English News Paper | Breaking News | Latest Today News in … · Megamalai Wildlife sanctuary,...
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T he entire south India on Friday reeled under a mas- sive flood with Wayanad in Kerala bearing the brunt of the deluge which has claimed 28 lives in the State. Overall death toll in south India stood at 110 with Karnataka recording 72 deaths, followed by Kerala 32. As many as 30 families were feared missing in a landslide in Wayanad, which has been dev- astated by yet another year of flooding. Two baby elephants were washed away in Kuttampuzha village in Ernakulam district and Eid hol- iday plans of thousands of Indian expatriates from Kerala have been hit by the closure of the Cochin International Airport till Sunday after floodwaters submerged parts of the runway. Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, who represents Wayanad in the Lok Sabha, spoke to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the flood situation in Kerala. Many parts of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra are also inundated. Over 1.24 lakh people have been evacuated in Karnataka in the couple of days, while Tamil Nadu asked the IAF to be on standby for rescue activities in rain-ravaged Nilgiris district. National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) DG SN Pradhan said Maharashtra, Karnataka and Kerala are main areas of concern now and maximum deployments of the NDRF teams are in these States. According to Lt Gen PS Rajeshwar, Chief of Integrated Defence Staff, as many as 45,000 people have already been rescued in southern peninsula and Maharashtra. “Armed forces have already pressed about 200 teams with boats and helicopters,” he said. The India Meteorological Department (IMD) issued red alert for heavy rain in Ernakulam, Idukki, Thrissur, Palakkad, Malappuram, Kozhikode, Wayanad, Kannur and Kasargod districts and all educational institutions, includ- ing schools and colleges, have been closed. Examinations of the Kerala Public Service Commission and various uni- versities across the State, sched- uled for Saturday, have been postponed. Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Friday said landslides and mudslides have been reported from 24 places and 28 people have died in rain-related incidents in the last three days. The landslip in Meppadi has destroyed hous- es in Puthumala and nearly 150 people were trapped and have to be rescued. The Government has sus- pended the iconic Snake Boat Race which was scheduled to be held in Alappuzha on Friday. Nearly 3,788 houses have been damaged in the State. Last year, the race was suspended due to floods that claimed over 400 lives and caused extensive damage. In neighbouring Karnataka, as many as 72 peo- ple have died and 61 are miss- ing. Nearly, 1.24 lakh people have been evacuated. In Kodagu, four members of a family were killed in a landslip on Friday. At least six people have lost their lives while 40,180 people have been evac- uated by rescue teams from Belagavi district. According to the Karnataka Government, thou- sands of people have been stranded and lakh of acre have submerged with Belagavi, Bagalkote, Vijayapura, Raichur, Yadgiri, Uttara Kannada, Dakshina Kannada, Shivamogga, Kodagu and Chikkamagalur districts bear- ing brunt of the rain fury. A fter suspending the Samjhauta Express, Pakistan has also reportedly cancelled the run of the Thar Express, inviting strong reac- tion from India, which termed the decision “unfortunate” and asked Islamabad to accept the changed reality following the abrogation of Article 370 that had given special status to Jammu & Kashmir. Making India’s stand clear, External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said steps have been taken keeping in mind the best inter- ests of Jammu & Kashmir. He asserted Pakistan’s efforts to link peace deal with Kashmir issue have not worked. “There is a feeling that Pakistan is nervous over India’s initiative in Jammu & Kashmir,” Kumar said, adding, “Pakistan thinks it will not be able to mislead people if there is development in Jammu & Kashmir,” he said. Kumar also said Pakistan suspending the Samjhauta Express was a uni- lateral move, which was unfor- tunate. Pakistan should accept reality and stop meddling in India’s internal affairs, he said, adding, India has also reached out to other nations to explain its stand on Kashmir. This response came after Pakistan on Wednesday announced downgrading of diplomatic ties with India and suspending bilateral trade. The External Affairs Ministry on Thursday had asked Pakistan to review its decision to downgrade diplo- matic and trade ties after its decisions on Kashmir. On Wednesday, Pakistan had expelled the Indian envoy in Islamabad and had announced a five-point plan that included downgrading its ties with India and suspending bilateral trade. The intention behind Pakistan’s measures “is obvi- ously to present an alarming picture to the world of our bilateral ties,” said the External Affairs Ministry statement. The reasons cited by Pakistan are not supported by facts on the ground, the Government said. “The recent developments pertaining to Article 370 are entirely the internal affair of India. The Constitution of India was, is and will always be a sovereign matter. Seeking to interfere in that jurisdiction by invoking an alarmist vision of the region will never succeed,” the Government said. Meanwhile, after the dis- ruption of the Samjhauta Express service at Wagah bor- der in Punjab, there were reports on Friday that Pakistan has also suspended Thar Express, which links India and Pakistan across the Rajasthan border. The train has been running between Jodhpur’s Bhagat ki Kothi station to Karachi every Friday night since services resumed on February 18, 2006 after a 41- year suspension. Though there was no offi- cial word to North Western Railway’s Jodhpur division on any cancellation, there were reports that Pakistan has sus- pended the Thar Express. “We have not received any com- munication or information from any side till now regard- ing the Thar Express. As per the current information, it will depart as scheduled today,” Jodhpur division spokesperson Gopal Sharma said. Since its resumption, the Thar Express too has been popular with people visiting families across the border, and according to an estimate, over four lakh passengers have taken the train in the past 13 years. Though the Samjhauta Express was briefly suspended after the Balakot strike, Thar Express continued unaffected. S rinagar simmered with resentment for the fifth con- secutive day on Friday even as a little relaxation from curfew was given to the masses. According to ground reports, fresh clashes between security forces and stone-pel- ters were reported from areas of downtown Srinagar. Exercising utmost caution, security forces handled the sit- uation “coolly”. Since Monday, over one dozen civilians, participating in protest demonstrations against the scrapping of Article 370 and 35-A, have been admitted in different city hospitals including super-specialty SKIMS following clashes with the security forces. Majority of the injured have received pel- let injuries. Meanwhile, due to strong presence of security forces on the ground zero, normal life remain paralysed in areas of downtown Srinagar and other vulnerable areas, prone to spo- radic incidents of stone-pelting. The communication and internet services remain blocked across parts of Kashmir Valley to check rumour mongering. On its part, the district administration is receiving rush of parents, who were eager to get in touch with their children studying/working outside the State via helpline. Restricted movement of vehicles, heading towards city hospitals, airport and bus station have been per- mitted on verification of iden- tity cards by the security forces. In Jammu, situation remained peaceful on Friday. Worshippers offered prayers across different religious places. No untoward incident was reported from the region. As Section 144 of the CrPC was lifted, educational institu- tions will open from August 10. Preparations for Bakr-id got underway in parts of Jammu. Addressing a Press confer- ence in Jammu, Divisional Commissioner Jammu, Sanjeev Verma told reporters, life is returning to normalcy in the Jammu region with every pass- ing hour. He said the Government agencies have been entrusted to ensure sup- ply of ration to the masses. A new person is likely to take up the reins of the grand old party as the Congress Working Committee meeting on Saturday is set to name a new Congress president. AICC sources said despite over- whelming view within the CWC that either Rahul Gandhi should continue to head the party or Priyanka Gandhi must take on the mantle, there is lit- tle possibility of them obliging the party. “In case both in the Nehru- Gandhi family decline, a non- Gandhian as desired by the Rahul Gandhi, may be party president for the first time in over two decades,” said sources. United Progressive Alliance (UPA) chairperson Sonia Gandhi met senior lead- ers Ahmed Patel, AK Antony and KC Venugopal on Friday ahead of the crucial CWC meeting. Besides discussing the issue of new leadership, senior mem- bers are believed to have also approved the nomination of former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to be Congress’s Rajya Sabha candi- date from Rajasthan. Sources also said in case the CWC meeting fails to arrive at a consensus candidate, the CWC may elect an interim president who will call for fresh elections to pick the Congress chief. Sources also said the CWC may also form a panel of senior members to look for the new chief. Former Union Ministers and Gandhi family loyalists Mallikarjun Kharge and Mukul Wasnik are the front runners. Both Wasnik and Kharge are Dalit leaders. While Wasnik is a former Indian Youth Congress chief and was a Minister from Maharashtra where Assembly elections are due, Kharge has become an important member of the party and is in good books of Sonia. Both the lead- ers, however, lost the last Lok Sabha elections. T he Supreme Court on Friday made it clear that it would continue with the day- to-day hearing of the political- ly sensitive Ram Janmabhoomi- Babri Masjid land dispute case and assured a counsel for Muslim parties of giving mid- week breaks for preparing argu- ments, if needed. The apex court reverted to the objections raised by senior advocate Rajeev Dhavan, repre- senting the Muslim parties including M Siddiq and All India Sunni Waqf Board, that it will not be possible for him to take part in the proceedings on all five working days of the week. “We will continue day-to- day hearing as ordered earlier,” a five judge Constitution Bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi said at the fag end of the fourth day’s proceedings in the case in which senior lawyer K Parasaran, appearing for deity ‘Ram Lalla Virajman’, put forth his submissions. The Bench took note of Dhavan’s submissions in the morning that it will be “inhu- man” and “practically impos- sible” for him to prepare his case if the apex court stuck to its decision to hear the land dis- pute case from Monday to Friday every week till the con- clusion. The Bench, also compris- ing Justices SA Bobde, DY Chandrachud, Ashok Bhushan and SA Nazeer, however, assured Dhavan it would con- sider granting mid-week breaks to the senior lawyer if he needs them for preparing the case. The Bench then fixed the Ayodhya case hearing on next Tuesday. The court is off next Monday on account of Eid. As soon as the counsel for the deity commenced advanc- ing arguments, Dhavan inter- vened and objected to the five- days-a-week hearing of the case, saying he will “not be able to assist” the court if the hear- ing is “rushed through”. A lmost 13 years after the Supreme Court directed the Centre to safeguard pro- tected areas of wildlife sanctu- aries by surrounding them with a buffer of ecologically fragile areas, the Environment Ministry on Friday approved the eco-sensitive zones (ESZs) for 11 sanctuaries in Tamil Nadu and one each in Chhattisgarh and Maharashtra. Vaduvoor Bird Sanctuary, Megamalai Wildlife sanctuary, Vettangudi Birds sanctuary and Achanakmar Tiger Reserve in Chhattisgarh and Tungareshwar Wildlife Sanctuary in Maharashtra will have ESZs. A ESZ works as a shock absorber to the protected areas as certain activities such as mining, quarrying or heavy construction are banned around national parks and wildlife sanctuaries to min- imise negative impact on the fragile ecosystem around. Making the announcement on social media, Union Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar said, “To help scien- tific conservation of ecosystems and at the same time giving relief to the people in the area, I have approved final eco-sen- sitive zone notifications.” In a series of tweets, he named all the sanctuaries brought under the notification. “I have also approved final eco-sensitive zone notification in respect of Tungareshwar Wildlife Sanctuary in Maharashtra,” the Minister tweeted. Kanjirankulam Bird Sanctuary, Srivilliputhur Grizzled Squirrel sanctuary, , Gulf of Mannar Marine National Park, Kodaikanal Wildlife Sanctuary, Sakkarakottai Bird Sanctuary, Vallanadu Blackbuck Sanctuary, Oussudu Lake Bird Sanctuary and Point Calemere Wildlife Sanctuary have also got the ecological cushion. “This scientific demarca- tion of final eco-sensitive zones and 10 km from the protected areas will help farmers, artisans, rural people, small businesses as the uncertainty has now gone,” he tweeted. The Ministry had earlier said till June 25, over 30 per cent of India’’s protected area (PA) has been covered under the final ecologically sensitive zone notification. According to the Ministry, out of the 651 protected areas in India, 316 have been covered under the final ESZ notification which provides for prohibition of mining, stone quarrying and crushing units located within one km of such pro- tected areas. The Supreme Court in December 2006 had directed all the States to demarcate ESZs within four weeks. As the States failed to comply, the apex court ordered the creation of ESZs, extending up to 10 km from the protected areas. The ESZ notifications are issued under the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986 and Environment (Protection) Rules 1986. F ormer Finance Minister Arun Jaitley was admitted to AIIMS here on Friday after he complained of breathlessness. He is undergoing treat- ment in the Intensive Care Unit under the supervision of a multidisciplinary team of doctors. The AIIMS, in a state- ment, said, “Arun Jaitley was admitted to AIIMS today morning. He is currently undergoing treatment in the Intensive Care Unit under the supervision of a multidiscipli- nary team of doctors. He is haemodynamically stable.” Hemodynamically stable means the patient has a stable heart pump and the blood cir- culation is good. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, Minister of State for Health Ashwini Choubey, BJP working presi- dent J P Nadda and Sharad Yadav visited the hospital to enquire about Jaitley’s health. Jaitley, 66, was admitted at the Cardio-Neuro-Centre of the hospital around 10 am, hospital sources said.
Transcript of English News Paper | Breaking News | Latest Today News in … · Megamalai Wildlife sanctuary,...
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The entire south India onFriday reeled under a mas-
sive flood with Wayanad inKerala bearing the brunt of thedeluge which has claimed 28lives in the State.
Overall death toll in southIndia stood at 110 withKarnataka recording 72 deaths,followed by Kerala 32.
As many as 30 families werefeared missing in a landslide inWayanad, which has been dev-astated by yet another year offlooding. Two baby elephantswere washed away inKuttampuzha village inErnakulam district and Eid hol-iday plans of thousands of Indianexpatriates from Kerala havebeen hit by the closure of theCochin International Airporttill Sunday after floodwaterssubmerged parts of the runway.
Congress leader RahulGandhi, who representsWayanad in the Lok Sabha,spoke to Prime MinisterNarendra Modi on the floodsituation in Kerala.
Many parts of AndhraPradesh, Karnataka, TamilNadu and Maharashtra arealso inundated. Over 1.24 lakhpeople have been evacuated inKarnataka in the couple ofdays, while Tamil Nadu askedthe IAF to be on standby forrescue activities in rain-ravagedNilgiris district.
National Disaster ResponseForce (NDRF) DG SN Pradhansaid Maharashtra, Karnataka
and Kerala are main areas ofconcern now and maximumdeployments of the NDRFteams are in these States.
According to Lt Gen PSRajeshwar, Chief of IntegratedDefence Staff, as many as45,000 people have alreadybeen rescued in southernpeninsula and Maharashtra.“Armed forces have alreadypressed about 200 teams withboats and helicopters,” he said.
The India MeteorologicalDepartment (IMD) issued redalert for heavy rain inErnakulam, Idukki, Thrissur,Palakkad, Malappuram,
Kozhikode, Wayanad, Kannurand Kasargod districts and alleducational institutions, includ-ing schools and colleges, havebeen closed. Examinations ofthe Kerala Public ServiceCommission and various uni-versities across the State, sched-uled for Saturday, have beenpostponed.
Kerala Chief MinisterPinarayi Vijayan on Fridaysaid landslides and mudslideshave been reported from 24places and 28 people have diedin rain-related incidents in thelast three days. The landslip inMeppadi has destroyed hous-
es in Puthumala and nearly 150people were trapped and haveto be rescued.
The Government has sus-pended the iconic Snake BoatRace which was scheduled tobe held in Alappuzha on Friday.Nearly 3,788 houses have beendamaged in the State. Lastyear, the race was suspendeddue to floods that claimedover 400 lives and causedextensive damage.
In neighbouringKarnataka, as many as 72 peo-ple have died and 61 are miss-ing. Nearly, 1.24 lakh peoplehave been evacuated. In
Kodagu, four members of afamily were killed in a landslipon Friday. At least six peoplehave lost their lives while40,180 people have been evac-uated by rescue teams fromBelagavi district.
According to theKarnataka Government, thou-sands of people have beenstranded and lakh of acre havesubmerged with Belagavi,Bagalkote, Vijayapura, Raichur,Yadgiri, Uttara Kannada,Dakshina Kannada,Shivamogga, Kodagu andChikkamagalur districts bear-ing brunt of the rain fury.
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After suspending theSamjhauta Express,
Pakistan has also reportedlycancelled the run of the TharExpress, inviting strong reac-tion from India, which termedthe decision “unfortunate” andasked Islamabad to accept thechanged reality following theabrogation of Article 370 thathad given special status toJammu & Kashmir.
Making India’s stand clear,External Affairs MinistrySpokesperson Raveesh Kumarsaid steps have been takenkeeping in mind the best inter-ests of Jammu & Kashmir. Heasserted Pakistan’s efforts tolink peace deal with Kashmirissue have not worked.
“There is a feeling thatPakistan is nervous over India’sinitiative in Jammu &Kashmir,” Kumar said, adding,“Pakistan thinks it will not beable to mislead people if thereis development in Jammu &Kashmir,” he said. Kumar alsosaid Pakistan suspending theSamjhauta Express was a uni-lateral move, which was unfor-tunate.
Pakistan should acceptreality and stop meddling inIndia’s internal affairs, he said,adding, India has also reached
out to other nations to explainits stand on Kashmir. Thisresponse came after Pakistanon Wednesday announceddowngrading of diplomatic tieswith India and suspendingbilateral trade.
The External AffairsMinistry on Thursday hadasked Pakistan to review itsdecision to downgrade diplo-matic and trade ties after itsdecisions on Kashmir. OnWednesday, Pakistan hadexpelled the Indian envoy inIslamabad and had announceda five-point plan that includeddowngrading its ties with Indiaand suspending bilateral trade.
The intention behindPakistan’s measures “is obvi-ously to present an alarmingpicture to the world of ourbilateral ties,” said the ExternalAffairs Ministry statement. Thereasons cited by Pakistan arenot supported by facts on theground, the Government said.
“The recent developmentspertaining to Article 370 areentirely the internal affair ofIndia. The Constitution of
India was, is and will always bea sovereign matter. Seeking tointerfere in that jurisdiction byinvoking an alarmist vision ofthe region will never succeed,”the Government said.
Meanwhile, after the dis-ruption of the SamjhautaExpress service at Wagah bor-der in Punjab, there werereports on Friday that Pakistanhas also suspended TharExpress, which links India andPakistan across the Rajasthanborder. The train has beenrunning between Jodhpur’sBhagat ki Kothi station toKarachi every Friday nightsince services resumed onFebruary 18, 2006 after a 41-year suspension.
Though there was no offi-cial word to North WesternRailway’s Jodhpur division onany cancellation, there werereports that Pakistan has sus-pended the Thar Express. “Wehave not received any com-munication or informationfrom any side till now regard-ing the Thar Express. As perthe current information, it willdepart as scheduled today,”Jodhpur division spokespersonGopal Sharma said.
Since its resumption, theThar Express too has beenpopular with people visitingfamilies across the border, andaccording to an estimate, overfour lakh passengers have takenthe train in the past 13 years.
Though the SamjhautaExpress was briefly suspendedafter the Balakot strike, TharExpress continued unaffected.
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Srinagar simmered withresentment for the fifth con-
secutive day on Friday even asa little relaxation from curfewwas given to the masses.
According to groundreports, fresh clashes betweensecurity forces and stone-pel-ters were reported from areasof downtown Srinagar.Exercising utmost caution,security forces handled the sit-uation “coolly”.
Since Monday, over onedozen civilians, participating inprotest demonstrations againstthe scrapping of Article 370and 35-A, have been admittedin different city hospitalsincluding super-specialtySKIMS following clashes withthe security forces. Majority ofthe injured have received pel-let injuries.
Meanwhile, due to strongpresence of security forces onthe ground zero, normal liferemain paralysed in areas of
downtown Srinagar and othervulnerable areas, prone to spo-radic incidents of stone-pelting.
The communication andinternet services remainblocked across parts ofKashmir Valley to checkrumour mongering.
On its part, the districtadministration is receiving rushof parents, who were eager toget in touch with their childrenstudying/working outside theState via helpline. Restrictedmovement of vehicles, headingtowards city hospitals, airportand bus station have been per-mitted on verification of iden-tity cards by the security forces.
In Jammu, situation
remained peaceful on Friday.Worshippers offered prayersacross different religious places.No untoward incident wasreported from the region.
As Section 144 of the CrPCwas lifted, educational institu-tions will open from August 10.Preparations for Bakr-id gotunderway in parts of Jammu.
Addressing a Press confer-ence in Jammu, DivisionalCommissioner Jammu, SanjeevVerma told reporters, life isreturning to normalcy in theJammu region with every pass-ing hour. He said theGovernment agencies havebeen entrusted to ensure sup-ply of ration to the masses.
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Anew person is likely totake up the reins of the
grand old party as the CongressWorking Committee meetingon Saturday is set to name anew Congress president. AICCsources said despite over-whelming view within theCWC that either Rahul Gandhishould continue to head theparty or Priyanka Gandhi musttake on the mantle, there is lit-tle possibility of them obligingthe party.
“In case both in the Nehru-Gandhi family decline, a non-Gandhian as desired by theRahul Gandhi, may be partypresident for the first time inover two decades,” said sources.
United ProgressiveAlliance (UPA) chairpersonSonia Gandhi met senior lead-ers Ahmed Patel, AK Antonyand KC Venugopal on Fridayahead of the crucial CWCmeeting.
Besides discussing the issueof new leadership, senior mem-bers are believed to have alsoapproved the nomination of
former Prime MinisterManmohan Singh to beCongress’s Rajya Sabha candi-date from Rajasthan.
Sources also said in casethe CWC meeting fails to arriveat a consensus candidate, theCWC may elect an interimpresident who will call forfresh elections to pick theCongress chief. Sources alsosaid the CWC may also form apanel of senior members tolook for the new chief.
Former Union Ministersand Gandhi family loyalistsMallikarjun Kharge and MukulWasnik are the front runners.Both Wasnik and Kharge areDalit leaders.
While Wasnik is a formerIndian Youth Congress chiefand was a Minister fromMaharashtra where Assemblyelections are due, Kharge hasbecome an important memberof the party and is in goodbooks of Sonia. Both the lead-ers, however, lost the last LokSabha elections.
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The Supreme Court onFriday made it clear that it
would continue with the day-to-day hearing of the political-ly sensitive Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid land dispute caseand assured a counsel forMuslim parties of giving mid-week breaks for preparing argu-ments, if needed.
The apex court reverted tothe objections raised by senioradvocate Rajeev Dhavan, repre-senting the Muslim partiesincluding M Siddiq and AllIndia Sunni Waqf Board, that itwill not be possible for him totake part in the proceedings onall five working days of the week.
“We will continue day-to-day hearing as ordered earlier,”a five judge Constitution Benchheaded by Chief Justice RanjanGogoi said at the fag end of thefourth day’s proceedings inthe case in which senior lawyerK Parasaran, appearing fordeity ‘Ram Lalla Virajman’, putforth his submissions.
The Bench took note ofDhavan’s submissions in themorning that it will be “inhu-man” and “practically impos-sible” for him to prepare hiscase if the apex court stuck toits decision to hear the land dis-
pute case from Monday toFriday every week till the con-clusion.
The Bench, also compris-ing Justices SA Bobde, DYChandrachud, Ashok Bhushanand SA Nazeer, however,assured Dhavan it would con-sider granting mid-week breaksto the senior lawyer if he needsthem for preparing the case.
The Bench then fixed theAyodhya case hearing on nextTuesday.
The court is off nextMonday on account of Eid.
As soon as the counsel forthe deity commenced advanc-ing arguments, Dhavan inter-vened and objected to the five-days-a-week hearing of thecase, saying he will “not be ableto assist” the court if the hear-ing is “rushed through”.
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Almost 13 years after theSupreme Court directed
the Centre to safeguard pro-tected areas of wildlife sanctu-aries by surrounding themwith a buffer of ecologicallyfragile areas, the EnvironmentMinistry on Friday approvedthe eco-sensitive zones (ESZs)for 11 sanctuaries in TamilNadu and one each inChhattisgarh and Maharashtra.
Vaduvoor Bird Sanctuary,Megamalai Wildlife sanctuary,Vettangudi Birds sanctuary andAchanakmar Tiger Reserve inChhattisgarh and TungareshwarWildlife Sanctuary inMaharashtra will have ESZs.
A ESZ works as a shockabsorber to the protected areas
as certain activities such asmining, quarrying or heavyconstruction are bannedaround national parks andwildlife sanctuaries to min-imise negative impact on thefragile ecosystem around.
Making the announcementon social media, UnionEnvironment Minister PrakashJavadekar said, “To help scien-tific conservation of ecosystemsand at the same time givingrelief to the people in the area,I have approved final eco-sen-sitive zone notifications.”
In a series of tweets, henamed all the sanctuariesbrought under the notification.
“I have also approved finaleco-sensitive zone notificationin respect of TungareshwarWildlife Sanctuary in
Maharashtra,” the Ministertweeted.
Kanjirankulam BirdSanctuary, SrivilliputhurGrizzled Squirrel sanctuary, ,Gulf of Mannar MarineNational Park, Kodaikanal
Wildlife Sanctuary,Sakkarakottai Bird Sanctuary,Vallanadu BlackbuckSanctuary, Oussudu Lake BirdSanctuary and Point CalemereWildlife Sanctuary have alsogot the ecological cushion.
“This scientific demarca-tion of final eco-sensitive zonesand 10 km from the protectedareas will help farmers, artisans,rural people, small businessesas the uncertainty has nowgone,” he tweeted.
The Ministry had earliersaid till June 25, over 30 percent of India’’s protected area(PA) has been covered underthe final ecologically sensitive
zone notification. According to the Ministry,
out of the 651 protected areasin India, 316 have been coveredunder the final ESZ notificationwhich provides for prohibitionof mining, stone quarryingand crushing units locatedwithin one km of such pro-tected areas.
The Supreme Court inDecember 2006 had directedall the States to demarcateESZs within four weeks. As theStates failed to comply, theapex court ordered the creationof ESZs, extending up to 10 kmfrom the protected areas. TheESZ notifications are issuedunder the Environment(Protection) Act, 1986 andEnvironment (Protection)Rules 1986.
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Former Finance MinisterArun Jaitley was admitted to
AIIMS here on Friday after hecomplained of breathlessness.
He is undergoing treat-ment in the Intensive CareUnit under the supervision ofa multidisciplinary team ofdoctors. The AIIMS, in a state-ment, said, “Arun Jaitley wasadmitted to AIIMS todaymorning. He is currentlyundergoing treatment in theIntensive Care Unit under thesupervision of a multidiscipli-nary team of doctors. He ishaemodynamically stable.”
Hemodynamically stablemeans the patient has a stableheart pump and the blood cir-culation is good.
Prime Minister NarendraModi, Home Minister AmitShah, Defence MinisterRajnath Singh, Lok SabhaSpeaker Om Birla, UnionHealth Minister HarshVardhan, Finance MinisterNirmala Sitharaman, Ministerof State for Health AshwiniChoubey, BJP working presi-dent J P Nadda and SharadYadav visited the hospital toenquire about Jaitley’s health.
Jaitley, 66, was admitted atthe Cardio-Neuro-Centre ofthe hospital around 10 am,hospital sources said.
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On its first day in action, thenew team of Municipal
Corporation of Dehradun(MCD) working against the useof banned polythene inDehradun seized more than200 kilogrammes of polytheneand imposed a penalty of Rs 1.5lakh. The team is headed bydeputy municipal commis-sioner Rohitash Sharma.
Municipal commissionerVinay Shankar Pandey said,“Our newly established teamhas started raiding at the ware-houses of those wholesalerswho import polythene in bulkfrom other states or districts.Many of them shut down theirestablishments after they heardabout the raids.
The team has been orderedto lock such establishmentswith MCD’s seal if the ownerfails to present himself even
after being called.” He furtheradded, “The area they firsttargeted is Lakkhibagh and tillthe update I was given beforelunch they had seized nearly150 kilogrammes of polytheneand issued challan of �75,000.”
Deputy commissionerSharma said, “On the first daywe seized more than 200 kilo-grammes of polythene andissued 15 challans amounting�1.5 lakh. There are no pend-ing charges, they have all paidthe penalty. The maximumpenalty charged was �50,000followed by �30, 000 and�20,000. Rest were issued chal-lan of �5,000 each.”
When asked about theproblems they had to face hesaid, “A shop owner atHanuman Chowk had closedhis shop but later arrived whenwe called. We suspect thatsome of the owners might havereceived information about
raids and that is why they shutthey were shutting their placesdown. We have received strictinstruction from municipalcommissioner that such shopsare to be locked with MCDsseal. Such shops will be openedlater in front of the owner sothat we can count the poly-thene right in front of him. ”
When asked about the for-mulation of penalties they arecharging he said, “We are awareabout the orders ofUttarakhand High Court, buthave not received any officialcopy of the order yet.
Presently we are issuingchallan as per our discretionwhile keeping the existing rulesand High Court’s order inmind; it basically depends onthe quantity of polythene wefind. It is also an opportunityfor people to stop using poly-thene before getting heavilypenalised. ”
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As it is with this greatnation of ours, there are
so many things happeningsimultaneously and also insuccession. Some time ago itwas people objecting to ‘JaiShree Ram’ as a slogan whileexpressing selective outrageon incidents of crimes againstmembers of a particular com-munity while ignoring crimesagainst people from othercommunities.
In the meantime, therewas major water scarcity in asouthern state with its ground
water also reportedly beingdepleted. Shortly after thatvarious parts of India sufferedfrom heavy rains and floods,which are still being experi-enced in some parts.
However, in the massmedia, all these issues seemedto have been eclipsed by theGovernment of India’s moveto abrogate Article 370 fromwhat was then the state ofJammu and Kashmir.
This development hascome as a welcome change formany supporting the deci-sion or strongly opposing it,especially those with nothingbetter to do than bombard thepublic discourse and socialmedia with their half-bakedand judgmental views soakedin personal biases which alsoprevent their minds fromopening up to hard facts.
Take the example of themany of the knowledgeablepersons who criticised ‘JaiShree Ram’ as a slogan whilealso saying that ‘Siya’ (Seeta)was removed from the slogan
making it masculine.Obviously such people do notknow the meaning of Shreewhich is one of the names ofthe Goddess.
When they don’t evenknow the meaning of Shreethey will obviously not knowwhy it is a practice in India touse Shree as a title for allmales. The purpose behindciting this example was only toshow the ignorance of peopleeager to broadcast their viewsbased on fallacies as ‘facts’.Since the government’s deci-sion on abrogation of article370, the mass media is full ofsuch views especially of thoseopposing the decision.
Apart from the politiciansand others in the business ofexploiting misinformationand conflicts for personalgains, the majority of thosecriticising this decision arethose who have nothing to dowith it and know little aboutit or choose to ignore the truthto suit their narrative.Observing some such people
in Dehradun only reaffirmedmy opinion about the starkhypocrisy and falsehoodbehind such expressions.
The politicians and‘activists’ opposing this deci-sion have themselves indulgedin various undemocratic prac-tices, have shown little inter-est in actively resolving localissues that directly affect themand continue to be either apa-thetic to or active in perpet-uating the problems that ailthe people on the ground inreality.
Whether it be largernational level issues or seem-ingly smaller local level issues,one of the factors common inmost issues is the obstinatetendency of the masses andeven the ‘experts’ and officialsto abstain from the use ofbasic common sense.
And, in many of the cases,it is the reluctance of the peo-ple to use common sense thatcreates most of the issues thataffect them negatively. Takefor example the environmen-
tal degradation and trafficcongestion causing majordegeneration in Dehradun.Does one need to be an expertto realise that doing awaywith the trees and coveringsoil with buildings and tilesdegenerates the environment?
Does one need compli-cated calculations to realisethe effect of uncontrolledgarbage generation on theenvironment and our lives?The recently appointed dis-trict police head has startedsome trials to see if the traf-fic flow in the city can beimproved. Nothing wrong init provided one first ensuresthe observance of basic traf-fic regulations.
Lanes are painted on mostroads but not once has oneseen the police enforcing theconcept of lane-driving. Samegoes for speed limits, silencezones and other basic regula-tions that one is expected tofollow. It requires only com-mon sense to realise thatwhen the people are not
observing even the basic rules,the trials and changes will notbear the required results.
However, neither thepolice nor the citizens willcomprehend the basics andmake the improvements toresolve the problems that con-tinue despite various efforts.We are free to express ourviews on the Kashmir andother issues.
Unfortunately, we arealso free to abstain from theuse of common sense andcontinue to suffer the conse-quences of the problems weare creating and exacerbating.
It is up to us to use ourright to remain ignorant andsuffer or use some commonsense and start resolving theproblems that directly affectus here. Of course we cancontinue expressing views thatno one has asked of us onissues that do not affect ushere. Sooner or later, we willhave to act on the local factsinstead of blabbering on dis-tant issues.
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In a fire accidenton Friday prod-
ucts worth about�50 lakh weredestroyed in awarehouse filledwith mattresses,blankets and towelsat Darshni Chowk.According to thelocal police, thecause of fire was ashort circuit, butfurther investiga-tion is ongoing.
According toofficial sources, ittook many hours,more than 50,000litres of water anda dozen firemen toextinguish the firecompletely fromthe warehouse. Till the time itwas fully extinguished morethan 60 per cent of productsinside were burnt.
The accident happened atabout 5:15 in the morning.Prima facie it appears that thecause was a short circuit.Teams are investigation on thequality of wires and otherrelated things to verify thecause.
Later at around 8 AMwhen it started appearing thatthe fire is finally extinguishingtwo of workers who thoughtthe area is safe started takingthe burnt material outside sud-denly a flash of fire came outof nowhere.
To save those two workersa fire man came in betweenresulting in him sustainingsevere burn directly on his face.He was immediately taken to
the hospital. The fire man hasbeen identified as DeepakButola. Eye witnesses and fewfiremen have pointed that per-sonal protective equipment ismandatory for fire men.
At least a minimum of adozen equipment are meant tobe at the disposal ofUttarakhand Fire andEmergency service depart-ment.
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District police have suc-ceeded in arresting three
accused of an Inter-State gangand recovered 20 stolen two-wheelers valued at about Rs 10lakh. The accused reportedlyused to work as a gang with twoon the lookout and one personusing the master key to start thevehicle and then all three ofthem used to park it at ISBTDehradun or in the corn fieldat the backside of MahantIndiresh Hospital.
The accused have beenidentified as gang leader TeetuSoni (28), Rahul Kumar (26)and Neelpath (24), all natives ofBijnor in neighbouring UttarPradesh.
Dehradun SeniorSuperintendent of the Police(SSP) Arun Mohan Joshi said,“As the maximum complaints oftwo-wheeler theft we receivedwere from near the railwaystation we wanted to first checkCCTV footage from there, butthere weren’t any CCTVinstalled there so we had to takea scientific approach.
Police team with CircleOfficer Shekhar Suyal as head
did a commendable job.Manufacturers of the recoveredvehicles are being asked toprovide information about thereal owner of the said vehicle.”
According to the informa-tion provided by the police, the
accused first prepared a masterkey from a rag picker and thenstarted targeting two wheelers.Speaking with media on Fridayaccused Teetu said that theyused to sell these two wheelersfor Rs 6000 or Rs 7000 a unit.
During the interrogationthe accused said that a friend oftheirs in Bijnor, BhupendraSingh gave them the idea. Teetufurther said that he used to livewith his elder brother in AzadColony, Dehradun.The police
think that the accused used tosell these two wheelers to thosepeople who are not well awareabout paperwork and correctnumber plates, which is whythey used to sell the stolen vehi-cles at such low rates.
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Atwo-day seminar onrecent innovations in
emerging technology and sci-ence was inaugurated at JBInstitute of Technology hereon Friday.
The ATCTE adviserNeeraj Saksena and UGC jointsecretary GS Chauhan alongwith Uttarakhand TechnicalUniversity vice chancellorNarendra Singh Chaudharyand registrar Anita Rawat
jointly inaugurated the semi-nar. Speaking on the occasionSaksena said that such eventsshould be held regularly sothat the teachers and studentscan be made aware of devel-opments in different fields.Chauhan appreciated thepapers submitted by facultymembers and research schol-ars on different subjects. Hesaid that while undertakingany research, the first priori-ty should be on ascertaininghow it can benefit the poor.
Chaudhary and Rawat alsoexpressed their views on theoccasion. Subject experts gavepresentations on various top-ics in the seminar.
The institute chairman LDSinghal presented Tulsi plantand a shawl to all the guests onthe occasion.
The institute’s vice chair-man Deep Singhal, secretaryRajat Singhal, director AmitBansal and others were alsoamong those present on theoccasion.
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Aman was killed in a roadaccident reported late night
on Thursday at Ansari Margnear Kali Mandir. Accordingto the information provided bythe police, two motorbikes col-lided head on with each other.One of the riders was severelyinjured and was taken to thehospital, where he died duringtreatment. The two othersinjured in the mishap were notin any immediate danger.
The deceased has beenidentified as 54 year old JagdishSingh Rana, resident ofMokhampur Khurd while theinjured are Kuldeep (32) andSadik (25). The deceasedreportedly used to work in ahotel and was returning homeat about 11:40 pm when theaccident happened.
According to the eye wit-nesses the deceased rider wascoming at speed and appearedto be under the influence ofalcohol. Both the riders werealso not wearing helmets.
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Two women and two chil-dren were killed, several
cattle died, 18 homes werecompletely damaged and two
bridges were severely dam-aged due to cloudburst andheavy rain in Chamoli andTehri distr icts late onThursday night and in thewee hours on Friday.
A cloudburst was report-ed in Faldiya village of TharaliTehsil in the Chamoli districtat 10:45 PM on Thursday.According to informationprovided by the State
Emergency Operation Centre(SEOC), 29 year old PushpaDevi and her seven-year olddaughter Jyoti are missingsince then and are feareddead. A dozen homes were
completely damaged, twohomes were partially dam-aged and 10 cattle sheds weredestroyed leading to thedeaths of 24 cattle and 24hens. At 12 AM on Friday,heavy rain in Maithana,Tendakhansal, Gudsala andSakot villages resulted in sixhomes being completely dam-aged, seven cattle missing, onemotor bridge and one pedes-
trian bridge being complete-ly damaged. Apart from this,13 rural motor roads areblocked in Chamoli district.
In the Tehri district atabout 1:30 AM on Friday, a
cloudburst caused the collapseof a home at Tharti village inGhansali. The house collapsekilled 30 year old MakaniDevi and her six year old sonSurjit Singh while his 12 yearold sister Sapna was injured.At the same time in theKirtinagar area, two cattlesheds were completely dam-aged which led to two mulesand 54 hens being swept away
while one mule was injured.About 10 rural motor roadsare blocked in Tehri district.
Chief minister TrivendraSingh Rawat has expresseddeep grief at the deaths and
damage caused by theinclement weather in Chamoliand Tehri districts. He hasdirected the district magis-trates to observe necessaryprecautions in view of inci-dents of heavy rain in the dis-tricts. All the district magis-trates have also been direct-ed to identify the vulnerablesites while also keeping thedisaster management machin-
ery active. By minimising theresponse time, the districtmagistrates should ensureimmediate relief and rescue indisaster scenarios, the chiefminister directed.
Meanwhile, a number ofroads remained blockedacross the state. In theRudraprayag district, theRishikesh-Kedarnath nation-al highway 107 was blockedby debris at Banswada. A totaof 31 rural motor roads areblocked in the district. Sevenrural motor roads inDehradun district, 13 in Pauridistrict, four in Uttarkashi,
eight in Bageshwar, two inChampawat and eight inPithoragarh are also reportedto be blocked. Efforts areunderway to reopen theseroads for traffic.
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With menace of denguespreading in all parts of
provisional state capitalDehradun, areas consideredhigh end are also gettingaffected by the vector bornedisease. MLA hostel, the res-idential colony where the fam-ilies of legislatures reside hascome under the attack ofdengue. Wife of MLA fromKedarnath, Manoj Rawat suf-fering from dengue is recu-perating in a private hospital.The MLA’s wife was admittedin Arogya Dham hospital onAugust 7 with complaint ofhigh fever. The in-charge ofthe hospital, Dr VipulKandwal said that she wasdiagnosed with Dengue. Hesaid that she is admitted in thehospital and is now recoveringfrom the disease. The MLA,who was in his constituencyalso confirmed that his wife
has dengue.Meanwhile, the health
department reported 25 newcases of the disease on Friday.With them the number ofpatients affected by the diseasein the capital mounted 279.
The district vector bornediseases officer, Subhash Joshitold The Pioneer that a teamof health department visitedthe Old Rajpur road areawhere a 26 year old female hadreportedly died of the disease.The Mahant Indiresh hospitalon Thursday had claimed thatthe woman had dengue. “Ourteam visited the area where sheresided and found no case offever. We have sent the bloodsample of the lady for the con-firmatory ELISA test. Thecause of the death of thiswoman is probably Hepatitis,’’Joshi said.
A team of NationalMalaria Research Centre(NMRC) Haridwar visitedmany dengue affected area inRaipur and collected samplesof larvae. The health depart-ment also conducted a meet-ing of different departments atRaipur for synergising antidengue activities in the city.
The symptoms of Dengueare persistently high fever,rashes, headache and pain inthe joints. In the acute casesthe platelets number decreasedrastically which could provefatal for the patient. The Tigermosquito (called due to thecharacteristic stripes on itsbody) is responsible for trans-mitting the virus from oneperson to another
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Chief Minister TrivendraSingh Rawat has said
that an elaborate work planfor providing health ser-vices within ten kilometreperiphery of every individ-ual in the state should beprepared and should beimplemented in a timebound manner. He gave adirective regarding this tothe officials during a reviewmeeting of the medicalhealth and family welfaredepartment at state secre-tariat on Friday. He said thatthe institutional deliveriesshould be promoted. On astern note the CM said thatthe availability of medicinesin the government hospitalsshould be ensured. Hedirected the officials thatspecial attention should bepaid on the districts where thegirl child sex ratio is less. Thereview of the department wasdone on the basis of Key
Performance Indicators (KPI)of CM’s dashboard. He saidthat by the year 2022 all the subcentres would be upgradedinto ‘health and wellness cen-tres’. The CM directed the offi-cers of the department to pre-pare a proposal of increasingretirement age of the specialistand super specialist doctors. Inthe meeting the CM was toldthat the health indicators areshowing an improvement.They claimed that the per-centage of institutional deliv-
eries in the state has increasedto 71 percent and the maternalmortality rate has shown adecline of 84 points. They said
that the infant mortality ratehas declined from 38 per thou-sand to 32 per thousand. TheCM was informed that thepercentage of children underimmunisation has increasedfrom 87 percent to 99 percentin last two years. All the bloodbanks have been linked with E-raktkoshas. The officials fur-ther informed that the statehealth services has 2152 doc-tors and soon 314 more doctorswould be recruited. It wasclaimed that the department
would provide facilties of ICUin all district hospitals by nextyear. A total of 64000 benfi-ciaries have so far availed the
benefit of Atal AyushmanUttarakhand Yojana. The CMwas told that the 90 assistantprofessors have recently beengiven permanent appointmentsin the medical colleges of thestate. A state cancer institutewould be set up by upgradingthe Swami Ram CancerInstitute at Government med-ical college Haldwani. In themeeting the minister of statefor women and child develop-ment, Rekha Arya, ChiefSecretary Utpal Kumar Singh,
Additional Chief SecretaryRadha Raturi, Secretary NiteshJha and others were present.
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The Power secretary,Radhika Jha has directed
the officials of Uttarakhand JalVidyut Nigam Limited(UJVNL) to ensure that all theprojects which are on anvilshould be completed within thestipulated time.
She said that project esca-lations are prevented by time-ly completion of projects. Jhawas addressing the officials ofUJVNL at its Dhakrani basedtraining centre on Friday.Terming the Vyasi project as animportant project, she saidthat special attention should bepaid on it. Jha directed that thework on projects like Sela -Urdig in Kumaon should beexpedited.
The secretary advised thata professional approach shouldbe adopted for efficient work
management. She said thatspecial emphasis should belaid on Key PerformanceIndicators (KPI). Jha said thatthe UJVNL should keep a pro-duction target of 48000 millionunits and should ensure thatthe availability of machines isat 85 percent.
The secretary also visitedthe 240 MW Chhibro powerproject on River Tons andinspected its turbines and con-trol panels. Incidentally,Chhibro is country’s firstunderground power plant.Appreciating zero accidentrecord of the plant she direct-ed that all the employees of theplant should be honored.
The managing director ofUJVNL, S N Verma, director ofoperations, P Singh, director ofprojects S C Baluni and othersenior officials of the corpora-tion accompanied the secretary.
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Chief minister TrivendraSingh Rawat informed the
media that Uttarakhand hadbeen nominated for the MostFilm Friendly State award aspart of the 66th National FilmAwards. Stating that this is agood sign for tourism inUttarakhand, he said that theState Government has imple-mented an attractive film pol-icy for the benefit of film pro-ducers.
During the investors sum-mit held last year, film pro-ducers from across the nationand abroad had made sugges-tions, after which the stategovernment implemented thefilm policy 2019. The chiefminister further informed thatsince 2017 to the present, about220 films, serials and docu-mentaries have been shot in thestate. These include MeterChalu Batti Gul, Parmanu,Batla House, Kabir Singh,Kedarnath, Narendra Modi,Student of The Year -2 andMan Vs Wild to be broadcaston Discovery Channel. Rawatsaid that the state governmenthad come up with an attractivefilm policy which consists of asingle-window system to secure
permission for shooting. Nocharge is taken for film shoot-ing in the state. Further, thereis provision for up to Rs 1.5crore grant unde the new filmpolicy.
In addition to this, policeprotection during the filmshooting duration is also pro-vided free of cost. The policyalso includes provision for
local cinemas to screen region-al films at least once a week.The chief minister recalledthat last year, as part of thenational film awards, the statehad received Special MentionCertificate for Film FriendlyState. Aspects like ease of film-ing, infrastructure, grant, data-base, marketing, promotionand number of films shot in the
state are considered in theselection for this award.Shooting of films inUttarakhand also benefitslocal artists and busi-nesses.
This activity alsoencourages tourism. Heinformed that for theshooting of Student ofThe Year-2, the producerspent Rs 13 crore in thestate which benefitted thepeople of the state whilethe government alsoearned crores of rupees inthe form of Goods andServices Tax. He furtherinformed that privateinstitutions have comeforward for building filmstudios in the state. Onesuch facility has openedin Kotdwar while anoth-er will be opened soon inDehradun. A number of
South Indian film-makers havealso been attracted toUttarakhand. The peaceful andcordial atmosphere is muchappreciated by the film makers.The state government intendsto enable the film makers toreach the remote border areasof the state too. This will alsohelp link such areas to tourism,he added.
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The State’s Tourism andCulture minister Satpal
Maharaj has written to theUnion Minister for HomeAffairs, Amit Shah requestingthat the Timmersain area ofNiti Valley in Chamoli districtbe removed from the InnerLine. Addressing media per-sons here on Friday, the min-ister said that a snow Shiv Lingforms naturally in TimmersainMahadev as it does atAmarnath in Kashmir.
However, this location inthe Niti Valley is part of theinner line due to which fewpeople are able to visit it. He hasrequested Shah to remove thisarea from the inner line so thattourists and pilgrims can visitthe place in large numbers.
This will encourage tourismand generate employmentopportunities in the area.Maharaj said that this is aneffective way to boost employ-ment and also ensure propermonitoring of such regions inthe border areas of the state.
He said that the Harshiland Mukhba areas inUttarkashi district had alsobeen removed from the innerline in the past. The ministeralso recalled that during therecent conclave of theHimalayan states held inMussoorie, the Union FinanceMinister had expressed con-cern at migration from remoteareas and had advocated mea-sures like boosting tourism inborder areas to facilitate devel-opment and mitigate migra-tion.
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Aprogramme to commem-orate 77 anniversary
of Quit India movementwas organised at RajivBhawan, the headquar-ters of state unit ofCongress party on Friday.Former President ofPradesh CongressCommittee (PCC),Kishore Upadhyayaunfurled the national flag at theparty office in the morning andcongratulated the party work-ers. Addressing the pro-gramme, the Vice President ofthe state Congress, Surya KantDhasmana said that the ‘Augustrevolution’ was an importantmile stone in the Independenceof the country.
He said that MahatmaGandhi gave a call for completeindependence on August 8 and
the whole country came out inthe streets against the Britishrule. Dhasmana said thatabout one thousand peoplegave their sacrifice and morethan 16000 were imprisonedduring this period. On a sar-castic note, the Congress leaderclaimed that the people whoacted as informers of British atthat time are now professing
patriotism to the Congressparty.
Later the party workerstook a pledge to strengthenCongress party. The party menalso took a ‘ Tiranga Yatra’ onoccasion which after passingthrough many places of the cityculminated at Gandhi Park.Senior Congress leaders SurvirSingh Sajwan, GarimaDassauni and others were pre-sent on the occasion.
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Pilgrims who are willing tovisit Kedarnath shrine by
helicopter can now book tick-ets for all available helicopterservices through the onlineportal heliservices.uk.gov.in.The facility which was startedfrom August 7 has alreadyenabled 1013 people to booktheir tickets to Kedarnath in thefirst two days. The secondphase of helicopter serviceswill be started from September1. Passengers can cancel theirtickets till 24 hours before thejourney starts.
Chief Executive Officer(CEO) of Uttarakhand CivilAviation DevelopmentAuthority (UCADA) andTourism Secretary DilipJawalkar said that in order tobring transparency in theprocess of ticket booking andreducing chances of corruptionthe step has been taken.Agreement with the aviationcompanies providing helicopterservices has been receivedbefore hand.
He further said that 70 per
cent of the ticket booking willbe done online and rest 30 percent booking will be donethrough offline mode that tooon the spot. For offline book-ing three counters will be estab-lished one at Guptkashi andtwo at Phata. As the internetservices is not proper at Sirsicentre, the offline booking ofSirsi helipad will be done fromthe second counter establishedat Phata.
It is pertinent to mentionthat in earlier online ticketbooking was done by the per-sonal websites of individualaviation companies. Duringthe first phase of yatra seasonthis year several allegations ofblack ticket marketing wereraised against the private avi-ation companies providinghelicopter services toKedarnath. Seven cases havealready been registered againstaviation companies and allegedagents. CEO Jawalkar earlieralso sent a letter asking for thebooking details from aviationcompanies after receiving com-plaints of black ticketing fromvisitors.
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In a setback to Dera SachaSauda sect chief Gurmeet
Ram Rahim Singh, who isserving a 20-year jail sentencefor raping two of his disciples,the Rohtak Jai lSuperintendent Suni lSangwan on Friday refused togrant him a three-weekparole to meet his ailingmother.
The decision not to grantthe parole was taken afterJustice Kuldip Singh of thePunjab and Haryana HighCourt directed the State totake a decision on the repre-sentation of Ram RahimSingh's wife Harjit Kaur.
She moved the paroleplea saying that Ram RahimSingh''s mother Naseeb Kaur,85, was suffering from a heartdisease and she was not tak-ing the treatment in theabsence of her son.
Ram Rahim (51) is cur-rently lodged at the high-security Sunaria jai l inRohtak.
According to officials, theparole was rejected on twocounts. First, the parole couldcreate law and order prob-lems in the state at the timeof his release and surrenderlater. Second, a report by apanel of doctors, who exam-ined his mother, said she issuffering from a heart dis-ease, but is not in critical con-dition.
On August 5, the Derachief 's wife Harjit Kaur fileda plea in the high court,which said: "My mother-in-law wants her son to remainpresent during her treat-ment." The high court askedthe jail authorities to take adecision regarding the parolewithin five days.
It also issued directionthat "if the jail superintendentis satisfied that this case iscovered under the Haryana
Good Conduct PrisonersTemporary Release Act, hecan decide within a timeframe fixed by the jail depart-ment". "If he is not satisfied,he would forward the case tothe authorities after recordingthe reasons, who shall decidethe same," Justice KuldeepSingh said.
Earlier, Ram Rahim hadwithdrawn his parole plea inJuly at the last minute afterthe state BJP Governmentwas cornered by oppositionparties for favouring the self-styled godman, who sought aparole of 42 days for tendingthe sprawling fields in hissect''s headquarters in Sirsatown.
Earlier, the high courthad in May rejected RamRahim''s parole plea forattending the wedding cere-mony of his foster daughters.
The self-styled godmanwas sentenced to 20 years injail in August 2017 for rapingtwo women. A special CBIcourt in Panchkula thisJanuary also sentenced himand three others to lifeimprisonment for the murderof a journalist over 16 yearsago.
In the jail, Ram Rahimspends most of his timegrowing vegetables and fruitsand daily earns �20 for eighthours of farming whichcomes under the unskilledwork category. As per the jailsuperintendent, Ram Rahim'sconduct in the jail is like a"disciplined inmate".
His conviction on August25, 2017, had led to violencein Panchkula and Sirsa, leav-ing 41 people dead and over260 injured.
Ram Rahim was patron-ised by political leaders andpart ies in Punjab andHar yana for nearly twodecades due to his ability toinfluence the votes of hisfollowers.
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Haryana Chief MinisterManohar Lal Khattar on
Friday said that the StateGovernment will deposit Rs6,000 annually to the bankaccounts of all the families inthe state whose annualincome is up to Rs 1.80 lakh.
Addressing the state levelfunction of MaharishiBhagirath Jayanti Samarohorganized at Fatehabad,Khattar said that the StateGovernment has started sev-eral welfare schemes for poorfamilies, for which they haveto pay a nominal premium.But many times, the poorfamily is unable to pay thepremium due to which theydo not get the benefit of theschemes.
"The government is goingto start a new scheme underwhich Rs 6,000 per annumwill be deposited in the bankaccounts of families withannual income up to Rs 1.80lakh so that premium ofinsurance schemes of Rs 12and Rs 330 per annum, pen-sion scheme and crop insur-ance will be paid automati-cally from the bank accountsof the needy families." hesaid. On this occasion, hemade several new announce-
ments for the Odh Samaj. TheChief Minister a lsoannounced to name theAshok Nagar Chowk inFatehabad after MaharishiBhagirath. He also announcedto build Odh Bhavan in threevillages. The Chief Ministersaid that this is the first gov-ernment which is providingRs 7500 to 9000 monthlyunder Saksham Yojana toyouths, who do not getemployment after completingeducation.
Similarly, Rs 8,000 to Rs12,000 are being provided toschool students under thePost Matric ScholarshipScheme. Rs 51,000 are beinggiven under the MukhyaMantri Vivah Shagun Yojanafor the marriage of the daugh-ter of a Scheduled Caste fam-ily. The Chief Minister saidthat pucca roads, sheds, watermanagement and boundary
walls are being made for allthe cremation grounds andgraveyards in the state at acost of Rs 748 crore.
The work has also beencompleted up to 70-80 percent. The Chief Ministersaid, “Haryana was infamousdue to low birth rate ofdaughters. The governmentlaunched Beti Bachao-BetiPadhao campaign, due towhich the number of girlsborn per thousand boys hasincreased from 850 to 933. Wehave to take this number to1000”.
BJP State President andMLA Tohana, Subhash Baralasaid the government had ful-filled all the expectations withwhich the people had giventhe BJP a chance to form thegovernment in 2014. “In thenext term, we will work morestrongly and make the stateprosperous”, he added.
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Governor Droupadi Murmuon Friday urged the farm-
ers, especially the tribal, tocome forward in water conser-vation. The Governor wasaddressing people on the occa-sion of International Day of theWorld’s Indigenous Peoplesheld at events organised by PhiaFoundation and at BirsaAgriculture University (BAU).The World’s Indigenous Peoplesday is observed on August 9,every year to front-up and pro-tect the rights of the world’sindigenous population.
The Governor said, “Due toplateau and forest tracts, muchof the rainwater flows to ocean.If the rainwater is conserved intheir fields, lakes, ponds andrivers water crisis can easily beaddressed. Farmers the realcustodian of the farmlands canplay a big role in water conser-vation.”
The Governor also askedthe farmers for adopting agri-culture crops as per the natureof the soil which can be bene-ficial for them. The Governorasked the farmers to adopt sci-
entific techniques in water con-servation and adopting agri-culture crops as per the soilnature. The first lady of Statealso asked the farmers to availbenefits of Mahatma GandhiNational Rural EmploymentGurantee Act (MNREGA).
The Governor emphasisedthat development of each tribeshould take place without dis-crimination. Empowering girlchild and women will help indevelopment of country in afaster way. There is a need forequal opportunity for educationin tribal society and urged thatevery girl child should haveaccess to this opportunity.
Earlier, speaking at BAUGovernor Droupadi Murmustressed on higher representa-tion of indigenous people in theteaching fraternity of highereducational institutions. Despitethe provision of reservation,number of faculty from thisgroup is not satisfactory in thetemples of higher learning.Educational institutions shouldguide, persuade and promoteindigenous people for optingteaching and research career inuniversities, she said. The
Governor urged the scientists topay special attention on skilldevelopment in the animalhusbandry sector because thissector is a major source ofemployment and income gen-eration for tribes.
She said since BAU ViceChancellor Dr RS Kureel hasbeen a member of the NationalEducation Policy DraftCommittee, the interests ofSC-ST communities, shehoped, will be well taken careof in education sector. She alsolaid the foundation stone ofTribal Agricultural Art andCulture Museum to be con-structed on BAU campus.
On the occasion, UnionMinister for Tribal Affairs,Arjun Munda also participatedat a padyatra taken out fromRajendra Chowk Doranda.Arjun Munda along with hiswife Meera Munda attired intribal dress donning cap madeof bamboo and flowers also metpeople warmly.
Former deputy ChiefMinister and AJSU party leaderSudesh Mahto also participat-ed at a function held at JonhaSchool ground. Mahto said,
“The International Day of theWorld’s Indigenous Peoples isthe occasion to protect andsafeguard our language, culture,identity and environment.” TheInternational Day of theWorld’s Indigenous Peopleswas celebrated across the Statewith fervor with several polit-ical and non-political peopleand organizations taking partin events across the State.
Different tribal organiza-tions under the banner ofAkhil Bhartiya Adivasi VikasParishad, Kendriya SarnaSamiti, Adivasi Yuva Morchaand others took out a marchfrom Sainik Market to Ranchi
College auditorium celebratingthe day. A programme was alsoorganised by the Indira GandhiNational Centre for the Arts(IGNCA), Regional CentreRanchi (RCR) in collaborationwith the Department ofEndangered Languages andTribal Studies, CentralUniversity of Jharkhand (CUJ)at the CUJ campus in Brambe,Ranchi. The programme wassupervised by Dr. Ajay KumarMishra, Regional Director,IGNCA, RCR and Prof. (Dr.)Rabindranath Sarma, Dean,Department of Tribal Studies,Central University ofJharkhand.
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To observe Tribal Day, var-ious events were organised
at Madhya Pradesh TribalMuseum.
On the occasion the tradi-tional painting of 'Barsaat' wasdone by children of age 9 to 15under Tribal Painting Camp'Srishna'. 30 children from trib-al communities portrayed the'rainy' season in their memoryand experience. All the chil-dren were given certificates bythe museum.
At 6:30 pm in the museumauditorium, there were pre-sentations of Bhil tribe ofMadhya Pradesh, Thakya ofGond tribe and Saila andSarhaul dances of Uraon tribeof Chhattisgarh.
Inauguration of the pre-sentation Bhil artist Tan SinghMuniya (Jhabua) along withabout 20 of his fellow artistsperformed the 'Bhagoria dance'of the Bhil tribe. Bhagoriadance of the Bhil tribe, Holi atBhagoria Haat and other occa-sions are performed by Bhilyouths. Bhagoria Haats areorganized before Holi duringthe Phagun season.
Bhagoria Haat is a meetingof young men and women, notjust haats. It is from here thatthey come in contact with eachother, are attracted and runaway to get tied in the lifethread, hence these haats arenamed Bhagoria. In Bhagoriadance, various footsteps, Pali,Chakripali and Pyramid dancepostures are the center ofattraction.
Adorned girls dressed incolorful costumes and dancingin their hands are typical tra-ditional and supernaturaldesigns. During the dance per-formance, Anil collaboratedon the drum, Rahul on thekundi, Diwan on the thali andLaxman on the tassa.
After Bhagoria dance,Agnesh Kerketta (Bhopal)along with her fellow artistsperformed the 'Sarhul dance' ofthe Uraon tribe.
Sirhul is a group dance, thisdance consists of young menand young girls. The move-ment in dance is not on theinstrumental rhythms, but onthe rhythm and rhythm of thesongs.
The dance starts with aslow pace and ends at a veryhigh speed. This dance is per-formed in front of the villagedeity. In this presentation,about 19 actors joined thestage of Agnesh Kerketta.
After the Sarhul dance,Arjun Bagmare (Betul) alongwith his fellow performers per-formed the 'Thakya dance' ofthe Gond tribe.
This dance is performedduring Diwali for about amonth from the day ofGovardhan Puja. In this dance,the goal is to honor and wor-ship the cattle.
About 13 artists joinedArjun Bagmare in this presen-tation. In this dance perfor-mance, Babulal collaboratedon the dholak, Guddu Ivane onthe flute and Nirmal on thetase.
At the end of the perfor-mance, Vijay Badewar(Chhindwara) performed 'SailaNritya' along with his fellowartists. Saila dance is performedduring the moonlight nights ofautumn.
It was named Saila due tothe poles of about a quarter ofa hand. Saila dance is practicedto please Adidev.
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The Rajya Nagarika Samajon Friday alleged that a
massive land fraud has takenplace in the Malipada Mouzaunder the Chandaka policestation here. Addressing a Pressmeet here on Friday, Samajpresident Prakash Rath allegedthat the land mafias are sellingland of elderly persons anddeceased land owners by gen-erating forged sale deeds andpatta (land records.
Informing that victimslodged a complaint at theChandaka PS on July 25, 2019,Rath said the police have so fararrested some brokers but havefailed to nab the kingpin andthe officers involved in thewrongful acts. “The police haveseized about 2,000 Government
stamps and more that 5,000sale deeds after conductingraids at the houses and officesof the arrested middlemen.From this, one can clearly seehow the land mafias are activein the city,” said Rath.
The middlemen imper-sonate as land owners and selllands with forged documents.Narayan Maharana, ArupHaldar, Bikash Panda, LingarajRao, Ashok Panda, Dillip Sahu,Abinash Rout and SumitMohanty are some of them, saidRath.The involvement of theKhandagiri Revenue Inspector,Head Clerk and Registrar is alsosuspected, he added.
Social activist Pratap Sahusaid expressed unhappinessthat the main accused and theofficers involved have not beenarrested or interrogated yet.
The police are also not able tocome to a logical end due to thepowerful people involved in thefraud, he added.
The Samaj has requestedthe Chief Minister, the RevenueMinister and the departmentSecretary to look into matterand take stringent actionagainst the middlemen, king-pin and officers and render jus-tice to the victims as soon aspossible. The Samaj also threat-ened that its members alongwith victims would sit on anindefinite strike in front of theChief Minister’s residenceNaveen Niwas if no action istaken against the culprits soon.
Among others, socialactivist Rajesh Behera, victimsUdaynath Mahapatra, PravatTripathy and Kailash ChandraPanda were present.
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To provide social security tofamilies in Haryana,
‘Mukhya Mantri ParivarSamridhi Yojna’ will be launchedon August 21 in which �6,000per year will be given to each eli-gible family, chief secretaryKeshni Anand Arora said onFriday.
Arora was presiding over areview meeting with all theDivisional Commissioners,Deputy Commissioners andMunicipal Commissionersregarding different schemesthrough video conferencing here.
It was informed in the meet-ing that after successful roll outof Parivar Pehchan Patra for cre-ating a meaningful database offamilies in the state, another flag-ship scheme namely the MukhyaMantri Parivar Samridhi Yojanais being launched to providesocial security to people in termsof life / accidental cover and pen-sionary benefits to individualfamilies.
To avail benefit of thescheme, the annual familyincome should be less than�1,80,000 or a total land holdingof less than two hectares. It wasinformed that the head of the
family will have to fill a simpleform and provide the elementarydetails of the family members onelements such as occupationand income. He will have tomake choice of the relevantsocial security options for dif-ferent family members. Thisform will be available with theCommon Service Centres(CSCs) where help would beprovided to the beneficiaries infilling the form.
Under the scheme, eachbeneficiary family will be entitledto get Rs 500 per month. Out ofthis amount, a premium of �330per annum would be paid onaccount of Life Insurance of atleast one family member in theeligible age group of 18 to 50years.
The Chief Secretary saidthat today the process of regis-tration for the Pradhan MantriLaghu Vyapari Maan-DhanYojana has been started by theCenter. For this, all officersshould register small traders intheir respective districts atCommon Service Centres.Under the scheme, small shop-keepers, retail traders and self-employed individuals will get apension of at least �3,000 permonth.
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In view of the increasing inci-dents of misconduct of MPs
like holding placards, tearing ofpapers and even theConstitution inside theParliament House, Vice-President of India M VenkaiahNaidu on Friday suggested thatpolitical parties should have acode of conduct for their elect-ed representatives to help monitor their behaviour inParliament and State legislatures.
Naidu, who is also the RajyaSabha chairman, suggested thatpolitical parties could includesuch a code in their electionmanifestos that would helpenable voters to make theirjudgement before voting. The
code of conduct, he said, shouldinclude stipulations that mem-bers would not enter the well ofthe house, nor resort to sloga-neering and disruptions or anyother unruly behaviour such astearing of papers and throwingthem in the House.
“I suggest that political par-ties should have a code of con-duct for their MPs to monitortheir behaviour,” Naidu saidwhile speaking to the media atan informal get-together after theend of the Parliament session.
He called for more coordi-nation between the ruling partyand the opposition, both insideand outside Parliament, to helpbring about consensus onimportant legislations.
The Vice President said hewas sure that the leadershipand MPs of all political parties
would appreciate the signifi-cance of functional Parliamentand would maintain the posi-tive momentum of the just-concluded session.
Noting that political partieswere only rivals and not ene-mies, he was of the firm opin-ion that the ruling and theopposition parties should inter-
act more frequently to ensuresmooth conduct of bothParliament and legislatures.
Observing that parliamen-tary democracy was all aboutensuring governance throughaccountability to the people, theRajya Sabha chairmandescribed the three importantfunctions of legislatures as“Legislative, Deliberative andAccountability”.
“We are supposed to makenecessary legislations for the bet-terment of the country and thepeople, take up and deliberate onissues of public importance andensure the accountability of theGovernment of the day,” hesaid. The Rajya Sabha Chairmansaid that he has always beenemphasising the need for mem-bers to discuss, debate anddecide and not resort to dis-
ruptions and obstructions inParliament and State legisla-tures as people were becomingrestless over such behaviour.
Naidu expressed concernover the tendency of the oppo-sition parties to boycott the leg-islature in some States, while incertain other instances theopposition was sent out. Insome States, the Assembly wasmeeting for very few days,while there was continuousdisruption in some others.
The Vice-Presidentappealed to all political partiesto see that Parliament andLegislatures function effec-tively and also to ensure thatthe quality of debates wasraised. He said, “There is a feel-ing among the people that thelevel of public discourse isgoing down.”
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In an effort to give a boost tothe Indian Defence industry
under the ‘Make in India’ ini-tiative, Defence MinisterRajnath Singh on Friday saidthe Government is keen toencourage private industryinvestment in Defence sectorwhile also strengtheningdefence PSUs and OrdnanceFactory Board (OFB).
Addressing CEOs of topDefence and Aerospace com-panies at a roundtable with thetheme ‘Make in India inDefence Industry’ here, he saiddefence companies have hugeopportunities in contributingto domestic market in additionto exports.
He said the strategic part-nership model has been notifiedto establish defence manufac-turing infrastructure and supplychain through which Indiancompanies could choose a part-ner through a competitive andtransparent process. He addedthat FDI policy in defence sec-tor has been liberalised.
Regarding the offset pro-cessing, Singh said the Ministryhas set up an end-to-end off-set processing portal throughwhich proposals of value USD1.5 billion were processed.Entry barriers for MSMEs werealso reduced and this resultedin doubling of defence licens-es issued from 215 in 2014 to440 in 2019.
Singh also said the DefenceInvestor Cell established a yearago in the Ministry hasprocessed nearly 550 queriesand grievances.
While highlighting variousmeasures initiated by theGovernment to encouragedefence exports, the ministerurged the industry to worktowards increasing exports tofriendly countries. He saidexport procedure has been
simplified and defence pro-curement procedure wasrevised in 2016 to encourageindigenous design, develop-ment and manufacture.
He said self reliance indefence sector would not be pos-sible without development ofindigenous technology andcalled for steps to develop relat-ed technologies within the coun-try. Singh said there is greaterpossibility now because the con-tribution of digital technologiesin defence sector is on theupswing and India has strongcapabilities to develop suchtechnologies where start upshave a significant role to play.Singh said the Indian defenceindustry’s production was Rs80,000 crore in 2018-19 of whichRs 16,000 crore was the contri-bution from the private sector.
Earlier, in his welcomeaddress, Secretary (DefenceProduction) Ajay Kumar saidthe roundtable was organisedto obtain views and suggestionsfrom the industry to furtherimprove the systems and pro-cedures in the defence sector.Minister of state Shripad YessoNaik, senior officials of theMinistry, Defence PSUs, OFBand CEOs & representatives oftop Defence manufacturingcompanies were present onthe occasion.
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Prime Minister NarendraModi will inaugurate the
720-MW Mangdechhuhydropower project during histwo-day visit to Bhutan onAugust 17-18 as part of his‘neighbourhood first’ policy.India is helping Bhutan build10,000 MW of hydropower.
During his visit Modi willhold talks with the top leader-ship on a host of issues, includ-ing strengthening the bilateraldevelopment partnership andcollaborating in the hydropow-er sector.
Modi will arrive in Bhutanon August 17 and will call onBhutanese King Jigme KhesarNamgyel Wangchuck. He willalso hold delegation-level talkswith his Bhutanese counterpartLotay Tshering the same day.
The highlight of the visit willbe the inauguration of theMangdechhu hydropower pro-ject, Foreign Secretary VijayGokhale said at a media briefing.
Also, India’s developmentpartnership is a major aspect ofthe bilateral ties. India inDecember committed Rs 5,000crore development assistance toBhutan’s 12th five-year planand the first tranche of that hasbeen released, Gokhale said.
Modi will also address theRoyal University of Bhutan.The King and Queen of Bhutanwill host a lunch in the honourof Prime Minister Modi.
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In a move to help small andmarginal farmers, the
Ministry of Agriculture onFriday started registration forthe Pradhan Mantri KisanMaan-Dhan Yojana (PM-KMY), one of Prime MinisterNarendra Modi’s flagshipschemes, across the country.
Under the PM-KMY, whichwas announced during theBudget 2019-20, a monthly pen-sion of Rs 3,000 will be provid-ed to eligible farmers on attain-ing the age of 60. The schemewill be implemented across thecountry, including Jammu &Kashmir and Ladakh.
Announcing the launch ofthe scheme, Union AgricultureMinister Narendra SinghTomar said that the PM-KMYregistration process has com-menced across the countryfrom Friday. “Till Friday noon,418 farmers have registered andI request more farmers to jointhe scheme,” Tomar said.
Farmers, who attained 18years, will have to contribute Rs55 per month while similar
amount will be contributed bythe Centre. Those who are 29years old will have to contributeRs 100 per month while thosewho are 40 will have to con-tribute Rs 200 per month.Farmers will have to pay Rs 30to common service centre forenrolment in the scheme. PM-KMY aims to help them live ahealthy and happy life afterthey reach their old age.
Farmers holding up to 2hectare farm land will be eligi-ble for the PM-KMY scheme.It is a voluntary and contribu-tion-based pension scheme forfarmers in the age group of 18
to 40 years, he said adding thescheme is meant for smallfarmers and therefore there isa landholding limit.Highlighting the key features ofthe scheme, the Minister saidthe spouse is also eligible to geta separate pension of Rs 3,000upon making separate contri-bution to the fund. In case ofdeath of the farmer before theretirement date, the spousemay continue with the scheme.
If the spouse does not wishto contribute, the total contri-bution made by the farmeralong with interest will be paidto the spouse. In the absence of
any spouse, total contributionalong with interest will be paidto the nominee.
If the farmer dies after theretirement date, the spousewill receive 50 per cent of thepension as family pension.After the death of both thefarmer and spouse, the accu-mulated corpus will be credit-ed back to the pension fund.
The beneficiaries may optvoluntarily to exit the schemeafter a minimum period of fiveyears of regular contributions.On exit, their entire contribu-tion will be returned by pen-sion fund manager LifeInsurance Corporation (LIC)with an interest equivalent toprevailing saving bank rates.
The Minister further saidthat the farmers, who are alsobeneficiaries of the PM-KISANscheme, will have the option toallow their contribution debit-ed from the benefit of thatscheme directly. As many as 5,88,77,194 and 3,40,93,837farmers’ families have availed1st and 2nd instalments respec-tively under the PM-KisanScheme,” the Minister added.
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In more trouble for contro-versial Samajwadi Party
leader Azam Khan, the ED haslaunched a money launderingprobe following an FIR thatalleged that Mohammad AliJauhar University run by himin Rampur district of UttarPradesh was built over a plot ofland taken in violation of theenemy property law.
Khan, a Lok Sabha MPfrom Rampur and a formerstate cabinet minister underAkhilesh Yadav regime in theState, has already been bookedby the ED under the Preventionof Money Laundering Act(PMLA), based on at least 26criminal FIRs filed by the localpolice on charges of land graband extortion.
The university under theED scanner was established in2006 with Khan as its founderand chancellor. An estimated3,000 students are enrolled inthe university spread over anarea of 121 hectares. The‘enemy property’ in this case islocated in Singan Khera Tehsilof the Rampur district and itbelongs to Pakistani nationalImamuddin Qureshi. The dis-trict magistrate or the collectoris the deputy custodian of an‘enemy property’ in a district.
Enemy properties are theimmovable assets left behind bypeople who migrated toPakistan after the Partition.According to data, there are
about 9,280 such properties leftbehind by Pakistani nationals.Such properties are regulatedunder the Enemy Property Act.
If the allegation of landgrab and violation of theEnemy Property Act are estab-lished, the university campuscan be soon attached by theEnforcement Directorate (ED)under the Prevention of MoneyLaundering Act, sources said.
The ED’s Lucknow zonehas sought information fromthe Rampur district adminis-tration about the title and otherinformation about the land onwhich the university is situated.
The agency has also sum-moned 25 entities and indi-viduals, over the next week,who had complained that theuniversity, its officials and mainpromoter Azam Khan hadflouted the Enemy PropertyAct to grab land by projectingit as a Waqf property to set upthe university.
The ED has launched aparallel probe under theForeign Exchange
Management Act (FEMA) intothe university issue and islooking into the approvals,mutation of land and fundssourced by the university toallegedly grab the ‘enemy prop-erty’ land in an illegal mannerin purported connivance ofGovernment officials.
The ED has written to thehigher education departmentof the Uttar Pradesh govern-ment to share all documentsrelated to approvals and sanc-tions given to the university, totake forward its criminal probeunder PMLA and FEMA.
The Rampur districtadministration has registeredan FIR into the alleged illegaldeal on Thursday.
Besides Khan, the registrarof the university, the Waqfboard Imam and the then offi-cial of the Rampur municipalcorporation S M Tariq havebeen named in the FIR asaccused. Khan’s name was alsouploaded on an online list of“land mafias” by the districtadministration recently.
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Aiming to end morbidityand mortality in children
due to diarrhoea by 2022, theUnion Health Ministry haschalked out an ambitious planto administer the Rotavirusvaccine to every child acrossthe 36 States and UnionTerritories in the country bySeptember end under 100-dayagenda of the Government.
Talking about the expan-sion plan of the Rotavirus vac-cine programme for the entirecountry, Union Health MinisterHarsh Vardhan on Friday saidunder Prime MinisterNarendra Modi’s leadership,the government was commit-ted to putting an end to mor-bidity and mortality in childrendue to diarrhoea by 2022.
Strengthening routineimmunisation was an essentialinvestment in children and itwould ensure a healthy futurefor the country, he stressed.
Diarrhoea is one of thebiggest killers of children withRotavirus being one of thecommon causes of severe diar-
rhoea in children less than twoyears of age, the Minister said.
“The Rotavirus vaccine,along with proper sanitation,hand-washing practices, ORSand zinc supplementation, willgo a long way in reducing mor-tality and morbidity due todiarrhoea in children,” he added.
Vardhan said theGovernment was also commit-ted to increasing the full immu-nisation coverage and ensuringthat the benefit of the life-sav-ing vaccines was provided toevery child in the country.
“We stand committed toreducing child deaths and pro-viding a healthier future to ourchildren and the expansion ofthe Rotavirus vaccine pro-
gramme under UIP (UniversalImmunisation Programme) is astep in that direction,” he added.
In India, 37 out of 1,000children are unable to celebratetheir fifth birthday and one ofthe major reasons for this is diar-rheal deaths. Rotavirus is a lead-ing cause of diarrhoea in chil-dren less than five years of age.
It is estimated thatRotavirus causes 8,72,000 hos-pitalisations, 32,70,000 outpa-tient visits and estimated 78,000deaths annually in India. Thevaccine is expected to be avail-able in all the 36 States andUnion territories by September.
Rotavirus vaccine wasintroduced in 2016 in a phasedmanner, beginning with 4 states
initially and later expanded to7 more states making it a totalof 11 states by end of 2018.
At present the vaccine hasbeen further expanded to 17more States till now. Rotavirusvaccine is now available in 28States/UTs, namely, AndhraPradesh, Haryana, HimachalPradesh, Jharkhand, Odisha,Assam, Tripura, Rajasthan,Tamil Nadu, Madhya Pradesh,Uttar Pradesh, Manipur,Daman & Diu, Gujarat, Bihar,Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh,Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra,Dadra & Nagar Haveli, Goa,Chandigarh, Nagaland, Delhi,Mizoram, Punjab, Uttarakhand,and Andaman and NicobarIslands.
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Speeding up the poll prepa-rations for three States of
Delhi, Haryana andMaharashtra, the BJP on Fridayappointed Union MinistersPrakash Javadekar andNarendra Singh Tomar, andparty general secretaryBhupendra Yadav as its poll in-charges for Delhi, Haryanaand Maharashtra respectively.BJP vice-president OP Mathurhas been appointed as poll in-charge for Jharkhand.
Post-Lok Sabha victory,BJP would like to retain powerin Haryana and Maharashtraand also wrest Delhi from the
ruling AAP even as the latterlooks determined to make asecond comeback in thenational capital. The AAP,which had swept polls in Delhiin 2015 with good backing ofresidents of slums and ‘unau-thorised colonies’, is againpitching for a strong show inthe coming Assembly electionsscheduled early 2020. AAPhad won 67 of 70 Assemblyseats in Delhi.
The BJP has also appoint-ed two co-incharges Nityanand
Rai and Hardeep Singh Puri toassist Javadekar in Delhi, whereBJP could win only three out ofthe 70 Assembly seats in the lastAssembly elections.
On his appointment,Javadekar, who was earlier in-charge of Assembly polls andLok sabha elections forRajasthan, said he will dis-charge his responsibility withdedication and will prepareplans for the Delhi polls afterconsulting party president andother leaders concerned.
For Maharashtra,Jharkhand and Haryana too,the BJP has appointed co-incharges.
Uttar Pradesh DeputyChief Minister and OBC leaderKeshav Prasad Maurya alongwith Karnataka leader LaxmanSevadi will be co-incharges forMaharashtra polls.
Tomar will be assisted byBhupendra Singh, a Jat leaderfrom Haryana, in handlingelection related affairs in thestate. Jats have a sizeable pop-ulation in Haryana. BJP leaderand a minister in Bihar’s NDAgovernment Nand KishoreYadav will be co-inchargeassisting Mathur in Jharkhand.
Jaipur: “Love is not a crime.”The Rajasthan Police are tryingto get this across with a littlehelp from the cult classicMughal-e-Azam.
Days after the StateAssembly passed a Bill propos-ing up to life imprisonment forhonour killings, the police havebegun tweeting the message.The tweets carry a couple ofstills from the movie that starredPrithivraj Kapoor as Akbar andDilip Kumar as his rebelliousson Salim, who fell in love withcourt dancer Anarkali, playedby Madhubala.
Akbar orders her to beentombed alive, but in a last-minute change of heart hearranges for her escape. Or so thestory goes. “Be warned, the daysof Mughal-e-Azam are over,” thepolice tweet says in Hindi. It thenspells out the punishment forhonour killing under the newlaw. “Because love is not a crime,”it adds. The poster tweeted by thepolice also carries a line from asong in the 1960 movie, sung bya defiant Anarkali in the Mughalemperor’s court: “Jab pyar kiya todarna kya” (Why be afraid whenyou are in love)”.
The reason why no oneshould be scared is because ofthe anti-honour killing law, itsays. BL Soni, the additionaldirector general of CID (CrimeBranch), said the social mediacampaign was for creatingawareness about the legislation.
PTI
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Srinagar: As the authoritieseased restrictions in Kashmiron Friday, some cattle tradersappeared on the roads here tosell their sheep and goat for Eid,but there were few takers.
Despite Prime MinisterNarendra Modi's assurance thatthe government is making allsincere efforts to ensure that thepeople in the region have nodifficulties in celebrating Eid-ul-Azha, which is on Monday,sale of sacrificial animals isunimpressive in view of heavysecurity deployment.
"I have only sold over adozen sheep so far as thedemand for the sacrificial ani-mals has come down in view ofthe prevailing security situa-tion," Mohammad Latief Gujjar,a nomad, told PTI near Dalgatelocality where he had kept hislarge herd for sale.
Latief , who hails from theAkhnoor area of Jammu, is ona seasonal migration toKashmir Valley along with hisflock and family. They areputting up at Khanmoh on theoutskirts of Srinagar along theJammu-Srinagar national high-way.
Gujjars and Bakarwal com-munities earn their living byrearing different kinds of
domestic animals such as cows,buffaloes, sheep, goats andhorses and for centuries movebetween Jammu and Srinagarregions bi-annually in search ofgreener pastures.
"This time the demand isvery low...I used to sell over 250sheep and goats for sacrifice onEid," he said while negotiatinga deal with a prospective buyer,Mushtaq Ahmad Mir, for two
of his sheep. An uneasy calm prevails in
the city where police and para-military personnel have beendeployed in strength to preventany protest by residents againstthe centre government's moveto abrogate constitutional pro-visions that accorded specialstatus to Jammu and Kashmir,and divide the state in twounion territories.
"We used to sacrifice fivesheep to distribute among rel-atives and neighbours besideskeeping some parts for our-selves. We don't know how thesituation develops so we havedecided to restrict the numberto two to fulfil the religiousobligation and cover only ourneighbours," Mir said.
He said the government haseased the restrictions but themovement of the people
remained thin on the roads andonly a few shops mostly sellingvegetables and medicines areopened.
Mohammad Farooq, anomad Bakarwal from Rajouri,said he has slashed the rates, butonly managed to sell five sheep.
"I faced a lot of problem inreaching here (Rambagh local-ity), crossing barricades andrazor wire that have been put inplace to block free movement inview of the curfew-like restric-tions. The atmosphere is sur-charged and challenging," hesaid, referring to stone-peltingin the vicinity earlier in the day.
He, however, is hopeful ofselling his stock of 100 sheepand goats which he had rearedfor the occasion.
Faizan Ahmad, a meat-seller in the Karan Nagar area,is also concerned about the low
turnout of buyers. "I had ordered five truck
loads of sheep and goats, ofwhich only one has reached meso far. I used to sell over 300animals but so far I have soldonly 60," he said.
Not only the people dealingwith sacrificial animals, busi-nessmen dealing in bakery,readymade garments andsweets that usually used to wit-ness high demand ahead of Eidare fearing huge losses as well.
"I have bought materialworth lakhs of rupees for mak-ing bakery and confectioneryfor the festival but I don't knowhow to make up for the lossesas we are apprehensive that thesituation is not going to getnormalised in near future,"Abdul Latief, who has his shopin volatile downtown Srinagar,said. PTI
-�%��� �������������������� ���������������'������Srinagar: The Jammu &Kashmir authorities airlifted afresh batch of 20 "potentialtroublemakers" from Srinagarto Agra, officials said here onFriday.
The people, who have ahistory of being involved inseparatist activities, were takenout of Kashmir Valley in a spe-cial Indian Air Force plane,they said.
They are alleged to beactive members of separatistgroups in Kashmir Valley.
They were taken in a spe-cial IAF plane to Uttar Pradeshand lodged in Agra Central Jail.
The authorities had airlift-ed 25 people, including presi-dent of Kashmir High Court
Bar Association Mian Qayoom,on Thursday as a precaution-ary measure in the wake ofconstitutional changes made bythe government.
Besides Qayoom, MubinShah, an office-bearer ofKashmir Chamber ofCommerce, was also part of thegroup. Qayoom is a notedlawyer and has been repre-senting many cases in whichseparatist leaders have beenbooked by the police. TheGovernment has imposed strictrestrictions in Jammu &Kashmir after the constitution-al provisions that accorded theState special status were abro-gated and it was divided intotwo union territories. PTI
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Srinagar: A South African cou-ple's plan to celebrate their 38thmarriage anniversary inKashmir ended in disappoint-ment due to the security clam-pdown but they are hopeful ofreturning to the Valley when thesituation improves.
Neil Storm and his wifeMerrill had arrived in the Valleyon August 2, a day after visitingTaj Mahal, to observe the spe-cial day of their life and hadchalked out a plan to celebratethe rest of the week in Kashmir.“We are leaving disappoint-ed...We had planned a trek inthe mountains but it could not
materialise as the forces haveblocked everything,” Storm, aretired Army personnel, toldPTI minutes before leaving forDelhi.
However, he said they willreturn to the valley once the sit-uation improves here.
“We will like to come backany other time because ourhosts were so beautiful andnice. We liked this place and itis time to keep in touch with ourhosts to know the exact situationso that we can plan our tripaccordingly without any dis-turbance or wasting so muchmoney,” he said.
He said though he has a six-month Indian visa, establishingcontact with the Kashmiri hostto get an advice is not possiblebecause of snapping of com-munication lines at the moment.
“We will be happy if wereturn to the Valley...Sooner thebest,” he said. Curfew-like restric-tions are in force in most partsof Kashmir Valley with mobile,landline and Internet servicessnapped to scuttle any protestover scrapping of provisions ofArticle 370 and bifurcation of theState into two Union Territoriesby the Government earlier thisweek. PTI
Jammu: The Jammu districtadministration on Friday with-drew prohibitory orders underCrPC Section 144 imposedhere on August 5 in view of theCentre abrogating constitu-tional provisions that accord-ed special status to Jammu &Kashmir, according to an offi-cial order.
According to the orderissued by Jammu DistrictMagistrate Sushma Chauhan,all schools, colleges and acad-emic institutions may resumetheir functioning normallyfrom August 10. PTI
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With the security forces on high alert to
prevent any untoward incident in the wake of abro-gation of Article 370 givingspecial status to Jammu &Kashmir earlier this week, theNavy is also on its guard tothwart any terrorist attackthrough the sea route like theMumbai incident in 2008.Security has been strength-ened around all naval bases andsituation is constantly moni-tored on the western and east-
ern coasts.The coastal radar chain
bolstered after the 2008Mumbai attack is constantlywatching the sea routes andgiving real time picture to theInformation Management andAnalysis Centre(IMAC) inGurugram.
There are 46 radar stationsand they are looking for anysuspicious craft along the 7,000km coastline spread over nineStates.
The naval warships andCoast Guard has intensifiedpatrolling and their effort is
supported by helicopters andaircraft, sources said here onFriday. The security agenciesare also paying special attentionto off-shore oil rigs and otherstrategic locations which arelikely targets of terrorists, theysaid.
All the stake holders inensuring maritime securityincluding coastal police of var-ious states are also on guardand officials have also sensi-tised local fishermen aboutinforming the authorities ifany suspicious vessel is spotted,officials said.
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Jammu: The Jammu & KashmirPradesh Congress Committee(JKPCC) has expressed seriousconcern over the detention ofsenior party functionaries by theState administration anddemanded their immediaterelease, a spokesperson said onFriday.
Senior party leadersSaifuddin Soz, Peerzada MohdSayeed, Haji Abdul Rashid Dar,Gulam Nabi Monga, FarooqAndrabi, Mohd Amin Bhat,Gular Ahmad Wani and othershave been placed under housearrest since the midnight ofAugust 4, the JKPCC said in a
statement here. It also said thatformer minister Usman Majeedand various other leaders,including Hilal Ahmad Shah,have been detained at undis-closed locations.
The party sought immedi-ate release of its leaders, whilecautioning the government thatcaging of people and illegaldetention of political leaderswont address the problems inthe state. LoP in Rajya Sabha,Gulam Nabi Azad and stateCongress chief Gulam AhmadMir were barred from enteringJ&K on Thursday and sent backfrom the Srinagar airport. PTI
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Mumbai: The Shiv Sena onFriday said Kashmir was nowa closed chapter for Pakistanand asserted that Islamabaddowngrading diplomatic tieswith India post removal ofspecial status for the borderState will hurt it more thanNew Delhi.
Early this week, the Centrerevoked special status toJammu & Kashmir accordedunder Article 370 of theConstitution and bifurcatedthe State into two UnionTerritories — Jammu &
Kashmir, and Ladakh.Pakistan on Wednesday
expelled Indian HighCommissioner Ajay Bisaria aspart of its decision to down-grade the diplomatic ties withIndia over what it called NewDelhi's "unilateral and illegal"move on J&K.
"What more can Pakistando?" asked the editorial in theSena mouthpiece ‘Saamana’,seeking to highlight insignif-icance of Islamabad's reac-tion.
"Thanking" Pakistan for
downgrading the diplomaticties with India, the Sena saidIslamabad should now acceptthe Kashmir issue was a closedchapter for them and the onlything left with them is POKwhich will also be settled soon.
Referring to the pro-Indiabanners, including a quote of Sena leader Sanjay Raut, that have appeared in parts of Islamabad, the editorial said the saffron outfit hadentered the Pakistan territoryand the Indian Army will fol-low suit. PTI
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Vellore (TN): In a nail biting fin-ish, DMK's D M Kathir Anandon Friday won the Vellore LokSabha segment defeating hisnearest rival, AIADMK's ally AC Shanmugam, by a narrowmargin of 8,141 votes.
The result came as a setbackto the AIADMK which washoping to retain the seat andprove a point after it faced a nearrout in the April Lok Sabha elec-tions with the DMK-led alliancewinning 37 of the 38 con-stituencies then.
The DMK candidate, son ofparty Treasurer Duraimurugan,bagged 4,85,340 votes and gar-nered a 47.3 per cent vote shareas it wrested the Vellore seatfrom its arch rival AIADMKwhich had won it in 2014.
Shanmugam of PuthiyaNeedhi Katchi, who contestedon the AIADMK's Two-Leavessymbol, polled 4,77,199 votesand got 46.51 per cent share, theElection Commissionannounced.
Thanking the voters, DMKchief M K Stalin said the victo-ry was "exceptional and unpar-allelled." Since the election waslike a bypoll, trouncing a ruling
party candidate meant a "hugevictory," he told reporters.
Also, the win has cementedDMK's position as the thirdbiggest party in the Lok Sabha,he said adding his party's victo-ry could have been "delayed," butcannot be "prevented."
He was apparently referringto the earlier cancellation of theelection in Vellore in April whenthe rest of the 38 seats in TamilNadu went for polls. The EC hadthen cancelled the poll in Vellorefollowing seizure of huge cash.
The election was subse-quently held on August 5 andthe counting of votes was takenup on Friday morning.
The lead kept changing ininitial rounds but the DMKcandidate later narrowed the gapsteadily and then forged ahead,holding on to the little over 8,000vote difference till the end.
Reflecting the sea-saw bat-tle, the AIADMK cadresbrimmed with enthusiasm ini-tially but once the trend changedit was the turn of DMK work-ers to break into celebrationshere and at the party headquar-ters Anna Arivalayam inChennai. PTI
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The Election Commission ofIndia has rejected
Trinamool Congress' demandfor going back to the ballotpapers discarding theElectronic Voting Machines.
Chief ElectionCommissioner Sunil Arora onFriday said that “there is noquestion of going back to theballot papers… we are notgoing back to the era of ballotpapers,” as there was no prove
of EVMs doing any mischief."The Supreme Court has
more than once said that bal-lot papers are our past," he said.
The TMC and some otherparties had been asking for thereturn of ballot papers, partic-ularly after the general electionswhich saw the BJP comingback to power with a thump-ing majority. The TMC hadsuspected a foul play by the saf-fron outfit which it complainedhad programmed the EVMs soas to win the elections.
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The flood toll mounted to 36in the five districts of west-
ern Maharashtra on Friday, evenas the National DisasterResponse Force (NDRF) teamsrecovered seven more bodiesfrom the affected areas and var-ious rescue teams shifted 80,000more marooned people to saferplaces in the rain-ravaged sug-arcane-rich region.
As the teams of NDRF,Navy, Army, Coast Guard andother agencies continued the res-cue and relief operations on awar-footing, the total number ofstranded people that the variousagencies evacuated from theheavily inundated areas ofSangli, Kolhapur and three otherdistricts of Pune revenue divi-sion went up to a staggering2,85,261.
On a day when Maharashtrachief minister DevendraFadnavis spoke to PrimeMinister Narendra Modi andappraised the latter of the floodsituation in the State, the floodsbegan to recede in the worst-
affects parts of westernMaharashtra, particularly Sangliand Kolhapur, following the letup in rains and the discharge of4.5 lakh cusecs of water from theAlmatty dam by the Karnatakagovernment.
“The flood situation is com-ing under control in the five dis-tricts of Pune revenue divisionbecause of two reasons. First, wehave not had heavy rains duringthe last 24 hours in all the areasexcept the hill station ofMahabaleshwar. Secondly, theKarnataka government hasreleased 4.5 lakh cusecs of waterfrom the Almatty dam that hascontributed to the easing offlood situation in Sangli andother surrounding areas,” PuneDivisional Commissioner DrDeepak Mahaisekar said.
Interacting with media per-sons, Chief Minister DevendraFadnavis said in the evening:“The discharge from the Almattidam was 4,30,352 cusecs in themorning at 10 am which is50,000 cusecs more than theinflow. Now the discharge hasincreased to 4,50,000 cusecs”.
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The Central Bureau ofInvestigation probing the
larger conspiracy angle of themulti-crore Saradha and RoseValley chit fund cases onFriday questioned seniorTrinamool Congress MP andthe party’s leader in RajyaSabha Derek O’Brien for morethan three hours regarding hisrole in specific transactionsthat the ponzi company hadwith the Bengal ruling outfit.
According to Agencysources the TMC’ most visibleface in Delhi was asked ques-tions about Saradha’s allegeddealings with party the mouth-piece Jago Bangla. He wasasked whether he had any-thing to do with the transac-tions between the TMCmouthpiece and the Saradhagroup, if so in what capacity heacted, sources said adding hewas also asked to providenames that introduced him tothe now jailed chit fund king-pin Sudipto Sen.
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Shillong: The just-abrogatedArticle 370, which gave specialstatus to Jammu & Kashmir, wasdetrimental and has absolutelyno correlation with Article 371,which gives certain specialrights to some places in thenortheast, Union MinisterJitendra Singh said here onFriday.
Addressing the 75th yearPlatinum Jubilee celebration ofEnglish daily 'The ShillongTimes', Singh sought to allay thefears and apprehensions in asection of people in the north-east that following the abroga-tion of Article 370, the next tobe abrogated would be Article
371.Article 370 had absolutely
no correlation, whatsoever, withArticle 371, Singh, the UnionMinister for Development ofNorth Eastern Region, said.
The minister asked themedia to check the misinfor-mation circulated by certainvested interests and hoped thatas responsible guardians of thepress, they would help in settingthe record straight.
Singh said it is absolutelyirrational and illogical to drawa parallel between Article 370and 371 as the very connota-tions and the basis of the twoarticles are entirely different.
While Article 371, he said,was incorporated primarily witha focus on development of thenortheastern region and preser-vation of the cultural heritage,Article 370 was incorporated asa 'temporary' provision anddeprived the state of Jammu andKashmir of a large number ofwelfare laws and provisions ofthe Indian Constitution whichcould otherwise be in the inter-est of the people. The ministersaid a number of central provi-sions and legislations that hadbenefited millions of peopleacross the country were are notavailable to the people of Jammu& Kashmir. PTI
Tirupati (AP): Two US-basedNRI entrepreneurs have madea princely donation of �14crores to the famous hill shrineof Lord Venkateswara at near-by Tiruamala on Friday, a tem-ple official said.
The devotees, who arefriends and wished to remainanonymous, made the offeringon the auspicious day ofGoddess Sri VaralakshmiVratham festival, the officialtold PTI.
After offering prayers withtheir family members at thecash-rich hill shrine, they hand-ed over a demand draft for Rs14 crore to AV Dharma Reddy,the Special Officer of TirumalaTirupati Devasthanams (TTD),that governs the over 2,000 yearold temple, the temple officialtold PTI.
The devotees requested thetemple officials to use the fundsfordifferent TTD-run publicwelfare trusts.
This is the second straightyear the two have made a sim-ilar offering.
In July last year, they haddonated �13.5 crore to theshrine with a request to use itfor different TTD trusts, theofficial added. PTI
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Mumbai: The Central Bureauof Investigation, which is prob-ing the killing of rationalistNarendra Dabholkar, told theBombay High Court on Fridaythat it has roped in a foreignagency to help f ind theweapons used in the case.
CBI counsel andAdditional Solicitor GeneralAnil Singh told a bench of jus-tices S C Dharmadhikari andG S Patel that experts from theagency will reach India onSunday.
The entire task will take 30days, he said.
Singh told the high courtthat it is suspected that theweapons were dumped by theaccused in the Thane creekafter the incident.
The bench was hearingpetitions filed by the kin ofDabholkar and late leftistleader Govind Pansare, seek-ing that the court monitors theprobe into both the cases.
The Special InvestigationTeam (SIT) of the Maharashtra
government, which is probingthe Pansare case, told the highcourt that its officers could notreach the court due to heavyrains and f looding inKolhapur.
The high court, therefore,adjourned the hearing tillSeptember 16.
While Dabholkar was shotdead on August 20, 2013 inPune, Pansare was shot at onFebruary 16, 2015 in Kolhapurand succumbed to injuries afew days later. PTI
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Enough has not yet been said of thebrutality of the “One India” narra-tive and the brazenness with whichit legitimises the lowest commondenominator of societal attitudes
and a viral thinking. Two incidents over thelast few days embody a deeply disturbing anddistressing fallout of the muscular leadershipin the political space degenerating into gen-der triumphalism in the social space. One thatautomatically assumes muscularity and deci-siveness as admirable male traits and every-thing else as supine and feminine frailties. Is“toxic masculinity” then the new nationalcharacter? Now codified almost?
The first case was of the Unnao rapeaccused Kuldeep Sengar, now expelled by theBJP, wishing a speedy recovery for the sur-vivor with not even a twitch of emotion oreven betraying his predatory nature, one thathe had used to hound, scare and subjugate herfor two years. The girl, whose family was neu-tralised or eliminated through means foul andhis intimidation, had to threaten self-immo-lation in front of the UP Chief Minister’s res-idence for her ultimate appeal to justice. Anda national conscience. Sengar is in custody,booked under serious charges and noweven guilty by evidence, but that hasn’t stoppedhim from squashing his female victim whereit hurts the most. As she fights for every breathof her life in a hopeless situation, Sengar pub-licly insulted her effort by “wishing her well,”the final blow to her dignity, patronising indispensing grace while being the perpetratorof her humiliation. Some distorted charity thathe thinks will earn him clemency. Sadly, it hasfor the last two years.
The second instance was even morebelly-churning. As the government roadrolled its way into changing the character ofJammu and Kashmir by abrogating Article370 and bifurcating the State into UnionTerritories, a majority of reactions on socialmedia were about how every Indian malecould now marry “fair Kashmiri girls,” buyproperty and settle down in the Valley, theimplication reeking of feudal conquests of thedarkest ages of civilisation, where womenwere traded as spoils of war. A forceful inte-gration amounts to a war on people over land.Nobody even stepped in to condemn suchirresponsible and crass humour, which wasrelished by many. And considering that a cer-tain level of awareness, power and educationcan be assumed of online citizenry, this trulywas a new low, no different from the men-tality of an invading, occupation force of themedieval era. Since when were Kashmiriwomen prevented from marrying outside theState? Many have already done that out of freewill, knowing full well that it would entailrelinquishing claims to their family inheri-tance. Of course, to the avaricious male, shecan now be entitled to her birth heritage. Isthat the implication? Also did anybody askwhy Kashmiri women would agree to marryoutsiders, particularly in challenged circum-stances as now? Or why they are not a voice-
less tribe and just like otherwomen in the rest of India? Yetthere is a sweeping assumptionof their acquiescence to a neworder in this pernicious propa-ganda warfare that is deeplyproblematic. By denying themtheir equal, civil space and appro-priating their human rights ofchoice and decision-making, itshows that political control isequivalent to a patriarchal socialauthoritarianism. Also, by equal-ising marriage with a Kashmiriwoman and acquisition of landin Budgam for a summer chalet,the script-writers are blankingout consent and will of the otherside and force-feeding choices.
It would be easy to attributesuch behaviour and mindset tothe resurgence of revisionism ora stoking of primal instincts. Butmale behaviour in the millenni-al era has considerably changedorganically, lending heft to thedefinition of metrosexuality. Thisthen is not latent expression butan adjunct of hardening politicsworldwide, where sexism andgendered violence are beingredefined as a masculine privilegeof power. In the Indian context,it is about inequality of politicalpower and the way it is dispensed.It is about a certain male chestsize which can be the nation’sarmoured shield like no other.One has only to look at the way
political decision-making processhas converted the democraticprocess as a fait accompli.Nowhere is this totalitarian mightmore evident than in Parliament,where productivity is aboutsteamrolling legislation and theconsultative, cooperative processis seen as wasting time and ener-gy, where opposition is aboutanti-nationalism and consideredopinions are national deterrentsto possibilities, where plurality ispointless and negotiation anextinct tool of trade. In a system,where monotheistic and simplis-tic decision-making is blurringout layers and complexities, andpower flowing from an iconisedperception of maleness, it mustfollow that society will react to it.For it is only real life conditionsand forces that sustain popularculture, in our case a brainwashedsort. One where institutions andpurveyors perpetuate the senti-ment rather than politicalthought. This explains why theHindi film Kabir Singh, whichcelebrates toxic masculinity anda subjugation of gender roles,finds crores of takers in the 21stcentury and is frighteninglyendorsed by the youth in middleand small town India. This is sodifferent from the “angry youngman” of the 70s, who was fight-ing the establishment againstsuch ruthless toxicity of power.
What confounds the dis-course is attributing male supe-riority to our cultural DNAwhen fact is an eco-system hasbeen created to foster an old con-struct for easier acceptance. Astudy conducted in the US onalcoholism may be cited here toexplain the context. The alcoholindustry there had fundedresearch to deny the relationshipbetween alcohol and violence andinstead blamed “masculinity”and “cultures of drinking.” But thestudy uncovered strong evidencethat the density of liquor shopsin a given geographic areaincreased the local rate of domes-tic violence and recommendedthat any serious framework forpreventing violence againstwomen would have to addressalcohol availability as well as sex-ist mindsets. In other words, sucha mindset is being engendered bysystematic and selective blankingout of existing narratives andpushing convenient ones withbrute force.
The problem with thisapproach in our society is thatwe have still not begun torespect women’s rights as evo-lutionary but as an impositionof grace by a male order. Wehave not been able to pass theWomen’s Reservation Bill at atime when it was required toensure proportional representa-
tion that would ensure inclusiveparticipation and policy-mak-ing, not even now when a flur-ry of other Bills have made thecut. All women and child-friendly schemes of the govern-ment are bestowed rather thanearned. The very act of “empow-erment” assigns the agency to anexternal power of dole ratherthan claiming rights. And withso much muscularity of purposeon display, embracing thevirtues and strength of feminin-ity as a man upsets operablebinaries. If reason, counsel andcivility are now emaciatingcharacteristics, then the idea ofpower automatically gets slottedin the privileged domain of araw, hunter-gatherer masculin-ity. The otherness gets lumpedin baskets of minorityism, lib-eralism or feminism. Of these,feminism is the easiest to targetas the tide of opinion stillfavours men. Generations ofwomen in India have workedtirelessly to rebalance the equa-tion between sexes, often mis-takenly acquiring masculinequalities and benchmarks to doso. Now they have a far tougherpolitical context of endowmentto battle, one where humane-ness is predicated on the dehu-manisation of others.
(The writer is AssociateEditor, The Pioneer)
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Sir — This refers to the editorial,“A rate cut to nowhere” (August9). Clearly, the Indian economyhas come to a grinding halt.There has been a cut of 110 basispoints this year, yet there are nosigns of improvement. Signalsare not positive. New firms aredefaulting on a weekly basis andretail assets of quite a few aretrending negative than everbefore.
The view now is that thiscould be less of a cyclical and farmore a structural issue. We don’tknow why the auto industry is inthe dumps. The economic slow-down has led to unemployment.An estimated three lakh and a50,000 people have become job-less due to spiralling layoffs in theauto sector. There is an inklingthat this slowdown could last fora long time.
The Government has tied itshands on investment under theself-imposed fiscal custody. It hasput hopes on private entrepre-neurs to infuse money, which theydo not have. It is also trying toease norms to bring foreign equi-ty but its rules and regulationsseem to be wanting in a clear pat-
tern or steady policy stream as adependable benchmark for theexternal investor, who worries ifhe/she can have smooth approvalsto undertake a project. One thingthat the Government can do hereis to ensure predictability.Investors, foreign or domestic, areaverse to dealing in an uncertainbusiness domain.
R NarayananNavi Mumbai
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Sir — Seven decades of Article370 and six-and-a-half of Article35A haven’t quite made Kashmirthe paradise on earth it was oncedescribed as. Jammu & Kashmirhas been a model of underdevel-opment under successive regimes.
While debates on the consti-tutionality of the decisions
announced about Jammu &Kashmir will rage for a longtime, and perhaps be adjudicat-ed in a court of law, there can beno question on the boldness ofthe initiative.
From a historical perspective,the presence of Jammu &Kashmir in the Indian Union wasthe repudiation of Jinnah’s two-nation theory; however, the pres-ence of Article 370 conferring
special status on the territory con-tradicted, in substantial mea-sure, this repudiation.
This Government has optedto shun the status quo andembark on a path quite differentfrom any attempted in the past.If it ends the misery of theregion’s people and brings pros-perity to them, its initiative mustbe welcomed.
J AkshayBengaluru
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Sir — The scrapping of Article 370was due for a long time. The ModiGovernment has walked the talkon this count.
But what came as a bolt fromthe blue was its decision to uni-laterally downgrade and split theState. This is not in the spirit offederalism. Though theGovernment has assured that fullStatehood will be restored, nor-malcy will not return in thisState any time soon due to suchradical decisions.
VaibhavVia email
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The internal reorganisation of theState of Jammu & Kashmir (J&K) intotwo Union Territories presents NewDelhi with a new set of diplomaticchallenges internationally, besides
possible domestic upheavals in the days to come.To all sovereign democratic nation States in thepost-Westphalian order, the causal relationshipbetween internal cartographic reorientationand the need for its justification through inter-national diplomacy is a troubling one. Thebroader justification for such thoughts isderived from the Charter of the United Nations,which states that “nothing should authoriseintervention in matters essentially within thedomestic jurisdiction of any State.”
However, because of its historically fraughtnature, early internationalisation of the issue andmajor power interventions in the past, theKashmir dispute between India and Pakistan hasnot been insulated from international mediation.The latest round of arbitration offers betweenIndia and Pakistan from US President DonaldTrump and Pakistan’s attempt to reach out toother countries and organisations internation-ally, is a desperate shot at creating space for inter-national intervention in the Kashmir dispute.Any attempts to offer international mediationin the Kashmir dispute, especially in the after-math of the 1972 Shimla Agreement and theLahore Declaration of 1999, which emphasisebilateral mechanisms to resolve disputes, will notbe entertained by India.
In the latest round of diplomatic offensives,Pakistan has downgraded its diplomatic relationswith India, sent back the Indian Ambassador,suspended trade, stopped the Samjhauta Expresslinking Lahore and New Delhi and partiallyclosed its airspace. Besides, Islamabad hasformed a seven-member committee to guidelegal, political and diplomatic response to Indiaon the Kashmir decision. Internationally, it hasupped the ante on diplomatic outreach to theUnited Nations — promising to take the issueto the United Nations Security Council (UNSC),and has tried to involve the leaders of Malaysia,Turkey and the United States, besides reachingout to the Organisation of Islamic Countries(OIC). The question is how much will theseefforts create a space for international media-tion on Kashmir?
The measured response from the UN andthe OIC and balance from Turkey and Malaysiadepict that most countries would be careful inwading into this complex bilateral issue. Earlierin March this year, India categorically rejectedthe OIC’s criticism on Kashmir saying, “We reaf-firm that Jammu & Kashmir is an integral partof India and is a matter strictly internal to India.”At least two OIC countries — Maldives and theUAE — have termed India’s decision an inter-nal matter. The United Nations remains guard-ed in its harmless standard tone, “exercise max-imum restraint” and the UN Secretary Generalspokesperson has declined to comment onIndia’s decision to scrap the special status ofJammu & Kashmir.
If anything, the response shows that the UNis aware of its limitations in internal matters ofcountries and that it wouldn’t want to pre-empta diplomatic response from India, possibly in the
downgrading or diluting the role of the UNMilitary Observer Group in India and Pakistan(UNMOGIP) — a body established in 1949 toobserve and report on ceasefire violationsalong and across the Line of Control (LoC) andthe working boundary in Jammu & Kashmir aswell as report developments that could lead toceasefire violations.
Moreover, questions remain on the natureof impact, if any, that the decision to internal-ly reorganise Jammu & Kashmir will have on theInternational Border (IB) and LoC. WhetherIndia is considering any principal, definitionalor fundamental changes to the IB, LoC and theirsecurity would further shape its diplomacy indealing with international response. Althoughthe decision to remove special status of Jammu& Kashmir wouldn’t necessary solve India’s prob-lems of cross-border terrorism and other sub-conventionally destabilising efforts fromPakistan, it has the potential to reshape inter-nal and border security in a manner that rais-es stakes for such activities significantly in thefuture, especially in the light of federal handlingof Jammu & Kashmir’s security.
So how did we navigate major powers?There is enough convergence that Pakistan’sattempt to bring the US as a mediator in theKashmir bilateral dispute once again might havetriggered or at least hastened India’s decision onJammu & Kashmir. President Trump’s offer tomediate between the two countries is a result of Pakistan’s repeated attempt to interna-tionalise the issue in violation of the existingmechanisms, which forbade internalisation.The US State Department’s clarification thatIndia did not inform it before taking the big deci-sion together with lack of any directed condemnation of India’s actions, favourably plays
for New Delhi. First, it vindicates India’s stand that the deci-
sion is an internal matter. Second, it is indica-tive of India’s independent decision-making andstrategic autonomy despite close ties with the US.The only way in which the US’ much-neededclarification on India’s decision can be explainedis the signaling to Islamabad that Washingtonofficially hasn’t sided with New Delhi on thedecision. This signalling is important for theshort-term interests of the US-Pakistan relationsin solving the Afghanistan imbroglio andcomes as a face-saver for the visit of the USAssistant Secretary for South Asia Alice Wellsthat was underway.
The creation the Union Territory of Ladakhhas drawn strong opposition from China, fol-lowed by India’s strong rejection of its concerns.Ladakh borders Tibet to the east, the Lahaul andSpiti regions to the south, the Kashmir Valley,Jammu and Baltistan regions to the west, andthe southwest corner of Xinjiang across theKarakoram Pass in the far north. It borders AksaiChin, which both India and China claim. Therecent decision places Ladakh in a contestedgeography with federal security structures, fur-ther complicating border talks between Indiaand China.
While its new status provides an opportu-nity to view Pakistan-occupied Gilgit Baltistanand China-occupied Aksai Chin as two distinctconflicts, China’s opposition is likely to contin-ue. As such, in the broad spectrum of interna-tional ripples created by the recent decision onKashmir, China’s opposition is likely to test NewDelhi’s diplomacy in the most challenging way.
(The writer is Visiting Fellow at the StimsonCenter in Washington D.C & Deputy DirectorKalinga Institute for Indo-Pacific Studies)
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Agroup of people walking thered carpet at the Cannes filmfestival this year turned heads
and made headlines — not for theirpeculiar outfits but for the greenscarves they were waving. Repeatingchants of “solidarity for women,” thisbunch comprised campaigners. Theywere drawing attention to the urgentneed being felt to preserve women’sreproductive rights.
This and similar protests havebecome even more critical in the faceof an accelerated trend in manyStates in the US, advocating a ban onabortions. Since early this year, sev-eral provinces in America have pro-posed and successfully passed whatthey call a “Heartbeat Bill”, that
restricts women’s access to safe abor-tion services.
While Mississippi signed a Bill toban all abortions beyond five to sixweeks, Georgia and Missouri passedBills to ban abortions after six andeight weeks respectively. Most recent-ly, Alabama passed a draconian Billthat bans nearly all abortions, includ-ing in cases of rape and incest, mak-ing it punishable for the providers byup to 99 years in prison.
In a country where abortion sofar is legal, women’s rights have comeunder serious threat and wouldcease to exist if these Bills becomelaws. Such bans will have more pro-found ramifications for youngwomen, and those from poor back-grounds. Their access to safe abor-tion services will be constrained dueto their inability to travel to otherStates to seek abortion, with detri-mental impacts on their health andrights.
These recent developments inthe US’ policy environment onreproductive health and rights is awell-orchestrated, concerted move bythe anti-choice groups to eventual-
ly overturn the Roe vs Wade judge-ment, which guarantees the right toabortion. The Supreme Court of theUnited States classified the right tochoose to abort as a “fundamentalright.” The judgement requires courtsto evaluate challenged abortion lawsunder the “strict scrutiny” standard— the highest level of judicial reviewin America.
The legal strategy of the anti-choice groups backed by ultra con-servative legislators will have a directforeseeable impact on abortion policy, access and discourse across
the globe. These amendments could set a
wrong precedent for countries acrossthe world reviewing their abortionlaws, potentially restraining andreversing the progress made inwomen’s reproductive rights histori-cally. It has been well documented thatrestrictive abortion laws can only haveone consequence — increased unsafeabortions and maternal deaths. If awoman decides to get an abortion, shewill get it no matter what. Whetherit is through safe means or clandes-tine and unsafe methods, depends on
its legality and accessibility. Banningabortion, contrary to common mis-conceptions, would not lead to a fallin abortion rates but more unsafeabortions and subsequently, highermaternal deaths.
As a result of the narrative shap-ing up in the US, supported by theglobal gag rule, one could expectreverberations in the delivery of safeabortion services across the world.The withdrawal of funds for the pro-vision of abortion care, coupledwith the counter-narratives creepingin have an impact on the attitudes ofhealth systems and abortionproviders, with an increased fear orreluctance among them to terminatepregnancies. The alternative canhave a particularly dampening effectby way of confusing and hamperingthe efforts of organisations andproviders, who have been workingon safe abortions globally.
The language and positioning ofthe issue also have a vital influencein shaping discussions and debateacross the abortion eco-system.
To cite an example, the emotiveuse of terms like “fetal heartbeat”
rather than the clinical term “cardiacactivity” is a deliberate attempt toimply personhood of the foetus andis a medical inaccuracy as the term“fetal heartbeat” is used in pregnan-cies beyond eight weeks.
A Missouri Republican StateRepresentative used the term “con-sensual rape” when arguing in favourof a proposal that would ban abor-tions in the State after eight weeks ofpregnancy — even in cases of incestor rape, though he apologised later.The abortion discourse must beshaped keeping the woman and heralone at the centre. It is a humilia-tion if in this day, women feel theneed to fight for their rights to con-trol their own bodies.
It is imperative to recognise andcall out such an ultra-conservativeand regressive mindset with com-plete disregard for women’s rightsand health that is behind this con-certed moment to curb abortionaccess and shield ourselves from theinsidious consequences of the legalchanges happening in the US.
(The writer is CEO, IpasDevelopment Foundation)
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India’s indus-trial produc-
tion growthslipped to af o u r - m o n t hlow of 2 percent in June,mainly due topoor perfor-mance of min-ing and manu-facturing sec-tors, accordingto governmentdata releasedon Friday.
F a c t o r youtput, as mea-sured by theIndex of Industrial Production(IIP), had expanded by 7 percent in June 2018.
The previous low in IIPgrowth was in February 2019,when it had inched up 0.2 percent. Thereafter, IIP grew at 2.7per cent in March, 4.3 per centin April and 4.6 per cent in Maythis year.
According to data releasedby the Ministry of Statistics andProgramme Implementation,industrial output grew at 3.6per cent in April-June quarterthis fiscal, down from 5.1 percent growth a year ago.
There was a slowdown inthe manufacturing sector,which grew at 1.2 per cent inJune 2019 as compared to 6.9per cent a year ago.
Capital goods segment,
which is a barometer of invest-ment, saw a contraction of 6.5per cent in June compared to9.7 per cent growth a year ago.Mining growth dropped to 1.6per cent in June from 6.5 percent in the correspondingmonth of the last fiscal.
The expansion in powergeneration sector stood at 8.2per cent, compared to 8.5 percent earlier.
As per use-based classifi-cation, primary goods seg-ment grew 0.5 per cent, inter-mediate goods 12.4 per centand infrastructure/construc-tion goods (-) 1.8 per cent inJune 2019.
Consumer durables andnon-durables recorded growthof (-) 5.5 per cent and 7.8 percent, respectively.
In terms of industries, 8 outof 23 industry groups in themanufacturing sector haveshown positive growth duringJune as compared to the samemonth a year ago.
The industry group‘Manufacture of basic metals’showed the highest growth of17.7 per cent, followed by 16.5per cent in food products and10.3 per cent in tobacco prod-ucts.
On the other hand, theindustry group ‘Manufacture ofpaper and paper products’ wit-nessed the highest negativegrowth of (-) 19.9 per cent, fol-lowed by (-) 14.3 per cent in‘Manufacture of furniture’ and(-) 13.9 per cent in‘Manufacture of motor vehicles,trailers and semi-trailers’.
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In a major setback to the audi-tors, the National Company
Law Tribunal Friday rejectedDeloitte’s and BSR’s applicationschallenging the tribunal’s juris-diction to ban them from busi-ness for five years for theiromissions and commissionsin the ILFS Group scam.
This is the second setbackfor these foreign audit firms asearlier the tribunal had allowedthe corporate affairs ministry toprosecute them along with 21others in the same case, thoughthe implementation of the samehas been stayed after they soughttime to challenge the order at theappellate tribunal NCLAT.
The ministry had in Junemoved NLCT seeking a five-year on them on these auditorsin the IL&FS saga. However,the tribunal said it will hear theministry’s application seekinga five year ban on these audi-tors afresh on September 5.
The auditors--the local armof the England-based DeloitteHaskins & Sells, which is oneof the big four accountingfirms, and BSR & Associates,which is the local affiliate ofanother big four, the US-basedKPMG--had challenged thejurisdiction of the NCLT to banthem under Sec 140(5) ofCompany’s Act.
They had challenged thejurisdiction of the NCLT to banthem, saying section 140(5) ofthe Companies Act pertains to
auditors who are still auditingthe company in question whilethey have already resignedfrom the service and thus can-not be banned under the givenprovisions.
It can be noted that whileDeloitte had stopped auditingIL&FS Group, which owes overRs 95,000 crore to lenders andother financial institutions, by theend of FY18, BSR was the statu-tory auditor of IL&FS FinancialServices (IFIN) and resignedonly in June this year-ninemonths after the company wassent to the bankruptcy court.
The BSR counsel DariusKhambata and Deloitte’s coun-sel Janak Dwarakadas had alsoargued that before banningthem, the tribunal has to pass afinal order in the matter whichestablishes that fraud wasindeed committed by the audi-tors. The ministry move to banthem came in after the SeriousFraud Investigation Office(SFIO) in its investigation foundthem guilty of painting a rosypicture of IFIN despite beingaware of the poor financialhealth of the company.
The counsels of the audi-tors had said merely based onan investigation by SFIO is notsufficient to ban them.
The SFIO, in its reportalleged that these auditors wereaware that IFIN was lending todefaulting companies throughgroup companies so that theycould suppress their NPAs andnot provide for the bad debt.
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Capital market participantsand foreign institutional
investors on Friday presenteda charter of demands toFinance Minister NirmalaSitharaman, which includedrollback of surcharge on FPIs,review of dividend distribu-tion tax and lowering ofLTCG tax, in a bid to shore upinvestors’ sentiments.
Sources said Sitharamangave a patient hearing tothem but restrained frommaking any firm commit-ments.
Equity benchmarks rosefor the second straight sessionon Friday amid hopes that thegovernment may take somemarket-friendly measures tojumpstart the sluggish econ-omy and assuage investorconcerns over taxation.
The meeting is part of theexercise being undertaken bythe minister to firm up stepsto increase investments andboost economy, which isshowing signs of slowdown.
During the meeting, itwas also suggested thatemployees’ provident fundshould be increase its expo-sure in the stock market,which in turn would improveliquidity, industry and officialsources added.
There was also a sugges-tion that the long-term capi-tal gains (LTCG) tax be abol-ished or at least reduced.
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The Supreme Court’s judg-ment upholding financial
creditor status to homebuyersin insolvency proceedingswill help in completion ofstalled projects, according toproperty developers and con-sultants.
However, builders feelthat a l lowing buyers toapproach the NationalCompany Law Tribunal(NCLT), consumer courts andreal estate regulators underRERA law with their griev-ances could create confusionand chaos.
The Supreme Court onFriday upheld amendments tothe Insolvency andBankruptcy Code (IBC) giv-ing status of financial credi-tors to homebuyers. A benchheaded by Justice R FNariman, which disposed ofa batch of over 180 petitionsfiled by various builders, saidthe Real Estate (Regulationand Development) Act, 2016,which regulates the real estate
sector, should be read har-moniously with the amend-ments made in the IBC and incase of conflict the code willprevail.
The bench said only gen-uine homebuyers can invokeinsolvency proceedingsagainst the builder.
NAREDCO PresidentNiranjan Hirananadani saidthe judgment would “allowprojects to reach their logicalend in terms of completion ofthe projects, without gettingforeclosed by banks”.
Accordingly, financialcreditors status to homebuy-ers, on par with banks, willbenefit lenders and con-sumers, he added.
However, Hiranandanisaid the SC judgment hasalso permitted homebuyers toapproach three different bod-ies viz. NCLT, RERA andConsumer Forum in case ofdelayed or stalled projects.“This will add to a big con-fusion as decision approach ofeach of the bodies shall stand-out and differ from other.”
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After cut in MCLR w.e.f. 10thAugust 2019, Oriental
Bank of Commerce has nowannounced repo rate linkedretail loan products for its cus-tomers. The facility is expectedto benefit borrowers by bettertransmission of policy rate.The product details will beavailable soon.
The Bank has also hostedfacility for online applicationand tracking of Retail Loans onits website www.obcindia.co.in.The prospective borrowers whohave applied online throughthis facility can track the statusof their application.
OBC has extended thefacility for MSME borrowersupto �5.00 crores throughwww.psbloansin59minutes.comportal. The Bank is also goingto launch the Retail products onthis portal shortly.
Oriental Bank of Commerceis an India-based bank estab-lished in Lahore, is one of thepublic sector banks in India.
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GAIL (India) Limited regis-tered a 15% increase in
Profit after Tax (PAT) in thefirst quarter of FY 2019-20, asagainst the last quarter of FY2018-19 mainly due to betterfinancial performance by GasMarketing, Gas TransmissionSegments and LiquidHydrocarbon segment. TheCompany’s PAT for the quar-ter ending 30th June 2019 is�1,288 crore as compared to�1,122 crore in Q4 FY 2018-19.On year on year basis, GAIL’sPAT of �1,288 crore in Q1 FY2019-20 registered a growth of2% against Profit of �1,259crore in corresponding quarterof FY 2018-19.
Gross Sales of �18,276crore in Q1 FY 2019-20 hasincreased by 6% from �17,262crore in Q1 FY 2018-19. GrossMargin (EBITDA) has seengrowth of 2% from �2,363crore in Q1 FY 2018-19 to�2,410 crore in Q1 FY 2019-20.
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Concerns over the health ofthe global economy,
marked by the US-China tradedispute, forced theInternational Energy Agencyon Friday to lower its growthforecast for oil demand for2019 and 2020.
“There have been concernsabout the health of the globaleconomy expressed in recenteditions of this report andshown by reduced expecta-tions for oil demand growth,”the Paris-based agency said inits monthly report.
“Now, the situation isbecoming even more uncertain:the US-China trade disputeremains unresolved and inSeptember new tariffs are dueto be imposed.” “Tensionbetween the two has increasedfurther this week, reflected inheavy falls for stock and com-modity markets. Oil prices havebeen caught up in the retreat.”
It also noted the InternationalMonetary Fund’s recent down-grading of its economic out-look. The IEA thus reviseddownwards its estimates forgrowth in global oil demand forthis year by 0.1 million barrelsper day to 1.1 mbd.
For 2020, growth was alsopredicted to be slightly down,by 50,000 barrels per day to 1.3mbd. It warned “the outlook isfragile with a greater likelihoodof a downward revision than anupward one”, and noted growthwas already “sluggish” in thefirst half of the year.
However, it noted that themarket balance has been tight-ened slightly in the short-termby a reduction in supply fromOPEC countries. The IEA alsosaid it was closely monitoringoil security in the Gulf, whereOPEC member Iran last weekseized the third foreign tankerin less than a month as part ofa bitter dispute with the UnitedStates.
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State-run hydro power giantNHPC on Friday posted a 16
per cent rise in consolidated netprofit at �989.27 crore for theJune quarter, mainly due tohigher revenues. The companyhad reported a consolidated netprofit of �851.70 crore in thecorresponding period last year,it said in a BSE filing.
Total income rose to�2,754.48 crore in the quarterunder review from �2,479.09crore a year ago. Electricitygeneration is the principalbusiness activity of the com-pany. Other operations, that ispower trading, contracts, pro-ject management and consul-tancy works do not form areportable segment as per theInd AS norms, it added.
As per power regulatorCERC’s Tariff Regulations2019-24, notified on March 7,2019, the useful life of hydrogenerating stations has beenincreased from 35 years to 40years. This change has result-ed in depreciation expensereducing by �20.58 crore,NHPC added.
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Equity benchmarks defiedgravity for the second
straight session on Friday onexpectations of measures fromthe Centre to jumpstart thesluggish economy and assuageinvestor concerns over taxation.
After rallying 480 pointsduring the day, the 30-shareBSE Sensex settled 254.55points or 0.68% higher at37,581.91. The broader NSENifty jumped 77.20 points or0.70% to 11,109.65.
During the week, theSensex gained 463.69 points or1.24%, while the Nifty advanced112.30 points or 1.02%.
Finance Minister NirmalaSitharaman met foreign port-folio investors (FPIs) here onFriday amid indications thatthe higher surcharge imposed
on them in the Budget may bereconsidered.
Sitharaman and FinanceMinistry officials also met cap-tains of the industry onThursday and assured themthat the government would takeaction to boost the economy.
Hopes of multiple mea-sures from the Centre to liftgrowth and address tax con-cerns fuelled the rally indomestic equities over the lasttwo sessions, traders said.
Top gainers in the Sensexpack on Friday includedMaruti, Bajaj Finance, Vedanta,HDFC twins, HUL, KotakBank and ICICI bank, whichsurged up to 3.36%.
On the other hand, YesBank was the biggest laggard,cracking 7.91%. TechMahindra, Tata Motors, TataSteel, ITC and Sun Pharma too
fell up to 2.50%.“Indications from the gov-
ernment to announce measuresto boost private investments andrelaxation in super-rich tax forFPIs fuelled positive momen-tum in the market. Profit book-ing was witnessed in defensivesegments like IT stocks but therally was broad based.
“Trend may be unpre-dictable in the near-term, nev-ertheless stability in taxation,ease in liquidity, supportivemeasures and fall in interest rateswill benefit the economy in thesecond half of the year,” saidVinod Nair, head of research,Geojit Financial Services.
Sectorally, BSE auto,finance, consumer durables,bankex, realty and FMCGindices gained up to 1.99%.
On the other hand, metal,teck, telecom, IT, power, utili-
ties and healthcare fell up to0.83%.
Broader BSE midcap andsmallcap indices followed thebenchmarks, rising up to 1%.
On the global front, equi-ties remained subdued amidtrade war concerns, while polit-ical uncertainties in Italyweighed on European bourses.
Elsewhere in Asia,Shanghai Composite Index,Hang Seng, Kospi and Nikkeiended on a mixed note.Equities in Europe were trad-ing in the red in their respec-tive early sessions.
Meanwhile, the Indianrupee depreciated 12 paise to70.81 against the US dollarintra-day.
Brent crude futures, theglobal oil benchmark, rose0.73 per cent to USD 57.80 perbarrel.
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Finance Minister NirmalaSitharaman on Fridayassured industry leaders
that the RBI and the govern-ment were on the “same page”and making efforts to boost theeconomy.
Addressing captains of theindustry at the CII nationalcouncil meeting, the FinanceMinister also said from nextweek she would be meetingindustry people in differentparts to the country over taxharassment-related issues andredress grievances on the spot.
Sitharaman said that evenwith some moderation, Indiawas still the fastest-growinglarge economy and with thegovernment and the RBI work-ing together in synergy in acordial relationship, the ecosys-tem would help incentivizeinvestments.
“We (the RBI and the gov-ernment) are on the same pageas regards to efforts that arerequired to boost the economy,”she said and added there wasan atmosphere of certainty andcordiality between the RBI andthe government.
At no point and on noscore, the government wants tomake it difficult for the indus-try, she added.
High-frequency indicators
like auto sale and core sectorgrowth numbers are pointingtowards a slowdown in theeconomy. Besides, the prob-lems in the NBFC sector areadding to the woes.
Sitharaman said the gov-ernment was looking at thefinancial sector woes andwould address them. She indi-cated steps would be taken inthe coming weeks to deal withthe issue.
She also assured the indus-try that the government wouldhave a re-look at the penal pro-visions concerning mandatoryinvestment towards corporatesocial responsibility (CSR) bythe companies.
“Our intention is not tocriminally prosecute anybody,”she said.
The minister further saidthat starting next week shewould be visiting differentparts of the country to meetindustry representatives to findout specifically where taxharassment is taking place.
Tax authorities would beissued directions then andthere to redress the grievances,she added.
Sitharaman also said atechnology-based platform wasbeing set up so that she herselfcould look into incidents of taxharassment.
On the taxation front, the
minister said the government’sintention was to reduce cor-porate tax and the industrywould need to wait for it tohappen, CII said in a tweet.
On outstanding dues fromgovernment departments and
agencies to corporates andsuppliers, Sitharaman statedthat she was in the process ofaddressing the issue.
Delayed payments toMSMEs are estimated ataround �48,000 crore.
&������������������<����� ��������������������������<��� ����
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3� �������������'����������'������#A,��New Delhi (PTI): Industry body CII on Friday assured
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman that the industry body willsupport investment activities in Jammu and Kashmir. “We wouldlike to see investment across sectors in Jammu and Kashmir. CIIhas stated to the government and the Finance Minister that CIIwould support initiative for investment in the UT,” said UdayKotak, CII President designate and MD and CEO of KotakMahindra Bank. He was talking to reporters after an hour-longinteraction between CII members and Sitharaman on variousaspects of the economy.
.���������������������������������������#�3=3=New Delhi (PTI): Chinese phone
maker Oppo on Friday said it is expand-ing smartphone manufacturing unit to dou-ble production capacity by 2020 in India,and use it as export base for South Asia,Middle East and African countries. Thecompany also has plans to further scale themanufacturing capacity to produce 100 mil-lion smartphones annually at its GreaterNoida facility, the smartphone makeradded.
“Currently, we are producing 4 million
smartphones a month and by the end of2020, we will double our existing capacity.With the increased production and futureexport plans, we aim to achieve our dreamof making India a global export hub forsmartphone phones,” Oppo India vicepresident for product and marketing SumitWalia said in a statement. According toCounterpoint Research, Oppo brand smart-phones at present are estimated to havearound 8 per cent market share in India.
“To ensure quality, the campus has over
10,000 strong workforce engaged acrossmanufacturing line, quality assurance andproduct testing. The manpower capacity isexpected to cross 15,000 by 2020,” the state-ment said.
Oppo is planning to increase invest-ment in the Hyderabad R&D center, whichis largest outside China. The Hyderabadfacility has played a crucial role in the devel-opment of Reno - Oppo’s recent flagshipseries which comes with 10 times zoomfeature.
Script Open High Low LTPRCOM 1.33 1.35 1.28 1.32YESBANK 91.00 92.40 81.20 82.10IBULHSGFIN 446.00 520.65 446.00 505.55SPICEJET 136.90 143.45 136.00 137.95IDEA 5.70 5.93 5.31 5.36DMART 1416.80 1459.90 1400.00 1452.85RELIANCE 1159.00 1175.00 1152.70 1162.00MARUTI 5938.00 6152.00 5926.80 6101.20DHFL 45.85 52.35 45.40 48.65TATAMOTORS 124.65 126.50 120.70 122.05RBLBANK 367.00 399.55 367.00 384.20INFY* 791.50 796.40 785.50 790.15INDUSINDBK 1428.60 1454.50 1405.55 1413.90NBCC 37.10 38.50 34.10 34.65BHARTIARTL 374.90 374.90 364.40 371.25TATASTEEL 370.00 373.70 361.10 362.35SBIN 297.00 297.95 290.20 291.35ASHOKLEY 64.40 65.80 63.20 64.35HEXAWARE 375.25 398.95 353.75 361.65L&TFH 101.00 107.10 100.00 104.00BAJFINANCE 3360.00 3449.00 3359.95 3418.05ICICIBANK 416.00 422.40 414.60 420.40JINDALSTEL 100.90 103.50 98.40 99.60HDFCLIFE 526.00 535.00 524.55 526.65LT 1371.05 1391.95 1361.25 1364.70BRITANNIA 2598.95 2642.00 2523.60 2587.20RELINFRA 47.05 49.60 46.20 47.35IBREALEST 75.50 80.50 75.50 79.30MGL 832.00 858.90 777.00 785.40AXISBANK 663.00 675.50 659.60 660.70ITC 259.00 259.00 253.60 254.25HDFCBANK 2249.45 2288.00 2240.15 2281.75MOTHERSUMI 99.90 110.40 99.55 106.80SUZLON 4.12 4.53 4.12 4.37HDFC 2199.00 2239.85 2180.00 2211.90HINDALCO 182.00 184.25 173.40 176.10ENDURANCE 816.60 869.00 800.05 848.55NCC 71.85 73.45 67.55 68.55BANKBARODA 100.55 101.70 98.70 99.90RELCAPITAL 49.50 50.75 47.20 48.75RPOWER 3.65 3.70 3.60 3.66HINDUNILVR 1809.00 1846.10 1801.10 1839.85IBVENTURES 204.95 216.70 202.30 206.45ULTRACEMCO 4311.00 4382.85 4243.95 4277.40VEDL 140.00 144.75 138.45 141.55TATACHEM 597.00 600.95 564.50 567.00TCS 2270.00 2270.00 2242.00 2245.60AUROPHARMA 609.00 615.00 595.75 598.40M&M 542.00 548.05 530.25 545.65CIPLA 505.90 511.50 481.45 485.20GAIL 122.45 125.30 120.65 123.70COALINDIA 213.25 214.00 207.05 207.65ADANIENT 134.25 135.60 130.25 132.45HEROMOTOCO 2595.55 2640.55 2595.55 2621.00ESCORTS 487.45 495.55 479.65 487.50PEL 1748.00 1820.00 1740.00 1771.00M&MFIN 304.00 321.00 302.90 319.10ENGINERSIN 101.80 104.90 98.50 100.85JUSTDIAL 699.70 724.90 698.40 718.45FORCEMOT 1055.00 1174.00 1055.00 1128.95TITAN 1049.00 1074.60 1042.00 1067.55KOTAKBANK 1505.60 1536.00 1504.85 1533.75ZEEL 332.30 338.70 324.65 328.25HDFCAMC 2189.00 2236.85 2172.00 2229.55GRAPHITE 323.80 328.50 315.00 316.10BALKRISIND 742.60 784.45 742.60 771.70IGL 313.90 320.00 308.50 311.10THOMASCOOK 176.05 179.00 147.20 174.70UPL 536.65 550.00 529.50 533.35IDFCFIRSTB 42.55 44.55 42.55 44.35WIPRO 266.05 268.65 262.75 263.80DEEPAKFERT 81.90 92.30 81.55 90.25APOLLOTYRE 159.00 165.00 157.75 162.65PNB 66.75 67.50 65.60 66.55SUNPHARMA 428.45 430.15 418.50 421.90TECHM 678.30 680.80 659.80 663.65BOMDYEING 73.00 74.60 71.70 71.95EICHERMOT 16800.00 17730.00 16779.05 17578.70ASIANPAINT 1568.00 1581.55 1561.40 1575.20DLF 172.85 177.10 172.70 175.60JSWSTEEL 221.85 228.30 219.30 220.45PIDILITIND 1344.90 1358.00 1335.00 1351.05BHEL 58.55 58.85 56.20 56.90SRTRANSFIN 1010.00 1064.40 1007.85 1042.75BAJAJFINSV 7342.00 7585.00 7326.05 7502.95PCJEWELLER 33.00 33.90 32.25 33.25STAR 424.60 437.25 403.95 422.10BAJAJ-AUTO 2705.55 2741.00 2686.45 2707.00PAGEIND 17654.00 18182.60 17438.45 17677.80FEDERALBNK 88.30 90.25 87.05 87.90ADANIPOWER 60.00 61.70 59.70 60.50PFIZER 2882.95 2995.00 2862.50 2963.50ICICIPRULI 396.00 398.10 390.65 395.30MANAPPURAM 122.25 125.50 121.05 123.80ADANIPORTS 377.70 380.30 372.40 376.30UJJIVAN 282.00 294.70 279.15 291.60HINDPETRO 252.00 254.25 246.55 247.10WESTLIFE 279.20 280.00 265.00 269.50TATAELXSI 633.00 643.50 625.60 630.85IOC 130.90 131.30 129.15 130.55STRTECH 142.80 147.90 138.50 139.70LAKSHVILAS 37.30 40.85 37.15 40.80J&KBANK 45.00 45.70 42.75 44.10DISHTV 23.50 24.50 23.05 23.35PFC 109.50 112.40 108.70 109.35SBILIFE 812.00 814.55 794.95 800.80INDIACEM 87.80 88.40 84.00 84.40BERGEPAINT 355.75 360.55 352.60 359.35
HEG 1012.00 1025.90 995.75 1002.05TATAMTRDVR 58.60 60.35 57.40 58.15DBL 411.50 414.95 400.00 403.35HSCL 78.50 86.50 77.70 82.80SPARC 155.00 160.00 152.70 154.00HCLTECH 1075.00 1102.00 1075.00 1087.05SOBHA 511.00 538.15 507.20 528.40SRF 2900.00 2950.00 2866.00 2896.65GODREJIND 471.70 474.00 461.45 469.85GRASIM 740.70 766.30 740.70 746.80BANKINDIA 69.10 70.00 67.20 68.05ABCAPITAL 88.55 90.80 87.50 89.25DABUR 436.65 440.60 431.35 438.90COLPAL 1210.00 1235.00 1205.60 1228.65EDELWEISS 144.70 148.00 139.35 144.55TVSMOTOR 385.00 393.05 380.25 388.75LTI 1626.30 1680.00 1580.00 1634.95SAIL 39.25 39.90 38.55 38.80POWERGRID 203.65 208.60 201.10 202.05GODREJCP 642.00 659.90 642.00 653.20LUPIN 763.45 771.75 755.30 759.10NESTLEIND 11879.00 12266.25 11700.00 11981.50CHOLAFIN 273.95 278.50 270.50 271.95BEL 97.90 98.90 96.75 97.65INDIGO 1523.60 1538.00 1514.00 1531.65CENTURYPLY 117.90 129.90 117.90 126.25TATAPOWER 58.85 59.70 56.80 57.55JAGRAN 69.60 71.60 59.20 63.55NATCOPHARM 550.80 557.00 529.70 551.85WOCKPHARMA 297.00 303.00 289.00 296.20CHENNPETRO 196.50 199.00 192.30 193.85LICHSGFIN 490.00 508.80 490.00 499.75CUB 197.40 199.10 192.50 194.60CANBK 230.40 232.35 225.90 228.15CADILAHC 236.00 236.00 223.50 230.15JAMNAAUTO 42.30 42.30 35.90 37.30CEATLTD 855.00 875.55 852.00 867.70NTPC 125.00 126.60 123.00 123.80SUNTV 449.00 464.20 445.35 448.45ONGC 131.25 132.45 129.70 130.55EXIDEIND 182.80 185.35 178.95 180.20GSFC 73.55 74.45 72.20 72.85EQUITAS 106.25 112.05 106.25 108.85BANDHANBNK 491.45 502.80 485.35 499.00
ACC 1562.95 1587.50 1562.00 1574.90GNFC 214.90 216.50 205.65 206.60ICICIGI 1205.00 1212.20 1138.10 1152.25DCBBANK 195.10 199.35 193.35 197.95VOLTAS 602.80 616.20 600.45 604.90VENKYS 1379.90 1416.85 1369.20 1393.05AMARAJABAT 649.05 655.35 621.60 627.60SUNTECK 425.00 439.60 420.35 433.10UNIONBANK 64.90 65.90 63.80 64.70MEGH 49.25 51.85 48.30 49.00FCONSUMER 28.15 32.50 28.15 31.95PARAGMILK 178.65 183.00 176.00 180.95BIOCON 232.80 233.15 227.70 228.75RADICO 327.00 327.60 316.10 318.55GESHIP* 226.30 228.45 218.00 225.80MCX 821.10 855.85 818.80 845.35JAICORPLTD 73.50 76.30 72.30 73.20INFIBEAM 42.80 44.55 42.20 44.20GODFRYPHLP 716.25 742.80 702.65 709.15KAJARIACER 484.85 485.10 472.10 476.75NOCIL 93.00 93.00 89.00 90.00UFLEX 229.35 231.20 222.90 226.30MRF 54875.00 57456.85 54867.40 56953.75PETRONET 239.75 244.60 238.00 238.50CENTURYTEX 899.35 921.50 897.10 909.10APOLLOHOSP 1340.00 1370.60 1336.25 1359.95BATAINDIA 1444.00 1444.00 1406.80 1426.40CANFINHOME 389.75 392.40 384.25 386.55WELSPUNIND 48.25 49.95 47.30 49.80PRESTIGE 288.00 298.00 281.40 285.60DRREDDY 2573.15 2589.00 2560.95 2570.45TEJASNET 93.05 93.50 87.40 90.30SIEMENS 1149.35 1187.15 1149.35 1166.70KEI 471.45 491.00 471.05 488.90AUBANK 671.00 691.80 671.00 689.60TATAGLOBAL 272.00 273.70 264.65 265.50INOXLEISUR 289.35 304.15 288.80 300.75HAVELLS 660.00 668.70 653.15 656.90JSLHISAR 63.00 73.00 63.00 70.50
BPCL 343.95 350.80 341.40 346.60AMBUJACEM 210.80 214.75 208.85 212.95RECLTD 141.50 145.20 141.50 143.10VINATIORGA 1966.45 2057.00 1966.45 2046.70DELTACORP 159.00 163.20 158.20 159.70MARICO 385.00 393.70 383.50 392.00DCMSHRIRAM 399.35 405.00 379.80 384.65ITI 75.65 76.60 75.00 75.35JUBLFOOD 1155.20 1191.20 1154.40 1181.90CUMMINSIND 605.00 615.45 595.60 599.80JKTYRE 57.50 58.55 56.75 57.55BHARATFORG 423.00 434.50 417.25 426.85KANSAINER 474.00 480.00 473.90 475.70RAYMOND 648.45 649.20 614.45 631.35BEML 816.05 830.65 811.10 816.20MINDTREE 748.40 756.60 744.00 752.15ADANIGAS 163.40 163.40 156.55 157.70PGHL 4689.60 4735.50 4474.75 4632.85GODREJPROP 911.70 923.95 894.10 904.45SWANENERGY 101.85 104.30 99.55 102.60REPCOHOME 308.10 312.00 300.00 310.45QUESS 465.30 474.20 460.00 465.90RAMCOCEM 736.30 767.70 736.20 754.35NATIONALUM 44.05 44.75 43.60 43.80GUJGAS 187.00 191.50 185.50 186.90REDINGTON 98.15 98.50 88.85 91.50JPASSOCIAT 2.45 2.48 2.37 2.43PVR 1516.00 1521.60 1462.30 1466.30GLENMARK 430.00 435.35 422.00 426.30TORNTPHARM 1701.00 1702.45 1670.55 1673.65IRB 97.95 98.05 95.00 95.50BLISSGVS 92.75 95.20 91.45 93.90MAXINDIA 60.45 62.30 59.60 60.70PTC 58.10 60.50 58.10 60.10MUTHOOTFIN 650.00 655.00 638.50 648.10CARERATING 569.50 569.50 535.00 539.80PHILIPCARB 117.95 119.60 117.30 117.85GRUH 261.10 263.85 258.55 262.70MFSL 402.50 404.10 394.30 400.40NAUKRI 2185.95 2248.05 2181.55 2208.25ADANITRANS 224.00 224.00 216.20 218.20SUPREMEIND 1063.30 1104.15 1062.00 1077.95GSPL 220.35 222.00 215.75 216.90UBL 1365.50 1392.70 1362.00 1379.60GODREJAGRO 443.05 470.40 441.20 461.95BBTC 797.90 821.00 787.15 806.10NIITTECH 1281.55 1304.35 1258.35 1300.50OMAXE 199.65 199.65 196.55 196.85PNBHOUSING 713.95 744.20 713.10 720.80INDIANB 196.90 198.35 193.35 196.25ABFRL 207.80 210.00 198.00 204.95JINDALSAW 66.00 69.60 65.60 68.40DIVISLAB 1655.75 1682.10 1643.00 1665.50APARINDS 581.00 583.85 530.00 553.40SUDARSCHEM 327.00 331.80 324.00 326.00AIAENG 1682.10 1686.80 1638.00 1682.10KTKBANK 82.00 83.05 80.55 80.90SCI 28.25 28.25 27.50 27.75ORIENTBANK 67.20 70.95 67.20 68.30VBL 633.00 635.60 602.90 617.00SONATSOFTW 327.10 344.90 327.10 338.65LEMONTREE 52.75 54.95 52.75 53.05IPCALAB 945.90 965.30 945.10 963.05TVTODAY 307.15 317.70 305.30 308.05EMAMILTD 315.90 318.25 305.20 311.10VGUARD 227.55 228.00 225.00 226.90CGPOWER 18.15 18.50 17.85 18.25SHREECEM 20200.00 20805.00 20133.30 20248.30FRETAIL 401.00 415.00 397.60 405.15RAIN 85.55 87.30 83.35 84.40THERMAX 1085.45 1105.55 1060.00 1093.55NHPC 22.65 22.95 21.70 22.10EVEREADY 88.45 88.45 82.00 82.35BAJAJELEC 379.95 385.00 369.20 382.30VIPIND 397.00 400.00 391.00 398.50GSKCONS 7736.00 7896.20 7736.00 7875.25HSIL 222.20 224.90 219.65 221.20ABBOTINDIA 9010.00 9400.00 8980.65 9046.85WELCORP 115.00 118.80 115.00 116.65TORNTPOWER 294.85 296.65 285.90 288.95CRISIL 1180.45 1184.00 1135.45 1142.10INTELLECT 218.55 226.50 218.40 221.20ASHOKA 122.25 125.85 116.60 119.75CASTROLIND 117.00 120.45 117.00 118.70TRENT 454.75 454.75 433.95 446.15TATACOMM 465.95 474.00 462.00 462.70LTTS 1557.05 1589.00 1557.05 1582.20SOUTHBANK 11.70 11.90 11.70 11.75TAKE 106.90 107.00 99.60 100.95INFRATEL 252.95 255.00 248.40 251.90GRANULES 99.00 99.70 95.85 96.45GET&D 152.80 164.20 152.75 160.55OIL 151.05 153.55 149.75 150.30NMDC 102.00 103.10 101.05 101.80RCF 45.00 45.90 45.00 45.45FLFL 435.00 453.30 433.45 450.00APLLTD 531.05 549.00 531.05 545.35JMFINANCIL 68.50 74.00 68.50 72.65AEGISLOG 196.65 202.10 195.00 199.00CARBORUNIV 297.00 297.00 281.40 284.15WABAG 283.90 289.75 278.45 280.85KALPATPOWR 471.85 489.80 469.10 480.60ASTERDM 119.65 123.00 118.70 121.00ADANIGREEN 47.30 48.15 46.10 46.35GDL 103.15 104.25 99.35 100.20ISEC 206.00 212.60 201.15 211.40SUVEN 236.75 236.80 233.25 234.85AJANTPHARM 953.30 963.00 948.00 952.75FSL 48.95 48.95 47.60 48.05
GMRINFRA 14.95 15.47 14.81 15.19DBCORP 158.60 159.55 154.15 156.90SYNDIBANK 32.25 32.80 32.15 32.30MOTILALOFS 527.50 549.40 521.75 528.25ATUL 3597.90 3644.00 3586.25 3627.35DEEPAKNI 283.00 286.00 277.55 279.15TIMETECHNO 71.70 71.70 62.00 64.05INDHOTEL 141.50 142.60 138.25 140.05NESCO 527.45 532.20 520.00 528.60HINDZINC 210.00 214.75 210.00 212.25SUNDRMFAST 429.20 430.80 419.10 421.55IDBI 27.80 28.35 27.05 27.35JISLJALEQS 19.85 20.95 19.75 20.10HIMATSEIDE 131.00 139.60 130.00 137.05GICRE 198.00 199.10 191.65 193.60IDFC 32.65 34.10 32.55 33.20MAGMA 73.90 74.70 68.00 70.25JUBILANT 440.00 440.00 431.10 433.90HEIDELBERG 192.80 198.45 192.05 194.45HATHWAY 20.60 21.45 19.35 19.60OBEROIRLTY 560.00 563.90 544.15 548.45GICHSGFIN 242.70 245.00 241.45 242.15AVANTI 304.85 312.55 304.85 308.05SCHNEIDER 75.00 77.50 75.00 75.65RITES 239.00 240.80 237.30 240.00KRBL 224.40 227.65 220.00 223.65TATACOFFEE 71.10 73.80 71.10 73.45CROMPTON 228.45 232.00 225.00 228.55SHK 113.50 119.00 113.50 118.25PERSISTENT 549.00 559.35 537.55 538.05ALBK 37.20 37.50 36.75 36.90CYIENT 443.45 449.85 434.55 437.45RAJESHEXPO 689.00 692.20 685.00 685.80IRCON 360.00 367.10 357.75 360.50INDOSTAR 300.00 300.00 285.00 287.05NLCINDIA 55.80 56.45 54.75 55.20MAHINDCIE 176.00 176.00 170.00 171.25MINDAIND 319.00 331.00 317.00 328.10NILKAMAL 1057.00 1077.00 1041.85 1053.60SOMANYCERA 321.90 327.95 317.10 322.65INOXWIND 49.60 51.60 48.80 49.50CHAMBLFERT 149.05 150.20 145.15 147.90BLUESTARCO 742.55 758.35 721.05 724.50HINDCOPPER 32.70 33.30 32.55 32.85GUJALKALI 439.15 448.00 438.65 439.35CREDITACC 503.95 525.95 501.80 521.20CENTRALBK 20.60 20.60 20.00 20.15JSWENERGY 70.75 70.90 69.25 69.55ECLERX 535.00 579.90 535.00 554.90GREAVESCOT 118.20 118.75 117.00 117.40BOSCHLTD 14378.35 14493.65 14231.75 14293.65ZYDUSWELL 1522.15 1587.85 1503.60 1532.40SUPRAJIT 154.80 157.60 147.80 151.35DCAL 210.00 211.55 205.30 206.80MAHLIFE 396.00 404.45 377.90 384.10ANDHRABANK 20.30 20.30 19.70 19.80FORTIS 124.00 124.65 120.55 121.75HAL 645.00 649.80 641.15 644.30GHCL 208.35 213.40 205.95 207.85JYOTHYLAB 159.00 161.75 156.70 158.25SHILPAMED 350.00 356.10 340.00 348.80MMTC 19.70 20.00 18.80 18.95EIHOTEL 159.45 163.00 158.90 161.60THYROCARE 477.90 477.90 460.00 463.10ABB 1411.50 1422.60 1388.80 1397.70SREINFRA 11.15 11.92 11.15 11.49SHANKARA 265.00 274.70 257.00 263.10HUDCO 34.00 34.50 33.70 33.90CONCOR 485.55 490.20 483.00 485.80NIACL 119.40 121.55 118.00 119.45ORIENTCEM 93.10 95.90 91.15 91.45RNAM 230.00 235.00 230.00 231.90TV18BRDCST 20.90 20.90 20.30 20.50EIDPARRY 148.20 156.60 148.15 154.35KEC 292.45 295.05 291.00 293.05GRINDWELL 548.25 548.45 537.05 545.35ZENSARTECH 227.00 227.00 214.90 216.75HFCL 19.00 19.15 18.75 18.80ADVENZYMES 157.65 159.50 154.25 155.30MINDACORP 86.40 86.55 84.80 85.45TRIDENT 57.50 57.55 56.20 56.35IOB 10.55 10.82 10.50 10.58IBULISL 93.70 95.25 91.50 95.25PIIND 1116.20 1130.00 1107.00 1125.60TATAINVEST 793.00 823.85 789.00 821.30BDL 294.70 298.90 292.00 296.20IEX 145.90 150.50 144.00 148.00IFCI 7.80 8.25 7.80 7.96LAXMIMACH 3888.00 3990.45 3859.60 3901.65PNCINFRA 193.25 207.55 193.25 200.95MAHLOG 367.05 370.00 364.10 365.05STARCEMENT 102.45 113.00 100.00 103.00LALPATHLAB 1090.00 1098.10 1063.20 1091.90TCNSBRANDS 688.95 707.70 673.15 691.35MRPL 52.50 53.25 51.70 52.00ORIENTELEC 161.70 169.60 160.70 169.10ASTRAL 1222.15 1227.30 1212.00 1223.40GLAXO 1200.00 1212.00 1197.55 1207.15HATSUN 590.90 621.00 590.90 605.20FINCABLES 373.55 382.55 372.05 373.30AKZOINDIA 1765.00 1800.00 1728.15 1732.70TNPL 160.20 163.60 157.90 160.15SADBHAV 130.90 135.00 130.00 132.95ITDCEM 72.20 76.35 69.00 72.65IFBIND 700.80 724.30 679.25 694.85LINDEINDIA 487.15 490.10 477.80 480.75NAVINFLUOR 673.50 676.75 665.00 669.15BAJAJHLDNG 3441.55 3490.00 3418.80 3452.65FINOLEXIND 530.90 535.00 517.80 533.50
ALKEM 1760.00 1770.00 1705.10 1764.45SANOFI 6083.05 6199.00 6041.00 6165.45UCOBANK 16.00 16.20 15.95 16.00OFSS 3241.65 3241.65 3137.25 3153.45JKLAKSHMI 333.40 337.70 330.00 332.15COROMANDEL 366.00 367.80 352.35 355.20ERIS 402.60 404.00 395.60 399.80MOIL 131.55 134.00 131.25 131.55ESSELPRO 122.85 123.15 117.50 119.55CHOLAHLDNG 486.00 493.90 475.05 479.60FINEORG 1496.00 1502.30 1430.00 1441.70GEPIL 726.30 778.00 722.40 763.90BAJAJCON 261.40 267.00 261.40 263.55RALLIS 158.75 160.65 155.70 158.90APLAPOLLO 1345.00 1365.55 1322.05 1326.10BASF 1019.75 1047.65 1007.00 1042.35ASTRAZEN 1939.85 1957.35 1865.00 1874.15JBCHEPHARM 372.70 374.40 370.70 372.00TTKPRESTIG 5731.40 6073.25 5725.00 6025.90BIRLACORPN 601.95 602.05 590.50 594.25JETAIRWAYS 46.85 46.85 46.85 46.85BALMLAWRIE 170.80 173.50 170.80 171.50WHIRLPOOL 1546.95 1546.95 1529.35 1542.40CAPPL 415.00 420.00 415.00 416.35NBVENTURES* 91.10 91.40 89.00 89.25GMDCLTD 65.50 66.90 65.50 66.25CORPBANK 20.60 20.85 20.40 20.65LAOPALA 171.90 174.00 165.00 167.50CENTRUM 25.75 25.90 25.15 25.45COCHINSHIP 352.40 356.55 350.85 352.10VARROC 430.00 447.55 426.35 443.35TEAMLEASE 2692.75 2701.20 2679.80 2690.85PRSMJOHNSN 82.80 83.35 81.75 82.55SKFINDIA 1842.00 1870.00 1836.25 1840.80KPRMILL 555.30 572.40 555.30 568.95SJVN 24.70 24.70 24.15 24.40MAHABANK 12.25 12.35 12.14 12.17GPPL 78.35 80.00 78.30 79.45SYNGENE 316.00 316.60 312.10 314.20FDC 161.75 165.00 161.65 163.70GULFOILLUB 809.00 847.00 809.00 840.95DHANUKA 334.85 336.95 328.30 331.80VMART 1857.60 1861.35 1842.10 1852.00ALLCARGO 96.45 99.15 96.40 96.95CERA 2475.00 2580.00 2475.00 2553.25MPHASIS 962.40 964.00 958.55 959.25RELAXO 434.45 437.00 428.00 430.15MAHSCOOTER 3860.00 3995.00 3860.00 3974.30TATAMETALI 505.05 511.95 504.40 505.60GALAXYSURF 1199.05 1211.00 1199.05 1203.45KNRCON 257.10 259.00 254.00 255.00TIMKEN 664.00 685.95 653.50 676.20SOLARINDS 1121.55 1131.00 1089.00 1096.05SFL 1161.15 1170.00 1140.00 1140.90JSL 29.85 30.25 29.55 29.85JKCEMENT 982.00 992.70 982.00 991.30MASFIN 600.35 618.85 600.35 606.05LAURUSLABS 333.10 343.60 333.10 339.55MAHSEAMLES 407.50 407.50 400.60 402.20AAVAS 1533.00 1539.05 1522.55 1532.40SIS 800.00 837.50 800.00 810.25COFFEEDAY 73.35 73.35 73.35 73.35SYMPHONY 1240.00 1249.10 1225.00 1234.95PGHH 10295.50 10396.50 10295.50 10321.90HERITGFOOD 360.00 361.00 351.00 355.25LUXIND 1032.90 1039.80 1020.00 1028.55CCL 242.80 249.45 242.65 247.35ITDC 174.00 175.55 173.00 173.25NETWORK18 20.55 20.80 20.05 20.15PHOENIXLTD 643.85 645.00 631.60 643.65VTL 935.05 941.85 930.00 935.55TIINDIA 353.70 356.55 351.00 352.15BAYERCROP 3162.25 3270.00 3162.20 3238.70MHRIL 218.10 219.10 217.00 217.70MONSANTO 2052.75 2091.05 2025.00 2085.00TVSSRICHAK 1571.00 1609.85 1571.00 1604.25UNITEDBNK 9.53 9.63 9.43 9.45ASAHIINDIA 190.50 196.45 190.50 194.75NH 217.50 218.50 211.35 217.003MINDIA 21333.00 21420.55 21204.00 21233.55ELGIEQUIP 245.00 255.30 243.65 247.35WABCOINDIA 6092.90 6135.95 6050.10 6111.55HONAUT 23000.00 23466.00 23000.00 23158.30TRITURBINE 96.75 101.00 96.70 99.85BLUEDART 2305.00 2329.00 2300.00 2307.35JCHAC 1510.00 1560.00 1510.00 1527.30GAYAPROJ 132.00 135.80 130.85 134.30GILLETTE 7161.50 7197.65 7150.00 7166.55SHOPERSTOP 385.05 389.90 379.95 388.65SHRIRAMCIT 1322.00 1427.80 1322.00 1418.70SCHAEFFLER 4391.00 4391.00 4348.00 4369.10JSWHL 2714.15 2714.15 2706.00 2710.40
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SCRIP OPEN HIgh LOW LTP CHANGENIFTY 50 11087.90 11181.45 11062.80 11109.65 77.20IBULHSGFIN 447.00 521.00 447.00 510.00 65.65EICHERMOT 16730.15 17787.95 16730.15 17600.00 788.35TITAN 1050.00 1077.00 1041.50 1077.00 35.90MARUTI 5937.65 6155.00 5927.20 6100.25 198.00BAJAJFINSV 7355.00 7590.00 7325.00 7494.00 203.55HDFCBANK 2247.00 2289.00 2239.80 2285.00 51.85BAJFINANCE 3359.95 3449.60 3340.00 3406.85 72.15VEDL 139.00 144.80 138.40 141.50 2.80HINDUNILVR 1805.00 1846.65 1800.90 1838.00 34.90KOTAKBANK 1506.00 1535.50 1504.25 1531.75 29.00ICICIBANK 416.50 422.40 414.50 421.35 6.95GAIL 122.20 125.40 120.60 123.90 1.95HDFC 2192.70 2240.00 2178.75 2214.00 31.70HEROMOTOCO2613.85 2641.90 2600.00 2620.35 32.45M&M 540.90 548.30 530.00 545.10 5.55INFRATEL 250.25 255.00 248.20 252.70 2.45GRASIM 739.00 767.00 739.00 744.70 7.25BRITANNIA 2590.90 2644.35 2522.30 2601.95 24.35BPCL 343.50 350.90 341.00 346.30 2.80RELIANCE 1161.85 1175.50 1152.30 1161.00 8.65ULTRACEMCO 4351.00 4383.70 4240.70 4260.20 27.05ASIANPAINT 1569.20 1581.90 1561.00 1575.85 9.95ADANIPORTS 377.70 380.50 374.25 376.00 2.05LT 1372.00 1392.50 1361.10 1364.60 3.95IOC 130.60 131.30 129.05 131.10 0.25INFY 792.00 796.75 784.80 790.00 1.25INDUSINDBK 1435.00 1435.00 1405.30 1415.00 0.95AXISBANK 664.20 675.95 660.00 660.10 0.00ONGC 131.65 132.40 129.65 130.70 -0.15UPL 534.25 550.00 529.20 532.20 -0.65BAJAJ-AUTO 2710.55 2741.50 2685.00 2700.25 -3.50DRREDDY 2576.75 2589.70 2560.10 2566.00 -5.95BHARTIARTL 372.00 373.75 364.15 371.05 -1.10HCLTECH 1084.80 1102.45 1077.80 1083.15 -5.10TCS 2260.00 2267.90 2241.35 2245.00 -13.10POWERGRID 203.50 208.85 201.25 201.40 -1.30WIPRO 266.00 268.70 262.85 263.65 -2.10SBIN 296.30 298.00 290.05 291.85 -2.50SUNPHARMA 428.00 430.35 418.45 422.50 -3.95JSWSTEEL 221.70 228.45 219.30 219.50 -2.20NTPC 124.60 126.65 123.15 123.35 -1.30TATAMOTORS 124.50 126.50 120.70 122.55 -1.50ITC 258.85 258.85 253.50 254.30 -3.45ZEEL 333.00 338.80 324.30 326.45 -5.00TATASTEEL 370.50 373.65 360.85 361.45 -5.95COALINDIA 213.90 214.00 207.00 207.30 -4.55HINDALCO 181.00 184.45 173.30 177.00 -4.05TECHM 679.00 680.75 659.75 663.00 -17.20CIPLA 505.90 511.70 481.55 485.10 -17.95YESBANK 91.80 92.45 81.15 82.20 -7.00
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SCRIP OPEN HIgh LOW LTP CHANGENIFTY NEXT 50 26159.65 26443.00 26133.60 26236.60 185.95MOTHERSUMI 100.00 111.00 99.50 107.00 8.65L&TFH 99.95 107.20 99.95 104.25 4.75MRF 54850.00 57431.60 54550.00 57200.00 2500.45AMBUJACEM 208.00 214.90 208.00 213.00 6.70HDFCAMC 2180.00 2236.60 2172.00 2229.85 66.55SRTRANSFIN 1009.95 1065.00 1008.40 1033.00 30.45PEL 1765.00 1821.25 1740.00 1775.45 47.95BANDHANBNK 491.00 502.00 485.25 499.50 12.60MARICO 383.90 394.00 382.50 391.80 8.80COLPAL 1210.50 1235.30 1205.45 1233.20 23.40DLF 172.35 177.20 172.35 175.10 3.30MCDOWELL-N 598.90 609.15 597.15 609.00 11.45ASHOKLEY 64.15 65.85 63.15 64.75 1.20DMART 1415.55 1460.50 1408.00 1454.00 24.25PIDILITIND 1338.90 1358.65 1334.30 1351.00 22.15ACC 1563.00 1588.35 1563.00 1574.00 24.65GODREJCP 643.10 659.90 642.40 652.30 9.50SIEMENS 1154.00 1188.00 1150.10 1166.55 16.35UBL 1375.00 1392.55 1361.00 1379.10 13.40DIVISLAB 1653.00 1683.45 1642.35 1666.80 15.80SHREECEM 20295.00 20918.30 20101.00 20280.00 170.05ICICIPRULI 393.65 398.25 390.30 395.25 2.80DABUR 436.35 440.85 431.35 438.50 3.10INDIGO 1525.00 1538.85 1512.10 1528.15 10.00HDFCLIFE 524.30 535.40 524.30 525.95 3.05CONCOR 484.75 491.00 482.00 485.00 2.65BAJAJHLDNG 3469.95 3495.00 3417.30 3445.60 2.10BANKBARODA 100.75 101.70 98.70 100.10 0.05PGHH 10244.40 10380.00 10244.40 10300.00 4.50HAVELLS 660.00 668.95 653.25 655.95 -0.35ABB 1414.60 1422.70 1390.00 1392.90 -2.05PETRONET 241.05 244.65 238.00 239.00 -0.45AUROPHARMA 603.00 615.00 595.40 596.75 -1.25SAIL 39.00 39.95 38.50 38.75 -0.10LUPIN 769.60 771.90 755.05 758.50 -2.45NMDC 102.45 103.10 101.00 101.55 -0.40HINDZINC 212.00 214.90 210.40 211.00 -1.20BOSCHLTD 14497.30 14510.00 14220.00 14300.00 -107.30NIACL 119.00 121.85 117.00 118.20 -1.05HINDPETRO 251.50 254.25 246.60 248.00 -2.40CADILAHC 236.00 236.10 223.15 232.30 -2.40BIOCON 232.35 233.55 227.50 228.45 -2.80OFSS 3214.70 3244.30 3137.00 3143.90 -54.80SBILIFE 810.55 814.80 795.10 798.30 -14.60NHPC 22.60 22.95 21.70 22.00 -0.55BHEL 58.60 58.90 56.20 56.85 -1.50GICRE 198.50 199.80 191.00 193.00 -5.20ICICIGI 1208.00 1214.35 1137.50 1158.00 -42.20IDEA 5.70 5.95 5.30 5.40 -0.25PAGEIND 17550.00 18199.95 17449.00 17650.05 -831.30
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Hong Kong’s leader CarrieLam warned Friday that
two months of pro-democracydemonstrations were causingeconomic chaos in the city butruled out making concessionsto “silence the violent protest-ers.”
The embattled leaderabruptly announced a pressconference after meeting busi-ness leaders as demonstratorsrallied at the airport, with theprotest movement entering itsthird month.
Lam, whose support for abill to allow extradition tomainland China sparked thecrisis, warned that the eco-nomic impact of the unrestthreatened to be worse than the2003 SARS outbreak in thefinancial hub.
“The downturn this timecame very quickly. Someone
described it as coming like atsunami,” Lam said.
“Compared to the eco-nomic downturn caused bySARS that we handled previ-ously, which caused an eco-nomic storm, the situation thistime is more severe.” “In otherwords, the economic recoverywill take a very long time,” sheadded.
While Lam is a figure ofhatred for many pro-democracy activists, hercomments echo worried state-ments from the private sectorand the tourism industry inparticular.
Hong Kong carrier CathayPacific has warned bookingsare down, travel agencies havereported drops of up to 50 per-cent in group tour bookingsand the tourism board report-ed double-digit declines in vis-itor arrivals in the second halfof July.
Protesters have continuedto stage almost daily ralliesdespite increasingly violent confrontations withpolice that have prompted sev-eral countries to issue HongKong travel warnings for theircitizens.
On Friday, thousands ofpro-democracy protestersstaged a sit-in at the airport tobring their message to arrivingvisitors.
Lam has suspended the bill that sparked the crisis, but has not yet respond-ed to protester calls to with-draw it altogether, and she has brushed aside demandsfor an enquiry into police brutality.
She ruled out meeting thedemands of protesters, whichalso include a call for the directelection of the city’s chief exec-utive, currently chosen byBeijing.
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The US has said that there isno change in its policy on
Kashmir as it called on Indiaand Pakistan to maintainrestraint and hold direct dia-logue to resolve their differ-ences.
“No”, replied StateDepartment SpokespersonMorgan Ortagus when askedby reporters on Thursday ifthere has been any change inAmerica’s policy on Kashmir.
The US policy has beenthat Kashmir is a bilateral issuebetween India and Pakistanand it is up to the two countriesto decide on the pace andscope of the talks on the issue.
“And if there was, I cer-tainly wouldn’t be announcingit here, but no, there’s not,”Ortagus said in response to afollow up question.
She said the United Statessupports dialogue betweenIndia and Pakistan over
Kashmir and mentioned that asenior State Department offi-cial would be in New Delhinext week on a pre-scheduledvisit.
“It’s something that we’vecalled for calm and restraint byall parties. We want to mainpeace and stability, and we, ofcourse, support direct dialoguebetween India and Pakistan onKashmir and other issues ofconcern,” Ortagus said.
India had on Mondayrevoked provisions of Article370 to revoke Jammu andKashmir’s special status, andbifurcating the state into twounion territories — Jammuand Kashmir, and Ladakh.
Reacting to India’s move, Pakistan expelled theIndian High Commissioner aspart of its decision to down-grade the diplomatic ties withNew Delhi. Pakistan alsoannounced that it will reviewall “bilateral arrangements”with India.
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APakistani court on Fridayremanded Maryam Nawaz,
former prime minister NawazSharif ’s daughter, and her cousinin the custody of the country’santi-corruption authority tillAugust 21 in a money launder-ing case.
Maryam and her cousinYousaf Abbas Sharif were arrest-ed from the Kot Lakhpat jail hereon Thursday in connection to theChaudhry Sugar Mills (CSM)case while the 45-year-old PML-N vice president was on her wayback from visiting her father, whois lodged in the same prison.
She was supposed to appearbefore the NationalAccountability Bureau (NAB)on Thursday for questioning inthe sugar mills inquiry but shesought more time for submittingher response and went to meether father in jail instead. She wasarrested for not appearing beforethe anti-graft watchdog.
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The British economy shrankin the second quarter for
the first time since 2012 asBrexit uncertainties weighed onbusiness investment and firmsreduced their stockpiling afterBritain was granted an exten-sion to its departure from theEuropean Union, official fig-ures showed Friday.
The decline is set to raise
alarm that Brexit uncertainty isincreasingly weighing on theeconomy. Most economistsexpected the economy to flat-line. The quarterly drop low-ered the annual rate of growthto 1.2% from 1.8% in the firstquarter.
The Office for NationalStatistics noted there was“increased volatility aroundthe U.K.’s original planned exitdate from the European Union
in late March.”Brexit was meant to hap-
pen on March 29, but wasdelayed to the end of Octoberafter Parliament rejected thewithdrawal agreement that theprevious prime minister,Theresa May, had negotiatedwith the EU.
Before the extensionrequest, many firms ratchetedup their inventories to helpcushion the likely disruptionfrom Britain crashing out ofthe EU on March 29 withouta deal. That business activityhelped the economy grow by0.5% in the first quarter.
Since then, companieshave stopped stockpiling asmuch. Many car companiesalso brought forward theirannual maintenance shut-downs to April from later inthe year to cushion the poten-tial blow from Britain leavingthe EU without a deal onMarch 29.
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Pakistan Foreign MinisterShah Mahmood Qureshi
on Friday dashed to China todiscuss with the Chinese lead-ership Indo-Pak tensions afterIndia revoked the special sta-tus of Jammu and Kashmir.
Earlier this week,India revoked Article 370 towithdraw the special status toJammu and Kashmir andbifurcated the region intotwo Union Territories --Jammu and Kashmir, Ladakh.
Pakistan termed theIndian action as “unilateraland illegal”, and said it willtake the matter to the UNSecurity Council.
Pakistan expelled theIndian High Commissioneras part of its decision todowngrade the diplomaticties with India andannounced that it will reviewall “bilateral arrangements”with India.
Qureshi told the media
before embarking on the visit toChina that India was trying todestroy the regional peace withits unconstitutional measuresand Pakistan will take Chineseleadership into confidence, GoeNews reported.
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Mexican police found ninebodies hanging from an
overpass Thursday alongside adrug cartel banner threateningrivals, and seven more corpseshacked up and dumped by theroad nearby. Just down the roadwere three more bodies, for atotal of 19.
The killing spree reportedby prosecutors in the westernstate of Michoacan marked areturn to the grisly massacrescarried out by drug cartels at theheight of Mexico’s 2006-2012drug war, when piles of bodieswere dumped on roadways as amessage to authorities and rivalgangs. Two of the bodies hungby ropes from the overpass bytheir necks, half naked, andone of the dismembered bodieswere women, MichoacanAttorney General Adrián LópezSolís said at a news conference.
The victims in the city ofUruapan had been shot to death.Some were hung with theirhands bound, some with their
pants pulled down.While the banner was not
completely legible, it bore theinitials of the notoriously violentJalisco drug cartel, and men-tioned the Viagras, a rival gang.“Be a patriot, kill a Viagra,” thebanner read in part.
“This kind of public, the-atrical violence,where you don’tjust kill, but youbrag aboutkilling, is meantto intimidaterivals and senda message to theauthorit ies ,”said Mexicosecurity analystA l e j a n d r oHope.
“This kindof cynicalimpunity hasbeen increasingin Michoacan,”Hope added.
In one par-ticularly brazenattack in May, a
convoy of pickups and SUVsopenly marked with the letters“CJNG” - the Spanish initialsof the Jalisco New GenerationCartel - drove through theMichoacan city of Zamora atnight, shooting up police vehi-cles and killing or woundingseveral officers.
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US President Donald Trumphas announced that his
respected Deputy Director ofNational Intelligence was resign-ing, the latest chapter in a broadreshuffle at the top of the coun-try’s spy agencies.
Sue Gordon spent a quarter-century in the CIA beforebecoming second-in-commandto outgoing Director of NationalIntelligence Dan Coats and wasin line to serve as acting direc-tor. “Sue Gordon is a great pro-fessional with a long and dis-tinguished career. I have gottento know Sue over the past 2 yearsand have developed great respectfor her,” Trump said on Twitteron Thursday. “Sue hasannounced she will be leavingon August 15, which coincideswith the retirement of DanCoats,” Trump added.
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Despite the current salesenvironment for the
Indian automotive industry,there has not been a lack ofenthusiasm by new car man-ufacturers and brands to enterIndia. Earlier this year, Frenchcarmaker group PSA said thatit would enter India withCitröen. The Chinese car-maker, SAIC, just launchedthe MG Hector and nowKorean carmaker Kia is com-ing to India with Seltos laterthis month and that is the sub-ject of our review today.
But before I start, thesedecisions and the fact that twonew large factories are addinga lot more manufacturingcapacity into India is a sign oflong-term optimism for theIndian industry. This isdespite the cuckoo-brainedelectric push by the NitiAayog. And as far as marketlaunch products go, the KiaSeltos is an outstanding prod-uct.
Many folks have criticisedKia for being just a glammed-up Hyundai and that theSeltos a Creta. Well, indeed,but a couple of things. TheSeltos has some pretty goodswag and certainly looks thepart, and the make-up israther functional too. Also,this is the next-generationCreta platform and theHyundai bestseller is beingupdated in India only in Aprilnext year. The new platformalso means new engines, theSeltos has three. A 1.4 tur-bocharged petrol GDI with140PS optionally mated to aseven-speed Dual-ClutchAutomatic, the same platform(bigger engine) as theHyundai Venue. There is alsoa standard 1.5 petrol and 1.5diesel, both new engines fromthe company producing115PS. The petrol has a con-stantly variable transmissionoption and the diesel — a six-speed torque converter auto-matic option. I drove themanual variant of the diesel inthe top trim level with all thetoys such as the BOSE audio,sunroof and also the GDIengined Seltos with the DCT.
The diesel is a peppyengine with a lot of get-up andgo. Gearshifts are smooth,the car never feels like it isgasping. The DCT though,much like on the Venue, is likea small puppy of an engine,enthusiastic and always want-ing to perform. The gearboxbrings out the best in it. InSport and even in Normaldrive modes, it wants youdrive it enthusiastically, whichwhile not great for fuel econ-omy, allows you to smile. Andeven if you’re keen with theSeltos DCT, you will still getaround 10 km per litre. Theonly gripe I have with thismodel is the lack of flappypaddle shifters. But this is asmart transmission and it was
a rare occasion when it gotpuzzled about what to do.
The car’s ride and han-dling is excellent, the steeringmight feel a bit artificially‘hefty’ on the Sport mode butit’s easy to move the cararound obstacles and it does-n’t lose the plot with suddensteering inputs.
We were driving the Seltosin Goa, not my favourite dri-ving destination in the worldwith its narrow roads andeven more dicey in the pour-ing rain, with far too manylocals on motorcycles. But Goadoes offer, if you know yourway around, a whole buffet ofroads. You have your twisty hillsections and undulatingstraights. You have your four-lane highways and narrow vil-lage roads with a truly insaneamount of traffic, almost everydriving condition you couldimagine. On top of that, thepoor road conditions on somevillage roads and the fact thatseveral Goa panchayats havebuilt speedbreakers but notmarked them properly meantthat one could give the Seltossuspension a workout. TheSeltos handles, rides and dri-ves well. It makes the next parta bonus really because theSeltos has possibly the bestinteriors particularly with thelevel of kit of any car in its classand even some above it. The10.25 inch high-resolutionscreen is actually good andwhen you’re playing aroundwith setting and even music, itis not laggy in any form. Thescreen leads into the instru-ment cluster the centre ofwhich has a full-colour infor-mation display. The top vari-ants also have a heads-up dis-play (HUD), which whilebeing amazing and an awe-some gimmick, is slightlyredundant. The seating posi-tion, both front and rear, isgood as is the luggage capaci-ty. The Seltos also comes withan integrated air purifier,which you can control fromthe front or rear. Like almostevery other car manufacturer,there is also an applicationcalled UVO. It allows you tocontrol aspects of the car,including remotely starting itand setting the air-condition-ing before you even step insideit.
Many people have foundthe exterior of the Seltos to bequite appealing but it was theinteriors that sold me.Everything works with the car,it looks good, it drives well andthe cabin is a great place to be,even if you’re stuck in a trafficjam, the mood lighting shouldhelp your mood after all. I’mpretty sure that we will end upseeing many of them on theroad, so it would help if wecould work out the plural formjust. Given the Greek root ofthe name, I’d think it should beSeltosii.
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How does Callen convinceSam to come back to
work after Michelle’s death? Callen and Sam are the
best partners and are veryclose to each other. So, heshared the pain with Samwhen his wife was dying whowas very close to Callen aswell. But they need to moveon in life and Callen knowsthat the best thing for Sam isto get back to work and startliving his life again for hiskids.
How does Hetty’s absence atthe start of Season 9 affectCallen?
Callen and Hetty havealways shared a strong bond,especially because of the wayshe loved him. She alwaystalked in a way as if sheknows more than she is speak-ing. She used to watch himfrom behind the curtain. Thefact that she is gone with noexplanation was like losing afamily member for him.
How does new assistantdirector Shay Mosley fit intothe team?
With Granger and Hettyout of the picture, Callentried to get Sam back to workand figure out what has hap-pened to Hetty. All of a sud-den, comes a new sheriff intown that is ruffling somefeathers, to say the least. AndI don’t think that Callen iswarming up to her very quick-ly. But it gives us some inter-esting things to work with.
Tell us about Mosley joiningthe team.
She does things in a littlemore traditional way. Myteam has some unconven-tional ways to get things done.
And ultimately, we work as ateam and face all the hurdlestogether when the stakes arehigh. So, she is seeing thatspark within us.
What was Callen’s initialreaction to Mosley?
I don’t think Callen has aproblem with somebody whotells him and his team what to
do. There was only a certainlevel of frustration that he wasexperiencing.
Tell us more on Callen’s takeon Mosley.
As far as he is concerned,he is very efficient and hardworking. And we don’t needsomeone to come in and takeover the work or slow usdown. We want people toeither help us or stay out ofthe way.
What are the advantages ofhaving guest stars on theshow?
We have to remember toset a pace with the new orguest actors on set because weare so comfortable in ourroles that we move very quick-ly. Generally, the actors getour pace and realise howquickly we work, but occa-
sionally we also get actors whodoubt if they would be able towork with us or not in thevery first place.
What was it like to shoot theunderwater scenes in episode195, Party Crashers?
We were in the water inthe Long Beach and thenwe’re on the set. We hadflooded a tank with the ambu-lance in water. They’re havethese little eme rgency re-breathers which make youthink that if this thing getsstuck down here, I would beswimming out of here quick-ly. You have no idea. I don’tmind the water, I like it. Theonly time I got uncomfortablewas when we were doing theshark episode. I am actuallyterrified of sharks but thank-fully, we were out of there inthe Long Beach, which unfor-
tunately would be more pol-luted than the sharks proba-bly want their habitat to be. Somaybe there weren’t anysharks in there. But I was like,I need a diver down there justto kind of peek around beforeI jump in. And you’ve neverseen someone get out of thewater as quickly as me.Precisely, as soon as they usedto call out for cut, I was out ofthat water.
How does Callen feel aboutJoelle’s return in episode201, Fool Me Twice?
What was interesting wasthat I did not see that goingthat way. They kind of endedthat relationship and I thoughtthat was the last we weregoing to see of Joelle. Andthen, all of a sudden, theycame up with the storyline lastseason, they brought her backagain this year. She is a reallytalented actress so it has beenfun to have her back and sheis just so pleasant to bearound. But, yeah, it’s some-one who burned him. He hadno idea what the reality was.And now he is in a situationwhere he has no choice but tohelp her. So, he is constantlytorn over and has been burnedby her once. He doesn’t knowif he should trust her but thereare not a lot of other options.
Will Callen be luckier in lovethis season?
I think so and we mightsee more of Anna and Callentogether at some point. I knowCallen was interested in her.He told me. We’ll see. Thereare still a lot of episodes to dothis year.
(NCIS: Los Angeles Season10 will premiere at 10 pmevery Tuesday on AXN.)
Ask a classful of moony-eyedchildren about what they wantto be when they grow up and
“Doctor” is the most likely answer. Butwhile the profession has its exhilarat-ing moments, the every day realities aretedious. Of course, there is the fact thatthey are often the subject of both admi-ration and pity. And then there areunspoken but ever-present issues in thelife of any doctor which are complete-ly non-medical concerns — ‘Are doc-tors boring people?’ ‘We never knowwhat they’re even thinking?’ ‘How dothey function?’ This has never beenaddressed, not at the start, middle oreven the end of their career becausetheir personal lives are always hiddenbehind the curtains of OT rooms oremergency centres. A show likeSanjivani parted the curtain, just a bit,in 2002.
Actor Mohnish Bahl, who is set tomake his comeback as Dr ShashankGupta in the reboot of the show,Sanjivani: A Medical Boon, believes justthat. He feels that doctors, as humans,feel the most number of emotions in thecourse of a day. “Hospitals are emotion-ally-draining places. There’s birth,death and accidents, worried people,several emergencies happening all at thesame time— which is a lot for any ordi-nary person to absorb in one go. A hos-pital is a nerve centre for all kinds ofemotions,” says he and goes on to addthat we never know the back story ofwhat the doctor goes through in his lifewhile handling stressful situations.
Indian television history is evidencethat shows have never been rebootedlike this after more than decade of beingaired. And there’s a reason why the teamdecided to bring Sanjivani back onIndian TV after 15 years. “We saw the
potential in a product like this basedupon the success of its first part.Second, the concept itself. We, as citi-zens, interact with doctors at somepoint in our lives. All of us. And we tendto see doctors not as human beings butas the people who are supposed to puttheir patients first by all means and atall times,” he says. “When I visit a doc-tor, even I don’t expect him to careabout himself but my problems(laughs). So the show aims to highlighthow the humans in white coats withstethoscopes around their collars dealwith their insecurities,” he adds.
With the #ThankYouDoctor cam-paign, he says, “it is not the doctorwhom we are thanking through thishashtag, but the individuals that theyare who have made this profession theway it is.”
So what made him return to thisreboot? He says that the reason remainsthe same which made him join theshow in the first place 15 years ago. “Iam very particular about the things thatI want to work upon. And Sanjivani wasalways on my list as something that Iwould do again if it is ever remade,” saysthe actor, who reminds me of hisnumerous roles, be it of a doctor, an
obedient son, a loyal husband, or evena deceptive villain in Kaho Na PyaarHai and Sandwich.
Talking about the newness in thisversion, he says that it’s conceptualisedin the current context of doctor-patientrelationships. “The structure haschanged. There’s modernisation in thehospital. We will also see commercial-isation taking place in the healthcareindustry and how the model code ofSanjivani deals with such commercial-isation. Also, I am re-exploring DrShashank after 15 years, so a certainmaturity and timeline is involved here.There have been failures and success-es in his life. And these have honed himas an older man,” explains the actor,who also played a doctor in anothershow and a film. Hint: Kuch Toh LogKahenge (2011) and Vivah (2006).
Of course, there have been a lot ofchanges in a decade, especially with theadvent of digital technology and ourhigh dependence on it. Bahl sees get-ting equal amount of publicity on TVand OTT platforms as an advantagebecause in the end, the level of popu-larity depends upon the content. Hesays, “And as far as the digital platformis concerned, it is an excellent factor. I
see it this way. In 2002, when the showfirst went on air, people had to be pre-sent in front of their TVs to watch theshow. They had to watch a re-run of theshow the next day in case they missedthe telecast. In that sense, the advantageof the digital platform and today’s TVsystems is that they can record theirfavourite shows and even catch themlater online at their own convenience.If the following of a TV show is 50 percent (an arbitrary figure), then becauseof these platforms, you will get muchmore penetration and it might reach upto 80 per cent.”
At the same time, he also makes usrealise the fact that while talking aboutthe popularity, the content and the creware the first in line of responsibility.“This show would have very highexpectations because of its huge follow-ing. We have to live up to those expec-tations as well,” says he.
For the actor, identifying with hischaracters is very important. He says,“I put myself into other’s shoes andbeing an actor can itself be emotional-ly draining. While positive roles are fine,but I have also done many negativecharacters. How can you put yourselfinto someone’s shoes whom you don’t
only agree with? So, it’s all a part of thehuman psyche — negative or positive.And hence, I try to make it live insideme or identify with it.”
Mohnish has seen the industryevolve and change having been a partof it through the 80s, 90s, 00s, and thennow... He laughs and interrupts me,“Precisely, it’s been 38 years, my friend!It’s been a lifetime of acting.” Well, yes,experience defines the difference. Headds that a lot has changed, both for thegood and the bad and explains to mein bullet points. “One. Due to techno-logical advancements, the content isbeing easily available and has a highreach. Two. Budgets have certainly goneup. During the 80s-90s, a producercould work on three films, but today,three producers are working on onefilm. It’s because the filmmaking costshave risen with time. Three. People,today, are much more technically pre-pared. Earlier, the setting-up processwould consume a lot of time. However,today the process has speeded up.When you reach the sets, it’s all ready.Four. Youngsters are way more brilliantthan us than what we were at their age.They are very smart and quick. Five.Today there’s no scope to make mis-takes and finally for attaining success.There are no retakes. It’s tougher for thekids today to make their mark as oppor-tunities are less and there is more com-petition. It’s certainly not easy forthem as compared to us,” he says andlaughs at referring to the people fromthe younger generation as “kids” sincehe calls himself an older man now.
Well, I disgaree. Not now, not ever.Certainly, he will be a charmer,throughout.
(The show goes on air on August 11on Star Plus.)
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There are very few smallscreen actors, which includesthe likes of Shahrukh Khan,
Sushant Singh Rajput, YamiGautam, Rajeev Khandelwal, whohave made a successful transitionto the big screen. It remains to beseen whether Mrunal Thakur,made famous by Kumkum Bhagyawhere she played Bulbul, will be thehousehold name after Batla House,where John Abraham is the protag-onist.
When asked about this transi-tion, the actress who was recentlyseen in Super 30, says, “The bestthing that has happened inrecent times is that myparents are proud ofme which I alwayswanted. When myfather says ‘yes youdid it’, that makesme feel like theluckiest girl on thisplanet.”
However, evenwhile riding the crestof success, she is calmand grounded. Shesays that she wouldremain unchanged.When people ask herabout popularity andTwitter trends, shereplies that she stillprefers to loungearound in her pyja-mas and eat ghar kakhaana. “It’s normal,it’s the same life thatI lived when I was apart of television,” shesays. She credits thisbalance to herupbringing as shesays her father is verygrounded.
Then, there isalso some advice fromco-stars. Mrunal says,“One thing I learnt fromHrithik (Roshan) was thatthe result of your filmshould not affect you.”She further says that ourteachers or parents teach us tobe successful in life but nobodyteaches us to accept our failures andface them. “It’s important for us toteach children how to cope up withfailure, how to work hard on it, giveyour best and do a great comeback.I follow that policy,” she adds.
Coming back to her film BatlaHouse which has grabbed eyeballs,it is obvious that it is inspired bythe controversial encounter oper-ation, which took place in 2008 inthe capital. It revolves around thestory of a police commissioner,Sanjeev Kumar Yadav (played byJohn), who has been awarded forhis bravery six times but the fall-out of this incident is that he iscalled a murderer. Mrunal plays therole of Nandita Kumar who is afierce television anchor, a bravejournalist and a supportive wife.
When we are curious as towhat made her sign on the role,Mrunal closes her eyes for amoment and after a contempla-tive pause, says, “I could real-
ly connect tothis role. I
a l w a y swanted tobe a jour-nalist and
through thisfilm, I got to
play that role. I feelwhatever I studied dur-
ing my journalism courseprepared me for it.” The fact thatthe film is inspired by true eventsand is content-driven appealed toher the most. She feels that theaudience is becoming smarter.They want real films and not thefairytale variety.
The film portrays the relation-ship between Nandita and Sanjeevand the ups and downs that everyfamily goes through which wouldhelp the audience to connect to iteasily. Mrunal’s role is of a feistygirl. She says, “I have never playedsomeone like her before. In LoveSonia, I played a victim, in Super30, I was a girl next door and thischaracter gives out the signal,‘don’t mess with me’ and has ananswer to every question someoneasks. It is different.” She feels thatdoing such a role is important asit takes her into a different zonebreaking the monotony.
But she agrees on the point thatany new role holds new challengesand says, “There was a scenewhere I had to operate the revolverand it had to look effortless. I hadto dismantle and rearrange it with-out looking at it. It was tough. Addto it, that my skin got caught in it.Moreover, it is difficult to say thedialogues and operate a revolversimultaneously. I had only readabout it in magazines and hadnever thought that I would be load-ing bullets.”
As someone who is friendly,acting firm and bold was anotherchallenge. She shares that becauseshe is a Maharashtrian, her Hindihas a trace of an accent which shehad to be careful to avoid as whenan anchor reads the news, it has tohave clear intonation and properpunctuation without the deliverylooking forced. She tripped on
words like Mujahideen, prejudiceand more, which were difficult topronounce in one go.
As a small screen actor, she canclearly differentiate between thetwo media. She says that thepreparation time is higher in filmsand actors get at least six monthsto delve into any character where-as in TV, they get only two to threeminutes to read a script beforegoing live. But then, one getscomfortable in their TV characters.Mrunal says, “Bulbul knows whatto do but Nandita is dependent onthe director. He needs to lead mebecause that’s new to me. It’s veryfascinating to do both simultane-ously.”
However, it is the newest kid-on-the-block, digital media, wherepath-breaking content is reallybeing seen. She is working on aweb series because she wants to setan example that actors should notrestrict themselves to a singleplatform. She says, “Do what fas-cinates you. The medium shouldnot matter. But I don’t see that hap-pening.” Talking about the peoplein the West, she says that there areactors who are doing series likeFriends and then films too. Sheagrees to the fact that things arechanging as we don’t have stereo-types anymore.
There are films which leave theaudience with thought-provokingideas. Mrunal loves to do those asshe feels they become a part of thehistory. She recalls how her film,Love Sonia, which talked about sextrade, changed the laws because ofthe screenings in New York. Shesays excitedly, “Imagine, one filmcan change so many lives!”
She is also an example of theeffect that films can have. Sharingher personal experience, she says3 Idiots changed her career. Afterwatching that film she paid moreattention to what she wanted to doin life. She feels that such filmswould always be remembered bythe audience. “Art is somethingthat stays alive even after you aredead, I would love to live throughmy work,” she adds.
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Bollywood no more confines itself toentertainment and masala films but
rather more arthouse and realistic cin-ema. And the films that have won 66thNational Film Awards makes it quiteevident. Andhadhun, Uri: The SurgicalStrike, Badhaai Ho, and Gujarati filmHellaro bagged the best film honour.Directed by Abhishek Shah, the filmis set in Gujarat’s Kutch region andexplores the theme of women empow-erment. The film also bagged the spe-cial jury award shared by its 13 lead-ing ladies.
Of the top three national awards,Uri: The Surgical Strike won AdityaDhar a best director award for hisdebut film and Vicky Kaushal the bestactor, a laurel he shared withAyushmann Khuranna for his role inAndhadhun.
Keerthy Suresh won the bestactress award for her role as yesteryearTelugu star Savitri in biopic Mahanati.The film was also recognised for itscostumes.
Ayushmann and Vicky, whoshared the best actor award, are knownfor their unconventional choices.Ayushmann plays a seemingly blindpianist in Andhadhun, a criticallyacclaimed thriller, while Vicky portraysan Army officer in Uri, which recapsIndia’s surgical strike in September2016 in the wake of a terror attack onan army base in Uri. Dhar dedicatedhis best director to “each and everybrave soldier” in the country. The filmalso won the best music directoraward (background music) forShashwat Sachdev and sound design.
Acknowledging his best actoraward, Ayushmann said, “I have alwaystried to back disruptive content thatstands out for its quality content.Today’s honour is a validation of myhard work, belief system, my journeyin films and my reason to be an actorin the first place.” Andhadhun also wonawards for the best Hindi film and bestadapted screenplay.
Vicky admitted that he was tooexcited to describe how he felt. “Wordsmight fall short to describe the happi-ness I am feeling right now. For mywork to be recognised by the hon-ourable jury is truly a moving momentfor me and my family,” he said.
Director Sriram Raghavan, who iscurrently in Melbourne for the IndianFilm Festival of Melbourne (IFFM),said he was happy to see his film getrecognised by the National Film Awardjury.
“I was actually in the middle of a
screening (of Andhadhun) inMelbourne. It is just great and I canthank enough. Tabu is also here, shecalled me and said, ‘We got it’. I’m justchuffed right now,” Raghavan said.Ayushmann also expressed happinessover the wins registered by Badhaai Ho,a film about a family dealing with anunexpected pregnancy, which wasadjudged the best popular film provid-ing wholesome entertainment. Veteranactor, Surekha Sikri was named the bestsupporting actress for her role of a can-tankerous but lovable matriarch.
Akshay Kumar-starrer Padmanwas named best film on social issues.Padmaavat, which faced many hurdlesduring its release, walked away withbest choreography for Ghoomer andthe best music director award (songs)for filmmaker Sanjay Leela Bhansali.Arijit Singh was named best male play-back singer for Binte Dil from the film.
Bhansali said that it was a bigmoment for him, as music has alwaysbeen a huge part of his creativeendeavours and something that kepthim sane during the many controver-sies that Padmaavat faced.
“Any recognition, especially com-ing from the government, means a lot.It is a pat on my back. I madePadmaavat through a lot of chaos andtrouble. Every time we went throughany stress, I used to go to the studio andmake a song. I make my music with somuch love,” Bhansali said.
The best female playback singeraward went to Bindhu Malini forMaayavi Manave from Nathicharami,which also bagged the award for bestlyrics, best editing and best Kannadafilm.
Singer-lyricist Swanand Kirkirewon the best supporting actor awardfor Marathi film Chumbak, which hesaid was an unexpected surprise.
“I am on top of the world. I couldnot have imagined getting the bestactor award, it’s incredible andabsolutely humbling,” Kirkire said.
Rima Das, whose last featureVillage Rockstars was the best film of2017, registered yet another win withher follow up Bulbul Can Sing baggingthe best Assamese film honour.
Kashmir-set drama Hamid wasnamed the best Urdu film while itschild actor Talha Arshad Reshi sharedthe best child actor award with threeother children.
Telugu film Chi Arjun La Sow wonthe best original screenplay award forits take on arranged marriages.Kannada film KGF won best actiondirection and shared the special effectsrecognition with Telugu film Awe,which also bagged the award for makeup.
Marathi film Paani, backed byPriyanka Chopra’s production banner,won the award for best film on envi-ronment conservation and preserva-tion. Kannada film Sarkari HiriyaPrathamika Shale Kasargodu wasdeclared the best children’s film. Thebest cinematography award went toMalayalam movie Olu.
In language categories, the winnerswere Reva (Gujarati), Harjeeta(Punjabi), Amori (Konkani),“Mahanati” (Telugu), Sudani fromNigeria (Malayalam), Ek Je Chhilo Raja(Bengali) Baaram (Tamil), Bhonga(Marathi), Ma’ama (Garo), Mishing(Sherdukpan), In the Land of PoisonWomen (Pangchenpa) and Turtle(Rajasthani).
Special mention was shared amongNathicharami actor Sruthi Hariharan,Kadak star Chandrachoor Rai, Josephstar Joju George and Sudani fromNigeria actor Savithri.
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The fascination for real-life sto-ries has been trending for long
now. It’s more about realistic gen-res like biopics and real-life events.Realism has become a recurrenttheme today. Thanks to the cre-ators, who have been bringinginteresting and compelling truestories on the screen. From themusical tale of Fosse and Verdonto the story of Pablo Escobarbecoming a global drug lord,biopics have time and again provedto be better than fiction.
With so many good options tochoose from, it’s a dilemma todecide what to watch and what toditch. Here is a list of top fivebiopics on television which areworth a watch.
����������The musical drama revolves
around the true story of the super-talented yet complicated duo ofBob Fosse and Gwen Verdon. Oneis a visionary and perfectionistchoreographer, and the other is thebest broadway dancer of all times.Their interdependent relationshipgot them many awards and recog-nitions, including Oscars, Emmys,and Tony Awards. The titular char-acters have been portrayed bySam Rockwell and MichelleWilliams. The musical miniseries
has all that it takes to be on the topof your binge list. Fosse/Verdonairs on Star World from Mondayto Friday at 10 pm.
���� ����� ��������If you are someone driven by
unsolved murders and serialkillers, this series has to be onyour binge list. The critically-acclaimed anthology brings com-pletely unexpected things in everyepisode. Created by the GoldenGlobe award-winners ScottAlexander, Larry Karaszewski andthe primetime Emmy winner TomRob Smith, the series unfoldssome really dark and disturbingreal-life criminal cases that willleave you with thought-provokingideas. It is now streaming onHotstar.
�����The biopic of the drug lord,
Pablo Escobar will remain a clas-sic for a long time. The story gives
an insight into the history of drugtrafficking. One of the amazingtools used in the series is thearchival footage that makes ustruly believe in the reality of thestory. The sensational portrayal ofPablo Escobar by Wagner Mouraalmost seems effortless. It isstreaming on Netflix.
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The Primetime Emmy andBAFTA-winner series follows thereal-life story of the genius DaVinci and his early days inFlorence. The story revolvesaround the time when he was ayoung artist and an inventor. Theshow is created by David S Goyer,the writer of Nolan’s Blockbuster,Batman trilogy and director PeterHoar, the fame behind hit shows
like Altered Carbon, Daredevil,Doctor Who and The UmbrellaAcademy. The show is a must-watch for all those who are desper-ately wanting to commit to anadventurous series that bringssomething new with each episode.It could be streamed on Hulu.
����������Packed with action and adven-
ture in every episode, the series isa treat to watch. Based on the storyof the gladiator — Spartacus, wholed the rebellion against theRomans, the show magnifies hisjourney. The award-winning serieshas received a lot of appreciationand recognition for its contempla-tive and layered storytelling. As theplot progresses, the story celebratesthe human struggle and brother-hood above everything. Its castingand choreographed fighting sceneskeep the audience invested in thestory throughout. The series isstreaming on Netflix.
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‘MEDIUM SHOULD NOT MATTER’
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Right-arm pacer JoshHazlewood reckons in abid to level the Ashes,
England will be tempted toexplore options that are infavour of the bowlers duringthe Lord’s Test which in turnmight just play into Australia’shands.
England, who lost the firstAshes Test by 251 runs atEdgbaston, would be desper-ate to make a comeback in thefive-match series when thetwo teams meet at the Homeof Cricket from August 14.
In the Edgbaston Test,
Steve Smith proved to beEngland’s nemesis as hescored hundred in both theinnings and made sureAustralia came from 122-8 inthe first innings to register abig win in Birmingham.
Thus, England might beforced to provide pacer friend-ly conditions which, accordingto Hazlewood, can prove to becounter-productive for thehosts.
“I think there’ll be a littlebit more in it (at Lord’s), butin saying that, probably theirbest exponent Jimmy’s notgoing to play. So that mightweigh up different options,
but I think there’ll be more init, maybe just to try to getSmithy out,” Hazlewood wasquoted as saying bycricket.com.au.
“But him batting on thosesort of tracks is very hardwork. I think it suits us asmuch as them if there is morein the wicket, so we’ll weigh itup,” he added.
According to Hazlewood,the Australia selectors havecovered all bases with thepace options they have pickedfor this series and would beready to pace on any kind ofwicket which will be on offerin the second Test.
“If it’s a dry wicket wherereverse swing might comeinto play, or it’s a very flat,then someone like Mitch Starccan come into play,” saidHazlewood.
“If it’s nice and green andseaming around, then it’smyself and Sidds (PeterSiddle). I think they (theselectors) have definitely gonea different way to 2015 and Ithink that’s purely because ofhow tight the Tests are (sched-uled).
“That’s why we’ve got six(quicks) here and any one cando a job on any given day.We’ve got three guys withproper air speed and threeguys who seam and swing alittle bit. I think that’s whatthey (selectors) have got sixquicks for, to have all basescovered. And I guess it’s justwho’s bowling best at thatparticular time leading intothe Test, and who gets thenod. I think every quick real-ly feels the pressure of theother five and vice versa, andits great competition to havein the squad,” he added.
Tim Paine went in withthe pace trio of Pat Cummins,James Pattinson and PeterSiddle for the opening Testand the three quicks picked up11 wickets during Australia’swin which saw them go 1-0 upin the series.
Hazlewood, Mitchell Starcand Michael Neser, who didnot feature in Birmingham,however, provided a sneakpeek into what they can offeras they three of them pickingseven wickets between themduring the practice gameagainst Worcestershire.
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World Cup-winner Jofra Archer is inline to make his eagerly-awaited
Test debut after being included inEngland’s 12-man squad for next week’ssecond Ashes Test against Australia atLord’s, while Moeen Ali was left out onFriday.
Fast bowler Archer could replaceJames Anderson after England’s all-time leading wicket-taker was ruled outwith a calf injury that restricted him tosending down just four overs in a 251-run first-Test defeat at Edgbaston.
Archer missed that match becauseof a side problem but has since provedhis fitness in a second-team fixture forcounty side Sussex againstGloucestershire, taking 6-27 and hittinga quick-fire century.
England also have another seam-bowling option in Surrey left-armer SamCurran.
Meanwhile, off-spinner Moeen hasbeen dropped, with left-armer JackLeach recalled into the squad ahead ofWednesday’s start at Lord’s.
Moeen was omitted after a miserablematch at Edgbaston.
The 32-year-old all-rounder onlymanaged returns of 1-42 and 2-130 withthe ball, while scoring just four runs inthe match — including a first-inningsduck.
His second-innings bowling displaywas particularly concerning, with Moeenoffering neither control or persistentwicket-taking on a wearing pitch favour-ing spinners and even bowling a coupleof head-high beamers.
And both times he batted he was dis-missed by Australia off-spinner NathanLyon, who has now claimed Moeen’swicket nine times in 11 innings.
Somerset’s Leach played his last Testagainst Ireland at Lord’s a fortnight agowhen the nightwatchman made a career-best 92 — an innings that helped set upan England victory and won him theman-of-the-match award.
England’s middle-order trio of JoeDenly, Jos Buttler and Jonny Bairstow allhad poor returns with the bat atEdgbaston, with wicketkeeper Bairstowalso untidy behind the stumps.
But all three have retained their
places in the squad, although Denly’sposition at number four had been calledinto question following scores of 18 and11 in Birmingham.
2������.�����.��Australia great Shane Warne believes
Jofra Archer could be the man to stopSteve Smith’s Ashes run-spree as “no onelikes to face tall 90 mph (145 kph)bowlers”.
World Cup-winner Archer is set tomake his Test debut at Lord’s nextweek.
Australia batting star Smith made144 and 142 in a 251-run win for the vis-itors in the opener at Edgbaston duringa superb return to Test cricket followinga 12-month ban for his role in a ball-tam-pering scandal.
Warne believes Archer’s extra pace,as well as the knowledge gained fromplaying alongside Smith for theRajasthan Royals in the Indian PremierLeague, will stand him in good stead ifhe is selected.
“Steve (Smith) has been the star ofthe show so far but now we have Jofrajoining his Royals (and England) team-mates Ben Stokes and Jos Buttler,”Warne, a former Rajasthan player turnedbrand ambassador for the Twenty20franchise team, said Friday after Archerwas named in England’s 12-man squad.
Former leg-spinner Warne, the sec-ond-most successful bowler in Test his-tory with 708 wickets, added: “ObviouslyI would love to see Steve go on and scorea hundred in every single innings for therest of the Ashes but with Jofra comingin I think he’ll be set to face his biggestchallenge yet and this could make the dif-ference in the upcoming Tests.
“No one likes to face tall 90 mphbowlers.”
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Former India cricketer VVSLaxman on Thursday voiced
his opinion for the inclusion ofall-rounder Krunal Pandya inIndia’s one-day internationalsquad.
In his column for the Timesof India, Laxman said: “Theolder Pandya is street-smartand canny, capable of thinkingon his feet. I would love to seehim get more opportunities in50-over cricket too because Ibelieve he can slot in at the No6 position and can offer a fullcomplement of 10 overs.”
“The man of the matchawards (in the three T20s againstthe West Indies) went toNavdeep Saini, Krunal Pandyaand Deepak Chahar, which istestament to the Indian systemthat prepares players for therigours and challenges of theinternational arena. Most heart-eningly, these players believed inthemselves and played to theirstrengths. Saini is an expresspace bowler, and that’s exactlyhow he bowled,” the former bat-ting great added.
Laxman further said that therise of young talents will help inremoving pressure from seniorssuch as Jasprit Bumrah andBhuvneshwar Kumar as theyhave been playing regular crick-et.
“It’s not fair or wise to relyonly on Jasprit Bumrah orBhuvneshwar Kumar to do the
job all the time. What this serieshas proved is that India haveother weapons in their arsenal.But these players need to playmore games so that they growinto their roles, become com-fortable and therefore attain theconsistency that they are capa-ble of,” Laxman said.
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Rain played spoilsport asthe first One-Day
International between Indiaand the West Indies was calledoff after the home side scored54 for one in 13 overs here.
The stop-start match,which was reduced to 34-over-a-side, was abandoned after asecond rain interruption. Afterwaiting for more than an hourand a half, the umpires wereforced to call off the match onThursday.
Opener Evin Lewis andShai Hope were batting on 40and 6 respectively when thematch was called off afterIndian captain Virat Kohli won
the toss and asked the WestIndies to bat.
The other opener ChrisGayle was out in the 11th overafter scoring 4 off 31 deliveriesin an agonisingly slow knock.He had come into the match 12runs short of Brian Lara’s10,405 ODI runs, the most bya West Indies batsman.
The match was alreadyreduced to 43-over-a side con-test even before a ball wasbowled as wet outfield due torains had forced the toss to bedelayed. The match began twohours later from its scheduledstart.
The home side had scored9 for no loss in 5.4 overs at thefirst rain break. The match was
about to be resumed 30 min-utes later but wet area near thebowlers’ run-up led to anoth-er delay of more than half anhour.
The umpires made anoth-er inspection and after morethan an hour’s interruption, thematch resumed for a 34-over-a-side affair.
Kuldeep gave India thebreakthrough as he dismisseddangerman Gayle who draggedthe ball onto his stumps. Hopecame in two overs later, butrains also came back to forcethe players to the dressingroom once again.
The second one-dayer willbe played in Port of Spain onSunday.
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Start-stop matches are the“worst” thing in cricket and canlead to injuries, a frustratedIndia skipper Virat Kohli saidafter their series-opener waswashed out on Thursday.
“It’s probably the worstthing in cricket, the start-stopgame. The more stops youhave, the more you have to becareful about injuries on thefield. Some of the pitches canreally test you,” Kohli said afterthe match was called off.
Asked about the challengesof playing in the Caribbean,Kohli said while “some pitch-es offer good pace and bounce,others could be on the slowerside”.
“So you have to assessthem and play accordingly,” theIndian captain said.
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Senior New Zealand playerRoss Taylor has said that
players from his country havebenefited immensely by rub-bing shoulders with the bestplayers in world cricket and“picking the brains” in theIndian Premier League (IPL).
“I have been fortunate toplay for a few teams (in theIPL) and play with great play-ers. I think, there has been anaura around Australia, SouthAfrica and a few of theseteams. I think IPL helpedNew Zealand cricket sort ofbridge that gap a little bit(between players),” Taylorsaid.
“Once you know theseplayers....You are picking theirbrains and you are watchingthem train and that has helpedNew Zealand cricketimmensely.
“Players who have playedover there and (who will playin) years to come will benefit byrubbing shoulders with bestplayers in the world,” elaborat-
ed Taylor.Taylor has been part of
various IPL franchises includ-ing Pune
Warriors,
Rajasthan Royals and RoyalChallengers Bangalore.
Describing Sri Lanka as atough place to play, Taylor, aveteran of 92 Tests, said he waslooking forward to the two-Testseries beginning in Galle fromAugust 14.
“They (Sri Lanka) knowthe conditions very well andplay very well in these condi-tions. And upsetting SouthAfrica at home would givethem a lot of confidence. Theyare also looking to play the(ICC) Test Championship. SriLanka is genuinely a toughplace to play cricket in,” Taylorsaid.
Sri Lanka trounced SouthAfrica 2-0 at home a year ago.
Taylor also said that withthe advent of ICC Test cham-pionships, there is now a “con-text” and meaning for everygame and not just high-profileclashes like the Ashes.
“Obviously there are namesand number on the back (of thejerseys, like in ODIs). (There is)context (and) there is some-thing on every game. Andsomeone else mentioned tome the other day is you prob-ably take note of other Test
series a lot morenow than youwould have (than)just following thebig series (like)Ashes,” the right-handed batsmansaid.
After a heart-breaking loss in the
World Cup final, Kiwisare taking to the field for
the first time.“It is nice to get into a new
format (Test, after the WorldCup) and it is exciting to playthe Test Championship. Notonly that, a few players arecoming into the Test squad, sothey brings fresh vibes in theteam and I am sure they arelooking forward to get into thehot and humid conditions ofSri Lanka,” he signed off.
�� �� &/��/�
Giovani Lo Celso, the "littlemonkey" to his team-mates
and once the "ruby ofArgentinian football", became onThursday the next great hope forTottenham and MauricioPochettino.
Only a few years ago, apale-faced teenager fromRosario with a wand of a left footwas being circled as the mostexciting talent since Lionel Messito come out of Argentina.
Real Betis could receive upto 60 million euros if the trans-fer is made permanent but a 16-million-euro deal for a one-yearloan first allows Spurs a closerlook at one of the world's mostexhilarating creative players.
As a youngster, Pablo Aimarand Juan Roman Riquelme werethe ones Lo Celso was told toimitate by his mentor, JorgeGriffa, the former AtleticoMadrid and Espanyol player,whose prestigious academy hejoined aged 12 in 2008.
Griffa had helped nurturethe likes of Gabriel Batistuta,Carlos Tevez and MaxiRodriguez, as well as a youngPochettino, whose own fledglingcareer began with Griffa knock-ing on his door and persuadinghim to sign for Newell's OldBoys.
Lo Celso grew up in theneighbourhood of Sarmiento, 15miles away from Pochettino'shome town of Murphy, but it wasrivals Rosario Central, notNewell's, whom he signed for in2010.
Central was the team LoCelso had supported, served asa mascot and then watched as aball-boy inside El Gigante deArroyito. Everton were amongthose to make an early approachyet Lo Celso's father, who gavehim his nickname 'Monito', 'thelittle monkey', told him to stayand in 2015, his 19-year-old sonmade his senior debut.
"I lived five blocks from thestadium," Lo Celso said in 2016."Playing with the first team wasa dream come true."
His idol is another left-foot-er from Rosario, not Messi, butAngel Di Maria, whose parentsare family friends.
"I like him a lot because heis so dynamic," Lo Celso said."He's a winger that threatens thegoal, who assists his teammates,and who is very difficult to getthe ball off."
By 2016, the pressure onCentral to sell was too much, theonly doubt his price and desti-nation.
"He is the new ruby ofArgentine football," wrote ElGrafico. "He is the most talent-ed player in Argentina," saidCentral vice-president RicardoCarloni.
Paris Saint-Germain agreedand coach Unai Emery wasimpressed too, not just by LoCelso's attacking prowess but hisapplication and hunger.
"He is an example for every-one," Emery said. "He workswith tenacity and humility."
Neymar, Kylian Mbappeand Edinson Cavani meantopportunities up front would belimited but Emery was con-vinced Lo Celso's passing andenergy could be used in midfield,where he tried him as a playmak-ing pivot.
The experiment broughtmixed results and ended with achastening Champions Leaguedefeat away at Real Madrid, forwhich Lo Celso's drifting perfor-mance was blamed. "Out ofplace and overwhelmed, he wasa drag on his team," wroteDiario Sport.
Emery was sacked andwhen Thomas Tuchel replacedhim, Lo Celso fell out of favour.With six goals and nine assists in54 games, he took the chance fora fresh start last season at Betis.
It worked, their free-flowingstyle under Setien suiting him,as did a more advanced, centralposition behind the strikers.There were 14 goals in 39 gamesand a string of dazzling displays,marked by driving runs, danc-ing feet, lofted through-ballsand bending shots into the cor-ner.
�� �� &/��/�
Ilkay Gundogan, Pep Guardiola'sfirst signing as Manchester City
manager in 2016, signed a threeyear contract extension with thePremier League champions onFriday the club announced.
The 28-year-old Germaninternational midfielder -- whowas entering the final year of hispresent contract and will now betied to the club to 2023 -- playeda pivotal role in City landing adomestic treble last term havingalso impressed in their 2018 titlewinning campaign.
"Ilkay's new deal is moreexcellent news for our Club,"City's director of football TxikiBegiristain told the club website.
"He has shown howimportant he is to the teamand has played a huge part ineverything that we haveachieved so far.
"We are thrilled he hascommitted his long-termfuture to Manchester City."Gundogan, who cost Cityaround ?20 million whenthey signed him fromBorussia Dortmund, saidhe was looking forward tomore success with City.
"I have hugely enjoyed thelast three years here at City andeveryone at the Club hashelped make me feel at homefrom my very first day," he said.
"I think we have played somegreat football over the past fewseasons and have enjoyed a lot ofsuccess.
"It's a pleasure to be a part ofthe Club and I'm really excitedabout what we can go on toachieve in the next few seasons."
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Arsenal significantly bolsteredtheir defence in the final hours
of the Premier League transferwindow by completing the signingsof Kieran Tierney and David Luizon Thursday.
Scotland international Tierneyhad been a target all summer for theGunners and agreement of thepayment structure of his £25 mil-lion ($30 million) move from Celticwas eventually agreed onWednesday night.
“It was the hardest decision inmy whole life that I’ve had tomake. I had to speak to my family
and my close friends and my agentas well because it’s a hard decisionto leave a club that you love somuch,” said Tierney.
“I feel Arsenal is a massive cluband it’s a great opportunity for meas well. I’m delighted to be here.”
Brazilian centre-back Luiz’s £8million move across London isexpected to fill the void left by for-mer captain Laurent Koscielny’sacrimonious departure to Bordeauxearlier this week.
“David has huge experienceand I look forward to workingwith him again. He is a wellknown player and adds to ourdefensive strength,” said Arsenal
boss Unai Emery.Arsenal conceded 51 goals in
the Premier League last season tomiss out on Champions Leaguefootball for a third consecutiveseason.
The double swoop would com-plete an impressive window forArsenal despite missing out on theriches of the Champions League.
A club record £72 million wassplashed on Nicolas Pepe from Lilleto complete an exciting trio ofattacking talent alongside Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang andAlexandre Lacazette.
Emery’s midfield optionswere also boosted by the loan sign-
ing of Dani Ceballos from RealMadrid.
Iwobi joins EvertonEverton sealed the deadline-
day signing of Arsenal forward AlexIwobi on Thursday for a reportedfee of £28 million ($40 million),completing a busy transfer windowfor the club.
Nigeria international Iwobipenned a five-year deal which wasonly announced more than fourhours after the transfer deadline of1700 local time (1600 GMT).
The 23-year-old, capped 36times by Nigeria, scored 15 goals in149 appearances for Arsenal after
making his first-team debut in2015.
“He is still young but alreadywith a lot of top-level experience —100 Premier League matches, morein Europe and many internationalgames,” said Everton managerMarco Silva.
Iwobi is the seventh new arrivalat Goodison Park in the close sea-son, following Italy striker MoiseKean — who joined from Serie Achampions Juventus for 27.5 millioneuros ($31m, £25m) — right-backDjibril Sidibe, midfielders AndreGomes, Fabian Delph and Jean-Philippe Gbamin, as well as goal-keeper Jonas Lossl.
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Serena Williams and Japan’sNaomi Osaka booked a
rematch of last year’s US Openfinal in the WTA Toronto quar-ter-finals after straight-set tri-umphs on Thursday.
Reigning US andAustralian Open championOsaka broke at love in thefinal game to defeat Polishteen Iga Swiatek 7-6 (7/4), 6-4after one hour and 51 minutes.
World number 10 Williamswas broken twice and droppedthe first three games in 10minutes then battled back todefeat Russia’s 48th-rankedEkaterina Alexandrova 7-5, 6-4 in 91 minutes.
That set the stage forWilliams, a 37-year-old
American who will tryfor a record-
tying 24th Grand Slam singlestitle at the upcoming US Open,to face Osaka on Friday.
“I’ve been actually lookingforward to playing her for awhile,” Williams said. “She hashad a great year early in the sea-son and she’s still doing prettygood.”
It will be their first matchsince the controversial finish totheir Grand Slam showdownlast year in New York.
The 21-year-old Japanesestar defeated her childhoodidol 6-2, 6-4 in last year’s USOpen final, a match marred by
an on-court dispute betweenWilliams and the umpirethat led to a game penaltyagainst Williams.
Osaka was booed bysome fans during the
awards cer-emony
a n d
l a t e rdubbed what
should have been her momentof glory “a little bittersweet.”
“I guess I’ll treat it like aregular quarterfinal, but I
haven’t been in a quarterfinal ina while,” Osaka said after win-ning on Thursday.
“I’m just really excited. Igrew up watching her, so when-ever I get the opportunity toplay her, it’s something I feel isa once-in-a-lifetime opportuni-
ty.“And it feels more like I’m
showcasing my skills to her,like, ‘Look what I can do?’ Youknow what I mean?
“So I go into the matcheswith that mentality. And justsuper grateful to get the chanceto play her.”
��������.��������%Czech third seed Karolina
Pliskova kept the pressure onOsaka in the battle to take theworld number one ranking byalso reaching the quarter-finals.
Pliskova eliminatedEstonia’s Anett Kontaveit 6-3, 7-5 to set up a last-eight clashwith rising Canadian starBianca Andreescu, who outlast-ed fifth-seeded DutchwomanKiki Bertens 6-1, 6-7 (7/9), 6-4.
Pliskova, 27, must reach thefinal to have any chance of tak-ing the top spot next week forthe first time since 2017.Otherwise, Osaka will claim thenumber one berth.
French Open championAshleigh Barty’s stint as theworld’s top-ranked player wasassured of ending after shewas knocked out on Tuesday.
Defending champion andfourth seed Simona Halep ofRomania, coming off aWimbledon title last month,beat Russia’s SvetlanaKuznetsova 6-2, 6-1 to book aquarter-final against Czechqualifier Marie Bouzkova, whoousted Latvia’s JelenaOstapenko 6-2, 6-2.
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Rafael Nadal stepped closer to arecord 35th Masters 1000 titleon Thursday, dispatching
Argentina’s Guido Pella 6-3, 6-4Thursday to power into the ATPMontreal quarter-finals.
The Spanish world number twohas now notched the most wins in theelite series, with his 379th Masters vic-tory surpassing Roger Federer byone.
Nadal, an 18-time Grand Slamsingles champion, could add anotherMasters footnote to his epic resume ifhe successfully defends his Canadiancrown for the all-time trophy mark.
He ended the evening with an aceout wide on his fourth match point,moving into his ninth Canadian quar-ter-final.
Nadal will play Friday for a smei-final berth against Italy’s Fabio Fogniniafter the seventh seed beat France’sAdrian Mannarino 6-2, 7-5.
Dominic Thiem reached the lasteight by defeating Croatia’s Marin Cilic7-6 (9/7), 6-4, the Austrian’s secondvictory in two days after waiting fiveyears to break his duck in Canada.
Second seed Thiem, who oustedhome hope Denis Shapovalov onWednesday, faced two break points inthe final game against the 2014 USOpen champion before securing thetriumph on a third match point.
“I’m so happy with the two wins,”he said after his 31st victory of the sea-son. “I beat two amazing players.
“I’ve really had a great transitionfrom a good confidence in theEuropean summer.”
Thiem came to Canada after win-ning the Kitzbuhel clay court title athome last weekend.
�������B�The world number four booked a
last-eight clash on Friday againsteighth seed Daniil Medvedev, whoeased past unseeded Christian Garin
of Chile 6-3, 6-3.Thiem beat the Russian in April
to win the Barcelona title.“He’s having a great season, play-
ing unbelievable, solid tennis everyweek. It’s going to be very, very toughmatch.
“Barcelona was of course in myfavour because it’s clay. We had a great,close match in St Petersburg, whichwas a very high level.
“I’ll try to watch that one again,see what I did great there, and try toplay similar tomorrow.”
Medvedev beat Garin in 69 min-utes, breaking the South Americanfour times.
4����������Third seed Alexander Zverev took
some quick revenge by beatingNikoloz Basilashvili 7-5, 5-7, 7-6(7/5) only 12 days after the Germanlost to the Georgian in Hamburg.
Zvereva, the 2017 Montreal win-ner who remains undefeated in the
city, destroyed a racquetin frustration andalmost lost hisway in the finalset.
Up a break,he sent over a
10th double-fault tolose serve, 4-4. Only a
winning tie-breaker sal-vaged the victory and set up a
last-eight clash with KarenKhachanov.
The Russian sixth seed earned hisspot by ousting Canadian FelixAuger-Aliassime on the youngster’s19th birthday — he shares onewith Roger Federer, now 38.
Khachanov administered a6-7 (7/9), 7-5, 6-3 victorythen apologized to the crowdafter taking out the lastCanadian, but said hethought he got a raw dealfrom Canadian partisans.
Also advancing to alast-eight meeting wereFrance’s Gael Monfils,who beat Poland’s Hubert Hurkacz6-4, 6-0, and Spanish 10th seedRoberto Bautista Agut, who dis-patched Frenchman RichardGasquet 7-5, 7-5.
�� �� &/��/��
Kevin De Bruyne can’t wait to playa key role in Manchester City’s bid
for a third successive Premier Leaguetitle as the Belgian star finally returnsto peak form and fitness.
Pep Guardiola’s side start their titledefence at West Ham on Saturday withDe Bruyne providing a reassuring pres-ence for the champions.
City have bolstered their treble-winning squad with the 62 millionpounds club record signing of AtleticoMadrid midfielder Rodri, while alsoadding accomplished Juventus full-back Joao Cancelo.
But the prospect of De Bruyne dri-ving City forward from midfield is amouthwatering prospect for Guardiola.
The 28-year-old was an influentialfigure in City’s 2017-18 PremierLeague title triumph, but he hadonly a bit-part role in last sea-son’s domestic dominance due toknee and muscular injuries.
De Bruyne made just 22starts in all competitions beforereturning to prove he was still aforce to be reckoned with bywinning the man of the matchaward in City’s FA Cup finalthrashing of Watford.
He is confident those injuryissues are behind him after proving tobe one of the stand-out players duringCity’s pre-season tour.
With De Bruyne back in their line-up, City look more formidable thanever — quite a feat after they amassed198 points over their last two PremierLeague title-winning seasons.
If they can retain the crown, Citywill become only the fifth team in thehistory of English football to clinchthree consecutive top-flight titles,after Huddersfield, Arsenal, Liverpool
and Manchester United (twice).But Liverpool seem cer-
tain to push City all the wayonce again after they finishedjust one point behindGuardiola’s team last termand then won the ChampionsLeague. And De Bruyne chal-lenged City to maintain therelentless consistency thatcarried them to last season’stitle with 14 successive leaguewins.
“You don’t need to be better, youneed to be consistent,” De Bruyne said.
“At the end of the year, with all thecompetitions, maybe you don’t need95 or 100 points.
“You need to be just one pointahead of the other ones and whatev-er you need to do, you need to do.
“I think Liverpool will be upthere, but they all will be there. Wehave to be consistent.”
De Bruyne’s return givesGuardiola an embarrassment of rich-
es in midfield, with Spain internation-al Rodri likely to fill the holding rolewhile the Belgian and David Silvaswarm forward.
“I think he’s the perfect defensivemidfielder for the way we want toplay,” De Bruyne said of Rodri.
Leroy Sane’s long-term absencewith anterior cruciate ligament dam-age suffered in last weekend’sCommunity Shield against Liverpoolis a blow, but City have more thanenough depth to prosper without theGermany winger.
Another benefit of De Bruyne’sreturn is his ability to fill the void leftby the close-season departure of clubcaptain Vincent Kompany.
Kompany’s decision to joinAnderlecht as player-managerstripped City of their most experi-enced leader.
David Silva started theCommunity Shield as captain beforethe vocal De Bruyne took over whenthe Spaniard went off.
�� ���+(&*�
Romelu Lukaku said on Friday that having thechance to play for Antonio Conte drove him
to join Inter Milan, hailing the Italian as the world’sbest coach after arriving from Manchester United.
Asked by club media how the arrival of for-mer Italy boss Conte at Inter this summer hadinfluenced his decision to move to Serie A, hereplied “a lot... he’s the best manager in the world”.
“He’s somebody that can make players bet-ter all the time. You can see his record,” saidLukaku.
Conte has been a long-time admirer ofLukaku and tried to sign him for Chelsea beforethe Belgian’s move from Everton to United in 2017.
The 26-year-old completed his long-awaitedmove to Inter on Thursday, joining a club withambitions of breaking fierce rival Juventus’ stran-glehold on domestic honours.
Belgium’s all-time top scorer with 48 goals,he will be at the centre of Inter’s attack, takingthe number 9 shirt away from former club cap-tain Mauro Icardi after the Argentina interna-tional was frozen out last season following a bit-ter and public contract row.
He hadn’t played a single minute in United’spre-season campaign after being sidelined by OleGunnar Solskjaer despite scoring 42 times in allcompetitions while at Old Trafford.
“I think Inter is a club with a lot of upsides.I think for me it was something I needed,”Lukaku said.
“I needed a challenge where I could help ateam build for the future. For me, everything ispresent here to help me and I wish I can helpmy teammates with my hard work dedicationto the game.”
Milan-based Gazzetta Dello Sport reportsthat he will earn 8.5 million euros a season atInter, and claims that Inter will pay United aninitial 65 million euros ($73 million) over fiveyears with a further 10 million in potential add-ons, contrasting with reports in Britain that thePremier League club brought in 80 million euros.
They have strengthened a squad that fin-ished fourth in Serie A last season by signingveteran Uruguayan international defenderDiego Godin and promising midfielder NicoloBarella.
�� �� +*��(��
Real Madrid will rival Barcelona in the raceto sign Paris Saint-Germain striker
Neymar this summer, according to reportsin the Spanish press on Friday.
Madrid have shifted focus to Neymarafter the close of the English PremierLeague’s transfer window on Thursdayended their hopes of signing ManchesterUnited midfielder Paul Pogba.
According to Marca, Neymar has“returned to the scene” with the club “believ-ing for some time that the team is lacking abig star up front”.
Sports newspaper AS claims the Brazilianhas been offered to Madrid by PSG, who areopen to selling if they can either recoup the222 million euros they spent on himin 2017 or receive half thatamount, with playersincluded in the deal.
It means La Liga’s twogreatest rivals are set to gohead-to-head in the bat-tle to sign Neymar beforethe Spanish transfer win-dow closes onSeptember 2.
Barcelona newspa-per Mundo Deportivosays the 27-year-old willwait until August 20 forBarcelona to make adecisive move,after which“PSG’s number10 does notrule out anyoption inorder to leavethe Frenchchampions,
where it is clear he does not want to stay anylonger.”
But Mundo adds that “it is clear Neymarwants to play for Barcelona” while DiarioSport agrees, writing that “the winningcard Barca continues to hold is the will ofthe striker to runite with players like LeoMessi and Luis Suarez. With them he has agreat understanding on the pitch and also astrong friendship off it.”
Marca believes Madrid also have factorsin their favour. “Neymar’s priority is not togo to Barcelona. His priority is to leave thePSG,” wrote Marca, also citing their “mag-nificent relationship” with PSG, “quite theopposite” of how the French club viewBarcelona.
Luka Modric is mentioned as a possiblemakeweight while Philippe Coutinho, who
reportedly rejected an offer fromTottenham this week, could be
included in an offer fromBarcelona.
Sport admits whicheverteam signs Neymar will “inflicta blow on their rivals by snatch-ing a star player from theother’s grasp”.
“From now on, it will beNeymar that decides,” Sport
added.“Barcelona want the player
to go public but he under-stands such a move
would be risky. IfBarca and PSG do
not reach anagreement hewould bestuck in theFrench cap-ital for athird year.”
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