-lution, and on promoting high-quality development, Wangsaid, adding it also activelyworked to develop friendly tieswith other countries.

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US national security advisorJohn Bolton denied

Sunday that last week’s nuclearsummit with North Korea wasa failure, despite PresidentDonald Trump coming homeempty-handed.

A high-stakes secondmeeting to strike a nuclear dis-armament deal between theNorth’s leader Kim Jong Unand Trump broke up in disar-ray Thursday, without even ajoint statement.

But Bolton told CBS’s “Facethe Nation” Trump’s failure ingetting commitments fromPyongyang on destroying itsnuclear capability should beseen as “a success, defined asthe president protecting andadvancing American nationalinterests.”

The White House aide saidthe issue was whether NorthKorea would accept what thepresident called “the big deal”-- denuclearizing completely orsomething less, “which wasunacceptable to us.”

“So the president held firmto his view. He deepened hisrelationship with Kim JongUn. I don’t view it as a failureat all when American nation-

al interests are protected.” The outcome in Hanoi fell

far short of the pre-meetingexpectations, after critics saidtheir initial historic meeting inSingapore -- which producedonly a vague commitment fromKim to work “toward completedenuclearization of the Koreanpeninsula” -- was more styleover substance.

Others pointed to a lack ofpreparation, with the two sidesunable to bridge the gapsbetween them in time.

According to senior USofficials, in the week leading upto the Hanoi summit the NorthKoreans had demanded the lift-ing of effectively all the UNSecurity Council economicsanctions imposed onPyongyang since March 2016.

In return, Pyongyang wasonly offering to close a portionof the Yongbyon complex, asprawling site covering multi-ple different facilities -- and theNorth is believed to have otheruranium enrichment plants.

“Sometimes you have towalk and this was just one ofthose times,” an unusuallydowncast Trump told reporterson Thursday, adding that hewould “rather do it right thando it fast.”

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Amajor Nigerian oil pipelinehas exploded, local police

said Sunday, forcing nearby residents to flee andraising suspicions of possiblesabotage.

The Nembe Creek Trunkpipeline runs from an oil ter-minal in Bonny to the state ofBayelsa with capacity of150,000 barrels per day.

The explosion happenedon Friday.

“We have not been offi-cially briefed on the incident,but it occurred,” Bayelsa StatePolice spokesman AsinimButswat told AFP.

“No lives were lost as aresult of the explosion and wecan’t confirm if it was an attackby militants or an equipmentfailure unless the people man-aging the facility go there” todetermine the cause, he said.

OPEC member Nigeria isAfrica’s biggest producer ofcrude oil.

Ndiana-Abasi Mathew, apublic relations official forAiteo, the company that man-ages the pipeline, confirmedthe incident in a text messageon Saturday.

“There is no official state-ment at the moment but I cangladly inform you that the firehas been contained and no liveswere lost,” Mathew said.

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Have you eaten?” Even beforeI can ask a question, actorKartik Aaryan fires the firstsalvo and makes you won-der if you are on a social

visit at his home rather than for an inter-view at a hotel. But then it is this next-door comfort that has made him thenation’s heartthrob, one who equalisesreality and aspiration on his sneakers.Dressed in a dark blue suit blazer witha barely there print, white shirt that isunbuttoned and blue trousers, the actorsips his tea perched on the 20th floor andglances around at the people who areassembled in the room.

The actor, who is known for hiscomic capers in films like Pyaar KaPunchnama and its sequel as well as SonuKe Titu Ki Sweety, is often mistaken fora Delhi boy. “May be it is because of theway I look or my lahja (tone). May be ithas to do with the fact that I have donea lot of films that have seen me play acharacter from Delhi. But yes, this ideahas caught on in popular imagination,”says the 29-year-old actor.

Kartik is from Gwalior where hisnew film, Luka Chuppi, is set. “I couldnever imagine that I would be shootingin the place where I had dreamt of beingan actor. My friends, families and rela-tives are all there. Everyone knows eachother as it is a small town. The welcomewas surreal. They started calling me Sonof Gwalior. There were huge hoardingswith my name and photographs whichwere a bit embarrassing, especiallybecause they all were from my scrawnydays. I wish they had asked me for somebetter ones,” he guffaws. “It was surreal.”

However the love for the city comesthrough in his voice. “I took my entirecast and crew around. I loved these boon-di laddoos from Bahadura Sweets as achild. So I got those and rasmalai foreveryone everyday. Everybody had tochuck their diet plans. The aloo pattiesare famous as is the poha,” he says as heseems to to be savouring all the delica-cies once again.

But it is also in his values that he con-tinues to remain a small town boy whois not affected by failures and success. “Ikeep on working on myself because thatis what I did after getting scolded by myparents,” he says.

Coming back to the present, theactor says that his entire trajectory hasbeen about doing relatable cinema.“Luka Chuppi is about the problems thata small town couple faces when wanti-ng to live-in. But it has a quirk. It is live-in sah parivar (with family). It is a socialsatire and many can identify themselveswith the characters. After watchingSonu Ke Titu Ki Sweety, a lot of peoplefelt that they wanted a Sonu in their lifeas they felt that they were Titus,” he says.

The actor believes that GudduShukla, the protagonist in this film, is themost earnest and honest character thathe has ever played. “He is the guy youwould want to take home to mum,” hesays.

And when one asks him if his claimof being marriage material in a recentinterview is true, he immediatelyanswers, “Yes,” without batting an eye-lid. And then laughs and adds, “May beI became the character of Guddu. I amshaadi material as I am a person whobelieves in being together with family. Ihave shifted to a bigger place recently sothat I could get mine to Mumbai afterstaying alone for seven-eight years.”However, he believes that he is not asrighteous as Guddu. “And that is me

being honest,” he says guffawing again.The other characteristics that he believeshe shares with his role are that he isupfront and committed. If he is con-vinced about any choice that he makes,he goes for it with great passion.

Besides the relatability factor, whatexcited Kartik was that for the first timehe was speaking in a dialect in the film.“My character is from Mathura, so hetalks like the people from there. But themanner of speaking is situational becausehe is educated. So it changes dependingon the people that he is interacting with.I think my rawness will be visible here.While Sonu and the other characterswere flamboyant, street smart and withgrey shades, here I play an average guywho fits in the setting and is not stylish.His appearance, too, is such that he fitsinto the scenery. From the first scene youwill see Guddu and not Kartik Aaryan.”

So is that his way of making a markwhen all the young actors are compet-ing for the same set of roles? “WhateverI am doing, I believe it is working. I havethat belief in my sense that it is going inthe right direction and I don’t want tochange it. I am relying on my gut feel,”he says. About his compatriots, he adds,“I think that this is a very good time forthe young brigade as there are so manycontent creators and avenues of expres-sion. Content is king and that is the rea-son why there is ample amount ofchance for all of us to put ourselves outthere in projects which are different andalso work on screen.”

Few know that he locked on to thischaracter soon after he finished Sonu keTitu ki Sweety. “It is not just the protag-onists. The side track in the film is aninteresting commentary on our intrusiveculture. Everybody has a habit of pok-ing their noses in other people’s livesinstead of minding their own business.So the elder brother wants to know whatthe younger one is up to and the thirdbhaabi might be jealous that the first onehas an important position in the fami-ly. In this too, everyone has an agenda.Each character has a separate track. Thatis the funniest thing. There was a lot ofsituational comedy. When I heard thescript I decided that this has to be mynext film. I was actually the first personon board.”

It is apparent that Kartik followseverything with a deep conviction andpassion. “I was in class VIII when I decid-ed that I wanted to be an actor,” he says.It was in pursuit of this goal that heapplied to all the engineering collegesonly in Mumbai and Navi Mumbai. “InGwalior, appearing for PMT and IITentrance exams was the done thing. Icould not have told my parents that Iwanted to pursue acting as they wouldnot have been able to afford a course. Soengineering in Mumbai became anexcuse. I never attended classes as I wasbusy with auditions,” says the actor whodid manage to complete his engineeringduring Pyaar ka Punchnama 2.

Kartik burst on in the popular imag-

ination with a six-minute monologue inhis first film, Pyaar Ka Punchnaama, andhe has an interesting story behind it. “Forthree years, I searched online with keywords like audition and actors required.I got an advertisement where I was paid�2,500 which was a channel promowhere I was holding a placard,” herecalls. It was during this time that he sawan audition call for an unnamed film. “Icaught the train from Belapur to Andheriwhich took 2.5 hours and gave an audi-tion,” he says. The back and forth wenton for six months and as a part of the lastaudition he had to say this monologuewhich was five and a half pages long! “Itwas the first time something like this wasbeing attempted. But this was crucial toclinching the role. To add to my woes, Ihad to perform it the next day,” he recalls.So Kartik did what he knew best. Tookit up passionately. “I didn’t sleep. I keptlearning it throughout my train journeyand then in my PG. I enacted it, record-ed it, then saw the mistakes and attempt-ed it again. The next day I kept on doingit in the train. But it was worth the effortas people actually clapped when I fin-ished,” he says, the pride still surfacingin his voice.

During the actual shooting, theyworked on a reel camera which has alimit unlike the newer digital oneswhich are used now. “There was onlyfour-and-a-half minutes of the film leftwhen I started my monologue of six min-utes. No one told me that the camera wasnot rolling for the last one-and-a-halfminutes. As I was drawing to a close, thereel finished. I had to do a re-take again.I shot at one go and it was okayed in Take2,” he says. But he feels it was well worththe effort as the monologue is the mostpopular scene from the film. “It has beencirculated all over the world and has beena hit,” he says.

Having nailed it, Kartik went on totop this further. In Pyaar KaPunchnaama 2, the monologue wasseven minutes long. “They kept workingon the final draft so it came to me whenI was in the midst of shooting. But some-how I managed to pull through,” he says.

One reason that his films havedrawn flak is the misogynist gaze on thefemale characters. “See, we are not gen-eralising boys. It is these characters in thefilms that are roguish and loveablerakes.”

Another reason why Kartik hasbeen in the news is on account of SaraAli Khan taking a shine to him and want-ing to date him or his alleged link-upwith Ananya Pandey. Something that haskept his name in circulation amongBollywood’s swish set. But the young starlikes to keep it grounded. “I don’t payattention. I only feel good and flatteredbut that is bound to happen whensomeone says something good about you.Link-ups are a part and parcel of theindustry and I know how to deal withit,” he nods sagely. The small town boyis growing up.

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Since how long have you beenperforming?I have been a performer and com-poser for 18 years in various fieldslike jazz, pop and Korean music. In2016, I started Chae Ji Hye’s Go BackProject and through it I am active-ly pursuing an original music styleby combining traditional Koreanmusic and jazz.

What made you combine jazzwith traditional Korean music?The music differs from othergroups in that Korean traditionalinstruments and Western ones arein harmony. While playing jazz, Iwanted to build a more person-alised style of music. Jazz and tra-ditional Korean music are very sim-ilar. Just as jazz has a major elementof improvisation, Korean tradi-tional music has an improvisation-al music genre called Sinawi. Interms of joy and improvisation, wetry to showcase the jazz thatembodies Korea of this age throughits subtle harmony with tradition-al music.

A brief on the motto — Findingtoday’s solution from the past?Its meaning is ‘to make and playoriginal music of this age inspiredby the past music of Korea. Thisresembles jazz a lot in the sense ofjoy and improvisation which is rein-terpreted in a modern way.

How is jazz different from othermusical form?It is the music of communicationand of expression of freedom. Itsmost basic element is improvisation

which is a combination of compos-ing and playing. The greatest fea-ture and charm of jazz is that itshould be played instantly andaccording to the situation andplace as opposed to prepared music.

While performing international-ly, is it easy to connect with audi-ence or do you find it difficult?All of the band members of ChaeJi Hye’s Go Back Project have heldoverseas performances. This is the

first time I have visited India, butI will try my best understand whatthe audience likes in order to cre-ate the best performance.

Park Ji-Young, a member of theteam, will play the role of inter-preter for our team. We can com-municate through her.

Jazz has not been explored muchby Indians. What is the scope ofthis genre in the country? In Korea, the genre of jazz is still

unfamiliar to the public. So we tryto play it in a manner that that theycan enjoy jazz easily. I think thismusical intention will appeal to theaudience in India. In addition,Korean traditional musical instru-ments, unique playing methods,and tones in our music, will attractIndian audience. In order to com-municate with more local audiencea famous folk song of India wascomposed by the repertoire in ourown style.

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Actor Pankaj Tripathilast year showed hisbest with the film

Stree and web showMirzapur that made him ahousehold name. The actoreven took away the BestSupporting Actor Trophyfor Stree in Screen Awards.Currently Pankaj is inLucknow shooting forDharma Productions nexton the real life hero GunjanSaxena. Janhvi Kapoor willbe portraying the title role ofthe Indian Air Force pilot.Gunjan is the first womanIAF combat pilot who playeda very important role duringthe Kargil War in 1999. Shewas also awarded withShaurya Chakra for herbravery. Pankaj Tripathi willbe playing her father AnujSaxena.

Both Pankaj and Janhviwill be collaborating for thefirst time onscreen. Theactors will be shooting forthe film in Lucknow. Thefilm is being directed bySharan Sharma

Pankaj said, “I liked thecharacter very much. We’vedeveloped a great bond. Ihad a lot of fun while shoot-ing for the film. Janhvi is aver y sincere and wellbehaved actress . Sherespects me a lot and I toorespect her for the sinceri-ty and commitmenttowards her work. Sharan isa very talented director andis well versed with his craft.It’s an opportunity workingunder DharmaProductions. They leave nostones unturned to get theright things on board.”

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India's star wrestler Bajrang Punia haswon the Gold medal at the Dan Kolov-

Nikola Petrov tournament in Ruse,Bulgaria and dedicated the victory toIndian Air Force (IAF) Wing CommanderAbhinandan Varthaman.

Punia, a World Championship Silvermedallist, overpowered Jordan Oliver ofUSA 12-3 in the men's 65kg freestyle finalto begin the season on a resounding notein the Bulgarian city.

However, Asian Games Gold medal-list Vinesh Phogat lost her women's 53kgfinal to China's Qianyu Pang 2-9 to settlefor a Silver on her debut in the UnitedWorld Wrestling ranking series, which isalso her first tournament since movingfrom the 50kg category.

Down 0-3 before scoring 12 straightpoints, Punia also secured the maximumranking points from the tournament.

"I want to dedicate my Gold to WingCommander Abhinandan Varthaman. He

has inspired me. I want to meet him oneday and also shake hands with him," Puniatweeted after his victory.

Punia, who bagged the top prize at theCommonwealth Games and the AsianGames last year, has won four Goldmedals and one Silver in the last five tour-

naments.This was Punia's 10th medal in as

many international tournaments sincefailing to finish at the podium in the 2017World Championships in Paris.

Earlier, Pooja Dhanda claimed theGold in 59 kg while Sakshi Malik wonSilver in 65 kg women's freestyle.

In the men's freestyle events, SandeepTomar had to be content with a Silver in61kg.

Vinesh beat World ChampionshipsSilver medallist Sarah Hildebrandt in thesemifinals on Saturday.

Vinesh was a far cry form the impres-sive self she was on Saturday.

"I have to work on my upper bodybecause my opponents are strong. I tookpart in this event as I need to know myopponents," Vinesh told the United WorldWrestling official website after her semi-final win.

Earlier, Sarita Mor won a Silver inwomen's 59kg though she lost to her com-patriot Dhanda.

����� ',5.)

West Indies swashbuckling batsmanChris Gayle, who blasted 77 runs in

27 balls in his final home one-day inter-national match reflected on his two-decade international career, and what itmeant playing for the national side.

The 39-year-old expressed his grati-tude to the people of the Caribbean fortheir support through this series and hiscareer, according to the ICC's website.

"This is my last ODI series in theCaribbean so I was giving the fans a nicewave. Right through the tournament,they have been superb from both sides:West Indies and England sides. It wouldbe nice if it was in Jamaica, but the crowdshave been fantastic," Gayle was quoted assaying by ICC's website on Sunday.

"It's been an honour to wear the crestand entertain the people around theCaribbean. West Indies is No 1. This is thebest achievement you can have in theCaribbean as a cricketer. This is the bestthing, to be honest with you," he added.

Since announcing his retirement,Gayle has scored 424 runs in four match-es at a strike-rate of 134.

"I'm thankful for the form. I wasn't get-ting any runs in the T20 tournaments I wasplaying. When you get a chance to scoreruns, make sure you score heavy. But it'sthe best (I've played) in my home condi-tions and I'm happy and grateful for that."

"I'm not surprised by how well I'vedone, or the number of sixes. Sixes comealong. It's just natural, to be honest. In T20s,I score a lot of sixes as well, but this is thefirst time in an ODI series," he added.

����� ',5.)�

The International Cricket Council hasturned down the BCCI's request to sever

ties with countries from which "terrorismemanates", saying the ICC has no role to playin matters like these.

In the wake of the Pulwama terror attack,in which more than 40 CRPF personnel werekilled, the BCCI, in a letter to the ICC, urgedthe world body and its member nations to

sever ties with countries whichharbour terror.

"There was no chancethat anything like thatwould have happened. The

ICC chairman made itclear that the decision toostracize a nation istaken at the government

level and ICC had norule. The BCCI knew it all along but still tooka chance," a BCCI official said.

The issue came up during Saturday's ICCboard meeting chaired by chairman ShashankManohar but not much time was spent on it.

"So many players from member nationsplay the Pakistan Super League and theywould have never entertained such a request.Yes, security was a concern and it had beenduly addressed," the Board official added.

The Indian cricket team is scheduled toplay Pakistan in the World Cup on June 16.There have been calls to boycott the clash inthe wake of the heightened diplomatic tensionsbetween the two countries following thePulwama attack.

However, the Committee ofAdministrators running Indian cricket has sofar not taken any decision on the matter, say-ing that it will seek the government's view.

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The Indian women'steam will aim to

finalise a core group of players ahead of theT20 World Cup early next year when ittakes on England in a three-match seriesstarting on Monday.

India have been doing well in the 50-over format but they have plenty to pon-der about in the shortest form, having losttheir previous series in New Zealand 0-3.

The whitewash in New Zealand cameafter a historic win in the ODIs and Indiawill be hoping to reverse that trend withthe T20s against England.

Harmanpreet Kaur has not yet recov-ered from an ankle injury and in-formopener Smriti Mandhana will captain theside in her absence, providing her an oppor-tunity to prove her as a leader.

The southpaw continues to plunderruns, having scored two successive half cen-turies in ODIs against England. She wasalso in sublime touch in New Zealand lastmonth.

In Harmanpreet's absence, senior play-er and ODI captain Mithali Raj is expect-ed to play a bigger role in the three T20s.Mithali was dropped from the first twogames in New Zealand before she scoredan unbeaten 24 which did not prove to beenough.

The 36-year-old is likely to retire fromthe shortest format before the T20 WorldCup in Australia next year and it remainsto be sees how her experience will be usedagainst England.

Focus will also be on VedaKrishnamurthy, who has made a comebackafter being left out due to her below-parperformance in the 2018 World T20,where India lost to England in the semifi-nals.

Harleen Deol and Bharati Fulmali toowill be itching to prove themselves afterreplacing Priya Puni and D Hemalatha inthe squad.

Left-arm pacer Komal Zanzad, whohas replaced Mansi Joshi, is in line to makeher international debut. Shikha Pandey willlead the pace department in an otherwisespin heavy bowling attack comprising fivespecialists.

I���India: Smriti Mandhana (captain),Mithali Raj, Jemimah Rodrigues, DeeptiSharma, Taniya Bhatia (wicketkeeper),Bharti Fulmali, Anuja Patil, ShikhaPandey, Komal Zanzad, Arundhati

Reddy, Poonam Yadav, Ekta Bisht, RadhaYadav, Veda Krishnamurty, HarleenDeol.England: Tammy Beaumont, KatherineBrunt, Kate Cross, Sophia DunkleyBrown, Freya Davies, Georgia Elwiss,Amy Ellen Jones, Heather Knight(c),Laura Marsh, Natalie Sciver, AnyaShrubsole, Linsey Smith, LaurenWinfield, Danielle Wyatt, Alex Hartley.

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Barcelona won theirsecond Clasico infour days on

Saturday and RealMadrid might have to win theChampions League if SantiagoSolari is to be in charge for thenext one.

After knocking them out ofthe Copa del Rey on Wednesday,Barca returned to the SantiagoBernabeu for a 1-0 victory thatsurely eliminates their greatestrivals from the title race too.

Lionel Messi and SergioRamos locked heads after Ramosflung an arm into Messi's face but,despite the scoreline and a fewhalf-chances, that was about themost trouble Madrid caused.

Messi would have been proudof Ivan Rakitic's delightful chip,a rare moment of precision thatin the end settled another Clasicohigh on vigour but lacking in

either real quality or rhythm."What we wanted was to

deliver our best and to inflictdamage on our rival," Barcacoach Ernesto Valverde said. "Wehave done that."

The onus was onMadrid, not only to makeamends for their defeatin midweek but toreduce the nine-point gap betweenthem and La Liga's

leaders.Instead, Barcelona

extended it to 12 andthe way their playersjumped up and downin front of the away fansafter the final whistlesuggested they felt thiswas a major hurdleovercome.

Barcelona also nowown 96 victories inthis fixture to RealMadrid's 95, the firsttime they have been infront in 87 years.

When Solari tookover in November, histeam were seven pointsadrift of the Catalansand the fact the deficit

has almost doubled since mightnot reflect the improvement inperformances.

But this was the first timeMadrid have lost three in a rowat home in 15 years and these are

surely the matches presidentFlorentino Perez will remem-

ber when he considers hiscoach's future next sum-mer.

"You go throughspells, sometimes every-thing goes for you andsometimes it doesn't,"said Solari. "In thesetwo games it hasn't."

All that realistical-ly remains now is theChampions League, inwhich Madrid will carrya 2-1 lead into Tuesday's

second leg at home toAjax.

Europe has rescuedthem before and it alsorevived Gareth Bale, whoendured another frustrat-ing night on only his thirdstart in 10 games.

Bale was largelyanonymous again andwhen substituted in thesecond half, he departed

not just to a scattering of whistlesfrom the home crowd but a cho-rus.

Rakitic played the ball wide toSergi Roberto, continued his runbehind Ramos and received itback, before feathering a delight-ful chip over Thibaut Courtois.

Barca were comfortable butthe game erupted on the strokeof half-time. Ramos won theball from Messi but, with his armoutstretched, left it long enoughto catch his opponent in the face.Messi pointed to his lip andthen butted heads with Ramosbut referee Alberto Mallencosaw nothing worthy of punish-ment.

Madrid pushed for anequaliser but their desperationshowed. Benzema failed to con-nect while Vinicius Juniors'rushed shot was blocked.

Bale was hauled off just afterthe hour, replaced by MarcoAsensio, and even Isco came onin the 76th minute, for his longestappearance since the end ofJanuary.

Raphael Varane might havesnatched a late equaliser but hisheader was weak. Barcelona wereleft celebrating again.

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