RNI Regn. No. MPENG/2004/13703, Regd. No. L-2/BPLON/41 ... · Babu Lal Marandi (JVM), PK...

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A s three newly-elected Congress Chief Ministers took oath of office on Monday in back-to-back ceremonies, Madhya Pradesh CM Kamal Nath announced a major gift for the debt-ridden farmers of the State. Loans of up to 2 lakh of the farmers will be waived with Nath signing a file to the effect within two hours of tak- ing charge. The move follows a promise by Congress presi- dent Rahul Gandhi during the poll campaign. After Nath signed on the file pertaining to waiving off farmers’ loans of up to 2 lakh, Principal Secretary, Farmers’ Welfare and Agriculture Development Department, Rajesh Rajora issued the loan waiver order. The order said: Madhya Pradesh Government has taken a decision to write off short- term crop loan of eligible farm- ers up to the limit of 2 lakh, as on March 31, 2018, from nationalised and cooperative banks. The promise of loan waiver is top priority for the three newly-elected Congress Government. On Sunday, ahead of his oath-taking cere- mony Ashok Gehlot had said that as promised by Rahul Gandhi his Government would act on loan waiver promise with 10 days of Cabinet for- mation. A host of Opposition lead- ers attended the three oath-tak- ing ceremonies of Ashok Gehlot, Kamal Nath and Bhupesh Baghel as Chief Ministers of Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh respec- tively on Monday. However, BSP chief Mayawati, Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee were con- spicuous by their absence. While Congress president Rahul Gandhi attended all the three events, other prominent Opposition leaders who attend- ed the events were former Prime Ministers Manmohan Singh, HD Deve Gowda, Chief Ministers of few States includ- ing Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka, former Jammu & Kashmir Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah, former Union Ministers Sharad Yadav and Sharad Pawar amongst others. The absence of the Mamata, Mayawati and Akhilesh is significant because all three also skipped the unveiling of late DMK patri- arch Karunanidhi’s statute in Chennai on Tuesday. A section of the Opposition is unhappy over the fact that DMK chief Stalin suggested the name of Rahul Gandhi as Prime Minister at the rally in Chennai on Tuesday. Former CMs and Uttar Pradesh rivals Akhilesh Yadav and Mayawati who too were extended the invitations for the swearing-in skipped it though both of them have supported the Congress in the Hindi heartland States. Gehlot, Nath and Baghel’s predecessors — Vasundhara Raje, Shivraj Singh Chouhan, Raman Singh — also attended the swearing-in ceremonies at Jaipur, Bhopal and Raipur, accordingly. Besides Shivraj Singh Chouhan, former CMs of the State Kailash Joshi and Babulal Gaur were also present on the stage. Other prominent leaders who made it to celebrate the Congress’ return to power in Jaipur and a few of them in Bhopal included MK Stalin, Kanimozhi (DMK), Tejashwi Yadav (RJD), Dinesh Trivedi (AITC), Hemant Soren (JMM), Jiten Ram Manjhi (HAM), Babu Lal Marandi (JVM), PK Kunhalikutti (IUML), Badrudin Ajmal (AIUDF), Raju Shetty (Swabhimani Paksha), Sanjay Singh (AAP), Jose K Mani (KCM) and NK Premchandran (RSP). Rahul shared photographs from the swearing-in ceremo- ny and of a bus in Jaipur in which top Opposition leaders were seen sitting with him. I n what could be termed as a major setback to the Indian National Congress, its former Lok Sabha member and senior Delhi Pradesh Congress leader Sajjan Kumar was on Monday convicted and sentenced to life term for “remainder of his nat- ural life” in a 1984 anti-Sikh riots case by a double Bench of the Delhi High Court which said the riots were a “crime against humanity” perpetrated by those who enjoyed “political patronage”. Expressing anguish, the High Court said though it was “undeniable” that it took over three decades to punish the accused in the case, it was important to assure the victims that despite the challenges faced by the court, “truth will prevail and justice will be done”. The case relates to killing of five Sikhs in Raj Nagar part-I area in Palam Colony in South West Delhi on November 1-2, 1984 and burning down of a Gurudwara in Raj Nagar part II. The High Court directed 73-year-old Kumar and other five convicts to surrender by December 31, 2018 and not to leave the city of Delhi. Six accused, including Sajjan Kumar, who was a Member of Parliament at that time, were sent for trial in 2010 and three years later, the lower court had convicted five of the accused but acquitted the Congress leader of all the charges. C hinese investment in India is as low as US $5 billion, but Chinese companies are executing projects of Indian entities pegged at a whopping $63 billion. A parliamentary panel has pointed to this “pro- jects export” by China without “bringing any actual invest- ment” and pushed for an immediate stress on invest- ments by Chinese companies in India. The Committee has also outlined the security implica- tions of Chinese projects say- ing they should be examined with circumspection on a sec- toral basis. The trade deficit between the two countries stand at nearly $52 billion. “While cumulative Chinese investments in India are sub- stantially low at round $5 bil- lion, the value of Indian pro- jects currently executed by Chinese companies is estimat- ed to be as high as $63 billion. China is engaged in project exports in India without bring- ing its own capital for invest- ment. Such a trend is not healthy for the overall growth of Indian economy,” said the parliamentary committee on External Affairs, headed by Congress MP Shashi Tharoor in its report. The report was tabled in the Lok Sabha on Monday. The Committee pointed out that trade deficit with China is totally loaded against India. The factors which is responsible for this include non tariff barriers imposed by China to Indian goods and ser- vices, dumping of goods, lack of genuine investment profile on the part of China, security imperatives are some of the concerns which India faces on the matter. In its report, the Committee recommended that India should persuade Chinese companies to bring more investment into India rather than merely resorting to project exports. “The continuously ris- ing trade deficit which has increased to $52 billion in 2016-17 and is at present $63 billion is unsustainable and requires concrete steps to be taken for redressal,” it said. Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhle, who appeared before the Committee, had submitted that there has always been a dif- ference between the Indian figures and the Chinese cus- toms statistics. “The Chinese calculate the data on calendar basis while India calculates on financial year basis. It is virtu- ally impossible to reconcile the figures. As far as the Indian Government data is concerned in the three previous financial years of 2014-15, 2015-16, 2016-17, the deficit was $48.47 billion, $52.69 billion and $51.09 billion. In each case, the Chinese exports were around $60 billion and the Indian exports were in the range of nine billion to $10 billion. According to the Chinese cus- toms statistics, in that same period for 2014, 2015 and 2016 calendar years, the deficit was $37 billion; $44 billion and $47 billion,” the Foreign Secretary had submitted told the Committee. On the issue of Chinese ease of entry to Indian markets and project exports, the Ministry of External Affairs said the value of projects cur- rently under execution is esti- mated to be $63 billion. So while the cumulative Chinese investments in India are sub- stantially low which is about $5 billion, the project exports are substantial and the Government’s effort has essen- tially been to persuade the Chinese to invest into the country and not to utilise Indian capital by bringing pro- jects into the country. The Committee questioned as to why the Government has not been able to leverage with China the fact of a massive $80 billion market next door as to compel it to bring some degree of equity in the bilateral trade. J ust two days after Congress leaders held a Press confer- ence saying no CAG report on pricing of Rafale jets has been shared with the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), the CAG has sent a draft report on Rafale deal to the Ministry of Defence for its comment. Highly placed sources said that the CAG has asked the Ministry of Defence to revert within four weeks on the draft report. The draft report was sent to the Ministry of Defence two weeks ago. However, the report is unlikely to be tabled in the ongoing Winter Session of the Parliament. The controversy erupted over the CAG report on Rafale ever since the Supreme Court mentioned about this while giving clean chit to the Government. The senior Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge, who is the Public Accounts Committee chairman, accused the Government of misleading the apex court. “The Government lied in the Supreme Court that the CAG report was presented in the House and in the PAC, and PAC has probed it. The Government said in the Supreme Court that it (the report) is in public domain. Where is it? Have you seen it?” Kharge, alleged. C ongress leader Kamal Nath sworn in as the 18th Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh in Bhopal on Monday. Governor Anandiben Patel administered the oath of office to him. Soon after the ceremony, the guests left the venue to attend a sim- ilar programme in Raipur, where Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel was sworn-in. On Friday, the Governor invited Nath to form a gov- ernment. The Congress on Thursday named Nath, the nine-time Lok Sabha member from Chhindwara, to head the State Congress Legislature Party, after hours of hectic parleys held by party president Rahul Gandhi with senior party leaders. Nath, who has held sever- al portfolios in the Union Cabinet, was appointed the Madhya Pradesh Congress Committee president on April 26 and was at the forefront in steering the party to a win in the November 28 Assembly polls. The results were declared on December 11. The Congress, which won 114 seats, has the support of one Samajwadi Party legislator, two Bahujan Samaj Party MLAs and four independents, to cross the majority mark of 116 seats in the 230-member Assembly. Those present at the swear- ing-in ceremony included Rahul Gandhi, former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, AICC general secretary Mallikarjun Kharge, Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, his deputy Sachin Pilot, MP Jyotiraditya Scindia, former Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Punjab Minister Navjot Singh Sidhu. Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar, National Conference president Farooq Abdullah, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu, Loktantrik Janata Dal leader Sharad Yadav, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam’s MK Stalin, Rashtriya Janata Dal leader Tejashwi Yadav and Chouhan were also present. W ithin couple of hours after taking oath of Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister, Kamal Nath cleared the proposal of waiving farm loans up to 2 lakh as promised by Congress president Rahul Gandhi before Assembly elections. After Nath signed the rel- evant file, Rajesh Rajora, Principal Secretary, Farmers' Welfare and Agriculture Development Department, issued an order in this regard. The order read, "Madhya Pradesh Government has taken a decision to write off short- term crop loan of eligible farm- ers up to the limit of two lakh, as on March 31, 2018, from nationalised and cooperative banks." Notably, addressing a pub- lic rally on June 7 at Pipliya Mandi in Mandsaur district, Gandhi had announced that his party would waive farm loans within 10 of coming to power in the state. "Here Kamal Nath (MP Congress president) and Jyotiraditya Scindia (the state Congress poll campaign com- mittee chairman) are sitting. The day the Congress comes to power in MP, count 10 days, I say with guarantee that farmer loans will be waived within 10 days. It won't take even the eleventh day," Gandhi had said at the rally. Later, this announcement was included in the Congress manifesto, titled ‘Vachan Patra’. The Congress president had reiterated the farm loan waiv- er promise repeatedly during the campaigning for the November 28 Assembly elec- tions. Soon after Nath signed the file, Gandhi tweeted- ‘CM, Madhya Pradesh, waives farm loans. 1 done. 2 to go.’ Notably, six farmers were killed in police firing at Pipliya Mandi during an agitation in June last year. The Congress won 114 Assembly seats and secured the support of seven more MLAs - SP (1) and BSP (2) and four independents - to cross the majority mark of 116 in the 230- member Assembly. RNI Regn. No. MPENG/2004/13703, Regd. No. L-2/BPLON/41/2006-2008

Transcript of RNI Regn. No. MPENG/2004/13703, Regd. No. L-2/BPLON/41 ... · Babu Lal Marandi (JVM), PK...

Page 1: RNI Regn. No. MPENG/2004/13703, Regd. No. L-2/BPLON/41 ... · Babu Lal Marandi (JVM), PK Kunhalikutti (IUML), Badrudin Ajmal (AIUDF), Raju Shetty (Swabhimani Paksha), Sanjay Singh

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As three newly-electedCongress Chief Ministers

took oath of office on Mondayin back-to-back ceremonies,Madhya Pradesh CM KamalNath announced a major giftfor the debt-ridden farmers ofthe State. Loans of up to �2 lakhof the farmers will be waivedwith Nath signing a file to theeffect within two hours of tak-ing charge. The move followsa promise by Congress presi-dent Rahul Gandhi during thepoll campaign.

After Nath signed on thefile pertaining to waiving offfarmers’ loans of up to �2 lakh,Principal Secretary, Farmers’Welfare and AgricultureDevelopment Department,Rajesh Rajora issued the loanwaiver order.

The order said: MadhyaPradesh Government has takena decision to write off short-term crop loan of eligible farm-ers up to the limit of �2 lakh,as on March 31, 2018, fromnationalised and cooperativebanks. The promise of loanwaiver is top priority for thethree newly-elected CongressGovernment. On Sunday,ahead of his oath-taking cere-mony Ashok Gehlot had saidthat as promised by RahulGandhi his Government wouldact on loan waiver promisewith 10 days of Cabinet for-mation.

A host of Opposition lead-ers attended the three oath-tak-ing ceremonies of AshokGehlot, Kamal Nath andBhupesh Baghel as ChiefMinisters of Rajasthan, MadhyaPradesh, Chhattisgarh respec-

tively on Monday.However, BSP chief

Mayawati, Samajwadi Partypresident Akhilesh Yadav andWest Bengal Chief MinisterMamata Banerjee were con-spicuous by their absence.

While Congress presidentRahul Gandhi attended all thethree events, other prominentOpposition leaders who attend-ed the events were formerPrime Ministers ManmohanSingh, HD Deve Gowda, ChiefMinisters of few States includ-ing Andhra Pradesh andKarnataka, former Jammu &Kashmir Chief Minister FarooqAbdullah, former UnionMinisters Sharad Yadav andSharad Pawar amongst others.

The absence of theMamata, Mayawati andAkhilesh is significant becauseall three also skipped theunveiling of late DMK patri-arch Karunanidhi’s statute in

Chennai on Tuesday. A sectionof the Opposition is unhappyover the fact that DMK chiefStalin suggested the name ofRahul Gandhi as PrimeMinister at the rally in Chennaion Tuesday.

Former CMs and UttarPradesh rivals Akhilesh Yadavand Mayawati who too wereextended the invitations for theswearing-in skipped it thoughboth of them have supportedthe Congress in the Hindi

heartland States.Gehlot, Nath and Baghel’s

predecessors — VasundharaRaje, Shivraj Singh Chouhan,Raman Singh — also attendedthe swearing-in ceremonies atJaipur, Bhopal and Raipur,

accordingly. Besides Shivraj Singh

Chouhan, former CMs of theState Kailash Joshi and BabulalGaur were also present on thestage.

Other prominent leaderswho made it to celebrate theCongress’ return to power inJaipur and a few of them inBhopal included MK Stalin,Kanimozhi (DMK), TejashwiYadav (RJD), Dinesh Trivedi(AITC), Hemant Soren (JMM),Jiten Ram Manjhi (HAM),Babu Lal Marandi (JVM), PKKunhalikutti (IUML),Badrudin Ajmal (AIUDF),Raju Shetty (SwabhimaniPaksha), Sanjay Singh (AAP),Jose K Mani (KCM) and NKPremchandran (RSP).

Rahul shared photographsfrom the swearing-in ceremo-ny and of a bus in Jaipur inwhich top Opposition leaderswere seen sitting with him.

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In what could be termed as amajor setback to the Indian

National Congress, its formerLok Sabha member and seniorDelhi Pradesh Congress leaderSajjan Kumar was on Mondayconvicted and sentenced to lifeterm for “remainder of his nat-ural life” in a 1984 anti-Sikhriots case by a double Bench ofthe Delhi High Court whichsaid the riots were a “crimeagainst humanity” perpetratedby those who enjoyed “politicalpatronage”.

Expressing anguish, theHigh Court said though it was“undeniable” that it took over

three decades to punish theaccused in the case, it wasimportant to assure the victimsthat despite the challenges facedby the court, “truth will prevailand justice will be done”.

The case relates to killing offive Sikhs in Raj Nagar part-Iarea in Palam Colony in SouthWest Delhi on November 1-2,1984 and burning down of aGurudwara in Raj Nagar part II.

The High Court directed73-year-old Kumar and otherfive convicts to surrender byDecember 31, 2018 and not toleave the city of Delhi. Sixaccused, including SajjanKumar, who was a Member ofParliament at that time, weresent for trial in 2010 and threeyears later, the lower court hadconvicted five of the accused butacquitted the Congress leader ofall the charges.

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Chinese investment in Indiais as low as US $5 billion,

but Chinese companies areexecuting projects of Indianentities pegged at a whopping$63 billion. A parliamentarypanel has pointed to this “pro-jects export” by China without“bringing any actual invest-ment” and pushed for animmediate stress on invest-ments by Chinese companies inIndia. The Committee has alsooutlined the security implica-tions of Chinese projects say-ing they should be examinedwith circumspection on a sec-toral basis. The trade deficitbetween the two countriesstand at nearly $52 billion.

“While cumulative Chineseinvestments in India are sub-stantially low at round $5 bil-

lion, the value of Indian pro-jects currently executed byChinese companies is estimat-ed to be as high as $63 billion.China is engaged in projectexports in India without bring-ing its own capital for invest-ment. Such a trend is nothealthy for the overall growthof Indian economy,” said theparliamentary committee onExternal Affairs, headed byCongress MP Shashi Tharoorin its report. The report wastabled in the Lok Sabha onMonday.

The Committee pointedout that trade deficit withChina is totally loaded againstIndia. The factors which isresponsible for this includenon tariff barriers imposed byChina to Indian goods and ser-vices, dumping of goods, lackof genuine investment profile

on the part of China, securityimperatives are some of theconcerns which India faces onthe matter.

In its report, theCommittee recommended thatIndia should persuade Chinesecompanies to bring moreinvestment into India ratherthan merely resorting to projectexports. “The continuously ris-

ing trade deficit which hasincreased to $52 billion in2016-17 and is at present $63billion is unsustainable andrequires concrete steps to betaken for redressal,” it said.

Foreign Secretary VijayGokhle, who appeared beforethe Committee, had submittedthat there has always been a dif-ference between the Indian

figures and the Chinese cus-toms statistics. “The Chinesecalculate the data on calendarbasis while India calculates onfinancial year basis. It is virtu-ally impossible to reconcilethe figures. As far as the IndianGovernment data is concernedin the three previous financialyears of 2014-15, 2015-16,2016-17, the deficit was $48.47billion, $52.69 billion and$51.09 billion. In each case, theChinese exports were around$60 billion and the Indianexports were in the range ofnine billion to $10 billion.According to the Chinese cus-toms statistics, in that sameperiod for 2014, 2015 and 2016calendar years, the deficit was$37 billion; $44 billion and $47billion,” the Foreign Secretaryhad submitted told theCommittee.

On the issue of Chineseease of entry to Indian marketsand project exports, theMinistry of External Affairssaid the value of projects cur-rently under execution is esti-mated to be $63 billion. Sowhile the cumulative Chineseinvestments in India are sub-stantially low which is about $5billion, the project exports aresubstantial and theGovernment’s effort has essen-tially been to persuade theChinese to invest into thecountry and not to utiliseIndian capital by bringing pro-jects into the country.

The Committee questionedas to why the Government hasnot been able to leverage withChina the fact of a massive $80billion market next door as tocompel it to bring some degreeof equity in the bilateral trade.

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Just two days after Congressleaders held a Press confer-

ence saying no CAG report onpricing of Rafale jets has beenshared with the PublicAccounts Committee (PAC),the CAG has sent a draft reporton Rafale deal to the Ministryof Defence for its comment.

Highly placed sources saidthat the CAG has asked theMinistry of Defence to revertwithin four weeks on the draftreport.

The draft report was sent tothe Ministry of Defence twoweeks ago. However, the reportis unlikely to be tabled in theongoing Winter Session of theParliament.

The controversy eruptedover the CAG report on Rafaleever since the Supreme Courtmentioned about this whilegiving clean chit to theGovernment.

The senior Congress leaderMallikarjun Kharge, who isthe Public AccountsCommittee chairman, accusedthe Government of misleadingthe apex court. “TheGovernment lied in theSupreme Court that the CAGreport was presented in theHouse and in the PAC, andPAC has probed it. TheGovernment said in theSupreme Court that it (thereport) is in public domain.Where is it? Have you seen it?”Kharge, alleged.

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Congress leader Kamal Nathsworn in as the 18th Chief

Minister of Madhya Pradesh inBhopal on Monday. GovernorAnandiben Patel administeredthe oath of office to him. Soonafter the ceremony, the guestsleft the venue to attend a sim-ilar programme in Raipur,where Chhattisgarh ChiefMinister Bhupesh Baghel wassworn-in.

On Friday, the Governorinvited Nath to form a gov-ernment. The Congress onThursday named Nath, thenine-time Lok Sabha memberfrom Chhindwara, to head theState Congress LegislatureParty, after hours of hecticparleys held by party presidentRahul Gandhi with seniorparty leaders.

Nath, who has held sever-al portfolios in the UnionCabinet, was appointed theMadhya Pradesh CongressCommittee president on April26 and was at the forefront insteering the party to a win in

the November 28 Assemblypolls. The results were declaredon December 11.

The Congress, which won114 seats, has the support ofone Samajwadi Party legislator,two Bahujan Samaj PartyMLAs and four independents,to cross the majority mark of116 seats in the 230-memberAssembly.

Those present at the swear-ing-in ceremony includedRahul Gandhi, former PrimeMinister Manmohan Singh,AICC general secretaryMallikarjun Kharge, Rajasthan

Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot,his deputy Sachin Pilot, MPJyotiraditya Scindia, formerKarnataka Chief MinisterSiddaramaiah and PunjabMinister Navjot Singh Sidhu.

Nationalist Congress Partychief Sharad Pawar, NationalConference president FarooqAbdullah, Andhra PradeshChief Minister ChandrababuNaidu, Loktantrik Janata Dalleader Sharad Yadav, DravidaMunnetra Kazhagam’s MKStalin, Rashtriya Janata Dalleader Tejashwi Yadav andChouhan were also present.

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Within couple of hours aftertaking oath of Madhya

Pradesh Chief Minister, KamalNath cleared the proposal ofwaiving farm loans up to �2lakh as promised by Congresspresident Rahul Gandhi beforeAssembly elections.

After Nath signed the rel-evant file, Rajesh Rajora,Principal Secretary, Farmers'Welfare and AgricultureDevelopment Department,issued an order in this regard.The order read, "MadhyaPradesh Government has takena decision to write off short-term crop loan of eligible farm-ers up to the limit of �two lakh,as on March 31, 2018, fromnationalised and cooperativebanks."

Notably, addressing a pub-lic rally on June 7 at PipliyaMandi in Mandsaur district,Gandhi had announced that hisparty would waive farm loanswithin 10 of coming to powerin the state.

"Here Kamal Nath (MPCongress president) andJyotiraditya Scindia (the stateCongress poll campaign com-

mittee chairman) are sitting.The day the Congress comes topower in MP, count 10 days, Isay with guarantee that farmerloans will be waived within 10days. It won't take even theeleventh day," Gandhi had saidat the rally.

Later, this announcementwas included in the Congress

manifesto, titled ‘Vachan Patra’.The Congress president hadreiterated the farm loan waiv-er promise repeatedly duringthe campaigning for theNovember 28 Assembly elec-tions. Soon after Nath signedthe file, Gandhi tweeted- ‘CM,Madhya Pradesh, waives farmloans. 1 done. 2 to go.’

Notably, six farmers werekilled in police firing at PipliyaMandi during an agitation inJune last year. The Congresswon 114 Assembly seats andsecured the support of sevenmore MLAs - SP (1) and BSP(2) and four independents - tocross the majority mark of 116in the 230- member Assembly.

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Page 2: RNI Regn. No. MPENG/2004/13703, Regd. No. L-2/BPLON/41 ... · Babu Lal Marandi (JVM), PK Kunhalikutti (IUML), Badrudin Ajmal (AIUDF), Raju Shetty (Swabhimani Paksha), Sanjay Singh

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The country is constantlyincreasing its food pro-

duction capacity but on theother hand produce of farmersis getting wasted because ofwrong methods of storing andhandlings of the harvestedgrains.

In order to prevent thiswastage, one of the world'slargest agriculture based com-pany UPL has launched AnajBachao; Dana Dana Keemti hai(Protect Grains; Each andEvery Grain is Precious)Campaign in Bhopal onMonday, said Ujjwal Kumar,Head, Fumigant Business, UPL.

He said that the main

objective of this campaign is tocreate awareness among thefarmers for proper storage ofgrains and keep it safe from theinsects and fungus which willincrease their income as well ashelp the world to attain foodsecurity.

Pankaj Joshi, GeneralManager UPL said, “This cam-paign will cover 15 districts inMadhya Pradesh. The initiativewill be organized in Bhopal,Indore, Dewas, Satna, Vidisha,Gwalior, Jabalpur, Katni, Itarsi,Khandwa, Mandsaur,Neemuch etc districts ofMadhya Pradesh.”

UPL has already launchedthis initiative in Bihar, UP,Uttarakhand, Andhra Pradesh,

Chhattisgarh, Bihar, Karnataka,Tamil Nadu states also, whichreceived positive response fromthe farmers as well as grainstore operators.

Through this campaign,UPL also wants to supportCentral Government's ambi-tious project of DoublingFarmers’ Income. Under thiscampaign, the farmers will bemade aware of the scientificmethods of storing their grainswith live demonstration at theirdoor steps.

During the demonstrationthe UPL team gave the trainingfor the method of preventingfood grain loss with the use ofits advanced productQuickphos.

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For the rapidly growing oureconomy, energy needs are

increasing manifold. Public sector oil marketing

companies (BPC, HPC andIOC) are starting to expand theretail outlet -petrol pump net-work with the increase indemand of petrol and diesel asthe retail consumption of petroland diesel have increase around8 per cent and 4 per centrespectively, said officials ofBPC, HPC and IOC whileinteracting with media personon Friday in the state capital.

The retail outlet network isbeing expanded in rural,remote and remote areas withthe intention of reaching the

product, mainly to ensure qual-ity and fair value for diesel,rural agricultural demand andpeople living in remote areas.It is expected that employ-ment opportunities will also becreated in the expansion ofretail outlet network.

GM Retail BharatPetroleum Padam Pandey saidthat for making system moretransparent for the first time,computerised "Draw" / "BidOpening" is being done for thepurpose of bringing moretransparency under an inde-pendent agency.

Oil marketing companieshave now issued advertise-ments inviting applicationsfrom potential candidates forthe establishment of a petrol

pump.The process of dealer selec-

tion has been simplified in linewith the "simplicity of doingbusiness" of the Government ofIndia.

User-friendly online appli-cation has been introduced. Insupport of eligibility, there is noneed to submit documents ona large scale by the applicants.

However, the candidatewill have to submit documentsonly after selection.

Oil marketing companiesexpand retail outlets (petrolpumps) to meet customers'increasing fuel needs and facil-ities in emerging markets,mainly in the coming high-ways, rural areas and industri-al centers.

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Gunga police have nabbedthree accused including a

minor who were involved inkilling a lawyer at Dhammaravillage in the morning onDecember 15.

Police said that the nabbedaccused persons were identifiedas Rahul Singh, Mukesh aliasBablu and a minor. The threewent absconding after killingBhagwan Singh who mainaccused in murder of Rahul’sfather in the year 2018.

The murder was fuelledwith old enmity in whichBhagwan Singh was stabbed todeath by two miscreants atDhammarra under Gunga

police station area in earlymorning hours on December15. In the initial investigationit was found that the deceasedwas murdered to settle score.Sensation prevailed in the areaafter Bhagwan Singh was killedby three persons and escapedthe spot when he was at busstop. The police arrested theaccused and seized sharp edgedweapon from his possession.

Police said that thedeceased Bhagwan Singh wasa resident of Dhamarra villagewas standing near the bus stop,at around 9 am when two menarrived on a bike and attackedhim with sharp edged weaponand attacked him in his neck,head and stomach.

Bhopal: Kolar police havenabbed a drug peddler nearHinotia and recovered drugsworth �25,000 from his pos-session on Sunday.

Police said that acting on atip-off regarding a man carry-ing drugs in a scooter wasnabbed near Hinotia and whenhe was searched 500 gm ofCannabis was recovered fromhis possession.

The accused was identifiedas Sunil alias Lakhan Ahuja andhe is a resident of Old city areawho failed to provide details ofthe drugs recovered from hispossession. Police said that thedetails of procurement anddelivery of the drugs would besearched in the further inves-tigation. The accused has onlyprovided details that he hadbrought drugs from Old Cityarea and the place would besearched. After the initial inves-tigation police have registereda case under sections 8 and 20of the NDPS Act. Police saidthat the source of the drugs andtheir scheduled delivery to thecustomer in the city and near-by areas would be probed. Theaccused confessed that he is onthe first visit but the way he wasspeaking local language withease makes it hard to believe, headded. SR

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Aconference of Cardicon -2018 was orgnaised at the

Usha Kiran Palace Hotel onMonday. The conference wasjointly organized by the IndianMedical Association, RJNApollo Heart CommandCentre and Dalmia Heart andWellness Centre was held toenhance awareness about pre-vention, early diagnosis andappropriate public manage-ment strategies in the field ofcardiology.

About 300 medical practi-tioners from the GwaliorChambal area attended theconference. The participantswere given enhanced knowl-edge about the latest techno-logical innovations in the field

of medicine that will shape thehealthcare of the patients. Themedical practitioners were alsogiven advices on key medicalissues like patient care, medicalnegligence, consumer casesand dealing with false cases.

Dr Ravishankar Dalmia,President of the GwaliorChapter of Indian MedicalAssociation during his presi-dential address said that theconference is held with a viewto update medical knowledge,especially in the field of cardi-ology. He also said that the 350delegates attending the con-ference from various areas ofthe Division should use the tipsthey get here in their profes-sional pursuit.

Dr Tushar Roy, SeniorCardiologist, National Heart

Institute, New Delhi said thatthere are several medico legalissues that are to be taken careof. He added that the doctor-patient trust has deteriorated inrecent times. Trust in doctorshas come down dramatically inthe past decade. He advised thedoctors to be fully aware of themedico legal issues and aboutsteps to be taken if and whencases are leveled against them.

He also gave details aboutthe Doctors Protection Actand said that medical practi-tioners are fully protectedunder this act. There is provi-sion in the act to give severepunishments to such assailantswho misbehave with the doc-tors. He exhorted the doctorsto take life saving decisionswithout any fear.

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A45-year-old man diedwho was attacked with

sharp edged weapon by twopersons at Karond underNishatpura police station inthe wee hours on Monday;deceased was attacked onSunday.

Police said that thedeceased Ashok Kumar Singhruns a grocery shop at GasRahat Colony was attacked bySabir and his son Faheemwith sharp edged weapon.

In the initial investigationit was found that on Sundayafternoon at around 11amwhen Ashok was at his shophis daughter came and com-

plaint about her Shabir whohas shouted at her for stop-ping her playing near hishouse after which Ashok wentto talk with the accuse whostarted to abuse and engagedin fight which turned violentafter Shabir and his son Faeemattacked the deceased with aknife in his stomach.

Ashok was taken to a pri-vate hospital where his con-dition was critical and afterfew hours of treatment he diedin the wee hours on Mondaywhile the accused remainedabsconding.

Body was sent for thepost mortem after the pre-liminary investigation.

The police have registered

a case under section 302 of theIPC and started further inves-tigation.

After the incident onMonday few Bajrang Dalactivists reached Nishatpurapolice and alleged that copsare negligent in the case andtrying to protect both theaccused father-son as beforeshopkeeper’s death, both ofthem had approachedNishatpura police station asthey wanted to lodge a counterFIR.

The detai ls of theabsconding accused would besearched to identify thewhereabouts. The crimerecord of the accused wouldalso be searched.

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More than 52,000 guest teachers have beenarranged on the basis of their choice fill-

ing to ensure smooth running of educationalactivities in Government schools in the acade-mic session 2018-19 in the State. The proceed-ings were postponed due to the completion ofthe proceedings of the first phase and the post-ponement given by the court. According to theorder of the court, the school education depart-ment has taken necessary action.

Two development blocks and one districthave been selected by the applicant at the timeof choice filling. The applicants who have notparticipated in choice filling, considering thedevelopment block of the applicant's verificationclause as the development block of the applicant'spriority, a panel has been generated for the sub-ject-post for each development block. This panelcan be seen without any password. Applicantsappearing in this panel are being sent state-levelSMS for them to be present in the school tillDecember 20 to send application. Applicantsregistered in gfms portal must submit their appli-cation portal generated by the score card.

Instructions for approval of the panel ofapplications received on December 27 at theschool level have been given to the DistrictEducation Officers. Applications of the appli-cants, who are not registered in the gfms por-tal, can be received by the school till December25. The entry of selected guest teachers has beenasked to be completed by December 30 in the

gfms portal.Due to less number of applicants in the

English panel in secondary and high school, per-mission has been given to keep applicants withhigher qualifications in the English panel.They will receive the honorarium of guest teach-ers. Apart from the Sanskrit panel, guest teach-ers will be placed in the schools with Urdu stu-dents, after the approval of the Urdu post apartin addition to Sanskrit as per nomination.

Similarly, due to the less number of post-graduate applicants in the agriculture faculty,graduates will be invited for the post of guestteachers. Candidates should have a Bachelor'sdegree with Mathematics or Physics orEngineering subjects for Mathematics subject.Hence the graduates from engineering will beeligible for qualifying in Mathematics subject.

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Chief Minister Kamal Nathin his first address to the

Senior Administrative Officerssaid that the attitude of main-taining status quo is needed tobe changed. The perspective oftaking everything for grantedwill not work now.Transformation has to bebrought in the system with newapproach and vision.

While handing over theCongress Party’s manifesto tothe Chief Secretary, he said thatthis is a document of people’sexpectation. This has been pre-pared by all the categories ofthe society. Nath further men-tioned that we have to explorenew resources and to adopt ‘outof the box’ thinking. We willhave to stop unnecessaryexpenditure. We will have tospend people’s money in mean-ingful manner as we all areaccountable for it. The ChiefMinister expected that schemesshould be made based on themanifesto.

The Chief Minister expect-ed from the officers that theywill bring changes in them.Must see and judge things withnew perspective. He said thatthere is a difference betweenreforms and transformationand achievement and fulfill-ment. Fulfillment is moreimportant. He said that the tar-get of the government andofficers is one and same.

Kamal Nath reachedMantralaya after taking theoath and inaugurated NewAnnexe building. He addressedall the senior officers in hisintroductory meeting. While

apologizing for delay, he saidthat no one will have to waitfrom now on.

Expressing gratitudetowards the voters, Kamal Nathsaid that they have electednew government with bigexpectations. People haveshown faith in the system. Hementioned that change is mustin the system to fulfill people’sexpectation. Transformationhas to be brought with newperspective, approach, newvision and creativity. System ismoving with the sameapproach since last many years,whereas the world is changing,old arrangements which are notcorrect, its continuation is notconsistent with the time.

Besides, Nath said that wehave to pay attention to youth.We will have to understanddemands of new generation asthey will build and protect thestate. The chasm betweenemployment and unemploy-ment is also a challenge. Heurged officers to bring changein their though process in thisconnection. Nath further stat-ed that we will have to mullhow to bring investment in thestate. He mentioned that invest-ment does not come onlybecause of policies anddemand. We will have to attractinvestment, he added.

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More than 100 stalls from16 states are vying the

customers. At NationalHandloom Expo 2018 stallsfrom Uttar Pradesh, followedby Jammu and Kashmir, WestBengal, Rajasthan andHaryana, Bihar, AndhraPradesh, Maharashtra,Pondicherry, Assam, Delhi andChhattisgarh would conspicu-ously display the stuff in thenational exhibition.

The exhibition is captivat-ing the interest of the shopa-holics. Each day a huge footfallcould be noticed at the exhibi-tion cum sale. From Jammuand Kashmir, Assam, AndhraPradesh, Bihar and some stallsfrom Uttar Pradesh would alsodisplay the specialty of theirregion. Pure Silk and cottonapparel from Assam and WestBengal is captivating the atten-tion of the visitors. Besides, toenhance the taste buds of theBhopalites, vendors would alsobring the different eatables aswell. Around 90 societies fromacross the nation have partic-ipated in the national expoputting up their stuff at 110stalls in which 40 stalls are

already available at the haat and70 stalls will be established atthe premises.

Bhopal haat always bringsomething new for the citizensand this time people got theopportunity to buy handloommaterials of different States ofthe country under one roof.The buyers are being captivat-ed towards the beautifully craft-ed handicraft stuff. Especially,the batik and bagh print suits,jute materials and KashmiriPashmina shawls and stoles.

Further to make the expoeven more enjoyable, WeaversService Centre Indore will putup Theme Pavilion givingdetailed information abouthandloom and handicraft. TheNational Handloom Expowould conclude on December 10.

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The revolutionary who wasa part of Kakori Train

Roberry Ashfaq Ulla Khanwas hanged on December 19,1927. The Hindi play ‘JiyoAshfaq Jiyo’ narrating the sac-rifices of Ashfaq Ullah Khanand other revolutionaries willbe staged at Shaheed BhavanAuditorium here on Thursday.

The play will be per-formed to pay a tribute to himon his death anniversary. Itwill be held under the two dayevent Desh Raag organizedDirectorate of SwarajSansthan, Government ofMadhya Pradesh.

It is to be noted thatAshfaq Ullah Khan was one ofthe revolutionaries who foughtfearlessly with the Britishalong with Bhagat Singh andChandrashekhar Azad.

The play will throw lighton the revolutionary activitiesof Ashfaq Ullah Khan and hiscolleagues Ramprasad Bismil,

Roshan Singh andRajendranath Lahiri. Variousuntimely aspects of heroism ofAshfaq Ullah Khan and his fel-low revolutionaries was seen inthe drama.

Their fearless eyes, theheroic enthusiasm and themotive to throw British out ofthis country were the weaponsof these revolutionaries. Theyleft no stone unturned to giveup on British, however theywere tortured till the end.

To give a fillip to theirmovement Kakori conspiracyand buy arms and ammuna-tion to carry out their activi-ties, the revolutionaries organ-ised a meeting on August 81925 in Shahjahanpur. After alot of deliberations it wasdecided to loot the govern-ment treasury carried in thetrains.

On August 9 1925, Khanand other revolutionaries,looted the train carryingBritish government money inKakori near Lucknow.

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The players of MadhyaPradesh exhibited an

impressive performance at AllIndia Civil Services FootballCompetition. The competitionbegan here from Monday.

The competition is orga-nized by Sports and YouthWelfare In the league matchesplayed at the City Stadiumground, Madhya Pradeshdefeated Telangana by 2-1points. In this excitingencounter, the two teams wereon zero with zero till the inter-mission. On behalf of MadhyaPradesh, Ram Singh andAbhinav Chavan won the team

by winning each goal.Here on Monday the com-

petition was inaugurated todayby the Director General ofPolice, Jail Sanjay Chaudhary,introduction to the players.He got acquainted with theplayers of Delhi and Gujaratteams and gave them bestwishes. On this occasion, tour-nament ambassador BrijendraKumar and match commis-sioner J.P. Singh was also pre-sent. Under the competitionHaryana defeated Kerala withthree goals from CS, CS Delhidefeated Gujarat 13-0. In thismatch, Delhi's eleventh playerKulbhushan made his debutand first hat-trick of the com-

petition. On this ground,Tamilnadu defeated UttarPradesh by five goals againsttwo and strengthened its posi-tion for the next match of theleague.

One player of theHyderabad team, MurtazaHussain scored eleven goals inthe matches played on the LalParade, while the team defeat-ed Chandigarh State by 26-0points, creating a stir in thefootball world and competition.

It is to be noted that inother matches Chandigarh beatMumbai by 1-0 points,Chennai defeated Indore by 2-0 points, while Kochi defeatedUttar Pradesh by 6-1 points.

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Page 3: RNI Regn. No. MPENG/2004/13703, Regd. No. L-2/BPLON/41 ... · Babu Lal Marandi (JVM), PK Kunhalikutti (IUML), Badrudin Ajmal (AIUDF), Raju Shetty (Swabhimani Paksha), Sanjay Singh

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Responding to queries overthe Bharatiya Janata Party’s

repeated attacks on him overhis alleged involvement in anti-Sikh riots of 1984, MadhyaPradesh Chief Minister KamalNath here claimed there was noFIR, case or charge-sheetagainst him in the matter.

While talking to mediapersons here on Monday, ChiefMinister Kamal Nath said, “Ihad taken oath in 1991 as welland I remained the Delhi incharge in the past but the issuewasn’t raked up then and youall know well why all this ishappening now.”

To a query whether he wasready for a probe as there wereseveral eyewitnesses who haveclaimed of spotting him outsidethe Gurdwara during riots,Nath laughed off the question‘ye appko kaha hai (Have they

told you this).”Briefing the media about

decisions taken after assumingoffice on Monday, Nath saidthe first file he cleared was offarm loan waiver which was astanding promise of theCongress party. He also camedown heavily on banks sayingthey easily waive off 50 per centto 60 per cent loans of theindustrials and they have prob-lems doing the same for farm-ers.

He also lashed at the econ-omists who are claiming thatloan waiver impact economiesclaiming have these peopleworked in farm ever.

“They simply deliver lec-tures, nothing else.”

Saying the UPA in the pasthad waived off farm loans ofdefaulters, Nath said his gov-ernment would write off loansof defaulters and currentdebtors as well.

Among other decisions,the CM Kamal Nath approvedprovisions of �51,000 cashoffered as monetary assistanceunder Kanya Vivah Yojana.

“I have issued orders toensure extension of benefits ofinvestment incentives to out-side manufacturers, only ifthey offer 70 per cent jobs tothe local youths. At times ithappens, manufactures set upunits in MP but outsiders runaway with the jobs generated inthese units,” he added.

Besides, the new ChiefMinister announced establish-ment of four Garment Parks inMP which according to himwould also have measures topromote generation of sup-port jobs apart from the mainbusiness activities to generateextra jobs.

“We need to create eco-nomic activities in MadhyaPradesh.”

Bhopal: VLCC, a leadingIndian beauty and wellnesschain, introduced non-invasiveradio frequency Thermagetherapy for skin lifting inBhopal. This treatment is usedfor improving the look and feelof ageing skin.

It is a good treatmentoption for facial skin lifting,especially for people havingsagging skin with prominentlaugh lines and fine wrinkles.The launch took place today atan expert panel visit organizedby the brand, at Courtyard byMarriott in Bhopal.

The expert session touchedupon different areas of well-ness, including weight man-agement, dermatology, bodysculpting, anti-ageing, facialaesthetics, and preventivehealth care. The session suc-cessfully apprised people on thebenefits of the new-age, non-invasive slimming techniqueslike Cool Sculpting and newlyintroduced EricsonLaboratories’ 5 facial treat-ments, viz. Fresh Caviar, Slim-Face-lift, Enzymacid, Genxskinand Perfection, which werelaunched at VLCC centres.

Ericson Laboratoire is a lead-ing French skincare brand andits range of facials successful-ly tackles the visible signs ofageing and various skin prob-lems.

In terms of bringing insuperior technologies, VLCC isamong the first brands in Indiato introduce Coolsculpting-the most futuristic innovationin the field of body contouring.It is an FDA-approved non-sur-gical fat reduction treatmentwhich targets and eliminates fatcells by literally freezing themwithout any damage to othercells or tissues. This treatmentis majorly used for site-specif-ic fat correction in areas likeouter and inner thighs,abdomen, under the chin,upper and lower back, flanks,etc. The panel of expertsincluded Dr Tarique, Headphysiotherapist and member ofthe R&D at VLCC Health CareLtd. He has more than 10 yearsof experience in the clinical andwellness field and has treatedmany celebrities. Anotherexpert was Dr Renu Singh,head for the north and centralregions of India for VLCC. SR

Bhopal: A 25-year-old youthdied after he rammed into anelectric pole in the morning infront of New Jail under GandhiNagar police station area onMonday.

The police said that afterspotting injured youth bypolice personnel at New Dial109 ambulance was informedand injured was rushed to anearby hospital where he diedduring treatment.

The deceased was identi-fied as Viabhav Kashav ofIndore and used to work at ITPark. He met accident while onhis way to work in the morn-ing.

Investigating Officer ASIMohammad Laeek Khan saidthat right side of the body partwas found injured badly whichcaused his death. He was notwearing helmet. The circum-stantial evidences suggest that

in a bid to turn he failed and hitelectric pole which hadDistribution Panel (DP). Thedeceased was not hit by anyvehicle as the police personneldeployed as security witnessedthat no vehicle was around atthe time of the incident.

In the accident deceasedhad sustained head injurieswhich proved fatal for him. Itit possible that to save someoneor himself he lost control overthe vehicle, he added. Policewere informed and after thepreliminary investigation thebody was sent for post mortem.The police registered a caseunder section 174 of the CrPC.The deceased used to live atAbbas Nagar. At the time of theincident the room-mates ofthe deceased were asleep andwhen they woke up they foundthat the door was locked fromoutside. SR

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Equipped with BHEL-sup-plied nuclear power equip-

ment, the 220 MW Unit 1 atthe indigenously developedKaiga Atomic Power Station(KAPS) of Nuclear PowerCorporation of India Ltd(NPCIL) has created a worldrecord for continuous opera-tion.

Significantly, the unit nowstands first amongst all kinds ofNuclear power generating sta-tions in the world in terms ofuninterrupted operation.Recently, the unit has registered941 days of continuous opera-

tion, surpassing the earlierworld record of 940 days heldby Heysham-Unit 2 of theUnited Kingdom.

Notably, the complete mainplant equipment including the220 MW Steam TurbineGenerator set and all the fourSteam Generators for the aboveunit of NPCIL have been man-ufactured and supplied byBHEL. This landmark achieve-ment has demonstrated thecountry’s indigenous capabili-ty in design, manufacture, erec-tion, commission and efficientoperation of Pressurized HeavyWater Reactors (PWHR).

The first stage of the

indigenous nuclear power pro-gram of the country hasattained maturity with 18 oper-ating PHWRs. Twelve PHWRsaccounting for 74 per cent ofthe Nuclear Power capacityare equipped with BHEL-sup-plied Steam Turbine Generatorsets (10 units of 220 MW eachand two units of 540 MW).These sets have exhibited excel-lent performance and havecreated a number of records for

continuous operation in thepast.

BHEL is currentlyinstalling two units each of itshighest rating 700 MW nuclearsets at Kakrapara, Gujrat andRawatbhata, Rajasthan and isfully geared for enhanced con-tribution in NPCIL’s upcoming700 MW PHWRs.

Significantly, BHEL is theonly Indian company associat-ed with all the three stages ofthe Indian Nuclear PowerProgramme - the first stagePHWR, the second stage FastBreeder Reactor (FBR) andthe third stage AdvancedHeavy Water Reactor (AHWR)

and has been a partner for overfour decades in the develop-ment of the indigenous NuclearPower Programme since itsinception.

BHEL has dedicated infra-structure and skilled man-power to address the specialdesign, manufacturing andtesting requirements complyingwith international codes and

standards for various compo-nents/equipment of a Nuclearpower plant. BHEL has provenits capability as a designer andmanufacturer of both primary(steam generators, reactorheaders, end shields, etc.) andsecondary (turbine, generator,heat exchangers etc.) sideequipment for Nuclear powerprojects.

�� **�%���%��%�� 4)5,�1

Reeling under extreme coldconditions night tempera-

tures are recorded near freez-ing temperature in the state.Weather conditions haveturned extreme in the past

two days as night temperaturereached near freezing temper-ature on Saturday night whichwas recorded in Khajuraho at

1.6 degree Celsius.Warning of cold waves has

been issued for Sagar divisionand Datia, Shivpuri, Gwaliorand Ashok Nagar.

Few regions have witnessedrainfall in the past 24 hours andaccording to the forecastJabalpur and Shahdol divi-sions, Sidhi, Singrauli,Hoshangabad and Betul arelikely to receive light rainfall inthe next 24 hours.

According to the forecastfog from late in the night tillearly morning hours is likely to

witness in Gwalior, Chambal,Panna, Satna, Chattarpur andTikamgarh districts.

In the past 24 hoursJabalpur reorded rainfall whichincreased the intensity ofextreme weather conditions.

State capital recorded low-est night temperature of theseason after temperaturedipped to 7.4 degree Celsiuswhile day temperature pro-vided little relief.

Met officials said thatweather conditions are likely tobecome normal in the next 3-4 days in the state and state cap-ital. Temperatures are less like-ly to dip as we have reachednear freezing temperature.Slight decrease is possible in thetemperatures.

The cities with lowest nighttemperature recorded wereDatia which recorded nighttemperature at 4.1 degreeCelsius, Nowgong recordednight temperature at 4.3 degreeCelsius, Tikamgarh and Rewarecorded night temperature at5 degree Celsius, Shajapur andGwalior recorded night tem-perature at 6 degree Celsius,Betul, Satna and Guna record-ed night temperature around 7degree Celsius .

In the wake of extreme coldconditions district adminis-tration has issued orders ofrevising the school timings toprovide relief to the students.

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Page 4: RNI Regn. No. MPENG/2004/13703, Regd. No. L-2/BPLON/41 ... · Babu Lal Marandi (JVM), PK Kunhalikutti (IUML), Badrudin Ajmal (AIUDF), Raju Shetty (Swabhimani Paksha), Sanjay Singh

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Bhubaneswar : PrimeMinister Narendra Modi onMonday praised the people ofOdisha for their warmth andhospitality during the Men’sHockey World Cup-2018 thatconcluded on Sunday at theKalinga Stadium here.

“Congratulations to thepeople and Government ofOdisha for their warmth andhospitality,” he Tweeted. TheHockey World Cup in Odishahas been a treat for sportslovers, he added.

The 14th edition of theMen’s Hockey World Cup, thequadrennial world champi-onship for men’s national fieldhockey teams, was held at thestadium from November 28 toDecember 16. PNS

BHUBANESWAR: Champion team Belgium have thanked thepeople of Bhubaneswar after winning the Men’s Hockey WorldCup at the Kalinga Stadium here.

The team thanked the city denizens for their hospitality andkindness. It also congratulated the Hockey India for holding the“the most epic, best-organised and most-impressive World Cupever”. PNS

���� 40�)��,870

A52-year-old man commit-ted suicide fearing old age-

related sufferings at MeenakshiNagar under the GosaniNuagaon police limits inBrahmapur city on Sunday.

The deceased Ajit KumarPanda (52), who was aLaboratory Assistant at theRoyal College of PharmacyAnd Health Sciences here.

During the night before theday of the incident, Panda hadposted on Facebook a photo ofhis suicide note, in which it wasmentioned that he saw “a verydifficult old-age” period of hisdeceased mother for which hefeared the old age.

“Nobody is responsible formy committed suicide,” thenote added.

Being informed by his rel-atives and colleagues, policereached Panda’s rented house

and seized the body. The sui-cide note was also seized by thecops.

An unnatural death case inthis regard has been regis-tered. The actual reason of thedeath can be ascertained afterpostmortem of the body, apolice official said.

Sir,

Iwant to bring to the notice ofthe Railways authorities a

problem being faced by trav-ellers like me since a long time.There are many travellers whoreserve their tickets, particularlyin express trains. But theRailways authorities don’t pub-lish the list of seats reserved onthe reservation bogies. Earlier,they used to publish the list ofreserved seats as soon as thetrains arrived. Nowadays, this

practice is not being followed;and it is creating utter confusionand chaotic situations becausethe people won’t know that cer-tain bogies are reserved andthey enter such bogies and sitthere thinking that they aremeant for everybody. Aftersometime, the people who haveactually reserved their seatscome and ask the earlier occu-pants to vacate their seats. Nowunreserved people have tovacate their seats and can’t go toother bogies which would havegot filled by that time.

In order to get rid of thisproblem, the authorities have tobring back the system of pub-lishing the list of reserved seatsas soon as the trains arrive inthe station. This will allow thepeople, who have not reservedtheir seats, to occupy unre-served seats and travel peace-fully and comfortably to theirdestinations.

K Ravi, E-237, GGPColony, Bhubaneswar-751025,Mob: 9437616497

���� 4)84�-%�*�0

Three youths, including twostudents of a private man-

agement college, had to face themusic for misbehaving with agirl in front of her mother atChhatabar on the city out-skirts on Sunday.

The trio was tied to a treeand beaten black and blue byirate locals before being rescuedby police.

Among the accused, whileone youth is from Madanpur,the two others are the studentsof a private management col-lege. The victim is a daughterof former Army personnel.

Reports said that the threeyouths stalked and misbehaved

with the mother-daughter duowhile they were taking a morn-ing walk on the Pitapali-Barangroad. Showing courage, thegirl and her mother managedto nab one youth and startedshouting, following whichlocals rushed to the spot.

A few locals chased andcaught the two others, who hadfled from the spot, near thePalaspur area.

Later, the irate locals ofChhatabar village tied the trioto a tree and thrashed themwithout mercy for their mis-deed with the girl and hermother on the road.

On receiving information,Mendhasal police outpost per-sonnel reached the spot andrescued the youths from theclutches of the villagers.

Subsequently, the matterwas subsequently compro-mised after the parents of theaccused youths apologised tothe mother-daughter duo andthe locals.

BHUBANESWAR: TheSamajwadi Party on Mondaydemanded that the OdishaElectricity RegulatoryCommission (OERC) and theState Government ensure thatpower tariff is never beincreased for the year 2019-20.

“Every year, power tariff isbeing hiked to make up thefinancial loss of the distributioncompanies. For the financialyear 2019-20, the Gridco hassubmitted its Annual RevenueRequirement (ARR) of 9,134. 21crore. This means the power tar-iff per unit will be pegged at Rs3.26. If the OERC accepts theGridco APR, 77 lakh consumersin the State will suffer,” said SPState president Rabi Behera.

He lamented saying thatgeneral consumers are beingburdened unnecessarily to makeup transmission loss, whichought to be met by discoms.

“In Odisha, the transmis-sion loss is around 40 per cent.If one percent transmission lossis checked, the State can save anannual revenue of around 75crore. Now, due to 40 per centtransmission loss, the State islosing revenue of around Rs3,000 crore. This needs to bereduced and the OERC mustdirect the power companies tocheck power theft and ATC lossinstead of going for power tar-iff hike. The State Governmentshould interfere in the matter forthe welfare of the commonpeople of the State, he said.

Behera threatened that hisparty would create a people’smovement if the OERC and theGovernment do not ensurestopping of possible power tar-iff hike soon.

���� 4)84�-%�*�0

The Utkal UniversityTeachers’ Association

(UUTA) elections would beheld in January 2019, informedUUTA secretary Prof KunjaBihari Panda at a Press meetheld here on Monday.

It may be mentioned herethat the elections for the asso-ciation was marred by threeyouths a week ago. The youthshad forcibly snatched away thenomination box minutes beforethe end of nomination onDecember 11. They had also

asked the returning officer tostop the election.

Panda lamented saying thatthe university administrationdid not forward their complaintto police. Even as the returningofficer lodged an FIR at theSaheed Nagar police station,accused persons have not beenarrested yet.

If action is not takenagainst the accused soon, theassociation would approachChancellor of Universities andGovernor Prof Ganeshi Lal toseek action against them,Panda said.

He mentioned that thethree persons who broke intothe office of the returning offi-cer and took the nominationbox away are apparently stayingin the hostels of the universityillegally and one of accused isalso teaching as a guest faculty

in the University Law College.Panda clarified that the

Vice-Chancellor and Registrarare not involved in the matter.

The association alsorequested all sections of theuniversity community torefrain from making an issueout of the election.

Panda said if universityauthorities failed to drive outoutsiders from the universitycampus, the association wouldform a group and oust themfrom the university hostels.

He informed that electionswould be held in January andpolice protection would betaken, if needed, for its smoothconduct.

Among others, associationVP Prof Maheswar Sahu, trea-surer Satya Narayan Pal andjoint secretary Shiba SankarMohanty were present.

���� 4)84�-%�*�0

The BJP would organise atwo-day national conven-

tion of tribal representativesunder the name “AdivashiMahasamavesh” here onFebruary 2 and 3.

The convention will beattended by BJP national pres-ident Amit Shah, informedUnion Tribal Affairs MinisterJual Oram here.

Oram slammed theNaveen Patnaik Governmentsaying it has done nothing fortribals in the State during thelast 19 years. He said the partyhas given a ‘BhubaneswarChalo’ call to the indigenouspeople to show their strength.

Preparation will be madeto gather more than one lakhtribals at the proposedMahasamavesh to send out amessage to the BJDGovernment that they arestrong enough to snatch theirrights.

Though records of rightshave been issued to landlesstribals, land has not been hand-ed over to them, said Oram.

Stating that the six-monthvalidity of caste certificates hasbecome a big headache fortribals, he said tribals should beissued caste certificates for life-

time. Tribals are being exploit-ed during issue of such certifi-cates, he said.

The Union Ministeralleged that the StateGovernment is not cooperatingin direct transfer of stipendpayments and has curtailed thepower of elected representa-tives.

BJP ST Morcha presidentRabi Naik, Union Petroleumand Natural Gas MinisterDharmendra Pradhan, BJPnational ST Morcha presidentRamvichar Netam, formerChief minister GiridharGamang and BJP LegislatureParty leader KV Singhdeoattended the preparatory meet-ing, among others.

���� ,80&

Sujata Sahu, wife of a railwaydoctor Sanjeev Sahu, was

mysteriously found dead inher house at the railway quar-ters under the Sea Beach policestation here on Monday after-noon.

Reports said Sujata wasfound lying in a pool of bloodwith injuries on her head.

Family members of Sujataalleged that she was murdered.Sources said the attack on hermight have taken placebetween 1:30 pm and 2:30 pm.When her husband and sonreached home, the house waslocked from inside.

Family members said thatSujata died of excess bleedingand there were as many as threeinjury marks on her head.

After receiving informa-tion, the Sea Beach policerushed to the spot and recov-ered the body before sending itfor postmortem. A police offi-cial stated that the investigationwas at a preliminary stage andSujata had a cranium fracture.

Police sources said it wassuspected that the victim washit on her head with a heavyobject, due to which she died.

Meanwhile, police soughthelp of a scientific team, whichreached the spot and carriedout investigation.

���� 4)84�-%�*�0

Gujarat Chief Minister VijayRupani here on Monday

demanded that Congress pres-ident Rahul Gandhi resignfrom his post forthwith andtender an apology to the peo-ple in the wake of the SupremeCourt rejecting the petitions toinvestigate Rafale jet deal.

“It has been clear theUnion Government didn’tcommit any wrong; and RahulGandhi’s real face of telling lieshas come to the fore. Hence,he should resign from his posttaking moral responsibility andtender an apology,” demandedRupani at a Press meet here.

Rupani also demanded thatGandhi inform people the basisof allegation he made relating

to the Rafale deal.“Middlemen had always

fixed rates for flights procuredduring the Congress rule, butthe procurement of Rafale jetswas done without middlemenduring the Modi Government,”he claimed.

���� 4)84�-%�*�0

The International MigrantsDay is observed on

December 18 in accordancewith the Resolution 55/93 ofthe United Nations GeneralAssembly adopting a resolutionon the international conventionon the protection of the rightsof all migrant workers andmembers of their families.

Odisha is known as one ofthe key migration source States.As per the State Department ofLabour, close to 1.3 lakh inter-State workers migrate to otherStates to work as migrant labour-ers. However, unofficially, thereare two million migrants work-ing in various States in India asmigrant workers.

Majority of the migrantworkers are from coastal regionwhich accounts for 50 per centof the total migrants workingin textile, cotton ginning, car-pet, diamond polishing, andconstruction sectors.

Labour migration fromtribal north, southern andwestern Odisha is mostly con-sidered as distress familymigration to work in brick kiln,construction, stone crusher,domestic work, plantation andagriculture sector within andoutside of the State.

On the other hand, youngand adolescent groups from

tribal and rural region migrateto various inter-State and intra-State destinations to work inhotel, restaurant, constructionmanufacturing and variousservice sectors. The State alsohas been reporting large num-bers of workers who aremigrating to the Gulf and otherinternational destinations asconstruction workers.

The Odisha Governmenthas formulated a State actionplan to reduce vulnerability ofmigrant workers in western

Odisha and is trying to set uphelp desks in key destinationStates. The Department ofEducation has been working onsetting up seasonal hostels formigrant children in the west-ern districts of Odisha.Whereas the civil societyorganisations have been active-ly working on migrant chil-dren’s education at destina-tion, awareness generation ofsafe migration and advocatingfor better and meaningful pol-icy for the migrant workers.

The Inter State MigrantWorkers Act of 1979 has notbeen helping the migrant work-ers and needs amendment. TheGovernment of India is goingto discuss and pass a new law,“Trafficking of Person(Prevention, Protection andRehabilitation) Bill 2017” whichis under debate. While the acthas are some progressive pro-visions to curb all forms of traf-ficking, but still there are gapsto address the issues of labourtrafficking and laws to protectthe migrant labour.

The UN SustainableDevelopment Goal also focusesits attention on reducing vulner-ability of men, women and childmigrants and creating an inclu-sive policy. The inclusive policiesfor migrants in cities are a keyurban policy which needs to beundertaken by the Government.

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The Centre on Mondayreleased an additional assis-

tance of Rs 1,023.59 crore toOdisha from the NationalDisaster Response Fund(NDRF).

As per a release issued bythe Ministry of Home Affairs,the high level committeechaired by Union HomeMinister, Rajnath Singhapproved the additional assis-tance to Odisha which wasaffected by cyclone Titli andsubsequent flood in October.

Among others, UnionFinance Minister, Arun Jaitley,Union Minister for Agriculture,Radha Mohan Singh, UnionHome Secretary, Rajiv Gaubaand senior officers of theMinistries of Home Affairs,Finance and Agriculture werepresent in the meeting.

It is pertinent to mentionthat Odisha Chief MinisterNaveen Patnaik had requestedthe Centre to immediatelyrelease financial assistance forrepair and restoration work incyclone Titli-affected areas.

Cyclone Titli and subse-quent flood claimed around 70lives in the State, destroyinghutments, roads and bridgesand uprooting trees and elec-trical poles.

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Aspecial investigation team(SIT) has been formed to

probe the sexual harassmentcharges brought by a researchscholar from the ScheduledCaste community a week ago.Another complaint of the samenature brought by a facultymember, a foreigner, would beprobed too, senior police offi-cers said. Two complaints beingfiled in a week, a team com-prising the circle officerKankhal, Ranipur Inspectorand the police station in-chargeare probing them.

The researcher fromGujarat had filed a complaint,stating that she had been a stu-dent of the Centre ofNanotechnology since 2015.She alleged that a professor hadbeen harassing her sexuallyfor the past two years bothphysically and mentally. Theprofessor had also made hervideo, she alleged, and tor-mented her by raising casteistslurs against her. The researchscholar further alleged thatshe was not being allowed toenter the laboratory on accountof her being from the SC com-munity by other PhD guides aswell. The atrocities goingbeyond of her tolerance level,she had lodged a complaintwith the internal complaintscommittee but to no avail, she

complained and added thather fellowship had also beenwithheld for the past one year.

In her statement, theresearch scholar is said to havetold the police that a murderattempt had also been made onher on December 14 when shewas going to have a cup of tea.As per sources, she alleged thattwo-bike borne persons hadattempted to strangle her witha scarf they were holding intheir hands. However, theyhad fled after the securityguards had approached them,the scholar is believed to haveinformed police.

Quizzed over the matter,SSP Haridwar Ridhim Agarwalsaid on Mnday that they hadconstituted an SIT comprisingCO Kankhal S K Singh,Ranipur inspector SadhnaTyagi and Sot chowki in-chargeManisha Dhyani. “The schol-ar has lodged complaint againsteight people, including thedirector, dean and her facultymembers. The team wouldprobe into the depth of thecomplaint lodged,” she added.

In another case, anAmerican woman had alsolodged sexual harassment com-plaint through email and a ten-point questionnaire had beensent to her thereafter, the SSPfurther said and added thatthey were waiting for herresponse.

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Page 5: RNI Regn. No. MPENG/2004/13703, Regd. No. L-2/BPLON/41 ... · Babu Lal Marandi (JVM), PK Kunhalikutti (IUML), Badrudin Ajmal (AIUDF), Raju Shetty (Swabhimani Paksha), Sanjay Singh

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New Delhi: The Supreme Court has granted pro-tection from arrest to a news channel journalistwho had allegedly conducted a sting operationon four ruling Biju Janta Dal (BJD) MLAs inOdisha. A Bench of Justices DY Chandrachud andMR Shah also sought response from the OdishaGovernment on the plea of journalist RaviSharma seeking anticipatory bail and challeng-ing the order of High Court dated December 5.

“Having regard to the above position and hav-ing due regard to all the facts and circumstances,we direct that there shall be a stay of arrest in themeantime,” the Bench said.

At the outset, advocate Rahul ShyamBhandari, appearing for Sharma contended thatthe journalist was wrongly framed in the casesince he had conducted the sting operation againstthe four MLAs of BJD.

He said there is no absolute bar for grant ofanticipatory bail in the case where allegedoffences are under the Scheduled Caste andScheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.

Sharma was booked in the complaint caselodged by MLA Bijay Naik of Karanjia con-stituency under various Sections of IPC and pro-visions under the Act. In 2016, a regional newschannel had aired a sting operation in which fourBJD MLAs — Seemarani Nayak (Hindol); SusantBehera (Chhendipada); Bijay Naik (Karanjia) andAnam Naik (Bhawanipatna) were seen demand-ing money from an industrialist in lieu of pro-viding him facilities for setting up industries inthe State. PTI

New Delhi: The Supreme Court has asked theRajasthan Government to explain as to howsome videos of hate speech were uploaded onthe internet from Jodhpur jail premises byShambhu Lal Raigar, who is accused of hack-ing and burning alive a Muslim labourer fromWest Bengal.

The top court also sought response fromRaigar as to why he should not be transferredto Delhi’s Tihar jail or any other jail out ofRajasthan.

“Issue notice to the newly added respon-dent (Raigar), returnable on January 21, 2019.In the meantime, the State of Rajasthan shallfile its counter affidavit to these proceedings. The State shall, in particular,explain whether a video was uploaded fromwithin the jail premises by the newly addedrespondent and, if so, how that was possible,”said a Bench of Justices DY Chandrachud andMR Shah.

Senior advocate Indira Jaising, appearingfor Gulbahar Biwi, wife of the victim who wasallegedly killed by Raigar in on December 6 lastyear, said that the accused has been continu-ously uploading videos of hate speech on theInternet and should be transferred to Tihar jailor any other prison outside the State. PTI

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Union Cabinet on Mondayapproved increasing the allot-

ment of deposit free LPG connec-tions to poor under PM Ujjwalascheme, establishment of two newAIIMS hospitals in Madurai, TamilNadu, and Bibinagar in Telangana.Cabinet also approved a new four-lane 14 kilometre road bridge acrossriver Ganga in Patna in Bihar.

Cabinet Committee onEconomic Affairs (CCEA) chaired byPrime Minister Narendra Modiapproved expansion of beneficiarieslist under PM Ujjwala Yojana torelease deposit free LPG connectionsto poor families so far uncovered.This is subject to fulfilling eligibili-ty norms and furnishing requireddocuments, said Petroleum MinisterDharmendra Pradhan, whileaddressing media along with LawMinister Ravi Shankar Prasad.

Pradhan said people in sevencategories are identified for thisallotment of deposit free LPG cylin-ders to poor. “SC/STs households,beneficiaries of Pradhan MantriAwasYojana (PMAY) (Gramin),Antyodaya Anna Yojana (AAY),

Forest dwellers, Most BackwardClasses (MBC), Tea & Ex-TeaGarden Tribes, people residing inIslands / river islands, whose namesdid not appear in the SECC Iist,” saidthe statement issued by Government.

Cabinet approved the project forconstruction of a 5.634-km long newfour lane bridge in Patna across riverGanga, just 38 metres on upstreamside of the existing MG Setu. Theconstruction period for the projectis three and a half years and likely tobe completed by January 2023.

“This mega project is 14.500-kmlong and passes through Patna,Saran and Vaishali districts of Bihar.The project includes 5634-metrelong major bridge parallel to theexisting old MG Setu, 4 number ofVehicular Underpasses (VUPs), oneRail Over Bridge (RoB), 1580-metrelong one viaduct, 110-metre long oneflyover, 4 minor bridges, 5 numbersbus shelters and 13 road junctions,”said the statement. Cabinet alsosanctioned establishment of twonew All India Institute of MedicalSciences (AIIMS) at Madurai, TamilNadu at a cost of Rs 1,264 crore andBibinagar, Telangana at a cost of Rs1,028 crore.

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The three-day-long annualDGP’s conference to be

hosted by the Union HomeMinistry will start onDecember 20 at the site of thetallest statue of SardarVallabhbhai Patel in Gujarat.Militancy in Jammu &Kashmir, cross-border terror-ism and attempts to radicalise youth will top theagenda of the conference inau-gurated by Prime MinisterNarendra Modi.

Issues like clashes due tocommunal tension, circulationof communally sensitive newsand pornographic materialsthrough social media are alsoexpected to be discussed at thethree-day meeting, a UnionHome Ministry official said.

The top police officers ofthe country will be closeted for multiple sessions of dis-cussions on issues concerningthe country, including militancy in Jammu andKashmir, cross-border terror-ism, attempts to radicaliseyouth, Naxal menace and thesituation in the Northeast, theofficial said.

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Prime Minister NarendraModi on Monday

announced $1.4 billion finan-cial assistance to Maldives afterhe held extensive talks with itsvisiting President IbrahimMohamed Solih.

During the talks, the twosides vowed to deepen securi-ty cooperation in the IndianOcean Region.

The two countries alsoinked four pacts, includingone on visa facilitation besidesagreeing on maritime cooper-ation. “We held successful talksin a cordial atmosphere. Wevowed to strengthen ties,” Modisaid in his press statement, withSolih by his side.

Modi also said the securi-ty interests of the two countrieswere intertwined and both sideswill work together to furtherstrengthen cooperation in theIndian Ocean Region.

“We will not allow ourcountries to be used for activ-ities which can be harmful toeach other’s interests,” Modiasserted.

The Prime Minister saidIndia is extending $1.4 billionas budget support, currencyswap and line of credit for thesocial and economic develop-ment of Maldives.

“We want greater tradeties with Maldives. There areincreasing opportunities for

Indian companies in the islandnation,” he said.

On his part, Solih said thetwo sides agreed to strengthenmaritime security cooperationin the Indian Ocean regionthrough coordinated patroland aerial surveillance.

Solih arrived here onSunday on a three-day statevisit, his first foreign trip afterassuming the charge of the topoffice in the island nation amonth ago.

Modi had attended Solih’sswearing-in ceremony onNovember 17.

Earlier, External AffairsMinister Sushma Swaraj calledon Solih and discussed issuesof bilateral and regional con-cern. Relations between Indiaand the Maldives plummetedafter then President AbdullaYameen imposed emergencyon February 5 this year.

India had criticised hisdecision and asked his gov-ernment to restore the credi-bility of the electoral and polit-ical process by releasing polit-ical prisoners. The emergencylasted for 45 days.

The two sides signedAgreements/MoUs/JointDeclaration of Intent duringthe visit like Agreement on theFacilitation of VisaArrangements, Memorandumof Understanding on CulturalCooperation and MoU forEstablishing Mutual

Cooperation to Improve theEcosystem for Agribusiness;

A Joint Declaration ofIntent on Cooperation in thefield of Information &Communications Technologyand Electronics was alsosigned.

The two sides also agreedto work together to createinstitutional linkages and toestablish a framework of coop-eration in the areas of health,particularly cancer treatment,Mutual Legal Assistance onCriminal Matters, Investmentpromotion, Human ResourceDevelopment and Tourism.

Solih is accompanied byhis wife First Lady Fazna Ahmedand a high level delegation com-prising of Minister of ForeignAffairs Abdulla Shahid, Ministerof Finance Ibrahim Ameer,Minister of National Planningand Infrastructure MohamedAslam, Minister of Transportand Civil Aviation AishathNahula, Minister of EconomicDevelopment Uz Fayyaz Ismail,senior government officials, anda business delegation.

In an important gesture,Solih is staying in theRashtrapati Bhawan as a specialguest of President Ram NathKovind. “This demonstratesthe close ties between India andthe Maldives, and the warmthand mutual respect betweenthe two Governments, a releaseissued by Government said.

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The Congress and BJP onMonday sparred over the

Rafale issue in both the Housesof the Parliament giving noticesof privileges against each otherin both the Houses for alleged-ly airing misleading statements.

The Congress gave noticesof breach of privilege in bothHouses of Parliament, demand-ing an explanation from theGovernment on why it pro-vided the Supreme Court“wrong” information on theRafale deal. The Congress gaveprivilege notices against theGovernment and law ministerRavi Shankar Prasad.

Soon the BJP also steppedup attack on Rahul Gandhiover the Rafale issue with threemembers of the ruling party inthe Lok Sabha moving a noticeof breach of privilege againstthe Congress president, alleg-

ing that he spoke “falsehood”and “misled the House” overthe fighter aircraft deal in hisspeech during a debate in July.

BJP MPs Anurag Thakur,Nishikant Dubey and SanjayJaiswal have sought actionagainst Congress president overhis speech during the debate onthe no-confidence motionagainst the Narendra ModiGovernment in Parliament’sMonsoon Session.

BJP has intensified its attackon Rahul following the lastweek’s Supreme Court verdictdismissing petitions seeking aprobe into alleged irregularitiesin the Rafale deal. The apexcourt had said there is no occa-sion to doubt the decision-mak-ing process in the procurementof 36 fighter jets from France.

Rahul has, however, stuckto his allegations of corruptionin the purchase and demand-ed a probe by a Joint

Parliamentary Committee(JPC). In their notice againstthe Congress leader, the BJPMPs quoted Rahul as sayingthat the UPA Government hadagreed to buy the aircraft at Rs520 crore per unit but when theBJP-led NDA Governmentsigned the deal, it cost Rs 1,600crores “by magic”.

“The above statement isentirely untrue... We categori-cally assert that the price com-parison given by Rahul Gandhiis a figment of imagination,incorrect and utter falsehood.It was an attempt to mislead theHouse,” they alleged in theirnotice. On the part of theCongress Leader of Oppositionin the Rajya Sabha GhulamNabi Azad sent the notice tothe chairman of the UpperHouse, Congress’ leader in theLok Sabha Mallikarjun KhargeKharge gave the notice in theLower House.

“I have given a breach ofprivilege notice against theGovernment and in particularagainst Law Minister RaviShankar Prasad as it was theLaw Ministry that gave the goahead for presenting the affi-davit before the SupremeCourt,” he said.

This is the first time that aGovernment has providedwrong information to theSupreme Court, he said.

“This is why our demandfor a Joint ParliamentaryCommittee (JPC) becomesmore relevant. We demandthat a JPC be formed to probethe theft in the Rafale deal,”Azad said.

“We have no faith in thisGovernment as it is misleadingthe Supreme Court by givingfalse information and is alsomisleading the people of thecountry,” he alleged.

The Congress, through its

notices, is demanding answersfrom the law minister on whythe government providedwrong information to theSupreme Court about the CAGreport on the Rafale pricingissue, he said.

Senior Congress leaderAnand Sharma alleged that theGovernment was guilty of com-mitting breach of privilege ofboth Houses of Parliament byclaiming that the CAG report onRafale aircraft pricing was pre-sented to the Public AccountsCommittee of Parliament.

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Shortly after the sentencing of SajjanKumar in a 1984 anti-Sikh riots case, the

Government and the BJP on Monday tar-geted the Congress, saying no one had anydoubt on the Opposition party’s role in theriots and alleged that the Congress and itsruling Gandhi family were involved in a“cover-up”.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley also tooka swipe at the opposition party for choos-ing Kamal Nath as Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister, claiming that Sikhs con-sider him “culpable” in the violenceagainst the community. And BJP president Amit Shah alleged Congress “leaders andworkers went on rampage raising provocative slogans” and “murdering menin cold blood”.

Jaitley dubbed Kumar, who was con-victed by the Delhi High Court in a 1984 riots case and sentenced him toimprisonment for life, a “symbol” of theanti-Sikh “genocide” and said the countryhad never seen murders on a bigger scalethan this.

The decision may be delayed but atleast the process of justice has started, hesaid, hoping that there will be more ver-dicts as many cases are being heard on a

day to day basis. “It is an irony that the ver-dict has come on a day when a Congresschief minister, who is held culpable by the Sikh community, is taking oath,”Jaitley told reporters in an apparent ref-erence to Nath.

Shah said victims of 1984 riots had lostall hope of justice because those respon-sible for crime against them enjoyedpolitical patronage of Congress leadership,Shah alleged in his tweets.

The Delhi High Court’s conviction ofSajjan Kumar has once again assured thevictims that criminals of 1984 will not goscot free, he asserted.

“No one ever had any doubt onCongress’ role in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots.Their leaders and workers went on ram-page raising provocative slogans, rapingwomen and murdering men in cold blood.Yet no one was ever punished despite mul-tiple commissions and several eyewit-nesses,” Shah said.

The BJP chief thanked Prime MinisterNarendra Modi for setting up an SIT in2015 which, he said, started re-investiga-tion into several cases of 1984 pending forover three decades.

“I am grateful to the court, which hasdelivered its judgment, bringing relief tothe traumatised families,” he added.

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The Lok Sabha on Mondaypassed a Bill seeking to

empower the transgender com-munity by providing them aseparate identity. TheTransgender Persons(Protection of Rights) Bill,2016, seeking to defineTransgenders and prohibit dis-crimination against them, wasintroduced in the Lok Sabhatwo years ago. It was passedwith 27 amendments amidprotests over the Rafale dealand Cauvery issue.

While their colleagues wereprotesting in the Well, fiveOpposition MPs, includingKakoli Ghosh Dastidar(Trinamool Congress) andBadaruddoza Khan (CPI-M),participated in the debate, ques-tioning the provisions of the leg-islation. The Opposition MPs,while participating in the debatereminded the Government thatthey are cooperating with thisbill due to its noble cause.

Presenting the importanceof the bill, Union Social Justice

and Empowerment MinisterThawar Chand Gehlot saidthe Bill was sent to the stand-ing committee and theGovernment has accepted 27amendments, requesting MPsto pass the Bill. Initiating thedebate on the Bill, Congressmember Shashi Tharoor saidthe bill was “flawed” and theminister should withdraw it.

“Defer consideration of thebill as it needs serious discus-sion. I request the minister towithdraw the Bill,” he said. Weneed to recognise Transgenders’identity” as it goes beyondmale and female, Tharoor said,adding the government has“blindly” borrowed the defini-tion of Transgenders. The Billalso fails to define discrimina-tion against Transgenders andthere is a need to redraft certainclauses,” he said.

Bartruhari Mahtab (BJD)said there was no clarity on theterm “self perceived genderidentity” and “how it will beenforced”. He said the defini-tion of Transgenders was notcomplete and that other terms

such as transmen andtranswomen were not defined.

Mahtab said there wereseveral laws in the country andit was not clear how theselaws, including the CompaniesAct would be applied to trans-genders. “Adequate attentionhas not been given in draftingthis Bill,” he maintained, addingthe government itself hasmoved 27 amendments.

Supriya Sule (NCP) said aTransgender commission atthe national level was notenough. “We are asking for awelfare board for Transgenders.They need equal rights,” shesaid, demanding a helplinenumber for the community.

The Minister said the objec-tives of the Bill includes pro-tecting interests of Transgenders,defining of the term‘Transgender’, to give themrecognition and setting up of anational Transgender council. “Along discussion has taken placeon this issue. It has also gone tothe parliamentary standing com-mittee. We have included sever-al of their suggestions,” he said.

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Like last year, this time too,Public Sector Units (PSUs)

and Central GovernmentDepartments have intriguing-ly drawn a blank in qualifyingin any category for the presti-gious National Award 2018,announced on InternationalDay of Persons with Disabilities(PwD) on December 3.

The award is given everyyear by the Union Ministry ofSocial Empowerment andJustice to individuals and insti-tutions working for the welfareof the PwDs.

A total 16 institutions and56 individuals from the privatesector and a few States wereconferred with the award at anevent held to mark the day.

There were three categorieswhere nominations weresought from the PSUs andGovernment Departments too.

However, the fact that noneof its departments andNavratnas (PSUs) could meetthe criteria to clinch the bestemployer award under the cat-egory ‘Award for theOutstanding Wok in theCreation of Barrier-FreeEnvironment for the Persons with Disabilities,’speaks volumes of the long waythe Modi Government has togo to meet the aspirations ofthe sector such as ensuringenough jobs and inclusiveenvironment.

The Government haslaunched mega IndiaAccessibility Campaign to cre-ate universal accessibility env-iron for the sector.

In private sector,Karnataka-based IBM baggedthe award under the category‘Award for the OutstandingWok in the Creation of Barrier-Free Environment for the

Persons with Disabilities.’From the private sector,

Radhambika S on behalf ofSivavasu Electronics fromThiruvananthapuram, Keralabagged the award under thesegment ‘Award for BestEmployers and PlacementOfficer or Agency’.

In fact Madhya Pradeshstole the show with its districtSingrauli, Indore and NagdaMunicipal Corporations walk-ing away with the award

Similarly, no PSU and gov-ernment department wasfound to be inspiring enoughto be felicitated under the ‘bestemployee or agency’ categoryeven as EmploymentDepartment of the NationalAssociation for Blind (NAB)and R Hari, GM HumanResources of the Lemon TreeHotels Ltd bagged the awardunder the segment.

Tripura-based Abhoy

Misson and Mata BhagwantiChadha Niketan, Uttar Pradeshand Montfort Centre forEducation, MEGHALAYAwere felicitated for providingholistic comprehensive services to the persons withdisabilities in a comprehensivemanner.

Award for the ‘Best Districtin Providing RehabilitationService’ went to Thiruvallur(Tamil Nadu) Lucknow (UttarPradesh) while ‘Best StateChannelizing Agency ofNational Handicapped Financeand Development Corporation’award was given to KeralaState Handicapped PersonsWelfare Corporation

On the occasion, Vice-President Venkaiah Naidu, whoconferred the award, said the sector needs empathyand not sympathy and theawardees serve as the rolemodel to others.

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The Government onMonday said the

Government was not dolingout funds to the private or pub-lic companies under the ‘Adopta Heritage: Apni Dharohar,Apni Pehchaan’, schemelaunched last year.

“No fund is given byMinistry of Tourism. The projectenvisages involvement of pri-vate/public companies /organi-sations and individuals to adoptmonuments, natural heritagesites and other tourist sites in thecountry, primarily under CSR,”said Minister of State (indepen-dent charge) for Culture, DrMahesh Sharma, in reply to aquestion in the Lok Sabha.

He said the scheme envis-ages development and mainte-nance of tourist amenities at her-itage sites and making themtourist friendly, to enhance

tourism potential and culturalimportance in a planned andphased manner. A political con-troversy had erupted in April thisyear after the news broke that theDalmia Bharat group signed anagreement with the Governmentto maintain Red Fort withOpposition accusing theGovernment of ‘handing overthe monument to private party.”

However, the Governmentsaid the project primarily focus-es on providing basic amenitiesthat include cleanliness, public

conveniences, safe drinkingwater, ease of access for tourists,signages, illumination, Wi-fietc. The MoU signed specifiesinstallation of one signage at themonument indicating thatmonument has been adopted byrespective firm/organisation,the Minister said.

He maintained that provid-ing basic facilities/amenities(e.g. drinking water, toilet blocks,facilities for physically chal-lenged, pathways, cultural noticeboards/signage, vehicle park-

ing, cloak rooms, etc.) to touristsvisiting centrally protected mon-uments and sites are the regularactivities undertaken by theArchaeological Survey of India.

Further, ArchaeologicalSurvey of India has identified100 monuments as “AdarshSmarak” for upgradation ofexisting facilities/amenities likeWi-Fi, cafeteria, interpretationcentre, brail signage, moderntoilets etc. on the basis of actu-al requirement and feasibilityon case to case basis.

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New Delhi: It took 13 roundsof diplomatic discussionsbetween India and China toresolve the face-off betweentheir militaries in Doklamlast year, according to a reportby a parliamentary panel.

The report by the com-mittee on External Affairstermed the Chinese intru-sion at Doklam as a “blatantbut unsuccessful attempt” tounilaterally change the statusquo at the India, Bhutan,China tri-junction in Doklam,seriously affecting India’ssecurity interests.

Complimenting the gov-ernment’s handling of the face-off, the committee said itremained concerned thatChinese infrastructure built“uncomfortably” close to thetri-junction has not yet beendismantled. The committee,headed by former Minister ofstate in External AffairsMinistry Shashi Tharoor, saidDoklam was not a sovereigntyissue for India as the disputedterritory was Bhutanese, butnevertheless it was major secu-rity challenge for New Delhi.

“The committee will liketo put on record their highestappreciation for the brave andtimely action of our securityforces which checked the PLA(Peoples Liberation Army)troops from continuing withtheir road construction activ-ity in South Doklam,” panelsaid in the report tabled inParliament on Monday. PTI

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Page 6: RNI Regn. No. MPENG/2004/13703, Regd. No. L-2/BPLON/41 ... · Babu Lal Marandi (JVM), PK Kunhalikutti (IUML), Badrudin Ajmal (AIUDF), Raju Shetty (Swabhimani Paksha), Sanjay Singh

The Supreme Court’s recent judge-ment on a slew of petitions vis-à-vis the Rafale deal, envisaging thepurchase of 36 of these aircraftfrom a French company, will

hopefully alert the people about the recklesssloganeering that is currently on and the sillyattempts being made in some quarters toequate Rafale with Bofors.

At the moment, there is nothing in com-mon between the two, except that they bothrelate to defence procurement from foreigncompanies. There, the similarities end. In thecase of Bofors, there were specific allegationsthat this Swedish company paid kickbacks towin the contract and the payments were fullyestablished in respect of certain entities,including Ottavio Quattrocchi, a dear friendof UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi and herlate husband Rajiv Gandhi. In respect toRafale, there are no such allegations of kick-backs or corruption; although the choice ofthe offset partner has been raised. In any case,the Supreme Court has categorically dis-missed the petitions filed before it for sever-al reasons, one of which is the vagueness ofaccusations.

On the other hand, just take a look at thekind of evidence of kickbacks that emergedin Bofors. Some part of these payments havebeen meticulously documented by the DelhiBench of the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal(ITAT) comprising RP Tolani and RCSharma. The tribunal tracked the money trailwith clinical precision and presented its find-ings in its order many years ago. Unlike thehumming and hawing and the vagueness ofthe allegations that are being hurled againstthe Government vis-à-vis the Rafale deal,there was clinching evidence of payoffs byBofors.

The tribunal noted that OttavioQuattrocchi, the Italian friend of SoniaGandhi and Rajiv Gandhi, remained inIndia from February 28, 1965, to July 29,1993, except for a brief interval from March4, 1966, to June 12, 1968. He was a certi-fied Chartered Accountant by profession,working with Snamprogetti, an Italianmultinational company, but “neitherSnamprogetti nor Quattrocchi had anyexperience of guns, gun-systems or anyrelated defence equipment.” Further,although the Rajiv Gandhi Governmentdeclared that suppliers should not haveagents, it entered into a consultancy agree-ment with a company called AE ServicesLimited in the UK on November 15, 1985.

This was done at the behest ofQuattrocchi. The most intriguing aspect ofthis contract was that Bofors agreed to paythree per cent of the total value of the con-tract to this company if it won the Indiacontract by March 31, 1986 (that is within137 days of the signing of the contract onNovember 15, 1985). And, lo and behold,the Rajiv Gandhi Government signed thecontract on March 24, 1986 — just a week

before the deadline set byBofors expired.

Once the contract wassigned, the Indian Governmentreleased the first tranche of pay-ments to Bofors on May 2,1986, which was equivalent to 20per cent of the contract.

Bofors promptly remitted$7.343 million on September 03,1986, to A/c No: 18051-53 of AEServices Limited at NordfinanzBank, Zurich, which was threeper cent of the advance paid. Thetribunal found that this remit-tance to AE Services was trans-ferred in September 29, 1986, toAccount No: 254.561.60W ofColbar Investments Limited inthe Union Bank of Switzerland,Geneva. On July 25, 1988, again,these funds were moved toAccount No: 488.320.60 X of acompany called WetelsenOverseas, SA, in the same bank.Thereafter, on May 21, 1990, themoney was further transferredto Account No: 123983 ofInternational InvestmentsDevelopment Company inGuernsey (Channel Islands).The ITAT said: “These accountsof Colbar Investments as well asWetelsen Overseas were beingcontrolled by OttavioQuattrocchi and his wife MariaQuattrocchi.”

But the most extraordinarydevelopment was that AEServices unilaterally announcedthat it would forego the rest ofthe commission due to it fromBofors, after the bribery scan-dal broke out in April 1987, andthe then Prime Minister RajivGandhi struggled to explain thedubious payoffs by Bofors.

In the final analysis, theITAT said 243 million Swedish

Kroners was pocketed byQuattrocchi and Win Chadha.But the most clinching linkbetween Quattrocchi, who gotthe kickbacks, and the Nehru-Gandhis came when formerPrime Minister ManmohanSingh got the UK Governmentto lift the freeze on Quattrocchi’sbank account which had beenimposed at the behest of the AtalBihari Vajpayee Government.This enabled Quattrocchi torun away with the loot.

As against this unimpeach-able evidence of kickbacksreceived by a close family friendof the Nehru-Gandhis, whenIndia bought field guns for itsArmy, the allegations regardingthe Rafale deal do not seem tohave any legs to stand on. TheSupreme Court has found itnecessary to comment on theinadequacy of the petitionsand on the excessive reliance onPress reports.

The court has said, “We findno reason for any interventionby this Court on the sensitiveissue of purchase of 36 defenceaircraft. Perception of individu-als cannot be the basis of a fish-ing and roving enquiry by thisCourt, especially in such mat-ters.” Again, while discussing theallegations regarding choice ofthe offset partner, the courtsaid, “mere Press interviews orsuggestions cannot form thebasis for judicial review by thisCourt…We do not find any sub-stantial material on record toshow that this is a case of com-mercial favouritism to any partyby the Indian Government….”

A critical issue raised inthe writ petitions related to thepricing of the aircraft. The

Chief of Air Staff was opposedto disclosure of price. Yet, thecourt noted that “despite thisreluctance, the material hasstill been placed before theCourt to satisfy its conscience”.The court said it had “exam-ined closely” the price detailsand said it would not carry outa comparison of price details“in matters like the present”and that there was need tomaintain confidentiality in thematter.

Significantly, the courtobserved that “adequate militarystrength and capability to dis-courage and withstand externalaggression and to protect thesovereignty and integrity ofIndia, undoubtedly, is a matterof utmost concern for the nation.The empowerment of defenceforces with adequate technolo-gy and material support is,therefore, a matter of vital impor-tance”. Therefore, the court feltthat the parameters of judicialscrutiny in such matters ofdefence procurement cannot bethe same as in judicial scrutinyof tenders and contracts.

Those who are making reck-less and unsubstantiated allega-tions about the Rafale deal needto absorb these lessons. Thiswriter has elaborated on theQuattrocchi money trail just toemphasise the kind of investiga-tion that is needed to make anallegation stick. Therefore, theattempt by some political partiesto claim that the Rafale deal isPrime Minister Narendra Modi’s‘Bofors moment’ is laughable.Sloganeering is no substitute forevidence.

(The writer is Chairman,Prasar Bharati)

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Sir — If the elections are foughtand won on the promise ofloan-waivers, free electricity orwater, subsidies or money in theform of enhanced pension,unemployment allowance with-out statutory restrictions by theever vigilant and hyperactiveSupreme Court or the ElectionCommission of India, we areheading for anarchy and emptycoffers with no funds for infra-structure, health or education.

While suicide, by the farm-ers or the distressed, remains acrime constitutionally, the self-appointed leaders of civil soci-ety and the secular-liberalspokespersons in the media cryfoul over the suicides and shed crocodile tears on suchcowardly acts. If India has toprogress morally, economicallyand physically, it would be pru-dent for the ElectionCommission and also the apexcourt to ban all such electoralpromises in letter and spiritwhich make people dependenton freebies and destroy workculture. The top court shouldalso summon the leaders of thenational political parties asking

for a time barred withdrawal ofthe reservation policy whichwas originally envisaged for alimited period of 10 years.

Jai Prakash GuptaAmbala

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Sir — This refers to the editor-ial, “Generational conflict”

(December 15). Victories inthree Assembly States ofMadhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarhand Rajasthan have come as ahuge morale booster for theCongress. And if the party wantsto further corner the BJP in the2019 general election, the expe-rience of the old guard will bemuch needed.

There is no denying the factthat both leaders, Jyotiraditya

Madhavrao Scindia and SachinPilot, played a pivotal role forthe Congress’ win in MadhyaPradesh and Rajasthan respec-tively, but the duo must bepatient so that they can be fur-ther groomed under the handsof the senior leadership. Moreunited the show they put up, thebetter it will be for them.

Bal Govind Noida

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Sir — This refers to the editor-ial, “The Rafale soars”(December 15). The SupremeCourt’s dismissal of all petitionsthat sought a court-monitoredSIT probe in the Rafale deal hascome as a major blow toCongress president RahulGandhi who had been unneces-sarily raking up the issue.

The apex court said thatthere is nothing to doubt theprocess of decision-making inthe award of contract for thepurchase of 36 Rafale jets andthat there is no material toshow commercial favouritism.

After the top court’s cleanchit to the Modi Government, itwas expected of Rahul Gandhito stop his tirade against theGovernment and show magna-nimity by ending matters here.Regretfully, he decided to con-tinue with playing politics andhas again made demands for aJoint Parliamentary Committeeprobe.

MC JoshiLucknow

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Page 7: RNI Regn. No. MPENG/2004/13703, Regd. No. L-2/BPLON/41 ... · Babu Lal Marandi (JVM), PK Kunhalikutti (IUML), Badrudin Ajmal (AIUDF), Raju Shetty (Swabhimani Paksha), Sanjay Singh

On November 30, 2018, tens ofthousands of farmers con-gregated in the national cap-

ital to protest against their financialdistress arising out of non-remuner-ative price for their agricultural out-put and ever-increasing farm debtburden. They wanted a special ses-sion of Parliament to discuss theirproblems and demanded the pas-sage of two laws (i) to guaranteeMinimum Support Price (MSP) forall crops based on the recommen-dations of the National Commissionon Agriculture under MSSwaminathan (2006) and (ii) ‘one-time’ farm loan-waiver. Truly speak-ing, the enactment of both theselaws can be fiscally catastrophic. Tounderstand the implications, let us

look at how MSP is fixed and itsconnect with subsidy.

To incentivise food productionand to make it available at afford-able price to the target beneficiaries(mostly poor), the Governmenthad already directed State agencies,such as the Food Corporation ofIndia (FCI), to procure producefrom the farmers at MSP andarrange its supply through the pub-lic distribution system (PDS), at aprice much lower than the actualcost of procurement. The differen-tial amount was then to be reim-bursed to the agencies, as subsidy.

Under the National FoodSecurity Act (NFSA), beneficiariesare allowed to get five kg of cerealsper person, per month. Besides, 81crore people are provided wheat atthe rate of two rupee per kilogram,rice at the rate of three rupee perkilogram and coarse cereals at therate of one rupee per kilogram. Withlow sale price covering barely one-tenth of the cost and the NFSArequiring this network to supply anestimated 60 million tonnes of sub-

sidised grains per year, it entailed afood subsidy of �140,000 crore(2017-18). In addition, �35,000crore was to be spent on price sup-port for pulses and oilseeds.

With the inclusion of over adozen crops under the MSP andusing the methodology recommend-ed by Dr Swaminathan — viz 50 percent profit over cost of production(paid out expenses or A2 plus fam-ily labour) for its determination,which has already been implement-ed by the Government — during thecurrent year, expenditure on foodsubsidy is already expected to cross�200,000 crore.

But farmers want C-2 cost (inaddition to A2+FL, and this includesimputed cost of owned capital andowned land) to be used for calcula-tion of 50 per cent profit. This isillogical. They have already been pro-vided for return on owned land andcapital under C-2. To give profit overand above this would be fortuitous.

Yet, if the Government recalcu-lates on this basis, it will lead toeven sharper increase in MSP and

correspondingly, in food subsidy.On top of this, if the MSP, too, getsthe legal backing, implications willbe mindboggling.

Apart from covering farmers,who sell their produce to State agen-cies (for meeting requirements of thePDS), those selling their output in themarketplace will be entitled to claimreimbursement for the shortfall inrealisation (mandi price) vis-à-vis theMSP. Even subsistence/marginalfarmers, who produce food for self-consumption and, hence, have noth-ing to offer for sale, will qualify forreimbursement. In short, almost theentire food production of 285 milliontonnes (target for 2018-19) willcome under legally-protected MSP.

These reimbursements on foodsold/consumed outside NFSA/PDS,or over 200 million tonnes, willimpose an additional burden of atleast �100,000 crore (assumingshortfall of a bare five rupee per kgin market price vis-à-vis MSP). Thiswill be over and above �200,000crore currently being spent for dis-tributing 60 million tonnes under

the NFSA, plus the price support forpulses and oilseeds.

Going by the magnitude of loan-waiver promises being made to thefarmers in the States that have goneto polls in recent times, the secondlegislation for a one-time waiver tofarmers’ debt will cost the exchequermore than �200,000 crore. Already,the Centre is struggling to findresources for food subsidy under theNFSA with dues pending to the tuneof �200,000 crore to FCI. One shud-ders to think of a scenario wherebyit will be required to cough up anadditional amount of at least�300,000 crore next year, contingentupon passage of the two laws.

This will completely destabilisethe budget and play havoc with theGovernment’s fiscal consolidationdrive. Its ability to fund developmentworks, including investment in irri-gation, rural roads, markets et al, willbe seriously undermined. This willalso affect the farmers’ ability toincrease production and sell, leadingto a further drop in income. It willbe a case of giving from one hand

and taking from the other. A legally-backed MSP will be

suicidal. The Government shouldavoid treading this path. The gene-sis of low price realisation by farm-ers lies in them being forced to sellthe produce at notified agricultureproduce market committees. Theseare cartelised and mostly controlledby powerful traders who have con-nections with politicians and bureau-crats. They pay less to farmers andrake in moolah by selling their pro-duce to consumers at a high price.

Instead of using the taxpayers’money to compensate farmers (thatwill only help traders continue withtheir loot), the problem has to be tack-led at source. Focus should be to dis-mantle these cartels and invest heav-ily in establishing alternative platformsto enable them sell their produce.Removal of restrictions on exports andunencumbered foreign direct invest-ment in retail are other potent policyincentives that will help them realisebetter price. Will Modi crack the whip?

(The writer is a freelance journalist)

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If only the Supreme Court’s dis-missal of the petition seeking acourt-monitored probe into the

Rafale deal had come before the Stateelections, it can be conjectured that theresults might well have been differentfor the BJP, considering how minimalthe ‘swing’ in Madhya Pradesh andRajasthan was. For months, Congresschief Rahul Gandhi worked hard onbuilding his campaign on a web ofunsubstantiated allegations. This, tomake corruption the central electoralissue and to spite Prime Minister Modifor doing so in 2014. Sadly, voters’choice in the Hindi heartland reflect-ed that five years were long enough atime to grant absolution to theCongress as collective amnesia set in.The voters’ fury that was felt on 2G anda series of scams of the UPA-II reced-ed. The Lutyens’ clique of fixers,bureaucrats, bankers, cronies andmedia tried hard to undermine Modi’sinclusive agenda. But in hindsight, thesystemic rot is too deeply entrenchedin the body polity of the nation to weedit out in a single tenure.

Because, in contrast to previousregimes, the Modi Government deliv-ered more to the bottom 70 per centof the population through DirectBenefit Transfer and Ease of Livingparameters. So, if the Prime Ministeris not able to solve all of the nation’sproblems in five years, should we votefor those who created those very prob-lems over 70 years? Salvation does notlie in a change of regime; nor does thesolution lie in a disparate Oppositionuniting to ‘shoot the reformer’ forattempting to weed out a paralleleconomy, through a collective revivalof the old establishment brigade ofdynastic satraps, like the scam-taint-ed Yadavs, the DMK clan or the dis-proportionate assets-accused, likeBSP supremo Mayawati.

To deal with the deluge of disen-chantment, it’s time for Modi to inventa buoyant yet realistic narrative toaddress concerns of all sections of soci-ety that are seen moving away from theBJP’s fold — from farmers to first timevoters to the middle classes and thetraders. Modi must persist with anachievable sequel to the promise ofvikas, while admitting to some regimelapses and spell out a roadmap withstated timelines. However, in the long-term, India needs to make the much-required shift towards a non-agrarianeconomy to match with other develop-ing economies that are only 10 per centreliant on agricultural income. Thattransition has not happened yet. Whatthe voter now seeks with immediacy isredressal of economic woes instead ofcatchy sloganeering.

These may not be the best of timesto make prophecies about 2019 or toadmonish a ruling regime that isalready in corrective mode. For that,

Prime Minister Modi already has a bat-talion of Twitter economists who offerinstant expertise on how to course-cor-rect by the minute. We are aware thatissues on the socio-economic andpolitical front are riddled with muchdeeper complexities. Embedded with-in these contradictions are tectonicshifts in the offing that can alter India’spolitical architecture. While Modiremains the front-runner candidate for2019, despite the loss of three saffronbastions, popularity ratings betweenhim and his closest rival are steadilynarrowing, establishing the Congress asa natural fulcrum for any anti-Modigrand alliance.

So, one can only expect moreattrition and exodus in mainstreamparties while alliance partners of theBJP can be expected to make moreupstartish demands. Also, expecta-tions are high about a huge shift andshuffle in the BJP’s voter base that wasat its optimal saturation point in 2014.This is the time to woo back the corevoter base through speedy redressal oflivelihood issues. While local anti-incumbency in the three heartlandStates is not necessarily reflective ofa trend reversal at the national level,there are some inferences to drawfrom the just-concluded State elec-tions. The lifeline the BJP needs toinfuse is some instant economic deliv-erables, even if it means that fiscaldeficit figures exceed the target in anelection year. The Government mustgo for enhanced spending over thenext two months; announce income-support schemes along with farmloan-waivers in the interim in a bid forcompetitive populism; announce sub-sidies on fuel; cut interest rates andprovide tax relief to the citizens,especially the middle class.

Because, should it be Modi 2.0, hewill have all of five years to rectify fis-cal profligacy. The Centre needs to boostcapital spending. Even if it is at a deficitof 4.5 per cent of the GDP, it’s fine when

the objective is to push the growth rate.Spending on roads, affordable housing,construction, irrigation, rural electrifi-cation, broadband, farm producegodowns and cold storages and massrapid transit systems will help boostlabour-intensive sectors that createemployment. This will help yield socialand political dividends. So, the Centreshould hope that a pliant RBI Governoragrees to transfer excess reserves to theGovernment — this is much-needed tospend on growth and to fund MSMEsin order to ease sectoral distress.

With the industry’s reluctance tospend on capex, who else will spend ifnot the Government? So, if theGovernment of India’s investmentsaugment growth, that translates intohigher revenues, deficits would takecare of themselves. Because despiteachieving optimal targets in affordablehousing, rural electrification andModicare schemes, investing in publicand household assets alone has nothelped the ruling party’s electoralcause. This assumption is validatedthrough recent losses in the heartlandStates which came from the rural vot-ers, who account for about 74 per centof the electorate. Farm distress is anobstinate problem that has persistedsince decades with no magic wand.

As time is running out, in orderto win back support among India’s 263million farmers, even if as much asfour trillion rupees ($56.5 billion) inloans are written off in a bid at com-petitive populism, it is not unusual inan election year to resort to suchquick-fixes. This was the eventualityresorted to even by the previousCongress-led UPA, which waivedloans worth nearly 720 billion rupeesin 2008 that helped it return to powerin 2009. While the BJP-led NDA suc-ceeded in keeping food inflation low,this came at the cost of compromisingon farmers’ remuneration. However,income-support schemes, enhancingnon-agricultural employment, gener-

ating gainful urbanisation and fund-ing more employment-intensive pro-jects should be long-term solutions.

If the BJP-led NDA was beset withlegacy issues of policy paralysis, reck-less lending and mounting NPAs, thesuccessive regime, which could well beanother Modi-led Government, wouldalso inherit the negative legacies of thepresent regime. The worst of them isthat institutional heads did not adhereto the dharma of bureaucratic disciplineby resolving conflicts within closeddoors but took an adversarial stancewith the Government. This sent out sig-nals of erosion of the central authori-ty like the open revolt in the SupremeCourt, the CBI and the RBI as also theembarrassment of successive econo-mists resigning “for personal reasons.”The other inherent problem for the nextregime, though not a ‘legacy’ one, willalso be that despite retaining the leadin being the fastest growing economyat 7.3 per cent, India will need to accel-erate growth to nine per cent in futurefor any elected Government to fulfill itscommitment in jobs for all, which willremain the biggest challenge.

However, the current dilemma isthat if a large section of the BJP’s corevoter base remains anti-incumbent,where will incremental votes comefrom? Aside from redressal of farmersissues, 100 million millennials who willbe first-time voters are unenthused ascompared to first-time voters of 2014because of under-employment. Anddespite Modi’s best intent, triple talaq isunlikely to make Muslim women polit-ically beholden to the BJP, even as theminorities will continue to stay with sec-ular parties. It is because the perceptionof intolerance has become synonymouswith the regime. Despite major stridestaken by this Government in financialinclusion, the success of many social ini-tiatives has not got prominence. Falsenarratives have obscured achievements.

The other vital question is to whatextent will the BJP infuse nationalist

issues and concerns of migrant infiltra-tion, as dictated by its ideological par-ent, the RSS, or attempt a revival of reli-gious issues of the 1990s? A recent sur-vey showed that reviving the mandirmudda holds only 11 per cent tractionas issues of livelihood have gained pri-macy. Supportive evidence of this is thefact that the BJP fared badly in areaswhere Yogi Adityanath campaigned. Hehijacked the development narrativewith a parochial one, which showed adisconnect and apathy to livelihoodissues. The party, in its re-strategisingbid, is unlikely to switch track complete-ly to issues of faith, as man cannot liveby prayer alone. Only economic deliv-erables will convert to votes.

The BJP will enter the kurukshetraof 2019 with five brahmastras inhand: Its mascot Modi; powerful mes-saging being planned to undo misin-formation spread by Opposition; someanticipated quick-wins with a pre-pollspending spree on welfarism andputting more money into the hands ofrural voters and urban middle class;splurging on campaign spend with itshuge financial war-chest; and thecombined manpower resources of sixcrore karyakartas of the BJP-RSScombine, so as to fire on all fronts.

Let’s not forget that the Modi-Shahduo lost the crucial States of Bihar andDelhi three years ago only to resurrectby course-correcting fast enough toexpand the BJP’s national footprint into19 States before the recent loss of threeStates. Sadly, Governments in poweronly heed the voice of their voter whenon edge. The prospects currently maynot be one of ‘India shining’, reminis-cent of the negative associations with2004, but it will surely be an ‘India dim-ming’, should a politically and ideolog-ically incoherent “coalition of rivals”come to power in 2019, which wouldbe more disastrous. So think twice whyit must be Modi once more.

(The writer is an author andcolumnist)

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Amaravati: Cyclone Phethaibarrelled through coastalAndhra Pradesh on Monday,triggering heavy rains, uproot-ing trees and electric poles, andclaiming one life, officials said.

Train and air services were also disrupted because ofthe cyclone.

East Godavari district borethe brunt of the storm as itmade landfall near Katrenikonain the afternoon, forcing evac-uation of 20,000 people, who have been sheltered inrelief camps.

Howling winds that gustedup to 85-90 kmph uprootedelectric poles and trees inKatrenikona, Tallarevu andMalkipuram in East Godavari,disrupting power supply. No casualties were, however,reported.

A man named R DurgaRao aged 28 was killed when aloosened soil hurtled down ahillock following heavy rains inVijayawada city, according tosources in the state’s DisasterManagement Authority.

Krishna district Collector BLakshmi Kantham announcedan immediate relief of �50,000to the deceased’s family.

Deputy Chief Minister(Home) N China Rajappa iscamping at Bhairavapalem vil-lage in East Godavari district to oversee relief and rescueoperations.

The Real-TimeGovernance Centre (RTGS) atthe state secretariat said‘Phethai’ weakened into acyclone after making landfall.It moved towards Kakinada,

hitting the town with down-pour, before rolling towardsVisakhapatnam district, offi-cials said.

Chief Executive Officer ofthe RTGS Babu Ahamed saidpracautionary steps taken bythe authorities had minimiseddamage to life and property.

He said trees were uproot-ed in some 20 places and res-cue teams had cleared the

debris in 15.Spare electric poles were

kept ready, he said.The South Central Railway

cancelled and rescheduled sev-eral trains, while air traffic toand from the port city ofVisakhapatnam was hit by tur-bulent weather conditions.Some flights had to be can-celled or diverted toHyderabad. PTI

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The authorities on Mondaysealed off all roads leading

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

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

killed in the encounter. Thelocals blamed the securityforces for “target killings.”

Senior separatist leaderMirwaiz Umar Farooq defiedpolice restrictions on his man-sion in Nigeen area of Srinagaroutskirts and led a group of hissupporters to march towardsthe cantonment area. However,he was intercepted by a largecontingent of police, mostlymasked personnel, who took

him into brief custody after about of slogan-shouting.Before being whisked to policestation, Mirwaiz was allowedto address his supporters. Heblamed the state authorities forunleashing a reign of terror bykilling what he called innocentcivilians.

“After indiscriminatekillings, civilians are branded asover ground workers and ter-rorists which is preposterous in

itself, but what is worse is thatthis propaganda is used as ameans of endorsing and justi-fying the civilian killings byarmed forces. Delhi has over-played the terrorist, Pak proxyand instigators card and no oneis buying this narrative exceptsome people in India at whomit is aimed for electoral gains,”Mirwaiz said adding the worldsees for itself the ever-growinggraph of atrocities and mas-sacres of Kashmiris who areseeking peaceful resolution ofthe Kashmir dispute.

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

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

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In a major attack on theCongress, the BJP on

Monday sought the resignationof Congress president RahulGandhi over the court rulingon the anti-sikh riots. BJP’sspokesperson Sambit Patra ina press conference in Bengalurudemanded the resignation ofRahul Gandhi and asked himto expel Madhya Pradesh ChiefMinister Kamal Nath from theparty. He said Kamal Nath’sname has cropped up alongwith affidavit and evidencesubmitted in a report to theNanavati Commission, Patraalso demanded that RahulGandhi should step down asCongress president.

“Rahul Gandhi shouldresign as Congress’ chief.Kamal Nath ji’s name crops upalong with affidavit and evi-dence in a report submitted toNanavati Commission,” he said.

“A man involved in anti-Sikh riots has been made theMadhya Pradesh ChiefMinister. Rahul Gandhi mustexpel him from the party,”Patra demanded.

Earlier in the day, theDelhi High Court convicted

Sajjan Kumar in a case relatedto the 1984 anti-Sikh riotsand sentenced him to lifeimprisonment. A fine of �5lakh was also imposed on him.The court had asked Kumar tosurrender before December31.The High Court reversedthe trial court verdict of 2013and sentenced Sajjan Kumarand five others in a case relat-ed to the killing of five mem-bers of a Sikh family in Delhi’sCantonment area in November1984, following the assassina-tion of the then prime minis-ter Indira Gandhi.

After her assassination byher Sikh bodyguards in 1984,around 3,000 people werekilled in anti-Sikh riots whenmobs targeted innocent people.

Former Union Ministerand senior Congress leaderKapil Sibal said in Delhi thatneither Sajjan Kumar — con-vict in the 1984 anti-Sikh riotcase — was given a ticket by theCongress, nor he does nothold any office. Refuting alle-gations against the Congressparty for saving the accused ofSikh massacre, Sibal said,“Sajjan Kumar wasn’t givenany ticket by our party and hedoesn’t hold any office.”

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Even as the BJP moved theCalcutta High Court for the

second time on Monday seek-ing reversal of the StateGovernment order denyingpermission to its Rath Yatra theparty leadership said it wasconsidering an “alternative”padyatra or long march if theRath Yatra continues to getmired by legal procedures.

“The party is considering apadyatra in absence of theRath Yatra (as proposed earli-er),” State BJP president DilipGhosh who on Monday led oneof the protest marchesdenouncing the TrinamoolCongress Government’s “bru-tal murder of democracy inBengal,” said.

He said “we are keeping all

options open. The legal battlewill continue in the court buta parallel struggle will resumeand continue on streets toawaken and unite the peopleagainst TMC’s dictatorship.”

The BJP plans multiple longmarches throughout the Stateparticularly along the proposedRath Yatra routes to be led bybigger leaders. The long march-es would be interspersed bylarge rallies to be addressed byPrime Minister Narendra Modiand party president Amit Shah,BJP sources said.

The BJP’s petition filed atthe Court of Justice TapabrataChakrabarty would be taken upfor hearing on Tuesday. In thepetition the party has soughtpermission for Rath Yatraspreferably on December 22, 24and 26, sources said.

The same Court had earli-er deliberating on a petitionfrom the saffron outfit direct-ed the State Government to sitwith the BJP leaders and dis-cuss the possibilities of theYatra and record the reasons ofits decision. The State took anadverse decision denying theYatra on grounds of law andorder and communal tension.It however allowed the BJP toorganise mass meetings to beaddressed by Modi and Shah.

Denouncing theGovernment’s decision seniorBJP leader and Union MinisterSmriti Irani said “we had askedfor a permission to take out aYatra to save democracy but theState Government denied per-mission proving the real con-dition of the State’s law andorder situation and showing

how the democratic systemworks in this State.”

Reposing faith in theJudiciary she said “we believein judicial system and havesupreme faith in it. But havingsaid that our struggle will con-tinue against the TrinamoolCongress as institution ofdemocracy has gone to dogs inthis State.”

Reacting sharply to theBJP’s demand for a Rath Yatrapermission TrinamoolCongress MP and ChiefMinister Mamata Banerjee’snephew Abhishek Banerjee onMonday said “this is no RathYatra but an Asur Yatra (marchof the demons) in a seven starbus which has all the luxuriousamentias for those BJP leaderswho would ride it: often com-ing out of it o ignite commu-

nal tension and riots beforesleeping inside it to enjoy sevenstar luxury.”

Another senior TMCleader and Minister ParthoChatterjee said “this Yatrameans for nothing to the peo-ple of Bengal who will never beswayed by this communal exer-cise. It sounds attractive inspeeches but on ground the BJPand its Yatra will have noimpact in Bengal.”

The CPI(M) on the otherhand said much of the Yatrapolitics was a device of the twoparties to provide politicalmileage to each other. “Both ofthem rely on communal poli-tics and each one is comple-mentary to the other. ThisYatra politics is a part of it,” saidCPI(M) leader TanmoyBhattacharya.

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Thiruvananthapuram: Fourtransgenders, who were deniedpermission to visit theSabarimala temple a day ago,on Monday got the sanction topray at the temple, said one ofthem.

Speaking to the media onMonday evening, Ananya saidthey approached a Kerala HighCourt-appointed top policeofficial here in the morning andinsisted that they wanted tovisit the shrine wearing sarees.

After meeting DirectorGeneral of Police A.Hemachandran, Ananya toldthe media in the morning thatthey had placed their demandbefore the DGP, and wished topray in the dress of their choice-- a saree.

“He (Hemachandran) hassaid he will check with theother two committee membersand get back to us and he alsoasked us to meet IG of PoliceManoj Abraham. Now we havegot the permission to pray atthe temple and we will besoon going for the darshan,”said Ananya.

If required, they wouldalso be given police protectionfor the darshan.

Ananya said they were sohappy that their efforts hadpaid off and with this, trans-

genders from now on couldfreely go and pray at theSabarimala temple.

On Sunday, the four-mem-ber transgender team, whocame from Ernakulam, wasstopped by the police atErumely, the first base camp ofthe temple town.

The police first told themthat if they change into men’sattire, they would be allowed.However, later the policerefused them the permission tovisit the Lord Ayyappa shrine.

Ananya said they were sub-jected to ridicules, threats andasked to return by the police.

From there, the team wentand complained to KottayamSuperintendent of Police, A.Harishankar.

On Monday, they arrived

in the state capital to meetHemachandran.

The Kerala High Court onNovember 27 had set up athree-member observer panelto oversee the Sabarimala pil-grimage season, after numer-ous complaints surfaced againstthe manner in which the policewere acting in the temple town.

Besides Hemachandran,the panel also consisted of P.R.Raman and S. Sirijagan, bothretired high court judges.

The temple town has wit-nessed protests by Hindugroups since the September 28Supreme Court verdict thatallowed women of all ages toenter the temple, includingthose hitherto banned girlsand women aged between 10and 50. PTI

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Chennai: Eighty fishing boatgroups were on Monday pro-vided with 200 ISRO developedsatellite enabled communica-tion devices by the Tamil NaduGovernment, that will providethem real-time alerts oncyclone and weather updates.

Chief Minister KPalaniswami distributed thegadgets to seven fishermenfrom Chennai, Nagapattinamand Kanyakumari engaged indeep sea fishing, marking theroll out of the devices, at theSecretariat here.

Touted as the Indian ver-sion of the American GPS(Global Positioning System),the NavIC (Navigation withIndian Constellation) enabledcommunication devices pro-vides fishermen with real-timeupdates.

The Indian RegionalNavigation Satellite Systemconstellation of eight satellites,named “NavIC”, provides posi-tion, navigation and timingservices over India and itsneighbourhood, according toISRO. A senior governmentofficial, when asked about the

features of the device, said thatthe gadgets are basically‘receivers’,which emit a beepsignal when alerts are received.

“The devices are the size ofa soap box and are Bluetoothenabled...The alerts can beaccessed by downloading theNavIC App in android

phones...The alerts will appearin Tamil,” he told PTI.

“These ISRO gadgets havebeen distributed free ofcost...There are also no recur-ring costs...These have to bemaintained properly,” he said,adding that the devices wouldcome in handy for those goingfor deep sea fishing.

During cyclone Ockhi lastyear, several fishermen wentmissing and the Tamil Nadu Government faced crit-icism that timely updates aboutthe storm was not communi-cated to them to enable themreturn home.

The State Government hadannounced in the 2018-19budget that the gadgets wouldbe provided to fishermenengaged in deep sea fishing. PTI

,��� ���������-�#1������ �������������� Jammu: The much-awaitedJammu ropeway project, aimedat boosting tourism in theState’s winter Capital, willundergo trial runs from onTuesday, officials said.

“The Jammu ropeway pro-ject is in full swing. The splic-ing of the main rope of Section-I (Mahamaya to Peer Kho) hasbeen completed by an interna-tional expert. The pre-com-missioning trial run of SectionI will start from December 18,”Managing Director (MD), J&K Cable Car Corporation,Shamim Ahmad Wani said on Monday.

Secretary, Tourism, RigzinSamphel visited the construc-tion site of the ropeway projectat Peer Kho here Monday andreviewed the progress of theongoing work.

He was briefed about theconstruction work in all thethree stations and informedthat landscaping work atMahamaya and Peer Kho wasunderway. The MD furthertold him that the engineeringwing has been asked to com-plete all pending works byDecember 31, officials said.

The secretary said the pro-

ject would go a long way inpromoting tourism in Jammuregion, giving a fillip to thelocal economy by creating jobs.

The 1.66-km-long cable carproject has two phases, firstfrom Bahu Fort to MahamayaPark and second fromMahamaya to Peer Kho over theTawi river, with a total length of1,118 metre, Wani said.

“The project is of greatimportance and is going to bethe biggest tourist attraction (inJammu) in coming days,” headded.

The cable car project wouldprovide people a high-qualitytourism experience with transportation facility, sight-seeing and entertainment, theMD said.

Planned in 1995, the pro-ject was to be operated fromBahu Fort to Mubarak MandiComplex initially. It was mod-ified and relocated later whenMubarak Mandi and Bahu Fort were declared as protect-ed monuments.

The Cable CarCorporation successfully conducted the trial run of thefirst phase of the project inApril. PTI

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The corridors of powerinside civil secretariat com-

plex in Jammu on Mondayreverberated with chants of‘Save Kashmir, stop killings ofinnocent kashmiris’ as group ofPDP lawmakers, along withtheir supporters, allegedly vio-lated Section 144 before storm-ing the seat of power.

The site of these PDP lead-ers roaming freely inside thebuilding and shouting slogansby standing outside the officesof advisors to the stateGovernor embarrassed seniorsecurity officers.

PDP lawmakers were also

heard shouting slogans againstthe Prime Minister NarendraModi, Home Minister RajnathSingh and Governor whileholding placards in their hands.

A large group of PDP lead-ers and their supporters hadearlier slipped inside the civilsecretariat complex before tak-ing out the protest march.

They were led by sittingPDP MLC Firduos Tak and for-mer MLA’s Aijaz Ahmed Mirand Yawar Mir. The PDP lead-ers were protesting against thekilling of protesters in Pulwamadistrict of south Kashmir dur-ing gunfight with terrorists.

The entire security gridpresent inside the civil secre-

tariat remained mute spectatorsand didn’t even prevented anyone from coming closer to theoffice premises of Advisors tothe Governor on first floor ofthe secretariat complex.

Slogan shouting PDP pro-testers moved across severalfloors without facing any resis-tance from security personnel.

After taking out the protestmarch Firduos Tak told mediapersons in front of the main civilsecretariat building, “I stronglybelieve the central Governmentis drawing a sadistic pleasure outof these killings in Kashmir andfulfilling the long desire of RSSand BJP”. “The desire andthirst of blood of Kashmiris”.

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First fielding candidatesagainst probable ally

Congress in recent Assemblypolls in three central States andthen being conspicuous withtheir absence at the oath-tak-ing ceremonies of CongressChief Ministers in MadhyaPradesh and Rajasthan, region-al satraps Samajwadi Party(SP)and Bahujan Samaj Party(BSP)have themselves weakened thepossibility of a grand alliancefor the 2019 general elections.

Interestingly, after not-so-encouraging results in therecent Assembly polls, both theSP and the BSP tried to dis-tance from the BJP and imme-diately announced support tothe Congress.

But by not attending theswearing-in ceremonies of twoCongress Chief Ministers onMonday, the two regional par-ties have probably given a clearmessage to the grand old partyto come on their terms for thegrand alliance or else theywould remain aloof.

While Mayawati has beensilent over not attending theswearing-in ceremonies in theHindi speaking States, Akhileshchose to send his lone MLA inMadhya Pradesh to representhim at the function.

“Mayawati has dreams of

becoming Prime Minister incase of a hung Parliament in2019. Hence, instead of joiningus to fight with the BJP in therecent Assembly polls, she pre-ferred to align with anotherparty — Janata Congress inChhattisgarh,” said UPCongress Committee generalsecretary Siddharth PriyaSrivastava.

“Akhilesh also wantsCongress to come under hisparty’s banner in the parlia-mentary poll akin to what wedid in 2017 Assembly poll inUP, as he planned to projectMulayam Singh Yadav as the prime ministerial can-didate. But now, by distancingthemselves from the Congressin the Assembly polls in threeStates, both have a slice of real-ity to analyse,” Srivastava point-ed out.

“In fact, the results of recentelections have upset both SPand BSP more in UP than theBJP as leaders of both partieshad targeted Congress freely,hoping that it would be at theirmercy in Uttar Pradesh. Even ata recent meeting of oppositionleaders over a grand alliance inDelhi, both Mayawati andAkhilesh chose to give it a miss.Hence their absence from theoath-taking ceremonies did notcome as a surprise,” theCongress leader said.

Srivastava said that statefunctionaries and leaders of theparty had conveyed toCongress chief Rahul Gandhithat like in the recent Assemblypolls in Hindi heartland, theparty should distance itselffrom both SP and BSP, even ifthey went for an alliance in theparliamentary polls.

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Six persons were killed and147 others injured late on

Monday afternoon after amajor fire broke out in the StateGovernment-run EmployeesState Insurance Corporation(ESIC) Kamghar Hospital at Andheri (East) in north-west Mumbai.

A majority of those injured,who have been admitted to thevarious hospitals in themetropolis, were patients and staffers.

Informed official sourcessaid that the toll might go upfurther as some of the injuredwere in a critical condition.

The fire was noticed nearthe operation theatre of thefive-storey hospital located atMarol locality of Andheri(East). Before long, the firespread to other floors strand-ing more 150 people in the fire-engulfed building.

As the fire spread in thebuilding, a few patients pan-icked and jumped out of thefourth floor window. They suf-fered fractures.

However, within minutesof the fire being reported, atleast 12 fire tenders, 15 watertankers and other specialisedequipment arrived on the sceneto battle with the blaze. The firebrigade used ladders to bringdown those trapped in thethird and fourth floors of thehospital building.

Leaping flames, coupledthick cloud of smoke, made therescue operation difficult for

the fire brigade personnel.After battling with the fire formore than three and a halfhours, the fire brigade extin-guished the blaze at 7.35 pm.

At around 8.30 pm, theofficials at the BMC’s disastercontrol room pegged the number of deaths at six andthose admitted to various hos-pitals at 147.

A majority of those rescuedhad suffered burn wounds. Ofthe injured, 19 were admittedto Cooper Hospital, Andheri(West), 39 to P ThakreyTrauma Hospital, Jogeshwari(East), 40 to Holi SpiritHospital, Andheri (East), 44 t0Seven Hills Hospital, Andheri

(East), three to HiranandaniHospital, Powai and two toSidhharth Hospital, Goregaon.

Initial reports said that thefire might have broken out inthe hospital building with aglass façade because of an elec-trical short circuit. The hospi-tal is located in the MIDC area,an industrial hub in north-westMumbai.

Mumbai MayorVishwanath Mahadeshwar,who visited the mishap sitealong with senior civic officials,that the BMC would investigatethe cause of fire and strictaction would be taken againstthose guilty of lapses.

Meanwhile, thick clouds of

smoke emanating from thefire-hit hospital travelled quitea bit, reducing the visibility inthe area and leading to peak-hour traffic jams in the areas ofthe neighbourhood.

The metropolis has wit-nessed nearly ten fire mishapsduring the current year. In thefirst such mishap that tookplace on June 1, the fire br9okeout in the third and fourth floorof the six-storey Scindia Houseat Ballard Estate in downtownsouth Mumbai.

Twenty four hours later,another fire broke out at aleather company in Reay Roadin south-central Mumbai. Noinjuries were reported in the

mishap. On June 9, a massivefire broke out at PatelChambers at Fort in southMumbai. Two firemen wereinjured after a part of thebuilding collapsed due to fire.

On June 13, a major firethat broke out in the top floorsof a 34-storey building“Beaumonde Towers” where B-town’s reigning actress DeepikaPadukone lives, spread.However, two hours later, thefire fighters controlled the blazeand rescued 90-odd residentssafely.

On August 5, a major fireswept through the RegionalTransport Office (RTO) atTardeo in south Mumbai herein the early hours of Sunday,gutting hundreds of docu-ments, licences, furniture,computers, printers and otheritems. There were no causali-ties or injuries in the mishap.

On December 3 this year,a massive fire had rippedthrough the thick forests ofAarey colony that falls insidethe Sanjay Gandhi NationalPark (SGNP) precincts atGoregaon (East) in north-Mumbai, gutting forest areameasuring nearly 4 km.

Earlier on December 29last year, 14 persons were killedand 55 others were injured inthe massive fire that rippedMojo’s Bistro lounge, neigh-bouring 1Above casual diningrestaurant and London TaxiGastro pub at Trade House inthe Kamala Mills compound atLower Parel in south-centralMumbai.

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As part of a busy scheduledrawn up for him during

his day-long visit toMaharashtra on Tuesday,Prime Minister NarendraModi will lay foundation stonefor upcoming first-ever MetroCorridors in Thane district. Hewill also launch a housingscheme of 90,000 homes andalso perform “bhoomi puja”for Pune Metro Rail Phase-3.

At Kalyan in the neigh-bouring Thane district, Modiwill lay foundation stone forthe Thane-Bhiwandi-KalyanMetro and the Dahisar-Mira-Bhayander Metro corridorprojects to ease the trans-portation problems in the twourban pockets located in theMumbai Metropolitan Region.He will also launch a housingscheme of 90,000 homes forthe poor sections of society atthe same venue, constructedunder the Pradhan MantriAwas Yojana (PMAY).

Modi will later head toPune, where he will performground breaking ceremony forthe Pune Metro Rail Phase 3and address a public meeting.

Earlier in the morning, thePrime Minister would speak atthe Republic Summit organ-ised by Republic TV, a privatenews channel.

Subsequently, Modi will hewill release a book entitled‘Timeless Laxman’ based on

the life and little known facetsof the legendary cartoonist,the late R K Laxman, at RajBhavan. The book has beenpenned by his daughter-in-law,Usha Srinivas Laxman.

It may be recalled thatLaxman — best known for hiscreation The Common Manfor his daily cartoon strip, “ You

Said it “You Said It” in TheTimes of India which started in1951—passed away at a Punehospital on January 26, 2015.

Modi, who will arrive inMumbai at 8 am on Tuesday,will wind up his day-long visitto Maharashtra after addressinga public rally at Pune late in theevening.

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Bengaluru: The HindustanAeronautics Limited’s LightUtility Helicopter project hasnotched another milestone as thethird prototype (PT3) made itsmaiden flight on December 14.

The helicopter was flownby test pilots, Wg Cdr (Retd)Anil Bhambhani and Gp Capt(Retd) M R Anand VM, theHindustan AeronauticsLimited (HAL) said in a release

here Monday. The flight wasflawless and the prototypewould augment developmentflight testing in conjunctionwith other two Prototypestowards Certification, it said.

Indigenously designed anddeveloped by the state-run avi-ation major HindustanAeronautics Limited, the LightUtility Helicopter (LUH)achieved an important mile-

stone of flying at a 6-km alti-tude here recently.

Based on the feedbackfrom flight testing of PT1 andPT2, PT3 is built to the stan-dard of deliverable configura-tion, the release said.

With this achievement,LUH is now close to produc-tion clearance and the unit isconfident of meeting require-ments of the armed forces,HAL CMD R Madhavan said.

The successful completionof the first flight of LUH’sthird prototype is a quantumleap and will soon replace theaging fleet of Cheetah andChetak helicopters, accordingto HAL Director (Engg andR&D) Arup Chatterjee.

The LUH is a 3-ton classnew generation single enginehelicopter indigenouslydesigned and developed bythe Rotary Wing Research and

Design Centre (RWR&DC) ofHAL, it said. The first flight ofLUH PT-1 was carried onSeptember 6, 2016 and thesecond Prototype flew on May

22, 2017. High altitude cold weath-

er trials of LUH are planned inJanuary 2019, the releaseadded. PTI

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Howrah (WB): Around 400people of several villages of ablock in Howrah district wereaffected by a skin disease sus-pected to have been caused bya fungus, officials said onMonday.

The state health depart-ment sent a medical team tofour villages of Shyampur-iblock during the day.

“The medical team wassent after we were informedthat around 400 of people ofthe area were affected by someskin disease,” Chief MedicalOfficer of Health Dr BhabaniDas said.

It appears that the infec-tion was caused by a type offungus, Das said and assuredthe affected people not topanic.

She said the report of theteam would be sent to thedepartment concerned andthe next course of action wouldbe decided after examining it.

The four villages where theteam visited areMalanchaberia, Kathilabar,Shibpur and Shyampur.

Health department sourcessaid how such a large numberof people have got infected isbeing examined. PTI

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Guwahati: Uttar Pradesh ChiefMinister Yogi Adityanath onMonday alleged that theCongress was involved in the1984 anti-Sikh riots and itshould accept the verdict of theDelhi High Court punishingparty leader Sajjan Kumar forhis role in it.

The Bharatiya Janata Party(BJP) leader alleged that theCongress had a history of divid-ing people on religious andcaste lines.

“It is a known fact that theCongress was involved in 1984riots. It should accept the (ver-dict of the) Constitutional insti-tution,” Adityanath said at apress conference here.

The Delhi High Court onMonday convicted the seniorCongress leader for conspiracyto commit murder in the 1984anti-Sikh riots case and sen-tenced him to imprisonment forlife.

On the Bulandshahr vio-lence, the Chief Minister said allthose involved in the incidentwould be arrested and punishedas per law.

“Law is equal for all. Lawwill take its own course. TheGovernment acted very swiftlyin the matter. All those involvedwill be arrested and punished,”he said. There is no law andorder problem in Uttar Pradeshand other BJP-ruled states in thecountry, Adityanath claimed.

Violence broke out inBulandshahr town of UP onDecember 3 over alleged cattleslaughter, leaving a policeinspector and a youth dead asa mob went on a rampagetorching a police post and clash-ing with police, which had toopen fire to control the situa-tion. Adityanath also attackedthe Congress for not acceptingthe Supreme Court’s order onthe Rafale deal. PTI

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Ahmedabad: In the wake ofdrought in parts of Gujarat, theState Government on Mondaysought financial assistance of�1,725 crore from the Centre tocarry out various relief worksin the affected regions.

The demand was put for-ward before a central teamvisiting Gujarat since the lastthree days to assess the waterscarcity situation which hasarisen due to scanty rainfall thismonsoon, said AdditionalChief Secretary, revenue,Pankaj Kumar.

He said the nine-membercentral team, comprising offi-cials from various ministries,had visited Kutch, Morbi,Banaskantha, Patan andSurendranagar districts duringthe three-day tour.

The team Monday held ameeting with Chief Secretary JN Singh and other key officials of the GujaratGovernment at Gandhinagar

upon the completion of theirassessment tour.

Kumar told reporters theState Government’s estimatessuggests that a total of �2,902crore will be needed to carryout various relief works in thedrought-affected regions.

“We have so far declared3,367 villages of 51 taluka inthe state as drought affected.The central team had visitedfive affected districts during the last three days andheld a meeting with ChiefSecretary today,” Kumar toldreporters in Gandhinagar afterthe meeting.

“Our estimates suggeststhat we would need �2,902crore in total to carry out var-ious relief works in affectedregions. Looking at the fundsavailable with us under SDRF(State Disaster Relief Fund) andnorms governing it, we wouldneed additional �1,725 crore,”said Kumar.

He said the team had givena “positive response” on thedemand of central assistance of�1,725 crore put forward by theState Government.

“This fund will be utilisedin paying input subsidies tofarmers, providing drinkingwater to people, for openingcattle camps, providing assis-tance to cattle shelters and todistribute fodder in affectedregions,” the IAS officer said.

He said the StateGovernment is “confident” ofgetting central assistance soon.

Gujarat had received just73.87 per cent of the averagerainfall this monsoon.

Kutch had received just26.51 per cent of average rain-fall, while north Gujarat got42.93 per cent, central Gujarat66.83 per cent, Saurashtra 72.20per cent and south Gujarat gotthe highest of 94.79 per cent,according to Met departmentfigures. PTI

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NOTICE INVITING E-TENDER

The Executive Engineer (E), Division-I, CCW, AIR, 8th Floor Soochna Bhawan,New Delhi invites on behalf of President of India, online item rate/ bids for followingwork:-(i) NIT NO. 81/2018-19/EE(E)-I/CCW-AIR/Delhi. Name of work: - Maintenance of

Cultural Center at Sirifort Auditorium, New Delhi during 2018-19 (SH : Operationof 16/35 mm Film/video Projection equipments etc.) (i) Estimated cost Rs.828676/-, (ii) Earnest Money Rs.16574/- Period of completion: - 12 months, Lastdate & Time of submission of bid 3.00 P.M on 26/12/18.

(ii) NTT NO. 82/2018-19/EE(E)-I/CCW-AIR/Delhi. Name of Work: Maintenance ofSound System at Sirifort Auditorium, New Delhi. (SH : Operation of SoundSystem in Audi-I/H/III/IV) (i) Estimated cost of Rs.1157166/-, (ii) Earnest MoneyRs.23143/- Period of completion: - 12 months, Last date & Time of submission ofbid 3.00 P.M on 26/12/18.

(ii) NIT NO. 83/2018-19/EE(E)-I/CCW-AIR/ Delhi. Name of Work: R.M.O. Early FireAlarm & Fire Fighting System at Akashwani Bhawan, New Delhi during 2018 -2019 (SH: Round the clock operation and general maintenance of both systems),(i) Estimated cost Rs.1237812/-, (ii) Earnest Money Rs.24756/- Period ofcompletion: -12 months, Last date & Time of submission of bid 3.00 P.M on26/12/18.

Note: - The bid forms and other details can be obtained from the website: -www.tenderwizard.con/AIR.

Sd/-

davp 22433/11/0019/1819 Executive Engineer (E)-I

PRASAR BHARATIINDIA'S PUBLIC SERVICE BROADCASTER

CIVIL CONSTRUCTON WING, ALL INDIA RADIO

Page 10: RNI Regn. No. MPENG/2004/13703, Regd. No. L-2/BPLON/41 ... · Babu Lal Marandi (JVM), PK Kunhalikutti (IUML), Badrudin Ajmal (AIUDF), Raju Shetty (Swabhimani Paksha), Sanjay Singh

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Equity benchmark Sensexcontinued its winning

streak for a fifth straight sessionon Monday, surging over 307points with gains mainly inauto, metal and financial stocksas investors maintained theirbullish stance in view ofstrengthening rupee, narrow-ing trade deficit and sustainedforeign fund inflows.

Besides, market partici-pants took cues from strongerAsian markets.

The 30-share BSE Sensexclosed at 36,270, showing a riseof 0.85 per cent or 307 points.In the intra-day trade, thegauge hit a high of 36,312.

The Sensex had climbed1,003.21 points in the previousfour sessions.

Similarly, the broader NSENifty ended at 10,888, a gain of0.77 per cent or 83 points, aftershuttling between 10,900.35and 10,844.85.

On a net basis, foreignportfolio investors (FPIs)bought shares worth Rs 861.94crore Friday, while DIIs soldequities to the tune of Rs303.52 crore, provisional datashowed.

The Indian rupee was trad-ing 37 paise higher at 71.53against the US dollar, trackingpositive domestic macro-eco-nomic data.

India’s trade deficit stood atUSD 16.67 billion forNovember 2018 as against USD17.13 billion in the previousmonth.

Analysts attributed the

market per-formance tostabilisationof crude andrupee andalso high-l i g h t e di m p r o v e dd o m e s t i cm a c r o s ’importancein providinga positivemomentumto the market.

Among Sensex con-stituents, Tata Motors emergedas the best performer by surg-ing 4.10 per cent, followed byPowerGrid at 3.77 per cent.

Vedanta Ltd shares climbedas much as 2.21 per cent afterthe NGT set aside the TamilNadu government order forclosure of the company’s cop-per plant at Tuticorin, saying itwas “non sustainable” and“unjustified”.

Other index gainersinclude HDFC (2.89 per cent),Wipro (2.01 per cent), TataSteel (1.88 per cent), CoalIndia (1.88 per cent), HDFCBank (1.75 per cent), IndusIndBank (1.71 per cent), RIL (1.70per cent), ICICI Bank (1.68 percent), NTPC (1.67 per cent),ITC Ltd (1.61 per cent), ONGC(0.95 per cent), Maruti Suzuki(0.71 per cent) and Bajaj Auto(0.55 per cent).

Adani Ports, Yes Bank,M&M, TCS and Sun Pharmatoo were in fine shape and roseup to 0.50 per cent.

Bucking the overall trend,Kotak Bank, Infosys, Bharti

Airtel, Hero MotoCorp, HUL,Asian Paint, Axis bank, L&Tand SBI fell up to 2.50 percent.

Sectorally, the BSE metalindex moved up 2.03 per cent,followed by energy index 1.54per cent, oil and gas 1.34 percent, power 1.31 per cent,infrastrcuture 1.14 per cent,PSU 1.13 per cent, FMCG 0.93per cent and bankex 0.56 percent.

However, capital goods,consumer durables, realty andteck indices ended lower by upto 0.27 per cent.

Overseas, Asian marketsended higher with Japan’sNikkei rising 0.62 per cent, fol-lowed by Shanghai CompositeIndex 0.16 per cent, HongKong’s Hang Seng 0.02 percent, Taiwan index 0.14 percent and Korea KOSPI 0.08 percent.

However, European shareswere lower in late morningdeals. Paris CAC 40 fell 0.40per cent, Frankfurt DAX wasdown 0.03 per cent andLondon’s FTSE dropped 0.18per cent.

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The average of students get-ting campus placements

from management, technicaland engineering institutions isless than 60 per cent,Parliament was informed onMonday.

The information wasshared by Union Minister ofState for HRD Satya Pal Singhin response to a written ques-tion in Lok Sabha.

“As per the placement dataof students available with AllIndia Council for TechnicalEducation (AICTE), averagecampus placement of the grad-uates from management, tech-nical and engineering institu-tions has not reached up to 60per cent,” Singh said.

“To encourage 100 percent placements to the gradu-ates, AICTE has launched out-come-based model curricu-lum for UG and PG levelcourses in engineering andmanagement programmes tomake it industry oriented.Institutions have now beenmade responsible for arranginginternships of their students soas to enhance their employa-bility,” he added.

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Despite thee l e c t o r a l

reverses in keystates faced by theruling BJP, theU n i o nGovernment isunlikely toannounce any large farm loanwaiver or fiscal sops ahead ofgeneral elections, Credit Suissesaid on Monday.

The agricultural distressis impacting 200 million work-ers and can cause politicalchurn and policy experimen-tation, leading to uncertaintiesin times of the ongoing eco-nomic slowdown, the foreignbrokerage said in a report.

There has been speculationover steps the Governmenttakes for the agri sector in wakeof BJP losing assembly electionsin Madhya Pradesh,Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan,with some reports suggesting afarm loan waiver would bearound the corner before thegeneral elections next year.

“We do not expect anynew large farm-loan waivers orother fiscal sops in the run upto elections,” the report said.

The report comes daysafter a group of economistsincluding former RBI governorRaghuram Rajan, pitched fordoing away with farm loanwaivers.

The agri distress-induceduncertainties come at a time ofeconomic slowdown and therewill be cuts to GDP growth

estimates for FY20, which cur-rently stand at 7.5-7.8 per cent,it said.

On the upcoming elec-tions, it said in the last twodecades, there have not beenvisible impact on market direc-tion because of such exercises.

The brokerage said itprefers the industrial sector toperform better than consump-tion, which has been a main-stay for the last few years.

With the expectation ofindustrials doing better, it saidcorporate banks will also havea better showing.

It said industrials haveunderperformed the bench-marks by 48 per cent in the lastdecade, while the recent yearshave witnessed the sectorstocks lagging despite earningrecoveries.

The consumption stocksare “over-priced”, it said, addingthat it is underweight on thesector.

On the global develop-ments, it said they matter lessfor the domestic markets as theforeign portfolio investorsaccount only for a third of thetrading volumes and have notbeen net buyers for the lastthree years now.

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India’s biggest eco-friendlyElectric Vehicle Technology

Expo ‘8th EVEXPO 2018’ is setto begin from December 21 athall No. 7, Pragati Maidan, NewDelhi. The 3 day event shallshowcase the latest and tech-nologically advanced, pollutionfree 2, 3 & 4 wheeled e-vehicles,parts and accessories, chargingsolutions and technology frommore than 150 national andinternational companies.

The Expo shall be inaugu-

rated by Nitin Gadkari, Minister,Road Transport & Highways,Shipping and Water Resources at10:30 am on 21st December atHall No. 7, Pragati Maidan.

Spread over an area of1,10,000 Sq ft, EV EXPO 2018brings to the Electric Vehicleindustry the opportunity tolaunch and showcase, see andunderstand the latest in electricvehicles, components, batterytechnology, accessories andServices for convenient and envi-ronment friendly transportationof passengers and goods.

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Anew airport com-plex at Bamrauli

Airport in Prayagrajdistrict of UttarPradesh was inaugu-rated on Monday byPrime Minister ofIndia, Narendra Modi.The inauguration tookplace in the augustpresence of Ram Naik,Governor of UttarPradesh; YogiAdityanath, ChiefMinister of UttarPradesh, Suresh Prabhu, UnionMinister of Commerce andIndustry and Civil Aviation;Keshav Prasad Maurya, DeputyChief Minister, Uttar Pradesh,Sidharth Nath Singh, Ministerof Medical & Health,Government of Uttar Pradesh,Nand Gopal Gupta “Nandi”,Minister of Civil Aviation,Government of Uttar Pradesh,Dr. Mahendra Nath Pandey,Member of Parliament (LokSabha), Shyama Charan Gupta,Member of Parliament (LokSabha), Nagendra Pratap SinghPatel, Member of Parliament(Lok Sabha). In his address, PMapplauded the efforts made byAirports Authority of India to

complete the project of NewAirport Complex in record 11months and congratulated Shri.Suresh Prabhu Minister of CivilAviation and team of AAI.

Airports Authority ofIndia, under the supervision ofthe Ministry of Civil Aviationis committed to provide airconnectivity and develop andupgrade airport infrastructureacross the country. Due to theproactive measures beingundertaken by the govern-ment, Indiais already one of thefastest growing civil aviationmarkets in the world.

The New Airport Complexof BamrauliAirport has beendeveloped by the Airports

Authority of India, at a cost of�164Crores. Bamrauli Airportbelongs to the Indian Air Forceand AAI maintains a CivilEnclave there. The previousCivil Enclave had an area of 0.8acres with constrained opera-tions through a small TerminalBuilding. There was no scopefor expansion of the terminalbuilding at the present location.Hence, a New AirportComplex withmodern terminalbuilding has been constructed.Government of Uttar Pradeshhasacquired and handed over50 acres of land to the AirportsAuthority of India for devel-opment of the New AirportComplex.

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In what has become the highlight of theVibrant Gujarat Global Summits held bienni-

ally, the Government of Gujarat is organising theVibrant Gujarat GlobalTrade Show 2019 (VGGTS2019), from 18-22 January 2019, at the ExhibitionGround, near Mahatma Mandir, Gandhinagar.With an area of nearly 2,00,000sq. mt, VGGTS2019 will have the largest exhibition area hous-ing 18 domes, showcasing nearly 25 sectors, over2000 stalls and as many companies. The VibrantGujarat Global Summit was conceptualized in2003 by Prime Minister of India and the thenChief Minister of Gujarat, NarendraModi, to rein-force the position of Gujarat as a preferred invest-ment destination within India.

From a modest exhibitionarea of 3000 sq.

mtr comprising 36 stalls in Vibrant Gujarat 2003to an area ofmore than 1,25,000 sq. meters com-prising over 1000 stalls in Vibrant Gujarat2017,the Trade Show over the years has become a sig-nificant platform for companies to exhibittheir products, services and showcase their suc-cess stories to delegatesfrom across the globe.

Nearly 1.5 million visitors and approxi-mately 3000 International Delegates from over100 countries are expected at the Exhibition. Areplica of Statue of Unity, Bullet Train simula-tor, Farm-to-Fabric Pavilion and Fashion Showwith a focus on ‘Make in India’ and Khadi aresome of the attractions at the Trade Show. TheFashion Show in association with GujaratChambers of Commerce & Industry (GCCI) willbe held at the Sabarmati Riverfront on theevening of 19th January.

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Shares of Jet Airways fell over3 per cent after the company’s

former CEO Nikos Kardassis,who made a comeback to thecarrier in an advisory role, hasonce again parted ways with it.

On the BSE, the scrip shed3.79 per cent to settle at �250.10.Intra-day, it lost 4.90 per cent to�247.20, its lowest during the day.

On the NSE, the stocksdeclined 3.44 per cent to close at�250.95. During the trading ses-sion, it had touched a high of�253.90 and a low of �247.10.

On the equity volume front,a combined of over 1.1 croreunits were traded on the stockexchanges during the day.

The Greek-American avi-ation veteran in his thirdcomeback to Naresh Goyal-controlled Jet Airways in Maywas roped in to revive the for-tunes of the full-service carri-er following its dismal financialperformance since January thisyear.

The former chief executiveofficer parted ways with the air-line after Goyal initiated dis-cussions with his investmentpartner Etihad Airways forfurther stake sale to garnerfunds, said another source.

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The board of automakerNissan failed on Monday

to agree a replacement for for-mer chairman Carlos Ghosnafter his arrest for financialmisconduct, as tensions growin the firm’s alliance withRenault.

The Japanese companyremoved Ghosn from his postlast month after he wasdetained on allegations ofunder-reporting his salary.

But it failed Monday to

name a replacement, with CEOHiroto Saikawa saying a com-mittee advising the board onthe decision needed more time.

“It was decided that thecommittee wishes to continuediscussions, we accepted that,”he told a press conferenceafter the board met inYokohama.

Media reports ahead ofthe meeting suggested theboard was unlikely to reach adecision soon, in part becauseof open discord with Frenchautomaker Renault.

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State-owned Oil and NaturalGas Corp (ONGC) and Oil

India Ltd (OIL) spent over�13,000 crore on 115 oil andgas discoveries which weretaken away from them by theGovernment for auctioning toprivate companies, Oil MinisterDharmendra Pradhan said onMonday.

The present BJP-led NDAgovernment took away so-called idle small and marginaldiscoveries of ONGC and OILand auctioned them to privatefirms under Discovered SmallField (DSF) bid rounds.

Under DSF bid round-1, 67discoveries, mostly of ONGC,were auctioned, while in thesecond round, bids for whichare due next month, another 48finds are being auctioned, hesaid in a written reply to a ques-tion in the Lok Sabha.

“As informed by ONGC, anamount of �12,826 crore hasbeen spent by ONGC on thediscoveries/fields identified inthe first and second round ofDiscovered Small Field Policy.An amount of �224.27 crorehas been spent by OIL in this

regard,” he said.ONGC and OIL are not

compensated for the amountthey had spent on discoveries ofthese oil and gas reserves.Unlike State-owned firms, theprivate players are allowed pric-ing and marketing freedom tomake these discoveries viable.ONGC and OIL have stated thatthey could not produce from thediscoveries as they are uneco-nomically at current cap prices.

“With a view to increasingdomestic production of oil andgas, the Government in May2016 launched DiscoveredSmall Field Bid Round-I underwhich 67 discoveries of ONGCand OIL, which had not beenput into production, wereoffered for auction throughinternational competitive bid-ding,” Pradhan said. “The pol-icy has now been extended toits second round to include 48un-monetised discoveries ofONGC and OIL under DSFBid Round-II.”

Under DSF-I, 47 compa-nies participated in the biddingprocess, he said. ONGC andOIL were also allowed to par-ticipate in the auction to getback their own discoveries.

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Despite the pace of highwaysprojects undertaken by

state-run National HighwaysAuthority of India (NHAI) pick-ing up in the last three years, itis likely to remain short by 33-37 per cent of its FY19 target ofcompleting 6,000 km, says Icra.

With a strong unexecutedpipeline and concerted effortson right of way, the NHAI is ona strong footing and is set towitness sustained growth inexecution in FY2019, the high-est ever over the last one decade(FY2010- FY2019), the agencysaid in a statement issued onMonday.

As on March 31, 2018,NHAI has around 15,000 km ofportion, which included pro-jects awarded over the last fiveyears, under completion.

However, pending appoint-ed date (AD) for the hybridannuity model (HAM) projectsshould not be seen as a concernwhen financial closure hasalready been achieved, thereport said.

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Prime Minister Theresa Maywill on Monday warn MPs

against supporting a secondBrexit referendum, as callsmount for a public vote tobreak the political impasseover the deal she has struckwith the EU.

“Let us not break faithwith the British people by try-ing to stage another referen-dum,” she will tell parliament,according to extracts from herspeech released by DowningStreet.

“Anther vote... Would doirreparable damage to theintegrity of our politics,” Maywill say, adding that a secondvote “would likely leave us nofurther forward”.

Britain voted to leave theEuropean Union in a shock ref-erendum in 2016 and is set toleave on March 29 next year,although the prime minister isstruggling to persuade parlia-ment to accept a divorce agree-ment she struck last month.

May has said she isengaged in talks with the EU toseek “assurances” about theBrexit deal, but EuropeanCommission spokesmanMargaritis Schinas on Mondaysaid “no further meetings withthe United Kingdom are fore-seen”.

The draft deal was agreedonly after tortuous talks inBrussels that began in Marchlast year and EU leaders haveruled out any renegotiation,while the British economy hasbeen languishing due to uncer-tainty over Brexit.

May last week survived aconfidence vote initiated by

members of her ownConservative Party because ofher Brexit strategy, but she isbadly weakened after a third ofher parliamentary party votedto be rid of her.

In the face of calls for asecond referendum to resolvethe impasse, she has arguedthat this would betray the 2016result and undermine publicconfidence in politics.

The issue provoked anextraordinary public clash onSunday between May and for-mer prime minister Tony Blair,a leading supporter of contin-ued EU membership and hold-ing another poll.

May accused Blair ofinsulting voters and trying toundermine her government bymeeting officials in Brussels.

Blair, who was premierbetween 1997 and 2007, in turnaccused the Conservativeleader of being “irresponsi-ble”.

But campaigners for a ref-erendum said May’s commentson Monday showed that theidea was being taken serious-ly.

“A new public vote would

be different from the referen-dum in 2016 because we nowknow more about what Brexitmeans,” said Margaret Beckett,an MP from the main opposi-tion Labour Party and “People’sVote” supporter.

“Any effort to force Brexitover the line without checkingthat it has the continued con-sent of the British people willonly reinforce divisions,” shesaid.

May has delayed a crucialvote by MPs on the draft Brexitdeal until next month, leavingthe political scene in limbo.

If parliament fails toapprove the text, Britain couldcrash out of the EU regardless-- a prospect that experts warncould lead to serious tradedisruption and trigger a finan-cial crisis.

Dozens of MPs from allsides support a second refer-endum and there have beenreports that officials are con-sidering the possibility of giv-ing the public a vote.

Another proposal beingput forward if May’s deal doesnot pass parliament is for MPsto hold indicative votes on dif-

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Dutch Prime Minister MarkRutte warned the

Netherlands on Mondayagainst emulating the “chaos”and division of Britain’s deci-sion to leave the EuropeanUnion.

“I compare theNetherlands to a fragile vase,held by its 17 million citizens,”Rutte said in a full-page advert,printed in the popular dailytabloid Algemeen Dagblad.

In order to preserve this‘vase’, “compromises often haveto be made in which difficultproblems are solved in a sen-sible way,” he said.

But Rutte, who has beenDutch premier since 2010 andcurrently leads a shaky coali-tion government, said there areexamples in society “wherethe vase has been dropped.”

“Look at Great Britain.There, its politicians and itspeople have forgotten whatthey’ve reached together,” Ruttesaid.

“Now they are caught up inchaos,” he said.

Rutte was the first stop onBritish Prime Minister TheresaMay’s unsuccessful tour to seekassurances for a Brexit dealfrom EU leaders last week.

The Dutch premier wasone of several leaders defend-ing her afterwards at a summitin Brussels -- or at least in com-ments he made in English.

In Dutch, however hewarned at the summit againstany move to take theNetherlands out of the EU, say-ing ‘If anyone in the

Netherlands thinks Nexit is agood idea, look at England andsee the enormous damage itdoes.”

The Netherlands has beenanxiously watching develop-ments in Britain, a key tradingpartner and one-time ally onmany European matters, as itprepares to leave the EU onMarch 29, 2019.

Rutte himself originallyinvited May’s predecessorDavid Cameron to Amsterdamgive the fateful speech leadingto the 2016 referendum that ledto Brexit, although it ended upbeing postponed and shifted toLondon. Observers sayMonday’s advert is the start ofRutte’s campaign for his LiberalVVD party in the run-up toEuropean parliament andDutch provincial elections nextyear.

Known for his upbeat char-acter and his man-of-the-peo-ple habit of riding his bicycle towork, Rutte “wants to beat hisopponents with positivity andoptimism,” the NOS publicbroadcaster said.

Rutte also warned aboutthose creating division in theNetherlands — compared themto “screaming football dadson sidelines”. He referred torecent demonstrations for andagainst Black Pete, or “ZwartePiet”, a blackface Christmas-time character accused of beinga racist stereotype.

“People were so busyshouting for and against ZwartePiet that they forgot about thechildren,” for whom Rutte saidthe early December festival isorganised.

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Acity in northern China hasbanned Christmas sales

and decorations to keep the cityclean for an upcoming awardfunction.

The authorities inLangfang, however, clarifiedthe move is not targeted atChristmas.

An officially atheist coun-try, China dissuades its peoplefrom celebrating Christmas,calling it a Western religiousculture which has a wronginfluence on its youth.

Christianity is one of thefive recognised religions inChina.

The Urban ManagementBureau of Langfang in northChina’s Hebei province issueda notice on Sunday that bansChristmas trees on streets, theChinese state media reported.

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The US military says it hascarried out six airstrikes in

the Gandarshe area of Somaliawhich killed a total of 62 al-Shabab extremist rebels.

In a statement issuedMonday, the US military’sAfrica Command said it car-ried out four strikes onDecember 15 in which 34 peo-ple were killed and two moreon December 16 which killed28.

All the air attacks were inthe Gandarshe coastal areasouth of the capital,Mogadishu, it said.

No civilians were injured orkilled in the attacks, it said.

All six strikes were carriedout in close coordination withSomalia’s government, it said.

The airstrikes were “con-ducted to prevent al-Shababfrom using remote areas as asafe haven to plot, direct,inspire, and recruit for futureattacks,” it said.

Al-Shabab uses parts ofsouthern and central Somaliato plot and direct extremistattacks, steal humanitarian aid,extort the local populace tofund its operations, and shelterradicals, said the statement.

With these attacks, the U.S.Military has carried out atleast 46 airstrikes so far thisyear against al-Shabab, whichis allied to al-Qaida and Africa’smost active Islamic extremistgroup. Al Shabab controls partsof rural southern and centralSomalia and continues to stagedeadly attacks in Mogadishuand other cities.

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Pushing the Government tothe brink of a partial shut-

down, the White House isinsisting that Congress provide$5 billion to build a wall alongthe U.S.-Mexico border despitelawmaker resistance from bothparties. Without a resolution,parts of the federal governmentwill shut down at midnightFriday. President DonaldTrump kept up the pressure onDemocrats Monday, tweeting:“Time for us to save billions ofdollars a year and have, at thesame time, far greater safetyand control!”

On Sunday, White Housesenior adviser Stephen Millersaid: “We’re going to do what-ever is necessary to build theborder wall to stop this ongoingcrisis of illegal immigration.”

Asked if that meant havinga government shutdown, he

said: “If it comes to it, absolute-ly.”

Trump said last week hewould be “proud” to have ashutdown to get Congress toapprove a $5 billion down pay-ment to fulfill his campaignpromise to build a border wall.But the president doesn’t havethe votes from the Republican-controlled Congress to supportfunding for the wall at that level.

Both major political partiesin Congress have suggestedthat Trump would likely needto make the next move toresolve the impasse. The Houseis taking an extended weekendbreak, returning Wednesdaynight. The Senate returnsMonday after a three-dayabsence. The Democratic con-gressional leaders, Sen. ChuckSchumer and Rep. NancyPelosi, have proposed no morethan $1.6 billion, as outlined ina bipartisan Senate bill.

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Exposing Pakistan PrimeMinister Imran Khan’s seri-

ousness on combating terror-ism, his junior interior minis-ter has vowed to “protect”Mumbai attack mastermindHafiz Saeed and his party in aleaked video.

The leaked video showedMinister of State for InteriorShehryar Afridi talking to theMilli Muslim League (MML)leaders and when his attentionwas drawn towards non-regis-tration of Saeed’s party by theElection Commission (ECP) asa political party due to the USpressure and the ECP’s plan todeclare it a terrorist organisa-tion, the minister said: “We willnot let this happen.”

“As long as we (thePakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf) arein the government all thoseincluding Hafiz Saeed who areraising voice for Pakistan andrighteousness, we are withthem,” Afridi said, adding “thisis our belief.”

“I request you to come tothe National Assembly and seewhether we are supportingthose who on the right path ornot,” he told them.

Saeed was declared a glob-al terrorist by the US and theUN after the 2008 Mumbai

attack and was put under housearrest in November 2008 butfreed by a court some monthslater. He carries a USD 10 mil-lion American bounty on hishead for his role in terroractivities. India has beendemanding Pakistan not onlyto arrest the LeT founder andtry him in the Mumbai attackcase but also punish all thoseinvolved in this carnage.

In the leaked video, anMML leader said the highcourt ordered the ECP to reg-ister the MML as a politicalparty but the top election bodysaid that it had come to knowthat the US had declared MMLa terrorist organisation.

On this, the ministerassured that “this will not hap-pen in the Imran Khan’s gov-ernment.”

Saeed launched the MMLin August 2017 with a so-called mission to implementthe ideology of Pakistan inaccordance with the 1973Constitution.

In April, the US placed theMML on its list of foreign ter-ror organisations for its linkswith the Lashkar-e-Taiba.

The interior ministry hadwritten to the ECP recom-mending not to register theMML as it is an off-shoot ofSaeed’s Jamat-ud Dawah.

Colombo: Sri Lankan PrimeMinister Ranil Wickremesinghe,who was recently reinstated asthe premier by PresidentMaithripala Sirisena, saidMonday he would register a newpolitical alliance ‘NationalDemocratic Front’ (NDF) tocontest future elections.

Addressing his first rally ofUnited National Party (UNP)supporters after his re-appoint-ment, Wickremesinghe saidthat Parliament can vote withtwo-thirds to hold elections.

“We are currently workingon forming the NationalDemocratic Front (NDF) toface the next election,” he said.

“We are ready to hold elec-tions constitutionally,”Wickremesinghe said.

Wickremesinghe said abol-ishing the executive Presidencyand bringing about a politicalsolution will be part of theagenda of his new Govt.

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AKremlin-backed candidatehas won a key governor-

ship election in Russia’s Far Eastbut critics denounced the voteas a fraud after a popularopposition figure was notallowed to run.

An electoral crisis eruptedin the Far Eastern region ofPrimorsky Krai in Septemberwhen opposition protests andclaims of widespread irregu-larities in favour of a candidatebacked by President VladimirPutin forced officials to ordera re-run of the vote.

During the new guberna-torial poll held on Sunday, act-ing governor OlegKozhemyako — backed by the

Kremlin -- took 61.88 per centof the vote, final results showed.

His closest rival, AndreiAndreichenko of the national-ist LDPR party, took 25 percent.

It was the first time inmodern Russia an election wasre-run after protests over vote-rigging allegations.

A popular opposition can-didate, the Communist Party’sAndrei Ishchenko, who hadaccused a ruling party repre-sentative endorsed by Putin of“stealing” his victory in the ini-tial election, was not allowed tostand on Sunday.

Authorities said he did notreceive the required number ofsignatures from local lawmakers.

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The use of armed drones inthe Middle East, driven

largely by sales from China, hasgrown significantly in the pastfew years with an increasingnumber of countries and otherparties using them in regionalconflicts to lethal effects, anew report said Monday.

The report by the RoyalUnited Services Institute, orRUSI, found that more andmore Mideast countries haveacquired armed drones, eitherby importing them, such asJordan, Iraq, Saudi Arabia andthe United Arab Emirates, orby building them domestical-ly like Israel, Iran and Turkey.

China has won sales in theMiddle East and elsewhere byoffering drones — otherwiseknown as UAVs or unmannedaerial vehicles — at lower pricesand without the political con-ditions attached by the UnitedStates.

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Duchess of Sussex MeghanMarkle’s estranged father

Thomas on Monday pleadedwith his daughter to stop“ghosting” him and get in touchwith him over Christmas.

Thomas, who has not spo-ken to the new member of theBritish royal family since shegot married to Prince Harry ina grand ceremony at WindsorCastle in May this year, said hehad been texting his daughter

every day and writing letters toher but she has been “ghosting”him – a term used when some-one ends all communicationwith another person.

“I’m not sure why it’s hap-pening. I have been trying toreach out for several weeks,every day I try to text her, buthaven’t received anything back,”the 74-year-old retiredHollywood lighting directortold ITV’s “Good MorningBritain” in an interview from hishome in San Diego in the US.

“I love you very much,you’re my daughter and Iwould really like to hear fromyou. Whatever differences wehave, we should be able to workthem out,” he said, making adirect plea.

Thomas dismissed accusa-tions that the 37-year-old for-mer actress was “rude” in ref-erence to media reports of afeud between her and sister-in-law Kate Middleton, but admit-ted that she could be a con-trolling person.

Paris: French anti-terroristofficials said on Monday theywould shortly file chargesagainst a man arrested in con-nection with the mass shootingin Strasbourg last week. AFP

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The Executive Engineer, PWD,West Road-1, R.R.Lines, RingRoad, Near Metro Pillar No. 63,New Delhi-110010 invites, onbehalf of President of India, OnlinePercentage/Item Rate tender ontwo bid system for following works.

NIT No. 63/EE/PWD WR-1/2018-19Tender ID No. 2018_PWD_63566_1,Name of Work : A/R & M/O VariousRoads under PWD Sub DivisionWR-14, Division WR-I, New Delhidg. 2018-19. (SH:- Providing andfixing M.S. fencing infront ofG.S.S.S. Baprola.) Estimated Cost:Rs 20,90,171/- Earnest Money: Rs.41,803/- Time of Completion: 02(Two) Months. The last date tofill/upload the tender throughe-tendering is 24.12.2018 upto03.00 P.M.

NIT No. 64/EE/PWD WR-1/2018-19Tender ID No. 2018_PWD_163569_1,Name of Work : A/R & M/O VariousRoads under Sub Division WR-13, Division WR-I, New Delhi dg.2018-19. (SH:- Repair andmaintenance of foot over BridgeJanakpuri.) Estimated Cost : Rs.17,79,480/- Earnest Money : Rs.35,590/- Time of Completion : 02(Two) Months. The last date tofill/upload the tender through e-tendering is 24.12.2018 upto 03.00P.M.

NIT No. 65/EE/PWD WR-1/2018-19Tender ID No. 2018_PWD_163575_1,Name of Work : A/R & M/O VariousRoads under Sub Division WR-12, Division WR-I, New Delhi dg.2018-19. (SH:- Providing andplacing RCC Jerssy Barriers at60 feet Road Mahaveer EnclavePart-Ill.) Estimated Cost : Rs30,77,374/- Earnest Money : Rs.61,547/- Time of Completion: 02(Two) Weeks. The last date tofill/upload the tender through e-tendering is 24.12.2018 upto 03:00 P.M.

NIT No. 69/EE/PWD WR-1/2018-19Tender ID No. 2018_PWD_163579_1,Name of Work : A/R & M/O Variousroads under Sub Division WR-13,Division WR-1, New Delhi dg.2018-19. (SH: Repair andMaintenance of footpath from PVRcomplex to Anand Kunj Society onGuru Virjanand Marg in Vikaspuri.)Estimated Cost: Rs 68,67,048/-Earnest Money : Rs.1,37,341/- Timeof Completion : 03 (Three) Months .The last date to fill/upload the tenderthrough e- tendering is 24.12.2018upto 03.00 P.M.

The Bid forms and other details canbe obtained from the website.https//govtprocurement.delhi.gov.in

DIP/Shabdarth/2471/1819

PUBLIC WORKSDEPARTMENT DELHI

NOTICE INVITING E-TENDER

Page 12: RNI Regn. No. MPENG/2004/13703, Regd. No. L-2/BPLON/41 ... · Babu Lal Marandi (JVM), PK Kunhalikutti (IUML), Badrudin Ajmal (AIUDF), Raju Shetty (Swabhimani Paksha), Sanjay Singh

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Left-arm pacer Sheldon Cottrell delivered a career best4-28 before Shai Hope struck a half-century as West

Indies crushed Bangladesh by eight wickets in theirTwenty20 series opener on Monday.

West Indies raced to 130-2 in just 10.5 overs afterCottrell and his fellow pacers bowled out Bangladeshfor 129 runs in Sylhet.

Bangladesh skipper Shakib Al Hasan scored 61 off43 balls for the home side but could not stave off athumping defeat.

Hope accelerated the West Indies' run chase with55 off 23 balls that included six sixes and three fours.

Victory never looked in doubt as he struck spin-ner Mehidy Hasan for three sixes and a four in just thesecond over of the innings, yielding 23 runs.

Spinner Mahmudullah Riyad dismissed Hopeafter medium pacer Mohammad Saifuddin broke a 51-run opening stand with Evin Lewis, who fell for 18.

But Nicholas Pooran and Keemo Paul ensured WestIndies cruised to their target, with quickfire innings of23 and 28 respectively.

Cottrell andfellow pacerOshane Thomasearlier chokedBangladesh, whoopted to bat first, atthe start of theirinnings.

O p e n e r sTamim Iqbal andLiton Das, as wellas Soumya Sarkar,all fell for single-figure scores toshort-pitch deliv-eries.

I n - f o r mMushfiqur Rahimwas run out forfive, leavingBangladesh on 48-4 before six overs of

batting power play had elapsed.Shakib put on two small partnerships of 25 and 30

respectively with Mahmudullah Riyad and Ariful Haqueto lift the side briefly.

Paul wrapped up Bangladesh's innings with 2-23.The West Indies are hoping a series win will end

their Bangladesh tour on a positive note after losingtheir Test and one-day international series 2-0 and 2-1 respectively.

"Very good win but it's only one game," skipper CarlosBrathwaite said.

"We have started with a win before and then goneon to lose the series in recent times. So, it's important tobe respectful of the opposition."

Bangladesh and West Indies play the remaining twoT20 internationals of the series in Dhaka this week.

*��� *%11&-:95-�

New Zealand opener Tom Lathamflayed Sri Lanka's bowlers with

an unbeaten 264 on Monday beforethe tourists' top order failed again,leaving them on the verge of aheavy first Test defeat in Wellington.

Latham walked off to a standingovation at the Basin Reserve aftercarrying his bat and helping NewZealand to 578, a commanding first-innings lead of 296.

Seamers Tim Southee and TrentBoult then combined to remove SriLanka's top order, reducing them to20 for three at stumps on day three.

Boult dismissed DanushkaGunathilaka on three, while Southeesnared Dimuth Karunaratne for 10and Dhananjaya de Silva for a duck,taking his tally for the match to eight.

The pair, along with short-ballspecialist Neil Wagner, will be rel-ishing the prospect of having two fulldays to attack Sri Lanka's misfiringbatting line-up.

But the day belonged to Latham,who added steadily to his overnighttotal of 121, offering no chances tothe frustrated Sri Lankans.

It was the sixth best Test score bya New Zealander and the highest thisyear by a batsman from any nation.

His innings, which lasted morethan 11 hours, also continued a hor-ror run at the Basin Reserve for SriLanka, where they have now con-ceded double centuries to four NewZealanders.

H�+�)��������ILatham said he always believed

he was capable of producing sucha performance but it was pleasingto achieve it on the internationalstage.

"These innings don't comearound too often, so you have toenjoy the moment when they do,"he said.

New Zealand skipper KaneWilliamson helped the Black Capsreach their imposing total with asparkling 91, while Ross Taylor and

Henry Nicholls both reached 50.Lahiru Kumara was the pick of

a Sri Lanka attack that struggled ona flat wicket, taking four for 127.

Taylor was dismissed for 50 inthe first over of the day after fail-ing to add to his overnight score,thanks to a sharp catch fromDimuth Karunaratne.

Henry Nicholls also went for 50after lunch trying to take on spin-ner Dilruwan Perera.

BJ Watling followed withoutscoring when he tucked his batawkwardly under his arm as heducked a Kumara bouncer and theball clipped it on the way through.

Colin de Grandhomme scoredthree sixes during an aggressiveinnings but fell on 49 attempting tobludgeon a fourth.

����� 7�&,80�

Once a sought-after property,Yuvraj Singh faces the risk of

going unsold at the 2019 IPL auctionhere on Tuesday with the fran-chisees factoring in the availability offoreign players in a World Cup year.

Yuvraj, who fetched a record �16crore deal in his prime, was boughtby Kings XI Punjab for his base priceof �2 crore at the auction heldbefore the last edition. While ChrisGayle repaid the faith KXIP posed inhim with a fruitful season, Yuvrajcould not set the house on fire, man-aging just 65 runs in eight games. Nowonder the team decided to releasehim.

The 37-year-old, who last playedfor India in June 2017, has put him-self in the �1 crore base price brack-et this time alongside other cappedIndians — Wriddhiman Saha,Mohammed Shami and Axar Patel.

In fact, no Indian figures in thehighest base price of �2 crore amonga pool of 346 cricketers set to gounder the hammer.

The nine players in the �2 crorebracket are Brendon McCullum,

Chris Woakes, Lasith Malinga, ShaunMarsh, Sam Curran, Colin Ingram,Corey Anderson, Angelo Mathewsand D'Arcy Short.

Teams are also likely to chaseexperienced overseas players such asDale Steyn, Morne Morkel, JonnyBairstow and Alex Hales,who have put themselves inthe �1.5 crore category.Indian all-rounder JaydevUnadkat, who was boughtfor �11.5 crore byRajasthan Royals, will alsofeature in the same bracket.

A total of 70 players can bebought at the auction with 20 slotsavailable for the foreign players.

India Test regulars l ikeCheteswar Pujara and Ishant Sharmahave also thrown their hat into thering with base prices of �50 and � 75lakh respectively.

Alongside the big names, a hostof uncapped Indian players will beup for grabs with some of themexpected to turn millionairesovernight.

Keeping the hectic schedule inmind leading up to the World Cupin England from May 30 to July 14,

Australian stars like Aaron Finch andGlenn Maxwell have opted out of theauction. Though dates and venue arenot yet announced, the IPL is expect-ed to run from the last week ofMarch to mid-May.

Since the World Cup will begintwo weeks after the IPL, ithas raised questions onthe availability of theAustralian players who willbe named in the squad forthe showpiece. The samegoes for England players

who will be required to report to theWorld Cup preparatory camp in themiddle of the IPL.

The teams will go into the auctionwell aware of the players' availabili-ty. With �36.20 crore, KXIP will havemaximum money to spend, followedby Delhi Capitals (�25.50 crore),Rajasthan Royals (�20.95crore), Royal ChallengersBangalore (�18.15 crore),Kolkata Knight Riders(�15.20 crore), MumbaiIndians (�11.15 crore),Sunrisers Hyderabad (�9.70crore) and Chennai SuperKings (�8.40 crore).

*�����20&2�

Lionel Messi continued hissublime form by netting his

31st La Liga hat-trick asBarcelona thrashed Levante 5-0to regain their three-point leadat the top of the table.

The 31-year-oldArgentinian arrived in Valenciahaving scored two free-kicks inlast weekend's derby thumpingof Espanyol. He took his goalstally for the season to 20 after avirtuoso display, while also tee-ing up Luis Suarez's 35th-minuteopener and Gerard Pique's latefifth.

Barca were under pressureafter Atletico Madrid and sec-ond-placed Sevilla had bothmoved level on points with theCatalan giants.

But after resting his key starsfor their final ChampionsLeague group-stage matchagainst Tottenham in midweek,coach Ernesto Valverde saw hisrefreshed side cruise to a thirdstraight league win without con-ceding a goal.

"At the beginning it was dif-ficult, they squeezed us and hada chance that hit the woodwork,"said Valverde on Sunday.

Levante started the gamebrightly and visiting goalkeep-er Marc-Andre ter Stegen wasforced into an early save byGhanaian Emmanuel Boateng.

But Barca did not take longto start moving through thegears, with Messi curling widefrom long range before testingOier Olazabal in the Levantegoal with a free-kick.

Just seconds after Boatenghammered a left-footed strikeagainst the crossbar, the reign-ing Spanish champions brokethe deadlock as Messi jinkedthrough a mesmerised homedefence and picked out Suarezwho volleyed home.

But Levante, who had endedBarcelona's dreams of goingthrough last season's La Ligacampaign unbeaten with aremarkable 5-4 victory in thepenultimate game, came close toa quick response as Jose LuisMorales fired over.

The match was all but endedas a contest when Messi boredown on goal two minutesbefore half-time and drilled lowinto the net.

"I'm happy to have wonhere, because last year we cameand they put five goals past ushaving gone the whole seasonunbeaten, so we knew about thedanger of Levante and it was amatch we had marked out,"added Valverde.

He wasted little time afterthe restart to add his second inthe 47th minute, sweeping homeJordi Alba's clever cutback,before completing his treble

with a simple tap-in from ArturoVidal's square pass on the hourmark. Messi has scored fivegoals in two league games sincefinishing only fifth in the votingfor the Ballon d'Or earlier thismonth.

A bad evening for Levanteworsened with 14 minutes toplay, as left-back Erick Cabacowas sent off for a reckless lungeon Ousmane Dembele. Centre-back Pique added further glossto the scoreline in the 88thminute, rampaging forward tocollect Messi's pass, before keep-ing his cool and rolling the ballhome.

*��� -B5-

Liverpool will take on fellow five-time winners Bayern Munich in thelast 16 of the Champions League,

while Jose Mourinho's strugglingManchester United face French giantsParis Saint-Germain.

Holders Real Madrid were pairedwith Ajax in Monday's draw in Nyon asthe Spaniards attempt to lift the trophyfor the fifth time in six seasons, whileLionel Messi and Barcelona will playLyon.

Both Liverpool and Bayern have arich tradition in the competition, eachwinning it five times and Liverpool werebeaten finalists last season.

Liverpool are the current form sideof the two and sit top of the PremierLeague while Bayern, under new coachNiko Kovac, have been far short of theirown high standards in the Bundesligathis season.

"That's the team ofthe hour, the leagueleaders in England, theyare playing really goodfootball, very physical,really stepping it up.We are looking forwardto it," Bayern sporting director HasanSalihamidzic said of the tie withLiverpool.

"A tough cookie, but that's some-thing to look forward to as a player."

%� ���� 9 ���Pep Guardiola's Manchester City

take on German side Schalke 04 whileAtletico Madrid, beaten finalists in 2014and 2016, come up against CristianoRonaldo and Italian heavyweightsJuventus.

"A very difficult match, with fewgoals," Juve vice-president Pavel Nedvedpredicted.

"No doubt Cristiano is the man ofthe Champions League, he has alwaysshown that, with goals and victories. Ourteam is very strong and we can be calmand confident."

Bundesliga leaders BorussiaDortmund will meet Tottenham Hotspurfor the second season in a row, havingfaced each other in last year's group stage,while Roma meet two-time formerchampions Porto.

"We've already met them(Tottenham) twice. A strong opponent,

the chances are at 50-50. The team hastop players. We are also strong, it will beinteresting," Dortmund CEO Hans-Joachim Watzke told Sky.

Meanwhile, United go into a firstever meeting with PSG trailing PremierLeague leaders Liverpool by 19 pointsfollowing Sunday's 3-1 defeat at Anfield,and face a formidable task against a sidefeaturing Neymar and Kylian Mbappe —the world's two most expensive players.

Lyon coach Bruno Genesio says histeam can draw on their group stage dis-plays against City — a 2-1 win and 2-2draw — ahead of their clash with five-time European champions Barca.

"We'll need to pull off two big per-formances, in the first leg and in thereturn, but we can do it. We did it againstCity," said Genesio.

"It's tough. They are a team that Lyonhas already played against but never beat-en. Barca are more experienced andstronger but over two matches anythingis possible," Gerard Houllier, who holdsan advisory role at the French club, toldRMC Sport.

Teams that finished in second placein the group stage will host the first legson February 12/13 and 19/20 with thereturn matches scheduled for March 5/6and 12/13.

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Page 13: RNI Regn. No. MPENG/2004/13703, Regd. No. L-2/BPLON/41 ... · Babu Lal Marandi (JVM), PK Kunhalikutti (IUML), Badrudin Ajmal (AIUDF), Raju Shetty (Swabhimani Paksha), Sanjay Singh

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At times honesty in the work-place can be better in theorythan in practice. Employees

sometimes avoid voicing opinions,disappointments, frustrations, orgeneral ideas to modify or ChangeCompany’s operating procedures.Instead, these opinions and ideas mayprogress through the office environ-ment in a series of conversations withother employees, forms of gossip, orunderlying internal frustration.When this is the case, the problemhas no viable outlet to be fixed orsolved. If companies really want toevolve and grow, they must be opento hearing the truth from employees,even if it is brutally honest as it is animportant step toward buildingintegrity in the workplace.

Creating an atmosphere of hon-esty also fosters an environment forself-accountability and responsibil-ity. In an article by Jayme Check inBusiness Week, he states “[these]comments are brutally honest, won-derfully refreshing – and necessary.”Check’s article focuses on the over-haul of a company whose new CEOvoiced the shortcomings of compa-ny performance, and the commit-ment to change what was not work-ing. It was shocking to hear some ofthe brutally honest realities of their

company’s flaws, but it also empow-ered employees to step up and fix theproblems. The more transparent thework environment, the happier theemployees are. The happier employ-ees are, the more productive they are.Ultimately, honesty builds trust in thecompany and confidence in leader-ship. Voicing the truth enables all ofus to identify the issue and work asa team to better it.

If you feel you’re undervalued,you should certainly do somethingabout it, but telling the truth abouthow you feel isn’t the way. Instead,collect as much concrete data as youcan about your role, function andindustry and expected salaries at yourlevel, and present a well-founded casethat you deserve more. Presentdetailed information about yourcontributions and how they’vemoved the organization forward.Then, it won’t be about “feelings” butabout what you deserve in light of theresearch and evidence.

If you were terribly mistreated inthe last job or it was a complete bust,think about why and how that hap-pened, and what you’ll do different-ly in this next job. If you don’t ana-lyze and evaluate how you co-creat-ed this terrible experience, you verywell might repeat the situation in the

next job. Do the hard inner work ofunderstanding your part in it. Then,when you talk about the previous joband how you left, find all the goodyou can in what you learned andachieved, and communicate that. Inevery terrible job, there was at leastone hugely positive thing you gainedand learned. Dig deep and find it.

Let’s be honest about being hon-est – a companywide commitment tohonesty at the office is hard. Thisrequires a great deal of courage andsensitivity to discuss issues that maybe uncomfortable. Responsibility forthis must start at the top with the

leadership team. The way you communicate with

employees is another method ofhighlighting honesty. Keeping com-pany information from employeesleaves them feeling uninformed andtakes away from encouraging hon-esty in the workplace. While someinformation needs to be confidential,make it a habit of keeping your staffinformed on basic company opera-tions. Most employees appreciatetransparency from the companyeven if the information they receiveis negative. For example, employeestypically want to know if the compa-ny is performing poorly rather thanbeing kept in the dark. The honestcommunication encourages employ-ees to exhibit the same level of hon-esty.

By creating a company culturethat values honesty over perfection-ism, you highlight the importance ofhonesty. If the workplace is set up topunish employees for taking risks ormaking mistakes, you are more like-ly to have staff members who hidethe truth or don't take ownership fortheir errors. Create a safe environ-ment that places trust in youremployees to handle their duties.Provide feedback without makingemployees feel ostracized if they

make a mistake.Lying about your past designa-

tion, experiences and companies,writing incorrect information aboutyour skills, stating higher figures thatyour actual salary, etc. can nevermake you successful in life. Even ifyou land up with a high paying jobwith dishonest means, your badkarma will hit you at some point orother. Many employees have beenfired from their jobs because ofdeceptive resumes.

Use your intelligence and judg-mental powers aptly in corporateplace. The picture is not alwaysblack and white, so you have to besmart. You don’t need to tell every-thing that you know, or talk aboutyour personal life or reveal your skillsblatantly before your competitors. Bethe clever one, without being dishon-est, malicious or harming anyone atyour workplace. So understand themeaning of honesty to make yourintentions and actions right. Nomatter how dirty things might get atoffice, you must maintain yourintegrity and character to be the win-ner.

Some people are better at sens-ing dishonesty than others. If you runinto a business associate who’s goodat spotting insincerity, they might

take your lack of honesty as a signthat they shouldn’t do business withyou.

Dishonesty actually triggers astress response in the body. Thisstress response prevents us from stay-ing in the present moment. Whenstress hormones are released, theyactivate our “fight or flight” response.Vital resources are taken away fromfunctions that are considered to benon-essential. That includes theneocortex of the brain, which han-dles all high-level, logical thinking.In other words, dishonesty actuallymakes you less intelligent in themoment, and thus less able to makegood decisions—and that can hurtyou in almost any area of your busi-ness.

If you make a mistake on a clientaccount and own up to it, thechances are very high that the clientwill be grateful for your honesty andforgive you for the mistake. Theymay see your honesty as refreshingand even feel that they can trust youwith additional business. Whenemployees see that their leaders arehonest, it encourages them to be hon-est, too. That minimizes the chanceof future miscommunication becauseeverybody is committed to the truth.

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Play and day-boarding schools,creches and cognitive therapies arenot just for kids anymore. Your pet

has every right to evolve as such, con-sidering that they have an equal claim

on your companionship. If Petfed, thelargest pet festival in India, was any-

thing to go by, then pet care and man-agement in our city has become a dis-

cipline in itself with allied developmentsin grooming, fashion, diet and personal-ity development.

Festival organiser Akshay Guptadecided to host the festival with the objec-tive of getting all pet owners together andaddress shared concerns on a commonplatform. “Except for community parks,there is hardly a space where dogs andtheir owners are allowed any activity.There is an event for everything includ-ing art, music, food and theatre but there’snothing for pets who people our homesin quite a number,” said Akshay.

He listed some of the elements whichwere a new addition to this edition. Forinstance, there was a para-military sportssection, where professional dog trainersimparted skill techniques to both thecanines and their proud owners withslides and obstacle courses. “Dog’s got tal-ent” had the furry friends surprise visi-tors with their unique abilities. Accordingto a US organisation committed to sav-ing pets, 2019 will be the year of plugged-in pets, alternative pet therapies and petswho eat more like their owners.

������������% ����One of the stall owners from

Pawwsome Wellness, that aims to workon cognitive therapies for dogs, anger andaggression issues, biting and misbehav-ing, depression and anxiety, said that histrainers work on behavioural problems indogs through mind games and activities.“Just like humans need attention whenthey are dealing with some personalissues, dogs do too, perhaps more thanus. They need as much attention and loveas a kindergarten kid. We have workedout play routines whereby the dog gets

rewarded with his favourite food on com-pleting the feat assigned to him,” saidNandita Sikka, ceo of the company.Though there has been talk of dogdepression, how does one identify aber-rant behaviour? Said she, “Earlier, therewere very less conversations around theissue. But today, people do notice thechanging tendencies in their pets andfind ways to improve them by eitherspending more time with them or tak-ing some medical care.”

It is very important to spot age-relat-ed cognitive decline that affects yourdog’s behaviour. For example, your dogmight take longer to learn new things,or his short-term memory might suffer.Experts suggest to look out for symp-toms like a change in personality, suchas becoming grouchy or aggressive orperhaps an increased need for attention.Also look for forgetful behaviour andrule-breaking habits. Some ways toengage their minds would be to start anew training programme, rotate his toys,provide puzzles for him to play with orplay games such as hide-and-seek.

A study of the US market showed thatof respondents who use health-related

pet tech, nutrition apps (47 per cent), vet-erinary telemedicine (46 per cent) and fit-ness trackers (31 per cent) top the list oftools they use to improve, maintain andkeep track of their pets’ health. Forty percent are interested in getting pet-moni-toring cameras.

)��% ��� ���� �� �� ���Topdog, a luxury resort for dogs, is

into creating spaces for dogs in the man-ner that you do up your child’s room.“We have luxury rooms, activities cen-

tre and entertainment arena. We alsoprovide veterinarian clinics, behaviourconsultancy and medical help for dogs.People bring their pets when they are onvacations just like a child’s boot camp.Some of them bring their pets for daycare while they at their respectiveworkplaces. There are also a third kindof people who bring their pets for train-ing and skill upgradation,” said VikramSharma, co-founder of the company.

�%�� ��% ) ���Adoption of stray dogs is redefining

the contours of the pet market. Akshayhighlighted how the trend was picking upin Mumbai specifically. “Mumbaikarsnow understand that no matter what thebreed, every dog is as good if you trainit and keep it well. I have encouragedinteraction between stray dogs andprospective owners at this festival, just letthem be and bounce off their vibes. Theyfind out that they are as affectionate, less-maintenance, adapt to the given climateand culture easily,” he added.

�%� ���*���Organic and healthy diets are in.

“Owners share the same kind of food withtheir companions, of course, with manda-tory tweaks to suit their bio-rhythms.Packaged food is out, home-cooked is in.And should you be pressed for time, thereare vans specialising in home feed fordogs.”

��� ���� ����While pet salons have been around

for some time, their clothes and acces-sories have gotten an upgrade. Luxury petwear by Tannvi showcased glossy andglamorous hand-stitched clothes andhand-made beauty accessories. “Rarely doowners want to leave their pets at homealone. If they are taking them out so often,they also feel the need to make them lookgood and stylish,” said Akshay.

Other alternative pet therapies pop-ular with pet owners include aromather-apy, reflexology and naturopathy. Morethan a quarter of pets have been treatedwith mobility-related therapies such asmassage, physical therapy, even acupunc-ture. And though the festival was a two-day affair, it has opened up the need forus to be more humane to the animalsaround us. ����6��&�$�����

Racial justice. Obstruction of justice.Social justice. The JusticeDepartment. Merriam-Webster has

chosen “justice” as its 2018 word of theyear, driven by the churning news cycleover months and months.

The word follows “toxic,” picked byOxford Dictionaries, and “misinforma-tion,” plucked by Dictonary.com.

Peter Sokolowski, Merriam-Webster’seditor at large, said that “justice” consis-tently bubbled into the top 20 or 30lookups on the company’s website, spik-ing at times due to specific events but alsoskating close to the surface for much of theyear.

While it’s one of those commonwords people likely know how to spell anduse correctly in a sentence, Sokolowskipointed to other reasons that drive searchtraffic. Among them is an attempt to focusa train of thought around a philosophicalproblem, or to seek aspirational motiva-tion. Such well-known words are oftenamong the most looked up every year,including those that are slightly abstract,including “love,” he said.

The designation for “justice” camesoon after President Trump’s one-time

fixer, Michael Cohen, was sentenced tothree years in prison for crimes thatincluded arranging the payment of hushmoney to conceal his boss’ alleged sex-ual affairs. He told a judge he agreed timeand again to cover up Trump’s “dirtydeeds” out of “blind loyalty.”

It also came ahead of a Senate vote onthe “First Step Act,” a criminal justicereform bill with broad bipartisan support.Earlier in the year, Kim Kardashian Westnot once but twice paid a White Housevisit on Trump to discuss prison and sen-tencing reform. Sentencing for drugcrimes, treatment for opioid addiction, aloosening of cannabis laws, a Tesla probe,the Mueller investigation into the Trumpcampaign: Justice will remain top ofmind into the new year.

“These are stories that connect to theculture and to society across races, acrossclasses,” Sokolowski said. “We get this wordthat filters in.”

That includes Twitter in a big way.

Often, when Trump tweets about theDepartment of Justice, he uses simply“Justice.” On August 1, when he tweetedhis wish for then-Attorney General JeffSessions to stop the Mueller investigation,searches spiked significantly. Trumpreferred to “obstruction of justice,” a sep-arate entry on the Merriam-Webster site,prompting a lookup increase of 900 per-cent over the same date the year before.

Searches for “justice” throughout theyear, when compared to 2017, were up 74per cent on the site that has more than 100million page views a month and nearly halfa million entries, Sokolowski said. To beword of the year worthy, an entry has toshow both a high volume of traffic and asignificant year-over-year increase inlookups — as opposed to, say, a word thatmerely buzzed or felt lofty, he said.

“We are not editorialising. We lookedat our data and we were ourselves sur-prised by this word,” Sokolowski said.“This is a word that people have beenthinking about for this entire year.”

The word “justice” comes from Latin,unlike a lot of the more emotional wordsthat rose in Old English. Old English didhave “law,” “fair” and “right,” but never“justice,” in reference to a system of laws.

“It’s not a coincidence that it comesfrom the 12th century, which immediate-ly follows the Norman conquest. When theNormans invaded England they broughttheir language, Old French, which wasbasically the then-modern version ofLatin. They brought their system of gov-ernment and laws and imposed them onthe people they conquered, and that’s whyall of the legal language in English todayis Latin, just like the word justice,”Sokolowski explained. “It took the impo-sition of a system of laws to bring us theword justice.”

One rule breaker: “witness,” a wordwith a purely Old English start.

Other words that experienced lookupspikes this year: “maverick” (Sen. JohnMcCain died); “respect” (Aretha Franklindied); “excelsior” (Stan Lee’s signature bat-tle cry. He died); “pissant” (A radio hostdescribed Tom Brady’s daughter thatway); “pansexual” (Janelle Monaedescribed herself that way); “laurel”(Remember laurel vs. yanny?); “feckless”(What Samantha Bee called Ivanka Trump,combined with a pejorative that beginswith “c?); “epiphany” (The title of a BTSK-pop song that dropped this year);“lodestar” (used in reference to McCain inthe anonymous New York Times op-edidentified as coming from inside theTrump administration); and “nationalism”(At an Oct. 22 rally in Texas, Trumpdeclared himself a nationalist).

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It’s a digital world. As we lookaround technology today, it’s fair tosay that the pace of innovation is

quite impressive. With the advent ofautonomous driving, drones, connect-ed homes, facial recognitions and vir-tual and augmented reality, today’syouth cannot even imagine a time with-out social media or such gadgets.

However, there are some impend-ing challenges that are surfacing in thelight of environmental and technolog-ical developments today, or so does his-torian Yuval Noah Harari highlight ashe spoke at the 12th edition of thePenguin Annual Lecture that conclud-ed on Sunday.

The author of the book, Sapiens: ABrief History of Humankind, talkedabout the new challenges of the 21stcentury.

He stressed on the importance ofglobalism over nationalism that coun-tries need to work together on to solvenational-level problems as “they do notoccur in isolation.” He said that in thewake of current technological develop-ments, humans are growing next tobecoming gods.

Talking about the technologicaladvancements, he said, “What technol-ogy is doing or will be doing in thetwenty-first century is upgradinghumans into gods. This is the big storyof our era and I mean this in the mostliteral sense possible. We are nowbeing transformed into gods in thesense that AI and bio-technology willsoon give us abilities which ancientmythologies ascribed to the gods, espe-cially the ability to create life.”

He also pointed out that how infuture we will need to learn aboutdesigning and manufacturing life be itof plants, animals or humans. “Themain products of the 21st century econ-omy will not be textiles, vehicles orweapons but bodies, brains and minds.If this happens, it will be the greatestrevolutions since the beginning of life,”he said.

He also spoke about the possibili-ty of an escalation in war and violencewith the advent of new kinds of war likea cyber war. However, warning thatwars are not a thing of past, he alsopointed out that even though over thepast few years, violence and wars havedeclined drastically and statistically,deaths by suicides are higher than

deaths by violence, crime, wars and ter-rorism.

He called human stupidity as themost powerful forces in history. “It takesa lot of wise people to make peace, butit is sometimes enough to have just onefool in order to start a war,” he said.

He talked about the industrial rev-olution of the 19th century that hadresulted in the creation of a massivenew class — the urban working class,the proletariat. He predicted that withthe new Artificial Intelligence revolu-tions in the 21st century, there will beyet another class emerging — theunworking class or the “Useless class.”The class will be useless from the eco-nomic and political purview.

He went on to talk about climatechanges that can endanger the survivalof humankind and our ecosystem. Heemphasised that people should take onmore responsibility and urged humansto not play ‘Gods of the Planet Earth.’He urged the audience to choose wise-ly and to stay relevant by reinventingthemselves continuously.

He said that while an AI revolutionis yet to take place, climate change hasalready become of the major challengesto take over. “We need two extremelydifficult things — global cooperationand eco-friendly technology. We needto understand that no nation can stopclimate change by itself.”

He added, “The truth is that theonly way to stop climate change is tostop economic growth, something thatno country or almost no governmentwill agree upon.”

The lecture has previously seenBollywood actors Priyanka Chopraand Amitabh Bachchan as their speak-ers.

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They use colour, line, shape and form todepict a reality that is beyond humandimension and perception. Four artistshave come together at the Palette Galleryto create a world of their own, seated in

the human sub-conscious. When memory and nos-talgia seep into such a sensibility, then automati-cally there is an alternative universe of beauty andcalm, poetry and romanticism which remainsmindful of the potent forces of irony and structuredrealities.

Their visual narrative takes note of detail andproportions, is careful about scale and has a photo-realistic precision in the creation of individualshapes, or an impressionist idiom.

ARCHITECTURAL URBANISATION Says Joydeep Acharjee of his works, “As a painter,these architectural structures that I create signifydifferent aspects of unplanned and heartlessurbanisation. On the other hand, they are patternsof a design that I create to make a successful visu-al statement. I have observed the growth of the cityvery closely. On one hand, it’s a concrete jungle andon the other, there’s a landscape made of huge icon-ic structures. This imposes a sense of grandeurwhich is really a paradox and I have tried to cap-

ture that in my paintings.”The chronology of urbanisation and the rapid

encroachment of architectural structures on pris-tine agricultural land are other strong undercur-rents in his paintings.

FLOATING WORLDSFor the Japanese, the idea of “Ukiyo-e” or the“floating world” has been the subject for manyartists to explore the transient nature of life andeverything within it. Somu’s works are aninsight into this duality of life. He believes in thecontradiction in the demands of time, relation-ships and also from oneself. Somu believes thatwe build an insincere “tatamae” around us andin the process, intentionally and unintentional-ly “brand” our “lives”, feelings, emotions andeverything associated with it.

The thought gets translated into not just hisforms, which are converted from three-dimension-al to two-dimensional “cutouts” but also in hisexpertise of handling the material. Having closelyexperienced industrialisation, his material prowessdeliberates on the metallic textures as a departureinto his thought of rust and decay of the inner selfand soul. The more ornate and decorative textureson the cutouts of the subject emphasise superficial-

ity. We also see complex trajectories of personal his-torical situations and the brilliance of the silhou-ette.

IMPRESSIONIST LANDSCAPESApurba’s landscapes draw us into their maw. Theartist was intrigued by the landscape when she wasin Mumbai, waiting for the city to absorb her. Soher waiting becomes an act of “looking” at the city.At times, plainly looking at unknown people iscathartic. She kept looking at people till they gotreduced into a pattern of heads, hands, eyes and

of sound. “Placing one figure after the other, thework morphs into a formation of people,” saysApurba. “For me these formations become anenquiry into the order of society and at the sametime it enquires our own sense of existing in thesocial fabric,” she adds.

ARCHITECTURAL ANIMATIONAnil’s intricate and meticulous works are basical-ly an investigation into the idea of what constitutesthe idea of architecture in history. “For me archi-tecture is more about the process of how somethingis built and not just the end result. It’s in under-standing the process of building something that Irealised the importance of human labour,” he adds.

But he also sees the absence of labour in whathe sees. So he tries to retrieve this collective labourwhich is erased within the meaningsattributed/appropriated after. “For me any archi-tecture is a monument memorialising the forgot-ten labour which defines our inhabitations.However, though hidden it’s in the process ofretrieval of those that I rebuild an entirely newarchitecture recognising, realising and markingmaterially the labour involved in its making. Thesestructures are as real as they are imaginary,” con-cludes the artist.

One Academy Awardtrophy sold for near-ly $500,000 and the

second for well over $200,000in a rare auction of Oscarsthat ended Friday in LosAngeles. A best-pictureOscar for Gentleman'sAgreement, the 1947 filmstarring Gregory Peck thattook on anti-Semitism, soldfor $492,000. A best picturestatuette for 1935’s Mutiny onthe Bounty fetched $240,000.

Both were outpaced byan archive of papers on theorigin and development of The Wizard of Oz thatbrought in $1.2 million. Auction house Profiles inHistory announced the results after four days of bid-ding on Hollywood memorabilia that brought inmore than $8 million in total. Other items soldinclude a TIE fighter helmet from the original StarWars that went for $240,000, a Phaser pistol fromthe original Star Trek TV series that fetched$192,000, a hover board Marty McFly rode in Backto the Future II that sold for $102,000, and a gold-en ticket from Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factorythat brought in $48,000.

The Mutiny on the Bounty Oscar price cameclose to auction-house projections, but theGentleman’s Agreement statuette brought in morethan twice what was expected, for reasons that arenot clear. The buyers of both Oscars and The Wizardof Oz document chose to remain anonymous.

Auctions of Oscar statuettes are very uncom-mon because winners from 1951 onward have hadto agree that they or their heirs must offer it backto the Academy of Motion Picture Arts andSciences for $1 before selling it elsewhere. The acad-emy has said it firmly believes Oscars should be won,not bought. Neither of the Oscars sold this weekapproached the record of $1.5 million paid byMichael Jackson to acquire David O. Selznick’s GoneWith the Wind Oscar in 1999. —%

Of all pieces of furniture uniqueto India, perhaps the charpaiis the most evocative of indi-

vidual memories. Compact, portableand extremely eco-friendly, thisIndian bed is explored at theSerendipity Arts Festival in Goathrough a historical-cultural project.

The curator of the Charpai pro-ject, Ayush Kasliwal, who takes vis-itors on a journey of exploring a cul-tural artefact “truly Indian,” calls thecharpai a work of “sheer genius.”

“The fact that it is light on envi-ronment, is done simply, is highlycustomised and relatable, holds a cer-tain meaning in the society — as partof dowry, for instance. That meaningis what I’m pointing at,” Kasliwal, whohas expertise in furniture design, said.

It, he wrote in his curatorial note,is perhaps one of the most function-al pieces of furniture ever created —“portable, economical, sustainable,compact, multi functional with util-ity, used not just personally but alsoin communities.”

Part of the main exhibition, ashowcase familiarises viewers withacademic and historical inquiries,including medieval scholar-explorerIbn Batuta’s. “The beds in India arevery light. One consists of four con-ical legs on which four staves are laidand in between they plait a sort of rib-bon of silk or cotton. When you lieon it you need nothing else to ren-der the bed sufficiently elastic,” theMoroccan traveller is quoted as hav-ing said.

Nonetheless, the charpai,although intricately linked to theIndian way of living (especially in therelatively dry regions of the country’smiddle belt), does remain fairly quo-tidian. Though speaking of an “every-day, mundane object” — somethingthat this edition of Serendipity festi-val seems to be widely bringingforth — Kasliwal’s curation of theshow holds interest as visitors aretransported to a typical charpai shopresembling a storeroom of any Indianhome, replete with stacked rolls of

weaving material, jute ropes, disman-tled wooden legs, and other objectsthat seem hard to come by in the con-temporary lifestyle.

The curation then leads one toexamples of fully-woven charpais thatremain evocative of different mem-ories for each visitor. What’s alsointeresting to note is that despite theproject having exhibited a number ofthem, each with different weavingtechniques and material, the coredesign of the charpai transcendsregions, time and the myriad “hands”that create it.

“It cannot be attributed to a cer-tain time or region, but is everywhere.There are customisations but as anobject it is pretty generic. It’s not aboutthe greatness of bygones times, butrelates to what of our past relates toour present,” Kasliwal said.Contemporary adaptations of thecharpais, in the form of a stainlesssteel one, and a rosewood and caneone, find space in the exhibition,reminding us of the classic frame ofthe object which has retained itsessence across time and space but hasstill percolated into the urban con-sciousness.

Another special section of thecharpai project can be seen at theChildren’s Park here, where a massiveinstallation of varied charpai weaveshas been put up. As children go upand down the various levels of charpai“floors,” we cannot help thinking ofhow elastic the “Indian bed” is.

I-%��

There is something oddlystimulating in placing a fin-ger on one’s pulse. It is the

wait, perhaps, the short lapse oftime before the next blood wavehits again. Or the rhythm, the eerieregularity of throbbing arteriesset on the catch and release move-ment of the faraway cardiac valves.Artists from Bangladesh haveimmersed in the same kind of astirring quest. They keep the pulseof events in check, chronicling theirrealities. Seemingly unconnected,their fragments pencil somethingwider when considered together —a state of affairs which pulsatesunder our fingers.

Issues of social justice, war,women rights and colonialismfind expression in the exhibitiontitled A Finger on the Pulse. Theshow is organised around frag-ments of eight artists fromBangladesh whose age span coversthree generations. There is noshared form or theme which unitesthem in a linear presentation. Yeta story, fragile and trembling as itmight be, emerges from the juxta-position. Loosely assembled, multi-faceted, it has no clear beginningand no definitive end. It stitchesfacts, emotions and anecdotes that,taken together, might well sketchBangladesh’s “now.”

Anisuzzaman Sohel’s IntimateFear series is about a world turnedupside down, as of our con-sciousness. He says, “We try tohang on to what little sense thereis left but it cuts into our skin likerazor wire. Anxiety has clipped ourwings short. We have been ground-ed by fear. Heavy sandbags ofsocial, political and individualuncertainties have weighed downthose willing to fly. Our skullsthreaten to split open with newconcerns, modern pressures, andunfamiliar accidents. The pressureis on from all side, and we can’thelp but feel squeezed in.”

Promotesh Das Pulak’s worktitled Amity is about friendship,peace, good relations and goodwill.“I have selected the word ‘amity’ to

present my emotion in this project.By showing this word I want toremove barriers between nations,”he tells us.

Marzia Farhana’s EquilibriumProject is influenced byBangladeshi master artist SMSultan’s quote, “The kid that drawshis village, beautiful flower, animal,foliage and trees; he can’t commitany crime, can’t hurt anybody.Our trend of art should bechanged, otherwise how can it besaid that the cultivation of art forms

and shapes human character?”Says the artist, “His statement

in a documentary film titled LalMia, influenced me to do a collab-orative project with school kids andhelp them regain the empathy lostin this violent world. This projectalso enables the accessibility intothe creative practices to all, espe-cially to people who are living areasof social, cultural and financialdeprivation. Another part of thiswork is to focus on the education-al aspect of art and its importancein our society which is always over-looked in our conventional educa-tion system.”

Mizanur Rahman Sakib’s Warof Images is a multi-media instal-lation with collages, video refer-ring our existence within a differ-ent time span of past, present andfuture and the unusual quality ofthis present time where everyoneintends to be created and project-ed by the perfect images. Hesays, “This progressive world hasproduced many ideal images ofheroes. That ‘idea of a hero’ hasbeen practised in our hegemon-ic society and has built the ideo-logical frameworks of our dreams,truths and promises. The brutal-ity of war and the actual truth areburied underneath those ‘ideal’images. These overwhelming andmisguided perfect images havebeen fabricated in our everydaylife and thus our gaze gets cor-rupted and alienated.”

(The show is on display tillJanuary 11 at Akar PrakarGallery.)

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Australia were on course fora series-levelling win in thesecond Test after another

below-par batting performancefrom India undid the good workdone by their bowlers on day fouron Monday.

Chasing 287 on a testing sur-face, India were 112 for five atstumps with skipper Virat Kohli's(17) dismissal in the 20th over ofthe second innings dealing a mas-sive blow to the away team'shopes.

The last specialist pair ofHanuma Vihari (24) and RishabhPant (9) were in the middle whenstumps were drawn and they willhave to bat well in the first sessionon day five for India to have anychance of scoring the remaining175 runs.

The ordinary batting effort came aftera sensational performance from pacerMohammad Shami, who took a career bestsix for 56 in Australia's second innings tobring India back into the contest.

Shami removed the set Usman Khawaja(72) and Tim Paine (37) to trigger a battingcollapse that saw Australia being all out for243 after the duo batted out the entire morn-ing session.

At tea, India were reeling at 15 for two

and following the break it got worse for thevisitors as they lost wickets in a bunch.Murali Vijay (20) and Virat Kohli (17) added35 runs for the third wicket before thingswent into a downward spiral.

Kohli was the first to go, with Lyoninducing him forward and the batsmanedged it to slip as the Australian playersbroke into celebration.

Two overs later, Lyon (2-30) got an offbreak to jump off the rough and Vijay was

bowled going for a drive as India werereduced to 55-4.

Ajinkya Rahane (30) came outplaying his shots and took on the bowl-ing with two fours as well as a six. Heput on 43 runs for the fifth wicket withVihari as India started thinking of atleast taking the fight into day five.

But it was not to be, as Rahane hita drive straight to point off JoshHazlewood (2-24) and India plungedto 98-5.

Earlier before tea, KL Rahul (0)played another indecisive stroke andwas bowled off Starc on the fourth ballof the second innings. The biggermoment came when Hazlewood hadCheteshwar Pujara (4) caught behindoff a faint edge in the fourth over toleave India leaning on Kohli onceagain.

This was after a fiery spell fromShami brought India back into the

game. Post lunch, Australia collapsed ina heap as they lost five wickets for 15 runsin the space of eight overs.

Shami was the wrecker-in-chief, taking4-26 after lunch, as his express pace com-bined with short stuff bamboozled theAustralian lower order.

Skipper Paine was the first go, unableto negotiate sharp bounce and gloving toKohli at second slip.

Fit-to-bat Aaron Finch (25) came out tobat next, but lasted only one ball, clipping

down leg side and caught behind. Shami wason a hat trick for the second consecutive Test,but missed out.

An over later though, using the secondnew ball, he got rid of Khawaja with anoth-er sharp rising delivery to pick his fourthfive-wicket haul in Test cricket.

Eight balls later Jasprit Bumrah (3-39)got rid of Pat Cummins (1), bowled off adelivery keeping too low.

Lyon (5) hit out and took Australia past200, but Shami knocked him over in simi-lar fashion to the rest as he picked his bestfigures in Test cricket.

The last wicket pairing of Mitchell Starc(14) and Josh Hazlewood (17 not out) frus-trated the Indian team though, and added36 golden runs for the 10th wicket, takingthe lead past 280. In the morning session,Australia reached 190-4 at lunch.

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Former champions Mumbai claimedthree points against Baroda after

their four-day Elite Group A game endedin a tame draw at the Wankhede Stadiumon Monday.

The only interest left when play com-menced was whether Baroda, who con-ceded a 29-run lead on Sunday, couldskittle out the hosts and 41-time cham-pions cheaply in the second innings andgive themselves enough time to force anoutright victory.

But that was not to be as Mumbai,who resumed at 20 for two, lost the wick-et of captain Siddhesh Lad very earlybefore the remaining batsmen ensuredthat Baroda did not come back into thegame.

Although the other first inningscenturion other than Lad, Shreyas Iyer(30), too, departed before lunch, thelower middle order held fort and tookMumbai to 307 for seven, an overall leadof 336, before declaring the inningsclosed.

Play was then called off with Baroda

not commencing their second innings.In the Mumbai second essay,

Shubham Ranjane (64 in 105 balls)Eknath Kerkar (56 not out in 115 balls)and Shivam Dube, who struck a brisk 76in 60 balls studded with 7 sixes and threefours, got the major portion of the runs.

Baroda got one point from the drawnencounter.

Meanwhile, at Nashik, Saurashtradefeated hosts Maharashtra by 5 wickets.

For Saurashtra, slow-left armorthodox bowlers DharmendrasinhJadeja grabbed seven wickets inthe second innings as he wreakedhavoc on the Maharashtra bats-men.

While chasing, Saurashtra losthalf their side, but eventuallyromped home.

At the Karnail Singh stadium in NewDelhi, Vidarbha hammered Railways by118 runs with Aditya Sarvate taking sixwickets to bowl out Railways for 124 intheir second essay.

While Karnataka took three points astheir game ended in a tame draw againstGujarat on the basis of the first innings

lead at Surat.

��+ �F�� ���������% 9�� ����Punjab gained three points as TamilNadu held firm for a draw on the final dayof the Elite Group 'B' match.

Faced with a massive deficit of 264 runs,the visitors saw skipper Baba Indrajith (93),Dinesh Karthik (74) and Vijay Shankar (51not out) get among the runs to defy thePunjab bowlers and finish the day at 383

for 6.The result meant Tamil Nadu,

now on 12 points, is almost out ofcontention for a berth in theknockout phase.

Punjab also has the samenumber of points, but has played

one game less.Five teams from Group 'A' and 'B' put

together will advance to the quarterfinals,based on the number of points accrued.

On a track that was easier to bat as thegame wore on, the Tamil Nadu batsmenmade sure the home side did not get theopening they were seeking in the quest fora win and also six points.

In other Group 'B' matches, Himachal

Pradesh outclassed Andhra Pradesh by aninnings and three runs in Atmar to gainseven points while the Bengal-Hyderabadencounter ended in a draw.

�%���% ��%������� � � %� � ��Tripura hammered Goa by 10wickets in their Elite Group C game.

Tripura were in command from the firstday and it took them less than an over tochase the 8-run target on the final day andadd seven points to their kitty.

Following on Goa batsmen, barringSuyash Prabhudessai (65), faltered againstHarmeet Singh (3-46) and M B Mura Singh(3-55).

Goa began from their overnight scoreof 113/3 but Prabhudessai ran out of part-ners and could not take the side to chal-lenging total.

The target was easily overhauled byTripura.

Meanwhile, at the Palam ground in thenational capital, Services grabbed 7 pointsas they overcame Assam by 10 wickets.

For Services, pacer Diwesh Pathania (5-56) picked his second five-wicket haul of thematch and ended the game with a 10-wick-

et haul.Chasing 72 for an outright win, Services

openers Nakul Verma (39 not out) andNavneet Singh (31 not out) took the sidehome with ease in 18.1 overs.

And at Lucknow, Jharkhand took threepoints after their match against UttarPradesh ended in a draw.

� � ��� �� ����% 9+�%� ���Pacer Ishwar Chaudhary grabbeda six-wicket haul as Sikkim thrashedMizoram by 105 runs in their Plate Groupfixture.

In Dehradun, Nagaland's Arbar Kaziproduced a strong rearguard fightback with157 not out in an unbroken 137-run sev-enth wicket partnership with NiteshLohchab (44 not out) to salvage a drawagainst group leaders Uttarakhand.

This was Uttarakhand's first draw afterfive successive wins as they had to settle forthree points on basis of their first inningslead.

Needing two wickets to seal the win onthe final day, Sikkim bundled out Mizoramfor 236 in 74.5 overs to seal their third winwith two sessions to spare.

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The onfield verbal duel between rivalcaptains Virat Kohli and Tim Paine

has been one of the talking points of thesecond Test but Australia pacer JoshHazlewood Monday played it down, say-ing it was done in good spirits.

"I think it was all good fun, it's quitecompetitive out there as you know andthere's going to be words from time totime but it was all in good spirits,"Hazlewood said.

"I don't think we read too much intoit, we go about our work as we see fit andthe Indians can do what they like. Wecontrol what we control and our behav-iour is what we control. We'll worryabout that and let everything else takecare of itself."

It worked out well for Australia inthe end as Kohli was dismissed for 17in the second innings as India crashedto 55-4 in their chase. But, Hazlewoodsaid Australia was not targeting a sin-gle batsman.

"No definitely not. I probably see(Cheteshwar) Pujara as the big wicketas far as when I'm bowling, the glue thatholds them together I think. He's bat-ted the most balls this series and scorednearly the most runs.

"I see Pujara as a big wicket andAjinkya Rahane as well. So the Nos 3,4, 5 as the key wickets and we see it abit unstable in the other parts of theorder. Certainly not all the focus is onVirat Kohli," he said.

Australia were on course for aseries-levelling win after reducing Indiato 112-5 at stumps on day four, butHazlewood said there were still somework to do for them for another homevictory.

"I didn't go to the UAE, so it feels abit of a long time between wins, butthere's still a lot of work to do tomor-row. Anytime I'm playing in Australiawe feel pretty confident, especially thebowlers feel very confident in getting 20wickets and a result," he said.

"Last year, we got there four timesout of five, so we are feeling pretty con-fident. It's just putting that into practicemore often than not this summer," headded.

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Warring captains Virat Kohli andTim Paine on Monday resumed

their verbal duel, forcing on-field umpireChris Gaffaney to warn both the play-ers on the fourth morning of the secondTest between India and Australia.

During the 71st over bowled byJasprit Bumrah, the respective captainswere seen exchanging words after Kohlidecided to field close to the non-strik-er and Gaffaney had to step in.

"You're the one that lost it yesterday.Why are you trying to be cool today?"Paine told Kohli.

"That's enough, that's enough,"Gaffaney interrupted.

"Come on, play the game. You guysare the captains. Tim, you're the captain."

Paine replied: "We're just having aconversation. There's no swearing ...Keep your cool Virat."

Kohli said something which could-n't be picked up by the microphones.

A couple of balls later, the warringduo almost came close to chest bump-ing when the India skipper walked infront of Paine while he was completinga run.

Kohli later appeared to plead hiscase to square-leg umpire KumarDharmasena as Paine and UsmanKhawaja continued to extend Australia'ssecond-innings lead.

"I reckon it's a sign Kohli is startingto lose it," former Test bowler DamienFleming said on SEN radio.

India commentator SanjayManjrekar wasn't too pleased withKohli's behaviour but former Australianskippers Ricky Ponting and MichaelClarke said they had no issue with theverbal exchange between the two cap-tains and that no line has been crossedso far.

Tensions had flared-up towards theend of day three with Kohli and Paineexchanging verbal volleys as the gameheaded for a nail-biting finish.

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Injured Prithvi Shaw was on Monday ruledout of the entire Test series against

Australia with the BCCI replacing theyoung opener with Mayank Agarwal.

Shaw had suffered a left ankle injurywhile attempting a catch in a practicegame against Cricket Australia XI.

The 19 year old from Mumbai hadscored 66 in that game in Sydney.

"The All-India Senior SelectionCommittee has named MayankAgarwal as his replacement," saida BCCI release.

With KL Rahul failing terri-bly in two Tests, the team man-agement may hand Test debutto 27-year-old Agrawal, whoplays for Karnataka.

Rahul scored 2 and44 in Adelaide butmanaged 2 and 0 inPerth, where Indiaare staring at a

defeat on the final day.Agarwal who has played 46 first class games,

scored 25 and 53 for his Ranji side against Gujaratin his last match.

The selectors have also added all-rounder Hardik Pandya to India'ssquad for the third and fourth Test tobe played in Melbourne and Sydneyrespectively.

The third Test is scheduled tobegin in Melbourne from December26.

��� I���G� �Virat Kohli (captain), M Vijay,KL Rahul, Cheteshwar Pujara,

Ajinkya Rahane (vice-captain),Hanuma Vihari, Rohit Sharma,Rishabh Pant (wicket-keeper),Parthiv Patel, R Ashwin, RavindraJadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, MohammedShami, Ishant Sharma, Umesh Yadav,Jasprit Bumrah, Bhuvneshwar Kumar,

Hardik Pandya and MayankAgarwal.

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Pacer Mohammed Shami onMonday said India missed a trick

in not playing a full-time spinner ona pitch where Australia tweakerNathan Lyon has already baggedseven wickets.

"The team management makesthese decisions. We can't do anythingabout it. We had one spinner whodidn't bowl badly. (But) If you ask me,I feel there should have been a spin-ner, but these things depend onyour management," said Shami.

"After such a long time we havean Indian pace attack where all thebowlers are fast and are bowling goodlines and lengths. Four years ago weweren't even this experienced. Youmust have seen the difference in ouraccuracy from four years ago."

India lead the four-match series1-0 after their 31-run win in theopening Test at Adelaide.

"It helps a lot to have a goodbowler at the other end, who has thesame mentality as you and is keep-ing things tight.

"This keeps the pressure up, andsometimes you don't even realisewhen the game turns your way. Thebowler at the other end is sometimesjust as important," he added, heap-ing praise on the fast-bowling unit.

Talking about his career-bestspell, the pacer said, "I always try tobowl a good line and length. Rest isup to your luck, how many wicketsyou get or not. Your approach has tobe good. If you are playing Test crick-et, you have to focus on your line andlength. You will get the wickets auto-matically.

"Sometimes when you have along partnership, you have to wait,especially on a wicket like this wherewe were beating them again andagain. It wasn't as if we were bowl-ing bad balls, but even on bowlinggood lengths we were not gettingwickets. As soon as we got a wicketthe momentum changed and weused it."

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